ã€ŠDivine Throne of Primordial Bloodã€‹


 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 1: Blindness

    Chapter 1: Blindness

    Snowkes drifted across the sky, bringing with them the icy chill of winter. Before too long, a sheet of white frost covered Northface City.

    Winter had arrived yet again.

    Few travelers walked the roads at this time of the year, leaving the streets deste of life. No one was willing to leave theforts of their home during the cold winter season of the twelfth lunar month.

    Within in the city, in one of the ssrooms of Luo Official Elementary School, one would find a warm andforting scene ying out. Warm Yang stones were ced in corners of the elementary school ssroom, keeping the cold air at bay with light and warmth. Instead, the ssroom basked in a warmth reminiscent of spring.

    This ssroom was upied by a group of eleven and twelve year old children, attentively listening an instructor¡¯s lecture.

    ¡°Thest emperor of the Radiant Divine Dynasty was Emperor Yao, who reigned for six hundred years. Muddleheaded, ipetent and cruel, this emperor squandered money like it was water. During his reign, he constructed one hundred and twenty-four new temporary imperial residences. He drafted woman from all over the country thirty-two times. Also, it was rumored that he deeply enjoyed killing with his own hands. It is said there are records of his orders to kill over three thousand officials which implicated countless men...¡±

    The instructor¡¯s lecture was quite earnest. However, the children were clearly uninterested. Even children who were trying their best to listen had already begun to drowse, lulled by the monotonous drone.

    As the instructor saw their eyelids droop, he didn¡¯t bother with words. Instead, he slowly rolled up the book in his hand, and brought it down in a sharp smack against his desk.

    The sharp table p startled the group of children, now fully awake as they looked at their instructor with still unfocused eyes.

    With a bit of helplessness and anger, the instructor said, ¡°What? Have you already learned this?¡±

    The children all shifted ufortably in their seats, their gazes falling to the floor.

    The children clearly found this dry coursepletely uninteresting. Their nature ran more towards having fun.

    Slightly irritated with them, the teacher pointed at a child, ¡°He Sinian, stand. Tell me, how did the Spirit Writing Rebellione about?¡±

    A long aquiline nose marked him from the others as the child attempted to answer the instructor¡¯s question. However, even after a few stuttering starts, he didn¡¯t find the answer he was desperately searching for.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t know, then stay standing. Yue Yang, would you care to enlighten the ss?¡± The instructor pointed at another child.

    The child called Yue Yang also clearly didn¡¯t know. A helpless smile on his face, he could only join He Sinian as he stayed on his feet as well.

    The instructor went through a few more children, but none of them had an answer for him. The teacher once again pped the table in annoyance. ¡°Atrocious! This is truly atrocious! I just lectured about this! Su Chen, can you answer the question?¡±

    As he uttered the name, the instructor¡¯s mood had turned expectant, clearly awaiting satisfaction.

    A small youngster with delicate features stood up. In a clear, confident voice, he answered the instructor, ¡°The New Star Era ¨C in the year 23000. The Great Minister of Public Works, Cheng Huai¡¯en, reported to the emperor that the treasury was empty and requested that the construction of four imperial residences be postponed. Emperor Yao was furious and personally executed Great Minister in the royal court. This matter shook both the Imperial Court and themoners as they began to feel like everyone was at risk. Finally, seven great lords banded together and jointly dealt with Emperor Yao, extinguishing and overthrowing the Radiant Divine Dynasty. Because the assassin Zuo Chengshu approached and killed Emperor Yao while pretending to perform Spirit Writing, history named this incident the Spirit Writing Rebellion. After that, the Radiant Divine Dynasty was destroyed and the Seven Great ns split the country, setting up separate divine dynasties. This is the origin of our current seven countries.¡±

    ¡°Well said!¡± The instructor happily pped, ¡°Hear, hear. This is what it means to go to ss. Were it not for Su Chen, I wouldn¡¯t be here to teach you little scoundrels! As expected, his upbringing is impable. The children produced by the great ns are truly distinctive...¡±

    An endless and embellished litany of praises followed each other out of the instructor¡¯s mouth, each one tripping over each other in their eagerness to fill the air.

    The Su n was one of the four great ns of Northface City, holding a prestigious status within the city. Su Chen was one of the Su n¡¯s third generation children.

    Although only twelve years of age, Su Chen was far more level headed than his peers. He was both diligent and eager to learn, quickly earning himself a ce as a favorite of instructors.

    Despite the instructor¡¯s praises growing ever more extravagant, Su Chen remained undisturbed.

    In the instructor¡¯s eyes, this serenity was seen as a manifestation of a general¡¯s grace and indicative of a mind that possessed intricate thought. In the eyes of the other children, this was obviously ¡°pretentiousness¡±.

    ¡°Tch. What is there to cherish? Let¡¯spare in Body Tempering.¡± He Sinian¡¯s eagle nose twitched as he grumbled under his breath.

    ¡°Sinian, Su Chen reached Body Tempering Fourth Layer yesterday.¡± Yue Yang whispered to him.

    He Sinian¡¯s thin face immediately turned unsightly.

    It was clearly obvious that the person he considered his opponent was not only academically outstanding, but was also faster than him in Martial Dao cultivation.

    Body Tempering Fourth Layer implied that Su Chen had already reached the strength of four horses. Although this level of power was negligiblepared to most adults, it had already reached the point where he could crush He Sinian.

    He Sinian¡¯s will to fight vanished like a doused fire. His mouth twitched as he forced out his next words, ¡°So what. In the end, he¡¯s just the descendent of a mixed blood n.¡±

    This time, He Sinian¡¯s verbal attack had finally found a mark.

    This world was known as the Primordial World. In this world, one obtained power by cultivating one¡¯s Origin Energy. It was said that the source of these incredible abilities was rooted in the creation of the world. Therefore, the energy pervades, affects, and controls all living beings. This hypothesis received widespread acknowledgement and became one of the ts that exined Origin Energy. Once one became skilled enough at using Origin Energy, one would then be known as an Origin Qi Schr.

    However, the power of Origin Energy was not something so easily grasped. Long ago, humans did not understand the mysteries behind Origin Energy. The only creatures capable of using it were origin beasts. At that time, mankind was nothing more than food for the origin beasts.

    After countless years of development, the Primordial World gradually saw change. Humanity eventually developed the seven Origin Schr territories, creating a haven for themselves as they slowly started toprehend the mysteries of Origin Energy, moving away from their previous state ofplete ignorance.

    The keys that allowed humanity to use Origin Energy were bloodlines.

    It was said in order to obtain the power to use Origin Energy, humans invented the bloodline extraction instrument. Demonic beasts were the sole existences in the Primordial World that were innately capable of using Origin energy. By extracting their bloodlines, humanity was finally able to wield this power themselves. The people who created this bloodline extraction instrument went on to establish a glorious age for humanity; bing the Radiant Divine Dynasty.

    However over the years, this once glorious human nation had finally perished from its own depravity. It was said during that age of turmoil, the bloodline extraction instrument was destroyed in the chaos of war. From that moment on, humans lost the power to extract bloodlines.

    Fortunately, bloodlines could be inherited. As a result, the seven human countries formed a system of bloodline nobility.

    Although the Su n was a great n of Northface City, it was considered a junior n as they had no bloodline inheritance. Only through blood spirit medicines would they be able to obtain the power of bloodlines. Blood spirit medicine was an imitation of the bloodline extraction instrument. However, the difference in its effectivenesspared to the genuine bloodline extraction instrument was like the gap between heaven and earth. Those who acquired bloodlines through blood spirit medicine were known as mixed bloods, implying they were inherently unqualified to be a noble. Not only was their potential to rise limited, their bloodlines were incapable of being inherited. But even as such, there were countless people that madly attempted to attain them.

    As a result, those without bloodlines, even if they had great talent, even if they diligently cultivated, were doomed to have limited prospects, such as Su Chen.

    Obviously, He Sinian¡¯s circumstances weren¡¯t much better. The names the Deste Blood King ns, Demon Blood Noble ns, and Mixed Blood ns could clearly be seen within the bloodline inheritance system. The so called ¡°Four Great ns¡± were Mixed Blood ns, implying that none of them had bloodline inheritances. Not a single of the four ns were exempt. However, this didn¡¯t stop He Sinian from looking down upon his rival. If their finish lines was the same, Su Chen could only arrive there faster, temporarily in front.

    The aquiline nosed youth used this distinctive reasoning tofort himself.

    Time passed by quickly.

    Eventually, the time for sses ended.

    The children charged out of the school with a cheer. Their respective n servants were already outside waiting for them .

    Su Chen was thest to leave the elementary school. As he walked out a young servant ran forward and draped a white fox cloak over him, ¡°Ah, Fourth Young Master is out of school. The weather is bitterly cold; don¡¯t catch a chill.¡±

    ¡°Jianxin, didn¡¯t I already say this? I¡¯ve already reached Body Tempering Fourth Layer. This kind of weather won¡¯t make me cold.¡± Su Chen said this as he walked toward the carriage.

    ¡°Young Master, this isn¡¯t just about practicality. You must wear it for appearance¡¯s sake. Naturally, servants who know that Young Master have already reached the fourthyer of Body Tempering will see that the coatless Young Master is tempering himself with the frost and snow. Other servants who aren¡¯t aware of Young Master¡¯s brilliance will see Young Master without a cloak and believe the Young Master has fallen from grace. At that time, I fear they wouldn¡¯t treat young master seriously.¡± Jianxin said as he followed behind Su Chen.

    Su Chen smiled when he heard this, ¡°Only you would say something like this. Who wouldn¡¯t take me seriously? Besides, if I want something, there is always you.¡±

    Jianxin¡¯s aggrieved cry echoed loudly from within the carriage.

    The coachmanshed his horses with his long whip and the carriage moved forward, leaving a clear track of hoofprints behind.

    As there was nothing to do in the carriage, Su Chen took a history book to read. The youthful servant Jianxin at the side was bored and said, ¡°Young Master, is that history book any good? When I read it, it isn¡¯t interesting at all and I always get sleepy.¡±

    Without even raising his head, Su Chen said, ¡°That is because you don¡¯t see the stories that are hidden in the book.¡±

    ¡°What stories are concealed in the book?¡± Jianxin was astonished and repeatedly looked at the book with greatly curious eyes. Were stories actually concealed in this book?

    Su Chen nced at him, ¡°It¡¯s not hidden in the book. It¡¯s the actual stories within.... Ah, Even if I told you, you wouldn¡¯t understand.¡±

    Su Chen bluntly put his book in front of Jianxin, ¡°Look at this section.¡±

    Jianxin has followed Su Chen for several years and could read a few words. He read it out loud, ¡°The assassination of Emperor Yao, great turmoil of divine dynasty, bloodline extraction instrument was lost in the chaos of war, creating a severance in bloodline extraction methods. Until now, humans could only copy the partial capability of the bloodline refinement instrument by refining blood spirit medicine, incapable of extracting high quality bloodlines like in the past. What about this section?¡±

    Jianxin didn¡¯t understand.

    Su Chen took back the book and said, ¡°Don¡¯t think it¡¯s strange? Since the bloodline extraction instrument isa human invention, why were we not able to recreate it after it was destroyed?¡±

    Jianxin replied, ¡°Didn¡¯t the book say it? Its method of creation had already been destroyed.¡±

    ¡°Why was it destroyed? This is a great matter that affects the rise and decay of humans. How could it be lost?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Jianxin had no answer.

    Su Chen then said, ¡°Fine, let¡¯s leave its destruction aside. It could have happened for any number of reasons. But then why were there not many sets of the instrument made? ording to the book, this bloodline extraction instrument could only extract ten bloodlines every year. Why didn¡¯t they create more instruments if they only had one set? Even if we leave that aside, and ept that the method to create the bloodline instruments is lost, why is it that humans haven¡¯t managed to discover the method again? Since we were able to previously achieve it, why is it that we are now simply unable to?¡±

    This barrage of questions stunned Jianxin into speechlessness.

    Su Chen patted the book with a smile, ¡°This is the story that is hidden in the book. Thus, you can¡¯t just read books using only your eyes. You must use your mind as well.¡±

    He said this with a somewhat proud voice. The words he said a moment ago were actually taught to him by his father. Now he was using them to educate his own servant.

    Jianxin still appeared confused and looked at Su Chen with admiration, ¡°Then why does young master think that it is like this?¡±

    In the end, Su Chen was still a child. Naturally, hepletely enjoyed Jianxin¡¯s gaze of admiration.

    He said, ¡°I have an answer in mind. However, you must promise to never speak of it.¡±

    Jianxin patted his chest and pledged, ¡°Be at ease, Young Master. I absolutely will not speak of it.¡±

    Hearing this, Su Chen was at ease.

    Although he was intelligent, he was only twelve years old after all. He didn¡¯t genuinelyprehend how precious and scarce people who kept their words were.

    Thus, he lowered his voice and said, ¡°I believe that bloodline extraction instrument fundamentally wasn¡¯t a human invention.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Jianxin was shocked, ¡°Then who?¡±

    Su Chen spread out his arms, ¡°How could I know? That¡¯s the only exnation that makes sense to me. The reason why humans were incapable of creating the bloodline extraction instrument but were still able to possess it. However, you can¡¯t ever speak these words of mine out loud.¡±

    In an age that couldn¡¯t be considered enlightened in the least, to question the validity of history of the human race was certain to bring about trouble for him.

    Certainly at this time, a light chuckle sounded in Su Chen¡¯s ear.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes widened.

    ¡°Stop the carriage!¡± Su Chen loudly shouted.

    The carriage stopped.

    Su Chen leaped out of the carriage, looking up and down the street as far as he could see. All he could see were falling snowkes.

    Therge street only had a few pedestrians walking. He couldn¡¯t see anyone who looked like the person who chuckled in his ear.

    ¡°Young Master, what is it?¡± Jianxin stretched his head out of the carriage and asked.

    Su Chen shook his head and replied, ¡°It¡¯s nothing, let¡¯s return.¡±

    Su Chen turned around, meaning to climb back into the carriage.

    He heard an old man¡¯s voice from behind him, ¡°Young Master, please have pity. Pity this old beggar and give him some hot food.¡±

    Su Chen turned his head and saw a trembling old beggar with a foul scent walking towards him. A broken bowl was grasped in his hand.

    That old man didn¡¯t stand far away from Su Chen and extended his broken bowl toward Su Chen. His appearance was pitiful, and his eyes were full of emptiness and despair.

    Su Chen sized up the old man, and said, ¡°I don¡¯t know who you are, but I do know that you aren¡¯t a beggar.¡±

    The old man nkly stared, ¡°What does young master mean?¡±

    Su Chen said with a clear voice, ¡°It¡¯s heavily snowing right now. True beggars would know that if the weather is too cold, pedestrians would be few and far between. Even if you were lucky enough toe across pedestrians, who would stop in the middle of a cold journey to give alms? To try and beg at this time would only result in you freezing without anything to show for it. It¡¯s just the wrong time to beg. Moreover, this is Han River Street, the main road of Northface City. In order to prevent traffic obstruction, the city lord has prohibited begging on this road. If beggars do appear here, then the guards would immediately chase them away, beat them up, or even capture them. No beggar would appear at this location. Furthermore, you... Although your clothes are worn and filthy, the tears on your clothes are very clean, showing that your clothes haven¡¯t been damaged for long. In addition, the stink on your body is incorrect as well. The scent of a beggar¡¯s stink is one of long decay. It is unlike your scent, which is like that of a sewer gutter. Then there are also your hands. Although your body is filthy, your fingernails are very clean. This is also incorrect!¡±

    After Su Chen finished saying this, he looked at the old man, ¡°Thus, although I don¡¯t know who you are, I am certain you are not a beggar!¡±

    After the old man heard this, he threw his head back in augh, ¡°Hahahaha! An impressive youngster! You have some exceptionally observant eyes and an incredible mind for analysis. It is just a pity your age is too young and your experience is a bitcking and as such, you are still naive. You understand neither how to hide your own weak points nor the value of a low profile. But this doesn¡¯t matter anymore because you¡¯vee across me. Now that you¡¯vee across me, you wille to learn all of this. Meeting me is your misfortune, for I will bring you suffering. Meeting me is also your fortune, for I will give you a future with unlimited possibilities... Now let me change your eyes. They will let you see much more, see the true appearance of this world!¡±

    With that said, the beggar raised his hand.

    Before Su Chen could blink, two cold spikes had already entered his eyes.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 2: Never Giving Up 1

    Chapter 2: Never Giving Up (1)

    The seasons passed, and summer came with a vengeance. On a scorching midsummer day, a group of youths were practicing martial skills in the Su n Main Courtyard¡¯s martial practice yard. They would asionally give vent to roars as they practiced in high spirits.

    ¡°Hei!¡±

    With a strong puff of an exhaled breath, a palm struck the stone pir, breaking it in a single strike.

    ¡°Good!¡± Cheers erupted from the martial practice yard.

    ¡°The Second Young Master is great!¡±

    ¡°It seems in a few days, he will enter the fifthyer of Body Tempering.¡±

    ¡°When that momentes, he will be number one among our Su n¡¯s third generation.¡±

    The target of praise was a thirteen year old youth. Although he was still young, he had a sturdy and powerful build.

    One of the Su n¡¯s third generation children, his name was Su Qing. Specifically, he was the child of the Su n¡¯s second elder, Su Keji. 1

    Su Qing was obviously enjoying the praises that were beinguded on him by the servants. Even if they weren¡¯tpletely true, it didn¡¯t stop Su Qing from feeling good about himself.

    But then again, there was always that one inconsiderate idiot.

    The voice of a young servant piped up, ¡°Fourth Young Master has already reached the fifthyer of Body Tempering a few days ago.¡±

    Silence fell. Su Qing¡¯s face sunk.

    Everyone present had suddenly quieted at the words.

    After a moment, a somewhat quick-witted servant scolded the foolish servant, ¡°What kind of nonsense is that? How could a blind child like himpare with the Second Young Master?¡±

    The young servant didn¡¯t dare retaliate but he still persisted, ¡°But he¡¯s still at the fifthyer of Body Tempering.¡±

    His mood souring, Su Qing wasn¡¯t willing to continue listening and stalked off, his chin jutting out stubbornly.

    The group of servants behind them mutually nced at each other and turned toward the young servant in unison beating him up thoroughly. Only after he was bloody and battered did they relent, leaving behind curses as they went after their master.

    To his credit, the young servant was a stubborn thing. He didn¡¯t utter a word when he was being beaten, just cradled his head to protect himself. After the group of servants left, he mbered to his feed and dusted himself off, spitting in the direction of the group. He wasn¡¯t a follower of the Second Young Master, just a part time worker at the martial practice yard. He just minded his own business then, taking care of the martial practice yard.

    Just as he took a few shaky steps out of the yard, he noticed someone standing nearby under arge tree.

    ¡°Fourth Young Master?¡± The young servant was bbergasted.

    Su Chen was quietly standing underneath the tree, wearing a long white jacket that fluttered with the wind. Although he was a youth only little older than twelve, there was an indescribable air of elegance around him. Though his eyes appeared no different from anybody else¡¯s, they were dull and spiritless,cking even the slightest of movement.

    Hearing the young servant¡¯s words, Su Chen faintly smiled, ¡°Mingshu, you were being stubborn again.¡±

    The young servant smiled, ¡°So Young Master had heard me. This one was unconvinced on your behalf and spoke a few words out of turn.¡±

    (TL Note:Mingshu is addressing the young master with a respectful pronoun Äú n¨ªn as opposed to the informal Äã n¨«)

    ¡°What meaning is there to argue for me? You were beaten to the floor in vain.¡±

    Mingshu scratched his head, ¡°I couldn¡¯t bear hearing their drivel. It is obvious that Fourth Young Master is number one among the Su n¡¯s third generation but they insisted that it was Second Young Master.¡±

    ¡°If he wants to be first, let him. It is nothing worth fighting over.¡± Su Chen indifferently answered. ¡°I am but a blind child. Even if I have reached the fifthyer of Body Tempering, I am still blind.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s words hung in the air as he turned and walked into the martial practice yard.

    Mingshu nkly looked at Su Chen from behind.

    Previously, the Fourth Young Master was high spirited, glowing with vigor, and filled with self-confidence.

    However, after that happened ten months ago, he hadpletely changed.

    An old beggar that came from nowhere blinded the Fourth Young Master. From then on, the Fourth Young Master could only see endless darkness. At that time, the Fourth Young Master had sunk into an inescapable whirlpool of suffering. But soon after, he quickly rose above his suffering and continued on his own path of the Martial Dao. Even with blinded eyes, he didn¡¯t give up. Instead, he progressed even faster and within several months, he entered the fifthyer of Body Tempering.

    Thus, from seeing the Fourth Young Master¡¯s perseverance and diligence, Mingshu developed a sincere admiration towards him.

    This was probably the reason why he spoke those words when Su Qing¡¯sckeys were shamelessly licking their master¡¯s boots. Despite being beaten for those words, Mingshu still felt it was worth it.

    Su Chen, already standing in the martial practice yard, said, ¡°Mingshu, are you busy? Could youe and lend me a hand for a moment?¡±

    ¡°Ei!¡± Mingshu had just recalled that Su Chen couldn¡¯t see and hastily ran over, bringing over a pair of heavy stone dumbbells for him. ¡°Here, Fourth Young Master. Please be careful... Fourth Young Master, how are you by yourself? Do you need a servant?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m already familiar with this ce. I¡¯ll be fine by myself. I¡¯vee here to temper my body, not to be waited upon. If servants were toe, it would actually be worse.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he was already lifting the stone dumbbells and had started his practice for the day.

    Sweat trickled down from his forehead underneath the dazzling, brilliant sunlight.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Finishing his exercise for the day, Su Chen returned to his own courtyard.

    His maid took off his clothes and another servant heated water for him.

    He sat down in the heated bath and felt the warm water wash away his exhaustion. He let out a long breath, and let his mind wander. Su Chen recalled the scene when that old beggar struck his eyes with those two cold stars.

    That bitter experience ten months ago had left Su Chenpletely blind.

    When he woke up from that attack, he could only feel unspeakable pain from his eyes.

    But what was worse than that incredible pain, was the great fear that the eternal darkness brought.

    When he had realized he was blind, Su Chen had nearly gone mad.

    Despite the Su n sending for ten ¡°Famous Doctors¡± and ¡°Divine Doctors¡±, not a single one could restore Su Chen¡¯s sight.

    Su Cheng¡¯an, Su Chen¡¯s father, was furious. He scoured the city to find this old beggar. However, his search waspletely fruitless. That old beggar couldn¡¯t be found and Su Chen¡¯s eyes were dered to bepletely blinded. He was incapable of seeing anything; he wasn¡¯t even capable of perceiving light.

    Su Chen had thenpletely given into despair.

    That was the most painful moment of Su Chen¡¯s life. No matter how his familyforted and consoled him, he was unable to break away from the fear and anger brought forth by the darkness.

    Su Chen spent every day of that time wailing from the unbearable pain, or running amok as he smashed everything he could get his hands on.

    This continued for three months before his state began gradually improving.

    Perhaps because he had grown ustomed to the darkness, or perhaps because he had realized no matter how crazed he acted, his misfortunate was an unchangeable, established fact, Su Chen eventually grew clear-headed.

    He no longer disyed madness and sunk into a long period of silence.

    This scene caused Su Chen¡¯s mother, Tang Hongrui to be even more worried, as she feared that her son wouldmit suicide.

    But in the end, Su Chen did no such thing.

    Then one morning, he said, ¡°I want to cultivate.¡±

    Yes, from that day on, he tread once more on the path of martial cultivation as a son of the Su n.

    This astonished very many people in the n. They could not understand what in the end could have caused Su Chen to pull himself together so quickly. But in any case, it was a happy asion.

    At the time, nobody had expected Su Chen to have any sess on the path of martial cultivation. Even if a blind person rushed through Body Tempering, how could he possibly enter the Qi Absorption stage?

    At the time, the Su n members felt sincere happiness from Su Chen¡¯s rity of mind.

    At the same time, they were truly deeply concerned for Su Chen and wanted to protect him.

    That feelingsted precisely three months.

    After three months, Su Chen entered the fifthyer of Body Tempering.

    Although he was blind, he still appeared to be the most outstanding child of the Su n¡¯s third generation.

    A feeling of unease began to sprout among some members of the Su n.

    One of the ones most affected was Su Qing.

    The Second Young Master has fallen into low spirits. Could he not even beat a blind person?

    Su Chen, properly act like the blind person you are! It is fine if you act weak. We will take care of you! Cherish you! Isn¡¯t this enough? Why did your mind grow clear? Why must you diligently cultivate? Why do you still stubbornly progress at shocking speed? Even if you are number one amongst the third generation, what would be of it? Do you truly believe you are able to win over someone who can see?

    You¡¯re just a blind kid!

    Without a doubt, those were the thoughts hidden deep in Su Qing¡¯s heart.

    It was likely the a few other children of the third generation also held these thoughts.

    Su Chen was able to perceive their thoughts, but it was impossible for him to give up.

    The words of the old beggar echoed through his mind, ¡°It is your fortune to have met me because I will give you a future with unlimited possibilities... Let me exchange your eyes. It will let you to see much more, see the true appearance of this world!¡±

    ¡°Let me exchange your eyes... Let me exchange your eyes...¡±

    As Su Chen quietly muttered this, a spect of radiant light appeared in his dull, spiritless eyes.

    Within that unending, limitless darkness, those words were like a candle me in the dark night, igniting the light of hope in Su Chen¡¯s heart and bing the source of his will to never give up!

    1. Keji literally means discipline or self-restraint.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 3: Never Giving Up 2

    Chapter 3: Never Giving Up (2)

    Su Chen slowly lifted the stone dumbbells, alternating between his left and right arms. He turned his body and formed a strange posture. Then he raised his right arm...

    In the martial practice yard, Su Chen was holding stone dumbbells in his hand and performing the Eight Methods of Body Tempering and the Basic Absorption technique.

    The Eight Methods of Body Tempering was the mostmon Body Tempering technique amongst human ns. It could be considered the very foundation of Martial Dao Cultivation. The Basic Absorption Technique was a method to absorb energy to strengthen the body. With the twobined, one could simultaneously strengthen the body and establish one¡¯s future foundation to be an Origin Qi Schr.

    As Su Chen was practicing, he heard footsteps from behind him.

    ¡°Father?¡± Su Chen stopped the stone dumbbells in his hands and turned his head.

    He heard Su Cheng¡¯an speak, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say before that my footsteps sound very simr to your Third Uncle, and that it was hard to tell them apart? How were you so certain it was me this time?¡±

    Su Chen answered, ¡°While Father¡¯s and Third Uncle¡¯s footsteps are very simr, Third Uncle practices the Brilliant Day Sword. It is now noon, when the Yang Qi is at its greatest concentration. As such, Third Uncle should now be cultivating and wouldn¡¯t easilye out. Thus, it could only be Father.¡±

    Hearing this, Su Cheng¡¯an couldn¡¯t help but sigh inwardly.

    The ancestors had blessed him with an intelligent son. But the Heavens were jealous and had Su Chen encounter misfortune.

    Even trapped in darkness, Su Chen hadn¡¯t given up on himself. This caused Su Cheng¡¯an to feel both happy and uneasy. With a conflicted heart, he didn¡¯t know what he should say.

    Finally Su Chen broke the silence, ¡°Father, why did youe find me?¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯anposed himself and said, ¡°Follow me. I want to speak to you about a few things.¡±

    Departing from the martial practice yard with his son, Su Cheng¡¯an arrived at a pavilion and took a seat.

    Su Cheng¡¯an didn¡¯t talk about the main subject right off the bat. Instead, he first asked his son about his experiences andprehensions from training. In return, Su Chen gave him a thorough and detailed answer.

    ¡°In three years, you are certain that you will enter Qi Drawing Realm? Not bad, Not bad at all.¡± Su Cheng¡¯an repeatedly nodded his head.

    The Qi Drawing Realm was the first of the seven stages of an Origin Schr. Only after entering Qi Drawing Realm could one be considered a true Origin Qi Schr. As for Body Tempering, it was only in the realm of martial arts and wasn¡¯t considered to be of the seven Origin Qi Schr stages.

    Although Su Cheng¡¯an spoke praises, his face wasn¡¯t the slightest bit happy.

    He looked at his son with a gaze that spoke of profound sorrow.

    After a long while, he said, ¡°Chen¡¯er, You are incredible. So incredible that you surprise even me. Although fate has struck you down, you didn¡¯t wallow in despair. Instead, you strove hard and managed to make your way back up again. But this father of yours is useless. Back then, I hadn¡¯t assigned anyone to protect you, and even after I couldn¡¯t find any medicine gods to cure you. I haven¡¯t even found that assassin.¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°Father, there is no need for all this. In this past year, Father and Mother have greatly suffered for me. Although this child cannot see, he can feel it in his heart.¡±

    Hearing those words, Su Cheng¡¯an sighed, ¡°It is good you understand. Last night, your Second Uncle came to find me... regarding the end of year evaluation.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s fingers tightened around the teacup he was holding.

    He said, ¡°He wants me to withdraw from the end of year evaluation?¡±

    The Primordial Continent was a chaotic world. Demonic beasts upied over sixty percent of thendmass, and what remained was fought over by several tens of intelligent races. The human race was but one of those several tens. In a world where one was constantly surrounded by enemies in waiting, military strength was the onlyw that mattered. Thus, the Primordial Continent had be one that revered martial prowess. A race¡¯s martial ability was the only indicator of their prestige and status.

    In order to encourage the children ofter generations to improve themselves, the great ns each had a n rule to host an end of year evaluation to test children of theter generation and see whose cultivation was the most powerful.

    As time passed, this method to promote friendlypetition and development became tradition. Regardless of whether it was a n that dated back years or a burgeoning n, if they had the resources to, they would hold a simr evaluation. At the most, they would simply change a few details on how the tradition was carried out.

    The evaluation was simple, just testing a child¡¯s strength much like an exam. The reason why most ns didn¡¯t use martial exchange as a test was because of how easily it would lead to injuries and cause internal strife. While internalpetition was a good thing, internal strife was disastrous.

    Thus, the great majority of ns evaluation method was a formalparison of strength instead of a martial exchange. One¡¯s grade would be determined by the strength of one¡¯s technique.

    The Su n used this same method.

    At the end of every year, the children of the Su n¡¯s third generation would undergo a formalparison to evaluate each child¡¯s strength.

    In previous examinations, Su Chen had always been the unquestioned champion.

    After Su Chen was blinded, many believed Su Chen was already doomed to give into despair.

    But who would have thought that after a few months of depression, Su Chen would spring forth with even faster progress.

    He was still the most remarkable child of the third generation.

    That was to say, if nothing unexpected urred in this year¡¯s evaluation, it was likely to be Su Chen¡¯s victory once more.

    This caused many people to feel uneasy.

    With regards to the children of the third generation, losing to a blind person was simply a question of losing face.

    But for the elders of the second generation, there was a more practical matter at stake. The champion of every year would have more resources allocated to them from the Su n.

    To have the strong be stronger was the usual practice for many ns!

    In this world where the limits of one¡¯s martial power could be broken through over and over again, one genuinely strong person was often more useful than arge group of weaklings!

    In the pavilion, Su Cheng¡¯an nodded with a heavyplexion, ¡°Chen¡¯er, you were originally the most outstanding child of our Su n. If nothing unexpected had urred, you would have been the future leader of the Su n. Regardless of whether it was your grandfather, your second uncle, your third uncle, your fourth aunt or any other of your branch elders, this was how they all saw it.¡±

    ¡°But unfortunately, I encountered mishap,¡± Su Chen interrupted, ¡° I can no longer see. Thus, even if I have a greater cultivation, I may not be able to win against an opponent of the Third Layer of Body Tempering. Thus, I no longer have the qualification to lead the n.¡±

    His calm tone waspletely unlike that of a thirteen year old child.

    Su Cheng¡¯an sighed again, ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Which is why Second Uncle felt that any resources given to me would be a waste?¡±

    ¡°...Yes.¡±

    Su Chen was extremely intelligent. Intelligent to the point where he hadpletely understood the generalities of the situation without an exnation.

    This caused Su Cheng¡¯an to feel rxed, but he then felt restless afterwards.

    ¡°And it just so happens that my other brothers don¡¯t believe they are able to win against me?¡± Su Chen further asked, revealing a slight smile.

    This was the key question.

    Su Chen¡¯s excellence was the target of much admiration and praise. But when crucial interests were involved, that way of thinking naturally changed.

    Su Chen was blind!

    A blind child couldn¡¯t necessarily make use of those resources they would be allocated.

    Su Cheng¡¯an looked at his son, ¡°Yesterday Keji and I spoke for a long time. It wasn¡¯t just for his own child. The Su n¡¯s foundations are still shallow, shallow to the point where we absolutely require an outstanding junior to support the n. As a result, he wished that the Su n could produce a child capable of bing a disciple of the Hidden Dragon Institution. He originally supported you. But now that you¡¯re blind...¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an didn¡¯t finish his seentence. He only looked at Su Chen.

    If Su Keji was only acting of behalf of Su Qing, Su Cheng¡¯an absolutely wouldn¡¯t agree to the request of his second younger brother.

    However, Su Keji had repeatedly imed that this was for the Su n. With such honest reasons behind his arguments, Su Cheng¡¯an was unable to respond.

    To be honest, Su Cheng¡¯an personally felt that since Su Chen¡¯s future no longer held hope, he should give up as well.

    However, Su Chen was unwilling.

    He believed he would be able to recover. That old beggar had said so, his eyes had been exchanged.

    Originally, Su Cheng¡¯an was also confident.

    But after two years, Su Chen¡¯s eyes hadn¡¯t improved in the slightest.

    Su Cheng¡¯an had no choice but to believe that this was only a hallucination born from when Su Chen was in a stupor or some mere rubbish that the old beggar had said.

    After a year, while Su Chen hadn¡¯t given up, Su Cheng¡¯an had already resigned himself to face the reality in front of him.

    Thus, he went to find Su Chen today and console him.

    Su Chen was silent.

    After a long while, he said, ¡°Is Father¡¯s visit a forced ejection or kindly worded advice?¡±

    ¡°Naturally, it is kindly worded advice.¡± Su Cheng¡¯an firmly said. ¡°You are my son, and you haven¡¯t made a single mistake. Regardless of your choice, your father will support you.¡±

    ¡°That is good!¡± Su Chen nodded his head. ¡°Help me pass on a message to Second Uncle. If they want something, then they should strive hard to acquire it. Wanting me to give up... is absolutely impossible!¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Bang!

    The Sky Azure Vase painted with proud snow cold plums flew across the room, shattering into pieces as it crashed into the floor.

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t know when to quit!¡± Su Keji loudly cursed as he stalked around the room in a rage, ¡° Who does he think I¡¯m doing this for? Am I not doing this for the n!? Su Chen is BLIND! What use is it for him to be stronger? Can he ever be a match for Qing¡¯er? He¡¯s doomed to lose from the second he steps intobat, and he still stubbornly refuses to let go! How selfish! How avaricious! Cold and ruthless even to his own n!¡±

    Si Keji loudly vented his rage.

    Tong Ruzheng wordlessly stood to the side and calmly waited for Su Keji¡¯s rage to subside. He clearly understood his lord¡¯s temperament. If he was prevented from venting, no one¡¯s words would get through to him.

    After a moment more of yelling, Su Keji stopped, ¡°Martial Elder Tong, what do you think?¡±

    Despite already having an answer in mind, Tong Ruzheng assumed a contemtive posture for a moment. Then he unhurriedly said, ¡°For this matter... To tell the truth, the problem lies with the Su n¡¯s evaluation system.

    Su Keji nodded his head, ¡°Yes. We can only perform formalparisons, not martial battles. In truth, it doesn¡¯tpletely reflect an individual¡¯s power. A fight also requires experience, perception, and reactions. Other races use battle as their standard. Demon beasts for one, the Fiend Race too. They certainly don¡¯t merely determine victory byparing the power of empty moves. Only a battle will speak true!¡±

    Martial Elder Tong calmly continued, ¡°Since it is like that, why don¡¯t you change the evaluation system?¡±

    ¡°Ai! That won¡¯t do, that won¡¯t do at all.¡± Su Keji waved his hand. ¡°Formalparison was something my lord grandfather established, fearing that mishap would ur from martial battles and lead to strife between brothers. Lord Grandfather¡¯s misgivings weren¡¯t without reason either. There have already been a few great ns that have fallen because they did not properly address their internal strife.

    ¡°Then don¡¯t use weapons and have a specialist watch over them. The odds of an ident would be much smaller. Besides, formalparisons were previously used because they felt they could select outstanding children with this method. But now with these unusual circumstances, .. Su Chen¡¯s circumstances, obviously the system has revealed a few ws.¡± Martial Elder Tong said meaningfully.

    Su Keji was startled.

    Martial Elder Tong wasn¡¯t wrong. The n had previously approved of formalparison because this method had been sufficient to resolve any disputes.

    But now, the system itself was being abused. A person clearly not suitable for battle had continued to temper his body and had be first among the younger generation. It clearly illustrated the ws within the formalparison system.

    If a system had ws, then it should be changed!

    With this thought, Su Keji said, ¡°Right. I should propose this to father and drop this wed system of formalparison. However, changing the system, isn¡¯t such an easy matter.¡±

    After this was said, Su Keji was a bit tired.

    Regardless of whether it was for a country, nationality, or family n, a change to a system was a heavy matter.

    When a rule was established, they weren¡¯t easily changed. Frequent changes in rules would only bring confusion, and cause the system¡¯s authority to be taken lightly.

    Furthermore, every change would inevitably bring harm to those with a vested interest in the status quo, and those people would be certain to resist.

    This time was the same.

    Su Cheng¡¯an was the eldest son of the Su n and had the most influential position in the Su n. With him around, this change wouldn¡¯t easily pass.

    Furthermore, there was the Third Elder, Su Feihu [1]. He was very fond of Su Chen, and his son and daughter were still young. Whether the system changed or not, it would have no effect on them. Thus, Su Keji was certain his desire to change the system wouldn¡¯t be so easily approved.

    On the other hand, there were several branch elders that would fight for this. But even with that, his hopes weren¡¯t high.

    Martial Senior Tong leisurely said, ¡°That is why you must think of other methods. This old man has an idea in mind of how you may be able to change Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s attitude. However, it will be a bit slow. It won¡¯t likelye into effect until next year.¡±

    ¡°Another method? If it is effective, then there will be no harm in giving that brat another year of pride to strut around.¡± Su Keji said.

    ¡°Have Su Cheng¡¯an give birth to another son.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 04: Never Giving Up 3

    Chapter 04: Never Giving Up (3)

    A lively cheer could be heard from outside the walls of the Su Residence.

    Drum beats sounded out like rain and struck at the heart, shaking the souls of those who heard them.

    ¡°Jianxin, what¡¯s going on outside?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Jianxin ran out and asked around. After a short moment he returned, ¡°The Master has taken in a fourth concubine.¡±

    After thinking for a moment, he added on, ¡°In less than one year, he had already taken in three concubines.¡±

    Really?

    Su Chen smiled bitterly deep in his heart.

    Though this was a very happy day for his father, Su Chen truly had no reason to be happy at all.

    After a moment of silence, Su Chen asked, ¡°Which n did this young womane from?¡±

    ¡°Spring Moon Building¡¯s Yan Wushuang is a young woman that is said to be an outstanding beauty of many talents [1]. There are an unknown number of handsome and aplished youths in Northface City that are fond of her. Surprisingly, she fancied the Great Master. I heard that this time, she was already pregnant before their marriage. It seems Fourth Young Master will soon have two little brothers or sisters.¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an had married three concubines within a single year. In addition, the second concubine had already given birth to a daughter not long ago, who Su Cheng¡¯an was deeply fond of. The Third Concubine is pregnant and will be giving birth in two months. As for this concubine, it was even better; she was already pregnant by the time they got married.

    Ever since his son was blinded, the Su n¡¯s Great Master had obviously been quite hard at work outside. Su Cheng¡¯an had been greatly pressured in thisst year, and with additional encouragement from Su Keji, he may have held some intention to seize the opportunity to make up for his loss.

    Although he could not see through Su Keji¡¯s n Su Chen still felt a crisis hidden underneath this tranquil surface. After new sons were born, would Su Cheng¡¯an still be as supportive of him as before?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know.

    he was incapable of knowing what would happen in the long run.

    He did not have to wait long to find out.

    Two months after Su Cheng¡¯an married his fourth wife, the third concubine gave birth.

    It was arge healthy son.

    Su Chang¡¯an named him Su Ming.

    It could be considered something that Su Chen had been anticipating.

    That day the Su Residence was filled with the noise of firecrackers. Cymbals and drums rang out. It was a lively scene to behold.

    That night, Su Keji went to find his elder brother bearing great gifts.

    He had a long chat with him.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Waking up one early morning, Su Chen washed his face and began his day. He sat down in the courtyard and listened to the world sing. He heard the whistling of wind, the rustling of leaves moving in concert. He heard the birds singing from the trees, gravel scraping across the floor, and ants carrying food. His excellent sense of hearing allowed him to not only perceive sounds that others couldn¡¯t, but also clearly distinguish between them.

    ¡°Father?¡± Su Chen tilted his head and turned to face behind him.

    ¡°It is early morning.Your Third Uncle is not yet busy practicing his his Glorious Day Sword. How did you know it was me?¡± Su Cheng¡¯an walked out from behind Su Chen.

    ¡°In the end, almost simr is still only simr.¡± Su Chen faintly smiled. ¡°I can already make out the difference.¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an silently looked at his own son.

    Su Chen truly was outstanding. Even after experiencing such a setback , he remained diligent and hadn¡¯t given up on cultivating. Su Cheng¡¯an should feel pleased to have such a son, but when he thought of the reason why he came here, his heart slightly sunk.

    In that moment, he no longer felt pleased, but was agitated instead.

    Would it have been better... if you weren¡¯t such an excellent child?

    Su Chen started, ¡°Father hasn¡¯te to see me in some time. There should be a reason behind your visit today, no?¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an sat down on a stone bench in the courtyard, ¡°Yesterday, your Second Uncle went to find me.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s heart sunk.

    Su Keji had gone to see his elder brother. This was nothing strange. However, for Su Chen¡¯s father to then personally visit him, it was most likely the same matter asst time.

    The most important matter was the serious manner in which he announced his purpose. If his father had rejected Su Keji, then he most likely wouldn¡¯t havee to see him now. All things considered, things were not looking good.

    Su Chen¡¯s mind surged but he still appeared calm and collected.

    He had been blind for two years now, and his heart had be far more steady than before. He had started to learn how to bury matters deep within his heart.

    Su Chen said, ¡°For what did Second Unclee to see Father?¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an replied, ¡°He still wanted to advise you to renounce the n¡¯s end of year evaluation.¡±

    ¡°Father didn¡¯t give him an answer?¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an paused for a moment,before continuing , ¡°He promised me that if I were to agree to change the system, he would give Su Lin¡¯s Three Pool Spring baptism to me.¡±

    The Three Pool Spring was sole Origin Qi Springs in Northface City. It gathered Origin Energy and when one was baptised in it, it would increase the person¡¯s perception of Origin Qi. However, it was only effective on children three years or younger.

    The Three Pool Spring was controlled by the Northface City Lord, Yue Weixiong. Because he only allowed three uses of it each year to external parties, it would attract much contest between ns. Su Cheng¡¯an was the n head¡¯s eldest son, so he was able fight for a spot for Su Chen to be baptized in the Three Pool Spring. Aside from Su Chen¡¯s great diligence and the n¡¯s resources, it was one of the reasons why Su Chen cultivated so quickly.

    But because he had already obtained a baptism for Su Chen, Su Cheng¡¯an found it very difficult to fight for an opportunity for his second son. After all, The Su n was extensive andrge and there were no small amount of disciples in the third generation. If the benefits only went to Su Cheng¡¯an, the others would certainly be unwilling.

    Su Keji had a new sonst year named Su Lin. Due to his seniority and influence, Su Keji was able to fight for a slot for the Three Pool Spring as it was his turn. In fact, there were those who suspected Su Keji had timed the birth of his child with the next opportunity the Su n had to use the Three Pool Spring.

    Although Su Lin had a good name, his natural constitution wasn¡¯t anything special and his future prospects were quite limited.. But this didn¡¯t stop Su Keji from fighting for the opportunity. However, he had used it for an exchange instead.

    When Su Chen was blinded, Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s hopes for an heir were destroyed. Naturally, he desired a new, healthy son.

    ¡°As a result, Father wishes to fight for this slot for Little Brother Ming?¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an replied, ¡°It isn¡¯t for Su Ming.¡±

    Su Chen was stunned.

    Su Cheng¡¯an said, ¡°Upstream Wind Hall¡¯s Doctor Yuan examined your fourth mother¡¯s pregnancy a few days ago. It¡¯s a boy.¡±

    Rtionships would inevitably grow close or distant.

    Su Cheng¡¯an was very fond of his new fourth concubine and was deeply involved with her, so much so that he fought for the Three Pool baptism slot for his unborn child.

    This was Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s decision. Even if Su Chen didn¡¯t agree, it didn¡¯t matter.

    Su Chen heard Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s words, but did not respond. .

    Su Chen was still young and was three months away from his next birthday.

    But despite his young age, his mind had already begun to mature. This was not the first time he encountered this problem. Last year¡¯s experience was deeply ingrained within him, and he had already prepared his heart.

    In this world of darkness, he was determined to guard that bit of light that still remained. . At times, it wasn¡¯t an easy matter and even required a few slightly unusual methods.

    Su Chen was silent.

    After a long while, he said, ¡°Truthfully Father, there is something that I have been hiding from you.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°My eyesight is currently recovering.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Su Cheng¡¯an stood there for a moment, before grabbing his son.

    If Su Chen was able to recover, that would be the best news.

    Although Su Cheng¡¯an was fond of Su Ming and that unborn child, he clearly understood that Su Chen held the greatest talent of all the children in the Su n. Rather than spending great strength to cultivate an unknown, unborn child, it was far wiser to spend that effort to aid a child who was already incredible.

    In this world where strength was king, this was well understood. Why else would Su Keji be willing to abandon the Three Pool Baptism he had obtained for Su Lin? It was because, regardless of Su Lin¡¯s poor natural constitution, his talent might not prove to be better than that of his eldest child, Su Qing, even with the baptism. After all, there were too many variables to a person¡¯s growth. Just look at Su Chen.

    Evading risk was something every person understood and the best way to control risk was to decorate an already blooming flower instead of nting charcoal in snow and hoping for a good harvest.

    Thus, if Su Chen was truly able to recover his sight, Su Cheng¡¯an wouldn¡¯t have any reason to abandon him.

    ¡°Is what you¡¯re saying true? Why didn¡¯t you say this earlier?¡± Su Cheng¡¯an asked again.

    Su Chen answered, ¡°I can only see a bit indistinctly. I thought I would wait until for it to improve further to give Father a pleasant surprise.¡±

    ¡°Being able to recover is a great matter!¡± Su Cheng¡¯an said with great happiness.

    Two years before, Su Chen couldn¡¯t see the slightest bit of light and his world was naught but endless ck.

    Perhaps Su Chen didn¡¯t speak incorrectly and he could truly recover.

    Su Chen said, ¡°However, to recoverpletely I will likely need one or two more years.¡±

    ¡°You still need one or two more years?¡± Su Cheng¡¯an muttered to himself for a moment before nodding his head. ¡°That is of no matter.So long as you are able to recover in two years, it still wouldn¡¯t be toote.¡±

    ¡°Then that matter with Second Uncle...¡±

    ¡°I will go back and refuse him.¡± Su Cheng¡¯an firmly said.

    After walking a few steps, Su Cheng¡¯an stopped.

    He then waved his left hand at Su Chen.

    Su Chen smiled and said, ¡°Are you waving your hand? Father, I can only see a vague image. I am not certain.¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an exhaled, ¡°You should properly rest.¡±

    He turned around and left.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 5: Lie

    Chapter 5: Lie

    News that Su Chen¡¯s vision was recovering spread through the Su n¡¯s Main Courtyard like a hurricane.

    Everyone spread the news, and the entire Su n red to life in excitement.

    There were those who were happy and those who were frustrated.

    Originally, after he was blinded, his Dustsift Courtyard was seldom visited; now, it was bustling with activity. Even the Venerable Su n Head, Su Changche hade to personally see his grandson. He grasped Su Chen¡¯s hand and said some rare words of affection. Then the Su n elders came by to see him one by one. At the end, his cousins did as well.

    Su Keji personally visited Su Chen, bringing gifts. He said many words of pleasantry and cheered Su Chen, saying, ¡°When I found out Chen¡¯er¡¯s vision had somewhat recovered, I was greatly pleased. Tonight I will drink many cups of wine in your name.¡±

    When Su Chen heard this, he helplessly said, ¡°Second Uncle, if you have something to say, then please say it. What are you doing, waving your hand in front of my face like that?¡±

    Su Keji looked to the sky andughed. He patted Su Chen¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°Honorable Nephew should properly recover,¡± before he took his leave. .

    Later that night, Su Chen heard that his Second Uncle had beaten a young servant to death. As the rumour went, the servant wasn¡¯t careful and shattered a bowl, sending Su Keji into a great rage.

    As to the matter of changing the system, it was naturally discarded as Su Cheng¡¯an hadn¡¯t agreed. No matter how Su Keji repeatedly struggled, it was of no use.

    Besides, there was no longer any value in struggling.

    After two months, the great end of yearparison had started.

    To Su Chen¡¯s surprise, he once more ced first, and was personally granted a bottle of ¡°Verdant Wood Essence¡± from his venerable grandfather.

    To the north of Northface City, there is a mountain called Eight Peak Mountain. At the peak of that strange mountain, there is a wondrous tree called Azure Flower Tree. Every year this tree would bloom once and the flowers would possess a miraculous effect. If smeared on one¡¯s body, these flowers improve blood cirction, strengthen the body, fortify one¡¯s core, and nourish the soul. This was the Verdant Wood Essence.

    However, its flowering season onlysted half a month and the flowers were sparse. Every year only three bottles were produced.

    Eight Peak Mountain was a property of the Su n. As a result, the Su n monopolized the Verdant Wood Essence. It could be said the Su n¡¯s sudden rise in power was deeply rted to the Verdant Wood Essence. Every year the Su n would put two bottles on the market and keep one for the use of their own remarkable children.

    In recent years, because Su Chen had always been the leader among the n¡¯s third generation children, the bottles of Verdant Wood Essence had always gone to him. That Su Chen was still able to make progress in his cultivation despite his disability was greatly due to the Verdant Wood Essence. This Verdant Wood Essence was what Su Keji coveted the most.

    Before Su Chen went blind, Su Keji was only envious, but could do nothing. Now that Su Chen was blind, however, he felt that it was a huge waste to give the Verdant Wood Essence to him. He hated that he couldn¡¯t take back the years of benefits used on Su Chen and give them to his own son.

    But there was nothing he could do. In any case, a loss was a loss. When he saw Su Chen once again grasping the bottle, he knew he had lost this opportunity. There were no longer many opportunities remaining.

    Time flew quickly and in the blink of an eye, several months had passed.

    Today, Su Chen was practicing the ming Tiger fist in his yard. This ming Tiger Fist was a martial technique that was passed down by the Su n Ancestors. It was fierce and full of might. In order to further progress and disy more of the fist technique¡¯s might, the Venerable Su n Head, Su Changche, had paid an enormous price for a bottle of zing me Tiger blood spirit medicine, causing him to possess the bloodline of the zing me Tiger. It was with this that he ascended to the Open Yang Stage and became the pir of the Su n.

    Su Chen continually struck the wood covered iron pir in front of him. From time to time, the iron pir would release sounds of a dull boom. Because he had lost his sight, Su Chen had to pay careful attention every one of his movements. He put his full effort into each motion, as if each step was measured a ruler. That is why although he weaved back and forth, he never lost his direction.

    After a moment of striking the iron pir like a tiger descending from a mountain, he heard a boom. The tough woodenyer covering the iron pir had split and only a pir of iron remained. Su Chen¡¯s attack had actually left a slight impression of a fist mark on the iron stake.

    ¡°Good punch!¡± A voice came from behind him.

    Su Chen wore a slight smile on his face, ¡°Third Uncle.¡±

    A person with a grand appearance walked into the yard. Although he was middle aged, he had a graceful and elegant bearing. He was exceptionally eye catching, with a small nted mustache hanging from the corners of his mouth that matched his brilliant eyes.

    He was the Su n¡¯s Third Elder, Su Feihu.

    Of all the people in the Su n, Su Feihu could be considered to have the best rtionship with Su Chen. When Su Chen was blinded, he had personally kidnapped over ten renowned doctors from around Northface City to treat him, causing him to be the target ofint in Northface City for some time. But when the Su n Third Elder behaved this domineeringly, what could others possibly do?

    At this moment, Su Feihu walked in with great strides to Su Chen¡¯s side. He looked at him and said, ¡°It seems it won¡¯t be long before you enter the eightyer. You progress very quickly.¡±

    ¡°Quickly?¡± Su Chen smiled bitterly, , ¡°If anything, I feel like I am too slow. If it weren¡¯t for my eyes, I would¡¯ve already entered the ninthyer of Body Tempering. If not, I would at least be close to it.¡±

    Only he himself understood how great an impact blindness had on him.

    Don¡¯t look at strength with which he had struck the iron pir. . That might was something that was gradually umted from two years of intense practice.

    But in order be capable of even casual movement, he had already paid far too much.

    Su Feihu understood his mood. He put his hand on Su Chen¡¯s shoulder and sighed, ¡°To have achieved this much is already very good. The Su n should be honored to have an heir such as yourself.¡±

    ¡°However, it¡¯s not like they¡¯re going to be generous about it, right?¡± Su Chen replied.

    Su Feihu was stunned, ¡°You already know?¡±

    In a soft and unhurried tone, Su Chen said, ¡°Rumors have already spread. My ears are still quite good... Unfortunately, a blind person like me won¡¯t do. In the end, they can¡¯t wait.¡±

    That¡¯s right. The Su n cannot wait.

    In this past half a year, The Su n had continuously been waiting for Su Chen¡¯s eyesight topletely recover but their wait only resulted in disappointment.

    There were those who became unsatisfied. If he couldn¡¯t recover, then he was nothing more than a genius who met a premature end.

    Su Feihu next words held anger, ¡°Si Keji has been spreading nder. He said that you were lying to everyone and had deceived the n from the very start; that in fact, your eyesight had never recovered at all. A group of old fools in the n were convinced and have actually agreed to his proposal. They want subject you to a sealed hearing test.¡±

    A sealed hearing test meant that they wanted undergo a formal inspection of Su Chen¡¯s eyesight. During that test, Su Chen¡¯s hearing would be sealed, guaranteeing the test¡¯s validity.

    In fact, Su Keji had put forward this suggestion several months ago. However, the Venerable Su n Lord, Su Changche, had personally rejected him.

    Performing the test itself was not difficult. The problem was that doing so would show that the n had no trust in its younger generation. Su Chen wasn¡¯t a degenerate child in the least. In fact, it was because he was so outstanding that the n leader himself refused initially.

    However, after half a year without any news, that previously suppressed voice had appeared once more. This time, Su Changche was unwilling to block it.

    ¡°From what you have said, it seems the n has already decided to perform this test on me?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Yes, they sent me to notify you.¡±

    Pa!

    Su Chen crushed a piece of a tough wood fragment in his hand. His hands trembled.

    After a long breath, he calmed the great waves in his heart and used an iparably tranquil voice to say, ¡°Then I must trouble Third Uncle to return to them and say there is no need for a test.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Su Feihu didn¡¯t understand what he meant.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I really was lying... My eyesight had never recovered.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 6: System Change

    Chapter 6: System Change

    ¡°UNFILIAL SON!¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s thunderous voice rang through the halls.

    ¡°You unfilial son! You actually dared to deceive me!?¡±

    Pa! Su Cheng¡¯an pped his son across the face.

    ¡°What are you doing!¡± Tang Hongrui 1 moved forward to protect her son.

    ¡°You would still protect him!?¡± Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s body trembled with anger as he pointed at Su Chen and yelled, ¡°This unfilial son actually dared to lie to his father! His eyes hadn¡¯t recovered in the slightest!¡±

    ¡°Then what of it?¡± Tang Hongrui rudely replied, ¡°Didn¡¯t Chen¡¯er do so only because you thought to favor the Second Elder¡¯s suggestion of a system change?¡±

    ¡°I was acting in the interest of the n.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Was it not for your fourth concubine?¡± Tang Hongrui looked at Su Cheng¡¯an with an ice cold gaze.

    Ever since Su Cheng¡¯an married his second concubine, the affection between Tang Hongrui and Su Cheng¡¯an had greatly declined.

    Su Cheng¡¯an was stunned but soon recovered, and furiously said, ¡°I wanted another child but you feared it would harm Chen¡¯er and were thus unwilling. Did I have any other choice?¡±

    ¡°Nonsense!¡± Tang Hongrui bluntly spat at her husband¡¯s face, ¡°Did you really need to marry three to fulfill that goal? Clearly you were motivated by lust!¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an blushed and immediately said, ¡°As the child of a great n, to start branches and scatter leaves is a righteous matter. Chen¡¯er is blind and is doomed to have difficulty seeding in the future. As the future n head, my heir must be outstanding and capable. What about this do you not understand?¡±

    Those words were not incorrect.

    More sons would produce more happiness; this was a sentiment shared by all great ns. Their reasoning was quite simple: all it took was one talented, determined individual to lead a n to glory. As long as there was a talented enough descendent, no one cared if a majority of offspring were disappointing.

    As such, when the previous generation selected an heir, they would look at not only their own children, but the children of the third generation as well.

    As the eldest son of the n Chief, session rules dictated that Su Cheng¡¯an would be the future n lord. But if he didn¡¯t have an excellent heir, then that future would nevere to be. After all, no one wished for the Su n to sink into internal strife after Su Cheng¡¯an passed.

    Tang Hong¡¯rui looked at her husband with great resentment, ¡°You talk and talk, but you cannot hide your selfish intent. You only think of yourself.¡±

    ¡°I am only thinking of myself?¡± Su Cheng¡¯an felt iparably wronged, ¡°Who do you think was shielding the boy from the wind and rain these past two years if not I? The second elder had long wanted to change the system. Yet, leading a group of sixty elders, I persisted in preventing it. It was only because of me that he was able to ce first in two evaluations despite being blind!¡± ¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. That was after you heard your son¡¯s eyesight was recovering,¡± Tang Hongrui grimlyughed,¡°But what about now?¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an froze.

    ¡°You cannot continue to persist, correct?¡± Tang Hongrui continued, ¡°Because you¡¯ve discovered there is no more value in continuing to protect your son.¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s face became ashen as he remained silent.

    Tang Hongrui looked at her husband with disappointment, ¡°Su Cheng¡¯an, I see through you. You are but a selfish scoundrel who measures his own son based on how useful he is to you. If he can be used, you will take care of him and protect him from wind and rain. But if there is nothing to gain, you will immediately abandon him.¡±

    ¡°When have I ever abandoned him?¡± Su Cheng¡¯an could only feel extremely vexed. Did he not only p his son once? This animal lied to his father. Should he not discipline him? And when did he say anything about abandoning him or driving him away? Besides, he is truly unfit to be a warrior...

    However, he didn¡¯t finish that thought. He only looked at his own son.

    He said, ¡°Chen¡¯er, tell me, why have you not given up until now?¡±

    ¡°Because I am convinced I will recover.¡± Su Chen replied, ¡°That beggar said that he exchanged my eyes, not destroyed them. He told me he could give me a future with limitless possibilities. This means, that I could possibly recover.¡±

    ¡°YOU LIED TO ME BECAUSE OF THE RAMBLINGS OF A BEGGAR?¡± Su Cheng¡¯an roared, unable to control himself.

    Su Cheng¡¯an was familiar with these words. During Su Chen¡¯s depression, he and Tang Hongrui had even used these words tofort him. At the time, Su Cheng¡¯an also shared the hope that sustained Su Chen now.

    But two years had passed and Su Chen¡¯s eyes were the same as before. What future of unlimited possibility?

    It was simply nonsense!

    Everything was a lie, aplete lie!

    Su Cheng¡¯an had already given up on this idea. Only Su Chen and Tong Hongrui still believed that recovery was possible.

    ¡°Chen¡¯er. You clearly understand that it is only an impractical dream. How could you believe the words of the one who harmed you? You need to face the truth and abandon your unrealistic delusion!¡± Su Cheng¡¯an said sincerely and earnestly.

    ¡°And what then?¡± Su Chen faintly smiled, ¡°So long as I give up, you would be able to righteously abandon me with confidence, yes?¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s heart was shaken. Su Chen quietly exposed the selfish calctions that he had buried in the depths of his heart. He felt a chill of terror momentarily wash over him.

    How is this possible? He is only fourteen years old but he can already clearly understand the hearts of men?

    But that terror quickly changed to indignant anger.

    He buried his guilt beneath this anger as he assumed an air of righteous punishment..

    Su Cheng¡¯an loudly roared, ¡°HOW IMPUDENT! How could you say those things to your father?¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t say anything. He only ¡°looked¡± at his father.

    Although his eyes were blind, they appeared no different from normal. His eyes, his gaze, both were bright and meaningful.

    The intelligence and meaning contained in Su Chen¡¯s eyes only served to further unnerve Su Cheng¡¯an.

    He tried to calm himself. He mustered every bit of self control he had in a bid to steel his heart, but failed. He could not meet his son¡¯s gaze, and turned away in shame.

    Su Chen then said, ¡°Father, could you tell me what I did wrong in the end?¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an went silent.

    After a long while, he replied, ¡°You didn¡¯t do anything wrong. You have always been a good child.¡±

    ¡°Then why can¡¯t you support my diligence, instead of continuing with your current ns?¡± Su Chen again asked.

    Su Cheng¡¯an replied, ¡°There is no sin in forging onward but you are standing in the way of others.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    After Su Chen¡¯s lies were exposed, the system was changed with no further objections.

    The changes were not great. The evaluation would still primarily test power, but with the addition of a right to challenge.

    The leader of the yearly selection had an obligation to receive a single challenge. The challenger will be selected from the other defeated children. However, there could only be one challenge, and weapons were forbidden.

    This change was worded carefully. It was small enough that it garnered no opposition, and it dispelled Su Changche¡¯s worry of injuries and death.

    Naturally, this made the target of these changes even more obvious. Everyone knew it was for Su Chen.

    For this reason, Su Qing became excited. He even boasted that Su Chen would be better off giving up now, before he embarrassed himself in the challenge.

    However, his threat was obviously useless.

    This was because Su Keji and his son received information extremely quickly that Su Chen was certain to participate in this year¡¯s end of year evaluation.

    1. Su Chen¡¯s mother

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 7: Encounter

    Chapter 7: Encounter

    The Su n¡¯s main courtyard was located at the base of a mountain at the city¡¯s western outskirts. There wererge plots fertilend on either side of the mountain and winding rivers around its base. The center of the mountain was covered with dense forestry, making it an impressive scene.

    Su Chen¡¯s Dustsift Courtyard was located at the rear of the Su Residence. After walking out of the courtyard, a wall with a small door could be seen. Behind it, there was a bamboo forest. Continuing forwards through the bamboo forest, one would arrive at the mountain center.

    During times of leisure, Su Chen would oftene to the rear mountain and idly sit.

    Tonight was the same. Su Chen sat down on arge rock at the rear mountain.

    That night, the mountain forest waspletely silent. Even the birds weren¡¯t singing. Only the whistling of the wind could be heard in the forest.

    However, Su Chen knew that the woods were never truly asleep.

    Without the mor of day, he was able to hear those few minute sounds even more clearly and train his sense of hearing.

    It was quite difficult toe by a ce without the noise of man. ordingly, his heart grew serene.

    This allowed him to hear even farther and distinguish different sounds even more distinctly.

    The nearby sound of flowing water was from the flowing trickles of the mountain stream.

    Although he couldn¡¯t see, an image appeared in Su Chen¡¯s mind: The sshes of spring water was flowing down the mountain. It arrived at a steep cliff and fell, creating a small waterfall. A pool had formed beneath the cliff after countless years of being battered by water. As the spring water continued to flow, the pool began to take form as a small stream and snaked through the thicket to a far away ce.

    ......

    Sitting to the side of a small creek, he attentively listened.

    He suddenly extended his hand into the river, and picked up a small flower that was flowing downstream.

    Su Chen slowly brought the flower to his nose and smelled its faint fragrance. His mouth formed a satisfied smile.

    Not only was sense of hearing strengthened but his sense of smell has as well.

    From that refreshing fragrance, Su Chen knew it was a Weeping Red Flower, a red mountain flower that carried a heavy aroma.

    A trace fragrance of Weeping Red Flowers floated down from upstream of the brook.

    Su Chen was somewhat curious. This was the season when the mountain flowers were flourishing. How could there be so many Weeping Red Flowers withering?

    He followed the creek upstream.

    He walked up along the stream until he reached the base of a cliff. Among the sounds of the falling waterfall, he could faintly hear something irregr stirring inside the river.

    That¡¯s...

    Someone ying in the water?

    Su Chen suddenly reacted.

    ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± A lovely voice shouted.

    Without thinking time to think, Su Chen acted on instinct. He turned around and threw himself to the floor.

    A strong wind blew past his face.

    Su Chen fell to the floor and rolled. As he heard several hard objects continuously burying into the earth, he also heard the sound of storming waves from the pool. That person was using their hand to disturb the water and interfere with vision of their body. Naturally, this was of no significance to Su Chen.

    As he rapidly rolled on the ground, he loudly shouted, ¡°I¡¯m blind!¡±

    No other words could have the same effect as these.

    The sound of the sshing water and the great mor immediately stopped as silence returned to the forest.

    Su Chen stopped his rolls and slowly sat up, feeling out the ground with his hands.

    After a moment, he said, ¡°Since you¡¯ve already finished putting on your clothes, why don¡¯t youe out?¡±

    Shua!

    It was the sound a sword leaving its scabbard.

    The tip of Su Chen¡¯s nose felt cold.

    Despite not being able to see, Su Chen clearly knew that a woman was pointing a sword at him.

    ¡°Are you truly blind?¡± He heard the sharp, clear voice of a woman.

    If there were birds chirping throughout this empty valley, it was unknown whether they would sound more pleasant than her voice.

    Su Chen nodded his head, ¡°I am called Su Chen. If you don¡¯t trust me, you can ask around. You¡¯ll find out that I really am blind.¡±

    Hearing this, the other party clearly let out a breath and the cold sword retracted slightly from his face.

    That pleasant voice spoke once more, ¡°Since you can¡¯t see, then why have youe walking here alone?¡±

    Su Chen smiled and said, ¡°Who said blind people can¡¯t walk by themselves? There is wind in this forest. It pushes through the gaps in the trees and produces an echo. Every echo is distinct. So long as you attentively differentiate between them, you will know where there are obstacles and where there are none.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± It was obvious the other party didn¡¯tpletely believe him, ¡°Then why did youe here?¡±

    Su Chen bitterly smiled, ¡°This ce is the mountain behind my n. Is there anything strange in meing here? Rather, isn¡¯t your appearance here strange?¡±

    ¡°Ah!¡± The other party then realized that she had intruded on the territory of another n. The arrogance in her tone was greatly reduced, , ¡°So it turned out you were someone of the Su n.¡±

    Su Chen helplessly said, ¡°I did say my name was Su Chen.¡±

    The young woman¡¯s face became slightly red. Indignant, she said, ¡°Su n member, what are you doing in the back of a mountain at night?¡±

    ¡°To a blind person, there isn¡¯t much difference between night or day.¡±

    That young woman clearly didn¡¯t expect that answer and was astonished for a moment.

    She looked at Su Chen. Su Chen was appeared calm and wasn¡¯t the slightest bit fearful toward her sword point. Gradually, the young woman became convinced in the truth of Su Chen¡¯s words.

    Putting away her sword, she said, ¡°I apologize. I was only passing through this ce and saw there was clean spring water here. Thus, I thought to take a bath at the time and hadn¡¯t thought it was your n¡¯s forests.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter.¡± Su Chen answered with augh. ¡°Those whoe far are guests and the Su n is willing to act as a host. So long as Young Lady Gu is willing, we will receive you at any time.¡±

    The woman was startled, ¡°How did you know my surname was Gu?¡±

    Su Chen answered, ¡°It was naturally a guess. If I am not mistaken, this youngdy should by the Young Miss of the Gu n, Gu Qingluo?¡±

    ¡°Ah!¡± That young woman disyed shock. If Su Chen could see, then he would see the girl covering her mouth and looking at Su Chen inplete disbelief. ¡°How is this possible? Even if you could see, you wouldn¡¯t know who I am. How did you know? In the end, are you really blind?¡±

    When she said thosest words, her tone had be swift and fierce once more.

    Su Chen replied with a smile, ¡°Actually, with regards to having not yet seen the young person and whether or not I can see, those are not important. As I can¡¯t recognize left from right, appearance also loses meaning. Contrary to expectation, a blind person is able to sense a few things that a person with sight can¡¯t.¡±

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s eyes were brimming with curiosity.

    She looked at Su Chen and said in a rxed tone, ¡°Could you tell me how you were able to guess?¡±

    Su Chen hesitated for a moment.

    In his previously bitter encounter, he realized what it meant that the tallest tree in a forest is certain to be pushed down by the wind. Also, he hade to understand what it means to keep one¡¯s weakness hidden. He wouldn¡¯t easily unt his methods and leave clues that would allow others to see through him.

    However, talking to Gu Qingluo, couldn¡¯t help but feel an urge to tell her.

    That intangible and heavenly voice enchanted Su Chen, causing a yearning in his heart.

    Despite not being able to see Gu Qingluo, on the basis of her heavenly voice, Su Chen was willing to take the risk.

    He said, ¡°Previously, didn¡¯t I tell you my name? If you were a native, you should have known I was blind from the moment your heard the name Su Chen and I simply wouldn¡¯t have had to use so many words a moment ago.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s blindness was the hottest topic circting Northface City at the time. It could be said there was nobody in Northface City that didn¡¯t know of this. Also, they were in the rear mountain of the Su n. Were it a native that was bathing here, they absolutely wouldn¡¯t have repeatedly questioned the truth of his blindness. Thus, Su Chen recognized that this person came from another ce.

    When Gu Qingluo heard this, she became a bit more convinced that he was blind. She then asked, ¡°Then how did you know I was Gu Qingluo?¡±

    ¡°That can only be be med on how greatly the Lin n had publicized it. If it weren¡¯t for their unbridled announcements, how could I have known that the Longxi¡¯s Gu n¡¯s Second Young Miss, Gu Qingluo, hade to visit Northface City?¡±

    There were some tiny tree leaves that were embedded in the soil. Su Chen took some out and scattered the pieces.

    Su Chen took a light whiff and said, ¡°What you had just used were tree leaves absent of Origin Qi, thus the tree leaves were broken. This signifies you have yet to enter Qi Guiding stage. By purely relying on your strength of Body Tempering, you were able to use the tree leaves as darts; you had to be a young woman not from here. During this time, apart from the Gu n¡¯s Gu Qingluo, I couldn¡¯t think of anyone else. It was a brazen guess that was luckily correct.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 8: Snaking Mist Steps

    Chapter 8: Snaking Mist Steps

    Meeting Gu Qingluo had changed Su Chen. She had be a speck of light in his dark life.

    From that day onward, Gu Qingluo and Su Chen had be friends. Their friendship deepened rather quickly, and they became close enough to talk about anything. However, this rtionship between the two had been kept a secret, and no one knew of it.

    This was because Gu Qingluo was a noble guest of the Lin n.

    The Lin n was one of the four great ns of Northface City. Northface City was a small strategic frontier town in a deste, wild ce. Because there weren¡¯t any strong ns willing to gather there, four very minor mixed blood ns were able to be the local hegemons of the area.

    Despite it being a remote and deste ce, there was still fiercepetition between the major powers.

    The four great ns all held disdain for one another, and there was great conflict between all of them. In order to hold influence over Northface City, they used all avable methods. Naturally, their rtionships with one another were not worth mentioning.

    Gu Qingluo was an honored guest of the Lin n. Naturally, it wasn¡¯t very suitable for her to be closely rted to Su Chen.

    However, a youngster¡¯s temperament was innately rebellious. With regards to the interests of the n, a fourteen year old girl was bit far away from understanding this concept, and it wasn¡¯t something she was willing to consider. Normally, such a girl would act on instinct and happiness.

    In Gu Qingluo¡¯s point of view, Su Chen was a calm, impressive, gentle and considerate boy.

    These characteristics usually proved to be fatally attractive to women. Especially whenpared to simrly aged youths with restless temperaments, Su Chen appeared far more mature, as if he were a crane among a flock of chickens.

    Although his eyes could not see, his heart was brilliant.

    When she was together with Su Chen, Gu Qingluo never felt that she was being considerate toward a blind person. Rather, she felt that Su Chen was often showing consideration toward her.

    Because of this, Gu Qingluo couldn¡¯t care about dispute between ns, and became friends with Su Chen.

    Naturally, this was limited to being friends.

    The majority of the time, Gu Qingluo would go to the Su n¡¯s rear mountain to find Su Chen. There was an enchanting view here and it was far from the city, so she didn¡¯t have to worry about people discovering her. The mountain spring water was refreshing and made it very suitable for bathing. Every since the first time she bathed here, Gu Qingluo enjoyed bathing at this mountain spring. Thus, she would frequentlye here to bathe. Su Chen proved to be an excellent sentry for her, having the rarebination of being both blind and capable of sensing his surroundings.

    As a result, Su Chen received another joy in his life. Leaning on the side of a tree, listening to the sound of the water sshing, he imagined the postures Gu Qingluo would assumed as she bathed.

    Today was the same as ever.

    Su Chen sat on arge stone at the edge of the water.

    The wind blew and a cloud of dead leaves floated down behind Su Chen.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t look behind him. Instead he looked to his front-left, ¡°You¡¯re there?¡±

    Gu Qingluo figure appeared and she pped her hands with a smile, ¡°You¡¯ve won again. Are you really blind?¡±

    This was a game Su Chen and Gu Qingluo often yed, based on Su Chen guessing where she was.

    However, the majority of the time, it was Su Chen¡¯s loss. After all, for a person to intentionally hide from him, all they had to do was not produce any sound. Although Su Chen¡¯s hearing was sharp, it would still be difficult for him to sense it.

    Despite this, Su Chen wasn¡¯t discouraged. He persisted and continued to y this game with Gu Qingluo. After some time had passed, his guesses of Gu Qingluo¡¯s location had unexpectedly became far more likely to be correct.

    At this moment, Gu Qingluo said, ¡°Hey, how were you able to do this? You were unexpectedly able to guess right for three days in a row. I¡¯ve made sure my movements were as silent as possible.¡±

    ¡°It is airflow and heartbeat. ¡°You are able to hide the sound of your footsteps but you aren¡¯t able to conceal your heartbeat. Your existence also affects the surrounding airflow. So long as I can feel these, I am able to sense your body approaching.¡±

    ¡°You can already do this?¡± Gu Qingluo asked with shock.

    ¡°I must thank you for your help all this time.¡± Su Chen faintly smiled.

    ¡°Thanking me for what? This is all due to your effort.¡± Gu Qingluo rolled her eyes at Su Chen. It was truly a pity he couldn¡¯t see. Her charming nces truly had no effect on a blind person.

    Gu Qingluo had already walking toward the pool. After a short moment, the sounds of water could be heard and she was already bathing.

    Although he was blind, Su Chen had never lightly approached the pool.

    He just sat down and listened carefully.

    It was unfortunate that although he was a position to see, he wasn¡¯t able to see anything at all.

    He would never know what Gu Qingluo looked like. Even moreso, he wouldn¡¯t know how beautiful her postures were as she bathed.

    Faint depression appeared in his heart and that pain filled him with emptiness once more.

    Despite having not given up, who could be able to guarantee they would always remain resolute? By the time he woke up from his midnight dream, his jacket was soaked with tears.

    Su Chen¡¯s feelings of weakness emerged for only a moment, and were quickly suppressed.

    No matter what happens, he must persevere; he can never copse.

    Even if the entire world gave up on him, but he would never give up on himself!

    He heard Gu Qingluo¡¯s voice, ¡°Su Chen, I heard in a few days it will be the time for your Su n¡¯s end of year major evaluation?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Su Chen said with a light voice.

    ¡°I heard the rules were changed this time. The first ce of the formalparison must undergo a challenge before being recognized?¡±

    In these several months, Gu Qingluo wasn¡¯t aspletely ignorant of this ce as she had been at the start. With regards to the matters of Su Chen and Su n, Gu Qingluo had long obtained information on this.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Then what will you do?¡± Gu Qingluo looked at Su Chen.

    Su Chen was still sitting as before, ¡°I will just fight.¡±

    I will just fight?

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s heart shook.

    He easily said this but in the end, Su Chen was still blind.

    That¡¯s right, his ears could hear many sounds. However, they could never take the ce of his eyes. On the arena, he wouldn¡¯t be given the opportunity to hear the wind. With just the the slightest of error, his opponent would seize that opportunity and defeat him!

    He had no chance.

    However, Gu Qingluo didn¡¯t say those words; she wasn¡¯t Su Chen¡¯s father. As such, she understood Su Chen far more clearly and respected him.

    She absolutely didn¡¯t want to insult Su Chen¡¯s dreams and shatter his hopes.

    With that thought, Gu Qingluo suddenly said, ¡°Let me teach you the Snaking Mist Steps.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Su Chen was stunned.

    Longxi¡¯s Gu n had three absolute techniques. One of them was the Snaking Mist Steps. It is said that when its steps and strange movements were put to full use, one would disy iparable speed and would be extremely hard to catch. It was also the Gu n¡¯s n suppressing technique.

    Hearing Gu Qingluo¡¯s words, Su Chen instinctively said, ¡°What joke is that? Are you really allowed to so casually teach these n suppressing techniques to others?¡±

    Gu Qingluo then smiled and said, ¡°Snaking Mist Steps is a secret bloodline technique. If you don¡¯t have the corresponding bloodline, you are simply incapable of disying its true might. Even if I were to teach it to you, it truly wouldn¡¯t be of concern.

    In this world, one¡¯s bloodline was absolutely crucial to one¡¯s sess.

    Although humans have developed for countless years, they were fundamentally still incapable of discussing cultivation systems and bloodline inheritance at the same level.

    A warrior who bitterly cultivated for many years might not necessarily prove to be a match for a hedonistic scoundrel with an awakened bloodline.

    The world wasn¡¯t fair and bloodline inheritances were the greatest example of this. .

    The Gu n¡¯s Snaking Mist Steps followed this principle.

    It was divided into two parts: one part footwork, one part bloodline inheritance.

    Only those who truly possessed the bloodline would be able to fully disy the effect of the Snaking Mist Steps. By only grasping footwork, only its skin could be acquired and its essence couldn¡¯t disyed.

    This was the reason why Gu Qingluo dared to teach Su Chen the Snaking Mist Steps.

    In this world, techniques weren¡¯t forbidden; bloodlines were!

    Naturally, even if it wasn¡¯t forbidden, it couldn¡¯t be so casually spread. Thus, Gu Qingluo requested that Su Chen mustn¡¯t disy this footwork to others unless it was absolutely necessary.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 9: I See Ligh

    Chapter 9: I See Light

    Underneath the hazy treeline, water vapor rose from the vast pool.

    Spring water battered the pool and sshed up mist.

    Within the cloudy mountain mist, a smoky silhouette quickly moved alongside the pool. With a jump, mirages of shifting movements appeared on the clear water like a snake dancing through the air, twisting into a stream of strange figures. This was Su Chen.

    From just seeing the quickness of his body¡¯s movement technique, one simply wouldn¡¯t think of him as a blind man. He would be considered as agile as a monkey and quick as a fleeing rabbit.

    However after a moment, Gu Qingluo who stood at the side suddenly made a move to disrupt Su Chen, whose true appearance had recently emerged from that exceptional disy.

    In actuality, Gu Qingluo hadn¡¯t done much. She had only threw a few tiny stones on the ground Su Chen was about to walk on. The stones even disyed a clear sound of having fallen onto the ground.

    But at this moment, it was toote for Su Chen to avoid them.

    He stepped on the rocks and then twisted his foot. His body had already fallen to the side, and he fell into the pool with arge ssh.

    Although falling into the water was far better than directly falling onto the ground, the posture of his head first plunge into the water was in no way graceful. What was important was that it was already winter and the water temperature was ice cold. Despite Su Chen¡¯s sturdy body, he still shivered from the chill and flusteredly climbed out of the pool.

    Gu Qingluo let out a very long sigh.

    ¡°You are a genius, Su Chen.¡± She threw a red bead at Su Chen. This was a Strict Yang Bead and could dry one¡¯s clothes at great speed. Although it wasn¡¯t of much use, it wasn¡¯t cheap. It was a toy Gu Qingluo had acquired because she came from a great n. If the entire Su n was searched, not a single one of these beads could be found.

    Gu Qingluo said, ¡°To be able to so quickly grasp the changes of the Snaking Mist Steps, both yourprehension and talent is outstanding. However, you don¡¯t have the bloodline, and since you can¡¯t see the road, you can only move in ordance to a fixed path. If any obstructions or surprises appeared on this familiar path, then the high speeds of the Snaking Mist Steps would prove to conversely harm you. The opponent wouldn¡¯t even be required to act. You would cause yourself to fall half-dead... Perhaps I shouldn¡¯t have taught you this. It isn¡¯t suitable for you at all.¡±

    With that said, Gu Qingluo was already somewhat regretful.

    ¡°I still feel that the Snaking Mist Steps is quite good.¡± Su Chen rolled the Strict Yang beat around his body, causing his body to release a white mist. The clothes that were soaked through a moment ago had bepletely dry. Then he said, ¡°This ce is a mountain, the terrain is rugged and paths areplex. With addition to the mist in the air and the slippery hard ground, it is easy to make a mistake here. If it were on a stage, those worries would be unfounded. Although I amcking the borrowed power and cannot disy the Snaking Mist Steps in the mist, its erratic movements are very reliable. Furthermore, my opponent is from the Su n. They won¡¯t be familiar with the Snaking Mist Steps. Grasping the direction of my approach won¡¯t be an easy matter. Moreover, they aren¡¯t experts capable of achieving great victory with little effort like you are.¡±

    As was said, Su Chen could only use the Snaking Mist Steps like a stiff machine. He could only advance in a set path and was incapable of adapting to any changes. However, his opponent was also unfamiliar with Snaking Mist Steps. Thus, Su Chen saw that he really had a chance in the fight.

    ¡°Even if it is like that, your chances of victory don¡¯t exceed three tenths.¡± Gu Qingluo sighed.

    ¡°You are incorrect. They don¡¯t exceed two-tenths.¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Su Qian entered the seventhyer of Body Tempering yesterday.¡±

    Su Chen entered the eighthyer of Body Tempering two months ago. At first, he was originally twoyers higher than Su Qian. If he fought him with the speed of the Snaking Mist Steps at that time, the odds of victory would¡¯ve be three-tenths.

    Unfortunately, Su Qian entered the seventhyer of Body Tempering yesterday.

    Although he advanced muchter than Su Chen had, in the end, he had closed the gap before thepetition.

    As such, Su Chen advantage of rank and thus chance of victory against Su Qian shrank.

    Hearing Su Chen¡¯s words, Gu Qingluo nkly stared. ¡°Even if it was like that, you still insist on joining thepetition?¡±

    Su Chen faintly smiled, ¡°Even if I didn¡¯t have the Snaking Mist Steps, I would still have joined.¡±

    ¡°But your odds of victory is uncertain...¡±

    ¡°But that isn¡¯t a reason to give up, is it?¡±

    Those words caused Gu Qingluo to fallpletely silent.

    After a long while, she smiled and said, ¡°Well said. That isn¡¯t a reason to give up at all. Even if you lose, you still want to embrace that defeat with bravery. For your aspirations, this youngdy will give you a gift.¡±

    With that said, she suddenly bit her finger and forced a bead of blood out from her fingertips.

    This bead of blood was sparkling and transparent, it looked as if she were rolling a pearl at her fingertips.

    After she forced out the bead of blood, Gu Qingluo¡¯splexion clearly worsened a bit. Then she pressed her fingertip against the space between Su Chen¡¯s eyebrows. She then said, ¡°Don¡¯t think of anything. Feel it with your heart. Guide this power throughout your body.¡±

    ¡°This is...¡± Su Chen was stunned. He felt drop of warm moisture between his eyebrows.

    ¡°It is a drop of my blood essence. It possesses the true secrets of the Soaring Snake bloodline. I cannot give you the bloodline, but at least I can let you sense for a moment what a true Soaring Snake is.

    Su Chen¡¯s heart slightly trembled.

    It was actually blood essence.

    The most precious item of a bloodline n was the source of their power. Gu Qingluo had so casually given him such a drop, just so he could deepen hisprehension of the Snaking Smoke Step¡¯s profound effects.

    How could he not feel touched?

    ¡°Qingluo, you...¡±

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t feel so moved, alright? I simply cannot bear to see your n bully a blind person like scoundrels. You already absorbed the blood essence. Why haven¡¯t you used the Snaking Mist Steps yet? Realize the power of bloodlines.¡±

    Su Chen let out a long breath and put away the Strict Yang Bead. Then, he dashed along the pool once more.

    The Snaking Mist Steps was an extremely powerful footwork technique. It is said when this footwork technique was profoundly cultivated, one could soar the skies and walk through air. Even at the first level, it was possible to walk on water. However, to obtain that level, the power of a corresponding bloodline is required.

    As for now, Su Chen had only grasped the most basicyer of the Snaking Mist Steps. It increased his speed and evasion capability. The footwork of the Smoking Snake Steps were strange. By fully using it, one¡¯s body became twisted and slippery, possessing a certain evasive power. It also possessed a certain degree of offsetting power1. Although it wasn¡¯t much use in a fight against opponents with weapons and origin energy, it was enough for aparison of skill between two youths in Body Tempering.

    But unfortunately, Su Chen was blind and was doomed to have limited sess with Snaking Mist Steps.

    Although it was like this, Su Chen still earnestly practiced. His incapability of sight caused him tock feeling of the outside world and crippled his ability to respond to the unexpected. However, this increased his perception toward body cultivation. He quickly dashed along the pool. As he was running, Su chen was soaking inprehension of the Snaking Mist Steps.

    The power of Gu Qingluo¡¯s drop of blood essence gradually began to show its effect.

    As he was running, he gradually felt as if he had actually be a true demonic snake. As he drifted through the air, he drew support from the thin water vapor in the air and continued to perform all sorts of strange variations.

    A Soaring Snake!

    This was the bloodline source of the Gu n.

    This was the tremendous power possessed by a demonic snake. Innate skill in controlling water and an expert in movement variations.

    Fully using Snaking Mist Steps, he felt the deep existence of the Soaring Snake. Su Chen suddenlyprehended something and a change ordingly appeared urred from beneath his feet.

    ¡°It has finallye.¡± Gu Qingluo smiled.

    At that moment, she sensed a small change ur from Su Chen¡¯s body.

    His speed didn¡¯t increase but his figure transformations became even more quick and strange. As he hurried alongside the pool, great amounts of water vapor soaked his jacket. Not to mention that he previously had already fallen in the pool. But now, the water of Su Chen¡¯s body had started to float from his body and formed a thin film of mist covering him.

    Thought it seemed unremarkable, Gu Qingluo was startled.

    ¡°Congealed water film? He actually formed congealed water film?¡± After she clearly saw this Gu Qingluo nearly shouted this out.

    Congealed Water Film appeared when Snaking Mist Steps was cultivated to a certain level. Its greatest characteristic was that it was able to condense the surrounding water vapor into a thin film that covered his body. This film possessed a certain degree of offsetting power. This was the true origin of the Snaking Mist Steps¡¯ ability to offset power.

    Congealed Water Film is the peak at which a non-bloodline cultivator is capable of grasping the Snaking Mist Steps, requiring at least three years of hard work. Even if Gu Qingluo had given him a drop of blood essence, that would only help him in deepening his understanding of the Soaring Snake¡¯s spirit. It definitely wouldn¡¯t have directly raised him to this level. She truly did not expect him to reach this step so quickly.

    ¡°He truly is a genius...¡± Gu Qingluo couldn¡¯t but disy sincere admiration.

    It was a pity he didn¡¯t have the bloodline. Even if he were a genius, his aplishments were still limited. Not to mention that he was still blind.

    Su Chen was still running. His mind waspletely immersed in the sensation of the Snaking Mist Steps.

    He felt as if a true Soaring Snake had merged with his body, giving him power. But no matter how hard he workedstrives, he was incapable of progressing further.

    Is this the bloodline¡¯s limit without a bloodline?

    He could only acquire the idea of the skill, but not its soul. its image imagine but he wasn¡¯t able to acquire its soul.

    Even if Gu Qingluo gave another drop of blood essence, it would only allow him to ¡°see¡±. It wouldn¡¯t allow him to genuinely reach that step.

    Despite not knowing that he has already formed a congealed water film, an aplishment that many only acquired after years of bitter cultivation, he guessed that bloodline was his greatest obstruction from progressing in Snaking Mist Steps.

    He sighed in his heart but he was unwilling to give up.

    He continued to submerge his mind and unceasingly felt the existence of the Soaring Snake; it felt increasingly deeper and increasingly profound. Suddenly Su Chen heard the explosive roar of the dragon fill his mind.

    Roar!

    In his consciousness, a huge dragon soared and released astonishingly brilliant raging mes, filling Su Chen¡¯s entire field of vision.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Su Chen loudly shouted as he fell into the pond again. This time, he had fallen underwater, and hadn¡¯t gotten out.

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± Gu Qingluo ran over and quickly entered the water. She grabbed Su Chen and pulled him out.

    The spring water drenched her is clothes, revealing an exquisite female body. However, Gu Qingluo was in no mood to care for herself. Grabbing Su Chen¡¯s shoulders, she loudly yelled, ¡°Su Chen! Su Chen, what¡¯s going on?¡±

    Su Chen nkly stared at the sky like a fool.

    After a long while, he finally returned to his senses.

    His eyes were brimming with tears.

    ¡°You...¡± Gu Qingluo was startled.

    Su Chen was actually crying.

    He sat up and touched Gu Qingluo¡¯s face.

    Gu Qingluo was also confused and allowed him to touch her face.

    ¡°Su Chen, what¡¯s going on with you?¡± Gu Qingluo asked.

    Su Chen trembled as he replied, ¡°Light... I can see light... I can see light!¡±

    He was crying tears of joy!

    1. Offsetting power or Ð¶Á¦ Xue Li, is a force that repels and soften blows.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 10: End of Year Competition 1

    Chapter 10: End of Year Competition (1)

    ¡°What did you say?¡±

    Inside the Dustsift Courtyard, underneath a tree.

    Su Chen was sitting on a stone chair, drinking tea. Jianxin was reporting to him from the side.

    He had a teacup in hand but Su Chen¡¯s hands were paralyzed with shock.

    Jianxin helplessly said, ¡°The Master said that he wishes for the Young Master to not deceive everyone again with such a clumsy lie. The matter of the end of year evaluation has already been decided. Not to mention that Young Master¡¯s sight is currently not good. Even if your sight has truly recovered, it is impossible for the Young Master to change the rules again. If Young Master is not certain, then simply avoid participating in this year¡¯s evaluation, so you can avoid everyone.¡±

    Su Chen stared nkly and tightened his grasp on the cup, ¡°So Father believed I was lying again?¡±

    ¡°After all, Young Master had done this before. With the end of year evaluation approaching, the Young Master suddenly recovered again. It is no surprise that many people don¡¯t believe you.¡± Jianxin faintly replied. Despite not being able to see, Su Chen could clearly hear from his tone that Jianxin did not believe him as well.

    Perhaps everyone believed that he still hadn¡¯t given up and that he still hadn¡¯t thought of another method. Thus, he could only take out the same lie and present it.

    Su Chen looked at Jianxin who stood in front of him.

    Previously, his world waspletely dark.

    But now with the support of a bit of light, he was able to ¡°see¡± a hazy, indistinct silhouette standing in front of him.

    Although he still couldn¡¯t see, it wasn¡¯t the absolutely darkness that he was used to. What was most important was that he now had a chance of recovery.

    It was quite funny. When he said this, nobody had believed him.

    Fine, fine.

    Since nobody believed him, then he would wait.

    ¡®I will mention this again when I have truly recovered¡¯, Su Chen thought.

    Then in the following days, Su Chen continued his daily cultivation.

    He practiced the eight methods of Body Forging, the ming Tiger Fist, and the Snaking Mist Steps.

    Su Chen wanted to sink into that sensation once more. He suspected that it had some rtion to his recovery and that bitter experience.

    Unfortunately, no matter how hard he strived, he wasn¡¯t able to see that evasive and awesome bright-med dragon.

    However, in the following days, his eyesight truly started to recover.

    Despite his degree of recovery being very small, Su Chen could still feel it.

    With each passing day, his eyesight became a bit better than before.

    At first, he could only perceive light. Soon after that, Su Chen could already see the rough image of a body. Although they were vague ck shadows, Su Chen¡¯s world was no longer an empty void. He felt like his future was filled with light.

    However, before that light came, Su Chen had to bear the darkness that came before the dawn.

    The date of the end of yearpetition grew closer and closer.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    At the end of every year, every n would be bustling with excitement.

    For every year that passed, a new year would arrive. People celebrated another year of life, bidding the past farewell and celebrating the newing year. The younger generations were even more excited and prepared to disy their abilities at the end of yearpetitions. The end of yearpetition didn¡¯t only exist in the Su n but was a tradition that pervaded an overwhelming majority of illustrious ns.

    ¡°A bit taller, a bit taller!¡±

    In the Su n¡¯s main courtyard, Su Keji pointed at the stage that was being built at thest minute and loudly yelled. He felt as if sweet and fragrant honey was being poured on his heart.

    After waiting for two years, the moment had finally arrived. Su Keji felt his body be lighter than air. His steps were particrly rxed, and he felt like he was floating as he walked.

    ¡°It is merely a single chance opportunity. What is the point for such fanfare?¡± He heard a disdainful snort from behind him.

    Su Keji turned his head and saw Su Feihu standing behind him with a face of unconcealed disgust.

    Su Keji chuckled, ¡°Third Elder¡¯s words are mistaken. This is the end of yearpetition. Only the most excellent child of the third generation will stand on this tall stage. In the end, whoever remains standing will naturally require a higher stage. Not only do we want the Su n to see the most outstanding child, we want the entire Northface city to see who is the most outstanding child of our Su n.

    Su Feihu indifferently replied, ¡°There are some people that won¡¯t be able to show anything, no matter how tall they stand.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Su Keji face turned angry. But he managed to control himself, snorting and turning his head away to ignore him.

    Tomorrow would be the official start of the Su n¡¯s end of year evaluation.

    As always, the first evaluation would be cultivation.

    In the Su n¡¯s main courtyard stood a nk Star Origin Stone. In order to activate it, all someone needed to do was push against it with all the force they could muster. The stone would then give a readout of how much Origin Energy was within that person¡¯s body, which would give them one¡¯s cultivation level. Although someone at Body Tempering Stage wasn¡¯t able to use Origin Energy in a fight, this did not mean that they didn¡¯t have any Origin Energy in their body.

    Every child of the n learned the Basic Absorption technique when they started cultivation. They were able to absorb Origin Energy and use it to change the inner qualities of their body. Thus, they would obtain great strength and would be able to start mental cultivation methods.

    The human race¡¯s very firstprehension regarding origin energy was with this method. Later, they would gradually exhibit Qi guidance and absorb Origin Energy, establishing a Dan Ocean and the series of levels for Origin Qi Schrs.

    ¡°Su Xing!¡±

    ¡°Here!¡±

    Soon after that shout, a Su n Child first walked to the side of the Star Origin Stone. He pressed his palm against it and white specks of light appeared on the stone, gradually growing clearer.

    The color represented the purity of origin power contained in one¡¯s body. The quantity represented the grade of its depth.

    The color of white was the lowest, representing the Body Forging Stage.

    ¡°White star sixty three. Body Forging Sixth Layer.¡± The judge said.

    The the youngster named Su Xing slightly smiled and walked back.

    ¡°Su Yue, white star fifty six, Body Tempering Fifth Layer.¡±

    ¡°Su Ling¡¯er, white star sixty one, Body Tempering Sixth Layer.¡±

    Following the judge¡¯s voice, each Su n child walked forward one after another and then returned. At the same time, inevitable knots of discussion had begun.

    That young girl called Su Ling¡¯er who walked up left the stage apanied by a warm surge of apuse. Although she was merely of the Body Tempering Sixth Layer, It was still considered very good for a child of the third generation.

    ¡°Su Qian, white star seventy one, Body Tempering Seventh Layer.¡±

    The scene bustled with liveliness. Su Qian stood on the stage and proudly epted all of the apuse.

    To be able to reach Body Tempering Seventh Layer at this age, one couldn¡¯t help but be proud of oneself.

    After his gaze swept past everyone like a sovereign, Su Qian¡¯s gaze finally settled on Su Chen. He wore a disdainful smile on his face and stepped down from the stage.

    ¡°Su Chen.¡±

    As if it were arranged to be so, Su Chen was picked after Su Qian.

    Su Chen slowly walked forward to the stage and arrived in front of the Star Origin Stone and ced his hand on it.

    The specks of white stars illuminated everyone¡¯s eyes.

    The judge counted for a moment before saying, ¡°White star eighty three, Body Tempering Eighth Layer.¡±

    He didn¡¯t anticipate any apuse.

    Everyone just stood there, silently looking at Su Chen.

    Gazes of sympathy and pity, disdain and mockery, the crowd¡¯s reaction was mixed as they stared at Su Chen. All of them had the same silent message: ¡°What use is there for your diligent effort?¡± ¡°Is there any meaning to this?¡± ¡°Do you believe you will be able to grab first again?¡± ¡°You are only standing in other people¡¯s way!¡±

    First ce would inevitably be obtained by Su Qian. Then let us see if Su Chen will be able to acquire an undesirable second ce, third ce or even...?

    He didn¡¯t only block the path for a single person. Instead, he blocked the path forward for all of them.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 11: End of Year Competition 2

    Chapter 11: End of Year Competition (2)

    After the cultivation evaluation, it was the test of strength.

    Although cultivation directly influenced a person¡¯s strength, everyone was bound to have their own differences.

    Much like before, Su Chen took first ce without the slightest suspense. His results topped the board at the strength of nine horses, exceeding the strength of his own cultivation by one wholeyer. Not only did this shock everyone, but it also caused Su Qian¡¯s hatred of him to deepen. He swore that he would embarrass him in the final challenge.

    Finally, all the evaluations concluded.

    Without exception, Su Chen had once again ced first in the evaluations. Su Qian ced second.

    Nobody felt surprised by these results.

    ¡°ording to the evaluation¡¯s new rules, the top three may challenge the first ce holder. If two people were to challenge at the same time, then there must be a prerequisite battle to fight for the right to challenge. Su Qian, Su Tong, do you wish to raise the challenge?¡±

    Su Tong was the grandson of the great elder Su Chengsheng. He shared a nce with Su Qian for a moment before shaking his head and saying, ¡°I renounce the challenge.¡±

    He was obviously wasn¡¯t Su Qian¡¯s match and this challenge was basically prepared for Su Qian. The reason why to the top three had the right to take the challenge was so that it wouldn¡¯t appear so unsightly and to makes its true purpose less tantly obvious.

    Su Qian then smiled and said, ¡°I, Su Qian, raise the challenge!¡±

    After a moment, Su Qian had jumped onto the stage and loudly shouted toward Su Chen, ¡°Su Chen! Do you dare to fight me!¡±

    With a roar, he shook the main n courtyard and left an echo in everyone¡¯s ears, showing Su Qian¡¯s formidable confidence.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t say anything and stepped onto the stage. He couldn¡¯t see the way forward and had to walk slowly as a result. He fumbled with each step and took a long while before he eventually mbering on top of the stage.

    Su Qian looked at him with loathing and said, ¡°You are someone who doesn¡¯t know right from wrong. Not only were you so willing to waste those resources, but you didn¡¯t give them to anyone else. Previously, I sympathized with you, but now you¡¯ve be an annoyance!¡±

    Su Chen faintly smiled, ¡°I apologize. I was born not to cause others to feel sympathy but rather... to feel admiration.¡±

    Su Qian¡¯s face darkened, ¡°Then prove it!¡±

    He had already charged forward to punch Su Chen¡¯s face.

    As the end of year evaluation didn¡¯t allow the use of weapons, both sides would only be able to use their fists. However, this didn¡¯t imply that the power of unarmed strikes were weak.

    Su Qian was already at the seventhyer of Body Tempering, possessing the strength of seven horses. Also, he practiced the standard Su n¡¯s ming Tiger Fist. Although it wasn¡¯t a remarkably strong battle skill, the power of its strikes were bold and tyrannical. Amon person would be blown away with a single punch; it it didn¡¯t kill them, then it would at least knock them out. Even if Su Chen was at the eighthyer of Body Tempering, he was unwilling to be hit by Su Qian¡¯s strike.

    Thus at the same time Su Qian punched, Su Chen took a step back.

    Although he couldn¡¯t see Su Qian¡¯s movement, he knew that Su Qian was in front of him. Falling back was his most reliable option.

    Su Qian¡¯s punch hit nothing but he had already followed up with a kick from his left leg. Although winning against a blind person felt somewhat unfair, that Verdant Wood Essence would be his!

    His leg whipped out like a snake, without sound or breath, kicking toward Su Chen¡¯s head. If itnded, it would definitely knock him out.

    This was Su Qian¡¯s true killing move.

    After three years of waiting and bitter suffering, to be suppressed by a blind person, how could he not strike out to vent his hate!

    He had to embarrass him. He had to make him suffer. He had to make him pay the price for his actions!

    However, the moment Su Qian whipped out his leg, Su Chen suddenly took a step forward.

    He didn¡¯t retreat; he moved forward.

    Bacsh!

    Bang!

    Su Qian¡¯s leg struck Su Chen¡¯s body. However, the strongest portion of the strike, contained at the foot, hadn¡¯t struck him. At the same time, Su Chen firmly received this strike, he took advantage of the close distance and punched his opponent¡¯s face.

    However, he clearly had some problem in grasping his opponent¡¯s direction and his punch was off mark. Su Qian dodged the punch by tilting his head to the side. At the same time he withdrew the leg he kicked and struck Su Chen¡¯s lower abdomen.

    Su Chen let out a painful, muffled groan. His body was already bent.

    Su Qian grinned fiendishly, ¡°It had already been said. Blind people shouldn¡¯t fight!¡±

    He bent his right elbow and smashed it against Su Chen, who was bent over like arge prawn.

    This elbow struck Su Chen¡¯s back, producing a muffled thump. Su Chen was already groaning in pain and the force of this elbow strike was great. This strike caused Su Chen¡¯s entire back to sink into pain.

    Just as Su Qian was about happily smash down his elbow again, Su Chen ran his head into Su Qian¡¯s chest. This fierce headbutt left Su Qian disoriented.

    At this moment Su Chen¡¯s left fist struck Su Qian¡¯s lower back. Because the distance was far too close, its power wasn¡¯t great. However, it still caused Su Qian to feel pain.

    In the next moment, Su Chen hadpletely thrown himself at him.

    Watching this from the side, Su Keji¡¯s expression changed and he loudly yelled, ¡°Qing¡¯er, don¡¯t tangle with him!¡±

    Long before this battle, from the analysis of Martial Elder Tong and Su Keji, if Su Chen were to acquire victory from this stage battle, then his only opportunity would be a close body clinch style maneuver. But since a blind person couldn¡¯t see, he would have to simply stand close to his opponent and randomly strike. Then by taking advantage of his greater strength, he would dominate his opponent and win.

    Thus before this battle started, Su Keji had warned Su Qian that he mustn¡¯t tangle with Su Chen and allow himself to be grabbed, fighting an advantageous battle with his superiority of continuous unfixed movements.

    However, Su Qian obviously didn¡¯t take his words to heart and started to fight closely with Su Chen.

    Fortunately, Su Qian had realized this just in time.

    Without regard of Su Chen¡¯s attacks, Su Qian fell back with all the speed he could muster. Eventually, Su Chen locked down his path of escape. Despite this, he smashed leg against Su Chen and caused him to stagger for an instant.

    Su Qian looked at Su Chen and viciously said, ¡°Damn blind fool,e! I¡¯m right here!¡±

    Su Chen tilted his head and punched toward Su Qian.

    However, Su Qian had already stepped back when Su Chen punched and kicked Su Chen from the side.

    At this moment, Su Chen, who couldn¡¯t see, had no way of avoiding this silent kick and retreated several steps from the strike.

    Si Qian continued to change his position with an evil grin.

    As he moved about, he made an unending mor so as to distract Su Chen and bait him.

    As a result, Su Chen appeared to be akin to a blinded tiger on the stage. Although every one of his punches and kicks were filled with power, they unfortunately never met their target. And as expected, Su Qian silently moved about and continued this sneak attacks.

    ¡°This is truly shameless!¡± Si Feihu said with a gloomy face.

    With joyful satisfaction, Su Keji said, ¡°This is called tactics but it is also called reality. In every future fight, you can¡¯t expect every opponent to fight fairly with him, yes? If he is unsuitable, then he should be eliminated.¡±

    It was as if he already saw the arrival of his son¡¯s victory.

    The battle continued on the stage.

    As Su Qian earnestly wandered, Su Chen found it hard to approach and grab him.

    ¡°Come here, you blind fool!¡± Su Qianughed.

    His voice came from the left then the right. Attacks urred at any time from any angle.

    It was like a cat ying with a mouse. Before he finally defeated Su Chen, Su Qian wanted to thoroughly and properly enjoy himself.

    Once more, Su Qian quietly wandered to Su Chen¡¯s rear.

    From here, he was able to see the side of Su Chen¡¯s face. Despite having been attacked, beaten up, and taken advantage of, Su Chen¡¯s calm expression had remained the same from the very beginning.

    Did this damned wretch not understand what fear and panic?¡±

    A trace of fury appeared in Su Qian¡¯s heart.

    He decided to give Su Chen a ruthless blow.

    With his left hand forming a fist with a protruding middle finger in an almond shape, he had targeted Su Chen¡¯s spine. If it cleanly hit, then there was a distinct chance Su Chen would never stand again.

    Don¡¯t me me for being ruthless; you were the one who was truly loathsome .

    Once that was thought, just as Su Qian was about to act, he saw the corner of Su Chen¡¯s mouth abruptly twitch, forming a slight smile.

    He smiled?

    Su Qian was stunned and suddenly felt an ominous feeling appear deep within his heart.

    In the next moment, Su Chen had already turned around and was suddenly charging toward him.

    Not good!

    Su Qian loudly shouted in his heart but it was toote to act and he quickly attempted to extricate himself. But even as he quickly moved back, he also changed direction, causing his body to sway in a different direction. Although his body was somewhat unbnced, he had managed to at least wander off the path of Su Chen¡¯s charge.

    An astonishing scene urred. As if he could see, Su Chen strangely twisted his body for a moment before he charged toward Su Qian with the cleverness of a snake and the speed of lightning, he charged toward Su Qian¡¯s body. Despite acting second, he overtook Su Qian in the blink of an eye.

    At this moment, Su Qian was forcefully changing his direction. During the moment he lost his bnce, Su Chen grabbed Su Qian by the throat and fiercely threw him to the floor.

    Bang!

    The sound of a huge strike came from the stage.

    Su Qian was thrown to the ground by Su Chen like a bag of sand.

    The force of this throw consisted of Su Qian¡¯s body weight with the addition of an abrupt explosion of the entirety of Su Chen¡¯s strength as an Eighth Layer Body Tempering cultivator!

    This heavy blow caused Su Qian¡¯s entire mind to grow dizzy. His Seventh Layer Body Tempering physique was unable to endure such a fierce smash. At that same moment, he spit out arge mouthful of blood.

    ¡°Qian¡¯er!¡± Su Keji loudly shouted.

    What replied was Su Chen¡¯s vengeful iron fist ruthlessly pounding Su Qian¡¯s face.

    Su Qian, whose mind had be muddled from the fall,pletelycked the power to resist, allow Su Chen to rain a mad torrent of punches all over his body and face.

    Everyone was shocked from this abrupt change.

    The circumstances had suddenly reversed; Su Chen, who had been cruelly bullied a moment ago, had actually turned the tide and struck down Su Qian.

    But most of all, the scene of his pursuit of Su Qian, with his strange speed and urate change of direction, hadpletely exceeded their expectations of him.

    How was he able to do this?

    ¡°NO!!!¡± Su Keji loudly shouted out as his heart ached.

    This heartache was for both the mad beating his son received and the failure of his ns. He had paid far too great a cost to change the rules, and yet his son had unexpectedly not been able to seize victory. He felt so much heartache that he didn¡¯t know whether or not he should concede. Perhaps after a moment, Su Qian would be able to stand, and defeat Su Chen with a disy of godly strength.

    But the bitter fact was from just this one defeat, Su Qian hadpletely lost his opportunity to rise to prominence.

    Seeing Su Qian¡¯s face beaten to a bloody mess as if he were trampled by a mob, Su Keji finally realized that all hope was lost.

    He loudly shouted, ¡°We concede! Stop! We concede!¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s iron first stopped in midair and didn¡¯t fall again. However, his grip on Su Qian had yet to rx.

    He faintly turned his head to the side and looked down, ¡°Fourth Elder?¡±

    The Fourth Elder was the referee of this fight. When he heard those words, it was as if he¡¯d awoken from a dream. ¡°I dere Su Chen victorious!¡±

    Su Chen then released his grasp on Su Qian and slowly stood up. He looked at everyone with spiritless eyes and silent, deep gloom.

    Everyone who saw it was stunned.

    Su Chen... had won.

    How was this possible?

    After a long while, Su Cheng¡¯an suddenly said, ¡°Chen¡¯er, have your eyes somewhat improved?¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an asked the question everyone was thinking. After all, the scene of Su Chen capturing Su Qian was far too unfathomable.

    After a moment of thought, Su Chen answered, ¡°I was able to discover him because he was far too stupid. In that previous fight, he allowed me to grasp his dodging habits. As for my eyes... I am quite sorry. They haven¡¯t improved in the slightest.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 12: Yan Wushuang

    Chapter 12: Yan Wushuang

    This year, spring hade particrly early.

    The primroses had bloomed early, creating a sea of yellow flowers across the yard. The overwhelming flowery fragrance filled the yard, causing the entire Su n to be immersed in a sea of perfume.

    Opening the gates, Su Chen breathed in a deep breath of air and smelled the delightful scent of flowers. He stepped out his room and arrived underneath a redbud tree in his courtyard.

    Steeping a cup of tea for himself in passing, Su Chen sat down. His movements were natural and unforced and were bing increasingly smooth and unrestrained.

    Two months had passed since the end of yearpetition.

    Because of Su Chen¡¯s counterattack, the entire Su n naturally underwent a period of turmoil. Su Keji was undoubtedly angry enough to jump ten meters high. It was said that even servants were met with cmity when they crossed his path him. Also, even Su Cheng¡¯an didn¡¯t look at Su Chen favorably. He had instead be more resentful. His young son Su Hao was born and took up arge part of his emotions. Now, he spent a majority of his time with his fourth concubine. Tang Hongrui fought with her husband without end and the blindness of his son became amon point of their fights. His heart had also be depressed, giving birth to serious disease. His body greatly weakened and now he couldn¡¯t even easily walk outside.

    Fortunately, n Master Su Changche was still very appreciative of Su Chen. But the more he cherished him, the heavier the regret he felt.

    It was said on the evening Su Chen won thepetition, Su Changche shook his head and said, ¡°He is a good child. But it is a pity being too exceptional is as bad as being deficient. What is hard is easily broken.¡±

    Being too exceptional is as bad as being deficient and what is hard is easily broken. Those were thements of the n Master, clearly making the n Master¡¯s attitude known. Do not obstruct him. Do not support him. Let him do as he pleased.

    From that day on, Su Chen felt a strange istion.

    After two months, those many matters had quietly stayed the same without change.

    But not everything was bad.

    There were even good things.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes had be increasingly better.

    Previously, he could only sense light. Now, he could vaguely see a few things. Although they were hard to distinguish, he was not longer aspletely blind as before.

    This raised Su Chen¡¯s spirits as he began to eagerly look forward to the future even as his n viewed him with disregard.

    At this moment, just as he was sipping tea, Jianxin arrived, ¡°Young Master, Fourth Concubine requests your presence.¡±

    ¡°Fourth Concubine wants to see me?¡± Su Chen nkly stared.

    Every since this Spring Moon Brothel¡¯s Young Lady Yan Wushuang entered the Su Residence, he had only seen her two times, both during n ceremonies. Aside from that, Su Chen didn¡¯t have the slightest contact with her. However, Su Chen had secretly heard rather unttering rumors about her.

    It was said that this woman was both wise and intelligent. Not longer after she entered the n, she had grasped the business of Jade Band Lane in her hands.

    Jade Band Lane was Northface City¡¯s busiest street. The Su n had owned four stores here, with Su Cheng¡¯an as the manager. Now, these four stores were being run by Yan Wushuang. Supposedly, Tang Hongrui had also had a huge argument with Su Cheng¡¯an over this matter, but in the end nothing came of it. Most aggravatingly, those four stores actually flourished under Yan Wushuang¡¯s care without any hups or idents at all. They were even able to settle a few huge deals, forcing the gossipers to keep mum.

    It was unsurprising that this Fourth Concubine received such pampering. She was beautiful, could do business, was very persuasive, and even bore a son.

    However, Fourth Concubine¡¯s style of doing business did not endear her to anyone. Supposedly not long before, she had sacked the Green Jade Store¡¯s shopkeeper and three elderly assistants simply because they were not respectful to her. These were people that had worked for the Su n for twenty years, and yet if she fired them they were fired!

    Now that Fourth Concubine was suddenly inviting him over, even Su Chen could not understand why.

    Thinking for a moment, he finally nodded and said, ¡°Got it. I¡¯m heading over now.¡±

    After changing into new clothes and tidying himself up, Su Chen headed for the Fourth Concubine¡¯s Blue Fragrance Pavilion, with Jianxin leading the way.

    At that moment, Yan Wushuang was sitting in the Blue Fragrance Pavilion, holding a cup in her hand. A pair of servants, one male, the other female, were kneeling next to her, trembling with trepidation.

    Yan Wushuang¡¯s face was round like a goose egg1, and her eyebrows were long and sleek. While she certainly was beautiful in appearance, her gaze was menacing.

    Just as Su Chen arrived, he heard Yan Wushuang use the lid of her cup to fling her tea to the side and calmly say, ¡°Normally, I would not interfere with your mutual rtionship. But if I were to allow you to indulge yourself so unrestrainedly, would this pce still care for rules? If all of the people here were to behave as they wanted to, how would I have any authority? Isn¡¯t that right, Fourth Young Master?¡±

    Yan Wushuang carelessly spoke thisst sentence upon seeing Su Chen enter.

    Su Chen lowered his head and answered, ¡°How Aunt Concubine deals with her servants is her business. Su Chen has no right to interfere.¡±

    Yan Wushuang spoke, her voice unrestrained, ¡°No matter, you can just speak a few words without care. If I think that they have some merit, then perhaps I will consider your suggestion.¡±

    Thinking for a moment, Su Chen replied, ¡°Although the n has many rules, there are no written rules forbidding secret rtionships among servants. The main reason for this is because these urrences happen too often and are difficult to address. If one ignores the matter, it is difficult to prevent people from bing indulgent and then pandemonium will reign. On the other hand, if the restrictions are too strict, it is impossible to not break up rtionships and beat the offenders with wooden poles. The way I see it, it will be easiest if one only takes care of what is considered part of the pce and ignores what is not.¡±

    ¡°Only take care of what is considered part of the pce and ignore what is not?¡± Yan Wushuang repeated, then asked, ¡°What is considered part of the pce, and what is not?¡±

    ¡°Naturally, responsibilities are part of the pce, while love affairs are not.¡± Su Chen replied, ¡°The way that I see it, if their feelings for each other are truly strong, there is no need to break them apart. Instead, have one of them leave the pce. That way, the matter of having an illicit rtionship in the pce will not be a problem, and it will also serve as a warning for future generations. Everything will naturally take care of itself in due time; there¡¯s no need to go so far as to break up a marriage predestined by fate.¡±

    The two people kneeling both gratefully watched Su Chen. It was already the best possible ending for them if this matter was dealt with in this way.

    Yan Wushuang was stunned for a moment, but her sleek eyebrows slowly revealed a menacing intent, ¡°What you say does have reason, but the punishment really is too light. People will still be just as indulgent; I only fear that after this even more people will imitate these two. Then, there will be more people who say that I do not run my household strictly enough. I think that it is still appropriate to give each of them forty beatings, chase them both out and call it even.¡±

    Su Chen was shocked, ¡°Aunt, isn¡¯t this punishment too severe?¡±

    If both people were chased away and were temporarily unable to find work, they would have no ie. Tacking on another forty beatings would mean that most likely they would be unable to lie down for at least half a month. Their lives would be even more difficult.

    Yan Wushuang nced at Su Chen before suddenlyughing, ¡°Since Fourth Young Master personally says so, forget it. I¡¯ll give you some face and just punish them with twenty beatings. Take Zhi Li and Yan Yue out and beat them!¡±

    Su Chen knew that by beating them as well as getting rid of them, she was both giving Su Chen face as well as manifesting her own fearsomeness. As expected, she truly did have quite a few tactics; however, Su Chen became even more disgusted with her.

    Inside the room.

    Yan Wushuang, who had just finished dealing with those two people, calmly drank from her cup of tea before speaking, ¡°I have long heard of Fourth Young Master being a dragon among men. I have witnessed your youth and stunning talent firsthand today. You truly are an elegant young gentleman, but what a pity that your methods for taking care of business are too soft and you are not strict enough towards your underlings. But this is also unsurprising, since Fourth Young Master is walking on the path of dragons and tigers and is only focused on strengthening himself. How could he care for the trifling matter of managing others?¡±

    Su Chen calmly replied, ¡°Aunt praises me too much; I, Su Chen, am blind. How could there be any path of dragons and tigers for me to walk? Su Chen just does not want to give up so carelessly.¡±

    ¡°Good, a ¡®does not want to give up so carelessly¡¯,¡± Yan Wushuangughed, pping her hands, but no trace of a smile appeared on her face. She then said, ¡°It seems like it will be impossible then to ask Fourth Young Master to give up a little.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s eyebrows slightly tightened, ¡°I wonder exactly what Aunt wants to gain from me?¡±

    Yan Wushuang replied, ¡°Let¡¯s make this clear with words. It¡¯s not that I want to gain something from you; I am also doing this for the benefit of the Su n¡¯s businesses. You must know that in the main branch, Madame Tang 2 is ill and your eyes make it difficult for you to do things. Although Fourth Young Master disyed great might and defeated Second Young Master just two months ago, can this grant Fourth Young Master keen eyes and sharp ears? Can this allow Eldest Young Master to clearly discern whether people are loyal or traitorous? Can this allow Fourth Young Master to manage the businesses without making any errors? Some things require people with sight, in the end, to aplish them.¡±

    Su Chen stared nkly for a moment before finally realizing the truth, ¡°So Fourth Concubine fancies my mother¡¯s few businesses.¡±

    Yan Wushuang corrected, ¡°They are all the Su n¡¯s; it¡¯s just that Madame Tang is currently managing them. But now that Madame Tang¡¯s health is deteriorating and Fourth Young Master is determined to walk on the path of the powerful, what need is there to hold on to these businesses? If you release them and allow me, a lowly person, to work for the n, you and your mother can reap the benefits behind the scenes, collecting the bonuses. Wouldn¡¯t your lives be more free and joyful?¡±

    Su Chen asked, ¡°Why hasn¡¯t Fourth Concubine talked to my mother about this matter?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve talked already; Madame Tang¡¯s nature is stubborn and won¡¯t listen to anyone. However, you were always her pride. If you are willing to let go of them, Madame Tang will most likely respect your suggestions.¡±

    Su Chen understood; it seemed that Yan Wushuang had already talked with Tang Hongrui about it, but was soundly refuted by Tang Hongrui. In the end, she hade to find him.

    In truth, if it were Su Chen who proposed this to his mother, Tang Hongrui may have actually agreed to it.

    One thing that Yan Wushuang said was absolutely correct ¨C that is, Tang Hongrui¡¯s physical condition was not suitable for managing the businesses. Su Chen was also not fit to take over. Thus, he had long thought of giving it up to someone else.

    However, giving it up was one matter. Who it was being given to was another matter entirely.

    Yan Wushuang, as the Fourth Concubine, was the only one receiving pampering. Tang Hongrui could never get used to seeing it. No matter who the businesses would be given to, they would not be given to her.

    Who knew that this woman¡¯s intentions were even more vicious? If the other party wouldn¡¯t give it to her, she woulde take it for herself. She actually went to find him to talk about this matter.

    Did she really think he was this easy to bully?

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes slightly narrowed.

    Yan Wushuang leisurely tossed away her tea leaves, her attitude as if she had done enough, and said, ¡°After Fourth Young Master defeated Second Young Master, although you achieved what you desired, you also offended Second Elder along with a group of people who supported him. In this period of time, Fourth Young Master¡¯s days most likely have been pretty lonely, right?¡±

    ¡°What is Aunt trying to say?¡±

    ¡°Nothing much; all I want to say is that humans still need to have a few friends. Otherwise, if one has too many enemies, who knows when one will be shot by an arrow from the darkness.¡±

    ¡°Aunt¡¯s meaning is that I should bow to the demands of others just to make a few more friends? I feel that these kinds of friends are not worth making.¡±

    Yan Wushuang¡¯s expression suddenly changed.

    Her tone suddenly became heavy, ¡°Do you know what you are saying?¡±

    Su Chen gentlyughed, ¡°What I am saying is that my Second Uncle spent three years trying to make me bow my head and failed as the Second Elder of the main branch of my Su n. What he could not aplish, a former whore of the Spring Moon Brothel actually wants to do. Aren¡¯t you indulging in your fantasies a little too much?¡±

    1. A face shaped like a goose egg is a sign of beauty in Chinese culture due to its smooth, rounded shape (even if it sounds funny)

    2. The Tang is not explicitly written here but was added in for rity.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 13: True Jade Pavilion

    Chapter 13: True Jade Pavilion

    ¡°Bang!¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an smacked the table and leapt to his feet.

    He was seething with anger.

    ¡°Did he really say it like that?¡±

    Yan Wushuang was the very picture of a weeping beauty, ¡°Lord, these words are absolutely true. Elder, you know that I, Yan Wushuang, lived a very bitter life. I entered the pce with Elder, but I was unable to enjoy this good fortune for even a few days. Instead, I am busy taking care of the Su n¡¯s businesses day and night, without even a day to rest. I didn¡¯t expect that even after working so diligently that I would receive this kind of abuse. For Young Master to treat me in such a way, what use is there for me to continue living here......¡±

    ¡°Alright, alright. Don¡¯t be so quick to threaten to kill yourself.¡± Su Cheng¡¯an waved his hand infort, but his expression was taut.

    Yan Wushuang was not of high birth. Everyone knew about this matter, but since she had been taken in as the Fourth Concubine, it was best to let the things of the past stay in the past. No one was permitted to bring up this matter in the entire n.

    Unexpectedly, this old scar had actually been cruelly stabbed by Su Chen. How could Su Cheng¡¯an not be angry in his heart?

    He was very clear about Yan Wushuang¡¯s intentions to take over Tang Hongrui and her son¡¯s business, but he chose to conveniently forget about it.

    People were always like this. If one was biased from the very beginning, one would overlook everything that did not align with this bias.

    As a result, Su Cheng¡¯an currently felt that Su Chen was a very unfilial son.

    Following the birth of his two sons and the eptance of his new favorite, his love for Su Chen had gradually be cold. In the wake of Su Chen disobeying him again and again, the rtionship between father and son disyed an increasing number of cracks, progressing to the point where it would be very difficult to repair.

    For this matter to happen today, Su Chen had possibly already reached a point where his crimes were too great in Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s eyes.

    At this time, Su Cheng¡¯an was thinking deeply in his heart. After thinking for a moment, he spoke, ¡°An unfilial child should be disciplined. But the majority of the businesses under Hongrui¡¯s control were brought from her original family. Although in name they are part of the Su n, if Hongrui doesn¡¯t give her approval, it¡¯s difficult for me to make a move. I still need to consider this matter for some time.¡±

    ¡°What need is there to consider?¡± Yan Wushuang huffed. ¡°So what if it was a dowry? Once she married into the Su n, the businesses should belong to the Su n. For Tang Hongrui to be so monopolizing, not allowing anybody else to interact with them; is this the path of a good housewife?¡±

    ¡°Then what do you think we should do? Although the Tang n is not as good as the Su n, they still have a decent amount of strength. I can¡¯t just forcefully take it away from them like so, can I?¡±

    Yan Wushuang thought for a moment before saying, ¡°Isn¡¯t Su Chen unwilling to let go of them? Then why not let him personally oversee the businesses? I just don¡¯t believe that he, a blind person, can do a good job of managing them.¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an thought deeply for a brief moment before his eyes began to shine, ¡°This is also an idea. When he makes a mistake, we can use it as a pretext to make a fuss, take the opportunity to dismiss him from his position and recover the right to manage it. But what is the best for him to oversee?¡±

    Yan Wushuang said savagely, ¡°Since he is blind, then let him manage the business that requires sight the most.¡±

    ¡°True Jade Pavilion!¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    The True Jade Pavilion was located in the Thousand Curves Alley; an antique store located in a tunnel.

    The Primordial Continent was a ce that could be considered to have matured in its advancement. Many glorious societies and cultures had once risen and fallen in this ce. At the same time, they had left behind an astonishingly abundant supply of ancient, hidden treasures.

    As for when the Primordial Continent¡¯s culture had been the most glorious, the expansion and development of some of the countries had been even more rapid and formidable than modern human society. Although they had all eventually faded into the dust of history for a variety of reasons, they still possessed a few remarkable technologies. Their heritage and treasures also went the way of their societies, buried beneath the surface of the Primordial Continent

    Precisely because of this, in this world, archaeology not only had important historical significance, but also tremendous practical importance.

    There was once a n in Long Sang that obtained the ability to smelt and smith metals because they had unintentionally uncovered a tomb from ancient times, and used it to be quite prosperous.

    This caused the antique business in this world to thrive.

    Following the vigorous development of the cultural relic business, counterfeits also took the opportunity and began to appear on markets.

    This caused the requirements ced on the inspectors of these antique stores to be even more stringent.

    The current head storekeeper of the True Jade Pce was called Tang Zhen; he was an elderly man who had followed Tang Hongrui to the Su n. He had been the head storekeeper of the True Jade Pavilion for twenty years, and was an old hand with a rich amount of experience. He behaved extremely cautiously and prudently, and he was very faithful and loyal. Although he did not have any huge deals that invited the praise of others, he never made many mistakes.

    Although the True Jade Pavilion could notpare to otherrge stores like the Thousand Year Pavilion or the Treasure Evaluation Tower located on the Thousand Curves Alley, a famous road of antiques towards the north, it was always able to steadily expand. It could be considered a mid-to-high ss store, and among the few businesses under Tang Hongrui¡¯s control, it was definitely the most important.

    A small room on the third floor of the True Jade Pavilion.

    Su Chen sat on the seat of honor on the left side. Below him stood Jianxin. Tang Zhen sat on the right side, and below him was the second storekeeper Zhang Heng and the third storekeeper Lou Yi.

    ¡°In name, my father sent me here to manage the True Jade Pavilion for my mother, but in reality his intention is for me to learn from the three storekeepers. Thus, the Three Storekeepers have no need of to feel apprehensive at my arrival. Just do what you normally do and that¡¯s enough,¡± Su Chen said slowly and deliberately, sitting on his own seat.

    The three storekeepers all spoke simultaneously, ¡°Weply with the Young Master¡¯s orders.¡±

    ¡°I pay my respects to the three storekeepers,¡± Su Chen responded, not forgetting his manners. ¡°The three storekeepers all have matters to take care of. How about this, the second and third storekeeper can go deal with the matters at the front desk. The head storekeeper can remain with me and teach me the ins and outs of antiques. As a neer, what I need most is to study.¡±

    ¡°This is also good.¡± Upon hearing these words, Zhang Heng and Lou Yi both bid their farewells to Su Chen, then went off to perform their own duties.

    Su Chen also told Jianxin to leave. Only Su Chen and Tang Zhen remained in the small room when Su Chen suddenly kowtowed to Tang Zhen, ¡°Storekeeper must save me.¡±

    ¡°What does Young Master mean?¡± This movement frightened Tang Zhen, and he hurriedly helped Su Chen up. ¡°I cannot afford to ept Young Master¡¯s great respect.¡±

    Only then did Su Chen respond, ¡°I do not wish to hide anything from head storekeeper. The reason I came here today was because I was exiled here by my father, not because I was sent here.¡±

    ¡°So that really was the case.¡± Tang Zhen let out a sigh.

    In reality, Tang Zhen already felt a premonition in his heart when he saw Su Chen, a blind person, sent to an antique store. Although he wasn¡¯t in the Su n, he still had some knowledge of some of the happenings in the Su n. While this Fourth Young Master was indeed blind, he was always an exceptional figure in the Su mansion.

    In terms of excellence, he could not be considered to begging behind; however, it was precisely because of this that he had incurred so much jealousy and hatred.

    Su Chen more or less exined the matter of Yan Wushuang¡¯s scheming to obtain his mother¡¯s businesses.

    Upon hearing that Su Chen had cursed that Yan Wushuang as amon whore from the Spring Moon Brothel, Tang Zhen was so frightened that his eyebrows jumped repeatedly. He finally understood why Su Cheng¡¯an had exiled him to this ce. Speaking rudely, insubordination, disrespect of elders, humiliating his father¡¯s concubine ¨C these were not small offenses!

    ¡°My mother told me that when Ie over I definitely must listen to the head storekeeper¡¯s instructions. The head storekeeper has worked hard and prudently for the Tang n for twenty years, so you must be trustworthy. Thus, she wanted me to definitely ask the head storekeeper for help.¡±

    ¡°Aiya, I have no other abilities except to identify a few jade tools, some precious antique texts and the like. Even if you didn¡¯t mention this or kowtow to me, or even if you weren¡¯t here, these are all things that I need to focus all my attention on doing. What could I possibly help you with?¡±

    ¡°You can teach me,¡± Su Chen answered.

    Tang Zhen was startled. ¡°What did you say? You want to learn how to inspect treasures?¡±

    ¡°Precisely so!¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 14: Antique

    Chapter 14: Antique

    A blind person wants to study how to inspect treasures.

    No matter how one heard it, it would sound ridiculous.

    However, Su Chen¡¯s expression was sincere and his tone dead serious.

    Seeing Su Chen¡¯s attitude, Tang Zhen let out a long sigh and began to speak very slowly and deliberately,

    ¡°If Young Master wants to learn how to inspect treasures, it is certainly an inspiring aspiration. Naturally, it¡¯s a very useful skill. However, the path of inspecting treasures is extremelyplicated and all-inclusive. Even those old hands who¡¯ve been in this line of business for a long time also have times where they make an oversight.¡±

    When he said the word ¡°oversight¡±1, his tone became particrly gloomy and grave.

    When Su Chen heard this, he said, ¡°What head storekeeper is trying to say is that if even those who have sight to aid them can make such oversights, then why would we talk about treasure inspection when a blind person like me doesn¡¯t even have the ocr qualifications to make an oversight? Only that you were being considerate of my feelings and didn¡¯t directly say it, am I right?¡±

    Tang Zhen let out an embarrassedugh, but he still replied, ¡°Young Master, forgive this old man for speaking directly and without respect...... but that is precisely so.¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°It is a very good thing for head storekeeper to be willing to speak bluntly to me. I also know that my eyes are inadequate for the task, and that wanting to learn how to inspect treasures is an extremely difficult matter. However, I still believe that one day my eyes will recover. What I learn now will serve as a foundation for when that urs. That being said, even if I don¡¯t recover and don¡¯t learn it well, it¡¯s not a big deal. At most I just won¡¯t take charge of any of the antique sales. My reason foring here is to learn; I definitely won¡¯t get in the way of head storekeeper taking care of business.¡±

    Upon hearing these words, Tang Zhen finally let out a sigh, ¡°If you put it like that, then naturally there is no problem.¡±

    ¡°Since it¡¯s like this, then everything will depend on head storekeeper. Where should we start?¡±

    Tang Zhen didn¡¯t expect that Su Chen would be so eager to learn, even wanting to start immediately. He thought for a moment, and then said, ¡°How about let¡¯s start from the True Jade Pavilion. Since you¡¯vee to your own family¡¯s store, we probably should start by understanding the circumstances inside this store.¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡±

    ¡°The main business of the True Jade Pavilion is the sale of a few antiques that originate from the Illustrious Divine Dynasty. asionally, we will also receive a few antiques from the ancient times. However, these kinds of antiques require even higher levels of visual acuity so unless one is absolutely sure about them, we do not ept them lightly. Young Master, please follow me. I will take you to see some of the purchased treasures of our pavilion. Although Young Master cannot see, you can smell, hear, and touch. I will first tell Young Master about the uses of those senses......¡±

    As Tang Zhen spoke, he had already pressed an ancient jade into Su Chen¡¯s hand.

    The ancient jade was warm; holding it in his hand, Su Chen actually felt a grand, imposing aura surrounding his hand.

    ¡°This is the Idle Cow Patterned Tricolored Jade, consisting of the three colors azure, red, and yellow. It originates from the time period of the Illustrious Divine Dynasty¡¯s Emperor Ping, and was the personal belonging of Wang Shi, a magistrate of the Nine States. His name is also inscribed on the back of this piece of jade. As the one in charge, you can touch it a little. Wang Shi was very highly esteemed by Emperor Ping and was put in charge of supervising the Nine States, clearing away an unknown number of unjust charges. He could be considered to be a sober and calm person, somewhat umon during that dark period of time. This three-colored jade was with him for many years, and was eventually being infused by his righteous aura. Thus, wearing it even confers the ability to avoid evil and exorcise demons.¡±

    Primordial Artifacts had many strange effects.

    For it to be considered the pavilion¡¯s treasure, this Idle Cow Patterned Tricolored Jade naturally also needed to have some special effects for it to live up to such a title.

    Although this jade¡¯s exorcism effect was only average and could only suppress a normal amount of evil, fiendish Qi, normal people would consider this to be quite a good effect.

    After introducing this piece of ancient Jade, Tang Zhen brought Su Chen to a counter.

    ¡°A book of the Arcana race is ced in here. The Arcana race was an extremely powerful race that existed fifty thousand years ago. They possessed an unbelievable affinity for innovation. Many of the great constructs and inventions alle from that time period, but many of them were also annihted during that time period.

    Su Chen asked curiously, ¡°Storekeeper, how do you know the name of this book? The words of the Arcana race shouldn¡¯t be simr to the words of the human race, right?¡±

    Tang Zhen stroked his beard as heughed delightedly, ¡°Naturally this is because I understand the words of the Arcana race. You must know that examining cultural relics is not an easy matter. An outstanding treasure inspection expert must also be someone who is very learned and well-informed. The knowledge of history andnguages are the fundamentals of antique inspection.

    ¡°So it was like that.¡± Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up. He bowed to Tang Zhen, ¡°I request that head storekeeper continues to educate me.¡±

    ¡°Hey, you cannot do that, you cannot do that, Young Master is being far too respectful.¡± Tang Zhen hurriedly pulled him up by his arm, ¡°Since Young Master wants to learn, I will teach you. It just so happens that you cannot see; thus, it¡¯s probably best for you to begin to learn from the knowledge perspective. As long as Young Master is willing to learn, this old man is willing to teach you everything I know about the history of the Primordial Continent, its geography, and the development and changes of the ten or so ancestral races, as well as their cultures and theirnguages!¡±

    This was a time where martial prowess was valued and culture was belittled. The threat of the Primordial Beast races caused each ancestral race to exist under arduous circumstances. They had no choice but to use all their effort to expand their martial forces in order to resist the endless waves of beasts in the wilderness. The usefulness of culture was thus reduced to its lowest limit. Instead, what arose in its ce was a fierce, warlike vigor and secret,plete cultivation inheritances.

    Inparison, the hierarchy of knowledge and its importance clearly begun to decrease. The people that controlled knowledge were no longer the upper echelons of human society; rather, they consisted of those in the middle of this social pyramid. These people, like tradesmen and doctors, who grasped a particr set of talents, were the core of society and passed down their traditions and techniques from generation to generation.

    Those who did not satisfy either of these conditions became the lower echelons of society.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, Tang Zhen had found exactly what he had been looking for when Su Chen expressed his desire to learn. He had nothing that could be used to attach value to him; but rather, he felt extremely surprised and happy that all the knowledge that he had umted over the years could be put to good use. If in the future Su Chen attained any great achievements, as his previous teacher Tang Zhen would be destined to rise as a result. Of course, considering Su Chen¡¯s current condition, Tang Zhen did not ce any expectations on this matter. At the moment, he simply liked Su Chen, appreciating the young man¡¯s intelligence and desire to learn, as well as his progress. At the same time, he was only holding onto his sense of loyalty, wanting to perform some meritorious services for his n.

    As such, in the following days, Su Chen began to follow Tang Zhen and study the history of the Primordial Continent as well as thenguages of each race.

    To his delight, Tang Zhen discovered that although Su Chen could not see, hisprehension was astounding. He could understand many things after only being told once and could even make many inferences using that information.

    Although losing his sight brought him a great deal of inconveniences, it had also granted him a sharper mind than before as well as an even more formidable memory, allowing him to be quicker at anything he put his mind to.

    As for the things that required brute memorization, Su Chen was basically able to memorize them after one time.

    In a short span of three months, Su Chen hadpletely memorized the entire course of the Primordial Continent¡¯s history, including a decent understanding of the ten or so ancestral races of humankind. He even became proficient in the words and general use of the Arcana and Tyrant racenguages. Hisprehension was rapid and deep, causing Tang Zhen to repeatedly praise him as extraordinary. He would say that a hundred days worth of Su Chen¡¯s work was superior to three years of bitter studying from anyone else.

    Under Tang Zhen, Su Chen also finally began to understand the Primordial history that had never been recorded in the history books of the human race.

    1. The Chinese characters for oversight, ×ßÑÛ, is technically two words, but for the sake of English uracy I have tranted it as one word.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 15: History

    Chapter 15: History

    When the heavens and the earth came into being, the earth was a barren wastnd.

    Until one day, at the center of the barren wastnd, an enormous explosion urred. The explosion released a frightening amount of raw energy.

    This kind of energy resulted in many tremendous changes to this world, overturning the heavens and the earth. At the same time, it gave birth to an uncountable number of lives.

    The earliest life forms received the rawest form of energy. Their bodies were asrge as mountains and their strength was iparable.

    These life forms were called the Origin race.

    After the Origin Race, new deste beasts were constantly born. Although they were strong in their own right, they could notpare to the Origin Race, who came into existence at the beginning of the world.

    Those deste beasts came to be called the Origin Beasts.

    After the Origin Race, the Origin Beasts dominated the continent, bing the masters of the Primordial World.

    The Origin Beasts were the masters of the Continent for almost two hundred thousand years. Descendants would call this time period the Age of Creation.

    After the Age of Creation was an age where myriads of races sprung into being.

    At that time, the energy of the heaven and earth gradually decreased, and the Origin Beasts were not suited for these changes. One by one, they entered deep hibernation in an attempt to decrease their energy requirements and continue to live.

    However, their progeny continued to roam the continent.

    Their bodies were still extremelyrge, and they still had the strength to control the raw energy. However, they were still inferior to their predecessors.

    The progeny of the Origin Beasts were called the Prehistoric Beasts.

    At the same time, due to flux of energy in the Primordial World, hordes of sentient, intelligent races began to appear inrge droves. These races were not only numerous, but also possessed a unique ir for creativity

    One of these intelligent races was the human race.

    The intelligent races were still quite weak when they first came into being. Thespread and development of wisdom was far slower than that of raw strength, yet they were still able to somehow survive.

    The fragile human race, under the rule of the Prehistoric Beasts, became their food.

    This period of timested for a hundred thousand years, and was called the Wastnd Era.

    After the Wastnd Era came the Chaos Era.

    The Chaos Era was when the intelligent races suddenly sprung forth with tremendous momentum.

    All life forms with the gift of controlling energy were grouped together and called Origin Rted life forms, and it was from that the name ¡°Origin Beasts¡± was derived.

    The races enved by the Origin Beasts had no way of increasing their own strength and thus, they could only pursue the path of increasing their knowledge.

    Most importantly, their leaps in wisdom and innovation led to their ability to create and invent what they needed.

    The life-forms whose intelligence managed to evolve were referred to as the Intelligence-Rted, or the ve-Rted. Thest moniker was mostly because many of the Intelligence Rted races came from lowly origins.

    As their intelligence and wisdom grew, the intelligent races gradually came to resent their fate of being enved. They did their best to shake off their fate, but it was not their effort that allowed them a chance. But rather, the heavens and earth shifted, giving them a marvelous opportunity to make a bid for freedom

    As time had passed, the energy of the heavens had begun to wane. It progressed from being as abundant and thick as water to bing as thin as a paltry breeze.

    As a result, the strength of the Prehistoric Beasts also began to weaken.

    They could still control the power of the heavens and the earth, but it was no longer as easy. Their strength began to weaken, and their progeny grew smaller and smaller.

    These became known as the Demonic Beasts.

    They were still the rulers of the heavens and earth, yet they no longer held the absolute power they were used to.

    The Dark Spirit Race were the first to rebel.

    They were the first of the intelligent races to possess the ability to control energy. Innately sensitive to it, they could almost be considered as half Origin-Rted. However, theycked the physique to directly control the rawest form of energy. The thinning of heavenly energy actually allowed them to get an initial grip on controlling it. Using their newfound abilities, they began to wage war for their freedom.

    This became known as the period when the Dark Spirit Race flourished. They were able to defeat arge number of Demonic Beasts, and in the year 4600 of the Chaos Era, they imed their own territory in the southern area of the world. The annals of history marked them down as the Origin Spirit Kingdom.

    Unfortunately, the Origin Spirit Kingdom only existed for two thousand years before disintegrating1.

    The weakening of energy continued, and a few Demonic Beasts began to follow in the footsteps of their ancestors and fell into hibernation.

    Meanwhile, new races continued to rise throughout the world.

    The Mysterious Race, who were simr in physique and intelligence; the Ferocious Race, who were filled with primitive wildness, part of the Intelligent Races in name yet behaved simrly to the beasts; and the Green Race, who lived deep inside the forests and were half-alive, half-vegetation. They all established their own influence in history, but they also all fell in quick session.

    In the year 9800 of the Chaos Era, the Mysterious Race erected the Heavenly Profound Kingdom. Three thousand yearster, their kingdom fell into ruin.

    In the year 12000 of the Chaos Era, the Ferocious Race erected the Storm Territory. Five hundred yearster, their kingdom also fell into ruin.

    In the year 15000 of the Chaos Era, the Green Race erected the Eternal Solitude Capital. Four thousand yearster, their kingdom disintegrated into ashes.

    Not a single civilization surpassed five thousand years; every one of them just became a footnote of history.

    The only one that could exist for more than thirty thousand years, withstanding the havoc the beast race wreaked, was the Arcana World Empire.

    The Arcana Race possessed an uncanny ability to invent objects. Although their physical ability was nothing to boast of, they managed to produce various weapons that utilized energy. Those weapons leveled the ying field against the Demonic Beasts. At its height, the Arcana World Empire even governed a majority of the Primordial Continent. Their might surpassed the Demonic Beasts, and even the Prehistoric Beasts could do nothing to prevent their march.

    However, at that moment in history, the strength of an Origin-Rted life form became abundantly clear to every single creature on the Primordial Continent.

    An Origin Beast awoke.

    The Origin Beast died not long after it awoke, since the low levels of energy made the Primordial Continent an environment that starved it to death. But during that short period, that Origin Beast thrashed through the Arcana World Empire¡¯s army. Its rampage dealt the Arcana World Empire a wound that it would never recover from.

    At the same time, the other Intelligent Races that had been under the Arcana Race¡¯s oppression also took the opportunity to revolt. They cooperated to deal a vicious blow to the Arcana World Empire from the inside.

    They ransacked the Arcana Race¡¯s capital, the Evesting City. Thest bastion of the Arcana World Empire fell, which caused theirst resort for victory to fail. At the same time, they took advantage of their weakness to takerge swathes of the Arcana World Empire¡¯snd for themselves.

    In the final years of the Chaos Era, the Arcana World Empire fell into ruin. The five races split up the possessions of the Arcana Race, and the human race obtained the Bloodline Extraction instrument. From then on, they could harness the powers of the Beast Race for their own usage, beginning to open their bloodline and developing a warrior system, that is, the predecessors of Origin Qi Schrs. The young Su Chen¡¯s guesses were finally validated.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°Suess Igor said, I am getting bored of the stubborn, granite-like heads of the Mountain Race ves. What I need are not extremely strong ves; rather, I need intelligent ves who can identify my needs. Thus, he bought Lin Xinghuo away. Three yearster, the Prairie Fire Uprising exploded. Lin Xinghuo led twelve hundred human ves to finished off their ex-master, before fleeing to a nearby mountain range. Thirty-three dayster, Lin Xinghuo and his army of human ves were exterminated...... Yet who could have expected that this was only the first time that humanity would rebel. Merely one rebellion against the Arcana Race¡¯s ve masters came to be called the prelude to the counterattack of the human race, the Prairie Fire Battle.

    In the small tower of the True Jade Pavilion, Su Chen summarized everything he had just memorized in a heavy tone.

    ¡°True history always causes one to feel disappointed, is that right?¡± Tang Zhenughed as he replied, ¡°The history that you obtain from me will never be as beautiful as what¡¯s recorded in history books.¡±

    ¡°Then, did Lin Huoxing actually yell the sentence ¡°Humankind will never be ves?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Who knows.¡± Tang Zhen shook his head.

    The history that he could obtain also had its own limitations. Some truths had already been forever lost to humanity to the river of time.

    Truth and falsehood had no meaning there. Regardless of whether Lin Xinghuo had actually shouted that sentence, he had be the symbol and idol of the present-day human race in their struggles. Taking down his altar would not bring any benefits to the human race. He knew that the truth only existed to let him learn how to deal with reality, and how to approach it.

    As for thoughts like ¡°setting things right¡± or ¡°restoring truth to history¡±, it was best to give uppletely on this line of thinking. Even though he was only fifteen years old, Su Chen knew how unreasonable and impractical these kinds of thoughts were.

    ¡°Today¡¯s history lesson will conclude here. Rest for a while, then I will teach you the Arcananguage. What a pity, if only the Arcana Race¡¯s Language Proficiency Technique could be passed down, that would be the best way to learn newnguages. If the stories are true, as long as one had a decent handle on the technique, one could automatically learn allnguages. You wouldn¡¯t need to work so hard either.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Learning from Storekeeper Tang is a joy in and of itself. I don¡¯t find it taxing.¡±

    Tang Zhen puffed his chest out, pleased, andughed as he left the room.

    Seeing Tang Zhen walk out, Su Chen lowered his head and nced at the book in his hand.

    The writing on the book was very blurry. Although he still could not see them clearly, he could at least distinguish characters.

    Yes, his eyes truly had recovered slightly.

    The world in his eyes had already assumed apletely different appearance.

    It seemed to be andscape painting usingrge chunks of color. Every single existence had been rendered, erged and blurred. As such, the entire world appeared to be somewhat unrefined, possessing its own unique look.

    The ability to distinguish between a few colors had caused the world in his eyes to regain its gorgeous and colorful luster.

    The current him was more like an extremely nearsighted individual. Although he could not see clearly, he was no longer unable to see.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 16: Conspiracy 1

    Chapter 16: Conspiracy (1)

    ¡°It¡¯s been four months already. Even with this much time, you really have no way of dealing with him?¡±

    Yan Wushuang angrily pounded her armrest.

    An underling who seemed like a steward was kneeling in front of her and said, trembling, ¡°Ever since Su Chen entered the True Jade Pavilion, he follows head storekeeper Tang in studying cultural relics, ancient history, and thenguages of the different races. Regardless of rain or wind, he arrives on time every day and has never once beente. Even moreso, he never does any business in the pavilion. As all control was given to storekeeper Tang, it¡¯s hard for us to force anything.¡±

    ¡°You haven¡¯t even tried any other methods?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve tried them all. However, they probably also know that Su Chen entered the True Jade Pavilion due to our influence behind the scenes. Thus, in the past few months, their actions have been extremely cautious. With regards to buying things and guarding the storerooms, they have added even more people to monitor the situation. Their ounts are also pristine, and no fault could be found in them. No matter how much we hoped the opportunity would arise, they would not fall into the traps weid out for them. I sent many groups of people, and I even tried to sell them a few counterfeit articles that were painstakingly crafted by Hong Wendong, but I was actually unable to bypass their inspections. They are also located in the Thousand Curve Alley, which is popted by many soldiers, so we could not make excessive movements. That is why the matter has dragged on for so long.¡±

    Yan Wushuang¡¯s expression sank, ¡°So the reason I wasted so much effort sending Su Chen to the True Jade Pavilion was to let him read books!?¡±

    ¡°Madam, please calm your anger!¡± That underling kowtowed as if he were beating garlic with his forehead.

    ¡°You useless pieces of garbage!¡± Yan Wushuang was already standing as she cursed.

    She paced back and forth a few times, herrge red brocade dress setting off a storm of red-colored waves in the hall.

    Aftering to a halt, Yan Wushuang spoke gloomily,

    ¡°Even the tightest security has to be made up of humans. If we want the security of the True Jade Pavilion to copse, we must start at their people. Have you not tried to bribe someone among them?¡±

    The underling replied, ¡°We tried, but there wasn¡¯t much effect. Apart of Su Chen, there are a total of nine people in True Jade Pavilion. Of those nine, three are storekeepers, one is an ountant, two areborers, two are maidservants, and one is a chef. Each has a unique job, and since Su Chen arrived, their responsibilities have been made even clearer, and they have be even more stringent in punishments. A few months ago, we bribed one of theborers, who snuck into the treasury when they were not prepared. Who could expect that although Su Chen was blind, his ears were still sensitive? Upon hearing the strange movement, he called for people who caught theborer and kicked him out without allowing room for exnation, refusing to ever hire him again. Thatborer began to wail about telling the Su n that we had bribed him, so in the end, we had no choice but to purchase his silence with a hundred taels of pure gold.¡±

    ¡°A hundred taels of pure gold as hush money? You really have this much style in spending money?¡± Yan Wushuang was so angry that her sleek eyebrows were almost vertical.

    At this time, the purchasing power of gold was still quite strong; a hundred taels of pure gold was enough for thatborer to live for ten years without worrying about food or drink.

    That underling said with a sour face, ¡°It¡¯s not that we have that much style in spending money, but rather that Su Chen is too vicious. After catching thatborer, he told him, ¡°I don¡¯t need to know who the mastermind behind your actions is, but I will tell you that now that you¡¯ve lost your livelihood for them, you should ask forpensation. If you¡¯re smart, I rmend you ask for a hundred taels of pure gold. Believe me, this isn¡¯t a veryrge amount of hush money to seal a mouth like yours. Of course, in order to prevent them from trying to silence you by killing you, it¡¯s best to leave some contingency ns so that just in case you die, the news will spread. In this way, they will not dare to kill you and can only pay you the money.¡± Thatborer only came to demand hush money from us once he had been told that. Of course we wanted to silence him right then and there, but just as Su Chen had said, the brat had made preparations a long time ago. We had no choice but to give in to him!¡±

    Yan Wushuang was so angry that her entire body began to tremble.

    Very good, Su Chen! He actually counterattacked by using her instrument to extort her. Her schemes to steal the True Jade Pavilion had failed, and she had actually lost arge sum of money because of Su Chen. The rage in her heart increased, and she angrily spat out, ¡±Have you tried any of the storekeepers!?¡±

    ¡°Head storekeeper Tang is a person who was brought from Tang Hongrui¡¯s side of the family and is extremely loyal to the Tang n, so it¡¯s basically impossible! Second storekeeper Zhang Heng was directly promoted by Master, and third storekeeper Lou Yi was handpicked by Tang Zhen. All of them can be considered to be loyal, so wanting to buy them out would not be easy......¡±

    Yan Wushuang said, ¡°I hear that Lou Yi has a son who likes to gamble?¡±

    That underling responded, ¡°Yes, he does! However, it seems that Lou Yi also knows about this shoring. For this period of time he has confined his son to his home, not allowing him to leave the house.¡±

    ¡°He can restrict him for a hundred days, but can he do that for so many years? It should be about time for him to rx, given the passage of these few months.¡±

    ¡°This little one understands. This little one will do it now!¡±

    ¡°Go, and don¡¯t screw up this time.¡± Yan Wushuang said sinisterly, ¡°I will make Su Chen pay the price no matter what!¡±

    It could be said that she was previously only scheming about stealing the businesses. But having been humiliated and obstructed so many times, Yan Wushuang¡¯s thoughts have escted to satisfying her hatred.

    Even if it was only for revenge, she was unwilling to let Su Chen off.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°Ha!¡±

    As he exhaled and yelled, the stone stele answered by shattering.

    In the back garden of the True Jade Pavilion, Su Chen retrieved his fist. Today¡¯s training would end here.

    Learning under Tang Zhen didn¡¯t mean that he had stopped cultivating his Martial Dao. Su Chen was very clear that embarking on the road of an Origin Qi Schr was his ultimate goal.

    Not long ago, he had sessfully broken through the Body Tempering Ninth Layer. At this moment, he was already standing at the threshold of an Origin Qi Schr.

    ¡°One more year should be enough time,¡± Su Chen murmured.

    The recruitment period for the Hidden Dragon Institute urred every summer.

    The Hidden Dragon Institute could be considered the top school in the entire Long Sang country. Every year, an unknown number of Heaven¡¯s Chosen would tear out their hair in a desperate attempt to enter.

    Next year, Su Chen would be sixteen ¨C the age where he would be entering school.

    If he could enter the Qi Gathering realm, and be an official Origin Qi Schr, it would certainly be very helpful for him in the trial to enter the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    In these few years, Su Ke had been unceasingly trying to create opportunities for Su Qing .

    He also hoped that Su Qing could enter the Qi Gathering realm before then.

    Simrly, Su Chen was unwilling to give up. He could not afford to wait until his eyes recovered before continuing to cultivate.

    By then, it would be toote.

    Fortune only favored the prepared.

    Originally, Su Chen was worried about whether or not he could ever recover. Now that he had confirmed that his vision was recovering, his worry began to shift from whether or not he could recover to a matter of how soon he couldpletely recover.

    His current speed of recovery was still too slow.

    Su Chen did not want to still be severely nearsighted when the time for the examination for the Hidden Dragon Institute came around.

    ¡°Who knows if I will ever have another big breakthrough like that one time with the Shifting Snake Steps,¡± Su Chen sighed.

    Upon thinking about the Snaking Mist Steps, Su Chen suddenly recalled that he had not seen Gu Qingluo for many days.

    These days, Gu Qingluo seemed to be busy with something. The frequency of her visits to the back mountain had decreased greatly, and it had already been a month since thest time they¡¯d seen each other.

    ¡°Who knows what she is busy with,¡± Su Chen shook his head.

    An idea suddenly sprang up in his heart ¨C since Gu Qingluo had note to see him, then why not go and visit Gu Qingluo?

    Go visit Gu Qingluo!

    As soon as this thought appeared, Su Chen could not repress the longing in his heart, and immediately decided to take action.

    Of course, he would not just recklessly charge up to their gates. The Lin n and the Su n had never been friends, and the rtionship between Gu Qingluo and Su Chen had always been a secret.

    However, this wouldn¡¯t pose a problem for Su Chen.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 17: Conspiracy 2

    Chapter 17: Conspiracy (2)

    Northface City, Southern district.

    The Lin n¡¯s main courtyard.

    The courtyard was several hectares wide and held many hundreds of houses, particrly in the middle of the courtyard. There were also ten or sondscape gardens. The entire courtyard was very richly ornamented and quite dazzling to behold.

    The ancestor of the Lin n was a hunter by origin. On one of his hunts, he inadvertently stumbled upon the cub of a rare Demonic Beast. From that moment on, his rise was meteoric, and he established his own household.

    In reality, the other three ns were very simr in this regard.

    Su Changche was originally a merchant selling red dates, but because he gave some red dates1 to an old man who was about to starve to death, he obtained the Raging me Heart Technique. The He n¡¯s ancestor had mistakenly ingested a red fruit and fortunately didn¡¯t perish. Rather, he sessfully reached the Qi Drawing stage and established his own household. Only the Li n¡¯s ancestor had forged his abilities on the battlefield, having originally been a soldier.

    Regardless of the fortune they had received, they were all simr in that they held strength and power.

    Perhaps there had been others in this world who had obtained other good fortune before, but without powerful martial strength their aplishments were fated to be limited.

    The current head of the Lin n was Lin Yuanshan. He had three sons and two daughters.

    Like the majority of ns, the Lin n also owned many different businesses. However, their most important businesses was still the Beast Garden. Members of the Lin n were experts in training and breeding wild beasts and even Vicious Beasts for their own use.

    If one was to survey the entire human race, there were not many who had the ability to do this.

    Vicious Beasts, as their name implied, were innately fierce and uncontroble. They were prone to bouts of violence and irascibility, and were extremely difficult to tame. However, the members of the Lin n relied on the abandoned Demonic Beast that they had obtained to tame a portion of Vicious Beasts and then sold them to various major aristocrats. Thus, they were able to establish a footing for themselves.

    The beast garden was located in the back of the Lin n¡¯srge courtyard. Coincidentally, this was also the direction in which Su Chen was heading.

    Naturally, he was not coveting the Vicious Beasts of the Lin n. Rather, Gu Qingluo lived in a small building next to a smallke located near the beast garden.

    It was a very scenicke. Large swathes of white reeds grew near theke, and asionally it would be possible to see ck swans ying there. When Su Chen was young and just wanted to have fun, he had once gone there. In the end he had been caught by members of the Lin n and sent back to the Su n, where what awaited for him was a beating from his parents. At that time, holding onto the wounds on his butt, Su Chen vowed never to return to this ce. Who could have expected that he would once again charge over to the small building by theke?

    However, Su Chen was not worried about the consequences this time.

    He was a blind man. Even if he were to be discovered, he could just say that he had taken a wrong turn.

    It was precisely because he could rely on this excuse that Su Chen could forge ahead without worry.

    By following the road in the quiet and secluded forest, Su Chen very quickly walked out of the forest.

    A blurry waterfront appeared in front of his eyes.

    He had arrived at the smallke.

    Although Su Chen was no longer able to see the smallke¡¯s beauty as he could in the past, he followed the path in his memory, walking towards the small house step by step with careful steps. This area was thick with Lin n patrols. Luckily, his hearing was exceptional, and he was on a small trail in the forest. Vision was heavily restricted, and the two patrol squads were easily detected and evaded.

    Just as he was about to arrive at the small building near theke, Su Chen suddenly heard the sounds of footsteps on fallen leaves in front of him.

    Although the sound was not loud, it was still loud to Su Chen¡¯s sensitive ears, and he hurriedly hid behind arge tree.

    The distant footsteps slowly drew near. From the sounds of the footsteps, it seemed like two people were walking.

    Unfortunately, these two people seemed to be headed in Su Chen¡¯s direction, and they seemed to be moving quickly. Su Chen hesitated for a second and lost the opportunity to leave. Even if he wanted to leave, he could no longer do so. He could only continue to hide behind the tree, motionless.

    Thankfully, those two people finally stopped somewhere not far from the tree.

    A low and hoarse voice began to speak, ¡°Okay, there¡¯s nobody else here. You can speak here.¡±

    Next, a jerky-sounding voice replied, ¡°We ran into some difficulties. Yue Wuti seems to know something and is currently investigating the Cloud River Society.¡±

    ¡°How much has he discovered?¡± The hoarse voice asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s still unclear. We only know that he found a vice president and had a meal with him. That evening, the vice presidentmitted suicide. His death was too quick; we didn¡¯t even have time to ask him any questions.¡±

    ¡°Dammit!¡± The low voice suddenly increased in volume, ¡°That bastard definitely leaked some of our secrets. How much does he know?¡±

    ¡°Not much. However, he presided over the purchase of amethysts and stone powder. He even carried out special procurements for us three times. Based on these and considering Yue Wuti¡¯s shrewdness, it¡¯s very likely that he would discover that.....¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not just very likely, it¡¯s definitely! The Spirit Burying Terrace needs at least a year before it can open. This period of time is more than enough for Yue Wuti to uncover all of our backgrounds. You definitely cannot allow him to continue investigating!¡± The low voice came out between gritted teeth,ced with anger.

    After briefly pausing for a moment, the low voice then added, ¡°Tell Night Thorn to make a move and finish him!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Upon hearing these words, Su Chen couldn¡¯t control the frantic beating of his heart.

    In the end, he was only fifteen years old. This was his first time hearing about matters that involved killing people. He inevitably felt flustered and couldn¡¯t help but take a step back. Although the sound of his footnding on the leaves was quiet, it still made a small noise.

    Although the sound was not loud, it was like the sound of thunder in the ears of the two people discussing matters.

    ¡°Who is it?¡± That low voice let out a short shout.

    Su Chen knew that the situation wasn¡¯t good, and he turned around to escape. However, wind from the palm strike had already reached him, mming down on the ground behind him. The force of the impact sent Su Chen flying.

    Su Chen flipped a few times in midair beforending on the ground in a heap. There were already two people standing in front of him.

    One was extremely old and dressed in all ck. The other was a young man, wearing an azure robe.

    Upon seeing Su Chen¡¯s face, that azure-robed young man let out a surprised exmation, ¡°Su Chen? How is it you?¡±

    ¡°You recognize him?¡± the old man asked.

    ¡°Answering Elder Sang, he is the Fourth Young Master Su Chen of the Su n. He is blind.¡± The young man who replied was called Lin Xie. He had seen Su Chen a few times before, which was why he was able to immediately recognize him.

    ¡°Blind?¡± The old man looked at Su Chen, only to see that his eyes remained as straight as ever as he furiously backed up, still on the ground. He did not look at the path at all. Even if he ran into the tree, he would not have much of a reaction, instead changing direction and continuing to back up. However, how could he outrun a healthy person like this?

    He truly was blind.

    The old man let out a breath, then said, ¡°Go kill him.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± the young man replied, already walking towards Su Chen.

    Su Chen seemed to have sensed danger, exploding into motion as he leapt to his feet and took off. His speed was not slow either.

    Thankfully, the path that he had chosen to sprint along actually was not blocked by a single tree, so he was actually able to stumble his way out.

    Just as that old man was about to give chase, the young man said, ¡°Elder Sang, leave this brat to me. There are Lin n guards up ahead. It¡¯s best for you to avoid running into them and having to put up with the trouble of them seeing you.¡±

    Upon hearing this, Elder Sang stopped his steps and said, ¡°Then...... I¡¯ll leave him to you.¡±

    As he spoke, he no longer paid any attention to Su Chen, taking his leave. To leave an official Origin Qi schr to deal with a Body Tempering blind man, he truly had no reason to not feel at ease.

    Upon seeing the bolting Su Chen, Lin Xie viciouslyughed, chasing Su Chen withrge strides.

    1. Referring to the fruit.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 18: A Bloody Battle

    Chapter 18: A Bloody Battle

    Within the forest, Su Chen ran like he was on fire.

    He knew that he had gotten himself into big trouble this time. Having heard the other person¡¯s secrets, they would definitely not just simply let him off the hook.

    Lin Xie was a second-generation disciple of the Lin n. Although he was only a branch descendant, he had still entered the Qi Drawing Realm. In addition, even if Su Chen¡¯s eyes hadpletely recovered, he was still not an Origin Qi Schr¡¯s match, not to mention his current blindness.

    Su Chen had seen the attacks of an Origin Qi Schr. They were not existences on the same ne of thought as a regr martial schr. They could really use Origin Energy to release attacks that exceeded the physical limits of the human body.

    He must think of a way to get out of danger!

    Su Chen yelled loudly in his heart as he ran furiously.

    However, the more he panicked the more he confused he became. Although he could see the trees themselves, his eyes had no way of seeing the tree roots beneath his feet.

    A tree root that had suddenly appeared caused Su Chen¡¯s body to go flying, leaving him t on his face.

    Just as he wanted to crawl back onto his feet, a foot had alreadynded on his back.

    Lin Xie¡¯s grating and cold voice sounded out, ¡°Run, keep on running! Why did you stop running? I want to see how quickly a blind person can run.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps you should see how quickly I can hit!¡± Su Chen clenched his teeth and let out a low growl, using his elbow to smash backwards.

    However, in the end there was still a foot on his back. Both the power and angle of this elbow were all doomed to be limited. Lin Xie blocked Su Chen¡¯s elbow attack with a casual grab. However, a wrathful light ignited in his eyes, ¡°Hit back? You actually dare to hit back?¡±

    A Body Tempering Stage blind man actually dared to retaliate against him instead of bitterly pleading for mercy!?

    This sent Lin Xie into a rage.

    He grabbed Su Chen¡¯s right hand and applied some force. With a ¡°crack¡±, Su Chen¡¯s right hand fractured into two.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Su Chen let out a pained scream.

    Lin Xie continued to lift Su Chen off the ground. His right hand glowed with a faint light before forming a fist and smashing into Su Chen¡¯s midsection.

    This punch was nothing if not powerful. Su Chen felt like his entire being was going to split in two.

    ¡°How is it, my Mysterious Iron Fists are pretty good, huh? This is my Origin Energy Skill, and I only used three-tenths of my strength. If I were to truly use all my force, your small body would be in pieces!¡± Lin Xie darkly chuckled.

    Origin Energy Skills was the biggest difference between an Origin Qi Schr and a regr martial schr.

    The same fist techniques, when used by Origin Qi Schrs, would have surpass those by martial artists by many folds simply because they were supplemented with the strength of Origin Energy.

    This technique of applying Origin Energy to skills became known as the Origin Energy Skills, or Origin Skills.

    There were many kinds of Origin Skills, each with their own unique aspects. Naturally, theirparative strengths and hierarchies also differed. Lin Xie¡¯s Mysterious Iron Fist Origin Energy Skill was without a doubt one of the lowest grade techniques where some didn¡¯t even consider it as a Origin Skill. By their estimation, only only abilities that surpassed what was humanly possible, including flying, invisibility, or the control of fire could be considered Origin Skills. Skills like the Mysterious Iron Fist that even regr martial artists could use at best could be considered skills that had been augmented with Origin Energy. At best, they could be named Battle Skills.

    Regardless, whether one called them Origin Skills or Battle Skills, they were all more than enough to deal with a Body Tempering Su Chen. An attack with only three-tenths power was more than enough to suppress an all-out attack from Su Chen.

    However, even as his life hung from Lin Xie¡¯s hands, Su Chen weakly whispered, ¡°It seems as if there¡¯s nothing great about it.¡±

    Lin Xie¡¯s expression changed, ¡°You certainly have guts! Then I¡¯ll just give you another one.¡±

    Another fist smashed onto Su Chen¡¯s body; the force of that heavy fist left Su Chen unable to stifle a cry. Unfortunately, the cry was apanied by arge mouthful of fresh blood.

    However, the direction that this fresh blood was spit in was wrong. It actuallynded directly on Lin Xie, sttering all over his face.

    Lin Xie rage waspletely unleashed..

    ¡°You actually dare to dirty me ¨C are you looking to die!?¡± Su Chen¡¯s body was like a ragdoll as it trembled from the repeated onught of punches.

    At this point, Lin Xie was purely venting his rage, wanting to thoroughly beat Su Chen to death. Thus, he decided not to use any Origin Energy, instead using his own martial strength to ceaselessly send out fist after fist.

    Despite this, the heavy attacks of each fist were still something that Su Chen could not withstand. His vision worsened from the dizziness, and he was constantly spitting out blood.

    If things were to continue in this way, he would definitely be beaten to death by Lin Xie.

    At this moment, his right hand was broken, and his eyes still could not see. In addition, he was being beaten by Lin Xie and suffering serious injuries.

    Even under this kind of circumstance, his mind waspletely clear.

    Although he could not clearly see Lin Xie, he could very clearly sense the rage and craziness that was being directed at him.

    He was venting!

    At the same time, Lin Xie had also lost any intention of defending himself.

    But at that moment, in his eyes Su Chen had alreadypletely lost the strength and capability to counterattack.

    Even if there was, it would likely only be a very weak attack, one not even worth mentioning.

    But he was wrong!

    He was destined to be wrong!

    Su Chen kept his eyes locked on Lin Xie even as his body was battered by the storm of fists.

    He stopped sending Qi towards his chest, leaving his vital organs defenseless. Instead, he gathered all of his energy to his left hand, gradually raising it.

    Lin Xiepletely disregarded Su Chen¡¯s movements. He waspletely immersed in attacking Su Chen¡¯s body. Since he had entered the Qi Gathering Stage and could release Origin Energy, he could also sense Su Chen¡¯s physical condition. As such, he was rtively precise in controlling his strength in order to bring Su Chen the most pain while at the same time not beating him to death in one blow.

    ¡°You bastard that deserves to die, hold on a little longer. I, your father, have not finished teaching you a lesson!¡± Lin Xie let out an angry roar, ¡°What genius of the Su n; aren¡¯t you only just so!? Why don¡¯t you kneel down in front of my feet and beg for me to spare you?¡±

    ¡°If I kneel, will you let me go?¡± Su Chen suddenly asked.

    Lin Xie was startled for a moment beforeughing, ¡°Of course not, but it would feel great!¡±

    ¡°What a coincidence. It¡¯s the same for me,¡± Su Chen said.

    He lifted his hand.

    Two of his fingers shot towards Lin Xie¡¯s eyes like lightning.

    Using every bit of meager strength he could summon!

    ¡°Ah! My eyes!¡± Within the small forest, an earth-shaking wail echoed.

    Lin Xie¡¯s eyeballs had actually been dug out by Su Chen.

    The hand holding onto Su Chen suddenly let go, and Lin Xie unsteadily stumbled backwards. His hand covered his face, andrge amounts of blood flowed between his fingers.

    Su Chen, taking advantage of the moment he wasn¡¯t being held up anymore, rolled to the ground.

    With a ¡°whoosh¡±, a cold intent surged above his head, and a beam of dagger light flew past his head.

    Lin Xie pulled out a Cicada Dagger from behind his back, screaming madly as he waved it. ¡°Bastard! You.... bastard! I¡¯ll kill you!¡±

    Dagger Qi swept through the air in waves as they flew one after the other.

    Lin Xie was still crazily waving around his Cicada Dagger. There was no way he would continue to hold back, unleashing everything he had. He forced the Dagger Qi to create a criss crossing across the forest, sending it flying forward. A wretched scream tore its way out of his throat, ¡°I¡¯m going to kill you!¡±

    Lin Xie hadpletely gone crazy.

    He had be blind!

    He had actually be blind!

    His eyes had been dug out by a blind person!

    He had no future anymore. Everything waspletely finished.

    He wanted revenge, wanted to kill Su Chen.

    Even if I cannot see, I am still an Origin Qi Schr. That¡¯s more than enough to kill you!

    Lin Xie wailed in his heart even as he crazily swung his dagger.

    The dagger strikes wove a in the air as they flew across the forest. Even though Su Chen continued to dodge, his eyesight was stillcking. He was unable to dodge one of them, and dagger Qi had already brushed past his body, leaving a frightening wound on his midsection.

    ¡°Mmph.¡± Su Chen let out a grunt.

    When Lin Xie heard that noise, he focused his swings in Su Chen¡¯s direction.

    Whoosh whoosh!

    Su Chen¡¯s back and left arm each were struck by the de.

    Su Chen fell on the ground, temporarily unable to crawl back to his feet.

    Not far away, Lin Xie continued to stand there crazily waving his dagger. As an Origin Qi Schr, he already possessed an abundant supply of energy. His rage also made it so that he did not bother conserving his strength. It honestly seemed as if he would have no problem maintaining this crazy pace for a while.

    Could it be that he, Su Chen, would still die in this ce?

    Even though he had taken advantage of his only opportunity, was he still fated to lose because of the disparity in realms?

    Even though it was a blind man against another blind man, was he still not the other person¡¯s match in the end?!

    Su Chen began to bitterlyugh in his heart.

    His vision was already feeling blurry and stars appeared before his eyes. He knew those stars appeared because he had already lost too much blood.

    Su Chen knew that he was about to be unable to hold on for much longer.

    Wait a moment!

    Stars in his eyes!?

    Su Chen suddenly started.

    The scene before his eyes had changed!

    The originally vague, hazy scene hade into focus; Su Chen¡¯s vision was no longer obscured by a fog, instead gradually bing clearer.

    The clear, blue sky above his forehead, the floating white clouds, the towering trees near him, as well as the dark green grass and the crazy Lin Xie not far away from him.

    So his face was that long; he really did look like a donkey.

    Su Chen was speechless that such a pointless thought would actually surface in his brain at this critical moment. Immediately afterwards came the dyed surprise and joy.

    I can see!

    I CAN SEE!

    Su Chen almost began to yell out loud in happiness.

    The hope that he had never been willing to let go of, the recovery that he had been bitterly waiting for, the breakthrough recovery that he had anticipated, truly appeared in this moment!

    Su Chen was so excited that he wanted to cry, wanted tough, wanted to lift his head and howl.

    However, now was clearly not the time for him to be celebrating.

    Even before he was able to soak up this excitement, he saw a streak of dagger light cutting its way towards him.

    Fhis time, he could see it clearly; all of the dagger lights were headed in his direction.

    Just before the dagger light could touch him, Su Chen activated the Snaking Mist steps. His body flew into the air as nimbly as a snake. Unfortunately, even with his newfound eyesight, he was unable topletely evade the dagger light, only avoiding the fatal one headed for this throat. The dagger light struck his chest, carving a deep wound into it and releasing a spray of blood into the air. Thankfully, Lin Xie had only entered the Qi Drawing Realm for a short period of time. For him to be able to release dagger Qi was already pretty good, but he wasn¡¯t to the point where he could chop Su Chen in half.

    Even so, stars appeared in front of Su Chen¡¯s eyes again. However, he forcefully resisted the impulse to make a noise. Instead, he slowly backed up, escaping the range of Lin Xie¡¯s attacks.

    The recovery of his vision seemed to have caused Su Chen¡¯s strength to recover as well.

    He quietly picked up a sharp bamboo that had been sliced off, then activated the Snaking Mist Steps, making his way around to Lin Xie¡¯s back. This was when the Snaking Mist Step¡¯s Congealed Water Film came into use, as each of his steps were silent even though he was walking through a forest floor covered with leaves.

    Now, he was a person with sight, while Lin Xie was a blind man.

    Lin Xie was still crazily swinging his dagger,pletely unaware that his enemy had already arrived behind him.

    Goodbye!

    Su Chen said in his heart as he thrust the sharp bamboo forwards.

    Pu!

    The sharp bamboo pierced through one side of Lin Xie¡¯s neck and emerged from the other side.

    Lin Xie¡¯s entire body froze.

    However, he had not died. His body trembled before he suddenly let out a loud shout, turning around and waving the Cicada Dagger in his hand.

    Unfortunately, his movements had beenpletely captured in Su Chen¡¯s vision.

    Right when he swung the dagger, Su Chen had already used the Snaking Mist Steps to agilely avoid it. The Cicada Dagger had not hit Su Chen, but instead provided the impetus for the cut on Lin Xie¡¯s neck to tear open. Lin Xie¡¯s throat turned into a gaping maw as it spurted fresh blood like a newly exposed spring. The neck still connected to the spine had no more strength to hold up the head, and Lin Xie¡¯s head drooped, dangling in front of his chest.

    Like that, Lin Xie died.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 19: Concealment 1

    Chapter 19: Concealment (1)

    Plop.

    Lin Xie¡¯s corpse fell over.

    As the corpse copsed in a heap, an object came tumbling out of the folds. It looked like amand medallion.

    Themand medallion seemed to have been fashioned from pure gold, and had arge ck door engraved on it. Therge door was halfway open, and behind the door was the depiction of a brilliant shining light. It was hard to tell exactly what it was.

    Su Chen tucked thismand medallion into his bosom, then gave Lin Xie¡¯s body a once over. He was only able to find a few pieces of gold and silver, but there was nothing else of value. Su Chen did not treasure gold and silver. Thus, he was about to leave even the Cicada Dagger behind and prepared to leave.

    However, he had not taken many steps forward before hearing soundse from ahead of him.

    He knew that the situation wasn¡¯t good. The Lin n¡¯s guards had definitely heard themotion and was on their way over to investigate. After all, Lin Xie¡¯s tragic yell from earlier had created too much noise.

    In his current condition, if he were to be caught by members of the Lin n, it would be difficult for him to escape suspicion.

    There was no path forward, so Su Chen could only grit his teeth and made the decision to run back into the courtyard.

    Although his wounds were very severe, the adrenaline he had received from recovering his sight continued to spur him on. As he passed by the scenery of the forest, he felt that every flower, every de of grass, and every tree were all extremely beautiful.

    Unfortunately, the first few moments of his newfound sight had been used to kill someone, and the next few moments were spent running for his life. That dampened the mood, and left the scenery absent of beauty.

    Thus, Su Chen could only sigh about fate¡¯s fickle behavior. After all, if it wasn¡¯t for his battle today, perhaps he would not have recovered so quickly.

    As he simultaneously ran and thought, Su Chen arrived near the smallke.

    On the nearbykefront was a patio jutting out into the water, with a veranda around it. Waterlilies and fragrant lotuses surrounded the patio in great number. It was the fourth month of the year, and the fragrant lotuses had already opened, their stamens gently trembling and releasing a floral fragrance. It was precisely the small building near theke.

    At this moment, a young woman sat near the edge of the veranda of the small building. She was dressed in a pale-green robe and wore a greenish jade headband. She had eyes like willows and cheeks like apricots, and couldn¡¯t be described as anything less than beautiful. At that moment, she was staring into the water, her chin in her hands. No one could tell what she was thinking about.

    Su Chen had never actually seen Gu Qingluo, and therefore had no idea whether that was her. However, the young woman¡¯s luxurious clothes and the fact that she was sitting all alone near the smallke gave credence to the assumption that she wasn¡¯t some maidservant. In fact, even if it was Gu Qingluo, he did not know how Gu Qingluo would treat him. After all, he and Gu Qingluo had only known each other for a short time, not nearly enough for her to understand him. The current Su Chen was not so naive that he would carelessly believe that just because someone was a friend that they would help him.

    But at this moment he truly had no other choice.

    He gritted his teeth, then rushed towards the small building near theke, intentionally making some noise.

    The instant he rushed out of the small forest, the woman in the pavilion heard the noise and turned to look back. First, she seemed dazed, and then she appeared delighted. Next, she looked left and right.

    Solely based on her expression and behavior, Su Chen instantly confirmed that she was Gu Qingluo.

    The Gu Qingluo over there had already flown towards him. Uponnding near Su Chen, she grabbed hold of him and said, ¡°Why did youe? And why are you injured? Heavens, your injuries are so serious.¡±

    ¡°If you have anything to say just hold on. The Lin n¡¯s guards are just behind me,¡± Su Chen hurriedly said.

    Gu Qingluo was amazed, ¡°I knew that your Four Great ns were at odds, but I never expected that it would be this bad. Then, even though it was so dangerous, you actually came to see me......¡±

    Gu Qingluo evidently had misunderstood something, and the gaze she used on Su Chen was filled with emotion.

    However, to say that he had taken risks to see her was also technically urate. Even if the prior incident had not urred, if Su Chen had been captured by members of the Lin n, his fate definitely would not have been good. It wouldn¡¯t have been as bad as his current state, but nevertheless, it wouldn¡¯t have been a pleasant experience.

    Su Chen became agitated, ¡°I say, missy, can you hide me first before talking? I¡¯m on the verge of passing out .¡±

    Gu Qingluo shot him a smile, ¡°Rx. None of them would dare to investigate where I am.¡±

    Even as she spoke, she brought Su Chen back to the small building near theke.

    She was here as a guest. The Lin n naturally must have arranged for servants, but Gu Qingluo did not want members of the Lin n to know about the rtionship between her and Su Chen. Thus, she did not enter from the front door, instead directly entering from the backyard, bringing Su Chen into the room.

    ¡°Okay, since you are at my ce, you are now safe. You......¡±

    Gu Qingluo had yet to finish speaking before Su Chen¡¯s eyes rolled back into his head. He had already passed out.

    The battle with Lin Xie had already exhausted all of Su Chen¡¯s energy. His wounds were also severe, so for him to have persevered to this point was already a miracle. Now that he had arrived at a ¡°safe haven¡±, he rxed the vignce in his heart, and had naturally fallen unconscious.

    For him to faint so easily, Gu Qingluo felt dumbfounded, ¡°Hey, hey, howe you passed out? You haven¡¯t even said what to do next. Your body is full of wounds......¡±

    The Gu n¡¯s missy was from arge n and had never taken care of someone before. For someone with such severe injuries to suddenlynd in her hands, she couldn¡¯t help but feel paralyzed with indecision. She didn¡¯t know what she should do.

    Even though she had never taken care of others, she had at least practiced martial arts and had been injured before.

    The wounds that Su Chen received were all exterior injuries. Thus, although his injuries were heavy, curing them actually wasn¡¯t a difficult matter. After pacing back and forth a few times in the room, she gradually calmed down, and figured out what to do.

    She gritted her teeth, then pulled Su Chen¡¯s blood-stained clothes off his body.

    This was her first time seeing a male¡¯s naked body, and she couldn¡¯t stop her face from blushing and her breathing from elerating.

    Thankfully, the ghastly wounds caused Gu Qingluo to very quickly regain her focus.

    She pulled out the Purple Jade Ointment handed down in her family and dipped her finger in it, gently applying it on each wound. This Purple Jade Ointment was a secret medicine of the Gu n and was particrly effective in treating external wounds. After applying the medicinal ointment, blood stopped flowing from the wounds, and even the pain decreased somewhat.

    Just as she was smearing on the medicine, she heard a maidservant report from outside the room, ¡°Miss, two of the Lin n¡¯s guards want to see you.¡±

    ¡°What did theye here to do?¡± Gu Qingluo asked.

    The maidservant replied, ¡°I heard that a murder case just urred in the small forest near theke. One of the Lin n¡¯s members died there.¡±

    What?

    Gu Qingluo was dazed, ¡°What kind of person did it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s unclear. However, the Lin n guards said that the corpse is still warm, and they think that the murderer has only just left. There was a trail of blood that led to this point, and they followed it all the way here. Upon arriving here, the wanted to ask if Miss had made any discoveries.¡±

    Gu Qingluo replied, ¡°Tell them that I haven¡¯t discovered anything. I¡¯m cultivating at the moment, and it¡¯s inconvenient for me to disturbed. Tell them to go search elsewhere.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    That maidservant left promptly.

    The Lin n¡¯s guards left too, either because they were apprehensive of Gu Qingluo¡¯s identity or because they just believed her.

    Only now could Gu Qingluo continue to treat Su Chen¡¯s wounds.

    ¡°If you wanted toe, you could have juste. What need is there to kill a member of the Lin n?¡± Gu Qingluo murmured as she treated Su Chen, ¡°However, for you to be able to kill someone despite being blind is quite rare.¡±

    Even as she spoke, shepletely covered the wounds on Su Chen¡¯s body with medicinal ointment.

    While the dagger wounds were easy to treat, his broken right arm was somewhat difficult.

    His arm had been fractured by LIn Xie twisting his arm. This kind ofpound fracture wasn¡¯t something that could cured with some medicine. The bone had to be realigned, and then put in a splint to recover for a few days. Good medicine would only shorten the time required for recovery, not aid in realigning the bone. That kind of automatic realignment would only happen when one cultivated to ayer where flesh and bone could regenerate. In that scenario, one could simply remove the broken bone and regenerate a new one, greatly simplifying the healing process.

    Gu Qingluo had absolutely no experience in healing broken bones. She could only bite the bullet and help Su Chen realign his bone. Naturally, it was inevitable that she would align them incorrectly, and have to realign them again and again. By some miracle, she didn¡¯t do any permanent damage to Su Chen¡¯s arm as she tried to find the right angle to realign the bones. After some painstaking experimentation, Gu Qingluo sessfully bound his arm in a proper splint and everything was realigned properly.

    Upon seeing her own work, Gu Qingluo felt great satisfaction. ¡°Now I am also someone who knows how to cure illnesses and wounds. Unfortunately, you didn¡¯t have that many wounds, so I couldn¡¯t disy my skill at bringing the dead back to life.¡±

    Earlier, she hadined that Su Chen¡¯s wounds were too serious. Now that she had been caught up in the enthusiasm of saving someone, she felt that Su Chen¡¯s wounds were too light, and weren¡¯t enough for her to exhibit her talent. As for the matter of the Purple Jade Ointment, which had taken care of all those dagger wounds and whose medicinal strength could cure ten people, as well as the seven or eight attempts to realign the bone, she naturally dismissed these matters as the esteemed Miss Gu.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 20: Concealment 2

    Chapter 20: Concealment (2)

    When he awoke, everything in front of him was pitch ck.

    This darkness caused Su Chen to feel frightened at first, thinking that he had once again lost his sight, but then he saw the moonlight that passed through the window screens.

    So it was because it was nighttime.

    Su Chen let out a breath of air.

    At this moment, he finally had an opportunity to revel in the marvelous feeling of regaining his sight.

    Even though the night was ck, he could still vaguely make out the furnishings of the room under the pale yellow moonlight.

    He was currently lying on a sandalwood bed, with a red muslin canopy with a picture of a hundred birds looking up to a phoenix embroidered on it hanging from the bedposts. At the foot of the bed was a dresser made out of red sandalwood, on top of which was some rouge and face powder. The window screen was made out of soft cotton, and there was even a five-colored ss screen in front of the bed.

    This ce...... should be Gu Qingluo¡¯s room.

    She had actually brought him to this ce?

    At this moment, Gu Qingluo wasn¡¯t in the room. Su Chen took in everything in Gu Qingluo¡¯s room to his heart¡¯s content. It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t have any etiquette but rather, because he had lost his sight and then regained it, Su Chen could not repress the yearning and urges to see everything of this rich and diverse world.

    Upon seeing the colorful scenes in front of him, Su Chen would have raised his head and let out a long cry if not for the fact that he was not in the right ce to do so.

    Three years.

    Three years he had bitterly waited, holding fast in the utter darkness. How could one not feel excited and agitated upon sessfully experiencing the light at the end of the tunnel?

    Su Chen could not restrain himself from getting off the bed. He then discovered that the wounds on his body had actually healed to a considerable extent. Even the pain had been drastically reduced. He could tell that it was due to Gu Qingluo¡¯s medicine.

    Outside of the room he had just exited was a quiet chamber. Gu Qingluo sat cross-legged in the middle of the room, and dense white Qi swirled around her forehead. As expected, she was cultivating.

    Upon hearing the noise, Gu Qingluo did not open her eyes. Instead, the corners of her eyes revealed a slight smile, ¡°You¡¯ve awoken. Sit for a moment, I will be done in a bit.¡±

    Su Chen let out an ¡°En¡± in agreement, then found a ce to sit on the side to avoid disrupting her, watching her cultivate.

    A few months ago, Gu Qingluo was only of the Body Tempering Realm like him. Based on her current appearance of drawing Qi into her body, she had clearly entered the Qi Drawing Realm, bing an official Origin Qi schr. Su Chen finally understood why she had not appeared in this period of time. She had definitely been devoting her efforts towards charging through the boundaries between realms and had been too busy to be distracted.

    In the end, she was still faster than him by a step.

    Su Chen let out a sigh in his heart.

    However, it didn¡¯t matter. Now that he had regained his sight, the time that he had once lost could be recovered in a short period. He could definitely enter the Qi Drawing Realm in a year.

    As he thought, Su Chen began to closely watch Gu Qingluo¡¯s movements.

    He originally was somewhat bored and was just carelessly watching. However, having watched her for a few moments, he discovered that something wasn¡¯t quite right.

    At this moment, Gu Qingluo was cultivating, drawing Qi into her body and allowing it to rx, washing herself in Qi.

    This was not in and of itself a big deal. The issue was that when Su Chen watched Gu Qingluo, he could faintly make out the flow of Qi near her nose created by her breathing.

    What Gu Qingluo inhaled was white Origin Qi, but the Qi she breathed out was very obviously much fainter.

    Something had definitely remained in her body between her inhtion and her exhtion.

    What was that?

    Origin Energy?

    Su Chen did not know.

    At this moment, he was trembling because of the discovery that he had made.

    Su Chen was very clear on the fact that Origin Energy was invisible, just like air. Although everyone knew that it existed, they had no way of fathoming it.

    But now, this Qi was visible in Su Chen¡¯s eyes.

    Although it was somewhat vague and difficult to discern, it was still there.

    Not only this, but Su Chen also felt that his eyesight could faintly pierce through skin and see even more. This was because he could faintly see the process of what happened to the Qi flow after entering Gu Qingluo¡¯s body. However, this process was even more blurry and indistinct. It was more like an illusion than reality. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that this ¡°illusion¡± would disappear upon reaching Gu Qingluo¡¯s neck, Su Chen would have no way of verifying this.

    The clothing obstructed Su Chen¡¯s vision.

    ¡°It is your misfortune to have met me because I will bring you suffering; It is your fortune to have met me because I will give you a future with unlimited possibilities... Let me exchange your eyes. It will allow you to see much more, see the true appearance of this world!¡±

    Let me exchange your eyes. It will allow you to see much more!

    Allow you to see much more!

    See much more!

    Much more!

    The old beggar¡¯s words resounded in Su Chen¡¯s ears like echoing thunder.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes began to gleam.

    If one were to say that his firm belief in the old beggar¡¯s words had been because he was holding on to hisst vestiges of hope in a dark, bleak situation, upon confirming that the first half of his words were not fake, the truth in thetter half of his words began to emerge.

    The old beggar hadn¡¯t lied.

    He hadn¡¯t blinded him. Rather, he had exchanged his eyes.

    A pair of even more mystical eyes!

    After settling in Su Chen¡¯s body for over three years, they had finally limated and be active.

    The bitterness had ended, and the sweet had finallye!

    Su Chen was so excited that his entire body began to tremble.

    Although he did not know what destination these eyes would bring him to in the end, Su Chen could imagine that the final destination of these eyes was not merely just to recover his sight.

    Perhaps in the not so far off future, they would give him even more surprises.

    But at this moment, Su Chen did not bother thinking too much about it. Recovering his sight was already the greatest happiness he could receive right now.

    As he continued to gaze at Gu Qingluo, Su Chen finally began to understand why Gu Qingluo¡¯s skin seemed so sparkling and transparent. Perhaps his own eyes yed a role in that, and it wasn¡¯t just Gu Qingluo¡¯s natural beauty.

    As he was fantasizing, Gu Qingluo had already finished circting her martial arts.

    She opened her eyes to see Su Chen sitting there and giggled, ¡°Hey, you seem pretty lively to me. It seems as if I really do have quite some ability to be able to save you. Well, as for this matter of saving your life, don¡¯t worry about it. This maiden is very chivalrous andpassionate to all living things. Yours was just a small matter.¡±

    She waved her small hand. Although she said with her mouth that she did not care, her expression was one that beckoned ttery.

    Su Chen bitterlyughed upon seeing this. Just as he was about to speak, Gu Qingluo waved her hand again and said, ¡°However, in the end you are still wounded. It¡¯s best if you avoid moving too much for now.¡±

    Su Chen, ¡°The Lin n......¡±

    Gu Qingluo continued to wave her hand, ¡°I already know about what happened with the Lin n. The person killed by you was actually Lin Xie, someone of the Qi Drawing Realm. How did you do that?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°While he was not prepared......¡±

    Gu Qingluo was already speaking, ¡°You blinded him, I know. They already told me. That Lin Xie was probably too careless. Even if he¡¯s in the Qi Drawing Realm, that doesn¡¯t make his body invulnerable, not to mention weak spots such as his eyes. Your movements instantly blinded him. That way, both of you could not see, but you were an old blind man who had been blind for three years, while he was still newly blinded. He definitely wouldn¡¯t be able topare with you, and so naturally you killed him.¡±

    The youngdy had just finished treating him and saving his life. She was still very exhrated to see that her first attempt at saving someone had gone so well, so she chattered on and on.

    Su Chen sighed. While the logic behind her words was urate, she still didn¡¯t know that he was heavily injured before blinding Lin Xie. There had been no chance when facing him head on. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that his eyes had recovered, the person dying would still have been him.

    Also, what do you mean, calling me an old blind man?

    How and when did I be an old man?

    I am not blind anymore, okay?

    He opened his mouth, ¡°My eyes......¡±

    Gu Qingluo continued to wave her hand, interrupting him and chattering away, ¡°Your eyes are still not good, so you can stay here temporarily. Don¡¯t worry, they won¡¯t dare search my ce, and they think that you have already escaped to theke. They are currently searching its perimeter for you. I¡¯ll think of a way to send you out of hereter.¡±

    Su Chen grumbled, ¡°Hey, how about you give me a chance to say something?¡±

    Instead, he saw Gu Qingluo let out azy yawn, then carelessly raise her hand. She had already taken off her robes.

    It was springtime at the moment, and Gu Qingluo wasn¡¯t wearing much. Upon taking off her outer garments, she revealed the pink undergarments underneath.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes immediately went straight.

    What did she mean, taking off her clothes without even a word?

    He then saw Gu Qingluo stretchzily and say, ¡°I just finished circting my martial arts and released a lot of filth, so I feel really dirty. I¡¯m going to go take a bath first. Don¡¯t worry, I sent out all of the servants; it¡¯s just you and me here.

    As she spoke, she headed towards the quiet side of the small room, where arge tub of heated water had been waiting for quite some time.

    Gu Qingluo continued to remove her undergarments as she walked. In the blink of an eye, a stark naked jade body appeared in front of Su Chen¡¯s eyes.

    Gu Qingluo walked barefoot towards the bathtub and was about to step into it before suddenly thinking of something, saying, ¡°That¡¯s right, what did you want to say earlier?¡±

    As she said this, she had already sunk into the bathtub, closing her eyes and savoring the feeling.

    Upon seeing the jade body partially submerged in the water, Su Chen swallowed the saliva in his mouth, answering with great difficulty, ¡°Noth- nothing much......¡±

    In the end, Su Chen did not say that he had recovered his sight.

    He didn¡¯t dare to think about what Gu Qingluo¡¯s reaction would be if she found out that her entire body had beenpletely seen by him. Even if they were friends, the oue would most likely not be good.

    As for the sayings that if he had seen her body, he would have to marry her, Su Chen didn¡¯t even think about it.

    In this time period, strengthmanded respect. Even if it was a woman, as long as she possessed some strength, she would also have a corresponding social status. Thus, there did not exist a principle of being forced to marry someone upon seeing their body. Rather, those with violent personalities abounded. Thief, you dare to peep at this maiden taking a bath? Many people would dig out his eyes once again for such an action, inadvertent or not.

    Although Gu Qingluo¡¯s personality was lovable and not at all vicious, Su Chen still felt that it was best just to avoid taking that risk.

    Subconsciously, he also had the thought that if Gu Qingluo didn¡¯t know the entire time, perhaps this kind of matter would happen again in the future...... Tsk tsk, I, Su Chen, am very righteous. How can I look forward to these kinds of things?

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 21: Tormen

    Chapter 21: Torment

    Inside of the quiet bathing room, Gu Qingluo gently raised her jade-like hand, running it across her entire body. Her movements had an indescribably elegant and attractive quality to them.

    Although the young maiden was not old, she had developed quite nicely. What was supposed to protrude protruded, and what was supposed to be elevated was elevated. All the capital that she should have on her body was right there.

    When this scene appeared before Su Chen¡¯s eyes, he couldn¡¯t even stand up straight.

    He was well aware that sneaking peeks at someone was considered immoral, so Su Chen had to constantly force himself to turn away and not look. But every time he turned away, that beautiful, marvelous, jade-like figure would surface in front of his eyes, causing Su Chen to be unable to stop himself from turning around again. His morality and his instinct began to do fierce battle. Sometimes, morality won; other times, instinct had the advantage. Su Chen¡¯s head turned back and forth in the midst of this conflict.

    Gu Qingluo could not know that he was currently battling with the heavens. Upon seeing his head shake back and forth, she curiously asked: ¡°Why are you shaking your head?¡±

    ¡°Oh...... my neck is slightly sore, so I¡¯m just shaking it out,¡± Su Chen replied, beginning to shake his head like a pellet drum1.

    Su Chen kept ncing at the beautiful, marvelous body hidden in the rippling water, which in turn caused great ripples in Su Chen¡¯s heart. Finally, Su Chen could not suppress the pressure due to an intense reaction from a certain area of his body, and so he slowly sat down, his eyes eagerly and hungrily trained on Gu Qingluo.

    If she were a maiden with lots of experience, perhaps Gu Qingluo would have noticed that Su Chen¡¯s behavior was slightly strange. However, her heart was pure and the matter didn¡¯t even cross her mind. Instead, she asked: ¡°Right, how exactly did you offend Lin Xie to the point of killing each other on first sight? Is the hatred between your Su n and the Lin n so great?¡±

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s words shifted Su Chen¡¯s attention, causing the pressure in his lower body to greatly cool down.

    Su Chen concentrated for a moment before replying: ¡°You misunderstand. Although the Lin and Su n do have animosity for each other, it¡¯s not yet to the point of killing each other on sight. This actually happened for another reason......¡±

    Su Chen told Gu Qingluo about how he had the idea toe and search for Gu Qingluo, but he had unwittingly overheard the pair¡¯s conversation.

    Upon hearing Su Chen tell the whole story, Gu Qingluo sat up straight. In the midst of the rising steam, a pair of breasts gently trembled, causing Su Chn to have another bout of ¡°difort¡±, his neck once again pulled taut.

    Gu Qingluo said: ¡°So you mean that there¡¯s someone else who knows you killed Lin Xie?¡±

    ¡°En, ¡° Su Chen nodded his head: ¡°However, I¡¯m not worried about this issue. That Elder Sang was clearly not someone from the Lin n. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t be so cautious about the Lin n¡¯s guards. It was precisely because he was worried about being discovered by the guards that he left Lin Xie to chase and kill me instead of himself.¡±

    ¡°But he can still use other methods to let the Lin n know that it was you who did it.¡±

    ¡°He won¡¯t. Don¡¯t forget that I heard their secret. If they can publicize that, I can also reveal their secret. If he doesn¡¯t want both sides to suffer, he won¡¯t do so,¡± Su Chen indifferently responded.

    Upon hearing these words, Gu Qingluo let out a breath of air, sitting back down into the water. The pair of beautiful breasts also sunk back into the water, now only faintly discernible. Su Chen¡¯s heart rxed, but at the same time he felt a sense of loss.

    Gu Qingluo said: ¡°Since it¡¯s like this, you should be careful in case that old manes to find you and personally silence you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why I have to tell this matter to you,¡± Su Chen gentlyughed: ¡°Even if he were to kill me now, he wouldn¡¯t be able to silence me.¡±

    ¡°Hey!¡± Gu Qingluo opened her pretty eyes wide: ¡°Aren¡¯t you dragging me down with you? Isn¡¯t that too unjust of you?¡±

    ¡°How could I? That old man doesn¡¯t know that we¡¯re familiar with each other. After all, you are not the only person who knows about this.¡±

    Gu Qingluo started: ¡°You mean......¡±

    Su Chen slowly and deliberately responded: ¡°It¡¯s always a good idea to leave behind some backup ns.¡±

    Su Chen had known to tell theborer from the True Jade Pavilion to leave behind some backup ns. Naturally, he would not forget when it came to himself.

    When Gu Qingluo heard this, she pped her hands andughed: ¡°Good good good, I will be your backup n. If you¡®re killed by someone, I will spread this information everywhere andpletely wreck their ns.¡±

    Um...... You are still an esteemed guest of the Lin n, is it really good to undermine them so excitedly?

    Su Chen said: ¡°There¡¯s one more thing I need your help with.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Send me out of here.¡±

    ¡°Now¡¯s probably not the best time. The Lin n is still searching for you. They came here multiple times while you were passed out. If I were to bring you out right now, I most likely wouldn¡¯t be able to hide it from them. Once the sky brightens, I have my own methods to safely bring you out.¡±

    ¡°If I don¡¯t return for one night, perhaps my household will be too eventful.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s easy to fix, I¡¯ll help you send notice and say that you spent the night at a friend¡¯s house.¡±

    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll have to trouble you.¡±

    ¡°You and I are friends. Why be so courteous?¡± Gu Qingluo pretended to be prideful and patted her chest. Upon seeing the beautiful jade pair change shape under her palm so casually, waves began to ripple once more in Su Chen¡¯s heart.

    Gu Qingluo, seeing his appearance, curiously murmured: ¡°You lost so much blood but yet you still have enough to have a nosebleed? Did I use too much medicine earlier?¡±

    Su Chen: ¡°......¡±

    The two conversed some more before Su Chen suddenly thought of something and asked: ¡°Right, do you know of Yue Wuti or the Spirit Burying Terrace?¡±

    Gu Qingluo shook her head: ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I can have someone check for you. If this Yue Wuti isn¡¯t some nobody, it shouldn¡¯t be difficult to find out what he does.¡±

    Su Chen immediately shook his head: ¡°It¡¯s best if you don¡¯t go and inspect. Nobody knows if that Elder Sang has any other people inside the Lin n. If they discover your investigation, it would definitely be unfavorable for you. You¡¯re my backup; you can¡¯t go and expose yourself, okay?¡±

    ¡°So will you just let those people¡¯s conspiracy seed?¡±

    ¡°This...... Let me think of a method. Don¡¯t we still have another year of time? From their tone, they shouldn¡¯t be making a move in the near future.

    When Gu Qingluo heard this, her small mouth pouted: ¡°Okay, fine.¡±

    Her expression was very cute, and when Su Chen saw it, his heart rippled again.

    Su Chen spent that night in Gu Qingluo¡¯s room.

    That night, Gu Qingluo¡¯s carefree behavior around Su Chen caused him much suffering. For one thing, that seductive, lithe body continuously tempted Su Chen. That little girl actually only wore her undergarments when she talked with him, not setting up any defenses at all! On the other hand, Su Chen had to turn a blind eye and pretend that he hadn¡¯t seen it while doing his best to avoid looking at it.

    Su Chen wanted to look yet did not dare to do so, and he had to control the undesirable reaction from some part of his body. His rationality shed with his instinct, and he had to pretend to not know the truth; this truly caused Su Chen a great deal of torment.

    Thankfully, his severely wounded body could not hold up under this assault, and Su Chen eventually fell asleep while tossing and turning.

    The next morning, Gu Qingluo woke Su Chen up and made him follow her out from the back door.

    Su Chen arrived at a small forested area after following Gu Qingluo through the forest. Although it only appeared to be a regr forested area, Su Chen had felt strong Origin Energy fluctuations beneath his feet as soon as he stepped into the forest.

    ¡°Origin Energy Formation?¡± Su Chen was dazed.

    This was very clearly an array formation that had been designed for Origin Energy, which was why there were such strong Origin Energy fluctuations.

    ¡°Shhh!¡± Gu Qingluo raised her finger to remind Su Chen.

    Following the ¡°shh¡± sound, the roars of beasts came from not too far away.

    Upon hearing these roars, Su Chen suddenly realized where he was.

    Beast Garden!

    The Lin n¡¯s Beast Garden!

    Gu Qingluo had actually brought him into the Lin n¡¯s beast garden!

    1. Pellet drums aremon toys in China that are spun to make noise. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pellet_drum

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 22: Blue Nigh

    Chapter 22: Blue Night

    Every n had their own restricted areas. Just as the Eight Peak Mountain was for the Su n, the Lin n¡¯s Beast Garden was also the restricted area of the Lin n.

    If Su Chen was discovered here by the Lin n, there was no way he could use the excuse of going the wrong way to get out of that situation.

    ¡°Why did you bring me here?¡± Su Chen became slightly agitated.

    ¡°Rx, they won¡¯t discover you,¡± Gu Qingluo continued to walk forwards, ¡°Every day at this time is when Blue Night wakes up.¡±

    As Gu Qingluo spoke, she turned her head around and nced at Su Chen, then saidughingly, ¡°Blue Night¡¯s temper isn¡¯t very good, so she¡¯s always very grumpy when she wakes up. As a result, all the people in Beast Garden take a long break away to prevent themselves from running into trouble.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re saying that there¡¯s no one here right now?¡± Su Chen was very surprised.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Gu Qingluo¡¯s smile blossomed as if it were a flower, causing Su Chen¡¯s heart to again tremble.

    Gu Qingluo continued to walk forward,, ¡°The Beast Garden is an important piece ofnd for the Lin n, but at this moment the Beast Garden¡¯s defensive force is at its weakest. If you go from here and head straight the entire time, there is a small road you can use to walk out of the Beast Garden. As long as you leave this ce, you¡®ll be able to fly high like a bird. Isn¡¯t that easy?¡±

    ¡°I think it¡¯s still best to wait until I leave this ce before saying that it¡¯s easy,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Right, who¡¯s Blue Night?¡±

    ¡°Blue Night?¡± Gu Qingluo tilted her head, ¡°Want to go take a look?¡±

    At this moment, when the less trouble he had the better, Su Chen wanted to reply that it would be best to forget about it. However, when he saw Gu Qingluo¡¯ attractive appearance, he became very spirited, and in the end he couldn¡¯t say the words aloud.

    Su Chen swallowed his saliva and replied, ¡°Sure.¡±

    Gu Qingluo beamed and said, ¡°Follow me.¡±

    Her footsteps became quicker, and she had already used the Snaking Mist Steps to run forwards. As she ran, she continued to remind Su Chen, ¡°Be careful, there¡¯s a rock here. The branches in this area are pretty dense......¡±

    Although this concern didn¡¯t have any actual use, it caused Su Chen to feel very warm in his heart.

    They traveled in a hurry and very quickly arrived at a high location on a hill.

    Standing at the most elevated point, Gu Qingluo pointed at a faraway location and said, ¡°Pay attention to that area and listen.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s gaze followed the direction Gu Qingluo pointed towards. He saw that beneath the hill was a lush green area. An impressivelyrge herd of beasts was leisurely walking around the pasture, asionally letting out low roars and growls.

    ¡°Dual-Headed Hyena, Greedy Demonic Wolves, Feartail Tortoise, Thousand Foot Centipede...... these are all only a thousand feet away from us,¡± Gu Qingluo especially exined to Su Chen in case he wasn¡¯t aware.

    The more Su Chen saw, the more his expression changed.

    Gu Qingluo hadn¡¯t lied to him. A thousand feet in front of him were a few hundred types of beasts, and they were all Vicious Beasts.

    Vicious Beasts were different from Wild Beasts; they had even more strength and could utilize Origin Energy.

    If onepared Wild Beasts to Body Tempering Realm humans, then Vicious Beasts could be considered the loweryer Origin Qi Schrs of beasts. Each one possessed a frightening amount of strength.

    That was also to say that all of the Vicious Beasts here could effortlessly kill him. Now, more than a hundred of these Vicious Beasts had gathered together in a ce not far away from him. If he didn¡¯t know that this ce was a Beast Garden, Su Chen would have wondered if a miniature beast dynasty was about to erupt.

    Gu Qingluo actually brought him in front of such arge herd of Vicious Beasts. Did she not understand the meaning of death?

    (TL, The literal trantion here is ¡°Did she now know how the character for ¡®death¡¯ was written?¡±)

    One had to know that they were truly too close to these Vicious Beasts.

    Of all the Vicious Beasts, many of them had exceptional scent or hearing capabilities. If any one of them were to discover them, they would not have a good oue.

    Gu Qingluo nced at him and saw that his expression had only changed slightly. She mumbled, ¡°Hmph, you¡¯re no fun. Since you can only hear me talk about them, you naturally wouldn¡¯t be so afraid. If you could see them for yourself, I don¡¯t believe that you would still be able to stand.¡±

    Su Chen forced out a trace of a smile, ¡°You have nothing better to do than to scare a blind man? That really is quite boring.¡±

    Gu Qingluo let out augh, then pointed in front of them and said, ¡°There¡¯s ake over there. That¡¯s where Blue Night is.¡±

    Just as Su Chen was about to speak, Gu Qingluo ced her finger near his mouth, ¡°Shh, Blue Night is about toe out.¡±

    He turned his head around to look and saw ripples beginning to form inside theke.

    A whirlpool formed in theke, continuing to increase in size. A tyrannical aura began to radiate outward.

    All of the nearby Vicious Beasts seemed to sense something and began to retreat one by one.

    In the wake of all the fleeing beasts, an enormous object emerged from theke.

    It was an impressively colossal snake. Just the head of the snake was the size of a building. Its two green eyes were like two massiventerns, and it spat out a white mist.

    The serpentine coils of the snake continued toe out of theke, so long that it appeared to be endless.

    The entire snake body finally appeared in front of Su Chen¡¯s eyes. It was a giant snake over a thousand feet long.

    It was sorge that even while it was coiled up, it looked like it was right in front of his eyes.

    ¡°Hiss!¡±

    The huge snake raised its head and let out a hiss. The snake¡¯s red tongue caused the sky to take on a faint red hue.

    ¡°That is......¡± Su Chen stared at the huge snake in a daze, forgetting to act like he couldn¡¯t see.

    Thankfully, Gu Qingluo wasn¡¯t paying attention. She foolishly watched therge snake, saying, ¡°That is Blue Night. Even if you can¡¯t see, you should be able to feel its power, right? It¡¯s 1080 feet long in total, and it is still just a youth. I heard that adult Soaring Snakes can be tens of thousands of feet long...... one can only imagine how magnificent and spectacr Prehistoric and Origin Beasts must be.¡±

    ¡°This is a Demonic Beast?¡± Su Chen asked with a slight tremble in his voice.

    Demonic Beast!

    The nightmare of the Primordial Continent, the true ruling level of the beast race.

    If Vicious Beasts wereparable to Origin Qi Schrs, Demonic Beasts were like upper-level Origin Qi schrs, suitable to be leaders and even kings!

    As for Prehistoric and Origin Beasts, they had long since been buried in the sands of time, never to return.

    The current beast race was under the control of the Demonic Beasts.

    ¡°Indeed, it¡¯s a Demonic Beast,¡± Gu Qingluo replied.

    ¡°You are keeping a Demonic Beast here? Are you not worried that something will happen?¡± Su Chen¡¯s tone began to turn unpleasant.

    This was a Demonic Beast!

    Even if it was the worst Demonic Beast, it could still tten the entirety of Northface City in one breath. Besides, Soaring Snakes were extremely strong existences even among Demonic Beasts.

    Gu Qingluoughed slightly, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Blue Night wouldn¡¯t do something like that. It¡¯s a Soaring Snake and the guardian beast of my Gu n. With me here, it definitely won¡¯t start trouble.¡±

    As Gu Qingluo spoke, she had already raised her hand.

    The Soaring Snake was clearly not in a good mood upon waking up and was looking for a target to vent its unhappiness on. However, after it saw Gu Qingluo, its expression began to soften.

    It began heading towards Gu Qingluo.

    It didn¡¯t even need to move to travel a distance of a thousand feet. All it did was stretch out its body and it had already arrived at Gu Qingluo¡¯s side. At the same time, it shot Su Chen a nce.

    ¡°He¡¯s my friend. You are not allowed to bully him, okay?¡± Gu Qingluo said as she patted the Soaring Snake.

    The Soaring Snake disdainfully huffed, causing mist toe out of its nose.

    Every Demonic Beast was intelligent and could understand humannguage. The only difference was whether they wanted to listen.

    This Soaring Snake evidently was willing to listen to Gu Qingluo, so it retracted its head, heading for another direction.

    ¡°Soaring Snake? Guardian beast?¡± Su Chen muttered, ¡°Is it because of bloodlines?¡±

    ¡°Partly,¡± Gu Qingluo responded, ¡°But more importantly, it¡¯s because I¡¯ve been training it for a long time.¡±

    ¡°Training?¡± Upon hearing this word, Su Chen seemed to realize something, ¡°Is this why you are at the Lin n?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Gu Qingluo nodded her head. ¡°Soaring Snakes are naturally stubborn and disobedient, but they¡¯re also highly intelligent. Even more, they¡¯re descendents of the ancient demonic emperor of the beast race, so even if we were connected by our bloodlines it would not lightly agree to training. The Lin n possesses an object that is very good for taming beasts, so I am here on my n¡¯s orders to form a partnership with the Lin n and tame this Soaring Snake.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 23: A Strong Opponen

    Chapter 23: A Strong Opponent

    ¡°It seems like you¡¯ve already seeded,¡± Su Chen said.

    For that Soaring Snake to listen to Gu Qingluo indicated that the taming procedure had been sessful.

    However, Gu Qingluo shook her head and said, ¡°We¡¯re still a long ways off. Although Blue Night is willing to listen to mymands, they are only very basicmands. If themands are even slightly dangerous, she will only listen if she is in the mood. And it¡¯s useless if only I am able tomand herpletely; what the n needs is not one person¡¯s guard beast, but one for the entire n....... What it needs to serve is not just me but the entire Gu n.¡±

    The young maiden¡¯s tone sank as her tone grew grave. Evidently, thatst bit weren¡¯t her thoughts, but rather a result of the influence and education she had received since childhood to focus on the needs of the n.

    ¡°For an ancestor to serve those that hade after it? That is not very easy,¡± Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but say.

    Gu Qingluo nced at Su Chen with some surprise.

    What Su Chen said was correct. It was easy for Blue Night to lower its head to Gu Qingluo, but not so for the entire Gu n.

    The reason for this was that the Gu n¡¯s bloodline came from the Soaring Snake.

    From a certain viewpoint, the Soaring Snake could be considered to be the Gu n¡¯s ancestor. Moreover, based on bloodline purity, the Gu n would not be able topare to this Soaring Snake that belonged to the Ancestral Races.

    To lower its head to a person only required affection for that person. However, for it to lower its head to an entire n was the same as an elder kowtowing to a junior or for a pureblood to lower its head to one of mixed blood. How could this be possible?

    Thankfully, although Demonic Beasts were intelligent, they did not have as many boundaries as humans, and even more did not care for matters such as honor. The root cause for their unwillingness to serve was based on the strength of the bloodline. It had nothing to do with maintaining face, so it was also not impossible to get Demonic Beasts to yield.

    The history of mankind had many stories of Demonic Beasts being subdued; each one transmitted through the ages as folklore.

    Of course, for these matters to be folklore also meant that the sess rate was pitifully low.

    This was also why Gu Qingluo had appeared here.

    The lifespan of Demonic Beasts greatly surpassed the lifespan of humans. If the Gu n was able to subdue a genuine Soaring Snake, the entire Gu n would receive many long-term benefits because of it.

    But after Su Chen heard Gu Qingluo¡¯s words, he thought of another matter.

    He asked Gu Qingluo, ¡°Regardless, you are still making progress, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Gu Qingluo confidently said, ¡°Previously, Blue Night wasn¡¯t nearly as obedient. Although it still hasn¡¯t reached the requirements of the n, as long as I continue to put in the effort, I will eventually seed.¡±

    ¡°For the Lin n to help the Gu n with such arge matter, the Gu n has to repay them in some way, right?¡±

    Upon hearing these words, Gu Qingluo gentlyughed, ¡°What you really wanted to ask was this, right? Hmph, the members of the Su n don¡¯t even treat you well. Why are you so concerned for them?¡±

    Su Chen indifferently replied, ¡°Hearing you say this, I can confirm that the Gu n¡¯s repayment will definitely not be good for the Su n.¡±

    ¡°It will not be good for any of the three other ns,¡± Gu Qingluo replied.

    She paused for a moment before saying, ¡°The Gu n gave the Lin n three spots.¡±

    ¡°What three spots?¡±

    ¡°Spots to go to the Gu n to cultivate. They will give them some supplementary cultivation resources, including three bottles of Soaring Snake Blood Spirit Medicine.¡±

    Upon hearing the words ¡°Soaring Snake Blood Spirit Medicine¡±, Su Chen¡¯s expression changed.

    Soaring Snakes were extremely strong Demonic Beasts. Three bottles of Demonic Beast medicine implied the rise of three experts who would possess Demonic Beast bloodlines.

    Although the current Blood Spirit Medicines weren¡¯t as refined as the bloodlines from many years ago, nor did they confer much power or were capable of being passed down, three experts with Demonic Beast-level bloodlines would definitely be unrivalled in Northface City.

    No wonder Gu Qingluo said that it would be detrimental to all three ns. In the future, if the Lin n kept this pace up, they would definitely stand alone.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t heard of any experts that have emerged from the Lin n recently.¡±

    Gu Qingluo responded, ¡°They are still cultivating at the Gu n. They won¡¯t return until next year, when the Hidden Dragon Institute opens its doors for disciples.¡±

    ¡°Next year? Hidden Dragon Institute?¡± Su Chen¡¯s eyes began to shine, ¡°It isn¡¯t the second generation that¡¯s using it? It¡¯s the third?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Gu Qingluo nodded her head, ¡°The people of the Lin n are looking at the long term. They reckon that even if they were to give a few of the Lin n¡¯s current experts the Blood Spirit Medicine, it would still be impossible for them to suppress the other three ns alone. Instead, they could inadvertently force the other three ns to ally together, in which case the losses would outweigh their gains. Thus, they have ced their hopes on the younger generation. You also know that the Hidden Dragon Institute recruits students every year, but Northface City only gets a slot every ten years. Next year will be the tenth year. Although there are only a total of four spots, there are enough for all the ns to fight for them. The Lin n¡¯s ambition is to take all four of these spots. As long as they have four Hidden Dragon Institute students, those four will eventually be four powerhouses. In the end, it¡¯s much better than training four average experts.¡±

    ¡°They only have three seedlings, yet they want to control four spots?¡±

    ¡°What the Gu n has given them wasn¡¯t limited to a few Blood Spirit Medicines; there were other resources as well. To concentrate them to bring up another powerhouse wouldn¡¯t be too difficult. While the fourth may not be as strong as the other three, it would be enough to just be strong enough to suppress the other three ns.

    ¡°Understood. Which four?¡±

    ¡°Lin Jingxuan, Lin Yemao, Lin Shuyue, Bai Li.¡±

    ¡°Bai Li?¡± Upon hearing this name, Su Chen was slightly taken aback.

    There was actually someone with a different surname?

    Whilerge ns definitely would not bepletelyposed of people from the same n, the people selected for this kind of opportunity were virtually all direct descendants of the main bloodline.

    For someone to appear with the surname Bai, Su Chen immediately felt like something was a little off.

    ¡°Then Bai Li...... is the fourth person?¡± he asked.

    ¡°No. He is the first person,¡± Gu Qingluo responded.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    After seeing Blue Night, Su Chen and Gu Qingluo left together.

    Just as Gu Qingluo had said, no Lin n members were audacious enough to stick around the Beast Garden at this time. No one wanted to run into an unhappy Blue Night. In order to tame this Demonic Beast, the Lin n had not only used their n¡¯s inherited treasure, they had also spent the lives of eleven people.

    Su Chen finally walked out of the Beast Garden after following the secret path.

    Upon arriving at this ce, Su Chen didn¡¯t have to worry about the Lin n anymore. Even if he were to be discovered by them, he would not be in any great danger.

    However, Gu Qingluo still escorted Su Chen all the way out of the mountain. She didn¡¯t leave until she had put him onto a horse carriage.

    Having left the danger zone, Su Chen¡¯s heart still couldn¡¯t calm down.

    The words that Gu Qingluo had said were still echoing in his ears, giving him no peace at all.

    Hidden Dragon Institute!

    That¡¯s right, there was only one more year before the Hidden Dragon Institute woulde to Northface City to recruit students.

    Only four spots.

    He had persevered for this long, unwilling to give up despite losing his vision for three years. What was that all for?

    Wasn¡¯t it precisely because he didn¡¯t want to let this opportunity to get into the highest academy in the entire Long Sang Country slip away?

    Who could have expected that he would hear such bad news on the day that he¡¯d recovered his sight?

    Three experts who had the bloodline of a Soaring Snake, as well as an opponent who did not have this bloodline yet would still be groomed withrge amounts of resources. Just the Lin n alone was already such a threat to him; so what about the other ns? Would they have any hidden experts?

    What about himself?

    In the past three years, he had to fiercely fight just to preserve the portion that should have rightfully been his, not to mention any other resources.

    To tell the truth, the reason why he could maintain the first spot in the third generation of his n wasn¡¯t because he himself was particrly strong. Rather, it was because his opponents were weak.

    But as soon as he left the Su n, he would be beset by countless experts. Perhaps each one¡¯s strength would far exceed his imagination.

    Suddenly, Su Chen made a discovery.

    Having recovered his sight, the burden ced on him had not decreased. Rather, it had be even heavier.

    In the next year, he would have to rapidly increase his own strength.

    ¡°I was able to persevere through such difficult times. How could a few stumbling stones block my way now?¡± Su Chen murmured to himself inside the horse cart.

    In the three years of darkness, the most important lesson that Su Chen had learned was to never give up hope, to never stop trying.

    If losing his sight couldn¡¯t hold him back, opponents who were merely stronger than him wouldn¡¯t be able to hold him back at all.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 24: Betrayal for Glory

    Chapter 24: Betrayal for Glory

    Upon leaving the Lin n, Su Chen didn¡¯t go to the True Jade Pavilion first. Instead, he returned to the Su n. His wounds had yet topletely recover, and even the clothes that he wore were servants¡¯ clothes given to him by Gu Qingluo. Naturally, he would return home first to change into something more appropriate.

    Upon arriving at the Su n, to avoid startling anyone else, Su Chen went around through the backdoor. He was very familiar with the route, and could return even with his eyes closed (which was far from an exaggeration). Now that he had recovered his sight, it was naturally even more leisurely and carefree.

    Without startling anyone, Su Chen returned to the Dustsift Courtyard.

    Jianxin wasn¡¯t there. Not a single person was in the Dustsift Courtyard.

    Su Chen directly headed for the inner chambers, taking off his blood-stained bandages and the servant¡¯s clothes, inspecting his own wounds.

    The Gu n¡¯s Purple Jade Ointment was truly miraculous. The wound had scarred over in just a single night. Although the area surrounding the wound still hurt when he moved, it wasn¡¯t enough to affect him too much. The only thing that was still troublesome was his right arm, which he temporarily could not put weight on. Perhaps he would need to rest for a few more days before it would recover.

    In this world, because humans cultivated Origin Energy, their ability to recover was very strong and they rarely fell ill. Adding medicinal supplements meant that as long as the wound wasn¡¯t life-threatening, most people could recover very quickly.

    Even so, Su Chen felt restless knowing that he would still need a few more days before he could recover.

    After learning what the Lin n¡¯s four seedlings were doing, Su Chen felt that time was rapidly running out. In theing year, he urgently needed to raise the level of his strength.

    Just as he was thinking about these things, he suddenly heard people walk in from outside.

    At this moment, Su Chen¡¯s entire body was naked, and he was covered in wounds. It would do him no good to be seen like this. Thankfully, the room had a screen, allowing Su Chen to grab his old clothes and hide behind the screen.

    Just as Su Chen hid himself, two people walked in from outside, giggling.

    One of them was Jianxin. After not seeing him for three years, he had obviously grown. He wore an azure-colored cap, and there was even traces of facial hair at the corners of his mouth.

    The other was actually a small maiden, dressed up like a maidservant. Her face was very round, and her appearance could be considered quite good. However, Su Chen didn¡¯t recognize her; he reckoned that she had entered the n after he had lost his sight.

    The two giggled and yfought as they entered the room, and then Jianxin opened his arms wide and went to hug the young woman. That young womanughed cutely, wanting to dodge him, but yet was unable to. Jianxin grabbed her in one fell swoop and pressed her directly against Su Chen¡¯s sandalwood bed, which had dragons engraved using ivory.

    So they are a pair of illicit lovers, Su Chen thought in his heart.

    He had lived in his family¡¯s pce for a long time. Although he was only fifteen, Su Chen had heard many stories of this kind before. Especially because he was blind, his hearing had received a supplemental boost after he had lost his sight. Since his ears were sharp, he could hear the things that other people couldn¡¯t hear.

    Stories of secret rtionships were not rare in any sect, household, n, or pce. Yan Wushuang had just punished a pair not so long ago for the exact same reason. However, he didn¡¯t expect that Jianxin would also participate, and would actually run into his own room to mess around.

    Even though Su Chen was generous, he was also slightly displeased at the situation.

    However, this pair of lovers was caught up in the throes fiery passion. At the moment, they had already gotten on the bed and begun fooling around.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t expect that after he had just gotten to see Gu Qingluo¡¯s naked body yesterday, his eyes would receive an even better treat and directly see these carnal acts. His heart heated up, but he could only forcefully hold it in and wait, muttering under his breath that he would definitely teach that bastard Jianxin a lesson next time.

    In the end, while youth was vigorous, they didn¡¯t have the stamina to sustain themselves. After not long after, Jianxin could not longer maintain his spear.

    The young maiden had just entered the most enjoyable stage only to discover that the other person had already finished. She couldn¡¯t help but feel irritated and pushed him off, ¡°Your thing is useless.¡±

    Jianxinughed, ¡°It¡¯s just that I haven¡¯t seen Junior Sister in so long, I couldn¡¯t resist it for a moment. Don¡¯t worry. When I, Senior Brother, regain my awe-inspiring prestige, I will definitely let you enter a seventh heaven.¡±

    That young maiden covered her mouth andughed, ¡°Then you will also have to work hard, you disobedient little thing.¡±

    Just as Jianxin wanted to say the he definitely could, that young maiden lowered her head to nce at something and began to yell, ¡°Aiya not good, your dirty stuff flowed all over Fourth Young Master¡¯s bed.¡±

    When Su Chen saw that the sticky white stuffing out from between the young maiden¡¯s legs had actuallynded on his bed, anger filled his heart.

    However, Jianxin carelessly responded, ¡°No matter, he¡¯s just a blind man. He wouldn¡¯t be able to see it anyways. I¡¯ll just dry it out in the sunter and it should be fine.¡±

    Su Chen was dazed. He knew howzy Jianxin had be in these years that he had gone blind. However, he didn¡¯t expect that Jianxin¡¯s disrespect for him had sunk to this extent, going so far as to directly call him a blind man.

    The young maiden covered her mouth and said, ¡°A blind master really is easy to serve. You can probably do many different things half-heartedly.¡±

    ¡°Hmph.¡± Jianxin¡¯s mouth twisted as he said, ¡°There are truly many opportunities to ck off, and even opportunities to embezzle things here and there. However, because of this I have no status. The Fourth Young Master of today is no longer the Fourth Young Master of the past. In the entire Su n, how many people do you think ce him in their eyes? Duringst year¡¯s fierce battle to determine the rankings for juniors, when he brutally beat down Su Qian, hepletely offended Second Elder again. For me to follow this kind of a master means that I have no future outlook. As such, I can only idle around.¡±

    ¡°Look at you, youzy thing. If you were to just idle around for your entire life, what would I do?¡± That little girl hit Jianxin.

    Jianxin hurriedlyughed apologetically, ¡°I was just speaking casually. Your Jianxin harbors lots of ambition in his heart. One day I will definitely soar like a dragon and experience a meteoric rise.¡±

    ¡°Keep exaggerating,¡± The girl rolled her eyes at him.

    ¡°I am not exaggerating!¡± Jianxin became anxious and said, ¡°I¡¯ll tell you the truth. A few days ago, I went to see Second Elder.¡±

    ¡°Second Elder?¡±

    Su Keji?

    That girl and Su Chen both started at the same time. Su Chen¡¯s heart sank as far as it could go.

    The young girl asked, ¡°Why did you go to see Second Elder?¡±

    ¡°Nothing really, I was just taking care of some business for him,¡± Jianxinughed.

    The young girl finally realized how things stood and pointed at Jianxin, ¡°You are betraying Fourth Young Master!¡±

    ¡°Hey, what do you mean by saying that?¡± Jianxin objected, ¡°This is called ¡®a talented person chooses a backer of integrity¡¯. If Su Chen wants to court death, should I die along with him?¡±

    ¡°Courting death? Could Second Elder be plotting a deadly scheme against Fourth Young Master?¡± The young girl whispered, not daring to believe it.

    Jianxin waved his hand and said, ¡°You don¡¯t need to worry about this. In the end, what happenedst year caused Second Elder topletely lose his faith in Fourth Young Master. This time he is really going to make a move. At the same time, this is my, Jianxin¡¯s, opportunity. After the matter is aplished, I will be the Clear Heart Pavilion¡¯s head storekeeper. At that time I will tell Third Grandmother everything and take you as my wife. You will be the head storekeeper¡¯s wife.¡±

    When that young girl heard this, her heart blossomed, and she covered her mouth and began tough.

    It just so happened that right then Jianxin regained his vigor, and the two of them did not avoid the great battle that ensued.

    From behind the screen, Su chen¡¯s gaze coldly watched this pair, his heartpletely serene.

    These few years, he knew howcking Jianxin¡¯s care for him had been. He knew that Jianxin had taken advantage of hisck of sight to make a profit. All of these things Su Chen had endured.

    But today, Jianxin¡¯s actions had crossed his bottom line.

    This was betrayal.

    Betraying his master for glory!

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 25: Plot Agains

    Chapter 25: Plot Against

    The two of them fooled around on Su Chen¡¯s bed for more than half an hour before finally leaving.

    Su Chen walked out from behind the screen and changed into a fresh pair of white clothes, then left the Dustsift Courtyard.

    This time, he didn¡¯t leave from the back door.

    Su Chen wandered aimlessly around the Su n¡¯s residence, following the roads paved with azure stone.

    Even though he hadn¡¯t been able to see for three years, the Su n was still the same Su n. Although the same objects were there, the people had changed.

    As he walked, Su Chen encountered many servants of the Su n, many of which Su Chen had never seen before. Apparently, after Yan Wushuang had taken control, she had wantonly monopolized the situation. She united with those of the same views but alienated those with different views and got rid of many older people, exchanging them for newer people. She had been praised as ¡°striving to make the n prosperous; a breath of fresh air washing out the previous dynasty¡¯s crimes.¡± As for who the ¡°previous dynasty¡± was meant to describe, everyone was very clear. It seemed as if there was nothing false about those statements.

    Regardless of whether it was a new person or an old person, their expressions were pretty much always ones of disregard when they saw him.

    People who walked directly past him wouldpletely ignore the existence of this Fourth Young Master. In any case, he could not see. Even if he felt that there were people walking by, he wouldn¡¯t know who they were, so why be polite to him?

    Of course, if there were other elders present, they would still have to pretend to pay their outward respects. But now that many of the elders did not view Su Chen favorably and were rude to him, perhaps they wouldn¡¯t even be punished but would receive a reward. During his entire walk, Su Chen actually didn¡¯t see a single person pay their respects to him.

    Su Chen did not care either. He just continued to walk as per usual.

    It wasn¡¯t until he got to the martial practice yard that he heard a familiar voice, ¡°Fourth Young Master hase.¡±

    It was Mingshu.

    This silly guy was probably the only person in the entire Su Pce who didn¡¯t know how to deceive people. Upon seeing Su Chen arrive, he hurriedly rushed forward to support him.

    ¡°Mingshu, you were beaten up again these past two days, weren¡¯t you?¡± Su Chen asked with a smile.

    ¡°Ah, how did Fourth Young Master know?¡± Mingshu was startled.

    How did I know? Naturally it¡¯s from looking at the bruise marks on your face.

    Su Chen said in his heart, but his expression remained serene as he said, ¡°Naturally, I guessed. In the entire pce, apart from my mother and my Third Uncle, you are probably the only one who dares to be kind to me. The two of them both have an Elder as their backer, so others don¡¯t dare mess with them. However, you have no backer and yet you still dare to be good to me; how are you not looking to be beaten?¡±

    When Mingshu heard this, he began tough, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s just a few careless punches to vent some of their frustrations. It won¡¯t be able to ruin me.¡±

    When Su Chen heard these words, he couldn¡¯t help but sigh in his heart.

    Before, when he couldn¡¯t see, he didn¡¯t know the severity of Mingshu¡¯s wounds. Now, seeing Mingshu¡¯s appearance, with both of his eyes having been beaten purple, how could this be considered ¡®a few careless punches¡¯?

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then said, ¡°Mingshu, do you wish to serve me?¡±

    ¡°Serve Fourth Young Master?¡± Mingshu was dazed. ¡°But doesn¡¯t Fourth Young Master already have Jianxin?¡±

    ¡°Jianxin has his own responsibilities, and you will have your own. Just tell me if you are willing or not.¡±

    ¡°Willing, of course I¡¯m willing!¡± Mingshu hurriedly nodded his head.

    Su Chenughed, ¡°Good, then I will go and find my grandfatherter to request you. Next time, if someone dares to hit you again, let me know.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Mingshu furiously nodded his head.

    Su Chen then walked out.

    ¡°Is Fourth Young Master not nning on training for a while?¡± Mingshu asked.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need. I still have a few matters to take care of. Help me call for a carriage and send me to the True Jade Pavilion.

    Mingshu diligently went to go ask for the carriage, but shortly afterwards he returned empty-handed.

    Su Chen asked, ¡°Where is the carriage?¡±

    Mingshu angrily huffed, ¡°That bastard Mo Dayan said something about many people travelling today from the house. Your carriage is already in use. I don¡¯t believe that, with so many carriages in the pce, there wasn¡¯t a single empty one and that they simply had to use yours. They are clearly trying to bully you, Fourth Young Master!¡±

    Mo Dayan was the Su n¡¯s head charioteer. If he didn¡¯t give out a carriage, Mingshu couldn¡¯t do anything about it.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go take a look,¡± Su Chen said.

    They exited the martial practice courtyard. After passing through a long corridor, they arrived at the location where the Su n¡¯s carriages were housed.

    At this moment in the fleet, a group of people was sitting around drinking wine. Their leader was a burly man who was around forty years old. A grizzled beard gave his face a ferocious bent as he sat there brazenly drinking from a bowl with his chest half revealed. This was precisely Mo Dayan.

    The charioteers drinking wine with Mo Dayan quietly prodded Mo Dayan when they saw Su Chen arrive, ¡°Boss, Su Chen is here.¡±

    Mo Dayan rolled his eyes. He nced at Su Chen, then snorted and said, ¡°Ignore him.¡±

    Su Chen had already arrived in front of him. He said, ¡°Mo Dayan, where is my carriage?¡±

    Mo Dayan ced the wine bowl down, ¡°Oh, it¡¯s Fourth Young Master. Unfortunately, today all of the Elders and Young Masters in the pces, as well as all the Aunts and Grandmothers wanted to go somewhere for some unknown reason, and they were all moring for carriages. I don¡¯t even have enough carriages normally, so how could I have any for you? In addition, if you¡¯re blind, you should just be staying at home if you have nothing to do. Whye outside and try to make amotion?¡±

    Mingshu was enraged, ¡°Mo Dayan, you dare disrespect Young Master......¡±

    Su Chen had already stopped him. He only asked Mo Dayan, ¡°Every family has their own carriage, so if they want to go somewhere they can use their own. Even if there aren¡¯t enough, they aren¡¯t allowed to im the carriages of other family members. This rule was set down by Grandfather; you wouldn¡¯t happen to not know about it, would you?¡±

    Mo Dayanughed and said, ¡°You¡¯re right, that is the rule. But rules are dead, whereas people are living. Some things require adapting to the circumstances.¡±

    Su Chen countered, ¡°What if I don¡¯t agree to adapting to the circumstances?¡±

    Mo Dayanughed again, ¡°Fourth Young Master is still a master, while I am just a servant. If Fourth Young Master really wants a carriage, I, Mo Dayan, cannot forcefully refuse to give one to you. But while carriages are reserved under the pce¡¯s rules, people are not. I can give you a carriage, but as for someone to drive it, I can¡¯t do anything about it.¡±

    Su Chen originally had his own driver.

    However, after Su Chen had gone blind, his driver had been stripped of his role as a driver, and was instead sent to raise horses.

    Originally, if he didn¡¯t have a driver, the Su n was supposed to arrange another one for him, but to be the driver for arge n was not something that anyone could do. Typically, they would need to possess a certain level of martial arts. Apart from driving the carriage, most also assumed protective duties. They were pretty much partial bodyguards. Thus, the status of charioteers in the n was rtively high. After Su Chen had been blinded, he would not easily leave, so there was no need to train someone new. Naturally, this matter was always dyed. When Su Chen had been sent to the True Jade Pavilion, he should have received one then, but because he had offended too many people, everyone had collectively chosen to selectively forget it. Thus, every time that he had wanted to go out, Mo Dayan had chosen someone else to help Su Chen set up the carriage.

    Because of this matter, Su Chen could do nothing against Mo Dayan and prevent him from giving Su Chen a hard time.

    Su Chen did not lose his temper. He said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, just give me the carriage. I won¡¯t need a driver.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Mo Dayan was dazed.

    Su Chen had already turned his head around to say, ¡°Mingshu, go find Zhou Hong for me and tell him to set up the carriage for me.¡±

    Zhou Hong was the charioteer that was Su Chen¡¯s driver back when Su Chen had gone blind.

    Mingshu was also dazed, ¡°But Fourth Young Master, because he was unable to protect you at that time, he has already been demoted by Grand Elder.¡±

    ¡°What happened then was not his fault. Even so, I get to decide who I want to use. Why are you still not calling him over?¡±

    Mingshu suddenly scampered off as if he¡¯d awoken from a dream, ¡°I will go call him now.¡±

    Mo Dayan¡¯s expression changed, ¡°Zhou Hong was powerless to protect his master and is not fit to be a charioteer. For Fourth Young Master to use a useless person, isn¡¯t that against the rules?¡±

    ¡°You said yourself that he isn¡¯t a charioteer of the Su n. Since that¡¯s the case, then it¡¯s none of your business. What? Are you in charge of who I get to use?¡± Su Chen countered.

    Mo Dayan¡¯s face was alternating between shades of blue and white.

    At this moment, a voice suddenlyughed, ¡°Fourth Elder Brother is right. Are you, Mo Dayan, in charge of who Fourth Elder Brother wants to use?¡±

    A person had already stepped out from behind, a figure to apany the voice.

    Even without looking at his face, Su Chen knew who the new arrival was.

    Su Yue.

    He was the grandson of the Su n¡¯s Second Elder, Su Changqing. He was ranked ninth in the Su n¡¯s third generation, so most people called him Little Nine.

    The Second Elder of the Su n was a staunch supporter of Su Keji. Thus, Su Yue could be said to be the person that would get along with Su Chen the worst.

    Seeing Su Yue appear here, Su Chen realized why Mo Dayan suddenly was unwilling to give him a carriage for seemingly no reason.

    This matter should have been due to Su Yue¡¯s interference.

    Since Su Yue had spoken at this moment, Mo Dayan did not continue to insist. He called for some others to bring out Su Chen¡¯s carriage.

    Just as the horse carriage was being led out, Su Chen saw Su Yue pull out a few silver needles and ce them inside the carriage, making no effort to be secretive. Then, he speedily shed out, leaving behind numerous hidden marks on the axle and shaft of the carriage.

    If Su Chen were to just sit in the carriage and head out like this, the shaft of the carriage would break not too long afterwards and the entire carriage would copse. Following the carriage¡¯s copse, Su Chen would definitely fall. When the wooden boards split, the needles inside would pierce into Su Chen¡¯s body.

    He wouldn¡¯t die, yet his oue definitely wouldn¡¯t be good.

    What a vicious and poisonous method.

    What made people the most speechless was that everything was done right under Su Chen¡¯s eyelids.

    You¡¯re bullying me for being blind!

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 26: You Get What You Deserve

    Chapter 26: You Get What You Deserve

    Upon seeing the modified carriage, Su Chen¡¯s eyes were still fixed and disyed no trace of anger. He truly was acting like a blind person.

    After a brief moment, Mingshu brought Zhou Hong over.

    In Su Chen¡¯s memory, Zhou Hong was originally a tall, sturdily-built man. He was taciturn, and had always acted in a calm manner. Now, however, he was emaciated and disheveled; his aged appearance and unkempt beard alluded to his difficult life after he was fired. When Mingshu told him that the Young Master wanted him to be his charioteer, he had been so excited that he could not control himself. He had sprinted the entire way to see Su Chen, before kneeling down in front of him and eximing, ¡°Zhou Hong, the sinner, greets Fourth Young Master!¡±

    Su Chen faintly said: ¡°What happened back then is already in the past, and you have already been punished for it. I will use you now, just as I did before,so make sure you do things well for me.¡±

    Zhou Hong loudly replied: ¡°I will serve Young Master faithfully until I die!¡±

    ¡°Okay, then go and set up the carriage,¡± Su Chen said.

    Zhou Hong thus hurriedly went to go setup the carriage. Although he hadn¡¯t touched reins for three years, his movements were still fluid. He very rapidly calmed the horse down, then sat at the driver¡¯s seat, waiting for Su Chen to get on the carriage behind him.

    Su Chen took a few steps towards the carriage before he paused, as if he suddenly thought of something. Then, he walked towards Su Yue, saying as he walked: ¡°That¡¯s right, I still haven¡¯t thanked Little Nine for speaking out for me as a matter of principle, so that I wouldn¡¯t be humiliated by servants.¡±

    Saying this, he walked towards Su Yue, then bowed to him.

    Su Yue swung his fan andughed: ¡°There¡¯s no need to thank me. It is probably better for Fourth Brother to get on the carriage to avoid missing proper business.¡±

    ¡°How could that be eptable? If it weren¡¯t for Little Nine¡¯s actions, I probably wouldn¡¯t even be able to head out today. How about this, why doesn¡¯t Ninth Junior Brothere with me? I will treat Ninth Junior Brother to a cup of tea,¡± Su Chen said as he grabbed Su Yue¡¯s wrist.

    He was standing right in front of Su Yue. Su Chen moved very quickly, and caught Su Yue¡¯s wrist with ease as thetter was unprepared.

    Su Yue¡¯s face revealed a trace of panic: ¡°There¡¯s no need, I still have things I need to do.¡±

    As he spoke, he hurriedly retreated, wanting to shake off Su Chen.

    However, based on strength he was much weaker than Su Chen. How could he possibly shake him off?

    Su Chen held onto him, unmoving. His face disyed a light smile as he said, ¡°What? Fourth Elder Brother is asking you nicely, yet you are unwilling to give me this much face?¡±

    His arm was like steel, mping down Su Yue and preventing him from moving.

    Su Yue panicked even more, and he began to furiously hit Su Chen¡¯s arm. ¡°Release me!¡±

    Su Chen coldlyughed: ¡°It seems like Ninth Junior Brother doesn¡¯t want to get on the carriage, but I really want to see what Ninth Junior Brother looks like after getting on...... Zhou Hong!¡±

    Su Chen suddenly let out a loud shout.

    Zhou Hong, who was sitting on the carriage at the moment instinctively responded: ¡°This little one is here!¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t even turn around to look. He grabbed Su Yue¡¯s hand and flung him backwards in the direction of Zhou Hong¡¯s voice. Su Yue¡¯s entire being flew towards the carriage behind Zhou Hong.

    With a thunderous crash, Su Yue smashed into the carriage. The forceful impact caused the carriage, which was already weakened, to copse with a loud bang. Not only that, but the needles hidden in the carriage were directly exposed and all pierced into Su Yue¡¯s body.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Su Yue let out an extremely pained yell.

    ¡°Ninth Young Master!¡± Mo Dayan yelled in shock, then red at Su Chen in rage: ¡°Su Chen you bastard, you dare to......¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s response was to take a step forward, leaving behind a deep footprint on the stone pavement. He flew into the air and mmed directly into Mo Dayan. The force of the collision knocked Mo Dayan backwards and caused him to spit out blood.

    In truth, based on strength alone, Mo Dayan was slightly stronger than Su Chen. Though both were at the ninthyer of body tempering, Mo Dayan was at the peak of the ninthyer, thest step before a martial artist broke into the Origin Qi realm. However, Mo Dayan didn¡¯t expect that Su Chen would make a move so suddenly, especially one so vicious and precise despite being blind.

    In that moment where he was not on guard, the impact of Su Chen¡¯s sneak attack broke one of his ribs instantly, the pain causing his vision to go ck.

    Su Chen, however, would not show mercy once he had the advantage. He flipped around and grabbed Mo Dayan¡¯s arm, then twisted, directly breaking Mo Dayan¡¯s right arm. Even though Mo Dayan hurriedly kicked back, the sharp pain made his entire lower body weak. This kick only contained half of his strength, and Su Chen received it forcefully. Su Chen reversed and ced another foot on Mo Dayan¡¯s knee.

    Crack, Mo Dayan¡¯s leg had already been broken by Su Chen¡¯s stomp.

    He then headbutted the bridge of Mo Dayan¡¯s nose, breaking it, then flipped around and grabbed Mo Dayan¡¯s left arm, also breaking it. Finally, he broke his left leg.

    Within the firelit room, the ninthyer Body Tempering Mo Dayan waspletely ruined by Su Chen. Hey on the ground, unable to climb back up. This scene left everyone who saw it ¨C all the charioteers, as well as Mingshu and Zhou Hong ¨C dumbstruck.

    Su Chen slowly stood. ¡°This, is the consequence of being impudent and disrespectful to those with higher status than you.¡±

    ¡°Su Chen, we aren¡¯t your people; you have no right to treat us this way!¡±

    Surprisingly, the charioteers actually still dared to yell at Su Chen.

    ¡°What you said was right, I really don¡¯t have the authority to punish Mo Dayan,¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°But...... so what?¡±

    So what?

    Upon hearing these words, all the charioteers were left dazed.

    Su Chen lifted his foot and ced it on Mo Dayan¡¯s chest: ¡°I really don¡¯t have the authority to punish him, but I punished him anyways. I went beyond my authority and I even heavily injured him. So what? I made a mistake, so the n will naturally punish me. But Mo Dayan, as well as you bastards, take a guess. What kind of punishment will I receive?¡±

    The crowd watched Su Chen fearfully. Mo Dayan, whose limbs had been broken,y powerless on the floor, and those charioteers were too scared to even moan.

    ¡°Confinement? Penalties? Or something else? It doesn¡¯t matter, I will receive it,¡± Su Chen responded. ¡°But one thing is certain: no matter how the n punishes me, the consequences for me will not be as severe as the wounds that Mo Dayan has received today. This, is the difference between a master and a servant!¡±

    This one sentence shook everyone and made them speechless.

    That¡¯s right, regardless of what punishment Su Chen received, it would not be as severe as the wounds that Mo Dayan had received!

    Because he was a master, a Young Master!

    This was privilege, an entirely justified privilege!

    Su Chen had already lifted his head, ncing at those charioteers.

    His eyes were clearly dim andcking focus, but they gave everyone a frightening pressure so that they didn¡¯t dare to meet his gaze.

    Su Chen leisurely spoke: ¡°Therefore, even if I were to continue and killed all of you, there wouldn¡¯t be too many consequences. But if you were to hurt me...... then you would all die!¡±

    Thisst sentence created chills in everyone¡¯s heart.

    ¡°So......¡± Su Chen had already released Mo Dayan¡¯s foot, then walked towards Su Yue.

    This brat had been tossed by Su Chen and the needles had entered his body. At the moment, he was still lying on the ground moaning, unable to crawl up.

    Su Chen tilted his ear, pretending to listen attentively, drawing near to Su Yue by following the sounds of his moans. He picked Su Yue up with one hand, raising his hand and knocking him out. Then, he turned around to speak to those charioteers: ¡°Thus, I hope that you can all treat me with just that much more reverence. With a reverential attitude, you will understand respect. And if you understand how to respect your masters, you will make less mistakes. Then, things like what just happened won¡¯t need to happen anymore.¡±

    A charioteer asked, his voice trembling: ¡°What do you want us to do?¡±

    Su Chenughed.

    This was what he wanted to hear.

    ¡°I want you to tell the truth,¡± he said. ¡°In a moment, the n¡¯s elders will arrive. If anyone dares to ignore their conscience, believe me...... he will definitely die!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t answer him!¡± Mo Dayan let out a loud yell.

    Woosh!

    Su Chen leisurely tossed out his hand. A needle that he had pulled out of Su Yue¡¯s body had already entered Mo Dayan¡¯s lower body. The pain that Mo Dayan felt far exceeded everything else. Mo Dayan let out an extremely pained yell. He was unable to endure it, and actually passed out directly.

    Su Chen skillfully pulled out another needle, faintly smiling as he looked at those charioteers.

    Facing this perceptive individual who, in their minds, clearly possessed ¡°powers of echolocation¡±¡±, all of the charioteers felt a chill run across their bodies simultaneously.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 27: Punishmen

    Chapter 27: Punishment

    Such a grandmotion was guaranteed to shock and alert the Su n.

    The first person to arrive was the Su n¡¯s head of security, Pei Jiyun. He was Su Changche¡¯s nephew, and was an Origin Qi Schr in the Blood Gushing realm. Of the Su n¡¯s second generation, he was second only to a handful of people like Su Keji or Su Huaiyou.

    The most rare thing was that the way this person dealt with matters could be considered quite fair. As the n¡¯s head of security, he was not allowed to have too much political bias.

    Upon seeing that he was the first to arrive, Su Chen¡¯s heart rxed.

    Although Pei Jiyun was not as warm as Su Feihu towards him, he at least did not discriminate against or try to suppress him. He was someone who could be reasoned with.

    At this moment, Pei Jiyun arrived. Upon seeing the condition of Su Yue and Mo Dayan, he was very clearly dazed for a moment before he nced at Su Chen. ¡°Su Chen, what are you doing?¡±

    Su Chen gentlyughed and responded, ¡°What I am doing cannot be exined in a sentence or two. Let¡¯s wait for all the elders to arrive before I address your questions all at once, okay?¡±

    Pei Jiyun was startled, but in the end he nodded and said, ¡°Sure, but you have to release Su Yue first.¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t do. Without him, most people probably won¡¯t even give me an opportunity to speak.¡± As Su Chen spoke, he ced his right hand on Su Yue¡¯s eyes. ¡°Make no mistake, if a blind man gets pushed too far, he can do anything.¡±

    Pei Jiyun sucked in a breath of air, then hurriedly said, ¡°Okay, okay, don¡¯t be hasty, isn¡¯t it enough for you to just hold onto him? Let¡¯s just wait here together for the n¡¯s other elders.¡±

    ¡°Uncle Pei, you might not be able to rest just yet.¡± Su Chen pointed at those charioteers behind him. ¡°These people were all witnesses to what happened today, so I need them to testify. But to prevent anyone from having evil intentions and lying, I ask that Uncle Pei confine them separately and interrogate them individually.

    All of the charioteers were shocked. Some of them had not been frightened by Su Chen¡¯s words, and had only pretended to lower their heads to him. They were holding their hatred in their hearts and waiting for an opportunity to strike back at him once they escaped his grasp.

    They never expected that Su Chen actually had such a method up his sleeve. It felt like what he had said before was to stabilize the situation, but the real tactic was still waiting for them.

    Pei Jiyun didn¡¯t care about what they thought. Su Chen¡¯s words caused his eyes to light up.

    With the testimony of enough people, regardless of who was in the right or wrong, there wouldn¡¯t be a mistaken conviction. Since every injustice had its own perpetrator, any responsibility would not fall upon him, the head of security.

    Thus, he waved his hand. ¡°Catch all of them and interrogate them individually. Without my permission, do not allow anybody to visit them!¡±

    One of the n¡¯s guards had already stepped forwards and taken away all of those charioteers. When they tried to take away Mingshu and Zhou Hong, they were stopped by Su Chen, which Pei Jiyun didn¡¯t mind. He could tell that although Su Chen had injured those people, the trouble had most likely been stirred up by the other party. Otherwise, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t be so calm and unhurried.

    Not long after, all the masters in the Su n were all shocked into action.

    Su Cheng¡¯an came, Su Keji came, Su Feihu came, Tang Hongrui came, and Yan Wushuang also came.

    Arge group of people stood around Su Chen, confused, but no one dared to draw near to Su Chen because he was still holding onto Su Yue.

    His two fingers were ced on Su Yue¡¯s eyelids no matter who pleaded with him.

    When Su Changqing arrived and saw the scene, he was so enraged that his nose became nted. ¡°Su Cheng¡¯an, look at what your son did! Tell him to quickly release Yue¡¯er!¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an wore an expression of embarrassment. ¡°This unfilial son hasn¡¯t listened to me for a long time. Just now, I ordered him to release your son, but he just wouldn¡¯t listen. Instead, he used a needle to draw a scratch on Su Yue¡¯s face......¡±

    ¡°Su Cheng¡¯an, you¡¯re not a man!¡± Tang Hongrui began to yell piercingly, ¡°For something so big to happen and you act not to protect Chen¡¯er, but instead directly call him an unfilial son. Did you even ask what exactly happened?¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s face reddened. ¡°How would I know if he doesn¡¯t say anything?¡±

    ¡°You yourself also know that he hasn¡¯t said exactly what happened and you still call him an unfilial son, telling him to release the person? Have you even looked around, do you not see how many bastards are eyeing Su Chen like he¡¯s prey? If he releases the person, would there even be a chance for Chen¡¯er to defend himself?¡± Tang Hongrui asked angrily.

    Yan Wushuang let out a gentle cough, ¡°Madame¡¯s words are basically throwing a lot of people under the bus. Everyone here is actually just concerned for Chen¡¯er......¡±

    ¡°Slut, close your mouth, you¡¯re one of the hungry scavengers eyeing my son.¡± Tang Hongrui pointed at Yan Wushuang and cursed, ¡°Don¡¯t think that I don¡¯t know about the things that you, b*tch, did behind my back. If it wasn¡¯t for my Chen¡¯er¡¯s caution, we would have been harmed by you a long time ago!¡±

    Back then, when the True Jade Pavilion¡¯sborer had been bribed, Tang Hongrui also knew about it. She had even criticized her son, wanting him to hold theborer ountable publicly instead of letting him go. That way, even if Yan Wushuang¡¯s properties couldn¡¯t be affected, she would still have been thoroughly discredited. But Su Chen believed that doing so would not only smack Yan Wushuang¡¯s face but also Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s, so in the end he had refused.

    At this moment, Yan Wushuang was also getting angry after being cursed at by Tang Hongrui, but while she had a great deal of authority, her status was still lower than Tang Hongrui¡¯s, so she could only look at Su Cheng¡¯an pleadingly.

    Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s face alternated shades of red and white. In the end, he could only say, ¡°That¡¯s enough.¡±

    Tang Hongrui¡¯s personality was inherently forceful. How could she heed Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s urging? Instead, she began to argue loudly and unrestrainedly with Su Cheng¡¯an.

    Thankfully, at this moment a voice sounded out, ¡°Enough!¡±

    All those present immediately were jolted, then replied in unison.

    ¡°n Leader!¡±

    The crowd parted to form a path, and an older person walked over.

    This was the Su n¡¯s n leader, Su Changche.

    Su Changche wore an azure cloth gown, and held his hands behind his back. His clothing was in, as was his appearance, and he looked just like an elderly neighbor.

    But all the members of the Su n, regardless of whether they were loud and moring, fiercely arguing, or whispering amongst themselves, all shut their mouths after they saw this old mane, and none dared to make another noise.

    Su Changeche was not only the n leader of the Su n, but even more he was the founder of the Su n.

    As the n that had emerged thetest in Northface City, the Su n had been raised up purely based on Su Changche¡¯s strength alone.

    Upon arriving at the end of the path, Su Changche nced at Su Chen, Su Yue, and Mo Dayan who was still lying on the ground, then let out a soft sigh.

    ¡°Big Brother, Su Chen, he.......¡±

    Su Changqing wanted to say something, but Su Changche waved his hand and said, ¡°Enough, I already know what happened. This matter originated from Su Yue scheming against Su Chen. He ruined his carriage and secretly nted needles inside with malicious intent. Chen¡¯er was only acting in self-defense. As for Mo Dayan, as a servant he dared to lie to his master, and he also knew that the carriage had been tampered with yet he didn¡¯t say anything. Because of his betrayal and evil actions, he ought to be punished.¡±

    With just a few sentences, Su Changche was able to exin everything that had happened earlier.

    No one knew where he had gotten his information from, but that wasn¡¯t important. What was important was that the Head of the Su n had spoken, and no one dared to ignore it, let alone question him.

    This was a good thing, but also a bad thing.

    The good part was that Su Chen didn¡¯t need to defend himself anymore. The bad part was that Su Changche had used the simplest possible description of the events that had transpired. Evidently, he didn¡¯t want this matter to escte. Based on what he said, this was a family conflict; thus, naturally it should be taken care of low-key. The simpler it was, the better, to prevent any more waves from being created.

    This also meant that matters would not escte to the degree that Su Chen wanted.

    Upon hearing that Su Yue had ced needles into the carriage to attempt to harm her son, Tang Hongrui fiercely stared at Su Changqing. Su Changqing¡¯s face waspletely red, and he lowered his head, not daring to speak. However, the hatred in his heart did not decrease because of this.

    ¡°For brothers to quarrel really hurts my heart!¡± After describing the causes of the situation, Su Changche said, ¡°Su Yue harmed Su Chen first and reaped what he sowed. Since he was injured by Su Chen, he can be considered punished already. Chen¡¯er, let him go and we can consider the matter finished here. What do you think?¡±

    ¡°Since grandfather hasmanded it, how could grandson dare to disobey?¡± Su Chen tossed Su Yue back.

    ¡°But Big Brother, although Mo Dayan was disrespectful to his master, Su Chen shouldn¡¯t have acted so heavy-handed. He basically wasted this person,¡± Su Changqing said, still not satisfied. ¡°Mo Dayan never actively made a move against him, he only kept his silence. If Su Chen was unhappy about it, he should have reported to his superiors. How could he overstep his authority?¡±

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t it because you wanted to cover up for each other!¡± Tang Hongrui let out a loud yell.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Su Changche nced at Tang Hongrui, causing her to unwillingly lower her head and fall silent.

    Su Changche thought for a moment, then said, ¡°Although Mo Dayan was wrong, he wouldn¡¯t be in this condition ording to nws at this moment. Su Chen overstepped his authority and the punishment was too severe, so byw Su Chen should be punished. Su Chen, Grandfather will punish you. Do you ept?¡±

    ¡°Su Chen is willing to ept.¡±

    ¡°Good. Since you severely injured a servant, I will punish you with twenty strikes, forced mining for three months, and half a year¡¯s allowance. Do you have any objections?¡±

    Su Chen lifted his head and asked, ¡°Is it possible to switch a form of punishment?¡±

    Su Changqing angrily yelled, ¡°Su Chen, you are trying to avoid forced mining!¡±

    Of the three great punishments, the one of forced mining was still the heaviest. Although disciples of the Su n would not actually need to mine in the caves, they still had to spend a long period of time in the dark mines, living in and enduring the filthy, moist, and cold conditions.

    But Su Chen replied, ¡°What if it were Scarlet Punishment?¡±

    Scarlet Punishment?

    Upon hearing this, everyone present was stunned.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 28: Scarlet Punishmen

    Chapter 28: Scarlet Punishment

    North of Northface Cityy an extremely tall, continuous mountain range.

    To the north of the mountain range was a boundless prairie. That ce was the dwelling ce forrge numbers of Vicious Beasts, and to the south were the human kingdoms.

    The mountain range was the boundary between man and beast. Every so often,rge numbers of Vicious Beasts would trespass over the boundary, invading man¡¯s territory. These were known as the beast tides.

    The organized resistance of humankind had been battling for a thousand years. The blood that had been spilt there had dyed the entire mountain range a deep scarlet, and so it became known as the Scarlet Mountain Range.

    Although the beast tide was not urring at that moment, many vicious beasts still dwelt in the Scarlet Mountain Range.

    Thus, this ce was one of the battlegrounds between humans and beasts along this border, although it was one of the smallest ones.

    Every year, many martial artists and Origin Qi schrs would gather to hunt Vicious Beasts for the purpose of harvesting resources, and ¨C most importantly ¨C awakening one¡¯s bloodline power.

    This was a ce of intensepetition, and no two parties could coexist.. Every year,rge numbers of martial artists or Origin Qi Schrs would all die in the Scarlet Mountain Range.

    Scarlet Punishment was when the n would throw offenders into the Scarlet Mountain Range, forcing them to live there for a certain period of time to cancel out their offenses. The duration was decided based on the severity of the offense. This period of time was equivalent to a prison sentence ¡ª the difference being that even while the duration was much shorter, the level of danger was extremely high. One wrong move could turn the prison sentence into a death sentence..

    For Su Chen to voluntarily bring up Scarlet Punishment truly shocked everyone present.

    To volunteer for such a punishment, how seriously did he take this matter?

    Even more, Su Chen was only a martial artist in the ninthyer of Body Tempering, not even an Origin Qi Schr. And yet he still dared to go to the Scarlet Mountain Range?

    There, Vicious Beasts ran rampant. Any one of them could torture Su Chen to death.

    ording to the Su n¡¯s rules, if a disciple voluntarily brought up Scarlet Punishment, it was not proper to refuse them.

    That was because while this was a punishment, choosing to go there also symbolized one¡¯s bravery. Even more, it represented the determination of mankind to resist the beast race.

    ¡°Absolutely not!¡± Tang Hongrui began to yell piercingly.

    Su Changche also knitted his eyebrows: ¡°Why do you want to go there?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I want to obtain the bloodline of the cloud bat. Only in this way will I have any hope ofpeting in the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s qualifying exams next year.¡±

    Cloud bats were a type of Vicious Beast. This Vicious Beast¡¯s innate vision was extremely poor, yet it could use echolocation with pinpoint uracy. If he could obtain the cloud bat¡¯s bloodline and control a location-determining Origin Skill, it would enable even a ¡°blind¡± man like him to do battle.

    Of course, Su Chen was making things up. But this exnation was more than sufficient to fool everyone else.

    His true reason was actually very simple. He needed to get stronger!

    The information Gu Qingluo had divulged gave Su Chen a great sense of urgency. In the future, perhaps there would be opponents whose strength greatly surpassed his wildest imaginations. As for himself, his loss of sight had cost him a whole three years. In those three years, he had to fully focus his efforts on just maintaining his right to participate in the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s qualifying exam, to speak nothing of performing well. The elevation of opponents, however, was more than enough to cause a right to participate to only remain a right to participate.

    If Su Chen didn¡¯t want to miss the day of ¡°battling to enter the Hidden Dragon Institute,¡± he would have to continue striving.

    The Scarlet Mountain Range was the best decision.

    That ce had its dangers, but it also had many opportunities!

    He had decided when he left the Lin n to go to the Scarlet Mountain Range. The matter with Su Yue had only given him an excuse to do so. To get an opportunity to go to the Scarlet Mountain Range and give his enemy a beating, how was this not worth it?

    But to everyone else who heard this words, they were all shaken by Su Chen¡¯s attitude of never giving up.

    Hidden Dragon Institute?

    A blind person actually still wanted topete in the exam for the top school in the entire Long Sang Country, the Hidden Dragon Institute?

    What kind of ambition was this!

    Even Su Changche couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Is the Hidden Dragon Institute that important to you?¡±

    Su Chen tilted his head, then replied, ¡°No. Actually, it isn¡¯t that important to me.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Everyone felt muddle-headed.

    What did he mean?

    ¡°It is only another goal,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°A goal that constantly pushes me forward, one that makes me unwilling to give up. This is just like how I believe that old beggar¡¯s words, how I trust that my eyes will definitely recover. Humans always need goals, need hope, in order to keep fighting. My belief that my eyes will recover is my hope, and the Hidden Dragon Institute is a goal that I set for myself so that I won¡¯t give up.

    Upon speaking to here, Su Chen paused, then said, ¡°I just don¡¯t want to stop here.¡±

    The cloud bat was fake, but what he said at this moment was genuine.

    The Hidden Dragon Institute wasn¡¯t actually something so important that Su Chen couldn¡¯t abandon it.

    However, because he had this goal, Su Chen had the motivation and strength to persevere.

    ¡°You are not afraid of the dangers of the Scarlet Mountain Range and the possibility you might lose your life?¡± Su Changche asked again.

    Su Chen replied: ¡°As a man, my ambitions are lofty. How could I run away out of fear, cursing my bad fortune?¡±

    When everyone heard this, their hearts began to thump simultaneously.

    These words finally moved Su Changche. He let out a long sigh, then said, ¡°I understand...... Scarlet Punishment for a hundred days. Before time runs out, you are not allowed to return.¡±

    Once Su Changche spoke, the matter was as good as settled. No matter how much Tang Hongrui objected, it was of no use. She could only sit to the side and cry.

    ¡°Grandson obeys yourmand!¡± Su Chen¡¯s expression did not change as he said, ¡°Right. Grandfather, I also want Zhou Hong and Mingshu to be my servants.¡±

    ¡°Okay. If there¡¯s nothing else, the matter is settled.¡± Su Changche didn¡¯t waste any words. He turned around and left.

    Upon seeing Su Changche leave, Su Changqing ferociously red at Su Chen before also leaving.

    Including Su Keji and Yan Wushuang, the Su n had yet another person who hated Su Chenpletely.

    But Su Chen did not worry, nor did he care at all.

    After looking around, Su Chen said, ¡°Come, lend Su Yue¡¯s carriage to me.¡±

    His own carriage had been destroyed and he needed to find a new one, so he decided to just use Su Yue¡¯s.

    Although this was not entirely ording to the rules, the people nearby had already gone to find Su Chen a carriage.

    After today¡¯s battle, Su Chen had ostentatiously andpletely confirmed his own status.

    Although he couldn¡¯t yet shake the elders of the n, no one from the same generation and below dared to provoke him anymore.

    The matter of Su Yue¡¯s carriage being led away by Su Chen very quickly reached Su Changqing. The veins on Su Changqing¡¯s forehead jumped furiously, but in the end he only said, ¡°If he wants it, give it to him.¡±

    Of course, he could only say that long after Su Chen had already left. .

    Meanwhile, Su Chen¡¯s carriage had arrived at the True Jade Pavilion. He made Zhou Hong wait outside and entered himself.

    At the moment, Tang Zhen was on the third floor of the pavilion. Upon seeing Su Chen arrive, his face sank slightly. ¡°You¡¯rete.¡±

    Although Su Chen was a young master, Tang Zhen¡¯s personality was very straightforward. He would not hesitate to criticize Su Chen when teaching him. In the entire True Jade Pavilion, only he really dared to criticize Su Chen for beingte.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t put on the airs of a young master, instead cupping his hands and saying, ¡°Something happened on the way here. My carriage broke, dying my arrival.¡±

    Tang Zhen¡¯s expression warmed. He smoothed his beard and said: ¡°Since it¡¯s like that, then forget about it. Come, today I want to teach you......¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Head storekeeper, in a few days I will need to temporarily stop our lessons.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡± Tang Zhen stared dumbly, so surprised that even his voice changed.

    He actually liked this student of his, Su Chen, a lot.

    Although Su Chen couldn¡¯t see, he was modest and studious. He was also extremely bright, and could remember many things after only being told once. In four months of studying, Su Chen already had a considerable understanding of the history of the Primordial Continent, and he could exin many things logically and clearly. Even if he could not inherit Tang Zhen¡¯s ability to inspect treasures, he at least could inherit his learnings. From a master¡¯s perspective, knowledge was more important than skill. Thus, at some point, Tang Zhen had begun to see Su Chen as the inheritor of his life¡¯s knowledge.

    Now, for the disciple that he liked the most to actually say that he didn¡¯t want to learn anymore, how could he not be surprised, not be panicked?

    Su Chen thus told him everything that had happened earlier.

    Upon hearing that Su Chen had beaten Su Yue ferociously and crippled Mo Dayan, as well as Su Chen voluntarily bringing up the matter of Scarlet Punishment, Tang Zhen feltpletely muddle-headed.

    ¡°Thus, head storekeeper, I can only study for three more days here. In these three days, I want to learn in-depth about how to discern things visually, not just with cultural relics but also how to differentiate between different herbs and vegetation.¡±

    Since he was headed to the Scarlet Mountain Range, Su Chen definitely needed to have some knowledge of nts and the like as a survival tool. Thankfully, the True Jade Pavilion also epted rare herbs, and head storekeeper Tang had a simrly rich experience in this aspect.

    However, Tang Zhen couldn¡¯t raise his enthusiasm. ¡°You can¡¯t even see. What do I use to teach you?¡±

    Su Chenughed, then turned around and walked towards a shelf full of antiques. . He pulled out an ancient jade from behind him, then leisurely said, ¡°This must be the Idle Cow Patterned Tricolored Jade, right? Head storekeeper said that it was sleek and lustrous, somewhat transparent, and slightly blemished. I never knew what sleek and lustrous meant, or transparent, or how it was slightly blemished....... Now I finally understand.¡±

    Tang Zhen was instantly shocked into a stupor.

    He stared at Su Chen, dazed. ¡°You......¡±

    Su Chen turned his head around, looking at Tang Zhen. The eyes which had been lifeless just a moment ago suddenly recovered their vitality; they were bright and full of expression.

    Tang Zhen instantly realized what had happened. He rushed over to hug Su Chen and yelled loudly, ¡°Your eyes......¡±

    ¡°Shh!¡± Su Chen ced his finger on Tang Zhen¡¯s lips: ¡°No one else knows about this yet apart from head storekeeper.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t n on telling other people?¡± Tang Zhen finally reacted, then said, mystified, ¡°Why not?¡±

    Su Chen gently smiled. ¡°Because I discovered that sometimes, being blind lets you see more.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 29: Scam

    Chapter 29: Scam

    Regardless of whether Tang Zhen agreed, Su Chen¡¯s departure for the Scarlet Mountain Range was already settled. He had no choice but to ept it.

    All Tang Zhen could do was teach Su Chen everything he knew.

    To prevent others from realizing that Su Chen had regained his sight, Tang Zhen would personally go up and down the True Jade Pavilion and bring Su Chen various medicine. He taught him how to analyze and identify them, the differences between genuine and fake articles, and how to use them.

    The head storekeeper didn¡¯t hold back transferring any of his knowledge. To him, every bit that Su Chen understood would increase the probability of his survival by a small amount.

    One taught attentively while the other studied strenuously. Time flew by, and a day had gone by in the blink of an eye.

    The pavilion¡¯s gold-ted timekeeping treasure bell sounded out at this moment, indicating that the day¡¯s business was over.

    Tang Zhen said, ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll end here for today. Try ande earlier tomorrow to resume your studies. You can stay and review some of the things I¡¯ve taught you. I will leave first for now.¡±

    Tang Zhen was very punctual when ite to working and resting. And, as the head storekeeper, he could head home earlier than most others.

    Tang Zhen went downstairs and briefed theborers on some matters before leaving.

    Su Chen was alone in the tower as he continuously looked over the precious treasures stored there.

    This was the homework that Tang Zhen had left for him.

    Just as he was scrutinizing them, he suddenly heard aborer speak up from outside, ¡°Young Master, there is a transaction urring downstairs. Third storekeeper wants you to go down and help make a decision.¡±

    ¡°What kind of transaction would trouble third storekeeper so much that he¡¯d need my input? Where is second storekeeper?¡± Su Chen felt slightly surprised as he replied.

    ¡°It¡¯s a Beast Repellent Medicine. The price the other party quoted is somewhat high. Second storekeeper is currently bringing in stock so he isn¡¯t around, and head storekeeper has just left. Third storekeeper can¡¯t make the decision on his own, so he can only ask Young Master for his opinion,¡± theborer responded.

    Beast Repellent Medicine?

    Su Chen was shocked.

    This was something precious.

    Beast Repellent Medicine was a very rare and precious medicine. It could release a very particr odor that was somewhat fragrant to humans but was extremely disgusting to Vicious Beasts when they smelled it, even to the point where they would vomit, so they would desperately try to avoid it. With this kind of medicine on him, no Vicious Beasts would pay any attention to him for at least three days.

    Although Su Chen¡¯s purpose for entering the Scarlet Mountain Range was to hunt Vicious Beasts, he didn¡¯t intend to just send himself to his death. With this item, as long as he used it in a moment of critical danger, and there wasn¡¯t too much animosity, even Vicious Beasts that were chasing Su Chen would give up. This was a miraculous, life-saving medicine.

    However, creating this Beast Repellent Medicine was extremely difficult. Regr alchemists couldn¡¯t make it; only special Origin Alchemists could refine it. Even so, arge amount of resources and time was required, and not everyone could create it. As such, its price was extremely high, and sometimes there was no market for it.

    Who would have expected there to be someone willing to sell it today?

    Su Chen was naturally interested, and so he said, ¡°Let theme up.¡±

    Beast Repellent Medicine was a precious item, so its sale naturally wouldn¡¯t be discussed on the floor below. Instead, they went straight to the room on the third floor.

    Su Chen sat waiting in the room. Soon after, he heard the sound of footsteps. Lou Yi walked in first, followed by a skinny middle-aged man. His wore a wily look on his face, and he began looking around as soon as he entered the room.

    Su Chen felt irked, but there was no change in his expression. He gently smiled and said, ¡°Storekeeper Lou and the esteemed guest have arrived. Please, sit. Su Chen is blind, and I cannot take care of the esteemed guest, so please forgive me. Xiang De, bring the tea.¡±

    But Lou Yi interjected and said, ¡°Young Master doesn¡¯t need to trouble himself. I¡¯ll take care of matters on this end.

    At that moment, the maidservant Xiang De had brought in the tea. Lou Yi received it, then waved his hand for the maidservant to retreat. Only Su Chen, Lou Yi, and that skinny man remained in the room.

    Lou Yi and the skinny man sat down together. As the skinny man sat down, he curiously waved his hands in front of Su Chen, as if he was trying to find out whether Su Chen really was blind. However, he was pushed by Lou Yi, who gave him a stern re, evidently rebuking him for being discourteous to the Young Master. That person, however, carelessly shrugged his shoulder. His lips moved a few times. No sound came out of his mouth, but his unhappiness was in to see.

    The pair¡¯s movements aroused Su Chen¡¯s suspicion.

    It looked like Lou Yi was familiar with this person?

    The skinny man had already sat down when he spoke to to Su Chen, ¡°This must be Young Master Su? My name is Zhao Si. I am the one selling the Beast Repellent Medicine. I am a person who is very straightforward. Eight hundred taels of pure gold and it¡¯s yours. In addition, I have a bamboo leisure painting from the Lichun period, as well as a ceramic zed bowl from the Illustrious Divine Dynasty for sale as well.¡±

    (TL: Just thought it was funny that his name is a homonym for ¡°courting death.¡± Ha ha.)

    As he said this, he pulled out a portrait from his bag along with a ceramic zed bowl and ced them both on the table.

    Perhaps because he knew Su Chen couldn¡¯t see, he didn¡¯t even bother to open it in front of Su Chen.

    ¡°Third storekeeper, what¡¯s your take on it?¡± Su Chen nced at Lou Yi.

    Lou Yi responded, ¡°This little one has already seen them downstairs. The bamboo leisure painting and the ceramic zed bowl are all genuine. As for the Beast Repellent Medicine, I¡¯ve never seen it before, and I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s real or not. However, this esteemed guest has agreed to demonstrate its abilities, so it shouldn¡¯t be fake. However, the price he wanted was somewhat high. He wanted two thousand taels of pure gold for all three items added together, and is unwilling to sell them individually.

    Zhao Siughed, ¡°Testing it out is a simple matter. The current climate is hot, and there are lots of mosquitos. I¡¯ll show demonstrate the might of this Beast Repellent Medicine for all of you to see.¡±

    The pill vial had already been opened as he said this and the mosquitos that had been flying around in the room instantly dispersed. Soon, not a single mosquito remained in the entire room.

    Zhao Si merrily said, ¡°Although Young Master Su can¡¯t see, you must be able to hear the buzzing of these mosquitos. Young Master Su, can you hear any mosquitos now?¡±

    ¡°They truly are gone,¡± Su Chen said with a slight smile on his face, but his heart sank.

    He didn¡¯t understand ancient artifacts. Although he¡¯d studied under Tang Zhen for a while, his knowledge wasn¡¯t at the point where he could determine the veracity of such things. Thus, he didn¡¯t know whether the bamboo leisure portrait or the ceramic zed bowl were real. However, based on what Lou Yi had said earlier, he was clearly pretending to not know the seller.

    As for the Beast Repellent Medicine, it appeared as if its efficacy had been proven. However, Su Chen was clearly knew that there was another kind of medicine called Insect Repellent Medicine which could achieve the same effect. However, its price was a hundred times lower. But most importantly, the medicinal vial that the man had opened was actually not the one that he had brought out earlier.

    That was to say, what he intended on selling to Su Chen wasn¡¯t even the mosquito repellent.

    It was a scam!

    Su Chen realized this in an instant.

    In fact, it wasn¡¯t even an borate scam. They were just selling fake items to deceive the store. Which treasure store wouldn¡¯t run into such situations at least three to five tems a year? But, bribing a store¡¯s employees to sell a counterfeit was apletely different matter.

    However, because they thought that Su Chen was blind, they couldn¡¯t be bothered to put in much effort for their facade. Thus, this scam didn¡¯t trick Su Chen for even a second before he saw right through it.

    Indeed, being blind allowed one to see more.

    Su Chenughed coldly in his heart, yet he still said, ¡°Indeed, this is the Beast Repellent Medicine. This is too great. As for those two ancient relics, with storekeeper Lou present, I naturally believe you. It¡¯s just that this price......¡±

    Su Chen pretended to hesitate for a moment.

    Zhao Si said, ¡°I see that Fourth Young Master is also a frank and straightforward person. If you really have your heart set on them, I¡¯ll only ask for a thousand eight hundred taels of pure gold.¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I really do like them, but at the moment the True Jade Pavilion doesn¡¯t have that much surplus money. Why doesn¡¯t esteemed gueste by tomorrow, and I will prepare the pure gold to buy it.¡±

    Zhao Si immediately shook his head and said, ¡°That won¡¯t do, I have something urgent I need to take care of and I desperately need the money. Otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t be taking out these family heirlooms to sell. I can¡¯t wait until tomorrow.¡±

    Really, he couldn¡¯t wait until tomorrow? The other party had purposefully chosen this time. Head storekeeper had already returned and second storekeeper wasn¡¯t here, so third storekeeper was the one calling the shots. They were taking advantage of this to lie to him.

    That was to say, this matter had nothing to do with everyone else, and only Lou Yi was part of it?

    That was good.

    Su Chen made a decision internally as he continued to say, ¡°But the tower can¡¯t take out that much money at the moment. Can I only buy one?¡±

    ¡°No, if you want to buy it then you have to buy all three at once. If you don¡¯t have enough money, you can use resources instead as a substitute. In any case, the reason I need money is to buy cultivation resources,¡± the middle-aged man responded.

    Everything had been well-thought out. If there wasn¡¯t enough money, he could use resources to make up for the deficit in addition to using the Beast Repellent Medicine as bait.

    To get the Beast Repellent Medicine, he would have to buy the other two fake items, resulting in an even greater loss.

    Yes, it had to be one of Yan Wushuang¡¯s schemes. Once she knew that he was going to the Scarlet Mountain Range, she had taken out a fake Beast Repellent Medicine with the intention of taking advantage of his self-preservation instincts, along with storekeeper Lou¡¯s cooperation, toplete this scam.

    To be honest, the two biggest pieces required to pull this scam off were already in ce. One, they had exploited the buyer¡¯s need, and two, they had someone helping from the inside.

    Their major mistakey in their execution of the n. They didn¡¯t know Su Chen¡¯s vision had long since recovered, which resulted in the scam being easily seen through.

    Thinking up to this point, Su Chen let out a sigh and said, ¡°Lou Yi, you were personally rmended by the head storekeeper and I believe in his foresight. Based on your character, you wouldn¡¯t do such a thing, and yet you still did it...... is your disappointing son causing trouble for you again?¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 30: Punishmen

    Chapter 30: Punishment

    By the time Tang Zhen had arrived upon being notified, he only saw Su Chen calmly drinking his tea, unruffled. However, he did not see Lou Yi or Zhao Si.

    ¡°Where are they?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re locked in the back room,¡± Su Chen replied as he poured Tang Zhen a cup.

    Since they were merely two mortals, Su Chen had dealt with them effortlessly.

    Tang Zhen received the tea and sat down. ¡°But there was a problem with Lou Yi?¡±

    The message that Su Chen had told theborers to give Tang Zhen did not explicitly state that. It only said that storekeeper Lou had brought someone who wanted to make a sale, asking for two thousand taels of pure gold. That someone urgently needed the money, so Su Chen needed head storekeeper toe back to assess the items.

    But how experienced was Tang Zhen? He immediately knew that something was wrong as soon as he received the message, so he hurried back, worried that Su Chen would actually close the deal.

    Upon hearing that Su Chen had locked them in the back room, the suspicions in his heart were confirmed. That was why he directly asked if it was a problem with Lou Yi.

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°His son reneged on a bet and owed people eight hundred taels of pure gold. He was caught today. They said that if they don¡¯t receive payment in three days, they will cut off his hands and feet. It¡¯s an old tactic, but it¡¯s very effective.¡±

    ¡°Ai! Lou Yi is is too muddleheaded!¡± Tang Zhen thumped his chest and stomped his feet in sorrow, feeling very pitiful for Lou Yi.

    After feeling hurt for a moment, Tang Zhen asked Su Chen, ¡°Did you get any information from the seller, then?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°This time, our opponents were more astute. They found a middleman who had no ties to anyone involved to do the deed. Zhao Si didn¡¯t know who the mastermind was. But no worries. In any case, it¡¯s enough that you and I know who did it.¡±

    ¡°Is there any use in knowing? Without any evidence, there¡¯s no way to hold her ountable,¡± Tang Zhen sighed.

    ¡°Last time we had evidence, but didn¡¯t we let it go in the end?¡± Su Chen indifferently replied. ¡°She is my father¡¯s woman, and my father loves to preserve his face. If we make a fuss, it won¡¯t be good for his image either. He won¡¯t deal with her because of it; rather, he will only hate me more...... although he doesn¡¯t particrly like me right now anyways.¡±

    Tang Zhen let out a helpless sigh.

    ¡°However, my tolerance is also limited,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Last time, I let her get away with it because she wasn¡¯t trying to kill me; she was only pursuing riches. However, now that she has made an attempt on my life, I will not show her mercy.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Tang Zhen didn¡¯t understand.

    Su Chen raised the pill vial in his hand. ¡°This vial contains the Beast Repellent Medicine that Yan Wushuang wanted Zhao Si to sell to me. Of course, it isn¡¯t the genuine Beast Repellent Medicine. Take a guess ¨C what do you think it is?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Tang Zhen asked.

    ¡°Beast Drawing Medicine.¡±

    Hiss!

    Tang Zhen sucked in a breath of cold air./

    For her to switch the Beast Repellent Medicine for a Beast Drawing Medicine meant that she really wanted to kill Su Chen!

    Tang Zhen also became incensed, smacking the table with his palm. ¡°This slut is courting death!¡±

    ¡°She will die, but it¡¯s not the right time yet,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°The current objective to find out who the middleman is is more urgent. After I return with proof, I will settle all ounts with that slut. At the same time, I will get a chance to see his reaction......¡±

    He didn¡¯t finish his words, but Tang Zhen could guess the meaning behind Su Chen¡¯s unspoken words.

    He sighed in his heart. He could only hope that Su Cheng¡¯an would not continue to make mistake after mistake.

    Thus, he said, ¡°I understand. Leave this matter to me. Although our Tang n and its businesses are not asrge as the Su n, we still have many people. I will definitely find all of the necessary evidence.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Su Chen trusted Tang Zhen to take care of business.

    Suddenly thinking of something, Tang Zhen looked left and right before lowering his voice and asking Su Chen, ¡°How are you nning on dealing with Lou Yi?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Although storekeeper Lou made a mistake, there was a reason for what he did. Furthermore, it was because his loved one was in someone else¡¯s hands, and he had been forced to do what he did. Let¡¯s just let the matter go.¡±

    ¡°Just let him go like that? But he still betrayed his employer. No matter what, shouldn¡¯t he still be punished, even if just a little?¡± Tang Zhen was surprised.

    He originally wanted to plead for mercy on behalf of Lou Yi. However, he didn¡¯t expect that Su Chen would be even more generous than him andpletely disregarded the matter of Lou Yi¡¯s betrayal. Because he had been so shocked, the words that he had wanted to speak never left his mouth. His entire tone had changed.

    Su Chenughed. ¡°Naturally, he will be punished, but it won¡¯t be by our hand.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Tang Zhen didn¡¯t understand.

    Su Chen slowly and deliberately replied, ¡°Didn¡¯t they threaten to cut off his precious son¡¯s hands and feet if he didn¡¯t repay the money that he owed? I am curious as to whether they will actually make a move once time runs out. If not, all of their efforts will have been in vain. But if they do...... How do you think Lou Yi will view Yan Wushuang, who lured his son into a trap, causing him to lose his hands and feet?¡±

    Hiss!

    Tang Zhen breathed in another breath of cold air.

    He never expected that Su Chen¡¯s calctions would be so meticulous. His considerations were soplete despite the fact that he was not much older than fifteen.

    Su Chen was already a genius in the first ce. When tacking on the ups and downs that Su Chen had experienced in the past three years, as well as the suffering from the wide range of human emotions, his perception had long since exceeded that which a child his age should have. He was extremely mature. Thus, he had prepared everything long before Tang Zhen arrived. Tang Zhen only needed to follow his n.

    At the moment, Su Chen was focusing all his efforts on surviving the Scarlet Punishment. After he returned from the Scarlet Punishment, he would finish off people like Yan Wushuang, Jianxin, and Su Keji.

    After delegating his responsibilities to Tang Zhen, Su Chen looked at the sky and saw that it was not early anymore. Thus, he set out to return to the Su residence.

    Zhou Hong had already prepared the carriage and was waiting.

    Upon mounting the carriage, Su Chen said, ¡°Head for the main road. I want to go sightseeing there.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Young Master.¡± Zhou Hong drove the carriage steadily forward.

    The horse carriage¡¯s speed was not fast. Su Chen sat on the carriage, watching the scenery go by around him. Memories surfaced in his mind of Su Cheng¡¯an taking him here to y when he was younger.

    ¡°Dad, I want that candied fruit stick...... No, it¡¯s not for myself to eat, it¡¯s because that old man looks so pitiful and I want to give it to him to eat...... Why can¡¯t I give the beggar a candied fruit stick to eat?......

    ¡°I want to ride a horse...... Okay, Dad can be my horse...... In the future I want to ride a Demonic Beast and be a great general who protects the entire human race......¡±

    ¡°Rest assured, father, your son will definitely increase his efforts and defeat Brother Qian and all the others. Your son will be the honor of your life...... Father, if your son is no longer the best, will you still love your son?......¡±

    The naive words which he had spoken when he was young echoed in his ear.

    As the carriage continued to clop forwards, Su Chen felt more and more nostalgic and mncholic.

    Su Chen let out a gentle sigh, then lowered the carriage¡¯s screen.

    He knew that the affection between him and his father that was lost would perhaps never return.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 31: Negotiations 1

    Chapter 31: Negotiations(1)

    Su Chen returned to the Su Residence and directly headed back to the Dustsift Courtyard. When he arrived at the entrance, Jianxin walked towards him and said, ¡°Young Master, really! You went out without me and left me at the courtyard. I don¡¯t know whether or not I am your personal servant or your Dustsift Courtyard¡¯s broomboy.¡±

    Su Chen responded with a smile, ¡°I was making myst trip to the True Jade Pavilion. What would be the point of bringing you along? As for you, you aren¡¯t my broomboy, you¡¯re my official head steward.¡±

    Jianxin chucked, ¡°Many thanks for Young Master¡¯s generous words. Today, Young Master showed off his divine might and can now be considered to be notorious, even bringing my Dustsift Courtyard to the forefront once more. Today when the Jing Brothers saw me, they were quite courteous.¡±

    ¡°Ah, so that¡¯s why your words were so cheerful.¡± Su Chen smiled and walked further inside.

    Jianxin closely followed behind him, ¡°However, it is quite strange. How did Young Master know that guy Su Yue had messed with your carriage?¡±

    Su Chen stopped walking and spoke with a profound tone, ¡°Hm? nning on feeling around for your Young Master¡¯s secrets?¡±

    Jianxin touched the back of his head with a silly smile, ¡°I was only curious.¡±

    ¡°Alright, then I¡¯ll tell you. I naturally couldn¡¯t see Su Yue mess with my carriage. However, there were others who saw and secretly warned me, and thus, I found out.¡±

    ¡°Someone had warned you? Was it Mingshu?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°At the time, Mingshu had gone to call for Zhou Hong. He wasn¡¯t there when Su Yue sabotaged my my carriage, so he couldn¡¯t have warned me. I¡¯ll tell you the truth ¨C it was one of Su Yue¡¯s men.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Jianxin waspletely shocked.

    Among Su Ye¡¯s men, who would act on Su Chen¡¯s behalf?

    As if Su Chen became aware he had revealed a secret, he continued, whispering, ¡°That¡¯s all you need to know this. Don¡¯t ask any more questions.¡±

    ¡°I understand, Young Master.¡± Although he felt unresigned, Jianxin couldn¡¯t do anything about it. He could only say, ¡°Does Young Master have any instructions?¡±

    At this moment, Su Chen said, ¡°There are no further orders. I will be taking my leave first. I wish to rest by myself for a moment.¡±

    Su Chen waved his hand to dismiss Jianxin and had already entered his room.

    Just as he entered the room, Su Chen suddenly stopped.

    A momentter, he turned his head and shouted, ¡°Jianxin!¡±

    ¡°Young Master, what¡¯s the matter?¡± Jianxin turned his gaze.

    ¡°Go and draw some hot water for me. And make sure to use the second style basin as well.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Jianxin gave Su Chen a baffled nce but he still agreed.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t enter his room and waited outside instead.

    A short momentter, Jianxin was carrying a basin full of water. As the basin was made of ancient copper, it held quite a bit of weight and was hard for Jianxin to carry alone.

    When the copper basin was ced on the stand, Su Chen didn¡¯t have Jianxin wait on him and sent him to look after his mother. Then he entered the room by himself.

    First, he opened the window halfway before fumbling around with the basin of water. After grabbing the copper basin, he allowed the steam to warm his face before speaking in a rxed manner, ¡°If you aren¡¯t going to make a move now, let¡¯s have a chat.¡±

    There was no response.

    Su Chen smiled. He carried the copper basin in his hands and turned his body. Great amounts of steam from the rising from the basin¡¯s hot water enveloped Su Chen in ayer of dense mist. He was holding onto the copper basic as if were a shield and tilted it forward as if he were about to throw the water.

    Although it was a simple stance, his defensive position was at its peak.

    Su Chen continued speaking, ¡°You must be quite the expert since you¡¯re capable of entering the Su n without detection. However, you haven¡¯t taken action the entire time that I¡¯ve been here. I am certain that you haven¡¯t taken action yet because it was likely that I would¡¯ve put up a final struggle and alerted the Su n. As a result, you wished to find an opportunity to finish me a single move, is that correct? Unfortunately, I¡¯ve already prepared myself, and such an opportunity will not be given to you. Stop concealing yourself. Let¡¯s talk, the friend beside the bed.¡±

    That final sentencepletely shattered the mental fortitude of the person who had hidden themselves.

    A hoarse voice spoke, ¡°I believed my concealment skills to be quite capable. How did you discover me?¡±

    Soon after, a ck clothed man emerged from the shadow of Su Chen¡¯s ivory bed.

    When this man had previously concealed himself, nobody had been able to discover him. It was as if he had naturally merged with the shadow to the point where body and shadow became indistinguishable.

    However, this dark concealment obviously had ws. If someone were prepared and able to perceive them, then they couldn¡¯t possible maintain their deception, especially if they were doused with a basinful of hot water.

    Su Chen smiled, ¡°A blind person can see whether or not there is someone in a room without the use of his eyes.¡±

    That was true. Su Chen discovered this person with his ears.

    Just as he was about to enter the room, Su Chen felt that there was someone inside. Although this person had held his breath, so long as his cultivation hadn¡¯t reached the Yang Opening Realm, he was unable to still his own heartbeat. As the present location was rtively quiet and their distance was near, Su Chen was able to hear him.

    Since he could clearly hear someone there but could not see him, Su Chen immediately knew that this person did not hold good intentions.

    After thinking of his unfortunate experience from a few days ago, Su Chen immediately guessed who this unwee guest could be.

    His courage was quite great. He clearly knew that Elder Sang had sent someone to kill him, yet he hadn¡¯t run away. Instead, he chose prepare to confront his enemy while feigning ignorance.

    The assassin, who was pressured to reveal himself, snorted, ¡°It¡¯s no wonder why you were able to kill Lin Xie. It turns out that you do have a bit of skill. What do you want to talk about?¡±

    When he heard this, Su Chen¡¯s smile became increasingly unrestrained.

    He had guessed correctly. This person was Elder Sang¡¯s man, just as he had expected. He had sent someone to kill him for the events that urred yesterday. This Elder Sang¡¯s actions could be considered both decisive and vicious.

    It was quite unfortunate for him that after just a single night, Su Chen had already made his preparations.

    ¡°What I want to talk about is very simple. You must¡¯ve sat by my bed for a long while, but have you looked underneath the pillow yet?¡± Su Chen spoke with a smile.

    The ck clothed man picked up the pillow with a nk stare.

    He was particrly careful when he lifted the pillow for fear of triggering a trap. But there weren¡¯t any triggers. A single sealed lettery peacefully there.

    ¡°Open it up and take a look,¡± Su Chen said.

    The ck clothed man tore open the letter. Although the ck clothed man¡¯s face was concealed, Su Chen was convinced that his expression was extremely unsightly.

    This was because the letter contained a detailed record of what had happened yesterday in the forest..

    The entire matter was recorded within.

    ¡°Hmph!¡± After he finished reading it, the ck clothed man crumpled the letter and set it aze, turning it into ash in an instant.

    How fearsome!

    Su Chen thought, ¡°This person definitely Origin Qi Schr. Although he doesn¡¯t appear strong, he is definitely an Origin Qi Schr at Qi Drawing Realm or higher.¡±

    Was it the Blood Boiling Realm or the Yang Opening Realm?

    It wasn¡¯t very likely for him to be in the Yang Opening Realm. The Su n¡¯s esteemed grandfather was also at Yang Opening Realm. Someone of that rank couldn¡¯t have been sent to assassinate a n¡¯s minor young master.

    At most, he would be at the Blood Boiling Realm, but it was more likely that he was only at the Qi Drawing Realm.

    Su Chen quickly made this estimation in his mind.

    The ck clothed man didn¡¯t know that Su Chen was estimating his strength. He merely said, ¡°Don¡¯t think that you can use such a method to trick me. That letter was likely yourst resort. If I kill you, then this matter will be buried.¡±

    Su Chen then spoke with a sympathetic tone, ¡°Are you an idiot? You never stopped to ask yourself how a blind person could write a letter?¡±

    The ck clothed man was stunned.

    Su Chen fiercely struck out with another blow, ¡°You are quite diligent in destroying the evidence. Unfortunately... your chance at tracking down that handwriting is now gone.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 32: Negotiations 2

    Chapter 32: Negotiations(2)

    ¡°If I die, Elder Sang¡¯s conspiracy will be divulged.¡±

    Su Chen struck at the heart of the matter.

    The ck-clothed man snorted but didn¡¯t reply further.

    How could he respond? From the letter and his actions, Su Chen had already anticipated this situation, and was in control.

    Currently, the ck-clothed man could only be thankful that he had been discovered by the cautious Su Chen. Otherwise, his death would bring their ns to light, making things much more difficult.

    With that thought, the ck-clothed man said, ¡°If you guarantee that yesterday¡¯s matters aren¡¯t leaked, I will spare you.¡±

    Su Chen wore a derisive expression, ¡°You really are a fool.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± The ck-clothed man grew furious.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°Do you really believe that I made all these preparations just so that you wouldn¡¯t kill me? If that were the case, I would¡¯ve leaked this information from the start. With this information leaked, killing me would serve no further purpose.¡±

    The ck-clothed man grew shocked. However, he replied, ¡°Then there would be absolute enmity between us.¡±

    Su Chen sneered, ¡°You¡¯re speaking as if it that wasn¡¯t the case now.¡±

    The ck-clothed man became mute.

    That¡¯s right, what difference was there whether Su Chen had offended them or not?

    In any case, he had been sent there to kill Su Chen. Why wouldn¡¯t Su Chen want to gain the initiative?

    The ck-clothed man¡¯s words grew hollow as he finally became aware he was facing no ordinary youth. This youth was a person who had clear n in mind. He put away his contempt and spoke with a stern tone, ¡°What do you want?¡±

    Su Chen finally put down the copper basin.

    He took out a piece of paper and handed it over, ¡°I want everything on this list.¡±

    The ck-clothed man nced at it, ¡°A bottle of Terror Snake venom, a log of ironwood, and four grade nine Origin Tools: one for long-distancebat, one for close quarters, one piece of armor, and one pair of battle boots.... This is extortion!¡±

    The ck-clothed man¡¯s entire body trembled in anger.

    What was an Origin Tool?

    It was a weapon capable of using Origin power!

    Since life began on the Primordial Continent, it has always existed in tandem with Origin Energy, exploiting and manipting it. This has been true throughout all of history, from the first Origin races and Origin Beasts, to theter Arcana Empire, and even now amongst the mixed races. Besides cultivating and knowledge, Origin Tools were the greatest method of manifesting Origin Energy to preserve one¡¯s life.

    An outstanding Origin Tool was able to enormously increase a user¡¯s strength, and wouldmand an extremely high price no matter the market. Even the Su n only possessed three Origin Tools: two grade nine Origin Tools and one grade eight Origin Tool.

    Grade nine Origin Tools were the weakest while grade one Origin Tools were the strongest. Above grade one Origin Tools were the legendary Divine Armaments, which are best exinedter.

    For Su Chen to say that he wanted four Origin Tools was more than just overstepping his boundaries. Just asking for this much was already being avaricious, not to mention the bottle of Terror Snake venom and log of ironwood.

    The venom of the demonic beast Terror Snake was extremely precious because of its ability to induce hallucinations. The standard crystal bottle that Su Chen requested would either take a single Terror Snake half a year to fill or the death of several tens of Terror Snakes, as each snake only held a limited of venom in their sac at a time. As for the tough, durable ironwood, it grew extremely slowly and thus was worthless unless it aged a thousand years. As a result, an entire log of ironwood had to have grown for well over a thousand years. Such type of materials were extremely rare toe by, as one could imagine.

    These two scarce, treasured items were even more valuable than Origin Tools in certain aspects. At the very least, Origin Tools could be found. Thousand year ironwood and Terror Snake Venom were extremely difficult to find.

    It was no wonder why the ck-clothed man was so furious. He spoke with a cold smile, ¡°Such arge appetite, are you not afraid of overreaching yourself?¡±

    ¡°If you allow me to, then I most certainly will.¡± Su Chen bluntly replied, ¡°Return to the people who sent you here and tell them that these are my conditions. So long as you deliver these items to me, I will forget everything that I previously heard.¡±

    The ck-clothed man immediately shook his head, ¡°Youngster, your appetite is truly too great. I don¡¯t need to return and report this, since Elder Sang will not agree.

    Su Chen then contemted for a moment before saying, ¡°Then let¡¯s reduce it by one Origin Tool.¡±

    The ck-clothed man spoke with irritation, ¡°It isn¡¯t about the Origin Tools. Terror Snake Venom and Ironwood are truly rare. There is no way we are willing to pay sorge a price as a bottle of Terror Snake venom along with a log of Ironwood.¡±

    Su Chen was shocked at what the words of the ck-clothed man unintentionally revealed. He immediately realized that using four grade nine Origin Tools as payment didn¡¯t pose much of a problem to them. And it wasn¡¯t that they were unable to acquire a bottle of Terror Snake Venom and a log of Ironwood, just that the price was not worth it.

    Under ordinary circumstances, an organization¡¯s strength was directionally proportion to their economic might.

    As a result of those words, Su Chen realized that this organization¡¯s might was by no means small.

    Now knowing that he was facing such arge organization, Su Chen understood how he should approach the situation.

    He then spoke with an amiable tone, ¡°In truth, I must go to the Scarlet Mountain Range in a few days.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± The ck-clothed man was shocked.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°The reason why I requested those items is because of this trip to the Scarlet Mountain Range. If I were to die... the information will be divulged and your ns revealed. The person whom I entrusted to do this, will not care about the reason by which I died. Even if I were killed by a savage beast, news of your esteemed organization¡¯s ns will be made known. That truly would be a shame.¡±

    ¡°Must you go?¡±

    ¡°I have no choice.¡± Su Chen held his hands wide open. ¡°I¡¯ve recently made the mistake ofmitting a crime and I was punished by my n.¡±

    He then spoke of the event that urred during the day.

    Of course, Su Chen didn¡¯t mention that he had requested the Scarlet Punishment of his own ord. Neither did he mention that he dared to go into the Scarlet Mountain Range partially because he was confident he could use it as a method of exploiting the organization behind Elder Sang.He only stated that he was being suppressed by his own n and that he had no choice but to leave.

    After hearing this, the ck-clothed man was obviously left speechless. He didn¡¯t think that Su Chen was so troubled by even his own n.

    Originally, such matters had nothing to do with him. But as it turned out the matters that affected this fellow also affected his organization.

    Damnit, this extortion was out of their control!

    The ck-clothed man silently cursed to himself.

    ckmail traps had always been something his organization excelled at. He hadn¡¯t expected that a fifteen year old youth would be able to use such tactics to force their hand as well.

    However, there was nothing he could do about it now. After thinking for a moment, he could only say, ¡°I must first return and report to my superiors beforeing to a decision.¡±

    ¡°There is no problem with that, but you had best be quick.¡±

    ¡°I wille see you tomorrow at this time.¡± After he said this, he blended into the shadows once more and disappeared without a trace.

    Su Chen was nkly staring into the air as if he were unaware. After a long while, he let out a long sigh, ¡°It¡¯s finally over.¡±

    This was his first time scheming against an opponent of far greater strength than himself. If he had made the slightest error, his head may have be separated from his body. As such, Su Chen¡¯s heart was nervously thumping just a moment ago. Thought he hadn¡¯t felt it during the confrontation, he legs felt weak now that the man had left.

    However, this fear only lingered for an instance in Su Chen¡¯s heart.

    With eyes brimming with unwavering determination, he said, ¡°If you desire to aplish great things, you must brave great danger. Regardless of the oue, I will not regret anything!¡±

    If he couldn¡¯t rely on his own n, he would rely on this mysterious organization to reap his harvest from the Scarlet Mountain range.

    The ck-clothed man couldn¡¯t have known that from the very start, Su Chen was waiting for them with a scheme in mind.

    Now, all he could do was wait for their reply.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 33: An Impossible Reques

    Chapter 33: An Impossible Request

    That second night, the ck-clothed man appeared once again in Su Chen¡¯s room.

    Su Chen had already been waiting in the room for quite some time. Upon seeing the man arrive, Su Chen pointed at the tea tray behind him and said, ¡°Come drink a cup. I heated it a while ago for you. It¡¯s a very high quality Purple Cloud Tea.¡±

    Hearing that, the ck-clothed man was not polite. He walked towards the tea before raising the cup and draining it in one gulp.

    Seeing him behave in this manner, Su Chen felt much more rxed. He knew that more likely than not there was a way forwards.

    Indeed, after the ck-clothed man drank the tea, he said, ¡°The conditions that you raised were too excessive, and the higher ups did not agree. However, they had some ideas of their own about your expedition to the Scarlet Mountain Range. If you are willing to cooperate, perhaps we can help you a little.

    ¡°What did they say?¡±

    The ck-clothed man poured himself another cup of tea and drank it before saying, ¡°The organization wouldn¡¯t agree to just give you Origin Tools for free. However, after considering the danger of the Scarlet Mountain Range, they were willing to temporarily lend them to you. After you return, you are to them back.¡±

    ¡°Fine.. But if it¡¯s just this, aren¡¯t you guys paying too little of a price?¡±

    The ck-clothed person harrumphed, ¡°Brat, don¡¯t be too greedy. Do you think that there is no risk to lending you these Origin Tools? If you die in the mountain range, how could we recover anything?¡±

    ¡°Then why not be a little more generous and give me some things that can increase my odds of survival? In any case, your organization is veryrge. There must be odds and ends that are lying around unused. To toss them away would be a waste. So,why not give them to me? Perhaps I could make use of them.¡±

    The ck-clothed man paused for a moment before saying, ¡°You actually got it right.¡±

    As he spoke, he tossed over a bag.

    Upon opening the bag, Su Chen found a battle armor, a battle de, a ck pipe, a pair of battle boots, arge number of medicine vials, a couple of ck pearls as well as pouch of low-grade Origin Stones.

    ¡°Inside the vials is a healing medicine. As long as it¡¯s not a life-threatening wound, you will recover when you drink it. However, these bottles are failed products. Although you will recover after drinking them, there are a few negative side effects. As for what the side effects are, each bottle is different so it¡¯s hard to say. Perhaps you will have diarrhea, perhaps you will be weakened for a few days, but you definitely won¡¯t die...... Even failed products should be respected.¡±

    ¡°The ck pearls are called Cracked Soul Magic Pearls and they can be crushed to release a soul attack, which will directly attack the other party¡¯s soul and consciousness. However, these are also a kind of failed product. Although it can be used to attack one¡¯s soul, the user will also experience simr harm...... it doesn¡¯t differentiate between friend or foe within its range¡±

    ¡°The Amethyst Battle Armor is a unique armor forged from amethysts. Upon activation, it can form an Origin Energy barrier. Even if the Origin Energy barrier is broken, it¡¯s inherently strong material can be used for protection. However, this Amethyst Battle Armor is also a defective product. Its frontal area has been damaged, so the protection it offers is iplete. It can only protect one against attacks from behind, not the front.¡±

    ¡°The ming Hunter Blunderbuss is a fantastically crazy defective product. Originally, it was made to convert Origin Energy into kic energy- motion. It can fire at most eight profound bullets in rapid session and is a specially modified crossbow. However, upon manufacturing it, we discovered that it is simply too loud, its recoil is frightening, and most importantly its range is very limited. Its uracy cannot be trusted past a distance of a hundred feet. It was built as a long-range weapon, yet it can only be used for close quartersbat. It¡¯s probably the crappiest Origin Tool.¡±

    ¡°The Cloud Stepping Battle Bootse with a built-in Origin Skill. Upon activation, it will raise your speed and allow you to fly freely. This thing is actually not defective, nor is it damaged. It¡¯s just too old and can¡¯t withstand constant use. Likely, it will break before long.¡±

    ¡°The battle de is called the ck Streak Battle de. The de is inscribed with a Cloud Ink pattern using beast blood. The Cloud Ink pattern records a powerful Origin Battle Skill, Blood ughter. Upon activation, its power is extremely great, and it is the only eighth-rank Origin Tool here. However, this de was damaged during battle. Although it can still be used, every time it¡¯s activated it will absorb the user¡¯s physical energy, making it unsuitable for long, drawn-out battles.¡±

    ¡°Does your organization view me as a trash disposal? Dumping all the trash you cannot use to where I am?¡± Su Chenughed dryly, ¡°You sent so many things but not a single one of them is actually good?¡±

    ¡°There are. Origin Stones,¡± the ck-clothed man replied.

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°.......¡±

    The strength of Origin Tools could only really be brought out by Origin Qi Schrs. Since Su Chen¡¯s cultivation base had not reached that point, it was hard for him to use them, and so he could only use Origin Stones as a substitute source of energy to power these Tools.

    Origin Stones contained Origin Energy and could be used to control and use various kinds of Origin Energy Tools, and could also be used to replenish one¡¯s own Origin Energy. However, because the Origin Energy in Origin Stones contained impurities, they could only be used to recover, not cultivate.

    Origin Stones were not exactly naturally urring. Rather, they were created by infusing one¡¯s own Origin Energy into special kind of stone. Their original purpose was to serve as a stockpile of Origin Energy.

    Thus, Origin Stones were things that every Origin Qi schr could produce.

    A low-grade Origin Stone took roughly an entire day¡¯s time for a Qi Drawing Realm Origin Qi Schr toplete. Thus, the value ced on a beginner Origin Qi Schr¡¯sbor was determined by this. When considering the extensive use of Origin Stones to the point that they had slowly be a form of exchangeable currency for Origin Qi Schrs, low grade Origin Stones were the most basic unit of currency.

    The Origin Stones in the pouch numbered one hundred. If he wasn¡¯t too extravagant in spending them, it would be enough to use. These stones could be considered the most valuable thing that the organization had given him.

    Although these were all wed or defective items, Su Chen was satisfied. After all, Origin Tools were not easily found. If these products weren¡¯t defective, it was likely the other party would not be so willing to lend them to him.

    That night, just as Su Chen was in his room, preparing for his expedition tomorrow, he suddenly felt the back of his hand heat up. An imprint of a small red snake began to glow on the back of Su Chen¡¯s hand.

    This was the Smoke Snake Imprint Gu Qingluo had especially left for Su Chen. It was not particrly useful, but those with the same imprint could sense each other within a certain radius.

    Upon seeing the imprint light up, Su Chen knew that Gu Qingluo had arrived.

    Su Chen opened the door to the house and headed towards the back of the mountain.

    Upon arriving at the cave, where the spring gurgled, he saw Gu Qingluo sitting there rubbing her chin out of boredom. It was unknown what she was thinking about.

    Upon seeing Su Chen arrive, Gu Qingluo excitedly jumped up to greet him. ¡°You¡¯re finally here?¡±

    ¡°Looking for me at this hour, is there something going on?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Gu Qingluo wore a mysterious expression as she leaned closer to Su Chen. ¡°I finally found out who Yue Wuti is.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Su Chen was interested. ¡°Who is he?¡±

    Gu Qingluo turned around, sping her hands behind her back in a haughty manner and walking a few steps. ¡°So if you ask me I¡¯m just supposed to answer? This maiden spent a lot of effort to find this information, yet you don¡¯t even say a word of thanks.¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°Miss Gu possesses remarkable abilities. How could this little matter count for anything? To you, it¡¯s like stretching your hand out and grabbing it.¡±

    His ttery was very effective. Gu Qingluo¡¯s smile blossomed when she heard this. She turned around and said to Su Chen, ¡°Seems like you know how to speak.¡±

    She bounced over to Su Chen, then leaned in near his ear and said, ¡°I found out that this Yue Wuti is actually the headmander of the Secret Task Force in Coiling Length City.¡±

    Headmander of the Secret Task Force in Coiling Length City?

    Su Chen was shocked.

    Coiling Length City was the capital of Long Sang Country, and the Secret Task Force was a group that wielded considerable might and influence in Long Sang Country. They were responsible for reconnaissance, assassinations, monitoring, and ensuring the country¡¯s safety, which were all very important tasks, and so they had tremendous influence. The Secret Task Force¡¯s headmander had even more of an elevated status, and his influence was even greater. He could be considered a major figure of the country.

    Who knew that Yue Wuti¡¯s status was so high, and this mysterious organization even dared to kill Yue Wuti! Regardless of strength or courage, they had greatly surpassed Su Chen¡¯s expectations.

    To cooperate with such an organization, wasn¡¯t it basically an impossible request for someone at his level?

    Unfortunately, at this moment Su Chen no longer had any way of retreating.

    Perhaps it would be more urate to say that from the moment he overheard their scheme he had no other choice. His options were limited to being killed by the other party or striving to protect himself, and maybe even turning the tables and using the other party for his own gains.

    Gu Qingluo was saying, ¡°This group of people actually even dare to assassinate the headmander of the Secret Task Force. They certainly have a lot of guts.¡±

    ¡°They do have a lot of guts, but since they dare to have this idea, they most likely have a number of tactics prepared. Qingluo, after you return you should probably prepare a secret letter to warn this Yue superior.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need. As the headmander of the Secret Task Force, who knows how many people want to kill him every year? But if it were so easy to kill him, he would have died a long time ago. Writing Yue Wuti a letter wouldn¡¯t cause him to increase his defenses. Rather, this would only invite trouble,¡± Gu Qingluo shook her head as she said, ¡°Who knows whether a group of the Secret Task Force woulde for you, asking you where you got this information from, and whether you had any ties to the assassins? And if the matter became too high-profile and reached the ears of that organization, it would put you in danger.¡±

    Gu Qingluo came from arge n, and she was very clear about how people of high status did things. She knew that the other party would not believe you just because you wrote them a letter. Writing the letter would only bring oneself difficulty.

    Su Chen responded as if he had awoken from a dream. ¡°That was my carelessness. It makes no difference to Yue Wuti whether or not I warn him.¡±

    ¡°However......¡± Su Chen suddenly thought of something and said, ¡°Since it¡¯s like that, why is that organization behaving so carefully? They even epted my ckmail?¡±

    Gu Qingluo also knew about Su Chen¡¯s n. At the moment, she was also stunned upon hearing this.

    The two of them simultaneously fell into deep thought.

    After a moment, Su Chen said, ¡°Could it be that what they care about is not whether or not Yue Wuti has defenses in ce, but rather......¡±

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s eyes faintly lit up: ¡°Rather that whatever Spirit Burying Terrace?¡±

    The assassination was not their goal. It was the Spirit Burying Terrace.

    ¡°What exactly is that ce?¡± The two of them spoke out at the same time.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 34: Farewell

    Chapter 34: Farewell

    The day of the beginning of his Scarlet Punishment had arrived.

    On this day, all the members of the Su n had gathered together outside of Northface City.

    They were there both to send Su Chen off, and ensure he actually went to the Scarlet Mountain Range.

    Su chen carried a sack filled withrge amounts of food and weapons that his mother and Su Feihu had given him. This included a steel battle knife, a wyrmhide chestte, and a crossbow. Although they weren¡¯t Origin Tools, still extremely good quality equipment.

    ¡°Father, Chen¡¯er is blind! Can you really bear letting him go to the Scarlet Mountain Range like this? You¡¯re sending him to his death!¡±

    Tang Hongrui hadn¡¯t given up. She was still trying to convince Su Changche to stop Su Chen.

    The elder let out a pensive sigh, ¡°It¡¯s not that I want him to die. He was the one who made this choice.¡±

    ¡°But you can stop him!¡±

    Su Kejiughed, ¡°Sister-inw, that¡¯s not correct. The human race has been able to establish a foothold for themselves whilst surrounded by a myriad of other hostile races only by relying on the unyielding bravery of our warriors. Even in times of great difficulty, our soldiers won¡¯t retreat. Su Chen has always been focused on the Dao of martial arts. To pursue that Dao, he is not afraid of taking risks, which is inline with his attitude. How could we stop him? Even more, although Su Chen is blind, he was still able to severely injure both Su Yue and Mo Dayan, indicating that he¡¯s not much worse off than a regr person. That year, didn¡¯t my son also lose to him in the battle arena? Clearly, Su Chen has real ability. It¡¯s not impossible for him to return alive from the Scarlet Mountain Range.¡±

    When he said thest few sentences, he could not conceal the mockingughter in his heart. His words wereced with a thick cynicism.

    ¡°Su Keji!¡± Tang Hongrui squeezed a few words through her teeth, ¡°These years, it has always been you who forced my son to endure. If it weren¡¯t for you, my son wouldn¡¯t have to take this route. I, Tang Hongrui, am not finished with you!¡±

    As she said this, she tried to leap at him, but thankfully there were other people who forcefully held her back.

    Even so, Su Keji had still been frightened by Tang Hongrui¡¯s ferocity. He hurriedly retreated a few steps, replying, ¡°Saying such things, my goodness. What does any of this have to do with me?¡±

    His expression was one of being wronged.

    Watching these things happen from afar, Su Chen grabbed Su Feihu¡¯s hand, who was seeing him off. ¡°Third uncle, once I leave I¡¯m not worried about anything except my mother. I won¡¯t be at her side, so I can only trouble you to help me watch over her and make sure she doesn¡¯t do anything silly.¡±

    ¡°Rx,¡± Su Feihu responded, ¡°But you must be careful. You¡¯re unable to see, so you can only depend on your sense of touch to help you travel. Don¡¯t eat things that you shouldn¡¯t be eating. The sack has more than enough rations for you; although it¡¯s slightly heavy to carry, it¡¯s still better than recklessly eating.¡±

    ¡°No worries,¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°I¡¯ll have more than enough food once I kill a Vicious Beast.¡±

    ¡°My goodness, I am precisely worried that you will try and kill some Vicious Beast. You¡¯re better off just obediently trying to survive in that ce until the time limit is up. At most, you¡¯ll have to endure some suffering, but that¡¯s still better than dying!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be frugal,¡± Su Chen replied as he turned around and began walking towards the mountain range.

    His speed was not fast, but his pace was very steady. One step at a time, he finally disappeared into the forest.

    Upon seeing her son disappear into that frightening area, knowing that his survival was unpredictable and unlikely, Tang Hongrui¡¯s legs went weak as she fell onto the ground.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    The Scarlet Mountain Range was thousands of kilometers long, and the vast forest covering it appeared to be boundless in size.

    As Su Chen progressed further and further into the mountain range, his path was surrounded by countless peaks, bothrge and small. The terrain wasplex and the footing was craggy, making traveling very dangerous.

    After walking for about a day, Su Chen arrived at the peak of a small hill.

    Standing on the hilltop, Su Chen gazed out in the distance. A green sea stretched out as far as he could see; apart from treetops, he could not see any sign of humans or beasts.

    The hill was not very tall, only about two hundred feet or so above where the cityy. There were three cliffs, one each on the east, west, and north that were impossible to climb. The only ess this peak was from the south. A small river meandered past the hill.

    ¡°This ce should be good. I¡¯ll be living here for the next hundred days.¡± Su Chen was very satisfied with the location¡¯syout.

    Next, Su Chen let down his heavy sack. He then retrieved a from it. He installed the on the side of one of the cliffs. That way, the rope could be a life-saving tool if Su Chen was forced to jump off the cliff.

    Then, Su Chen pulled out a small vial from his sack, scattering a small amount on the ground. This was the Beast Drawing Medicine that Yan Wushuang had tried to give him. As long as the usage amount was carefully controlled, it was actually a quite effective bait. In fact, that was the intended purpose of the medicine.

    After that, all Su Chen could do was wait for the Vicious Beasts to arrive.

    Rather than heading deeper into the mountain range, Su Chen chose to wait. He decided to create an opportunity rather than take the initiative as his hunting method of choice. Thus, he just sat there, waiting for his prey toe to him.

    The greatest benefit to this method was that it was safe. He could take advantage of the surrounding geography and decrease hisbor. Once the Vicious Beasts arrived, Su Chen could use the higher ground to discover these beasts first and determine whether or not he could fight them. If his opponent was too strong, Su Chen could use the rope to quickly escape.

    This was one of the battle strategies that Su Chen and Tang Zhen had discussed in those three days.

    After all, Su Chen was still only in the Body Tempering Realm, and even the worst Vicious Beast was still simr to an Origin Qi Schr of the Qi Drawing Realm. Even with four Origin Tools, Su Chen still had to be careful. If he were to run into a pack of Vicious Beasts, then the one to die would be him.

    Thus, although using this method of hunting was somewhat silly, it was also definitely the safest.

    Of course, it was all thanks to Yan Wushuang¡¯s Beast Drawing Medicine that Su Chen could use this kind of tactic. In the end, Yan Wushuang had been unable to harm Su Chen, and she had actually helped him significantly.

    After waiting for about an hour, the first beast finally appeared.

    A Sawtooth Tiger.

    This was only a Wild Beast, not a Vicious Beast.

    Even so, its body was veryrge and it weighed nearly a ton. Not just anyone could easily defend themselves against it.

    Facing thisrge opponent, Su Chen didn¡¯t bother using his Origin Tools. He instead chose to use his bare fists to have a showdown with it.

    As someone in the ninthyer of Body Tempering, Su Chen¡¯s strength was in no way inferior to the Sawtooth Tiger. The Su n¡¯s ming Tiger Fists was an extremely vicious and powerful technique. Thus, the explosive strengths of the two were roughly equal. There was not much maneuvering around in their fight. Instead, they just traded blows using brute force to see who would give in first.

    In the end, Su Chen used his powerful physique to beat that Sawtooth Tiger to death. He had also been scratched quite a few times by the tiger.

    Su Chen, however, did not seem to care. He used the steel de to divide the tiger¡¯s body into portions, then set up a pit roast and began to cook the meat.

    The tiger meat was a very good supplement. Eating it was beneficial for recovering one¡¯s energy.

    Beasts ate people, and people likewise ate beasts. In reality, humans and beasts were connected by amon energy resource.

    The reason why he chose the Scarlet Punishment was not just to temper himself with countless battles. More importantly, there was an abundance of beast-rted natural resources. Even the lowest-tier Wild Beasts had meat that could greatly supplement one¡¯s strength.

    That night, after Su Chen had eaten a full meal of tiger meat, he wrapped himself in the tiger skin and spent his first night in the Scarlet Mountain Range.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 35: Mirage Lynx

    Chapter 35: Mirage Lynx

    Su Chen waited at the peak of the mountain for three days.

    However, only Wild Beasts came in those three days. Not a single Vicious Beast appeared.

    This made Su Chen wonder if the location that he had selected was too out of the way. Should he continue to head deeper?

    But the deeper he went, the more dangerous it would be. There were many more Vicious Beasts within, but the danger was also greater. If he messed up, he could attract three to five Vicious Beasts all at once, and his life would be difficult to keep.

    Sess always favored those with diligence. Thus, it was best just to diligently wait.

    This waitsted for four more days.

    The seventh evening.

    Deep into the night, the wind was very cold.

    Su Chen was sweetly sleeping at the peak of the mountain.

    A lynxnded agilely on the cliff.

    It prowled elegantly on the mountain, drawing ever close to the human, who was fast asleep. Its vividly green eyes stared at its target, exuding an unspeakable, sinister creepiness.

    As it arrived behind its target, it lifted its front paw. Three sharp ws gleamed in the moonlight.

    A barrier suddenly rose behind Su Chen and blocked the attack just as the ws were about to pierce through the back of his head. Su Chen hastily flipped around and the edge of a de shed through the night.

    The lynx jumped up with a shriek, leaving behind multiple afterimages as it swiftly retreated with shocking speed. As the light from the de brushed past its body, a vibrant, crimson ssh appeared.

    ¡°Oowo!!¡± The lynx howled. It turned its body in the air andnded on the ground.

    There was a shallow cut on its chest.

    The strike had only nicked its skin.

    ¡°A Mirage Lynx?¡± Su Chen¡¯s heart sank when he got a clearer glimpse of his attacker.

    A Vicious Beast!

    One had finally appeared.

    Although he¡¯d been looking forward to fighting a Vicious Beast, Su Chen was still inevitably nervous now that one had actually appeared.

    The Mirage Lynx had mediocre close quarterbat skills, but it was terrifyingly fast and was a Vicious Beast that was very difficult to evade.

    When the lynx saw that its ambush had failed and it had been the one injured instead, it was incensed.

    It leered toothily at Su Chen and abruptly pounced towards Su Chen, flying through the air

    Su Chen had long since anticipated this as he dashed away to the side, evading the lynx¡¯s pounce. Mid-dash, the de in his right hand cleaved downwards, but the lynx was so agile that it could actually switch directions in midair. It dodged Su Chen¡¯s blow with a twist and pped a paw onto the steel de, diverting its motion off to the side.

    The greatest difference between Vicious and Wild Beasts was that the former could use Origin Energy to strengthen themselves.

    In terms of physical strength, the Mirage Lynx was one of the weakest Vicious Beasts. However, it was still unwise to underestimate it. Its ws were enough to contend against a steel de and it moved so quickly that it made one¡¯s hair stand on end. The Mirage Lynx obviously possessed a speed-rted Origin Skill. It could create multiple afterimages of itself as it glided through the air, making it difficult to determine which was the true form. No wonder it was called the Mirage Lynx.

    The lynx made use of the leverage that it had gained when pping the steel de away to dart through the air again. It elongated its body, making it difficult to guess where the true body was.

    It appeared behind Su Chen in an instant and prepared to strike him from behind.

    This strike was both swift and fierce. Su Chen had no time to dodge at all. Right before the ws mmed into Su Chen, the barrier suddenly appeared once again behind him, shining with a splendid radiance. The Mirage Lynx¡¯ strike mmed into the shield, resulting in psychedelic shimmers of light. Su Chen attempted to sh downwards with a backswing, but the lynx was prepared this time and was already into motion. The de only struck an afterimage. Not a hair on the lynx was touched.

    However, this narrow brush with injury provoked the lynx¡¯s ferocious nature and enraged it.

    It shrieked loudly and jumped up again as soon as itnded, its movements a bit faster than before.

    When Su Chen saw this, he hastily used the Snaking Mist Steps to evade his opponent.

    The Snaking Mist Steps was a technique of the Gu n, and Su Chen had practiced it to the peak of not possessing a bloodline. However, it was still noticeablycking whenpared with the lynx¡¯s speed. He was unable to dodge in time and the lynx¡¯s w connected with his left arm, the sharp ws leaving behind three deep, bloody gauges. It jumped away before Su Chen¡¯s next blow had even arrived and then flew in for another pounce, aiming for Su Chen¡¯s face. Once again, its speed was so fast that its figure blurred.

    When Su Chen saw that the lynx was going for a fatal strike, a haze of light suddenly appeared at his feet.

    Su Chen increased his speed in that very instant, turning into a beam of light and dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding that w.

    He breathed out a long sigh of relief. He¡¯d used the Cloud-Stepping Battle Boot¡¯s Origin Skill just now along with the Snaking Mist Steps, managing to barely avoid the lynx¡¯s sh.

    The lynx came at him again in the next moment, and Su Chen activated his Cloud Stepping Battle Boots once more along with the Snaking Mist Steps to keep pace with the lynx¡¯s speed.

    One human and one big cat traded strikes back and forth. Neither was able to gain the upper hand in ten rapid exchanges.

    Su Chen had finally begun to understand how strong Vicious Beasts were. If it wasn¡¯t for the Origin Tools that he was using, he would not have had the right to fight a Vicious Beast head on merely with the strength that he¡¯d gained during his cultivation period.

    However, the more his condition was such, the more he needed to temper himself.

    Wasn¡¯t his original goal ining here to face off against strong enemies and continually improving himself in battle?

    Su Chen¡¯s footwork became faster and more agile, the de in his hand dancing so quickly that even the drops from a ssh of water wouldn¡¯t touch him.

    However, the lynx¡¯s speed was astonishingly fast. It kept blurring into afterimages in the air, making it difficult to see where its true body was.

    Would he need to utilize the ck Streak Battle de or the ming Hunter Blunderbuss if he wanted to win?

    No. The lynx was only a lower level Vicious Beast, an existence on the same level as Lin Xie.

    If he had to use all his trump cards against a lower level Vicious Beast, what would he do when facing stronger Vicious Beasts?

    Relying too much on Origin Tools would do away with the meaning of tempering himself anyways.

    His speed was on par with the lynx and their strength were simr. These were the best conditions to do battle in. Only in this kind of a situation would he be tempered and enhanced the most!

    When he thought of this, Su Chen gritted his teeth and continued fighting, desperately trying to capture a hint of the lynx¡¯s movements.

    The lynx continued to dart to and fro, leaving illusions of itself behind and making it so that the naked eye couldn¡¯t capture its figure.

    It was at this time that a strange light suddenly shone out of Su Chen¡¯s eyes.

    Time seemed to slow for him as movement in his surroundings appeared to slow as well.

    The Mirage Lynx was no longer too fast to see and its figure began to sharpen in his eyes.

    Su Chen could clearly see the path of its movement and could even see the its tail swaying as it glided through the air. He could see the whiskers at the edge of its lips and its sharp ws raking through the air, ripping through the void. He could see its grimacing face......

    Whoosh!

    The de shed by again, solidly connecting with the lynx¡¯s tail.

    Hiss! The Mirage Lynx emitted the most deste wail it had since their battle had begun.

    This blow was much heavier than the previous blow that Su Chen hadnded.

    ¡°Still a bit too slow.¡± Su Chen was quite dissatisfied.

    Although his eyes could catch traces of the lynx¡¯s movement, his own movement speed hadn¡¯t been heightened. The blow that was aimed at its head ended upnding on its tail instead.

    But that was fine. His next blow would be a bit more urate.

    Su Chen hacked in its direction again.

    The lynx jumped up in evasion, once again drawing out a long string of afterimages.

    Su Chen once again urately pinned down its location and hacked, anticipating the path that the lynx would take. The Mirage Lynx was simply too fast and couldn¡¯t reduce its speed even if it wanted to. The injury to its tail also prevented it from changing direction in midair, and thus it crashed directly onto Su Chen¡¯s de.

    ¡°Oowo!!¡± The Mirage Lynx screamed raspily, a deep wound on its head.

    Su Chen hurled a firm and powerful ming Tiger Fist at the lynx¡¯s rtively soft abdomen before it had time to react. The lynx¡¯s vision went dark upon impact. Su Chen then hacked down with his de again, dazing the lynx with a barrage of fierce attacks. Even with this Vicious Beast¡¯s tough skin and flesh, it couldn¡¯t withstand the constant damage and fell down in a bloody pool, never to stagger to its feet again.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you try jumping around now?¡± Su Chen pointed his de at the lynx and spoke coolly.

    The lynx quirked its lips in a final grimace.

    The de fell.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 36: Vision Developmen

    Chapter 36: Vision Development

    Upon killing the Mirage Lynx, Su Chen began to exercise an absorbance technique.

    After a being with Origin Energy died, the Origin Energy in its body would slowly dissipate into the air.

    Some said that cultivating at that very instant would have twice the effect while halving one¡¯s effort.

    However, rapid improvement was never seen. There were even a few people who believed that this saying was fabricated. Thus, many people had different attitudes about cultivating near corpses.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know either if there was any improvement. After cultivating for a brief moment, he stopped. He did not feel any significant changes.

    The next order of business was to reap the spoils of battle.

    The body of a Vicious Beast was full of treasures. Their hide could be sold, their meat could be eaten, and their blood and marrow could be used to refine Bloodline Medicine. If they possessed Origin Crystals, those were precious treasures that could also be used to improve one¡¯s cultivation.

    However, this lynx was only a low-tier Vicious Beast, so the chance for it to possess an Origin Crystal was less than one in a thousand. Even if one was able to use it to refine a Bloodline Medicine, the medicine would still be of lowest grade. Its value was limited, and it would be inconvenient to carry around. Thus, it was better just to give up on it.

    Battling this lynx had consumed two Origin Stones. When he subtracted the value of the Origin Stones from his overall profits, Su Chen discovered that he had actuallyted a small loss.

    First of all, his battle with the lynx had been too prolonged, forcing him to increase his rate of energy consumption. Second of all, he had no way of carrying the entire corpse with him due to his limited storage space.

    If only he had a spatial ring.

    However, losing money meant very little to Su Chen. More importantly, he had obtained even more precious experience through this battle.

    This was the first time that he had ever battled against a Vicious Beast before. Having witnessed the strength of these Vicious Beasts, Su Chen had finally realized the gap in strength that existed between him and those Vicious Beasts. At the same time, his self-confidence in fighting a Vicious Beast had been established, and his own strength had been greatly tempered.

    Most importantly, Su Chen¡¯s eyes had once again made a new breakthrough.

    As of this moment, Su Chen¡¯s eyes had changed three times.

    After the first change, Su Chen felt the presence of light. His world was no longer shrouded in darkness.

    After the second change, Su Chen¡¯s eyes could finally see, and he hadpletely recovered his vision.

    These two changes had allowed Su Chen¡¯s vision to be that of a normal person¡¯s.

    However, the third change had brought for Su Chen an experience that he had never had before, one that normal people could not have.

    That was ¡°motion vision¡±.

    Su Chen had discovered that his eyes could now capture objects moving at high speed, slowing down those movements to make them more visible. He could also see more clearly and urately. Su Chen could see mosquitos flying by over a hundred feet away. He could even see the afterimages that the mosquito¡¯s wings left behind.

    Was this what the old beggar had meant when he said that he would allow Su Chen to see much more?

    If so, he was not wrong. After being stuck in a nightmare for three years, his suffering had finally turned into rejoicing!

    Although he had guessed a long time ago that his eyes would continue to evolve, Su Chen was still unable to suppress the excitement in his heart when this evolution actually happened.

    Su Chen stopped trying to lure Vicious Beasts to fight them for the rest of the day. Instead, he sat on the peak of the hill, constantly testing out his new motion vision.

    After ying around with it for a whole day, Su Chen finally understood how to use his motion vision.

    He could activate and deactivate his motion vision. Every time he deactivated it, his vision would return to normal.

    Long-term usage of this motion vision would exhaust his eyes. However, as long as he closed them, the fatigue of his eyes would gradually decrease and they would rapidly recover.

    If his eyes were too fatigued when he deactivated the motion vision, his regr vision would also be temporarily blurry. However, once they recovered, this blurred vision aftereffect would also quickly disappear.

    Conversely, if he didn¡¯t use his motion vision for a long time, preserving his eyes¡¯ energy, then his regr vision would also improve. Although this improvement was not very significant, it was already much better than Su Chen¡¯s original sight.

    Finally, motion vision was just motion vision. It didn¡¯t alter time and it didn¡¯t alter his own movements. It could only grant him the ability to see fast-moving objects. How he reacted to those fast-moving objects was still up to himself, just like how he had used it to kill that lynx.

    Even so, this was more than enough to make Su Chen excited.

    This was just like a vision-rted Origin Skill. Today, Su Chen had basically gotten it for free.

    Although the movement vision did not directly raise hisbat ability, its would still be quite useful in battle.

    Even more, Su Chen believed that this was not the end. Perhaps in the future his eyes would continue to evolve.

    After all, he had not yet forgotten what he had seen while in Gu Qingluo¡¯s room.

    Would there be a day when his eyes would be able to see through things?

    Would there be a day when his eyes would have even more ablities?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know, but he looked forward to it.

    In his entire life, no day had filled Su Chen with so much anticipation as this one.

    In the following days, Su Chen continued to ¡°fish¡± on the mountain peak.

    On the twelfth day, Su Chen encountered a Giant Bucktoothed Bear.

    The Giant Bucktoothed Bear¡¯s entire body was insanely powerful. Its strength was many more times that of the Mirage Lynx. One of its careless paw strikes could easily disintegrate entire boulders. In addition, the battle skill that it possessed could actually release de Qi-like attacks through its buckteeth. Su Chen was caught off guard and almost took a few hits when the close-quarterbat Vicious Beast suddenly unleashed this long-range attack.

    Su Chen spent the greater half of the day fighting this Giant Bucktoothed Bear. To battle it, he had used the Amethyst Battle Armor, the Cloud Stepping Battle Boots, and even the ck Streak Battle de before obtaining victory.

    The ck Streak Battle de was worthy of being a grade eight Origin Tool. The de¡¯s edge was already exceedingly sharp. When Su Chen activated the blood pattern on the de, he saw a blood-colored mist spray out. The Giant Bucktoothed Bear that Su Chen had stabbed ten or so times without much effect had been split in two in a single strike.

    However, while the de¡¯s ability was extremely powerful, that one strike had sapped Su Chen of all his energy. He could barely stop himself from sitting down on the ground, exhausted.

    Su Chen estimated that if he were to use the de¡¯s ability at his peak condition, he would only be able to use it at most three times. However, without activating the blood pattern, Su Chen could use it for quite some time.

    Without question, Su Chen had once again suffered a loss. Although the giant bear had much more abundant quantities of raw resources than the lynx did, this battle had cost Su Chen four whole Origin Stones.

    However, the benefits that Su Chen received was not limited to mary profit. Through his battle with the giant bear, Su Chen¡¯s battle strength had increased, and he had gained valuable battle experience as well.

    This was especially true after he had eaten the bear meat. Large quantities of this bear meat, which contained the essence of the Vicious Beast, were swallowed by Su Chen. He could manifest it as he was being tempered in battle, which constantly increased his strength. In only ten days, Su Chen felt as if he had been born anew. His increase in strength was very apparent.

    On the fifteenth day of his stay in the Scarlet Mountain Range, Su Chen encountered his first real difficulty. Two ck-Scaled Beasts arrived together.

    Su Chen jumped off the cliff without hesitating, using the rope to escape without a trace.

    The ordeal with the two ck-Scaled Beasts wasted an entire day. In order to prevent the two ck-Scaled Beasts from finding him again, Su Chen was forced to set up camp in a new, faraway location.

    On his eighteenth day in the Scarlet Mountain Range, Su Chen killed an Inferno Leopard. However, this Inferno Leopard released a raging fireball moments before its death, causing Su Chen to sustain heavy injuries. This reminded Su Chen of the dire consequences of overconfidence. Afterwards, Su Chen used one of the medicinal pill that the ck-clothed man had given him. His wound rapidly healed, but the price he paid was that he had diarrhea for the entire day.

    On the twenty first day, Su Chen killed another Mirage Lynx. This time, he did not use the Purple Amethyst Battle Armor, and he did not suffer a loss.

    On the twenty fifth day, Su Chen encountered a Dark Cloud Beast. This was a rtively strong Vicious Beast and possessed an Origin Skill that allowed it to turn its body into mist. Su Chen was not strong enough to be its opponent, so he hurriedly jumped off the cliff and ran.

    On the twenty ninth day, Su Chen once again encountered the ck-Scaled Beasts. He tricked them into splitting up, using the opportunity to kill one of them. The ck-Scaled Beast tried to counterattack as it died, activating its Origin Skill and shooting off all of its scales. This time, Su Chen was prepared and quickly turned his back to face the enemy, activating the barrier and blocking the attack. However, the second ck-Scaled Beast had rushed over. Since Su Chen had no strength to continue battling, he jumped off the cliff for a third time. The ck-Scaled Beast relentlessly pursued him for the entire day before Su Chen was able to find an opportunity to kill it.

    Like that, Su Chen continued to fight on in the Scarlet Mountain Range, drinking the blood and eating the meat of the Vicious Beasts. As he battled, Su Chen¡¯s battle experience and strength continued to soar.

    Just before he entered the Scarlet Mountain Range, Su Chen had just entered the ninthyer of Body Tempering, and his Origin Star test result had been at White Star Ny One. However, after eatingrge quantities of Vicious Beast meat and constantly fighting, the energy of those Vicious Beasts had be Su Chen¡¯s strength, which was constantly increasing. In only a month, Su Chen had raised his strength by three White Stars. If he continued on this path, he would likely reach the peak of Body Tempering by the end of his time in the Scarlet Mountain Range.

    However, his trip wouldn¡¯t be smooth sailing.

    Very quickly, Su Chen ran into a new problem.

    He was running low on Beast Drawing Medicine.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 37: Spirit Shocking, Soul Splitting

    Chapter 37: Spirit Shocking, Soul Splitting

    Su Chen shook the vial in his hands. A few drops of liquid finally fell out of the vial¡¯s opening before his supply dried uppletely.

    Su Chen tossed the vial away carelessly, then nced at his surroundings.

    He looked off in the distance, his vision filled with the green of densely packed mountains. The few drops he poured out would most likely not attract any more Vicious Beasts.

    Without any hesitation, Su Chen picked up his sack and ced it on his back, then walked down the hill.

    Su Chen had decided to continue venturing deeper.

    Without a doubt, venturing deeper into the mountain range was very dangerous. However, Su Chen didn¡¯t have any more Beast Drawing Medicine, and he didn¡¯t want to waste the limited time that he had left. Thus, he was forced to go to areas where Vicious Beasts were moremon. After all, he could not use the safest method to do battle forever.

    He had been reforged in the past month. Having experienced thirty days of tempering, Su Chen already had a significant amount of survival experience. He also possessed the confidence to do battle in more dangerous areas.

    Su Chen followed the path forward for three days.

    In these three days, Su Chen didn¡¯t encounter any Vicious Beasts. However, he suffered from all kinds of other problems, some of which nearly cost him his life. One time, he had inadvertently broken a bug nest, and was chased by a huge horde of poisonous bugs as a result. Another time, a harmless-looking nt suddenly emitted a ferocious poison, which almost knocked him out instantly. Thankfully, Su Chen responded quickly and was able to escape. Even so, the poison paralyzed Su Chen for the greater half of a day.

    What made one even more speechless was that one could be ambushed even while drinking water from a small stream. There was a type of fish that swam in these waters whose size was notrge; however, it was extremely vicious and would suddenly jump out of the water to bite its target. No matter what its target was, the fish would always tear away a piece of meat. When there were enough of these kinds of small fish, even Vicious Beasts could be eaten clean in an instant.

    Su Chen had watched an Iron Bone Demon get wholly consumed by thousands of the small fish. Not even a skeleton was left behind.

    In the Scarlet Mountain Range, frightening objects were everywhere.

    However, this was not enough to make Su Chen retreat. Instead, he continued to advance forwards.

    In the following days, Su Chen ran into many different kinds of Vicious Beasts. Thankfully, his luck was pretty good and he never ran into any that were too strong. All of those Vicious Beasts were taken care of individually by Su Chen.

    On the fifty-sixth day of arriving at the mountain range, Su Chen once again encountered danger.

    A Jade-Eyed Ape blocked his path forward.

    This giant ape was around ten feet tall. It was one of the more powerful low-tier Vicious Beasts. Its strength was not much lower than that of the Giant Bucktoothed Bear, but its speed was much greater. If he had run into this beast while he was still ambushing enemies on the mountaintop, Su Chen would have elected to flee.

    However, he was now face to face with his enemy.

    He had no road of retreat and no way of evading it. The only options before him were victory or death.

    Su Chen unhesitatingly pulled out the crossbow, shooting the giant ape. However, when the bolts hit the Jade-Eyed Ape¡¯s body, it was as if they had mmed into a steel board. They werepletely unable to pierce through the ape¡¯s skin. That giant ape then let out a loud howl at Su Chen.

    When that howl reached Su Chen¡¯s ears, his vision was shaken and became blurry.

    Origin Skill!

    This howl was an Rooting Origin Skill. Su Chen stood there, unable to move..

    He did not panic. Instead, he switched out the crossbow for the ming Hunter Blunderbuss, and quickly fired off a shot at the giant ape.

    BANG!

    As the ck smoke diffused, a flower of blood bloomed from that giant ape¡¯s body

    The pain enraged the giant beast. It roared as it charged Su Chen, crushing all the trees in its path.

    At this moment, Su Chen regained his ability to move. He quickly retreated, while firing shots at the giant ape. The huge recoil shook his body again and again.

    Three gunshots sounded out, but only one found its target as ssh of blood appeared on the ape¡¯s body.

    That damned uracy.

    The Jade-Eyed Ape had already rushed Su Chen, sending out a palm at him.

    Su Chen activated the Snaking Mist Steps along with the Cloud-Stepping Boots. His figure was as agile as smoke. At the same time, he struck out with the de at the giant ape, and the ck Streak Battle de released a crimson streak of light. When it struck the giant ape¡¯s body, the might of a grade eight Origin Tool¡¯s Origin Skill cut deeply into the giant ape.

    The giant ape was still extremely vicious. With another ¡°AWOO¡±, the ape activated its rooting Origin Skill once again.

    Su Chen¡¯s figure trembled. That giant ape¡¯s paw directlynded on Su Chen¡¯s chest, where there was no defensive protection. Despite wearing a protective armor, Su Chen still spit out a mouthful of fresh blood.

    He hurriedly retreated, using the force of the blow to move backwards.. At the same time, he once again lifted the ming Blunderbuss, and fired off another four shots. This time, he aimed specifically for the ape¡¯s injuries, and two shots hit. The giant ape¡¯s wounds exploded, causing tworge rivers of blood to flow out.

    The giant ape, crazed with pain, charged Su Chen again, striking out with its paw. Su Chen retaliated with another de strike, and the bloody aura appeared once again, directly cutting off that giant ape¡¯s arm.

    However, the giant ape had extreme vitality. It did not die even after taking two blood aura strikes. Instead, Su Chen¡¯s vision began to blur from his use of the ck Streak Battle de. He was almost unable to withstand it.

    At this exact moment, the Jade-Eyed Ape leapt into the air once again, and struck downwards with its paw once more towards Su Chen¡¯s head.

    Su Chen activated the Snaking Mist Steps, wanting to avoid it. Then, he saw the Jade-Eyed Ape open its mouth. He knew that the situation was not great and that the ape was about to use its Origin Skill to root him in ce again.

    At the same time that the giant ape let out a howl, Su Chen tossed out an item.

    Cracked Soul Magic Pearl.

    ¡°AWOO!¡± The soul-shocking howl sounded out. At the same time, the Cracked Soul Magic Pearl began to release a formless light, that spread out in all directions.

    Rooting Howl.

    Soul-Splitting Skill.

    The two soul attacks exploded at the same time. Su Chen only felt his vision dim, as if something was ripping at his soul, and the pain was almost unbearable.

    He couldn¡¯t withstand the pain anymore. He hugged his own head and began to let out a piercing cry.

    It felt like something was wreaking havoc in his head, tearing his mind apart with a savage fury. Just when Su Chen felt that he had no way of enduring, a cooling sense suddenly began to flow from his eyes. The soul attack that had almost driven him mad left as quickly as it came through his eyes, as if it had found an outlet.

    The pain disappeared.

    Su Chen was stunned. When he opened his eyes, he saw the Jade-Eyed Ape was still cradling its head and letting out howls of pain.

    It had also been hit by the Cracked Soul Magic Pearl and was experiencing the pain of soul-splitting.

    Su Chen knew that this was hisst opportunity. He raised the ck Streak Battle de, then activated the blood aura once again.

    Shua!

    Blood flew into the air.

    That Jade-Eyed ape crashed to the ground. Su Chen¡¯s figure also shook a few times, then fell down to the ground, unable to crawl back to his feet.

    Lying on the forest floor, Su Chen felt that he couldn¡¯t even raise a single finger.

    The battle had not been long, but it had been extremely brutal.

    To take care of that bastard, Su Chen had used all four of the Origin Tools that he had. He had also been forced to use one of the Cracked Soul Magic Pearls.

    Having experienced the power of the Cracked Soul Magic Pearl once, he would definitely not want to experience it a second time.

    Indeed, the Scarlet Mountain Range was full of dangers. Even in an area on the border, every step was thorny and was filled with danger.

    However, the core reason for this was still that his own strength was just too weak.

    If only he could enter the Qi Drawing Realm earlier.

    As long as he entered the Qi Drawing Realm, he would finally be able control Origin Energy and Origin Skills. The possibilities would be limitless.

    In front of an Origin Skill, any ming Tiger Fist or simr skill would just be a regr move.

    However, based on his current circumstances, if he could reach the peak of the Body Tempering stage by the time the Scarlet Punishment ended, that would be pretty good. As for breaking into the Qi Drawing Realm, it was better to forget about it. If he hadn¡¯t umted enough Origin Energy, it would be impossible to draw Qi into his body, opening his Dan Sea.

    While he was busy wallowing in his self-pity, Su Chen suddenly saw that a few small dots of light had suddenly appeared out of nowhere from the Jade-Eyed Ape¡¯s corpse.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Su Chen wondered.

    He tried his best to sit up, but the energy in his body didn¡¯t listen to his control. He could only watch as one dot of light after another appeared from the giant ape¡¯s corpse. They only existed for a very short period of time before disappearing into thin air.

    They were just like drops of water falling into the sea.

    A dot of lightnded on Su Chen¡¯s face. After bouncing on Su Chen¡¯s face a few times, it actually drifted away.

    ¡°Could this be...... Origin Energy?¡± Su Chen said, having an epiphany.

    Origin Energy could not be seen by the eyes of man. The im that ¡°Vicious Beasts would release their Origin Energy upon dying¡± was a conclusion made by extremely strong Origin Qi Schrs, who had drawn on their perception and sense of Origin Energy.

    Just like how humans could not see air, yet knew that air existed.

    But now, Su Chen was able to see the dots of light that were very likely Origin Energy.

    It would be apparent once he tested it out.

    Su Chen waited.

    Shortly, a dot of light floated onto Su Chen¡¯s body,nding on his arm.

    As Su Chen watched that dot of light, he began to exercise his absorbance technique, focusing his gaze on that light.

    This time, the dot of light didn¡¯t bounce off.

    It rolled a few times on Su Chen¡¯s skin, then, as if it were very unwilling, entered Su Chen¡¯s body.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 38: Origin Energy Lights

    Chapter 38: Origin Energy Lights

    As the dots of light entered his body, Su Chen felt a strand of warmth course through him. This feeling was very faint, and Su Chen even wondered if the feeling was a figment of his imagination.

    However, following this strand of warmth, Su Chen¡¯s arm began to move slightly.

    He could now raise his arm.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes began to gleam.

    Could this really be Origin Energy?

    But if it was true, how could he see Origin Energy?

    Su Chen was mystified.

    Su Chen thought of what had happened after he had been rooted and experienced the soul-splitting.

    Could it be that after he had received a soul attack, his own eyes had once again evolved?

    Could it be because he had absorbed the energy of the soul attack? Or could it be because his mind had received a stimulus of sorts?

    Su Chen did not know. He could only wait and slowly mull over it.

    Evidently, these Origin Energy dots could not exist for too long in the air. From the moment they appeared, they began to dissipate gradually.

    Upon seeing this, Su Chen suddenly realized that it was because Origin Energy could not exist in this form.

    These dots of light represented Origin Energy that the ape had cultivated and condensed over countless days and months. Although they appeared simple, in reality they had been constantly refined over a long period of time. They were true condensates of Origin Energy.

    When an Origin Energy user died, their Origin Energy would no longer be restricted and would leave their bodies, returning to the world from whence it came. All of the Origin Energy that had been refined would also lose its cohesiveness, and would disperse, reverting to its natural, free state.

    The withering away of these dots of light was actually just a natural dispersal of refined energy.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes could not see the true, unadulterated form of Origin Energy. However, Su Chen could at least see the aggregates that it formed.

    This was an opportunity!

    This thought instantly shed across his brain.

    He knew what he should do.

    Su Chen raised his hand, then pointed at a dot of light in the air, focusing his efforts on exercising his absorbance technique.

    The dots of light were like drops of water, rolling around on Su Chen¡¯s skin. It was as if they were very unwilling to be absorbed by Su Chen. But with Su Chen¡¯s body constantly emitting an absorptive force, along with his great persistence, the resistance became weaker and weaker. Eventually, the dot entered Su Chen¡¯s body.

    That faint yet familiar feeling of warmth appeared once more..

    Su Chen also felt his mental and physical strength recover further.

    Su Chen yelled in his heart. In terms of the Origin Energy he gained, absorbing just one ball of light was equivalent to what he would gain from cultivating for a few days.

    How many days would this save him?

    Su Chen did not know, but he did not care. The most important thing was to not waste this opportunity!

    Although he had exercised his absorbance technique upon killing the Mirage Lynx, he had not been able to see those dots at the time, so he could only exercise it blindly. As for any extra energy he had absorbed then, it had depended solely on luck.

    Now that he had a tangible direction to focus his technique in, his sess rate had greatly increased.

    Su Chen began to use all his efforts to absorb the motes of light floating in the air.

    The Jade-Eyed Ape¡¯s Origin Energy dissipated very quickly. Not long afterwards, it hadpletely disappeared. Su Chen had only been able to absorb eight dots of Origin Energy.

    Even if it was only eight dots of Origin Energy, Su Chen very clearly felt different.

    Obviously, the energy that he originally possessed in his body had somewhat recovered.

    Normally, if he were to activate the blood aura three times in a row, he would be unable to get up without lying on the ground for more than half the day. Now, although he still felt tired, he could still get up and move around.

    However, the true use of Origin Energy was not to simply recover one¡¯s strength. It could also augment and transform one¡¯s body. The feeling of recovery he encountered was actually the body¡¯s natural growth after bing stronger. If a person¡¯s physique changed, their endurance and recovery rate would also increase. This increase would naturally be manifested in the recovery of their physical strength.

    That was also to say that these eight dots of Origin Energy had caused Su Chen¡¯s body to grow much stronger after he absorbed them.

    After a moment of analysis, Su Chen concluded that his strength had increased by roughly one White Star.

    ¡°Too awesome!¡± Su Chen excitedly began to yell.

    He had only killed one Vicious Beast and his strength had risen by an entire White Star. This was an almost impossible experience. What could be better than this?

    An excitement that he had never felt before flooded Su Chen¡¯s heart. For the first time, Su Chen was filled with anticipation and confidence towards the future!

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    In the following days, Su Chen continued to train in the Scarlet Mountain Range. He did not let his joy get the best of him and act carelessly. Rather, he continued to prudently hunt in the forest. Su Chen was very clear that although he may possess boundless potential, potential was only potential. At the moment, he was still just a weakling.

    A weakling that had to rely on four Origin Tools in order to survive at the most marginal area of the Scarlet Mountain Range.

    The slightest bit of overconfidence could ruin any future that he might have. He reminded himself that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer.

    Thus, Su Chen continued to move carefully, just as before.

    On the fifty-ninth day of his journey through the Scarlet Mountain Range, Su Chen once again encountered a Giant Bucktoothed Bear.

    Perhaps it was because his own strength had increased, or perhaps it was because he already had experience in fighting the giant bear. In any case, Su Chen was able to more easily take win this battle.

    Upon killing the giant bear, Su Chen once again saw the dots of light be released.

    Because he was prepared this time, Su Chen absorbed eleven dots of light, three more thanst time. All the other ones disappeared.

    Su Chen knew that this was probably close to the limit of how much he could absorb at one time.

    Su Chen had noted that the Giant Bucktoothed Bear roughly released a thousand dots of light when it died. If every ten dots represented a White Star, then the Giant Bucktoothed Bear¡¯s cultivation base must have been around one hundred White Stars. This was roughlyparable to the strength that regr low-tier Vicious Beasts would possess.

    The energy that he had absorbed was about one in one hundred.

    To kill a Vicious Beast, then obtain one hundredth of its cultivation base ¨C was there anything better than this?

    Perhaps the Heavens were aiding him. In the next few days, Su Chen encountered three Vicious Beasts whose strength was rtively low. They were all easily dealt with.

    When Su Chen absorbed thest bit of Origin Energy, he felt as if he had entered some strange state, just like his body was full. No matter how he absorbed, there would not be any increase.

    Su Chen knew that he had arrived at the peak of Body Tempering, and had reached a cultivation bottleneck.

    Under this kind of condition, no matter how much more he tried to absorb, he would not progress a single step unless he could break through the bottleneck.

    Enter the Qi Drawing Realm!

    ¡°Whew! I¡¯ve finally reached this point,¡± Su Chen let out a long sigh.

    He originally thought that at most he would be at the peak of Body Tempering once the Scarlet Punishment ended. He never expected that discovering the dots of Origin Energy would greatly increase his pace, causing him to reach this stage a month earlier than he had anticipated.

    Next, what he had to do was amass his strength to try and break through into the Qi Drawing Realm.

    Humans had already developed for a few tens of thousands of years. Now, their experience towards using Origin Energy could be considered quite good.

    Breaking into the Qi Drawing Realm had the lowest threshold, and was also the only realm that did not require drawing on a bloodline to guarantee a sessful breakthrough. Thus, there were thousands of different methods just to open one¡¯s Dan Sea.

    Because the difficulty was not too great, Su Chen did not n on returning to his n to break through. Rather, he decided to make his breakthrough in the Scarlet Mountain Range.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 39: Entering the Qi Drawing Realm

    Chapter 39: Entering the Qi Drawing Realm

    On the west side of the Scarlet Mountain Range, a waterfall flowed down in front of a small cave.

    Su Chen sat cross-legged in a cleft hidden underneath the waterfall.

    Having prepared for over twenty days, Su Chen was finally ready to attempt to charge into the Qi Drawing Realm.

    Breaking into the Qi Drawing Realm was actually just opening up an Origin Sea that could store Origin Energy in one¡¯s Dantian. This allowed the Origin Energy that one absorbed to be stored in one¡¯s body in a morepact andpressed way, making it easier to control. The process of tempering one¡¯s body before this could be considered entirely to prepare for the moment that a Dan Sea was created.

    Only humans who had undergone body tempering and had experienced a preliminary transformation of their bodies had the ¡°right¡± to open their Dan Sea. This was like how a proper foundation would be necessary before building a skyscraper.

    There were many ways of opening one¡¯s Dan Sea, and because such methods were verymon, most of them were not secrets. Su Chen had studied a lot from his n, so he knew quite a bit. After debating with himself a few times, Su Chen decided on using the Nine Revolutions Golden Sea method.

    Using this method would result in a vortex-like Dan Sea. Every moment, it would be constantly rotating like a whirlpool.

    The reason why Su Chen picked this method was because the Dan Sea that this method formed had two benefits. One was that its ability to absorb energy was very powerful. Because Su Chen could see the existence of dots of Origin Energy, he desperately needed a method that would allow him to absorb them more rapidly. This whirlpool-like Dan Sea¡¯s ability to absorb passively was not very good, but when given direction it became very powerful, which perfectly suited Su Chen. Second, it had a powerful containment ability. In reality, this was the Nine Revolutions Golden Sea method¡¯s greatest special point. The Dan Sea that it opened could contain the most. To put it simply, its level of magic power was extremely high.

    However, the more a Dan Sea could contain, the more energy it would need to progress to the next level, and one¡¯s cultivating speed would slow as a result. Thus, this was one of the Nine Revolutions Golden Sea method¡¯s weaknesses.

    However, since he had discovered the dots of light, Su Chen knew that his path in the future would not be ordinary. Thus, how could he select an ordinary technique? He had to face this difficulty and select the path that would improve his future outlook the most.

    At that moment, Su Chen was sitting underneath the waterfall, listening to the babbling of the water and exercising the Nine Revolutions Golden Sea¡¯s cultivation method. The Origin Energy hidden inside his body began to slowly assemble. Normally, Body Tempering Realm cultivators had no way of using any Origin Energy. However, when they were filled to the point of overflowing, and when they reached the bottleneck of Body Tempering the energy had nowhere to go, it would flow out, bing a resource that a martial artist could use.

    Breaking into the Qi Drawing Realm required one to control this small bit of Origin Power to carve out a space for the Dan Sea to exist in one¡¯s Dantian.

    The Nine Revolutions Golden Sea method required that the space for the Dan Sea had to take on the appearance of a vortex. From the beginning, he would need to constantly revolve the Origin Power, creating a very special Origin Power space in his body.

    The first bit of Origin Power had been prepared. Under Su Chen¡¯s control, it gathered in his Dantian and began to revolve, creating the Origin Power vacancy,

    In the beginning, it was only a very small hole.

    Simr to a needle being poked into the great earth.

    However, as the needle continued to revolve, the Dan Sea¡¯s vacancy began to grow in size. A small vortex of Origin Power began to form.

    At this moment, merely relying on the Origin Power that he had absorbed was no longer sufficient. He needed the help of other resources.

    Thankfully, Su Chen had prepared many other resources earlier.

    The Scarlet Mountain Range also had many precious medicinal herbs, not just Vicious Beasts. Long before he hade, Tang Zhen had given many supplemental lessons to Su Chen. As he was being tempered in the Scarlet Mountain Range, Su Chen had also harvested many medicinal herbs. However, he had never used them. He had originally intended to sell them to Tang Zhen when he returned. Naturally, he was using them now to break into the Qi Drawing Realm.

    At the moment, he felt as if the ¡°needle¡± had wedged itself in. Su Chen did not hesitate. He drained the medicinal herb concoction he had prepared much earlier in one gulp. The thick medicinal strength entered Su Chen¡¯s body, and under the control of his absorption technique it very quickly turned into pure Origin Power.

    The Origin Power needed to open his Dan Sea suddenly increased, making it seem as if a violent storm had suddenly appeared in his Dantian. Su Chen let out a pained, stifled groan, his expression suddenly paling.

    Breaking into the Qi Drawing Realm was not difficult, but it was still not a pleasant experience. He could keenly feel the Origin Qi vortex expanding in his body, and Su Chen continued to drive it to continue to enter, rotate, and expand.

    When all of the Origin Power in those medicinal herbs had been consumed, Su Chen drained another bowl of medicinal herbs, continuing to power the qi vortex in his body.

    Once the third bowl medicinal herb¡¯s Origin Power had beenpletely converted, the Origin Qi vortex in Su Chen¡¯s body was already the size of a fist and had no way of continuing to expand. Su Chen knew that his Dan Sea had taken on its preliminary form. Next was to stabilize the Dan Sea, truly assimting it with his being.

    Consolidating one¡¯s Dan Sea was a rtively time-consuming endeavor. Su Chen spent an entire three days beforepleting it.

    On the fourth day, when the sun began to rise, Su Chen finally opened his eyes.

    A bit of starlight shed across his pupils.

    Qi Drawing Realm, sess!

    ¡°AWOOOOOO!!!!¡±

    Su Chen lifted his head and let out a long howl.

    He had finally entered the Qi Drawing Realm.

    As of this moment, he was now a true Origin Qi Schr. He could control Origin Energy and use Origin Skills. He would no longer need to rely solely on the physical strength of his body to fight now.

    Of course, the current him still did not have any Origin Skills he could use, but even so, he was still iparable from how he was before.

    Firstly, he no longer needed to use Origin Stones when using Origin Tools. Every Origin Stone was a piece of money, so he had to use them carefully. Even if he didn¡¯t have any Origin Skills, he could still attach Origin Energy to his body. If he added it to his torso, it could increase his defense; if he added it to his fists, it could increase his attack; if he added it to his feet, he could increase his speed. Although the effect was much worse than an Origin Skill, it was still many times better thanmon martial artists, who could not control Origin Power.

    His increase in strength gave Su Chen even more confidence for any future battles.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    In the blink of an eye, another month had passed.

    Inside the forested Scarlet Mountain Range, Su Chen was battling a Rainbow Twin-Tailed Tiger.

    This Vicious Beast had a ferocious personality, and its attacks were extremely strong. Its innate Origin Skills was to use its tails as a garotte, allowing it to attack its target as it flew threw the air. ITs strength could directly cut arge tree in half. In pure strength, it was not weaker than the Jade-Eyed Ape.

    In the face of such a frightening Vicious Beast, Su Chen smiled with self-confidence.

    He raised the ck Streak Battle de in his hand, making a provocative motion towards the vicious tiger.

    The ferocious Rainbow Twin-Tailed Tiger roared with range and sprung forwards.

    The ck Streak Battle de let out two shes, and two consecutive strikesnded on the Rainbow Tiger¡¯s body. The Rainbow Tiger let out an angry howl and struck out with its tails. Su Chen flew into the air as if there was wind beneath his feet. At the same time, he used the ming Hunter Blunderbuss in his hand to fire continuously. His uracy was much better than it was before, and hended multiple bullets on the Rainbow Tiger¡¯s wounds, causing the tiger to let out a pained yelp.

    The tiger used all its strength to leap forwards. However, what waited for it was an even more vicious blood aura Origin Skill.

    This strike basically split the tiger in two. Despite the fact that its tails had still struck Su Chen before it died, Su Chen only needed to activate the Amethyst Battle Armor, as he was not using it for much else.

    The battle was very straightforward and efficient.

    Su Chen¡¯s strength had very clearly grown in the past month.

    Looking at the fallen tiger corpse, Su Chen muttered, ¡°What a pity, that was a good tiger hide.¡±

    As his strength increased, so did his requirements.

    Now, when Su Chen killed Vicious Beasts, his requirement wasn¡¯t just to defeat his enemy, but he also wanted to preserve its original value. The Rainbow Tiger¡¯s hide was vibrantly colored and was sought after by many. Su Chen originally intended to preserve the entire corpse, but the tiger would not cooperate, and wanted to go all out in a bid to kill Su Chen. Thus, it had been split in half.

    As his strength increased, Su Chen could now use the blood aura four times as opposed to three. Thus, although these three strikes tired him, he was still able to move unlike before. He would be able to use the blood aura even more as his strength increased.

    At this moment, Su Chen began to absorb the Origin Energy motes that began to dissipate from the tiger¡¯s corpse. When all of the dots of light had disappeared, Su Chen had absorbed a total of thirteen Origin Energy motes.

    The Nine Revolutions Golden Sea¡¯s vortex Dan Sea had increased his rate of absorption.

    Su Chen did some quick calctions. In the past month, he had roughly gone from ten Yellow Stars to twelve Yellow Stars. He was already an Origin Qi Schr in the firstyer of the Qi Drawing Realm.

    A single Yellow Star was equivalent to ten White Stars. For Su Chen¡¯s Origin Energy to increase by two Yellow Stars in a month was like increasing his strength by twenty White Stars. This speed was truly shocking. One had to know that before this Su Chen could only increase his strength by three White Stars in a month.

    Naturally, this was because Su Chen¡¯s strength had increased once he entered the Qi Drawing Realm. Thus, he also dared to go deeper into the Scarlet Mountain Range. As he encountered more Vicious Beasts, he also killed more of them. Thus, the amount of Origin Energy that he had absorbed also increased.

    Unfortunately, while Su Chen wanted to remain in the Scarlet Mountain Range, the time period for his Scarlet Punishment had finished.

    A hundred days had concluded. He needed to return and debrief.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 40: Return 1

    Chapter 40: Return (1)

    The True Jade Pavilion.

    Aborer in the tower was taking a nap out of boredom.

    At that moment, Tang Zhen walked in from outside. Seeing theborer¡¯s appearance, his expression sank, and he said sternly, ¡°Lazy and listless. Why don¡¯t you take a look at yourself? If you don¡¯t want to work, then get out of here!¡±

    He shook his sleeves, then walked inside.

    The aforementionedborer was stunned. He nced at aborer next to him and said, ¡°What happened to him? Why¡¯s his temper so explosive?¡±

    Anotherborer gave him a stare and said, ¡°Fourth Young Master went to the Scarlet Mountain Range. Two days before, a hundred days had psed.¡±

    ¡°So what?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re an idiot.¡± Thetter smacked the back of thatborer¡¯s head, ¡°The Scarlet Mountain Range is a very dangerous ce. For him to not have returned two dayste, it¡¯s difficult to know if he¡¯s still alive! Do you think head storekeeper could be in a good mood? Grow some tact. If you don¡¯t want to run into trouble, do your work seriously.¡±

    Thatborer quickly retracted hiszy attitude, as if he had awoken from a dream, and began to focus on his work.

    Tang Zhen¡¯s mood truly was very sour.

    Starting from yesterday, Tang Zhen had been awaiting news from Su Chen.

    Unfortunately, the person that the Su n hadmissioned to wait at the entrance had waited for two days without seeing a trace of Su Chen.

    Theter that Su Chen returned, the lower his chances of survival would be.

    Two days was more than enough to cause many people¡¯s hearts to go mad.

    ¡°Sigh. That kid couldn¡¯t have actually died there, could he? Psh, what am I saying. That kid is very bright. Of course nothing will have happened to him,¡± Tang Zhenforted himself.

    ¡°Head storekeeper, there¡¯s a guest outside who says that he has some precious goods in bulk and wants to meet with you privately in the pavilion¡¯s room?¡± Aborer reported from outside.

    Precious goods and private meeting in the pavilion¡¯s room were all jargon. It basically meant that there was a shipment of high value that was rtively umonly seen. The transaction needed to be conducted individually in order to conceal his identity.

    Tang Zhen really wanted to say that he had no heart to do business today, but in the end he suppressed those thoughts and said, ¡°Invite the guest in.¡±

    After a brief moment, theborer brought a person in.

    That person wore clothes made of coarse cloths, and his body was covered with a beast hide. His head was covered by a bamboo hat. The hat was ced low over his face, so that one could not see his face. On his back was an extremelyrge sack, almostrge enough to contain two people.

    Upon seeing this, Tang Zhen politely gestured to the guest and said, ¡°Esteemed guest, please have a seat. What would you like to sell today?¡±

    The guest replied with a gravelly voice, ¡°Beast hides.¡±

    Upon hearing this voice, Tang Zhen was clearly dazed. He looked at the guest with some suspicion as he said, ¡°Just beast hides?¡±

    ¡°There are also some Beast Bones and medicinal herbs,¡± the guest said concisely.

    Tang Zhen¡¯s eyes began to gleam.

    He stared at the guest. ¡°Where did you get them?¡±

    ¡°In the Scarlet Mountain Range.¡±

    ¡°How long ago?¡±

    ¡°The past hundred days.¡±

    Tang Zhen instantly stood up. ¡°How much does this esteemed guest want?¡±

    ¡°However much storekeeper Tang wants to give is enough.¡±

    The voice returned to its normal way of speaking as it spoke thatst sentence.

    Tang Zhen immediately recognized the voice. He grabbed the guest¡¯s bamboo hat and tilted it back, revealing Su Chen¡¯s familiar face.

    ¡°You little brat, you actually dared to mess with me!¡± Tang Zhen punched Su Chen, the anxiety in his heart relieved.

    Just as he wasughing loudly, Su Chen ¡°shh¡±ed him, reminding him not to make too much noise.

    Su Chen let out a lowugh, ¡°How could I dare to mess with head storekeeper? I had no choice but to do so.¡±

    Tang Zhen was taken aback. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Just like I said, I have many precious goods that I want to sell in bulk that I need to discuss with you in private,¡± Su Chen smiled gently.

    He then took off the bag on his back, cing it in front of Tang Zhen, and opened it.

    Tang Zhen was instantly stunned.

    ¡°This is a Mirage Lynx hide, the buckteeth of a Giant Bear... this is a hide of ck scales. My goodness, is this a Rainbow Tiger¡¯s skin? Unfortunately it¡¯s quite damaged, but it should be enough to make a fewyered jackets or waistcoats...... Heavnes, so many beast hides, and they are all Vicious Beasts. Did you rob another n¡¯s store?¡± Tang Zhen didn¡¯t dare believe his eyes.

    However, after a moment he understood. He stared at Su Chen and slowly said, word by word, ¡°These were all killed by you?¡±

    Su Chen nodded his head. ¡°There¡¯s a total of thirty-seven Vicious Beasts here. In addition, there are also the hides and bones of a fewmon Wild Beasts that I simply couldn¡¯t carry back with me. I have ced them in a cave out in the wild. Later on, you can send some people to go retrieve them.¡±

    ¡°How did you do it?¡± Tang Zhen stared at Su Chen, dazed.

    These were Vicious Beasts, existences as powerful as Qi Drawing Realm Origin Qi Schrs. They were not easy to kill, yet Su Chen had gathered so many. Even if he weren¡¯t blind, shouldn¡¯t this still have been impossible?

    ¡°This is precisely the secret that I want to keep hidden,¡± Su Chen gentlyughed.

    Tang Zhen instantly understood. ¡°You don¡¯t want the other Su n members to know that you received so many benefits?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t wish for many people to know apart from you, head storekeeper,¡± Su Chen said as he spread out his hand. A vortex of wind began to spiral on the palm of his hand.

    The wind vortex itself was not that special. As long as one could control Origin Energy, anyone could do the same.

    What was special was what the wind vortex implied.

    Even Tang Zhen, who did not cultivate, instantly understood. He said with joyful surprise, ¡°You¡¯re an Origin Qi Schr!¡±

    Su Chen nodded his head. ¡°This is also a secret.¡±

    ¡°The young miss, she...... has a good son.¡± The old man felt very bittersweet. He thought for a moment, then asked, ¡°Do you want to tell your mother about this?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s too many people surrounding her. Who knows if Su Keji or Yan Wushuang¡¯s people are near her? It won¡¯t be good of news of this matter spreads. Thus, it¡¯s best to not tell her for now.¡±

    Tang Zhen let out a sigh, cing his hand on Su Chen¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Your mother always was concerned for you, but she doesn¡¯t know that her son has already begun to grow.¡±

    ¡°From how I see it, this is only the beginning,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Half an hourter.

    Su Chen finished taking his bath, then switched out for a clean shirt. His appearance had changed from that of a savage living in the wilderness to his usual graceful, princely outfit.

    Sitting in his seat, Su Chen relished the tea that Tang Zhen had soaked for him. After suffering for a hundred days, he had to admit that upon returning to the flourishing human realm, things that he had previously taken for granted had suddenly be much more precious to him.

    ¡°What are you nning on doing next?¡± Tang Zhen asked.

    ¡°Let¡¯s take care of this business first, then I can openly return to the Su n,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°The sale is alreadyplete. Does Young Master want toplete the transaction using pure gold or Origin Stones?¡±

    The values of pure gold and low grade Origin Stones were roughly equal. It was just that their usage circles were different.

    ¡°I am already an Origin Qi Schr, so let¡¯s use Origin Stones.¡±

    ¡°Okay, there¡¯s a total of thirty-seven Vicious Beast hides, and their sizes and grades are different. I¡¯ll just count it as one Beast Hide is equivalent to one Origin Stone. The total is thirty-seven Origin Stones. Everything else I will buy for three, so the total is forty Origin Stones. What does Young Master think?¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°Then I can only thank head storekeeper.¡±

    Complete low grade Vicious Beast hides were usually sold for one Origin Stone each. These prices also usually only applied torger Vicious Beasts. Smaller Vicious Beasts like the Mirage Lynx were generally worth less. However, Tang Zhen had bought them all at the price of aplete beast hide. Thus, selling one¡¯s items at the store of one¡¯s own n was a very good thing. If Tang Zhen didn¡¯t say anything about the origin of the items, the price would not have decreased. Instead, they could have cooperated and fairly and openly made this exchange. Instead of entering the pce, it would enter one¡¯s own private storages.

    Having taken care of business, Su Chen said, ¡°While I was gone, how have my family and household been doing?¡±

    Tang Zhen shook his head. ¡°Everything¡¯s still fine. However, because you hadn¡¯t returned by the appointed date, your mother has been worried sick. If possible, you should return to your house as soon as possible to relieve her.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll go there in a bit.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, we discovered the person who was instructing Lou Yi. However, we have not yet made a move towards him, and we have not been able to determine who wasmanding him.¡±

    ¡°Okay, leave it to me. That¡¯s right, what happened to Lou Yi¡¯s son?¡±

    ¡°He had no money to repay his debt. Thus, his hands were cut off, and now he is a cripple...... From today onwards, Lou Yi no longer needs to worry about that son of his.¡±

    Su Chen was silent.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 41: Return 2

    Chapter 41: Return (2)

    A banquet was being held at the Su Residence¡¯s Fragrant Orchid Pavilion.

    The banquet¡¯s host, Yan Wushuang, was holding an soft, plump male child in her embrace. She was traveling among the crowd, asionally sending her regards to the guests.

    ¡°Wushuang is very grateful for the great Qin n¡¯s honoring us with your presence.¡±

    ¡°So it¡¯s Elder Zhang! You also came to offer birthday congrattions to my son!¡±

    ¡°For the Wang n¡¯s leader to personallye, how could I possibly ept this.¡±

    asionally, there would also be a few nicknames that she had taken with her from the brothel that would slip out.

    ¡°Oh, Uncle Rong, you also came......¡±

    Everyone voluntarily chose to be ignorant of this.

    Today was the first birthday of Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s third son, Zhou Hao. Su Cheng¡¯an had specifically arranged a banquet for his beloved son and had invited many guests. All of the guests who were on good terms with Su Cheng¡¯an hade to congratte him.

    The entire Su pce was filled with a joyful atmosphere because of this.

    Of course, there were also those who were unhappy.

    ¡°Su Cheng¡¯an!¡±

    The piercing yell shattered the atmosphere of celebration.

    Tracing the yell to its origin, Tang Hongrui was standing on the waterside pavilion.

    Her face was filled with a murderous intent.

    She stomped over withrge strides. Yan Wushuang came to greet her. ¡°Why has sistere?¡±

    ¡°Get the hell out of my way!¡± Tang Hongrui pushed aside that woman, then arrived in front of Su Cheng¡¯an and began to curse, ¡°Whether our son is alive is still unknown. However, you don¡¯t care at all; instead, you still have the heart toe here singing and dancing! Do you still have a conscience?¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an froze, not answering.

    In fact, the banquet was not his idea. However, Wushuang had constantly nagged him about it, even saying things like ¡°Could it be that if something happens to Su Chen, everyone under the Heavens needs to wear a mournful expression, forbidden to even smile?¡± She even said that he had been suppressed by Tang Hongrui and that he wasn¡¯t allowed to have his own opinion.

    Su Cheng¡¯an had already fought many times with Tang Hongrui. With this additional push, he had caved in and decided to put on this banquest. However, in his heart he also knew that he had let her down. Thus, he did not dare to make a retort.

    At this moment, Yan Wushuang had also stepped forwards, ¡°Sister¡¯s words are...... if Su Chen is a son, is my Hao¡¯er not a son anymore? Su Chen has gone to the Scarlet Mountain Range, and we are also worried for his survival. However, we can¡¯t just not do anything, can we? Are we not allowed to live our own lives for every day that he doesn¡¯t return?¡±

    Su Keji also walked forwards and said, ¡°Aunt Yan¡¯s words are reasonable. Today is Hao¡¯er¡¯s first birthday, and is also his most important birthday. If we were to miss it because of Su Chen, perhaps there would be no way of ever getting it back. I trust that Su Chen¡¯s soul in the Yellow Springs1 would not have any rest either.

    Tang Hongrui angrily replied, ¡°Su Keji, what nonsense are you spouting? Whose soul is in the Yellow Springs? My son is not dead!¡±

    Su Keji shook his head. ¡°He has not returned after being two dayste, and he is also a blind person. I think that it¡¯s quite likely.¡±

    However, his expression seemed to be filled with happiness.

    His conflict with Su Chen was very well-known. However, unlike Yan Wushuang, he did not have to depend on Su Cheng¡¯an and didn¡¯t need to give him any face. Thus, at this moment his joy in someone else¡¯s misfortune was very obvious. The corner of his lips even revealed a cynical sneer. He just did not vocalize his happiness.

    Tang Hongrui was so angry that she rushed towards Su Keji, but she was restrained by Su Cheng¡¯an, who said with a steely expression, ¡°Have you finished?¡±

    ¡°Cheng¡¯an?¡± Tang Hongrui looked at her husband, dazed. ¡°He said our son is dead.¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an pushed Tang Hongrui aside. ¡°He didn¡¯t even care for his own life, so why do you care so much?¡±

    Upon hearing these words, Tang Hongrui waspletely shaken.

    She didn¡¯t dare to believe that her own husband would actually say such words. She looked at Su Cheng¡¯an again in that moment, feeling like she had never recognized him before. She then said, her voice trembling, ¡°Before, you...... weren¡¯t like this.¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an, however, acted like he hadn¡¯t heard.

    From time to time, the surrounding guests would discuss things. Some were sighing, some were mocking and ridiculing, and some were not concerned at all by it.

    ¡°Why do you think the Su n¡¯s Fourth Young Master didn¡¯t just stay obediently in his n? What was he doing if not courting death?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. He was just a blind person, yet he still dared to the Scarlet Mountain Range.¡±

    ¡°And he was only in the Body Tempering Realm.¡±

    ¡°Yes, what a pity. After all, he was still a genius.¡±

    ¡°But only a former genius. How many tens or hundreds of geniuses like him can be found in Northface City every year?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, that¡¯s right.¡±

    Upon hearing these words, Tang Hongrui hadpletely given up on these people.

    At this time, a voice suddenly sounded out.

    ¡°Who says I¡¯m dead?¡±

    As soon as the voice sounded, everyone throats seemed to have been mped. They fell silent simultaneously.

    Su Cheng¡¯an, Su Keji, Yan Wushuang, the entire Su n, and all the guests arduously turned their heads, looking behind them.

    A youth was standing there. If it wasn¡¯t Su Chen, who else could it be?

    ¡°Su Chen?¡± Su Keji¡¯s eyes were spitting mes.

    ¡°You actually didn¡¯t die!¡± Yan Wushuang clenched her fists so tightly that her fingernails almost pierced her skin.

    ¡°Chen¡¯er!¡± Tang Hongrui let out an extremely excited yell, rushing towards her own son.

    Only Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s feelings were the mostplex.

    Upon seeing his son who had returned, he discovered that he did not feel happy at all. Rather, a pressure that he hadn¡¯t felt in a long time hadnded on his heart.

    However, in the end, he did not say anything, instead only knitting his brows together.

    At the same time, Tang Hongrui fiercely hugged her own son, touching his face as if worried that he were only a dream. ¡°Chen¡¯er, why have you only returned now?¡±

    ¡°The mountain road was rugged and I am blind. My direction was uncertain, and I still spent a lot of energy to walk out of the mountain range,¡± Su Chen gently smiled. ¡°To arrive only two dayste is already pretty good. I am lucky that I didn¡¯t head in the wrong direction and run into a beast region.¡±

    ¡°So you do know that it was dangerous?¡± Tang Hongrui poked her son¡¯s forehead, but her eyes began to fill with tears of joy.

    ¡°It¡¯s my fault for making mother worried about me,¡± Su Chen respectfully replied.

    ¡°Let¡¯s leave this ce. Just ignore these people.¡± Since her son had returned, Tang Hongrui was no longer in the mood to remain here. She grabbed Su Chen¡¯s hand and was about to leave.

    ¡°There¡¯s no rush,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°When I arrived, I heard that today was actually my third younger brother¡¯s first birthday. No matter what, I am still an older brother, and I should still congratte little brother Hao. I just returned from the mountain range, and I brought back some special items. They aren¡¯t particrly valuable, but they are not things that you can easily find on the streets, so why not give them to third younger brother as a congrattory gift.¡±

    ¡°Chen¡¯er, you......¡± Tang Hongrui was stunned.

    Yan Wushuang was celebrating the birthday of her own child while your survival was still unknown. This was not putting on a ceremony; they were basically celebrating Su Chen¡¯s death! Now that you have returned, you actually want to give them presents?

    ¡°This is proper etiquette,¡± Su Chen said with a smile. As he walked forwards, he pulled out a jade pearl from his body and said, ¡°This is the Jade Bone Demon¡¯s bone from between its eyebrows. It is smooth and lustrous and is good for nourishing Origin Qi. Wearing it as an essory for a long period of time can strengthen one¡¯s body. I obtained it by ident, so I might as well give it to little brother Hao as a gift.¡±

    In the end, Yan Wushuang was still someone who was very skilled in reading people. She had seen many worldly scenes before. Seeing Su Chen behave in this way, a smile had already reached her face as she said,

    ¡°It seems like Fourth Young Master is able to see the big picture and understands the principles of etiquette,¡± she said as she smilingly received the pearl.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Would Fourth Aunt be willing to let me hold little brother for a moment?¡±

    Yan Wushuang sank into silence for a moment before finally agreeing.

    Su Chen received the child, then hugged it in his bosom, pinching its cheeks as he said, ¡°Although I cannot see, I can tell that he is quite pudgy. Look at how his little legs kick; they are quite strong.¡±

    Yan Wushuang smiled as she was about to follow-up. However, Su Chen¡¯s smile suddenly vanished as he continued, ¡°Such a healthy, lively baby! Fourth Aunt, do you think I would be able to kill it in an instant?¡±

    1. The Yellow Springs is the underworld in Chinese culture.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 42: Openly Offending

    Chapter 42: Openly Offending

    Upon hearing these words, Su Cheng¡¯an and Su Keji¡¯s expression immediately changed.

    Su Cheng¡¯an was just about to make a move when Su Chen sped his hand around the child¡¯s throat and lifted it up in the air. ¡°If anyone moves, I will drop him.¡±

    Everyone stopped moving at the same time.

    ¡°MY CHILD!¡± Yan Wushuang began to yell hysterically.

    She wanted to seize him back, but Su Chen¡¯s other hand wrapped around Yan Wushuang¡¯s throat as he said, ¡°You should probably worry about yourself first.¡±

    One of his feet flew into the air,nding on Yan Wushuang¡¯s knee. Yan Wushuang plopped to the ground on her knees.

    ¡°SU CHEN!¡± Su Cheng¡¯an furiously yelled, ¡°You unfilial son, what are you trying to do!? Why have you not released your younger brother and your aunt yet?¡±

    ¡°What am I trying to do?¡± Su Chenughed,¡± Naturally, I am settling my ounts with Fourth Aunt.¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an said, ¡°I can understand why you are angry since we had a banquet for his birthday before your survival was known, but......¡±

    ¡°It has nothing to do with that,¡± Su Chen interrupted.

    ¡°What?¡± Su Cheng¡¯an was dazed. ¡°Then why is it?¡±

    ¡°If you want to know, you need to ask her what she¡¯s done,¡± Su Chen pointed at Yan Wushuang with his chin.

    Yan Wushuang¡¯s heart jumped. ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything......¡±

    Smack!

    Yan Wushuang had been viciously thrown to the ground by Su Chen. Next, Su Chen ced his foot on Yan Wushuang¡¯s peerlessly enchanting face.

    Upon seeing that stunningly beautiful countenance change shape under Su Chen¡¯s foot, everyone¡¯s heart ached.

    Su Chen said, ¡°She tried to harm me twice. The second time she even sent people to try and sell a Beast Drawing Medicine to me as a Beast Repent Medicine. Do you dare to say that this had nothing to do with you?¡±

    Yan Wushuang was instantly paralyzed.

    Everyone simultaneously broke out in conversation.

    None of them were idiots.

    A Beast Drawing Medicine being sold off as a Beast Repent Medicine, coupled with Su Chen¡¯s return from the Scarlet Mountain Range? Everyone was very clear what this implied.

    Even Su Cheng¡¯an opened his eyes wide and nced at Yan Wushuang. ¡°Wushuang, you did this?¡±

    Yan Wushuang knew that the situation was quickly getting out of control, so she began to yell loudly, ¡°I¡¯m being wrongly used, Husband! This matter has nothing to do with me. I don¡¯t know of any Beast Drawing or Beast Repent Medicine. As a woman, how could I understand these things?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re still trying to deny it?¡± Su Chen coldly snorted. ¡°You actually learned your lesson fromst time, choosing to find a middleman to take care of the matter and hiding your own identity. But did you really think that I wouldn¡¯t be able to find out? That middleman was Old Demon Li, wasn¡¯t it?¡±

    Upon hearing this words, arge portion of Yan Wushuang¡¯s psychological defenses crumbled.

    Old Demon Li was someone that one of her subordinates had found for her. In addition, their identities had beenpletely kept secret. She had not expected that would Su Chen had still find out about it.

    However, she continued to stubbornly insist, ¡°I do not know what you are saying.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re still stubbornly denying it? To tell you the truth, I have already captured Old Demon Li. He has already confessed that it was your people who gave the items to him, telling him to sell them to my True Jade Pavilion and harm me.¡±

    ¡°Even if it were one of my people, that doesn¡¯t mean that it¡¯s me,¡± Yan Wushuang grabbed onto the opportunity and yelled, ¡°These subordinates of mine might be trying to frame me. How can you say that it has something to do with me?¡±

    ¡°But if it weren¡¯t for your instructions, who would use such precious items to run a scam?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean, precious items? They were only three fakes.......¡±

    Yan Wushuang suddenly stopped speaking. Her face paled to a deathly white.

    ¡°Keep talking, why don¡¯t you keep talking? Why did you stop talking?¡± Su Chenughed sarcastically, ¡°I also want to know how Fourth Aunt knew that there were a total of three objects? Previously, I only mentioned that Beast Drawing Medicine had been sold to me as Beast Repent Medicine.¡±

    Yan Wushuang trembled, unable to speak.

    Everyone present also understood. They sharply inhaled a breath of cold air.

    Tang Hongrui¡¯s entire body began to tremble when she heard this. ¡°You slut, you deserve to die!¡±

    She was about to rush over to Yan Wushuang and tear her face to pieces.

    However, she was blocked by Su Chen.

    ¡°Chen¡¯er? Why are you blocking me?¡± Tang Hongrui didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°I still think it¡¯s best for Father to resolve this matter.¡±

    Wasn¡¯t allowing Su Cheng¡¯an to resolve the matter equivalent to letting Yan Wushuang go? Tang Hongrui wanted to cry out, but upon seeing Su Chen¡¯s determined expression, she was unwilling to oppose her son¡¯s suggestion. She could only nod her head, then viciously re at Su Cheng¡¯an.

    Su Cheng¡¯an hesitated for a moment, then said, ¡°Let¡¯s resolve the matterter.¡±

    ¡°I want to know what the consequences will be right now,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Upon hearing his son disobey his suggestion, the mes of anger once again surged in Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s heart. ¡°Chen¡¯er, there¡¯s so many guests here. Have you not caused enough of amotion yet?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing I can do. You can¡¯t let me hold onto this little guy forever, can you?¡± Su Chen shook the infant in his hand. The little guy was very ufortable being held in the air. He finally awoke from his sleep and began to cry loudly.

    Su Cheng¡¯an sucked in a breath of cold air. He thought for a moment, then said, ¡°Yan Wushuang schemed to harm someone, and this despicable behavior should be punished. However, she is still Hao¡¯er¡¯s mother, and the child is still young and cannot leave his mother. In addition, you ended up fine, so I decree that she will be stripped of her status as an aunt and demoted to a maidservant.¡±

    ¡°Su Cheng¡¯an!¡± Tang Hongrui was beyond furious. ¡°This woman wanted to kill your son! You don¡¯t kill her, and you don¡¯t even chase her out of the pce. You actually still want to keep her by your side ¨C what are you trying to do?¡±

    ¡°Enough!¡± Su Cheng¡¯an angrily said, ¡°Isn¡¯t Su Chen totally fine? Yan Wushuang has already been punished. Su Chen, shouldn¡¯t you release them now?¡±

    Upon seeing Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s behavior, Su Chen waspletely disappointed.

    The reason why he wanted Su Cheng¡¯an to punish Yan Wushuang was because he had wanted to give Su Cheng¡¯an onest opportunity.

    He wanted to see if his own father still had any feeling for him.

    He wanted to know how his father would react when he discovered that Yan Wushuang had tried to kill him.

    He had thought of many possibilities, but he had never expected that Su Cheng¡¯an would go so far to protect Yan Wushuang.

    He wasn¡¯t even willing to apply the pce¡¯s rules to her.

    Demoted to a maidservant......

    Did he think he was lying to an idiot?

    Even without her identity, as long as he still liked her and pampered her, Yan Wushuang would still be able to continue to ascend.

    The person who had schemed to kill him was only given such a sentence?

    Of course, Su Chen could argue for what was right.

    But he did not want to argue.

    Because he hadpletely given up on Su Cheng¡¯an.

    Thus, he had decided to uphold this verdict.

    That way, whenever he saw Yan Wushuang in the future, he would remind himself that he should not harbor any hope for Su Cheng¡¯an.

    Thus, he did not fight back.

    He nodded his head and said, ¡°I can release them, but I have one request.¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    ¡°From today onwards, the True Jade Pavilion, the Great Blessing Tower, the Yang Returning Store, and the Red Forest will all be given to me to control. They will not be considered the Su n¡¯s property anymore.¡±

    The four businesses that Su Chen had listed were the ones that his mother had brought when she had gotten engaged.

    Today, Su Chen wanted to take them all back.

    Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s request, Su Cheng¡¯an had seemingly realized something.

    He thought for a moment, then looked at all of the surrounding guests. Finally, he nodded his head and nodded, ¡°Okay!¡±

    Su Chen at this moment finally handed the child over. A maidservant had already received it, then quickly ran aside.

    ¡°You still aren¡¯t releasing your Aunt?¡± Su Cheng¡¯an said, his eyebrows knitted, seeing that Yan Wushuang was still pressed underneath his foot.

    ¡°Aunt?¡± The corner of Su Chen¡¯s mouth quirked upwards in a smile. ¡°You seem to have forgotten that she had just been demoted to a maidservant. The person that I am stepping on right now is not some Aunt.¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an froze.

    Su Chen lifted his foot, picking up Yan Wushuang again.

    He said, ¡°Congrattions, Fourth Maidservant, you¡¯re free to go. But before I release you, I have a small present I want to give you.¡±

    ¡°What...... What is......¡± Yan Wushuang did not understand.

    Su Chen¡¯s face revealed a trace of a wicked smile.

    Upon seeing this smile, Su Cheng¡¯an seemed to realize something. He blurted, ¡°NO!¡±

    Su Chen had already grabbed Yan Wushuang¡¯s neck and mmed her into arge round table with hundreds of dragon-like patterns carved into it.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 43: Night Demon

    Chapter 43: Night Demon

    Bang!

    Wood chips exploded everywhere.

    Everyone gasped, thoroughly shocked, as Yan Wushuang¡¯s face suddenly became intimately familiar with the wooden table. The extremely hard wooden table was instantly destroyed. The strength that Su Chen had used could be imagined.

    The face that had sessfully defeated the table had changed shape and swelled. A peerlessly beautiful face had be swollen like a pig¡¯s head. It was truly too horrible to look at.

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± When Su Cheng¡¯an saw Yan Wushuang lying on the ground, unable to even moan, his heart ached and his anger red.

    Su Chen retrieved his hand, then said, ¡°That was the interest.¡±

    He turned around and left.

    Seeing Su Chen¡¯s back, Su Cheng¡¯an was so angry that his entire body trembled, but in the end he only said one sentence. ¡°Unfilial son!¡±

    On that day, everyone there witnessed firsthand Su Chen¡¯s tyrannical, bloodthirsty, and vicious nature. This scene left fear and apprehension in the hearts of many regarding this terrifying young master.

    However, what no one could predict was that not long in the future this slight apprehension would be a headache or even absolute dread.

    After teaching Yan Wushuang a lesson, Su Chen naturally went home with his mother and his uncle, Su Feihu. Under his mother¡¯s concerned and repeated questioning, he finally told her some of the events that had urred in the Scarlet Mountain Range.

    Of course, Su Chen could not tell her that he had gone out to battle Vicious Beasts. He only said that as soon as he had entered the Mountain Range, a kind-hearted person had acted as his guide, and lead him to a rtively safe cave where he stayed. In the a hundred days, he had only encountered twomon Wild Beasts, which had all been easily taken care of by him. Even so, Tang Hongrui trembled with fear when she heard this, as if her son was too weak to even stand up to a house cat.

    However, Su Feihu looked at Su Chen thoughtfully, his eyes filled with suspicion.

    He could tell that Su Chen was hiding something, but in the end he could not figure out what that something was.

    He stayed with his mother, conversing with her until she went to bed. Su Chen then returned, alone, to the Dustsift Courtyard.

    Upon entering his room, Su Chen told Jianxin and the others to leave before saying to the shadow in the room, ¡°Come out.¡±

    The ck-clothed man¡¯s figure rippled into view. ¡°This time I made sure topletely suppress my heartbeat and my breathing. How did you discover me?¡±

    His tone was one ofplete confusion.

    Su Chenughed to himself. Shouldn¡¯t discovering you be easy? You were just standing there unmoving and I saw you immediately.

    However, he said, ¡°Your n depended on my survival. In addition, I also borrowed four of your Origin Tools. Since I have returned, how could you note by to take them back? I just carelessly called out assuming you were here.¡±

    ¡°So you just made a wild guess.¡± The ck-clothed person let out a sigh of relief, which also contained some frustration.

    Su Chen found the other party to be somewhat adorably foolish. He said with some amusement, ¡°How long have you waited here? You haven¡¯t eaten yet, have you? I brought some things for you to eat.¡±

    He carelessly brought out a box of pastries. These were given to him by his mother before he left. Su Chen did not like to eat them, so he gave them all to the ck-clothed person.

    The ck-clothed person was not wary at all. It seemed as if he was genuinely hungry, as he actually began to eat. He ate a thousandyer pastry in a few bites. His eyes began to gleam as he nodded his head. ¡°Very tasty!¡±

    He ate the entire box of pastries in one breath.

    Su Chen was not in a hurry. Once the other party had finished eating, he said, ¡°The reason why I coulde back safely was entirely due to these four Origin Tools. Since I have returned, I should return them to their rightful owner.¡±

    As he spoke, he handed over the sack on his back to the ck-clothed person.

    The ck-clothed person received the sack and opened it to take a look. Apart from the medicinal pills, the Cracked Soul Magic Pearls, and the Origin Stones, which had not been returned, the four Origin Tools were all there. The Origin Stones, etc. were originally given to Su Chen as consumables, and the ck-clothed person had never intended to ask for them back. Thus, he nodded and said, ¡°Since everything has been taken care of, then I will bid farewell for now.¡±

    ¡°Wait a moment,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°What do you want?¡± The ck-clothed person gazed at him, his eyes bing vignt.

    Damn, why weren¡¯t you so vignt when you were eating? Just a simple ¡°wait a moment¡± is enough to make you nervous?

    Su Chen silently cursed, but he said, ¡°I just want to know what I should call you. After all, we have met a few times already. I can¡¯t just keep on calling you ¡®ck-clothed person¡¯, can I?¡±

    ¡°This...... we might not have any opportunities to meet again in the future, will we?¡± the ck-clothed person hesitated for a moment before saying.

    ¡°That might not be true. I still have something that I would like your help with,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Su Chen, don¡¯t be too audacious!¡± the ck-clothed person immediately said.

    ¡°Can you wait for me to finish, please?¡± Su Chen said, ¡°I just want a mid-tier Origin Energy Absorption cultivation technique and two Origin Skills. You don¡¯t need to give them to me for free; I will buy them.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve reached the Qi Drawing Realm?¡± The ck-clothed person was dazed.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Not yet. However, I received a lot of benefits from my journey into the Scarlet Mountain Range. You also know that I was originally in the ninthyer of Body Tempering when I left. After being tempered for a hundred days in the Scarlet Mountain Range, I have already entered thete stages of the ninthyer of Body Tempering. Perhaps not long in the future I will be charging into the Qi Drawing Realm. Maybe even in theseing months.¡±

    Su Chen did not intend on hiding his progress. All he needed to do was push back the sess that he had already had to sometime in the future, and everything would logically fall into ce.

    Basic Origin Energy Absorption techniques were only suitable for Body Tempering cultivators. Upon entering the Qi Drawing Realm, one would need a more powerful magic technique that had a correspondingly stronger absorption ability.

    Absorption techniques were split into preliminary, mid, high, and top-tier, but there was no limit on cultivation base. That was to say that after reaching the Qi Drawing Realm, one could cultivate any absorption technique. The only limitation was that higher-tier absorption techniques were harder to obtain.

    Su Chen did not dare to hope for an absorption technique that was too high-tier. Thus, in the end he only asked for a mid-tier one.

    The ck-clothed man believed him. ¡°So it was like this. However, doesn¡¯t your Su n have absorption techniques and Origin Skills? You are a disciple of the Su n. As long as you have reached the boundary, you should be able to request them for free.¡±

    Su Chen asked, ¡°You already know what has happened since I returned right?¡±

    The ck-clothed person nodded. ¡°You have a very awful father.¡±

    ¡°Thus, the first reason is that I don¡¯t want to use any more of the Su n¡¯s resources in the future.¡±

    ¡°So it was like this.¡± The ck-clothed man began to understand Su Chen¡¯s intention. He was slowly but surely drawing a line between himself and the Su n.

    In reality, Su Chen¡¯s actions were drawing a clear dividing line between him and the Su n, but at the same time this was a way of protecting the Su n.

    After all, he was essentially ckmailing arge organization. No one could anticipate what would happen in the future.

    Drawing this dividing line was in and of itself a protection for the Su n.

    Su Chen¡¯s grudge with the Su n ran deep, but he would personally deal with those whom he hated. He would not use someone else¡¯s hand to aplish it.

    If he were to bring disaster upon the Su n because of his own actions, the nature of that would bepletely different. No matter how unfairly the Su n treated him, it had not progressed to the point where he was willing to exterminate them.

    ¡°Then what¡¯s the second reason?¡± The ck-clothed person was not stupid, just a bit foolish. With one there would definitely be a second.

    ¡°I¡¯m not satisfied with the Su n¡¯s magic techniques,¡± Su Chen said straightforwardly. ¡°The Su n is just a newly rich household. It was established single-handedly by my grandfather, but because of this its foundation is not deep enough and is actually too shallow for my needs. It¡¯s the most meager of the four households. When discussing magic techniques or Origin Skills, the number that we have is pitiful. For your organization to be able to carelessly pull out four Origin Tools means that its strength must be many times that of the Su n. I believe that they definitely have better magic techniques. When cultivating, it¡¯s best to choose one quality product over ten crappy ones.¡±

    In actuality, there was a third reason, which was that Su Chen wanted to conceal the fact that he had already entered the Qi Drawing Realm. The Su n¡¯s magic techniques and Origin Skills could only be taken for free when one had reached the boundary of Body Tempering. He did not intend on revealing his true strength, so he could only seek outside help. However, he did not need to tell the ck-clothed man this point.

    Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s words, the ck-clothed person was very satisfied. ¡°Of course, if you want to talk about outstanding cultivation techniques, even the Hidden Dragon Library might not beparable to our Eternal......¡±

    The ck-clothed person hurriedly put on the brakes, narrowly avoiding speaking out the name of his organization.

    Su Chen pretended not to notice, ¡°That is to say that it is possible to make this transaction?¡±

    ¡°I need to go back and ask,¡± the ck-clothed person postured. However, based on the other party¡¯s tone, there shouldn¡¯t be any difficulties with this.

    ¡°Now can you tell me your name?¡±

    ¡°You can call me... Night Demon.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 44: Buying Origin Skills

    Chapter 44: Buying Origin Skills

    Night Demon appeared again the next night.

    Perhaps it was because he hade many times and was familiar with Su Chen, but when he came in his first words were, ¡°I¡¯m hungry. Are there any pastries left over from yesterday?¡±

    ¡°......Wait a moment, I¡¯ll go get some for you.¡±

    Su Chen returned after a brief moment. He saw that Night Demon was sitting cross-legged on his bed, ying around with a stone. Every time the stone tumbled, it would let out the cry of a phoenix.

    Su Chen said, ¡°That¡¯s the Ocean Sound Stone. If you like it you can have it.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± Night Demon replied disdainfully. ¡°Ocean Sound Stones only exist three thousand feet below sea level. Only the Ocean Race can harvest them. They are one of the materials necessary to make a Recording Box.¡±

    ¡°You actually know of the Ocean Race and Recording Boxes?¡± Su Chen purposefully acted surprised.

    Night Demon grabbed the pastries from him. ¡°Don¡¯t look down on others so much, will you? Everyone knows the six Great Races.¡±

    ¡°Six?¡± Su Chen this time was genuinely surprised. ¡°I only know of five: the Human Race, the Feathered Race, the Ocean Race, the Spirit Race, and the Ferocious Race. What¡¯s thest one?¡±

    ¡°The Arcana Race! The Arcana Race that is stronger than the other five Great Races Combined,¡± Night Demon responded.

    ¡°But they are already extinct and have disappeared into the ocean of history,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Who said?¡± Night Demon opened his eyes wide, ¡°The Arcana Race never went extinct. They have just gone into hibernation.¡±

    ¡°Is that so,¡± Su Chen indifferently replied.

    As if he realized that he had said too much, Night Demon did not continue talking about that topic. He waved his hand, and a pile of pearls appeared on the bed. Each one emitted a faint light, making them look like small balls of light.

    Spatial Ring?

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes shined for a moment, but he pretended as if he hadn¡¯t noticed anything.

    ¡°These are the things that you wanted. Take your time and pick them.¡±

    ¡°I cannot see.¡±

    ¡°No worries, pick any one of them, and what you need to know will automatically enter your mind. However, there is an Origin seal on it, so what you can see now is just the summary. Once you decide that you want it, the Origin seal will opened.

    As Night Demon spoke, he began to eat the pastries.

    Su Chen picked up one of the pearls. Indeed, words began to appear in his mind.

    Some kind of Soul Mirage technique?

    It allowed one to project some kind of image directly onto another person¡¯s perception.

    This was quite a powerful skill. Only special Origin Tool masters could use such a technique to create this kind of pearl.

    The cultivation method that allowed one to use this skill was likely simrly outstanding.

    At the moment, Su Chen had picked up a pretty good mid-tier Absorption Technique called the ¡°Amoluo Breathing Technique¡±. It utilized strong breathing to increase the rate of Origin Energy entering the body. It was much stronger than many other simr absorption techniques of the same tier. However, it had a w; it required many environmental conditions, such as a ce with plentiful air, at a high elevation, and the temperature had to be very hot. If one was confined in a closed space, it would be hard to breathe, and one¡¯s strength would also decrease. In severe cases, one could suffocate.

    Su Chen could not ept such a great weakness, so he put down the pearl of light and picked up another one.

    This pearl contained an Origin Skill called the ¡°Thunder Drawing Technique¡±. This Origin Skill could not create thunder, but it could attract thunder. Thus, someone would first need to be around thunder and lightning, before they could use the Thunder Drawing Technique to attack. However, because the technique only conducted the thunder, the strength of that thunder could surpass the limits of one¡¯s cultivation base and Origin Power strength. It was particrly powerful on days with thunderstorms, but otherwise it was not very good.

    Su Chen switched to another one, picking up an Origin Skill called ¡°ck Fog Technique¡±. It could release arge amount of ck fog, limiting one¡¯s vision in the fog. It was quite a useful Origin Skill. However, this skill required that the user possess a bloodline of a dark-attribute beast in order to use it.

    He switched again.

    ¡°Brilliance Technique¡± added bright light to one¡¯s weapon. It could disperse any darkness but could also directly harm and kill dark- or filth-attribute beings. However, because of this, one would be a very obvious target.

    ¡°Windspeed Technique¡± would increase one¡¯s or someone else¡¯s speed.

    ¡°Fireball Technique¡± created arge fireball to attack the opponent.

    ¡°Shadow Body Technique¡± allowed one¡¯s shadow to temporarily be alive and be a doppelganger, helping one in battle. It required the bloodline of a mirage-attribute beast to use.

    ......

    Wait a moment.

    As Su Chen continued to look at them one by one, the corner of his mouth pulled up into an unnoticeable smile.

    Interesting!

    Su Chen discovered that many of the Origin Skills that Night Demon had given him contained traces of ancient Arcana techniques.

    The Arcana techniques were Origin Skills that the Arcana Race had created.

    The greatest difference between current Origin Skills and Arcana techniques was that their manifestations were very different.

    Ancient Arcana techniques were primarily used to harm others from long-distance, and the Arcana Race¡¯s Origin Skills primarily focused on long-range attacks. In addition, very few focused on improving one¡¯s foundation.

    One could also say that an Arcana technique only contained an attack, and had no other nuance to it.

    The fireball was very representative of an ancient Arcana technique. It created a fireball andunched it at its attacker. The skill did not care about the oue of that attack.

    So how were current Origin Skills different?

    Current Origin Skills mainly focused on overallpatibility,bining long-, mid-, and short-range, as well as how one¡¯s strength was use.

    For instance, the Dazzling Sun Sword Technique that Su Feihu cultivated was aplete sword technique. It had a total of nine stances, so it was also called the Dazzling Sun Nine Styles. This was also an Origin Skill, but it had a total of nine basic sword paths and hundreds ofbinations and usage styles.

    From the standpoint of power or distance, arge fireball was much better than one sword strike. However, if one also factored in Origin Energy consumption, the Dazzling Sun Sword Technique, which could strike with nine different stances and many variations was much stronger and more flexible than a single fireball technique.

    The reason for these differences was that these techniques were created in different periods with different races, that had different needs and strengths.

    In ancient times, Origin Energy was rtively abundant. The Arcana Race had very powerful minds, but their bodies were weak. Thus, they did not pursue close-quarterbat, and they had no need of being conservative of their Origin Energy usage.

    In the modern era, Origin Energy was much rarer than before, and cultivating also became more difficult. The focus became more centered on how to fully utilize the strength of an Origin Skill. Adding on the fact that humans had stronger physique than the Arcana Race, newer cultivation and battle methods surpassed the previous system that the Arcana Race had used.

    Even so, a few ancient Origin Skills had still been passed down.

    One had to admit that although these Origin Skills were not appropriate given the time period, they were still quite useful in certain circumstances. Though they had been rendered somewhat useless by time, they had yet topletely back out of the limelight. However, they were no longer the main focus.

    Forty percent of what Night Demon had brought him were ancient Arcana techniques, forty percent were current Origin Skills, and the remaining twenty percent were new Origin Skills that had been produced after the two hadbined. They were also the most valuable out of all the Origin Skills and were called Improved Arcana Technique.

    For there to be so many ancient Arcana techniques and Improved Arcana techniques, as well as considering what Night Demon had spoken earlier, Su Chen¡¯s understanding of this organization continued to deepen.

    Of course, he didn¡¯t say anything outwardly. Instead, he quietly chose the Origin Skills that he needed.

    ¡°Did you finish picking?¡± Night Demon asked, his voice muffled. He was still locked in battle with the pastries, so his mouth was filled with food.

    ¡°Pretty much.¡± Su Chen picked out three balls of light.

    Night Demon looked at them for a moment, then mumbled, ¡°Flowing Wind Body Technique, Soul Eye, and Dartfrog Absorption Technique...... So it was actually these three.¡±

    The Flowing Wind Body Technique was of the rarely-seen passive Origin Skill category. It didn¡¯t have any explosive qualities to it, but once it was mastered, it would improve one¡¯s strength, speed, and reaction time, creating a holistic improvement. It was basically an Origin Skill that gave oneself certain attributes and was a kind of Improved Arcana Technique.

    The reason why Su Chen selected this was because of the ck Streak Battle de.

    As a grade eight Origin Tool this de was too easy to use.

    However, the high energy consumption rate made it so that he was unable to manifest the de¡¯s full power. Even after entering the Qi Drawing Realm, he could only use the blood aura four times. This made Su Chen realize that strengthening his physical body was the best way to deal with this. With the Flowing Wind Body Technique, his physique would receive an additional bonus. Hopefully, this would allow him to use the battle de a few more times. Of course, he could not tell Night Demon this, since Night Demon believed that Su Chen would not have any opportunity to use the ck Streak Battle de anymore. Only Su Chen knew that before long this ck Streak Battle de would once againnd in his hands.

    As for the Soul Eye, it was a soul-rted pupil technique. It was also an Improved Arcana Technique. The user would have to stare at the opponent, then activate a soul attack. Firstly, Su Chen wanted to experiment with this technique and see if any special effects would ur when he used it, and secondly, he wanted to temper the strength of his soul. That way, in the future if he were to use the remaining Cracked Soul Magic Pearls, his ability to resist any injury to his soul would increase. At the same time, he wanted to see if cultivating this Soul Eye technique would allow his eyes to evolve once more. That way, he could aplish many things all at once. Because of this, even blind people could learn and use the Soul Eye. However, whether or not this attack wouldnd was an entirely different matter.

    The reason Su Chen gave was that because he was blind, no one would expect him to have a pupil technique and no one would avoid looking him in the eyes. This would give him more opportunities. In addition, if he were to use this soul attack enough, perhaps it would stimte his eyes.

    This was a reasonable exnation.

    But Night Demon believed that Su Chen was just greedy. Soul-type Origin Skills were very rarely seen and were difficult to obtain. Upon obtaining it, even if he couldn¡¯t use it, it could still be passed on.

    The final technique, the Dartfrog Absorption Technique, was a very unique absorption technique. It was an ancient Arcana Technique that allowed one to assimte Origin Energy not just through breathing but also through one¡¯s skin. The Dartfrog Absorption Technique was not a particrly high-tier absorption technique; it was actually a low-tier one. Although one could breathe through one¡¯s skin, its efficiency was not very high and did not have much of an advantage over other absorption techniques. Absorption techniques were needed for long-term cultivation, however; only absolute strength was the most important.

    The reason why Su Chen picked this technique was very simple. Those dots of Origin Light were absorbed through the skin. Raising absorption through that medium would also increase his cultivation rate.

    The techniques most suited for him were the best ones.

    Of course, the reasons that Su Chen gave was that he was ¡°Out of money, so I can only be frugal.¡±

    However, this was not entirely a lie. Two Origin Skills and an absorption technique costed Su Chen a thousand low-grade Origin Stones.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t have so many Origin Stones on his own. He had used some from the four businesses that he had taken earlier.

    Night Demon expressed dissatisfaction over the fact that he was willing to buy rare Origin Skills that would not be of particr use to him rather than buying a more practical mid-tier absorption technique.

    ¡°You¡¯re making a big mistake.¡± Night Demon nced at him with sympathy upon seeing that her advice was fruitless.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Leave a way for me to contact you. That way, if there is a day that I truly regret it, I can at least find you to buy new ones.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 45: Blind People are Not Easy to Push Around

    Chapter 45: Blind People are Not Easy to Push Around

    In the following days, Su Chen had a new responsibility apart from going to the True Jade Pavilion to learn from Tang Zhen. Every day, he had to cultivate his new absorption technique and Origin Skills.

    What¡¯s important to note is that absorption techniques and Origin Skills served different purposes and are cultivated differently.

    Absorption techniques would increase one¡¯s cultivation base, increasing one¡¯s strength by assimting more Origin Energy. What improved was one¡¯s holistic strength and Origin Energy levels.

    Origin Skills were methods to use Origin Energy. What they honed was one¡¯sbat ability.

    The two shared absolutely nomon ground. That is to say, cultivating an Origin Skill did nothing to increase one¡¯s cultivation base.

    The same could be said for producing Origin Stones.

    Origin Stones were obtained by infusing one¡¯s Origin Energy into a special stone that could hold it. However, using Origin Energy to do so was not the same thing as cultivating and would not increase one¡¯s cultivation base. In addition, the pure Origin Energy in the body would umte impurities after it entered the Origin Stone. Thus, they could only be used to recover the Origin Energy that one used; they could not be used to increase one¡¯s cultivation base.

    Thus, creating Origin Stones would only grant one riches, but did nothing to increase one¡¯s cultivation base.

    If one viewed cultivation as a process of leveling up, then leveling up,bat prowess and riches were three horse carriages that were traveling parallel to one another. It was impossible to ride more than one at a time.

    Of course, this didn¡¯t mean that one couldn¡¯t switch between them.

    One could exchange Origin Stones for precious spirit herbs and medicine, which could be used to increase one¡¯s cultivation. Cultivating a powerful Origin Skill and using it to kill powerful Vicious Beasts could also grant one riches. Increasing one¡¯s cultivation base could simrly allow one¡¯s Origin Skills to be stronger and increase one¡¯s battle prowess.

    The three could be considered toplement each other. As for which area to focus on and develop most, that depended on individual preference and selection.

    Those who enjoyed doing business could infuse their Origin Energy to make Origin Stones as their capital. Those without entrepreneurial leanings and who didn¡¯t want to take risks could spend their time absorbing Origin Energy and steadily advance. Those who loved battle would cultivate their Origin Skills. Although their cultivation bases were simrly important, they did not have as immediate a result as cultivating an Original Skill.

    Without question, Su Chen would pick the third route.

    This was the most radical and dangerous route, but without question it was also the fastest way to gain strength and the most long-term focused route.

    The path of an Origin Qi Schr was a path of heroes in the first ce. Only the strongest and bravest heroes could travel the farthest on this path.

    As for Su Chen, he had an even simpler reason for choosing this path ¨C the Origin Energy dots.

    Only through battle could he utilize his ability to see Origin Energy lights.

    Thus, for the most part, what Su Chen cultivated the most was the Flowing Wind Body Technique and the Soul Eye.

    In only a month¡¯s time, Su Chen¡¯s Flowing Wind Body had reached the stage of small sess.

    His physical body had experienced a great increase in terms of strength. If he had the strength of ten horses at the ninthyer of Body Tempering, then once he had entered the Qi Drawing Realm, Su Chen had the strength of twenty horses. Now that he had cultivated the Flowing Wind Body Technique, in just a month of time Su Chen¡¯s strength had increased by another ten horses. His speed and reaction time had also significantly increased.

    Comparatively, his cultivation of the Soul Eye was much slower.

    After a month of cultivating, Su Chen had only formed a preliminary Origin Energy talisman. He had not yet gotten to setting up the Origin Energy pattern yet.

    Origin Energy patterns were a specialponent of using Arcana techniques. Origin Qi Schrs had to condense an Origin Energy pattern before being able to release the corresponding Arcana technique. Every Arcana Origin Skill had a corresponding Origin Energy pattern. Even people who cultivated the same kind of Arcana technique might have small differences in their Origin Energy patterns.

    Inparison, current Origin Skills did not require any Origin Energy patterns,; instead, it only required an Origin Energy talisman. During battle, one only had to activate this Origin Energy talisman to release the corresponding Origin Skill.

    Whenpared to an Origin Energy pattern, an Origin Energy talisman was much more flexible, but the power they could produce was rtively lower.

    In any case, ancient Arcana techniques mainly focused on long-range, explosive attacks. Current Origin Skills focused on adaptability, sustainability, and limiting Origin Energy waste.

    Neither one was objectively superior to the other. It only depended on which one fit the situation. Current Origin Skills were better suited for the current environment, so ancient Arcana techniques slowly began to disappear.

    However, the Improved Arcana technique that Su Chen had obtained was slightly different. It incorporated the benefits of ancient Arcana techniques and current Origin Skills. One had to construct both an Origin Energy talisman and an Origin Energy pattern, greatly enhancing both the flexibility and the strength of this Improved Arcana technique. However, the difficulty in learning them was extremely high, since one had to study not only the Origin Energy pattern but also the Origin Energy talisman.

    The Flowing Wind Body Technique was not so bad. Passive Origin Skills were not veryplicated, so they were rtively easier to cultivate. However, the Soul Eye was an exemry model ofbining the two routes.

    After cultivating for a month, Su Chen could barely activate the Soul Eye. Every time he activated it, he had to spend lots of time and energy to do so. He was far from being able to use it as he wished. As for determining any additional effects that the Soul Eye would have on his own eyes, he had ced that to the side for now. It would require a certain level of understanding and experience of Origin Skills in the first ce.

    What truly made Su Chen excited, however, was his improvement in the Snaking Mist Steps.

    One time, when he was practicing the Snaking Mist Steps, Su Chen unintentionally infused his Origin Energy into it. Unexpectedly, the speed of the Snaking Mist Steps drastically increased.

    The Snaking Mist Steps was originally a kind of Origin Skill, but it could only be used to its full potential when one possessed Origin Energy. Otherwise, it could not have been considered one of the Gu n¡¯s three absolute techniques. His Origin Energy talisman had already been formed when he had been initially practicing it. However, it had gradually been awakened after he became an Origin Qi Schr. However, techniques like the Su n¡¯s ming Tiger Fist could not establish a talisman while still in the Body Refinement stage. If he wanted that technique to be an Origin Skill, he would have to cultivate it.

    This also meant that Su Chen had three Origin Skills. His strength had increased in leaps and bounds from how he was before.

    Unfortunately, the level of his cultivation base basically had not changed.

    A month and a half ago, Su Chen was in the firstyer of the Qi Drawing Realm and had twelve Yellow Stars. A month and a halfter, Su Chen was still in the firstyer of the Qi Drawing Realm and still only had twelve Yellow Stars.

    This was the oue of focusing all one¡¯s efforts on cultivating Origin Skills.

    However, Su Chen did not care. He had devised a n long before this.

    Today was a good day to execute it.

    The sky was clear, and the sun was shining bright.

    Su Chen returned from the True Jade Pavilion. Just as he got off his horse carriage, a footboy came to greet him, ¡°Fourth Young Master has returned.¡±

    Ever since he had beaten Su Chen and crippled Mo Dayan, then further beaten Yan Wushuang, Su Chen¡¯s name had begun to flourish. At the very least, underlings no longer dared to provoke this Young Master.

    Even if the other party was a ¡°blind person¡±, they were not someone that could carelessly be provoked.

    Of course, those of the same status as him might not care.

    Just as Su Chen had answered and was going to head through the door, someone else walked out of it, directly running into Su Chen.

    It was Su Qian.

    Perhaps there was something that he was rushing to do, but Su Qian¡¯s head was lowered as he was rushing somewhere. He didn¡¯t expect that he would actually crash headlong into Su Chen.

    Originally, this matter wasn¡¯t really a big deal. However, Su Qian¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Damned blind man, only knowing how to block the road.¡±

    Although he had inadvertently blurted it out, it was something that he had suppressed for many years in his heart. Thus, he didn¡¯t think very much about it when he spoke.

    Perhaps even if he had thought about it, Su Qian may still have said this anyways.

    Although Su Chen had beaten Su Qian before, Su Qian always believed that Su Chen had only been lucky. If they had another opportunity to exchange blows, he definitely would not lose.

    It was this belief that made Su Qian believe that he was still the strongest among the Su n¡¯s third generation, even though Su Chen had painfully beaten Su Yue and crippled Mo Dayan.

    Upon hearing Su Qian speak, Su Chen¡¯s eyebrows raised slightly. ¡°What did you say?¡±

    ¡°I said ¡®you damned blind person, you¡¯re blocking my way. What, are you not satisfied?¡± Su Qian replied, his expression full of provocation.

    So what if I call you a damned blind person, what can you do to me?

    However, he silently retreated a few steps.

    Su Chen acted as if he hadn¡¯t noticed. He thought for a moment, then said, ¡°Although I received a small amount of benefit from myst trip to the Scarlet Mountain Range, I¡¯ve always been a little regretful that I never obtained a Cloud Bat. You know that was the reason why I had chosen the Scarlet Punishment in the first ce.¡±

    Hm?

    What did he mean, saying this now?

    Su Qian did not understand.

    Su Chen had already spoken, ¡°What I mean is that I want to go there again.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s expression suddenly changed.

    Su Qian retreated again.

    But it was already toote.

    In front of him, Su Chen suddenly morphed into a shadow. In an instant, he had closed the distance between him and Su Qian, directly mming into Su Qian¡¯s bosom.

    His left hand had alreadytched onto Su Qian¡¯s throat. Su Chenughed darkly, ¡°I¡¯ve got you now.¡±

    Su Qian was extremely surprised. He was already being extremely careful, but why was it that no matter how he tried to evade it, he was still instantly grabbed?

    In the next moment, Su Chen¡¯s Iron Fist had already been directed towards Su Qian.

    Directly mming into the bridge of Su Qian¡¯s nose.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 46: Silly Girl

    Chapter 46: Silly Girl

    ¡°What did you say? You got Scarlet Punishment again?¡±

    Night Demon¡¯s voice was extremely shrill, as if his throat had been pinched by a door..

    A gaze filled with anger and confusion was directed at Su Chen from underneath a ck veil. His voice was rough, ¡°What did you do?¡±

    ¡°It was nothing, really. I just beat Su Qian a little.¡±

    ¡°Was it severe?¡±

    Su Chen tilted his head and thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°It wasn¡¯t really that bad. I just broke the bridge of his nose, knocked out two of his teeth, ripped his left ear into shreds, poked his eyes so that they swell ¨C he won¡¯t be able to see for about three days ¨C and then I broke his right shoulder...... I was very proper with my actions. They are all things that are easy to take care of.¡±

    Night Demon inhaled sharply. She 1 could imagine Su Qian¡¯s appearance and the Su n members¡¯ anger.

    Of course, they all swallowed their anger in astonishment when they heard Su Chen say ¡°I choose the Scarlet Punishment.¡±

    On that day, everyone in the Su n looked at Su Chen as if they were looking at a crazy man.

    They had no way of imagining it, nor did they understand it.

    ¡°Why did you do this?¡± Night Demon asked.

    ¡°Because I want to break through. I want to get the Cloud Bat Bloodline, I want to be stronger, and I wanted to unrestrainedly beat the people I want to beat,¡± Su Chen replied.

    In some sense, the words that he spoke were all genuine.

    Night Demon was left speechless.

    After a moment, she said with some difficulty, ¡°For you to return from the Scarlet Mountain Range once does not mean that you will be able to return twice. Do you know what kind of people die the fastest in the Scarlet Mountain Range?¡±

    ¡°Weak people?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Night Demon shook her head. ¡°Weak people know that they are weak. Thus, they never do things that they feel ufortable doing. They act carefully, and treat survival as their number one goal, and they will not go to dangerous areas easily. The people that die the fastest are those who have a certain amount of strength and who have a certain level of experience surviving in the mountain range. Having sessfully exited the Scarlet Mountain Range before, they feel as if they are already used to the dangers hidden in that ce. In addition, because they are stronger than before, they believe that they can go to more dangerous areas. Because they have more confidence, they look down on the danger hidden in those mountains...... The moment that they let down their guard is the moment when their death is imminent.¡±

    Su Chen shivered.

    Night Demon could be pretty silly sometimes, but her words just then were very urate.

    Su Chen was exactly the type of person she had described. After experiencing Scarlet Punishment once and safely returning, he had instinctively underestimated the dangers of the Scarlet Mountain Range. He had already decided that this time he would go deeper into the mountain range and encounter even more Vicious Beasts, saving himself even more time.

    This was a very frightening and life-threatening way of thinking. It indicated that he might run into even greater danger.

    Perhaps he could escape time after time from many dangers, but as long as he failed once...... there would not be any more attempts in the future!

    Upon thinking to this point, Su Chen bowed respectfully to Night Demon. ¡°You¡¯re right to rebuke me. I looked down on the dangers of the Scarlet Mountain Range and overestimated my own abilities.¡±

    Night Demon obviously did not expect Su Chen to listen so carefully to her. She felt pleased with herself. ¡°You¡¯re not too bad; at least you are teachable.¡±

    She was clearly very proud of her wisdom.

    Su Chen secretlyughed.

    Night Demon said, ¡°Since it¡¯s like this, you don¡¯t need to go anymore, right?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I still need to go. After all, I already beat the person, so I back down anyways. What I meant was that my attitude has been adjusted. I will need to prepare myself more and be more careful and prudent, but that doesn¡¯t mean that I will give up so easily. Originally, I was only intending on borrowing the ck Streak Battle de and the Amethyst Battle Armor, but now it seems that I should still borrow all four of them. Also, you should probably give me more medicines and a few more Cracked Soul Magic Pearls.

    Night Demon angrily huffed, ¡°I said so much out ofpassion just to change your mind so you¡¯d extort us a little more?¡±

    ¡°Hey, what do you mean, extort, that sounds so ugly. Let¡¯s call it mutually benefiting. After all, I am not just taking your items without giving them back; didn¡¯t I return everything to youst time?¡± Su Chen yfully defended himself.

    ¡°You haven¡¯t returned the consumables yet.¡±

    ¡°Hmph, is it not enough that I¡¯ll use my own Origin Stones this time? Can¡¯t you just calcte the cost of the medicines and Cracked Soul Magic Pearls and treat it as if I had bought them? Of course, they are all poor quality, so they should be cheaper. Last time, when I bought those techniques from you, no matter what I still helped you do business. Now, I really don¡¯t have much money anymore.¡±

    ¡°This......¡± Night Demon rubbed her chin. ¡°It¡¯s not impossible, but I need to go back and ask first.¡±

    The second night, Night Demon reappeared as usual.

    She got straight to the point. ¡°The leaders agreed to lend you the four Origin Tools after some discussion as well as give you the medicines and the Cracked Soul Magic Pearls for free. Don¡¯t worry, this time they are all good medicines, and you don¡¯t need to pay anything for them.¡±

    ¡°That good? This can¡¯t be true.¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t believe that meat pies would fall from the sky like that.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine as long as you help us take care of something,¡± Night Demon said.

    ¡°What thing?¡±

    ¡°Was there a shipment of goods that came to the Su n a while ago via the Han River?¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°Are you talking about the shipment of wood that the Shengxing Company just received? Yes, my third uncle Su Feihu was in charge of sending that shipment. What? Does your group have designs on this wood shipment?¡±

    ¡°Of course not, we just want you to help us smuggle some things.¡±

    ¡°Smuggle?¡± Su Chen somewhat understood. ¡°Contraband items?¡±

    ¡°No, just some items we just don¡¯t want a few of our opponents to know about.¡±

    ¡°If it doesn¡¯t conflict with the interest of my uncle¡¯spany, I can consider it. However, if the only benefits you have to offer me are some defective tools and medicines on the cheap, it is not enough to convince me.¡±

    ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°When I purchased those techniquesst time, I had borrowed money from the n¡¯s businesses. Although it wasn¡¯t too much, I am still somewhat nervous about the turnover.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll give you three hundred Origin Stones.¡±

    ¡°A thousand.¡±

    ¡°Hey, we¡¯re only asking you to help us carry some things with you!¡± Night Demon¡¯s eyes once again went wide.

    Su Chenzily said, ¡°If you want to pull a n¡¯s Young Master over to your side, you¡¯ll have to spend some capital.¡±

    Night Demon was stunned for a moment beforeughing mockingly, ¡°So you saw through it.¡±

    For them to ask Su Chen to carry some goods for no apparent reason, did it really have to be someone from the Su n who helped them?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t believe that.

    Why was it that after he had experienced the Scarlet Mountain Range, this mysterious organization would still enthusiastically help him? And why were they willing to even sell an extremely rare Origin Skill like the Soul Eye to him at such a low price?

    Obviously, it was to rope him to their side!

    When he thought back to Lin Xie, who he had killed, he knew that this organization was roping in people from all over the ce.

    Some of these people could be Origin Qi Schrs with deep cultivation bases, others could be high-ranking officials, and of course still others could be the Young Masters of ns and sects.

    If even Lin Xie, a minor rtive of the Lin n, had enough value to be roped in, how could Su Chen not have even more value?

    In addition, if they won him over, the chance of any information leaking would be lower.

    Since someone knew about their secret, and they couldn¡¯t kill that person without ruining their ns, then it was best to turn that person into one of their own.

    This was also a pretty good path to take.

    At the same time, Su Chen had no reason to refuse this kind of roping in.

    As he gradually continued to cut ties with the Su n, he would temporarily be a youth who could not continue progressing on his own. He truly needed a new backer, even if that organization might potentially bring him problems in the future.

    Thus, when he had initially proposed the matter of buying techniques, he had been giving the other party a way out. The other party had very clearly understood and epted his intentions. Not only had they sent him many valuable techniques, but they had given him a very favorable price. Thus, they were able to continue doing business with each other.

    And so, things had quickly progressed to the stage where they tested out the waters while winning him over.

    Luring someone in was a step by step process, after all.

    ¡°If the bait isrge enough, one would swallow it even knowing that it was bait,¡± Su Chenzily said. His entire attitude was one of ¡®I¡¯m not worried about being bought out, I¡¯m just worried about whether the price isrge enough¡¯.

    ¡°Okay then, a thousand Origin Stones. May our cooperation be fruitful!¡±

    ¡°May our cooperation be fruitful,¡± Su Chen simrly replied.

    Then he said, ¡°Since we¡¯re already friends, you don¡¯t have to change your voice when you speak. Let me hear what you normally sound like.¡±

    ¡°This......¡± Night Demon hesitated for a moment.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you a woman, was it worth hiding it until now?¡±

    Night Demon opened her eyes wide. ¡°You knew I was a woman?¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s reply made her angry.

    ¡°Only if you were a woman would anyone be able to tolerate such a stupid guest.¡±

    1. Okay, so this probably deserves an exnation. As some of you might have guessed already, Night Demon is a girl. I don¡¯t know why the author decided to suddenly reveal this here, but her name is probably more urately tranted as Night Charm (but I felt it would give it away too much). In any case, I don¡¯t think a strong female character is a bad thing. In any case, I¡¯ve tranted everything up until this point as ¡°he¡±, but from here on out Night Demon is a GIRL.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 47: Once More Unto the Scarlet Mountain Range

    Chapter 47: Once More Unto the Scarlet Mountain Range

    The day of his departure, the entire n was there to send him off.

    The only difference fromst time was that Su Keji could no longer conceal the hatred in his heart. He didn¡¯t even bother with basic courtesy anymore. Whenever he looked at Su Chen, his gaze was filled with poison and viciousness. If the n elder was not present, he most likely would have already rushed forward to teach Su Chen a lesson.

    Su Changche¡¯s expression wasplicated as he stared at this grandson of his.

    He spoke after a long while, ¡°I will ask you one more time. Are you absolutely sure you want to choose Scarlet Punishment? You still have the opportunity to back out; if you change your mind, I can arrange another method of punishment for you.¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Right now, my only desire is to go there.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± The elder let out a sigh. ¡°Since you have chosen the Scarlet Punishment, let everything be done by the rules. It will not be so easy this time, I can no longer take care of you. I decree a hundred days of Scarlet Punishment. You also need to go to the Eastern ckpeak mountain and pick a Scarlet Blood Lotus from its peak. It must be the one that opens at dawn, it must have six petals, and its fragrance must be exotic. Seal it in this jade box and bring it back. Then, go to the Hundred Mountain Peak and harvest one log of Ironbirch Wood, no more. Only retrieve the section between the head and the tail of the nt. The roots must have branches with thorns on them. The tree must also not be more than thirty years of age.¡±

    The real Scarlet Punishment included a few special assignments in addition to exile. By including these tasks, the offender would have a predetermined route, preventing them from finding a ce to turtle up in after entering the forest.

    Last time, Su Changche had taken Su Chen¡¯s blindness into consideration, as well as the fact that he had voluntarily chosen Scarlet Punishment. In addition, Su Chen¡¯s crime was no more than beating a disrespectful underling. Thus, Su Changche had not made any of these requests, implying that it was enough for Su Chen to just survive for a hundred days.

    But now that Su Chen had beaten Su Qian and once again chosen Scarlet Punishment, the circumstances had changed.

    Even though Su Chen was blind, Su Changche could not possibly give him a way out again.

    For a blind person to find a location and harvest certain items, as well as doing so in an extremely treacherous environment, was no easy task. Su Changche wanted Su Chen to know that the Scarlet Mountain Range was not his backyard. It was not a ce where he coulde and go as he pleased, and it was definitely not a ¡°protective talisman¡± that he could use after wantonly flying into a rage.

    Unfortunately, Su Chen had decisively chosen this ¡°protective talisman¡± anyways!

    ¡°Grandson will remember this.¡±

    Su Chen replied with calm confidence, then turned around and left.

    As he gazed at Su Chen¡¯s departing back, Su Changeche had an inexplicable feeling that the Su n was missing something.

    It was impossible for him to get rid of this feeling, and his heart became jittery and unsettled, causing his mood to worsen quite a bit.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Because this time he had additional tasks that he needed toplete, Su Chen did not choose the path that he had previously taken. Instead, not long after he entered the mountain range, Su Chen began heading in the direction of the Eastern ckpeak.

    The Eastern ckpeak and the Hundred Mountain Peak were both rtively well-known peaks in the Scarlet Mountain Range and were not difficult to find. However, they were very far from each other, and to go from one to the other required traversing through arge amount of forest. Thus, even if Su Chen wanted to avoid danger, he would not be able to, so instead he advanced bravely, choosing not to worry about encountering danger and preparing himself for any battles that might happen.

    His first day in the Scarlet Mountain Range passed by without incident. Because he had moved very quickly, Su Chen encountered a Vicious Beast on the second day. However, this beast was mid-tier, and its strength was simr to the upper limit of the Qi Drawing Realm. Su Chen was forced to immediately flee. Thankfully, the Vicious Beast was not particrly fast, and Su Chen was able to escape.

    His opening encounter was unsessful, dealing Su Chen¡¯s confidence a heavy blow. Once again, he was reminded of what Night Demon had said before.

    Su Chen became even more careful.

    In his heart, he couldn¡¯t help but sigh that his eyes had not yet developed long-range vision. This way, if any dangers appeared, he would be able to see them from afar.

    But as he thought about it, he realized that this would make him someone who only bullied the weak and feared the strong. In the future, he would encounter many more dangers, and in order to grow strong, he needed to take them head on as a way to progress.

    No matter how one put it, his main goal was still to increase his strength.

    In the end, Su Chen did not encounter any other exceptions like that mid-tier Vicious Beast. The fourth day that Su Chen arrived in the Scarlet Mountain Range, he encountered his first low-tier Vicious Beast on this trip ¨C a Mountain Armored Beast.

    Using his four Origin Tools, Su Chen easily killed this Mountain Armored Beast.

    The blood aura cut sliced the Vicious Beast in two, and the beast¡¯s blood drenched the ground beneath his feet.

    Upon exercising his Dartfrog Absorption Technique, Su Chen began absorbing the Origin Energy motes that were floating around in the air.

    As Su Chen had expected, his rate of assimtion of those Origin Energy motes had greatly increased. Of the thousand or so Origin Energy motes, Su Chen was originally able to absorb roughly thirteen to fourteen. However, with the Dartfrog Absorption Technique, he was able to absorb roughly twenty or so. This implied that every Vicious Beast he killed would raise his strength by two White Stairs, or 0.2 of a Yellow Star. The peak of the Qi Drawing Realm was a hundred Yellow Stars, so as long as he killed roughly five hundred low-tier Vicious Beasts, he would be able to break through.

    Of course, this calction didn¡¯t really mean all that much. There would always be loss when assimting energy, and different Vicious Beasts possessed different amounts of Origin Energy. Even so, Su Chen¡¯s cultivation base had greatly increased.

    Upon confirming the value of the Dartfrog Absorption Technique to himself, Su Chen no longer hesitated. He continued to head deeper into the Scarlet Mountain Range.

    Because he continued to go deeper, Su Chen began to encounter many more Vicious Beasts.

    At first, he would only encounter one every two or three days, but very quickly he began to run into different kinds of Vicious Beasts every day.

    Since Su Chen was now an official Origin Qi Schr and possessed four Origin Tools. He was very well-equipped. Not many in the entire Scarlet Mountain Range couldpare with him. In one-on-one situations, low-tier Vicious Beasts were basically not his opponent. Encountering Su Chen was the same as sending themselves to their deaths.

    However, as Su Chen began to encounter more and more Vicious Beasts, other unforeseen situations also began to pop up.

    Su Chen would also asionally run into a few mid-tier Vicious Beasts or hordes of Vicious Beasts on the prowl.

    Whenever Su Chen encountered these kinds of situations, he couldn¡¯t help but flee in a sorry state. The Cloud-Stepping Battle Boots were thus his mostmonly used Origin Tool.

    Night Demon was absolutely correct. The more one¡¯s¡¯ strength and self-confidence increased, the greater the dangers one would encounter.

    Thest time he went to the Scarlet Mountain Range, Su Chen had to run away a total of four times. This time, in less than ten days Su Chen had already fled from three different groups, leaving him with a sour feeling.

    Perhaps this was also a truth of human life. No matter how one¡¯s strength increases, there is always a higher heaven, an insurmountable obstacle ahead.

    When faced with these circumstances, some chose to give up, while others chose to continue on without stopping.

    Su Chen naturally belonged to thetter group of people.

    These unanticipated encounters caused Su Chen to be more careful and prudent, but despite being in the dangerous forest, he would not forget his goal of honing hisbat prowess and Origin Skills.

    Perhaps it was because these life-and-death battles were drawing out his full potential, but just half a month of experiencing these difficulties caused Su Chen to experience a significant breakthrough in his usage of the Soul Eye. Now, he could use it normally, without enormous amounts of preparation. However, because the Soul Eye was still extremelyplex, it would take some time before he could use it as he wished.

    This was a unique attribute of soul-type Origin Skills, which was that even if one could cultivate them to perfection, they were very difficult to activate multiple times in a row.

    In any case, the progression of his Soul Eye caused Su Chen¡¯s strength to once again increase. As long as the Vicious Beast wasn¡¯t too powerful, Su Chen could handle them even if two came at him at once.

    As his strength increased, he could also choose to fight more often. Correspondingly, the unanticipated encounters that left him fleeing also began to decrease in numbers.

    As these unanticipated encounters decreased, the danger would also decrease, and the time that he could utilize would increase. This in turn would boost Su Chen¡¯s cultivation base and overall strength, resulting in a positive cycle.

    A month after arriving at the Scarlet Mountain Range, Su Chen had already finished the two tasks that Su Changche had left for him. He had also killed twenty four low-tier Vicious Beasts, and he had risen anotheryer in the Qi Drawing Realm, as well as going from twelve Yellow Stars to seventeen. At the same time, he had also be more and more familiar with the Soul Eye technique.

    What made him distinct from other people was that while Su Chen was not inbat, he could focus all his attention on cultivating his Origin Skills, causing his battle prowess to increase in leaps and bounds.

    Today, Su Chen found a mountain to climb, and just as he always did, he stood at the peak, scanning his surroundings for any Vicious Beasts that he could hunt.

    Just as he was searching, he found that there was a person hurriedly rushing over in the distance. Behind that person were two Rainbow Twin-Tailed Tigers.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 48: Zhang Yuanliao

    Chapter 48: Zhang Yuanliao

    The more time one spent in the forest, the more difficult it was to avoid running into others.

    During his previous sentence, Su Chen had also encountered a few other people. They would even asionally exchange provisions and information.

    Most people in the Scarlet forests weremon hunters. Their strength was not great, but they often had an abundance of survival experience and knew how to avoid danger. They could sense the arrival of Vicious Beasts from very far away and retreat very quickly. Su Chen had learned a method to discover Vicious Beasts from an old hunter. He could find Vicious Beasts using his sense of smell. Otherwise, if he were only to rely on the hit-or-miss method of using his eyes, his sess rate would be low and the danger would be great.

    There were also a few Origin Qi Schrs like him who were adventuring in the forest and targeting Vicious Beasts.

    The young man that was being chased by two Rainbow Twin-Tailed Tigers was an Origin Schr. Regr hunters were not qualified to be chased down by Vicious Beasts, they would have died before they even knew what happened.

    Rainbow Twin-Tailed Tigers were quite valuable because of their hides. Naturally, Su Chen didn¡¯t want to let go of the opportunity. Instead of rushing over, however, Su Chen hid in a tree that was in the path of the person who was running away.

    The young male furiously ran. As he passed by below the tree, he didn¡¯t even notice that there was a person above him. Just as the two Rainbow Tigers were rushing past Su Chen, Su Chen had already dived downwards,nding on the back of the Rainbow Tiger that was trailing. That Rainbow Tiger let out a roar of rage, its twin iron tails smashing towards Su Chen. The Amethyst Battle Armor that Su Chen was wearing began to shine, and the barrier on his back blocked this strike. At the same time, his right hand unleashed a savage attack at the tiger¡¯s throat.

    The throat was one of the Rainbow Tiger¡¯s vital spots. With one attack, that Rainbow Tiger had lost all of its strength, and Su Chen had bound up the tiger. He was actuallypeting with the Rainbow Tiger in terms of strength. Because he had cultivated the Flowing Wind Body Technique, his strength had greatly increased, allowing him to challenge this Vicious Beast on the basis of brute strength.

    When the Rainbow Tiger chasing the other person heard themotion and turned around it saw Su Chen dominating the other tiger. It instantly gave up chasing the other person and turned around to charge at Su Chen.

    ¡°Stop him!¡± Su Chen yelled, at the same time preparing himself to release the Soul Eye.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes released a beam of light, which mmed directly into the eyes of the Rainbow Tiger. The tiger¡¯s figure trembled, before it stopped in its tracks, dazed.

    At the same time, the person who was running away had also reacted. He hurriedly turned around and struck out with a de on the Rainbow Tiger¡¯s head before it could regain consciousness.

    Su Chen¡¯s heart ached as he looked on: another good tiger hide had been wasted.

    However, his hands exerted even more force, furiously garroting the fierce tiger below him in an effort to choke it out.

    The Rainbow Tiger also went all-out. With an enraged roar, it jumped up, and Su Chen and the tiger both were tangled up with each other and began to roll. They continued rolling until they disappeared from sight. The young male who had tried to escape was very anxious, unsure as to who had won.

    After a brief moment, the forest once again moved.

    A youth walked out from the forest, holding a massive tiger corpse in his hand.

    The youth had won.

    The young male¡¯s heart rxed.

    Su Chen tossed the tiger corpse next to a tree, then began to divide the tiger¡¯s corpse. ¡°Have you not finished it off yet? Do you need me to make a move? But if that¡¯s the case, then half of that Vicious Beast will be mine.¡±

    The young male said loudly, ¡°There¡¯s no need, I can take care of it.¡±

    As he spoke, his Azure Scale de had already let out many streaks of light, causing blood to spurt out from all over the tiger. Su Chen could only shake his head in dismay.

    Having been shed so many times, that skin could be consideredpletely useless.

    After a brief moment, the young male had finally killed the Rainbow Tiger. He sat down instantly, exhausted, then said as he wiped away the sweat on his forehead, ¡°Many thanks. I say, you clearly have a knife. Why didn¡¯t you use it? Why use your fists to kill it instead?¡±

    He pointed at the ck Streak Battle de on Su Chen¡¯s back as he spoke.

    ¡°Tiger hides are precious. It¡¯s a pity if they get damaged.¡±

    The young maleughed, ¡°As someone who can afford to use Origin Tools, you still care about this matter?¡±

    He had seen very clearly that when Su Chen was battling with that Rainbow Tiger, if it weren¡¯t for the protection of his Origin Tool armor, Su Chen would not have been able to kill that Rainbow Tiger despiteunching a sneak attack on it. Even more, his battle de and those boots were also strangely shaped. Most likely, they were also Origin Tools

    To possess at least three Origin Tools, this was very rarely seen in the entire Scarlet Mountain Range.

    Su Chen alsoughed, ¡°It seems that even a person without any Origin Tools does not care much for making a small profit.¡±

    The young male¡¯s face reddened. ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t care, I just didn¡¯t have confidence that I could finish it off barehanded.¡±

    ¡°I am theplete opposite of you. I have the confidence that I can do it. Thus, what determines the style of battle that we have is not our background but rather our self-confidence, right?¡±

    The young male was startled, but afterwards he began tough, ¡°What you said is right. My name is Zhang Yuanliao, and Ie from the Zhang n of Westridge.¡±

    ¡°Su Chen, Su n of Northface,¡± Su Chen replied as he continued to focus on skinning the tiger.

    Westridge was not far away from Northface. They were all considered one region of the Scarlet Mountain Range. However, Westridge was obviously much stronger than Northface. Su Chen had heard of the Zhang n of Westridge before. They were an ancient n that was much stronger than the Su n.

    ¡°Su Chen? The Su Chen of the Su n of Northface?¡± Zhang Yuanliao was also shocked.

    ¡°You¡¯ve heard of me before?¡± Su Chen was also slightly shocked. He was not some kind of great figure, yet the other party had heard of him before.

    ¡°I have a few friends in Northface and I have heard about your situation. Aren¡¯t you supposed to be blind?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say that I could see,¡± Su Chen replied unhurriedly. ¡°Some things can be done even without sight.¡±

    Whoosh! As thest tendon was severed by the bone-picking knife, Su Chen lifted his hands, revealing a gorgeous andplete tiger hide that he had meticulously obtained.

    Zhang Yuanliao was stunned.

    Su Chen had already begun breaking apart the tiger skeleton. He reached his hand inside the tiger corpse. He followed the joints until he found the end, then began to slowly but surely pull it out.

    The tiger¡¯s spine was the most valuable bone on the Rainbow Tiger¡¯s body. It could be used to refine a bloodline medicine or to ferment wine to strengthen one¡¯s body. The Rainbow Tiger was still a low-tier Vicious Beast, so using it to refine a bloodline medicine was regarding it too highly, but using it to ferment wine could create extremely high-quality products. Its price was second only to aplete, intact tiger hide.

    Zhang Yuanliao shook his hand in front of Su Chen, but Su Chen appeared as if he did not see it at all, as if only the tiger could capture his attention.

    ¡°He really can¡¯t see...... no wonder he hadunched an aerial attack earlier. To a blind person, this is truly the best way to do battle,¡± Zhang Yuanliao muttered to himself.

    Zhang Yuanliao automatically came up with a new excuse for Su Chen.

    After thinking for a moment, Zhang Yuanliao said, ¡°Our meeting is by fate. In this Scarlet Mountain Range, dangers are everywhere and every step can be fatal. If one loses their concentration for even a moment in this damned ce while gaining experience, it¡¯s all over. I say, are you interested in working together? That way, if we encounter any Vicious Beasts that have paired up, we won¡¯t need to run anymore.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I am used to traveling alone.¡±

    Being able to see Origin Energy lights was his greatest secret. He did not want others to discover it.

    However, Zhang Yuanliao had clearly misunderstood. He nced at Su Chen¡¯s Origin Tools then said, ¡°I know that you have Origin Tools on you and that yourbat ability is higher than mine. How about this, you get sixty percent and I get forty percent?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a matter of how the spoils are divided.¡± Su Chen shook his head. He had alreadypletely taken out the tiger¡¯s entire spine, along with its tail. Next, he slowly began to grope for the tiger¡¯s penis1 . This was the Rainbow Tiger¡¯s only remaining body part that had any value.

    ¡°What if you get seventy percent and I get thirty percent? This should be fine, right?¡± Zhang Yuanliao did not give up. ¡°Su Chen, I have already given you quite a bit of face. Your eyes cannot see, so if I act as your eyes you will definitely be safer and more rxed. I¡¯m only doing this to repay your act of saving me.¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I already said, it¡¯s not a matter of how the spoils are divided.¡±

    Whoosh! Light shed off of the de, and the tiger¡¯s penis was cut off.

    Su Chen stowed the tiger penis away and said, ¡°If you really want to thank me, help me start a fire and cook the meat. Once we finish eating, we can part ways.¡±

    1. Eating the penis of an animal is supposedly able to improve fertility and can also serve as an aphrodisiac. Don¡¯t worry, Su Chen¡¯s not supplying any weird fetishes xD

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 49: Hiding Oneâ€™s Weak Points

    Chapter 49: Hiding One¡¯s Weak Points

    The tree branch that skewered the tiger meat sat rotating over the fire. Sparks flew from time to time as grease dripped into the fire, releasing a tempting fragrance.

    The meat of the Rainbow Tiger was extremely fragrant, but it was also quite tough and did not have a great texture. Biting into it was like biting into meat that had been smoked for a long time. Thankfully, Origin Qi Schrs had good teeth. To them, the quality of meat was irrelevant. More important was the amount of Origin Energy that the Vicious Beast contained. Eating it could increase one¡¯s ability to absorb, rotate, and utilize Origin Energy. It was a great supplement.

    Because heat had ruinous effects on the nutritious value of beast meat, a few Origin Qi Schrs would even choose to eat Vicious Beasts raw.

    Su Chen and Zhang Yuanliao could not do such savage things, but they still began to eat as soon as the tiger meat was cooked.

    Origin Qi Schrs had veryrge appetites. They could eat an entire tiger, bear, leopard, etc. in one sitting. This was mostly because they could exercise an absorption technique to help them absorb anything that was nutritious for them quickly. They did not need to wait for their waste to be discharged before they could continue eating. When there was not much food to be had, they could temporarily hibernate, instead absorbing trace amounts of Origin Energy from the air.

    This caused them to be very efficient in using resources, and every time they sessfully hunted something, they would have a sumptuous meal.

    ¡°Here!¡± Zhang Yuanliao retrieved a piece of meat from the grill that had just finished cooking and gave it to Su Chen.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Su Chen received it and bit into it. His mouth filled with oil, and the fragrance spread very rapidly.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, why has the Su n¡¯s Fourth Young Master run into the Scarlet Mountain Range?¡± Zhang Yuanliao asked.

    ¡°Scarlet Punishment,¡± Su Chen indifferently replied.

    ¡°Scarlet Punishment?¡± Zhang Yuanliao was stunned. ¡°What did you do to force your n to give you Scarlet Punishment?¡±

    ¡°Lots of things...... I crippled an underling, beat up an Aunt, and made it so that a cousin of mine couldn¡¯t get out of bed for ten days.¡±

    Zhang Yuanliao let out a low whistle. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that a blind man would be able to act so viciously.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s precisely because I¡¯m blind that I need to act so viciously...... Grab their vital points and don¡¯t let go!¡± Su Chen lightly smiled.

    Zhao Yuanliao was startled for a moment beforeughing loudly, ¡°Good, well said. I brought some wine with me, as brothers we should drink some together.¡±

    As he spoke, he pulled out a gon and two cups from within his sack.

    He poured a cup for Su Chen, then poured one for himself. Zhang Yuanliao said, ¡°Come, let us have a toast tomemorate our meeting. Meeting each other in this kind of wastnd was fated!¡±

    Su Chen gently took a sip.

    The alcohol was very strong. It burned like fire going down his throat.

    ¡°How is it, pretty strong, right?¡± Zhang Yuanliaoughed, downing the wine in his cup in one gulp, then filling it to the brim.

    ¡°I am not used to drinking strong wine.¡± Su Chen shook his head, then lowered the cup of wine. ¡°That¡¯s right, why is Senior Brother Zhang here in the Scarlet Mountain Range?¡±

    ¡°Some people discovered starsilver ore in the Halcyon Gorge. They believe that there may be a vein of starsilver nearby. I came to see if I could encounter some good fortune,¡± Zhang Yuanliao replied nonchntly.

    ¡°A Starsilver mine?¡± Su Chen was also shocked.

    Starsilver was a rare metal that Origin Qi Schrsmonly used. It was a first-rate Origin Energy conductor that could be used to construct Origin Tools and refine Origin-rted items. It could even be used to supplement one¡¯s cultivation.

    Starsilver was normally not found in isted quantities. If some had been found, most likely there would be a mineable vein nearby.

    Based on what Zhang Yuanliao said, the person who discovered the starsilver in the Halcyon Gorge was amon hunter. He didn¡¯t understand the true value of starsilver; he only thought that it looked pretty, so he brought it with him. Thus, he had not kept it a secret. Once the rumors spread, many people quickly discovered that there could possibly be a starsilver vein in the Halcyon Gorge. Thus, they all went out in search of an opportunity to strike it rich.

    Zhang Yuanliao did the same. Once he received notice, he hurriedly entered the Scarlet Mountain Range, hoping that he could obtain his first substantial sum of money in his life.

    Although cultivators nevercked money because they could produce their own Origin Stones, from another aspect a cultivator¡¯s great need made it so that theycked money more than anyone else. In addition, producing Origin Stones would affect one¡¯s cultivation. A year of hard work would only produce three or four hundred Origin Stones, which was not enough to use. Naturally, Origin Qi Schrs, who were always in need of more wealth, would want to seize any opportunity they possibly could.

    The starsilver vein in the Halcyon Gorge was clearly a great, rare opportunity.

    ¡°This is also why I wanted to tell you. Although the Halcyon Gorge does not have any master, and anyone who wants to go there can, because of this there is no order or restriction, and there are a lot of disputes. Rules and ethical restrictions do not exist there. Even if one were to do evil things, there most likely would not be any consequences. The evil in one¡¯s heart will be erged, and the weak will be prey to the strong there. This is why I want to work together with you. If webine our efforts, we should be able to establish a ce for ourselves there,¡± Zhang Yuanliao pleaded. He had not given up on his goal of allying himself with Su Chen.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t really care. He only responded with an ¡°oh¡±, then continued to eat meat.

    ¡°You¡¯re not interested?¡± Zhang Yuanliao was somewhat surprised. ¡°We¡¯re talking about starsilver here! A small piece of starsilver is worth tens or even hundreds of Origin Stones!¡±

    ¡°But you need to go there to mine it, right?¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°I would rather stay here in this forest and battle Vicious Beasts, consuming their flesh and blood, and skinning them for their hides. In addition, I can continue to temper my body and umte experience rather than depending on luck while mining.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s too slow!¡± Zhang Yuanliao sighed, ¡°People don¡¯t get rich without a windfall!¡±

    ¡°Is that your life¡¯s principle?¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°Then I cannot agree blindly. Oh right, where is the spice jar? Can you help me grab it? I want to put some more on this piece of meat.¡±

    Zhang Yuanliao turned his head around to look, muttering, ¡°Strange, it was just here a moment ago. Where could I have put it?¡±

    Zhang Yuanliao looked around, unable to find it.

    ¡°If you can¡¯t find it that¡¯s fine. In any case, I am pretty much full.¡±

    ¡°Are you leaving?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Okay then, let¡¯s toast one more time, then we can split up.¡± Zhang Yuanliao lifted the cup in his hand.

    Su Chen was not polite either. He simrly forcefully bumped his cup with Zhang Yuanliao¡¯s. The two of them simultaneously gulped down the wine in the cup.

    Upon drinking the wine in his cup, Zhang Yuanliao threw down his cup and said, ¡°Su Chen, you are a real character. Although you are physically disabled, your will is strong. Even though you can¡¯t see, you still dare toe into the Scarlet Mountain Range on your own. I respect you very much.¡±

    Su Chen quietly listened to him talk, not continuing the conversation.

    Zhang Yuanliao continued, ¡°But unfortunately, although you have ambition and willpower, you are only a youth in the end and are still too naive. You don¡¯t have enough experience yet.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s expression was calm. ¡°What do Senior Brother Zhang¡¯s words mean?¡±

    Zhang Yuanliao darklyughed. ¡°Do you want to try and see if you can still circte your Origin Energy?¡±

    Su Chen lowered his head, his blind eyes gazing at his cup. ¡°You drugged the wine? Why?¡±

    ¡°What other reason could it be?¡± Zhang Yuanliao spread his hands out. ¡°Of course it¡¯s because of your Origin Tools. Those are extremely valuable, and yet you as a blind person could safely walk in the Scarlet Mountain Range. How could I not be tempted?¡±

    ¡°So you took action against me? Against your savior?¡±

    Zhang Yuanliao raised his head andughed loudly, lifting the Azure Scales de at the same time. ¡°You¡¯re right, you did save me, but so what? After I kill you, who will find out? I reminded you earlier that no man gets rich without a windfall. In these no man¡¯snds, there are no rules or moral restrictions. The evil in man¡¯s hearts will also be multiplied. But you were too unskilled and didn¡¯t understand what I meant, so how can you me me?¡±

    As Zhang Yuanliao spoke, his expression revealed a thick killing intent. ¡°A blind person wielding Origin Tools is like a little kid walking in a busy marketce while holding onto gold. They do not understand how to hide their weaknesses, so how could they not invite disaster on their own head? Since you are going to die sooner orter and others will profit, why shouldn¡¯t I be the one that profits!¡±

    As he spoke, he chopped downwards onto Su Chen¡¯s head.

    This de strike was both vicious and ferocious. He did not leave any mercy with this strike.

    However, he had just taken a step when he discovered that he had no way of controlling his Origin Energy. His entire body felt empty and weak.

    ¡°Qi Obstructing Powder?¡± Zhang Yuanliao was scared stiff.

    How did the Qi Obstructing Powder that should have been in Su Chen¡¯s stomach end up being ingested by him?

    At the same time, Su Chen struck out with a fist. A powerful fist strikeced with Origin Energy mmed onto Zhang Yuanliao¡¯s face, sending him flying.

    ¡°You weren¡¯t poisoned...... You switched our wine!¡± Zhang Yuanliao began to yell fearfully.

    Su Chen walked over step by step. It was as if he had walked into Zhang Yuanliao¡¯s heart; Zhang Yuanliao felt an immense pressure wash over him.

    ¡°I conveniently switched them out when I told you to look for the spices.¡±

    ¡°You were on guard against me?¡± Zhang Yuanliao was extremely shocked.

    ¡°To tell the truth, I didn¡¯t trust you from the very beginning,¡± Su Chen faintly replied.

    ¡°Why not? I don¡¯t understand.¡± Zhang Yuanliaoy on the ground, appearing as if he hadpletely given up, but his eyes were still whirling around.

    Su Chen pretended not to see as he continued to reply, ¡°Because you didn¡¯t understand gratitude. After I returned from killing that Rainbow Tiger, I said to you that if you needed my help, half of that tiger of yours would belong to me. Do you remember what your reply was?¡±

    ¡°¡®There¡¯s no need¡¯,¡± Zhang Yuanliao said, dazed.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, ¡®there¡¯s no need¡¯,¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°Do you not think that you are quite greedy? After all, I had just saved your life, but you weren¡¯t even willing to split half of a Rainbow Tiger with me. If the person I had saved had any conscience, their response probably would have been: you saved me, everything here is yours ¨C these kinds of words, right?¡±

    Zhang Yuanliao was stunned. He could not speak.

    However, three purplish-ck darts silently appeared in his left hand. One nce and it was apparent that those were poisonous darts.

    ¡°Of course, what I cared about wasn¡¯t a tiger, but rather what this matter implied. Thisck of gratitude meant that no matter what that person did, it would not be surprising.¡±

    ¡°So it was like that,¡± Zhang Yuanliao bitterlyughed. ¡°I truly am a scoundrel, and I truly did not feel any gratitude. No wonder I was seen through by a blind person. However......¡±

    Zhang Yuanliao dragged out his words. His tone suddenly became violent. ¡°This doesn¡¯t mean that you¡¯ve won!¡±

    Whoosh!

    Three poisonous darts flew towards Su Chen, headed for various locations on Su Chen¡¯s body.

    This attack was extremely fast, and the angle it was shot from was strange. Evidently, Zhang Yuanliao had spent a lot of time bitterly practicing this technique.

    Just as the poisonous darts flew into the air, the Cloud-Stepping Battle Boots on Su Chen¡¯s feet shed with light. He flew into the air like smoke, avoiding one of them, then twisted in midair to avoid another one. The remaining one he could not dodge, but Su Chen suddenly did a 180 in midair, his back facing the dart. The Amethyst Battle Armor shone, and thest poisonous dartnded directly on the barrier, falling to the ground with a ¡®ping¡¯.

    Zhang Yuanliao¡¯s heart sank into despair. This definitely was not something that a blind person could do.

    He suddenly realized the truth and began to shout with surprise and fear, ¡°You aren¡¯t blind! You aren¡¯t blind!¡±

    The corner of Su Chen¡¯s mouth quirked upwards in a contemptuous smile as he gazed coldly at Zhang Yuanliao.

    ¡°Four years ago, I encountered an old man. He said that I had a sharp mind, but that I didn¡¯t know how to hide my weak points nor keep a low profile. Thus, he exchanged my eyes, allowing me to see more. At the same time, he helped me to see the world¡¯s true nature. Thus, from that time on, I began to learn what it means to hide my weak points, and what it means to keep a low profile...... Have a good journey!¡±

    ¡°NO!!!¡± 1

    As Zhang Yuanliao screamed in despair, the de fell.

    1. Three exmation points! Whoa.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 50: Li Shu

    Chapter 50: Li Shu

    Zhang Yuanliao had died.

    Felled by the de of Su Chen.

    Because Zhang Yuanliao had been poisoned by the Qi Obstructing Powder, killing him had not used too much of Su Chen¡¯s energy. However, Su Chen still felt ufortable about murdering another man.

    This wasn¡¯t his first time killing someone, but when he killed Lin Xie, all of his attention had been focused on escaping. He had no time to contemte what he had done.

    Although his opponent had been a scoundrel, and although there was no one who would know about his actions, Su Chen¡¯s still felt extremely ufortable in his heart.

    ¡°You¡¯ll get used to it,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself as he held onto a tree.

    He stared at the corpse for no reason other than to force himself to get used to the scene of a person drenched with blood.

    After a long while, the glistening red of the blood was no longer as piercing to Su Chen as it was before. Su Chen then walked over, and pulled a ring off of Zhang Yuanliao¡¯s hand.

    Upon retrieving the ring, Su Chen first tried infusing a strand of Origin Energy into it, only to see that there was no response. Upon further inspection, Su Chen noticed a small mechanism on the face of the ring, and pressed it. A separate, independent space appeared before his eyes, confirming his suspicions; this was indeed a spatial ring.

    The area the ring connected to was notrge, totalling about three cubic meters. Inside were a few changes of clothes, some bottles of wine, a little bit of pure gold and some medicinal vials. One of them Su Chen had seen before; it was the Qi Obstructing Powder that Zhang Yuanliao had given to him. Finally, thest item was a demonic face mask.

    Indeed, it was a spatial storage ring. However, it was just a regr spatial ring with no Origin Energy storage capabilities. Su Chen sighed.

    The first time he had met Zhang Yuanliao, he discovered that he did not carry a bag with him. Thus, Su Chen suspected that he had a spatial storage ring. When drinking wine, Zhang Yuanliao had taken the Qi Obstructing Powder directly out from his spatial ring to poison Su Chen, which had verified his guesses.

    Unfortunately, it was just a ring without Origin Energy storage capabilities.

    A ringcking Origin Energy storage capabilities was generally produced using the lowest-quality ingredients. It could only store regr goods, and could not contain anything with Origin Energy. If anything with Origin Energy was ced inside, such as Origin Tools, Origin Stones, or even other Origin-rted ingredients, they would all affect the stability of the vacant space, causing it to fall apart. These rings were known colloquially as storage rings, to differentiate them from the higher quality spatial rings that could store Origin Energy Tools and ingredients. Su Chen¡¯s act of infusing a small quantity of Origin Energy was already a risky tactic, but thankfully the amount that he infused was very low, and he had done it to get rid of the seal, so nothing bad happened.

    Because of this, this kind of storage ring could not be sealed. Anybody could open it directly by pressing the mechanism on its face.

    However, even this kind of ring, where the space was small, there were many limitations to what could be stored, and there was no protection was still quite valuable. Based on what Su Chen knew, they sold for no less than six hundred Origin Stones.

    In the past, Su Chen had wanted to buy one, but after careful consideration he felt that having six hundred Origin Stones was more important to him. Buying a shy ring was not worth using the money for instead of to increase his strength. Although it was slightly inconvenient to carry arge sack everywhere, it was better thancking an Origin Skill in a critical moment. When he had saved enough money, then he would consider the matter of buying one once more.

    In the end, he hadn¡¯t even saved up much money before a storage ring appeared in his hands.

    Su Chen inspected the ring for a moment to confirm that there were no hidden traces of Zhang Yuanliao¡¯s imprint remaining. In reality, this kind of product that would constantly change hands was not great for leaving behind any imprints. Thus, he received it.

    It just so happened that he had obtained quite a few beast hides over the past few days. He ced them all inside, and suddenly felt much less encumbered.

    Of course, Su Chen didn¡¯t put everything in there. He kept his mostmonly used items in the sack he carried, but the formerlyrge sack had be a small sack. People ncing at him would believe that he was not likely to have a storage ring, and they would not be covetous of him. Su Chen then camouged the ck Streak Battle de and covered the Amethyst Battle Armor with some clothing, then left. Only the Cloud-Stepping Battle Boots were slightly problematic. The Origin Skill of these boots did not allow anything to cover it up. Otherwise, the cirction of Origin Qi would be disturbed, so Su Chen could only leave the item as it originally was.

    Upon finishing these tasks, Su Chen put on the demonic face mask, then headed for the Halcyon Gorge.

    On this trip to the Halcyon Gorge, there would be many people and many eyes. Su Chen did not have the confidence that he could pretend to be a blind person the entire time. To prevent others from discovering that Su Chen was not blind, the best method was to hide his identity.

    This mask would be quite useful.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    The Halcyon Gorge was located in the eastern forests of the Scarlet Mountain Range. It was about a three-day journey from the Scarlet Grand Canyon.

    The Scarlet Grand Canyon was the dividing line between the human race and the beast race. South of the canyon was the territory of the human race, while north of the canyon belonged to the beast race.

    Since humans settled here, Origin Qi Schrs only conducted activities in the southern area of the Scarlet Mountain Range. The Vicious Beasts that they hunted were also ones that had gone through the canyon.

    No one dared to go to the north. That ce was the heaven for the beasts, but hell for humans.

    For it to be three days away from the Scarlet Grand Canyon meant that the Halcyon Gorge was in the middle of the eastern side of the Scarlet Mountain Range.

    That ce had more Vicious Beasts, and their levels would also be higher.

    After walking for two days, Su Chen finally arrived at the Halcyon Gorge.

    The gorge was covered in a verdant, dark green. The entire mountain was covered in dense, bluish-green birch trees. No wonder it was called the Halcyon Gorge.

    A small green river snaked out from a faraway forest, forming a long stream.

    The stream and the beauty of the gorge formed a union, creating the beautiful scene of water flowing down a mountain.

    However, a certain life-form ruined this natural beauty and harmonious scenery.

    Humans.

    Inside the gorge, humans traveled back and forth everywhere. As far as the eye could see, there were hundreds of people hustling and bustling in the small gorge.

    They slowly fumbled around the river. Some had setup sieves, incessantly digging uprge amounts of river silt, searching through it. Some held shovels and would begin digging as soon as they found an exposed piece of earth. Still others climbed into a mountain cave, searching for any starsilver that might be there. In hopes of striking it rich, their entire bodies had be covered with mud and earth.

    Of these people, there were Origin Qi Schrs, Martial Artists,mon hunters, and even regr people.

    Upon seeing this scene, Su Chen was somewhat amazed.

    ¡°Motherfucker, how did the news spread to this point already?¡± cursed a big bearded man who was standing not too far away from Su Chen.

    Obviously, he had also just arrived at the Halcyon Gorge with dreams of making it big here. However, what he saw was the disappointing scene of a huge group of people all trying to do the same thing.

    Countless people were here farming, doing business, not doing business, etc. They had alle to try their luck in quenching their thirst for riches. Some were sifting river silt, some were mining near the mountain, some were mining in caves, each disying their ability; it just depended on whose luck was best. asionally, some would yell out ¡°found some¡±, causing arge group to flock to them. The situation was very chaotic. Even more people would remain silent if they found any, pretending as if they hadn¡¯t discovered anything.

    ¡°Hey, isn¡¯t this starsilver supposed to be a mineable vein? Why are there people sieving silt from the river?¡± someone asked, confused.

    ¡°That¡¯s because it isn¡¯t high-grade starsilver ore; it¡¯s low-grade starsilver ore,¡± someone else said.

    Everyone followed the voice, only to see that the person speaking was a shriveled middle-aged man with a few wispy beard hairs on his chin and a pair of wily eyes. He was not very tall, and paired with his beard and expression, the impression he gave others was like that of a rat.

    ¡°High-grade ore? Low-grade ore? Is there any difference?¡± the big bearded martial artist asked.

    That person ignored him, however, instead looking at Su Chen andughing, ¡°High-grade starsilver ore is usually quiterge and are found in the mountain ranges, which requires mining. Low-grade starsilver ore exist in much smaller chunks, some perhaps only the size of a fingernail. This ce was originally a depository of low-grade starsilver ore, and a few hundred years ago there was an earthquake, causing a lot of the mountain to fragment. Large amounts of mountain rocknded in the river, so both the mountains and the river have ore. The mountain has low ore but it¡¯s all close to each other, while the water has lots of ore but it¡¯s fragmented. Thus, no matter where you go you can obtain starsilver. It just depends on your personal preferences.¡±

    ¡°Hey, you motherfucker, I¡¯m asking you a question. Why are you talking to him!¡± The big bearded martial artist flew into a rage upon seeing that he had been ignored. He reached his hand out to grab the male that had just spoken.

    The male hid behind Su Chen and pointed at the martial artist, saying, ¡°You dare to make a move in front of an Origin Qi Schr? Aren¡¯t you a little too brave?¡±

    Origin Qi Schr.

    The big bearded man froze.

    In the next instant, he had flown into the air. He flew over a hundred feet before crashing into the ground.

    The bystanders only nced at what had happened before lowering their heads and going about their own business. They paid no attention to it.

    In this kind of ce, where people were fighting for riches, scenes like what had just happened urred daily and were not surprising. As long as nobody was killed, people usually wouldn¡¯t pay much attention.

    That was especially if the one making a move was an Origin Qi Schr.

    Regardless of where one was, Origin Qi Schrs were all high-status existences.

    Having shaken off that unaware martial artist, Su Chen asked with some curiosity, ¡°How did you know I was an Origin Qi Schr?¡±

    The maleughed. ¡°Who else but Origin Qi Schrs can enter the Halcyon Gorge alone? Your boots also gave you away.¡±

    Indeed, it was still his boots that had given away. Su Chen was not surprised. However, this person was quite perceptive. He had been able to notice him, discover the nature of the boots, and confirm that he was an Origin Qi Schr in such a short period of time.

    ¡°Who are you, and what did youe here to do?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you also here to mine some starsilver? This little one¡¯s name is Li Shu. I have been in the Halcyon Gorge for a few days, and I am quite familiar with everything that happens here. For only one Origin Stone, this little one is willing to serve you for five days.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 51: Doing Business 1

    Chapter 51: Doing Business (1)

    Upon hearing Li Shu¡¯s words, Su Chen understood.

    In arge forest, all kinds of birds were bound to exist.

    There were those who relied on luck to feed themselves, those who relied on looting others to get rich, those who bitterlybored to earn a living. Naturally, there were also quite many who relied on their intelligence and quick wits to climb higher.

    Naturally, Li Shu was such a person.

    This person was not a martial artist and possessed no martial strength. He had paid money to be able toe to the Halcyon Gorge, and had mixed himself in with a group of martial artists in order to safely arrive.

    Although he didn¡¯t have any martial strength, his brain was quite versatile. Upon hearing the rumors that the Halcyon Gorge had starsilver ore, he had decided to do some business here. However, he didn¡¯t n on excavating starsilver. He did not have the strength, so he would only be able to excavate a tiny amount. He also wouldn¡¯t be able to fight others for better pieces ofnd. Even if he were to find some scattered starsilver, perhaps it would still be stolen by others.

    Thus, he had chosen to serve as an assistant. Since he had entered the gorge, he had begun to look for someone to rely on.

    However, his luck was not very good. Although he had asked around in various groups of people, none of them had taken a fancy to him.

    The main reason for this was because his asking price was too high.

    One Origin Stone for five days.

    An Origin Stone¡¯s value was roughly equivalent to a tael of gold, and an assistant would probably only earn a tael of gold for a month of work.

    To put it another way, this guy wanted a price six times that of normal people. No wonder people didn¡¯t want him.

    However, Li Shu continued to push for his asking price. He believed that he could definitely find someone who had money and who could also see his true value.

    Upon talking with Li Shu for a bit, Su Chen also smiled.

    ¡°You are pretty bold with your asking price. Aren¡¯t you worried that I¡¯ll kill you on the spot out of anger?¡±

    Li Shu hurriedly said, ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant, Sir. It¡¯s not that this little one is asking for an exorbitant price. However, the people here are generally worth three times as much as people outside.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Su Chen was startled.

    Li Shu continued, ¡°Sir, think for a moment. The Halcyon Gorge is deep in the Scarlet Mountain Range, and the path is lined with many vicious, savage beasts. The road itself is also treacherous, and it¡¯s hard to enter and exit. Arriving here is no easy feat in the first ce. The work is also manual work; who woulde to this kind of ce?¡±

    That was true. If they didn¡¯t harbor thoughts of striking it rich, what kind of person would brave such dangers to get there?

    ¡°Thus, this little one¡¯s true value is not six times that of other people, but only twice,¡± Li Shuughed, raising two of his fingers.

    ¡°Twice the value of others? You really know how to make these calctions,¡± Su Chen couldn¡¯t help butugh at what Li Shu had said. ¡°So why are you worth twice as much as other people?¡±

    ¡°Based on the fact that I, Li Shu, can read and do math, as well as identify various kinds of minerals,¡± Li Shu proudly replied.

    In this time period, where strength was emphasized and culture was looked down on, it was very expensive to print books and manufacture them, and books were also difficult to disseminate. Bringing about an advance in the dissemination of culture was very difficult. Even many mid- to high-ss individuals were uneducated and did not know how to read, let alone the lower-ss masses.

    For Li Shu to know how to read and do math were skills that were truly quite rare.

    Su Chen looked at him with some surprise, then looked around and said, ¡°But your abilities don¡¯t seem that useful in this kind of ce.¡±

    Li Shu¡¯s face reddened.

    That was correct. So what if he could read and do math? So what if his brain was agile?

    In this ce, all one needed was strength.

    Without strength, it would be impossible to protect one¡¯s starsilver even if one managed to find some.

    Upon thinking to this point, Li Shu sighed in his heart.

    Just as he thought that he had failed once again, he heard the youth in front of him say, ¡°It seems as if your luck is quite good. If you can write and do math, perhaps you will actually be of use to me.¡±

    What?

    Li Shu raised his head

    He saw Su Chen continue to walk forwards. ¡°I¡¯ll use you for one day. Give me a report on the circumstances in the Halcyon Gorge. If you do possess some ability, and this ce is really how I imagine it to be, I can consider officially hiring you.¡±

    Li Shu was extremely happy. He hurriedly rushed to follow Su Chen. ¡°I am indebted to Sir¡¯s generosity. Li Shu will definitely spend all his energy serving Sir. That¡¯s right, Sir, the most ore in in the Halcyon Gorge are located......¡±

    Su Chen interrupted him, ¡°I don¡¯t want to know where the most ore is. I only want to know how many people are here and how the strength is distributed, as well as how much food they eat every day......¡±

    Su Chen had already listed out a bunch of requests.

    Li Shu felt somewhat dizzy. He couldn¡¯t understand why Su Chen wasn¡¯t concerned about the ore, instead choosing to focus on the people.

    However, Li Shu did have some talent. Although Su Chen¡¯s questions were somewhat tricky, he could still answer most of them.

    ¡°Replying to Sir, the Halcyon Gorge has roughly five hundred to six hundred people. Thirty two of them are Origin Qi Schrs. Oh, including you there are thirty three. There are around four hundred hunters and martial artists, and the remaining people are justmoners who came here to test their luck.¡±

    ¡°What are the cultivation bases of the Origin Qi Schrs like?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not entirely clear. However, there are a total of three Origin Qi Schrs here who are the strongest. They are Si Lan the Swordsman, Chang Ye the Scarlet Demon Needle, and Zhou Yuniang the Water Immortal. These three people upy the three locations with the most starsilver ore. From what I heard, they are all Origin Qi Schrs in the Blood Boiling Realm. Si Lan the Swordsman is somewhat reclusive. He¡¯s the only one that doesn¡¯t speak much. The Scarlet Demon Needle and the Water Immortal have both gathered a group of people to help them dig for ore. Currently, these two groups of people have the most strength, but it seems as if they don¡¯t quite get along with each other.¡±

    Su Chen finally began to look at Li Shu with a new level of respect. To collect all these tidbits of information indicated that Li Shu was someone who was very meticulous.

    Su Chen asked a few more questions, but they were all rted to the circumstances of those who were mining in the Halcyon Gorge. He had no interest, however, in the starsilver ore itself.

    As Su Chen listened, he also grabbed a pen and paper and began to write everything down.

    After he pretty much understood the situation, Su Chen handed Li Shu a piece of paper and said, ¡°I will be leaving for a few days. I need you to help me take care of one thing while I¡¯m gone.¡±

    Li Shu received the paper and nced at it. An impressive drawing of a wooden building was on it. The background seemed to be somewhere in the Halcyon Gorge.

    ¡°Sir wants me to construct a building?¡± Li Shu blurted out, suddenly understanding

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Construct a building for me ording to the specifications of the diagram. You will need to findborers for yourself. Here is the money.¡± Su Chen handed Lin Shu ten taels of pure gold.

    He was not worried about Li Shu taking the money and running. No one dared to renege on the debt of an Origin Qi Schr.

    ¡°But sir, you didn¡¯te here to harvest starsilver but to build a wooden building...... why is that?¡± Li Shu did not understand.

    ¡°I did not intend on harvesting starsilver in the first ce,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°I only intended to open a wine house and a general store here and do some business.¡±

    ¡°Do some business? Wine house and general store?¡± Li Shu was bbergasted.

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°I will sell wine, Vicious Beast meat, shovels to mine ore, as well as a few wares for daily necessities such as cooking pots and pans. All the people living here that are searching for starsilver must have some means of living, right? They can get by for one or two days, but any longer than that and it will be difficult to endure. Since there¡¯s no one who will provide services for them, then I will. In addition......¡±

    Su Chen paused for a moment, then said, ¡°We can also ept starsilver. If some people have earned some starsilver and are worried that others will find out, they can sell it to us if they don¡¯t want it to be forcefully taken by others. They can exchange them for some daily necessities. That is a pretty good choice as well.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 52: Doing Business 2

    Chapter 52: Doing Business (2)

    The rumors about the starsilver in the Halcyon Gorge spread like a gue all throughout the entire Scarlet Mountain Range. Because of this, countless people who were thirsty for a chance to get rich were attracted to the ce.

    The thirst for riches triumphed over the fear of death, so these people would traverse tall mountains, ford rivers, and pass through forests, arriving at this ce all while under threat of Vicious Beast attacks. They thirsted for the fantasy of getting rich overnight.

    However, fate would not show them any favor because of this.

    Most people would die in the mountains during their journey for riches. The majority of those who survived and worked hard to find riches wouldpletely use up their existing money only to return empty-handed and disappointed. A select lucky few would find starsilver, but many of them did not have any opportunity to keep the riches that they had found, since others would forcefully seize or steal it.

    Only a small number of people could safely return to their homes upon obtaining the starsilver.

    It was fated that only two kinds of people could obtain any benefits in this ore-excavation location.

    One was those who were strong, such as Origin Qi Schrs, especially those who were strong even for Origin Qi Schrs. They could find their own starsilver or employ others to find it for them. They could not only im the areas with the most ore, but they could also receive a certain amount of benefits from others. The other kind of person was one who could use their brain. They did not ce their hopes on fleeting, illusory good fortune. Instead, they used their own vision to discover opportunities and create riches for themselves.

    People such as Li Shu and Su Chen.

    With so many people in the gorge, eating, being clothed, and waste excretion were all troublesome. If someone was able to help them solve these problems, they would more than likely be willing to pay a high price.

    Didn¡¯t Li Shu say thatborers here required wages three times higher than that ofborers in the outside world?

    This price was truly not too expensive.

    By the same logic, goods sold here could also fetch three to five times their regr price.

    Although people without money might not be able to afford it, there were always those who were lucky enough to dig out some starsilver. To people who had suddenly gotten rich overnight, they would definitely be willing to spend money to improve their quality of living. That was especially true given that nobody was able to know if their riches would be stolen away by others tomorrow. In addition to these kinds of people, Origin Qi Schrs, who inherently did notck money, would not mind paying three to five times the regr price to buy the things that they needed.

    Su Chen¡¯s target customers were precisely these kinds of people.

    Four dayster, Su Chen once again reappeared in the Halcyon Gorge.

    At this point in time, the wine shop and general store that he had wanted was alreadypleted. He himself had also brought back arge quantity of goods from the outside world.

    These goods included shovels necessary to excavate ore, crystalmps, tents that could be used for resting, as well as daily living necessities such as buckets, basins, bedding, towels, etc. There were even a few livelihood products such as firestarters. They were all things that everyone in the Halcyon Gorge desperately needed. Apart from this, there was wine, meat, and vegetable produce. Meat was rtively easy to obtain from the nearby Vicious Beasts. However, wine and vegetables were very difficult to find.

    To fit all of these goods, Su Chen had stuffed Zhang Yuanliao¡¯s storage ringpletely full. He had also carried a gigantic sack that could fit three people. When Li Shu saw this gigantic sack, he didn¡¯t know what to think.

    All of the goods were priced at three to five times that of market price. Rare yet low-cost necessities were even priced ten times or higher.

    Even so, more than half of Su Chen¡¯s goods had been sold in just a day.

    There was no way around it. Why was there only one such store in the entire Halcyon Gorge?

    As for forcefully seizing these goods, that was a joke. People could see that the owner was an Origin Qi Schr.

    Under unclear circumstances, no one would lightly offend an Origin Qi Schr. People who felt as if they were the greatest under the heavens and on the earth still existed, but they didn¡¯t usually live very long.

    Whether these kinds of people existed in the Halcyon Gorge was still not known, but at least at the moment no one had jumped in to cause Su Chen any trouble.

    Because his business was too good, Su Chen had only conducted a day of business before preparing to gather more goods.

    Thankfully, he was already somewhat prepared. The remaining items he would tell Li Shu to continue selling while he gathered more stock.

    The process for receiving the second shipment of goods was not the same as the process for receiving the first shipment. Before he arrived, he had already set up rtions with a few hunters. He had put them in charge of harvesting and purchasing things from the outside world, then delivering them to the Seven Star Mountain. The path from outside the mountain range to the Seven Star Mountain did not have many Vicious Beasts, so it was enough just to put those hunters in charge of delivery. All Su Chen needed to do was receive the goods at the Seven Star mountain, then inform them about the next batch of goods that he needed. They would then settle on a time to meet.

    Thus, although Su Chen had additional expenses, it had also saved him a significant amount of time. Going there and back only took a day¡¯s journey. As he went back and forth, he could continue to battle any Vicious Beasts that he encountered, continuing to temper himself. He was neither neglecting saving up money nor his cultivation.

    In this way, Su Chen¡¯s Starplucking Wine Pavilion and General Store began to rapidly grow in the Halcyon Gorge.

    There was no tax or rent. He only had fourborers, each of them responsible for certain tasks in the wine or general store. He also found a chef to cook and ced Li Shu as the head storekeeper, responsible for all transactions.

    Apart from selling all kinds of living necessities as well as good wine and other services, the store¡¯s most important business was probably purchasing starsilver.

    In the outside world, a tael of pure starsilver was worth nearly twenty Origin Stones.

    Inside the gorge, this value was halved regardless of whether one wanted to sell or not.

    Origin Qi Schrs and martial artists who had found starsilver would inevitably curse the owner¡¯s ck-heartedness upon discovering the sale price. However, after cursing, many of them had still chosen to sell, offering up many excuses such as ¡®they weren¡¯t sure that they could hold onto it¡¯, ¡®they didn¡¯t have any money left to spend¡¯, and other simr excuses. They would thus sell the starsilver that they had bitterly worked to obtain at a much lower price, then use that money to buy wine and meat. Some would even spend money to find women. In any case, most spent until they had run out of money.

    Su Chen¡¯s wine shop also had women selling their bodies. Of course, he was not the one who had recruited them; those women hade on their own. Su Chen did not stop them and did not charge them any fees. The presence of these women could increase the amount of money spent at his wine shop as well as the overall sales volume. The number of hunting groups that specifically hunted for Su Chen had also increased from four to six, and Su Chen had been forced to buy an evenrger storage ring to transport these goods.

    Many people¡¯s bitter work had resulted in them ending up with nothing. They had only obtained a temporary bliss, and the starsilver that they had bitterly saved up ended up flowing into Su Chen¡¯s hands. Only those who didn¡¯t have any money could prevent Su Chen from profiting off of them.

    Because of this, there was a joke going around that everyone was working for Demon Face. Some busybodies even said that Demon Face was the single richest person in the entire Halcyon Gorge. Of course, Demon Face was Su Chen. Because he wore a mask all the time and didn¡¯t reveal his true face, he came to be known by this name.

    The bigger the tree, however, the more likely it would attract wind. With too much money, others would be jealous and envious, and some would even intentionally stir up trouble.

    Even Origin Qi Schrs could not avoid this kind of trouble.

    One day, when Su Chen had just returned with thetest shipment of goods, Li Shu came to greet him with a serious expression.

    ¡°Something happened?¡± Su Chen instantly recognized that something was wrong.

    ¡°Wolf de and two of his brothers came to drink yesterday and didn¡¯t pay,¡± Li Shu replied.

    He paused for a moment, then added, ¡°They said that they would not pay any more money in the future.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 53: Wolf Blade

    Chapter 53: Wolf de

    Wolf de was an Origin Qi Schr.

    He was an Origin Qi Schr in the fifthyer of the Origin Qi Realm.

    He also had two sworn brothers, known as Red Eagle and Mountain Demon. They were in the third and fourthyer of the Qi Drawing Realm, respectively. In terms of cultivation level, all three brothers were stronger than Su Chen.

    Drinking the wine for free was a small matter.

    After all, wine was not that valuable.

    However, what this signified was very different.

    This was obviously a provocation, and at the same time it was a test.

    In this world, the weak were prey to the strong. However, those idiots who tried to eat everything without observing things first were often eaten themselves.

    So before swallowing up a target, they first had to test it out.

    They needed to see if the other party was a piece of meat that could be hunted down. It was also prudent to determine if they were a weak piece of meat, and whether or not the meat would taste good. Finally, they needed to know if there were other wolves or dogs also eyeing that piece of meat......

    Thus, everyone was watching attentively.

    Watching to see how Su Chen would deal with Wolf de and his overbearing drinking.

    If Su Chen was too gentle, then very quickly even more people would extort him in the same way. All of the Origin Qi Schrs would dare to do the same thing. They would first want to eat and drink for free, and then that would progress to simply taking whatever they wanted to take. In the end, they might even charge a ¡°protection fee¡±, and Su Chen would be the one paying them money.

    Of course, Su Chen could also respond with force. That depended on how he wanted to deal with these three Origin Qi Schrs who were testing him him.

    Did Su Chen have a strong backer? A precious treasure? Or something else?

    No one knew. However, in order to appropriately deal with this matter, he would have to reveal some kind of tactic.

    Upon seeing his tactics, everyone would know how to proceed.

    This small test was actually Su Chen¡¯s first crisis.

    If he could survive it, he could peacefully continue to do business until something else popped up.

    Letting it slide wouldn¡¯t work. Otherwise, he might as well take all the money that he had currently saved up and immediately get out.

    Although Su Chen was not old, his experience was more than sufficient.

    Sufficient enough to allow him to understand and estimate the human conscience. He knew the thoughts of those who were hidden in the shadows.

    In the time that it took lightning to start a fire, Su Chen already had devised a n.

    He nodded his head and said, ¡°Got it. I¡¯lle take care of it this evening.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Li Shu tactfully left.

    As nightfall drew nearer, the Starplucking Wine Pavilion¡¯s business began to heat up.

    The ¡°miners¡± that had worked for an entire day all came to the Halcyon Gorge¡¯s only ce of leisure, pulling out the few bits of silver that they had in their pockets to buy wine. If there was no space in the wine pavilion, they would sit outside. Su Chen had set up a hut outside the pavilion, which was more than enough to seat over a hundred people. Because of this, the number ofborers that he had hired had also increased.

    As the fragrance of alcohol began to spread, people also began to talk more. The air became filled with foulnguage. asionally, a few young women would also walk by. There would always be lechers who would reach out their perverted hands, inciting surprised cries and crazyughter.

    However, today was somewhat different.

    The person behind the bar serving wine for people was not a store assistant, but the boss Demon Face himself.

    Because he wore a mask, people could not see his face. All they could see was that sinister and eerie demon mask and a pair of hands that very clearly belonged to that of a youth.

    ¡°Why has Bosse to serve wine personally tonight?¡± a wine guest guffawed.

    ¡°I have nothing going on at the moment, so I would just be idling around otherwise,¡± Su Chen carelessly responded.

    ¡°If Boss really is just idling around, why don¡¯t youe spend some time with me behind the house? There is a patch of wilnds there, and the scenery is pretty good.¡± A scantily-d woman who was dressed very seductively drew closer, sending Su Chen a flirtatious nce.

    ¡°Hahaha, Little Hibiscus you slut, you¡¯re trying to seduce Demon Face again?¡± one of the wine guests saidughingly.

    The woman known as Little Hibiscus was one of the prostitutes here. She was always very interested in Su Chen. She woulde to try and tantalize Su Chen every opportunity she got, but unfortunately Su Chen never disyed any interest.

    Su Chen was always indifferent about fooling around with women, so whatever they said, he would only silently clean the wine cups. He dutifully performed the work that aborer should do.

    However, there were some people who evidently were unwilling to let him go that easily.

    ¡°Unfortunately, his ¡®thing¡¯ is not very useful. No matter how much you try to seduce him, he probably wouldn¡¯t even be able to harden!¡± a gruff voice sounded from outside.

    This sentence had exceeded the limits of a mere joke.

    ¡®He¡¯s here!¡¯ everyone began to yell in their hearts.

    The person that walked in apanying this extremely loud voice was a tall, well-built man.

    This person was roughly seven feet tall, quite a bit taller than Su Chen. People who were supposedly a ¡®full seven feet¡¯ could only be a person with this kind of body size. He was quite brawny, and his face was densely covered with facial hair. He carried arge de made out of a wolf¡¯s body on his back; the wolf¡¯s head faced inwards, as if it were swallowing the moon. It was the Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de, an Origin Tool that was quite well-known throughout the Halcyon Gorge.

    To the left and right of him were two other males. One was wearing a red feathered robe, flying through the air lightly and gracefully. The other¡¯s arms hung below his knees, and his nose was unusuallyrge. He was known for his unparalleled arm strength.

    Wolf de, Red Eagle, Mountain Demon.

    The moment that those three people entered the wine shop, the mood of all the guests there quieted down. The entire wine shop that had just been filled with mor suddenly fell silent.

    Wolf de looked left and right, then darklyughed and walked towards Su Chen.

    ¡°Demon Face, howe you are here personally to take care of us today?¡± Wolf de sinisterlyughed.

    ¡°Your strength was too great, and you scared my assistants. Since you want to put me out of business, I can onlye and take care of you myself,¡± Su Chen replied indifferently. He ced the wine cups in front of them. ¡°What would you three like to drink?¡±

    ¡°The best and the most expensive!¡± Wolf de replied, ring fiercely at Su Chen. ¡°However, I will not pay.¡±

    Su Chen pretended not to hear. He didn¡¯t even look at him, picking up the wine. ¡°We have an excellent wine that just came in from the Li estate, a thirty-year-old Red Daughter1. Do you want to drink it here, or do you want to find a ce to sit, and I¡¯ll send it to you?¡±

    Wolf de originally wanted to sit and drink at the counter, but Su Chen¡¯s ¡°I¡¯ll send it to you¡± caused him to change his mind.

    He loudly said, ¡°Send it over to me!¡±

    As he spoke, he began heading in the direction of a table.

    The wine shop had been full for a long time, but he directly walked towards a table, and the martial artists sitting at that table immediately moved for him.

    Wolf de sat down with a grunt. He turned his head around to look at Su Chen pouring the wine. He thought in his heart, this Demon Face doesn¡¯t seem all that imposing? I¡¯m putting so much pressure on him, and yet there¡¯s no response. Most likely, he is cowering in fear.

    Upon thinking to this point, Wolf de drew this conclusion and was already beginning to consider how he would mess with Demon Face next.

    This wine shop and general store had pretty good business. If he could take over it, that would be for the best. However, the Halcyon Gorge was inhabited by him alone. If he were to forcefully take over, with so many people watching, it might not actually be easy for him to seize it. It was better to let Demon Face hold onto the store, and he could secretly ept a ¡°protection fee¡±. He didn¡¯t need too much. They could split it eighty-twenty ¨C himself eighty, Demon Face twenty...... No, it was better to split it ny-ten. That brat should be satisfied with one-tenth.

    Just as Wolf de was making these considerations, Su Chen had already brought him his wine.

    For the mysterious owner of the wine store to personally serve him wine greatly satisfied his ego. The three of them began to devour their food while it was still warm. Su Chen merely watched, meeting any of their demands.

    All of the wine guests were closely watching, waiting for Su Chen to disy his prowess. However, Su Chen did not say anything, disappointing everyone.

    People even said mockingly, ¡°As expected, he is someone without any guts. He is able to endure even after Wolf de has bullied him to this point.¡±

    ¡°In any case, the other group has three people, and they also have an Origin Tool.¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t that guy have an Origin Tool as well?¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s Cloud-Stepping Boots had not escaped anyone¡¯s notice in the end.

    ¡°It can only be used to run away.¡±

    These murmurs could not disturb Su Chen. He continued to silently pour wine and clean the tables.

    When others saw this, they felt even more sure that Su Chen was a character without any guts. Some people scorned him, and even more people began toe up with various schemes and ideas as to how they could profit from Demon Face.

    After three rounds of drinking, Wolf de had eaten and drunk his fill. He stood up and said, ¡°My meal today was very filling. I¡¯ll be taking my leave now,¡± he said as he prepared to leave with his two brothers.

    Su Chen finally spoke. ¡°Hey, you forgot to pay for your wine.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Wolf de stopped walking, then turned his head to look at Su Chen.

    Everyone¡¯s interest was suddenly piqued; they knew that a good show was about to happen. Everyone wanted to know how Demon Face would deal with Wolf de and the two others.

    Wolf de¡¯s expression sank. ¡°I seem to recall saying beforehand that I would not pay.¡±

    Su Chen continued to speak, as if he had not heard. ¡°Six jugs of wine and fifteen kilograms of Vicious Beast Meat costs seven low-grade Origin Stones. In addition, you ate two meals yesterday, costing fifteen Origin Stones. The total you need to pay is...... a thousand five hundred and seven Origin Stones.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Everyone present was thoroughly shocked by this number.

    Even Wolf de was shocked by the number that Su Chen said. Heughed mockingly, ¡°Do you not know how to do math? Seven plus fifteen, where did the other thousand five hundred Origin Stonese from?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no mistake,¡± Su Chen indifferently replied. ¡°For every night you don¡¯t pay up, the price will multiply by a hundred times. These are my rules.¡±

    Wolf de¡¯s smile froze.

    His voice sank. ¡°Are you courting death?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°If you can¡¯t afford it, you can use your knife to mortgage it. I have valued it at five hundred Origin Stones. The remaining......¡±

    Wolf de, however, did not want to continue hear him speaking. He whipped out his Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de and chopped towards Su Chen. ¡°DIE FOR ME!¡±

    Wolf de hadn¡¯t taken more than a few steps before his figure swayed, falling to the ground. He was actually unable to stand up anymore.

    He looked at himself with surprise, then looked at Su Chen, his eyes filled with panic. ¡°You...... You motherfucker, you poisoned me!¡±

    1. A kind of Chinese rice fermented wine

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 54: Interference

    Chapter 54: Interference

    One of the unique properties of the Qi Obstructing Powder was that only upon attempting to use Origin Energy would one noticed that they had been poisoned.

    This property of the poison made it so that many people would have no way of knowing that they had been poisoned until they tried to make a move.

    Wolf de¡¯s bigger mistake was that he had greatly underestimated Su Chen.

    He never expected that Su Chen would actually dare to poison his wine. After all, Su Chen was still someone who was running a wine shop. Giving a customer poisoned wine from his own store, was this some kind of joke? Did he even want to continue doing business?

    It was thismon way of thinking that had trapped Wolf de.

    He never thought about how different the wine store that Su Chen had opened was from anyone else¡¯s.

    The Halcyon Gorge only had this one wine shop. If you didn¡¯t want to drink here, you would need to find another ce first.

    Besides, this matter had been incited by Wolf de in the first ce. Su Chen was only defending himself. Although this method of self-defense and counterattack was slightly taboo, it was understandable.

    His current Scarlet Punishment onlysted a hundred days anyways. He had no need of considering too carefully what would happen in the future.

    Most importantly, the enemies had already bullied their way to his front door. What was more important than surviving?

    The restriction of this train of thought made it so that Wolf de was not prepared for Su Chen¡¯s methods at all. By the time he had discovered that he had been poisoned, it was toote.

    Both he and his two brothers had all been poisoned. The three of them had eaten and drunk countless quantities of ¡°free¡± meat and wine. The Qi Obstructing Powder that they had ingested was more than enough to prevent them from using Origin Energy for at least two days and two nights.

    Without Origin Energy, they were just regr people, and their strength was not much greater than that of regr martial artists.

    Su Chen had already slowly walked out from behind the bar counter. ¡°A thousand five hundred and seven Origin Stones. Please pay up.¡±

    ¡°Like hell I¡¯ll pay!¡± Wolf de¡¯s brother Mountain Demon reacted first. His brain seemed to be somewhat slow as he continued to yell and rushed at Su Chen.

    Su Chen¡¯s figure blurred. He sent out a flying fist, then grabbed onto Mountain Demon¡¯s arm and pulled backwards. With a ¡®crack¡¯, Mountain Demon¡¯s arms with unparalleled strength had been broken by Su Chen. Next, Su Chen¡¯s leg flew out,nding on Mountain Demon¡¯s leg. With another ¡®crack¡¯, Mountain Demon¡¯s leg had also fragmented. He instantly fell to his knees.

    ¡°Mountain Demon!¡± Wolf de cried out in sorrow and anger as he rushed forwards.

    However, he did not have any Origin Energy, and as such had no way of raising his speed or his strength. Even the Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de had be just an ornament.

    Su Chen¡¯s figure once again blurred, as he easily sidestepped Wolf de¡¯s attack. He then grabbed Wolf de¡¯s wrist and pulled backwards breaking it. He then struck at Wolf de¡¯s abdomen, causing Wolf de to double over in pain. Su Chen then backed up, dodging Red Eagle¡¯s attack. He manifested his body technique¡¯s full speed, causing his figure to be a blur. He unleashed a flurry of attacks as he flew between the three of them, creating a symphony of ¡®cracks¡¯.

    When everything had quieted down, Su Chen¡¯s afterimages disappeared and he once more appeared in everyone¡¯s view. Wolf de, Red Eagle, and Mountain Demon all swayed before falling to the ground, unable to stand.

    It turned out that their hands and feet had all been broken by Su Chen. They were no longer able to stand.

    Upon seeing this scene, everyone felt fear in their hearts.

    This Demon Face not only had an insidious personality, but his methods were simrly vicious. Evidently, he had never intended on letting Wolf de get off lightly.

    ¡°A thousand five hundred and seven Origin Stones. If you can¡¯t pay up, I will take it myself.¡± Su Chen had already felt out the pouch that was on Wolf de¡¯s body.

    Inside was the starsilver that Wolf de had gathered over a long period of time.

    Upon opening it and taking a look, Su Chen casually withdrew his hand and said, ¡°Only so little? I¡¯ll take this for two hundred Origin Stones.¡±

    Wolf de red furiously at Su Chen. His pouch contained ten kilograms of refined starsilver, roughly equivalent to two thousand Origin Stones. However, Su Chen had cut its price down to only two hundred. However, this was not too much whenpared to his Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de which was cut from a price of nearly ten thousand Origin Stones to only five hundred. Unfortunately, even his chin was being forcefully held by Su Chen; he wanted to speak but could not, and could only let out muffled yells.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t pay any attention to him. He continued to search the pouches of Red Eagle and Mountain Demon. He found four and three and a half kilograms of starsilver as well, respectively, and these were also taken by Su Chen for one-tenth of the usual price.

    The three pouches also contained a few other things, but Su Chen pretended as if they did not exist. Naturally, he just assigned them a random price.

    ¡°Adding on this de, this is a total of a thousand Origin Stones. You still owe me five hundred and seven.¡± Su Chen stowed the de away, then patted Wolf de¡¯s face as he said, ¡°You still haven¡¯te out yet...... Li Shu.¡±

    ¡°This little one is here.¡± Li Shu had already ran out.

    ¡°Take them away for me. In theing days, make them work here until they can repay their debts.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sir.¡± Li Shu stepped forwards to take them away.

    ¡°Demon Face, isn¡¯t this a little too extreme?¡± a voice suddenly spoke out at this moment.

    Upon turning his head around, Su Chen saw a male-female pair sitting not far away from where he was.

    Su Chen recognized this pair. They were a married couple; the male was called Bai Fan, and they were both Origin Qi Schrs in the Qi Drawing Realm. The one that had just spoken was the female. At this moment, she was staring at Su Chen as she said, ¡°All they did was eat some of your meat and drink some of your wine. Just that de is enough to buy more than ten of your wine shop, and yet you still want them to serve you as ves? Isn¡¯t this too extreme?¡±

    ¡°Oh? Is that so?¡± Su Chen nced at that woman. ¡°So Madame Bai can no longer stand by without interfering?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just trying to say what is right,¡± the woman replied steadily.

    Su Chenughed, but because his demon mask covered his face, no one could see his grin.

    Su Chen then said, ¡°I didn¡¯t know that Madame Bai was someone who was so chivalrous. Why didn¡¯t such a chivalrous person speak up when these three were unwilling to pay for the meat and the wine that they had consumed?¡±

    Madame Bai¡¯s face instantly reddened. ¡°Isn¡¯t it just some wine and meat? Is it worth haggling over?¡±

    Su Chen nodded his head. ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. Then ording to Madame Bai, I should just release them?¡±

    ¡°You already took the money and the de. Shouldn¡¯t releasing them be reasonable?¡± Madame Bai countered.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t speak, but the killing intent in his heart surged.

    Everyone knew that Wolf de and the others were subdued not because they were inferior in skill but rather because they had been poisoned.

    Releasing them was equivalent to releasing a tiger back into its habitat. They would be back before two days to kill him.

    No one wanted this kind of conclusion. The best way to deal with the situation would be just to kill them,pletely killing off any future troubles that might ur.

    But Su Chen hadn¡¯t killed them. He had enlisted them as ves instead.

    Although they would suffer a little and they might be offended or lose some face, they at least would not die.

    Not all of the guests in the wine shop understood Su Chen¡¯s intentions, but those who had umted a sizable amount of worldly experience all understood that Su Chen was actually saving their lives.

    Now, for Madame Bai to request their release, this was no longer a matter of saving people; this was a matter of killing people!

    This was a proxy killing!

    Either Su Chen would kill Wolf de.

    Or Wolf de would kill Su Chen.

    Su Chen did not know if this Madame Bai had intended it or not, but her actions had exceeded Su Chen¡¯s bottom line.

    Su Chen¡¯s gazended on Bai Fan. He saw that Bai Fan had not moved at all.

    Instantly, he understood.

    The other party had done things on purpose.

    Although Su Chen had taken care of Wolf de and hisckeys, he had used a cheap trick to do so.

    Because it was a cheap trick, not everyone was satisfied, and so new people could easily jump out.

    This was the difference between using force and using cheap tricks.

    Only strength could satisfy everyone!

    Others had also recognized this. Thus, they waited; they continued to watch from the sides

    ¡®It seems that no matter what, I will need to kill some people today¡¯, Su Chen sighed in his heart.

    Then he said, ¡°Okay, since that¡¯s the case I will give him to you.¡±

    With a kick, Wolf de was sent flying towards Madame Bai.

    ¡°That¡¯s only proper,¡± Madame Baiughed as she reached out for Wolf de. The instant that she grabbed onto him, her husband suddenly yelled out with panic next to her, ¡°Wife, be careful!¡±

    Madame Bai was startled.

    All she saw was a dazzling de light appear in front of Wolf de¡¯s chest, shining as if it were a silver moon.

    So pretty! She thought.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 55: Beheading

    Chapter 55: Beheading

    As the long, blood-colored de flew out, a headless corpse tumbled through the air.

    Blood aura!

    Su Chen¡¯s move had been both vicious and urate. First, he had used Wolf de as bait, attracting Madame Bai¡¯s attention and blocking her line of sight. Next, he had suddenlyunched a surprise attack, instantly beheading Madame Bai.

    ¡°NO!¡± Bai Fan let out a heart-broken yell.

    He had never expected that his wife, who had only asked for Su Chen to let them go, would be greeted with such a violent tactic.

    How could this person act this way? How could he do such a thing?

    He was still feeling sorrowful when he saw Su Chen ce his hand on Madame Bai¡¯s chest, bringing her corpse with him as he flew towards Bai Fan. At this moment, Madame Bai¡¯s head was still rotating in the air and had yet to hit the ground. Her eyes were opened wide, as if she had begun to realize something. When she saw Su Chen charging forwards with her own headless corpse, as if holding up a shield, she wanted to scream. However, she had no energy to do so, and her vision dimmed. Herst moment of realization faded into nothingness.

    At the same time, Su Chen had already rushed to Bai Fan¡¯s side.

    At this moment, Madame Bai¡¯s head was still flying in the air, and Bai Fan¡¯s emotional state was not yet steady. He had yet to even experience much grief before Su Chen had already arrived in front of him.

    Su Chen arrived fast as lightning.

    In that moment of danger, Bai Fan hurriedly retreated out of instinct from his many years of experience. His speed was extremely fast, as he was actually an expert in body techniques and speed. Multiple afterimages appeared in his wake as he used his speed to avoid this de strike.

    Su Chen¡¯s de struck nothing but empty air, yet he did not stop. He raised his shoulder, then charged forwards. His speed did not decrease at all; in fact, he sped up, and with two loud ¡®bang¡¯s the two of them had broken through the wine shop and rushed outside.

    As he was retreating, Bai Fan pulled out his sword and shed out in the air, leaving multiple sword streaks behind in an attempt to slow Su Chen¡¯s attack. In response, however, Su Chen unleashed an extremely powerful de strike.

    He had not activated the blood aura with this de strike, but it caused Bai Fan¡¯s long sword to be knocked aside, revealing an opening.

    Bai Fan was greatly startled. In this critical moment of life-and-death, he did not even have time to feel sorrow nor rage. He focused all his energy towards his legs and his speed suddenly increased, as if some kind of lock had been broken in his body. Suddenly, a small issue that he had never understood before seemed to make sense to him. Even his strength had broken through along with this, and he began to fly like the wind.

    Bai Fan was extremely excited. His mood could be described as grief and joy mixed together, but in the next instant his mood once again plummeted.

    His sudden increase in speed had not shaken off Su Chen. Su Chen¡¯s figure had simultaneously sped up. With the activation of the Snaking Mist Steps in conjunction with the Cloud-Stepping boots, Su Chen was actually drawing nearer to him.

    How is this possible?

    Even after breaking through, I have no way of being faster than him......

    ¡°NO!¡± Bai Fan let out a crazed yell.

    A formless wave of sound rushed towards Su Chen at this moment. Bai Fan had unleashed a sound-attack type Origin Skill.

    Su Chen¡¯s figure shed to the side as he dodged the attack. Bai Fan used this opportunity to hurriedly change direction, but at that very instant he suddenly felt faint. His figure instantly stopped, and with a few rumbles, the ear-shattering noise from an unknown object struck Bai Fan like thunder, causing numerous sshes of blood to fly out from his chest.

    His speed greatly decreased.

    Su Chen had already flown towards him.

    Bai Fan finally began to panic. He regretted more than ever rashly trying to interfere and pissing off this strong individual.

    He yelled loudly, ¡°You cannot kill me, I am......¡±

    The only reply he received was the sh of a cold de.

    Whoosh!

    Bai Fan¡¯s figure that was moving at high speed suddenly swayed and stopped.

    He lowered his head, looking at his midsection. A thin line of blood slowly began to widen. Bai Fan¡¯s intestines began spilling out of his abdomen.

    ¡°What...... a powerful...... de......¡± Bai Fan barely squeezed out.

    ¡°Since your wife is gone, why stay in this world alone,¡± Su Chen coldly replied.

    The long de once again shed through the air.

    This time, the blood of line ruptured vertically on Bai Fan¡¯s forehead.

    Plop.

    Bai Fan¡¯s corpse hit the ground.

    The people inside the wine shop had just rushed outside only to see that the two people who were battling had already finished. One of them had already toppled over.

    Like lightning, Su Chen had emerged victorious after beheading two people in a row. All of the wine guests sharply inhaled.

    This was very different from dealing with Wolf de and the others. This time, Su Chen¡¯s execution of the Bai couple was pretty much as forceful as he could get. Although Su Chen hadunched a sneak attack, to be able to kill two Origin Qi Schrs in such a short period of time was more than enough to demonstrate his strength. Especially when he was chasing and killing of Bai Fan, his speed, strength, and reaction all crushed Bai Fan¡¯s.

    As for the hidden weapon that he had used to injure Bai Fan, no one had seen it clearly. Regardless of what methods or weapons he had used, killing two people in such a short period of time was sufficient to confirm his strength. He was not someone to be trifled with.

    If this person had someone directing them behind the scenes, then things would be even moreplicated.

    Nobody wanted to find trouble for themselves.

    Thus, those who had eyed him with greedy expressions all reigned in their lust.

    Since their target had disyed his own strength, everything should end here.

    As for Wolf de, Bai Fan...... what kinds of existences were they?

    They had no way of understanding, so everyone returned to their seats and continued to drink, as if nothing had happened.

    Su Chen felt the corpse over, taking what he could take, then returned to the wine shop.

    Red Eagle and Mountain Demon were still lying on the ground.

    They had no way of fleeing. Their bodies had been poisoned, and their hands and feet had been broken so that they had no way of fleeing. They could only watch Su Chen with fear.

    Su Chen looked at them, stowing ck Streak away. However, he then picked up the Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de as he indifferently said, ¡°I do not enjoy killing people. If it weren¡¯t for that couple that was courting death, you probably would not have needed to die. But now that Wolf de has already died, there is not much point in keeping you alive anymore.¡±

    Their expressions changed simultaneously. They wanted to plead for mercy, but Su Chen raised his hand, and a shapeless Qi flow had already plugged up their mouths. ¡°I hear that there is a Wolf Soul inside the Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de. Every battle, this Wolf Soul will appear to steal the souls of others. You two are Wolf de¡¯s brothers, so I will send you on your way with this de.¡±

    As he spoke, he activated his Origin Energy. Indeed, the Wolf Soul emerged from out of the Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de. It rushed towards Red Eagle with a roar, biting onto his neck. Red Eagle¡¯s neck was bitten in half in an instant.

    Su Chen then pointed the de at Mountain Demon. The Wolf Soul changed direction and leapt towards Mountain Demon. Mountain Demon began to yell with fright, waving his broken arms to try and fend off the Wolf Soul. However, they simply passed through the Wolf Soul¡¯s body.

    The Wolf Soul was originally nonexistent. The only reason it could bite others was because it was formed from Origin Energy. It was actually just an Origin Skill. Unless one¡¯s cultivation base was high enough, or one had a corresponding Origin Skill, it was very difficult to defend against.

    In the next instant, the Wolf Soul had alreadytched onto Mountain Demon¡¯s neck, killing him with one bite.

    Su Chen¡¯s arm no longer moved. The Wolf Soul floated around in a circle, then returned to the de.

    As expected, it was quite a good Origin Tool.

    In terms of strength, the Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de was far inferior to the blood aura. However, it was better in that one could continuously attack with it. As long as one continued to infuse the de with Origin energy, the Moon-Devouring Heavenly Wolf could continue to do battle. Its only w was that its energy consumption was rtively great.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that the ck Streak Battle de exhausted so much energy, as a grade eight Origin Tool it would be much more superior to the grade nine Moon-Devouring Heavenly Wolf de.

    Now, one could only say that both of them had their pros and cons. They could be consideredplementary to each other.

    He could use the ck Streak Battle de until he had no physical energy left. However, most likely he would still have some Origin Energy remaining, and he could continue to do battle just by switching out des. Hisbat ability in extended battles would increase.

    Not bad, not bad, Su Chen thought to himself.

    Everyone watching felt envious. However, this Demon Face had extremely vicious methods, and he was also very strong. If they didn¡¯t want to be made an example of, they could only give up on it.

    The first person often died the quickest. This rule had just been proven a moment ago.

    If there were no unexpected urrences, no one else would try and create trouble for Su Chen anymore.

    However, just at this moment another voice spoke up. ¡°That is a good de. Demon Face, you already have a de. Why not sell that one to me?¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 56: Deterrence by Force

    Chapter 56: Deterrence by Force

    A person walked in through the hole in the wine shop.

    He was wearing an azure robe, and had his hands sped behind his back. He waltzed in as if he was just visiting a neighbor, and he was smiling. However, his eyes were slightly tinted red.

    His behavior was very cordial, but the moment he walked in, the entire wine shop quieted down once more.

    ¡°Sir Chang.¡±

    ¡°Senior Chang.¡±

    ¡°Chang Ye.¡±

    A clueless person called out his name, and his mouth was directly covered up by the person next to him.

    Scarlet Demon Needle, Chang Ye.

    As if he were a schr dressed in an azure robe, Chang Ye stood in front of Su Chen with a faint smile.

    Upon seeing Chang Ye walk in, Su Chen was also slightly startled.

    There was an entirerge realm between Blood Boiling Origin Qi Schrs and Qi Drawing Origin Qi Schrs. In the Halcyon Gorge, those like the Scarlet Demon Needle were considered peak existences.

    Could it be that he also fancied Su Chen¡¯s wine shop?

    Or could it be...... that he was only interested in the de?

    Or could it be...... that he was just carelessly mentioning it?

    Su Chen did not know which of these possibilities was true, but he was not shaken at all by Chang Ye¡¯s gaze.

    He replied, ¡°It¡¯s not for sale.¡±

    Everyone in the wine shop sucked in a breath of air.

    Demon Face had refused him just like that.

    Refused him easily and directly. He hadn¡¯t even been willing to consider it.

    Chang Ye¡¯s expression was also slightly surprised. ¡°You aren¡¯t even going to ask about the price?¡±

    Su Chen expressionlessly pulled out a Cracked Soul Magic Pearl. ¡°Your price will not satisfy me.¡±

    Although grade nine Origin Tools were hard toe by, they were not invaluable.

    If Chang Ye were to propose a good sale price, even Wolf de himself would have been willing to sell it, let alone Su Chen.

    Thus, the root of the matter was not rted to price.

    That was especially true given the price that a Blood Boiling Origin Qi Schr could pay. It was better just to clearly say that it was not for sale.

    Chang Yeughed. ¡°What if I am dead set on buying it?¡±

    ¡°Then we will have to do battle,¡± Su Chen replied frigidly.

    Everyone waspletely stunned.

    Holy shit, you¡¯re directly dering your intentions to fight with a Blood Boiling cultivator? Are you trying to kill yourself?

    Chang Ye was not enraged. He only looked at the ck pearl in Su Chen¡¯s hand. He did not know what it was, but he could sense a trace of danger from it. ¡°It seems that you have a lot of confidence in being able to deal with me?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t have any such confidence, but I do have a good chance of harming you, and a very small chance of sessfully escaping. However, I have a hundred percent determination to not bow my head.¡±

    With the Cracked Soul Magic Pearl, his Soul Eye technique, and the speed granted by his Cloud-Stepping Boots and the Snaking Mist Steps Su Chen had quite an extensive arsenal. He truly had some confidence in his ability tond an attack on his opponent.

    If he added on the ming Hunter Blunderbuss, his chance of sess would be even greater.

    However, though he was confident that he couldnd an attack, he had no idea what effect the attack would have, if any.

    Most likely, his attack would hit the opponent, and the opponent would block it using an Origin Skill or Origin Tool that had an ability like the Amethyst Battle Armor¡¯s barrier.

    Another possibility was that his attack would hit the opponent. They would block it, but the strength of the blood aura would inflict light injuries.

    Less likely was that his attack would hit the opponent, and that they would block it, but the blood aura would have inflicted severe injuries.

    It was basically impossible for his attack to kill the opponent.

    But as long as there was a chance to damage, that was enough.

    He believed that the opponent would not be willing to go all out against him.

    After all, strong people had their own honor.

    If Su Chen were to make a move and end up being injured, Chang Ye¡¯s victory would not be awe-inspiring. Instead, others would know how things stood, and they would even feel that this was the only possible oue.

    Strong people also had their own opponents.

    If Chang Ye were to make a move and end up getting injured, that would be equivalent to giving his true opponents an opportunity.

    Strong people also had their own appetite.

    While the wine store¡¯s profits were not small, they were not enough to cause a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator to forcefully seize something from a far weaker character.

    This was also why Yang Opening experts would not stoop so low as to excavate starsilver.

    Different people with different statuses would have different ways of thinking and needs.

    Emperors did not need to be carried by simple gold.

    Su Chen did not need to make Chang Ye fear him. He only needed to make Chang Ye feel that making a move would not gain him anything and would only lose him prestige and face. There might even be opportunities for his opponents to make a move, and that was enough.

    Indeed, upon hearing these words, Chang Yeughed, ¡°Truly you are someone with guts. Demon Face, would you be interested in working with me?¡±

    The topic of conversation had shifted towards winning Su Chen over.

    Su Chen still shook his head. ¡°I prefer independence. I don¡¯t want to join anyone else.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not even curious about the conditions?¡± Chang Ye asked. ¡°For instance, an absorption technique of mid-tier or higher quality.¡±

    Everyone began to look on with envy.

    The higher quality an absorption technique was, the harder they were to obtain. Based on Chang Ye¡¯s tone, it was possible that even high-tier absorption techniques were possibilities.

    Su Chen, however, upromisingly shook his head. What Chang Ye could give him, the Su n already possessed. If he didn¡¯t treasure the Su n anymore, how could he treasure a mere Chang Ye?

    Chang Ye did not get angry. He nodded and said, ¡°So that¡¯s how it will be. Alright, just make sure you remember your words, Demon Face.¡±

    Su Chen replied respectfully, ¡°Many thanks for Senior Chang¡¯s instruction. Demon Face understands.¡±

    Su Chen also understood what Chang Ye had meant.

    Chang Ye had no interest in the Heavenly Wolf de.

    Rather, he was interested in Su Chen himself.

    Earlier, he had been testing Su Chen¡¯s resolve. Upon seeing that Su Chen truly did have some courage, he had wanted to recruit him and win him over. For Su Chen to reject him without any hesitation was an indication that Su Chen had someone else backing him.

    This made Chang Yepletely give up on any ideas of taking him in.

    However, before he left, Chang Ye had warned Su Chen to remember the words that he had spoken about remaining independent until the end. If Su Chen were to follow someone else, Chang Ye might be forced to strike first to gain the upper hand.

    This ¡°someone else¡± naturally referred to the other Blood Boiling Realm cultivators.

    Upon seeing Chang Ye leave, Su Chen¡¯s heart which had been tightened slowly rxed. He continued to hold the Cracked Soul Magic Pearl in his hand, which was soaked in sweat.

    The pressure from facing a Blood Boiling cultivator was truly too great.

    But no matter what, Su Chen had sessfully passed through this trial.

    The moment that Chang Ye left, everyone turned to watch Su Chen with strange gazes.

    This was a stubborn person who dared to stand up to someone in the Blood Boiling Realm, a fierce person who had killed five Origin Qi Schrs in a short amount of time ¨C one-sixth of the ¡°strong¡± people in the Halcyon Gorge. He was a vicious man who dared to use poison and sneak attacks, and did not shy away from any tactic..

    When facing this kind of stubborn, fierce, and vicious person, it was best to avoid provoking them.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Giving oneself a bloodthirsty reputation was the best way to scare away others. The battle at the Starplucking Wine Pavilion had shown all of the guests who were coveting his shop to give up on that thought.

    Su Chen¡¯s business began to stabilize because of it. Even on the days that he was not present at the wine shop, no one made any trouble.

    This gave Su Chen even more free time, allowing him to go out and supplement his stock.

    After a month of hunting and training, Su Chen became even more proficient in using his Origin Skills. His cultivation realm had officially reached the secondyer of the Qi Drawing Realm, going from seventeen to twenty-three Yellow Stars. This rate of improvement was even faster than the month before. This was because his strength had increased, so he could kill more of the Vicious Beasts that he encountered around the Halcyon Gorge.

    However, even after adding all of these benefits together, they were still not as great as Su Chen¡¯s inconceivable increase in wealth.

    In just a month¡¯s time, Su Chen had stored up twelve thousand Origin Stones, and this did not even include what he had taken from Wolf de and the other four.

    Wolf de and his brothers gave Su Chen twelve kilograms of starsilver, four hundred Origin Stones, a grade nine Origin Tool, and two refined des. Although these des were not Origin tools, they were top-tier for normal des. There was also an Immortal Grass, which was a rare cultivation herb. It was stored in a jade box.

    The Bai couple were also pretty rich. They had eight kilograms of starsilver and eight hundred Origin Stones. They even had an Origin Skill pearl that recorded a de skill known as Thunder de. Apart from Origin Skill pearls used by ns to transmit their unique skills, most Origin Skill pearls were one-time use only. This pearl of theirs was the same. It was unclear where they had obtained this pearl from, since they were both sword users. Thus, they had no use for it, but Su Chen did; he learned it right away.

    The Thunder de¡¯s strength was not too great, and the damage it could do was limited. However, it was extremely versatile and could be used for both close- and long-rangebat. It could be applied on a de or could be used on daggers or even flying daggers, which could be close-range or thrown. Its energy consumption was not too great and could be sustained for some time, increasing the power of each strike. Individually, this effect would not be great, but when umted its strength could be imagined. It was very representative of a current Origin Skill.

    Excluding the Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de, the profit Su Chen had made from these five people was roughly equivalent to a month of hard work at his store, and this was when he had a monopoly on the market. No wonder othersmonly said that killing people was the best way to get rich quick. However, the prerequisite condition was that one had to kill others, not be killed.

    However, this was not Su Chen¡¯s final way to earn profit.. Most of his Origin Stones had been exchanged for starsilver. Because he bought at half the regr price, he had actually doubled his profits. Calcting it this way, Su Chen had earned roughly a total of thirty thousand Origin Stones in just a month.

    Excluding the profit of just killing others, merely twenty thousand Origin Stones every month was enough to move the hearts of countless people.

    Even if they couldn¡¯t forcefully take it, that didn¡¯t mean that there were no other methods.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 57: Competition

    Chapter 57: Competition

    Today, Su Chen returned from his training as per usual. On his back, he carried a Giant Bucktoothed Bear. His body exuded a hazy killing aura, and he held a blood-stained Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de. Because it didn¡¯t have the issue of draining one¡¯s physical energy, the Heavenly Wolf de had already reced the ck Streak Battle de had be Su Chen¡¯s mostmonly used weapon.

    ¡°Boss, you¡¯ve returned,¡± Li Shu warmly came forwards to greet him.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Su Chen slung the giant bear off his back, tossing it onto the ground. The ground trembled for a moment.

    ¡°Everything has been going well, apart from......¡± Li Shu hesitated for a moment.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Someone didn¡¯t pay for their wine and meat again,¡± Li Shu replied.

    Su Chen raised his eyebrows, ¡°Another Wolf de?¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s not it,¡± Li Shu hurriedly replied. ¡°He truly doesn¡¯t have money.

    As he spoke, he pointed towards the corner.

    Su Chen followed Li Shu¡¯s pointing to find a person hugging his head nestled up in the corner, curled into a ball.

    Li Shu ran over, kicking that person¡¯s butt. ¡°Why haven¡¯t you gotten up yet!¡±

    That person slowly stood up.

    When that person stood up, Su Chen received quite the shock.

    This person was extremely tall.

    Wolf de had already been tall, butpared to this burly man in front of him Wolf de would only reach his shoulders. As for Su Chen, he only came up to the person¡¯s chest.

    He was just like a small mountain standing in front of Su Chen, filling Su Chen¡¯s entire vision. Su Chen felt a sense of pressure from him.

    But such arge person stood respectfully in ce in front of him, his neck shrunk in. His body was a tough as granite, and Li Shu¡¯s fists and feet only felt ticklish. He did not dare to fight back at all; fear, hurt, and pleading were written all over his face.

    Upon looking at the man¡¯s rough skin, his sturdy chest and his guileless face, Su Chen finally understood.

    ¡°So he is of the Mountain Race.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    The Mountain Race.

    An Intelligent Race simr to humankind.

    The Mountain Race had a very tragic history. From the beginning of their existence, they had always been stepped on. Although they had very powerful physiques, their ability to sense Origin Energy was extremely poor. It was difficult for them to absorb and release Origin Energy effectively. Of course, this wasn¡¯t to say that had absolutely no way of using it. However, cultivating Origin Energy more difficult for them than for any other intelligent race. On average, Humankind only needed five years of Body Tempering to enter Qi Drawing, but the Mountain Race needed fifteen. Humankind only needed ten years of Qi Drawing to enter Blood Boiling, but the Mountain Race needed thirty. Human Origin Qi Schrs had seven cultivation realms, implying that the highest cultivation base could only reach seven realms. However, the Mountain Race had never even seen cultivators of the fourth realm, the Light-Shaking Realm, before. Yang Opening was their limit.

    Their intelligence was not high, and they could not learn things very quickly.

    Because they were not intelligent and were not sensitive to Origin Energy, no strong expert had ever appeared in their race, leaving them with no protective figure, despite their physically strong bodies.

    This was the tragedy of the Mountain Race.

    Because of this, the Mountain Race had never risen to glory since their existence.

    The Five Great Races of the Primordial Continent ¨C Human Race, Feathered Race, Ocean Race, Spirit Race, and Ferocious Race ¨C all had their own moments of glory in history. Even now, they all had a territory that belonged to them. Even the races that had declined in power such as the Green Race or the Mysterious Race had once been great and powerful, and had left their mark of glory in history.

    However, the Mountain Race did not.

    They did not have any moments of glory in history, nor did they have a territory to call their own.

    Their only history was that of ves.

    They had been enved by the beasts, enved by the Arcanas, and enved by humankind.

    The Mountain Race served as ves of humankind.

    Although they did not have any great protectors, they were great cannon fodder because of their powerful physiques. Ignoring powerful Origin Qi Schrs, one individual from the Mountain Race could sweep the floor with even arge group of the human masses.

    There were many other races like the Mountain Race whose intelligence was low. Most of them attached themselves to one of the Five Great Races to survive. However, because survival conditions were quite harsh, many of these ¡°attached races¡± began to decline, and it had be harder and harder to find them.

    ording to rumors, there were already people in Long Sang Country that were calling out for the monitoring and protection of the Mountain Race and the Moon Race. It was bing increasingly difficult for the army to reform its infantry, so they needed to add more Mountain Race people into their ranks. In addition, the suicide squad¡¯s requiredrge amounts of Moon Race supplements.Things had been positive and easy in recent years: there was favorable weather for crops, the Beast Waves had decreased, and everyone¡¯s lives were good. Not many dared to go face to face with death anymore......

    Su Chen had not expected that he would run into someone from the Mountain Race.

    The man even looked like a hard mountain rock. He stood there like a protrusion, gazing directly at Su Chen.

    He said timidly with some fear, ¡°Sorry...... I do not have money......¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t have money, why eat?¡±

    He weakly replied, ¡°I was hungry.¡±

    Su Chen sized up the big man in front of him.

    His appearance was very simr to that of humans. However, his forehead was particrly wide, and he did not have any eyebrows or facial hair, and his skin was a greyish-white. He was very representative of what a Mountain Race individual looked like, and that was what distinguished them from mankind.

    ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, why didn¡¯t you find a ce to work?¡±

    The Mountain man¡¯s face revealed a trace of sorrow and anger. ¡°They...... don¡¯t let me work.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t let you work?¡± Su Chen was quite surprised.

    The Mountain Race were particr good at enduring hardships, and their strength was also great. They made extremely good ves. Although they were slightly stupid, as long as one was patient they could still be taught. They ate more than most people, but that wasn¡¯t a problem. No matter how much they ate, it was better than three Origin Qi Schrs who ate simr amounts, wasn¡¯t it?

    Because of this, the Mountain Race was still admired for their ability to do physicalbor. asionally, one wouldn¡¯t be able to find one even if one wanted to.

    Off to the side, Li Shu told him, ¡°His name is Iron Cliff. Earlier, he was ck Hand¡¯s ve. Three days ago, he lost a shipment of goods, which infuriated ck Hand. ck Hand chased him away and even said that no one was allowed to use him for work, and that he was not allowed to leave the Halcyon Gorge.¡±

    Su Chen was surprised. ¡°So he basically said that he wanted to starve Iron Cliff to death?¡±

    ¡°Pretty much.¡±

    ¡°What did he lose that made this guy so angry?¡±

    A strange expression appeared on Li Shu¡¯s face. ¡°A few foodstuffs, wine, and vegetables.¡±

    ¡°Foodstuffs, wine, and vegetables?¡± Su Chen squinted his eyes.

    Li Shu nodded his head. ¡°That¡¯s right. They should be nning on opening another wine shop.¡±

    So, in the end, they still came.

    Su Chen was not surprised

    If business was good, there would definitely be those who tried to copy it.

    There was no rule that only Demon Face could set up a store here. Others can do it too.

    But this way, business would be difficult to do in the future.

    Even though more people had arrived in the past month, there was still no more than six or seven hundred people. Of these people, a third either didn¡¯t have money or were unwilling to spend it, and a fourth of them were not dependent on Su Chen¡¯s shop as they had brought adequate supplies. Only a little less than half spent money here. And of these people who spent money, the majority of them were frugal with their spending ¨C not everyone was like Wolf de, who ate and drank like a glutton..

    Such a low number of people meant that there was already not much business. The only thing keeping Su Chen afloat was his monopoly and sudden profits.

    However, having been open for close to a month, Su Chen¡¯s business was already beginning to decline. Many of the items he sold only needed to be bought once. Because he wascking new customers, his decline in business was something that was inevitable. Now that he had a newpetitor, he could no longer take advantage of his monopoly, and his profits would once again take a hit.

    One could imagine that the following days would not be as good as they used to be.

    ¡°Boss.¡± Li Shu saw that Su Chen was anxious through his fidgeting.

    In reality, Su Chen was not too worried about this. He was not someone who pursued riches in the first ce. His main reason for opening a store and doing business here was because this was one way to avoid interfering with his cultivation too much. Sending shipments every day was a good opportunity for his cultivation.

    If the opportunity to nmake more money disappeared, then so be it.

    In any case, windfalls were not things thatsted for a long time anyways.

    However, when he looked at Li Shu¡¯s expectant expression, Su Chen hesitated for a moment.

    No matter what, he still had to spend another month in the Scarlet Mountain Range. Wasn¡¯t it too early just to give up like that? Su Chen thought.

    He thought for a moment, then said, ¡°I need to go discuss something with ck Hand.¡±

    In the end, business was always done through conversation. As someone who was from a n that did lots of business, Su Chen was very familiar with these things.

    ¡°What will you discuss?¡± Li Shu asked. ¡°ck Hand is not someone who is easy to deal with. If you go there, perhaps they will think that we are there to plead with him, and they will definitely be greedy to the point of daylight robbery.¡±

    ¡°Then let theme to us.¡± Su Chen nced at Iron Cliff, who was still standing there mutely. ¡°Doesn¡¯t this Iron Cliffck the money to pay me back? Then let him work here to pay back his debt.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Li Shu respectfully replied.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 58: Negotiations

    Chapter 58: Negotiations

    As nightfall arrived, thenterns began to light up.

    Large, rednterns were hung up outside the Starplucking Wine Pavilion. They were lit brightly, as if in anticipation that the best time of day was about to arrive.

    As the customers entered one by one, the Starplucking Wine Pavilion became very busy very quickly.

    As per usual, Su Chen would find a quiet corner to sit in at this time as long as he was not practicing in the forest. He would drink his tea and quietly watch the alcohol-influenced scenes that would y out in his wine shop. People thought that Su Chen was someone who was aloof and mysterious, not like an ordinary mortal, and that he was monitoring the situation with indifference. In reality, Su Chen was just constantly using his Soul Eye to temper his eyes.

    After three months of cultivation, Su Chen had slowly be more proficient with the Soul Eye. At the same time, he discovered that although his eyes could not amplify the effect of the Soul Eye, practicing Soul Eye helped increase the speed of evolution of his eyes.

    Su Chen was unintentionally able to verify one of his guesses ¨C the Soul Eye could stimte and increase the speed that his eyes evolved at.

    The first time that he saw light was when he regained his sight while fighting Lin Xie. His discovery of the Origin Energy motes urred after fighting the Jade-Eyed Ape ¨C almost every time his eyes had changed, it hade after a strong stimulus.

    Su Chen could only guess that there was a link between his soul, which was located in his brain, and his eyes which were like the windows of his brain. Stimtion of his soul had also resulted in Su Chen¡¯s eyes continuing to develop even faster.

    Using his Soul Eye had indirectly confirmed this point. Su Chen¡¯s constant usage of this soul-type Origin Skill caused his eyes to improve quite rapidly. Although no new abilities had emerged, as had been the case when the stimuli had been great, there was a steady improvement that allowed Su Chen to more clearly perceive the motion of Origin Energy in a person¡¯s body.

    It was the same as when Su Chen had first seen Gu Qingluo. He could see a very special Qi flow in the person¡¯s body, and it was clearer and more stable than that time. Because this flow only appeared on Origin Qi Schrs, Su Chen didn¡¯t need to think to know that that must be Origin Energy.

    However, Su Chen did not know what benefits this ability would bring him. In addition, his eyes had no way of prating clothing, so his vision would not beplete.

    Despite this, Su Chen did not fret. As long as there was progress, there would be new abilities that would manifest themselves sooner orter.

    Su Chen had already used the Soul Eye to stare at a little mouse hiding in the corner eleven times. The poor guy that had been struck over and over with this magic staggered around, dazed. When the twelfth Soul Eye activationnded on it, the mouse could no longer take the heavy burden and let out a loud yell, falling to the ground and dying.

    The repeated soul attacks had resulted in severe damage to its brain, causing a non-attack type skill to also result in fatal injury.

    ¡®Indeed, things do not always behave ording to how the world categorizes them, and many things are not absolute,¡¯ Su Chen said to himself as he gazed at the mouse¡¯s corpse.

    After using his Soul Eye twelve times in a row, Su Chen felt some fatigue. He closed his eyes, intending to rest for a bit.

    ¡°Demon Face.¡±

    It was at this moment that ck Hand¡¯s coarse voice sounded out from behind Su Chen.

    ck Hand was a person who seemed somewhat shriveled, and he was dark-skinned and very thin. Although he did not seem strong, no one would look down on him because of it.

    He was a very vicious, bloodthirsty individual. In his short time in the Halcyon Gorge, he had already in six people, including two Origin Qi Schrs.

    ck Hand was known to have a low tolerance threshold and would kill easily. This was also where his name came from.

    Su Chen did not turn around. He waved his hand, indicating that ck Hand could sit next to him.

    ck Hand gazed at the back of Su Chen¡¯s head for a while, probably estimating his odds at killing Su Chen if he were to suddenly make a move, or what kinds of consequences would result from killing him.

    He thought for a moment, then seemed to give up. He sat next to Su Chen and said, ¡°Demon Face, you are being unjust.¡±

    ¡°How so?¡± Su Chen turned his head over to look at him. Cold light shined out from the ck eyes beneath the mask.

    ck Hand said, ¡°Iron Cliff was a dog that I let go. I originally intended to punish him for a few days before taking him back. However, I didn¡¯t expect that you would take him in after a moment¡¯s inattention from me. Don¡¯t you think you should give me an exnation for this matter?¡±

    ¡°Take him back after a few days?¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°Take what back? A corpse?¡±

    ¡°Even if it¡¯s just a corpse, it¡¯s still mine!¡± ck Hand gritted his teeth as he said.

    Su Chen tilted his body slightly, leaning towards ck Hand. ¡°You want Iron Cliff? Fine, as long as you can clear his ount from eating here, you can take him with you.¡±

    ¡°How much?¡±

    ¡°One thousand two hundred low-grade Origin Stones.¡±

    ¡°You motherfucker, what are you saying?¡± ck Hand raised his voice before noticing that many people were staring at him from the side. He quietly sat back down in his chair, ring at Su Chen all the while.

    ¡°He ate here yesterday,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Do you still remember Wolf de? I said before that if you owe me something, every night the debt is multiplied by a hundred times.¡±

    ck Hand¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°Are you threatening me?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I never threaten people; I¡¯m just telling you the truth. Once we clear his ount, you can take him away immediately. Or, you can let him work here for me until his debt ispletely paid.¡±

    ¡°Is there not a third option?¡±

    Su Chen tilted his head and thought for a moment before saying, ¡°There is. As long as you close the store that you are opening, I will return him to you.¡±

    ck Hand was startled for a moment, then raised his head and began tough loudly. ¡°So you were waiting for me here. I was wondering why you weren¡¯t showing your face anymore. You even detained my person. You must have just been waiting to say that, no?¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t directly answer him. He only said, ¡°There¡¯s not enough people in the Halcyon Gorge. There¡¯s enough business for one store, but not enough for two. If it were to escte into more conflict, then there¡¯s no reason to stay here any longer.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care about that. If you can open shop, I can open shop. If you have the ability, try and stop me,¡± ck Hand coldlyughed. ¡°Don¡¯t think that I¡¯m scared of you just because you killed Wolf de and Bai Fan.¡±

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°I do not intend to stay in the Halcyon Gorge forever. I just want to strike it rich. Of course, one could say that everyone here in the Halcyon Gorge has the exact same train of thought. However, some have seeded, while others failed. ck Hand, if you want topete with me for business, I cannot stop you, and I am not as stupid as Wolf de. However, I can lower the prices of all my products to the lowest possible price as soon as you open your store.¡±

    ck Hand¡¯s expression changed. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t do that, there¡¯s no benefit to you!¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± Su Chen countered. ¡°I¡¯ll be straight with you. In the past month, my store made roughly ten thousand Origin Stones. However, you also know that some products only need to be bought once. Thus, my business after this had decreased by about thirty percent. That is also to say that even withoutpetition, I can only earn sixty to seventy percent of the initial ten thousand Origin Stones. If anotherpetitor appeared, and I lost half of my business, my profits would only be around three thousand Origin Stones. Of course, this is assuming that there are no price cuts. However, do you really think that price cuts won¡¯t happen?¡±

    ck Hand was speechless.

    Of course it would happen. ck Hand had even decided a long time ago to lower his prices by ten percentpared to Su Chen upon opening his store to attract customers.

    However, Su Chen evidently would not sit still either.

    He had never expected that Su Chen¡¯s response would be so vicious. He had yet to even open his store, and Su Chen was already nning on lowering his prices to the lowest possible amount.

    Su Chen said, ¡°That means that in the next month, I would be lucky to even earn two thousand Origin Stones. Do you think that I care about such a paltry amount? If you encountered this situation, what would you do?¡±

    ck Hand thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°Even if I couldn¡¯t earn that much, I would do it just to teach my opponent a lesson.¡±

    Those who cultivated on the martial path were not businessmen by nature.

    They were all made of flesh and blood, and they all had tempers.

    If the matter was somethingrge, perhaps they would simply endure it.

    However, if it was something small, they would most likely act ording to emotion.

    Since there was someone who was affecting one¡¯s money making ability, then nobody needed to make money. Su Chen was willing to do this, and so was ck Hand.

    Su Chenughed. ¡°That¡¯s right, I was thinking the same thing.¡±

    ck Hand harrumphed, ¡°Don¡¯t think that you can convince me to give up with just a few sentences. If anything, we will both force each other to give up, and nobody will be able to y.¡±

    ¡°You can also dy things, and everyone can make money,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°What do you think about this? You open your store a month from now, and I will give you my store. I willpletely let go of it.¡±

    ¡°Absolutely not!¡± ck Hand refused. ¡°You also know that starsilver has been harder and harder toe by. The amount that is remaining is not great. I estimate that people can only continue to excavate for another fifty days or so.¡±

    ¡°Then twenty five days.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t I losing too much then? With less and less starsilver, people will also have less and less money, and the things that they can buy will also decrease. Nobody knows what will happen in the future. What if someone else tries topete with me afterwards?¡±

    ¡°Hm, that¡¯s true.¡± Su Chen thought for a moment. ¡°Then we¡¯llpromise. Twenty two days?¡±

    ¡°Fifteen days at most. My goods have already arrived. I originally intended to open shop tomorrow. I can only give you at most fifteen days. Some things cannot be dyed.¡±

    ¡°I can buy your goods from you. Twenty days, this is my bottom line. You already have ten more days than I do at this point.¡±

    ¡°Eighteen days! This is my bottom line.¡±

    ¡°Then Iron Cliff is mine.¡±

    ¡°Deal!¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 59: Excavating Ore Part 5

    Chapter 59: Excavating Ore (Part 51)

    Afterpleting negotiations with ck Hand, the two of them ended up in an alliance of sorts, making it so that there were no new issues that popped up in the following days.

    After eighteen days, Su Chen had arranged to transfer ownership of his store. From that moment on, all the business in the store had nothing to do with him. However, before he left, Su Chen slightly raised his price on buying starsilver, and traded most of the Origin Stones that he possessed for starsilver. This made ck Hand somewhat unsatisfied; after all, this would affect his future business a little.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t want to offend or go too far, so he gave Zhang Yuanliao¡¯s storage ring to ck Hand. ck Hand just so happened to becking a ring to store goods in, and Su Chen¡¯s gift was extremely handy. Thus, he received it in understanding.

    On the day that Su Chen was giving up his business, Li Shu asked Su Chen, ¡°Boss, where are you nning on going after this?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I am still nning on staying in the Scarlet Mountain Range for another fifteen days or so. Since I have basicallypleted my original goal, I would only be idling around otherwise, so I am going to go take a look at the mining tunnels and test my luck.¡±

    Li Shu said, ¡°Boss, Li Shu wants toe with you.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Su Chen looked at him. ¡°You want to officially follow me?¡±

    Li Shu nodded his head definitely.

    ¡°Do you have any others in your family?¡±

    Li Shu¡¯s face revealed a trace of sadness. ¡°This little one no longer has any remaining family. If I did, I wouldn¡¯te to such a dangerous ce like the Halcyon Gorge, in a bid to risk it all.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is......¡± Su Chen thought for a moment.

    After getting to know him for two months, Su Chen began to understand Li Shu more. He knew that this person not only knew how to read and write, he also had great discernment and his brain was very sharp. Li Shu had a lot of his own thoughts, however, and relying on him too much would probably be impossible. But Su Chen also knew that those with any ability would always have their own thoughts and ambitions. As long as they were well-controlled, this wasn¡¯t a problem.

    At the moment, Su Chen only had Ming Shu and Zhou Hong as his underlings. While the two of them were extremely loyal, their abilities were only so-so.

    Sometimes, using people depended on more than just loyalty. To ambitious people, the strength of their underlings was more important than their loyalty to a certain extent. That was because masters with ability trusted that no matter how many thoughts or methods their underlings had, they would never be able to escape their master¡¯s oversight. Thus, those with sufficient strength did not worry that their underlings had talent; rather, they feared the exact opposite.

    Su Chen was such a person.

    Su Chen had been able to utilize Li Shu quite effectively. Since Li Shu wanted to follow him, he was willing to keep him.

    However, this would mean that he would need to bring Li Shu along with him back to the Su Pce. The danger was that Li Shu would also know that he was Su Chen and that Su Chen was no longer blind.

    Whatever. In any case, there was no way for him to continuously pretend as if he were still blind. It made sense to let Li Shu be the second person to know the truth.

    Upon thinking to here, Su Chen said, ¡°Tomorrow ck Hand¡¯s men wille to retrieve the goods. I will give ck Hand a heads-up to send people to escort you out of the Scarlet Mountain Range. Once you exit this ce, go to the True Jade Pavilion in Northface City and ask for someone called Tang Zhen. Let him know what has happened here, and he will take care of everything for you.¡±

    ¡°This little one understands,¡± Li Shu replied.

    Su Chen did not exin things in any more detail. Based on Tang Zhen¡¯s wealth of experience and Li Shu¡¯s wits, he trusted that some things didn¡¯t need to be said.

    Having taken care of Li Shu, Su Chen brought Iron Cliff with him and headed in the direction of the cave. He was now Iron Cliff¡¯s master.

    The once beautiful Halcyon Gorge had be filled with potholes and ditches.

    Discarded rock fragments and ore g were everywhere, turning the beautiful, enchanting scenery into a dirty and chaotic quarry.

    In this quarry, the best excavation locations had been imed by the strongest Origin Qi Schrs. Even medium quality locations had been imed by various martial artists. Although their individual strength was not great, they formed small alliances and attempted to protect each other. Only ces with the lowest quantity of ore were empty, and they were given to excavators with the least strength.

    The location that Su Chen had chosen was one such location.

    This location was in the southern area of the gorge and was an abandoned mineshaft. It was called the Southern Gorge Number 14. When Southern Gorge Number 14 was at its peak, thousands of kilograms of starsilver had been mined here. At that time, at least four different groups of people had surrounded it, fighting for it. However, following extensive mining, the ore in this location gradually decreased to virtually none. Others had given up on this ce, and it became an abandoned mineshaft.

    Today, apart from a few miners who woulde around to take a quick look, and who might find some starsilver if their luck was good, not many people stuck around here anymore.

    Su Chen hade here this time because he was truly testing out his luck.

    All of the other mining locations were upied. The other mines had been very clearly divided, and it was necessary to provoke others no matter which one one chose to go to. If one caused a dispute, one would need to also be prepared to be killed. there was no recoil when Su Chen had killed Wolf de, not just because of Su Chen¡¯s strength, but also because Su Chen had simply counterattacked to protect himself. In this world, while fists often did the talking, rules and principles were also important.

    If one didn¡¯t want to bring trouble, one could only go to the poorer-quality mines. Thus, Su Chen chose this ce that had once flourished to see what kind of luck he had.

    Upon entering the mine shaft, he was greeted by pitch-ck gloom, as if he had returned to those days where he couldn¡¯t see.

    As someone who had been blind for three years, Su Chen was not unustomed to this kind of darkness at all. Rather, he felt almost like a fish in water. He easily walked along the dark mine shaft, not even bothering to use a crystalntern. However, Iron Cliff, who was following him, had to step on uneven terrain. asionally he would fall over.

    After walking down roughly two mine shafts, Su Chen stopped in front of a piece of wall and said, ¡°Let¡¯s do it here.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Iron Cliff raised a pickaxe made of steel and began to mine.

    He was still of the Mountain Race. Thus, in terms of raw strength, Iron Cliff was probably stronger than Su Chen. Every time he mined,rge chunks of mountain rock would crumble. His efficiency was many times greater than that of regr workers.

    As the pieces of rock fell to the ground, Su Chen would inspect them. Discovering starsilver was very easy. In the dark, starsilver emitted a distinctive silvery light. How much starsilver he would obtain when purifying the ore depended on his luck. Su Chen broke apart rock after rock, but unfortunately he didn¡¯t see a single bit of light.

    After mining for roughly an hour or so, Su Chen finally uncovered his first piece of starsilver.

    The ore was roughly the size of a fist, and its surface was covered with scattered dots of silver light. Evidently, the amount it contained inside was not high either. Most likely, not much starsilver could be purified from this piece of ore.

    ¡°Indeed, this ce is so barren that it cannot possibly be more barren,¡± Su Chen bitterlyughed. ¡°It seems as if this ce no longer has any value. Let¡¯s go, we¡¯ll switch locations and try our luck there.¡±

    Su Chen brought Iron Cliff along with him as they wandered aimlessly in the mineshafts.

    A dayter, Su Chen took out all of the starsilver ore he had obtained to refine it. In the end, he was actually able to refine a tael, and this was after Iron Cliff had essentially done the work of three people all on his own.

    Although this was very little, Su Chen did not mind.

    He came here to try out his luck in the first ce. He was essentially wasting time, so whatever he found was what he found, regardless of what the oue was.

    Thus, in the following days, he continued to bring Iron Cliff around to all the other mineshafts, mining here and there. Although he didn¡¯t get much, he felt very unrestrained and free.

    Of course, this ¡°unrestrained and free¡± only came about under Iron Cliff¡¯s hard work. Young Master Su only needed to look at rocks, and in the remainder of his time he would practice his Origin Skills. This unrestrained lifestyle would not be possible if he had to personally mine.

    Today, Su Chen took Iron Cliff to go mining with him as per usual.

    Iron Cliff tightly hugged the wall of the mineshaft. His strength was so great that he could excavaterge amounts of stone and earth every single time.

    As he was mining, suddenly a loud rumble sounded, and arge dust cloud flew into the air.

    When the dust settled, Su Chen and Iron Cliff were greeted by a vast, open vacant space in front of them.

    This excavation from Iron Cliff had actually uncovered another paradise.

    1. The author starts to split up arcs into parts here. This can kind of be confusing, because the chapters are still sometimes split up, but I felt that this helps keep track of which arcs are present.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 60: Beetle Part 6

    Chapter 60: Beetle (Part 6)

    The crystalntern let out a warm glow of light, shining on the path ahead, causing the scenes in front to grow clearer.

    This was a giant open space, extremely spacious. It seemed as if it were a mountain that had beenpletely dug out. In the middle of the open space was arge pit, and a few skeletons were inside of it. However, it was hard to tell if the corpses were of beast or human.

    Su Chen walked in and said, ¡°Does this count as finding uncharted territory? Iron Cliff.¡±

    ¡°I think so, Master. However, it doesn¡¯t seem like this uncharted territory has any value,¡± Iron Cliff replied simply and honestly.

    ¡°That might not be true.¡± Su Chen said, looking at his surroundings. The crystalntern illuminated the walls, and then he pointed and said, ¡°Let¡¯s try mining here.¡±

    Iron Cliff hefted the iron pickaxe and walked towards it.

    The piercing sound of a pickaxes on rock once again echoed in the open space.

    Not long afterwards, Iron Cliff actually did find a piece of starsilver. One could easily tell from the brilliant silver light that this was an extremely high-quality ore.

    Iron Cliff¡¯s energy was stirred up, and he began to swing the pickaxe with even more speed.

    Piece after piece of ore was mined out the wall by Iron Cliff. After breaking through the outer rockyer, starsilver of all shapes and sizes appeared. In just an hour¡¯s time, they had obtained more starsilver than they had from the past few daysbined.

    Not only was there lots of starsilver here, the starsilver was also pure. Su Chen picked up a piece of ore and estimated that there was at least thirty percent starsilver in the ore.

    This was already quite a high purity content for starsilver ore.

    However, it seemed as if the good times were only just beginning.

    With a tter, another starsilver ore the size of his fist fell onto the ground/

    This piece¡¯s purity was even higher. Based on the brilliance of its silver light, it was probably at least fifty percent pure.

    A top-grade starsilver ore.

    Even Su Chen had to sigh in amazement.

    It was at this time, the ground suddenly trembled slightly.

    It was not a strong tremor. However, Su Chen and Iron Cliff felt it at the same time.

    Could it be that an earthquake was about to hit? If that was the case, then things were about to go south very quickly.

    But Su Chen realized that this was not the case in the next instant because those tremors were increasing in strength, heading in his direction.

    Su Chen jumped backwards purely out of instinct.

    As he flew into the air, he saw that two giant scythes had cut into where he had been standing just a moment ago. If Su Chen had moved any slower, he would have already been cut into two.

    As those two scythesnded on thin air, a howl sounded out, and an enormous maw emerged from the ground. That maw was extremely terrifying; its mouth was filled with razor-sharp teeth, and it oozed with a sticky mucus that actually melted the rock as it dripped to the ground. Those two giant scythes earlier were actually the two mandibles below therge maw. When they opened and closed, they made an unsettling sound.

    This monstrosity had just crawled out of the ground. Apart from its frightening maw and keen mandibles, it also had a thick, hard outer shell on its rear section. The shell on this rear section also had two thin wings that pped constantly.

    This was clearly a beetle!

    However, until now, Su Chen had never seen such arge beetle. Its mouth could swallow him whole, and it could probably even force Iron Cliff down.

    ¡°What the hell, what is this monster?¡± Su Chen said as he saw an existence that he had never heard of appear before him.

    Iron Cliff¡¯s jaw had also dropped.

    Su Chen slowly pulled out the Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de, pointing it at this giant beetle.

    But in the next instant, what he saw rendered him speechless ¨C that beetlepletely ignored him. Instead, it leapt at the pile of starsilver ore, opened its mouth wide, and began to eat.

    The starsilver ore that Iron Cliff had painfully excavated had actually been eaten by this beetle.

    ¡°So its¡¯ original target was the ore, not me.¡± Su Chen udnerstood.

    Although starsilver was valuable, it was not as precious as his own life. Upon seeing that this strange beast didn¡¯t pay any attention to him, Su Chen also let out a sigh. He could see a dense Origin Energy on the beetle¡¯s body, and its density was not lower than those three Blood Boiling Realm cultivators. This was a new usage for his eyes; he could use the opponent¡¯s density of Origin Energy to infer the opponent¡¯s cultivation base.

    Although cultivation base was not battle prowess, it was still a pretty good estimator.

    This beetle had an Origin Energy level of the peak of Blood Boiling. Su Chen definitely did not want to engage in a battle with it.

    However, at this moment, an angry voice sounded out, ¡°You useless garbage, you forgot your target once you started eating. You never know what is more important. Does your pitiful brain only know about metals?¡±

    In the darkness, a human figure slowly emerged, appearing in the open under the crystalntern light.

    This person was shrouded in a long ck cloak. His face was covered by the shadow, and it was hard to tell what he looked like. However, it was apparent that he was quite old.

    He held a wooden staff in his hand, and a fire-red precious stone was on top of the staff.

    His entire aura was sinister and gloomy. He looked like a departed soul that had walked out from the deep abyss, appearing in front of Su Chen.

    Upon seeing this person appear, Su Chen¡¯s heart sank slightly.

    After arriving in front of the beetle, the old man stopped walking. He watched Su Chen and let out a cold harrumph, ¡°I sealed the entrance to this ce with quite some difficulty, but you greedy lot still mined your way here. Riches blinded your eyes, causing you to enter this ce of no return.¡±

    Su Chen retreated a few steps, silently activating the Cloud-Stepping Battle Boots. He said, ¡°This Senior, I only stumbled upon this ce by ident. Since it is your territory, then I can back out.¡±

    ¡°Back out?¡± The old man let out a shadowyugh, ¡°Once you leave this ce, will you tell the people outside about this ce?¡±

    ¡°I can......¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t swear a vow!¡± The old man began to yell, ¡°The vows of mankind have no purpose. Your kind have broken many vows in the past, and history has proved that. You are a race that cannot be trusted!¡±

    Upon hearing these words, Su Chen was slightly taken aback.

    From what this old man had said, it seemed as if he was not of the human race?

    It was at this moment that Su Chen noticed the other party was significantly shorter than he was.

    He only reached Su Chen¡¯s shoulder. Although that height was not umon, when paired with what the old man had said earlier, Su Chen knew that his opponent might not actually be small, but rather...... of a different race?

    What kind of race was as tall as this old man?

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t think of anything.

    In his memory, most races were all taller and fiercer than humans. The moon race were long, the Mountain Race were tall, the Cliff Race were sturdy, the Ferocious Race were fierce, the Feathered Race had feathers, and the Spirit Race were seemingly nothingness. As for the Ocean Race, they weren¡¯t worth mentioning. Of the forty-six Intelligent Races on the Primordial Continent, the number of races with human-like figures yet smaller body sizes could be counted on one hand.

    Could it be the Craftsman Race? Or could it be......

    Su Chen had not finished his reasoning when that old man raised his staff and yelled out, ¡°Humankind deserving of death, receive this furious fireball!¡±

    As he spoke, a massive fireball appeared in midair, shooting towards Su Chen.

    Su Chen was badly startled, but thankfully he had made preparations beforehand. He activated the Snaking Mist Steps, and he flew into the air. At that very same moment, therge fireball mmed on the ground where he was standing before, causing embers to fly all over the ce.

    The old man evidently had not expected that Su Chen¡¯s reaction speed would be so quick, actually dodging the fireball. However, in the next moment, the staff in his hand shook, and another fireball appeared from the staff, flying towards Su Chen.

    Su Chen¡¯s figure shed again, the Snaking Mist Steps activated to their maximum extent, dodging the fireball once again. He shouted with surprise, ¡°So you are a remnant of the Arcana Race!¡±

    What greeted him was another fireball flying towards him.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 61: Remnant of the Arcana Race 1 Part 7

    Chapter 61: Remnant of the Arcana Race (1) (Part 7)

    The Arcana Race was once the most prominent race in the entire Primordial Continent, and had lead it for over thirty thousand years. In the end, they were only destroyed by an Origin Beast that had reawakened.

    The Arcana Race was an Intelligent Race that came to be after awakening the Divine Eye Ape Origin Beast bloodline.

    They had small bodies andrge heads. Though they appeared quite simr to humans from afar, ording to legends the real Arcana Race had four eyes; two to observe the macroscopic world, two to observe the microscopic world. As people who had inherited part of the Divine Eye Ape¡¯s bloodline, they had a clear, strong ability to see. In conjunction with their intelligence and their understanding of physical objects, they were able to create many miraculous Origin Energy Tools, which allowed them to establish the powerful Arcana Kingdom.

    After the destruction of the Arcana Kingdom, the remaining members of the Arcana Race did not give up on reestablishing their kingdom. They wereter able to establish a second Arcana Kingdom, which appeared after the seven kingdoms of humankind had already had time to develop. But this time, the other Intelligent Races did not give them the opportunity to rise in power. This second Arcana Kingdom only existed for three thousand years before being destroyed by thebined efforts of the Ocean Race, the Human Race, and the Spirit Race.

    The remaining members of Arcana Race hid away, living out their lives scheming and plotting.

    Having experienced failure, the current Arcana Race had be a tribe of the shadows.

    They did not desire open confrontation. Instead, they used tactics like business, plots and schemes, and leaking secrets to undermine the Five Great Races.

    They used their unique Arcana abilities to disguise themselves and infiltrate all of the great races, creating shadowy organizations that would incite conflict, pushing the Five Great Races to enter conflicts with the beast race, while waiting for the appropriate time. They tried in vain to use these underhanded methods behind the scenes to establish the third Arcana Kingdom.

    Of course, these methods were not sessful. However, without question, they gave many a kingdom a lot of trouble.

    These members of the Arcana Race were known as Remnants of the Arcana Race.

    If Su Chen wasn¡¯t wrong, Night Demon¡¯s organization was precisely one such organization. Fromst time, when Night Demon had identally let the word ¡°forever¡± slip, Su Chen guessed that this organization was very likely the Immortal Temple that had been founded by Jodi-Quilter in the fourteen thousandth year of the New Star Era. They were an old criminal organization that had already existed for over eleven thousand years

    Of course, these matters were all very unimportant at the moment. No matter what the organization Night Demon worked for was, the enemy in front of him was definitely a Remnant of the Origin Race.

    To deal with a member the Arcana Race, the easiest method was to rush forwards and cut off his head ¨C the Arcana Race were known tock close-quarterbat abilities.

    Having dodged tworge fireballs in a row, Su Chen whipped out the Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de, charging towards the Remnant of the Arcana Race, his movements quick as lightning.

    As a Remnant of the Arcana Race, the skills that he used were naturally ancient Arcana techniques. Seeing Su Chen charge towards him, the magic staff in his hand swayed. ¡°Receive the punishment of Surging Force!¡±

    Su Chen watched as a brilliant white light formed in the old man¡¯s hand. Next, as if a person had pinched it, this white light appeared as if it had been pinched by someone, turning into a round ball of white light.

    That was.....

    ¡°Origin Energy Bullets!¡± Su Chen yelled piercingly.

    He had seen this Origin Skill before in the ones that Night Demon had given him. It was quite a frighteningly powerful Origin Skill, and could release tens or even hundreds Origin Energy bullets to attack their opponent. Although its shot-for-shot offensive capabilities were somewhat lower than a fireball, it more than made up for it in sheer number of projectiles.

    Obviously, this Remnant of the Arcana Race had recognized that he could not allow Su Chen to get close to him given his speed, so he directly used an area-of-effect Origin Skill to counter him.

    Su Chen did not hold back anymore. The Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de swung wildly, blocking the Origin Energy Bullets flying at him. At the same time, his figure once again shed. Thankfully, he had his motion vision and could track objects moving at high speed. Thus, he had calcted the appropriate path to avoid most of the attacks in an instant, and he twisted and contorted to dodge the majority of them. Even so, an Origin Energy Bullet mmed into his chest.

    The Amethyst Battle Armor had no protection on the front, and this hit was very solid. Even with the physical protection of the armor itself, Su Chen was hit with a bout of intense pain.

    However, he had at least blocked or dodged one volley of attacks.

    The old Arcana man evidently had not expected that Su Chen could actually dodge this volley of Origin Energy Bullets. As he stood there somewhat dazed, Su Chen had already charged him at high speed.

    His speed was astonishingly fast. Activating the Snaking Mist Steps and the Cloud Stepping Boots, he arrived in front of the old man in a blink of an eye. The Heavenly Wolf de came crashing down onto the old man¡¯s head, setting off ear-splitting crashes of thunder.

    Thunder de!

    At the same time, the projection of a Wolf Soul appeared on the de¡¯s surface, rushing towards the old man.

    The old man let out a loud yell and lifted the ck cloth covering his head. A pair of jade-green eyes stared at Su Chen, and Su Chen felt slightly dizzy. The de strike he had just unleashed actually paused for a moment; when he tried to strike at the old man again, his body was already covered in a barrier of light which blocked this attack. The Wolf Soul could not enter the barrier either. It could only circle it and fiercely bite at it, causing the light barrier to flicker constantly.

    The de in his right hand did not change, but Su Chen¡¯s left hand pulled out a de at the same time.

    ck Streak Battle de!

    The battle de struck out at the old man¡¯s light barrier. A blood-colored light shed, and the old man let out a cry of pain. He disappeared into thin air, and all that remained was the blood aura shooting off into the distance.

    ¡°Bastard! You actually injured me!¡± A voice sounded out from behind Su Chen.

    Su Chen hurriedly turned around and saw that the old man¡¯s left arm had a striking wound on it.

    This blood aura had broken through his protective barrier and injured him, but the injury itself was not too severe.

    This caused Su Chen to feel a sense of frustration.

    At that moment, the old man had just activated two fireballs, Origin Energy bullets, a soul attack, a protective barrier, and a teleportation Origin Skill in rapid session, so his strength was quite high. He had only wounded his opponent once by catching him off-guard. Injuring him another time would not be so easy.

    However, the old Arcana Race man did not think along these lines.

    He was very clearly enraged.

    ¡°You bastard, you will need to pay a price. Hey, you piece of trash, why haven¡¯t you taken care of him yet!?¡± Thisst sentence was clearly aimed towards that beetle.

    Not good!

    Su Chen¡¯s heart jumped.

    Although the old man was strong, Su Chen still had the confidence that he could deal with him.

    However, thisrge beetle would be extremely hard to take care of. One look at the protective shell covering its body and Su Chen knew that beetle would have extremely strong defense. It could probably just stand there and take four or five blood auras with no problem. If it and that Arcana Race old man were to join forces, the old man could use it as a shield and unleash attacks from behind it. Su Chen¡¯s death would be imminent.

    This was also amonly used battle tactic of the Arcana Race. Almost every member of the Arcana Race would have their own personal shield in the form of a pet which would protect them from the front. Evidently, the person in front of him intended on raising this beetle to be his shield.

    Upon being yelled at by the Arcana Race old man, the beetle that was feasting upon the starsilver very reluctantly turned around and charged towards Su Chen.

    As soon as this beetle joined the fray, Su Chen was in incredibly danger. Even if they hadn¡¯t joined forces, that beetle alone was enough to make Su Chen fearful. Su Chen retrieved the de in his left hand, then swung the Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de. The Moon-Swallowing Wolf Soul bit the beetle¡¯s back. A few ¡°crunch¡±s sounded out; its shell was so tough that the Wolf Soul had actually been unable to bite through it. The beetle¡¯s giant mandibles swung forwards like scissors, almost severing Su Chen in two.

    Su Chen hurriedly retreated. Before he could counterattack, arge fireball once again shot towards him, forcing Su Chen to dodge once again.

    The Arcana and the beetle were extremelypatible. With the giant beetle¡¯s support, the old man could freely use the space avable to him. At the moment, he was firing off fireballs at Su Chen. Thankfully, because therge beetle blocked him, the old man did not use the Origin Energy Bullets anymore. Even so, Su Chen was already forced to the point that his movements were chaotic.

    Bang!

    Another fireball mmed towards Su Chen again. Su Chen had just dodged it when therge beetle once again charged over. Su Chen used all his efforts to evade it, narrowly dodging those vicious mandibles. However, he was headbutted by the beetle and went flying into the air. Although he struck back with his de, the attacknded on the beetle¡¯s back, and only a faint white scar was left on its shell. However, he had been hit so hard that he almost lost his life.

    The Arcana old man ferociouslyughed as he released another fireball to take Su Chen¡¯s life, but suddenly a figure shot towards him from an angle. This was precisely Iron Cliff.

    The old man had not expected at all that Iron Cliff would attack him. As Iron Cliff¡¯s fistnded on his face, he spit out a few teeth.

    ¡°My teef1!¡± The old man painfully looked at his teeth which had fallen to the ground.

    1. Thank shippotle for this suggestion.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 62: Remnant of the Arcana Race 2 Part 8

    Chapter 62: Remnant of the Arcana Race (2) (Part 8)

    He was already old, and the Arcana Race did not cultivate their physique, so after all this time he didn¡¯t have many teeth left in the first ce.

    After this punch, he basically had no teeth remaining.

    He stared at Iron Cliff with anger, and the old man¡¯s entire body began to emit a shocking killing intent. ¡°Damned Cliff Race, you actually dared to harm I, the great Ulrich! You must die!¡±

    He pointed the magic staff in his hand toward Iron Cliff. Iron Cliff¡¯s body was instantly engulfed in mes.

    ¡°AWOO!¡± Iron Cliff let out a pained howl.

    But Iron Cliff did not retreat. He instead hugged his head and rushed forwards. He grabbed the old man, causing the mes to engulf both him and the old man.

    ¡°mes, retreat!¡± Ulrich yelled loudly. He had no choice but to disperse the Origin Energy mes on Iron Cliff¡¯s body.

    Iron Cliff was still holding him tightly, and was unwilling to let him go. As part of the Cliff Race, he had not yet entered the Qi Drawing Realm and could not use Origin Energy. However, he still had a strong physique and could restrict the opponent. He would hug this old man to death.

    A scornful expression shed across Ulrich¡¯s eyes. ¡°You insignificant insect, do you think that you can harm me?¡±

    As Ulrich spoke, Iron Cliff suddenly discovered that something had grabbed onto his arm. He saw that a tentacle made out of air had taken hold of his arm, and was pulling it outwards.

    ¡°NO!¡± Iron Cliff let out a low, angry howl, as he furiously fought against the force that was pulling his arm out.

    This was pure physical strength fighting against an Origin Skill. Surprisingly, Iron Cliff was actually able to resist the air tentacle¡¯s pulling.

    ¡°So it seems you have some ability?¡± Some surprise appeared in Ulrich¡¯s eyes. ¡°But in the end, it¡¯s still not enough.¡±

    Heughed strangely and snapped his fingers.

    More air tentacles appeared from thin air and grabbed onto Iron Cliff, pulling him forcefully away from Ulrich¡¯s body. They then began to pull on him from all sides, trying to pull him into pieces.

    ¡°This is what happens when you overestimate your strength.¡± Ulrich sneered sinisterly. ¡°I want your blood as a sacrifice to my precious. I will make you...... Hm?¡±

    Ulrich said with shock.

    A sh of cold light shot towards him.

    Ulrich hurriedly activated his Origin Energy barrier. A poison dart mmed against his barrier, then fell to the ground.

    He turned his head around to see that in his battle with the beetle, Su Chen had not forgotten to throw a dart at him.

    Upon seeing that his dart had not hit his target, Su Chen sighed in his heart.

    In reality, if he had waited a little bit longer before making a move, until Ulrich was overconfident, he might have been able to seed.

    But if he waited for that opportunity, Iron Cliff might have died.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t want to do that. At the very least, he was unwilling to exchange Iron Cliff¡¯s life for sess in battle.

    However, it was now impossible to seed if the situation progressed.

    Su Chen and Iron Cliff were far from being Ulrich and the beetle¡¯s opponents. That beetle was simply too strong. Even one-on-one, Su Chen could do nothing to it. Thankfully, the beetle¡¯s speed was not too fast, and Su Chen still had the opportunity to dodge. However, with Ulrich present, he would die sooner orter.

    Would he really fail here?

    In the distance, Ulrich had already activated the air tentacles again, and had lifted Iron Cliff into the air. Ulrich seemed as if he was very ustomed to torturing people, and he was not particrly busy trying to kill Iron Cliff quickly.

    Next to Su Chen, therge beetle was still attacking, brandishing its mandibles at him, forcing him to concentrate all his attention on defending himself and leaving him with no possible method.

    Upon seeing this scene, Su Chen¡¯s heart felt like it was on fire.

    What could he do? Was there any way out of this situation?

    As Su Chen continued to evade, he furiously racked his brain for ideas.

    Just at this moment, therge beetle charged Su Chen. As Su Chen evaded, therge beetle headbutted the mountain rock, actually knocking loose a piece of starsilver ore.

    When that starsilvernded on the ground, therge beetle paused and took a moment to swallow the ore whole.

    This scene causes Su Chen¡¯s eyes to light up.

    He suddenly realized something, and furiously pulled out something from his storage ring.

    A piece of pure, refined starsilver.

    As if it had smelled the fragrance of metal, therge beetle let out a piercing yell. Even after Su Chen had chopped at it with his de ten or so times, it had never let out such an excited screech.

    ¡°Do you want to eat it?¡± Su Chen yelled loudly.

    ¡°Hiss!¡± Therge beetle stood up straight, as if it were a dog begging for food in front of its master.

    Su Chen threw the starsilver in his hand out. ¡°Go get it!¡±

    Therge beetle chased after the starsilver.

    ¡°No!¡± Upon seeing this, Ulrich let out a despairing yell, ¡°This damned bastard, useless trash!¡±

    But there was nothing he could do.

    He had not finished training this metal-eating bug of his. Its instinct to eat metals often surpassed its will to follow his orders. If offered regr pieces of metal, the beetle may have been able to resist this enticement, but purified starsilver was almost like an exotic delicacy, a food of the gods, to the metal-eating bug.

    ¡°Dammit!¡± Ulrich knew that the situation was not good.

    All that he could do was dy for time while he waited for the metal-eating bug to return.

    He tightened his air tentacles in an effort to garrote Iron Cliff, all the while pouring the rest of his Origin Energy into a new Origin Energy Barrier.

    At this moment, Su Chen had already drew near. The de in his right hand shed out towards the air tentacles, causing all of them to break. Iron Cliff fell to the ground and fainted. Next, his de struck back at Ulrich, and the rumbling of thunder sounded out, loud enough to shock one¡¯s soul. At the same time, the ck Streak Battle de reappeared in his left hand.

    Both des struck out at the same time!

    Ulrich gritted his teeth and braced himself against the Origin Energy barrier. He also released arge wave of Origin Energy Bullets.

    With a loud ¡®BANG¡¯, both of them flew into the air at the same time.

    Ulrich¡¯s barrier instantly fragmented, and another flurry of blood appeared on his body. Su Chen¡¯s Amethyst Battle Armor was also broken, and multiple bulletsnded on his chest in rapid session, causing him to spit out a mouthful of fresh blood. Two of his ribs broke, and his vision began to darken; he barely avoided fainting.

    Bang!

    The two of them fell to the ground at the same time.

    At this point, therge beetle had returned after eating the starsilver.

    ¡°Kill him!¡± Ulrich yelled.

    What greeted Ulrich was another bunch of starsilver appearing in Su Chen¡¯s hands.

    This time, he pulled out three pieces.

    ¡°Oh, no!¡± Ulrich yelled with despair.

    He forcefully tossed them out, and the three pieces of starsilver carved out three different lines in the air. The metal-eating beetle rushed towards them like a little pekingese dog.

    ¡°It¡¯s just me and you again,¡± Su Chenughed.

    He gritted his teeth and stood up, then waved his de and rushed towards Ulrich.

    Ulrich had no strength to go all out. As Su Chen charged towards him, Ulrich suddenly disappeared with a wave of his staff, directly reappearing behind Su Chen.

    Su Chen, however, was prepared for this. Just as Ulrich disappeared, he tossed the de away.

    He then pulled out the ming Hunter Blunderbuss, and shot behind him in rapid session.

    Bang bang bang bang!

    As the gun sounded out repeatedly, Ulrich had been struck in rapid session. Three profound bullets left three wounds on his body. Although these wounds were not serious, Ulrich¡¯s weakened body had no way of bearing them.

    He let out a howl of pain and rage, then turned around and charged towards the metal-eating bug.

    Su Chen sped up after him. He charged to Ulrich¡¯s side, then struck out with the ck Streak Battle de again.

    ¡°DIE!¡±

    Su Chen had not expected that Ulrich would actually turn around. He lifted the magic staff in his hand, causing mes to appear before Su Chen.

    Fireball!

    At this moment, Su Chen¡¯s Amethyst Battle Armor had disappeared, and he had no way of activating it. He also had no time to avoid it, and given that he had already sustained heavy injuries, he could not possible forcibly block this fireball attack.

    This attack was all ording to Ulrich¡¯s calctions.

    In this moment of incredible danger, Su Chen¡¯s eyes opened wide, and he activated his Soul Eye.

    Ulrich suddenly felt as if his head hurt, and his vision went blurry. The fireball that he had prepared had no way of being cast.

    In the next instant, the ck Streak Battle de had already cut through his waist.

    Ulrich¡¯s body trembled. He lowered his head to look at his waist only to see himself fall to the ground in two pieces.

    He nced at Su Chen, then turned his head to look at the metal-eating bug. He sighed, ¡°What a pity...... If I had just a little more time...... I could have tamed it......¡±

    His head tilted, and he died.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 63: Rewards

    Chapter 63: Rewards (Part 9)

    Su Chen retrieved his de, then sat on the ground, sapped of all his energy.

    While he had won the battle, he had also sustained some heavy injuries.

    Ulrich¡¯s body began to release bits of starlike light. Those were dots of Origin Energy.

    Su Chen hesitated for a moment, but still decided to raise his hand.

    This battle had taught Su Chen the value of strength.

    Without enough strength, one could encounter dangers at any time. This made it so that he no longer cared about where the Origin Energy dots originated from. Origin Energy was Origin Energy, and it was pure in the first ce. It did not depend on the race.

    At this time, the metal-eating bug had finished eating the three pieces of starsilver and returned.

    Su Chen watched it with vignce. He did not know if this bug would go crazy upon discovering that Ulrich had died.

    However, he was relieved very quickly.

    The bug, which seemed vicious outwardly, used its head to prod Ulrich. Upon discovering that there was no response, it actually just walked to the side and went to sleep,pletely ignoring Su Chen.

    This made Su Chen feel somewhat speechless.

    Since the giant beetle was not interested in him, Su Chen also needed to rest.

    After realigning his bones and applying medicine, Su Cheny on the ground, resting peacefully.

    As he rested, he began to rey the battle in his mind.

    Old man Ulrich had six to seven ¨C or even more ¨C Origin Skills. His strength was not to be taken lightly. There were three reasons why he had been able to kill Ulrich. Firstly, he had an advantage in equipment. Five Origin Tools gave him a nontrivial increase in strength. The old man only had one magic staff, and very clearly it was just amon amplification staff, amplifying the intensity of fire-type Origin Skills. However, the Origin Skills that he controlled were not all fire-type. This was one of the reasons why the old man had lost. Secondly, ancient Arcana techniques were not easy to chain together nor meant for close-quartersbat. As soon as Su Chen drew near, it was difficult for Ulrich to hit him. In addition, the space in their environment was limited, so Ulrich wasn¡¯t able to dodge well, which gave Su Chen the opportunity to attack. Thirdly, Iron Cliff¡¯s presence and the giant beetle¡¯sck of maturity had given away Ulrich¡¯s final opportunity.

    However, the main reason that he had been able to win was because of the metal-eating bug¡¯s weakness.

    In reality, Su Chen should have recognized the giant beetle¡¯s thirst for metals from the very beginning. However, his attention had been captured by Ulrich, so he had overlooked this point. He hadn¡¯t thought of it untilter.

    If he hadn¡¯t thought of this idea, then the one dying would have been him.

    From this, one could easily see that in battle, it was incredibly important to preserve a clear mind.

    Because his mind had been clear, he had quickly discovered the weakness of the giant beetle. Because his mind had been clear, he had used Soul Eye at the most critical moment, which prevented Ulrich from turning the tables on him. Powerful strength needed to be paired with a clear mind; these were essential conditions for sess.

    This was what Su Chen had understood after his battle, and was also the requirements that Su Chen had ced on himself for the future. Every time he battled, he would need to remind himself of this. He would review his mistakes and correct his progress.

    After resting for an unknown period of time, the broken bones in Su Chen¡¯s chest finally began to hurt less.

    He stood up again, then walked towards Ulrich.

    It wasn¡¯t until this moment that he finally saw Ulrich¡¯s appearance the most clearly.

    The old man¡¯s face was filled with wrinkles. He was incredibly old, and he was frighteningly skinny. No wonder he possessed no strength. Ancient Arcana had no techniques for cultivating the physique. They only studied the intricacies of Origin Skills themselves, and this was reflected in the old man¡¯s appearance.

    Compared to humankind, their eyes were blue. This was one way to discern the difference between the Arcana race and humankind. However, he never saw that second pair of eyes; perhaps it was just a rumor.

    Upon taking away the magic staff, Su Chen began to search Ulrich¡¯s body.

    There was absolutely nothing. No pouch, no storage ring.

    This made Su Chen feel extremely disappointed.

    But after thinking about it again, he realized that Ulrich could not have brought nothing with him, especially if he was attempting to train a metal-eating bug.

    Unless......

    Su Chen turned his head around to look at something.

    Ulrich had walked out from that dark area off to the distance.

    He first walked over to Iron Cliff. Upon seeing that he wasn¡¯t seriously injured ¨C he had only fainted ¨C Su Chen picked up the crystalmp and walked into the distance. The yellow light scattered the darkness, and Su Chen very quickly saw that there was another cave not far away from where he was.

    It seemed as if that cave was Ulrich¡¯s home. All of his belongings were inside.

    There was a lot of stuff inside the cave.

    Apart from items necessary for survival, what attracted Su Chen the most was arge workbench.

    The workbench was covered in all kinds of strange vials and jars, as well as a few notes that recorded the experiments.

    Su Chen carelessly picked one up to look at. On it was recorded the way to tame and raise the metal-eating bug.

    ¡°So this thing is called a metal-eating bug.¡± It wasn¡¯t until now that Su Chen knew what this strange beast was called.

    In any case, therge bug wasn¡¯t bothering him, so Su Chen hung the crystalntern up on the wall and began to read Ulrich¡¯s writings.

    The writings were very messy. Some recorded what Ulrich had learned from his experience, some were recalling his memories. Su Chen felt very confused initially, but as he read book after book, Su Chen began to understand.

    Ulrich truly was a remnant of the Arcana Race.

    However, after the Arcana Race had fallen into ruin, they were not allowed to exist by the other races. Thus, even though he was a remnant of the Arcana Race, Ulrich did not have much of a legacy. In his early life, he had followed his parents while they wandered, attempting to hide from the pursuit of other races. However, in the end, he was still a remnant of the Arcana Race. Perhaps using those connections, Ulrich had obtained a book that recorded ancient Arcana techniques.

    Instead of transmission pearls, the information here was written down!

    Su Chen paid attention to this point.

    He searched the room thoroughly, finally discovering a sheepskin scroll hidden in the corner. The sheepskin scroll was ancient. Even though steps had been taken to preserve it, it still looked like touching it would cause it to fragment.

    Su Chen very carefully opened it. However, he saw that it was written using an ancient Arcana script, and his heart immediately sank.

    Although he had studied an ancient Arcana text with Tang Zhen before, it was for a short duration, so the amount that he had learned was limited. He estimated that even if Tang Zhen himself was here, it might still be difficult to trante it.

    Cultivating was not like other things. A small mistake could result in serious consequences.

    There was nothing Su Chen could do. He first put the sheepskin to the side, then continued to examine Ulrich¡¯s writings.

    ording to what was written here, after Ulrich obtained the sheepskin, he began to cultivate ording to what was written on it. However, because the Arcana Race was not epted by the other races, Ulrich¡¯s cultivation environment was pretty bad because he was always running away or wandering. Most of his time was spent hiding or evading. This was also why his cultivationyer was so low, even though he was quite old.

    He did not have a master to guide him, nor did he have the appropriate cultivation environment or resources. For him to cultivate to his current state while relying only on a sheepskin manual was already quite good.

    Apart from Arcana techniques, the sheepskin also recorded an Arcana Life-Altering Technique.

    The Arcana Life-Altering Technique was how the Arcana Race used their special ancient Arcana techniquesbined with their knowledge to change the lives of other life-forms, turning them into their ves.. This method existed when the Arcana Kingdom was created and became extremely popr. However, this may also have been the cause for the Arcana Kingdom to fall into ruin.

    Because of their unscrupulous changing and utilizing other life-forms, as well as the pain and bitter suffering lifeforms of other races endured, they finally enraged all the great races. Once the Origin Beasts dealt a serious blow to the Arcana Kingdom, all the other Intelligent Races allied together and toppled the Arcana Kingdom.

    One could say that of the countless sins that the Arcana Race hadmitted, life-altering would be the number one sin.

    Regardless, this conscienceless method also made the races reevaluate their understanding of life. Afterwards, they began to create more cultivation methods and skills that were easier to implement. This would also have great value towards improving their society.

    Ulrich did not dare to use the Arcana Race¡¯s Life-Altering Technique, and he could not use beasts. The Beast Emperor would use a long-range call to awaken the abilities of beasts outside of their territory, preventing the beast race from being blindly used by others. Thus, all he could choose to use were bugs.

    Ulrich had unintentionally encountered these metal-eating bugs while he was wandering. They were extremely hard to discover and usually only the size of a fingernail.

    Ulrich had basically killed all of the metal-eating bugs that he had encountered. Through arge numbers of experiments and care, he had finally created this metal-eating bug.

    However, there were clearly ws in his experimentation.

    Ulrich originally had hoped that he could use the metal-eating bug¡¯s love for metals to train a powerful meat shield. While he had aplished this, and the super metal-eating bug that he had trained was truly frighteningly strong, and it could continue to raise its potential by eating more metal, the main issue was that this metal-eating bug clearly did not like doing battle.

    Itszy nature made it so that it hated doing battle. Its ferocious mandibles didn¡¯t like picking up anything except metal ore. Even if people were to hit it, it would only whimper and retreat. In any case, its shell was so thick that blows to it didn¡¯t hurt.

    Ulrich tried to think of many ways to address this issue, finallying up with a way to increase the metal-eating bug¡¯s battle capacity.

    It was at this time when Su Chen appeared.

    In the end, a few pieces of pure starsilver had quenched the metal-eating bug¡¯s fighting spirit.

    ¡°No wonder......¡± Su Chen said to himself.

    No wonder the metal-eating bug didn¡¯t try to get revenge after its owner died, instead running to the corner and going to sleep. It didn¡¯t enjoy battling in the first ce.

    Su Chen originally nned on figuring out how to kill it after he recovered, but now he gave up on this idea.

    Su Chen was very clear that without Ulrich¡¯s training, the metal-eating bug¡¯s true nature would very quickly take over, and it would not be dangerous to humans. Since that was the case, there was no longer any need to try and deal with it.

    After retrieving the sheepskin scroll, Su Chen continued to flip through, seeing if there was anything else he could gain.

    However, apart from a bug pouch, he didn¡¯t see anything else. The old man had spent all his resources on cultivating and training metal-eating bugs. The bug pouch was used to raise metal-eating bugs. These bugs could enter a state of hibernation in the pouch and could survive on very little food. Its value was roughly worth that of amon grade storage ring, so Su Chen retrieved it as well.

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then took the old man¡¯s experimental logs and his instruments as well.

    These writings were the umtion of all the years of experience this old man had gained. It was everything that he knew.

    The current age prioritized items and cultivation as the most important, and was not particrly fond of ancient Arcana techniques, which were ¡°crooked¡± pathways. However, Su Chen had studied under Tang Zhen, and he had personally witnessed the metal-eating bug¡¯s strength. Thus, he had no aversions to knowledge.

    After all, who could know whether or not these could be used to increase his own strength? Now that bloodlines were valued for strength, both the bloodline extractor and bloodline medicines were all products of knowledge.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 64: A New Discovery

    Chapter 64: A New Discovery (Part 10)

    When he opened his eyes, Iron Cliff found himself lying inside a cave. Not far away from him, a crystalmp was lit. Su Chen walked towards him.

    ¡°You¡¯re awake? How do you feel?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Iron Cliff sat up and rubbed the back of his head. ¡°The bed is slightly small.¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°Thankfully, you weren¡¯t too injured; only some of your muscles were torn. This is my first time seeing pure physical strength resist an Origin Skill...... not bad.¡±

    Iron Cliffughed with some embarrassment.

    into the air out of fright.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be nervous, it won¡¯t hurt you.¡± Su Chen waved his hand at Iron Cliff.

    Perhaps out of habit, after running around outside for a bit, the metal-eating bug had automatically returned to the corner of the cave, unmoving.

    Iron Cliff sat back down with some annoyance.

    Su Chen handed him a bottle. ¡°If you drink this, you will recover more quickly. But as a side-effect you might feel weak for a day, or you might have diarrhea. However, there shouldn¡¯t be any big problems.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Iron Cliff obediently received the medicine, gulping it down.

    Upon seeing his quiet, obedient attitude, Su Chen suddenly asked, ¡°Why did you help me?¡±

    Iron Cliff replied straightforwardly, ¡°You are my master. Of course I would fight for you.¡±

    ¡°But you aren¡¯t my soldier; you¡¯re just my servant. Fighting is not your responsibility. Also, if I died, then you would be free to go.¡±

    Iron Cliff shook his head. ¡°I didn¡¯t think about it. I just thought that I should do it this way.¡±

    ¡°So there was no other reason? Such as ¡®you like me as a master¡¯, or ¡®you feel like I treated you better than ck Hand¡¯, or any other reason?¡±

    Iron Cliff shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ve followed four masters. You are not the one that has treated me the best. My second master, who was female, treated me the best. She was very kind. She never made me work. She was always good to me.¡±

    Su Chen let out augh. ¡°You really don¡¯t know how to tter people. So why didn¡¯t your previous female owner want you anymore?¡±

    Some pain flitted across Iron Cliff¡¯s eyes. ¡°It¡¯s not that she didn¡¯t want me anymore. She died. In the midst of a battle, a despicable person mounted a sneak-attack and stabbed her in the back.¡±

    ¡°My condolences,¡± Su Chen said.

    Iron Cliff lowered his head, sitting there without making a sound.

    Seeing his quiet appearance, Su Chen¡¯s heart was moved.

    He said, ¡°Do you want to be my soldier? Someone who specifically does battle for me?¡±

    Iron Cliff was stunned. ¡°I don¡¯t have any Origin Energy power.¡±

    ¡°I can teach you.¡±

    Iron Cliff shook his head. ¡°I am very stupid. The previous three masters all taught me, but I just couldn¡¯t learn it.¡±

    ¡°Was it that you couldn¡¯t learn it well, or that you couldn¡¯t learn at all?¡±

    Iron Cliff thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°It should be that I couldn¡¯t learn well. The Cliff Race¡¯s perception of Origin Energy is very low, and our cultivation speed is also very slow.

    ¡°But you can still learn, can¡¯t you? It¡¯s just that it¡¯s somewhat slow.¡±

    ¡°But I don¡¯t want to learn.¡± Iron Cliff lowered his head. ¡°I hate battling, and I don¡¯t like killing.¡±

    Su Chen was stunned for a moment. It was a long while before he responded, saying, ¡°You¡¯re right. Killing is not a good thing, but only with enough strength can one control their own destiny and avoid being killed. Do you not want to be stronger? Do you not want to get revenge for your female master?¡±

    Upon hearing thest sentence, Iron Cliff¡¯s eyes began to flicker with energy.

    But in the next instant, this spirit once again dimmed.

    He lowered his head, saying with mncholy, ¡°I couldn¡¯t beat that person. He was very strong...... You couldn¡¯t beat him either. Even if webined forces, we couldn¡¯t beat him.¡±

    ¡°But that¡¯s only right now.¡± Su Chen grasped Iron Cliff¡¯s shoulder. ¡°If you trust me, I might have a way of increasing your speed of cultivation.¡±

    Iron Cliff raised his head with amazement. What he saw was Su Chen¡¯s eyes, filled with confidence.

    Warmth began coursing through his heart. Iron Cliff slowly nodded his head. ¡°Okay, I am willing to be your soldier. What do you need me to do?¡±

    ¡°Right now......¡± Su Chenughed, ¡°Sorry, although your previous female master didn¡¯t make you work, I am not that generous, mostly because I have no one working for me. Help me dig out some ore; mine out all the starsilver ore inside this cave for me. Whenever you finish digging, we will return, and I will cultivate with you at that time.¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Iron Cliff nodded his thick, heavy head.

    In the following days, Iron Cliff spent all his energy mining for ore.

    Although this cave was where the metal-eating bug lived and ate,, its appetite was limited. Once the bug was full, it would not continue to eat, so its ore consumption rate was far less than that of the insatiable human race. For humans, as long as they could still find ore, they would continue to mine it incessantly.

    Because of this, there was still quite a significant amount of starsilver ore that came falling out as Iron Cliff continued to mine.

    Under these circumstances, that metal-eating bug actually became somewhat of a nuisance.

    Every time therge beetle got hungry, it would whimper and run over, eating voraciously from their pile of ore. After finishing, it would leave to sleep once more.

    Quite a significant chunk of ore that Iron Cliff had bitterly mined was eaten by this guy. Thus, Su Chen just gave his storage ring to Iron Cliff, and told him to ce the ore into the ring as soon as he found it.

    Since the metal-eating bug couldn¡¯t find anything to eat, it would run around Iron Cliff, whimpering as it did so. It wouldn¡¯t attack him, making it look like a dog. Iron Cliff found the beetle quite interesting, so from time to time he would secretly feed it a few pieces of fragmented ore. The metal-eating bug was not picky and happily ate it up. However, as a result it began to follow Iron Cliff around even more closely.

    Su Chen knew this as well, but he did not care.

    He was extremely busy.

    Now, apart from cultivating his Origin Skills every day, he also had to look at Ulrich¡¯s writings in a bid to learn the ancient Arcana script.

    The knowledge that Ulrich had recorded was very scattered andcked organization. His writings were simply the procedural documentation of one person¡¯s experience. However, because of this, Su Chen could also more easily understand them. These writings very clearly detailed Ulrich¡¯s journey to understand the Arcana techniques, including the process of knowing nothing to knowing a little bit. If it were written with depth andplexity, Su Chen might not have been able to understand any of it. These writings were filled with a person¡¯s guesses and slow progress, so Su Chen was able to understand it much more easily.

    As he read about Ulrich¡¯s progress, Su Chen saw reflected his own experiences in learning ancient Arcana techniques and very quickly lost himself in reading. Through the phrases Ulrich used, Su Chen began to have a deeper understanding of the previous Arcana Kingdom. They were a miraculous kingdom which had thirty thousand years of glory and had made countless important discoveries and inventions.

    Inventions such as the powerful, flying Origin Demon Puppets; devices that could convert the Origin Energy in the air into motion; the rare bloodline extractor instrument and the Life-Altering technique, as well as many other mystical ancient Arcana techniques. They were all invented and spread during that period of time by the Arcana Race.

    The current bloodline system that humankind relied on for survival originated from a small branch of the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s research.

    Upon thinking to this point, Su Chen felt quite shaken.

    However, it was quite tragic that most of what they had discovered had been lost in the sands of time. Now, even when talking about the Arcana Race themselves, there was no way of regaining the former glory of that time period.

    When he had free time, Su Chen would call Iron Cliff over to teach him the Dartfrog Absorption Technique.

    One had to say that the Cliff Race was truly stupid, and their brains were filled with rocks. Iron Cliff took four days and nights before he could barely exercise it. Byparison, Su Chen had been able to exercise it proficiently after only one night.

    In terms of perception, the Cliff Race did not even have half that of a regr person.

    However, perhaps it was because they were so slow that they were also so loyal.

    With losses there would always be gains. It was impossible to hope that a person could be absolutely loyal yet extremely intelligent. That kind of person did not exist.

    Having thought through this point, Su Chen was also satisfied.

    Today, Su Chen was examining an experiment from Ulrich¡¯s writings when he suddenly heard Iron Cliff yell, ¡°Don¡¯te here, you can¡¯t have this!¡±

    When Su Chen heard this, he walked out only to see Iron Cliff holding a piece of starsilver ore in the air, continuously backing up. The metal-eating bug was chasing after the ore in Iron Cliff¡¯s hand. It did not have any malicious intent, but its giant mandibles were extremely frightening, and Iron Cliff was being chased all over the ce.

    ¡°Why not ce the ore inside the ring?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Once the ore was ced into the ring, the metal-eating but wouldn¡¯t be able to smell it anymore, and it wouldn¡¯t cause a fuss anymore.

    ¡°The ring is full. I can¡¯t fit this piece of high-purity ore in, and it won¡¯t stop chasing me,¡± Iron Cliff said with distress.

    ¡°Hmm. Just give it to it.¡±

    Although he was somewhat unwilling, Su Chen simrly did not wish for Iron Cliff to be continually chased by it.

    The starsilver carved out a beautiful line as it flew off into the distance. The metal-eating bug was like a trained hunting dog, as it furiously charged towards the ore before swallowing it in one go.

    The metal-eating bug stopped bugging Iron Cliff now that it was satisfied. It first rubbed itself against the walls of the corner of the cave, then pooped for a bit before sauntering to another corner to go to sleep.

    The metal-eating bug was alive, so it naturally had needs to take care of. Su Chen did not mind this. Ulrich had already taught it to find a corner to take care of business, so Su Chen and Iron Cliff didn¡¯t need to worry about that. Just as Su Chen was about to return to his cave, he saw that the metal-eating bug¡¯s poop shone with a metallic light.

    Su Chen was surprised and intrigued, so he walked over to take a closer look.

    Because the metal-eating bug only aterge amounts of metal ore, its poop was not smelly, and most of it was hard g, and the rest was mostly earth. Its appearance was not that gross.

    Su Chen broke the hard earth shell on the outside of the poop. A brilliant silver light shone out from the inside of the poop. It looked like starsilver, yet it seemed to be more precious than starsilver.

    ¡°Starsilver essence?¡± Su Chen yelled with surprise.

    Starsilver essence was produced whenrge quantities of starsilver were refined again into a higher-quality metal. It was specifically used to create high-tier Origin Tools and could improve a tool¡¯s ability to conduct Origin Energy. It was not something that Su Chen, who was barely an Origin Qi Schr, coulde into contact with or use.

    Su Chen did not expect that the metal-eating bug would actually produce something like starsilver essence. In that instant, the first thought that shed through Su Chen¡¯s mind was: ¡®Is this a lucky coincidence? Or is this normal?¡¯

    Upon thinking to this point, Su Chen furiously began to break open all the piles of poop in front of him, attempting to find a second piece.

    Nothing, nothing, still nothing.

    He raised his head, then charged towards the darkness, where piles of poop from the metal-eating bug were everywhere.

    Bang bang bang bang! Under a series of repeated attacks, Su Chen finally found another bit of light that appeared.

    Su Chen picked up a silver ball of metal that was significantly smaller, yet his eyes disyed an expression of excitement.

    ¡°Master?¡± Iron Cliff walked over with some doubt. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    He had no idea why Su Chen would suddenly have an interest in the metal-eating bug¡¯s poop.

    ¡°Nothing much.¡± Su Chen forcefully repressed the happiness in his heart as he said, ¡°In the future, I will have some new work that I want you to do.¡±

    ¡°What work?¡± Iron Cliff asked.

    ¡°Digging through feces,¡± Su Chen replied.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 65: Enslavement Scroll

    Chapter 65: Envement Scroll

    In the remaining time, Su Chen and Iron Cliff went through the entire cave, discovering and breaking apart every single mound of poop the metal-eating bug had left behind. Indeed, every few that they broke open, they would find something.

    After half a day, all of the poops had been broken. Upon confirming that there were no intact pieces of poop remaining, the two of them stopped. At this time, the amount of starsilver essence that Su Chen possessed had increased from the size of a pellet to the size of an infant¡¯s head.

    Su Chen was intoxicated by the sight of so much starsilver essence.

    Outside the gorge, a walnut-sized starsilver essence was worth around five thousand low-grade Origin Stones. The piece that Su Chen held in his hand was roughly three to four walnuts, which meant that it was potentially worth above twenty thousand Origin Stones.

    ¡°I never expected that you were actually a money-making machine,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself as he looked at the sleeping metal-eating bug.

    Starsilver essence refinement was an extremelyplex process, and it also consumed a lot of raw starsilver in a ratio of forty to one. Thus, the value of starsilver essence remained incredibly high.

    Su Chen did not know exactly how much the metal-eating bug consumed, but he knew that it needed to eat a lot.

    The metal-eating bug¡¯s appetite was huge, being able to eat roughly fifteen kilograms of metal ore in a single day, with five percent of it being starsilver. That was to say that it roughly ate one half of a kilogram of starsilver a day. ording to Ulrich¡¯s writings, he had already been in this ce for 270 days or so, meaning that it had eaten a total of close to two hundred kilograms of starsilver. The starsilver essence that Su Chen collected was around ten kilograms despite only being the size of a baby¡¯s head. Thus, this conversion rate was roughly twenty to one, much better than forty to one.

    Of course, this was an estimate and could not be confirmed. It was possible that the metal-eating bug had simply eatenrge amounts of starsilver ore in the beginning.

    Quite frankly, the only reason that Su Chen had discovered the starsilver essence was because he had fed the giant beetle four pieces of pure starsilver, not just starsilver ore. These four pieces of pure starsilver was already much greater than the bug¡¯s average intake of starsilver. This, this had resulted in the metal-eating bug pooping out arge piece of essence, whic Su Chen had noticed. Otherwise, Su Chen most likely would have been like Ulrich and overlooked this precious, hidden treasure.

    That was also to say that if he were to feed it pure starsilver, he could also obtain even more starsilver essence? In addition, he could more urately calcte the conversion rate.

    Su Chen thought for a moment.

    In the following days, the quality of life for the metal-eating bug went up drastically.

    Su Chen instructed Iron Cliff to feed the metal-eating bug pure starsilver, calcting the weight carefully every time.

    Therge bug was extremely happy about the increase in its food supply, and its rtionship with Iron Cliff had be one of adtion.

    However, Su Chen waited for three entire days for the metal-eating bug to excrete its waste with no result. In fact, the amount that it ate also began to decrease.

    This made Su Chen feel quite surprised.

    On the fourth day, the metal-eating bug was obviouslycking energy. Even if Iron Cliff fed it, it refused to eat, leaving after sniffing it a few times.

    Su Chen began to worry that he had done something wrong.

    That night, the metal eating bug sat in its corner and began to use force.

    It let out pained cries and whimpers, constantly rubbing against the rock walls, causing pieces of rock to fragment off and fall to the ground. However, it just could not poop anything out.

    Upon seeing this scene, Su Chen finally understood.

    ¡°Crap, it¡¯s constipated.¡±

    Iron Cliff: ¡°......¡±

    That night, the metal-eating bug struggled for half of the night before finally pooping out a silver, shiny lump of excrement.

    Upon weighing it, good Lord, it weighed two kilograms ¨C Iron Cliff had fed it half of all the starsilver in the storage ring to it.

    No wonder it couldn¡¯t poop it out.

    This experiment helped Su Chen realize two things. First, the metal-eating bug¡¯s rate of conversion was closer to twenty two to one, slightly lower than his previous calctions but not by much. Secondly, too much was just as bad as too little.

    The ck Streak Battle de and the Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de could not kill the metal-eating bug, but it had almost died from constipation. One could only say that this world was truly too strange.

    From this time onwards, Su Chen fed the metal-eating bug its normal diet, only mixing in a few bits of pure starsilver. The metal-eating bug¡¯s energy also quickly returned to normal.

    When he had nothing to do, Su Chen wondered if the metal-eating bug could poop out starsilver essence after eating starsilver, would it produce other essences if it ingested other metals?

    He could only find an opportunity in the future to test this hypothesis out.

    His current mission was more important, which was how to bring this moneymaking machine with him.

    Thankfully, Ulrich had left behind a method to control the metal-eating bug in the form of an Envement Scroll. After using it on a target, it would generate an imprint of the user as its master on the target¡¯s heart. Thus, it could understand and carry outmands to a certain extent.

    The Envement Scroll was not difficult to learn. Su Chen had mastered it very quickly.

    On the eleventh day that he had entered the cave, all of the starsilver ore in the cave had beenpletely mined.

    Su Chen was also reaching a point where he more or less understood Ulrich¡¯s experiments and knowledge. Thus, there was not much point in remaining in this ce.

    Before leaving, Su Chen pulled out a white Origin Scroll. This was a scroll made out of Vicious Beast hides, and the talisman for the Envement Scroll was inscribed on it. He pointed it at the metal-eating bug and activated it. This was one of the ancient Arcana techniques.

    Current people often used the simpler and more convenient Origin Talismans. Origin Talismans were created using a special kind of paper that could store Origin Power. Its benefits were that they were low-cost and could be mass-manufactured. However, their effects would be slightly worse than a scroll, and their storage durability was not too good either.

    The Envement Scroll had justnded on the metal-eating bug¡¯s body when it exploded with a ¡°BANG!¡±, turning into grey ash.

    Envement resistance.

    Strong life-forms would resist the Envement Scroll. The stronger it was, the more difficult it was to sessfully enve them. Su Chen¡¯s strength was notparable to the metal-eating bug, so his Envement Scroll had been broken instantly.

    Su Chen was not yet satisfied. He created two more Envement Scrolls, and both of them were met with resistance.

    This gave Su Chen a feeling of helplessness.

    Ulrich had only left behind four nk Origin Scrolls in total. Now that three had failed, only one was remaining.

    As he gazed at thisst Envement Scroll, Su Chen hesitated.

    If this one also failed, he probably wouldn¡¯t have any more opportunities to tame it.

    At this time, Iron Cliff said, ¡°Can you let me try? Master.¡±

    ¡°You?¡± Su Chen was shocked.

    Iron Cliff trembled with some anxiety. ¡°Please don¡¯t misunderstand me, Master. I don¡¯t have any intention of seizing this pet from you. I only feel that it may be more likely to listen to me.¡±

    Su Chen looked at Iron Cliff, thenughed, ¡°No, I don¡¯t mind...... Perhaps you are right.¡±

    He handed the Envement Scroll to Iron Cliff, then said, ¡°Go ahead.¡±

    Iron Cliff held the Envement Scroll and slowly turned his head to look at Su Chen. ¡°You know, Master. If I seed, it will...... only listen to me.¡±¡±

    ¡°Of course, don¡¯t worry about it. Go ahead, Iron Cliff.¡± Su Chen patted him.

    Iron Cliff breathed in deeply and walked forward, cing the Envement Scroll on the metal-eating bug¡¯s back.

    In terms of strength, Iron Cliff was lower than Su Chen.

    But in that instant, the Envement Scroll wasn¡¯t destroyed.

    The metal-eating bug raised its head and looked at Iron Cliff, letting out a few muffled roars.

    Then, the Envement Scroll disappeared into the metal-eating bug¡¯s body.

    Upon seeing this scene, Su Chen broke out into a smile. ¡°Congrattions, Iron Cliff, you are now stronger than I am.:

    Iron Cliff knelt in front of Su Chen. ¡°Iron Cliff will always belong to master.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 66: Official Business

    Chapter 66: Official Business

    Having obtained the metal-eating bug, Iron Cliff stored it in the bug pouch. Su Chen had just decided to give it to him.

    After cleaning everything up, they left the mining cave together.

    Compared to ten days prior, the number of people in the Halcyon Gorge had significantly decreased.

    The amount of starsilver ore continued to decrease. Many people left in disappointment, unable to find anything.

    ck Hand¡¯s store business also began declining. What made him most helpless was that apetitor had constructed a new shop where he had nned on constructing his originally. The two of them didn¡¯t see eye-to-eye, and they most likely would fight sooner orter.

    Su Chen brought Iron Cliff and stealthily left. Once again, he entered the familiar forest, beginning to take the long way home.

    Because there were still four days left, Su Chen was not in a hurry. He took his time wandering around, hunting other Vicious Beasts to the best of his ability.

    When he was alone, he was already able toe and go as he pleased. Now that he had Iron Cliff and the metal-eating bug, he didn¡¯t have to worry about anything even though the metal-eating bug was unpredictable.

    Because this ce was quite deep in the forest, they encountered a low-tier Vicious Beast very quickly.

    The two of thembined easily took care of it.

    Iron Cliff was just about to skin the beast when Su Chen stopped him and said, ¡°Do as I tell you. Reach your finger out and put it here...... No, a little bit lower. Right, okay, don¡¯t move, now activate your Dartfrog Absorption Technique and focus your attention on this point. Imagine yourself inhaling here. Inhale...... Keep inhaling...... Keep inhaling!¡±

    The Origin Energy dot of light finally slowly entered Iron Cliff¡¯s body.

    This was what Su Chen meant when he said that he would raise Iron Cliff¡¯s cultivation speed. His eye¡¯s ability to see Origin Energy could help him see Origin Energy, which naturally meant that he could also help others.

    After ten or so days of instruction and practice, Iron Cliff was already somewhat proficient in the Dartfrog Absorption Technique. However, his speed in absorbing that Origin Energy dot was still roughly half as quick as Su Chen.

    Su Chen knew that this was because the Cliff Race did not have an inherent affinity for Origin Energy, and their ability to conduct it was also bad. Based on what he saw, Su Chen estimated that this difference was roughly twice that.

    If their perception was only half that of humans, and their Origin Energy sense and absorption were also only half that of humans, no wonder it was so difficult for the Cliff Race to cultivate.

    However, Su Chen did not give up. He continued to give Iron Cliff pointers, as well as continuing his own absorption of Origin Energy.

    Because he was also focused on giving Iron Cliff pointers, Su Chen¡¯s own absorption rate had slightly decreased, losing roughly two dots. However, this was only temporary.

    In the following days, he would help Iron Cliff absorb Origin Energy every time he killed a Vicious Beast. Although Iron Cliff¡¯s perception was somewhat slow, he was not an idiot, and he cooperated with Su Chen well. As long as Su Chen pointed somewhere, Iron Cliff would reach his hand out to that ce. Although he could not see them, he loyally followed Su Chen¡¯s pointers to absorb and cultivate.

    The benefits were immediate. No matter how slow he was, Iron Cliff discovered that his own cultivation base had rapidly increased. He originally was only in the seventhyer of Body Tempering, but now he was in the eighthyer of Body Tempering already.

    This made Iron Cliff extremely excited.

    ¡°This is a secret. Only you and I can know about this, got it?¡± Su Chen told him.

    Iron Cliff nodded his head. ¡°Even if Iron Cliff dies, I will definitely not reveal this.¡±

    ¡°Very good.¡± Su Chen pounded his chest.

    They could only do so much.

    Four dayster, Su Chen brought Iron Cliff and exited the Scarlet Mountain Range.

    This time, he wasn¡¯tte.

    The two underlings from the Su n responsible for receiving Su Chen were all dazed when they saw therge-bodied person exit with him.

    How could they not be shocked? A blind Young Master entered the Scarlet Mountain Range twice and had actually returned alive twice.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t pay them any attention. Before he returned, he had already told Iron Cliff about his identity and his eyes, so he didn¡¯t need to remind Iron Cliff of anything. He mounted the carriage that had been waiting for him. However, when Iron Cliff got on the carriage, it visibly trembled under the weight. Four horses were actually unable to pull it at first. The carriage driver had to whip the horses repeatedly before they began to move, leaving the two underlings speechless. They thought to themselves that Fourth Young Master must have relied on this brawny person to survive in the Scarlet Mountain Range.

    Although Su Chen offered no exnation, people would always search for an answer that they believed in the most.

    The carriage first went to the True Jade Pavilion. Upon arriving before the tower, he saw Li Shu and Tang Zhen talking about something together. When they saw Su Chen arrived, they were dazed at first. Then, upon seeing Iron Cliff, Li Shu instantly realized something and hurried up to support him as he said, ¡°Young Master, careful below you. It¡¯s difficult for you to see; let this little one support you.¡±

    One had to admit that Iron Cliff was far inferior to Li Shu in terms of adaptability.

    Li Shu helped him into the room, and Tang Zhen sent all the others away. The three of them sat down except for Iron Cliff, who stood behind Su Chen.

    Tang Zhen had heard Li Shu talk about Iron Cliff before, so he was not too surprised.

    After conversing for a bit, everyone began to talk about what had happened in the previous few days, exining the circumstances to one another.

    After Li Shu had arrived at the True Jade Pavilion, Tang Zhen had a discussion with him and realized that this person was very quick-witted as well as a fast learner. Thus, he had begun to teach Li Shu a few things about inspecting antiques. Li Shu had also told Tang Zhen about what Su Chen was doing in the gorge, and Tang Zhen was full of praise.

    Su Chen also told the two of them about his encounters after discovering the mining cave. Upon hearing that Su Chen had experienced such an adventure, Tang Zhen and Li Shu were also shocked.

    When he found out that Su Chen had obtained an ancient Arcana sheepskin scroll, Tang Zhen pulled it out hurriedly to take a look at it. As soon as he nced at it, he began to shout with excitement, ¡°Ancient Rare Scroll! This is actually an Ancient Rare Scroll! I never expected that something from tens of thousands of years ago would still bepletely preserved until now. The Arcana Kingdom truly was extraordinary. This is an extremely rare item!¡±

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that it still had some practical usage, Tang Zhen probably would have taken it right then and there.

    As for tranting the Arcana script, Tang Zhen said that in cultivation small mistakes could be fatal, so in order to ensure his uracy he would need to cross-reference with other materials. Su Chen had no issues with Tang Zhen¡¯s caution. ¡°Because of certain reasons, I might be able to obtain a few ancient Arcana techniques in the future. Thus, in my free time I will continue to learn the Arcana script with head storekeeper in the future. However, this is not too pressing; right now, what matters the most is this.¡±

    As he spoke, he took out the starsilver essence.

    Upon seeing the starsilver essence, Tang Zhen and Li Shu jumped to their feet in excitement.

    Starsilver alone was already an extremely precious metal. Starsilver essence could be considered a treasure.

    If Su Chen were to sell such arge chunk, he would have more than enough money to buy a few strips in Northface City.

    However, Tang Zhen knew Su Chen¡¯s ambition could not be satisfied merely by riches, so he said, ¡°Does Young Master want to exchange them for cultivation resources?¡±

    Speaking with intelligent people was effortless. Su Chen nodded his head and said, ¡°I will always use my money to increase mybat prowess one way or another. Some of this money will be used to buy other metals, while the rest will be exchanged for Origin Stones.¡±

    ¡°Do you not need a few spiritual herbs or medicines that can increase your cultivation base?¡± Tang Zhen said with surprise.

    Su Chen shook his head.

    With the Origin Energy dots of light, he could raise his cultivation just by battling. Thus, he didn¡¯t really need too many spiritual herbs or medicines.

    Origin Stones were not the same. Not only were they currency, but they could also help one replenish Origin Energy. And Origin Energy was precisely what was required when cultivating Origin Skills.

    If one wanted to really control an Origin Skill, one would need to constantly activate and practice it. Origin Energy was only a restricting condition for practicing. One Origin Stone was equivalent to a day¡¯s worth of Origin Energy infusion by a Qi Drawing Realm Origin Qi Schr. Put another way, it was roughly equal to the amount of Origin Energy that a Qi Drawing Realm cultivator could use in a single day.

    Thus, every Origin Stone was equivalent to saving a day¡¯s worth of time. Su Chen¡¯s previous attempts at cultivation had consumed a few Origin Stones, but at the time he had too little money, so his cultivation was limited. Now that he had money, naturally he would use it to its fullest extent.

    Because of the Origin Energy dots, Su Chen had decided to use his riches to increase hisbat prowess, and hisbat prowess to increase his cultivation base.

    Apart from this, he would also need to buy Origin Skills and Origin Tools, so he still needed Origin Stones. He would not only sell the starsilver essence but also all the immortal herbs that he had taken from Wolf de.

    As for the metals, he was purchasing them to perform some experiments on the metal-eating bug to see if it could convert all kinds of metals into essence.

    When Tang Zhen heard this, he stroked his beard as he said, ¡°Wanting to sell so much starsilver essence for Origin Stones only might be impossible in Northface City. Even if it is possible, the price might be severely decreased.¡±

    Withrger quantities, the price would naturally decrease. This was also normal.

    Su Chen asked, ¡°Then head storekeeper means......¡±

    ¡°If you want to sell it for a good price, you will need to go to the Flying Immortal Pce.¡±

    Northface City was a part of the Three Mountains Region, and the Flying Immortal Pce was the capital of the Three Mountains Regions. If Northface City was like a child in a rural town, then the Flying Immortal Pce was a prince from a rich, wealthy family living in the city. The difference between the two was so great that they simply could not bepared.

    Only there would Su Chen be able to sell his starsilver essence for a good price.

    Afterwards, the four of them began to discuss a few other matters. Of course, the main peopleing up with ideas was still Su Chen and Tang Zhen. Li Shu was still new and didn¡¯t have the authority to make many decisions, while Iron Cliff didn¡¯t even need to be considered. His role was just to listen.

    ¡°So it¡¯s decided. In a few days I will personally go to the Flying Immortal Pce. Li Shu, it¡¯s up to you to scout out the area for me. I¡¯ve just returned, so I will hurry home to see my mother. Let¡¯s call it a day,¡± Su Chen said as he stood up.

    Tang Zhen and Li Shu personally sent Su Chen out the door.

    As he watched Su Chen leave, Tang Zhen slowly said, ¡°Young Master has truly grown up.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Li Shu sighed. ¡°Who would have expected that the mysterious, decisive, and vicious Demon Face would actually be the Su n¡¯s blind Young Master, a person who is not even sixteen years old yet.¡±

    Tang Zhen raised his head to look at the sky. ¡°After this year, he will be officially sixteen.¡±

    ¡°The Su n¡¯s next end-of-yearpetition is about toe, right?¡± Li Shu asked.

    They looked at each other, then both suddenly began tough.

    Apparently, Su Keji had paid quite a heavy price in an attempt to help his son gain the victory this time.

    In reality, winning at this point didn¡¯t have much meaning anymore. After all, this was thest end-of-yearpetition before the Hidden Dragon Institute began epting students. However, to Su Keji, winning was no longer about obtaining the Verdant Wood Essence.

    This was also to vent some of his anger.

    Even if it was just to defeat Su Chen, to teach him a lesson, Su Keji must win in order to get revenge for the great harm that hade to his son, Su Qian.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 67: Giving Up and Not Giving Up Part 3

    Chapter 67: Giving Up and Not Giving Up (Part 3)

    When he returned, the Su n was once again shocked into turmoil.

    Of course, for a blind person to safely return from the Scarlet Mountain Range twice, how could it not be news? However, just like those two underlings, many people came to the conclusion upon seeing Iron Cliff that Su Chen had only survived for a hundred days as well as finish the tasks the n assigned him in the Scarlet Mountain Range with his help.

    Su Chen ran into Su Qian on his way to see his mother.

    He seemed much more energetic than before. His entire person¡¯s vigor increased, and he had actually already reached the peakyer of Body Tempering. Perhaps not too far off in the future, he would be able to entire Qi Drawing.

    Indeed, in the time that he had been gone, no one had stopped to take a break.

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± Upon seeing Su Chen¡¯s safe return, mes of hatred appeared in Su Qian¡¯s eyes.

    After being seriously beaten by Su Chen twice, the brotherly affection between the two of them had long since been lost. All that remained was a thick enmity.

    Su Chen tilted his head, pretending as if hearing his voice andughed, ¡°So it¡¯s Second Young Master. How have you beentely?¡±

    ¡°Not too good,¡± Su Qian squeezed out from between his teeth. ¡°These days, I prayed every day that you would not die in the Scarlet......¡±

    ¡°Praying that after I returned you could soundly beat me, right?¡± Su Chen impatiently interrupted him. ¡°I knew that you only had these kinds of ideas. What, you have a little more confidence now that your strength has increased? Unfortunately......¡±

    Su Chen gently smiled. The smile was somewhat weird, yet it was also extremely familiar.

    Su Qian had seen this smile before.

    Last time Su Chen had fiercely beaten him, it had been this expression.

    When Su Chen turned the tables on him during the single-elimination tournament, it had also been this expression!

    Su Qian knew the situation wasn¡¯t good. He instinctively disyed the ming Tiger Fist, prepared to do battle.

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen did not make a move.

    Instead, hezily said, ¡°Iron Cliff, make him kneel!¡±

    ¡°Yes, Young Master!¡± Iron Cliff replied heavily, pressing his hand towards Su Qian.

    I won¡¯t let you get away with a sneak attack this time!

    Su Qian yelled in his heart, raising his arms to meet the attack. At the same time Iron Cliff¡¯srge hands came mming down.

    Bang!

    Hisrge hands smacked aside Su Qian¡¯s arms, pressing them on his shoulders. With a simple strike, he ttened Su Qian into the ground.

    Instantly to the ground.

    In terms of strength, even a Qi Drawing, Flowing Wind Body Technique Su Chen couldn¡¯tpare with Iron Cliff, let alone Su Qian.

    However, Iron Cliff didn¡¯t seem to be too happy.

    ¡°Young master told you to kneel, not lie on the ground.¡±

    He lifted his hand, picking Su Qian up. Then, he pushed the back of Su Qian¡¯s knees. Su Qian couldn¡¯t stand up straight and buckled to the ground.

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± Su Qian stared at him with a look of hatred.

    Su Chen faintly said, ¡°I just want to tell you one thing. During my trip to the Scarlet Mountain Range...... I once again failed to obtain the Cloud Bat Bloodline.¡±

    Su Qian¡¯s heart trembled. Even his angry expression wavered.

    Could it be......

    Su Chen continued, ¡°So if everything goes ording to n, I will be going there a third time.¡±

    Su Qian sucked in a breath of cold air,pletely forgetting his anger.

    Of course he understood what Su Chen¡¯s words meant: ¡®If I want to, I can beat you again...... one that will keep you bedridden for a long time.¡¯

    In that instant, his angerpletely evaporated. All that remained was fear.

    Thankfully, Su Chen¡¯s tone changed. ¡°Consider yourself lucky. At the moment, I have some things to take care of, and I don¡¯t want to go just yet. Making you kneel once is enough to take care of matters. However, if you don¡¯t behave yourself...... well, those things that I need to take care of aren¡¯t incredibly urgent.¡±

    Su Qian was so frightened that he didn¡¯t dare to speak.

    Upon seeing him behave like this, Su Chen gentlyughed. ¡°What, you aren¡¯t speaking? Then I¡¯ll take it as if you agree.¡±

    He waved his hand, and Iron Cliff released Su Qian.

    He walked over to Su Qian, patted his face, and said, ¡°Don¡¯t piss me off again.¡±

    He then left, leaving Su Qian dazed and confused.

    A momentter, Su Keji appeared.

    Upon seeing Su Qian, he hurriedly said, ¡°Son, you and Su Chen got into a fight again? Tell me, what did he do to you? I definitely won¡¯t let him get away with it!¡±

    Su Qian stared at his father nkly, then shook his head and said, ¡°No...... Nothing.¡±

    ¡°Nothing?¡± Su Keji was caught off guard. He looked closely at his son. Upon seeing that he did not appear to be injured, he let out a sigh of relief. ¡°Nothing is good. Let¡¯s return first. Although you have reached the ninthyer of Body Tempering, Su Chen is also already at the peak of Body Tempering. You don¡¯t have any particr advantage if you do battle with him now. I have already contacted some others and I will buy some more medicines for you. After you eat them, your strength will definitely greatly increase. At that time, you can teach Su Chen a lesson and get revenge for yourself.¡±

    ¡°Father,¡± Su Qian suddenly said.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Su Keji asked.

    ¡°Can we not oppose Su Chen anymore? I don¡¯t want to fight with him anymore,¡± Su Qian said quietly.

    ¡°What?¡± Su Keji said, shocked. He looked at his son again, only to see him trembling slightly. His expression was one of fright.

    He said, almost crying, ¡°We can¡¯t beat him! I don¡¯t want to fight anymore.¡±

    A me of rage filled his chest. Su Keji was so angry that he wanted to kill someone.

    He stared at Su Qian, saying one word at a time, ¡°How did I get a disappointing son like you?¡±

    p!

    A palmnded on Su Qian¡¯s face, sending him flying.

    ¡°Father!¡± Su Qian yelled.

    Su Keji coldly said, ¡°Su Chen is a blind person, yet he knows the principle of never giving up. You can see, yet you don¡¯t even have this much ambition, and you actually got scared of a blind person ¨C how useless can you be! I¡¯m warning you. This is the first and thest time that I will ever hear you say such things. If there¡¯s another time, I won¡¯t let you off easily.¡±

    He left as he spoke, leaving Su Qian standing there, alone and silent.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Su Chen met with his mother in the beautiful pavilion.

    After not seeing her for a hundred days, Tang Hongrui had withered some more.

    Su Chen knelt on the ground. ¡°Unfilial son Su Chen greets Mother. It¡¯s my fault for making Mother worry about me for so long.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s good that you were able to return. Quick, stand up ande to me,¡± Tang Hongrui said to her son weakly.

    Su Chen hurriedly walked to her, allowing Tang Hongrui to stroke his face with her hand.

    Her eyes were filled with warmth, love, and delight.

    The two of them sat like this, idly conversing.

    Most of the time, it was Tang Hongrui asking questions while Su Chen replied, telling Tang Hongrui about some of his experiences in the Scarlet Mountain Range.

    He talked about how he had met Iron Cliff in the forest and had unintentionally saved him, earning his loyalty and making his future journey much easier. He talked about opening a shop in the Halcyon Gorge and earning some money. All the people there were friendly, good people, and everyone helped each other. Since he couldn¡¯t see, they would help him move around. He also talked about how he had encountered an old man while mining in a cave. The old man was very warm and cordial, and he understood many things. He had even invented a kind of medicine which, when dropped on his eyes, helped his eyes recover and allowed him to finally see light.

    Thest piece of information in particr made Tang Hongrui excited and joyful. She asked him over and over again if it was true.

    Su Chen said with confidence that he could see a little light. The old man had told him that it would take time to recover, but in the near future his sight would definitely recover.

    Tang Hongrui was unable to contain her joy. She was about to go tell Su Cheng¡¯an.

    Su Chen restrained her, telling her not to tell Su Cheng¡¯an. He temporarily wanted to avoid letting other people know. He said that in these few years, he finally understood that there were benefits in hiding himself.

    Tang Hongrui fell into silence.

    After a long time, she asked, ¡°You still hate your father, right?¡±

    Su Chen gently smiled. ¡°No, I don¡¯t hate him. I just made the same decision that he did.¡±

    ¡°The same decision that he did?¡± Tang Hongrui didn¡¯t understand what these words meant.

    ¡°He gave up on me,¡± Su Chen replied.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 68: Origins of the Spirit Burying Terrace Part 4

    Chapter 68: Origins of the Spirit Burying Terrace (Part 4)

    When nightfall arrived, Su Chen felt the Smoke Snake Imprint¡¯s familiar feeling, and he knew that Gu Qingluo hade to find him.

    For Gu Qingluo to know that he had returned so quickly meant that she had been monitoring his movements the entire time.

    Su Chen left his room and walked to the back mountain.

    Upon passing through the small forest, he arrived once again at the familiar pool of water. He saw Gu Qingluo shaking her delicate legs in the pool of water.

    Upon hearing a noise, she turned her head around to look at Su Chen. A smile blossomed on her face as she said, ¡°You¡¯ve had enough fun ying outside, yet you still know how to return?¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡±Howe your words don¡¯t sound quite right? You sound like a married woman whose kids all left the house.¡±

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s face reddened. ¡°Good, you actually dare take advantage of me.¡±

    As she spoke, she picked up some leaves and shot them towards Su Chen.

    Su Chen¡¯s figure flowed like the wind. He didn¡¯t even bother looking as his body gently swayed dodging arge portion of the leaves.

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Hm? Your Snaking Mist Steps has greatly improved. Why does it seem like there are traces of Origin Energy?¡±

    While speaking, she shot even more leaves at him.

    Su Chen took repeated steps, his figure moving. At the moment, his eyes were closed; his ability to hear movements via wind that he had obtained when he was blind had not deteriorated. His body suddenly exploded to its full potential. He suddenly flipped his hand out and stabbed out with his hand, forming a de. Although he had seeming to merely sh out through the air with his hand, there was a thunderous rumble, and a de of air suddenly rushed towards Gu Qingluo.

    Gu Qingluo was extremely shocked. She, too, activated her Snaking Mist Steps, and the de of air flew past her, striking a nearby tree. The tree shook violently.

    ¡°You¡¯re an Origin Qi Schr?¡± Gu Qingluo blurted out.

    Last time he had returned, Su Chen had seen Gu Qingluo a few times. However, he never revealed the fact that he was now an Origin Qi Schr. Now that three more months had gone by, he could admit that he was an Origin Qi Schr. Although his speed was faster than normal, it was not much different and could be eptable.

    ¡°No wonder your Snaking Mist Steps improved so much. Now you have discovered the umon aspects of the Snaking Mist Steps, right?¡± Gu Qingluo said with her hands behind her back, extremely pleased with herself.

    ¡°Miss Gu¡¯s Snaking Mist Steps definitely are umon. I would know this even if I wasn¡¯t an Origin Qi Schr,¡± Su Chenughed.

    ¡°Hmph.¡± Gu Qingluo rolled her eyes at him.

    The two of them sat and chatted idly for awhile before Gu Qingluo said, ¡°I came to find you because I¡¯ve found some information about the Spirit Burying Terrace.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me, let me guess. First, this Spirit Burying Terrace is the name of a certain location, right?¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Correct.¡±

    ¡°In addition, it should be somewhere in Northface City, right?¡±

    ¡°Hey, how did you know that?¡± Gu Qingluo asked with curiosity.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Because Old Sang was trying to use Lin Xie. Lin Xie is nobody important. Trying to specifically talk to him about this matter means that he must be useful in some way. After all, he is only part of the Lin n, a strength confined only to Northface City. Thus, I estimate that the Spirit Burying Terrace is very likely somewhere in Northface City.¡±

    ¡°Clever,¡± Gu Qingluoughed as she pped her hands. ¡°Continue.¡±

    ¡°Thirdly, it should be an ancient ruin.¡±

    ¡°How did you know that?¡±

    ¡°Because in the current seven human kingdoms, there is no Spirit Burying Terrace.¡±

    After his vision had returned, Su Chen had thumbed through ancient records, searching through all the different kingdoms. However, he never found a ce known as a Spirit Burying Terrace. Upon discovering that the organization was the Immortal Temple, Su Chen realized that this could be an old name for it; however, he had no way of verifying this idea.

    Most importantly, Su Chen knew that they were an Arcana Organization.

    All Arcana Organizations had one thing inmon, which was that they dreamed of restoring former glories, while overturning the current regimes.

    They wanted the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s glory to reappear. However, they did not use their own efforts and the Arcana Race¡¯s previous experiments to recreate their inventions. Rather, they used various methods to uncover old Arcana artifacts and ruins, using them to find treasure stores.

    Simply put, they were quite literally ¡°reappearing¡± ¨C they would dig up things hidden in the earth for tens of thousands of years, hoping that they would prove useful.

    Thus, as soon as Su Chen knew their identities, he also knew what they would do. Guessing their target was not hard at all.

    Gu Qingluo didn¡¯t know this piece of information. Perhaps even if she had, she might not have been able to guess it. Thus, her gaze towards Su Chen was filled with respect and even a little admiration, although Miss Gu would not admit it herself.

    ¡°You¡¯re pretty good. You were actually able to guess it.¡±

    ¡°This is only the big picture. Tell me a little bit about the details,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°I found it in a history book. The Spirit Burying terrace was created during the Prosperous Emperor¡¯s time.¡±

    In the year 16700 of the New Star Era, the Illustrious Divine Dynasty¡¯s emperor died. His twenty-four sons began battling for the throne. The twelfth son, Gu Hongjin, obtained the throne with the support of General Lin Zhonghui. He was known as the Prosperous Emperor.

    Immediately afterwards, the Prosperous Emperor killed all of his brothers, then promoted Lin Zhonghui to Grand Marshal.

    The Prosperous Emperor strove to achieve many great deeds.

    In the year 17200 of the New Star Era, the Prosperous Emperor broke the ¡°Western Mountain Peace Treaty¡±, going to war with the Feathered Race. Lin Zhonghui ughtered five hundred thousand Feathered Race soldiers.

    In the year 18400 of the New Star Era, the Illustrious Divine Dynasty entered the Eastern Seas, making the Ocean Race extremely unhappy.

    In the year 19000 of the Chaos Era, the Illustrious Divine Dynasty sent soldiers to their northern borders to do battle against the Ferocious Race. Lin Zhonghui wiped the floor with the Ferocious Race¡¯s troops using their military prowess. When therge army reached the Carnage Springs, the Ferocious Race were down to theirst troops. In the Carnage Spring Battle, the Ferocious Race¡¯s General Cleo ckfox traversed the Ten Thousand t Mountains with the help of the Feathered Race and attacked the human race from behind. The human race suffered a great defeat. Lin Zhonghui died not long after returning to the dynasty.

    The defeat at Carnage Springs severely decreased the strength of the Illustrious Divine Dynasty, causing it to enter a period of weakness. They lost control of their southern and central territories, reducing their number of territories from forty eight to forty two.

    In the year 19200 of the New Star Era, the Prosperous Emperor died. His son, Gu Yangsheng, ascended to the throne, and was known as the Peaceful Emperor.

    The Peaceful Emperor had no ability and no heart for controlling the government. He relied on ten powerful ministers to run the country for him.

    Chancellor Luo Yucheng pretended to act on imperial orders and killed famous general Li Ze, shaking the nation. The Peaceful Emperor executed all ten of his ministers.

    Afterwards, Giant Beasts raided the Illustrious Divine Dynasty, who had no one to left to defend themselves. Under the havoc caused by the Giant Beasts, they lost another three territories.

    The Ferocious Race took advantage of the situation and struck. Humankind was no longer their opponent, and they surrendered another four territories to cate their enemies. The Ferocious Race then returned to the west, back to the Harvey ins.

    In the year 21000 of the New Star Era, the Sessor Emperor ascended to the throne. This person loved to tter himself, and gave himself many different names during his rule. In the meantime, Chancellor Chen Liuma began to gain power.

    Not long afterwards, the Spirit Race made a move to take away the Light Shelter Source.

    The Ocean Race took back the two territories in the Western Seas. The Illustrious Divine Dynasty was losing kingdom treasures and soil consecutively, resulting in many uprisings and revolts. Now, there were only thirty one territories remaining.

    The Sessor Emperor could not handle the burden and died an early death.

    In the year 22400 of the New Star Era, the Glorious Emperor ascended to the throne. He was the final great emperor of the Illustrious Divine Dynasty. His temperament was extremely ruthless, and he was an iparably bloodthirsty person.

    In the year 23000 of the New Star Era, the Glorious Emperor killed the Cheng n Patriarch, inciting public outrage. This resulted in a ¡°Change in Imperial Support¡±. The Glorious Emperor was stabbed, and the Illustrious Divine Dynasty ceased to exist.

    The Illustrious Divine Dynasty had a total of ten emperors before ceasing to exist. Thest four emperors were known as the ¡°Dynasty Downfall Four Emperors: Prosperous, Peaceful, Sessor, Glorious¡±.

    The Prosperous Emperor was the first of the Dynasty Downfall Four Emperors.

    Unlike the other three emperors, he had taken control of the Illustrious Divine Dynasty at its peak. However, because of his ambition and militant attitude, he was the prime catalyst for the decline of the Illustrious Divine Dynasty. Simply put, he was the first culprit in the downfall of the Illustrious Divine Dynasty.

    Countless people after him would spurn his actions. Because of this, even in the history textbooks of the Seven Kingdoms, the Prosperous Emperor¡¯s acts were criticized, attempting as much as possible to restore the truth about the life of this first Dynasty Downfall Emperor.

    Upon hearing that the Spirit Burying Terrace was created by the Prosperous Emperor, Su Chen was slightly stunned. ¡°So it¡¯s not an Arcana ruin?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Why do you think it¡¯s an Arcana ruin?¡± Gu Qingluo asked, her eyes wide.

    ¡°Oh...... I just felt that the more ancient it was the better,¡± Su Chen carelessly replied.

    Su Chen learned from Gu Qingluo that during the Prosperous Emperor¡¯s reign, there had been turmoil that exploded in this region. Because it was so sudden, many people from the Illustrious Divine Dynasty died. Later, a general personally quashed the chaos. In order to appease the families of those who had died, he had built the Spirit Burying Terrace as a tomb for their spirits.

    In in words, the Spirit Burying Terrace was arge tomb.

    ¡°Do you know where the chaos originated from?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Gu Qingluo tilted her head and thought for a moment before responding, ¡°I think it was because some shady organization¡¯s head was caught. Thus, members of that organization organized a jailbreak. I am not too clear about the exact circumstances.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 69: Bait Part 5

    Chapter 69: Bait (Part 5)

    In the following days, after returning the Origin Tools to Night Demon, Su Chen once again resumed his two-pronged strategy. During the day, he would go to the True Jade Pavilion to study ancient texts and artifacts with Tang Zhen. At night, he would return home, where he would cultivate his Origin Skills. In his free time, he would tell Iron Cliff to let the metal-eating bug out and feed it some other metals.

    Su Chen very quickly discovered that the metal-eating bug would eat most metals, but not every metal would be refined into its corresponding essence.

    Su Chen tested a total of eighteen different metals. In the end, however, only three had managed to form essences. Because their value was not the same as starsilver, the rates of conversion was also different.

    In other words, this metal-eating bug was like a long-term investment. While the amount of metal it could eat was limited and could not convert too much, it was better than nothing.

    During this period, the Su residence was filled with a rarely-found peace. No one came to cause trouble for him.

    One could see this from Ming Shu¡¯s body. Ever since Su Chen had disyed his might, no one else dared hit Ming Shu. The Su n¡¯s Fourth Young Master¡¯s sentence ¡°I still have not found the Cloud Bat Bloodline, so I may go a third time at any time¡± had spread throughout the entire Su residence.

    Nobody wanted to be the reason for Su Chen to enter the Scarlet Mountain Range a third time.

    ¡°Thisrge Su residence, with over a hundred disciples, has beenpletely shaken by a blind person. Truly useless.¡±

    Sitting in his own position, Su Keji shook his head, sighing.

    Elder Tong to his side was not worried about the cold. As always, he fanned himself as he sighed, ¡°It¡¯s no surprise. The Su n was single-handedly established by Patriarch, and not for very long. Not to mention our background is slightlycking.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,cking,¡± Su Keji helplessly said. ¡°If we continue down this path, our outlook for the Hidden Dragon Battle during next year¡¯s summer solstice is bleak.¡±

    In terms of strength, Su Changche, who was in the Yang Opening Realm, could be considered the leader of the Four Great ns. However, in terms of background, the Su n was significantly weaker than the others. This made it so that the Su n was like a nouveau riche household in many ways, with no way topare themselves to the other three ns. Although Su Changche spared no effort to manage his n, there were issues that could not be solved overnight. For instance, the Su n was clearlycking in their ability to provide cultivation resources for their third generation. Originally, Su Chen was considered a genius, but he had still gone blind, and he was still unwilling to let go of the prime resources avable. In addition, no one was able to overthrow him, causing many to feel helpless.

    Elder Tong said, ¡°The Lin n has already set rtionships with Longxi¡¯s Gu n. Now, their Gu Qingluo often goes to the Lin n¡¯s Beast Garden. Although we don¡¯t know what she is doing, there must be deep cooperation given that she has remained there for such a long time. In addition, the Lin n¡¯s most outstanding disciples have all disappeared for about a year. As well, the He and Li ns cannot be underestimated, and they have been constantly changing for the past two years. The He n¡¯s movements are hidden, making it hard to tell what they are doing. However, the Li n...... From hearsay, Li Qingyun is going to return.¡±

    The chain of bad news considerably worsened Su Keji¡¯s mood. Hemented, ¡°The other three ns are unwilling to be left behind, focusing all their efforts on obtaining a good result at next year¡¯s Hidden Dragon Battle. Only our Su n has so much infighting for the first position, allowing a blind person to maintain the top spot. This truly is......¡±

    Elder Tong said with deliberation, ¡°Thus, even if Su Qian¡¯s strength greatly increases after obtaining medicines and is able to beat Su Chen, he may still not be the opponents for the other three ns.¡±

    Su Keji¡¯s face fell. ¡°Are you saying that my Su n is doomed to have no achievements during this Hidden Dragon Battle?¡±

    ¡°What I am saying is that if the Su n has any possible methods yet is unwilling to use them at this point in time, there might not even be the need to do battle at all.¡±

    Su Keji¡¯s heart trembled. He seemed to have thought of something.

    He muttered to himself, ¡°Do I really have to......¡±

    Elder Tong gazed at Su Keji silently.

    He knew that Su Keji would do exactly as he had anticipated.

    As expected, after a moment of deep thought, Su Keji shot to his feet. ¡°You¡¯re right. The four ns will be eyeing each other closely during this Hidden Dragon Battle. We cannot ce all of our attention on Su Chen. I will go ask my father to use ¡®that¡¯ opportunity. No matter what...... my Su n cannot just give up like this!¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Many dayster, Li Shu returned from the Flying Immortal Pce, bringing information from there.

    The starsilver essence samples that Li Shu had brought aroused the interests of a few stores. Li Shu had spoken to many different stores before deciding on two of them.

    One of them was the Thousand Treasures Pavilion, a well-known establishment in the Flying Immortal Pce. They sold and bought at fair prices and were well-established. Their opening bid was also decent ¨C 280,000 low-grade Origin Stones for fifteen kilograms of starsilver essence.

    The standard conversion rate of starsilver essence was forty to one; forty kilograms of starsilver would be used to refine one kilogram of essence. Thus, based on price alone, half a kilogram of starsilver essence was worth eight thousand low-grade Origin Stones, excluding thebor and time it would take. Thankfully, when starsilver was refined it would produce other rtively valuable byproducts, lowering the price. Generally, half a kilogram of starsilver essence was worth ten thousand low-grade Origin Stones.

    However, this was the market price. The Thousand Treasures Pavilion was buying, so their price would be lower. It was only because starsilver was in short supply that Li Shu had been able to get a price only missing twenty thousand. If it were anything else, the Thousand Treasure Pavilion would have only bought it for merely half the market price. However, the Thousand Treasure Pavilion also said that if the seller wanted to buy more than fifty thousand Origin Stones worth of goods from them, they could buy the fifteen kilograms of starsilver essence for 300,000 Origin Stones.

    No matter what, 280,000 Origin Stones was an extremely fair price, but it wasn¡¯t the highest bid.

    The highest bid was by the store known as the Golden Name Workshop. The store wasn¡¯t big, and their business is average. However, their opening bid was decent: 400,000 low-grade Origin Stones.

    They said that market value was only market value, but many times starsilver essence simply could not be found. Thus, the true sale value was much higher than this price and depended on the buyer¡¯s need. Since they could sell it for a better price, they dared to name a price of 400,000 Origin Stones.

    Upon hearing Li Shu¡¯s exnation, Su Chen closed his eyes for a moment, thinking. Then he said, ¡°Li Shu, do you think this Golden Name Workshop is reliable?¡±

    ¡°Not at all,¡± Li Shu replied with surprising directness.

    ¡°Oh? Tell me why?¡±

    ¡°In the days that I spent at the Flying Immortal Pce, I specifically asked around about the Golden Name Workshop. Although they are a store, and they are located in a luxury quadrant of the city, their business is very bad. It doesn¡¯t seem as if they have any great origins, and I did not hear about any of the great ns in the Flying Immortal Pce having any rtionships with them. One could say that it¡¯s impossible to estimate their foundation. To tell the truth, doing business with this kind of a store and with this kind of a price is extremely risky.¡±

    ¡°But you still brought their information back to me.¡±

    ¡°In the end, it is still an extra hundred thousand Origin Stones,¡± Li Shu replied.

    What did a hundred thousand Origin Stones entail?

    Tomoners, this was like a hundred million.

    To low-tier Origin Qi Schrs, this was a hundred thousand.

    To mid-tier Origin Qi Schrs, this was a thousand.

    To high-tier Origin Qi Schrs, this was ten.

    Only to peak Origin Qi Schrs would a hundred thousand Origin Stones be considered toilet paper or dung.

    Su Chen was considered low-tier even among low-tier Origin Qi Schrs, and Li Shu wasn¡¯t even an Origin Qi Schr yet. No matter what, a hundred thousand Origin Stones was not a small sum, one which could not be ignored.

    Even if he held doubts, Li Shu still brought the information back with him.

    After all, he did not have the authority to make a decision on such an important matter.

    Upon hearing Li Shu¡¯s report, Su Chen was ced in a tough position.

    He thought for a moment before saying, ¡°I suddenly thought of the scam that Yan Wushuang tried to pull on me before. She wanted to use three fake goods to cheat my True Jade Pavilion out of two thousand tales of pure gold. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that I pretended I was blind, I probably would have been tricked by them. This taught me a principle, which is the more something is a scam, the more attractive the bait is. What do they mean, ¡®they have methods to sell for a better price so they can buy at a higher price¡¯ ¨C I think that it¡¯s all nonsense. Their goals are most likely impure.¡±

    Li Shu said, ¡°Young Master is clever. Since this is the case, we should just ignore this store and instead deal with the Thousand Treasures Pavilion. To tell the truth, the price that the Thousand Treasures Pavilion offered is quite fair.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I only said that it will be a scam. I didn¡¯t say that we won¡¯t do business with them.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Li Shu was dazed.

    Su Chenughed sarcastically. ¡°In the two months that I was in the Halcyon Gorge, my business was quite good. However, I obtained the most when I killed Ulrich in the cave, and I obtained the second most when I killed Bai Fan and Wolf de. Just a Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de alone is worth nearly ten thousand Origin Stones......¡±

    Lin Shu silently cursed, ¡®Now you say that it¡¯s worth ten thousand Origin Stones. Earlier, you had given Wolf de a value of five hundred Origin Stones.¡¯

    Su Chen continued, ¡°Do you understand what I mean?¡±

    Li Shu replied, ¡°Young Master means...... finding riches in the midst of danger?¡±

    Su Chen leisurely said, ¡°Since there are people who are plotting against us, why not bite back? As someone who cultivates, how can I not have a few lives on my hands, and how can I not earn a few small fortunes? It would be a waste of all my bitter cultivation these past few years. How else would I be able to blend in with other Origin Qi Schrs?¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 70: Shadow Mountain Troops

    Chapter 70: Shadow Mountain Troops

    Since someone wanted to eat up his fifteen kilograms of starsilver essence, Su Chen had no qualms ying around with them.

    On the second day, Su Chen and Li Shu went to the Flying Immortal Pce. Li Shu found the Golden Name Workshop¡¯s head storekeeper and discussed the sale with him again and, under Su Chen¡¯s orders, he specifically raised the price to 450,000 Origin Stones. After discussing for a long time, the other party actually agreed.

    At that moment, Li Shu had confirmed that the other party wasn¡¯t willing to pay money. Only someone unwilling to pay would agree so quickly.

    He made an agreement with the head storekeeper that they would make the exchange at the Golden Name Workshop half a monthter.

    However, that same night Su Chen sold the starsilver essences to the Thousand Treasures Pavilion for 250,000 low-grade Origin Stones. He was missing thirty thousand because he had also setup a VIP card. He only needed to pay three hundred thousand Origin Stones to get an additional two hundred thousand Origin Stones worth of credit. This was also what the Thousand Treasures Pavilion had promised him before. However, Su Chen had only bought one item at the moment.

    Su Chen went to search for Night Demon after returning to Northface City with his Origin Stones and his goods.

    As soon as Night Demon appeared, she said unhappily, ¡°Why are you looking for me again? It can¡¯t be that you want to borrow Origin Tools to go to the Scarlet Mountain Range again?¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°I¡¯m in no hurry to go to the Scarlet Mountain Range. However, I do need to borrow your Origin Tools again.¡±

    Night Demon opened her eyes wide.

    Su Chen waved his hand and said, ¡°Rx, rx. Is it not enough if I pay to rent it?¡±

    Night Demon¡¯s expression became more pleasant upon hearing this. ¡°How much will you pay?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Two hundred low-grade Origin Stones every day. I will rent three items ¨C the blunderbuss, the battle de and the armor. I won¡¯t need the boots anymore.¡±

    The Cloud-Stepping Battle boots were already quite old. After Su Chen had used them twice, they were getting closer and closer to breaking. Who knows when they would breakpletely. Thus, Su Chen decided not to rent that one, only renting three of them instead. While the ming Hunter Blunderbuss had terrible uracy, it was still quite effective against people who were unaware of it when used in a critical moment. Thus, Su Chen decided to keep it.

    Two hundred low-grade Origin Stones to rent three Origin Tools for a day was not a shabby price. Night Demon¡¯s expression became even less hostile. ¡°This, we can consider.¡±

    Su Chen continued, ¡°I will also need to borrow some people.¡±

    ¡°Borrow people?¡± Night Demon¡¯s eyes once again opened wide. ¡°Why do you need to borrow people? Can you not hold off for a bit? Do you think we are easy people to take advantage of......¡±

    ¡°I will also pay for them, eight times the normal amount,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Night Demon instantly shut her mouth.

    Because Origin Stones were something that every Origin Qi Schr could create, each one would also have their own corresponding reference value.

    As a simple example, a Qi Drawing Realm Origin Qi Schr with ten yellow stars could produce an Origin Stone every day. Thus, their reference value was one Origin Stone. This meant that to hire this Origin Qi Schr to work for someone else required a payment of at least one Origin Stone a day. Otherwise, they could simply infuse any empty Origin Stone that they had without much effort. Why waste their effort working for someone else?

    This was what a reference value entailed!

    A reference value also meant that cing a price tag on an Origin Qi Schr was also quite easy. One only needed to calcte the other party¡¯s reference value and then consider the multiplier.

    Without a multiplier, Origin Qi Schrs would not be willing to be hired, and howrge this multiplier was depended on the person¡¯s individual value and negotiation.

    The lowest was two times, while the highest was unlimited.

    Su Chen offered a multiplier of eight. This number was not too high, nor was it too low. It could only be considered normal. Although the Immortal Pce was rich and imposing and might not care too much about a thousand Origin Stones, business was still business. If they were unwilling to diligently earn small amounts of money, they would never be able to make arge haul.

    In addition, they still had intentions of building up a rtionship with Su Chen.

    Thus, when Su Chen spoke, Night Demon¡¯s tone also changed.

    ¡°What kind of people do you want to borrow?¡±

    ¡°I want at least two Blood Boiling Realm cultivators and three highyer Qi Drawing Realm cultivators to help me.¡±

    ¡°Who is your opponent? What is their strength like?¡±

    ¡°The Golden Name Workshop. I¡¯m not too clear about their strength.¡±

    ¡°Then how do you know two Blood Boiling Realm and three highyer Qi Drawing Realm cultivators will be enough to take care of the problem?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I can¡¯t just ask for Yang Opening, Light-Shaking, or even a Spirit Burning Realm 1 cultivator, can I?¡±

    ¡°Why do you need to fight with them?¡±

    ¡°I have some goods that they want to take for free.¡±

    ¡°Can you avoid selling it?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to miss the beautiful sight of cker consuming ck.¡±

    Night Demon sucked in a breath of cold air.

    After a long while, she said, ¡°I will go back and consult with them.¡±

    Su Chen made a ¡®do whatever you want¡¯ gesture.

    This time, Night Demon was gone for three days.

    Three dayster, she said as soon as she saw Su Chen, ¡°This store is owned by Li Mingtang.¡±

    ¡°Li Mingtang?¡±

    ¡°Themander of the Shadow Mountain Troops.¡±

    Su Chen instantly sat down. ¡°So it was him!¡±

    The Flying Immortal Pce had a mountain called Shadow Mountain. The mountain was densely forested. One end connected with the ck Pine Forest, while the other end connected with the Scarlet Mountain Range.

    A horde of bandits lived on the mountain, known as the Shadow Mountain Troops. There were roughly three hundred people, and the bandit leader was the so-calledmander of the Shadow Mountain Troops, Li Mingtang.

    Of course, he had given himself the title of mander¡±. For him to call himself amander with only three hundred amateur soldiers was extremelyughable. But in the bandit¡¯s circle of influence, this kind of matter was amon urrence. They relied on nothing but their influence to scare others. Those who didn¡¯t understand the situation would crumble upon hearing the word mander¡±. They would give money or grain without hesitation upon being asked, not daring to say no.

    The Shadow Mountain Troops had four leaders. The head leader was Li Mingtang, the second was Liu Yuan, the third was Li Zhi, who was the brains of the Shadow Mountain Troops, and the fourth was Li Mingxuan, Li Mingtang¡¯s twin. Li Mintang was already a Yang Opening Realm cultivator at the middleyer. Of the other three leaders, two were in the middleyer of Blood Boiling and one was at the highyer of Qi Drawing. None of them were weaklings. Most importantly, there were rumors that they had connections with an important n in the Flying Immortal Pce.

    This was also why the Shadow Mountain Troops could remain free and unfettered.

    This Golden Name Workshop was a scout for the Shadow Mountain Troops. It could be used to find good targets to take action again. This time, they had found Su Chen.

    ¡°If the people you had wanted to borrow were to go, they would probably all just be delivered up to Li Mingtang.¡± Night Demon looked at Su Chen with a disdainful expression.

    Su Chen spread out his hands. ¡°How was I supposed to know that the opponent was that strong?¡±

    Yang Opening Realm was the third of seven realms for an Origin Qi Schr, and could be considered a mid-tier Origin Qi Schr.

    ¡°Stop with the nonsense. Don¡¯t think that I can¡¯t tell that you intentionally said you wanted to borrow people to use us to scout them out for you?¡± Night Demon harrumphed. This guy just wanted to use their rtionship to gather information. One had to know that the organization had spent a significant amount of effort to investigate the Golden Name Workshop.

    Su Chen¡¯s face was filled with surprise. ¡°Hm? Your intelligence seems to have increased recently.¡±

    Night Demon gave him a flying kick.

    Su Chen gently shed by. ¡°You¡¯re not ashamed of bullying a disabled person?¡±

    ¡°Your reactions make it seem like you aren¡¯t really blind.¡± Night Demon shed out, a streak of light shing towards Su Chen.

    Su Chen closed his eyes and took four steps. Every step that Su Chen took, his body would strangely shake, once again dodging Night Demon¡¯s attacks.

    Night Demon was surprised. ¡°What a magnificent footwork technique. I have never heard of the Su n possessing such a magnificent footwork.¡±

    He had yet to strike, so Su Chen¡¯s hand finally reached out. His left hand activated the ming Tiger Fist and sent it flying towards Night Demon, while the Thunder de struck out from his right hand. The sound of thunder forced Night Demon to evade. Most surprisingly, Su Chen had done all of this while his eyes were closed. Although his vision had recovered, Su Chen did not let go of thebat skills that he had gained while he was blind.

    After dodging this palm and de strikebo, Night Demon yelled, ¡°So you have entered the Qi Drawing Realm.¡±

    ¡°Hmph, I thought you¡¯d have discovered this ages ago,¡± Su Chenughed.

    Su Chen easily shifted forwards. The edge of his palm struck out like a de. At the same time, his knee flew into the air, disying the strengths and abilities of the Flowing Wind Body Technique without restraint. When paired with his ability to hear the wind, Su Chen and Night Demon exchanged numerous blows.

    Although in the next instant a torrent of Origin Energy exploded out of Night Demon, the impact forced Su Chen to retreat, his figure simply swayed for a moment. He did not seem to have been too affected. She couldn¡¯t help but feel extreme surprise.

    ¡°Your Flowing Wind Body Technique has actually reached the stage of small sess?¡±

    It had only been four months since Su Chen had obtained the Flowing Wind Body Technique. For Su Chen to reach this point so quickly could be considered divine speed.

    The main reason for this was because he trained bitterly every single day.

    ¡°Less idle chatter. Since you know the bottom line of the target, then let me borrow people based on the strength of the Shadow Mountain Troops. How does that sound?¡±

    ¡°How do you know we have the strength to deal with the Shadow Mountain Troops? Perhaps we don¡¯t even have any Yang Opening Realm cultivators.¡±

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t need to use these words to try and fool me, right? If you can carelessly toss me four Origin Tools and call them four pieces of trash from storage, do you dare tell me that your organization doesn¡¯t have a single Yang Opening expert? If you want to rope me in, show me some sincerity so that our coboration can continue.¡±

    ¡°Coboration?¡± Night Demon looked at Su Chen. ¡°You want to discuss a coboration with us?¡±

    ¡°Wrong. You will be discussing a coboration with me,¡± Su Chen leisurely said. ¡°Who else is more qualified than I am to rece Lin Xie?¡±

    1. Just to recap and clear things up: after one steps into the Origin Qi Schr level, there are seven different levels of Origin Qi Schrs. As far as I can tell, each level has nine differentyers (pretty simr to most other cultivation novels), which depend on the amount of Origin energy that one has umted. Qi Drawing is the first realm, followed by Blood Boiling, Yang Opening, Light-Shaking, and Spirit Burning, in that order. We still don¡¯t know what the sixth and seventh levels are, and it is entirely possible that in the future more levels may appear ¨C we shall see. For more rity, here is a fan-made chart that might help with conversion of stars to cultivation base levels.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 71: Air Tentacles

    Chapter 71: Air Tentacles

    The next day, Night Demon brought updates from the higher ups.

    They agreed to let Su Chen borrow people.

    One midyer Yang Opening, three highyer Blood Boiling, three highyer Qi Drawing. Not only was their strength was enough to suppress the Shadow Mountain Troops¡¯ frontline, but they also sent an additional Blood Boiling cultivator and two Qi Drawing cultivators as backup. Of course, Su Chen still needed to pay for them. Employing a midyer Yang Opening cultivator cost four thousand low-grade Origin Stones per day, three highyer Blood Boiling cultivators cost two thousand, and Qi Drawing Realm were much cheaper, only costing two hundred a day. The total was roughly six thousand low-grade Origin Stones.

    Apart from this, the other party had also requested that battle spoils be distributed among everyone that had battled, and if the treasures that the Hidden Mountain Troops had was greater than six thousand Origin Stones, they would split half of the excess with the organization.

    This request was not too extreme. Although Su Chen had devised the n and it was his transaction at risk, the main strength for the operation was still provided by the other party. Without them, Su Chen would not be able toplete this mission. In addition, this was Su Chen; if it were anyone else, the organization probably would have requested a seventy-thirty split.

    Whose fault is it that your own strength is not enough?

    However, the other party had also expressed that if their expedition was sessful, they would sell those Origin Tools to Su Chen for a price of eight thousand Origin Stones, and he would not need to borrow them anymore. They would even throw in the Cloud-Stepping Battle Boots for free ¨C in any case, they were close to being unusable, so why not use them to improve their rtionship. They had also gotten rid of the renting fee this time.

    Although the three Origin Tools were all defective in some way, eight thousand Origin Stones was quite a good price. Su Chen was used to them, and the other party could thus get rid of a few things of little value, as well as improve their rtionship with Su Chen.

    Once the matters were decided, all that remained was waiting.

    While he was waiting, Su Chen was not idle. Every day he would diligently practice his Origin Skills.

    At the same time, Tang Zhen continued to closely study history materials and repeatedly double- or triple-check his work as he diligently tranted the ancient Arcana script.

    Today, Su Chen had just arrived at the True Jade Pavilion when Tang Zhen came to meet him, his face filled with excitement.

    ¡°Young Master!¡±

    Su Chen understood that most likely the rough trantion of the ancient Arcana script wasplete. He said in a low voice, ¡°You finished interpreting it?¡±

    ¡°I tranted one sheet.¡± Tang Zhen secretly stuffed a piece of paper into Su Chen¡¯s hand as he said in a low voice, ¡°Just as Young Master instructed me, the original text is also present. When you have nothing better to do, you can study andpare the two.¡±

    Su Chen held it in his hand andughed, ¡°It seems like I will need to ask head storekeeper for a few days of vacation.¡±

    Tang Zhen alsoughed as he stroked his beard, ¡°Young people are like this. When they get a new toy, they want to y with it for a few days. Go, go, since I am here, Young Master only needs to focus on cultivating.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll leave everything in your care,¡± Su Chen bowed to Tang Zhen, then left the True Jade Pavilion.

    ¡°Zhou Hong, take me to the back of the mountain,¡± Su Chen said, beginning to closely read the page as he sat in the carriage.

    The ancient Arcana technique that Tang Zhen had tranted was the Air Tentacles.

    This was quite a practical ancient Arcana technique. It could construct air tentacles from out of thin air to tie down an opponent. These air tentacles could exist quite a long time, and activating it multiple times would create multiple tentacles that could attack simultaneously. Its weakness was that it could be broken, its restrictive ability was only average, and it did not prevent enemies from activating their own Origin Skills.

    Even people like Iron Cliff or himself could use their own physical strength to resist the air tentacles. From this, one could tell that the strength of these air tentacles was quite low.

    However, its Origin Energy Pattern was simple to learn, and activating it was fast. Because of this, it was also the easiest technique to trante.

    After arriving to the back mountain, Su Chen instructed Zhou Hong to stand guard, then began to practice these Air Tentacles.

    Compared to before, Su Chen could afford be much more extravagant when learning Origin Skills.

    One air tentacle after another appeared until he exhausted all the Origin Energy in his body. Then, Su Chen would absorb the energy from an Origin Stone and continue to practice.

    All skills came about from hard work and repeated practice to seed.

    In the back mountain, Su Chen continued to rapidly absorb Origin Energy even as he was releasing it.

    Because the air tentacles existed for a long time, Su Chen was rapidly surrounded by numerous air tentacles, with him in the center. These semi-transparent tentacles swayed in the air, like snakes. Under Su Chen¡¯s control, they danced crazily. Because there were too many, Su Chen felt extremely flustered while controlling them. Often, if he focused on one of them he would lose control of the other.

    This helped Su Chen realize that being proficient in the air tentacles was not just rted to activation speed but also controlling them appropriately. Origin Qi Schrs truly familiar with the air tentacles could create multiple in a short span of time and control them to attack using different methods and tactics.

    From this one could see that the Air Tentacles actually required a certain level of soul strength. People with strong souls should be able to control the air tentacles more proficiently.

    As his understanding of this Arcana technique progressed, he continued to practice over and over again.

    As he furiously practiced, one could asionally hear the sound of things copsing. That was the sound ofrge trees being broken by the air tentacles and falling to the ground.

    After a day of cultivation had passed, Su Chen was surrounded by fallen trees.

    The branches on these trees had been neatly trimmed. Only the bare tree trunk remained. Even the tree¡¯s bark had been worn clean.

    When Zhou Hong was called over by Su Chen, he couldn¡¯t help but be stunned by this scene. Su Chen said, ¡°Go tell the n¡¯s lumberjacks that there is some wood here. Ask them if they want it.¡±

    Zhou Hong was also someone with foresight. He asked, ¡°If they ask me where these came from, Young Master, what should I tell them?¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°Just tell them Fourth Young Master is extremely poor these days so I¡¯ve taken up woodcutting.¡±

    ¡°......Yes, Young Master!¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    After bitterly training for a few days, Su Chen had achieved a basic mastery of the air tentacles. Thanks to him, the Su n¡¯s lumber business had actually experienced a small explosion.

    The day of the exchange had finally arrived.

    Today, Su Chen dressed himself and walked out of the Su residence.

    Iron Cliff followed behind him.

    He carried arge iron trunk in his hand. Nobody knew what was in it. However, every time Iron Cliff took a step, a deep footprint would be left in the ground behind him.

    Once he left the residence, Su Chen walked directly out of the town. After arriving in a faraway location, he whistled.

    Seven people appeared from within the forest.

    Of these seven people, six of them were covered in ck cloaks, and their figures were shrouded in shadows, making it so that people couldn¡¯t clearly see their faces. Even so, Su Chen was able to tell that one of them was Night Demon.

    She was obviously one of the three highyer Qi Drawing Realm cultivators.

    The only one that hadn¡¯t obstructed himself was a middle-aged male.

    His body was extremely brawny, and his face was densely bearded. On his back he carried arge broadsword. Most interestingly, he also held arge iron trunk in his hands. It was quite simr to the one in Iron Cliff¡¯s hands, only slightly smaller. When the two of them saw each other and the iron trunks in each others hands, a smile appeared on their faces.

    Iron Cliff¡¯sughter was straightforward and honest, while the male¡¯sughter seemed to be much more profound in meaning.

    At this time, the middle-aged man said, ¡°Your preparations were much more sufficient than I had anticipated. No wonder it seems like everything is always in the palm of your hand. You were able to make a group of people who originally wanted to kill you serve you in the end, Young Master Su Chen. My name is Baron. I am the captain of the group that was ordered to help you this time.¡±

    He specifically emphasized ¡®ordered to¡¯ and ¡®captain¡¯. Evidently, he was implying his own independence.

    Su Chen gently smiled, ¡°Many thanks for Baron¡¯s assistance. This is just an example of no friendship without conflict.¡±

    Night Demon didn¡¯te over to greet him, so he pretended that he didn¡¯t know.

    Baron said, ¡°It¡¯s just as you said. Originally, when the higher-ups sent me to do things for a blind man, I wasn¡¯t too happy. Now, it seems as if you are actually quite smart. Something interesting might happen during our cooperation.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for the kind words.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 72: Dark Fog

    Chapter 72: Dark Fog

    Northface City was not very close to the Flying Immortal Pce, but Baron and the others seemed to have made preparations a long time ago.

    With a shrill whistle, arge carriage appeared in the middle of the forest. The carriage was two stories tall and was extremely imposing. Pulling the carts was not themonly usedrge horses but rather a kind of armored Vicious Beast called the Well Armadillo. This Vicious Beast possessed extreme strength and decent speed, and lots of effort was required to tame it. Four trained Well Armadillos were worth quite a sum of money.

    At this moment, Baron said, ¡°Get on the carriage. I originally thought that using this carriage was a waste, but I didn¡¯t expect that you would actually have a Cliff Race as a servant. Now it seems that it¡¯s be quite useful.¡±

    As he spoke, he disappeared into the carriage.

    Su Chen followed him in. The interior of the carriage was extremelyrge, roughly the size of a room. It was also decorated with prayer mats and engraved stools for meditation and resting.

    Upon entering the carriage, the carriage began to move. From time to time, talisman inscriptions would shine around the carriage, and gradually it began to diffuse out a hazy fog. All traces of the entire carriage were actuallypletely hidden by this fog, and people outside of it would not be able to see it.

    Baronughed, ¡°This is the Fog Concealed Carriage. It can use the fog to hide itself and avoid being disturbed by the environment. The road is long, but we should reach the Flying Immortal Pce by sunset. If the wait bores you, you can meditate first. That way, once we arrive you can unleash your peak strength in battle.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then I will follow your intentions.¡± Su Chen sat down.

    However, he couldn¡¯t help but notice that even with the fog hiding them and the ability to see the terrain without physical sight, it would still take them a whole day to reach the Flying Immortal Pce. Clearly, their speed was not very fast. This was unsurprising given the extra weight that had been added on, slowing down their speed.

    Extra weight?

    Su Chen thought of something and stealthy felt the wall of the carriage behind him. He pushed with a little bit of Origin energy but found that he couldn¡¯t move it at all. It seemed like this carriage was constructed entirely of steel. If there was a switch installed that could convert the carriage into a battle mode, it would not only be able to pursue or escape, but it could also trap and restrict enemies. Upon recognizing this point, Su Chen slowly retracted his hand, lowering his head and focusing on his meditation.

    Time passed by very quickly.

    As nightfall arrived, the carriage finally arrived at the Flying Immortal Pce.

    Because of the carriage¡¯s fog, they directly bypassed the Flying Immortal Pce¡¯s city gates without alerting the sentries there.

    Indeed, this Fog Concealed Carriage was truly a good treasure for secretly escaping, pursuing, or infiltrating. As an underground organization, the Immortal Temple didn¡¯t need to have any other abilities. Their talent for quietly disappearing was absolutely unparalleled.

    Because it was already nighttime, the streets were a little empty, with few people roaming about.

    The carriage traveled all the way to Hongwu Street, where the Golden Name Workshop was. They first wandered around on the street, borrowing the dense fog to secretly slip over the wall as if entering an uninhabited location. From the front, the ck-clothed person driving the carriage reported back, ¡°There are hidden troops near the Golden Name Workshop, roughly fifteen in total. There are two Qi Drawing Realm, while the rest are martial artists. All are armed to the teeth. There are another twenty martial artists who are on either side of the road, responsible for blocking the road¡¯s exit, and there are two Qi Drawing Realm cultivators there. There are nine people inside the Golden Name Workshop, two Blood Boiling and three Qi Drawing Realm cultivators, as well as threemoners. Thest person has a strong vitality and I didn¡¯t dare to peek on him, but that should be Li Mingtang.¡±

    ¡°As expected, there was an ambush, and all four leaders of the Shadow mountain Troops are here. They aren¡¯t even nning on going outside of the city to kill you, instead choosing to do it right here in front of the Golden Name Workshop. These bandits truly are bing more and more arrogant,¡± Baron harrumphed.

    Su Chen knitted his eyebrows and said, ¡°There are more Qi Drawing Realm cultivators than we predicted, and those forty-five other martial artists will be a burden. But more importantly, as soon as fighting breaks out in the city, the guards will be alerted very quickly......¡±

    Baron, however, said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. We¡¯ll show you some of the methods the organization has up our sleeves. That way, brat, you might have some more respect for the organization.¡±

    As he spoke, he waved his hand, and two of the ck-clothed people along with Night Demon disembarked, borrowing the fog to disappear in a sh. They returned after a brief moment and reported, ¡°Baron, the seed has been nted.¡±

    Baron acknowledged this, then turned around to speak to the ck-clothed person behind him. ¡°I¡¯ll still need to trouble you, Copper Deer.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± An old, haggard voice came out from underneath the ck cloth.

    A sound with a strange rhythm came out from this old man¡¯s mouth. When Su Chen heard it, it gave him a strange feeling.

    An ancient Arcana technique!

    This was an extremelyplex ancient Arcana technique that was being used.

    A momentter, the strange sound stopped. Copper Deer let out a sigh and said, ¡°It¡¯s done.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Baron took the lead to exit the car.

    When Su Chen got off the car, he saw that they were surrounded by fog so dense he couldn¡¯t see his fingers in front of him. He said with some surprise, ¡°Iron Cliff, what happened outside?¡±

    Iron Cliff replied, ¡°Fog is everywhere, Master. It seems like there¡¯s trees as well.¡±

    There were indeed trees!

    Su Chen saw them as well, and he saw them even more clearly than Iron Cliff.

    When his vision prated past the fog, Su Chen saw strangely shapedrge trees densely covering Hongwu Street. They waved their branches in the fog, and asionally white fog would also be emitted from these branches.

    Baronughed, ¡°Have you heard of the Fog Concealed Forest? These are the trees that can be rumored to disappear. That¡¯s because there is a kind of tree known as the Fog Cypress which emits a unique kind of fog. Not only can this fog screen one¡¯s vision, but it can also screen one¡¯s sense of hearing. Just then, Night Demon and the others had sown a circle of Fog Cypress seeds. Now that the fog has emerged, we can kill to our hearts¡¯ content here and no one will find out.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go. The duration of this rapid growth technique is limited,¡± said the old man who had activated the eleration technique said.

    Everyone directly headed for the Golden Name Workshop.

    Night Demon drew near and said, ¡°Stay behind me. I¡¯ll protect you.¡±

    This rare act of concern warmed Su Chen¡¯s heart. However, he shook his head and said, ¡°Thank you, but there¡¯s no need. I have Iron Cliff.¡±

    ¡°Him?¡± Night Demon coldly hmphed. She didn¡¯t continue speaking, but her implied meaning was ¡®what use will a guy who hasn¡¯t even reached the Qi Drawing Realm yet be¡¯.

    Up front, Baron and the others had already arrived at the Golden Name Workshop¡¯s front door.

    Baron didn¡¯t stop moving, cing a solid kick on the door.

    The door flew open, and a few people charged outside. ¡°Who dares to cause a ruckus at the Golden Name Workshop?¡±

    However, because of the fog¡¯s interference, the sound didn¡¯t travel very far. They were clearly very close, but when Su Chen heard it it sounded like they were extremely far away.

    Baronughed loudly, ¡°Li Mingtang,e receive your death!¡±

    As he spoke, his fist went flying.

    ¡°Baron! It¡¯s you?¡± an enraged howl came from behind the door, and a fist strike also flew forwards, actually blocking Baron¡¯s strike. However, Baron¡¯s strike was very leisurely, while the opponent had evidently used all of his strength. His voice even began to tremble. ¡°We¡¯ve been fooled, it¡¯s a trap! I¡¯ll dy this guy, everyone else quickly leave!¡±

    As the voice spoke, a bald man rushed out from behind the door, ten or so iron rings wrapped around his arm.

    Baron simrly took off the broadsword in his back as he said, ¡°Stop them. Don¡¯t let a single one escape.¡±

    ck shadows had already shot towards those bandits.

    They had been prepared, and every one of them was a bit stronger than the opponents. This ensured that they could secure sess and avoid wasting battle power. The only thing theycked was probably numbers, but because the Shadow Mountain Troops wanted to plot against the seller, their ambush troops were outside the Golden Name Workshop. Thus, because of the fog¡¯s limitation on vision and hearing, the bandits outside wouldn¡¯t know what was happening and wouldn¡¯t be able to provide support. Thus, the fight would be one-on-one. Even if they did rush over, under circumstances where there was an extra Blood Boiling Realm cultivator and an absolute advantage in terms of cultivation base, they would only be sending themselves to their deaths.

    Within the dark fog, a massacre began.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 73: Forceful Tearing

    Chapter 73: Forceful Tearing

    The dark fog blocked both vision and hearing.

    The conductance of sound in this fog was greatly diminished, making Su Chen, who was used to relying on his hearing, feel very ufortable.

    Perhaps this was also the other party¡¯s intention?

    cing a blind person in a situation where they could not rely on their hearing to put an immense amount of pressure on that person¡¯s heart.

    Was this repayment? A warning? A threat? Or was it some other meaning?

    Su Chen did not know.

    And he did not care.

    Although his sight and hearing had been greatly affected, Su Chen could still feel the fierce battle that was urring not too far away from him. Baron and Li Mingtang especially were like two zing suns in the dark fog. Even though they were shrouded in fog, he could still feel the forceful Origin Energy movements, not to mention the fact that wave after wave of Origin Energy was constantly pushing aside the fog.

    The battle between Yang Opening experts was indeed no small matter. The fluctuations from their battle was enough to disperse the ck fog, so everything was broken on sight. The brick building was just like it was made of mud. Even the stone tiger in front of the door was easily broken into pieces. The shockwaves were sorge that they even limited the obstruction of the dark fog.

    In terms of strength, Baron held the obvious advantage.

    Hisbat style was open, forceful, and robust. Each broadsword strike was filled with a steady power. Although it didn¡¯t appear shy, it contained a fatal power. Inparison, Li Mingtang was clearly more nimble, often attempting to widen the distance between them and attacking with the flying rings. His flying rings were also a kind of Origin Tool, which would return to his arm automatically after being thrown and could form a protective arm brace for close-quartersbat.

    However, these multiple forms evidently didn¡¯t have any point in front of Baron. Baron¡¯s broadsword chopped towards Li Mingtang¡¯s arms, causing sparks to fly wildly into the air, nging like a cksmith forging iron. Li Mingtang¡¯s face continued to pale as he tried to neutralize the violent vibrations that Baron¡¯s strikes inflicted on him.

    The two of them had fought each other before, and Li Mingtang had suffered a great loss and was forced to flee. Regardless ofbat style or cultivation base, Li Mingtang waspletely suppressed by Baron. This was why the Immortal Temple had chosen to send Baron to participate in this battle.

    On the other side, the situation was even more one-sided.

    There were only two Blood Boiling and three Qi Drawing Realm cultivators, while the ck-clothed people had three Blood Boiling and three Qi Drawing Realm cultivators, and they had higher cultivationyers than the opponents, so they had the absolute advantage. However, one of the Blood Boiling ck-clothed cultivators was significantly weaker inbatpared to the other two for an unknown reason. He was only barely holding on when faced with the fierce onught of bandits. Even so, he probably wouldn¡¯t be able to hold on for much longer.

    Upon seeing this scene, Su Chen said in a low voice to Iron Cliff, ¡°Iron Cliff, break the wall on that side, then immediately run back to me.¡±

    Iron Cliff lowered his head, charging towards the wall that Su Chen had pointed out.

    This was a wall that separated the Golden Name Workshop with its neighbor. A horde of bandits appeared from behind the wall. These bandits had been affected by the fog and didn¡¯t know yet that there was a battle going on here. But as soon as the wall toppled, even if they were more blind they could recognize something was wrong. When adding on Iron Cliff¡¯s obvious body figure, they instantly recognized what was happening and charged over, yelling.

    Iron Cliff turned around and ran, with arge group of people chasing him. They then discovered that their leader was embroiled in a bitter struggle and hurried over to assist. Those who were more quick-witted pulled out a whistle and began to blow on it. The whistle was extremely piercing and was able to break through the fog, alerting the bandits who were standing guard near the road.

    Upon seeing this, Night Demon angrily yelled, ¡°Su Chen, what are you doing?¡±

    Such aplete annihtion plot was forcefully broken by Su Chen.

    Su Chen leisurely replied, ¡°Isn¡¯t it just two extra Qi Drawing cultivators and ten or so martial artists? At most it¡¯ll take a little more effort to deal with them, so why care about it? Also, if I don¡¯t draw them out, how can I go inside to try and find the treasure?¡±

    As he spoke, he brought Iron Cliff and walked into the Golden Name Workshop.

    ¡°Dammit, what a wily bastard,¡± everyone cursed upon seeing this scene.

    Although they had decided on a method of dividing the spoils, in reality no one trusted each other.

    Every person wanted to be the first to find treasure rather than others.

    To Baron and the others, they had arge number of people, so naturally they had the advantage.

    However, they had not expected that Su Chen would be so devious, directly attracting the ambushing soldiers and prolonging the battle. He and Iron Cliff were the first to step inside.

    While everyone cursed Su Chen for his devious schemes, they couldn¡¯t do anything to him. Because those bandits were extremely vicious, each one of them going all out, the others would not be able to win in a short amount of time.

    At this time, Su Chen had already entered the Golden Name Workshop.

    Without investigating too carefully, Su Chen barked out, ¡°Iron Cliff!¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡± Iron Cliff ced the iron trunk on the ground, opening it up. Inside was an impressive golden suit of armor. The instant the trunk was open, the armor stood up like a person, extending itself and leaping onto Iron Cliff¡¯s body, instantly covering him from head to toe and leaving no cracks.. Even his eyes were protected by a special water crystal visor.

    ¡°Ha!¡± He took a step forward with a huge burst of power. The ground cracked beneath his feet.

    At the same time, Iron Cliff lowered his head, mming into the wall in front of him. He furiously ran, beginning to tear down the house.

    That¡¯s right.

    Forceful tearing!

    This was the tactic Su Chen had chosen to find the treasure. It was simple and explosive, but it was also the most effective.

    He had no interest for the small items in the store itself. All that he was concerned with were hidden treasure storages or chests, etc.

    He needed to find the treasure storage before the battle ended!

    Bang!

    They broke into a room.

    Nothing.

    They broke into another room. Still nothing.

    Iron Cliff continued to charge, his feet mming on the ground and his head breaking through walls. He used the most barbaric and simplest method to sweep the entire area, looking for any possibly hidden existences.

    Suddenly, an intense vibration sounded out.

    Iron Cliff stopped moving. He had fragmented a bed in front of him, but his footnded on something that prevented him from stomping forwards.

    Iron Cliff reached his hand down, pulling out arge iron trunk from beneath the bed.

    ¡°This one, Master!¡± Iron Cliff said in a muffled voice.

    ¡°Open it.¡±

    Iron Cliff broke the lock and opened the trunk.

    Boom!

    A violent gust of wind burst out from the trunk. Thousands of iron needles mmed onto the metal armor on Iron Cliff¡¯s body, creating a sound like a monsoon.

    Iron Cliff¡¯s figure only swayed slightly before he continued to open the trunk, unperturbed.

    The mechanism in the trunk could only be activated once. When he opened it again, nothing else happened.

    Su Chen looked inside the trunk only to see a few non eye-catching items inside. There were a few scrolls, some small vials, and a piece of jade. There weren¡¯t even any Origin Stones.

    However, upon seeing these things, Su Chen¡¯s face revealed a satisfied smile.

    After staying by Tang Zhen¡¯s side for so long, Su Chen had picked up a few things. He knew that the items in here were the real valuable items. Each one could be exchanged for hundreds or even thousands of Origin Stones.

    He picked up all the items in the trunk, then said, ¡°We earned back one-third of how much we spent earlier.¡±

    ¡°Only one-third?¡± Iron Cliff was very disappointed.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°That¡¯s not too bad. After all, this is not the treasury of the Shadow Mountain Troops; it¡¯s just the treasury of the Golden Name Workshop.¡±

    ¡°How do you know, Master?¡± Iron Cliff didn¡¯t understand.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Because bandits wouldn¡¯t treat antiques as treasures. They trust in gold, silver, and precious stones more.¡±

    He looked at the surroundings. ¡°A sly individual has more than one fallback n. As long as Li Mingtang isn¡¯t an idiot, he definitely wouldn¡¯t keep all of his valuables in one ce. This ce should have at least some of his hidden treasures. Where could they be?¡±

    Su Chen fell into deep thought.

    Su Chen turned his head around and looked in another direction.

    A room towered above the fallen wall. That was where Su Chen had released the ambushing troops from earlier.

    As he looked at that room, Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Iron Cliff, break that room down for me.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°Ah!¡± Li Mingtang was sent flying with a pained cry. His entire chest caved in as he spit out a mouthful of fresh blood.

    ¡°Tell me, where is the Shadow Mountain Troop¡¯s treasury?¡± Baron walked over withrge strides. At this moment, he was wearing a suit of armor that was exactly like Iron Cliff¡¯s. He looked like a giant golden person. Although he was extremely majestic, his steps did not make as much noise as Iron Cliff¡¯s. This was not because his strength was less than Iron Cliff¡¯s, but rather that his control over it was much stronger than Iron Cliff.

    Li Mingtang looked at Baron, wanting to say something. However, in the end he was unable to vocalize it, and his head tilted as he died.

    ¡°Dammit!¡± Baron tossed Li Mingtang to the ground in anger. In order to quickly finish off his opponent, his attack had been too strong.

    On the other side, Night Demon and the others hadpletely killed off all of the remaining bandits.

    They looked at each other before simultaneously charging towards the Golden Name Pavilion. They had not taken many steps, however, before a person walked out from the fog.

    This was Su Chen. Behind him was Iron Cliff, who was dressed in the golden armor and was carrying a giant trunk.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to search anymore,¡± he said. ¡°I searched this ce already. Evidently, their treasury is not hidden here.¡±

    A ck-clothed person harrumphed, ¡°If you say there¡¯s none then there¡¯s none? How do we know if you didn¡¯t hide the treasures after finding them?¡±

    Su Chen tilted his head. ¡°Then what do you think we should do?¡±

    ¡°Take out your ring and let us take a look at it.¡±

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°I can agree to this. However, I must remind you that this is breaking our mutual trust. Today, you can suspect me, and tomorrow I can distrust you.¡±

    As he spoke, Su Chen tossed his ring over to Baron, not even giving him any time to consider.

    Now that the ring was in his hand, Baron could only open it to take a look to avoid appearing weak-willed.

    Of course, he didn¡¯t find any treasures.

    Su Chenughed, ¡°Do you need to search my body as well?¡±

    Baron said in a low voice, ¡°There¡¯s no need. Aaron, apologize to Prince Su.¡±

    The ck-clothed person called Aaron could only say reluctantly, ¡°Sorry, Prince Su.¡±

    ¡°No worries,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°However, since we didn¡¯t find anything here, we can only go to the Shadow Mountain. Of course, if there is anyone who hasn¡¯t given up yet, you can go in to take a look as well. However, you¡¯d best do it quickly. It takes time to get there, and if this matter stretches until tomorrow...... I will need to pay an extra day¡¯s sry.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 74: Extermination 1

    Chapter 74: Extermination (1)

    In the end, Baron still took some people in to take a look at the Golden Name Workshop.

    When they returned to carriage, Su Chen and Iron Cliff had already been sitting there for quite some time. Su Chen was even rotating the Qi in his body, seizing the moment to cultivate.

    When he heard Baron return, Su Chen said, continuing to stay seated with his eyes closed, ¡°Didn¡¯t find anything?¡±

    ¡°No. But if you, the person paying for all of this, aren¡¯t anxious, why should we be anxious?¡± Baronughed as he got on the carriage.

    The carriage began to head in the direction of the Shadow Mountain.

    Now, they could finally rx. Iron Cliff took off the suit of armor he¡¯d been wearing and put it back in the trunk.

    When Baron saw it, heughed, ¡°Giving a Melted Golden Armor worth seven thousand Origin Stones to a servant to wear, and just to break into rooms? You are quite extravagant.¡±

    ¡°Esteemed Baron has pretty good sight,¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°I just used it to prevent any idents that might ur. After all, once the battle starts, nobody knows what will happen. I just cursorily brought it along to break into different rooms, incurring Baron¡¯s ridicule.¡±

    Baron agreed, ¡°However, a grade nine Melted Golden Armor for a Cliff Race servant is more understandable.¡±

    The Melted Golden Armor¡¯s defensive strength was high, and its defensive capabilities couldpare with a grade eight armor. The onlycking aspect was that it was simply too heavy, and normal Origin Qi Schrs might not be able to use it. The Cliff Race were innately strong, and so this battle armor could be considered the most suitable choice for Iron Cliff. When Iron Cliff was searching the house, he had been able to block the flying darts even though he hadn¡¯t activated the armor¡¯s defensive capabilities. If he had used Origin Stones to activate it, the defensive power would be even stronger, and even the blood aura might not be able to break through it in one sh.

    Of course, to Baron this defensive power could be broken with a sword. His Melted Golden Armor was a grade six tool. It was lighter than Iron Cliff¡¯s, but its defensive power was a number of times greater.

    Just as Su Chen wanted to speak, Baron shushed him, gesturing at him to avoid making noise.

    People began making a racket outside. Large hordes of soldiers charged over upon discovering the disturbance.

    The Fog Concealed Carriage passed through them like air. The soldiers continued to charge forward, unaware. Everyone inside the car maintained absolute silence.

    They were as quiet as corpses.

    At this moment, an unusual, low hum suddenly sounded out above the Fog Concealed Carriage, just like a clocktower was sounding out.

    Everyone¡¯s hearts shook. Even the Concealed Fog Carriage let out a loud sound.

    This loud sound shocked all the soldiers, and they all began to look around. ¡°What was that noise?¡±

    Everyone was shocked, and the second clocktower strike rang out.

    The Well Armadillos simultaneously stopped moving, as if they were about to yell, and the Origin Formations on the carriage began to release a shocking light as if it wanted to escape from the fog that concealed it.

    At this moment, a ck-clothed person suddenly took off his hood. This was the ck-clothed person with a lowerbat prowess that Su Chen had noticed earlier.

    His face was deathly pale, and his blue eyes glowed with a strange light.

    He put his palms together, letting out a low chanting hum.

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t hear clearly what it was. The Well Armadillos had already begun to howl, and even the Concealed Fog Carriage began to flicker into view, appearing in front of the soldiers as the clocktower continued to ring.

    Even so, the soldiers seemed to be unaware of this fact, actually leaving while minding their own business.

    The Concealed Fog Carriage continued to advance, constantly flickering into view as the clocktower rang out. However, all the people around them seemed to be unaware, continuing to search.

    This happened all the way until they exited the city.

    The clocktower¡¯s bell stopped ringing, and the Concealed Fog Carriage returned to normal. The blue-eyed, ck-clothed person rxed his hands. His figure shook, as if he had been drained of all his strength.

    Baron quickly came over to support him and said, ¡°Well done, Li.¡±

    ¡°Beautifully done.¡± Everyone began to congratte the person named Li.

    A ck-clothed person began tough, ¡°Thankfully, Li was here. The Inspections Department will only be able to eat our farts this time, haha.¡±

    Knowing that Su Chen didn¡¯t understand, Night Demon said, ¡°Li is an Illusion Master and is an expert in that field. Just then, the bell sounds were from the Inspections Department, who was sounding out the Awakening Bell to disrupt the use of Origin Energy and any concealment techniques. If it weren¡¯t for Li¡¯s soul illusions, we would have been discovered.¡±

    Illusions were soul techniques which could be used to directly influence the surface of a person¡¯s soul, causing them to hallucinate. Thus, only those with innately powerful souls were suitable for studying and using soul-type illusion techniques. Li was such an Illusion Master with an extremely powerful innate soul. He had been specifically trained by the organization. His main task was to conceal everyone and hide their traces.

    Upon knowing this, Su Chen could also understand Li¡¯s performance up to this point. He had most likely been saving his strength, waiting for this very moment.

    Indeed, no method or tactic was invincible under the heavens.

    Although the Concealed Fog Carriage was good, it wasn¡¯t impossible to break through it. As for Li¡¯s illusion techniques, they were enough to make Su Chen sigh in admiration.

    This entire noiseless battle had greatly broadened Su Chen¡¯s horizons. His understanding of Origin Qi Schrs had once again increased.

    Once exiting the city, the Shadow Mountain was a straight journey to the west.

    The Shadow Mountain Troops¡¯ headquarters were hidden in the mountain. These bandits were extremely devious and would never provoke people they couldn¡¯t afford to provoke. asionally, armed forces woulde. However, they wouldn¡¯t do battle; instead, they would give up on it and hide in the mountains, waiting for the armed forces to retreat before continuing to live freely.

    This had happened back and forth a few times already. Even the Flying Immortal Pce could do nothing about them.

    However, because of this, the Shadow Mountain Troops could be consideredpletely screwed.

    Their four leaders had all been killed, and the Shadow Mountain Troops had not received any information about it until now.

    When the Fog Concealed Carriage arrived in front of the Shadow Mountain camp. The bandit sentries standing guard were still there napping.

    ¡°What a motley group,¡± Baron coldly harrumphed.

    He disyed the utter disdain that elite terrorists held towards a low-ss criminal group who only focused on robbery to maintain their living.

    ¡°Captain, how should we do things?¡± someone asked Baron.

    ¡°To deal with this trash, we don¡¯t need to have any kind of n. Let¡¯s just surround them uppletely. Copper Deer, you watch the front door. Don¡¯t let a single person leave this ce. Night Demon, you¡¯re responsible for infiltrating the ce. Find any existing secret tunnels and storage areas. Everyone else,e with me. We¡¯ll charge into the front door.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sir!¡± Everyone yelled.

    Following Baron¡¯s orders, Night Demon took the lead, disappearing into the night. Next, the ck-clothed person named Copper Deer threw out a few seeds. Under the control of his rapid growth technique, a small forest suddenly appeared in the Shadow Mountain Troops¡¯ camp.

    At the same time, the remaining ck-clothed people began storming the ce. They had no intention of staying hidden.

    Thezy sentries were finally awoken by the disturbance caused by therge trees emerging from the ground. When they saw the fluttering pieces of paper on the front door, the bandit sentries began to yell, panicked, ¡°Heavens!¡±

    At least they had not forgotten their responsibilities. They ran to arge bell and began to shake it, yelling, ¡°Wake up, enemies are here! We¡¯re being raided by enemies!¡±

    The giant bell began to echo inside the mountain range, shocking a flock of birds into the sky. Following this, countless bandits began to yell foul-mouthedly.

    Baron and the others did not prevent the enemies from doing this. They simply stood in ce, silently waiting.

    The bandits finally grouped together. Upon looking at the vast swathe of people, Baron suddenly smiled.

    The heat of bloodthirst appeared in his eyes.

    He said, ¡°It¡¯s ughtering time!¡±

    de light began to blossom.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 75: Extermination 2

    Chapter 75: Extermination (2)

    It was a battle without suspense.

    Although there were more than three hundred bandits, their fates were to be ughtered when faced with an official Origin Qi Schr.

    The ck-clothed people were like gods of war in the night. They leapt to and fro in the battle, activating all kinds of strange Origin Skills, mercilessly ughtering those bandits.

    Baron was like a god wearing golden armor. He majestically stood at the very front,pletely ignoring all attacks sent his way. He didn¡¯t even wear the Melted Golden Armor, allowing the bandits¡¯ arrows, des, and spears tond on his body. He didn¡¯t even need to activate a barrier; he could block their attacks simply with his fleshy body. The broadsword in his hand swung through the air easily and carried a sword light with it. It split whatever it hit in two.

    Li¡¯s situation waspletely different from Baron¡¯s. He leisurely walked among the masses. Those bandits were seemingly unable to see him; not a single attacknded towards him. At the same time, Li would thrust the ckwood Serpent Staff in his hand towards the enemies¡¯ hearts. The staff was only a foot long, and it waspletely made from ckwood and sculpted in the shape of a serpent. At the end of the handstaff was a sharp de. His enemies would copse immediately, not even knowing where the attack hade from. asionally, if he was facing too many enemies, a thick ck fog would emerge from his body. Under the covering of the fog, each and every bandit was shredded to pieces. Their deaths were very slow, yet they were also very painful.

    Aaron¡¯s attacks were much more concise. He was pouncing like a leopard, and his eyes were extremely bright. He wielded a paper-thin de in his hand. Every time he struck out, he hit the opponent¡¯s weak points, such as their heart, throat, or even their Qi Sea. His attacks were extremely fast. Often, they would be struck by what seemed to be only a sh of de light. They would find themselves dead as Aaron walked away. Although he was only a highyer Qi Drawing Realm cultivator, his attacks were vicious and he killed very quickly, even more so than Baron himself.

    However, he was not the one who killed the most people.

    The person who killed the most was Smoke.

    Smoke was one of the three Blood Boiling cultivators in the seven-man toon. As his name implied, he enjoyed setting things on fire.

    He was the brightest existence in the dark night. When he stood there, mes began to surge in all four directions with him as the center. The mes seemed to have eyes, avoiding all of the allies. They were as nimble as snakes, wrapping around the bandits. Thus, the snake-like raging mes were the brightest existences on the entire mountain in the otherwise dark night. Smoke had also be the brightest person present. He wreaked havoc on the bandits. At least one-third of them died to his hands alone.

    The remainder panicked, furiously attempting to flee, but the forest that Copper Deer hadid down became theirst nightmare.

    This was a giant tree that grew demonic faces on it. They would not move initially, but every time a bandit ran into the reach of their branches,rge numbers of branches would reach out like pieces of rope, restraining them. Then, the demonic faces would open wide, and the targets would slowly be sent into the Demonic Face Tree¡¯s mouth. During this period of time, the targets would struggle incessantly; their panic was the Demonic Face Tree¡¯s favorite seasoning. In the end, the tree would swallow the target and slowly chew them to pieces. During this time, one could still hear the heart-rending cries of the people being eaten.

    The man-eating forestpletely ruined the bandits¡¯ line of defense. They had nowhere to run, and no desire to do battle any longer.

    Su Chen was the only one who didn¡¯t make a move.

    Any time that the bandits attempted to make a move towards him, Iron Cliff, who was wearing the Melted Golden Armor, would block all of their attacks. He focused all his efforts on protecting his master, doing his duty as a loyal soldier.

    asionally, Iron Cliff wouldn¡¯t be able to block an attack. However, this wasn¡¯t an issue because Su Chen still had Qingbai at his side.

    Qingbai was a young person with a delicate face. He was one of the three Qi Drawing cultivators of the seven-man toon.

    He did not possess Aaron¡¯s extremist attitude. In fact, he looked just like a neighbor¡¯s big brother. When he spoke, his face would sometimes redden. He appeared to be quite gentle.

    However, his attacks were not gentle at all.

    Qingbai didn¡¯t use any weapons. His fists were his weapons.

    His fists were white, but they were as tough as jade.

    Whenever any attacks came flying his direction, Qingbai¡¯s hands would intercept them just like he was snatching insects out of the air. Then, he would let go, allowing them to fall to the ground.

    An arrow suddenly flew by, and Qingbai grabbed it. Perhaps because his movements had been too loose, the tip of the arrow slipped through his fingers, pressing onto Su Chen¡¯s eyelid.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes did not move at all as if he couldn¡¯t see anything and didn¡¯t know anything.

    ¡°Apologies, I almost let you get injured,¡± Qingbai apologized with embarrassment.

    ¡°No worries. Almost...... means that it didn¡¯t happen, right?¡± Su Chen gentlyughed, appearing as if he had no idea how much danger he had just been in.

    ¡°As long as you don¡¯t mind,¡± Qingbai said with a bashful expression.

    As such, Su Chen continued forward, with Qingbai following closely behind him.

    Even though Su Chen had not found any secret treasury stores in the Golden Name Workshop, Baron did not want to give Su Chen any more opportunities to search for treasure on his own.

    The battle progressed very rapidly, and the number of bandits drastically decreased.

    When Su Chen arrived in the mountain camp¡¯s main pavilion, he couldn¡¯t hear shouting from outside anymore. All that he could see was mes lighting up the night sky.

    ¡°Any spoils? Qingbai,¡± Baron stepped forwards to say.

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing, sir, you guys killed them too quickly,¡± Qingbai responded softly.

    ¡°They were all just weak trash. Killing them was no fun,¡± Baron replied, then turned around and yelled behind him, ¡°Don¡¯t kill them all, leave some of them alive!¡±

    Arge group of people were tossed to the side after being knocked unconscious.

    He grabbed ten or so of these remaining people and then continued to kill.

    A plume of ck smoke suddenly appeared. Night Demon slowly faded into view, and she was holding onto a beautifully dressed woman.

    ¡°There is a secret tunnel behind the mountain. Fourteen bandits wanted to escape from there, and they have already been dealt with. This is Li Mingtang¡¯s wife; she should know where the treasure is hidden.

    Upon hearing that they had captured Li Mingtang¡¯s woman, everyone became interested.

    ¡°Li, stop killing, go interrogate this woman with Night Demon!¡± Baron said.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Li let out a very demonicugh, then floated away.

    Illusion Masters were great interrogators. No one could lie in front of them, since their soul illusion techniques could easily see through them.

    However, this woman clearly had no intentions of holding out. She knelt on the ground and continuously kowtowed. Li only asked one sentence and she spilled everything that she knew.

    Once she revealed the treasury¡¯s location, Madame Li continued to kowtow continuously, causing the floorboards to vibrate violently. She continued to yell, ¡°Please spare me, I already told you everything that I know......¡±

    ¡°Noisy!¡± Li said impatiently. He mmed his palm onto the woman¡¯s head, actually cracking her skull in one blow. Perhaps because he had used too much strength, Li¡¯s own face paled slightly, and he swayed on his feet.

    Copper Deerughed, ¡°Slow down there, Li, don¡¯t waste so much energy on a woman.¡±

    This sentence had a double meaning, making everyoneugh. Only Night Demon let out an unhappy ¡°hmph¡±.

    ¡°Okay, since everyone already knows where the hidden treasure is, let¡¯s go.¡± Baron stood up.

    By following Madame Li¡¯s instructions, everyone eventually found a secret tunnel hidden behind a fake boulder in the back of the mountain.

    The secret tunnel led to a room. Upon opening the room, they found that it was filled to the brim with gold, silver, and precious stones.

    Although they were treasures in the secr world, they could still be exchanged for quite a few Origin Stones.

    Aaron and Iron Cliff were responsible for taking inventory and came to a sum very quickly.

    There was a total of twenty thousand taels of pure gold.

    This was not a small sum, but didn¡¯t count for much considering that this was the belongings of a Yang Opening Realm cultivator.

    ¡°Damn, in any case they were still the Shadow Mountain Troops, yet they only had so few valuables,¡± Copper Deer said unhappily.

    ¡°Bandits will always be bandits. If they stored up any more money, they would have quit being bandits a long time ago.¡± Night Demon did not find it strange.

    ¡°Interrogate some other people and see if there are any other hidden treasuries,¡± Baron said. Evidently, he was also not satisfied by their spoils.

    The result, however, was disappointing. Evidently, this was the extent of the Shadow Mountain Troops¡¯ riches.

    Baron sighed, ¡°Little Brother Su Chen, it seems like your luck is not too good. Based on our previous agreement, if this shipment of goods is worth twenty thousand Origin Stones, we first subtract six thousand. Of the remaining fourteen thousand Origin Stones, seven thousand are yours. If we subtract the tool rental and employment fees, you still owe us a thousand Origin Stones.¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°I¡¯ll pay the thousand Origin Stones once I return to Northface City. As for this trip, I¡¯m happy that I was able to earn this much anyways. I am already quite satisfied.¡±

    ¡°So you know how to be tactful,¡± Aaron harrumphed from the side.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Baron stared at Aaron. Aaron did not dare to continue speaking.

    Although they had schemed against each other when finding treasures, Baron didn¡¯t wish to actually be enemies with Su Chen.

    After all, the money was a small issue, but the organization¡¯s ns were greater.

    If their ns failed because of a little bit of money, there would be greater problems.

    Thus, he thought for a moment and said, ¡°Although Little Brother doesn¡¯t mind, I still feel a little guilty. Since I killed Li Mingtang and obtained his Flying Moon Wheels, I think I¡¯ve earned enough battle spoils. I don¡¯t need the four thousand Origin Stones that belonged to me anymore. Consider it a personal gift from me to Prince Su......¡±

    Su Chen hurriedly said, ¡°There¡¯s no need to do this. We decided how to divide the spoils from the very beginning. Rules are rules, and they shouldn¡¯t be carelessly broken. Regardless of how much I was able to obtain, you can have faith that this will not affect the rtionship that we¡¯ve built.¡±

    He directly refused.

    Upon hearing these words, Baron let out a sigh andughed, ¡°With these words from Prince Su, I feel relieved.¡±

    He wanted to politely say a few more sentences. However, at this moment a piercing cry suddenly sounded out. ¡°Young Master Su...... Young Master Su, save me......¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 76: Betray

    Chapter 76: Betray

    When he looked in the direction of the voice, Su chen saw a bandit who was hysterically yelling in his direction. He was surrounded by the bodies of his fallenrades.

    This person had not died yet, but he was about to follow in the footsteps of everyone else. Baron and the others did not intend on letting them go.

    Unexpectedly, he actually recognized Su Chen.

    In the darkness of night, Su Chen could not clearly see the opponent¡¯s face, and he had no way of seeing it anyways.

    He tilted his head and knitted his eyebrows slightly, pretending to locate him via his hearing. ¡°Who are you? You recognize me?¡±

    The bandit basically crawled his way into the main lobby. He grabbed onto Su Chen¡¯s leg and cried, ¡°Young Master Su, Prince Su, it¡¯s me, I¡¯m Qing He!¡±

    ¡°Qing He?¡± Su Chen thought briefly for a moment before realizing something. ¡°Qing He? You are He Sinian¡¯s underling, Qing He1 ?¡±

    That bandit was so happy that he cried tears of joy. ¡°Yes, yes, that¡¯s me, Young Master Su you still remember me!¡±

    He Sinian was the Young Master from the He n who had gone to the same school as him.

    After Su Chen lost his sight, he did not return to school, and him and He Sinian no longer interacted. In any case, they were not friends in the first ce.

    He never expected that he would actually run into one of He Sinian¡¯s servants here.

    Su Chen and Qing He never interacted. Even if they had, it absolutely was not friendly.

    Qing He understood this, but in this moment of danger, he had no one else that he was familiar with beside Su Chen. Even if that person was not his Young Master¡¯s friend, he still had to hold on to that thread of hope.

    Thus, he hugged Su Chen¡¯s leg and cried, ¡°Young Master Su, please save me. Have mercy on me for Young Master He¡¯s sake. Please, ask them to let me go......¡±

    ¡°He Sinian?¡± Su Chenughed, ¡°The Four Great ns were always at odds with each other, and he was never my friend. Ever since I went blind, I never interacted with him again. For his sake? Are you kidding?¡±

    Qing He became agitated. He began to yell loudly, ¡°Young Master Su, you can¡¯t act this way, you and Young Master He were still ssmates.¡±

    However, he could tell from Su Chen¡¯sck of attention to him that Su Chen did not intend on speaking up for him.

    A few vicious, evil expressions were looking at him.

    Qing He knew that his life was at stake. He yelled, ¡°I can do things for you, I can tell you the He n¡¯s n for the Hidden Dragon Battle!¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not interested.¡±

    Aaron lifted a de and began to walk towards him.

    ¡°No, no!¡± Qing He yelled with fright. He saw Aaron lift the de he was holding into the air, striking down towards him. In that instant, he suddenly had an epiphany and began to yell, ¡°Your Second Uncle, I know your Second Uncle¡¯s n!¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Su Chen grabbed onto Qing He¡¯s hair and pulled back. The de light temporarily stopped in midair.

    ¡°Say that again!¡± Su Chen¡¯s tone became heavy.

    Qing He yelled, ¡°I know your Second Uncle¡¯s n, I know how he is nning on dealing with you.¡±

    Su Chen grabbed Qing He by the throat and said, ¡°What n? Tell me. If it¡¯s useful to me, I can consider saving your life.¡±

    Qing He yelled, ¡°Origin Energy Medicine and ck Anesthesia, he bought these two items a few days ago.¡±

    ¡°Origin Energy Medicine? ck Anesthesia?¡± Su Chen¡¯s expression sank.

    Origin Energy Medicine, as its name implied, was a medicine that containedrge quantities of Origin Energy. After using it, one could directly absorb all the Origin Energy in it and increase one¡¯s cultivation base. However, it was extremely expensive. A bottle of regr Origin Energy Medicine costed five thousand Origin Energy stones. The amount of increase also depended on the user¡¯s cultivation base; the higher it was, the slower it would increase. In addition, it would take Qi Drawing Realm cultivators five hundred days to obtain so many Origin Energy stones if calcted at ten times their normal production rate. In addition, the amount of time that the Origin Energy Medicine could save wasn¡¯t even a fourth of that. Thus, from a return-on-investment perspective, it was not worth it at all. Thus, unless it was arge sect that had nothing better to spend their money on, no one was willing to buy this kind of medicine. For Su Keji to buy such a pill for his son was throwing caution to the wind.

    The ck Anesthesia was a kind of poisonous anesthetic. After it was ingested, one¡¯s strength wouldn¡¯t decrease, but one¡¯s wits and reaction time would greatly decrease, and they would act just like a slow-witted person. The greatest benefit of this medicine was that it only decreased one¡¯s reaction time, and it was impossible to tell outwardly that the person it was used on had been poisoned. In addition, as long as one didn¡¯t make any movements, it wouldn¡¯t activate, so even people decently proficient with poison wouldn¡¯t know that they had been poisoned. Its ability to stay hidden was extremely strong. However, because it was still a kind of poison, some adverse effects would remain even after the medicine lost its main effect. The person it was used on would experience a decrease in overall physical function.

    If Qing He wasn¡¯t lying, it was obvious who this ck Anesthesia was bought for.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t release his grip. He asked, ¡°How do you know this?¡±

    Qing He hurriedly said, ¡°He sent people to the Wind Pce to buy medicine. However, he didn¡¯t know that the Liu n in charge of the Wind Pce had allied itself with the He n a long time ago.¡±

    ¡°The Liu n?¡± Su Chen was taken aback.

    The Liu n was a great n of the Flying Immortal Pce. While it was weaker than the Gu n of Longxi, it was still an influential aristocratic family. Who could have known that the He n had actually allied with them?

    Was this the He n¡¯s hidden trump card? Or was it that the Lin n¡¯s movements were detected by all the other ns, so they had also begun to make their own movements?

    Su Keji wanted to buy medicine, but he just so happened to run into the Liu n. It was not strange for Qing He to hear about it.

    ¡°Then why did you appear here?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Qing He replied, ¡°The Shadow Mountain Troops were originally a dog that the Liu n had raised. Otherwise, with its strength, how could itst so long near the Flying Immortal Pavilion? Li Mingtang did things for the Liu n, so the Liu n secretly took him under their wing. I was sent here by the He n to maintain contact with the Liu n. To fool people, I was escorted by the Shadow Mountain Troops every time. A few days ago, when the Su n¡¯s Second Elder sent people to buy the Origin Energy Medicine and the ck Anesthesia, the He n hoped that the Liu n could tamper with the Origin Energy Medicine and ruin Su Qian. However, the Liu n reckoned that if things didn¡¯t go smoothly, their reputation would be damaged, so they refused. I was just returning to give them this refusal letter, and because the sky was dark I was nning on staying here for the night before leaving tomorrow. If you don¡¯t believe me, look, the letter is still in my waist pouch!¡±

    Su Chen nodded his head. Iron Cliff pulled out a letter from Qing He¡¯s waist.

    Iron Cliff couldn¡¯t read, so Su Chen said, ¡°Sorry, Baron, I¡¯ll have to bother you to help me out here.¡±

    Baron received the letter and nced at it. He nodded and said, ¡°He was telling the truth. This truly is the Liu n¡¯s letter of refusal.¡±

    ¡°Hoo!¡± Su Chen exhaled sharply.

    Su Keji had indeed begun to make a move.

    This time, not only did he want to raise the strength of his son, but he also wanted to use poison to deal with Su Chen.

    He really was quite vicious.

    After all, having experienced so many years of failure, he had probably lost his patience.

    Thisstpetition before the Hidden Dragon battle had already lost its meaning. Instead, what had reced it was revenge!

    This was not apetition; this was revenge!

    Su Chen could understand this kind of attitude.

    ¡°Young Master Su, I have already told you everything that I know. Can you let me go now?¡± Qing He cried.

    ¡°Onest question. Who was the person from the Su n who was responsible for buying medicine, and when do they leave?¡±

    ¡°The person buying the medicine is Su Qian¡¯s attendant Zhang Song. The Liu n will prepare the medicines by tomorrow morning and deliver them to him,¡± Qing He replied.

    Su Chen nodded his head. ¡°I¡¯ll give you one opportunity. After you leave the mountain, head south and go live somewhere else far, far away from here. From now on, never bring up what happened here. However, if you can¡¯t do it, then you will die.¡±

    Qing He kowtowed like he was beating garlic. ¡°I¡¯ll leave now, I won¡¯t ever return, and I won¡¯t tell anyone! I won¡¯t tell anyone!!¡±

    Su Chen waved his hand. ¡°Go.¡±

    Qing He crawled to his feet and ran. The others only watched him go, coldlyughing.

    Upon seeing Qing He run out of the room and exit the mountain gate, Aaron suddenly said, ¡°I say, you¡¯re not really nning on letting that brat go, are you? Baron.¡±

    Baron looked at Su Chen. ¡°I trust that the Su n¡¯s Fourth Young Master knows what he¡¯s doing.¡±

    Su Chen slowly said, ¡°Night Demon, I¡¯ll need to trouble you to make a trip.¡±

    ¡°Do you want me to kill him?¡±

    ¡°No. I just want to ask you to see which way he goes after leaving the mountain. If he heads south, let him go. However, if he heads towards the Flying Immortal Pce or Northface City...... kill him.¡±

    Aaron coldlyughed, ¡°This would have been unnecessary.¡±

    Su Chen indifferently replied, ¡°I have my bottom line.¡±

    Night Demon looked at Baron.

    Baron nodded his head and gentlyughed, ¡°Having a bottom line is better than not having a bottom line at all.¡±

    Night Demon understood and turned around to leave.

    Not long afterwards, she returned.

    She held Qing He¡¯s head in her hand.

    ¡°He betrayed your trust,¡± Night Demon said.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°He didn¡¯t betray me. He only betrayed himself.¡±

    1. He Sinian was briefly mentioned in Chapter 1. Qing He and He Sinian are unrted by blood the Chinese characters for the two are different, and they have different surnames (He vs. Qing).

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 77: Returns

    Chapter 77: Returns

    As they spoke, the sky began to brighten.

    After two bitter and bloody fights, the long evening had finally passed.

    Upon seeing the white sky, Baron said, ¡°Okay, since the matter is already resolved, we should return.¡±

    Baron and the others were not from Northface City. Su Chen had only recruited them temporarily. Now that the mission was over, they would return to their own ces of living, so they all said their goodbyes to Su Chen.

    As he watched everyone leave, Su Chen thought for a minute, then suddenly said, ¡°Can I borrow Night Demon for a moment to help me do something?¡±¡±

    ¡°What else do you want?¡± Night Demon asked.

    ¡°This morning, my Second Uncle will be sending someone to buy medicine. I want you to help me......¡±

    Night Demonughed when she heard this. ¡°You want the Origin Energy Medicine? Why make things soplicated, I¡¯ll just seize it for you.¡±

    ¡°No, I just want you to help me switch out the two medicines.¡±

    Night Demon¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°You brat, you¡¯re quite interesting. In this case, won¡¯t the ck Anesthesia be given to his son to drink instead?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. But perhaps it would be better to leave behind a letter, informing him that this is a new style of medicine and requires a few days to activate. This will achieve the greatest result,¡± Su Chenughed.

    Everyone instantly understood and began to darklyugh together.

    Night Demon said, ¡°You really are quite bad. No problem, I¡¯ll take care of it.¡±

    ¡°I also would like you to help me dy the person responsible for delivering the goods. Try to make it so that he only returns to Northface City by tomorrow noon......¡± Su Chen painstakingly listed out another pile of requests.

    ¡°These won¡¯t be too difficult, just a little annoying to do. Hey, today is already the second day.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll pay an employment fee, twenty times the reference value.¡±

    Night Demon smiled wide. ¡°That¡¯s more like it.¡±

    To the side, Baron also nodded, saying, ¡°It seems like a good show is about to ur in the Su n.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Baron must find our n¡¯s internal conflicts quite silly.¡±

    Baron, however, replied sincerely, ¡°Internal conflicts are always present and are quite normal. How could I find them silly? Su Chen, I think highly of you. Even though you are blind, your heart is bright, and there are many people who are unable topare with you. I will be waiting to hear about the conclusion of your battle with your Second Uncle. I trust that it will be entertaining.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Baron.¡± He turned his head around and said to Night Demon, ¡°Then let¡¯s go together. I¡¯ll describe Zhang Song¡¯s appearance to you as we go.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not going back to Northface City?¡± Night Demon asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ll follow you first to the Flying Immortal Pce. I¡¯m still a little uneasy about sessfully taking care of this matter.¡±

    Night Demon rolled her eyes at him, as if she was unhappy that he didn¡¯t trust her. However, in the end she still agreed.

    Once everyone had gone their own ways, only Night Demon, Su Chen and Iron Cliff walked towards the Flying Immortal Pce.

    As they walked, Su Chen asked Night Demon, ¡°That¡¯s right, I noticed that during your operation everyone else used codenames, not their real names, but Baron seemed to use his real name. Why was this? Could it be that he wasn¡¯t worried about revealing his true identity?¡±

    Night Demon said, ¡°That is because strictly speaking Baron does not actually belong to the organization. His rtionship with the organization has always been that of a business rtionship, and his understanding of the organization is also limited. However, this doesn¡¯t prevent him from taking care of business for the organization.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s the case. Then the others are also the same?¡±

    ¡°What? You want to discover all of the organization¡¯s secrets?¡± Night Demon watched him, nting her eyes.

    Having interacted so many times, in addition to fighting togetherst night, Night Demon and Su Chen¡¯s rtionship had be more familiar as well. When they talked, they were also much more at ease.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°If it¡¯s inconvenient then whatever, I was just curious. In addition, I don¡¯t have much interest in knowing the organization¡¯s secrets. I just want to understand the people around me; for example, Aaron was always picking fights with me, and I wanted to know what kind of person he was. Oh, that¡¯s right, Li¡¯s illusion techniques appear extremely powerful. I wonder what else he can do. I just entered the Qi Drawing Realm, which is the perfect time to choose a future path. I wonder if I can end up as an illusion master like him......¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s face revealed a longing expression

    ¡°So that¡¯s the reason for your curiousity.¡± Night Demon tilted her head and thought for a moment before replying, ¡°If this is all you want to know,, there¡¯s no reason why I can¡¯t tell you. Aaron cultivates the Negation de, which is an extremely difficult Origin Skill to learn but it possesses extreme strength as well. However, he experienced a setback in the past when cultivating resulting in his heart being damaged, making him extremely irascible. Thus, he appears to be easily angered, but he isn¡¯t intentionally targeting you. Copper Deer is an expert in controlling vegetation......¡±

    They talked as they walked.

    They talked the entire trip. Once they arrived inside the city, Su Chen said, ¡°I¡¯ll leave the matter of Zhang Song with you. In any case, I¡¯m blind and I can¡¯t see, so I won¡¯t be much help if I stay here. I¡¯ll be taking my leave now.¡±

    ¡°Hm? Didn¡¯t you want to make sure that I took care of the matter before leaving?¡± Night Demon said with surprise.

    However, Su Chen had already taken Iron Cliff and left.

    Night Demon was puzzled. ¡°That¡¯s really strange. Because he was worried about the oue, he followed me all the way here from the Shadow Mountain. Now that I am about to begin, he says that he wouldn¡¯t be of any help and leaves. Isn¡¯t that quite unnecessary? Why make so much trouble yourself, just return to Northface city directly,¡± she mumbled to herself as she saw Su Chen disappear amongst the crowd of people.

    Suddenly, a thought surfaced in her heart: ¡®Could this brat be interested in me, and purposefully found an excuse toe with me?¡¯

    Could it be that he has been charmed by my looks and intelligence after just a few days?

    However, when she thought about it, he was blind and shouldn¡¯t be able to see her, so her looks didn¡¯t matter much. As for intelligence...... it seemed like the one who had called her stupid earlier had been him as well.

    Then why had he insisted on traveling with her?

    She thought for a long time yet was unable toe to an answer. ¡°Hmph, who cares anyways. If you want to leave, then leave, I couldn¡¯t care less.¡±

    She went off toplete her tasks on her own.

    Having left Night Demon, Su Chen headed towards the Thousand Treasures Pavilion.

    Su Chen had only spent fifty thousand low-grade Origin Stones of his new found wealth. Last time, he had only bought the Melted Golden Armor, and he still had more than four hundred thousand Origin Stones.

    However, this time he spent quite arge sum of money.

    After half an hour, Su Chen left the Thousand Treasures Pavilion, and 425,000 stones had be 150,000.

    He took Iron Cliff with him and once again headed to the Shadow Mountain.

    At this point, no one had discovered the massacre that had urred at the Shadow Mountain Camp yet, and everything was as it wasst night.

    Corpses were scattered everywhere in the camp, and fresh blood was all over the floor. The eyes of the dead bandits were opened wide in fear.

    Su Chen ignored them and once again came to the hidden room in the back mountain. He circled around the secret room, asionally knocking on the walls and listening for movement. Iron Cliff didn¡¯t understand what he was doing, but one of his strong points was that he wouldn¡¯t carelessly talk if he didn¡¯t understand. He just continued in silence.

    An instantter, Su Chen shook his head disappointedly, pulling out a silver disk. That disk was covered in Origin talisman inscriptions. Just by looking at it one could clearly tell that it was not amon item. This was one of the precious items that Su Chen had bought from the Thousand Treasures Pavilion.

    He ced the disk under the ground and covered it with earth. A shapeless ripple began to emerge in the air.

    Su Chen then brought Iron Cliff and left the secret chamber, finding a quiet, dark corner to hole up and wait.

    Time slowly passed by like that.

    From dawn until dusk.

    An entire day had gone by, yet Su Chen was like a rock. He didn¡¯t seem impatient in the slightest.

    When he had been blind, he had also sat like this for long periods of time.

    During that time, apart from sitting, he wasn¡¯t able to do anything else until his spirit had been revived.

    Su Chen, who had experienced years of suffering, possessed a patience that was extremely umon for young people his age.

    The night began to deepen.

    The moonlit sky was like water.

    In the blink of an eye, it was already midnight.

    Although the Shadow Mountain campground remained dead silent. Apart from the corpses that littered the ground, nothing else was present.

    Just at that moment.

    ¡°Crack!¡±

    A very soft noise.

    That was the sound of a tree branch being broken.

    Iron Cliff, who had been merrily sleeping, suddenly opened his eyes wide. However, his mouth was covered by a hand.

    He saw Su Chen¡¯s finger ced on his lips as he gestured at Iron Cliff to remain silent.

    Iron Cliff understood.

    The footsteps slowly drew closer and closer.

    As those footsteps drew near, a ck shadowy figure appeared in front of the two of them.

    That person directly arrived in front of the fake boulder. He looked around first, and upon determining that there was no issue, he entered the secret chamber.

    After entering the secret chamber, he directly headed for the southeast wall, then began to hit the wall. Suddenly, the room began to rumble, and the secret chamber¡¯s wall began to automatically open, revealing another darker, secret chamber.

    Indeed, it was so!

    Behind this secret chamber was actually just another secret chamber.

    Even though he had been prepared in his heart, upon seeing the secret door open, Iron Cliff still couldn¡¯t help but let out a surprised breath.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 78: Penetrate

    Chapter 78: Prate

    Although Iron Cliff¡¯s breath was not loud, it sounded like thunder in the ck-clothed person¡¯s ears.

    His entire body trembled, as he suddenly turned around and yelled, ¡°Who is it? Show yourself!¡±

    His voice contained a trace of panic that he could not suppress.

    When Su Chen saw this, he decided to stop hiding and walked out from the shadows.

    When that person saw him, he was clearly shocked. ¡°It¡¯s you?¡±

    ¡°Is it so surprising to see me here?¡± Su Chen asked, his tone carrying a faint trace of mocking. ¡°Mister Li.¡±

    The ck-clothed person in front of him was the Illusion Master Li that had been part of the seven-man ck-clothed toon from earlier.

    At this moment, Li¡¯s expression was incredibly ugly. His eyes slowly squinted. ¡°Interesting. Brat, why didn¡¯t you return to Northface City, insteading here?¡±

    ¡°Naturally, it was to wait for you. To wait for you to return and open the real secret chamber,¡± Su Chenughed.

    Li¡¯s expression became ugly. ¡°How did you know?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s really not that strange,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°I knew as soon as we discovered this ce that what we found could not be Li Mingtang¡¯s entire wealth. He was in the Yang Opening Realm! If he wanted to, he could infuse hundreds of low-grade Origin Stones every day. As someone who plundered others for a living, would you believe that he had only stored up twenty thousand pieces?¡±

    ¡°But hadn¡¯t we searched the entire treasury, and didn¡¯t we interrogate everyone? And we still were unable to find anything in the end.¡±

    ¡°You were the one that performed the interrogation!¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°In fact, Li Mingtang¡¯s wife had revealed the true location of the treasury a long time ago. However, you purposefully concealed that from us and then killed her to silence her.¡±

    Li coldly harrumphed, ¡°But you also saw it that I had interrogated her in front of everyone. How could I conceal it?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true, assuming that what was saw was indeed even there in the first ce,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Li couldn¡¯t keep his expression together.

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°I must admit that you are very brave, and I also must admit that Illusion Masters truly are extraordinary. To trick every single one of us soundlessly so that we weren¡¯t even aware...... Madame Li¡¯s crying out that she didn¡¯t know must have been created by your illusion techniques, right? You pulled all of us into your illusion technique and created a fake scene. In reality, you had learned from Madame Li the true location of the secret treasury and how to open the room a long time ago. You truly do have quite a bit of guts, even daring to trick Baron and seeding.¡±

    Yesterday, when Li had interrogated Madame Li, it had all been an illusion that he had created. This guy actually was able to ask about the location of the treasure in front of everyone, yet prevent them from knowing the truth.

    Indeed, his courage epassed the heavens!

    At this moment, Liughed darkly, ¡°Illusion techniques were made for tricking people in the first ce. It is like throwing everyone into a dreamscape; as long as you don¡¯t shock the people dreaming awake, even cultivators in a higher realm can be tricked as long as the dreamscape exists. However, I never expected that despite tricking Baron, I was still unable to trick you.¡±

    ¡°No, you did trick me,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Your illusions are invulnerable, and I hadn¡¯t seen through them at the time.¡±

    ¡°Then how did you discover it in the end?¡±

    ¡°It was Qing He who reminded me,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Qing He?¡± Li was shocked.

    He didn¡¯t understand how this matter had anything to do with Qing He.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Qing He was a servant of the He n, and the He n and the Su n have always been at odds with each other. Him and I were not friends either. However, the moment that he saw me, he instantly rushed over to me, pleading for me to save him. In order to do this, he voluntarily told me everything that he knew; I didn¡¯t need to ask him anything. He wanted to survive so badly that he was like a drowning person. Regardless of what was floating on theke¡¯s surface, he wanted to grab it, hoping for a small chance to save his life. On the other hand, what about Madame Li? Apart from kowtowing and begging for us to spare her, she didn¡¯t do anything else......¡±

    Speaking to here, Su Chenughed. ¡°Do you not feel that Madame Li¡¯s behavior was simply too mechanicalpared to Qing He? She was Li Mingtang¡¯s woman, so she must have known a few secrets about him ¨C for example, the rtionship between the Liu n and the Shadow Mountain Troops or some other things that we shouldn¡¯t have known. But she didn¡¯t say any of those things, and she didn¡¯t even try to. All she did was repeatedly kowtow and beg for mercy, and even the rhythm of her kowtowing had been steady and mechanical.¡±

    Li was dazed.

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°Truthfully, your illusion techniques were very realistic, and the scenery you created was very urate, tricking everyone. Unfortunately, you aren¡¯t very good at telling stories. Although outwardly your painting was very beautiful, itcked substantial content, which is why you failed. An excellent, sessful scam not only requires a good performance, but also exceptional content and depth.¡±

    Li let out a sigh. ¡°So that¡¯s why. What you said makes sense. I never expected that so many people with sight weren¡¯t able to catch this mistake, but you, a blind person, was actually able to discover it. However, isn¡¯t it still a little too far-fetched to suspect me solely based on this?¡±

    ¡°What if I add on this?¡± Su Chen pulled out a trunk from his ring.

    The trunk rolled down the stairs in the secret passageway and automatically opened on its own. Arge pile of gold, silver, and precious stones rolled out from it.

    ¡°This is......¡± Li was shocked into silence for a moment before continuing, ¡°This is what you discovered in the Golden Name Workshop?¡±

    ¡°I found it in a nearby room,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°This trunk contains valuables worth thirty thousand Origin Stones. If a person can keep thirty thousand Origin Stones worth of valuables in a branch storage ce, then how could there only be twenty thousand of such valuables in his headquarters? When considering the fact that interrogating a woman was enough to make you so tired that you felt exhausted...... all these pieces together indicated that you were the one causing trouble.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is,¡± Li said, understanding dawning upon his face. ¡°But I don¡¯t understand how you were able to bring the trunk out with you? Baron inspected your ring before this.¡±

    ¡°It was not in the ring when he inspected it,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Li first appeared confused. After looking at Iron Cliff behind him, and recalling the scene of the two of them rushing out from the ruins, he remembered that Iron Cliff was wearing a suit of armor at the time.

    He finally saw the truth. ¡°You ced the treasure in the trunk meant for the Melted Golden Armor. Because of our thought process, we only noticed your storage ring, but didn¡¯t realize that therge trunk had be empty once Iron Cliff donned the Melted Golden Armor. Then, you purposefully allowed us to enter the ruins and search again, taking advantage of the opportunity to transfer all of the treasure in the trunk into your storage ring. Because we had already inspected your ring once, it was impossible for us to check it a second time. Once we returned, you allowed Iron Cliff to take off the armor in front of us, cing it in the trunk. Thus, you were even able to alleviate any suspicions about the trunk.¡±

    Su Chen shrugged. ¡°This was my own illusion, which is opposite to yours. Although it doesn¡¯t have much dazzling skill, it has an eptable amount of content. I hope you like it.¡±

    Li couldn¡¯t help but begin tough loudly, ¡°Since you took care of the matters in the Golden Name Workshop on your own, I should be able to infer that you didn¡¯t tell anyone else about this in order to swallow up all the treasure on your own, right? And you¡¯re the only person here, delusionally thinking that you¡¯ll be able to seize the treasure from me?¡±

    ¡°If I say that it is true, you¡¯ll feel much more at ease, won¡¯t you?¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°Then I¡¯ll tell you: that¡¯s right!¡±

    Li let out a sigh. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then I feel more relieved.¡±

    He looked at Su Chen and said, ¡°So now everything is simple. As long as I take care of my opponent, there shouldn¡¯t be any more problems?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Su Chen replied politely.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 79: Battling Blood Boiling 1

    Chapter 79: Battling Blood Boiling (1)

    The atmosphere suddenly quieted down.

    Neither Su Chen nor Li talked. They only gazed at each other, a thick desire for to do battle reflected in their eyes.

    After quite some time, Liughed with a dry throat, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, I have no choice. Although killing you might cause the organization¡¯s ns to fail, I don¡¯t have many more possible choices. Thankfully, the Spirit Burying Terrace will activate in half a year. As long as we contain the news of your death and spread rumors that you entered the Scarlet Mountain Range again, perhaps we can dy everything until that point in time.¡±

    Su Chen replied, gentlyughing, ¡°Perhaps your organization won¡¯t even need to dy...... If you die here, then there won¡¯t be any trouble at all.¡±

    Li was dazed. He said, ¡°I am very surprised by your self-confidence. You¡¯re but a brat who has just entered Qi Drawing, so what gives you the confidence to dare to fight against a highyer Blood Boiling cultivator? The difference between us isn¡¯t something that can be mitigated by a mere Iron Cliff. No matter what tricks you have up your sleeves, I will use the facts to show you what a stupid decision you¡¯ve made.¡±

    As he spoke, he pulled out his ck Serpent Staff, pointing the ck serpent¡¯s head at Su Chen and sneering, ¡°Pay the price for your recklessness and ignorance.¡±

    As he spoke, the ck serpent¡¯s mouth spit out a ckish-yellow fog.

    This fog didn¡¯t actually exist. Rather, it was created using Origin Energy and was representative of the activation of an Origin Skill. This skill was called the ck-Yellow gue. It had two main effects. One was the ck gue, which was simr to a real epidemic. It could cause massive internal bleeding in one¡¯s intestines, causing a slow, painful death. The other effect was the Yellow gue, which weakened one¡¯s physical body, and it would reduce one¡¯s ability to defend against soul-type and a few other special kinds of attacks.

    To Li, the ck-Yellow gue Origin Skill was not just a skill that could harm others, but was more importantly the Origin Skill that allowed him to disy his full strength. Thus, every time he battled, this Origin Skill was the first to be activated.

    The pale yellow fog began to dissipate through the entire secret chamber, and Li¡¯sugh began to echo like a demon¡¯s in the open space.

    Su Chen only slightly smiled. ¡°ck-Yellow gue? I know of this technique, but it¡¯s ineffective against me.¡±

    As he spoke, an azure fog also suddenly began to appear in the chamber. This azure fog flowed throughout the secret chamber. When it touched Li¡¯s ck-Yellow fog, his fog melted and disappeared like snowkes.

    Li was shocked in his heart. ¡°How is this possible?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that impossible, Li. Since I knew I would be fighting you, how could I not first understand your techniques ,¡± Su Chen replied. While he and Night Demon had been traveling down the mountain, Su Chen had taken the opportunity to investigate everything about Li. ¡°Since you¡¯ve made a move already, it¡¯s my turn next.¡±

    As he spoke, he raised his hand, and numerous air tentacles appeared in the air and moved towards Li in an attempt to bind him.

    While he was talking with Li, he had not been wasting time. As he spoke, he had been secretly creatingrge numbers of air tentacles. At this moment, he activated them simultaneously, and they began to wrap towards Li, whistling through the air.

    Li couldn¡¯t help but be surprised. He hadn¡¯t expected that Su Chen would actually have such tactics. He let out a low whistle, and the ck Serpent Staff in his hand shook. A white wall of light appeared in front of him, blocking all of the air tentacles.

    At the same time Iron Cliff charged forwards, the air whistling from his speed . He was wearing the Melted Golden Armor, and he charged like a Vicious Beast in human form, mming into the white wall of light. Upon impact, the wall of light actually began to wobble, but he was unable to break through it.

    Liughed coldly and was about to say something when his expression suddenly changed. In an instant, his body dissolved into a plume of yellow sand which flew into the air.

    As the sand diffused, a pair ofrge mandibles shot out from the ground, shing by at a terrifying speed. However, it had only bitten the dust of the ground.

    It was the metal-eating bug.

    This explosive attack was not spontaneous; Su Chen had prepared it as an ambush long ago. Unfortunately, it had all been for naught as Li had sensed it beforehand, and had turned into sand to dodge it.

    The cloud of dust reformed into Li in midair.

    This attack had truly been very sudden. Although it had not injured him in any way, it had given him quite the scare.

    ¡°So you even had a bug that you raised, you tricky bastard!¡± A trace of purple shed across Li¡¯s face. ¡°However, just this alone is not enough! Root it for me!¡±

    As he spoke, he pointed at the metal-eating bug. The metal-eating bug that was just about to charge under Iron Cliff¡¯s control suddenly came to a stop. No matter how Iron Cliff tried to coax it, it was of no use.

    Su Chen knew that this was definitely the result Li¡¯s illusion technique.

    His illusion techniques were best suited for creating deception and confusion. Using it to deal with a lifeform like the metal-eating bug whose intelligence was limited was easy. Thus, after only one exchange, the metal-eating bug¡¯s powerfulbat prowess was defeated instantly.

    Indeed, there was no technique that was invincible. Even a lifeform as powerful as the metal-eating bug couldn¡¯t evenst a single exchange before Li.

    Thankfully, his illusion techniques had not reached the point of reversing Heaven and Earth and confusing one¡¯s heart. Otherwise, he might be able to use the metal-eating bug to help him do battle.

    In the next instant, Liughed savagely, ¡°Do you think that you are the only one with a pet? ck Serpent Staff, bite him to death for me!¡±

    He tossed out the ck Serpent Staff into the air. The staff actually became a small ck serpent which climbed over the wall of light and bit down towards Su Chen.

    Su Chen waved the Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de in his hands and the Wolf Soul appeared, biting down onto the ck snake.

    At this point, the oue depended on the discrepancies between the two Origin Tools. Although Su Chen¡¯s Heavenly Wolf de was pretty good, it was much weaker than the ck Serpent Staff, which was a grade eight Origin Tool. The ck serpent coiled around the Wolf Soulpletely. It instantly contracted, and the Wolf Soul couldn¡¯t endure it. It very quickly exploded into tiny bits.

    The Wolf Soul wasn¡¯t a physical form, and so it could reform after fragmenting. However, the Wolf Soul¡¯s vitality would be greatly reduced from before. When faced with the ck serpent, it could only sumb to the fate of being fragmented again and again.

    If it was fragmented too many times, the Wolf Soul would eventually dissipate permanently, unable to recover.

    Su Chen knew that the situation was not good. His left hand opened, and an Origin Energy Talisman appeared in his hand.

    The Origin Energy Talisman instantly ignited, and with a ¡®boom¡¯ arge fireball flew towards the ck snake. Its strength was not weak, and it actually sent the ck serpent flying.

    At the same time, a de appeared in Iron Cliff¡¯s hand.

    The ck Streak Battle de!

    Su Chen had given the de that sapped the most physical strength to Iron Cliff to use. Only someone like him with such vigorous life energy could really disy the full potential of the ck Streak Battle de.

    ¡°Ha!¡± As he sharply exhaled, the ck Streak Battle de chopped onto the wall of light, causing it to finally copse.

    The numerous tentacles charged forwards, and the blood-colored de light chopped towards Li.

    Finally, Li was no longer able to dodge. Just as the de strike and the tentacles were about to reach him, Li¡¯s body became enveloped in a dazzling light. An Origin Energy barrier actually blocked both the de and the tentacles

    Most Origin Qi Schrs would usually learn one or two barrier-type Origin Skills. This was an absolutely necessary tactic to protect oneself.

    Evidently, Li¡¯s Origin Energy barrier was not weak. It could directly reflect both the ck Streak Battle de and the air tentacles.

    At the same time, Li stared at both Iron Cliff and Su Chen. In the next instant, Iron Cliff appeared to have seen something extremely frightening, as he yelled loudly and quickly retreated.

    This person¡¯s illusion techniques were truly extremely strong. Every time he made a move, his target would definitely lose their ability to move.

    However, his illusion techniques evidently were useless on Su Chen. When Li¡¯s illusion techniques were used on Su Chen, Su Chen suddenly activated a bead which began to glow. It actually forcefully blocked Li¡¯s soul illusion technique.

    ¡°rity Bead!¡± Li gritted his teeth and said.

    The rity Bead could block soul illusion techniques. However, it was extremely expensive, and it could only be used a limited number of times. This guy was indeed willing to spend money if he had it. He was even willing to buy the rity Bead to deal with him.

    Having blocked the illusion technique, Su Chen struck out towards Li with his de.

    ¡°You want to kill me with just this amount of preparation? Dream on!¡±

    As Li howled, the protective barrier on his body suddenly exploded, releasingrge waves of Origin Energy. All of the air tentacles instantly exploded into pieces.

    Li walked over withrge strides. ¡°I must admit that you truly do have a few methods, but they will only take you here. Receive the suffering of eternal darkness!¡±

    A pitch-ck darkness began to spread in the room, making it impossible for people to see things.

    Immediately afterwards, a strange whistle began to sound out in the cavern. A cacophony of sound appeared to being from everywhere at once. In the midst of this cacophony, it sounded like something was chomping repeatedly,

    Pu!

    Somethingtched onto Su Chen¡¯s leg.

    What was shocking was that Su Chen didn¡¯t feel any pain at all.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 80: Battling Blood Boiling 2

    Chapter 80: Battling Blood Boiling (2)

    As an Illusion Master, Li¡¯s style of battle was not explosive.

    Overly explosive moves would shock the opponent awake from any illusions he created.

    Because of this, Li¡¯s attack-oriented Origin Skills emphasized covertness. Even if an attacknded on the target, they were prevented from sensing it and would not be able to awake from the illusion.

    However, methods that were particrly strong would bring the opponent lots of pain.

    That was why Li had selected a crucial Origin Skill ¨C Pain Impairment.

    This was an Origin Skill which could be applied to both enemies and oneself. The person afflicted would temporarily experience a dramatic increase in pain tolerance. As such, normal wounds often would not result in too much feeling.

    With the Pain Impairment, a few of Li¡¯s tactics could be finally used, such as the Ghostrat Bite.

    The Ghostrat Bite was an extremely poisonous Origin Skill. It could create hundreds of Ghostrats in a short moment that would bite the opponent, infusing Origin Energy poison into the opponent¡¯s body and which created sustained injuries.

    This Origin Skill¡¯s strength and focus was not the rats themselves, but the poison. As a result the bodies of the rats were extremely weak, and the pain they inflicted when biting was low. The Pain Impairment skill could eliminate all the pain that Li¡¯s opponents would feel.

    Thus, Li often used Pain Impairment and Ghostrat Bite together. Not only this, but he had also added on a thick ck fog.

    Ghostrat Bite was an Origin Skill that required continuous control. If the opponent unleashed an all-out counterattack, the user could be injured as well. The ck fog allowed one to hide in the darkness, making it difficult for the opponent to find them.

    This was Li¡¯s Darkness Triple Attack. If he added on the equally poisonous ck-Yellow gue and the ck Serpent Staff¡¯s constriction, it would be the Darkness Pentuple Attack. Li was an expert in this set of battle techniques, which allowed him to attack, retreat, or defend.

    This set of battle techniques that he utilized had already taken the lives of many powerful individuals. Many of these individuals had cultivation bases that were higher than his.

    Currently, Li was already giving Su Chen quite a bit of face by using it when Su Chen had a cultivation base much lower than his.

    ¡°Originally, we wanted to recruit you into the organization, but you just had to choose the path that leads to death. Unfortunately, we just might have to make a move earlier on the Spirit Burying Terrace.¡± Li¡¯s voice floated around in the darkness.

    ¡°Hm? What are you trying to find in the Spirit Burying Terrace?¡± Su Chen asked.

    A burst of light suddenly appeared on his body.

    The Amethyst Battle Armor.

    The barrier that suddenly appeared instantly caused the ghostrat to be bounced off.

    Without a continuous infusion of poison, the low amounts of Origin Energy Poison could only create a small amount of harm before being automatically neutralized.

    Li didn¡¯t reply. He onlyughed, ¡°So you did make some preparations?¡±

    He was not surprised.

    Since Su Chen had secretly prepared a tactic to break through his ck-Yellow gue, he had definitely investigated Li before this. Thus, he wouldn¡¯t allow the ghostrats to just bite him like this despite feeling no pain.

    However, the Amethyst Battle Armor......

    Li darklyughed, ¡°I know this piece of armor¡¯s weakness.¡±

    As he spoke, the countless ghostrats hidden in the darkness pounced at Su Chen¡¯s chest.

    Because the Amethyst Battle Armor¡¯s defensive barrier was damaged, it had no way of protecting the user¡¯s chest.

    Since the opponent knew about the Ghostrat Bite¡¯s unique property, and attacking in the darkness would be useless, it was better to just forcefully charge at him!

    Large numbers of Ghostrats surged forwards, opening their mouths wide to bite off chunks of Su Chen¡¯s flesh.

    The corner of Su Chen¡¯s mouth quirked upwards in a slight smile, however. ¡°The problem with that is...... I know that you know this piece of armor¡¯s weakness.¡±

    This sentence was a tongue-twister. If one wanted to, one could repeat it many times.

    However, in reality, it was just a moment of brilliance.

    A bright light suddenly exploded out from Su Chen¡¯s chest.

    The strong light broke through the darkness and disturbed the Origin Energy flow that permeated the air. It shone brightly on those ghostrats.

    All of the ghostrats simultaneously let out piercing, shrill yells. Just like snow encountering strong sun, they all melted and disappeared without a trace.

    Hundreds of ghostrats were instantly exterminated. Because it was a skill that required a continuous channeling of energy, the disruption of the Origin Skill also greatly injured Li.

    ¡°Ah!¡± The painful recoil from the Origin Skill forced Li to retreat. He grasped his head and yelled, ¡°It¡¯s the Fierce Sun Talisman, it¡¯s the Fierce Sun Talisman! You bastard, you made your preparations a long time ago. You actually bought the Fierce Sun Talisman to deal with me!¡±

    ¡°My preparations are not limited to this alone!¡± Su Chen raised the de.

    The Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de ignored the constriction of the ck serpent. A sh of de light once again struck out towards a location in the darkness.

    ¡°AHH!¡±

    Another tragic cry.

    In the darkness, the de lightnded, and blood sprayed into the air.

    Li clutched at his chest as he retreated.

    Injured!

    He had actually been injured!

    He was a highyer Blood Boiling Realm cultivator dealing with someone who had just entered the Qi Drawing Realm, but he had actually been injured by the motherfucker!

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that the Heavenly Wolf de was still being restricted, as well as the fact that the opponent clearlycked any powerful de attack Origin Skills, this de could have cut him in half.

    Even so, the immense pain forced Li to grit his teeth fiercely.

    He pointed at himself, then activated Pain Impairment. Only then did Li feel that the intensity of the pain had decreased.

    After hastily ingesting a vial of healing medicine, Li asked piercingly, ¡°How did you know my position?¡±

    ¡°What a joke. Using ck fog against a blind person, you really don¡¯t have a brain,¡± Su Chen said scornfully.

    He had been blind for three years. While he didn¡¯t dare boast about much else, his hearing had long exceeded that of a normal person. His ability to determine position based on wind had reached a high degree of skill, and pinpointing such arge person¡¯s position was not difficult.

    Li had actually thought that the dark fog could conceal himself. If he wasn¡¯t looking for death, what else was he doing?

    Upon hearing this reply, Li was also slightly dazed.

    He wanted to say something, but Iron Cliff and the metal-eating bug had already charged over. Because he had been injured, his soul had no way of maintaining its focus and the illusion technique he had casted failed. A person and a bug thus regained consciousness.

    ¡°Get out of my way!¡± Li waved his hand, and two more illusion techniques shot out, once again rooting both Iron Cliff and the metal-eating bug.

    However, his illusion techniques evidently could not be used an unlimited number of times. Yesterday evening, he had used two high-intensity illusion techniques repeatedly and had expended a significant amount of his souls¡¯ energy. Although he had recovered slightly after a day, his soul had still not recovered to its peak. Upon activating the technique multiple times in a row, he once again felt slightly dizzy from fatigue.

    ¡°I must end this quickly!¡± Li instantly realized.

    Illusion Masters had never focused on ending battles quickly. Their unique battle style ensured that theirbat prowesscked explosiveness, and their victory took a long time.

    But now, a ss that was not good at explosive force was going to engage in a contest of brute strength. One could only say that his hand had been forced by Su Chen.

    Once again, Li waved his hand, and Su Chen¡¯s eyes felt dizzy. The ck fog disappeared, but four Li¡¯s had suddenly appeared in the ce of one.

    The four Li¡¯s attacked all at the same time with momentum. However, Su Chen was unable to determine which one was real.

    This was Li¡¯s body-splitting illusion technique. He could use it to create three other replicas of himself.

    In fact, this Origin Skill was only average, because illusions were only illusions and couldn¡¯t actually attack. The opponent would easily be able to sense the real one.

    But since Su Chen was blind and depended on his hearing to interpret the situation, then illusions would have quite an effect.

    At this moment, one true body and three illusions yelled out simultaneously, ¡°Die for me!¡±

    They all activated the Origin Skill with the strongest attack, Poisonous Wolf w!

    This Origin Technique was only useful in close-quartersbat. Not only did the attack contain poison, but it also possessed a powerful attack in the first ce.

    At the same time, Su chen hurriedly retrieved an item from his waist.

    This was a one-time-use scroll that recorded an extremely powerful Origin Skill.

    Li was shocked. He knew that this kind of scroll was extremely powerful and was not easy to deal with. However, in that instant, he still believed that Su Chen would not be able to find his true body.

    Just as Li charged towards Su Chen, Su Chen tore open the scroll.

    shes of light suddenly appeared. Hundreds of Origin Energy Bullets surged forwards suddenly, viciously mming towards Li.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 81: Battling Blood Boiling 3

    Chapter 81: Battling Blood Boiling (3)

    As Su Chen pointed the scroll towards Li, Li knew that the situation was not good.

    In that instant, he actually still had an opportunity to dodge it.

    But Su Chen gazed at him, light suddenly flickering across his eyes. Li¡¯s soul was became sluggish for an instant.

    He was an Illusion Master and was skilled in soul attacks. Thus, his resistance to soul attacks was pretty powerful, and the Soul Eye could only interfere with him for an extremely short period of time.

    But even less than a second was more than enough.

    Boom!

    The scroll opened, and the light bullets flew into the air.

    Li flew into the air like a leaky sandbag.

    The light bullets passed through his body, leaving behind trails of blood. As Li yelled piercingly, his body once again became sand.

    The blood-stained sand flew around in midair, and the grains of sand furiously attempted to reform Li¡¯s body.

    ¡°Wanting to reform? Is it that easy?¡± Su Chen flipped his hand, and another Origin Energy Talisman appeared in his hand. A vigorous wind suddenly began to blow.

    The strength of an Origin Energy Talisman was not as great as that of an Origin Energy Scroll, but using the wind Origin Skill to blow about the grains of sand floating around in the room was more than sufficient.

    Upon being blown around by the wind, all the grains of sand in the air were dispersed.

    Just as he wanted to reform again, Su Chen tossed out another wind talisman.

    At the same time, he grabbed another fireball talisman and tossed it out. This time, it was to deal with the ck serpent. He wanted to interfere and prevent Li from reforming in order to deal with this annoying ck serpent ¨C his Wolf Soul had already been killed by it four times, and it wouldn¡¯t be able to hold out much longer.

    Li¡¯s body in the air continuously dispersed and attempted to reform. As he dispersed, Li loudly yelled, ¡°How is it possible, how is it possible? How could you discover my true body?¡±

    ¡°Hmph, it really isn¡¯t that surprising,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°For your true form to remain hidden and taking apletely different path than your illusions, I was able to tell just at a nce.¡±

    Although Li¡¯s illusions were realistic and could create plenty of chaos, once again Li¡¯s own performance was wed. His pained expression, the hatred in his eyes, and the viciousness of his movements were all clearly different from his illusions. Of course Su Chen was able to tell in an instant.

    Upon hearing this reply, Li¡¯s body of sand was clearly shocked. The face of sand disyed an incredulous expression. ¡°You...... aren¡¯t you unable to see?¡±

    Of course, Li could have acted more realistically. After all, making moves in conjunction with the illusions was an essential quality of this skill.

    But wasn¡¯t the motherfucker blind?

    That¡¯s why I left out a step!

    Li suddenly realized something. He began to yell, ¡°So you aren¡¯t a blind person, you can see! You can see!¡±

    ¡°Correct!¡± Su Chenughed.

    As a reward, Su Chen threw out another fireball talisman onto the ck Serpent Staff.

    As a grade eight Origin Tool, the ck Serpent Staff was very powerful. However, when faced with a Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de and Su Chen, who wasn¡¯t frugal with his money, it waspletely useless.

    The ck serpent furiously wriggled, but in the end it couldn¡¯t withstand Su Chen¡¯s incessant barrage of fireballs. In the end, under a huge group of fireballs, the ck serpent let out a sorrowful cry and reformed as the ck Serpent Staff. However, it then split into seven or eight pieces and fell to the ground.

    A grade eight Origin Tool was ruined just like that.

    ¡°NO!¡± Li let out a pained cry.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, the next one will be you!¡± Su Chen had not prepared many of the wind Origin Energy Talismans, but they were quite useful at this point.

    He then pulled out an Origin Stone, absorbing all of the energy in it and recovering therge amounts of Origin Energy that he had expended. Next, Su Chen unsealed an Origin Energy Scroll.l

    This was a fireball scroll instead.

    It was also a fireball, but its strength was much greater than the talisman¡¯s fireballs. With a ¡®BOOM¡¯ it mmed towards Li, causing the yellow dust to fly everywhere as it let out a pitiful cry.

    The yellow dust flew all around the room. It suddenly gathered together in a sh, borrowing the Origin Energy waves to forcefully reform his body. Li fell to the ground.

    However, underneath Li¡¯s ck cloak, his yellow robe became dust, falling to the ground.

    ¡°Hmm, now your Mortal Sand Robe is also finished,¡± Su Chen said, shaking his head.

    Li did not have an Origin Skill that allowed him to turn into dust. Instead, it was the skill of his Mortal Sand Robe, a grade seven Origin Tool. Every time he encountered danger, his body would be sand to avoid the attack. He could also recover from his wounds to a certain degree upon reforming. This Mortal Sand Robe was extremely effective and could deal with many kinds of attacks. Its only weakness was that if it was continuously attacked during the transformation process, the user would temporarily be unable to reform.

    It it weren¡¯t for the fact that he had learned of this weakness from Night Demon, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t have made such preparations beforehand.

    The first time that Li had be sand, he had not received an injury, so he reformed rtively quickly, and Su Chen was unable to take advantage of the opportunity. The second time, however, he had turned into sand after being seriously injured by the Origin Energy Bullets, and reforming would take time. Su Chen used the opportunity to deplete its Origin Energy and finished it off with arge fireball.

    A good grade seven Origin Tool had been ruined by Su Chen.

    Although he felt that it was a pity in his heart, Su Chen had no other choice.

    His opponent was a Blood Boiling cultivator, someone who was an entire cultivation realm above him.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that he had made meticulous preparations to counter every single one of Li¡¯s attacks and the fact that Illusion Masters were not particrly well-suited to battle, Su Chen would have no chance of winning. Thus, he had to go all out, and killing Li while preserving his Origin Tools was simply impossible.

    At this moment, although Li had reformed, and his wounds had slightly recovered, he was still gravely injured. The holes on his body were present, and fresh blood poured out of the wounds.

    At this point in time, Li hadpletely gone mad. He constantly applied Pain Impairment to himself again and again as he yelled, ¡°YOU BASTARD, I WILL TEAR YOU TO PIECES!¡±

    At the same time, the metal-eating bug and Iron Cliff regained consciousness, charging towards Li.

    ¡°GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY!¡± Li once again activated an illusion technique.

    But just as he was activating his technique, Su Chen also tossed out an object.

    Cracked Soul Magic Pearl.

    The powerful soul attack also caused immense pain to Li¡¯s head. However, the metal-eating bug and Iron Cliff regained consciousness upon being hit by the attack. As for Su Chen, he protected himself with the rity Bead, so he was unharmed. However, he had consumed another usage of the rity Bead.

    Upon seeing the person and the bug charge towards him, Li gritted his teeth and once again activated two rooting techniques.

    Because he had activated multiple techniques in a row, his soul had be too exhausted, and his head hurt brutally. However, he couldn¡¯t care less as he focused his attention on the life-and-death battle before him.

    Even so, a scene that stunned him once again appeared.

    Just as his illusion technique flew out, a deep hum suddenly sounded out within the secret chamber, and countless amounts of azure fog once again appeared.

    It was this azure fog that had done away with his ck-Yellow gue. Now that it had appeared, it burrowed into the bodies of Iron Cliff and the metal-eating bug. They should have been rooted in ce, but they were actually not affected. They leapt towards Li, their speed not decreasing in the slightest.

    ¡°rity Light, it¡¯s an Origin Energy Formation!¡± Li said with recognition.

    There were many kinds of azure light that could break through the ck-Yellow gue, but not many could also break through soul illusion techniques.

    He finally understood what it was. It was an Origin Energy Formation that could break illusion techniques.

    That was also to say that there was definitely an Origin Formation Disk in the secret chamber releasing this magic technique!

    This damned Su Chen had prepared everything long in advance.

    If Su Chen had revealed the existence of the Origin Energy Formation earlier, he definitely would devise a n to destroy the formation disk. At that time, he would have been at his peak, and Su Chen would not have had much time to deploy it. Thus, it would be difficult for it to restrict him.

    However, he was now fatigued from battle. The illusion techniques earlier were hisst two.

    Su Chen¡¯s activation at this point in time made it so that even if Li wanted to break through it, he no longer possessed the strength to do so.

    The Origin Energy Formation waspletely activated at that time. The two people and the bug were not affected by the illusion techniques and they attacked with all their strength. At this point in time, Su Chen had finally brought out all of his strength.

    ¡°KILL!¡± Iron Cliff howled as he struck out with the de.

    Li knew that the situation was not good, and he hurriedly retreated at full speed.

    However, even as he retreated, a light shed across Iron Cliff¡¯s feet, and his speed drastically increased.

    Cloud-Stepping Battle Boots!

    This bastard actually had the Cloud-Stepping Battle Boots.

    But wasn¡¯t Su Chen wearing those boots at the moment?

    Suddenly, Li understood. Su Chen had bought another pair of Cloud-Stepping Battle Boots. However, he had given them to Iron Cliff instead. Right when Li thought that his speed was insufficient, what waited for him was a sudden explosive attack.

    Whoosh!

    Another blood aura strike flew out.

    It seemed as if Li was about to be split in two when suddenly he opened his mouth and spit out a bead.

    The bead began to shine with a bright light, directly blocking this crucial de strike. However, at the same time this bead was also broken.

    Li took the opportunity to retreat, but his expression was gloomy.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± Li angrily cursed, ¡°You have actually forced me to such a condition. However...... How could I be killed by a Qi Drawing Realm cultivator and an inferior Cliff Race person who isn¡¯t even an Origin Qi Schr yet? Charm Ape Bloodline, open for me!¡±

    A blood-colored glow suddenly exploded out.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 82: Battling Blood Boiling 4

    Chapter 82: Battling Blood Boiling (4)

    Towards the east there was a kind of ape known as the Charm Ape. It enjoyed ying jokes by using illusions. Every time its illusions fell on humans, they would be unable to extract themselves from it.

    This was the characteristic behavior of the Charm Ape.

    The Charm Ape was a Demonic Beast that was an expert in illusions. It could createrge-scale illusions, and torment the opponent to death in those illusions. However, this did not mean that they were weak beasts. Despite its somewhat feminine name, its physical body was quite tough and extremely powerful. It had powerful close-quarterbat Origin Skills and could do battle long-distance via its illusion techniques. It was definitely one of the most headache-inducing Demonic Beasts.

    Because of this, the Demon Ape¡¯s bloodline was a rare treasure among humankind, and many Origin Qi Schrs pursued it crazily.

    That year, the Immortal Temple had used the Demon Ape¡¯s bloodline to obtain Li¡¯s loyalty.

    Although it was only a mixed bloodline, Li¡¯s strength still greatly increased because of it. His illusion techniques and his rise into the Blood Boiling Realm was directly rted to his Charm Ape Bloodline.

    Once, Li had believed that apart from those with the backgrounds of nobility, not many experts had the right to force him to use his bloodline¡¯s power.

    He never expected that today he was even forced to utilize his bloodline to deal with a mere junior.

    ¡°Die, all of you!¡± Li said savagely.

    As he spoke, Li¡¯s originally skinny and weak body actually instantly began to swell. Large muscles began to appear, and his body surged with power. Li¡¯s entire body swelled like it had been pumped full of air.

    In his hand, a staff made out of Origin Energy began to form.

    Upon seeing this scene, Su Chen¡¯s expression also became solemn.

    Blood Boiling Realm cultivators were Blood Boiling Realm cultivators not just because their Origin Power was slightly stronger than Qi Drawing or that their physical body was stronger. Rather, the gap between these two realms allowed one to activate a bloodline¡¯s true power.

    Those with boiling blood could have boiling bloodlines as well!

    What kind of strength would be released if a bloodline began to boil? It varied from person to person and bloodline to bloodline, but regardless of what kind they were, it wouldn¡¯t be easy to deal with.

    As for Li, who was clearly on the path of a mage, actually disyed close-quarterbat tendencies upon boiling his bloodline. This cause Su Chen quite a great deal of surprise.

    Although the Charm Ape was not weak in close-quarterbat, it still fundamentally relied on illusions. One could only say that Li, who had a mixed bloodline, was unable to really manifest the Charm Ape¡¯s strengths. Even so, the power that it conferred still gave Su Chen quite a bit of pressure.

    At this moment, Li swung the Origin Energy staff and harrumped, ¡°Smelly brat, I will tear you to pieces!¡±

    As he spoke, he mmed the Origin Energy staff towards Su Chen¡¯s skull, leaving behind a staff shadow.

    Iron Cliff yelled loudly and rushed over. Li didn¡¯t avoid it, directly raising his barrier and forcefully intercepting the blow. The blood aura caused the barrier to copse and it continued to strike onto Li¡¯s body. However, his body was as tough as a rock, and the cut was superficial. Although the barrier had absorbed most of the force behind the blow, the powerful defensive abilities of his muscles were still shocking.

    At this same time, Li struck out with his staff thirteen times in a row, allnding on the Melted Golden Armor. As the blows hammered down, Iron Cliff was forcefullyunched into the air. Next, Li hurriedly retreated, simultaneously dodging Su Chen¡¯s attack and swinging the staff once again. This time, it actually passed through the metal-eating bug¡¯s scythe-like mandibles,nding on its lower jaw and sending it flying as well. A string of movements were quickly and nimbly performed, and they all possessed great strength. It truly did demonstrate the power of a Blood Boiling expert.

    Even so, this was not the end. In the next instant, Li waved his hand, andrge numbers of Ghostrats once again appeared to bite Su Chen. Next, an illusion techniquended on the metal-eating bug. After all, it was the Charm Ape¡¯s bloodline. Upon activation, even depleted soul strength could be recovered somewhat, allowing Li to once again activate his illusion techniques. Next, he sent a Poisonous Wolf w towards iron cliff, sending him flying once again. The Origin Energy staff in his hand began to shoot downwards to the ground.

    ¡°Come out for me!¡±

    As he howled, dust flew into the air, and a silver round disk flew into the air.

    So Li¡¯s true target was still this Origin Spell Formation.

    Just as the Origin Energy staff was about to m into the silver disk, the silver disk suddenly emitted a glow of light. In this glow, Li¡¯s figure suddenly paused. He was actually slowed down quite a bit, and even his strength decreased as a result.

    Su Chen took advantage of the opportunity and pulled out the ming Hunter Blunderbuss, sending out shot after shot towards Li.

    The skin that had been firm and tough was actually instantly prated by the profound bullets. Li¡¯s body was already like a sieve, and suddenly a bunch more holes appeared. Even though Li had applied Pain Impairment to himself, he couldn¡¯t help but howl in pain, ¡°Bloodline suppression?¡±

    ¡°What rubbish!¡± Su Chen coldlyughed.

    Since the rity Bead could resist illusion techniques, why did he still need to arrange an Origin Spell Formation anyways?

    Naturally, this was because the Origin Spell Formation could not only defend against illusion techniques but could also be used for other things. For example, it could counteract curse-like attacks like the ck-Yellow gue, or it could also be used to counteract illusion bloodlines!

    That was right. Since he had already made so many preparations, Su Chen could not have forgotten about dealing with Li¡¯s Charm Ape bloodline.

    This Origin Spell Formation disk was designed to suppress the Charm Ape bloodline.

    Unfortunately, the Origin Spell Formation disk mainly suppressed illusions. The strength that Li had received from the Charm Ape bloodline was mostly physique-based, so its full potential could not bepletely disyed. Even so, it could still suppress it to a certain degree.

    Although Li had been injured, his savage attitude had not decrease. Once again, he howled, ¡°OPEN!¡±

    He once again activated an illusion technique, and four Li¡¯s simultaneously appeared, while four Origin Energy staffs struck down towards the metal-eating bug, Iron Cliff, Su Chen, and the Origin Spell Formation disk. Su Chen was unable to tell which one was the real one.

    This time, he made sure to sell the whole package. The four Li¡¯s were entirely identical.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t need to determine which was real.

    He activated the Cloud-Stepping Boots and the Snaking Mist Steps. He dodged the Li who was attacking himself and the Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de stabbed towards the Li attacking the Origin Spell Formation disk. He didn¡¯t need to worry about anything except protecting the Origin Spell Formation disk.

    Bang!

    The illusion dissipated.

    It was fake.

    Su Chen was slightly surprised. This was his first time miscalcting that Li¡¯s true attack would not actually be directed towards the Origin Spell Formation disk.

    In that instant, the Li attacking the metal-eating bug suddenly turned around, and the Origin Energy staff struck out towards Su Chen¡¯s chest. ¡°This is the real body!¡±

    Liughed loudly.

    This staff strike was directed straight at Su Chen¡¯s vitals, and he had no way of blocking it even if he activated the Amethyst Battle Armor¡¯s barrier.

    With a thunderous ¡°BANG¡±, Su Chen was heavily hit by the staff. He was sent flying.

    Even so, the resounding ng of metal unsettled Li. No matter how he listened to it, it didn¡¯t sound like the attack would do Su Chen much harm.

    Su Chen flipped a few times in the air beforending on the ground. A trace of blood appeared in the corner of his mouth.

    Even so, that was the only consequence.

    ¡°You¡¯re fine?¡± Li was shocked.

    Su Chen tilted his head. ¡°I said already that I already know that you know the Amethyst Battle Armor¡¯s weakness.¡±

    He stood up. The clothes had torn where he had been struck by the Origin Energy staff, revealing a small bronze mirror inside.

    Heart Protecting Mirror!

    Li was so angry that he almost cursed.

    This bastard had truly prepared quite well.

    He actually had the Heart Protecting Mirror!!

    Li almost went crazy.

    Even so, this was not everything that Su Chen had prepared.

    His wrist flicked, and a flying dagger suddenly appeared in Su Chen¡¯s hand. That flying dagger also glowed with Origin Energy.

    Origin Energy flying dagger!

    This was a kind of one-time use Origin Tool. It was extremely powerful, but its price was quite steep. One dagger cost five hundred Origin Stones.

    Su Chen¡¯s wrist flicked again, and an Air Congealing Talisman appeared in his hand, causing the air around Li to congeal. This talisman would cause everyone within the affected area to have dyed reactions. Next, he tossed out the flying dagger.

    At this time, Li¡¯s bloodline had been suppressed, his defenses were weakened, his sand robe had been destroyed, he had already used his barrier, and now even his speed had been limited. When faced with the flying dagger, it seemed as if he had no way out.

    At that moment, Li¡¯s eyes began to bleed. ¡°Block it for me!¡±

    At that moment, a figure suddenly charged forwards, directly blocking the Origin Energy flying dagger. It was actually the metal-eating bug.

    Li had actually forcefully controlled the metal-eating bug¡¯s movements.

    The Origin Energy in the dagger surged as it exploded, causing even the thick-shelled metal-eating bug to let out pained whimpers as it retreated, furiously shaking its head.

    ¡°Dammit, I¡¯m losing control of it,¡± Iron Cliff yelled.

    The metal-eating bug didn¡¯t like battles in the first ce, and it would only very reluctantly battle under Iron Cliff¡¯s control. Now that its soul had been forcefully seized by Li, causing it to be heavily struck by the flying de, it finally began to go on strike, refusing to continue battle.

    Without being impeded by the metal-eating bug, Li instantly waved his hand. First, another soul illusion technique rooted Iron Cliff. Next, he went all-out to generate illusions of himself, charging towards Su Chen simultaneously. ¡°Die for me!¡±

    Four illusions mmed towards Su Chen.

    At this time, the Amethyst Battle Armor had already been used. Su Chen didn¡¯t know which illusions to dodge, so he could only activate the Snaking Mist Steps and retreat at high speeds. At the same time, he pulled out a pile of Origin Energy talismans from his storage ring, tossing them at Li.

    Li furiously waved the Origin Energy staff. Hisbat strength had reached its peak in that instant, actually blocking most of the attacks.

    Bang!

    The Origin Energy staffnded on an object, making a strange ringing ¡°ng¡±.

    He originally thought that it was some kind of secret weapon. However, upon looking at it more closely, it was actually just a piece of ore thatnded below its feet.

    Li exhaled in relief andughed savagely. ¡°So you¡¯ve finally run out of tactics? You actually even used starsilver ore as a secret weapon. Die for me......¡±

    The Origin Energy staff furiously waved through the air, mming onto the Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de so forcefully that Su Chen was almost unable to stand up.

    Su Chen, however, continued tough. ¡°The one that will die is you.¡±

    Li was stunned for a moment. An indescribable feeling of threat suddenly rose in his heart.

    However, he had no time to even determine where this sense of danger came from before he felt a sharp pain in his back.

    Pu!

    Two huge mandibles had pierced through his body, tearing open half his body. The metal-eating bug was like a berserk mammoth, using its mandibles to send Li flying into the air before charging towards its beloved metals.

    At the same time, Su Chen leapt forwards, stabbing the Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de into Li¡¯s body. The de¡¯s edge pierced through it, nailing Li to the nearby rock wall.

    ¡°AAAAHHHHHHH!¡± Li let out a despairing cry, the Origin Energy staff mming towards Su Chen¡¯s abdomen. The strike injured Su Chen¡¯s intestines, causing him to spit out arge mouthful of fresh blood.

    Iron Cliff charged over from the other side. The ck Streak Battle de pierced through his neck. At the same time, his left hand prated Li¡¯s chest.

    As Li spit out fresh blood, he counterattacked with a Poisonous Wolf w, prating the Melted Golden Armor and lodging itself in Iron Cliff¡¯s shoulder.

    Su Chen¡¯s left hand pulled out another Origin Energy flying dagger. The concentrated Origin Energy directly pierced through Li¡¯s temple.

    Even so, Li refused to die. His right hand tossed away the staff and once again activated the Poisonous Wolf w, digging into Su Chen¡¯s abdomen. Half of his hand was stuck into Su Chen¡¯s stomach.

    Three people, six hands simultaneously pierced into the other person¡¯s body. They were deadlocked for a moment, not moving at all.

    After a moment, Li¡¯s head drooped.

    Died.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 83: Treasure

    Chapter 83: Treasure

    After an excruciatingly, violent battle, Li had died.

    The instant that Li fell over, Su Chen and Iron Cliff basically sat down at the same time.

    Su Chen¡¯s wounds were not light, and Iron Cliff was not in a much better situation. Although he had not been injured, he was wearing an extremely heavy armor, and he was using the energy-draining ck Streak Battle de. He was mentally drained from the illusions, and had almost killed himself due to fatigue.

    Su Chen patched up the bleeding in his midsection, but Iron Cliff was so weak that he couldn¡¯t even lift a single finger.

    One had to admit that Li¡¯s strength was shocking, and it was enough to show Su Chen the true difference between cultivation realms.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that his preparations had been extremely thorough, and he had not been afraid to spend money to buy the rity Bead, the Origin Spell Formation, Origin Energy flying dagger, Heart Protecting Mirror, Cloud-Stepping Battle Boots, as well asrge quantities of Origin Energy talismans and scrolls and recovery medicines, he would not have stood a chance of winning.

    One could say that in this battle Li had died not because of Su Chen¡¯s strength but rather because of his scheming and wealth.

    One party had a deep understanding of his opponent, had all the countermeasures, knew his opponent¡¯s roots and foundation, and used his money to beat his opponent. The other party made mistake after mistake in his judgment, and he didn¡¯t even know that Su Chen wasn¡¯t blind. Thus, it was not incredibly strange that he was beaten by someone much weaker than him.

    From this fight, Su Chen realized how important secrets were. He decided he definitely must not lightly expose his own tactics. The more his own strength was revealed, the more likely the opponent was to take the appropriate countermeasures.

    However, these matters could be taken care ofter.. At the moment, his focus was on absorbing the Origin energy released from Li¡¯s body.

    When people died, there was still Origin Energy that could be absorbed

    Before, when other people were present, Su Chen couldn¡¯t absorb it from the dead. Now that it was just him and Iron Cliff, he naturally didn¡¯t need to be polite.

    Su Chen pressed the Melted Golden Armor, causing it to fall off. Su Chen then pulled Iron Cliff out of it and began to help him absorb Origin Energy motes.

    As they absorbed one Origin Energy mote after another, Su Chen and Iron Cliff recovered a small portion of their energy.

    Iron Cliff seemingly had not had time to reflect on the battle that had just urred. As he absorbed the Origin Energy, he said, ¡°We killed a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator, master. We actually killed someone in the highyer Blood Boiling Realm!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, but it¡¯s nothing to brag about.¡± Su Chen focused all his attention on absorbing, until thest Origin Energy mote had dissipated.

    In Su Chen¡¯s eyes, this really was not much to brag about. After all, he had the advantage in numbers, he had prepared for the battle, and he had spent tens of thousands of Origin Stones to do so. In addition, his opponent was an Illusion Master who was not suited for directbat and who had already expended quite a significant amount of energy earlier that day.

    ¡°That is because Master¡¯s path is only beginning. There will be one day when Master¡¯s strength will be sufficient to defeat opponents ayer higher than you,¡± Iron Cliff said as he took off the boots.

    The Cloud-Stepping Battle Boots had finally broken after this battle.

    ¡°Oh? You have that much faith in me?¡± Su Chenughed.

    Iron Cliff forcefully nodded his head, indicating that he definitely was not trying to tter Su Chen.

    ¡°Okay, I agree with what you said. I will fight to achieve the day where what you say is real.¡± Su Chen stood up, holding his abdomen tightly. After using a recovery medicine, his wounds had recovered significantly. However, the Poisonous Wolf w¡¯s poison was somewhat of a bother, and it would take time topletely get rid of it. However, its influence had already lessened.

    ¡°As for right now, we should see how much treasure there is since we fought so hard for it. If Li Mingtang left only a little, then it will not have been worth it at all,¡± Su Chen said.

    For this battle, he had spent close to thirty thousand Origin Stones. Although he still had quite a bit left over,

    He didn¡¯t get very much from Li¡¯s body. Anything of value that he had possessed was broken, and anything that he could have used had been used. All that remained were a fewmon rings, some pure gold and medicinal pills as well as some worthless scraps. All in total, it was only worth about a few hundred Origin Stones.

    Thankfully, the main spoils were not those on Li¡¯s body.

    Upon entering the second secret chamber, Su Chen saw arge iron trunk.

    Su Chen still had Iron Cliff don the Melted Iron Armor to open it. However, this time the trunk didn¡¯t contain any secret mechanisms, onlyrge amounts of gold, silver, and precious stones.

    There were not many jewels, the few in the trunk were precious and rare, and they were worth more as well. Su Chen calcted that just this trunk of jewels was worth fifty thousand taels of pure gold. If adding on the twenty thousand from the outside secret chamber and the thirty thousand from the Golden Name Workshop, it was a perfect hundred thousand.

    But was this all that remained in the entire Shadow Mountain Troops, which had a Yang Opening cultivator?

    Su Chen still didn¡¯t believe it.

    This still wasn¡¯t the fortune that Li Mingtang should possess.

    Su Chen searched the rest of the ce thoroughly. In the end, he finally found a ring underneath a pile of earth in the corner.

    The ring was pitch ck and didn¡¯t seem that eye-catching. However, as soon as heid eyes on it, Su Chen¡¯s heart began to tremble.

    Origin Ring!

    This was an Origin Ring!

    As the name implied, this was a true spatial ring. It was a ring that could store Origin Tools and Origin Stones.

    With it, Su Chen could store all of his Origin Tools and Origin Stones in the ring instead of carrying them around with him. More importantly, its empty space was also greater than normal storage rings, more than enough to allow Su Chen store significantly more.

    And within this ring, there was still arge number of Origin Stones.

    They were all mid-grade Origin Stones.

    Each mid-grade Origin Stones was worth a hundred low-grade stones. There was roughly around a thousand mid-grade Origin Stones here, so in total it was worth a hundred thousand low-grade Origin Stones.

    Aside from this, there were actually a few rarely seen medicinal herbs, ten or so Origin Crystals and a Demonic Beast¡¯s bone. A Demonic Beast¡¯s bone was a bone that varied depending on the Demonic Beast it was extracted from. It reportedly had an unimaginable power, and it could also be used to refine a bloodline medicine. This strange bone was a crystal treasure, and it emitted a slight pressure. Evidently, it must have been from an extremely powerful Demonic Beast. Just this strange bone alone was worth a hundred thousand Origin Stones. The Origin Crystals and medicines were also worth roughly a total of a hundred thousand Origin Stones.

    That was to say that the ring contained a total of 300,000 Origin Stones worth of items. The Origin ring itself was also worth about twenty thousand Origin stones. When adding on all of the gold, silver, and precious stones outside, everything was worth a total of 400,000 Origin Stones.

    This was Li Mingtang¡¯s real fortune!

    At this moment, even Su Chen had tough.

    He already had 250,000 Origin Stones as a foundation, and now he had earned anotherrge sum of money. He could be considered to have sprinted from poverty into moderate prosperity.

    With this fortune, Su Chen¡¯s cultivation path would be much easier.

    Once he obtained this treasure, he didn¡¯t stay much longer and left with Iron Cliff. Before leaving, he didn¡¯t forget to restore the secret chamber to its original state, destroying Li¡¯s corpse as well. He destroyed the corpse to eliminate any traces of his own presence.

    He left the mountain and did not tarry, heading directly for Northface City under the cover of night.

    Upon arriving at Northface City, the sky had already begun to brighten.

    Su Chen cleaned himself up before calling Zhou Hong and saying, ¡°Go now to the city¡¯s west gate and wait for a person there.

    ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°Zhang Song.¡±

    Upon hearing this name, Zhou Hong was clearly startled.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°When you see him return, don¡¯t let him notice you. Immediately return to the pce, and I will let Mingshu wait for you at the door. After you bring that information to Mingshu, you can rest. Remember, apart from Mingshu, don¡¯t tell anyone else.¡±

    Zhou Hong epted the orders and left.

    Su Chen then called Mingshu over, giving him another set ofmands before sighing in relief.

    He had been battling for two continuous days. Although Origin Qi Schrs could absorb the nearby Origin Energy to nurse themselves back to health, Su Chen was exhausted. After giving out his orders, his attention rxed. The umted exhaustion washed over him like a wave, and Su Chen fell into a deep sleep.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 84: Scheme

    Chapter 84: Scheme

    Perhaps because he was too exhausted, his sleep was extremely sweet. Su Chen began to dream. He dreamed that he had sessfully entered the Hidden Dragon Institute and became the number one Heaven¡¯s Chosen of Long Sang Country. With the support of his miraculous eyes, his progress was stunning. Afterwards, he obtained an ancient Origin Beast¡¯s bloodline, and broke through all bottlenecks before bing an expert, then marrying Gu Qingluo. Just when his life was the most happy, the beast wave arrived. Su Chen charged into battle and defeated the Beast Emperor, but very quickly he ran into an even more powerful and frightening Giant Beast.

    That Giant Beast was the size of a small mountain. Every step it took shook the earth. It charged towards the human armies, and in one breath it blew away them all away like smoke. Su Chen expended great effort to battle it, but all he saw was two giant hands reaching for him from the horizon and grabbing him. Su Chen had no way of escaping them. He felt suffocated as he was being furiously shaken......

    ¡°Young Master, Young Master!¡± Mingshu shook Su Chen.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Su Chen instantly sat up and grabbed Mingshu¡¯s throat.

    ¡°Young Master...... let go......¡± Mingshu arduously squeezed out, his eyes beginning to roll into the back of his head.

    ¡°Mingshu?¡± Su Chen hurriedly released his hand.

    Mingshu massaged his throat as he retreated. ¡°Young Master, you told me toe get you just to choke me to death?¡±

    ¡°Uhh.¡± Su Chen regained rity. ¡°Sorry, I had a nightmare.¡±

    Then, he thought of something and asked Mingshu, ¡°He arrived?¡±

    Mingshu nodded his head. ¡°Zhou Hong saw him at the city gate. He wasn¡¯t riding a horse; he returned on foot. He appeared extremely pitiful, and his face was bruised. It looked like he had fallen into a ditch yesterday evening, and his clothing was also tattered. At this moment, he is still limping back to the pce, so it will be a while before he can return.¡±

    ¡°Then that¡¯s fine. What time is it right now?¡±

    ¡°Late afternoon. Mealtime just passed, but do you want to eat something first?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need.¡± Su Chen silently praised Night Demon; he hadn¡¯t expected that this dumb girl was actually pretty reliable. Indeed, he had returned in the afternoon, just as Su Chen had requested.

    Su Chen got out of bed and after making himself presentable, he said, ¡°Go call Jianxin for me and then wait for me at the pce entrance. When you see Zhang Song, do as I told you to do earlier today.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡± Mingshu left.

    A momentter, Jianxin arrived. ¡°What orders does Young Master have?¡±

    ¡°I want to go to the Virtuous Gift Residence. Come along with me.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Jianxin was instantly stunned.

    The Virtuous Gift Residence was Su Keji¡¯s residence. Why would Su Chen run there for seemingly no reason?

    ¡°I want to talk to Second Uncle,¡± Su Chen replied.

    What is there to talk about between the two of you? Jianxin criticized silently, but he still agreed outwardly.

    Virtuous Gift Residence.

    Su Keji, as per usual, held onto his favorite Spring t Stone Jar made out of redsand and went to his backyard, lying down on arge rocking chair and beginning his afternoon rest. He didn¡¯t forget to hum a few lines of Huang Ciyan¡¯s ¡°Treasure Pavilion¡± Aria.

    An underling hurried in from outside. ¡°Master, Fourth Young Master is asking to see you.¡±

    ¡°Oh, what is it...... What did you say? Fourth Young Master?¡± Su Keji instantly sat up, gazing at his underling with shock.

    ¡°Yes, Fourth Young Master Su Chen is asking to meet you!¡± the underling repeated.

    Su Chen? Why did hee to find me?

    Su Keji couldn¡¯t figure out what Su Chen was trying to do for quite some time.

    After being stunned for a while, he waved his hand and said, ¡°Let hime in.¡±

    A momentter, Su Chen and Jianxin appeared in Su Keji¡¯s courtyard.

    Su Chen sped his hands towards Su Keji and said, ¡°Nephew Su Chen greets Second Uncle.¡±

    Su Keji coldly watched Su Chen. ¡°Tell me, why are you here?¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°How can Second Uncle speak in such a way? Nephew is here specifically to visit Second Uncle. Do I need a special objective?¡±

    Specifically here to visit me?

    Su Keji quivered. He couldn¡¯t help but look at the sky, in order to confirm that the sun had not arisen from the other side. His gaze firstnded on Su Chen before moving to Jianxin.

    Jianxin spread his hands out, indicating that he didn¡¯t know what had possessed Su Chen today either.

    Su Keji coldly harrumphed, ¡°Visit me? Is it to see whether or not I died?¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°Why does Second Uncle put it that way? No matter what, we are both members of the Su n. As members of the same n, we should forgive each other. Why is it that we have be enemies as soon as we see each other?¡±

    Su Kejiughed loudly. ¡°Forgive each other? When you beat Su Qian, did you not think about whether or not he was a n member?¡±

    Su Chen sighed, ¡°When Second Uncle racked his brains to change the testing method, did you not think of me as a n member either?¡±

    ¡°Scoundrel!¡± Su Keji instantly stood up. ¡°Su Chen, did youe here just to provoke me?¡±

    ¡°I just want to know if our hostility can be turned into friendship.¡±

    ¡°So you came here to plead for mercy?¡±

    ¡°No, Second Uncle, I am asking for peace, not mercy.¡±

    ¡°Peace? You and I have had no peace to speak of for a long time now!¡±

    ¡°Perhaps that is the case. After all, as a human I am still subject to fate.¡±

    Su Keji¡¯s eyes squinted. ¡°I understand. You came here today to intentionally let everyone think that it was you who sought peace, and it was me that didn¡¯t agree. That way others would think that I was bullying you and creating internal conflict, right?¡±

    Su Chen indifferently said, ¡°However Second Uncle wants to interpret it is up to Second Uncle. If Second Uncle is unhappy, you can forcefully evict me from here.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t fall for your trap,¡± Su Keji harrumphed. ¡°I will make Qian¡¯er break your legs on the battle stage. At that time, no one will have any more words to say.¡±

    The uncle and nephew finally tore down any remaining vestiges of pretence, and all that remained was bitter hatred and cursing.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t get angry. Instead, he continued to exchange verbal blows with Su Keji. It seemed as if he wanted to thoroughly vent the grievances of the past few days.

    Just as they were sparring verbally, a loud ruckus began to sound outside.

    Su Keji unhappily said, ¡°What happened outside?¡±

    An underling came to report, ¡°Master, Mingshu and Zhang Yuan began to fight over a small matter.¡±

    ¡°Hmph, it seems that the ve takes after the owner. This Mingshu is quite a nuisance,¡± Su Keji angrily said.

    ¡°Who was right and who was wrong is not easy to say. Does Second Uncle want to appraise the situation with me?¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Su Keji strode out of the pavilion.

    Outside, Mingshu and the servant known as Zhang Yuan were locked in a scuffle.

    Su Keji walked out, angrily asking what was the matter. The two of them finally untangled themselves from each other. Zhang Yuan stood up, wearing a wronged expression. He said that he didn¡¯t know why, but Mingshu had suddenly mmed into him as they were walking. Before he was even able to get angry, Mingshu had cursed him out. He wasn¡¯t unable endure the insult and began to fight it out with him.

    They were talking and arguing, but Su Chen¡¯s attention was no longer present there. He was looking behind everyone.

    A person entered the residence from outside.

    Zhang Song!

    He had finally returned, after Su Chen had arranged everything.

    Upon seeing Zhang Song return, Su Chen suddenly said, ¡°Jianxin.¡±

    ¡°Young Master?¡±

    ¡°I think I forgot my fan in Second Uncle¡¯s courtyard. Go help me find it.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Young Master.¡± Jianxin turned around and entered the courtyard.

    ¡°Make sure to search thoroughly and carefully,¡± Su Chen said, his words profound with meaning.

    At the same time, Zhang Song had finally made contact with Su Keji.

    Upon seeing Zhang Song, whom he had been expecting with the medicine, Su Keji evidently had no interest in this small matter anymore. He pulled Zhang Song into a side room and talked to him privately for a moment before receiving a box from Zhang Song. Upon opening it and making sure that there was nothing wrong with it, he let out a sigh of relief, then grabbed the box and returned to his courtyard.

    Upon seeing this scene, Su Chen¡¯s mouth quirked upwards in a smile as he said, ¡°Mingshu, let¡¯s go.¡±

    Mingshu hurried over.

    The servant named Zhang Yuan didn¡¯t have anymon sense. Upon seeing that the person who had bullied him was about to leave, he leapt over and said, ¡°Fourth Young Master, this matter isn¡¯t over yet.¡±

    Su Chen sent out a fist and sent him flying. ¡°It¡¯s over now.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 85: Megâ€™s Guardian

    Chapter 85: Meg¡¯s Guardian

    At the end of every year, every n and household would be extremely busy.

    Every household had to say goodbye to the old year and wee in the new spring. Businesses needed to settle all their ounts. Those who needed to be rewarded were rewarded, and those who needed to be given a bonus were given it. Public officials needed to be adjusted; those who needed to be promoted were promoted, and those who needed to be demoted were demoted. Every n would prepare for their own end-of-yearpetition, evaluating and selecting their top disciples. Those who needed to be praised would be praised, and those who needed to be reprimanded were reprimanded.

    Long before Su Chen returned from the Scarlet Mountain Range, the Su n had already begun preparations for the end-of-yearpetition.

    This was the meeting of the Su n¡¯s third-generation disciples; an opportunity topare their martial arts and skills, disying their loftiness.

    It wasn¡¯t just the crown of strongest disciple that attracted people. Disciples who were strong would fight for the crown, while younger ones would contend for a position of their own. Whenever the end of the year drew near, everyone would be bitterly engrossed in cultivation, making theirst preparations for the great battle.

    Su Tong, the Su n¡¯s grand elder¡¯s beloved grandson earned third ce in thestpetition. Perhaps because he had been stimted by Su Chen, not long ago he had also headed to the Scarlet Mountain Range. Of course, he didn¡¯t go because of punishment, and he had also taken along a few escorts, so the safety of his journey greatly increased. While the amount of experience that he gained might have suffered as a result, when he returned from the Scarlet Mountain Range, his entire person¡¯s temperament had be stronger overall.

    Su Ling¡¯er, the granddaughter of Fourth Elder Su Meixi, was fourteen this year. A year ago she had gone to her mother¡¯s n and had returned not long ago. Her strength had risen from the seventhyer of Body Tempering to the eighthyer. Her target was not to obtain the crown this year, but next year. At that time, Su Chen, Su Qian and the others would be over sixteen and wouldn¡¯t be able to participate in thepetition. At that time, the title of the strongest Su n¡¯s third generation member would be Su Ling¡¯er¡¯s to im.

    In addition, Su Yue, Su Xing, and the other Su n¡¯s disciples were all using their own methods to struggle for recognition.

    Of course, the two that people paid the most attention to were still Su Chen and Su Qian.

    Su Chen did not need to say anything. Ever since returning from the Scarlet Mountain Range twice, he shone like a sun in midday among the Su n¡¯s third-generation individuals. No one dared to humiliate him because he was ¡°blind¡±.

    As for Su Qian, he had disappeared.

    No one knew where Su Qian had gone. However, based on Su Keji¡¯s expression, everyone could tell that he was supremely confident about the oue of this year¡¯s end-of-yearpetition.

    On the twelfth day of Su Chen¡¯s return from Shadow Mountain, the end-of-yearpetition was now only three days away.

    Today, as per usual, Su Chen was cultivating in the back mountain.

    Unlike other people, Su Chen only cultivated his Origin Skills.

    Tang Zhen had tranted another two of the ancient Arcana scripts. They were arge fireball technique and a technique called Meg¡¯s Guardian.

    In ancient times, because the Arcana Race¡¯s history of studying and using Origin Energy had just begun, there was amon practice of using one¡¯s own name to name the Origin Skill. For example, simr styles of defensive barriers would have different names and different shapes and sizes as long as they had different Origin Energy Patterns.

    This waspletely different from the current age. Current defensive barriers had be more and more polished over the tens of thousands of years. As the overgrowth of techniques was pruned, what remained was mainly the most cost-effective Origin Skills. Although this method increased the practicality of most Origin Skills, it had also decreased the variety of Origin Skills. The skills became more homogenized, and individual peculiarities began to decrease. Simply put, a standard procedure had been implemented. Inparison, the defensive magic barriers that ancient Arcana techniques created could have various ws and insufficiencies, yet because of this they would also have their own unique characteristics.

    For instance, current Origin Skills were primarily aimed towards using the smallest amount of Origin Energy and activate the barrier Origin Skill in the shortest amount of time. In order to preserve the most usage of Origin Energy, when these barriers were broken they would often release a powerful, surging attack. Li¡¯s magic barrier had done just that. However, Meg¡¯s Guardian followed apletely different train of thought. The inventor of this magic barrier had never considered how to utilize the Origin Energy most effectively and efficiently. In his eyes, the only reason for magic barriers to exist was to defend!

    So how could one reach the peak of defensive abilities?

    The barrier¡¯s inventor used a unique train of thought to address this problem ¨C unlimited superimposition.

    Truthfully, the defensive capabilities of Meg¡¯s barrier were quite average. However, the barrier had a unique characteristic ¨C it could beyered an infinite number of times. As long as one wanted it, one could continue toyer on barrier after barrier.

    However, every time an extra barrieryer was added, the amount of Origin Energy consumed would be increased additively. For instance, if one Meg¡¯s Guardian required two White Stars of origin Energy, the second Meg¡¯s Guardian would require four, the third would require six, and so on.

    This was also the reason why Ulrich had not used this technique in such a way from the very beginning. Its consumption rate was just too great.

    However, although it was quite weak, one could not deny that under special circumstances this barrier would have uses that could exceed one¡¯s own cultivationyer.

    Until this point, Su Chen had not discovered a defensive Origin Skill of his own, so he wasn¡¯t picky. Having learned this Origin Skill, his survivability had greatly increased.

    Therge fireball was very representative of a traditional attack Origin Skill. It was a verymonce, standard skill, present from ancient Arcana techniques to current Origin Skills. There wasn¡¯t much more that could be talked about. Su Chen had actually wanted the Origin Energy Bullets. This powerful Origin Skill could create single or multiple bullets. However, its pattern was simply tooplicated, and Tang Zhen had not been able to trante it even now. Tranting cultivation writings required extreme caution. After all, if one mistake was made, it could result in a loss of life while cultivating.

    In fact, what Su Chen wanted most was the Shadowform Substitute, which was the best Origin Skill to increase one¡¯s survival. It was extremely useful for escaping and could be applied even at the Yang opening Realm. Unfortunately, this Origin Skill was even moreplicatedpared to the Origin Energy Bullets, so he could not hope for it in the near future.

    Ten days of cultivation coupled with wanton, crazy use of Origin Stones allowed Su Chen¡¯s grasp of these two Origin Skills to greatly increase.

    Su Chen had already grasped five different Origin Skills. Adding on these two meant that Su Chen now controlled seven. For a beginner Qi Drawing Realm Origin Qi Schr, this was already quite a few.

    Most Origin Qi Schrs wouldn¡¯t learn so many Origin Skills; in fact, most people only needed to learn one or two. After all, these were all low-level Origin Skills which would be abandoned in the future. No matter how many he learned now, they would not be very useful as he progressed. When considering the fact that cultivating Origin Skills didn¡¯t increase one¡¯s cultivation base, very few people were willing to waste so much time on this aspect.

    However, to Su Chen, who could see the Origin Energy motes, increasing his battle prowess was equivalent to increasing his cultivation rate as he could more effectively kill beasts. Thus, he didn¡¯t share the same worries that other people had. When adding on the two huge hauls that he had recently earned, he had no other ce to expend his Origin Stones. Thus, he was only afraid of having too few Origin Skills, not having too many.

    Twelve days of cultivation had allowed Su Chen¡¯s strength to once again increase significantly.

    As he was cultivating, Mingshu suddenly ran over. ¡°Young Master, Young Master!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Su Chen casually added a third barrier of Meg¡¯s Guardian to himself. Under situations where he wasn¡¯t being attacked, the barrier would only disappear automatically after an extended period of time. Su Chen didn¡¯t bother waiting, directly utilizing Meg¡¯s Guardian¡¯s characteristic of unlimited superimposition to practice his control. Although this would greatly increase his rate of Origin Energy consumption, didn¡¯t he have plenty of Origin Stones?

    With money, one could afford to be more reckless.

    ¡°Su Qian has returned,¡± Mingshu replied.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 86: Medicine

    Chapter 86: Medicine

    ¡°Father!¡± Standing in front of Su Keji, Su Qian excitedly said, ¡°Your son is back.¡±

    ¡°Good, good, good!¡± Su Keji circled his son three times. Evidently, he was extremely excited in his heart.

    He pounded his son¡¯s chest and said, ¡°Your Dan Sea is lustrous and you have a slight killing aura. It seems like you have exceeded just entering Qi Drawing ¨C you were even able to build up a bit of a killing aura.¡±

    Su Qian excitedly replied, ¡°Father, your son killed 308 demonic illusions in the Treasure Light Monastery, and I died twenty-six times. I have experienced bloody battle after bloody battle, and I am no longer the Su Qian from the past.¡±

    Su Keji nodded his head. ¡°Very good. Back then, because your grandfather just so happened to help someone from the Treasure Light Monastery, he received a promise that we could petition to use their Treasure Light Illusion Realm. For this, I have used all of the share that the Su n had,¡± said Su Keji sincerely as he grabbed Su Qian¡¯s hand.

    Su Qian was extremely moved in his heart. ¡°Father paid too much of a price for me.¡±

    ¡°As long as you be a genius, anything is worth it.¡± Su Keji gently smiled.

    Even though he wasn¡¯t a good person, he was definitely a good father.

    Of course, ignoring all of this, it was not just to win against Su Chen during the end-of-yearpetition. More importantly, it was for the Hidden Dragon battle.

    The old head had said that as long as Su Qian could enter the Hidden Dragon Institute, then he could pay for the cost of using the Treasure Light Illusion Realm. But if he was unable to get in, wasting a valuable resource of the Su n, then Su Keji would need to give up all the shares that he owned in the Su n and bear the burden himself.

    From a certain standpoint, Su Changche and Su Cheng¡¯an were all the same kind of person. Did they love their sons and daughters? Yes.

    However, they loved outstanding sons and daughters more, ones that had value investing in.

    In fact, this was unavoidable. As long as one held any expectations for their sons or daughters, this would be present. The only question was...... how much?

    Many things were dependent on a scale rather than ck or white.

    In the hearts of the first and second generations, these expectations were evidently too high. This was why Su Chen was being suppressed and why Su Keji could suppress him.

    Treasure Light was an extremely powerful Origin Formation Master and was skilled in illusion techniques. However, his illusions were different from Li in that they didn¡¯t focus on deception. Rather, he created illusions to pass on inheritences and train his descendents. Su Qian¡¯s soul had entered the Treasure Light Illusion Realm and battled many demonic illusions. Not only could this increase his battle experience and allow him to personally experience death, he could build a killing aura through battle and obtain an Origin Skill that used killing aura to protect the body. At the same time, he could strengthen his own soul. That ce was indeed a treasure. However, because of this, the price to enter was very high. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Su Changche had helped Treasure Light once in the past, he would not have obtained this opportunity.

    Now, this opportunity had been given to Su Qian.

    Su Qian, who had experienced ten days of the Treasure Light Illusion Realm, had apletely different aura now, giving people a sense that he had grown very much.

    At this moment, Su Qian said excitedly, ¡°Father, don¡¯t worry. This time I will definitely give Su Chen something to look at.¡±

    Su Kejiughed loudly, ¡°I didn¡¯t spend so much energy just so you could teach Su Chen a lesson. A single Su Chen doesn¡¯t count for much in my arrangements. Right now, focus all your efforts on increasing your own strength.¡±

    As Su Keji spoke, he retrieved a box, taking out a bottle of pills form it. ¡°This bottle contains the Origin Energy Medicine. I bought it specifically for you. With this, your cultivation base will once again increase, and the Origin Energy in your body will increase. Cultivating Origin Skills will also be easier. In the remaining half of the year, continue to refine and train yourself. However, this is a new kind of medicine and will probably take a few days to go into effect after you ingest it. I estimate that it won¡¯t be very useful for the end-of-yearpetition anymore. But no worries, I have this......¡±

    Su Qian followed Su Keji¡¯s finger to a vial sitting near the side. The four words written on the side caused his heart to jump. ¡°This is......¡±

    ¡°Naturally, this is what I have prepared for Su Chen,¡± Su Keji coldly harrumphed.

    Su Qian hurriedly said, ¡°But father, I am no longer afraid of him. Is there a need to do this?¡±

    ¡°Shut your mouth! What do you know?¡± Su Keji angrily said. ¡°Do you really believe that Su Chen was able to return safely from the Scarlet Mountain Range twice just because of luck?¡±

    Su Qian was startled. Su Keji continued, ¡°If I¡¯m not wrong, he must have be an Origin Qi Schr a long time ago.¡±

    ¡°How is this possible?¡± Su Qian was greatly shocked.

    ¡°Why would it be impossible? Don¡¯t forget that because of that idiotic Yan Wushuang, Su Chen was able to recover his mother¡¯s four businesses. These four businesses in his hands are no longer like before, where everything needs to enter the pce. Just a while ago, there was news that those four businesses had simultaneously lost some money and were hard pressed for funds. Where do you think that money went?¡±

    Su Qian realized. ¡°Could he have gone to buy Origin Energy Medicines?¡±

    ¡°More urately, he bought them first, and then I realized it, so I copied his footsteps.¡± Su Keji patted his son¡¯s shoulder and said sincerely, ¡°Son, your opponent is tricky. Don¡¯t underestimated him! Now Su Chen is most likely in the Qi Drawing Realm, even though he is keeping it hidden. Naturally, his goal is to shock everyone during the end-of-yearpetition and suppress you. But since I know his background, how could I give him this opportunity? Now, you are also a Qi Drawing Realm cultivator, but you were likely a few months slower than him. Regardless of Origin Skills or cultivation base, he should be higher than you. Even if you drink this Origin Energy Medicine, the battle between the two of you should be fifty-fifty. I do not haveplete confidence that you will be able to beat him.¡±

    When Su Qian heard this, he was speechless.

    So his father had done so much for him only to pull the distance between the two of them even?

    Su Qian shook his head and said, ¡°Your son is useless.¡±

    Su Keji shook his head and said, ¡°That isn¡¯t your fault. These years, we all looked down on him, giving him an opportunity to grow. However, this time I will not underestimate him anymore. This bottle of ck Anesthesia was prepared by me for him. With this, he will no longer be any trouble to us in the future.¡±

    Su Qian hesitated for a moment. He looked at the medicine vial and said, ¡°Father, is it really right to do this?¡±

    Su Keji was expressionless. ¡°If you want to achieve great things, you cannot be too soft-hearted. Drink it.¡±

    Su Qian strongly inhaled a breath, finally making his decision.

    He tilted his head back, drinking the entire bottle of Origin Energy Medicine.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Just before nightfall, Su Chen was still sitting in the courtyard.

    He was holding a handful of beans, as if he were thinking about something.

    Suddenly, the sound of wings pping appeared in the air.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t turn around. He flicked his wrist, and a ck bean flow out. A bird fell from the sky.

    ¡°Young Master is truly a master.¡± At this moment, Jianxin had entered the yard. Upon seeing this scene, he excitedly ran over, picking up the bird and saying, ¡°Its wings are broken.¡±

    ¡°Keep it in the cage. When its wounds have healed, we can let it go.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that will do. It already fell to its death, so we should use it to make a stew,¡± Jianxin happily said as he twisted the bird¡¯s neck, killing it.

    ¡°Is that so. What a pity. Jianxin, go pour me a cup of tea.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Jianxin agreed as he walked towards the stone table.

    A tea set was ced on the courtyard¡¯s stone table.

    Jianxin first looked around, making sure there was no one there, then pulled out a medicinal vial, dumping its contents into the teapot. Next, he poured out a cup and handed it to Su Chen, saying, ¡°Young Master, please drink the tea.¡±

    ¡°Mm,¡± Su Chen replied and received the tea, gently taking a sip.

    The thick sense of Origin Energy poured into his body.

    ¡°Good tea!¡± Su Chen gently smiled, gulping down the tea in the cup.

    Jianxin watched him with a cold gaze, the corner of his mouth quirking upwards in a darkugh.

    Upon putting down the teacup, Su Chen said, ¡°That¡¯s right, I heard that Su Qian just returned?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Second Young Master returned this morning,¡± Jianxin replied.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°No matter what, he is still my second eldest brother. Help me find a gift from inside the room as a token of my kind intentions.¡±

    Jianxin darklyughed, ¡°When Fourth Young Master beat up Second Young Master, why didn¡¯t you say that?¡±

    Su Chen knitted his eyebrows. ¡°If I tell you to go, go. Where did all these wordse from? Do you think I won¡¯t beat you?¡±

    Jianxin slouched over, leaving unwillingly.

    As he watched Jianxin disappear, Su Chen suddenly said, ¡°Iron Cliff.¡±

    Arge figure appeared from the nearby small forest.

    ¡°This damned person!¡± Iron Cliff angrily said. His eyes burned with a fiery range, which seemed like they could incinerate something at any point.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be in a hurry. One must be patient,¡± Su Chen said leisurely. ¡°It¡¯s not the time yet.¡±

    As he spoke, he lifted the teapot on the table. ¡°Drink it.¡±

    ¡°For me?¡± Iron Cliff was shocked.

    He had clearly seen what Jianxin had poured inside.

    This was Origin Energy Medicine!

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I don¡¯t need this thing. Right now, you are in the eighthyer of Body Tempering. Once you drink this you should reach the peak of the ninthyer. If you put some effort in, I trust that it won¡¯t be long before you sessfully enter the Qi Drawing Realm.

    ¡°Master!¡± Iron Cliff said, moved.

    Su Chen used an indifferent tone to express his attention. ¡°You don¡¯t need to be this moved. I am just hoping that in the future I will have a good underling, is all.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 87: Betting Game

    Chapter 87: Betting Game

    The day of the greatpetition had finally arrived.

    As usual, they began by testing one¡¯s cultivation base as everyone happily talked andughed. They were testing whose n¡¯s sons and grandsons had made the most progress and put in the most work in the past year.

    However, this year¡¯s testing method was somewhat different from previous years.

    Only the top three would be decided by cultivation base. The remaining ces would need to fight to determine their cing.

    Everyone always said that the test was not child¡¯s y.

    However, in reality, when the test was not beneficial for those in power, it could be child¡¯s y.

    The end-of-yearpetition changed every year.

    Su Chen had also witnessed it.

    If he still harbored some hope towards the system, his n, or his loved ones, then he would have lost itpletely by now.

    The old beggar was absolutely correct.

    The pair of eyes that he had given Su Chen had not only allowed him to see more, but had also allowed him to see the world¡¯s true appearance.

    Just like Su Keji no longer cared for thisst Verdant Wood Essence, Su Chen did not care for it either at this point.

    But not caring did not mean that he would give up.

    Both Su Chen and Su Keji were actually fighting for their pride.

    On the Star Origin Stone, the first Su n disciple had already begun the test/

    Those stars that lit up indicated their effort in the past year, and affected the hearts of many of those who paid close attention.

    ording to the rules, the person with the best results would gost. As the previous champion, Su Chen idly sat on his own seat, listening to the elders report out the numbers.

    From time to time, there would be an uproar from the crowd. Evidently, some Young Master had performed beyond expectations of him.

    ¡°It seems as if this year¡¯s battle is much more fierce,¡± someone said from behind Su Chen.

    Without turning his head around, Su Chen knew who it was.

    His face revealed a slight smile. ¡°Of course. Even our Twelfth Junior Sister has reached the seventhyer of Body Tempering. How could others dare to ck off.¡±

    A young girl appeared near Su Chen¡¯s side. ¡°Fourth Senior Brother, are you looking down on me? Reaching the seventhyer is incredible? I am still far from you, Second Brother, and the others.¡±

    The young girl was extremely beautiful. She wore a flowered robe embroidered with peonies, and her shoes were lined with gold gilding. Her hair was tied up in a bun, and a jade ornament was stuck through it. When she walked, it seemed as if she did not shake at all.

    She was called Su Ling¡¯er. If Su Chen was the first of the Su n¡¯s third generation, then Su Ling¡¯er was the Su n¡¯s number one female of the third generation.

    Although her face was very cute, Su Ling¡¯er¡¯s personality was quite intelligent for her age.

    At this moment, Su Chen said, ¡°You are still only fourteen years old. I was only at that point when I was fourteen.¡±

    Su Ling¡¯er replied, ¡°Fourth Senior Brother, don¡¯t lead me on. That was just because you didn¡¯t receive the n¡¯s support. Ever since you lost your sight, what resources have you obtained apart from every year¡¯spetition?¡±

    Su Chen smiled. ¡°There¡¯s no need to be so serious about some things.¡±

    ¡°You are quite open-minded.¡±

    ¡°Regardless, right now the number one of the n¡¯s third generation...... is still me.¡±

    Su Ling¡¯er remained quiet for a moment, then shrugged her shoulders. ¡°That¡¯s true. You still haven¡¯t reached the point where I need tofort you or fight for your injustice. Perhaps this is also why I don¡¯t like being with you. There¡¯s too much pressure when I¡¯m around you. Look at how good Brother Xing is; even though he¡¯s older than me, his cultivation base isn¡¯t higher, and I can beat him up if I want to. Now, he obeys mepletely, and whatever I tell him to do he will do. As for you, even though you¡¯re a blind person, and we should all take care of you, what¡¯s the truth? The truth is that you¡¯re stronger than all of us, meaning that you can beat all of us even if your eyes were closed. This kind of feeling is too frustrating.¡±

    Su Ling¡¯er¡¯s words reflected the thoughts of many peoples¡¯ hearts.

    This was why many people in the Su n didn¡¯t like him. His existence only manifested the inability of others.

    Su Ling¡¯er was a good girl, but this didn¡¯t mean that she had to empathize, like, or help Su Chen...... There was nothing that she could help him with anyways.

    Thus, she could only stay far away from him. At most she would asionally greet him just like now and leave after conversing a bit.

    They were not enemies, yet they were not friends.

    The two of them were destined to walk two different kinds of roads and would not have many interactions.

    After saying this, Su Ling¡¯er turn around and walked away ¨C her greetings had finished, and she was going to do her own things and walk her own path.

    Before the Star Origin Stone, one Su n disciple after another retreated after disying their cultivation base.

    There were less and less people, but the ones remaining were all stronger and stronger.

    Su Tong was the third tost person to step onto the stage.

    He had ced third in the previouspetition. When he ced his hand on the Star Origin Stone, the white starlight dazzled everyone¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Whoa!¡± The entire crowd let out a gasp of surprise.

    Peak of Body Tempering.

    Compared to Su Tong¡¯s previous improvements, this was truly a surprising result.

    Every person had been working hard, and in thest moments everyone was sprinting forwards.

    Su Tong excitedly waved his fists in the air and got off the stage. His face was filled with confidence.

    However, when Su Qian stepped onto the stage, the yellow light rendered everyone speechless.

    ¡°Old Second has a good son,¡± the Second Elder Su Changqing praised.

    Su Kejiughed as he replied, ¡°What a shame that a great talent emerges slowly. If this had happened a little earlier, then we wouldn¡¯t have had to give up on those...... resources.¡±

    His words contained a hidden meaning.

    Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s face was steely, and Su Feihu couldn¡¯t resist speaking out. ¡°Bullshit, ¡®a great talent emerges slowly¡¯. The Treasure Light Illusion Realm isn¡¯t a resource? Don¡¯t think that we don¡¯t know what you did for Su Qian. In these years, which child received less resources than Su Chen? All you do all day is scheme for such a tiny amount of Verdant Wood Essence, how embarrassing!¡±

    Su Keji¡¯s face sank. ¡°Old Third, what is with that tone?¡±

    Su Feihu was about to retaliate when Su Changche¡¯s expression stiffened. ¡°Enough.¡±

    Everyone fell into silence.

    Su Changche said, ¡°Su Chen is a good child. However, no matter how outstanding he is, he is still blind and isn¡¯t suitable to be fostered; I recognize this. However, what Su Feihu said is also correct. If you don¡¯t have the ability to win, don¡¯t keep thinking about such small things. It¡¯s just a few bottles of Verdant Wood Essence; is that really worth it?¡±

    As he spoke, his tone had be angry even though he did not disy it.

    Everyone else blushed with shame and stopped arguing.

    At this moment, another bright yellow light shown.

    Once again, a collective gasp of surprise was heard. Countless people were once again shocked.

    This time, it was Su Chen¡¯s hand that was ced on the Star Origin Stone.

    ¡°As expected, he is already an Origin Qi Schr.¡± Su Changche was not surprised at all.

    Not only him, even Su Changsheng, Su Changqing, Su Maodong, and Su Meixi, the Su n¡¯s four elders, all wore tranquil and calm expressions. Evidently, it hadn¡¯t been just Su Keji who had guessed that Su Chen¡¯s strength had increased. However, when Su Cheng¡¯an saw this scene, he was instantly rooted in ce.

    He had not expected that his son was already an official Origin Qi Schr.

    Apart from the end-of-yearpetition, he had no resources to help him, yet he had actually reached this stage!

    ¡°In the end, the battle still determines victory,¡± Su Changqing coldly stated with hatred as he gazed at Su Chen.

    ¡°He might not lose in battle,¡± Su Feihu countered coldly. These words were too filled with hatred, and everyone stared at him.

    Su Changqing gritted his teeth and said, ¡°Su Chen must lose this time.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Su Feihuughed, ¡°Since Second Senior Brother has so much self confidence, should we make a bet?¡±

    ¡°How will we bet?¡± Su Keji asked.

    Su Feihuughed. ¡°Second Senior Brother¡¯s shares are all with father. If we were to bet, he probably wouldn¡¯t be able to offer much. If Su Chen loses, I will give you five thousand Origin Stones. If Su Chen wins, I don¡¯t need you to pay me as long as you crawl a circle around this stage. How does that sound?¡±

    Su Keji¡¯s expression sank. ¡°You have quite a bit of faith in him.¡±

    ¡°I just have no faith in Su Qian, is all.¡± Su Feihu curled his lips. ¡°Trash will always be trash. How could he possibly win against a dragon among men.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 88: Letter

    Chapter 88: Letter

    When Su Chen finished his test, everyone sighed.

    A result of twenty-three Yellow Stars was enough to blindrge numbers of people.

    This was already the secondyer of Qi Drawing!

    Two Origin Qi Schrs were more than enough to significantly increase interest in this year¡¯s end-of-yearpetition. At the same time, all of the suspense rested on Su Chen¡¯s and Su Qian¡¯s shoulders/

    As for Su Tong, he could only helplessly give up thispetition. In the end, the Su n¡¯s reforms seemed like a farce. After going back and forth, they had in the end returned to the original setup.

    Standing on the battle stage, Su Qian watched Su Chen as he said darkly, ¡°Father was correct. You indeed became an Origin Qi Schr a long time ago. This must be the reason why you dared enter the Scarlet Mountain Range, right?¡±

    ¡°If you want to understand it like that, that¡¯s fine,¡± Su Chen indifferently replied.

    ¡°So what if you are in the secondyer of Qi Drawing? In order to hide this fact, you have only been focusing on raising your cultivation base instead of practicing your Origin Skills. This method neglects the fundamentals and focuses on the details. Without Origin Skills, it¡¯s useless just having the cultivation base of an Origin Qi Schr!¡± Su Qian cursed.

    It wasn¡¯t his fault for thinking this. If Su Chen wanted to learn Origin Skills, he definitely needed to obtain them from the Su n. However, until today, the Su n did not have any records that Su Chen had requested any Origin Skills.

    In other words, he believed that Su Chen did not control any Origin Skills.

    In order to conceal his strength, he hadn¡¯t learned any Origin Skills. This truly was somewhat idiotic, which was why Su Qian would say this to him.

    Unlike Su Chen, his time in battle in the Treasure Light Illusion Realm was just like learning a kind of Origin Skill.

    This was why Su Keji was so self-confident in his bet with Su Feihu.

    For the same reason, standing in front of Su Chen, Su Qian was unspeakably confident.

    At this moment, his entire figure shook. His body suddenly released a majestic aura.

    This aura seemed to be physical and began to spread, actually causing the nearby people to feel a vicious, demonic Qi.

    Su Qianughed. ¡°See, this is my Illusory Demonic Killing Aura. It is formed from my killing of three hundred and eight demonic illusions in the first level of the Treasure Light Illusion Realm. I prepared this gift specifically for you!¡±

    As he spoke, he struck out with his arm.

    Illusory Demonic Killing Aura was a quite exceptional Origin Skill. In terms of quality, it was higher than any of the ones that Su Chen had learned.

    As soon as this killing aura was activated, it could stick to one¡¯s body and serve as a shield and had a slight attacking power as well. It could also be added to weapons and body parts, greatly increasing their strength. If one cultivated them to a high level, a strong killing wind could arise just from raising one¡¯s hands. The wind would appear to be sweeping across everything under the son. Its power was many times stronger than the fireball.

    Of course, Su Qian had not reached this stage yet, but this didn¡¯t stop him from being extremely satisfied with his Illusory Demonic Killing Aura.

    The killing intent wrapped itself around Su Qian¡¯s arm, looking like a thin ck snake had wrapped itself around his arm countless times. It mmed down towards Su Chen.

    Upon seeing him attack, Su Chen sighed, ¡°Perhaps you were waiting for this day the entire time, but I never once viewed you as my opponent.¡±

    He closed his eyes, sping his hands, then stepped backwards. This step was like smoke, and he dodged Su Qian¡¯s attack.

    Su Qian¡¯s attack had failed, and he attacked multiple times. Su Chen did not counterattack, instead dodging left and right. If he couldn¡¯t dodge it, he would use his arms to resist the attacks. He only defended and didn¡¯t attack. Moreover, he had not opened his eyes from start to finish.

    If it were anyone else, they would have reckoned that Su Chen was humiliating them, but Su Qian did not know that Su Chen had regained his sight and would not think this way. He only focused on sending out attack after attack.

    On the battle stage, two people moved and shifted about,ing and going instantly like the wind.

    Su Qian¡¯s attacks were like a tigers, but he couldn¡¯tnd a blow on Su Chen. His strength and force could not be disyed, and he couldn¡¯t do anything about it.

    The spectators below were all extremely anxious. asionally, Su Qian¡¯s fist would just brush past Su Chen, and everyone would gasp in surprise.

    There were some who thought it a great pity, there were some who sighed and rejoiced, and even more there were those who yelled loudly because of themotion. Everyone¡¯s thoughts were different.

    However, everyone simultaneously began to realize that Su Qian¡¯s speed had seemingly slowed down significantly.

    For some unknown reason, every time Su Qian struck out, the gap between his strikes seemingly increased. To put it euphemistically, his strikes had be more stable, but negatively speaking some said that his attacks only had strength but no speed. No wonder Su Chen, who was blind, could dodge them simply by listening to the wind.

    Jianxin¡¯s face was extremely confused. Supposedly, Su Chen should have drank the ck Anesthesia, and it should have been his speed that slowed down. So why was it that Su Chen did not seem like he had drunk the ck Anesthesia, while Su Qian looked like he had be slow-witted?

    Just as he was experiencing doubt, someone tapped his shoulder from behind.

    He turned around and saw that it was Iron Cliff.

    Iron Cliff took out a piece of paper and handed it to Jianxin. ¡°A letter from the Young Master to you.¡±

    ¡°Young Master? Fourth Young Master?¡± Jianxin looked distracted.

    Iron Cliff darklyughed, ¡°Yes, you¡¯ll understand once you take a look.¡±

    Jianxin suspiciously looked at the letter in his hand.

    ¡°Jianxin, when you see this letter, I should be battling Su Qian on the stage. The oue of this battle will be outside of your expectations, because Su Qian will lose. Take a closer look at Su Qian. Doesn¡¯t it seem like his movements are somewhat slow? Slow enough that I can dodge and react to them just by listening to the wind? Do you know why this is? Because the bottle of ck Anesthesia that should have been in my stomach ended up in Su Qian¡¯s stomach.¡±

    ¡°Are you shocked? Have you started trembling? Then you need to buckle up and don¡¯t let your legs go soft; even more, don¡¯t fall over, otherwise you will attract attention to yourself. Trust me, that will not have any benefit for you. Do you know why? Because I was the one that exchanged the medicines, long before Zhang Song delivered them. However, this isn¡¯t the most exciting part. My Second Uncle should discover very soon that the ck Anesthesia that I should have ingested was actually drunk by his own son. He will definitely begin to wonder what happened, and he will guess as to who could have done this.¡±

    ¡°Do you know who will be the most suspicious? You!¡±

    ¡°Do you remember when I took you to Second Uncle¡¯s ce and asked you to help me find my fan? That was precisely when Zhang Song returned with the medicine. That is also to say that when Second Uncle received the medicine, you were right there with him. Do you know what this implies? It implies that you might have seen where my Second Uncle hid the medicines and then switched them out. And when you gave me the medicine, I sent you to Second Uncle¡¯s ce one more time. That visit could very well have been an opportunity for you to execute your n!¡±

    ¡°Of course, you and I both know that you wouldn¡¯t do that. You could not have possibly tricked my Second Uncle and secretly observed where he stored the medicine. You also could not have possibly tricked all of those people in his residence and exchanged the medicine. But why does that matter? As long as my Second Uncle knows that you are the most likely person to have done it, that¡¯s enough. He will believe that you were pretending to ally yourself with him, but that you double-crossed him just as he was nning on using you. You didn¡¯t give the medicine to me, instead secretly switching them to harm his son. As for whether or not this actually happened, or whether or not there are any doubts, he will not care about any of that. I understand him; people like him will definitely find a scapegoat given the price that he paid and the today¡¯s oue.¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, you will be that scapegoat. He will believe that it was you that did everything! It was you that harmed him!¡±

    ¡°Thus, I will give you onest piece of advice. You better start running. The farther you run, the better; don¡¯t get caught by my Second Uncle. Trust me, he won¡¯t listen to your exnation. If he catches you, he will personally y you alive, then slowly roast you to death on a spit. Because of our rtionship as master and servant, I will leave you with thisst piece of advice.¡±

    ¡°Goodbye. Signed, your Fourth Young Master, Su Chen.¡±

    ¡°Fourth...... Fourth Young Master......¡± The hand that Jianxin used to hold the letter furiously shook.

    ¡°Finished?¡± Iron Cliff darklyughed.

    Jianxin looked at Iron Cliff hopelessly.

    Iron Cliff understood this gaze. He grabbed the letter and tore it into pieces, then shoved it into his mouth and ate it.

    What he ate was the letter, but his expression was ferocious like he was eating a person. As he ate, he let out strange, low howls.

    Upon hearing thisughter, Su Chen nced in Iron Cliff¡¯s direction. Upon seeing that scene, he gently smiled, then closed his eyes and continued.

    Iron Cliff stoppedughing.

    He leaned into Jianxin¡¯s ear and quietly said, ¡°Master said that thirty breaths after I let out this signal, he will finish off Su Qian. You can choose to stay here and watch Su Qian¡¯s downfall, or you can run now...... there are still twenty-five breaths.¡±

    Jianxin loudly yelled, then turned around and ran.

    No one paid attention to him. Everyone was focused on the battle, and even Su Keji himself was fixedly staring at the stage.

    However, as he gazed at Su Chen¡¯s highly skilled movements, a sense of unease began to surface in his heart and grew increasingly strong.

    Finally.

    Su Chen opened his eyes.

    He watched Su Qian and said in a low voice, ¡°Are you done?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Su Qian was shocked.

    ¡°If you¡¯re done, then take one of my blows,¡± Su Chen said leisurely.

    A palm strike flew out.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 89: Situation

    Chapter 89: Situation

    The palm shed out like a de, stabbing towards Su Qian¡¯s neck with an ominous ringing.

    Su Qian had clearly seen this attack, but he simply could not react to it to dodge in time.

    Bang!

    Su Chen¡¯s palm chopped down onto Su Qian¡¯s neck.

    Everyone saw that Su Chen had only struck out once and Su Qian had already been hit. Su Qian stared at Su Chen in disbelief, as if he was shocked to find that he had somehow been hit. Then, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell over.

    He fell cleanly and gracefully to the ground.

    This time, Su Chen did not fiercely beat him again.

    ¡°NO!¡± Su Keji was unable to hold back and began to stand up and yell loudly, ¡°Qian¡¯er, get back up!¡±

    He could not ept that Su Qian had been defeated, and what more that his defeat had been so simple.

    Su Qian had looked like a child being teased by adults, and after that child had been yed with enough he had been tossed aside.

    Su Chen had not fiercely beaten Su Qian, but he had given Su Qian¡¯s soul a heavy blow. His blow had seemed like it was child¡¯s y to him,pletely crushing Su Qian¡¯s self-confidence!

    Su Keji definitely could not ept this. He let out crazy yells, ¡°Qian¡¯er, get up, keep fighting!¡±

    Su Qian seemed to have heard this, and he strove to stand up unsteadily.

    Su Chen sighed, then grabbed Su Qian¡¯s shoulder and held him steady. He said in a low tone, ¡°You asked for it.¡±

    Boom!

    Another fistnded on Su Qian¡¯s face.

    Su Qian flew into the air, before crashing into the ground below the stage.

    This time, he would not get up no matter how Su Keji yelled.

    It was all over.

    Su Keji¡¯s heart froze. He sat on the ground, paralyzed.

    Not only him, all of the other spectators were also speechless.

    Su Qian¡¯s loss here basically meant that he had lost Su Keji¡¯s entire fortune.

    The defeat of the n¡¯s Second Elder here was equivalent to him giving up any inheritance that he would have passed on in the Su n. He had lost his entire future.

    The winner was king, while the loser was wrong. At that moment, even Su Changche found it difficult to keep watching. He said, ¡°Feihu, your Second Senior Brother right now seems as if he is in great pain. I think......¡±

    Su Feihu replied, ¡°Your son understands. Just forget about the bet that we made earlier.¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯ll crawl!¡± At this point, Su Keji suddenly spoke up.

    Everyone was stunned.

    Su Keji walked step by step off of the spectator¡¯s tform.

    He arrived near the stage, knelt down on all fours, then began to crawl.

    Everyone was dazed when they saw this. Even Su Chen was slightly startled.

    Su Keji began to say loudly, ¡°I, Su Keji, made a bet and I lost! From today onwards, I give up all of my inheritance in the Su n, and I will crawl once around the stage. Everyone in the Su n can be my witness!¡±

    As he yelled, he began to crawl, and he continued to yell as he crawled.

    Everyone continued to watch him crawl, dazed and speechless.

    If there were people who were off-put by Su Keji¡¯s aggressiveness, then in this moment their attitudes had be closer to respect and sympathy.

    In that instant, even Su Feihu felt somewhat unsettled.

    Only Su Chen thought that this was somewhat amusing. He said to himself, ¡°As someone who lost, it was best for him to adopt an utterly fearless attitude, using an attitude of pursuing death to rip open any wounds. That way, he could appear heroic and gain the sympathy of others, giving him a lifeline out of the predicament he was in. Is this his tactic?¡±

    His good Second Uncle truly had some of his own methods.

    However, he naturally could not allow his uncle to continue with this farce.

    He suddenly said, ¡°Jianxin, help me down.¡±

    Although his voice was not loud, it was quite prating.

    Su Keji¡¯s figure stopped.

    Jianxin!?

    Su Chen continued to yell, ¡°Jianxin! Jianxin? Where did you go?¡±

    Every yell pierced Su Keji¡¯s heart like a sharp needle.

    Someone replied, ¡°I think that I saw him run away a while ago.¡±

    ¡°NOO!¡± Su Keji suddenly howled.

    He could not contain the rage in his heart, and he charged out.

    Su Chen smiled faintly as he watched Su Keji¡¯s disappearing back.

    He said to Su Changche, ¡°Patriarch, there is still half ap remaining. Let¡¯s just forget about it.¡±

    Su Changche: ¡°......¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Su Keji returned three dayster.

    When he returned, his body was drenched with fresh blood.

    No one asked him where this blood came from even though Iron Cliff was very curious as to what fate Jianxin had encountered. Unfortunately, it was likely that he would never know the answer.

    The night that Su Keji returned, a body was released from the Virtuous Gift Residence.

    It was Elder Tong.

    From that night onwards, Su Keji lived a secluded life in the Su n, never appearing again.

    He relinquished control of all his businesses in the Su n, and gave up on any dreams of jockeying for power.

    As for Su Chen, he had taken the Verdant Wood Essence and a few other resources that Su Changche had given him and gave them all to Iron Cliff on that very same day.

    In front of everyone.

    This portion of cultivation resources, which two generations of the Su n had fought over, was given away so easily by Su Chen as if it were a negligible reward. Everyone who saw it was speechless.

    Some felt that Su Chen was doing this in purpose to debase the honor of others, but would retrieve the cultivation resources behind their backs.

    However, everyone discovered very quickly that the cultivation resources had in fact been given to Iron Cliff. The night of the end-of-yearpetition, Iron Cliff charged into the Qi Drawing Realm.

    Those resources had truly been given to Iron Cliff to break into Qi Drawing.

    But one aspect of their guesses was absolutely correct ¨C Su Chen was doing this to truly humiliate the Su n.

    He could have done so a little more low-key, but he still chose to give away everything that he had earned to a servant.

    Apparently, the n¡¯s elder was not very happy about it. He said repeatedly, ¡°Youngsters are too impetuous.¡±

    Another fact that could prove that Su Chen was purposefully humiliating the Su n was that, until now, Su Chen had not gone to the Su n¡¯s Inheritance Pavilion to obtain any Origin Skills yet.

    The person in charge of the Inheritance Pavilion was Second Elder Su Changqing. He had long harbored the thought of intentionally making things difficult for Su Chen when he went to pick out Origin Skills.

    However, Su Chen simply had note!

    He had be an Origin Qi Schr, yet he did not learn any Origin Skills ¨C what did that mean?

    Many people didn¡¯t understand, and some people began to guess that Su Changqing was making things difficult for Su Chen, preventing him from getting them.

    When the news reached Su Changqing, he was so angry that he spit out a mouthful of blood.

    He truly had been intending on making things difficult, but the issue was that he didn¡¯t even have the opportunity to do so!

    It was Su Chen himself who hadn¡¯te to obtain these Origin Skills; what did it have to do with him?

    Although he had the intention of making things difficult, Su Changqing felt that he was wrongly used because he hadn¡¯t had the opportunity.

    Even so, not everyone was wrongly using him.

    At the very least, Su Changche knew that it wasn¡¯t Su Changqing¡¯s fault. Rather, it was Su Chen¡¯s own decision.

    On that day, Su Chang¡¯che spent a long time sighing, and then he called Su Cheng¡¯an, cursing his son out.

    From this hearsay, he had also taken away a few of Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s businesses and given them to Old Third, Su Feihu.

    As the eldest son of the Su n, Su Chang¡¯an managed the most businesses, but from this moment, Su Feihu began to control more businesses than Su Cheng¡¯an.

    Without question, this was a weather vane that indicated that Su Changche¡¯s regard of his eldest son was slowly switching over to Old Third.

    This could very easily be understood as an important signal that there would be changes in the Su n. Some even believed that it might not be Su Cheng¡¯an who would hold up the Su n, but rather Su Feihu.

    After Su Keji, Su Cheng¡¯an became someone who was the most frustrated.

    When his own son won the end-of-yearpetition, it had not brought him any glory. Rather, it had put him in dire straits. The gazes that people used to look at him had changed, and now they were filled with scorn, sarcasm, and mockery.

    To Su Cheng¡¯an, this was also a kind of torment.

    Some people would feel regret because of their decisions, while some people would feel only anger because of it.

    Unfortunately, Su Cheng¡¯an belonged to thetter.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 90: Bloodline Awakening

    Chapter 90: Bloodline Awakening

    Today, Su Chen was cultivating in the back mountain, using his Soul Eye, his Air Tentacles, and his Meg¡¯s Guardian over and over again. After a short period of time where he wasn¡¯t frugal with his money when cultivating, Su Chen¡¯s Origin Skills had progressed rapidly, and even his Soul Eye had reached the stage of small sess.

    Just as he was training, a sh of light suddenly shot behind Su Chen.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t turn around. Suddenly, a circle of light surrounded him. It was his Meg¡¯s Guardian, and as he blocked the sneak attack his hand simultaneously flicked backwards, and an air tentacle flew into the air. Next, he hurriedly turned around, his hands stretching in front of his chest, forming arge fireball. Then, he mmed the fireball out in front of him.

    ¡°Yikes!¡± A yell sounded out from the forest, and a person¡¯s shadow flew into the air, flickering about in the air a few times and dodging the fireball. With a ¡°BOOM¡±, the fireballnded on the trees, knocking over the entire tree.

    Gu Qingluo gently floated to the ground, her appearance quite graceful and charming. Unfortunately, the young girl didn¡¯t know her own charm. She just watched the fireball fly past her with shock, covering her hand with her mouth as she said, ¡°What technique is that?¡±

    ¡°Fireball technique,¡± Su Chen replied as he retracted his hands.

    ¡°Its power isn¡¯t weak.¡± Gu Qingluo was interested.

    ¡°It¡¯s an ancient Arcana technique. I can only release one at a time, and I needed to mold an Origin Energy Pattern first. Interested? I can teach you.¡±

    ¡°Hmph, could it be as powerful as my Gu n¡¯s Flying Flower Hands?¡± Gu Qingluo grabbed a handful of leaves off of a tree and shot it towards Su Chen.

    Just a simple leaf naturally was not as powerful as a fireball, but a handful of flying leaves had roughly the same power as the Origin Energy Bullets.

    Su Chen was caught off guard by Gu Qingluo¡¯s attack, and he was only able to dodge half of them. Thankfully, his Meg¡¯s Guardian was still active, and with a series of ¡°ping¡±s the Meg¡¯s Guardian was actually broken.

    Thankfully, Gu Qingluo had been merciful with her strike; otherwise, Su Chen would have at least received some light wounds.

    ¡°Powerful!¡± Su Chen sighed, ¡°Unfortunately, I don¡¯t have the Flying Flower Hands.¡±

    ¡°At least you have the Snaking Mist Steps,¡± Gu Qingluoughed as she lifted her foot and kicked out at Su Chen.

    Su Chen shifted to the side and dodged. He saw Gu Qingluo actually taking multiple steps in midair and chasing after him.

    ¡°Hm? Your Snaking Mist Steps has already reached the point of temporary flight?¡± Su Chen was shocked. This girl¡¯s rate of improvement was very impressive. For the Flying Flower Hands to be as strong as the Origin Energy Bullets was eptable, but her Snaking Mist Steps was already this powerful as well?

    ¡°You can tell just by hearing? I¡¯m quite impressed. I can only take a few steps in midair, and I am still quite faraway from the realm of temporary flight,¡± Gu Qingluo replied. Her words were modest, but her expression was filled with unconcealed delight. Because of this, however, her Qi flow became unstable, and she returned to the ground, unable to remain floating in the air.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s already quite impressive,¡± Su Chen said sincerely.

    Even if it was just a few steps, she was already able to go from the ground to the sky.

    If Origin Qi Schrs wanted to flow, apart from reaching the Light-Shaking Realm, they would need to have flight-type Origin Skills.

    Although the Snaking Mist Steps was only a footwork technique, itbined speed, agility and flying effects. One could use it from a lowyer Origin Qi Schr to a highyer one. For Gu Qingluo to be able to already be able to take a few steps in midair implied that she would be able to gain temporary flight in the Blood Boiling or even highyer Qi Drawing Realm. No wonder such a miraculous skill was known as one of the Gu n¡¯s Absolute Techniques.

    Gu Qingluoughed as she replied, ¡°Not at all, not at all. It was only luck. Not long ago, my bloodline awakened once, which is why I can do this now.¡±

    The Gu n was an ancient bloodline n. The source of its bloodline came from the Bloodline Extraction Instrument, so it could be passed down. Because of this, they were different from ns with mixed bloodlines and didn¡¯t need any bloodline medicines. As long as they waited for the bloodlines to awaken, they naturally would have a bloodline power.

    The methods for awakening a bloodline differed. Some people could live their whole lives without their bloodlines awakening, while others required hard work in cultivation as a stimulus. There were even those whose bloodlines could awaken just by taking a nap.

    The process for awakening bloodlines was also different. Some people felt as if they were being cut open when their bloodlines awakened, and the process was extremely painful for them. Others seemed to feel nothing at all.

    The amount that a bloodline awakened also differed. Usually, only about fifty percent or so could experience their first bloodline awakening. The more one¡¯s bloodline was awakened, the more powerful one would be. But no one¡¯s bloodline could be a hundred percent awakened. Under normal circumstances, a bloodline would only be awakened to thirty percent or at most fifty percent. If one went past this percentage, humankind would no longer be humankind. Rather, they would irreversibly be some form of beast.

    Without question, Gu Qingluo was quite lucky.

    Her bloodline had awoken one night as she was sleeping. She had not encountered any sickness, adverse consequence, or sufferings.

    Her first awakening was more than enough to cause her strength to greatly increase. Even though Su Chen¡¯s strength was also rapidly increasing during this time, he had no confidence to say that his improvement was faster than Gu Qingluo¡¯s.

    One had to admit that an ancient bloodline n was an ancient bloodline n. They were all definitely very powerful.

    Su Chen was just nning on speaking when he suddenly saw a flow of Qi run across Gu Qingluo¡¯s skin.

    Su Chen had seen this Qi flow before. He had seen it the day that he had regained his sight, when he was watching Gu Qingluo cultivate in her room.

    However, not long afterwards, he very rarely encountered this situation.

    At that time, he was not very clear about his own eyes, but now he slowly began to understand.

    His own eyes seemingly had the ability to see fine details and identify their existence. The motion vision that he had was just an extension of that ability. The true usage of his eyes was that he could see Origin Energy, which was so small that it could not be perceived by the naked eye.

    When Su Chen gathered Origin Energy in his eyes, he could raise the effectiveness of his eyes another step. However, this would also increase the burden on his eyes, so it could not be used long-term.

    However, the Origin Energy in the body was covered up by ayer of skin, and normally it was very difficult to see.

    Under these kinds of circumstances......

    Su Chen realized something. He asked, ¡°Just then, when you were using the Flying Flower Hands and the Snaking Mist Steps, did you activate your bloodline power?¡±

    ¡°I did!¡± Gu Qingluo obediently nodded her head. ¡°Right now, my control over these two Origin Skills is not sufficient, and I need to supplement it withrge amounts of bloodline power to achieve my current condition. However, in the future when I be more proficient, I won¡¯t need to add much of my bloodline power to raise my strength. But no matter what condition I cultivate these skills to, I have to bower my bloodline power. Otherwise, their strength would only reach where you are right now.¡±

    Bloodline powers could be activated by Qi Drawing Realm cultivators, not just those in the Blood Boiling Realm. However, only after reaching the Blood Boiling Realm could one fully manifest the power of one¡¯s bloodline. Gu Qingluo had yet to reach Blood Boiling and had no way of disying her bloodline¡¯s full power. Because of this, she needed to activate more of her bloodline to achieve the same result.

    ¡°So are your Gu n¡¯s absorption techniques rted to your bloodline?¡±

    ¡°Naturally. My Gu n¡¯s absorption techniques, apart from absorbing Origin Energy to improve one¡¯s physical condition, can also more importantly excite my bloodline. Otherwise, if we depended solely on inheritance, the bloodline would have died out within three generations.¡± Gu Qingluo most likely had been extensively taught concerning these matters, so she was able to get to the heart of the matter immediately.

    Indeed, that was the case.

    Su Chen instantly understood.

    It was a bloodline!

    It was the bloodline power that would appear on Gu Qingluo¡¯s body after activation.

    Because Gu Qingluo had activated her bloodline, the Origin Energy in her blood became thicker, which was why he could perceive it. When he had seen her cultivatingst time, her bloodline was actually in a preliminary open state, which was why he could see the Qi flow on her body.

    Now that the two of them had stopped sparring, Gu Qingluo¡¯s bloodline gradually returned to its calm state, and the Qi flow on her body once again began to disappear. Su Chen had no choice but to infuse his eyes with Origin Energy to continue watching.

    At that moment, Su Chen suddenly had an idea.

    He wanted to see where the bloodline was being activated in Gu Qingluo¡¯s body that gave her such an inconceivable amount of strength.

    Thus, he said, ¡°I just so happened to learn a few new moves. Want to spar with me a bit?¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Gu Qingluo¡¯s eyes lit up.

    There were no wasted words. The two of them began to battle, and this time Su Chen did not hold back. He directly activated the Soul Eye, Air Tentacles, Meg¡¯s Guardian ¨C anything that he could think of. Simrly, Gu Qingluo responded with the Gu n¡¯s absolute techniques. A winner could not be determined in a short period of time.

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s strength had greatly increased after she awoke her bloodline, and that was the perfect opportunity to test herself. However, in the entire Northface City, she was unable to find many decent opponents. When faced with the six or seven Origin Skills that Su Chen was able to control, the two of them were evenly matched opponent, arousing Gu Qingluo¡¯s interest. She had only been messing around in the first ce, but as they sparred she began to get serious.

    As for Su Chen, he also saw the changes in Gu Qingluo¡¯s bloodline. He could see something thickly flowing and surging from within Gu Qingluo¡¯s body, resulting in the Origin Energy in her body changing because of it. The result was very unique, allowing Gu Qingluo to release a strength that most would find quite freaky.

    However, if it wasn¡¯t an Origin Energy Pattern nor Seal, then what could it be?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know, but as he continued to watch her, Su Chen felt a strange feeling creep over him.

    This feeling appeared on his own body, and his footsteps suddenly increased in speed as well as bing more graceful. His speed strangely continued to increase.

    Suddenly, Su Chen took a step in midair. He did not fall to the ground. Rather, he quickly changed direction in midair, dodging one of Gu Qingluo¡¯s attacks.

    Although in the next instant he fell to the ground, Gu Qingluo was still stunned.

    ¡°How did you do it?¡±

    Su Chen fell silent.

    He shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Try it again!¡± Gu Qingluo urged him.

    Stepping in midair was the dividing line between having the bloodline and activating the Snaking Mist Steps versus not having the bloodline and activating the Snaking Mist Steps.

    Those without the bloodline should not be able to do such a thing regardless of what level their cultivation base had reached!

    Su Chen tried again, but no matter how much effort he put in, he was unable to do it.

    ¡°Perhaps it was just a coincidence.¡± Gu Qingluo shrugged her shoulders.

    Whether he had the bloodline, they were all methods that affected ones¡¯ use of Origin power. Thus, the fact that coincidences sometimes urred was not abnormal.

    However, Su Chen was still somewhat dissatisfied.

    He watched Gu Qingluo.

    After their sparring session, Gu Qingluo was clearly tired. Her face was flushed from exertion, and the Qi flow under her skin was very clear because of her bloodline¡¯s activation.

    Unfortunately, her clothes obstructed her body underneath, making it impossible for him to see more clearly.

    Without those pieces of clothing, if he could see more clearly, how good would that be?

    He hesitated and was tormented.

    In the end, he was unable to suppress the fierce thirst in his heart.

    He made his decision.

    He said, ¡°Are you tired? Since we sweated so much, why not take a bath.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 91: Spirit Seeking

    Chapter 91: Spirit Seeking

    In the pond of water below the cliff, the water slowly rippled on the surface.

    Gu Qingluo rose from the water like a lotus. In the moment she left the water, she shook her long hair, causing water droplets to fly through the air. They glistened under the shining of the sunlight.

    Although they were deep into winter, the physiques of Origin Qi Schr made it so that she did not fear the cold at all. She swam through the water quickly, frolicking around. One felt that nature was truly harmonious and beautiful.

    Su Chen was sitting on arge tree not too faraway, watching Gu Qingluo taking a bath.

    When embezzlement was done to this kind of point, he could also be considered in a certain realm.

    However, at this moment, Su Chen did not possess any lecherous thoughts. He stared at Gu Qingluo, but his sight was prating her skin to observe the Origin Energy flow.

    He couldn¡¯t help but stare.

    Gu Qingluo had just activated her bloodline power a moment ago, and there were still remnant traces of her bloodline flowing, making the Origin Energy flow very apparent. However, as time passed, the Origin Energy flow would be fainter.

    Thus, Su Chen needed to use his time well.

    His eyes were fixed on the Origin Energy flow in Gu Qingluo¡¯s body. Su Chen seemingly saw a kind of almost illusivew of Origin Energy conduction. He couldn¡¯t say clearly what it was, but as he watched a feeling suddenly emerged in his heart. It was like there was some kind of philosophical theory that had appeared before Su Chen eyes. There was no way to describe it in words; he could only understand it by using his body.

    Right, understanding it by using his own body!

    If someone had the same eyes as Su Chen at this moment, they would discover that at this moment inside Su Chen¡¯s body, the Origin Energy flow actually bore some resemnce to Gu Qingluo. The traces of movement, the frequency of jumping, the ebb and flow of the Origin Energy, and the strange changes as it flowed, all resembled what was happening in Gu Qingluo¡¯s body.

    However, this was only a resemnce!

    ¡°Pu!¡± Su Chen suddenly felt the Qi and blood in his body boiling over. A sweet taste filled his mouth, as if he had been on the receiving end of a fierce punch. He spit out a mouthful of blood.

    Dammit!

    Su Chen knew that something was wrong.

    Attempting to move the Origin Energy in his body of his own initiative to copy the Soaring Serpent bloodline was definitely courting death.

    Spitting out a mouthful of blood was already quite light. If the side effects had been more severe, he could have be mentally deranged or even died.

    Even so, Su Chen¡¯s circumstances were still not that great. Apart from spitting out a mouthful of blood, Su Chen discovered that a heaviness had set into his legs.

    A hard-to-describe feeling of heaviness!

    If the Snaking Mist Steps made one feel light and floaty, as if someone had halved one¡¯s body weight, then the opposite was true at that moment.

    Su Chen¡¯s legs felt as heavy as if lead had been poured into them. He felt as if every step drained him of an incredible amount of strength.

    Su Chen was unable to stand up for a moment, then sat down next to the tree, drained of energy.

    Was this the consequence of recklessness?

    Su Chen bitterly smiled.

    His attempt at gaining an advantage had reallye back to bite him.

    He pounded his own leg a little bit, attempting to restore the Origin Energy in his body to normal. Finally, Su Chen felt like his condition had improved slightly.

    He let out a sigh of relief ¨C this implied that the effect was only temporary.

    However, Su Chen also knew that this was because his cultivation base was low, and he didn¡¯t have much Origin power yet. He had also cultivated the Snaking Mist Steps, resulting in rtively light consequences. If he had been in any different situation, his legs may have been crippled.

    Imitating the motion of Origin Energy was extremely dangerous. Su Chen was sobered, no longer daring to continue to try. However, that step in midair that he had been able to take earlier caused his heart to itch with desire. He always had a feeling, which was that even if he didn¡¯t have the Soaring Serpent Bloodline, he could also do the same thing as Gu Qingluo.

    Thus, he was extremely conflicted internally. He was like a youth standing in front of an intersection, gazing at the roads as they disappeared in the distance, unsure which road he should take.

    Gu Qingluo, however, did not know what he was thinking about at that moment.

    Upon seeing Su Chen just sitting on the ground, his face deathly pale, she asked, ¡°Hey, what¡¯s wrong with you?¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t want her to know that he had been injured, so he hurriedly replied, ¡°Nothing much, I was just thinking about something. Last time you were investigating the Spirit Burying Terrace, did you discover anything interesting?

    Upon hearing this question, Gu Qingluo¡¯s attention had been diverted. She poured a handful of water over herself and sighed, ¡°Nothing really. After so many years and changes over time, no one knows where the Spirit Burying Terrace is located anymore. The only thing for certain is that it must be around this area, most likely near......¡±

    ¡°Scarlet Mountain Range,¡± Su Chen suddenly said. ¡°The Spirit Burying Terrace is in the Scarlet Mountain Range.¡±

    ¡°How do you know?¡± Gu Qingluo asked with curiosity.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Not long ago, that organization asked me to help them deliver a shipment of goods. These included a few medicinal herbs such as Blueheart Grass or the Apeblood Flower.¡±

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Blueheart Grass is used to concoct poison antidotes, while the Apeblood Flower is the main ingredient used to refine the Beast Repellent Medicine.¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°So you know that as well.¡±

    ¡°Hmph, I am very learned,¡± Gu Qingluo replied bluntly. ¡°Are there any other clues?¡±

    ¡°The first time that I ran into them, when I was secretly listening in on their conversation, they mentioned a Purple Bloodflower and rock powder.¡±

    Gu Qingluo knitted her eyebrows. ¡°Purple Bloodflowers are used in many applications such as soul-strengthening, meditation, and warding off evil, so it¡¯s hard to tell what they need it for. As for rock powder...... why would they need to use it?¡±

    Gu Qingluo didn¡¯t know.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°The rock powder was a special kind that would create a giant explosion when infused with Origin Energy.¡±

    ¡°It could be used to create explosions? How powerful is it?¡± Gu Qingluo was surprised.

    ¡°It¡¯s more than sufficient to break through mountain rock.¡±

    Gu Qingluo fell silent.

    A long timeter, she said, ¡°Although Blueheart grass is used to concoct antidotes, there are also other kinds of antidotes out there. Antidotes made from Blueheart Grass are not usually used to treat beast poison, but rather poison from miasma.¡±

    ¡°Poison from miasma?¡± Su Chen was slightly dazed. He didn¡¯t actually know that fact. ¡°Are there ces in the Scarlet Mountain Range that have poisonous miasmas?¡±

    ¡°There are. For instance, Peach Blossom Peak, Hundred Birds Peak, Western Limit Peak, Flying Forest Peak, or Red Dawn Peak ¨C it can be found in many different locations.¡±

    Su Chen immediately said, ¡°If they need rock powder to break through all the rocks, then it must be a location with quite a bit of rock.¡±

    Gu Qingluo followed up, ¡°Purple Bloodflower can calm one¡¯s soul, so there could possibly be an illusion realm or Vicious Beasts that can unleash soul attacks nearby.¡±

    The two of them verbalized their reasoning in rapid session, and they were able to narrow down to one mountain range.

    ¡°It should be somewhere in the Red Peak Range,¡± Gu Qingluo said with assurance.

    ¡°Unfortunately, the area of the Red Peak Range is still toorge,¡± Su Chen sighed.

    The Red Peak Range was located in the Western area of the Scarlet Mountain Range. There were four mountain peaks near it and two canyons. Su Chen and Gu Qingluo had only narrowed the location down to the Red Peak Range. As for where it was exactly, that was harder to say. Such arge area was enough to store more than a hundred Spirit Burying Terraces, let alone one.

    ¡°What? You want to go there?¡± Gu Qingluo asked Su Chen.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°For the organization to spend so much effort to unearth the Spirit Burying Terrace means that there must be some very good things inside. How could I not want to verify that for myself?¡±

    Gu Qingluo continued, ¡°You probably don¡¯t just want to verify it for yourself; you want to take advantage of the situation for your own benefit, don¡¯t you¡¯?¡±

    Su Chen replied straightforwardly, ¡°How could I, Su Chen, do such a thing?¡±

    However, Su Chen then added on, ¡°But you do know that blind people ¡®see¡¯ by using their hands and touching something...... repeatedly touching it.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Gu Qingluo was also rendered speechless by Su Chen.

    After thinking for a moment, she said, ¡°That Spirit Burying Terrace, they haven¡¯t opened it yet, right?¡±

    ¡°Some people are already beginning to dig up the entrance. They say that it will take another half of a year or so before it can be opened.¡±

    ¡°Half a year......¡± Gu Qingluo hemmed for a moment before saying, ¡°How is your rtionship with this organization?¡±

    ¡°Not too bad. Thest two times I went to the Scarlet Mountain Range, I borrowed their Origin Tools, and not long ago I participated in a quite sessful coboration with them.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, I think I have a method which can help you get into the Spirit Burying Terrace.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 92: Recipe

    Chapter 92: Recipe

    When he awoke in the morning, Su Chen felt that his chest was still somewhat stuffy and his legs were still heavy. His cirction of Origin Energy was also limited, and he knew that the issue from yesterday had not beenpletely taken care of.

    It seemed like it would take a period of time before he couldpletely recover.

    Su Chen did not want to wait that long. Thankfully, he knew of a kind of medicine that could treat light Origin Energy rebounds like his. He decided that he might as well create the medicine himself, simultaneously giving himself some practice with Ulrich¡¯s alchemy techniques.

    Since he wanted to do it, he would do it. He called over Mingshu and told him to tell Zhou Hong to prepare his carriage.

    After Jianxin had disappeared, Su Chen¡¯s personal servant had officially be Mingshu. Although he was a bit stubborn, he had a strong sense of integrity and he was very loyal to Su Chen. Thus, Su Chen liked him more.

    At that moment, Mingshu was helping Su Chen wash his face. As Su Chen watched him diligently working, an idea suddenly surfaced in his mind. He said, ¡°Mingshu, do you want to learn martial arts?¡±

    ¡°Of course I want to. But what use is it if no one teaches me?¡± Mingshu replied mncholically.

    ¡°I can teach you if you want,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Really?¡± Mingshu¡¯s eyes instantly lit up.

    However, immediately afterwards his face fell again as he said, ¡°Young Master, don¡¯t mess around with me. Everyone knows that the Su n¡¯s martial techniques cannot be transmitted.¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°I didn¡¯t say I would teach you the Su n¡¯s martial techniques. Anyways, are the Su n¡¯s martial techniques really so precious? I have better ones to give to you.¡±

    Mingshu stared at Su Chen, dazed. ¡°Young Master, are you being serious?¡±

    Su Chen nodded his head seriously.

    Mingshu was extremely excited. ¡°That¡¯s awesome!¡±

    He really jumped into the air before falling to his knees. ¡°Mingshu thanks Young Master for transmitting these techniques to me!¡±

    ¡°Okay, don¡¯t worry about the formalities. Get up and go take care of business.¡± As he spoke, Su Chen had pretty much finished washing his face.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go call Zhou Hong right now!¡± Mingshu yelled as he scrambled to his feet.

    Once he reached the doorway, he turned around and looked at Su Chen. ¡°Can I tell this to Zhou Hong?¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°Of course. Tell him he can learn if he wants too.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Young Master!¡± Mingshu excitedly ran out of the room.

    Upon leaving the residence, Zhou Hong was already waiting for him with the carriage ready at the doorway. One could tell from his excited expression that Mingshu had already informed him of the situation. However, he was much older than Mingshu, and he had experienced the ups and downs of life so he was much more stable as well. He did not forget his duties because of it, instead silently focusing his attention on the task at hand.

    ¡°Take me to the Upwind Pavilion,¡± Su Chen said as he got on the carriage.

    The carriage steadily headed towards the Upwind Pavilion.

    The Upwind Pavilion was located on Spring Wind Road on the east side of Northface City, and was the most well-known medicinal supplier. At this time, medicinal suppliers did not belong to separate ns, so it was also thergest medicinal pavilion in the entire Northface City.

    When Su Chen had lost his sight, the Su n had once invited many of the doctors here to take a look at his eyes. Thus, many of the people here were quite familiar with Su Chen.

    Upon arriving at the Upwind Pavilion, an assistant instantly came to greet him. ¡°So it¡¯s Fourth Young Master, why have youe here today?¡±

    ¡°Please arrange all the necessary medicinal ingredients ording to this recipe,¡± Su Chen said as he handed over a recipe.

    The recipe had been transcribed by Mingshu from Su Chen¡¯s speaking.

    Ulrich had been able to change the metal-eating bug, so his understanding of biology was quite good. He was also somewhat proficient in medicine. Su Chen was curious by nature, so he had obtained a few recipes from Ulrich¡¯s studies.

    The assistant took the recipe and nced it over, then handed it to the head storekeeper with a strange expression. When the head storekeeper looked at it, his eyebrows also slightly knitted together. ¡°This recipe truly is a little strange.¡±

    Su Chen secretlyughed.

    Ancient Arcana medicinal techniques were quite different from those popr in contemporary medicine. They were greatly different in terms of thought process, ingredients and methods. It was not strange that the other party was unable to understand this recipe.

    The head storekeeper couldn¡¯t resist asking, ¡°Where does Fourth Young Master¡¯s recipee from? What use does it have?¡±

    ¡°Is that any of your business?¡± Su Chen countered.

    The head storekeeper hurriedly said, ¡°Oh, not really. I was just a little curious.¡±

    After considering that the recipe didn¡¯t include any methods to make the medicine, so they wouldn¡¯t be able to use it, Su Chen didn¡¯t hide it from them. He replied, ¡°It¡¯s used to treat the rebound from losing control of Origin Energy brought about by frustration of Qi flow.¡±

    ¡°A medicine that treats Origin Energy rebound?¡± The head storekeeper¡¯s eyes instantly lit up.

    Origin Energy rebound was actually rtivelymon for Origin Qi Schrs. Simr urrences could happen whether cultivating or battling, but not many medicines could be used to treat this rebound. Most could only alleviate the systems and still depended on the Origin Qi Schrs using their own cultivation bases to fully treat it. The main problem was that light rebounds could be cured, but severe cases of rebound could potentially be impossible to treat.

    For many Origin Qi Schrs, severe cases of Origin Energy rebound were like incurable diseases, filling them with dread. Even so, there were extremely few medicines or treatments that could be used.

    Because of this, the head storekeeper¡¯s eyes had instinctively lit up when he had heard that this medicine could treat Origin Energy rebound.

    Su Chen, however, shook his head. ¡°It can only treat light rebounds.¡±

    ¡°Even if it¡¯s light that¡¯s no problem,¡± the head storekeeper excitedly said. ¡°Is Young Master Su willing to sell this recipe to us?¡±

    Any medicine that could treat Origin Energy rebound was extremely valuable.

    Although the sales volume of these medicines was not too great, the profits were sky-high. After all, anyone who could experience Origin Energy rebound had to be an Origin Qi Schr.

    Origin Qi Schrs did notck money.

    They were willing to pay any price to deal with it as long as it could take care of their problem.

    Thus, there was never a fear that there were too many kinds of medicine to treat Origin Energy rebound. If some people didn¡¯t see much effect from one or two kinds, they might buy one of each kind. Who knew which kind of medicine would cure them of this problem?

    After all, Origin Energy rebound often urred under different circumstances, and no one knew which treatment was the most effective.

    This recipe was evidently very different from the normal treatments for curing Origin Energy rebound that they usually saw, implying that its base price alone was already extremely high, not to mention its true market value.

    The head storekeeper was not worried that Su Chen would try to cheat them. After all, the Fourth Young Master of the Su n was not that tasteless. In addition, if he were to cheat the Upwind Pavilion, the Su n better give up on finding them to treat their illnesses.

    However, while the head storekeeper wanted to buy it, Su Chen did not want to sell, and he only shook his head and said, ¡°I¡¯m not selling this form. Please get the appropriate ingredients.¡±

    The head storekeeper felt that it was a great pity.

    He wanted to plead a bit more when he suddenly heard a voice say, ¡°What recipe is so precious? Let me take a look.¡±

    A hand suddenly reached out and took away the recipe in their head storekeeper¡¯s hands.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 93: Rumors

    Chapter 93: Rumors

    It was a man with a slender figure and wearing a moonish-white long robe with a cor made of ferret fur. A snow-white long sword was sheathed at his waist, and he looked very handsome and heroic. There were two people next to him; one of them was a handsome young man who was dressed extravagantly, wearing a mink fur overcoat. The other was a woman who was actually Gu Qingluo.

    For Gu Qingluo to appear in this ce caused Su Chen quite some surprise. However, he concealed the surprise in his eyes extremely well.

    But it was Mingshu who, upon seeing the male taking away the recipe, said unhappily, ¡°Hey, who are you? Don¡¯t randomly take other peoples¡¯ things!¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± The mink overcoat male looked at Mingshu, then looked at Su Chen and suddenlyughed, ¡°Isn¡¯t this the blind Young Master of the Su n? When did a blind Young Master be able to open a prescription?¡±

    The well-dressed youth to his sideughed and said, ¡°Perhaps his old illness has turned him into a doctor.¡±

    The mink overcoat male said with a face of shock, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, he should be opening prescriptions to treat his eyes.¡±

    The well-dressed youth replied, ¡°Perhaps he alsomonly experiences Origin Energy rebound.¡±

    The two of them looked at each other, then began tough, wearing an unrestrained expression of mockery.

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s eyebrows slightly knitted together.

    She had been in Northface City for quite some time, and she also knew that while the Four Great ns were not at peace, they were also not at the point yet where they would fight with each other upon sight. These two people most likely were just performing in front of her.

    Youths always believed that if they stepped on others, they could disy their own strengths, obtaining the admiration of close female friends.

    However, they didn¡¯t know that girls didn¡¯t like fighting, not to mention that Gu Qingluo and Su Chen were secretly friends. Even if they weren¡¯t friends, she wouldn¡¯t like their behavior.

    Since the two of them didn¡¯t know, they were busy inting each other¡¯s egos and were very pleased with themselves, as if they had no other way of disying their heroism and greatness.

    At that moment, Mingshu was already so angry that his face was red. He opened his mouth and cursed, ¡°Where did the wild dogse from and how do they dare howl at my Young Master?¡±

    The mink overcoat male¡¯s expression changed. ¡°Courting death!¡±

    He raised his hand, and a streak of wind shot out from his finger towards Mingshu.

    Just as Mingshu was about to be hit by the blow, Su Chen grabbed Mingshu and pulled him backwards, dodging the wind. That finger strikended on a nearby column, boring out a hole in it.

    Su Chen slowly said, ¡°Is the Lin n nning on doing battle with the Su n?¡±

    The two of them were simultaneously stunned.

    The well-dressed male said, ¡°You know that we are from the Lin n?¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°Members of the Lin n always have a smelly odor about them. It would be difficult for me to avoid smelling it even if I wanted to.¡±

    Because the Lin n was constantly raising beasts, it was unavoidable that they would be polluted by the smell of wild beasts. However, this odor was usually only found on servants, and it was impossible for these two, who were clearly Young Masters of the Lin n, to smell like that. Su Chen had said this on purpose, just like how the two of them had mocked that he was blind. It was a contest of wits ¨C who was stronger, who was afraid of who?

    The expression of the mink overcoat male once again changed. ¡°Damned blind man, don¡¯t think that just because you earned the top spot among the pile of trash in the Su n that you are something!¡±

    He opened his right hand, and another vortex appeared in his hand. However, this time it had taken on the form of an arrow.

    The mink overcoat maleunched the air arrow towards Su Chen. The arrow let out an ominous hum as it shot towards Su Chen¡¯s arm. Evidently, this attack was only meant to injure rather than take his life.

    However, even if it was just an attack meant to injure, Su Chen couldn¡¯t let him do whatever he wanted. He used his hand as a de and chopped out towards the wind arrow. The wind arrow was cut into pieces. Surprisingly, it didn¡¯t dissipate because of this; rather, it became ten or so even more tiny wind arrows, shooting towards Su Chen.

    The mink overcoat maleughed, ¡°Wind is formless. How could you defend against it so easily!¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s palm was ced in midair.

    In the next moment, everyone seemed hear the low roar of thunder, as if it were a bell ringing from within their hearts. At the same time, it appeared as if it had never existed; the nearby assistants, the storekeepers ¨C none of them seemed to have noticed it.

    However, following this noiseless thunder, all of the wind arrows werepletely dissipated.

    Su Chen retrieved his palm and said with a gentle smile, ¡°Such arge yet noiseless sound, how could you so easily hear it?¡±

    When using the Thunder de to deal with the Wind Arrow, the two of them were actually evenly matched.

    The mink overcoat male was also somewhat surprised. He evidently had not expected that Su Chen¡¯s reaction would be so quick and urate, and his strength had also exceeded his expectations.

    He said with a savage expression, ¡°Impressive, but it¡¯s not enough. Try this one on for size!¡±

    He was just about to make a move when Gu Qingluo suddenly interrupted, ¡°Lin Yemao, Lin Jingxuan, are you finished yet? I am here to get medicine for Blue Night, not to watch you stir up trouble.¡±

    ¡°Qingluo.¡± The mink overcoat male¡¯s expression instantly changed, and he gazed at Gu Qingluo, his face full of smiles.

    Gu Qingluo had already turned around and left. ¡°The battle between your Lin and Su ns has nothing to do with me. Hurry and get the medicine and let¡¯s leave. I don¡¯t want to waste any time here.¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay!¡± the mink overcoat male hurriedly replied.

    He fiercely red at Su Chen and said, ¡°Damned blind man, remember my name. I am Lin Yemao. On the day of the Hidden Dragon battle, I¡¯ll give you something to look at.¡±

    The well-dressed male also walked forwards andughed, ¡°My name is Lin Jingxuan, I await the day where we can do battle.¡±

    As he spoke, he also left with the mink overcoat male and apanied Gu Qingluo to go and buy medicine.

    ¡°Lin Yemao, Lin Jingxuan......¡± Su Chen repeated these two names in a low voice.

    If he remembered correctly, these were two of the four names that Gu Qingluo had mentioned to him earlier.

    That was to say that the four seedlings that the Lin n had sent to the Gu n had already returned?

    It seemed that since the Hidden Dragon battle was near, the Lin n was no longer concealing their existence.

    However, no one knew how their strength had increased upon entering the Gu n. This truly did make people look forward to it!

    Su Chen paid them no more attention, instead returning to the Su pce upon purchasing the appropriate medicinal ingredients.

    Upon arriving at the Su pce, a maidservant hurriedly rushed towards him. ¡°Fourth Young Master, you¡¯ve finally returned.¡±

    ¡°What happened? Why are you in such a hurry?¡± Su Chen asked.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Madame...... Madame, she......¡± The maidservant was unable to continue for a moment.

    Su Chen¡¯s expression changed slightly. ¡°What happened to mother?¡±

    ¡°Mother passed out after spitting out blood,¡± the maidservant finally replied.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Inside the Bright Prospects Pavilion.

    Tang Hongruiy on her bed, her face deathly pale, unable to awaken from her sleep.

    An elderly person was examining her condition. Upon finishing, they said, ¡°She is ill because of the mes of anger assaulting her heart. She will require peaceful recuperation. I will help Madame open a few prescriptionster. As long as she ingests the medicines ording to the prescription, she should be well in a short period of time. But please remember, don¡¯t let the afflicted person be any more agitated.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Doctor Sun,¡± Su Chen replied courteously.

    Doctor Sun was the best doctor in the Upwind Pavilion. With these words from him, Su Chen felt much more at peace.

    After sending the doctor out of the Su pce¡¯s front door, Su Chen returned to the Bright Prospects Pavilion.

    He sat in the chair that his mothermonly sat in as he spoke in a low tone, ¡°Xiang Xiu, tell me, why did my mother suddenly have mes of anger assaulting her heart without reason?¡±

    ¡°This......¡± Xiang Xiu hesitated for a moment.

    ¡°TELL ME!¡± Su Chen¡¯s tone clearly became more savage.

    Xiang Xiu was greatly frightened. She hurriedly said, ¡°Madame fainted because she heard certain rumors.¡±

    ¡°What kinds of rumors?¡±

    Xiangxiu replied, her voice trembling, ¡°Last time during the end-of-yearpetition, everyone said that Second Young Master would definitely win; even the n leader didn¡¯t stand on your side. However...... however, Third Elder always supported Fourth Young Master, and was even willing to make a bet with Second Elder of five thousand taels of gold. If Fourth Young Master lost, then this five thousand taels of gold would go to Second Elder, while if Fourth Young Master won, Second Elder would crawl in a circle around the battle stage.¡±

    ¡°I know about this. What does it have anything to do with the rumors though?¡±

    ¡°Third Elder always cared for and favored Fourth Young Master, so the rumors said...... said......¡± Xiang Xiu nced at Su Chen, then finally said, gathering her courage, ¡°Said that Fourth Young Master was not actually First Elder¡¯s son, but rather the son of Third Elder and Madame.¡±

    BANG!

    Su Chen smacked the incense altar next to him, smashing it to pieces.

    Even though his temperament was patient and forbearing, but he was still thoroughly enraged by these rumors.

    In that moment, he tightly clenched his fists, letting out a loud howl. After a long time, his heart slowly began to settle down.

    After another long period of time, Su Chen said, ¡°How long has this rumor been spreading around the Su pce for?¡±

    Xiang Xiu touched her head to the ground and replied, trembling, ¡°It¡¯s been roughly seven or eight days.¡±

    ¡°Seven or eight days...... then the underlings should have known about it for quite some time, right?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°......Yes!¡±

    ¡°Were you the one that told my mother?¡±

    ¡°No, not me!¡± Xiang Xiu yelled in fright, ¡°How could this little one have such gall to prattle my tongue in front of Madame!¡±

    ¡°Then how did she know?¡±

    ¡°It was Lan Zhi!¡± Xiang Xiu replied. ¡°When Lan Zhi was talking to the underlings, they were discussing this matter, and Madame just so happened to hear it.¡±

    ¡°Call Lan Zhi over for me.¡±

    A momentter, Lan Zhi appeared in the pavilion.

    Apart from Su Chen, not a single other person was in therge pavilion.

    Su Chen was sitting on the chair, holding a cup of tea in his hand. He didn¡¯t drink it, instead staring nkly into the distance. It was unknown what he was thinking.

    Lan Zhi knelt on the ground, but Su Chen didn¡¯t say anything for quite some time, as if she didn¡¯t exist.

    After a long while, Su Chen said,¡± Who told you to spread the rumors to my mother?¡±

    Lan Zhi was greatly shocked. ¡°What does Young Master mean by saying this? It was just a slip of the tongue from this servant......¡±

    Su Chen said calmly and unhurriedly, ¡°Before you arrived, I already asked around. You said this in the Refreshing Pavilion while you were picking flowers. That ce is quite broad and the field of view is very good. If anyone were toe, they would see you very easily. In addition, my mothermonly goes to the Ancestor Hall to burn incense and will always pass by there. You have been with her for so long, and you must know this. I also asked Cui Xin, Yu Yun, and Qiu Tang, and they all testified that while they were just idly conversing, someone suddenly brought up the conversation rted to the rumors. It was you...... who chose to say something that you absolutely shouldn¡¯t have said at that time. Do you still want to try and im that you are innocent?¡±

    Lan Zhi began to yell loudly, ¡°Young Master is giving me a bad name and then condemning me. Lan Zhi truly did say something she not have said, but it definitely wasn¡¯t intentional. The rumors began to spread from within the residence, and Madame was bound to know sooner orter. Why have you decided that it was I who purposefully told Madame?¡±

    ¡°How do you know that Madame would know for sure?¡± Su Chen drank some tea. ¡°The rumors have been spreading for seven to eight days now, but when did it ever reach Madame? The servants in the pce are not idiots. They wouldn¡¯t listen to what they shouldn¡¯t listen to, and they wouldn¡¯t spread what they shouldn¡¯t spread. If there are some matters that the master doesn¡¯t like, as long as the servants aren¡¯t idiots, they will never spread it to their masters. Evidently, this did not benefit the person spreading the rumors...... Didn¡¯t the opponent want my mother to hear it? After all, rumors that never reach the opponent have no effectiveness.¡±

    Lan Zhi¡¯s body trembled. ¡°Even so, Young Master can¡¯t just im that I did it on purpose. Lan Zhi knows that I did wrong, but there really wasn¡¯t any kind of conspiracy!¡±

    Su Chen faintly smiled. ¡°Still trying to deny it.¡±

    Even though Lan Zhi had denied it the entire time, she had made the same mistake that everyone before her had made, which was treating Su Chen as a blind person.

    Just like the scam at the True Jade Pavilion, she had made the same mistake. She believed that she was performing in front of a blind person, and so she did many things half-heartedly. A disdainful expression, a careless movement, or even a fearless attitude had all exposed her, but she didn¡¯t know that.

    This was also why Su Chen wanted to talk with her alone.

    Only in this way could he ¡°see¡± the other party¡¯s true attitude!

    At this moment, Lan Zhi was still fiercely denying it and crying out that she was being wrongly used.

    However, Su Chen had no heart to continue ying the farce with her.

    He directly said, ¡°The person directing you must have been Yan Wushuang, right?¡±

    Lan Zhi¡¯s expression changed, and her face revealed an unconceble expression of panic, though she continued to cry out that she was being wrongly used.

    Su Chen harrumphed, ¡°Do you think that because I have no evidence, I can do nothing to you?¡±

    Lan Zhi continued to yell with grief and indignation, ¡°Even if Young Master says this, Lan Zhi is still unwilling to admit to this crime. I don¡¯t believe that there isn¡¯t a single ce of reason in the entire Northface City. You won¡¯t be able to cover the entire sky with just your hand!¡±

    Su Chen indifferently replied, ¡°I can¡¯t cover the entire sky with just my hand, you¡¯re right. I also don¡¯t have any evidence. But when did I ever say that I needed evidence? When I crippled Mo Dayan, did I ever search for any evidence? All that happened was I had to do the Scarlet Punishment.¡±

    Upon hearing the names Mo Dayan and Scarlet Punishment, Lan Zhi¡¯s expression finally changed.

    Su Chen had already spoken. ¡°Iron Cliff!¡±

    ¡°I await your orders, Master!¡± Iron Cliff walked in withrge strides, kneeling in front of Su Chen.

    ¡°Pull this woman out...... beat her to death for me,¡± Su Chen indifferentlymanded.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 94: Breaking Off Relations 1

    Chapter 94: Breaking Off Rtions (1)

    Lan Zhi still confessed in the end under the furious beating.

    However, the beating did not stop because of it. Rather, they continuouslynded on her body with force.

    Su Chen did not require Lan Zhi¡¯s confession.

    All he needed was fresh, flowing blood to satiate his thirst for revenge.

    Every single strike on Lan Zhi¡¯s body cause blood to fly into the air, flesh to fly into the air, and piteous cry.

    This was also given that Iron Cliff was controlling his own strength.

    Since his master had said to beat her to death, then he absolutely could not kill her in one blow.

    Iron Cliff diligently carried out Su Chen¡¯s orders.

    The piteous cries continued to sound out, but Su Chen no longer had any desire to continue listening to her.

    He stood up and left the Bright Prospects Pavilion, slowly walking along the winding road. He sped his hand and lowered his head, as if he was thinking about something. He walked like this the entire way.

    Until he arrived at the doorway of the Blue Fragrance Pavilion, Su Chen did not stop and directly stepped inside.

    When a maidservant saw Su Chen walk in, her expression morphed into one of fright. She retreated a few steps before suddenly turning around and furiously retreating.

    Su Chen did not stop her.

    He continued to walk forwards step by step, passing through the corridor and the veranda before arriving in the main courtyard in front of a little room, situated near a red wall.

    Yan Wushuang was sitting in her room at that moment.

    She wore arge blue mink coat, and she had stuck the Jade Phoenix hairclip that Su Cheng¡¯an had given her into her hair. At that moment, she was dabbing some cinnabar onto her forehead as she faced the mirror.

    The maidservant who had just ran away was kneeling at her feet.

    Upon seeing Su Chen walk in from the mirror, Yan Wushuang¡¯s expression stiffened.

    Then, she gently ced the cinnabar on the table, as if she didn¡¯t know anything.

    After cing the cinnabar pen down, she slowly said, ¡°So you indeed came.¡±

    ¡°Does Miss Wushuang mean that you knew I was going toe and have been waiting for me?¡± Su Chen gently smiled.

    He didn¡¯t call her Fourth Aunt because formally speaking Yan Wushuang was no longer some Fourth Aunt but rather just a maidservant. Of course, in reality she was still the head of the Blue Fragrance Pavilion. She continued to live the life of a master under the title of a maidservant.

    One only had to look at her extravagant style of living to know that Su Cheng¡¯an truly was quite good to her.

    In any case, this phrase ¡°Miss Wushuang¡± caused Yan Wushuang¡¯s hands to violently twitch.

    Her jade face was taut. ¡°The person I am waiting for is my husband.¡±

    ¡°Husband?¡± Su Chen was slightly dazed. He said under his breath, ¡°Normally, Father would still be taking care of his businesses; why would he be returning? Someone must have notified him. From the time I returned, found out about the situation, went to see my mother, and then arrived here......¡±

    He watched Yan Wushuang. ¡°You did make some preparations, but evidently you were still a little too slow.¡±

    Yan Wushuang¡¯s face was deathly pale.

    She had secretly notified Su Cheng¡¯an, but she hadn¡¯t expected that Su Chen¡¯s movements would be so fast. He had arrived before Su Cheng¡¯an was able to return.

    He hadn¡¯t needed to specifically interrogate Lan Zhi. He had taken care of her in just a few sentences and was hurrying over to this ce!

    He did not need evidence!

    Even though she had been prepared in her heart, Su Chen¡¯s decisiveness had caught Yan Wushuang off-guard.

    All of her calmness and coolness was definitely fake.

    She watched Su Chen through her mirror. At that moment, her face finally revealed a terrified expression that she could not conceal.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyebrows slightly knitted together. ¡°I originally believed that you hadn¡¯t anticipated the consequences, which is why you did this. But I see now that I guessed wrongly ¨C you already had some anticipation that this would happen. True, after experiencing so much, how could you underestimate me? You should already understand what kind of person I am. But if that¡¯s the case, why did you still dare to provoke me? Why did you dare to harm my mother?¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Yan Wushuang red at Su Chen furiously. ¡°Of course it¡¯s because I hate you! If it weren¡¯t for you, how could I have gone from Aunt to maidservant? If it weren¡¯t for you, how could my husband continue to lose face time and time again, and even have his chances of session negatively affected? If it weren¡¯t for you, I could have be the most important wife of the head of the Su n, controlling everything in the Su n. But now, I can only take shelter against husband, continually struggling at death¡¯s door!¡±

    ¡°You say that you are struggling at death¡¯s door, but your way of living is envied by many people. Are you really living in a jail here?¡±

    ¡°What do you understand?¡± Yan Wushuang began to yell loudly. ¡°You think that my life is pretty good? Although I am no longer an Aunt, I can continue to live the same life that I did in the past? But how long can I continue to live like this? My husband is only good to me know because I am still beautiful, but one day I will be old and feeble! At that time, without my status, what am I?¡±

    Su Chen finally understood.

    Status was the greatest insurance a woman could have for her future.

    Even if she lost her husband¡¯s love and cherishing, she would still have a position and power that counted as her own.

    For instance, Tang Hongrui was in this category.

    This was also why Yan Wushuang had spent so much effort to try and rece Tang Hongrui.

    Thus, while others might not think much of her identity as Fourth Aunt, to Yan Wushuang this was a matter asrge as the heavens because it affected her living in the future.

    Normally, as long as she continued to be pampered by Su Cheng¡¯an, after a few years she naturally would have had an opportunity to regain her position.

    However, the progression of the situation had exceeded her expectations.

    During the end-of-yearpetition, Su Chen had once again disyed his prowess. However, Su Cheng¡¯an had been punished because of it, and even the businesses that he controlled had decreased. Because of this, Su Cheng¡¯an and Yan Wushuang had also begun to argue slightly, and so the number of times that he came to visit her had evidently decreased.

    Yan Wushuang had finally panicked.

    She began to realize that things would not proceed as cleanly as she had imagined. Her tragic fate would be a slippery slope, one that would lead to more and more tragedy.

    She began to panic, she began to fear.

    In particr, not long ago she had heard another piece of news ¨C some people said that Su Cheng¡¯an had begun to see a new woman, and not long afterwards the Su pce would have a Fifth Aunt.

    Yan Wushuang fell intoplete despair.

    She didn¡¯t know if it was real or not, but she had realized that her days would be more difficult.

    When a person fell into despair, either they would burst with strength to break through their situation and go higher, or they would break down.

    Yan Wushuang wasn¡¯t Su Chen. Thus, when she realized that her situation was not good, she made an idiotic decision.

    She ced all of her hatred on Su Chen, reckoning that all of this had stemmed from him.

    She wanted revenge!

    That was right. She knew what the possible consequences of this action would be. Su Chen would not sit idly, and Lan Zhi might not be able to keep her mouth shut. It was very likely that Lan Zhi would reveal her, but she still did it anyways, holding onto the hope that she would be lucky.

    It wasn¡¯t for anything other than revenge, taking a risk out of desperation!

    This was how women behaved.

    In in terms, she was still a woman.

    Perhaps she had her own smarts, but shecked any wisdom and didn¡¯t understand how to endure. She relied heavily on good luck and fortune.

    The moment that she saw Su Chen appear, the reliance on luck in her heart had been broken. Yan Wushuang finally began to regret, having realized that she had truly done something quite stupid.

    Even so, it was already toote.

    Su Chen sighed, ncing coldly at her. ¡°Yan Wushuang, if I were to give you another chance, would you still do this?¡±

    Yan Wushuang¡¯s figure stiffened, as did her mouth.

    Suddenly, she began to yell loudly, ¡°Right, would I have done the same thing? Why would I not have done so? It was you! It was you and your mother that harmed me to this point, causing me to lose everything I had. Why would I not try and get revenge? Your own father doesn¡¯t want you, yet your own Third Uncle is so good to you. What kind of logic is this? I think that it really is that your uncle engaged in an illicit rtionship with your mother! This isn¡¯t a rumor, it¡¯s the truth!¡±

    Bang!

    Su Chen smacked Yan Wushuang¡¯s face, sending her flying.

    He walked over and grabbed her by the throat. Su Chen¡¯s tone sank. ¡°Today, I have witnessed firsthand the madness of little individuals. Indeed, you are just a wild dog, rabid enough to even bite people! However, I won¡¯t kill you. Since you are so afraid of losing my father¡¯s love, let me help you out a bit.¡±

    He ced his hand on Yan Wushuang¡¯s face and his nails dragged down her skin, breaking it.

    ¡°No!¡± Yan Wushuang let out a fearful, piercing yell.

    Su Chen¡¯s five fingers left five frightening scars on Yan Wushuang¡¯s face, so much so that her flesh was almosting off.

    Then, Su Chen pulled out a vial of medicine from his body.

    This was a poor-quality recovery medicine. Upon using it, one¡¯s wounds would heal very quickly. However, it had a very small side effect, which was that it would leave behind scars that did not go away.

    The medicine vial was ced against Yan Wushuang¡¯s face.

    ¡°NO, NO!¡± Yan Wushuang yelled out with panic, but under Su Chen¡¯s firm control, how could she escape his grasp?

    ¡°STAY YOUR HAND!¡± A loud yell suddenly sounded out.

    Upon lifting his head and looking out, Su Chen saw a person striding in. It was Su Cheng¡¯an.

    ¡°Let the person go!¡± Su Cheng¡¯an loudly yelled.

    ¡°You won¡¯t ask why I¡¯m doing something like this?¡± Su Chen tilted his head and countered.

    Su Cheng¡¯an said, ¡°I already know what has happened. I will take care of it.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Then how is Father nning on taking care of it?¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an nced at Yan Wushuang, and Yan Wushuang let out a sorrowful cry, ¡°Husband!¡±

    There was no other call. Just this single call of ¡°husband¡± seemingly hit the softest part of Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s heart.

    Yan Wushuang understood Su Cheng¡¯an very well. She knew what she needed to do to move people like Su Cheng¡¯an.

    Why didn¡¯t Su Cheng¡¯an like Su Chen anymore? It wasn¡¯t just because he was blind, nor because he had other sons. Rather, it was because Su Chen was disobedient!

    His disobedience, his stubbornness, just like his blindness, were all enough to make Su Cheng¡¯an unhappy, and they were one of the main reasons why he had given up on Su Chen.

    Of course, he would not reckon that Su Chen¡¯s stubbornness was out of necessity, and even more he would not believe that he was the reason for Su Chen¡¯s disobedience.

    He only felt that Su Chen was provoking his prestige, which was why he was always angry at Su Chen.

    For a blind son with no future prospects to smack his face time and time again, how could he ept this?

    Yan Wushuang understood this point, so she didn¡¯t make any exnation or appeal. She only gazed at him lovingly and miserably.

    At this moment, when Su Cheng¡¯an gazed at Yan Wushuang, his heart was reminded of Yan Wushuang¡¯s warmth.

    Her beautiful looks, her attending to his needs with all her heart, and her understanding of just what to say......

    Even though he resented Yan Wushuang¡¯s willfulness, which had caused him much trouble, in that instant when he looked at her, his heart softened.

    He could not allow Su Chen to ruin Yan Wushuang like this.

    He cleared his throat and said in the end, ¡°I will heavily punish her for this. You don¡¯t need to worry about it.¡±

    ¡°Punish? So you won¡¯t kill or exile her? I should be satisfied with just a mere ¡®punishment¡¯?¡± Su Chen red at Su Cheng¡¯an. He didn¡¯t even pretend to be blind anymore, and his eyes raged with an inferno of anger.

    Su Cheng¡¯an was unsettled by his gaze. He angrily said, ¡°When I do things, do I need to report back to you? Immediately put the medicine down! Otherwise......¡±\

    ¡°Otherwise what?¡±

    ¡°Otherwise......¡± Su Cheng¡¯an paused for a moment, the finally said, ¡°Otherwise you aren¡¯t my son!¡±

    Su Chen stopped speaking.

    He watched Su Cheng¡¯an.

    A long timeter.

    He said, ¡°Okay, Uncle.¡±

    He poured out the medicine.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 95: Breaking Off Relations 2

    Chapter 95: Breaking Off Rtions (2)

    The jade-green medicinal water poured onto Yan Wushuang¡¯s face, infused with vitality. It healed her wounds, and yet Yan Wushuang¡¯s face was filled with horror and fright as if it were a vial of poison.

    She furiously yelled, ¡°No, no!¡±

    But no matter how she struggled, she couldn¡¯t escape from Su Chen¡¯s grasp.

    Su Cheng¡¯an had never expected that Su Chen would actually dare to ignore him. His expression changed greatly.

    How dare he disobey? How could he possibly do that?

    Su Chen was his own son, yet he actually dared to oppose him!

    Uncle!

    He had actually called him Uncle!

    This unfilial son!!!

    Su Cheng¡¯an was about to go crazy.

    However, Su Chen tossed the medicinal vial aside, then stood up, walking out.

    He didn¡¯t pay any attention to Su Cheng¡¯an.

    Upon seeing Su Chen just leave like that, the resentment in Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s heart surged.

    ¡°Unfilial son!¡± Su Cheng¡¯an suddenly yelled loudly, as he mmed his palm onto Su Chen¡¯s back.

    Su Cheng¡¯an was an expert in the Blood Boiling Realm. When this palmnded on Su Chen¡¯s back, Su Chen was flung into the air and spat out a mouthful of blood before he mmed into a wall of the Blue Fragrance Pavilion. The wall copsed when Su Chen crashed into it.

    ¡°You unteachable son, you disobeyed your father¡¯s directmands. What use is there keeping you!¡± Su Cheng¡¯an said curtly.

    He raised his hand, and another palm strikended on Su Chen.

    He was really intending on killing Su Chen, and he did not hold back on his attacks. A ferocious tiger shadow appeared, roaring with rage and charged towards Su Chen.

    Su Chen did not retaliate. He allowed the ferocious tiger¡¯s w tond on his chest, and he flew into the air, breaking through three walls in a row before stopping.

    He lowered his head and saw that the clothes in front of his chest had been torn to shreds, and even the Heart Protecting Mirror had a huge dent in it.

    Without the Heart Protecting Mirror, thatst palm strike may have taken Su Chen¡¯s life.

    Even so, Su Chen didn¡¯t move at all just like before. He coldly gazed at his father.

    These two strikes hadpletely destroyed any vestiges of their father-son rtionship.

    Su Cheng¡¯an was quite surprised that he had not been able to kill Su Chen with one strike, and his killing intent decreased slightly. However, Su Chen¡¯s cold gaze once again aroused his rage.

    ¡°You dare to stare at me? You, a blind person, actually dare to stare at me? I¡¯ll kill you, you bastard!¡±

    Another palm struck out. A ming Tiger image howled to the sky and pounced forwards, bringing with it a raging torrent of mes.

    He was clearly leaving no room for mistake, attempting tond a killing blow.

    However, this time Su Chen did not sit there without moving. He made a move, activating his Meg¡¯s Guardian. Three Meg¡¯s Guardian barriersyered onto his body.

    Boom!

    Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s strikended, and all three of the protective barriers were shattered. However, he was unable to harm Su Chen at all.

    Su Chen was extremely clear about his father¡¯s strength.

    ¡°You actually dare to try and block it!¡± Su Cheng¡¯an waspletely enraged. ¡°You unfilial son, today I must kill you!¡±

    The ming Tiger image once again pounced, taking up almost half of the Blue Fragrance Pavilion. He was manifesting the full strength of a Blood Boiling expert now.

    However, just as the tiger image was about tond, a voice suddenly sounded out, ¡°Enough!¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s hand stopped. He was actually unable to unleash this fist strike.

    Not too faraway, Su Changche walked over, step by step, his hands sped behind his back.

    Behind him was arge group of the Su n¡¯s elders.

    It was impossible to not attract so many members of the n, given the magnitude of themotion.

    They all looked at Su Chen and Su Cheng¡¯an, beginning to discuss things silently in their hearts.

    ¡°Father?¡± Su Cheng¡¯an was dazed.

    Su Changche¡¯s expression was heavy. ¡°What? If I hadn¡¯te, you would have beaten your son to death?¡±

    ¡°Father!¡± Su Cheng¡¯an hurriedly said, ¡°This bastard was unfilial and disobedient to his parents. He is ruthless and insane, doesn¡¯t respect his elders, and has no one in his eyes.¡±

    Su Chen indifferently said, ¡°I am blind. Of course my eyes don¡¯t have anybody.¡±

    ¡°Listen to him, he still dares to mouth off,¡± Su Cheng¡¯an was so angry that he trembled.

    ¡°Shut your mouth!¡± Su Changche suddenly shouted. ¡°Are you finished making amotion?¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± Su Cheng¡¯an was shocked.

    He hadn¡¯t expected that Su Changche would suddenly get angry with him. He froze for a moment before saying, ¡°Father, I¡¯m not trying to make amotion. It¡¯s this bastard. He has no authority to carry out nw, and yet he beat Lan Zhi to death, and now he has ruined Wushuang¡¯s face......¡±

    ¡°Is it worth getting so angry over two underlings?¡± Su Changche slowly asked.

    Two underlings?

    Su Cheng¡¯an was dazed. He remembered that Yan Wushuang...... was nothing more than an underling.

    She hadn¡¯t been Fourth Aunt for a long time now!

    Su Changche continued slowly, ¡°Su Chen does not have the authority to use nw to beat underlings to death, but do you have the authority to kill Su Chen whenever you want?¡±

    ¡°I......¡± Su Cheng¡¯an was speechless.

    Su Changche said, ¡°Even if you don¡¯t recognize him as your son, I never said that I don¡¯t recognize him as my grandson.¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an gazed at Su Changche in disbelief.

    Su Changche said that?

    One had to know that it wasn¡¯t just Su Cheng¡¯an who had intended on giving up on Su Chen. Even Su Changche had this intention!

    No one would ce any expectations in the future for a blind person.

    Without Su Changche¡¯s approval and even secret encouragement, how could he possibly show no interest in Su Chen?

    Of course, giving up on someone was one thing; framing someone was entirely different matter.

    Su Changche and Su Cheng¡¯an both only intended on giving up on Su Chen, not on harming him. It was Su Qian who had no talent of his own and couldn¡¯t get the top ce on his own, inciting Su Keji¡¯s intervention. It was Yan Wushuang who was too greedy and couldn¡¯t handle any provocation, causing her to provoke Su Chen time and time again.

    This was not Su Changche nor Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s intention. Conversely, however, because they had given up on him, they had given other people the confidence to deal with Su Chen.

    In that sense, they had added fuel to the fire, and they could not escape the crime of their passivity.

    Now, Su Changche had actually said that ¡°even if you don¡¯t recognize him as your son, I still want him as my grandson¡±. His attitude hadpletely turned around, greatly exceeding Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s expectations.

    He gazed at his own father, but Su Changche did not pay any attention to him, instead turning his head around to look at Su Chen. ¡°It seems like you are nning on going to the Scarlet Mountain Range again?¡±

    Once he said this, everyone¡¯s expressions changed.

    Su Changqing said, ¡°You can¡¯t let him go to the Scarlet Mountain Range anymore!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, he overstepped his authority and beat someone to death. Even if it was just an underling, it was still too much. You can¡¯t let him get away with it so easily.¡±

    Arge number of people began to cry out.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t mind much. He only gently smiled, ¡°The Su n¡¯sw says that as long as one is willing to enter the Scarlet Mountain, it can substitute for other punishments. Of course, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem to change this rule. I also want to see how many times the Su n will change thew for my sake.¡±

    A n as great as the Su n had already changed the rules twice for him, a single person.

    If they even changed the Scarlet Punishment for him, they would really beughingstock.

    No matter how others thought, Su Changche evidently did not have this intention.

    He said, ¡°Since you are going, then go. How long do you want to go for?¡±

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°A hundred and fifty days. How does that sound?¡±

    ¡°Okay! Then a hundred and fifty days,¡± Su Changche replied.

    Everyone looked at each other. They were speechless for quite some time.

    It was called Scarlet Punishment, but why did it seem from their attitudes that it was more like a Scarlet Vacation?

    Su Cheng¡¯an grieved bitterly, ¡°Father, he ruined Wushuang¡¯s face! She is Hao¡¯er¡¯s mother. How is she ever supposed to see her son in the future?¡±

    Su Changche coldly said, ¡°She¡¯s just a harlot from the Spring Moon Building. Even if it¡¯s ruined, what loss is it?¡±

    Just that sentence alone caused Yan Wushuang and Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s expressions to simultaneously change.

    Su Changche continued, ¡°Even a worthless concubine dares to spread rumors to injure the n. How reckless! In these years, you were confused by beauty and did many silly things. Many of those were instigated by that woman. Su Chen ruining that woman waspletely correct. Even if he hadn¡¯t made a move, I would have taken care of her!¡±

    When Yan Wushuang heard this, she sat down on the ground in despair.

    Su Changche¡¯s words had pretty much sealed her fate in the Su n.

    After saying this, Su Changche turned around,pletely ignoring Su Cheng¡¯an. He said to Su Chen and said, ¡°You, follow me.¡±

    As he spoke, he walked off in another direction, with Su Chen close behind.

    Everyone remaining looked at each other, unsure what to do. Eventually, they could only disperse to their own residences.

    ¡°Husband!¡± Yan Wushuang cried out destely.

    Su Cheng¡¯an nced at Yan Wushuang. Seeing the scars on her face, he suddenly felt a surge of disgust. He waved his sleeves, brushing Yan Wushuang off to the ground, then left.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 96: Breaking Off Relations 3

    Chapter 96: Breaking Off Rtions (3)

    After passing through the Su pce¡¯s main courtyard, they headed towards a small pavilion in theke

    Su Chen stood behindbehind Su Changche. He lowered his head and said, ¡°Patriarch.¡±

    ¡°What? You aren¡¯t even willing to call me grandfather?¡± Su Changche said, not bothering to look back.

    Su Chen was silent.

    Su Changche turned around to watch Su Chen, then sighed and said, ¡°In the end, I underestimated you, and so did the Su n...... Who could have expected that your eyes actually had already recovered.¡±

    Su Chen was still silent.

    He could tell from Su Changche¡¯s attitude that Su Changche had definitely seen through his act.

    In reality, no matter how hard Su Chen tried to pretend, there were still differences between blind people and people with sight. That was especially true in matters of the focus of their vision, as slight differences would exist between objects that they could see and could not see.

    Though it may have been hard to tell in a short period of time, as time passed by, attentive people would always discover that there was something off.

    Su Changche was someone with a wealth of experience.

    As an old man who had single-handedly established the Su n, he was much stronger than anyone else in terms of both vision and experience.

    It was not surprising in the least that he was the first one to discover.

    In fact, long before this moment, he had already begun to have his suspicions about Su Chen.

    However, because this matter was too umon, Su Changche could only be suspicious, yet had no way of verifying it.

    Until today!

    The stare he gave Su Cheng¡¯an, as well as his precise blocking of Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s attack ¨C while others might think that it was only a coincidence, Su Changche knew that wasn¡¯t the truth!

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes had recovered.

    ¡°Can you tell me when it happened?¡± Su Changche said gently.

    ¡°Not long ago,¡± Su Chen faintly replied.

    ¡°Why were you unwilling to tell us?¡±

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°The first day that I could see again, I ran into a number of unfortunate situations. One of my brothers ced iron needles in my carriage; a pair of liars conspired to steal money from the True Jade Pavilion that I managed. A servant wanted to benefit from selling out his master...... That old beggar was right. When I was again able to see the world, I discovered many things that people with sight could not see. Everyone believed that I was blind, so they unrestrainedly disyed their evilness in front of me. Although this made me feel disgusted, it gave me a simple method to see through a person¡¯s heart.¡±

    Su Changche nodded his head. ¡°So that¡¯s why you were unwilling to vocalize it. You discovered that acting in such a manner would benefit you more? But did you ever think that everything proceeded to this point only because you didn¡¯t say anything?¡±

    ¡°You are talking about the unfortunate encounters in the Su n?¡± Su Chen coldlyughed, ¡°I expected those from the very beginning.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Su Changche was speechless.

    Su Chen slowly raised his hand.

    An air tentacle appeared formed following this gesture of his.

    His hand gestures changed once again, and a Meg¡¯s Guardian barrier appeared on his body.

    Next, his hand shed out through the air, and thunder rumbled.

    ¡°Origin Skills......¡± Su Changche¡¯s expression tightened.

    He didn¡¯t understand why Su Chen would suddenly disy Origin Skills in front of him.

    Su Chen spoke. ¡°Many people were curious as to why I did not ask the Su n for Origin Skills. This is the answer...... I already have Origin Skills, and I do not need the Su n!¡±

    I do not need the Su n!

    Su Changche finally understood.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t say anything because you no longer needed the Su n?¡±

    Su Chen gentlyughed. ¡°Many people feel that being born into a great earthly n is an extremely good thing, because they obtained many generous benefits and rewards ever since they were young. But it is clear to me that there are no free gifts in this world. If you receive, you simrly must pay! Why did Su Cheng¡¯an give up on me? It was because I was blind, and I could not give the Su n any kind of bright future. Thus, his reason for raising a son was not because he loved the son, but rather because he wanted to receive a reward. Aren¡¯t you the same?¡±

    Su Changche was dazed. He was unable to speak for quite some time.

    Su Chen was absolutely correct. Su Cheng¡¯an had treated raising his son as an investment, and wasn¡¯t he doing the same?

    Su Chen continued, ¡°In your eyes, I was only a blind person who was not worth raising. Since you used usefulness to determine the importance of familial ties, I could only use the same methods in return. However, you all underestimated my future, while I never looked down on my own value. Especially once I regained my sight...... Since the me who was blind could survive without you and not owe you anything, then what reason would I have to rely on you once I regained my sight? Just so that I can receive your appreciation and care? No, I¡¯d be better off not having that kind of appreciation and care.¡±

    This sentence echoed like thunder in Su Changche¡¯s brain, leaving him dumbfounded.

    That was right. This was the reason why Su Chen had been unwilling to unveil his true situation.

    He no longer treasured this kind of conditional appreciation and care.

    What point was there if Su Chen had to prove that he wasn¡¯t blind in order to receive love and care?

    That wasn¡¯t love!

    That was just an exchange!

    Since it was an exchange, why wouldn¡¯t he make the ounts simple to keep?

    Since the Su n viewed raising its sons and daughters as an investment, then Su Chen viewed the issue as an investment problem.

    Su Chen realized that he had not nned on giving the Su n any great rewards in the future when he became stronger, so he wanted to square away any debts that he owed the Su n now.

    So why would he need to continue receiving the Su n¡¯s ¡°investment¡±?

    Thus, ever since his eyes had recovered, and since the Su n had disappointed him time after time, he had begun to slowly distance himself from his need for the Su n.

    He had recovered his mother¡¯s businesses, he had worked hard to earn his own money, he didn¡¯t need the Su n¡¯s Origin Skills, and he had even given the reward for the end-of-yearpetition to Iron Cliff. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that he didn¡¯t want to openly tear apart their rtionship for fear of making things too ugly, he would have tossed all those things aside a long time ago.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t considered himself a member of the Su n for quite some time now.

    ¡°So that was the case......¡± Su Changche began to bitterlyugh. ¡°In the end, I still underestimated you. But did you ever consider that even if you didn¡¯t receive the Su n¡¯s support, in these past few years you had still grown up under the shelter of the Su n?¡±

    ¡°Five thousand, seven hundred sixty low-grade Origin Stones,¡± Su Chen suddenly said.

    ¡°What?¡± Su Changche didn¡¯t understand for a moment.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I grew up in the Su n for sixteen years. Clothing and food must have cost at most ten taels of pure gold every month, whiches to a thousand nine hundred and twenty taels for sixteen years. That is also to say that the amount of money that the Su n spent on me definitely did not exceed that number. Of course, interest must also be calcted, so I tripled the value to be five thousand, seven hundred sixty low-grade Origin Stones. There is also cultivation resources that need to be considered. I used five Verdant Wood Essences over these years; since each vial is roughly around a thousand two hundred Origin Stones, I set the price as two thousand, so the total is ten thousand. Any other cultivation resources I used can also be considered as totalling ten thousand. All together, this is about twenty five thousand, seven hundred sixty low-grade Origin Stones, which can basically take care of any debt that I still have towards the Su n.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he pulled out three hundred medium-grade Origin Stones and threw them on the stone table in the pavilion.

    ¡°Keep the change.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 97: Scarlet Mountain Range, Part 3

    Chapter 97: Scarlet Mountain Range, Part 3

    Upon seeing the Origin Stones on Su Chen had thrown on the table, Su Changche was left speechless for some time.

    After a long time, he finally spoke out ¡°It seems as if you have considered doing this for more than just one or two days. You were able to pull out thirty thousand Origin Stones so easily. You have earned quite a bit of moneytely.¡±

    This was thirty thousand Origin Stones!

    Even if Su Cheng¡¯an, Su Keji, and Su Feihubined their earnings they would only make so much after a few years of working. Yet, this kid was actually able to so easily pull out such arge sum?

    Although his expression remained calm, Su Changche¡¯s heart was in turmoil.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Scarlet Punishment may be dangerous, but it also contains great opportunities.¡±

    Su Changche nodded his head. ¡°Only two trips into the Scarlet Mountain Range and yet you were able to earn thirty thousand Origin Stones as well as many Origin Skills. You were also able to stay at the peak of the third generation without the n¡¯s support. Everyone misjudged you, truly misjudged you!¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s expression was filled with mockery and derision. ¡°Is Patriarch feeling regret for his previous actions?¡±

    Su Changche did not get angry. Instead, heughed, ¡°Yes, I feel great regret for wronging you. You are correct; in my eyes, all of the Su n disciples have value of different degrees. You can me me for being cold-blooded, and you can hate me for being without affection, but this is something that the leader of arge n must do. In such a n with so many people, it is not responsible of me to do thing ording to affection. If I acted only on how I felt and gave all the resources to the wrong person, then the Su n would notst. If I put it this way, do you understand?¡±

    ¡°I can. And if it were merely not giving me any excess resources, I wouldn¡¯t be disappointed, wouldn¡¯t be angered, and wouldn¡¯t be filled with hatred. But can you call what the Su n did to me simply withholding resources? You took away what was rightfully mine!¡± Su Chen said with rage.

    That was right. If it was just a matter of not giving resources, Su Chen would have just let it go.

    The main issue was that the prize of the end-of-yearpetition was not given to him as charity or as a grant by someone. Rather, he had fought hard to earn it!

    But Su Keji still wanted to scheme, to plot, to seize even such a small amount of resources!

    Su Changche was well aware of this, but he silently allowed it to happen.

    Because he felt that giving the Verdant Wood Essence to Su Chen was too great of waste, so he silently allowed the movements of those under him.

    In this entire process, he only considered the value of the resources, but he had overlooked fairness, justice ¨C overlooked Su Chen¡¯s feeling.

    Put inly, he was still acting in his own interest.

    Not to mention the conduct of Su Keji and Yan Wushuang afterwards.

    Su Changche sighed, ¡°What you said is correct. In this matter, the Su n has let you down. If I apologized to you, could you ept it?¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t reply, but from his appearance it was obvious that he was not nning on epting it.

    Su Changche knitted his eyebrows. ¡°Su Chen, shouldn¡¯t there be a mutual forgiveness between family members? What is more precious than a family member? The elders did something wrong, and this apology should be sufficient. Why do you continue to hold out? Can you truly not forgive them?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°If you had said this to me earlier, before you discovered that my eyes had recovered, I would have been moved. I could have given up on all the hatred, and I would not have argued. But now......¡±

    Su Chenughed.

    He shook his head. ¡°The family that you need is the Su Chen that regained his sight, while I am just the blind Su Chen.¡±

    As he spoke, he turned around and left.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    The conclusion to the matter of Su Chen beating Lan Zhi to death spread very quickly, but it exceeded everyone¡¯s expectations.

    Su Chen had beaten Lan Zhi to death and ruined Yan Wushuang¡¯s face, overstepping his authority. He volunteered for Scarlet Punishment for a hundred fifty days. Yan Wushuang had spread rumors, gravely injuring the head wife, and ording tow she should have been executed. However, seeing that she still had a son, she was spared. Instead, she was punished with thirty staff strikes and further demoted to housewife.

    Su Cheng¡¯an had been blinded by feminine charm. He was not strict nor unbiased when disciplining his household. Of his thirty-two properties, nine were taken away, and he was only allowed to manage three foreign businesses. He was set to the side and forgotten. The severity of his punishment exceeded everyone¡¯s expectations.

    It wasn¡¯t just Su Cheng¡¯an. Even Su Changqing, Su Keji, and a horde of others all were subject to Su Changche¡¯s discipline andshing out. Su Yue himself was given sixty staff strikes for a small matter and sent off to the mines for a year.

    Su Feihu was the only person that benefitted from this turmoil. The businesses that Su Cheng¡¯an had been relieved of were all given to Su Feihu to oversee, and he began to be publicly known as the person who was most likely to inherit the Su n.

    Su Changche had also spent arge sum of money to invite doctors to treat Tang Hongrui¡¯s illness.

    Su Chen knew that this was the repayment that Su Changche was giving him.

    Didn¡¯t the Su n let you down?

    No matter, there had to be some people who had treated you well.

    If I sweep aside the people who weren¡¯t good to you and hand over the n to those who were good to you, there¡¯s nothing you can say about it, right?

    Old grandfathers were still old grandfathers. Their vision was poisonous and their methods were vicious, and they were extremely decisive when doing things.

    Even so, this allowed Su Chen to see the situation even more clearly.

    In arge n, familial affection was really the least important.

    Everything depended on value.

    What Su Chen said was absolutely correct. Su Changche only valued the Su Chen who had recovered his sight. Because of this, he had be useful.

    If Su Chen had not recovered his sight, Su Changche would not have protected Su Chen. If Su Chen had not taken out thirty thousand Origin Stones in a heartbeat, disying his extraordinary qualities, Su Changche would not have acted so decisively, demoting Su Cheng¡¯an and promoting Su Feihu.

    It was just as Su Chen had said. He was like a rigorous machine, doing everything based on its benefit to him. When Su Chen had no value, even that which should have belonged to Su Chen would be stripped away from him. When Su Chen disyed his extraordinary qualities, even his own son or his own younger brother were like chess pieces, which could be disposed of very easily.

    Even though Su Chen had seen through this old man, Su Changche¡¯s actions still had an effect.

    His mother was still here, as was Su Feihu. All the people who were good to him were still here, and he could not just leave the n just like that.

    A dayter, Su Changche sent someone to return the thirty thousand Origin Stones.

    However, Su Chen told that person to return the Origin Stones, only keeping two of them.

    Thus, Su Changche understood Su Chen¡¯s intentions.

    Don¡¯t anticipate that Su Chen would recover his old affection for the Su n because of Su Changche¡¯s string of actions.

    The affection that had been extinguished could not be rekindled.

    But as long as those two people were still in the Su n, then Su Chen and the Su n would still have a thread connecting them, and Su Chen would not leave.

    Of course, this only meant that he would not leave.

    He no longer had any affection for the Su n. Any future interactions would depend on how the situation progressed.

    Although it wasn¡¯t the result that he had wanted, he had an answer, and Su Changche was much more at ease.

    As long as the person remained, the affection could slowly return.

    Thus, matters passed just like that.

    Two dayster, Su Chen once again entered the Scarlet Mountain Range.

    He brought Iron Cliff with him, assuming the identity of a blind person.

    No one knew that he had regained his sight ¨C the old grandfather was still too busy trying to suck up to Su Chen, so how could he possibly expose him.

    Even so, not many people would be worried for Su Chen.

    When he wasn¡¯t an Origin Qi Schr, he had entered and exited the Scarlet Mountain Range twice. Now that he was an Origin Qi Schr and he had Iron Cliff with him, he would be even more free in the Scarlet Mountain Range.

    The dangerous Scarlet Mountain Range had be a protective talisman that Su Chen could use to escape from receiving punishment. This was the confidence a strong person had.

    Before entering, Su Chen found Night Demon and bought an absorbance technique, giving it to Mingshu and Zhou Hong so they could cultivate it on their own.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 98: Rapid Improvemen

    Chapter 98: Rapid Improvement

    In his third journey to the Scarlet Mountain Range, Su Chen¡¯s state of mind had changed once more.

    He was no longer afraid of the dangers the mountains held. On his first trip to the Scarlet Mountain Range Su Chen had the feeling that he had survived with his back to the wall, and during his second trip he had cautiously attempted to go deeper, then on this third trip, Su Chen now possessed an aggressive attitude toward the mountain range.

    With seven Origin Skills and arge number of Origin Tools, as well asrge amounts of resources and preparation, Su Chen was more powerful than ever before. Naturally, he wanted to aplish even more during this trip.

    This time, he was going with the intention of reaping rewards.

    He directly headed into the deeper parts of the Scarlet Mountain Range. He did not circle around nor did he take anyplicated route. Neither did he retreat or temporarily step aside. All he did was head straight forwards. If he saw beasts he killed beasts; if he saw demons he dealt with demons. This was the attitude of both him and Iron Cliff.

    They walked into the interior for three days before arriving at the Ten Thousand Whistles Peak.

    The Ten Thousand Whistles Peak was located in the southern region of the Scarlet Mountain Range and was a two days journey from the Scarlet Grand Canyon. That was also to say that this location was even more dangerous than the earlier Halcyon Gorge.

    In this ce, Su Chen didn¡¯t just encounter single Vicious Beasts, but rather packs of them. asionally, even mid-tier Vicious Beasts would appear.

    Mid-tier Vicious Beasts were equivalent to highyer Qi Drawing Realm cultivators.

    What was different was that highyer Origin Qi Schrs could not necessarily be ssified by strength alone, but the tier of a Vicious Beast directly determined its strength. Some highyer Origin Qi Schrs might be weaker than might be imagined, but high-tier Vicious Beasts definitely were as strong as their names implied.

    Thus, the difference in strength between a mid-tier Vicious Beast and a low-tier Vicious Beast was many times and could not be underestimated.

    Because of this, people often used the strength of Vicious Beasts as a measurement of one¡¯sbat prowess.

    The evening that they arrived at the Ten Thousand Whistles Peak, Su Chen and Iron Cliff encountered a mid-tier Vicious Beast.

    After arge battle, Su Chen sessfully killed his target.

    Su Chen killed the beast without Iron Cliff¡¯s help, which confirmed that Su Chen¡¯sbat prowess had reached the level of a highyer Qi Drawing cultivator.

    That evening, he and Iron Cliff absorbed the Vicious Beast¡¯s Origin Energy motes. Su Chen said, ¡°Let¡¯s stay here.¡±

    Iron Cliff nodded his head, then pulled out a small medicinal vial and ced it on the ground.

    Beast Drawing Medicine.

    He used it differently than before. This time, he was much more daring in his usage of the Beast Drawing Medicine. He used almost a third of the bottle in one go.

    The effects of a third of a bottle of Beast Drawing Medicine could be immediately seen.

    After half an hour, they heard faint snarls drawing closer to them.

    ¡°They¡¯re here. There¡¯s six of them in total ¨C two mid-tier, four low-tier,¡± Su Chenughed as he gazed off into the distance.

    ¡°There¡¯s a lot of them,¡± Iron Cliff said in a low voice.

    ¡°No problem. Activate the illusion realm,¡± Su Chenughed.

    Iron Cliff pulled out an Origin Formation Disk and ced it in the ground.

    This Origin Formation Disk could create a low-tier illusion realm, trapping people in it. This would give Su Chen and Iron Cliff the opportunity to attack them. However, its price was quite expensive, and could only be used three times.

    Just like in business, only when one had enough capital, could one make a greater investment and obtain even greater profits. Today, Su Chen¡¯s backup n was no longer simply to jump down off of the cliff onto a rope.

    With more investment woulde more sophisticated backup n, which would also allow him to withstand and deal with greater dangers.

    The beast flock was drawing near. Evidently, it was a pack of Twilight Moon Wolves. The leader of the pack was one of the mid-tier Vicious Beasts.

    Twilight Moon Wolves were Vicious Beasts who were much stronger at night. They were very nocturnal and were as fast as the wind. They could also unleash de-like strikes which could be used in conjunction with their leaping attacks. They were very coordinated, and advanced and retreated as one, unafraid of death. Six Twilight Moon Wolves were even more difficult to deal with together than two or three mid-tier Origin Beasts together.

    However, today, they would not be able to manifest the full strength of their pack..

    The illusion realm dispersed the wolf pack. They howled out, their cries echoing out, yet they could not find one another.

    Su Chen and Iron Cliff were like assassins in dense fog, walking in it as they pleased. The locked down and hunted the Vicious Beasts one by one.

    There was no fair fight to be found here, and no one was bothering to temper themselves in battle. All that urred was pure ughter as the duo used their two-on-one advantage to kill their opponents and then absorb their Origin Energy motes.

    Whoosh!

    The sh of a de.

    A Twilight Moon Wolf fell over with a sorrowful cry.

    Su Chen pointed his finger to the air, and Iron Cliff mimicked his movements. They began absorbing the precious Origin Energy that floated around in the air.

    When the Origin Energy motes dissipated, they would walk towards another, repeating the same step.

    Battle, ughter, absorb, repeat.

    Cultivation had suddenly be much easier as long as they killed lifeforms with Origin Energy. Even battle had be easier; with the Beast Drawing Medicine and the Origin Formation Disk, they exterminated a pack of Twilight Moon Wolves with no difficulty at all.

    Once they killed the Twilight Moon Wolves, two more Vicious Beasts delivered themselves up not long afterwards.

    They repeated the cycle until the Beast Drawing Medicine and the illusion realm disappeared. The two of them were able to kill eleven Vicious Beasts with high efficiency. Such arge number was enough topletely stun Iron Cliff.

    These were Vicious Beasts, not simplyrge cabbages!

    However, ten or so of them were essentially cut into pieces just like vegetables. Their Origin Energy had been absorbed, they were skinned, and their blood and meat were consumed.

    In that moment, Iron Cliff felt that the whole thing was quite surreal, as if he was dreaming.

    However, the massive increase in his cultivation base told him that this wasn¡¯t a dream, but a wonderful reality.

    The Origin Energy motes from eleven Vicious Beasts caused Iron Cliff¡¯s strength to increase by half of a whole Yellow Star. For Iron Cliff, under normal circumstances this could normally only be aplished after two years of bitter cultivation.

    As a human Su Chen¡¯s absorption rate was better than that of the Cliff Race, so his cultivation base increased a whole Yellow Star.

    In order to obtain such a rapid cultivation increase, they had nevertheless paid a price.

    Although Beast Drawing Medicine was cheaper than Beast Repent Medicine, it still cost two hundred Origin Stones per vial. The Origin Formation Disk was even more expensive. It could only be used three times and it cost five hundred Origin Stones, meaning that every activation was roughly about a hundred sixty seven Origin Stones.

    Executing their previous cultivation session cost around two hundred and thirty low-grade Origin Stones, while the hides ten low-tier and one mid-tier Vicious Beasts were not worth more than fifteen Origin Stones.

    In other words, their cultivation session just now had lost them two hundred low-grade Origin Stones.

    Without the appropriate capital, they would not have been able to cultivate in this way, not to mention that others couldn¡¯t even see Origin Energy motes. Su Chen could only do this because of his wealth and his eyes.

    For ten days in a row, Su Chen and Iron Cliff used this method to cultivate, and they improved at a rateparable to having taken some precious medicinal pill.

    Because they killed too quickly, every so often they would need to switch to a different location with more beasts.

    Today was just like all the past days. Su Chen was able to attract seven Vicious Beasts during the effective duration of the Beast Drawing Medicine. He said, ¡°It seems as if there isn¡¯t much more here. Let¡¯s get ready to go somewhere else.¡±

    ¡°Do we want to go deeper in, Master?¡± Iron Cliff asked.

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then shook his head. ¡°Forget about it. Safety is still number one.¡±

    He did not n on taking any more risks, so he decided to continue heading west.

    At that moment, a voice filled with rage and poisonous intent suddenly cried out, ¡°Su Chen, I¡¯ve finally found you!¡±

    Upon turning around to face the noise, Su Chen was somewhat surprised. ¡°It¡¯s you?¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 99: Attacking Inten

    Chapter 99: Attacking Intent

    Standing on top of a tall tree, Lin Yemao gazed downwards at Su Chen, his heart agitated.

    Dammit, he had finally caught up to this bastard.

    He had spent quite a bit of effort over thesest few days to chase after Su Chen.

    Although the Origin-Seeking Mirror he possessed could track traces of Origin Energy, it took time to activate, and it was limited in the number of times it could be used. To chase after Su Chen, he had used it three times in the past ten days. He had lost quite a bit.

    Only the heavens knew how Su Chen could run so much. He would bounce from ce to ce, actually avoiding any set locations. One had to know that the Scarlet Mountain Range was extremely dangerous, not a location where lowyer Origin Qi Schrs could run around as they pleased. In Lin Yemao¡¯s eyes, Taking risks like this might as well be looking for death.

    As he had been following Su Chen all over the ce, Lin Yemao didn¡¯t actually run into very many Vicious Beasts. He was convinced Su Chen was blessed with luck to avoid beasts so easily. Later, when he caught him, he would definitely have to vent some of his frustration, Lin Yemao thought, his killing intent surging.

    At this moment, Su Chen was also gazing at Lin Yemao with shock. He didn¡¯t understand why this person would suddenly appear here.

    From his appearance, it was clear that Lin Yemao hade for Su Chen. Did the slight run-in at the Upwind Pavilion really anger Lin Yemao so much that he chased for such a long distance to kill him?

    Was that worth it?

    Lin Yemao said, ¡°Su Chen, now that you¡¯re here, no one can protect you. I want to see how long you can be arrogant for!¡±

    ¡°Hey...... Aren¡¯t you being the arrogant one here?¡± Su Chen asked. ¡°Mister Lin Yemao, when did I ever offend you?¡±

    Lin Yemaoughed loudly. ¡°What, now you know the meaning of fear?¡±

    ...... I¡¯m just trying to reason with you. I¡¯m not afraid, okay?

    Su Chen was speechless.

    However, in some sense, trying to reason could be interpreted as weakness and fear.

    The weaker one was, the more one liked to reason.

    Thus, Su Chen didn¡¯t bother with niceties or anything else. He directly said, ¡°Just tell me why you¡¯re looking for me.¡±

    Lin Yemao harrumphed. ¡°Su Chen, I won¡¯t waste your time. You are a blind person, and yet you were able to enter the Qi Drawing Realm without many resources, and you maintained first ce in the Su n¡¯s end-of-yearpetition for many years in a row. You were also able to return alive from the Scarlet Mountain Range. There¡¯s no way that all of these things are just a coincidence. You can trick others, but you can¡¯t trick me. I¡¯m confident that you possess a unique secret!¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Su Chen was quite shocked.

    So Lin Yemao had chased him all this way because he believed that Su Chen had some kind of great secret on him?

    Lin Yemao said, ¡°If you¡¯re smart, give me the secret, and I can spare your life.¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°So you chased me for so many days, even ruining your mink skin, just to figure out what my secret is?¡±

    ¡°Is that not enough of a reason? That secret is enough to allow a blind person to lead the Su n. If I were to obtain it......¡± Lin Yemao darklyughed, ¡°I will definitely be able to rise through the ranks, and I will no longer be the third-ranked seedling of the Lin n.¡±

    A trace of sympathy shed across Su Chen¡¯s eyes. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that this will be somewhat difficult. My secret is useful to me, but that doesn¡¯t mean it will be useful to you.¡±

    Lin Yemao impatiently said, ¡°If you don¡¯t take it out, how do you know that it won¡¯t be useful to me?¡±

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°The problem is that I¡¯ve already taken it out, but you are blind and unable to tell. There¡¯s nothing more I can do!¡±

    Lin Yemao was enraged. ¡°You mock me?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m really not mocking you, I¡¯m just reminding you. Perhaps it¡¯s because you¡¯re standing too high and your cognitive ability is insufficient. Why note down so that the IQ that is stuck at your feet can go back to your head. Maybe you¡¯ll be able to recover some of that cognitive ability.¡±

    When Lin Yemao heard this, his vision blurred. He paused for a moment before realising that Su Chen was mocking him. He was about to get angry when he suddenly realized something else. He pointed at Su Chen as he cried out in disbelief, ¡°You...... you...... you can see me?¡±

    He lowered his head, looking at himself.

    His mink overcoat had very clearly been torn by tree branches. He had identally torn it during the past ten days when he had been chasing after Su Chen.

    As well as the fact that he was standing high up...... this definitely was not something that could be determined by hearing alone!

    Su Chen sighed once again. ¡°I just said that I¡¯d already revealed my secret to you. It¡¯s just that you were blind and were unable to see it.¡±

    From the moment Su Chen said ¡°It¡¯s you?¡±, he had never concealed the fact that he could see. After all, Su Changche had discovered his secret already, and the matter of Su Chen recovering his blindness would very likely begin to spread like fire on the wind.

    He hadn¡¯t expected, however, that Lin Yemao would only react now.

    Lin Yemao acted as if he had been struck by lightning.

    Su Chen was not blind!

    He actually wasn¡¯t blind!

    How could he not be blind!

    This bastard, he had tricked everyone.

    No wonder he had said that his secret couldn¡¯t be used by others.

    He really couldn¡¯t use it!!

    Lin Yemao was basically about to raise his head to the sky and howl.

    He had chased after Su Chen¡¯s powerful secret for so long, only to discover now that it had beenpletely pointless.

    Completely pointless!

    Lin Yemao was about to go crazy.

    Su Chen, however, gazed at him with sympathy. ¡°I¡¯m a little confused how you were able toe to the conclusion that I possessed a secret given your intelligence. It seems unlikely that it was your own idea, someone else must have told you, right?¡±

    Lin Yemao¡¯s expression froze. From the surprised gaze that he used to look at Su Chen, Su Chen knew that his guess was correct.

    ¡°Was it Lin Jingxuan?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Lin Yemao¡¯s eyeballs were about to pop out from their sockets.

    ¡°It seems like I guessed correctly again.¡± Su Chen nodded his head. ¡°No wonder you suddenly came here to bother me. It was because you were being used by someone else.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Lin Yemao was stunned.

    Su Chen gazed at him with disdain. ¡°I said that you¡¯re being used by others, you idiot. If you hade on your own, even if you were to kill me, no one would know, and you wouldn¡¯t need to worry about any consequences, and any benefits would be yours. However, Lin Jingxuan knows about this trip of yours. Do you know what this means? It means that if I died, you would have ced the de¡¯s handle into his hands...... you don¡¯t really think that the Su n or the Lin n would sit by idly while we ughter each other, do you?¡±

    Lin Yemao was extremely shocked in his heart.

    That was correct. In the Scarlet Mountain Range, being killed by a Vicious Beast was one thing, but being killed by another person was an entirely different matter.

    If Lin Yemao had chased after Su Chen on his own, everything would have been simple.

    Unfortunately, Lin Jingxuan had instigated him toe here. This implied that Lin Jingxuan knew that Su Chen had a secret. If Lin Yemao really obtained any benefits from Su Chen, Lin Jingxuan would also be able to obtain a portion of it.

    On the other hand......

    ¡°On the other hand, if you died, he would also benefit. His status should be lower than yours, right? If you die, his position in the n rises by one step,¡± Su Chen continued.

    Lin Yemao couldn¡¯t help but tremble upon hearing this.

    He never suspected that Lin Jingxuan would have this kind of intention. He didn¡¯t dare to believe it, and shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s not true, you¡¯re lying! He is my brother!¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Trust me, I know what a brother is. These years, my brothers opposed me. The Su n is not clean, and the Lin n cannot be much better. All of the crows under the heavens are the same shade of ck.¡±

    When Lin Yemao heard this, his hands and feet felt chilly.

    He hade searching for Su Chen with a thick killing intent, but his fighting spirit had beenpletely extinguished by a few sentences from Su Chen.

    All of his attention had been drawn by Su Chen, and Iron Cliff¡¯s movements wentpletely unnoticed.

    Upon seeing his appearance, Su Chen felt his interest waning. ¡°I originally thought that a strong opponent had arrived, but I never expected that you were actually just pretending. You must have been chosen as a seedling to enter the Gu n because of your father, right? Is your father Lin Xingrong or Lin Xingyao?¡±

    Lin Xingrong and Lin Xingyao were all the sons of Lin Yuanshan. Their statuses were simr to that of Su Cheng¡¯an and Su Keji in the Su n.

    When Su Chen spoke, a trace of anger immediately appeared on Lin Yemao¡¯s face, but he didn¡¯t confirm nor deny it.

    Upon seeing this, Su Chen knew that he had guessed correctly once again.

    He shook his head and sighed, ¡°So that is the case. No wonder you are still so arrogant even though you don¡¯t have a brain. It¡¯s because you have a second-generation ancestor.¡±

    Lin Yemao yelled in anger, ¡°Su Chen, you dare to look down on me?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Originally, I didn¡¯t look down on you, so I had prepared a special present for you consisting of many different attacks. I made quite extensive preparations. But now it seems like all of these preparations are all for naught...... You really are just a piece of trash. One move is enough to take care of you.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Lin Yemao¡¯s eyes erupted with mes of anger. ¡°I¡¯ll kill you!¡±

    As he spoke, he pulled out his long sword, and jumped into the air. At the same time, his sword glowed with a faint blood-colored aura, as he stabbed towards Su Chen.

    At that moment, all of his attention was concentrated on Su Chen.

    However, at the same moment that he descended, dust started flying everywhere.

    Arge metal-shelled bug emerged, ferociously mming towards Lin Yemao.

    Lin Yemao waspletely unprepared for this sudden turn of events. He could only forcefully turn the de to defend, at the same time activating the Snaking Mist Steps to dodge. However, a sh of light flickered across Su Chen¡¯s eyes. Lin Yemao¡¯s head suddenly was rocked by a wave of pain, and his vision blurred.

    In the next instant, the metal-eating bug, Iron Cliff who was wearing the Melted Golden Armor, and Su Chen all leapt towards him, mming into him heavily from all three directions.

    Lin Yemao was like a sandwich. Upon being mmed into by these two people and a bug, his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he fainted on the spot.

    He fell to the ground.

    Su Chen shrugged his shoulders and said, ¡°You didn¡¯t observe your opponent¡¯s movements during battle, you didn¡¯t defend yourself when attacking, and you didn¡¯t leave yourself with any room to adapt when moving to strike. I already told you that I prepared a gift for you, and yet you didn¡¯t look around to see if there were any traps nearby...... A person like you is still trash no matter how powerful you are.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 100: Interrogation

    Chapter 100: Interrogation

    When Lin Yemao awoke, he found himself tied up, left in the corner of a cave.

    Su Chen sat across from him, watching him with a strange expression.

    ¡°Su Chen, you dare to ensnare me!¡± Lin Yemao pounced towards Su Chen as soon as he sat up.

    Iron Cliff¡¯srge body suddenly appeared. He casually pushed out, shoving Lin Yemao back into ce.

    Although the force behind this push was not great, Lin Yemao had no way of resisting. He discovered at that moment that he had no way of controlling his Origin Energy.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? Why can¡¯t I use Origin Energy?¡± Lin Yemao yelled loudly.

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°Please, next time you make a move, can you look at your surroundings? Don¡¯t you think that, under these circumstances, not being able to use Origin Energy is normal, while being able to use Origin Energy would be abnormal?¡±

    Lin Yemao was dazed. He opened his mouth wide, unable to speak for some time.

    He only recovered after a period of time, whereupon he angrily said, ¡°Su Chen, if you¡¯re a man fight me fairly. What kind of man are you if you fight via sneak attacks and ambushes?¡±

    Bang!

    A loud pnded on Lin Yemao¡¯s face, sending him spinning in a circle.

    Su Chen retrieved his hand and indifferently said, ¡°I think this p should be enough to allow you to understand your current situation.¡±

    This p truly did stun Lin Yemao.

    He came from arge n and had lived a spoiled, extravagant life. Not to mention cursing and beating, even a retort was rare. Because of this, he had developed a domineering, infallible personality.

    After going to the Gu n, he obtained the Soaring Serpent¡¯s bloodline and his strength had increased. His arrogance had further increased. One could say that, under the Heavens, he didn¡¯t ce many things in his eyes.

    He had not expected that during his attempts to make trouble for Su Chen, he had first been thoroughly routed in a war of words, and then he had been captured alive by Su Chen. Now, he had also been smacked by Su Chen.

    How could he? How dare he do this?

    Su Chen continued to look at him with a gaze that said ¡°if you don¡¯t behave, I¡¯ll continue to beat you¡±.

    The two of them gazed at each other in this way.

    Perhaps Lin Yemao was still suffering and struggling with himself in his heart.

    Su Chen, however, did not intend on giving him much of an opportunity to fight internally.

    Upon watching Lin Yemao stare at himself fixatedly, Su Chen nced towards Iron Cliff. ¡°It seems like he doesn¡¯t understand the situation he¡¯s in. Help him out a bit.¡±

    ¡°Okay, Master.¡± Iron Cliff grabbed Lin Yemao, mming him into the ground.

    ¡°Ah!¡± A tragic cry sounded out in the cave.

    A momentter, Iron Cliff released him.

    Su Chen¡¯s foot stepped on Lin Yemao¡¯s face. ¡°Do you understand now?¡±

    ¡°I...... I understand.¡± Lin Yemao whimpered in response.

    ¡°That¡¯s good. I ask, you answer,¡± Su Chen said efficiently. ¡°How many Origin Skills do you know?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Lin Yemao hadn¡¯t expected Su Chen to ask him that.

    ¡°Wrong answer.¡± Su Chen gestured towards Iron Cliff.

    Bang!

    Iron Cliff forcefully punched Lin Yemao¡¯s midsection.

    ¡°I...... didn¡¯t say that I wouldn¡¯t respond.¡± Lin Yemao was in so much pain that his forehead was drenched with sweat.

    ¡°Then don¡¯t waste my time.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll talk, I¡¯ll talk, I¡¯ve learned two Origin Skills: Profound Ice Barrier and Soaring Cloud Sword.¡±

    ¡°Lies.¡±

    Iron Cliff punched him again.

    Lin Yemao painfully cried out, ¡°I didn¡¯t lie!¡±

    ¡°Then what about the Snaking Mist Steps? You¡¯re telling me you don¡¯t know it?¡±

    Lin Yemao trembled and said, ¡°That is a bloodline Origin Skill, I thought you were talking about regr Origin Skills.¡±

    ¡°How many bloodline Origin Skills do you know?¡±

    ¡°Two, Snaking Mist Steps and Flying Flower Hands.¡±

    ¡°You learned two out of three of the Gu n¡¯s Absolute Techniques. That¡¯s pretty good.¡±

    Su Chen was not surprised by this at all.

    Under normal circumstances, wanting to break into the Blood Boiling Realm from the Qi Drawing Realm would take around ten years.

    The Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s recruitment period would begin in half a year.

    As long as the Lin n members weren¡¯t idiots, they would definitely make the Lin n¡¯s four seedlings cultivate their Origin Skills and raise theirbat prowess.

    He tossed a pen and some paper in front of Lin Yemao and said, ¡°Write out all the Origin Skills for me.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Lin Yemao was shocked. ¡°Don¡¯t think for a moment that you can cheat me of my techniques.¡±

    ¡°Wrong answer!¡±

    Bang!

    Another forceful blownded on Lin Yemao¡¯s midsection.

    Su Chen¡¯s tone was cold. ¡°Also, this isn¡¯t cheating. It¡¯s a forceful seizure!¡±

    Lin Yemao nkly stared at Su Chen.

    Having experienced this string of beatings, his egotistical brain finally began toe to its senses and recognize the situation that he was in.

    Lin Yemao did not continue to resist. He picked up the pen and began to copy down the Origin Skills that he had learned.

    Upon writing the four Origin Skills down, Su Chen nced at them, then picked up a piece of paper and said, ¡°Write them down again. If there¡¯s anything that¡¯s out of ce at all, I¡¯ll cut off one of your fingers.¡±

    Lin Yemao was scared out of his wits. He loudly yelled, ¡°No, no, I know I was wrong. I¡¯ll write them all for you!¡±

    When writing the Origin Skills, Lin Yemao truly had introduced many falsehoods, but he had not expected that Su Chen would expose his true colors by making him rewrite them.

    When copying them over the second time, Lin Yemao was much more attentive.

    After Lin Yemao finished writing the skills, Su Chen didn¡¯t even look at them. He said to Lin Yemao, ¡°I¡¯ll ask you onest time. Did you change anything? If you did, you still have a chance to change it. You know that if there¡¯s something wrong with them, I¡¯ll discover them sooner orter...... at that time, I won¡¯t give you another chance.¡±

    Lin Yemao shivered. He changed a few more things, then obediently handed them to Su Chen. ¡°This time there¡¯s really nothing else.¡±

    Su Chen retrieved them, then began to look over the portion rted to the Snaking Mist Steps.

    Su Chen also knew the Snaking Mist Steps. He could determine the veracity simply byparing what he knew with what Lin Yemao had written.

    After scanning over it and discovering that there was nothing wrong, Su Chen stowed the Origin Skills away, satisfied.

    He wanted Lin Yemao to write down the Origin Skills not just because he coveted them, but more importantly because of Gu Qingluo. She had taught him them illegally, and if word were to spread it would not be good for her. Now that he had Lin Yemao, Su Chen could just say that he had ckmailed it from Lin Yemao.

    The best part was that even Lin Yemao himself would reckon that it was him who had leaked the Snaking Mist Steps. He could not possibly expect that Su Chen had learned it much earlier.

    ¡°Tell me about the rtions between the Lin and Gu ns, why Gu Qingluo is in Northface, and why your rtionship with the Gu n is so good? Good enough that they would give you bloodline medicines and teach you their techniques.¡±

    As if following a recipe, Su Chen continued to ask questions that he already knew the answer to. In this way, he could protect Gu Qingluo, and he could continue to apply pressure to Lin Yemao. If Lin Yemao were to lie at all, Su Chen would instantly know and could punish him heavily.

    After the few beatings he had received, Lin Yemao¡¯s mental defensive barriers hadpletely shattered, and he did not dare to continue lying to Su Chen.

    As Lin Yemao exined the situation, Su Chen also began to understand the current situation of the Lin n.

    As expected, Lin Yemao was only a good-for-nothing who had depended on his father to rise, but the other three were not weak at all. In truth, Lin Yemao¡¯s strength was not weak either, but he was restricted by his simple brain. In an all-out battle, Su Chen could possibly use his wealth of experience and calm head to kill his opponents, but purely in terms of strength Lin Yemao, who only controlled four Origin Skills, was not below Su Chen, who controlled seven.

    This was even more true for Lin Shuyue and Bai Li. They were people who had also used the Gu n¡¯s Soaring Serpent Bloodline Medicine and also possessed the corresponding bloodline, and their strength was not weak at all.

    However, ording to what Lin Yemao had said, even though they shared the same bloodlines, they had all been awakened to different conditions.

    For instance, after Lin Yemao¡¯s Soaring Serpent Bloodline had awakened, it was enough to increase the strength of the bloodline Origin Skills that he already possessed.

    This was the mostmon situation, and even Gu Qingluo fell under this category. However, her bloodline was inherited, and as her bloodline continued to awaken it would also increase in strength. However, mixed bloodlines did not have this benefit, and once the bloodline¡¯s strength appeared, it was fixed.

    As for Lin Shuyue and Bai Li, things were different. Lin Yemao was not clear about their exact situation, but from hearsay the two of them had all obtained other Origin Skills from their bloodline awakening. The Gu n was full of praise for them, saying that two genius-level talents had appeared in the Lin n, transferring the Gu n¡¯s third technique, Mercury Chill, to them.

    This was also to say that the two of them had at least six Origin Skills, and four of them were bloodline Origin Skills.

    Having understood the situation, Su Chen was also shocked.

    He had no confidence that he would definitely win against Lin Yemao, not to mention two who were stronger than him.

    However, the stronger his opponents were, the more Su Chen¡¯s fighting spirit was awoken.

    When he had first entered the Scarlet Mountain Range, he was still in the Body Tempering Realm, and now he controlled seven Origin Skills as well as a worth of hundreds of thousands of Origin Stones.

    There was still half a year before the Hidden Dragon battle. Who knew if he could advance another step?

    The stronger his opponents were, the more interesting his battles would be.

    For opponents like Su Qian and Lin Yemao, Su Chen felt that it was no fun fighting them. It was difficult for him to forget opponents like Ulrich or Li, against whom he was forced to put it all on the line to defeat.

    After asking Lin Yemao all of these things, Su Chen once again fell into silence.

    It was as if he was making some important decision. His eyebrows were tightly knit, caught in a moment of indecision.

    Lin Yemao thought that he was going to kill him. He was so afraid that his voice shook violently. ¡°Don¡¯t kill me, please, I told you everything that I know already.¡±

    Su Chen nced at him. His disdain only increased upon seeing Lin Yemao¡¯s cowardly appearance.

    He had been thinking about something that was extremely dangerous. He originally was hesitant about it, unsure of whether he should take the risk.

    But now, after looking at Lin Yemao¡¯s appearance, a sense of disgust arose in his heart.

    Finally, he said to himself, ¡°A manly man should stride forward without fear. What kind of future prospects can possiblye from such a cowardly person?¡±

    Upon thinking to this point, his pride increased, and he finally made his decision.

    He pped his thigh, then stood up and said, ¡°Iron Cliff!¡±

    He pointed at Lin Yemao and said, ¡°Take off his clothes.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 101: Not Unworthy of This Life

    Chapter 101: Not Unworthy of This Life

    Lin Yemaoypletely naked on a long stone b. His hands and feet were tied using beast muscles that had been soaked in medicine.

    He gazed at Su Chen with a face full of fear. Different words like ¡°rabbits1¡±, ¡°husband¡±, and ¡°ass in danger 2¡± all shed through his mind.

    However, he was evidently thinking too much.

    Su Chen was not at all interested in his butt.

    On the other side, a workbench had already been set up.

    That was Ulrich¡¯s workbench. Su Chen had moved it here after taking it away with him. Its surface was covered in vials and pots that Ulrich had used before.

    At this moment, Su Chen was busy using the workbench.

    He was testing out one of Ulrich¡¯s recipes for making a kind of medicine.

    Su Chen slowly poured a blue medicinal fluid from a beaker into a vial that he had prepared. Instantly, a fog began to rise, and the blue medicinal fluid became green and began to bubble just like a boiling poisonous liquid.

    ¡°Who knew that Blue Concealed Grass and Three Flower Extract actually react in such a way. How interesting,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    As he spoke to himself, he brought the liquid in his hand over to Lin Yemao, then forcefully opened his mouth.

    ¡®He wants to poison me to death!¡¯ Lin Yemao thought, panicked.

    Unfortunately, it was useless to resist no matter how hard he tried. The liquid entered Lin Yemao¡¯s body, and he instantly felt his insides heat up, as if there was something that had started to burn inside of him.

    ¡°NO!¡± he yelled loudly.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s not a poison,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°It¡¯s just a kind of bloodline activation medicine.

    Bloodline activation medicine?

    What did that mean? Lin Yemao didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°It¡¯s a type of failed bloodline activation medicine,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°The person who invented it had a unique train of thought. He reckoned that the manymon beast races are the descendants of ancient, powerful Origin Beasts. However, because of environmental changes, the beast races became weaker and weaker. Nheless, he believed that , deep down their bloodlines still possessed a great power. Thus, he hoped that he could develop a medicine that could catalyze this power......¡±

    ¡°What use would that have?¡± Lin Yemao asked with surprise. The heat in his body continued, but Lin Yemao was no longer as scared.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Simple. That way, he could obtain a powerful bloodline...... The person who invented this medicine¡¯s strength was actually quite weak. He was roughly as powerful as you or I.¡±

    Passing down bloodlines was actually a very contradictory matter.

    On the one hand, bloodlines could only be obtained once, so naturally the more powerful one¡¯s bloodline was, the better. On the other hand, however, the more powerful one¡¯s bloodline was, the harder it was to obtain. Many people simply had no way of obtaining such powerful bloodline¡¯s in their entire lifetimes by their own efforts.

    Under these circumstances, in order to obtain exceptional bloodline medicines, people thought of all kinds of ideas.

    To most people, umting riches to buy bloodline medicines from those more capable was the best decision. For instance, Lin Yemao had relied on his n to obtain an exceptional bloodline, which was quite a reasonable decision.

    However, some people did not abstain from the more daring kinds of practices.

    Ulrich was one such person.

    As a member of the Arcana Race, he was not allowed to see the light of day ever since he was born, else he would¡¯ve been hunted. He had no way of buying a bloodline, so he could only depend on his own ability to obtain it.

    Ulrich did not want any low-tier bloodlines.

    Because he was unwilling to remain ordinary, he wanted to discover a path that belonged to him, one that was unique to the Arcana Race.

    His thoughts were along the line of ¡®Since I don¡¯t have the strength to catch powerful Demonic Beasts and extract their bloodline, then I will activate the powerful ancestral bloodlines of weaker Vicious Beasts and use that for myself.¡¯

    Under these kinds of circumstances, he developed this kind of ancestral medicine.

    ¡°Unfortunately, he still failed in the end,¡± Su Chen sighed. ¡°Although his thought process was very good, his n was too ambitious, and he alone had no way of making that a reality.¡±

    When Lin Yemao heard that, his heart jumped. ¡°You¡¯re telling me that this medicine is......¡±

    ¡°This is a failed ancestral medicine,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°It has no way of awakening a bloodline that is asleep. All that it can do is cause one¡¯s bloodline power to boil and expand..¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Lin Yemao yelled with fear.

    In the Qi Drawing Realm, one¡¯s manifestation of a bloodline power was limited. If one¡¯s bloodline boiled too much, neither the bloodline nor the physical body would be able to withstand it and would result in severe side effects. People afflicted with serious cases could even die.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it won¡¯t kill you. I just want to see how the Soaring Serpent Bloodline moves through your body.¡± Su Chen clearly stated his goal.

    His goal really was to observe and study the Soaring Serpent Bloodline.

    From his first interaction with Gu Qingluo to his idental step in midair, Su Chen felt a hope that he could not suppress. Could mankind possibly perform the upper tiers of a bloodline Origin Skill without the support of a bloodline?

    He did not know, but this crazy idea had been nted, rooted, and budded in his heart.

    Currently, Su Chen did not know how great an impact that this idea would have on him. All that he thought about was how to uncover the secrets of the Soaring Serpent bloodline and improve his own Snaking Mist Steps.

    Lin Yemao¡¯s bloodline began to boil at this moment. The scenes that he had seen on Gu Qingluo began to appear on Lin Yemao¡¯s body as well.

    However, this time, Su Chen saw it even more clearly, more specifically, and in more detail.

    Because his bloodline was erupting, the sealed Origin Energy in Lin Yemao¡¯s body also began to break through.

    However, Su Chen had anticipated this, and he had even specifically lowered the amount of Qi Obstructing Powder that he had used.

    The power of Origin Energy began to appear on Lin Yemao¡¯s body, but it was so small that it was extremely pitiful.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Do as I do. Start revolving your Origin Energy. Assume the Sun Bridge stance, then pass through the lower open road......¡±

    Lin Yemao was shocked. Su Chen actually wanted him to activate the Snaking Mist Steps when his bloodline was boiling.

    ¡°No!¡±

    Bang!

    ¡°Wrong answer!¡± The voice said in a familiar, frightening tone after a fist mmed into him again.

    Lin Yemao writhed in pain. The fear that he had been controlling once again spread all over his body.

    He lowered his head.

    He followed Su Chen¡¯s instructions and began to exercise the Snaking Mist Step¡¯s heart incantation while his bloodline was still stimted.

    Su Chen¡¯s vision was like a torch, prating Lin Yemao¡¯s skin and clearly seeing the Origin Energy flow in his body. He could see that under the influence of the bloodline power, the Origin Energy appeared to be in apletely different state. It was thicker, it had a stronger aura, and it was also more powerful.

    The Soaring Serpent Bloodline could upgrade one¡¯s Origin Energy, greatly increasing its quality. At the same time, it would allow for new methods and paths of flow!

    This was the first answer that Su Chen received.

    How did it affect flow? How was it done? What differences were there between the new and old paths of flow?

    Su Chen discovered that the more that he observed, the more that hesitations arose in his heart.

    One question lead to the next. As his questions were answered, there were a multitude that arose to take their ce.

    Su Chen did not know when he woulde to an answer, and whether or not that answer would be useful to him.

    Perhaps this was just a bottomless pit. Otherwise, why had no one sessfully resolved this problem in over tens of thousands of years?

    Why would he alone be able to solve a problem that others hadn¡¯t been able to solve for tens of thousands of years?

    But at the same time, did that mean that he couldn¡¯t do it simply because others before him couldn¡¯t?

    If that was the case, would humankind ever advance? And where would those newer, more practical cultivation methods havee from?

    Su Chen began to argue with himself.

    In just a short amount of time, Su Chen had reached a state of inner calm.

    Since he had already made his decision, there was no point hesitating when following through with it.

    He had not given up when his eyes had gone blind simply because of a single sentence from an old beggar.

    That trace of hope was enough for him to strive for it.

    That step that he had taken in midair was simrly a trace of hope.

    This hope was not great, but it was like a dot of light in the darkness, drawing him and giving him faith.

    He had faith that as long as he continued his studies, even if at the moment it appeared to be fruitless, there would always be a possibility of sess.

    Even if he didn¡¯t seed......

    It would not be unworthy of this life!

    Su Chen thought with conviction.

    1. ng for a gay person

    2. My personal favorite

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 102: Experiments 1

    Chapter 102: Experiments (1)

    In the following days, Su Chen officially began analyzing Lin Yemao¡¯s bloodline. Lin Yemao was in a state of constantly varying conditions.

    Every day, Su Chen would force feed Lin Yemao two of Ulrich¡¯s failed ancestral medicines which caused his bloodline to boil. At the same time, he would also force Lin Yemao to activate the Snaking Mist Steps, observing the bloodline and Origin Energy changes in his body, recording them.

    Su Chen¡¯s understanding of biology and alchemy came from Ulrich.

    Although Ulrich¡¯s strength was not high, he was merely at a highyer of Qi Drawing, his biological understanding was quite refined ¨C this was the habit of the Arcana Race. Their absolute control over Origin Energy originated from their pursuit of knowledge in the first ce.

    After less than half a year of study, Su Chen¡¯s study of biology had already reached a certain level of mastery.

    Of course, merely study was far from enough. The best method of applying and controlling knowledge was through practice.

    Thus, apart from performing analysis, Su Chen and Iron Cliff would go and kill some Vicious Beasts. On the one hand, they could absorb their Origin Energy to increase their strength, while on the other hand they could dissect the beasts while they were alive to increase their understanding of the anatomy of the beasts.

    Lin Yemao found that Su Chen and Iron Cliff would bring back a few living Vicious Beasts. After killing them, they would first make some strange movements, as if they were performing an evil ritual. Next, they would begin to dissect the beast, recording things as they cut them apart. asionally, Su Chen would also dissect beasts while they were still alive.

    Thus, the situation became increasingly bloody.

    Vicious Beasts would not cooperate. They would howl furiously during the entire dissection. Thus, fresh blood flew everywhere, as did chunks of meat. Pitiful, tragic howls alsomonly sounded out.

    This frightening scenepletely shocked Lin Yemao to his core. asionally, Su Chen wouldfort him, telling him, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t dissect you¡±. However, the tone that he used when speaking was almost like he was saying ¡°I only have one toy, so I will definitely treat it well¡±, which caused Lin Yemao to feel even more fear!

    Dissection, experimentation, research, interspersed with asional hunting, made up most of Su Chen¡¯s daily life.

    Thus, Su Chen¡¯s third trip to the Scarlet Mountain Range was filled with great progress in different fields.

    After many dissections and analyses, Su Chen¡¯s understanding of biology slowly increased, and he was gradually bing more clear about Ulrich¡¯s writings as well. He felt that things had changed when he looked at Lin Yemao again. The flow of Origin Energy through Lin Yemao¡¯s body was like a secret book filled with cultivation methods. Under Su Chen¡¯s fantastic eyes, it was as if they were just waiting for him to analyze, understand, and open them up......

    As time went on, Su Chen also began to understand the unique attributes of bloodlines.

    Originally, the Soaring Serpent Bloodline possessed a unique Origin Substance, which could affect Origin Energy. It was this process that resulted in strange changes to the user¡¯s Origin Energy, increasing the power of the Origin Skill. On the other hand, changes in the movement of Origin Energy could result in the expansion of Origin Energy talismans already present because of the Origin Skill.

    Using the Snaking Mist Steps as an example, there were originally twelve Origin Energy talismans, located in twelve different positions in the body. Whenever the Snaking Mist Steps were activated, it was mainly in these twelve locations.

    When the Origin Energy was changed by the bloodline, the number of Origin Energy talismans actually increased to twenty four, resulting in an increase of the strength of the Snaking Mist Steps. In addition, this was most likely not the limit; if a mixed bloodline could achieve a doubling effect, then inherited bloodlines that were more awakened could potentially have even more Origin Energy talismans.

    Changes in the innate nature of Origin Energy and changes in its application wereplementary to each other. The two had a very close rtionship.

    This could potentially be the reason why only those with the Soaring Serpent Bloodline could enhance the Snaking Mist Steps.

    However, Su Chen knew that this was not the only method.

    His unintentional step in midair told him that even if he didn¡¯t have the corresponding bloodline, he could still perform a more powerful Snaking Mist Steps than what he knew of now.

    What Su Chen wanted to do was discover how to do so intentionally.

    He wanted to turn sometimes into always!

    ¡°A substitute can be used in ce of bloodline activation to increase the number of Origin Energy talismans. As long as I find the rules governing movement, I can do the same by voluntarily controlling the movement of Origin Energy. Hm, Origin Energy patterns should be a good method,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself. He remembered that the Arcana Race changed ancient Arcana techniques by using Origin Energy talismans and patterns.

    Then why was it insufficient for him to use these kinds of methods to supplement his Snaking Mist Steps?

    Just adding the number of Origin Energy talismans was not enough.

    The locations of these twenty four Origin Energy talismans were all exposed under Su Chen¡¯s ¡°Prating Eye¡±, but the power of the bloodline Origin Skill didn¡¯t just rely on the increase in the number of Origin Energy talismans but also changes in the nature of Origin Energy.

    Wanting to resolve this issue was not nearly as easy.

    ¡°Perhaps I will need to start doing things from two aspects. One side is to improve my absorption technique so that when I absorb Origin energy, I can simultaneously change it. Another is to apply an external force...... The nature of the Soaring Serpent Bloodline Origin Energy shouldn¡¯t be unique. If I can find something that mimics its impact on Origin Energy elsewhere, perhaps it can achieve the same effect.

    Upon thinking to this point, Su Chen realized what the direction of his future studies would be.

    First, he would construct a new Origin Energy pattern for his Snaking Mist Steps and use it to increase the number of Origin Energy talismans. Second, he could change his absorption technique, raising the quality of his Origin Energy. Third, he would find medicines that possessed the Origin Substance of the Soaring Serpent and begin extracting and processing it.

    However, these three matters were not very easy to aplish.

    Su Chen originally believed that he would first finish changing his absorption technique because it was something that he had a strong foundation in. In addition, with the assistance of his eyes, he could more clearly discern different effects.

    Unexpectedly, he finished the third matter first ¨C finding a substitute for the Origin Substance.

    On his thirty sixth day after entering the Scarlet Mountain Range, Su Chen was performing his research when Iron Cliff strode in and said, ¡°Master, the ring is full.¡±

    The constant beast hunting that Su Chen had done gave himrge quantities of beast hides, bones, and other resources. Most of them were to be sold off, so they were temporarily stored in the ring Iron Cliff wore. Although they had two storage rings, they had both been filled.

    ¡°Give the rings to me. Let me take a look at them and see if I can get rid of anything. Tomorrow, take a trip out of the mountain range and sell some of these goods, then buy some more resources to bring back,¡± Su Chen said as he flipped through the ring.

    He tossed a few worthless things to the side as he began to tidy up the ring. While tidying, he suddenly discovered that there was an herb lying in the back.

    That was the Frigid Water Herb, an herb that possessed a cold attribute. He had discovered it after searching Lin Yemao¡¯s body. Although Lin Yemao was extremely arrogant, apart from his Origin-Seeking Mirror which was worth a few tens of Origin Stones, he didn¡¯t have anything else valuable. Even his Origin-Seeking Mirror only had three charges remaining. He was so poor that even Su Chen felt pity for him. The Frigid Water Herb had been taken from Lin Yemao, who had found and harvested it during his journey to attack Su Chen.

    Because Soaring Serpents liked eating them, Lin Yemao had just grabbed some.

    Soaring Serpents liked eating this?

    An idea suddenly surfaced in Su Chen¡¯s mind.

    He pulled out the Frigid Water Herb and tossed a stalk into a beaker. Then, he added a few drops of liquid and began to observe the changes.

    As more liquid was added, the Frigid Water Herb began to separate into microscopicyers.

    These changes were not visible to the naked eye, but under Su Chen¡¯s vision, they became very clear.

    His originally quite careless test gave him quite a surprise ¨C the Frigid Water Herb possessed the Origin Substance that he had been looking for.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 103: Experiments 2

    Chapter 103: Experiments (2)

    Inside the cave, Su Chen sat at his workbench, continuing his experiments.

    He held a beaker in his hand filled with vibrantly red blood.

    He grabbed some faint blue powder and ced it inside the beaker, causing the blood inside to slowly begin to congeal.

    ¡°The first experiment: excessive cold attribute due to the Frigid Water Herb caused the blood to congeal. Solution: lower the proportion of Frigid Water Herb.

    ¡°Second experiment: proportions of Frigid Water Herb are still too high. Lowered proportions again.¡±

    ¡°Fourth experiment: blood no longer coagtes, but the amount of Origin Substance present has clearly decreased due to low temperatures...... Dammit, this little Origin Substance Is not enough. Solution: separate substances with cold attributes and the Origin Substance.¡±

    ¡°Twelfth experiment: Origin Substance separation failure.¡±

    ¡°Thirty second experiment: Origin Substance separation failure.¡±

    ¡°Forty sixth experiment: sessfully achieved initial separation of Origin Substance. However, after separation, the effect of the Origin Substance greatly decreases. Will need to determine the core reason.¡±

    ¡°Hundred twenty sixth experiment: Determined that wildly attempting this separation greatly harms the Origin Substance, and my original method of separation is adequate, so I need to give up on it. We¡¯re back at square one; I need to once again figure out how to achieve this separation without damaging what I need......¡±

    Days passed, and Su Chen conducted experiment after experiment.

    Iron Cliff left the mountain range once to sell off their beast hides. The money that he had obtained was all used to buy more Frigid Water Herbs.

    On the sixty fourth day of entering the Scarlet Mountain Range, Su Chen was able to sessfully iste the unique Origin Substance from the Frigid Water Herb for the first time.

    However, Su Chen was still faced with the issue that this Origin Substance was not stable and its effect on Origin Energy was only short-term and was difficult to control. One could say that Su Chen still had quite a ways to go before the Origin Substance would reach a usable condition.

    In order to resolve this issue, Su Chen was forced to search for new methods again and again, as well as perform experiment after experiment.

    During this time, while performing with the countless number of experiments, Su Chen was actually quite conflicted.

    For quite some time, he had wondered whether doing what he did had any purpose? Wasn¡¯t it just a Snaking Mist Steps? Was there really a need to spend so much effort to research, understand, and search for a substitute?

    Even if he was able to research it, so what?

    In the end, all that he could reap was just an improvement in the introductory stance of one specific footwork technique, yet he had expended so much energy. Was it worth it?

    Had he made the wrong choice?

    Su Chen asked himself this multiple times.

    However, in the end, he did not give up.

    It was not because he confirmed that his path was correct. Rather, it was merely because he didn¡¯t want to give up just like that.

    The future was always shrouded in fog. No one knew what would happen.

    Su Chen could not see the future. He could only see the past.

    His past told him to not easily give up.

    He finally told himself, ¡°Whether it¡¯s right or wrong, I must continue. At the very least, before my trip to the Scarlet Mountain Range ends, I cannot easily give up.¡±

    Only many yearster would Su Chen realize how important this decision was, and how lucky he had been at this moment.

    That was right, lucky!

    On the hundred twenty sixth day since arriving, Su Chen had finally resolved most of the difficulties that gued him, concocting his first Soaring Serpent Origin Substance medicine.

    After ingesting the medicine, Su Chen felt that his Snaking Mist Steps had very clearly improved.

    Although the improvement was limited, this result told Su Chen that he was headed in the right direction.

    It was not impossible to substitute bloodlines!

    In order to achieve such a result in merely a hundred days, effort was only a small part of the equation. Luck was his main reason ¨C he had unintentionally discovered that Frigid Water Herb possessed the Origin Substance that he needed. In addition, the rtively low cost of this herb coupled with his wealth meant that he could experiment without fear of costs. The Snaking Mist Steps and his clear, prating vision allowed him to easily observe and understand the bloodline. Ulrich¡¯s experimental methods and style of thinking had also unintentionally met his need for creating an Origin Substance medicine. Lastly, he did not run into any annoying idents or major setbacks during his experimentation. Su Chen was able to sessfully aplish what he had set out to do, concluding this period of experimentation.

    In the future, if he wanted to achieve simr results, he would probably need to use tens if not hundreds of times the effort that he had used.

    If Su Chen had encountered that kind of circumstance in the beginning, perhaps he would have long since given up.

    Of course, the current Su Chen had no thoughts on this point. He was only excited and happy for the sess of his own experiments. It had also further increased his faith that his decision to pursue endlessly was the right one..

    At the same time, Su Chen discovered that the Soaring Serpent¡¯s Origin Substance had basically no effect on any other Origin Skills. Although it could change Origin Energy, these changes were only suitable for bloodline Origin Skills. However, it would still affect any other bloodline Origin Skills of the same bloodline, meaning that if Su Chen were to learn any other Origin Skills of the Soaring Serpent Bloodline, ording to reason he could also break through the restrictions of a bloodline.

    However, the effects of the breakthrough were still quite limited.

    One reason was that Su Chen¡¯s Origin Substance medicine was still in its preliminary stages of development and there was great room for improvement. Secondly, he had only resolved the issues rted to the Origin Substance itself and had yet to solve the problem of Origin Energy flow and changing his absorption technique. Thus, the current breakthrough was still small in magnitude.

    However, the former was a matter of innate nature, while thetter were concerned with methods. Once the innate nature was taken care of, the issue with the methods were not quite asrge of a problem.

    To Su Chen, this was a question of time, not about whether or not the path he had taken was correct.

    In the following days, Su Chen focused all his efforts on improving the Origin Substance medicine and forming his Origin Energy Pattern.

    However, all of his experiments still relied on Lin Yemao¡¯s ¡°cooperation¡±.

    Because of this, Lin Yemao suffered even more.

    Drawing blood and analyzing changes of that blood, as well as determining the role that Origin Energy yed in those changes, were all toomon.

    Apart from this, Su Chen would also asionally sh out with a de at Lin Yemao while his bloodline was boiling and he was activating the Snaking Mist Steps. This was to observe the rapid reactions of both the Origin Energy as well as his bloodline.

    Sometimes, he didn¡¯t even use a de. Instead, he directly struck out with his fists, using brute force to create blood clots and observe the changes in Origin Energy purity, as well as the bloodline¡¯s corresponding response while it was boiling.

    Sometimes, Su Chen would soak Lin Yemao in cold water, performing experiments under extremely low temperatures. Sometimes, it would be the opposite to observe Lin Yemao¡¯s ability to endure high temperatures.

    In addition, there were also soul attacks, and he was fed poisonous medicines, etc. to observe the reaction of his Origin Energy, which was analyzed.

    In truth, Su Chen didn¡¯t need to test all of this, but otherwise he would just be idling around anyways.

    It was hard toe by such a partner to practice on who was also not easy to kill. Naturally, Su Chen had to take what advantages he could.

    From start to finish, Su Chen had kept his word ¨C he had not dissected Lin Yemao.

    With his clear vision, he could see everything without any need to dissect Lin Yemao.

    As time went on, he began to see more and more.

    Because of this, Lin Yemao suffering only increased, as Su Chen performed all kinds of tests.

    In his eyes, Su Chen had alreadypletely be a devil.

    An insane person who derived pleasure from the suffering of others!

    An inhumane, crazy killer!

    Su Chen did not know what Lin Yemao was thinking, and even if he did know he wouldn¡¯t have cared ¨C there wasn¡¯t much time left, and he needed to use all the time he was given in the mountain range.

    Because of this, his experiments became more frequent, and Iron Cliff left the mountain range two more times to sell beast hides and buy Frigid Water Herb as well as other supplementary materials. Sometimes, if the money he made from selling beast hides was insufficient, he would need to tack on some of his own savings.

    In other words, during this trip to the Scarlet Mountain Range Su Chen had absolutely no intentions of earning money. Rather, he had set aside quite arge number of Origin Stones, and even the increase in cultivation base that he had anticipated was greatly affected because of his experiments. In a hundred days, he had only gone from the secondyer of Qi Drawing to the fifthyer. Of course, this ¡°only¡± is slightly biased. To other people, this was already a speed quite difficult to obtain.

    However, Su Chen did not care about this.

    On his one hundred fifty first day in the Scarlet Mountain Range, Su Chen finally finished his improvements of his Origin Substance medicine.

    At this moment, he was already a dayte. It was time to leave the mountain range.

    To Lin Yemao, this was definitely an exciting day, because he finally no longer needed to be tortured.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t let him go because of this.

    He took Lin Yemao with him and began to leave the mountain range.

    Two dayster, Su Chen finally arrived on the outskirts of Northface City.

    Upon seeing all the people at the valley¡¯s entrance, Su Chenughed.

    This time, the people waiting for him at the valley¡¯s entrance was not just the Su n. The Lin n was also there.

    Not just servants were waiting there; even many elders were present.

    Su Changche, Su Cheng¡¯an, Su Feihu...... they had alle.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 104: Decision

    Chapter 104: Decision

    The instant that Su Chen¡¯s figure appeared in the entrance to the valley, the flock of people slightly shifted.

    After waiting for three days, Su Chen had finally appeared.

    Indeed, he had not died.

    He had entered and left the Scarlet Mountain Range three times. It truly had be like his backyard, and no one could use it to threaten him.

    Under normal circumstances, many people would feel fear because of this, unwilling to continue provoking Su Chen.

    However, it was very clear that today¡¯s situation was somewhat abnormal. Many people gazed at him not with fear but rather joy in his misfortune.

    All of this was because of an old man.

    The old man had a face full of white hair, but despite this he appeared very energetic. He looked just like a tiger with white fur.

    Upon seeing Su Chen walked out, this old man yelled like thunder, ¡°Su Chen! Where is Lin Yemao?¡±

    Su Chen acted as if he could not see, tilting his head in the direction of the voice. ¡°Who¡¯s speaking?¡±

    Upon seeing Su Chen behave in this way, Su Changche couldn¡¯t help but sigh. When he didn¡¯t know that Su Chen wasn¡¯t blind, he had not detected it, but now that he knew he discovered that pretending to be blind was not an easy matter. People who were blind had one major distinction from those with sight: those with sight had eyes that were lively, full of spirit, and their focus would follow moving objects. However, Su Chen was able to ensure that his eyes always stared dully and fixatedly ahead. He had definitely worked hard to achieve that,

    This child had been striving the entire time. However, the entire Su n had always been oppressing him!

    This left a very bad taste in Su Changche¡¯s mouth.

    The white-haired old man replied to Su Chen, ¡°I am Lin Yuanqiao!¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°So it seems Thunder Lin has arrived.¡±

    Lin Yuanqiao was the younger brother of Lin Yuanshan, head of the Lin n. Because of his fiery temper and personality, he was sometimes called Thunder Lin.

    However, this nickname was not something that juniors had the right to call him.

    Lin Yuanqiao¡¯s eyes opened wide. ¡°Impudent!¡±

    As he spoke, he struck out with a palm towards Su Chen.

    The entire Su n was here, but he had actually made a move just because of a mere ¡°Thunder Lin¡± from Su Chen. One could clearly see his fiery temperament.

    Not even members from the Su n were able to respond to this sudden palm strike. However, Su Chen took multiple steps, his figure agilely darting through the air, easily dodging the blow.

    It wasn¡¯t until now that everyone was able to react. They all began to yell, ¡°Stay your hand!¡±

    Lin Yuanqiao actually stopped. He opened his eyes wide with shock. ¡°Snaking Mist Steps?¡±

    What Su Chen had disyed was truly the Snaking Mist Steps.

    He said to Su Chen in disbelief, ¡°Where did you learn the Snaking Mist Steps from?¡±

    ¡°Do you even need to ask?¡± Su Chen gently smiled.

    Lin Yuanqiao blurted out, ¡°Lin Yemao?¡±

    Su Chen was precisely looking for this thought from him. Heughed, ¡°Didn¡¯t you ask me where Lin Yemao is? I will give you two answers. One is that Lin Yemao and I unintentionally ran into each other in the Scarlet Mountain Range. We hit it off well and became good friends, and we did our best to supply each other¡¯s needs. The other is that Lin Yemao had malicious ns and schemed for my life, chasing after me over a long distance. However, he was defeated and captured......¡±

    ¡°Rubbish!¡± Lin Yuanqiao began to loudly yell.

    He truly hade to find Lin Yemao, but this definitely did not mean that he would admit that Lin Yemao hadmitted the crime of attempting to kill Su Chen.

    This world was not without order.

    As long as there was order, there would be basic morals, right and wrong.

    If Lin Yemao had intentionally chased after Su Chen to kill him and was captured, then his fate was deserved. Even if the Lin n could suppress the Su n, which they could not do, then if this matter spread it would still be a blow to the Lin n.

    Thus, Lin Yuanqiao definitely would not be willing to admit to this crime.

    His reasoning was more along the lines of, ¡°Lin Yemao went to cultivate in the mountain range and has yet to return. I heard that someone saw Su Chen with him, so I came to ask¡± rather than ¡°My n¡¯s Lin Yemao went to kill your n¡¯s Su Chen. If he¡¯s fine, then it¡¯s not a big deal. However, if he isn¡¯t, then I¡¯ll go all out.¡±

    Upon hearing Lin Yuanqiao deny it, Su Chenughed, ¡°That¡¯s why I gave you two different answers. As for which one is more urate, I leave it to Thunder Lin to decide.¡±

    Upon hearing these words, Lin Yuanqiao also calmed down. ¡°What if I choose the first answer?¡±

    ¡°Then that is to everyone¡¯s happiness. Brother Lin and I are now great friends, and naturally I would not harm him. The Snaking Mist Steps I also obtained from him righteously. However, good friends do not watch over each other, so I am not clear exactly where Brother Lin Yemao went.¡±

    Lin Yuanqiao understood Su Chen¡¯s intentions. This implied that Lin Yemao was still alive, but wanting Su Chen to return him was not going to be possible.

    ¡°Then what if I choose the second answer?¡±

    ¡°Then, that¡¯s hard to say.¡± Su Chen rubbed the back of his head. ¡°For a member of the Lin n to chase after me over such a long distance, there must be a price to pay.¡±

    ¡°What price?¡±

    Su Chen coldly said, ¡°Naturally, he must pay with his life!¡±

    Lin Yuanqiao angrily harrumphed, ¡°I believe that there is still a third answer.¡±

    ¡°Thunder Lin, please speak.¡±

    ¡°You and Lin Yemao happened to run into each other in the forest. Because you were greedy for his possessions, you plundered him and schemed to harm him.¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°That poor bastard? All he had was a crappy sword, a broken mirror and a few Origin Stones. His entire fortune isn¡¯t even worth the pair of shoes on my feet. Is he worth my plundering and scheming?¡±

    ¡°So you admit that you have seen him before?¡±

    ¡°I never said that I haven¡¯t seen him before. I even know where he is. I can promise you that he is still living healthily. The question is......¡± Su Chen¡¯s hands spread out. ¡°Who wanted whose treasure! Second Elder of the Lin n, if this matter isn¡¯t cleared up, I cannot release the person to you.¡±

    Su Changche, who had maintained his silence until now, finally spoke up. ¡°What Chen¡¯er says is reasonable. Since he has confirmed that he knows the fate of your grandson, who ispletely fine, then next we should be discussing how they interacted, right?¡±

    The entire time, Su Changche was worried that Su Chen had killed Lin Yemao. If that was the case, the Su n would¡¯ve been rocked violently. No matter how much Su Chen imed that the other party hade to kill him, it would¡¯ve been useless. After all, there was no other witness testimony.

    However, upon hearing Su Chen say that Lin Yemao was still alive, and was still very healthy, his confidence greatly increased and now he was hounding the Lin n to be reasonable. What do you mean, your grandson tried to kill my grandson for no reason?

    Put inly, he still had that attitude of ¡°I won¡¯t act unless there is an incentive¡±. Upon hearing that Lin Yemao was fine, he jumped out, but before that he didn¡¯t even dare to let out a fart.

    This was his temperament.

    For people with his temperament, they would only make something already beautiful more beautiful rather than provide help in someone¡¯s hour of need. This was the case even for his own grandsons.

    But one had to admit that even if he was just making something beautiful more beautiful, it wasn¡¯t without effect.

    Upon hearing Su Changche speak, Lin Yuanqiao was stunned. ¡°What is there to discuss. Hand over the person. As long as he is fine, I will take him away and leave.¡±

    Su Changche coldlyughed, ¡°In your dreams! What do you think my Su n is? You can waltz in when you want and leave when you please? Since you want to harm my grandson, then you need to give the Su n a justification.¡±

    Lin Yuanqiao became agitated. ¡°You said that Lin Yemao harmed him? He¡¯s the only one that can testify that.¡±

    Su Chen slowly said, ¡°We all know that there are Origin Skills that can be used to detect lies. Although not many people know them, I do know a few. Give me a few days and I will bring him out. At that time, who is telling the truth and who is lying, we will know as soon as we ask.¡±

    Lie detection was an ancient Arcana technique. Su Chen had seen it before in the pile of Origin Skills that Night Charm had given him.

    Thus, he also knew that there were definitely people in the Immortal Temple who knew it.

    Lin Yuanqiao evidently also knew of these types of Origin Skills. He immediately panicked.

    As his expression changed, he suddenly said with smiles, ¡°Please, gentlemen, what need is there? I trust that there must be some kind of misunderstanding going on. Can¡¯t we just resolve this matter by talking things through?¡±

    For someone to go from being in a fiery rage to being tolerant in an instant was quite rare.

    Just as Su Changche wanted to speak, Su Chen said, ¡°That¡¯s why I asked which answer you wanted to select. The path is for you to choose.¡±

    Lin Yuanqiao¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Naturally, it is the first!¡±

    He finally understood Su Chen¡¯s intentions.

    Thedder had already been set up by him, but he didn¡¯t realize it until the other party¡¯s intentions have been revealed.

    Su Chenughed. ¡°That is to say, Lin n¡¯s Second Elder, that you believe that Lin Yemao and I have be friends?¡±

    ¡°Naturally!¡± Lin Yuanqiao replied confidently. ¡°How could friends attempt to harm each other? They would only attempt to help each other!¡±

    ¡°I was also thinking that,¡± Su Chen nodded his head. ¡°Before, when Lin Yemao and I encountered each other, we built up a rapport through talking and we were friends upon first sight. Thus, I have already invited him toe to the Su residence as a guest for three days. After three days, he will return to the Lin n.¡±

    ¡°Three days? No problem!¡± Lin Yuanqiao naturally could not force him to hand over the person on the spot. As long as he returned in three days, that was good enough.

    He thought for a moment, still a bit uneasy, then supplemented, ¡°I trust that Yemao will definitely return without any problem.¡±

    ¡°Naturally. We made a reciprocal deal ¨C I invited Lin Yemao toe to my Su n, while he also invited me to tour the Lin n¡¯s Beast Garden.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Lin Yuanqiao opened his eyes wide.

    He finally understood what Su Chen meant.

    The price for releasing Lin Yemao was to allow Su Chen to go to the beast garden!

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 105: Request for Assistance

    Chapter 105: Request for Assistance

    Upon returning to the Su n¡¯s pce, Su Chen first went to visit Tang Hongrui to ask her about the current circumstances and to confirm that no problems had urred while he was gone before he was finally able to rx.

    After Su Feihu had taken over, the atmosphere of the Su n had greatly changed. Today, no one in the Su n took aim at Su Chen like they had before.

    Even without Su Feihu¡¯s support of Su Chen, they would not have dare to to do it.

    Su Chen was a Young Master with a vicious record: he¡¯d had a servant beaten to death, ruined an Aunt¡¯s countenance, and dared to oppose his own father. He had also entered and returned from the Scarlet Mountain Range three times in a row.

    If one were to say that in the past there were still some who were unaware of his standing, then now, after all the things that had happened in the past few years, no one dared topete with Su Chen anymore.

    After visiting his mother, Su Chen returned to his Dustsift Courtyard.

    Mingshu and Zhou Hong were both incredibly excited to see Su Chen return. Su Chen tested the progress of their cultivation.

    Mingshu had just begun cultivating and was only in the firstyer of body tempering. His improvement was not too fast. However, Zhou Hong had cultivated before, but he had alwayscked a good method as well as resources because of his demotion a few years ago. Thus, he had always been stuck at the eightyer of Body Tempering. After Su Chen had given him a cultivation method and some money, Zhou Hong¡¯s improvement was quite rapid. He had actually broken through to the ninthyer not long ago.

    Su Chen was extremely satisfied. He encouraged Zhou Hong and told him that once he entered the Qi Drawing realm, he would pass him a few Origin Skills. Zhou Hong was extremely excited when he heard this.

    After briefing the two of them, he made them retreat. Su Chen then returned to his own room before saying, ¡°Okay, the others have all gone, you cane out now.¡±

    Night Demon¡¯s figure quietly appeared.

    She gazed at Su Chen with shock. ¡°My breath-restraining technique has already reached the stage ofrge sess, and while I was hidden I made sure to slow my heartbeat. I even controlled my body¡¯s temperature and breathing. Even people with sight wouldn¡¯t be able to detect it, so how did you?¡±

    Su Chen replied calmly, ¡°Oh, every time I return, you are usually waiting for me inside my room. Thus, I was just carelessly calling out just as a test. I didn¡¯t expect that you actually were here.¡±

    ¡°You......¡± Night Demon almost spit out a mouthful of blood.

    She fiercely stared at him before saying, ¡°The aura of your Origin Energy has be thicker again. It seems like your strength has increased quite a bit.

    ¡°If my strength didn¡¯t increase, what point would there be in going to the Scarlet Mountain Range?¡±

    ¡°Hmph.¡± Night Demon sat down on Su Chen¡¯srge recliner, which was made of rosewood and had nine beasts carved on it. ¡°I came looking for you because there¡¯s something we need your help with.¡±

    ¡°Unsurprising. In any case, if it isn¡¯t you helping me, it¡¯s me helping you. But everything is done ording to the previous rules. If you want my help, you need to pay a price.¡±

    ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°That depends on what you want me to do.¡±

    Night Demon thought for a moment, then said, ¡°I heard that you want to attend the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s enrollment exam?¡±

    Upon hearing the name ¡°Hidden Dragon Institute,¡± Su Chen smiled with great meaning.

    The Hidden Dragon Institute was Long Sang Country¡¯s number one Origin Qi Schr school, located in the Long Coiling City. The people that came from that school could all be considered Heaven¡¯s Chosens, whose futures were unlimited.

    Every year, the Hidden Dragon Institute did not ept many students. To only ept no more than a thousand students from such arge country implied that each one was the best of the best. The position that Northface City held in Long Sang Country meant that they would only obtain an admission opportunity every ten years, and they would not ept more than four individuals.

    Regardless of whether it was Su Chen, Lin Yemao, or anyone else, their main goal was still the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    However, based on Night Demon¡¯s question, Su Chen knew that there was a deeper intention hidden.

    Su Chen nodded his head and said, ¡°Yes. What is it?¡±

    ¡°Do you remember how you first met us?¡± Night Demon asked.

    ¡°Of course, how could I forget. I unintentionally overheard Old Sang and Lin Xie¡¯s conversation,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Then, you should have heard of the term ¡®Spirit Burying Terrace¡¯, right?¡±

    Su Chen nodded his head.

    Night Demon continued, ¡°The Spirit Burying Terrace is a secret location that the organization has been trying to find and open for a long time. Originally, because we didn¡¯t want this matter to be exposed, I was sent to kill you. You were quite smart, however, and left behind a backdoor. In the end, I wasn¡¯t able to kill you; instead, we became friends, and we began to cooperate with each other.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Perhaps it is simply the whims of Fate; no one could have expected that the situation would develop to this point,¡± Su Chen pretended to sigh. Despite knowing what she would say, he asked, ¡°Then, what next?¡±

    ¡°Originally, the organization¡¯s intention was that upon opening the Spirit Burying Terrace and obtaining the things inside, the matter could be finished. However, we didn¡¯t anticipate that there would be an unexpected urrence.¡±

    ¡°An unexpected urrence?¡± Su Chen appeared extremely shocked. ¡°What unexpected urrence? Does it have something to do with me?¡±

    ¡°It has nothing to do with you,¡± Night Demon shook her head. She said angrily, ¡°The Hidden Dragon Institute...... Some bastard changed the location of this year¡¯s enrollmentpetition to the Red Peak Range.¡±

    When Su Chen heard this, heughed in his heart.

    Moving the Hidden Dragon battle to the Red Peak Range was definitely due to Gu Qingluo¡¯s scheme.

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s older brother, Gu Weichen, was the general of the chariot troops of Long Sang Country, head of the Jade Mountain Barracks, and he was also one of the geniuses that belonged to the Hidden Dragon Institute. He was the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s He Yushu¡¯s personal disciple. The character for ¡°jade¡± in the Jade Mountain Barracks was rted to He Yushu 1

    With this kind of connection, as long as Gu Weichen politely let the Hidden Dragon Institute know about changing the location of the Hidden Dragon battle in Northface City, it was easily achievable for him.

    However, to the Immortal Temple, this matter brought them a great deal of trouble.

    Now that the location for the Hidden Dragon battle had been set at the Red Peak Range, the first thing that Northface City would do would be to lock down the entire surrounding area, preventing others from entering or leaving. They could deal with any Demonic Beasts that appeared, preventing unforeseen circumstances from urring during the examinations. Additionally, they could supervise others, preventing them from entering first to tamper with the stage.

    The Spirit Burying Terrace just so happened to be near the Red Peak Range. For the Hidden Dragon Institute to do this, the Immortal Temple¡¯s schemes to open the Spirit Burying Terrace immediately fizzled out.

    Upon hearing Night Demon discuss what had happened, Su Chen pretended to be surprised. ¡°So that¡¯s what happened. Then that really is quite the coincidence...... can you really not wait until after the Hidden Dragon battle to open it?¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t.¡± Night Demon shook her head. ¡°The Spirit Burying Terrace is filled with traps, and the Origin Formation can only broken on a specific date in order to enter the Spirit Burying Terrace safely. Otherwise, the secrets hidden inside won¡¯t really appear. And this period of time coincides with the Hidden Dragon battle. If we miss this opportunity, we will need to wait another thousand years.¡±

    As expected, Su Chen said in his heart.

    Long before changing the location of the Hidden Dragon battle, Su Chen and Gu Qingluo had guessed that opening the Spirit Burying Terrace was probably also under a time restriction. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have dyed opening it for a thousand years. Nor would they have let Su Chen extort them in this way.

    However, the main question was when exactly the Spirit Burying Terrace could be opened. To figure this out, Su Chen and Gu Qingluo had consultedrge numbers of references and ancient books, in the end determining that the Spirit Burying Terrace was finished on the twenty second day of the seventh month. That very same date this year was the seven thousandth year since the creation of the Spirit Burying Terrace. When taking into consideration the Immortal Temple¡¯s control over the timing, the snippets of information that he had obtained during unintentional conversation, as well as collecting all kinds of information from various sources, the two finally confirmed that the Spirit Burying Terrace was extremely likely to open on this day.

    Thus, the Immortal Pce hadpletely fallen into the calctions of Su Chen and Gu Qingluo.

    At this moment, Su Chen said, ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. Then what do you want me to help you do? The Hidden Dragon battle is not a normalpetition. If you want me to bring you in, I don¡¯t have that kind of ability.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t need you to bring us in. We just want you to enter in our ce.¡±

    ¡°Enter in your ce?¡±

    ¡°Yes, enter in our ce. As long as you can enter the Spirit Burying Terrace during the duration of the Hidden Dragon battle and help us take out a few things inside.¡±

    ¡°This......¡± Su Chen hesitated for a moment. ¡°The Hidden Dragon Institute is vital for my advancement in the future. If I am to suffer a defeat in thepetition...... No, I cannot agree.¡±

    When Night Demon heard this, she became angrily agitated.

    This was the Spirit Burying Terrace! There were great opportunities inside.

    The Immortal Temple had spent so much energy to discover its location and how to break it open. Now, they are asking you to go, and you are not willing?

    Although his unwillingness truly demonstrated that he had nothing to do with this matter, Night Demon couldn¡¯t help but roll her eyes when she heard this reply of his. ¡°The things in there are much more valuable than the Hidden Dragon Institute by who knows how many times.¡±

    ¡°Hmph, a bunch of stuff buried in the dirt. How could they be useful? What I am looking for is the path to enter the Hidden Dragon Institute. I am not interested in secr riches of gold and silver at all.

    You have the gall to say this? Night Demon almost yelled.

    Who was the one who extorted us to get our Origin Tools unafraid of death?

    Who was the one who hired mercenaries to kill off and swallow up the Shadow Mountain Troops?

    Now you say all high and mightily that you arepletely focused on traveling the path of cultivation and have no interest in mortal wealth?

    Despite her anger, Night Demon could only say with gritted teeth, patiently and systematically, ¡°Trust me, there are definitely good things in that ce. If you are willing to help us, I can guarantee that apart from the few things that we want, everything else can belong to you.¡±

    Like hell you can guarantee! Su Chen silently cursed.

    That ¡°apart from the few things that we want, everything else can belong to you¡± was probably thest resort that your organization¡¯s leader had given you, right?

    But you actually went directly to thest resort.

    If they let someone like you, who has such poor negotiating abilities, make the guarantee that would be strange.

    Su Chen said without changing expression, ¡°How do I know what is in there? What if there¡¯s nothing else apart from what you want? Then I¡¯ll just have done your work for free.¡±

    ¡°It won¡¯t happen......¡± Night Demon hurriedly said.

    However, Su Chen had already interrupted her. ¡°The Hidden Dragon battle to me is extremely important. I won¡¯t divide my attention to do something else just for a portion of purely imaginary spoils. Go back and tell them that I can¡¯t help you.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Night Demon knew that she had no way of convincing Su Chen at this moment, so she could only say, ¡°I will report back to them, but there is no way that we will give up so easily.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care whether or not you give up. In any case, my attitude is already very clear. In addition...... go back and tell your head, I won¡¯t meet with anyone else apart from you.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re giving me that much face?¡± Upon hearing this, Night Demon immediately became happy.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Su Chen replied with augh.

    What a joke! If they switched out stupid you for someone more capable next time, what would I do?

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    After sending Night Demon off, Iron Cliff stormed in before Su Chen was even able to sit down and rest.

    The first words out of his mouth were, ¡°Something¡¯s happening to Lin Yemao.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Su Chen was stunned.

    `¡°You¡¯d beste take a look.¡±

    1. The character for ¡°Yu¡± in He Yushu¡¯s name (Óñ) means jade.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 106: New Difficulties

    Chapter 106: New Difficulties

    There was a stone room next to the Dustsift Courtyard. Su Chen had once used it to practice his absorption technique alone, and itter became a ce to punish his servants.

    This room was also where Lin Yemao was currently being held.

    Upon entering the room, Su Chen saw Lin Yemao lying on the bed, letting out bitter cries.

    ck fur had grown on his entire body, and his eyes had bulged out like a fish. His arms and legs were contorted in weird directions, as if something was pulling on them.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Su Chen was speechless.

    Iron Cliff shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not too sure either. This happened shortly after I brought him back.¡±

    ¡°Did you encounter anyone else during this process?¡±

    ¡°No, I ced him inside a sack and just carried him back. I didn¡¯t stop at all on the way back.¡±

    ¡°Save......chitter......save me......chitter¡± Lin Yemao did his best to speak, but it was not very clear. Even so, Su Chen could still make out two words: ¡°save me¡±.

    Lin Yemao gazed at Su Chen with great fear in his eyes.

    ¡°What is going on here?¡± Iron Cliff began to panic a little upon seeing Lin Yemao¡¯s appearance.

    ¡°I need to take a look at him before I know. Iron Cliff, watch the door. Don¡¯t let anyone inside.¡± As Su Chen spoke, he had already pulled out his workbench, beaker, and other experimental items from his ring.

    He pulled out a syringe and drew some blood directly from Lin Yemao¡¯s body.

    Upon sending Origin Energy to his eyes, Su Chen saw that Lin Yemao¡¯s blood had actually changed in a way that it had never before.

    A new Origin Substance was being produced in Lin Yemao¡¯s blood.

    Su Chen could swear that he had never seen this kind of Origin Substance in Lin Yemao¡¯s body before.

    Then where did ite from?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t understand.

    He continued to observe, and discovered that this Origin Substance was actually automatically produced in Lin Yemao¡¯s blood.

    It was as if something was hidden in the depths of Lin Yemao¡¯s blood, so deep that Su Chen¡¯s eyes couldn¡¯t see......

    It was like a ghost emerging from the deep sea. It invaded and changed Lin Yemao¡¯s bloodline. As it changed him, it also brought him huge pain.

    Why was it like this?

    Su Chen was stunned.

    What exactly was this ghostly Origin Substance? And why would it appear now?

    What had catalyzed all of this?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know, but he knew that this definitely wasn¡¯t poison.

    During his experimentation period in the Scarlet Mountain Range, Su Chen had observed thirty or so poisons and how they caused harm to the human body.

    One could say that if the bloodstream was divided intoyers, poison would lie in the outermostyer. It was the thing that could be observed the most easily by his eyes.

    Since the ghostly Origin Substance was definitely not a poison, then what was it?

    Su Chen furiously scanned through his memories.

    In the past period of time, Lin Yemao definitely had not encountered anyone else.

    So any changes must have originated from something that Su Chen had done to him.

    But in the past a hundred days, he had done too many things to Lin Yemao, which one was it?

    It might not even be because of one thing.

    It had only appeared today, after Lin Yemao had been experimented on for such a long period of time. Then, this means that it might not be an instantaneous matter, but rather from long ago that was recently catalyzed.

    Catalyzed?

    Su Chen received a sudden shock.

    He thought of something, then hurriedly concocted an Ancestral Medicine.

    Upon pouring it carefully into the vial of blood, he sent Origin Energy into his eyes again and began to observe.

    Su Chen observed that the rate of appearance of the ghostly Origin Substance had increased.

    ¡°It¡¯s the Ancestral Medicine!¡± Su Chen waspletely stunned.

    ¡°What?¡± Iron Cliff didn¡¯t understand.

    Su Chen stared at Lin Yemao, dazed. ¡°His bloodline is reverting to its ancestral state.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°Master means that the Ancestral medicine sessfully made his bloodline revert to its ancestral state? It isn¡¯t actually a failed recipe?¡± Iron Cliff asked Su Chen inside of the stone room.

    ¡°Yes. His bloodline appears to have reverted to its ancestral state, but that doesn¡¯t mean that the medicine was sessful,¡± Su Chen replied as he monitored Lin Yemao¡¯s condition. ¡°Ulrich¡¯s expectation for his bloodline reversion was to pursue the pinnacle of his bloodline power. However, the current reversion is also a kind of mental and physical change. This is a failed reversion. Of course, no matter what, it truly did result in a bloodline reversion, which is the preliminary state of sess. If we were to continue experimentation along these lines, perhaps we really could discover the kind of medicine that he had wanted.¡±

    Ulrich had probably never anticipated that his medicine was not aplete failure, and that it actually possessed the ability to revert bloodlines to their most primal forms. The caveat is that it required ingestion of around three hundred vials, however, before it would go into effect.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Su Chen had used this medicine to help him analyze Lin Yemao¡¯s bloodline, he probably wouldn¡¯t have discovered this effect either.

    Many great discoveries and inventions were often stumbled upon by ident.

    Either it was obtained purely via a miracle, or it was a byproduct of a certain experiment......

    Su Chen was just lucky.

    He had miraculously obtained the Soaring Serpent Bloodline Origin Substance, and because of his experiments he had validated the efficacy of the Ancestral Medicine.

    However, this kind of luck would require a long time to demonstrate any significant value it had.

    As for right now, this ¡°luck¡± was actually a big burden.

    ¡°Then what do we do with this guy?¡± Iron Cliff asked.

    Upon seeing Lin Yemao lying there whimpering, Su Chen thought for a moment and said, ¡°Let¡¯s let out some of the blood. At the same time, pull out all of the medicinal herbs and vials that I have so that I can see which one can counter this ancestral Origin Substance.¡±

    Su Chen began to hurriedly perform experiment after experiment, constantly testing to see whether these medicines could effectively counter the ancestral Origin Substance.

    Lin Yemao was still whimpering in pain on the bed. Letting out some of his blood reduced the changes to his body, but his bloodline still was unchangeably reverting to an ancient bloodline. Based on this pace, he would die after not too long.

    ¡°He almost can¡¯t take it,¡± Iron Cliff said, holding a giant basin full of fresh blood. ¡°He¡¯s beginning to vomit blood...... Should I let out more of his blood?¡±

    ¡°Hold on, just hold on!¡± Su Chen was still rapidly testing all kinds of medicine while observing the bloodline.

    Thankfully, he had brought enough medicinal herbs this time. He had used many of them previously in his experiments, so now he had enough materials to perform test after test.

    The constant, maximum usage of his eyesight made them extremely sore, yet Su Chen was unable to stop.

    He could not allow Lin Yemao to die. At the very least, he could not let him die here.

    Su Chen furiously experimented.

    Finally, after an unknown number of experiments, Su Chen finally saw the ghostly Origin Substance begin to rapidly decrease and disappear, as if it had met its mortal enemy.

    ¡°Found it!¡± Su Chen yelled in delight, ¡°It¡¯s Bluestone Grass! Feed him Bluestone Grass!¡±

    Iron Cliff could no longer worry about whether this medicinal herb would result in any adverse side effects. He grabbed a handful and stuffed it into Lin Yemao¡¯s mouth. ¡°Eat it. If you don¡¯t want to die, eat it.¡±

    Lin Yemao continued to let out chitters, but he still swallowed it.

    ¡°That won¡¯t work!¡± Su Chen rushed over, grabbed the Bluestone Grass and forcefully crushed it. ¡°You have to crush it and feed him the liquid extract.¡±

    Droplets of blue liquidnded inside Lin Yemao¡¯s mouth. Lin Yemao finally began to calm down.

    As the Blueheart Grass began to take effect in his body, he began to stop trembling, and his breathing also became noticeably less shallow.

    The ck fur retreated, his eyes went back into their sockets, and even his contorted limbs were restored to normal.

    ¡°Did we seed?¡± Iron Cliff asked excitedly.

    ¡°Mhm.¡± Su Chen replied coldly, however, no joyful expression on his face.

    Iron Cliff saw that Su Chen¡¯s mood was not great. He thought for a moment and asked, ¡°This medicine...... Are there any side effects?¡±

    Iron Cliff had followed Su Chen for a long time, so he also understood the term ¡°side effects¡±.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Bluestone Grass is used to make Blood-Freezing Powder.¡±

    ¡°What is Blood-Freezing Powder?¡± Iron Cliff didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°It¡¯s a kind of bloodline poison. People who ingest that kind of medicine will have their bloodlines atrophy. Mixed bloodlines will disappear, while inherited bloodlines will return to hibernation.¡±

    ¡°No wonder it was so effective...... Wait, master, you can¡¯t mean...... His Soaring Serpent bloodline......¡± Iron Cliff opened his eyes wide.

    ¡°It¡¯s gone,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°We fed him too much Blueheart Grass. Now, not only has his Soaring Serpent Bloodline disappeared, from today onwards he can no longer obtain any bloodlines at all.¡±

    Even someone as straightforward and honest as Iron Cliff understood the meaning behind this.

    His expression greatly changed. ¡°Now we¡¯re in for it.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 107: Guest 1

    Chapter 107: Guest (1)

    Inside the stone room, Su Chen and Iron Cliff watched Lin Yemao who was passed out on the bed, their hands on their chin.

    The development of the situation Su Chen was undoubtedly an extremely burdensome matter for Su Chen.

    The Lin n would definitely not ept this matter. What they wanted wasn¡¯t just a Lin Yemao, but a Lin Yemao who had a Soaring Serpent Bloodline and could thus help the Lin n remainpetitive in the future.

    Without the Soaring Serpent Bloodline, Lin Yemao¡¯s value had greatly decreased.

    From a certain angle, it was just like a certain part of him had died.

    Lin Yemao would be reduced to the same position that Su Chen had in Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s eyes.

    If possible, Su Cheng¡¯an definitely would not have shown mercy to the old beggar who had blinded Su Chen.

    Most likely, Lin Xingrong would be the same.

    Su Chen felt his head hurt.

    He quietly sat on the ground, watching Lin Yemao without moving.

    Upon looking at his frozen expression, Iron Cliff did not dare to say anything.

    The atmosphere became heavy because of this.

    After an unknown period of time, Su Chen finally stood up.

    He walked over and felt Lin Yemao¡¯s pulse. After confirming that he wasn¡¯t too injured, he said, ¡°Iron Cliff, tell Mingshu to head to the Upwind Pavilion and buy some Seven-Day Stupor.¡±

    ¡°That can save him?¡± Iron Cliff was confused.

    ¡°It can¡¯t, but it can let him take a good nap and wake up seven dayster. As long as he doesn¡¯t awaken, the Lin n will temporarily be unaware that his bloodline has disappeared.¡±

    ¡°But they will still discover it seven dayster.¡±

    ¡°So we need to take care of the problem before then.¡±

    ¡°How do we take care of it?¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t reply. Instead, his eyes began to light up.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Three dayster.

    When Lin Yuanqiao saw the snoring Lin Yemao, he was slightly dazed.

    He raised his head to look at Su Chen. ¡°You said that he came to your Su pce to be a guest. Is this what you meant?¡±

    ¡°Brother Lin and I were familiar at first sight. After returning, we drank a lot. Unfortunately, Brother Lin sumbed to the alcohol and is still drunk. I was not good enough as a host, so please forgive me.¡±

    Su Chen spoke a bunch of crap very straightforwardly. Even Lin Yuanqiao felt intoxicated when he heard this.

    Of course he would not be fooled by Su Chen. He had brought along an Origin Qi Schr skilled in traditional Chinese medicine.

    Lin Yuanqiao waved his hand. The Origin Qi Schr went to inspect Lin Yemao. He then returned and reported, ¡°He is under the effects of Seven-Day Stupor. He will wake up in seven days. He has not been poisoned; most likely, it was just because they didn¡¯t want him to know about the Su n¡¯s secrets, so they purposefully did it.¡±

    Upon confirming that nothing was wrong with Lin Yemao, Lin Yuanqiao said, ¡°It seems like I need to also throw a feast for Young Brother Su, one where you cannot leave unless you get drunk.¡±

    Su Chen replied with a smile, ¡°I am deeply sorry for getting Brother Lin drunk. Thus, I have already decided that we will not drink any wine in the future. I trust that the people of the Lin n will be generous and not bother me too much...... Sir Lin, you can¡¯t possibly be dead set on getting me drunk to get rid of the hatred in your heart, right?¡±

    ¡°If I really do get you drunk, will there be a rumor in the future that members of my Lin n have a narrow tolerance, even seeking retaliation for such a small matter?¡±

    Su Chen smiled and did not reply. However, from his appearance, it seemed that this would be the case.

    Lin Yuanqiao harrumped, ¡°Forget about it. If the Lin n promises you something, we won¡¯t back down. Since you want to go to the Beast Garden, what you can obtain depends on your fortune. However, I should mention that the Lin n has only invited you. Apart from you, no one else is wee.¡±

    Although they were unwilling, the Lin n had agreed in the end.

    The Lin n had epted Su Chen¡¯s offer for a few reasons. One, their n¡¯s inherited treasures had all been used on Blue Night, so the value of the Beast Garden had shrunk; they were not worried that Su Chen would try to steal anything. Second, they still believed that Su Chen was still blind. Even if there was something of value, he might not be able to tell.

    Thus, apart from Su Chen, they would not allow anyone else to enter.

    Of course, they would not have expected that Su Chen¡¯s attention was never on the garden in the first ce.

    Su Chen smiled as he gazed at Lin Yuanqiao and said, ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    On that day, Su Chen finally entered the Lin n¡¯s Beast Garden.

    He was no longer sneaking around likest time. Rather, he entered justly and openly.

    As if he were strolling around in his own backyard, Su Chen walked leisurely along, using his hands to feel out his surroundings.

    He heard the howls and roars of Vicious Beasts in his ears and smelled the unique wild scent of Vicious Beasts.

    Two people were standing behind him. They were both third-generation disciples of the Lin n. One was called Lin Yuehan, the other was called Lin Shouye.

    To the two third-generation disciples, apanying a blind person to wander around the Beast Garden was evidently something very boring. However, these were the orders of the n, and they had to do it.

    The entire way, they did not see Su Chen do anything in particr. After circling around the Beast Garden once, he actually began to slowly walk out.

    Lin Shouye said, ¡°That ce is not the Beast Garden anymore.¡±

    ¡°Is it a restricted area?¡± Su Chen countered.

    Lin Shouye scratched his head. ¡°Well, no.¡±

    ¡°Then it¡¯s fine,¡± Su Chenughed as he continued forwards.

    The direction they were headed in was near the smallke, where Gu Qingluo lived.

    At this moment, Gu Qingluo was sitting in the small pavilion near theke. Upon seeing Su Chen¡¯s figure, her eyes began to light up.

    This guy, he actually was really able to do it.

    Yes, Su Chen¡¯s true goal for entering the Beast Garden was precisely to see Gu Qingluo.

    The entire time, Su Chen and Gu Qingluo were only secretly good friends ¨C no one knew about it.

    But just like any pair of lovers, Su Chen and Gu Qingluo were not satisfied with the limited number of encounters that they had.

    They hoped for an opportunity where the two of them could openly ¡°meet each other¡± instead of acting like distant rtives, who had to pretend not to know each other despite seeing each other.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, Su Chen was always searching for an opportunity.

    Lin Yemao was the evidently the cause that allowed him to meet Gu Qingluo.

    When Gu Qingluo saw Su Chen, her slender eyes glowed with excitement.

    She walked out of the small pavilion and headed forwards.

    Lin Yuehan and Lin Shouye stepped forwards, paying their respects to Gu Qingluo side by side.

    Lin Yuehan said, ¡°We¡¯ve disturbed Second Miss.¡±

    ¡°This person is......¡± Gu Qingluo asked politely despite already knowing the answer.

    Lin Yuehan introduced Su Chen first, then exined the general situation to her, saying, ¡°Head Elder and Second Elder agreed that Fourth Young Master Su can move around as he pleases in the Lin pce. We never expected that he actually didn¡¯t spend much time in the Beast Garden, and instead ran over here and interrupted Second Miss.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Gu Qingluo pretended to be surprised. ¡°It¡¯s okay, I have long heard of the name of the Su n¡¯s Fourth Young Master. I never expected that we would have the fate to meet today. Since we met today, why note inside and sit? Xiangyu, prepare tea!¡±

    Lin Yuehan and Lin Shouye were simultaneously stunned.

    Gu Qingluo had stayed at the Lin n for close to two years now, but they had never heard of anyone who was able to garner even a slightly positive response from her.

    They never expected that she would give Su Chen so much face.

    What the hell, the Lin n has so many good males, yet not a single one canpare to Su Chen?

    The two of them were quite indignant in their hearts.

    However, despite their indignance, it was rare to be able to share a drink with Gu Qingluo. Many people desired such a situation yet were unable to achieve it, so the two of them stepped forwards.

    Gu Qingluo turned around and gazed at them. ¡°I don¡¯t remember inviting the two of you.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 108: Guest 2

    Chapter 108: Guest (2)

    A clear breeze blew gently across the small building near theke. Outside, jade-green wavespped up against its walls.

    Su Chen sat in a pavilion near theke. Gu Qingluo¡¯s dainty hands held a jade teapot as she poured out tea, which gave the scene a certain taste.

    Before, when he and Gu Qingluo met, it would always be furtively, in the forest behind the mountain. They would either spar or take baths, or they would secretly discuss matters rted to the Spirit Burying Terrace. It wasn¡¯t until today that he finally had an opportunity to observe Gu Qingluo from a different perspective.

    In the end, she was still an important young miss from arge n. Every move she made exuded a certain kind of nobility.

    As he watched her current appearance, then thought about Gu Qingluo¡¯s free, unfettered, and adorable behavior around himself, Su Chen felt that truly, every beautiful woman from the heavens had a side that others did not know about.

    He was lucky. Because he was blind, Gu Qingluo did not have any defenses around him, and had revealed herselfpletely to him. Because of this, he had also be her good friend.

    For anyone else, be Gu Qinluo¡¯s closepanion would not be easy.

    ¡°Right, you still haven¡¯t told me; how did you catch Lin Yemao?¡± Gu Qingluo asked as she poured out more tea. ¡°Lin Yemao used the Gu n¡¯s bloodline medicine, and his strength should have increased greatly. Capturing him couldn¡¯t have been easy, right?¡±

    ¡°I am not clear about his true strength, but I didn¡¯t use too much energy to capture him.¡± Su Chen described the process of his battle with Lin Yemao to Gu Qingluo.

    Upon hearing Su Chen had only used a metal-eating bug and Iron Cliff to sessfullyunch a sneak-attack on Lin Yemao, Gu Qingluo couldn¡¯t help butughing.

    Miss Gu¡¯sugh was warm, sweet, and beautiful. She never revealed her teeth when smiling, and she was usually pure and quiet. She had quite a name for herself in the Lin n. Common people didn¡¯t even dare think of getting a pleasant expression from her. Even the Heaven¡¯s Chosens of the Lin n all spoke very carefully in front of her.

    This was her first timeughing in this kind of way.

    Lin Yuehan and Lin Shouye, who were stuck watching from afar, both felt dumbfounded.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know how precious thisughter was. He continued to converse with Gu Qingluo.

    Gu Qingluo said, ¡°So you just kept him locked up for that many days? And you didn¡¯t find it boring?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Why would it be boring? I captured him because he had some use to me.¡±

    ¡°What use?¡±

    ¡°Analyzing the Soaring Serpent Bloodline.¡±

    ¡°Analyzing the Soaring Serpent Bloodline?¡± Gu Qingluo¡¯s eyes opened wide out of shock.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Su Chen nodded his head with surety.

    He had not intended on hiding this matter from Gu Qingluo, and there was no need to.

    Humans had never stopped analyzing bloodlines. This world was not for thecent. Rather, people were always searching for ways to advance. However, the study of science was mostly for one¡¯s own use, to allow one to be stronger.

    Right after the Arcana Kingdom fell into ruin, mankind had taken up the mantle of analyzing bloodlines.

    Humanity had grand dreams- they wanted to aplish all that the Arcana race had and more. Yet in the end they were unable to even recreate what the Arcana Race had achieved- they did not obtain any more powerful Origin Energy, and they were not even able to reconstruct the Bloodline Extraction Instrument.

    Even so, the human race continued to strive. They had never given up on their pursuit of bloodlines and Origin Energy power.

    Thus, Su Chen had no need to deny it.

    ¡°What do you want to do?¡± Gu Qingluo asked.

    ¡°I just wanted to see whether or not I could find a substitute that would allow me to do what you can do, even without the Soaring Serpent Bloodline.

    ¡°So did you suceed?¡± Gu Qingluo asked with a smile.

    Su Chen shook his head.

    While he didn¡¯t need to hide his motives, he absolutely needed to conceal the results.

    If the Gu n were to discover that Su Chen had really invented an Origin Substance Medicine that could raise the effectiveness of using the Snaking Mist Steps without a bloodline, there would definitely be turmoil.

    Even if it was just a small increase.

    Gu Qingluo covered her mouth andughed. ¡°Now you know how wild your imagination is, right? Bloodline powers is the best method for circting Origin Energy that my n¡¯s founder left behind. How could you surpass it so easily?¡±

    Once again, Lin Yuehan and Lin Shouye were dazed when they saw this from afar.

    In such a short period of time, she hadughed twice.

    Did Su Chen have some kind of secret technique that could charm Second Miss to this point?

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I was just tentatively testing it regardless of whether it seeded or not. In any case, I obtained many insights, experience, and growth.¡±

    ¡°In a few more days, the Hidden Dragon battle will begin, yet you still say that you gained much experience and growth? I¡¯m only afraid that others will not continue to give you such an opportunity,¡± Gu Qingluo scooted closer to Su Chen and said in a low voice, ¡°The Lin n¡¯s Li Qingyun has already returned. He is quite the tough nut to crack.¡±

    ¡°Lin Yemao is no longer a threat,¡± Su Chen said slowly.

    ¡°They are still four powerful opponents, and you need to divert some of your attention to the Spirit Burying Terrace. This is slightly inattentive......¡± Gu Qingluo worried for him.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Then I¡¯ll just cripple another.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    Su Chen leaned in towards Gu Qingluo and said a name near her ear.

    This movement was quite vague, yet Gu Qingluo did not attempt to evade. This made Lin Yuehan and Lin Shouyepletely speechless.

    After Su Chen said that name, Gu Qingluo¡¯s eyes widened, and she covered her rosy lips. ¡°It¡¯s him?¡±

    ¡°Do you want to see how I¡¯ll cripple him?¡±

    ¡°I want to, I want to!¡± Gu Qingluo nodded her head repeatedly, her pure appearance disappearingpletely.

    She was not worried about themotion or damage bing too great. Gu Qingluo did not treat the members of the Lin n like her own. After all, here presence here was just a business transaction. She was not the slightest bit worried about which one of them was crippled.

    ¡°Then call him over for me, I¡¯ll cripple him for you!¡±

    Gu Qingluo agreed right away. She pointed to Lin Yuehan and Lin Shouye and said, ¡°Hey, you two, go grab Bai Li, Lin Shuyue, and Lin Jingxuan together to drink tea. I want to see whether disciples from the Su n or the Lin n are more outstanding.¡±

    When Lin Yuehan and Lin Shouye heard this, they looked at each other, but they did not dare to disobey Gu Qingluo¡¯s words. They could only agree to hermands and fetch the others.

    Not long after, a group of young people began to draw near.

    However, the numbers were not just limited to three. There was arge group of people approaching the pavillion; at a nce, there seemed to be twenty or thirty of them. They were all young members of the Lin n.

    Of the male and female leading the pack, the male was Lin Jingxuan. The woman¡¯s appearance was quite good, but her expression was extremely arrogant¨C this should be Lin Shuyue. She carried a cat in her bosom and coddled it like a child. the cat in her bosom was not a normal cat; rather, it was a strange kind of demonic cat. Right now, it was still in its infancy, but once it began to grew, it would be incredibly strong.

    After this group of people arrived, one of the people sped their hands and said to Gu Qingluo, ¡°I heard that the Su n¡¯s Fourth Young Master is a guest of Second Miss and that you have been enjoying each others¡¯pany. I and the others havee specifically to greet you. Please, Second Miss, do not take offense.¡±

    As he spoke, he gazed at Su Chen. His eyes were filled with a thick provocative intent.

    When Lin Yuehan and Lin Shouye had gone to call for Lin Jingxuan and the others, they hadn¡¯t expected that Lin Jingxuan was currently with the other disciples of the Lin n. Upon hearing that Su Chen was receiving hospitality from Gu Qingluo, they were all agitated.

    Gu Qingluo was essentially a goddess to members of the Lin n.

    Not only was her appearance beautiful, but she came from arge n.

    From a great noble n!

    If any one of them were to wed Gu Qingluo, they would have instantly stepped into the heavens.

    Unfortunately, in the past two years, she had not been particrly good to anyone despite their best efforts and tactics.

    If no one had any chance, then whatever; at least they couldfort each other about it.

    They hadn¡¯t expected that Fourth Young Master Su Chen would suddenly appear and actually get along quite well with Gu Qingluo. They really could not endure this.

    The third-generation of the Lin n had already begun to view Gu Qingluo as a cabbage that grew from their own n¡¯s ground.

    Even if a cabbage from their own n were to be given to a pig, it definitely could not be taken by someone from another n.

    Thus, although Gu Qingluo had only called for three people, arge group of people suddenly came. However, the main target of the invitation, Bai Li, had replied that he had no interest and didn¡¯t actuallye.

    In the entire Lin n, he was also probably the only person who would be able to ignore her.

    Gu Qingluo did not take exception. She only muttered, ¡°The people that were supposed toe didn¡¯t, but a lot of people who weren¡¯t supposed toe did.¡±

    The little girl didn¡¯t know to speak. As soon as she opened her mouth, she offended everyone there.

    However, goddesses had a unique authority. The Lin n disciples that had been insulted did not dare to hate Gu Qingluo, so they could only stare at Su Chen with hatred instead.

    A Lin n disciple walked out from the group of people. ¡°I have heard many people say that the Su n¡¯s Fourth Young Master is like a dragon or phoenix among men. Although he is blind, his heart is clear, and no one can surpass him in the Su n¡¯s third generation. I, Lin Shaofeng, have specificallye for myself to experience Fourth Young Master Su Chen¡¯s strength for myself.¡±

    Youths were bloodthirsty; they battled as soon as they opened their mouths!

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 109: Guest 3

    Chapter 109: Guest (3)

    Su Chen inclined his body.

    Gu Qingluo made an introduction for him. ¡°This is the son of Lin Xianjun. In the third generation of the Lin n, his strength can be considered quite good......¡±

    She hadn¡¯t finished speaking when Su Chen carelessly picked up a cup and tossed it out. The cup spun around in midair as it flew out, making strange hums.

    Lin Shaofeng raised his hand and struck out. However, as the cup spun through the air, his strike actually missed. The cup curved around Lin Shaofeng¡¯s strike, then mmed into his chest with a ¡°Bang!¡±. He was sent flying with one cup.

    Su Chen¡¯s strike had been clean and efficient. Everyone watching was dazed.

    Most importantly, everyone was extremely familiar with this technique.

    Even Gu Qingluo eximed, ¡°Flying Flower Hands?¡±

    Impressively, Su Chen was using the Gu n¡¯s Flying Flower Hands, but he had infused it with the unique aspects of the Thunder de. Its strength had greatly increased, and one attack was enough to topple Lin Shaofeng, rendering him unable to stand for quite some time.

    Su Chen said boastfully with a slight smile, ¡°Lin Yemao and I are good friends.¡±

    Gu Qingluo was speechless, yet she also understood Su Chen¡¯s intentions.

    He was using this opportunity to ce the usation of transmitting the Gu n¡¯s Absolute Techniques on Lin Yemao¡¯s head.

    The Gu n¡¯s Absolute Techniques were usually transmitted via bloodline. Thus, even if Su Chen learned them, the Gu n would likely not care, and the consequences were unlikely to be severe because hecked the bloodline.

    However, consequences and punishment were one matter; allowing an opponent to learn the techniques was another entirely.

    Upon seeing that Su Chen had used the Flying Flower Hands, the entire group was instantly thrown into a frenzy.

    Another person said, ¡°Su Chen, I will do battle with you!¡±

    He had already charged over.

    Su Chen turned around to greet him. Gu Qingluo continued to speak into his ear. ¡°His name is Lin Yu. He is the son of Lin Fengxiao, and is proficient in the Tiger Subduing Fists and Cold Light Sword.¡±

    Gu Qingluo had just finished her exnation when another ¡°Bang!¡± once again sounded out.

    Su Chen¡¯s palm was already ced on Lin Yu¡¯s chest. A single palm strike sent him flying.

    Su Chen had moved using a string of footsteps that made advancing and retreating very easy. Obviously, he was using the Snaking Mist Steps. He easily dodged Lin Yu¡¯s attack and sent him flying with a careless palm strike.

    When the members of the Lin n saw this, they were all stunned.

    Gu Qingluo pped her hands andughed, ¡°Good, good, good, good use of the Snaking Mist Steps. Fourth Young Master Su truly is a genius from the heavens. No wonder Lin Yemao was so open to a stranger and passed on the Snaking Mist Steps and Flying Flower Hands to you.¡±

    ¡°Bastard! Those are secret techniques that the Gu n does not pass on. How could you be allowed to secretly learn them!¡± Another Lin n disciple charged forwards, shing out towards Su Chen.

    Su Chen retreated, tilting his head and listening intently.

    Gu Qingluo said, ¡°He is Lin Shao¡¯an, Lin Shaofeng¡¯s older brother. His strength is somewhat stronger than his younger brother¡¯s.¡±

    At that moment, Lin Shao¡¯an had already rushed to Su Chen¡¯s side.

    Su Chen carelessly flipped his hand. Arge number of air tentacles reached out and quickly bound Lin Shao¡¯an.

    How could Lin Shao¡¯an have seen this kind of technique before? He was extremely shocked, and though he wanted to escape he was unable to.

    Su Chen flew forward like the wind, and ced his hand on Lin Shao¡¯an¡¯s chest before pushing, twisting, then tossing him out.

    Lin Shao¡¯an once again flew through the air, but this time he was tossed into therge group of Lin n disciples behind him.

    A group of people went forwards to catch him simultaneously, but with a ¡°Bang!¡± five or six of them had already been knocked over.

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s eyes lit up. She said as she pped her hands, ¡°Nice technique, you actually used my Gu n¡¯s Flying Flower Hands on a person, using him as a secret weapon. Beautifully done!¡±

    She began to praise Su Chen without reservation.

    With no effort at all, Su Chen defeated three people in a row. The other members of the Lin n did not dare to step forwards.

    At that moment, a thought suddenly appeared in Lin Hanyue¡¯s heart. Could it be that Su Chen was bored of suppressing the Su n, so he hade to the Lin n to start a new stage of battle and crush everyone else again?

    Of course, he could only consider that matter in his heart. He did not dare to vocalize it.

    Finally, someone couldn¡¯t endure it anymore and yelled, ¡°Second Miss Gu, Su Chen used the Gu n¡¯s Flying Flower Hands and Snaking Mist Steps. We are also fighting on your behalf, protesting this injustice, but why are you speaking for him?¡±

    Gu Qingluo rolled her eyes. ¡°The Gu n¡¯s three Absolute Techniques are secret skills in terms of the bloodline, not the techniques themselves. Otherwise, we would not have transmitted them to the Lin n. In addition, it was a member of the Lin n that transmitted this technique to an outside; thus, the Lin n should be the ones held responsible. I do not care about the grudges between you and Su Chen. However, I truly do need an exnation from you all.¡±

    Great, if you hadn¡¯t said anything we¡¯d be fine. Now that you spoke, Gu Qingluo is looking for an exnation from us.

    The disciples of the Lin n gazed at each other, unsure of what to say.

    It was still Su Chen whoughed, ¡°Whether you guys like it or not, I have already learned two of the Gu n¡¯s Three Absolute Techniques. If anyone is not convinced, you cane make trouble for me. I¡¯ll ept and deal with it.¡±

    Everyone was filled with resentment when they heard this.

    By putting it this way, it was basically the same as saying that Gu Qingluo would only make trouble for the Lin n and not Su Chen.

    If they wanted to deal with Su Chen, they would have to do it personally.

    However, Su Chen¡¯s strength was extremely powerful. He was an Origin Qi Schr, and anyone who wasn¡¯t didn¡¯t need to do battle with him. The only ones who had reached a rtively close level under the age of sixteen were Lin Shuyue and Lin Jingxuan.

    Bai Li had note, so only Lin Shuyue and Lin Jingxuan were here.

    Everyone gazed at the two of them.

    Gu Qingluoughed,¡± Brother Jingxuan, why don¡¯t you fight with Prince Su? If you can win, I can drop the matter of the Lin n secretly transmitting the Gu n¡¯s Absolute Techniques. However, if you lose......¡±

    She thought for a moment, then said, ¡°I want your Lin n¡¯s Moon-Worshipping Toad.¡±

    Lin Jingxuan¡¯s expression was ugly.

    Su Chen indifferently said, ¡°If Brother Lin isn¡¯t confident, we can make a bet for ten moves. If I cannot defeat Brother Lin in ten moves, it counts as my loss.¡±

    What?

    Defeat Lin Jingxuan in ten minutes?

    Do you think that he is the same as the pieces of trash from before?

    Everyone became enraged when they heard this.

    Even so, Lin Jingxuan continued to shake his head. He said, ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t dare to, but that I really do not have the authority to make this decision on my own.¡±

    At this time, a voice sounded out, ¡°Fight him.¡±

    Everyone turned around to look at the voice. They saw a middle-aged man dressed in an azure robe standing in the distance.

    ¡°Uncle1!¡± the group of people began to cry out.

    The person who had arrived was precisely the one currently in charge of the Lin n, Lin Xingrong.

    Gazing at Su Chen, Lin Xingrong said, ¡°I want to know how a blind person can speak with such arrogance and act so unrestrainedly. My Lin n can afford to lose a mere Moon-Worshipping Toad.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Upon receiving Lin Xingrong¡¯s order, Lin Jingxuan¡¯s confidence surged. A killing intent shed across the eyes that he used to gaze at Su Chen.

    Defeating me in ten moves? Do you think that I¡¯m like that idiot Lin Yemao?

    I¡¯ll give you something to look at, you egotistical bastard.

    Lin Jingxuan thought in his heart. He had already activated the Snaking Mist Steps. His feet were like the wind, swaying like mist. It was not particrly shy, but he did not make many mistakes. Evidently, his way of doing battle was stable and sure, and Lin Xingrong silently nodded his head in praise.

    Without a bloodline, Lin Jingxuan was weaker than Lin Yemao in terms of explosiveness, but because of his stability and caution while doing battle, he did not easily make any mistakes.

    As long as he didn¡¯t make any mistakes, it was virtually impossible for Su Chen to defeat him in any short period of time.

    Su Chen was tilting his head, pretending to listen closely. Upon hearing the wind blow, heughed, ¡°Then, let¡¯s begin.¡±

    As he spoke, his right hand morphed into a de, stabbing towards Lin Jingxuan. It let out loud, thundering echoes.

    Lin Jingxuan had seen this move before. He was prepared in his head, and he made a move to block it. At the same time, his feet swayed, preventing Su Chen from using force to meet force. He was abusing Su Chen¡¯s ¡°blindness¡±.

    Even so, at the same time that he blocked the attack, Su Chen sent a sentence into Lin Jingxuan¡¯s ear. ¡°Lin Yemao has already returned. Are you not worried or afraid at all?¡±

    What?

    Lin Jingxuan¡¯s heart was stunned. Hisposure and response was instantly affected.

    Su Chen¡¯s hand de chopped onto Lin Jingxuan¡¯s wrist, pressing both his arms backwards and mming into his chest.

    Su Chen showed no mercy. He continued to press his advantage, stringing words together that pierced Lin Jingxuan¡¯s heart like needles. ¡°Did you really think that you could conceal from me the fact that you incited Lin Yemao toe kill me so that you could reap the benefits?¡±

    ¡°I do not know what you are saying,¡± Lin Jingxuan replied. The booms of thunder covered up the words that he had said, but Su Chen heard them very clearly. Or rather, he knew what Lin Jingxuan was saying even without hearing it.

    The Thunder de continued to strike out. As he stabbed out eighteen times in a row, he said, ¡°You can deny it in front of me, but is there any point? How did you exin to Lin Yuanqiao and Lin Xingrong why Lin Yemao came to kill me? You said it was his own decision, right? At that time, you must have believed him to be dead, and you could ce all the responsibility on his shoulders. But you didn¡¯t expect that he hadn¡¯t died...... That is also to say that as soon as he wakes up, all of your lies will be exposed.

    Lin Jingxuan¡¯s heart violently trembled upon hearing that. His movements slowed down a bit, and Su Chen had already drawn near to Lin Jingxuan¡¯s body. An extremely vicious knee strike hadnded on Lin Jingxuan¡¯s midsection, causing him to vomit blood in pain as he went flying.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let him get near you!¡± all of the disciples of the Lin n began to yell.

    But at this moment, Lin Jingxuan¡¯s heart was a mess. He had no way of defending against Su Chen¡¯s ferocious attacks.

    Bang!

    Su Chen¡¯s Thunder de once again stabbed towards Lin Jingxuan¡¯s shoulder. He grabbed him and then fiercely rushed out, entering the forest. They mmed into an unknown number of trees on the way there, then left a deep imprint on the forest ground.

    As he mmed Lin Jingxuan, Su Chen said, ¡°I gave Lin Yemao some Seven-Day Stupor. He will wake in four days. Once he awakens, you know exactly what will happen. If you don¡¯t want to die, save yourself.¡±

    ¡°You want me to kill Lin Yemao?¡± Lin Jingxuan finally understood Su Chen¡¯s intentions. ¡°And then you can use the opportunity to extort me?¡±

    Su Chen darklyughed, ¡°Wasn¡¯t this your original train of thought anyways?¡±

    He sent out another attack, mming into Lin Jingxuan¡¯s abdomen once again. The explosive force caused Lin Jingxuan¡¯s entire body to rattle.

    Lin Yemao was still holding out. ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it!¡±

    Su Chen let out augh. ¡°You will agree eventually. Whenever you¡¯ve thought through it,e see me. Without my help, you cannot kill him. Remember, you only have four days.¡±

    Another fist mmed onto Lin Jingxuan¡¯s face.

    He said, ¡°As for now, whether or not you want to, you will lose.¡±

    He grabbed Lin Jingxuan¡¯s neck and pressed him harshly onto the ground.

    1. In Chinese, titles are separated ording to whether they refer to your father¡¯s or mother¡¯s side of the family. In this case, the people are either crying out ¡°²®¸¸¡±, which is a father¡¯s elder brother, or ¡°¹Ã¸¸¡±, which is the husband of one of the father¡¯s sisters. Both are usually called uncle, as is ÊåÊå (father¡¯s younger brother). Confusing, I know. I¡¯ll try to make notes of any of these instances where necessary.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 110: Whitetower Teleportation

    Chapter 110: Whitetower Teleportation

    This extremely one-sided battle rendered the members of the Lin n speechless.

    Lin Xingrong¡¯s expression was frozen, and all the disciples of the Lin n were filled with fury and resentment. None of them knew how the situation had developed to this point. Only Gu Qingluo beaming with happiness.

    Having lost a Moon-Worshipping Toad for nothing, how could their mood get any worse?

    Members of the Lin n wanted to continue battle, but Gu Qingluo had already spoken out and put an end to it. Her reasoning was very righteous and just.

    No matter what, Su Chen was still a guest that had been invited by the Lin n. Sparring a bit was more than enough; there was no need for a round-robin battle.

    No one had anything to say in response. They all nced at Lin Xingrong, whose expression sank. He shook his sleeves, then left without saying a word.

    He left!

    Their n leader had thrown in the towel, so everyone else could only endure. If the matter of Su Chening to be a guest of the Lin n and suppressing arge group of Lin n disciples was ever brought up in the future, they would not be able to avoid cringing.

    The matter was concluded like this. After drinking some tea with Gu Qingluo and resolving most of the hatred in his heart, Su Chen finally tactfully returned to the Su pce.

    After leaving the Lin pce, Su Chen first went to the True Jade Pavilion. Tang Zhen had sent people to call him over earlier, but he temporarily had no time toe over because he was busy taking care of the Lin n.

    After arriving at the True Jade Pavilion, he discovered that unsurprisingly in the past hundred or so days Tang Zhen had already finished interpreting and tranting the entire Arcana script.

    They included a Soul-Fixation Technique, Origin Energy Bullets, and the technique that Su Chen wanted the most, Shadow Substitution..

    However, to Ulrich it was not called Shadow Substitution; rather, it was known as Whitetower Teleportation.

    Whitetower was arge Arcana Organization that existed during the time of the Arcana Kingdom. They specifically researched and developed applications of Origin Energy. This organization¡¯s Origin Qi Schrs liked to use the name ¡°Whitetower¡± as a prefix to the Origin SKills that they had developed. Because of this, there was an entire set of Whitetower Arcana techniques.

    Whitetower Teleportation was one of them.

    Su Chen had originally thought that this Shadow Substitution-like Origin Skill was an Origin Skill that used illusions to mimic space-type techniques, but he hadn¡¯t expected that the Whitetower Teleportation was actually a space-type Arcana technique.

    Space-type Arcana Techniques were the most high-end methods of using Origin Energy. It always upied a very high status among Origin Skills, and only the most powerful Origin Qi Schrs would have the right toe into contact with them.

    However, what people didn¡¯t know was that during the period of the Arcana Kingdom, some members of the Arcana Race had already attempted to lower the loftiness of space-type Origin Skills, allowing Origin Qi Schrs of loweryers to use them as well.

    Whitetower Teleportation was created under such conditions.

    Because of this, Whitetower Teleportation¡¯s most unique point was that the prerequisites to use it were quite low, and even lowyer Origin Qi Schrs could use them. The amount of Origin Energy that it used was not very high either.

    As a cost, it came with an incrediblyplex Origin Energy Pattern and one could only jump very short distances at a time.

    The jump distance of Whitetower Teleportation was closely rted to one¡¯s weight. The lighter one was, the farther one could jump. However, it was impossible to jump further than six or seven meters. This meant that it could only be used on the battlefield, not to escape. In addition, one could not teleport to an obstructed location, and one could not pass through objects.

    The Origin Energy Pattern for the Whitetower Teleportation was the mostplicated one that Su Chen had seen to date. It wasposed of more than a thousand Origin Energy Pattern Fragments. Su Chen didn¡¯t even control a hundred Origin Energy Pattern Fragments right now, which was to say that he could either choose to forcefully cram and learn this Origin Energy Skill, or he could wait until he entered the Hidden Dragon Institute and had learned the process of forming an Origin Energy Pattern mould before attempting to learn it.

    Su Chen had learned the Soul Eye, Meg¡¯s Guardian, and Fireball techniques all through brute force memorization, but because of this his foundation was not helped, and learning one did not mean that he could learn another more rapidly. In fact, the Soul Eye pattern was alsoplex and was also a simplified Origin Skill, but it was an Improved Arcana technique and depended on thebination of an Origin Energy Pattern and Talisman. The Origin Energy Pattern portion was rtively simple. Whitetower Teleportation, however, was purely an ancient Arcana technique, and did not have an Origin Energy Talisman. Thus, it was activated purely via an Origin Energy Pattern, so itsplexity was many times that of the Soul Eye.

    When faced with such aplex Origin Skill, Su Chenpletely gave up on it.

    If he were to try and learn it via brute force, even one or two years probably wouldn¡¯t be enough.

    The Origin Energy Bullets and Soul-Fixation Technique were not much better. They were allplicated ancient Arcana techniques, and it would be impossible to forcefully learn them before the Hidden Dragon battle.

    Su Chen felt stifled. He possessed the Origin Skills, yet he could not learn them. This only increased his yearning for the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    Only that kind of top-level institute would grant him aplete understanding of ancient Arcana techniques.

    Wait!

    Was that really true?

    Su Chen suddenly thought of something. His eyes slightly squinted.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    When he returned to the Dustsift Courtyard, the sun had already set.

    After washing his face, Su Chen told Mingshu to retreat, then said, ¡°Come out.¡±

    Night Demon¡¯s figure appeared from the darkness.

    This woman¡¯s concealment technique was quite impressive. She had never once been discovered by anyone from the Su n despite entering and leaving so many times. Su Chen had only ever discovered her hiding in the room because he pretended to be blind, but he had never seen how she got in. One could only say that she was innately suited for doing these kinds of things.

    Night Demon said, ¡°Su Chen, what will it take for you to be willing to help us?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Su Chen pretended to act surprised. ¡°Didn¡¯t I say already? I cannot help you with this matter.¡±

    Night Demon said unhappily, ¡°Enough, Su Chen, if you truly didn¡¯t intend on helping us out, you would not have requested that only you and I can discuss these things. You were prepared for a discussion a long time ago.¡±

    ¡°Oh? You were actually able to discern what someone was thinking based on what they said?¡± Su Chen wore a surprised expression. In the next instant, his tone changed, ¡°That powerful, you definitely were not the one that thought of this.¡±

    Night Demon acted as if she had been struck by a heavy blow. She remained silent for a long time before saying, ¡°Su Chen, the organization promises you that the riches inside are definitely not lower than a million low-grade Origin Stones. As long as you are willing to help us, this fortune will be yours. If the treasures inside arecking, the organization is willing to reimburse you.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s enough, woman. Don¡¯t take me for an idiot.¡±

    He raised three fingers. ¡°Firstly, even if there are so many treasures inside the Spirit Burying Terrace, many of them have likely degraded over thousands of years and are now unusable. Secondly, if we assume that there are Origin Energy Formations that have protected most of the treasures from degradation, and they are worth you using a million Origin Stones to exchange, they are definitely even more valuable than that sum. With these kinds of treasures present, there are definitely also dangers. Lastly, and most importantly, I could trust you before this because if I were to die, your secret would also have been revealed. But now that the opening of the Spirit Burying Terrace is imminent, it is no longer important whether or not your secret is revealed. Think for a moment. If I help you take out the treasures in side, what do you think will be waiting for me? Will I receive a million Origin Stones, or will I be silenced and the matter concluded then and there?¡±

    Night Demon was shocked when she heard this.

    What Su Chen had saidpletely epassed the few points that the organization had considered.

    However, no one had expected that Su Chen¡¯s thought process would be so intricate to the point that he had calcted everything long beforehand.

    Night Demon finally reacted before finally saying, ¡°Then what do you think should be done?¡±

    When Su Chen heard this, he smiled.

    ¡°What do you think should be done¡± was something that only something that a rookie negotiator would say because it implied a transfer of control over the negotiations.

    The Immortal Temple could note up with a good n, or even if they had one, they were unwilling to propose it.

    Just like with the Shadow Mountain Troops, all they had done was continuously increase the magnitude of attraction.

    A million Origin Stones? Bullshit.

    If a promise wasn¡¯t given in hand, it was all fraud!

    Although Su Chen was young, he had seen much humiliation and many scams during his years of blindness.

    When he couldn¡¯t see, he had learned to use his brain and scheme.

    When faced with Night Demon¡¯s question, Su Chen said, ¡°If we want to cooperate, we first must have a mutual trust. In the past, my cooperation with your organization was one of extortion and out of necessity. But after the Spirit Burying Terrace is opened, my terms of coercion will disappear. If you want to cooperate, then we need a new foundation.¡±

    ¡°Only when this foundation of trust is established can we work together and make our cooperation worthwhile!¡±

    ¡°So, how will you disy your good faith?¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 111: Good Faith 1

    Chapter 111: Good Faith (1)

    ¡°Can you wait a bit? I need to ask the higher-ups for their opinion,¡± Night Demon said.

    This time, she did not wait until the next day to give an answer like before; instead, she pulled out a silver ring.

    The ring had a few buttons on it. NIght Demon pressed one of them, then passed on the words that Su Chen had spoken into the ring. An instantter, the ring began to let out a faint red glow.

    Night Demon ced the ring next to her ear, listening closely. An instantter, she said to Su Chen, ¡°You want a show of good faith? Thene with me.¡±

    She walked outside.

    After exiting the Su pce¡¯s backyard, a carriage was already waiting. The person driving the carriage was dressed in all ck robes, and their face was hidden. When Su Chen walked over, the carriage driver nced at Su Chen. It was then that Su Chen discovered that there was nothing under that ck robe.

    A chilly aura manifested around her, as Night Demon said, ¡°If you aren¡¯t afraid of dying, get on.¡±

    As she spoke, she jumped onto the carriage.

    Su Chenughed. ¡°The moment that I decided to begin a rtionship with you all, I lost the right to be afraid of death.¡±

    He jumped on the carriage, which began to slowly move. They travelled along the Han River and continued advancing past the limits of the city. After travelling for around half an hour, they finally stopped in front of a farm.

    There were around ten or so rooms in the farm. Night Demon brought Su Chen directly into the oldest and most run-down room. Upon arriving in front of a tattered storage container, she opened it, then pressed on the switch inside. A wall began to open on its own, revealing a dark tunnel.

    She brought Su Chen into the tunnel. After walking another lengthy distance, the tunnel gradually began to widen in front of them.

    They were now in arge underground space. The space was divided into differentyers, just like different rooms.

    Su Chen had walked directly into the main lobby. At this moment, there were a few people standing in the lobby, all of whom Su Chen had seen before.

    They were Copper Deer, Qingbai, Smoke, and Aaron.

    Baron was not there. Night Demon had previously told him that Baron was just an ally of the organization and didn¡¯t actually belong to them. Thus, it was not strange that he was not present in this kind of ce.

    Apart from these four people, there was also an old man. Although Su Chen had not seen his appearance, he instinctively felt that they had likely encountered each other before.

    Indeed, in the next instant the old manughed, ¡°Prince Su, we meet again.¡±

    Upon hearing this voice, Su Chenughed. ¡°Old Sang.¡±

    The old man in front of him was precisely the Old Sang whom he had unintentionally overheard speaking a while ago, marking the beginning of this chapter in his life.

    Though it seemed like he was the leader here, he was definitely not the highest-ranking official in the organization.

    Old Sang said, ¡°I originally thought that the unintentional leaking of our secret would be a great problem, but I never expected that such a thorough cooperation would develop. Indeed, fate is always filled with twists and turns.¡±

    Su Chen indifferently said, ¡°I like to think of it more as the affairs of life being variable, and that disasters and happiness depend closely on one another..¡±

    Old Sang was stunned for a moment beforeughing loudly, ¡°Haha, well said. Fate is always controlled by oneself. This kind of development is not so much fate as it is the result of Prince Su¡¯s hard work. Come, please sit, Prince Su.¡±

    The lobby had already prepared a ce for receiving guests.

    Su Chen stepped forwards and sat down. He even politely conversed a bit with Qingbai, Copper Deer, and the others since they had met each other before.

    Old Sang poured tea personally for Su Chen. He said, ¡°Let me introduce myself first. I am Sang Zhen. I am in charge of the Immortal Temple in the northern area of the Three-Mountain Region. I am also responsible for the matter of opening the Spirit Burying Terrace.¡±

    ¡°Immortal Temple?¡± Su Chen pretended to be oblivious.

    Old Sang said, ¡°Prince Su, there¡¯s no need to pretend like you don¡¯t know. Just like you said, trust is the foundation for cooperation. If you continue to tell me that you haven¡¯t guessed already who we are, then there¡¯s no need to bring up the words ¡®good faith¡¯¡±.

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then said, ¡°So then you mean, when you were selling me the Origin Skills, you already intended to reveal your identities to me?¡±

    Sang Zhen didn¡¯t reply directly. He only said, ¡°If an organization wants to expand, they cannot allow themselves to be buried underground forever. Expansion inevitably requires a foundation, and probing is the prelude to expansion. Prince Su¡¯s performance has pleased us, and we appreciate your way of doing things. Thus, the organization has treated Prince Su as an important member that will be recruited in the future. All we are doing is taking advantage of the current situation; since you want a show of good faith, we will give it to you. Look, this is the secret meeting ce of the Immortal Temple in Northface City. How about it? Is this enough good faith?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t actually want to be an official member of the organization. If possible, I want to be more like Baron, working together under the guise of cooperation. A secret is worth far more than just some Origin Stones, after all.¡±

    ¡°You think you¡¯re worthy!¡± Aaron angrily said.

    Cooperation meant that they were equal to each other. People who had the right to stand side by side had the right to discuss cooperation. Even people of the same rank as Baron, strictly speaking, could not be considered true cooperation. It was more urate to say that he was employed.

    For Su Chen to open with talk of cooperation was truly somewhat arrogant. It was no surprise that Aaron was angry.

    Sang Zhen stopped him, however, andughed, ¡°The Immortal Temple doesn¡¯t just ally itself with anyone. If you want to establish this kind of rtionship, you need to first demonstrate your own value. However, this is not very important right now. As for the million Origin Stones, it was just a random figure. The Spirit Burying Terrace does not contain that many riches, and even if it did, we would not give it to you.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s inside?¡±

    ¡°Has Prince Su ever heard of Sark¡¯s Energy Nucleus?¡±

    ¡°Sark¡¯s Energy Nucleus?¡± Su Chen thought for a moment. He suddenly thought of something and yelled out, ¡°An Energy source?¡±

    ¡°Yes! An Energy source.¡± Sang Zhen¡¯s expression was one of satisfaction. ¡°Prince Su truly was raised in a schrly family. You even know about energy sources.¡±

    How could he not know about them?

    It was an existence that was on par with the Bloodline Extraction Instrument. It was the royal treasure of the Feathered Race.

    Back then, when the Arcana Kingdom fell into ruin, the Five Great Races split the Arcana Kingdom and obtained many secret treasures. The most valuable treasure that the human race obtained was the Bloodline Extraction Instrument, while the Feathered Race obtained an energy source. They used it as the core for their Sky Expanse City, establishing the Sky Country.

    Precisely speaking, ¡°energy source¡± was just amon name. Many things with unique energy characteristics could be called energy sources, and from a certain standpoint even Origin Stones could be considered energy sources.

    The one that the Feathered Race possessed was naturally the most powerful energy source.

    The energy that it could supply was more than enough to keep arge city floating in midair. Its strength was quite apparent.

    It was an extremelyrge engineering construct in its own right and possessed tremendous capabilities. Upon instation, it could automatically absorb Origin Energy from the air and turn it into the pure raw energy before supplying it.

    This kind of energy instation was primarily invented by the Arcana Race great master Isador Sark. Thus, it was named after him and was called the Sark¡¯s Energy Nucleus.

    For Sang Zhen to mention Sark¡¯s Energy Nucleus gave Su Chen quite a shock.

    If the Spirit Burying Terrace truly possessed Sark¡¯s Energy Nucleus, it was definitely a treasure that was worth more than the entire Three-Mountain Region.

    The Five Great Races could begin to fight arge-scale battle for it without any hesitation.

    Thus, Sang Zhen supplemented with another sentence, ¡°Of course, they are not at the level of the Sark¡¯s Energy Nucleus in the Sky Expanse City. precisely speaking, there are three levels of Sark¡¯s Energy Nuclei: one is a city-grade Sark¡¯s Energy Nucleus, which can continuously power an entire city. The Arcana Race only ever invented one of those kinds, and it is installed in the Sky Expanse City. Another is a warship-grade Sark¡¯s Energy Nucleus, which is used on floating warships. There are probably a few of these scattered all over, but they are still quite umon. Lastly, there are tool-grade Sark¡¯s Energy Nuclei, which are used to power Origin Puppets.¡±

    ¡°Then what¡¯s inside the Spirit Burying Terrace is......¡±

    ¡°Tool-grade, but there are a total of four of them. They can be used to support fourrge Origin Demon Puppets,¡± Sang Zhen replied.

    ¡°Can they be used only byrge Origin Demon Puppets, or can they be used by many things includingrge Origin Demon Puppets?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Only and including implied two drastically different things.

    Sang Zhenughed, ¡°Even if it¡¯s just a tool-grade Sark¡¯s Energy Nucleus, it is about asrge as a Melted Golden Battle Armor. Naturally, it can only be used byrge Origin Demon Puppets.¡±

    ¡°Then it¡¯s useless to me,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Controllingrge Origin Demon Puppets was extremelyplicated, and moving and concealing them was very difficult. They were very powerful, but as a target they were quite obvious.

    Su Chen pursued his own increase in strength, so he was not very interested in it.

    ¡°Apart from this, there are three Void Essence Crystals. Prince Su should know the value of these things even if I don¡¯t say anything.¡±

    Void Essence was a very rarely seen substance and could be used to assign space to other objects. For instance, spatial rings could be created using these, but it was too wasteful. Normal people wouldn¡¯t do this. Their true usage was to bestow an Origin Tool with a powerful spatial attribute. If an Origin Tool possessed that attribute, its strength would greatly increase.

    The value of three Void Essence Crystals was extremely high.

    ¡°Is there anything else?¡± Su Chen continued to ask.

    ¡°We are not too clear about whether there is anything else. After all, these are all clues that we obtained from history texts. Things that are less important are unlikely to be recorded,¡± Sang Zhen said.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is......¡± Su Chen drew out his sentence. He thought for a moment, then let out a strange smile as he said, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, how about wepromise? Since these two items are not useful to me, how about this. I help you go into the Spirit Burying Terrace. If I get the Sark¡¯s Energy Nucleus and the Void Essence Crystals, I¡¯ll give them to you. If I make any other discoveries, they will all belong to me. How does that sound?¡±

    ¡°How can that be allowed?¡± Aaron instantly jumped to his feet.

    Sang Zhen slowly sighed, ¡°It seems it is still impossible to hide it from Prince Su.¡±

    Su Chen gently smiled as he said, ¡°Then now, can you make a more solid show of good faith?¡±

    Sang Zhen leisurely said, ¡°Of course. However, Prince Su, do you not feel that it is slightly unfair that we are the only ones disying this good faith? Do you not intend on disying your own sincerity?¡±

    ¡°Me? What do I have to disy my sincerity?¡± Su Chen said. ¡°I don¡¯t have any secrets that I can¡¯t tell others.¡±

    ¡°That might not be true,¡± Old Sang said with deliberation. ¡°I believe that Prince Su¡¯s secrets can interest many people. For instance...... Prince Su¡¯s eyes. Or...... Li¡¯s fate? Am I right, storekeeper Demon Face?¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 112: Good Faith 2

    Chapter 112: Good Faith (2)

    The hand that was holding the tea was frozen in midair,pletely unmoving.

    Finally, Su Chen suddenlyughed.

    He brought the cup of tea to his mouth and gulped it down. Su Chen raised his head to look at Sang Zhen.

    ¡°I was wondering how it was possible for me to keep such arge organization in the dark for so long.¡±

    As he spoke, his eyes flicked from Sang Zhen to Night Demon, then Qingbai, Copper Deer, and everyone else nearby.

    In that instant, his eyes were bright and full of spirit and vitality.

    Night Demon could no longer endure it. She began to yell, ¡°You...... you...... you aren¡¯t blind?¡±

    She truly did not know that Su Chen was not blind.

    Qingbai and the others wore expressions ofughter. Evidently, they had known this a long time ago.

    ¡°When did you recover?¡±

    ¡°When did you find out?¡±

    In the next instant, Sang Zhen and Su Chen simultaneously spoke.

    The two of them gazed at each other beforeughing.

    Su Chen said, ¡°My eyes recovered on the day that I killed Lin Xie.¡±

    ¡°They actually recovered that early?¡± Old Sang was shocked.

    However, this also exined why he had been able to kill Lin Xie.

    ¡°Then what about you? I am not too surprised that you know that I was Demon FAce, but how did you know that Li¡¯s death had something to do with me?¡± Su Chen asked.

    With Iron Cliff and Lin Shu present, Su Chen was not surprised that the knew that he was Demon Face. Upon knowing that he was Demon Face, they would also naturally realize that his eyesight had returned. However, they actually also knew about Li; this was quite rare.

    Sang Zhen replied, ¡°You did very well in destroying the corpse and any traces left behind. However, next time remember that you need to be more thorough in destroying things. The broken pieces of Origin Tools, the indications of battle, and the copsed secret room were more than enough to indicate that someone had returned to that ce, and that there were secrets there that they didn¡¯t want others to discover. If you search carefully, there will always be some clues.¡±

    ¡°But there were only a few clues, right? That doesn¡¯t mean that I was the one who did it.¡±

    ¡°When you greeted everyone here, you didn¡¯t seem to ask about Li¡¯s fate, did you?¡± Sang Zhen countered.

    ¡°Uh......¡± Su Chen was speechless.

    He had not expected to give himself away from this aspect.

    This Sang Zhen truly was not a simple character.

    Su Chen scratched the back of his head and said, ¡°I hope that you do not take exception over this.¡±

    Copper Deerughed, ¡°That bastard Li wanted to swallow up all the benefits for himself, so he deserved his death. However, Prince Su, since the treasure store of the Shadow Mountain Troops is not limited to what we found, shouldn¡¯t you also fulfill your end of the agreement?¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t even blink as he said, ¡°Sorry, in terms of nature that is already apletely different transaction. Killing a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator is very taxing.¡±

    ¡°......¡± Everyone was rendered speechless by his words.

    You clearly killed one of our men, yet now you act as if you are in the right.

    However, Copper Deer was just mentioning it. Right now, the primary focus was the Spirit Burying Terrace, and only Su Chen knew howrge the treasure storage of the Shadow Mountain Troops was. Even if they forced him to pay up, he could just say that there was only thirty thousand or so, and there was nothing that they could do.

    There was no point trying to regain what they had already lost. It was more practical to consider how to use the situation to obtain more benefits during the current operation.

    Sang Zhen already spoke. ¡°The treasure store of the Shadow Mountain Troops can belong to you, but the Spirit Burying Terrace......¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s first be clear about what exactly is inside. I still hold to my previous statement. If you don¡¯t bring it up now, it¡¯s mine. Of course, you can also disagree, and you can also continue to lie to me, but remember that I am still the person entering the Spirit Burying Terrace, and the person bringing the items out is also me! Since you know that I am not blind, you should also know that you can¡¯t pull any wool over my eyes. There is no need to continue ying cheap tricks.¡±

    Su Chen interrupted him as he stared at him.

    It felt good not having to pretend to be blind.

    Having realized that it was no longer possible to continue trying to fool him, Sang Zhen finally gave in.

    He sighed, ¡°It¡¯s a Corpse Spirit Flower.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Su Chen jumped to his feet.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Corpse Spirit Flowers grew under extremely dark conditions. It collected all the filthy Qi in the heavens and the earth and was extremely poisonous. The conditions for its growth were extremely harsh; they would only grow in extremely filthy, poisonous locations.

    This was a textbook example of things turning into their opposites if pushed too far in one direction. This nt, which could only grow in the filthiest of conditions, had many exotic features. It had many different uses and was rare and valuable.

    Upon mentioning that there was a Corpse Spirit Flower in the Spirit Burying Terrace, Su Chen instantly understood the reason for the Spirit Burying Terrace¡¯s existence.

    Most likely, the Spirit Burying Terrace existed to foster the growth of Corpse Spirit Flowers in the first ce.

    Corpse Spirit Flowers could only grow in filthy, evil locations, but it was very hard to find these kinds of ces in the human world, unless one went to the savage territories controlled by the beast race regime.

    Since there was no such filthy, evil locations to be found, then might as well create one.

    This was just like Ulrich, who could not find a high-ranking bloodline and thus decided to create his own. Their thought processes were simr.

    But the difference was that thetter had failed, while the former had seeded.

    Back then, the chaos and massacres that urred in the Illustrious Divine Dynasty were intended to create this extremely evil ce. The construction of the Spirit Burying Terrace was just a continuation of this goal. In that dark ce, where corpses and spirits were put to rest, a huge plot with selfish interests was being carried out secretly.

    As for the Sark¡¯s Energy Nuclei and the Void Essence Crystals, they were all there to support the execution of this n. There were four Origin Demon Puppets using the Sark¡¯s Energy Nuclei to protect the area. The Void Essence Crystals were used to create a vacant space, allowing the Corpse Spirit Flower to grow safely.

    However, the n had never beenpletely sessful.

    The Arcana Organization that had put this n into motion was struck by a destructive attack not long afterwards. Most of their members were killed, and only a small number were able to escape.

    Thus, the secret of the Spirit Burying Terrace had been kept until now.

    Until this very day.

    ¡°So that¡¯s why.¡± Su Chen let out a long sigh. ¡°Then...... what do you n on using it for once you retrieve the Corpse Spirit Flower?¡±

    ¡°Naturally, we will use it to refine medicine?¡± Sang Zhen replied quizzically.

    ¡°What kind of medicine is the important question,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°We all know that the Corpse Spirit Flower can be used for a wide range of applications. It can be used to develop medicines that can cure the sick, and it can also be used to make vicious, fatal poisons. As for as I know, there is a kind of gue medicine that is created using the Corpse Spirit Flower. Merely a vial of that medicine is more than enough to wipe out most of the Three-Mountain Region, right?¡±

    Sang Zhen understood what Su Chen meant. ¡°Are you worried that we will use it to make a poisonous medicine to harm others?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I have my principles when doing things. There are a few bottom lines that I do not wish to touch.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about this. We won¡¯t do something like that. In fact, ording to the organization¡¯s ns, our goal is to use it to concoct a Spirit-Sobering Medicine,¡± Old Sang replied.

    The Spirit-Sobering Medicine was a medicine that could develop the strength of one¡¯s soul. It was quite a high-end medicine, and the Corpse Spirit Flower was a main ingredient in refining this kind of medicine.

    However, Su Chen did not believe them because of this.

    He shook his head and said, ¡°I don¡¯t dare to believe these kinds of empty promises.¡±

    Aaron was enraged. ¡°Brat, what are you trying to say?¡±

    Su Chen stared Aaron in the face fearlessly. ¡°What I¡¯m saying is that I know what kind of organization the Immortal Temple is!¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 113: Good Faith 3

    Chapter 113: Good Faith (3)

    The Immortal Temple was not just any ordinary underground organization.

    They had their own faith and their own political ambitions that they pursued.

    Usually, if an underground organization possessed these two things, there was another term to describe them that was more urate ¨C a terrorist organization!

    The Immortal Temple was one such organization.

    If someone else had said that making the gue medicine had no benefit to themselves and they would rather make the Spirit-Sobering Medicine, Su Chen might have believed them.

    However, these words came from the Immortal Temple, and they were not very convincing.

    Thus, no matter how angry Aaron got, Su Chen refused to back down.

    Sang Zhen immediately attempted topromise. ¡°Prince Su, you are misunderstanding us. The current Immortal Temple is no longer the Immortal Temple of the past. After tens of thousands of years of change, everyone is no longer interested in pursuing the hazy dream of the Arcana race any longer. Of course, you can refuse to believe us, but take a look ¨C is there anyone in front of you right now that is a member of the Arcana Race?¡±

    These words had struck the heart of the matter.

    The people standing in front of him were all purely humans. Not a single Arcana Race individual was there.

    The shaping of history and the organization¡¯s expansion had caused the terrorist organization to slowly change their way of thinking and their nature.

    As humans, it would be a joke if they wanted to fight for the Arcana Race¡¯s dream of restoring their kingdom.

    Right now, they really were most likely striving for resources and a better quality of life.

    Despite this, Su Chen continued to shake his head. ¡°Perhaps you are correct. But can you guarantee that every person in the Immortal Temple has this kind of thought?¡±

    ¡°This......¡± Sang Zhen really wanted to say yes, but he could not look Su Chen in the eye and speak such nonsense even though Su Chen could do it.

    Yes, there would always be people who were unwilling to give up on their dream of the past.

    And many of these people likely upied high positions in the organization.

    ¡°Thus, if I give the Corpse Spirit Flower to you, something big will definitely happen,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°I have a few ideas that might be able to resolve this issue and can also resolve the matter of building up mutual trust.¡±

    ¡°What ideas?¡± Sang Zhen asked.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Once I find the Corpse Spirit Flower, leave it with me. If you need Spirit-Sobering Medicine, I can make it for you. This way, I don¡¯t have to worry about a dangerous item falling into your hands, and at the same time if I control the Corpse Spirit Flower I don¡¯t have to worry about you silencing me. Thus, we will have established a new trust...... in any case, it is much more reliable than using a secret as the foundation of our trust, right?¡±

    ¡°You?¡± Aaronughed loudly. ¡°Even someone like you wants to refine a Spirit-Sobering Medicine? That is a high-end medicine, can you do it?¡±

    ¡°If if I can¡¯t, I can learn how to.¡±

    ¡°It will take too long.¡±

    ¡°I will do my best to study. I trust it won¡¯t take too long.¡±

    When Sang Zhen heard this n, he shook his head and sighed, ¡°Prince Su, you are looking down on alchemy too much. Regardless of whether it¡¯s a gue medicine or the Spirit-Sobering Medicine, it is not something that can be controlled in a short period of time. If you don¡¯t believe me...... Hey,e with me, I¡¯ll take you to see something and then you¡¯ll understand.¡±

    As he spoke, Sang Zhen took Su Chen with him to another room.

    Inside the room, an old man was busy mixing a medicine together. Both the old man¡¯s workbench and the tools on his workbench were all much more advanced than what Ulrich had.

    However, the most outstanding point was still the old man¡¯s skill in refining medicine.

    His hands were so nimble that it seemed like each of his fingers had its own mind, dancing in the air and creating quite the gorgeous symphony of movement. As his fingers danced, portions of medicinal powder, liquid, and pellets were tossed in, dissolved, heated, and chemically reacted. Finally, they would constantly interact and produce something else......

    But even so, the end result was still unpredictable.

    Bang!

    After a muffled explosion, the medicine in the old man¡¯s hand blew apart.

    ¡°Dammit! I failed again! I actually failed again!¡± The old man yelled in anger.

    He turned around to look at Su Chen and Sang Zhen. ¡°It¡¯s all your fault! Your entrance caused my to lose concentration. I¡¯ve told you before not to disturb me while I¡¯m working.¡±

    Sang Zhen first said to Su Chen, ¡°This is Master Feng, the individual that we invited specifically for the matter of the Spirit Burying Terrace. Master Feng¡¯s value is very high and doesn¡¯t usually move. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that he heard about the Corpse Spirit Flower, he would not have epted our invitation.¡±

    He then turned around and said to the old man, ¡°Apologies, Master Feng, I have a question that I wanted to ask you.¡±

    ¡°If you have to fart, do it quickly!¡±

    Sang Zhen pointed to Su Chen and said, ¡°This young man to my side wants to learn how to refine medicine. I would like you to help him realize how long it would take for a young man like him to reach a point where he can concoct the Spirit-Sobering Medicine if he has no prior experience?¡±

    ¡°A point where he can concoct the Spirit-Sobering Medicine? That depends on how deep his understanding of refining medicine is. As for how long......¡± Master Feng nced at Su Chen before saying, ¡°That depends on his own innate talent and effort. Geniuses will only need two or three years to do it, while idiots might not be able to do it for their entire lives. As for this young man, I think he looks more like an idiot who only knows how to talk big.¡±

    Master Feng¡¯s expression was filled with scorn.

    Su Chen walked over. He picked up a pouch of medicinal powder and dumped it into a vial.

    Master Feng yelled in anger, ¡°Don¡¯t touch my stuff!¡±

    Su Chen ignored him. He only said, ¡°There¡¯s one thing that I must correct Sang Zhen about, which is that I am not starting from zero experience. I have some experience rted to refining medicine.¡±

    As he spoke, he began to blend the powder in the beaker, then began to add things one after the other.

    Although he could not reach the level of Master Feng yet in terms of putting medicine together, his movements were very stable and he didn¡¯t make any mistakes.

    An instantter, a vial ofmon, light injury medicine was ced in front of Master Feng.¡±

    ¡°This is the level of control that I obtained in a hundred fifty days or so. What do you think?¡±

    Master Feng stroked his chin. ¡°You have some talent. If you practice for four hours every day, you can probably reach a point of refining the Spirit-Sobering Medicine in about seven or eight years.¡±

    ¡°I can practice for six hours every day, and just then I did not disy my full strength.¡±

    ¡°Then, three to five years.¡± Master Feng impatiently said, ¡°I say, why are you asking me all of these things?¡±

    Sang Zhen replied, ¡°This young man wants to reach a point in alchemy one day where he can refine the Spirit-Sobering Medicine and then personally refine it using the Corpse Spirit Flower.¡±

    ¡°What? How can that be allowed!¡± Master Feng yelled with rage. ¡°There won¡¯t be just a single Corpse Spirit Flower, and refining a Spirit-Sobering Medicine only requires one. There are also many other high-end medicines that require the Corpse Spirit Flower!¡±

    ¡°That includes poisons, right? I don¡¯t want it to be used to harm others,¡± Su Chen said as he gazed at Master Feng¡¯s workbench.

    There were many things that he had never seen before.

    The heart of a Vicious Beast soaked in medicine was still beating.

    An herb nted inside of a flower pot had actually grown to look like the countenance of a woman.

    A strange, patterned Vicious Beast tooth had been sharpened to the point that it was as sharp as a de.

    Everything here gave Su Chen a sense of novelty.

    Master Feng was still yelling crazily, ¡°Naive! What do you know? Weapons don¡¯t harm people. What harms people is the person wielding the weapon. We are only making weapons, so why do we need to worry about how others use them? Isn¡¯t it enough if you don¡¯t die? Young man, you cannot save this world. Forget about those impractical dreams of yours and pursue the ultimate secrets of this world; that¡¯s the only thing worth doing! The Corpse Spirit Flower is a rare ingredient, and it shouldn¡¯t only be limited to one kind of application. There are even more high-end medicines that require it!¡±

    ¡°Having heard what you said, I must insist even more strongly on keeping the Corpse Spirit Flower to myself. In addition, it can only be used to refine Spirit-Sobering Medicine,¡± Su Chen replied as he picked up the beast tooth, taking a closer look at it. The razor-sharp edge of the tooth left a thin trail of blood as it brushed past Su Chen¡¯s palm.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± Master Feng had beenpletely enraged. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, what point is there in me staying here? I didn¡¯te here just for a few vials of Spirit-Sobering Medicine!¡±

    ¡°You said one thing that is correct,¡± Su Chen suddenly said.

    ¡°What?¡± Master Feng didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°There is no point in you staying here any longer.¡±

    Su Chen flipped his hand, and the beast tooth shot into Master Feng¡¯s throat.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 114: In Control

    Chapter 114: In Control

    Blood continued to bubble around Master Feng¡¯s fingers even though his hands tightly clutched at his own throat.

    Master Feng stared at Su Chen, his eyes wide with shock. How could he do this?

    He fell to the ground without any strength remaining and died.

    ¡°WHAT ARE YOU DOING?¡± Sang Zhen howled in panic.

    As he yelled, all of the others all rushed over. They were all dazed when they saw Master Feng lying in a pool of blood.

    ¡°It seems like you need a new alchemist,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°I¡¯ll be the one to do it. How does that sound?¡±

    ¡°Do you know how much money and energy is required to train an alchemist?¡± Aaron said angrily. ¡°A talented alchemist is impossible to raise without spending hundreds of thousands or even millions of Origin Stones!¡±

    Thanks for reminding me.¡± A happy smile appeared on Su Chen¡¯s face. ¡°I suddenly remembered that we never discussed the matter of repayment. Why not use this to repay me?¡±

    He gazed at Sang Zhen as he said word by word, ¡°How about rewarding me by raising me up as an alchemist? As for the items in the Spirit Burying Terrace, we will continue with our previous agreement. Anything that you mention will belong to you, and anything else that I discover will belong to me.¡±

    Sang Zhen gazed at Su Chen with shock.

    He had never expected that Su Chen actually dared to do such a thing and dared to ask for such a high price.

    However, he had to admit that the price that he had requested was close to the bottom line of the Immortal Temple, and was quite a tasteful price.

    He could ensure his own safety by keeping the Corpse Spirit Flower near him and didn¡¯t need to worry about it being used to harm others. If the Immortal Temple wanted to obtain their medicine more quickly, they could only use all of their efforts to raise Su Chen and wouldn¡¯t be able to renege on their agreement. Finally, Sang Zhen had also said that only with strength could one have the authority to be an ally of the Immortal Temple.

    Of course, Su Chen didn¡¯t possess enough strength, but he was definitely qualified to be an alchemist that could concoct the Spirit-Sobering Medicine.

    Most amusingly, this alchemist needed to be trained by them personally. They had no way of not acknowledging it.

    It was not too much for Su Chen to request that everything else belonged to him. Just like Baron and the others, they had ensured that they would at least break even along when dividing up the spoils. This way, they could also ensure that the Immortal Temple would not hoodwink them.

    After going around in all these loops, all of the problems had been resolved.

    If Su Chen had nned this out a long time ago, then it would not be such a big deal. However, everything had urred during their process of negotiation. It was not possible for Su Chen to have known that they would meet with Master Feng, and yet he was still able to make his decision and kill in such a short period of time.

    Even Sang Zhen couldn¡¯t help but praise such adaptability and decisiveness.

    He nodded his head. ¡°Although your strength is not great, your head has already demonstrated your value. You have the right to be an ally of the Immortal Temple...... Hehehe, the Immortal Temple has not had any Qi Drawing Realm allies for a long time.¡±

    Su Chen alsoughed.

    After determining the big picture, all that remained was outlining some of the details, such as how to enter the Spirit Burying Terrace and how to bring the items out, etc. It was only a matter of determining what approach to take and there would not be any morerge conflicts. All that was necessary now was time and exploration.

    Thus, Su Chen and Sang Zhen left the room together, analyzing the next step of the n.

    Only Master Feng remained in the room, lying on the floor all alone. It wasn¡¯t untilter when a servant came to clean up the bloodstains in the room and dragged this master¡¯s corpse out, as if he were dragging a dead dog......

    Everything went back to normal.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    After conversing with Sang Zhen for quite some time and nning out appropriately their approach, Su Chen returned.

    He also returned with an Origin Energy Pattern Fragment instruction module, as well as Master Feng¡¯s workstation, the scientific instruments on it and his experimental recordings.

    The Origin Energy Pattern Fragment instruction module was given to him as a gift, and Master Feng¡¯s workbench and experimental recordings were all part of the agreement ¨C Su Chen¡¯s training as an alchemist, or more urately his repayment, began from here.

    Apart from this, he had made a small extra request ¨C dealing with the Lin n.

    However, Su Chen had only asked the Immortal Temple to make some noise and attract the attention of the Lin n¡¯s experts. The actual assassination n would be carried out by someone else. As for who that was, the Immortal Temple didn¡¯t need to know about it.

    When Sang Zhen heard this request, he was stunned for a moment.

    Before, the Immortal Temple had chosen to try and rope in the Lin n in order to ensure the sess of their ns in Northface City.

    He never expected that the situation would be reversed so quickly. In the blink of an eye, the Immortal Temple was about to go deal with the Lin n.

    Thankfully, the Lin n was only amodity that was being used, and its value was not even equal to that of Master Feng. Giving up on it wasn¡¯t too big of a loss.

    He even wanted to help out for free, but Su Chen still paid a fee as per convention.

    However, since it was just making some noise, he didn¡¯t need to pay very much money. Although Sang Zehn very much wanted to help Su Chen take care of Lin Yemao at the same time, Su Chen refused.

    He believed that it would still be best for the killer to be Lin Jingxuan.

    Indeed, Lin Jingxuan did not disappoint him.

    On the second evening, Lin Jingxuan came with unease and fear, as well as humility and a deferential attitude.

    After thinking about it for an entire day, Lin Jingxuan finally made his decision.

    Although he knew that doing so would allow Su Chen to extort him in the future, Lin Jingxuan had no other choice. He was not Lin Yemao and did not have a father who could uphold the heavens for him. He was just a coteral rtive of the Lin n. Everything that he had obtained up to this point was due to his own effort and striving. If he didn¡¯t want to lose everything he had obtained, he could only bow his head to Su Chen.

    Lin Jingxuan¡¯s surrender caused the final piece of Su Chen¡¯s n to fall into ce.

    The third night that Lin Yemao returned to the Lin n.

    On that night, the wind was blowing and the sky was dark. It was the perfect night for killing and arson.

    Su Chen stood on top of a small mountain to the south of Northface City. He surveyed the situation from above, gazing at the Lin n¡¯s brightly lit main courtyard.

    In the darkness, where he could not see, a group of ck-clothed people were silently advancing, and a disciple of the n stood guard with duplicitous intent.

    ¡°Did you know? Just then, I suddenly thought of something,¡± Su Chen suddenly said as he gazed downwards, the mountain wind blowing.

    Iron Cliff did not respond.

    He knew that Su Chen would continue on his own.

    Indeed, Su Chen said, ¡°I still made the members of the Immortal Temple make a move. Why didn¡¯t I just make things more straightforward and also tell them to take care of Lin Shuyue and Bai Li as well? I could have even extended this to Lin Qingyun; wouldn¡¯t this be simpler and conserve energy?¡±

    This question was somewhatplicated to answer.

    Iron Cliff thought for a moment before replying, ¡°I do not know, but I feel that killing people is quite senseless. If possible, it is always better to do less killing.¡±

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t help butugh.

    ¡°Then what if someone wants to kill you?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Iron Cliff scratched his head. He thought for a moment before replying, ¡°Master taught me the Flowing Wind Body Technique and the Iron Mountain Shield. I also have the Melted Golden Armor; I won¡¯t die that easily.

    Indeed, it was a very typical ¡°Iron Cliff¡± response. Su Chen once again couldn¡¯t help butugh.

    Below them, the Lin n courtyard had already begun to catch fire, and people were running and yelling. The assassination plot took advantage of this opportunity to be carried out.

    Su Chen watched the chaotic scenes below. He did not blink, and his eyes shone like the stars in the night.

    He said, ¡°One thing you said is absolutely correct. Killing people really is quite senseless.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 115: Explosive Medicine

    Chapter 115: Explosive Medicine

    That night in Northface City, Su Chen¡¯s final problem was burned away.

    Lin Yemao had died.

    Died to a criminal organization.

    Rumor was that Lin Yemao had colluded with some criminal organization. He had taken some of their benefits and was unwilling to give them up, which caused him to receive such a retaliation.

    The truth of the situation was not very important. More importantly, the Lin n had expended all their manpower yet were unable to find the ck-clothed individuals who had carried out the raid.

    This matter eventually became an inconclusive, unsolved case. In the beginning, there was quite amotion surrounding it, but interest began to die down and in the end it had merely be a topic for conversation on the streets.

    It was already the peak of midsummer. The greatly-anticipated Hidden Dragon Battle was also drawing near.

    The institute envoys from Long Coiling City had already entered Northface City. Next, they began to mobilize forces toy down a giant formation and lock down the entire Red Peak Range. Outsiders were not allowed to enter or leave. There were even higher-ups who used their soul to scan the sealed mountain range to prevent any existences outside of the specifications from affecting the Hidden Dragon Battle.

    Of course, creating such arge formation was not just for the selection of Northface City¡¯s four most talented individuals.

    This ce was the location for the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s entrance exam for the entire Three-Mountain Region.

    The Hidden Dragon Battle was split into two portions. One waspetition within the same city, and victors would obtain an invitation to enroll in the Hidden Dragon Institute. Secondly, the victors would then participate in anotherpetition to determine their ranking in the institute.

    Because of this, there were many subregions in the Red Peak Range, and the Spirit Burying Terrace was not located in the Northface City subregion, but rather in the Flowing Cloud City region.

    This implied that if Su Chen wanted to enter the Spirit Burying Terrace, he would need to cross into a different subregion. That was very bad for his attempts to obtain a spot in his own region.

    ording to the agreement that Su Chen had made with the Immortal Temple, he needed to take out everything inside of the Spirit Burying Terrace when he entered before returning to participate in his own region¡¯s battle to ensure that he would put in the necessary effort.

    In reality, with this prerequisite in front of him, the difficulty of Su Chen obtaining a spot had greatly increased. The Immortal Temple had already preparedforting words for Su Chen after he failed in the Hidden Dragon Battle. Only Su Chen himself was unwilling to give in.

    Thus, in the days before the Hidden Dragon Battle, Su Chen was also making hisst preparations.

    However, while others were furiously cultivating their Origin Skills, Su Chen was practicing in front of a research bench.

    After killing Master Feng, Su Chen had obtained his workbench and experimental recordings. After reading them, he received great enlightenment, and began to open up many different avenues of thought when performing experiments.

    Thus, Su Chen decided to continue his own research, but this time he was not researching the Soaring Serpent Bloodline but rather another item.

    Within the stone room in the Dustsift Courtyard.

    Su Chen carefully held a beaker in his hand.

    The beaker had been split by a thin partition into two. A red and blue liquid were stored separately in it.

    Su Chen carefully pulled out the partition and sealed the beaker¡¯s opening. The two liquids began to mix and bubble.

    The beaker began to shake. As the bubbles increased, it shook more and more violently until it finally exploded with a ¡°BANG!¡±.

    The shards from the explosions flew everywhere,nding on Su Chen. However, Su Chen had made preparations beforehand, and a Meg¡¯s Guardian easily blocked these flying fragments.

    ¡°I¡¯ve finally seeded!¡± As he gazed at the shards on the ground, Su Chenughed with satisfaction.

    ¡°What did you seed in?¡± Iron Cliff didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°Explosive Medicine, didn¡¯t you see? There was an explosion! I finished the Explosive Medicine!¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem that powerful,¡± Iron Cliff replied.

    The noise and smoke that the explosion made was quite solid, but its force was pitifully small. Iron Cliff could forcefully resist it using his own skin.

    ¡°That is because I diluted it!¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°The true Explosive Medicine¡¯s strength will increase as I increase the concentrations of the liquids. Its power is slightly lower than the Blood Aura.¡±

    ¡°Then it isn¡¯t weak at all.¡± Iron Cliff understood what Su Chen was thinking. ¡°You¡¯re nning on using it during the Hidden Dragon Battle?¡±

    The Hidden Dragon Battle forbade the usage of Origin Tools, Origin Talismans, and Origin Scrolls ¨C any weapons using Origin Energy. However, one could carry normal armaments and other items that did not have direct usage in battle.

    This was because the Hidden Dragon Battle was a test of one¡¯s innate talent and strength, not one¡¯s wealth.

    Although Su Chen dared to say that every Origin Tool he possessed he had earned, he had no way of exining that to the Hidden Dragon Institute or to other students.

    Thus, he could only find an alternate approach, instead focusing on the Explosive Medicine.

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± su Chen replied. ¡°It was invented by Master Feng; I just made a few changes and improvements to it so that it suits my own needs a little more.¡±

    If Master Feng was still alive and heard these words, he would¡¯ve been shocked and said that Su Chen was a genius in this aspect.

    Improving medicines was not something that could be done by just anyone. After all, innovation was built on a foundation of a thorough understanding of older objects.

    Su Chen could improve this medicine firstly because he already had a foundation in ce, secondly because his eyes made it much more convenient, and thirdly because he truly did have quite a bit of talent in this aspect. Finally, he also had some luck

    Ulrich and Master Feng¡¯s research shared some simrities, allowing Su Chen to understand Master Feng¡¯s recordings much more efficiently.

    Su Chen¡¯s improvements to the Explosive Medicine were mostly focused on its stability.

    The original Explosive Medicine was not very stable. It exploded very easily, and was hard to store.

    Su Chen¡¯s method was to separate the Explosive Medicine into two different kinds of liquids. Before they came into contact with each other, they were both safe and wouldn¡¯t explode. However, oncebined, they would quickly react and release arge amount of energy, finally producing an explosion.

    Most importantly, most of its ingredients could be found in the Red Peak Range.

    Even if he used up all of the medicine, Su Chen could find a substitute.

    Afterpleting the Explosive Medicine, Su Chen began to search for an appropriate carrier for this explosive. cing it in a vial just like that and tossing it out wouldn¡¯t be possible. He needed to find a carrier that could contain two liquids simultaneously yet prevent them from contacting until the moment that he wanted them to mix.

    For this, he had already sent Mingshu and Zhou Hong out to search for a long time.

    In the end, it was Zhou Hong who discovered the item that he needed.

    It was a very specific kind of wine jug. The jug contained a spacer that allowed for storage of two kinds of wine. Upon drinking, as long as one rotated the jug¡¯s handle, one could easily change the type of wine. It had been used by road bandits to scam and drug travellers and weremonly sold by mobile peddlers. As long as he made some slight modifications, it would be suitable for Su Chen¡¯s needs.

    Thus, Su Chenmanded the gathering and modifications ofrge quantities of these kinds of wine jugs. Most importantly, the opening for pouring wine was to be plugged up, and the lid of the jug was to be fixed in ce.

    Time flew by very quickly.

    Finally, the day of the Hidden Dragon Battle had finally arrived.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 116: Entering the Examination Area

    Chapter 116: Entering the Examination Area

    The Red Peak Range had already be like a huge ceramic bowl.

    Enveloping this giant mountainous range was a light barrierposed of three thousand four hundred and twenty edges that covered the sky, just like a giant, transparent cover. It epassed the entire Red Peak Range inside.

    To the west of the barrier, a massive, tall tower had already been constructed.

    It looked just like a tall golden tower, and in front of the high tower was a massive za.

    Two rows of soldiers wearing golden armor stood majestically on either side of the steps leading up to the high tower. Upon closer inspection, everyone of them was an Origin Qi Schr.

    At the top of the high tower was arge balcony. Inside sat the major figures of the Three-Mountain Range.

    These people included the leader of the Flying Immortal Pce, Long Ziqing; the leader of Northface City, Yue Weixiong; the leader of the Flowing Cloud City, Nan Qiwei; as well as a host of other important officials. The Yu n of Wei River, the Liu n of North Forest, or the Qian n of Three Spears, as well as some other noble ns were also present. Of course, the local bigshots from the Su n and the Lin n, etc. were also present.

    Regardless of whether they were high-ranking officials or from noble ns, they were all circling around a single person at this moment.

    This was a middle-aged man with three ck whiskers on his square, sharply-chiseled face. The first impression that he gave people was one of frankness and straightforwardness.

    His name was Zhao Yu, one of the envoys from the Hidden Dragon Institute. He was the main examiner for this year¡¯s Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s recruitment in the Three-Mountains Region, and he was one of the Hidden Dragon¡¯s Institutes eighteen Golden Girders.

    Those designated as a Golden Girder were akin to stone pirs.

    If he was a cornerstone of the Hidden Dragon Institute, he would also be a cornerstone of Long Sang Country. Although he didn¡¯t have an official rank, his status was respected. Even more so, he possessed great strength. To be able to be one of the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s Golden Girders meant that he had a cultivation base in the fourth realm, the Light-Shaking Realm.

    In fact, only this kind of an individual could keep the public stage under control.

    Every year, during the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s recruitment session, every great sect and noble family wanted their own seedlings to seed in the examination and obtain this opportunity. Naturally, they would use any means possible to attempt to curry favor, including bribes.

    If they had sent someone average, they probably wouldn¡¯t be able to keep the venue under control and wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand this kind of zeal.

    Only people in the Light-Shaking Realm could give pause to these nobility. They would need to consider what kind of price was necessary to bribe such a person. Could they afford to pay it, and was it worth it?

    Standing on the high tower, Zhao Yun solemnly gazed off into this distance. He was born with a dark face, so no matter what he always looked very serious.

    The exam candidates from all kinds of ces had gathered on the za below the high tower.

    The exam candidates from Northface City had it slightly better. They had an advantage in terms of location and only needed to wake up on that morning. However, the exam candidates from other cities had arrived numerous days in advance. Some lived in the inns in the city, while some other groups simply set up beds on the ground and spent their nights on the za.

    Even if was the height of midsummer, everyone had cultivated before and was not afraid of enduring such small hardships.

    The clock on the high tower was stil keeping time.

    Not much more time remained.

    More and more exam candidates began gathering on the za. Very quickly, they broke through ten thousand. There were also receptionists who would check people in and introduce them, and everyone was making their own preparations.

    The Three-Mountains Region had a total of fifteen cities. The number of students taken from each city was unequal, but they totaled a hundred. However, the number of people that were present exceeded ten thousand. It really was a one in a hundred chance of getting in.

    Although Su Chen, Lin Jingxuan, etc. were all been considered seedlings, the individuals attending the examination were not just limited to people like them.

    Large numbers of other exam candidates were also participating, all pursuing their own dreams without a second thought and relying on this battle to fight for their own fates in the future.

    Just the Su n had submitted four names for attendance ¨C Su Chen, Su Qian, Su Tong, and another person.

    Yes, Su Qian had alsoe.

    Even though he had lost to Su Chen, that did not mean that he had lost his right to participate in thispetition. However, everyone knew that someone who couldn¡¯t even earn the top spot in their n was merely attending as a formality even if they came.

    But conversely, even if it was just a formality, they were unwilling to give up, and would definitelye!

    As time went on, the people slowly began to appear.

    A young exam official wearing a white robe moved closer to Zhao Yu and said, ¡°Guru, it¡¯s about time, should we......¡±

    Zhao Yu looked at the clock and said, ¡°Let¡¯s extend the time a bit. There might be those who are arrivingte.¡±

    The exam official understood Zhao Yu¡¯s temperament. He knew that Zhao Yu only looked like he was hard to convince, but in reality his heart was quite soft. Indeed, this time his kindness was once again manifested, and he pushed back the start of the examination a bit.

    Although the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s recruitment was an extremely great matter and seen as important by everyone, amusingly there would always be people who werete despite its importance.

    Zhao Yu graciously had intentionally given these people another opportunity.

    Perhaps they would not be able to avoid a fate of failure and elimination in the end, but at least they would not have regrets.

    A few stragglers came rushing onto the za one after the other.

    ¡°Wait for me!¡± A fatty yelled loudly from afar as he ran over.

    Everyone nced at him in their periphery.

    The fatty was drenched in sweat and gasping for breath. He finally arrived at the za, wiped away his sweat and asked, ¡°It hasn¡¯t started yet, has it?¡±

    A fellow exam candidate looked at him and said, ¡°The time has alreadye, but count yourself lucky. The person overseeing the exam seems to have dyed the starting time of the exam.¡±

    ¡°Thank goodness!¡± The fatty let out a sigh.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be too relieved yet. Do you see the table over there? Hurry over and report your own name and origin. Let them search you and leave behind anything that is not within regtions. Then,e back with a jade tablet, otherwise you won¡¯t be allowed to enter the examination grounds. Remember, once you obtain the jade tablet, you cannot leave the za again, and you cannot interact with anyone who is not an exam candidate, otherwise they will think you are cheating!¡±

    The fatty seemed like he awoke from a dream. He hurriedly ran over and returned in an instant. He held a jade tablet in his hands.

    He returned to that exam candidate¡¯s side and said, ¡°I got it. Thanks for reminding me just then. Oh, right, I am called Wang Doushan. Ie from the Flowing Cloud City.¡±

    ¡°Wang Doushan1? An interesting name,¡± the exam candidateughed. He replied, ¡°My name is Su Chen, from Northface City.¡±

    ¡°Is that interesting? I also have a sister named Wang Douhua 2,¡± Wang Doushan chuckled.

    This guy¡¯s conversation ability was truly too bad. Su Chen could onlyugh a bit.

    After they spoke, the people on the tower finally spoke.

    A white-clothed examiner stood out and began to speak. He didn¡¯t appear to use any sound-transmitting tools; his voice naturally reached everyone¡¯s ears.

    ¡°Everyone here should know the rules, right? The jade tablet is your key for entering and leaving the exam grounds and also your score booklet. Obtaining points is very easy. Killing a low-tier Vicious Beast is worth one point, mid-tier are worth three. If you defeat other exam candidates you can obtain points from their jade tablets, totaling one-third of the total points that they have. If the target doesn¡¯t have at least three points, they will at least lose one point. You can only steal from the same exam candidate three times, once every day. The exam willst for three days.¡±

    ¡°Every region is evaluated independently. The victors with the highest number of points will be selected to go on in the next round of selection.¡±

    ¡°If the exam candidate¡¯s jade tablet reaches zero points or they voluntarily shatter it, they will be transported out of the exam grounds, but they will also lose the right to enter the Hidden Dragon Institute.¡±

    ¡°Finally, although the Institute has used many different methods to protect you, danger still exists. Every year during these kinds of exams, there are always injuries and even deaths; this is unavoidable. The human race requires courageous warriors. Those without courage are destined to have no right to be powerful Origin Qi Schrs. Thus, are you all ready?¡±

    He was met with a swath of silence.

    ¡°Very good. Let¡¯s move out!¡± The white-clothed exam official waved his hand.

    As the exam candidate motioned his hands, the za below him began to shine. Streak after streak of light began to shine through the cracks in the floorboards, sketching out aplicated pattern. Finally, it formed an exceptionallyrge Origin Energy Formation.

    It turned out that this za was a giant Origin Energy Formation, simr to the one in the Red Peak Range.

    As the formation was activated, the figures of the exam candidates began to blur. Finally, they disappeared, along with the za itself.

    Recing it was two giant screens of light that draped down over it.

    One screen showed theyout and terrain of the Red Peak Range as well as the conditions of the various exam candidates. It was like live theater.

    The other was densely packed with the names of the exam candidates. Every person¡¯s name was followed by the number three, representing three points that they were given from the very beginning. This was a leaderboard screen.

    Whoosh!

    The number behind one name became a four, and that person became the first name on the leaderboard on the screen.

    Not long after entering, someone had already earned points.

    1. His surname means King, and his actual name means Battling a Mountain. It¡¯s a name filled with fighting spirit, if you will.

    2. Her name means King Fighting Artwork; not nearly as filled with fighting spirit.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 117: Cross-Region 1

    Chapter 117: Cross-Region (1)

    Su Chen¡¯s vision blurred. When he could see again, he found himself standing on an empty patch of grass.

    A feeling of nausea rose up, making him want to feel like throwing up.

    This kind of feeling was inevitable given that this was his first time experiencing spatial teleportation. The Whitetower Teleportation manual had said so. They were all spatial teleportation techniques, so they all had shared simrities. However, the Origin Energy Formation¡¯s teleportation distance and magnitude were much greater than Whitetower Teleportation.

    He had yet topletely escape from his dizziness when Su Chen suddenly heard wind behind his back.

    There¡¯s a person!

    He had no time to use any Origin Skills. Purely based on instinct, Su Chen lowered his head and leapt forwards.

    Bang!

    The palm strikended on Su Chen¡¯s back, but because Su Chen¡¯s reactions were quick and that person was weak, the palm strike¡¯s full power was not unleashed.

    Su Chen used this momentum to fly forwards. He rolled when hended on the ground to dodge any follow-up attacks that might being for him. At the same time, he picked up a stone from the ground and tossed it behind him without even standing up. His movements were fluid, disying Su Chen¡¯s wealth of battle experience.

    The stone, which had been infused with the power of the Flying Flower Hands, whistled loudly through the air. With a ¡°bang!¡±, itnded on the chest of the ambusher.

    ¡°Ah!¡± The ambusher let out a pained cry.

    It wasn¡¯t until now that Su Chen was able to turn around and size up his opponent.

    He saw the immature face of a youth, who was gazing at himself with shock and disbelief.

    He had been the one who initiated the ambush, so how was he the one injured?

    Having lost this opportunity, he would definitely be the unlucky one.

    Su Chen picked up a nearby tree branch and tossed it towards the youth.

    The Flying Flower Hands made it so that even leaves could harm people.

    When Gu Qingluo wasn¡¯t an Origin Qi Schr, she was already able to use leaves like secret weapons, not to mention Su Chen, who was already an Origin Qi Schr.

    The tree branch filled with Origin Power was much more powerful than the stone that he had hastily thrown out. It whistled through the air.

    The youth raised his hands in panic to block it.

    Unfortunately, although he had fighting spirit, he did not have the strength to fight for glory. He was still in the Body Tempering Realm. In the exam grounds, his only purpose was to give up points to solidify the foundations of others.

    Bang!

    The tree branch mmed into him, sending him flying. A simple attack rendered the youth unable to move.

    Su Chen walked over to him slowly, picking up his jade tablet and, using the instructions that he had received earliier, took away one point before turning around and leaving.

    However, he had not taken many steps when a wind suddenly arose at his back again.

    This time, Su Chen had time to react, and he leisurely dodged it.

    It was still the youth from earlier, only now he was holding a de in his hand which shed past Su Chen¡¯s body.

    ¡°Why are you stilling for me?¡± Su Chen knitted his eyebrows.

    ¡°Return my point to me!¡± the youth yelled crazily, unwilling to listen. He swung again and again with his de.

    Su Chen sped his hands behind his back and activated the Snaking Mist Steps, dodging the swings easily. ¡°You aren¡¯t my opponent, so don¡¯t waste any more of my time.¡±

    ¡°Return it to me, or else I¡¯ll keep bothering you!¡± The youth yelled. ¡°You already stole one of my points, so ording to the rules you cannot steal from me a second time today.¡±

    ¡°Idiot!¡± Su Chen¡¯s face revealed a trace of anger.

    He didn¡¯t expect that the first opponent he would run into was such an idiot.

    The youth swung out with his de.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t waste any more words with him. He sent energy into his hand and struck out, his palm like a de.

    The palm of flesh mmed into the steel de, yet the de was actually unable to chop through Su Chen¡¯s hand.

    With the Thunder de and the Flowing Wind Body Technique, how could Su Chen be easily injured by a regr steel de?

    He then grabbed the youth and pulled him towards himself. Next, his handstched onto the opponent¡¯s jade tablet like lightning.

    With a bang, the jade tablet shattered.

    The youth¡¯s figure instantly blurred, and finally he had disappeared without a trace.

    Su Chen guessed that even if he wasn¡¯t the first exam candidate to leave the exam grounds, he was likely one of the first three.

    However, he was also very clear that this exam candidate¡¯s luck was quite good to run into himself.

    The exam official had already very clearly stated that injuries or deaths were possible during the Hidden Dragon Battle!

    Su Chen didn¡¯t like killing people, but there were always individuals who did.

    Su Chen did not consider these any more. Instead, he pulled out a map from his Origin Ring.

    The map was a special map that had been given to them by the Hidden Dragon Institute. It was linked to the Origin Formation that had been set up here and could directly indicate one¡¯s location in the Red Peak Range.

    Because the Three-Mountain Region had fifteen cities, the Red Peak Range had thus been divided into fifteen regions.

    The regions were determined based on strength. Northface City was the thirteenth region, and in terms of strength it was the third tost in the entire Three-Mountain Region.

    The Flowing Cloud City was ranked sixth, and its overall strength was clearly higher than Northface City. As such, they were also allocated three more spots than Northface City was.

    All of the exam candidates were first ced into their own regions. That was to say that if Su Chen wanted to go to the Flowing Cloud City, the sixth region, he had to pass through arge number of other exam regions to arrive.

    This mission of his really was quite burdensome and faraway.

    However, the good news was that the exam official didn¡¯t say that one could only earn points in one¡¯s own region.

    That was also to say that he could still earn points in other regions, which could save Su Chen quite a bit of time.

    In fact, the only reason why the Hidden Dragon Institute epted students by region was mostly to protect the weaker cities, giving them some opportunities. If this weren¡¯t the case, instead directly choosing those with the highest points, then ces like Northface City might not even have one exam candidate enter the top one hundred.

    Their politics needed to be fair, so because of this they had set such rules.

    However, the divisions of the regions didn¡¯t prevent others from obtaining points from different regions, meaning that Su Chen could earn points even in other regions. However, the pressure of battle would likely be much greater. Thus, under normal circumstance, people from lower regions wouldn¡¯t go hunting in higher regions, while people from higher regions might go to lower regions to earn points. This was not anything new.

    Su Chen did not have much room to make decisions. Thus, he put on his mask and began heading in the direction of the sixth region.

    ording to his original n, Su Chen did not n on doing battle before taking care of the Spirit Burying Terrace.

    However, the situation was not in Su Chen¡¯s control. He didn¡¯t walk far when a lunkhead suddenly jumped out from a patch of grass nearby. He held arge broadsword in his hands and chopped down towards Su Chen. He was even yelling something as he shed down.

    Su Chen had just dodged it using the Snaking Mist Steps when the lunkhead began to spin around with the sword in his hands1. A surging sword wind rushed forwards, and its strength was not small. Evidently, it was a skill intended for battling multiple people.

    Unfortunately, his speed was still too slow. Even though he had spun, he was still unable to even touch Su Chen¡¯s hair.

    Once the opponent¡¯s sword stopped, Su Chen had already prepared seven or eight air tentacles that surged forwards together, binding him and preventing him from moving. He first took the lunkhead¡¯s points, then waved his hand, tossing the lunkhead back into the patch of grass, and left.

    When the lunkhead had escaped from the tentacles and had stood up, Su Chen had long since disappeared.

    He was stunned for a while. Howe it seemed like the battle had ended before it had even begun?

    He felt like he was trapped in a dream. Everything seemed surreal.

    1. Reminds me of Garen from League of Legends.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 118: Cross-Region 2

    Chapter 118: Cross-Region (2)

    Bang!

    After knocking over an exam participant and taking away his points, Bei Fulin directly shattered his opponents¡¯ jade tablet, ruining any remaining chances that that contender had remaining before returning to his hiding spot behind the tree.

    It wasn¡¯t that he was particrly vicious. In fact, it was just because the location that he had discovered was too good.

    His hiding spot was located along quite a long passageway, and the path was lined with thorny purple brambles, making it so that people could only travel through via this road. Therge tree Bei Fujian was hiding behind was close to the mountain, and its foge was lush. There was even a small crack between it and the mountain wall, making it extremely useful for concealing a person.

    By borrowing the covertness of that spot, Bei Fulin had already ambushed three different people. Every time he ambushed them, he would shatter their jade tablet, then continue to watch attentively.

    Bei Fulin felt secretly very happy.

    Doing battle required intelligence. How to effectively use the terrain to one¡¯s advantage was one way to demonstrate that intelligence.

    Even though he did not possess strength, Bei Fulin still believed that he could create his own heaven in the exam grounds. If his luck was good enough, he might even be able to enter the top one hundred.

    As he thought, another person began to draw near to him.

    Bei Fulin carefully hid in the crack behind the tree, waiting for the opportunity. As long as the other party took a few more steps, he would enter his optimal attack range. At that time, he could explode out, and the opponent would most likely panic. They would back up out of instinct, but Bei Fulin had prepared a follow-up move much earlier. His real killing blowy in cutting off the opponent¡¯s path of retreat and then releasing a fatal blow.

    Three steps before entering his optimal attack range, the other party suddenly stopped.

    He seemed to have thought of something, then lowered his head and began to ponder something.

    Dammit, walk faster. Bei Fulin cursed impatiently in his heart, but he could only wait. The current distance was still a little bit too far away, and he wasn¡¯tpletely confident in his sess if he were to force a move at this moment.

    Just as Bei Fulin was growing anxious, the other person suddenly raised his head and nced in Bei Fulin¡¯s direction, a strange smile apparent in his eyes.

    He then flipped his hand, and arge fireball appeared.

    When faced with the fireball, Bei Fulin only felt a chill run down his spine. He knew that things were about to take a turn for the worse.

    He wanted to jump up and run, but he discovered that he actually had no ce to run. This ce was a good location to ambush someone, but it also contained arge drawback, which was that there was no path of retreat.

    The other exam candidate¡¯s fireball had already mmed towards the tree.

    Bang!

    Following the giant explosion, Bei Fulin was thrown into the air as he yelled loudly. Hended directly on the purple brambles.

    The sharp thorns pierced into his body. Close to a hundred small holes suddenly appeared on Bei Fulin¡¯s body.

    Su Chen slowly walked over, retrieved his jade tablet and plundered points from it.

    He actually gained two points.

    Su Chen was slightly dazed. Heughed, ¡°Not too shabby. You actually earned three points in such a short time. But remember next time, don¡¯t stay in one spot for too long.¡±

    ¡°You...... how did you discover me?¡± Bei Fulin squeezed out with great difficulty.

    ¡°There were purple brambles that were knocked over and the ground was covered in footprints resulting from forceful steps, implying that a battle had happened here before. That tree was the only ce suitable for hiding a person..... I didn¡¯t need to know if you were there, I just needed to test it out with a fireball. However, most importantly...... I have already encountered these kinds of ambushes many times already,¡± Su Chen carelessly replied.

    Bei Fulin was dazed when he heard this.

    Su Chen tossed Bei Fulin away, then continued to press forwards.

    His mood was quite terrible because he had truly already encountered too many situations like what had just happened during his journey.

    Su Chen already understood what was going on.

    To many exam candidates, even if they had no way of obtaining the precious Hidden Dragon Institute enrollment spots during this exam, if they could get a good ranking, they could also obtain better resources when entering other institutes ¨C arge number of institutes were all waiting to snatch up talented individuals that had been eliminated by the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, most of the exam candidates would act prudently. They did not randomly move around after entering the exam grounds. Instead, they would use any knowledge that they already had to conceal themselves and search for opportunities.

    They were very clear about one thing. If their strength was insufficient, overly unrestrained actions would only result in them exiting thepetition quickly.

    And Su Chen¡¯s actions belonged to the type that were wild and unrestrained ¨C confidently walking alone on a path, if we don¡¯t ambush you who will we ambush?

    But goddammit, I¡¯m really not trying to battle you, I just want to get to the Spirit Burying Terrace faster and take away the things that are inside.

    Unfortunately, he could not say this to others, and it would be useless even if he did say it.

    Thus, the entire way here, Su Chen had encountered ambush after ambush.

    Gazing off into the mountainous distance, ten thousand exam candidates had been scattered just like a handful of sand, not even creating any sshes. Nothing could be seen. However, as long as you walked on the paths in the mountains, you would be ambushed from patches of grass, from behind boulders, from trees, or even from rivers and creeks by all kinds of people.

    To obtain good results, all of the exam candidates had be like killers and resorted to tactics like sneak attacks, as if they were from assassin ns. Some had brilliant tactics, but there were also many with not-so-brilliant ones, and there definitely those who exercised their imagination and ability to fantasize quite often.

    Of course, not everyone would do this.

    There was a portion of exam candidates who stuck to their guns, bravely walking along those paths and facing any and all challenges.

    This kind of person usually had two fates. Either they were eliminated early on, or those with greater strength would obtainrge quantities of points.

    However, because they were not allowed to use Origin Stones during the exam, even those who possessed great strength would also be defeated because of ack of energy if they continued acting so aggressively.

    Unfortunately, while others could rest, Su Chen had no other choice.

    Tomorrow was the day that the Spirit Burying Terrace would open. If he couldn¡¯t make it there by that time, then there was no point to it all.

    Thus, he could only continue pushing onwards aggressively.

    Another thing to pay attention to was his jade tablet.

    As he obtained more and more points, Su Chen¡¯s jade tablet began to glow, and a shapeless pulsation began to ur, allowing anyone who was nearby to sense it.

    Su Chen realized that this was the special effect of the jade tablet. It used this kind of method to remind others that the owner was a target with many points.

    Once a target possessed arge number of points, it often implied one thing: that person was strong.

    This could scare a few into retreating, but it would also arouse the greed of opponents who were stronger. As long as they could defeat one person, they would gain arge number of points.

    But one thing was for sure. Anyone who could reach the top one hundred in the rankings was definitely someone who had relied on swallowing pushovers.

    Only by defeating real experts would one have the right to stand at the very top.

    Of course, the pulses of the jade tablet could be concealed, but that required spending Origin Energy. This meant that the exam candidates needed to observe the situation to determine when it was necessary to conceal it and when it wasn¡¯t.

    On the afternoon of the same day that he had entered the exam grounds, Su Chen walked out of the thirteenth region and into the twelfth.

    What he didn¡¯t know was that not long after arriving in the twelfth region, a youth wearing a long sword had also arrived at the border of the thirteenth region.

    He gazed at the boundary before letting out a cold harrumph. ¡°Before, it was always exam candidates from higher regions who woulde to lower-level regions to hunt for points. This time, I, Li Qingyun, will turn the tables on them and hunt down some exam candidates fromrger cities.¡±

    As he spoke, he stepped into the twelfth region.

    Not too far behind him, another youth walked over dressed in coarse, hemp clothes.

    The youth¡¯s appearance was unremarkable. He had a pair of eyes that looked like they would never be fully awake no matter how much he slept.

    Compared to Su Chen¡¯s hastiness or Li Qingyun¡¯s high spirits, this youth clearly was much more at ease.

    After arriving at the boundary, the youth raised his head to look at the sky. He stared at it for a while, unmoving, before saying to himself, ¡°Then it¡¯s decided.¡±

    He pointed at a nearby boulder and, using his finger as a pen, wrote down a row of words:

    ¡°I¡¯m going to go y in some other regions. Bai Li.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 119: Cross-Region 3

    Chapter 119: Cross-Region (3)

    On top of the high tower, all the very important people were watching the examinations going on via the screen of light.

    There was only one live broadcast screen, yet there were ten thousand exampetitors, so naturally not each one was shown. Most of the time, the screen was constantly searching for interesting battles for those important individuals to watch.

    Right next to the screen with all the interesting battles was the screen with the leaderboard.

    The numbers on the screen were constantly changing and jumping. Every so often, the ranks would be shuffled, and the ranks of the exam contenders were constantly shifting up and down.

    But no matter how they changed, some peoples¡¯ positions did not change at all.

    They remained at the very top!

    The highest name on the rankings was Ji Hanyan. This name had a parentheses next to it which contained the words ¡°Frostbird¡±. Finally, there was an eye-catching number: 75.

    The parenthese was the bloodline. Only those with inherited bloodlines had this symbol next to their name. The number represented the number of points they possessed.

    In half a day, this Ji Hanyan person had actually obtained seventy or so points. This was a frightening pace. One had to know that, because the examination had just begun, each opponent would usually only equal one point. Seventy points meant that Ji Hanyan only needed half a day to take care of at least fifty or so opponents.

    Even if she had fireballed each one of them, not many people would possess that much Origin Energy to do it.

    Below Ji Hanyan¡¯s name was arge group of people who were constantly vying for a higher ranking. Almost all of those who had the highest rankings all had the bloodline symbol next to their names, and some bloodlines even appeared across multiple names.

    asionally, some individuals without the bloodline symbol would appear, but they would quickly disappear again.

    Regardless of whether it was Su Chen, Li Qingyun, Bai Li, or any other disciples in their n, none of their names had ever reached the list of top a hundred.

    ¡°It seems like the situation will only develop to this point. Once again, the disciples of the noble ns are once again the most outstanding seedlings in the Hidden Dragon Battle. How boring,¡± a member of a noble nughed as he sat on the tall tower.

    ¡°Is that surprising at all? If noble bloodline ns weren¡¯t stronger than somemoners without a bloodline, how could they be considered nobility?¡± a man to the side replied, unsurprised.

    ¡°Old Qi is right. This really is rather boring. If there were another ck Day Transformation, things would be a little more interesting,¡± someone said.

    Upon hearing the words ¡°ck Day Transformation¡±, many people suddenly began to whisper in each others¡¯ ears.

    Someone said unhappily, ¡°I think that for people like Long Pojun, one is already too many, yet you actually want it to happen again. What point is there in bringing up such things that only cause us to lose face?¡±

    ¡°Come,e, Old Liang, you know that Old Qi was only joking. Why so serious? Someone like Long Pojun doesn¡¯t appear even in a thousand years. How could there possibly be another one,¡± someone said, attempting to reconcile the situation.

    ¡°Yes, yes, let¡¯s talk about something else. Of this year¡¯s top ten, we have Frostbird Ji Hanyan, Blood Demon Zhong Ding, Bewitching Butterfly Jin Ling¡¯er, and Treebow Zhang Sheng¡¯an. There¡¯s no suspense about these four, but the other six spots I am curious as to who will obtain those spots; it¡¯s still quite suspenseful.¡±

    ¡°Charm Ape Wen Rushuies from an illusion master n, and she can probably obtain a spot.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. Although illusion-type bloodlines are powerful, they are not as useful on the battlefield andpletely rely on the use of soul power. The recovery rate of soul power is much lower than Origin Energy, and she won¡¯t have enough to make itter on in the examination. Although Wen Rushui may be strong now, as time goes on she will definitely fall in the rankings. I favor Guan Shanying more.¡±

    ¡°I think we can forget about Guan Shanying. As his name implied, he relied on the Ying Shanyi to obtain benefits, but in fact his strength is quite limited. He might be able to sneak some benefits by having affairs with women, but he definitely cannot tower amongst a group of strong men. I favor Sword Rhinoceros Zheng Kuang more. He is like an overlord with his spear ¨C quite remarkable.¡±

    ¡°He has enough strength, but he doesn¡¯t have much in the way of brains.

    ¡°Poisonous Centipede Kong Shen. His poison is very pervasive.¡±

    ¡°Thunder Spirit Bai Ou......¡±

    ¡°Drought Dragon Jiang Chang......¡±

    ¡°Fat Crane......¡±

    One name after another was brought up through the mouths of these noble n members, as well as their thoughts and outlook on the current Hidden Dragon Battle.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°Whew!¡± Su Chen let out a long sigh.

    The opponent he was currently facing was somewhat of a burden. Su Chen took had to expend quite some effort to defeat him.

    However, this was not the crux of the issue.

    The crux of the issue was that, as he had battled, his expenditure of Origin Energy had greatly increased. He had only passed through two regions and it was enough for Su Chen to feel quite exhausted. However, he still had to pass through five more regions!

    When he thought about that, Su Chen felt his head begin to hurt.

    His mission was more difficult than he had anticipated.

    While his opponent was still disoriented, Su Chen took his points and hid him in a nearby patch of grass so that he wouldn¡¯t be taken advantage of by anyone else passing by.

    Having finished this matter, Su Chen turned around, preparing to leave.

    He hadn¡¯t taken many steps when he suddenly felt that something was off.

    Su Chen rapidly turned around, and an iron de had already appeared in his hand.

    Not faraway from him, a youth dressed in an azure robe stood there, a longsword on his back. Although it was just a normal longsword, its shape was quite strange. The body of the de seemed to be much longer and thinner than most, and it was slightly arced. This kind of de was not good for brute force encounters, so the opponent¡¯s sword path must have been one of speed and agility.

    At this moment, the youth¡¯s arms were crossed as he said arrogantly, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not so lowly as to sneak attack you. It seems like you also have some guts, so after I defeat you in a bit, I won¡¯t shatter your jade tablet.¡±

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen gazed at him for a few moments before suddenly saying, ¡°Li Qingyun?¡±

    The azure-robed youth was clearly a bit stunned. ¡°You recognize me?¡±

    Su Chen nodded his head sincerely.

    Of course he recognized Li Qingyun.

    Li Qingyun and Su Chen were both considered geniuses back then, but their eventual fates werepletely opposite.

    Su Chen had suffered a cmity at the hands of an old beggar, while Li Qingyun had encountered a stroke of good luck in the same year. He had caught the eye of Willow Sword He Changsheng and was epted as a disciple, who passed on the Dancing Wind Willow Sword and the Concealed Stab to him. The Dancing Wind Willow Sword was graceful and agile, and it moved in a strange way. The Concealed Stab was extremely domineering and was a one-hit kill. They were all techniques that were quite famous. As long as Li Qingyun had two-tenths of the strength of He Changsheng, Su Chen was not confident that he could win.

    Li Qingyun finally realized something. ¡°You are from Northface City?¡±

    Su Chen nodded his head.

    ¡°I never expected that there would be another exam candidate from Northface City that woulde to the twelfth region,¡± Li Qingyunughed.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably not just me and you,¡± Su Chen shook his head and said.

    Li Qingyun was stunned for a moment before he suddenly seemed to realize something. He turned his head around and said, ¡°Who is it,e out!¡±

    ¡°Senior Brother Li, your reactions are a bit slower than that Demon Face,¡± a voiceughed. It came from atop a faraway tree.

    A young man had already appeared on top of the tree. It was precisely the unassuming youth dressed in coarse clothing, Bai Li.

    ¡°So it¡¯s you.¡± Upon seeing that it was Bai Li, Li Qingyun harrumphed, ¡°I should have known it was you. In the entire thirteenth region, those who dare to charge into higher-ranked regions probably are few in number. Where are Lin Shuyue and Lin Jingxuan?¡±

    ¡°Shuyue is still in the thirteenth region, while Lin Jingxuan seems to have run to the fifteenth region,¡± Bai Li replied.

    Li Qingyun snorted, ¡°Hmph, useless trash.¡±

    If going from lower regions to higher regions was bravery, then going from higher regions to lower regions was essentially bullying the weak. People who truly possessed strength scorned and disdained doing things like that.

    However, Lin Jingxuan had truly been misunderstood in this matter.

    That was because sending him to the fifteenth region was Su Chen¡¯s intentions. He wanted to preserve Lin Jingxuan as hisst resort. If the matter of the Spirit Burying Terrace prevented him from umting enough points, he needed Lin Jingxuan to help him supplement.

    After cursing out Lin Jingxuan, Li Qingyun said, ¡°I never expected that the three of us from the thirteenth region actually have gathered together in the twelfth region. That is quite interesting.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t really count as a coincidence,¡± Bai Liughed as he scratched his head. ¡°To pass through the twelfth region from the thirteenth, this is the closest road. If we came from the same road, we will more than likely run into each other.¡±

    Li Qingyun harrumphed, ¡°I don¡¯t need you to analyze things so thoroughly. Since we¡¯ve run into each other, then let¡¯s fight.¡±

    As he spoke, he began drawing the longsword on his back.

    Bai Li continued to smile, but now his smile contained traces of caution and seriousness.

    ¡°Why not switch up the manner ofpetition?¡± Su Chen suddenly said.

    The two of them looked at him simultaneously.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Since fate has allowed us to meet here, then perhaps there was a particr intention behind it. Look, we have all chosen to do battle in a ce that is not our own region, and we all are headed towards higher-ranked regions. Why is that? Because we are not willing to fall behind, right? We all want to prove ourselves, but not in such a small,cking city like Northface. Rather, we wish to do it in a muchrger scope.¡±

    These words moved their hearts.

    If what Su Chen said wasn¡¯t true, then why would they havee to this ce?

    Su Chen continued. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, why bother fighting each other? Since fate allowed us to meet here, then perhaps we are supposed to know that there is no need to fight amongst ourselves. Yes, we do need to fight for a spot to enter the Hidden Dragon Institute, but the spots might not necessarily be determined by who defeats their opponents. We arepeting with the entire Three-Mountain Range, and we are facing countless other opponents. There is no reason we cannotpete in other things.¡±

    Li Qingyun harrumphed, ¡°You¡¯re just saying that whoever earns the most points win? That¡¯s not very novel.¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m saying that we shouldpete in who can make it the furthest and to the highest region.¡± Su Chen revealed a mysterious smile, and he pointed down the path as he said, ¡°Follow this path all the way down. If you¡¯re a man, sweep through the entire exam grounds!¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 120: Cross-Region 4

    Chapter 120: Cross-Region (4)

    If you¡¯re a man, sweep through the entire exam grounds!¡±

    This sentencepletely shocked Li Qingyun and Bai Li.

    The two of them gazed at Su Chen like they were gazing at a strange creature.

    What kind of person could say these kinds of words?

    What kind of sky-high arrogance was needed to make this kind of decision?

    This was the same as battling all the way to the first region!

    Everyone knew what kind of people existed inside the first region. They were the strongest batch of seedlings in the entire Three-Mountain Range. There, n geniuses were worth a fart, and many members of noble bloodline ns existed. Any one of them could be an expert with an inherited bloodline, and even those with mixed bloodlines had to make way for them.

    Li Qingyun and Bai Li¡¯s supposed fighting for the glory of the lower regions was merely

    They had never considered fighting through the entirepetition grounds from the very beginning.

    Upon seeing their appearance, Su Chen coldlyughed, ¡°What, you don¡¯t dare to do it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that we don¡¯t dare, it¡¯s that we cannot do it,¡± Li Qingyun grumbled. Although he was usually quite full of himself, even he didn¡¯t dare to boast concerning this matter.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t try, how do you know you can¡¯t?¡± Su Chen countered. ¡°Anyways, as long as one tries, even if one fails there will be no regrets. Thus, regardless of whether or not you choose to go, I have already made my decision to fight all the way down this path. Either I will fall while advancing, or I will walk all the way to the end. Thus, I¡¯m sorry, but I don¡¯t want to fight you.¡±

    As he spoke, he turned around and left.

    After talking for quite a while, thest sentence that he had uttered was sincere.

    Are you kidding me? Battling to this point was already extremely tiring, and I still need to battle the two of you?¡±

    When battling these two individuals, even if he won, he would pay a heavy price. Most likely, he would even have to use almost all of his trump cards.

    Su Chen was unwilling to use his trump cards so early. Thus, he could only use his mouth to defuse the situation, not his fists.

    If it were a stranger, someone that Su Chen didn¡¯t recognize, no matter how much he spoke it wouldn¡¯t be useful. Since these two people had just run into the twelfth region from the thirteenth, what Su Chen had just said was indeed quite effective.

    As long as he was able to focus their attention on amon enemy, his n could seed.

    If he was lucky, not only could he avoid this battle, but he could have two extra helpers to help him distribute the pressure.

    Indeed, at this moment the two of them looked at each other. It was still Li Qingyun who darklyughed, ¡°Interesting. This Demon Face does have quite the appeal. What do you think, Bai Li? Interested?¡±

    Bai Li nced at Sui Chen. He suddenly yelled, ¡°Hey, if I participate, can you take off your mask and let us see who you are?¡±

    Su Chen turned his head around. He looked at Bai Li, and then he looked at Li Qingyun.

    Li Qingyun¡¯s face was simrly filled with expectation.

    He thought for a moment, the nodded his head. ¡°As long as you can keep up with my footsteps, the next time we meet I will take off my mask.¡±

    As he spoke, he turned around and left.

    ¡°As long as you can keep up with my footsteps...... what great arrogance,¡± Li Qingyun harrumphed, watching Su Chen¡¯s departing figure.

    However, he could not deny that at least in terms of lofty aspirations, he was superior to himself by quite a bit.

    Even though that was the case, the proud and arrogant Li Qingyun was unwilling to lower his head. He looked at Bai Li and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go, and see who can make it farther.¡±

    Bai Li giggled. ¡°I¡¯ll go this way. I¡¯ll see youter.¡±

    With a somersault, he had already disappeared in a patch of grass.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Having avoided his battle with Li Qingyun and Bai Li, Su Chen had avoided a quite possibly vicious battle, saving him quite a bit of energy.

    But more importantly, with the two of them splitting the pressure for him, the path forwards for him had be more uplicated.

    Very quickly, Su Chen walked out of the twelfth region and entered the eleventh.

    Anything below the tenth region was considered a low-tier region, and there wasn¡¯t any great discrepancy in terms of talent. Thus, even in the eleventh region Su Chen didn¡¯t encounter any decent opponents. When he did run into battles, he just used a fireball and air tentacles to quickly and efficiently deal with his opponent.

    At the moment, he controlled seven Origin Skills. In terms of quantity, this was already quite good for an Origin Qi Schr near the edge of Qi Drawing, but the quality of the skills was stillcking. Hecked attacks that could shake the Universe with one blow, ones that possessed powerful killing propensity.

    However, most of the people attending the exam were still in Body Tempering. Even the most outstanding exam candidates were usually quite new to the Qi Drawing Realm, so their strength was not very high. It was already quite impressive for these exam candidates to possess even just two or three Origin Skills.

    Apart from this, Su Chen had another formidable quality, which was that his cultivation base had already reached the fifthyer of Qi Drawing.

    Although cultivation base did not directly representbat prowess, theprehensive benefits that the increase in cultivation had given him still existed. Just his Origin Energy amount was already much more powerful than most people.

    The firstyer of Qi Drawing was at ten Yellow Stars, while the fifthyer of Qi Drawing was at fifty.

    That was also to say that Su Chen possessed Origin Energy equal to five times that of a normal, firstyer exam candidate. In the entire exam grounds, there was probably not a single person who was more powerful than him in this aspect.

    By relying on this quality, as long as Su Chen didn¡¯t meet any seedlings from those regions, he could basically sweep the floor with the candidates in these lower regions.

    His luck was qutie good. He didn¡¯t run into any seedlings from the eleventh or twelfth regions, and the two seedlings from his own region had been tricked into advancing into the higher regions with him. Thus, he walked into the eleventh region without incident.

    But once he got to the tenth region, Su Chen finally encountered some trouble.

    He ran into a youth with ck skin.

    When he fought, he was like a ferocious hyena, attacking with his hands and feet and even biting. Fighting him was like fighting a rascal.

    However, it seemed as if this battle tactic was quite useful. Every one of his attacks were filled with decay and expiration. Even the secret tool that he used was a damned rock powder pouch ¨C the damned Hidden Dragon Institute actually allowed this kind of tool to be brought in.

    Su Chen waspletely covered in filth, but in the end the youth had been restricted by his air tentacles and Soul Eye before sending a fireball into the ground right in front of him.

    The youth was knocked over onto the ground. He wore an expression of disbelief as he loudly yelled, ¡°You definitely aren¡¯t from the tenth region.¡±

    ¡°Oh? You¡¯re that sure?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Of course, I have already fought all of the people in the tenth region before. The number of people that can beat me can be counted on one hand, and I recognize them all!¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°I felt like you were a seedling, no wonder fighting you took so much effort. Do you fight often? You used the rock powder pouch quite harmfully, and you were even willing to go for the balls. You use all these different tactics?¡±

    The youth replied, ¡°If you fought with others every day since your youth in order to not go hungry, you would also know how to do this.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Su Chen was slightly stunned into silence.

    Although Su Chen had guessed that his opponent grew up on the streets, upon hearing these words Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but sigh.

    No wonder his opponent had so much experience, yetcked any powerful skills.

    It was a miracle for this kind of person to have even be an Origin Qi Schr in the first ce.

    ¡°Hey, tell me, what region are you from?¡± the youth was still yelling.

    ¡°Why are you asking me this? You want toe fight me again?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± the youth loudly yelled. ¡°I will not let anyone who has defeated me before go. I must definitely win against them. Tell me your name; one day or another, I wille find you to do battle again. However, if I win, you must give me an Origin Skill!¡±

    Su Chen was speechless. ¡°You can¡¯t possibly have obtained all your Origin Skills in this way?¡±

    ¡°If I didn¡¯t, where else would they havee from?¡±

    Su Chen was dazed for a moment before finally nodding, ¡°Okay, my name is Su Chen, and I¡¯m from the thirteenth region.¡±

    ¡°I am called Cloud Leopard!¡±

    ¡°Cloud Leopard1? Is your surname Yun, or......¡±

    The youth shook his head. ¡°Orphans don¡¯t need a surname. I chose this name myself.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Su Chen understood.

    Without question, Cloud Leopard was a kid who had fought his way to this point from the streets of a market city. He had never received any official instruction, but he had depended entirely on his iron will to arrive at his current position.

    This must not have been easy.

    At that moment, Su Chen was suddenly reminded of himself.

    In those past years, the experiences that he had experienced were very simr to those of the youth in front of him.

    Upon thinking to this point, he suddenly pulled something out of his ring and said to Cloud Lepoard, ¡°This is for you.¡±

    ¡°What is this?¡± Cloud Leopard took it and looked at it. His face revealed a shocked expression. ¡°Origin Skill?¡±

    It was the Thunder de manual that Su Chen had obtained from Bai Fan back then.

    Cloud Leopard held the Thunder de and gazed at Su Chen with excitement. ¡°Why did you give it to me?¡±

    Su Chen shrugged his shoulders. ¡°I just wanted to give it to you. It¡¯s not like it¡¯s particrly valuable. After all, I already learned the Origin Skill on it, so if you like it it¡¯s yours.¡±

    To him, this was as a matter as easy as lifting his hand. If he wanted to do it, he could do it. There was nothing to hesitate about.

    Cloud Demon, however, gazed at him excitedly.

    He stood up and retreated a few steps, as if he were worried that Su Chen would go back on his word. Then, he actually ran away in the blink of an eye.

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t understand this response for some time. Shouldn¡¯t you at least say thanks?

    However, he did not have any particr motive in giving away that gift, so he didn¡¯t mind not receiving any thanks. He just shook his head andughed a bit before turning around and leaving.

    He hadn¡¯t walked far when he heard the strange movement behind him.

    He turned around to look and saw Cloud Leopard standing far off in the distance.

    He yelled at Su Chen loudly, ¡°I¡¯ll remember you.¡±

    ¡°...... Is this your way of thanking me?¡± Su Chen was speechless.

    Cloud Leopard once again turned around and left.

    This time, he did not reappear.

    1. His actual name is Yun Diao. This is a rtively strange name, but because it is a self-chosen name I felt it would be more urate to trante ording to its meaning, since it¡¯s not an official name of sorts. That is also why Su Chen asks him if his surname is Yun.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 121: Cross-Region 5

    Chapter 121: Cross-Region (5)

    After leaving Cloud Leopard, Su Chen didn¡¯t encounter any more decent opponents. Rather, a Vicious Beast that appeared halfway through his travels actually bothered him for some time.

    There were also Vicious Beasts in the exam grounds. They were worth additional points, and the exam officials had specifically included them in the grounds as an additional factor. They could not be reasoned with, there was no benefit in charming them, they did not form factions and they did not evaluate the situation. Sometimes, two people would fight and fight when a Vicious Beast would suddenly jump out, biting one of them. Often, a rtively stable situation would instantly be thrown awry.

    Because of this, there was even the distinct possibility of death.

    Some felt that this wasn¡¯t fair?

    Yes, it wasn¡¯t fair!

    But this was society, and this was reality!

    There were always many things that were unfair, and many unexpected situations that would ur.

    If you had no way of conquering it, you could only be defeated by it.

    Perhaps this was what the Hidden Dragon Institute wanted to tell everyone.

    However, this time Su Chen was not so unlucky. He was able to resolve the battle quite smoothly.

    However, when he gazed at the Origin Energy motes that had appeared, Su Chen didn¡¯t dare to absorb them. He knew that there was a live broadcast light screen of the exam. Although the light screen only had one disy and there were ten thousand students, so the camera was most likely not on him, there was still a certain level of danger.

    Thus, Su Chen could only pretend to unintentionallye into contact with some and absorb them, but he didn¡¯t dare to make any too obvious moves.

    After the Origin Energy Motes disappeared, Su Chen continued to move forwards.

    As he continued to move forwards, he encountered less and less obstacles.

    That was because the pulses on his jade tablet had be stronger and stronger as he had obtained more and more points.

    This made it so that exam candidates with lower strength didn¡¯t dare to step forwards, but it also attracted the attention of exam candidates who had greater strength.

    ¡°Have I finally found a decen opponent?¡± a sinister voice sounded out from the distane.

    The speaker was a personpletely shrouded in a ck cloak. The ck cloth covered his entier body, making it so that it was difficult to see his face clearly. However, his tone of voice clearly was filled with shadowy, cold intent.

    His tone sounded like it was filled with injustice, and was always filled with an indescribable chilling intent, causing goosebumps to appear on the skin of those that heard it.

    Su Chen simrly felt the powerful waves from the opponent¡¯s jade tablet. He knitted his eyebrows and said, ¡°It seems like you are very excited?¡±

    ¡°Of course, those pieces of trash were too useless. Fighting them was simply too boring,¡± the ck-cloaked person yelled loudly. ¡°I was always waiting for a decent opponent. You seem pretty strong, so you are probably worth me expending some effort to fight.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I don¡¯t think you need to pretend to be some kind of lonely expert. If you really feel that you are quite bored and can¡¯t find an opponent, you can go and find opponents in the Blood Boiling Realm. If that¡¯s not enough, you can try and find some Yang-Opening Realm opponents. The world is very vast, and there are many experts. Trust me, any one of them could teach you what it means to be a person.¡±

    The ck-cloaked person acted like his throat had been pinched. He was unable to speak for some time.

    His so-called expert demeanor and ¡°I am unrivalled¡± attitude had been likened by Su Chen as a frog in a well.

    Yes, he was just a novice in the Qi Drawing Realm. Even in just the Qi Drawing Realm, he was still just a weak chicken in the face of real experts.

    What use was there in pretending?

    However, to the ck-cloaked person, Su Chen¡¯s words were undoubtedly a massive humiliation.

    The face concealed by the cloak had already be red from anger.

    The ck-cloaked person angrily said, ¡°Bastard, you dare to speak rudely to me! I¡¯ll kill you!¡±

    As he spoke, he reached out with his hand into midair, and a snow-white long spear had already appeared in his hand out of thin air. The ck-cloaked person said piercingly, ¡°Experience the terror of my Frost Stillness Spear!¡±

    He had yet to toss out when Su Chen had already jumped fiercely into the air. A streak of snow-white light passed behind him, leaving behind a blur. It prated the ground and released a powerful explosion of icy light.

    Su Chen flipped through the air, but he was not affected at all.

    The ck-cloaked person was extremely surprised. ¡°You, how could you have dodged my Frost Stillness Spear?¡±

    So the sudden explosion that had urred behind Su Chen was the actual Frost Stillness Spear.

    This was the tactic that the ck-robed person used. He used a bunch of words to distract his opponent, while the actual killing blow woulde from behind.

    This spear strike had missed at the most crucial moment. The ck-cloaked person¡¯s heart was also extremely shocked.

    Su Chen snorted disdainfully, ¡°Your battle tactics are just like you, arrogant and weaselly.¡±

    Although they had only encountered each other for a brief period of time, Su Chen understood his opponent¡¯s temperament and didn¡¯t waste any more words. He created a turbulent,rge fireball and sent it out.

    Therge fireball seemedmon, but it was definitely the mostmonly used tactic among low-tier Origin Qi Schrs, and it used quite arge amount of energy. It was also one of the few ancient Arcana techniques that had been passed down for tens of thousands of years without disappearing, and humans were extremely familiar with it.

    Upon seeing the fireball fly out, the ck-cloaked man let out a sharp yell. A cold flow appeared from within the ck cloak, and the fireball flying towards him began to wither as it flew through the cold flow. It became smaller and smaller until, with a small bang, it disappeared.

    This was Su Chen¡¯s first time seeing such a defensive method. His fireball technique had actually been extinguished by his opponent¡¯s cold flow attack?

    Not only this, but the cold flow continued to rush towards Su Chen. ¡°Taste my Absolute Chill!¡±

    The ice-cold Qi coiled through the air. Anywhere it went, a trail of frost was left behind.

    The frost came whistling towards Su Chen. At this moment, he felt an indescribable heavinesse over him. He could only activate the Snaking Mist Steps multiple times and add three Meg¡¯s Guardians.

    Given that he had no Origin Stones to support him, this was an extremely extravagant way of acting.

    However, his judgment was extremely urate. Although the Snaking Mist Steps allowed him to avoid the brunt of the attack, merely the radiating cold from the attack caused the protective barriers on his body to shine brilliantly. Ayer of Meg¡¯s Guardian was shattered then and there, and the Absolute Chill, which had some prative ability, actually caused Su Chen to tremble from the cold, and he suddenly felt that he was very cold.

    Retreat again!

    A series of afterimages suddenly appeared behind him. He activated his speed to the greatest extent until he was able topletely retreat from the are of effect of the Absolute Chill.

    The area in front of him was already covered in frost and snow.

    What a powerful Origin Skill!

    Su Chen was quite shocked.

    This was Su Chen¡¯s first time encountering such a powerul Origin Skill. In the Qi Drawing Realm, this was already considered an extremely powerful skill.

    Was it a Bloodline Origin Skill? Su Chen thought.

    He didn¡¯t know if it was a mixed bloodline or an inherited one.

    While Su Chen was still in shock, he didn¡¯t know that his opponent was experiencing something simr.

    He missed?

    His Absolute Chill attack had actually missed?

    It hadn¡¯t even harmed the opponent¡¯s skin.

    What speed and what a strange barrier!

    The two of them gazed at each other, and their hearts were simultaneously filled with an intense apprehension.

    ¡°Do you still want to keep fighting?¡±

    Su Chen suddenly said.

    ¡°Hm?¡± The ck-robed person was stunned for a moment. He didn¡¯t understand what Su Chen meant.

    Su Chen said, ¡°I admit that your Absolute Chill is very powerful. But unlike you, I have no interest in battling experts...... At the very least, I¡¯m not interested right now. If possible, I would like to avoid battling any experts right now. Since that¡¯s the case, why don¡¯t we just go our own ways and find some other pushovers and avoid running into each other again? In any case, we are all just trying to earn points. Why do we need to persist entangling one another so that others can take advantage of us?¡±

    Su Chen felt that his words were very reasonable, as well as logical and practical because they addressed the needs of his opponent.

    If his opponent¡¯s brain operated normally, he should ept his own suggestions.

    But he had guessed incorrectly.

    Upon hearing what Su Chen had said, the ck-robed person actually began tough darkly.

    He said, ¡°If you say that, can I take it as you are scared?¡±

    What the fuck!

    Upon hearing these words, Su Chen knew that the situation had taken a turn for the worse.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 122: Cross-Region 6

    Chapter 122: Cross-Region (6)

    Indeed, in the next instant the ck-cloaked person had already begun to effuse another powerful cold flow.

    It was the Absolute Chill again, swirling directly towards Su Chen without slowing down at all.

    At this moment, Su Chen¡¯s disadvantage ofcking powerful attacks had already beenpletely revealed.

    The fireball technique or Flying Flower Hands were not powerful explosive attacks, not to mention the Thunder de or air tentacles, which couldn¡¯t even be considered explosive in the first ce. All of Su Chen¡¯s methods were allmonly found battle techniques. The reason for this was because he lived in the Scarlet Mountain Range for long periods of time, and his main target was hunting Vicious Beasts. Sess might not be determined in one ce at one time, and it was particrly important to pay attention to long-term effectiveness. Thus, he pursued long-term battle ability, and the ck Streak Battle de and the Blood Aura had covered up his disadvantage ofcking explosive methods. Of course, the most important reason was still that these kinds of Origin Skills were all precious, and even if Su Chen wanted them, it would not be so easy to obtain them.

    But when battling with other humans, where the circumstances could change unpredictably, it was impossible to make any long-term predictions.

    The ones that he had dealt with previously were all rtively weak, and couldn¡¯t fully expose Su Chen¡¯s weaknesses in battle. Now that he had encountered such a powerful foe, his w ofcking killing ability was fully revealed. He could only battle while constantly at a disadvantage.

    Repeatedly using the Snaking Mist Steps and activating Meg¡¯s Guardian after Meg¡¯s Guardian.

    The ck-cloaked person didn¡¯t use any other tactics. The Absolute Chill was powerful anywhere, and its freezing ability arrived wave after wave. Wherever it went, th enearby trees would all be covered in silver icicles andyered in a white frost.

    Large quantities of cold Qi had entered Su Chen¡¯s body. Su Chen felt his body go numb, and his speed alsos lowed down because of it. Undoubtedly, this lowered speed made his ability to dodge even more difficult, so even more cold Qi would enter Su Chen¡¯s body, forming a vicious cycle. Su Chen was forced to use even moreyers of Meg¡¯s Guardian, but he still felt that it was hard to hold on.

    The ck-cloaked person evidently understood this point. He let out a fierceugh, ¡°Sure enough, you¡¯re at your limit. Die!¡±

    As he let out a crazy yell, he activated the cold flow from his body.

    In reality, though, he was cursing in his heart. Why does this bastard have so much endurance?

    Even if he was able to win this battle, the Absolute Chill that he had saved up would already be mostly used up, and he would be at a massive disadvantage in any future battles.

    If he had known that this bastard had so much endurance and that he would need to pay such arge price, he would have agreed to not fight from the very beginning.

    Despite the regret in his heart, his attacks became even sharper and more vicious, as if he were hoping to topple Su Chen with one blow. That way, he could conserve the most energy and obtain his points.

    When Su Chen saw this, anger rose in his heart. ¡°You asked for it.¡±

    Yes, Su Chen did not possess any explosive Origin Skills, but this didn¡¯t mean that he didn¡¯t possess any other methods. In fact, the thing had prepared for thispetition before it began was meant precisely to cover up this weakness.

    At this moment, his hand flipped over and pulled something quickly out from his Origin Ring.

    A jug of wine.

    Upon seeing Su Chen pull out a jug of wine, the ck-cloaked person was first dazed before he began tough, ¡°You brought a jug of wine? What do you want to do? Are you nning on using some kind of drunken fist technique?¡±

    There were drunken fist techniques in this world, but their status was not very high. They were looked down on as merely rural skills and were only suitable for use by Body Tempering martial artists.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s a gift for you.¡± Su Chen gently twisted the jug¡¯s lid, then tossed it to the ck-cloaked person.

    ¡°Get out of my way!¡± The ck-cloaked man struck out with his arm, and a strong gust of windnded on the jug of wine.

    But at the very instant that his arm mmed into the jug of wine, it actually exploded.

    Vicious mes became an attack that surged forwards like an expanding wave, engulfing the entire area. When it mmed into the ck-cloaked person¡¯s Absolute Chill, they interweaved and formed brilliant sparks.

    This time, the Absolute Chill was no longer able to break through the mes, and the two powerful forces were blown apart. The power of the collision left behind scorched and frozen earth. It appeared very varied and colorful.

    ¡°AHH!¡± the ck-cloaked person yelled piercingly.

    His speed was not nearly as fast as Su Chen, and he was knocked over by the remaining waves. He was sent flying.

    Su Chen wanted to take him out in that instant. Arge fireball mmed onto him, sending him flying quite a distance. He mmed hard onto a tree before falling to the ground.

    The cloak covering his face fell. It was actually an ugly youth with a red rash covering his face. No wonder he had used the cloak to cover his own face.

    ¡°No!¡± The ck-cloaked youth yelled. He furiously attempted to cover his face with the cloth as he rapidly retreated.

    Didn¡¯t all of his arrogance seem to have disappeared?

    Su Chen had begun to understand this youth.

    Because of his ugliness, he felt ashamed, and hecked any self confidence. However, he was unwilling to be mediocre and furiously cultivated. After seeing some sess for a period of time, he had be arrogant regarding his own strength. In reality, this kind of person, who was outwardly arrogant yet inwardly filled with a sense of inferiority, was not umon.

    At that moment, Su Chen had lost any heart to teach him a lesson.

    All he did was sigh and take his opponent¡¯s points. No matter what, the battle had already been fought, and the spoils of battle still needed to be taken.

    He didn¡¯t know before taking the points, but after he did he received quite the shock.

    Su Chen actually received thirteen points in an instant.

    That was also to say that before the ck-cloaked person had run into him, he had already obtained around forty points, which was quite the sum. One had to know that during his entire journey, he had not obtained more than twenty three points. Of course, this was very much rted to him making every attempt to avoid battle.

    After obtaining the ck-cloaked person¡¯s points, Su Chen¡¯s points suddenly rose to thirty six points. Even the pulses of his jade tablet had increased a level because of it.

    What he didn¡¯t know was that at the very instant he took away the ck-cloaked person¡¯s points, the numbers on the leaderboard screen changed.

    Su Chen¡¯s ranking had suddenly rose, entering the top one hundred. He was ced at the ny-eighth rank. At the same time, he was the first name without a bloodline symbol behind it.

    However, this did not create too much of amotion.

    The ranking list would constantly change. One or two idents was unsurprising. Su Chen was not the first to ascend to the top one hundred, and he would not be thest. More important was how long he could stay on that list.

    But to the Su n, even if it was just a split second of glory, it was enough to stun them.

    Su Cheng¡¯an, Su Keji, Su Changqing, and arge group of others all saw Su Chen¡¯s name.

    They could not see Su Chen¡¯s battle. All they could see was Su Chen¡¯s ranking, and in that instant, the entire n was frozen like a wooden chicken.

    How could this happen?

    Su Chen had actually reached the top a hundred with a score of thirty six?

    This was simply inconceivable.

    At that moment, the entire Su n was all dumbfounded when they saw that. Even Su Changche was speechless.

    Because he was inside the exam grounds, Su Chen didn¡¯t actually know about this small circumstances.

    He didn¡¯t even know that he had entered the top one hundred. After obtaining the points, he left.

    Upon seeing that Su Chen was about to leave and did not seem to intend on sending him out of the exam grounds, the ck-clothed person paused for a moment before yelling, ¡°What was that?¡±

    Su Chen stopped. ¡°You¡¯re asking about that wine jug? It¡¯s just one of my inventions.¡±

    He didn¡¯t waste any words before leaving.

    As he watched Su Chen depart, the ck-cloaked male said to himself, ¡°No...... I don¡¯t believe it, how could I, Gan Erlei, lose? That Demon Face definitely cheated! Yes, he must have cheated! That wasn¡¯t his invention, but rather it was something that he bought from the outside, he broke the rules!¡±

    He began to loudly yell, ¡°I want to file aint!¡±

    This yell spread through the entire forest. Naturally, Su Chen also heard it.

    When Su Chen heard it, he could only shake his head and smile.

    The Hidden Dragon Institute truly didn¡¯t allow any externally purchased explosives, but personally created explosives were not included. In the beginning, Su Chen had brought his jug of wine in front of a judge and concocted an Explosive Medicine in front of them. Otherwise, he would not be allowed to bring it inside either.

    However, Gan Erlei¡¯s yells were actually indirectly a great help to Su Chen.

    This yell was too loud, so loud that many people nearby also heard it.

    What?

    Frigid Despair Gan Erlei actually was defeated?

    How could such a person, who possessed the frightening Absolute Chill, be defeated?

    Who did it?

    Demon Face? Who was Demon Face?

    Everyone who heard Gan Erlei¡¯s yells began to make guesses.

    As for what Gan Erlei said about cheating and filing aint, no one paid much attention to it.

    Every exam candidate in the exam grounds had been searched again and again. Wanting to cheat was truly too difficult. In any case, strength was strength; even if that strength was derived from cheating, it still meant that the other party was stronger than themselves. Punishment was up to the exam officials, but the battle was their own. No one wanted to provoke an opponent even stronger than Gan Erlei.

    Thus, when they saw Su Chen walk by, wearing the demonic mask, everyone realized that this was the ¡°Demon Face¡± that had defeated Gan Erlei, and no one tried to create any trouble for him.

    Some people who were particrly loose-lipped spread this rumor even more. In just a short period of time, Demon Face had be a well-known individual in that region.

    The benefit of bing a well-known person was that Su Chen was able to rapidly pass through the area. He did not fight another battle and easily walked into the ninth region, then into the eighth.

    But there was also a disadvantage to bing well-known, which was that Su Chen¡¯s points no longer increased.

    Very quickly, his ranking was surpassed by those behind him, and he once again fell out of the top one hundred.

    To see this kind of situation, the Su n members were not at all disappointed. Rather, they had a sense of relief.

    If Su Chen really had stayed in the top one hundred for an extended period of time, that would really be too great of a face-smacking.

    This meant that everything that the Su n had done in those past years was just a joke, the biggest joke.

    That was especially true of Su Cheng¡¯an. When he saw Su Chen¡¯s name disappear from sight, he let out a long sigh.

    This was perhaps the most ironic part of the whole situation.

    No one hoped that Su Chen wouldn¡¯t have a good result more than he did.

    Thankfully, Su Chen¡¯s ranking truly had not continued to gone up. His points remained the same until the sun went down.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 123: Night Attack

    Chapter 123: Night Attack

    As night fell, the dark night covered the ground in an inky ck.

    The darkness on this night was extremely dense. There were no stars in the sky, and the moon couldn¡¯t be seen. It was an endless ck, just like if a beast had swallowed all of the light.

    Even if he couldn¡¯t see anything, this was not a problem for Su Chen.

    Su Chen continued to walk along the mountain path. He didn¡¯t need to rely on his eyes; rather, he progressed simply by listening to the sound of the wind blowing through the forest. It was as if he had returned to the days when he had lost his sight.

    This murky darkness didn¡¯t hinder Su Chen at all. Rather, it became Su Chen¡¯s greatest ally, concealing his figure and hiding his movements, making it so that he was able to smoothly pass through areas where danger lurked on every side.

    However, the darkness also made it so he had lost his sense of location and had no way of determining his position. Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but take out the map and scan it from time to time in order to ensure that he hadn¡¯t taken a wrong turn.

    After walking for quite some time, Su Chen finally stopped on a small mountain slope.

    He pulled out the map and intended on confirming his location once again.

    The instant that the crystalmp lit up, Su Chen suddenly felt his heart jump in rm.

    Purely based on instinct, Su Chen dodged to the side.

    Whoosh!

    A cold streak of light flew past Su Chen¡¯s face from the darkness. He had no time to see what kind of person was ambushing him. Without turning around, his left hand struck out with a Thunder de, blocking the de strike that had followed up. Next, he tossed out the crystalmp in his hand, then charged out from the midst of the flurry of these attacks, then turned around.

    The crystalmp shattered. From thest bit of light remaining, he could see that the assassin was dressed in all ck, and even the de in his hand was covered in an inky ck substance, not reflecting any light. Another potentially fatal blow was headed towards the hurriedly retreating Su Chen¡¯s midsection.

    As Su Chen retreated, he simultaneously chopped with his arm towards the assassin¡¯s wrist. The assassin quickly pulled his hand back, yet a cold light simultaneously shot out of his left hand. Su Chen tilted his head, avoiding it and simultaneously kicked out towrds his opponent. However, the opponent reversed the edge of the de, forcing Su Chen¡¯s leg back and rendering his attack ineffective. The opponent took advantage of the opportunity to advance again, stabbing forwards. Each stab was struck towards Su Chen¡¯s vitals, he had no time to dodge, and in that critical situation his right hand turned into a Thunder de and stabbed towards the opponent¡¯s throat.

    Trading wound for wound!

    The ck-clother person leaned backwards and dodged. Then, the de in his left hand chopped down towards Su Chen¡¯s wrist. Su Chen pulled his hand back, and the two of them were thrown apart by the force of the contact. No one was able to take the advantage, and both of them revealed shocked expressions.

    They were both surprised by the reactions and adaptability of their opponents.

    Like a sh of lightning, the two of them had already exchanged multiple strikes back and forth, yet neither of them was able to gain any advaantage.

    Bang!

    The light disappeared.

    The light from the exploding crystalmp had at this moment disappeared, and everything returned to darkness.

    However, the fighting did not stop because of the darkness.

    The assassin once again stabbed forwards,pletely unaffected by the darkness. Su Chen could not see the path of the de, but he did not care. He only turned his shoulder away, and the de sliced past his shoulder. At the same time, he countered and grabbed for his opponent¡¯s face, his foot mming towards his opponent¡¯s kneecap. The assassin simrly could not see the attacks, but he also tilted his head and leapt backwards. He precisely dodged the punch and the kick by an almost inconceivably small margin, then swung out with the de again......

    The two of them continued to trade blows in the darkness. Their speed was extremely fast, and even though they didn¡¯t use any Origin Skills, their battle was much more dangerous than any that Su Chen had encountered before. As long as one of their reactions was even the slightest bit dyed, they would instantly be seriously injured.

    The most surprising fact was that the two of them were doing battle in absolute darkness. They had exchanged about ten or so moves back and forth in the pitch ck environment until the sound of thunder suddenly rumbled out with a bang. Su Chen¡¯s Thunder de had struck the ck-clothed person¡¯s arm. The ck-clothed person¡¯s short de also sliced past su Chen¡¯s chest, and the two of them simultaneously received wounds and separated.

    The furious battle had finally temporarily paused at this moment, but the danger had not decreased at all.

    The two of them simultaneously silently slipped into the darkness. Neither of them spoke, and not even a breath could be heard.

    In such a quiet night, whoever spoke first would reveal themselves.

    Su Chen carefully took multiple steps, listening closely to the wind. At the same time, he pulled out the steel de from within his ring ¨C he finally had time to pull out a weapon. Simrly, the assassin enshrouded in shadows walked carefully step by step, using his own method to determine Su Chen¡¯s location.

    They slowly circled around in the darkness. It appeared as if they were randomly walking around, but with surprising precision they slowly drew near to each other. Suddenly, they both simultaneously jumped into the air. Two streaks of de light ¨C one cold, one dark ¨C shed out towards their opponents. They struck each other urately, creating sparks upon impact.

    In actuality, the two of them had discovered each other a long time ago.

    The ck-clothed person let out a piercing whistle, and his de shed out at a strange angle. A sinister, gloomy dark wave flew out from the de.

    He had finally used his own Origin Skill.

    Bang!

    A massive explosion sounded out.

    ¡°AH!¡± Having been struck by the shockwave, the ck-clothed assassin let out a shrill yell as he flew out.

    Next, a massive fireball mmed in his direction.

    After their fast-paced close-quarters battle, they had finally reached a point where they could each disy their strengths.

    The ck-clothes person¡¯s reaction was extremely fast. He was able to control his body even while he was in midair. His body shook like a snake¡¯s, and he actuallypletely dodged the fireball and the resulting explosion.

    In the next instant, tens of tentacles snaked towards the ck-clothed person. The ck-clothed person stabbed out over and over again. As the gloomy, sharp wave once again appeared, the air tentacles were easily broken. However, in the next instant he suddenly felt his head hurt. Knowing that the situation was not good, his body shot towards the ground. He had been struck by the Soul Eye.

    Su Chen had already activated the Snaking Mist Steps and charged forwards, swinging the battle de and creating a chaotic Qi flow. It actually let out roars like the sound of thunder as it stabbed towards Su Chen¡¯s opponent.

    Although it was just a normal attack, this de strike included the force behind his Flowing Wind Body Technique as well as the Thunder de¡¯s additive ability. Its power could not be underestimated. If the blownded, it was more than enough to slice the ck-clothed person in two.

    In that critical moment, the ck-clothed person suddenly let out a yell. His figure suddenly became faint, as if he had slipped inside an endless darkness.

    Su Chen¡¯s de swung past, but he felt as if he had not struck anything. It was as if he had swung right through his opponent¡¯s body.

    The ck-clothed person had alreadypletely disappeared with a whoosh, concealed in the darkness.

    ¡°Trying to run?¡± Su Chen tilted his head and listened attentively for a moment before suddenly flicking out his wrist. Another jug of wine flew out,nding in a seemingly empty patch of darkness.

    Another fierce explosion sounded out, and the mes soared to the sky. Immediately afterwards, a ck figure appeared.

    ¡°AHH!¡± This was the first time during this battle that the ck-clothed person had let out a cry of pain. He attempted to fly away as soon as hended.

    Su Chen sent another fireball mming towards him. ¡°Leave your points behind before leaving!¡±

    The ck shadow dodged repeatedly in the air, evidently not wanting to give its opponent the opportunity at all.

    But what waited for him was air tentacles all over the ce that had appeared out of nowhere.

    After he had sliced through all the air tentacles, he was greeted by arge handful of leaves augmented by the Flying Flower Hands, whose power was simrly not weak. At this moment, Su Chen¡¯s Soul Eye was almost ready to be used again.

    At night and in close-quarters, the ck-clothed person¡¯sbat prowess was definitely not below Su Chen¡¯s. But as soon as Su Chen pulled apart the distance and fought with Origin Skills, the ck-clothed person was very clearly inferior to Su Chen. He had been beaten ck and blue by Su Chen¡¯s indiscriminate bombing. Eventually, he could only yell, ¡°Here, take it!¡±

    He lifted up the jade tablet.

    Su Chen used his plundering technique on the jade tablet. However, in the instant that he pressed the the jade tablet, a streak of de light suddenly appeared from the ck-clothed man¡¯s hand, piercing towards Su Chen¡¯s midsection.

    This change was very sudden, and the ck-clothed man was iparably excited. ¡°Die!¡±

    However, all he heard was a series of loud bangs. This was the sound of barriers breaking under the ck de. However, it was not just one noise. One barrieryer after another appeared on his opponent¡¯s body, and he had absolutely no way of breaking through it with just one de strike.

    ¡°How could this be?¡± The ck-clothed person was shocked.

    His reply was a swift fireball to the face.

    ¡°Ah! I¡¯ll remember you!¡± The ck-clothed man yelled pitifully as he flew into the air. His figure repeatedly shed in midair beforepletely disappearing. All that remained were the vicious words that he had spoken echoining in the darkness.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 124: Shock

    Chapter 124: Shock

    The ck-clothed person finally ran, only leaving Su Chen with an additional sixteen points.

    However, to Su Chen, what was really hard for him to forget was that fierce, vicious battle. It was the most dangerous battle that he had encountered since entering the exam grounds. His opponent¡¯s were all intended to harm, and he showed no mercy whatsoever. That was also to say that if Su Chen¡¯s reactions had been any slower, he would already be a dead man.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know if this ck-clothed person always fought so viciously, but he knew that people were allowed to die in the exam grounds.

    The path of cultivation was not always smooth sailing. There were difficulties, and there were countless more dangers. If there was battling, one could not avoid injury. If even this was not allowed, then there wasn¡¯t really a point to doing battle in the first ce.

    Perhaps for this very reason, even though this was their recruitment opportunity, the Hidden Dragon Institute still allowed a certain number of deaths to ur.

    And just then, he had almost be one of those number.

    Indeed, there really were many more hidden talents in higher regions. Any one of them was so dangerous, and Su Chen was covered in a cold sweat just thinking about it.

    However, he did not know that the person he was facing was not an ordinary person.

    The pavilion on the tall tower was already in an uproar. The light screen just so happened to be locked onto Su Chen¡¯s figure.

    What Su Chen didn¡¯t know was that his battle had been seen by all of the noble ns up on the high tower. Of course, what everyone paid attention to at first wasn¡¯t Su Chen, but rather that ck-clothed person.

    That person was called Demon de. He was a very popr individual in this exam, and he was very skilled in ambushes and night attacks. He possessed the Mirage Hound bloodline and could blend in with the darkness,ing and going without any traces. He was not at his peak strength during the day, so he had only obtained twenty or so points. But once night fell, that was his time to shine. In less than half of that night, he had obtained the same number of points that he had during the day. Everyone originally thought that they would be able to watch him slip in and out of the darkness, hunting down target after target. They didn¡¯t expect, however, that Demon de¡¯s moment of glory had just begun before he was defeated by someone.

    It seemed from his appearance that his wounds were not light. In any case, he shouldn¡¯t expect to have any more good performances that night.¡±

    ¡°Demon de actually lost, and it was even at night, which is supposed to be his strongest suit.¡±

    ¡°Who was the person wearing the mask? How did he withstand Demon de¡¯s one-hit kill? And how did he determine Demon Face¡¯s position?¡±

    ¡°Yes, and why was he able to move around so leisurely in the darkness?¡±

    ¡°Look at the rankings, someone without a bloodline just entered the top one hundred. It should be that kid from earlier.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s called Su Chen? Who is Su Chen?¡±

    Everyone began to discuss amongst themselves.

    This time, Su Chen had risen in the rankings to seventy-fourth ce based on his fifty two points.

    This made it so that he would remain for a longer period of time on the leaderboard, making it hard for him to not attract the attention of others.

    The Su n was once again thrown into a panic.

    This time, it wasn¡¯t just because Su Chen once again appeared on the leaderboard, but even more because of Demon de, they saw Su Chen¡¯s behavior on the screen of light.

    They saw Su Chen lift the crystalmp and look at the map.

    He was actually looking at the map!

    Looking at the map!

    Looking. At. The. Map!

    He wasn¡¯t blind!

    Everyone in the Su n wanted to yell this.

    ¡°This can¡¯t be true, this can¡¯t be true!¡± Su Keji said, his face deathly pale. ¡°That Demon Face can¡¯t be Su Chen, this has to be a coincidence. Demon Face defeated Demon de, and Su Chen aalso defeated another person at the same time, which is why Su Chen appeared on the leaderboard! He isn¡¯t Su Chen, he shouldn¡¯t be Su Chen!¡±

    ¡°But in this period of time, no one else obtained arge number of points,¡± Su Feihu said leisurely.

    Demon Face had around forty eight points. Anyone who obtained one third of those points would definitely experience a surge in their rankings. Sixteen points was enough to reach the top one hundred in lower regions.

    But now, they couldn¡¯t find any other existence that was like this.

    Demon Face could only be Su Chen!

    Apart from Su Changche and Su Feihu, the entire Su n was about to lose all hope when faced with this situation.

    How can he not be blind!

    ¡°Why? Why is it like this?¡± Su Changqing didn¡¯t understand. ¡°Wasn¡¯t he unable to see? Howe he can suddenly see now?¡±

    ¡°Of course because he recovered,¡± Su Feihu snorted. ¡°Su Chen said before that the old beggar who blinded him had said that he would exchange Su chen¡¯s eyes. He had never said that Su Chen would remain in darkness forever. Because Su Chen believed this, he was never willing to give up.¡±

    ¡°Then why didn¡¯t he tell us that he got better?¡± someone angrily said.

    ¡°Why did he need to say something?¡± Su Feihu slowly said. ¡°If he had told you, would you all have rushed to him to tter him and treat him well? Based on Su Chen¡¯s personality, do you think that he would be willing to receive this kind of ¡®good¡¯ treatment?¡±

    Everyone was speechless.

    Yes, everyone had their own temper.

    Su Chen had probably lost all hope in the Su n, hadn¡¯t he?

    Since he had lost all hope, why try so hard to regain it? On the other hand, if he continued to pretend that he was blind, lots of people would expose themselves in front of him and their dirty, dark sides. Wasn¡¯t it quite interesting?

    At that moment, everyone began to remember things.

    They remembered the unseemly behavior they had disyed in front of Su Chen, that they had not bothered to conceal because they thought he was blind, or even attempts to bully him because he was blind, which had allowed him to see through thempletely......

    My goodness, how many of our secrets did this guy discover?

    When did his eyes recover?

    Last time, when I took that ceramic bowl right in front of his eyes, had his eyes recovered?

    That time when Su Chen came to my courtyard, did I hide the ounting booklet with all my debt in it?

    Did that brat discover my rtionship with Lian Gu?

    Suddenly, when faced with a Su Chen who had recovered his sight, everyone had their own guilts and fears.

    Even Su Cheng¡¯an could only stare nkly at his son.

    His eyes had recovered?!

    His eyes had actually recovered?

    How could that be?

    He had never actually said anything about it!

    It was as if muffled thunder had exploded in Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s ear, causing his vision to blur from dizziness.

    There was another person who was just as shocked about Su Chen regaining his sight.

    Gu Qingluo.

    Unlike most of the others, she was extremely clear that this Demon Face was Su Chen.

    Thus, when she saw Su Chen use the crystalmp to light up the map, her entire body froze.

    His eyes had recovered?

    When had they recovered?

    One day? Two days? Or was it a month? Two months?

    Or was it even longer?

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s heart began to pound madly.

    She faintly recalled that thest time she had taken a bath behind the mountain was half a year ago. Su Chen had just finished the end-of-yearpetition.

    Half a year.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes shouldn¡¯t have recovered for that long, could they? Gu Qingluo thought.

    Yes, they had definitely just recovered.

    They must have just recovered!

    If they hadn¡¯t......

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s heart trembled before she began to emit a fierce killing intent.

    Perhaps the only people unsurprised to see that Su Chen had regained his sight were the people from the Immortal Temple.

    Yes, they were also present.

    Of course, they were not standing on top of the tall tower.

    The tall golden tower was where the variousrge ns sat, but apart from that ce, such as on the mountain slope below, on the grass, in the trees ¨C many of them had no right to enter the exam grounds, yet they were very attentive of the fates of the exam candidates.

    Sang Zhen, Night Demon and the others were all gazing at the light screen in midair as they sat on one of those mountain sopes.

    When Su Chen defeated his opponent, and the light screen locked onto Su Chen, Sang Zhen let out a sigh. ¡°They¡¯ve noticed Su Chen. Now we¡¯re in for it.¡±

    The Immortal Temple probably didn¡¯t want this kind of situation to ur the most.

    As soon as the exam officials noticed Su Chen¡¯s performance, they would give him more ¡°camera time¡±. Undoubtedly, this was extremely dangerous.

    If Su Chen was being filmed when he opened up the Spirit Burying Terrace, everything would be revealed.

    ¡°That is not Su Chen¡¯s fault,¡± Night Demon attempted to defend Su Chen.

    ¡°I know,¡± Sang Zhen replied. ¡°Let the others start executing the second n.¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 125: Surprise Attack 1

    Chapter 125: Surprise Attack (1)

    Su Chen did not know that his battle with Demon de and his looking at the map would result in such arge effect.

    Of course, even if he knew it didn¡¯t matter much.

    The current him was very different from the him in the past. He had not intended on continuing to pretend acting like he was blind, yet he did not specifically intend on revealing it either. Everything would progress ording to its natural order.

    To the people that like him, this was undoubtedly a great, happy surprise.

    To the people who didn¡¯t like him, this was undoubtedly a huge blow.

    No matter which party they belonged to, this was the response that Su Chen wanted.

    Currently, he was still focusing all his attention on his path forwards.

    After experiencing the battle with Demon de, Su Chen was able to ept the situation. Nighttime was Demon de¡¯s realm, but it was simrly the realm of a ¡°former blind person¡±.

    He had been blind for three years, and he definitely would not be inferior to anyone in night battles. If anyone wanted to battle him in that domain, he would wee it!

    He, Su Chen, would give the opponent a lesson on how to battle at night.

    His attitude had greatly changed, and so as a result so did his movements.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t attempt to cover up the waves of his jade tablet. He continued to advance with a slight strut.

    This kind of attitude had indeed attracted many other exam candidates.

    Whoosh!

    A wood javelin came flying out from the forest towards Su Chen.

    Unfortunately, before the person had tossed out his javelin, Su Chen had already detected his breathing. Naturally, he would not allow this javelin attack tond.

    He easily dodged this javelin, then grabbed the body of the javelin and sent it flying back. All he heard was a piercing yell from within the forest.

    One had to admit that the Flying Flower Hands was very powerful. Its most outstanding aspect was its practicality; anything that was thrown out with it would have its ability to injure greatly increased. Although it wasn¡¯t an attack that could shake the universe with one blow, it had a very powerful adaptive ability.

    The javelin person retreated with a tragic yell, but Su Chenughed, ¡°How can you leave without leaving your points behind for me?¡±

    He activated the Snaking Mist Steps and easily caught up to his opponent, stealing away his points.

    Unfortunately, he only had one point. Once Su Chen took that point away, the exam candidate disappeared then and there.

    ¡°He only had one point remaining?¡± Su Chen shook his head and sighed.

    At that moment, a sudden sh of cold light suddenly appeared.

    Two exam candidates shed out towards Su Chen, one from the left and one from the right. Their arrival was sudden, fast, vicious, and unexpected.

    It felt like the person from before was just bait.

    Even so, this couldn¡¯t escape Su Chen¡¯s ears. Right as the two of them flew out, Su Chen darklyughed. Arge fireball had already appeared in his hand, mming towards one of the two. Hepletely ignored the other person, and a sword pierced towards his body. However, it encountered resistance from a white light and was actually unable to advance.

    After sending one person flying away in an explosion of fire, Su Chen turned around to face his opponent andughed, ¡°Are you done poking me?¡±

    That exam candidate made no progress after a few repeated stabs and finally panicked. He wanted to retreat again, but he found that he had no way of moving. Something was restricting him like tentacles, binding him up tightly. All he saw after that was Demon Face¡¯s palm mming towards him......

    After finishing off his opponents and gazing at the two of them lying there, Su Chen said in a low voice, ¡°So they¡¯ve finally begun to form alliances?¡±

    As time progressed, some exam candidates seemed to realize that it would be difficult to survive in an area full of experts if they battled on their own. To obtain a better result, they had chosen to walk the path of an alliance.

    But to experts, they were not above forming alliances, and neither were they afraid of them.

    As long as they weren¡¯t powerful opponents like Demon de, Cloud Leopard, or Frigid Despair, two or three exam candidates were not very effective against Su Chen. All they could do was give him more points.

    After this mad charge, Su Chen had gained another fifteen points in an instant. His total number of points had reached sixty seven points.

    The reason why he had made so many points, apart from the fact that Su Chen was so vicious, another reason was that after a day of fighting, many exam candidates had already left the exam grounds, and the total number of points began to aggregate.

    Now, the Frostbird Ji Hanlei in first ce had already obtained more than three hundred points, and many exam candidates already had more than six points. That was also to say that one could obtain at least two points by defeating random candidates. There were not many people remaining with just a single point like the bait from earlier.

    And as time would go on, this situation would only be more and more severe. More and more exam candidates would leave the exam grounds, and the remaining candidates would have more and more points. The number of battles between students would decrease because of this, but the speed of gaining points would increase.

    However, this was not the most crucial point.

    Most crucially, Su Chen¡¯s ranking had once again increased!

    After defeating Demon de, everyone was waiting for Su Chen¡¯s ranking to fall. They didn¡¯t expect, however, that it seemed like Su Chen had taken some kind of medicine and did not slowly move down the rankings likest time. Instead, he began to constantly do battle, and his ranking shot up.

    How long had it taken for him to obtain fifteen points? His ranking had already risen from seventy-fourth ce to seventy-two.

    Although the amplitude of the ranking change was not too great, but it was already quite rare for someone without a bloodline to advance in the rankings rather than retreat. It was quite an attention-drawing sight.

    Finally, more and more people began to notice Su Chen, and the ¡°camera¡± also began to follow him more as a result.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know what was happening outside, so he continued to advance forward at a rapid clip, unhindered. In his mind, nighttime was his home turf, so if he could arrive at the Spirit Burying Terrace soon, that would save him from the troubles of daytime. However, he did not know that he had already be a focal character in the outside.

    Bang!

    Another exam candidate was sent flying.

    The bright fireball illuminated the night, revealing a dazzling scene. Su Chen¡¯s figure shed through the air, and he very quickly disappeared once again among the dark night.

    ¡°What a kid. It seems like now is the time for him to really disy his strength,¡± someoneughed.

    ¡°He should be the same as Night de, skilled in night battles.¡± Someone had realized this point.

    Demon de had basically ended up kicking a steel te.

    ¡°Even if that¡¯s the case, that¡¯s still quite impressive. Did you notice that he has quite a number of Origin Skills? He actually possesses seven of them.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, but he doesn¡¯t have any powerful Origin Skills. Relying on pure quantity is not enough to resolve this issue.¡± Someone pointed out Su Chen¡¯s true weakness.

    ¡°Oh, if that¡¯s the case, then his path forward is doomed to be limited. Perhaps he can have a small moment of glory and obtain a top one hundred, but in the end he will never be a person like Long Pojun. I think that the top fifty is his limit,¡± someone concluded.

    The important individuals watching the battle were all very insightful and possessed abundant experience. They were able to tell Su Chen¡¯s strengths just from a nce, as well as the highest rank he was likely to achieve.

    Even so, there were always a few things that even a pair of experienced eyes couldn¡¯t rece.

    Just as the important individuals were still engaged in individual discussions, Su Chen had finallypleted his journey all the way to the sixth region. He had arrived at the location of the Spirit Burying Terrace.

    The location was filled with piles of rubble and fallen trees.

    The rubble and trees came from the Immortal Temple themselves. They had cut their way through the vegetation and began opening mining tunnels before finally discovering the Spirit Burying Terrace in the end. They were originally just waiting for it to open, but because of the Hidden Dragon Battle they had to switch people. This was basically the same as waiting on a beautiful woman for countless years and finally coaxing her clothes off, with only one thrust remaining before being told that they had to switch out for a different person.

    One could easily imagine the depression in their hearts.

    Not only this, but after they were switched out they weren¡¯t even allowed to leave...... they had to help cover for the new arrival.

    No regrets.

    On top of the high tower, arge group of people were watching the movements on the exam grounds.

    Zhao Yu was watching the light screen with a solemn expression. His face was always dark and his expression serious. His expression never changed, like his face was sculpted from y.

    But at that instant, his expression, which was like ice that never melted, finally changed, disying a rarely seen expression.

    Zhao Yu¡¯s eyebrows jumped, and his eyes suddenly revealed a shocking brilliance, as if he had turned from a y figure into a golden statue of a god.

    The next instant, the sound of many whistles appeared.

    Countless numbers of fiery meteors appeared, flying towards the tall tower.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 126: Surprise Attack 2

    Chapter 126: Surprise Attack (2)

    The ming meteors were incredibly powerful and explosive. Its strength was enough to tear through mountains, and even with a protective barrier applied it was possible for one to be smashed to pieces if struck by multiple meteors in a row.

    However, this was not the most frightening aspect of the attack.

    After the meteorsnded, countless steel needles shot out like a torrential downpour.

    Blood Hedgehog Spikes!

    There was a beast from Cloud Mountain known as the Blueblood Hedgehog. It possessed extremely poisonous spikes, and if it encountered any danger, it would expand its entire body, causing the needles to fly into the air like rain. This needle-rain would be hard to survive.

    This was the Blood Hedgehog Spikes.

    A dense wave of Blood Hedgehog Spikes surged forwards, like a constant hail of arrows. This wave of spikes waspletely relentless in its attempt to kill.

    However, this still was not the most frightening aspect of the attacks.

    After the Blood Hedgehog Spikes, four figures exploded into view. They simultaneously flew from all four directions towards the high tower. One sent out a streak of sword light like a silver river floating through the air, another stabbed out with a spear strike like a dragon flying through the air, still another mmed down with a giant battleaxe as if trying to sunder the heavens and the earth, and thest one sent out a palm strike as scorching as a dry, prairie fire.

    Yang-Opening Realm!

    Four Yang-Opening Realm experts simultaneously attacked the protective barrier enveloping high tower.

    ming meteors, Blood Hedgehog Spikes, and four Yang-Opening experts simultaneously attacked, causing the various important individuals on top of the high tower to face the threat of being wiped outpletely.

    Kill!

    When faced with this imminent threat, however, Zhao Yu gently lifted his hand.

    A jade-colored crystal hand appeared.

    The palm of the hand was ced towards the sky.

    At that moment, it appeared as if time had been frozen. All of the ming meteors automatically froze in midair.

    The jade-colored hand gently waved, and the hundreds of ming meteors actually turned around and returned in the direction that they came from, leaving behind a trail of smoke. The air surged inside the smoke cloud, causing the countless Blood Hedgehog Spikes to be blown away. The wave of needles almost instantly fell to the ground.

    At this time, the four Yang-Opening experts¡¯ attacks had alsonded. Sword, Spear, Axe, and Palm simultaneouslynded. Their power was boundless, and the killing intent soared.

    Zhao Yu finally moved.

    His figure shed, and in that instant he became a streak of azure light. His jade-colored hand waved four times.

    The sword light dispersed, the spear image dissolved, the giant battleaxe shattered, and the ming palm stopped glowing.

    The four Yang-Opening experts fell to the ground, blood pouring out of their orifices.

    The four assassins had been easily broken like rotten tree branches under Zhao Yu¡¯s might.

    ¡°Where do you think you¡¯re going!¡± Zhao Yu¡¯s figure shed like lightning, and the azure light chased after them.

    In the Light-Shaking Realm, one could move like the speed of light without any ORigin Skills, as well as actual flying.

    However, in the same instant that he left the high tower, the clouds in the air suddenly began to change, turning into a red-colored giant made out from the clouds that charged towards the high tower. There were still many important guests below it, and although they were not weak, Zhao Yu knew that they were not the giant red cloud man¡¯s opponent. This was because Zhao Yu was very clear about the origins of that giant red cloud man.

    Upon seeing the situation, Zhao Yu squeezed out a name from between his gritted teeth. ¡°Long Barton, you persistent bastard!¡±

    As he spoke, he had already mmed his palm towards the giant red cloud man.

    His jade hand mmed towards the giant red cloud man, and in that instant a mottled light suddenly shone.

    After a moment, the frightening giant man had alreadypletely dissipated under Zhao Yu¡¯s thundering attack.

    However, at the same instant that this giant man was obliterated, the four Yang-Opening Realm cultivators took the opportunity to escape.

    ¡°Hehehehe. Indeed, fitting of being one of the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s eighteen Golden Girders. I originally wanted to kill a few important individuals this time, but unfortunately with your protection I won¡¯t be able to do it. But even so, I am quite happy to make some more trouble for you.¡± This voice echoed around the mountain range before slowly dissipating.

    It wasn¡¯t until this point when everyone regained their senses.

    They felt as if in that brief instant, they had taken a journey to death and back.

    Zhao Yu was not able to cleanly deal with the Blood Hedgehog Spikes with the ming meteors, and a few people were still struck by them. When Zhao Yu saw this, he was unwilling to abandon them, so he pulled out a medicinal pill and said, ¡°Dissolve it in water, then ce it on the tongues of those who are wounded. The poison will be cured.¡±

    There were underlings of the Hidden Dragon Institute who immediately carried out his orders.

    Those from the noble ns were quite frightened, but someone bolstered their courage and asked, ¡°Please, sir, who were the people who just attacked us?¡±

    ¡°The Immortal Temple, a remnant of the Arcana Race. It¡¯s not worth mentioning them,¡± Zhao Yu replied.

    The Immortal Temple was quite well known in the Seven Kingdoms of the human race. Upon hearing this race, everyone suddenly understood. They did not wonder why the Immortal Temple had done this, because to a terrorist organization, they didn¡¯t really need much of a reason to do anything.

    However, Zhao Yu felt that something was still off.

    Although the Immortal Temple was an ancient Arcana organization that had existed for over ten thousand years, in reality as time had gone by, their goals had also changed. Apart from a few stubborn older individuals of the Arcana Race, most of the Arcana Race now treated these terrorist activities as an order of business.

    Simply put, they had be an organization driven by external motivations rather than ideals.

    But what benefits could they stand to obtain from attacking the Hidden Dragon exam grounds?

    Zhao Yu didn¡¯t understand.

    And this surprise attack did not have the normal Immortal Temple ir to it. Although those three waves of attacks were quite powerful, it was not very impressive considering that they knew he was present.

    The four Yang-Opening experts all escaped after being defeated, and even Long Barton immediately retreated after striking out once. Even though he had clearly attacked, his focus was still on protecting his underlings, forcing Zhao Yu to back off. That was also to say that the focus of this operation was not on how to unleash an effective attack, but rather on how to effectively escape?

    Did they cause such amotion for seemingly no reason other than just to escape more easily?

    Zhao Yu was somewhat speechless.

    He thought for a moment, then said with some distrust, ¡°Increase our monitor radius and see if there is any othermotion that urs. In addition, take inventory of our losses and see if any important individuals have died.¡±

    ¡°Replying to sir, people have already been dispatched, and sir¡¯s Sixth Battalion has already been deployed. The casualties are being assessed, but most were only injured, and almost no one died. A small footboy was struck by more spikes, and he died before we could save him. Bloodline nobility ns all possess secret techniques to counteract poison, and there were not many big side effects after taking the medicine. In addition, a portion of the Origin Energy Formation was disturbed.¡±

    ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°A few Origin Points were broken, and they have no way temporarily to project an image. However, it¡¯s not too severe, and it can be very quickly fixed. It will not affect the progression of the exam, but for a short period of time we will not be able to observe the movements of the exam candidates.¡±

    ¡°Hm? How were those Origin Points broken?¡±

    ¡°It seems like a few ming meteorsnded on them, but it is also possible that something else happened.¡±

    ¡°Send someone to quickly fix it.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    Zhao Yu once again fell into silence. His heart was like a maze of suspicion and doubt.

    Was it just a coincidence? Or was there a definite goal?

    Or could it be that the Immortal Temple¡¯s influence had reached among the students, and they were trying to help one of them cheat?

    The students of the Hidden Dragon Institute would definitely be important individuals upon graduating. It was not unreasonable to assume that the Immortal Temple wanted to seize this opportunity to insert a few members that belonged to their own organization.

    Although it seemed a bit excessive to use such arge number of individuals just to protect one exam candidate and allow them to pass, it was still best to stay on the safer side.

    It was very easy to stay on the safer side ¨C during this period, anybody whose points rapidly increased was under suspicion.

    The light screen was temporarily unusable, but the leaderboard screen was unaffected. Because of thest image that he had seen, Zhao Yu first looked at Su Chen, who was the only one in the top one hundred without a bloodline symbol.

    But after the surprise attack urred, Su Chen¡¯s points did not rapidly increase again.

    In reality, that entire night, his points would not change at all.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 127: Spirit Burying Terrace 1

    Chapter 127: Spirit Burying Terrace (1)

    Upon arriving at the pile of rubble, Su Chen silently calcted the time.

    In a little while, it would be past midnight.

    After midnight, the second day would begin, and that was also the twenty-second of the seventh month, the date when the Spirit Burying Terrace would open.

    A star finally began to shine in the sky.

    That star was the Lofty Point Star.

    This star only appeared on the twenty-second day of the seventh month, and so this day was also known as the Lofty Point day.

    The Lofty Point Star¡¯s appearance was always very precise.

    More precisely, the timekeeping clock could have errors, but the Lofty Point Star would not.

    Thus, ording to the timekeeping clock, it was not yet the Lofty Point Day, but the appearance of the Lofty Point Star implied that the day had arrived ¨C all of the various officials adjusted their timekeeping devices.

    Upon seeing the Lofty Point Star appear, Su Chen didn¡¯t immediately make a move. Rather, he waited for a few moments.

    As time went on, the Lofty Point Star began to shine more and more brightly.

    Before Su Chen¡¯s eyes, a strange scene started to appear.

    A ray of starlight began to descend from the sky,nding not too far in front of Su Chen, forming a hazy circle of light that faintly covered a smaller half of the valley. There were a few threads within the circle that criss-crossed, forming an incrediblyplex map.

    Upon seeing this, Su Chen silently confirmed that Old Sang had beenpletely right. As expected, this ce was filled with devious traps, and the underground was protected by arge formation which could even conduct starlight. Where the starlightnded was where the Origin Energy Formation was located. By using the starlight, this Origin Energy Formation appeared.

    This was precisely the creativity of the people who had set up the protective mechanisms of the chamber. Every thousand years, it would attract the starlight from the Lofty Point Star. At that time, as long as a person experienced with formations who could proceed ording to the instructions of the formation was present, it was easy to open it up and open up the grave to see the light of day once again.

    Naturally, Su Chen did not understand formations, but Sang Zhen had told him how to unlock all of the mechanisms long before.

    After seeing this formation diagram appear, Su Chen walked through the formation, arriving at a location where a Profound Arcana Triangle symbol was located. He pulled out something from his Origin Ring. It was merely a hollow iron pole, which he used to stab the triangr intersection until there was no resistance. Next, he arrived to another pattern, but this time he pulled out a small sheet of iron and buried in the earth. He then arrived near another pattern, and spilled a unique bloody liquid on the ground.

    He went back and forth to a total of thirty six patterns and making thirty six arrangements before pulling out an Origin Formation Disk, cing it three feet below the ground in the center.

    Activate!

    A mysterious light began to shine out from the ground. When the light began to shine on the patterns on the Origin Energy Formation, they in turn began to emit a powerful light.

    The light shone more and more brilliantly. When Su Chen saw it, he was quite nervous. Would such argemotion attract others over?

    Finally, this intense light began to disappear.

    However, the ground suddenly started to move.

    The fierce trembling almost made Su Chen believe that it was an earthquake, if it weren¡¯t for the fact that the mountains around him were fine, and only the ground around his feet was shaking.

    Next, Su Chen saw that the at the center of the Origin Formation, where he had ced the Origin Formation Disk, a depression had formed in the ground, and a pitch-ck opening had appeared.

    Upon seeing the opening, Su Chen didn¡¯t immediately enter. Instead, he first drunk a vial of medicine, then pulled out a special item and thenpletely covered himself from head to toe with items. Even his eyes had beenpletely covered by crystal chips before he began to enter.

    The Spirit Burying Terrace contained Corpse Spirit Flowers. They were extremely poisonous items.

    Although the Immortal Temple had given him the antidote, Su Chen did not ce all his hope on the other party.

    After applying twoyers of insurance, Su Chen lifted the crystalmp and entered the cave. His own crystalmp had shattered; he had taken the one in his hand from another exam candidate.

    The cave was very deep, and he walked step by step downwards before finally reaching the end. However, he saw a pitch-ck, winding tunnel in front of him.

    After walking along the tunnel for quite some time, he finally emerged. Su Chen discovered that he had already arrived at arge, open room.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t immediately enter therge room. Instead, he pulled out an Origin Formation Disk and tossed it inside.

    As soon as that Origin Formation Disk entered the room, a brilliant red light shone forth.

    This implied that the Origin Energy in the room was extremely concentrated to the point that it had reached the Red Star level.

    This indicated two things. One: the Origin Energy cirction in the Spirit Burying Terrace was very good, and most of the mechanisms would still be in effect. They would not have broken down or decayed because of age. Of course, this could also be seen from the Origin Formation at the entrance. If the ce had decayed, the Origin Formation should have lost its effectiveness a long time ago. Obviously, this ce had been appropriately prepared, allowing the Spirit Burying Terrace to be preserved for tens of thousands of years without decaying. Second: the Origin Energy in this location was dense enough to be considered at the Red Star level.

    The levels of Origin Energy that Origin Qi Schrs possessed could be divided into purple, ck, brown, red, blue, green, and yellow stars. Origin Energy at a density of the Red Star level was equivalent to the Origin Energy a cultivator in the Light-Shaking Realm would possess.

    That was also to say that the mechanisms here could kill Light-Shaking Realm cultivators.

    That was a Monitoring Disk. After looking at it, it self-destructed.

    Upon discovering these two pieces of information, Su Chen became even more cautious.

    Two rows of stone carvings were erected in therge room. They were all martial artists wearing red chesttes, and a blood-colored longsword was at their waist. Su Chen had heard that there was a kind of martial artist during the Divine Illustrious Dynasty known as the Bloodmelting Swordsmen. They were corpses that had been refined by a unique, secret bloodline technique. At the same time, it was a byproduct of a failed experiment to produce the Bloodline Extraction Instrument.

    The twelve stone statues in front of him were the Bloodmelting Swordsmen. Although they looked like stone statues, they were real Bloodmelting Swordsmen that had been sealed via a unique sealing technique into a stone sculpture. If any outsiders were to barge in, these twelve Bloodmelting Swordsmen would awaken and break out of their seals, attacking anyone who barged in.

    However, Su Chen was not worried about this. He pulled out a ck medallion and ced it on himself, then walked over step by step. Those Bloodmelting Swordsmen did not move at all.

    This was an insignia that the Immortal Temple had created when constructing the Spirit Burying Terrace. Those Bloodmelting Swordsmen were controlled by that medallion and would not attack. Unfortunately, because Su Chen didn¡¯t understand the method used to control them, but was best to not even attempt it at all. They could very easily cause trouble for him, and after all the Immortal Temple had not nned on wanting them.

    After crossing therge room, he was greeted by arge set of stone doors.

    Su Chen did not open the stone doors. Instead, he squatted about a foot away from the doors. He searched around on the ground for a moment before finally discovering a movable stone b. He raised the b and pulled out a circr handle. Upon pulling on the handle, the stone doors slowly opened. At the same time that the stone doors opened, he could hear the sound of mechanisms shifting behind the doors.

    Su Chen knew that this was the sound of the mechanisms in the door shutting down.

    If he hadn¡¯t known about the setup behind the door ahead of time and just gone to open the door, he most likely would have died very tragically.

    Arge hall was behind the stone doors. It was much more vast and imposing whenpared to the stone chamber behind him. Night Pearls were illuminating therge hall from its ceiling, making it seem as if it were daytime. These pearls did not appear at all like they had suffered from seven thousand years of corrosion. They were preserved just like in the past, and even the air in the entirerge hall was very fresh.

    The walls were covered with mysterious engravings, which appeared to be decorative in nature. In reality, they were a portion of the entire underground Origin Formation, and they had preserved the air, freezing time and ensuring that this ce was unaffected by the passing of seven thousand years. But as Su Chen ¡°activated¡± the tomb, the seals of the Origin Formation slowly began to disappear. From this day onwards, this location would no longer be isted.

    On both sides of therge hall stood four giant sculptures in total. Each one was over thirty feet tall, and they were covered in ck armor. They were extremely majestic and domineering in appearance.

    These were the very well-known Origin Demon Puppets.

    These four Origin Demon Puppets were all battalion-grade Origin Demon Puppets.

    The armies of the Seven Kingdoms were split into squadrons, fireteam, guards, wards, battalions, garrisons, and armies. Ten people made up a squadron, thirty a fireteam, a hundred a guard, three hundred a ward, a thousand a battalion, three thousand a garrison, and ten thousand an army.

    Battalion-grade Demon Puppets implied that these kinds of Demon Puppets could resist the military strength of a normal battalion. Based on the standards for military strength set by the Divine Illustrious Dynasty at the time, a normal battalion had one Yang-Opening Realm person, fifteen Blood-Boiling, three hundred Qi Drawing, and seven hundred martial artists.

    To deal with such a battalion, one had to at least be an expert at a highyer in the Light-Shaking Realm.

    That was to say that these Demon Puppets possessed strength equal to an expert at a highyer in the Light-Shaking Realm.

    There were fourplete battalion-grade Demon Puppets here. No wonder the Origin Formation Disk released a brilliant red light.

    But unfortunately, although these puppets were extremely strong, it was impossible to store them in an Origin Ring because their Origin Energy content was simply too high. Normal Origin Rings wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand it at all. In addition, they weighed an inconceivable amount, and the ground would shake if they walked, so it was not possible to bring them out. Thus, the Immortal Temple had no intention of taking them. Rather, they had ced their attention on the items responsible for driving these four Demon Puppets.

    Tool-grade Sark¡¯s Energy Nuclei.

    Because of their rarity, even a tool-grade Sark¡¯s Energy Nucleus was much more valuable than an Origin Demon Puppet.

    Su Chen, who was wearing the medallion, would not be attacked by the Demon Puppets. He directly walked behind the four Demon Puppets and opened the mechanism on their lower backs ording to how Sang Zhen had taught him. A device roughly asrge as a millstone was revealed.

    This was the Sark¡¯s Energy Nucleus, an incredibly powerful device.

    Su Chen¡¯s Origin Ring couldn¡¯t store even just these four Sark¡¯s Energy Nuclei, but he was not anxious. His gaze had alreadynded on the highest ce in therge hall.

    There, a pedestal made out of ck gold was erected there, and a lotus terrace was constructed out of cloud jade. Floating above the terrace were three six-sided crystals, slowly revolving in midair. Upon closer inspection, some kind of substance was faintly discernable inside the transparent outer crystalyer. Those were Void Essences.

    Void Essences were a unique space-attribute item, and they possessed powerful space properties. They could iste a certain space, forming a standalone region. The Spirit Burying Terrace had not been affected by the passing of time because the Void Essences had separated this ce from the outside world. It wasn¡¯t until now, when Su Chen had unraveled the Origin Formation, that everything dissipated.

    Upon arriving in front of the Void Essences, Su Chen pulled out another Origin Formation Disk from his Origin Ring, then gently ced it on the ck gold pedestal.

    The Void Essences were a unique item possessing space attributes, and it was impossible to physically grab them. Neither could they be stored in an Origin Ring. He could only use the current method and slowly draw them over using an Origin Formation Disk.

    As the Origin Formation Disk began to let out a scintiting light, the three Void Essence Crystals slowly drew near to the Origin Formation Disk. Even though they were only a palm¡¯s width away, they flew through the air as if it were a distance of tens of thousands of kilometers. Finally, theynded on top of the Origin Formation Disk, and three more pearls appeared on the Origin Formation Disk. Those who knew understood that those were Void Essence Crystals, while those who didn¡¯t know would think that they were just Night Pearls.

    With these three Void Storage Crystals,bined with the Origin Formation he had prepared, this Origin Formation Disk had be a storage disk that couldpletely contain items. The space inside, as well as its sturdiness, was more than enough to store four Sark¡¯s Energy Nuclei inside.

    After cing those four Sark¡¯s Energy Nuclei in the Origin Formation Disk, Su Chen let out a sigh.

    As for the ck gold pedestal and the cloud jade lotus terrace, Su Chen stored them into his Origin Ring ¨C based on their agreement, Su Chen could take anything that the Immortal Temple had not requested.

    Although these two items did not possess any particr value, as raw materials they were rtively precious, and they were also antiques. They possessed a very clear style of the Divine Illustrious Dynasty, and they would be worth quite a sum if sold.

    After taking care of all of this, Su Chen let out a long sigh.

    Up until now, everything had ended up the way Sang Zhen had said it would. No unexpected urrences had happened.

    All that remained was the final step.

    Su Chen gazed at the wall at the back of therge hall.

    Up until now, everything that Su Chen had discovered, whether it was the Sark¡¯s Energy Nuclei or the Void Essence Crystals, were not the real treasures of the Spirit Burying Terrace. They existed solely to protect this area ofnd.

    Behind that wall was hidden the true treasure of the Spirit Burying Terrace ¨C Corpse Spirit Flowers.

    At the same time, it was also the location where idents were most likely to happen.

    In order to allow the Corpse Spirit Flower to grow, it could not be cut off from the outside world. Thus, while the guardians of the Spirit Burying Terrace existed in an isted space, the ce where the Corpse Spirit Flowers were growing had really experienced the passage of seven thousand years.

    No one knew what kinds of changes would ur after seven thousand years. Even Sang Zhen and the others were unable to prepare for what could happen.

    As soon as that wall was opened, all of the dangers would be faced by Su Chen and Su Chen alone!

    He sucked in a deep breath, then activated more than ten Meg¡¯s Guardians before pressing the switch to open the wall.

    With rumblings and creaking, the back wall slowly opened.

    A dark current suddenly poured into the room, swirling towards Su Chen.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 128: Spirit Burying Terrace 2

    Chapter 128: Spirit Burying Terrace (2)

    The dark current surged and seethed towards Su Chen, but he was prepared. He activated the Snaking Mist Steps, and his figure retreated like it was made of smoke. At the same time, he superimposed another barrier on his body.

    The dark current was like a fiend. It mmed into Su Chen, causing quite a mor.

    Those barriers began to pop one after another, as if they had been struck by the Blood Hedgehog Spikes. The barriers sounded very brittle.

    Following this very brittle sound, the barriers shattered like eggshells one after another.

    Su Chen retreated even more rapidly, constantly adding on barriers and rapidly changing directions.

    The dark current pursued him relentlessly like a dragon, forming ck smoke trails that coiled throughout the air. Upon closer inspection, arge number of unnamed ck insects had gathered in the ck smoke. The brittle noisesnding on Su Chen¡¯s barriers like dense rain were actually created by those bugs.

    They had long and razor-sharp mouths as well as a hard exoskeleton. At this moment, they were once again flying towards Su Chen, letting out piercing, shrill cries.

    The barriers on Su Chen¡¯s body could not withstand this blow, and just as Su Chen¡¯sst barrier was about to explode, even more bugs had begun to surge forwards. Su Chen suddenly flipped his hand, and a fireball appeared.

    Boom!

    The fireball mmed into the bug swarm, and the fierce mes instantly began to spread amongst the swarm. Arge swath of the poisonous bugs were incinerated into ashes.

    When Su Chen saw that this was effective, he sent out another fireball.

    These bugs had hard shells, but they could not endure being roasted by fire. Under Su Chen¡¯s continuous barrage of fireballs, arge portion of them died. The remaining numbers that broke through the mes to attack Su Chen could only m onto the barriers, killing themselves as they broke the barrier.

    Once the final bug had disappeared or died, Su Chen finally let out a sigh.

    Although that encounter had been short-lived, it was incredibly vicious. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that his mind was clear and he had used his fireball attacks to defend himself and kill off the bug swarm, he probably would¡¯ve been eaten alive if he had focused solely on defending himself.

    Those bugs were not a trap that was set up in the Spirit Burying Terrace. Rather, they were mutant bugs that had evolved due to living in the environment of the Corpse Spirit Flowers. Because these bugs had naturally evolved in this kind of environment rather than under any specific stressors, these kinds of bugs could not evolve all-around defensive bodies, so they would definitely have a few obvious weaknesses. There was no fire in the Spirit Burying Terrace, so their ability to resist fire was basically nonexistent.

    This was something that Su Chen had realized while he was being pursued. In fact, Su Chen¡¯s most powerful weapon was his ability to remain clear-headed even in the face of imminent danger.

    At this moment, he stepped over the bug corpses, then arrived at the wall again. Despite the fact that it was heavilyyered, he could still smell the powerful stench of blood and flesh.

    Since this ce was not isted, this area disyed the full eeriness and sinister aura that had umted after seven thousand years.

    After all, this ce was a giant ancient tomb.

    At this moment, what appeared in front of Su Chen was a pit littered with corpses.

    This giant pit was three hundred feet in diameter and roughly fifty feet deep. There were six protrusions that stuck out from it. Therge number ofplicated Origin Energy engraved patterns and the unique structure of the pit indicated that somerge Origin Formation was hidden here.

    As time had gone on, therge formation had lost its effectiveness. However, its use had already beenpletely manifested in the giant pit ¨C the pit was filled with ck sludge, and one could see heaps of white bones amongst the ck sludge. From afar, they were like crops of bones on a deste, ck wastnd sown on the entire corpse pit.

    However, this was not the most frightening.

    In other words, what was the most frightening was not the bones, but the sludge!

    The ck sludge!

    Su Chen knew that that wasn¡¯t sludge. That was blood and flesh.

    Sludge formed from blood and flesh.

    More precisely, everything prepared in this ce was for the purpose of creating this flesh and blood sludge.

    Inside the ck sludge, apart from those bones that did not decay, a few ck flowers were also growing. These flowers did not seem very remarkable; some grew in the ck sludge, some surrounded the white bones, and some hung on the walls of the cave. They looked like wildflowers that were simply using every means at their disposal to survive in such a vicious environment.

    But Su Chen knew that it was precisely these flowers that caused the deaths of countless people, resulting in everything that he had seening into being.

    Corpse Spirit Flowers.

    They were a strange kind of vegetation that grew in the sludge from the rotten corpses.

    In order to obtain them, some people were willing to cause a bloodbath and creating such arge underground tomb all in the name of burying spirits.

    All of the atrocities that had beenmitted was for these seemingly unassuming flowers.

    In that instant, Su Chen¡¯s heart surged with rage, and he even wanted to immediately destroy these damned poisonous flowers.

    In the end, reason overpowered his impulsiveness. He knew that the flowers were innocent; in the end, the only thing at fault was the greed inside mankind¡¯s hearts.

    After calming himself down, Su Chen gazed at his surroundings. After confirming that there was nothing out of ce, he walked forwards.

    Just as he was attempting to harvest the first Corpse Spirit Flower, a sense of danger suddenly appeared in his heart.

    Su Chen hurriedly removed his hand. A ck shadow shot out of the sludge and towards Su Chen.

    Thankfully, Su Chen had yet to deactivate his Meg¡¯s Guardian. The ck shadow mmed into his magic barrier, instantly resulting in an even more powerful vibration than before.

    Su Chen finally saw that what had ambushed him was actually a small ck snake not much longer than a foot. After its first attack was ineffective, it continued to let out shrill hisses at Su Chen.

    But as soon as Su Chen saw the snake, his expression changed.

    Shadow Snake!

    This was a kind of living organism that also thrived in such a sinister environment, and it often lived alongside organisms like the Corpse Spirit Flower. The Immortal Temple had guessed before whether the Corpse Spirit Flower would have any other Vicious Beasts like the Shadow Snake living near it, and in the end they had concluded that it was not too likely. That was because this location was manmade, and the person trying to grow these flowers had no reason to cause so much trouble for themselves.

    But this time, they had guessed incorrectly.

    Perhaps the person who had set up the area had brought them, or perhaps the Shadow Snakes themselves had sensed the powerful aura of death in this area and came on their own. Regardless, there were Shadow Snakes here!

    Shadow Snakes were not some kind of powerful Vicious Beast, but they were beasts that lived in groups.

    As the first Shadow Snake appeared, hundreds of Shadow Snakes slithered out from the ck sludge. When Su Chen saw them, he felt like his spirit was about to depart.

    Although the Shadow Snakes were only the most low-tier of the Vicious Beasts, hundreds of thembined were enough topletely drown him out.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t hesitate. He burst into a sprint and ran away.

    ¡°Hiss!¡± With a piercing yell, the hundreds of Shadow Snakes rushed forwards together.

    These snakes did not haverge bodies, and their physical strength was only so-so. However, their bodies stored a vicious poison, and their speed was like lightning. They were so speedy that they began to close the distance between them and Su Chen.

    Su Chen no longer had to conceal the speed of his Snaking Mist Steps. He revolved his energy and flew forwards like a wisp of smoke, taking multiple steps in midair. It gave off a feeling that he was flying high in the sky, giving off a graceful and elegant appearance. If Gu Qingluo saw it, she would definitely be so surprised that she wouldn¡¯t dare to believe her eyes. This was because the Snaking Mist Steps that Su Chen was using had greatly exceeded the level usable by someone without a bloodline. He could already take multiple steps in a row and exert his energy in midair.

    Unfortunately, even so he could only maintain the distance between them instead ofpletely escaping these Shadow Snakes. Most fatally, a few Shadow Snakes that had fallen behind suddenly coiled themselves together, forming a ball. Next, they furiously mmed into the Shadow Snakes in front of hem. Those Shadow Snakes borrowed that force to raise their speed by a certain level, causing them to rapidly close in on Su Chen.

    They could actually use this tactic.

    Su Chen hurriedly pulled out a jug of wine before tossing it out.

    Bang!

    In the giant explosion, tens of Shadow Snakes were sent flying, and their scales also simrly fell off. At the same time, they let out pained hisses.

    But they did not die!

    Shadow Snakes were Vicious Beasts. Naturally, they did not possess as obvious a weakness as those poisonous bugs. The Explosive Medicine could injure them, but it could not possibly kill them in one blow. In addition, they simply had to be beasts that gathered in flocks. The Shadow Snakes that had been injured temporarily stopped their attacks, but the other Shadow Snakes leapt forward even more viciously.

    That was also to say that this jug of Explosive Medicine didn¡¯t have any use, only slightly dying his opponent.

    ¡°Dammit!¡± Even the normally calm Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but curse.

    Truly, no matter how smoothly the n had been executed, a singly ident was enough to be life-threatening.

    If he couldn¡¯t outrun the Shadow Snakes and couldn¡¯t kill them, what could he do?

    Su Chen furiously racked his brain.

    He suddenly thought of something. His eyes lit up, and he turned around and tossed out another two jugs of wine. At the same time that he dyed the Shadow Snakes, he also charged forward at high speed.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 129: Spirit Burying Terrace 3

    Chapter 129: Spirit Burying Terrace (3)

    Boom boom boom boom!

    The continuous explosions caused the Shadow Snakes behind him to continuously let out pained cries. Even so, their inherently vicious temperament made it so that they were unwilling to let their target go, and they continued to chase after him furiously.

    Su Chen madly charged forwards. After exiting therge hall, he returned to the stone room he was in prior.

    The twelve statues continued to stand there unmoving, just like before.

    He pulled off the medallion that he was wearing and tossed it out as he charged forwards at full speed. He began to yell, ¡°Awaken!¡±

    RUMBLE!

    A massive thundering and shaking suddenly began to sound out.

    The twelve statues simultaneously began to tremble violently, andrge chunks of rock began to fall from their bodies, sending up clouds of gray dust.

    ¡°Faster, faster!¡± If it were anyone else, they might have been astonished by this scene, but Su Chen seemed worried that the Bloodmelting Swordsmen wouldn¡¯t awaken fast enough. He tossed out three jugs of wine in a row and let out fiverge fireballs, worried that he wouldn¡¯t be able to dy long enough.

    Finally, the first statuepletely shattered. What followed was a blood-red streak of sword light that screamed towards Su Chen. It grewrger andrger the entire way, stabbing towards him.

    ¡°I...... fuck!¡± Su Chen cursed.

    Although he had been prepared to be attacked, Su Chen still couldn¡¯t help but curse in that moment.

    As his body shifted, he activated the Snaking Mist Steps to their extreme limit, taking three steps in a row in midair. Su Chen¡¯s figure then suddenly did a rapid one-eighty in midair, dodging the sword strike.

    At this moment, all of his vigor had been exhausted. He could not continue to maintain his airborne condition and he began to descend. As soon as he hit the ground, he hurriedly rolled.

    A razor-sharp sword flew over the top of his head. Another Bloodmelting Swordsman had appeared.

    Su Chen continued to sprint forwards.

    Earlier, in order to wake up the Bloodmelting Swordsmen, he was worried that he had not tossed it far enough and wouldn¡¯t be able to wake them. Now, he could only feel that he had thrown it too far, and the very near distance seemed to be at the end of the horizon.

    He had just taken a step when two de strikes came whistling towards him.

    The third and fourth swordsmen continued to walk out. Su Chen mmed the ground, and he flew into the air, narrowly dodging a sword. He was unable to dodge the other strike, and he could only borrow the use of Meg¡¯s Guardian to forcefully block it.

    With a loud ¡®Bang!¡¯, two Meg¡¯s Guardians were simultaneously pierced through by the sword.

    Su Chen borrowed the force of the impact to fly into the air again. While in midair, he could see that some of the Bloodmelting Swordsmen that had been awakened earlier had already begun to engage in battle with the Shadow Snakes.

    Thank heavens, whether it was the Shadow Snakes or the Bloodmelting Swordsmen, they attacked each other without discrepancy.

    His anxiety had yet to disappear when he suddenly heard four continuous ¡°booms¡± from behind him. Four Bloodmelting Swordsmen stepped out from the statues.

    Because Su Chen was at the very front, every Bloodmelting Swordsman that awoke would attack him first. Su Chen knew that the situation was not good. He hurriedly activated the Snaking Mist Steps, dodging the first swordsman¡¯s attack. He then struck backwards with his de, parrying the attack of another swordsman. The de shattered. The third swordsman was just about to attack when an air tentacle suddenly appeared, binding the swordsman¡¯s legs, causing it to stumble. Su Chen took advantage of the opportunity to avoid the attack.

    However, the fourth swordsman¡¯s sword came slicing towards him, once again mming into his barriers.

    This sword strike was even more ferocious than the one he had sustained earlier. With a series of multiple ¡°bangs¡±, all of the barriers on Su Chen¡¯s body were shattered. The impact of therge sword was not reduced, and it continued to cut into Su Chen¡¯s body. Su Chen was struck by the fierce blow, and a shower of blood sprayed from his body.

    He fell from the air to the ground.

    This sword strike did not result in a shallow cut. He had no way of moving for a short time.

    The final four statues chose this moment to emerge, and they simultaneously walked towards Su Chen.

    Su Chen could only slowly crawl towards the medallion.

    However, no matter how fast he was, he was not faster than the Bloodmelting Swordsmen.

    The four Bloodmelting Swordsmen had already charged to Su Chen¡¯s side, raising theirrge swords towards Su Chen.

    Their swords began to descend!

    In that moment of imminent peril, Su Chen suddenly raised his hand. An air tentacle appeared, grabbing onto the medallion in front of him and pulling it backwards.

    The medallion flew through the air,nding in Su Chen¡¯s hand.

    Whoosh!

    Su Chen lifted the medallion.

    Fourrge, blood-colored swords simultaneously stopped in front of Su Chen¡¯s forehead.

    They retrieved their swords!

    Four Bloodmelting Swordsmen turned around and charged towards the Shadow Snakes.

    ¡°Whew!¡±

    Su Chen let out a long sigh.

    Next, a wave of furious pain forced him to grit his teeth. He looked at himself only to see a deep, bloody wound from his chest to his midsection. The wound was quite deep; he had narrowly avoided being disemboweled.

    Thankfully, he had cultivated the Flowing Wind Body Technique, and his physique was much more resilient than a normal Origin Qi Schr. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand it.

    Even so, Su Chen was suddenly struck by a wave of dizziness. He hurriedly pulled out a vial of recovery medicine and drank it.

    Thankfully, he was permitted to bring medicine inside the exam ground.

    Not faraway, the twelve Bloodmelting Swordsmen had already formed arge group of battle.

    The Bloodmelting Swordsmen were very powerful, but the Shadow Snakes had the advantage in numbers. The battle between the two parties resulted in a massive buildup of snake corpses. Asrge numbers of Shadow Snakes died, the Bloodmelting Swordsmen also began to fall one by one.

    Su Chen carefully lifted a jug of wine, preparing to do battle at any moment.

    But this time, the goddess of fortune smiled on him ¨C the Bloodmelting Swordsmen were victorious in the end.

    The Bloodmelting Swordsmen that had been set up here to protect the Spirit Burying Terrace were indeed strong. Nearly three hundred Shadow Snakes had beenpletely massacred. However, they had also paid the price of six of theirrades, and after killing the Shadow Snakes, the remaining Bloodmelting Swordsmen returned to their original positions, ignoring Su Chen no matter how much he shouted at them.

    Su Chen sighed. He knew that this medallion most likely could only stop the Bloodmelting Soldiers from attacking him, but it was impossible tomand them. This was for the best; those Bloodmelting Soldiers were not humand. Although they were still made of blood and flesh, they did not have the spirit of humans. They were essentially walking corpses. Bringing them out of this ce would only bring Su Chen countless problems.

    After ingesting the medicine, Su Chen felt much better.

    He stood up again, walking towards the corpses of the snakes.

    Just like the Corpse Spirit Flowers, the Shadow Snakes were also medicinal ingredients that were hard toe by.

    Medicinal ingredients were usually divided intomon, umon, rare, mythical, and divine medicines ¨C those five tiers. The Corpse Spirit Flowers were considered low-tier mythical ingredients. Although Shadow Snakes were not as precious as Corpse Spirit Flowers, they were high-quality materials that were hard to obtain.

    With so many snake corpses, he had achieved quite a profitable harvest.

    idents and dangers represented an unexpected harvest. At the very least, these Shadow Snake corpses were much more valuable than the ck gold pedestal or the cloud jade lotus terrace.

    He stowed away these snake corpses without any trace of politeness. Su Chen was just about to return to the corpse pit when he suddenly discovered that something was not quite right.

    He lowered his head.

    Beneath his feet,rge quantities of blood were converging and flowing, kind of like quicksilver. They gradually formed an Origin Formation pattern.

    There was still an Origin Formation here?

    Su Chen was shocked.

    Hadn¡¯t all of the mechanisms here been broken down? What was happening now?

    Su Chen did not understand.

    The fresh blood was from the six Bloodmelting Swordsmen that had just died. The flowing of their blood had caused the current situation, but it seemed like the fresh blood they had was not enough. Thus, although the Origin Formation was lit up, it had not really been activated.

    Having realized something, Su Chen turned around to look at the remaining six Bloodmelting Swordsmen.

    A few suspicions suddenly emerged in the back of his brain.

    Since the main hall already had four Demonic Puppets that were even more powerful, why was it necessary to open up a rock room out front and ce twelve Bloodmelting Swordsmen as guardians? The strength of those twelve Bloodmelting Swordsmen could not evenpare to the finger of a battalion-tier Demonic Puppet.

    Upon seeing the fresh blood on the ground, an idea appeared in Su Chen¡¯s head.

    Could it be that their true usage was not to guard the area?

    Upon thinking to this point, guesses had already begun to surface in Su Chen¡¯s heart.

    He didn¡¯t immediately move. Rather, he first returned to the corpse pit and harvested the Corpse Spirit Flowers there.

    This time, Su Chen didn¡¯t run into any other problems. He easily harvested the Corpse Spirit Flowers, then ced them in the jade box he had prepared long before ¨C this kind of flower absolutely needed to be ced in a special jade box to avoid wilting. The value of just the jade box alone was quite umon.

    Then he returned to the stone room.

    Just like before, he applied arge number of barriers on himself. Su Chen lifted a short de.

    Whoosh!

    Six streaks of light to chop off the heads of the remaining six Bloodmelting Swordsmen. They fell to the ground.

    The fresh blood gurgled from out his chest. After it flowed onto the ground, it began to disappear as if under the control of some mystical force. Thus, the blood-colored Origin patterns became even clearer, and the stone room began to gently tremble.

    Su Chen began to retreat, until he reached the entrance of the tunnel.

    There was no harmful trap.

    An instantter, the trembling stopped.

    A small door soundlessly opened on a wall of the stone room.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 130: Spirit Burying Terrace 4

    Chapter 130: Spirit Burying Terrace (4)

    Behind the door was a small secret chamber.

    There were no traps. There were vials, jugs, andrge piles of books as far as the eye could see. It seemed like a very messy storage space.

    At the center of the secret chamber was arge table.

    Su Chen was very familiar with this kind of table ¨C he had already taken two of them before. They had belonged to Ulrich and Master Feng, respectively.

    It was a research workbench.

    In front of therge workbench was a giant armchair, and there was a person sitting on the armchair.

    Su Chen¡¯s heart sank.

    He cautiously watched the person sitting on the chair.

    However, that person sat there unmoving, as if he werepletely unaware that the secret chamber had been opened.

    Su Chen cautiously walked closer. Upon walking around the chair, he discovered that the ¡°person¡± sitting on it was actually a dried-up corpse.

    That person¡¯s head was extremelyrge, and his limbs were very short. He looked just like a big baby doll.

    Of course, the dry corpse was not a big baby doll.

    It belonged to someone of the Arcana Race.

    The Arcana Race was quite short in the first ce. After bing a dried corpse, it had shrunk even more.

    This Arcana Race member had most likely died for quite a long time. Because his corpse was in an isted space, it had not dposed. Instead, it had simply be desated.

    He ignored the dried corpse, instead turning his attention to the Arcana Race member¡¯s experimental logs.

    Every good researcher had a habit of recording experiments. The Arcana Race was no different.

    There was a pile of experimental logs on the counter, but Su Chen temporarily had no interest in the experiments themselves. What he was looking for was the experiment date.

    The date was not hard to find. It was in the middle of the experiments.

    Not outside of his expectations, the Arcana Race corpse in front of him was the real creator of the Spirit Burying Terrace.

    He was called Mainbrooke, and he was a prominent schr of the Arcana Race. He had a deep understanding of Origin Formations, thepositions of Origin Energy Patterns, as well as the mechanical behavior of Origin Energy. He also had a certain amount of research on biological organisms. This Spirit Burying Terrace had been set up by him singlehandedly, including all of the traps within traps and Origin Formations concealed within Origin Formations, which would not be damaged even after the passage of ten thousand years. His talent was so great that even of the current great Origin Formation masters, not many couldpare to him.

    However, Mainbrooke¡¯s real ambition was not limited to this.

    This guy had an extremely crazy idea ¨C he reckoned that there was a method that could surpass the ability of bloodlines to control Origin Energy at a highyer.

    In order to understand the implications of this sentence, it was important to break it down.

    Was there a method to control Origin Energy without the use of a bloodline?

    Yes!

    Mankind didn¡¯t need any bloodline help to charge into the Qi Drawing Realm.

    But unfortunately, this was a lowyer method of controlling Origin Energy.

    Without a bloodline, the highest realm that a human cultivator could reach was the Blood Boiling Realm.

    If one wanted to go higher, they could only do it with the support of a bloodline.

    Thus, there were methods to control Origin Energy without the power of a bloodline, but it was limited to a lowyer control.

    Then were there any highyer methods to control Origin Energy without a bloodline?

    There were!

    The Ferocious Race¡¯s Origin Energy Temple and the Spirit Race¡¯s Spirit Body Conversion allowed them to control Origin Energy at a highyer without the use of a bloodline.

    But these two methods had their ownrge drawbacks. The Origin Energy Temple would cause those who used it to intermittently go berserk and lose reason, while the Spirit Body Conversion would even result in a change to their intrinsic nature. Whether or not they could still be considered alive was a good question.

    Thus, they were methods that could be used to control Origin Energy at a highyer without a bloodline, but they were definitely not methods that were superior to bloodlines in that regard.

    What Mainbrooke wanted was a method to control Origin Energy at a highyer that was superior to a bloodline.

    More precisely, this was not his dream alone. It was also the dream of every single Intelligent Race on the Primordial Continent for tens of thousands of years.

    But apart from the Origin Beasts, no one was able to achieve it!

    They were the darlings of this world, and only the power of this world was enough to send them into hibernation and a deep sleep.

    What Mainbrooke pursued was such an illusive destination in his dreams.

    From the ancient times until now, who knew how many great talents of the Intelligent Races had advanced in the ce of those who had fallen, unafraid of any difficulties.

    But no one had ever achieved it before.

    In reality, the Bloodline Extraction Instrument, the Origin Energy Temple, and the Spirit Body Conversion were all embodiments of the Intelligent Races¡¯ insights they had gained while controlling Origin Energy.

    Thus, rather than saying that Mainbrooke was pursuing a highyer method to control Origin Energy that was superior to a bloodline, it was probably more urate to say that he was pursuing the final dream of every lifeform and continuing on the path forwards. As for bloodline, temple, or Spirit Body, they were all like small traveler inns on the side of this long path.

    Most people, having found a suitable ce to stay in these inns, were satisfied.

    There were still others who were never satisfied and who continued to forge onwards.

    In this regard, Mainbrooke¡¯s ideals were very majestic, and he could even be considered a pioneer.

    However, the methods he used to pursue these dreams were not worthy of praise.

    In order to obtain more resources, he did not shy away fromrge-scale wanton killings, using human beings to raise up Corpse Spirit Flowers.

    In order to preserve his own life to that point, he had sealed himself in this isted location, attempting to use such a method to evade the obliteration of time. Then, he could open up this ce and obtain the ingredients.

    However, he had evidently made one miscalction.

    Mainbrooke was originally a leader of an Arcana Organization. Everything that he had prepared here was done using the resources of the organization, but the beneficiary of his movements would only be himself.

    To him, upon cing himself in such an isted space, time would pause. Regardless of how many years it was, to him it would only be a single moment. After entering, he could then return to see how the world had changed, and what he would obtain would be a huge pit filled with Corpse Spirit Flowers.

    And because so much time would have gone by, why care about what kinds of negative influences it would have on the organization? When faced with such an ultimate dream, everything else was insignificant, everything else could be sacrificed.

    He had nned everything out well, but because his ns had been too good, he hadpletely overlooked the organization¡¯s benefits. Thus, when a few people found out about the situation, they were enraged. Chaos ensued.

    Mainbrooke and his underlings were embroiled in a fierce battle.

    The conclusion of the battle was that a portion of those ingredients in the corpse pit belonged to those from the Arcana Organization.

    Even though he had obtained victory, Mainbrooke was gravely injured.

    Most fatally, his Origin Formation had been damaged because of this, and he would not be able to see the great changes that had urred in a short period of time.

    Mainbrooke knew that he was not long for this world, and so after he entered the tomb he created a secret chamber, then chose to quietly die here.

    His recordings did not say why he had chosen to use such a method to conceal himself.

    It seemed as if he did not hope to be discovered by others ¨C he had not left behind any clues or methods on how to open the chamber. But at the same time it also seemed that he wanted to be discovered ¨C the method of opening the door was not difficult.

    Most likely, Mainbrooke himself was very conflicted. He didn¡¯t know if he should allow all of the sins that he had evermitted to be known byter generations. This kind of useless concealment was the best portrayal of the inner conflict of Mainbrooke.

    There was no answer.

    This question would never have an answer. All that was certain was that Su Chen had be Mainbrooke¡¯sst sessor.

    He did not have much wealth. Mainbrooke had only ever pursued knowledge, and he didn¡¯t even have a single decent Origin Tool.

    But he had left behindrge quantities of knowledge!

    Those countless recordings were Mainbrooke¡¯s greatest treasure. They were much more superior to any kind of treasure.

    In all honesty, just this collection of recordings was most likely equivalent to a high-tier institute¡¯s library. If Su Chen was able topletely consume these recordings, it wasn¡¯t a big deal even if he wasn¡¯t able to enter the Hidden Dragon Institute..

    Of course, apart from knowledge, the Hidden Dragon Institute also possessed resources, connections, opportunities, and pointers from instructors. These could not be conferred by mere recordings.

    ording to their agreement, all of these items belonged to Su Chen.

    Thus, he unreservedly began to stow away the workbench and all kinds of research containers, as well as all of the recordings.

    It really was true that with idents came happy surprises. If it weren¡¯t for the poisonous bugs and the Shadow Snakes, he didn¡¯t know if he would¡¯ve been able to discover this location.

    But the greatest happy surprise was still the Origin Ring worn on Mainbrooke¡¯s finger, as well as all the Origin Stones inside.

    The Origin Ring was many timesrger than Su Chen¡¯s. In the end, it was still the ring of a great schr, and the things that they used were naturally different. However, there wasn¡¯t much inside. Thest time this ORigin Ring was used was to transport everything inside the secret chamber to this ce.

    Unfortunately, this secret chamber had just been set up and hadn¡¯t even been used yet. He hadn¡¯t even brought in any ingredients before hismission had ended.

    All that remained in the Origin Ring was a high-grade Origin Stone. This was thest bit of property that Mainbrooke possessed after thatrge battle. Most of the Origin Energy inside had already been ingested as well.

    Even so, Su Chen was unbelievably excited.

    This was too timely!

    One had to know that he was still in the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s entrance exam. None of the exam candidates possessed any Origin Stones to help themselves recover.

    With this high-grade Origin Stone, he could recover Origin Energy. He had used up most of his Origin Energy in the two battles prior, so at this moment he hurriedly absorbed the Origin Energy that the stone contained.

    A single high-grade Origin Stone, even if it no longer contained much Orign Energy, was enough to help Su Chen recover multiple times. Su Chen¡¯s Origin Energy quickly was restored to its maximum level.

    He stowed the Origin Stone away again, then nced at Mainbrooke onest time. He was about to leave before his eyes fell on the pocket on Mainbrooke¡¯s tattered clothes.

    There, another thin experimental log was ced.

    There was still one more book.

    After Su Chen picked it up and carelessly flipped through it, he was unable to put it down.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 131: The Brooke Formula

    Chapter 131: The Brooke Form

    This was a book on Origin Energy Patterns.

    Unlike those other recordings, the information contained in this book was not carelessly written. Instead, the research had already been finished, and the information had already been systematically tidied up.

    Put simply, it was already pre-formed, and it had real, confirmed theories and how to apply them.

    However, what was recorded was not Origin Skills. Rather, it was an algorithm that Mainbrooke had developed via analyzingrge quantities of Origin Energy Fragments. It was called the Brooke Form.

    By using the Brooke Form, Mainbrooke could deconstruct Origin Skills, analyze them, and even reform them and adapt them. This could be used to create brand-new Origin Skills.

    It was possible to do this?

    Su Chen was shocked in his heart.

    Mainbrooke was worthy of being known as the most proficient schr of Origin Energy use. He could even invent such a method. Even Mainbrooke himself reckoned that the Brooke Form was one of his mightiest inventions. His tone was filled with self-confidence and pride.

    The Brooke Form was quiteplex, and it would be impossible for Su Chen to learn it in any short period of time. But what also made him excited was that the Brooke Form manual had used a fireball as an example of its application.

    The fireball was one of the most practical techniques of the ancient Arcana period, and it was the most widely-known Arcana technique. Thus, many who had studied it loved to use it as a model example, increasing its universality.

    The book carefully detailed the Origin Energy Fragment constituents, and how to use the Brooke Form to break them down and analyze them. After performing a precise mathematical operation, areas that could be changed would be suggested.

    One kind of change was to merge the fireball technique with the Inferno Origin Energy Model, using this to create an all-new Arcana Technique, the Firebird.

    This was the book¡¯s most precise,prehensive record. Mainbrooke first listed out theponents of both the fireball technique and the Inferno Origin Energy Model. Then, he used Brooke¡¯s form to deconstruct, calcte, and then reform the patterns, finally creating this all-new Arcana technique.

    Although throughout this process, Mainbrooke had emphasized his Brooke¡¯s Form, the Firebird Arcana technique hadpletely emerged because of it.

    To Su Chen, the Brooke Form was tooplex. It would take too long to really understand it, but the Firebird Arcana technique¡¯s patterns were already present. With the fireball as his foundation already, he would be able to learn it very rapidly.

    Thus, Su Chen immediately began to rotate the Energy in his body ording to the Firebird pattern. Very quickly, a small firebird sat in the palm of his hand. It was small in size, but a shocking amount of Origin Energy was contained in it.

    Su Chen released his hand. That firebird automatically flew into the air, slicing out an arc through the air as it followed Su Chen¡¯s silentmands. Next, it mmed into a faraway wall with a ¡°Bang!¡±, the explosion sending chunks of fragmented rock flying. It disappeared in a wave of sparks.

    Su Chen was very happy. The Firebird¡¯s strength was evidently one step greater than the fireball, and the most hard toe by was that it possessed the ability to change direction on its own. It could fly in a circle around its target in midair before attacking, and it could even attack the target after flying behind it. It was evidently very agile.

    ¡°But unfortunately, it still iscking in absolute power,¡± Su Chen sighed with regret in his heart.

    What he had always wanted was a skill like a Bloodline Origin Skill, powerful to the point that it could single-handedly shake the universe.

    Even so, the truth demonstrated that under circumstances without a bloodline, wanting to possess such strength was truly too difficult.

    Was there really no possible way?

    Su Chen thought.

    Perhaps he could try using the Flying Flower Hands along with the Firebird? The Flying Flower Hands could increase the power of any hurled item it was applied to. Even a small tree leaf could be as frightening as an iron dart under the Flying Flower Hands. What about the Firebird?

    As Su Chen thought about this, he began to create another Firebird.

    The Firebird was not bigger than the fireball, and it had to be immediately released upon formation. Because it was an Origin Energy Model, it could exist on its own upon formation, allowing it to fly around in midair and attack not in a straight line. Thus, it also made it possible for Su Chen to use his Flying Flower Hands on it.

    But when he tried to use the strength of the Flying Flower Hands on the Firebird, the Firebird exploded immediately. The giant explosive power unleashed a raging inferno in the stone room. Thankfully, Su Chen had already cleaned up the entire ce. Otherwise, half of the stone room would have been obliterated in one blow.

    Didn¡¯t it still fail?

    Su Chen shook his head and sighed as he bitterlyughed, ¡°I couldn¡¯t do it in the end. Whatever, it¡¯s enough just to have the Firebird.¡±

    But just as he was about to leave, he suddenly thought of something and began to mutter to himself, ¡°The reason why the Firebird exploded was because it was unable to handle the power of the Flying Flower Hands, but what of the power of the Inferno Origin Energy Model was raised? Didn¡¯t Brooke¡¯s Form point out which pattern fragments were responsible for amplifying strength? If I can improve its stability in that regard, perhaps the Firebird would be able to withstand a higher level of energy?¡±

    Upon thinking to this point, Su Chen couldn¡¯t restrain himself. He pulled out the book on Brooke¡¯s Form, then began to calcte based on the Origin Energy Patterns recorded in it.

    This was his first time using Brooke¡¯s Form to help him calcte things. Thankfully, he didn¡¯t need to do anythingplicated like merging to Origin Skills. All he needed to do was determine how to strengthen the Firebird, allowing it to take more energy.

    If it was an ancient Arcana technique, increasing its upper limit would definitely imply that raising its energy output would lose out. Otherwise, raising the upper limit of its endurance would be pointless. This would also imply that other areas would have some changes, and his work would be moreplicated.

    But the Flying Flower Hands was not an ancient Arcana technique; from top to bottom, it was a contemporary Origin Skill, activated via an Origin Energy Talisman. Thus, it would not affect the previously existing Origin Energy Pattern, making the task at hand much simpler for Su Chen.

    Even though it was such a simple matter, Su Chen still calcted for quite a few hours.

    Finally, with the aid of the Brooke¡¯s Form, a new Origin Energy Pattern emerged.

    It was still the Firebird, but some of the fragments of the Origin Energy Pattern had changed, and the Origin Energy Model¡¯s strength had increased. This method made it so that the Firebird was more resilient, but because of this it had be stiffer, losing its original agility and nimbleness.

    The Firebird modified by Brooke¡¯s Form was the optimum result from countless calctions. If it didn¡¯t have the support of the Flying Flower Hands, this kind of modification would definitely be considered a failure.

    But in the next instant, when the Flying Flower Hands was used on the Firebird, everything changed.

    This bird flew into the air, even more nimbly than before. It flew around in the air at an even higher speed, leaving behind an arc of fire, before ferociously mming into the mountain wall.

    Boom!

    Arge hole had been sted in the mountain rock face after the giant explosion, and the wall began to tremble. Countless streams of sand and stone fell to the ground.

    ¡°Sess!¡± Su Chen excitedly yelled loudly.

    The strength of this attack was very powerful. It was even more powerful than the blood aura!

    He had actually been able to create an Origin Skill even more powerful than a Bloodline Origin Skill. At this moment, Su Chen was so excited that he wanted to cry.

    This was an all-new Firebird Origin Skill, and it was also an Improved Arcana Technique. Perhaps he should give it a new name?

    What about the Erupting Firebird? Su Chen was just thinking when he suddenly noticed that the trembling above his head had be louder.

    Dammit, the tomb was about to copse.

    Su Chen did not hesitate. He turned around and booked it.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 132: Fat Crane 1

    Chapter 132: Fat Crane (1)

    He furiously sprinted the entire way, the Snaking Mist Steps activated to their fullest extent. Large chunks of the tunnel copsed behind him.

    Finally, just before the tombpletely copsed, Su Chen charged out of the ground.

    He was greeted by a swath of light.

    So it was already daytime.

    Su Chen squinted his eyes.

    Loud rumblings continued behind him. When he turned his head to gaze at it, the earth that had been excavated had seemingly lost its support, and it suddenly copsed downwards. After forming a depression in the ground, it stopped moving.

    Everything inside of the Spirit Burying Terrace had thus beenpletely buried.

    It was over, just like that.

    Su Chen gazed at what used to be the tomb. All he could do was sigh.

    Although it was just a single night¡¯s endeavor, Su Chen had benefitted quite a bit. Although he didn¡¯t obtain much in the way of valuables, he had obtained an ocean of new information. In some sense, thetter was even harder to obtain than the former.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t stay for much longer. He turned around and left.

    Upon entering a valleyed area, Su Chen arrived near a pool of water. Arge banyan tree was growing near the pond. It was at least a thousand years old, with deep, twisted roots and dense foliage. Such arge tree gave people the impression that they were deep inside a forest.

    Su Chen nced left and right. He began to undo his pants, giving people the misconception that he was about to use the bathroom.

    If the light screen outside was monitoring him at this moment, upon seeing his behavior the ¡°camera¡± would definitely switch to someone else.

    Next, Su Chen entered the banyan tree grove. He pulled aside the nearby tall grass, arriving at a hole in the tree.

    He pulled out the Origin Ring from the Spirit Burying Terrace and ced it inside the box, then ced it in the hole in the tree. Next, he stacked a few stones together as a symbol. Finally, he covered it with a bunch of leaves and weeds.

    Having taken care of all of this, Su Chen leisurely walked away.

    ording to reason, now that he had finished the matter of the Spirit Burying Terrace, he should have returned to the thirteenth region to fish for more points, taking away one of the top four names.

    However, he had made an agreement with Li Qingyun and Bai Li earlier to battle their way through the entirepetition grounds. Now, he was only halfway there, and it was unlikely that he would be able to do it.

    On the other hand, he had obtained the powerful Erupting Firebird Origin Skill, and he wanted topete with exam candidates from higher-level regions to see exactly how far he could make it.

    Thus, he did not choose to return to the thirteenth district. Instead, he continued to advance towards higher districts.

    Unlike before, however, he no longer was pressured by the matter of the Spirit Burying Terrace. Thus, he did not need to try his best to avoid battles. As long as there were those who dared jump out at him, he could cleanly and easily take care of them.

    This time, he did not wear his mask.

    As he advanced, he saw a number of people running towards him from the distance.

    The person in the lead was actually the fatty Wang Doushan, who had beente to the exam. Behind him were four exam candidates. They had actually joined forces to pursue him.

    Wang Doushan was making a big fuss as he ran. Upon seeing Su Chen, his eyes lit up. He yelled loudly, ¡°Help me!¡±

    However, he did not run towards Su Chen. Rather, he ran towards a location not too far away from him. Evidently, he was also making preparations in the event that Su Chen refused to help him.

    Although he was asking Su Chen for help, he did not forcefully drag Su Chen underwater with him. This left quite a favorable impression on Su Chen.

    However, favorable impressions were just favorable impressions. He did not intend on making a move at all, keeping his hands behind his back.

    When Wang Doushan saw this, he sighed and continued to run forwards.

    When those four exam candidates saw it, they guessed that Su Chen was scared and ignored him. They continued to chase after Wang Doushan unrelentingly the entire way.

    Just as thest person ran past Su Chen, Su Chen suddenly flipped his hand over. An Erupting Firebird flew forwards, ambushing thest exam candidate from behind.

    However, that exam candidate¡¯s vignce was very high. He seemingly sensed something as soon as Su Chen released the Firebird and instantly applied a magic barrier on himself. Simultaneously, his figure blinked horizontally. Regardless of whether it was his adaptability or his reactions, the opponent was obviously quite powerful. However, that Erupting Firebird rapidly changed directions in midair, mming into that exam candidate at high speeds. When it came into contact with his magic barrier, there was a giant explosion. The exam candidate¡¯s barrier instantly fragmented, and he was sted into the air, fainting immediately.

    The other three people simultaneously reacted and turned around. Upon seeing the situation change, one of them said, ¡°You go deal with that guy; we will stall this fatty for a bit.¡±

    One of the exam candidates charged towards Su Chen.

    Su Chen was still a rookie at controlling the Erupting Firebird, and he was still notpletely proficient while using it. Thus, at this moment he did not choose to use the Erupting Firebird, instead, using an air tentacle to restrict his opponent. At the same time, the de in his hand fell. This stab released a vigorous de wind, rumbling towards the opponent.

    That exam candidate activated a light barrier, causing the air tentacle to be broken. At this moment, the de wind had arrived. Just when it seemed like the exam candidate wouldn¡¯t be able to dodge it, his body flew backwards wildly, and the de wind narrowly swept past his nose. He demonstrated a simr adaptability and strength. As he regained his bnce, he waved his finger in the air, and a streak of ck light rumbled towards Su Chen. At the same time, he yelled, ¡°Brat, back off now. We can forget about arguing with you about what happened before!¡±

    Su Chen continuously evaded as he yelled, ¡°Brother Wang, there¡¯s only two more. Why don¡¯t you make a move and take care of them?¡±

    By his tone one could tell that he was certain the fatty could take care of the other two people.

    When Wang Doushan heard this, he paused for a moment and looked behind him, only to discover that the four people chasing him had be two. He instantly broke out into a wide smile. ¡°Many thanks, brother.¡±

    As he spoke, his arms stretched out behind him, and an illusory image of a giant white crane actually appeared behind him.

    Wang Doushan¡¯s arms pped up and down. He said loudly, ¡°You chased me, your grandfather, so bitterly. Now, here¡¯s something to remember your grandfather by. Cloud Sundering!¡±

    The white crane image cried out to the sky. Its wings pped, and a snow-white light shot out from Wang Doushan as he pped his arm, shooting towards one of the people like a rainbow.

    That exam candidate was shocked. He hurriedly raised a barrier to attempt to defend himself.

    That person was not weak, and neither was his magic barrier. Even so, the power of Cloud Sundering was umon, and the magic barrier was still instantly shattered. That exam candidate was also sent flying, and of the two exam candidates now only one remained.

    However, after using this move, Wang Doushan¡¯s vigor also began to go down. Evidently, this attack had consumed quite a bit of his energy. Thankfully, there was only one more opponent, and he didn¡¯t need to use that move again. Thus, he let out a loudugh, then charged over, fighting with his bare fists. Him and the other exam candidate actually battled to a standstill.

    As he fought, he asked, ¡°Hey, how did you know that I could simultaneously deal with two of them?¡±

    Su Chen continued to take multiple steps, shifting like smoke. As he battled his exam candidate, he replied, ¡°You definitely possess quite the number of points if four people teamed up to catch you. In addition, since they didn¡¯t split up their forces when they saw me, instead continuing to chase you, this demonstrated their regard for your strength. Lastly, after I wounded one of them, they still urged me to retreat, and when they spoke about how to deal with you they specifically said that they would attempt to stall you...... Hehe, it¡¯s quite evident that in their hearts, they did not have much confidence in defeating you even if it was two against one.

    When Wang Doushan heard this, he began to loudlyugh, ¡°Brother is truly quite good! For just this group of rubbish, under normal circumstances I would be able to easily dispatch them even if all four of them came at me all at once, not to mention just two of them.¡±

    ¡°Normal circumstances? So what you¡¯re saying is that right now you aren¡¯t under normal circumstances?¡± Su Chen asked.

    The two of them conversed as they fought,pletely ignoring their opponents. This made it so that the two exam candidates became increasingly agitated. Their attacks became faster, yet they also began tockposition. Thus, they slowly began to fall into disorder.

    Wang Doushan casually swung his palm. Although it was just a bare fist, its power was tyrannical. Palm after palm continued to wear on his opponent as he said, ¡°Of course!My luck was terrible, and I ran into that damned woman Ji Hanyan first, whonded one of her Frosted Ice Palms on me, causing my bloodline to freeze and making it difficult to activate. Then, I ran into Zhang Sheng¡¯an that son of a bitch, who hit me with one of his Willow-Piercing Arrows, poisoning me, and my Origin Energy is now feeble. Then I ran into Sword Rhinoceros Zheng Kuang, and I got stabbed by his Overlord Spear, giving me a serious wound and ruining my physical condition. Yet these pieces of trash wanted to chase after me and kill me? It should¡¯ve been me chasing the four of them and killing them.¡±

    Su Chen had never heard of these peoples¡¯ names, but upon hearing about the wounds that Wang Doushan had received, he knew they could not possibly be simple characters. After all, the guy in front of him was still bouncing around energetically, and he had actuallyid one person out and fought another to a standstill. Su Chen¡¯s impression of him changed once again, and he couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°So you aren¡¯t just a useless fatty?¡±

    Wang Doushan angrily yelled, ¡°Damn, who said that fatties must bepletely useless?¡±

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 133: Fat Crane 2

    Chapter 133: Fat Crane (2)

    Bang bang!

    With two explosions, the two exam candidates were simultaneously sent flying. Su Chen took the opportunity to take away the points on their jade tablets.

    Just as he was taking the points of the exam candidate who had passed out earlier, he heard Wang Doushan yell, ¡°Hey, I have two more over here.¡±

    Su Chen turned around only to see that Wang Doushan was talking to him, holding one of them up in each hand.

    Su Chenughed and shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s no need to be polite. You took care of them, so you should take their points.

    ¡°How can that be allowed? You were the one that helped me.¡± Wang Doushan tossed the two of them towards Su Chen.

    Upon seeing this, Su Chen did not act politely. He took all of their points.

    Originally, he intended on letting them go, but he didn¡¯t expect that Wang Doushan would go forwards first and shatter two of their jade tablets, sending them back. He said, ¡°This is to prevent them from joining up and trying to get revengeter. Although I¡¯m not afraid of them, it¡¯s still a burden. If I shatter two of them, the remaining two will not be a threat. That way, I can let some of them go.¡±

    Upon hearing Wang Doushan¡¯s exnation, Su Chenughed, ¡°You are quite thorough, hm?¡±

    Wang Doushan squinted his eyes. ¡°Howe I don¡¯t feel happy at all when I hear your words? Are you looking down on me? Are you discriminating against fat people?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t misunderstand. Perhaps it¡¯s because the impression you left on me when you arrivedte was quite deep,¡± Su Chenughed as he replied. ¡°You know that first impressions are always the hardest to forget.

    ¡°......¡± Upon hearing these words, Wang Doushan was instantly rendered speechless.

    That was right, if he could bete to an event asrge as the Hidden Dragon Institute enrollment exam, it was hard for others to have any confidence in him.

    That was to say that it was still his own fault?

    The two of them looked at each other beforeughing simultaneously.

    Wang Doushan strode forwards as he patted his chest and said, ¡°Let me reintroduce myself. I am Wang Shandou, of the Snow Crane Wang n of the Flowing Cloud City. Because I am fat, everyone calls me Fat Crane. I have a certain problem, which is that I have no sense of time. I am the kind of person who isn¡¯t worried about things that haven¡¯t happened yet, but who gets very anxious about things that have already happened.¡±

    ¡°Su Chen, of the Su n of Northface City. No bloodline.¡±

    Upon hearing that Su Chen was from Northface City, Wang Doushan felt extremely shocked. ¡°Why is someone from the thirteenth region in the sixth district? Are you seeking death? The exam candidates here are much stronger than your lot is.¡±

    ¡°Are you looking down on weaker regions?¡± Su Chen countered.

    Wang Doushan was instantly stunned.

    Just then, he had said that Su Chen was discriminating against fat people. He hadn¡¯t expected that Su Chen would turn his own words against him in the blink of an eye, and he was speechless. Finally, he bitterlyughed, ¡°Alright, that¡¯s my fault.¡±

    He had just spoken when he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He lowered his head and spat out some blood.

    That blood was actually frozen, and it emanated coldness.

    Su Chen was stunned. He looked at Wang Doushan, whose face was chilly as he said in a low voice, ¡°Dammit, the Frostbird n¡¯s Frosted Ice Palms are really ferocious.¡±

    ¡°You were struck by the woman called Ji Hanyan?¡± Su Chen walked forwards, using his fingers to pick up the blood that Wang Doushan had spit out. He smelled it first, then activated his eyes to look at it. Inside the blood, countless bits of Origin Substance were moving around that were hard to see using normal eyes. It was a very mysterious Origin Substance, and Su Chen had never seen it before. However, it was this Origin Substance that was causing the freezing behavior within Wang Doushan¡¯s body, preventing him from recovering from his wounds. However, Wang Doushan¡¯s bloodline simrly had an Origin Substance that was battling the Frost Origin Substance; that should be the Origin Substance from the Snow Crane n¡¯s bloodline. Whenparing the two Origin Substances, the Snow Crane was clearly weaker than the Frostbird, but because the Snow Crane Origin Substance was constantly being produced within Wang Doushan¡¯s body, the Frostbird Origin Substance was isted. Thus, the Snow Crane Origin Substance was gradually winning, and as time went on it was slowly neutralizing the Frostbird Origin Substance.

    As for the blood that he spit out, without the support of Wang Doushan¡¯s Snow Crane Origin Skill, the Frostbird Origin Skill had taken over. Thus, when he spit it out it was still blood, but instantly afterwards it had basically be a chunk of ice.

    The strength of the Frostbird was indeed extraordinary.

    In addition, this blood possessed another existence that was also corroding Wang Doushan¡¯s body. That should be the wood poison that Wang Doushan had mentioned. However, the wood poison was much weaker than the Origin Substance, and it did not exist for very long before it was gradually eliminated.

    ¡°Yes. In reality, the Frostbird bloodline is only a certain level higher than mine. However, not only is Ji Hanyan¡¯s bloodline powerful, but she has also awakened two damned bloodlines, and she is even of a higher cultivation base than I am. I¡¯m at my wits end,¡± Wang Doushan exined, as if he were worried that Su Chen would misunderstand him.

    ¡°Awakened two powerful bloodlines?¡± Su Chen was stunned.

    If one could awaken one¡¯s bloodline at age sixteen, they were already considered geniuses. However, these ¡°geniuses¡± were still rtivelymon; one could at least find a few in every city.

    But two awaken two important bloodlines at age sixteen was not easy. This Ji Hanyan was definitely an incredibly extraordinary person. Perhaps in the entire exam grounds there wouldn¡¯t be a single person who couldpare with her.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Wang Doushan nodded his head gravely. ¡°I really am so unlucky to have run into this woman. This woman¡¯s temperament is horrible; she fights as soon as she sees someone, and I can¡¯t even speak more than two sentences with her before she charges me. My Snow Crane illusory image was forcefully dissipated by her Frostbird White Ice Fists. She had already won, yet she hit me with a Frosted Ice Fists. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that I can run quickly, I probably would have died. Because of this, I was unable to defeat Zhang Sheng¡¯an and Zheng Kuang when I ran into themter.

    He thought for a moment, then added, ¡°Fine, even if I wasn¡¯t hit by this palm, I might not have been able to beat Zhang Sheng¡¯an, but I definitely wouldn¡¯t have lost so bitterly. That damned fucking woman.¡±

    As he spoke, he began to curse openly.

    Su Chen suddenly said, ¡°Perhaps I can help you neutralize this frozen Qi.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Wang Doushan froze, gazing at Su Chen.

    ¡°If it¡¯s as you said, I think I can help you neutralize the frozen Qi in your body. I can also get rid of the wood poison at the same time.¡±

    ¡°How will you get rid of it? You have the antidote?¡± Wang Doushan asked excitedly.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t, but I have my methods. All that is necessary is that you trust me enough.¡±

    ¡°Trust?¡± Wang Doushan gazed at Su Chen suspiciously. ¡°What do I need to do.¡±

    ¡°I need to examine your body before I can make a move to neutralize it.¡±

    Allowing Su Chen to inspect his body was the same as letting go of all his defenses. If Su Chen were to suddenly make a move at this moment, Wang Doushan would have no hope. All he would be able to do was allow himself to be killed.

    No wonder Su Chen said that this required trust.

    Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s suggestion, the corner of Wang Doushan¡¯s mouth quirked up in a smile. ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. Okay, then go ahead and inspect.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s fingernded between Wang Doushan¡¯s eyebrows. Wang Doushan actually did not put up any defenses, allowing Su Chen to move freely. He did have quite a bit of trust.

    A trace of Origin Energy flowed into Wang Doushan¡¯s body. It appeared that Su Chen was using Origin Energy to assess Wang Doushan¡¯s condition, but in reality he had secretly activated his eyes, clearly observing the Origin Energy flow in Wang Doushan¡¯s body.

    The Frosted Ice Palm could wreak havoc inside Wang Doushan¡¯s body not just because of the Frost Origin Substance. There was also its unique method of Origin Energy conductance. Su Chen was unable to discover a counter for the Origin Substance in a short period of time, but he could use his own eyes to observe the route that the Origin Energy from the Frosted Ice Palms took in Wang Doushan¡¯s body. Then, he could make a move to counter it.

    In an instant, he found a node that the Frosted Ice Palms traveled across frequently.

    Su Chen ced his finger on it and said, ¡°Concentrate all of your bloodline power on this point, focusing on dispersing it right here!¡±

    Boom!

    A powerful bloodline power rushed forwards. Under such concentrated force, the territory that had been seized by the Frostbird Origin Substance was instantly dissipated, and it disappeared.

    Wang Doushan felt a sweet taste in his mouth, and he spit out another mouthful of fresh blood.

    But when he spit this blood out, all he felt was that his body was extremelyfortable. His body, which was originally very cold, suddenly felt a little warmer.

    ¡°Sess!¡± Wang Doushan was extremely happy.

    ¡°This is only the beginning,¡± Su Chen replied, but he did not continue.

    ¡°Then continue!¡± Wang Doushan said.

    ¡°I need your cooperation.¡±

    ¡°Tell me. Whatever you want me to do, I will do,¡± Wang Doushan hurriedly said. With his experience from a moment ago, Wang Doushan was already filled with faith in Su Chen.

    Su Chen thought from a moment, then replied, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case...... then take of your clothes...... take them all off.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Wang Doushan waspletely stunned.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 134: Erupting Firebird

    Chapter 134: Erupting Firebird

    After hesitating for for a while, Wang Doushan finally agreed to Su Chen¡¯s request, or at least most of it ¨C he kept his underpants on.

    It wasn¡¯t that he was incredibly unwilling to strip in front of Su Chen. Rather, the light screen still existed.

    Wang Doushan did not want his entire naked body to appear on the screen. Even though by reasoning this was not too likely, who knew whether some important individuals would suddenly be struck by a bout of craziness and want to see some naked boys?

    The result of this decision was that Su Chen was unable to neutralize all of the frost nodes, but of the twelve frost nodes he had at least neutralized eleven. This allowed Wang Doushan¡¯s body to recover a significant amount. In addition, with Su Chen¡¯s instructions, Wang Doushan then concentrated all of his Origin Energy on his lower body, increasing the speed of dispersion.

    Everything was fine except for the fact that because of this, his pants now looked like someone had set up a tent.

    With the sudden influx of energy, it rose1.

    Wang Doushan was like a proud young man, swaggering around with his privates swinging around. As he walked, he said, ¡°Are you sure that you want to battle your way through the entire exam grounds?¡±

    ¡°In any case, idling around is just idling around. I just want to see for myself how powerful those from higher-level regions are,¡± Su Chenughingly replied.

    In reality, Su Chen was already able to feel the strength of the other exam candidates increasing in the sixth region.

    Just then, any of those four people who had been chasing Wang Doushan would¡¯ve been outstanding characters in Northface City, but in the Flowing Cloud City, they were only average. That was because above them were the more powerful bloodline nobility ns.

    But even so, Su Chen did not intend on giving up on his n.

    It wasn¡¯t just because he had made a bet with Li Qingyun and Bai Li. More importantly, Su Chen wanted to witness for himself the most powerful individuals in this world, and wanted to know how much of a gap existed between him and them.

    ¡°You are not weak, but believe me, you are still far from being able to traverse the entire exam grounds. Look at me; all I did was go around to take a look, and then I was beat to the point of pissing my pants.¡± Wang Doushan had not seen Su Chen use the Erupting Firebird to knockout his opponent. Thus, his understanding of Su Chen¡¯s strength was based on observing his battle with the second exam candidate, and he tried to persuade Su Chen with good intentions.

    However, Su Chen stubbornly stuck to his own viewpoint.

    When Wang Doushan saw that he couldn¡¯t convince Su Chen, he made a decision. ¡°Whatever. Since you helped me before, I¡¯ll juste along with you.¡±

    Su Chen felt some surprise. ¡°My help didn¡¯t take much effort. I never anticipated any kind of reward from you.¡±

    ¡°But I, your fat grandfather, can¡¯t just let you go and get swatted away like a fly by that damned woman Ji Hanyan, forfeiting your qualifications and not being allowed to enter the Hidden Dragon Institute. Since you helped me, I have to make sure that you get into the institute at the very least,¡± Wang Doushan said as he pounded his chest.

    Make sure you get into the institute...... That was quite a confident statement.

    But after witnessing Wang Doushan¡¯s Cloud Sundering, Su Chen had to confess that he truly had the right to say such words.

    Cloud Sundering¡¯s power was roughly equivalent to the Erupting Firebird, but as an inheritor of the Snow Crane Bloodline, he might not just possess one of these bloodline Origin Skills.

    This was why Bloodline Nobility ns were so confident!

    Ever since the Divine Illustrious Dynasty fell into ruin and the Seven Kingdoms arose, the Bloodline Nobility n system was officially set up, and humankind began to divide into higher and lower levels of status soon thereafter. What supported this division was the massive amount of power possessed by those with bloodlines.

    Li and Lin Yemao were only those of mixed bloodlines, and they could not disy the full power of a true Bloodline Nobility n. Wang Doushan was the first official member of a Bloodline Nobility n that had appeared.

    There were still many individuals like him who were part of Bloodline Nobility ns. They could be found all over the territories of humankind, and they were considered cornerstones that supported the human race. At the same time, they were like a giant mountain that suppressed and bore down on all of those individuals without such bloodlines.

    For someone without a bloodline to defeat someone of a Bloodline Nobility n was too difficult.

    Even so, Su Chen did not possess any fear deep in his heart. Instead, his heroic fighting spirit was kindled because of this.

    Having heard Wang Doushan say this, Su Chen said, ¡°Okay then, let¡¯s charge through together. If we run into that woman Ji Hanyan, then we can attack her together if we can¡¯t beat her individually. We¡¯ll defeat her and help you vent your anger.¡±

    Wang Doushanughed, ¡°Good, good! We definitely have to teach that smelly woman a lesson.¡±

    But after thinking for a moment, he still felt that the two of them were still unlikely to beat that woman, so he said guiltily, ¡°But it¡¯s still best if we don¡¯t run into her.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re afraid of her?¡±

    ¡°Hmph, how could I be afraid of her? I just don¡¯t want to argue with her!¡±

    ¡°I think you¡¯re just afraid.¡±

    ¡°Hey, you dare to look down on your fatty grandfather? Apologize to me.¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay, I¡¯m sorry. Grandfather Fat Crane, you are brilliant and wise, and you are peerless and unmatched......¡±

    ¡°Howe it sounds like the words you¡¯re saying aren¡¯t genuine.¡±

    ¡°Look at you, you¡¯re so hard to please.¡±

    The two of them continued walking and joking, bickering with each other. Their sense of familiarity also grew.

    At this moment, as they continued to advance, they encountered four exam candidates in front of them.

    The four of them didn¡¯t recognize the two of them, and they charged forwards to attack. Those who could survive until the second day possessed a certain amount of strength, and these four were all Origin Qi Schrs. They were not weak either.

    Wang Doushan took the initiative to target three of them as he yelled, ¡°Leave these three to me. Dy that one for me. When I have taken care of these three, I will......¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking before he heard a loud explosion. A fiery light washed over him.

    He turned around in surprise, only to see that the exam candidate he had left to Su Chen was flying through the air, carving out a beautiful arc in midair before mming heavily into the ground.

    Wang Doushan gazed at Su Chen with shock. Su Chen had already begun to prepare another Erupting Firebird as he said, ¡°Help me dy them.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Wang Doushan acted like he was awoken from a dream.

    The three of them wanted to make a move to disrupt Su Chen, but they couldn¡¯t escape the fatty¡¯s obstruction. The fatty¡¯s hands swung through the air, and a white crane illusory image appeared, generating gusts of wind. This illusory image was much more corporeal than before, and it possessed the Snow Crane¡¯s unique noble grandeur. This was the Snow Crane¡¯s Origin Skill, Thousand Feather Hands. Thousands of palm strikes kept the three of them tied down.

    ¡°It¡¯s Fat Crane Wang Doushan!¡± The three exam candidates finally realized who the person they were battling with was.

    They wanted to run, but it was toote.

    Another firebird suddenly flew out, mming into an exam candidate. That exam candidate reacted quickly, dodging at high speeds. He narrowly evaded the attack, but unexpectedly the Erupting Firebird turned around in midair, actually attacking him from behind. The powerful explosion instantly knocked that exam candidate out.

    The other two exam candidates tried to escape at once.

    Wang Doushan loudlyughed, ¡°Trying to run? You¡¯re all staying here with me!¡±

    His arms flew through the air, and the aura of the Snow Crane burst forth. A wave of snow-colored light enveloped the two of them, swallowing them up instantly.

    When the wave of light disappeared, the two exam candidates had been rendered unconscious.

    ¡°Not bad. What technique is that?¡± Su Chen walked over and asked as he took the points of the exam candidates. There were four of them in total, so each person got two.

    ¡°It¡¯s a Bloodline Origin Skill, Snow Earthquake Explosion. What do you think, it¡¯s pretty good, right?¡± Wang Doushan replied merrily.

    This Snow Earthquake Explosion was absolutely powerful, and it was in no way weaker than Cloud Sundering. However, it was an area-of-effect attack, so it was better than Cloud Sundering in that regard.

    ¡°But this kind of attack should expend quite a significant amount of energy, right?¡± Su Chen asked upon seeing Wang Doushan¡¯s slightly pale face.

    The fatty¡¯s happiness instantly disappeared. He smiled with some embarrassment as he said, ¡°Looks like you saw through it. This move expends a lot of energy, and I am not willing to use it under normal circumstances.¡±

    The fatty was quite a show-off. He used his killing blow right off the bat, but as soon as the foundation of the attack was seen through, the wind was taken out of his sails.

    He thought for a moment and changed the topic. ¡°What move did you use earlier? Why was it so powerful, was it a Bloodline Origin Skill?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s a skill that I analyzed and improved.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a Bloodline Origin Skill, yet it¡¯s still so powerful?¡± The fatty¡¯s face revealed a shock expression. ¡°My darling, that¡¯s quite impressive.¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I justpleted it not long ago, and I¡¯m not very familiar with it yet. It takes quite a bit of time to activate it every time.¡±

    Wang Doushan finally understood. ¡°No wonder you wanted me to help you dy them earlier. That¡¯s right, how many attacks like this can you use?¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t conceal anything. He replied, ¡°If I¡¯m in peak condition, I can probably use it a hundred times.¡±

    Upon hearing this number, Wang Doushan was shocked. ¡°This many?¡±

    Although his bloodline was powerful, he could not activate it many times in a row. Based on his current strength, he could at least use Cloud Sundering twenty-five times in a row. As for the Snow Earthquake Explosion, his upper limit was five times. He never expected that Su Chen could use the Erupting Firebird so many times in a row.

    In reality, however, he had misunderstood Su Chen a bit.

    Su Chen¡¯s Erupting Firebird truly did not use too much energy, but it was not to the point of being seven or eight times more efficient.

    More importantly, Su Chen also had a cultivation base of the fifthyer. Every time he used the Erupting Firebird, he consumed half a Yellow Star¡¯s worth of Origin Energy. With his fifthyer cultivation base, he naturally could use it at least a hundred times.

    However, even if he wasn¡¯t in the fifthyer of cultivation, but rather in the second, he could still use it at least forty times, which was still quite a considerable number. In this aspect, the Erupting Firebird was superior to Wang Doushan¡¯s Bloodline Origin Skills.

    Wang Doushan had not expected to encounter such a freak. He gazed at Su Chen with surprise before suddenly thinking of something as heughed, ¡°I have an idea. Didn¡¯t you say that you aren¡¯t quite familiar with the skill yet? How about this, I¡¯ll help you dy our opponents ahead, and you can use the Erupting Firebird from behind. The strength of your Firebird is quite great, and it can chase after targets, so it is very suited for quick battles. It¡¯ll be more than enough for those guys to eat!¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up slightly. ¡°Perfect, I can practice a little more.¡±

    1. In case you didn¡¯t figure it out, he¡¯s got an erection.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 135: Team

    Chapter 135: Team

    Boom boom!

    Two powerful explosions sounded out, and two human figures were sent flying through the air.

    ¡°Catch. One for you, one for me,¡± Wang Doushan excitedly said as he began to divide up the spoils amidst the piteous whimpers of the exam candidates.

    The two of the rushed over, each grabbing their target, then leaving after stealing away those points. They were so fast that their victims had no time to react. By the time the students who had been robbed regained consciousness, their robbers had already long disappeared.

    ¡°I got four points. What about you?¡± Wang Doushan asked.

    ¡°A little more than you. Five points,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Hmph, so little.¡± Wang Doushan curled his lip.

    After a full day of battle, many exam candidates had already been eliminated, and the remaining exam candidates should have had quite arge number of points. However, the students they had just encountered possessed very few points. All one could really say was that they had bad luck.

    Since they didn¡¯t have enough points, they could only supplement this with quantity.

    Wang Doushan and Su Chen could be considered experts amongst the exam candidates. Now that they had teamed up, not many people could deal with them, and they simply stormed their way through the sixth region.

    Without the pressure from the Spirit Burying Terrace, Su Chen was in no hurry to go to any other regions. He was happy to sweep through the sixth region while familiarizing himself with the Erupting Firebird¡¯s usage.

    Wang Doushan was responsible for restricting the opponent. His Thousand Feather Hands were very good at obstructing opponents, and when he activated it to its fullest extent, even a mosquito couldn¡¯t fly past him.

    Naturally, Su Chen stood behind him, throwing out firebirds at his leisure.

    The Erupting Firebird was very powerful, and it could also chase after an opponent. No one else had seen this kind of technique before, so every firebird heunched hit its target. And as long as it hit his opponent, they would be taken care of in short order.

    If one Erupting Firebird wasn¡¯t enough to defeat an opponent, then he would just add another one.

    Their battles became much simpler. With the two of them on a team, they crushed everyone in their path,pletely unstoppable.

    The Erupting Firebird was an evolution of the fireball technique, and controlling it was also much easier. After using it hundreds of times, Su Chen was bing more and more familiar with controlling the Erupting Firebird as well.

    At the same time, people in the sixth regions finally began to receive news that two malefic stars had teamed up, and they all began to feel anxious. Finally, someone took the lead to organize a group of over thirty exam candidates to surround the two of them.

    Wang Doushan and Su Chen did not know about this, and they walked directly into a trap. Just when they were preparing to attack a few people being used as bait, they saw tens of exam candidates suddenly jump out at them, giving them quite the scare. As soon as they saw this, they booked it in an attempt to escape.

    Their strength waspletely manifested at this moment. Although the thirty or so people exam candidates were able to force the two of them to beat a hasty retreat, they were not able to keep them there.

    Su Chen was the simplest. He activated the Snaking Mist Steps to its absolute extent, and his speed shot up. He actually was able to escape the encirclement before it was fully formed.

    Wang Doushan was not slow either. The illusory White Crane image appeared behind him again, and his entire figure flew into the air, gliding around in a circle before charging out. Although he was hit by a few Origin Skills from some of the exam candidates, and was slightly wounded, he still sessfully escaped the encirclement.

    The two of them furiously ran, with countless exam candidates chasing after them. However, those exam candidates discovered their strength was insufficient, as was their speed, and so they were slowly left behind by the two of them.

    However, one of the candidates ran particrly quickly, and it didn¡¯t seem like he was using any Origin Skills. All he did was sprint forwards with his particrly long legs. He was actually able to stay on their heels.

    After running a certain distance, Wang Doushan and Su Chen suddenly stopped, and that long-legged exam candidate loudlyughed, ¡°Haha, you can¡¯t run anymore? Wanting topete with me in terms of speed......¡±

    He was about to go on when he saw the two of them walk towards him silently, wearing dark smiles on their faces.

    He suddenly felt that something was off. When he turned around to look, he didn¡¯t see anyone else; all that remained was himself.

    His expression changed. ¡°Uh oh.¡±

    He turned around to run.

    A firebird pped its wings and soared towards him.

    He was sent flying with a single attack.

    Wang Doushanughed as he gazed at the fallen exam candidate. ¡°This guy is quite capable; he was able to keep up with us the entire way. I thought that he would have some more skills, but he wasn¡¯t particrly skillful. He just didn¡¯t have a brain.¡±

    As he spoke, he took away that exam candidate¡¯s points. ording to his agreement with Su Chen, those points belonged to him.

    After taking away the points, Wang Doushan said, ¡°I say, your speed is quite impressive. What body technique was that? It¡¯s actually faster than my Snow Crane Steps. Don¡¯t tell me that this isn¡¯t a Bloodline Origin Skill either.¡±

    Su Chen bitterlyughed. ¡°I told you already that Ie from a n without a bloodline. How could I possibly have a bloodline?¡±

    Wang Doushan gazed at Su Chen in shock.

    Just the Erupting Firebird, which wasparable to a Bloodline Origin Skill, was enough to stun him. Now, there was also a speed-type Origin Skillparable to a Bloodline Origin Skill as well? Goddamn it, what was wrong with him?

    There were, in fact, Origin Skills that were more powerful than their Bloodline counterparts of the same level, but they were incredibly rare and valuable.

    With this criteria in mind, the Erupting Firebird and Snaking Mist Steps that Su Chen used all belonged to the secret-tier.

    But when did a small city like Northface City develop any kind of secret technique?

    Those were priceless techniques that even he did not have the right to control!

    Wang Doushan was unable to see through Su Chen anymore.

    However, if Su Chen remained silent, he could not force anything out of him. All he could say was, ¡°What next?¡±

    Su Chen gazed at their surroundings. ¡°The remaining people in the sixth region will either be mopped up by us or they will group up together. I think that it¡¯s not too convenient for us to remain here any longer.¡±

    ¡°Then, you mean......¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s time for us to go to the fifth region,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go to the fifth region,¡± Wang Doushan supported him excitedly.

    After making such a n, the two of them charged towards the fifth region.

    After the sixth region, the exam candidates in the fifth region were next to encounter cmity.

    In reality, the exam candidates of the fifth region were quite a bit stronger than the thirteenth region. Based on Su Chen¡¯s current strength, although it was not hard for him to be considered an expert here, wanting to suppress and storm through the whole region was impossible. But now, with Wang Doushan as his ally, the two of them had reached an effect where one plus one was greater than two.

    One had a powerful bloodline, whose explosiveness was shocking, while the other had a cultivation base in the fifthyer and who had a high-grade Origin Stone, thus possessing great endurance. The two were verypatible, covering for each others¡¯ weaknesses. More importantly, both of them were willing to use any means necessary to achieve sess.

    Wang Doushan appeared simple and idiotic on the surface, but he was actually quite quick-witted, and his movements were agile. In addition, no one had ever seen Su Chen¡¯s Erupting Firebird before, and they would vastly underestimate his strength. The end result was that many exam candidates treated them like fatmbs and charged them, but in the end they had be the fatmbs.

    Their points continued to steadily increase because of this, and on the screen with the leaderboard, Su Chen once again returned to the top one hundred after falling outside of it due to the matters in the Spirit Burying Terrace.

    He had appeared three times, but every time he appeared he did so with a higher ranking. With a hundred twelve points, he was ced at fifty-six. As for Wang Doushan, his ranking was slightly higher than Su Chen¡¯s. He was at rank fifty-four with one hundred thirty six points.

    Everyone was rendered speechless when they saw these numbers.

    The screen of light had been repaired, and after observing the pair¡¯s battles, even the group of those from Bloodline Nobility ns couldn¡¯t say that Su Chen had taken advantage of Wang Doushan.

    This was especially true of his Erupting Firebird, whose explosive power was shocking and greatly surpassed all of their expectations.

    ¡°If no idents ur, this guy should be able to stay in the top one hundred,¡± a member of a noble n said.

    ¡°He can be considered quite an outstanding junior.¡±

    ¡°It seems like another Long Pojun is about to appear.¡±

    ¡°Long Pojun entered the top ten. If he wants to be the next Long Pojun, it¡¯s not enough just to defeat these pushovers. He needs to fight some tough battles!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s truly the case.¡±

    ¡°Those tough battles will eventuallye,¡± someone on the side saidzily.

    As more time would go by, more and more exam candidates would be eliminated, and those who remained would possess great strength.

    But no matter where Su Chen went from here, his current result was more than enough to be proud of.

    Quite arge number of people knew that he was from the Su n of Northface City, and they would search for members of the Su n to congratte them.

    But the more they congratted them, the more the members of the Su n

    This was especially true of Su Cheng¡¯an.

    Upon finding out that Su Cheng¡¯an was Su Chen¡¯s father, many of the nearby members of other ns came to congratte him.

    Every congrattion or praise was like a knife slicing through Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s heart.

    Every time Su Chen¡¯s ranking rose, the congrattions would stream in. In the blink of an eye, Su Cheng¡¯an had been stabbed seventeen or eighteen times. He felt incredibly pained in his heart.

    The screen of light could not be forever locked on Su Chen, and it had long since switched to another person.

    No one knew that Su Chen and Wang Doushan were gazing at a person at this moment.

    A dead person.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 136: Kingdom Politics

    Chapter 136: Kingdom Politics

    The dead person was a white-skinned youth, with a pair ofrge, bright eyes. Even upon death, his eyes were still wide open as they gazed at the sky, filled with fear. His expression was one of disbelief.

    It was as if he were saying, ¡°How could this happen to me1?¡±

    Arge hole was embedded in his chest, and blood flowed out from it, soaking his entire body.

    However, the fatal blow was not there, but rather at his throat.

    There was a simr hole there. It was notrge, but it had pierced through his entire esophagus.

    ¡°It¡¯s a sword wound. He was killed by someone else,¡± Su Chen said after inspecting the wound.

    The Hidden Dragon Institute allowed deaths to happen. After all, in a battle where tens of thousands of people were involved, as well as countless Vicious Beasts, it was impossible topletely guarantee their security.

    But allowing deaths to happen was one thing. When they saw the person lying dead in front of them, they were still unsettled in their hearts.

    It was just apetition to secure an enrollment spot, not tempering via life-or-death battles, and even more it was not a ce to wantonly massacre people. If they had died to a Vicious Beast, they could only me theirck of skill, but to die to another human, what did this mean?

    ¡°The traces of battle go from there all the way over here. This person was chased down and killed. ¡°Wang Doushan gazed off into the distance, then towards the corpse¡¯s midsection. There should have been a jade tablet there, but at that moment there was nothing there except a string which had been cut in half.

    ¡°The string was cut in half. He had no way of breaking the jade tablet and escaping. The perpetrator purposefully cut off his escape route!¡± Su Chen followed up.

    ¡°His throat was blown apart in one blow. That was not amon attack. It¡¯s an Origin Skill which can explode after the sword prates the victim¡¯s body, leaving behind a brutal injury. This Origin Skill possesses great killing power,¡± Wang Doushan said as he pointed at the victim¡¯s throat.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°But there are around twelve wounds on his body as well. If he was able to kill his opponent in one blow, yet he wanted to toy around with his opponent......¡±

    He didn¡¯t finish that sentence. The two of them looked at each other and said, ¡°He was enjoying the process of killing his opponent!¡±

    A cold intent simultaneously seeped into their hearts.

    ¡°Hey, do you think that the perpetrator had a grudge against the victim, causing him to act like this?¡± Wang Doushan asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s a possibility.¡± Su Chen dabbed his fingers in the victim¡¯s blood, his eyes looking around as he said, ¡°Hopefully, that¡¯s it.¡±

    ¡°Yes, hopefully that¡¯s it.¡± Wang Doushan also sighed.

    If it was just a personal grudge, then everything would end now that this exam candidate had been killed.

    But if it wasn¡¯t, the situation was much moreplicated.

    Wang Doushan wanted to say something more, but he discovered that Su Chen was still staring at the blood. He asked with some curiousity, ¡°What are you looking for?¡±

    ¡°The Origin Energy that the perpetrator used carried a fire-attribute and possessed an explosive nature. Although its power was not great, it could be used for long periods of time,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°Thus, although it may seem like he doesn¡¯t possess much power, if he injures his opponents they will be gravely wounded, and he might even be able to paralyze his opponent. Thus, his attack method should not rely on open, straightforward strikes. Rather, it would be theplete opposite ¨C his sword should be quick and agile, focusing mainly on speed. As long as he could wound the opponent, the wound location would losebat ability. The victim was wounded twelve times, not just so the opponent could toy with him, but also because with these twelve wounds, the victim had no strength to fight back anymore.¡±

    ¡°You can even see this?¡± Wang Doushan asked in shock.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°This kind of attack used to generate internal explosions should be some kind of Bloodline Origin Skill. Do you know which ns in the fifth region possess such a bloodline?¡±

    Wang Doushan shook his head. ¡°The Bloodline Extraction Instrument has existed for over two hundred thousand years. If we assume that every year, ten bloodlines are produced, then there would be more than two hundred thousand Bloodline Nobility ns to date. Although in reality there cannot be so many ¨C after all, many have changed or disappeared with the passage of time ¨C the human race possesses at least a hundred thousand Bloodline Nobility ns. Just Long Sang Country alone possesses ten thousand, and the twenty-first region of Long Sang, the Three-Mountains Region, possesses roughly around five hundred bloodline Nobility ns. How could I possibly know all of them?¡±

    Upon hearing the number that Wang Doushan said, Su Chen was also quite shocked. ¡°There¡¯s actually so many Bloodline Nobility ns. Northface City doesn¡¯t even have a single one; I thought that Bloodline Nobility ns were quite rare and not many remained.¡±

    Wang Doushanughed. ¡°What Northface City? Quite frankly, it¡¯s just a countryside. Most importantly, it¡¯s very close to the Scarlet Mountain Range, the border of the Beast Race. It¡¯s hard to say when a Beast Wave wille, flooding all of the bases there. Thus, many of the Bloodline Nobility ns are unwilling to go there, giving ns without bloodlines an opportunity to rise up in those ces.¡±

    ¡°But as Bloodline Nobility ns, shouldn¡¯t they guard the frontier, protecting the human race?¡± Su Chen said unhappily.

    Wang Doushanughed. ¡°That¡¯s what is said, but that doesn¡¯t mean that everyone is willing, and it definitely doesn¡¯t mean that they need to act as cannon fodder.¡±

    ¡°Cannon fodder?¡± Su Chen squinted his eyes. ¡°To those from noble ns, are those who live near the border of the Beast Race merely cannon fodder?¡±

    Wang Doushan patted Su Chen¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I know you don¡¯t like hearing these words, but this is the reality. ces like the border truly do require cannon fodder. The Bloodline Nobility ns will battle, but they definitely won¡¯t bear the brunt on the front line. They will only appear at the right time and at the right ce. Only by doing our best to preserve the lives of the Origin Qi Schrs of Bloodline Nobility ns can we preserve the strength of mankind.¡±

    Su Chen coldly harrumphed. ¡°And this supposed ¡®right time¡¯ is determined by the Bloodline Nobility ns themselves?¡±

    Wang Doushanughed. ¡°I know you¡¯re not happy about this, but unfortunately that¡¯s just how it is. You haven¡¯t had many interactions with Bloodline Nobility ns yet. After you get into the Hidden Dragon Institute and you interact with them more, you will see even more unfairness. Better get used to it. In addition, Northface City is quite lucky. Although the Scarlet Mountain Range is the border between the human and beast territories, the Beast Race is not the major power in that location, so Beast Waves are rtively rare, and even if they do ur, usually they are notrge-scale. To Long Sang Country, our true enemies will always be the Ferocious Race, not the Beast Race. The ces that truly have to oppose the Beast Race are Cloud Rising Country and Great Wind Country. If you have a chance to go there, those Beast Waves are tenacious. A small wave every three years, arge wave every ten years. No signs of human inhabitation can be found within five hundred kilometers of their borders. But they have no ¡®cannon fodder¡¯ as a warning, and they have no way of dispersing the Beast Race there. Thus, they constantly are banishing people there; any and all criminals are sent there. If there aren¡¯t enough criminals, they have to exilemoners to fill up the no man¡¯snds. I went to visit once, and their situation is what you call a tragedy...... I promise if you go, you won¡¯t be able to eat for three days. Whenever I am reminded of itte at night, all I remember is tragedy!¡±

    When Su Chen heard this, he sucked in a breath of cold air.

    Although he had experienced battles during his time in Northface City, they were mostly internal struggles, conflicts that had arisen out of self-interest. He had never seen a cruel reality like the one Wang Doushan had mentioned. Although he had asionally heard them, they were all mostly rumors. It wasn¡¯t until Wang Doushan said it aloud that Su Chen realized his own knowledge and experience was far too superficial.

    So humankind still had many territories that were as ruthless and callous to this point?

    Inparison, the battles that he had been engaged in before were all like the games of small children.

    ¡°But even so, does that mean that there are only two kingdoms currently fighting against the Beast Race?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Mhm. The times are different from before,¡± Wang Doushan said as he nodded his head. ¡°Before, it was the Origin Race that dominated exclusively, while the Intelligent Races were very weak. But now, since the New Star Era, the Origin Energy on the Primordial Continent had weakened, and the Deste Beasts had fallen into hibernation, only leaving behind the area that the Demon Emperor controlled. The Origin Racecked the strength to dominate under the heavens, and the Intelligent Races arose, splitting into discrete ns. From that point on, any alliances had fallen apart...... In fact, there was never much of an alliance anyways. The Ferocious Race had been the henchmen and shepherds of the Beast Race, so even now many Intelligent Races did not consider them as an Intelligent Race, incorporating them under the Origin Races instead. The Feathered Race were like flies flying around food. In order to receive the pampering of the Beast Race, they helped a viin do evil and exploited the Beast Race¡¯s might for their own benefit. The Spirit Race was reclusive andcked ancestors or ns. They were gloomy and vicious, like a lonely soul demon, and they never fought against anyone. The only remaining race, the Sea Race, was the only race that could be befriended, but because of that idiot, the Prosperous Emperor, they had in the end be enemies as well.¡±

    Evidently, Wang Doushan¡¯s words were not made up in that moment. Rather, he had been taught about this a long time ago, so he was able to speak fluently.

    ¡°So in the end we all walked the paths of adversaries?¡± Su Chen asked. ¡°Long Sang Country is primarily at odds with the Ferocious Race, but what about the others?¡±

    ¡°Liao Ye Country is at odds with the Feathered Race, Owl Country is at odds with the Spirit Race, and Water Sheen Country is at odds with the Sea Race. Each tries to seize the other¡¯s territories and defend their own,¡± Wang Doushan replied.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s still Empty Mountain?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Empty Mountain Country?¡± Wang Doushan tilted his head back andughed loudly, ¡°They are not at odds with the Beast Race nor the other four Intelligent Races.¡±

    ¡°Then who are they at odds with?¡±

    Wang Doushan, however, stopped talking.

    He gazed at the sky above his head for a long time before saying, ¡°Kingdom politics is not something that people like us are qualified to discuss. If we have the spare time to discuss these things, we should probably look to see if there are any other clues that the perpetrator left behind.¡±

    1. https://youtu.be/y983TDjoglQ?t=46s

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 137: Perpetrator

    Chapter 137: Perpetrator

    As they followed the traces of battle, it didn¡¯t take long before they stumbled across another corpse.

    The two corpses showed a lot of simrities; both received multiple sword wounds, their throats had exploded, their jade tablets were cut off, and their deaths were tragic.

    ¡°They don¡¯t look like revenge killings,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    ¡°Perhaps there¡¯s two people he had a grudge against,¡± Wang Doushan said as he gulped.

    ¡°He is quite lucky, to have encountered them so close to each other.¡± Su Chen continued to follow the traces.

    Very quickly, they encountered another corpse who was killed in simr fashion.

    The victim had been wounded in all the same spots.

    Wang Doushan could no longer resist. ¡°Motherfucker, is this guy crazy? He just kills people on sight!¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s expression was also ugly. ¡°Does the Hidden Dragon Institute not regte these kinds of urrences?¡±

    ¡°Hm, that¡¯s hard to say. You also know that idents will always ur when people fight......¡±

    ¡°But this isn¡¯t an ident!¡±

    ¡°The question is, who is making the interpretation? There are some people who simply cannot control their Origin Skills, and every time they are unleashed someone must die.¡± Wang Doushan replied, giggling.

    Upon seeing the fatty¡¯s smile, Su Chen¡¯s heart jolted. ¡°You don¡¯t seem all that surprised.¡±

    Wang Doushanughed darkly. ¡°I¡¯ve just seen it too often.¡±

    ¡°Seen it too often?¡± Su Chen¡¯s pupils shrank.

    ¡°Oh, the old saying is the best. One may carry sharp weapons, but killing intentes from the heart. If someone has the power over another person¡¯s life, there will always be those who want to disy and use that ability. There are also some people who simply enjoy killing, who enjoy the sensation of having someone¡¯s life in their hands.¡±

    ¡°I understand that. What I¡¯m saying is, why doesn¡¯t the Hidden Dragon Institute control these things?¡±

    ¡°Because it¡¯s hard for them to control it!¡± Wang Doushan replied. ¡°You also saw what caused the internal explosion.¡±

    ¡°Bloodline Origin Skill.¡±

    Wang Doushan nodded his head. ¡°It¡¯s not just any Origin Skill either. Those with mixed bloodlines couldn¡¯t easily achieve this degree of power, implying that this bastard is definitely part of a Bloodline Nobility n.¡±

    ¡°So they can just call these deaths an ¡®ident¡¯, and there won¡¯t be any major repercussions?¡± Su Chen asked angrily.

    ¡°Of course they won¡¯t gopletely unpunished. They will be disciplined. However, they definitely will not die.¡±

    ¡°Just a little bit of discipline?¡± Su Chen was in utter disbelief.

    Wang Doushanughed loudly. ¡°Why else would they be called Nobility ns? Is the only that differs them from the masses their name?¡±

    Su Chen paused.

    Yes, why else would they be called a Nobility n?

    Society had different levels of social status; on top were Nobility ns, then came Household ns, and finally there were themoners.

    Back when Lan Zhimitted a sin, Su Chen ordered Iron Cliff to beat her to death. Did her deathe about merely because she hadmitted a sin?

    No, not at all!

    It was because Su Chen was at a status where he possessed authority. He could punish her with death without receiving much bacsh.

    It didn¡¯t matter as much who was in the right, and who was in the wrong. It was nothing but a convenient excuse, a motivation even, something that couldn¡¯t be relied on. There were only two things you could rely on: social status and ranking!

    Of course, Su Chen could believe that every person he killed was because the other party had some aspect deserving of death. Or perhaps, he was just acting in self-defense.

    But not every single person was constrained by ethics.

    There were always those who could put down all burdens in their hearts, as well as any ethical limitations, and act as they pleased.

    Without a doubt, the scene in front of their eyes stemmed from this. Someone was using the exam as a pretext to kill people! ording to Wang Doushan, it wasn¡¯t even all that strange for this to happen.

    No wonder Zhao Yu had said that the contestants would be faced with dangers during the exam. Perhaps they had anticipated this from the very beginning.

    ¡°So essentially, as long as the person they kill isn¡¯t a member of a Bloodline Nobility n, he won¡¯t be prosecuted?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Wang Doushan replied. ¡°Just stick next to me. I promise you he won¡¯t make a move against you.¡±

    ¡°If I¡¯m with you, he won¡¯t try and kill me?¡± Su Chen muttered. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, isn¡¯t it better for us to split up?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Wang Doushan was dazed.

    He gazed at Su Chen and asked, ¡°You want to kill him?¡±

    Su Chen countered, ¡°If that person wants to kill me, and I kill him, there shouldn¡¯t be any problems, right?¡±

    Wang Doushan thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°ording to reason, there¡¯s nothing wrong with that. Although the Hidden Dragon Institute can¡¯t really do anything to him even if he is going on a killing spree in the Hidden Dragon Battle, they definitely won¡¯t like it. If you kill him and stop his actions, the Hidden Dragon Institute wouldn¡¯t punish you. Rather, they would most likely reward you. This is one of the tactics the Hidden Dragon Institute employs to deal with troublemakers. However, if you kill someone from a Bloodline Nobility n...... you will need to be careful in case they take revenge on you. Su Chen, are you sure you want to do this?¡±

    Su Chen face was expressionless as he said, ¡°I¡¯m not nning on doing anything. I just want to...... take a walk on my own for a bit.¡±

    When Wang Doushan saw his firm and unwavering expression, he finally understood.

    If it were anyone else, perhaps they would¡¯ve bitterly pleaded with Su Chen. After all, an excellent team was difficult toe by, and it would be a pity to end it here and now. However, Wang Doushan nodded his head, unaffected, as he said, ¡°Okay, since you¡¯ve made up your mind, we¡¯ll say our goodbyes for now. Hey, kiddo, don¡¯t die.¡±

    Su Chen nodded his head gravely.

    At that moment, the two of them smiled at each other. Although they did not say anything, it was as if a thousand words were spoken.

    After saying their goodbyes, Su Chen advanced in a separate direction.

    He walked along a small path up the mountain. He did not seem like an exam candidatepeting with other people. He looked more like a lonely traveler who had identally taken a wrong turn, arriving in a battleground he did not belong in.

    On his path, he would asionally find the corpses of exam candidates.

    Su Chen felt the urge to bury them, but kept himself from doing so. It was likely these bodies would need to be retrieved at ater time by the mourning families.

    Su Chen kept finding corpses, and based on their times of death, he was quickly closing in on the killer.

    As the darkness of night drew near, Su Chen arrived at a pile of rubble.

    He used the rubble to set up a stove. Then, he took out arge pot from his Origin Ring, filled it with water, and put it atop the fire

    The firelight was extremely brilliant in the darkness of night, and the smoke from the fire curled upwards into the sky inrge plumes.

    Su Chen cut apart a Vicious Beast he had just killed and tossed it into the water. A fragrant aroma began to fill the air only momentster.

    In such a chaotic environment, most people only ate the dried rations they brought along. Even rtively well-off exam candidates rarely had stoves to cook food with. After all, it simply attracted too much attention.

    Two exam candidates followed the traces of cooked meat to where he was.

    Their intentions were clear; they were here to defeat Su Chen, steal his points, and enjoy a delicious dinner.

    Unfortunately, they were sent flying by two Erupting Firebirds from Su Chen, who also conveniently took their points away.

    After shattering their jade tablets and sending the two people away, the food was ready for consumption. Su Chen brought the meat to his mouth and sunk his teeth in.

    As he was enjoying his meal, a low cry came from not too far away. ¡°Help me...¡±

    He turned around and gazed in the direction of the voice.

    He saw an exam candidate charge out from the small forest, his body drenched in blood. He seemed to be gravely injured, a sword hole evident on his thigh.

    He sprinted toward Su Chen, yelling, ¡°Save me, someone wants to kill me!¡±

    Su Chen stood up. ¡°Who wants to kill you? Where is he?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s right behind me, in the small forest,¡± the exam candidate screamed as he frantically pointed at the forest behind him. ¡°He wants to kill me! He wants to kill me!¡±

    His voice was filled with fear and unsettlement.

    Slightly off bnce after pointing behind him, he stumbled and fell to the ground.

    Su Chen rushed over and helped the exam candidate to his feet. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll be fine now.¡±

    The exam candidate lifted his head, a savage smile on his face. ¡°Of course I¡¯ll be fine. You won¡¯t be though!¡±

    Sword light shined brightly, stabbing towards Su Chen.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 138: Killing Opportunity

    Chapter 138: Killing Opportunity

    Whoosh!

    The sword pierced through his opponent¡¯s body. The target¡¯s eyes revealed an expression of disbelief, as if he were saying, ¡°How could this happen to me?¡±

    ¡°Idiot!¡± Pan Yue let out a maniacal, delightedugh, then applied force to the sword in his hand, skewering the exam candidate to a nearby tree. When his victim was about to shatter his jade tablet, Pan Yue charged forward and took it from him.

    No longer in possession of his jade tablet, the exam candidate had no way to escape. He could only fall over in despair.

    The fresh blood flowed all over the ground.

    Pan Yueughed loudly and then left.

    He enjoyed this feeling that came from the looks of despair from his victims very much. Only when he saw that look in their eyes could he satisfy the arrogance and hollowness in his heart.

    How stupid was this Hidden Dragon Battle? Pan Yue didn¡¯t care about it at all. Based on his family background, he didn¡¯t even need to participate in the exam to enter the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    Pan Yue didn¡¯t participate to secure an entrance spot. No, he was here just seeking the thrill of battle.

    Defeating and killing his opponents, forcing them to moan in despair and struggle in pain ¨C that was the path Pan Yue pursued and enjoyed.

    How many victims had he killed at this point?

    Pan Yue did not know, nor did he care.

    His victims were justmoners. They didn¡¯t even have a bloodline! What was their purpose if not to provide entertainment for him?

    For those lowlymoners, to die under his Dark Extermination Sword was their good fortune.

    Of course, Pan Yue carefully selected each of his targets.

    He would not touch anyone from a Bloodline Nobility n. He could not provoke those powerful exam candidates.

    He was merely interested in the istedmoners who didn¡¯t even have a bloodline, yet thought they could participate here!

    Those participants were clueless as to what was awaiting them. It was stupidity at its finest that they thought they could participate in a fair fight to enter the best institute in the entire Long Sang Country.

    Were thosemoners even qualified to engage in fair battles with members from Bloodline Nobility ns?

    If it were truly fair, there shouldn¡¯t have been any differences in the number of slots assigned to each region in the first ce!

    But even then, the authorities were still too lenient.

    The country should be governed with an iron fist. If they blindly pursued equality and fairness, they would only give the low-ss people an opportunity to ask for more than they could handle.

    It would be far better if they were to just die before that point. Pan Yue felt he was doing this world a favor by ridding it of these termites. That he could use their blood to polish his treasures sword and thebat to temper himself was just a nice little bonus.

    Pan Yue was ecstatic with his own wisdom.

    However, as more fell in front of his sword, it seemed that many participants began to sense what he was doing. By now, most exam candidates had teamed up, and it became increasingly difficult to find anyone going about on their own.

    He wasn¡¯t worried about the strength of these lowly individuals teaming up. Even if they formed small groups, they wouldn¡¯t be his opponent. But as the groups he took on becamerger, so too would the chance that some would escape. If he couldn¡¯t kill them all, there was no point in these skirmishes.

    Pan Yue felt stifled. He could only curse loudly at the exam candidates as he searched for his next target.

    A plume of smoke arose in the distance, attracting Pan Yue¡¯s attention.

    There was someone who dared to start a fire and cook at this time?

    Was he self-confident, or was he foolishly brazen?

    Either way, Pan Yue¡¯s interest was piqued.

    He headed toward the origin of the smoke, cautiously edging closer, as if he were a hungry wolf afraid to scare the rabbit away.

    When the figure of a youth near a pile of rubble appeared before Pan Yue¡¯s eyes, a smile formed on his face.

    Awesome! I actually found anothermoner, and he doesn¡¯t have a bloodline. The Heavens really look kindly upon me!

    The location this guy had chosen was pretty good. He had started a fire on a pile of stones, and the surroundings were very empty. There was no ce to ambush him from. In fact, Pan Yue couldn¡¯t even get close without being spotted. If that guy encountered any opponents he couldn¡¯t beat, he could instantly shatter his jade tablet and escape. It was likely this line of reasoning that gave him the confidence to start a fire during this entrance exam.

    But was safety really assured by these points alone?

    Pan Yueughed coldly as he unsheathed his sword and lined it up with his chest.

    Pan Yue was about to make his move when an idea popped up in his head. He aimed the sword toward his own thigh, closed his eyes, and muttered, ¡°If I want to achieve something great, I must be severe enough. I must be severe both to my enemies and to myself! Kid, consider yourself lucky. I will use a brilliant performance to send you to your death!¡±

    As these thoughts ran through his mind, Pan Yue couldn¡¯t prevent his entire body from trembling.

    That was the stimtion from his excitement and anticipation of the hunt.

    Whoosh!

    He struck his own thigh with the sword.

    Origin Energy exploded under the Dark Extinction Sword, leaving behind arge, bloody hole.

    The pain caused Pan Yue¡¯s face to contort, but his heart pounded in excitement.

    He sucked in a breath of cold air, then let out a strange, cruelugh. ¡°Whew! My littlemb, I¡¯ming!¡±

    The next moment, he came out of the forest, screaming loudly, ¡°Help me!¡±

    He hobbled toward the ¡°idiotic¡± exam candidate.

    Pan Yue put up a beautiful act, showing an expression of pure terror while screaming and begging for help. After all, his wound was real, and the pain was too. However, he wasughing in his heart,ughing maniacally!

    That idiot is reallying over!

    He strongly resisted the urge tough as he stumbled to the ground before the other party got to him. At the same time, he stealthily retrieved a previously prepared dagger.

    The idiot had indeed offered his help to lift him up.

    He said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll be fine now.¡±

    Pan Yue excitedly replied, ¡°Of course I¡¯ll be fine. You won¡¯t be though!¡± As these words left his mouth, he revealed the dagger.

    He struck out, and as he did, he felt the slightest resistance from the sharp de entering the idiot¡¯s flesh. He felt excitement course through his body. Even so, the thrill had yet topletely arrive when it waspletely stifled, as if someone had grabbed it by his throat. It had no way of spilling out......

    Pan Yue discovered with shock that his dagger had sliced through thin air.

    Thin air!

    Pan Yue opened his eyes wide in surprise.

    He saw a hand ced on his own wrist, pushing it slightly to the side.

    This gentle shove caused his stab to lose direction, actually slicing past the other party¡¯s profile.

    How could this be?

    Pan Yue was terrified!

    A voice sounded out next to his ear. ¡°So it was you!¡±

    What?

    Pan Yue knew that the situation was not looking good. He wanted to retreat.

    But he was still on the ground, his body arched like a bow, as he used all his force to stab his opponent. From this position he couldn¡¯t apply any explosive force, leaving him with no time to adapt before he felt a heavy fist m into his face!

    ¡°No!¡± Pan Yue let out a strange cry. He mmed his arms on the ground and jumped up in the air like an agile fish.

    He was an Origin Qi Schr who depended on agility and nimbleness, not on close-quartersbat, so he hurriedly tried to break free from his opponent.

    Unfortunately, the other party was prepared. His feet had yet to find their footing when another fist viciously struck his midsection, mming him back into the ground.

    The opponent grabbed Pan Yue¡¯s head and forced it to be acquainted with the ground, leaving behind a depression in the ground.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± Pan Yue endured the pain as he tried to wrap his legs around Su Chen¡¯s neck.

    However, his right leg was still wounded, so it was hard for him to move around. His attempt to strangle Su Chen was quite slow.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t give Pan Yue any time for a breather. He took out a short de and stabbed it in Pan Yue¡¯s healthy leg.

    ¡°AHH!¡± Pan Yue let out an extremely pitiful cry.

    This strike was much more vicious than when Pan Yue stabbed himself earlier. The blunt de usedcked cutting ability, but when it prated the flesh, it would result in a graver injury.

    Pan Yue wanted to apply a protective barrier, but the opponent¡¯s fists rained down on him. Every blow seemed urate and precise as theynded on his Qi conducting nodes. Before the Origin Energy barrier could form, it was forcefully shattered by his blows.

    ¡°No, let me go!¡± Pan Yue finally began to feel terror and fear as he loudly screamed.

    Su Chen coldly said, ¡°The exam candidates that you killed also begged for mercy, didn¡¯t they? Did you let them go?¡±

    ¡°I...... I know I was wrong. Have mercy, please, have mercy......¡± Pan Yue yelled mournfully.

    Su Chen ignored him as he continued his barrage of fist attacks.

    Pan Yue wanted to shatter his jade tablet and escape, but Su Chen took it away from him before he could. This scene closely resembled how Pan Yue treated those he had killed.

    Pan Yue was finally on the brink of having a nervous breakdown. ¡°I am the Young Master of the Dark Beast Pan n. If you kill me, my Pan n won¡¯t let you go!¡±

    Su Chen ignored him, continuing his onught of fist attacks.

    He was going to beat this scumbag to death.

    ¡°Save me!¡± Pan Yue furiously screamed.

    He was just letting out an instinctive scream, but unexpectedly he actually received a reply.

    ¡°You¡¯re from the Dark Beast Pan n? Remember, your savior is Poison Centipede Kong Shen!¡±

    A wave of dark wind roiled toward Su Chen.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 139: Poison Centipede

    Chapter 139: Poison Centipede

    Su Chen charged forward the moment the voice reached his ears, his speed reaching the extreme. He turned around to face the new opponent without slowing down, now flying backwards. At the same time, he struck out with eighteen palm strikes.

    The palm wind from the strikes sounded out like thunder as they flew through the air.

    That ck cloud was forcefully stopped by Su Chen¡¯s palm wind; it couldn¡¯t get close to him at all.

    This was the benefit of a contemporary Origin Skill. Although the Thunder de didn¡¯t possess much strength, it could be used both offensively and defensively. As the palm wind surged forwards, it sounded out like thunder, preventing the ck cloud from advancing.

    Su Chen took the opportunity to apply a magic barrier to himself before looking at the person who ambushed him.

    Facing him was a youth dressed in green, a dense, ck Qi swirling around his face. His gaze was filled with shock. ¡°You actually dodged my Five Poisons Miasma? You do have some ability.¡±

    Pan Yue took this opportunity to stand up. Moments before, he was bitterly pleading for mercy, but now a thick killing intent showed on his face. ¡°You dare disrespect me like that? I cannot spare you. Die!¡±

    Pan Yue stabbed with his sword toward Su Chen.

    When the youth in green saw this scene, he curled his lips. ¡°Idiot.¡±

    Although this sword strike was vicious, Pan Yue couldn¡¯t move freely with his injured legs. He possessed the killing intent, butcked the skill or strength to carry it out. Su Chen casually sidestepped, dodging the sword strike. At the same time, he mmed his knee into Pan Yue¡¯s midsection. Su Chen didn¡¯t even need to use his fists to throw Pan Yue back to the ground. In fact, he didn¡¯t even spare Pan Yue so much as a nce, his eyes locked on the green-clothed youth instead.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± Pan Yue gritted his teeth as he tried to crawl to his feet. Before he stood up, however, he was greeted by another flying kick was aimed, this time hitting him in the head.

    Su Chen put real force behind this kick. Even if Pan Yue didn¡¯t die, he would be gravely injured.

    The moment the kicknded on Pan Yue¡¯s head, the green clothed person suddenly gestured. A streak of ck light shot toward Su Chen. ¡°I didn¡¯t permit you to kill him, yet you think you can?¡±

    Su Chen twisted his body and dodged the attack. The green-clothed youth already arrived in front of Pan Yue, sending him flying away with a kick. ¡°Get out of here! What are you trying to do, get yourself killed?¡±

    While he spoke to Pan Yue, his hands rapidly moved in the air, transforming into a thousand streaks of palm wind. These streaks of palm wind which smelled strongly and were poisonous shot toward Su Chen.

    He didn¡¯t receive his nickname, Poison Centipede, from his bloodline, but because of his proficiency in this palm technique which made it seem he had a thousand hands and feet. On top of that, he possessed extremely poisonous hands, making the skill all the more deadly..

    The poison palms forced Su Chen to retreat.

    Pan Yue ad been removed from the battle after being kicked away by Kong Shen. He red at Su Chen with a poisonous, hateful expression, then threw a nce at Kong Shen. He knew he couldn¡¯t participate in this battle anymore. Instead, he turned tail and fled.

    Seeing Pan Yue¡¯s injured figure limp away, Su Chen didn¡¯t get angry. Augh escaped his mouth, and he said, ¡°You really think he¡¯ll remember what you did for him? You kicked him away. From his expression, it seems he resents you as well. There¡¯s always people who don¡¯t understand how to be grateful.¡±

    Kong Shenughed wickedly. ¡°Do you really think I can¡¯t see kind of trash he is? I don¡¯t need any of his gratefulness. All I need is for him to be an obedient puppet.¡±

    ¡°You really think he¡¯ll listen to you?¡±

    ¡°You thought I just randomly kicked him away? He is poisoned now!¡± Kong Shen said with delight. ¡°But enough about him, how about you, don¡¯t you hate me? After all, I was the one who ruined your n of killing him.¡±

    Su Chen casually replied, ¡°You already said you helped me poison him. Why would I care?¡±

    Kong Shenughed, ¡°The poison won¡¯t be fatal. It merely prevents him from using Origin Energy, and it leaves behind a distinct scent, making it easy for me to chase after him. How about it? Disappointed?¡±.

    ¡°I already thought I smelled something strange in the air,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, I only have to kill you and then follow the scent to track him down, right? Haha, now I care even less.¡±

    The two never stopped exchanging blows during their conversation. An onlooker might confuse them for two bickering boys, but in reality, their strikes were aimed at the heart.

    Both of them were trying to light the mes of rage in their opponent to disturb their state of mind. Su Chen did so by calling Pan Yue ungrateful, while Kong Shen mocked Su Chen for having failed to kill Pan Yue before he turned tail and fled. However, neither side seeded. They had found their equal, both in terms of strength and wit.

    Kong Shen struck out with about ten palm attacks in a row as he maniacallyughed. ¡°Did you think I was just talking with you for the fun of it? You must be suicidal, opening your mouth in front of the Poison Centipede. Fall over for me!¡±

    While he spoke, he fully concentrated on his palms, a pungent gas emerging from them.

    Indeed, Su Chen¡¯s body shook a few times, and a wave of ck Qi washed across his face.

    ¡°You...¡± Su Chen¡¯s face revealed an expression of disbelief. His movements became increasingly superficial as he tried to retreat. His hurried steps turned wobbly and it seemed like he would fall down at any moment.

    Kong Shen giggled with delight. ¡°You see, I already told you to fall over for me, but you didn¡¯t listen!¡±

    A palm flew toward Su Chen¡¯s chest.

    As the palm found its target, Kong Shen suddenly felt a hint of hesitation surface in his heart. He was confident in the power of his Five Poisons Miasma, but Origin Qi Schrs weren¡¯t ordinary people. They possessed natural methods to neutralize poisons that entered their body. His poison would eventually seed, but it was working surprisingly efficiently on Su Chen. Too efficiently. Why did the ck Qi appear on his face so quickly? Something is wrong!

    The rms in his heart went off, signaling impending danger. He quickly retrieved his hand, then stared at Su Chen, who raised his head and calmly smiled. Kong Shen¡¯s attention was drawn to a firebird that appeared in Su Chen¡¯s hand before it darted towards him.

    The firebird looked small and unassuming, but every fiber of Kong Shen¡¯s being felt threatened by it.

    He flew into the air with a strange cry, raising his speed to its extreme limit. He was called the Poison Centipede because it was like he possessed a thousand hands and feet. His attacks were speedy, as was he. He shifted at high-speed, and the Firebird whooshed past his shoulder. Kong Zhen was just about to let out a sigh of relief when he saw that Su Chen was gazing at him with a smile that was not a smile. He knew that the situation was about to go bad. He was quite good at adapting to the situation, and in that instant he reacted correctly. A magic barrier formed around him, protecting his body.

    With a ¡°BOOM¡±, the firebird mmed into Kong Zhen from behind. The barrier shattered, and Kong Zhen was sent flying as he spit out a mouthful of blood.

    This guy could also take the hits. Although he was still dazed from his injuries and flying through midair, he waved his hand, and a swarm of poisonous wasps emerged and flew toward Su Chen.

    Su Chen had just used the Erupting Firebird moments ago. Upon seeing the swarm of poisonous wasps flying towards him, he took out an item.

    A jug of wine, to be precise.

    He tossed it towards the swarm of poisonous wasps.

    The explosive jug of wine was not nearly as powerful as the Erupting Firebird, but it affected a much greater area. If the Erupting Firebird was a single-target attack, the explosive jug of wine was very powerful for taking down multiple enemies. The explosion that followed decimated countless poisonous wasps.

    Kong Zhen staggered to his feet only to find a sea of mes in front of him, whilerge swaths of poisonous wasps fell to the ground. He howled in pain, ¡°MY TREASURES!¡±

    He shot a venomous re at Su Chen with rage. ¡°YOU DESERVE TO DIE!¡±

    Su Chen harrumphed, ¡°I think you should take a good look at yourself first.¡±

    Su Chen was about to make his move, when his body swayed and his legs softened. This time, however, he was not faking it.

    Kong Zhen yelled in delight, ¡°So you were poisoned!¡±

    Yes, Su Chen truly had been poisoned.

    It was next to impossible to avoid being poisoned when battling someone like Poison Centipede Kong Zhen.

    However, Origin Qi Schrs were very different frommoners. Their bodies possessed a natural ability to neutralize poison. If they were poisoned bymon light or medium poisons, so long as they didn¡¯t melt away the flesh and blood, it could be neutralized without the assistance of an antidote.

    Poison Centipede Kong Zhen¡¯s strength was limited, and he couldn¡¯t use poisons that were too vicious. However, many years of toying around with poisons made it so that his resistance to poison was much higher than most people, but because of this he paid a price in his overall physical strength. For this reason he cultivated a body technique to strengthen his body, allowing him to withstand the blow from the Firebird without losing consciousness.

    Su Cheng was poisoned, and Kong Zhen was gravely injured. Their situation was not that great, but their gazes were filled with viciousness and an unwillingness to back down.

    They simultaneously yelled at the top of their lungs as they struck out.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 140: Neutralize

    Chapter 140: Neutralize

    Amidst the piles of rubble, Su Chen and Kong Zhen were entangled in battle.

    Erupting Firebird versus the Five Poisons Miasma, the Snaking Mist Steps versus the Thousand Shadow Feet, Thunder de versus Feathered Edge, Soul Eye versus Formless Strike, Flowing Wind Body Technique versus the Kong n¡¯s Body Tempering Technique.

    It was difficult to determine who of the two held the advantage. asionally, a ck fog or brilliant red explosion would appear, kicking up clouds of smoke.

    The more Kong Zhen fought, the more shocked he became. He gazed at Su Chen with an expression of disbelief as he shrilly yelled, ¡°You aren¡¯t from a Bloodline Nobility n. How can you possibly possess such greatbat prowess?¡±

    Su Chen harrumphed, but he did not speak.

    From theck of response, Kong Zhen deduced what was happening. He loudly said, ¡°You¡¯ve been poisoned by me, yet you still dare to fight me instead of finding a ce to expel the poison? When the poison attacks your heart, it¡¯ll be toote. It won¡¯t be me who killed you, you¡¯re just seeking death.¡±

    Su Chen finally opened his mouth. ¡°Isn¡¯t this one of those ¡®idents¡¯ that inevitably urs during the Hidden Dragon Battle? The person you saved has already caused ten or so of these so-called ¡®idents¡¯. I assume some of them were also caused by your hands? So what¡¯s different? Is it that you can¡¯t deal with me as easily as you thought, so you want to find a way out by showing me the kindness in your heart? Or perhaps are you unable to endure any longer because of that wound?¡±

    ¡°Motherfucker, I¡¯ll kill you!¡± Kong Zhen eximed, infuriated.

    Streaks of poison flew from his palms. Kong Zhen activated the poison techniques he possessed to their extreme limits.

    Su Chen¡¯s face turned increasingly pallid, his breathing shallow.

    Kong Zhen was delighted. Su Chen¡¯s Erupting Firebird was shockingly powerful, and it could lock onto a target; he was badly injured by it. Every time Su Chen used the technique, Kong Zhen was forced to focus his full attention on dealing with it. Even the shockwaves dealt serious damage to Kong Zhen. But all of this didn¡¯t matter to Kong Zhen; he was revitalized after seeing Su Chen. The poison in Su Chen¡¯s body was umting, the effects more severe, and he knew Su Chen was about to reach his limit.

    Today, victory will definitely be mine! Kong Zhen thought in his heart.

    Su Chen swung his hand, forcing Kong Zhen to retreat. He suddenly lifted up his head and revealed a mysterious smile. ¡°Did you really think this poison would work on me?¡±

    Kong Zhen was stunned.

    He watched as Su Chen put a finger to his chest and stabbed.

    With this stab, ck blood flowed from his chest into the air. It left a moist, ckish looking substance in the air that smelled rancid.

    Kong Zhen was so stunned by Su Chen¡¯s actions that his jaw dropped. ¡°You forced my poison out?¡±

    Su Chen smiled. ¡°It wasn¡¯t very hard.¡±

    It really wasn¡¯t all that difficult.

    From the moment the poison entered his body, Su Chen had begun observing it. If he could see the Frigid Water Herb or the Frigid Blood Powder, naturally could see the poison as well.

    The poison Kong Zhen used had two constituents. One part of it was the toxin, while the other was an Origin Substance.

    It was a unique Origin Substance which allowed him to control the poison and cause it to attack and damage a person¡¯s body.

    Because he was in the midst of battle, Su Chen couldn¡¯t possibly test out which herbs could cure the poison. But due to the poison¡¯s Origin Substance, he could apply Origin Energy to it, giving him a method of neutralizing it.

    Su Chen very quickly discovered that this Origin Substance was not very powerful, but it was slippery as though it had a consciousness. As Su Chen aimed his Origin Energy for the Origin Substance in the poison, it would actively attempt to dodge it, avoiding the fate of being swallowed up.

    This was the reason why expelling this poison was so difficult.

    However, when Su Chen made this discovery, he decided to use it to his advantage. Instead of forcefully attempting to expel the poison, he diverted his Origin Energy through eight of his Origin Energy veins except one.

    Like this, he gathered the Origin Substance in one location. Su Chen made it look like a walk in the park, but it really wasn¡¯t all that simple; there were many details he had to pay special attention to. If Su Chen¡¯s eyes didn¡¯t possess the ability to see things on a microscopic level, it would be unlikely he could aplish it.

    With most of the poison located in one position, he used his finger and made a cut there, expelling therge aggregate of poison.

    Although there were still some remnants in his body, after most of it was gone, the remaining amount was nothing to worry about.

    Kong Zhen didn¡¯t anticipate that Su Chen would possess such a tactic. He was stunned in ce.

    Without the poison corroding his body, Su Chen appeared much more energetic. ¡°What other tactics do you possess?¡±

    He charged into the poisonous miasma Kong Zhen released.

    Kong Zhen was frightened to the point his soul was about to leave his body. ¡°Stop! You¡¯ve won this battle!¡±

    What greeted him was a vicious palm strike, carrying the crackling of thunder with it as though lightning were converging on him. It mmed into his body, sending him flying.

    Kong Zhen spat out arge mouthful of blood, unable to crawl to his feet. Seeing Su Chen draw near, he panicked. In ast ditch effort he tried to escape as he screamed, ¡°Don¡¯t kill me! I¡¯m not like that guy. I don¡¯t kill people for amusement!¡±

    ¡°You knew he killed people for amusement, yet you still saved him?¡± Su Chen closed the distance step by step.

    ¡°I just wanted ackey, that¡¯s all! Killing people is his sin, not mine. If I can take care of myself, I¡¯m happy!¡±

    That¡¯s it? That¡¯s his way of thinking? Su Chen stopped dead in his tracks. He silently gazed at Kong Zhen.

    Kong Zhen was terrified as all the things Su Chen could do to him ran through his mind, yet he couldn¡¯t discern his enemy¡¯s next move. In terror he gazed at Su Chen.

    Both parties remained motionless.

    Finally, Su Chen said, ¡°The precious Bloodline Nobility ns, the protectors of humankind, righteousness reflecting in their every move! They guard humankind far away from the dangers threatening human survival. Today, I witnessed and experienced them, and I finally understand their true nature!¡±

    Although he did not speak loudly, every word was filled with power. Kong Zhen¡¯s heart trembled in response.

    Su Chen arrived next to Kong Zhen. He put his foot on Kong Zhen¡¯s chest and said, ¡°A Bloodline Nobility n like yours leaves a bad taste in my mouth. But don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t kill you. There¡¯s someone even more disgusting than you that I need to take care of. I can¡¯t just let you go though; a price has to be paid for meddling in my affairs. Let me teach you a little lesson.¡±

    Kong Zhen closed his eyes, spooked stiff of what was about to happen to him. However, the pain didn¡¯te and when he opened his eyes, he saw Su Chen writing something on a piece of paper. The piece of paper was secured to his body before Su Chen sent him back to the start of the entrance exam by shattering his jade tablet.

    In the blink of an eye, Kong Zhen was sent out of the exam grounds, back to the entrance za.

    Many of the eliminated exam candidates were still gathered here.

    Kong Zhen was both surprised and enraged. This bastard had actually shattered his jade tablet, causing him to lose the opportunity of entering the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    Was this supposed to be the lesson he would teach me? Bastard, you¡¯re looking down on me too much! Do you really think I have no other way of entering the institute? Hmph, you dare provoke my Kong family. I will give you something to think about!

    Kong Zhen suddenly discovered that the people around him were pointing at him, whispering to each other as if they were discussing something.

    He was stunned for a moment, then lowered his head and discovered the piece of paper attached to his body.

    This was......

    Kong Zhen suddenly felt a wave of uneasiness wash over him.

    He pulled off the piece of paper and almost passed out after reading its content.

    Written on the paper was theprehensive, detailed method Su Chen used to neutralize his Five Poisons Miasma. This included the unique properties and attributes of the Five Poisons Miasma, as well as several factors requiring special attention when neutralizing it.

    Poison Centipede was Poison Centipede primarily because of the might of his poison.

    Today, his Five Poisons Miasma was neutralized, chopping off arge portion of his strength. How could he still call himself Poison Centipede?

    Kong Zhen was about to break down in tears. This tactic was too brutal. What was he to do in the future?

    No, it didn¡¯t stop with him. This affected the entire Kong n! What were they to do from now?

    Thinking up to here, Kong Zhen was filled with fright. He yelled like someone who had lost their mind, ¡°DON¡¯T LOOK, DON¡¯T LOOK, FORGET EVERYTHING YOU SAW!¡±

    But he knew all too well, how could all these people simply forget what they saw? The onlookersughed at him,mitting the neutralizing method to memory.

    The Kong n¡¯s poison would be rendered useless from here on onwards.

    At the same time, somewhere on a pile of rubble, Su Chen gazed in the direction Pan Yue had escaped in, putting on his mask once again.

    The mask exuded a thick demonic aura, reflecting his current mood.

    Pan, Yue, must, die!

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 141: Chasing Across Regions

    Chapter 141: Chasing Across Regions

    Pan Yue furiously ran. His arrogance was gone, reced with fear and panic.

    There was a strange scent on his body, and no matter what he tried, he could not get rid of it.

    Su Chen had stolen his jade tablet, so he couldn¡¯t escape from the exam grounds either. The scenting from his body also implied that either Su Chen or Kong Zhen, whoever it was, could instantly find him. They could do whatever they wanted to him!

    Those two damned bastards!

    Pan Yue was about to go crazy.

    He screamed wildly to himself as he continued running, but he was burdened by his injured legs, preventing him from building up any speed.

    Pan Yue hobbled his way through the barren teau. His only hope was that Su Chen and Kong Zhen would battle a while longer, giving him the opportunity to escape.

    However, before long, Pan Yue felt something behind him.

    A familiar silhouette appeared in the distance.

    Su Chen!

    Even if the opponent was wearing a mask, Pan Yue still recognized him.

    He was scared witless, putting everything he had into running away.

    Su Chen pursued him, traveling neither fast nor slow.

    The remaining poison in his body had yet topletely dissipate, and he was temporarily unable to increase his speed. Not that it mattered much. If he continued to chase Pan Yue at this pace, he would definitely catch up to him.

    The moon was bright that night, allowing him to see Pan Yue¡¯s silhouette clearly in the darkness. Su Chen could even tell the sorry state Pan Yue was in.

    He chased after Pan Yue withrge strides.

    He could let Kong Zhen go, but he could not say the same for Pan Yue.

    Pan Yue had to die!

    No matter how much Pan Yue tried to increase his speed, the distance between him and Su Chen continued to decrease.

    Pan Yue was in shock. Finally, he loudly yelled, ¡°Save me! Save me! Someone¡¯s trying to kill me!¡±

    After these words rang out, three ck shadows jumped out of the forest.

    Pan Yue yelled loudly, ¡°I am a disciple of the Pan n of Pinewood City. The person behind me is trying to kill me! He already took my jade tablet, I have no points to give to you. Help me, if I survive today, I¡¯ll give you guys anything you want!¡±

    The three nced at Pan Yue. Upon confirming that no fluctuations from the jade tablet could be found on him, they leapt past him, heading straight for Su Chen.

    Su Chen raised his voice. ¡°This person has already killed ten or so exam candidates.¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s him, he¡¯s the one killing people!¡± Pan Yue yelled maniacally.

    The three people gazed at each other, momentarily indecisive, before they leapt toward Su Chen. It seemed as if they had chosen to believe Pan Yue.

    Or perhaps they were only focused on taking his points.

    Dammit!

    Su Chen charged forwards at high speed as the three of them approached him.

    ¡°Get the hell out of my way!¡± A firebird shot out of Su Chen¡¯s hand, mming into the barrier of one of the students and sending him crashing into the ground. The other two attacked him from the left and right, and Su Chen stabbed out repeatedly with his short de. Sharp, azure de streaks shot toward the two opponents.

    The other two exam candidates were not simple either, counter attacking his every move. Su Chen did not want for this fight tost, so he tossed out two wine jugs, sending the two of them flying.

    After taking away their points, he continued his chase.

    Pan Yue charged into the forest as he squealed at the top of his lungs, ¡°Someone¡¯s trying to kill me, he¡¯s trying to kill me!¡±

    Pan Yue¡¯s loud voice attracted the attention of two more exam candidates. Both of them made a beeline for Su Chen.

    Su Chen was infuriated. ¡°Get the hell out of my way!¡±

    He raised his hands sending two firebirds at the exam candidates blocking his path. They took the brunt force of the explosion and were knocked out instantly.

    Su Chen took their points too, then continued his chase.

    A person could exhibit frightening strength in the face of death; Pan Yue was no exception.

    His legs were wounded, but somehow, they didn¡¯t seem to slow him down. In addition, since he had found a sessful strategy, he kept running in a direction where many people were gathered. As he neared them, he would yell something along the lines of, ¡°I have no points, the person behind me has all my points¡±, or ¡°There¡¯s a crazed killer behind me.¡± In any case, he was willing to say whatever was needed for survival, including lies.

    One exam candidate after another was attracted by Pan Yue, and they all tried to block Su Chen.

    Su Chencked the energy to exin himself. He hardened his heart, then charged forwards.

    He didn¡¯t waste any more words on the exam candidates. They would all be knocked out by a firebird, and he would take their points.

    If he encountered any powerful individuals, he would use an Erupting Firebird and a few wine jugs. The chain of explosions was usually enough to deal with whoever tried to block him.

    Su Chen was like a frenzied elephant, running over everything in his path as he pursued Pan Yue.

    The frequent rate of battle greatly increased the amount of Origin Energy he consumed.

    However, the high-grade Origin Stone was sufficient for Su Chen to restore his Origin Energy.

    After sending two more unaware exam candidates flying, Su Chen stealthily pulled out the high-grade Origin Stone and absorbed the Origin Energy inside. The Origin Energy he had consumed was replenished in no time. He stowed the Origin Stone away, continuing to chase after Pan Yue as if he didn¡¯t know the meaning of exhaustion.

    One chased, the other tried to escape; thissted for an entire evening.

    That night, Pan Yue brought Su Chen on a lengthy chase, tricking countless exam students into helping him escape cmity. One exam candidate after another fell for Pan Yue¡¯s words, and were thereafter robbed of their points by Su Chen.

    Su Chen¡¯s points surged like a mighty wave.

    The actions of both Su Chen and Pan Yue attracted the attention of the various bigshots sitting on top of the tall tower, rendering them speechless.

    Su Chen was originally ranked fifty-sixth. After separating from Wang Doushan, his ranking had not decreased, instead it increased at a furious rate.

    Not only this, he was trying to kill a member of a Bloodline Nobility n, sweeping through the region like a hot knife through butter. He fought any person or beast he encountered, no one capable of stopping his advance.

    This was not to say that Su Chen¡¯s actual strength had reached the point where he was unparalleled in the region. He possessed the wine jugs in addition to the Erupting Firebird, greatly amplifying his strength. Another reason was that the powerful exam candidates had expended quite a bit of energy after a whole day of bitter fighting. Unless they were proficient in battling at night, they would enjoy some well-earned rest and recover their physical and Origin Energy.

    However, because Su Chen had an Origin Stone, he didn¡¯t need to rest at all. He was also proficient in battling at night, so the entire way, no one could rival him. He steamrolled his way through the region.

    In just a single night, he took down close to a hundred exam candidates, shocking any and all. No one knew from what hole this expert had jumped out from.

    The pulses from his jade tablet, which now contained many points, were astonishingly powerful. Many exam candidates were terrified when they saw it.

    The other exam candidates were no longer willing to blindly rush at Su Chen to fight him.

    However, Su Chen had worked himself into a frenzy. No matter who the opponent was, he would send an Erupting Firebird their way upon seeing them.

    As the chase went on, the sky began to brighten, and Su Chen¡¯s points had jumped from one hundred twelve, enough to him the fifty-sixth ranking, all the way to three hundred forty five, which was the twelfth ranking.

    The exam grounds had a rule that prevented exam candidates from knowing their ranking before the exam ended. However, based on this number of points, Su Chen knew his ranking would be near the top.

    He didn¡¯t know many were observing his actions, but even if he did know, it wouldn¡¯t have made a difference.

    Whoosh! Whoosh!

    Two shadows, one in front and one behind, sprinted through wildernesses, forests, streams, and mountains, one chasing after the other, one trying to kill the other.

    The sun rose, chasing away the night.

    When the first streak of light shined down on the exam grounds, Su Chen discovered that a full night had already gone by.

    The sky was already quite bright, yet Pan Yue still ran like a tenacious rabbit.

    ¡°Stop chasing me!¡± Pan Yue yelled maniacally. ¡°Dammit, haven¡¯t you had enough yet!?¡±

    He was about to drop down and cry.

    Where did this crazy guye from, and why was he so tenacious? So many exam candidates threw themselves at him, yet not a single one could defeat him.

    Pan Yue was about to lose all hope.

    He definitely needed to find an expert in order to save himself.

    At that moment, two exam candidates were headed toward him.

    Pan Yue howled, ¡°Tell me, who¡¯s the most powerful person here?¡±

    The sudden question dazed the two people, and they instinctively replied, ¡°Frostbird Ji Hanyan is the most powerful person here. There¡¯s also Blood Demon Zhong Ding, Bewitching Butterfly Jin Ling¡¯er ¨C oh, and Arched Tree Zhang Sheng¡¯an is pretty powerful too.¡±

    In the next instant, Pan Yue tilted his head and yelled, ¡°Frostbird Ji Hanyan, Blood Demon Zhong Ding, Bewitching Butterfly Jin Ling¡¯er, and Arched Tree Zhang Sheng¡¯an, where are you? Someone wants to battle you!¡±

    His voice spread loudly in all directions.

    The two exam candidates originally wanted to reap the harvest, but when he yelled this, the hairs on their body stood on end. They did not dare attack him, running away as fast as they could instead.

    What sick joke was this? What kind of existence was he, to dare to battle the four most powerful experts of the first region all at once? They definitely could not afford to provoke him.

    At that moment, a voice leisurely floated over.

    ¡°Hey, who¡¯s arrogant enough to want to battle four people at once? Let this young woman take a look.¡±

    A fragrant wind flowed by.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 142: Bewitching Butterfly 1

    Chapter 142: Bewitching Butterfly (1)

    The person that appeared was a young woman dressed in dazzling clothing. Her face was round like a silver te, and she wasn¡¯t very tall, but her eyes sparkled like crystal. She held a small horsewhip in her hand.

    There was a person following her as well. Surprisingly, he was wearing a brilliant silver armor, and he hefted a fine steel spear in his hand. He looked just like a general on the battlefield, and surprisingly the exam officials had let him bring these items in. However, his eyes seemed numb and wooden, as if he were an idiot.

    Apparently, he was walking too slowly, and the round-faced woman turned around and whipped the silver-armored youth. ¡°Walk faster, you piece of trash, stop mucking around.¡±

    The silver-armored youth walked a bit faster, not attempting to defend himself.

    When the two exam candidates saw this round-faced woman, the color drained from their faces as if they had seen a demon.

    ¡°It¡¯s Bewitching Butterfly. Quick, run!¡±

    The two of them wanted to start running away.

    Jin Ling¡¯er, however, turned around to gaze at the two of them. ¡°Did I let you go?¡±

    The two of them simultaneously stopped upon hearing those words.

    ¡°Come back!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er said.

    The two of them actually obediently turned around, trembling as they gazed at Jin Ling¡¯er as if they had encountered some evil fiend.

    When Pan Yue saw this, he wanted to tiptoe away.

    Jin Ling¡¯er didn¡¯t even turn around. She harrumphed, and the silver-armored youth flew forwards, his spear stabbing towards Pan Yue.

    Pan Yue was astonished. He hurriedly ran back to Jin Ling¡¯er as he yelled, ¡°I¡¯m from the Pan n of Pinewood City. Pan Yue greets Bewitching Butterfly Fairy!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the person that wants to battle the first region¡¯s four strongest individuals?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er gazed at Pan Yu with curiosity.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s not me, it¡¯s him!¡± Pan Yue pointed behind him. A shadow had already appeared behind him; it was Su Chen.

    ¡°Him?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er gazed at Su Chen, her eyes glimmering. It was unclear what she was thinking about.

    Su Chen also saw Jin Ling¡¯er, and he also saw Pan Yue, crawling at Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s feet. Obviously, he could guess what Pan Yue was trying to say.

    However, he didn¡¯t try to defend himself. He knew that there was no point. All of these people all felt that they could defeat him for sure. If he tried to defend himself, his opponent would only think that he was afraid, and they would be even more energetic.

    Thus, all he did was walk over, stopping not far away from Jin Ling¡¯er. He pointed at Pan Yue and said, ¡°This guy is mine.¡±

    ¡°I heard that you n on battling Ji Hanyan, me, Zhong Ding, and Zhang Sheng¡¯an on your own?¡± The young woman crossed her arms.

    ¡°To you, does it matter if it¡¯s true or not?¡± Su Chen asked.

    This reply caused the young woman¡¯s eyebrow to jump. ¡°I knew this guy was lying. No one is stupid enough to provoke that insane woman Ji Hanyan. But you¡¯re right, it doesn¡¯t matter. Since you dare to face me, you definitely have some confidence, so I have to test you out.¡±

    She turned around and said to those two exam candidates, ¡°You two, why aren¡¯t you taking care of him yet!¡±

    She spurred on others to battle for her.

    Those two exam candidates actually listened to her, yelling as they charged forwards.

    When they were talking, Su Chen had already made preparations for battle. He waved his hands, and two Erupting Firebirds flew out, mming into the two of them. He was bing more and more familiar with the Erupting Firebird. As long as he had time, he could already simultaneously shoot two of them.

    Those two exam candidates were not weak either, but when the ran into the Erupting Firebird, they were still sent flying.

    When Jin Ling¡¯er saw this, her pretty face sank a bit. ¡°Indeed a fierce character.¡±

    She actually backed up a few steps. Simultaneously, the silver-armored youth was already standing in front of her. He swung the steel spear in his hand, pointing it towards Su Chen.

    Su Chen nced at the youth, then at Jin Ling¡¯er, ¡°Do you only instruct others to fight your battles?¡±

    He hadn¡¯t expected that Jin Ling¡¯er wouldugh and reply, ¡°You¡¯re right!¡±

    She smacked Pan Yue¡¯s forehead. Pan Yue suddenly began to tremble, and his eyes constantly blinked, as if he were being struck by lightning repeatedly.

    After a moment, Jin Ling¡¯er retrieved her hand, and Pan Yue stood up. However, his gaze had be dim, and he looked like he had be an idiot. He didn¡¯t look much different from the silver-armored youth anymore.

    Jin Ling¡¯er pointed at Su Chen. ¡°Advance!¡±

    Pan Yue turned around to look at Su Chen. He bared his teeth, then howled like a wild beast. Surprisingly, he ferociously charged towards Su Chen.

    ¡°Bewitching Butterfly, Jin Ling¡¯er......¡± Su Chen muttered under his breath.

    He finally understood the implications behind this name.

    So his opponent actually possessed the ability to control other people.

    Was it an illusion technique?

    It was impossible to have an inurate nickname. There were many methods to control other people, but the method that Jin Ling¡¯er used was an illusion technique.

    However, as a member of a Bloodline Nobility n, her illusion techniques were much more powerful than Li¡¯s, able to directly control others to do whatever she wanted.

    If Li possessed this tactic, he would¡¯ve died a long time ago.

    Pan Yue had already charged over, howling.

    Upon seeing his crazed appearance, Su Chen sighed.

    Pan Yue had attempted to flee the entire time, incessantly pulling over opponents for Su Chen, but in the end he had also brought trouble on himself. He probably never would have anticipated that he would turn around to attack Su Chen himself.

    Su Chen casually struck out, and thunder rumbled. A powerful whirlpool of energy rushed towards Pan Yue.

    At the same time that he struck out, the silver-armored youth also took the opportunity to strike. He thrust the spear forwards. The spear flew through the sky like a mighty dragon, and the surrounding air was sent into a turmoil by the spear, forming a whirlwind around it. Obviously, this was also an extremely powerful Origin Skill. From its power it was clear that it was most likely a Bloodline Origin Skill.

    Su Chen hurriedly retreated, activating the Snaking Mist Steps. At the same time, he continued to unleash Thunder de strikes. Loud explosions sounded out when the des collided with the spear. He continued to focus his efforts on retreating, but even so he was forced to retreat hundreds of feet to escape the spear strike¡¯s area of effect.

    Pan Yue simultaneously charged forwards, waving his sword. He was a member of a Bloodline Nobility n in the first ce, and he was not weak. However, earlier his courage had received a heavy blow, and he lost all of his vigor. Now that he was being controlled by Jin Ling¡¯er, his cowardice had disappeared, and he could disy his full strength. He continuously struck out with the Feathered Sparrow Edge, resulting in many explosions in midair. His agile sword technique concealed a vicious killing tactic. If Su Chen was struck, he would instantly lose a portion of hisbat ability.

    When these two people attacked simultaneously, Su Chen also had to get serious.

    His figure moved like smoke, constantly striking out with vicious de strikes. The air was filled with the rumbling of thunder, and the wild Qi flow in the air was turbulent.

    Su Chen¡¯s Thunder de had finally reached the stage of small sess. Every time he struck out, the rumblings of thunder would appear, as if small stores of thunder had been scattered through the air. Although they weren¡¯t very powerful, they could be used in rapid session. In an instant, ten Thunder des exploded in the air. Pan Yue and the silver-armored youth charged Su Chen and were struck by countless Thunder des. The silver-armored youth came out alright, but Pan Yue was beaten ck and blue by the explosions.

    An astonished expression flickered across Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s eyes as she watched. ¡°Strange, why is it that the footwork technique he uses looks like the Gu n¡¯s Snaking Mist Steps, but those Thunder Hands look like one of the absolute techniques of the Thunder Spirit Bai n? Who is this young man? And why does he control the absolute techniques of two different ns?¡±

    This young woman had quite the breadth of experience. Surprisingly, she was even able to identify the Gu n¡¯s Snaking Mist Steps.

    At this moment, Su Chen was battling one on two, but he waspletely fearless. It seemed as if he was being pressured by the two of them, but his movements were unhurried, and as he retreated he continued to strike out with Thunder des. asionally, he would also counterattack with an Erupting Firebird. In contrast, although the silver-armored youth was quite powerful, his consciousness was being controlled by someone else, and hecked adaptability. Pan Yue¡¯s legs were injured, and although he had regained his courage to do battle, he had lost all of his wisdom, and hisbat strength was now only slightly higher than regr exam candidates.

    In the end, though the two of them seemingly held the advantage on the battlefield, they were actually losing out. If the battle continued, they would be exterminated by Su Chen.

    Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Indeed, you have some skill. You can actually hold your own against two Bloodline Nobility n members simultaneously. Not only do you possess powerful Origin Skills, but you also have an outstanding battle intuition. But unfortunately......¡±

    She began tough, ¡°Unfortunately, you¡¯re not just facing two Bloodline Nobility n members, but three!¡±

    As she spoke, she gazed at Su Chen, and a strange brilliance shed across her eyes.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 143: Bewitching Butterfly 2

    Chapter 143: Bewitching Butterfly (2)

    Su Chen activated his footwork technique. He looked like he was about to copse under the pressure, but in reality everything was under his control.

    Su Chen was still busy fighting the two of them when he suddenly felt his vision darken. He felt as though he was about to pass out for no reason.

    He had just blocked the silver-armored youth¡¯s steel spear and was about to dodge the Dark Extermination Sword when this bout of dizziness slowed him down. In a moment of crisis, Su Chen forcefully pushed past the dizziness and twisted his body in midair. The edge of the sword brushed past his waist, and blood gushed out.

    The sword only cut open a superficial wound, which burst open and formed a vicious wound. It was just a negligible scratch at first, but now Su Chen had sustained minor injury.

    Su Chen retreated. He nced at Jin Ling¡¯er, only to see a bright smile on her face, her eyes concealing a brilliant light. He barely met her gaze before he felt the dizziness wash over him even more powerfully.

    He knew the situation was not good, so he lowered his head, avoiding her gaze. Even so, that smile haunted his thoughts, and it even seemed as if there were faintughter echoing in his ears, affecting his state of mind and his ability to interpret his surroundings.

    Illusion Techniques!

    Unlike Li, Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s illusion techniques could even prate into a person¡¯s heart. They excelled at attacking a person¡¯s consciousness.

    Seeing the vicious wound on Su Chen¡¯s stomach, Jin Ling¡¯erughed, ¡°He recovered quite rapidly. What a pity...... let¡¯s try again.¡±

    As she spoke, she turned around and floated into the air, her colorful clothing scattering the sunlight into blurred rays of colored light. At a nce, she resembled a colorful butterfly.

    Jin Ling¡¯er waved her hands. Wind formed around them, carrying a perfume-like smell, before she sent a gust to enshroud Su Chen.

    Everyone who knew her would yell when they saw this. Jin Ling¡¯er had even used her Jade Dew Fragrance!

    The words ¡°Bewitching Butterfly¡±, just like ¡°Poisonous Centipede¡±, had two main implications. The word ¡°bewitching¡± indicated the might of her illusion techniques and her ability to control the consciousnesses of others. The word ¡°butterfly¡± referred to the Jade Dew Fragrance.

    Although Jin Ling¡¯er looked like she was being careless, in reality she had already taken out her trump cards.

    The Jade Dew Fragrance floated on the breeze toward Su Chen.

    Su Chen did not know what this fragrance was for, but that wasn¡¯t necessary to know it would not be easy to deal with.

    His hands struck out as thunder rumbled, shaking up the fragrant wind and keeping it at bay.

    However, against all of his expectations, this attack wasn¡¯t aimed at him. It had tricked him into making a move, but the silver-armored youth and Pan Yue simultaneously took in a deep breath. Immediately, their vigor returned to them.

    The silver-armored youth stabbed his spear toward Su Chen. This strike was like a dragon shaking its tail, carrying with it a frightening momentum.

    Su Chen swung his de to block the spear. The violent power of the spear denied any attempt from Su Chen at blocking it, as it knocked the de aside and stabbed Su Chen, piercing his defensive barrier. Pan Yue¡¯s Dark Extermination Sword also came flying in at this moment, its speed faster than before. Su Chen could not dodge it. He was left with only one option, which was to activate the Soul Eye which he had been preparing for a while now.

    He originally nned to ambush Jin Ling¡¯er with it. Although he looked like he was giving his full attention to this fight, he was calmly looking for an opportunity to deal with Jin Ling¡¯er. However, he was forced by Pan Yue to use the Soul Eye prematurely.

    Pan Yue¡¯s pause allowed Su Chen to speed past him, narrowly dodging theirbined attack.

    Su Chen was quite shocked. So that perfume isn¡¯t poisonous, it just raises one¡¯sbat abilities.

    Had known this was the case, he wouldn¡¯t have tried to avoid it. Rather, he would have taken a deep breath and let his body take in as much as he could.

    No, that¡¯s not right. Things definitely weren¡¯t as simple as that.

    If that were the case, wouldn¡¯t the Jade Dew Fragrance only be effective against those who weren¡¯t prepared for it, and those who were prepared for it could react appropriately?

    That meant......

    Su Chen nced at Pan Yue and the silver-armored youth. The two became even more filled with vigor.

    Thinking it over, he began to put the pieces together.

    It was highly likely that this Jade Dew Fragrance also had the ability to affect one¡¯s consciousness. If he had tried to breathe it in, assuming it was beneficial, he would have handed himself on a golden tter to his enemy.

    He nced at Jin Ling¡¯er again, who was gently floating down from midair.

    She was not disappointed by Su Chen¡¯s reaction to her Jade Dew Fragrance. She blew out a gust of air with her mouth instead.

    The fragrant wind swept toward Su Chen, causing more illusory images to appear in front of his eyes. Everywhere he looked, he saw endless copies of Pan Yue and the silver armored youth charging at him. He was unable to tell which ones were real and which ones were fake.

    This Jade Dew Fragrance was neither poison nor medicine. It was a Bloodline Origin Skill which could be controlled by those with the bloodline after being released. Not only could it bore into a person¡¯s consciousness and vitalize theirbat ability, it could also apply illusions of varying shapes and sizes. It had an incredible variety of applications. Jin Ling¡¯er was still young and couldn¡¯t draw out its full potential. Otherwise, the entire battlefield would be under the influence of her illusions. It would be next to impossible to distinguish between truth and illusion. The power of such a skill could be easily imagined.

    Even if she couldn¡¯t draw out its full potential, Su Chen still found it hard to deal with.

    He gazed at Jin Ling¡¯er, then suddenly said, ¡°I met Poison Centipede Kong Zhen. His poison was very powerful.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was taken aback. She had no idea why Su Chen would suddenly bring this up.

    Su Chen continued. ¡°But he was defeated. I also encountered a guy who was very proficient in battling at night, not at all hampered by the darkness, but he was also defeated. I also met an exam candidate skilled in the usage of chilling attacks. His Origin Skills could even neutralize all other Origin Skills, yet he was also defeated. They all were defeated because although their Origin Skills were indeed powerful, they were not invincible. They all had their own limitations.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s expression became slightly more serious. She watched Su Chen as he continued, ¡°Your illusion techniques are powerful enough to let you control someone and use them as you please. ording to reason, if you were able to control an expert, you would be invincible. But you didn¡¯t, did you? When you mentioned Ji Hanyan, you said no one would be stupid enough to provoke that crazy woman. That can only mean one thing: you can¡¯t control her. It doesn¡¯t stop there either ¨C you can¡¯t even control existences like Zhang Sheng¡¯an or Zhong Ding. Is that where the limitation of your Origin Skill lies? You cannot control those who are more powerful than you?¡±

    A look of disdain shed across Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s face. ¡°Is this the discovery you made after battling me? So what, it¡¯s still enough to deal with you.¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s not how it is!¡± Upon receiving Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s confirmation, Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Control via illusion techniques doesn¡¯t depend on the target¡¯s strength, but on their willpower!¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er revealed a shocked expression.

    Su Chenughed. ¡°It seems like my intuition was correct.¡±

    ¡°So what? How does knowing this help you in any way?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er waved her arms, sending the fragrant wind into motion again. The illusions formed, concealing the attacks of Pan Yue and the silver-armored youth.

    Su Chen went all-out to defend himself, but he continued to speak. ¡°I¡¯m not done talking yet. When you came, you only brought one person, but now you are controlling two people to deal with me. If your Origin Skill was that powerful, why didn¡¯t you bring more people to control? It¡¯s already been two days. If you wanted to, you could easily have controlled a few more people to do your bidding. But you didn¡¯t; instead, you only had one person with you. What does this mean? And earlier, you sent those two people to test me out before controlling Pan Yue. If you aren¡¯t stupid, why didn¡¯t you make the four of them attack me simultaneously? In addition, those two are still lying on the ground. You only have to wake them up and have them attack me simultaneously to make it a five-on-one fight. There¡¯s no way I could possibly win. So why haven¡¯t you done so?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s expression finally changed.

    Su Chenughed. ¡°That¡¯s because it consumes too much energy, right? You can control more targets, but every additional person you control increases the burden on you. You have only kept one person by your side, and only during battle will you temporarily add another one, maybe two. Thus, I have no need to go all-out with you. As long as I maintain my conviction, you cannot control me. And as long as I endure in battle, even if I can¡¯t defeat you, I can at least tire you out until you copse. Tell me I¡¯m wrong.¡±

    ¡°Dammit!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er began to panic.

    Su Chen had hit the nail on the head. This was Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s greatest weakness. Although her control Origin Skill was very powerful and could cause others to do her bidding without question, she could not control those with a powerful will, and she could not control too many targets at once. Every second she controlled someone¡¯s consciousness, her Origin Energy was being drained, and if the target¡¯s will was attempting to resist, that consumption would greatly increase. If not for these drawbacks, she would be absolutely invincible ¨C as long as she controlled Ji Hanyan, Zhong Ding, and Zhang Sheng¡¯an, who could defeat her?

    Su Chen had seen right through the weakness of her Origin Skill from the very beginning.

    All he had to do was endure. He would let her exhaust her energy, and he would win.

    There was one other thing he could do besides enduring, which was to taunt his opponent.

    He said in a low voice, ¡°Pan Yue, are you still asleep? Do you really want to be this woman¡¯s puppet for the rest of your life?¡±

    Pan Yue¡¯s eyes became unfocused for a moment. The resistance of his will became stronger.

    ¡°Shoot.¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was shocked. She strengthened her control over Pan Yue, causing her energy consumption to skyrocket.

    You two useless bastards, howe you still haven¡¯t taken care of him? Jin Ling¡¯er cursed in rage.

    At this moment, Su Chen focused all his attention on escaping, activating the Snaking Mist Steps to its limit. He didn¡¯t even bother counterattacking, instead choosing to dy as much as he could.

    Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s expression turned uglier. ¡°Bastard, do you think this tactic alone is enough to deal with me? Even without illusion techniques, the Bewitching Butterfly Jin n is not so easy to provoke.¡±

    A sword appeared in her hand as she shot toward Su Chen like a plume of smoke. She stabbed out, her strikes raining down like a blizzard.

    The three bloodline experts attacked together. The spear wind and sword images generated a frightening turbulent flow.

    When faced with the spear and sword waves, Su Chen could only retreat.

    As he retreated, he pulled out all kinds of random items from his ring and mmed them toward his opponents. These included his cooking and eating utensils, such as a pot anddle, as well as some beast hides and bones he had obtained after killing Vicious Beasts. There were even a few strange vials, beakers, and wine jugs.

    Upon seeing such a scene, Jin Ling¡¯erughed. ¡°You¡¯ve run out of tactics, haven¡¯t you? Look at your sorry figure, you¡¯re just throwing garbage at me now!¡±

    The three continued their onught amidst Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s maniacalughter.

    She flew into the air like a butterfly, scattering a hazy light through the air. One had to admit that even without her Bloodline illusion techniques, Jin Ling¡¯er still possessed quite formidablebat prowess. With two people supporting her both sides, numerous Bloodline Origin Skills exploded forth. No matter what Su Chen did, he was unable to block it all.

    However, at that precise moment, Jin Ling¡¯er saw a strange smile appear on Su Chen¡¯s face.

    When she saw that smile, she knew something was wrong.

    An intense sensation of danger washed over her, but she couldn¡¯t tell where it wasing from. She instinctively retreated a few steps.

    Su Chen retrieved his hand, then made a gesture like a lotus flower opening.

    That was...... an explosion?

    Fear appeared in Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s eyes.

    All she could do was add a defensive barrier to herself as fast as she could.

    BOOM!

    A giant explosion blossomed at her feet, like a red lotus opening, tossing Jin Ling¡¯er into the air.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 144: Bewitching Butterfly 3

    Chapter 144: Bewitching Butterfly (3)

    A ferocious explosion ensued,ying waste to a vast area. Hundreds of feet away the shockwaves could still be felt, and the three Su Chen targeted received the brunt force of it.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was at the nucleus of the explosion, and the violent waves of energy rocked the Bewitching Butterfly into the air, breaking her magic barrier. Several aftershocks mmed into Jin Ling¡¯er, causing her to spit out a mouthful of blood.

    With sword in hand, streaks of light erupted forth in a final attempt to endure. In the next instant, she met eyes with Su Chen, jolting her mind. That guy even has consciousness-type attacks!?

    It was already far toote for Jin Ling¡¯er as an Erupting Firebird came screaming towards her.

    Just when it seemed that Jin Ling¡¯er had no way of defending herself, Pan Yue flew forwards with a yell, using his body to intercept the firebird.

    Pan Yue was already in a precarious state after the injuries he received earlier on. This forceful interception sted a giant hole in his chest, causing chunks of blood and gore to rain down.

    Before she could blink her eyes, another object flew toward Jin Ling¡¯er.

    This time, it was a wine jug. Although it didn¡¯t seemrge, Jin Ling¡¯er intuitively knew its size didn¡¯t represent its power.

    A cry erupted from her throat at that critical moment. A silver light shot forwards from her sword and mmed into the wine jug.

    BANG! The wine jug exploded. Jin Ling¡¯er was sent flying another tens of feet by the powerful waves of energy.

    She finally understood where the previous explosion hade from. But she was a step toote yet again.

    What awaited her was a vicious punch from Su Chen.

    Bang!

    Su Chen showed no mercy even though she was a woman. His fist mmed into her face,ying her out.

    Su Chen let out a long, deep sigh. His legs swayed beneath him as he almost fell over.

    Although the path to victory seemed like a walk in the park, it was narrow and fraught with peril. Su Chen kept a graceful and carefree appearance throughout the battle, but this arduous fight had nearly pushed him to his limits.

    Battle mathematics were very strange. When their strengths were roughly equivalent, one plus one was greater than two. When their strengths were far apart, one plus one was less than two.

    Su Chen¡¯s strength was at the same level as Pan Yue and the silver-armored youth. When the two of them teamed up, they put a significant amount of pressure on Su Chen. This was not even including Jin Ling¡¯er, who possessed quite considerable strength herself.

    Under normal circumstances, he could not possibly have won.

    Even if he had the exploding wine jugs, it wouldn¡¯t have made a difference.

    Su Chen was very clear that people like Jin Ling¡¯er were very good at protecting themselves. If he were to toss out the wine jug, she would definitely avoid it even if she had never seen it before. She was rather fast and agile as well, which could be seen by the fact that she had released the Jade Dew Fragrance while in midair.

    Thus, Su Chen hade to the conclusion to hold out on using this technique at the start, choosing another method instead.

    He had purposefully spoken, pointing out the weakness of Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s Origin Skill to emphasize that as long as he continued to dy, he could defeat her. In the end, Jin Ling¡¯er simplycked experience, and she fell right into his trap.

    In reality, Su Chen was the more likely one of the two to first copse from exhaustion given the condition he was in. That was, if he could endure the barrage of attacksunched at him.

    But once Su Chen had ensnared her with his words, Jin Ling¡¯er lost her cool. She took the initiative to attack, ying right into Su Chen¡¯s hands.

    Su Chen¡¯s wine jugs exploded as a result of the mixing of two distinct liquids; depending on the way he mixed it, he could time the moment of explosion.

    Su Chen usually twisted the handle of the wine jugs to their maximum, allowing the liquids to mix as fast as possible to generate an instantaneous explosion.

    This time, however, Su Chen only twisted the handle a little, causing the liquids to mix at a much slower rate. This method was extensively tested by Su Chen, and he was confident in his ability to get the timing down to the second.

    After setting the time for the wine jug to explode, Su Chen had tossed out all of the random objects inside his ring just like they were rubbish.

    Of course, these objects posed no threat to those three people, and they would not explode instantaneously, so Jin Ling¡¯er had lost her wariness.

    But she had not expected that Su Chen would throw something out that would explode on a dyed timer.

    Su Chen was carefully keeping track of time from the very beginning. Right before the explosion was set to ur, he had drawn the three of them into the st radius.

    Everything had been meticulously nned out by him. If any segment of his n had gone wrong, he definitely would have lost.

    Even so, because he had made a small miscalction, Su Chen was also struck by the remnants of the shockwave. Thankfully, he had applied many barriers to himself in the first ce, allowing him to avoid being injured.

    Su Chen was exhausted, both mentally and physically, and he was about to copse.

    After knocking Jin Ling¡¯er out, Su Chen nced at Pan Yue only to discover his corpse. The Erupting Firebird had already taken Pan Yue¡¯s life.

    Su Chen stood in a daze, then muttered to himself, ¡°Now that¡¯s what you call an ident.¡±

    ng!

    A noise came from behind him. Su Chen quickly turned around, and found himself looking at the silver-armored youth. Although this youth was struck with the sessive wine jugs explosions, he was the first to regain consciousness.

    Members of Bloodline Nobility ns were really annoying to deal with.

    Su Chen prepared to face of with this youth, but here seemed to be no need. After the youth gazed at Jin Ling¡¯er, he seemed to remember something as he let out a cry and ran away.

    He ran? Su Chen was speechless.

    It seemed the intellect of this youth wasn¡¯t particrly praiseworthy. With such a cowardly attitude, it was no surprise he fell victim to Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s puppet technique.

    ¡°Alright, it seems it¡¯s just you and me now.¡± Su Chen turned around to look at Jin Ling¡¯er.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Su Chen was unaware of the turmoil his fight with Jin Ling¡¯er had caused in the high tower.

    The exam was already in its third day, with less candidates remaining every minute. The ones still standing received more and more time on the light screen.

    Su Chen was one of the few frequently shown, and the battle between him and Jin Ling¡¯er was shown in its entirety.

    Su Chen had actually defeated Jin Ling¡¯er, the Bewitching Butterfly?

    His nighttime chase was already breathtaking enough, but it was nothingpared to how they felt after watching him beat Jin Ling¡¯er.

    Although Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s martial strength wasn¡¯t anything special, she could control other people, so she always possessed a numbers advantage. Herbat prowess was nothing to look down on, and she could definitely be considered one of the strongest participants in the exam along with Ji Hanyan and Zhong Ding.

    For her to fall victim to someone without a bloodline was beyond shocking. Everyone was stunned speechless.

    Someone said, ¡°It seems like a new Long Pojun is about to appear. After taking Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s points, he is destined to be part of the top ten.¡±

    ¡°What Long Pojun? He just used a couple cheap tricks is all. His actual strength is average at best. In a fair fight, he definitely won¡¯t be a worthy opponent for anyone in the top ten. It¡¯s only because he¡¯s crafty and enjoys using sneak attacks that he can contest with the top ten.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! He used those wine jugs quite well, but that¡¯s not his own strength. If they were to have a rematch, Jin Ling¡¯er would definitely not fall for his cheap tricks again.¡±

    ¡°Jin Ling¡¯er was simply too careless, giving him an opportunity to turn the tables on her.¡±

    ¡°Still, he calcted everything while under the pressure of those three. That¡¯s not easy.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not easy, but not very useful either. The path of shrewdness and scheming is narrow. When faced with a horde of beasts, no amount of tactics for disturbing the opponent¡¯s state of mind will be useful. Only true strength will reign supreme.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re absolutely correct. Although he can enter the top ten, he is not Long Pojun. He does not possess the same natural strength.¡±

    ¡°I think you¡¯re wrong. Strength can be trained, intellect can¡¯t. If it were me, I would put my money on that youth.¡±

    ¡°...... Hmm, that actually makes quite a bit of sense.¡±

    ¡°However, this kid ruined any hope for a future in this world. He actually dared to kill a member of the Pan n. Hehe, Pan Xiang definitely won¡¯t let him go.¡±

    The various nobles voiced their own opinions. Some were shocked, others had ill intentions, and still others were enraged.

    Amongst therge group of people, a few pairs of eyes were fixated on Su Chen, as if they were trying to memorize every facet of his appearance.

    A low voice sounded out. ¡°He dared to kill my son. That kid must die!¡±

    At the same time, Su Changche was facing a simr amount of distress.

    On one hand, Su Chen had sessfully entered the top ten, and many people came forth to congratte him. But on the other hand, Su Chen had permanently offended a powerful Bloodline Nobility n.

    What was the Su n to do? Su Changche was at a loss.

    Su Cheng¡¯an was much calmer. Watching his son kill Pan Yue, the turmoil in his heart found peace.

    Someone just so happened to be congratting him at the time. Su Cheng¡¯an replied in a low voice, ¡°There¡¯s no need to congratte me. That unfilial boy has not been my son for a long time. Whatever sesses he obtains, they have nothing to do with me. Simrly, whatever cmities he invites upon himself, they have nothing to do with me.¡±

    However harsh these words sounded, they were how he truly felt.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 145: A New Cooperation 1

    Chapter 145: A New Cooperation (1)

    After opening her eyes, Jin Ling¡¯er sat up with much difficulty. She felt a dull pain on her nose and carefully felt with her hand if everything was in ce. When she looked her hand, it was dyed red with blood.

    That bastard! He punched me in the nose! How dare he do something so vile to a tender, young girl like me!

    Her heart was filled with rage. She scanned her surroundings for him, but when she saw Su Chen her countenance changed. He walked over to her in an imposing matter, causing her to understand the situation she was in. She hid her jade tablet behind her hands and screamed, ¡°I can give you the points. Just don¡¯t shatter my jade tablet!¡±

    Su Chen stopped, then aimed the long de in his hand at Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°Now you¡¯re trying to negotiate with me? What were you doing before?¡±

    A trace of rage shed across Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s eyes. ¡°If it weren¡¯t for the fact that you used despicable, underhanded means, do you think I¡¯d be afraid of you?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°You truly are the young miss of a noble n. You don¡¯t even know how to beg for mercy.¡±

    He mmed the blunt end of the de into Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s back, sending her into the ground.

    ¡°YOU!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was infuriated. Today was the first day in her life someone dared to treat her in such a way.

    Su Chen grabbed her by the throat, pointed at Pan Yue¡¯s corpse, and said, ¡°You¡¯d best be clear about the situation you¡¯re in. You¡¯ll realize having your jade tablet shattered is not the scariest thing that can happen to you.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s heart trembled when she saw the corpse. ¡°Y-you killed him?¡±

    ¡°You and I together did,¡± Su Chen corrected. ¡°That Erupting Firebird was originally meant for you. But it isn¡¯t important who killed who. What is important, is that right now, I have already offended a Bloodline Nobility n. I don¡¯t care to offend another one. Are we clear?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er anger quickly turned into shock. Her heart trembled when she saw the cold mask and expressionless eyes. All she felt in this moment was terror.

    The pain in her nose rose up again, thest straw to break the camel¡¯s back, as she burst into tears.

    Watching the tears run down the young girl¡¯s cheeks, Su Chen was dazed.

    He never expected for Jin Ling¡¯er, the Bewitching Butterfly, one of the most powerful seedlings in this exam, would have such a weak side to her.

    She was the very picture of a weeping beauty, softening the hearts of all who saw it. No trace of her might could be found right now.

    Even Su Chen was somewhat ufortable. His heart, usually as hard as steel, softened.

    He gently coughed and said, ¡°Okay, don¡¯t cry, I didn¡¯t say I would kill you.¡±

    His words seemed to have no effect. The tears still rolling down Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s cheeks without end. Eventually she managed to ask, ¡°Y-you won¡¯t shatter my jade tablet? I can stay here?¡±

    ¡°If you promise not to bother me ever again,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°How would I even bother you?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er burbled. ¡°It took me forever just to control someone from a Bloodline Nobility n, but he ran away because of you. That guy won¡¯t let me get close to him again. Where will I find another weak-willed individual who¡¯s that strong?¡±

    ¡°But you will definitely find one, right?¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°That is, if you¡¯re not too picky with your food.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er rolled her eyes at him. ¡°Alright, I swear on my Jin n¡¯s bloodline I won¡¯t bother you for the rest of the exam if you don¡¯t shatter my jade tablet. In fact, I won¡¯t ever bother you again, not even after the exam is over!¡±

    ¡°See? That wasn¡¯t too hard, was it?¡± Su Chen retrieved his de, then took away the points from Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s jade tablet.

    Jin Ling¡¯er had arge number of points. Su Chen instantly earned a hundred sixty two points, giving him some pause as well. ¡°That many?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er pouted. ¡°If I had more, you would¡¯ve just taken them anyways. Now it¡¯s all ruined. Losing all those points, I definitely can¡¯t enter the top 10 now.¡±

    She looked like she was about to break down in tears yet again.

    Su Chen hurriedlyforted her. ¡°Hey, hey, don¡¯t cry, okay? Isn¡¯t it just a top ten ranking? Why care so much about a stupid, empty title?¡±

    ¡°What do you know!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er yelled. ¡°If you can enter the top 10, you will be considered a seedling with great potential, and you will gain many additional benefits in the Hidden Dragon Institute.¡±

    ¡°Additional benefits?¡± Su Chen was stunned. ¡°Like what?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s so many... ess to the best cultivation grounds, the authority to borrow books from the main library, preferential treatment from the teachers who will even give you pointers, and so much more. Many of these privileges are only for the seedlings of the institute. Why else would I try so hard? If all I wanted was to enter the Hidden Dragon Institute, I could¡¯ve stopped fighting a long time ago. But none of it matters anymore since I ran into you. You¡¯re clearly weaker than me, yet I lost. I lost to you and you took my future status as seedling!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er said, feeling more and more wronged.

    If someone stronger came along and beat her ck and blue, she could ept it. But Su Chen was weaker than her, and could only achieve victory by deploying dirty tricks. It would be odd if she wasn¡¯t upset about this.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Su Chen rubbed his chin.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t care all that much about where he cultivated. With his eyes, which could see Origin Energy, he did not need many cultivation resources. However, ess to the institute¡¯srge library was crucial to him.

    In this world, knowledge was extremely valuable. For every piece of information, arge sum would have to be paid.

    Rumor had it that the Hidden Dragon Institutes¡¯ library had thergest collection of books in the entire Long Sang country. Not only did it possess all kinds of Origin Skills and absorption techniques, there was also vast amounts of precious information.

    The books were hidden behind the walls of the library. If you couldn¡¯t enter, you couldn¡¯t read. So getting ess was vital to Su Chen.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know which tier of ess the top 10 seedlings would obtain, but if this was a shortcut to obtain at least some level of ess, he definitely needed to fight for it.

    At least, that was before. Now it seemed he already had enough points to make the top 10.

    Su Chen already had a grand total of 587 points after defeating both Jin Ling¡¯er and Pan Yue.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t quite know what this number implied, but he figured it was at least enough to put him in the top 10.

    He only needed to perform some simple math to determine this.

    Around 10,000 students participated in the exam, and each candidate started with three points, meaning there were about 30,000 points. When incorporating the points for killing Vicious Beasts, the total number probably didn¡¯t exceed 50,000.

    If 10 people had the number of points Su Chen did, they would make up for about a tenth of the total points in y.

    Thus, Su Chen¡¯s ranking definitely was not low. If he was ranked 50th, then the top 100 would have 500 points on average. 100 people would share all the points.

    This train of thought was definitely a viable possibility, but based on how many exam candidates he had met along the way, there were probably more left. He reckoned it was even possible for there to be over 1000 exam candidates still in the exam grounds.

    With so many people still fighting for the spots, the exam candidates at the front of the ranking would not possess an abnormal number of points. The top 10 Jing Ling¡¯er told him about was probably not too steep of a mountain for him to climb.

    In the end, Su Chen could only make such estimations. The Hidden Dragon Institute only told candidates their number of points, not their ranking. No one knew where they stood on the leaderboards, so no one dared to ck off. This was their goal. They didn¡¯t wish for the participants to be satisfied with their rankings and growzy.

    Originally, Su Chen had set his eyes on one of the four spots allocated to Northface City. But after hearing this new information, there was no way he would be satisfied with his original goals any longer. His eyes were set on the top 10! Luckily, he obtained many points during his chase after Pan Yue.

    Su Chen finished running the calctions and said, ¡°Do you want to be in the top ten?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er gazed at him with watery eyes. ¡°Are you kidding me?¡±

    ¡°I can help you,¡± Su Chen exined.

    ¡°Help me?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was speechless. ¡°How would you help me?¡±

    ¡°We can team up,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°Don¡¯t you need someone to control? I¡¯ll be that person. How about it?¡±

    ¡°What...?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was dumbfounded.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 146: A New Cooperation 2

    Chapter 146: A New Cooperation (2)

    Jin Ling¡¯er had yet to respond, but the guests on top of the high tower already understood Su Chen¡¯s intention.

    The tower was thrown into a mor once again.

    They began discussing Su Chen¡¯s slyness.

    ¡°I¡¯mpletely convinced by this little demon. He can even think up such a n,¡± someone sighed in praise.

    ¡°Yes, he can pretend to be Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s guard while still possessing his own intellect and wits. He can pretend to be stiff and inflexible, then adapt in a critical moment. When they start fighting, people who are unaware of it will pay quite the price.¡±

    ¡°They could even take it a step further. Jing Ling¡¯er could also find another person to control, hiding her strength until an opportune moment.¡±

    ¡°They can conceal the strength of two under one. No matter who they fight, their opponent will suffer a big loss.¡±

    Everyone offered their thoughts on the situation, constantly praising Su Chen¡¯s actions.

    Of course, there were also those who mocked Su Chen, saying it didn¡¯t matter what little tricks he yed. In their eyes, his life was over the moment he offended the Pan n. Others argued that the Pan n was just a mixedblood n and that if Su Chen wanted to find safety in their n, they would dly take him in.

    Nobility ns also possessed different statuses. Differentiating them between pureblood and mixedblood was the mostmon method of distinguishing them.

    The person who spoke was an important individual in the pureblood Lu n. In the entire Three Mountains Regions, he could be considered unparalleled. When he extended his hand to support Su Chen, many followed after.

    Those worried for Su Chen¡¯s well-being, especially the ones from the Su n, felt as though a weight was lifted from their chests.

    If they could obtain the protection of the Lu n, they couldpletely disregard the Pan n.

    Su Cheng¡¯an felt a rollercoaster of emotions these past few minutes. At this point, he wasn¡¯t sure if he needed to find an opportunity to recognize this son of his again.

    But this thought was quickly discarded. As an elder, he would never bow his head to his son; he simply couldn¡¯t deal with the loss of face that came with it. Then again, if he didn¡¯t do it, he wouldn¡¯t be considered the one to have fostered this genius.

    The conflict in his heart was indescribable.

    Back on the exam grounds, Jin Ling¡¯er thought for a moment, finally understanding the underlying reasoning behind this proposal. She eximed happily, ¡°Great idea! We can bait people in, then destroy them. With your help, I won¡¯t be afraid even if I run into Zhang Sheng¡¯an or Zhong Ding. However......¡±

    She lowered her voice. ¡°Pretending to have your consciousness controlled is not easy. Can you do it?¡±

    ¡°Tell me, how does this look?¡± Su Chen replied. His expression changed. His eyes, moments ago filled with spirit and vigor, were wooden. He really did look like he had lost control of his consciousness.

    ¡°Hm? How is your imitation that urate?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was caught off-guard.

    When the Su n members saw this, they cursed in their hearts.

    Dammit, isn¡¯t this exactly how that little brat looked when he was pretending to be blind?

    The blind and those who had lost control over their consciousness shared quite a few simrities. Their eyes, for example, both looked spiritless, sluggish, and apathetic.

    Su Chen¡¯s acting was outstanding. He definitely had put an extensive amount of practice into this wooden look.

    When Gu Qingluo saw that familiar appearance, her face sank even more. She muttered to herself, ¡°If...... then...... you¡¯re dead for sure!¡±

    When she thought about it, her anger surged, scaring those nearby into retreating. They didn¡¯t understand why this young miss suddenly began to emit such power.

    Meanwhile, Jin Ling¡¯er and Su Chen had reached an agreement, after which they began to act on it.

    They formed a team and began to hunt for targets in the first region.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was powerful, but that didn¡¯t mean she could sweep through the entire first region unopposed. After all, as time had gone on, most of the exam candidates that remained were quite powerful, and many of them were members of Bloodline Nobility ns. To make matters worse, many of them had teamed up. If Jin Ling¡¯er wished to ambush them, she would have to put in quite some effort.

    There was no one who would wantonly walk into a fight. Understanding how to size up an opponent was a critical skill to possess in this kind of environment. If there was an exception, it was most likely that crazy woman, Frostbird Ji Hanyan. She had a tendency of rushing into a fight, trampling anyone in her path.

    However, with the support of Su Chen, Jin Ling¡¯er could set her sights on a much bigger number of the exam candidates.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was already one of the most powerful exam candidates, and Su Chen was not weak either. When the two of them teamed up and concealed their strength, anyone they ran into would suffer a huge loss.

    That same afternoon, the two of them encountered a powerful five-man toon. They were well aware of Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s abilities, so they assumed she was alone and engaged her in this five-on-one battle.

    If it wasn¡¯t for Su Chen here, there was no way she would fight these five. Even if she could control one or two of them, she would still be at a disadvantage, and if she lost control of one of them, she would be as good as done for.

    Right now, nothing was like normal. Jin Ling¡¯er wasn¡¯t controlling Su Chen in the first ce, so she began to control the enemy.

    She forcefully took over the two with the weakest willpower and turned the tables on them in an instant. The two-on-five quickly turned into a four-on-three. Su Chen exploded forth with power, using two Erupting Firebirds and a wine jug to knock one of the three remaining out. With only two left, they had no hope of holding out; their loss was catastrophic. They were enraged, cursing Jin Ling¡¯er and Su Chen for being shamelessly deceitful.

    The sessful cooperation caused Jin Ling¡¯er to beam with joy. This battle caused her to regain some of the points she had lost.

    After the battle was over, Jin Ling¡¯er kept the strongest under her control. She didn¡¯t let him walk with her, instead hiding him in the nearby bushes.

    Everything went exactly as the guests on the high tower had predicted. The duo became the greatest con artist duo in the first region. No one expected that Jin Ling¡¯er, one of the strongest exam candidates, would team up with someone. Everyone knew she prefered to be a loner. Their teamwork was perfectly hidden from view. Anyone who ran into them would suffer a huge loss, usually resulting in a bout of cursing.

    But no matter how they cursed, Su Chen and Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s points were rapidly surging. This was an uncontestable fact.

    As the duo wrapped up another sessful ambush, they heard a loud voice booming through the forest. ¡°You pathetic woman, let my brother go!¡±

    A furious fist wind struck towards Jin Ling¡¯er.

    Jin Ling¡¯er hadn¡¯t anticipated this sudden attack. She was almost struck by the blow, but thankfully Su Chen charged over, intercepting the blow as he yelled, ¡°Wang Doushan!¡±

    As expected, Wang Doushan had also arrived in the first region. When he saw Su Chen under the control of that vile woman, he had instantly gone into action.

    Hearing Su Chen call out his name, Wang Doushan paused, stunned. ¡°Su Chen? Weren¡¯t you under the control of this little girl? Goddammit, howe you seem fine to me?¡±

    Su Chen gazed at Wang Doushan, clearly moved. ¡°You thought that I was being controlled by her, yet you still dared to make a move?¡±

    Just Su Chen himself was not much weaker than Wang Doushan, not to mention Jin Ling¡¯er.

    Despite this, Wang Doushan had still chosen to his brother¡¯s rescue. How could Su Chen not be moved?

    Wang Doushan giggled. ¡°No matter what, you saved my life. I can¡¯t be indifferent about you falling prey to this pretty girl¡¯s hands, can I? But how did this happen? Howe you hooked up with this pretty girl?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er blushed. ¡°Damned fatty, watch your mouth. What do you mean, ¡®pretty girl¡¯, ¡¯hook up¡¯?¡±

    The three of them found a ce to sit down, after which Su Chen told Wang Doushan all that had happened.

    Hearing that Su Chen was just pretending to be controlled by Jin Ling¡¯er to deceive their opponents, Wang Doushan guffawed. ¡°You fucker! Not bad, you can even think of such a n. This sounds pretty fun. Let me try it too!¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er beamed. ¡°With you here, we¡¯re a three man team, and we should be able to sweep across the entire exam grounds unperturbed. Even if we run into Ji Hanyan, we don¡¯t need to be afraid.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, that¡¯s right.¡± Wang Doushan repeatedly nodded his head. However, he thought for a moment, then shook his head. ¡°We should be able to trample over most here, but as for Ji Hanyan, let¡¯s forget about it.¡±

    Even though they had the strength of three people, he still had no confidence.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 147: Cold Frost 1

    Chapter 147: Cold Frost (1)

    The expansion of their team greatly increased their strength once again. They could crown themselves the unofficial overlords of the first region. After all, under normal circumstances, the exam candidates would not usually gather into groups that were toorge. Points were still the primary motivation. With too many people, the number of points would also decrease; there wouldn¡¯t be much point in forming an alliance.

    Jin Ling¡¯er, Su Chen, and Wang Doushan set off, charging at any participant they ran into.

    If their opponents were weak, they would just charge forwards. If their opponents were actual opponents, the three of them would conceal their strength. Su Chen and Wang Doushan both would explode with strength at just the right moment, and Jin Ling¡¯er would also subdue a few of them. With their strength and number of allies ever-changing, their opponents sufferedplete defeat. How did this happen?

    They cheerfully cheated people out of their points, sweeping through the entire region. Wherever they went, their enemies would flee from them with all their might.

    The trio hunted points, rxed andfortable. Unbeknownst to them, their friendship also began to improve.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was still upset with Su Chen at first, but as their teamwork progressed, she began to feel that he wasn¡¯t so bad and did in fact possess some poise. Although they had agreed to take turns harvesting points, Su Chen would always leave the strongest person to her. Everyone knew that under normal circumstances, the strongest person would also possess the most points.

    If there were any extra individuals after divvying up the points, Su Chen would do his best to give their points to Jin Ling¡¯er as well, causing Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s favorable impression of him to greatly increase.

    Human rtionships were often strange like that. Su Chen had taken her points back then, kicking her out of the top 10. Now, all he was doing was giving her some of those points back, and she had already next to forgotten everything that had happened. They were getting along as though they had been friends for years.

    After some time, Jin Ling¡¯er had regained all of the points that she had lost. She had earned the most points in this period of time ¨C this n of concealing their true strength had the benefit of giving them a much wider range of targets to choose from.

    Of course, they couldn¡¯tpletely avoid any tough battles.

    After hunting most of the morning, they finally met their first real adversary in the afternoon.

    It was Blood Demon Zhong Ding.

    Blood Demon Zhong Ding was from the Bloodriver n.

    The Bloodriver Demon was an ancient Demonic Beast that possessed frightening amounts of strength. During the Illustrious Divine Dynasty, several Bloodriver Demons wreaked havoc on the human race¡¯s territory, forming a barren wastnd hundreds of kilometers wide. Tens of thousands of people died. Finally, the Illustrious Divine Dynasty had sent out four Light Shaking Realm cultivators. After a fierce, three-day battle, they wiped them outpletely.

    In this battle, they obtained the Bloodriver Demon bloodline.

    It was gifted to three ns for their meritorious services. The Zhong n was one of them.

    Blood Demon Zhong Ding was the most outstanding descendant of his generation. After his Bloodriver Demon bloodline was awakened, he obtained a blood-sucking ability. He could drain his opponents of their blood, recovering his physical strength and Origin Energy. He could also consume the blood to generate a blood clone with powerfulbat prowess. Finally, he could freely teleport around his clones with his true body.

    However, just like Jin Ling¡¯er, Zhong Ding couldn¡¯t create too many blood clones. That would result in great injury to him, and could be considered one of his limitations.

    In this battle, Jin Ling¡¯er controlled an exam candidate. When adding on Su Chen and Wang Doushan, it was a four-on-one battle. Blood Demon Zhong Ding created three blood clones, teleporting back and forth between them. He was probably the most difficult opponent tond a hit on. His Blood Demon Needles and ck Fiend Hands were both top-notch Origin Skills, leaving the three flustered for quite some time.

    That all changed when Su Chen discovered his limitations. He decisively switched to a more fluid battle style, avoiding any forceful confrontations and preventing him from being able to suck their blood and recover. The moment they did this, they put Zhong Ding at a disadvantage. Although his three blood clones were powerful, they expended arge amount of energy. As soon as he lost his ability to recover energy through battle, these clones became his greatest burden.

    In the end, Zhong Ding was forced to give up and flee. Even so, his strength was really impressive. Although he couldn¡¯t beat the trio, they had no way of keeping him tied up either. In the end, their fight was in vain as they received no benefits.

    As they watched the Blood Demon disappear into the distance, the three of them had no desire to chase after him. They sat down and sighed.

    Wang Doushan shook his head and said, ¡°Motherfucker, we couldn¡¯t beat him even when taking him on four-on-one. A Lord-ss bloodline truly is formidable.¡±

    ¡°Lord-ss?¡± Su Chen asked. ¡°There¡¯s a ranking system?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er piped up. ¡°Oh, right, you¡¯re from a n without a bloodline. Obtaining an average Demonic Beast¡¯s bloodline is enough in most cases. You probably won¡¯t encounter those with higher ss bloodlines very often. You do know the ranking of Vicious Beasts, right?¡±

    Su Chen nodded his head. ¡°Vicious Beasts are divided into high, medium, and low tiers. There¡¯s also the peak-level. The four tiers are all equivalent to variousyers in the Qi Drawing and Blood Boiling Realms.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Demonic Beasts are divided into high, medium, and low tiers. Any higher and they¡¯re considered lord-ss beasts,¡± Wang Doushan said. ¡°Blood Demon Zhong Ding¡¯s bloodline is from the Bloodriver Demon, which is a lord-ss Demonic Beast.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. Does that mean that above a lord-ss beast are the Demon Kings and Demon Emperors?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± the two of them simultaneously responded.

    Blood Demon Zhong Ding¡¯s Bloodriver Demon bloodline was from a lord-ss Demonic Beast, while Wang Doushan and Jin Ling¡¯er only possessed bloodlines from high-tier Demonic Beasts. They were a tier worse than the Bloodriver Demon, so it was unsurprising they were inferior to Zhong Ding.

    Su Chen remembered that Wang Doushan had mentioned that Ji Hanyan and Wang Doushan possessed bloodlines of simr grades. He said, ¡°Do you think Blood Demon Zhong Ding is stronger than Ji Hanyan?¡±

    ¡°Ji Hanyan also possesses a lord-ss Demonic Beast bloodline, but Zhong Ding can¡¯tpare to her at all,¡± Wang Doushan shook his head and sighed. ¡°Although Zhong Ding is an expert with a lord-ss bloodline, Ji Hanyan is a genius that only appears every five hundred years. Not only has she awoken two bloodlines, but even if she only had one, Zhong Ding still wouldn¡¯t be her opponent.¡±

    When Su Chen heard this, he was rendered speechless.

    Earlier, Wang Doushan had imed that Ji Hanyan was only stronger than him because she had awoken two bloodlines. It seemed this brother of his was boasting of having strength way beyond what he was actually capable of.

    Jin Ling¡¯er suddenly said, ¡°You want to know how strong Ji Hanyan is? That¡¯s pretty easy. Just test it out for yourself.¡±

    Su Chen was startled and was about to say something when he saw that Jin Ling¡¯er was staring daggers at something behind him.

    He turned around in surprise to find that a person was charging towards them at high speed.

    It was a woman wearing a blue robe. She was extremely beautiful, but her face was as cold as ice.

    She charged toward the trio, the wind whipping around her and generating a violent vortex around her. As she moved, the frigid wind became like a tornado, roiling towards them.

    ¡°It¡¯s Ji Hanyan!¡± Wang Doushan yelled.

    Even though she was far away, the woman had already lifted her hand, sending a palm strike rumbling towards them.

    The rumbling turned into a deafening roar. A momentter, a frigid hailstorm loomed over them.

    It swallowed the three of them up like a tsunami as the wind screamed around them.

    The Frostbird had always possessed an overbearing personality. She didn¡¯t waste any time on words, engaging them instantly.

    Frostbird White Ice Fists!

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 148: Cold Frost 2

    Chapter 148: Cold Frost (2)

    One fist covered the ground in frost.

    Although it couldn¡¯t yet blot out the sun, it still possessed tremendous power. Everything in a hundred-foot radius was covered in a thickyer of frost, and the frigid fist wind seemed to pierce into their bodies.

    Su Chen, Wang Doushan, and Jin Ling¡¯er simultaneously retreated.

    However, the cold frost had already invaded their bodies, slowing their movements. Waves of fist energy surged toward them, putting them under great pressure.

    The trio released waves of qi in an attempt to resist the cold. Finally, their feet touched the ground again.

    Although they hadn¡¯t been injured, their faces revealed grave expressions.

    It was just a single fist strike from such a long distance. Yet not only could the freezing intent lock down their movements, even the mere force from the punch was already beyond terrifying.

    The frost made them shiver in fear, and the biting cold was piercing their bodies like the tip of a spear.

    This woman¡¯s frightening strength was obviously manifested in just this single fist strike.

    No wonder she could act as she liked. This woman had no equal in these exam grounds.

    Ji Hanyan continued to charge forward at high speed after that first attack.

    She opened her fist and gently pushed her palm out in front of her. Sheunched her second attack: Frosted Ice Palms.

    Unlike the Frostbird White Ice Fists, the Frosted Ice Palms didn¡¯t possess any frightening physical power, but its ability to freeze and seal her opponents¡¯ movements was far stronger, and the area-of-effect was alsorger.

    As this palm strike reached the trio, they felt as though they had walked into an arctic tundra. The chilling intent pierced through their clothes to the bone. It was so numbingly cold that they felt like their consciousness might freeze as well. They trembled violently, and were unable to bring forth any substantial power to block the freezing cold.

    The three of them applied magic barriers as soon as they could, conducting the Origin Energy in their bodies to allow them to retreat at high speed from the danger.

    But Ji Hanyan jabbed out with her finger this time. Her third attack was the Profound Soul-Splitting Finger.

    This finger jab was aimed directly at Jin Ling¡¯er.

    In the next moment, ayer of ice frosted over Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s face. She was rendered motionless in an instant.

    Although the finger jab was only aimed at Jin Ling¡¯er, Wang Doushan and Su Chen didn¡¯t give up on her. They simultaneously struck out with their fists and palms to block it.

    Su Chen¡¯s Erupting Firebird and Wang Doushan¡¯s Cloud Sundering surged forth, opposing the finger strike. The waves of Qi from the ensuing explosion shocked Jin Ling¡¯er, allowing her to escape from the Profound Soul-Splitting Finger.

    The three of them attempted to retreat in tandem with Ji Hanyan close on their tails.

    Her initial fist strike had beenunched at a distance of about three hundred feet. The ensuing palm strike wasunched at a distance of two hundred feet, and the Profound Soul-Splitting Finger wasunched at a hundred feet. Not only was the power of her attacks were frightening, her speed was too!

    When Ji Hanyan was just about to catch up to them, she jumped high into the air and released another Frostbird White Ice Fists.

    She only employed these three Bloodline Origin Skills, but they were plenty to suppress anyone in the region.

    Peerless, dominating might!

    Her fist mmed downwards like a heavy hammer, covering the sky in white frost.

    The trio yelled simultaneously, unleashing skills to defend themselves.

    When faced with someone as powerful as Ji Hanyan, all battle tactics, teamwork, and deception were pointless.

    If they held back in the slightest, they would pay the price for it. When faced with Ji Hanyan¡¯s frightening attacks, concealing their true strength was tantamount to killing themselves.

    The three of them simultaneously struck out, mming into the Frostbird White Ice Fist. A loud explosion ensued.

    ¡°Ji Hanyan, there¡¯s no need......¡± Jin Ling¡¯er yelled in an attempt to convince Ji Hanyan to stop.

    But her pleas for mercy fell on deaf ears. Jin Ling¡¯er was greeted with another palm attack.

    The Frosted Ice Palms covered their surroundings in freezing intent. It was hard for them to endure the freezing cold, and it forced Jin Ling¡¯er to close her mouth and retreat.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was indignant and ashamed. The fight was a three-on-one, yet the trio was forced to retreat the entire fight.

    Su Chen finally understood why Wang Doushan had called Ji Hanyan a crazy woman.

    Ji Hanyan didn¡¯t listen to any kind of reason. She didn¡¯t even have any interest in listening to what others had to say. Her only interest was to battle, battle, and battle!

    It was impossible to reason with such a woman. At least, it was impossible so long as they didn¡¯t earn her respect through battle. Until then, she would turn them a deaf ear.

    Su Chen gave up on his delusions and said, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, all we can do is battle!¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Wang Doushan and Jin Ling¡¯er yelled in unison.

    The Erupting Firebird and Cloud Sundering struck out again.

    Jin Ling¡¯er cried out, and the hidden exam candidate under her control leapt out and charged toward Ji Hanyan.

    Jin Ling¡¯er herself scattered the Jade Dew Fragrance, using her soul-assimting technique.

    Unfortunately, her target was extremely stubborn. Soul-assimting techniques, unlike Su Chen¡¯s Soul Eye, fell under the category of illusion techniques. The sess of the technique depended on the other party¡¯s willpower. If their will was weak, they were easily controlled. Even if their will was strong, it could still affect their mental state. But Ji Hanyan¡¯s will was so strong that there was no effect at all.

    Even Su Chen couldn¡¯t disregard the soul-assimting technique, but Ji Hanyan ignored it like it was nothing.

    Three consecutive palm strikes generated turbulent waves of Qi, sending Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s Jade Dew Fragrance right back to where it came from. Ji Hanyan punched out, mming into Su Chen¡¯s Erupting firebird and Wang Doushan¡¯s Cloud Sundering. Finally, she twisted around in midair, mming her hand into the controlled exam candidate and sending him flying. Her movements were unbelievably fluid.

    As the exam candidate flew through the air, he was already encased in frost. When he fell on the ground, he actually shattered into pieces.

    A one-hit kill!

    A chill surfaced in the the trio¡¯s hearts.

    While this woman was not a bloodthirsty killer like Pan Yue, she didn¡¯t hold back in her attacks either. Evidently, the thought of showing mercy had never crossed her mind.

    Ji Hanyan attacked again ¨C a palm, a fist, a finger jab. A wave of frost roiled through the air, surging towards the trio.

    Su Chen realized that apart from the three powerful frost-type Bloodline Origin Skills, Ji Hanyan also cultivated at least two body tempering Origin Skills, which exined her great physical strength; at least one speed-type Origin Skill, which exined her speed; at least one midair-type Origin Skill, which exined her ability to move in midair; at least one targeting Origin Skill, which exined her ability to precisely target opponents; and at least a high-tier absorption technique, allowing her to support her incredible consumption of Origin Energy.

    Yes, she did consume Origin Energy very quickly, but she could also recover it very quickly. In addition, she also had a very high cultivation base. It was probably equivalent to Su Chen¡¯s, and it might even be oneyer higher than his.

    She was basically...... a demon!

    No wonder she didn¡¯t need to negotiate. There was no need for her to fear anyone, so she could fight whoever, whenever. Everyone participating in the exam was too weak. No one had the qualifications to negotiate with her.

    However, that doesn¡¯t mean you¡¯re invincible!

    Su Chen gazed at Ji Hanyan as the desire for battle in his heart surged.

    Meanwhile, another one of Ji Hanyan¡¯s Frosted Ice Palms was pressing down.

    She flew through the air, looking down at them. A snow-white palm image continued to increase in size, crushing down from midair and freezing their movements to a standstill.

    Su Chen watched the snow-white palm image. He flipped his hands over, and an Erupting Firebird appeared.

    This Erupting Firebird was abnormallyrge. A blood-red light shed across Su Chen¡¯s hand, and the firebird flew into the air before mming into Ji Hanyan¡¯s Frosted Ice Palms.

    Bang!

    The collision of ice and fire generated shockingly powerful shockwaves. The glow from the fire was scattered by the falling snow and rain.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 149: Cold Frost 3

    Chapter 149: Cold Frost (3)

    The power from the collision of ice and fire caused the guests on the tall tower to exim with surprise.

    It was the highest praise they could offer for the two candidates¡¯ strength, and it was an acknowledgement of the strength they possessed.

    ¡°Who knew this brat was still concealing his strength? His Erupting Firebird can actually be this powerful.¡± Many people sighed in praise.

    There were those in the crowd, however, for whom the situation became a bit moreplex.

    Gu Qingluo gazed at Su Chen, bewildered.

    She was one of the few who fully understood what just happened.

    Yes, his Erupting Firebird had be stronger, but it wasn¡¯t the technique itself that was more powerful. The Erupting Firebird¡¯s strength originated not only from the firebird itself, but also from the hand that gave it flight.

    My Flying Flower Hands!

    Gu Qingluo previously suspected that Su Chen¡¯s Erupting Firebird contained traces of her Flying Flower Hands, but now she was absolutely certain.

    The Erupting Firebird was formed frombining the Flying Flower Hands and other Origin Skills.

    But more importantly, the power of Su Chen¡¯s Flying Flower Hands far exceeded the upper limit someone without a bloodline could achieve!

    Wha-what is going on?

    It was very simple. Su Chen¡¯s Flying Flower Hands truly had improved.

    After consuming the Origin Substance Medicine, Su Chen¡¯s mastery of the Gu n¡¯s techniques had greatly increased. However, this increase was only rted to his potential. In other words, Su Chen could only cultivate to the extent possible for an individual without a bloodline, but after consuming the Origin Substance Medicine, he could cultivate to the limit of a mixed-bloodline individual. He would have to cultivate to reach that point though.

    In the past, Su Chen had diligently cultivated the Flying Flower Hands, and he wasn¡¯t far away from the no-bloodline limit. Upon entering the exam grounds, his techniques were tempered in battle, and he also obtained Brooke¡¯s Form and the Erupting Firebird. The easiest way to make a breakthrough was throughbat. Su Chen¡¯s Flying Flower Hands had finally broken through the no-bloodline limit, reaching a level equivalent to someone with a mixed bloodline.

    Since his Flying Flower Hands had increased by a level, the explosive power of the Erupting Firebird also increased. Su Chen had kept this more powerful Erupting Firebird in his back pocket for quite some time now.

    This was his ultimate trump card, which was why he had never revealed it.

    He originally thought he wouldn¡¯t have to disy his ultimate trump card in this exam, but Ji Hanyan had immediately forced out his most powerful Erupting Firebird.

    The collision between ice and fire scattered a magnificent light across the sky, yet it also possessed a frightening killing intent.

    The powerful Erupting Firebird counteracted the Frosted Ice Palms. Wang Doushan¡¯s Cloud Sundering charged through the remnants of the collision. The unearthly white light screamed through the skies, charging towards Ji Hanyan.

    Ji Hanyan was caught off guard. She didn¡¯t expect to be put at a disadvantage after their exchange. Her jade-like face disyed a trace of astonishment. Finally, a human-like expression surfaced on her otherwise icy face.

    A cold light emerged from her body and enshrouded it. She blocked Wang Doushan¡¯s attack with this crystalline barrier.

    Dammit, she even has protective Origin Skills! The three of them cursed.

    Since their n had fallen through, Su Chen decided to go all-in. Heunched several powerful Erupting Firebirds as he yelled, ¡°I¡¯ll be responsible for defense. Wang Doushan, you¡¯re responsible for counterattacking, and Jin Ling¡¯er, you¡¯re responsible for keeping her tied down.¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡± the two of them yelled.

    Wang Doushan¡¯s yell was excited, but Jin Ling¡¯er sounded a bit wronged.

    She did in fact possess quite a bit of strength, but unfortunately the effectiveness of an illusion master in battle depended on the willpower of their opponent. If she could find a weak-willed but powerful exam candidate to control, she would dominate. But there was none at hand, and her opponent was Ji Hanyan, who possessed an inconceivably resolute will. She waspletely unprepared to deal with Ji Hanyan.

    One could even go so far as to say Jin Ling¡¯er waspletely countered by Ji Hanyan. The soul-assimting technique and Jade Dew Fragrance that she was so proud of were of no use against Ji Hanyan. Jin Ling¡¯er could only usemon Origin Skills. Although she wasn¡¯t weak in terms ofbat strength either, she was inferior to both Su Chen and Wang Doushan. Normally, she would be the strongest of the trio, but now she was the weakest.

    Su Chen¡¯s performance once again brought shock to the faces of the onlookers.

    Having revealed his most powerful Erupting Firebird, Su Chen didn¡¯t conceal his strength anymore. He activated the strengthened Snaking Mist Steps.

    His speed instantly shot up to apletely new level as he soared through the air, taking multiple steps in midair and reaching a point where he was higher than Ji Hanyan. He simultaneously unleashed a strengthened Erupting Firebird, attacking Ji Hanyan from above.

    No one was invincible. Everyone possessed their own limitations.

    During the initial exchanges, Su Chen had already begun identifying Ji Hanyan¡¯s weaknesses. The first thing he found out was that she was far more powerful when she attacked from higher grounds.

    The Frosted Ice Palms, Frostbird White Ice Fist, or the Profound Soul-Splitting Finger ¨C all of them had to beunched from a high point to unleash their full potential.

    Ji Hanyan had specifically learned a midair-type Origin Skill just for this.

    Why else would she only strike from up above? To appear awe-inspiring?

    Su Chen leapt into the air, higher than Ji Hanyan, giving her quite the shock.

    She raised her hand and attacked with another Frosted Ice Palms, the wave of frost rushing towards Su Chen. The chilling intent pierced his bones. It seemed as if the attack possessed its previous power, yet Su Chen could clearly sense that the power behind the strike had decreased by about fifteen percent.

    His hypothesis was correct!

    Boom!

    The strengthened explosive firebird mmed into the Frosted Ice Palms. This time, the ice and fire were no longer equally matched. The mes were evidently suppressing the ice and snow. The fire pressed its way through and directly attacked Ji Hanyan.

    At the same time, Wang Doushan¡¯s Cloud Sundering and Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s Butterfly Wing Sword pierced towards Ji Hanyan.

    A chilling expression shed across Ji Hanyan¡¯s eyes.

    She let out a quiet cry.

    This was the first time she had uttered a sound.

    The ice crystal barrier reappeared as Ji Hanyan struck out with her palms in rapid session.

    She did not use the Frosted Ice Palms, but a palm technique they hadn¡¯t yet seen. It filled the sky with palm images, generating waves of powerful palm winds. However, these palm winds were solely used to defend herself.

    Boom boom boom boom!

    Consecutive explosions sounded out.

    The palm wind dissipated and her barrier shattered. Ji Hanyan¡¯s defensive capabilities were not nearly as powerful as her offensive capabilities. The trio¡¯sbined attacks were enough to cause all of her defenses to crumble.

    After herst line of defense was breached, she was forced to retreat backwards by the impact.

    This was the first time she had ever been forced to retreat in battle.

    Today was a day of firsts for Ji Hanyan ¨C the first time she was put on the defensive, and the first time she was forced to retreat.

    It wouldn¡¯t stop here. The first time she received an injury was waiting for her just around the corner.

    Bang!

    Consecutive explosions suddenly sounded out.

    Ji Hanyan raised her head and spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

    Injured? I... how was I injured?

    She gazed at Su Chen in shock.

    How did he do it?

    Didn¡¯t I block his attack?

    Only the individuals in the high tower were able to see what had happened. When Su Chen released the strengthened Erupting Firebird, he had also secretly tossed out three jugs of wine.

    However, he had tossed them into the air, rather than directly towards Ji Hanyan.

    Just like when he fought Jin Ling¡¯er, he had prepared the wine jugs to explode with a slight dy.

    Ji Hanyan had focused all of her attention on dealing with the trio¡¯s attacks. After being forced back, she didn¡¯t notice the three jugs of wine that fell from the sky behind her.

    If she hadn¡¯t moved backwards, nothing would have happened to her.

    But since she did, she had sent herself into the st radius of the explosions.

    Of course, Su Chen had no way of ensuring Ji Hanyan would retreat into the exact center of all three jugs of wine. She had only been hit by one of them.

    But this one was more than enough for Ji Hanyan to receive serious damage.

    She was injured!

    She was actually injured!

    Ever since the exam had begun, Frostbird Ji Hanyan dominated thepetition. Never had she found a worthy adversary.

    Today was her first time experiencing the taste of pain.

    Whoosh!

    Another three jugs of wine formed a ¡°V¡± in midair while Su Chen sent another Erupting Firebird toward her. He simultaneously activated his Snaking Mist Steps, raising his speed to its extreme limit. In terms of speed, location, and firepower, hepletely suppressed Ji Hanyan. Below her, Wang Doushan and Jin Ling¡¯er were alsounching their own attacks.

    While you¡¯re sick, I¡¯ll take your life!

    The trio¡¯s attacks were extremely fierce. Ji Hanyan was put into dire straits.

    At that critical moment, Ji Hanyan opened her mouth.

    ¡°Hss!¡± She sucked in a breath of air.

    The iparably cold hiss caused a chilling intent to enter the trio¡¯s hearts, causing their souls to tremble. Simultaneously, a massive wave of frost began to emanate from Ji Hanyan¡¯s body, charging towards them.

    This wave of frost was extremely powerful. It made Su Chen¡¯s strengthened Erupting Firebird, his jugs of wine, Wang Doushan¡¯s Cloud Sundering, and Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s Butterfly look like mere toys. Their attacks began trembling under the influence of the cold wind, then were simply blown away like leaves in the wind.

    The three of them simultaneously spit out a mouthful of blood and fell to the ground.

    Shock was written on their faces.

    This woman still possessed such a terrifying technique?

    Was theirbined power really not enough to deal with her?

    Wang Doushan and Jin Ling¡¯er felt a bitter taste rising in their mouths.

    However, Ji Hanyan didn¡¯t charge at them, instead choosing to float away.

    A cold voice entered their ears. ¡°Impressive. I¡¯ll remember you.¡±

    Hm?

    What did that mean?

    Wang Doushan and Jin Ling¡¯er nced at each other.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°We won.¡±

    What?

    We won?

    The two of them finally awoke. Ji Hanyan¡¯s final move had exhausted all of her strength. She was unable to continue battling, and so she could only retreat.

    ¡°Hey, we won!¡± Wang Doushan and Jin Ling¡¯er began to yell with excitement.

    To them, defeating Ji Hanyan was a great glory.

    Only Su Chen gazed off into the distance, watching Ji Hanyan as she disappeared. His eyes flickered.

    They had barely won today¡¯s battle by relying on the strength of three people.

    Next time, I¡¯ll defeat you using my own strength!

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 150: Rankings

    Chapter 150: Rankings

    After forcing Ji Hanyan to retreat, the exam became like a walk in the park.

    The three-man team wandered through the exam grounds at their leisure, walking through the different regions and cleaning up any other exam candidates they encountered.

    They crushed everyone they encountered; no one was able to put up any kind of resistance against them.

    They did run into the more powerful candidates, but next to Ji Hanyan, they weren¡¯t all that strong. Their self-confidence rose to new heights as they beat candidates left and right.

    On that day, the three of them reaped the most points since entering the exam grounds.

    During this time, Su Chen wanted to find Li Qingyun and Bai Li, but no sign of them was found. It was unknown whether or not they even made it to the first region.

    The first rays of the sun streaked over the horizon, and a loud whistle sounded out, signalling the end of the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s three-day exam.

    The exam candidates were beamed out of the exam grounds, once again appearing on therge za.

    They lifted their heads up to look at the massive screens of light, which revealed how many points each exam candidate had obtained and their corresponding ranking.

    After three full days of battle, the fruit of their efforts was now manifested. The exam candidates that had endured to the very end searched for their names on the ranking list.

    From time to time, people would yell out things like, ¡°I made the top six! I¡¯ve got a spot in the Institute!¡± or ¡°Dammit! Three points! I could¡¯ve beaten him with just three more points!¡±

    Joy, vexation, excitement, and anger could be heard in the students¡¯ voices.

    Of course, 99 out of a 100 were eliminated by the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s cruel entrance standards. Most people were sorrowful and disappointed. Only a few showed excitement, and they were very jarringpared to their surroundings.

    Most people were only focused on whether or not they got in, but some were aiming higher.

    Jin Ling¡¯er nervously searched for her name on the rankings list.

    She started at the top and before long she found her name. She was ced tenth!

    Jin Ling¡¯er, 722 points.

    ¡°Whew! Made it,¡± Jin Ling¡¯er sighed in relief.

    Because Su Chen had taken arge handful of her points, Jin Ling¡¯er had far fewer points than she would¡¯ve liked. Although she furiously fought to recover the gap, in the end, she was only barely able to reach tenth ce.

    Even so, Jin Ling¡¯er was satisfied.

    In reality, the top three were considered to be on a different level than the rest of the top ten, but the differences weren¡¯t too great. To Jin Ling¡¯er, as long as she could enter the top ten, she could ept any other loss.

    She scanned back up and found Su Chen¡¯s name written next to the fifth ce marker.

    Su Chen, 814 points.

    ¡°Hey, congrattions,¡± Jin Ling¡¯er said to Su Chen. ¡°You¡¯re in the top five.¡±

    ¡°Not much difference between that and tenth ce,¡± Su Chen replied nonchntly.

    He spoke the truth. Fifth and tenth ce weren¡¯t very different from each other.

    ¡°Hey, at least you guys are in the top ten. What a pity, I only reached sixteenth ce,¡± Fatty Wang sighed. He had fallen too far behind in the beginning, making it impossible for him to catch up.

    ¡°That¡¯s not bad either. You should still be considered a seedling of the institute, albeit probably with a lower ranking,¡± Jin Ling¡¯erforted.

    The three of them nced at the leaderboard again. Ji Hanyan was the person with the most points. Even though she had lost to the three of them, it didn¡¯t seem to affect her very much; she continued to furiously earn points the entire way through.

    She possessed a frightening 1345 points, 500 more than Su Chen. Even the second-ce candidate, Blood Demon Zhong Ding, was more than 400 points behind her.

    On the leaderboard, Ji Hanyan existed in a league of her own. She was at the top of the rankings list with a point total that simply made others feel helpless. Aside from her, the rest of the top 10 had simr amounts of points.

    Despite this, Su Chen¡¯s name was still very eye-catching in this top 10.

    This was because he was the only one without a bloodline attached to his name.

    Although he was only fifth, the attention he drew was no less than Ji Hanyan¡¯s.

    ¡°Su Chen? Who¡¯s that? How can someone without a bloodline enter the top five?¡±

    ¡°I know him. I don¡¯t know how he did it, but he somehow teamed up with Jin Ling¡¯er, taking advantage of her in order to obtain so many points.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because he defeated her and teamed up with her afterwards.¡± An exam candidate who was eliminated early on had watched it happen on the big screen.

    ¡°Rubbish, how could he defeat Jin Ling¡¯er? I think it¡¯s because he¡¯s handsome, so Jin Ling¡¯er was willing to submit to him.¡±

    Discussions were ongoing in the za. All kinds of ideas were being thrown around. There were those who had been ¡°mesmerized¡± by him, while others were beaten by him and were now ndering him. Many who knew about different parts of what had happened believed themselves to know the whole truth, and there was nock of embellishment when they spoke about what had happened.

    In any case, all kinds of ideas about what tactics Su Chen had used were being thrown around.

    But no matter what they thought of him, the name ¡°Su Chen¡± instantly spread far and wide.

    Many people knew a new genius had appeared during this exam period. He had no bloodline, yet he had dominated this region¡¯spetition.

    Su Chen, however, was not particrly interested in the conversations going on around him. He was focused on the ranking list, trying to find Li Qingyun and Bai Li.

    He found them pretty quickly.

    Li Qingyun held onto 88th ce with 236 points, while Bai Li was only one rank and two points behind him with 234 points. They were the second and third-ranked individuals from the Northface City region, and were both in the top 100, something which was quite rare.

    Su Chenter discovered that the two of them had reached the fifth region.

    But that was their limit. Not long after arriving there, they were forced to retreat after encountering some powerful exam candidates. They returned shortly afterwards.

    Su Chen was still in the Spirit Burying Terrace at the time, so he never ran into them.

    Those two also knew Su Chen was Demon Face. They were rendered speechless upon discovering he had even forced Ji Hanyan to retreat. They did not know of Su Chen¡¯s n to borrow their strength to progress forwards. Rather, they were counting their lucky stars that they hadn¡¯t fought; otherwise, they would¡¯ve been the ones to lose. If they had been eliminated, it would¡¯ve been all over.

    They actually felt quite grateful towards Su Chen.

    The fourth-ranked person from Northface City was Lin Jingxuan, who took rank 178 with 115 points. Lin Shuyue was three points behind him. She was not fated to enter the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    This was not particrly surprising. Su Chen had given Lin Jingxuan many Explosive Medicines with him. Naturally, since Su Chen had forced Lin Jingxuan into submission, he would bring him into the Hidden Dragon Institute and continue to use him.

    These results were outstanding for Northface City

    Su Chen¡¯s cing in the top ten gave Northface City a lot of face, and would bring them a lot of benefits.

    Bytching themselves onto Su Chen¡¯s coattails, the next Hidden Dragon Institute battle would ur five years earlier, and they could obtain at least five or six ranking spots.

    Because of this, the Lord of Northface City, Yue Weixiong, was beaming with joy. He received congrattions from many of those present.

    To him, this was a great political achievement of his, despite the fact he hadn¡¯t lifted so much as a finger.

    Even so, bureaucracy was exactly like that. If someone under your jurisdiction achieved sess, that was also your sess. If someone under your jurisdiction made a mistake, that was on you as well.

    Such a great achievement would definitely be recorded in the official books, and would be included in all future official ratings. Yue Weixiong had earned this achievement without paying a penny, and no matter how he looked at Su Chen, he liked him.

    He was heading towards the Su n to congratte them.

    However, an official registrar on the side saved him the trouble. He secretly said to Yue Weixiong, ¡°Su Chen has no affection for the Su n. Half a year ago, he personally ruined his father¡¯s Fourth Aunt, Yan Wushuang, angering his father to the point where he tried to kill Su Chen. Apparently, the two of them have not seen eye to eye for a long time, and Su Chen allegedly doesn¡¯t even acknowledge Su Cheng¡¯an as his father anymore.¡±

    ¡°How did something like that happen?¡± Yue Weixiong was startled for a moment, then lowered his head and muttered in thought, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, there¡¯s no need to get too close to the Su n. Su Chen is now a seedling of the Hidden Dragon Institute, and his future potential is boundless. Since he¡¯s not on good terms with the Su n, see if you can rope him in. Do you think we should offer our help to him to deal with the Su n?¡±

    The official registrar said, ¡°This little one understands Su Chen¡¯s personality; he is someone who is very clear about his grudges. Judging from his actions, it seems that although he¡¯s split apart from the Su n, he has no intention of dealing with them either. Perhaps he he decided they would simply walk different paths in life. There¡¯s no need for you, sir, to deal with the Su n. Otherwise...... well, you know how it is. Families always argue with one another. If we meddle too much, who knows what will happen?¡±

    ¡°Oh, that makes sense too.¡± Yue Weixiong repeatedly nodded his head.

    The official registrar said, ¡°In addition, Su Chen has offended the Pan n. Although there arerge ns that hold him in high regard, based on his personality I don¡¯t think he would be willing to be someone else¡¯s subordinate. We still don¡¯t know how that situation will pan 1 out. Sir, don¡¯t be too short-sighted.¡±

    Yue Weixiong stroked his beard and said, ¡°You¡¯re not wrong, but Su Chen entered the top ten and lifted up my Northface City along with him. As the lord of the city, it would be callous of me to not express my gratitude. What do you think I should do?¡±

    ¡°Send them some gifts, but maintain your distance.¡±

    Yue Weixiong pondered for a moment, then nodded his head and said, ¡°Then it¡¯s decided.¡±

    1. me my editor if you want to me someone.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 151: Admitting Defea

    Chapter 151: Admitting Defeat

    Even though there were those where were unwilling, the end was still the end.

    The exam candidates gazed at the rankings on the screen. Everyone had their own reaction to their rankings. Some felt joy, while most were filled with dejection, regret, and even despair. No matter howplicated their emotions were, they left the za one after the other.

    After agreeing to meet in the Hidden Dragon Institute, Su Chen also said his goodbyes to Jin Ling¡¯er and Wang Doushan.

    Unlike the others, Su Chen didn¡¯t walk over to the Su n, instead making a beeline for the exit of the za.

    To him, the existence of the Su n was of no importance. He already gave them plenty of face by attending this exam under their name. As for whether or not he would stand together with the Su n to receive congrattions from other ns...... that would never happen.

    Su Changche and the others had their eyes fixed on Su Chen as they watched him leave the za, not even sparing them a nce.

    ¡°Hmph, ungrateful bastard,¡± Su Changqing angrily harrumphed, acting as though Su Chen had always received his affection.

    Su Changche said in a low voice, ¡°He still refuses toe back to our Su n. Feihu, can you try and call him over? He¡¯ll probably give you some face.¡±

    Su Feihuughed. ¡°Perhaps he would. So what?¡±

    So what?

    Everyone was stunned.

    Su Changche said, ¡°In the end, we¡¯re all from the same n. If we cane together, why disperse?¡±

    Su Feihu said, ¡°Father, why didn¡¯t you say this before the exam began? Su Chen needed your support so many times, but you never helped him in his hour of need.¡±

    ¡°I......¡± Su Changche wanted to say something, but was unable to find his voice.

    Su Feihu replied, ¡°There are two kinds of people that are the most loathsome. The first are those who leave you alone in your hour of need. The second are those whoe back after you no longer have need for them. Father, the Su n is already the first kind of person. Let¡¯s not be the second kind, okay?¡±

    These words infuriated the Su n members present.

    Su Changche, however, was moved. ¡°Feihu, you¡¯re saying that if we try and curry favour with him, he¡¯ll only be further annoyed with us?¡±

    Su Feihu replied, ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°So we should just let him go and wait to rope him back inter on?¡± Some people weren¡¯t satisfied with this conclusion.

    ¡°It¡¯s the only way to get his respect,¡± Su Feihu casually replied.

    After leaving the za, Su Chen leisurely walked down the mountain.

    He hadn¡¯t gotten very far when two people dashed towards him.

    One came from the left, the other from the right, squeezing Su Chen in the middle.

    The first grabbed Su Chen from behind, instantly preventing him from moving.

    The dense Origin Energy emanating from his body indicated he was at least a Blood Boiling expert.

    Not far away, arger group of people surrounded him, enclosing Su Chen in their midst. He was given no opportunity to escape.

    One of them said, ¡°Be quiet ande with us!¡±

    Su Chen gently smiled. ¡°Rx. I won¡¯t yell.¡±

    The person controlling Su Chen from behind was surprised by his calm demeanor. He couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Prince Su knew we wereing?¡±

    Su Chen sighed as he walked with them. ¡°If I don¡¯t go on this trip with you, you won¡¯t give up, right? Tell me, where is Sang Zhen waiting for me?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    In the time it takes to boil a pot of tea, Su Chen met with Sang Zhen, who was sipping tea underneath a tree atop a mountain peak.

    Standing next to him were Night Demon, Qingbai, and the others.

    Upon seeing Su Chen¡¯s calm andposed appearance, Sang Zhen sighed. ¡°It seems our n failed.¡±

    ¡°Even if that¡¯s the case, you still want to try, right?¡± Su Chen replied with a smile.

    ¡°Naturally.¡± Sang Zhen waved his hand, and two people stepped forwards, pulling out the Origin Rings and Origin Formation Disks on Su Chen¡¯s body.

    Sang Zhen nced at the Origin Energy Disk. He found the four Sark¡¯s Energy Nuclei sitting inside.

    He scanned the contents of the Origin Ring. Unsurprisingly, he could not find the Corpse Spirit Flowers.

    He lifted his head and carefully observed Su Chen. ¡°You were prepared a long time ago?¡±

    Su Chen shrugged his shoulders. ¡°It¡¯s not that surprising. The moment I exited the exam grounds was when you were most confident of the Corpse Spirit Flowers¡¯ location. If you didn¡¯t make a move now, you might not have gotten another opportunity.¡±

    Su Chen had anticipated very early on that they would try to pull off something like this.

    The Immortal Temple was, in the end, the Immortal Temple. Although they appeared to have epted Su Chen¡¯s conditions, agreeing to hire Su Chen as a reward for the job, they had alreadye up with a much simpler n. They would wait for Su Chen to exit the exam grounds, capture him, and forcibly take away everything he possessed.

    At the moment Su Chen exited the exam grounds, he would definitely be carrying everything on him. With this tactic, they could forcibly seize the Corpse Spirit Flowers instead of spending a few years to train him for no good reason. That didn¡¯t mean they wouldn¡¯t train and foster him. Given how smart he was, if he joined the Immortal Temple, they would definitely help him grow. But that was the investment into a new recruit, not the reward given to a shameless brat!

    When Sang Zhen saw Su Chen standing there,pletely unperturbed, he knew his n had failed.

    Indeed, he couldn¡¯t find a single Corpse Spirit Flower on Su Chen¡¯s body.

    ¡°He definitely hid the Corpse Spirit Flower inside the Red Peak Range. Instead of taking it out himself, he let someone else take it for him,¡± Aaron said angrily. ¡°This brat really is slippery.¡±

    ¡°The question is, who helped him? There are over ten thousand exam candidates here. Who knows who it was?¡± Qingbai shook his head helplessly.

    Su Chen¡¯s n was simple yet practical.

    The Immortal Temple even sent people to keep an eye on Iron Cliff, Li Shu, and the others, but none of them had entered the Red Peak Range.

    They didn¡¯t know where the Corpse Spirit Flowers were!

    Without Su Chen¡¯s cooperation, the Corpse Spirit Flowers would never appear!

    ¡°Haa, it looks like you¡¯ve won again,¡± Sang Zhen said helplessly.

    All of the hostility directed at him began to slowly fade away.

    Sang Zhen waved his hand, and the person holding onto Su Chen released his grip. ¡°I hope this little incident didn¡¯t offend you. Our cooperation can still continue.¡±

    If they couldn¡¯t find the Corpse Spirit Flower, their previous proposal was still in effect!

    Su Chenughed sarcastically. ¡°I can not take offense. But the actions of your organization have destroyed the integrity of our agreement. It¡¯s quite inappropriate, actually. If you guys are willing to ruin the integrity of our agreements on a whim, I¡¯m very worried about our future cooperations.¡±

    Sang Zhen squinted his eyes. ¡°Oh? What does Prince Su mean?¡±

    ¡°If the organization has offended me, there must be some disy of reconciliation, right?¡± Su Chen asked. As these words left his mouth, he took out a piece of paper. This piece of paper was prepared just for this moment, and on it was a list of items he required.

    When Copper Deer saw it, he almost jumped into the air. ¡°Hundred Fog Cypress seeds, hundred Carnivorous Forest seeds...... One rapid growth technique, one lie-detection Origin Skill...... You motherfucker, why don¡¯t you just rob us blind?¡±

    Su Chen had requested many things that belonged to Copper Deer. It was no surprise that he was infuriated.

    Even Sang Zhen was so angry that heughed. ¡°You seized arge shipment of our goods, and now you still want us to pay you?¡±

    ¡°Should I not?¡± Su Chen countered. ¡°You broke the agreement in the first ce, so you should make some reparations.¡±

    ¡°Do you dare say you didn¡¯t deceive us when we were dealing with the Shadow Mountain Troops?¡± Copper Deer rebuked.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Unexpectedly, Su Chen admitted it immediately. ¡°But you didn¡¯t catch me! If you had, the spoils from the Shadow Mountain Troops would all belong to you. I would¡¯ve confessed and done everything for free!¡±

    Su Chen clearly enunciated each word as he spoke. ¡°If you lose, you have to admit defeat. Those are the rules! Can the Immortal Temple not afford to lose this much?¡±

    ¡°You!¡± The mes of their fury almost set the surroundings aze.

    At this moment, someone said, ¡°Agree to his terms. He¡¯s right. If you lose...... you have to admit defeat!¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Meanwhile, in a pitch-ck, hidden alley.

    Lin Jingxuan carefully made his way through the alley until he found a small door at the end of it.

    He pushed open a heavy door, then another, and finally he arrived at a sinister, stone room.

    In this room sat a person. It was Zhou Hong.

    Zhou Hong squeezed out a smile when he saw Lin Jingxuan enter. ¡°You¡¯ve finally arrived. Where¡¯s the stuff?¡±

    Lin Jingxuan pulled out a ring from his bosom and ced it in front of Zhou Hong.

    Zhou Hong received the ring without even ncing at it. After stowing it away, he stared at Lin Jingxuan and said, ¡°Did you open it?¡±

    Lin Jingxuan chuckled. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare disobey Young Master Su and sneak a peek.¡±

    However, he was cursing loudly in his heart. Damned ve, using your master to threaten me. Once I break free from Su Chen¡¯s control, I¡¯ll take care of you.

    ¡°No?¡± Zhou Hong smirked. ¡°Let me ask you, do you feel really cold right now?¡±

    Lin Jingxuan was shocked. ¡°H-how did you know?¡±

    Zhou Hong harrumphed. ¡°When Young Master told you what to do, did he tell you the items inside the jade box were poisonous?¡±

    Lin Jingxuan shrunk his neck, silent.

    Yes, Su Chen did tell him that. But he ignored it, because he thought it was just a trick. In his head, Su Chen wanted to use him, but didn¡¯t trust him. That was all..

    Zhou Hong tossed him a mirror. ¡°Take a good look at yourself.¡±

    Lin Jingxuan caught the mirror. When he caught a glimpse of himself, he went into a panic.

    His face was incredibly pale, and his lips were a dark purple. He looked like a tuberculosis patient. His previous grace and poise quickly disappeared.

    He yelled at Zhou Hong, ¡°It was my fault! I shouldn¡¯t have peeked. Young Master Su must have anticipated this, right? I admit I was wrong! Please, give me the antidote, save me!¡±

    He was scared witless.

    Zhou Hong said coldly, ¡°Consider yourself lucky. You only took a few nces, maybe even touched it. If you dared to steal one or two and hide them on your body, then even Young Master himself wouldn¡¯t be able to save you.¡±

    As he spoke, he pulled out a vial.

    This was the antidote Su Chen had prepared.

    Lin Jingxuan was about to reach for it when Zhou Hong pulled it out of reach. ¡°You disobeyed Young Master¡¯smands and looked at his goods. Do you really think a few words of apology will suffice?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Lin Jingxuan was stunned.

    Zhou Hong stood up and advanced, holding a thick wooden staff in his hand. ¡°Young Master has already sent down the order. Lin Jingxuan disobeyed the master¡¯smands. The punishment is eighty strokes! Lin Jingxuan, kneel and take your punishment!¡±

    ¡°You......!¡± Lin Jingxuan red at Zhou Hong.

    ¡°If you want to live, obediently take your spanking 1,¡± Zhou Hong said coolly. ¡°Young Master said......¡±

    ¡°If you lose, you have to admit defeat!¡±

    1. https://youtu.be/Jkt7kHACy_k?t=41s

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 152: Confession

    Chapter 152: Confession

    There were two more months before the start of the new school year at the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    This was the time for the new students to say proper goodbyes to their families. Afterwards, they would spend a long period of time cultivating in the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    They wouldn¡¯t stay at the Hidden Dragon Institute for a set amount of time. The students would stay there until they reached the Blood Boiling Realm.

    The Blood Boiling Realm was the level of cultivation required for graduation. At that point, there was no need to stay and continue studying. Most students reached the Blood Boiling Realm after 10 or so years. Of course, if they reached the Blood Boiling Realm in less than ten years, they were allowed to remain at the institute, cultivating and studying.

    Unlike the other exam candidates, who were trying to spend as much time with their families as possible, Su Chen didn¡¯t have many loved ones who he wanted to spend time with.

    He refused to meet with Su Cheng¡¯an, and he refused to attend the magnificent celebratory banquet the Su n prepared in his honour. He left the Su Pce alone that night and walked to the mountain behind the Su Pce.

    Gu Qingluo had been waiting for him there for quite some time.

    She opened her eyes wide and red at him. ¡°I want to take a bath. Prince Su, would you like to stand guard for me?¡±

    Su Chenughed bitterly. ¡°It¡¯s all my fault. I should have told you earlier.¡±

    Gu Qingluo stared at him without blinking, grimacing.

    She asked after a long pause, ¡°When?¡±

    On his way over, Su Chen prepared a perfect story, an borate, airtight web of lies. They would have tricked Gu Qingluo without a doubt.

    But when he gazed into her crystal-clear eyes, his heart began to beat wildly. He blurted out, ¡°When I killed Lin Xie.¡±

    ¡°That early?¡± Gu Qingluo gazed at Su Chen in shock.

    Her surprised expression slowly morphed into one seeking to draw his blood.

    Crap! Su Chen knew it was about to go down.

    But he had no regrets.

    He gazed at the infuriated Gu Qingluo and said, ¡°I know it¡¯s my fault. I should¡¯vee clean way before. A proper exnation is all I wanted to give you Qingluo, but when I see you, my reasonings simply pale inparison. There¡¯s no point...... Yes, I did sneak a peek at you, and I saw all of you. It wasn¡¯t because your movements were too fast that I kept my mouth shut, nor was it because I was worried you would get angry. It was because I wanted to look...... I wanted to look at you!¡±

    Gu Qingluo looked at him, startled.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°Yes. Yes, I wanted to look at you! I wanted to see every inch of your body, I wanted to watch you smile as you floated in the water, I wanted to watch you y in a carefree way. I wanted to look at your snow-white skin, your beautiful silhouette......¡±

    As he spoke, he drew nearer to her. ¡°I was afraid, Qingluo, afraid that the most beautiful moment would disappear. It was a magical moment, and I didn¡¯t want to let my mouth ruin it. Otherwise, I might as well go back into darkness.¡±

    Gu Qingluo was speechless.

    Su Chen stood next to her. He ced his hand on her face, stroking it gently as he said with a caring voice, ¡°The first time I saw light, I was with you. When I recovered my vision, it was because I wanted to see you. The first thing I saw was the world¡¯s most beautiful body. This world is still fair. It allowed me to be blind for so long, but it also gave me the greatest reward, which is that I could see you. If it took three years of blindness for me to see you taking a bath, I am willing to be blind for thirty years just for a gentle embrace.¡±

    As he spoke, he took Gu Qingluo in his embrace, gently pressing her lithe body against his chest.

    Gu Qingluo waspletely dazed.

    She leaned into Su Chen¡¯s embrace, her heart beating wildly. Her vision swam.

    Ahh!!!

    What¡¯s going on?

    Why do I feel dizzy? Why is my heart beating so fast?

    Why am I at aplete loss?

    What¡¯s happening?

    She felt dazed and numb, her brain jumping all over the ce.

    She watched Su Chen lower his head to look at her.

    Their faces slowly drew closer and closer.

    His lips parted slightly as they inched closer to hers.

    Just as they were about tond on Gu Qingluo¡¯s lips, she suddenly seemed to realize what was happening. ¡°No!¡± she cried out, pushing Su Chen away.

    Su Chen backed up two steps. He gazed at Gu Qingluo, his face beet-red.

    Her face was much like his, her heart in wild disarray. She gazed at Su Chen. Just what is going on? Didn¡¯t Ie to hear the truth and punish him ordingly? How did it turn out like this?

    Gu Qingluo didn¡¯t understand what was happening.

    Su Chen had already confessed he was only pretending to be blind.

    ording to reason, she should be furious, turning him from a fake blind person into a real blind person.

    But as she gazed at Su Chen, she couldn¡¯t muster up a single ounce of anger. All she could feel was her heart beating wildly, as well as the uncontroble flow of blood rushing to her head.

    An answer surfaced in her heart.

    Could it be...... I¡¯ve fallen for this guy? Impossible! Gu Qingluo silently cried out helplessly.

    Su Chen took two steps toward her, fearlessly embracing her again.

    He didn¡¯t say anything. All he did was bring her into his embrace, allowing his body heat to mix with hers.

    When the two of them came into contact again, Gu Qingluo couldn¡¯t suppress her emotions anymore. She felt as if she was about tobust.

    The affection she had kept buried during the time they had known each other erupted like a volcano, overwhelming her sense of reason. As she gazed at Su Chen, her mind went nk. She unconsciously wrapped her hand around Su Chen¡¯s neck.

    She leaned in towards Su Chen.

    Her sudden initiative caught Su Chen slightly off guard. But he reacted very quickly, returning the kiss passionately.

    In that instant, it seemed as if the Heavens and the earth had disappeared. There was only the passion between him and her, burning furiously.

    After a long time, Su Chen and Gu Qingluo separated.

    Gu Qingluo backed up a few steps, her face red.

    She put her hand to her forehead. ¡°Heavens, what have I done?¡±

    Su Chen gazed at her with a gentle smile. ¡°You followed your heart.¡±

    He wanted to hug Gu Qingluo again, but she hurriedly retreated a few steps and said, ¡°Don¡¯te over.¡±

    She gazed at Su Chen with suspicion. ¡°What did you just do to me? Tell me! Was it an illusion technique? A bewitching technique? Or did you drug me with something?¡±

    ¡°......¡± Su Chen was speechless. He could only say caressingly, ¡°It wasn¡¯t an illusion technique. It¡¯s love.¡±

    The word ¡°love¡± was probably too much for her to handle. Gu Qingluo¡¯s shoulders copsed, and she pulled in her neck. She said, panicking slightly, ¡°Uhhh...... I was watching you guyspete thesest few days, and I haven¡¯t washed my face yet. I hurried over just because I wanted to know when you regained your sight...... I¡¯m not used to you making such a sudden movement...... Give me some time to recover...... some time to think about it......¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Su Chen nodded.

    This was probably the biggest mistake he made that night. With love, it was important to strike the iron while it was still hot. When Gu Qingluo heard this, it was as if she had suddenly found an out. She turned around and ran, activating the Snaking Mist Steps to their limit. In the blink of an eye, she disappeared without a trace.

    She ran?

    Su Chen was dazed. As a youth, he was still quite ignorant. Although he was able to see through all kinds of plots and conspiracies, he was unable to break through the barrier of love.

    Gu Qingluo simrly couldn¡¯t understand why she chose to run away like a stray dog. After all, she was furious at him and hade to punish him.

    That night, both of them tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.

 Book 1: Never Giving Up - 153: Epilogue

    Chapter 153: Epilogue

    Confessing to Gu Qingluo was not something he had thought out very much, but it definitely resulted in a chain reaction.

    The third day after that fateful night, news came to him.

    Gu Qingluo was returning to Longxi.

    This news felt like being blindsided by a bat to the head.

    He didn¡¯t know if she decided on this long ago, or if it was a spur-of-the-moment decision that resulted from what happened between the two of them that night.

    Had he done something wrong? He didn¡¯t know.

    He tried to contact Gu Qingluo but never received a response.

    Every day, he would go to the back mountain, but Gu Qingluo never showed.

    It was as if from that day on, she did not want to ever see Su Chen again. Su Chen felt as though a piece of his heart was forcefully torn out.

    The day the Gu n was supposed to leave finally arrived.

    The Lin n sent arge number of people to send Gu Qingluo off.

    Su Chen waited all by himself at the ce he came clean to her.

    He hoped that Gu Qingluo would appear so he could give her a sentence, but she never did. He waited the entire day, but in the end all that waited for him was disappointment. She left without a word.

    Su Chen experienced the first breakup of his human life.

    In all honesty, it probably didn¡¯t even count as a breakup. After all, their love hadn¡¯t even begun before it ended.

    Su Chen couldn¡¯tprehend why it turned out like this. He was convinced that Gu Qingluo liked him. Even if his confession failed, he thought she would still be willing to be his friend. But if that was so, why did she leave without a word? That was illogical.

    It didn¡¯t line up with what Su Chen understood about human nature.

    Su Chen began to realize that some people and some things simply couldn¡¯t be understood with logic.

    His jockeying for power and benefits had nothing to do with love.

    Love was like an wild horse. It didn¡¯t listen to reason and went where it pleased. It was not constrained by ethics or by benefits to those involved.

    On that day, Su Chen learned an extremely important lesson. Love and rationality weren¡¯tpatible.

    Some people would even im that those who hadn¡¯t suffered romantic loss were not well-rounded.

    Su Chen, having experienced his first romantic loss, had also be more shaped and well-rounded.

    Of course, to him this was an indescribable suffering.

    After Gu Qingluo left, Su Chen closed himself up in his room for three days.

    It wasn¡¯t until the fourth day that he finally walked out of his room.

    On that day, he went to pay his respects to his mother. No matter who he ran into, he greeted them with a smile, even those he had dealt with in the past. He would greet them with a polite smile, as if all the unhappiness in the past had disappeared like smoke. Su Changche felt much more at ease, believing that Su Chen had put down the issues from the past, returning to the n once more.

    But his excitement onlysted for a day before it dissipated like a cloud of smoke.

    That was because the next day, Su Chen took Iron Cliff with him and left.

    He only left behind a letter, saying he wanted to go and see the world for himself. His goal was the Cloud Rising border.

    That was a ce that had been devastated by the Beast Waves, and danger lurked in every corner. Tang Hongrui almost had a nervous breakdown when she found out.

    However, once Su Chen disappeared, he left behind no trace. No one could find him.

    Two monthster, a letter for the n came from a faraway foreignnd.

    It was from Su Chen.

    The letter detailed his life at the Cloud Rising border. He told Tang Hongrui he was safe and sound, so she didn¡¯t have to worry about him. At the same time, he told her that because he was so far away, he wouldn¡¯t have time to return to the Su n, so he would directly head for Long Coiling City and the Hidden Dragon Institute. He also told her to send Mingshu and Zhou Hong directly there. Finally, he asked about the various n members, his words extremely polite. However, it seemed as if they also contained a trace of carelessness and alienation.

    After she read the letter, Tang Hongrui let out a sigh. ¡°He¡¯s all grown up now.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 1: Entering the Institute

    Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race

    Chapter 1: Entering the Institute

    Long Coiling City was the most beautiful towards the end of the ninth month of the year.

    Every year around this time, the iris flowers would begin to bloom, forming a colorful sea of flowers.

    Past the rippling sea of flowers towered a red brick wall, reaching all the way to a mountain five kilometers away. The wall effectively separated the two sides into worlds of their own.

    The wall snaked and wound all over the ce, like the Great Wall. It appeared like a dragon with its head and tail connected, forming arge circle. It had the horns, head, body, ws, and tail of a dragon. Because it looked like a hidden dragon, the school became known as the Hidden Dragon Institute. There were even walls specially built to form the eyes of the dragon. Altogether, the Hidden Dragon Institute wasposed of six parts.

    The Hidden Dragon Institute was extremely lively today.

    People crowded the main entrance. Many candidates entering the school were present, along with family members seeing them off. Traffic flowed ceaselessly and countless people were engaged in conversation. Carriages with the names of the n engraved on them filled the road as far as the eye could see.

    Of those who walked to the main entrance, eight out of ten people were from Inherited Bloodline Nobility ns.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, the Su n¡¯s small carriage had no right to be publically seen. It was squeezed into a very remote corner. Mingshu stood inside the carriage, anxiously gazing out the window. ¡°Why isn¡¯t Young Master here yet? Today¡¯s thest day to enroll! If he misses it today, he might as well not have attended the Hidden Dragon Battle at all!¡±

    ¡°Why are you in such a hurry?¡± Li Shuughed. ¡°Young Master is extremely disciplined. If he says he wille today, he wille. Just be patient.¡±

    Time flew by and before they knew it, the sun was inching closer to the horizon.

    Asrge numbers of students poured into the main gates, their mor disappeared. The sun was about to fall behind the horizon when two silhouettes could be seen in the distance.

    ¡°It¡¯s Young Master! Young Master, we¡¯re here!¡± Mingshu¡¯s eyes were sharp. When he saw Su Chen in the distance, he began to yell excitedly.

    Hearing that voice, Su Chen lifted his head and nced over. He revealed a trace of a smile.

    When Su Chen neared them, they discovered that after two months of traveling, his temperament had be much more concise. His eyes reflected the changes that had urred to him, changes abnormal for a child of his age.

    Li Shu respectfully said, ¡°It¡¯s been two months since Ist saw you, Young Master. You seem to have gotten slimmer.¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°Not really, but thank you. How is the n, and how is Mother?¡±

    ¡°Everything is fine. Did Young Master broaden his horizons during your trip?¡± Lin Shu asked with a smile.

    ¡°I was just confirming some thoughts and ideas I had,¡± Su Chen replied as he gazed off into the distance, his expression distant. ¡°Although some things were never a mystery, I still had to personally witness them in order to truly understand.¡±

    ¡°Young Master, let¡¯s forget about these things for now. Hurry up and enroll; if we dy any longer, the institute won¡¯t let us in anymore,¡± Mingshu said coaxingly.

    Su Chen headed towards the institute¡¯s enrollment area.

    Perhaps because it was alreadyte, there was only one person at the enrollment table. The person sitting there was a middle-aged man with some facial hair, sitting there majestically.

    When he saw Su Chen walking towards him, the middle-aged man said, ¡°Show me your identity tablet.¡±

    Every student had an identity tablet. They had received it after the Hidden Dragon Battle.

    Su Chen handed him his identity tablet. The middle-aged man said, ¡°Su Chen, fifth ce in the Three Mountains Region¡¯s exam, second-tier seedling. You¡¯ll be living in the Clear Sky Tower, room 12.¡±

    Su Chen already knew that the Hidden Dragon Institute separated its students into three different tiers. Tier one wasposed of the elite, with two more tiers close behind. The rest were just regr exam candidates. Those who ced in the top three in their exam region were ced into tier one, the top ten into tier two, and the top twenty into tier three. The rest becamemon students.

    Different levels of students possessed different authority.

    Common students were not allowed to bring servants into the institute. They lived in the normal student residences and did not receive any special allowances. This was all in ordance to the school¡¯s rules.

    Those who were considered seedlings possessed special privileges.

    The bearded middle-aged man handed Su Chen a piece of paper. Written on it were the rules that students of different tiers had to follow.

    As a second-tier student, Su Chen had five privileges he could enjoy:

    1) He could bring one servant with him.

    2) He could stay in a residence with denser Origin Energy.

    3) He could choose a personal instructor.

    4) He would receive a hundred contribution points.

    5) He could unlock nine tiers of preferential treatment.

    Contribution points were a special privilege granted by the Hidden Dragon Institute. They were fundamental for entering special locations, such as the library.

    There were only two ways to obtain additional privileges. Students could obtain contribution points by doing tasks given out by the institute and outstanding performance was appropriately rewarded. The Hidden Dragon Institute had all kinds ofpetitions, practice sessions, and exams. If it was organized by an official, there would usually be contribution points as a reward. After all, the Hidden Dragon Institute was in essence a ce where ability and strength were paramount. Contribution points were often moremonly obtained from good performances rather thanpleting missions, meaning that the former method was also the more popr way to obtain these contribution points.

    As the fifth-ranked student from the Three Mountains Region exam, the one hundred contribution points he received were essentially a reward for his performance.

    To many of the exam candidates, obtaining a hundred contribution points was extremely difficult.

    Being a seedling at the institute came with many advantages.

    However, the privileges that themon students and seedlings possessed were not fixed.

    Every year, the institute would hold argepetition to rank their students. If a seedling performed poorly, their seedling status would be given to another student. This was meant to encourage people and prevent them from cking off. After the first institute-widepetition, some would even be ¡°super seedlings¡± and obtain an even greater allowance and more privileges.

    As he nced over the rules, Su Chen asked, ¡°Do I need to pick a personal instructor now?¡±

    The middle-aged manughed. ¡°Of course not. Most people aren¡¯t familiar with the instructors yet, and trying to choose one now is just like a blind man feeling an elephant1. The institute has a rule that you can choose one at any time within the first year after entering the institute. The students are picking the instructors, putting a bit of pressure on them as well. If an instructor has no talent and can¡¯t take in any students, they can even lose their position as a teacher.¡±

    For some reason, Su Chen felt as if the other party was trying to tell him something.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. I suppose I¡¯m in no hurry right now,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Mhm,¡± the middle-aged man said. ¡°I¡¯ll just briefly remind you that the Hidden Dragon Institute has a total of thirty-one sses, including subjects like History of Origin Energy Development, Origin Energy Talismans, Absorption Technique Tutorials, Origin Formations, Raw Materials, Origin Energy Elements, Biology, Herbology, and Alchemy, to name a few. All of these subjects are open sses, and their times and locations can be found on the schedule. You can choose which sses you want to be in and what you want to focus on ¨C the institute will not restrict you. We will, however, give you some tips on what sses to join. Normally, we don¡¯t rmend you take too many subjects at once, and your sses should at least be somewhat rted to one another. For example, if you want to be an Origin Formation master, sses like Origin Formation Fundamentals, Raw Materials, and Origin Energy Conversion are all sses that you must take. If you want to be an alchemist, Herbology, Biology, Alchemy, etc., are sses you must take. If you want to be a powerful Origin Qi Schr, sses like Absorption Technique Tutorials, Origin Energy Talismans, and History of Origin Energy Development are all must-haves......¡±

    After listening to the bearded middle-aged man talk, Su Chen slowly began to understand how taking sses at the Hidden Dragon Institute worked.

    Basically, the Hidden Dragon Institute was employing a tactic simr to raising sheep free-range rather than penned up. The students were given a great amount of freedom, but simultaneously it applied a bit of pressure to them.

    However, the open sses only contained basic information. If he wanted to learn more advanced material, especially if he wanted someone to individually guide his cultivation and knowledge, he needed to have a dedicated personal instructor.

    Personal instructors also had different tiers of rtionships with their students. Some were just students, while others were disciples, and still others were even inheritors.

    Those in open courses were all considered students. Only those who had chosen a personal instructor were called disciples. Among these disciples, instructors would usually choose a few outstanding individuals they favoured, calling them inheritors. Inheritors were the only people truly able to continue the legacy of their instructors.

    ¡°Thank you, sir, for your help.¡± Su Chen paid his respects to the bearded middle-aged man. He understood the general situation of the institute.

    The bearded man rubbed his beard andughed. ¡°I am called Li Hongyuan, one of the professors at this institute. I focus on how to configure and construct Origin Energy Talismans, particrly fire-type ones. If you are interested, consider taking my ss.¡±

    The instructors of the Hidden Dragon Institute also had their own tasks. Whoever taught the most students and taught them well would have a higher status and a correspondingly higher reward. They would also receive more glory. Sometimes, instructors would even fight over an outstanding student. Under such circumstances, it was no wonder the bearded man had actively promoted himself.

    1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_men_and_an_elephant

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 2: Supervision

    Chapter 2: Supervision

    After checking in, Su Chen brought Iron Cliff to the Clear Sky Tower. As for Mingshu, Li Shu, and Zhou Hong, they found a ce to stay near the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    When they arrived at the Clear Sky Tower, the sky was dark already.

    A giant statue with the body of an eagle and face of a human sat next to the entrance.

    Su Chen handed over his identity tablet to the statue, which swallowed it. A streak of light shot out from the statue and hit Su Chen¡¯s forehead, forming a seal. The eagle-bodied statueughed gratingly, ¡°I¡¯ll remember you. Go on in. Remember this seal will be with you during your stay in the Institute. Don¡¯t break the Institute¡¯s rules. If you do, that seal will inform the officials. When that happens... hehehe.¡±

    The statue let out a fearsomeugh, but Su Chen wore a nonchnt expression.

    Seeing its attempts to scare Su Chen fail, he grumbled, ¡°You¡¯re no fun.¡±

    The door creaked open.

    The twelfth room, located on the third floor of the Clear Sky Tower, was his. When he arrived, he found a ck-clothed youth standing in front of the door.

    The ck-clothed youth¡¯s eyes lit up when he saw Su Chen. He went up and said, ¡°You must be Su Chen, right? I¡¯ve waited a long time for you.¡±

    His voice sounded anything but weing.

    Su Chen asked, ¡°Who are you exactly?¡±

    ¡°My name is Pan, Pan Hao. Remember it, because it will be your worst nightmare!¡±

    ¡°Pan......¡± Su Chen muttered before realizing something. ¡°The Pan n of Pinewood City?¡±

    The members of the Pan n came looking for trouble after all. They wanted to do so earlier, but because of Su Chen¡¯s departure to the Cloud Rising Border, the Pan n was unable to locate him.

    Su Chen asked, ¡°You are also a student of the Hidden Dragon Institute?¡±

    Pan Haoughed darkly, pointing his thumb at himself. ¡°I¡¯m a third year student at the Hidden Dragon Institute. I¡¯m ranked 142nd on the Dragon Transformation List!¡±

    When he mentioned his ranking, a trace of pride slipped into his voice.

    Su Chen knew the Hidden Dragon Institute had a Dragon Transformation List, used to rank all of the students. The name of this list referred to the students still being snakes, dragons in training. They would have toplete the institute¡¯s training toplete the transformation and be a dragon among men. Only then would they be considered some of the most talented members of Long Sang Country.

    The Dragon Transformation List was divided into two lists. The first ranked the students in the same year, and the second was to rank all students without taking in consideration how long they were already studying at the Hidden Dragon Institute. The second list only listed the top 1000 students.

    For Pan Hao to be ranked 142nd implied he was ranked quite high for a third-year student. His strength definitely was notcking.

    To Su Chen, however, this was useless.

    He nodded. ¡°So you came all the way over here just to tell me that?¡±

    Pan Hao angrily harrumphed. ¡°Su Chen, don¡¯t act too unbridled! I came to tell you your days at the Hidden Dragon Institute will not be peaceful. I will have plenty of opportunities to deal with you!¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re basically saying you can¡¯t do anything to me right now?¡± Su Chenughed.

    He had read the rules and knew the Hidden Dragon Institute strictly forbid battles for personal reasons. Pan Hao hade to strut around, but all he could do was throw around some threats.

    Pan Haoughed darkly. ¡°Just because I can¡¯t do anything to you right now doesn¡¯t mean I can¡¯t in the future. Yes, the Hidden Dragon Institute prohibits personal battles, but fights are allowed in the martial arts stage, the Demon Hunting Grounds, the Magic Hall, and the Origin Receiving Pavilion. Some ces even allow fights to the death! Su Chen, you brat, you better pray you never run into me in any of those ces.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll remember that.¡± Su Chen showed a serious expression as he nodded in understandment. ¡°If a day like that doese by, I won¡¯t be merciful.¡±

    A trace of savagery shed across Pan Hao¡¯s eyes. ¡°You¡¯re all talk. I know you were fifth in the Three Mountains Regionpetition, but you were justpeting against ordinary Origin Qi Schrs. Even if you hadn¡¯t taken a shortcut, you would still be far inferior to me in terms of strength. Countless students at this institute are many times more powerful than you. Even the all-powerful Ji Hanyan is forced to reign herself in here!¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± A voice sounded out behind them. Not far behind them stood Ji Hanyan, who was dressed in blue.

    ¡°Ji Hanyan?¡± Pan Hao was startled. ¡°What are you doing here?¡±

    Ji Hanyan coldly said, ¡°You don¡¯t need to know why I¡¯m here. You said I have to reign myself in? I want to see how you can force me to do so as a third-year student.¡±

    As she spoke, she lifted her hand, punching out with a fist.

    Boom!

    She attacked Pan Hao with her Frostbird White Ice Fists.

    Pan Hao was caught off-guard. He hadn¡¯t expected her to go crazy inside the walls of the institute, battling on a whim. He instinctively struck out with his palms, attempting to resist the oing wave of ice and frost.

    However, Ji Hanyan¡¯s Frostbird White Ice Fists were frighteningly powerful. Even though Pan Hao struck out three times in a row, he couldn¡¯t fully negate the attack.

    The punch was about to m into Pan Hao like an ice hammer when he let out a strange yell. He dashed backwards at a frightening speed. Ayer of ice spread out several feet in all directions, its center right where Pan Hao stood mere moments ago.

    Undisturbed by the ineffectiveness of her first attack, Ji Hanyan stabbed out with her finger. She used her Profound Soul-Splitting Finger!

    A sense of danger welled up in Pan Hao¡¯s heart. He called on all of the Origin Energy in his body as he pulled out a sword. He stabbed as he yelled in a high-pitched voice, ¡°Ji Hanyan, don¡¯t be too arrogant! Do you really think I¡¯m afraid of you??¡±

    The finger jab and sword collided, generating a turbulent flow of cold air.

    As the coldness was spreading, a formless force appeared out of nowhere. The turbulent cold wind and the sword light seemingly ran into an invisible wall, bringing their advance to a halt before forcing them back several steps.

    Pan Hao and Ji Hanyan separated. The two of them simultaneouslynded on the ground. It was unclear who held the advantage in that exchange.

    Ji Hanyan, as a newly admitted student, was able to hold her own against a third-year student ranked so high on the Dragon Transformation List. Ji Hanyan¡¯s terrifying strength was clearly manifested in this exchange

    ¡°You......!¡± Pan Hao gazed at Ji Hanyan, shocked and infuriated.

    Ji Hanyan indifferently said, ¡°It seems you¡¯re incapable of forcing me to reign myself in.¡±

    At this moment, a voice entered their ears. ¡°That¡¯s enough. The Hidden Dragon Institute does not allow personal battles. You¡¯re a new student, so this time you¡¯ll only receive a warning. Don¡¯t make this mistake again. Pan Hao, you¡¯re an experienced student. Why are you strutting around in the Clear Sky Tower? You even dared to attack a new student. How disgraceful! You¡¯ll be fined ten contribution points. Get out of here.¡±

    Pan Hao was shocked. ¡°Sir, that¡¯s not fair. Both of us were involved! Why am I the only one getting punished?¡±

    ¡°What a joke! When I do things, do I need to exin myself to you? Are you not satisfied? 20 contribution points, now get the hell out of here!¡±

    A gust of wind arrived, sending Pan Hao flying out of the tower as if it had a corporeal body.

    Su Chen waspletely dazed by this scene. What was happening?

    This was an exemry case of disying bias!

    The problem was that they were new students. Why did this supervisor help them out?

    As if sensing Su Chen¡¯s shock, Ji Hanyan faintly said, ¡°Thank you, instructor.¡±

    ¡°Cough, cough.¡± The coughing sound was abrupt as if someone had been caught off guard. ¡°You damned girl, don¡¯t be so loud! It won¡¯t be good if news of this spreads!¡±

    Ji Hanyan didn¡¯t care at all. ¡°I want news of this to spread. How else can I act as I please at the institute?¡±

    Su Chen and Ji Hanyan¡¯s personal instructor were rendered speechless by her words.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 3: Heavenly Zither Hands

    Chapter 3: Heavenly Zither Hands

    Su Chen nced at Ji Hanyan, then observed his surroundings. He asked carefully, ¡°You...... aren¡¯t looking for me...... right?¡±

    ¡°Is there anyone else here?¡± Ji Hanyan asked as she wrapped her arms around herself.

    The Clear Sky Tower had four rooms on each floor, each taking up a corner. Su Chen looked all around, but knew full well he was the only one here.

    He could only sigh helplessly. ¡°If you want to fight me, there¡¯s no point. I¡¯m not qualified to be your opponent.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not here to fight you. I wanted to ask where you learned the firebird Origin Skill you used against me?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what you want to know?¡± Su Chen was slightly shocked. ¡°Why are you interested in that?¡±

    ¡°I am interested in all Origin Skills that areparable to Bloodline Origin Skills,¡± Ji Hanyan replied frankly.

    The Erupting Firebird was the most powerful Origin Skill Su Chen controlled at the moment. In particr, the strengthened Erupting Firebird could even go up against Ji Hanyan¡¯s Frosted Ice Palms. As a non-bloodline Origin Skill, this was very rare.

    Ji Hanyan was well aware of the power of her own skills, so it was only natural for her to be interested in skills that could rival hers.

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°I created this Origin Skill bybining two Origin Skills.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s self-created?¡± Ji Hanyan¡¯s eyes began to shine. ¡°You can create your own Origin Skills?¡±

    ¡°I just got lucky,¡± Su Chen said modestly.

    ¡°I want to learn it. What¡¯s your price?¡± Ji Hanyan immediately asked.

    So that¡¯s how it is. Su Chenughed bitterly in his heart.

    This woman fancied his Erupting Firebird. No wonder she hade all the way here to find him.

    This wasn¡¯t all that surprising. After all, Bloodline Origin Skills were controlled by an innate bloodline, and there were only so many that existed. If she wanted to advance further, pursuing a few powerful non-bloodline Origin Skills was a good alternative.

    Su Chen never intended on keeping the Erupting Firebird only for himself. He controlled the Brooke Form, and could produce even more Origin Skills in the future. In addition, the strengthened Erupting Firebird was only useful at the moment, and it would probably be tossed aside sooner rather thanter. If he could use it to do business and obtain other cultivation resources, it might not be a bad idea.

    He pondered, then said, ¡°This Origin Skill is split into three parts. Two of them are Ancient Arcana Techniques: the Fireball and the Inferno Origin Energy Model, and thest part is the contemporary Flying Flower Hands. The first two are easy to discuss, but thest one is a bit harder.¡±

    ¡°Soaring Snake Gu n¡¯s Flying Flower Hands?¡± Ji Hanyan¡¯s eyes revealed a trace of shock.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Su Chen helplessly nodded his head. ¡°I can teach you the others, but not that one. Of course, if you have an Origin Skill that can rece the Flying Flower Hands, that could also work.¡±

    ¡°You can substitute the Flying Flower Hands for something else?¡±

    ¡°A unique attribute of the Erupting Firebird is that the Inferno Origin Energy Model allows the mes to assume a real shape, and the Origin Energy from the Flying Flower Hands raises the explosive power of the bird. In theory, it should still be possible with a simr Origin Skill, but it will take time to analyze. In addition, the final effect could be different.¡±

    Ji Hanyan fell silent.

    She gazed at Su Chen wordlessly, deep in contemtion. Finally, she said, ¡°I understand. If I can give you an Origin Skill to rece the Flying Flower Hands, are you sure you canbine them into a new Origin Skill?¡±

    Su Chen wanted to say he was sure he could, but in the end he said, ¡°I¡¯m about 30% certain.¡±

    ¡°Will this do?¡± Ji Hanyan flipped her palm, her fingers seemingly plucking at something as though she was ying a zither. Streaks of finger wind criss-crossed with each other, yet did not disappear. They formed an enchanting web in midair.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t expect her to possess such a move. He was slightly caught off-guard. He asked, ¡°What was that?¡±

    ¡°Heavenly Zither Hands. With it I can condense finger strikes, which look as though they¡¯re zither strings, in midair,¡± Ji Hanyan replied.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up.

    The Heavenly Zither Hands and Flying Flower Hands were very different. Using it to substitute the Flying Flower Hands was basically impossible. But Ji Hanyan and Su Chen were not constrained by conservatism, and they were not dead set on just an Erupting Firebird.

    Su Chen said, ¡°I can try, but I can¡¯t guarantee sess.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s your price?¡± Ji Hanyan asked.

    She was very straightforward, wasting no time on unnecessary words.

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°The Heavenly Zither Hands we¡¯ll consider as down payment. If I seed, I¡¯ll teach you the new skill and it will cost you a skill that is at least as strong as the Heavenly Zither Hands.¡±

    ¡°Deal.¡± Ji Hanyan tossed out a small booklet. It was the Heavenly Zither Hands.

    She turned around and left without even asking how long it would take Su Chen to create the skill.

    Su Chen looked at her back as he pondered for a moment. It wasn¡¯t all that surprising she didn¡¯t ask how long it would take he realized. Powerful non-bloodline Origin Skills were extremely hard toe by, and any Origin Qi Schr would treat them as precious treasures, keeping them concealed. Even Ji Hanyan¡¯s personal instructor only had one non-bloodline Origin Skill, and it was a high-tier secret skill, not suitable for Qi Drawing Realm Origin Qi Schrs to study.

    Exchanging two regr Origin Skills like the Heavenly Zither Hands for a powerful Origin Skill was an extremely favorable oue for her.

    Because of this, Ji Hanyan didn¡¯t give Su Chen a time limit. To her, this was a high-risk, high-reward investment. Although the rate of failure was high, the rewards for sess were beyond incredible.

    After he could no longer see Ji Hanyan, he nced at the Heavenly Zither Hands that had seeminglye down from the sky. Su Chen was speechless. He began to understand this woman¡¯s swift and decisive manner of doing things a little more.

    He could finally enter his room for the first time.

    The rooms the Hidden Dragon Institute prepared for their students were very spacious. There was a bedroom, a living room, and a room for cultivation. The entire Clear Sky Tower was formed out of gold and was encased in an Origin Formation. It was extremely sturdy, and no matter what the students did, it wouldn¡¯t be affected.

    After entering the room, Su Chen first cleaned it and put his stuff down before walking to the cultivation chamber. The cultivation chamber had a small Origin Formation embedded in it, causing it to draw in Origin Energy and nursing the environment. This was something only seedlings could make use of. Cultivating in this ce was already much better than many other ces, and most students dreamed of having such a cultivation environment.

    Even so, such an Origin Formation waspletely beneath Su Chen¡¯s gaze.

    He opened his ring and pulled out a medicinal furnace, cing it within the Origin Formation. Heughed. ¡°Now, I can draw out the full potential of this grade-six Origin Furnace.¡±

    Su Chen had pilfered this grade-six Origin Furnace from Master Feng. It required an Origin Formation around it to be used. Origin Furnaces were also divided into nine tiers, just like Origin Tools. This grade-six Origin Furnace was Su Chen¡¯s most valuable possession.

    Su Chen was not very proficient with formations, and he temporarily had no need of using this Origin Formation to make medicine, so he had set it aside. Unexpectedly, there was an Origin Formation in this ce that would allow him to make use of the furnace.

    Su Chen began to pull out item after item ¨C his workbench, all kinds of containers, and ingredients ¨C very quickly filling up the whole room. A great cultivation room had been turned into an alchemy room.

    Finally, he pulled out his course timetable, analyzing which sses he should take for the uing term.

    He was just about to begin when suddenly two voices shouted from outside his room.

    ¡°Su Chen, Su Chen!¡±

    It was Wang Doushan and Jin Ling¡¯er.

    Su Chen sighed. It seemed he was not going to have an idle moment today.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 4: Classes

    Chapter 4: sses

    When he awoke, it was still in the early hours of the morning. Su Chen felt a little groggy from partying deep into the night.

    Yesterday, Jin Ling¡¯er and Wang Doushan had dragged him to meet the other students in the same tower, saying things like ¡°In the future we¡¯ll all be ssmates, so we need to get to know each other. You¡¯re not allowed to return until you get drunk!¡±

    Although he was weed with open arms, he felt a hint of alienation, save for Wang Doushan and Jin Ling¡¯er. A strange sense of rejection loomed over him. He felt as though these students disdained anyone who wasn¡¯t like them, a student with a bloodline. Not that he felt surprised by how they acted. After all, in the entire Clear Sky Tower, he was the only one without a bloodline.

    Su Chen truly could be considered an alien species in this tower.

    Luckily, they all acted with proper etiquette, refraining themselves from insulting Su Chen to his face. This allowed for a friendly rtionship on the surface, at least.

    Whatever, forget about it. Su Chen saw the sun was well above the horizon, so he got up and washed himself. Without Mingshu here, nothing was as convenient as it used to be. Iron Cliff was a great fighter, but not very good at serving others. Perhaps I should learn a body cleansing technique in the future to save me some trouble, Su Chen thought.

    After eating breakfast, Su Chen went to ss.

    Su Chen had already chosen the sses he would attend. The first one was biology.

    Biology was taught in a lecture hall in the North Brilliance Tower. By the time Su Chen arrived, nearly a hundred students had already gathered.

    He found a random corner and sat down. After he gotfortable, another ten or so students came, followed by arge-nosed old man.

    The old man looked like he woke up not long ago, his hair as messy as a bird¡¯s nest. He stood in front of the podium, not wasting any time.

    ¡°Biology is mainly focused on exploring the innate essence of life. It helps us understand the rtionship between life, energy, and nature. Many people like to treat biology as a study of the human body, a field that rtes the motion of energy to the human body; in all honesty, I despise such a viewpoint because it is too utilitarian! The true purpose of biology is not limited to this. It¡¯s not just to help you understand the paths that Origin Energy moves in your body, to help you form Origin Energy Talismans more easily, or even understanding how medicine behaves when it interacts with the human body...... this is biology, not human physiology! If your view is narrow, you will not find much sess in life. Either way, most of you won¡¯t ever know what a great sess is.

    This was the first thing Su Chen learned during his biology sses, and it was what he remembered most clearly.

    The old man was called Guo Kai. Although his appearance was very sloppy, his instructions were very clear and well-organized.

    Although he repeatedly emphasized he taught biology and not human physiology, the reality was that the human body was one of the greatest research subjects in the field of biology. He taught the students about theposition and capabilities of the human body, as well as the rtionship between Origin Energy and how it was controlled. He used these methods to help the students understand the innate essence of biology.

    Although biology was the most helpful for studying alchemy, one had to admit it also had some benefits for cultivation.

    After finishing biology, Su Chen left the lecture hall, heading for the Windriding Tower for his Origin Energy Talismans ss.

    The Origin Energy Talismans ss was very popr. The ssroom could hold up to 400 students.

    Even so, by the time Su Chen arrived, the ssroom was full. Su Chen couldn¡¯t find a spot to sit, so he settled with leaning against a wall to listen to the lecture.

    A man wearing a ck robe walked into therge lecture hall.

    It was Li Hongyuan, who had weed Su Chen to the institute the day before. He seemed much more energetic than yesterday, his small beard and mustache neatlybed.

    He arrived at the elevated podium and said, ¡°Hello everyone, my name is Li Hongyuan. Today, I am here to tell you about the different ways to construct an Origin Energy Talisman.¡±

    ¡°Everyone knows that Origin Energy Talismans aren¡¯t isted existences. They are brands of Origin Power nodes deep within our body, located near the source of our Origin Energy. But very few people know that the rtionship between an Origin Energy Talisman and a human is one of symbiosis. Humans activate the Origin Energy Talisman, and the Talisman also affects the human body. The simplest example of this is body tempering techniques, which rely on Origin Energy Talismans to affect and sculpt the human physique.¡±

    ¡°So where do these talismanse from? Every student at the Hidden Dragon Institute is already an Origin Qi Schr, and you should all have a general idea of the answer. It¡¯s very simple! Ites about through external cultivation, specific breathing techniques, and certain skills. Today, we will talk about 63 of these fundamental skills necessary for the formation of an Origin Energy Talisman.¡±

    Su Chen took notes as he listened attentively.

    Before entering the Hidden Dragon Institute, Su Chen obtained all of his knowledge from the Immortal Temple due to his unique circumstance. As remnants of the Arcana Race, the Immortal Temple possessed an abundance of ancient knowledge. He was able to learn quite a few Ancient Arcana Techniques, but he was still unfamiliar with contemporary Origin Skills.

    Su Chen finally had a way to do something about that. As a student of the institute, he now had a systematic way he could absorb the institute¡¯s knowledge on contemporary Origin Skills.

    Only by studying did he finally understand that contemporary Origin Skills were in no way inferior to Ancient Arcana Skills in terms ofplexity. The Origin Energy Talismans alone had many different topics to cover, such as: ¡°Different methods for forming Origin Energy Talismans¡±; ¡°Different effects that Origin Energy Talismans have on different peoples¡¯ bodies¡±; ¡°The positioning of Origin Energy Talismans and how it affects one¡¯s control over Origin energy¡±; ¡°Why dposing Origin Energy Talismans is important¡±; ¡°Formation of basic and unique Origin Energy Talismans and differences in the process¡±; and ¡°The effects of Origin Energy Talismans on Origin Skills¡±, to name a small portion of the vast content. Every topic was incredibly profound andplex, requiringrge amounts of time for research.

    Only if he put in the time necessary could hepare the differences between contemporary Origin Skills and Ancient Arcana Techniques.

    In terms of explosive power, contemporary Origin Skills were inferior to Ancient Arcana Techniques, but their field of use was much broader.

    By forming an Origin Energy Talisman and using it to direct the body¡¯s Origin Energy, they could obtain a respectable power output and could also raise the quality of one¡¯s vitality. This was something Ancient Arcana Techniques simply could not do. Although there were many talented great Arcana masters during that period of time, they might not even be able topare with a current Origin Qi Schr.

    Apart from this, contemporary Origin Skills were easier to use and could often be used both offensively and defensively. For instance, the Thunder de didn¡¯t seem as powerful as Su Chen¡¯s other Origin Skills, but it could be used for offense and defense. In the Three Mountains Regionpetition, it had helped him defend himself against Pan Yue and the silver-armored youth¡¯sbined attacks. This was something Ancient Arcana Techniques like a fireball simply could not achieve.

    This was one of the benefits of a contemporary Origin Skill.

    As Li Hongyuan spoke, Su Chen began to understand how Origin Energy Talismans were formed.

    Although they were not asplicated as Origin Energy Patterns, there was a special procedure necessary to form them. There would be different effects depending on when and where the Origin Energy Talisman was formed as well as what formation procedure was used even though the Origin Energy Talisman itself was the same.

    If there was a specific preference or need, it would require a rational cultivation method.

    Su Chen and the other students were all intoxicated by the lesson. Many of them wanted to try it out immediately.

    The ss ended at that precise moment.

    ¡°The lesson on how Origin Energy Talismans can be constituted will end here for today. Because of the time, I could only talk about three kinds. If you¡¯re still interested, join my next ss. Don¡¯t forget to attend every lesson if you want to master my Origin Energy Talisman ss.¡±

    Li Hongyuan floated away as he spoke thesest words.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 5: Ne

    Chapter 5: Net

    After Origin Energy Talismans was Alchemy, followed by Absorption Technique Tutorials, Origin Energy Elements, Herbology, etc.

    Su Chen had already decided to pursue the path of an alchemist, so he began to furiously study ordingly.

    He attended arge number of sses every day, absorbing information like a dry sponge in water. When it was nighttime, he would return to his dormitory, cultivating his Origin Skills and learning more about Ancient Arcana Techniques.

    The Hidden Dragon Institute had a lot of literature on Ancient Arcana Techniques, but there was no ss offered for it, and the amount of information they possessed was pitiful. This was not particrly surprising. After all, old techniques that were no longer of any use weren¡¯t viewed with much importance.

    Even if he couldn¡¯t finish all his assignments, Su Chen still had to conduct a lot of experiments.

    He performed experiments on medicines, bloodlines, and using the Brooke Form to generate a novel Origin Skill.

    To give himself more time, Su Chen even gave up on cultivating during the day.

    This tactic made it so that Su Chen¡¯s cultivation base stagnated, but he didn¡¯t care at all.

    With his eye¡¯s ability to see Origin Energy, he could catch back up by killing wild Vicious Beasts. The precious information he was surrounded with was much more important to him.

    Su Chen¡¯s first three months in the Hidden Dragon Institute passed by quietly as he furiously and diligently studied.

    This period of time was both his busiest and most enriching. He submerged himself in his studies, cultivation, and experiments. His life seemed simple and dull, but he was filled with happiness.

    This excitement came from therge amount of precious knowledge he learned, which in turn augmented and increased his own strength.

    Today was just like any other day. After finishing his sses, Su Chen returned to his room. As part of his research, he began to infer information from the Brooke Form.

    He was essentially using the Brooke Form to calcte how tobine Origin Energy Talisman fragments.

    The Brooke Form was incredibly powerful, but it was not invincible. It was impossible to use this form to form any Origin Skill he wanted. In reality, it was more like a calctor, allowing people to rapidly calcte the possible reactions and effects frombining different Origin Energy Talisman fragments.

    With the assistance of this calctor, but without an appropriate example, he needed toplete countlessplicated tests to create an Origin Skill.

    After two months of hard work, Su Chen finally discovered a small light at the end of the tunnel by inferring information from the Brooke Form.

    His fingers moved rapidly, as if he were plucking formless zither strings. Streaks of red shot out from his hands, carrying with them a searing heat. They formed a giant of fire in midair.

    He pulled out a piece of pure gold and tossed it into the fire. The pure gold passed through the as if it did not exist.

    Right after it passed through, the gold split apart into numerous small chunks before falling to the ground. Each piece was slightly melted around the edges.

    The fire shook before disappearingpletely.

    ¡°Is this the new Origin Skill you created using the Heavenly Zither Hands?¡± a voice rang out behind him.

    Su Chen jumped into the air. He turned around and found Ji Hanyan standing in his room.

    ¡°How did you get in?¡± Su Chen¡¯s eyes shot open wide in shock.

    This was his personal room. There were restrictive spells ced by the institute, so how did this woman just barge in all on her own?

    ¡°Did you forget who my personal instructor is?¡± Ji Hanyan replied absentmindedly. She picked up the gold pieces from the ground, inspecting them closely.

    Su Chen was quite exasperated.

    It was pretty rare for people to abuse their power to the point she had. Who knew how her personal instructor could stand her.

    Ji Hanyan said, ¡°You¡¯ve made a lot more progress than I expected. However, this doesn¡¯t look much like the Erupting Firebird anymore, does it?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. In the end, the Heavenly Zither Hands is not the Flying Flower Hands. I tried a few times, but the results were not ideal...... They should all be considered failures. Afterwards, I thought to myself, If I¡¯m not using the Flying Flower Hands anymore, why should I be so stubborn about getting the Erupting Firebird? Theposition of Origin Skills is like love ¨Cpatibility is the most important. I tried to follow a different train of thought. I gave uppletely on the Erupting Firebird, changing to the tactic of a. Hopefully you don¡¯t mind.¡±

    Su Chen had been inspired to create the Inferno Net ever since his battle with Jin Ling¡¯er. At the time, he was forced to repeatedly retreat, constantly using the Thunder de to create thunderous roars and ambush the enemies. Unfortunately, the Thunder de was still quite weak, and its capacity to injure was limited. If he used this Inferno Net instead, the opponent would be seeking death if they tried to charge at him head-on.

    However, Ji Hanyan¡¯s style of battle was overbearing and dominant. It was hard to say whether or not she would appreciate this technique, which was more applicable for defense.

    Ji Hanyan said, ¡°The reason why I enjoy attacking is because there isn¡¯t anyone who has forced me to defend yet.¡±

    ¡°......¡± What an overbearing answer.

    ¡°But there are many individuals more powerful than I am in the Hidden Dragon Institute ¨C at least for now. I like it a lot.¡± Ji Hanyan¡¯s supplementalment caused Su Chen to let out a sigh of relief.

    He said, ¡°That¡¯s good. But right now this Inferno Net isn¡¯t sturdy enough. I¡¯m trying to figure out how to raise its stability. As it is right now, a single palm strike can break the skill apart, like you just saw. Because the threads are so thin, it¡¯s hard to increase their durability.¡±

    The thin strands forming the Inferno Net needed to be thin enough to preserve their razor-sharp cutting ability.

    But on the other hand, if the strands were too thin, they wouldck durability.

    Sharpness and durability were the two opposite ends of a spectrum Su Chen was trying to simultaneously achieve. It was hard for him to find the perfect match.

    Ji Hanyan lowered her head in thought upon understanding Su Chen¡¯s conundrum. ¡°Perhaps you can switch up your method.¡±

    ¡°What method should I use?¡±

    ¡°Make the invisible.¡±

    ¡°Make the invisible?¡± Su Chen was surprised, then revealed an excited expression. ¡°That¡¯s a good idea. Since I can¡¯t raise its durability, I can go a different direction to make the skill effective, like invisibility. But in that case, I¡¯ll need to add a new Origin Skill to it.

    The phrase ¡°the more, the better¡± absolutely did not apply to Origin Skills.

    The more Origin Skills that werebined, the moreplicated it would be. Not only would it require tons of man hours to calcte and experiment with, even its usage would be unnecessarily filled with small details. It would be hard to control and ineffective in a real battle.

    The Inferno Net was already abination of three different Origin Skills. Adding another one would make it too clumsy for use inbat.

    ¡°Why use fire?¡± Ji Hanyan asked.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Su Chen was caught off-guard. ¡°That¡¯s because......¡±

    ¡°Because you were trying to recreate the Erupting Firebird, right? But now we¡¯re not focused on the Erupting Firebird anymore. This Origin Skill ispletely unrted to the Erupting Firebird, so why continue stubbornly using the fireball and Inferno Origin Energy Model as a basis? Or are those the only ones you know?¡±

    Su Chen pondered on this question.

    Ji Hanyan continued, ¡°The purpose of the is to obstruct and injure the opponent, so its qualities should include concealment and its power to injure. Although adding on the mes made it more likely to injure an opponent, this kind of limited improvement is not very useful at all. Why not try out a few different Origin Skills?¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°That¡¯s right! If that¡¯s the case, then things be much easier. Dammit, why didn¡¯t I think of this earlier!¡±

    Su Chen was extremely annoyed with himself.

    The entire day, the two of them discussed new directions in which to take their Origin Skill, eventually deciding on one.

    Throughout this process, Su Chen learned a valuable lesson ¨C if he wanted to get something done well, it was important not only to have the right method but also the right direction. If he took a wrong turn, it didn¡¯t matter how outstanding the method he had chosen was.

    Ji Hanyan discovered that Su Chen really was a genius.

    Combining different Origin Skills seemed simple, but it required an enormous amount of calctions and attention to detail. Some people could live their entire lives without creating one, yet this youth only required a few months toplete a prototype for an Origin Skill.

    And he had done this while simultaneously taking a heavy courseload.

    A newbination implicated countless new possibilities. Su Chen would need to perform an enormous amount of calctions to determine which Origin Skills were the mostpatible.

    This implied that he would need even more Origin Skills. This was where Ji Hanyan came into y.

    Just like many investors, if they viewed the target of their investment favorably, they would often be willing to invest even more.

    Ji Hanyan viewed Su Chen very favorably. It was just a few Origin Skills; they didn¡¯t mean much to her.

    That night, Ji Hanyan helped Su Chen find a giant pile of Origin Skills.

    After filtering through arge number of them, Su Chen finally chose the Windedge Technique and the Light Bending Technique.

    The Windedge Technique could give the strands in the their desired sharpness, while the Light Bending Technique could grant it invisibility.

    Most importantly, their Origin Energy Talisman and Origin Energy Pattern werepatible.

    Everything was as Su Chen had said ¨Cbining Origin Skills was like love. Compatibility was everything.

    Love existed between these three Origin Skills.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 6: Passing

    Chapter 6: Passing

    A monthter.

    Today, there were no sses.

    Su Chen sat on his bed, his hands moving and gesturing as he gently pressed down in the air.

    Although it seemed as if nothing had happened other than a brief gust of wind, Su Chen¡¯s eyes could clearly see a brilliant of Origin Energy covering the area in front of him.

    He grabbed a nearby b and tossed it out. The b passed through the, instantly splitting into ten or so chunks. The clear trembled briefly, but it didn¡¯t break.

    A brief momentter, it dispersed.

    Sess!

    Su Chen revealed an expression of joy.

    The new Origin Skill had formed much faster than Su Chen initially expected. Both in terms of sharpness and durability, it was already far superior to its earlier form. Most importantly, it had incorporated the Light Bending Technique, making it hard to see with the naked eye. It was very well-concealed and could definitely be used to catch people off-guard.

    Of course, the wind¡¯s durability and sharpness were not undefeatable. But invincibility didn¡¯t exist among Origin Skills; there would always be a better one. Based on Su Chen¡¯s current cultivation base, there was no need to pursue better results.

    Let¡¯s go test it out in the Refinement Chamber.

    He was like a child that had just obtained a new toy. He wanted to y with it!

    In this period of time, he had concentrated on analyzing Origin Energy Patterns, and so he was bing more familiar with the Whitetower Teleportation, Soul-Fixing Technique and Origin Energy Bullets. With his new proficiency in these skills, he felt his power must¡¯ve increased by a great amount and he was eager to test it out.

    The moment this idea surfaced in Su Chen¡¯s mind, he stood up and headed for the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s Hundred Refinements Hall.

    The Hundred Refinements Hall was provided by the Hidden Dragon Institute specifically so students could assess their progress.

    Every student coulde here to find out how much their strength had grown.

    This was Su Chen¡¯s first timeing here. Upon arriving, he was greeted by the sight of a massive, vast hall.

    The massive hall was very majestic. There were eighteen copper soldiers standing on either side. While they looked like statues, they were most likely Demonic Puppets, there to uphold the Institute¡¯s rules and maintain order.

    There were twenty copper doors, each with a different image inscribed on them.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t understand what they were used for. Thankfully, student assistants were present, so he approached them for help.

    The student assistant he approached was extremely thin. He looked quite simr to a string bean. To Su Chen¡¯s question, he replied somewhat impatiently, ¡°The twenty doors represent different levels of strength. New students will enter from the first door on the left. Whenever you are able to clear what¡¯s behind the first door, you can enter the second. In addition, behind each door are contribution points. If you clear the room, they¡¯re yours. As for how many there are, that depends on how many times you¡¯ve entered the room. The more often you enter, the less contribution points you¡¯ll earn.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re saying that if I¡¯m able to beat the first door on my first try, I¡¯ll obtain the most contribution points, but if I¡¯m unable to do so, I¡¯ll obtain less contribution points even if I¡¯ve never beaten it before?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Every student must be very clear about the strength they possess.¡±

    ¡°So can I just cultivate for a few years, then take the test?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Of course you can. However, the rules are that the more years you¡¯ve been here, the less contribution points you¡¯ll obtain. Each door also has a target time; if you go higher than that value, the contribution points you can earn will decrease. The same goes for every time you enter.¡± The studentughed. ¡°It¡¯s pretty difficult to take advantage of the Institute.¡±

    So that¡¯s how it is!

    To obtain the most contribution points, he would have to clear the room in as short a period of time as possible with the lowest number of attempts. This required students to not only possess great power but also an urate perception of their own abilities.

    Understanding the limits of his strength was an extremely important skill for survival. Otherwise, if he jumped headfirst into battle without so much as a clue what was awaiting him, that was tantamount to inviting death!

    The Institute implemented this rule to force students to urately assess their own strength.

    They called it the ¡°Hundred Refinements¡±, yet the more he practiced, the lower the amount of points he would earn. If it really took a hundred tries to clear a room, that person was probably quite worthless.

    ¡°Are you sure you want to enter? Normally, this ce is the busiest just before the school year ends. After all, that¡¯s thest time where they will still be part of the same year. However, it will be much busier at that time, and it will cost you contribution points to enter a room.¡±

    There were very few loopholes to take advantage of.

    Thankfully, Su Chen wasn¡¯t here to take advantage of any loopholes.

    Heughed. ¡°I¡¯ll do it right now.¡±

    ¡°Good! I like people who are straightforward!¡± The student praised, giving Su Chen a thumbs up. ¡°ce your identity tablet into the door and you can enter.¡±

    Su Chen discovered that there was a small slot on the door.

    He walked over and ced his identity tablet inside the slot, after which the door opened.

    Su Chen entered. His vision went blurry, and he found himself standing in a scorching desert.

    Although he knew this was an illusion set up by the formation, Su Chen still felt a sense of oppressive heat for seemingly no reason.

    At that moment, a streak of light shot out from underneath his feet, pouncing towards him.

    This attack was sudden and vicious, but Su Chen easily sidestepped it. The ck shadow¡¯s pounce missed, but it turned around in midair and pounced at Su Chen again, roaring in anger. It was a Mirage Lynx! The first Vicious Beast Su Chen had ever battled was a Mirage Lynx. Unexpectedly, it was also the first Vicious Beast Su Chen was fighting here.

    The Mirage Lynx lived in forested mountains, not inside a desert. But since this was all just an illusion, Su Chen didn¡¯t pay much attention to these things.

    With Su Chen¡¯s current strength, dealing with a Mirage Lynx was easy. However, he made this trip precisely because he wanted to test out the effect of his new Origin Skill in battle. He conjured a wind in front of him.

    The Mirage Lynx flew forwards like lightning, passing through the wind. Su Chen didn¡¯t dodge the lynx, allowing its sharp ws to reach his own throat. The lynx trembled violently and just before it would sh with Su Chen, it fell to the ground.

    After the lynx disappeared, a squad of soldiers appeared.

    Although they were only soldiers at the Body Tempering Realm, each one was covered in battle armor, holding sharp des in their hands. They even understood how to use group tactics.

    But in the end, they were no challenge for Su Chen.

    He formed the wind and the soldiers charged unknowingly into it one after the other.

    This time, the wind was not as effective as before. The hard armor blunted the sharpness of the, and the weight of these soldiers put a lot of pressure on the wind. It broke before it was even able to cut open the opponents.

    Even so, the squad of soldiers still sustained heavy injuries.

    Su Chen retreated, conjuring another wind.

    The illusion soldiers charged forwards, unafraid of death. They continued to be torn up and shredded.

    Another. Another charge.

    Su Chen created a total of fives before thest soldier lost his life.

    After the soldiers disappeared, arge flock of birds appeared.

    When Su Chen saw the birds, he was happy.

    Without question, the wind was most suited for these kinds of opponents.

    Su Chen relied on just a single wind to deal with all birds. He constantly tested out his new Origin Skills to deal with all kinds of opponents in different settings.

    Only after extensive testing could an Origin Skill be considered good. Through this process, Su Chen began to realize some drawbacks to the wind that prevented it from being immediately usable. He also discovered when it was effective and when it wasn¡¯t.

    He memorized everything, using it as a basis for future improvements.

    No Origin Skill was invincible, and no Origin Skill couldn¡¯t be improved.

    Only if he was always unsatisfied could he continue to improve.

    After testing for quite some time, Su Chen discovered that there were suddenly no more opponents.

    He discovered he conquered the first room!

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 7: Reencounter

    Chapter 7: Reencounter

    After beating the first room, the illusion realm disappeared. Su Chen discovered that he was in a room covered in Origin Formations. There was a door on the opposite side of the room; upon pushing it open, Su Chen discovered he had returned to therge hall outside.

    The skinny student¡¯s eyes lit up when he saw Su Chen. ¡°Oh, you passed the first level already? Not bad.¡±

    ¡°I just got lucky is all,¡± Su Chen indifferently replied. As he spoke, he pulled out his identity tablet from the door. He discovered he was awarded 25 contribution points for beating the first room.

    ¡°How about it, want to give the second room a try? If you can clear it, you¡¯ll get fifty contribution points,¡± the student egged Su Chen on. It seemed he harbored no good intentions.

    ¡°Okay!¡± Su Chen easily agreed.

    Upon seeing Su Chen enter the second door, the skinny student paused before letting out a scornfulugh. ¡°I trapped another one.¡±

    He worked here for a long time already, so he knew all the ins and outs.

    The first room was the easiest to clear. It was essentially used to ease the students in while also giving them some contribution points. If the students were smart, they would be able to approximate the strength of the second room and assess whether or not they could clear it.

    New students were often able to clear the first room with ease. With 25 contributions points in the bag, they would be given a challenge in the floor after. One that required strength.

    The skinny student was quite perceptive. He immediately realized Su Chen did not have the aura of someone with a bloodline, so he ought to be a normal student. For him to attempt the second room after not even being in the school for a few months, there was only one possible oue: failure.

    This was exactly the result the skinny student was looking for.

    He was always here, watching over the students. His favorite thing to see was students walk in full of self-confidence and leave dejectedly. He found pleasure in the failures of others.

    This feeling of taking delight in the failures of others was extremely satisfying to him. In fact, this kind of perverse delight was quitemon among those who had failed before.

    However, the smile on his face quickly disappeared when the green light above the second door lit up. He stood there in a daze. Ses? He actually cleared it?

    When Su Chen walked out, 50 contribution points were added to the identity tablet in his hand.

    ¡°Not bad, kid!¡± The skinny student quickly retracted his shock. He pretended to honestly congratte Su Chen, ¡°You up to do the third room? Out of all the first-year students, very few can clear the third room at this stage.¡±

    ¡°Mhm.¡± Su Chen thought seriously about it for a moment, then nodded his head. ¡°I¡¯ll give it a try.¡±

    Holy shit, are you serious?

    The skinny studentughed coldly in his heart. This guy truly doesn¡¯t know when to stop.

    Each two doors were equivalent to a year in the institute. At least, that was the designid out by the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    In other words, being able to clear two doors as a first-year student was already up to par. The third door was designed for second-year students. Only the top first-year students could clear it.

    The contribution points awarded were determined based on this system. If he cleared it ahead of schedule, he would obtain more points, and if he failed to clear it within the set amount of time, he would obtain less.

    Only the most outstanding seedlings would be able to clear rooms ahead of schedule. Evidently, the non-bloodline student standing in front of him did not reach that standard.

    The third door, huh...... I¡¯ll be waiting to watch you bite the dust.

    The skinny studentughed coldly in his heart.

    Not long afterwards.

    The copper door opened, a green light above it. The skinny student was so surprised his jaw almost fell off.

    What the hell, he even cleared the third room!

    If word were to spread that a first-year student without a bloodline had cleared the third door only a few months after the start of the year, most people would be so shocked that their teeth would fall out!

    Evidently, Su Chen was not as rxed as he had been previously.

    Fatigue could be seen on his face, and his forehead was covered in sweat.

    However, he was extremely happy. The third room granted him 100 contribution points after all!

    How many points would he get if he cleared the fourth room right now?

    However, he had pretty much used up all of his moves to clear thest room. He was even forced to use Whitetower Teleportation and Origin Energy Bullets. He didn¡¯t feel confident in clearing the fourth room, so he gave up on that idea.

    Even so, Su Chen still asked the skinny student, ¡°Out of the first-year students, how many cleared the third room?¡±

    Perhaps because Su Chen had charged through three rooms in a row, the skinny student¡¯s tone became much more respectful. He nced through the record book, then replied, ¡°Up until now, there are a total of 84 people including you.¡±

    There¡¯s 84?

    This didn¡¯t even include those who hadn¡¯t yete to try and clear the rooms, yet possessed the strength to do so.

    Indeed, there were many capable individuals at the institute, even among the first-year students.

    ¡°Are there any who cleared the fourth room?¡± Su Chen asked.

    The skinny student flipped through the records again before replying, ¡°Five.¡±

    Five people cleared the fourth room?

    ¡°May I ask who they are?¡± Su Chen inquired.

    The skinny student answered, ¡°Two chose to keep their identities a secret, while three did not. They are Jiang Xishui, Yue Longsha, and Ji Hanyan.¡±

    So Ji Hanyan was among them.

    This was not surprising given the level of strength she possessed.

    The fourth room was probably not her limit either. After all, Ji Hanyan could go toe-to-toe with Pan Hao, so in theory she should at least be able to clear the fifth room. The only reason she hadn¡¯t yet was probably because she was being cautious.

    He didn¡¯t know who Jiang Xishui or Yue Longsha were.

    The skinny student said with a smile, ¡°Since you cleared the third room, you have already obtained the right to leave your name on the registry. Do you want to......¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need,¡± Su Chen cut him short as he shook his head.

    He didn¡¯t have much interest in obtaining a certain ranking. After hearing who had cleared it, Su Chen confirmed that his current strength was around the level of Treebow Zhang Sheng¡¯an or Blood Demon Zhong Ding. During the Three Mountains Region exam, he only obtained fifth ce by exploiting various opportunitiesing his way. Now, he could finally say that he was deserving of such a ranking.

    He still had a long road ahead of him if he wished to catch up to a genius like Ji Hanyan.

    But that didn¡¯t matter to him. After all, targets were meant to be chased after.

    He turned around to nce at the fourth door, sizing it up briefly before turning around and leaving.

    ¡°Please,e again!¡± The skinny exam student¡¯s tone was filled with respect. No trace of his earlierziness could be found.

    He only came here to test out his new Origin Skill, but he walked away with 170 contributions that had seemingly fallen in his hands. He was rather happy with it.

    Su Chen was at the Hidden Dragon Institute for several months now. Although he lived in seclusion, he knew contribution points were vital in the Hidden Dragon Institute. Many services provided by the institute required these points. From hearsay, this was to even out some of the differences amongst the students. After all, simply using money to buy everything would give rich students an inherent advantage, which was bad for their development.

    By using contribution points, they could ensure a fair starting point.

    Of course, true equality did not exist. The Bloodline Nobility ns possessed an innate advantage, and non-bloodline individuals had generally no hope ofpeting. However, there was nothing that could be done about this inequality.

    After obtaining 170 contribution points in addition to the amount he already possessed, Su Chen decided to pay the library a visit.

    Perhaps because he was deeply affected by the Arcana Race, Su Chen¡¯s pursuit of knowledge was far more diligent than most people.

    This also had to do with the differences between the two races.

    The Arcana Race¡¯s strength came about from their intelligence. Every great Arcana master was simultaneously a schr, delving into the mysteries of the world.

    Humankind was different. While they also ced importance on knowledge, they limited themselves to the knowledge rted to cultivation. Every piece of information had to do with cultivation, and it had to be relevant with their own path of cultivation. Otherwise, the information was pointless.

    The differences in approach came about due to therge gap in physical potential. The Arcana Race was at a disadvantage when it came to cultivating, but they possessed sharp mental acuity, and were able to understand the changes in Origin Energy conductance. Their method was to create Origin Energy Patterns. Other races could study and use Ancient Arcana Techniques because those techniques only affected how Origin Energy was conducted through the body. It waspletely separate from their origin.

    For humans, Origin Energy Talismans were formed within their bodies and affected their physique. They activated Origin Skills from within their own body, so they could only be used by humans, not any other races.

    The discrepancies between the races shaped the differences in cultivation methods.

    Su Chen, however, was an oddity. He had a vision of apletely new path, one where he would unify the past with present,bining Ancient Arcana Techniques and contemporary Origin Skills.

    There were already some who had chosen to take this path. The result was Improved Arcana Techniques.

    The Soul Eye was a perfect example.

    However, there was not much sess to be found on that path. Because of theplexities, its applicability in battle was small.

    But with the Brooke Form and his eye, which could see Origin Energy, Su Chen had a real possibility of improving and strengthening these kinds of Origin Skills.

    Right now, his main problem was hisck of knowledge.

    Without question, the library was a great ce to resolve this issue.

    After arriving at the library, he discovered that, just like the Hundred Refinements Pavilion, students were also responsible for providing assistance here. Students would be paid with contribution points for theirbor; although the pay wasn¡¯t much, they could at least guarantee their own safety.

    The person assisting him was a round-faced girl. She knew Su Chen was a neer, so she exined about the library. ¡°None of the books in the library can be checked out. You may only read them while in the library, and every hour you spend here will cost you ten contribution points. If you have any special privileges, you can receive a discount depending on your tier of preferential treatment.¡±

    Su Chen was a second-level Institute seedling, and he possessed Tier 9 preferential treatment from the very beginning. Every hour, he would only need to pay nine contribution points.

    ¡°How do I raise the tier of my preferential treatment?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°You can raise it bypleting tasks handed out by the Institute, or you can buy them with contribution points. It costs 100 contribution points to buy your way into Tier 9 preferential treatment.¡± The round-faced girl didn¡¯t know that Su Chen already was at Tier 9 preferential treatment, so she exined this detail to him.

    ¡°What about going from Tier 9 to Tier 8?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll cost you 150 contribution points,¡± the round-faced girl replied. ¡°But preferential treatments apply to the entire Institute, not just the library. It¡¯ll be useful in other ces as well.¡±

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then pulled out his identity tablet and said, ¡°Can you raise me to Tier 8?¡±

    Even if it were just for the library, spending 150 contribution points to raise his tier was worth it.

    Upon seeing Su Chen pull out 150 contribution points to raise his tier, the round-faced woman was surprised.

    150 contribution points was not a small sum. More importantly, he was only using them to save one contribution point per hour. This implied that to earn his money¡¯s worth, he would at least have to spend 150 hours in the library and 1200 contribution points.

    If he didn¡¯t have the money, it could only be that he had absolute confidence he could achieve such a number.

    Upon thinking to here, the round-faced woman¡¯s gaze was filled with stars.

    Students did not earn many contribution points for public service tasks. In fact, those who did were usually the lowest members of society, with no significant background to speak of and insufficient strength. They could only obtain cultivation resources via the simplest means at their disposal. To them, obtaining the favour of an important individual was like a dream; something that rarely, if ever, came to be.

    This was why the skinny student ttered him when he cleared the third room and why the round-faced woman was shooting him flirtatious nces right now.

    Unfortunately for her, Su Chen paid no attention to her.

    Hepletely overlooked the young woman¡¯s flirtatious expression. After raising his tier, Su Chen entered the library.

    As soon as he entered the library, a familiar figure appeared before his eyes.

    As if he had been struck by lightning, Su Chen instantly stopped in ce, rooted to the ground.

    ¡°Qingluo!¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 8: Targe

    Chapter 8: Target

    Gu Qingluo was sitting in a corner of the library near a window. She held a book in her hands and was reading it intently.

    Her eyebrows were slightly knitted, as if she were contemting some problem, her attention fully fixed on it.

    Sunlight filtered through the window, enshrouding her in a halo of light.

    ¡°Qingluo!¡±

    The quiet call was gentle, but it awakened memories of the girl who had been in his mind like a bolt of lightning.

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s figure gently trembled.

    She slowly took her eyes from her book and looked at Su Chen. Their eyes met, slowing time to a halt.

    Su Chen stared at Gu Qingluo, unblinkingly. Gu Qingluo stared back at him. The two of them gazed into each other¡¯s eyes at a loss for words.

    After a long time, Gu Qingluo smiled gently. ¡°You came.¡±

    This simple greeting caused waves ofplex emotions to wash over Su Chen. However, his expression didn¡¯t change. ¡°Mhm. So did you.¡±

    Gu Qingluo put down her book. ¡°I¡¯m considered part of the Longxi Region, so I participated in the exam there.¡±

    ¡°So you hurriedly left Northface because of the region¡¯s exam?¡± Su Chen asked, as if nothing had happened.

    He acted as though Gu Qingluo¡¯s departure had just been like a fleeting wisp of smoke to him.

    Youths were by nature impetuous. Even if he saw the person he loved, he would probably continue to stubbornly hold to his honor.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Gu Qingluo lowered her head and replied gently. ¡°Unfortunately, I was in a hurry, so I didn¡¯t have time to tell you. Sorry.¡±

    Anger surged in Su Chen¡¯s heart. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you were in such a hurry for your exam.¡±

    The other people in the library, hearing their conversation, red at them impatiently and some even sent some angered shushes.

    Gu Qingluo let out a sigh and put her book down. She understood she wasn¡¯t going to finish it today.

    Gu Qingluo returned the book, then said, ¡°I¡¯d like to go take a walk. Would you like toe with me?¡±

    Su Chen remained silent. He followed behind Gu Qingluo as they left the library.

    They walked along a path, trees on either side. With a gentle voice, Gu Qingluo said, ¡°Last time, I left in a hurry and didn¡¯t tell you anything. I shouldn¡¯t have done that, so I¡¯ll apologize for that.¡±

    Su Chen only felt agony. ¡°You know that¡¯s not what I want to hear.¡±

    ¡°Do you want to know why I left just like that?¡± Gu Qingluo gently smiled. She paused for a moment, then continued, ¡°Because it¡¯s impossible for us to be together.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°You already know the answer. You¡¯re just not willing to admit it.¡±

    Su Chen felt a pain in his heart. ¡°Because of my family background?¡±

    A beautiful, radiant smile burst forth from Gu Qingluo. ¡°See, you know full well why we can¡¯t be together. You should understand the differences between Bloodline Nobility ns and non-bloodline ns without me exining it to you, right?¡±

    Of course Su Chen understood!

    He understood ever since the Three Mountain Region exam.

    The difference between Bloodline Nobility ns and non-bloodline ns was just like the difference between Su Chen and the servants in his n.

    This gap had been formed over a few thousand years by Bloodline Nobility ns. It was not affected by individual preference.

    In order to preserve the purity of their bloodline, Bloodline Nobility ns only married other Bloodline Nobility ns.

    Every now and then there was a marriage between someone with and someone without a bloodline. But it very rarely happened, and it was even rarer for it to be sessful. These marriages were looked down upon by Bloodline Nobility ns.

    The love between Su Chen and Gu Qingluo was already against the status quo. It did not agree with the social divisions. This was why Gu Qingluo turned him down.

    In fact, she hadn¡¯t even done so to his face, instead choosing to just leave.

    Su Chen had fantasized about it before. He dreamt that love could surpass social status and rank. He dreamt that Gu Qingluo had left for another reason, not because of such a realistic factor. But when he met Gu Qingluo again, when he heard her exin it, an unexinable, a searing pain ripped through his heart.

    Was the truth really so simple?

    Was this really the truth?

    In the end, the two of them never even went on a date, so how could he ask her to give up everything she had for him?

    Su Chen knew he couldn¡¯t me Gu Qingluo. But this didn¡¯t ease the pain in his heart the slightest.

    Su Chen forcefully resisted the pain in his heart, gently smiling on the outside. ¡°Of course I understand. It was just my wishful thinking, going for someone way out of my league. For a woman like you, it¡¯s already good enough just to have you as a friend, yet I wanted more. I really am......¡±

    Su Chen scratched his head. ¡°But if you weren¡¯t willing, why didn¡¯t you just say something to me? You didn¡¯t even leave me a message, nor did you tell me you enrolled in the Hidden Dragon Institute. Were you worried that I wouldn¡¯t give up on you? That I would chase you, giving you trouble every step of the way?¡±

    Gu Qingluo lowered her head. ¡°It¡¯s my fault. I¡¯m so sorry.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. I can understand. Don¡¯t worry, since you turned me down, I won¡¯t bother you about it anymore.¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°Can we still be friends?¡±

    Gu Qingluo nodded. ¡°Of course we can.¡±

    Su Chen tilted his head back andughed freely, then said, ¡°Right, what ce did you get in your region¡¯spetition?¡±

    Gu Qingluo shook her head. ¡°I didn¡¯t do as well as you did. I only got twelfth ce.¡±

    ¡°Twelfth? What a pity, you were so close to the top 10. But the Gu n¡¯s Bloodline is still incredibly strong, and you are very talented. You¡¯ll definitely get a lot stronger.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    The two of them walked and talked, but their tones became polite and estranged.

    After conversing for a bit more, Su Chen said, ¡°Oh my goodness, I just remembered I have something else to take care of. I¡¯ll take my leave first. I¡¯m so happy to have seen you today! Let¡¯s stay in touch?¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Gu Qingluo gently replied.

    The two of them said their goodbyes.

    Gu Qingluo watched his departing figure. Tears began to roll down her cheeks as she softly whispered, ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, Su Chen. I don¡¯t want you to die......¡±

    After leaving Gu Qingluo behind, Su Chen furiously walked towards the nearby forest.

    He walked rapidly, as if there were something chasing him from behind.

    His steps got faster and faster and before long he was running at top speed.

    He sprinted through the forest, ignoring everything in front of him and knocking down many trees as he ran until he had no energy left. He leaned against a boulder and began to bawl.

    Tears streamed down his face as he howled in anguish, throwing away any semnce ofposure.

    All of the strength he had been trying to muster instantly shattered. All that remained was pain that pierced through his entire body, as if a needle had prated his heart.

    Su Chen released all of the weakness and vulnerability in his heart.

    After an unknown period of time, all sorrow left his being. The usual calm and collected Su Chen began to resurface.

    He wiped his cheeks dry and stood up.

    Su Chen took in a deep breath, reorganized his robes, then muttered to himself, ¡°Alright, you¡¯ve finished crying and being soft. It¡¯s time to sober up.¡±

    ¡°Before, my only goal was to be stronger, but I didn¡¯t know why I needed to get stronger.¡±

    ¡°Now, now I understand.¡±

    ¡°I understand the path I will walk!¡±

    ¡°What bullshit bloodlines? It¡¯s just a bunch of mutated beast-humans anyways! The human race¡¯s enemy is the wanton, savage Beast Race. If we rely on bloodlines as the source of our strength, we will never surpass the Beast Race!¡±

    ¡°I will surpass this bloodline system and create humankind¡¯s own cultivation method. In the future, humankind will not rely on bloodlines to cultivate. I will make humankind rise to prominence once more!¡±

    ¡°I will build a throne for mankind that surpasses any bloodline!¡±

    Su Chen impassionedly dered what was to be the pursuit of his entire life.

    After these words left his mouth, the voice of an old man entered his ears. ¡°Nonsense! The ravings of a lunatic!¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 9: Oaths are Sacred

    Chapter 9: Oaths are Sacred

    These words, seeminglying out of nowhere, spooked Su Chen.

    He hurriedly turned around to find an old man lying prone on a swathe of grass, fiddling around with a small flower that Su Chen didn¡¯t recognize.

    Evidently, he had been there for quite a while. His body was covered in leaves. But even without the leaves, he still looked ugly. His hair was messy, and his beard was long and unruly. No one knew how long it had been since he cleaned it. His eyes were blistered and a ck-purplish circle surrounded them. He seemed to have suffered a terrible beating.

    Su Chen did not know when this old man had appeared, but the words he uttered were clearly directed at him.

    Su Chen was somewhat angry, but managed to calm himself down.

    His encounter with Gu Qingluo had thrown off his mental state, but it didn¡¯t take him long to regain his normal posture. He was still the calm and calcting Su Chen.

    The angered Su Chen would argue with the old man, but the calm Su Chen would not.

    He calmed himself down, rearranged his clothing and said, ¡°You¡¯re right. I was just talking nonsense, the ramblings of a crazy fool. Forgive me, a young man who just experienced heartbreak, for speaking without thinking. Please don¡¯t take it to heart.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡± The old man expressed his surprise.

    He suddenly appeared in front of Su Chen, as if the hundred feet between the two of them simply did not exist. With his cloudy eyes, he sized Su Chen up.

    A momentter, he said, ¡°Wow, you calmed down quite quickly. It seems you¡¯re not as awful as I thought you were.¡±

    Su Chen respectfully replied, ¡°Thank you, senior, for your praise. This little one was just speaking without thinking, incurring Senior¡¯s ridicule.¡±

    ¡°Hey, do you know why I said you were speaking nonsense?¡± the old man asked, squinting his eyes.

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Of course, this little one was just babbling nonsense. The human race has produced many heroes throughout its tens of thousands of years of history, yet none of them were able to do it. For me, a newly admitted student to the institute, to make such bold ims, naturally it is nothing but nonsense.¡±

    Unexpectedly, the old man flew into a rage. ¡°Bullshit, bullshit! If our predecessors weren¡¯t able to aplish it, no one can? What kind of preposterous way of thinking is this? The human race used to not even be able to break into the Qi Drawing Realm on their own, but haven¡¯t we reached that point now? Not only this, but we can even break into the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline. Haven¡¯t the dreams of the human race been realized? If one person can¡¯t do it, then what about ten thousand? If one year is not enough, then what about ten thousand? Generation after generation, we umte knowledge until one day we reach our goal. Why give up and use words like impossible? To me, there will eventually be a day where the human race can escape the limits of bloodlines, developing our own cultivation path, and surpassing the Beast Race, ruling until the end of time!¡±

    As he spoke, he gestured wildly in agitation, spittle flying everywhere. Su Chen waspletely dumbfounded.

    He stared at the old man. ¡°But...... but...... I just...... you......¡±

    ¡°The reason I said you were spouting nonsense is because the motivation for your train of thought is wrong!¡± the old man yelled, stabbing his finger into Su Chen¡¯s forehead. ¡°How many heroes devoted their whole lives so that the human race can rise to prominence without fruition, yet did so without any regrets! Why is that? Because they had a dream in their hearts, a dream of a limitless future for all mankind! But what about you? Why did you swear such a vow? For a goddamn woman!¡±

    Su Chen was stunned.

    The old man continued in a severe tone. ¡°If you want to aplish something great, your heart needs to be in the right ce. You don¡¯t possess such a vision, yet you think you are worthy to im that you will bring the human race to prominence? Breaking the bloodline restriction for a mere woman? This is the mostughable thing I have ever heard! Why don¡¯t you say you will upend the Seven Great Countries and establish your own name in the ages toe for a woman? That at least is more reasonable than breaking through the bloodline restrictions! Today, you can make such an oath for a woman; some day, you can break such an oath for a woman......¡±

    Su Chen blushed with shame when he heard this.

    The old man wasn¡¯t cursing him out for his ambition, but because of the underlying motivation for this ambition.

    The old man nagged him for quite some time. Finally, he said, ¡°What a pitiful motivation for a great ambition. Who else other than you would spout such nonsense? A rookie like you isn¡¯t fit to defile ¡®humankind¡¯s rise to prominence¡¯! It needs to be something you spend your whole life chasing after.¡±

    His hands were folded behind his back as he turned around and left.

    Su Chen was dazed. The old man had left, just like that.

    A thought crossed his mind and he yelled, ¡°Senior, what is your esteemed name? Su Chen will never forget Senior¡¯s advice.¡±

    The old voice floated towards him. ¡°An idiot who wasted half of his life for a dream. Not worth mentioning!¡±

    ¡°An idiot who wasted half of his life for a dream?¡± Su Chen muttered in a low voice. ¡°Could he be...... just like Mainbrooke?¡±

    He finally realized why the old man had cursed him out.

    To someone like him, making such an oath for the sake of a single woman was probably the greatest insult to that dream of his.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Su Chen exited the forest and returned to the lively institute.

    After being scolded by the old man, Su Chen¡¯s mind finally lost itsst intoxicating thoughts of Qingluo.

    After calming down the waves still in his heart, Su Chen walked in the direction of the Moon-Grasping Tower.

    Ji Hanyan lived there.

    After arriving at the Moon-Grasping Tower, Su Chen saw Ji Hanyan walk out, followed by a white-clothed male. The male was eagerly and politely talking to her.

    However, his eagerness was used to feed the dogs. Ji Hanyanpletely ignored him, continuing to head forwards in a straight line.

    Upon seeing Su Chen arrive, Ji Hanyan¡¯s eyes lit up. Her frosty countenance melted into a smile.

    She smiled because she knew the only reason Su Chen woulde to find her at this moment was that the new Origin Skill was sessfully created.

    The smile was an unbelievable phenomenon to the male. It was as if the sun was rising from the west or a river was flowing backwards up a mountain.

    ¡°Hanyan, you, you smiled? You think of me in such a way? If I had known, I...¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re so noisy.¡± Ji Hanyan casually swung her arm, pping the male across the face and sending him flying. She approached Su Chen and asked, ¡°Sess?¡±

    Su Chen nodded.

    ¡°Come to my room,¡± Ji Hanyan immediately said.

    She wanted Su Chen toe to her room because there was a practice room there, perfect for demonstrating and disying a new Origin Skill.

    The white-clothed male had just crawled back to his feet. When he heard those words, he almost fell back to the ground.

    He watched in disbelief as Ji Hanyan pulled Su Chen along before finally understanding that Ji Hanyan¡¯s smile was not directed at him.

    Who was that? How could he make Ji Hanyan smile? There¡¯s virtually no scent of blooding off of him. He¡¯s a damnmoner!

    The white-clothed male couldn¡¯t believe his eyes.

    Ji Hanyan pped him for just amoner? And she even pulled themoner into her room?

    He couldn¡¯t help himself as he eximed, ¡°Stop right there!¡±.

    Su Chen knitted his brows. The other party had most likely misunderstood Ji Hanyan¡¯s intentions.

    He was about to open his mouth and exin himself when Ji Hanyan¡¯s sleek eyebrows shot vertical. A haze of frost surrounded her.

    Su Chen quickly got the hint that something bad was about to happen.

    An instantter, Ji Hanyan turned around and sent a palm attack flying towards the white-clothed male.

    The wave of frost violently surged forwards,pletely submerging the youth in a flurry of frost.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 10: Breaking a Finger

    Chapter 10: Breaking a Finger

    Whoosh!

    Streaks of energy criss-crossed in midair, forming an invisible of energy.

    Ji Hanyan retracted her hand. By relying on her sense of energy, she could roughly make out the¡¯s existence. A trace of satisfaction appeared in her eyes.

    ¡°You really did it. It¡¯s an invisible.¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, it¡¯s only invisible to the naked eye because of the refraction of light. If the opponent uses a perception Origin Skill to directly sense Origin Energy, it won¡¯t be invisible anymore,¡± Su Chen sighed.

    ¡°No Origin Skill is perfect. As long as it can go undetected by the normal eye, that¡¯s enough.¡± Ji Hanyan was still content. ¡°Most people don¡¯t continuously use a perception Origin Skill, especially low-tier Origin Qi Schrs. Theyck the Origin Power to do so. On the other hand, if an opponent does opt to use their perception Origin Skill, rendering this Origin Skill useless, it¡¯s still effective. Just that it will then be effective by draining the opponent¡¯s energy.¡±

    Su Chen was filled with admiration. ¡°You¡¯re right. I had to try it out inbat to find that use, but you instantly thought of it. Quite the genius, you are.¡±

    ¡°I just excel atbat, but I can¡¯tpare to you.¡± Ji Hanyan nced at Su Chen. ¡°You¡¯re the real genius, creating two new Origin Skills in a row. It seems like you can create them whenever you want.¡±

    ¡°Please, no more!¡± Su Chen waved his hands. ¡°These two have already exhausted me.¡±

    Su Chen was not actually all that tired, but exaggerating the amount of effort was an important practice for every dishonest businessman. After all, Su Chen truly didn¡¯t want to spend any more time creating new Origin Skills.

    He created new Origin Skills for a means to an end, not to pass the time. Su Chen possessed lots of preexisting knowledge and Origin Skills that he hadn¡¯t learned yet, so there was no point in creating a new Origin Skill at the moment. If he did, he would be putting the cart before the horse.

    Su Chen had only agreed to Ji Hanyan¡¯s request because he wanted to experiment with Brooke¡¯s form a little bit. But now that he had, it was time to conceal his ability.

    There was no need for the current him to pursue the creation of Origin Skills. It was better to focus on the existing ones for now. After all, he was more likely to seed with those, and they could help him establish a firmer foundation.

    Ji Hanyan didn¡¯t mention it again when she saw the unwillingness in Su Chen¡¯s eyes. ¡°Forget about it. But if you ever think of something that could raise my strength...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll let you know!¡± Su Chen replied seriously.

    Ji Hanyan nodded.

    ¡°Right, what did you name it?¡± Ji Hanyan asked.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think of a name yet. Why don¡¯t you pick?¡±

    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s call it Clear Wind Net.¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Su Chen replied. The two of them smiled at each other.

    As he was about to take his leave, Su Chen thought of something. He asked, ¡°Right, have you heard of an old man with messy hair who doesn¡¯t care about his appearance, yet is extremely powerful, most likely around the Light Shaking Realm? He looks slightly off his rocker.¡±

    Ji Hanyan paused in thought, replying after a brief moment, ¡°If it¡¯s an old man, it¡¯s definitely not a student, so he can only be a personal tutor. But I can¡¯t really think of any personal instructors who have messy hair and don¡¯t care about their appearances. As for someone who is off their rocker...... are you asking about him?¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Su Chen returned to his room after bidding Ji Hanyan farewell.

    The entire way, Su Chen was considering if he should return to the library or his dorm so he could conduct some experiments. He got waken up from his thoughts as he saw someone walking towards him.

    It was the white-clothed youth who had been sent flying by Ji Hanyan.

    With a fresh set of clothing, he had regained his elegant demeanor. Every strand of flowing hair on his head shone, and he gently fluttered a fan in his hand. It was already the depth of winter, so such a getup was quite out of ce.

    A small servant followed closely behind him, his expression one of ttery and adoration.

    The white-clothed man blocked Su Chen¡¯s path and said, ¡°I¡¯ll only ask you one question. What¡¯s the rtionship between you and Ji Hanyan?¡±

    His tone was very rude. If it were anyone else, they would¡¯ve flown into a rage already.

    Su Chen understood what was going on. He smiled and said, ¡°Don¡¯t get any silly thoughts. Miss Ji and I aren¡¯t rted, and we only know each other because of a business interaction. She was happy when I saw her because I had what she needed. After she verified the goods, I got chased out as well.¡±

    His tone was very polite and he spoke clearly and concisely. In a few sentences, he cleared up the misunderstanding.

    Even though the white-clothed man was pretentious, he wasn¡¯tpletely unreasonable. He let out a sigh of relief and said, ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. How could Hanyan look favorably upon a non-bloodline individual like you with her eyesight.¡±

    Do you know what speaking etiquette is?

    Su Chen slightly knitted his brows, but didn¡¯t argue with the youth. All he said was, ¡°Since the misunderstanding has been cleared up, I will take my leave.¡±

    As he said these words, he was preparing to leave.

    Right then, Su Chen saw the small servant whisper something in the white-clothed male¡¯s ear.

    The white-clothed youth immediately faced Su Chen and said, ¡°Wait a second. What did you give to Hanyan?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head and said, ¡°You¡¯re better of asking Miss Ji that question. It¡¯s probably not my ce to say.¡±

    The white-clothed male knitted his eyebrows. ¡°You¡¯d better tell me. I¡¯ll meet any needs that she has in the future.¡±

    He wanted to know because he knew not many things on this earth could move Ji Hanyan.

    If it could gain a smile from Ji Hanyan, it definitely was hard toe by. If he were to help Ji Hanyan find those things, perhaps he could gain her affection. 1

    ¡°This......¡± Su Chen scratched his head. ¡°You might not be able to find it.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± The white-clothed male knitted his brows even more. He spread the fan in his hand open with a flourish, fanned himself twice and said, ¡°In this world, there aren¡¯t many things that I, Prince Bai Yihong, can¡¯t find.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re quite self-confident,¡± Su Chen silently cursed.

    The servant to his side leaned over and quietly said something.

    Su Chen¡¯s brows sharply knit together.

    Many quarrels were in fact incited by servants with evil intentions.

    Indeed, the white-clothed male paused for a moment, then gazed at Su Chen as he coldly said, ¡°You almost tricked me with your ¡®you might not be able to find it.¡¯ You¡¯re just amoner without a bloodline, what can you possibly find that I cannot? Tell me, what exactly is the rtionship between you and Hanyan?¡±

    Anger surged in Su Chen¡¯s heart as well. He coldly replied, ¡°You already saw with your own eyes, so why bother asking?¡±

    Bai Yihong¡¯s expression changed drastically upon hearing this. His entire body began to tremble. ¡°Impossible! Impossible! How could Hanyan fall for a person like you?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with a person like me? Why can¡¯t Ji Hanyan fall for a person like me?¡± Su Chen retorted sarcastically.

    ¡°Of course she can¡¯t!¡± Bai Yihong began to yell. ¡°For you, someone without a bloodline, it¡¯s already glorious enough to be admitted to the Hidden Dragon Institute. Yet you dare set your sights on a heavenly woman like her? You are way out of line!¡±

    He jabbed his finger in Su Chen¡¯s direction. ¡°Immediately restrain your thoughts. I¡¯ll make you suffer if you don¡¯t.¡±

    Restrain my thoughts?

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but think of Gu Qingluo.

    To those from Bloodline Nobility ns, everyone who wasn¡¯t were beneath them.

    They could not wear fancy clothing gilded with gold; they had to make way for nobility when walking on the streets; they could not marry those from Bloodline Nobility ns; when taking care of business, Bloodline Nobility ns were allowed to choose the easiest tasks; they were packed into areas near the border to serve as cannon fodder; if someone from a Bloodline Nobility n killed one of them, their punishment was almost nonexistent.

    The mes of rage instantly engulfed Su Chen¡¯s heart.

    This was a hatred of everything negative about the bloodline system.

    Bai Yihong¡¯s finger was still ced on Su Chen¡¯s forehead.

    Su Chen stared at the finger. He suddenly asked, ¡°How many contribution points is this finger worth?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Bai Yihong was caught off-guard.

    Su Chen reached out.

    He grabbed the outstretched finger and twisted up.

    Crack!

    The finger instantly broke.

    1. Honestly, the first thing thates to mind about this guy is r/niceguys.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 11: Stormwind Scorpion 1

    Chapter 11: Stormwind Scorpion (1)

    ¡°AHHHH!¡±

    A piercing cry cut through the sky.

    Bai Yihong had never imaged that Su Chen would dare make a move against him. However, this person was not all talk. The moment his finger broke, he jabbed the fan in his other hand towards Su Chen.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t retaliate, instead choosing to applyyers of defensive barriers to protect himself.

    The folding fan mmed into them, releasing brilliant sparks.

    He was just about tounch another attack when a voice came from the sky. ¡°Stay your hand! Battling in the Hidden Dragon Institute is forbidden!¡±

    The pain from his finger had caused Bai Yihong to lose all rationality. How could he pay any heed to the Institute¡¯s rules? He yelled, ¡°You dare injure me? I¡¯ll kill you!¡±

    The barriers protecting Su Chen were destroyed in that moment. Bai Yihong swept his fan out in front of him, striking at Su Chen.

    Su Chen did not try to resist. He stood there silently, allowing the attack to reach him.

    ¡°How presumptuous!¡± The voice from earlier snorted angrily.

    His voice was like a p of thunder, exploding with a sudden bang.

    The brilliant curtain of light popped like a bubble, leaving behind a rainbow-like light lingering in the air.

    Countless motes of rainbow-colored lights floated in midair, shining with a captivating, dazzling luster.

    Bai Yihong was sent flying as he spit out a mouthful of blood.

    His attack was forcefully shattered and he was injured by the rebound of his Origin Power.

    The voice resounded. ¡°If I tell you to stay your hand, you stay your hand. You dared to ignore my directmand; are you courting death? The Hidden Dragon Institute doesn¡¯t allow personal battles. You took the initiative to attack, so you will be fined 10 contribution points. You ignored mymands, so you will be fined an additional 20 contribution points as well as a day of confinement!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Bai Yihong was stunned. He pointed at Su Chen. ¡°What about him? Why doesn¡¯t he receive any punishment?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t see him make a move against you. All I saw was you attacking him. Are you telling me I¡¯m wrong?¡±

    ¡°He didn¡¯t make a move!?¡± Bai Yihong yelled angrily. ¡°He was the one that made a move first. He broke my finger!¡±

    ¡°From what I saw, you attacked him several times over, ignoring mymands in the meantime. Are you sure you didn¡¯t break your finger while attacking him? You¡¯re useless.¡±

    Bai Yihong was enraged. He wanted to continue arguing, but a gust of wind appeared. From it a hand reached out and grabbed him. He was pulled up into the air and momentster dropped into confinement.

    Su Chen expressed his gratitude to the sky. ¡°Thank you, Senior, for your fair judgment of the situation.¡±

    The voice spoke into Su Chen¡¯s year, ¡°Hmph, take it easy next time. I helped you this time for Hanyan¡¯s sake, but this was the only time.¡±

    With a gentle smile on his face, Su Chen replied, ¡°Many thanks. If I caused you any trouble, you may take 10 of my contribution points as well.¡±

    When he had made his move, Su Chen already considered those 10 contribution points lost.

    During his three excursions to the Scarlet Mountain Range he had learned an important principle: as long as he had the ability to receive punishment, some breaches of regtion were worthmitting.

    Since the Hidden Dragon Institute punished students by taking away contribution points, all he needed to do was earn more than he lost.

    ¡°Hehe, such a small matter poses no trouble for me.¡± The personal instructor didn¡¯t take away his contribution points. ¡°This brat won¡¯t leave Hanyan alone. I¡¯m sick of him and merely borrowed your hand to teach him a lesson, hehe.¡±

    It seemed the old man had been searching for a reason to deal with this guy, who was always flirting with his disciple, for quite some time now.

    The old man disappeared in a fit of strangeughter.

    However, Su Chen understood full well there was nothing in the Institute that could escape the eyes of people like the old man. After all, they possessedrge quantities of Origin Energy, and they could use the formations in the Institute to assist them.

    Su Chen was just about to leave when he saw Bai Yihong¡¯s servant still loitering.

    Bai Yihong was sent into confinement, but his malicious servant seemed to have gone unpunished.

    When Su Chen thought about how this servant had incited everything, anger arose in his heart.

    The servant knew something bad was about to happen. He attempted to flee with all his might.

    Su Chen harrumphed. ¡°Did I say you could go?¡±

    He waved his sleeve. Numerous air tentacles appeared and bound the servant up. Su Chen casually struck out, instantly knocking the servant out. He wasn¡¯t a student of the Hidden Dragon Institute, so the Institute¡¯s rules didn¡¯t apply to him.

    He took the servant with him back to his dorm. When Iron Cliff saw Su Chen had brought a person back with him, he was shocked. ¡°Who is this guy?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, and it¡¯s not important,¡± Su Chen carelessly replied. ¡°Force that vial of medicine I left on the table down his throat.¡±

    ¡°That bottle of Tenacity Medicine? Wasn¡¯t it a failure?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m letting him drink it. He will help me determine where the problem lies.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± Iron Cliff grabbed the servant by his cor and dragged him to the table.

    Tenacity Medicine was a medicine that was meant to toughen one¡¯s skin. It was medicine that could be used to supplement the cultivation of a body refinement technique. It was considered a benchmark entry-level alchemist medicine. That was also to say that those who could sessfully refine such a medicine were considered official alchemists.

    Su Chen had been studying alchemy for several months, and he possessed some innate talent for the field. With the support of the Immortal Temple, his improvements were lightning-fast.

    But even so, the Tenacity Medicine¡¯splex recipe and its borate concoction method stumped Su Chen.

    To create medicines in the Primordial Continent, you needed to do more than to toss a bunch of ingredients together. Only the lowest-level medicines were concocted in this fashion.

    High-quality medicines all had their own methods of concoction. A constant stream of Origin Energy was usually necessary to stimte the medicinal power and blend theponents together. The reactions had to be carefully controlled and timed to produce aplete medicine.

    Three different methods were needed to bnce and blend the Tenacity Medicine properly. Any discrepancies would result in failure. The most frustrating was that it was often hard to pinpoint at which stage failure had urred.

    If someone could cooperate with him, helping him better understand the medicinal properties, he might be able to discover at which point during the process he made a mistake.

    Su Chen was pondering on where he would find such a person, when this servant presented himself to him.

    ¡°He¡¯s ingested the medicine.¡± Iron Cliff walked over to Su Chen and informed him. ¡°He¡¯s currently in the corner screaming and whining about something. He says he is someone from the Divine Wind Mountain¡¯s Chang n and that we¡¯ll regret thister. Master......¡±

    Su Chen gentlyughed. ¡°Chang n? Not the Bai n? What, are you scared?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Iron Cliff replied confidently. ¡°My life is master¡¯s. I¡¯ll do whatever master tells me to do. I¡¯m just worried about master; after all, Bloodline Nobility ns aren¡¯t easily provoked.¡±

    ¡°Not easily provoked?¡± Su Chen muttered in a low voice.

    He was reminded of Bai Yihong¡¯s bossy, high-and-mighty attitude.

    People like him and encounters like this were extremelymon in this world.

    Su Chen¡¯s expression sank slightly, then he said, ¡°Iron Cliff, I¡¯ll be searching for a personal instructor.¡±

    Iron Cliff¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°You want to find a personal instructor? Good n! With the support of a personal instructor, even Bloodline Nobility ns can¡¯t afford to provoke you lightly. Right, master, who¡¯s the Senior you want as your personal instructor?¡±

    Su Chen gently knitted his eyebrows. The reason he wanted a personal instructor wasn¡¯t because he needed a backer.

    In the end, he told Iron Cliff, ¡°The personal instructor I want is called Shi Kaihuang.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 12: Stormwind Scorpion 2

    Chapter 12: Stormwind Scorpion (2)

    There was a smallke in the southeast corner of the Hidden Dragon Institute. A small stone cottage was erected near theke.

    When Su Chen arrived, he saw the sloppy old man from yesterday tussling with a Formation-Piercing Rhinoceros.

    The Formation-Piercing Rhinoceros was a type of high-tier Demonic Beast. It was extremely violent, roughly around thirty feet tall, could lift around five thousand kilograms of weight, and bore through a tunnel in a single charge. In the Battle of the Infernal Deste Canyon,rge packs of Formation-Piercing Rhinoceroses charged the human race¡¯s armies, using their tyrannically powerful bodies to forcefully m into the human Origin Qi Schrs like a tidal wave, prating a defensive line of three thousand Iron Guards. They were nightmares to face on the battlefield.

    From that day onwards, this Demonic Beast was known as the Formation-Piercing Rhinoceros.

    This Formation-Piercing Rhinoceros was like a helpless infant underneath the old man¡¯s feet. No matter how much it struggled, it could not crawl to its feet.

    The old man kept one foot on the Formation-Piercing Rhinoceros as he gently sliced open the rhinoceros¡¯s tough skin, muttering to himself, ¡°Only this one remains out of 124 talismans? But why is it this one? It¡¯s different again.¡±

    The old man continued to mutter as he pulled back the Formation-Piercing Rhinoceros¡¯s hide.

    Su Chen walked forwards, sping his hands and greeting the old man, ¡°Elder Shi.¡±

    The old man turned around to nce at Su Chen. His face wrinkled, then he focused his attention back on dissecting the Formation-Piercing Rhinoceros. ¡°You¡¯re the kid from yesterday. Why are you here?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I want to ask you to be my personal instructor.¡±

    The old man paused.

    ¡°Personal instructor?¡± He gazed at Su Chen. ¡°You want me to be your personal instructor? Are you sure you haven¡¯t made some kind of mistake?¡±

    ¡°Absolutely not!¡± Su Chen replied seriously. ¡°I want you to be my personal instructor!¡±

    The old manughed. ¡°You want me to be your personal instructor just because I scolded you yesterday? That¡¯s pretty amusing. Do you know what kind of person I am?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Shi Kaihuang, the Stormwind Scorpion, of the Ji North Forest vige. You joined the army when you were sixteen and guarded the frontier for 30 years. When you turned 36, you were secretly set up for reporting North Sea General Lu Shan for corruption and avarice. 324 people died, and you were the sole survivor. You returned, drenched in blood, and ughtered Lu Shan in front of tens of thousands of soldiers. You were exiled to the Stormwind Death Camp. In your 12 years at the Stormwind Camp, six different camp leaders died, and soldiers came and went. Only Shi Kaihuang stood tall, which is why you came to be known as the Stormwind Scorpion. Later, you caught the attention of Sir Yang, who took you out of the Stormwind Camp. After serving him for 24 years, Sir Yang was ordered to be the head of the Hidden Dragon Institute, and Shi Kaihuang returned to his life of seclusion, entering the Hidden Dragon Institute and bing a personal instructor.¡±

    The old man was speechless. He observed Su Chen. ¡°Not bad, kid. Your information-gathering skills are quite impressive.¡±

    Su Chen respectfully replied, ¡°If I want to be Elder¡¯s student, how could I daree without doing my homework?¡±

    Shi Kaihuang cleaned his hands and sat down atop the Formation-Piercing Rhinocerous. He gazed at Su Chen and said, ¡°You¡¯re quite confident, aren¡¯t you? But if you weren¡¯t that confident, how could you dare make such a wild oath.¡±

    Su Chen smiled gently. ¡°Isn¡¯t that the same for you, Senior? You wanted to break through the bloodline restrictions shortly after entering the Hidden Dragon Institute, and you spent fifty years researching such a method.¡±

    ¡°So you believe that because of this, I¡¯ll take you in as my student?¡± Shi Kaihuangughed coldly. ¡°You must be joking!¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t expect Shi Kaihuang to adopt such an attitude. He replied in shock, ¡°Elder is unwilling?¡±

    Most of the instructors in the Hidden Dragon Institute would fight over students. Very few would outright refuse a student delivered to their front door.

    Su Chen was dazed for a moment before realizing that personal instructors would only fight over the most outstanding students, not those they considered to be worthless. The first impression he had given Shi Kaihuang was anything but good, so his response wasn¡¯t all that surprising. Su Chen smiled and said, ¡°I am a second-tier seedling in the institute, and I was ranked fifth in the Three Mountains Regionpetition.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d better leave. Even if you were the number one student in the Hidden Dragon Institute, I wouldn¡¯t be interested.¡± Shi Kaihuang didn¡¯t even raise his head.

    Su Chen paused and pondered for a moment before saying, ¡°I created a non-bloodline Origin Skill that isparable in power to a Bloodline Origin Skill.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± This seemed to pique Shi Kaihuang¡¯s interest. He waved his hand. ¡°Show me.¡±

    Su Chen shot a strengthened Erupting Firebird toward a nearbyrge stone. The stone exploded, sending fragments in all directions. It was indeed quite powerful.

    However, Shi Kaihuang reacted as if he had just been told a funny joke. He pped his thigh and howled withughter, ¡°This is what you meant by ¡®a non-bloodline Origin Skillparable in power to a Bloodline Origin Skill¡¯? Hahahaha, I¡¯m going to die ofughter!¡±

    He swayed withughter, clutching at his stomach.

    Su Chen was mystified by his response. ¡°Senior, what are you trying to say? I understand this kind of technique is worthless in your eyes, but why must Senior humiliate me in such a way?¡±

    ¡°Do you think I¡¯m humiliating you?¡± Shi Kaihuang stoppedughing, instead gazing at Su Chen coldly. ¡°I admit, your Origin Skill is not bad. You probablybined a fireball technique and the Inferno Origin Energy Model, then used an external power technique to amplify its strength. To tell you the truth, it is an interesting concept.¡±

    Su Chen was shocked. This old man had instantly dposed his Erupting Firebird, recognizing the theory behind its creation.

    Shi Kaihuang continued, ¡°But to say that it¡¯sparable to a Bloodline Origin Skill when it¡¯s only reached this level is far too presumptuous of you. I¡¯mughing at you because of your arrogance, especially considering yourck of experience.¡±

    ¡°But I was able to use this Origin Skill against a range of Bloodline Origin Skills from the number one ranked individual in my region¡¯s exam, and I was never at a disadvantage!¡± Su Chen loudly replied.

    ¡°So you think that because of that, this move of yours isparable to a Bloodline Origin Skill?¡±

    Su Chen froze. ¡°Is it not?¡±

    Shi Kaihuang sighed. ¡°You¡¯re so clueless.¡±

    The old man poked the Formation-Piercing Rhinoceros.

    The Formation-Piercing Rhinoceros was still furiously struggling beneath him, but when the finger touched it, the Formation-Piercing Rhinoceros¡¯s body began to slowly split apart. Large cracks appeared on its body before it copsed with a loud sound. No blood gushed out of the corpse. Every piece of flesh and blood had already hardened to the point that it was basically rock-solid.

    Su Chen remained expressionless when he saw this. Considering Shi Kaihuang¡¯s cultivation base, it was not strange at all that he could aplish such a feat.

    However, Shi Kaihuang¡¯s next sentence sent him reeling.

    He said, ¡°What would you think if I told you there are Origin Qi Schrs in the Qi Drawing Realm who could achieve the same effect?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Su Chen was bbergasted. ¡°That¡¯s impossible! Only someone at the level of Yang-Opening should be able to do this!¡±

    Shi Kaihuang replied loftily, ¡°That¡¯s why I said youck experience. In this world, there are many people whose strength far surpasses your wildest imagination. In my eyes, all of those Heaven¡¯s Chosens you have encountered so far are worthless piles of bones and flesh.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 13: Awaking to Reality

    Chapter 13: Awaking to Reality

    When Su Chen appeared in front of Wang Doushan¡¯s door, asking him to apany him for a drink, Wang Doushan¡¯s jaw almost fell to the ground.

    ¡°You aren¡¯t locked in your room doing some experiment? You want to have a drink? What¡¯s wrong!?¡± Wang Doushan was in disbelief.

    ¡°Are youing or not?¡± Su Chen asked crankily.

    ¡°Of course I¡¯ming! How could I leave you alone?¡± Wang Doushan replied, pounding his chest.

    Wine was not allowed inside the Hidden Dragon Institute, but right outside was a bustling street with wine bars left and right. It was specifically set up to cater to the needs of the students.

    Many of the Institute¡¯s students woulde here in their free time to spend their excess energy and money.

    Su Chen and Wang Doushan carelessly chose a bar and found a table to sit at.

    Su Chen asked for arge jug of knife-burning liquor. He filled the bowl to the brim and downed it in a gulp. His eyes reddened.

    ¡°Brother, even if you¡¯re unhappy there¡¯s no need to drink like this. Tell me, why are you in such a foul mood?¡± Wang Doushan asked, patting Su Chen¡¯s shoulder.

    Su Chen ced the bowl down and replied, ¡°When I was 12, I encountered an old man. That old man took my vision. It wasn¡¯t until four yearster that I regained it......¡±

    Save for some sensitive secrets, Su Chen told Wang Doushan his entire life story.

    He spoke about how he was constantly engaged in a battle of wits and bravery with his own n, how he vied for power in the Scarlet Mountain Range, how he dealt with the Lin n, and how he charged through the Three Mountains Regionpetition......

    He spoke a lot, in great detail, and very slowly.

    Wang Doushan listened attentively.

    The understanding between friends often originated from such circumstances, where all of the resentment, sorrow, frustration, disappointment ¨C feelings from the bottom of one¡¯s heart ¨C would spill out under the influence of a few bowls of wine. The opposite could also be true ¨C when a person opened their heart to you, that implied they already viewed you as a good friend.

    Although Wang Doushan was fat, he was in no way stupid. Su Chen was very cognizant of this fact.

    Wang Doushan listened very attentively, asionally inserting a few well-timed sentences.

    ¡°I defeated my Second Uncle, my Fourth Aunt, Lin Yemao, countless contenders during the Three Mountain Region exam, and I even created the Erupting Firebird, an Origin Skillparable to a Bloodline Origin Skill. I thought I was extraordinary. I wasn¡¯t afraid of anyone. Even if they were more powerful than me, I believed it to be only temporary. I believed I would defeat them regardless of whether they were from a Bloodline Nobility n or some other background.¡±

    Su Chen spoke very seriously, his tone lowered and his gaze deep.

    He was extremely self-confident in the past. His meek, modest exterior covered up a heart that showed disdain for the entire world.

    He was confident he could resolve any difficulty facing him, confident he could surpass any opponent.

    Until today.

    Wang Doushan began to understand.

    He said, ¡°So you ran into an opponent you believe you have no way of surpassing?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s probably more urate to say he caused me to realize my own ignorance, foolishness, and arrogance,¡± Su Chen bitterlyughed, shaking his head. ¡°He helped me realize the only reason I could win was not because I was strong, but because my opponents were weak.¡±

    ¡°Cough, cough.¡± Wang Doushan coughed, slightly perturbed.

    No matter what, Su Chen was still his friend, and also a strong cultivator.

    If Su Chen was ignorant and foolish, what was he?

    ¡°What happened, exactly?¡±

    Su Chen finally talked about his attempt to be Shi Kaihuang¡¯s disciple.

    ¡°Shi Kaihuang? You want him to be your personal instructor?¡± Wang Doushan¡¯s eyes were about to pop out of their sockets.

    ¡°You know him?¡±

    ¡°Of course! That old man is the most stubborn individual in the entire Hidden Dragon Institute. He¡¯s been here for about 50 years, yet he hasn¡¯t epted a single disciple. If it weren¡¯t for the fact he is supported by the head of the Institute, he would¡¯ve been chased out a long time ago. Isn¡¯t it pretty normal to have been turned down by him?¡± Wang Doushanughed.

    ¡°He¡¯s that stubborn?¡± Su Chen was shocked.

    The information Su Chen had gathered was iplete. He didn¡¯t know Shi Kaihuang was such a person. No wonder he had been so disdainful.

    Su Chen learned from Wang Doushan that Shi Kaihuang was a prodigy of the Hidden Dragon Institute. He hadn¡¯t epted a single student in 50 years, and he hadn¡¯t taught a single ss. He spent all his time in his own yard, performing research.

    ording to the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s normal procedure, an irresponsible personal instructor like him should¡¯ve been kicked out of the Institute a long time ago. But with the Institute head¡¯s backing, he had ignored theints from students and fellow personal instructors and minded his own business for the past 50 years.

    ¡°Is he easier to get along with now?¡± Wang Doushanughed.

    Su Chen thought for a moment, thenughed and shook his head. ¡°Even so, when he first scolded me, he was absolutely right. In the past few years, my journey truly has been too smooth. The reason why I could dominate in my n was ultimately a matter of bloodline, and no one was willing to make a decisive move. The reason why I could defeat my enemies was just because no dragons amongst men could possibly exist in a remote location like Northface City. I was just deluded like a little child. But if I keep the same attitude in this kind of ce, I¡¯ll suffer for it sooner orter. No matter what kind of person he is, he waspletely right in scolding me.¡±

    ¡°So what?¡± Wang Doushan expressed his dissatisfaction. ¡°He¡¯s still a personal instructor. What kind of person is a personal instructor supposed to be? If he didn¡¯t have the ability to scold you, what right would he have to instruct you?¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up. He smacked the table and said, ¡°You¡¯re absolutely right! Since he was able to dispel any delusions I had about myself, he naturally has the ability to teach someone like me. If he was able to lecture me twice in a row, that means he¡¯s the most suitable person to be my personal instructor!¡±

    Wang Doushan was shocked. ¡°You haven¡¯t given up yet? He doesn¡¯t ept any students.¡±

    ¡°So what?¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°I am someone who aspires to fight for the rise to preeminence of the human race, breaking through any bloodline restrictions. If I can¡¯t even force a stubborn old man to make an exception, what right do I have to try and realize such a dream? Perhaps......¡±

    Su Chen drew out his words. ¡°Perhaps that¡¯s exactly why he doesn¡¯t ept any disciples? It¡¯s not that he doesn¡¯t want to ept any disciples, but he wants to find a disciple who isn¡¯t afraid of difficulties and will press through them. Unfortunately, not a single person was able to do just that.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s been in the Hidden Dragon Institute for 50 years. There¡¯s no way others haven¡¯t tried to move him, but they all failed.¡±

    ¡°There were countless before me who shared my dream for the prosperity of the human race, and fought for it, giving their lives to pursue this dream. All he is is a fortress that hasn¡¯t been cracked open yet. It¡¯s worth a shot,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Su Chen finally recovered from the previous blows to his self-esteem. He was unruffled and filled with self-confidence and fighting spirit.

    In that instant, Shi Kaihuang became just another difficult obstacle in his path.

    Wang Doushan was in awe of Su Chen¡¯s sudden indomitable spirit. He was speechless for a while. In the end, all he could muster was a thumbs-up. ¡°You¡¯vepletely convinced me!¡±

    ¡°Since you¡¯re convinced, let¡¯s go.¡± Su Chen took out some money to pay their tab.

    Wang Doushan was surprised. ¡°Let¡¯s go? Go where? We only had our first drink.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll be able to drink tonight,¡± Su Chen sighed. ¡°Ever since we left the Hidden Dragon Institute, someone has been secretly following us. I¡¯m guessing the person who is looking for trouble is probably very close. If we don¡¯t leave now, we might not have an opportunity toter.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 14: Iâ€™ll Dig the Pit, You Jump

    Chapter 14: I¡¯ll Dig the Pit, You Jump

    Wang Doushan squinted his beady eyes, his face tightening up. ¡°They here for you?¡±

    Su Chen smiled. ¡°Should be.¡±

    The two of them nced at each other.

    Wang Doushan asked in a low voice, ¡°Who is it?¡±

    Su Chen tilted his head in thought. ¡°Either Pan Hao or Bai Yihong.¡±

    ¡°Bai Yihong?¡± Wang Doushan asked in surprise.

    He could understand why Pan Hao was after Su Chen, but why would Bai Yihong also be after him?

    Su Chen roughly exined what happened the day before.

    Wang Doushan sighed. ¡°You¡¯re always holed up in your room alone. The one time you do decide toe out, you offend someone? You have quite a high sess rate.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s because I have an innately disdainful attitude.¡± Su Chen paid their tab and was preparing to leave.

    ¡°You¡¯re just going to leave? Are you not going to fight them?¡± the fatty said, his fighting spirit burning.

    ¡°Our opponents areing prepared. It would be unwise to fight them now.¡± Su Chen made a beeline for the exit of the bar.

    Wang Doushan followed closely behind him. ¡°You said our opponents are just a bunch of weaklings. If you don¡¯t teach them a lesson now, won¡¯t everything you just said be for nothing?¡±

    Su Chen was amused. ¡°You seem quite anxious to throw the world into chaos.¡±

    Wang Doushan giggled. ¡°I just want to see how you¡¯ll deal with these weaklings.¡±

    ¡°......¡± Su Chen stopped in ce, pondered for a moment, then returned to the bar.

    Wang Doushan thought Su Chen was preparing to face his opponents, but Su Chen walked through the bar and into the kitchen.

    An instantter, he returned, an unidentifiable item covered in ck cloth in his hand.

    Wang Doushan asked curiously, ¡°What is that?¡±

    ¡°Want to know?¡± Su Chen gestured for Wang Doushan to get a closer look, then lifted back the ck cloth. A wave of stench instantly rushed out, snaking its way into Wang Doushan¡¯s nose, nearly causing him to vomit.

    It was arge bucket of hogwash.

    Wang Doushan was almost knocked out by the smell. ¡°What the hell! Why- what are you nning on doing with that?¡±

    ¡°Just as you wanted. I¡¯m going to be teaching those weaklings a lesson.¡± Su Chen covered the bucket of hogwash back up.

    Wang Doushan stared at him nkly before growing more animated. ¡°You want to......¡±

    Su Chen gave Wang Doushan a meaningful nce, and evil grins formed on their faces. They quickly left the wine bar.

    Wang Doushanined the entire time. ¡°Goddamnit, this stinks. Why don¡¯t you put it in your Origin Ring?¡±

    ¡°If I do that, I won¡¯t ever be able to use my ring again. Hold on, we¡¯re almost there.¡± Su Chen and Wang Doushan quickly arrived in a small, unpopted alleyway. He ced the bucket on the alley¡¯s wall and tied a thin piece of string to it. He wrapped the string a few times around a rock he had found and ced it on the ground, forming a simple yet effective trap.

    After finishing up the preparations, Su Chen pped his hands and said, ¡°That¡¯s it. As long as someonees here, the trap will activate and they¡¯ll be washed in hogwash. There¡¯s no Origin Formation or Origin Energy involved, so even if the opponents use some kind of detection Origin Skill, they have no way of discovering it.¡±

    Although it was simple, it was extremely effective, especially against Origin Qi Schrs.

    Origin Qi Schrs used Origin Skills to detect the presence of Origin Energy, but this trap had none. All of their standard techniques were renderedpletely useless.

    Wang Doushan was ecstatic. ¡°Holy shit, this trap is savage. I¡¯ll keep it in mind for next time.¡±

    ¡°Did you think that was all?¡± Su Chenughed evilly.

    ¡°There¡¯s more?¡± Wang Doushan almost passed out.

    ¡°Follow me and you¡¯ll see.¡±

    Su Chen and Wang Doushan ran through the alleyway, this time running towards a small river.

    After arriving at the river bank, Su Chen pulled out an Origin Formation, hanging it on a tree.

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Wang Doushan waspletely bewildered.

    ¡°Tell me, if arge bucket of hogwashnded on you, what would be the first thing you want to do?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Wang Doushan instinctively replied, ¡°Of course, I would want to wash it off......¡±

    His eyes lit up in sudden understanding. ¡°They woulde to this river to wash themselves clean. And when they do, they¡¯ll fall in your next trap!¡±

    Earlier, he only had respect for Su Chen, but now he was staring at him in awe.

    This damned trickster was too good at what he did. He was even able to effortlessly set up multiple traps in a row.

    Wang Doushan was just about to ask what the formation did when Su Chen gestured him to be quiet and listen attentively.

    Their hearing ability was superior to most people, and they could supplement it with Origin Energy. From a nearby alleyway they could faintly hear someone wailing. Most likely that person had fallen victim to the ¡°stink bomb trap¡±. Su Chen smiled and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go, they¡¯ll be here any minute.¡±

    The two of them quickly hid behind arge tree.

    An instantter, they saw seven peoplee flying out of the alleyway. The one in the lead was Pan Hao.

    ¡°So it was him,¡± Wang Doushan whispered.

    Su Chen was spot on. Pan Hao was a third-year student whose strength was roughly equivalent to Ji Hanyan. Just him alone was enough to deal with the two of them, not to mention with his six helpers. They all seemed to be third-year students.

    This was like a lion going all-out to catch a rabbit. Thankfully, Su Chen came prepared. If he hadn¡¯t acted with such caution, he would most likely be screwed. It was even possible this would then be where others would find his corpse.

    ¡°This motherfucker seems to have been searching for an opportunity. You¡¯ve only ever left the Institute once since entering, yet he was still aware of it. It seems the Pan n hates you to their bones. They won¡¯t take a break until they kill you,¡± Wang Doushan murmured.

    Su Chen gentlyughed. ¡°They were prepared, but how could I not be prepared? Did you really think that these preparations I made were all just made up on the spot?¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Wang Doushan finally understood.

    At this moment, Pan Hao and the others had already jumped in theke. Some of them were naked, furiously cursing as they washed their dirty parts.

    They had beenpletely drenched by a bucket of hogwash. This was an insult that was hard to stomach no matter who they were.

    The flow of the river washed away the gross substances on their body, causing a stench to float into the air in waves. Even Wang Doushan was able to smell it.

    He waited for a long time, but the riverbank was silent.

    He said in surprise, ¡°Why was there no reaction?¡±

    ¡°What reaction?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Wang Doushan was about to go crazy. ¡°Didn¡¯t you set up another trap for him? Shouldn¡¯t he be engulfed in mes or blown to pieces right about now?¡±

    Su Chen indifferently replied, ¡°There wasn¡¯t supposed to be any fire or explosions in the first ce. That Origin Formation Disk was never meant tounch any attacks.¡±

    ¡°Then it¡¯s......¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s an imaging disk,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Imaging Disks were a kind of Origin Formation Disks that could record what was happening.

    Wang Doushan didn¡¯t expect Su Chen to install an Imaging Disk. He was dumbfounded.

    After staring dumbly for a moment, he finally realized what was happening. ¡°My goodness, you¡¯re recording their foolish behavior?¡±

    Su Chen, aren¡¯t you going a bit too far?

    Although no real attack wasunched, Wang Doushan believed Pan Hao and the others would¡¯ve rather been blown to bits than to have their own foolish, disgraceful behavior revealed to everyone.

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Su Chen nodded. ¡°Which means we have a new problem that needs solving.¡±

    ¡°What problem?¡± Wang Doushan didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°Should we use this Imaging Disk as a bargaining chip and heavily extort them? Or should we just release the video to the whole Institute, making it so that they can never show their faces in public again?¡±

    Su Chen wore a serious expression, as if he were making a life-or-death decision. ¡°Do I want to extort as many benefits from them as I can, or do I want to have my revenge on them to my heart¡¯s content......? This question is one that is worth considering!¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 15: Iron Cliffâ€™s Strength

    Chapter 15: Iron Cliff¡¯s Strength

    Bang!

    The Origin Formation Disk was shattered into pieces.

    Inside a small room in the Hidden Dragon Institute, Pan Hao viciously threw the Imaging Disk onto the ground. His face was almost purple with rage.

    He gazed at the person in front of him, squeezing two words out from between his tightly gritted teeth.

    ¡°SU CHEN!¡±

    Su Chen sat with his legs crossed, his expression one of nonchnce.

    Unruffled by the screams, Su Chen said, ¡°No worries, you can m them around as much as you want. This one was given to you for that express purpose, after all. If you want, I can take out many more.¡±

    Pan Hao sucked in a breath of cold air.

    He red at Su Chen viciously. ¡°What exactly do you want?¡±

    ¡°10,000 Origin Stones and we¡¯ll forget about this matter,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Between extortion and revenge, Su Chen had chosen extortion.

    This was a necessary attitude for anyone who wanted to aplish great things. It was important not to act on emotions and impulses, instead relying on a practical assessment of the situation.

    To Su Chen, extortion was much more meaningful than simply getting revenge.

    ¡°You want to extort us?¡± a Hidden Dragon Institute student to Pan Hao¡¯s side said darkly. ¡°Are you not afraid we¡¯ll just skin you alive right now?¡±

    Su Chen coldlyughed, ¡°Please, do your best. This is the Hidden Dragon Institute. If you few can really kill me here, I suppose there¡¯s nothing I canin about.¡±

    ¡°You......!¡± The student was just about to make a move when Pan Hao grabbed him, restraining him.

    ¡°Don¡¯t fall for his trap. You¡¯ll only be discovered by the inspectors and we¡¯ll all be heavily punished,¡± Pan Hao replied.

    ¡°So we should let him behave so arrogantly?¡± A few of the students red at Su Chen furiously.

    If looks could kill, Su Chen would¡¯ve been cut into a thousand pieces by now.

    Pan Hao stared at Su Chen for a long time before saying, ¡°Su Chen, hand over all the Imaging Disks you have, and everything that happened will be forgotten. If you don¡¯tply, my Pan n won¡¯t give you a moment of peace for the rest of your life.¡±

    Su Chen gazed at Pan Hao as if he were looking at an idiot. ¡°You¡¯re still trying to scare me? Do you really think you sound threatening to me? Or perhaps, do you really believe I¡¯m scared of the Pan n?¡±

    He stood up and walked up to Pan Yue until their faces were almost touching. He drew out every syble as he spoke, ¡°I don¡¯t need to dispel any enmity between me and the Pan n, I don¡¯t believe your promise, and I don¡¯t care about it. Give me the Origin Stones. How your Pan n wants to take revenge is up to you. I¡¯ll deal with whatever you can throw my way.¡±

    Pan Hao was so angry he began to hyperventte.

    After calming his breathing, he nodded. ¡°Okay, only 10,000 Origin Stones, right? We¡¯ll throw what we have together and give it to you.¡±

    ¡°Throw it together?¡± Su Chen revealed a disdainful smile. ¡°Oh, you must be mistaken. I said each person owes me 10,000 Origin Stones.¡±

    ¡°SU CHEN, YOU MOTHERFUCKER!¡± Pan Hao and his six helpers screamed in unison. They were all infuriated.

    What Su Chen was asking for was not 10,000 Origin Stones, but 70,000!

    70,000 Origin Stones! Did Su Chen think Origin Stones were worthless?

    Even members from Bloodline Nobility ns would have trouble procuring that much money all at once.

    Su Chen coldlyughed. ¡°No worries, you can take your time gathering the money. You can pay me in installments. The first 10,000 Origin Stones will ensure nothing bad happens in the next three months. See, I¡¯m pretty reasonable, aren¡¯t I? It shouldn¡¯t be hard to gather 10,000 Origin Stones in three months, right? In 21 months, you will deliver the final payment. But I¡¯m warning you ¨C if something happens to me within this period of time, the Imaging Disks will immediately be released.¡±

    Pan Hao red at Su Chen. ¡°How can we trust your word?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s your problem. Did you know it was extremely difficult for me to relinquish the idea of getting my sweet revenge? Reason told me to ¡®sell¡¯ these Imaging Disks to you, but the fury in my heart was constantly pushing me to release it, satisfying the craving in my being to have my revenge. If you don¡¯t agree, my reasoning will have been for naught, but I¡¯d be quite happy. From this point of view, I¡¯d rather you not agree to cooperate with me so I can show this beautiful video to the world.¡±

    He clearly enunciated each word as he said, his fury mounting. ¡°I¡¯ll publish the disgusting, embarrassing behavior of you and your friends in front of everyone. They¡¯ll feel like they were right there watching it happen. You will be theughingstocks of the Institute, leaving behind a shadow in your hearts. If that happens, you will be ruined!¡±

    ¡°NOOO!¡± All of them began to yell in fear.

    If Su Chen really went through with it, a heart shadow would probably really form.

    ¡°Heart shadow¡± was just a fancy, mysterious term. Under normal circumstances, they wouldn¡¯t know of its existence. But when targeted by a rtively powerful consciousness Origin Skill or illusion technique, this shadow would be a weak link, decreasing their ability to resist such techniques.

    A worst case scenario was if their bloodline and techniques required calmness and tranquility. Their entire cultivation path would be affected.

    Because of this, heart shadows could either have arge or rtively small impact.

    Pan Hao was stunned into silence.

    He didn¡¯t expect Su Chen to be so fearless. He didn¡¯t put their social status as Bloodline Nobility n members in his eyes, even daring to challenge them to battle.

    He savagely said, ¡°Su Chen, you know you have offended many Bloodline Nobility ns today, right?¡±

    ¡°No, the only people I¡¯ve offended is you guys,¡± Su Chen replied with a slight smile. ¡°That¡¯s because you don¡¯t dare report this back to your ns, right?¡±

    Su Chen stared at the seven in front of him and continued, ¡°Without the support of your ns, you seven are just like weak chickens in my eyes. I wee you to try and make trouble for me at any time. But believe me when I say, today¡¯s attack was only the appetizer. Are you prepared to face the consequences?¡±

    The seven averted their gaze, afraid to look Su Chen in the eyes.

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Then it¡¯s decided. I¡¯ll give you three days toe up with the first batch of Origin Stones. If you really can¡¯t gather enough, you can substitute them with contribution points. Each contribution point will be worth one low-grade Origin Stone. I¡¯m being quite generous.¡±

    Like hell you are!

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Wang Doushan greeted Su Chen as he left the room, asking with concern, ¡°Are you fine? I really was worried they would tear you to pieces.¡±

    ¡°I wish they had. They might have even been locked up for a few days,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°You¡¯re risking your life just for some Origin Stones!¡± Wang Doushan eximed.

    ¡°So you¡¯re not afraid to walk next to me?¡±

    ¡°Psh, why would I be afraid of you?¡±

    The two of them returned to the Clear Sky Tower,ughing and chatting as they went.

    At the entrance to the tower, they were greeted by a familiar face. It was Bai Yihong.

    Su Chen paid particr attention to his finger.

    Origin Qi Schrs were quite impressive. In just a day, the broken finger had made a full recovery.

    Seeing Su Chen, Bai Yihong folded his fan and asked in a threatening manner, ¡°Where is Bai Qing?¡±

    ¡°Bai Qing?¡± Su Chen was confused at first, but then he understood. ¡°Are you talking about your servant? He¡¯s resting in my room.¡±

    ¡°Give him back.¡±

    ¡°No problem.¡± Su Chen transmitted themand with the help of themunication device the Immortal Temple had given him. He could use it to reach out to someone within a fixed distance.

    A momentter, Iron Cliff dragged the servant down with him. The servant¡¯s face was covered in ck Qi, his expression fatigued and his skin covered in pus-filled boils.

    ¡°Bai Qing!¡± Bai Yihong was shocked. He turned to Su Chen and furiously spat out, ¡°What happened to him!?¡±

    Su Chen replied absentmindedly, ¡°Oh, after he came to my ce, he wasn¡¯t limated, so I fed him a few medicines. Don¡¯t worry, nothing too bad will happen to him. He¡¯ll recover soon.¡±

    What the hell do you mean by ¡®not limated¡¯!

    Su Chen was tantly lying to his face. Bai Yihong was about to explode with rage.

    After receiving his servant, Bai Yihong said menacingly, ¡°Su Chen, isn¡¯t attacking my servant going a little overboard?¡±

    ¡°I just invited him to be a guest at my ce. Since he likes causing so many incidents, I gave him something to chew on.¡± Su Chenughed.

    ¡°Okay!¡± Bai Yihong had learned his lesson. He was not as open this time. ¡°Since you invited my servant to be your guest, then I would like to invite your servant to be my guest.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s eyebrows jumped. ¡°Oh? Iron Cliff, Prince Bai would like you to be his guest.¡±

    Iron Cliff¡¯s face twisted into a cruel smile. ¡°Great.¡±

    Bai Yihong retrieved his fan, then wed out at Iron Cliff.

    Iron Cliff struck out with his fist.

    Boom!

    The overwhelming amount of energy from that strike rumbled like thunder, flying forwards with an unparalleled amount of force. Bai Yihong¡¯s wrist cleanly snapped with a ¡°crack¡± as the overwhelming force collided with his hand. It continued to charge forwards like a dragon, mming into Bai Yihong¡¯s body.

    Whoosh!

    Bai Yihong flew into the sky like a meteor.

    What is going on?

    Everyone around stopped dead in their tracks as they saw this development.

    Wang Doushan was the first to react. ¡°Origin Qi Schr? Your servant is an Origin Qi Schr? And he¡¯s of the Cliff Race?¡±

    Su Chen smiled serenely. ¡°Getting into a contest of force with a Cliff Race Origin Qi Schr, you¡¯re the first person that has ever been so confident in their ability.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 16: Stubborn

    Chapter 16: Stubborn

    The next morning, Su Chen made his way to the stone room near the river once more.

    This time, Shi Kaihuang wasn¡¯t messing around with a giant beast.

    He sat in an empty area of his room, drawing out strange, profound lines on the ground. They formed an Origin Energy Inscription filled with profound mysteries.

    At first nce, Su Chen didn¡¯t feel anything. He carefully inspected the Origin Energy Inscription and the more he did, the more interesting it became; the amount of mysteries it contained just kept on increasing. He slowly sank into it, bing unable to extract himself.

    He finally realized something wasn¡¯t right, so he pped himself viciously, extracting himself from the illusion. Su Chen knew the inscription was too profound for him. It was not something he could understand right now, so he hurriedly averted his gaze.

    Shi Kaihuang let out an exmation of surprise. Evidently, he did not expect Su Chen to regain consciousness on his own. ¡°You brat, why¡¯d youe here again?¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t say anything. His figure shed like lightning toward a nearby tree. He reached out to grab a handful of leaves, then tossed them out. They flew through the air like darts, puncturing multiple holes in a distant tree.

    ¡°The Flying Flower Hands and Snaking Mist Steps are both Bloodline Origin Skills of the Gu n from Longxi Country.¡± As Su Chen spoke, he grabbed another handful of leaves and stomped on the tree. He took multiple steps in midair, as if walking on clouds. Simultaneously, the leaves in his hands shot out.

    Whoosh!

    This time, the leaves prated the tree entirely, leaving behind muchrger holes.

    Su Chen slowly floated down from the air, his steps unhurried. ¡°That was also the Flying Flower Hands and Snaking Mist Steps. That is the absolute limit that someone with a mixed bloodline can achieve.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang finally began to reveal a trace of interest.

    Su Chen calmly pulled out a medicinal vial from his Origin Ring. ¡°This is an Origin Substance Medicine for the Soaring Snake Bloodline. I extracted it from the Frigid Water Herb and refined it twice. After using it, I was able to break through the non-bloodline limit. In addition, in the past half year, my research in the Soaring Serpent Bloodline and Origin Energy changes has also had a few breakthroughs. So...¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s figure shifted again. This time, he was retreating.

    He retreated onto the surface of theke, walking on it without getting his feet wet.

    Previously, Su Chen could only take a few steps in midair so long as his speed was fast enough. But now he was walking backwards on the water ever so calmly. His proficiency in the Snaking Mist Steps was clear to see; he had made a lot of progress.

    After further improving the Soaring Snake Origin Substance Medicine and nearly a year¡¯s worth of research, Su Chen finally understood the Origin Energy changes in the bloodline. As such, he was able to replicate it on himself.

    His ability to walk on water was a logical oue of this improvement. In truth, this already surpassed the level achievable by someone with a mixed bloodline. His results were unbelievable. Most others could only increase their speed; they couldn¡¯t make themselves as light as a feather.

    This was the first time Su Chen had disyed the Soaring Serpent altered Origin Energy in front of anyone. However, he was not using it in battle, but rather to show off.

    Su Chen stared at Shi Kaihuang confidently as he floated on the water. ¡°I¡¯ve sessfully broken through these bloodline restrictions.¡±

    This was Su Chen¡¯s tactic. He would disy his own excellence to move the other party.

    However, Shi Kaihuang only raised his eyebrows ever so slightly.

    He gazed at Su Chen with his muddy eyes. After a moment, he said, ¡°Stop moving.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Su Chen stared at him nkly.

    ¡°Stand there and stop moving,¡± Shi Kaihuang repeated.

    Su Chen was bewildered, but did as he was told and came to a standstill on the water.

    His body slowly began to sink.

    It was as though he was standing in a swamp. First his feet sank into the water, followed by his knees, thighs...

    Su Chen became flustered. He wanted to stabilize himself, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn¡¯t prevent himself from sinking.

    He sunk deeper and deeper into theke. Even his head was mostly underwater now.

    Shi Kaihuang shook his head. ¡°You¡¯re not quite there yet.¡±

    He lowered his head, then continued to analyze the inscription below him.

    Another failure!

    Two dayster, Su Chen returned.

    This time, he didn¡¯t try to show off.

    Although he did still have a few more small tricks up his sleeve, there wasn¡¯t much point in revealing them to Shi Kaihuang.

    After all, Shi Kaihuang didn¡¯t really seem to care about whether or not a student was outstanding.

    Su Chen knew he had made a mistake. Shi Kaihuang wasn¡¯t a personal instructor who cared about status or reputation. If he did, he would¡¯ve taken in a student already. Disying his own strength to Shi Kaihuang was useless. No matter how talented he was, he wouldn¡¯t be able to attract Shi Kaihuang¡¯s attention.

    With that in mind, he began to try out different tactics.

    The first thing he did was to clean Shi Kaihuang¡¯s room. When the old man left his ce, Su Chen sneaked in and went about cleaning it.

    Shi Kaihuang had lived on his own for a long time, and his room was extremely dirty. Su Chen tidied up the ce; there was not a single speck of dust left. Afterwards, he prepared a marvelous feast for Shi Kaihuang, and then awaited his return.

    When Shi Kaihuang returned and saw this scene, he twitched his lips.

    He scarfed down the sumptuous feast, then went to sleep,pletely ignoring Su Chen.

    Su Chen was not discouraged. He returned the next day.

    Su Chen repeated this process for the next 10 days, and Shi Kaihuang enjoyed it.

    When Su Chen came on the 11th day, Shi Kaihuan sighed.

    ¡°Don¡¯t me me for not telling you, kid. Someone tried the tactic you¡¯re trying now 12 years ago. I told him that doing so was useless, and that if I said I wasn¡¯t epting any disciples, I wouldn¡¯t. He didn¡¯t believe me. He thought that if he pampered me a little bit, as though I was a little girl, my heart would change. I let him do it, yet I never gave him the go-ahead even until the end of the first year, the deadline for choosing a personal instructor. He wasted his time, even losing his status as a seedling of the Institute. His cries were very tragic,¡± Shi Kaihuang giggled.

    Su Chen¡¯s face tightened.

    Shi Kaihuang continued, ¡°Of course, you can choose to not believe me and continue. I do enjoy your services a lot. The roasted chicken you made for me yesterday was pretty good. I¡¯d appreciate it if you made it for me more often.¡±

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then shook his head. ¡°Since Senior has made his stance clear, there is no need for me to continue down this path. I¡¯ll listen to Senior¡¯s advice this time.¡±

    ¡°Is that right? You¡¯re going to give up so easily? What a pity. Why not try it a little longer? Perhaps my attitude will change tomorrow.¡±

    Su Chen shook his head slowly yet firmly. ¡°Since I know it¡¯s only a dead end, I will give up when I need to give up.¡±

    ¡°What a pity.¡± Shi Kaihuang tilted his head back andughed. ¡°I will miss your services a lot. After all, it¡¯s been a long time since someone has done this for me.¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°But I won¡¯t give up on bing Senior¡¯s disciple.¡±

    ¡°Get the hell out of here! I¡¯m not like the Beast Emperor Mountain, waiting for you to try and conquer me.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 17: Encompassing the Heavens

    Chapter 17: Epassing the Heavens

    ¡°I already told you, this damned old man has a mental problem. He hasn¡¯t epted a single disciple yet. No matter what you do, it won¡¯t matter.¡±

    Wang Doushan chewed on a piece of grass as he spoke frankly. They were seated in an octagonal room in the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    Su Chen sat on one of the lounge chairs in the room, leaning against the back and gazing out the window at the scenery near theke. ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s because I haven¡¯t found his weak point yet. There must be something that can move him.¡±

    ¡°I think he just doesn¡¯t want to ept a disciple in the first ce! Is there anyone else in the entire Hidden Dragon Institute who is more unreasonable? No! Tell me, how can he call himself a damned personal instructor if he doesn¡¯t ept disciples? If you don¡¯t want disciples, don¡¯t fuckinge to the Hidden Dragon Institute in the first ce!¡±

    ¡°Yes, whye to the Hidden Dragon Institute if you don¡¯t want to be a personal instructor?¡± Su Chen muttered. ¡°Since he is here, he probably does want a disciple. Perhaps it¡¯s because I haven¡¯t yet achieved his standards yet.¡±

    ¡°Haven¡¯t achieved his standards yet? If someone as talented as you isn¡¯t good enough, who is?¡± Wang Doushan asked scornfully. ¡°Does he have to wait until a genius that only appears every 10,000 years appears to ept a disciple?¡±

    Upon hearing these words, Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but think aloud, ¡°He is pursuing the same dream countless others from the Intelligent Races have been pursuing for tens of thousands of years. With this in mind, it might not be that strange for his standards to be of a never-before-seen genius.¡±

    ¡°Still in the mood to joke around, huh?¡± Wang Doushan harrumphed.

    He sat down opposite Su Chen, the grass in his mouth bouncing around furiously.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand. There¡¯s so many outstanding personal instructors in the Institute, yet you only have eyes for this stubborn, crazy old man. Just what do you see in him?¡±

    ¡°Hmm......¡± Su Chen thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°I have two reasons. One is because I respect him. I respect him not only because he is the only person so far who has scolded me like I¡¯m a dog yetmands obedience from me, but also because he has a heart epassing the heavens...... To know that it is impossible to do, yet continues doing it, is enough tomand respect and admiration.¡±

    Wang Doushan nodded. ¡°Okay. Although that does make him a little silly, the old saying that ¡®the world is driven by fools¡¯ is quite apt. What¡¯s the second reason?¡±

    ¡°The second reason is that I want to follow in his footsteps, pursuing the same dream the human race has had for tens of thousands of years. He¡¯s the only one striving for such a goal among all the personal instructors, so who am I to find if not him?¡±

    Wang Doushan smacked his forehead. ¡°My goodness, you¡¯re just as crazy as he is! Su Chen, have you still not realized it?¡±

    He gazed at Su Chen intently, drawing out each word clearly. ¡°It is impossible. You can¡¯t do it!¡±

    ¡°Impossible?¡± Su Chen gazed at Wang Doushan.

    Wang Doushan firmly nodded. ¡°Tens of thousands of years have already passed. How many talented individuals from the Intelligent Races have pursued this dream? Yet no one has achieved it. Or what if we¡¯ve already seeded, and bloodlines are the best and most optimal way of controlling Origin Energy. Why seek alternative methods?¡±

    ¡°Because I don¡¯t have a bloodline,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°And I¡¯m not alone. There are many, many people who don¡¯t have a bloodline.¡±

    Wang Doushan froze.

    ¡°In addition, bloodlines aren¡¯t powerful enough,¡± Su Chen added. ¡°The enemies of the Intelligent Races are, in the end, the Beast Race, and it will only ever be them. But the power of bloodlines originates from the Beast Race! How can you rely on the strength of your enemies to defeat them? For example, you, Wang Doushan, have the bloodline of the Snow Crane. Even if you awaken your bloodline to its maximum potential ¨C 50% ¨C can youpare with the real Snow Cran Emperor? No, never! Never will you exceed the strength of the Snow Crane. This bloodline gave you power, but at the same time it has limited your potential!¡±

    When Wang Doushan heard this, his jaw dropped. He wanted to argue, but couldn¡¯t find the words to do so.

    This was a principle every person understood.

    Perhaps by putting all their efforts into cultivating, their strength would increase, surpassing that of another bloodline of the same level. However, the restrictions put on them by the bloodline set a limit on their potentials; they would never ovee this limit.

    This was also why the human race was so helpless ¨C even at the peak of their strength, no Intelligent Race could ever surpass the Beast Race.

    Primordial Beasts were already almost impossible to defend against, not to mention an Origin Beast, which could single-handedly wipe out a prosperous nation.

    Su Chen was correct. Bloodlines had given the human race great power, but at the same time it had ced a limit on their potential.

    ¡°Unfortunately, it¡¯s just too hard. It¡¯s a dream, impossible to realize,¡± Wang Doushan said, shaking his head.

    ¡°Perhaps. But if it¡¯s impossible, why does that old man continue to do so? Why are there so many people dedicating themselves for this dream?¡±

    ¡°This......¡± Wang Doushan couldn¡¯t find the words.

    Su Chen answered his own question. ¡°Because there are always people in this world who will continue to strive even if they know it¡¯s impossible. For the human race, these people are unafraid of hardships, and they dedicate themselves without any regrets.¡±

    Wang Doushan was stunned. After a long while, admiration appeared in his eyes. ¡°When you put it that way, that old man really is quite a character.¡±

    Su Chen smilingly said, ¡°Unfortunately, not many people appreciate his extraordinary traits. Most people focus on innate potential and talent, not on character and attitude.¡±

    As he realized the meaning behind the words he just said, Su Chen froze; it was as though he was struck by lightning.

    Images of the old man surfaced in his mind, and he recalled the few words the old man spoke to him.

    ¡°How many heroes devoted their whole lives just to help the human race rise to prominence......¡±

    ¡°If you want to aplish something great, your heart needs to be in the right ce. You don¡¯t possess such a vision, yet you think you are worthy to im that you will bring the human race to prominence?¡±

    ¡°A rookie like you isn¡¯t fit to defile ¡®humankind¡¯s rise to prominence!¡¯ It needs to be something you spend your whole life chasing after.¡±

    Every sentence, every word echoed in his heart, as if they were bells that rang resoundingly in his ears.

    He was so stunned that his vision began to spin and his hands and legs began to tremble.

    ¡°Hey, what¡¯s going on?¡± Wang Doushan asked him upon seeing Su Chen¡¯s strange expression.

    Su Chen stared nkly off into the distance, muttering, ¡°I¡¯m such an idiot. I should¡¯ve realized this long ago. I thought that by disying my own talent, I could receive his praise and trick him into epting me as a disciple. I was so wrong. If I want to be his disciple, it¡¯s not about whether or not I have talent or outstanding potential. Neither is he looking for someone with great intelligence.¡±

    ¡°I need to have a heart that epasses the heavens!¡±

    Wang Doushan was stumped. ¡°A heart that epasses the heavens?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Su Chen nodded with conviction. ¡°The old man truly does have standards for epting disciples, but they aren¡¯t about innate talent, but one¡¯s temperament and willpower! Willpower isn¡¯t just about continuing to cook for him. Rather, I need to have the willpower to continually walk along a road that may seem never ending until the end of my life!¡±

    Wang Doushan¡¯s jaw dropped.

    A long timeter, when he finally regained some of hisposure, he asked, ¡°So how are you going to reach his standards?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    Just as Wang Doushan was about to feel disappointed, Su Chen smiled. ¡°It¡¯s fine if we don¡¯t know, though. If we don¡¯t know...... we just have to ask him.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 18: A Full Accoun

    Chapter 18: A Full ount

    Su Chen arrived back at the stone room. Compared to his earlier exuberance, he was evidently much moreposed.

    Gone was his air of self-confidence and steadiness. What reced it was the respect and reverence given to those with power.

    Shi Kaihuang sat by theke, fishing.

    His method of fishing was somewhat unique. There was no fishing line on the rod. Instead, he had created a thin line of Origin Energy and ced it on the head of the rod, which he casted into the water.

    The thin line wasn¡¯t all that surprising. However, Shi Kaihuang was able to create it whilst being a fishing rod length away from it. In addition, while it was very thin, the fish gathered around this ¡°fishing line¡±, as if they were attracted to it.

    Upon a closer whiff, he could smell a unique fragrance gently diffusing from the fishing line, attracting the fish.

    The old man¡¯s Origin Energy actually had an odor to it!

    Su Chen bowed respectfully to Shi Kaihuang at a distance. ¡°Su Chen greets Senior.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang didn¡¯t lift his head. ¡°What trick are you going to pull this time?¡±

    Su Chen fell silent for a moment, then said, ¡°The first time I met Senior, I was dumped by a girl moments before. In my sorrow, I swore aughable oath......¡±

    He didn¡¯t demonstrate any Origin Skills, nor did he try to fawn over Shi Kaihuang. He patiently described in great detail how they met, surprising even Shi Kaihuang. However, Shi Kaihuang didn¡¯t show his surprise; he was fully focused on the fish in theke.

    ¡°Because of that, I received my first scolding from Senior, causing me to be roused from my apathy as if awaking from a dream. Now that I used my time to ponder on it, I realized it was probably this initial interaction that gave Senior the impression I was biting off more than I could chew. Senior thought this was a deration made in blind arrogance.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang squinted his eyes.

    ¡°In reality, even I believed I only made the oath in the spur of the moment. I never possessed the ability to make that dream a reality, so there was no motivation for me to jump into this bottomless pit. But I was wrong, and so was Senior...... Because that oath was not made out of impulse. More precisely, impulse was part of it, but only a small part.

    Shi Kaihuang opened his eyes as they shined.

    ¡°I live in a world where bloodlines are revered. As amoner without a bloodline, I have witnessed many things because of it. I witnessed someone use their origin to wantonly kill innocent individuals simply because their lives were ¡®worth¡¯ less than his. I went to the Cloud Rising Border, witnessing the bitter lives of those who lived there. I experienced firsthand the suffering and torment they had to endure every day. I hated and killed members from Bloodline Nobility ns who used their status to oppress others, and I did my best to save a few cannon fodders living near the border, but everything I did was like a drop in the ocean to the human race. There¡¯s too much suffering I am unable to alleviate and resolve.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang finally turned around, gazing at Su Chen.

    ¡°I hoped before that one day, someone woulde forward and tear it all down,¡± Su Chen said in a low voice.

    A bitter smile shed across his face. ¡°Yes, at that moment I was only hoping someone else would stand up, hoping someone would be my hero. I never thought about standing up myself and bing the hero I wish to look up to. That was, until......¡±

    ¡°Until that girl appeared?¡± Shi Kaihuang finally spoke.

    Su Chen nodded his head. ¡°Yes. On that day, I made such an oath. It was in the spur of the moment, yes, but it wasn¡¯tpletely impulsive. It wasst spurt of energy necessary to break through into a higher realm. Without this energy, the breakthrough would not be possible, but this energy on itself was insufficient as well.

    Shi Kaihuang gently sighed, basically acknowledging Su Chen¡¯s exnation.

    This was the first time Shi Kaihuang had ever acknowledged Su Chen.

    Su Chen did not grow excited. He serenely spoke, ¡°Many thoughts crossed my mind thesest few days. I never understood why you were unwilling to ept me as a disciple. But yesterday, I finally understood. I realized why only you can be my personal instructor. It¡¯s not because you are powerful, it¡¯s about who you are, what you do, how you can criticize and rebuke me, all of it together.¡±

    ¡°When I understood this, I understood why you were unwilling to ept disciples. It¡¯s not that you don¡¯t want a disciple, but that you haven¡¯t met one who meets your standards. Many of them couldn¡¯t identify orprehend your goal. If they can¡¯t identify with what you do, how are they to learn from you? This is the main issue. Just like you said, those who wanted you to be their personal instructor were all ying a game called ¡®win over Shi Kaihuang¡¯. They weren¡¯t respecting your thoughts, your efforts. They merely focused on demonstrating their sesses. Of course you wouldn¡¯t want to ept them.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang¡¯s eyes dimmed slightly.

    Su Chen said, ¡°I acknowledge it! I know what you are doing, and I want to do it as well. But this time, I¡¯m not saying this out of impulse. It¡¯s a choice I made after contemting it thoroughly!¡±

    He knelt on one knee and said sincerely, ¡°Please, ept me as your disciple!¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    In the Bai n¡¯s main courtyard in Flying Wheel City.

    Bai Jingtai sat at the front of the pavilion, his face as calm as water.

    His face was long like a horse, and his mustache wasbed neatly on both sides like the character ¡°eight1¡±. His face seemed strange and deformed, making his visage very ugly.

    However, this ugly man was exuding a killing aura so dense it almost felt real. It emanated from his body, forming an ethereal bloody mist around him.

    This bloody mist intimidated his servants as they quaked in fear, not daring to make a single noise.

    A young, handsome servant knelt near Bai Jingtai. He said in a low voice, ¡°We¡¯ve determined that Demon Face is Su Chen, the one who caused quite a stir during the Three-Mountains Region Exam. The person who killed Eldest Prince and his wife must be him. In addition, he now practices our n¡¯s Thunder de, and even passed it on to others.¡±

    Bang!

    The armrest of the chair Bai Jingtai sat on shattered.

    He hadn¡¯t directly shattered it. Rather, the dense, cloudlike blood mist surrounding him had suddenly contracted, shattering the firm wooden armrest.

    ¡°It¡¯s been an entire year. After expending so much time and energy, have we finally found him?¡± Bai Jingtai asked darkly.

    The servant lowered his head. ¡°It¡¯s my fault for being useless, forcing Patriarch to wait for so long.¡±

    ¡°Forget about it. Since we¡¯ve found him, take care of him.¡±

    ¡°Patriarch, Su Chen has entered the Hidden Dragon Institute. The kid he passed the Thunder de onto has also entered the Hidden Dragon Institute.¡±

    Dealing with them within the walls of the Institute would prove to be quite an obstacle.

    Bai Jingtai lowered his head in thought, then said, ¡°Let Ou¡¯er take care of it. Tell him to find an opportunity to kill Su Chen.¡±

    ¡°What about the other kid who learned our Thunder de?¡±

    ¡°The Bai n¡¯s Absolute Techniques are not to be spread. Kill him.¡±

    ¡°Yes sir!¡±

    1. In Chinese, the character for eight is °Ë, which is what this guy¡¯s mustache looks like.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 19: Evil Wolves in a Wasteland

    Chapter 19: Evil Wolves in a Wastnd

    When Su Chen knelt down, Shi Kaihuang became serious. At least, his expression had.

    He gazed intently at Su Chen, as if he were closely sizing him up.

    Finally, he said, ¡°About half of what you said was right.¡±

    Su Chen was slightly stunned.

    Half?

    Had he identally overlooked something?

    Shi Kaihuang slowly said, ¡°Part of the reason why I am unwilling to ept disciples has to do with differences in thinking, but that isn¡¯t all.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Su Chen was shocked. Even after that speech, he still refuses me? Just what do I have to do to tempt him?

    As he was lost in bewilderment, Shi Kaihuang continued, ¡°But this also doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t want to have a disciple at all.¡±

    This unexpected turn of events left Su Chen confused.

    After staring nkly for a moment, he recovered. ¡°Does Senior mean I haven¡¯t yet met his standards? Please, guide me.¡±

    ¡°Standards?¡± Shi Kaihuang stared nkly for a moment as he mulled on the phrase, thenughed gently. ¡°Is that how you interpreted what I meant? Well, you can call it that, I suppose.¡±

    His tone was warm and calm. Evidently, his attitude towards Su Chen was very different from before. Su Chen¡¯s words had reached him.

    He nced at Su Chen and said, ¡°I can understand you want to follow through on your oath and walk in the footsteps of your ancestors, and I respect that decision. But do you know what awaits you on this path?¡±

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°Hardships! Extreme hardships. The human race has been pursuing this dream for so long without much sess, so this path isn¡¯t easily treaded on by anyone. If I choose to walk it, I must realize I can¡¯t stop. I have to keep going, no matter how hard it gets, no matter how badly I want to give up. Even if that means I¡¯ll spend my entire life without reaching the end.¡±

    A mocking expression appeared in Shi Kaihuang¡¯s eyes. ¡°¡®Even¡¯? ¡®May¡¯? ¡®Difficult¡¯? You nned on walking down this path without a clue of what that entails?¡±

    What does he mean? Su Chen was speechless.

    He had pondered many nights on the difficulties he would face, but listening to Shi Kaihuang, he felt like he was missing something.

    This...... What is happening? Su Chen did not understand at all.

    Shi Kaihuang gently waved his hand.

    The fish in the water dispersed as if bymand.

    ¡°If you want to understand, I need to correct you about one of your concepts,¡± Shi Kaihuang said slowly. Su Chen diligently listened.

    ¡°Humankind¡¯s pursuit of breaking through the restrictions of bloodlines has not actually taken tens of thousands of years. The human race¡¯s control over Origin Energy has developed over time. Early on, the human race was ignorant. No one understood how to control Origin Energy. At that time, the human race was content with just having power. How could they afford to be picky? But as time went on, and the human race began to harness the powers of bloodlines to strengthen themselves, all kinds of methods for controlling Origin Energy began to appear. New cultivation realms were constantly being discovered, eventually resulting in the seven cultivation realms we know of today. After the discovery of these seven realms, the Origin Beasts went into hibernation, as well as the Primordial Beasts, and humankind finally established their own territory. This was where the desire to surpass the Beast Race originated, which was why there was a need to break through the restrictions of bloodlines. The dream of breaking through this restriction actually originated from the slow passage of time. It is not nearly as ancient as you think it is, and even more it is not nearly as difficult as you think it is.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang¡¯sst sentence sent a tremor through Su Chen. ¡°It¡¯s not nearly as difficult as I think it is?¡±

    ¡°Absolutely!¡± Shi Kaihuang nodded. ¡°You might not understand, so let me rephrase it. What if I told you that someone sessfully developed a method to reach the Blood Boiling Realm without the aid of a bloodline a long time ago?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡± Su Chen yelled instinctively.

    As of now, the human race could only reach the Qi Drawing Realm without the aid of a bloodline. Although it was possible to reach the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline, the sess rate was only around 20%.

    If the first attempt was a failure, the next one would require the support of a bloodline.

    Because of this, a foolproof method to reach the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline did not exist. Or so Su Chen thought.

    But now, Shi Kaihuang said that hundreds of years ago, the human race already possessed a foolproof method of reaching the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline. What did this imply?

    This implied the dependence of the human race on a bloodline had decreased, and that more mid-to-lowyer Origin Qi Schrs would appear with less effort. This would also result in a much firmer foundation, leading to the appearance of more powerful Origin Qi Schrs.

    But even after 100 years, this hadn¡¯t happened. In fact, today was the first time Su Chen heard of the existence of this method.

    ¡°Why have these techniques never been passed down?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you pass on your Erupting Firebird or your method of surpassing the Soaring Snake bloodline restrictions for the Flying Flower Hands and Snaking Mist Steps? Did you publicly announce your findings?¡± Shi Kaihuang countered.

    ¡°This......¡± Su Chen paused.

    Why hadn¡¯t he passed on these findings to others? Why hadn¡¯t he announced how he had broken through the bloodline restrictions for the Flying Flower Hands and the Snaking Mist Steps?

    If he couldn¡¯t reveal the Flying Flower Hands because of where it came from, what about the Clear Wind Net? That technique had nothing to do with the Gu n. Why did he keep it to himself?

    Of course, it was because he had spent a lot of time and effort to create it. There was no way he would just give it out for free.

    He slowly began to understand what Shi Kaihuang was getting at.

    ¡°They...... didn¡¯t want to release it?¡±

    Shi Kaihuang nodded. ¡°Many people searched for answers, but most of them did it for their own benefit, not the entire human race.¡±

    Su Chen was reminded of Mainbrooke. He also pursued a method to surpass the bloodline restrictions, creating an unparalleled cultivation path. But for who was he doing it? For himself.

    Most likely, there were many with the talent and passion. They had created many impressive techniques, and achieved their dreams. Evidently, however, they had no intention of sharing it with the world.

    They cherished it because it was their own to the point that they didn¡¯t want others to find out about it.

    Su Chen felt a wave of unsettlement wash over him.

    He asked, ¡°So there have actually been quite a few people who were able to achieve this?¡±

    Shi Kaihuang nodded.

    ¡°Out of all of them, no one did it to help the human race?¡±

    ¡°Maybe some did, but they were perhaps too scared to share it,¡± Shi Kaihuang replied.

    ¡°Too scared?¡±

    ¡°Yes, too scared!¡± Shi Kaihuang gazed at Su Chen as he nodded. ¡°You don¡¯t understand because you haven¡¯t realized yet what is blocking you. Right now, all you can see is darkness, like you¡¯ve lost all senses of directions in the wastnd. But what you don¡¯t know is that there are countless ¡®evil wolves¡¯ out in the wastnd waiting to swallow you up.¡±

    ¡°Evil wolves......¡± Su Chen muttered.

    ¡°Yes, evil wolves!¡± Shi Kaihuang was very serious.

    ¡°Who are the evil wolves?¡±

    ¡°Think about what you¡¯ve said, and what your goal is.¡±

    ¡°The rise to prominence of the human race?¡±

    ¡°Not that far back.¡±

    Su Chen paused for a moment in thought before saying, ¡°Breaking through the bloodline restrictions?¡±

    Shi Kaihuangughed. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s it. Do you think the Bloodline Nobility ns will just sit and watch you destroy their elevated position in society?¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s heart trembled.

    He understood what Shi Kaihuang was trying to say. In fact, it wasn¡¯t that he couldn¡¯t think of this himself. Rather, he was unwilling to think in that direction.

    In his mind, this dream was already hard enough to achieve. Thinking about what would happen after achieving it was just too far away for the current him.

    But today, Shi Kaihuang had opened his eyes. The old man told him that breaking through the bloodline shackles wasn¡¯t all that hard, and that the real hard part only came afterwards.

    A wave of pain Su Chen wasn¡¯t prepared for washed over him.

    Shi Kaihuang¡¯s eyes revealed an expression of sorrow. ¡°If you chased after the dream of humankind¡¯s rise to prominence, constantly pursuing the most profound secrets of this world, but you discovered that what really hindered you was the human race itself, how would you feel?¡±

    Su Chen was silent.

    How else could he feel? Pain, sorrow, disappointment, and even hopelessness washed over him.

    Shi Kaihuang stood up.

    He walked up to Su Chen and slowly said, ¡°Do you understand the kind of difficulty you will face on this path now? Firstly, you might spend your entire life with nothing to show for it, and ¨C just like you said ¨C your life will have been wasted. When you fail, you will only be mocked, ridiculed, and ndered. Secondly, even if you seed, your heart will be tested. If you truly want the human race to rise to prominence, you will need to take out what you have spent your whole life studying and give it to everyone to learn. That implies that there will be no reward for you. Can you ept that? I can tell you are a smart young man that is good at scheming. Would you be willing to make such a move when you stand to profit nothing? Thirdly, if you are able to achieve both of those, you will discover that what awaits you is not flowers and apuse but the anger and hatred from countless Bloodline Nobility ns. If one day the human race no longer needs to rely on their bloodlines, their status as nobility will disappear. They will hate you, and will do their best to dy or even kill you! You will pay everything you have, but all you will receive is betrayal and attempts for your life. Can you ept that?¡±

    Su Chen felt sweat dripping from his brow as he listened.

    Shi Kaihuang continued. ¡°Of course, there will be those who are grateful to you, but trust me, that kind of gratefulness isn¡¯t worth mentioning. Who told you to publicly distribute this technique to everyone? Since you publicly distributed it, it won¡¯t be worth anything. Since it¡¯s not worth anything, most people will only feel they have obtained a negligible benefit. Naturally, there is no need for them to kowtow to you until their head bleeds, right? The fourth point is that you will have given your all, yet you will still be alone in the end. If everything is fated to proceed in this way, will you still be willing to step on this path without regrets?¡±

    Su Chen watched Shi Kaihuang wordlessly.

    Shi Kaihuang said, ¡°You asked me what my standards for epting a disciple are. I¡¯ve answered your question now; this is my standard. Go back and think on it. Now that you know it, if you still want to be my disciple...... then I agree.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 20: I Will Not Be Alone

    Chapter 20: I Will Not Be Alone

    Su Chen locked himself in his room and thought about it for three days.

    After three days, he returned to the stone room, where Shi Kaihuang was sitting, cooking a pot of meat.

    The pot and me were formed out of Origin Energy, and only the Vicious Beast meat was real. The meat roasted in midair under the support of the Origin Energy, until it was cooked all the way through.

    Seeing Su Chen walking over, Shi Kaihuang asked ¡°Have you thought it through yet?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I¡¯ve thought it through,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°So what¡¯s your answer?¡±

    ¡°Before I give you my answer, I want to tell you about the way that I see things. First, I have to confess, that the words you spoke to me three days ago gave me quite the scare. I was a bit indecisive after I discovered that I was not as selfless as I thought. I said that I wanted to do something for the human race, but not by making that kind of sacrifice. I was unwilling to throw myself into the fire for the sake of saving others. But after contemtingter on, although everything you said may be true, it has yet to ur, right? So in the end, this is all just your spection.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but I¡¯m not just taking random shots in the dark,¡± Shi Kaihuang replied.

    ¡°I know, but I believe that while there is a dark side to this world, there is also light. Light and darkness always coexist. In other words, while all the negative things you mentioned may exist, this does not mean that only negative things exist by any stretch of the imagination. I trust that there are many wonderful things waiting for us. Even though you didn¡¯t mention them, that doesn¡¯t mean that they don¡¯t exist.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang¡¯s eyes revealed a trace of ridicule. ¡°Is this the reassurance you are giving yourself for walking down this path? Tricking yourself into believing that there is light in this world?¡±

    ¡°If there¡¯s no light, then what are you?¡± Su Chen countered.

    Shi Kaihuang was speechless.

    This was the first time that Shi Kaihuang had been refuted by Su Chen to the point of speechlessness.

    Su Chen said, ¡°I was once blinded for three years. In those three years, I lived in constant darkness, and it seemed as if my life had no hope. But I never gave up on myself. I continued to strive and fight, which is why I¡¯m alive here today. Back then, many people asked me why I continued to persevere......¡±

    He paused for a moment, then continued, ¡°It was hope. I believed that one day, my eyes would recover. I didn¡¯t want to bepletely unprepared when that day came. Because of a little hope, I gritted my teeth and persevered, no matter how many obstacles blocked my path. Senior Shi, believe me, I have already experienced what it¡¯s like to walk in darkness and what it¡¯s like to be surrounded by evil wolves. Everything that you mentioned, I have tried before, but I did not surrender. Right now, the future that you are talking about is just a future that you imagined based on the encounters and experiences that you have had...... There are four critical steps, and you haven¡¯t even taken the second step yet, right? So in these inferences, there are too many other possibilities or changes that might ur, indicating that there is more hope in the future.¡±

    Upon reaching this point, Su Chen¡¯s voice became slightly louder and more passionate. ¡°Even in the darkest period of my life, both literally and figuratively, I was able to grasp onto a tiny bit of hope to continue. So now, what excuse do I have to give up?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m here. I still want to take this path.¡±

    ¡°But unfortunately, it¡¯s not because of the reasons that you expected. It¡¯s not from a determination to sacrifice myself for the greater good, and it¡¯s not from a desire to dedicate my entire life to raising the human race to eminence. Rather, it¡¯s because I believe that this world is still full of hope, and because I still have hope for humanity. I believe that in the future there will not only be darkness but also light. After all, I am an expert in finding light within the darkness!¡±

    ¡°I believe that I will not be alone!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Silence.

    A long silence.

    After the time it takes for half a stick of incense to burn, Shi Kaihuang finally spoke. ¡°I am not a very smart person...... on the battlefield, there is no room for small tricks. The entire time, I wanted a student who would fight to live on a field of death, so to speak ¨C one with the resoluteness and audacity to forge onwards no matter what the difficulty was.¡±

    Upon hearing these words, Su Chen¡¯s heart sank.

    Shi Kaihuang continued, ¡°But unexpectedly, the student I epted in the end is someone who is cunning and good at arguments, who possesses elegant, articte speech and who has his own way of thinking, even bing disillusioned with my way of thinking. Perhaps this is fate.¡±

    Upon hearing these words, Su Chen¡¯s heart was filled with joy and excitement.

    Shi Kaihuang said, ¡°Well,e with me.¡±

    As he spoke, he stood up, heading towards the forest behind him.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know what he was nning on doing. He did not dare to speak carelessly, so he followed silently behind Shi Kaihuang.

    The two of them walked in this manner. They passed through the small forest and walked down a long, winding corridor. After walking past numerous pavilions and towers, they arrived in front of a group of towers.

    Shi Kaihuang began walking towards one of the ancient-looking towers.

    After entering the ancient tower, Su Chen discovered that the interior was actually extremely beautiful, as if he had entered another realm.

    Inside therge room, an old man sat behind arge front desk. He was thumbing through a pile of records.

    Upon seeing Shi Kaihuang enter, the white-bearded old man began to yell, ¡°Shi Kaihuang? Why are you here?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m here to register someone,¡± Shi Kaihuang replied. He shifted to the side, revealing Su Chen, who was trailing behind him.

    Upon seeing Su Chen, the white-bearded old man was clearly taken aback. He asked, ¡°Register? Register what?¡±

    ¡°What else can I register here? Register my new disciple for me, would you? From today onwards, he is now my student.¡±

    Upon hearing these words, the old man with the white beard was stunned.

    His expression slowly changed, bing more and more red. The hairs on his beard began to stick out straight as he yelled, ¡°You¡¯re epting a disciple? How is this possible!? Shi Kaihuang, you¡¯re epting disciples now? And you made him an inheritor disciple right off the bat?¡±

    ¡°Alright alright, don¡¯t look at me with that strange expression. I don¡¯t have the patience to determine whether they are regr disciples or inheritor disciples. Either I don¡¯t ept them at all, or they be my inheritor disciples right off the bat. Is that really so strange?¡± Shi Kaihuang impatiently waved his hand. ¡°Quick, register him.¡±

    The white-bearded old man stared at Shi Kaihuang, stupefied, then at Su Chen. Finally, as if awakening from a dream, he hurriedly began to search for the registration book as he muttered, ¡°Dammit, dammit, where did I put it?¡±

    ¡°Right here!¡± Shi Kaihuang couldn¡¯t watch any longer. He pointed at arge beastskin book to his side.

    ¡°Oh! That¡¯s where it is.¡± The white-bearded old man picked up the beastskin book and hurriedly flipped it open, muttering to himself incessantly.

    As the old man chanted in a low voice, Su Chen saw a gust of azure smoke emerge from the beastskin book. The smoke formed a small, spherical figure as it emerged. Two eyes opened on the sphere, shifting around constantly.

    ¡°Tell me your name!¡± the old man yelled.

    Shi Kaihuang patted Su Chen¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Tell him your name.¡±

    ¡°Ah...... Su Chen! My name is Su Chen,¡± Su Chen hurriedly said.

    ¡°His name is Su Chen!¡± the white-bearded old man said to the smoke spectre that had emerged from the beastskin book.

    The smoke spectre suddenly split into two thin columns of smoke, snaking their way into Su Chen¡¯s nostrils.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t expected this kind of development. He coughed repeatedly out of instinct, but he discovered that the smoke didn¡¯t actually choke him. After entering his body, it disappeared.

    ¡°Okay, it¡¯s remembered you.¡±

    The old man pulled out an Origin Stone and tossed it into the smoke spectre¡¯s mouth.

    Su Chen saw very clearly that it was a mid-grade Origin Stone.

    It cost a mid-grade Origin Stone just to register him? What kind of registration was this?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t understand. He nced at Shi Kaihuang, but Shi Kaihuang wasted no words. He dered with indifference, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    The white-bearded old man watched Shi Kaihuang leave, still in a daze. He suddenly thought of something, then began to flip through his cluttered work desk. ¡°Where is it, where is it? Dammit, where did I put it...... Oh, here it is.¡±

    He pulled out a ck, inky bracelet from the pile and tapped it with his finger. The bracelet began to shine with a strange light and the old man yelled into it, ¡°Shi Kaihuang epted a disciple!¡±

    Formless Origin Energy ripples began to diffuse out from the bracelet, spreading to every corner. Almost all of the instructors at the Hidden Dragon Institute felt the strange ripples from their bracelets, whether they were busy or not, whether they were in the library, the lecture hall, the Skill Transmission Hall, or the Refinement Pavilion. They all opened their bracelets to hear what the old man had to say.

    ¡°Shi Kaihuang epted a disciple!¡±

    Everyone instantly froze in their tracks.

    In that instant, the various instructors acted like they had been struck by a destruction-ss time-attribute Origin Skill, frozen on the spot.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 21: Tes

    Chapter 21: Test

    After leaving the tower, Su Chen could not contain his curiosity any longer. ¡°Instructor, what was that purple smoke?¡±

    Since Shi Kaihuang had epted him as a disciple, he could officially call Shi Kaihuang his instructor.

    ¡°That was a Dream Spectre. Ites from the Mirage Dreamrealm, and it can bring you into the Drea,¡± Shi Kaihuang replied.

    The Mirage Dreamrealm was a small world attached to the Primordial World.

    The Primordial World was the main world, but there were many smaller worlds attached to it, very much like branches to a tree. These smaller worlds went by many names such as nes, small worlds, foreign spaces, etc. Humans usually referred to them as different realms.

    ¡°The Drea? What is that?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a consciousnesswork created by the Lord of the Mirage Dreamrealm. It connects the entire realm, and countless Dream Spectres are responsible for maintaining thiswork.¡±

    ¡°What is it used for?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s very useful. For instance, you can contact others who are connected to the consciousnesswork with it, allowing you tomunicate and transfer information. It can also be used to notify others when you die, since the Drea will be the first to sense your death. If you get trapped in a certain location, you can use it to request for help. You can make requests, transactions, or exchange information or discoveries that are worth money. In any case, there are many uses, but they aren¡¯t for you yet; you¡¯re merely registered to the Drea. You can¡¯t use many of its capabilities yet. When your preferential treatment tier increases, you will unlock more of its possibilities. But you don¡¯t have to worry about that for now.¡±

    ¡°What tier of preferential treatment do I need to ess the Drea?¡±

    ¡°Tier 7 is enough to grant you ess.¡±

    I need Tier 7 just to use the Drea? That sounds quite far off.

    Su Chen was only at the eighth tier of preferential treatment. He didn¡¯t have enough contribution points to upgrade to Tier 7, so he could only wait.

    Shi Kaihuang led Su Chen toward another stone tower.

    ¡°This my Origin Energy Tower. As my disciple, you may study here.¡±

    Origin Energy Towers were special constructs that would usually be built by highyer Origin Qi Schrs. Through an Origin Energy Tower, Origin Qi Schrs could more easily give Origin Energy form, using it to perform experiments. It also possessed an extremely powerful innate defense.

    The tower in front of him was Shi Kaihuang¡¯s Origin Energy Tower, and it was where he normally lived. The stone hut near theke was just something he had constructed for convenience when he was conducting business.

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Su Chen respectfully replied. ¡°Instructor, what should I do now?¡±

    ¡°Right now?¡± Shi Kaihuangughed. ¡°Naturally, I need to test the extent of your abilities.¡±

    Seeing Shi Kaihuang¡¯s eyes shine, Su Chen knew something was off. Shi Kaihuang¡¯s hand was already wing towards him.

    On instinct, Su Chen activated his Snaking Mist Steps, attempting to dodge the w. In an instant, he used fourteen stances, retreating nearly 300 feet. However, Shi Kaihuang¡¯s w seemingly ignored the restrictions of space. It stretched out, gently plucking Su Chen up by the head, then tossed him into the tower.

    Boom!

    A frightening screen of light appeared, andrge ripples spread across its surface, as if a stone were tossed onto still water.

    The Origin Energy Tower¡¯s rm began to sound. ¡°You are not permitted to enter this ce! Activating defense mechanisms! Releasing guards!¡±

    ¡°Goddammit!¡± Su Chen cursed before discovering he was now in arge, vaulting hall.

    He was in the middle of arge hall. No matter in what direction he looked, the walls were over 1000 feet away.. The tower itself was not thatrge, but the world it was the door to, was. All of this was bad news for Su Chen. After all, he had been tossed in by Shi Kaihuang, which caused the tower to believe he was forcing his way in, breaking through the tower¡¯s restrictive spells. The voice just then was the Origin Energy Tower¡¯s rm.

    A strange organism appeared within the main hall.

    It resembled a constantly expanding puddle of mucus. Gradually, four limbs and a head appeared. Its face seemed contorted in pain, and it shrilly screeched at Su Chen.

    The screech was soundless, but Su Chen felt his mind jolt, as if something was forcefully smashing into his consciousness. Pain split through his brain.

    Its first move was a soul-attacking yell!

    Su Chen knew he was in a precarious position. He shot out an Erupting Firebird.

    When the Erupting Firebird mmed into the mucus monstrosity, it passed right through it. The body of the mucus seemed ethereal, and the firebird disappeared just like that.

    The mucus monstrosity screeched again and again, echoing like noiseless thunder within Su Chen¡¯s heart. Every shriek seemed as if someone was tearing at his consciousness. The pain sapped his body of most of his strength.

    Shi Kaihuang said leisurely, ¡°This creature is called the Grief Larva. It grows in the Void Realm, and it¡¯s here to serve as a sentry. Although theirbat prowess are not incredibly high, they are hard to deal with. You saw for yourself that normal attacks are ineffective against them, and its shrieks can affect your soul. Thankfully, it can¡¯t remain in a corporeal form for more than a minute before it disappears, so do your best to hold out. Unfortunately, only those with great willpower and determination, those who are unafraid of any difficulty, can withstand its shrieks.

    Su Chen cupped his head in his hands, staring daggers at the Grief Larva. He gritted his teeth and said, ¡°I have a question.¡±

    ¡°Ask.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have to just defend, right? If I kill it, will you feel sad?¡±

    Shi Kaihuang darklyughed, ¡°If you have the ability, kill it.¡±

    ¡°Great!¡± Su Chen sighed.

    The Grief Larva let out another shrill wail.

    Just as it opened its mouth, Su Chen¡¯s eyes snapped open. He stared directly at the Grief Larva.

    He activated Soul Eye.

    The Grief Larva couldn¡¯t ignore Su Chen¡¯s attack. It tilted its head back, letting out a pained howl. Its expression was contorted in the first ce, but somehow it became even more physically impossible. Even its mucus-like body seemed to shrink in on itself in response to the pain.

    The Grief Larva had yet to recover when Su Chen hit it with a Soul-Fixation technique.

    This technique was just like Ulrich¡¯s Soul Eye. They were both soul-type Origin Skills. Normal attacks were useless against the Grief Larva, but soul-type attacks were extremely effective.

    The Grief Larva howled in pain again after being hit by the Soul-Fixation technique, its body getting smaller.

    Su Chen shed out 12 times in a row with his palm. He struck the mucus with his Thunder de!

    Although Thunder de was not a soul-type Origin Skill, the sound of thunder it generated resonated with the pained howls of the Grief Larva. The 12 strikes caused peals of thunder to reverberate within the hall, causing the Grief Larva to writhe and howl in pain. Its body contorted and shed, and a mottled ck light emerged from its body.

    After the 12th Thunder de strike, Su Chen¡¯s Soul Eye was ready for use again.

    Another rotation of the Soul Eye, followed by the Soul-Fixation Technique, and finally the Thunder des converged on the Grief Larva to the point it had no way of retaliating. All it could do was howl in agony, but Su Chen didn¡¯t show any mercy.

    This Grief Larva was infuriated. Halos appeared within the hall, and a ck, massive body emerged, as if it were squeezing out from somewhere. Bit by bit, more of it seemed toe out from the void.

    ¡°So you¡¯ve finally appeared,¡± Su Chenughed.

    Just as the fatrva¡¯s body was about to upy the entire main hall, a small ze appeared in Su Chen¡¯s hand.

    It was a strengthened Erupting Firebird.

    Boom!

    Therge firebird mmed into therge bug.

    This time, the big guy wasn¡¯t able to ignore his attack. The powerful mes burned away at it, and the Grief Larva let out extremely shrill, tragic cries.

    When the mes disappeared, only its ashes remained.

    Shi Kaihuang¡¯s jaw dropped. ¡°You...... how did you know how to deal with it?¡±

    ¡°I read a lot of books, instructor.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 22: Origin Talisman Light Formation

    Chapter 22: Origin Talisman Light Formation

    ording to Shi Kaihuang¡¯s original n, he was going to use this Grief Larva to show Su Chen that he was not an easygoing master.

    But because Su Chen had unexpectedly passed this challenge, he allowed Su Chen to continue to charge forwards.

    The second wave was a pair of low-grade Vicious Beasts that charged at him. Su Chen was able to deal with them easily using the Clear Wind Net. The third wave was an Origin Demon Puppet, which Su Chen exploded into bits using his wine jugs. On the fourth wave, however, Su Chen was finally unable to win. He was met by a dark-skinned individual wielding a cuss. Not only was its skin densely covered in scales and barbs, but it also moved extremely fast. Su Chen¡¯s Erupting Firebird waspletely ignored by it, and its cuss was extremely vicious, growing stronger with each strike.

    Shi Kaihuang was secretly going easy on Su Chen. Otherwise, Su Chen probably would have already been defeated.

    Even so, Shi Kaihuang was quite bbergasted.

    Su Chen¡¯s strength was not very high, but his adaptability exceeded Shi Kaihuang¡¯s expectations. It was already a great surprise that Su Chen was able to survive three waves.

    After the test ended, therge hall disappeared. Su Chen discovered that he had reappeared inside another room. Shi Kaihuang stood right next to him.

    ¡°Ancient Arcana Techniques, a self-created-type Origin Skill, and offensive medicines. You¡¯ve dabbled in many different areas,¡± Shi Kaihuang said.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°This disciple encountered some good fortune in the past and gained a lot of knowledge concerning Ancient Arcana Techniques.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Then do you think that Ancient Arcana Techniques or contemporary Origin Skills are more powerful?¡±

    ¡°Ancient Arcana Techniques emphasize knowledge, whereas contemporary Origin Skills emphasize experience. Both have their own merits. However, purely in terms of Origin Energy application, I feel that Ancient Arcana Techniques are a tier higher.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Do you feel that contemporary Origin Skills are unable to use enough Origin Energy?¡± Shi Kaihuang coldlyughed.

    Su Chen knew that his answer would not grant him any favor in his master¡¯s sight, but he nodded his head and said, ¡°Yes.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang harrumphed, ¡°You¡¯re just a frog in a well.¡±

    As he spoke, he waved his long sleeves. Su Chen discovered that the room had instantly be a vast, starry expanse.

    As he stood beneath the starry sky, Su Chen watched the stars in the sky twinkle. It seemed to incite a reaction from somewhere within his body, attracting the Qi to that area. He felt the Origin Energy in his body begin to surge.

    ¡°This is......¡± Su Chen cried out in amazement.

    ¡°This is the Origin Talisman Light Formation. It¡¯s my greatest achievement during my fifty years at the Hidden Dragon Institute,¡± Shi Kaihuang replied.

    ¡°Origin Talisman Light Formation? Origin Talismans? That light isn¡¯t starlight?¡± Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    ¡°Of course not.¡± Shi Kaihuang proudly jutted his chin out while replying with confidence, ¡°I painstakingly refined and formed every star in this ¡®sky¡¯ that you see, and each one corresponds to a certain body part. There are a total of 8932 Origin Energy Talisman Nodes, and each one has a different effect on Origin Energy in the body. I used fifty years of my life to search for as many such talismans as I could. One could say that all possible nodes and categories of each Origin Energy Talisman are included. Any type of contemporary Origin Skill cannot exist without these nodes. 8932 Origin Energy Talisman Nodes implies that there are countless variations andbinations possible. Su Chen, tell me, with so many possiblebinations, can Ancient Arcana Techniques reallypare in terms of Origin Energy application?¡±

    As he spoke, Shi Kaihuang¡¯s tone became filled with self-confidence.

    Su Chen was absolutely bbergasted.

    8900+ Origin Energy Talisman Nodes!

    The human race usually only used around a thousand Origin Energy Talismans. In other words, these thousand Origin Energy Talismans and the resulting variations were enough to form therge library of contemporary Origin Skills currently in use.

    Shi Kaihuang had discovered almost nine thousand Origin Energy Talismans and used them to construct a massive Origin Talisman Light Formation that corresponded to each inch of his body. Undoubtedly, this was a massive undertaking.

    Su Chen was unable to restrain his praise.

    But a momentter, he shook his head and said, ¡°I admit that I underestimated the ability of contemporary Origin Skills to tap into various applications of Origin Energy, but Origin Energy Talismans are inherently tapping into the human physique, which can only contain a limited amount of energy. No matter how many Origin Energy Talismans exist, the human body¡¯s ultimate capacity is set. In that sense, Ancient Arcana Techniques are still superior when ites to applying Origin Energy.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang knit his eyebrows in contemtion. ¡°The human body is a treasure in and of itself. It contains limitless hidden potential. Ancient Arcana Techniques use Origin Energy Patterns to unleash Origin Energy, essentially borrowing the power of heaven and earth to perform magic. That¡¯s not the right path in the end.¡±

    Put inly, Ancient Arcana Techniques and contemporary Origin Skills were based on two different kinds of ideas. The human race focused on strengthening their own bodies while the Arcana Race focused on strengthening the techniques themselves. They were founded upon twopletely different schools of thought. Shi Kaihuang pursued an intrinsic increase in the strength of humans, so it was no surprise that he had disdain for Ancient Arcana Techniques.

    Su Chen wanted to counter that the right path was whichever achieved their goal. Since they were nning on breaking through bloodline restrictions, it was important to remain open-minded for anything that was useful for their studies. But after thinking for a moment, he kept his mouth shut. After all, he had just formally be Shi Kaihuang¡¯s disciple, and somements were still inappropriate to make. Thus, he could only modestly listen.

    Shi Kaihuang used the Origin Talisman Light Formation to understand the mysteries of Origin Energy Talismans. It was essentially a calctor for understanding how to conduct Origin Energy.

    In some sense, it was simr to the Brooke¡¯s Form; they were both used to understand changes in Origin Energy conduction except that one was used for Origin Energy Patterns while the other was used for Origin Energy Talismans. They both had different functions, but both were extremelyplex. In addition, both the Brooke¡¯s Form and Origin Talisman Energy Formation were tools used to understand Origin Energy. They did not provide results in and of themselves, but they could be used to calcte and derive a desired oue.

    Inventing this formation was no small feat, so it was unsurprising that Shi Kaihuang was so proud of it. With this formation, it was a simple matter to create a few simple contemporary Origin Skills as long as one¡¯s requirements for those skills weren¡¯t too high.

    Su Chen originally wanted to pull out the Brooke¡¯s Form and show it to Shi Kaihuang to prove that impressive inventions for Ancient Arcana Techniques also existed. But after thinking for a moment, he felt it would be better to wait for a few more days. It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t trust Shi Kaihuang¡¯s integrity. Rather, as a student there was no need for him to be so gung-ho about everything ¨C it was too inappropriate.

    Shi Kaihuang continued, ¡°As an instructor, my responsibilities should have been to teach you a few powerful Origin Skills and give you pointers on your cultivation to raise your strength. But since you and I are both pursuing the same dream of the human race, the ultimate way to control Origin Energy, there is not much point in me teaching you any current Origin Skills. The only thing that is worth teaching you is this Origin Talisman Energy Formation. From today onwards, you will study this formation, including what it consist of, how it is made, and how to apply it. If you can master it, you will have mastered the essence of all contemporary Origin Skills!¡±

    ¡°Yes, instructor!¡± Su Chen respectfully replied.

    It was better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish.

    Shi Kaihuang was a man who thoroughly followed his own philosophy. He immediately handed over the most precious knowledge. Clearly, he had no intent of hiding or concealing anything.

    It wasn¡¯t because he trusted Su Chen, but rather because he had previously mentioned the second step.

    In order to contribute to the human race, they could not afford to selfishly hide any secret techniques.

    Shi Kaihuang had not been able to find someone who could ept and continue his dream in the past because even if he had given it to them, he or she may not have fully appreciated it. Now that he had found someone to continue his legacy, naturally he would transmit everything he had. Even if Su Chen betrayed him in the future, he would not feel any regret.

    This was the attitude that someone who possessed an ultimate dream should have for their whole life.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 23: Lie Detection

    Chapter 23: Lie Detection

    From that day onwards, Su Chen attended his sses during the day and studied the Origin Talisman Energy Formation with Shi Kaihuang during the night. His days were once again filled with furious studying and experimentation. Thankfully, Su Chen had one less task at hand after hepleted the Clear Wind Net, allowing him to deal with the extra workload.

    His busy schedule tormented those who wanted to find an opportunity to teach him a lesson.

    Su Chen never went anywhere apart from the Institute. Every day, he was either at a lecture hall, the Origin Energy Tower, or his dorm. If he had any free time, he would wander around the library, looking for certain information. His days were simple yet full.

    However, to those who wanted to deal with him, the more low-profile Su Chen was, the less opportunities they could find.

    Today was no exception. Immediately after ss, Su Chen was nning on returning to his dorm.

    A student hurriedly ran over. ¡°Su Chen!¡±

    Su Chen recognized the student. His name was Tang Ling and he was a student from the Magnificent Jade Region. They could be considered acquaintances, and he was also a student without a bloodline.

    There were not many students in the Institute without a bloodline. Theyprised probably only around ten percent of all students, and this only because the Hidden Dragon Institute epted students by dividing up the regions. This reflected the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s reputation for being a school for those from Bloodline Nobility ns.

    Because of this, students without bloodlines usually gravitated towards each other inside the Institute.

    An organization known as the Flying Snow Guild had tried to recruit Su Chen not long after he had entered the Hidden Dragon Institute. Those of Flying Snow were all without bloodlines. They were an organization formed by and made up of students within the Hidden Dragon Institute without bloodlines.

    As someone who had reached the top ten of the Three Mountains Region exam, Su Chen had naturally been valued by the Flying Snow Guild. Tang Ling had been responsible for recruiting him at the time. However, Su Chen¡¯s ambitionsid elsewhere and he had no interest in participating in a highly political organization, so he had turned them down. The Flying Snow Guild had been unwilling to let him go, and so they had tried to recruit him many more times. Thus, he and Tang Ling had be somewhat familiar with each other.

    Upon seeing hime, Su Chenughed, ¡°Brother Tang, why have youe to find me again today? It¡¯s not for guild matters again, is it?¡±

    Tang Lingughed, ¡°It¡¯s impossible to move you, so I¡¯ve already given up. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not here today to ask you to join our guild. However, I really don¡¯t understand why you are so unwilling to enter the Flying Snow Guild even though it¡¯s so good.¡±

    ¡°Everyone has their own ambitions,¡± Su Chen faintly replied. ¡°So why are you looking for me?¡±

    ¡°Nothing much. Today is my birthday, and I want to find a few friends that I can talk to and have a get-together with. How does tonight at the Virtue Celebration Tower sound?¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s why.¡± Su Chen thought for a moment, then shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯ve been pretty busytely. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able toe.¡±

    Tang Ling¡¯s expression changed. ¡°Brother Su, that¡¯s not very friendly, is it? I invited you with good intentions, but you turned me down? What are you trying to say?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I really have no way of making it. Please forgive me, Brother Tang,¡± Su Chen replied unhurriedly.

    ¡°What could you possibly be busy with? Isn¡¯t it just a little bit of cultivation? One less day shouldn¡¯t be a big deal.¡±

    Su Chen corrected him. ¡°One less day is one less day, ten less days is ten less days. If I can make an exception for Brother Tang, I can make an exception tomorrow for Brother Li, Zhang, or Wang. I can have countless friends, but I only have a limited number of days I can spend in the Institute. As someone without a bloodline, I am already behind those from Bloodline Nobility ns. If I don¡¯t put in the effort, what is the point of attending this Institute? Just so I can have an empty status when I leave and gain some temporary glory? Sorry, that¡¯s not what I¡¯m after.¡±

    Tang Ling was so angry that heughed. ¡°You, you, you! I asked you to apany me with kind intentions, but you lectured me instead, as if I came here with harmful intentions. Forget about it. It was my fault that I asked you toe hang out and waste your time when you only have a heart for studying and cultivation. In the future, I won¡¯t inconvenience you anymore.¡±

    As he spoke, he waved his sleeves and then left..

    Su Chen shook his head as he watched Tang Ling depart. He waved his hand, soundlessly dispersing an Origin Skill.

    Tang Ling didn¡¯t know, but Su Chen had applied an Origin Skill on him while he was speaking.

    Lie detection.

    The lie detection skill sensed the target¡¯s thoughts and fluctuations from their state of mind to determine whether he or she was speaking the truth. Of course, it was not 100% urate. Genuinely powerful individuals could control their own mental state and heartbeat, allowing their heart to remain steady no matter what kind of lie they told. However, this kind of artificial control would also leave behind clues that the lie detection skill could somewhat sense, though the user would have to possess a high sensitivity towards Origin Energy.

    Because of this, the lie detection skill was only really useful for bullying weaker students. If the user was much more powerful than the target, the sess rate was much higher. If the opposite was true, failure was basically guaranteed.

    Tang Ling¡¯s strength was an entire level lower than Su Chen¡¯s and he didn¡¯t know that Su Chen possessed a lie detection skill. He waspletely defenseless. Thus, Su Chen was easily able to reach a conclusion.

    He was lying!

    He didn¡¯t interrogate Tang Ling about what his motivation was. Su Chen had already pretty much figured out what it was, so he had directly turned him down.

    In fact, even if Tang Ling hadn¡¯t lied, Su Chen would¡¯ve turned him down.

    The path of a schr overlord was lonely in the first ce. Being social was not necessary for him.

    After Tang Ling left, Su Chen returned to his dorm.

    Not long after he disappeared, Tang Ling reappeared.

    This time, he was apanied by two people.

    Bai Yihong and a male with sword-like eyebrows.

    He was called Bai Ou.

    Thunder Spirit Bai Ou.

    ¡°Cousin, this brat didn¡¯t fall for our trap. What should we do?¡± Bai Yihong asked with hatred.

    Although Bai Yihong was a member of the Chang n from the Divine Wind Mountain Range, his father was a disciple of the Thunder Spirit Bai n. For some reason, Bai Yihong had stayed with his mother after being born, resulting in him growing up in the Chang n.. He never had much contact with the Bai n. It wasn¡¯t until he entered the Institute that he came into contact with Bai Ou.

    However, the Divine Wind Mountain Range Chang n was muchrger than the Bai n, and his grandfather had a bellyfull of anger towards the Bai n. Bai Yihong had been forbidden from having rtionships with the Bai n. Because of this, they had never really built up any kind of rtionship.

    Unexpectedly, the matter involving Su Chen had brought them together.

    Bai Yihong had tossed his grandfather¡¯s exhortations aside for the sake of revenge.

    Thunder Spirit Bai Ou had also reached the top ten of the Three Mountains Region exam. Although he was only ranked ninth, he had relied on his own strength to achieve that ranking. In terms of genuine strength, he was definitely much more powerful than Su Chen who used all kinds of small tricks.

    Thus, Bai Yihong had waited a long time to teach Su Chen a lesson.

    But in this period of time, Su Chen had only left the Institute once, the same day that he had been confined. After that, Su Chen had remained inside the Institute and never left.

    In the blink of an eye, three more months had gone by. Su Chen had not left the Institute even once, causing those who were waiting for him to do so to grow impatient. They had expended quite a bit of effort to find Tang Ling because they wanted to use him to trick Su Chen into leaving the Institute.

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen simply wouldn¡¯t give Tang Ling any face. Although the bait had been set, the fish wouldn¡¯t bite.

    Bai Yihong could only grit his teeth.

    Bai Ou, on the other hand, was much calmer. ¡°He might not have fallen for our trap because he really is too busy, or he might have seen through Tang Ling¡¯s lie. During the Three Mountains Region exam, this person used all kinds of tactics to defeat his opponents. Even Jin Ling¡¯er was defeated by him. Although his strength iscking, his intelligence is not to be underestimated. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if he really did discover some w in our n.¡±

    ¡°Then what should I do? If my guild master finds out, I¡¯m toast,¡± Tang Ling was shocked.

    As a member of the Flying Snow Guild, he hadmitted a grave sin by helping a Bloodline Nobility n harm another student without a bloodline.

    He had been blinded by greed. The Bai n offered too many benefits, causing him to forget what his principles or bottom lines were.

    Upon hearing that he might be exposed, he felt extreme rm. He finally began to regret teaming up with Bai Ou.

    Bai Ou nced at Tang Ling disdainfully. ¡°So what if he knows? Is the Flying Snow Guild enough to force us to fear Su Chen? The only reason that the Hidden Dragon Institute allows the Flying Snow Guild to exist in the first ce is to demonstrate to the outside world the magnanimity of Bloodline Nobility ns. If they try to overstep their bounds, we can still give them something to think about.¡±

    Tang Ling hurriedly added, ¡°The Flying Snow Guild naturally won¡¯t be able to do anything to Bloodline Nobility ns, but if they want to punish me, I will still be in quite the pickle.¡±

    ¡°So don¡¯t let them find out then! Think of a way to draw Su Chen out so we can take care of him, and all of your worries will note to fruition,¡± Bai Ou said darkly.

    ¡°The problem is that he doesn¡¯t want toe out at all. This bastard was able to get contribution points and Origin Stones from who knows where, and he never seems to be anxious about cultivation resources. Even after being in the Institute for half a year, he hasn¡¯tpleted a single mission to obtain contribution points even though he seems to live quitefortably,¡± Tang Ling said in vexation.

    ¡°Because he¡¯s a second-tier seedling, he obtained 100 contribution points and Tier 9 preferential treatment right off the bat. Because he never goes to any ces that force him to spend lots of contribution points, he naturally isn¡¯tcking them,¡± Bai Yihong said.

    ¡°But if he wants to keep his status as a second-tier seedling, he must attend the end-of-yearpetition. Otherwise, even if he is able to escape this time, he will have trouble advancing in the future because of ack of contribution points.¡± Tang Ling¡¯s eyes lit up.

    ¡°So you mean that we can only wait until the end of the school year?¡± Bai Yihong was somewhat unwilling to ept that scenario.

    ¡°If he turtles up the entire time and never leaves, that¡¯s probably our only option,¡± Bai Ou said in a low voice. ¡°That¡¯s also fine. We can focus our energy on dealing with one of them at a time. What about the other kid called Cloud Leopard?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s theplete opposite. He might as well be a barbarian. I¡¯ve never seen him stay obediently within the Institute. He¡¯s always out hunting Vicious Beasts day and night. Finding him will be difficult.¡±

    ¡°Dammit! A turtle and a barbarian. Howe the targets are so damn hard to deal with?¡± Even Bai Ou was beginning to feel exasperated.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 24: Solution

    Chapter 24: Solution

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know that people from the Bai n had already found him. Even if he did know, he probably wouldn¡¯t care.

    At the moment, most of his attention was held by his study of the Origin Talisman Energy Formation.

    The time he spent studying was both arduous and a delight.

    The time he spent studying seemed to drag on forever, yet it also seemed so short.

    Under Shi Kaihuang¡¯s tutge, Su Chen¡¯s understanding of Origin Energy Talismans greatly increased.

    Having a personal instructor who could give him pointers was very beneficial. Personal instructors could tell you things that weren¡¯t covered in open sses, help exin concepts that you didn¡¯t understand the first time around in ss, or even give you pointers on your day-to-day cultivation. Although the Origin Energy Tower¡¯s Origin Energy was much denser than in the dorms, Su Chen didn¡¯t value this too highly.

    Even though Ski Kaihuang never taught him anypleted Origin Skills or soul techniques, he held nothing back when teaching Su Chen everything he knew about Origin Energy.

    Under these circumstances, Su Chen finally began to realize how superficial his knowledge of Origin Energy actually was.

    There were seven realms of Origin Energy cultivation: Qi Drawing, Blood Boiling, Yang Opening, Light Shaking, Burning Spirit, Thought Manifestation, and Ultimate Emperor.

    These seven realms were not random divisions. They had been progressively reached by the human race over tens of thousands of years.

    Qi Drawing requires the opening of a Dan Sea, Blood Boiling requires lighting a Heart Lamp, and Yang Opening requires creating a rity Pce; these were the early realms. Above Yang Opening, the requirements became moreplex, including seven Lotus tforms, eight Divine Temples, opening one¡¯s Yin-Yang, and receiving the Heavenly Temple.

    Every step was extremely mysterious. They were a great fortune for mankind, and they had changed the human race for the better.

    In the tens of thousands of years that had gone by, the human race had relied on the power of bloodlines to progress through these stages. Without enough external support, advancing even one stage was incredibly difficult.

    Shi Kaihuang had devoted himself to the dream that one day the human race would be able to reach such heights and such cultivation realms without bloodlines.

    Inparison, although Mainbrooke had pursued the same dream, he focused on improving the external control of Origin Energy. Thus, instead of dividing the human race into seven realms, he ssified the abstruse Origin Energy Patterns from one to ten, ten being the absolute limit of an Ancient Arcana Technique.

    Rather than focusing on strengthening his own physique, Mainbrooke focused on improving his Origin Skills.

    If a person could use a Tier 7 Ancient Arcana Technique, that implied that they were a Tier 7 Ancient Arcana Master. However, the opposite was not true.

    Shi Kaihuang had a different viewpoint. Increasing individual strength was the most important, not Origin Skills.

    If a person reached a certain realm, they were ssified as a certain kind of Origin Qi Schr. Even if they didn¡¯t possess Origin Skills corresponding to their own level, it didn¡¯t matter.

    The two of them shared identical goals, butpletely opposite approaches.

    Both Ancient Arcana Techniques or contemporary Origin Skills possessed their ownplexities and profundities. Su Chen was extremely happy to be studying this material.

    Su Chen was studying when he suddenly saw Shi Kaihuang enter.

    Shi Kaihuang didn¡¯t seem to be in a good mood. His expression was very jittery.

    After entering, he sat in a corner of therge formation, gazing at the starry sky as if thinking about something. After quite some time, he shook his head and sighed, ¡°cing the Arms Fixation at the Yin Exchange location makes the Sea of Qi too turbulent, while cing it at the Sea of Qi throws the Yin Exchange into chaos. This route is also impossible.¡±

    He tossed out the paper in his hand that was filled with symbols and then left.

    Su Chen knew that Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven, an Origin Skill that Shi Kaihuang was developing, had most likely reached another bottleneck.

    Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven was the other Origin Skill apart from the Origin Talisman Energy Formation that Shi Kaihuang had spent fifty years bitterly analyzing and improving. He was trying to create a technique that allowed someone to reach the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline.

    Skyscrapers were always built from the ground up. In order for the human race to break through the restrictions of bloodlines, it was impossible to use the same method all the way to the end. Instead, humans focused on tackling one realm at a time.

    Shi Kaihuang had spent many years analyzing Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven and had resolved many of the issues of charging into the Blood Boiling Realm. He was so close that it could be said that there was only a paper-thin barrier between him and his goal.

    Even so, when it came to cultivation, a paper-thin barrier could often seem as far off as the horizon.

    The further he progressed and the closer he came to his goal, the harder it became to break through.

    This was the situation Shi Kaihuang was in. Although most of the issues with Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven had been resolved, he was at a loss as to how to resolve thest few remaining ones.

    Shi Kaihuang had tried to think of all kinds of tactics, but any solutions he came up with would interfere with his previous steps. If he wanted to resolve theter problems, he would have to give up on everything he had done previously. Otherwise, he would find that almost all of the paths forward had been blocked off by a choice he had previously made. He was locked inside a cycle of death.

    Shi Kaihuang had probably discovered another possible solution, only to realize that both options avable to him weren¡¯t feasible. In the end, he was forced to give up on that idea.

    After Shi Kaihuang left, Su Chen walked over and picked up the piece of paper from the ground.

    ¡°So this time he chose the Arms Fixation talisman?¡± Su Chen understood.

    The Arms Fixation talisman was primarily rted to controlling the stability of Origin Energy.

    If Origin Qi Schrs wanted to charge into the Blood Boiling Realm without the help of a bloodline, there was only one solution ¨C strengthening their control over Origin Energy.

    Thus, the thought process behind developing a method for those without a bloodline to enter the Blood Boiling Realm was to first find a way to increase the strength of the Origin Energy within their bodies. After achieving an appropriate amount of power, they could think of ways to control the way the Origin Energy was used.

    Strengthening and controlling. Aplishing the two simultaneously was no simple task.

    Increasing the strength of Origin Energy that was already at its peak required the assistance of many different kinds of tactics, including causing one¡¯s Origin Energy to go berserk orpressing one¡¯s Origin Energy.There were many different methods, but each one requiredrge numbers of Origin Energy Talismans to aplish them.

    Controlling this kind of power would require even more workarounds.

    For instance, Su Chen had to first raise the durability of the Origin Energy Pattern when strengthening his Erupting Firebird skill before he could add in more Origin Energy, giving the resulting explosion much more force.

    However, only the Origin Energy Pattern itself needed to be improved to increase the power of the Erupting Firebird; Su Chen only had to focus on the skill itself.

    Charging into the Blood Boiling Realm required the human body itself to be strengthened and changed. It was much more difficult andplex than simply improving a skill.

    There were many Origin Energy Talismans that could stabilize Origin Energy. The Arms Fixation talisman was one such talisman. It existed mainly to improve one¡¯s control over Origin Energy.

    However, Shi Kaihuang was conflicted about where to ce this talisman.

    If he were to ce it in the Yin Exchange location, the Origin Energy in his Sea of Qi would would go berserk and be difficult to control, but if he ced it in the Sea of Qi location, the Yin Exchange location would be chaotic.

    Because of how Shi Kaihuang had arranged the Origin Energy Talismans earlier, he could not simultaneously use two Arms Fixation talismans. Thus, after repeatedly attempting tobine them all, he could only admit defeat in the end. Either he needed to continue to search for new methods, or he could try out a new stabilizing talisman.

    As Su Chen gazed at the flow of Origin Energy that Shi Kaihuang had mapped out, he suddenly felt as if he was somewhat familiar with it.

    Su Chen found it odd. Where did this feeling of familiaritye from? After thinking on it for a bit, he suddenly realized that Shi Kaihuang¡¯s Origin Energy flow diagram was actually somewhat simr to his Origin Energy Pattern for his Erupting Firebird.

    Although the two were very different from each other, the thought processes behind resolving the two problems were shockingly simr.

    Both had opted topress the Origin Energy. The Erupting Firebird usedpression fragments to increase the strength of the Origin Energy while Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven usedrge quantities of Origin Energy Talismans to achieve the same effect.

    While stabilizing thepressed Origin Energy, sections were dedicated to control the flow of Origin Energy in the body, clearing the path and allowing Origin Energy to flow unimpeded until the Origin Energy finally took form.

    The only difference was how the Origin Energy was processed in the end.

    It was precisely this change that had caused the Erupting Firebird to seed, but Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven to fail.

    Upon observing these differences, Su Chen suddenly felt a trace of hope.

    Could he use the Brooke Form and its method of using Origin Energy to solve this problem?

    A momentter, his whole being waspletely engrossed in performing calctions.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 25: Single-Minded

    Chapter 25: Single-Minded

    When Shi Kaihuang returned, he found Su Chen lying on the ground with arge piece of paperid out in front of him. It waspletely covered in forms and talisman symbols.

    Shi Kaihuang walked over to take a closer look. He knit his eyebrows and asked, ¡°What is that?¡±

    Su Chen was still mired in frantic calctions and flying talisman symbols. It took him a moment to realize that Shi Kaihuang had returned. He unwillingly pulled his attention away from his calctions and replied, ¡°It¡¯s called the Brooke Form. It¡¯s used to calcte how tobine Origin Energy Patterns. Just like your Origin Talisman Energy Formation, it can be used to calcte the effects that different fragmentbinations would have on the Origin Energy output.¡±

    When Su Chen replied, he felt quite pleased with himself.

    In that moment, he fantasized that when Shi Kaihuang saw the Brooke Form, he would be amazed and overjoyed. He would then use it toplete his calctions for Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven, establishing a massivendmark in human history.

    But he was wrong.

    He had imagined it quite nicely, but reality was harsh.

    Shi Kaihuang¡¯s eyes slowly began to widen. ¡°Origin Energy Patterns? What are you analyzing those things for?¡±

    ¡°I think that there are a few paths worth considering. They might be useful for resolving a few issues with Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven......¡±

    ¡°Bullshit!¡± Shi Kaihuang¡¯s coarsenguage jolted Su Chen into a daze, as if he had received a heavy blow to the back of his head.

    ¡°I told you on the first day that the human body contains a hidden treasure. What we need to do is draw out its full potential. The Arcana Race¡¯s toys borrow the power of heaven and earth to unleash skills, which has no benefit towards one¡¯s cultivation. That¡¯s a mistaken path. What paths could they possibly lead to that are worth considering? Dividing your attention towards these things will only lead you down the wrong path!¡±

    ¡°But this form really is quite impressive! Instructor, you should take a look at it; this form is the reason why I was able to invent the Erupting Firebird skill and Clear Wind Net.¡±

    ¡°The reason why the wrong path attracts others is because it will entice you with a few treats every once in awhile!¡± Shi Kaihuang said mockingly. ¡°What point is there in picking up something that has already been phased out by the passage of time? Don¡¯t waste any time on it any more. Also, Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven is not something that you can analyze at your skill level right now. Don¡¯t think too highly of yourself! All you need to do right now is focus on your studies!¡±

    ¡°......Yes, Instructor.¡± Su Chen stood up helplessly and put the paper in front of him away.

    Upon seeing Su Chen¡¯s dejected appearance, Shi Kaihuang knew that he had been a little too harsh with his words. He sighed, ¡°Don¡¯t me me for being so strict. You¡¯re still young and at the beginning of your life. If you take the wrong path now, it will affect you greatly in the future. You need to know that in your life you have a limited amount of time and energy. Only if you focus all of your limited attention together can you achieve something great. Focus! This is my advice to you. You are very smart, but your main problem is that you aren¡¯t focused enough. You¡¯re also studying alchemy, right?¡±

    Su Chen awkwardly nodded his head.

    ¡°Alchemy isn¡¯t bad, but listen to my advice: give it up. The path you are taking is one that has never been achieved in the past. Only by focusing all of your energy will you even have the slightest bit of hope. Don¡¯t be distracted by things like Ancient Arcana Techniques or alchemy.¡±

    ¡°Your disciple understands,¡± Su Chen replied.

    After thinking for a moment, he continued, ¡°Instructor, the end-of-yearpetition amongst the first years is going to happen. Do you think I......¡±

    ¡°Give up on it,¡± Shi Kaihuang waved his hand casually. ¡°There¡¯s no need to waste your time on such matters.¡±

    Su Chen was not surprised by this answer.

    ¡°But if I don¡¯t attend, my status as a seedling of the Hidden Dragon Institute will be taken away.¡±

    ¡°So let it be taken away. In the future you can just live here. There¡¯s no need to go to the Clear Sky Tower anyways.¡±

    ¡°But there are still a few basic privileges that I want.¡±

    ¡°I will help you take care of them. You can keep your servant, and I will make up for the contribution points that you need using my own.¡± Shi Kaihuang waved his hand and impatiently said, ¡°If you want to perform research, you will need to learn how to endure and keep a low profile. It is impossible for someone to aplish great things without perseverance.¡±

    ¡°Yes, instructor,¡± Su Chen replied helplessly.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°Give up on the end-of-yearpetition?¡±

    Su Chen and Wang Doushan were sitting inside a pavilion surrounded by water. Wang Doushan couldn¡¯t help but yell, ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because I need to be focused,¡± Su Chen helplessly replied, his hand on the back of his head as he leaned against a column in the pavilion. ¡°Not only that, but he also wants me to give up on studying Origin Energy Patterns and alchemy. When I tried telling him that I had discovered a way to solve a problem he had been struggling with, he told me that I was wasting time, that I shouldn¡¯t research that, and that it wasn¡¯t my business...... all of my excitement instantly vanished.¡±

    Wang Doushan began tough somewhat inattentively. ¡°You wanted this personal instructor.¡±

    ¡°I have no regrets.¡± Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Although I am somewhat disappointed, I know that he¡¯s doing this for my own benefit.¡±

    Su Chen was very clear about that fact.

    Although Shi Kaihuang¡¯s decision made him disappointed, Shi Kaihuang and Su Cheng¡¯an were very different.

    Shi Kaihuang really did care for him.

    He didn¡¯t allow Su Chen to study Origin Energy Patterns and Alchemy because he thought that they would not be helpful for Su Chen¡¯s future.

    Perhaps his obstinance and conservatism had restricted his viewpoint, but this was not a reason that could let Su Chen down.

    He truly cared for Su Chen and he had held nothing back while guiding Su Chen.

    Thus, Su Chen didn¡¯t hate him for his stubbornness. He just felt a little vexed.

    He could only vent to Wang Doushan because he had no other outlet for his frustration.

    ¡°So what are you nning on doing?¡± Wang Doushan asked.

    After thinking for a moment, Su Chen replied, ¡°The old man had a point. A person who doesn¡¯t know how to focus their attention will never achieve great things, but if I be too focused, I¡¯ll be too narrow-minded and I will miss a lot of other possibilities. My progress will stagnate. When he epted me as a disciple, he acknowledged that I possessed a different way of thinking than him. He was absolutely correct; I believe that improving the human race¡¯s use of Origin Energy requires all kinds of tactics. Thus, I feel that I should have the ability to choose whether I listen to his suggestions or not.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! I was thinking exactly the same thing,¡± Wang Doushanughed as he pped his hands. ¡°You can give up on things like Origin Energy Patterns and alchemy, but you can¡¯t miss the end-of-yearpetition.¡±

    Su Chen gave him a strange look. ¡°What I mean is, I can give up on the end-of-yearpetition, but I cannot give up on studying Origin Energy Patterns and alchemy.¡±

    Although Shi Kaihuang was very opposed to the Arcana Race, Su Chen believed that the Arcana Race¡¯s understanding of Origin Energy could be of use in resolving the issues that gued Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven.

    ¡°What?¡± Wang Doushan began to yell, ¡°How can you say that? I was looking forward to showing off with you during the end-of-yearpetition. In addition, you ced fifth in the Three Mountains Region exam. How many people will be watching you? If you give up now, people will definitely think that you are scared. You reached the top tenst time with a bit of luck. Many people remain unconvinced of your abilities. This is your chance to prove them wrong. How can you just give up like that?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Instructor was right. If I want to perform research, I will need to learn how to endure and keep a low profile. It is impossible for someone to aplish great things without perseverance. If others want to ridicule and mock me, let them do it. If I can¡¯t even endure this small humiliation, how will I achieve great things in the future? By skipping thispetition, my status may take a dive, but I believe that I will seed and ascend one day.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 26: Dormancy

    Chapter 26: Dormancy

    News that Su Chen would not bepeting in the end-of-yearpetition spread rapidly.

    Bai Yihong, Bai Ou, and many others were extremely let down and unhappy about this development.

    Night de, who had been defeated by Su Chen during the Three Mountains Region Exam, imed that Su Chen was afraid of participating in the end-of-yearpetition. Otherwise, he would have dealt with Su Chen, settling the score from his earlier defeat at Su Chen¡¯s hands.

    Frigid Despair Gan Erlei, who had also been defeated by Su Chen, also expressed his desire to teach Su Chen a lesson.

    However, their words were spurned by Wang Doushan and Jin Ling¡¯er.

    Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s rtionship with Su Chen after the Three Mountains Region exam was always pretty good and they still often interacted with each other. When she discovered that Su Chen was not participating in the end-of-yearpetition, Jin Ling¡¯er personally went to find him and ask why. When she heard Su Chen¡¯s reasoning, she could only sigh.

    As for Pan Hao and hisckeys, because of the dirt that Su Chen had on them, they could not say anything in the end. All they could do was endure silently.

    Inparison, Ji Hanyan¡¯s method was much simpler. She went to Su Chen directly and tried to fight him.

    She argued that since she could not battle with him during the end-of-yearpetition, they should have a secret battle.

    There was nothing Su Chen could do. He helplessly followed Ji Hanyan to the arena to exchange a few blows.

    Utter defeat!

    Unsurprisingly, Ji Hanyan¡¯s strength had once again increased since the Three Mountains Region exam. In the past year, she had been bitterly cultivating the entire time.

    As for Su Chen, he had spent his first three months merely analyzing new Origin Skills. Apart from that, all he had done was research, study, study, and research. It would¡¯ve been strange if he had been able to win.

    Contemporary Origin Skills emphasized experience and practice ¨C this was not just a saying.

    Even so, Su Chen did not change his mind.

    It was just as Shi Kaihuang had said.

    Before you seeded, you would be just a piece of trash.

    After you seeded, you would be someone with great stature.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t pay any attention to what others thought of him. He continued to bury his head in his own studies and research.

    If Shi Kaihuang wouldn¡¯t allow him to study Origin Energy, he would research it after his sses.

    Using the Brooke Form to calcte how certain variations affected the skill¡¯s output and how to bestplement Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven seemed simple. However, the actualponents involved were extremelyplex; otherwise, Shi Kaihuang wouldn¡¯t have been stumped for such a long time in the first ce.

    Origin Energy Talismans were already quiteplex in their own right, not to mention Origin Energy Patterns. When the two of them werebined, the number of variations was like the number of stars in the sky. As he performed calction after calction, Su Chen felt like his head was about to explode.

    Even so, Su Chen was quite happy.

    He ignored the suffering as he continued to calcte, searching for a final answer that could resolve the issue. At the same time, he was bing more and more familiar with Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven¡¯s method of conducting Origin Energy, deepening his understanding......

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    The day of the end-of-yearpetition had finally arrived.

    The tournament was set up as a single-elimination bracket.

    All of the students were seeded based on the rankings they had when they first entered the Institute. After the weak were eliminated, the top 200 would be ced on the Dragon Transformation List.

    Because there were so many people, the end-of-yearpetitionsted for ten days.

    The students of the Hidden Dragon Institute were busiest during this time of year.

    The students atop the stage strove to triumph over their opponent while the students below the stage watched intently, whispering to each other andmenting on the performance of each student. All of them were in high spirits. There were even those who had started a betting match based on perception, strength, and financial ability.

    But everything that was happening waspletely unrted to Su Chen.

    He silently went back and forth between the lecture halls and the Origin Energy Tower. He hadpletely moved out from the Clear Sky Tower to the the Origin Energy Tower. He spent all his time studying and performing research. No matter how chaotic the outside world was, he waspletely unaffected and unaware.

    It wasn¡¯t until the fourth day after the end-of-yearpetition that Su Chen was finally informed of the results.

    As per usual, Ji Hanyan was extremely powerful. She was ranked fourth, reaching the top five of the Dragon Transformation List. However, it seemed that she was extremely unhappy with her result. As someone who had been at the top for so long, it was unsurprising that she couldn¡¯t ept the fact that others were in front of her.

    But that was reality. The Hidden Dragon Institute gathered heroes from all over the country. Every student was a well-known genius in their hometown, but when they all gathered together, they would all be ranked and divided by their strength.

    But inparison, Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s fate was even more tragic.

    Her bloodline wasn¡¯t suited for battling on a stage; the Hidden Dragon Institute wouldn¡¯t permit her to control someone else in battle.

    Thankfully, her strength had somewhat increased during this period of time, as had her consciousness-controlling technique. By relying on that technique, she was able to force her way into the top 200.

    Jin Ling¡¯er felt so wronged that she was about to cry.

    Wang Doushan had achieved a better ranking. He was not weak in the first ce and he had also improved. During the end-of-yearpetition, he was able to achieve 98th ce.

    Li Qingyun and Bai Li did not fall behind either. The two of them also entered the top 200, earning their spots on the Dragon Transformation List. One was 148th ce and the other was 149th. While the difference in strength between the two of them was still very small, Bai Li was slightly ahead of Li Qingyun this time around.

    As for Night de and Frigid Despair Gan Erlei, who said they were going to teach Su Chen a lesson, neither of them entered the top 200. Night de was better at concealment and ambushing at night. Like Jin Ling¡¯er, he was not suited for battle on a stage. As for Frigid Despair, he was just a genius from a small and rtively rural location. Once he left his small pond for the real world, he realized that he was just a frog in a well. Defeating Su Chen naturally became a joke; he couldn¡¯t even be ced on the Dragon Transformation List.

    Lin Jingxuan was also unable to be ced on the Dragon Transformation List.

    Although the disciples of the Lin n were able to enter the Hidden Dragon Institute, they were still quite a ways away from being able to establish themselves in such a fierce environment.

    As for Su Chen...... Because he hadn¡¯t participated, he received absolutely nothing.

    He lost his status as a second-tier seedling.

    Thankfully, with Shi Kaihuang¡¯s support, his privileges within the Institute were preserved even though he had lost his status.

    Many peopleughed at him because of this.

    Even the Flying Snow Guild, which had looked on him with great importance, couldn¡¯t help but sigh.

    Their attempts to recruit Su Chen also slowly subsided.

    He was no longer the pride of those without bloodlines. He was just an average student who had experienced a short moment of fame.

    Perhaps not long afterwards, he wouldn¡¯t even be average anymore.

    After the first year had passed, the rookies had be even more experienced. The students were all ranked rtive to one another and the gaps between them also slowly began to show.

    Those who had ced on the Dragon Transformation List were considered a certain tier while those who had not were considered to be a different tier. Different rankings also represented different levels of strength.

    Although these divisions didn¡¯t seem too important on the surface, as time went on, they sank into people¡¯s hearts until they became a routine, almost into a sort of unspoken rule......

    However, Su Chen had nothing to do with all of this.

    He buried his head in his studies, focusing all of his attention on studying Origin Energy.

    Today was no exception. After listening to the lectures, Su Chen returned to the Origin Energy Tower.

    Upon arriving at the tower, however, Su Chen discovered a person passed out in front of the door.

    After taking a close look, Su Chen eximed in surprise, ¡°It¡¯s you?¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 27: Cloud Leopard

    Chapter 27: Cloud Leopard

    As soon as he regained consciousness, Cloud Leopard instantly flipped into the air and jumped to a corner of the room. He covered himself in the shadows while simultaneously preparing an Origin Skill. It was only then that he surveyed his surroundings.

    Everything had happened in a blur to Su Chen. He discovered that the sick person who had just been passed out on his bed a moment ago had suddenly isted himself in a corner of the room, like a leopard stalking its prey, waiting for the right moment to strike.

    Su Chen was startled, but heughed and said, ¡°You¡¯re awake? Don¡¯t worry, nothing will harm you here.¡±

    The youth¡¯s vignt gaze calmed down somewhat upon discovering that it was Su Chen.

    In the instant that his vignce rxed, the pain in his body came surging back, causing him to let out a whimper of pain.

    Su Chen said, ¡°You were injured thirty-two times and three of them were life-threatening. It took me a long time to treat the wounds, but your movements just now opened them up again.¡±

    Cloud Leopard lowered his head to look at his own body. Indeed, it was covered with wounds that had been bandaged together. Blood began to seep through some of his bandages.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Cloud Leopard replied in a hoarse voice. His voice seemed slightly airy because his throat had also been cut.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to thank me. If you don¡¯t want all of my hard work to go to waste then go lie down on the bed.¡±

    Cloud Leopard obediently returned to the bed.

    ¡°Here, drink this.¡± Su Chen handed Cloud Leopard the medicine that he had prepared. ¡°You have to drink this one while you¡¯re awake. After you drink it, activate your absorption technique to absorb the medicinal power and allow it to diffuse throughout your entire body. It¡¯s a bit hot.¡±

    Cloud Leopard drank it quickly.

    He felt a wave of heat rise from within his body and spread through every channel in his body. It grew hotter and hotter until it was so hot that Cloud Leopard almost let out a scream.

    ¡°Activate your absorption technique to absorb the medicinal power!¡± Su Chen said.

    The wave of heat began to slowly dissipate after Cloud Leopard started furiously absorbing medicinal power. .

    Despite this, the furious momentum of the medicinal power made it so that Cloud Leopard wanted to die. However, Cloud Leopard had a strange temperament; he gritted his teeth and kept silent the entire time, continuously absorbing the medicinal power as Su Chen had instructed.

    This continued for the time it takes a stick of incense to burn until Cloud Leopard finally let out a sigh. His body stopped trembling after the heat had receded. Su Chen knew that Cloud Leopard had finished absorbing the medicine.

    ¡°How do you feel now?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Cloud Leopard inspected himself and then replied, ¡°My internal injuries have healed significantly, but my external injuries were not affected much. Some of them even got worse.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good enough.¡± Su Chen was very satisfied. Cloud Leopard¡¯s internal injuries were extremely severe. To be able to recover that much in such a short period of time was still impressive. Su Chen replied, ¡°That¡¯s not very strange. The Whitestone Medicine mostly exists to treat internal injuries anyways.¡±

    ¡°Whitestone Medicine?¡± Cloud Leopard was curious. ¡°What kind of medicine is it? Howe I¡¯ve never heard of such an effective medicine before?¡±

    Su Chen smiled. ¡°That¡¯s because this medicine doesn¡¯t exist anywhere else.¡±

    After a brief pause he said, ¡°I invented it.¡±

    ¡°You invented it?¡± Cloud Leopard¡¯s eyes were about to fall out from their sockets.

    ¡°Well...... It¡¯s probably more urate to say that someone invented half of it and then I finished the other half,¡± Su Chen said.

    The Whitestone Medicine¡¯s original creator was Master Feng. After killing him, Su Chen had obtained all of the information he had left behind, including the recipe for this medicine.

    The medicine wasn¡¯t originally called Whitestone, nor was it used to treat internal injuries.

    It was a kind of medicine that was meant to cause one¡¯s Origin Energy to surge and begin to boil. It excited one¡¯s Origin Energy upon use, dramatically increasing one¡¯s Origin Energy temporarily and greatly increasing the force of any Origin Skills used.

    However, this was a failed product. Master Feng was only experienced in putting together medicine, not controlling Origin Energy. He discovered that the chaotic Origin Energy was extremely difficult to control so he gave up on it.

    After obtaining Master Feng¡¯s notes, Su Chen wanted to try his hand at making this medicine after he realized that his ability to control Origin Energy was much better than Master Feng¡¯s. He could put into practice what he learned about alchemy and also increase his strength at the same time.

    However, the notes only kept details on the ingredients, not how to prepare the medicine. This lead to Su Chen failing many times.

    Su Chen inadvertently discovered during one of his failures that one of the side effects from concocting this Origin Energy Surging Medicine cured internal injuries.

    Su Chen began to focus more and more on that aspect. In the end, Su Chen was not able to concoct the Origin Energy Surging Medicine, but his tinkering had resulted in apletely novel medicine that could heal internal injuries.

    At this moment, Su Chen still considered the Whitestone Medicine as something he had obtained via a stroke of blind luck. It wouldn¡¯t be until muchter that he would realize that, on the path of research, it would bemon for him to spend a lot of time and never achieve the results that he wanted, while chance happenings would often provide him with unexpected benefits1

    When happenstances urred often enough, they became inevitabilities.

    The Whitestone Medicine was his first unintentional sess during his research, but it definitely wouldn¡¯t be hisst.

    ¡°So your main goal is to be an alchemy master and cultivation is just something you do in passing,¡± Cloud Leopard said, understanding dawning on his face.

    Su Chen gave him a strange look. ¡°No, my goal is to be a powerful Origin Qi Schr...... studying to be an alchemy master is just something I do in passing.

    ¡°......¡±

    Su Chen had invented apletely novel medicine as a second-year student at the Hidden Dragon Institute, yet he imed that it was something he had done ¡°in passing¡±. Cloud Leopard was stunned speechless.

    He suddenly thought of something and said, ¡°You never asked me how I was injured...... You already know, don¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°You received thirty-two wounds, seven of which were clearly caused by thunder-type attacks. These attacks prated your skin and attacked your inner organs. Although there are many people who use the power of thunder, not many possess such prative power...... It was Thunder Spirit Bai Ou, wasn¡¯t it?¡±

    Cloud Leopard revealed an expression that said, ¡°So you do know who.¡±

    He muttered in a low voice, ¡°Six of them ganged up on me. If it was just Bai Ou himself, I would have killed him!¡±

    ¡°I believe it. After all, you were able to escape even though the six of them ganged up on you.¡±

    Cloud Leopard shook his head and said, ¡°I didn¡¯t run.¡±

    Su Chen was stunned. He stared at Cloud Leopard. ¡°You battled them head-on?¡±

    Cloud Leopard replied seriously, ¡°They made a big mistake. They shouldn¡¯t have battled me in the forest.¡±

    Su Chen stared at him in disbelief. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that you even injured some of them in a six-on-one battle.¡±

    Cloud Leopard replied, ¡°I killed two of them and gravely injured another one.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    This time it was Su Chen¡¯s turn to be stunned into silence.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    After talking for a bit, Su Chen finally confirmed that Cloud Leopard had been targeted because of Thunder de.

    Soon after the Three Mountains Region exam had ended, Su Chen discovered that Bai Fan was from the Thunder Spirit Bai n because the Thunder de was their Bloodline Origin Skill. In addition, Bai Ou was Bai Fan¡¯s own younger brother.

    Even though they were both members of the Bai n, Bai Fan and Bai Ou possessed very different statuses. Although Bai Fan was the Eldest Prince, his status was much lower than his younger brother¡¯s. He was only a product of Bai Jingtai¡¯s numerous romantic exploits during his youth. Because his mother was someone without a bloodline, Bai Fan¡¯s bloodline tier was much lower. His bloodline had not even awakened yet by the time he had been killed by Su Chen. Bai Jingtai had never epted Bai Fan into the n. Instead, he had always kept Bai Fan at a distance, forcing him to study from a friend of his.

    Thus, although Bai Fan was a disciple of a Bloodline Nobility n, he had never received any care or attention at all.

    Bai Fan had a weak bloodline and didn¡¯t have many interactions with Bai Jingtai. Thus, Bai Jingtai didn¡¯t actually care too much about that son of his.

    They only worked together to kill Su Chen and Cloud Leopard because of the spread of Thunder de.

    The Thunder de and Flying Flower Hands were simr. They were both Bloodline Origin Skills and had unlimited potential for growth and development. The bloodline was much more important than the skill itself, but evidently Bai Jingtai didn¡¯t think that way. From his point of view, even if it was just a skill, it couldn¡¯t be transmitted to outsiders!

    Anyone who learns the Bai n¡¯s secret techniques must die!

    This perhaps was the greatest irony.

    Su Chen¡¯s ambition was to find a way to bypass all bloodline restrictions so that every human could have a long cultivation path ahead of them, but those conservative Bloodline Nobility ns weren¡¯t even willing to share just a simple Origin Skill.

    1. I thought it would be worth exining this phrase, since it¡¯s a great example of how Chinesenguage is very descriptive. A closer-to-original trantion, in essence, would be ¡°Su Chen wants to pick a certain flower, but that flower never blooms. Meanwhile, a tree branch that he had carelessly stuck into the ground would eventually grow into a treerge enough that it could be used for shelter.¡± It¡¯s not the exact, literal meaning, but I felt it appropriate to exin the original Chinese phrasing.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 28: Agarwood Pavilion

    Chapter 28: Agarwood Pavilion

    Although Cloud Leopard¡¯s condition had greatly improved after using the medicine, he quickly fell back asleep after expending so much energy.

    After Cloud Leopard fell asleep, Su Chen sat there in silent contemtion.

    After a spending a long time in deep thought, he finally stood up and walked towards the workbench on the side of the room and began adjusting theponents of the medicine.

    He very quickly concocted another vial of medicine.

    He then poured the medicine into the palm of his hand, gently dabbing it onto his face.

    As the medicine soaked into his face, his skin slowly began to darken.

    Next, Su Chen picked up a pen and began to draw on his eyebrows, forming an upside-down eight1. Finally, he stuck a fake mustache onto his face. Su Chen¡¯s appearance hadpletely changed; no one would be able to recognize him.

    Su Chen changed into a robe made of coarse cloth and then left the room.

    Upon returning to the main room, where the Origin Talisman Energy Formation was still active, Su Chen saw Shi Kaihuang sitting in the middle of the formation surrounded by countless stars revolving and shifting above his head. Shi Kaihuang was currently operating the formation, using the entire sky to make multiple calctions to search for a possible breakthroughbination.

    When Su Chen appeared, the stars stopped moving.

    Shi Kaihuang opened his eyes. He did not seem all that surprised when he saw Su Chen¡¯s getup. All he said was, ¡°Are you headed out?¡±

    ¡°Mhm.¡± Su Chen nodded. ¡°There¡¯s some things I need to take care of.

    ¡°Do I need to step in?¡± Shi Kaihuang asked.

    Although the old man had never asked, there was nothing that happened inside the Origin Energy Tower that could possibly go unnoticed by him.

    Su Chenughed. ¡°I can take care of it.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang gave him a meaningful look. He thought for a moment and then said, ¡°That¡¯s fine. Since you chose to walk down this path, you will need to have the strength to resolve certain...... issues on your own. It¡¯s not enough just to rely on the strength of your seniors, but if you do ever encounter any difficulties that you are not strong enough to ovee, it¡¯s important to learn when to ask for help.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Su Chen respectfully replied. ¡°Then your disciple is going to go.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang nodded his head. ¡°Go.¡±

    Just as he was about to leave, Shi Kaihuang suddenly said in a loud voice, ¡°Su Chen!¡±

    ¡°Your disciple is here! Instructor, do you have any further instructions?¡±

    Shi Kaihuang said, ¡°Remember, you need to be focused!¡±

    ¡°Your disciple understands!¡± Su Chen replied firmly.

    After exiting the tower, Su Chen began to head outside the Institute.

    At this time of day, the sky was already dark. The shops opposite from the Hidden Dragon Institute were lit up by hangingnterns.

    Every day, many students of the Hidden Dragon Institute came here during their free time for pleasure. Any kind of entertainment that couldn¡¯t be found in the Institute could be found here.

    This gave those with malicious intent an opportunity.

    If they wanted to mark a certain student, all they would have to do is inform the people inside those shops.

    Those insiders would watch for their targets closely. As soon as they discovered their targets, they would immediately report to their employers the targets¡¯ location.

    This was how Su Chen was discovered thest time he left the Institute.

    But this time, no one recognized him.

    Su Chen headed directly for Long Coiling City after exiting the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    Northface City couldn¡¯t evenpare to Long Coiling City, the capital of Long Sang Country.

    This giant city was equivalent to twenty Northface Cities in terms of area. The towering walls, nearly two hundred feet tall,, were constructed from sediment from the delta of the ck River. They were covered in Origin Formation inscriptions and patterns, forming a massive, all-epassing Origin Energy Formation.

    The name Long Coiling City came from the serpentine walls that looked just like a giant dragon, coiling around the city itself. A dragon head and tail were even constructed on the city walls. They connected with each other at the main northern gate, the Ferocious Suppression Gate.

    As its name implied, the gate¡¯s significance was the human race¡¯s suppression of the Ferocious Race!

    Since ancient times, the Son of Heaven had stood guard over the main gates.

    Long Coiling City was in the northern reaches of the country. Further north of it was the drainage spot of the Golden Water River. People from Long Sang Country had established a fort there known as the Flowing Gold Fort. Beyond the Flowing Gold Fort was the Harvey in. Deep within the Harvey in roamed the barbaric, vicious, and savage Ferocious Race.

    This implied that if the Flowing Gold Fort fell, Long Coiling City would bear the burden of keeping the Ferocious Race outside of the country.

    Su Chen walked through the city¡¯s South Gate after arriving from the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    Inparison to the northern gate¡¯s majesty and prestige, the southern gate was much simpler. Even the walls were much shorter here.

    That was because south of Long Coiling City was the territory of the human race. If the human race were to be driven from Long Coiling City, it would be easier to reim in the future because of the weaker defenses.

    Because he was a student of the Hidden Dragon Institute, Su Chen was allowed into the city after a brief questioning session.

    Even though it was already nighttime, Long Coiling City was still bustling. Lanterns were lit everywhere, and people were constantlying and going. Crystalnterns powered by Origin Stones hung from every storefront. In Northface City, only wealthiest stores would use thesenterns, yet they were the standard here in Long Coiling City.

    Su Chen¡¯s footsteps began to speed up as he walked along the brightly lit streets..

    After walking a certain distance, Su Chen arrived in front of a store called ¡°Agarwood Pavilion2¡±.

    The store was still open, so Su Chen stepped inside.

    A servant came up to him. ¡°Sir, this way please. This store primarily deals in precious medicinal ingredients as well as a few high-quality medicines. What do you need, sir?¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t say anything. He took out a card and handed it over.

    The servant received the card and took a look at it. Instantly, he froze in surprise before respectfully saying, ¡°Sir, please wait a moment.¡±

    He went into the inner room to report something.

    A momentter, he came back out and lead Su Chen into the inner room. Theyout behind the front room was quiteplicated. They walked along a zig-zagging hallway for quite some time before arriving in front of a small room.

    Someone had been waiting inside the room for them already. Upon entering the room, the person inside gestured for the servant to retreat before bowing deeply to Su Chen and saying, ¡°Li Shu greets Young Master!¡±

    ¡°Stand,¡± Su Chen said.

    The Agarwood Pavilion was run by Li Shu.

    More urately, Su Chen had inspired Li Shu to open this store here in Long Coiling City after starting school here.

    In this way, Li Shu, Mingshu and Zhou Hong could find a ce to settle down. After all, he did not leave the Institute often, and there was no way he could just leave them to fend for themselves. Second, Su Chen would be able to earn some money and, more importantly, take care of the business between himself and the Immortal Temple. Every month, the Immortal Temple would send him ingredients to this location. Of course, Li Shu and the others didn¡¯t know of his rtionship with the Immortal Temple; they only thought that Night Demon and the others were Su Chen¡¯s friends. Third, Su Chen would asionally producepleted medicine during his study of alchemy. Some of thesepleted medicines would be sent to the Immortal Temple as repayment as well as to demonstrate his own progress. The rest would be given to this store to turn a profit.

    Because his eyes had the ability to see Origin Energy, Su Chen had quite a high sess rate when it came to concocting medicine. Thus, this business had earned him some money. Although it couldn¡¯tpare to the money he had made extorting people in the Halcyon Gorge, business here was much more steady.

    But for the sake of security, Su Chen¡¯s rtionship with the Agarwood Pavilion had always been kept a secret. Thus, this ce had be a secret meeting ce for his external connections.

    Su Chen sat down at the head spot and asked, ¡°Have you seen Night Demon recently?¡±

    Lin Shu replied, ¡°Miss Night Demon came here a few days ago. Sheined about not seeing Young Master. She said that Young Master only knows how to spend all his time studying within the Institute and neveres out.¡±

    The Hidden Dragon Institute couldn¡¯tpare with the Su Pce. Many crouching tigers and hidden dragons resided there, and experts were a dime a dozen.

    Night Demon¡¯s concealment techniques weren¡¯t nearly powerful enough to sneak into the Hidden Dragon Institute. Doing so would only be seeking death, so in this past year, she had never gone to the Institute. She could onlye to the Agarwood Pavilion andin.

    Speaking of which, because Su Chen had requested that Night Demon be his contact with the Immortal Temple, Night Demon also came to Long Coiling City with Su Chen.

    But as soon as Su Chen entered the Hidden Dragon Institute, he had basically tossed this girl to the back of his mind. Because she didn¡¯t have any friends to y with, she had beenining for more than just one or two days.

    Su Chenughed when he heard this. ¡°Aren¡¯t I here now? Go tell her that I want to meet with her.¡±

    ¡°You only want to meet with her, right?¡± Li Shu understood Su Chen quite well.

    ¡°We have some business to discuss,¡± Su Chen said.

    1. The Chinese character for eight is °Ë. What Su Chen drew on his face was flipped upside down

    2. This is a y on words. ¡°³ÁÏã¡± can be tranted as agarwood, but the ¡°³Á¡± character is also the same character used in Su Chen¡¯s name, ¡°ËÕ³Á¡±. Of course, I also could have tranted it as Chen Fragrance Pavilion, but I felt agarwood would be more appropriate.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 29: Assassination

    Chapter 29: Assassination

    ¡°You finally remembered toe see me?¡±

    Night Demon hurried to the Agarwood Pavilion upon receiving word of Su Chen¡¯s arrival. She stared at Su Chen with wide eyes for quite some time before recognizing him.

    She no longer wore the ck veil on her face and didn¡¯t try to sneak up on him anymore.

    Her face was delicate, attractive, and slightly pale. She hadrge eyes, a sharp chin, a slightly tilted nose, and an oval face. However, in this time period, her facial structure was not actually admired much. Her face was one that was considered quite old-fashioned, but it was very much ording to Su Chen¡¯s tastes.

    Ironically, when Night Demon took down her veil, Su Chen had disguised himself.

    Su Chen sat in his own chair, calmly enjoying Night Demon¡¯s beautiful appearance when angered. ¡°Why do you have to say it like that? If you put it that way, it makes it sound like I owe you a lot of money.¡±

    ¡°Do you think you don¡¯t owe us a lot of money? Don¡¯t forget about all the materials that we supplied you with this past year,¡± Night Demon harrumphed, hands on her hips.

    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t be in debt for that; those materials were my reward,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°But you agreed before to rapidly increase your skill as an alchemist. But from the medicine you sent us previously, your rate of improvement isn¡¯t actually that fast,¡± Night Demon bluntly replied.

    ¡°Whatever. You¡¯re better off trying to deceive someone else. In the past year, I have already concocted medicine that can cure light injuries and a Tenacity Medicine. Is that really slow?¡±

    After a period of effort, Su Chen was finally able to control the Tenacity Medicine. Passing this test indicated that he was now an official alchemist; he just hadn¡¯t taken the official assessment yet.

    This speed was genuinely pretty fast.

    Night Demon harrumphed. ¡°It¡¯s much slower than your previous speed of improvement.¡±

    That was also true. Su Chen had begun to practice concocting the Tenacity Medicine almost half a year ago, and he had only recently broken through that barrier. Su Chen had improved the fastest early on and his speed recently had decreased.

    If it had been someone else, it may have been normal for it to have taken half a year to concoct the Tenacity Medicine. However, the Immortal Temple had confirmed that Su Chen truly did possess a natural talent towards alchemy, so they considered half a year to be slow by those standards.

    This implied that, in the past half year, his attention had been focused elsewhere, resulting in a decreased speed of improvement.

    Their guess was in fact correct. Because Su Chen had been focused on studying Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven most of the time, he was forced to halve the amount of time he spent studying alchemy.

    The Immortal Temple had very keenly perceived this point, so they sent Night Demon to encourage him to speed up.

    Medicines and their ingredients were split into multiple tiers:mon, umon, rare, legendary, and divine. Alchemists were ranked corresponding to the ingredients they could use: Novice, Qualified, Master, Distinguished, and Legendary. Alchemists in the same tier also had different levels of skill.

    The Spirit-Sobering Medicine was a rare-tier medicine, so under normal circumstances, only a Master Alchemist could concoct it. If an alchemist specifically focused on concocting that medicine alone, a highly skilled Qualified Alchemist might be able to concoct it.

    The Corpse Spirit Flower was a legendary ingredient. Using a legendary ingredient to concoct a rare medicine was somewhat wasteful. Thus, it was understandable why Master Feng had been so against the idea.

    Su Chen used a year to be an official alchemist. His speed was not slow, but he was still at least one tier and a half away from bing a highly skilled Qualified Alchemist.

    This tier and a half couldn¡¯t be bridged within two years. It would require a lot of studying to improve himself. It was impossible to do without sufficient time, which exins the Immortal Temple¡¯s urgency.

    Su Chen sipped his tea and then calmly said, ¡°I ran into an issuetely, which has interfered with my studies for a bit. That¡¯s the main reason I¡¯m here. After we take care of this issue, I should have more time to study alchemy.¡±

    Night Demon harrumphed. ¡°I knew this would happen, but Su Chen, don¡¯t try this nonsense again. These are separate matters. No matter how anxious we are, we won¡¯t do something for you for free.¡±

    ¡°Hm? When did you be smart?¡± Su Chen pretended to be shocked.

    ¡°Of course!¡± Night Demon proudly jutted out her chin. However, her next sentence exposed herself. ¡°Sir Sang knew that if you came to find me, it wouldn¡¯t be with anything good. More than likely, you would have some issue that you needed our help resolving. Thankfully, he informed me of this beforehand.¡±

    Su Chen was speechless.

    Perhaps because she knew she had said too much, Night Demon stuck out her tongue cutely. Then, she asked, ¡°Hey, so what do you need our help with? If it¡¯s not a big issue, I can help you.¡±

    Su Chen felt much more rxed when Night Demon sounded genuinely interested. Heughed, ¡°It¡¯s not a big deal. There¡¯s just a few unassuming brats bothering me.¡±

    ¡°How powerful are they?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re the same as me, in the loweryers of Qi Drawing.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t deal with them on your own?¡±

    ¡°There are lots of them. A few days ago, they even ganged up on my friend six-on-one. Thankfully, my friend was able to escape, killing two and gravely injuring one in the process. I¡¯m guessing that because of this setback, they will send even more powerful individuals to help out. I don¡¯t want to fall victim to this scheme of theirs. If possible, I would prefer to strengthen their experience of failure so that I can teach them a few more lessons.¡±

    ¡°I can find two Qi Drawing cultivators at highyers to help you out.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not enough.¡± Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I need at least three highyer Qi Drawing cultivators and two Blood Boiling cultivators.¡±

    Night Demon was stunned. ¡°Aren¡¯t you overestimating them a bit?¡±

    ¡°They are members of Bloodline Nobility ns and they are the elites of the Hidden Dragon Institute. Regr Qi Drawing cultivators are no match for them, unless the Immortal Temple believes that their elites are stronger than those of the Hidden Dragon Institute. Otherwise, it¡¯d be best to suppress them by rank.¡±

    Night Demon couldn¡¯t say anything.

    The Hidden Dragon Institute had gathered the entire country¡¯s best cultivators. Of all the Qi Drawing Realm cultivators, the strongest definitely attended the Hidden Dragon Institute. Even the first-year students couldn¡¯t be underestimated.

    Night Demon gently whispered a few sentences into hermunication bracelet, then reported, ¡°Ten times their base value. Everything on the targets¡¯ bodies belong to the people who attacked them.¡±

    The price this time was much higher than the previous job regarding the Shadow Mountain Troops, but it was still reasonable.

    Su Chen nodded his head. ¡°That¡¯s fine, but I want them captured alive.¡±

    Night Demon whispered a few more sentences, then replied, ¡°Fifteen times the base value.¡±

    Capturing people was much harder than killing them, which was why the price had increased.

    Su Chen nodded his head. ¡°Of course.¡±

    As long as he achieved his goal, money was of no importance.

    After concluding their negotiations, Su Chen and Night Demon chatted for quite some time. Finally, Night Demon was preparing to say goodbye.

    Su Chen asked, ¡°Right, where do you live?¡±

    ¡°In the outskirts of the southern region.¡±

    ¡°It happens to be in the same direction I¡¯m going in. Let¡¯s go together.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Night Demon replied with a smile.

    After leaving the Agarwood Pavilion, the two of them headed towards the outskirts of the city,ughing as the walked.

    After leaving the city, the two of them walked for awhile before reaching a fork in the road. Su Chen said, ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll be separating from here on out. I¡¯ll see youter.¡±

    ¡°See youter.¡±

    After saying goodbye, Su Chen left Night Demon and began heading towards the Hidden Dragon Institute. He hadn¡¯t been walking for long, however, when the shrill screech of metal on metal suddenly reached his ears.

    The sound was very quiet. If Su Chen hadn¡¯t been blind for three years and possessed a frighteningly sensitive hearing, he might not have heard it.

    The noise seemed to being from the direction that Night Demon was headed.

    ¡°Not good!¡± Su Chen¡¯s expression changed. He ran like the wind back in the direction he hade from, using the Snaking Mist Steps to its absolute limit.

    By the time he got there, a ck-clothed person with a veil over their face had already sent Night Demon flying with a palm strike.

    Night Demon was tossed into the air as she spit out a mouthful of blood. The ck-clothed person flew into the air, their short sword stabbing towards Night Demon. This strike was both fast and vicious.

    Whoosh!

    A few leaves shot towards the ck-clothed person, whistling through the air. Su Chen had used the Flying Flower Hands to timely block that attack.

    The ck-clothed person was forced to divert their de, stabbing out three times to pierce all three leaves. Their attacks were extremely urate.

    A momentter, an erged Erupting Firebird soared forth.

    Su Chen used the fully strengthened Erupting Firebird in order to protect Night Demon.

    The strengthened Erupting Firebird was about to swallow up the ck-clothed person, when in that instant the ck-clothed person¡¯s figure suddenly shed. The attacker dissolved into a strange light, as if they had disappeared within the moonlight. Their entire body had seemingly be ethereal.

    The erged Erupting Firebird flew right through the ck-clothed person¡¯s body and then disappeared.

    Su Chen was stunned by this turn of events. In any case, his interference had saved Night Demon from danger. As soon as shended on the ground, she retreated to Su Chen¡¯s side.

    The two of them teamed up to face the ck-clothed person.

    The ck-clothed person knew that they had missed their opportunity. While Su Chen stood side by side with Night Demon, the attacker stared deeply into Su Chen¡¯s eyes.

    Under the moonlight, their gaze was clearly one of rage.

    The ck-clothed person¡¯s figure shed and disappeared. Their speed was incredibly quick, not at all below Su Chen¡¯s.

    After scaring the ck-clothed person away, Su Chen let out a sigh of relief.

    He turned around and nced at Night Demon as he asked, ¡°What was that all about?¡±

    Night Demon was still unsettled. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Not long after we separated, that person suddenly appeared to attack me.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± Upon hearing this, Su Chenughed.

    Night Demon couldn¡¯t understand why Su Chen wasughing. ¡°Why are youughing?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°As an assassin, you were the target of an assassination attempt...... Makes for quite an interesting development.¡±

    Night Demon¡¯s face darkened.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 30: Red Cloud Slope 1

    Chapter 30: Red Cloud Slope (1)

    Although Su Chen wasughing, he knew that this assassination attempt likely wasn¡¯t simple..

    Thus, he said to Night Demon, ¡°I have a question for you.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Your identity isn¡¯t that of a princess of a vanquished nation or something like that, is it?¡±

    Night Demon was caught off-guard by Su Chen¡¯s sudden question. ¡°What nonsense are you saying?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not joking around,¡± Su Chen replied seriously.

    Night Demon was flustered by Su Chen¡¯s intensity. She could only reply, ¡°I¡¯m not. I am from the low-ss Moon Race, and my status is extremely low. How could I be some kind of princess from a vanquished country?¡±

    Night Demon was from the Moon Race ¨C Su Chen already knew that.

    The Moon Race were innately talented in concealment,monly moving under the light of the moon. They were able to easily blend into the darkness, making them natural-born assassins.

    ¡°Since you don¡¯t have a noble status, then there¡¯s only one reason you were attacked......¡± Su Chen muttered in a low voice, ¡°The Immortal Temple!¡±

    Realization dawned on Night Demon. ¡°Are you saying my identity has been revealed?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s certainly possible, but I¡¯m assuming that the other party isn¡¯t confident either. Otherwise, your attacker would have reported you to the authorities and tailed you rather than personally making a move. That person didn¡¯t seem to be trying to kill you, but rather trying to restrict you. He or she was probably trying to confirm your identity. When you get back, it¡¯d be best if you tell your higher ups and relocate immediately.¡±

    ¡°Then what about you?¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t have any problems. I¡¯m wearing a disguise, so there¡¯s no way he¡¯ll or she¡¯ll recognize me.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Be careful.¡±

    After giving her a few more instructions, Su Chen apanied Night Demon to where she was supposed to reconvene with the Immortal Temple before leaving.

    Su Chen was able to waltz inside the Hidden Dragon Institute without any further incidents. The people who had been tasked to monitor Su Chen werepletely unaware that Su Chen had gone out for a stroll right in front of their eyes.

    However, after Su Chen entered the Hidden Dragon Institute, a ck figure slowly emerged from the shadows not far away. It was the ck-clothed individual who had tried to sneak-attack Night Demon.

    Upon seeing Su Chen enter the Institute, a trace of surprise shed across the attacker¡¯s eyes. ¡°He¡¯s a student of the Hidden Dragon Institute?¡±

    The attacker took off the ck veil covering their face, revealing a bright, moon-like face. The attacker was actually a pale maiden. After taking off her ck robes, she simrly headed for the Hidden Dragon Institute, quickly disappearing in the darkness.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    The next day, Su Chen went through his normal routine ¨C attended sses during the day, read a few books in the library in the afternoon, ate a meal in one of the Institute¡¯s restaurants, and then began to head outside of the Institute.

    He did not walk quickly; rather, he strolled at a leisurely pace. asionally, he would greet people that he recognized, even conversing with them for a bit. Those who were tasked with monitoring him couldn¡¯t ignore him even if they tried to.

    The people tasked with watching Su Chen quickly used their methods to notify their employers.

    Su Chen began heading east after leaving the Institute.

    To the east of the Hidden Dragon Institute was the Falling Eagle Mountain. The mountain¡¯s terrain was extremely steep and was densely popted with Vicious Beasts thatmonly harassed passerbys.

    When the Long Sang Country had first been established, they originally intended to clear out the Falling Eagle Mountain to make the mountainpletely safe and void of Vicious Beasts.

    After the Hidden Dragon Institute had been established, the first Institute head needed to find a ce for students to practice. There were many Vicious Beasts within the Mountain, but they were isted from the Beast Race. The area was considered to be in control of the humans and was rtively safe, creating a suitable location for students to practice. Thus, the n to clear out the Falling Eagle Mountain had been shelved.

    From that point onwards, the Falling Eagle Mountain became a specially restricted location within Long Sang Country where students could go to practice. Students at the Institute could enter the Falling Eagle Mountain to hunt Vicious Beasts and temper themselves. The only rules were that teamsrger than seven people were not permitted, nor was hunting cubs. The Institute was not responsible for any injuries or deaths that urred.

    Cultivating was inherently dangerous. Even the most casual students needed to prepare themselves to face potential dangers.

    The Hidden Dragon Institute has a set limit on yearly deaths. As long as the number of deaths didn¡¯t surpass that limit, there wouldn¡¯t be any problems.

    Because of these rules, many of the students in the Hidden Dragon Institute would go there to settle their scores.

    The Falling Eagle Mountain was a great ce to resolve any grudges that couldn¡¯t be taken care of within the Institute. Their grudges would be settled with a life-or-death battle, with the loser¡¯s death attributed to the hands of Vicious Beasts.

    Cloud Leopard had been ambushed by Bai Ou and the others here.

    This kind of thing had happened quite often.

    The Hidden Dragon Institute couldn¡¯t control this from happening, and they had no desire to ¨C if you don¡¯t have the strength, don¡¯t go into such a dangerous environment. If you do go, you had to bear all of the consequences. As long as it didn¡¯t happen inside the walls of the Institute, it wasn¡¯t their business. This was a world governed by morals and principles, but ultimately it was still a world in which the strong preyed on the weak.

    Su Chen entered the Falling Eagle Mountain and very quickly disappeared into the forest.

    The trees were densely foliaged and seemed to be able to touch the sky.

    Because of the time of day and the dense foliage, the already limited amount of light that filtered through the trees began to decrease.

    Su Chen continued to trek through the forest. After an unknown period of time, he came to a stop in front of a treacherous slope.

    A stele was erected at the base of the slope. Threerge words were inscribed on top of it: ¡°Red Cloud Slope¡±.

    Su Chen found a piece of limestone to sit on and began to rest while lying in wait.

    Not long afterwards, the sound of a group of people charging in Su Chen¡¯s directions echoed throughout the forest.

    Upon hearing these noises, the corners of Su Chen¡¯s mouth twitched upwards in a cruel smile.

    Cloud Leopard was right ¨C they were all rookies. They would huff loudly as they chased after him,pletely ignorant of covering their tracks. Someone with lots of experience would easily discover that something was off based on all the noise and make preparations.

    Cloud Leopard was able to detect that he was being chased and prepared an ambush. Not only had he survived, he had also killed two of his opponents.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t need to do that, however, because he had already prepared arge present for his pursuers. Now all he had to do was wait for them to take the bait.

    A momentter, a group of people appeared in front of Su Chen.

    Bai Yihong and Bai Ou were obviously present. They had also brought three other students with them.

    There were less people than he had anticipated, but Su Chen didn¡¯t let his guard down. After they had suffered a loss the hands of Cloud Leopard, they had actually decreased the number of people that they brought along. Either they were incredibly stupid, or these three ¡°helpers¡± were not simple characters at all.

    From their appearances, Su Chen was leaning towards thetter.

    The three helpers were youths with an almost tangible arrogance around them. All of them were wearing fancifully embroidered clothing.

    The leader was holding a silver saber in his hand. He coldlyughed when he saw Su Chen, ¡°Little Bai, this is the Su Chen you want to kill? He doesn¡¯t seem all that impressive, yet you still called on us to help you deal with him.¡±

    Bai Ou simrlyughed, ¡°Senior Brother Yu, he is precisely Su Chen. I¡¯m just trying to prevent any unexpected urrences.

    A de-wielding youth to the sideughed, ¡°Isn¡¯t it better if he isn¡¯t that impressive? The earlier we finish him off, the less time we waste and the earlier we can return to our cultivation.¡±

    As he spoke, he pulled out his de and said, ¡°Su Chen, right? Today isn¡¯t your lucky day. Remember this grandpa¡¯s name! Your killer is Zhang Zhongyue, a sixth-year student at the Hidden Dragon Institute!¡±

    The de in his hand shed forwards. An iparably sharp de of Qi surged towards Su Chen, carrying with it a frightening killing intent.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 31: Red Cloud Slope 2

    Chapter 31: Red Cloud Slope (2)

    This de of light charged forwards like a white stallion, leaving behind a long scar on the ground.

    Although the person wielding the de was a youth, the de surprisingly possessed a fierce aura that had traces of being honed on a battlefield. It carried a stately, awe-inspiring momentum with it.

    Su Chen, who had only been in the Institute for a year, couldn¡¯tpare to a sixth-year student. Every sixth-year student had received personal instruction for many more years than Su Chen, and had most likely entered the Falling Eagle Mountain many times. Their experience in battle was also quite impressive.

    This de strike set the atmosphere of the battle.

    Even so, when faced with this de strike, Su Chen remained motionless as he gently smiled.

    At the same time that this de strike appeared, a figure suddenly appeared behind him.

    Iron Cliff.

    He suddenly appeared wearing the Melted Golden Armor, as if he had stepped out from the void. A single step of his had positioned himpletely in front of Su Chen.

    It was as if a massive door had appeared thatpletely covered up Su Chen. Iron Cliff raised his left hand and condensed a shield made from Origin Energy.

    Iron Mountain Shield!

    Whoosh!

    The de of light mmed into the shield.

    This de strike that could sunder boulders only burst into an explosion of sparks upon the Iron Mountain Shield.

    The shield waspletely unaffected. Iron Cliff let out a furious howl in Zhang Zhongyue¡¯s direction.

    This howl resounded like the ringing of a giant bell.

    At the same time, Iron Cliff lifted the Iron Mountain Shield in his left hand and pulled out the ck Streak Battle de in his right hand while charging towards Zhang Zhongyue. As his heavy footstepsnded on the ground, the earth began to tremble. Even though he was the only one running, it was as if an entire army was charging forwards.

    Iron Cliff waved the de in his hand while charging towards his opponent.

    Upon seeing this development, Zhang Zhongyue did not panic. He coldlyughed, ¡°You¡¯re courting death!¡±

    A snow-colored light shed from the de in his hand. In the blink of an eye, he had stabbed out thirteen times. The streaks of de Qi weaved and intertwined as they flew forwards like lightning, forcefully impacting Iron Cliff.

    Brilliant light exploded as a shower of radiant sparks rained downwards. Iron Cliff howled as he charged forwards with the Iron Mountain Shield. He was able to forcefully block these thirteen violent strikes. He took advantage of the chaos to draw near to his opponent and stabbed out with his de.

    Unlike Zhang Zhongyue, he couldn¡¯t use de Qi to attack. His battle style was very simple and in. However, this in de strike gave Zhang Zhongyue a threatening feeling.

    rms began to go off in his heart. He furiously retreated even as he raised the de in his hand to block.

    Boom!

    A resounding ng of metal on metal sounded out. Zhang Zhongyue¡¯s de was actually knocked aside, but he moved as quickly as the wind. Although he was unable to block this attack, he was still able to dodge the strike as he floated backwards.

    After being forced back by such a seemingly simple strike, Zhang Zhongyue was evidently put on the spot. He harrumphed, ¡°Brat, you have some ability. Your grandfather will y around with you for a bit.¡±

    Iron Cliff frowned. He was about to charge forwards when Su Chen yelled, ¡°Iron Cliff, back down, you¡¯re not his opponent.¡±

    Iron Cliff was good at exchanges of force, and hisbat style was simply to barge forwards. If he wasn¡¯t even able to force the opponent back, then there was no point for him to have participated in the first ce. However, forcing the opponent back didn¡¯t imply that he would win. In terms of pure power, he wasn¡¯t even able to beat Su Chen, much less a sixth-year veteran student. Although it seemed like Zhang Zhongyue had been forced to retreat, it was mostly because he had yet to disy his full strength.

    Evidently, Zhang Zhongyue was about to get serious. How could Su Chen let Iron Cliff continue to battle?

    When Zhang Zhongyue heard this, heughed savagely, ¡°Can you escape?¡±

    The de in his hand chopped downwards, creating a streak of de light that shot forwards towards Iron Cliff. The de strike surged forwards uninterrupted. Simultaneously, his left hand shot out. ¡°Autumn Drizzle de, Drifting Dark Extermination Palm!¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Your opponent is not him.¡±

    As he spoke, a de of light shot out from the forest, mming into Zhang Zhongyue¡¯s de and producing a resounding ng of metal.

    Another person had appeared in front of Su Chen.

    Aaron.

    The youth surnamed Yu¡¯s expression changed upon seeing that another person had appeared. ¡°Something¡¯s not right!¡±

    As he spoke, he pulled out his sword and stabbed out in front of him. The sword light formed a thin strand, but the power was extremely concentrated and powerful.

    A sudden cloud of mist appeared from out of thin air and seemed to swallow up the sword streak. As this cloud of mist appeared, four more people seemed to step out from nowhere.

    ¡°Not good!¡± Another borately-dressed youth began to yell, ¡°This brat set an ambush for us. We fell into his trap.¡±

    ¡°Liu Hua, Zhongyue, let¡¯s go!¡± The youth surnamed Yu didn¡¯t hesitate at all. He turned around to leave.

    Since their opponent was prepared, the new arrivals could not possibly be of average strength. Although the youth surnamed Yu was confident in his own strength, he didn¡¯t want to do battle under these kinds of circumstances.

    Although he wanted to leave, his opponent didn¡¯t want him to.

    One of the four people who had appearedughed, ¡°Since you¡¯re already here, why are you in such a hurry to leave? You¡¯d best stay right where you are!¡±

    As he spoke, he turned into a ming whirlwind and shot forwards, quickly closing the distance between the two of them. His hands reached out to grab the neck of the youth surnamed Yu.

    Smoke!

    The youth didn¡¯t even turn around. He swung his sword backwards, producing a dot of sword light that shot towards his opponent¡¯s palm. Although it was just a dot of light, it forced Smoke to temporarily withdraw his hand.

    An instantter, however, Smoke hurled five enormous fireballs at his opponent.

    Five fireballs in a row!

    ¡°Blood Boiling Realm?¡± The youth surnamed Yu let out a piercing yell. His retreat became even hastier.

    ¡°There¡¯s more than one of us,¡± said an old, hoarse voice.

    Copper Deer!

    As he spoke, two trees off to the side suddenly began to sprout with countless roots. The roots were just like thousands of tentacles, reaching out to ensnare their opponents.

    The youth surnamed Yu was shocked. He flew high into the air, but the roots chased right after him. He quickly reversed in midair, changing directions at high speeds in an attempt to charge in the other direction. However, he discovered that someone was already blocking his way. That person said with an innocent smile, ¡°Sorry, this road is closed.¡±

    Qingbai.

    The fourth shadow leapt towards Bai Ou.

    Night Demon.

    The group that had defeated the Shadow Mountain Troops had finally reunited here.

    The youth surnamed Yu knew that the situation was not favorable. He said cuttingly, ¡°Su Chen, you and I have no enmity between us. Are you really willing to eradicate us all?¡±

    Su Chen calmly replied, ¡°The one¡¯s trying to eradicate seem to be you guys.¡±

    ¡°If you let me go, I promise to never interfere with matters between you and Bai n.¡±

    Su Chen replied with an innocent smile, ¡°I think that taking care of you now will put me more at ease.¡±

    The youth surnamed Yu felt a chill in his heart. He dered savagely, ¡°Don¡¯t think that you¡¯re invincible just because you have a few Blood Boiling Realm helpers with you. Those from Bloodline Nobility ns aren¡¯t easy to bully! Silverwing Falcon, open!

    As he cried out, an image of arge, silver falcon appeared behind the youth surnamed Yu. A snow-white light suddenly shone from his body.

    ¡°Illusion Demon Wolf, open!¡±

    ¡°Clear Wind Dragonhound, open!¡±

    Liu Hua and Zhang Zhongyue also activated their bloodlines. Waves of powerful energy suddenly began erupting from their bodies.

    ¡°mewing Soaring Eagle!¡±

    ¡°Illusion Demon Fists!¡±

    ¡°Thousand Gusts of Wind!¡±

    Amidst the reckless howls, the Red Cloud Slope became covered in waves of smoke that spread everywhere. This smoke forcefully resisted Smoke¡¯s mes and Copper Deer¡¯s tree roots. The resulting spectacle was particrly intense.

    Even Bai Yihong and Bai Ou began to draw out their n¡¯s bloodline ability.

    Upon activating the Thunder Spirit Bloodline, thunder began to rumble, as if a storm was brewing in the forest.

    Everyone began to pull out their most powerful moves. When faced with the explosive power of five Bloodline Nobility n members, even Copper Deer and Smoke, two Blood Boiling experts, had to take them seriously.

    Only Su Chen stared unblinkingly at Bai Ou while he activated his Thunder de again and again. His gaze was incredibly focused as his vision prated Bai Ou¡¯s clothing and skin, observing the flow of Origin Energy within his body......

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 32: Red Cloud Slope 3

    Chapter 32: Red Cloud Slope (3)

    The Bai n¡¯s Thunder Spirit Bloodline came from the Empty Cry Thunder Spirit.

    The Empty Cry Thunder Spirit was, ording to legends from the Primordial Continent, one of the thirty-six beasts in charge of lightning and thunder. They were known as the Thunder Thirty Six.

    The Empty Cry Thunder Spirit was frightening in that its thunder-type attacks had tremendous prative ability. Apparently, if one cultivated the Empty Cry Thunder Explosion to a high level, one could directly send thunder into someone¡¯s body, exploding it from the inside.

    Thus, the Empty Cry Thunder Spirit was not feared for its strength, but for its ability to seemingly tunnel into every corner of the human body.

    Bai Ou furiously shed out again and again with the Thunder de, constantly activating the jade circlet in his hand. The resounding clear criesplemented the Thunder de and the Empty Cry Thunder Explosion. The ringing of thunder was so powerful and intense that those present felt their minds reeling from the shockwaves.

    Although his Empty Cry Thunder Explosion was far from being able to explode someone¡¯s body from the inside out, it was already strong enough to affect one¡¯s consciousness. Those who were struck by it would feel nauseous and a sudden desire to vomit.

    The person fighting him was Night Demon. In terms of strength, both were at the Qi Drawing Realm. Night Demon had no bloodline, but she was an experienced Origin Qi Schr who had entered the Qi Drawing Realm many years ago. Bai Ou had a bloodline, but he hadn¡¯t been an Origin Qi Schr for more than a year, so his cultivation base was somewhat inferior. The two were evenly matched, but as time went on, Bai Ou¡¯s advantage as a member of a Bloodline Nobility n began to manifest itself. Night Demon slowly began to lose herposure.

    At that moment, Bai Ou struck out with another Thunder Explosion. Although Night Demon blocked it, she was sent flying backwards. More importantly, the resulting aftershocks sent her into a daze.

    She couldn¡¯t help but yell out, ¡°Su Chen, why are you just watching me? Come over and help me out!¡±

    Su Chen stared at Bai Ou unblinkingly. ¡°His Thunder Spirit de seems to be a little different from mine. I need to analyze it a bit more. Take your time battling him; we¡¯re in no hurry.¡±

    Night Demon was infuriated. ¡°I¡¯m reaching my limit!¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t waste time speaking. A firebird appeared in his palm. However, it wasn¡¯t directed towards Bai Ou, but towards Bai Yihong, who was tangled in battle with Iron Cliff.

    Bai Yihong was probably the weakest one out of the five. Although his n and background was quite impressive, his personality was that of a womanizer. He didn¡¯t like cultivating, so his strength was average. Even Iron Cliff was able to battle him to a standstill. Bai Yihong¡¯s strength could be imagined from this fact.

    When Su Chen¡¯s Firebird appeared, it charged towards Bai Yihong. The moment it exploded, Bai Yihong was knocked out.

    ¡°Go help Night Demon,¡± Su Chen said.

    Iron Cliff rushed over. He used his massive body to block the attack directly in front of Night Demon. Bai Ou¡¯s Thunder Explosion mmed directly into him, but the big lunk was only momentarily dazed and sustained no physical injuries. Simultaneously, Night Demon took advantage of the opportunity tounch an attack of her own, forcing Bai Ou to withdraw his de to defend himself.

    In a two-on-one, the originally unstable situation gradually calmed down.

    At the other end of the battle, Smoke, Copper Deer, Aaron, and Qingbai were battling four against three, but they were actually unable to capture their opponents.

    That was especially true of the youth surnamed Yu. The silver sword in his hand danced through the air, sending streaks of sword light everywhere. Although the sword light appeared faint, it had the ability to seep into a person¡¯s heart. This was no exaggeration ¨C Aaron and Qingbai had been caught off guard by a few of those streaks of sword Qi. When the sword Qi seeped into their bodies, their faces paled.

    If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that Smoke and Copper Deer were suppressing the entire field, just the two of them wouldn¡¯t even be enough to hold down the youth surnamed Yu.

    The four of them were unable to hold onto any significant advantage despite the fact that they had a numbers advantage and two Blood Boiling Realm cultivators.

    They could only admit that the elites of the Hidden Dragon Institute were truly something else.

    Perhaps because they had gotten over the surprise from earlier, even Liu Hua and Zhang Zhongyue, who wanted to flee earlier, began to regain their spirit.

    Zhang Zhongyueughed, ¡°What Blood Boiling Realm cultivators? Aren¡¯t they just so-so in the end? Yu Zhen, let¡¯s take care of them together!¡±

    ¡°Are you retarded?¡± The youth surnamed Yu¡¯s full name was Yu Zhen. He cursed at Zhang Zhongyue, ¡°Haven¡¯t you seen that Su Chen hasn¡¯t made a move yet? Our opponents haven¡¯t even used their full strength yet. How the hell do you want to take care of them?¡±

    As he spoke, he turned to face Su Chen. ¡°Su Chen, you¡¯ve seen yourself that we aren¡¯t so easy to deal with. If you want to kill us, you will also need to pay a price!¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say that I wanted to kill you,¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°I just want to capture you and perform a few experiments.¡±

    Yu Zhen gritted his teeth. ¡°Don¡¯t push this to the point where either the fish dies or the tears1.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°The won¡¯t tear. If you had the ability, you would¡¯ve done it awhile ago. Aren¡¯t you trying to negotiate with me because you¡¯ve also realized that you can¡¯t do it?¡±

    Yu Zhen was speechless.

    At the moment, they were at a disadvantage in terms of numbers, yet they were able to defend themselves against two Blood Boiling Realm and two highyer Qi Drawing Realm cultivators. Their performance was truly outside the capabilities ofmon people.

    But this didn¡¯t mean that they could escape their inevitable defeat. At best, they would only be able to dy and bother their opponents a bit longer.

    As for turning the tables on them, that was quite simply a pile of rubbish.

    Copper Deerughed. ¡°I must say, I feel quite embarrassed to be pushed so far by some children. It¡¯s time to end this farce!¡±

    As he spoke, he raised his hands. Countless vines twisted into the air, snapping towards Yu Zhen¡¯s group.

    Simultaneously, Smoke let out a long howl andunched a firebird of his own.

    This firebird was somewhat different from Su Chen¡¯s Erupting Firebird. It wasrger, yet also more agile. It had a beak and eyes filled with spirit, as if it possessed intelligence. After it appeared, it let out a shrill cry and then flew towards Liu Hua. When it spread its fiery wings in midair, a wave of mes danced through the air. Simultaneously, its hooked beak snagged a piece of Liu Hua¡¯s flesh and tore it away, causing him to let out a cry of pain.

    This was Smoke¡¯s Weeping me Kite. As a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator, he could already give his Origin Energy substance. Thus, the Firebird he produced was much more powerful than Su Chen¡¯s. It could attack and move on its own.

    After repeatedly attacking its target, the Weeping me Kite dissipated in a shower of sparks. Su Chen was incredibly envious.

    If his own Erupting Firebird reached this level, he would be set. Unfortunately, the burden on his Origin Energy was too great; without a sufficient cultivation base, it would be hard to achieve.

    Smoke and Copper Deer simultaneously unleashed their full strength. The trio finally sumbed.

    Liu Hua was the first to fall, followed by Zhang Zhongyue.

    Yu Zhen was indeed the strongest of the three. It took a bit of time and effort to capture him.

    Large numbers of vines stretched out, binding up the three people. At the same time, Bai Ou was being forced backwards by Night Demon and Iron Cliff¡¯sbined attacks.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t interested in watching Bai Ou anymore. An Erupting Firebird quickly ended their battle.

    At this point, everyone had finally been captured.

    Zhang Zhongyue was especially infuriated. He yelled, ¡°Su Chen, what ability can you im to have if you hire people to help you fight? If you have the ability, fight me on your own.¡±

    His reply was a swift and vicious kick from Iron Cliff.

    Liu Hua said, ¡°Su Chen, are you sure you know what you¡¯re doing? You¡¯ve already offended the Bai and Chang ns. Do you also want to offend the Liu, Zhang, and Yu ns as well?¡±

    Su Chen gently smiled. ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡±

    What a joke. Earlier, when he had be Shi Kaihuang¡¯s disciple, Shi Kaihuang had already told him that the path he would take would put him at odds with all Bloodline Nobility ns.

    One day when his research finally seeded, all of the Bloodline Nobility ns would try to gang up on him together.

    Since he was already aware of this, what reason did he have to be scared of a few Bloodline Nobility ns?

    On the contrary, the existence of these people strengthened Su Chen¡¯s determination to continue along his path.

    Only if he dealt with this problem from its roots would the human race finally escape from the regime of the Bloodline Nobility ns and achieve freedom for all of humanity!

    Yu Zhen knew how to speak in this kind of situation. He gazed at Su Chen and said, ¡°I¡¯m very sorry for agreeing to help Bai Ou trouble you. This was our fault. If you are willing to let us go, I am willing to dissolve our enmity and even be friends. My Yu n is also willing to owe you a favor.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s reply was, ¡°Iron Cliff, feed them some Qi Obstructing Powder and then tie them all up for me.¡±

    ¡°Su Chen, do you really want to oppose us to the bitter end?¡± Bai Ou yelled. ¡°If we die, don¡¯t think that you¡¯ll get off easily.¡±

    ¡°I already said that I wouldn¡¯t kill you. I just want a few people to...... cooperate with my experiments,¡± Su Chen smiled brightly as he replied. ¡°After my experiments end, I will naturally let you go. But right now, if any of you continue to be noisy, don¡¯t me me for being impolite.¡±

    Upon hearing these words, they finally shut up. All they could do was hope that Su Chen¡¯s experiments would end quickly so that they would be able to leave all of this behind faster.

    At that moment, they didn¡¯t know what was in store for them.

    On the way back, Night Demon quietly asked him, ¡°After your experiments, are you really going to let them go? You shouldn¡¯t feel safe just because they are asking you to spare them right now. If they have an opportunity, they will definitelye back for their revenge.¡±

    Are you really going to be reasonable now of all times?

    Su Chen replied with a slight smile, ¡°If by the time I finish my experiments they don¡¯t tremble uncontrobly at the sound of my name, let theme find me to make trouble..... Then just consider me to have no ability and simply seeking death.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    1. This is a Chinese idiom that essentially means that there¡¯s no room for either party to back off ¨C essentially a life-or-death battle. I¡¯ve preserved the original idiom mostly because of Su Chen¡¯s response in the next sentence.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 33: Friend

    Chapter 33: Friend

    After a day of rest, Cloud Leopard felt much better.

    This was all thanks to Su Chen¡¯s medicine. Otherwise, there would have been no way for him to have recovered so quickly.

    Cloud Leopard felt that he once again owed something to Su Chen!

    Naturally, the first time was when Su Chen had given him the Thunder de skill.

    Although it was for this reason that Bai Ou and the others had tried to kill him, Cloud Leopard never med Su Chen for it, and neither did he think that Su Chen owed him something because of it.

    He had grown up on the streets. He had only chanced upon an absorption technique unintentionally in a trash pile, embarking on his journey of cultivation.

    Because he had no money nor background, he had to use all of his avable resources to procure just a single Origin Skill.

    Even if they were just low-tier Origin Skills, people would sell them for sky-high prices. Cloud Leopard was forced to fight and kill over and over for them. He used his bloody victories to amuse those with great status in order to give himself an opportunity.

    No one had ever given him an Origin Skill for free before.

    Su Chen was the first and only one to do so.

    How could being chased after for this reason be considered anything? One time, in order to win an Origin Skill, he had won five times in a row in an arena of death. Which person in that arena was not a vicious character? And which one of them hadn¡¯t also crawled out from a pile of corpses before?

    In addition, Su Chen never harbored any negative intentions.

    Thus, when Cloud Leopard had first been injured and ran to find Su Chen, it wasn¡¯t so that he could be treated ¨C he didn¡¯t even know that Su Chen was an alchemist in the first ce. He just wanted to let Su Chen know that he was in danger.

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen had helped him once again.

    In Cloud Leopard¡¯s mind, he owed Su Chen twice already.

    Cloud Leopard wasn¡¯t someone who was good at expressing his gratitude. Although he really was thankful for what Su Chen had done for him, he didn¡¯t know how to express it.

    Thankfully, even if he didn¡¯t know what to say, he knew what to do.

    After mulling it over for a day, he finally made his decision.

    At that moment, he heard some noise outside his door.

    It was Su Chen.

    Cloud Leopard opened the door to find Su Chen currently engaged in conversation with Shi Kaihuang.

    Upon hearing the door open, Su Chen nced at Cloud Leopard and chuckled. ¡°You look much better already.¡±

    Cloud Leopard strode forwards. ¡°I¡¯m already recovered, so I¡¯ll be taking my leave.¡±

    Su Chen was caught off-guard. ¡°You¡¯ve mostly recovered, but your wounds may have hidden damage. It¡¯d be better if you stay here a bit longer so that I can take a look.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t. There¡¯s something urgent I need to take care of.¡± Cloud Leopard shook his head.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°I am going to go kill Bai Ou so that he can¡¯t bother you anymore,¡± Cloud Leopard replied sincerely.

    ¡°Bai Ou?¡± Su Chen was stunned.

    Cloud Leopard nodded vigorously. ¡°You helped me twice already. I¡¯ll pay you back by taking care of him for you.¡±

    It took some time for Su Chen to understand what Cloud Leopard meant. He reached out helplessly and pointed to the side. ¡°There¡¯s a small door there. Open it and take a look.¡±

    Cloud Leopard didn¡¯t understand what Su Chen was trying to say, but he still obediently walked over and opened the door. He found five people lying on the ground in disarray.

    One of the people there was Bai Ou.

    Cloud Leopard¡¯s jaw dropped to the floor.

    Hu turned around and stared at Su Chen in disbelief. ¡°How did you get them all here?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I carried them all on my back with a bup sack. It was kind of hard, but there was nothing I could do. After all, there¡¯s no way I could have just openly escorted them back into the Institute.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Cloud Leopard felt quite embarrassed.

    Su Chenughed. ¡°Okay, okay, I was just messing with you. I found a few helpers to set a trap for them in the Falling Eagle Mountain, and they jumped right in. If you wanted to use them to repay me, I¡¯m sorry about that. But don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t care too much about that. I¡¯ll be happy if you just agree to be my friend.¡±

    He reached his hand out towards Cloud Leopard.

    Friends?

    Cloud Leopard stared at Su Chen in shock.

    That was a word that was both familiar yet foreign to him.

    He slowly reached out his hand as well, but instead of grabbing Su Chen¡¯s, he just allowed it to float in midair.

    Su Chen saw it and grabbed onto his hand tightly. ¡°It seems you¡¯re not very used to having friends.¡±

    Cloud Leopard replied, ¡°On the bitter streets, having friends is pointless.¡±

    ¡°Bitter streets?¡±

    ¡°I grew up on a filthy street filled with sewer water and prostitutes ¨C a ce surrounded by death.¡±

    ¡°Thankfully you¡¯re not there anymore.¡± Su Chen smiled. ¡°The Hidden Dragon Institute is better than those bitter streets.¡±

    Unexpectedly, Cloud Leopard replied, ¡°I wish that I was back on those bitter streets.¡±

    Su Chen was stunned.

    As Cloud Leopard exined, Su Chen finally understood.

    He was a boy who had grown up in a poor and rural setting, yet had been able to enter such a prestigious institute relying solely upon his own strength. However, he didn¡¯t earn any respect because of it. Instead, he was treated with indifference and even revulsion.

    Cloud Leopard, who had grown up on the bitter streets, wasn¡¯t good at making friends and he didn¡¯t understand etiquette. In a ce as busy as the Institute, he lived as a lone wolf.

    Those from Bloodline Nobility ns didn¡¯t like him because he didn¡¯t have any manners and didn¡¯t know how to hold a conversation.

    Even those without bloodlines didn¡¯t like him because he always maintained a high level of caution and didn¡¯t trust others easily.

    This made it so that he was unable to get close to any specific group. In the year that he had been at the Hidden Dragon Institute, he hadn¡¯t made a single friend.

    In addition, he hadn¡¯t read many books. He didn¡¯t understand the lessons the instructors gave because of theirplexity, and had no way of asking anyone to exin them.

    Towards the end, he even stopped listening to the sses.

    All he did every day was go to the Falling Eagle Mountain to fight.

    No one from the Institute spent more time in the Falling Eagle Mountain than he did. He was there every day and night, battling Vicious Beasts. He was almost always covered in fresh blood.

    However, this only made him even more ipatible with the other students.

    Some people even wondered why he came to the Hidden Dragon Institute in the first ce if all he wanted to do was fight. The army probably would¡¯ve been a better fit.

    These cold and indifferent words only made him feel more estranged and sad.

    After understanding Cloud Leopard¡¯s situation, Su Chen asked, ¡°If you didn¡¯t understand those sses, how did you cultivate your Origin Skills?¡±

    ¡°I puzzled through them myself. The books have diagrams and I understand a few words, but I can¡¯t read them all.¡±

    ¡°Yet you were still able to work through it......¡± Su Chen was speechless.

    Earlier, when Tang Zhen was tranting the Ancient Arcana Script, he had carefully verified every single word multiple times to make sure he didn¡¯t make any mistakes.

    This kid, on the other hand, had begun cultivating without even understanding all the words.

    More importantly, he was able to sessfully cultivate them.

    Indeed, miracles do happen.

    ¡°You have my respect,¡± Su Chenughed bitterly. ¡°Even after fooling around like that, you¡¯re still alive and well in front of me.¡±

    Cloud Leopard¡¯s stubborn mouth began to crease into a smile.

    In that instant, an idea suddenly surfaced in Su Chen¡¯s brain.

    He said, ¡°Do you want me to help you with your sses in the future?¡±

    ¡°You?¡± Cloud Leopard was stunned.

    ¡°Yes, me,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°If you don¡¯t understand anything in the future,e find me, okay?¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll owe you even more.¡±

    Su Chen was rendered speechless by his way of thinking. Heughed, ¡°I already said that we¡¯re friends. There¡¯s no need to be so demanding between friends.¡±

    ¡°Are you saying that friends can only receive and not give?¡±

    ¡°Hey! Of course not, but there¡¯s no need to draw the lines so clearly about everything. What I¡¯m saying is......¡±

    ¡°I already know,¡± Cloud Leopard interrupted him. ¡°I grew up on the streets, but that doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m a barbarian...... I¡¯m just messing with you.¡±

    He gently smiled as he gazed at Su Chen, his gaze extremely sincere.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 34: Human Experimentation

    Chapter 34: Human Experimentation

    From this day onwards, Cloud Leopard also began to basically live in the Origin Energy Tower.

    Shi Kaihuang was actually quite a generous old man. After all, he pursued the dream of the human race¡¯s rise to prominence, and did not have any selfish thoughts when it came to cultivation. Thus, although he didn¡¯t ept Cloud Leopard as his disciple, he did not object to Cloud Leoparding to live in the Origin Energy Tower or studying here.

    Without a status as a disciple, Shi Kaihuang wouldn¡¯t specifically teach him the Origin Talisman Energy Formation. After all, it was a tool used to analyze Origin Energy Talismanbinations. On the other hand, Cloud Leopard was permitted to learn any contemporary Origin Skill. This was the difference between giving a person a fish and teaching a person how to fish. Su Chen was a disciple, so he was taught how to fish. Cloud Leopard was a guest, so he wasn¡¯t taught how to fish, but he could eat as much fish as he wanted to.

    This was Shi Kaihuang¡¯s temperament. Any other instructor would consider this to be putting the cart before the horse. Why would you not teach your own disciples any Origin Skills, but allow those who aren¡¯t even your disciples to freely learn said skills?

    Both Su Chen and Shi Kaihuang viewed this as entirely par for the course. If they didn¡¯t have a heart that epassed the heavens, how could they achieve an unlimited future for mankind?

    Cloud Leopard had basically been dropped into a sea of good fortune, and Su Chen was very happy for him.

    To Su Chen, Origin Tool ingredients and other materials were not important. Any materialistic profit he stood to make could be reced, but there was no substitute for knowledge, which was infinite.

    Then where did knowledgee from?

    Naturally, it was from performing countless experiments and practice.

    Five members of pure Bloodline Nobility ns were essentially five extremely rare and precious specimens. After bringing them back with him, Su Chen began to contemte how to best use and allocate them in order to maximize their value.

    His first goal was to test out his most recent theories about Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven.

    Shi Kaihuang¡¯s understanding of Origin Energy Talismans and their effects on the human body was very deep, but he had his own limitations.

    Most importantly, he was already in the Light Shaking Realm, but he was developing a bloodline-less method for Qi Drawing Realm cultivators to reach the Blood Boiling Realm.

    He wasn¡¯t in the Qi Drawing Realm anymore, so it was hard for him to apply his research to himself. Without special eyes that could see Origin Energy, he could only use the Origin Talisman Energy Formation to make calctions, making it incredibly difficult to avoid deficiencies.

    With these five people and Su Chen¡¯s eyes that could see Origin Energy, Su Chen could save both himself and Shi Kaihuang a lot of effort. Su Chen¡¯s calctions would definitely speed up a lot.

    His goal was to analyze these five peoples¡¯ bloodlines to see if he could study them and utilize them, just like when he was attempting to study and extract the Bloodline Origin Energy Substance of the Soaring Snake Bloodline.

    Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven was a technique that allowed one to break through in cultivationyer without a bloodline. However, just a cultivation breakthrough alone was not enough. One also needs to have an appropriate set of Origin Skills.

    If Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven was like a trunk, then bloodline-less Origin Skills were the branches and leaves.

    Without a trunk, the branches and leaves wouldn¡¯t exist.

    He was also using this opportunity to practice his alchemy and investigate different kinds of medicine, raising his own skill in concocting medicine. He could also analyze a few new medicines such as the Bloodline Ancestral Medicine.

    If Shi Kaihuang knew about his train of thought, he would definitely rebuke him for being absurd.

    If he was trying to go down the path of terminating bloodlines, then he should focus on that. Why try to research the Bloodline Ancestral Medicine?

    Wasn¡¯t that the same thing as fighting against himself?

    But Su Chen didn¡¯t think that way.

    Whether he did it with a bloodline or not, they were in essence both different methods of utilizing Origin Energy.

    Su Chen pursued bloodline-less cultivation in order to give every human an opportunity to cultivate so that the human race would have a stronger foundation. They would have more power tobat the Beast Race. His goal was never merely to eliminate those with bloodlines.

    Everything existed for a reason. If certain sources of power could be used, it was unwise to give up on them so easily.

    Su Chen used this kind of thinking to divide his five experimental subjects and then began experimenting on them.

    Every day, he would first draw three vials of blood from each person and then mix in different ingredients or medicines and observe the reaction. This was his secret to researching the Origin Substances of various bloodlines. If he didn¡¯t have enough blood, he would simply draw more.

    Next, he began to form Origin Energy Talismans ording to the Origin Energy conduction needs of Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven and inserting them into his subjects¡¯ bodies. He would then order them to revolve their Origin Energy and observe the ensuing changes.

    He wasbining theory with practice.

    The Origin Talisman Energy Formation was just theory. Only when it was tested experimentally could it be consideredplete.

    Finally, he began to analyze the Bloodline Ancestral Medicine.

    Although Ulrich¡¯s Bloodline Ancestral Medicine had extremely severe effects, his general train of thought was correct. Ulrich¡¯s experiments were a ray of hope that sessfully finding a way to revert one¡¯s bloodline to its ancestral state may be possible.

    Thus, Su Chen¡¯s five research subjects would ingestrge amounts of Ancestral Medicine daily. Su Chen would observe their responses as their bloodlines were stimted.

    He didn¡¯t need to worry about whether Bai Ou and the others would follow in Lin Yemao¡¯s footsteps. This was because, after they had been tormented, Su Chen would treat them.

    Since Bloodline Ancestral Medicines existed, there were naturally Bloodline Shackling Medicines as well.

    There were many bloodline poisons that existed, but all had their own ws. All of them were either not effective enough, too hard to use, or cost too much money.

    Su Chen was interested not only in researching Bloodline Ancestral Medicines but also in researching bloodline poisons. After all, he had not forgotten that his greatest enemies were Bloodline Nobility ns.

    Bloodline Ancestral Medicines and Bloodline Shackling Medicines wereplete opposites, so they were perfectly suited for side-by-side research.

    Finally, Su Chen would use his Soul Eye and Soul-Fixation Technique to stimte them and then feed them some bewitching medicines.

    He did this for many reasons. First, he wanted to analyze how their souls would respond in order to build a foundation for constructing soul-type Origin Skills in the future. At the same time, he could practice concocting those medicines. Second, he wanted to create a few hallucinations in their consciousness so that he could control them. He had specifically learned a bewitching technique from Jin Ling¡¯er for this. As a price, Jin Ling¡¯er forced him to treat her to two meals at the ¡°Sky River Restaurant¡±. The girl stretched her cheeks out, stuffing herself with food and drink to the point that Su Chen almost felt physical pain.

    While he was experimenting on their consciousness, Su Chen would also concoct some soul recovery medicines for them. This was to build a foundation for his eventual concoction of the Spirit-Sobering Medicine.

    Of course, because he had just begun, Su Chen failed quite a bit.

    By the time he became proficient in concocting soul-type medicines, his subjects would be lucky to not have gone crazy.

    In any case, Su Chen¡¯s attitude towards them was that if they had no ailments, he would give them some and then cure them of it. In addition, his cures and treatments were never ordinary. He would always try something new, something unpredictable.

    In this way, Bai Ou and the others were doomed to suffer greatly.

    They were tormented every single day, day after day.

    Even Shi Kaihuang couldn¡¯t stand to watch any longer. He asked, ¡°Does it have to be this way?¡±

    Su Chen replied straightforwardly, ¡°I understand Instructor¡¯s apprehension, but please be at ease. I won¡¯t lose my sense of direction because of this. However, some things need to be done, and some people need to be dealt with.¡±

    ¡°As long as you understand.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang wasn¡¯t actually worried for Bai Ou and the others. Since they wanted to harm his disciple, it was their fault if they died. The Primordial Content was a ce where the strong were crowned. This rule was both simple and to the point.

    He was just worried that Su Chen would fall into a cycle of searching for new subjects no matter what he did in the future, eventually losing his humanity. Even if his research was sessful, it would all be pointless. He would be no different from those who had sessfully developedplete methods to break into the Blood Boiling Realm in the past, but selfishly kept it for themselves, hoping to profit in some way from it.

    Since Su Chen knew what he was doing, Shi Kaihuang felt much more at ease.

    After obtaining Shi Kaihuang¡¯s tacit agreement, Su Chen began to y with Bai Ou and the others with even more excitement. He would perform many experiments in rotation, testing out all of his strangest ideas and conceptions. He was not worried at all aboutpletely ruining them.

    Today Su Chen was merrily performing his experiments as usual. He was feeding a vial of medicine that he had just concocted to Zhang Zhongyue as he said, ¡°This is the new White Teeth Medicine that I just analyzed. It should alleviate your symptoms. Oh, it¡¯s White Teeth, not Idiot1, so don¡¯t worry, you won¡¯t be an idiot. Of course, even if you be an idiot, I¡¯ll do my best to bring you back......¡±

    Zhang Zhongyue stared mutely at him.

    A few days ago, he had been force-fed a bottle of Heart Failure Medicine immediately after being struck by a Soul-Fixation. He had instantly passed out.

    Su Chen used four methods to revive him, but it resulted in a few side effects. Zhang Zhongyue was unable to move without going ckjawed and drooling all over himself, but thankfully this repercussion was not too severe.

    Thus, Su Chen continued to analyze how to best treat Zhang Zhongyue.

    However, Zhang Zhongyue had long lost all hope. It was very clear that the only reason Su Chen was curing him was so that he could toy around with him again......

    Su Chen had just fed him the White Teeth Medicine when he suddenly heard the tower announce that there were people here to meet with Su Chen.

    The arrivals were from the Bai n, Yu n, and a few others.

    1. The name of the medicine, White Teeth (°×³Ý) shares a simr pronunciation as idiot in Chinese (°×³Õ), which is ¡°bai chi¡±. In addition, the actual meaning of °×³Õ is actually more severe than idiot ¨C it¡¯s probably closer to being slow to the point of having a mental illness.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 35: Bewitched

    Chapter 35: Bewitched

    Su Chen sat at the head position in the main lobby. Below him were five males all wearing the clothing of servants.

    The person at the very front was a haggard old man wearing a dark-green chief steward¡¯s uniform. He called himself Yu Wen, and he was the Yu n¡¯s chief steward. The other four were the chief stewards of the Chang, Bai, Zhang, and Liu ns, respectively.

    Naturally, the five chief stewards hade to Su Chen regarding their Young Masters.

    The matter of Bai Ou trying to find trouble for Su Chen was no secret. At the very least, those present knew about it. After Bai Ou and the others had disappeared, they knew after a few discreet inquiries that Su Chen was definitely involved. Thus, they hade right to his front door.

    The Bai n¡¯s steward said in a low voice, ¡°Su Chen, don¡¯t waste our time with useless words. You are very clear about why we are here today. Bring them out right now and we can let the matter go. Otherwise, you will face the consequences!¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t even blink. He gazed intently at a few tea leaves floating around in the teapot as he slowly said, ¡°You were the one who said not to waste time with useless words, but you are the one trying to strut about in front of me. What point is there in blustering like this? Do you think that I would dare to kidnap your Young Masters, yet tremble in fear upon hearing your words?¡±

    Everyone present was speechless.

    Su Chen had kidnapped the Young Masters of all five ns, so he definitely wasn¡¯t afraid of the consequences. There was no point in trying to threaten Su Chen.

    However, Bloodline Nobility ns were used to feeling superior, and even their servants had this attitude. If they couldn¡¯t have an aloof and elevated aura when speaking to demonstrate their superiority, they wouldn¡¯t speak at all.

    Thus, after Su Chen¡¯s biting retort, the chief steward from the Chang n tried to smooth things over, ¡°Chief Steward Bai was just somewhat impatient. What we are trying to say is that it is better to quash the enmity between us than keep it alive. The Young Masters from our ns didn¡¯t know any better and offended Prince Su. Since Prince Su has already taught them a lesson, will you be generous and let them go?¡±

    Su Chenughed sarcastically, ¡°Are you done spouting rubbish?¡±

    Although the tone was much softer, the meaning of their words were the same: if I want that person, you will give him to me. They were not sincere at all.

    Upon realizing that Su Chen was moved neither by force nor persuasion, the five chief stewards nced at each other.

    Finally, the chief steward of the Zhang n spoke up, ¡°If Prince Su is willing to let our Young Masters go, the Zhang n is willing to pay a thousand Origin Stones to disy our gratitude.¡±

    The frosty expression on Su Chen¡¯s face began to thaw slightly. ¡°Finally, someone is speaking reasonably, but it¡¯s just a person who isn¡¯t worthy ofing on stage.¡±

    Evidently, he was calling out the Zhang n for being too stingy.

    mes of rage emerged in the five chief stewards¡¯ hearts, but they could only lower their heads and endure.

    Chief Steward Liu asked, ¡°How much is Prince Su asking for?¡±

    Su Chen nced at him before saying in a warm voice, ¡°I have to make something clear first. I have never done anything like kidnap the princes from your five ns. I would never do anything like holding people ransom for money. However, as a fellow student of the Institute, I need to take care of our friendly affection. Since some of my ssmates have disappeared, I have the responsibility of searching for them, right?¡±

    The five of them cursed in their hearts. This Su Chen was someone who would erect arge monument tomemorate bing a prostitute.

    But this was not surprising. This world still had its rules andws. Regardless of whether it could actually be controlled, some things were better not talked about. Thus, Su Chen would not confess no matter what. The young masters were in his hands, so the situation could only be resolved under the pretext that he had ¡°helped look for them¡±.

    ¡°Secondly, searching for people is a very troublesome matter. There must be a price paid. Those five are all elites in the Qi Drawing Realm. Who knows where this adventure of theirs has led them? It will take a lot of time and effort to find them, and will also probably require other materials as well. The way I see it, we can value them at fifty thousand Origin Stones per person.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± The five of them shouted in unison.

    50,000 Origin Stones was daylight robbery!

    Chief Steward Chang said coldly, ¡°Prince Su, are you not afraid of offending five Bloodline Nobility ns?¡±

    ¡°Chief Steward Chang, you must have made a mistake!¡± Su Chen eximed in fake shock. ¡°I never kidnapped your n¡¯s Young Master. I will use this money to help you find your n¡¯s Young Master. Of course, you can also choose to believe that they¡¯re with me right now. You are more than wee to try and search my instructor¡¯s Origin Energy Tower.

    At a loss, the five of them nced at each other.

    How many servants would be needed to search Shi Kaihuang¡¯s Origin Energy Tower?

    This would be equivalent to not knowing how the character for ¡°death¡± was written.

    Since forcing their way in was no longer viable, they would have to negotiate.

    No matter what, Su Chen was unwilling to lower the price from 50,000 Origin Stones. He imed that the money would be spent on the five of them in the end anyways, which was not a lie; he spent lots of money on experiments, especially now when he was performing multiple experiments simultaneously.

    Earlier in Northface City, he earned tworge sums of money totaling roughly 400,000 Origin Stones. But in the following days, he had spent roughly 100,000 Origin Stones including the amount that he had given to the Su n and his cultivation expenses, leaving him with 300,000.

    Of this 300,000, roughly half of it was gone after Su Chen¡¯s wild spending.

    This was even with the support of the Immortal Temple, who would send him a shipment of ingredients every month. Otherwise, Su Chen¡¯s savings would¡¯ve disappeared a long time ago.

    Thus, Su Chen was trying new ways to make quick cash. Pan Hao was a victim of that, as were Bai Ou and the others.

    Why didn¡¯t Shi Kaihuang perform so many experiments? It wasn¡¯t just because he didn¡¯t have eyes that could see Origin Energy or because of ethics. Neither was it because of his reverence for contemporary Origin Skills. It was because he didn¡¯t have any money!

    He was in the Light Shaking Realm, but he had buried his head in his research and never looked to make some extra money on the side. Even though he had the ability to make quite a bit of money every day, he was still as poor as a dog.

    It was his fault for believing in ¡°focus¡± so much.

    Earning money was not the behavior of someone who was ¡°focused¡±.

    Su Chen was destined not to be the ideal student that Shi Kaihuang wanted. He had no way of remaining focused, he took advantage of every opportunity he had to make money.

    You want the person? Fine, bring me the money!

    While the other party was busy gathering the money, he could perform somest few experiments on them so that he didn¡¯t waste even a bit of the resources avable to him.

    The five chief stewards had no choice. They returned to their ns to think of some method to gather some money.

    50,000 Origin Stones was no small sum, but it was not a sum that would ruin a Bloodline Nobility n. However, it would be difficult to procure such a sum as a servant. Most importantly, they didn¡¯t dare inform their ns.

    If the heads of their ns found out, they might be killed by the ensuing fits of rage.

    The most important objective was to save the Young Masters. After they were saved, exining the situation would be much easier.

    Before they left, Chief Steward Yu said meaningfully, ¡°We will work hard toe up with the money. We hope that nothing will happen to them.¡±

    Su Chen said sincerely, ¡°Heaven rewards those who are righteous. I believe that my five fellow ssmates are somewhere enjoying themselves, living peaceful lives. Their cultivation might not have even been impacted very much.¡±

    When those five servants heard this, they felt relief wash over them. They believed that Su Chen only wanted money and not the people themselves. Their ns¡¯ Young Masters were most likely safe and sound.

    That¡¯s for the best, that¡¯s for the best.

    They returned to gather money, feeling much more at ease.

    After watching them leave, Su Chen returned to his experiment chamber.

    Zhang Zhongyue was lying on a table. Upon seeing Su Chen walk in, his eyes revealed a panicked expression, but his mouth was still nted and was unable to say anything. He could only babble incoherently.

    Su Chen smiled at him and said, ¡°Congrattions, your n members came to find you. Right now they¡¯re gathering some money, and you should be able to leave very soon.¡±

    A trace of excitement shed across Zhang Zhongyue¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Wow, you still remember how to feel excitement! It seems like I haven¡¯t stimted your consciousness enough yet. You know, it¡¯s possible that this is all just a dream; you might be hallucinating because of the effects of a drug and this might not be real. You are under my control and you have no way of leaving. As for your n members, they are nothing but demons trying to obtain your trust and corrupt your intellect. Thus, you need to be strong and determined to protect yourself, understand?¡±

    Su Chen fed him a bottle of medicine as he gently continued, ¡°Remember, everything might be a dream, but your memories of Su Chen are not. He is destined to be the bane of your existence. Opposing him is like opposing fate. Any person who tries to coerce you to oppose Su Chen is just a demon...... a demon......¡±

    ¡°Demon...... demon......¡± Zhang Zhongyue squeezed out. His eyes were already beginning to roll into the back of his head as soon as the medicine entered his mouth.

    He passed out again. Large waves began to surface in his consciousness......

    ¡°Yes, a demon......¡± Su Chen gently said. A brilliant light appeared in his eyes.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 36: Clearing Rooms 1

    Chapter 36: Clearing Rooms (1)

    In the blink of an eye, a month had gone by.

    In that period of time, the five chief stewards hade to find Su Chen a few times, hoping to lower the ransom price or increase the time they had toe up with the money.

    Su Chen could dy the due date, but the money had to be exact.. After all, he wasn¡¯t busy and could wait.

    Su Chen was performing experiments on Bai Ou today like any other day.

    After feeding him a Bloodline Stimtion Medicine, Bai Ou¡¯s bloodline began to boil.

    Su Chen watched the Origin Energy in Bai Ou¡¯s body flow as he tried to mimic the movement.

    Su Chen¡¯s body suddenly trembled. A strange hum suddenly began to sound from his body.

    This hum began to pulsate within his body, giving those who heard a strange, indescribable sensation.

    The glow in Su Chen¡¯s eyes began to fade and was immediately reced by excitement.

    He seeded!

    He had finally seeded!

    In that instant, he had finally reached a breakthrough in the Empty Cry Thunder Spirit Bloodline. It became another bloodline that he had broken through, just like the Soaring Snake Bloodline.

    Unlike the Soaring Snake Bloodline, his breakthrough this time didn¡¯t depend on an Origin Substance containing herb. The Empty Cry Thunder Spirit was supernatural and didn¡¯t eat physical food. It nourished itself solely from absorbing lightning essence.

    Thus, Chen had been unable to find an appropriate Origin Substance, but he had seen the way it affected the human body. Thus, he was able to sessfully mimic it.

    The low hum just then was the result of his sessful mimicry. Although it couldn¡¯t injure anyone, that low hum was the foundation for the Bai n¡¯s thunder-type Origin Skills. The Empty Cry Thunder Explosion, for instance, was built upon that low hum. Now that he controlled it, Su Chen¡¯s Thunder de had be immensely more powerful, reaching the mixed bloodline limit.

    Although Bai Ou was from a Bloodline Nobility n, his bloodline had only been awakened to a limited extent, so his truebat prowess was only at the upper limit of someone with a mixed bloodline. This meant that Su Chen could use those Origin Skills about as well as Bai Ou could now.

    A momentter, Su Chen raised his hand and chopped through the air. The sound of thunder exploded forth right next to Bai Ou¡¯s ear.

    Bai Ou¡¯s consciousness was buffeted violently. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he passed out.

    ¡°Not bad!¡± Su Chen was extremely satisfied.

    Although the pure strength of the Thunder de was not at the level of the Erupting Firebird, it could be used in rapid session and it also affected an opponent¡¯s consciousness. When used in rapid session, its power was not lower than the Erupting Firebird.

    That was also to say that, following the Erupting Firebird and Clear Wind Net, Su Chen had obtained a third Origin Skillparable to Bloodline Origin Skills.

    Of course, they were onlyparable to Origin Skills frommon high-tier Demonic Beasts.

    The extent to which one has awakened a bloodline, as well as the tier and quality of that bloodline, determined the power of a Bloodline Origin Skill.

    After bing Shi Kaihuang¡¯s disciple, Su Chen had a clearer understanding of the power that individuals with bloodlines possessed. He knew that people like Bai Ou or even Ji Hanyan were far from being the strongest individuals on this continent. Those whose bloodlines were truly at the very peak were unimaginably powerful.

    The path towards breaking through bloodline restrictions was both weighty and long!

    Even so, strengthening the Thunder de was enough to make Su Chen very happy.

    ¡°Hmm, if I go to the Hundred Refinements Pavilion right now, I wonder how I¡¯ll do?¡± Su Chen wondered aloud.

    Now that his strength had increased, he naturally wanted to test it out. Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but think of going to the Hundred Refinements Pavilion.

    Why not go and test out his current strength?

    The same skinny student from before was still standing at the front desk of the Hundred Refinements Pavilion.

    That student still remembered Su Chen. Upon seeing him draw closer, he instantly became much more enthusiastic.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t waste too much time with him. He went straight for the fourth door.

    In the past half year, although he had been running experiments the entire time, he had still done the basics when it came to cultivation. The only thing he hadpletely given up on was raising his cultivation base. He was still in the fifthyer of Qi Drawing with fifty two Yellow Stars. It had not increased at all, but he controlled many more Origin Skills and was also much more familiar with all of them.

    After entering the fourth door, Su Chen reappeared in a barren desert again.

    He had yet to stabilize himself when four low-tier Vicious Beasts suddenly charged at him.

    The fourth room pitted Su Chen against four low-tier Vicious Beasts. Although he knew it was just an illusion, the ferocious aura they gave off was still quite frightening.

    If it had been before, Su Chen probably would¡¯ve made a strategic retreat in the face of four low-tier Vicious Beasts. However, he was not worried at all this time.

    He began to wave the de in his hand, stabbing out fourteen times. The de of light shed brightly, and the sound of thunder exploded forth, forming a massive wave of sound that surged forwards. The low-tier Vicious Beast in the lead howled as it was sent flying by the violent waves of sound. Even the three Vicious Beasts behind it let out pained whimpers; the Empty Cry Thunder Explosion had generated a soul attack that was hard for them to withstand. The illusions within the Hundred Refinements Pavilion were shockingly realistic. They were even able to simte the effect of consciousness-type attacks.

    The four Vicious Beasts began to whimper in pain from the Thunder de¡¯s attacks.

    However, they felt no fear from this pain. Rather, it intensified their savagery, and they simultaneously tilted their heads to the sky and howled.

    Immediately afterwards, one of them charged furiously towards Su Chen with a ferocious aura.

    Even when faced with simultaneous attacks from four beasts, Su Chen remained immovable like a mountain.

    In the exact moment when the four Vicious Beasts were close together, Su Chen suddenly let out a loud yell.

    ¡°HA!¡±

    Boom!

    His yell was like thunder, stopping the four Vicious Beasts in their tracks.

    At the same time, Su Chen drew his de.

    When he pulled his de, a streak of razor-sharp de light appeared, slicing through the four beasts like they were ethereal.

    When the de light subsided, the four beasts split in half, eventually dissolving into bits of light and disappearing.

    The upgraded Thunder de could defeat four beasts in one blow. It was already quite powerful.

    No new beasts appeared, so Su Chen returned to the main hall.

    After exiting, he discovered the he had only earned fifty contribution points. He remembered that the Hundred Refinements Temple considered the year of the student as well when giving contribution points. Every student would only earn 25 or 50 points forpleting the rooms ording to their year. The only way to earn additional points was to clear the rooms ahead of schedule.

    Because Su Chen was already a second year student, he received the standard fifty contribution points for clearing the fourth room. If he had taken two tries to clear it, he would¡¯ve earned half that.

    He had originally nned on clearing the fourth room before the end of the school year, but because he had been so busy it hadpletely slipped his mind.

    ¡°It seems that I won¡¯t earn extra points unless I jump levels. I¡¯ll try the fifth room,¡± Su Chen smiled.

    ¡°You can definitely do it,¡± the skinny studentughed.

    A mid-tier Vicious Beast appeared in the fifth room.

    Mid-tier Vicious Beasts were equivalent to genuine highyer Qi Drawing Realm cultivators. This implied that, in the Institute¡¯s eyes, even third-year students should possess strength roughly equivalent to a highyer Qi Drawing Realm cultivator.

    This criterion was not something normal people couldpare with.

    Su Chen had dealt with mid-tier Vicious Beasts before, but that was along with Iron Cliff and while Su Chen was fully armed.

    The Hundred Refinements Pavilion didn¡¯t allow any external aid, including Origin Tools or Talismans. In addition, because he was alone, the difficulty was much higher.

    Even so, Su Chen was still able to defeat his opponent.

    Defeating this Vicious Beast also officially indicated that Su Chen¡¯s strength had surpassed that of a highyer Qi Drawing Realm cultivator.

    In addition, this was the strength that a student of the Institute should possess ¨C students at the Hidden Dragon Institute usually were half a tier higher than mostmon people.

    After clearing that room, he obtained 100 contribution points.

    If he had waited until his third year to clear it, he would have only obtained 25 contribution points.

    Afterpleting the fifth room, Su Chen asked the skinny student whether any other second-year students had cleared the sixth room.

    The skinny student flipped through the record book before replying, ¡°Twenty-five already have.¡±

    Twenty-five second year students had already cleared the sixth room?

    Indeed, everyone was improving. No one could be underestimated.

    ¡°Do you know what¡¯s inside the sixth room?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°A low-tier and a mid-tier Vicious Beast.¡±

    Su Chen calcted his own strength as well as his battle abilities. He felt that he could use the Soul Eye and Soul-Fixation Technique to lock the mid-tier beast in ce before using the strengthened Erupting Firebird to quickly finish off the low-tier beast. Then, he could simply defeat the remaining mid-tier beast. Feeling reassured, Su Chen said, ¡°I¡¯ll take a shot at it.¡±

    The skinny student pped his hands and smiled, ¡°I knew you could do it.¡±

    Upon entering the room, however, Su Chen waspletely caught off-guard.

    That was because the ¡°mid-tier Vicious Beast¡± the skinny student had mentioned was actually from the Ferocious Race.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 37: Clearing Rooms

    Chapter 37: Clearing Rooms

    The Ferocious Race member that appeared in front of Su Chen was arge and burly man roughly two meters tall.

    This member of the Ferocious Race looked just like a pig in human form. He wore a tattered beast hide and had scars running all along his body. His naked upper body was extremely sturdy and muscr. He was bald and had two shockinglyrge buckteeth sticking out from his mouth.

    He also carried a massive battleaxe on his back. The battleaxe was covered with nicks and scars, but that didn¡¯t affect its killing aura at all.

    A ck cheetah was lying at the feet of this Ferocious Race member. That should be the low-tier Vicious Beast that was mentioned.

    Its jade-green eyes stared docilely at Su Chen, as if it were just a stray cat.

    Upon seeing this, Su Chen squeezed out, ¡°Dammit!¡±

    The Ferocious Race were a primitive and ferocious race. They possessed innately powerful physiques and their bodies were shaped like wild beasts. They usually had massive buckteeth and tall, thick bodies. Their temperaments were extremely explosive and vicious.

    ording to legends, the Ferocious Race were the offspring of mixed rtions between beasts and humans, but in reality it might be different.

    The Ferocious Race was a race that lived independently from other races, and they had their own unique pedigree. Although, like humans, they had four limbs and walked upright, this was merely amon manifestation by the path of evolution. Simr manifestations could be found in the Arcana Race, the Feathered Race, the Profound Race, the Green Race, etc.

    The Ferocious Race¡¯s internal anatomy, however, was very different from humans. They had two hearts, so if one was destroyed they could continue to live. Their life force was extremely powerful. Even if their brain was damaged, as long as it wasn¡¯t too severe, there was hope for them to recover.

    Their powerful life force was the Ferocious Race¡¯s greatest difference from other races. When their powerful strength and barbaric tendencies were taken into ount, it is no wonder why they were said to be built for offense.

    The Ferocious Race believed in and practiced the principle of the strong preying on the weak. They were once servants of Demonic Beasts (rted to Origin lifeforms), and they watched over the food flocks for them. Until the Chaotic Era, the Ferocious Race was always the loyal dogs of Origin lifeforms. Wang Doushan had called the Ferocious Race the ckeys and shepherds of the Beast Race¡± before ¨C that was not incorrect at all.

    Perhaps for this reason, the Ferocious Race was not liked by any of the other Intelligent Races. To many of them, if the Beast Race was their number one enemy, then the Ferocious Race wouldn¡¯t be far behind.

    When mentioning other Intelligent Races, most people would probably agree that they had their positive attributes.

    But when people mentioned the Ferocious Race, no matter what country, race, or whether there was a history of enmity, everyone all looked on them with disdain.

    The only difference was that some countries and races hated the Ferocious Race more than other countries and races did.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t care much about that. The most important thing to him at the moment was that the Ferocious Race were known for their tenacious wills.

    If the Ferocious Race was vicious and barbaric, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t mind as much. After all, these were just lifelike projections. The main issue was that the Ferocious Race also had incredibly tenacious wills.

    This implied that they would have an extreme ability to endure pain. Their powerful wills were the foundation for everything that they have achieved. They possessed a frightening amount of endurance, and they could continue to battle no matter how severe their wounds were. They possessed an innate resistance to pain.

    Of course, this didn¡¯t imply that they were more resistant to consciousness-type attacks than other people. However, their powerful will did indeed lower the effectiveness of a few lower-tier consciousness-type Origin Skills.

    Unfortunately, both Soul Eye and the Soul-Fixation technique were not very high-tier consciousness-type Origin Skills. Thus, their effectiveness against a Ferocious Race member was also decreased.

    Back then, when the Immortal Temple had given Su Chen the Soul Eye, the first sentence written on the manual was, ¡°This Origin Skill¡¯s effectiveness against a Ferocious Race member is 90% diminished.¡±

    What? 90%? Might as well saypletely ineffective.

    When Su Chen realized his opponent was someone from the Ferocious Race, he knew that his original battle n had been ruined.

    He could no longer temporarily stun the more powerful beast and kill the weaker one, but the battle still needed to be fought.

    In that instant, Su Chen instinctively activated the Soul Eye on the ck cheetah.

    The ck cheetah was instantly locked in ce by the Soul Eye. Simultaneously, the Ferocious Race member took the battleaxe from his back and charged forwards with a yell, shing towards Su Chen.

    At that moment, Su Chen discovered that he had made a mistake.

    The ck cheetah was stunned in ce, but the Ferocious Race had charged forwards. This was theplete opposite of Su Chen¡¯s original n. There was nothing Su Chen could do now but sh out with a Thunder de to defend himself.

    Boom!

    Su Chen was forced backwards by the powerful battleaxe, creating a massive explosion.

    This was still a Primitive Ferocious Race member. It had not yet been baptized in the Origin Energy Temple, so its ability to use Origin Energy was still very low. It was probably equivalent in strength to someone from the Cliff Race. However, its powerful physique made up for its innateck of talent, and the massive battleaxe carved out shockwaves as it traveled through the air. Each strike carried a wild, untamed aura. The Thunder dended on its body, but it only opened up a superficial wound.

    ¡°AWOO!¡± The Ferocious Race let out an earth-shattering howl, generating a turbulent flow of air around it. Then, it waved its battleaxe and continued charging forwards.

    It struck downwards!

    In that perilous moment, Su Chen¡¯s figure shed as he activated the Snaking Mist Steps. He took multiple steps, rapidly changing his direction in midair, and dodged the attack.

    The ck cheetah simultaneously pounced. Su Chen hit it with another Soul-Fixation technique, once again locking it in ce.

    Unexpectedly, the ck cheetah spit out an azure streak of sharp wind from within its mouth that rushed towards Su Chen¡¯s chest before the ck cheetah was locked into ce.

    Dammit! A camouged Sabertooth Tiger!

    Su Chen was so angry he almost cursed aloud.

    While the Sabertooth Tiger appeared fierce, it was actually a primarily long-ranged Vicious Beast, battling by constantly spitting out des of wind. The fact that it had pounced should not have been surprising. Even if Su Chen hadn¡¯t made a move, the tiger would not have actually gotten near him.

    The Ferocious Race member and the tiger made a great long-range and short-rangebination. Because Su Chen hadn¡¯t known that, he had lost two chances to make a move.

    The failure of his battle n had severe consequences. He had missed two opportunities to take the initiative, and now he was faced with a battleaxe hurling towards him. It crashed onto Su Chen¡¯s chest.

    Even though he had applied a barrier in time, the violent battleaxe stillnded squarely on his chest.

    The barrier shattered, and the battleaxe fell on Su Chen¡¯s body, generating a rainbow-colored ripple.

    This was how the Refinement Pavilion¡¯s system determined the extent of Su Chen¡¯s injury and whether it was enough to determine that he had failed.

    The result was clear. Su Chen had been ¡°gravely injured¡±.

    Su Chen felt his body freeze for a moment, as if a formless energy was suppressing his movements.

    This was the Refinement Pavilion¡¯s way of simting the effect of being gravely injured.

    One disaster after another.

    The Ferocious Race¡¯s battleaxe once again mmed down. Su Chen did his best to dodge, but the restriction ced on his movement slowed down the Snaking Mist Steps. Su Chen was forced to roll through the air to dodge the strike, but the Azure Fang de from the leopard stabbed into his thigh. Su Chen felt his leg grow heavy, and he had no way of moving it.

    He didn¡¯t give up. He rolled as soon as he hit the ground, but he saw a pair of thick legs charging towards him.

    The battleaxe was lifted into the air and then sliced downwards towards his throat.

    In the instant that it was about to cut through his throat, Su Chen¡¯s figure suddenly shed again, but this time he had seemingly disappeared into thin air.

    Whitetower Teleportation!

    Su Chen had finally be more familiar with this Ancient Arcana Technique that he had obtained more than two years ago.

    He viewed it as one of his greatest trump cards, but just a Ferocious Race member was enough to force his hand.

    After appearing behind the Ferocious Race member, Su Chen raised both his hands releasing a powerful st of energy from them.

    Countless streaks of white light appeared in the air, forming bullet after bullet, mming into the Sabertooth Tiger.

    Origin Energy Bullets!

    Another Ancient Arcana Technique.

    This Ancient Arcana Technique was extremely powerful. The white light surged like a wave, lighting up the entire sky. When they mmed into the sabertooth, it instantly disintegrated into motes of light.

    The Ferocious Race behind him charged forwards, once again waving its battleaxe in the air.

    Su Chen had no time to turn around.

    Thus, he directly charged forwards.

    He resisted the effect applied from his ¡°gravely injured¡± status and charged forwards as fast as he could, just like thest struggles of a man about to die.

    The battleaxe charged towards the back of Su Chen¡¯s head, giving him an immense sensation of pressure.

    Yes, pressure!

    Even though it was just an illusion, Su Chen still felt heavily pressured.

    Because he didn¡¯t want to lose!

    Losing here was equivalent to dying!

    If this had been the battlefield, then Su Chen would¡¯ve already died.

    For a life-and-death battle, he needed to use all of his strength.

    He couldn¡¯t just give up just because it was an illusion.

    Even in this very moment, when Su Chen was facing extreme difficulty, he maintained his calm.

    He furiously sprinted, attempting to stall for time.

    The massive battleaxe drew near his head.

    Just as it was about to strike again, Su Chen suddenly turned around and raised his hand.

    The battleaxended directly onto his arm.

    Bang!

    The illusion determined that Su Chen¡¯s arm had been cut through by the battle axe, and it flew into the air.

    Another shapeless force appeared,pletely immobilizing Su Chen¡¯s right arm so that he couldn¡¯t move it. The illusion even generated intense pain, affecting his focus.

    However, Su Chen gritted his teeth and kept moving as if the pain didn¡¯t exist.

    Although his arm had been crippled, his attempt at defense had not been in vain.

    The battleaxe had been restricted by it. More importantly, an invisible had appeared in front of Su Chen after he lifted his hand.

    The Ferocious Race member charged forwards, and the sound of something tearing rang through the air.

    Another nce at the Ferocious Race revealed that its body was covered in cuts resulting from the formless.

    The illusion determined that the Ferocious Race had been injured and lowered its speed correspondingly.

    The Ferocious Race member¡¯s footsteps slowed, and its battleaxe cleaved through empty air as it narrowly missed Su Chen.

    Su Chen had sessfully avoided the most dangerous attack.

    Su Chen leapt into the air with a yell, using his only remaining arm to form a strengthened Erupting Firebird which mmed into the Ferocious Race.

    Boom!

    The massive firebird mmed onto the Ferocious Race member¡¯s body, sending it flying.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t stop attacking. He kicked his feet through the air, causing streaks of light to shoot out from them towards his opponent.

    He used his foot as a de!

    The razor-sharp Thunder de pursued the Ferocious Race member, creating an even more vicious wound. The Ferocious Race member howled and fell to the ground in a heap, motionless.

    Su Chen let out a sigh of relief, but he had just regained his bnce when the Ferocious Race member suddenly jumped upright, hacking towards Su Chen with the battleaxe in his hand.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t anticipated this turn of events. He knew that he had no time to dodge it, so he could only use his left hand to block it.

    Bang!

    The battleaxe sliced through Su Chen¡¯s left hand, which dissolved into motes of light. Su Chen¡¯s left arm was once again physically restricted, indicating that his left arm had also been crippled.

    The Ferocious Race member pounced again, charging towards Su Chen with a savage howl.

    Would a real Ferocious Race member really be able to survive a strengthened Erupting Firebird and repeated Thunder de attacks?

    Su Chen had his doubts, but at that moment the Ferocious Race member he was facing had seemingly ignored all of his attacks, yet both of Su Chen¡¯s arms had been crippled. He had no way of using his Origin Skills, and there was no way for him to continue battling.

    Should he just give up here?

    A flinty gaze appeared in Su Chen¡¯s eyes upon seeing the Ferocious Race charge forwards.

    He murmured, ¡°My body has also been tempered before.¡±

    He lowered his head and let out a primal cry as he charged towards the Ferocious Race, leaving behind multiple afterimages.

    Bang!

    The two of them collided in midair. The Ferocious Race¡¯s hand wrapped around Su Chen¡¯s neck. Although it was an illusory being, the strength it possessed seemed real. Su Chen felt as if he were about to pass out, but hepletely ignored it and forcefully bit at the Ferocious Race¡¯s neck, tearing at it savagely.

    The two of them tangled together madly, rolling around on the ground as they tore into each other.

    Su Chen used his forehead and his feet. Hepletely abandoned all of his tactics, instead using every limb of his body to attack.

    Slowly, Su Chen felt the strength ebbing from his limbs.

    He had no more strength to fight, and he could only rx his grip as hey on the ground. The whole world seemed to go blurry before him.

    Was he doomed to be defeated anyways?

    What a pity, he sighed internally.

    He had expended so much effort, but in the end he had still lost. He really had been too overconfident.

    He was just thinking this to himself when he suddenly saw the Ferocious Race member sway slightly. The fist headed for him suddenly paused, and then the Ferocious Race member fell backwards.

    It remainedpletely still.

    It died?

    Su Chen was caught off-guard.

    As if answering Su Chen¡¯s question, the Ferocious Race member dissolved into motes of white light, which gradually disappeared.

    A monotone voice spoke next to his ear, ¡°Sessfully cleared the room.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 38: Entering the Dreamrealm 1

    Chapter 38: Entering the Dreamrealm (1)

    Su Chen hobbled out of the room, breathless and without energy.

    The skinny student was dazed by Su Chen¡¯s nearly exhausted appearance

    Many students came to clear different rooms, but not many came out of the rooms looking half-dead.

    How much energy did you use clearing that room?

    Su Chenughed dryly.

    It was a happiness borne from achieving victory after fighting with all of his strength.

    It was a sess borne from never giving up!

    No matter the time or circumstances, he would not give up!

    This was exactly the kind of person Su Chen was!

    Of course, the battle from today had opened Su Chen¡¯s eyes to many of the faults that existed with his battle style.

    He had not been prepared enough for his opponent, his thinking had been somewhat idealistic, he had been too self-confident, and he didn¡¯t adapt quickly enough. This was an experience that would make him more cautious in the future.

    After all, this ce was only an illusion. If this had been on a real battle, even if he had won, he would¡¯ve be a cripple.

    Clearing that room gave Su Chen 150 contribution points. When adding on the 150 that he had from before, he had 300 in total.

    With these 300 contribution points, he could finally do something that he had wanted to do for quite some time ¨C enter the Dreamrealm.

    It costed 200 contribution points to go from Tier 8 preferential treatment to Tier 7. After ranking up, Su Chen¡¯s identity card sent him a notification: ¡°Detected that the target of preferential treatment is already registered within the Dreamrealm. Do you want to activate an imprint?¡±

    Su Chen confirmed the activation. He felt a strange power flow through his body, as if something hot was coursing through him.

    However, when Su Chen activated his ability to see Origin Energy, he discovered that there were no changes in his body.

    This burning sensation only existed on his consciousness. His brain was telling him that his body was warm, but in reality nothing was happening.

    Next, Su Chen felt the flow of energy gather on the back of his left hand, slowly forming a smoky symbol.

    Su Chen was stunned.

    Just like before, his eyes didn¡¯t notice any abnormal energy flows in his body, and he didn¡¯t see any special substance aggregating. However, this symbol had still appeared on his hand.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that his eyes could see Origin Energy, he might not have discovered the profundities involved.

    Was this a unique characteristic of the Mirage Dreamrealm?

    Was it using the consciousness to substantiate otherwise ethereal objects?

    Su Chen gazed at the strange symbol on the back of his hand. It looked somewhat simr to the small spirit that had snuck its way into his body earlier.

    As the symbol continued to form, a wave of information entered Su Chen¡¯s consciousness. It was detailed instructions on how to enter and exit the Dreamrealm.

    With this symbol on the back of his hand, Su Chen could enter and exit the Dreamrealm.

    However, when entering the Dreamrealm, he would fall into an unconscious state, so he would need to choose a safe location.

    Upon discovering this point, Su Chen returned to the Origin Energy Tower.

    After returning to his room, Su Chenid down and followed the prompts of information that had entered his brain. He concentrated his attention on the symbol on the back of his hand. Slowly, the symbol began to change as it constantly revolved. Finally, it formed a whirlpool which began to emanate a powerful sucking force, pulling Su Chen¡¯s consciousness in.

    In that moment, Su Chen felt as if he had begun to float.

    He revolved around the whirlpool, feeling as if he was a small bird soaring through clouds.

    Suddenly, he was ejected from the whirlpool. He snapped his eyes open wide.

    He discovered that he was standing underneath a brilliantly-colored sky. The sky was filled with rainbow-colored clouds shining with mottled light. The ground beneath him was covered withrge swaths of grass.

    Off in the distance, arge castle stood.

    A white ball of light was suspended above the castle, emanating strange energy in all directions as it slowly revolved.

    Su Chen was staring in amazement when he suddenly heard a voice say, ¡°Hey, neer.¡±

    Who was talking?

    Su Chen looked around, but he couldn¡¯t find a single person.

    The voice seemed to be slightly displeased. It said, ¡°Where are you looking? I¡¯m here, here!¡±

    He followed the voice downwards, only to discover a blue butterfly floating up and down in midair. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that between therge blue wings was a small maiden.

    The small maiden was wearing a tight and revealing light-blue dress. She wore a pair of short blue sandals that revealed her bare feet. A beautiful flower hoop was weaved on her middle finger on her right hand.

    She had short blue hair, a pair of sharp ears,rge eyes, and a small mouth.

    She was extremely cute.

    ¡°You were the one talking to me?¡± Su Chen said, still in a daze.

    He had never seen a lifeform like that before.

    ¡°Of course!¡± The young maiden huffed as she ced her hands on her hips. ¡°I am your guide, Dream Spirit Lulu. Follow me.¡±

    She flew a circle in the air before heading for the castle.

    Su Chen was about to follow her when he discovered that something wasn¡¯t quite right. He realized that he was floating in midair.

    Because he was floating, he had no way of walking.

    ¡°Hey, wait a moment. What do I do?¡± Su Chen yelled at the Dream Spirit. ¡°I can¡¯t walk.¡±

    ¡°So fly over!¡± Dream Spirit Lulu replied.

    Su Chen wanted to reply that he didn¡¯t know how to fly, but after thinking about it briefly, he concentrated on floating forwards. His body then started to move forwards unsteadily.

    A trace of surprise flitted across Lulu¡¯s face. She nodded in approval. ¡°You learn quite fast. Remember, this is the Dreamrealm. In the Dreamrealm, what you think will be real.¡±

    Although it was somewhat unsteadily, Su Chen had still begun to fly forwards.

    He focused on controlling his own body. More precisely, he was controlling his thoughts as he followed the Dream Spirit towards the castle.

    As they drew near the castle, Su Chen began to realize that it really was extremely massive.

    It looked like a city that was filled with imagination. Tall towers were densely packed everywhere, and the streets were made of rainbows that shed beautifully. Squirrels and cats pulled carriages through the sky. A pair of human-like statues bowed as they drew near, and glowing snails were hung from stone poles to serve as street lights......

    This strange scenepletely astonished Su Chen. The Dream Spirit leading him was already speaking, ¡°You are currently in the Dreamrealm created by the Lord of the Dreamrealm. Because it links together everyone who has the appropriate authority, it is also called the Drea. This illusory castle is a node in the Drea called Node 124. You can activate your privileges as a member of the Drea here. However, before that you need to select an identity for yourself.¡±

    ¡°Call me...... Cloud Bat.¡± Su Chen remembered an event from the past. ¡°Right, what can I do here?¡±

    ¡°Okay, Cloud Bat, your name has been registered. In the future, when you enter and exit the Drea, this will be your identity. Your instructor should have told you already that the Drea is mostly used as an information transaction hub. If you have any information that you need to investigate or a message to send, you can do all of that here. However, all messages will only be sent if a price is paid. Of course, you can also sell messages to obtain money. ording to the rules, the Lord of the Dreamrealm will take a transaction fee of 5% from every exchange.¡±

    ¡°So how do I pay? Don¡¯t tell me that it¡¯s Origin Stones,¡± Su Chen asked.

    Since they were in the Dreamrealm, things with real substance were not of any use here.

    ¡°Consciousness power!¡± The Dream Spirit replied. ¡°Every life form has consciousness power. By using your consciousness power, you can form these things.¡±

    The Dream Spirit reached her hand out. A shiny and glimmering quicksilver like droplet of water slowly appeared in front of Su Chen.

    ¡°These are Dream Droplets, the currency used in the Drea. You will need to expend your own consciousness power to form them. Under normal circumstances, a beginner Qi Drawing Realm cultivator needs an entire day to condense one, so it¡¯s roughly equivalent to a low-grade Origin Stone in value. However, the amount of consciousness power one possesses is not directly rted to one¡¯s cultivation base, so some low-tier Origin Qi Schrs may possess strong consciousness power. Thus, it¡¯s hard to say how quickly you will form one.¡±

    Su Chen understood now.

    Dream Droplets were basically the same as Origin Stones. Both were a form of currency that the Origin Qi Schrs themselves could produce.

    Origin Stones contained Origin Energy, and Dream Droplets contained consciousness power.

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s goal in constructing the Drea was probably to gather these Dream Droplets, or consciousness energy.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know much about the Dreamrealm or its master, but from just hearing his name, Su Chen could imagine that he was probably some unfathomable existence in terms of consciousness power. His level of strength was clearly shown in his ability to singlehandedly create such awork that connected countless people.

    However, to Su Chen that was still a distant reality. Right now, he was still focused on trying to understand this ce and determine what kinds of opportunities were avable to him here.

    Dream Spirit Lulu led him to a wide and spacious room within the castle.

    In line with the entire Dreamrealm¡¯s style, the room was brilliantly colored, the colors dazzlingly radiant.

    There were also a few people in the room. They stood inside therge room, watching something on the screen. However, their faces were blurred, and it was impossible to identify them.

    This was the Dreamrealm. Unless the other party wanted to reveal themselves, everyone could choose to conceal their faces.

    The Dream Spirit continued to speak. ¡°This is the Dreamrealm Castle¡¯s Hall of Information. Everyday,rge quantities of information are exchanged here. Some of them are public, such as the ones at the very top.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s gaze drifted upwards. He saw a few pieces of information flitting around atop the screen.

    ¡°Traces of a Silverwing Demon Emperor have been sighted in Takarun.¡±

    ¡°The Dark Pestilence has engulfed the Sleepless Fort.¡±

    ¡°Eternal Night Banishing Light deres that Flying Spirit City will be rebuilt. The Primordial Chaos Tower has shifted towards the western border. Many cities are warning of an impending battle.¡±

    ¡°The List of Heroes has been updated. Chu Shangu defeated Feng Zhuying at the Endless Peaks. He advances to 37th ce on the List of Heroes.¡±

    Below the public information were more specific pieces of information that could be essed for a fee.

    One piece of information was worth one Dream Droplet.

    If that was too expensive, one could also make monthly payments: 100 Dream Droplets were enough to gain unlimited ess to all the public announcements and news for the entire month.

    ¡°These are all public notices. If you have a more specific inquiry, you can go to the room on the left. There will be a special Dream Spirit to help you. As long as you tell the Dream Spirit what you want to know, the Dream Spirit will give you a price for the information you want. Of course, not all the information you want will be avable. If that¡¯s the case, you can post a reward for an answer,¡± Dream Spirit Lulu continued to exin.

    ¡°So the room on the right is used for offering rewards for specific inquiries?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Smart!¡± The Dream Spirit flew around in a circle, as if dancing in midair. She then flew in front of Su Chen and said, ¡°We will now go to the Hall of Knowledge.¡±

    Su Chen followed closely behind the Dream Spirit. They quickly arrived at another spacious room.

    Once again, a few public announcements and news were at the top of the screen.

    The notices were as such: ¡°The unique effects of twelve different Origin Energy Talismans on Metal Lotus Terraces¡±, ¡°The different effects of ckwater Demon Bone in powder and liquid form¡±, and ¡°A fourth method for constructing a Moo Origin Formation¡±.

    Just like in the Hall of Information, most of the knowledge here required a price to be paid in order to be essed. What was different, however, was that there was no monthly bundle that was avable. Every piece of knowledge needed to be paid for individually. After studying the knowledge, one could even give it a score based on how useful it was. The higher a piece of knowledge¡¯s score, the more it would sell.

    There were also a few pieces of knowledge that werepletely free and required no extra fee. This, however, depended on the person making the information avable.

    ¡°All knowledge rted to Origin Energy is split between offering a bounty and providing a solution. You only need to enter the appropriate room on the sides. You can also find answers for any questions you may have about Origin Energy cultivation, alchemy, Origin Formation studies, Ancient Arcana Techniques, and a few other smaller categories. The Drea contains geniuses from every corner of the continent, and all knowledge can be exchanged in this location,¡± Dream Spirit Lulu proimed with a hint of pride.

    ¡°Okay, got it. Is there anything else I should know?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Of course. Come with me to the Hall of Missions.¡± The Dream Spirit once again brought Su Chen to a spacious room.

    However, this room had way more people than the other rooms.

    ¡°This is the busiest area of the Drea, the Hall of Missions. The Primordial Continent is veryrge, so often the things we want are in very faraway ces. However, the Drea¡¯s Hall of Missions avoids that issue. For instance, if you want to obtain a unique item from a certain faraway location, you can create a mission here and ask someone to obtain it for you.¡±

    ¡°Is this like the missions in the Institute that reward contribution points?¡± Su Chen murmured to himself.

    The Hidden Dragon Institute also had missions that the students couldplete to earn contribution points.

    ¡°No, they¡¯re very different. The Institute¡¯s missions are usually limited to the Institute itself, while the Drea¡¯s missions cover the entire Primordial Continent. It has a wider range, more missions, and greater rewards.¡±

    ¡°So it¡¯s also more dangerous,¡± Su Chen coldly supplemented.

    Su Chen only needed to take a quick nce at the missions board to see requests like, ¡±Find three Ghostherbs from Death Canyon¡±, ¡°Kill an Ancient Demon in the Devil Altar¡±, etc. Most of the missions were incredibly dangerous and life-threatening.

    Of particr note was that apart from a few missions that asked for certain goods, most of the missions were killing missions.

    Su Chen asked, ¡°Why are there so many assassination missions?¡±

    The Dream Spirit replied, ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? Doing business like this is easier.¡±

    Although missions could be posted here without being location-restricted, requesting certain items ¨C for example, unique medicinal herbs ¨C over an incredibly long distance could result in the loss of those items while they were being delivered.

    Assassinations were different. As long as the target died and their corpse was imaged by a particr Origin Formation Disk, they could directly provide evidence of the killing through the Drea. The Lord of the Dreamrealm would ensure the truthfulness of the report. If the target had been killed, the mission would bepleted, and themissioner would simply pay the agreed-upon amount of Dream Droplets. If another form of currency was desired, one could also use a local exchange to exchange Origin Stones into Dream Droplets.

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm had many such exchanges setups all over the main world. The Hidden Dragon Institute was one of those locations.

    This implied that this Hall of Missions was, in the end, mainly a ce for assassination requests due to the limitations on the transport of goods.

    Countless assassins were epting missions in this ce.

    Something to note was that to the side of thisrge hall, there was arge list with names of assassins. The list ranked the thousand assassins in the Drea and provide a corresponding price for their services.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 39: Entering the Dreamrealm 2

    Chapter 39: Entering the Dreamrealm (2)

    Apart from the threerge halls for information, knowledge, and missions, the Dreamrealm Castle had a few other services avable.

    There was a Hall of Competition for Origin Qi Schrs to engage in theoreticalbat.

    Origin Qi Schrs could also find all kinds of amusement and entertainment. The best services were provided here. Although the services were all illusory, the feeling they gave was very real. Origin Qi Schrs coulde to lose themselves in pleasure after a long day of cultivation. Here, nothing wascking.

    There were many sources of pleasure in the Dreamrealm that Origin Qi Schrs could freely use to amuse themselves. Su Chen had personally tried some of them out. He sat inside an imperial temple and watched fairy-like women sing and dance. Many of these pleasures simply couldn¡¯t be found in the real world.

    It wasn¡¯t important whether these kinds of audiovisual pleasures were real or not. Thus, in the Dreamrealm, they had developed to an extreme.

    It could be said that in the dream realm, there were only things that one couldn¡¯t imagine, not things that one couldn¡¯t see.

    In a certain sense, amusement and pleasure was the main use of the Dreamrealm. Information and knowledge were secondary.

    In any case, although this ce was simply an illusorywork, there were many things that could be done here. As Su Chen followed behind the Dream Spirit, he felt his horizons being broadened.

    ¡°Is it possible to cultivate here?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°This is the Dreamrealm. Apart from information, it is impossible to change anything that is real. Thus, cultivating in this ce wouldn¡¯t result in any physical changes to your body,¡± Lulu replied.

    Su Chen thought for a moment and then said, ¡°What if it was an Origin Skill that didn¡¯t require any physical change? Such as an Ancient Arcana Technique.¡±

    Dream Spirit Lulu giggled while covering her mouth. ¡°What a clever guest. Very few people discover the hidden value of the Drea so early. You¡¯re right! The Drea is very good for cultivating Ancient Arcana Techniques. Many Origin Qi Schrs who cultivate Ancient Arcana Techniques like cultivating here. However......¡±

    A mischievous and crafty expression appeared on her face.

    ¡°However, what?¡± Even though he knew that what wasing might be a trap, Su Chen still couldn¡¯t help but jump in headfirst.

    ¡°If you want to cultivate Ancient Arcana Techniques, you will be limited by an insufficient amount of Origin Energy.

    Su Chen was stunned. ¡°Isn¡¯t this the Dreamrealm, where thingse into being through one¡¯s imagination? How can there be an insufficient supply of Origin Energy?¡±

    If there was an insufficiency in Origin Energy, there wasn¡¯t much of a point in cultivating Origin Skills in the Drea.

    ¡°The creation of a world requires setting up certain rules. The existence of rules allows the realm to continue to exist. A world with absolute freedom does not exist. Even in a ce like the Dreamrealm, there must be restrictions for there to be order. This ce already contains a ce forpetition. If the amount of Origin Energy was unlimited, then there would be no fairness to speak of when ites topeting. Thus, when the Lord of the Dreamrealm created the Dreamrealm, all of the Origin Qi Schrs received a restriction on the Origin Energy avable to them so that everything is closer to reality. Of course, since this is an illusory realm, there should be some conveniences avable. For instance, in the Hall of Competition, Origin Qi Schrs who have expended too much energy but want to immediately resume battle, regardless of whether they won or lost, can request for their Origin Energy to be replenished. The Hall of Competition can then restore the Origin Energy they expended. Of course, there is a fee associated. The same goes for being injured. If you are severely wounded, but you don¡¯t want to wait for the wound to naturally heal, you can request elerated healing. The Drea will charge different fees depending on the severity of the injury.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re saying that the amount of Origin Energy is intentionally bottlenecked to profit off of it more easily?¡± Su Chen began to understand.

    The Dream Spirit covered her mouth and giggled, ¡°There¡¯s no need to put it so bluntly. The Hall of Competition and the cultivation arena themselves are free to ess. Without services that charged fees, how could the Drea continue to exist? And how would all of us Dream Spirits continue to survive?¡±

    Su Chen was speechless. ¡°Fine. So how is the recovery fee calcted?¡±

    ¡°Every Dream Droplet can recover an amount of Origin Energy simr to ten low-grade Origin Stones. How about that? Pretty cheap, right?¡±

    That really was quite cheap.

    But if this restriction didn¡¯t exist in the first ce, who would need to recover their Origin Energy here?

    This was basically equivalent to trading one real penny for ten fake ones.

    Even so, to Su Chen this was still a pretty good location. At the very least, he had found a ce that was more suitable for him to cultivate Ancient Arcana Techniques.

    But to achieve this, Su Chen first needed to possess a few Dream Droplets.

    ¡°Guest, you were registered from the Hidden Dragon Institute. If you don¡¯t want to spend time making or earning Dream Droplets, you can use Origin Stones to exchange for them directly inside the Hidden Dragon Institute,¡± the Dream Spirit reminded him.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need. I want to see if I can earn some on my own first,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Which hall would you like to go to?¡±

    ¡°Take me to the Hall of Knowledge,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Knowledge?¡± The Dream Spirit couldn¡¯t help but bite her lip.

    The Hall of Knowledge contained mostly advanced, high-level knowledge. Knowledge that could be easily found in most books would not be circted inside this hall.

    It could be said that every tidbit of knowledge within the Hall of Knowledge possessed its own originality and would be hard toe by in the outside world.

    Of course, new knowledge might not necessarily be worth much. For instance, a fourth method of eating a Golden-Patterned Crab or the use of Silverthread Sandalwood as a fertilizer could all be considered original knowledge, but they weren¡¯t worth much.

    But even the cheapest tidbits of knowledge were not something that a student at the Qi Drawing Realm could easily understand.

    Inparison, most neers earned Dream Droplets in the Hall of Information by selling a few pieces of information or news. Of course, the price would be much lower.

    They could even visit the Hall of Missions as ast resort. If they were lucky, they might find one or two simple assassination missions.

    Of course, as Su Chen¡¯s guide, the Dream Spirit had to remain courteous. Thus, she did not say any words of opposition.

    She brought Su Chen to the Hall of Information again.

    Su Chen drew near to the hall¡¯s bounty list. All kinds of questions were hung from it.

    Su Chen was almost overwhelmed by all the different kinds of strange and fantastical questions on the list..

    Some asked about Demonic Beasts, some asked about cultivation, some asked about Origin Energy Formations or alchemy, and still others asked about local conditions and cultural customs. There truly was a myriad of questions.

    Origin Qi Schrs who knew the answers could provide them. After the answers had been verified, they could receive their payment.

    Su Chen looked through the questions diligently. He quickly selected one of the questions.

    ¡°What substitution positions are possible for the Light Revolution Talisman? Excluding the four positions that are already known, twenty Dream Droplets will be rewarded for every additional position that is provided as thanks.¡±

    Su Chen nced it over, then asked the Dream Spirit, ¡°If I want to provide an answer for this question, what do I do?¡±

    ¡°Remember the question number. Go to the right room and provide the answer and then wait for them to verify your answer. Do you really know the answer? If you are just randomly guessing, you will be fined if your answer doesn¡¯t sessfully go through.¡± Dream Spirit Lulu was somewhat curious.

    It was quite rare for a Qi Drawing Realm student to be able to answer a question within the Hall of Knowledge.

    ¡°I know two positions,¡± Su Chen faintly replied. He entered the room to the right.

    Two? Lulu suddenly felt dizzy.

    He knew two additional positions?

    When Su Chen reemerged, his 38 Dream Droplets had been deposited into his Dreamrealm insignia. Two of the droplets had been relinquished as a tax of sorts.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t stop there. He continued to search for questions that he could answer.

    He very quickly discovered a few more. After answering them, he had earned nearly two hundred Dream Droplets.

    Su Chen was quite satisfied with his haul. ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem very difficult to earn money here.¡±

    This was his first time earning money in such a simple fashion. Although two hundred Dream Droplets were not much, the Dreamrealm was not the real world, and there weren¡¯t really many ces that he could spend it. These two hundred Dream Droplets were sufficient for him to obtain two thousand low-grade Origin Stones to support his cultivation of Ancient Arcana Techniques.

    Lulu was stunned into silence by Su Chen.

    It was not impossibly difficult to earn money within the Drea, but it also depended on the person.

    To most neers, there wouldn¡¯t be much of an opportunity for them to disy their abilities. Diligently using their consciousness power to form Dream Droplets was usually the path they chose to earn money. Most of the Dream Droplets that existed within the Drea were formed by neers.

    The Dream Spirit no longer saw Su Chen in amon light after he had obtained two hundred Dream Droplets in such short order.

    ¡°So what do we do now?¡± The Dream Spirit asked excitedly.

    ¡°Do you even need to ask? Of course we¡¯ll be spending it.¡±

    Su Chen walked towards the room on the left side, wrote a few question on it, and hung them up.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 40: Nightmare

    Chapter 40: Nightmare

    Upon opening his eyes, Su Chen saw that it was already light out.

    A night of beautiful dreams!

    Within the Dreamrealm, Su Chen was unable find the answers that he was looking for. Too few people were taking the path that he was, and he could only rely on himself to answer his own questions.

    Aftering out empty-handed, Su Chen cultivated for a bit within the Dreamrealm. He also crammed for the studies that he had neglected, particrly the Origin Energy Bullets and Whitetower Teleportation. He had learned these two Origin Skills quite a long time ago, but he had never familiarized himself with them because of theck of time.

    If he had a higher mastery of the Whitetower Teleportation earlier, perhaps clearing the sixth room wouldn¡¯t have been as much of a hassle.

    Of course, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t look back on things that had already happened. Every lesson he had learned was extremely valuable.

    An entire night of cultivation had allowed Su Chen¡¯s Ancient Arcana Techniques to improve by leaps and bounds. The Dreamrealm was truly a good ce for cultivating not only his Ancient Arcana Techniques, but also his calctions and the various experiments he wanted to perform. It had basically doubled the amount of time he could use.

    From this day onwards, Su Chen would attend sses and cultivate his contemporary Origin Skills during the day. At night, he would enter the Dreamrealm to practice Ancient Arcana Techniques.

    Another half of a month went by. The five chief stewards had finally pooled together enough money.

    The delivery of 250,000 Origin Stones greatly improved Su Chen¡¯s mood.

    He could now buyrge quantities of ingredients again.

    However, there was always a hidden sense of unwillingness that came with giving up experimental subjects.

    Whatever. In any case, he had pretty much done everything he could to their bodies, and if he lost them, that was that. Shi Kaihuang was worried that Su Chen would sink into a vicious cycle of experimenting on humans; thus, Su Chen decided to live quietly for a period of time to demonstrate to Shi Kaihuang that he wasn¡¯t obsessed.

    Only by thinking in such a way was Su Chen able to resign himself to part with his beloved experimental subjects.

    The exchange was set to be in a small forest in the Falling Eagle Mountain ¨C since Su Chen had captured them from the outside, the exchange naturally couldn¡¯t take ce within the tower.

    The five chief stewards werete to the exchange. By the time they arrived at the agreed-upon location, they found Bai Ou and the others sitting dumbly on arge stone.

    They originally thought that when Bai Ou and the others saw them, they would react with excitement and even curse them out for waiting so long to save them. Unexpectedly, the five Young Masters didn¡¯t even seem to react upon seeing their chief stewards.

    Their gazes were confused andckluster. There was no anticipation or excitement that their chief stewards were there. They tilted their heads upwards before turning to gaze elsewhere.

    ¡°Young Master!¡±

    The five chief stewards charged forwards as they yelled, each grabbing hold of their own n¡¯s Young Master.

    ¡°Young Master, what¡¯s happened to you?¡± the Yu n¡¯s Chief Steward hugged Yu Zhen as he yelled.

    Yu Zhen nced at him expressionlessly before continuing to sit there in a daze.

    The other four were in a simr condition.

    Chief Steward Yu howled in rage, ¡°Su Chen, get out here! What did you do to our ns¡¯ Young Masters?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t get so excited. They were just knocked around a little bit, so they are behaving apathetically. Give it a few days and they should be back to normal.¡± Su Chen appeared in front of them as he spoke with a gentle smile, holding a small pendant in his hand.

    The chief stewards turned their furious gazes on Su Chen. Chief Steward Bai said in a low voice, ¡°Su Chen, we will be the ones to determine what you¡¯ve done to our ns¡¯ Young Masters. One day or another, those torments willnd upon your own head!¡±

    ¡°Is this how you begin your negotiations?¡± Su Chen replied carelessly. ¡°Indeed, the ve bears the same temperament as the master.¡±

    ¡°So what? Su Chen, are you going to try to take them back with you right in front of our faces?¡± Chief Steward Zhang harrumphed.

    In truth, as chief stewards of Bloodline Nobility ns, they all had quite high cultivation bases. Each one of them was a Qi Drawing Realm cultivator who had awakened their bloodline. Su Chen was alone facing ten of them. Even if their Young Masters were unable to make a move, the chief stewards were confident that they could defeat Su Chen in a five-on-one battle. The reason why they had arrivedte was because they had scouted out the surroundings beforehand to prevent Su Chen from trying anything funny. Only after determining that there was no additional setup did they appear.

    The killing intent in their hearts rose as they stared at Su Chen. They were already beginning to secretly signal one another with their eyes.

    Su Chen casually replied, ¡°You¡¯re making me look like a viin! How could I snatch my ssmates from their own n members? I already told you, they were roughed up a bit during their travels and their consciousnesses are still recovering, but they¡¯ll recover soon. If you don¡¯t believe me, look for yourself......¡±

    He lifted the small pendant in his hand.

    Everyone present nced at the pendant. The pendant was in the shape of a six-sided star. It slowly swayed back and forth on the chain.

    As they gazed at the swaying pendant, they felt their consciousnesses slowly drifting.

    Chief Steward Yu was the most powerful one. He had a cultivation base in the highyers of Qi Drawing and was one step away from reaching the Blood Boiling Realm. The strength of his consciousness was also the highest.

    In the moment that his consciousness wavered, he immediately detected that something was wrong. He yelled, ¡°Something¡¯s not right! That pendant is not normal! Don¡¯t look at it!¡±

    Just as the five chief stewards were reigning in their consciousnesses, they suddenly felt a sharp pain at their backs.

    ¡°AHH!¡±

    The five chief stewards suddenly stumbled forwards as a fountain of blood spurted forth from their backs.

    When they turned around, they found Bai Ou, Yu Zhen, Bai Yihong and the others all holding daggers in their hands, staring at them coldly.

    The five of them never would have even considered that their own Young Masters would retaliate against them. After taking a closer look at their Young Masters¡¯ eyes, which were staring daggers at them, they finally realized that their Young Masters were being controlled. The pendant¡¯s true target was not them, but their Young Masters.

    The five chief stewards yelled, ¡°Su Chen, you¡¯re despicable!¡±

    Su Chen gazed at them coldly. ¡°Your fate has been determined by your own hand.¡±

    If the five chief stewards hadn¡¯t intended on killing him, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t have used this tactic to deal with them.

    But since they wanted to kill him, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t sit still and wait for it to happen.

    Everyst resort that Su Chen had prepared was only put into y by the decisions of his opponents. If possible, Su Chen would have preferred to avoid this oue.

    Su Chen continued to gently sway the pendant in his hand as he said, ¡°Wipe out the nightmares in your hearts.¡±

    This was the Bewitching Technique that Jin Ling¡¯er had taught him. However, it was nowhere near as powerful as the Jin n¡¯s Bloodline Origin Skills. First, he needed to control the targets and then constantly exert his influence on them. In addition, he also needed a special object toplete his control over them.

    Even though it wasn¡¯t particrly well-suited for battle, to Su Chen it was already enough.

    Under the direction of Su Chen¡¯s pendant, Bai Ou and the others charged towards their own n¡¯s chief stewards.

    Because they were the Young Masters of their own ns, the five chief stewards didn¡¯t dare retaliate. All they could do was dodge as they yelled, ¡°Su Chen, if you dare to kill us, our ns will not let you go!¡±

    Su Chen smiled sarcastically. ¡°You must be mistaken! The one killing you is not me, but your own Young Master. In addition, even if I was the one that killed you, so what? You are just dogs living under the care of your ns. I cannot wantonly kill the Young Masters of these noble ns, but that doesn¡¯t mean that I can¡¯t take care of a few dogs. Trust me, even if you die, nothing wille of it. To your ns, everything is fine as long as the Young Masters are safe and sound.¡±

    The five of them finally felt despair.

    They had been ambushed and were already badly wounded.The five chief stewards were unable to endure the furiousbined assault from the five Young Masters, toppling over one by one until they had all died.

    When the final one fell, Bai Ou and the others stood there silently, as if nothing had ever happened.

    Su Chen walked over to them and spoke as the pendant in his hand swayed, ¡°The nightmare has been suppressed. It¡¯s all over. You may now return to the Hidden Dragon Institute and continue to live your lives. Remember, there is no longer any history or enmity among us. Everything that happened in the past is something that you are unwilling to bring up. Allow those unpleasant memories to be buried. If there are people who are trying to force you to remember those matters, they are trying to reawaken the nightmares in your hearts. These nightmares will swallow you whole, causing you to sink into an eternal darkness. If you don¡¯t want that to happen...... then fight back. Kill anyone who tries to reawaken your nightmares.¡±

    ¡°Kill anyone who tries to reawaken our nightmares,¡± the five of them simultaneously responded.

    Su Chen nodded his head. ¡°Alright. Go ahead and live out your own lives now.¡±

    The Bewitching Technique could not control a person for a long time. As time passed, the technique¡¯s control would eventually lose its effectiveness. However, the fear that Su Chen had nted in their hearts would not dissipate easily. In theing days, the five of them would not harbor any intentions of bing Su Chen¡¯s enemies ever again.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 41: Searching for Her in a Crowd

    Chapter 41: Searching for Her in a Crowd

    In the blink of an eye, three years had gone by.

    Ever since he had released Bai Ou and the others, everything had proceeded just as Su Chen had said it would. None of the ns came to give him any trouble.

    Was it a temporary tolerance, or had theypletely given up? Su Chen didn¡¯t know, nor did he care.

    During the past three years, he had focused all of his energy on cultivation and research.

    His research on Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven had reached a final juncture.

    He was trying to use Brooke¡¯s Form to resolve the final issue with Origin Energy stability. After three years of calction and research, he had finally reached thest step.

    Today, Su Chen had finally finished up hisst calction and determined thest step. He carefully ced this final Origin Energy Talisman into the Origin Talisman Energy Formation.

    The Origin Talisman Energy Formation shed brightly, and it began to exhibitplicated changes.

    The shing lights arced across the sky, shining more and more brightly. Finally, they flowed together high up into the sky, creating an eye-catching spectacle.

    ¡°Sess!¡± Su Chen excitedly raised his fist in victory.

    The Origin Talisman Energy Formation¡¯s calctions indicated that Su Chen¡¯s solution was a possible answer.

    This meant that in theory, he had already finished supplementing Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven.

    Shi Kaihuang¡¯s dream of creating a method to enter the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline had beenpleted by his hands.

    Su Chen felt an uncontroble excitement rising up within him.

    After nearly four years of bitter research, performing calctions day after day and restarting countless times, he had finally achieved sess only by relying on a heart that never wanted to give up.

    Su Chen was so excited that he felt like crying.

    Hey atop the wooden boards within the hall, gazing at the brilliant and radiant stream of Origin Energy above his head. He had never experienced a calmness like this in his entire life.

    ¡°So pretty,¡± he murmured to himself.

    His heart was filled with satisfaction and content.

    He knew that from this day onwards, he was someone who had created history for mankind.

    Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven was fated to be an important milestone in the advance of human cultivation. It raised the universally achievable cultivationyer for humankind to the Blood Boiling Realm. In other words, any Origin Qi Schr who continued to cultivate with dedication could reach the Blood Boiling Realm through their own effort. They would no longer be restricted to the Qi Drawing Realm forever.

    Even Origin Qi Schrs with mixed bloodlines could receive benefits from it.

    A higher foundation implied that humans would be able to receive higher-tier bloodlines.

    After all, only with more strength would humans have the ability to obtain higher-tier bloodlines, and only with more strength could they support these powerful bloodlines. Their ability to absorb and apply bloodline powers would also increase.

    Both had increased simultaneously.

    Thus, the appearance of Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven had increased the bottom line for all Origin Qi Schrs by a significant amount.

    For instance, if the human race¡¯sbat ability was ranked at 17, then Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven had changed that 1 to a 2. It was incredibly important!

    Su Chen felt excited beyond belief just by thinking about it.

    Heid on the ground for an entire hour before he was finally able to reign his excitement in.

    As he was calming down, he heard some people shouting outside.

    It was Wang Doushan and Jin Ling¡¯er.

    Wang Doushan wore a light yellow satin gown with koi fish embroidered on it. A jade pendant in the shape of a chimera hung from his belt, and a pair of Eight Treasures Molten Gold Boots were on his feet. His hair was neatly fastened like a crowned crane1. His face was extremely round, and a rosy pallor shone through his pale skin. Because he was fat, his eye sockets looked like they were about to be swallowed by his flesh. Jin Ling¡¯er wore a short rose-colored skirt and a red gown with golden carps embroidered onto the long, flowing sleeves. A golden cord was wrapped around her waist, tied up in a rose-like shape. Her feet were covered by a pair of rosy gilded ts, revealing her long, snow-white legs. Her hair was braided into two ponytails, herrge eyes gleamed, and her delicate nose was slightly tilted in the air. She was very cute, just like her name.

    Su Chen opened the door. When he saw their attire, he asked with a smile, ¡°What wind has blown you two to my ce?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s eyes glittered as she said, ¡°Today is the end-of-year gathering! Did you forget the date again?¡±

    ¡°The Night of Flowing Blood?¡± Su Chen blurted out in surprise.

    There is an unwritten custom amongst the students of the Hidden Dragon Institute. At the end of every year, students of the same year would gather together.

    After working hard all year, everyone wished for an opportunity to rx. The end-of-year gathering was started out of this desire.

    Thus, this time every year became the happiest time for many male students. Many female students would lower their guard during this time and spend the night with the male students that they liked.

    Many pure, innocent maidens would transform from young girls to young women, which was why the event had also be known as the ¡°Night of Flowing Blood¡±.

    This was the only school event that Su Chen would attend.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t interested in taking anyone¡¯s virginity. It was only at these kinds of gatherings where he could find Gu Qingluo again.

    Even Su Chen couldn¡¯t exin why he wanted to see Gu Qingluo.

    Perhaps it was because he hadn¡¯t gotten over her, or because he was anxious.

    Every Night of Flowing Blood, Su Chen would sit in a corner and silently watch Gu Qingluo.

    He worried that Gu Qingluo would leave with some other student.

    Every time he watched Gu Qingluo leave alone, he felt satisfaction in his heart.

    This had already be an obsession deep within his heart.

    This year was Su Chen¡¯s fourth year at the Hidden Dragon Institute. The Night of Flowing Blood had already be a tradition. After tonight, they would officially be fifth year students at the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    Upon hearing Su Chen call it the ¡°Night of Flowing Blood,¡± Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s face reddened. She red at Su Chen. ¡°All you think about is dirty things.¡±

    Su Chen wanted to cry, but no tears came out. I was just casually calling it the Night of Flowing Blood. How did it be ¡°all I think about is dirty things¡±?

    He knew that there was no good way to exin himself, so all he could say was, ¡°I¡¯ll go and get Cloud Leopard.¡±

    ¡°Hurry, we don¡¯t have much time left. The meeting is about to start!¡± Wang Doushan prompted him.

    ¡°Remember to change your clothes!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er urged.

    Normally, Su Chen wore the in robes the Institute had given him because it made researching more convenient. This time, he had donned a long navy satin robe bound by a cord made of interwovenpis and gold, tied up in a lucky tassel2. He wore a pair of golden shoes with bamboo shoots embroidered on them, and his hair was neatly pinned up in a bun. A few strands of hair hung loose near his cheeks3. His skin was clean and soft, and he exuded the airs of a graceful prince.

    Jin Ling¡¯er couldn¡¯t help but blush as she stared at him.

    Cloud Leopard, on the other hand, wore the coarse grey cloth robe that he always wore. He wore a pair of simple shoes woven from grass, and his entire right arm was revealed. In order to prevent his messy hair from blocking his vision, he had bound his hair up with a strip of cloth. Su Chen originally nned on lending his own clothes to Cloud Leopard, but Cloud Leopard replied, ¡°I don¡¯t have any ns to meet up with any women, so I don¡¯t care about how I look.¡±

    Su Chen had nothing to retort while he gazed at Cloud Leopard¡¯s dark skin and stalwart expression.

    The four of them left the tower together and headed for the meeting grounds.

    Upon arriving, they found that the meeting grounds were already lit up bynterns.

    Many crystalnterns were hung high in the air, forming all kinds of patterns.

    A dance floor had been set up in the middle of the meeting grounds. It was amon area for people to mingle and dance.

    People were everywhere around the dance floor.

    The male students were all dressed up like arrogant roosters. They were all doing their best to disy their own qualities or muscles. The females were all dressed raunchily, and each one was extremely beautiful. Whether they had any intentions of indulging themselves for one night or not, at least tonight in this ce, none of them were willing to lose to anyone.

    I can turn you down, but that doesn¡¯t mean I won¡¯t try my best to attract you!

    The male students were like sharks that smelled blood, locking onto their targets by following the scent. They weaved through the crowds of people, looking for their own prey. They probed with their words and attempted to seduce the girls with their actions, using every means at their disposal.

    Wang Doushan opened his eyes wide, looking every which way in search of an appropriate target. Jin Ling¡¯er couldn¡¯t help but let out disdainful grumbles whenever she saw this.

    Su Chen¡¯s gaze was also sweeping the crowd.

    However, he was not hunting for a target. He was just looking for someone.

    His gaze flitted across the crowd, ignoring the garishly colorful lights and the rouge makeup, finally falling onto a dark corner where the light could not reach.

    A young maiden stood there, leaning against the wall. She was wearing a schrly dress spun by silk from mulberry silkworms, which was covered by a snow-white shawl with red plums embroidered on it. A long sash was tied at her waist in a bow tie, and she wore a pair of light cloud boots on her feet. Her hair was borately pinned up4 by a pearl ornamental hairpin. The rest of her hair flowed like a waterfall down her back. Her skin was soft and silky, and her eyebrows were as sleek as willow leaves. Her eyes were limpid and clear, searching for something within the crowd.

    In the same moment that he nced at her, her gaze also fell on him.

    In the crowd of thousands of people, their gazes met.

    Time slowed to a stop.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 42: Invitation

    Chapter 42: Invitation

    Their eyes met amidst the bustling crowd.

    Su Chen stared at Gu Qingluo in a daze, as if he were in a beautiful dream.

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s expression seemed to melt for an instant, but she snapped out of it a momentter and gave Su Chen a gentle smile.

    She then turned around, avoiding his gaze.

    A sense of loss welled up in Su Chen¡¯s heart.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t let it lower his spirits.

    This was not the first time, and it would not be thest.

    In the past four years, Su Chen and Gu Qingluo had crossed paths numerous times.

    Most of the time, they would only smile and brush past each other

    ¡°Hey, Ling¡¯er!¡± A voice pulled Su Chen¡¯s mind back to the present.

    A few youths were walking towards their group while waving towards Jin Ling¡¯er.

    Su Chen recognized one of them.

    Blood Demon Zhong Ding.

    He was dressed in a fiery scarlet robe with white clouds embroidered onto it. Wrapped around his waist was a ck chain extending to his left arm. A pair of ck leopard cloud boots was on his feet, and his hair was messily brushed into a ponytail. He wore a redstone crest on his head, and his eyebrows were thick and sharp. His eyes were quite attractive, his gaze as sharp as an eagle¡¯s. However, the most eye-catching part of him was his pale white skin. It was so pale that it looked like he had a long-term nutrition deficiency.

    The person standing next to him was extremely tall, and wore a dark green cape over his shoulders. Underneath the cape was a white embroidered satin gown, which wasplemented by a pair of white embroidered satin pants. His boots were made from deerskin, and he wore a dark green felt hat on his head. His appearance was that of an aloof and proud young man. He carried a simple yet strange bow on his back that was particrly eye-catching. The body of the bow was made up of tangled vines from an ancient tree. At the tip of the bow was a small demonness with long hair. The long hair stretched backwards for a long distance, forming the string of the bow.

    This bow was where his name originated from.

    Treebow Zhang Sheng¡¯an.

    Su Chen had heard of him for quite some time, but in his four years at the Institute, he had never interacted with him very much and had only seen him from afar.

    The person calling out to Jin Ling¡¯er was Zhang Zheng¡¯an.

    Upon arriving near Jin Ling¡¯er, Zhang Sheng¡¯anughed, ¡°Howe you just arrived? Everyone¡¯s been waiting for you for quite some time.¡±

    ¡°I went to get Su Chen, so we got here a littlete,¡± Jin Ling¡¯er replied.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an gazed at Su Chen.

    How could he not know about Su Chen?

    He had charged into the top ten of the Three Mountains Region exam without a bloodline, obtaining 5th ce. His disy of talent had surpassed everyone at that time.

    However, cheap tricks were in the end cheap tricks. After entering the Hidden Dragon Institute, Su Chen¡¯s glory had begun to fade.

    He didn¡¯t have any more outstanding achievements, and he didn¡¯t even attend the end-of-yearpetitions. He lost his status as a Hidden Dragon Institute seedling after his first year.

    The only thing he had done in the past four years that could be considered a significant achievement was convincing the Stormwind Scorpion to be his personal instructor. To convince someone like Shi Kaihuang was pretty impressive, but in the end it didn¡¯t mean very much.

    It was just a personal instructor; a personal instructor¡¯s achievements were not one¡¯s own achievements.

    Only his own achievements could be considered to have meaning.

    Bing a disciple of a personal instructor that didn¡¯t ept disciples easily hadn¡¯t had any additional effect on raising Su Chen¡¯s strength. This could be clearly seen from the silence he had maintained in the following three years.

    He had deteriorated.

    Shooting stars in the end were only shooting stars.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an felt his interest fading as he turned his gaze to Wang Doushan and Cloud Leopard. One of them he had defeated before and the other was amoner without a bloodline.

    He turned around to look at Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°Ling¡¯er, have you given some thought to my proposal?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was swaying her body to the music. Upon hearing Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s question, herrge eyes gleamed.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an nodded his head.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have anything against it, but I want to bring two friends with me.¡±

    ¡°Them?¡± Zhang Sheng¡¯an knitted his eyebrows as he gazed at Su Chen and Wang Doushan.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know what they were talking about. Slightly confused, he turned to ask Wang Doushan, ¡°What¡¯s going on at the Thousand Ashes Gorge?¡±

    ¡°Oh, they¡¯re nning on going sometime to the Thousand Ashes Gorge to temper themselves,¡± Wang Doushan replied.

    The Thousand Ashes Gorge was a canyon located in the northern area of the Falling Eagle Mountain. Origin Energy was plentiful there, as were spirit herbs and flowers, but the number of Vicious Beasts there was also the highest. It was the most dangerous location in the entire Falling Eagle Mountain, making it a great ce for the students of the Institute to temper themselves.

    Every year,rge numbers of students would go there to harvest spirit herbs or to hunt Vicious Beasts.

    The former were focused on money, while thetter were focused on tempering themselves.

    Many students believed that it was a significant achievement to be able to safely enter and return from the Thousand Ashes Gorge.

    However, the Hidden Dragon Institute had a strict rule. A Hidden Dragon Institute student must have spent at least four years in the Institute before being allowed to go to the Thousand Ashes Gorge. Second, those who had already gone could not exin too much about the gorge to those who had yet to enter. The students would need to experience and understand it on their own. Third, teams needed to be less than seven people, and there could be no more than three servants brought along. Finally, their strength could not surpass the Blood Boiling Realm.

    In other words, the Institute had ced both lower and upper limits on its ess.

    Thus, Su Chen¡¯s year had never been allowed to enter the Thousand Ashes Gorge up to this point.

    After the end-of-yearpetition, they had finally obtained the right to go to the Thousand Ashes Gorge. Those who had wanted to establish a reputation for themselves were already beginning to form their own teams. At the same time, they could try their hand at improving their own Hidden Dragon Institute ranking ¨C the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s rankings were partially determined by one¡¯s performance in the Thousand Ashes Gorge.

    The amount of reputation that one could obtain from on-stage battles is limited. People were more likely to convinced by one¡¯s performance under genuine life-or-death circumstances.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an and the others were one of the teams headed for the Thousand Ashes Gorge.

    Although Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s performance on the battle stage had not been impressive, her skills were not limited in effectiveness to humans. They were simrly effective against Vicious Beasts. If they brought along Jin Ling¡¯er and helped her control a mid-tier or even high-tier Vicious Beast, their strength would definitely increase. This was why Zhang Sheng¡¯an had invited Jin Ling¡¯er along.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was also quite interested in the proposal, but because of her friendship with Wang Doushan and Su Chen, she wanted to bring them along as well. Wang Doushan knew about this matter already, but he hadn¡¯t mentioned it to Su Chen before Su Chen had arrived.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. What time?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Sometime in the next couple of days. It depends on their leader¡¯s intentions.¡± Wang Doushan jutted his chin out at Zhang Sheng¡¯an and Zhong Ding, implying that the team had been assembled by those two. They were the ones that made the decisions.

    However, Blood Demon Zhong Ding was usually quite taciturn and didn¡¯t like to speak, so Zhang Sheng¡¯an was still the one making most of the decisions.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an hesitated upon hearing Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s request. ¡°This......¡±

    ¡°What? Are you unwilling?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er asked.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an replied, ¡°That¡¯s a difficult request to fulfill. You know that the Thousand Ashes Gorge is extremely dangerous. It is filled with mid-tier and even high-tier Vicious Beasts. Our goal in entering this time is to try to improve our rankings. Wang Doushan and I have exchanged blows before, so I have faith in his strength, but as for Su Chen......¡±

    He shook his head. ¡°Why bring this burden along?¡±

    Su Chen frowned upon hearing these words.

    He didn¡¯t care much about whether people looked down on him. After all, he hadn¡¯t done much of anything during the past 4 years, and it was pretty normal for people to look down on him.

    However, looking down on him was one thing. Openly offending him was another matter entirely.

    Wang Doushan was displeased with Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s words. ¡°Su Chen was someone who reached the top 10 in the Three Mountains Region Exam. How can he be considered a burden?¡±

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an gently shook his head. ¡°That was four years ago.¡±

    He wasn¡¯t wrong. Perhaps Su Chen had been considered powerful one point in time, but that was all in the past.

    These few years, Su Chen had not done anything of note, so it was no surprise that he was being underestimated.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an, Zhong Ding, and many others all felt that Su Chen had already fallen, never to repeat his heroism of the past.

    Perhaps even Wang Doushan and Jin Ling¡¯er thought this secretly.

    The only reason they were still willing to be around him was because they were unwilling to let go of the friendship they had from the past, but that didn¡¯t imply that they had any faith in Su Chen¡¯s strength.

    Thus, when Zhang Sheng¡¯an said this, even Wang Doushan was rendered speechless for a while.

    He finally said, ¡°If Su Chen doesn¡¯t go, I won¡¯t go.¡±

    What he said made Jin Ling¡¯er want to also say the same..

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an, upon seeing this, said, ¡°We have gathered the most talented students for our trip to the Thousand Ashes Gorge. Ling¡¯er, if you are willing toe with us, we will do our best to help you capture a high-tier Vicious Beast and give it to you. You know yourself how important that can be to increasing your strength.¡±

    High-tier Vicious Beasts had strength around the level of lowyer Blood Boiling Realm cultivators. With the current strength of the students, there was probably no one that could deal with one. However, if they ganged up on it, capturing it wouldn¡¯t be a big problem.

    If Jin Ling¡¯er could control a high-tier Vicious Beast, her strength truly would increase greatly, increasing her Dragon Transformation List ranking.

    Humans all possessed a certain amount of vanity. In the Three Mountains Region exam she was a top 10 candidate, but after entering the Hidden Dragon Institute, she had trouble even staying in the top 200. Although part of it was because herbat style wasn¡¯t verypatible with arena matches, Jin Ling¡¯er was still bothered by it.

    Upon hearing Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s promise, Jin Ling¡¯er began to hesitate.

    Su Chen gentlyughed when he saw her dilemma. ¡°Since they¡¯ve already invited you, go. Don¡¯t worry about us.¡±

    Upon hearing these words, Jin Ling¡¯er made her decision. ¡°Sorry about this. I¡¯ll go with them first. If there are any opportunities in the future, I¡¯ll let you know.¡±

    ¡°No problem,¡± Su Chen replied with a gentle smile.

    Wang Doushan frowned as he watched them leave. ¡°What¡¯s so precious about a high-tier Vicious Beast anyways? Is it really worth caring so much about?¡±

    ¡°Forget about it. Every person has his or her own path. There¡¯s no need for us to force others to stop for our sake,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°You are quite big-hearted. If I had known it would be like this, I probably would¡¯ve gone with them too,¡± Wang Doushan huffed.

    ¡°There are many different teams. Why force ourselves to join theirs?¡± Su Chen calmly replied.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 43: Teaming Up

    Chapter 43: Teaming Up

    ¡°Hm?¡± Su Chen¡¯s words caused Wang Doushan to raise his eyebrows in shock. ¡°Your tone makes it seem like you are determined to head to the Thousand Ashes Gorge?¡±

    For the past four years, Su Chen had buried his head in research. He never left his room, and he had given up on many different activities. At most, he would asionally get together with Jin Ling¡¯er and Wang Doushan to drink some tea and chat.

    Thus, Wang Doushan originally believed that even if Zhang Sheng¡¯an had agreed to bring Su Chen along, he would have had to spend lots of time convincing Su Chen to go along.

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen had already made up his mind to go to the Thousand Ashes Gorge.

    Su Chen shrugged his shoulders. ¡°It¡¯s better than just idling around.¡±

    He had finallypleted Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven, so he suddenly had a lot more time on his hands.

    He had spent four years quietly and bitterly thinking. Now was not a bad time to rx a bit.

    Wang Doushan was extremely happy upon hearing this. ¡°That¡¯s great! I¡¯ll ask around about any other teams.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget to include Cloud Leopard,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Got it,¡± Wang Doushan replied as he disappeared into the crowd of people, searching for a team that would be willing to bring the three of them along with them to the Thousand Ashes Gorge.

    Unexpectedly however, many of the teams that Wang Doushan asked all indicated that they were willing to ept Wang Doushan and even Cloud Leopard; however, they were not willing to take Su Chen in.

    Because of his fifth-ce ranking during the Three Mountains Region exam, many people knew of him.

    However, it was also because of this that many knew of his ¡°fall¡±. As a shooting star, Su Chen¡¯s circumstances were not a secret. He hadn¡¯t attended the end-of-yearpetition four years in a row, making his name synonymous with cowardice.

    Many people instantly turned him down upon hearing the name Su Chen.

    There were some that agreed to ept Su Chen, but they requested that Su Chen¡¯s portion of the spoils be halved for various reasons. They said that his strength or courage wascking and that their generosity was only for Wang Doushan¡¯s sake.

    Wang Doushan left in a rage. After searching the entire za, he had finally discovered the Flying Snow Guild.

    The Flying Snow Guild intended to explore the Thousand Ashes Gorge. Because the members of the Flying Snow Guild were not that strong, they were not unweing towards Su Chen.

    However, they turned Wang Doushan down.

    Their reason for this was that Wang Doushan was someone from a Bloodline Nobility n. He did not belong with them.

    In reality, this kind of reasoning was also present amongst some of the other teams. Many people had turned down Su Chen not because he was weak, but because he was not from a Bloodline Nobility n.

    To the Flying Snow Guild, the best way to preserve their own dignity was to draw a simr circle around themselves and refuse anyone who was outside of that circle.

    Although Wang Doushan was powerful, he was from a Bloodline Nobility n. Allowing him in was equivalent to ruining the Flying Snow Guild¡¯s reputation. Naturally, this was not something they could ept no matter what.

    These circumstances made it so that no one wanted Wang Doushan and the others.

    Just when Wang Doushan was getting impatient, he saw a small, shy maiden making her way towards him. She was wearing a short tight-fitting red skirt with rosy clouds embroidered onto it. The rosy ribbons that were wrapped around her arms stretched all the way to her rosy ts, entuating her small legs. Her face was very pretty, and she had interwoven a rainbow string into her braided pigtails. She said, ¡°Excuse me, are you looking for a team to go to the Thousand Ashes Gorge?¡±

    Su Chen and Wang Doushan nced at each other.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Yes. You are......?¡±

    The young maiden replied, ¡°I am called Du Qing. A few friends and I are nning on going to the Thousand Ashes Gorge and we just so happen to be short a few people. Why don¡¯t you join our team?¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s party nced at each other.

    ......

    A momentter, the three of them were standing before a few young men and women.

    Du Qing pointed towards a simple, honest-looking young man who was wearing the standard Institute uniform and tall cap as she introduced, ¡°This is Zheng Xia, our captain.¡±

    ¡°This is Yan Fuxing!¡± Du Qing pointed at towards a male who was wearing a long azure robe and ck blocky boots. A chain of clear jades hung from his waist. His hair towered above his head, and arge mole was on the right side of his face near his nose.

    ¡°This is Sun Jizu.¡± The final male that Du Qing introduced was wearing a white cavalry uniform. He held a fan in his hands, and a pair of iron rings hung from his waist. He also wore a pair of white knee-high boots made from animal hides. His hair was short, only reaching his ears, and his eyes were sleek and curved upwards at the corners.

    ¡°Including me, the four of us form Team Bright!¡± Du Qing said proudly as she vigorously swung her tiny fists through the air.

    Just by looking at the four of them, Su Chen could sense that they did not have a bloodline.

    Most students without a bloodline were members of the Flying Snow guild, but since these four had created their own team, they evidently were not.

    Zheng Xia pulled Du Qing over to the side to ask what was happening.

    Du Qing whispered into Zheng Xia¡¯s ear, ¡°I saw the fatty over there ask many different teams, but no one seemed to want him. Aren¡¯t we missing people? So I decided to bring them along.¡±

    Zheng Xia was speechless. ¡°I say, Qing¡¯er, can¡¯t you be a little more reasonable? There¡¯s obviously a reason why others didn¡¯t want them. I heard that Su Chen was pretty strong before entering the Institute and reached the top 10 before during his region¡¯s exam; however, after entering the Institute, he fell from grace, even neglecting to attend the end-of-yearpetitions. He has missed fourpetitions in a row already, and his status as a seedling of the Hidden Dragon Institute has already been revoked. One could say that he has no strength and no courage. No wonder no one wanted him.¡±

    Du Qing pouted, ¡°I¡¯m just trying to help out our ssmates.¡±

    Zheng Xiaughed bitterly, ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean you pull any kind of person into our team out of the kindness of your heart.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean any kind of person? I don¡¯t think these guys can be considered weak. Look at that fatty, he¡¯s from a Bloodline Nobility n.¡±

    Zheng Xia gazed at Wang Doushan. He nodded and murmured, ¡°That¡¯s pretty good.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that enough?¡± Du Qing excitedly said. ¡°Look, Su Chen might not be good, but the fatty is from a Bloodline Nobility n. If you average the two of them out aren¡¯t they pretty good? In any case, we are just going to take a peek at the Thousand Ashes Gorge. Since we don¡¯t have bloodlines, there¡¯s no need to worry so much.¡±

    As she spoke, Du Qing grabbed onto Zheng Xia¡¯s hand and began to shake it.

    Zheng Xia was helpless. He could only nod his head and agree, ¡°Fine, fine. Have it your way.¡±

    The two of them were speaking quietly to the side, but Su Chen¡¯s sharp ears had picked up everything.

    Su Chen was speechless. He was only invited to join their team because of pity.

    In particr, he had relied on Wang Doushan¡¯s reputation. Only by being ¡°averaged out¡± was he even considered. He found that quite amusing.

    Thankfully, Wang Doushan hadn¡¯t heard. Otherwise, he probably would¡¯ve flown into another rage.

    It was at that moment that Su Chen began to somewhat understand what Shi Kaihuang had meant.

    Before you achieved any sess, the entire world wouldugh at you, scorn you, and look down on you.

    When you achieved sess...... the whole world would be your enemy!

    Was that really how it would be?

    Su Chen did not know.

    But even if it was, he would not have any regrets.

    Since he had already chosen his path, he would continue to walk down it and never turn back no matter what the result was!

    The matter was decided. They agreed to head out in three days.

    The end-of-year gathering was still going on, and many of the students were stillughing and dancing with one another.

    Su Chen began to dance, sing, and talk with the students he had just met.

    asionally, Su Chen¡¯s gaze would drift towards Gu Qingluo.

    Their gazes would quickly meet and then divert just as quickly.

    Time flew by.

    Soon, it was time for the gathering to end.

    The crowds began to slowly disperse, and Su Chen was also preparing to head back to the Origin Energy Tower.

    Just before leaving, he went to say goodbye to Jin Ling¡¯er as well as tell her that he had already found a team to go with.

    Jin Ling¡¯er happily congratted him. At the same time, she expressed her regret that they could not travel together.

    Su Chen could tell that she was being genuine.

    After saying goodbye, Su Chen left.

    He hadn¡¯t walked very far when he saw Zhang Sheng¡¯an draw near to Jin Ling¡¯er.

    His voice was quiet, but his words reached a far distance.

    He said, ¡°Ling¡¯er, in the future it¡¯d be best for you to avoid being around those kinds of people. It¡¯s said that dragons don¡¯t mix with snakes and phoenixes don¡¯t concern themselves with maggots. People who don¡¯t understand how to choose their friends will never have many future prospects.¡±

    Su Chen stopped in ce. He turned around to nce at Zhang Sheng¡¯an.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s mouth was curled up in a disdainful smirk.

    Su Chen knew that Zhang Sheng¡¯an had specifically spoken those words for him to hear.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 44: Apology

    Chapter 44: Apology

    Su Chen returned to the Origin Energy Tower, ignoring Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s provocation.

    When Su Chen returned to the tower, he discovered that the Origin Energy Tower¡¯s defense mechanisms were all turned off.

    There was only one exnation for this: Shi Kaihuang had returned.

    A while ago, Shi Kaihuang had embarked on a long journey to search for some ingredients. He had said that it would take him three months to get back, but he had returned early.

    Upon opening the door to the main hall, Su Chen discovered Shi Kaihuang sitting in the middle of the room, staring in a daze at the starlight above his head.

    ¡°Instructor,¡± Su Chen gently called out.

    Shi Kaihuang didn¡¯t hear him. He continued to gaze at the starry sky above him.

    The remnant starlight of the Origin Talisman Energy Formation had not been wiped away by Su Chen.

    They quietly remained in the sky, slowly returning to their original ce.

    The sight was iparably beautiful to anyone who studied Origin Energy.

    Shi Kaihuang stared at them as if he had suddenly developed dementia.

    After a long time, he turned around. ¡°You did this?¡±

    Su Chen gently nodded.

    ¡°Using Origin Energy Pattern theories?¡± Shi Kaihuang asked again.

    Su Chen nodded his head again.

    Shi Kaihuang fell backwards while continuing to stare dumbly at the sky.

    Although Su Chen had done his best to avoid Shi Kaihuang when researching and practicing his alchemy and Ancient Arcana Techniques, Shi Kaihuang still knew that Su Chen had yet to give up on these two areas.

    However, as someone with a broad heart, he purposefully overlooked Su Chen¡¯s ¡°disobedience¡± even though he didn¡¯t support Su Chen¡¯s method. He pretended to have one eye opened and one eye closed, as if he were supervising a small child.

    In his heart, he hoped that failure would bring Su Chen back onto the right path.

    However, he didn¡¯t expect that after three years Su Chen had not only not given up on those two areas of study, but he had also unexpectedly seeded!

    He had actually seeded!

    He had used the theory of Origin Energy Patterns toplete the final step of Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven, creating a perfectlyplete technique for charging into Blood Boiling without a bloodline!

    Not only that, but Shi Kaihuang could also sense that this was the best method for breaking into the Blood Boiling Realm that had ever been created.

    By using this method to charge into the Blood Boiling Realm, the sess rate had been upped to 40%. More importantly, there were no adverse effects to failing.

    In other words, even if a person failed to break through, they could just try again even without the aid of a bloodline.

    All the previous methods of breaking into the Blood Boiling Realm that Shi Kaihuang had mentioned before this were inferior both in terms of sess rates and number of attempts possible without a bloodline.

    It could be said that this was the first time a method to break into the Blood Boiling Realm without any adverse consequences had ever been developed.

    Even Shi Kaihuang waspletely stunned by this oue.

    He raised his head to look at the sky, gazing at the intertwined streaks of starlight. He had spent fifty years of blood and sweat to achieve it, but it was not just his blood and sweat!

    ¡°The final step...... a beautiful step......¡± Shi Kaihuang muttered to himself, tears appearing in his eyes.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t actually tried it out yet, so I haven¡¯t seeded yet,¡± Su Chen lightlyughed.

    ¡°It¡¯s close enough,¡± Shi Kaihuang replied.

    He turned to Su Chen and then suddenly bowed.

    This movement caught Su Chen off-guard. He hurriedly lifted Shi Kaihuang up and said, ¡°Instructor, what are you doing?¡±

    Shi Kaihuang sighed. ¡°I was wrong. Ancient Arcana Techniques do have their own unique advantages. You understood how tobine the benefits from the past and present while also making them useful today, persevering to the very end...... very good, very good!

    Su Chen smiled gently. ¡°This is only the beginning, Instructor.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang also began to smile. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s just the beginning.¡±

    The path of cultivation was slow and long, and the burden was heavy.

    After all, to those who dreamed of shattering the existing bloodline hierarchy and allowing the human race to rise to preeminence,pleting the Blood Boiling Realm truly was just the beginning.

    The two of them sat and talked for quite some time before Su Chen said, ¡°Right, Instructor, shouldn¡¯t we disseminate Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven to others now?¡±

    Shi Kaihuang gazed at Su Chen. He saw the rity and sincerity in Su Chen¡¯s eyes and knew that Su Chen was not faking it in the slightest. He said with satisfaction, ¡°Very good, your heart has not changed. As for whether to disseminate it...... Youpleted it, so you should make the decision.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang was basically saying that everything was now up to Su Chen.

    That night, Shi Kaihuang brought out a precious wine that he had hidden for a long time. The two of them drank to their heart¡¯s content. Neither of them had a high capacity for alcohol. As the alcohol suffused throughout their body, they entered a drunken stupor.

    Su Chen waspletely muddleheaded, eventually falling unconscious. Shi Kaihuang seemed to grow livelier and full of energy the more he drank. It was like he had be a small child. He hugged Su Chen and constantly bbered on. Eventually, he began to bawl.

    These tears were shed for all of his years of hard work, as well as for this moment of sess.

    When Cloud Leopard returned, he found that the master and disciple were both lying on the ground. One was in a deep sleep, and the other was hugging the sleeping person as he talked and cried incessantly.

    Cloud Leopard paused for a moment and then decided to back away.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Three dayster.

    The agreed-upon date for their expedition to the Thousand Ashes Gorge had arrived.

    That morning, Su Chen woke up bright and early. Before leaving, he went to the Hundred Refinements Pavilion onest time.

    In the past three years, Su Chen had been to the Hundred Refinements Pavilion three times. However, because he hadn¡¯t ced all of his focus on it, Su Chen had only cleared up to the tenth room.

    In any case, the amount of contribution points he required was not high.

    Inparison, the five people who were at the peak had advanced rapidly. The most powerful one had already cleared the neenth room, almost finishing all of the trials.

    Geniuses were geniuses because their rate of advancement was faster than most people¡¯s. If the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s standard was to clear two rooms every year, the strength of real geniuses would increase to the point that they could clear four or five rooms in a year or even more.

    The two geniuses who had cleared the neenth and eighteenth rooms concealed their names.

    The person who had cleared the seventeenth room was Jiang Xishui.

    Ji Hanyan had cleared the sixteenth room, and Yue Longsha had cleared the fifteenth room.

    As time had gone on, the differences in strength between the five, who were originally at the peak, became more and more evident. Unfortunately, people other than Su Chen knew how to remain low-key. The first- and second-ced individuals were all unwilling to reveal their names.

    However, today, Su Chen wanted to thoroughly test himself.

    Before going to the Thousand Ashes Gorge, he wanted to fully test out his current strength even if he failed.

    At the very least, he would know what he could deal with and what he couldn¡¯t deal with.

    Because he had gotten there early, not many people were in the Hundred Refinements Pavilion. Even the skinny student was not there.

    Su Chen was already quite familiar with the ce and didn¡¯t need a guide. He used his identity tablet to open the eleventh room and began to clear the rooms.

    A whileter, Su Chen left the Hundred Refinements Pavilion with a satisfied expression on his face.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 45: Entering the Mountain

    Chapter 45: Entering the Mountain

    After returning from the Hundred Refinements Pavilion, Su Chen took Cloud Leopard and Iron Cliff with him and headed for the agreed-upon rendezvous point.

    Because they had arrived a bit early, not a single person was there yet.

    After waiting for a while, Zheng Xia, Du Qing and the others also appeared.

    Su Chen made an introduction once everyone had gathered. ¡°Iron Cliff is my servant. I¡¯ll be taking him with me on this expedition. Of course, he and I are considered together.¡±

    Upon hearing that Iron Cliff was basically free extra strength, everyone was quite happy and gave Iron Cliff a warm wee.

    Zheng Xia was still a bit worried. He asked, ¡°How is his strength? If it¡¯s too dangerous, I¡¯m worried that......¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. You won¡¯t need to spend your energy watching over him,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Zheng Xia finally nodded.

    To the side, Sun Jizu asked, ¡°Why hasn¡¯t Wang Doushane yet?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s probably still on his way,¡± Cloud Leopard piped up. ¡°Let¡¯s wait a bit longer.¡±

    After quite some time, Wang Doushan¡¯s round body finally came into view as he ran towards them.

    As he ran he yelled, ¡°Sorry, I¡¯mte again!¡±

    His appearance screamed that he had just woken up. Everyone was rendered speechless.

    Zheng Xia sighed to himself. He was already worried about taking along Su Chen, but now it seemed that their Bloodline Nobility n member wasn¡¯t very strong either.

    They all seemed to be useless!

    Although he felt regret in his heart, the matter had already been decided. He could only harden his forehead and continue to press on.

    The eight member group was finally gather together and began to set out for the Thousand Ashes Gorge.

    Before leaving, Su Chen pulled out a vial of medicine.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Du Qing asked with curiosity.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Bug repent. There are many insects within the mountains. With this, you won¡¯t have to worry about being bit.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s pretty good.¡± Du Qing reached her hand out to grab it.

    ¡°Every bottle is ten Origin Stones,¡± Su Chen said.

    Du Qing instantly withdrew her hand as her eyes opened wide. ¡°Ten Origin Stones? Are you trying to rob us?¡±

    Su Chen replied seriously, ¡°It costs money to concoct medicine. This medicine usually goes for fifteen Origin Stones outside, and it¡¯ll only be more expensive once we¡¯re in the mountain ¨C perhaps more than twenty. Ten Origin Stones per bottle is not much. Of course, you can also choose to go without it.¡±

    Yan Fuxing harrumphed, ¡°Everyone here is a cultivator. If we protect our bodies with Origin energy, how could a few insects affect us?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! Only idiots would spend ten Origin Stones on that,¡± Sun Jizu also said.

    ¡°So be it. I just wanted to let you all know.¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t mind. He put away the medicine.

    Sun Jizu, Zheng Xia, and Du Qing all shook their heads and gave up on it. Only Wang Doushan and Cloud Leopard bought it.

    Cloud Leopard knew how useful the bug repent could be. In all honesty, the medicine had been his suggestion in the first ce. Wang Doushan was giving his friend face and trying it out.

    But after entering the mountain, their party very quickly began to realize how frightening the bugs were.

    The Falling Eagle Mountain¡¯s bugs had seemingly also cultivated. They were extremely vicious when biting others. Even Origin Qi Schrs who cultivated body tempering Origin Skills could feel the sting, not to mention regr Origin Qi Schrs. Upon being bitten, arge welt would appear.

    While a broken finger would heal in a day, these welts wouldn¡¯t disappear even after half a day.

    Setting up an Origin Energy Barrier was the only way to defend themselves, but that consumed Origin Energy.

    Not long after, Zheng Xia began toin incessantly.

    Du Qing was the first one who couldn¡¯t take it anymore. While the insects in the mountains were truly vicious, they were also extremely precise. One bit her on her face, causing a massive welt to appear in its ce.

    Not only did these welts hurt, but they also ruined herplexion.

    She hurriedly went over to Su Chen and bought a vial.

    Zheng Xia was the second one.

    Yan Fuxing and Sun Jizu were hell-bent on preserving their face. After all, they were the ones who had said that only idiots would buy that medicine.

    But as more and more welts umted on their faces, they finally couldn¡¯t take it anymore and went to Su Chen to buy the bug repent. If they had to be idiots, then so be it.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t haggle with them about it. He also pulled out a vial that could treat these insect bites.

    That vial was more expensive. It was thirty Origin Stones.

    They could only helplessly pull out their money. However, there was a bit of dissatisfaction in their hearts. They felt that this person was too stingy and didn¡¯t have a sense of camaraderie, even charging members of the same team for basic medicine.

    Humans were usually like this. As long as there was some form of rtionship, they would feel that using someone was expected and even justified. If they were still charged for it, naturally that person was greedy andcked camaraderie.

    Naturally, the effort, care, and mary cost that someone paid were not considered.

    Of course, this was just a small matter that didn¡¯t mean too much. It didn¡¯t even really affect the interactions between the group.

    The main difference between entering the mountain range as a group and entering as an individual was that it was a lot more lively. There were always conversations going on.

    Du Qing was the happiest in the entire group. The young maiden was kind-hearted and lively, bouncing back and forth and taking the entire way. From time to time, she would run ahead of the group, or she would see a beautiful wildflower that she would pick and wear in her hair. She would even linger around in ces with particrly beautiful scenery.

    The group constantly started and stopped because of her. Their speed was quite slow.

    However, no one criticized Du Qing for it.

    Su Chen and Wang Doushan were here mostly for the experience. They were in no hurry. It was obvious that Zheng Xia and the others liked her.

    The only person who wasn¡¯t happy was probably Cloud Leopard.

    He helplessly shook his head. ¡°How are we here to hunt and kill Vicious Beasts? This is more like a scenic vacation.¡±

    He paid no attention to his volume when he spoke. Yan Fuxing and Sun Jizu both heard it, and they shot him unhappy nces.

    Su Chen patted Cloud Leopard¡¯s shoulders. ¡°Rx a bit. We don¡¯t need to treat every expedition as a life-or-death trip. Scenic vacations are fine every once in awhile.¡±

    ¡°The issue is that Vicious Beasts don¡¯t think this way,¡± Cloud Leopard replied.

    Su Chen pulled Cloud Leopard closer to him and muttered, ¡°I know you are a regr here at the Falling Eagle Mountain. Your experience is very important; however, in this team we are guests, and sometimes guests need to respect the rules of the host. It¡¯s not right for us to try and usurp them. You just have to let these small things go, but if there¡¯s any danger, inform us in advance.¡±

    Cloud Leopard nodded and grunted in agreement.

    Meanwhile, Du Qing had run underneath a tree. She picked a few red fruits and excitedly ran back. ¡°Look, there are fruits for us to eat.¡±

    Just as she was about to hand them out, Cloud Leopard nced at them and then suddenly tossed the handful of fruits away.

    This forceful action scared Du Qing badly.

    Everyone stared at him with infuriated gazes. ¡°Hey, what are you doing?¡±

    ¡°The fruits are poisonous,¡± Cloud Leopard indifferently replied. He turned around and went back to his original position.

    They¡¯re poisonous?

    The group gazed at each other and then at the vibrant red flesh on the ground. They had no way of verifying whether what Cloud Leopard had said was true, but there was no way that any of them were going to try it anymore.

    ¡°Is it poisonous if you say it¡¯s poisonous?¡± Du Qing asked unhappily.

    Cloud Leopard ignored her, his attitude practically screaming, ¡°I don¡¯t care if you believe me or not.¡±

    If Su Chen had been the one to inform everyone that the fruits were poisonous, he wouldn¡¯t have used such a simple yet ferocious method.

    But Cloud Leopard was different. His environmental circumstances had taught him to use simple and ferocious methods to deal with problems, and it was unlikely for him to consider the mental fortitude of others when doing things. Wang Doushan and Su Chen were used to his temperament, but evidently Zheng Xia and the others weren¡¯t.

    Yan Fuxing and the others were the original members of the team. They couldn¡¯t help but feel a sense of superiority, so it was hard for them to ept such a development.

    ¡°Forget about it. Whether the fruits are poisonous or not, it¡¯s best not to randomly eat the things growing in this mountain.¡± Zheng Xia was the first to speak up.

    ¡°Even if it is poisonous, can¡¯t he just say it nicely? How coarse, he might as well be a barbarian,¡± Du Qing pouted.

    Zheng Xia sighed. Weren¡¯t you the one that found this person?

    After a while, Team Bright encountered their first target ¨C a wandering ck Mountain Goat.

    The ck Mountain Goat was not very powerful, but it was a massive pain to deal with. It could use at least three Origin Skills, including a kind of demonic curse that could cause one to rapidly age.

    The Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s Vicious Beast ss had specifically covered the ck Mountain Goat.

    The best way to deal with it was to attack it head-on without giving it any time to activate its curse, which required a certain period of time before it could be activated.

    Based on their prior knowledge, Team Bright easily took care of their first battle.

    After killing the ck Mountain Goat, however, Zheng Xia discovered that Su Chen and Iron Cliff were still standing over the body.

    The two of them were moving their arms around strangely.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Wang Doushan asked, baffled.

    Su Chen smiled. ¡°We¡¯re honoring the dead so that its soul may find rest.¡±

    Du Qing was shocked. ¡°You believe in Buddha?¡±

    Buddhism did exist in the Primordial Continent, but its influence was much weaker. Out of many religions, it was the most unassuming one. The principle of reincarnation was not popr in this society. Simrly, gods also existed, but they did not have much influence either.

    Once humans possessed strength that exceeded even the power of the gods, their respect for deities greatly decreased.

    If possible, they wanted to be gods themselves.

    After all, in this world, humans were not that far removed from the heavens.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t really care about believing in Buddhism. However, if he wanted to absorb those motes of Origin Energy that floated through the air, it was best to choose that excuse.

    Allowing its soul to find rest was a pretty good way of putting it.

    Thus, he replied, ¡°It¡¯s better than just idling around.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Zheng Xia waspletely speechless.

    What kind of teammates had he found for himself?

    A fatty who had no sense of time, a barbarian who didn¡¯t know how to speak politely, and a joker who treated money like his life.

    Zheng Xia hadpletely lost all hope for this expedition.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 46: Mountain Demon

    Chapter 46: Mountain Demon

    No matter what, the team had already been formed. Zheng Xia could only harden his forehead and continue to lead his team forwards.

    He had no hopes of scoring it big. As long as norge issues arose, he would be very happy as the captain of this team.

    The Falling Eagle Mountain was not particrlyrge, but it was not small either. In particr, its terrain wasplex, filled with a vast forest.

    Team Bright slowly advanced through the forest, searching for any Vicious Beasts that might be there. Simultaneously, they were on the lookout for any Vicious Beasts that they could not defeat. Life was not a game ¨C you could hunt Vicious Beasts, but you could also be hunted by them.

    Sun Jizu was responsible for standing guard.

    He cultivated an eye skill called the Unbounded Eye. Because the trees were very lush, the dense foliage greatly restricted their eyesight. The Unbounded Eye could strengthen one¡¯s eyesight and even prate through objects that weren¡¯t too thick. Thus, their team would be able to discover Vicious Beasts earlier than they would be discovered.

    For this reason, Sun Jizu was often standing on high ground, gazing down at the ground below him.

    ¡°Jizu, how does it look from up there?¡± Yan Fuxing yelled to him.

    ¡°No traces of any beasts at least five kilometers out in any direction. I say, where did all those Vicious Beasts go? It can¡¯t be that they ran away because of us?¡± Sun Jizu replied as he continued scanning their surroundings.

    This was just a boastful joke, but to the ears of someone who always took things seriously it sounded very different.

    ¡°Not all Vicious Beasts will walk over arrogantly. Many of them know how to draw near without making much noise,¡± Cloud Leopard said.

    When it came to hunting, he always took things very seriously.

    ¡°Are you telling me there are beasts that snuck past me that I missed?¡± Sun Jizu was a bit irritated.

    There was no way Cloud Leopard¡¯s reply would improve the situation. He said, ¡°Not yet.¡±

    Sun Jizu red fiercely at him. He said in a low voice, ¡°Are you saying that you¡¯re certain I won¡¯t see those Vicious Beasts?¡±

    If it were Su Chen, he probably would¡¯ve imed that he didn¡¯t mean it that way, but Cloud Leopard replied frankly, ¡°Yes!¡±

    Goddammit!

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Zheng Xia had restrained him, Sun Jizu probably would¡¯ve punched Cloud Leopard.

    ¡°I hate that kid. He always speaks like he has a grudge against someone. He¡¯s just so naturally annoying,¡± Sun Jizu muttered.

    Du Qing and Yan Fuxing walked together. Evidently, neither of them had a good impression of Cloud Leopard.

    They made no attempt to lower their voices. Even Wang Doushan and Su Chen heard them.

    When Su Chen gazed at Cloud Leopard, he had trouble stifling hisughter. However, Cloud Leopard seemed to be staring off into the distancepletely motionless. A killing intent began to emanate from his body.

    Su Chen was stunned. He hurriedly leaned towards Cloud Leopard. ¡°Leopard, don¡¯t pay any mind to what they are saying. They don¡¯t actually have any evil intentions......¡±

    Cloud Leopard interrupted him. ¡°There are two Vicious Beasts six kilometers away.¡±

    Hm?

    Su Chen froze for a moment before jumping onto a nearby tree.

    Although he had no eye skills, his Origin Energy seeing eye could prate objects as well, so he was also somewhat able to see through the leaves and branches.

    Towards the east, there were indeed two Mountain Demons drawing near to them.

    Su Chen turned around and said to Sun Jizu, ¡°You¡¯d beste take a look at this.¡±

    Sun Jizu also leapt into a tree and looked in the direction that Su Chen point in. He very quickly saw what Su Chen was pointing at and yelled, ¡°There are Vicious Beasts six kilometers away from us towards the East....... They¡¯re Mountain Demons! How did you discover them?¡±

    His question was aimed towards Su Chen.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t me that discovered them. It was Cloud Leopard,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Sun Jizu was stunned.

    Cloud Leopard?

    He hadn¡¯t even jumped onto the tree. How did he know that there were Vicious Beasts that far away?

    No matter how much doubt everyone had, they all rushed towards the Mountain Demons.

    The two Mountain Demons quickly appeared.

    They looked just like lemurs that had their faces kicked in. Their face was extremely t, and their bodies had no hair on them. Their limbs looked like dried out old tree branches.

    Mountain Demons were mid-tier Vicious Beasts. They possessed significant physical strength and could conceal themselves within trees. However, they did not have many attack-type skills.

    The two Mountain Demons were basically vegetables in front of Team Bright.

    The best way to destroy vegetables was to simply trample them and tear them to shreds.

    ¡°Four people for each one. Does that sound fine to everyone?¡± Zheng Xia asked.

    It was a simple battle tactic with not much depth behind it. However, no real tactics were needed to deal with vegetables.

    ¡°No problem. Let¡¯s get started!¡± Wang Doushanughed heartily.

    Naturally, Zheng Xia, Yan Fuxing, Sun Jizu, and Du Qing teamed up. Su Chen, Wang Doushan, and the others formed a team.

    The groups began to attack the Mountain Demon.

    There were no tactics or teamwork. All they were doing was unloading firepower; each person had chosen their single most powerful attack, as if trying topete with one another.

    Sun Jizu wielded a pair of metal hoops. His Earth-Cracking Hoops would constantly change direction in midair upon colliding with each other, and their flight paths were very irregr and hard to predict. They were quite powerful as well, and he could control them as he willed. They would fly back to him after he sent them out, attacking from behind as well. When the hoops flew at their maximum speed, the two rings seemed to suddenly draw out into a hundred.

    Du Qing wielded a sword.

    Limpid Autumn Sword.

    There were probably at least eight thousand people using the Limpid Autumn Sword, if not ten thousand. However, Du Qing¡¯s Limpid Autumn Sword had a unique vor to it.

    She cultivated the Separation Sword Technique and the Cloud Swallowing Absorption technique. Thus, her sword was extremely graceful, and its aesthetic was like that of a clear pond by a quiet vige. Her sword cleaved everything that it touches. When itnded on the Mountain Demon, its flesh was separated from its body. If itnded on a finger, then that finger would be separated. If itnded on its heart, then its life would be separated from this earth.

    Her sword strokes flowed like water, and when she drew or sheathed her sword there was a artistic grace to it.

    Yan Fuxing wielded a spear.

    Galloping Wind Spear.

    Yan Fuxing had always wanted to join the army. His attitude was that if he didn¡¯t exterminate the Ferocious Race, then he would never return home from the military. Thus, his weapon of choice was a spear. Spears were the kings of the battlefield because they were well suited forrge-scalebat. A spear strike could sweep in all directions, and the weapon itself was very proud and overbearing.

    Zheng Xia used his palms.

    His palms of flesh were as strong as steel.

    He was not as fast as Sun Jizu, he was not as graceful as Du Qing, nor was he as overbearing as Yan Fuxing. His movements were very simple and straightforward, but they were extremely effective.

    Every palm strike thatnded on the Mountain Demon elicited howls of pain.

    If their strength was assigned a numerical value, then these unassuming palms of flesh would have the highest score out of all of them.

    The poor Mountain Demon howled in pain under the furious assault from the four people.

    Of course, it wasn¡¯t without ability to react. Its innate ability to conceal itself in trees allowed it to constantly jump from tree to tree as it dodged.

    Unfortunately, mid-tier Vicious Beasts were naturally limited in their strength, so the distance it could dodge was limited. It also had no way of continuously activating it.

    The four-man team possessed enough firepower to wipe out the surroundings whenever the Mountain Demon disappeared.

    This kind of indiscriminate destruction directly flushed the Mountain Demon out, causing the poor guy no end of troubles.

    Inparison to the fury Zheng Xia and the others were releasing, Su Chen and the others were much calmer.

    Cloud Leopard was able to instantly discern where the Mountain Demon was when it tried to conceal itself and flush it out. Su Chen and Wang Doushan only needed to keep up with it.

    After repeating this process again and again, Su Chen began to understand the Mountain Demon¡¯s unique attributes. Every time it jumped from one tree to another, that tree would seeminglye alive, its branches and leaves gently shaking.

    The movements were notrge, but to those who were paying close attention it was enough.

    By using this method, they were easily able to determine the Mountain Demon¡¯s location and deal with it by expending the least amount of energy.

    The biggest benefit to this method was that it conserved the most energy. If other Vicious Beasts appeared, they would still be able to fight at their prime condition.

    However, their grandeur was not as great as that of their neighboring team.

    Zheng Xia and the others wiped out the Mountain Demon and arge chunk of the neighboring forest. They were able to deal with their opponent even faster than Su Chen¡¯s team. Yan Fuxing stared in Cloud Leopard¡¯s direction, a self-satisfied smile on his face.

    Sun Jizu directly said, ¡°Aren¡¯t you guys too slow? It¡¯s just a Mountain Demon, yet you had to expend that much energy?¡±

    Cloud Leopard coldly replied, ¡°It¡¯s better than squeezing out all of your strength just to deal with a regr Vicious Beast. Sometimes, other Vicious Beasts like to get in on the action.

    Sun Jizu said disdainfully, ¡°If you¡¯re weak, you¡¯re weak. Don¡¯t try and find excuses for yourself.¡±

    Cloud Leopard replied, ¡°Then good sir, you might want to jump onto a tree and take a look West.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 47: Adamantine

    Chapter 47: Adamantine

    What Cloud Leopard said shocked Sun Jizu.

    However, he jumped onto a nearby tree as soon as he could. He nced in the northwest direction and his body clearly froze in ce.

    He yelled to the people below the tree, ¡°Two Giant Adamantine Apes are headed in our direction two kilometers out from the northwest!¡±

    Giant Adamantine Apes were high-tier Vicious Beasts. Their strength was roughly equivalent to a lowyer Blood Boiling Cultivator.

    Team Bright might be able to take on one of them, but battling two simultaneously was not easy.

    In particr, Zheng Xia and the others had gone all-out against the Mountain Demon, expending a significant amount of Origin Energy.

    Even Zheng Xia¡¯s expression changed. He barked, ¡°Hurry and take care of that one and we¡¯ll leave!¡±

    Cloud Leopard shed out using the Thunder de at a nearby tree.

    With a howl, the Mountain Demon was sent flying from the tree. Before it even touched the ground, it became the recipient of Su Chen, Iron Cliff, and Wang Doushan¡¯s warm hospitality.

    Cloud Leopard said, ¡°There¡¯s no need. After all, it¡¯s just two Giant Adamantine Apes.¡±

    Yan Fuxing began to yell, ¡°Just two Giant Adamantine Apes? They are both high-tier Vicious Beasts, and...... and......¡±

    He was too ashamed to utter the words ¡°and we expended too much Origin Energy¡±.

    Although he appeared extremely majestic and dominant when battling, the way that he spoke made him seem a bit dumb and silly.

    Cloud Leopard coldlyughed and wanted to retort, but Su Chen sent a strengthened Erupting Firebird at the Mountain Demon, ending its life before it could jump to another tree. Then he said, ¡°Were those two Giant Adamantine Apes headed our way?¡±

    Sun Jizu froze for a moment before nodding.

    Su Chen said, ¡°They were attracted by themotion. Although Giant Adamantine Apes arerge oafs, they have a sensitive sense of smell, allowing them to follow our scent. Their temperaments are very poor; if they want something, they will chase relentlessly after it. Unless you n on running away for a very long time, it¡¯s best to just take care of them.¡±

    ¡°Two high-tier Vicious Beasts are not easy to take care of!¡± Zheng Xia directly identified the most prominent issue.

    ¡°While one person attracts the attention of one of them, the rest can take care of the other one. Is seven-on-one good enough?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Zheng Xia knitted his eyebrows. ¡°Taking them down one at a time? It¡¯s not impossible, but the person responsible for attracting the one will be in danger. In addition, the Giant Adamantine Apes have already formed a pair, so it might not be so easy to separate them.¡±

    Su Chen pulled out vial of medicine. ¡°This is the Beast Drawing Medicine. It serves as a strong attractor for most Vicious Beasts. I will use it to attract one of them while you deal with the other.¡±

    The eyes of Zheng Xia and the others lit up.

    However, Zheng Xia still resisted. ¡°But if that¡¯s the case, you¡¯ll be the one in danger.¡±

    ¡°No worries. You should know that an alchemist has many cards up his sleeves,¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°If I really can¡¯t hold out, I still have this.¡±

    Su Chen pulled out another vial of medicine.

    Beast Repent Medicine.

    This was not the fake medicine that Yan Wushuang had tried to give him before. Su Chen had personally concocted it.

    Upon seeing Su Chen casually pull out so many medicines, Zheng Xia was speechless. The gaze he used to look at Su Chen with changed slightly.

    Originally, Su Chen was just a cowardly and greedy person in his eyes, but now it seemed that at the very least the term ¡°cowardly¡± could not be applied to him.

    He stared at Su Chen, genuine gratefulness in his eyes. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, then I¡¯ll leave it to you. Dying the Giant Adamantine Ape for the time it takes a single stick of incense to burn should be enough.¡±

    ¡°No problem,¡± Su Chen smiled.

    ¡°Fine. Jizu, check to see how close the Giant Adamantine Ape has gotten,¡± Zheng Xia said.

    ¡°Half a kilometer out,¡± Cloud Leopard interjected before Sun Jizu could even return to the treetops.

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°Do I still even need to look?¡± Sun Jizu asked, slightly befuddled.

    ¡°......¡±

    The Giant Adamantine Apes arrived very quickly.

    These massive apes were almost twenty feet tall. Strictly speaking, they could not be considered giant beasts. The name ¡°Giant Ape¡±, therefore, was slightly exaggerated, and their name did not exactly reflect reality.

    However, the Giant Adamantine Apes possessed a bloodline that contained a trace of an ancient giant beast¡¯s bloodline. A few Giant Adamantine Apes could surpass the Vicious Beast stage and be Demonic Beasts. They would be real Giant Adamantine Apes, at which point their bodies would really be massive.

    Regardless, they were already extremelyrge.

    Theirrge bodies granted them great physical power. They did not have any concealment abilities like the Mountain Demons, but they were unimaginably powerful. They could casually pull up a tree by its roots and use it as a weapon, mming it towards their target; this makeshift weapon was much more powerful than any Origin Skill.

    Barbaric, crude, and powerful ¨C those were all words that urately described them.

    They were the body cultivators of the Vicious Beasts, relying on their physical prowess to dominate the mountains.

    Once the two Giant Adamantine Apes appeared, Su Chen smeared the Beast Drawing Medicine on himself as they had nned.

    The two Giant Adamantine Apes charged towards Su Chen as if they were in heat.

    Zheng Xia and the others forcefully restricted one. Furious attacks were the best way to draw aggression. Even the Beast Drawing Medicine could notpare to the stimtion brought on by pain.

    The male giant ape let out an enraged howl before charging towards Zheng Xia¡¯s team. Su Chen took advantage of the opportunity to back off, attracting the female giant ape away.

    He needed to back off quite a distance. The two giant apes were obviously a pair. If one of them was in danger, the other one would definitely try to save them ¨C the Beast Drawing Medicine emitted a fragrance that Vicious Beasts liked, but it was not able to bewitch and enchant thempletely.

    The discrepancy in intelligence manifested itself.

    While the two Giant Adamantine Apes were together, Team Bright carefully controlled the power of their attacks, focusing primarily on dying the beasts.

    But after the female giant ape had been drawn away, they began to strengthen their attacks.

    Boom!

    A pair of vicious rings mmed onto the Giant Adamantine Ape¡¯s body, releasing a dazzling light.

    The Giant Adamantine Ape¡¯s skin and flesh were tough, but after being struck it still let out a pained howl.

    ¡°Don¡¯t use Origin Skills!¡± Cloud Leopard yelled. ¡°The other one hasn¡¯t gone very far yet, and it will return if it hears these howls. Wait a bit longer until they¡¯re farther away and then we can attack at full-force!¡±

    ¡°But if that¡¯s the case, Su Chen will be in danger!¡± Du Qing yelled.

    ¡°Trust me, he won¡¯t die,¡± Cloud Leopard replied.

    Du Qing red at him fiercely, her eyes filled with anger.

    Cloud Leopard couldn¡¯t understand what Du Qing¡¯s expression meant when she said, ¡°I was wrong. I thought that you were his friend, but it turns out you don¡¯t care whether or not he lives or dies.¡±

    What? Cloud Leopard was stunned.

    Thankfully, Iron Cliff followed up. ¡°Master will be fine. It¡¯s just a high-tier Vicious Beast; he can take care of it.¡±

    Du Qing, Zheng Xia, and the others rolled their eyes at Iron Cliff¡¯s words, none of them taking seriously.

    But since Iron Cliff and Cloud Leopard had said so, they could only continue to dy until Cloud Leopard gave the word to attack seriously.

    BOOM!

    A raging torrent of Origin Skills mmed down simultaneously.

    Du Qing yelled, ¡°Go all-out! Don¡¯t conserve any of your strength. The earlier we take care of this guy, the more quickly we can save Su Chen. He won¡¯t be able tost for long.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Hundred Refinements Pavilion.

    A brawny student walked out from one of the rooms within the main hall, a satisfied smile on his face.

    The skinny studentughed when he saw this. ¡°Congrattions. It seems you cleared the fourteenth room?¡±

    The student nodded his head in satisfaction. ¡°Yep. Damn, facing four mid-tier Vicious Beasts is really difficult. Thankfully, my He Zhenshan¡¯s Overlord Body Technique reached the stage ofrge sess, allowing me to barely scrape by.¡±

    ¡°Then do you want to try the fifteenth room?¡± The skinny student, like usual, egged him on. Watching others fail brought him the greatest pleasure.

    The brawny student waved his hands. ¡°Forget about it. The fifteenth room contains a high-tier Vicious Beast, equivalent to a Blood Boiling Realm existence. I don¡¯t want to tackle that yet. I¡¯m not like those five monsters. I¡¯ll probably wait until next year to tackle it. Clearing the fourteenth room by the end of my fourth year is already enough to satisfy me.¡±

    Even in a world dominated by Bloodline Nobility ns, differences in status were not absolute. However, high-tier Vicious Beasts were not easy to deal with.

    To the brawny He Zhenshan, the fifteenth room was something that he could only temporarily look forward to.

    ¡°There¡¯s six of them now,¡± the skinny student repliedzily.

    ¡°What did you say?¡± He Zhenshan froze. ¡°Are you saying that, amongst us fourth-year students, another person cleared the fifteenth room?¡±

    ¡°It happened this morning,¡± the skinny student replied.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 48: Firehawk

    Chapter 48: Firehawk

    While the seven other members of Team Bright were battling the male giant ape, Su Chen had begun a massive battle.

    This was not his first time fighting a high-tier Vicious Beast.

    He had fought one before when clearing the fifteenth room in the Hundred Refinements Pavilion.

    However, battling an illusory Vicious Beast was one thing; fighting a real one was an entirely different matter.

    In addition, different Vicious Beasts had different strengths and weaknesses.

    The Giant Adamantine Ape was an incredibly ferocious Vicious Beast. It possessed an incredibly powerful body.

    Su Chen retreated by activating the Snaking Mist Steps, slipping through the small cracks in the trees as he constantly ced Clear Wind Nets before him. The Giant Adamantine Ape¡¯s method was much simpler.

    It forcefully destroyed everything in its path as it charged forwards. Trees were overturned wherever it went.

    It casually raised a tree trunk in its hand. Using it as a staff, it mmed it towards Su Chen. Such a simple attack possessed immense strength; even if it just brushed past, it was powerful enough to smash Su Chen into a human pancake.

    Su Chen¡¯s Clear Wind Net had just appeared when it was swept aside like a spiderweb by the Giant Adamantine Ape. The Giant Adamantine Ape didn¡¯t even notice its appearance.

    Su Chen had praised Iron Cliff¡¯s ability to resist Origin Skills via pure physical force, but this giant ape wasn¡¯t just resisting Origin Skills via pure physical force, but was instead suppressing them.

    ¡°AWOO!¡±

    This tree trunk created a crater in the ground, and the giant ape pounded its chest as it howled fiercely. This howl seemed to contain a certain amount of scorn, as if looking down on Su Chen as an insect that only knows how to jump around.

    ¡°Fine, try this on for size then.¡± Su Chen gave up on using the Clear Wind Net and switched to the Erupting Firebird.

    The Giant Adamantine Ape swung the tree trunk through the air again.

    Boom! The tree trunk mmed into the Firebird, causing it to explode in a fiery ze. The giant trunk in its hand was suddenly halved in size.

    The giant ape stared nkly at the halved trunk in its hand before tossing it aside and bending down to pick up a new one. It had yet to stand straight, however, when another fiery sh appeared, halving the new tree trunk.

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°It seems your weapon choice isn¡¯t easy to use.¡±

    The giant ape frowned and picked up another tree.

    Just as Su Chen was preparing to destroy it with another Erupting Firebird, the Giant Ape threw the tree in his hand forwards.

    Whoosh!

    The giant piece of wood whistled through the air, whistling towards Su Chen.

    ¡°Holy crap!¡± Su Chen¡¯s heart jumped. He hurriedly activated the Snaking Mist Steps to dodge it; it barely flew past him.

    He had yet to recover when another massive tree flew towards him. Su Chen was unable to dodge it, so even as he retreated he shed out with his de while also simultaneously activating the Amethyst Battle Armor¡¯s barrier.

    Boom!

    Su Chen was sent flying by the forceful blow, a brilliant light shining in front of him. Thirty percent of the attack¡¯s power was reduced by his retreat, thirty percent was blocked by the barrier, and thirty percent blocked by the Amethyst Battle Armor itself. The remaining ten percent, however, was still enough to cause Su Chen to spit out arge mouthful of blood. The power of this strike could be easily seen from this.

    ¡°Awoo!¡± The Giant Adamantine Ape let out an enraged snarl, not at all satisfied.

    ¡°You are quite savage!¡± Su Chen rubbed his chest and winced in pain before turning around and running away.

    It wasn¡¯t that he was afraid of the ape. Rather, the ape¡¯s infuriated howls were quite annoying; the howls allowed it tomunicate with the other ape despite the distance between the two of them.

    Its current howls were angered cries of provocation, so they weren¡¯t that dangerous.

    If Su Chen injured or frightened the ape, it would cry out in pain or fear, definitely inciting a reaction from the other giant ape.

    Su Chen could only run further and further away from his teammates.

    The ferocious ape chased after him relentlessly. The Beast Drawing Medicine¡¯s fragrance slowly began to fade, but the mes of rage that had begun to burn did not decrease in the slightest.

    As it chased, it constantly uprooted trees and threw them at Su Chen.

    The trees whistled past him like arrows. Su Chen¡¯s scalp tingled as he watched them fly by.

    This damned ape, its strength never seemed to run out.

    Boom!

    Another tree trunk flew past his head. Su Chen narrowly dodged it.

    ¡°AWOO!¡± The giant ape howled at Su Chen, as if it were saying ¡°do you only know how to run away?¡±

    Su Chen turned around in midair andnded on the ground.

    He pointed at the giant ape. ¡°Are you having fun chasing me?¡±

    The giant ape let out a furious howl in response.

    Su Chen shook the de in his hand. ¡°Then you¡¯d best understand that I¡¯m not that...... Shit!¡±

    Boom!

    Another giant tree flew forwards.

    Su Chen had yet to show off his strength when the giant ape had already made a move.

    ¡°Dammit!¡± Su Chen only had time to curse before shing out with his de.

    While clearing the fifteenth room of the Hundred Refinements Pavilion, Su Chen didn¡¯t have a single Origin Tool on him. His strength in the pavilion originated from himself and himself alone.

    Now, with the Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de, the Amethyst Battle Armor, and the Cloud-Stepping Battle Boots, his strength had clearly increased.

    A wolf soul seemed to emerge from the de as it shed through the air. It let out a piercing howl and leapt towards the giant ape. The Thunder de simultaneously exploded with the majestic rumbling of thunder.

    The giant tree mmed into the de of light, releasing a brilliant light upon impact.

    Under the massive explosion, the tree shattered. The giant ape was suddenly unarmed.

    The Heavenly Wolf de continued forwards unopposed.

    The Giant Adamantine Ape didn¡¯t even try to dodge. When it swung its massive hand, the ape¡¯s thick arm turned into a streak of golden light, exploding forth with an unprecedented amount of force.

    The de mmed into the fist. Su Chen felt as if he had shed a mountain.

    The force from the impact sent him flying as if it were a tornado.

    ¡°What the...... hell......¡± Su Chen had not anticipated this turn of events. He flew through the air, leaving behind afterimages in his wake until he came to a stop nearly a hundred feet away.

    ¡°AWOO!¡± The Giant Adamantine Ape continued to howl. Golden light began to shine this time from its entire body, and faint traces of purple could be seen as well.

    This was the Giant Adamantine Ape¡¯s innate Origin Skill, Adamantine Body.

    The name ¡°Adamantine¡± was not undeserved.

    A momentter, the ape leapt forwards, flying through the air. It caught up to Su Chen after a few leaps, and its two thick arms mmed downwards like two giant pirs.

    ¡°Dammit!¡± Su Chen was stunned. He activated the Snaking Mist Steps again and shed forwards again in a haze of smoke.

    The giant ape¡¯s attack mmed into the ground, generating shockwaves upon impact and leaving behind a round crater on the ground.

    High-tier Vicious Beasts also possessed different amounts of strength.

    The Giant Adamantine Ape¡¯s strength was evidently much greater than the one found in the fifteenth room of the Hundred Refinements Pavilion.

    Though the attack had missed, the giant ape leapt forwards once again, continuing to chase Su Chen.

    Although it didn¡¯t know how to fly, every leap brought it seventy or eighty feet forwards, so it didn¡¯t make much of a difference. It flew through the air forcefully and imposingly; even the highyer Blood Boiling Realm cultivators Su Chen hade across, such as Copper Deer, Smoke, or Li, would probably have trouble dealing with it. Su Chen didn¡¯t have time to dodge, and the ape¡¯s arms swept into him, shattering the fouryers of Meg¡¯s Guardian and the Amethyst Battle Armor¡¯s barrier as well.

    In midair, Su Chen sent an Erupting Firebird flying, mming into the ape¡¯s golden body. The Giant Adamantine Ape charged through the mes as if they didn¡¯t exist, but the flesh on its chest had been mangled.

    Out of all the high-tier Vicious Beasts, the Giant Adamantine Ape definitely possessed the lowest number of Origin Skills. It only knew the Adamantine Body.

    But this skill alone was enough for the Giant Adamantine Ape to be extremely powerful both in terms of offense and defense.

    Even the strengthened Erupting Firebird could only do limited damage to it.

    Wanting to defeat his opponent with just a few strengthened Erupting Firebirds was delusional unless he also relied on a numbers advantage like the other seven in Team Bright.

    ¡°You¡¯re quite tenacious.¡± Upon seeing this development, Su Chen no longer attempted to defeat his opponent head on. He turned around and ran.

    It wasn¡¯t that Su Chen wasn¡¯t confident that he could kill the ape, but it was so powerful that he would probably have to expend an unreasonable amount of energy and effort to do so.

    Since his duty was just to dy, why bother going all-out?

    The person and the ape ran through the forest together.

    ording to the n, he would only need to dy the Giant Adamantine Ape for the time it took a stick of incense to burn before the other members of Team Bright woulde to support him.

    But that time came and passed, and his awaited support had yet to arrive.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t mind. The Giant Adamantine Ape was proficient in both offense and defense, and it was stronger than they had estimated. It was not an easy opponent to deal with; perhaps the seven of them would need a bit more time to finish it off.

    Thus, he remained patient and continued to dance around with the ape.

    Soon, enough time had psed for another stick of incense to have burned, yet Team Bright still had not appeared.

    Su Chen began to frown slightly.

    Before, he still had patience.

    But once the third stick of incense had burned, he could not wait any longer. He recognized that the situation had probably changed.

    The man and ape pair had already been running around in the forest for quite some time. The Giant Adamantine Ape was also beginning to show signs of impatience and even of giving up entirely.

    Su Chen had to apply another Beast Drawing Medicine to himself in order to attract his opponent¡¯s attention again.

    However, neither party had any intention of drawing things out this time.

    Su Chen was bing more and more agitated as he continued to wait for reinforcements. However, he couldn¡¯t afford to be careless in the slightest.

    After exhausting hisst shred of patience, Su Chen finally couldn¡¯t take it anymore.

    ¡°It looks like I¡¯ll have to rely on myself to deal with you,¡± Su Chen muttered.

    ¡°AWOO!¡± the Giant Adamantine Ape howled as if saying, ¡°if you have the balls,e at me¡±.

    ¡°Then try this one on for size.¡±

    Su Chen stretched his hand forth.

    An inferno began to appear in his hand.

    Then, it began to take shape, rapidly taking on the shape of a bird.

    It looked very simr to the Erupting Firebird in terms of general shape.

    However, the transformation did not stop there. The bird continued to expand and feathers began to grow out of its body, followed immediately by eyes and sharp talons.

    The inferno had assumed the shape of a hawk. The hawk pped its wings, and the bird¡¯s eyes, which were formed of coagted mes, shed with an intense brilliance.

    Su Chen gestured with his hand. The Firehawk flew into the air, letting out a piercing screech as it charged the giant ape. It transformed into a powerful torrent of mes as it charged towards its target.

    ¡°AWOOOOO!!!¡±

    When the Firehawk struck its target, the Giant Adamantine Ape let out its most pained cry yet.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 49: Kill

    Chapter 49: Kill

    The piercing cry of the Firehawk was met by an infuriated howl from the ape.

    When the smoke dissipated, a frighteninglyrge wound had appeared on the giant ape¡¯s body.

    The Giant Adamantine Ape¡¯s Adamantine Body made its body as tough as a rock, but the powerful torrent of energy easily prated its body like a hot knife through butter. The massive wound on the ape¡¯s body was deep enough to expose the white bone underneath.

    But a momentter, the ape¡¯s wound began to close automatically.

    This guy¡¯s recovery ability was abnormally powerful.

    Even so, the Giant Adamantine Ape was infuriated.

    Before this point, no person had ever given it such a serious injury before.

    ¡°AWOO!¡±

    The giant ape¡¯s body seemed to inte slightly as it let out a primal howl.

    It charged towards Su Chen, the ape¡¯s massive body casting a shadow upon Su Chen¡¯s body.

    Upon seeing that the ape had increased in size again, Su Chen let out a quiet cry of surprise.

    The Giant Adamantine Ape was considered ¡°Giant¡± because it contained traces of a Giant Beast in its bloodline. As it grew, its strength would continue to increase.

    The most obvious indicator of an ape¡¯s strength was its body size.

    Therger they were, the more powerful they were.

    Twenty feet was one of the weaker existences among all the Giant Adamantine Apes. While it was muchrger than humankind, this was quitemon amongst Vicious Beasts. It was still quite a distance away from being considered a Giant Beast.

    However, their bloodline allowed them to grow constantly.

    Giant Adamantine Apes were easily angered, and rage stimted their bloodlines, allowing them to increasingly awaken their bloodline¡¯s power and be more powerful.

    That was exactly what had happened. The Giant Adamantine Ape was enraged because of the pain. This activated the sliver of its ancient bloodline, causing its strength to increase.

    ¡°AWOOO!!!¡±

    It let out an enraged howl as it charged forwards, its speed much greater than before.

    Su Chen hurriedly retreated. mes appeared in his hand as he sent forth another Firehawk.

    ¡°Go!¡± Su Chen shouted as the Firehawk flew forward.

    But this time, the Firehawk did not transform into a torrent of mes. Rather, it flew towards the ape in hawk form. As if it possessed intelligence, its sharp beaktched onto the ape¡¯s previous wound. That ce was not protected by the Adamantine Body, allowing the Firehawk to tear off arge chunk of flesh.

    The giant ape swung its arm downwards as it howled in pain, mming it into the Firehawk. However, the Firehawk waspletely formed from Origin Energy mes, so it was not a genuine lifeform.

    Su Chen had learned this technique from Smoke.

    Although Su Chen¡¯s Firebird was powerful, everyone¡¯s strength had been increasing, resulting in the Firebird slowly being left behind..

    Shi Kaihuang had taught Su Chen with his finger strike what ¡°scope¡± really meant.

    His future prospects would be limited if he continued to rely on the Erupting Firebird¡¯s temporary power.

    Thus, Su Chen was always trying to figure out how to strengthen his Erupting Firebird.

    During the Red Cloud Slope battle, Smoke¡¯s battle method gave Su Chen some insight as to how to improve his Erupting Firebird.

    Smoke¡¯s mes could congeal into a genuine substance. Rather than a one-time attack, the mes could be individual existences and attack repeatedly. Although the skill¡¯s explosive power per attack decreased, the skillsted for a longer time. In addition to having better harassment abilities, it could also absorb fire.

    At that moment, the giant ape¡¯s attention was drawn away by the Firehawk. It temporarily wasn¡¯t paying attention to Su Chen.

    Taking advantage of the opportunity, Su Chen formed another Firehawk.

    Another unique characteristic of the Firehawk was that multiple could exist simultaneously.

    Firehawk after firehawk flew forth from his hands, their ming wings pping as they dived towards the giant ape.

    The Giant Adamantine Ape furiously swung its arms through the air. The many Firehawks seemed like meteors that were constantly falling from the sky. The ape almost looked like a dancer on a stage lit by fireworks andnterns.

    As the Firehawks were struck by the ape¡¯s powerful arms, the mes that made up its body would decrease, shrinking the Firehawk itself.

    Upon losing its ability to remain cohesive, it would explode.

    Every time a Firehawk exploded, it would leave behind a small wound on the Giant Adamantine Ape¡¯s body.

    Although these injuries were not severe, they umted over time.

    Even more annoyingly, these Erupting Firehawks flew forward in a constant stream as if there were a countless number of them.

    The giant ape howled in fury.

    Its wounds grew more and more severe. As it progressively lost more blood, the strength began to ebb from its body.

    At this point, most of the hair on its body had been scorched off, and burn marks covered its skin. No patch of its skin remained untouched.

    Even its powerful recovery ability was unable to withstand the torrent of energy. Its life force had been pushed to the absolute limit. The Giant Adamantine Ape began to wobble, and its footsteps also became much heavier.

    In reality, Su Chen wasn¡¯t much better off.

    The Erupting Firehawk wasrger and consumed more Origin Energy than the original version. Because it was an Improved Origin Skill, it also expended physical energy. In a short amount of time, Su Chen was forced to begin squeezing out the remnants of Origin Energy in his body. While he could replenish the Origin Energy he had spent using an Origin Stone, there was no way for his physical energy to recover.

    As Su Chen continued to go all out, he felt himself grow tired, and his face became more and more pale.

    ¡°Dammit, isn¡¯t this guy too tanky?¡± Su Chen cursed. Team Bright was nowhere to be seen. He flipped his hand, and a massive firebird appeared.

    At that moment, his physical energy had beenpletely exhausted. He didn¡¯t have the strength to release another Firehawk.

    The strengthened Erupting Firebird mmed into the giant ape¡¯s body, mixing with the uninterrupted stream of Firehawks and creating a fiery-red sky.

    Immediately upon releasing this attack, Su Chen¡¯s vision began to swim.

    If this wasn¡¯t enough to kill the bastard, he could only use that......

    Thankfully, the giant ape was no longer able to ignore its injuries.

    This strengthened Erupting Firebird was like the straw that broke the camel¡¯s back. The Giant Adamantine Ape copsed on the ground.

    It hadn¡¯t died yet, but it didn¡¯t have the energy to get on its feet. Despair could be seen in its eyes as it let out piteous whimpers.

    Giant Adamantine Apes did not fall over.

    But once it did, it would fall into an eternal rest.

    ¡°Whew!¡± Su Chen finally let out a sigh of relief.

    Su Chen walked over after catching his breath..

    He pulled out a vial from his storage ring and used it to catch the giant ape¡¯s blood as he muttered to himself, ¡°Don¡¯t me me. You¡¯re about to die anyways, so you might as well help out the human race...... Your rage strengthens the power of your bloodline? That¡¯s definitely something worth looking into.¡±

    The blood continued to flow from the giant ape¡¯s body into Su Chen¡¯s vial.

    Su Chen filled vial after vial and then sealed them using a secret technique.

    Blood obtained from a living target still possessed some vitality, so preserving it was extremely important.

    After filling five vials, Su Chen pulled out a jade vial and ced it near the giant ape¡¯s heart. He then stabbed the ape¡¯s heart with his finger, filling the jade vial with blood essence that came directly from the ape¡¯s heart.

    Heart blood essence was the purest part of a Vicious Beast, and there was only a limited amount of it. Death was imminent if it was lost, so Su Chen had retrieved itst.

    As thest drop of blood essence rolled into the jade vial, the giant ape closed its eyes.

    Su Chen quickly stored the vial away and then began to absorb the Origin Energy.

    Su Chen was not wasteful in the slightest ¨C he drew the beast¡¯s blood and absorbed its Origin Energy.

    At that moment, a familiar group of silhouettes appeared a distance away from him.

    It was Zheng Xia, Du Qing, and the others.

    ¡°Su Chen, Su Chen!¡±

    They had finally arrived.

    Su Chen rolled his eyes, but he still replied, ¡°I¡¯m here!¡±

    ¡°Heavens, it¡¯s Su Chen! He¡¯s there! He¡¯s not dead yet, thank goodness!¡± Du Qing eximed excitedly and rushed over.

    Her frustration from arriving sote had finally disappeared, and she was finally able to put to rest the fear that Su Chen might have died.

    ¡°Su Chen, thank goodness you¡¯re alright...... We¡¯re really sorry. We weren¡¯t intentionally trying to harm you; something unexpected happened. Did you escape from that giant ape? No worries, as long as you¡¯re fine that¡¯s good enough,¡± Zheng Xia yelled loudly in exnation as he ran over.

    But when he got close to Su Chen, he found Su Chen standing before the giant ape¡¯s corpse.

    Su Chen was using his unique method to send the giant ape off to the afterlife.

    ¡°This...... Heavens......!¡±

    Everyone present was stunned.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 50: Counterattack 1

    Chapter 50: Counterattack (1)

    ¡°You guys took the time it takes for four incense sticks to burn to get here. If anyone else was responsible for dying the giant ape, they would have died three or four times over...... You¡¯d better give me a good excuse.¡±

    After absorbing thest mote of light andpleting his ¡°ceremony¡±, Su Chen turned around to look at Zheng Xia.

    His gaze was unsettling.

    Anyone in this situation would not be happy no matter who they were.

    ¡°Sorry, we ran into an unexpected issue,¡± Wang Doushan followed up.

    ¡°Something unexpected really did happen, master. We tried our hardest to hurry over.¡±

    Upon hearing Wang Doushan and Iron Cliff say so, Su Chen¡¯s anger decreased slightly. He nced at the group and saw that they were drenched in sweat and their expressions were fatigued. Evidently, they had charged over here as fast as they could, but for some unknown reason Cloud Leopard wasn¡¯t with them.

    ¡°What exactly happened?¡±

    The rest of them began to exin the situation.

    After Su Chen had draw the giant ape away, the seven of them had begun to deal with the Giant Adamantine Ape at full force.

    Even though the Giant Adamantine Ape was extremely powerful, there was no way it could withstand the furious assault of the seven of them.

    They all had thrown everything they had at it. Just when they were about to defeat the giant ape, however, another group of people showed up.

    ¡°Another group showed up?¡± Su Chen¡¯s eyebrows furrowed. ¡°Who were they?¡±

    ¡°It was that garbage Zhang Sheng¡¯an,¡± Wang Doushan replied, infuriated. ¡°As soon as he arrived, he told us that this Giant Adamantine Ape belonged to them, and that we should give up on it.¡±

    ¡°He wanted to take your giant ape?¡± Su Chen was stunned. ¡°How could those arrogant people fall to the point that they have to rob others?¡±

    ¡°No, they wanted it alive,¡± Wang Doushan replied.

    Su Chen thought for a moment before it dawned on him. ¡°Jin Ling¡¯er?¡±

    The Giant Adamantine Ape was powerful both in terms of offense and defense. Although its battle tactics were simple, they are very practical. If Jin Ling¡¯er could control it, in the future she could use it as a human shield andbine her strength with it. The best part, however, was that Giant Adamantine Apes are pretty easy to control, so it was no surprise that they were interested in it.

    Long before this, Zhang Sheng¡¯an and the others had been looking for a high-tier Vicious Beast that was rtively easy to use for Jin Ling¡¯er, but they had never found a suitable target.

    This time, they had unintentionally stumbled upon Team Bright battling a Giant Adamantine Ape, and they instantly came up with the idea of seizing it by force.

    After all, they were just a group of students without bloodlines, so they didn¡¯t care.

    Within the Hidden Dragon Institute, students from Bloodline Nobility ns and students without bloodlines were always at odds. Sometimes one party would look to actively incite conflict for no reason, let alone under such circumstances.

    Team Bright naturally was unwilling, and they began to fight over it. Unfortunately, there was no way they could fight back against Zhang Sheng¡¯an. Even if they had been initially, they had expended a lot of energy battling the Giant Adamantine Ape. There was no way that they were going to defeat their opponents.

    In the end, they could only watch as their opponents took the giant ape away.

    Su Chen turned to ask Wang Doushan, ¡°Jin Ling¡¯er just watched them take away what belonged to us?¡±

    ¡°She tried to plead with Zhang Sheng¡¯an and the others, but it didn¡¯t do much,¡± Wang Doushan sighed.

    He left out that part of the story where Jin Ling¡¯er had clearly also been tempted by the giant ape.

    Thus, her attempts to dissuade Zhang Sheng¡¯an and the others were not very firm.

    Even so, Su Chen was able to perceive that point.

    If Jin Ling¡¯er hadn¡¯t been tempted by it, Zhang Sheng¡¯an probably wouldn¡¯t have acted so brazenly.

    Su Chen didn¡¯tment on it. All he did was coldly harrumph, ¡°Then what happened afterwards? Why didn¡¯t you try ande back immediately?¡±

    Since the giant ape had been seized, why note back to help him? Why waste so much time?

    ¡°It was Blood Demon Zhong Ding.¡± Wang Doushan angrily clenched his fists. ¡°That bastard realized something after noticing that you weren¡¯t there, so he purposefully tried to dy us by talking to us. The more we wanted to leave, the more he wouldn¡¯t let us.¡±

    Su Chen squinted his eyes.

    Giant Adamantine Apes often traveled in pairs, so the fact that Zhong Ding had realized something was off wasn¡¯t really that strange.

    But why had Zhong Ding targeted him?

    He had never offended Zhong Ding before.

    Although he had defeated Zhong Ding before during the Three Mountains Regionpetition, that was necessitated by the exam. In addition, he and Jin Ling¡¯er had already teamed up.

    But Su Chen¡¯s experiences had taught him that often, people did things for reasons other than personal benefit.

    There were certain people who would go out of their way to make trouble for you simply because they looked down on you, or even just because they wanted to have some fun at your expense.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t wrong. The matter really was that simple.

    In fact, Zhong Ding just wanted to see Team Bright be agitated like they were constipated, which was why he had provoked them in the first ce.

    All he needed to say was something like, ¡°Don¡¯t be in such a hurry to leave. Why don¡¯t we talk for a bit?¡± to toy with the group of people like they were little girls. Zhong Ding enjoyed those sort of feelings very much.

    Of course, he was just toying with them for amusement, but for Su Chen this was a matter of life and death.

    It wasn¡¯t until Team Bright was about to go insane and Jin Ling¡¯er was unable to watch anymore did Zhong Ding finally let them go.

    This conflict had prevented Team Bright froming to Su Chen¡¯s aid, putting him in perilous danger.

    After understanding what had happened, Su Chen squinted his eyes slightly. ¡°Where¡¯s Cloud Leopard? Why isn¡¯t he here?¡±

    The others all nced at each other. Wang Doushan was the first to speak. ¡°Cloud Leopard couldn¡¯t endure this insult, so he followed them.¡±

    A trace of coldness shed across Su Chen¡¯s eyes. He suddenly said, ¡°Which direction did they go in?¡±

    Du Qing pointed towards the West.

    Su Chen flew into motion and moved as quickly as possible, making him as fast as a wisp of smoke. He left behind a sentence that floated in the air, ¡°Wait for me here. I¡¯ll be back soon.¡±

    Du Qing felt her vision blur as Su Chen quickly disappeared. She eximed, ¡°So fast!¡±

    Su Chen made no attempt to conceal his strength, shocking everyone present.

    Even Wang Doushan was caught off-guard. He nced at Iron Cliff and said, ¡°I thought your master was always holed up in his tower performing research? How has his strength increased again?¡±

    Iron Cliff replied seriously, ¡°Master always says that knowledge is power.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Su Chen charged forward at high speed.

    As soon as Zhang Sheng¡¯an had left, Team Bright hade to find him, so they had not gone very far.

    Very quickly, Su Chen saw a group of people appear in the distance.

    It was Zhang Sheng¡¯an and the others.

    However, he couldn¡¯t spot Cloud Leopard.

    Su Chen understood Cloud Leopard¡¯s personality. He might as well have been born in the forest; if he didn¡¯t want to be found, it was almost impossible to discover him.

    While Su Chen frantically searching around, he suddenly heard a voice. ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    He turned around and found Cloud Leopard right behind him.

    This guy had discovered him at an unknown time and crept up behind him.

    Su Chen sighed in relief. ¡°I¡¯m here to stop you. Don¡¯t do something stupid, Leopard.¡±

    ¡°They took something that belonged to us,¡± Cloud Leopard replied. ¡°No one can do that without paying a price.¡±

    ¡°I think so too.¡± Su Chen pulled Cloud Leopard back. ¡°But I wouldn¡¯t do it like this. I know that you are powerful in the forest, but the opponents aren¡¯t weak either. Do you really think you can take care of all of them on your own?¡±

    This time, Cloud Leopard remained silent.

    Evidently, he didn¡¯t have that confidence.

    But even if he didn¡¯t have that confidence, he still needed to do it.

    That was Cloud Leopard¡¯s personality.

    Su Chen also understood. He patted Cloud Leopard¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°Leave it to me. Sometimes, you need to find a gentler method to be able to teach someone a lesson.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 51: Counterattack 2

    Chapter 51: Counterattack (2)

    ¡°We shouldn¡¯t have done that. How am I supposed to face Su Chen now in the future?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er cradled her head in her hands in distress as she sat next to the campfire.

    ¡°The deed has already been done. What¡¯s the point inining?¡± Zhang Sheng¡¯anughed nasally.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t know how to face Su Chen in the future, there¡¯s no need to see him anymore,¡± Blood Demon Zhong Ding said.

    He was slightly shorter than Zhang Sheng¡¯an and enjoyed standing in the shade of trees, as if the shade gave him a sense of security. However, his words were often extremely loaded.

    After pausing momentarily, he added, ¡°After all, you might not be able to see him again.¡±

    Upon hearing those words, those present began tough darkly.

    Jin Ling¡¯er continued to fret. ¡°I¡¯m beginning to regret joining your team.¡±

    Another youth spoke up, ¡°Hey, Jin Ling¡¯er, do you still not understand why we had to do what we did today? Do you think it was just for this ape? Do you really think our strength is insufficient to catch a decent high-tier Vicious Beast for you to control?¡±

    The youth was wearing a grass-green robe with an eagle embroidered on it, bound by a brocade with an eagle totem on it. He wore a pair of white Peak Soaring Boots on his feet. His long hair was brushed behind his back, and the hair on the left side of his face was swept behind his ear. His skin was snow-white and his lips were rosy. He was a very beautiful male.

    He was called Guan Shanying, and he was also from the Three Mountains Region.

    In fact, the entire team wasposed of students who came from the Three Mountains Region.

    For most teams, location was the best indicator of the likelihood a team would form.

    Within the Hidden Dragon Institute, many members of Bloodline Nobility ns would gather into teams based on their original location.

    Team Soaring was no exception to this. Zhang Sheng¡¯an had gathered almost all of the most outstanding students from the Three Mountains Region. They were one of the most powerful teams this year.

    He had only gathered ¡°almost all¡± because Ji Hanyan had turned him down.

    That woman¡¯s reason for rejecting his offer was incredibly rare: You are too weak. You are unworthy of forming a team with me. I will remain on my own.

    This was the biggest setback Zhang Sheng¡¯an had experienced while forming his team.

    But this was all besides the point. Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s eyes widened upon hearing Guan Shanying¡¯s words. ¡°What did you say? Could it be because of me?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, it was because of you.¡± Another youth spoke up

    He wore an azure riding outfit gilded with Vicious Beast patterns. A chain made by stringing Vicious Beast teeth together hung from his waist, and a pair of octagonal boots were on his feet. His hair was in a simple ponytail, and his face was extremely square and adorned with a pair of thick eyebrows and lips. In particr, his massive hands were extremely eye-catching, but his fingers were shockingly stubby.

    He was Morning Dragon Jiang Yang.

    Jiang Yang said, ¡°You and that bloodline-less person are too close, Jin Ling¡¯er. Zhang Sheng¡¯an reminded you before that dragons don¡¯t mix with snakes and phoenixes don¡¯t concern themselves with maggots. People who don¡¯t understand how to choose their friends will never have many future prospects, but evidently you didn¡¯t take those words to heart.¡±

    ¡°Him and I are friends,¡± Jin Ling¡¯er said.

    ¡°You value your friendship too much!¡± another youth retorted.

    The new speaker was quite short. He wore a golden cloak with a wolf¡¯s head embroidered on its chest. The cloak was held together by an azure sash with tiger¡¯s eyes iid into it. He wore a pair of deerskin boots, and his hair towered on his head like a crown. His face was round and red, but his pupils were golden. His eyes shined when talking to others.

    Golden Cicada Hong Wu.

    Hong Wu¡¯s voice was slightly hoarse. ¡°You always think of him as a friend, but has he ever treated you as a friend? Think about it. We told him already that you needed this giant ape. If they treated you as a friend, they should have given the giant ape to you for free, but what happened? We still needed to give them a warning before they unwillingly gave it to us. Can these kinds of friends really be considered friends? You may think of them as your friends, but they might not feel the same way about you.¡±

    ¡°After all, someone without a bloodline is doomed to have limited achievements. Why maintain your rtionship with him?¡± asked a brawny male wearing a dark cloak. Underneath the cloak was a ck riding outfit with a Buddha gilded onto it. He wore a pair of knee-high tigerskin boots, and his hair was shaved in a neat buzzcut. His skin was very dark, and his eyes were the size of small copper bells. Intricate patterns were inked on the right side of his face. He hefted the Overlord Spear in his hand, exuding a majestic, manly aura.

    He was Sword Rhinoceros Zheng Kuang, the person who had stabbed Wang Doushan with a spear during the Three Mountains Region exam.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an added on, ¡°Bloodline Nobility ns have their own position and respect. Jin Ling¡¯er, we can asionally get to know and interact with someone without a bloodline to demonstrate our generosity and tolerance, but most of the time we need to maintain our distance. If you get too close to them, they will feel like they can use you and won¡¯t fear or listen to you. They might even think of ways to capsize you...... I heard that Su Chen is Shi Kaihuang¡¯s disciple. Do you know what kind of an old man Shi Kaihuang is?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s heart trembled slightly.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an continued, ¡°Wanting to break through bloodline restrictions is already a grave offense. It¡¯s already a mercy that we haven¡¯t killed those people yet. This urrence was just to give him a little lesson. It¡¯s really not that big of a deal.¡±

    ¡°Think it over. Don¡¯t be like Wang Doushan, who stubbornly refuses to adapt.¡±

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an finished with a biting conclusion.

    Jin Ling¡¯er finally had nothing more to say.

    She fell into deep thought.

    Just at that moment, Golden Cicada Hong Wu suddenly turned around and barked, ¡°Who is it?¡±

    The group huddled closer to each other. Even the Giant Ape that was under Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s control suddenly stood upright, gazing alertly behind them.

    A person quietly walked out of the woods, his footsteps incredibly gentle.

    ¡°Su Chen?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er blurted after recovering from her shock.

    The person who had walked out of the forest was precisely Su Chen.

    Su Chen continued to advance with a leisurely smile. ¡°Ling¡¯er, so you were here! I spent a long time chasing after you.¡±

    Blood Demon Zhong Ding and the others gazed at him with disdain.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was caught off-guard by Su Chen¡¯s warmth. She said, ¡°Why were you chasing after me? Do you want the Adamantine Ape back? I¡¯m really sorry about what happened......¡±

    Su Chen interrupted her. ¡°What nonsense are you spouting? You and I are friends. Since you wanted it, why wouldn¡¯t I just give it to you?¡±

    Everyone was stunned by Su Chen¡¯s words.

    Su Chen drew near to Jin Ling¡¯er andughed, ¡°I was just happy to hear that you made it, so I wanted toe talk for a bit with you before I go.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er let out a sigh of relief.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an, Zhong Ding, and the others furrowed their eyebrows.

    Although they looked down on people without bloodlines like Su Chen, they felt ufortable directly offending someone who was acting friendly.

    Now that Su Chen had said that he was willing to give up the giant ape and that he had onlye to see Jin Ling¡¯er and talk with her, it would be much too tyrannical of them to chase him away or even attack him now.

    In reality, every Bloodline Nobility n was tyrannical, but even the most tyrannical behavior needed a valid reason.

    People who feltpelled to trouble people they looked down upon without discretion or without taking care of their appearances were few in number. Even if they did exist, they would not achieve much because they could be described as ¡°not knowing what¡¯s good for them¡±.

    Thus, no one knew what to do upon seeing Su Chenughing and talking with Jin Ling¡¯er.

    Thankfully, Su Chen knew how to adapt to the situation. He pulled Jin Ling¡¯er aside and said a few words to her before leaving.

    Everyone present was speechless upon seeing hime and go just like that.

    Finally, Zhang Sheng¡¯an spoke up. ¡°Although this Su Chen is indeed a coward, he at least possesses some intelligence. If he¡¯s always this obedient, then there¡¯s no need for us to trouble him anymore. But Ling¡¯er, my previous statement still stands. It¡¯s fine to know this kind of person, but you don¡¯t want to be too attached to him.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Jin Ling¡¯er replied as she lowered her head.

    No one knew what she was thinking.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    After leaving Jin Ling¡¯er, Su Chen returned to Team Bright.

    He didn¡¯t go far before running into Cloud Leopard, Wang Doushan, and the others again.

    Upon Su Chen¡¯s return, Zheng Xia and the others instantly brightened.

    Du Qing yelled, ¡°Su Chen, are you okay?¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°Do I not look okay?¡±

    Everyone let out a long sigh of relief.

    ¡°You met Jin Ling¡¯er and the others?¡± Wang Doushan asked.

    ¡°Yes, and I chatted with them for a bit,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°That¡¯s all you did?¡± Everyone was stunned.

    Su Chen had sprinted away and grabbed Cloud Leopard just to talk with Jin Ling¡¯er for a bit?

    ¡°I also took the opportunity to leave them a small gift.¡±

    ¡°What gift?¡± everyone simultaneously asked.

    ¡°A powder that is concocted from Beast Repelling Medicine,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°It gives off the scent of extremely powerful Vicious Beasts, so those weaker Vicious Beasts won¡¯t dare draw near. The effectsts for an incredibly long time as long as even a little powder is applied to them.¡±

    Cloud Leopard¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°How long is it effective for?¡±

    Su Chen smiled.

    Su Chen said, ¡°I refined a total of eight vials...... It should be more than enough to drive them crazy.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 52: Thunderfire Bullets

    Chapter 52: Thunderfire Bullets

    Two hourster.

    Team Bright was gathered next to a river located in somewhere in the Falling Eagle Mountain¡¯s forests.

    ¡°Look, I caught a fish!¡±

    Yan Fuxing stood on the riverbank with arge-bellied fish in his hands while jumping around excitedly.

    Su Chen and Zheng Xia were setting up a campfire for dinner.

    Zheng Xia¡¯s palms cleaved through the air like an axe, chopping through many branches that were then stacked on top of each other.

    mes emerged from Su Chen¡¯s palms, lighting the kindling underneath the pile of wood.

    After ncing at therge-bellied fish in Yan Fuxing¡¯s hand, Su Chen said, ¡°That¡¯s a mother river fish. It¡¯s just before their mating season, so be careful when you cut it open. The fish eggs are extremely delicious luxuries, so we shouldn¡¯t waste them.¡±

    ¡°How did you know that?¡± Sun Jizu asked from the side. He was helping Du Qing take care of the ape¡¯s meat.

    After the matters with the Giant Adamantine Ape and Team Soaring, Zheng Xia and the others evidently viewed Su Chen in a much different light, their interactions much warmer and friendlier than before.

    ¡°I read a lot of books,¡± Su Chen replied as he pulled out seasonings from his Origin Ring.

    ¡°But reading books can¡¯t really make you stronger.¡± Du Qing struggled to cut the ape meat in her hand. While she was extremely skilled with sword arts, her use of a knife was much clumsier. The meat she was trying to cut into pieces looked like it had been chewed up by a dog.

    Iron Cliff couldn¡¯t watch any longer. He took the de out of her hands and said, ¡°Let me take care of this. You go and look for some more kindling.¡±

    ¡°That depends on how you define ¡®strength¡¯,¡± Su Chen replied while leaning against a tree.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± everyone asked.

    ¡°The strength everyone is trying to achieve is different. To me, strength is something that is rtive. Is the Giant Adamantine Ape strong? Very! In terms of pure strength, even two more Su Chen¡¯s are notparable, but I was still able to kill it. Why? Because I also had Origin Tools, medicine, and Origin Stones to help me recover. Without these items, I wouldn¡¯t be its opponent. So tell me, would you consider that to be considered strength? Knowledge is the same. It can be aponent of one¡¯s strength and help one be even stronger.¡±

    Sun Jizuughed, ¡°You could be right, but that is strength that doesn¡¯t belong to you. I want to possess my own strength. Only with absolute strength can one dominate everything.¡±

    Su Chen snorted. ¡°Don¡¯t speak nonsense. What is ¡®absolute strength to dominate everything¡¯? Where would you go to find absolute strength? Zhang Sheng¡¯an is strong, but Ji Hanyan can send him flying with one hand. Even if she is strong, she is fourth on the Dragon Transformation List, meaning that there are three people stronger than her. Is the first-ranked on the Dragon Transformation List strong? Above them are the sixth, seventh, and eighth year students. Above those people are probably geniuses with special Demon Emperor-level bloodlines. Would those people dare to utter the word ¡®absolute¡¯? Don¡¯t forget that no matter how strong they are, they are only in the Qi Drawing Realm. There are thousands or even tens of thousands of individuals even stronger than them. Except for the strongest person in the universe, who can dare to say that they possess absolute strength?¡±

    Sun Jizu was speechless.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°Most importantly, when your ¡®absolute strength¡¯ is unable to dominate, you can say that your strength was not strong enough, not absolute enough! Based on that logic, I can say that I can control everything with absolute knowledge. If I can¡¯t aplish it, then I can just say that my knowledge was not absolute enough. Do you think this kind of logic has meaning?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Su Chen continued, ¡°How I see it, strength is just strength no matter where ites from as long as you can use it. Knowledge is a very important kind of strength, and it can bring me a lot of benefits. For instance......¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he pulled out an item.

    He was holding a very unassuming ck metal ball in his hand.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Wang Doushan asked.

    ¡°Do you remember the wine jugs?¡± Su Chen replied.

    Wang Doushan¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°This is the improved wine jug? Why is it that small?¡±

    ¡°How could I call it improved otherwise?¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Ipressed the medicinal attributes inside this ball. Don¡¯t look down on it just because it¡¯s small; it¡¯s actually more powerful than the jugs of wine from before. I call it the Thunderfire Bullet.¡±

    Everyone¡¯s interest was aroused.

    ¡°Give it a try!¡± Wang Doushan excitedly said.

    ¡°What do you all think?¡± Su Chen nced at the others.

    Everyone nodded their heads. They all wanted to see the kind of strength that coulde from knowledge.

    ¡°Fine!¡± Su Chen nced at Cloud Leopard and said, ¡°Leopard, I remember that there was a horde of Stinging Wasps that we passed by on our way here.¡±

    ¡°Yes, there was.¡± Cloud Leopard nodded.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get some honey and use it to ze our meat. How does that sound?¡± Su Chenughed.

    Cloud Leopardughed, ¡°Sounds good to me.¡±

    As soon as he spoke, his figure had already disappeared in a blur.

    He quickly returned, holding an extremelyrge wasp nest in his hands. A swarm of humming Stinging Wasps were chasing closely behind him.

    These Stinging Wasps were roughly the size of a fist; thergest ones could even be the size of a person¡¯s face. Everyone¡¯s expressions changed when they saw the huge swarm flying towards them.

    The Stinging Wasps were like the Shadow Serpents in the Spirit Burying Terrace. Although their strength was only so-so, they traveled inrge groups and their stings were poisonous, making them incredibly difficult to deal with.

    Zheng Xia and the others were more willing to deal with two Giant Adamantine Apes simultaneously than this swarm of wasps.

    They all jumped into the air when they saw Cloud Leopard bring over such arge swarm of Stinging Wasps.

    ¡°Are you crazy? You attracted this many Stinging Wasps over?¡± Yan Fuxing began to yell loudly.

    Zheng Xia and the others had already begun to attack, palm winds began assailing the swarm of wasps.

    Although these Stinging Wasps were small, their bodies were tough. When a portion of them were killed off by the Origin Skills, the other Stinging Wasps were whipped into a frenzy, their attacks only intensifying.

    Everyone simultaneously applied a protective barrier.

    When the stingersnded on the barrier, brilliant sparks cascaded outwards..

    However, even more stingers were headed in their direction. Stinging Wasps were named as such because they could constantly shoot out their poisonous stingers to attack. Although the wasps didn¡¯t possess physical strength, they were quite powerful when attacking as a group.

    In an instant, poisonous stingers began to fall like rain.

    ¡°Why haven¡¯t you made a move yet?¡± Cloud Leopard began to yell.

    As the bait, he was in the sorriest state. He had already been stung a few times, causing Cloud Leopard¡¯s entire body to hurt and itch at the same time.

    ¡°There has to be aparison,¡± Su Chenughed.

    After a cycle of Origin Skills, they had only killed a few tens of these Stinging Wasps. On the other hand, the stingers that these wasps shot out were already causing everyone toin.

    At that moment, Su Chen raised the Thunderfire Bullet in his hand and pressed a protrusion on it. He tossed it out at the wasp swarm and yelled, ¡°Everybody get down!¡±

    Everyone instantly fell to the ground. The metal Stinging flew into the swarm of wasps and then exploded.

    A powerful shockwave surged forwards, enveloping therge swarm of Stinging Wasps and sending them flying.

    When the metal ball exploded, metal fragments of the shell flew in all directions, spreading a hundred feet in every direction. Countless nearby trees toppled to the ground.

    Everyone on the ground lifted their heads only to see that after the mes had disappeared, the Stinging Wasps were still falling to the ground like little fireballs. They werepletely shocked.

    Arge swarm of Stinging Wasps that even seven or eight Origin Qi Schrs had trouble dealing with was exterminated by a single metal Stinging?

    Everyone stared at Su Chen in disbelief.

    Who knew that this guy actually had such a powerful item up his sleeve!

    ¡°Doushan, I need some water, or else this entire mountain is going to burn up,¡± Su Chen said.

    Wang Doushan gestured with his hand and snow began to fall, extinguishing the mes.

    Everyone walked closer. When they saw the ground littered with corpses of Stinging Wasps, they could only stare at each other, speechless.

    Su Chen had improved the Exploding Medicine so that it no longer required a crude method of control like the wine jugs, but instead relied on the metal ball to be activated. The medicine had be more powerful, and the metal ball¡¯s control mechanism was also more precise.

    Not to mention anything else, there were seven control buttons that corresponded to different dyed explosion timers. Su Chen could press a differentbination of buttons to determine the timing of the explosions rather than relying on an inurate estimate..

    The shards of the iron ball were sent flying with the explosion, increasing the killing power of the explosion and making it so that the Explosive Medicine¡¯s strength and affected area had increased.

    Wang Doushan muttered, ¡°These things are quite expensive. I say, why didn¡¯t you use it to deal with the Giant Adamantine Ape?¡±

    ¡°The Thunderfire Ball isn¡¯t suited for individualbat, but rather weaker targets that are high in number, such as this swarm of Stinging Wasps. It¡¯s not very good against opponents like the Giant Adamantine Ape. In addition, these things are quite expensive! Each one is 120 Origin Stones. A Giant Adamantine Ape is only worth five hundred Origin Stones. If I used ten of these and didn¡¯t kill it, I would¡¯ve wasted seven hundred Origin Stones. Hey, this Thunderfire Ball was used as a demonstration for you all, so you have to pay for it.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Everyone was speechless.

    Zheng Xia felt that he had at least been right about one thing in his initial assessment of Su Chen: Su Chen really was greedy.

    At that moment, Du Qing suddenly asked, ¡°Brother Su Chen, do you have a lot of these things?¡±

    Su Chen smiled merrily as he replied, ¡°I have a few. Why? Do you want some? Since we¡¯re friends, I¡¯ll charge you a bit less for them. One hundred Origin Stones each, how does that sound?¡±

    Upon hearing this, Zheng Xia suddenly had a thought appear in his brain.

    Did Du Qing ask that because Su Chen had led her to do so......?

    Could he have said all of those things just to promote his Thunderfire Bullets?

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 53: Night Vigil

    Chapter 53: Night Vigil

    Despite their suspicions, they all opened up their pockets to buy Su Chen¡¯s Thunderfire Balls.

    There was nothing they could say against its strength; it truly was an incredibly useful lifesaving trump card.

    In the blink of an eye, Su Chen had sold thirty Thunderfire Balls. He would¡¯ve sold more, but nobody had any more money left.

    Su Chen instantly earned three thousand Origin Stones just like that.

    The ape meat was now cooked. They sat around the campfire, eating the beast meat and drinking the wine they had brought with them as theyughed and talked.

    Though in the past they had not gotten along well nor trusted each other, as they interacted with each other more and more these small differences gradually disappeared.

    The only people who were probably still upset with each other were Du Qing and Cloud Leopard.

    That damned Leopard didn¡¯t know how to talk or act politely, causing Du Qing to constantly roll her eyes at him.

    Time passed by very quickly.

    Everyone was nning on resting.

    Just as they were about to enter the tent, Cloud Leopard suddenly said, ¡°I think one of us should stand guard.¡±

    ¡°Stand guard?¡± Zheng Xia was caught off-guard. ¡°Is there really such a need? Don¡¯t we have the Warning Disk?¡±

    The Warning Disk was a kind of rm-type Origin Formation Disk. It could detect nearby Origin Energy fluctuations.

    If any powerful organisms drew near, the disk would automatically sound an rm. It was a must-have item for Hidden Dragon Institute students to have when out on a trip.

    The Beast Repelling Medicine could also keep Vicious Beasts away, but it was much more expensive, so using it was considered a waste. In addition, it would only affect beasts, not humans.

    Cloud Leopard indifferently replied, ¡°Some existences can conceal their Origin Energy and avoid triggering the rm disk.¡±

    Zheng Xia fell into deep thought.

    He was willing to listen to Cloud Leopard, but who would stand guard overnight? Not many people would be willing to do it.

    Although Zheng Xia was very steady, hecked boldness sometimes because of it. He was unwilling to offend others, so all he did in the end was stammer, ¡°This kind of Vicious Beast shouldn¡¯t be verymon. I think that our luck shouldn¡¯t be that poor.¡±

    A mocking smile danced around on Cloud Leopard¡¯s lips.

    This smile was clearly mocking the fact that Zheng Xia ced his safety in the hands of good luck.

    Zheng Xia and the others evidently felt the meaning behind Cloud Leopard¡¯s smirk.

    Du Qing said unhappily, ¡°Why do you always have something to say? What kind of ¡®veteran¡¯ of the Falling Eagle Mountain are you if you¡¯re so afraid of everything?¡±

    Cloud Leopard indifferently replied, ¡°Real experts don¡¯t fear anything. They act prudently and cautiously at every step.¡±

    Everyone¡¯s hearts jolted when they heard these words.

    They wanted to ask for more specifics, but Cloud Leopard evidently didn¡¯t want to exin in much more detail.

    ¡°If you think it¡¯s too difficult to choose someone, then I¡¯ll do it. It was my idea, so I¡¯ll take care of it,¡± Cloud Leopard said.

    Zheng Xia felt that this was a pretty good result.

    Thus, the matter was decided.

    It was already quitete, so everyone went into the main tent to go to sleep.

    Cloud Leopard sat alone atop a tree, gazing off into the distance.

    After an unknown period of time, Cloud Leopard heard the sound of quiet footsteps behind him.

    ¡°Who is it?¡± Cloud Leopard asked in a low voice.

    ¡°It¡¯s me.¡±

    It was Su Chen.

    He leapt into the air,nded onto the tree, and then sat next to Cloud Leopard.

    ¡°Why are you here?¡± Cloud Leopard nced at him.

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t sleep, so I came out to talk to you,¡± Su Chen replied.

    After reaching the Qi Drawing Realm, Origin Qi Schrs would need much less sleep. Most kinds of practice and sleeping were actually just methods of cultivation. Ancient Arcana Techniques called it meditation, while contemporary Origin Skills called them breathing techniques.

    Su Chen¡¯s eye could see Origin Energy. He could absorb any dissipated Origin Energy directly, which was much more effective than meditation or breathing techniques. Thus, he didn¡¯t ce any particr value on this resting time.

    ¡°What did you want to talk about?¡±

    ¡°Whatever you want. Conversations are meant to go wherever they go; it doesn¡¯t always have to be about a specific topic.¡± Su Chen leaned against the trunk of the tree as he adjusted his position so he wasfortable.

    Cloud Leopard thought for a bit. ¡°There¡¯s something I don¡¯t really understand.¡±

    ¡°Are you thinking that, based on our strength and the fact that you are very familiar with the Falling Eagle Mountain, we could¡¯ve done it on our own? So why would we need to join their team at all?¡±

    Cloud Leopard nodded his head. ¡°I thought about it for quite some time but couldn¡¯t ever wrap my head around it.¡±

    ¡°Because I want to make a few friends.¡± Su Chen¡¯s reply surprised Cloud Leopard. ¡°I¡¯ve been at the Hidden Dragon Institute for four years, and I spent every day focusing on studying and researching. I never had enough time to get to know a few more people. Isn¡¯t it a good thing to make a few friends?¡±

    ¡°But them?¡± Cloud Leopard frowned disdainfully.

    ¡°When did you start deciding who to be friends with based on their value?¡± Su Chen countered, giving Cloud Leopard pause.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°They aren¡¯t bad people. At most, they justck a bit of experience. In addition, not all friendships start off on the right foot. If you don¡¯t even give yourself an opportunity to talk to others, how will you make new friends?¡±

    Cloud Leopard gazed at him with some suspicion.

    ¡°What? You don¡¯t believe me?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°I can¡¯t help but feel that this reasoning is a bit forced. It doesn¡¯t sound like something you¡¯d say.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what you mean.¡± Su Chen tilted his head back to gaze at the sky. After a moment of silence, he said, ¡°What if I told you that I want to sell something I¡¯ve been researching for a good price, so I need people to spread the news? What would you think?¡±

    ¡°Do you mean like medicines and Thunderfire Balls?¡± Cloud Leopard began to understand. ¡°Those reasons make a lot more sense; it¡¯s a lot closer to your natural temperament.¡±

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°I am actually a kindhearted altruistic individual. Why do you see me as a calcting, dishonest businessman?¡±

    ¡°How can you call yourself kindhearted and altruistic when you sold the Thunderfire Balls, which cost less than ten Origin Stones to make, for one hundred Origin Stones? There¡¯s no way I would believe you!¡±

    ¡°Now I feel like you¡¯re wrongly using me. After all, I am nning on giving Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven to the entire human race.¡± Su Chen felt wronged.

    Only Iron Cliff and Cloud Leopard knew about thepletion of Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven apart from Shi Kaihuang.

    Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s yfully injured tone, Cloud Leopard let out a rareugh. ¡°Just based on the method you chose to spread it, I think that my assessment of you was pretty urate.¡±

    ¡°Hey, that ¨C I spent so much toplete it, so it¡¯s only natural that I try to make back the initial cost,¡± Su Chenughed in response. ¡°After all, if you give out some things for free, people won¡¯t value them anymore, and they might even make additional demands before they take you seriously. Also, the price that I¡¯m asking for it is really low; it¡¯s already quite generous!¡±

    Cloud Leopard curled his lips. ¡°How noble of you. Instructor might be angry, though.¡±

    Su Chen tilted his head back andughed, letting the conversation end there.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    The Dreamrealm.

    Within the Hall of Knowledge, a broadcast informed those present of a new posting.

    ¡°For sale: Aplete technique for breaking into the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline, pay-per-read. The price is one hundred Dream Droplets.¡±

    ¡°Seller: Cloud Bat.¡±

    ¡°This technique was created by the seller alone. It has already been approved by the Lord of the Dreamrealm. Piraters will be investigated thoroughly.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 54: Dreamrealm Privilege

    Chapter 54: Dreamrealm Privilege

    Su Chen conversed with Cloud Leopard for a bit longer before returning to the tent and going to bed.

    He said that he was going to rest, but in reality he was going to enter the Dreamrealm to cultivate.

    This had already be Su Chen¡¯s habit every night.

    The pattern on the back of his hand slowly swirled, bringing Su Chen¡¯s consciousness into the Dreamrealm.

    Su Chen reappeared within the Dreamrealm Castle¡¯s Hall of Knowledge. This was precisely where he had gone ¡°offline¡±st time.

    He entered the room to the side and began searching for the notice that he had sent out concerning Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven, but he discovered that he couldn¡¯t find it.

    What¡¯s going on?

    He had broadcasted Kaihuang¡¯s Heavenst night and then went to cultivate his Origin Skills.

    He originally thought that he would¡¯ve already sold at least a few no matter what, but he discovered today that his notice had disappeared without a trace. The transaction record indicated that only one person had bought his Origin Skill.

    What the hell is happening?

    Just as he was trying to process what was happening, his vision blurred. Dream Spirit Lulu suddenly appeared before him.

    The Dream Spirit let out a pleasantugh as she fluttered in the air. ¡°You¡¯re finally here! I¡¯ve been waiting all day for you.¡±

    ¡°Why did the notice I sent out yesterday disappear?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s precisely what I wanted to talk to you about. Were you the one that invented that method to reach the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s none of your business. I just want to know why it disappeared.¡± Su Chen asked, his tone unhappy.

    The Dream Spirit flew in a circle. ¡°Do you even need to ask? Naturally, someone covered it up, preventing it from being broadcast.¡±

    ¡°Covered it up?¡± Su Chen¡¯s gaze turned frosty.

    So someone had indeed been messing around behind the scenes.

    In fact, when he had initially decided to broadcast Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven within the Dreamrealm, Su Chen had already intuitively guessed that matters would not proceed straightforwardly, but he never expected that the other party would act so quickly. He had just sent it out when someone directly covered it up.

    ¡°Why is it that the content I sent out can be covered up by others?¡± Su Chen asked despite this.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t ask who covered it up or why they did it. Very good, that means that you were already prepared for this oue a long time,¡± Luluughed as she pped her wings.

    ¡°Answer my question!¡± Su Chen said, his anger mounting.

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s because of privilege!¡± Lulu replied. ¡°Just like within the real world, the powerful also rule over the weak here. Within the Dreamrealm, those with higher-tier privileges also have special rights over others. They can send and read any notices they wish, and they can even cover up certain notices. Evidently, some big figure didn¡¯t like what you broadcasted, so he or she chose to cover it up.¡±

    ¡°You even give people this kind of authority?¡±

    ¡°Naturally. Raising your privilege within the Dreamrealm costs many many Dream Droplets.¡± Lulu continued to circle in the air. ¡°Without these benefits, who would be willing to raise their Dreamrealm Privilege?¡±

    ¡°The Lord of the Dreamrealm really does know how to make money,¡± Su Chen angrily harrumphed.

    ¡°He¡¯s just trying to make a living,¡± Lulu giggled.

    ¡°......¡±

    After talking with Lulu, Su Chen discovered that there were three main tiers of privilege within the Dreamrealm: low-tier Dream Guests, mid-tier Dream Officers, and high-tier Dream Monarchs. Every tier had their own varying levels of privilege and levels. Reaching higher levels would require a lot of time, money, and consciousness power.

    Someone like Su Chen was considered a level one low-tier Dream Guest. He didn¡¯t have many special privileges, so others could exert their special privileges over him.

    Only high-tier Dream Monarchs had the privilege to cover up broadcasts.

    The information Su Chen had attempted to broadcast had been covered up by a high-tier Dream Monarch.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then as long as there¡¯s a Dream Emperor present, I will never be able to broadcast a notice that I want to broadcast?¡± Su Chen said disappointedly.

    ¡°That might not be true.¡± The Dream Spirit pped her wings in midair as she said, ¡°I¡¯ll tell you a little secret. Dream Monarchs can cover up your broadcast, but they cannot delete it. It also costs Dream Droplets to cover up someone¡¯s notice.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°You¡¯re saying that it costs them a certain amount every day?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! In addition, concealing the notices of different tiers costs different amounts. If you don¡¯t want your own notices to be concealed in the future, you can choose to increase your privilege. The higher your privilege tier, the more your opponents will need to pay to conceal them. If you be a high-tier Dream Monarch, your opponents won¡¯t be able to conceal them anymore!¡±

    ¡°Of course, you will be able to earn more money as well.¡±

    Su Chen instantly understood.

    What kind of secret was this? This was just another tactic the Lord of the Dreamrealm could use to earn more money.

    In order to prevent certain notices from ever seeing the light of day, those with higher-tier privileges would need to constantly hand over Dream Droplets to the Lord of the Dreamrealm. That was quite a good idea.

    The biggest ¡°problem¡± with the Dreamrealm was that no physical transactions could take ce; only information could be transmitted here.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, figuring out how to increase the value of the Dreamrealm was something that the Lord of the Dreamrealm had spent quite a bit of energy thinking about.

    Creating different tiers of privilege was the method that the Lord of the Dreamrealm had devised.

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± the Dream Spirit replied. ¡°Thus, you should probably raise your privilege level if you don¡¯t want someone to cover your notices¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not interested in being used by you.¡± Su Chen shook his head, preparing to leave the Dreamrealm.

    ¡°You¡¯d best ept my advice,¡± the Dream Spiritughed. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you another secret.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Su Chen suddenly felt a trace of unsettlement seep into his heart.

    ¡°The high-tier Dream Monarch that covered up your notice is currently trying to determine your true identity. If you don¡¯t want to be discovered by him, you¡¯d best increase your privilege tier quickly!¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 55: Dragonfish

    Chapter 55: Dragonfish

    The Falling Eagle Mountain was not as vast or deep as the Scarlet Mountain Range, but it had its own unique dangers.

    The mountain range was lined with extremely steep cliffs, one mountain after another. They stood upright like a thicket of des, which was why this mountain range was also known as the de Thicket Range.

    The mountain was forested in clumps. Large rock faces were often exposed to the air, looking like bald spots on a person¡¯s head.

    A long river snaked through the entire mountain range, giving the surrounding area a lot of vitality. It watered the nearby soil, allowing vegetation to flourish.

    This river was called Wenchang River.

    The Wenchang River was a tributary of the Golden Water River. Every year, many fish would swim upstream toy their offspring.

    They became one of the most abundant food sources within the Falling Eagle Mountain, making the area around the river highly popted with Vicious Beasts.

    After cutting through most of the mountain range, the Wenchang River reached a valley surrounded by tall mountains. This was where the Thousand Ashes Gorge was located.

    Within the Thousand Ashes Peak Gorge, the Wenchang River flowed into ake ¨C the Ancient Ma Lake.

    The Ancient Ma Lake was Long Sang Country¡¯srgest freshwaterke, and it was the final destination of many freshwater fish. They couldy eggs, hatch, and grow up here before they traveled back up the river. Throughout this process, thousands or even tens of thousands of small fry would be food for Vicious Beasts every year.

    The Ancient Ma Lake was the most diverse area of the Falling Eagle Mountain. The most savage Vicious Beasts and thergest beast hordes were all here, attracting many Origin Qi Schrs......

    After trekking through the mountain range for two days, Team Bright finally arrived at their long-anticipated destination.

    ¡°Look, the Thousand Ashes Gorge is just ahead of us!¡± Du Qing excitedly waved her arms as she yelled.

    ¡°We¡¯ve finally arrived. Let¡¯s move a bit faster so that we can enter the gorge by nightfall,¡± Zheng Xia yelled.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Everyone let out excited yells and charged towards the Thousand Ashes Gorge.

    After entering the Thousand Ashes Gorge, they were surrounded by lush mountains and green grass. The sky was exceptionally blue; wisps of clouds were scattered in the sky. The golden setting sun reflected off of the clearke.

    ¡°It really is pretty here.¡± Du Qing stood on arge rock and stared into the sky.

    From her vantage point, she could see a flock of Flowerback Deer wandering on therge in. asionally, they would lower their heads to graze as they let out low cries.

    Even further, a fewrge-horned water buffalo were slowly walking along theke, cautiously drinking the water. They would asionally nce behind them.

    A herd of ck-spotted rabbits would poke their heads out from their holes from time to time, theirrge ears straight up in the air while ncing around in all directions.

    The grassy in was filled with life as far as the eye could see.

    ¡°You¡¯re right, it is very pretty here.¡± Zheng Xia, Yan Fuxing, and the others all clustered around her.

    ¡°Look, what is that?¡± Du Qing suddenly pointed off into the distance.

    She was pointing at a flower gently swaying back and forth as it floated on theke. From time to time, it would emit motes of swaying light.

    Sun Jizu¡¯s eyes were very sharp. He immediately said in excitement, ¡°It¡¯s a Blueheart Lotus, and a ripe one at that!¡±

    The Blueheart Lotus was an extremely rare material that was worth quite a bit.

    ¡°Look over there! Is that a Jade-Faced Hibiscus?¡± Zheng Xia also began to yell.

    A pink flower was floating on the surface of theke. It was precisely the Jade-Faced Hibiscus that Zheng Xia had mentioned, and it was also an extremely rare ingredient.

    Inspired by these discoveries, everyone else also found quite a few rare spiritual herbs on theke.

    Those who were proficient in alchemy were able to name more than ten of those spiritual herbs, including a Three Jealousies, a rare-tier ingredient.

    Rare-tier ingredients were already extremely hard to find, not to mention legendary-tier medicines like the Corpse Spirit Flower.

    The Three Jealousies was a low-grade, rare-tier medicinal ingredient. It could be used to stimte bloodlines, so it was often used to concoct Bloodline Awakening Medicines or Bloodline Stimtion Medicines, which were both crucial and highly sought-after.

    Upon seeing so many herbs everywhere, they yelled excitedly and began to charge forwards, thinking to themselves that the Thousand Ashes Gorge was truly a prosperous ce.

    Cloud Leopard furrowed his eyebrows, but Su Chen spoke up before he could say anything. ¡°Wait just a minute!¡±

    Everyone turned to look at Su Chen.

    Su Chen calmly continued, ¡°I believe that the Thousand Ashes Gorge is filled with valuable spirit herbs, but don¡¯t you feel that it is strange for them to grow in suchrge numbers in such an obvious location? Put another way, do you believe that all the students who came through the Thousand Ashes Gorge before us were blind and didn¡¯t see them?¡±

    Everyone froze in their tracks.

    It really was strange for these herbs to grow in such a public area.

    There could only be two reasons for these herbs to still flourish here ¨C either everyone who hade here really was blind, or there was an underlying problem.

    Since the students of the Hidden Dragon Institute were clearly not blind, then only the second reason was possible.

    Zheng Xia walked back to Su Chen. ¡°What do you think is going on?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°This ce seems very peaceful. All of the organisms here right now seem harmless, and yet we can¡¯t see a single Vicious Beast. But don¡¯t you think that, with so many animals here, this ce would be a great feeding grounds?¡±

    Feeding grounds?

    Upon hearing this term, Zheng Xia began to understand what Su Chen was getting at.

    Flowerback Deer matured very rapidly. Female deer could give birth within three months with at most two foals at a time. The foals grew very quickly as well; they matured fully within a year.

    Therge-horned water buffalo took longer to mature, but a single mature buffalo was equivalent to a significant number of mature deer.

    The ck-spotted rabbits reproduced even more rapidly. Although they were quite small, they possessed an astonishing reproductive ability. They could give birth to two litters every year, with eight to twelve baby rabbits in each litter. These baby rabbits would fully mature in three months.

    Just like the fat fish in the river, these Flowerback Deer,rge-horned water buffalo, and ck-spotted rabbits were all low on the food chain. Their only purpose for existing was to feedrge hordes of Vicious Beasts.

    Thus, although the scene seemed very peaceful, there was definitely a frightening threat lurking in the background.

    Upon realizing this point, Team Bright didn¡¯t act impetuously. They carefully circled around theke as they had previously nned and headed for the forest.

    They had just reached the entrance to the forest when they heard amotion behind them.

    Everyone turned around to find a student from the Institute sprinting towards theke as he yelled, ¡°I¡¯m rich!¡±

    Evidently, he was nning on harvesting the herbs in the middle of theke.

    Even though they knew that the herbs were not easy to obtain, many of them still felt pained when they saw that student charge forwards. Some of them even regretted listening to Su Chen and letting such a great opportunity slip by them.

    An instantter, however, that regret disappearedpletely.

    Just when that student had rushed to the side of theke and was bending over to pick up a nearby Jewel Orchid, a massive wave suddenly surged into the air.

    After the massive wave appeared, a massive whirlpool began to churn in theke.

    That whirlpool exerted a powerful attractive force, violently pulling that student in.

    Upon closer inspection, Team Bright discovered that it was not a whirlpool, but a giant maw filled with razor-sharp teeth.

    Just its mouth was asrge as a house. It rose from the surface of theke, sweeping an incredible amount of water with it as it instantly swallowed the student whole. The Jewel Orchid waspletely untouched.

    It then slipped back into the water, and theke became still again as if nothing had ever happened. A student of the Hidden Dragon Institute had ceased to exist in the blink of an eye.

    Everyone present was aghast.

    ¡°Peak...... that¡¯s a peak-level Vicious Beast,¡± Sun Jizu said, trembling.

    This massive fish, which was asrge as a tower, was only a peak-level Vicious Beast, which made it equivalent in strength to a highyer Blood Boiling Realm cultivator. However, the strength of Vicious Beasts did notpletely corrte to human strength. A peak-level Vicious Beast like this one could wipe the floor with cultivators like Li, Smoke, and Copper Deer. Only those from Bloodline Nobility ns possessed the power to battle it.

    One could also say that the various categories and tiers of beasts had been determined based on the strength of Bloodline Nobility ns in the first ce.

    ¡°No wonder there are so many spiritual herbs,¡± Wang Doushan muttered. ¡°That beast is using them as bait to attract us.¡±

    Cloud Leopard suddenly said, ¡°This is the Dragonfish. Allegedly, it possesses a trace of a Demon Dragon Bloodline, meaning it can also be ssified as a Demonic Beast. Dragonfish don¡¯t eat regr lifeforms, only lifeforms with Origin Energy in them. Thus, only those Flowerback Deer orrge-horned water buffalo can gather here, not just because there is an abundance of resources here, but also because they have the Dragonfish¡¯s protection. The Dragonfish uses themon animals to attract Vicious Beasts and those spiritual herbs to entice Origin Qi Schrs. It uses these things as bait.¡±

    The Dragonfish was quite strong even amongst all the peak-level Vicious Beasts. Since those who were at the Blood Boiling Realm or above were not permitted to enter the Falling Eagle Mountain, it was even more of an unrivalled being.

    Of course, that didn¡¯t meant that no one could deal with it.

    After all, it was just a single Vicious Beast. If the students were willing to ally with one another, they might actually be able to defeat it.

    However, forming an alliance was not very easy. The more people there were, the harder it would be.

    In addition, the Hidden Dragon Institute didn¡¯t support this manner of doing things.

    The Dragonfish had been ced here by the Institute in order to test their students.

    Those who didn¡¯t have skill but did have perception would easily be able to perceive the lurking threat and avoid it. Those without both skill and perception would be food for the Dragonfish.

    Those with some skill would rely on that skill to harvest those herbs.

    If you could kill the Dragonfish based on your own strength, the Hidden Dragon Institute would recognize that.

    The Hidden Dragon Institute had clearly mandated that teams could be formed of at most seven students.

    If they surpassed this number, the team might not even be built before the instructors would send them packing.

    ¡°What a pity. There¡¯s so many spiritual herbs there,¡± Wang Doushan sighed as he gazed at all of the herbs floating in theke.

    Su Chen stared intently at the surface of theke, racking his brain for any methods that he had to obtain a few herbs.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 56: Reflection Rock

    Chapter 56: Reflection Rock

    After leaving theke behind, Team Bright officially began their hunting expedition in the Thousand Ashes Gorge.

    There were many natural resources within the gorge, including rare medicinal herbs.

    Harvesting these herbs and hunting Vicious Beasts were the two main reasons people even came to the Thousand Ashes Gorge.

    The former required lots of searching, while thetter required a lot of killing; searching required luck, while killing required strength.

    Because of this, the strong teams from the Institute usually did things very differently than the weaker teams.

    The weaker teams that didn¡¯t possess enough strength generally focused on searching for medicinal herbs.

    After all, in terms of luck, everyone here was equal.

    The stronger teams, on the other hand, didn¡¯t see much value in searching for these herbs. Sometimes, even if a valuable herb was directly in front of them, they would overlook it because they weren¡¯t paying enough attention or they didn¡¯t recognize it.

    The same could not be said for Vicious Beasts, which they would kill on sight and harvest the rewards.

    Although Team Bright¡¯s name was chosen quite optimistically, they were very clear about where they fell on this spectrum.

    They were a weak team!

    Even though Su Chen had killed a Giant Adamantine Ape, that could not change everyone¡¯s deep-rooted impression of a team without a bloodline, including themselves.

    Thus, searching for medicinal herbs was Team Bright¡¯s main goal.

    They traversed the entire Thousand Ashes Pavilion, avoiding areas where strong Vicious Beasts prowled as well as they could. They focused on areas that were ignored by most people, not allowing themselves to miss a single medicinal herb of value.

    Because of this, Team Bright obtained much more from medicinal herbs than from spoils from battle in terms of value.

    This benefitted Su Chen the most ¨C many of the medicinal herbs that the team found were directly bought by Su Chen.

    Not only this, but he also bought medicinal herbs from other teams. It was much cheaper to buy here than in the city¡¯s marketce.

    The same sprig of Hundred Spirits Herb that could be sold to a shop for about five Origin Stones and bought for ten were being sold by people here for four Origin Stones, since they wouldn¡¯t need to make the trip to Long Coiling City to sell them anymore.

    While buying medicinal herbs in bulk, Su Chen also sold his medicines.

    Battles were always being fought in this kind of ce. Every day, students and Vicious Beasts would sh.

    Some students had already used up all of their injury treatment medicines. Their only option was to return unless their supply was replenished, in which case they could continue for another period of time.

    By the same logic, medicines that would go for 100 Origin Stones per vial in the city could be sold here for even 120 Origin Stones.

    Su Chen began to umte quite arge sum as he constantly made these sorts of transactions. The members of Team Bright were extremely jealous, and many of them had thoughts of bing alchemists too.

    However, upon hearing the amount of money that Su Chen had spent in the past four years on medicinal ingredients, they gave up on that idea.

    Six hundred thousand Origin Stones!

    The Immortal Temple gave him 150,000 Origin Stones worth of ingredients every year for four years in a row before Su Chen was able to reach his current level of talent. This sum didn¡¯t include how much Su Chen had contributed himself.

    In fact, one of the reasons why Su Chen had been willing toe to the Falling Eagle Mountain was because he had run out of money.

    Research was an incredibly costly venture. Whether it was Su Chen¡¯s alchemy studies or his research in other areas, he had to make a lot of mary investments.

    The Immortal Temple¡¯s support only made up a portion of what was necessary, making it necessary for him to supplement anything that he was missing. Thus, he suddenly had fallen into a massive deficit of money.

    Some may have felt this strange. Didn¡¯t Su Chen know how to concoct medicines? He obviously could have made money just by concocting medicines and selling them.

    That was true.

    However, just like cultivating an Origin Skill, concocting medicines that he had already mastered didn¡¯t help his skill as an alchemist improve at all.

    If he wanted to increase his skill as an alchemist faster, he needed to constantly concoct medicines that he hadn¡¯t mastered yet.

    Of course, if he hadn¡¯t mastered a specific medicine, his failure rate in concocting that medicine was much higher than usual.

    If there was a medicine that he hadpletely mastered and could sessfully concoct every single time, then continuing to make that medicine would not raise his strength at all.

    In fact, this principle wasn¡¯t just limited to concocting medicine. Almost everything operated under this principle.

    Constantly repeating something that you have already mastered only leaves you in the same ce.

    Su Chen¡¯s current skill as an alchemist was enough for him to be considered in the upper extremities of a Qualified Alchemist.

    He had only aplished this in four years because he would begin concocting and analyzing a new kind of medicine immediately upon mastering a certain medicine.

    This made it so that both his speed of improvement and resource expenditure were enormous.

    But back to the main story.

    Team Bright stayed in the Thousand Ashes Gorge for ten days.

    Within these ten days, Su Chen sold a massive amount of medicine, and he also obtained many medicinal ingredients.

    Just like before, after a long day of careful searching, Team Bright returned to the Reflection Rock.

    The Reflection Rock was a massive rock roughly three hundred feet in size. It was located in the southeastern part of the Thousand Ashes Gorge. Its surface was smooth and glossy, and it was possible to see one¡¯s reflection in it. Unsurprisingly, it was named the Reflection Rock.

    Because of its striking and unique appearance, this ce became an agreed-upon gathering ce for many students from the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    Every day, different teams of students would gather here to do business with each other and supplement what the othercked.

    At this point, it was getting close to dusk, and most people were finishing up their work for the day. Thus, the Reflection Rock was exceptionally busy around this time.

    The Institute¡¯s students lined therge, massive rock.

    The teams conversed with one another, filling the air with the sound of conversations andughter. Vendors hawking their wares could also be heard.

    ¡°Fresh Purified Essence Fruit; high-grade medicinal ingredient, only 100 Origin Stones!¡±

    ¡°Purplescale Beast¡¯s neck scale, thirty Origin Stones each.¡±

    ¡°Does anyone have poison antidotes? It needs to cure the ckdeath Spider¡¯s poison!¡±

    ¡°Is the paw or hide of an Earth Bear useful?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    The Reflection Stone was just like a busy marketce, filled with the mor of students yelling.

    Su Chen and his followers weaved through the crowd of people, observing their wares and searching for the materials they needed. Simultaneously, they would sell any materials that they didn¡¯t need.

    As Su Chen weaved through the crowd, a specific vendor¡¯s mat caught his eye.

    The person who owned the wares was a burly, dark-skinned, and savage-looking student. Upon seeing Su Chen walk towards his spot, he asked him in a low and muffled voice, ¡°Do you see anything you like?¡±

    Su Chen pointed at a Fairy Ginseng and asked, ¡°How much are you selling this Fairy Ginseng for?¡±

    ¡°Six hundred Origin Stones.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s too expensive.¡± Su Chen shook his head.

    ¡°This is a thirty-year-old ginseng!¡± The dark-skinned student replied unhappily.

    This Fairy Ginseng was the best medicinal herb he had found. The dark-skinned student had ced all his hopes on it to make some money.

    ¡°urately speaking, this is a twenty-eight year-old ginseng. Also, Fairy Ginseng does not necessarily improve with age; a twenty year-old Fairy Ginseng has the densest medicinal properties. After that, it begins to grow outwards, losing its medicinal density. Six Hundred Origin Stones is what you would sell it for in the medicine markets in Long Coiling City, not here at the Reflection Rock,¡± Su Chen said.

    The dark-skinned student evidently hadn¡¯t anticipated that Su Chen would know so much. He was slightly caught off-guard.

    Su Chen picked up another item.

    This was a fiery red stone. ¡°How much?¡±

    ¡°This is a Fire Origin Stone. I¡¯m selling it for ten Origin Stones,¡± the dark-skinned student replied.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s just a low-grade Origin Stone with a fire attribute on it, yet you want to sell it for ten Origin Stones? That¡¯s almost robbery.¡±

    The dark-skinned student was beginning to grow angry. ¡°So what if I¡¯m selling it for ten Origin Stones? Why do you have so many damned questions? Are you buying it or not?¡±

    As he spoke, he clenched his fist, as if he was nning on beating Su Chen if Su Chen didn¡¯t buy it.

    Upon seeing this, Su Chen shrugged his shoulders and said, ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll buy it.¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t waste any words with him. He pulled out ten Origin Stones and tossed them over before he picked up the fire-type Origin Stone and left.

    Du Qing asked curiously, ¡°Why did you buy that?¡±

    Su Chen waited until they were out of earshot of the vendor before replying, ¡°This isn¡¯t a fire-type Origin Stone; it¡¯s a me Crystal.¡±

    me Crystal?

    Du Qing was stunned.

    A fire-type Origin Stone was just an Origin Stone that had fire-type Origin Energy infused into it. This kind of Origin Stone was rtively umon and it was hard to fill on one¡¯s own. Thus, its price was many times more expensive than a regr Origin Stone. However, they were still not really anything special.

    me Crystals were different. They were a crystalline form made of pure me-type Origin Energy. The Origin Energy they contained could directly raise one¡¯s cultivation base. Whenpared to a regr fire-type Origin Stone, they couldn¡¯t even be mentioned in the same breath!

    Su Chen pulled out a small dagger, cutting the external surface of the crystal. The transparent crystal and a rosy substance inside could be clearly seen. Indeed, this was a me Crystal that had been hidden under the guise of a simple Origin Stone.

    Just this me Crystal alone was worth nearly three hundred Origin Stones.

    No one had expected that Su Chen would be able to find such a treasure after only taking a cursory nce at everything. They were all quite jealous.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t care very much. To him, even if he had gotten it for a steal, it was just a few hundred Origin Stones. He had gotten used to spending and earning inrge amounts in the past year, so to him that sum was nothing.

    The only reason he had bought this me Crystal was because he actually needed it.

    But the others didn¡¯t think of it that way.

    To most of them, a few hundred Origin Stones was more than worthy of envying.

    Just as they were all secretly feeling jealous of Su Chen, they suddenly saw a group of people walking towards them.

    It was Zhang Sheng¡¯an and the others.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 57: Provocation

    Chapter 57: Provocation

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an was still wearing the same spotless outfit as before. He looked very refined and lofty.

    Despite his beautiful garments, however, his expression was incredibly ugly.

    It wasn¡¯t just him. Everyone else behind him was the same. Their attire was very tidy and refined, but their expressions looked like they were about to vomit blood.

    If they could, they would have preferred to return covered in blood, sweat, and grime. After all, scars and blood were the glory of true heroes.

    But they couldn¡¯t do it...... because they hadn¡¯t even had the opportunity to fight a single Vicious Beast.

    They had once again returned empty-handed.

    It was as if the Vicious Beasts in the Thousand Ashes Gorge had conspired to hide from them. They hadpletely disappeared from view. No matter where they went, they couldn¡¯t find a single Vicious Beast.

    Even if a Vicious Beast did appear, it would disappear without a trace as soon as they headed in their direction.

    In the end, they had spent ten days in the Thousand Ashes Gorge without running into a single Vicious Beast.

    Of course, it wasn¡¯t like they hadn¡¯t reaped any gains at all.

    At the very least, they had found a few herbal medicines, but everyone knew that both medicinal herbs and Vicious Beasts were the main sources of profit for the students. Now that one of them had been directly cut off, their profits had basically been cut in half.

    In all honesty, however, this was not very important to them. Those from Bloodline Nobility ns usually didn¡¯tck money. They hade here not just to get money, but to also temper themselves.

    Without Vicious Beasts, they couldn¡¯t improve themselves!

    But that was not the most important thing to them either.

    The most important was their reputation.

    Because they couldn¡¯t find any Vicious Beasts, Team Soaring¡¯s sales had basically all been medicines.

    There were only so many students in the Thousand Ashes Gorge. At this point, they were all acquainted and familiar with each other. Thus, this fact was quickly discovered.

    The other students didn¡¯t know that Team Soaring couldn¡¯t find a single Vicious Beast at all. They all believed that Team Soaring was simply trying to avoid Vicious Beasts.

    Thus, word began to slowly spread that even though Team Soaring wasposed of so many outstanding individuals, they didn¡¯t even have the courage to fight Vicious Beasts. All they had the courage to do was harvest medicinal herbs......

    As time went on, everyone began to realize that Team Soaring only did business in medicinal herbs.

    Some people even began to call Team Soaring a ¡°team of vegetarians¡±.

    What an extraordinary humiliation this was to them!

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an and the others were enraged upon hearing these rumors.

    But no matter how overbearing they were, they could not possibly act against all of the students within the Thousand Ashes Gorge.

    Upon seeing Team Soaring walk towards him, someone with a sharp tongue already began tough and mock them. ¡°Hey, Zhang Sheng¡¯an, how many herbs did you pick today?¡±

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an ignored him.

    He could afford to be aggressive in front of Zheng Xia and the others, but here on the Reflection Rock, many were in a higher year or had bloodlines that were more respected than his. He didn¡¯t know what kinds of rtionships these people might have. If they dared to openly mock him, they definitely had the support to back it up.

    Thus, all he could do was try to endure it.

    Some words he could ignore, but there were others that he found extremely difficult to ignore!

    Someone let out a sarcasticugh. ¡°Why carry that bow on your back if all you do is dig out herbs all day? Since you can¡¯t use it, there¡¯s no need to keep it with you. Might as well sell it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. There¡¯s no need for that Giant Adamantine Ape either; it would be better to just kill it so you can get a Beast Hide.¡±

    ¡°How do you think they even got that Giant Ape? By relying on themselves? I heard that they bought it from someone else.¡±

    ¡°They bought that giant ape? Hahaha, I think I¡¯m going to die ofughter. Did theye all the way to the Thousand Ashes Gorge just to demonstrate how stupid they are?¡±

    ¡°I think you¡¯re onto something!¡±

    These kinds of conversations were going on everywhere, filling the air with mocking and disdain.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an and the others¡¯ expressions changed.

    These DAMNED BASTARDS!!!

    They had done this kind of mocking and ridiculing to others in the past, but now that it hadnded on their heads, they realized that it left a bad taste in their mouths.

    Zheng Xia and the others secretlyughed.

    Part of the rumors naturally had been spread by themselves.

    They used the ¡°sale¡± of the giant ape to demonstrate their incapability.

    What could Zhang Sheng¡¯an do?

    Could he go to each and every person to exin that this giant ape had only cost twenty them twenty Origin Stones, so it basically wasn¡¯t bought but stolen? And that they weren¡¯t cowardly pieces of trash but robbers?

    That wouldn¡¯t help their case at all.

    All they could do was endure.

    Du Qingughed the most merrily. Her bitterness and anger at having been robbed received swift relief today. The angrier Zhang Sheng¡¯an and the others were, the happier she was.

    Perhaps because sheughed too merrily, Golden Cicada Hong Wu noticed her.

    His eyes squinted slightly before he leaned towards Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s ear and muttered a few sentences. Zhang Sheng¡¯an began to walk in their direction.

    He tookrge strides towards Du Qing and the others.

    Upon arriving at Su Chen¡¯s side, he stopped and said, ¡°You find this quite amusing, do you?¡±

    The smile remained on Su Chen¡¯s face. ¡°What? Prince Zhang? Do we not even have the right tough here anymore?¡±

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an stared fiercely at Su Chen.

    He said in a low voice, ¡°Are you doing something to the Vicious Beasts?¡±

    None of them were idiots.

    If they hadn¡¯t run into Vicious Beasts for a few days, they could chalk it up to their bad luck, but for it to happen ten days in a row meant that luck was no longer a factor.

    The moment that Su Chen had suddenly appeared to talk with Jin Ling¡¯er was still fresh in his mind. Zhang Sheng¡¯an had already been suspicious for a while that Su Chen was the reason why they hadn¡¯t encountered a single Vicious Beast..

    However, he had no evidence. It was just suspicion.

    But today, his patience had been pushed to the limit. He could no longer restrain himself.

    When faced with Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s questioning, Su Chen continued to smile. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about, Prince Zhang. Could you be a little clearer? Or does Prince Zhang feel that our team is the weakest out of all the teams here, so you are nning on teaching us a lesson to show off?¡±

    Although this wasn¡¯t the Hidden Dragon Institute, the Reflection Rock was a ce where everyone did business. There were many unwritten rules that people tacitly agreed to follow.

    No one wished for violence to spread in this ce of business. Otherwise, there would be no way for them to continue doing business.

    Any person who tried to attack someone else here would be cut off and looked down upon, or even teamed up against.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an wasn¡¯t stupid enough to try to attack Su Chen here. However, he stared unwaveringly at Su Chen and said, ¡°You can try to deny it, but I know that it¡¯s definitely you. I¡¯m warning you, immediately stop what you¡¯re doing behind the scenes and I can forgive you. Otherwise, I¡¯ll give you something to think about.¡±

    Su Chen nced at Jin Ling¡¯er.

    She remained silent, her face deathly pale.

    Su Chen understood.

    He turned around and looked at Zhang Sheng¡¯an. ¡°Do you want to get out of your current situation? I¡¯ll give you a piece of advice.¡±

    He pulled out twenty Origin Stones. ¡°Return the Giant Ape to me and everything will return to normal.¡±

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an harrumphed. ¡°In your dreams!¡±

    He twisted around in ce and left.

    The people following behind him all red at Su Chen with killing intent in their expressions.

    Sword Rhinoceros came up to Su Chen and shoved him as he said, ¡°Brat, don¡¯t let me see you outside again. Otherwise, you¡¯ll die a gruesome death.¡±

    Su Chen shrugged his shoulders. ¡°What is the point of doing this? I¡¯m telling you the truth. As long as you are willing to return the giant ape, everything will return to normal.¡±

    He really was telling the truth ¨C the medicinal powder was ced on the giant ape¡¯s body in the first ce, otherwise it would be too easy to notice.

    Unfortunately, no one listened to him.

    Guan Shanying also came over, but it was to talk to Wang Doushan. ¡°Fat Crane, don¡¯t me me in the future for not warning you. Staying around them won¡¯t benefit you at all.¡±

    Wang Doushan shrugged him off. ¡°You¡¯re going to bother me about who I chose to y with?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know what¡¯s good for you!¡± Guan Shanying harrumphed as he left.

    Team Soaring finally departed.

    Team Bright burst out into cheerfulughter.

    But hidden behind theirughter was a deep anxiety.

    ¡°Hey, do you think they¡¯ll try and make trouble for us?¡± Du Qing asked Sun Jizu.

    ¡°Since our hostilities have reached this point, they shoulde for us,¡± Sun Jizu sighed, anxiety written on his face.

    Su Chen said, ¡°If you are scared, you can immediately choose to leave here and return to the Institute. In any case, everyone has already spent the entire day working, so it¡¯s about time for them to rest anyways.

    ¡°What about you? You¡¯re not going to go?¡± Zheng Xia asked.

    ¡°Me?¡± Su Chenughed, revealing his white teeth. ¡°If I leave, won¡¯t it get boring?¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 58: Plan

    Chapter 58: n

    In the end, Team Bright chose to remain.

    Life was always filled with challenges. If they were to run with their tail tucked between their legs just because someone spoke a few harsh sentences to them, that would be too weak.

    Youths were very impetuous. Even if they knew that they were not strong enough, they still tackled their opposition head-on.

    After exchanging for all the items they needed on the Reflection Rock, they all returned to the forest.

    Nightfall was arriving. They began to light a campfire to cook food.

    After finishing their meal, they each went to their own ces to rest, talk, or engage in their own hobbies.

    Wang Doushan enjoyed catching fish in his spare time. The fatty would sit next to the water, angling for a fish; however, by the time the fish bit his line, most of the time he had already fallen asleep.

    Yan Fuxing and Sun Jizu liked to y chess against each other. Yan Fuxing was terrible at chess, and his chess etiquette was even worse. Most people usually yed by the rule that a move was consideredplete once the piece was set, but he would usually request to undo not just that move but also a few moves before, to the point that his chess pieces were basically able to travel through time. Sun Jizu enjoyed watching Yan Fuxing undo his moves. Every time, he wouldment, ¡°You can turn back time as many times as you want; I¡¯ll beat you every time.¡±

    Iron Cliff¡¯s hoby was quite strange. He enjoyed rubbing his back against the bark of trees. Usually within half a day, the bark on the tree would be scraped clean. Apparently, this was to raise the defensive ability of his back. From afar, his hobby looked just like a bear scratching an itch.

    Du Qing liked to read in her spare time, but she mostly read romance novels. The young maiden¡¯s tears flowed easily, and she would often break into tears for seemingly no reason.

    Cloud Leopard enjoyed sitting on a tree and staring into the distance, just like as if he was standing guard. No one knew what he was thinking about; all they knew was that he could sit there for an entire hour without moving at all.

    Zheng Xia practiced his palm techniques in his spare time. His palms of flesh whistled through the air, and he often let out loud yells as he practiced. Those who didn¡¯t know what was happening might have thought that mines were exploding.

    Su Chen would mess around with his medicines. He had brought his workbench with him in his Origin Ring so that he could concoct his medicine even in the middle of the woods. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have had as many medicines to sell. However, because he was always analyzing the medicines that he didn¡¯t haveplete control over, everyone had already seen him fail more times than he had seeded. The air was filled with the sound of shattering vials as his medicines exploded.

    After so many days together, everyone was already familiar with Su Chen¡¯s hair being sted into messy disarray.

    But today, things were very different.

    In an unprecedented turn of events, Su Chen wasn¡¯t concocting his medicines. He held the me Crystal in his hand, turning it around as he made careful, small cuts on its surface.

    He was carving something.

    The small de made cut after cut on the crystal¡¯s surface, leaving behind deep scars in the crystal¡¯s surface. Oftentimes, the crystal spurted out mes ¨C this was the me Crystal releasing its energy upon being damaged.

    However, it could only release a bit of its energy before it was stopped. The hand holding the me Crystal constantly sent Origin Energy into it, stopping the me Crystal¡¯s energy from leaking out. Simultaneously, he continued to use Origin Energy to restore the me Crystal¡¯s wounds.

    The scarred, uneven surface very quickly became smooth, as if it waspletely naturally-urring.

    It was almost as if Su Chen was carving out a performance. Every time he cut down, the surface of the me Crystal would shine and sh with the brilliance of mes, sparks flying through the air like shooting stars.

    Du Qing¡¯s gaze was attracted by the mesmerizing disy of light. Upon seeing what Su Chen was doing, she said in surprise, ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I¡¯m carving something.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re carving something using a me Crystal?¡± Du Qing was left somewhat dazed by Su Chen¡¯s treatment of such a valuable object.

    Although Su Chen was using his Origin Energy to restore the wounds to the me Crystal whenever he cut down, therge number of cuts he was making would definitely cause the energy within the me Crystal to decrease over time.

    If he was just using it to make some kind of art, Su Chen really was being quite extravagant.

    ¡°You can think of it that way,¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t raise his head as he replied.

    ¡°What are you carving?¡± Du Qing asked.

    Su Chenughed. ¡°You¡¯ll know if you keep watching.¡±

    His movements with the knife were incredibly quick. Evidently, he had practiced before. As little spurts of me flew out again and again, eventually a ming red hawk appeared on Su Chen¡¯s palm.

    ¡°A hawk?¡± Du Qing murmured.

    ¡°It¡¯s more urate to call it a Scarletme Hawk,¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°I practiced for two months before I was finally able to carve it out. My knife-carving skills aren¡¯t great, but as long as it gets the job done that¡¯s good enough.¡±

    ¡°Why are you carving this thing?¡±

    ¡°As a memento,¡± Su Chenughed.

    ¡°Hmph!¡± Du Qing rolled her eyes at him.

    Although they had not known each other for very long, she was already very clear about what kind of person Su Chen was. Based on his personality, there was no way he would do something so pointless.

    However, since he wouldn¡¯t say anything, she was toozy to ask him more closely. Every person had their own secrets, and not prying too much into those secrets was a basic code of conduct amongst Origin Qi Schrs.

    Deep into the night.

    Su Chen finallypleted his carving.

    He stowed the Scarletme Hawk away before he drifted off to sleep.

    The Dreamrealm symbol on the back of his hand began to swim, bringing Su Chen once again into the Dreamrealm.

    He was still in the Dreamrealm Castle. Su Chen leisurely walked through the castle¡¯s streets, as if he was gazing at the surrounding scenery.

    ¡°Cloud Bat!¡±

    Dream Spirit Lulu once again suddenly appeared in front of Su Chen.

    Su Chen nced at her before continuing to walk forwards. ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°What else could it be? Of course it¡¯s about raising your privilege tier!¡± The Dream Spirit crossed her arms and said to Su Chen, ¡°I say, have you really not made your decision yet after thinking about it for so long?¡±

    ¡°The problem is that I don¡¯t have enough Dream Droplets to raise my privilege tier,¡± Su Chen shrugged his shoulders as he said.

    There were three tiers of Dream Privilege, and each tier had nine levels. Large amounts of Dream Droplets were needed to go up just one level, and every level was more expensive than thest.

    Su Chen had no intention of spending so much money here.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t have enough Dream Droplets. You can buy them with Origin Stones, or you canplete some of themissions in the halls of the Dreamrealm. There are many ces and ways to get Dream Droplets.¡± The Dream Spirit was just like a seductive little devil, trying to entice Su Chen.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have the time,¡± Su Chen brushed her off.

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t forget about the high-tier Dream Monarch who is trying to figure out your identity. If you don¡¯t hurry up and raise your privilege tier, you will be discovered by him!¡± The Dream Spirit wasn¡¯t very happy anymore, and she tried to adopt a threatening tone.

    ¡°I know, so I want to cancel the notice that I previously sent out,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°What did you say? Cancel?¡± The Dream Spirit almost fell out of the air in surprise.

    ¡°Yes, cancel.¡± As Su Chen spoke, he walked towards the Hall of Knowledge. ¡°After I cancel the notice, everything will end; that high-tier Dream Monarch will lose any trail he had of my identity, and there will no longer be a need for him to try to figure out who I am.¡±

    ¡°But there¡¯s no need for you to do something like this,¡± Dream Spirit Lulu began to yell. ¡°As long as you raise your privilege tier, he won¡¯t be able to discover you anyways, but if you cancel your notice, then he won¡¯t have to......¡±

    The Dream Spirit suddenly stopped speaking.

    Su Chen finished her sentence. ¡°Then that person won¡¯t need to continue spending Dream Droplets to conceal my notice, and you will earn less money because of it, right?¡±

    ¡°Hey, this......¡± The Dream Spirit let out an awkwardugh.

    Clearly, Su Chen had hit the Dream Spirit¡¯s weak spot.

    Su Chen continued. ¡°That¡¯s quite a good n. First, you took the notice that I sent out and informed a few high-tier Dream Monarchs about it, enticing them to use Dream Droplets to conceal my notice. Then, you urged them to try and discover my identity without giving it to them directly. Then, you urge me to raise my privilege, setting us against each other. From this opposition, you can umte lots of benefits...... Is this how the Lord of the Dreamrealm does business?¡±

    Suddenly, augh that sounded like the tinkling of bells sounded out. ¡°I told you that this youth is not someone to be taken lightly.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 59: Meng Lan

    Chapter 59: Meng Lan1

    As theugh rang out, Su Chen suddenly felt his vision blur. His surroundings quickly changed.

    He had just been standing on the street when in the blink of an eye, he was suddenly standing within arge room of the castle.

    Looking out from a nearby window, he could see that he was still in the Dreamcastle. However, at some unknown time, he had been relocated to the central, tallest tower within the Dreamcastle.

    Even so, Su Chen did not panic.

    He was within the Dreamrealm. No matter what happened, nothing could surprise him at this point.

    He turned around and found that at the head of the hall, a young woman was sitting on top of a wooden, square chair with green flowers wrapping around it. The young woman was wearing a long, snow-white dress trailing to the ground, and a pair of white crystal high-heels poked out from under her dress. She wore a bright, radiant crown iid with countless precious stones atop her waist-length faintly-purple hair. Her face was slender and delicate, and an inscription of a transparent water droplet pulsated gently in between her eyebrows. Her eyes were veryrge, and her pupils were slightly purple. She also wore a pair of purplish-gold earrings on her sharp ears. The impression she gave others was that of a fantasy girl in her prime.

    The fantasy-like maiden also had a pair of wings on her back, but they were transparent. Apart from that, she was no different in size from a regr human.

    The maiden with the transparent wings said, ¡°Hello. My name is Meng Lan, and I am a daughter of the Lord of the Dreamrealm. I am also the owner of this Dreamcastle.¡±

    Su Chen nced at Meng Lan. ¡°A daughter of the Lord of the Dreamrealm? I¡¯m lucky enough to immediately run into a princess?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, but there¡¯s no need to feel so surprised. Every Dreamcastle is owned by a daughter of the Lord of the Dreamrealm.¡±

    ¡°Every one? If I remember correctly, this Dreamcastle¡¯s number is 124?¡± Su Chen said in shock.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I am the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s 124th daughter. I have 426 more siblings below me.¡±

    ¡°......¡± Su Chen was speechless. ¡°The Lord of the Dreamrealm really knows how to have kids.¡±

    Meng Lanughed, ¡°That¡¯s because you don¡¯t understand the practices of Dreamrealm lifeforms. Dreamrealm lifeforms don¡¯t reproduce like you humans, who rely on two members of opposite genders to bear children. We have our own method of doing it. The Lord of the Dreamrealm will form a Dreamrealm Seed from time to time. This Dreamrealm Seed is the precursor to our current form. Dreamrealm Seeds absorb consciousness energy, allowing us to be nurtured by Dream Droplets. Afterwards, we officially be a Dreamrealm lifeform. To Dreamrealm lifeforms, the affection between a father and his offspring is irrelevant. The rtionship is more like a tree and and the seeds it produces. We all live within the Dreamrealm created by the Lord of Dreams, together forming the Drea.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Su Chen understood. ¡°The Lord of the Dreamrealm is like an ancient tree, and you are like the tree seedlings sown from him. Together, you form arge forest.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Meng Lan pped her hands andughed. ¡°You really are quite smart; you understood it at once.¡±

    Su Chen nodded his head. ¡°I was curious as to why someone like the Lord of the Dreamrealm would involve me, a no-name Origin Qi Schr, in his schemes. Now that you¡¯ve appeared, I think I get it. The one trying to use me wasn¡¯t the Lord of the Dreamrealm, but you, the owner of this Dreamcastle.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t say it like that,¡± Meng Lan immediately said. ¡°The Lord of the Dreamrealm created this ce and the rules that govern it, so no one is allowed to break those rules. I never tried to use you; all I am doing is operating within the limits defined by these rules.¡±

    ¡°So what you¡¯re saying is that you never instigated someone to conceal my notice in the first ce?¡±

    ¡°Of course I didn¡¯t,¡± Meng Lan said straightforwardly. ¡°You might think that I am trying to take advantage of your conflict, but do you think that I don¡¯t understand the impact this skill will have on the entire human race? Think about if. If this kind of technique is made public, how many people would buy it? Even if you sell it for only 100 Dream Droplets, you would make a million Dream Droplets if only ten thousand people buy it! What reason would there be for me to try and entice someone to cover up your status just to obtain a meager concealment fee? Isn¡¯t that too narrow-viewed? In addition, for this kind of technique, it wouldn¡¯t be surprising for millions of people to buy it. And since you are sending out the notice from my Dreamcastle, I am responsible for handling all of those transactions, and those count towards my quota!¡±

    Su Chen was quite shocked. ¡°The Dreamrealm has a quota it needs to meet?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± The Dreamrealm supports all of the existences within the Dreamrealm. It¡¯s the source of our existence. Every master of a Dreamcastle needs to do as much as they can to umte Dream Droplets in order to foster their ownmunity! Every single tree should have the desire and dream to be a forest!¡±

    Upon hearing those words, Su Chen sighed. ¡°So what you¡¯re saying is that you support my desire to publicly release this skill?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Meng Lan said. ¡°Thus, I incited Lulu to try and convince you to raise your privilege tier. That way you can protect yourself and increase the pressure on that high-tier privilege individual at the same time. If you can be a high-tier individual yourself, then they will have no way of suppressing your notice. At that time, your Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven skill will be able to spread without anyone restricting its dissemination.¡±

    ¡°It seems that I misunderstood your good intentions,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°No worries,¡± Meng Lan giggled.

    ¡°But I¡¯m afraid that I still want to cancel my notice.¡± Su Chen¡¯s tone suddenly changed.

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Meng Lan was speechless.

    She had brought Su Chen over and talked to him for so long just to try and get him to give up on the idea of canceling his notice; However, Su Chen seemingly remained unmoved.

    ¡°Why is that?¡± Meng Lan was bing a bit angry.

    ¡°Because I¡¯m scared,¡± Su Chen smiled as he replied. ¡°Since the other party is investigating my background, one day they will discover my real identity. Since that¡¯s the case, I still want to cancel my notice so that they won¡¯t try ande after me. Isn¡¯t that better? At the very least, it¡¯s much simpler than expending so much energy to increase my privilege tier, right?¡±

    Meng Lan fell into silence.

    She stared at Su Chen.

    A smile hung on Su Chen¡¯s lips.

    After a long time, Meng Lan asked, ¡°You don¡¯t want to spread Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven anymore?¡±

    Su Chen spread his hands helplessly. ¡°So what if I want to? If I can¡¯t sell it here, then I can only go to the real world to sell it. At most I¡¯ll just have to disguise myself and sit by the road, hawking it as a peerless secret manual for ten copper coins per book. If I can¡¯t convince adults, I¡¯ll convince kids. ¡®Hey young man, you look like you have a unique bone structure ¨C you might be a one-in-a-million martial arts talent. I have a secret book here called the ¡°Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven Origin Skill¡± that I believe you are fated to learn. I¡¯ll only charge you ten copper coins for it.¡¯...... As long as I am persistent, I will definitely be able to sell it.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Even though she knew that Su Chen was just making things up, Meng Lan couldn¡¯t help but feel depressed.

    Upon seeing the devious smile on Su Chen¡¯s face, Meng Lan finally began to realize what was happening.

    She said, ¡°What do you want? Tell me.¡±

    ¡°Privilege,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°I want a level of privilege where either those bastards cannot conceal my notices or that doing so will cost them a heart-rending sum of money.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not possible.¡± Meng Lan shook her head. ¡°The Dreamrealm has its own rules that even a Dreamrealm lifeform cannot disobey. If I could do this, I would¡¯ve done it a long time ago. Why else would we be having this conversation?¡±

    ¡°But you can give me an opportunity, right?¡±

    ¡°What kind of opportunity do you want?¡±

    ¡°An opportunity that exists outside of the rules, an opportunity that I can put in the least and get the most out of.¡±

    1. This is a person¡¯s name. Tranted it would be Dream Blue, but that sounds kind of weird so I kept it in its Chinese phic form.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 60: Clay Giant 1

    Chapter 60: y Giant (1)

    Su Chen woke up early in the morning, when the sky was just beginning to brighten

    Su Chen stretchedzily as he walked out of the tent. He found everyone already sitting around the table eating breakfast.

    ¡°For you. You woke upte today.¡± Wang Doushan handed him a bowl of porridge.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Su Chen received it and took a closer look.

    Inside the bowl was a green, liquidy substance that was bubbling from the heat. It looked as if an extremely poisonous substance had been put inside.

    ¡°I tried it already, it¡¯s edible,¡± Wang Doushan said diligently.

    ¡°You made this?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Du Qing spoke up. ¡°I made it. It¡¯s a porridge from wild grains. I ced a few green pine seeds inside, but they unexpectedly dissolved, turning the porridge green.¡±

    As Du Qing spoke, she saucily stuck her tongue out.

    Su Chen lifted up the bowl and took a sip before nodding. ¡°Although it looks a bit strange, it is actually quite ptable. All we eat is meat usually, so it¡¯s nice to have a change of pace.¡±

    After eating breakfast, Su Chen and the others began hunting.

    Their luck was pretty good. An hourter, they ran into a Wild Mountain Bear.

    Wild Mountain Bears were high-tier Vicious Beasts. They were extremely powerful, but against a team of students from the Hidden Dragon Institute, all it could do was wait for its death.

    Not long afterwards, everyone quickly took care of the Mountain Bear.

    Afterwards, Su Chen and Iron Cliff began to use their own unique method to send the Wild Mountain Bear into the afterlife.

    Zheng Xia stood off to the side underneath a tree. As he watched their strange movements, Zheng Xia suddenly said, ¡°Interesting.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s so interesting?¡± The others had no idea what he was talking about.

    Zheng Xia pointed at Su Chen. ¡°Why do you think their hand movements are different every time?¡±

    Wang Doushan paused for a moment in thought before agreeing, ¡°That is interesting. What kind of movements are they doing? Why is it different every time?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s because when ites to faith, sincerity is more important than the hand motions they make,¡± Sun Jizu pondered.

    ¡°The problem is that Iron Cliff and Su Chen don¡¯t look like sincere people,¡± Du Qing muttered.

    Of those two one of them thought a lot and the other thought very little, but regardless during conversation they had never once brought up the matter of their faith. No matter how one looked at it, they did not look like religious people.

    At that moment, Cloud Leopard suddenly asked, ¡°Have you guys noticed that Su Chen¡¯s cultivation base seems to have gone up recently?¡±

    ¡°Has it?¡± Everyone asked before saying, ¡°I haven¡¯t felt it.¡±

    Wang Doushan said thoughtfully, ¡°I feel like his aura has be slightly stronger.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s normal. He has already tempered himself within the Falling Eagle Mountain for nearly ten days, so his aura would definitely increase.¡± Yan Fuxing flexed the muscles on his chest and said, ¡°I feel like my aura recently has also be strongertely. Junior Sister Qing, what do you think?¡±

    Du Qing rolled her eyes and turned away from him. Yan Fuxing wasn¡¯t able to get a response out of her, so all he could do was sit on the side and chuckle.

    No one knew that what Cloud Leopard had said was right.

    In this period of time, Su Chen¡¯s cultivation base had greatly increased from fifty-two Yellow Stars to sixty-three Yellow Stars.

    This was all because of his eyes.

    One could say that if Su Chen had chosen to pursue cultivationpletely instead of following the path of a schr overlord, then he would only need a hundred days or so to reach the Blood Boiling Realm. After all, his cultivation speed was shocking.

    As long as Su Chen wanted to, he could definitely be an extreme genius within the Hidden Dragon Institute with the fastest cultivation speed.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t choose to do that because that was not his goal. To him, the greatest benefit of his eyes was that it saved him a lot of cultivation time.

    For this reason, Su Chen wasn¡¯t worried that they would figure it out.

    As long as they weren¡¯t able to discover it right away, he could spend lots of time on his research and average out this rapid increase, making it so that no one would realize the truth.

    The only person who could expose him was actually Iron Cliff.

    The Cliff Race had a very difficult time cultivating. Because of Su Chen, however, his cultivation base had progressed roughly at the same rate as that of other humans or even slightly faster. After all, Iron Cliff didn¡¯t need to spend every day researching, so during the day he would still spend time cultivating.

    However, others would only be shocked by Iron Cliff¡¯s ¡°genius¡± rather than thinking of Su Chen or their prayer method. After all, Su Chen¡¯s advance was quite slow, dispelling any suspicions that others might have of him.

    After finishing his prayer method, Su Chen and Iron Cliff returned back to everyone¡¯s side.

    They conversed among themselves for a bit as they walked. Just as they were beginning to search for their next target, they heard an enraged howl off in the distance.

    This howl was as loud as thunder, echoing throughout the forest. It rumbled past the clouds, reaching everyone¡¯s ears. Clearly, the person or animal letting out the howl was extremely infuriated.

    What was that?

    Everyone froze.

    Cloud Leopard and Su Chen both jumped atop a thick pine tree and gazed off into the distance.

    They saw a yellow giant tilting its head back to the sky as it let out an infuriated howl. It was extremely tall, and even Iron Cliff would look like a tiny speckpared to it. Large chunks of y and sand, which made up its body, were falling off of its body from time to time.

    ¡°Is that one of those y Giants?¡± Du Qing¡¯s shocked voice sounded out from behind Su Chen.

    The y Giants were not of the Beast Race. They were purely, from head to toe, elemental lifeforms, but they had an innate ability to control Origin Energy. They were a vein of the Origin Race known as the Elemental Race.

    The Elemental Race didn¡¯t have high levels of intelligence. Most of the time they acted muddleheaded, always moving on instinct. Although they were veryrge, they never teamed up, and they were generally few in numbers. Thus, they didn¡¯t have any power on the Primordial Continent.

    However, they were physically very powerful. The strongest Elemental Race individuals were as powerful as Demonic Emperors.

    The y Giant in front of them had supposedly been brought back by the Headmaster of the Hidden Dragon Institute from one of his vacations. It was still in its youth, and after its growth had been sealed, it had been ced inside the Thousand Ashes Gorge for people to temper themselves against.

    If the Dragonfish was the overlord of the Ancient Ma Lake, then the y Giant was the overlord of the Thousand Ashes Gorge. It was the most powerful existence even among all of the top-tier Vicious Beasts.

    Thankfully, y Giants were usuallyzy. As long as their territory was not encroached upon, they were usually not dangerous.

    Su Chen¡¯s team had a few run-ins with this y Giant while traversing the Thousand Ashes Gorge, but they did not provoke it.

    Unexpectedly, today someone had angered the y Giant.

    Within the forest, a group of people was furiously sprinting forwards, the y Giant hot on their heels as it howled in anger.

    The person at the very front was Treebow Zhang Sheng¡¯an.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 61: Clay Giant 2

    Chapter 61: y Giant (2)

    Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an cursed in anger.

    They really did have bad luck!

    Cmity had struck when Zhang Sheng¡¯an and his team had been searching for Tunneling Grass.

    The Tunneling Grass was a nt with a high amount of spirit power. Mature Tunneling Grass could create their own paths underground and hide in these tunnels whenever they ran into danger, quickly changing their position.

    This made them quite difficult to harvest.

    The juice pressed from the Tunneling Grass¡¯s roots could be blent and processed into a great raw ingredient for Origin Tools. Thus, its price was extremely high in the outside world.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an and the others had stumbled upon a Tunneling Grass, but it escaped from them underground.

    Thankfully, their team was good at pursuing targets. They followed the traces the Tunneling Grass left behind until they arrived at the y Giant¡¯s territory.

    They originally nned on quickly grabbing the Tunneling Grass before leaving, but unexpectedly the y Giant suddenly went crazy, rampaging through the forest.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an and the others were no match for this frighteningly powerful y Giant, so they immediately retreated.

    Under normal circumstances, the y Giant would retreat as soon as it chased the intruders out of its territory, but for some reason the y Giant continued to chase after them relentlessly. It was not particrly fast, but every step it took was equivalent to four or five of theirs. The ground trembled underneath the y Giant¡¯s massive, weighty strides.

    The y Giant charged forwards with a towering momentum. It first caught up to Morning Dragon Jiang Yang, the slowest in the group. It swung its giant hand through the air, the wind turbulently flowing around its hand.

    Jiang Yang knew the situation wasn¡¯t good. He reacted quickly and thrust his palm out just when the giant¡¯s hand was about to m into him. He yelled, ¡°RISE!¡±

    A wall of earth appeared behind his back, directly appearing in front of the y Giant¡¯s body.

    Even so, when faced with absolute strength, this kind of defensive attempt waspletely pointless.

    The y Giant¡¯s massive hand mmed into the earth wall, breaking through it like a piece of paper.

    The wall of earth instantly shattered. The giant hand continued through the air. Jiang Yang had no time to dodge, so all he could do was apply an earth-type barrier to himself.

    BANG!

    The giant hand mmed into Jiang Chang.

    Jiang Yang flew through the air like a shooting star. No one knew if he was still alive after being struck by that attack.

    The y Giant continued to chase them. It had already arrived before Sword Rhinoceros Zheng Kuang, raising its foot to stomp him.

    Just when Zheng Xia was about to be stomped into a powder, a howl of rage pierced the air. A ck shadow shot past him, stopping the y Giant¡¯s foot in ce.

    It was the Giant Adamantine Ape. Its body was thick and sturdy like the y Giant, but it was much shorter than the y Giant. It held the y Giant¡¯s foot in ce as it snarled in feral rage.

    Zheng Xia had narrowly escaped his death. Jin Ling¡¯er spoke into his ear, ¡°Hurry and run, the Giant Adamantine Ape won¡¯tst long.¡±

    High-tier Vicious Beasts were simply too weakpared to peak-level Vicious Beasts, and the y Giant could be considered the peak of the peak. There was no way the Giant Adamantine Ape couldst very long.

    The Giant Adamantine Ape bled from multiple wounds under the y Giant¡¯s assault. Everyone else was so scared that they instantly scattered.

    Suddenly, Jin Ling¡¯er cried out, her face draining of all its color.

    She said, ¡°The Adamantine Ape died.¡±

    They nced behind them, only to find that the Giant Adamantine Ape had been squashed into a meat patty by the y Giant.

    A high-tier Vicious Beast couldn¡¯t evenst a few moments before being forcefully beaten to death.

    Upon seeing this scene, they felt as if their souls were about to depart from their bodies. They began to run even faster.

    In that moment, Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s eyes lit up.

    He was good at archery, which required extremely high visual acuity. The adrenaline made it so his eyes were particrly active. He had spotted a group of people nearby looking in his direction, evidently trying to see what was happening.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an recognized a few faces amongst them, causing his killing intent to soar.

    ¡°Run that way!¡± Zhang Sheng¡¯an pointed off in a direction, turning around and furiously sprinting in that direction.

    Originally, Zhang Sheng¡¯an would have passed by Team Bright on the right. If he hadn¡¯t changed course, he would¡¯ve passed them (albeit not very far away).

    Suddenly, however, they had changed directions, charging directly towards Su Chen and the others.

    Zheng Xia¡¯s expression changed. He yelled, ¡°Not good! They¡¯re headed in our direction!¡±

    ¡°Zhang Sheng¡¯an, you bastard!¡± Wang Doushan howled. ¡°Run!¡±

    Everyone began to run.

    However, since Zhang Sheng¡¯an had decided to use them as decoys, how could he let them go so easily? Upon seeing his opponents run, he let out a savageugh as he slung the bow off of his back. His right hand grabbed onto the bowstring and furiously pulled.

    The Tree Demon Bow¡¯s bowstring was made of the Tree Demon¡¯s long hair. When Zhang Sheng¡¯an grabbed onto the bowstring, the small demon on the bow let out a pained, piercing cry.

    As the small demon let out a yell, a gust of ck Qi began to wrap around the ck string, finally aggregating into a long, ck arrow.

    The ck arrow flew through the air. As it flew over to Su Chen and the others, it turned into countless streaks of ck smoke that fell to the ground. They wriggled towards Su Chen¡¯s group like small ck serpents, preventing them from continuing forwards.

    ¡°Zhang Sheng¡¯an, you son of a bitch!¡±

    ¡°If you have the strength, use that damned resentment arrow against the giant! Why did you use it against us!?¡±

    Everyone began to curse him out.

    However, everyone knew that Zhang Sheng¡¯an had definitely tried it against the y Giant before. It was just ineffective against the y Giant¡¯s strength.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an let out a savageugh. ¡°You¡¯re all just a bunch of worthless people without bloodlines. Who cares if you die? It is your responsibility to give your lives to protect heroes like us!¡±

    Even if there was no enmity between them, Zhang Sheng¡¯an would not have hesitated in the slightest to do something like this in order to shake off the y Giant and survive.

    As he spoke, he charged towards them, wanting to pass through them and leave them behind to deal with the giant.

    Blood Demon Zhong Ding, Jin Ling¡¯er, and the others followed close behind him.

    In that instant, Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s eyes met Su Chen¡¯s.

    Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s heart trembled. She said, ¡°Sheng¡¯an, please let Su Chen and Wang Doushan go!¡±

    ¡°Absolutely not! If you¡¯re going to do it, do it all the way. Letting any one of them go is just going to give us trouble in the future!¡± Zhang Sheng¡¯an refused.

    Since they were doing it, they had to do it all the way to the end. Zhang Sheng¡¯an didn¡¯t believe in half-assing anything.

    By the time he finished speaking, he had already charged into the midst of their group. Zhang Sheng¡¯an continued onwards with no ns of stopping.

    Just as he flew by Su Chen, however, Su Chen suddenly said, ¡°Did I say I needed you to let me go?¡±

    What?

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an was stunned.

    Su Chen suddenly motioned with his hand, which was suddenly gripping a long de.

    It was the Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de!

    He sliced down at the ck rope at his feet, cutting the Resentment Rope open.

    The de then sliced towards Zhang Sheng¡¯an.

    As he swung the de, Iron Cliff let out a loud howl.

    ¡°AWOO!¡±

    As Iron Cliff howled, the muscles on his body began to tighten as he furiously strained against the rope. His arms stretched outwards like two massive iron poles; eventually, the Resentment Rope was torn apart. He instantly flew into the air, wielding a giant shield made of Origin Energy as he mmed into Zhang Sheng¡¯an from another direction.

    Cloud Leopard simultaneously made a move.

    As if it had met its mortal enemy, the Resentment Rope suddenly disappeared from his body. Cloud Leopard charged towards Zhang Sheng¡¯an, leaving behind a streak of light in his wake.

    The three of them charged towards Zhang Sheng¡¯an from three separate directions.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 62: Clay Giant 3

    Chapter 62: y Giant (3)

    Three people suddenly attacked Zhang Sheng¡¯an simultaneously from the left, right, and front.

    In that critical moment, Zhang Sheng¡¯an suddenly let out a yell.

    ¡°AHHH!¡±

    The thunderous cry sent everyone reeling, slowing their movements.

    A small chink appeared for a brief moment in the encirclement.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an was able to grasp that sliver of an opportunity.

    In that moment, Zhang Sheng¡¯an wed in front of him, grabbing onto Golden Cicada Hong Wu. He sent Hong Wu flying forwards, the momentum of this throw sending him flying backwards.

    Hong Wu said in disbelief, ¡°Sheng¡¯an, you......!¡±

    Whoosh!

    A de swung through the air.

    Just as the trio¡¯s attacks were about tond on Hong Wu¡¯s body, Hong Wu¡¯s robe suddenly bulged and expanded as if a sac of air had been inted, blocking all of their attacks. Simultaneously, Hong Wu flew out from underneath the bulging robe as fast as lightning, leaving behind just the empty robe.

    This was the Golden Cicada n¡¯s famous Golden Cicada Shedding. It was an absolute escape skill.

    However, he had just dodged these attacks when he was suddenly met by Wang Doushan¡¯s Cloud Sundering. Wang Doushan had also escaped from his shackles, but he did not attack at the same time as the other three. Rather, he pounced at this critical moment.

    Hong Wu had no way of dodging this attack. He let out a tragic cry as he flew through the air.

    At the same time, Su Chen continued to sh unrelentingly with his de.

    Whoosh!

    The Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf appeared, snarling savagely at Zhang Sheng¡¯an.

    Cloud Leopard also stretched his hand out, a serpentine streak of Qi shooting forth from his hand.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an raised his hand. A wall of thistles appeared on his body, stopping the Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf in its tracks and also blocking the Serpentine Palm. When Su Chen¡¯s other hand closed and opened, arge Firebird appeared, mming into the thistle barrier and causing it to disintegrate.

    Cloud Leopard pounced forwards, his arm turning into a massive snake that bit ferociously at Zhang Sheng¡¯an.

    At that moment, a bloody shadow appeared from the side, blocking the attack. The gushing red wave shined brilliantly. It was Blood Demon Zhong Ding.

    He didn¡¯t even have time to speak before Iron Cliff let out a howl, mming his Iron Mountain Shield downwards forcefully.

    At the same time, Zheng Xia and the others had freed themselves with Wang Doushan¡¯s help. They resented Zhang Sheng¡¯an and the others, and thus spared no expense while attacking them. Seven or eight Origin Skills came charging towards Zhang Sheng¡¯an all at once.

    Just as Zhang Sheng¡¯an was about to be swallowed up by the wave of Origin Skills, Zhang Sheng¡¯an suddenly swung both his hands, ripping a scroll apart.

    A streak of holy light enveloped him. The slew of Origin Skills waspletely ineffective against his Holy Light Barrier. ¡°Bastard!¡± everyone cursed.

    Zheng Sheng¡¯an, however, felt his heart squeeze in pain.

    This Holy Light Barrier scroll was one of his life-saving trump cards. He hadn¡¯t even been willing to use it against the y Giant, but Team Bright had forced it out of him in the end.

    Team Bright was also stunned. Zhang Sheng¡¯an had been in peril every step of the way, but he was still unharmed. Of course, Blood Demon Zhong Ding had helped him out, but his ability to adapt was very impressive.

    However, Zhang Sheng¡¯an was still willing to bring the y Giant towards them even though he had this kind of trump card. He really was a piece of trash.

    mes of rage rose in their hearts, and they prepared to strike out at Zhang Sheng¡¯an again.

    ¡°Stop fighting!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er yelled. ¡°The y Giant is here.¡±

    They turned around to find the y Giant running towards them.

    Everyone immediately ran upon seeing this.

    A trace of viciousness shed across Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s face. ¡°Stay here for me!¡±

    Thistles sprung up from the ground, chasing after Team Bright.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an was extremely proficient in controlling vegetation to restrict his target¡¯s¡¯ movements before finishing them off at long range with his bow.

    Opponents who could restrict your movements while attacking from faraway were quite hard to deal with, and it was for this very reason that he had been given the nickname ¡°Treebow¡±. In terms of restrictive methods, he had quite a few tactics.

    Team Bright didn¡¯t expect that he would still harbor malicious intent even at this moment. They were so angry that their lungs were about to explode.

    Zheng Xia tossed out a Thunderfire Ball. The majestic explosion of mes burned the thistles to a crisp.

    However, an instantter, Guan Shanying, Zheng Kuang, and Blood Demon Zhong Ding charged forwards. They had a deep-seeded hatred for Team Bright, and they wanted to drag them down with them at all costs.

    They originally thought that dealing with a few non-bloodline individuals would be a piece of cake. Unexpectedly, however, every member of Team Bright pulled out a Thunderfire Ball and tossed it towards them.

    Blood Demon yelled in panic, ¡°Dodge!¡±

    In an instant, their vision blurred.

    Boom boom boom boom!

    The ensuing shockwave sent the three of them flying into the air.

    Guan Shanying and Zhong Ding had charged the fastest and were also the first to back up. Even so, they were struck by the aftershocks, eliciting a painful whimper.

    Zheng Kuang was not so lucky. The ferocious wave of energy mmed directly onto his body, sending him flying.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that his Sword Rhinoceros bloodline granted him a powerful physique and that the Thunderfire Balls weren¡¯t the best for attacking single targets, he would have already died.

    Even so, Zheng Kuang was instantly heavily injured.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an didn¡¯t have it easy either. Although his Holy Light Protection was strong, the members of Team Bright hated him the most, so half of the Thunderfire Balls had been tossed in his direction.

    Both his Holy Light Protection and his thistle barrier shattered. Even the Azurelight Chestte he was wearing had been damaged. In the blink of an eye, he had lost both a powerful Arcana Technique Scroll and an Origin Tool. His heart seized in pain.

    They were about to continue to chase after Zhang Sheng¡¯an when the y Giant had once again drawn close to them.

    ¡°AWOO!¡±

    It tilted its head back towards the sky and howled as it forcefully stamped downwards with its feet.

    Just when its massive foot was about to stomp down, Su Chen suddenly tossed out a vial of medicine towards the y Giant.

    Bang!

    The medicinal vial shattered upon contact with the y Giant¡¯s face, generating a dense fog around its head.

    Fog Medicine could be used to generate fog, which could be used for concealment.

    However, Su Chen had used it to obstruct the y Giant¡¯s vision. Dense fog shrouded the y Giant¡¯s vision, and the y Giant could only wave its arms and legs, unclear of where its targets had gone.

    Su Chen then smashed a Beast Repent Medicine. The medicine would only have a limited effect on the y Giant, but it could at least bother it and lower the chance that they would be pursued. The vapor drifted through the air, sticking a little bit to everyone, which was enough.

    ¡°Use this opportunity to run!¡± Su Chen yelled. Everyone began to run.

    ¡°AWOOOO!!!¡± The y Giant let out an enraged howl. It furiously stomped the ground repeatedly, not caring in its rage whether there was actually someone beneath its feet.

    Because Golden Cicada Hong Wu had been injured, his movements were a bit slow. In addition, he had just used his Golden Cicada Shedding. He was unable to avoid the giant foot in time and was instantly crushed into a meat patty.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an rolled to dodge the y Giant¡¯s foot. Upon seeing that the y Giant was charging forwards without any regard for direction, he thought for a moment before he ran in the opposite direction.

    Su Chen¡¯s sharp eyes caught this movement.

    ¡°Want to run?¡± Su Chen activated Whitetower Teleportation, instantly teleporting a distance forwards. He appeared behind the giant and charged towards Zhang Sheng¡¯an.

    Cloud Leopard¡¯s figure also came flying out of nowhere. Evidently, he was also targeting Zhang Sheng¡¯an.

    Su Chen yelled as he charged forwards, ¡°Cloud Leopard, leave Zhang Sheng¡¯an to me. You and the others should leave as soon as possible; we¡¯ll meet back up at Reflection Rock!¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Cloud Leopard replied loudly.

    Their moment was interrupted by a piercing cry.

    Cloud Leopard turned around to see the source of the noise. He found that, at some point, Zhong Ding had picked Du Qing up and tossed her towards the y Giant.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 63: Mutual Destruction

    Chapter 63: Mutual Destruction

    ¡°NO!¡±

    Du Qing flew towards the y Giant with a shriek, her limbs iling wildly.

    Just as she was about to m into it, Cloud Leopard flew through the air like lightning, cing his palm on Du Qing¡¯s body. Du Qing¡¯s body changed direction as she narrowly dodged the giant¡¯s attack.

    The y Giant¡¯s hand scraped past Cloud Leopard¡¯s back, sending arge chunk of his flesh flying. Cloud Leopard cried out in pain.

    ¡°Cloud Leopard!¡± Du Qing yelled.

    ¡°GO!¡± Cloud Leopard howled.

    Zheng Xia charged forwards, grabbed Du Qing, and sprinted away.

    ¡°AWOO!¡± The y Giant let out an enraged howl behind him.

    The fog that had surrounded its head was slowly beginning to dissipate, granting the y Giant sight again.

    However, its anger had not decreased in the slightest. The entire forest trembled under the weight of the y Giant¡¯s rage-filled cries.

    At this point, everyone was trying to escape as they dodged the y Giant¡¯s attacks. However, they didn¡¯t forget to attack each other at the same time.

    Guan Shanying was the fastest among them. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that he cared for his team, he could have easily left the y Giant behind.

    But because of this, Guan Shanying was also the one who was least afraid of the y Giant.

    In fact, the opposite was true. The y Giant¡¯s pursuit of those damned non-bloodline students caused his blood to boil, filling himself with excitement.

    Upon seeing Zheng Xia grab Du Qing¡¯s hand and fly into the air, Guan Shanying let out an evil smile. ¡°Want to leave? It¡¯s not that easy!¡±

    He leapt into the air as if wings had sprouted from his back. After circling around in the air, he flew downwards, charging towards Du Qing.

    ¡°Dodge!¡± Zheng Xia saw this and shoved Du Qing to the side before turning to face Guan Shanying with his two palms.

    Zheng Xia¡¯s Iron Palms mmed into Guan Shanying¡¯s eagle-like ws. In that instant, blood spurted from Zheng Xia¡¯s hands. Guan Shanying¡¯s momentum kept his eagle ws moving forwards, pressing Zheng Xia¡¯s palms into his chest and sending him flying.

    ¡°Zheng Xia!¡± Du Qing let out a panicked scream.

    ¡°Hahaha!¡± Guan Shanying tilted his head back andughed. ¡°Can¡¯t even withstand a single w of mine? Useless.¡±

    As he spoke, his figure shed forwards. He reappeared next to Zheng Xia as his hand formed a w, striking towards Zheng Xia.

    Zheng Xia activated a barrier and counterattacked, the two of them exchanging ten or so moves. Zheng Xia¡¯s barrier shattered, and he let out a tragic cry an instantter when his eye was plucked out by Guan Shanying.

    Another one of his ws punctured Zheng Xia¡¯s abdomen, leaving behind five bloody holes.

    Just when Guan Shanying¡¯s ws were about to sink into Zheng Xia¡¯s brain, a gust of sword wind suddenly surged.

    Completely on instinct, Guan Shanying swung his ws backwards, mming into the Limpid Autumn Sword and generating a resounding ¡°ng¡± of metal.

    Upon closer inspection, Guan Shanying¡¯s fingers were enveloped by razor-sharp metal. No wonder they were so strong.

    ¡°Die!¡± Du Qing yelled in anger. The Limpid Autumn Sword danced passionately, as if reflecting the rage in her heart. The limpid waters had be massive waves.

    The talons raked through the air, easily blocking all of Du Qing¡¯s attacks. Guan Shanying was just about to teach that damned woman a lesson she wouldn¡¯t forget when suddenly he felt tremors behind him. He knew the y Giant had charged towards him, so he could only let Du Qing go, charging backwards as quickly as he could.

    He was extremely fast. If he wanted to, he could easily shake off the giant.

    However, he had not taken more than a few steps when he suddenly heard a yell behind him.

    A sense of danger surfaced in his heart as he hurriedly dodged to the side.

    A streak of sword wind ambushed him from behind. Du Qing was chasing after him with her sword.

    Guan Shanying was enraged. He was just about to turn around and kill that woman when Zheng Xia suddenly charged him, unafraid of death.

    He had already lost one eye and his midsection was gravely injured. His clothes were drenched in blood, but his movement didn¡¯t seem to be impeded.

    Guan Shanying didn¡¯t react in time and was struck by Zheng Xia¡¯s palm. A Blood Palm mmed right into his chest, causing him to howl in pain.

    He counterattacked, leaving behind five more holes in Zheng Xia¡¯s chest. He was about to make more when he discovered that the giant was lumbering towards him again. All he could do was leave Zheng Xia and continue to run.

    He was from a Bloodline Nobility n. Not only did he possess speed surpassing that of normal people, his talons were also incredibly powerful. If he were to truly disy his full strength, even Zheng Xia and Du Qingbined wouldn¡¯t be his opponent.

    But because of the y Giant, he never had such an opportunity. Every time he obtained an advantage, he was forced to relinquish it.

    If he were to run, that would be equivalent to exposing his back to Zheng Xia and Du Qing.

    In reality, Su Chen had intended for everyone to focus on running after the y Giant had been dyed by the Fog Medicine rather than engaging in furtherbat.

    However, every human being had a temper.

    Team Soaring had maliciously harmed them again and again. No one was willing to forgive the other. That was especially true of Zheng Xia, who had lost an eye. His hatred was especially deep. Even if he wouldn¡¯t make it out, he was determined to take Guan Shanying with him.

    At that moment, Guan Shanying heard the sound of something whistling through the air. Zheng Xia¡¯s palms and Du Qing¡¯s sword charged towards him simultaneously.

    ¡°Dammit, still not dead?¡±

    Guan Shanying was infuriated. He didn¡¯t think about how he had been the one to attack them multiple times. All he felt was that those two were incredibly annoying. If he could, he would instantly kill them right then and there.

    His talons raked towards Du Qing and Zheng Xia simultaneously.

    The Limpid Autumn Sword met with the talon strike, bending the long sword upon impact.

    Zheng Xia¡¯s left hand met with Guan Shanying¡¯s right talon. Once again, the talons carved into his flesh; even his wrist had been broken just by this one blow.

    However, Zheng Xia¡¯s right hand also mmed into Guan Shanying¡¯s face. ¡°AHHH!¡± Guan Shanying let out an extremely pained cry. He backed up with one hand on his face while his other hand shed outwards, warding Zheng Xia off.

    When he brought his hand away from his face, he found it drenched in blood. His nose hurt like crazy; most likely, the bridge of his nose had been broken by his palm strike.

    Guan Shanying was a beautiful man. Now, his appearance had been ruined, and the beauty that he was so proud of no longer existed. He was about to go crazy.

    ¡°Bastard, I¡¯ll kill you...... Thousand Cuts Talons!¡±

    He screeched as he flew into the air, his talonsnding on Zheng Xia¡¯s body. Zheng Xia¡¯s body began to spurt out blood from multiple locations, and chunks of flesh were sent flying.

    Guan Shanying¡¯s Thousand Cuts Talons were basically carving Zheng Xia alive. Large chunks of flesh were sundered from his body, revealing the pale white bone beneath.

    ¡°NOO!¡± Du Qing yelled in despair.

    Zheng Xia howled in pain. He stared at Du Qing in anguish before he leapt forwards, wrapping himself around Guan Shanying. He allowed Guan Shanying¡¯s talons to prate his body as he yelled, ¡°Qing¡¯er, attack!¡±

    Du Qing froze.

    She waspletely dazed. She gazed at Zheng Xia, who was charging towards her, forgetting to even stab out with her sword.

    Guan Shanying knew the situation had taken a turn for the worse. He wed wildly through the air, trying to escape from Zheng Xia¡¯s grasp, but Zheng Xia held onto him, unwilling to let him go. He howled madly, ¡°QING¡¯ER, DO IT!¡±

    Du Qing trembled briefly before closing her eyes and stabbing with her sword.

    The Limpid Autumn Sword prated Guan Shanying from behind, passing through Guan Shanying into Zheng Xia¡¯s body, skewering them together.

    ¡°AHH!¡±

    Guan Shanying howled in pain. He had been wounded quite seriously. Even so, Guan Shanying was still able to retaliate, wing at Du Qing¡¯s face.

    Whoosh!

    Du Qing flew through the air, five bloody marks wed across her face.

    ¡°That strike isn¡¯t enough to kill me!¡± Guan Shanying yelled savagely.

    He wasn¡¯t wrong. Although Du Qing¡¯s sword strike was powerful, it wasn¡¯t enough to take Guan Shanying¡¯s life.

    As an Origin Qi Schr, he absolutely could continue to do battle.

    However, at that moment Zheng Xia yelled, ¡°If we can¡¯t, what about it?¡±

    Hetched onto Guan Shanying and leapt towards the y Giant.

    Guan Shanying finally realized what Zheng Xia¡¯s n was. He yelled in fright, ¡°NO!¡±

    Du Qing shrieked, ¡°Big Brother Zheng, don¡¯t do it!¡±

    ¡°Qing¡¯er, take care of yourself!¡± Zheng Xia yelled.

    With thisst cry, he grabbed Guan Shanying and flew directly towards the giant¡¯s massive hand.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 64: Bloody Battle

    Chapter 64: Bloody Battle

    After sending Du Qing flying, Cloud Leopardnded on the ground.

    He had yet to make any moves when a sense of danger suddenly welled up.

    Cloud Leopard knew something was wrong and instinctively leapt to the side.

    Whoosh!

    A thin, red needle flew past his back, leaving behind a thin streak of blood. However, the wound hurt with a searing pain.

    Without even turning around, Cloud Leopard leapt into the air and rolled.

    Three thin, blood-red needles whizzed by.

    A blood-colored shadow appeared in front of him, leaving behind afterimages. The shadow mmed its hand down towards Cloud Leopard.

    It was Blood Demon Zhong Ding.

    Thick killing intent was written all over his face, and an inky pattern spread across his hand.

    ck Fiend Hands.

    The Bloodriver Beast n¡¯s ck Fiend Hands was one of the most annoying Origin Skills to deal with. The dark demonic Qi it unleashed could pass through a variety of barriers and directly harm the target.

    The ck Fiend Hand seemed as if it was about to impact Cloud Leopard. Zhong Ding could almost see Cloud Leopard¡¯s tendons tearing and bones breaking.

    But at that moment, Cloud Leopard suddenly turned around. His right hand formed a hook and shot towards Zhong Ding¡¯s wrist.

    Serpentine Palm.

    During his years spent wandering, Cloud Leopard had studied under a regr martial arts instructor.

    This technique wasn¡¯t even an Origin Skill. It was just a regr martial skill.

    Even so, this regr martial skill possessed a frightening amount of strength under Cloud Leopard¡¯s control.

    Zhong Ding discovered that his palm strike could notnd. If he forcefully continued on the same path, his wrist would be broken.

    He was not willing to trade blows with Cloud Leopard. He unwillingly retracted his hand, as did Cloud Leopard, who simultaneously raised his knee.

    The knee strike mmed into Zhong Ding.

    Zhong Ding sharply exhaled as he raised his arm to block the knee strike. He was forced back half a step. He had yet to even feel astonished when Cloud Leopard had already leapt towards him, his leg aimed at Zhong Ding¡¯s neck.

    The kick was both quick and vicious, fired off immediately after the knee strike.

    Zhong Ding let out a strange yell as he rapidly retreated.

    Bang!

    He suddenly felt a pain in his midsection as he flew into the air.

    What?

    How is this possible? When did heunch another kick?

    Zhong Ding stared at Cloud Leopard in disbelief.

    Cloud Leopard once again advanced. His palm morphed into a de and swung through the air, the sound of thunder rumbling ear-piercingly.

    Both of them were Origin Qi Schrs that had quick reactions. They had cultivated body-tempering Origin Skills while also raising their speed and reaction time. Thus, they exchanged nearly ten blows in the blink of an eye, their movements too fast to see clearly.

    Boom! Boom! Boom!

    The y Giant¡¯s heavy fists were still waving through the air, generating extremely loud rumbles. However, whenpared to the conflict between the two speed-type individuals, it was just a backdrop. All it could do was serve to demonstrate the speed and precision of their battle.

    Boom! Boom!

    After two loud sts, the two of them separated once again.

    Zhong Ding flew through the air. His chest had been struck by a fist, and a footprint was clearly visible on his face.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± Zhong Ding was infuriated.

    Cloud Leopard silently charged forwards like a bloodthirsty leopard pouncing at its target.

    ¡°Do you really think this makes you qualified to take on someone from a Bloodline Nobility n? Keep dreaming!¡± Zhong Ding howled.

    He sliced open his wrist, and blood began to spurt out.

    However, when the blood flew into the air, it did not fall to the ground. Rather, it rapidly congealed into a blood-colored figure.

    This was Zhong Ding¡¯s Blood Clone.

    The Bloodriver Beast n could use their own blood to construct a Blood Clone. This was not an illusion technique, but rather a genuine clone with genuine offensive capabilities. The true body could also jump between different clones at will, making the user¡¯s movements unpredictable. This could be considered the Bloodriver Beast n¡¯s number one Origin Skill. The only downside to the skill was that the Blood Clone had a unique shape and had some obvious differences to the true body. Thus, it could not confuse the opponent. Of course, this was not really much of a downside.

    After Zhong Ding created his Blood Clone, he and his Blood Clonebined to attack.

    Cloud Leopard also advanced, making no attempts to dodge or avoid it. His fists flew through the air in a flurry, simultaneously attacking both Zhong Ding and his Blood Clone. Surprisingly, he did not seem to be disadvantaged at all.

    The two of them exchanged nearly ten blows so rapidly that there was no time for them to think. All they could rely on was their high-speed reflexes and variation.

    Suddenly, after the sounds of a few collisions, Cloud Leopard, Zhong Ding, and his Blood Clone separated into three distinct entities again.

    Cloud Leopard¡¯s chest had been struck by a ck Fiend Hand, while Zhong Ding and his Blood Clone had also been struck at the same time.

    Cloud Leopard only swayed slightly, but a trace of blood had appeared at the corner of Zhong Ding¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°Is this not enough? Try another!¡± Zhong Ding said in a shadowy voice.

    He cut his wrist open again. Another fountain of blood appeared, and another Blood Clone was formed.

    ¡°I want to see what you can do this time!¡± Zhong Ding savagelyughed.

    The two Blood Clones charged forwards towards Cloud Leopard along with Zhong Ding.

    Cloud Leopard stared mutely at the three figures fearlessly. A towering desire to do battle could be seen in his eyes, and his body began to exude an intense aura.

    Zhong Ding charged, six fists simultaneously mming into Cloud Leopard.

    Cloud Leopard lifted his head. Once again, he struck out with a flurry of fists.

    Cloud Leopard blocked the six fists from the three people.

    The two parties once again became entangled. Zhong Ding¡¯s three bodies constantly revolved around Cloud Leopard, sending punches and kicks towards him. These punches and kicks were coated with powerful Origin Energy, and every attack was extremely powerful. In addition, one of the Blood Clones had turned its arm into Blood Demon Needles, constantly shooting out poisonous needles at Cloud Leopard.

    Cloud Leopard¡¯s body continuously twisted in midair. He flew up and down, leaving behind a trail of afterimages. He precisely countered every one of Zhong Ding¡¯s attacks.

    His attacks were simple and direct. Apart from the Serpentine Palm and Thunder de, he didn¡¯t possess any other offensive techniques, but these simple methods were enough to give Zhong Ding a great deal of trouble.

    Su Chen¡¯s Thunder de was powerful because of its ability to generate the loud rumblings of thunder with every strike, allowing him to ensnare his opponent. This reflected Su Chen¡¯s personality, which was one that advanced by retreating and set up meticulous traps at every step. Cloud Leopard¡¯s Thunder de, however, waspletely different; he did not pursue the strength of the thunder, but rather the speed.

    This rapid speed was incredibly deadly, and it gave Cloud Leopard¡¯s attacks a unique prative ability.

    He had only achieved this through countless hours of bitter cultivation and practice. Su Chen had used his research to discover a way to strengthen himself, but Cloud Leopard had chosen a simpler, more direct, and effective method.

    Every blow Zhong Ding exchanged with him felt like he was being struck by an extremely sharp de. Even if he was able to withstand the blow, he could feel the pain as the attack seemed to pierce his bones.

    The Bloodriver Demon n¡¯s ck Fiend Hands should have been the Origin Skill with the greatest prative ability. Howe this dark-skinned brat¡¯s attacks could prate even more than his own?

    And what was with his frightening speed?

    Howe he wasn¡¯t able to suppress him even with the aid of two Blood Clones?

    Howe he seemed to strike faster and faster as time went on?

    The more Zhong Ding fought, the more shocked he felt.

    The two of them separated once again as they simultaneously dodged the giant¡¯s attacks. Zhong Ding took advantage of the opportunity to cut himself again, forming a third Blood Clone.

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe I can¡¯t kill you!¡± Zhong Ding charged forwards as he screeched.

    The three clones and the true body simultaneously charged forwards. The four people and their fists weaved an extremely intricate of fists.

    Cloud Leopard maintained his calm, silent demeanor.

    It didn¡¯t matter to him whether he was facing one opponent or many.

    Fights on the streets were never fair. It was almost always a group of people ganging up on a single person.

    When in those kinds of situations,ining and pleading was useless. Only by fiercely battling could one survive.

    Tactics were also necessary when battling. It was impossible to beat every single one of them, but he could at least target the most important one.

    Thus, every time he was attacked by a group of people, he would focus on savagely beating the leader of that group.

    Usually, by the time he had been beaten half to death by the others, the leader was not in much better of a condition.

    As time went on, no one dared to fight him anymore.

    Later on, he was the one who began to target other groups.

    Cloud Leopard wasn¡¯t afraid of anyone from the streets he had grown up on.

    When Zhong Ding charged towards him with his three clones, Cloud Leopard only focused on the true body.

    He charged forwards. In that instant, his battle tactics had changed.

    He no longer cared for the Blood Clones¡¯ attacks. His fistnded on Zhong Ding¡¯s face.

    All Zhong Ding saw was a fist growingrger andrger. An instantter, he was sent flying.

    Pain!

    Zhong Ding felt as if his nose had been shattered by his opponent.

    Even though his own Blood Clones had also struck Cloud Leopard, his opponent seemed topletely ignore it. Cloud Leopard continued to charge towards him and attack.

    Zhong Ding retreated in a panic, but Cloud Leopard wasn¡¯t slower than him in the slightest. His fists carried a powerful momentum as he chased after Zhong Ding.

    Zhong Ding released a Blood Demon Needle right at Cloud Leopard, but Cloud Leopardpletely ignored it, allowing the needle to pierce him. Simultaneously, he reached Zhong Ding and punched him again.

    ¡°AHH!¡± Zhong Ding let out a cry of pain.

    The momentum behind this fist was many times greater than the ones he had used before.

    Being wounded hadn¡¯t decreased Cloud Leopard¡¯s strength in the slightest. On the contrary, his attacks had be even scarier.

    He allowed himself to be injured in order to stimte himself!

    Zhong Ding instantly realized that both of Cloud Leopard¡¯s Origin Skills grew more powerful the more he was wounded.

    The more injured he was, the more powerful he was.

    No wonder his opponent wasn¡¯t afraid of being injured and even invited it.

    Only truly vicious people would be willing to learn and use these kinds of Origin Skills.

    A wound for a wound!

    A life for a life!

    Blood for blood!

    This was his battle style!

    In reality, Zhong Ding was already able to form four Blood Clones.

    However, when faced with an opponent that wasn¡¯t afraid of being injured and only targeted his real body, Zhong Ding knew that relying on numbers wasn¡¯t going to be of much use.

    ¡°You¡¯re crazy!¡± Zhong Ding yelled. Just when Cloud Leopard leapt forwards, his figure disappeared.

    What appeared instead was a Blood Clone.

    This was Blood Demon¡¯s secret clone technique. He could switch ces with his Blood Clones at will. However, every swap would expend some of the Blood Clone¡¯s energy, so he generally avoided using it lightly.

    But now, when faced with an insane opponent who not only didn¡¯t fear being injured but weed it, he finally felt fear.

    His true body reappeared. Zhong Ding was about to attack Cloud Leopard from behind, but an instantter, Cloud Leopard retreated without even looking behind him, using his body to m into Zhong Ding.

    How could this be?

    Zhong Ding opened his eyes wide in fear.

    It was not strange for Cloud Leopard to know about the fact that he could swap between Blood Clones. After all, the Bloodriver Demon n had existed for quite some time, and this was no longer much of a secret.

    But how had he known which Blood Clone he would emerge from?

    Zhong Ding¡¯s heart was filled with surprised. He watched as Cloud Leopard¡¯s figure charged towards him. His charge did not carry much momentum, his body was as cold and hard as metal as it mmed into Zhong Ding.

    At the same moment that Zhong Ding was sent flying, he heard a snap as a rib broke.

    NO! He yelled in his heart.

    Cloud Leopard flew into the air, blood flowing from his body.

    Those three Blood Clones had left behind w marks on his body, tearing off chunks of his flesh.

    However, he took flight again as if nothing had happened, his eyes fixed on Zhong Ding.

    Zhong Ding let out a strange cry. He forcefully endured the pain and activated his evasion technique, reappearing at another Blood Clone.

    He had yet to step out from the Blood Clone¡¯s body, however, when Cloud Leopard had already changed directions in midair.

    How was this possible? He could sense things without seeing them and charged backwards towards the Blood Clone that Zhong Ding was about to emerge from.

    Not good!

    Zhong Ding knew that he was screwed. In that instant, all he could do wasmand his two other Blood Clones to try and force Cloud Leopard back.

    The two Blood Clones attacked Cloud Leopard, one from the left and one from the right. One struck Cloud Leopard¡¯s back, causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood, while the other congealed a blood needle, shooting it into Cloud Leopard¡¯s body.

    Cloud Leopard ignored them and continued to charge forwards.

    Whoosh!

    Cloud Leopard¡¯s arm entered Zhong Ding¡¯s body as if it were a sword. A surge of energy exploded within Zhong Ding¡¯s body, basically smashing his organs into a pulp.

    The four figures simultaneously froze in midair.

    ¡°You...... how did you know...... where I was?¡± Zhong Ding asked, his voice trembling.

    ¡°Instinct,¡± Cloud Leopard replied.

    This was the only sentence he had spoken during this entire battle.

    An instantter, his fist mmed down onto Zhong Ding¡¯s head.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 65: Snow Ribbon, Soft Fingertips

    Chapter 65: Snow Ribbon, Soft Fingertips

    Su Chen would never have expected that, when he went to chase after Zhang Sheng¡¯an, everyone else had already made their own decisions.

    No one chose to retreat; they had all chosen opponents for themselves.

    They wanted to battle, using their own tactics to viciously strike back at their opponents!

    Zheng Xia and Du Qing fought Guan Shanying, Cloud Leopard fought Zhong Ding, and Wang Doushan fought Sword Rhinoceros Zheng Kuang.

    Whoosh!

    An illusory image of the Snow Crane appeared, sending a flurry of fists towards Zheng Kuang.

    Zheng Kuang coldly harrumphed. He stabbed forwards with the spear in his hand. An extremely powerful wave of Qi surged forwards, mming into the punches. The fists that Wang Doushan had conjured were forcibly shattered.

    The fists exploded into bursts of color like flowers falling to the ground.

    Whoosh!

    The Overlord Spear stabbed out again, this time charging towards Wang Doushan¡¯s chest as if it were cutting through the void.

    Wang Doushan met it with a punch. The snow-white glow enveloping him exuded a shocking aura.

    The fist mmed into the spear, generating a powerful st of air.

    ¡°AWOO!¡±

    At that moment, Zheng Kuang suddenly howled. An image of a rhinoceros appeared behind him. The giant rhinoceros lowered its head and charged, the spear forming the rhino¡¯s horn. This attack possessed fearsome might that was not present before. Wang Doushan¡¯s fist was unable to resist it and was instantly sent flying.

    Having sent Wang Doushan flying with just one blow, Zheng Kuang waved his spear andughed. ¡°Wang Doushan, you weren¡¯t my opponent four years ago. Now, you¡¯re even more outmatched. If you¡¯re trying to fight me, you must want to die pretty badly!¡±

    ¡°Shut the fuck up,¡± Wang Doushan cursed as he got back up.

    He wiped the blood off the corner of his mouth before saying, ¡°Last time was just because you ambushed me while I was wounded. Like hell that¡¯s considered a win.¡±

    ¡°Then what about this time?¡± Zheng Kuang swept the spear in an arc in front of him, attacking Wang Doushan.

    ¡°This time I¡¯ll cut you to pieces!¡± Wang Doushan suddenly leapt into the air.

    Just when Zheng Kuang¡¯s Overlord Spear was about to hit Wang Doushan, two columns of light gathered around Wang Doushan¡¯s arms. ¡°Cloud Sundering!¡±

    Zheng Kuang raised his palm, erecting an azure barrier of light in front of him.

    Wang Doushan¡¯s Cloud Sundering mmed into the azure light barrier, causing it to instantly shatter. The remaining force washed over Zheng Kuang, sending him flying.

    However, when he was thrown into the air, a golden luster began to shine on Zheng Kuang¡¯s body. Wang Doushan¡¯s powerful Origin Skill had pushed Zheng Kuang away, but it hadn¡¯t done any actual damage.

    Zheng Kuang shook his head and said, ¡°Not bad, brat. You have gotten stronger recently. At the very least, you were able to shatter my azure light barrier. Unfortunately, my Sword Rhinoceros n never relies on barriers to do battle. Our physical bodies are our greatest advantage!¡±

    As he spoke, he growled and leapt into the air. The Overlord Spear in his hand stabbed downwards, carrying with it a shockingly bright light. Waves of powerful wind rolled off of the spear. The wind alone felt like a de cutting into Wang Doushan¡¯s face.

    Zheng Kuang¡¯s spear really was frighteningly strong.

    This was the Sword Rhinoceros n¡¯s Annihtion Spear!

    Wang Doushan leapt into the air, his fat body disying a surprising nimbleness. The Snow Crane image behind him pped its wings as it soared through the air, quickly carrying Wang Doushan off into the distance.

    ¡°You can¡¯t run!¡± Zheng Kuang yelled arrogantly as he charged forwards with his spear.

    He was not good at twisting and turning in small spaces, but his ability to charge in one direction was much more impressive.

    He pointed the Overlord Spear straight forwards, umting a shocking momentum. Wherever he went, trees were toppled and flocks of birds were forced into the air.

    Wang Doushan extended his arms and pped them, like an eagle soaring through the air.

    Zheng Kuang continued to charge, streaking through the air and scattering light as he moved.

    The two of them kept moving, one chasing the other. They exchanged numerous blows, but neither was able to im an advantage.

    Suddenly, Wang Doushan stretched out his arms. As he flew into the air, he unleashed another Cloud Sundering. This was extremely sudden, leaving Zheng Kuang no time to dodge. However, hepletely ignored it. The golden luster appeared on his body once more as he blocked Wang Doushan¡¯s attack. The Overlord Spear in his hand stabbed out once again.

    Boom!

    In a violent explosion, Wang Doushan¡¯s Cloud Sundering mmed into Zheng Kuang as Zheng Kuang¡¯s Overlord Spear also prated his barrier. The spear stabbed right into Wang Doushan¡¯s left arm.

    A powerful wave of energy surged into Wang Doushan¡¯s arm, mangling his elbow.

    Wang Doushan howled in pain as he fell to the ground. Zheng Kuang, however, continued forwards as if nothing had happened to him. He said, ¡°Don¡¯t me me for being cruel. Since a grudge exists between us now, I must tear it up by the roots. It¡¯s your fault for being so dumb and insisting on mixing with non-bloodline students.¡±

    As he spoke, the Overlord Spear in his hand began to descend.

    Just as it was about to pierce into Wang Doushan¡¯s body, however, he suddenly raised his arms, blocking the iing spear. At that moment, the tip of the spear was only a single centimeter away from Wang Doushan¡¯s face.

    However, the spear had no way of closing that centimeter-wide gap.

    At that moment, a turbulent flow of Qi began to gather around Zheng Kuang¡¯s arms and then around the Overlord Spear.

    ¡°AWOO!¡±

    Zheng Kuang howled. The Sword Rhinoceros once again appeared behind his back as he shoved the spear forwards, once again sending Wang Doushan flying.

    Wang Doushan mmed into countless trees before falling to the ground, unable to stand.

    The Sword Rhinoceros Zheng n was extremely good at battles of brute strength. They possess powerful offensive and defensive capabilities, and the Overlord Spear was dominant. Their Battle Rhinoceros Body was also peerlessly strong. Thus, Wang Doushan had no hope of beating him directly.

    Having sent Wang Doushan flying again, Zheng Kuangughed in delight, ¡°I told you already, you¡¯re not my opponent!¡±

    Wang Doushan spit out a mouthful of blood. ¡°I admit that your Battle Rhinoceros Body is very powerful. With just my two hands, I won¡¯t be able to break through it. Thankfully, I have never been a person who does battle with just my bare fists.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Zheng Kuang was caught off-guard.

    He had never heard of Wang Doushan using any kind of Origin Tool when battling others. This was his first time hearing that Wang Doushan didn¡¯t battle with just his bare fists.

    Zheng Kuang said disdainfully, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, you might as well bring out your Origin Tool.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been using it for a long time already; you just haven¡¯t noticed,¡± Wang Doushan calmly replied.

    Zheng Kuang froze. He suddenly felt that something wasn¡¯t right. He lowered his head, only to discover that at some point his body had been covered in numerous small wounds.

    The wounds were small, as if he had been cut open by bumping into something. They looked like thin red lines, and fresh blood was seeping out from them. However, these wounds were all over his body.

    Zheng Kuang discovered that every inch of his body was bleeding. In the blink of an eye he was covered in blood.

    Zheng Kuang was rmed. ¡°What¡¯s going on? What¡¯s going on?¡±

    His Battle Rhinoceros Body was renderedpletely useless. He had suddenly be a human sieve as blood oozed out from his every pore.

    Wang Doushan slowly stood up. ¡°I told you already, I am not someone who battles with just his bare hands. Most people, however, don¡¯t have the right to see my Origin Tool.¡±

    He raised his arm. Streaks of white light suddenly shot out from within Zheng Kuang¡¯s body.

    The streaks of light were incredibly thin. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that they had all appeared at once, he wouldn¡¯t have noticed them at all.

    The streaks of light gathered near Wang Doushan¡¯s fingertip, eventually forming a ribbon of white light.

    ¡°That is......¡± Zheng Kuang

    ¡°Snow Thread,¡± Wang Doushan replied. ¡°My Origin Tool can be split into thousands of tiny pieces and also form a whole again.. However, it is a very ¡®soft¡¯ Origin tool. If I used it to engage in a battle of brute strength with you, I would have definitely lost. Thus, I could only conceal it in my Bloodline Origin Skills, activating it stealthily. Every time we exchanged blows, it permeated through your body a little more until at the very end they burst out. This permeation is notpletely undetectable. It still results in wounds to your body. Someone who is a little more clear-headed might have sensed it after one or two exchanges and taken appropriate measures. Thankfully...... you aren¡¯t that kind of person. Sword Rhinoceros Zheng Kuang, you are strong, but you don¡¯t use your head. All you have is dominant strength, and you never learned to use your head in battle. That¡¯s why you will die today.¡±

    Zheng Kuang¡¯s heart trembled. He lowered his head to look at himself.

    At that moment, it seemed as if thest vestiges of energy keeping him together disappeared.

    As Wang Doushan spoke, Zheng Kuang¡¯s body trembled, then scattered.

    Yes, scattered.

    As if he was a pile of building blocks, every inch of his body had been cut into small pieces that eventually fallen apart. He fragmented, copsed, and died.

    Wang Doushan suddenly spit out a mouthful of blood and his vision began to swim.

    He muttered, ¡°Killing you...... wasn¡¯t easy at all.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 66: Fight to the Death

    Chapter 66: Fight to the Death

    Boom!

    The y Giant¡¯srge foot mmed onto the ground. Yan Fuxing leapt into the air, dodging its stomp.

    However, one of the rocks that flew into the air from the impact mmed into his chest. He suddenly found it hard to breathe, and he instantly plummeted to the ground.

    Yan Fuxing¡¯s eyes filled with despair as he watched the giant¡¯s foot rushing towards him again.

    At that moment, a metal hoop flew over, hooking onto Yan Fuxing and pulling him away, allowing him to narrowly dodge that attack.

    Sun Jizu had saved him.

    Sun Jizu yelled as he grabbed his hoop out from the air, ¡°We need to move!¡±

    ¡°Where do we go?¡± Yan Fuxing asked.

    ¡°We¡¯ll chase after Zhang Sheng¡¯an! He went that way!¡± Sun Jizu pointed off in a certain direction.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Yan Fuxing yelled.

    Without a doubt, they hated Zhang Sheng¡¯an the most out of all the members of Team Soaring.

    It was that bastard who had gone out of his way to do everything possible to draw them down with him.

    When he escaped, he was also the one with the most people chasing after him.

    However, the two of them only pursued him for a short distance before their paths were blocked by another person.

    Drought Dragon Jiang Yang1.

    He was the youth who had been sent flying by the y Giant¡¯s palm at the very beginning. He did not die, however, and now he was returning to the battlefield of his own volition.

    He actually didn¡¯t take that opportunity to leave.

    A savage smile surfaced on Jiang Yang¡¯s face as he stepped out in front of them, blocking their path forwards.

    He licked his lips. ¡°Two weak chickens. If you have the ability,e and get me.¡±

    Yan Fuxing and Sun Jizu nced at each other before attacking simultaneously.

    The Earth-Cracking Hoops hummed as they flew through the air, possessing enough power to splitrge rocks.

    The Galloping Wind Spear stabbed through the air with a majestic momentum, containing much more power than before.

    When faced with the two hoops and the spear, however, Jiang Yang revealed a look of disdain.

    ¡°Insignificant bugs,¡± he carelessly said.

    Then, he stretched out his right hand.

    He wed through the air with his hand, which was extremely wide but had very short fingers.

    He grabbed the Earth-Cracking Hoops flying in front of him straight out of the air.

    The Earth-Cracking Hoops were quite powerful, considering that they could shatterrge rocks. However, he was still able to grab them with just this w, as if that powerful momentum simply didn¡¯t exist. He then swung the hoop through the air, blocking the Galloping Wind Spear before repeating the same motion a second time to knock the second hoop away.

    Just by stretching out his hand, he hadpletely neutralized their attacks.

    He tossed the Earth-Cracking Hoop to the side and coldlyughed. ¡°Come on, keep going.¡±

    Sun Jizu stretched his hand out, and the hoop returned to his hand. ¡°Be careful, he¡¯s Drought Dragon Jiang Yang. He seems to be cultivating some kind of stone palm technique.¡±

    Jiang Yang sneered, ¡°It¡¯s called the Stoneheart Palm, the Core Technique of the Drought Dragon Jiang n.¡±

    They were called Core Techniques because they were the foundation for many of the n¡¯s Bloodline Origin Skills. It didn¡¯t mean that the skill was the most powerful, but rather that many other Origin Skills used this ¡°core¡± to branch out.

    For instance, the Gu n¡¯s Three Absolutes were all Core Origin Skills. Other Origin Skills existed that built off the foundation of these three skills.

    The Stoneheart Palm was the Drought Dragon Jiang n¡¯s Core Origin Skill. Individuals who cultivated this palm technique would have exceptionallyrge hands, but their fingers would be extremely short.

    The Drought Dragon was an earth-type Demonic Beast. It was exceptionally good at channeling energy to control the earth¡¯s movement, thus giving it high defensive capabilities. Once the Stoneheart Palm reached the stage ofrge sess, it would be possible to form earth-type Origin Energy, granting the user an extremely powerful defense. It was many times superior to Zheng Xia¡¯s Iron Palms.

    He had exchanged blows with Guan Shanying and his talons before. In the end, Guan Shanying¡¯s talons were unable to break through his Stoneheart Palms.

    Jiang Yang raised his tworge hands as he said scornfully, ¡°Two pieces of garbage without a bloodline. Today, I¡¯ll let you experience firsthand the true power of someone from a Bloodline Nobility n. Dense Earth Armor!¡±

    As he shouted this, a yellow armor began to form around Jiang Yang. It was the rock-like armor he had initially used to defend himself against the y Giant.

    Although his Dense Earth Armor had been shattered in one blow from the y Giant, it was because of this rock-like armor that he was able to survive the y Giant¡¯s attack.

    Put another way, if this armor was strong enough to defend him against a blow from the y Giant, its powerful defensive capabilities could be easily imagined. At the very least, he had no qualms about whether it was sufficient to deal with Sun JIzu and Yan Fuxing.

    Yan Fuxing and Sun Jizu nced at each other before charging forwards simultaneously.

    Jiang Yangughed as he waved his arms.

    He was not particrly fast, but his defense was even stronger than Sword Rhinoceros Zheng Kuang¡¯s.

    The three of them exchanged numerous blows. The sounds of attacks mming into each other continued incessantly.

    With a sudden ¡°BOOM!¡±, the three of them separated.

    Jiang Yang only swayed slightly as he retreated a few steps. Yan Fuxing and Sun Jizu, however, flew backwards seventy or eighty feet beforending on the ground. They simultaneously spit out a mouthful of blood.

    ¡°HAHAHAHA!¡± Jiang Yang tilted his head back andughed. ¡°You really are deserving of your bloodline-less status. You don¡¯t have a powerful bloodline, yet you dare to oppose me, someone from a Bloodline Nobility n? You must be looking to die. I¡¯ll grant your wish today!¡±

    As he spoke, he strode forwards, grabbing Sun Jizu by the head and picking him up.

    He began to slowly apply pressure. Sun Jizu felt as if his head was mped in a vice, his head about to explode.

    No matter how much he struggled, he had no way of escaping from Jiang Yang¡¯s grasp. His eyes slowly began to bulge, as if they were about to be squeezed from their sockets.

    Just as Jiang Yang¡¯s hand was about to burst Sun Jizu¡¯s skull, Yan Fuxing suddenly charged, stabbing out with the Galloping Wind Spear.

    Jiang Yangughed disdainfully. He lifted his left hand, grabbing the Galloping Wind Spear. Hepletely ignored Yan Fuxing¡¯s attack. Just as Sun Jizu¡¯s head was about to explode, Yan Fuxing suddenly twisted the spear in his hand. The Galloping Wind Spear¡¯s tip suddenly shot out from the shaft, heading straight for Jiang Yang¡¯s eyes.

    This caught Jiang Yang by surprise, and the rock-like armor had already sustained numerous attacks. It was no longer very sturdy, and it shattered under the Galloping Wind Spear¡¯s assault. Jiang Yang had no time to block it, so all he could do was try and avoid the blow. The spear tip cut across his face, leaving a deep gash in its wake.

    ¡°AHH!¡± Jiang Yang let out a pained howl.

    ¡°Jizu!¡± Yan Fuxing yelled.

    Sun Jizu, who was being crushed to death by Jiang Yang, suddenly swung his arm. Six or seven Thunderfire Balls rolled into Jiang Yang¡¯s clothing.

    Sun Jizu had bought the most Thunderfire Balls from Su Chen. Before entering the Hidden Dragon Institute, he hade from quite arge n, one even better then Su Chen¡¯s. However, he was not as unfortunate as Su Chen; the entire n basically pampered Sun Jizu alone, and he had nevercked any cultivation resources. Of the original four-man Team Bright, he was the one with the most money, and he was also the one who spent money the most generously.

    As the Thunderfire Balls slipped into Jiang Yang¡¯s clothing, Sun Jizu kicked with all his might. He was able to borrow the momentum of this kick to escape from Jiang Yang¡¯s grasp.

    He was still flying through the air when he heard the sound of a massive explosion.

    A wave of mes surged into the air.

    He turned around to see Jiang Yang engulfed in mes, crying out in anguish.

    ¡°Ha! Let¡¯s see how you like those explosions,¡± Sun Jizuughed.

    However, an instantter a powerful yellow light shone from Jiang Yang¡¯s body. Layers of rock suddenly appeared, covering Jiang Yangpletely.

    The raging torrent of mes was encased by theyers of rock, and the mes were almost immediately extinguished.

    ¡°No......way......¡± Upon seeing this scene, Yan Fuxing and Sun Jizu were dazed.

    When the ashes and dust finally settled, Jiang Yang¡¯s fierce, vicious face was once again revealed.

    However, this time his graceful appearance had all disappeared.

    His clothes had been burned to tatters, and his face was heavily scarred. Even one of his eyes had gone blind. His body was covered with cracked skin and blisters filled with pus; he looked incredibly miserable.

    Even so, he was still alive.

    He was still alive even after being hit by six or seven Thunderfire Balls!

    Unfortunately, the Thunderfire Balls¡¯ ability to deal with single targets was simply too low, and their opponent possessed staggering defensive capabilities and vitality.

    ¡°BASTARDS!!!!¡± Jiang Yang howled in rage.

    He had actually been gravely injured by twomoners without bloodlines.

    Humiliation!

    This was an unimaginably great humiliation!

    He charged forwards, mming his palm towards Sun Jizu.

    His Stoneheart Palms were very powerful. The blownded on Sun Jizu¡¯s chest, and the sound of bones cracking was clearly audible. Sun Jizu wasunched backwards.

    Yan Fuxing yelled as he charged forwards, stabbing his Galloping Wind Spear, which had lost its tip, towards Jiang Yang.

    Jiang Yang reached out and grabbed the spear shaft before he mmed his palm towards Yan Fuxing.

    Yan Fuxing had no time to dodge. All he could do was strike out with his palms and try to defend himself.

    With a loud snap, his left wrist was broken.

    Jiang Yang continued to advance. His right hand prated into Yan Fuxing¡¯s midsection.

    ¡°Fuxing!¡± Sun Jizu cried out in grief and rage upon seeing this.

    Yan Fuxing spit out a mouthful of blood.

    Jiang Yang savagely grunted, ¡°Die!¡±

    He was just about to shatter Yan Fuxing¡¯s head when Yan Fuxing suddenly opened his mouth. A streak of white light shot out, mming into his other eye.

    Jiang Yang felt his sight disappear as his vision slipped into darkness.

    ¡°MY EYE!¡± he howled in agony. A powerful wave of energy exploded from the hand inside Yan Fuxing¡¯s midsection, sending him flying.

    Sun Jizu flew forwards at high speed. The Earth-Cracking Hoop in his hand whizzed towards Jiang Yang¡¯s head.

    Jiang Yang turned around and sent his palm into Sun Jizu¡¯s chest, sending him flying again. At the same time, however, the Earth-Cracking Hoopnded around Jiang Yang¡¯s neck and began to shine brilliantly. A momentter, Jiang Yang¡¯s head was severed from his body.

    Jiang Yang¡¯s head flew through the air.

    Sun Jizu spit out a mouthful of blood and fell to the ground.

    ¡°FUXING!¡± he howled in grief.

    Yan Fuxingy on the ground unmoving, his eyes wide. Blood slowly continued to leak out from his body.

    1. Note: I mistranted this as Morning Dragon previously. It should be Drought Dragon instead. Apologies if this confuses anyone.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 67: Pursuit 1

    Chapter 67: Pursuit (1)

    Su Chen sprinted with all his might, staring intently at Zhang Sheng¡¯an, who was running in front of him.

    Su Chen rarely hated someone to the extent that he hated Zhang Sheng¡¯an. He had reached his limit, and he was determined to finish off that bastard no matter the cost.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an continued to sprint forwards in the direction they had came from. After running for a while, he nced behind him, only to find that Su Chen was still chasing after him. Heughed coldly, ¡°Some guy who is too afraid to attend the end-of-yearpetition has the guts to chase after me? You must be out of your mind!¡±

    He unslung the Tree Demon Bow off his back and fired off an arrow behind him.

    Archers were the least afraid of being pursued.

    This wasn¡¯t just because every talented archer knew how to attack while moving at high speed, but also because Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s range would increase if Su Chen was chasing after him.

    When an archer shot behind himself, his target would usually be charging towards him. This silently cut the distance an arrow or Origin Skill needed to travel, increased the range of his attacks, and allowed his attacks to strike the enemy faster.

    On the other hand, even if his pursuer was to use long-range attacks, the distance between them would be muchrger because he was always running away.

    Almost all Origin Skills were only effective within a given range, and a near miss was as good as missing by a mile.

    Because of this, the current situation was extremely favorable to Zhang Sheng¡¯an.

    The arrow flew directly towards Su Chen¡¯s face.

    Su Chen had just turned his head to avoid it when he heard multiple arrows whizz through the air. They charged forwards rapidly, attacking him from the left and right as well as above and below, sealing off any possible escape routes.

    Su Chen was met by guests from all sides.

    The Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de flew through the air, precisely striking one of the oing arrows and shattering it.

    If there was no escape route, he would create one. Su Chen¡¯s response was both simple and direct.

    Su Chen had broken through the encirclement. Su Chen charged forwards, his speed increasing. The distance between the two of them had decreased once again.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an saw this and gentlyughed. He pushed off a nearby tree with his palm before he continued to run forwards.

    Su Chen chased after him at high speed. Just as he passed that same tree, he suddenly saw arge number of tree roots wrap towards him.

    ¡°You¡¯ve used that already!¡± Su Chen had been prepared for this a long time ago. He leapt into the air.

    However, he quickly discovered that the tree¡¯s branches were also wrapping towards him like hundreds of skinny, gnarled arms.

    Su Chen was forced to retreat, but in that same instant he saw another arrow headed in his direction.

    This time, the arrow exuded a ck sheen, carrying with it an aura of anguish and death.

    This was the battle tactic Zhang Sheng¡¯an was the most proficient in. First, he used the tree branches to force his opponents into a confined area before killing them off with a powerful, long-range attack.

    Su Chen¡¯s method of dealing with that arrow was very simple.

    He stepped forwards.

    This simple step forwards caused his figure to disappear. When he reappeared, he was tens of feet away from where he had started and was behind the Souldeath Arrow. Not only had he dodged it, but he had also once again closed the distance between himself and Zhang Sheng¡¯an.

    ¡°Dammit!¡± Zhang Sheng¡¯an cursed as he slung the bow over his back and continued to run.

    But no matter how fast he was, Su Chen¡¯s Snaking Mist Steps was faster.

    Every step Su Chen took brought him closer to Zhang Sheng¡¯an, giving Zhang Sheng¡¯an a great sense of rm.

    His n¡¯s Windborne Steps was a speed-type Origin Skill, and it was the main reason why he remained undefeated even when faced with powerful opponents. When also considering the Grade 9 Gentle Breeze Boots he wore, making his body even lighter and faster, not many people couldpare to him in terms of speed.

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen, someone without a bloodline, was faster than him. The distance between the two of them continued to shorten.

    Upon seeing this scene, a trace of savageness appeared on Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s face. ¡°You damned bastard!¡±

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an turned around and leapt backwards as he drew his bow in midair and shot an arrow towards Su Chen.

    When the arrow left the bow, it was as if a silence was cast over the forest.

    A shadow covered the sky, and an aura of death permeated the forest.

    Souldeath Arrow!

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s Tree Demon Bow¡¯s full name was the Cursed Tree Demon Bow. The source of its energy was the Tree Demon¡¯s anguish, which was formed into an arrow. Thus, every arrow shot from the bow carried with it a powerful aura of anguish and hatred.

    When this kind of hatred was amplified, it would assume the physical form of an arrow and seep into a person¡¯s heart and body. It could only be satisfied upon the death of its target. This was the most powerful Origin Tool that Zhang Sheng¡¯an possessed.

    When he released the Tree Demon Bow¡¯s full anguish, the entire forest seemed to wilt in sorrow.

    When faced with this arrow, Su Chen suddenly had the feeling that there was no way for him to avoid the arrow.

    A thought began to surface in his heart.

    You can¡¯t dodge it. There¡¯s no point in dodging it.

    His will was being weakened!

    This was another special point about these anguish arrows.

    Even though he had quite a strong will and was able to quickly shake off the arrow¡¯s influence, it was already flying towards him, the tip charging straight for his forehead.

    In that critical moment, Su Chen shoved his palms forward, which exploded with the rumbling of thunder. At the same time, his body began to fly upwards.

    The long arrow zoomed forwards, piercing through the thunder. It pierced Su Chen¡¯s chest, sending waves of energy rippling upon impact.

    Su Chen was sent flying backwards. He inspected his chest and found that the Heartguard Mirror on his chest had beenpletely shattered by this arrow. As expected, it really was frighteningly powerful.

    Upon seeing that his arrow was unable to kill Su Chen, Zhang Sheng¡¯an was a bit disappointed. He slung the bow over his back and continued to run.

    The ground that Su Chen had gained, however, was instantly nullified.

    ¡°You won¡¯t be able to get away!¡± Su Chen mmed his palms on the ground, vaulting himself into the air.

    When Zhang Sheng¡¯an saw this, he angrily said, ¡°You haven¡¯t had enough yet? Since you want to die, I¡¯ll fulfill your request.¡±

    He did not stop as he spoke, instead continuing to run forwards.

    Distance was safety and protection.

    As he charged forwards, he constantly waved his hands to the side.

    The leaves on the ground would suddenlye to life, bing extremely sharp weapons. They flew through the air, creating a space of death.

    Su Chen activated a barrier and charged right through the space of death. Cries of death sounded around him, and the leaves flew towards him like darts, mming into the barrier and creating sparks of light as the barrier flickered.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯anughed loudly. ¡°Su Chen, you¡¯re seeking death! Fighting with me inside a forest...... Where do you think my nickname ¡®Treebow¡¯ came from?¡±

    ¡°Erupting...... Firebird!¡±

    Su Chen used his simplest and most direct method to counterattack.

    The powerful mes ignited in the forest, and the waves of mes burned and incinerated all of the traps that Zhang Sheng¡¯an had set up for him.

    ¡°It¡¯s no use!¡± Zhang Sheng¡¯an yelled as he shot out three arrows towards Su Chen consecutively, sealing Su Chen¡¯s path forwards. ¡°Even though your Erupting Firebird is powerful, its range is limited. As long as I don¡¯t let you get within three hundred feet of me, it won¡¯t pose any danger to me!¡±

    His perception was quite acute. In an instant, he had discovered that Su Chen¡¯s Erupting Firebird¡¯s greatest weakness was its distance, and that it was not effective at a range beyond three hundred feet.

    ¡°You¡¯re right. Let me get a bit closer!¡± Su Chen raised his speed again, flying towards Zhang Sheng¡¯an like an arrow. His speed was once again faster than before.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an coldly harrumphed. As long as he continued to put obstacles in Su Chen¡¯s way and attacked from long range with his bow, there was no way that Su Chen could catch up with him. If Su Chen continued to pursue him, he would only be putting himself in dire straits and would eventually die to his bow.

    While continuing to retreat, he idently looked into Su Chen¡¯s intense gaze.

    This gaze caused Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s consciousness to tremble. His entire being seemed to fall into a daze.

    Thankfully, this dazested for just a moment. An instantter, Zhang Sheng¡¯an snapped out of it, only to find that Su Chen had already closed the distance between them once again.

    He knew the situation wasn¡¯t good. He had definitely been hit by one of Su Chen¡¯s consciousness-type attacks, and did not dy in continuing his retreat.

    However, in that precise moment, his consciousness was rocked by another attack.

    Soul-Fixation Technique.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an was startled once again.

    His consciousness had been disrupted twice, causing him to miss a great opportunity. Su Chen charged forwards like an arrow shot from a bow, entering the ¡°safe boundary¡± that Zhang Sheng¡¯an had established for himself.

    He gestured, and a ming bird pped its wings as it soared forwards.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 68: Pursuit 2

    Chapter 68: Pursuit (2)

    Once he had entered this three hundred foot radius, Su Chen was no longer forced to passively endure Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s blows.

    Now that he had the ability to counterattack, there was no way he was going to let Zhang Sheng¡¯an attack as much as he wanted to.

    As he watched the Erupting Firebird fly towards him, Zhang Sheng¡¯an was begrudgingly forced to fly into the air.

    The Erupting Firebird barely scraped past his feet, mming into a nearby tree and sending out a wave of mes.

    Although it hadn¡¯t wounded him at all, it had put a lot of pressure on Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s mental state.

    This was the first time that Zhang Sheng¡¯an had been forced to dodge.

    He was almost immediately forced to take evasive action again.

    Su Chen charged forwards before he suddenly leapt into the air, grabbing a handful of leaves on his way up. He shot them out beforending on the ground.

    A flurry of leaves whistled through the air, flying towards Zhang Sheng¡¯an like darts.

    Flying Flower Hands.

    He had to admit that the Gu n¡¯s Flying Flower Hands was really easy to use. Even des of grass or small pebbles could be used to attack. There was arge number of them densely packed together, forcing Zhang Sheng¡¯an to swing his bow at them as he retreated.

    Although he had failed to harm Zhang Sheng¡¯an two times in a row, Zhang Sheng¡¯an was pressured to the point that he had no time to attack Su Chen.

    Su Chen took advantage of this opportunity to close the distance even further.

    He was faster than Zhang Sheng¡¯an in the first ce, and after this chain of attacks, the distance between the two of them had decreased again, changing from three hundred feet to two hundred eighty.

    Although it was just twenty feet, the pressure ced on Zhang Sheng¡¯an only continued to increase.

    Su Chen attacked again.

    Whoosh!

    A massive fireball shot forth.

    The Fireball.

    Whenpared to the Erupting Firebird, the Fireball was much weaker, but it also had its benefits. It formed very quickly and expended very little energy, so using it was more convenient.

    Su Chen had already realized throughout the course of his pursuit that the key was to harass Zhang Sheng¡¯an constantly, giving him no room to attack. His more powerful attacks took longer to activate, so they weren¡¯t as useful in this situation. On the other hand, these simpler techniques were sufficient to disrupt Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s movements, allowing Su Chen to create opportunities for himself.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an exhaled forcefully as he struck out with his palm, forcefully dissipating the Fireball.

    Su Chen closed the gap by another ten feet.

    He swung his hand, sending a fistful of rocks flying towards Zhang Sheng¡¯an.

    The pebbles shot towards Zhang Sheng¡¯an like metal balls, forcing him to shift to the side and dodge.

    Su Chen drew closer.

    An Origin Energy Flying Dagger morphed into a streak of azure light as it shot towards Zhang Sheng¡¯an.

    A few of them still remained after Su Chen had killed Li. He never had an opportunity to use them until today.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an was helpless. He had no way of avoiding this blow in midair. He let out a yell, and a green barrier of light appeared around him, blocking the blow. He borrowed the force of impact to retreat. As he flew backwards, his right hand drew the Tree Demon Bow, and an Anguish Arrow whistled towards Su Chen.

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t dodge, but he had no desire to dodge.

    If he tried to dodge, the gap that he had worked so hard to close would begin to widen again.

    Thus, he charged directly towards the Anguish Arrow.

    He pulled out an Origin Energy Talisman and pped it. The Origin Energy Talisman transformed into a yellow suit of armor, blocking the oing arrow.

    The Anguish Arrow exploded on Su Chen¡¯s body, generating powerful waves of ck Qi.

    Su Chen did not feel fear or shrink back. He continued to charge forwards courageously.

    One arrow!

    Two arrows!

    Three arrows!

    Each arrow was aimed to pierce his consciousness and take his life.

    Su Chen, however, ignored them and continued to charge!

    His armor flickered, but that did not prevent his unstoppable momentum.

    Two hundred thirty feet.

    Two hundred twenty feet.

    Two hundred ten feet.

    Su Chen advanced thirty feet after the three arrows in a row. Finally, the distance between them was two hundred feet.

    Su Chen then flipped over his hand. Arge wave of Origin Energy Bullets formed and then whistled through the air.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an knew the situation was not looking good.

    This was the most powerful attack he had been faced with yet.

    The closer Su Chen got to him, the more difficult his attacks would be to deal with.

    Thus, Zhang Sheng¡¯an used an Origin Energy Talisman to block the attack before pulling on the bowstring again.

    This time, he did not shoot an arrow. The Tree Demon let out a piercing cry, and spectre-like anguished spirits began to appear, floating in the air. They all began to cry out and yell at Su Chen.

    These yells were extremely piercing, and Su Chen felt a wave of dizziness wash over him, making it difficult for him to advance.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯anughed maniacally. As heughed, countless anguished spirits charged towards Su Chen, demanding his life. The air was filled with chilling intent.

    When faced with this situation, all Su Chen did was pull out a vial of medicine and upend it in midair.

    Just like ice crystals meeting the sun¡¯s powerful rays, the anguished spirits began to hiss in fear.

    The Three Suns Medicine was specifically used to cure injuries to one¡¯s soul by ghosts and spectres, and it could also be used to repel the anguished spirits.

    Although using an entire bottle was a bit extravagant, Su Chen didn¡¯t mind in the slightest.

    The anguished spirits retreated.

    Su Chen charged!

    He closed another thirty feet.

    An Erupting Firehawk appeared.

    The hawk shrieked as it pped its wings and charged at Zhang Sheng¡¯an.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an flipped his hand over, tossing out another Origin Energy Talisman that became a web of light, entangling the Firehawk.

    He shot out three arrows in response.

    Su Chen avoided them by using Whitetower Teleportation to close the gap by another thirty feet.

    They were now only a hundred forty feet apart.

    Su Chen tossed a Thunderfire Ball at Zhang Sheng¡¯an.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an had witnessed the Thunderfire Ball¡¯s power before. He didn¡¯t dare to forcefully resist it, so all he could do was try and avoid it.

    Unexpectedly, this Thunderfire Ball had not been tossed directly at him but behind him, which was also where he was retreating.

    Boom!

    Waves of mes surged forwards as the ball exploded.

    Another Origin Energy Talisman morphed into a barrier, defending him against the attack. However, he could not avoid the powerful pushing force it exerted on him, and it sent Zhang Sheng¡¯an in the opposite direction.

    His opposite direction was where Su Chen was.

    The distance between the two of them shortened once again.

    A hundred feet!

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an knew the situation was not good. His barrier had beenpletely wiped out by the Thunderfire Ball.

    He had yet to defend himself when Su Chen raised his hand.

    ming Hunter Blunderbuss.

    Boom!

    The profound bullets flew forth as the gun exploded.

    ¡°AHH!¡±

    Blood sttered everywhere as Zhang Sheng¡¯an let out a tragic cry.

    Tworge bullet holes appeared on Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s chest.

    He had been wounded!

    He had actually been wounded!

    This was his first time being wounded during the entire battle.

    Su Chen had closed the distance between them to a hundred feet and wounded him with one attack.

    ¡°NO!¡± Zhang Sheng¡¯an howled, crazed with rage.

    He forcefully kicked off of a nearby tree, borrowing this force to retreat. Simultaneously, he began to furiously pull on his bow.

    Anguish Arrow after Anguish Arrow flew forwards, forming an endless rain of arrows.

    Su Chen pulled out an Origin Talisman, which turned into a shield. He applied a Meg¡¯s Guardian to himself, his footsteps unceasing as he activated the Snaking Mist Steps to its absolute limit and chased after Zhang Sheng¡¯an furiously.

    Vines and roots began to writhe from the ground, reaching out to grab Su Chen, who was snaking forwards.

    Su Chen scattered them with an Erupting Firehawk as he continued to chase after Zhang Sheng¡¯an relentlessly.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s writhing thistles wilted under the mes, unable to slow Su Chen down even a bit. Su Chen managed to close in another thirty feet.

    Su Chen activated his Soul Eye and Soul-Fixation Technique in rapid session. The gap between them was now only thirty feet.

    Thirty feet was a very short distance.

    Su Chen lifted the Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de into the air before bringing it down.

    The Wolf Soul howled as it appeared and then charged towards Zhang Sheng¡¯an.

    ¡°Zhang Sheng¡¯an, you¡¯re dead!¡± Su Chen yelled.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 69: Inferno

    Chapter 69: Inferno

    The de flew through the air like a rapidly setting sun. The Heavenly Wolf let out an enraged howl.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an gazed at the Heavenly Wolf as it continued to howl bleakly, a confident smile on his face.

    ¡°Do you think I¡¯m that easy to kill?¡± he said.

    He raised his hand, and a piercing ray of light began to shine from a ring on his finger.

    The image of a ferocious tiger slowly began to appear. It also let out a furious howl as it charged towards the Heavenly Moon-Swallowing Wolf, bing entangled with it.

    Su Chen¡¯s powerful de strike had been nullified just like that.

    Next, Zhang Sheng¡¯an pulled out another item. It looked to be a vial of some sorts.

    He mmed the vial onto the ground, and a cloud of fog instantly mushroomed, expanding in all directions. Unexpectedly, Zhang Sheng¡¯an also possessed a vial of Fog Medicine.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an was concealed by the expanding fog as heughed, ¡°Did you really think that you would win as long as you got close to me? How naive! The battle has just begun!¡±

    The only reply he got was arge Firehawk flying towards him.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an hurriedly dodged, but the Firehawk unexpectedly chased after him, its beak tearing arge chunk of flesh off his shoulder. The pain sent him reeling. He gestured, and a patch of thistles reached out towards the Firehawk, but it exploded on the spot, the mes burning the thistles to a crisp.

    In terms of terrain, Zhang Sheng¡¯an had an inherent advantage in the forest, but in terms of Origin Skills, fire-type Origin Skills were super effective against nt-type Origin Skills.

    The mes continued to expand, washing over Zhang Sheng¡¯an. Before he had time to respond, two more Firehawks swooped towards him followed by a wave of Origin Energy Bullets that urately rained on Zhang Sheng¡¯an. Su Chen was not affected by the fog at all ¨C as someone who had been blind for a number of years, adapting to the sound of the wind was something he was very good at.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an was sent flying through the air by tworge explosions.

    The barrier he had just set up had already been sted into smithereens, and he himself had been scorched in certain ces.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± Zhang Sheng¡¯an cursed in anger.

    Again, the only reply he received was another Firehawk soaring towards him.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an had used the vial of Fog Medicine to deal with Su Chen, but it had only aided him.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an forcefully resisted the pain and touched the ne he was wearing, causing it to emit a gentle light that covered his entire body.

    As he blocked the wave of attacks, Zhang Sheng¡¯an gently rubbed a small statue in his hand.

    When he threw the statue into the air, it flew off into the distance.

    At that moment, Su Chen sent another Firehawk flying, but Zhang Sheng¡¯an suddenly disappeared. When he reappeared, he was already much farther away, and the statue had reappeared in his original location. It was struck by the Firehawk and shattered upon impact.

    The statue was a substitution statue. Upon use, the user could swap ces with the statue. It was a treasure that archers could use to increase the distance between them and their opponents.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an was quite wealthy. Not only was he quite powerful, but he also had a wealth of treasures that could perform a variety of functions.

    After increasing the distance between them again, he applied a vial of wound healing medicine to himself before pulling out a different object.

    An arrow!

    However, this was not an Anguish Arrow formed by the Tree Demon, but a real, bona fide arrow.

    He drew the bow and nocked the arrow towards the patch of fog.

    He wanted to take Su Chen¡¯s life with a single arrow.

    He had already drawn the bow; all he was waiting for was Su Chen to poke his head out.

    However, the fog remained still. Su Chen did not appear.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an was a bit surprised and didn¡¯t know what to do.

    Although he was merciless and malicious, he was still a youth. The amount of battle experience he had could not be considered extensive. In fact, given his age, it was already extremely impressive for him to be able to adapt so well.

    But at this moment, he was faced with a sudden calm after being fiercely locked in battle for a long time. He was somewhat at a loss.

    As he stared intently into the dense fog, Zhang Sheng¡¯an felt a trace of uneasiness begin to well up in his heart.

    He realized that the situation was not in his favor.

    Why hadn¡¯t his opponent made a move yet? Why was the Fog Medicinesting for so long? It wasn¡¯t dissipating, but rather slowly expanding......

    Expanding......

    Something¡¯s off!

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an suddenly remembered that Su Chen had also used Fog Medicine against the y Giant.

    Su Chen also had Fog Medicine, and he was constantly using it to expand the fog. He was within the fog, scheming something.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an suddenly began to feel fear.

    He hurriedly retreated, the tip of his arrow wobbling slightly as he yelled, ¡°Come out! Su Chen, if you¡¯re a man,e out!¡±

    There was no reply.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an finally began to feel fear.

    This could not continue, otherwise he would be in great danger.

    He released the tension in the bow and turned around to run away.

    In the instant he lowered bow, however, a figure suddenly charged out of the fog.

    Su Chen!

    He had been waiting for the moment when Zhang Sheng¡¯an lowered his bow.

    He charged forwards at full speed!

    When Zhang Sheng¡¯an heard the noise, he knew the situation was not good.

    He hurriedly turned around and reaimed his bow.

    But in the instant that he pulled the bowstring, he suddenly felt a wave of pain assault his brain. Zhang Sheng¡¯an had been struck by Su Chen¡¯s Soul Eye.

    He could not control the arrow in his hand, and his right hand let go of the bowstring.

    Whoosh!

    The long arrow took flight.

    However, the arrow was not urate at all.

    It flew through the air like a shooting star, flying past Su Chen¡¯s left. It carried an aura of absolute destruction as it flew through the forest. Finally, it exploded with a shocking brilliance, wiping out seventeen or eighteen massive trees in the blink of an eye. The powerful momentum it carried even caused a deep crack to appear in the ground.

    Even though the arrow had missed him by more than ten feet, Su Chen had sensed the arrow¡¯s frightening power. If he had been hit head-on by it, even with seven or eight Meg¡¯s Guardians protecting him, the arrow probably would have still taken his life.

    ¡°Whew!¡±

    Even Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but sigh in relief.

    He knew that the power of that arrow wouldn¡¯t be ordinary as soon as he saw Zhang Sheng¡¯an pull it out.

    Thus, he had been willing to allow Zhang Sheng¡¯an widen the distance instead of choosing to forcefully chase. Instead, he concealed himself within the fog, patiently wearing down Zhang Sheng¡¯an until he could find the appropriate opportunity to strike.

    Indeed, the strange calm after their fierce shes had been too much for Zhang Sheng¡¯an to handle.

    In the instant he lowered the bow, Su Chen had charged forwards. His powerful attack would definitely put a lot of pressure on Zhang Sheng¡¯an, and he would instinctively draw his bow. Su Chen used that opportunity to activate his Soul Eye right when the bow was half-drawn and the arrow half-aimed, resolving the situation with one blow.

    The end result was that this arrow had been released prematurely, causing it to lose its uracy.

    Although the situation seemed precarious, Su Chen had read Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s attitude and behavior like a book.

    The miss of his arrow dealt a huge blow to Zhang Sheng¡¯an. He stood there in a daze, not able to believe what had just happened.

    Su Chen took advantage of the opportunity to charge forwards.

    The distance he had managed to create between them instantly disappeared because of his brief moment of confusion. In the blink of an eye, Su Chen closed more than half of the distance already.

    Thankfully, Zhang Sheng¡¯an didn¡¯t wait until Su Chen hadpletely caught up with him to snap out of it. He instantly sized up the situation and turned to run.

    This time, he really was just trying to run away.

    He had used everything he could ¨C Origin Tools, props, talismans, scrolls, and medicines ¨C but none of them were useful. Continuing to battle was to seek death.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an was very clear of this point. There was no reluctance in his heart to leave.

    As he ran, he pulled out an item. It was a light pink gauze.

    He tossed the thin gauze into the air, and the gauze became a red cloud that descended to the ground. Zhang Sheng¡¯an stepped on it and began to fly away.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯anughed. ¡°Su Chen, you won¡¯t be able to catch me. See youter!¡±

    This Red Earth Gauze was hisst life-saving treasure. It granted him temporarily the ability to fly. However, because it was a low-grade flying tool, there was no way for him to attack while flying. In addition, because its color was too beautiful and feminine, Zhang Sheng¡¯an was unwilling to use it.

    But now that his life was in danger, he naturally wouldn¡¯t pay any attention to such matters.

    Upon seeing Zhang Sheng¡¯an attempt to escape, Su Chen flipped his hand over, another Firehawk taking form in the palm of his hand.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an harrumphed. The Red Earth Gauze had its own protective capabilities, so he wasn¡¯t frightened at all.

    Boom!

    Su Chen¡¯s Firehawk flew towards him, mming into the Red Earth Gauze. Although the sky was filled with arge explosion, it was not able to prate the barrier and wound Zhang Sheng¡¯an.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an waved his hand at Su Chen and said in delight, ¡°Goodbye!¡±

    ¡°Not yet!¡± Su Chen coldly replied.

    He pulled out an item. It was the hawk that he had carved into the me Crystal.

    He then formed another Erupting Firehawk, but this time he sent all the energy into the Fire Crystal.

    A much more powerful Erupting Firehawk!

    Su Chen had yet to perfect this Origin Skill, so he used this small Fire Crystal to realize his creation.

    A new, more powerful hawk with ming wings appeared.

    It waspletely made out of mes, as if it was a ming bird that came flying out of the sun. The aura that it carried made it seem as if it could burn everything. As soon as it appeared, the environment¡¯s temperature went up a few degrees.

    ¡°SCREEECH!¡±

    After letting out a long cry, this me-Winged Divine Hawk swung its long, fiery talons through the air, unleashing a seemingly boundless swathe of mes. The vast waves of mes rushed towards Zhang Sheng¡¯an.

    Zhang Sheng¡¯an stood on the Red Earth Gauze, staring nkly at the scene as the reflection of mes in his eyes grewrger andrger.

    ¡°NO!¡± he howled, his expression one of despair.

    An instantter, he was engulfed by the mes.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 70: Cave

    Chapter 70: Cave

    Chunks of mes descended from the sky as if it were raining fire.

    Amidst the falling mes, a red streak of light flew back into Su Chen¡¯s hand.

    It was the me Crystal statue.

    After only being used once, its body had visibly shrunk in exchange for the extremely powerful attack.

    After such a frightening attack, nothing remained intact. All that remained were scattered pieces of flesh on the ground and the smell of charred flesh in the air.

    That bow was perhaps the only remaining item.

    Su Chen walked over and picked up the Tree Demon Bow from the ground.

    The bow seemed to be alive. Perhaps realizing that its owner had changed, the Tree Demon on the bow twisted its head around and bit Su Chen.

    ¡°Foolhardy!¡± Su Chen harrumphed. He stretched his hand out and flicked the Tree Demon¡¯s forehead. The Tree Demon let out a piercing, pained cry.

    Suddenly, Su Chen felt his vision blur as countless demons charged in his direction.

    Su Chen instinctively tossed the bow to the side. All of the illusions disappeared, and everything returned to how it was.

    ¡°It can generate illusions?¡± Su Chen was somewhat surprised.

    After trying it out a few times, Su Chen finally determined that the bow truly did have some strange soul-influencing capabilities. The bow would cause the user to sink into a kind of illusion realm ¨C no wonder it was called the Cursed Tree Demon Bow.

    He didn¡¯t know how Zhang Sheng¡¯an was able to wield it.

    Su Chen searched the corpse pile for quite a while, but he didn¡¯t find anything that could suppress the bow. Either it had been destroyed in battle, or Zhang Sheng¡¯an had cultivated an Origin Skill that allowed him to resist soul-type attacks; however, when taking into consideration that his Soul Eye and Soul-Fixation Technique had been effective against Zhang Sheng¡¯an, Su Chen reckoned that it was the former.

    However, that item probably no longer existed.

    Apart from the bow, Su Chen found an Origin Ring in the pile with three thousand Origin Stones inside. For a student, that was already quite impressive. Unfortunately, all of Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s protective treasures had either beenpletely used up or destroyed during the battle.

    Even so, Su Chen was very satisfied with just the Tree Demon Bow.

    He tossed the bow into his Origin Ring as he turned to leave. However, he suddenly sensed something and nced at his surroundings before realizing that he was standing right in front of a massive cave.

    What attracted his attention, however, was not the cave, but a small, fire-red flower within the cave.

    Three Suns Flower.

    Even though it was a low-tier Three Suns Flower, they were still very rare.

    Because it was so hard to find, stumbling upon one was not an everyday urrence.

    Su Chen slowly eased towards it, constantly scanning his surroundings as he carefully picked the Three Suns Flower.

    There was no ambush or trap. He had obtained an extremely rare medicinal herb just like that.

    Even Su Chen was caught a bit off-guard by his sudden stroke of good luck.

    It wasn¡¯t until this moment that Su Chen began to realize his surroundings looked a bit strange.

    The cave was a bit strange. It didn¡¯t look like a natural formation but rather a man-made construct. But who would dig out such arge cave here? And they hadpletely ignored the Three Suns Flower growing inside the cave......

    A thought shed through his mind. He suddenly realized where he was.

    This was the y Giant¡¯s cave!

    His pursuit of Zhang Sheng¡¯an had actually brought him to the y Giant¡¯sir.

    At this moment, the y Giant was still out and about and could return at any time.

    An idea appeared in Su Chen¡¯s head that he could not suppress: he was going to look inside the cave.

    This was a rare opportunity. No one knew what kinds of treasures the y Giant¡¯s cave contained. If Su Chen didn¡¯t take a look, he would probably regret it for his entire life.

    After thinking for a moment, Su Chen decided to take the risk and enter the cave.

    He walked along one of the cave¡¯s tunnels, discovering as he walked that the cave was extremelyrge and that the tunnels within the cave were twisted and convoluted.

    Su Chen knew that y Giants were good at excavation and had a natural talent for digging tunnels. Unexpectedly, the giant had basically turned the mountain into a maze. Su Chen couldn¡¯t tell which direction he was facing for quite some time.

    Dammit, why¡¯d you have to make this ce so big? Su Chen cursed in his heart.

    Despite his cursing, Su Chen was unwilling to give up on his investigation. He had only walked for a little bit when he discovered a Deep Shadow Grass.

    Deep Shadow Grass usually grew in damp, shady areas, so they were often found in caves. The Three Suns Grass, inparison, wanted to be in the sun, so it could only be found at the cave¡¯s entrance. If one Deep Shadow Grass grew here, there would definitely be many more, so Su Chen was unwilling to let go of this rare opportunity.

    After walking for another brief period, Su Chen arrived at a junction.

    There were three paths to take, and Su Chen didn¡¯t know which one to go down.

    At that moment, he happened to nce at the entrance to the right-most path.

    A vine hung over the entrance to that path.

    Su Chen recognized this vine. It was a Silverbell Fruit Vine.

    Silverbell Fruits could be used to concoct physique-tempering medicines. Upon use, one¡¯s physical strength would directly increase.

    However, there was only a vine here, but no fruit.

    The fruit had been harvested.

    Su Chen walked closer and inspected the vine more closely. Based on the remaining traces, it had just been picked too.

    Someone was just here!

    Su Chen instantly understood.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is......¡± Su Chen squinted his eyes.

    He finally realized why Zhang Sheng¡¯an and the others were being pursued by the y Giant.

    Without question, someone had set them up.

    When he had encountered Zhang Sheng¡¯an, Su Chen had already smelled a unique fragrance. But because the situation was dire then, and the battle furious, he didn¡¯t think too much on it.

    Now, he was certain that the fragrance was the smell of Stone Soul Medicine.

    Stone Soul Medicine¡¯s main ingredient was the Stone Soul Beast, a Demonic Beast that only ate earth-type elements. It was an enemy of all earth-type elemental lifeforms.

    The y Giant had undoubtedly smelled the Stone Soul Beast¡¯s aura and must have thought that it was nearby, so it had gone crazy, chasing after Zhang Sheng¡¯an and the others.

    That was to say...... they had been set up by someone else.

    As for that person¡¯s goal, Su Chen didn¡¯t think it was revenge. He believed that the other party had used Zhang Sheng¡¯an and the others to distract the y Giant so that they could enter the tunnel and search for treasures.

    What a brilliant ploy!

    Su Chen had to admit that this n really was quite beautifully executed. Using Zhang Sheng¡¯an to attract the y Giant, they then took advantage of that distraction to gather all the treasures in the giant¡¯sir ¨C quite an innovative idea.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Zhang Sheng¡¯an had brought him here, Su Chen naturally would not have discovered this ce.

    Under normal circumstances, this wouldn¡¯t have anything to do with them, and Su Chen probably wouldn¡¯t have paid much attention to it.

    The issue was that after Zhang Sheng¡¯an had been harmed, he had then dragged Su Chen¡¯s party into the mix. Now, it had everything to do with Su Chen.

    If he just let the other party go without any consequences, that would be much too lenient.

    As he inspected his surroundings, Su Chen very quickly deduced that the person who was inside had yet to emerge.

    Perhaps it was because the y Giant¡¯s tunnel was sorge, dying them significantly.

    Upon realizing this point, Su Chen did not pick a path to go through. Rather, he found a nearby dark corner and concealed himself.

    Not long afterwards, the clear sound of footsteps could be heard.

    A person stepped out from the tunnel. It was a beautiful young maiden wearing a simple, spotless white dress. Her raven-ck hair was split around her neck, and her pale white skin was entuated by her rosy lips.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 71: Formidable Opponen

    Chapter 71: Formidable Opponent

    Su Chen was slightly surprised to see a young maiden.

    After all, in his eyes only a poisonous, scheming, and sinister youth could possibly pull off this kind of bait-and-switch scheme.

    Once he saw that the person who emerged didn¡¯t quite fit his profile, he instinctively paused for a moment, off-guard.

    It was this brief pause that dyed him slightly.

    Normally, this dy wouldn¡¯t be a big deal. After all, Su Chen hadn¡¯t kicked a rock or anything, and he hadn¡¯t made any noise either.

    Even so, the young maiden still sensed him.

    She immediately turned around and yelled, ¡°Who is it?¡±

    There was no more time to waste.

    Su Chen¡¯s only reply was a fireball hurtling in her direction.

    Because he wasn¡¯t out for blood, Su Chen didn¡¯t use the more powerful Firehawk. To most unprepared people, a direct hit with a fireball was enough to knock them out of a fight.

    However, the young maiden before him evidently wasn¡¯t ¡°most people¡±.

    The instant the fireball appeared, she moved.

    Her figure disappeared as if she were a ghost, dodging it in an instant.

    The fireball passed through the afterimage the young woman left behind her, mming into the nearby stone wall and sending a wave of mes through the air.

    She had dodged the fireball¡¯s direct impact, but she was unable to dodge the resulting wave of mes. The young maiden let out a cry as she flew through the air.

    Su Chen shed out with a Thunder de.

    To take your life while you¡¯re sick wasn¡¯t just a saying. Since he had already made a move, there was no reason to show mercy right now, especially since his opponent had shockingly quick reflexes.

    Truly shocking!

    Even though her body was in midair, the young maiden was still able to react.

    She swung her arm backwards, mming into the Thunder de and borrowing the momentum to retreat, trying to increase the distance between them.

    However, Su Chen was quite experienced in ambushing others.

    How so? He had already made all of the necessary preparations, unlike his opponent, who was reacting on the fly.

    Su Chen immediately activated his Soul Eye after releasing Thunder de.

    Ancient Arcana Techniques had the benefit of allowing one to prepare the Origin Energy Patterns in advance, then release them together. Although they could only be released one after another, the gap between activation was much shorter. Origin Energy Patterns, on the other hand, couldn¡¯t be activated too early in advance and wouldn¡¯tst indefinitely, and they required constant Origin Energy expenditure. Thus, this benefit was only really used in these kinds of circumstances.

    He activated his Soul Eye, and the young maiden¡¯s figure froze in midair.

    Su Chen then attacked with another Thunder de.

    He didn¡¯t want to kill her, so he had only used Thunder de.

    The de mmed into his opponent, and the young maiden let out a pained cry. However, she also regained consciousness and floated to the ground.

    Right when shended, Su Chen charged out from his hiding ce, attacking with two Thunder des simultaneously. He had carefully nned out his attacks very well to injure his opponent and paralyze her ability to do battle without taking her life.

    His calctions were very precise, save for one thing.

    The young maiden¡¯s counter.

    The young maiden raised her head to stare at Su Chen, a light subtly shining in her eyes.

    Su Chen¡¯s consciousness suddenly trembled.

    Dammit, his opponent also had consciousness-type Origin Skills!

    Even more annoying was her response.

    If it was anyone else, they probably would¡¯ve taken the opportunity to deal with Su Chen¡¯s two Thunder de strikes.

    But she did not.

    She did not try to dodge the two Thunder des, instead choosing to meet them head on. As she forcefully resisted the strikes, her hand carved an arc of light through the air.

    Thankfully, Su Chen had applied a Meg¡¯s Guardian to himself before attacking. Even so, he was sent flying by the young maiden¡¯s attacks. The attack¡¯s surging energy and the fact that two of his Meg¡¯s Guardians had suddenly disappeared implied that this attack was not weak.

    Of course, the young maiden wasn¡¯t much better off. Getting hit by two Thunder des had injured her as well, but most importantly she had gained the upper hand. As she sent Su Chen flying, she pulled out an item and tossed into the air.

    The originally dark cave was suddenly illuminated as if it were daytime, a warm light suffusing through the cavern.

    Su Chen originally thought that the item was some kind of powerful attack instrument, but he discovered that it was just amon Moonlight Stone.

    What was she trying to aplish by using a Moonlight Stone to light up the room?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t understand.

    However, he had no time to think about it. The young maiden¡¯s strength and reflexes both exceeded his expectations. The instant he shook off the attack on his consciousness, Su Chen finally released the Erupting Firebird that he had been preparing beforehand.

    Whoosh!

    The massive strengthened Erupting Firebird let out a cry as it flew forwards.

    Su Chen finally started going all out.

    Right when the Erupting Firebird appeared, a trace of surprise shed across the young maiden¡¯s eyes as she coldly said, ¡°It¡¯s you!¡±

    As she said those words, the young maiden flew into the air. She slowly began to blend into the brilliant rays of moonlight. It was as if her body had ceased to exist, instead bing moonlight.

    The Erupting Firebird passed through the light, hitting nothing but air.

    ¡°It¡¯s you!¡±

    This second ¡°It¡¯s you¡±, however, came from Su Chen.

    The young maiden¡¯s move was identical to what he had seen when Night Demon had been attacked by that assassin.

    The two of them discovered their opponent¡¯s identity simultaneously.

    ¡°So you¡¯re a remnant of the Immortal Temple!¡± A thick killing intent began to suffuse from the white-clothed young maiden.

    She reappeared out of thin air and wed through the air. An image of a sharp talon shed down at Su Chen¡¯s head, carrying with it a destructive momentum.

    Su Chen knew the situation was not good.

    He retreated.

    As fast as he could!

    Simultaneously, an Erupting Firehawk took flight.

    The Firehawk mmed into the Jade-Crushing w. The young maiden¡¯s w obliterated the Firehawk, causing a ferocious wave of mes to erupt in her palm. The young maiden¡¯s hand became transparent, however, and the mes passed right through her hand without injuring her in the slightest. The jade w then reformed, and she jabbed out with her fingers, sending a streak of moonlight flying.

    Su Chen finally understood why his opponent was using the Moonlight Stone.

    Not only could the young maiden borrow the moonlight to conceal herself, but she could also use it to attack.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know how powerful her attacks were, and he didn¡¯t want to find out.

    Just as her moonlight finger was about to reach him, Su Chen¡¯s figure disappeared into thin air.

    Whitetower Teleportation.

    In the next instant, he reappeared behind the young maiden.

    A wave of Origin Energy bullets mmed into the young maiden.

    The young maiden¡¯s Moonlight Concealment technique could be used in rapid session for a short period of time. As the Origin Energy Bullets flew towards her, she disappeared into the light once again.

    The wave of Origin Energy Bullets flew through her, not injuring her in the slightest.

    The young maiden reappeared from the moonlight and wed at Su Chen.

    Su Chen shifted backwards with the Snaking Mist Steps as he simultaneously released a Clear Wind Net.

    The Clear Wind Net tore through her, and cuts could be seen on the young maiden¡¯s arms. She ignored them, however, and jabbed out with her fingers. This time, five Moonlight Fingers flew towards Su Chen.

    The Meg¡¯s Guardian could no longer hold out. Su Chen¡¯s barriers shattered, and a finger struck both his chest and his left arm.

    In that same instant, however, a wave of mes erupted from behind the young maiden.

    This wave of mes was very sudden and without warning. The white-clothed young maiden was unable to defend herself in time, and she was sent flying towards Su Chen.

    This time, she had no way of using Moonlight Concealment.

    Su Chen charged forwards and mmed his palm into her chest, interrupting the flow of Origin Energy in her body. The young maiden crumpled into Su Chen¡¯s arms.

    After another quick palm strike to the back of the head, the young maiden¡¯s eyes rolled into the back of her head and passed out.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 72: White Clothes

    Chapter 72: White Clothes

    Upon opening her eyes, the young maiden instinctively bolted upright before discovering that she was no longer within the giant¡¯s tunnel system.

    She was sitting on top of arge, t stone. Not far away from her, the despicable male who had ambushed her sat in front of a campfire as he baked arge fish from the river.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± the young maiden cursed and tried to attack him, but she suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion wash over her, and she had no way of controlling the Origin Energy within her body.

    Qi Obstructing Powder!

    The young maiden was both surprised and infuriated.

    ¡°You¡¯re awake?¡± Upon hearing themotion, Su Chen turned around to nce at her, then turned back around and continued his cooking session.

    ¡°Despicable, shameless, filthy, and vulgar!¡± the young maiden continued to curse at him.

    ¡°......¡± Su Chen was speechless. ¡°I¡¯d admit it if you called me despicable and shameless, but what do you mean by filthy and vulgar? Hey, although you fell into my hands, I haven¡¯t done anything inappropriate to you except feed you the Qi Obstructing Powder.¡±

    The white-clothed young maiden continued to yell, ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be wrong for me to use the world¡¯s most offensive terms to describe someone who is a remnant of the Immortal Temple. You all are scoundrels and the scum of society, a bunch of people that has gone crazy because you were defeated!¡±

    ¡°......Fine, at least I can confirm that you attacked Night Demonst time because she was from the Immortal Temple and not for some other reason,¡± Su Chen sighed. ¡°But I need to correct you concerning one matter. The Immortal Temple is the Immortal Temple, and I am me. I am not someone from the Immortal Temple.¡±

    ¡°If you aren¡¯t someone from the Immortal Temple, then why are you with her?¡±

    Su Chen rolled his eyes. ¡°Who taught you such crude logic? So if I walk with you, then I belong to you?¡±

    The white-clothed young maiden opened her mouth but couldn¡¯t find the right words to say.

    After quite some time, she said, ¡°You aren¡¯t from the Immortal Temple? Then why did you help her?¡±

    ¡°The answer to that question is a bitplicated, and I can¡¯t describe it to you in one or two sentences so I don¡¯t want to exin it right now.¡±

    ¡°So why did you ambush me then?¡± The young maiden didn¡¯t force the issue, instead changing the topic to another question. After all, based on her current circumstances, she had no right to even force the issue.

    ¡°That¡¯s the right question to ask,¡± Su Chen coldlyughed. ¡°I ambushed you because although you pulled off your n beautifully, you also dragged us into the mix because of it. If I didn¡¯t find you for trouble, who would I look for?¡±

    The white-clothed young maiden understood, but she still had some doubts. ¡°You¡¯re part of Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s team? But why didn¡¯t I see you in their team before?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not part of his team, but when you set up that bastard, he turned on us and tried to take us down with him.¡±

    Su Chen roughly exined what had happened before.

    The white-clothed young maiden finally understood. ¡°So that¡¯s how it is; however, Zhang Sheng¡¯an was the one harming you, not me. Why are you bothering me about it?¡±

    ¡°No matter what, you still yed a role in all of this, and it would be an understatement to say that you implicated us. Right now, I don¡¯t know whether my friends have escaped from the y Giant¡¯s attacks or if there are any casualties. No matter what, you need to be held responsible. As the mastermind behind this n, you must have earned quite a bit......¡±

    ¡°So you want to steal from the thief?¡± the white-clothed young maiden replied coolly.

    Su Chenughed. ¡°You can think of it that way. After all, this is my favorite kind of activity, but I unexpectedly ran into you.¡±

    ¡°Is running into me different from running into someone else?¡± the white-clothed young maiden said coldly.

    Su Chen tilted his head and replied after thinking for a moment, ¡°There is. For instance, apart from therge quantity of ingredients that I got from your Origin Ring, I can also figure out why you hate the Immortal Temple so much and why you chose Zhang Sheng¡¯an specifically to harm. After all, his n has a long history, and you could have easily chosen someone else who is easier to deal with, such as someone without a bloodline.¡±

    As he spoke, he raised the ring in his hand.

    It was the white-clothed young maiden¡¯s Origin Ring.

    The white-clothed young maiden did not get angry.

    She was extremely grounded, more so than most people, and her ability to ept the situation was surprisingly strong.

    After a moment of silence, she said, ¡°If I tell you, what will you do to me? Kill me? To conceal the rtionship between you and the Immortal Temple?¡±

    This time, she didn¡¯t call him a remnant.

    ¡°That depends on the contents of your answer. Oh, just to let you know, I have a lie-detection Origin Skill, so there¡¯s no point in trying to lie to me.¡±

    The white-clothed young maiden harrumphed, ¡°Do you think that I set them up just to search this cave for treasures? You¡¯ve mixed up the cause and effect.¡±

    Su Chen froze for a moment before understanding dawned on him. ¡°You mean that harming Zhang Sheng¡¯an was the main goal, while searching for treasures was secondary?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± the young maiden replied.

    ¡°Tell me why.¡±

    The white-clothed young maiden paused for a moment before begrudgingly answering, ¡°I had a good friend named Qiu Tang, who I considered to be like my own sister. She was also a student in the Hidden Dragon Institute, but she didn¡¯t possess a bloodline. Even though she wasn¡¯t nobility, she always worked very hard. One day, she suddenly told me that she liked a person who was from a Bloodline Nobility n.¡±

    Su Chen silently listened.

    The white-clothed young maiden exined with a steady voice, ¡°That person was Guan Shanying, a very handsome man. I tried to plead with her, telling her that people from Bloodline Nobility ns didn¡¯t marrymoners, and I advised her to give up on this mistaken idea. She agreed outwardly, but in reality I knew that she was still secretly involved with Guan Shanying. One day, she suddenly left without telling me where she was going, but just by looking at her lively attitude I knew that she was going to meet with him.¡±

    After a brief pause, the white-clothed young maiden continued, ¡°After that night, she never returned. Three dayster, someone discovered her torn sleeve in the Falling Eagle Mountain, and many people believed that she had fallen prey to some Vicious Beast within the Falling Eagle Mountain. But I know that¡¯s not the truth...... Later, I discovered some rumors surrounding that group of people, which was that Zhang Sheng¡¯an and Zhong Ding had a craving for toying with women, and that they enjoyed abusing them. There had been instances where they had abused these women to death.¡±

    The white-clothed young maiden¡¯s tone was calm and emotionless, but Su Chen¡¯s Lie Detection Skill told him that her heart was burning with rage.

    Underneath that calm exterior was a sea of anger.

    ¡°After I confronted them, what do you think they did?¡±

    ¡°He denied it?¡±

    ¡°It was theplete opposite. They admitted to it,¡± the white-clothed young woman replied. ¡°Guan Shanying admitted, to my face, that they had raped Qiu Tang, and because they were too over the top, she was raped to death. Afterwards, they tossed the corpse into the Falling Eagle Mountain to be eaten by Vicious Beasts to cover it up.¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°They really do enjoy provoking others.¡±

    They had admitted what they did to the white-clothed young maiden because they were confident that there was nothing she could do. Without any proof, they could simply deny what they had said. In addition, because of their status as nobles, they weren¡¯t afraid of any consequences.

    Thus, they ¡°generously¡± admitted it to her face in order to provoke her, revelling in her inability to do anything about it.

    ¡°So you wanted to use the y Giant to deal with them, thene to harvest some raw ingredients?¡±

    ¡°Stone Soul Medicine is very expensive. I need to make back the money I spent,¡± the white-clothed young maiden indifferently replied.

    Upon hearing this, a sense of familiarity began to surface in Su Chen¡¯s heart, as if he had met his long-lost twin.

    This young woman¡¯s way of thinking really was quite simr to his own!

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 73: Yue Longsha

    Chapter 73: Yue Longsha

    As the interrogation continued, the atmosphere became significantly less tense.

    Upon discovering that the she was not randomly harming others for her own benefit, he gave up on many of the ideas that he had previously.

    For him to rob a thief depended on the opponent actually being a thief. He felt ufortable doing so now that he knew her motives.

    Of course, there were still a few other things that Su Chen temporarily could not let go.

    He asked, ¡°What is your name?¡±

    The white-clothed young maiden replied, ¡°Yue Longsha. What about you?¡±

    Upon hearing this name, Su Chen was taken aback. ¡°Yue Longsha? So you¡¯re Yue Longsha?¡±

    ¡°You know me?¡±

    ¡°You have such a high ranking on the Hundred Refinements Pavilion list. How could I not know of you? No wonder you are so powerful. I was the one that ambushed you, but you almost defeated me.¡±

    During their battle within the Cave Giant¡¯sir, Yue Longsha¡¯s attacks had been precise and powerful, and she could adapt to situations very well. Su Chen¡¯s attacks were hurried and flustered as a result, and to say that he had almost been defeated was the truth.

    But upon discovering that his opponent was Yue Longsha, Su Chen was no longer surprised by her strength. After all, she was someone who was only slightly weaker than Ji Hanyan.

    ¡°But I was still the one that lost in the end,¡± Yue Longsha replied somewhat gloomily. ¡°What tactic did you use to beat me? Howe I didn¡¯t see your attack?¡±

    ¡°It was this.¡± Su Chen pulled out a Thunderfire Ball and showed it to her.

    After exining how it was used, understanding dawned on Yue Longsha¡¯s face.

    When he had activated Whitetower Teleportation, he had surreptitiously tossed out a Thunderfire Ball as he attacked.

    However, the Thunderfire Ball had been tossed behind her, and it was set to explode on a dy. Thus, Yue Longsha did not see iting at all, resulting in a sessful ambush.

    Although her Moonlight Concealment was very powerful, her defensive capabilities when outside of that state were very poor. In addition, she was already wounded, so naturally she was unable to withstand this blow.

    Once she understood why she had lost, Yue Longsha¡¯s mood improved greatly. ¡°So it¡¯s not that I am less skilled than you, just that you are more underhanded than I am.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    To Su Chen, winning was winning and losing was losing. There was no point in making such excuses.

    On the battlefield, any tactic that ensured survival was a good one.

    In addition, he had spent a lot of time and energy developing the Thunderfire Ball, so it should at least be considered part of his strength.

    However, he had no interest in bickering with her about this.

    Yue Longsha asked, ¡°What is your name?¡±

    ¡°Su Chen.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re Su Chen, huh?¡±

    ¡°You know my name?¡±

    ¡°The genius without a bloodline who reached the top five of the Three Mountains Region exam, but disappeared without a trace after entering the Hidden Dragon Institute, never to reappear. The fallen star who didn¡¯t even attend the end-of-yearpetitions.¡±

    Su Chen rubbed his chin. ¡°Is that the kind of impression I¡¯ve left on others?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s at least the outward impression people have of you, but now I know how wrong it is,¡± Yue Longsha replied. ¡°At the very least, you have the strength to be within the top ten of the Dragon Transformation List for our year.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for your acknowledgement.¡± The skewer of meat was finally done cooking. Su Chen picked it up and handed it to Yue Longsha.

    Yue Longsha made no show of feigned politeness when she received the skewer and began to chow down on it. She asked as she ate, ¡°Hey, what rtionship do you have with the Immortal Temple exactly? Why do you want to help them?¡±

    Su Chen exined how he had unintentionally discovered the Immortal Temple¡¯s secrets all those years ago and been chased after. However, he had used this secret to ckmail them again and again. Of course, he only described their initial encounters and didn¡¯t mention any details about the Spirit Burying Terrace.

    Even so, Yue Longsha was astounded by his retelling.

    A youth who was blind and had been discarded by his n relied on himself to courageously resist the Immortal Temple, finally borrowing their strength to benefit himself. It cast him in quite a romantic light.

    ¡°Inconceivable. You yed the Immortal Temple like a fiddle,¡± Yue Longsha sighed in amazement.

    ¡°You can¡¯t call that ying them like a fiddle. It¡¯s more like aiding each other,¡± Su Chen refuted Yue Longsha¡¯s statement. ¡°I don¡¯t think I could have made them do whatever I wanted. The Immortal Temple put up with me not only because I controlled their weak points, but also because I gave them the hope and faith that they could reap even more benefits from me.¡±

    From the outside, it seemed that Su Chen was constantly using the Immortal Temple, but when had the Immortal Temple not benefitted from their cooperation with Su Chen?

    Regardless of whether it was eliminating the Shadow Mountain Troops or participating in the Red Cloud Slope battle, the Immortal Temple had always reaped significant benefits. Although they had paid a significant price for the matter regarding the Spirit Burying Terrace, inviting someone to concoct medicine for them cost money, but obtaining it from Su Chen meant that they would not need to outsource the job to someone else.

    One could say that, in all of their dealings with Su Chen, they had nevere off worse for it, and the only disputes were over who reaped the most benefits.

    And for an organization whose n was already close to the brink of failure anyways, they did not have much of a position to ask for more.

    ¡°Regardless, there are not many people who could have done what you did,¡± Yue Longsha said, still impressed.

    ¡°It was just luck. More importantly, their way of doing things has changed. They are no longer the organization that only knows how to massacre people to get things done. They also know how topromise and retreat now.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because you¡¯ve never seen their cold-blooded, brutal side,¡± Yue Longsha coldly harrumphed.

    Su Chen froze slightly upon hearing those words.

    He realized something and asked, ¡°Right, you haven¡¯t told me why you want to deal with them?¡±

    Yue Longsha¡¯s eyes began to moisten.

    Su Chen felt that something was not right.

    Indeed, Yue Longsha replied, ¡°A few years ago, they killed my father.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Indeed, his face had been pped quite quickly.

    pping other peoples¡¯ faces was quite fun, but being pped was not so fun.

    Su Chen, who had just praised the Immortal Temple, was suddenly at a loss for words.

    Suddenly he thought of something and began to stare at Yue Longsha, a strange expression in his eyes.

    There¡¯s no way, he thought.

    Yue Longsha was a bit unsettled by his gaze. She weakly asked, ¡°What are you looking at?¡±

    Su Chen thought for a moment before replying, ¡°Is your father...... Yue Wuti?¡±

    Yue Longsha stared at him in shock. ¡°How did you know?¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 74: Taking Leave

    Chapter 74: Taking Leave

    The mood suddenly became heavy, as if someone had suppressed it with arge stone.

    The words that had been secretly spoken in the woods reverberated in his ear.

    So they had made a move in the end?

    In order to sessfully implement their n, they had brazenly killed Yue Wuti.

    Every person had their own point of view that was restricted and directed by the circumstances under which they lived.

    When Su Chen was cooperating with the Immortal Temple, he had encountered their humorous, easy-going side. As time went on, he began to overlook the ¡°fear¡± attribute of the Immortal Temple. Indeed, he viewed them as a harmless organization that was currently evolving. But to Yue Longsha, she saw an organization that would use any means necessary, underhanded or not, to achieve their goals. They were a frightening organization that even dared to assassinate the headmander of the Secret Task Force.

    There was no ¡°real¡± or ¡°fake¡± involved here. Both of them had encountered a genuine characteristic of the organization.

    They could scheme, they couldpromise, and they could retreat, but they could also ruthlessly kill anyone who blocked their path forwards regardless of what status that person had.

    Upon seeing Su Chen¡¯s expression, Yue Longsha suddenly understood something.

    She said, ¡°The secret you overheard...... Did it have to do with my father?¡±

    Su Chen nodded his head gravely. ¡°I originally could have warned him, but after discovering that he was the headmander of the Secret Task Force, I felt that there was no need to do so. After all, he probably faced this kind of matter every day, and he definitely would have some protective measures, so......¡±

    ¡°So you overlooked everything that happened, allowing them to kill my father?¡± Yue Longsha¡¯s voice trembled.

    ¡°I......¡± Su Chen wanted to say that he hadn¡¯t overlooked it, and that he hadn¡¯t expected them to actually follow through with it, but he couldn¡¯t say anything.

    There was nothing he could say to defend himself. That was the truth!

    In order to protect himself and to use them, he had truly overlooked it.

    When faced with Yue Longsha¡¯s anger and pain-filled gaze, Su Chen couldn¡¯t find the right words to say.

    Large tears began to roll down Yue Longsha¡¯s face.

    She wanted to curse at him, to me him, but there was nothing she could say.

    Yue Longsha wasn¡¯t an unreasonable woman. She understood Su Chen¡¯s situation, and before she knew that the secret he had overheard had to do with her father, she was even apuding him. There was nothing wrong with the decision that Su Chen had made at that point in time.

    Because of this, however, the pain in her heart was even greater.

    She had no way of hating him, and the anger in her had no outlet. The pain in her heart was hard to endure, and she couldn¡¯t let it out. All she could do was repress it and prevent it from escaping.

    Suddenly, Yue Longsha spit out a mouthful of blood.

    Su Chen was startled. He hurried over to help her up, but Yue Longsha pushed him aside.

    All Su Chen could do was say in a low voice, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Yue Longsha shook her head, unwilling to look at him.

    Su Chen felt even more guilty upon looking at her pale face.

    He thought for a moment, then pulled out the ring, cing it in front of Yue Longsha along with a vial of medicine. ¡°The ring is yours. I left everything inside as is. This medicine can neutralize the effects of the Qi Obstructing Powder as well as a few other substances. Keep it for yourself. I really am sorry about your father. If possible, I wish to never have any dealings with them in the future.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he turned around and left.

    Yue Longsha gazed at his disappearing back, aplicated expression on her face.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    After leaving Yue Longsha behind, Su Chen returned to Reflection Rock.

    It was already evening by the time Su Chen returned. Almost everyone had already left, and only a few people remained, waiting.

    Wang Doushan, Cloud Leopard and the others were there, but no sign of Zheng Xia or Yan Fuxing could be found.

    Su Chen¡¯s heart sank upon seeing this.

    Upon seeing him walk over, Wang Doushan met up with him. ¡°You finished off Zhang Sheng¡¯an?¡±

    Su Chen nodded his head. ¡°Zheng Xia and Yan Fuxing......¡±

    Wang Doushan sighed. ¡°They died.¡±

    ¡°How did they die? Were they killed by the y Giant?¡±

    ¡°It was Guan Shanying and Jiang Yang......¡± Wang Doushan exined roughly what had happened after he left.

    Upon hearing that after he left, everyone had chosen to fight back against their opponents even while under threat of the y Giant, Su Chen was quite surprised.

    He knitted his eyebrows. ¡°So you¡¯re telling me that everyone from Team Soaring apart from Jin Ling¡¯er all died?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er was fine because, in the end, she had not chosen to participate in the battle.

    Iron Cliff had found her, but the two of them did not exchange blows. They just stared at each other mutely.

    Even though Jin Ling¡¯er had lost the Giant Adamantine Ape, Iron Cliff was still not strong enough to be Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s opponent.

    Jin Ling¡¯er herself was unwilling to fight them, so to her, facing off against Iron Cliff was the best way to defuse the situation.

    Thankfully, she hadn¡¯t wanted to fight. Otherwise, Team Bright would have lost more than two members.

    ¡°Mhm!¡± Wang Doushan nodded his head. ¡°The most pressing issue right now is to figure out how we should handle the situation now.¡±

    Six members of Bloodline Nobility ns had all died at the same time. No matter what, this matter was going to blow up.

    Su Chen muttered, ¡°You mean......¡±

    ¡°No matter what, news of this incident cannot spread,¡± Wang Doushan said. ¡°We cannot let those six ns know that we are the ones who killed them. Everyone must im together that the y Giant had killed them.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps this reason alone will not be enough to satisfy them,¡± Su Chen said faintly.

    Su Chen, who had exchanged blows with Zhang Sheng¡¯an, was very clear about how many trump cards these six people must have had.

    Perhaps the y Giant could chase them all over the ce, but it would be too difficult for it to actually kill them all. In addition, there was no way that it was faster than Guan Shanying.

    Wang Doushan replied carelessly, ¡°Whether they agree or not is up to them. We took care of things on our end very well ¨C at the very least, they won¡¯t be able to pin the me onto us.¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°Looks like you thought this through while I wasn¡¯t here.¡±

    Wang Doushanughed darkly. ¡°Although I¡¯m fat, I¡¯m not stupid. Thankfully, the y Giant really went crazy, and many people already saw it. I already took care of the corpses, and no one will discover them. At the very least, they won¡¯t be able to find any problems for now. As for how long......¡±

    Wang Doushan shook his head. ¡°We¡¯ll dy for as long as we can.¡±

    His tone clearly indicated, however, that he didn¡¯t have much faith in that idea.

    Su Chen gently smiled. ¡°Some things in life depend on fate. Why so pessimistic? If they don¡¯t discover it, that¡¯s naturally for the best, but if they do discover it, all we need to do is prepare for a fight. What do we have to fear?¡±

    Wang Doushan was shocked. ¡°You seem to be quite carefree about this.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Ever since Zhang Sheng¡¯an charged at us with the y Giant, I¡¯ve been clear about what to do...... There are many situations where retreating will not end well. Those aloof, remote Bloodline Nobility ns always looked down on the lives of others. Since retreating will not gain their respect, we should just fight it out. There¡¯s nothing to be afraid of.¡±

    As he spoke, he turned and nced at Wang Doushan, ¡°Do you believe that no matter how well you cover your tracks, it won¡¯t be of any use? Those Bloodline Nobility ns will definitely go crazy upon discovering the deaths of their precious sons. They will try and find someone to get revenge on. Even if no such person exists, they will just create someone.¡±

    Wang Doushan¡¯s heart sank. ¡°You¡¯re telling me that they will definitelye and try to bother us?¡±

    ¡°Us, but that won¡¯t include you,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°You are also someone from a Bloodline Nobility n. As long as you stop associating with us, you should be able to escape it.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 75: Adamantine Battle Body

    Chapter 75: Adamantine Battle Body

    No matter what the future held, they still had to continue living their lives.

    After resting for a night, Team Bright finally embarked on their return journey. After experiencing such a devastating blow, no one had any interest in continuing to stay here. They also had to go back to the Institute in order to report the casualties.

    On the way, they all agreed, even Jin Ling¡¯er, to ce all of the me on the y Giant.

    But no one knew how effective this lie would be and how long it wouldst.

    After walking for a day, they finally returned to the Hidden Dragon Institute and went their own separate ways.

    While walking towards the Origin Energy Tower, Cloud Leopard asked Su Chen, ¡°Do you want to inform Uncle Huang about this matter?¡±

    Cloud Leopard wasn¡¯t Shi Kaihuang¡¯s disciple, so he called him ¡°Uncle¡± instead.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°We don¡¯t need to tell him about it right now. Instructors are supposed to teach us, not act as guardians. If we can withstand theing tempest on our own, it¡¯s best to do that.¡±

    If Wang Doushan was here, he probably would have said something like ¡°I¡¯m worried that you won¡¯t be able to handle it¡±, but all Cloud Leopard did was grunt and nod in agreement.

    To him, the idea that this situation might not be resolvable had never crossed his mind.

    On the streets, only fists were trustworthy.

    News of the death of Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s party had yet to spread. In the meantime, Su Chen experienced a rare moment of peace.

    After returning to his old manner of life, he once again threw himself into his research.

    He had sessfullypleted Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven, but there was more research waiting for him.

    As long as he was still alive, there would always be more research to do.

    Iron Cliff began cultivating as soon as he returned.

    Su Chen walked over and said, ¡°Iron Cliff, how is the cultivation of Mountain-Shaking Vigor going?¡±

    ¡°Master, it¡¯s reached the stage ofrge sess!¡± Iron Cliff said while proudly patting his chest.

    Mountain-Shaking Vigor was a kind of body-tempering technique. Unlike the Flowing Wind Body Technique, which resulted in aprehensive increase in strength, it would only increase physical power but to an extreme degree.

    Every person who cultivated it needed to be extremely muscr, so it was a perfect technique for the Cliff Race to learn.

    Unlike Su Chen¡¯s mixed, heterogeneous path, Iron Cliff had chosen a narrow, well-defined path.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t teach him too many Origin Skills, but he required Iron Cliff cultivate each one to the stage ofrge sess.

    At the moment, Iron Cliff had learned three Origin Skills: Flowing Wind Body Technique, Iron Mountain Shield, and now Mountain-Shaking Vigor. Every one of them was at the stage ofrge sess.

    If he were really to participate in battle, Iron Cliff would perhaps still not be the opponent of many of the students of the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    However, anyone who wanted to try and kill him would need to expend a significant amount of energy.

    One could say that Su Chen had brought Iron Cliff up to be like a meat shield.

    Upon hearing Iron Cliff¡¯s reply, a satisfied smile appeared on Su Chen¡¯s face. ¡°Very good. I think it¡¯s about time for me to teach you your fourth Origin Skill.¡±

    Upon hearing that there were new Origin Skills for him to learn, Iron Cliff also perked up. ¡°What is it, Master?¡±

    Su Chen did not reply; instead, he tossed a vial of medicine to Iron Cliff. ¡°Drink that.¡±

    Iron Cliff didn¡¯t hesitate to gulp it down.

    Iron Cliff drank the medicine and felt a stream of heat spread throughout his entire body, entering every blood vessel within his body. The surging tide of energy caused Iron Cliff feel as if he were about to explode.

    ¡°AHH!¡± Iron Cliff let out a pained cry.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move. Revolve your Origin Energy to the Heaven-Stepping Gate and then to the Lower Courtyard......¡± As Su Chen spoke, he smacked his palm on Iron Cliff¡¯s heart, then the space between his eyebrows, his nose, his neck, and spine. He continued to travel down Iron Cliff¡¯s body, every palm strike carrying an immense force behind it..

    If it were anyone else, they might have instinctively resisted, doubted, or froze in response.

    But Iron Cliff wouldn¡¯t. No matter what happened to him, he had absolute faith in his Master.

    This was exactly what Su Chen needed. He didn¡¯t say anything beforehand because he wanted to achieve this result. If Iron Cliff hadn¡¯t been able to manage it...... then he wouldn¡¯t want this kind of person anyways.

    The constant palm strikes prompted the Origin Energy to revolve in Iron Cliff¡¯s body at a furious rate. The external and internal energy constantly mmed into his body, changing and shaping it. Finally, the frighteningly powerful torrent of energy converged on the surface of his body.

    A faint golden light appeared, enveloping Iron Cliff¡¯s skin.

    The light slowly shimmered and flowed, making Iron Cliff look like a golden statue.

    The golden light grew stronger and stronger after Su Chen¡¯s palm strikes and Iron Cliff¡¯s Origin Energy revolutions.

    It wasn¡¯t until Su Chen retrieved his hands and the collisions of energy in his body began to subside that the golden light also began to fade.

    However, Iron Cliff could feel that his entire body, both mentally and physically, had been changed.

    He stared at his hands in shock but couldn¡¯t find anything wrong with them. He gazed at Su Chen, but Su Chen stumbled forwards, almost falling to the ground. Iron Cliff hurried over to help him up and said with a worried tone, ¡°Master!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. I just expended a bit too much energy, is all,¡± Su Chenughed.

    He helped Su Chen sit down before he asked, ¡°What did Master give me?¡±

    ¡°A new medicine I developed. I call it the...... Adamantine Medicine.¡±

    ¡°Adamantine Medicine?¡± Iron Cliff repeated, then thought of something. ¡°Giant Adamantine Ape?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°This is the Giant Adamantine Ape. What do you think? How does it feel to have the Adamantine Battle Armor?¡±

    Because he had killed it on his own, the entire Giant Adamantine Ape ended up belonging to Su Chen.

    After lugging the corpse back to the Origin Energy Tower, Su Chen began to research the Giant Adamantine Ape¡¯s bloodline.

    Originally, analyzing these bloodlines was just a habit of his. He did not have any expectations that it would result in anything significant.

    However, research always carried with it a great amount of uncertainty ¨C perhaps something he spent his entire life researching would never end up anywhere, but something else would produce results almost instantly. He never knew what kinds of surprises would fall into his hands.

    This was true even of the Adamantine Battle Armor.

    Research was just a habit of his, but he had surprisingly reached a breakthrough.

    This breakthrough was two-pronged. Su Chen had discovered the Giant Adamantine Ape¡¯s Origin Substance, and he had simultaneously resolved the secrets behind the way it moved the Origin Energy in its body.

    In other words, he now possessed both the raw ingredients as well as the cultivation technique.

    Su Chen had not only concocted the Adamantine Medicine, which could increase one¡¯s physical strength, but he had also developed a corresponding cultivation technique.

    ¡°Do you mean that I¡¯ve learned the Giant Adamantine Ape¡¯s Adamantine Battle Armor skill?¡± Iron Cliff asked in disbelief.

    Although he hadn¡¯t done battle with the Giant Adamantine Ape, based on Su Chen¡¯s description of its strength, the Adamantine Battle Armor was a frighteningly powerful defensive Origin Skill.

    He controlled it just like that?

    ¡°Yes, you¡¯ve learned it already. Try to activate it by following the instructions I just gave you,¡± Su Chen said.

    When Iron Cliff activated the skill, a golden light began to shine from his body.

    The golden light shimmered, carrying with it an impressive presence.

    ¡°It seems quite impressive, but we still need to test it out before we know how powerful it is,¡± Su Chenughed.

    In the next instant, he made a move.

    An Erupting Firebird flew out from his hands, mming into Iron Cliff¡¯s chest.

    Iron Cliff was sent flying, looking like a massive lump of gold. However, he quickly scrambled to his feet afternding on the ground. A wound had opened up on his chest, but it was evidently just a superficial injury.

    Iron Cliff was stunned. He gazed at the wound and then yelled in excitement, ¡°I blocked it! Master! I blocked your Erupting Firebird!¡±

    He had blocked the Erupting Firebird with his physical body without any external aid. Not many Origin Qi Schrs within the sameyer could im to possess a simr defensive capability, not even that damned Sword Rhinoceros Zheng Kuang.

    ¡°Yes, but it¡¯s not good enough yet,¡± Su Chen replied.

    The Giant Adamantine Ape had been powerful enough to forcefully resist his strengthened Erupting Firebird.

    ¡°But it¡¯s not a big deal. Continue to use the Adamantine Medicine and cultivate. You should be able to improve further...... or even surpass the Giant Adamantine Ape,¡± Su Chenughed, revealing his teeth. It was as if he could see an iron-d male taking shape in front of him.

    No, not just one!

    The reason why research was so attractive was because his sess could be replicated over and over again.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 76: Public and Personal

    Chapter 76: Public and Personal

    Su Chen¡¯s vision swirled psychedelically as he entered the Dreamrealm.

    Su Chen had once again arrived at the Dreamrealm Castle. He had just appeared when Dream Spirit Lulu also appeared next to him.

    She said with one hand on her hip, ¡°These are today¡¯smissions.¡±

    A screen of light appeared in front of Su Chen.

    Su Chen received it. They were all knowledge-rted questions, and they weren¡¯t very difficult. Most importantly, the rewards they offered were quite substantial.

    Su Chenughed and answered the questions and then returned it to Lulu.

    Lulu giggled, ¡°Done.¡±

    She waved her hands, and a trace of light shed across Su Chen¡¯s body.

    Near his wrist, four ck streaks formed a pattern near his wrist, disying that he was now a Tier Four Dream Guest.

    The tiers of privilege within the Dreamrealm were the opposite of contemporary Origin Tool tiers. The ranking of Origin Tools imitated the hierarchy of officials in the human race; the smaller the number was, the better the tool was. The tiers of privilege within the Dreamrealm, on the other hand, increased as the number grewrger.

    Su Chen was originally a Tier One Dream Guest, but over a period of time he had finally increased his privilege tier to Tier Four.

    This increase was not to be looked down on.

    Within the Dreamrealm, arge price needed to be paid to raise one¡¯s privilege tier by even a single tier.

    Su Chen only reached Tier Four in the past few days not because of his own efforts but because of Meng Lan¡¯s help.

    This was part of the deal that Su Chen had struck with Meng Lan.

    Meng Lan really didn¡¯t like the fact that someone had concealed Su Chen¡¯s notice. After all, the dissemination of Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven implied arge profit.

    But she was forbidden from interfering because of the rules, which was why she had requested that Su Chen raise his privilege tier. The higher Su Chen¡¯s privilege tier was, the more the other party would need to pay to conceal Su Chen¡¯s notice. If Su Chen also reached the Dream Monarch tier, then the other party would no longer have any way of preventing Su Chen from broadcasting his notices.

    It was under these circumstances that they had started their alliance.

    Su Chen would go to the Dream Castle everyday. As long as he came, there would be a list ofmissions that were easy to resolve, yet had high rewards, waiting for him.

    All of thesemissions were given to him by Meng Lan, but only Su Chen could see them. Because of this, he was able to earnrge amounts of Dream Droplets.

    However, these Dream Droplets did not belong to him because they were instantly taken by Meng Lan to raise his privilege tier.

    From this aspect, Meng Lan hadn¡¯t paid any price, but Su Chen did not suffer any losses either. At the very least, he was constantly raising his privilege tier.

    Unfortunately, if they were too extravagant with this method, it would be easily detected, and someone might lodge aint against her to the Lord of the Dreamrealm. Thus, Meng Lan didn¡¯t dare be too audacious, and she only helped Su Chen increase his status bit by bit.

    ¡°Great!¡± Upon seeing that Su Chen¡¯s privilege tier had increased once again, Lulu giggled, ¡°From this point on, the person that wants to conceal your notice will need to spend even more money to suppress it. Hehe, I hope this guy will give up soon.¡±

    ¡°What privilege tier do you think I need to reach before the other party is forced to give in?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s hard to say.¡± Lulu rubbed her chin. ¡°The Castle Lady says that it depends on the other party¡¯s strength. If they are very powerful, they could probably continue to suppress you even if you reach Dream Officer level. Thus, she has already arranged things so that you can reach the Dream Monarch level eventually. Even if we are just increasing the amount of money your opposer is spending right now, Meng Lan is still benefitting from it.¡±

    As Lulu spoke, herrge head bobbed up and down.

    Su Chen was not surprised. If there was no benefit for her, why would Meng Lan be willing to help him?

    ¡°What if I reach the Dream Officer stage earlier?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Lulu shook her head. ¡°The Castle Lady cannot give you more aid than she has the authority to.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m saying by relying on myself.¡±

    ¡°Relying on yourself?¡± Lulu repeatedly shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s too difficult.¡±

    ¡°That may not be.¡± Su Chenughed. He tapped his forehead, and a streak of light flew forth, entering Lulu¡¯s body.

    As the light entered Lulu¡¯s body, she stopped moving, freezing in ce.

    An instantter, the world around Su Chen began to whirl. When he reappeared, he was standing in Meng Lan¡¯srge hall.

    Meng Lan was sitting atop the hall¡¯s throne.

    ¡°Su Chen pays his respects to the Castle Lady.¡± Su Chen cupped his hands and bowed.

    ¡°Please, there¡¯s no need to be so formal.¡± Meng Lan waved her hands and a screen of light appeared in front of her. Characters of light began to shine on the screen, and at the very top three1rge words were written: Adamantine Battle Body.

    Meng Lan said, ¡°Were you the one that created this Adamantine Battle Body Origin Skill?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Su Chen replied. He had just given Lulu the Adamantine Battle Body technique¡¯s cultivation method.

    ¡°I have looked over the contents already, and it¡¯s quite an impressive Origin Skill. To low-tier Origin Qi Schrs, it might even be considered an Absolute Technique. However, you are willing to disseminate it to the public?¡± Meng Lan clicked her tongue in admiration and with a certain degree of surprise.

    ¡°No matter how much of an Absolute Technique it is, can itpare to Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Meng Lanughed. ¡°Since you were willing to publically sell a secret technique like Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven for only a hundred Dream Droplets, I guess I shouldn¡¯t be surprised that you are willing to sell this Adamantine Battle Body technique. What are you thinking of pricing it at?¡±

    Su Chen thought for a moment before he replied, ¡°How about a thousand Dream Droplets?¡±

    Meng Lan was caught off-guard.

    ¡°What? Is that not a fair price?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s not it,¡± Meng Lanughed. ¡°I just don¡¯t understand why you would sell Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven for only one hundred Dream Droplets and then sell the Adamantine Battle Body for a thousand.¡±

    Truthfully, asking for a thousand Dream Droplets for an Origin Skill like the Adamantine Battle Body was not much at all. Meng Lan was only surprised because Su Chen had asked for much less when selling Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven earlier.

    There were people who would even be willing to pay hundreds of thousands of Dream Droplets for a skill that would allow someone without a bloodline to reach the Blood Boiling Realm.

    Su Chen had only asked for a hundred simply to facilitate its dissemination.

    If he wanted to spread it as far as he could, he would have to lower the cost. From the very beginning, Su Chen did not intend to profit much off of it.

    Because of this, Meng Lan viewed Su Chen as ¡°grand¡± and ¡°selfless¡±, so upon hearing that Su Chen wanted a thousand Dream Droplets for the Adamantine Battle body, thispletely ordinary price caught Lan a bit off guard.

    Su Chenughed. ¡°I can understand your confusion. In your eyes, a person who carries with them a dream of bringing the entire human race to prominence should be extremely selfless, right?¡±

    ¡°Is that not the case?¡± Meng Lan asked.

    ¡°Of course not. That¡¯s just what many people think,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°I do not deny that I have a heart for bringing the human race to prominence, but this doesn¡¯t mean that I need to sacrifice myselfpletely for the greater good.¡±

    He nced at Meng Lan and said sincerely, ¡°Many things are not actually mutually exclusive. Why must ¡®I¡¯ and ¡®the greater good¡¯ always be at odds? Why must someone with grand dreams be selfless? As human beings and as individual entities, it is impossible to avoid a certain amount of selfish desires. If we lose even these selfish desires and do not attempt to satisfy them, can we really be considered human?¡±

    Meng Lan gazed at him with curiosity. ¡°You mean......¡±

    ¡°I am willing to dedicate myself to the human race¡¯s rise to prominence, but this doesn¡¯t mean that I don¡¯t have my own pursuits and goals, nor does it mean that I do not have any selfish desires or my own thoughts and ideas. Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven will give humans without bloodlines the ability to reach the Blood Boiling Realm and raise the cultivation foundation of the entire human race. It is incredibly important, and I cannot use something like that to satisfy my own selfish desires. The price of one hundred Dream Droplets was so that people wouldn¡¯t take it too lightly and to also earn some resources for the next step. The Adamantine Battle Body is an Origin Skill that I created. Whether it actually exists is not that important to the human race as a whole, but to me it carries a deep significance. Even so, I have hidden my selfishness. The true Adamantine Battle Body requires thebination of both a kind of medicine along with the cultivation method for sess, but I have only provided the cultivation method here, not the medicine.¡±

    ¡°If I am doing something for the greater good, then I will focus all my attention on it.¡±

    ¡°If I am doing something selfish, then I will choose the path that will bring me the most benefit.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care about what others think. To me, public and personal matters don¡¯t necessarily need to conflict. I can harbor great ambition for the human race, but I also need to know when to do things for myself!¡±

    1. Actually four Chinese characters, but I changed it to three for the sake of maintaining English uracy.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 77: A Big Sale

    Chapter 77: A Big Sale

    Meng Lan gazed at Su Chen approvingly.

    This was a young man who was very clear about what he was doing and why he was doing it. He had an all-epassing ambition, but he could also remain sober and clear-headed.

    This kind of man possessed an inherent attractive power.

    Even though they weren¡¯t from the same race, Meng Lan still felt her heart flutter in that instant.

    However, she quickly restrained her emotions and smiled. ¡°I understand what you mean. Since that¡¯s the case, I will personally help you take care of this matter. The Adamantine Battle Body will be advertised on the main screen for three days with a 9-star evaluation.¡±

    The notices in the Hall of Knowledge have different rankings, which are particrly important for Origin Skills and cultivation techniques. Thus, Castle Lords and Ladies sometimes assign them evaluations based on their content, originality, and practicality. They were assigned a value by the number of stars they have. The number of stars range from one through nine, and the more stars a notice has, the better it is.

    Put quite inly, they represent the Castle Lord¡¯s (or Lady¡¯s) rmendation.

    Origin Skills with the Castle Lady¡¯s rmendation had a certain degree of insurance behind it, and people who bought it would have much more faith in them.

    A 9-star evaluation was the highest possible evaluation.

    Su Chen¡¯s Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven hadn¡¯t received an evaluation because he hadn¡¯t been acquainted with Meng Lan at the time and because at a price of one hundred Dream Droplets, such a technique didn¡¯t need an evaluation to sell like crazy. When an item was that much of a steal, things like evaluations didn¡¯t matter anymore.

    By having the advertisement on the main hall¡¯s screen for three days in a row, the skill¡¯s dissemination would be maximized.

    Tens of thousands of notices were sent through the Hall of Information every day. Most people¡¯s notices would shoot by in a sh, but the Adamantine Battle Body would be disyed in a prime location for three days in a row. That was quite arge discrepancy.

    Advertisements in the Dreamcastle like this would normally require a sky-high price, but Meng Lan had done it for him for free.

    This was one of Meng Lan¡¯s special privileges.

    Although she could not directly raise Su Chen¡¯s privilege tier, she was allowed to publically and freely spread information about good items.

    The Adamantine Battle Body was truly an excellent Origin Skill. Perhaps a 9-star evaluation was a bit too high, but it wasn¡¯tpletely unreasonable either.

    Three days of free advertisements and a 9-star evaluation ¨C this was the best support she could possibly provide.

    Of course, Meng Lan wasn¡¯t just offering her assistance for free. She demanded that Su Chen use all of the Dream Droplets he earned on raising his privilege tier.

    Naturally, Su Chen was not willing to agree to those terms.

    Doing research expended a lot of materials. The Adamantine Battle Body may have seemed like a chance urrence, but it was built on the foundation of countless failures and a mountain of resources.

    Thus, the Adamantine Battle Armor¡¯s sess was both lucky and inevitable!

    If he used all of the earnings to raise his privilege tier, how could he perform any future research?

    The two parties argued this point for some time.

    Finally, they reached an agreement. For the first ten days it went on sale, 90% of the profits from the Adamantine Battle Body technique would go towards raising Su Chen¡¯s privilege tier.

    After ten days, all profits would belong to Su Chen.

    Unlike material objects, knowledge and information could be spread, so as time went on it would be increasingly difficult to sell them.

    For instance, if someone bought the Adamantine Battle Body within the Dreamrealm, they were prohibited from redistributing it within the Dreamrealm due to the Dreamrealm¡¯s rules. However, upon leaving the Dreamrealm, they could sell it for a much lower price in the real world.

    There was nothing that could be done to prevent this.

    Thus, as soon as a piece of information was revealed within the Drea, it could be sold for as little as 1/10th of the original price in the real world.

    When considering the extremely high price of Origin Skills, more illicit copies might be sold than the original. Some people profited from this by ordering others to mass distribute any good Origin Skills they obtained. Oftentimes an Origin Skill that had been bought for a thousand Origin Stones could be sold at half the price for many more copies, allowing them to profit.

    Because of this, Origin Skills would sell the most during the first ten days they went on the market. After this time period, even the best Origin Skills would be harder to sell and eventually be worth less than before.

    To Meng Lan, increasing Su Chen¡¯s privilege tier would force the other party to pay a much higher price to continue to suppress Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven.

    To Su Chen, the Adamantine Battle Body would definitely sell like crazy with Meng Lan¡¯s support. Even if it sold less after ten days, he would still be able to make a steady, constant profit.

    This was beneficial for both of them, so the matter was decided quite quickly.

    Very soon, the Adamantine Battle Body appeared on the Hall of Knowledge¡¯s main screen.

    An Origin Skill with a 9-star evaluation was naturally very easy to notice, and this was only augmented by the im that the Adamantine Battle Body could resist an attack equivalent to the strength of eight bears.

    The bears mentioned were Cliff Bears, low-tier Vicious Beasts that relied purely on their physical power to do battle. They weremonly used as a standard to assess the power of an Origin Skill, simr to how martial artists would use horsepower to measure strength.

    Of course, pure power wasn¡¯t exactly a fair assessment of an Origin Skill¡¯s value. After all, Origin Skills came in all shapes and sizes. For instance, the Soul Eye, Clear Wind Net, Whitetower Teleportation, etc. could not be assessed purely based on power alone. Even so, bear strength was usually a good reference point.

    The lowest-tier Qi Drawing Origin Skills were equivalent to the strength of one bear, while better ones could be as high as three bears. Bloodline Origin Skills were usually above five bears, which was the standard.

    To say that something has abat strength of five in the Primordial Continent is equivalent to saying that it has the strength of five bears. Anything underneath this standard was usually considered irrelevant.

    Su Chen¡¯s Erupting Firebird wasparable to a few Bloodline Origin Skills because its offensive capabilities were equivalent to the strength of twelve bears. Evenpared to the multitude of Origin Skills that exist, this was still quite impressive.

    Because the Adamantine Battle Armor hadn¡¯t been paired with the Adamantine Medicine, its defensive capabilities were only rated as the strength of eight bears. Even so, this was already quite impressive.

    It was important to understand that this Origin Skill was a defensive-type Origin Skill, not an offensive one.

    Amongst Origin Skills of the same tier, offensive Origin Skills were rated as more powerful than defensive ones. However, when offensive and defensive-type Origin Skills were at the same level, defensive-type Origin Skills were much more valuable.

    The Adamantine Battle Body could handle a blow with the strength of eight bears, implying that any Origin Skills with less offensive power would be useless against it. Even attacks stronger than that threshold would have their effects greatly reduced.

    The only drawback to this Origin Skill was that, upon activation, one¡¯s body weight would increase, affecting one¡¯s speed. The exact effect depended on the person: the sturdier a person was, the more they could ignore this effect. Those who relied on lightness to remain agile would be affected much more.

    Even so, to most Qi Drawing Origin Qi Schrs, this Origin Skill was quite valuable.

    With the help of the Castle Lady¡¯s 9-star evaluation, Su Chen sold three hundred copies of the Adamantine Battle Armor in just half an hour.

    At 1000 Dream Droplets per copy, Su Chen instantly earned 300,000 Dream Droplets. His good fortune hade so quickly that even he felt a bit disoriented.

    However, he knew that this was all because of the 9-star evaluation and free advertising Meng Lan had given him. The former was a guarantee of the Origin Skill¡¯s quality, while thetter was to allow as many people to see it as possible.

    Without these two benefits, Su Chen might not have sold even a tenth of the number of copies.

    A dayter, Su Chen received the sales numbers.

    2,213 copies of the Adamantine Battle Armor had been sold.

    Su Chen¡¯s privilege tier instantly jumped to that of a Tier One Dream Officer, granting him a medium amount of authority.

    These were just his earnings on the first day.

    During the following two days, sales of the Adamantine Battle Armor exploded. 3,800 copies were sold in two days, earning him another 380,000 Dream Droplets and increasing his privilege tier to Tier Four Dream Officer.

    Within three days, Su Chen had earned over five hundred thousand Origin Stones. Su Chen felt as if he were dreaming.

    Su Chen was also rendered speechless by the incredibly high price tag associated with raising his privilege tier.

    Five hundred thousand Origin Stones were only enough to bring him to a Tier Four Dream Officer. If he wanted to be a high-tier Dream Monarch, he at least needed a million more Origin Stones!

    However, these privilege tiers weren¡¯t just for show. Su Chen also obtained many perks because of this increase.

    Su Chen would be able to advertise his notices on the main screen once he became a Dream Monarch. By paying a small fee, he would be allowed to advertise them for a certain period of time. Though it would not be as long as three days like the Castle Lords and Ladies could do, the duration would be long enough for most people to see it.

    Even if he was just a Dream Officer, he had already obtained many unique privileges within the Dreamrealm.

    For instance, he no longer needed to wait in line in the side rooms to do what he wanted.

    As a Dream Officer, he could select a Dream Spirit to be at his service.

    Su Chen chose Lulu.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 78: Scheme

    Chapter 78: Scheme

    The Adamantine Battle Armor¡¯s sales took arge dive on the fourth day.

    After losing his advertisement on the main screen, only two hundred copies of the Adamantine Battle Body were sold, and they continued to decrease thereafter. By the tenth day, he wasn¡¯t even able to sell more than forty copies. He sold nearly a thousand copies over those seven days, not even half what we sold on the first day.

    Even so, Su Chen was able to earn nearly another hundred thousand Origin Stones, reached Tier Five Dream Officer, and his personal assets had increased to seven hundred thousand Origin Stones.

    The good news was that although the Adamantine Battle Body¡¯s sales had greatly diminished, Su Chen no longer had a 90% tax imposed on him. Su Chen¡¯s profit margins experienced a revival on the eleventh day when he sold thirty-two copies of the Adamantine Battle Body, earning 32,000 Origin Stones.

    A monthter, Su Chen¡¯s profit from the Adamantine Battle body officially reached one million Origin Stones.

    Although the Adamantine Battle Body no longer had much selling power, as long as Su Chen kept the notice up, he would be able to sell copies from time to time based on its 9-star evaluation. It would be a constant, long-term source of profit for Su Chen, and Su Chen began to appreciate the value of advertisement and reputation.

    The name ¡°Cloud Bat¡± was known by the general public for the first time, and many people gave the Adamantine Battle Body favorable reviews after trying it out for themselves.

    Mid-tier Dream Officers possessed a system for evaluation, and they could begin to build a reputation for themselves.

    Many people began to discuss their experiences cultivating and activating the Adamantine Battle Body. There were those who were offering their own genuine views, but of course there were also those whose only goal was to stir up trouble.

    Su Chen¡¯s life was morefortable than it had ever been.

    Of course, there were still difficulties he needed to face.

    Not long ago, the ns of Zhang Sheng¡¯an and the others finally arrived on the scene.

    After getting the gist of what happened from the Hidden Dragon Institute, the ns went to the Falling Eagle Mountain to investigate the truth behind Zhang Sheng¡¯an and the others¡¯ deaths.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know when they were going to return, but he knew that when they did return, the storm would begin again.

    Su Chen had already made preparations.

    Unexpectedly, however, someone found him before the members of the Zhang n were able to......

    That morning, Su Chen was still in his researchb performing experiments when the tower spirit informed him that there were guests waiting for him.

    Upon exiting the Origin Energy Tower, Su Chen found a youth standing in front of him.

    The youth had eyes that left a deep impression on anyone who saw them, and his expression was as sharp as a knife.

    Even though he smiled as he spoke to Su Chen, Su Chen was still able to feel a bone-piercing, out-of-this-world chilling intenting from him.

    ¡°Hello,¡± the youth said. ¡°My name is Zhu Chen1.¡±

    ¡°Do I know you?¡±

    A self-confident smile appeared on the youth¡¯s face. ¡°We might not have known each other before, but now we will, Sir Cloud Bat.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    The Dream Monarch¡¯s people were able to find him in the end.

    Upon hearing the name ¡°Cloud Bat¡±, Su Chen understood.

    Even so, Su Chen did not panic in the slightest.

    Just like he had known that the Zhang n would send people over, Su Chen also knew that he couldn¡¯t conceal the identity of Cloud Bat forever.

    Su Chen sat near the window of a tea shop in the Northeast corner of the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    The wind from the river was cool and gentle, and it brought with it the youth¡¯s words. ¡°Let me introduce myself. I am called Zhu Chen, from the Horizontal Mountain Zhu n.¡±

    ¡°Horizontal Mountain? You¡¯re from Liao Ye, not Long Sang?¡± Su Chen was a bit surprised.

    Zhu Chen said, ¡°The Dreamrealm serves every Intelligent Race of the Primordial Continent. People who are close in the Dreamrealm may actually be worlds apart; that¡¯s just how it goes.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Su Chen nodded. ¡°Then I feel much more at ease.¡±

    Zhu Chen understood the meaning behind his words andughed, ¡°It seems that Prince Su has been prepared for me for quite some time. But how could someone who developed a wonderful technique like Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven be amon individual? But Prince Su, you¡¯ve misunderstood our intentions. I havee here today with no negative intentions.¡±

    ¡°Oh? So you aren¡¯t here to demand I take down Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven and never let it see the light of day again?¡±

    Zhu Chen¡¯s expression was one of surprise. ¡°My n¡¯s master does wish for you to take down Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven, but not with the intention of never letting it see the light of day. Prince Su, where did that ideae from?¡±

    Su Chen was caught off guard. ¡°You¡¯re not here to conceal Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven? Then why are you here?¡±

    ¡°Naturally we want to cooperate with Prince Su,¡± Zhu Chen replied. ¡°Why would we want to prevent and bury such an outstanding technique? We only concealed your notice because you were selling it for only one hundred Dream Droplets per copy ¨C much too low. Most importantly, you shouldn¡¯t be selling such a precious technique on the Dreamrealm in the first ce!¡±

    Zhu Chen spoke almost in amenting way.

    ¡°Oh? Then what should I do?¡± Su Chen asked purposefully.

    Zhu Chen got close to him and said, ¡°You might be able to haul in some temporary profits by selling it in the Dreamrealm, but that isn¡¯t a good long-term tactic. Once secret techniques spread, they lose their value. Only by cooperating with arge Bloodline Nobility n like us can you strictly control who has ess to the skill. Cultivators need to swear a Blood Poison Oath to always be loyal to the nobility before gaining ess to it. This way, we can rely on this tactic to attract more talent and increase our own strength, passing it down through the generations! Although in the short-term it might seem like the benefits are lower, this skill is enough to bring thousands of years of good fortune for you and us!¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Su Chen understood.

    Originally, Shi Kaihuang believed that as soon as a method for breaking into the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline appeared, wolves would begin to appear.

    He was right.

    He was also wrong.

    Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven had indeed attracted the attention of the wolves, but it wasn¡¯t for the reason that he had thought.

    The reason was very simple.

    Breaking through bloodline restrictions would definitely incite a reaction from the Bloodline Nobility ns.

    However, Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven would not break through those restrictions.

    It allowed a person to break into the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline, but it wouldn¡¯t allow them to reach a higheryer.

    Breaking through bloodline restrictions was a long and burdensome path. Perhaps Su Chen would be unable to achieve it during his lifetime.

    If youpared the sevenyers that Origin Qi Schrs could achieve to that of a tall tower with seven floors, then Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven was only like a two-floor tower. They were still very far away from building that seven-floor tower.

    Because of this, the reaction that Shi Kaihuang had anticipated did not ur. Although Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven wasn¡¯t a bad skill, it wasn¡¯t enough to shake the position of many Bloodline Nobility ns.

    But on the other hand, Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven truly was a masterstroke.

    It could allow someone without a bloodline to reach the Blood Boiling Realm without fail, which would also raise the foundation of those relying on bloodline strength. Thus, it went without saying that they could obtain even more powerful bloodlines by using it, covertly raising the strength of lowyer Origin Qi Schrs.

    To a few of therger Bloodline Nobility ns, Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven was an important tool they could use to attract talent.

    If someone controlled it, they could use it to aplish arge undertaking.

    Thus, the Dream Monarch of the Du n did not prevent the spread of Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven because he wanted to protect the existing bloodline restrictions.

    He just wanted to control it for himself so he could use it and control its dissemination.

    When Su Chen understood this point, he also began to realize why no such bloodline-less skills had be widespread even though they had been developed hundreds of years before.

    It was because of the existence of Bloodline Nobility ns.

    Perhaps they had not prevented these secret techniques from spreading, but they had controlled and restricted its spread, making it basically the same as if these techniques didn¡¯t exist.

    If you wanted to obtain the technique, you would need to be their dogs!

    1. Not the same character as Su Chen¡¯s name. Annoyingly, they have almost identical pronunciations.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 79: Sophistry

    Chapter 79: Sophistry

    ¡°A hundred Dream Droplets to buy this cultivation technique. Even if you sold ten thousand copies, it wouldn¡¯t be more than one million Spirit Stones. How many people within the Dreamrealm would buy your cultivation technique? As long as they secretly distribute it, you would sell at most a hundred thousand copies. That is also to say that you would make at most ten million for it, and that¡¯s a high estimate. In reality, you might not even be able to sell ten thousand copies. Wasn¡¯t that the case with your Adamantine Battle Body? Perhaps within a year countless tens of thousands will cultivate your Adamantine Battle Body, but there might only be a few thousands who will be willing to pay money for it...... That is the truth. Wanting to make a fortune in the Dreamrealm just isn¡¯t practical.¡±

    Within the tea shop, Zhu Chen was still going on and on trying to convince Su Chen.

    Upon hearing what he said, Su Chen replied, ¡°I think you misunderstand me. I¡¯m selling Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven not for money, but because I want others to learn it so that the human race can grow stronger.¡±

    ¡°To bring the human race to prominence?¡± Zhu Chenughed.

    He shook his head. ¡°Before I came to look for you, I thought about it. Why would you sell it for such a low price in the Dreamrealm? I came to that conclusion in the end as well, but Prince Su, do you not feel that you are a bit too naive?¡±

    ¡°Naive?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Yes, naive!¡± Zhu Chen nodded his head with surety. ¡°What do you think Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven is? In the end, it¡¯s just amon method for reaching the Blood Boiling Realm. Do you think that just based on this technique you can achieve some kind of change that will upend the human race¡¯s current situation? Don¡¯t be silly. That¡¯s absolutely impossible.¡±

    ¡°I know that, but there will be somewhat of an increase, right? I cane up with Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven today, but tomorrow I can also research new ways of opening the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline or even the Light Shaking Realm and above.¡±

    ¡°Naive!¡± Du Zhen instantly said. ¡°If these kinds of secret techniques were easy to create, howe the human race hasn¡¯t advanced in tens of thousands of years? And so what if you can do it? Do you really think that you can change much? No, you won¡¯t change anything, and even if you do, you will only bring disaster upon us!¡±

    ¡°Disaster?¡±

    ¡°Yes, disaster! Do you really believe that we don¡¯t understand the thoughts of you bloodline-lessmoners? All you want to do every day is break through the bloodline restrictions. You feel that as long as you aplish this the human race will be brought to prominence. How absurd and ridiculous! That¡¯s just simply impossible. If you don¡¯t break through the bloodline restrictions, the human race still has a chance for survival. If your intentions are carried out, then the human race will really be doomed,¡± Zhu Chen coldlyughed.

    His voice was a bit loud, attracting the attention of some of the people nearby.

    Su Chen asked with interest, ¡°Why does Sir Zhu say that?¡±

    Zhu Chen said, ¡°Prince Su, you must have read history books before, right? Do you remember why the Arcana Kingdom fell?¡±

    Su Chen thought for a moment and then replied, ¡°I think it was because of an Origin Beast, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Zhu Chen said. ¡°When they were at their peak, they believed that they could conquer the entire continent. They repeatedly defeated the Beast Race, furiously pursuing them, but what about the Beast Race? All they did was one thing......awake an Origin Beast. As such, the Arcana Kingdom was no more.¡±

    He gestured with his hands as if showing something shattering. ¡°Arge kingdom, finished just like that.¡±

    Su Chen watched him.

    Zhu Chen said, ¡°A single Origin Beast wiped out the entire Arcana Race. The Arcana Race invented the Bloodline Extraction Instrument, the Origin Energy Temple, Sark¡¯s Nucleus, Spirit Transformation Tool, Freedom Wind, and countless other incredible and majestic inventions. A kingdom that powerful was easily exterminated and pushed aside like a rotten log!¡±

    Su Chen seemed a bit confused. ¡°I already know that. What are you trying to say?¡±

    Zhu Chen got close to him and said with a gentleugh, ¡°I just wanted to tell you that you shouldn¡¯t even try to pursue your dream of bringing the human race to prominence. Ignoring the fact that you probably don¡¯t have the ability to achieve it, even if you do manage to do it, you will discover that all you did was bring the human race disaster...... The same disaster that befell the Arcana Kingdom.¡±

    Su Chen finally understood. ¡°You reckon that it¡¯s better for us not to grow strong because we will attract the attention of the Origin Beasts and bring about our own demise?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not just my reckoning, but something that all of the Bloodline Nobility ns acknowledge. The human race can never defeat the Origin Race. The only reason we have been able to carve a position for ourself on the Primordial Race isn¡¯t because we are powerful, but because we aren¡¯t powerful enough!¡±

    When Su Chen heard this, he was stunned.

    This was the first time he had ever heard about the human race¡¯s future from another angle.

    Although this line of reasoning had probably been tailored to fit their needs ¨C for instance, strengthening the human race might not provoke the Beast Race for certain, and even if the Beast Race was provoked, they might not be able to awaken an Origin Beast ¨C but it still had a unique thought and logic behind it.

    Zhu Chen let out a satisfiedugh upon seeing Su Chen¡¯s wide-eyed expression.

    He said, ¡°So now do you understand? Maintaining the current situation is the best decision at the moment. The human race is fine as it is, and it doesn¡¯t need your interference. If you do too much for the human race, you will only harm it. Since that¡¯s the case, why not think about scheming for your own benefit a little more?¡±

    Su Chen repeatedly nodded his head.

    This movement made Zhu Chen very happy.

    ¡°You¡¯ve thought it through?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Mhm, now that you put it that way, I¡¯ve definitely thought a few things through,¡± Su Chen said.

    He ced his tea cup down and leaned against the chair to make himself morefortable before he said, ¡°I always wondered why no one was willing to publicly distribute a technique to reach the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline for the past few thousand years, even when more than one person had developed such a technique. Was there no one that had any selfless ambition? I wasn¡¯t satisfied. I couldn¡¯t understand it and I was in disbelief, but now I finally understand.¡±

    Zhu Chen nodded his head. ¡°That¡¯s right. It¡¯s not because they were all selfish, but because they knew there was no point. But don¡¯t worry about it. It might be pointless for the human race as a whole, but it will still be very useful to specific Bloodline Nobility ns. We looked over your Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven skill, and it really is an outstanding technique, better than any we¡¯ve seen in the past. That¡¯s why we are so willing to cooperate with you.¡±

    ¡°How would our cooperation pan out?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Zhu Chen said straightforwardly, ¡°If I told you that I would give you Origin Stones, then that would be looking down on you. If you were willing to sell Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven on the Dreamrealm for only a hundred Dream Droplets per copy, you probably wouldn¡¯t agree to our cooperation even if I offered hundreds of thousands or even millions of Origin Stones. But some things simply cannot be bought with money.¡±

    ¡°Such as......¡±

    ¡°Status of a Bloodline Nobility n member!¡± Zhu Chen replied. ¡°If you are willing, you can instantly be a son-inw of the Zhu n. You also know how difficult it is for amoner to be nobility. Marriages betweenmoners and nobility are usually forbidden, but our Zhu n is willing to make things easy for you. You can choose any woman of the Zhu n that has yet to marry and is of appropriate age. In the future, your status in the Zhu n will be that of an elder. You can learn any of the Zhu n¡¯s cultivation techniques or secret skills and use any bloodline you choose. Also, any sons you have with a daughter of the Zhu n has the right to inherit your status as an elder!¡±

    As Zhu Chen spoke, he grew more and more excited, but all Su Chen wanted to do wasugh. ¡°So you came all this way to find me just to tell me that you n on exchanging a woman for Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven?¡±

    Zhu Chen was dazed. ¡°What? You aren¡¯t happy with these conditions? No worries. If there¡¯s anything else you need, just let me know.¡±

    ¡°Forget about it.¡± Su Chen shook his head and stood up. ¡°I have to admit that you are very eloquent. There even was a moment where I was swayed by you. Yes, so what if the human race grows stronger? In the end, we won¡¯t be able to defeat the Origin beasts. But......¡±

    He paused for a moment. Zhu Chen suddenly felt his heart tighten.

    Su Chen said, ¡°But, just as you said, that is something to worry about when we grow stronger. If it¡¯s that far away, why do I need to worry about it? You even said that Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven can¡¯t bear the heavy burden of bringing the human race to prominence. It can only give lowyer Origin Qi Schrs a stronger foundation.

    ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, why waste it? You created it, so isn¡¯t it better just to try and create some benefits for yourself?¡±

    Su Chen coldly harrumphed, ¡°Because I despise you lot. You Bloodline Nobility ns are willing to do and say anything for yourself and your own personal gain. You keep saying that the human race cannot grow stronger, while on the other hand you say that Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven isn¡¯t enough to strengthen the human race. You are just trying to confuse me to make my dreams unclear. Yes, Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven cannot bring the human race to prominence, but it gives lowyer Origin Qi Schrs hope and will serve as a stepping stone for breaking through the bloodline restrictions! If I keep it for myself because it isn¡¯t able topletely break through the restrictions, then what higher-level cultivation techniques will appear? Without a solid foundation, how can you ever go higher?¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s words struck Zhu Chen and the others¡¯ weak spot.

    In the end, these people were still using sophistry to y with people¡¯s hearts.

    On one hand, they imed the human race could not grow stronger, while on the other they imed that your cultivation technique wasn¡¯t strong enough in the first ce.

    But was there anyone who could possibly develop a way to reach the Blood Boiling Realm, Yang Opening Realm, Light Shaking Realm, etc. all in one breath?

    These techniques were all developed one by one, then distributed, before research continued.

    Without a technique to break into the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline, there would be no chance for a technique to reach the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline!

    Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s words, Zhu Chen also knew that his attempts to coax Su Chen hadpletely failed.

    His expression slowly turned frosty. ¡°So you¡¯re saying that you¡¯re refusing the Zhu n¡¯s good intentions?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, I¡¯m turning you down,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Zhu Chen didn¡¯t get angry. He only coldlyughed, ¡°Youths with ambition are a good thing, but sometimes you need to learn how to do things after thinking about it! I rmend you not make this decision too hastily. Think about it a little more.¡±

    ¡°Are you just trying to pressure me because your bait failed?¡± Su Chenughed.

    Zhu Chen said slowly, ¡°Perhaps you haven¡¯t heard of the Zhu n before, but it¡¯s okay. I¡¯ll give you some time to look into it. After you¡¯ve looked into it, it won¡¯t be toote to make a decision then.¡±

    As he spoke, he ced his hands behind his back and slowly walked out of the tea shop.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 80: Iâ€™m Not That Kind of Disciple

    Chapter 80: I¡¯m Not That Kind of Disciple

    ¡°Horizontal Mountain Zhu n?¡±

    Shi Kaihuang¡¯s voice suddenly grew louder and his eyebrows shot into the air, his tone both cautious and serious.

    ¡°Does Instructor know about this nobility n?¡± Su Chen asked as he sat in the middle of the Origin Talisman Energy Formation, stars covering the sky above him.

    Shi Kaihuang gazed up for some time before replying, ¡°You should know that Bloodline Nobility ns have different ranks, right? The Horizontal Mountain Zhu n has the bloodline of a Demonic Emperor.¡±

    ¡°Demonic Emperor Bloodline?¡± Su Chen was shocked.

    The society they lived in had an extremely rigid hierarchy.

    In such a society, even Bloodline Nobility ns were divided into a hierarchy.

    What determined a n¡¯s ranking was the source of their bloodline.

    Demonic Beasts were typically split into low, mid, and high tier. Above that was Demon Lords, Demon Kings, and finally Demon Emperors. These divisions were further separated into pure and mixed blood categories.

    It was worth paying attention to the fact that, among the Bloodline Nobility ns, the majority of them had high-tier Demonic Beast bloodlines, not low-tier ones.

    This was because they were all ambitious. Under the appropriate circumstances, no one wanted to possess a low-quality bloodline.

    Otherwise, why weren¡¯t there any Vicious Beast Bloodlines?

    Quite inly, it was because their tier was too low and no one had any interest in using them.

    At this point, neither pureblood nor mixed blood ns really used Vicious Beast Bloodlines, and they were constantly striving for more powerful Demonic Beast Bloodlines as well. Thus, although low- and mid-tier Demonic Beast Bloodlines existed, they were still rtively low in number.

    This was why Su Chen had constantly encountered individuals in the exam grounds with high-tier Demonic Beast bloodlines over and over again. Apart from him, that was basically the norm for all Bloodline Nobility ns.

    Generally, mid-to-low Demonic Lord bloodlines are above high-tier Demonic Beast bloodlines.

    Above that were Demonic King Bloodlines.

    ns with Demonic King Bloodlines could be considered the nobility of nobility. Theymanded immense respect, and their statuses were extraordinary. Up to this point, Su Chen had never encountered a single one before, but it could be imagined that people with such a bloodline were probably at minimum at the same level of strength as Ji Hanyan.

    Demonic Monarchs were essentiallymanders and overlords of the Beast Race. From ancient times until now, there were a total of 1342 recorded Demonic Monarchs. Their bloodlines had been being extracted ever since the Arcana Kingdom was around, but there were no more than 312 bloodlines that had been extracted.

    After the passage of tens of thousands of years, only 108 Demonic Emperor Bloodlines remained. The remainder had perished in one of the countless battles that had taken ce since.

    The Zhu n was one of those ns.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t expect to run into a Demonic Emperor n before even encountering a Demonic King n.

    Indeed, reality was not the same as a video game. The enemies wouldn¡¯te one after another with increasing strength.

    ¡°Yes, the Horizontal Mountain Zhu n, also known as the Slyheart Zhu n because of their Slyheart Demonic Emperor Bloodline. The Slyheart Zhu n is a wily demon fox that is especially good at mesmerizing people and toying with their hearts. Their mesmer techniques are especially powerful, and unlike Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s mesmer techniques, which are extremely picky and can only be used to bully those who are weak, the Slyheart Demon Emperor Bloodline¡¯s mesmer techniques will most likely seed upon use.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re that strong? Then aren¡¯t they invincible?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no such thing as true invincibility. Although the Slyheart Bloodline¡¯s mesmer techniques are powerful, they have their own limitations. They take a long time to activate, so they aren¡¯t as useful on the rapidly changing battlefield. Mesmer techniques are best utilized in ambushes, so in this aspect their techniques are inferior to that of the Bewitching Butterfly n, whose techniques can be used in and out of battle. Secondly, they are also susceptible to cultivation hierarchy. If mesmer techniques are used on someone with a higher cultivation base, it might fail or even backfire. Third, only pureblood females within the n can activate these techniques, and it is only useful against males. Thus, the individuals with high statuses in this n should be the females, while the males are their subordinates. The bloodlines are also prioritized for the females. They tried to pull you by iming that you could marry a woman from their n...... Should I say that they have no sincerity or that they are too sincere?¡±

    As Shi Kaihuang spoke, he began tough.

    ¡°The enemies are already at our front door, yet you still have the heart to joke about it, Instructor?¡± Su Chen asked helplessly.

    Shi Kaihuang calmly replied, ¡°Weren¡¯t you prepared for this kind of oue from the moment you decided to be my disciple?¡±

    ¡°Even though you say that, your calm attitude is still a bit off-putting,¡± Su Chen muttered. ¡°No wonder you told me to take care of Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven on my own. Now I¡¯m the one in trouble and you have nothing to worry about.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re displeased with me?¡± Shi Kaihuang teased him with augh.

    ¡°How could I.¡± Su Chen rolled his eyes at him.

    They had been teacher and disciple for over three years now, and their rtionship was umon in that they could speak freely to each other. Of course, Shi Kaihuang was actually worried for Su Chen, but he had already been prepared for this moment ever since he chose this path.

    If he had prepared for this moment for so many years and was still worried, afraid, or frustrated about the matter, zthen there really was something wrong with him.

    That being said, there was no way that Shi Kaihuang could really just stand off to the side and watch.

    As a master and disciple, they were basically a single entity. This matter was directed at Su Chen, so it was also directed at Shi Kaihuang.

    However, Shi Kaihuang wanted to test his disciple. He would not make a move until Su Chen couldn¡¯t take it anymore. The Zhu n had the same approach. If Su Chen eventually conceded, they would deal with Shi Kaihuang next. They would tackle them one at a time.

    ¡°Right, Instructor, what do you think they will do after I reject them again? Will they really try to kill me right then and there?¡± Su Chen asked.

    When faced with such a powerful opponent, Su Chen still needed Shi Kaihuang¡¯s advice.

    Shi Kaihuang thought for a moment before he replied, ¡°No, they won¡¯t. If they kill you, then no one will be able to remove Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven from the Dreamrealm Castle. You are already a Tier Five Dream Officer, so even if you die, you can continue to sell and distribute products.¡±

    The Horizontal Mountain Zhu n had bought Su Chen¡¯s Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven already, so they already possessed the cultivation technique.

    Thus, their goal ining here wasn¡¯t to obtain it, but rather to stop it from spreading.

    Su Chen understood. ¡°So they have to convince me to take down Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven. Otherwise, Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven will remain there indefinitely if they kill me.. If they want to conceal it, they will need to expend arge amount of money every day. One or two days isn¡¯t a big deal, but it will be more and more difficult to handle as time goes on. And death...... is infinite.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Shi Kaihuang nodded. ¡°So they won¡¯t try to kill you, but they will try to move you with their words and convince you to give up on it. However, that doesn¡¯t mean that you can use it as a trump card, and that doesn¡¯t mean they won¡¯t be willing to use force against you. There are secret techniques that can control a person¡¯s consciousness. If they control your consciousness, they can make you do anything they want, and the Slyheart Zhu n just so happen to be experts at this.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re telling me that they will forcefully take over my consciousness and take down Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven from the Dreamrealm?¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t listen to them, then yes, but you don¡¯t need to be too worried. Controlling a person¡¯s movements within the Dreamrealm is very different from controlling their movements in the outside world. The biggest difference is that people in the outside worlde into contact with your body, not your soul. The opposite is true in the Dreamrealm; people won¡¯te into contact with your physical body but your soul. This means that there will be severalplications. In particr, your privilege tier went up this time because you sold the Adamantine Battle Body, and you only sold that many copies because......¡±

    ¡°Because of Meng Lan,¡± Su Chen interrupted.

    Without Meng Lan¡¯s help, there was no way that the Adamantine Battle Body would have sold that well, nor would his privilege tier have gone up that much.

    Shi Kaihuang said, ¡°That¡¯s right. They should also be able to realize that the Dreamcastle Lady doesn¡¯t like their tactics. If at this moment you suddenly decide to take down Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven, the Dreamcastle Lady will not just stand by and watch it happen.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re absolutely right.¡±

    The only reason Su Chen had gotten to know Meng Lan was because he had threatened to take down Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven in the first ce.

    One could imagine that if the Zhu n tried to control his soul to take down Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven, Meng Lan¡¯s suspicion would definitely be aroused, and she would investigate or even directly interfere.

    ¡°But they might have a way around that too. You know that some issues can be solved as long as you are willing to pay a price for it,¡± Shi Kaihuang said.

    ¡°Yes, your disciple understands.¡± Su Chen nodded.

    Meng Lan was willing to help him because it benefitted her. Naturally, she could also be bought out by even greater benefits.

    ¡°Thus, they won¡¯t make any rash moves, but if they realize that they have no way of convincing you, then they will definitely try something. You need to be aware that even though the Slyheart Demonic Emperor n is a mesmer n, theirbat ability is not weak. They are not a n that cannot do battle simply because they specialize in bewitching techniques. In reality, the women are responsible for bewitching people, while the men are responsible for doing battle!¡±

    ¡°So in the end what¡¯s waiting for me is still a bottomless pit,¡± Su Chen sighed. ¡°This really is a situation that makes you feel hopeless.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang calmly said, ¡°I told you in the beginning that I needed a disciple who could continue to forge on even if the path forward was blocked by countless people. So? Can your current self handle it?¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s thoughts drifted slightly.

    Shi Kaihuang¡¯s rebuke echoed in his ears. It was as if he were a prophet ¨C everything he had said hade to fruition.

    And now, it was Su Chen¡¯s turn to respond.

    He thought for a moment and then said, ¡°I remember you saying something like this at the beginning: ¡®The entire time, I wanted a student who would fight to live on a field of death, so to speak ¨C one with the resoluteness and audacity to forge onwards no matter what the difficulty was. Unexpectedly, the student I epted in the end is someone who is cunning and good at arguments, who possesses elegant, articte speech and who has his own way of thinking, and who is able to be disillusioned with my own way of thinking¡¯...... You are right. I am not the kind of disciple that you wanted.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang didn¡¯t speak. All he did was stare quietly at his own disciple.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°If my enemiese looking for me, I cannot be as impassioned, courageous, or bold as you want me to be. I will not die as a brave martyr for my ideals; I have my own way of doing things......¡±

    He stared at Shi Kaihuang and then quietlyughed. ¡°I would choose to kill them!¡±

    ¡°With any tactic, at any cost, any n, and do it with all my strength......¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll kill them all!¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 81: Intermarriage

    Chapter 81: Intermarriage

    Zhu Chen gave Su Chen three days to think it over and do some digging about the Zhu n. Although he could have told Su Chen about the Zhu n himself, that wouldn¡¯t have been as effective in pressuring Su Chen.

    True prestige didn¡¯te from bragging but through the mouths of others!

    Because the Horizontal Mountain Zhu n wasn¡¯t a part of Long Sang Country, their name might not be as widespread here. However, as long as Su Chen investigated closely, there weren¡¯t many people of medium social status or above who haven¡¯t heard of them.

    It would be a miracle if he wasn¡¯t scared to his core after learning about the strength of the Zhu n.

    Zhu Chen believed that Su Chen would definitely capitte.

    Today, Su Chen was headed to ss as usual.

    He had taken most of the fundamental, entry-level sses after studying at the Hidden Dragon Institute for four years. At this point, the number of sses he needed to take had drastically decreased, so he had much more time to study and cultivate on his own.

    Thus, Su Chen didn¡¯t spend much time in ss. He listened to the lecture for an hour before he returned to the Origin Energy Tower along a small, shaded path.

    As he was walking, he suddenly heard Wang Doushan¡¯s voice from behind him, ¡°Su Chen!¡±

    Su Chen turned around andughed, ¡°You just got off ss too?¡±

    ¡°It was on Origin Energy Elements. It was so boring that I Ieft before the ss even ended,¡± Wang Doushanined.

    ¡°Wow, even Prince Wang skips ss sometimes,¡± Su Chen teased.

    ¡°Are you looking down on me? I can¡¯t skip ss because I am from a Bloodline Nobility n?¡± Wang Doushan and Su Chen continued to joke around with each other.

    Wang Doushan nced around to make sure no one was nearby and then said in a low voice, ¡°They returned yesterday.¡±

    ¡°The six ns?¡±

    ¡°Mhm.¡±

    ¡°Have there been any movements yet?¡±

    ¡°Not yet, but I imagine the storm wille soon. Be careful.¡±

    ¡°I will,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Okay, then I¡¯ll take my leave first.¡± Wang Doushan nced around to confirm that no one had noticed him and then turned around to leave.

    ¡°Doushan,¡± Su Chen suddenly said.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Wang Doushan turned around to look at Su Chen.

    Su Chen walked towards him and leaned into his ear, whispering a few sentences.

    Wang Doushan¡¯s expression suddenly changed. ¡°What are you saying? You aren¡¯t joking with me, right?¡±

    Su Chen stared at Wang Doushan sincerely as he said, ¡°Do you think I would joke about this kind of thing?¡±

    ¡°Absolutely not!¡± Wang Doushan gravely said. ¡°I absolutely do not agree to this.¡±

    ¡°...... You¡¯re sure?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Absolutely!¡± Wang Doushan gritted his teeth as he stared at Su Chen.

    Su Chen shrugged his shoulders. ¡°Fine, if you don¡¯t agree then forget I ever said anything, but I rmend you remember what I said. If you think through it some day or the opportunity arises...... do as I have told you.¡±

    Su Chen turned around to leave.

    Wang Doushan suspiciously stared at him for some time before yelling at him, ¡°Su Chen, what exactly are you nning?¡±

    Su Chen only waved his hand, shaking his sleeve in response.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    An hourter.

    Within a small forest south of the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    Jin Ling¡¯er stared at Su Chen in shock. ¡°What did you say?¡±

    ¡°You heard it already,¡± Su Chen indifferently replied. ¡°Don¡¯t you think that this method of resolving the situation is better?¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er stared at Su Chen, a little dazed.

    After quite some time, she said, ¡°Do the others know about your decision?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I feel that it¡¯s best to temporarily keep them in the dark about it. I¡¯m sorry that you¡¯ll be wronged temporarily.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er lowered her head.

    She said after a long pause, ¡°It won¡¯t wrong me. This is something that I should be doing anyways.¡±

    Her voice was low, and she spoke with grief and bitterness.

    Su Chen gently smiled. ¡°If you still feel regret for the decision you previously made, there¡¯s no need to feel that way. You know that I never med you for it.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er stared at Su Chen, her eyes glistening. ¡°Really? Su Chen, you never med me? You should know that you lost the Giant Adamantine Ape because of me. If that never happened, then the ensuing events wouldn¡¯t have happened either.

    ¡°No!¡± Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Even if you hadn¡¯t taken the Giant Adamantine Ape, Zhang Sheng¡¯an would still have done the same thing. I am certain about this because he is just that kind of person. Someone like him doesn¡¯t care about whether others die, and he even gets pleasure from spilling the blood of others. Remember how Zhong Ding wrapped up the others, preventing them from helping out? Zhong Ding and I had no grudge between us, but he still tried to harm me just because he took pleasure in it! He is just that kind of person. Please don¡¯t put all of the me on yourself. I told you already that I don¡¯t me you...... I really never med you.¡±

    Tears began to flow as Jin Ling¡¯er sobbed quietly.

    During the past few days, the pressure in her heart was wrenching.

    Every time she thought of what had happened within the Falling Eagle Mountain, she always felt that she hadmitted some grave mistake, even believing that the battle had only started because of her.

    The heavy weight on her heart sent Jin Ling¡¯er into depression. It wasn¡¯t until Su Chen said that he didn¡¯t me her at all that she felt a trace of relief.

    If both the Giant Adamantine Ape and she hadn¡¯t been there, would Zhang Sheng¡¯an still have tried to harm them?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know, and neither did Jin Ling¡¯er.

    No one had any way of knowing what would have happened.

    But at this moment, they were both willing to believe it.

    They wanted to believe that everything would still have happened, and that everything had been Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s decision.

    This was the only way that the cracks in their hearts could be repaired.

    In that moment, the pressure in her heart suddenly was released. She couldn¡¯t resist the urge to lean against Su Chen.

    Su Chen was startled for a moment, but he quickly realized that this had nothing to do with love. This was just a maiden¡¯s exhausted heart temporarily finding something to lean against.

    She needed to borrow his shoulder to rest for a moment before being revived.

    After sobbing for a bit longer, Jin Ling¡¯er finally stopped.

    She straightened herself out, and a smile suddenly appeared on her face. ¡°Thanks for lending me your shoulder.¡±

    Su Chen spread his hands out. ¡°As long as you need it, you can use it.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er happilyughed. ¡°You really are an outstanding guy, Su Chen. You¡¯re smart, brave, and reliable. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that the differences between our bloodlines were too great, I really might have been willing to marry you at any cost.¡±

    ¡°Marry me?¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°I don¡¯t feel like you love me.¡±

    ¡°What need do I have for love?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er countered. ¡°I don¡¯t know what it means to love, and my status forbids me from loving. As a woman, I bear the burden of passing down my bloodline to others. What I need is not love but to pass on my bloodline. If there is a man who looks good, has good qualities, and is willing to treat me well, then that is a person worth marrying. A person like you is already higher than that standard.¡±

    ¡°Apart from the bloodline,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Yes, apart from the bloodline,¡± Jin Ling¡¯er replied. ¡°That is probably your only problem. If you had the bloodline of a nobility n, countless maidens would probably be willing to marry you. But you don¡¯t...... Even if someone is willing to marry you, they will only be seeking death if you don¡¯t have the bloodline of a nobility n.¡±

    ¡°Seeking death?¡± Su Chen was startled. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Do you not know?¡± Jin Ling¡¯er said. ¡°To preserve the purity of their bloodline and status as nobility, many Bloodline Nobility ns forbid marriages tomoners. Anyone who breaks this rule......must kill themselves!¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 82: Warning

    Chapter 82: Warning

    Su Chen¡¯s footsteps were a bit heavier after talking to Jin Ling¡¯er.

    They were willing to kill to preserve the purity of their bloodlines?

    Then had Gu Qingluo turned him down to protect him? Or was this just wishful thinking that his affection was reciprocated?

    Perhaps...... He needed to find an opportunity to verify it for himself.

    Su Chen quietly pondered the situation.

    As he thought of the possibility that Gu Qingluo might not actually dislike him but turned him down to protect him, his heart began to beat faster, filling with excitement.

    He thought back to the gaze that Gu Qingluo looked at him with that evening,

    the mncholy and sadness in her gaze spoke volumes.

    He really was so stupid.

    He had given up on trying just because he had been turned down once.

    Could this really even be considered love?

    How idiotic of him!

    If he had applied the same persistence he had for continuing research even in the face of failure, everything probably would have taken care of itself by now, and he wouldn¡¯t have needed to wait until now to figure it out.

    As he thought of this possibility, Su Chen quietly cursed himself.

    But now that he understood, he naturally also knew what he was supposed to do now.

    Su Chen had already decided that he needed to go and have a talk with Gu Qingluo once this storm was over.

    He was lost in thought when a student approached him. The student¡¯s face was lowered, and he looked as if he was in a hurry. However, right as he walked past Su Chen, he suddenly reached out to grab him.

    Su Chen instinctively shook him off and simultaneously stepped forwards with his right foot, his hand rushing towards the student¡¯s midsection. The student raised his hand and grabbed Su Chen¡¯s elbow while simultaneously wing towards Su Chen. Su Chen dodged the blow by tilting his face and then tried to counter with a knee, but the student evaded it and charged forwards, leaning in with his shoulder.

    The two of them rapidly exchanged a number of awkward blows, their fast reaction time making it difficult to discern their movements clearly. Their strikes were so fast that they didn¡¯t even have time to activate any Origin Skills; all they could do was rely on their instincts to battle until the two of them were sent flying apart by a collision.

    Su Chen took advantage of the respite to form an Erupting Firehawk as he said in a low voice, ¡°Who is it? What are you trying to do by infiltrating the Hidden Dragon Institute?¡±

    That studentughed darkly. ¡°Not bad, Su Chen. But I¡¯m not some sort of spy.¡±

    The student lifted their head.

    Upon seeing his face, Su Chen was caught off-guard. ¡°He Sihong? It¡¯s you?¡±

    He Sihong was a student who was one year older than him. They had encountered each other twice before, so they were mutual acquaintances. They could not be considered particrly friendly, however, and Su Chen didn¡¯t know why He Sihong had suddenlye looking for him.

    ¡°Someone wants to meet you and asked me to bring you to them. Originally, I just wanted to take you over immediately, but you were harder to control than I anticipated. All I can do now is ask you to go yourself,¡± He Sihong replied.

    ¡°What kind of person asks you to fight me in order to have a meeting?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll know once you see them.¡±

    ¡°What if I choose not to go?¡±

    He Sihong sighed, then pulled out an object and waved it in front of himself before quickly putting it away.

    Although the movement was very quick, Su Chen saw it clearly.

    His expression sank ever so slightly. ¡°So it¡¯s them? You belong to them as well?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t waste so much time. Just follow me.¡± He Sinian turned around and left.

    Su Chen thoughtfully gazed at his departing figure before deciding to follow along in the end.

    They walked through a long, winding corridor before entering a section of dense forest. After walking for a bit longer, they finally arrived at a deste, uninhabited corner of the forest.

    A ck-clothed individual stood there with his back turned to Su Chen.

    He Sinian walked over to the man and said in a soft voice, ¡°I¡¯ve brought him.¡±

    The ck-clothed man slowly turned around.

    Upon seeing this scene, Su Chen wanted tough.

    You¡¯re just meeting with someone. Is there a need to act so pretentiously?

    But when that person turned around, Su Chen was stunned.

    The stranger in front of him had a long face like that of a horse.

    His nose was extremely long, like a thoroughfare that connected the two sides of his face. The first thing Su Chen thought of when he saw that face were the Mountain Demons they had encountered within the Falling Eagle Mountain.

    They really did look a bit alike.

    But no matter what the other party looked like, most importantly it was not who Su Chen had thought it was.

    He knitted his eyebrows. ¡°Who are you? And why are you looking for me?¡±

    The horse-faced male replied, ¡°I am called Ma Renze, the person in charge of the Immortal Temple¡¯s affairs in Long Coiling City.¡±

    As expected, the Immortal Temple had sent someone to meet with him.

    The object that He Sihong had shown him was a triangr medallion that represented the Immortal Temple¡¯s identity.

    Su Chen originally thought that it was Sang Zhen who was looking for him, but he hadn¡¯t anticipated that it would be Ma Renze, whom he had never met before.

    However, that didn¡¯t mean that he didn¡¯t recognize that name.

    Theplete opposite was true. Unlike Sang Zhen and the others, who maintained a low profile, Ma Renze¡¯s name echoed like thunder throughout Long Coiling City.

    He was one of Long Sang Country¡¯s most wanted individuals, and he was ny-sixth on the country¡¯s bounty list.

    His cultivation base was in the Light Shaking Realm, and he was an experienced assassin. His temperament was vicious and his tactics brutal. Sang Zhen and the others were terrorists in name only, but Ma Renze was someone on the dark side who was genuinely powerful.

    Yue Wuti¡¯s death had been nned and executed by this man single-handedly. Su Chen had discovered this upon investigating the circumstances behind Yue Wuti¡¯s death after returning from the Falling Eagle Mountain.

    Even so, Su Chen remained expressionless, as if he had never heard of Ma Renze before. He spoke in a calm voice, ¡°I don¡¯t know you. Where is Sang Zhen?¡±

    Ma Renze replied, ¡°He is no longer responsible for what you do. In the future, I am the one who will take over any matters rted to you.¡±

    ¡°You?¡± Su Chen was a bit dissatisfied by this. ¡°I don¡¯t recall you notifying me before making this decision. In addition, if you wanted to notify me of something, why not do it outside of the Institute? Do you know how dangerous this is? If you are discovered by the instructors of the Institute......¡±

    Ma Renze interrupted Su Chen. ¡°First of all, there is no need to notify you. Your opinion on this matter is useless. Second, I am very clear about whether this is dangerous or not. Just because that piece of trash Sang Zhen isn¡¯t able to get into the Hidden Dragon Institute doesn¡¯t mean that I won¡¯t be able to. Since I am confident enough to talk with you here, I am not worried that I will be discovered by the instructors within the Institute, and this is also exactly what I wanted to tell you...... The Hidden Dragon Institute is not something you can rely on!¡±

    Their initial interactions were anything but friendly.

    Su Chen squinted his eyes. ¡°Relying on? What do you think I am relying on the Hidden Dragon Institute for?¡±

    ¡°Is that not the case? You spend every day holed up in your instructor¡¯s Origin Energy Tower, hiding inside the Institute like a little girl. You¡¯re like a damned turtle! You provoked so many enemies, but there¡¯s nothing they can do to you. Even the Immortal Temple needs to send a greeting party to just see you. If you don¡¯t leave, everyone can only wait...... But that kind of thing is over. I¡¯m here now. If you still think that you can hide from your responsibilities by holing up like a turtle within the Hidden Dragon Institute, you¡¯re dead wrong.¡±

    Upon hearing these words, Su Chen finally understood what Ma Renze was getting at. ¡°You¡¯re here to force me to make the medicine?¡±

    Yes.

    Ma Renze was here to coax him to make medicine.

    More precisely, to make the Spirit Sobering Medicine!

    Su Chen had already been in the Hidden Dragon Institute for over four years, and he had been studying alchemy for half a year before that as well.

    Thus, after waiting for over four years, the Immortal Temple finally could not wait any longer, and they began to urge Su Chen to hurry up.

    In fact, this urging had been going on for half a year already, but Su Chen had never agreed.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t turn them down because he couldn¡¯t make the Spirit Sobering Medicine. In fact, he was already skilled enough to be considered a high-level Qualified Alchemist, and he was capable of concocting the Spirit Sobering Medicine.

    He hadn¡¯t agreed to it because his current sess rate in concocting the Spirit Sobering Medicine was still too low.

    The Spirit Sobering Medicine was a rare-tier ingredient. Although high-level Qualified Alchemists could concoct them if they specialized in it, their sess rate would still be much too low.

    There was no way that the Immortal Temple would allow Su Chen to just concoct as many medicines as he could. Thus, just like their previous interactions, the two parties had struck a deal.

    Three thousand vials!

    No matter how many Corpse Spirit Flowers Su Chen was able to find inside the Spirit Burying Terrace, he absolutely needed to deliver three thousand vials of Spirit Sobering Medicine. If he couldn¡¯t do it, he would need to offer himself up to the Immortal Temple and join their ranks.

    This was one of the reasons why the Immortal Temple had put up with Su Chen¡¯s ckmail. Even if the mission failed, they would at least obtain a talented individual.

    The Immortal Temple¡¯s calctions were not wrong at all. They had precisely calcted how many Corpse Spirit Flowers there would be, and then they calcted roughly how many vials of medicine could be made from them. Afterwards, Su Chen discovered that their estimate was very close to the actual number of Spirit Sobering Flowers that he had found.

    Under these circumstances, if Su Chen didn¡¯t want to lose money, he would need to ensure that he didn¡¯t fail.

    However, the Immortal Temple evidently didn¡¯t think that way.

    In any case, the number had already been set, so to them, Su Chen¡¯s sess rate didn¡¯t matter to them at all.

    As long as he could deliver three thousand vials, that was enough. What did they care about his costs?

    In fact, the higher his costs were, the happier they would be!

    Thus, after four years, the Immortal Temple had finally begun to coax Su Chen to make the medicines faster.

    Su Chen had dyed them again and again. Under these kinds of circumstances, he had managed to dy for another half a year.

    In the past few years, Sang Zhen had interacted with Su Chen quite often, so he understood Su Chen¡¯s intentions. He knew that Su Chen wasn¡¯t trying to dy on purpose; instead, Su Chen wanted to wait until he reached the Distinguished1 level before concocting the medicines, so he hadn¡¯t been in much of a hurry.

    While Sang Zhen was willing to wait, the Immortal Temple clearly wasn¡¯t.

    Perhaps because they were unhappy with Sang Zhen¡¯s performance, they had reced Sang Zhen with Ma Renze.

    Ma Renze¡¯s appearance today was to give Su Chen a warning.

    1. Note: I made a mistake back in Chapter 29 when listing the rankings of the alchemists. The actual ranking is: Novice, Qualified, Distinguished, Master, and Legendary. I swapped Master and Distinguished previously, which was incorrect.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 83: Unwavering

    Chapter 83: Unwavering

    ¡°The organization has already given you too much time. It¡¯s time for us to take it back,¡± Ma Renze said expressionlessly.

    ¡°I don¡¯t get any input?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°I came here to inform you, not to discuss with you,¡± Ma Renze said coldly.

    Su Chen thought for a moment before he said, ¡°I want to speak with Sang Zhen.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need.¡±

    ¡°Tonight, same location as always.¡±

    ¡°I said there¡¯s no need!¡± Ma Renze said harshly.

    Su Chen coldly stared at him. ¡°Do you think that Sang Zhen¡¯s tactics were too soft? Do you feel that the only reason he was being led around by me was because he wasn¡¯t forceful enough? Do you think that I am afraid of destroying everything indiscriminately? Do you think that you can frighten me just because you are acting all powerful right now?¡±

    ¡°So what if the answer is yes?¡± Ma Renze coldlyughed.

    Just as Su Chen had said, Ma Renze had chosen to discuss things in the Hidden Dragon Institute just to tell Su Chen that the Hidden Dragon Institute wouldn¡¯t be enough to protect him.

    As long as Ma Renze wanted to, he coulde at any time and exterminate Su Chen.

    An Erupting Firebird appeared in Su Chen¡¯s hand.

    Ma Renze was stunned by the sudden turn of events. ¡°You¡¯re going to attack me?¡±

    A mere Qi Drawing Realm cultivator dared to attack him?

    Ma Renze was almost in disbelief.

    Was he trying to get himself killed?

    Su Chen coldly said, ¡°I¡¯ll say it one more time. I want to meet with Sang Zhen tonight! Remember to tell him.¡±

    As he spoke, the Firehawk that had formed on his hand took flight.

    Ma Renze paid it no mind. He wouldn¡¯t even need a barrier to withstand the Firehawk¡¯s attack. However, in the next instant, the Firehawk suddenly changed direction in midair.

    With a boom, it exploded against the ground.

    ¡°Not good!¡± Ma Renze¡¯s expression drastically changed.

    The Hidden Dragon Institute contained arge formation with nodes densely spread around to allow the instructors to monitor the Institute.

    Ma Renze chose this location because he had set up an Origin Energy Formation in advance to suppress the node ced here and avoid detection.

    Su Chen¡¯s Erupting Firehawk was aimed directly at the Origin Formation beneath his feet.

    With arge boom, the Origin Formation was suddenly shattered.

    The seal had been shattered. An instantter, a powerful will came surging towards them. Evidently, it had noticed the Origin Energy fluctuationsing from this location.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± Ma Renze cursed, infuriated.

    Su Chen gestured, and another Erupting Firehawk flew forth, only this time it was aimed at Ma Renze.

    Ma Renze was so angry that he wanted tough. This guy really did have some guts.

    He punched out with his fist, and the Erupting Firehawk mmed into it, casting a fiery brilliance across the sky.

    If he wanted to, he could have used the momentum of this punch to shred Su Chen into pieces.

    But he couldn¡¯t do it!

    The Immortal Temple had waited for so long to reach this point. If he were to kill Su Chen now, wouldn¡¯t they lose everything that they had worked for?

    At this moment, Ma Renze finally understood why Su Chen could afford to act so wildly.

    Because he was in debt!

    He was so in debt that he could do whatever he wanted!

    That filthy bastard!

    Ma Zeren was so angry that he itched all over.

    An instantter, however, Ma Renze was sent over the edge.

    ¡°AHH!¡± He Sihong fell to the ground with a tragic yell, his head sted into smithereens by Su Chen.

    The Firehawk that flew towards Ma Renze was only intended to draw his attention. Su Chen¡¯s true target was actually He Sihong.

    He Sihong hadn¡¯t expected to be attacked by Su Chen, and he had been blown to bits on the spot.

    After his attack seeded, Su Chen yelled ¡°Someone,e quickly! There¡¯s a spy trying to get into the Hidden Dragon Institute!¡±

    Ma Renze was both shocked and infuriated.

    Su Chen truly was risking it all.

    If he was caught himself, then his rtionship with the Immortal Temple would be exposed. However, Su Chen evidently couldn¡¯t care less about it.

    He was going to use his actions to prove that he was not just saying that he had the ability to destroy everything indiscriminately.

    He wasn¡¯t afraid at all!

    However, that didn¡¯t mean that Ma Renze could afford to be unafraid.

    Ma Renze stared daggers at Su Chen as he squeezed out, ¡°You have some guts!¡±

    At that moment, the supervising instructor heard Su Chen¡¯s yell. A massive hand came crashing down from the sky, and it was as if a mountain was descending to the earth.

    Even though the instructors of the Hidden Dragon Institute were all extremely powerful, Ma Renze didn¡¯t necessarily need to be afraid of them.

    The problem was that he was still in the Hidden Dragon Institute, a ce where many experts above the Light Shaking Realm could be found. He might be able to defeat one of them, but he wouldn¡¯t be able to defeat arge group of them.

    Ma Renze knew that continuing to do battle was inadvisable. A starry sky suddenly appeared beneath Ma Renze¡¯s hand as the massive palm descended, and he quickly ced it against the descending palm.

    His figure disappeared in a sh of brilliant light.

    The massive palm mmed into the ground, leaving behind arge crater.

    An angry voice spoke from midair as the voice¡¯s owner retracted therge hand, ¡°That spy left pretty quickly. Hey, kid, howe it¡¯s you again? Do you know who that person was?¡±

    It was Ji Hanyan¡¯s personal instructor again.

    Su Chen replied in a loud voice, ¡°Sir, it was someone from the Immortal Temple.¡±

    ¡°The Immortal Temple!¡±

    The instructor¡¯s enraged howl could be heard in all directions.

    Upon hearing this yell, Ma Renze almost put out a mouthful of blood just as he emerged from his concealment technique.

    He knew without a doubt that Su Chen must have said something for them to have discovered that he was part of the Immortal Temple so quickly.

    Ma Renze had never dreamed that Su Chen would be so decisive and firm.

    Ma Renze¡¯s heart trembled involuntarily as he thought of this youth¡¯s courage and resoluteness.

    In the meantime, a person began to descend from the sky following that enraged yell.

    It was an old man with an extremely brawny body.

    Even though he was evidently quite old and his hair all white, his figure was like that of a giant, the muscles on his body protruding quite impressively. Time had not worn down his power. Even though his body was beginning to decline, he still exuded an aggressive and dominant aura.

    The fierce old man walked over and said, ¡°Kid, you said that he was from the Immortal Temple? What happened? And who is this dead guy over here?¡±

    ¡°He was called He Sihong, and he was also a student at the Hidden Dragon Institute. In reality, however, he was running errands for the Immortal Temple. He was the one who brought me over here.¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± Upon hearing that he was a student that had been lead astray, the old man cursed and then asked, ¡°Why was the Immortal Temple looking for you?¡±

    ¡°They wanted to recruit me to do things for them,¡± Su Chen directly replied.

    ¡°Why would they try to recruit you?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps because I am talented,¡± Su Chen replied.

    This reply was not very modest, but when the old man heard this, heughed loudly. ¡°Interesting, but within reason! Shi Kaihuang¡¯s disciple was noticed by the Immortal Temple even before the we were able to. Hahahaha, how interesting!¡±

    ¡°That can only mean that you guys are blind.¡± Shi Kaihuang appeared from the forest, his hands behind his back. ¡°The Hidden Dragon Institute was actually infiltrated by an old rat from the Immortal Temple who actually tried to harm my disciple, yet you, Fan Hongli, canugh about it?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t he fine?¡± The old man named Fan Hongli rubbed the back of his head andughed, embarassed. He nced around and said, ¡°Hmm, he used the Sky-Concealing Formation. No wonder he was able to escape our detection. Not bad, kiddo! You were actually able to discover the formation¡¯s weak point and destroy it in one blow.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all because of instructor¡¯s teachings,¡± Su Chen respectfully replied.

    After all, he was good at studying and one of the Institute¡¯s true geniuses. There were probably quite a few people stronger than him in terms ofbat prowess, but not many had the foresight that he possessed.

    ¡°But there is still something that seems a bit off,¡± Fan Hongli suddenly said.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Shi Kaihuang asked.

    Fan Hongli said, ¡° It took about three breaths of time for me to reach this ce after Su Chen cracked the Sky-Concealing Formation. Although three breaths of time isn¡¯t too long or too short, not only did that guy just run away and not kill Su Chen, he also let Su Chen kill that bastard surnamed He or something like that. That doesn¡¯t make very much sense. If I¡¯m not wrong, the guy who ran away was in the Light Shaking Realm.¡±

    As a Qi Drawing Realm cultivator, it really was a little suspicious that he had emerged unscathed after three breaths of time against someone at the Light-Shaking level, let alone find an opportunity to kill another student.

    Shi Kaihuang couldn¡¯t help but gaze at his own disciple.

    Su Chen said, his expression unchanging, ¡°He probably didn¡¯t even try to attack me because he couldn¡¯t bear to.¡±

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t bear to?¡± Fan Hongli said in shock.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Regardless of what I did, I am the inventor of the Clear Wind Net, Thunderfire Balls, Adamantine Battle Body, and the person whopleted Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven. To the Immortal Temple, I still probably have a lot of value.¡±

    Fan Hongli was rendered speechless.

    He wanted to continue questioning Su Chen when Shi Kaihuang said, ¡°That¡¯s enough, old Hong. My disciple isn¡¯t some kind of criminal. Not only was he able to ferret out the spy from the Immortal Temple, but he also discovered that one of our students had been bribed.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I understand. I just wanted to ask, but since you¡¯ve said as much then I¡¯ll forget about it.¡± Fan Hongliughed before he leapt into the air, disappearing almost instantly.

    Now that old Fan had left, only Su Chen and Shi Kaihuang were still present.

    Shi Kaihuang nced at his own disciple and then asked, ¡°You, is there anything else you want to say?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ve already said everything that needs to be said.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang nodded. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, you can go.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Su Chen bowed and left.

    Shi Kaihuang stood there silently, gazing at his back. It was unknown what he was thinking.

    After a brief period of time, someone sighed from behind Shi Kaihuang.

    The physical source of the sigh could not be found, and it seemed toe out of nowhere.

    Shi Kaihuang turned around and bowed at seemingly nothing. ¡°Headmaster.¡±

    A voice drifted towards him. ¡°Your disciple is quite interesting.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang replied, ¡°I know that what Su Chen said might not bepletely true, but I believe that Su Chen is not trying to incur a disaster. From his actions, it is obvious that even if he has ties with the Immortal Temple, he is absolutely not theirckey.¡±

    ¡°We still need to investigate it thoroughly.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need. Su Chen is a clear-headed kid. He knows what he is doing. As long as he maintains the same general direction, there¡¯s no need to pay attention to these trivial matters.¡±

    ¡°Is being connected to the Immortal Temple considered a trivial matter?¡±

    Shi Kaihuang replied straightforwardly, ¡°Compared to breaking through the bloodline restrictions, it is a trivial matter!¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 84: Proposal

    Chapter 84: Proposal

    One thing that Shi Kaihuang said was correct. Su Chen truly wanted to begin decreasing the interactions between him and the Immortal Temple.

    This idea began to bud after he met Yue Longsha.

    The assassination of Yue Wuti exposed the front that the organization had been putting on in front of Su Chen, ruthlessly jarring his wishful thinking towards the organization.

    However, he also knew that he couldn¡¯t just sever ties just like that.

    The Immortal Temple had invested too much into him. If he were to directly break off their rtionship, he would only invite a cmity upon himself.

    Even so, Ma Renze¡¯s sudden appearance and his forceful attitude at this point in time was only a catalyst for Su Chen¡¯s unhappiness, and Su Chen made up his mind because of it.

    He wasn¡¯t afraid at all!

    Why? Because although Su Chen had be quite familiar with the Immortal Temple in the past few years, most of the time it was the Immortal Temple spending for Su Chen¡¯s sake, not Su Chen doing things for the Immortal Temple.

    There was a big difference between those two principles.

    He had undoubtedlymitted a crime by epting the sponsorship of a terrorist organization, but it would not be enough for a death penalty. His punishment would be determined by the circumstances.

    What circumstances? That depended on what he had done for them.

    What had Su Chen done for the Immortal Temple?

    Quite inly, all he had done for them was enter the Spirit Burying Terrace to obtain the treasures inside for them.

    This was the only thing that he had done, and most of the Corpse Spirit Flowers still belonged to Su Chen.

    In other words, he could argue about whether or not he had done it for the Immortal Temple¡¯s sake.Perhaps he had swindled the Immortal Temple for his own benefit. From that aspect, this might not even be viewed as a crime but a merit to the government.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, Su Chen was not worried about his link being discovered at all.

    Thus, he had decisively exposed himself then and there.

    At worst, his cooperation with the Immortal Temple would be discovered, but because he wasn¡¯t too deeply involved with them and he hade forward with the information himself, only a certain level of punishment would be applied to him. However, if all of the Corpse Spirit Flowers were taken away, Su Chen and the Immortal Temple would be mortal enemies.

    A medium oue would be where the link between him and the Immortal Temple would be discovered after an investigation, but the matter of the Spirit Burying Terrace would go unnoticed. As a result, he would probably only receive a reprimand. It would be extremely difficult for the Immortal Temple to meet with Su Chen after that, so naturally he could default on the debt of Spirit Sobering Medicines that he owed.

    The best oue would be if the investigation didn¡¯t uncover anything after a certain amount of time and his ount of the situationpletely believed.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t expect that the situation had actually turned out better than his supposed best-case scenario.

    There wasn¡¯t even an investigation.

    There was no interrogation or inquiry. Seemingly, nothing had happened except for the three hundred extra contribution points that he had been awarded for the discovery of He Sihong¡¯s connection to the Immortal Temple.

    Su Chen knew that it was because of Shi Kaihuang¡¯s help.

    His personal instructor seemed to be veryid-back, but he was never careless during critical moments.

    But since that was the case, the day that he broke ties with the Immortal Temple needed to be dyed again......

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Nightfall arrived.

    Su Chen pulled out a vial of medicine and began to disguise himself.

    He dressed himself up as a yellow-faced student before he left his room.

    Shi Kaihuang, as per usual, was sitting underneath the Origin Talisman Energy Formation in deep thought. They had sessfully developed a method for reaching the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline, but the old man didn¡¯t slow down at all. He had begun to research a method for reaching the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline.

    Upon seeing Su Chen appearance, Shi Kaihuang said, ¡°Are you going to meet someone?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Shi Kaihuang sighed. ¡°Do you know what you are doing?¡±

    ¡°Instructor, please have faith. Disciple will absolutely not do anything that betrays the human race!¡±

    Shi Kaihuang nodded and fell back into silence.

    Su Chen exited the Origin Energy Tower and began to walk towards the Institute¡¯s exit.

    After leaving the Hidden Dragon Institute, Su Chen arrived in front of a small, shady alleyway. He zig-zagged his way through it and entered one of the front gates.

    When he entered the courtyard, he found Sang Zhen sitting there.

    Upon seeing that Su Chen had arrived on his own, Sang Zhen let out a long sigh. ¡°Thankfully, the situation hasn¡¯t deteriorated too terribly yet. The Hidden Dragon Institute didn¡¯t do anything to you, did they?¡±

    ¡°Not this time, but it¡¯s hard to say in the future. That Ma Renze of yours is not easy to deal with,¡± Su Chen said as he stood in the corner.

    ¡°You¡¯re the one that isn¡¯t easy to deal with, aren¡¯t you? You be hostile on the flip of a dime,¡± Sang Zhen bitterlyughed.

    ¡°If I hadn¡¯t resisted under those circumstances, Ma Renze would have thought that I was a pushover. I had to show him what I am capable of so that he will know the kind of attitude he should have when dealing with me.¡±

    ¡°Yes. However, based on what I understand about Ma Renze, your actions won¡¯t make him fear you; just hate you more.¡±

    Su Chen coldlyughed. ¡°Well isn¡¯t that interesting? It seems like both of us have quite the temper, but I don¡¯t care much. If he wants to fight, then I¡¯ll y along. In any case, I¡¯m the one who owes you guys, so what do I have to worry about? At most, we will break ties, he will kill me, and the Spirit Sobering Medicine will disappear along with me.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the point in doing that? No matter what, the Immortal Temple has never mistreated you. The Spirit Sobering Medicine is something that you should be giving us in the first ce.¡±

    ¡°You want the Spirit Sobering Medicine? Fine. Tell Ma Renze to scram. I will only deal with you.¡±

    Sang Zhen shook his head. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m not really in the position to make that decision. I have already been transferred elsewhere, and I am returning to the Three Mountains Region tomorrow to oversee the matters going on there. Night Demon and the others will also return with me.¡±

    ¡°Why does it have to be this way?¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t understand.

    Sang Zheng sighed. ¡°You should know that norge organization has just a single opinion. Sometimes, the east wind suppresses the west wind, and sometimes the west suppresses the east wind.

    Su Chen somewhat understood. ¡°So what you mean is that this time, the winds of force suppressed the winds ofpromise?¡±

    Sang Zhen silently nodded. ¡°Some people believe that strength, advancing relentlessly, and killing should be the Immortal Temple¡¯s style, rather thanpromising or settling.¡±

    ¡°In other words, I cannot change how they think no matter what I do?¡±

    ¡°Ma Renze told me to tell you that even though you¡¯ve won this time, it doesn¡¯t change anything. As long as you are still alive and haven¡¯t been exposed, you must concoct the Spirit Sobering Medicine!¡±

    ¡°That upromising?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing else we can do. The Immortal Temple is currently battling another organization, and we desperately needrge amounts of medicine. The Spirit Sobering Medicine can not only increase the power of our souls, but it can also suppress and defend against soul-type attacks, which is precisely what we need. This is also the reason why Ma Renze is willing to go to great lengths to force them out of you.¡±

    So there was an important reason behind their decision?

    Su Chen thought for a moment before he replied, ¡°I can make the Spirit Sobering Medicine for you, but I want Night Demon to remain as our contact. If Ma Renze doesn¡¯t want to make the current situation worse than it already is, he¡¯d better agree on this point.¡±

    Sang Zhen was briefly startled before he nodded his head. ¡°How many can you make?¡±

    ¡°I will do my best to make as many as I can so that you can handle your emergency. It will at least be a hundred vials of medicine, but you will need to support me; at this moment, I am simply losing too much by making these medicines.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll notify them as soon as I get back.¡±

    Su Chen turned around and left.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 85: Zhu Xianyao

    Chapter 85: Zhu Xianyao

    Two dayster.

    Zhu Chen came to find Su Chen again.

    This time he brought an extra person with him.

    A woman.

    To be precise, a stunningly beautiful woman.

    ¡°Prince Su, it¡¯s been three days already. Have you thought it over a bit more?¡± Zhu Chen asked as he gazed at Su Chen.

    Su Chen nced briefly at the woman beside him before asking, ¡°If I say no, will you ask the person next to you to forcefully control me and make me pull down the notice?¡±

    Zhu Chen¡¯s expression shifted slightly. He was about to grow angry when the woman next to himughed and said, ¡°Prince Su, you must be joking. We are in the Hidden Dragon Institute right now; who would dare to behave so shockingly here? In addition, the Zhu n prefers to maintain a good rtionship with everyone. If we can do it through a transaction, we definitely will not resort to force.

    Su Chen smiled and said, ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. I feel much more at ease now. If that¡¯s the case, then you all can return. Three days is not enough time; I need three more days to think it over.¡±

    ¡°Su Chen, don¡¯t try to humiliate me......¡± Zhu Chen said in anger.

    The woman stopped him and said, ¡°Prince Su, why reject us after we havee so far to see you? If you feel that the Zhu n¡¯s circumstances are not good enough, we can continue to negotiate. Or...... why not take a look first at the person we prepared for you?¡±

    A person prepared for me?

    Su Chen was startled.

    The beautiful woman pped her hands, and another young maiden emerged from the forest.

    The young maiden looked like she was around sixteen years old. She wore a long, purple dress, and her face was covered with a white veil. Her hair was adorned with ornaments, and she slowly walked forwards, every step carrying a flirtatious intent with it. Every movement of her body was extremely seductive.

    She stood in front of Su Chen and respectfully bowed. Her voice was clear and soul-stirring when she spoke, ¡°Zhu Xianyao greets Prince Su.¡±

    She then slowly pulled off her veil, revealing a peerlessly beautiful, delicate face with jade-like skin. She stared into his eyes with the slightest shadow of a smile, her eyes slightly rippling and swirling, slowly drawing at Su Chen¡¯s heart.

    Su Chen stared at her in a daze, as if his mind had suddenly nked.

    The woman next to him saw this and licked her lips as sheughed, ¡°It seems like Prince Su is interested in our Xianyao. Since that¡¯s the case, why not go with her and have some time to yourselves?¡±

    Zhu Xiaoyao slowly walked towards Su Chen and gently ced her jade-like hand on Su Chen¡¯s before pulling him into a nearby room.

    Su Chen followed her step by step into the room. Then, Zhu Xianyao led him to the bed and helped him lie down before she leaned into his ear and said, ¡°Prince Su likes me, right? If that¡¯s the case, why not agree to the Zhu n¡¯s conditions. As long as you cancel that notice of yours, you and I can remain together forever. Go, go to the Dreamrealm and cancel it......¡±

    Zhu Xianyao gently spoke as she repeated her words.

    She watched as Su Chen slowly drifted off to sleep, a trace of delight on her face.

    At that moment, however, a voice suddenly spoke, ¡°So this is the method you chose to influence me? My horizons have been broadened.¡±

    It was Su Chen.

    ¡°You weren¡¯t affected?¡± Zhu Xianyao¡¯s heart trembled. She felt a powerful back surge of consciousness power surge into her mind, and she let out a cry as she fainted.

    Su Chen sat up and grabbed Zhu Xianyao¡¯s hand as he retreated.

    Zhu Chen and the beautiful woman, who were standing outside, also heard the yell. They charged into the room together, only to find that Su Chen¡¯s hand was sped around Zhu Xianyao¡¯s throat. He said, ¡°If you don¡¯t want her to die, you¡¯d best behave yourselves.¡±

    ¡°Su Chen, you have a lot of guts!¡± Zhu Chen was infuriated.

    ¡°Making a move on me while I¡¯m still inside the Hidden Dragon Institute? I don¡¯t have a lot of guts, but you sure do!¡± Su Chen coldly harrumphed.

    He had truly been caught off-guard a bit when they actually tried to pull something on him inside the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    This didn¡¯t necessarily mean that the Zhu n was powerful enough to ignore the Hidden Dragon Institute. Rather, their movements were extremely surreptitious, and they didn¡¯t make hugemotions. Soul-type attacks were the hardest to detect, and even the Institute¡¯s supervisors weren¡¯t able to detect them.

    Even more unexpectedly, the person to strike at Su Chen wasn¡¯t that beautiful woman, but a young maiden who looked like she was even younger than himself.

    They had made the move instantly and decisively.

    If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that Su Chen had been prepared beforehand, he really would have fallen right into their trap.

    Even so, Su Chen had still been mesmerized for a short period of time.

    It had to be said that a Demonic Emperor¡¯s bloodline was truly extraordinary. Compared to the Slyheart Demonic Emperor, Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s confusion techniques were significantly inferior.

    The beautiful woman said in shock, ¡°How is this possible? How did you awaken so quickly?¡±

    Su Chen tightened his grip around the young maiden¡¯s smooth, exquisite neck as he harrumphed, ¡°It seems like the Zhu n never had any intentions of truly negotiating with me. You just want me to die, is that right?¡±

    ¡°Prince Su, you¡¯ve misunderstood us,¡± the beautiful woman hurriedly said. ¡°The Zhu n genuinely wants to form an alliance with Prince Su, but we had no other choice but to perform such a scandalous act because you kept refusing. We asked Xianyao to make a move first simply because we wanted Prince Su to cancel the notice before discussing the matter of joining our family. Unfortunately, because Prince Su woke up earlier than we had expected, we didn¡¯t have a chance to demonstrate our sincerity.¡±

    Her tone was filled with regret and helplessness, and her expression seemed quite generous. All Su Chen could do was helplessly say, ¡°So what you mean is that I simply woke up too early?¡±

    ¡°What else could it be?¡± The beautiful woman rolled her eyes at Su Chen somewhat bitterly.

    The woman didn¡¯t mention Zhu Xianyao¡¯s plight at all. She just constantly talked about being wronged and demonstrating her sincerity. Her thoughts were carefully expressed, and Su Chen couldn¡¯t find much fault with her for some time. He knit his eyebrows tightly in thought.

    Upon seeing his expression, the beautiful woman, sighed and said, ¡°Forget about it. No matter what we say now, Prince Su probably won¡¯t trust us anymore. Since that¡¯s the case, why not let us do a little more for you so we can demonstrate our sincerity.¡±

    ¡°Do a little more?¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± the beautiful woman said. ¡°Doesn¡¯t Prince Su think that we are just trying to use you to cancel the notice and then kill you afterwards? Since that¡¯s the case, we¡¯ll just pay up first.¡±

    As she spoke, she and Zhu Chen retreated outside of the room.

    Pay up first?

    Su Chen was still trying to figure out what was happening when the maiden called Zhu Xianyao fell back into Su Chen¡¯s bosom while looking into his eyes, her eyes as clear as a stillke. She said, ¡°Prince Su, you¡¯ve misunderstood Xianyao. Xianyao just wanted to finish this matter so that we can tie the knot more quickly and spend the rest of our lives together. If Prince Su doesn¡¯t believe me, we can get married today. Don¡¯t worry, Prince Su, Xianyao¡¯s body is stillpletely preserved......¡±

    As she spoke, the clothes on her shoulder slipped away, revealing the slender skin underneath.

    Zhu Xianyao continued to lean in, raising her lips towards Su Chen to kiss him.

    Su Chen was so badly startled that he instinctively pushed Zhu Xianyao away.

    As soon as he pushed her away, however, Su Chen immediately realized what he had done. He tried to grab her again, but Zhu Xianyao¡¯s figure flew away in a sh, mming through the front door and shattering it.

    Dammit! He had still been tricked by this little girl in the end.

    ¡°Hahaha, many thanks to Prince Su for treating me so tenderly. Since you want three more days, then we will just give you three more days. I wille to see you again soon. Xianyao will be taking her leave first.¡±

    By the time Su Chen rushed out of the room, all that remained was the sound of these words echoing through the air.

    When he saw that no one was in his surroundings, not even the Institute¡¯s supervisors, Su Chen shook his head helplessly as he bitterlyughed.

    Then, he tilted his head to the sky and yelled, ¡°Remember toe at night. That¡¯s the best time to sleep!¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 86: Interrogation

    Chapter 86: Interrogation

    After his morning sses, Su Chen headed for his lodgings by taking the shaded path along theke.

    As he was walking, he was approached by a middle-aged man.

    The man¡¯s figure was quite skinny. He had quite a sharply hooked nose, and beneath it were two neatly-maintained lines of facial hair.

    He stood in front of Su Chen and said in a baritone voice, ¡°Su Chen?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s me. You are......?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°My name is Zhang Tingyue. I am Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s Second Uncle. You should know his name,¡± the man with the neatly-shaved mustache said.

    So they had stille in the end.

    When Su Chen nced around his surroundings, a few shadows were faintly discernable.

    Su Chen gentlyughed and replied, ¡°Of course, he had quite the reputation. Should we find somewhere to talk?¡±

    As if he were surprised by Su Chen¡¯s calmness, Zhang Tingyue stared deeply at Su Chen before saying, ¡°Fine.¡±

    They went to the small teashop near theke that Su Chen frequented.

    Zhang Tingyue sat in the spot that Zhu Chen had upied as he stared at Su Chen.

    ¡°Zhang Sheng¡¯an was a talented child. Although he is my nephew, I have always treated him as if he were my own child. When I heard the news, I did not dare believe my ears. I knew that it must be a lie. I understand Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s strength; perhaps the Falling Eagle Mountain is dangerous, but it is only dangerous to those who are not that strong, not Zhang Sheng¡¯an. The y Giant...... Zhang Sheng¡¯an might not have been its match, but at the very least he should have been able to escape from it if he had wanted to.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Maybe he didn¡¯t want to escape from it then.¡± Su Chen shrugged his shoulders.

    Zhang Tingyue¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°We are discussing the death of my nephew. Shouldn¡¯t you behave a little more seriously?¡±

    ¡°You came all the way here just to watch me feel sad?¡±

    ¡°I came here because, ording to what I know, you and my nephew did not get along with each other before he died.¡±

    ¡°Look!¡± Su Chen spread out his hands. ¡°You know that as well. That is why I am not sad at all about his passing. Also, there¡¯s one more thing you should know: it¡¯s not that we didn¡¯t get along well, but that he seized something that belonged to us!¡±

    ¡°So you killed him?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not surprised to hear you say that at all,¡± Su Chenughed coldly. ¡°Aren¡¯t you Bloodline Nobility ns all like this? If you can¡¯t find someone to drag to the grave with you, you can¡¯t die at peace.¡±

    mes danced in Zhang Tingyue¡¯s eyes. ¡°Brat, what do you think we have been doing this entire time? I have already investigated the scene of the crime. You¡¯re right, the y Giant did attack Zhang Sheng¡¯an and the others, but apart from them there were also traces that other people had been fighting there! Although those traces had been cleaned up afterwards by the others, did you think that they could escape my gaze?¡±

    ¡°So what?¡±

    ¡°I heard you¡¯ve invented something called the Thunderfire Balls? There were scorch marks left behind by the Thunderfire Balls there!¡±

    ¡°I sold a lot of them.¡±

    ¡°I also heard that you are an alchemist. There were fragments of vials that once contained Fog Medicine and Beast Repelling Medicine.¡±

    ¡°I sold many of those as well.¡± Su Chen shrugged his shoulders.

    ¡°So you aren¡¯t willing to admit that you were present at the location where Zhang Sheng¡¯an was killed?¡±

    ¡°Of course I wasn¡¯t there,¡± Su Chen nodded his head confidently. ¡°What you are talking about has nothing to do with me. Someone might have used the Thunderfire Balls or medicines that they bought from me, but I¡¯m not responsible.¡±

    Zhang Tingyueughed darkly. ¡°Very good, that¡¯s exactly what I wanted to hear. So if I find evidence that you were present, I can assume that you participated in Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s death?¡±

    Su Chen seemed to be startled by what he said, and a trace of caution appeared in his expression.

    He stared at Zhang Tingyue before gently nodding his head.

    Zhang Tingyue finally stood up. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, I¡¯ll be taking my leave first. Remember what you said. The next time Ie looking for you, you¡¯ll need to be careful.¡±

    Zhang Tingyueughed darkly as he left, leaving Su Chen, who wore a steely expression, behind.

    He hadn¡¯t walked far when Zhang Tingyue suddenly said, ¡°Xin Yuan!¡±

    A young person appeared next to Zhang Tingyue. ¡°Second Elder.¡±

    ¡°How was it?¡±

    ¡°Su Chen seemed very calm, but his movements indicated otherwise. While he was talking with you, he drank three cups of tea in a row, crossed and uncrossed his legs five times, and his gaze kept darting about; in addition, his forehead was covered in sweat. He is almost certainly lying.¡±

    ¡°Almost certainly? Didn¡¯t I tell you to use a lie-detection Origin Skill on him?¡±

    ¡°I used it, but it wasn¡¯t effective.¡±

    ¡°How could you have failed given that your level of strength?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not it. There seems to be a barrier surrounding his consciousness that is difficult to break through. It isn¡¯t an Origin Skill, but some other kind of supplementary object. For instance, he could have consumed a temporary consciousness-strengthening medicine beforehand.¡±

    Zhang Tingyue squinted his eyes and thought for a moment before he said, ¡°Consciousness-type medicines are all expensive. Each one goes for at least a few thousand Origin Stones, and high-tier ones can go for tens of thousands of Origin Stones. Even if he is an alchemist, there is no reason for him to be concocting such medicines for no reason. Could it be that he had anticipated us and prepared this long in advance? Looks like this Su Chen truly is up to something!¡±

    ¡°Then Second Elder, we......¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re in no hurry. Keep an eye on him and don¡¯t let him get away. Let¡¯s wait for news from the others first; after all, Third Mother Guan is not easy to deal with, and we should be hearing from them very soon.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Even though Third Mother Guan was called Third Mother, she was still quite young and wasn¡¯t even twenty-six years old yet.

    She was always dressed in ck, and she wore a white flower on her head. Supposedly, that was because three of her previous husbands had already died.

    She was the infamous ck Widow.

    At that moment, the ck Widow was sitting in front of Jin Ling¡¯er, using her long, red fingernails to hold Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s chin. She spoke in a seductive tone and said, ¡°What a beautiful face. Based on Shanying¡¯s temperament, he must have like it very much. Apparently, your whole team died except for you; that is too unjust. I believe that Shanying, even while in the Nine Springs1, is still thinking of and longing for you.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er trembled uncontrobly.

    She knew that those red fingernails were not painted on; rather, they were colored with a poison that could slowly corrode flesh. If her skin was punctured even a tiny bit, the poison on Third Mother Guan¡¯s fingernails was enough to kill her three times over.

    ¡°Third Mother......I......¡±

    ¡°Shh!¡± Third Mother Guan ced her left index finger on her mouth and gently shushed Jin Ling¡¯er. ¡°Don¡¯t be in such a hurry. If you say the answer out loud too early, it won¡¯t be fun anymore. In reality, how Shanying died doesn¡¯t matter to me at all. The only problem is that he died all alone, which is not good. Someone needs to go down there to keep himpany.¡±

    As she spoke, she stroked Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s face with the back of her nails.

    They felt ice cold.

    Jin Ling¡¯er said in fright, ¡°You cannot do this; I am from a Bloodline Nobility n. If you attack someone from another Bloodline Nobility n, you......¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say I would kill you,¡± Third Mother Guanughed as she stroked Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s face. ¡°How could I ever do such a heinous thing? In this world, I only kill males.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er let out a sigh of relief.

    ¡°However, just because I won¡¯t make a move doesn¡¯t mean that no one else will. After all, our n¡¯s Shanying died along with Sheng¡¯an, Zhong Ding, Hong Wu, and Zheng Kuang. All of them were also from Bloodline Nobility ns, but isn¡¯t everything still okay? As long as you do things cleanly enough, the consequences don¡¯t matter much, do they?¡±

    Third Mother Guan began tough with delight.

    Theugh was like a formless terror that permeated Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s heart.

    Jin Ling¡¯er finally couldn¡¯t take it anymore.

    She began to yell, ¡°I¡¯ll talk! I¡¯ll tell you everything......¡±

    1. The underworld ording to Chinese mythology.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 87: Gathering

    Chapter 87: Gathering

    An hourter.

    Zhang Tingyue was standing on a small hill south of the Hidden Dragon Institute with his hands sped behind his back, and Xin Yuan was standing behind him.

    A sword-bearing youth approached and began to walk up the hill.

    He did not walk very fast, but every step he took brought him arge distance closer. In only a few steps, he arrived next to Zhang Tingyue. He said, ¡°Wang Doushan was very stubborn. I couldn¡¯t get anything out of him.¡±

    As he spoke, he walked towards a nearby tree and leaned against it.

    Zhang Tingyue knitted his eyebrows and was about to speak when he heard someone say, ¡°That¡¯s not strange at all. If you, Zhong Shisi1, were able to get any valuable information from him, then you wouldn¡¯t be Zhong Shisi anymore. You¡¯re here to kill people, not to interrogate them.¡±

    Zhong Shisi ignored him. Zhang Tingyue said, ¡°Enough, Hong Ming. Talk a bit less and don¡¯t try to provoke him.¡±

    A short-statured person jumped out of a nearby tree. Hong Ming from the Golden Cicada n, Hong Wu¡¯s Fourth Uncle.

    Uponnding, Hong Ming said, ¡°Sun Jizu was very slippery and cautious. In the beginning, I wasn¡¯t able to get anything out of him, but when I asked about Yan Fuxing¡¯s death he seemed to grow a bit agitated. I could tell that he hated someone, but I couldn¡¯t tell who that someone was.¡±

    Zhong Shisiughed coldly. ¡°So that¡¯s all the information you were able to get?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s already enough,¡± a rumbling voice suddenly said.

    They turned around to find another person heading towards them.

    This neer was quite short, yet he had extremelyrge hands and thick fingers. It was one of the Drought Dragon n¡¯s members.

    He was called Jiang Tao, and he was Jiang Yang¡¯s Third Uncle.

    Jiang Tao strode towards them and said, ¡°That girl Du Qing was pretty much the same. Even though she tried to act calm, I could tell that when Jiang Yang and the others died...... she was present.¡±

    ¡°Hmph. Zhong Ding, Jiang Yang, and the others died, but some random people without bloodline survived; that is the greatest problem here,¡± Hong Ming said.

    ¡°But that¡¯s not enough to serve as evidence.¡± Zhang Tingyue knitted his eyebrows.

    ¡°What more evidence do we need? Kuang¡¯er and the others are dead, but those few bloodline-less brats are still alive. Even if they weren¡¯t the ones to harm them, we can¡¯t let them continue to live. We should just kill them all so that they can apany our children. What evidence do we even need?¡±

    An arrogant, powerful voice spoke up.

    The coarseness of the person¡¯s voice made it seem as if it hade from somerge, bulky bandit, but the speaker was actually a woman.

    This woman was so manly that she put other men to shame.

    This woman reminded others of the massive, ferocious beasts that roamed the Northern ins.

    This woman made other men feel like their own women was a peerless fairies, strengthening the affection between them.

    The entire hill trembled every time the woman, who was smoking a pipe, moved her elephant-like legs.

    When she arrived at the top of the hill, everyone felt as if a cloud was casting a shadow over their forehead.

    Upon her arrival, Zhang Tingyueughed, ¡°Zheng Bashan, the Hidden Dragon Institute isn¡¯t the ck Rhinoceros Garrison. Not everything needs to be done ording to the Nine-Tip Mountain rules. If you want to kill someone, you need to figure out who needs to be killed first and then notify the Hidden Dragon Institute. Only after obtaining their approval can you make a move; otherwise, you will only bring disaster upon yourself. Without evidence, we cannot convince the Hidden Dragon Institute, and then there won¡¯t be anything we can do about it. Speaking of which, how did matters on your end go?¡±

    Zheng Bashan puffed on her pipe a few times before she blew out a chokingly-thick cloud of smoke and said, ¡°I didn¡¯t find Cloud Leopard.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Zhang Tingyue¡¯s eyebrows jumped. ¡°Why is that? Was he hiding from you?¡±

    ¡°No, I went to go eat food. I just finished eating.¡±

    Zhang Tingyue was so angry that his body swayed. ¡°Zheng Bashan! Didn¡¯t I tell you to take care of business before eating?¡±

    ¡°I know, but I happened to run into a small store. That store¡¯s beef noodles smelled too good, so I lost control and ate 98 bowls. Originally, I wanted to buy a full one hundred, but then that damned owner said that he was out of stock. I went to go look for Cloud Leopard, but then I discovered that it was already time for us to get back together, so I could only return first,¡± the woman, who was even taller than Iron Cliff and whose body was even more muscr than a bear¡¯s, replied somewhat disinterestedly.

    Hong Mingughed sarcastically, ¡°I knew that was how it would turn out. One Zhong Shisi and one Zheng Bashan, yet both are unreliable.¡±

    Zhong Shisi knitted his eyebrows. ¡°At least I went.¡±

    ¡°You basically didn¡¯t go.¡±

    ¡°Are you looking to die?¡±

    ¡°Try me.¡±

    The two of them were instantly at each other¡¯s throats.

    ¡°Enough!¡± Zhang Tingyue yelled. ¡°We haven¡¯t even finished taking care of business yet. Are you done arguing? Do you want to fight someone on the same team as you?¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s on the same team as him,¡± Zhong Shisi muttered.

    Zhang Tingyue and Jiang Tao felt a massive headacheing on, and only Zheng Bashanughed indifferently.

    Zhang Tingyue¡¯s patience was about to be exhausted when he suddenly raised his head and said, ¡°Third Mother Guan, are you going to tell us about what happened on your end, orr do I need to give you a grand reception before you are willing toe out?¡±

    The beautiful sound ofughter seemed toe from everywhere. ¡°People often need topare themselves to others in order to realize where they¡¯re at. I just wanted to hear you talk about your failures a little more is all.¡±

    Zhang Tingyue¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°So you¡¯re telling me that you have some leads?¡±

    ¡°There is nothing that I, Third Mother Guan, cannot uncover.¡±

    With a sh, Third Mother Guan suddenly appeared from thin air, still dressed in her ck clothes.

    Comparing her to Zheng Bashan was the same asparing a beauty to a wild beast.

    Unfortunately, that wild beast was also a female.

    ¡°How did it go?¡± everyone asked.

    ¡°Everything went as expected,¡± Third Mother Guan replied. ¡°Someone put some medicine on Sheng¡¯an and the others to attract the y Giant.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°Who is an alchemist?¡±

    1. His name (Shisi, or Ê®ËÄ) literally means fourteen, but since that sounds weird I just left it as Shisi.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 88: Obvious Scheme

    Chapter 88: Obvious Scheme

    Su Chen met Zhang Tingyue again that afternoon.

    This time, he was joined by six other people.

    Standing in front of the Origin Energy Tower, Zhang Tingyueughed, ¡°Prince Su, it¡¯s me. I wanted to talk to you about my nephew again. Do you have some time?¡±

    Su Chen nced at the people behind him and then replied, ¡°If there¡¯s anything you want to talk about, we can do it here.¡±

    ¡°Why not find some other ce to slowly talk it over?¡± Zhang Tingyue asked.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°We¡¯ll talk here.¡±

    Zhang Tingyue knitted his eyebrows, trying to think of a way to phrase it, but Zheng Bashan impatiently said, ¡°Brat, are you scared now? What? Do you think that you are safe just by relying on your instructor¡¯s Origin Energy Tower? Hmph, if you dared to do it then you need to be willing to be held responsible. Your instructor won¡¯t be able to protect you!¡±

    Zhang Tingyue was infuriated because Zheng Bashan¡¯s words had opened up the conversation immediately.

    Even if they couldn¡¯t make a move within the Hidden Dragon Institute, he still wanted to find a quieter ce so that he could put a bit more pressure on Su Chen. If they discussed it here, then Su Chen would feel like he had some kind of backer.

    However, since the words had already been said, there was nothing Zhang Tingyue could do.

    When Su Chen heard Zheng Bashan¡¯s voice, he raised his eyebrows and coldlyughed. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you are talking about.¡±

    ¡°What we are talking about? Brat, you¡¯ve been exposed!¡± Zheng Bashan mored madly. ¡°We know that you killed Zheng Kuang and the others. Are you still denying it? Come with us now and we¡¯ll leave your corpse intact!¡±

    Su Chen ignored her and turned to the others. ¡°Can someone tell me more clearly what is going on?¡±

    In all honesty, Zhang Tingue admired Su Chen for remaining so calm even in this kind of situation.

    However, he still said, ¡°Su Chen, you grew indignant because Sheng¡¯an seized your Adamantine Ape, so you put some Stonesoul Medicine on him to attract the y Giant¡¯s attacks, right?¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s the evidence?¡± Su Chen countered.

    ¡°Jin Ling¡¯er is our evidence,¡± Third Mother Guan said.

    Su Chenughed, ¡°Do you think that I would tell Jin Ling¡¯er this kind of thing?¡±

    ¡°Of course you wouldn¡¯t tell her, but Jin Ling¡¯er would have discovered it. Did you really think that she would do nothing given that such a great event had taken ce? She knew that our ns would get involved, so she had been looking for evidence the entire time.¡± Third Mother Guan pulled out a medicinal vial. ¡°This must be the Stonesoul medicine you used, right? Jin Ling¡¯er found it near the location of your campground, and of your small team, only you are an alchemist...... Hahaha, what else do you have to say?¡±

    ¡°Jin Ling¡¯er!¡±

    Su Chen squinted his eyes slightly.

    Then, heughed in a low voice, ¡°So she really wasn¡¯t very reliable in the end.¡±

    ¡°So you confess to it?¡± Zhang Tingyue said.

    Su Chenughed disdainfully, ¡°Whether or not I admit to it isn¡¯t that important. What¡¯s important is, can you really use me just because you found an empty medicinal vial? There is no evidence to prove that this vial is mine. Someone else could have used it and then nted it there to frame us. The Hidden Dragon Institute won¡¯t believe you just because of this.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not wrong, but it¡¯s enough for us if we know it was you,¡± Zhang Tingyue said in a sinister voice. ¡°Now that we¡¯ve found the mastermind, do you still think that you can escape from this?¡±

    ¡°Or do you think that you can hide in the Hidden Dragon Institute for the rest of your life?¡± Hong Ming said.

    That was also true.

    If there wasn¡¯t enough evidence, the Hidden Dragon Institute might not be able to do anything to him, but the six ns wouldn¡¯t be willing to let him off the hook.

    This situation was very different from the previous conflicts that Su Chen had been involved in.

    To exact their revenge, the six major ns were probably willing to wait for even a hundred years in front of the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    Upon hearing these words, even Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but sigh. ¡°How unlucky. I thought that I had pulled it off wlessly, but it looks like I wasn¡¯t able to get away with it in the end. If that¡¯s the case, is there no way that I can get out of this now?¡±

    Was he finally about to confess to it?

    Everyone began to yell inside their hearts.

    Zhang Tingyue said, ¡°Su Chen, if you choose to leave the Hidden Dragon Institute with us, we¡¯ll make it quick. However, if you waste too much of our time, I cannot say how much you will suffer in the future.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Su Chen tilted his head and thought for a moment, and then he suddenly said, ¡°I know that I did something wrong. Can I try to buy myself a lifeline?¡±

    ¡°Buy? What will you buy it with? Do you think that you have more money than six Bloodline Nobility ns?¡± Jiang Taoughed.

    ¡°How about a method to reach the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline? I think you will like it.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    When Zhang Tingyue and the others finally left, they left filled with shock from what Su Chen had told them.

    Upon returning to the Origin Energy Tower, Su Chen found Cloud Leopard sitting there waiting for him.

    ¡°Is it finished?¡± he asked.

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Mhm. They said something like ¡®this is no small thing¡¯, ¡®we can¡¯t make that decision¡¯, ¡®we need to report back first¡¯, ¡®only our n¡¯s patriarch can make that decision¡¯, etc.¡±

    Cloud Leopardughed sarcastically, ¡°They¡¯re just putting on a show. The next time theye they¡¯ll say that their n¡¯s patriarchs agreed, but that 1) they need to verify that the technique is real, and 2) that you cannot secretly sell it to others. On the surface, it will seem like the matter was taken care of, but secretly they will still try to send people to kill you. Rather than trying to get revenge, however, it will be considered an assassination.¡±

    ¡°As long as I force them to target me secretly, it¡¯s good enough,¡± Su Chen sighed. ¡°As long as they cannot act openly, they lose some of their natural advantages. They will not be able to target me brazenly, so their strength will also be limited.¡±

    ¡°But you are still in the Qi Drawing Realm. They don¡¯t need to be too strong to deal with you.¡±

    ¡°What if I told you that I could reach the Blood Boiling Realm in a month as long as I wanted to? Would you believe me?¡±

    Cloud Leopard shook his head. ¡°You haven¡¯t invented that kind of cultivation technique.¡±

    ¡°I knew you wouldn¡¯t believe me.¡± Su Chen shrugged his shoulders.

    Based on the rate of his absorption because of his Origin Energy Eye, it wouldn¡¯t be hard for him to reach the peak of the Qi Drawing Realm.

    However, now was the time to build a foundation, and there was no need for him to be in such a hurry.

    In addition, remaining in the Qi Drawing Realm didn¡¯t necessarily mean that he couldn¡¯t increase his strength. In the beginning, when Shi Kaihuang had bored a hole through the Formation-Piercing Rhinocerous, he had said that a Qi Drawing Origin Qi Schr could achieve that step, and that he was still extremely far away from reaching that level.

    If he wanted to achieve his great ambitions, it was better to take things slowly and one at a time. The Hidden Dragon Institute contained many inconspicuous yet monstrously talented individuals. Su Chen didn¡¯t know whether someone had ever achieved what Shi Kaihuang had ever described, but before he was able to sweep through the Qi Drawing Realm, he was in no hurry to increase his cultivation base.

    At that moment, Cloud Leopard asked, ¡°Should we let the Zhu n know? Do you think they will fall for it?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Whether they fall for it is not important. What¡¯s important is that they cannot possibly allow it tond in the hands of others if they want to maintain their monopoly over Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven. It¡¯s an obvious scheme because even if they discover it, they will still need to go along with it.¡±

    Upon saying that, Su Chen suddenlyughed. ¡°When I was young, I listened to a lot of storytellers. One time, the storyteller recounted a tale of how arge group of Origin Qi Schrs fought with each other for a secret book. The circumstances might seem simr, but their goal was not just to obtain that secret book but to also stop it from spreading...... They will very quickly discover that they are very different concepts. I cannot steal a secret technique from someone else, but if they want to stop a secret technique from spreading, it is extremely difficult to do so. Did they really think that I would be stumped if they stopped me from selling it on the Dreamrealmwork? Haha, how idiotic! If I can¡¯t sell it on the Dreamrealm, does that mean I can¡¯t sell it in the real world?¡±

    Cloud Leopardughed. ¡°That¡¯s because they aren¡¯t you. They have no way of understanding your thoughts. Selfish people look at other people in a selfish light as well.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 89: Scheming

    Chapter 89: Scheming

    When Zhang Tingyue and the others returned on the second day, it was no surprise that the patriarchs had agreed to it.

    As long as Su Chen gave them Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven, they were willing to let bygones be bygones.

    However, Su Chen indicated to them that Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven had been invented by Shi Kaihuang, not himself, so the cultivation technique was kept within the Origin Energy Tower. There were Origin Formations and Imaging Disks there so if he were to try and take it, he would be discovered by Shi Kaihuang. If that happened, Shi Kaihuang would probably exterminate him even before the six ns could, so he needed them to take it for themselves.

    Although the six ns were not part of the Hidden Dragon Institute, Zhang Tingyue had heard of Shi Kaihuang¡¯s name before. He was curious as to why Shi Kaihuang chose to guard it so secretly rather than distribute it publicly like he had always wanted to.

    Su Chen replied by saying that everyone was actually a little selfish. Years and years of constant research had whittled away Shi Kaihuang¡¯s originally lofty ambitions. After inventing Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven, he followed in the footsteps of those before him and kept it for himself. He was unwilling to let it spread easily; otherwise, howe no one had learned Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven even though it had already existed for quite some time?

    Just as Cloud Leopard had said, selfish people looked at others in a selfish light.

    To Zhang Tingyue and the others, this kind of behavior was more believable. After all, selflessness was something that went against the human nature, so they didn¡¯t doubt Su Chen¡¯s words at all.

    To be fair, there was no reason for them to be suspicious anyways. They would know whether the cultivation technique was real or fake as soon as they took a look at it. They also nned on killing Su Chen regardless of whether it was fake or not, so it didn¡¯t affect them very much.

    The two parties very quickly came to an agreement on how to execute the n.

    In two days, Shi Kaihuang was going to leave for a brief period of time to take care of something.

    At that time, Su Chen would deactivate the formation in the Origin Energy Tower so that Zhang Tingyue and the others could enter and take away Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven. However, everything would be recorded by the Imaging Disks to serve as evidence for Shi Kaihuang.

    Although this would be a little annoying for them, Zhang Tingyue agreed to it in the end.

    However, because of safety reasons, the patriarchs of the six ns would not go themselves. They would only send an insignificant pawn to steal it; that way, no matter what happened afterwards, they would not be affected.

    Of course, they could not have known that the goal of Su Chen¡¯s n was not fixated on implicating them in the first ce.

    It wasn¡¯t that Zhang Tingyue and the others were stupid. Rather, theirck of information had put them at a disadvantage from the very beginning.

    This was the case for many things. Many ns could be effectively executed despite their simplicity because of the discrepancy in information that each party involved possessed. Those who came after might specte and try to put themselves in the shoes of others, but they would only confuse themselves if they didn¡¯t understand this point.

    On the second evening, Su Chen left the Hidden Dragon Institute again.

    This was probably the first time since entering the Institute that he had been so active, leaving the Hidden Dragon Institute twice in just a few days.

    However, his departure this time was to meet with Night Demon ¨C Sang Zhen had already returned to the Three Mountains Region. The only person from the Immortal Temple remaining in this area that Su Chen had a good rtionship with was probably Night Demon.

    Su Chen met with Night Demon in the same run-down courtyard.

    For some unknown reason, Su Chen thought of Yue Longsha when he saw Night Demon. She reminded him of the assassination attempt under the moonlight and the figure that faded into the moonlight afterwards.

    ¡°Hey, what are you looking at?¡± Night Demon asked curiously upon seeing Su Chen¡¯s strange, far-off expression.

    ¡°Oh!¡± Su Chen snapped out of it and refocused. ¡°Nothing much.¡±

    ¡°You called me here for ¡®nothing much¡¯?¡± The naive young maiden crossed her arms. ¡°I thought that you came here to deliver some of the medicine.¡±

    ¡°I am here to deliver the medicine.¡±

    Su Chen tossed her a container.

    Upon opening it, she found two neatly arranged rows of vials.

    ¡°Howe there are only eighty vials?¡± Night Demon asked.

    ¡°It takes some time to concoct the medicine. These should be enough to support you for now, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, they¡¯ll be enough to support us for now,¡± Night Demon replied after thinking for a moment.

    Spirit Sobering Medicine was not amon item. It was quite expensive, and even the Immortal Temple wouldn¡¯t just freely distribute it.

    ¡°As long as there¡¯s enough of them. Right, will you immediately deliver the medicine to headquarters?¡±

    ¡°Yes, they are in urgent need of it,¡± Night Demon replied.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably a pretty long trip to send it all the way there, huh?¡±

    ¡°Of course, it¡¯s nearly a thousand kilometers away......¡± While Night Demon was speaking, she suddenly shut her mouth and stared at Su Chen warily. ¡°Are you trying to figure out where our headquarters are located?¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°Why would I want to know where your headquarters are? I was just asking carelessly. Right, since you need so many Spirit Sobering Medicines, I¡¯ll make another batch for you tomorrow. How does another 80 vials sound?¡±

    ¡°Great! If that¡¯s the case though, why didn¡¯t you send them to me together tomorrow? Now I have to make two trips,¡± Night Demon pouted.

    ¡°It was just something I thought of on the spot,¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°Right, there¡¯s something else that I need your help with.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°I want to ask you to take a trip to the Origin Opening Pavilion and buy the medicinal ingredients on this list for me.¡± Su Chen handed Night Demon a list of items. ¡°Remember, these medicinal ingredients are rted to some of my secrets. Only you can do it. Don¡¯t hand it off to someone else.¡±

    ¡°No problem. When do I need to leave?¡± Night Demon asked as she took the list.

    ¡°Tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°The Origin Opening Pavilion is in Northriver City. If that¡¯s the case, I might not be able toe by to pick up the medicines.¡±

    ¡°Then let Ma Renzee to get them. That way he¡¯ll be less concerned. However, I don¡¯t want him to know where you and I usually meet, so tomorrow I will put some Thousand Kilometer Incense on myself. Tell him toe find me by following that scent.¡±

    Thousand Kilometer Incense was a kind of incense that carried a unique fragrance and spread very far. However, humans could not smell it; only a certain kind of Incense-Sniffing Mouse could pick up on it. Because of this, an Incense-Sniffing Mouse was often used to chase after a target who had been tagged by Thousand Kilometer Incense.

    Secret organizations would often change locations every so often to preserve the security of their contact. The Immortal Temple invented the use of Thousand Kilometer Incense to decide impromptu meeting locations, and they had taught the technique to Su Chen. Thus, it wasn¡¯t strange for Su Chen to choose this method.

    For some reason, however, Night Demon felt like something was off, but she couldn¡¯t put a finger on it.

    After Su Chen talked with Night Demon for a bit longer, he said, ¡°It¡¯s decided. Remember to leave tomorrow. I need this medicine quite urgently.¡±

    As he said that, he left.

    ¡°Hmph, running me around like I¡¯m an errand girl?¡± Night Demonined unhappily.

    However, when she thought about how Su Chen only trusted her, she suddenly felt quite proud of herself.

    Because of her, Su Chen was willing to help them make an additional eighty vials of medicine. Upon reporting back, she would have done a meritorious service.

    She was willing to make an extra stop for Su Chen based on just this point alone.

    However, a thought shed through her head, and Night Demon suddenly realized what was off about what Su Chen had said.

    Concocting the Spirit Sobering Medicine was aplicated process. Su Chen had spent quite a bit of time and energy concocting the eighty vials that he had just handed over, and some of them were also from his sesses when he was learning to concoct it.

    Since that was the case, how would he procure another eighty in just one day?

    But a momentter, Night Demon¡¯s adorable, airheaded personality once again made an appearance. She said to herself, ¡°He must have left an extra surplus for himself. Thankfully, I am simply too charming, so he couldn¡¯t help but turn them over to me.¡±

    After thinking about that, she went off to take care of her own duties, immensely pleased with herself.

    Night Demon didn¡¯t know that in that very instant, she had seen through the only hole in Su Chen¡¯s n. However, the answer she came up with led her to brush right past the truth of the matter.

    Meanwhile, Su Chen returned to the Hidden Dragon Institute after leaving Night Demon.

    After asking around, Su Chen finally came to the front of a certain room.

    He knocked on the door. When the door opened, Yue Longsha¡¯s beautifulplexion appeared.

    Upon seeing Su Chen, she said, somewhat dazed, ¡°It¡¯s you?¡±

    Su Chen got straight to the point. ¡°I¡¯ll help you kill Ma Renze to get revenge. What do you think?¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 90: Kiss

    Chapter 90: Kiss

    When the sun disappeared below the horizon, Su Chen was preparing for the conclusion of his borate scheme.

    Finally, it was time for Su Chen to meet with Zhu Chen and the others again.

    They changed the rendezvous point to the path that circled around theke.

    Some people say that the rendezvous point a person chooses reflects their state of mind. The Zhu n chose the meeting location, perhaps implying that they were growing impatient. They wanted to conclude this matter as quickly as they could with as few interruptions as possible.

    Zhu Chen said as they walked along the path, ¡°Three more days have gone by. Has Prince Su thought about it a bit more?¡±

    Su Chen nced around as if he hadn¡¯t heard the question and then asked, ¡°Howe you¡¯re the only one here this time?¡±

    Zhu Chen replied, ¡°Is Prince Su referring to Xianyao and Yanniang? They both wanted to meet Prince Su, but they were worried that Prince Su would misunderstand them......¡±

    They failed trying to make a sudden movest time, almost ruining the transaction. They desperately needed to seed in their negotiations this time, so they didn¡¯t allow Zhu Xianyao to appear in order to avoid provoking Su Chen.

    Su Chenughed, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. She is the most important bargaining chip in this exchange; if she isn¡¯t here, then that would be quite a pity.¡±

    Zhu Chen¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Prince Su means......¡±

    ¡°Zhu Xianyao is quite a good woman. I¡¯ll take her, but I will not be joining your Zhu n; rather, she will be following me. As for how I use her, that ispletely up to me.¡±

    ¡°This......¡± Zhu Chen hesitated.

    Just as Shi Kaihuang had said, the females in the Zhu nmanded respect.

    Zhu Xianyao was no small figure within her n. She was the Zhu n¡¯s eldest inheritor, the future head of the n, and she possessed stunning looks and formidable ability. They had brought her for a variety of reasons: 1) to improve their attractiveness, 2) to demonstrate their sincerity, and 3) to give her a chance to perform an important service and temper herself.

    Zhu Chen didn¡¯t have the right or the courage to even think about handing Zhu Xianyao over as if she were an item.

    ¡°Since Prince Su prefers it, how could Xianyao ignore it?¡±

    Thankfully, Zhu Chen didn¡¯t need to make that decision. Zhu Xianyao took the initiative to walk out herself.

    She respectfully and gracefully bowed to Su Chen. The students who walked by were stupefied, wondering when such a beauty had arrived at the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    Not just that, but the beauty took the initiative to walk behind Su Chen and begin massaging his shoulders.

    The Zhu n¡¯s maidens had probably been taught how to take care of others before. Zhu Xianyao¡¯s small hands were experienced, and the force in her fingers prated his muscles, causing him to rx. Su Chen smiledfortably. ¡°Your hands are quite skilled and steady. I never expected that Miss Xianyao would possess such refined technique. I feel as if my soul is about to leave my body!¡±

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s jade-like hands gently pressed into Su Chen¡¯s back, applying pressure to his meridians. She gentlyughed, ¡°Prince Su is quite impressive to use words like ¡®my soul is about to leave my body¡¯. If Prince Su likes it, Xianyao can add a little more strength to it.¡±

    Traces of Origin Energy entered Su Chen¡¯s body through her fingers.

    Su Chen allowed the Origin Energy to enter his body as if he felt nothing. Heughed, ¡°Are you done massaging me? If you¡¯re done, you can stop now. This is a busy street after all, and people might consider this to be indecent.

    Zhu Xianyaoughed, her voice fluttering, ¡°Ooh, Prince Su, how could you say such things? There are so many people here who are jealous of you. Look at their jealous and envious expressions. Don¡¯t all men enjoy these kinds of looks?¡±

    She was not wrong.

    There were quite a few students passing by, and all of them werepletely stunned. They stopped to gaze at Su Chen as they discussed amongst themselves, ¡°Who is that, and why is he so close to such a beauty?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that Su Chen? He¡¯s the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s infamous piece of trash.¡± Some of them recognized Su Chen.

    ¡°It¡¯s him? How could the Heavens be so unfair? Even a piece of trash like him has such a beautiful woman as his partner!¡±

    ¡°And she even massages his shoulders in public?¡±

    ¡°Doing this kind of improper thing in broad daylight? How uncultured!¡± Some of the more traditional students were unable to continue watching.

    ¡°Whoa, whoa, that¡¯s a bit excessive. Isn¡¯t she just massaging his shoulders? How have they reached the point of being uncultured?¡±

    ¡°If he wants a massage, they should go home and do it. Why do it here other than to provoke those of us who are single? I can¡¯t stand those who unt and showcase their love for each other.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! That¡¯s right!¡±

    Most of the students were jealous.

    All Su Chen could do was shake his head. ¡°I haven¡¯t reached the point yet where I need to rely on a woman to improve my status.¡±

    ¡°But to most men, aren¡¯t women just used to demonstrate their status?¡± Zhu Xianyao leaned into Su Chen¡¯s ear and whispered.

    Her flowery fragrance lingered in the air.

    Su Chen¡¯s heart jumped violently from her teasing before he calmed down. ¡°Miss Zhu, if you continue to act this way, I won¡¯t be able to control myself. Do you want me to incur the jealousy of all the students here? If you are willing to, I am not against throwing caution to the wind.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao raised an eyebrow. ¡°Is that so? Do you dare?¡±

    Su Chen felt a trace of anger rise up in his heart. ¡°You¡¯ll know whether I dare or not once you try it out.¡±

    He suddenly turned around and embraced Zhu Xianyao, leaning in to kiss her.

    He moved swiftly and suddenly, catching Zhu Xianyao off-guard, her mind nk.

    She was stunned.

    Completely and utterly stunned.

    In fact, everyone surrounding them was also stunned.

    Who kissed someone without even speaking to them first?

    Although people on the Primordial Continent were generally pretty open-minded, not many people kissed in public1.

    They did not kiss for long, but it was more than enough to leave a deep impression on the others.

    Zhu Xianyao finally recovered from her moment of dizziness and pushed Su Chen aside. ¡°You......!¡±

    She hadn¡¯t expected that Su Chen would really dare to follow through with it.

    They were originally just ying a game, but it had suddenly be real. Zhu Xianyao was in turmoil.

    Su Chen smiled. ¡°I warned you, but you wouldn¡¯t listen.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao felt her anger increasing, but then she heard the sounds of cheers breaking out around them.

    She turned around to find arge group of students surrounding them, many of them yelling, ¡°Another one! Another one!¡±

    Another one my ass! Go die! Zhu Xianyao almost cursed aloud.

    She turned around to look at Su Chen and said, ¡°You¡¯ve won. We¡¯ve fooled around enough. It¡¯s time to get down to business.¡±

    ¡°Suit yourself,¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°But this ce is no longer convenient. Let¡¯s go to the Origin Energy Tower, and we can discuss things as we go.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡±

    Su Chen turned around, feeling slightly pleased with himself.

    Just as they were about to leave, he suddenly froze in ce.

    A pair of eyes were staring back at him from within the crowd.

    It was Gu Qingluo.

    1. I should note here that in Chinese culture, people are generally expected to keep disys of affection private.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 91: Assumptions

    Chapter 91: Assumptions

    His mind instantly went nk. Su Chen stared at Gu Qingluo as if his brain had suddenly stopped working.

    At that moment, he felt like a person who had been sneaking food but was caught by his wife. There was some panic, restlessness, and mncholy.

    But an instantter, that feeling disappeared.

    Because Gu Qingluo turned away.

    She didn¡¯t look back at Su Chen when she left.

    Su Chen felt his heart sink.

    He felt a bit of liberation andfort, but he felt more grief and indignation.

    Zhu Xianyao was unaware of Su Chen¡¯s emotional turmoil. She pulled on his arm and asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Oh, nothing.¡± Su Chen seemed to snap out of his daze. ¡°Let¡¯s keep going. We can talk about it as we go.¡±

    The three of them left, and the students who were surrounding them slowly dispersed when they saw that nothing exciting would happen.

    After everyone had disappeared, Gu Qingluo reemerged from the small forest.

    She stared at Su Chen¡¯s departing figure, tears rolling down her face.

    She cried for a long time before leaving on her own.

    However, she didn¡¯t know that not long after she disappeared, the beautiful woman from the Zhu n, Yanniang, suddenly reappeared.

    Zhu Yanniang gazed at Gu Qingluo¡¯s fading figure andughed, ¡°Interesting. It seems that we¡¯ve discovered a hidden clue.¡±

    A voice coldly harrumphed, ¡°She¡¯s just an insignificant lover. What use could she possibly have?¡±

    ¡°Who can say what will happen? If everything goes ording to n, this kind of discovery naturally won¡¯t be of any use. But if......¡± Zhu Yanniang stopped speaking.

    The cold voice said, ¡°You think that something might happen? He¡¯s just an insignificant junior. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that we need him to take down the notice, we would have wiped him out a long time ago.¡±

    ¡°This is still the Hidden Dragon Institute. It¡¯s better to remain cautious.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. There are people who will deal with the Hidden Dragon Institute, and I will take care of Shi Kaihuang. All you need to do is focus on dealing with Su Chen.¡±

    ¡°But even so, I still feel like the matter is not as simple as we think it is for some reason,¡± Zhu Yanniang said, her eyebrows knitted together in deep thought.

    ¡°You¡¯re overthinking things. There¡¯s no point,¡± the cold voice said before it slowly disappeared.

    Zhu Yanniang sighed and didn¡¯t say anything.

    High-level troubles would be dealt with by high-level people. Her main mission was to deal with Su Chen. If she couldn¡¯t do that, it would be considered a failure on her part.

    As she thought of this, she began to walk lightly towards the Origin Energy Tower.

    At that moment, Su Chen, Zhu Xianyao, and Zhu Chen had already entered the Origin Energy Tower. Theyughed as they talked, and it seemed like all of their previous discord had disappeared like a cloud of smoke. After Zhu Xianyao had agreed to Su Chen¡¯s conditions, the situation had stabilized.

    ¡°So can we go to the Dreamrealm now to take down the notice?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked as she wrapped herself around Su Chen¡¯s arm.

    ¡°Are you in that much of a hurry?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°It costs my mother tens of thousands of Origin Stones every day the notice is up. Bing a Tier Five Dream Official is quite impressive. A single Adamantine Battle Body ruined all of our ns,¡± Zhu Xianyao replied. At the very least, the words she had just said were sincere.

    Although both the Horizontal Mountain Zhu n and their businesses wererge, allowing them to afford this price, losing tens of thousands of origin Stones every day was not easy to endure.

    ¡°Okay. Please wait for a moment.¡± Su Chen nodded in agreement.

    Just as they were about to enter his room, however, they were suddenly osted by a loud noise.

    The three of them turned around in shock to find that a person had suddenly charged into the room from a side door. It was Iron Cliff.

    Iron Cliff stumbled forward, his body covered in blood. He yelled, ¡°Master!¡±

    ¡°Iron Cliff!¡± Su Chen rushed to his side. ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°Someone barged into the library and took......took......¡±

    ¡°What did they take?¡± Su Chen hurriedly asked.

    ¡°They took the manual for Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven,¡± Iron Cliff loudly replied before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and fainted.

    What?

    Zhu Chen and Zhu Xianyao also felt their vision swim.

    The manual for Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven had been taken? What was happening?

    The two of them simultaneously stared at Su Chen, whose expression also changed. ¡°How could this be?¡±

    Evidently, he waspletely ignorant of what was happening as well.

    ¡°Su Chen, you¡¯d better give us an exnation. What exactly is going on?¡± Zhu Chen said angrily.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Why can others enter your Origin Energy Tower?¡± Zhu Xianyao said impolitely.

    Light shed across Su Chen¡¯s eyes. ¡°There is an Imaging Disk in the library that records everything that happens. We¡¯ll know what happened as soon as we look at it.¡±

    He charged into the library after he had said that.

    Zhu Chen and Zhu Xianyao nced at each other. All they could do was chase after Su Chen.

    When they reached the library, they found it in aplete mess. It was as if a tornado had swept through the room.

    Su Chen was pulling out an Origin Formation Disk from a corner of the room. It was the Imaging Disk.

    After activating it, they quickly saw a person covering their face barge in. After turning the library upside down looking for something, they finally found a thin manual with the words ¡°Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven¡± inscribed on it.

    The ck-clothed, masked person stuffed the manual inside their clothes before attempting to run away. Unexpectedly, however, the person had just reached the room¡¯s entrance when they ran into Iron Cliff.

    Iron Cliff yelled and charged forwards, but he was very clearly not the ck-clothed, masked person¡¯s opponent. He was sent flying with a single blow, passing out immediately, and the ck-clothed, masked person took the opportunity to escape.

    ¡°How could this be!? How could this be!?¡± Zhu Xianyao was so angry that her entire body was trembling.

    They had finally convinced Su Chen to take down the notice after so much effort, but now a masked person had appeared and stole Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven.

    All of their ns were ruined in an instant. Zhu Chen cursed, infuriated, ¡°How could this be? How many people knew that you invented Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Quite a few people. We never kept it a secret in the first ce.¡±

    ¡°What? Why didn¡¯t you?¡±

    Su Chen stared at him, somewhat baffled. ¡°Because we were nning on selling it publically in the first ce. It was only because you concealed our sales notice that we were dyed slightly.¡±

    Zhu Chen froze. He suddenly remembered that Su Chen never nned on keeping Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven for himself in the first ce.

    Because of this, it was not surprising at all that people knew Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven was within the Origin Energy Tower.

    If it weren¡¯t for the Zhu n¡¯s interference, the other party probably wouldn¡¯t even have needed to forcefully seize the manual ¨C they could have bought it from the Dreamrealm for a hundred Dream Droplets.

    The Zhu n¡¯s interference had restricted Su Chen¡¯s distribution n, but it also caused people who were interested in the skill to misunderstand.

    They did not know of Su Chen¡¯s and Shi Kaihuang¡¯s ns to distribute the cultivation technique publically. Thus, they had probably analyzed the situation based onmon sense and concluded that anyone who possessed the technique would treasure it highly and try to keep it for themselves, hidden and locked away so that it would be a secret. If they were to offer rare treasures in exchange for the technique, let alone money, it would profane and debase the secret technique, and if negotiations fell through, it might even create enmity. Thus, the people longing after the secret technique did not n on purchasing it from the very beginning. Instead, they chose to steal it.

    This was not very surprising at all.

    Zhu Chen and Zhu Xianyao reached that conclusion in an instant. No matter how they thought about it, they couldn¡¯t find anything wrong with that logic.

    The benefit of them reaching such a conclusion themselves was that it was much more convincing than if Su Chen had exined it to them ¨C after all, they hade to that conclusion on their own, and who ever doubted their own reasoning?

    Zhu Chen and Zhu Xianyao were vexed to no end.

    Just when they were sure that they had missed their opportunity and that Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven was gone for good, Su Chen suddenly let out an exmation of surprise as he continued to watch the Imaging Disk.

    ¡°What are you so surprised about?¡± Zhu Chen said without any hint of goodwill.

    ¡°I think that I can find them,¡± Su Chen replied.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 92: Book Stealing

    Chapter 92: Book Stealing

    When they heard what Su Chen said, they instantly perked up.

    ¡°How do we find the masked person?¡±

    Su Chen pointed at the Imaging Disk. ¡°Look, although the masked person was able to steal Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven, they still activated a small trap I set up for them. They knocked over that vial of medicine.¡±

    The two of them looked where Su Chen was pointing and saw that the masked person did indeed knock over a vial of medicine as they were taking the manual. It was probably more urate to say that the vial of medicine had been ced with the book, and a hook had been connected to both the drawer itself and the vial of medicine. When the masked person pulled open the drawer, they unstoppered the vial as well, causing the medicine inside to pour out. However, nothing seemed to happen ore out of the vial; those unaware of what was happening might have thought that it was just empty.

    However, since Su Chen said that it was a small trap he had left behind, it wouldn¡¯t actually be that simple.

    ¡°What¡¯s inside the vial?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked.

    ¡°Thousand Kilometer Incense,¡± Su Chen replied.

    When they heard Su Chen, their eyes lit up. There was no need for Su Chen to exin anything.

    Zhu Xianyao said, ¡°Go find an Incense-Sniffing Mouse quickly! We can track the scent to determine who exactly dared to steal the Zhu n¡¯s secret technique.¡±

    To Zhu Xianyao, Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven already belonged to the Zhu n alone.

    ¡°What should we do once we find it?¡± Zhu Chen asked.

    ¡°Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven cannot be exposed. Anyone who hase into contact with it..... must die!¡± Zhu Xianyao said, her voice filled with a thick killing intent.

    Zhu Chen left to follow her orders. Most likely, he had gone to gather people for the chase.

    When Zhu Chen left, only Su Chen and Zhu Xianyao remained.

    Su Chen sighed, ¡°I never expected that matters would take such a drastic turn. I hope that this won¡¯t affect the agreement between us.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao naturally knew what agreement Su Chen was referring to. She originally felt like the man before her was smart, but when she thought of their kiss earlier, she knew that he was actually just a lecher. The disdain in her heart greatly increased, and she regretted allowing herself to be taken advantage of by him. As such, she lost all pretense of cordiality as she said coldly, ¡°As long as you cancel the n¡¯s notice and ept the Zhu n¡¯s Sorrow-Erasing Baptism, we will follow through on our end.¡±

    ¡°What is the Sorrow-Erasing Baptism?¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°The Sorrow-Erasing Baptism is one of the Zhu n¡¯s Absolute Techniques. It causes a person to forget everything that has happened within a certain period of time. As long as you ept this baptism andpletely forget Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven, our cooperation will be consideredplete.¡± Since matters had progressed to this point already, Zhu Xianyao felt that there was no need to keep certain things concealed from Su Chen.

    So that¡¯s how it is?

    Su Chen finally realized what was happening.

    He and Shi Kaihuang had been unable to understand one thing. The Zhu n could deal with Su Chen, but how would they take care of Shi Kaihuang?

    If Su Chen was killed, then he was killed, but Shi Kaihuang was one of the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s instructors. No matter where they killed him, it would definitely cause a great uproar.

    With the Sorrow-Erasing Baptism, however, the end result was much simpler.

    The Zhu n was without question nning on using this technique to deal with Shi Kaihuang. That way the matter could be concluded without ever killing anyone, and from that point onwards Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven would belong to the Zhu n alone.

    If they had a significant amount of control over the Sorrow-Erasing Baptism, they could even cause Su Chen to forget the contents of their agreement.

    And if Su Chen couldn¡¯t remember the terms of their agreement, they wouldn¡¯t need to pay any price at all.

    Quite a good n.

    Su Chen silentlyughed, his heart cold.

    Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t know that the single sentence she had just said had revealed so much to Su Chen. She was still preupied with what had just happened. In fact, she was also confused as to why the situation had developed the way it had. Was it just a coincidence that someone had stolen the technique right when they had finished their negotiations with Su Chen?

    Though she had some suspicions, there was no way that she could evaluate every probability.

    The two of them were still harboring their own sinister motives and plotting against each other when Zhu Chen sent word that he had already found a Incense-Sniffing Mouse and also gathered other members of the Zhu n.

    Zhu Xianyao was jolted into action and was about to give chase when she suddenly thought of something and turned to look at Su Chen. ¡°You aren¡¯t trying to pit two groups of people against each other for your own benefit, are you?¡±

    A confused expression appeared on Su Chen¡¯s face. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re saying.¡±

    In order to tell a convincing lie the stage needed to be set, but the actor also needed to be talented.

    Su Chen¡¯s innocent expression appeared very genuine, and even Zhu Xianyao was unsure about whether she was thinking too much into it.

    But she still said an instantter, ¡°Come with me.¡±

    She grabbed Su Chen.

    Even though she was also in the Qi Drawing Realm, Su Chen had no way of avoiding her grasp. He was stunned; he had experienced firsthand the power of the Slyheart Demon Bloodline, and he knew that he was not her opponent even if she didn¡¯t use her mesmer abilities.

    As she grabbed Su Chen, Zhu Xianyao ran out of the tower.

    After they had disappeared for some time, a person emerged from a side door. It was Cloud Leopard.

    He patted Iron Cliff and said, ¡°Get up, they¡¯ve already left.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t get up, it hurts......¡± Iron Cliff gritted his teeth and said. ¡°Dammit, they didn¡¯t even verify my injuries! All the time I spent beating myself up waspletely wasted.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Su Chen was dragged out of the Hidden Dragon Institute. He found Zhu Chen, Zhu Yanniang, and others waiting for them. Apart from those two, there were four burly men, likely the Zhu n¡¯s hired guards. This lineup was not particrly impressive, but the Zhu n didn¡¯t seem to even consider it a problem. Zhu Yanniang held a small beast in her arms. It was the Incense-Sniffing Mouse, which was constantly shrieking as it pointed straight forward.

    As soon as Zhu Xianyao walked out she said, ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±

    Although she was the weakest in the group, she possessed the highest status.

    They all jumped into action. Zhu Yanniang stared at Su Chen and said, ¡°Why did you bring this kid along with us?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao replied, ¡°Everything is because of him, so I brought him with us just in case. If something goes wrong, we¡¯ll kill him!¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Everyone agreed.

    Su Chen was unhappy with that statement. ¡°You just agreed to be my woman, but now you¡¯re merciless at the flip of a dime. If that¡¯s how we¡¯re going to y, there¡¯s no point in continuing to do business.¡±

    ¡°Shut your mouth! It¡¯s all because of your uselessness that Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven was stolen by someone else!¡± Zhu Xianyao said angrily.

    ¡°That¡¯s because I never nned on keeping it for myself. If you hadn¡¯te, people would¡¯ve been able to buy it on the Dreamrealm for only a hundred Dream Droplets each. Why would anyone need to steal with it?¡±

    ¡°Enough! Selling such a divine technique for that kind of a price makes you an idiot that doesn¡¯t know the value of anything!¡±

    ¡°But it was this idiot who created this divine technique, not someone smart like you. If you want to control this technique, you will need to acquiesce to an idiot like me. You¡¯d best be clear about this point. Otherwise, even if you kill the person who stole the manual, you will not be able toplete our transaction.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Zhu Xianyao was angered to the point of speechlessness.

    As they argued, the group of people continued to race forwards, following the Incense-Sniffing Mouse

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 93: Obstruct 1

    Chapter 93: Obstruct (1)

    Whoosh!

    The masked person flipped through the air a few times,nding in front of Zhang Tingyue.

    ¡°You got it?¡± Zhang Tingyue asked calmly with his hands behind his back.

    The masked person kneeled on the ground with his hands out in front of him, offering out a manual. ¡°Replying to senior¡¯s question, it belongs to us now!¡±

    ¡°Were there any unforeseen idents?¡± Third Mother Guan asked.

    The masked person replied, ¡°Everything went ording to n. No unforeseen idents urred.¡±

    By the time the masked person had replied, Zhang Tingyue had already taken the manual and began scanning through it.

    He looked through it very diligently, scanning over every word and sentence. The more he read, the more serious his expression was.

    ¡°What do you think?¡± Jiang Tao asked.

    Zhang Tingyue didn¡¯t reply. He continued to read through it intently, causing the others to be so anxious that it was as if a hundred ws were raking at their hearts.

    After a long time, Zhang Tingyue finally closed the manual and let out a sigh.

    This sigh caused everyone to feel disappointment. ¡°It¡¯s fake?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s real, and the technique is an extremely marvelous Blood Boiling cultivation technique. There is a forty percent chance of sess, and even if someone fails, they can try again after another half year of cultivation with no disadvantage. What a genius! Only a genius could develop such a technique. Who knows how Shi Kaihuang thought of such an exquisite andplicated technique? He was actually able toplete something the human race hasn¡¯t been able to achieve for tens of thousands of years!¡±

    As Zhang Tingyue spoke, he couldn¡¯t help but shake his head in admiration.

    He had sighed simply because the technique was so exquisite.

    Everyone was extremely happy upon hearing this.

    Hong Ming said, ¡°Great, now that this divine technique is in our hands, Shi Kaihuang can forget about monopolizing it. Our six ns have already agreed that, apart from our ns, no one else can learn it.¡±

    ¡°Then what about Shi Kaihuang?¡± Zhong Shisi asked. ¡°He also knows Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll just need to find an opportunity to deal with the master-student pair,¡± Zhang Tingyue said darkly. ¡°Also, we should probably find a different name for Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven.¡±

    ¡°Since our six ns own it together, why not call it the Six ns¡¯ Heaven?¡± Jiang Tao said.

    Third Mother Guanughed, ¡°I think that sounds pretty good.¡±

    Zheng Bashan was the most impatient. She pouted, ¡°Why are you still spewing out rubbish? Quick, make some copies of it so that each one of us can get one.¡±

    ¡°Naturally.¡± Zhang Tingyue nodded. A person stepped out from behind him and pulled out a few jade slips1, pointing them at the manual. The characters on the manual were inscribed onto the Jade Slip using an Inscription Origin Skill, which was considered to be an Ancient Arcana Technique.

    In an instant, Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven had beenpletely copied down, and each of the six important n figures now had a copy.

    Every one of them didn¡¯t closely inspect it just because they were interested in it. After all, the six important n figures all had a cultivation base of the Yang Opening Realm or above, and Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven wouldn¡¯t be of much use to them. However, because the person inscribing the manual on the jade slips was someone from the Zhang n, the other five ns were worried that the Zhang n would try to y a trick on them. They constantlypared the two.

    None of them trusted each other.

    After confirming that the inscription was urate to everyone¡¯s satisfaction, Zhang Tingyue said, ¡°Now that we¡¯ve finished our missions, we¡¯ve performed a great service for our ns.¡±

    ¡°Since we¡¯re done, why don¡¯t we find a ce to have a toast?¡± Jiang Taoughed.

    ¡°Great! We can finally eat!¡± Zheng Bashan excitedly yelled.

    ¡°Then let¡¯s go to the Jade Green House and find us a peerlessly beautiful dancer......¡±

    ¡°Hong Ming, we¡¯re going to eat, not look for prostitutes.¡±

    ¡°Appetite and lust are naturalpanions; having great food without beautiful women is something to regret.¡±

    ¡°I say, let¡¯s go to the North Frontier Garden. They haverge tters of fragrant meat, and the portions there arerge. It will be more than enough to satisfy your hunger!¡±

    ¡°Forget about it, Zheng Bashan. We can eat until we are full anywhere, unlike you.¡±

    ¡°I think we should go to the Riverman Hall. The fifty-year-old ¡°maiden ros¨¦¡± they have there is supposedly peerless.¡±

    ¡°Jiang Tao, you like to drink wine, but we women might not like it.¡±

    ¡°Third Mother Guan, what do you mean, ¡®we women¡¯? You¡¯re the only woman here.¡±

    ¡°Hm? Are you saying that I¡¯m not a woman?¡±

    ¡°Not only are you not a woman, you aren¡¯t even a person.¡±

    The whole group burst intoughter.

    The groupughed and bickered as they continued to walk. They hadn¡¯t decided where to go yet, but regardless they were still headed for Long Coiling City.

    Suddenly, Zhang Tingyue stopped in his tracks.

    They had just arrived at an empty grass in, and a vermilion pinewood forest was off to the side.

    Zhang Tingyue stopped and stared at the vermilion pinewood forest, his expression tense and alert.

    ¡°Old Zhang, what¡¯s wrong?¡± the others asked upon seeing his strange behavior.

    Some of them were quicker than others, and they soon realized that something was wrong. They stared at the pinewood forest vigntly.

    Zhang Tingyue said, ¡°Friends in the forest, we don¡¯t know your intentions if you hide in the forest. Can youe out for a chat?¡±

    ¡°Sigh, we were discovered in the end anyways. What a pity. I originally thought that we could have taken care of this matter much more easily.¡±

    A beautiful, melodious voice spoke, after which a young maiden appeared from within the forest. It was Zhu Xianyao.

    Zhang Tingyue didn¡¯t rx when he saw the young Qi Drawing Realm maiden. He said coldly, ¡°What about the others?¡±

    ¡°How fussy. Hey,e out, they¡¯re talking about you guys!¡± Zhu Xianyao turned around and yelled.

    Seven more people appeared from the forest. It was Zhu Chen, Su Chen, and the others.

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± Zhang Tingyue and the others yelled angrily when they saw Su Chen appear.

    Zhang Tingyue¡¯s expression sank. ¡°I knew that something was wrong.¡±

    Su Chen smiled. ¡°It has nothing to do with me! Some people just don¡¯t want you to have the manual that you currently own.¡±

    Zhang Tingyue nced at Zhu Xianyao, who said, ¡°Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven belongs to you?¡±

    Zhang Tingyue coldly harrumphed, ¡°Su Chen gave it to us.¡±

    ¡°But I saw you guys steal it.¡±

    Zhang Tingyue still wanted to exin himself, but Zhong Shisi interjected, his eyebrows twitching, ¡°So what if we did?¡±

    Exnations were only necessary for weaklings to give to those who were powerful, not the other way around.

    Zhang Tingyue had forty or fifty people on his side, and at least ten of them were of the Yang Opening Realm or higher. In addition, Zhang Tingyue was in the Light Shaking Realm, and he also had Zhong Shisi and Zheng Bashan, who were both a half-step into the Light Shaking Realm, with him.

    Their opponents, on the other hand, consisted of Zhu Xianyao, who was in the Qi Drawing Realm, and Zhu Chen and the four ck-clothed warriors, who were all in the Blood Boiling Realm. Only Zhu Yanniang was in the Yang Opening Realm. No matter how they looked at it, their opponents were weaklings!

    What need was there to exin anything to weaklings?

    Zhong Shisi was toozy to even exin the agreement between them and Su Chen.

    Zhu Xianyao was also thinking the exact same thing.

    She didn¡¯t really care about whether the other party had stolen it from Su Chen or whether he had given it to them.

    She only cared about one thing. ¡°Have you all seen Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven already?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t even wait for her opponents to respond. She shook her head and said, ¡°Forget it, there¡¯s no need to even answer. You must have verified the contents, so how could you not have seen it? You all carry yourselves differently, so evidently you are not all from the same n. Because you aplished this together, you must have verified it even more thoroughly. The easiest way to take care of this situation is to just kill you all.¡±

    A desire to kill red in Zhang Tingyue¡¯s eyes. ¡°Little girl, you speak quite arrogantly.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao said dismissively, ¡°You¡¯ll know whether I¡¯m being arrogant or not once you try me. Attack!¡±

    The four ck-clothed martial artists pounced.

    1. http://images.jaadee/images/201112/goods_img/9965_P_1323452846231.jpg

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 94: Obstruction

    Chapter 94: Obstruction

    When the four people started charging at them, Zhang Tinyue said scornfully, ¡°Four juniors at the Blood Boiling Realm? Sending any more people would be giving you too much face. Yuanhu, Laiyi, Xiangyu, and Huyi, you four go teach them a lesson.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± The four guards charged forward, shing head-on with the four ck-clothed warriors.

    The eight figures mmed into each other. After exchanging a few blows, the four guards from the Zhang n were sent flying.

    In this battle of pure strength, the Zhang n had beenpletely defeated.

    At the same time, the four ck-clothed warriors continued to press forwards, cing their hands on the four guards¡¯ chests as fast as lightning. Even though they tried to defend themselves, the blows stillnded.

    Blood spurted wildly from their bodies, forming four columns of blood in the air.

    The four guards fell to the ground simultaneously, never to crawl back onto their feet again.

    Zhang Tingyue¡¯s expression changed. Although he had guessed that their opponents were not simple people, he still felt that he had lost too much face because of how cleanly and quickly his own subordinates fell.

    The four ck-clothed warriors¡¯ attacks seeded, but they continued to press forwards.

    Jiang Tao harrumphed, ¡°Arrogant!¡±

    He waved his arm, and the Jiang n¡¯s guards charged forwards. This time, there were eight of them.

    Zhu Xianyaoughed, ¡°Didn¡¯t someone say that sending more people would be giving me too much face? Now it has be a two-on-one battle.

    Zhang Tingyue¡¯s face reddened. Jiang Tao said, ¡°Brother Tingyue¡¯s words don¡¯t necessarily represent my views.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao said, ¡°Unfortunately, two-on-one won¡¯t be enough.¡±

    Before she was even done speaking, two of the Jiang n¡¯s guards were sent flying with loud bangs.

    Jiang Tao¡¯s expression changed slightly.

    Thankfully, Hong Ming said at that moment, ¡°You guys go as well.¡±

    Eight more guards charged forwards, joining forces with the Jiang n¡¯s guards to attack the four ck-clothed warriors.

    They were basically engaging in a four-on-one battle, and the fight slowly began to stabilize.

    The people involved in the battle constantly exchanged blows. The four Zhu n warriors attacked savagely. Even though they were outnumbered, they were constantly on the offensive, and all of their attacks carried a powerful momentum behind them. If the battle were to continue in this way, it was likely that the four Zhu n warriors would still emerge victorious.

    ¡°Where did these warriorse from? How are they so powerful?¡± Third Mother Guan was astonished.

    The guards participating in the battle were all elites in their respective ns, and many of them were highyer Blood Boiling Realm Cultivators. If they still weren¡¯t able to win, then their opponents likely possessed strength at least equivalent to that of the Yang Opening Realm.

    It wasn¡¯t extremely rare for someone to possess strength a tier higher than their cultivation base in the Primordial Continent, but it all depended on who that person was.

    However, it was extremely rare for fourmon warriors to possess this kind of tier-jumping strength.

    Zhang Tingyue recognized this as well, and his expression grew even more somber.

    Zheng Bashan didn¡¯t seem to care much. ¡°So what? They are just fourmon warriors. Our guards haven¡¯t even gotten involved yet, let alone us.¡±

    ¡°Idiot! What do you know!?¡± Zhang Tingyue said angrily. ¡°Our opponents aren¡¯t idiots. Since they dared to attack us even with a numbers disadvantage, they definitely have backup ns in ce! Everyone, be careful; our opponents have definitely set up an ambush!¡±

    Zhu Xianyaoughed, ¡°Three Demonic Lord-level bloodlines and three high-tier bloodlines. I feel much more at ease now. Don¡¯t worry, there isn¡¯t any ambush here...... or if there is, there¡¯s only one person waiting for you.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Zhang Tingyue and the others were stunned.

    Zhu Xianyao raised a finger. ¡°Yes, one person. As long as you can defend yourselves against this person, you will be able to survive.¡±

    As soon as she finished speaking, a tempest abruptly began to form.

    The gusts of wind that had suddenly appeared from nowhere swirled turbulently, carrying with them a frightening pressure that threatened to wipe out everything.

    A finger suddenly shot forth from the tempest as if appearing from a void.

    ¡°Not good!¡± Zhang Tingyue, Third Mother Guan, and the others cried out.

    The finger only brushed past a guard, but that brief contact caused the guard to explode on impact. The swirling wind seemed to engulf and wipe away the guard¡¯s flesh and blood, causing him to disappear without a trace. Meanwhile, the finger continued to press on. In the blink of an eye, it had reduced numerous guards into flying ash.

    The finger¡¯s momentum didn¡¯t decrease in the slightest as it continued to advance.

    Zheng Bashan yelled as she aimed her fist right for the finger.

    Zheng Bashan¡¯s fists had leveled hundreds of feet of mountainous rock in the Razor Cliffs before.

    Apparently, Northriver¡¯s He Tiehan had refused to ept his defeat at the hands of Zheng Bashan. He had brought his four-edged Demonface Shield to do battle with her, yet Zheng Bashan had broken through the shield with a single punch, killing him immediately.

    And apparently, Zheng Bashan had only used thirty percent of her full power at the time.

    This time, Zheng Bashan attacked with all of her might.

    She activated her Sword Rhinoceros Bloodline to its limit. Horizon-Reaching Fist!

    Boom!

    The punch was instantly negated. Zheng Bashan¡¯s arm cracked in countless ces like a patch of dry earth before exploding in a cloud of flesh and gore, and her mountainous figure was sent flying.

    ¡°Let¡¯s move!¡± Jiang Tao yelled.

    Zhong Shisi unsheathed his sword. The sword began to suffuse a cold light that chilled the hearts of any who saw it.

    Third Mother Guan twirled through the air, her talons glimmering as they raked through the sky.

    Jiang Tao mmed out with his palm, his strikes sending forth waves upon waves of torrential Qi.

    Hong Ming pulled out his de, each strike sharp enough to cleave a person¡¯s soul and set it on fire.

    Almost immediately, however, the sword light disappeared, the palm winds stilled, the talons disappeared, and the de light dimmed. The four of them had attacked simultaneously, and they were sent flying in the same manner. In fact, they flew back faster than any of them could even retreat.

    A finger.

    Just a single finger!

    That single finger was enough to injure five experts from the Six Great ns.

    However, that finger strike had yet to stop advancing.

    Zhang Tingyue finally made a move.

    His palm began to glow with a jade-green light as he struck out. A wave of jade-green Qi surged forwards, carrying with it an endless power of genesis, disrupting the natural order of the universe. As the wave of Qi swept forwards, the ground began to glow a matching jade-green color.

    Verdant Palm!

    When faced with this palm, the finger¡¯s forward momentum was suppressed and extinguished.

    ¡°Pu!¡± Zhong Shisi and the others fell to the ground, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

    ¡°Are you all okay?¡± Zhang Tingyue asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m not too injured,¡± Zhong Shisi said as he stood up, clutching at his chest.

    Next, Third Mother Guan, Jiang Tao, and the others slowly stood up.

    ¡°Zheng Bashan, are you still alive?¡± Zhang Tingyue yelled.

    ¡°Of course! I am not that easy to kill!¡± a coarse, rough voice yelled in reply.

    Zheng Bashan walked towards them with her usual heavy gait, but this time her right arm was gone. Even so, Zheng Bashan ignored it. As she walked forwards, a new arm began to grow from the bloody, mangled wound.

    Her armpletely regenerated itself before she had even reached their side.

    Zheng Bashan retreated hastily to Zhang Tingyue¡¯s side and said, ¡°That person is frighteningly powerful!¡±

    A single finger was enough to negate theirbined efforts and even send them flying. How could they not feel fear? Even someone in the Light Shaking Realm shouldn¡¯t be able to fight Zhang Tingyue, someone who was also in the Light Shaking Realm, to a standstill immediately after defeating multiple people.

    Zhong Shisi said, his expression steely, ¡°Could it be a Spirit Burning Realm expert?¡±

    Spirit Burning Realm experts wereparable in strength to Demonic Emperors, powerful existences that were rarely encountered. Unexpectedly, one had suddenly appeared today.

    Zhang Tingyue shook his head and said, ¡°They¡¯re not in the Spirit Burning Realm.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Everyone stared at Zhang Tingyue in disbelief.

    Zhong Tingyue said with conviction, ¡°That person is in the Light Shaking Realm.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 95: Uncle Eleven

    Chapter 95: Uncle Eleven

    There was a universally recognized saying throughout the Primordial Continent, which was that while surpassing cultivation tiers was not umon, surpassing bloodlines was extremely rare.

    For instance, if a high-tier Demonic Beast Bloodline was the standard reference and Qi Drawing cultivators had a power level of 1, 5 for Blood Boiling, 25 for Yang Opening, and 125 for Light Shaking, those with Demonic Lord Bloodlines would have power levels of 2, 10, 50, and 250, respectively. Those with Demonic King Bloodlines would have power levels of 3, 15, 75, and 375, while those with Demonic Emperor Bloodlines would have power levels of 4, 20, 100, and 500. Those with mixed bloodlines were simply considered a tier lower. For instance, someone with a mixed Demonic Emperor Bloodline would be considered to have a Demonic King Bloodline.

    Of course, this was just a number and not an absolute representation of power. The amount a person¡¯s bloodline was awakened, their talent, and their efforts were also vital. For instance, Ji Hanyan¡¯s strength was basically equivalent to that of a Demonic Emperor Bloodline existence.

    Even so, these numbers were still useful approximations that could be used to draw meaningful conclusions.

    The most important conclusion was that someone with a Demonic Emperor Bloodline was basically considered to be a whole cultivation base higher in strength than someone with a high-tier Demonic Beast Bloodline.

    The Zhu n had not sent many people on this trip.

    To the Zhu n, Long Sang Country was not the main stage. There was no point in sending too many people, so they chosen quality over quantity.

    They had only sent one true expert, but that true expert alone was enough to deal with everyone present.

    The instant that Zhang Tingyue yelled out the terms ¡°Demonic Emperor Bloodline¡± and ¡°Light Shaking Realm¡±, everyone present froze in astonishment and fear.

    A ck-clothed, white-haired male strolled out of the forest.

    Despite his flowing white hair, the ck-clothed male¡¯s face was that of a middle-aged man¡¯s, and his face was quite average-looking. His eyes, however, glowed mysteriously, giving him a profound, mysterious aura.

    ¡°Uncle Eleven!¡± Zhu Xianyao yelled to that person but did not bow.

    Women in the Zhu n were revered. Even when facing Uncle Eleven, there was no need for her to bow her head.

    ¡°Sorry to trouble you, Uncle Eleven. Kill them all. You people, secure the perimeter. Don¡¯t let a single one of them escape!¡± Herst few sentences were directed at the four ck-clothed warriors. The warriors leapt into action, each standing at a corner. Although they were only in the Blood Boiling Realm, they possessed the Zhu n¡¯s Demonic Emperor Bloodline, causing their true strength to be roughly equivalent to someone in the Yang Opening Realm.

    Zhang Tingyue¡¯s expression changed drastically. ¡°Stay calm! We can talk things through. We are willing to swear oaths.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao said serenely, ¡°Dead people keep the best secrets. Attack!¡±

    Uncle Eleven moved forwards as fast as lightning. In a sh, he appeared next to one of the guards and grabbed the guard¡¯s head, crushing his head in an instant. He then reappeared next to another guard. In a panic, the guard tried to raise his arm to block the attack, but his movements were as slow as a snail¡¯spared to his opponent¡¯s. He watched as Uncle Eleven¡¯s hand prated his chest like he was slicing through soft tofu before reemerging while holding something.

    That¡¯s...... my...... heart...... he thought.

    Then, he felt the pain.

    Darkness began to cloud his vision.

    Uncle Eleven carelessly popped the heart and then charged towards the next person.

    He did not have the same indomitable pressure as before, but what reced it was demonic speed and extremely vicious attacks.

    Just as he was about to crush the third guard¡¯s head, Zhang Tingyue made another move.

    He struck out with his palm.

    Green light began to shine, and brambles began to swarm from the earth.

    Verdantwood Palm, Tangling Brambles Hands.

    The Zhang n¡¯s Bloodline was the Spirit Abyss Treedemon.

    There was an abyss to the Northeast called the Spirit Abyss, a ce where many Origin Medicines grew naturally. During the Sessor Emperor¡¯s reign of the Illustrious Divine Dynasty, a Treedemon appeared within the abyss and began to monopolize the medicinal ingredients, preventing others from getting in. For eighty years, no one was able to reach the abyss.

    Eventually, the head of Wild Abyss City, Zhang Chenghan, put out a call for talented and brave individuals. He gathered 36 Yang Opening Experts, 300 Origin Qi Schrs, and nearly 3000 foot soldiers before setting out for the Spirit Abyss. After three days of bitter, bloody battle, they finally defeated the Treedemon.

    Zhang Chenghan obtained the Treedemon Bloodline.

    The Treedemon was suited for crowd control. Zhang Tingyue¡¯s current attack cast a green glow on the ground, causing thistles to shoot forth as they writhed and coiled. Tens of thousands of branches shot towards Uncle Eleven, binding himpletely within a cage of branches. This was his most powerful move.

    Even so, Zhang Tingyue yelled, ¡°Help me! I won¡¯t be able to keep him tied up for long!¡±

    Zheng Bashan howled, charged forwards, and leapt into the air.

    Her massive, mountain-like body flew forwards. A golden glow began to suffuse from her body under the moonlight, and vicious barbs began to emerge from her body, making her look like a porcupine.

    Golden Double-Edged Armor.

    The Sword Rhinoceros Bloodline could generate a thorny armor. Not only was its defensive capabilities very powerful, but it could also injure the opponent.

    Her right fist struck out again. Horizon-Reaching Fist!

    Only this time, a massive horn was protruding from her fist.

    Golden Horn, Overlord Spear!

    The spear was the fist and the fist was the spear.

    The fist charged towards Uncle Eleven.

    Simultaneously, Zhong Shisi attacked with his sword.

    Even though his sword was already broken, a three-inch edge still remained. As he thrust his sword, a formless sword edge shot forth from his sword.

    To him, whether his sword was broken was of no importance.

    What he cultivated was not the sword but the sword edge.

    Dawn Diffraction Sword.

    The sword light contained a sword intent that attacked others.

    In addition to this, blood began to spurt from his left wrist.

    The fresh blood coagted and then turned into Blood Clones. This was the Bloodriver Beast n¡¯s Bloodline Origin Skill. As blood continued to pour forth, Blood Clone after Blood Clone was formed, and in the blink of an eye, there were six of them. They also began to form a sword edge, and they thrust it at Uncle Eleven. Their momentum came steadily, forming a sea of swords.

    Seven Stars Sea Formation.

    The Bloodriver Beast n¡¯s unique ability was to create formations just from one person.

    As those three attacked, Jiang Tao, Third Mother Guan, and Hong Ming also joined in. Their strength was somewhat weaker than the other three, but they were also experts from their ns, so the gap was not too great. When they went all-out, the Qi around them began to roil. The entire battlefield was instantly inundated by powerful shockwaves, forcing Zhu Xianyao and the other bystanders backwards.

    When faced with this frightening disy of power, Uncle Eleven onlyughed coldly.

    ¡°Did you really think you could keep me bound?¡±

    He raised his arm.

    With a loud tearing noise that sounded as if the heavens were being ripped open, a hole suddenly appeared in the cage of thistles swirling around him.

    Uncle Eleven leapt out, only to be met with Zheng Bashan¡¯s Horizon-Reaching Fist.

    He pushed his palm out, mming into Zheng Bashan¡¯s palms and causing Zheng Bashan to fly into the air once again. She returned as quickly as she came. As she flew backwards, the Golden Armor on her body began to fragment, dissolving into stars.

    Uncle Eleven had escaped from the cage already. However, he was now surrounded by the sword sea, which was exuding a shocking killing intent.

    In terms of defense, Zhong Shisi couldn¡¯tpare to Zheng Bashan, but in terms of offensive capabilities, no one was better than him.

    The Seven Stars gathered together, each sword edge emitting a suffocating killing intent.

    Zhong Shisi was already imagining the scene of an unimaginably powerful existence with a Demonic Emperor Bloodline falling to his sword, and he trembled in expectation and excitement.

    An instantter, however, a red tide suddenly surged forth from Uncle Eleven¡¯s body.

    Below this red tide, they could see the image of a massive Blood Fox writhing as it began to surface.

    Annihting everything!

    The sword light shattered.

    Zhong Shisi flew backwards as he spit out a mouthful of fresh blood.

    Next, Third Mother Guan, Hong Ming, and Jiang Tao were also sent flying one by one by that unstoppable Red Tide.

    ¡°Red Tide? Blood Fox...... that¡¯s the Slyheart Demonic Emperor Bloodline. You are from the Horizontal Mountain Zhu n?¡± Zhang Tingyue yelled. ¡°What are you doing here in Long Sang Country?¡±

    ¡°You speak too much.¡± Uncle Eleven waved his hand, and the Blood Fox let out a long howl.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 96: Changes

    Chapter 96: Changes

    ¡°Is this the strength of someone with a Demonic Emperor Bloodline?¡±

    Su Chen stood to the side quietly as he watched in astonishment. The Zhu n¡¯s Uncle Eleven had swept his way through the battlefield like he was the orchestrator of it all.

    Even though Shi Kaihuang had exined and even demonstrated the power of the Light Shaking Realm to him before, he waspletely stunned by the battle between Light Shaking Realm figures unfolding before him.

    The amount of power being put on disy was staggering. Within a thousand-foot diameter, nothing could remain intact ¨C the trees, ground, and boulders ¨C everything broke and copsed as they battled. Every fist and kick contained enough power to shatter a mountain.

    Since the people battling were targeting other people, they were controlling the direction of their power output. If they were to wantonly unleash their strength in every direction, the resulting damage would probably be many times greater.

    What frightening strength and frightening bloodlines!

    Even the weakest guard from any of the Six Great ns was stronger than he was, yet they couldn¡¯t hold Uncle Eleven down at all even with all of them working together. It was as if he was just ying a game as he killed them off one by one, it didn¡¯t matter how much his opponents struggled.

    ¡°Do you understand now?¡± Zhu Xianyao shot Su Chen a nce. ¡°The power of a Bloodline Nobility n isn¡¯t something amoner like you can easily understand, and breaking through the bloodline restrictions is nowhere near as easy as you think it is. The difference between Bloodline Nobility andmoners is like the difference between the Heavens and the earth. Only Bloodline Nobility ns can fight against other Bloodline Nobility ns. You should give up on your impractical dreams. It would be better for you to simply be realistic and try to take advantage of the situation.¡±

    ¡°Take advantage of the situation?¡± Su Chen nced at her. ¡°So you mean I should just hand over the cultivation technique and allow you to wipe my memories?¡±

    Zhu Xianyaoughed, ¡°That was the original n, but I¡¯ve changed my mind because even though your n to pit us against each other to make a profit was only so-so, you at least have a lot of courage. If you are willing to help our Zhu n and follow me, I might really consider allowing you to marry me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not too interested in getting married, but I need to correct you about one thing. If you think that my only goal was to just incite the two of you to do battle, then you are wrong. From the very beginning, I knew that there was no way they could be your opponents. The only possible oue would be a one-sided bloodbath.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Zhu Xianyao¡¯s interest was piqued. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, why did you need to trick us into making a move? Are you not afraid of angering us?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Because they were the ones to give me trouble in the first ce...... I killed the heirs of their ns.¡±

    Understanding dawned on Zhu Xianyao¡¯s face. ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. You were simply borrowing our hand to get rid of a grudge. Why didn¡¯t you just tell us instead of insisting on using Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven in such a way and risk exposing it? We would have just helped you out.

    ¡°This was the only way I could ensure that you would kill them all,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°I don¡¯t want to make this a condition anyways. If I offered to give you Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven as long as you killed a few people for me, then we most likely would have had to haggle for it. But now, I don¡¯t even need to bring up any conditions for you to take the initiative to do it. How good is that?¡±

    ¡°You really are quite the trickster,¡± Zhu Xianyaoughed as she covered her mouth. She was not angered by Su Chen¡¯s scheming at all.

    Of course, the real reason why she wasn¡¯t angered was because, just like Su Chen had said, the battle was apletely one-sided massacre. That was the reason she was so light-hearted. If the situation were to suddenly change, she might not be so light-hearted anymore.

    And the situation was about to suddenly change.

    Change in a way that Zhu Xianyao absolutely did not expect.

    Bang!

    Third Mother Guan was sent flying by a single palm.

    This was the fourth time that she had been knocked into the air.

    One of her hands was broken by the impact, two of her ribs were shattered, and most frighteningly of all, one of her eyes had been gouged out.

    One of her eyes!

    She did not have frighteningly powerful regenerative abilities like Zheng Bashan. If she lost one of her eyes, that was it.

    She had be a one-eyed freak!

    Third Mother Guan, who took great pride in her appearance, was about to go crazy.

    She looked back at the battlefield. Everyone was still fighting against Uncle Eleven, but they weren¡¯t qualified to be his opponent even with so many people. That man was like a demon, teleporting back and forth as he swiftly dispatched his opponents.

    Half of the forty- or fifty-man toon had been wiped out in the blink of an eye. The ground was littered with corpses.

    The massacre only continued. Uncle Eleven was like cold-blooded executioner, taking the lives of his opponents one after the other expressionlessly no matter how much Zhang Tingyue and the others pleaded for their lives.

    Bastard!

    Third Mother Guan¡¯s aura surged madly.

    At that exact moment, a gentleugh entered her ear.

    Though it was not very loud, it was heavilyced with mockery, piercing into Third Mother Guan¡¯s heart.

    When she directed her gaze towards where theugh hade from, she saw Su Chen off in the distance watching her.

    He stared directly at her. A delighted smile appeared on his face.

    When gaze met Third Mother Guan¡¯s, he moved his lips and mouthed, ¡°Idiot!¡±

    Even though she didn¡¯t know what he was saying, Third Mother Guan could urately guess what he said.

    He was humiliating them!

    That bastard! He was humiliating her as he stood off to the side, as if he were just a spectator watching a y.

    Yes!

    Everything was his fault! He had given Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven to them, incurring this cmity upon them.

    Everything was because of his schemes!

    Third Mother Guan instantly understood.

    ¡°No!¡± she screamed wildly. She suddenly turned around and charged towards Su Chen.

    Even if she were to die here, she would definitely kill Su Chen!!!

    She flew away from the battle at high speed,pletely ignoring it.

    When Su Chen saw Third Mother Guan charging towards him, he suddenly grabbed Zhu Xianyao¡¯s hand and said, ¡°Careful, this woman is about to go mad. Protect me!¡±

    As he spoke, he shoved Zhu Xianyao forward.

    Zhu Xianyao hadn¡¯t expected this sudden turn of events. She was pushed directly into Third Mother Guan¡¯s path.

    Third Mother Guan was simrly filled with hate towards Zhu Xianyao. When she saw Zhu Xianyao appear, she raked her left towards her. ¡°Die!¡±

    She was still a Yang Opening Realm expert. Even though Zhu Xianyao had a Demonic Emperor bloodline, it couldn¡¯t make up for a disparity of two whole realms. As the w descended, Zhu Xianyao was unable to dodge.

    At that precise moment, Uncle Eleven, who had been embroiled in battle, suddenly charged out of the siege and appeared in front of Zhu Xianyao. He struck out with his palm, which mmed into Third Mother Guan¡¯s face and split her head like a watermelon. A red-and-white mixture showered the ground.

    At the same time, the others caught up with him,unching their attacks.

    Uncle Eleven didn¡¯t care, but just as he was about to dodge, he discovered a problem.

    He was standing in front of Zhu Xianyao at the moment. If he dodged, then most of the attacks wouldnd on Zhu Xianyao.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 97: Weak Spo

    Chapter 97: Weak Spot

    Zhu Xianyao was the Zhu n¡¯s Young Miss, the first heir. She absolutely could not be lost.

    Thus, he could only endure!

    Forcefully endure!

    An energy barrier appeared around Uncle Eleven¡¯s body for the first time. At the same time, the Red Tide surged forwards again, mming directly into Zhang Tingyue and the others.

    While that was happening, Zhang Tingyue¡¯s men were still attacking furiously. The two opposing fronts mmed into each other once again, Uncle Eleven did not have the upper hand this time. A violent wind brewed, slicing into both parties. Zhang Tingyue and the others were sent flying, as usual, but Uncle Eleven¡¯s face flushed for the first time as well.

    He had blocked that wave of attacks, but the amount of energy he had expended was very great.

    The Slyheart Demonic Bloodline was not as suited for head-on battles. Rather, it relied on swift, fluid-like, shadowy movement to do battle. It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t have any techniques to forcefully suppress those present, but they couldn¡¯t be constantly used. It was fine every once in awhile, but it couldn¡¯t be used over long periods of time.

    But just when he had dealt with that pressing issue, Zhang Tingyue suddenly realized something and yelled, ¡°Attack that woman!¡±

    Verdantwood Palms, Tangling Brambles Hands!

    From the Verdantwood Palms, vegetation sprang to life, and thistles began to branch out from the ground, forming a lush, green canopy. They enveloped Zhu Xianyao, preventing her from going anywhere.

    The others also understood what was happening. They simultaneouslyunched attacks toward Zhu Xianyao. Zhong Shisi ordered the three Blood Clones to quickly charge towards Zhu Xianyao.

    Uncle Eleven was enraged. He mmed out his palms, striking Zhong Shisi¡¯s three Blood Clones. However, he wasn¡¯t dealing with just Zhong Shisi; when he struck the blood clones, he was met with even more attacks heading his way.

    Originally, Uncle Eleven probably could have dodged most of those attacks with his speed and easily blocked the remaining twenty or thirty percent with his strength.

    But now, ny percent of the attacks were aimed at Zhu Xianyao.

    He could no longer dodge; he had to forcefully endure again!

    Boom!

    The Red Tide surged, waves billowing in all directions. Uncle Eleven singlehandedly survived the simultaneous attacks of over twenty people.

    Zheng Bashan reappeared in that moment.

    With so many people here, apart from Zhong Shisi, she was the one with the greatest offensive capabilities.

    A powerful, untamed fistnded onto Uncle Eleven¡¯s back.

    Bang!

    The barrier shattered.

    Uncle Eleven stumbled forwards, a trickle of blood flowing from the corner of his mouth.

    ¡°Uncle Eleven!¡± Zhu Xianyao couldn¡¯t help but yell.

    This was the first time that he had been injured during the battle.

    Even though his counterattack sent Zheng Bashan flying away again, the trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth gave everyone a boost of confidence. They saw some hope for victory.

    Their attacks became even more ferocious.

    They charged forwards one after another, and they flew backwards one after another. But as long as they did not die, they would not stop attacking.

    It was clear that their opponent had every intention of killing them all. If they didn¡¯t fight now, they would die without a doubt.

    Just before the battle, Uncle Eleven¡¯s expression was always calm and leisurely.

    To him, this battle was simply a massacre. Apart from Zhang Tingyue, Zheng Bashan, and Zhong Shisi, who might require a bit more energy to take care of, the others were inconsequential.

    This battle, in his eyes, was just like a game.

    He carved through them calmly like a hot knife through butter, but once the attacks were directed at Zhu Xianyao, everything had changed.

    Uncle Eleven could barely keep up while protecting Zhu Xianyao.

    Not only could he not evade the attacks, but he also sometimes even had to sacrifice himself to block attacks for Zhu Xianyao. These were only superficial wounds to him, but to Zhu Xianyao they could be fatal.

    Under these circumstances, where the tables had suddenly turned, Uncle Eleven didn¡¯t have even the slightest advantage.

    Zhu Yanniang and the others also recognized that the situation had changed. The Zhu n¡¯s Young Miss had suddenly be a weak spot for them, and they charged forwards simultaneously.

    Although Zhu Chen and Zhu Yanniang were also surnamed Zhu, they did not have a pure Demonic Emperor Bloodline. They were merely the children of the Zhu n¡¯s servants. Their bloodlines were mixed, so they were a bit weaker in terms of strength. In addition, their circumstances were very simr to Uncle Eleven¡¯s ¨C Zhu Xianyao was not just Uncle Eleven¡¯s weak spot, but the entire Zhu n¡¯s weak spot!

    Whoosh!

    Another Zheng n guard charged towards Zhu Xianyao.

    Even though he was sent flying by Uncle Eleven in the next instant, Uncle Eleven was forced to dodge Zhong Shisi¡¯s sword, which scraped past his elbow.

    A trace of sword Qi entered his body, rapidly tunneling through him. Under normal circumstances, Uncle Eleven should have been able to expel it by just quickly revolving the Qi in his body, but he didn¡¯t even have time to deal with it.

    That was because Jiang Tao charged towards Zhu Xianyao; one palm aimed at her guard, and the other at her chest.

    Uncle Eleven disappeared in midair like a demon, directly appearing in front of Jiang Tao and mming his palm onto Jiang Tao¡¯s back.

    ¡°AH!¡± Jiang Tao let out a cry as he spit out a mouthful of blood, covering Zhu Xianyao¡¯s face in blood. Then, he forcefully shoved his hand behind him towards Uncle Eleven¡¯s chest. A red tide surged forth from Uncle Eleven again, blocking the palm before mming his fist into Jiang Tao¡¯s chest. Arge hole appeared in Jiang Tao¡¯s chest. His heart had beenpletely smashed to a pulp.

    However, in order to kill Jiang Tao, he had lost his only opportunity to avoid Hong Ming and Zheng Bashan¡¯s attack from behind.

    In that instant, Uncle Eleven tilted his head back and howled. An image of a Blood Fox once again appeared, and as if it were real, it furiously charged towards Zheng Bashan. It bit onto her elbow and tore away, ripping off her arm. He would rather take Hong Ming¡¯s de than Zheng Bashan¡¯s punch. Even though that woman was only at the peak of the Yang Opening Realm, her strength was no less than an average Light Shaking Realm expert. She was definitely a genius when it came to doing battle.

    At the same time, Hong Ming¡¯s de sliced downwards into Uncle Eleven¡¯s back. The instant that Hong Ming¡¯s de sank into his flesh, it began to glow a brilliant gold. A frightening wave of Qi entered Uncle Eleven¡¯s Body, causing blood to suddenly spurt from his body.

    ¡°AHHH!¡± Uncle Eleven let out a bitter cry. He mmed his palm into Hong Ming, and the red tide surged forwards again, sending him flying.

    However, Hong Ming¡¯s attack had caused him the greatest damage so far. A frighteninglyrge, bloody hole had appeared on his back.

    He hadn¡¯t expected Hong Ming to possess such a powerful attack. Uncle Eleven was both shocked and enraged.

    Hong Ming spit out a mouthful of blood as heughed darkly, ¡°This is the result of looking down on me!¡±

    As someone from a Bloodline Nobility n, how could he not possess any ultimate trump cards?

    Looking down on your opponents came with a painful price!

    Afterpleting this attack, Hong Ming couldn¡¯t crawl to his feet for some time. However, Zheng Bashan continued as if nothing had even happened. Her torn-off arm once again regenerated, and it was as if she was an unkible cockroach. However, her figure seemed to have thinned down quite significantly in just a short period of time.

    Although she still seemed fat, she no longer seemed unhuman.

    She leapt through the air, growling like a tiger. Another Horizon-Reaching Fist rumbled forwards with unstoppable momentum.

    It seemed as if Uncle Eleven was about to forcefully endure the blow again.

    At that moment, one of the Zhu n¡¯s warriors charged out from the encirclement and grabbed Zheng Bashan. ¡°I will protect the Young Miss even till death!¡±

    Zheng Bashan was infuriated. She mmed her arm onto the warrior¡¯s back. The warrior spit out a mouthful of fresh blood, but he held on relentlessly.

    Zheng Bashan repeatedly struck out, mming her fists onto the warrior¡¯s skull. The warrior had probably cultivated some kind of ¡°metalhead¡± Origin Skill so his head didn¡¯t split open, but fresh blood flowed thickly from his head. He stared intently at Zheng Bashan as his final breath slowly left his body. Even as he died, his grip didn¡¯t loosen. Zheng Bashan finally managed to escape from his grasp after kicking at his body a few times.

    In the short amount of time that she had been tangled up, the other Zhu n warriors had finally managed to protect Zhu Xianyao, at least for the time being.

    Uncle Eleven took the opportunity to counterattack.

    This was hisst opportunity to do so.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 98: Hard-Fought Victory

    Chapter 98: Hard-Fought Victory

    Uncle Eleven charged towards Zhang Tingyue like a streak of lightning.

    Out of everyone present, Zhang Tingyue was the strongest one, and was also the one who posed the greatest threat. Only by killing him would Zhu Xianyao be freed from the Verdantwood prison, so Uncle Eleven chose to target him first.

    Zhang Tingyue knew the situation was not good. He knew that there was no way for him to dodge it, but he trusted that he at least could endure for just a brief moment ¨C endure until his own men broke through the Zhu n¡¯s warriors.

    In the instant that Uncle Eleven charged forwards, he sucked in a breath of air and then struck out with all his strength, the Verdantwood Palms racing through the sky.

    Uncle Eleven had already drawn near.

    Red clouds swirled around his hands as he jabbed out with his finger.

    Heavenly Fox Finger!

    This finger was the earth-shatteringly powerful, absolutely dominating attack that he had released earlier. At this moment, it had reappeared.

    Zhang Tingyue yelled and shoved his palms outwards to meet it, releasing a dazzling amount of green light from his palms.

    The green and red light collided, exploding into a radiant shower of light.

    Then, the green light shattered. Uncle Eleven¡¯s finger sliced through the Verdantwood Palms like they were butter, racing onwards towards Zhang Tingyue¡¯s chest.

    Just as the finger was about to reach Zhang Tingyue¡¯s body, he yelled loudly. A vast swathe of vegetation and brambles suddenly appeared in front of him.

    The finger continued to advance, tearing through the vegetation like it was rotten and decayed. The vegetation simply had no way of stopping it.

    Bang!

    The Heavenly Wolf Finger finally mmed into Zhang Tingyue¡¯s chest.

    His clothes near his chest were ripped to shreds. A golden light surged forth from the Heart Armor he was wearing, enveloping his body.

    The blood-colored finger directly hit the Heart Armor, shattering it into tiny pieces.

    As the Heart Armor shattered, Zhang Tingyue let out another yell. Dense azure-colored Qi began to surge around him as his entire body began to take on the luster of a piece of jade.

    Jade Luster Body!

    The Treedemon Bloodline excelled in not only restriction and crowd control but also defense. If his cultivation of the Jade Luster Body reached the stage ofrge sess, his life force would greatly increase, allowing him to excel in long, drawn-out battles.

    The Treedemon¡¯s endurance capabilities were evident from the fact that Zhang Chenghan had taken three days to take it down even with three thousand warriors at his disposal.

    Thus, he believed that he could endure it.

    The Heavenly Fox Finger pressed forwards, mming directly into Zhang Tingyue¡¯s chest.

    Zhang Tingyue tilted his head back and spit out a mouthful of fresh blood.

    He spun through the air, sending blood flying everywhere.

    Darkness began to descend upon his vision.

    Had he been unable to endure the blow in the end?

    The Jade Luster Body possessed impressive recovery abilities, but when faced with this frighteningly powerful finger, it didn¡¯t even have a chance to recover!

    A thought suddenly shed through Zhang Tingyue¡¯s head.

    With what limited vision he had remaining, he watched as Uncle Eleven staggered forwards and didn¡¯t try to press the advantage; rather, Uncle Eleven¡¯s face had be extremely pale.

    Zhang Tingyue understood.

    ¡°I received it......¡±

    A delighted smile appeared on his face.

    Then, he lifted his hand, pointing his finger at Zhu Xianyao.

    Uncle Eleven¡¯s expression immediately changed. ¡°Not good!¡±

    He charged forwards quickly, wanting to kill Zhang Tingyue before the finger strike waspleted, but his previous attack had expended too much energy. Constant battling had worn down his condition, and he was slightly too slow because of it.

    Bang!

    The Red Fox Hand mmed into Zhang Tingyue¡¯s head, causing it to split open. However, Zhang Tingyue¡¯s finger stillnded on Zhu Xianyao¡¯s body.

    Even more brambles appeared around Zhu Xianyao¡¯s body, imprisoning her tightly inside.

    Yes, I can die, but don¡¯t even think about freeing Zhu Xianyao!

    If she couldn¡¯t leave, then the Zhu n¡¯s weak spot would remain. There was still hope that they might not lose this battle.

    After jabbing out with this finger, Zhang Tingyue tilted his head and died, a smile still hanging on his lips.

    Just as Zhang Tingyue died, Zhu Chen let out a piercing cry.

    Seven swords simultaneously pierced into his body. Zhong Shisi¡¯s gaze was cold and merciless. His Blood Clones simultaneously pulled out their swords, slicing Zhu Chen¡¯s body into pieces.

    Simultaneously, Hong Ming¡¯s de mmed into thest warrior¡¯s head. The only person remaining on the battlefield who was furiously attempting to protect Zhu Xianyao was Zhu Yanniang.

    She was in the Yang Opening Realm, and she possessed a Demonic Emperor Bloodline as well. She couldpare with someone in the Light Shaking Realm, but in the end she was not as suited to battle as Uncle Eleven was. She was not much stronger than the others, and she also had to focus on protecting Zhu Xianyao, so she had no way of unleashing her true strength. In addition, her opponents were Zhong Shisi and Zheng Bashan, who were no weaker than Light Shaking Realm existences, so her situation was extremely dire.

    Zhu Chen¡¯s death meant that she was now taking on all of them at once. Despair shed in her eyes.

    When she saw that Uncle Eleven had killed Zhang Tingyue, she yelled, ¡°Save me!¡±

    Uncle Eleven flew over in a sh.

    At that moment, Hong Ming thrust his de forwards. Just when Zhu Yanniang thought that Uncle Eleven was about to block the attack for her, she saw Uncle Elevenpletely ignore her, instead appearing behind Zhong Shisi.

    He mmed his palm outwards.

    This palm exceeded everyone¡¯s expectations.

    Zhu Yanniang had been struck by the de, while Zhong Shisi had been struck by the palm.

    Zhong Shisi turned around to stare at Uncle Eleven, murmuring in shock, ¡°You......!¡±

    Uncle Eleven coldly replied, ¡°Exchanging her for you is worth it!¡±

    There was nothing that Uncle Eleven could have done.

    Zhong Shisi was the person here with the greatest offensive capabilities. Of the twenty-four wounds on his body, at least eleven of them were from Zhong Shisi. They looked like superficial wounds, but Zhong Shisi¡¯s sword Qi was strange and could permeate his entire body. Because he had no way of expelling his sword Qi, Uncle Eleven¡¯s body was constantly being invaded by it, resulting in countless internal injuries. If this were to continue, he would really be in some big trouble.

    He absolutely needed to deal with Zhong Shisi first!

    Even if it meant sacrificing Zhu Yanniang.

    Boom!

    As the palms rained down on his back, Zhong Shisi¡¯s body disintegrated.

    Uncle Eleven then shed behind Hong Ming, mming his palm towards Hong Ming as well. Hong Ming let out a loud yell, and his figure suddenly shot into the air. In the same instant that the wind from Uncle Eleven¡¯s palm strike hadnded, Hong Ming had quickly escaped. This was the Hong n¡¯s famous Golden Cicada Shedding.

    But in the same instant that he escaped, Uncle Eleven struck out again, anticipating Hong Ming¡¯s reappearance. The palm mmed into Hong Ming, causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood as he went flying.

    But as Uncle Eleven attacked, a shadowy palm suddenly ambushed him from behind.

    This palm strike was savage and merciless. Itnded on the open wound that Uncle Eleven had received from Hong Ming, causing Uncle Eleven to howl in pain.

    He turned around to find that he had been struck by Jiang Tao, who should have died already.

    Jiang Tao had crawled to his feet with a hole right through his chest. There was no heart there.

    But he was still miraculously alive!

    And in this critical moment, he had managed tond a blow on Uncle Eleven.

    It was another overlooked and underestimated opponent.

    Whether it was Hong Ming or Jiang Tao, every one of them had their own trump cards that made them experts within their respective ns.

    ¡°Block him!¡± Uncle Eleven yelled at Zhu Yanniang.

    Although Zhu Yanniang had been struck by Hong Ming¡¯s de, she was still alive despite her heavy injuries.

    If she had been treated quickly, she might have been able to survive, but Uncle Eleven had obviously given up on her. Now, all she could do was unleash the remainder of her strength.

    Zhu Yanniang stared at Uncle Eleven with aplex gaze before turning to face Jiang Tao, ignoring her injuries.

    Uncle Eleven charged at Zheng Bashan.

    At this point, the only remaining expert who could do battle was Zheng Bashan, and there were only four more surviving guards. The bitterness of the battle was clearly evident.

    Despite this, Zheng Bashan was unperturbed. Even when faced with such a frighteningly powerful individual, she continued to furiously punch out viciously.

    Continuing to press forwards ¨C Horizon-Reaching Fist!

    While the two of them exchanged blows, Zheng Bashan¡¯s arm disintegrated once again.

    She had lost count of how many times she had been dismembered, but she possessed freakish powers of regeneration. She continued to battle on, but the more she fought, the skinnier she became.

    At this point, she was beginning to look even a bit slender.

    Uncle Eleven¡¯s eyes shed. He crushed the head of a nearby guard as he stared daggers at Zheng Bashan. ¡°So you ate so much in order to supplement your regenerative abilities? That¡¯s quite the interesting technique. Not only that, but your strength is also affected by your weight. Your current state doesn¡¯t have even half the strength you used to have, and your regenerative abilities can probably only be used a few more times, right?¡±

    ¡°You sure talk a lot, old man!¡± Zheng Bashan yelled.

    Uncle Eleven was absolutely correct. Zheng Bashan¡¯s dominance came from her fat. When the energy stored in her fat waspletely depleted, her strength and regenerative abilities were not nearly as impressive.

    In spite of this, the woman was still extremely brave, unafraid of death. Even if there was no way forward, she would not back down.

    Even Su Chen had to admire her determination.

    However, bravery and determination alone weren¡¯t enough.

    An instantter, Uncle Eleven¡¯s handnded on Zheng Bashan¡¯s head.

    Zheng Bashan¡¯s figure froze, and blood began to pour out from her orifices. She toppled to the ground.

    Meanwhile, a few tragic cries sounded out.

    The remaining three guards had died to Zhu Xianyao.

    The Young Miss wasn¡¯t just a burden. In thest few moments, she had made a contribution, however small it was.

    The final two cries of pain came from Zhu Yanniang and Jiang Tao.

    Jiang Tao¡¯s palm sank into Zhu Yanniang¡¯s chest, while Zhu Yanniang simultaneously tore at Jiang Tao¡¯s throat.

    The two were like a pair of vengeful, passionate lovers, dying in each other¡¯s bloody embrace.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 99: Silencing

    Chapter 99: Silencing

    At this point, the only person remaining was Hong Ming.

    Heid on the ground unable to crawl to his feet, gasping for air desperately.

    When Hong Ming saw Uncle Eleven walking towards him, he shook his head and said, ¡°No, don¡¯t kill me!¡±

    ¡°You injured me so grievously, yet you still want to live?¡± Uncle Eleven said menacingly.

    He raised his hand, preparing to strike down Hong Ming.

    Just as his palm was about tond, Su Chen suddenly said, ¡°Why don¡¯t you leave this person alive for now?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Uncle Eleven turned his gaze to Su Chen, killing intent surfacing in his eyes. ¡°Brat, you still dare open your mouth?¡±

    If it weren¡¯t for that brat, how could he have lost so many good people? Even Zhu Yanniang had died, and he himself had been gravely injured.

    The frighteninglyrge hole in his back was due to Hong Ming, while Zhong Shisi¡¯s sword Qi had burrowed its way into his body. Uncle Eleven had missed his early opportunity to expel it, so the sword Qi was now extremely difficult to deal with, continuing to wreak havoc within his body.

    Apart from this, both Jiang Tao¡¯s palm and Zhang Tingyue¡¯s Verdantwood Poison were affecting him greatly as well. These attacks on their own would not be enough to put him in danger, but they were still able to pose a significant danger to him whenbined.

    Although he appeared to be rtively unharmed, in reality he had been severely injured. When adding on the fact that he had repeatedly activated the Red Fox Blood Tide, putting enormous strain on his body, Uncle Eleven had basically exhausted all of his strength.

    Even so, it would be as easy as squeezing a small snake to death for him to kill Su Chen.

    For Su Chen to speak such words was basically asking to die.

    He stared at Su Chen with rage. ¡°Everything is all your fault, but you still dare to make requests? Or do you think that there¡¯s nothing I can do to you because I¡¯m injured?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t think that I can take advantage of you just because you¡¯re injured. I don¡¯t even think that I am the Young Miss¡¯s opponent, but that doesn¡¯t mean that I don¡¯t have the right to speak.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao stared at him, her eyes filled with the mes of rage.

    No one else knew, but it was clear to her that she wouldn¡¯t have been in such danger if he hadn¡¯t pushed her, and none of the following events would have happened either.

    Because of him, the circumstances of the battlefield had suddenly changed. Everyone from the Zhu n had died except for her and Uncle Eleven.

    And because of him, the Zhu n had attacked the Six Great Nobility ns, resulting in a bloodbath.

    Everything that had happened was because of him!

    Uncle Elevenughed darkly, ¡°Brat, you seem quite confident we won¡¯t kill you, right? Forget about it. Since you dared to scheme against us so maliciously, it seems our cooperation has fallen through. If that¡¯s the case, then I will just capture you and torture you, cutting off your hands, feet, nose, and tongue. If you are willing to cooperate, then at the very least I¡¯ll leave your corpse intact. If not, then at worst I will have failed my mission. There are an infinite amount of opportunities under the sun; even if we can¡¯t get this one, there are naturally many others. Did you really think we would be patient with you forever?¡±

    As he spoke, he strode menacingly towards Su Chen.

    Uncle Eleven, who had finally made his decision, would no longer be swayed by Su Chen¡¯s threats.

    However, Su Chen continued to smile. ¡°If I still thought that I would be able to keep you guys under my control merely with Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven at this point, then I really would be too naive.¡±

    What?

    Uncle Eleven froze.

    Su Chen sighed, ¡°Are you really not going to check your surroundings before you make a move? Or have your injuries caused you to lose your fundamental perception skills?¡±

    ¡°Who is it? Come out!¡± Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s words, Uncle Eleven hurriedly spun around, sending a streak of bloody light behind him.

    A ck shadow flew forth from the forest, mming into the streak of bloody light. With a pitiful wail, the ck shadow fell to the ground. It was an Incense-Sniffing Mouse. After it was struck by the blow, it fell to the ground and died immediately.

    Then, a person with a long, horse-like face slowly stepped out of the forest. It was Ma Renze.

    Ma Renze stared at Su Chen, his expression cloudy. ¡°Su Chen, what are you trying to pull? If you didn¡¯t expose me, I could have ambushed him. Do you not want me to save you?¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°You¡¯ve been there all day without making a move. I thought that you didn¡¯t want to save me anymore, so I was forced to call you out. How could I have known that you were waiting for an opportunity tounch a sneak attack? Were you not worried that I would be dead by the time the opportunity came around?¡±

    ¡°He already said that he wouldn¡¯t kill you right off the bat, but rather torture you for a bit. Why are you so nervous?¡±

    Su Chen sighed, ¡°It seems like you really do hate me quite a bit.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no way around it. Even if he didn¡¯t do anything to you, I would have done the same. Brat, daring to go against me ¨C did you really think that I would let you get off easy once you fell into my clutches?¡± Ma Renze said darkly.

    Light shed across Uncle Eleven¡¯s eyes. ¡°So you mean that you aren¡¯t my enemy? If that¡¯s the case, then I think we cane to an agreement. In any case, this guy has already destroyed our ns to this point, and we don¡¯t even want to monopolize Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven anymore. If you are willing, why don¡¯t we just kill him right now? Isn¡¯t that better?¡±

    This was the first time he had spoken so tolerantly.

    He hadn¡¯t felt his wounds during the battle, but now that they had stopped fighting, the wounds on his body began to hurt quite badly. Uncle Eleven had lost all his desire to fight.

    Ma Renze nced at Uncle Eleven andughed darkly. ¡°Although I hate this brat, I cannot kill him just yet. After all, I still need him to do some things for me.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then he belongs to you.¡± Uncle Eleven was quite decisive. He made the decision to let Su Chen go quickly and without any hesitation.

    Su Chen, however, sighed, ¡°Even if that¡¯s the case, he might not be able to let you off the hook. Whose fault is it that you stumbled across our rtionship?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Uncle Eleven froze.

    Ma Renze¡¯s expression suddenly harshened. ¡°Shut your mouth!¡±

    Su Chen spoke casually, ¡°He is someone from the Immortal Temple.¡±

    When those words were spoken, everyone trembled simultaneously.

    The entirety of the human race knew of the infamous Immortal Temple.

    What Su Chen had said was basically equivalent to admitting that he had ties to the Immortal Temple. Now that the Zhu n knew of this secret, they would only need to bring that matter to light if they wanted to deal with Su Chen.

    Ma Renze didn¡¯t care too much about whether or not Su Chen was dealt with; the issue was that he still owed the Immortal Temple a great deal of Spirit-Sobering Medicines!

    Ma Renze was so angry that his entire body began to tremble. ¡°Su Chen, what are you trying to pull?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Naturally, I want you to help me kill Uncle Eleven. Why do you think I led you here in the first ce? The Zhu n helped me take care of the Six Great ns, and now I want you to help me take care of the Zhu n. It¡¯s that simple.¡±

    Silencing!

    Silencing again!

    The Zhu n had executed the Six Great ns to silence them.

    Now, Ma Renze was going to exterminate the Zhu n to silence them!

    The Zhu n had been baited into making a move, and so had Ma Renze.

    Even if he knew that he was being baited, Ma Renze has no other choice but to follow unless he was willing to potentially pay the price for failure.

    Uncle Eleven was gravely wounded. He had no choice but to ept that he had failed his mission.

    But Ma Renze wasn¡¯t.

    He was still fresh and full of energy, and he had chance of winning. Naturally, he would not be able to ept failure. In addition, as one of the members of the Immortal Temple, the price for failure he would have to pay was much higher than Uncle Eleven¡¯s.

    Thus, he could not possibly fail.

    Thus, even though he knew Su Chen was using him, he couldn¡¯t let the other party go.

    Su Chen even supplemented, ¡°They came here to try and negotiate with me. Beforeing, they didn¡¯t know what I wanted, so they probably prepared a lot of things such as precious medicinal ingredients, ancient information, precious Origin Tools, and many, many Origin Stones...... they must have brought these with them.¡±

    Greed was the final reason that pushed Ma Renze to embark on the path that Su Chen had carefullyid out for him.

    His gaze towards Uncle Eleven suddenly turned icy, his energy surging violently.

    Uncle Eleven yelled, ¡°I can give you the money, and I can also swear an oath to keep your secret!¡±

    ¡°Dead people keep the best secrets!¡±

    How familiar those words sounded.

    Ma Renze charged forwards.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 100: Risking It All

    Chapter 100: Risking It All

    Even as Ma Renze charged forwards, Uncle Eleven backed up immediately.

    He retreated towards Su Chen as he reached out to grab Su Chen¡¯s hand.

    Uncle Eleven was actually quite intelligent. In such a short period of time, he had realized that Su Chen was the crux to all of this. As long as he was able to grab Su Chen, he would be able to force Ma Renze to stay his hand.

    Thus, he took the first opportunity he had to grab Su Chen¡¯s hand.

    But just as he moved, Su Chen also moved.

    As if he had anticipated this a long time ago, Su Chen pulled out an item.

    A scroll.

    He tore open the seal.

    A golden light began to surround his body.

    Uncle Eleven¡¯s w was actually unable to break through the barrier.

    ¡°Ten Thousand Lives Barrier? How extravagant!¡± Uncle Eleven coldly harrumphed.

    Su Chen had prepared to point that he had brought a protective scroll along with him.

    Su Chen had originally pretended to cooperate so that the Zhu n wouldn¡¯t search his body. This was also why Su Chen had chosen to deceive the Zhu n rather than threatening them into action ¨C he needed to preserve his ownbat strength.

    Uncle Eleven¡¯s strike was ineffective. Ma Renze charged forwards, noiselessly punching out with his fist. The punch did not seem very threatening, but it actually carried a powerful killing aura with it as it swooped towards Uncle Eleven¡¯s face.

    The Red Tide surged, counterattacking the punch.

    As the two of them tangled with each other, Su Chen suddenlyughed darkly at Zhu Xianyao.

    Hisugh contained a deep meaning hidden behind it. Zhu Xianyao¡¯s heart trembled. ¡°You......¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no point in just waiting around anymore.¡± Su Chen directly attacked, charging towards Zhu Xianyao as he released a punch.

    Zhu Xianyao retaliated, albeit still stunned. The Red Fox Palm sent a wave of red Qi towards him with quite a bit of momentum, but Su Chenpletely ignored it, charging right through Zhu Xianyao¡¯s attack as he continued to advance.

    The Red Fox Palmnded on the Ten Thousand Lives Barrier and were instantly neutralized.

    If the Ten Thousand Lives Barrier was able to block an attack from a Light Shaking Realm expert, how could a mere Qi Drawing Realm cultivator shatter it?

    The only reason Su Chen was attacking now was because he wanted to quickly finish off his opponent while his barrier was still active.

    His sharply swung his palms through the air, echoing with the sound of thunder as he stabbed towards Zhu Xianyao.

    Zhu Xianyao attempted to hurriedly retreat in surprise. Her palms seemed to fill the sky as she gazed at Su Chen alluringly. It was the Zhu n¡¯s mesmer Origin Skill!

    In the previous battle, most of the members from the Six Great Nobility ns all had cultivation bases higher than hers, so her mesmer techniques were useless. Now, she had finally found an opportunity to use it on Su Chen. Although the Ten Thousand Lives Barrier was powerful, it could not prevent soul-type attacks. Zhu Xianyao focused on defending, not attacking, concentrating all of her power into a mesmer-type attack.

    Whoosh!

    The mesmer light finally congealed and shot forwards.

    Su Chen froze in his tracks for a moment.

    But just as Zhu Xianyao let out a sigh of relief, believing that she had seeded, Su Chen suddenly charged forwards, mming into Zhu Xianyao like a bolt of lightning. He grabbed her by the throat and mmed her to the ground.

    ¡°No!¡± Uncle Eleven furiously yelled. He endured one of Ma Renze¡¯s strikes as heshed out at Su Chen.

    Unfortunately, the Ten Thousand Lives Barrier was still effective, helping Su Chen forcefully resist the blow. Su Chen had already explosively put Zhu Xianyao into the ground. Her beautiful, delicate face suddenly became intimate with the ground, and a sizable hole had been drilled into the ground.

    Zhu Xianyao painfully cried out. Su Chen picked her back up by the neck, grabbing her tightly, and then mmed her into a nearby tree. The impact was so violent that Zhu Xianyao could feel her organs rattling inside her. Immediately afterwards, Su Chen unleashed a flurry of vicious punches into Zhu Xianyao¡¯s midsection.

    One punch after another.

    The barragepletely wiped out any remaining will to fight that Zhu Xianyao had. She waspletely unable to defend herself, and her body went limp.

    Su Chen finally let her go and said coolly, ¡°Sorry, treating my opponents mercifully is basically being cruel to myself. Even though you truly are very pretty, I couldn¡¯t go easy on you.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao stared at him angrily. ¡°Why were you able to avoid my mesmer techniques twice in a row?¡±

    Su Chen pulled out a vial of medicine. ¡°Spirit-Sobering Medicine. This can raise the power of one¡¯s soul, and it can also increase my soul¡¯s defensive capabilities. Ever since I discovered that you are from the Slyheart Zhu n, I drank a vial every time I met with you. Although it was very expensive, evidently it was worth it.¡±

    Spirit-Sobering Medicine?

    Zhu Xianyao had not expected for him to pull something like that off. She was also caught off-guard for some time.

    As they spoke, the battle between Ma Renze and Uncle Eleven had reached its climax.

    Boom!

    Uncle Eleven forcefully attacked with the Red Tide, enveloping Ma Renze. Ma Renze suddenly turned into a cloud of ck smoke before dissipating. When he reappeared, he was behind Uncle Eleven. He punched out, his middle finger slightly protruding as his hand rushed towards the back of Uncle Eleven¡¯s head.

    That move was called the Armor-Shattering Awl.

    Ma Renze was an assassin, and he was often in hiding, attacking his targets from the darkness. In terms of a head-to-head battle, even Zhang Tingyue was a bit stronger than him, let alone Uncle Eleven, but he was far superior to Zhang Tingyue in terms of offensive capabilities.

    The Armor-Shattering Awl was the assassination technique that he was the most proud of. If itnded on the target, it could ignore the protection offered by an opponent¡¯s physical body and directly prate the target. It was particrly useful for killing someone with a physicallyrge body.

    Yue Wuti had been in by the Armor-Shattering Awl.

    If this battle had taken ce earlier, Uncle Eleven would have had many methods avable to him to deal with that attack.

    Quickly dodging it was the simplest method, but he was seriously injured and it was hard for him to move freely, so he could not dodge it. He could use the Red Fox Blood Tide to force his opponent back and create an opportunity to counterattack, but because he had expended so much energy previously, he no longer had any energy to activate it. He could also protect himself with a barrier since the Armor-Shattering Awl could only prate a person¡¯s physical body, not any barriers ¨C which was why it was more suited for assassinations than real battles ¨C but Zhong Shisi¡¯s sword Qi was still wreaking havoc in his body. Uncle Eleven wascking in strength, and his speed in applying barriers was greatly restricted as a result.

    Thus, when faced with this attack, he waspletely helpless against it.

    When he saw that his killing blow was about tond, a ferocious smile appeared on Ma Renze¡¯s face. At the same time, a trace of despair appeared on Uncle Eleven¡¯s face when he saw Zhu Xianyao being controlled.

    He suddenly let out a loud yell. Instead of dodging to the side, he turned around and jabbed out with his finger.

    Heavenly Wolf Finger!

    As the finger appeared, Uncle Eleven¡¯s vigor suddenly shot sky-high.

    In that instant, the Red Fox Blood Tide appeared once again, roiling and tumbling.

    The Heavenly Wolf Finger was like a pir holding up the heavens, shaking the Heavens as it descended towards Ma Renze.

    Boom!

    The Armor-Shattering Awl pierced into Uncle Eleven¡¯s body, carving anotherrge hole through him. Ma Renze was also struck head-on by the Heavenly Wolf Finger, and he was sent flying away, his figure once again dissipating into ck smoke.

    This was his favorite attack-neutralizing Origin Skill, Concealing Smoke. In many life-and-death battles, he had relied on Concealing Smoke to allow him to escape from otherwise fatal situations.

    Despite this, the Concealing Smoke had notpletely neutralized the Heavenly Wolf Finger¡¯s frightening power. The powerful finger contained a surging momentum like that of an ocean behind it, and Concealing Smoke had only dissipated a portion of it. The rest of the Red Tide continued to surge forwards, spreading out in all directions.

    Not good!

    In that instant, even Su Chen felt a bit of fear. He grabbed Zhu Xianyao and took her to the ground with him. Thankfully, his Ten Thousand Lives Barrier was still up and blocked the blow.

    The forceful waves finally began to subside, and the Ten Thousand Lives Barrier also began to disappear.

    The fearsomeness of this attack also caused Su Chen¡¯s expression to change.

    ¡°AHHH!¡±

    A shrill, anguished yell sounded out.

    It was Ma Renze.

    The ck smoke writhed before reforming as Ma Renze¡¯s body.

    However, he no longer looked like he did originally.

    His body was covered in blood, and he was basically oozing from every orifice on his body, causing him to turn into a frightening blood person.

    Upon closer inspection, Ma Renze¡¯s skin had beenpletely melted off. His face was bloody and marred, and blood seeped through his skin.

    Ma Renze lowered his head to look at his body and arms, discovering that his skin had seemingly melted away. He tilted his head back and howled, ¡°NOOO!!¡±

    Not far away, Uncle Eleven continued to stand, one of his arms pointing forwards, but he remained motionless.

    A gentle gust of wind blew by.

    Uncle Eleven¡¯s body began to slowly disintegrate, turning into ashes which were borne away by the wind.

    ¡°Uncle Eleven!¡± Zhu Xianyao painfully cried out.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 101: Aftermath 1

    Chapter 101: Aftermath (1)

    Uncle Eleven died.

    The arrogant, nimble, and unparalleled expert who had single handedly wiped out nearly fifty experts of the Six Great Nobility n had died.

    Zhu Xianyao covered her mouth, unable toprehend what she was seeing.

    When Ma Renze saw this scene, he began to howl as he resisted the pain, ¡°Died? Howe this bastard just died like that? After wounding me like this, dying like that was too light of a punishment! But thankfully, you two are still around!¡±

    He furiously turned around and red at Su Chen and Zhu Xianyao, his gaze filled with mes of anger and hatred.

    He slowly walked step by step towards Su Chen. ¡°You damn bastard! It¡¯s all because of you that I ended up like this. You bastard, I want your life! Die!¡±

    At this moment, the mes of rage within him had made it so that he no longer cared for any so-called ¡°mission¡±. All he wanted to do was torture Su Chen to death so that he could ease the hatred in his heart.

    He swore that he would inflict the greatest pain upon Su Chen, forcing Su Chen to regret doing something as stupid as scheming against him.

    As for Zhu Xianyao, that young woman was quiteely. After he fully recovered, he would enjoy her to his heart¡¯s content.

    However, his grim expression didn¡¯t bring Su Chen any fear. Su Chen casually said, ¡°I am not surprised at all to hear you say that. After all, you are just that kind of person, but did you really think I would be so naive as to make you my final trump card?¡±

    What?

    Ma Renze froze.

    Su Chen spread out his hands. ¡°Is that not the case? If I want to take advantage of your quarrel, the pretext is that both parties must mutually destroy each other or that I can profit no matter which side wins. The former relies too much on blind luck, and evenly-matched adversaries usually hesitate to battle each other. Only when there is a significant disparity in strength, like just then, will one party choose to go to battle. This implies that the first situation basically will never ur. Thetter requires a certain amount of strength, meaning that after the quarrel between the two parties has urred, it is time for the third party to make a move himself.¡±

    ¡°Make a move yourself? You?¡± Ma Renze coldlyughed.

    ¡°Of course I¡¯m not referring to myself. All I¡¯m saying is that if I want to be the person who reaps the benefits at the very end, I need to have the strength to clean up the aftermath. And the person who will clean up this aftermath...... will evidently not be you.¡± As Su Chen spoke, he walked off to the side.

    As Su Chen moved, he revealed an old man standing tall and upright behind him.

    Shi Kaihuang!

    ¡°Shi Kaihuang?¡± When Ma Renze saw Shi Kaihuang appear, he waspletely stunned. ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    Shi Kaihuang stared at Ma Renze with his muddled eyes. ¡°Is it really so strange that I¡¯m here? I think that it would be stranger if I wasn¡¯t here.¡±

    He and Su Chen had created Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven together. From the very beginning, this matter had involved more than just Su Chen alone.

    The only reason he had let Su Chen take care of it on his own was because Shi Kaihuang wanted to test Su Chen. In addition, if Su Chen took the lead while Shi Kaihuang concealed himself until thest moment, the opponent¡¯s guard would likely be lowered.

    Although everyone knew that Shi Kaihuang existed and had made preparations for his appearance ¨C for instance, Uncle Eleven hade specifically to deal with Shi Kaihuang ¨C the fact that he hadn¡¯t appeared for some time and was never inquired about meant that everyone had overlooked him.

    All of the transactions had been taken care of through Su Chen, and all of their focus had been ced on him. It was difficult for them not to forget about Shi Kaihuang.

    Under these circumstances, Uncle Eleven, who was originally intended to deal with Shi Kaihuang, was pitted against the Six Great Nobility ns. Afterwards, Ma Renze, who should have been more vignt, was pitted against Uncle Eleven.

    It wasn¡¯t that they were unaware of Shi Kaihuang¡¯s existence; however, they had overlooked him because of his silence.

    What they didn¡¯t know was that Shi Kaihuang had always been silently waiting.

    As Su Chen¡¯s greatest crutch, his task was to appear at the most critical moment.

    If Su Chen¡¯s n failed, Shi Kaihuang would appear at the critical movement to save Su Chen and leave.

    If Su Chen¡¯s n seeded, Shi Kaihuang would be the person who cleaned up the aftermath.

    Ma Renze finally understood this point.

    He gazed at Su Chen as he said in shock, ¡°You...... want to kill me?¡±

    The fact that Su Chen had set up such an encounter and drawn him into this battle implied that Su Chen had been prepared to kill him from the very beginning.

    Su Chen nodded his head. ¡°I hate your attitude and despise you as a person. You want the medicine? Fine, I can give it to you. But while I can give you the medicine, someone must die!¡±

    ¡°You can give us the medicine. Someone must die......¡± Ma Renze repeated Su Chen¡¯sst few sentence.

    He finally understood Su Chen¡¯s way of thinking.

    He wanted to use Ma Renze¡¯s fate as a warning to the Immortal Temple ¨C if they wanted to cooperate with Su Chen and obtain the medicine from Su Chen, they would need to return to their original method of doing things.

    As they spoke, Shi Kaihuang began to move forwards.

    Ma Renze ferociously stared at Su Chen. ¡°Do you really think you¡¯ve won? I¡¯m not that easy to kill.¡±

    As he spoke, he raised his palm to the sky. Arge vortex of lightning appeared around his palm as he pressed it into the ground. This was how he had escaped from the Hidden Dragon Institute previously.

    But even though he pressed the vortex into the ground, he didn¡¯t go anywhere. The glow of the lightning faded slightly, but he was still in the same ce.

    ¡°How is this possible?¡± Ma Renze was stunned.

    Su Chen gently smiled. ¡°Are you wondering why your Thunderlight Escape isn¡¯t working anymore? It¡¯s not really that strange when I used this.¡±

    He pulled out a vial of medicine and shook it around.

    ¡°Petrifying Medicine?¡± Ma Renze yelled in shock.

    Though Ma Renze¡¯s Thunderlight Escape had the word ¡°Thunder¡± in it, it waspletely an earth-type shield skill. He only called it the ¡°Thunderlight Escape¡± to simply deceive others. If people tried to counter it based on the fact that it supposedly borrowed the power of thunder, they would find their efforts to bepletely useless.

    But Su Chen knew the truth.

    All he needed was a vial of Petrifying Medicine to cause the surrounding earth to be rock-solid in order to prevent Ma Renze from using the surrounding earth to escape.

    Smoke Concealment and Thunderlight Escape were Ma Renze¡¯s two greatest evasive techniques. The former was suited for dodging skills, while thetter was useful for escaping from battles entirely.

    Now that the Thunderlight Escape had been nullified, he had no way of escaping. There was no way he would be able to outrun Shi Kaihuang in this wounded state.

    Ma Renze finally felt fear. He yelled, ¡°Let me go!¡±

    His only reply was Shi Kaihuang¡¯s earth-shattering palm descending upon him.

    ¡°No, Su Chen! If you kill me, you will trample on the Immortal Temple¡¯s dignity. They will not ept it, absolutely not!¡± Ma Renze howled piercingly, furiously attempting to defend himself against Shi Kaihuang¡¯s attack.

    Su Chen slowly replied, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will give the Immortal Temple enough face...... The one killing you will not be me.¡±

    As he spoke, another person appeared next to Su Chen.

    White clothes fluttered in the wind.

    Yue Longsha.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 102: Aftermath 2

    Chapter 102: Aftermath (2)

    Even if he was unwilling to resign himself to death.

    Even if he were to go all out in this fight.

    The tragic truth was that Ma Renze wasn¡¯t Shi Kaihuang¡¯s opponent even at his peak strength.

    Shi Kaihuang was also in the Light Shaking Realm, and he was a veteran who had been at the very peak of the Light Shaking Realm for quite some time.

    As an assassin, Ma Renze didn¡¯t excel in head-to-headbat, so if he wasn¡¯t Shi Kaihuang¡¯s opponent even in peak condition, there was no way he was a match now that he was heavily injured.

    Thus, there was no suspense in his defeat, nor were there any unexpected twists.

    After being struck by Shi Kaihuang¡¯s earth-shattering palm, Ma Renze flew into the air and then fell to the ground like a kite that had its string cut, unable to crawl to his feet.

    Yue Longsha walked towards him. ¡°Ma Renze, you also have such a fate. When you killed my father, did you think this day would evere?¡±

    Lying on the ground, Ma Renzeughed loudly, ¡°I have killed many people already. Who knows which bastard¡¯s daughter you are. You seem quite clever to not be found by me earlier; otherwise, I would have captured you and enjoyed you to my heart¡¯s content before selling you to some brothel. Would you be able to act so arrogantly if that were the case?¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Yue Longsha grew agitated. She was about to strike when Shi Kaihuang grabbed her and held her back. ¡°Don¡¯t fall into his trap. Although my palm strike was heavy, he isn¡¯t about to die yet. He¡¯s just trying to anger you so that he can draw you in and take you hostage.¡±

    ¡°Bastard!¡± Ma Renze was infuriated. Hisst trick had been seen through, so he leapt into the air, his body transforming into smoke as he charged towards Yue Longsha and Su Chen.

    Taking Su Chen or Yue Longsha alive was his only hope for survival.

    Shi Kaihuang, however, sighed. ¡°Your cheap tricks don¡¯t count for anything in front of me. Su Chen, take a close look. This is the Sumeru Void.¡±

    As he spoke, he gently ced his palm in the air.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t dare blink his eyes. He activated his Origin Energy-seeing capabilities to their absolute limit.

    It was rare for Shi Kaihuang to teach him an already perfected Origin Skill. Naturally, he wanted an opportunity to experience it for himself.

    The palm flew forwards, causing the space around it to seemingly pause. The air seemed to solidify, and the wind slowed to a crawl. Breathing became difficult, and even Concealing Smoke seemed to slow down. It was like a dense cloud that could not dissipate or a ck smear on a painting.

    Under the influence of Sumeru Void, Ma Renze¡¯s Concealing Smoke had suddenly be much slower. Even though Su Chen was only a few feet away, the distance seemed to stretch as far as the horizon.

    Shi Kaihuang said, ¡°This is the Nirvana Hand. It borrows power from the void and is omnipresent.¡±

    He wed out with one hand, leveraging power from the void. The inky Concealing Smoke began to slowly congeal, revealing Ma Renze¡¯s figure. Shi Kaihuang borrowed his own powerful Origin Energy to force Ma Renze back into his original form. This was a textbook example of suppressing someone with pure power. He was being bullied simply because hecked the power to resist.

    ¡°No! I¡¯m not convinced!!!¡± Ma Renze yelled furiously, his face contorting madly. The Concealing Smoke constantly twisted and swirled, desperately attempting to escape from Shi Kaihuang¡¯s control.

    But no matter what he did, he could not escape from the power of the Nirvana Hand.

    Shi Kaihuang¡¯s hand began to slowly close. He purposely did it slowly to allow Su Chen to see more clearly, as well as to make it more painful for Ma Renze.

    Under the Nirvana Hand¡¯s control, the Concealing Smoke continued to take on a physical form. Finally, Ma Renze was forcefully squeezed out from the Concealing Fog, and his true body once again appeared.

    But this time, the amount of pain he felt was even greater than what he felt from Uncle Eleven¡¯s Heavenly Wolf Finger.

    His internal organs were all disced from the Nirvana Hand¡¯s squeezing. Oneyer of his skin had already been peeled away, and now another had also been peeled away.

    Twoyers of his skin had been peeled away, and his internal organs were in a mess. He was the captain of the Immortal Temple¡¯s operations in Long Coiling City and a well-known, wanted assassin, yet he was suffering so bitterly.

    At this moment, blood leaked from every inch of his body, and it was as if his cells had chosen to implode. He let out one pained, earth-shattering howl after another.

    Even Shi Kaihuang hadn¡¯t expected this oue. After pausing slightly, he sighed and pulled his hand back, saying, ¡°This time he really doesn¡¯t have any more strength to attack. You can make a move now...... put him out of his misery.¡±

    A pleased expression appeared in Yue Longsha¡¯s eyes. ¡°This is the price he should pay for his sins. I don¡¯t want to end his suffering too quickly.¡±

    Su Chen walked over and ced a hand on Yue Longsha¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I can understand your thoughts, but you shouldn¡¯t let hatred cloud your judgment. Torturing people isn¡¯t a good thing. Even if he is an evil bastard to the bone, there is no need to take pleasure from this.¡±

    Yue Longsha¡¯s heart trembled before she nodded her head. ¡°Thank you for reminding me. I know now.¡±

    She stepped forward, watching Ma Renze howl in anguish. When she swung her arm, a de-like streak of moonlight shed across Ma Renze¡¯s throat.

    A head flew into the distance.

    The anguished howls stopped.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    After killing Ma Renze, the matter had finally been concluded.

    Apart from Shi Kaihuang, Su Chen, and Yue Longsha, Zhu Xianyao had also survived.

    Another one of the survivors was Hong Ming.

    Hong Ming was very lucky to have lived. Right before Uncle Eleven was about to kill him, Su Chen had stopped Uncle Eleven. Even though Hong Ming had tried to escape while Uncle Eleven and Ma Renze were fighting, Shi Kaihuang had still nabbed him.

    ¡°What are you nning on doing with those two?¡± Shi Kaihuang asked Su Chen.

    Even though Su Chen was his disciple, Shi Kaihuang valued and respected Su Chen¡¯s ideas on these kinds of matters.

    Su Chen instantly replied, ¡°Whether they¡¯re alive or not, we should bring them all back. I have a use for them.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang had an ¡°I knew it¡± expression on his face as he began gathering the corpses together. Because corpses were inanimate objects, they could be stored in an Origin Ring.

    But when he was about to store another person, Shi Kaihuang eximed in surprise, ¡°This person is still alive.¡±

    ¡°Who is it?¡± Su Chen came over and found that it was Zheng Bashan.

    This woman had been struck in the head by Uncle Eleven. By all counts she should have been dead by now, but they had discovered that she was notpletely dead yet; at the very least, she was still breathing while in an unconscious state.

    When Su Chen saw that Zheng Bashan hadn¡¯t died yet, he smiled in delight. ¡°This woman has quite the impressive regenerative Origin Skill. It¡¯s a good thing she hasn¡¯t died yet; now I can use her to perform some more research.¡±

    ¡°Su Chen, are you nning on doing research on all of them?¡± Shi Kaihuang asked.

    ¡°Mhm, this is a rare opportunity. In addition......¡± Su Chen hesitated for a moment before he said, ¡°Bloodline Nobility ns have such a level of prestige not just because a bloodline is necessary to raise one¡¯s strength, but also because they have strongerbat prowesspared to others at the same cultivation level because of their Bloodline Origin Skills. Thus, if we want to break the bloodline restrictions, we not only need cultivation techniques to break into higher cultivation realms, but we also need bloodline-less Origin Skills that are more powerful than Bloodline Origin Skills. In the Qi Drawing Realm, we have already taken care of how to reach the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline, so next we should be searching for a way to take care of the issue with bloodline-less Origin Skills.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t be willing to release these publically, right?¡±

    Su Chenughed, revealing his pearly teeth, ¡°Perhaps one day I will distribute them, but right now I am nning on using them to bolster my trump cards...... After all, I can¡¯t rely on you to take care of everything for me.¡±

    ¡°Take care of everything for you?¡± Shi Kaihuang sighed. ¡°This n didn¡¯t have much to do with me. I just so happened to be here.¡±

    ¡°Look at you, old man, treating me like an outsider.¡±

    ¡°Hmph, speaking of outsiders, I don¡¯t think you have told me what your rtionship with the Immortal Temple is yet, right?¡±

    ¡°...... I thought you weren¡¯t nning on asking about that.¡±

    ¡°Hmph, I was waiting for you toe clean yourself.¡±

    ¡°Looks like I mistakenly thought our friendship was mutual.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 103: Night Demonâ€™s Loyalty

    Chapter 103: Night Demon¡¯s Loyalty

    While the master-disciple pair continued to banter with each other, Yue Longsha walked towards them.

    She said to Su Chen, ¡°Thank you for helping me avenge my father¡¯s death. If you need any help in the future, remember to let me know.¡±

    ¡°We both helped each other is all,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Right, what about the item that I asked you to take care of?¡±

    Yue Longsha pointed towards the tree behind her.

    Su Chen jumped into the foliage of the tree and pulled out an Origin Formation Disk.

    It was an Imaging Disk.

    On it, the entire course of the battle had been recorded.

    After ncing through it to ensure that there were no omissions, the corner of Su Chen¡¯s mouth curled upwards in a satisfied smile.

    ¡°What are you nning on doing next?¡± Yue Longsha asked.

    Su Chen replied without hesitation, ¡°I¡¯ll take care of the Imaging Disk and divide the footage into a few portions. Then, I will send it to each of the ns and parties involved.¡±

    An expression of praise appeared on Yue Longsha¡¯s face. ¡°Then, the Six Great ns will discover that their n members died at the hands of the Zhu n, the Zhu n will discover that their n members died at the hands of the Immortal Temple, and the Immortal Temple will discover that Ma Renze died at my hands. Every n and organization will have been victimized, and they will have a target for revenge. The most beautiful part of this all is that everything truly did happen as you said, but you are only giving them what they need to see. The only person that knows the truth is me, but I was willing to carry this burden to get revenge for my father.¡±

    ¡°Because it was for revenge, there¡¯s not much that even the Immortal Temple can say about it. In addition, they will also be trying to deal with the Zhu n¡¯s attacks at the same time. The three parties will undoubtedly be tugging at each other, so not much additional attention will be focused on us.¡±

    ¡°What a beautiful n.¡± Yue Longsha wrapped her arms around herself as she gazed at Su Chen with praise.

    ¡°We just got lucky is all,¡± Su Chen replied as he put away the Imaging Disk. ¡°I¡¯ll take care of processing the disk and then send it out under your name. What do you think?¡±

    Yue Longshaughed. ¡°No problem. I will give them a perfect exnation. Just say that I was chasing after Ma Renze when he unintentionally stumbled upon this battle. Ma Renze wanted to take advantage of the situation, unaware that he was being stalked, and he was unexpectedly injured, giving me an opportunity to finish him off. What do you think?¡±

    ¡°I think that sounds pretty good.¡± Su Chen and Yue Longsha nced at each other before they suddenly burst intoughter.

    They had finished cleaning up the battle site by now. Shi Kaihuang formed three ropes out of pure Origin Energy and bound Zhu Xianyao, Hong Ming, and Zheng Bashan.

    ¡°Instructor, do you have Ma Renze¡¯s Origin Ring on you?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Shi Kaihuang tossed him a ring. When Su Chen opened it to take a look, a delighted expression appeared on his face.

    Eighty vials of Spirit-Sobering Medicine were neatly organized inside.

    Su Chen stowed the medicine vials away and said, ¡°You guys return to the Hidden Dragon Institute first. I have some more business I need to take care of.¡±

    ¡°Brat, ordering around your instructor?¡± Shi Kaihuang cursed, but he still took the three of them and returned to the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    Before leaving, Yue Longsha said to Su Chen, ¡°If you ever need help dealing with the Immortal Temple in the future, remember toe find me.¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°I will.¡±

    ¡°Then...... bye.¡± Yue Longsha said thatst word somewhat airily.

    ¡°Bye,¡± Su Chen replied.

    After staring at him deeply, Yue Longsha turned around and left.

    After Shi Kaihuang and Yue Longsha left, Su Chen began to walk in the opposite direction.

    He once again arrived in that quiet alleyway, the same rendezvous spot as before.

    He entered the courtyard.

    No one was present in the courtyard. Su Chen found a recliner and calmly and quietlyid down on it.

    After an unknown period of time, a pair of footsteps began to echo within the courtyard.

    The footsteps were clear and had a unique cadence.

    It was Night Demon.

    When Night Demon saw Su Chen, her eyes shed. ¡°Oh? Howe you got here so quickly? I hadn¡¯t even sent you a message yet.¡±

    Su Chenzily replied, ¡°I¡¯m in a bit of a hurry, so I just came here to wait for you directly.¡±

    ¡°Hmph,¡± Night Demon unhappily pouted as she pulled out arge pouch from her Origin Ring and tossed it to Su Chen. ¡°Here, the medicinal ingredients you wanted are all here. Now hand over the money!¡±

    She extended her small, white hand.

    Su Chen pulled out a few Origin Stones and ced them in Night Demon¡¯s hand. Night Demon quickly counted them and said, ¡°Why are there an extra two hundred here?¡±

    ¡°As a reward for your hard work.¡±

    ¡°So you do have a conscience.¡± Night Demon shot Su Chen a flirtatious nce.

    ¡°There¡¯s more.¡± Su Chen handed Night Demon a chest.

    Upon opening the chest, Night Demon saw an additional eighty vials of Spirit-Sobering Medicine.

    ¡°Spirit-Sobering Medicine?¡±

    ¡°I agreed to give you a second batch.¡±

    Su Chen had never intended to make an additional batch in the first ce.

    Since Ma Renze wanted to force him to make them on the spot, causing him to sustain greater losses, then it was best to push these losses back onto the Immortal Temple.

    They were still the same eighty vials, but they became the second batch that Su Chen sent to the Immortal Temple. Su Chen used this method to let the other party know that there were drawbacks to trying to pressure him.

    However, Night Demon didn¡¯t realize this.

    She was still confused. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say Ma Renze would make the exchange with you?¡±

    Su Chen said with a voice full of meaning, ¡°I don¡¯t think he and I will ever work together again.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Night Demon didn¡¯t understand.

    Su Chenughed and patted her shoulders, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about why. In any case, you should take this batch of medicine back to your superiors. They should understand.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Night Demon agreed.

    As he looked at Night Demon¡¯s adorably silly expression, a thought suddenly surfaced in Su Chen¡¯s mind.

    He said, ¡°Night Demon.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    ¡°Do we count as friends?¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Night Demon nodded her head very seriously.

    ¡°Then in the future would you attack me?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°How could I?¡± Night Demon replied. ¡°We are friends. Friends don¡¯t fight other friends.¡±

    ¡°Then what if one day the Immortal Temple and I be enemies? What would you do?¡±

    Night Demon¡¯s eyes opened wide. ¡°Why would you be enemies with the Immortal Temple?¡±

    ¡°......I¡¯m just wondering what if.¡±

    Night Demon gnawed on her lip.

    She thought very seriously for a moment before she said, ¡°Then there¡¯s only one thing I could do.¡±

    ¡°What is that?¡±

    ¡°Naturally, I would risk my life to save my friend. I would tell you first that the Immortal Temple was trying to kill you and that you should leave, before turning myself into the Immortal Temple¡¯s higher ups and epting punishment,¡± Night Demon said, a passionate expression on her face. ¡°I would be willing to give my life for brothers and friends, but at the same time I wouldn¡¯t be betraying the organization. I would face everything fearlessly......¡±

    Su Chen was speechless.

    Night Demon watched him. ¡°So, how about it? Am I a good enough friend?¡±

    ¡°Yes, you are. You really are loyal.¡± Su Chen gave her a thumbs-up.

    Night Demonughed in delight, ¡°You don¡¯t need to feel too moved. I¡¯m not actually that impressive, but I needed to give you a decent answer because you asked. In any case, it¡¯s just a hypothetical...... If we can avoid bing hostile, then why not avoid it, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, of course.¡± All Su Chen did was nod.

    As he looked at Night Demon¡¯s self-assured expression, Su Chen suddenly felt that the future not only held countless dangers but also limitless entertainment and pleasure.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 104: Captives

    Chapter 104: Captives

    After returning from the rendezvous, Su Chen got right back to business.

    Thisrge-scale, extended battle had given Su Chen many spoils. From the Six Great Nobility ns and the Zhu n members, Su Chen had obtained eleven Origin Rings that contained an assortment of Origin Stones, medicinal ingredients, cultivation techniques, and even quite a few Origin Tools.

    But to Su Chen, the most precious items were the people themselves.

    Any of the individuals from the seven Bloodline Nobility ns would be great research subjects. Even if they had already died, they still had value as long as they hadn¡¯t died for too long and their blood was still in their bodies. Su Chen¡¯s Origin Energy-Seeing Eye was very good at discerning the truth because it could see things in very fine detail, making Su Chen¡¯s research much more convenient. While others were stuck in the realm of reality, understanding Origin Energy based on its macroscopic behavior, Su Chen was able to observe and analyze things on a much finer scale and much more precisely. This made it so that his ability to arrive at useful conclusions skyrocketed.

    For his research, Su Chen had prepared arge quantity of medicines and collected arge amount of fresh blood, internal organs, and tissue and muscle samples. He had then sealed them in preparation for his research. Although this method was a bit disgusting, the quest for truth was often filled with barriers and obstacles. If he wasn¡¯t even able to handle this, he might as well give up on his grand dreams.

    However,pared to a dead person, those who were alive had much greater value.

    After he finished preparing the cadavers, Su Chen went to check on his hostages.

    He first went to go visit Hong Ming ¨C Hong Ming was the one who was the closest to his physical limits.

    During the battle in Red Pinewood Forest, Hong Ming had been badly wounded. His entire body was filled with broken bones from Uncle Eleven¡¯s brutal onught, and many of his internal organs had ruptured. He would not have lived for much longer. Although Yang Opening Realm cultivators possessed umon strength, there was no way for him to recover from such grievous wounds unless he had cultivated some secret technique like Zheng Bashan.

    Hong Ming was lucky to have met Su Chen.

    After many years of studying, Su Chen¡¯s medical skill had reached a decent level of proficiency. He had personally performed surgery on Hong Ming and sown up his ruptured organs, even using many costly medicinal ingredients in order to prolong his life. After a day¡¯s worth of struggling, Su Chen had finally pulled Hong Ming back from the brink of death. But this was not so much due to Su Chen¡¯s medical skills as Hong Ming¡¯s innately powerful physique and the support of those medicines.

    Hong Ming was also unlucky to have met Su Chen.

    Even though he had saved Hong Ming, Su Chen intended on studying and practicing on Hong Ming. He did not care about whether he seeded or failed, but rather how much information he could glean from his experiments and how much he had progressed. To Su Chen, Hong Ming was an invaluable research subject ¨C after all, those in the Yang Opening Realm possessed astounding recovery rates and were not easy to kill. Such a person was the perfect target for him to practice on and study. Since Su Chen was talented in making medicine, he had been anticipating a breakthrough in his medical skills for some time. Thus, Hong Ming was doomed to a tragic fate ¨C he would not die, but he would be forever confined to his bed for Su Chen to practice his medical skills on until the day that Su Chen identally killed him.

    Of course, Hong Ming did not know this at the moment.

    Hey on a bed, tubes protruding from all over his body. He stared at Su Chen, powerless. Su Chen thoroughly searched the records contained on the medical manual he was holding while his right hand recorded the changes to Hong Ming¡¯s body.

    ¡°Why...... did you...... save me......¡± Hong Ming said arduously.

    Su Chen nced at him but didn¡¯t offer up an exnation of his thoughts or reasonings.

    In this time period, most people would not be able to understand Su Chen¡¯s reasoning. There was no point in exining it anyway especially since it would only cause his research subject to not cooperate with him.

    Instead, he gave Hong Ming another, moreforting reason. ¡°I did kill Zhang Sheng¡¯an and Zhong Ding, and the others¡¯ deaths can also be attributed to me. Only one person was truly killed by the y Giant. No one caused his death.¡±

    ¡°Hong Wu?¡±

    Su Chen nodded.

    This was the truth. Even though it wasn¡¯t Su Chen¡¯s true motivation for saving Hong Ming, it served as an adequate excuse.

    Hong Ming sighed. ¡°I understand. When I return, I will tell my n to not give you any more trouble.¡±

    You think you can go back?

    Su Chenughed in his heart, but since the other party was so willing to believe him, he didn¡¯t object to simplifying the situation a little bit.

    He said, ¡°I don¡¯t owe the Hong n anything, but now you owe me a life.¡±

    Hong Ming understood what he meant. ¡°Yes, I owe you a life. Everything in my Origin Ring belongs to you.¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I already have that.¡±

    ¡°What else do you want?¡± Hong Ming knew that he did not have the right to lose his temper at the moment.

    ¡°Origin Skills. All of the Origin Skills you know, particrly the ones that you used to seriously injure Uncle Eleven.

    ¡°This......¡± Hong Ming hesitated slightly, but he agreed after thinking about it for a moment.

    ¡°That¡¯s good enough. You can rest for now.¡± Su Chen stood up and left.

    After taking care of Hong Ming, Su Chen went to go check in on Zheng Bashan.

    Zheng Bashan¡¯s situation waspletely the opposite of Hong Ming¡¯s.

    Her physical injuries were not too severe, but her consciousness had sunk into a deepa.

    This was the result of the blow to the head she had received from Uncle Eleven.

    The blow had not been a consciousness-type attack, but it had injured Zheng Bashan¡¯s brain. At this point, most people knew that the consciousness was very closely linked to the brain, but no one knew exactly how deep the connection was. Zheng Bashan¡¯s condition gave Su Chen some new insight into understanding consciousness.

    Thus, Su Chen¡¯s main goal with Zheng Bashan was mainly to research consciousness injury and protection with everything else taking a backseat.

    Because Zheng Bashan was still unconscious, Su Chen didn¡¯t say anything to her. After inspecting her briefly and feeding her a vial of medicine, he went to go visit Zhu Xianyao.

    Of the three captives, only Zhu Xianyao waspletely unharmed.

    Because of this, Su Chen had taken many precautions with her ¨C she had been fed Qi Obstructing Powder, and Iron Cliff personally stood guard in her room.

    When Su Chen came to her room, Zhu Xianyao was sitting on a corner of the bed while hugging her knees to her chest, seemingly thinking about something.

    When she saw Su Chen, her back straightened, and a vicious look appeared in her eyes. She was clearly on guard against him.

    Su Chenughed as he walked to her side and sat down. ¡°How is it? I hope you¡¯ve been well since yesterday.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao coldly said, ¡°Su Chen, I admit that you¡¯ve won. The Zhu n¡¯s ns havepletely failed. As long as you send a letter to my n and tell them that I am in your possession, my mother will remove the block on Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven.¡±

    ¡°Did you really think that was my reason for capturing you alive?¡± Su Chenughed.

    ¡°Is that not the case?¡± Zhu Xianyao was caught off-guard.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Of course not. If I wanted the Zhu n to give up, it would actually be quite easy.¡±

    He pulled out a copy of the Kaihaung¡¯s Heaven manual and shook it in front of her as he said, ¡°As long as I can find a ce to make a few thousand copies, then......¡±

    He gestured as if scattering something to the wind.

    ¡°Do you think there would be much point for the Zhu n to conceal Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven at that point?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s mind began to rumble.

    She waspletely stunned.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 105: Lifting The Ban

    Chapter 105: Lifting The Ban

    Ever since she was young, Zhu Xianyao had been treated like royalty ¨C a pearl in their palm, so to speak.

    She was used to everyone else revolving around her, used to being chased and envied by the gazes of others.

    Although she was in confinement, Zhu Xianyao believed that it would only be temporary because she was valuable.

    As long as she was valuable, she wouldn¡¯t be mistreated too badly, and she would very quickly regain her freedom.

    But now, her arrogant attitude had been shattered by a single sentence.

    I don¡¯t need you to make an exchange. A simple countermeasure of mine is enough to force the Zhu n to give up on everything.

    They had underestimated Su Chen and the difficulty of executing their n from the very beginning.

    Because they were used to forcefully seizing things and killing people, they were not sure what to do when suddenly faced with an opponent who was willing to selflessly give knowledge away. When they tried to do things ording to habit, they found themselves restricted and controlled by their opponent every step of the way.

    Did they really think that they could have prevented Su Chen from spreading Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven just by concealing his Dreamrealm notice?

    Heavens, what an idiotic idea!

    It wasn¡¯t until this moment that she realized there was no point to this at all.

    The spread of knowledge waspletely different from stealing treasures. As long as Su Chen wanted to, there were simply too many methods for him to distribute Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven. This was why the Zhu n had been used by Su Chen to eliminate the Six Great ns.

    In reality, the only reason Su Chen hadn¡¯t done so yet was because it costed more to transmit the information in person, resulting in less profits, and there was a higher possibility others woulde after him, unlike in the Dreamrealm where he could conceal himself better.

    When she realized this, Zhu Xianyao began to regret her decisions.

    They had tried to use tactics meant for stealing treasure to try and stop the spread of Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven. Using the wrong method was bound to result in a tragic oue.

    Zhu Xianyao finally lost all of her previous arrogance. She mumbled, ¡°So...... what do you want?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the right tone,¡± Su Chen said with satisfaction.

    He continued, ¡°You know as well as I do that I don¡¯t like people constantly trying to make trouble for me. But since I chose this path, trouble will probably find me for the rest of my life. Even if that¡¯s the case, however, I will do everything I can to avoid trouble. Look, with this Imaging Disk I can prove that the members of your n were mostly killed by the Six Great ns and that Uncle Eleven was killed by the Immortal Temple. None of it has anything to do with me. As long as we preserve this situation, the matter is actually pretty easy to resolve.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao was surprised. She gazed at Su Chen as she asked, ¡°Do you really think that this Imaging Disk is enough to get you off scot-free?¡±

    The Slyheart Zhu n hade here for Su Chen.

    Even though Su Chen had removed his existence from the Imaging Disk, that could not change the fact that the Slyheart Zhu n hade here for Su Chen. As long as the Zhu n was persistent, they would send people here to investigate the scene again and very quickly deduce that Su Chen was the instigator.

    In reality, this kind of trick couldn¡¯t possibly trick the Zhu n.

    The Imaging Disk¡¯s real purpose was to pit the Zhu n, the Six Great ns, and the Immortal Temple against each other, not to pull Su Chen out of the situation.

    Su Chen nodded his head. ¡°That would be a little hard with just the Imaging Disk. Thus, I need one more thing.¡±

    ¡°What thing?¡±

    ¡°I need you to write a letter back to your n saying that after you arrived, you discovered that I had secretly been distributing Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven and that continuing our cooperation was pointless. To stop the spread of Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven, you decided to kill the Six Great Nobility ns that had purchased Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven from me.

    Zhu Xianyao understood.

    Su Chen¡¯s tactic was actually to get Zhu Xianyao to endorse his version of the events, using this tactic to verify what had really happened at Red Pinewood Forest. This would cut off his rtionship with what had happened at Red Pinewood Forest.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°This is not just to create an excuse for the battle at Red Pinewood Forest; I am also preparing for the mass propagation afterwards. The Zhu n will receive three letters in total. Yours will be the first, describing the cause of the Red Pinewood Forest Battle. The second will be the Imaging Disk that Yue Longsha and I will send under our names to inform them of the oue of the battle. The third letter will be from you again, exining to the Zhu n that even though you killed the Six Great ns, unfortunately Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven had still been leaked. You will say that there is no need for them to continue concealing Su Chen¡¯s notice, and you will advise them to give up on their ns in order to conserve resources. Simultaneously, you will mention that something came up and that you will return to them shortly so that they don¡¯t be worried.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao sucked in a breath of cold air.

    He didn¡¯t even need to pay a price. Three letters were enough to resolve the whole situation.

    Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven would be disseminated, while the Zhu n would bear the brunt of the attack for Su Chen......

    Zhu Xianyao was so angry that she itched all over. ¡°Su Chen, in your idealistic dreams!¡±

    ¡°ns should always be a little idealistic,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Remember, I will not ept failure. I don¡¯t care what tone you use to write the letter, and I don¡¯t care about how you send the letter. All I need is for the Zhu n to believe everything you write. If they don¡¯t believe it, then you will die! If they do believe it, then you are free to go in three months.

    Su Chen¡¯s expression hardened as he spoke, his tone demanding absolute submission.

    The Zhu n would have to bear the brunt of the responsibility for this incident.

    The Zhu n could note to bother him either.

    All of this depended on Zhu Xianyao.

    If she was willing to say it, the Zhu n would believe her.

    After contemting about the situation for a moment, Zhu Xianyao began tough derisively. ¡°Your n is quite marvelous, but there¡¯s a critical w.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°If I do return, your n will bepletely ruined! All of your efforts will have gone to waste. So, Su Chen, how are you going to convince me that you will let me return after this is all said and done?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Doesn¡¯t the Zhu n have a memory-wiping technique?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao stared at Su Chen, stunned. ¡°You want to learn the Sorrow-Erasing Baptism?¡±

    ¡°I want to learn everything from the Zhu n!¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Using the Zhu n¡¯s skills to deal with the Zhu n was Su Chen¡¯s n. Through this method, he would be able to escape from implication while simultaneously learning the Origin Skills of a Demonic Emperor Bloodline Nobility n.

    As for what would happen after Zhu Xianyao¡¯s memories were wiped, Su Chen had already prepared a narrative and cover-up for her.

    After the Red Pinewood Forest Battle, Zhu Xianyao had only narrowly escaped, and she had happened to run into Yue Longsha. After sending thest letter, Zhu Xianyao and Yue Longsha had gone to retaliate against the Immortal Temple, but she had been injured during the battle and had lost her memory upon awakening.

    This lie was not to trick the Zhu n, but rather to trick Zhu Xianyao after she had lost her memories.

    The Sorrow-Erasing Baptism would only erase a certain portion of Zhu Xianyao¡¯s memories. She wouldn¡¯t lose any of her long-term memories, such as her identity, but she would definitely need an exnation as to what had happened during this period of time.

    Saying that she and Yue Longsha had fought back against the Immortal Temple was a convenient reason. It would also remind her that her enemy was now the Immortal Temple.

    After finishing this matter, Su Chen and the Zhu n would no longer have any ties to each other. Only the Six Great ns and the Immortal Temple would trouble them because of the Red Pinewood Forest Battle, but none of that would have anything to do with Su Chen.

    Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t take too long to agree.

    At this point, she didn¡¯t have much of a choice.

    After agreeing to Su Chen¡¯s conditions, Zhu Xianyao first wrote a letter to the Zhu n.

    Although the Red Pinewood Forest Battle had already urred, the Horizontal Mountain was incredibly far away, and they could not have possibly known the exact circumstances. Thus, the timing of the letter was not an issue at all.

    A dayter, the Imaging Disk was sent.

    On the third day, the third and final letter was sent. At this point, Zhu Xianyao¡¯s responsibilities were mostly finished. All that remained was for Su Chen to learn the Zhu n¡¯s secret techniques from Zhu Xianyao.

    Of course, he would also be analyzing the Zhu n¡¯s bloodline.

    Because Zhu Xianyao had cooperated with him somewhat readily, Su Chen didn¡¯t subject her to much torment. All he did was draw some of her blood to use in chemical testing and Origin Substance analysis. He didn¡¯t do anything else to her after that.

    On the fifteenth day after the letter had been sent, Su Chen entered the Dreamrealm and was notified that the ban on Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven had been lifted.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 106: Light and Dark

    Chapter 106: Light and Dark

    The Dreamrealm was in an uproar.

    Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven had been ced in the most prominent location within the Hall of Information. Meng Lan had once again activated her advertising powers and given the technique a nine-star evaluation. This time, however, it wasn¡¯t because she and Su Chen had made a deal, but because it really was worthy of that evaluation. A cultivation technique like this couldn¡¯t be praised too much.

    A hundred Dream Droplets for a cultivation technique to enter the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline.

    Most people felt as if they had been struck in the back of the head when they read this.

    Was there finally aplete technique that allowed people to reach the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline?

    And it only cost a hundred Dream Droplets?

    Could it be a scam?

    That was the first thought that went through most people¡¯s minds.

    However, it had been advertised for three days, and the nine-star evaluation confirmed that it was the real thing.

    In addition, since it only cost a hundred Dream Droplets, they wouldn¡¯t lose very much even if it was a scam.

    When Su Chen entered the Dreamrealm again, he was greeted by a jaw-dropping sum.

    Twenty-one thousand copies!

    Yes, over twenty thousand copies of Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven had already been sold in only one day,

    This was the difference between the Adamantine Battle Body and Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven. In the end, the Adamantine Battle Body was just an Origin Skill; even though its defensive capabilities were outstanding, not everyone needed it, and its under-the-table distribution further decreased its value.

    But Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven was different because it directly provided a way for cultivators to raise their cultivation bases. If they could reach the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline, they wouldn¡¯t need to use a mixed-bloodline medicine while still in the Qi Drawing Realm.

    Most importantly, this critical cultivation technique only cost a hundred Dream Droplets.

    To Meng Lan, twenty thousand sales wasn¡¯t much; rather, she felt that it was too little.

    ¡°The Castle Lady says that there should be more people surveying the situation. Though the price of just a hundred Dream Droplets caused many people to just buy the technique, there are also many who are worried that there is a critical w within technique, so they are waiting for other people to post reviews. The Castle Lady has already allowed people to provide reviews, so there should be some reviews very soon. At that point, this cultivation technique will really begin to take off,¡± Lulu said as she flew around Su Chen.

    In fact, there were already quite a few reviews already.

    Some people had already quickly looked through the technique. Although they had not used it yet, they confirmed the theoretical validity of the idea.

    Some others who were already at the brink of reaching the Blood Boiling Realm had tried the technique immediately after buying it and had seeded then and there. They had charged over to excitedly leave a rave review.

    Of course, some others had failed. Although they hadn¡¯t seeded in reaching the Blood Boiling Realm, they had experienced theck of side effects from Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven, and they also came to leave reviews about it.

    It had only been on sale for one day, and not many people had left reviews yet. Based on the preliminary reviews, however, the vast majority were singing its praises.

    Naturally, those who had seeded were ecstatic, and even those who had failed praised it. They all imed that it was a technique that could change the course of human history, and they profusely thanked the seller, Cloud Bat, for providing it so generously.

    The name Cloud Bat began to gain a reputation.

    Of course, there were people criticizing it as well.

    Somemented that Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven was too borate because it incorporated Origin energy Patterns, forcing those who used the technique to have at least some understanding of Origin Energy Patterns. Otherwise, the sess rate would decrease. In addition, cultivation techniques to reach the Blood Boiling Realm already existed, but they weren¡¯tplete. Cloud Bat had only perfected it slightly, but it was still far off from shaping the course of human history. Cloud Bat was not the savior of the human race and was undeserving of that title.

    Their reasoning was correct, but their tone was one of ridicule and they were clearly trying to demean this achievement. They were bitterly cursed out for it.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t mind. Right now, it was still just the beginning; pretty soon, more people would confirm the usefulness of Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven, and it would reach its peak sales rate.

    He said, ¡°I need to thank the Castle Lady for her public support.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to be so polite. You guys are friends, after all,¡± Lulu said, her hands on her hips. ¡°The better it sells, the more the Castle Lady can glean from it. If you had been willing to raise the price more, you probably could have easily earned two million by now.¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°I wasn¡¯t selling Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven to earn money anyways, but tell your Castle Lady that she doesn¡¯t have to worry about it too much. I trust that sometime in the near future I will have some new Origin Skills to sell. At that time, I should be able to line the Castle Lady¡¯s pockets a bit more.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Are you nning on creating some new Origin Skill?¡± Lulu asked excitedly.

    ¡°I¡¯m still in the nning stages. I haven¡¯t begun yet.¡±

    ¡°Only in the nning stages? Creating a new Origin Skill is not that easy,¡± Lulu said, tilting her head.

    ¡°But it¡¯s not that hard either,¡± Su Chenughed.

    Yes, to Su Chen it really wasn¡¯t that hard.

    In the following days, just like Meng Lan and Su Chen had predicted, Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven caused a massivemotion within certain circles in the Dreamrealm.

    After confirming its effectiveness, a rarely-seen wave of sales urred.

    Within three days time, 230,000 copies of Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven had been sold.

    230,000 copies!

    How many Origin Qi Schrs were there in total in the entire human race?

    No more than twenty million, and there were around four million Qi Drawing Origin Qi Schrs alone.

    Some of them were part of Bloodline Nobility ns, so they had no need of this technique. Only roughly two million people needed a copy of Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven.

    Of those two million people, probably only half had ess to the Dreamrealm.

    One-fourth of the million Qi Drawing Realm cultivators without bloodlines had bought the technique. The general pattern of under-the-table distributions being moremon had beenpletely shattered.

    This didn¡¯t even include any sales that might ur after these few days.

    Based on this momentum, selling another hundred or two hundred thousand copies of Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven wasn¡¯t an issue at all, which meant that nearly half of the Qi Drawing Realm cultivators without bloodlines would end up buying the technique.

    This greatly exceeded Su Chen and Meng Lan¡¯s expectations.

    The main reason for this was because these people felt some gratitude towards ¡°Cloud Bat¡±.

    The people buying Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven knew why Cloud Bat would sell this technique at such a low price.

    His intention in the first ce was not to make money but rather to benefit the human race.

    Because of this, the people benefitting from him were willing to pay a small contribution for this great purpose.

    Some people were even willing to buy the technique directly from the Dreamrealm even though they could have obtained it for cheaper within the real world merely to thank Su Chen, to thank Cloud Bat!

    This was the human race.

    Perhaps they were not so grand and perhaps they were selfish, but when faced with grandness, they knew to respect and look up to it.

    Shi Kaihuang had said that those who obtained this technique from him wouldn¡¯t help protect him from any storms that he might encounter.

    What he said wasn¡¯t incorrect, but it also didn¡¯t mean that they wouldn¡¯t know how to feel gratitude.

    Perhaps they might not volunteer themselves to stand against the storm, but they could use their own methods to help others.

    A hundred Dream Droplets was not expensive by any stretch of the imagination. Those who understood how to express their gratitude knew what to do.

    Use their meager abilities to help the person who had helped them!

    The world was dark, but there was also light!

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 107: The Slyheart Bloodline 1

    Chapter 107: The Slyheart Bloodline (1)

    Under the influence of this kind of thinking, the sales of Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven continued to skyrocket, breaking past the horizon.

    10 days after the ban on Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven had been lifted, the sales marker finally broke the 400,000 mark.

    At this point, everything that could be sold had been sold ¨C those who were unwilling to spend the money at this point wouldn¡¯t, and the sales of Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven took a sharp dive in the following days.

    Even so, Su Chen still earned the firstrge sum of money that he had ever obtained in his life.

    Forty million Origin Stones!

    Although Su Chen was from a rtively wealthy n, this number still shocked him.

    Forty million Origin Stones, what did this entail?

    Back then, Su Keji had tried to supnt Su Chen for merely a few thousand Origin Stones, and thirty thousand Origin Stones had been enough for Su Chen to sever his ties with the Su n and pay back all of his debt. Forty million Origin Stones was enough to raise a thousand Su Chen¡¯s.

    Did Su Chen now own this massive sum?

    Su Chen felt dizzy when faced with such an astronomical sum.

    He knew that Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven had been invented primarily by Shi Kaihuang, so in the end he decided to give the money to Shi Kaihuang.

    When Shi Kaihuang heard this, however, he said, ¡°Get out of here. What use would I have for money? I don¡¯t need it. You can use this to go buy some ingredients or something.¡±

    ¡°But Instructor, you are the true creator of Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven. Disciple is just......¡±

    Shi Kaihuang impatiently interrupted him, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me all this rubbish. First of all, you were the one whopleted Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven. Second, you were the one who took care of the Zhu n. Third, you gave me Brooke¡¯s Form; that form alone is worth an exchange for Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven.¡±

    After Su Chenpleted Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven, Shi Kaihuang finally reflected on his mistakes and was no longer biased against Ancient Arcana Techniques. Because he also needed Shi Kaihuang to take care of the Immortal Temple, Su Chen decided to just give Brooke¡¯s Form to his Instructor.

    With Brooke¡¯s Form, Shi Kaihuang had many more avable possibilities and directions to take when developing a technique for reaching the Yang Opening Realm.

    When Su Chen heard Shi Kaihuang¡¯s reply, he no longer had any more objections, and he happily epted the sum of money,

    He was pretty calm about it. When Iron Cliff and Cloud Leopard heard about the sum of money, they were instantly sent into a daze.

    When they thought of the fact that their leader had earned so much money, they couldn¡¯t suppress the happiness in their heart. From time to time, they would sit in a daze andugh foolishly. It really did look like they had some kind of mental illness.

    One day, Cloud Leopard ran to Shi Kaihuang while in one of his giggling fits, ¡°Instructor, how much wealth do you think a Demonic Emperor n has?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Shi Kaihuang asked.

    Cloud Leopard rubbed his head. ¡°I just wanted to know what the difference is between Su Chen and them.¡±

    ¡°Demonic Emperor Nobility n......¡± Shi Kaihuang thought for a moment before he replied, ¡°The poorest probably have at least a few tens of millions.¡±

    Cloud Leopard¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°So you¡¯re saying that Su Chen has as many Origin Stones as a Demonic Emperor Nobility n?¡±

    Shi Kaihuang nced at him. ¡°I¡¯m talking about high-tier Origin Stones.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Cloud Leopard seemed to dete before he ran away somewhat dejectedly.

    Shi Kaihuang shook his head with a smile, but when he thought of the silliness of hot-blooded youths, he could understand his behavior.

    The name Cloud Bat spread throughout the entire Dreamrealm.

    The Adamantine Battle Body and Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven had made Cloud Bat a celebrity within the Dreamrealm.

    Many people debated the origins of Cloud Bat. Almost all of the famous individuals within the human race¡¯s Seven Kingdoms were guessed, and even Shi Kaihuang had been nominated ¨C after all, the name Kaihuang was written with the same characters in Shi Kaihuang¡¯s name ¨C but all of the guesses were centered around the big names. No one could possibly have expected that Cloud Bat¡¯s true identity was just a small, lowly student.

    The only people who knew the truth were likely the Horizontal Mountain Zhu n, but at the moment they were frantically trying to find Zhu Xianyao and had no time to pay attention to such trivial matters.

    As time went on, the waves that Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven had kicked up began to slowly subside.

    People finally stopped discussing Cloud Bat, but the influence of Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven began to infiltrate every aspect of the Origin Qi Schr system.

    From this day onwards, the limit that Origin Qi Schrs without a bloodline could reach was the peak of the Blood Boiling Realm.

    As for Su Chen, his life continued as per usual. Every day, he would go to ss, cultivate, and research.

    He had exchanged therge sum from the Dreamrealm for a bunch of precious medicinal ingredients that were constantly being delivered from all over the ce to his research station, which were in turn being used for countless experiments, supplementing Su Chen¡¯s knowledge.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°Interesting, this is my first time seeing an Origin Substance like this. It should be the same kind of Origin Substance, but its characteristics arepletely different when in a male versus a female. No wonder your mesmer skills can only be used by females; some of the Origin Substance¡¯s characteristics only appear within the female body,¡± Su Chen said as he inspected the liquid within the two different test tubes.

    ¡°So what if you figured out the reason? Can you change it at all?¡± Zhu Xianyao said unhappily.

    During this period of time, Su Chen had extracted some of her blood every day to do research. Although this was the gentlest method that Su Chen could have chosen, Zhu Xianyao still felt extremely ufortable, so naturally her tone was not happy.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can change it,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°During these past years, I have spent all my time analyzing the secrets behind bloodline Origin Substances to see if I can rece them. I seeded sometimes and failed sometimes. In the end, finding substitutes for Origin Substances can be somewhat random. To be honest, sesses from not only performing experiments diligently but also a certain amount of luck.¡±

    ¡°Luck?¡± Zhu Xianyao gazed at Su Chen. ¡°Are you saying that the greatest sess you¡¯ve had so far in breaking through the bloodline restrictions was dependent on luck?¡±

    Her words wereced with disdain and mockery.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t mind. He said indifferently, ¡°Yes. Needing luck really isn¡¯t that embarrassing; those who don¡¯t make an effort don¡¯t even have the right to experience luck. The luck that I am referring to doesn¡¯t just fall from the sky with no effort; rather, it is more like the Heavens having pity on someone who has tried things again and again. Sess maye from the most unexpected and underestimated sources. I call this an inevitable chance of sess ¨C good fortune based on countless attempts and hard work.¡±

    ¡°So has fortune smiled upon you concerning the Zhu n¡¯s bloodline?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked, still mocking him.

    Su Chen shrugged his shoulders.

    Evidently, he hadn¡¯t gotten lucky yet.

    Zhu Xianyaoughed sarcastically, ¡°You really think that you can break down the Zhu n¡¯s bloodline? What a joke. Don¡¯t think that just because you happened toplete Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven that you are something special. It was still your instructor who did most of the work; you were just the person who reaped the benefits by relying on the foundation that he had set. I would advise you to not waste so much time and energy on this anymore.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps,¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t continue to im that he would eventually seed just by continuing to spend time on it. He knew that for the most part, research was like a bottomless pit that wouldn¡¯t echo no matter how many stones you threw into it.

    If he wasn¡¯t able to make a breakthrough in understanding the Zhu n¡¯s bloodline within a certain period of time, Su Chen would consider giving up on it.

    At that point, Iron Cliff rushed in.

    He said, ¡°Zheng Bashan is awake.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 108: Slyheart Bloodline 2

    Chapter 108: Slyheart Bloodline (2)

    Zheng Bashan sat on a stone bench, her body swaying around as she sang a song.

    Her singing was gentle and passionate.

    Su Chen waved his hand in front of her, but Zheng Bashan didn¡¯t react at all.

    She continued to sway back and forth as she muttered to herself, asionally letting out a shallowugh.

    No matter what Su Chen tried, she wouldn¡¯t respond.

    ¡°Has she been like this since she woke up?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Yes. No matter what I said, she wouldn¡¯t listen. Master, could she have been knocked silly by Uncle Eleven?¡± Iron Cliff asked.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem like it. This is also my first time seeing a situation like this.¡± Su Chen flipped open Zheng Bashan¡¯s eyelids.

    He activated his Origin Energy-seeing eye and saw a bizarre, multicolored, and vast microcosm behind her. However, this microcosm was incrediblyplex, and Su Chen felt dizzy simply just from looking at it.

    The only thing he could confirm was that Zheng Bashan¡¯s situation was umon.

    ¡°How strange. What exactly is going on?¡± Su Chen muttered.

    ¡°It¡¯s Soul Sinking,¡± a voice said from behind him.

    It was Zhu Xianyao.

    Because they were still operating under the guise of cooperation, Zhu Xianyao hadn¡¯t been confined. She was allowed to walk around the Origin Energy Tower as she pleased as long as she didn¡¯t enter the areas that Su Chen had designated as restricted. Her living conditions could be considered pretty good.

    Su Chen gazed at her and then said, ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    Then he asked, ¡°You said this condition is called Soul Sinking? What is that?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao walked over and said, ¡°It¡¯s called Soul Sinking because even though her physical body is awake, her consciousness is still in deep sleep because of her injuries. She has sunk into a deepyer of dreams, unable to wake up. Most likely, her consciousness received a serious blow. Right now, she is probably within a dream of her own creation with no way of waking up.¡±

    ¡°How can I wake her up?¡±

    ¡°Only consciousness-type techniques can deal with consciousness injuries. Her Soul Sinking condition appears to be particrly severe, and perhaps only an extremely powerful consciousness-type Origin Skill would be able to wake her up now.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. How do you know so much about this?¡±

    ¡°You know that the Zhu n is particrly skilled in the art of mesmer techniques, which are consciousness-type Origin Skills in the first ce. The Zhu n has been studying this subject from the very beginning, hoping to break through some of the restraints of our bloodline in order to stop mesmer techniques from being restricted by gender.¡±

    ¡°To allow males to use mesmer techniques as well?¡±

    ¡°No, so that females can also be affected by mesmer techniques.¡±

    ¡°...... I knew that you people couldn¡¯t possibly be that generous,¡± Su Chenughed and then said, ¡°I want to learn it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not covered by the terms of our agreement,¡± Zhu Xianyao rejected him bluntly.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t try to force the issue. He thought for a moment before he stood up and said, ¡°Fine. Tell me what I need to do to learn.¡±

    ¡°Give me more freedom. At the very least, I want to be able to walk within the Hidden Dragon Institute. I simply feel too confined within the Origin Energy Tower.¡±

    ¡°You know that won¡¯t be possible.¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t trust me, then you cane with me,¡± Zhu Xianyao said, agitated. ¡°Half an hour every day is enough; I just want to get some fresh air! If you still don¡¯t trust me, you can even put restrictive spells on me and feed me medicine. Aren¡¯t you an alchemist? You can use any tactic you want!¡±

    Su Chen breathed in a long breath.

    After a long time, he finally nodded. ¡°Fine, half an hour every day, but you need to swear that what you teach me will be valuable.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao sighed, ¡°I don¡¯t know if it will be valuable or not. My n has been studying this subject for quite some time, but we have never made any concrete breakthroughs. The knowledge hasn¡¯t been organized either, and it will take me some time to recount it to you. What about this? You can ask me questions every time we go out, and I¡¯ll answer them to the best of my ability.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± Su Chen agreed.

    If one day Zhu Xianyao was unable to answer his questions, then there was no need to allow her to get fresh air anymore.

    From that day onwards, Su Chen apanied Zhu Xianyao out of the tower during the early evening.

    Zhu Xianyao kept her promise and didn¡¯t give Su Chen any trouble. She also didn¡¯t try to contact anyone from the outside.

    They slowly walked under the setting sun. Su Chen would ask questions, while Zhu Xianyao would reply.

    Outsiders didn¡¯t know what was going on. They just thought that Su Chen had be friends with a beautiful woman, inciting jealousy and envy. As the days went on, there were even rumors that Su Chen had curried favor with a beauty from a nobility n, granting him some good fortune.

    In some sense, that wasn¡¯t incorrect. At the very least, Su Chen had that opportunity in the past.

    Even Wang Doushan heard of this and ran over to ask what was happening.

    Upon seeing Zhu Xianyao, the fatty¡¯s eyes went straight.

    Although he had seen Yue Longsha a few times and was extremely confused by their rtionship, he didn¡¯t ask anything in the end.

    Su Chen had always wanted to meet with Gu Qingluo, but in the end he had never encountered her ¨C he had gone to find Gu Qingluo twice, but she had avoided him both times.

    He did not know that Gu Qingluo had been observing him from some hidden corner many times.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Su Chen¡¯s knowledge about the human consciousness greatly increased while he conversed and walked with Zhu Xianyao.

    The Zhu n¡¯s understanding of the human consciousness was extremely impressive. Many things that Su Chen didn¡¯t understand had been discovered by the Zhu n ages ago.

    Under Zhu Xianyao¡¯s guidance, Su Chen¡¯s understanding of this subject continued to increase, and his horizons were also greatly broadened.

    Su Chen simultaneously discovered that the pursuit of bloodlines, Origin Skills, and knowledge was not something that was unique to him. Many people, including nobility ns, were also striving for the same things.

    When one hit a dead end, one could gain shes of new inspiration by looking at the research and techniques of others.

    On the twenty-second day of their strolls around the Hidden Dragon Institute, Su Chen¡¯s research on the Slyheart Bloodline finally had a breakthrough ¨C he had sessfully mastered a portion of the Slyheart Bloodline¡¯s principles.

    After mastering this portion, Su Chen borrowed the Origin Energy Talisman Formation to form twelve unique Origin Energy Talismans in an attempt to generate a portion of the Slyheart Bloodline¡¯s strength.

    By using this method, Su Chen¡¯s power output when using the Slyheart Bloodline¡¯s Origin Skills received a significant boost.

    However, Su Chen was not yet satisfied. What he needed was a bloodline-less Origin Skill that could still be on par with other skills from high-tier bloodlines. Simply learning a few new Origin Skills or strengthening some Origin Skill by a small amount was not that important to him.

    Because deducing the operational principles of the Slyheart Bloodline was primarily rted to a person¡¯s consciousness, Su Chen focused most of his mental power on consciousness-type Origin Skills.

    The consciousness-type Origin Skills that Su Chen had learned were primarily separated into two halves.

    The Soul Eye and Soul-Fixation Technique were one half, while the other half was the bewitching techniques that Jin Ling¡¯er had taught him. Because of their pitiful usage conditions, however, there wasn¡¯t much point in considering them.

    The Soul Eye and Soul-Fixation technique were both rtively low-tier techniques. They were somewhat effective against opponents who were rtively low-tier, but they were not very useful against opponents with strong souls and high cultivation bases.

    Inparison, the Slyheart Demonic Emperor Bloodline was of a much higher tier.

    Because the Soul Eye and Soul-Fixation Technique were Improved Ancient Arcana Techniques, they primarily consisted of Origin Patterns supplemented with Origin Talismans, so Su Chen tried to incorporate the Origin Talismans that he had derived from the Slyheart Bloodline.

    This was originally just a simple test that Su Chen wanted to run, but he had actually seeded.

    He first used the Origin Energy Talisman Formation to calcte theposition of the Origin Talismanponent and then used Brooke¡¯s Form to rearrange the Origin Pattern. Finally, hebined the two using the new knowledge he had obtained from the Zhu n and tested out the technique on Zheng Bashan. Zheng Bashan, who was affected by Soul Sinking, was a great test target.

    In the end, he really hadpleted quite a unique Origin Skill.

    Unlike his previous consciousness-type Origin Skills, this new skill could not turn enemies into servants or fixate his opponent¡¯s soul. Su Chen¡¯s improved technique could not be used to control a person¡¯s heart, but it could cause his opponents to fall into a deep sleep.

    Although it sounded simr to the Soul Eye, the only difference was that it could be activated for a long time.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 109: Fata Morgana

    Chapter 109: Fata Morgana1

    ¡°Iron Cliff!¡±

    Iron Cliff was cultivating when Su Chen suddenly appeared, walking quickly towards him.

    ¡°Master.¡± Iron Cliff turned around to greet him.

    Just as Su Chen was about to say something, the Origin Energy Tower suddenly trembled as if something had mmed into it.

    Next, a loud, explosive yell sounded out. ¡°Su Chen, you bastard, you killed my n members and imprisoned my daughter. I¡¯vee to take your life!¡±

    Soon, the entire tower began to rumble again from the people outside who were attacking the Origin Energy Tower. In an instant, the external defenses of the Origin Energy Tower were shattered.

    Su Chen¡¯s expression drastically changed. He said, ¡°It¡¯s the Zhu n members; they¡¯ve found us. Let¡¯s get out of here!¡±

    As he spoke, he turned around and began to sprint towards the top of the tower with Iron Cliff following close behind.

    After reaching the top of the tower, they found an Origin Formation glowing above them. Iron Cliff knew that it was the Origin Tower¡¯s teleportation formation. By activating it, one could directly teleport thousands of kilometers away.

    Just as Su Chen and Iron Cliff were about to enter the formation, a person came flying towards them with a tragic cry. It was Shi Kaihuang. His entire body was covered in blood, and his chest had caved in. Evidently, he wasn¡¯t long for this world.

    When Su Chen saw this, he turned around to catch Shi Kaihaung, but a person charged forwards from beneath them and mmed their palm into Su Chen¡¯s body, causing blood to spurt forth from his body.

    Su Chen gritted his teeth and grabbed onto the person as he turned around and yelled, ¡°GO!¡±

    He raised his hand and sent Iron Cliff flying into the formation.

    ¡°Master!¡± Iron Cliff yelled.

    The formation shed with white light, sending Iron Cliff out of the Origin Energy Tower. When he reappeared, he was standing in a deste in.

    When Iron Cliff thought of how Su Chen and Shi Kaihuang had died, he felt his heart seize as he mountfully wailed. He felt that though the world was vast, he had no ce to go.

    While he was feeling perplexed at what to do, he suddenly saw a trading caravan headed in his direction. The person leading the caravan had arge beard. Upon seeing Iron Cliff and his powerful build, therge-bearded man asked him if he had any interest in joining the caravan as a guard.

    Iron Cliff was depressed, and there was nowhere for him to go. Thus, he nodded his head in agreement.

    After walking with the caravan for some time, they arrived at a desert and stopped to take a break.

    They had just begun to make food when a signaling horn sounded off in the distance, a cloud of dust beginning to rise on the horizon.

    Upon closer inspection, countless Ferocious Race soldiers were charging in their direction.

    ¡°This is behind the human race¡¯s front lines. How can there be Ferocious Race soldiers here?¡± The members of the caravan began to yell.

    Everyone began to howl in despair.

    As he gazed at the oing Ferocious Race army, a desire to do battle suddenly surged in Iron Cliff¡¯s heart.

    His master had died, so what point was there in living on his own?

    Since the enemies had invaded, he would oblige them in battle!

    He howled and charged forwards, mming his iron-like fists over and over into the enemy.

    He didn¡¯t know how long he fought for or how many soldiers he killed. Gradually, Iron Cliff began to feel the energy leaving his body.

    A Ferocious Race soldier¡¯s metal halberd pierced his chest. Iron Cliff finally toppled over.

    The moment he fell, he watched as countless Ferocious Race soldiers trampled over his body as they continued to charge forwards. His vision began to fill with blood......

    He closed his eyes.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°AH!¡±

    Iron Cliff trembled as his eyes snapped open. He found himself still within the Origin Energy Tower.

    Su Chen was standing in front of him with a slight smile.

    Iron Cliff instinctively nced at his surroundings.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to keep looking. It was just a dream. There was no caravan, no Ferocious Race army, and you are still alive,¡± Su Chenughed.

    ¡°A dream?¡± Iron Cliff said in a daze. ¡°What is going on? Master, I dreamed that you died?¡±

    ¡°I know. That was a Dreamrealm that I created. What do you think? Not bad, right? It seems like I was at least able to trick you,¡± Su Chenughed.

    Iron Cliff began to understand what had happened. ¡°Is this the new Origin Skill that you mastered?¡±

    ¡°Mhm. I call it Fata Morgana. Fata Morgana is purely an illusion technique. It¡¯s the result ofbining the principles of the Slyheart Bloodline, Soul Eye, Soul-Fixation Technique, and my understanding of Zheng Bashan¡¯s Soul Sinking condition. It causes people to fall into a world of dreams, unable to extricate themselves for some time. Do you know how long you were asleep for?¡±

    ¡°How long?¡±

    Su Chen extended his index finger. ¡°A stick of incense. The time it takes for exactly one stick of incense to burn.¡±

    Iron Cliff¡¯s jaw dropped.

    He had been dreaming for the time it took for one stick of incense to burn?

    ¡°How can it be so long? Master, doesn¡¯t this mean that your opponent will die more than a hundred times over if you use it in battle?¡± Iron Cliff grew excited.

    This Origin Skill was too powerful.

    ¡°No Origin Skill is invincible,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Although Fata Morganasts for a long time, it has its own limitations. First and foremost, it relies on constructing a world of dreams that the opponent cannot escape from by themselves. This implies that the target cannot be attacked while within the dream world. Otherwise, they will reawaken.¡±

    ¡°In other words, you only have one chance to attack?¡± Iron Cliff understood what he was implying.

    ¡°Correct.¡±

    ¡°But even so, this is already extremely impressive. If you can take advantage of the opportunity and use it well, you might be able to kill someone with a single blow. With enough people, you can even surround your opponent and attack simultaneously, turning one attack into many.¡± Although the Cliff Race was simple and honest, they weren¡¯tplete idiots. Iron Cliff hade up with a way to use Fata Morgana almost immediately.

    Su Chenughed, ¡°That¡¯s correct. Another point is that Fata Morgana¡¯s effective time period is not set. A stick of incense is just how long itsted for you. It might not be this long against other people.¡±

    ¡°Why is this?¡± Iron Cliff didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°Because I understand you,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Fata Morgana is mainlyprised of twoponents ¨C oneponent is the Origin Skill itself, while the otherponent is the need to construct apelling world. Fata Morgana has no way of altering the memories of your target. In other words, the target will keep their earlier memories once they enter the dream world. Just think, if your surroundings were to suddenly change like this......¡±

    Su Chen snapped his fingers. Iron Cliff¡¯s eyes blurred, and the images in front of him changed. Suddenly, he was no longer in the Origin Energy Tower.

    He was standing on a tall mountain. Not far away, Su Chen was standing underneath a tree with a smile on his face.

    Iron Cliff understood. ¡°You¡¯re using Fata Morgana on me again? I¡¯m in a dream world?¡±

    He raised his head and looked at the brilliant blue sky.

    ¡°How do I leave this ce?¡± Iron Cliff asked.

    Su Chen countered, ¡°How do you usually wake up?¡±

    Iron Cliff thought for a moment, concentrating. Then, he muttered, ¡°This is just a dream...... wake up for me!¡±

    As he spoke, he punched his fist into the sky.

    All of his willpower was concentrated into the punch. Iron Cliff¡¯s fist suddenly multiplied in size countless times as if he was trying to tear open the sky with that punch.

    Boom!

    With a loud explosion, the sky trembled.

    Arge hole had appeared in the sky.

    As the sky began to fragment, Iron Cliff felt as if he was being dragged into an invisible vortex.

    When he reopened his eyes, he was once again standing within the Origin Energy Tower. Su Chen, who was in front of him, let out a pained cry as blood spurted from his nose and mouth.

    Iron Cliff was stunned. ¡°Master!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. This is just the bacsh from the dream world being broken.¡± Su Chen waved Iron Cliff away. ¡°Now you know that this is what happens when you fail to deceive someone.¡±

    No Origin Skill was invincible!

    Even though Fata Morgana was very powerful, the prerequisite was that the dream world was able to trick the other party.

    If the deception failed, the dream world would shatter and result in a consciousness rebound.

    Consciousness rebounds could happen with varying degrees of severity. Rtively gentle ones would only result in a bout of dizziness; medium-intensity ones could result in a temporary loss of ability to activate any Origin Skills; severe-intensity rebounds could knock a person outpletely.

    Iron Cliff¡¯s method of breaking free had been barbaric, but Su Chen had only sustained rtively minor injuries because he had prepared for the rebound by ingesting a vial of Spirit Sobering Medicine.

    Fata Morgana had tricked Iron Cliff the first time because the illusion Su Chen had created agreed with Iron Cliff¡¯s understanding. The Zhu n¡¯s sudden appearance and attack were in agreement with Iron Cliff¡¯s existing memories, so it had seeded. Without this harmony, the result would only be like the second attempt. Forcing it on someone without the appropriate foundation would only cause the technique to be quickly discovered and then neutralized.

    Thus, Fata Morgana was like setting up a scam. Learning how to deceive an opponent would determine whether the technique was sessful or not.

    Although there was a risk that Fata Morgana would fail just like any scam, it had the benefit of ignoring someone¡¯s cultivation base and strength because of this.

    Fata Morgana didn¡¯t rely on the strength of the Origin Skill to forcefully overpower the opponent¡¯s consciousness. Rather, it relied on the art of deception to ensnare the opponent, making strengthpletely irrelevant. As long as the lie was woven well, even the strongest individual could fall prey to the technique.

    Of course, the more powerful a target was, the more sensitive their perception of Origin Energy and their surroundings was. Thus, the likelihood that they would be able to see through the deception was also much greater.

    If Su Chen had tried to use the same world on Shi Kaihuang, Shi Kaihuang would have told him that the dream world had not been constructed with enough attention to details and was clearly rough around the edges. For instance, the shaking of the Origin Energy Tower upon being struck was too uniform, the Origin Energy fluctuations from the attack were not equivalent to the force of the attack, the Ferocious Race army had not utilized enough tactics during the battle, etc. etc.

    Any one of these problems could be a factor in the dream world being seen through.

    But if he could fix these issues, then there would be a high likelihood that it would sessfully deceive Shi Kaihuang. Of course, this didn¡¯t imply that he would necessarily be able to kill these powerful opponents. After all, he only had only one opportunity even if he was able to trick them.

    But that is a digression. No matter what, even with its significant limitations, Fata Morgana was an incredibly valuable Origin Skill.

    1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fata_Morgana_(mirage). The Chinese term is typically used to denote an illusion caused by the strange refraction of light, so I used this term rather than ¡°mirage¡± since it sounds cooler.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 110: Women Are Hard To Understand

    Chapter 110: Women Are Hard To Understand

    After understanding the peculiarities of Fata Morgana, Iron Cliff couldn¡¯t help but sigh in praise, ¡°This technique surpasses themon category. It should be considered an extraordinary-tier Origin Skill, right?¡±

    Origin Skills were usually split into four tiers:mon, extraordinary, legendary, and nightmare.

    At the Blood Boiling Realm and below, most cultivators usedmon Origin Skills. An Origin Skill like Fata Morgana could be considered extraordinary in its own right.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I have no idea. After all, this technique is still new and hasn¡¯t been ranked yet. However, I don¡¯t really see much point in ranking Origin Skills from high to low anyways. After all, the same Origin Skill can have drastically different effects depending on the user. For instance, I have learned the Horizontal Mountain Zhu n¡¯s Heavenly Wolf Finger. It was unbelievably powerful when Uncle Eleven used it, but it¡¯s not even as good as my Erupting Firehawk when I use it.¡±

    Su Chen had truly mastered the cultivation technique behind Heavenly Wolf Finger, but the legendary-tier Origin Skill from the Slyheart Demonic Emperor Zhu n was extremely ineffective when Su Chen used it. It took most of the energy in his body for him tounch the finger strike, which was only marginally more powerful than the Erupting Firehawk. Originally, Su Chen had hoped that he could increase his efficiency once he was able to reach a breakthrough in his understanding of the bloodline. However, the breakthrough he had made didn¡¯t strengthen his consciousness or improve the Heavenly Wolf Finger at all, forcing him to give up on the technique.

    ¡°Then...... Master, will you be selling it in the Dreamrealm?¡± Iron Cliff asked.

    His tone carried a bit of worry.

    Su Chenughed, ¡°Are you worried for me? Don¡¯t worry, I will not sell this technique no matter what.¡±

    Fata Morgana was going to be Su Chen¡¯s assassination card. He would not sell it no matter what.

    He also had nock of money.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t even told Wang Doushan about it yet. The only people who knew about Su Chen¡¯s mastery of Fata Morgana apart from Iron Cliff were Shi Kaihuang, Cloud Leopard, and Zhu Xianyao.

    The only reason thetter knew was because Su Chen reckoned that her memories were going to be wiped one way or another, so there was no danger in her knowing.

    Because of this, Zhu Xianyao became the person who knew the most about Su Chen¡¯s secrets.

    She was the person who was stunned the most by Su Chen.

    At first, Zhu Xianyao thought that Su Chen was just a wily guy who had gotten lucky and had delusionally tried to milk everything he could out of Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven, which was built on the work of Shi Kaihuang. Later, she felt that Su Chen was a schemer, using the Zhu n to root out his enemies and then harming the Zhu n afterwards. Eventer, she felt that Su Chen was someone who lived in a fantasy world vainly attempting to break through the bloodline restrictions.

    But the sess of Fata Morgana had rocked Zhu Xianyao¡¯s world, more so than any consciousness-type Origin Skill could possibly do.

    Her view of Su Chen hadpletely changed.

    She had not expected it to be possible for anyone to reach the point of being able to extract the intricacies and power of a Bloodline Nobility n and then use it on amoner so that someone without a bloodline could also use a powerful Origin Skill.

    She personally saw how Su Chen eagerly studied every piece of knowledge the Zhu n possessed. She watched as he threw everything into researching these bloodlines as if he were burning money; watched as he failed time and time again yet never threw in the towel. She also witnessed how he had seeded.

    In that moment, a thought surfaced in Zhu Xianyao¡¯s head for the first time: Perhaps he really can create a technique that doesn¡¯t require a bloodline to reach the Yang Opening, Light Shaking, Spirit Burning, Thought Materializing, or even Emperor cultivation realms.

    Talented men always attracted the attention of women.

    Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t notice the hatred she had for him slowly disappearing even though her view of Su Chen was beginning to change.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°Is this what you mean by Soul Frequency? When two people are attuned to the same Soul Frequency, their thoughts will be linked, and they will appear in a dream world. Interesting. So if that¡¯s the case, then wasn¡¯t the Dreamrealm constructed based on the same principles?¡±

    Su Chen and Zhu Xianyao were out on one of their walks along the river in the Hidden Dragon Institute discussing consciousness-rted knowledge.

    Zhu Xianyao shook her head. ¡°The Dreamrealm is actually a space that physically exists, but it is still considered to be an Illusion Realm. It exists in between the physical world and the void, and it is an existence that we have no way of understanding. It is like a void to our corporeal bodies, while it is real to our consciousnesses. The Lord of the Dreamrealm isn¡¯t actually the creator of this space; he is just the person who manages it. But that person is extremely powerful. Supposedly, his vitality has been connected with the Dreamrealm already. As long as the space is not destroyed, the Lord of the Dreamrealm cannot die.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. Then if Fata Morgana were to expand and connect the dream worlds of multiple individuals, would I be able to mimic the conditions within the Dreamrealm?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Zhu Xianyao was speechless. ¡°Expanding Fata Morgana so it bes like the Dreamrealm? You really are a dreamer.¡±

    Su Chen said indifferently, ¡°I just think that the dream world will seem more realistic and be more powerful under those circumstances. I don¡¯t need to reach that kind of level per se, but at the very least it is a possible direction that I can take Fata Morgana in.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think that¡¯s too big of a leap?¡± Zhu Xianyao was slightly caught off-guard by Su Chen¡¯s train of thought. After all, he had just finished Fata Morgana, yet he was already thinking about where to take it next.

    ¡°Is it? I think that it doesn¡¯t count for much whenpared to bloodline-less cultivation techniques for all seven cultivations realms. Besides, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. It¡¯s because the goal is so far away that I need to get going a little faster,¡± Su Chen sighed, his expression one of ¡°time waits for no man¡±.

    His words weren¡¯t particrly grand or visionary, but Zhu Xianyao was still struck by his words.

    She stopped walking and gazed at Su Chen, herrge eyes shining. It was unknown what she was thinking.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Su Chen stopped and asked upon seeing Zhu Xianyao¡¯s strange expression.

    Zhu Xianyao thought for a moment before she asked, ¡°Su Chen, I will be leaving in a month. Will you wipe all of my memories from this period of time then?¡±

    Su Chen nodded in confirmation.

    He had already learned the Sorrow-Erasing Baptism. Although its level was a bit lower because he didn¡¯t have the bloodline, there wouldn¡¯t be any issues as long as the other party cooperated.

    ¡°Could you make some changes to the ending we agreed on?¡±

    ¡°How do you want to change it?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao tilted her head in thought before replying, ¡°The original n was to have Madame Yue and me together...... I want you to change it to yourself.¡±

    ¡°Me? Why do you want it that way?¡± Su Chen was shocked.

    He was only wiping Zhu Xianyao¡¯s memories and recing them with a lie in order to extricate himself from the Zhu n¡¯s conflict.

    Thus, if he were the one that Zhu Xianyao remembered, it wouldn¡¯t bring him any benefits. All it would do was reestablish the connection between himself and Zhu Xianyao.

    Zhu Xianyao lowered her head. ¡°I just wanted to ask if you could.¡±

    Su Chen hemmed and hawed, thinking of a proper response, ¡°That....... that might not be very appropriate.¡±

    A wave of sorrow surged into Zhu Xianyao¡¯s heart. The little Miss¡¯s temper red as she said, ¡°Fine, then don¡¯t change it.¡±

    She turned around and stalked off.

    Su Chen was thrown for a loop by her sudden tantrum. He couldn¡¯t understand what had caused her sudden outburst. He muttered to himself, ¡°Women...... are hard to understand.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 111: Forgotten

    Chapter 111: Forgotten

    Time flew by.

    In the blink of an eye, another month had gone by.

    Finally, the time hade for the hostage to be released.

    Zhu Xianyao was wearing the long purple dress that she wore when she first met Su Chen. She sat in front of the dressing table, dressing herself.

    She brushed her hair with a jadeb, her hair fluttering like the leaves of a willow tree. Yet, she could not ignore nor calm the stirring within her heart.

    She suddenly ced theb down and said, ¡°Can you help me change my bun?¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± Su Chen, who was standing behind Zhu Xianyao, was startled.

    Zhu Xianyaoughed. ¡°Is there someone else here?¡±

    A troubled expression appeared on Su Chen¡¯s face. ¡°I don¡¯t know how.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll teach you.¡±

    After hesitating for a moment, Su Chen walked over and began to redo Zhu Xianyao¡¯s hair.

    Because he had never done it before, his movements were clumsy.

    Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t be frustrated as she gently guided his movements.

    After redoing it multiple times, Su Chen finally helped Zhu Xianyao redo her bun.

    Staring in the mirror, he said, ¡°It¡¯s a bit tilted.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± Zhu Xianyaoughed. ¡°This is nice.¡±

    Then, she asked in a lower voice, ¡°We won¡¯t meet again after today, right?¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s heart trembled slightly. He replied softly, ¡°Yes.¡±

    After getting to know each other over the nearly three months, the conflict between the two of them had begun to disappear, and Su Chen also began to have a favorable impression of Zhu Xianyao.

    Even so, there was no way of changing the events that had already happened, and the people who had died could note back to life. Beneath the gentleness was still that tragic reality, and their enmity simply could not be ignored.

    Thus, even though his heart was weak, he had to cover it with ayer of stone.

    As she spoke, she gazed into Su Chen¡¯s eyes and then suddenly stepped forwards.

    She pressed forwards firmly and kissed him.

    As their lips pressed against each other, Su Chen could sense the intense feelings of love that came from Zhu Xianyao.

    After a long time, they parted.

    She gazed at Su Chen and said, ¡°Su Chen, I......¡±

    Bang!

    Su Chen ced his palm on Zhu Xianyao¡¯s head.

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s words were cut off by his sudden palm strike. She stared at Su Chen in shock before her body slowly began to sag.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I know what you want to say...... but it cannot be,¡± Su Chen said.

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s lips trembled.

    Darkness began to swallow her.

    The Sorrow-Erasing Baptism began!

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    She opened her eyes.

    Zhu Xianyao found herself lying on arge wooden bed. A woman dressed in a white gown with an exquisite appearance was staring at her.

    ¡°You¡¯re awake?¡± The white-clothed maiden said, her voice sounding as if it were very far away.

    ¡°I...... where am I?¡± Zhu Xianyao sat up, cradling her head in her hands.

    The white-clothed maiden helped her up. ¡°You are in my residence at the Hidden Dragon Institute. Don¡¯t worry, everything is done now.¡±

    ¡°Everything?¡± Zhu Xianyao stared nkly at her. ¡°Who are you? What do you mean by everything?¡±

    ¡°What, you don¡¯t remember?¡± The white-clothed maiden gently smiled. ¡°I¡¯m Yue Longsha.¡±

    ¡°Yue Longsha?¡± Zhu Xianyao rubbed her head and thought for a moment before shaking it. ¡°I don¡¯t remember. Why can¡¯t I remember anything? I just remember I came to......¡±

    She thought for a while before something came to her. She lifted her head and said, ¡°Su Chen! Yes, I came looking for Su Chen!¡±

    ¡°To try and convince him not to sell Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven?¡± Yue Longsha continued.

    ¡°How did you know?¡± Zhu Xianyao¡¯s expression changed.

    ¡°You told me, remember?¡± Yue Longshaughed.

    ¡°This cannot be possible!¡± Zhu Xianyao began to tense up. ¡°I don¡¯t recognize you at all, and I wouldn¡¯t tell this kind of thing to someone else! Uncle Eleven, Uncle Eleven!¡±

    Yue Longsha sighed. ¡°It looks like you have injury-induced amnesia. Your mission failed. Su Chen had already distributed Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven long before you got here. Although you tried to stop its spread in Red Pinewood Forest, you were still a step too slow.¡±

    As Yue Longsha spoke, she pulled out an Imaging Disk.

    She opened the Imaging Disk, and Zhu Xianyao saw the battle that had urred.

    She watched as her n members all died one by one, watched as Ma Renze appeared, and watched as Uncle Eleven was forced by Ma Renze to unleash his power indiscriminately.

    The rey suddenly cut off. Even though she didn¡¯t see Uncle Eleven fall over, Zhu Xianyao still realized something.

    She trembled and painfully moaned. ¡°Uncle Eleven......¡±

    Then, she stared at Yue Longsha. ¡°Why do you have this Imaging Disk?¡±

    Yue Longsha gently brushed aside a strand of hair across her face. ¡°Exining things to someone who has lost their memories is prettyplicated. I told you already that my name is Yue Longsha, and I am Yue Wuti¡¯s daughter. The person who killed Uncle Eleven is called Ma Renze, and he is also one of the assassins that murdered my father. On that day, I followed him to try and find an opportunity to enact revenge, but I unexpectedly stumbled upon that battle and recorded it. You sent one copy back to your own n, and this is the other one that was prepared. Uncle Eleven gravely injured Ma Renze before dying, giving me an opportunity......¡±

    She pressed the Imaging Disk and another image appeared on it. It was an image of Yue Longsha beheading Ma Renze.

    ¡°This Imaging Disk isn¡¯tplete!¡± Zhu Xianyao realized something.

    ¡°Ma Renze was still a Light Shaking Realm expert, and he wasn¡¯t easy to kill even though he was seriously injured. I don¡¯t want others to see the trump cards that I used to kill him, so I took some time to fudge it a little,¡± Yue Longsha indifferently replied.

    Zhu Xianyao lifted her head and gazed at Yue Longsha. ¡°Then what happened afterwards?¡±

    ¡°Afterwards, we got to know each other and became friends,¡± Yue Longshaughed. ¡°Because we both had enmity with the Immortal Temple, we decided to ally against them. Not long after, you and I went to crash one of the Immortal Temple¡¯s secret meetings, but you were injured in the battle. You don¡¯t remember any of this?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao held her head in her hands. ¡°I can¡¯t remember anything.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, this is probably just the repercussions of the injury. Everything will be fine soon,¡± Yue Longshaforted her.

    As they slowly talked, Zhu Xianyao began to absorb the information that Su Chen had prepared. She learned that her mission had failed and that her fellow n members had died. Zhu Xianyao became depressed and listless.

    Yue Longsha fed her a bowl of porridge and helped her go to bed before leaving.

    Su Chen stood outside the door.

    ¡°What do you think?¡± Yue Longsha asked.

    ¡°She wasn¡¯t lying,¡± Su Chen replied.

    To make sure that nothing went wrong, Su Chen had been observing with his Lie Detection Origin Skill while Yue Longsha had been tricking Zhu Xianyao.

    The test verified that she had truly lost her memories.

    Su Chen¡¯s n had seeded. From this day onwards, the Zhu n¡¯s attention wouldn¡¯t be on Su Chen anymore; rather, their attention would bepletely centered on the Immortal Temple.

    Three dayster, Zhu Xianyao¡¯s body hadpletely recovered.

    On that day, Zhu Xianyao officially said her farewells to Yue Longsha and returned to the Zhu n.

    On that day, Yue Longsha and Zhu Xianyao reluctantly parted.

    Zhu Xianyao grabbed Yue Longsha¡¯s hands and said quite a few things before unwillingly leaving.

    As she gazed at Zhu Xianyao¡¯s departing figure, Yue Longsha sighed silently before shaking her head and returning to the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    Thus, she did not see Zhu Xianyao¡¯s figure reappear not long after she left.

    Zhu Xianyao gazed at Yue Longsha expressionlessly before turning around and walking off to the side.

    After arriving at a small tea shop near the road, Zhu Xianyao sat down. ¡°Shopkeep!¡±

    ¡°Coming! What would you like today, guest?¡± A shriveled old man with a hunched back walked towards her.

    After drawing near to Zhu Xianyao, he said in a low voice, ¡°Greetings, Miss. You¡¯re finally here.¡±

    ¡°How long has it been before I ¡®finally¡¯ came?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked in a low voice.

    ¡°Three months,¡± the old man replied in a low voice.

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s eyes shed. ¡°Three months? Are you saying that I never tried to contact you during these three months?¡±

    ¡°Never!¡±

    ¡°Do you know about what happened during the Red Pinewood Forest Battle?¡±

    ¡°This little one was still undercover in the Hidden Dragon Institute and did not participate. I do not know what happened there.¡±

    ¡°Then what about me? Do you know what has been happening to me for the past three months?¡±

    ¡°I know a bit.¡± The old man raised his head and stared at Zhu Xianyao as he said, ¡°You have been in the Hidden Dragon Institute for the past three months.¡±

    ¡°Since you know that I¡¯ve been here the entire time, why didn¡¯t youe looking for me?¡±

    ¡°I did try to meet youtoe looking for you, but Miss never paid me any mind, so I didn¡¯t dare blow my cover.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s expression sank even further.

    ¡°I paid you no mind...... what was I doing then?¡±

    ¡°Every day at dusk you would go out for a stroll near the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s river.¡±

    ¡°Stroll? With who? Was it Yue Longsha?¡±

    ¡°Su Chen.¡±

    Bang!

    The cup in Zhu Xianyao¡¯s hand shattered.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 112: Distribution

    Chapter 112: Distribution

    One season followed another, and half a year had gone by in the blink of an eye.

    After sending Zhu Xianyao away, everything returned to normal.

    Su Chenpletely immersed himself into his research.

    Even though he no longer had the Zhu n¡¯s bloodline, he still had the Zhang n¡¯s, the Hong n¡¯s, the Zhong n¡¯s, the Zheng n¡¯s, and a multitude of other bloodlines he could research.

    To Su Chen, the battle at Red Pinewood Forest was like a giant treasure chest. It had given Su Chen too many Origin Skills, too much knowledge, too many cultivation resources. When considering the massive wealth that Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven had pulled in, he now had the freedom to research as he pleased.

    With money, his research progressed rapidly, as did his results.

    In just half a year, Su Chen already began to reap a ton of benefits.

    Today, Su Chen called Wang Doushan, Du Qing, Sun Jizu, and Jin Ling¡¯er over to his Origin Energy Tower.

    ¡°Oh, everyone¡¯s here?¡± Wang Doushan was always thest one to arrive.

    His fat body shook withughter upon seeing the group of people already gathered in front of him.

    His harmless appearance and sillyughter gave people the impression that he was just an airhead, but only in true battle would people discover his shrewd, vicious side.

    ¡°Su Chen called us here for some reason without telling us why,¡± Sun Jizu said.

    This was the first time that Team Bright had gotten back together ever since Zhang Sheng¡¯an¡¯s death.

    ¡°Anyone want to make a wager with me? I think it¡¯ll be good news,¡± Du Qingughed.

    ¡°What good news? The Six Great ns gave up on the investigation?¡± Sun Jizu asked. He did not know that the people from the Six Great ns had already been wiped out, so he had lived in a constant state of unease for the past half a year.

    But ever since that investigation, the Six Great ns had seemingly fallen silent, and he had gradually begun to rx.

    Su Chen¡¯s sudden meeting caused his originally calm state of mind to suddenly be agitated again.

    ¡°Hey, this matter should have been settled a long time ago. Do you really need to be so cautious about everything?¡± Wang Doushan said impatiently.

    ¡°I¡¯m just worried is all,¡± Sun Jizu mumbled to himself.

    Jim Ling¡¯er sighed, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Su Chen should have already taken care of the Six Great ns. He didn¡¯t call us here about that.¡±

    ¡°How do you know?¡± Du Qing asked.

    Jin Ling¡¯er didn¡¯t say anything, and Wang Doushan seemed to be thinking about something.

    Thankfully, Su Chen didn¡¯t make them wait for too long and quickly emerged from his research room.

    He smiled at everyone. ¡°Oh, you guys are all here already! Sorry for making you wait.¡±

    Jin Ling¡¯er hugged her shoulders as she replied, ¡°As long as it¡¯s not bad news, we don¡¯t mind having to wait for a bit.¡±

    Su Chen was startled for a moment before he realized what was happening. ¡°Did you think that I had called you all together for that matter?¡±

    The others all nced at each other.

    Su Chenughed bitterly, ¡°Sorry for scaring you. It has nothing to do with the Six Great ns. Don¡¯t worry about them; they¡¯ve already been taken care of and won¡¯t bother us in the future. I called you all here to share some good news.¡±

    ¡°What good news?¡± everyone asked simultaneously.

    ¡°The end-of-yearpetition will be happening two months from now. I assume you will all be attending?¡±

    Everyone nodded.

    ¡°I¡¯d imagine that your rankings won¡¯t be too high,¡± Su Chen added.

    Everyone began tough loudly.

    Of the people gathered here, not many of them had good rankings.

    Du Qing and Sun Jizu weren¡¯t worth mentioning. They were allmoners without a bloodline, and their level of strength was among the weakest within the Hidden Dragon Institute

    Jin Ling¡¯er was still unsuited for battles on a stage, so there was no point mentioning her either.

    Cloud Leopard was indeed very powerful if he was involved in a life-or-death battle within a forest. However, he was not as skilled at battling on a stage. To him, battles that were not fought to the death were pointless.

    Wang Doushan was still the top performer. He reliably entered the Dragon Transformation List¡¯s top 100 every year, and the only reason he hadn¡¯t gone further was because he never used his Origin Tool on stage to preserve its secrecy. Otherwise, he probably could have reached even higher standings.

    Nobody understood what Su Chen was getting at by bringing this up now.

    Su Chen walked to a cab in the corner of the room and pulled out a few jade slips from it. ¡°Recently, I¡¯ve been doing some research. I trust that these will be helpful to you. Hopefully, your strength will increase, and you can make some more headway in the rankings.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Upon hearing this, everyone¡¯s interest was piqued.

    ¡°There¡¯s no hurry. Let¡¯s do it one at a time,¡± Su Chenughed.

    He pulled out a jade slip. ¡°Du Qing, this is for you.¡±

    Du Qing grabbed it and nced it over. She muttered without thinking, ¡°Soaring Eagle Weightlessness?¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°Your Separation Sword Technique is extremely agile. Fluidity suits yourbat style, but youck a good body technique and cannot support too much strength. Soaring Eagle Weightlessness can greatly increase your speed; when paired with your Separation Sword Technique, it should be especially effective.¡±

    Du Qing was overjoyed. ¡°Thank you, Su Chen!¡±

    Du Qing trulycked a good body technique because they were extremely difficult to obtain. The ones she could find were all very expensive, and they often did not suit her.

    Soaring Eagle Weightlessness came from the Guan n. Su Chen had made a few breakthroughs in his understanding of the Guan n¡¯s Origin Energy principles after analyzing Third Mother Guan¡¯s Origin Substance, which he had used to develop this body technique. Although it wouldn¡¯t grant the user flight like the Guan n¡¯s technique could, it was more than enough for raising speed and gliding through the air.

    Next, Su Chen gave Sun Jizu a jade slip. ¡°This is yours.¡±

    Sun Jizu said aloud, ¡°Unyielding Waves?¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°This is a heart technique that helps you control the movement of Origin Energy within your body. Its unique ability is to turn your Origin Energy into waves of force that constantly rush forwards. Your Earth-Cracking Hoops can continue to attack in midair, but your followup iscking, and your control over them iscking. It is difficult to maintain and youck killing power. This Unyielding Waves can make up for your deficiencies and make you much more ferocious when attacking.¡±

    ¡°Great!¡± Sun Jizu said with excitement!¡±

    With this new heart technique, his Earth-Cracking Hoops would at least double in power if not more.

    At this point, everyone had already realized what Su Chen had called them here for. They began to grow excited..

    Jin Ling¡¯er bounced with excitement as she said, ¡°What about me? What do I get?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°You excel in control, not in direct battle. If I gave you an offensive technique, it wouldn¡¯t be as useful to you. It would at most allow you to perform better on the stage, but it won¡¯t be very helpful in a real battle. Thus, I felt that an escape-type Origin Skill would be more valuable for you. Escape-type Origin Skills won¡¯t increase your strength much, but at the very least you will be able to use them whether you are on stage or in a real battle.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he handed Jin Ling¡¯er a jade slip.

    Jin Ling¡¯er took one nce at it and yelled, ¡°Golden Cicada Shedding!?¡±

    This was the Golden Cicada n¡¯s Absolute Technique.

    When everyone heard what Jin Ling¡¯er said, they all suddenly realized something. Weren¡¯t Soaring Eagle Weightlessness, Unyielding Waves, and Golden Cicada Shedding the Guan, Jiang, and Hong ns¡¯ Absolute Techniques?

    Su Chen¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I made some changes to this skill. You won¡¯t need to lose your clothes to use this Origin Skill, but the escape distance is a bit shorter. However, if you¡¯re controlling someone, that fact might be beneficial to you, and it will also be useful on stage. If we just change the name, I promise no one will be able to recognize that it¡¯s Golden Cicada Shedding.

    ¡°You know that¡¯s not what I¡¯m asking about,¡± Jin Ling¡¯er said quietly.

    ¡°That¡¯s all that you need to know.¡±

    ¡°Then what about me? What are you going to give me?¡± Wang Doushan asked. ¡°Jade Luster Body? Or Blood Clones?¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°Jade Luster Body is more suited for Cloud Leopard, so I gave it to him.¡±

    The Jade Luster Body granted a person an incredible rate of recovery and the ability to absorb life force from nearby vegetation. Cloud Leopard went all-out in every battle and often battled in the forest, so this technique truly suited him.

    ¡°As for Blood Clone, although it allows you to create avatars of yourself, it weakens your true form, so it isn¡¯t actually suited for you either. I helped find another more suitable technique for you,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Wang Doushan¡¯s eyes lit up.

    ¡°Devouring the Heavens,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Devouring the Heavens was the technique Zheng Bashan had used to convert herrge fat reserves into life force.

    This technique was not a Bloodline Origin Skill but rather a bloodline-less Origin Skill that Zheng Bashan had obtained from elsewhere by chance. Despite the fact that it required no bloodline, it was still extremely powerful ¨C there were people other than Su Chen who could develop powerful, bloodline-less techniques. However, most of them kept it selfishly for themselves.

    After learning of Devouring the Heavens¡¯ power, Wang Doushan also became interested. In terms of actual results, this was the most powerful Origin Skill Su Chen had given yet.

    ¡°This Origin Skill only has one w,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    Su Chen sighed, ¡°If you learn this technique, you¡¯ll have to give up on ever wanting to be skinny.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 113: Flying Leap

    Chapter 113: Flying Leap

    When faced with a decision between strength and appearance, Wang Doushan still chose strength in the end.

    It was probably more urate to say that he had already made that decision ten or so years ago when he wasn¡¯t a fatty yet. Now, he was just continuing down that path.

    There were still two months before the end-of-yearpetition, which was more than enough time for everyone to be familiar with their new Origin Skills.

    They all felt extremely grateful.

    Just giving someone an Origin Skill was simply a matter of money.

    Constructing an Origin Skill that takes into consideration the person¡¯s individual characteristics was something that took a lot more effort.

    Evidently, Su Chen had been preparing these for quite some time. The effort he had put in the Origin Skills was quite obvious, and there was no way for them to have been an on-the-spot impulse.

    Wang Doushan put his arm around Su Chen and said, ¡°With Devouring the Heavens, I will definitely achieve a much better result at the end-of-yearpetition.¡±

    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m not giving this Origin Skill to you for free. Since you¡¯ve benefited, it¡¯s time for you to do some things for me,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°What do you want?¡±

    Su Chen tossed him a small vial. ¡°During the arena battles, blood will inevitably flow. If you have an opportunity, try to help me gather some blood from Bloodline Nobility n members.¡±

    ¡°Why do you want blood from Bloodline Nobility n members so much?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Every bloodline has its own unique characteristics. I don¡¯t know which ones will be useful and which ones won¡¯t, but the more I have, the wider I can cast my. Who knows, I might end up with some unexpected surprises.¡±

    Upon hearing this, everyone¡¯s interest was piqued.

    ¡°I will!¡± Jin Ling¡¯er was the first to agree.

    ¡°I will too!¡± Du Qing yelled loudly.

    ¡°Me too!¡± Sun Jizu said.

    Everyone leapt at the chance to agree.

    They were very clear about one thing: helping Su Chen was the same as helping themselves.

    After sending away Wang Doushan and the others, Su Chen paid Yue Longsha a visit.

    He got straight to the point. ¡°The Yue n are experts in battling under moonlight. However, all the arena battles are in broad daylight, so your performance on stage has always been a bitckluster, right?¡±

    Yue Longsha replied, ¡°So what?¡±

    Su Chen pulled out two jade slips. ¡°This is the Bloodriver Zhong n¡¯s Blood Clones. It is not as powerful as the Zhong n¡¯s copy, but it requires less blood to make a single Blood Clone and has less of an effect on the true body. The clones don¡¯t have much offensive power, but you can still switch between the clones as you please. It is effective within a distance of 200 feet, and can serve as a supplement to your inability to conceal yourself in broad daylight. The other jade slip is my Clear Wind Net. You¡¯ve experienced it yourself and probably don¡¯t need me to exin much more. Based on your speed and adaptability, it should be even more useful in your hands. If you infuse your bloodline into it and supplement it with moonlight, perhaps it will be even more powerful, but that will depend on your own effort.¡±

    Yue Longsha crossed her arms. ¡°What does this mean?¡±

    ¡°Just friends helping friends. Since I have these skills but don¡¯t have the energy to learn them one by one, it¡¯s better for me to give them to my friends.¡±

    ¡°Friends?¡± Yue Longsha seemed to mull over the word.

    ¡°Yes, friends,¡± Su Chen replied.

    A trace of a smile appeared on Yue Longsha¡¯s face. ¡°Fine, if that¡¯s the case, then I won¡¯t be polite about it.¡±

    She stowed the jade slip away.

    No thanks, no wordiness ¨C Yue Longsha¡¯s attitude was extremely direct and efficient.

    After taking care of this matter, Su Chen returned to the tower and found Iron Cliff still there cultivating.

    Everyone now had an Origin Skill from Su Chen, and naturally Iron Cliff was not excluded. In fact, he had even more to learn.

    Apart from the Adamantine Battle Body, Su Chen also gave him Stalwart Mountain and Devouring the Heavens. Devouring the Heavens was a practical skill that could be considered an extraordinary-tier Origin Skill, and its only drawback was that the user¡¯srge body size made it too obvious. However, Iron Cliff was already brawny in the first ce, and it wouldn¡¯t be very noticeable even if he were to grow fatter. In addition, the bigger he was, the better of a meat shield he would be. Stalwart Mountain was an Origin Skill that could raise the user¡¯s strength, and was a body-tempering technique owned by the Sword Rhinoceros Zheng n.

    With the Adamantine Body raising his defensive capabilities, the Stalwart Mountain raising his strength, and Devouring the Heavens raising his recovery abilities, Iron Cliff was slowly but surely progressing to the role of a meat shield.

    As for Su Chen, he naturally had selected a few of the Origin Skills for himself......

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Two months went by in a sh.

    In the blink of an eye, it was suddenly time for the end-of-yearpetition.

    With the Origin Skills that Su Chen had given them, Jin Ling¡¯er and the others had grown much stronger, and they were able to obtain quite impressive results during the end-of-yearpetition.

    Wang Doushan had only reached 92nd ce on the Dragon Transformation Listst time. However, he had managed to get 80th ce this time, 12 spots above his previous result.

    Cloud Leopard always ranked around 150th or so. This time, he reached 130th. His improvement had been limited primarily because the Jade Luster Body was most effective when in a forest. It was not as effective up on a stage.

    Apart from her first end-of-yearpetition when she broke through in the top two hundred, Jin Ling¡¯er hadn¡¯t even entered the Dragon Transformation List in the other three years. But this time, she once again pushed her way into the Dragon Transformation List, reaching a rank of around 186.

    As for Sun Jizu and Du Qing, they were still unable to enter the Dragon Transformation List; they were eliminated in the second round of battle. Even so, they had still made some progress, since in the past they had been eliminated in the first round.

    Yue Longsha had the highest ranking of 36th.

    Everyone¡¯s rankings had improved somewhat, but this was only the beginning.

    From that day onwards, Su Chen began to furiously research various bloodlines. Every time he had a breakthrough, he would distribute anything he didn¡¯t need to his friends. Of course, he also kept a few for himself.

    Research exhausted a lot of resources. Even though he had forty million Origin Stones, that was still not enough for Su Chen.

    Even Shi Kaihuang began loosening his pockets when researching. The end result was that they spent money faster and faster, and their sesses gradually began to umte.

    In the sixth year¡¯s end-of-yearpetition, everyone once again improved.

    Wang Doushan moved up the list by leaps and bounds, jumping from 80th ce to 36th in an instant.

    His weight also began to increase by leaps and bounds.

    Cloud Leopard reached 95th ce, and Jin Ling¡¯er reached 154th. In terms of strength, they were not weaker than Wang Doushan, but they were still not as proficient at doing battle on a stage, so the magnitude of their improvement seemed much smaller as a result.

    Sun Jizu and Du Qing were eliminated in the third round.

    Yue Longsha improved again and reached 24th ce.

    Ji Hanyan had been kept at 4th ce for many years now. She continued to strive to break into the top three, but she was never able to breach that high wall.

    In the seventh year, Wang Doushan was 18th ce, Cloud Leopard was 66th, Jin Ling¡¯er was 125th, Sun Jizu and Du Qing reached the fourth round, and Yue Longsha was 12th.

    In the eighth year, Wang Doushan was 7th, surpassing Yue Longsha who was relegated to 8th. His Devouring the Heavens had be incredibly potent. Even if he just stood there and let others beat him up, many people simply weren¡¯t able to kill him. He was known as the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s unkible person.

    Cloud Leopard was 41st, and Jin Ling¡¯er was 98th.

    Ji Hanyan was fifth.

    Her ranking had gone down rather than up. Based on her temperament, she was probably going mad with rage.

    The person who had pushed her back was Gu Qingluo.

    Gu Qingluo, who had always kept a low profile, suddenly shot upwards this year, defeating Ji Hanyan and taking fourth ce for herself.

    This year was also the year that Sun Jizu and Du Qing charged into the Dragon Transformation List for the first time, bing two stars of the students without bloodlines.

    This year was the ninth year.

    Another end-of-yearpetition was just around the corner.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 114: Golden Scripture Ar

    Chapter 114: Golden Scripture Art

    In the blink of an eye, five years had passed. Su Chen now looked much more mature than before.

    The youth who had once been filled with vigor had be a full-fledged adult. A mustache was beginning to sprout, and his gaze seemed much more tranquil and deep.

    Today, Su Chen was conconcoting a batch of Spirit Sobering Medicine.

    After Ma Renze died, the Immortal Temple knew that there wasn¡¯t much point in pushing Su Chen. Finally, they drafted up a new agreement with Su Chen: As long as he hadn¡¯t reached the Distinguished level in alchemy yet, he only needed to hand over two hundred vials of medicine.

    This request was not extravagant in the slightest, so Su Chen had agreed. Following their agreement, Su Chen sent them two hundred vials of Spirit Sobering Medicine every year, and by now he had paid of a thousand vials worth of debt. Su Chen¡¯s sess rate was already much higher than anyone else¡¯s, but the lower his costs the better. Today, even though Su Chen hadn¡¯t reached the Distinguished level yet, he was already much more proficient at concocting the Spirit Sobering Medicine than even many Distinguished alchemists were.

    At this moment, Su Chen had reached a critical point in concocting Spirit Sobering Medicine. Suddenly, however, someone knocked on his door.

    Su Chen inadvertently infused too much Origin Energy into the concoction due to the disturbance, and the vial of medicine he was holding began to smoke.

    ¡°Dammit!¡± Su Chen cursed. He quickly tossed the vial of medicine into a nearby container he had prepared earlier. mes erupted from his palm and mmed into the vial, the Fireball Technique obliterating the vial of medicine. After all, Corpse Spirit Flowers were the base ingredient for Spirit Sobering Medicine. Any failed products would immediately begin to release poisonous substances into the air.

    After incinerating thest remaining bit, Su Chen opened the door and said unhappily, ¡°Didn¡¯t I say not to disturb me while I am concocting medicine?¡±

    The person knocking was Iron Cliff. ¡°Instructor is looking for you.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s temper dissipated when he learned that Shi Kaihuang had summoned him, and he quickly headed for the hall where the Origin Talisman Energy Formation was.

    Upon arriving, he found Shi Kaihuang sitting within the formation, stars shining around him as they intertwined to form countlessplex pictures.

    On the ground were drawn many Origin Patterns.

    Ever since Su Chen gave Shi Kaihuang Brooke¡¯s Form, Shi Kaihuang began analyzing Origin Patterns as well.

    ¡°Instructor!¡± Su Chen stepped forward and bowed in greeting.

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re here. Have a seat.¡± Shi Kaihuang pointed at the ground.

    There were no chairs within the hall where the Origin Talisman Energy Formation was. Su Chen sat on the ground, following Shi Kaihuang¡¯s example.

    Shi Kaihuang said, ¡°I summoned you because there¡¯s something I need to tell you. I have already made some breakthroughs regarding a method for breaking into the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Su Chen happily asked. ¡°Congrattions, Instructor.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all thanks to you,¡± Shi Kaihuang said. ¡°Combining Ancient Arcana Techniques and contemporary Origin Skills has given me a lot of different paths to choose from, and Brooke¡¯s Form is truly marvelous. In fact, it¡¯s no less valuable than my Origin Talisman Energy Formation. With these twobined, my research has progressed extremely quickly. However, the path topleting this technique is still long, and there will be many difficult barriers and obstacles in our way. I have only just resolved one important problem, but there will be many more in the future.¡±

    ¡°So what does Instructor need me to do?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Shi Kaihuang said, ¡°I havepleted the Pce-Opening phase of reaching the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline, but actually casting the pces requires the coagtion of Origin Energy. The human race relies on the power of a bloodline to condense Origin Energy,, but skipping this step will require an even more brilliant condensing technique.¡±

    ¡°Your disciple understands,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Each cultivation realm represented a major barrier, and each step was very closely rted. Making a breakthrough into a higher cultivation realm required not just one Origin Skill but many.

    At the moment, what Shi Kaihuang needed was an Origin Skill that could condense Origin Energy and give it form.

    The same Origin Skill could have drastically different effects in the hands of different Origin Qi Schrs. There are many factors that affect this, one of them being the degree to which one¡¯s Origin Energy was condensed.

    Shi Kaihuang continued, ¡°The condensing of Origin Energy starts from the environment and is eventually incorporated into the body. I have basically resolved the external portion of the technique using Brooke¡¯s Form, but the internal portion is much more difficult, and the Origin Talisman Energy Formation is not enough on its own. Thus, I need an even more outstanding Origin Energy condensing method to reference.¡±

    ¡°An even more outstanding Origin Energy condensing method? Where can we possibly find one? Disciple is willing to search for master.¡±

    ¡°That is precisely why I called you here. There are no more than three condensing Origin Skills that can truly be considered outstanding, and one of them is currently residing in Long Sang Country.¡±

    ¡°Where is it?¡±

    ¡°The King Race Lin n,¡± Shi Kaihuang replied.

    King Race Lin n?

    When Su Chen heard this term, he was sent into a daze.

    What was the King Race?

    That didn¡¯t refer to a Demonic King Bloodline but the descendants of the current king of Long Sang Country.

    Only seven ns could be titled a ¡°King Race¡±. They were the rulers of the Seven Kingdoms.

    After the Illustrious Divine Dynasty copsed, the seven strongest, most influential noble ns divided up thend, forming the Seven Kingdoms.

    The North Garrison General Lin Xianyu established Long Sang Country and set the capital as Long Coiling City, located in the northern area of what used to be the Illustrious Divine Dynasty¡¯s territory.

    132 years after establishing Long Sang Country, Lin Xianyu personally led arge army to defeat the invading Ferocious Race¡¯s Inferno Tribe, taking back thend that had been lost. He continued his conquest, taking the Gold River Basin and establishing the Gold River Fort there.

    In the 384th year of Long Sang, the Gold River Fort waspleted, bing an important stronghold in the battle against the Ferocious Race.

    In the 863rd year of Long Sang, Lin Xianyu died, and Lin Liusheng seeded him.

    In the 16th century of Long Sang, Lin Liusheng died, and Lin Baiyuan seeded him.

    In the 24th century of Long Sang, Lin Baiyuan died, and Lin Mengze seeded him.

    Now, it was the 31st century of Long Sang, 26,000 years into the New Star Era.

    Lin Mengze had a firm grasp on the throne.

    The Origin Energy condensing technique that Shi Kaihuang was talking about was the Lin n¡¯s secret technique, Golden Scripture Art.

    As a King Race, the Lin n could not bepared to any average nobility n. They held absolute authority in Long Sang Country, and they also possessed the strongest bloodlines and techniques.

    Even for someone as brave as Su Chen, trying to get a cultivation technique from them was equivalent to a suicide mission.

    Thankfully, Shi Kaihuang assuaged him, ¡°I¡¯m not asking you to try and cheat them. These things can be easily obtained without any tricks.¡±

    ¡°So how would I go about obtaining it without any tricks?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Earlier, someone discovered some Arcana Race ruins near the Gold River. However, because it was not kept secret, the Ferocious Race found out about it. The two parties stationed vast amounts of troops there, and a massive battle was about to take ce. At that moment, someone proposed that they set aside their disputes and work together.¡±

    ¡°Set aside their disputes and work together?¡± Su Chen was surprised by this.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Shi Kaihuang nodded.

    ¡°The human race has always been at odds with the Ferocious Race. Why would they agree to it?¡±

    ¡°Of course they didn¡¯t want to agree, but it wasn¡¯t up to them. It was the Gravel Lizard Tribe that had discovered the Arcana Race ruins, not the entire Ferocious Race.¡±

    Su Chen understood.

    Having been at the Hidden Dragon Institute, Su Chen knew that the Ferocious Race fought amongst themselves just like the human race did.

    The Inferno Tribe currently held the most power in the Ferocious Race, but there were many autonomous tribes on their own outside of the Inferno Tribe.

    The Gravel Lizard Tribe were the ones fighting over the Arcana Race ruins.

    Just like how Long Sang wouldn¡¯t notify the six other countries, the Sand Lizard Tribe was unwilling to split the spoils with the rest of the Ferocious Race.

    If arge battle were to really break out, it would be hard to say how much benefit they would be able to reap.

    It was under these circumstances that the idea of setting aside their differences and working together was proposed.

    Shi Kaihuang continued, ¡°The two sides agreed to let their junior disciples enter the ruins to retrieve the treasures inside. Those who perform exceptionally will be rewarded, and can even request a specific reward...... as long as it¡¯s not too serious.¡±

    Su Chen understood. ¡°Instructor wants me to enter the ruins and request the Golden Scripture Art as my reward?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. That¡¯s how you¡¯ll obtain it without using any tricks. Although the Golden Scripture Art is a secret technique, King Races collect all kinds of secret techniques, and they will likely possess it. If you can make enough of a contribution and request it from them, they shouldn¡¯t deny your request.¡±

    ¡°Okay! Then how will disciple obtain the right to enter the ruins?¡±

    ¡°First, you must win the end-of-yearpetition.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 115: Competition 1

    Chapter 115: Competition (1)

    ¡°What? You¡¯re going to participate in the end-of-yearpetition?¡± Wang Doushan squawked like a chicken grabbed by the throat.

    Of course, however, his neck had already be so thick by this point that there probably wasn¡¯t anyone who could grab him by his neck unless he or she used an Origin Skill like Sky-Concealing Hand.

    Wang Doushan, who was stuffed into a chair that groaned under his weight, stared at Su Chen in disbelief, ¡°You¡¯ve finally thought things through?¡±

    Su Chen replied helplessly, ¡°It¡¯s not me who has thought things through but the old man. He wants me to do something for him, so he allowed me to attend this year¡¯s end-of-yearpetition. Not only that, but he required that I get at least within the top 20.¡±

    ¡°Wow, that¡¯s quite a high requirement. Does he think everyone else in the Institute is an idiot?¡± Wang Doushanughed.

    He had not sparred with Su Chen in these past few years, so he didn¡¯t have aplete grasp on how strong he was. However, he was very clear that all of Long Sang Country¡¯s top geniuses were gathered in the Hidden Dragon Institute. Dominating in this kind of a ce was not easy, especially without a bloodline.

    Yes, without a bloodline!

    Although Su Chen had developed many powerful techniques that didn¡¯t require a bloodline, he still had not surpassed the power of a bloodline.

    There were too many people who could counter all of Su Chen¡¯s Origin Skills, and Su Chen¡¯s own cultivation base had basically not progressed at all in the past few years.

    It wasn¡¯t that Wang Doushan was looking down on Su Chen. He trusted that Su Chen was strong, but it was difficult to say if he was strong enough to enter the top 20.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have faith in me?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°I just know how strong these guys really are. Su Chen, they¡¯re not weak chickens like Zhang Sheng¡¯an; every one of them is frighteningly powerful. Those who can stand in the top 20 of the Dragon Transformation List are all able to defeat the average Blood Boiling Realm cultivator. You know what that means.¡±

    ¡°I know. But as long as I can beat you, that should be enough,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Wang Doushanughed. ¡°Fine, then let¡¯s try it out. I¡¯ll just stand here and let you hit me; if you can topple me within ten blows, I¡¯ll admit that you are strong enough.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡± Su Chen stared at him.

    ¡°Of course!¡± Wang Doushan nodded.

    ¡°Fine, if that¡¯s the case, I¡¯ll help you lose some weight,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Su Chen cracked his knuckles and stood up, a wicked grin on his face.

    At this point in time, it was quite difficult to find someone who was willing to just stand there and get hit.

    Very quickly, a pained cry sounded out from the Origin Energy Tower.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    The end-of-yearpetition finally came.

    This was the first time that Su Chen hade to register, and he attracted some attention. After staying in hiding for eight years, he had finally mustered up the courage to show himself. It was at least something worth gossiping about.

    Some people began to discuss it, many of them mocking Su Chen for only now growing brave enough to attend once.

    No one believed that Su Chen would attain a respectable ranking. After all, they all believed that he was a fallen star; it was already enough for him to have shown up.

    There were roughly 2500 students in each year, and they were split up into ten arenas with around 250 students each. Only the top 20 students from each arena could advance. All of these individuals would then enter the Dragon Transformation List and battle for their rankings.

    Because there were too many people, not everyone could be given an equal opportunity. Thus, eliminations were done in separate arenas. Those who lost had essentially lost their opportunity. The previous year¡¯s top one-hundred seeds would be split amongst the ten arenas and automatically enter the fourth and final elimination round. Thirty of the remaining 240 students would join the aforementioned ten after fighting their way through three rounds. From these forty students, twenty would be selected to move on to the next stage.

    Su Chen was ced in the fourth arena.

    Cloud Leopard was also ced in the same arena as him.

    Because he was one of the top 100 fromst year, Cloud Leopard did not need to participate in the first three rounds of battle. Su Chen, however, had to start from the very first round.

    Despite this, it was the person who had to start from the very beginning who was guiding Cloud Leopard, who could skip the first three rounds, with patient concern.

    ¡°Cloud Leopard, I hope that you¡¯ll be able to get into the top 20 in thispetition.¡±

    The fourth arena was bustling with activity.

    There were a total of eight stages here, and students were battling on every one of them. Below the stages,rge numbers of students were watching the battles and taking note of the opponents they would need to keep an eye out for.

    Su Chen, who had yet to be called, was also watching the battles even as he spoke to Cloud Leopard.

    When Cloud Leopard heard what Su Chen said, his eyebrows slightly furrowed. ¡°There¡¯s only a limited amount of space on stage, so I won¡¯t be able to fully disy my movement techniques. In addition, there are too many rules ¨C I can¡¯t attack people in the eyes, crotch, or any other vitals; I can¡¯t attack my opponent after injuring them; I can¡¯t use any killing techniques after my opponent¡¯s barrier shatters; I get automatically disqualified after being injured a certain amount...... How am I supposed to fight with so many rules? The Bloody Battle Scripture1 increases my strength the more wounded I am, but here I get disqualified even before the battle begins. Last time I was lucky to even get to 41st ce.¡±

    Cloud Leopard rarely spoke much, but it was always toin when he did.

    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± Su Chen sighed. ¡°I also know that it¡¯s not easy for you, but this time Instructor demanded that I make an impression during the battle for the ruins. That will be a true battle, so I hope that you will also be part of the group that can go.¡±

    ¡°If it¡¯s a real battle, they should use real battles to make the selection. Why botherpeting in an arena anyways?¡± Cloud Leopard frowned.

    ¡°It¡¯s too easy to get seriously injured or die in a real battle. It would be illogical to kill each other off before even getting to the main battle.¡± Su Chen felt a headacheing on.

    Apart from Cloud Leopard, Jin Ling¡¯er was also stronger in a real battle. However, her problem was much more severe than Cloud Leopard¡¯s; while Cloud Leopard still had a slim chance of making it, Jin Ling¡¯er was basically beyond hope. Her previous ranking was around 98th. Even if she were to go all out, it would be quite impressive if she were to reach the 80s. Reaching the top 20 was impossible.

    The higher the ranking, the fiercer the battle. After all, you had to fight your way up from the lower rankings.

    ¡°Number 34, Su Chen. You¡¯re up!¡± someone yelled.

    Su Chen¡¯s first battle had finallye.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyebrows were tightly knit as he walked up to the stage, trying to figure out a solution to Cloud Leopard¡¯s problem.

    His opponent was a short, capable man. When he saw Su Chen in the arena, heughed, ¡°I¡¯m lucky to have run into the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s well-known coward. Your expression looks quite concerned, are you afraid? If you¡¯re afraid, call yourself a piece of trash......¡±

    Bang!

    An Erupting Firebird surged forth from Su Chen¡¯s hand.

    The short man in front of him had good instincts, and he was able to set up a magic barrier in time.

    The Firehawk mmed into the barrier, shattering it instantly. The ensuing shockwaves mmed into the short man, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head as he fainted clean on the spot.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind, trash.¡±

    He had passed the first round of thepetition.

    1. This is one of the Origin Skill that Cloud Leopard learned from Shi Kaihuang. The author notes it all the way back in Chapter 65 in an author¡¯s note that I didn¡¯t trante.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 116: Competition 2

    Chapter 116: Competition (2)

    The first three elimination rounds posed no threat to Su Chen, and he didn¡¯t even need to waste much thought on them.

    However, Cloud Leopard¡¯s issue had truly stumped him.

    This made it so that his face was always stony and serious during the first three rounds, making him look as if he were anxious about the uing battle.

    However, anyone who looked down on Su Chen because of this was fated to be sent flying by an Erupting Firebird.

    In the first three rounds of battle, he used a total of seven Erupting Firebirds to deal with three opponents. Thest opponent was a big stronger than the others, and he forced Su Chen into using four Erupting Firebirds, as well as dodging and defending himself for the first time.

    No one could even force Su Chen to use a different move.

    The fourth round of battle took ce in the morning of the third day.

    Based on thepetition¡¯s rules, the forty students in the fourth round would first be paired against each other. The losers would have one final chance to redeem themselves. They would be paired against each other twice, and the five remaining victors could challenge someone from the twenty students who had won to try and take their ce.

    The first opponent Su Chen encountered was a young maiden with a round face andrge eyes.

    The maiden appeared very cute, but she spoke mercilessly. ¡°I am the great Wang Yaohui! No one can stop my advance, and anyone who attempts to do so will be ughtered without pardon!¡±

    Su Chen was rendered speechless by her delusional1 behavior.

    However, the young maiden had some skill to back up her attitude. Her Rainbringer Sword really did seem to fall like drops of rain. Many of her fans beneath the stage were cheering for her.

    Since his opponent was so impressive, Su Chen was also forced to pull out some new tricks.

    You like rain, do you?

    Then I¡¯ll give you some wind and thunder to add to the fun a little.

    Su Chen struck out with his Thunder de.

    At this point, Su Chen¡¯s Thunder de had reached the stage ofrge sess. The strike boomed with the sound of thunder, dispersing the clouds and rain, stopping the maiden¡¯s sword strikes in their tracks.

    However, anyone who had fought to this point to get on the Dragon Transformation List definitely had some ability. The round-faced maiden pulled out another sword when she discovered that her Rainbringer Sword wasn¡¯t getting her anywhere, and she switched to the Sun and Moon dual-sword technique.

    The girl was a dual-sword wielder.

    Weapons were allowed at the end-of-yearpetition, but the use of Origin Tools was forbidden just like the admissions exams.

    In truth, Su Chen was not particrly adept at using Origin Tools.

    Thus, when his opponent came at him with her swords, he didn¡¯t know what the best way to counter was.

    Should he also pull out a de and y along with her?

    Or should he use something else?

    His opponent saw that he was only dodging and not attacking. She believed that she had pushed Su Chen into a dead end, and she yelled in excitement, ¡°Su Chen, you were never the Dual Swords Queen¡¯s opponent in the first ce. Since you appear to have some skill, I will give you an opportunity. As long as you are willing to kneel and surrender, I am willing to ept you as my retainer......¡±

    Upon hearing those deluded words, Su Chen suddenly snapped out of it. Why am I wasting so much time? Won¡¯t a p be enough to send this little girl flying?

    As he thought this, he really did p her.

    The p directly bypassed the dense curtain of sword strikes and appeared in front of the young maiden before urately striking her face. The round-faced maiden did a 360 in midair before gracefully flying off the stage andnding on the ground. When shended, she spit out two broken teeth.

    The maiden hadn¡¯t expected such a sudden turn of events even in her wildest dreams. She sat there in a momentary daze before suddenly breaking out into tears.

    The Dual Swords Queen¡¯s dreams were shattered.

    After twenty head-to-head battles, the victors went off to rest while the losers continued to battle each other.

    After two more rounds, the five victors were allowed to select their own opponents.

    That afternoon, the five victors from the losers group selected their opponents.

    The first challenger immediately stepped out and pointed at Su Chen.

    ¡°I challenge him!¡±

    Logically speaking, students would only challenge the weakest target in order to ensure sess.

    Su Chen¡¯s challenger seemed to think that Su Chen was a weak chicken.

    But that was unsurprising; after all, he had avoided the end-of-yearpetition for eight years in a row. If he wasn¡¯t a weak chicken, then who was?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t like to pretend. He wouldn¡¯t try to lie and convince people that he was super weak only to turn around and p their faces.

    However, he didn¡¯t like to be egotistical or unt himself either. He wouldn¡¯t stupidly go up to others and tell them that he was actually very strong and that they should be careful not to underestimate him. In fact, if he could, he preferred to use the simplest method avable to take care of his opponents in order to preserve his trump cards.

    Thus, even though he had won a few battles, his simple battle style gave people the impression that he possessed a few powerful Origin Skills butcked personal strength.

    Under these circumstances, who would they pick on if not Su Chen?

    Su Chen¡¯s challenger was an extremely brawny and strong student carrying arge de on their back.

    This time, his opponent didn¡¯t bber anything nonsensical like ¡°you should give up, you¡¯re not my opponent.¡±

    He was very serious and respectful because he knew that this was thest barrier between him and the Dragon Transformation List..

    If he won, he would be an expert that had battled his way onto the Dragon Transformation List, an elite amongst all the students.

    If he lost, he would remain a nobody.

    As such, he attacked with all of his strength.

    His de whizzed through the air, piercing forwards, chopping downwards, and slicing upwards.

    His movements were sharp and concise, and his simple de strikes carried a menacing intent behind them.

    Even Su Chen took him seriously. His challenger was clearly much stronger than the round-faced woman from earlier.

    Since his opponent was strong, it was better to be a bit more cautious.

    Thus, he retreated. As he dodged with the Snaking Mist Steps, he began unleashing Erupting Firehawks.

    This was a very simple and practical battle tactic: increasing the distance between himself and his opponent before using long-range attacks to bombard him.

    If Origin Qi Schrs had sses, then Su Chen would be a mage. Launching attacks from medium to long ranges was his speciality.

    On a stage, where space was limited, his best bet at achieving this was to simply avoid using the Snaking Mist Steps and constantly unleash strengthened Erupting Firehawks.

    The de-wielding male¡¯s offensive capabilities were incredibly fierce and his attacks were quick. However, when faced with Su Chen¡¯s battle tactics, he couldn¡¯t figure out how to effectively counter.

    He constantly swung his de, sending waves of de Qi crashing everywhere. Streaks of de light flew through the air.

    Because they were still in the Qi Drawing Realm, the strength the des possessed and the distance they could travel was limited. Even so, they cut sharply through the air and possessed a certain amount of threat to Su Chen.

    Even rarer was the fact that the de Qi was clearly being closely directed. Though he looked like he was just randomly swinging his de, he was in fact constantly restricting and reducing the space in which Su Chen could dodge. Slowly but surely, Su Chen found it harder and harder to move and dodge the attacks.

    Bang!

    A de strike mmed into Meg¡¯s Guardian.

    This was the first time that Su Chen was unable to dodge a blow, so he had to forcefully endure it.

    Excitement appeared on the face of the de-wielding male. ¡°Finally can¡¯t dodge anymore? Try my Absolute Tyranny Beheading on for size!¡±

    The de chopped downwards, the force behind the blow constantly increasing. This was the de-wielding male¡¯s most powerful move yet.

    Su Chen gently sighed.

    He stepped forward.

    With this single step, his figure suddenly seemed to vanish, reappearing behind the de-wielding man.

    He pushed out carelessly with his palm, not even looking at his target as he said, ¡°Take care, I won¡¯t send you off.¡±

    The de-wielding man was already charging forwards in the first ce. When Su Chen¡¯s palm strike hit his back, he flew through the air, iling as he left the stage.

    The fourth round ofpetition had been concluded.

    Su Chen had fought his way onto the Dragon Transformation List.

    1. The exact trantion literally means ¡°eighth grade¡±. Some of you who know japanese may know this as chuunibyou.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 117: Competition 3

    Chapter 117: Competition (3)

    When Su Chen stepped off of the stage, many of the gazes directed at him were slightly different from before.

    This supposed coward had instantly battled his way onto the Dragon Transformation List. Many people realized that they had misjudged him somewhat, and some of those who had been mocking him were mocked themselves.

    ¡°He was actually able to make it onto the Dragon Transformation List. It looks like we underestimated him.¡±

    ¡°Now things get interesting. Someone who hasn¡¯t attended the end-of-yearpetition for over eight years got on the list in one fell swoop. It looks like there might be something to look forward to this year.¡±

    ¡°This is the only way that things get interesting. Otherwise, it¡¯s always the same people, so getting bored is inevitable. We need some new people to stir up the rankings and make things a little more exciting.¡±

    ¡°Exactly, exactly,¡± a group of people echoed.

    Their gazes towards Su Chen were filled with excitement and anticipation. They hoped that there would be something novel about this year¡¯s end-of-yearpetition.

    However, not everyone thought that way.

    Not far away from the fourth arena, a youth stood, holding his sword in his arms as he stared coldly at Su Chen.

    There was a person standing next to him: Bai Yihong.

    ¡°The target is him, right?¡± the sword-carrying youth asked.

    Bai Yihong stared at Su Chen and gritted his teeth. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s him. As long as you cripple him, the Yearning Red Lotus will be yours.¡±

    ¡°Okay, but he must enter the top 100. Otherwise, I won¡¯t even have an opportunity to encounter him.¡±

    ¡°He will. I know how strong he is. Entering the top 100 should be possible for him, but he definitely isn¡¯t your opponent!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good enough. When he makes it that far, I¡¯ll ruin him,¡± the sword-carrying youth said, turning around to leave.

    ¡°Liuyuan!¡±

    ¡°Mm?¡± The youth looked back.

    Bai Yihong said, ¡°Don¡¯t disappoint me.¡±

    The corner of the youth¡¯s mouth curled upwards in a self-confident smile.

    After the youth left, Bai Yihong fixed his gaze back onto Su Chen, the mes of hatred burning in his eyes. ¡°Su Chen, you dared treat us that way. Just wait! I¡¯ll ruin you!¡±

    His body trembled slightly.

    He felt anger, hatred, and simultaneously a trace of fear.

    Although an unexpected urrence had woken Bai Yihong up from that frightening nightmare, the fear that Su Chen had instilled in him had yet to fade awaypletely. Even as he was nning his revenge, he couldn¡¯t help but feel fear and dread towards Su Chen, unwilling to directly face off against him.

    This was a great torment to Bai Yihong.

    He knew that the root of his fear would only be dissolved by killing Su Chen..

    However, he wasn¡¯t the only one who wanted revenge against Su Chen.

    In a different corner of the fourth arena, another pair of eyes were also staring right at Su Chen.

    When the owner of those eyes saw Su Chen enter the Dragon Transformation List, the owner of the eyes began tough darkly, ¡°Su Chen, you finally couldn¡¯t resist anymore, huh? That¡¯s good, that¡¯s good! You plotted against the Six Great ns and harmed not only our Young Masters but also our Second Elders, and the Six Great ns are still battling the Zhu n. However, did you really think that you could escape from all of this? Just you wait, Su Chen. The day that you leave the Hidden Dragon Institute will be the day you die!¡±

    The figure faded whileughing ominously.

    Now that Su Chen had left his research station, those whom he had once offended finally had an opportunity to exact revenge.

    Of course, some of his friends weed this change.

    Ji Hanyan went to search for him.

    She arrived next to Su Chen and gave him a ¡°friendly¡± punch.

    The punch was filled with an icy chill.

    Ji Hanyan said, ¡°Not bad at all. You finally decided toe out and participate in the end-of-yearpetition.¡±

    Ever sincepleting the Clear Wind Net, Ji Hanyan and Su Chen interacted less and less.

    It wasn¡¯t that the two of them had be indifferent towards each other, but Su Chen was just always in his research station and rarely came outside, making further interactions difficult.

    But if the two of them ran into each other within the Institute, they wouldn¡¯t hesitate to chat a bit.

    Ji Hanyan¡¯s temperament was extremely lofty and arrogant. Not many people could attract her attention within the Institute, but evidently Su Chen was one of the few that she looked favorably upon.

    No matter how others looked at Su Chen, she knew very clearly that Su Chen was no coward. She had learned from her instructor why Su Chen acted like that. Because of this, she actually felt some respect for Su Chen ¨C the worse someone was at schoolwork, the more respect he or she would feel towards someone who was a talented schr.

    Ji Hanyan was extremely powerful in battle, but she was a mess at studying. She had a lot of respect for those who were able to understand theory and create new things.

    Because of this, she and Su Chen got along quite well.

    Su Chenughed, ¡°My personal instructor ordered me to do it, so I couldn¡¯t disagree even if I wanted to.¡±

    ¡°Oh? That old man Shi Kaihuang was the one who told you to join? What sly tricks is that old man up to this time?¡±

    ¡°......¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t know how to respond.

    Ji Hanyan said, ¡°Forget about it. No matter what his reasoning is, it¡¯s already good enough that you¡¯re willing to attend. It¡¯s been many days since west talked, so let¡¯s go already!¡±

    She grabbed Su Chen¡¯s hand and pulled him forwards.

    ¡°Go where?¡± Su Chen waspletely befuddled as Ji Hanyan dragged him along.

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you finished your matches today already? Let¡¯s go spar at the sparring arena.¡±

    When Su Chen heard that Ji Hanyan wanted to spar with him, Su Chen helplessly said, ¡°Hey, what are you in such a hurry for? After the ranking battles for the Dragon Transformation List begins, we¡¯ll have plenty of opportunities to spar.¡±

    The ranking battles were not elimination-style but rather based on umted points. Students were ranked only after participating in multiple battles.

    Based on Su Chen¡¯s strength, it was highly likely that he would encounter Ji Hanyan eventually.

    Unexpectedly, Ji Hanyan replied, ¡°It will be toote by then.¡±

    ¡°Toote? What do you mean?¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°The Plentiful Wealth House has put out betting odds on you,¡± Ji Hanyan said.

    The Plentiful Wealth House was a gambling house within the Hidden Dragon Institute, and it was owned and operated by a few students. During every end-of-yearpetition, they would set up betting odds for every student who entered the Dragon Transformation List. The Hidden Dragon Institute did not prevent this from happening, but they had set a restriction in ce that no one was allowed to bet more than five hundred Origin Stones.

    ¡°Do you know what the odds are?¡±

    ¡°How much?¡± Su Chen instinctively asked.

    ¡°1:1.88 for you to reach the top 100, 1:3.67 for the top 50, 1:8 for the top 20, 1:15 for the top 10, 1:30 for the top 3, and 1:50 for first ce.¡±

    ¡°Then......¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Naturally, it¡¯s because I want to assess your strength so that I can make a safe bet,¡± Ji Hanyan replied straightforwardly.

    ¡°......¡± Su Chen was speechless.

    After a moment, he said, ¡°Ji Hanyan.¡±

    ¡°Mhm?¡±

    ¡°You gamble?¡±

    ¡°Of course. Even in Nobility ns, money doesn¡¯t grow on trees.¡±

    Half an hourter, Ji Hanyan and Su Chen reemerged from the sparring arena.

    No one knew how the battle had turned out. In fact, most students didn¡¯t even know that this battle had taken ce.

    But after Ji Hanyan returned home, the first thing she did was tell her maidservant to ce five hundred Origin Stones on Su Chen¡¯s chances of getting into the top 20.

    If possible, she would have ced her bet on him attaining top 10, but Su Chen¡¯s words had dispelled that idea.

    Su Chen said, ¡°All I want is to safely enter the top 20. That¡¯s good enough for me.¡±

    ¡°Safely enter the top 20......¡± Lying on the rocking chair in her house, Ji Hanyan repeated these words again. A smile appeared on her face. ¡°Su Chen, do you know that your appearance when you said that was really infuriating?¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 118: Competition 4

    Chapter 118: Competition (4)

    After reaching the Dragon Transformation List stage, thepetition was no longer elimination-based.

    The 200 students would be ranked ordingly based on previous results, after which they could begin challenging those ranked higher than them.

    There were three main rules regarding the challenge:

    1) A student can only challenge the same student no more than once per day.

    2) A student cannot make more than 5 challenges a day. If a student is challenged more than 6 times in a day, he or she reserves the right to deny any future challenges.

    3) A student cannot challenge someone more than 10 ranks higher than him or her.

    If the challenger seeded, he or she would take the target¡¯s spot, while the defeated person would go down a spot.

    The end-of-yearpetitionsted for eight days. Two of those days were used to determine who would be on the Dragon Transformation List, while the remaining eight days were used for challenging and finalizing rankings.

    Because Su Chen had missed out on the end-of-yearpetition for eight straight years, Su Chen had no prior results.

    Thus, his ranking was at 200.

    ording to the rules, he was the first person to challenge someone.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then I¡¯ll challenge the 190th-ranked individual,¡± Su Chen helplessly said.

    He didn¡¯t want to have to fight his way up one battle at a time. If possible, he preferred to finish it all in one go.

    However, the Hidden Dragon Institute had set a rule that didn¡¯t allow anyone to challenge a student that was more than ten rankings higher than them, likely to avoid any pointless challenges from urring.

    If he wanted to achieve his goal, he would need to do it step by step, like climbing a mountain.

    To reach the top 20, he would need to fight at least 18 battles even if he were to win them all.

    ¡°This is quite a heavy burden,¡± Su Chen thought.

    And just like that, Su Chen embarked on his mountain-climbing adventure.

    Even though he could only challenge five people in a day, Su Chen would definitely battle more than five times a day ¨C as soon as he won his first battle, the people behind him had the right to challenge him.

    Thankfully, after every challenge, Su Chen was allowed a certain period of time to rest. He didn¡¯t need to fight them all in a row.

    Even so, as soon as his ranking began to increase, he was required to fight at least ten battles a day.

    Thepetition was extremely tiring. Most people wouldn¡¯t be able to handle five battles a day, let alone ten.

    Two dayster, Su Chen entered the top 100, rocking the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    Su Chen¡¯s 100% win rate on his way to the top 100 finally caused the others to realize just how powerful he really was. At this point, no one dared to look down on him as a weak chicken anymore.

    Many of the students began to guess what rank Su Chen would finish at. The number of wagers ced on Su Chen¡¯s performance shot up at the Plentiful Wealth House, and Su Chen¡¯s odds also drastically increased. The odds of him getting into the top 20 had increased from 1:8 to 1:2.5, and as Su Chen¡¯s ranking continued to rise, those odds would continue to increase.

    Today was the sixth day, and Su Chen¡¯s cement continued to rise.

    Any student who could reach the top 100 was pretty strong, and every single one of those students had quite a few tricks up their sleeves. Even Su Chen found that it took quite some time for him to defeat his enemies if he didn¡¯t use any of his trump cards.

    The 90th-ranked contestant was a young student wielding an inky-ck battle de. His bloodline was that of the Inky Cloud Beast, and he could emit arge wave of ck mist when he battled, obstructing the vision of anyone on the stage.

    This was also the reason why this student was not well-liked ¨C who enjoyed watching a battle that they could not see?

    However, battling in ck mist was not at all effective against Su Chen. As someone who had been blind previously, Su Chen was extremely adept at battling in darkness. Very quickly, that student was sent flying out of the cloud of ck mist and subsequently off of the stage.

    Su Chen kept his strength in check so that the student didn¡¯t get too injured.

    Su Chen also won the battle after that, bringing himself to 80th ce.

    The onlookers below the stage jabbered amongst themselves.

    ¡°Another win! Ten ranks per battle all the way to 80th ce. Su Chen¡¯s strength cannot be ignored.¡±

    ¡°Did he keep himself hidden away for eight years just to amaze everyone in one fell swoop?¡±

    ¡°It seems like we all misjudged him.¡±

    ¡°But I think his string of victories is about to end.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Did you not see that Liu Yuan challenged him?¡±

    As they were conversing, a youth hugging a sword appeared on stage, his expression proud as he stared coldly at Su Chen.

    He didn¡¯t immediately attack because ording to the rules, Su Chen¡¯s rest period had not expired yet.

    The spectators began to mor when they saw the sword-hugging youth.

    ¡°Liu Yuan? It¡¯s the Absolute Sword Liu Yuan. Wasn¡¯t that guy ranked 39th? How has he suddenly fallen below the 80s?¡±

    ¡°Because he was constantly surrendering in his previous battles, and he never challenged any other individual,¡± said someone who knew what was going on.

    In the past two days, Su Chen had been increasing his ranking, while Liu Yuan was going down in the rankings of his own ord.

    Those who were quick-witted instantly realized something. ¡°It looks like Liu Yuan ising for Su Chen.¡±

    ¡°Haha, looks like we¡¯re in for a treat.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Absolute Sword Liu Yuan is not benevolent. His strikes are extremely vicious, and each one is meant to cause serious harm. If he really is seeking out Su Chen on his own, he probably doesn¡¯t have any good intentions.¡±

    ¡°Exactly. Su Chen is quite unlucky. How did he manage to provoke Liu Yuan?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for him to continue battling now that he¡¯s run into Liu Yuan. His miraculous run can be considered to be over.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s already quite good if that¡¯s all that happens! If he gets injured by Liu Yuan, whether he can maintain his ranking is another issue. He might drop out of the top 100!¡±

    The crowd continued to chatter amongst themselves.

    Liu Yuan was smiling coldly at Su Chen.

    He said, ¡°I made a mistake.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Su Chen¡¯s eyebrows jumped. ¡°What kind of mistake?¡±

    In any case, his rest time was not up yet, and he was interested in talking with his opponent for a bit. Absolute Sword Liu Yuan was a name that he had heard before. He was an expert who had previously always been in the top 40; now that he was suddenly at 80th ce and was challenging Su Chen, it was pretty clear that he hade for Su Chen.

    Liu Yuan said, ¡°I underestimated you. Originally, I thought that entering the top 100 would be your absolute limit, so I was always surrendering to lower my ranking in order to run into you. However, based on your previous battles, your movements are extremely skilled and you are clearly hiding your true strength, so I guess I was wasting my time. I didn¡¯t need to lose that many battles ¨C 50 or 60th ce would have been good enough to run into you. Now, I¡¯ll need to fight more battles just to make my way back. All I did was give myself trouble.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s what it was. I originally thought you wanted to say that you had made a mistake by looking to make trouble for me.¡±

    Liu Yuan¡¯s face tightened. ¡°Su Chen, don¡¯t be arrogant. I know you aren¡¯t weak, but who told you to provoke someone you shouldn¡¯t have provoked? Someone paid arge sum for me to cripple you, so 80th ce will be the highest you go. Don¡¯t think of escaping. Under my Crimson Absolute Sword, you won¡¯t even have the right to surrender!¡±

    As he spoke, he unsheathed his sword, pointing it at Su Chen.

    The de shed a vibrant red.

    ¡°Can you tell me who asked you to deal with me?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°If you want to know, think a little more about who you¡¯ve offended.¡±

    When Su Chen heard him say this, he sighed, ¡°Fine, since you won¡¯t tell me, I¡¯ll just have to give you a beating first. Remember, if you can¡¯t hold out, just tell me the name.¡±

    He attacked.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 119: Competition 5

    Chapter 119: Competition (5)

    Bang!

    An Erupting Firehawk surged into the air, flying towards the opponent in front of him.

    ¡°I know this tactic,¡± Liu Yuan smiled.

    His Absolute Sword danced through the air, sending crimson waves crashing everywhere as it stabbed into the Firehawk. The Firehawk actually exploded upon contact and was instantly wiped out by a single sword strike.

    ¡°Annihtion Sword can nullify any energy-type attack,¡± Liu Yuan arrogantly said as he pointed his sword at Su Chen. ¡°I scouted you out already; you seem to be quite proficient with Ancient Arcana Techniques. Did you try to resurrect this type of Origin Skill, which has already been cast aside by the progression of time, in hope of discovering some kind of value in them? Just my Annihtion Sword alone is enough to stop any of your attacks in their tracks!¡±

    This was the reason why Liu Yuan dared to look down on Su Chen so much.

    His Annihtion Sword was the nemesis of Su Chen¡¯s Ancient Arcana Techniques.

    The crimson sword continued to pierce towards Su Chen after wiping out the Erupting Firehawk. The tip of the sword vibrated as it shot through the air, and a streak of sword Qi surged forth from it, sweeping forwards like a gale and enveloping Su Chen.

    ¡°Is that all you are relying on?¡± Su Chen tightened his fist.

    In the same instant that the sword windnded on Su Chen¡¯s body, Su Chen let out a low growl.

    It was as if a crash of muffled thunder had exploded right next to Liu Yuan¡¯s ear. Su Chen¡¯s aura suddenly changed as boundless vigor began to surge from his body, bringing with it an overbearing pressure.

    He stared at Liu Yuan, his eyes shining like stars. His expression was filled with contempt.

    Liu Yuan was startled for a brief moment before he pushed his surprise aside.

    No matter what kind of strength you have, you will lose against Absolute Sword Liu Yuan!

    The turbulence generated by the crimson sword suddenly increased, forming countless sword edges that whizzed towards Su Chen.

    At the same time, Su Chen¡¯s vigor had risen to its absolute peak, and a faint golden luster began to emanate from his body.

    Su Chen stepped forwards and punched.

    A violent explosion of Qi shot forth from his fist, the energy from the explosion elerating the air around it and sending shockwaves of Qi through the air. They mmed into Liu Yuan¡¯s sword, and Liu Yuan found that he could not follow through with his sword strike. It was as if he had attempted to stab a mountain, the imposing force and weight of the mountainpletely nullifying his attack. His sword was drowning under the onught of the ensuing violent waves of energy.

    Boom!

    Liu Yuan flew backwards, flipping around in midair a few times before the momentum from the punch wore off and he fell back to the stage.

    He hadn¡¯t been knocked off of the stage, but that was mostly because Su Chen hadn¡¯t wanted to eliminate him just yet.

    ¡°How is this possible?¡± Liu Yuan stared at Su Chen in shock.

    A faint golden hue enshrouded Su Chen¡¯s body. This was the hue that appeared after the Adamantine Battle Body technique was activated, but it wasn¡¯t just the Adamantine Battle Body alone.

    A trace of white Qi was also circling around Su Chen¡¯s body. Upon closer inspection, it was clearly the outward manifestation of an increase in Su Chen¡¯s strength.

    Stalwart Mountain!

    Adamantine Battle Bodybined with Stalwart Mountain transformed Su Chen from a long-range mage into a close-quartersbat expert.

    Su Chen strode forward, shing at Liu Yuan with a Thunder de.

    BOOM!

    The lustrous de boomed through the air as it shed downwards toward Liu Yuan.

    Liu Yuan instinctively lifted his sword to block the iing strike. He felt a massive strength bearing down on him, and his arm had no way of resisting. Boom! The explosive torrent of Qi sent Liu Yuan flying again. Liu Yuan could scarcely believe the frightening amount of power that Su Chen had suddenly disyed.

    He wanted to retreat, but while he was still in the air, Su Chen grabbed onto him. ¡°Come back down.¡±

    Bang!

    With another vicious strike, Liu Yuan was sent back downwards by Su Chen¡¯s palm.

    Liu Yuan finally realized what kind of mistake he had made.

    Su Chen truly was more proficient in Ancient Arcana Techniques than Origin Skills, but his contemporary Origin Skills had never been weak. In fact, they were more powerful than most people¡¯s.

    Liu Yuan knew that the situation was taking a turn for the worse. Suddenly, the crimson sword began to shine.

    ¡°Amber Glow Sword!¡± Liu Yuan pierced forwards with his sword.

    Dazzling light radiated off of the sword as it pierced forwards right for Su Chen¡¯s eyes. At the same time, a strange sound like that of tearing cloth emanated outwards.

    Liu Yuan¡¯s face contorted with ferocious delight.

    Did you really think I would be that easy to deal with? I¡¯ll poke your eyes out and then we¡¯ll see how arrogant you can be!

    Majestic sword aura billowed like a tempest, and waves of sword Qi surged as a piercing light shone from the sword.

    Liu Yuan was absolutely confident in his Amber Glow Sword. At this distance, no one could dodge that sword strike. The only way to deal with it was to forcefully resist it.

    However, Su Chen had just poured a ton of Origin Energy into strengthening his physical body. He would have no way of conjuring up a defensive barrier, so there was no way that he would be able to endure the blow.

    In that instant, Liu Yuan saw himself pierce Su Chen¡¯s eyes, sessfullypleting the task assigned to him.

    Whoosh!

    The sword wave flew past but didn¡¯t pierce anything.

    Where¡¯d he go?

    Liu Yuan was stunned.

    Not good!

    Just as that thought surfaced in his mind, a heavy blow mmed into his back, sending him flying.

    A teleportation Origin Skill.

    Liu Yuan came back to his senses. Dammit, how had he forgotten that Su Chen controlled that kind of Origin Skill?

    Liu Yuan spit out a mouthful of blood as he fell to the ground.

    Su Chen once again strode forwards, a chilling wind beginning to swirl around his fist. He coldly said, ¡°Talk. Who was the one who told you to deal with me?¡±

    ¡°I......¡± Liu Yuan hesitated for a moment.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to tell me, forget about it.¡± Su Chen clenched his fists and punched.

    Dammit, I was just thinking it over. When did I say that I wasn¡¯t going to tell you?

    Liu Yuan raised his sword to parry. He had lost all of his prior arrogance because he was now fighting with his life on the line. His sword surged under his all-out effort, unleashing as much power as he possibly could.

    Boom!

    The sword and fist mmed into each other, sending shockwaves crashing everywhere.

    The sword Qi sliced Su Chen¡¯s skin open, covering his body with small wounds. Liu Yuan simultaneously retreated as he spat out another mouthful of blood.

    They were simultaneously injured.

    Su Chen quickly charged forwards,unching another punch at Liu Yuan.

    The crimson sword surged perilously as Su Chen¡¯s fist also raced forwards. The sword waves were forcefully dissipated, while the iron-like skin from the Adamantine Battle Body began to split under the sword light, leaving behind tons of open wounds in its wake.

    Blood and flesh became mangled.

    The fist continued forwards with powerful momentum, mming into Liu Yuan¡¯s body.

    Liu Yuan hastily erected a barrier, the fist¡¯s impact causing the barrier to flicker.

    Su Chen punched out thirteen times in a row.

    Su Chen was covered in blood from Liu Yuan¡¯s endless sword strikes. However, under the continuous barrage of fist strikes, Liu Yuan¡¯s barrier was unable to withstand the blows and shattered instantly.

    Su Chen¡¯s fistnded directly on Liu Yuan¡¯s chest, causing blood to fly through the air.

    ¡°I surren......¡± Liu Yuan yelled in fear.

    However, he had yet toplete that word when Su Chen¡¯s Thunder de mmed downwards, the rumbling drowning out his words. Itnded on Liu Yuan¡¯s body and sent him flying.

    Su Chen followed closely behind and gave him a flying kick.

    Liu Yuan¡¯s ribcage snapped under this blow as he continued sailing through the air.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t stop Liu Yuan this time, allowing him to sail off of the stage.

    As he watched Liu Yuan fall to the ground, Su Chen said, ¡°Just like you said, you don¡¯t even have the right to surrender.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 120: Assassination

    Chapter 120: Assassination

    It had been quite some time since Su Chen had been able to battle to his heart¡¯s content.

    This was one of the unique characteristics of contemporary Origin Skills. If they had been battling each other with just Ancient Arcana Techniques, the battle might have been more spectacr, but it would not have been nearly as adrenaline-inducing.

    Upon seeing that Liu Yuan had been defeated, the crowd burst into discussion.

    This was not anymon opponent. Liu Yuan was someone within the top 40 of the Dragon Transformation List, but he had been forcefully beaten into submission by Su Chen.

    Many people agreed that they had misjudged Su Chen.

    And they had not misjudged him just by a little bit; they had been off by a mile.

    Two youths stood beneath a willow tree outside of the stage, watching the scene.

    A tall, sturdy youth carrying a massively oversized de on his back and half of his chest exposed said, ¡°Even though he beat Liu Yuan, his injuries aren¡¯t light. It seems like Liu Yuan has already forced all of his strength out. With this kind of performance, his capacity will at most be within the top 30.¡±

    The purple-clothed youth standing next to him said, ¡°Duan Jiangshan, don¡¯t forget about his Ancient Arcana Techniques. Liu Yuan¡¯s Annihtion Sword was able to nullify his Ancient Arcana Techniques, but that doesn¡¯t mean that everyone can do it. If Su Chenbines his Ancient Arcana Techniques with his contemporary Origin Skills, he can probably reach even greater heights.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s already done that. He used a teleportation Origin Skill during his battle with Liu Yuan. It should be some kind of Ancient Arcana Technique, since that¡¯s the only thing that can allow a Qi Drawing Realm Origin Qi Schr to achieve that.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s probably this guy¡¯s unique point. His studies are all over the ce, but that¡¯s not too surprising; after all, someone without a bloodline and any exceptionally powerful Origin Skills can only rely on quantity to supplement his or her strength.¡±

    ¡°Even if he has a thousand techniques, I can sweep through them all with a single de strike. Without a skill that can fix the heavens and earth in ce, what use is there in learning so many Origin Skills?¡± the sturdy youth said disdainfully as he turned around to leave. ¡°Let¡¯s go, Jiang Xishui. I thought that he would have some kind of a dazzling performance after hiding for eight years, but it seems that¡¯s all he has. The top three of this year¡¯spetition will not change at all ¨C it will only be between me, you, and He Niliu.¡±

    His tone was one of disappointment.

    ¡°Are you not going to keep watching? Maybe this brat has some more tricks up his sleeve,¡± the purple-clothed youth said.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to keep watching. Since even Liu Yuan was defeated, there shouldn¡¯t be anyone else who will challenge him. It will probably be smarter to keep an eye on Gu Qingluo. After all, she is from the Gu n, and should be closely watched.¡±

    Jiang Xishui frowned. ¡°I feel like people from the Gu n are the people least worth keeping tabs on.¡±

    Even though he said that, he still left with Duan Jiangshan.

    One thing that Duan Jiangshan said was correct: Liu Yuan¡¯s defeat disyed Su Chen¡¯s strength to everyone, and no one carelessly challenged Su Chen anymore.

    This made Su Chen¡¯s next few battles much more rxed. In fact, two of the people he challenged admitted defeat before the battle even began.

    Without further incident, Su Chen reached the top 50.

    Bai Yihong was infuriated.

    But no matter how angry he got, it didn¡¯t matter. Even though Liu Yuan hadn¡¯t finished the assignment, he had been greatly injured, and Bai Yihong would have to appease him by giving him some payment. Otherwise, if Liu Yuan was unhappy and informed Su Chen that Bai Yihong had instigated all of this, he would be doomed.

    After finishing his battles for the day, Su Chen was no longer interested in watching the others battle, so he returned to his Origin Energy Tower alone.

    To Su Chen, attending the end-of-yearpetition was just to obey his master¡¯s bidding. He still ced most of his focus on his research.

    As he walked along, lost in thought, he arrived near a bamboo forest. Past this bamboo forest was the Origin Energy Tower.

    Su Chen was just about to enter when he saw a ck cat emerge.

    The cat¡¯s fur was a glossy ck, and its jade-green eyes glowed as it crouched within the forest, staring at Su Chen intently.

    When Su Chen saw this, heughed, ¡°Where did youe from?¡±

    As he spoke, he reached his hand out to pet the cat.

    But right when he bent down to reach for it, the ck cat wed at Su Chen. Su Chen didn¡¯t mind, and he moved to dodge it quite casually. However, as he dodged it, the cat¡¯s w suddenly sped up, slicing out at Su Chen¡¯s face. Suddenly, Su Chen felt an ominous pressure wash over him.

    He knew it wasn¡¯t good. Su Chen hurriedly tilted his body backwards, raising his speed to the limit and narrowly dodging the w.

    The cat¡¯s w narrowly scraped past his face, leaving behind traces of blood. A prating energy surged into his body, mangling half of Su Chen¡¯s face.

    Even so, the danger had not yet ceased. Just as he dodged that w, Su Chen heard a strange wind whistling.

    The wind was very quiet. If Su Chen hadn¡¯t practiced his hearing skill for nearly ten years, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to discover it.

    The noise came from behind him, but it was headed right in his direction.

    Someone was ambushing him!

    At this moment, Su Chen had just dodged the cat¡¯s w. He was in mid-air, and there was nothing he could use to leverage himself.

    The ambush was already flying towards him at high speed.

    He had nowhere to run!

    Just at this most critical moment, Su Chen raised his hand and punched!

    BOOOM!!!

    An explosion of thunder sounded forth from Su Chen¡¯s fist.

    It was like the Thunder de, but it was also not.

    The thunderous explosion was not from the Thunder de¡¯s attack; rather, it was the result of the explosion of Origin Energy that had beenpressed to its extreme limit.

    BANG!!

    His fist mmed into the oing object.

    It was a sword.

    A ck, thin sword.

    This sword was a frighteningly sharp Origin Tool.

    The collision between Su Chen¡¯s fist and the sword sent shockwaves everywhere.

    Then, in that brief moment of contact, the ck, thin sword began to disy a few cracks.

    These cracks began to spread as they gradually covered the entire sword.

    Bang!

    It shattered and sent fragments flying everywhere.

    The wielder of the sword felt his heart jerk.

    His Assassination Sword had been destroyed by the opponent in one hit?

    His iron-like fist continued to power through the sword fragments, the momentum mming into the opponent and washing over him like a wave, sending him flying.

    At that moment, Su Chen finallynded and rolled to his feet, dodging the ck cat¡¯s attack. He then grabbed the cat firmly by the throat as he nced around his surroundings.

    There was no Origin Formation.

    Su Chen was briefly caught off-guard before he realized why no supervisors hade. Because this was currentlypetition season, battles were taking ce all over the ce. Origin Energy fluctuations would be extremely turbulent, and even the supervisors would have had trouble detecting their precise location.

    No wonder his assassin had chosen this ce to make a move. They had been prepared for this long in advance.

    The assassin was quite meticulous and paid close attention to detail.

    As he was thinking about this, he turned around to face the person who had ambushed him.

    The ambusher had been seriously injured by Su Chen¡¯s fist.

    Hey on the ground and yelled, ¡°How can this be? How can this be? What kind of Origin Skill is this? How did you destroy my Assassination Sword in one blow?¡±

    He had witnessed Su Chen¡¯s battle with Liu Yuan and had confirmed that even though Su Chen¡¯s fists were powerful, they shouldn¡¯t have been this powerful.

    Destroying a Grade Nine Origin Tool in one blow.

    That kind of strength was simply too shocking.

    This wasn¡¯t the strength that someone in the Qi Drawing Realm should possess at all.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t reply, instead sucking in a long breath of air. As he breathed, the half of his face that was untouched paled slightly.

    Su Chen gently sighed and said, ¡°You wasted so much of my blood all in one go. Tell me, how are you nning on repaying me?¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 121: Armor-Piercing Awl

    Chapter 121: Armor-Piercing Awl

    Su Chen grabbed the person who had injured him and pulled away the head covering, only to find himself face-to-face with a youth he had never seen before. He should be a student from the Hidden Dragon Institute, but Su Chen didn¡¯t recognize him.

    A thought surfaced in Su Chen¡¯s heart. He grabbed the assassin¡¯s arm and saw an imprint on the back of his hand. Understanding dawned on Su Chen: ¡°He wasmissioned to assassinate me?¡±

    That student stared at Su Chen with fear. ¡°I......¡±

    Su Chen cut him off. ¡°You don¡¯t need to tell me who entrusted you with this task. I have no desire to know.¡±

    He grabbed the student and the ck cat and returned to the Origin Tower.

    When Su Chen entered the Origin Energy Tower, Iron Cliff came to greet him. He nced at the cat and the person in Su Chen¡¯s hands and asked, ¡°Who is this?¡±

    ¡°A new research subject,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Upon hearing this, Iron Cliff cracked a smile.

    The previous research subject, Hong Ming, hadn¡¯tsted for long. He had died after three years. After that, Su Chen didn¡¯t have anyone to test his skills on. Even though Su Chen could have bought many ves, he continued to follow his principle of only making those who had attempted to kill him his research subjects. This could be considered his bottom line.

    Unfortunately, in the past few years, not many people hade looking for trouble, so he hadn¡¯t found an appropriate research subject.

    Today, someone had finally emerged. Both Su Chen and Iron Cliff felt immediate happiness.

    The experiments that had been put on hold could finally resume.

    The assassin didn¡¯t know what kind of fate was awaiting him. He was still hoping that Su Chen would show mercy on him.

    Unfortunately, Su Chen wasn¡¯t interested in who had instigated the assassination attempt and didn¡¯t care about the price on his head ¨C all Su Chen needed was another physical body.

    He didn¡¯t even want to know what the assassin¡¯s name was.

    After carrying the assassin back into his research station and forcing him to drink arge vial of medicine, Su Chen tossed him into a pit filled with ck mud and returned to his room.

    He then pulled out a vial of jade-green medicine and took a small sip. His originally pale skin began to flush with color again.

    ¡°Master used Armor-Piercing Awl?¡± Iron Cliff asked upon seeing Su Chen¡¯splexion.

    Armor-Piercing Awl was the Origin Skill that Ma Renze had used before.

    It was incredibly strong for an Origin Skill that didn¡¯t require a bloodline. It could prate fleshly defenses and was also quite effective against heavy armor, which was why it was named Armor-Piercing Awl.

    This Origin Skill should only have been able to be cultivated after the Yang Opening Realm, and the skill¡¯s energy consumption was enormous. However, Su Chen broke through that restriction, allowing him to use it even at the Qi Drawing Realm.

    Su Chen¡¯s biggest deficiency was that he had no bloodline. As a result, the power of his Origin Skills was extremely limited.

    Even though he had developed the Erupting Firehawk, its strength only put him equal with merely a few members from the Bloodline Nobility ns. If he wanted to really surpass an expert, that would still be difficult for him.

    If Su Chen wanted to break through the bloodline restrictions, he absolutely needed to make a breakthrough at the Origin Skill level as well. He needed a killing technique that he could call his own rather than simply winning by using variousbinations of Origin Skills. Thus, during these past few years, he had been trying to lower the requirements for Armor-Piercing Awl¡¯s use.

    In the end, he actually seeded.

    If the Erupting Firehawk waspared to the strength of a bear, the Erupting Firebird was roughly equivalent to the strength of 12 bears; the strengthened Erupting Firebird, 18 bears; the Erupting Firehawk, 26 bears; and the strengthened Erupting Firehawk, 36 bears. Armor-Piercing Awl could reach the strength of 72 bears, double that of the strengthened Firehawk. When factoring in its prating ability, it really was a frighteningly powerful technique. If that wasn¡¯t the case, there would have been no way for him to have been strong enough to destroy an Origin Tool in a single blow.

    But the price he paid was the heavy burden be ced on his physical body every time he used Armor-Piercing Awl.

    In fact, Su Chen activated this Origin Skill by expending his life force.

    Thankfully, as long as he didn¡¯t use it too much, he could recover simply by drinking Vitality Medicine.

    ¡°Mmm, that guy was not very strong, but he set up quite a good trap. My moment of overconfidence almost caused me to fall right into it. Setting up traps for others is quite fun, but being set up is not fun at all. Right, how did Cloud Leopard do today?¡±

    Iron Cliff shook his head. ¡°He won four battles and lost five, so his ranking sits at 37th ce. He is currently sulking in his room.¡±

    ¡°Give me the current ranking list.

    Iron Cliff handed a piece of paper to Su Chen.

    As he scanned the names, familiar faces popped into Su Chen¡¯s head.

    After a long time, he said, ¡°It seems like that¡¯s all we can do now......¡±

    On the morning of the seventh day, the end-of-yearpetition resumed.

    Just like before, Su Chen challenged the 40th ranked student. After easily defeating him, he did not challenge the 30th ranked student; rather, he challenged the 34th ranked student.

    That person¡¯s name was Long Huan, and he was one of the students who had defeated Cloud Leopard yesterday.

    As Su Chen stepped on the stage, he didn¡¯t waste any words. He directlyunched a strengthened Erupting Firehawk.

    After making many improvements to it throughout the years, his strengthened Erupting Firehawk no longer required a me Crystal to activate anymore.

    The massive Firehawk surged forwards. When faced with this powerful attack, Long Huan was forced to treat it seriously. The de in his hand sliced through the air, mming into Su Chen¡¯s Erupting Firehawk and releasing a brilliant light.

    Anyone who could enter the top 40 were all true Heaven¡¯s Chosen. Their instinct, strength, and battle experience were all far superior to their ssmates¡¯.

    Thus, Long Huan was not particrly weak. His moves were stable, and every de strike caused the surrounding wind to churn, giving him an incredibly forceful aura. Even though he was just a Qi Drawing Realm cultivator, his movements gave him quite the imposing manner.

    Unfortunately, his opponent was Su Chen. When faced with this calm, steady style, Su Chen sighed, ¡°I apologize.¡±

    An instantter, one Erupting Firehawk after another began emerging from Su Chen¡¯s hands.

    ¡°This is......¡± Shock appeared in Long Huan¡¯s eyes.

    He had expended quite a bit of energy earlier just to block a single Firehawk. Now, Su Chen was sending out a steady stream of Erupting Firehawks.

    Although these Firehawks were not the strengthened variant, there was no way he could resist them all.

    In just a brief moment, numerous Firehawks had appeared in Su Chen¡¯s hand, and even more continued to charge forward.

    Long Huan knew the situation was not good. He couldn¡¯t let Su Chen continue to form so many Erupting Firehawks. His de moved through the air, sending a wild, untamed wave of energy at Su Chen.

    Warriors should always be advancing when battling mages.

    Even so, at the same time he struck, Su Chen¡¯s eyes shed with light. As if something were restraining his movements, Long Huan paused for just a moment. In that instant, Su Chen waved his arm. ¡°Go! Hawk Flock, attack!¡±

    Whoosh! Arge group of Firehawks swooped forward simultaneously, swallowing Long Huan up.

    The massive momentum of thebined attack sent Long Huan flying.

    As he passed out, a thought appeared in Long Huan¡¯s mind: What a terrifying attack. Things are going to getplicated now.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 122: Brute Force

    Chapter 122: Brute Force

    Su Chen had controlled his strength very carefully. Even though Long Huan had been knocked out, he hadn¡¯t been fatally injured.

    The referee inspected Long Huan. After confirming that Long Huan hadn¡¯t been seriously injured, the referee waved a yellow g.

    This meant that thepetitor was fine but unable to continue battling.

    Coincidentally, Cloud Leopard challenged Long Huan immediately afterwards.

    Because Long Huan was absent, Cloud Leopard won by default.

    There were so many battles happening that it was hard to avoid getting injured. Circumstances like this happened every day, and others only thought that Cloud Leopard had gotten lucky.

    But very quickly, it seemed that fortune was smiling on Cloud Leopard.

    In the next battle, his opponent was once again knocked out by the opponent.

    The person who had knocked out his opponent was again Su Chen. His Erupting Firehawk was basically the pinnacle of his achievements in the realm of Ancient Arcana Techniques, and it was a nightmare to deal with for most people.

    The Erupting Firehawk was originally one of the trump cards that Su Chen had tried so hard to keep hidden, but now he was basically forced to use it in every battle.

    At a moment¡¯s notice, ten or so Firehawks would spring to life and fiercely attack his opponent, overwhelming them with sheer force.

    Of course, not every opponent had to be knocked out, but even if they weren¡¯t knocked out they were often injured after sustaining that powerful of an attack, and they had likely expended arge amount of Origin Energy to deal with the attack.

    Cloud Leopard¡¯s challenges were exceedingly precise. Even though there was a set rest time, recovering to one¡¯s full capacity in that short of a time was basically impossible.

    Just like that, five battles in a row, Cloud Leopard chased after Su Chen¡¯s heels all the way up the rankings. Every time Su Chen defeated an opponent, the next challenger was always Cloud Leopard.

    Anyone could instantly tell what was going on.

    ¡°Dammit, this is basically fraud! Su Chen, that bastard, he¡¯s helping pave the way for Cloud Leopard!¡±

    ¡°What can we do about it? If it¡¯s not against the rules that the Hidden Dragon Institute has set, we can only watch even if he¡¯s cheating. It¡¯s your fault for not having such a powerful leader.¡±

    ¡°Who knew that Su Chen was like this? Seven days ago he was just a cowardly bastard, but now he is suddenly a leader?¡±

    ¡°If I had known that he was hiding his depth the entire time, I would have gone to pay my respects to him too.

    ¡°Psh, isn¡¯t it just a ranking? If it¡¯s not his own strength, what difference does it make even if his ranking increases?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong. Apparently, this end-of-yearpetition is different from before.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s different about it?¡±

    ¡°That I¡¯m not too sure about, but it¡¯s different. Otherwise, why would Su Chen try to force Cloud Leopard¡¯s ranking up when he has never done so in the past?¡±

    ¡°What a bunch of crap.¡±

    The spectators discussed amongst themselves.

    No matter what they all thought, one thing about Su Chen was correct: Even if Su Chen was cheating, there wasn¡¯t a problem as long as it didn¡¯t break the rules the Hidden Dragon Institute had set.

    In reality, even if Su Chen helped raise Cloud Leopard¡¯s ranking, those who had been defeated today could challenge Cloud Leopard tomorrow and bring him back down.

    Thus, even though Su Chen could bring Cloud Leopard up, it wasn¡¯t easy for Cloud Leopard to sit there in a stable position for an extended period of time.

    On the eighth day, Su Chen continued to challenge his way upwards.

    This time, his opponent was the 20th-ranked Mou Wujiang.

    Mou Wujiang was from the East Flow Region and had the Moon-Howling Wind Wolf Bloodline. During the regional exams, he had entered the Institute with the number one status from the East Flow Region. Even though his ranking had decreased slightly after all these years in the Hidden Dragon Institute, he was still very powerful.

    But against Su Chen, Mou Wujiang¡¯s strength wasn¡¯t very useful.

    After a bitter battle, Su Chen directly knocked out Mou Wujiang, entering the top 20.

    This scene stunned the bystanders.

    Even so, something more stunning was about to happen.

    While Su Chen was challenging upwards, Cloud Leopard was being challenged by those ranked lower than him.

    Even though he tried his hardest to counter them, he lost in rapid session. The ranking that Su Chen had worked so hard to earn for him slowly began to slip away as Cloud Leopard fell back to 30th ce.

    At this point, he had been challenged 6 times already and reserved the right to refuse any further challenges.

    At this moment, Cloud Leopard did something.

    He challenged Su Chen!

    What happened next almost caused the spectators¡¯ eyes to pop out.

    Su Chen surrendered!

    The crowd was thrown into an uproar.

    What was despicable?

    This was despicable.

    What was shameless?

    This was shameless!

    Su Chen even used himself as a stepping stone to send Cloud Leopard into 20th ce, causing him to fall down into 21st ce.

    But evidently, 21st ce wouldn¡¯t be Su Chen¡¯s final position. He was just sending Cloud Leopard higher off from his own shoulders.

    It wasn¡¯t until now that everyone understood: to Su Chen, entering the top 20 was never something that he needed to worry about.

    This entire situation almost seemed like a joke.

    When Su Chen first entered the end-of-yearpetition, everyone looked down on him because they believed that he was a coward and a weakling.

    At that point in time, when Cloud Leopard was walking with Su Chen, everyone thought that Cloud Leopard was supporting Su Chen.

    As time had gone by, people believed that Su Chen¡¯s former glory had been left behind. But in just seven or eight years, the situation had once again been reversed. Su Chen forced his way onto the Dragon Transformation List and then began to bring Cloud Leopard higher.

    The tables had turned so quickly that many people couldn¡¯t understand what had happened.

    But even if they didn¡¯t understand, many people were unwilling to sit and watch Cloud Leopard¡¯s rapid ascent.

    It wasn¡¯t just an issue with the method Su Chen had chosen. It had a lot more to do with the existing hierarchy of bloodlines.

    For one person without a bloodline to enter the top 20 was already not a good feeling for most of them.

    Worse than one person without a bloodline surpassing them, however, was two people without bloodlines surpassing them.

    Thus, many people agreed that they needed to pull Cloud Leopard out of the top 20 on the ninth day ofpetition by any means possible.

    But on the 9th day, Su Chen continued to challenge higher, and many people were forced to give up on that idea.

    This time, Su Chen challenged 11th ce Hao Mingyang.

    After defeating him, Su Chen lifted Cloud Leopard up again.

    Now that Cloud Leopard was at 11th ce, most people wouldn¡¯t be able to reach him even if they wanted to challenge him.

    Even more annoying was that people had the right to refuse any challenges after six. This rule was originally instituted to protect students from being worn down by battles of attrition. Unexpectedly, Su Chen had turned it around to protect Cloud Leopard. Because he was already in 11th ce, even if Cloud Leopard were to lose all of his subsequent matches and fall to 17th ce, he would still not be removed from the top 20.

    This loophole became Cloud Leopard¡¯s clutch, supporting him in his seat in the top 20.

    Of course, that didn¡¯t mean there was no way for them to suppress him.

    The easiest tactic was simply to challenge the individuals above Cloud Leopard once Cloud Leopard himself couldn¡¯t be challenged anymore.

    If people were willing to give up their rankings and go down, they could still suppress Cloud Leopard.

    However, this implied that enough of the elite students needed to cooperate to achieve this.

    That night, a group of unsatisfied students formed an alliance, determined to teach Su Chen and Cloud Leopard a lesson.

    The 10th and final day of the end-of-yearpetition arrived.

    On this day, everyone made their final preparations, determined to make onest push.

    Unsurprisingly, Cloud Leopard was challenged six times in a row.

    Cloud Leopard just surrendered immediately, sliding from 17th ce all the way to 23rd ce. Su Chen fell to 24th.

    At this moment, Su Chen made a move. He challenged the 14th-ranked student and defeated him, then gave the victory to Cloud Leopard.

    Immediately afterward, however, a group of students also began to move, challenging the higher-ranked students. The students who were originally ranked 10th to 13th were all defeated, causing Su Chen¡¯s and Cloud Leopard¡¯s rankings to further decline.

    Because the same student could only challenge the same person once a day, no matter how much Su Chen charged forwards, it was impossible for him to then concede the ranking to Cloud Leopard.

    It looked like Cloud Leopard would be unable to squeeze his way into the top 20 in the end.

    When they saw that this eyesore was about to be squeezed out of the top 20, a trace of a smile appeared on everyone¡¯s face.

    At that moment, however, Cloud Leopard issued another challenge.

    But this time, the person he challenged wasn¡¯t Su Chen, but Wang Doushan.

    Wang Doushan surrendered.

    Whoosh!

    Cloud Leopard once again returned to the top 20.

    Everyone was dumbstruck.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 123: Carried Along By The Wind

    Chapter 123: Carried Along By The Wind

    Above thepetition stage were two rows of seats.

    These seats were reserved for the top 20 students.

    The students who sat at those seats could change at any time, and no one could know when they would be removed from that seat.

    Some spots changed very rapidly, like Cloud Leopard¡¯s. Every time he surged up, he was quickly knocked back down by others. As time went on, he just stopped sitting down altogether.

    But some spots evidently would not change at all.

    For instance, the top 5.

    Three males and two females sat atop the five most elevated seats.

    The person at the front was a male with long hair going over his back. His expression waszy, and it seemed as if he didn¡¯t have a care in the world.

    There truly wasn¡¯t anything to worry about. Ever since the end-of-yearpetition had begun, he had sat at this position. No one had even challenged him, let alone shake his position.

    He was called He Niliu.

    The two people sitting beneath him were the giant-de wielding Duan Jiangshan and the purple-robed prince Jiang Xishui who had appeared earlier.

    These three people, along with Ji Hanyan and Yue Longsha, were the ones who had dominated the Hundred Refinements Pavilion leaderboard.

    He Niliu was first, while Duan Jiangshan was second. Even though these two had concealed their identities in the Hundred Refinements Pavilion, their actions were not subtle at all. They had controlled the first and second ce spots on the Dragon Transformation List ever since the first end-of-yearpetition. Concealing their identities in the Hundred Refinements Pavilion was simply a way to show off; even those with the lowest intelligent would probably be able to discern that the two concealed names belonged to them.

    These two believed that they were being very inconspicuous and low-key. Even until now, the top two names on the Hundred Refinements Pavilion¡¯s registry of room clearances remained concealed.

    Beneath the top three were Ji Hanyan and Gu Qingluo.

    Ji Hanyan and Gu Qingluo were significantly more at odds than the top three, who cooperated with each other.

    Every time Ji Hanyan turned around, her gaze always drifted over Gu Qingluo¡¯s head. Gu Qingluo, who appeared to be smiling faintly and delicately, would never look at her directly either.

    Even though they did not directly oppose each other, they used their own methods to look down on each other.

    The positions these five upied were the stablest amongst their peers of the same year. Virtually no one challenged them, and if they were challenged, most people ¡°just wanted to know how great the gap in strength really was¡±.

    Wang Doushan could be considered as ranked sixth, and his position was quite well-defined as well. Not many people could shake him from his position.

    But in the past few days, he suddenly stopped advancing, hovering around 10th ce for some unknown reason.

    Until just now.

    When Wang Doushan immediately surrendered, everyone finally understood what was going on.

    That damned bastard had allied himself with Su Chen to boost up Cloud Leopard.

    After Wang Doushan surrendered, Cloud Leopard¡¯s ranking was brought up to 10th ce. Not including the top 5, only Yue Longsha, Wang Xuan¡¯an, Zhou Doni, and Yuan Mengshi were now ahead of him.

    Upon seeing Wang Doushan surrender, the crowd began to mor.

    ¡°That bastard Wang Doushan, what is he doing?¡± The fiery Wang Xuan¡¯an mmed his fist into the back of his chair in anger.

    ¡°You saw it for yourself. They¡¯re pushing him higher,¡± Zhou Doni said darkly. ¡°I already heard that he has been hanging around those without bloodlines, so thises as no surprise to me. One person without a bloodline reaching the top 20 is already a great shame, but now two have managed to sneak their way in.¡±

    ¡°If they can push him higher, can we not drag him down?¡± Yuan Mengshi suddenly said.

    The three of them stared at each other and then began tough darkly.

    Very quickly, a student ranked below Cloud Leopard issued a challenge to Wang Xuan¡¯an.

    Unsurprisingly, Wang Xuan¡¯an was quickly defeated, and Cloud Leopard¡¯s ranking fell a spot.

    Next, someone challenged Zhou Doni, Yuan Mengshi, and the others, causing Cloud Leopard¡¯s position to continue to fall. Wang Xuan¡¯an and the others could then issue a new challenge and reim their position.

    As a result of thisplicated exchange, Cloud Leopard¡¯s ranking once again dropped below fifteenth ce.

    Just when everyone thought that Cloud Leopard was on the verge of being squeezed out, he once again issued a challenge.

    This time, he challenged Yue Longsha.

    Yue Longsha surrendered.

    ¡°Yue Longsha, you......!¡± Everyone stared at Yue Longsha in shock.

    When had this woman allied herself with them?

    Yue Longsha maintained her simple, elegant demeanor. She said, ¡°Cloud Leopard¡¯s true strength isn¡¯t that weak anyways. He just isn¡¯t suited for doing battle atop a stage, so it¡¯s not necessarily a disgrace to let him in. Why not be generous and just let him off the hook.¡±

    ¡°Ha, it sounds nice when you put it that way, but I just don¡¯t like seeing him up here with us, and I don¡¯t want to let hime up,¡± Wang Xuan¡¯an harrumphed. ¡°Yue Longsha, if you can bring him up, we can just push him back down! I¡¯d like to see whose side has more people.¡±

    Yue Longsha knitted her eyebrows and was about to say something when Ji Hanyan interjected with a coldugh, ¡°You¡¯ll need my permission to do that.¡±

    Yue Longsha was originally sixth. Cloud Leopard¡¯s victory over her had given him her position. Because he had already been challenged six times, suppressing Cloud Leopard required them to defeat Ji Hanyan.

    In other words, this would only be possible if Ji Hanyan gave her approval.

    Wang Xuan¡¯an was caught off-guard. He stared at Ji Hanyan. ¡°Hanyan, you can¡¯t possibly be thinking of letting this person without a bloodline into our group, can you?¡±

    Ji Hanyan didn¡¯t even nce at him. ¡°It makes me happy. It has nothing to do with you.¡±

    When Wang Xuan¡¯an and the others heard this, they finally understood.

    This damned Ji Hanyan had chosen to stand on Su Chen¡¯s side.

    Even if they were to suppress Cloud Leopard again, Ji Hanyan might even surrender just like Yue Longsha had, bringing him back up.

    They all shifted their gazes to Gu Qingluo.

    Gu Qingluo first sipped her tea before she said faintly, ¡°My strength is somewhat weak. I am only sitting in fourth ce because everyone has been supporting me so far. I do not have any confidence that I can keep this spot. Even though I want to help you all, I do not have the assurance that I will be able to regain my position. I apologize......¡±

    This meant that she was unwilling to help them suppress Cloud Leopard.

    Everyone was shocked. They turned to look at Jiang Xishui, Duan Jiangshan, and He Niliu.

    Even before they replied, everyone knew what their answer would be.

    Indeed, Jiang Xishui fanned himself gently and then looked at Ji Hanyan andughed, ¡°Since Hanyan is unwilling to give way, how could I do something Hanyan doesn¡¯t like?¡±

    This person was just like Bai Yihong, who was also pursuing Ji Hanyan. Unfortunately, Ji Hanyan never returned his interest.

    Even so, Jiang Xishui couldn¡¯t possibly go against Ji Hanyan¡¯s wishes.

    Duan Jiangshan rolled his eyes and stared at the sky. ¡°Don¡¯t bother me with these silly quarrels.¡±

    He Niliu didn¡¯t even spare them a nce. He saidzily, ¡°Switching seats back and forth...... is very bothersome.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    None of the top 5 were willing to give each other any ground. This meant that there was no longer any possibility of keeping Cloud Leopard tied down.

    The group of people nced amongst each other,pletely dazed.

    It wasn¡¯t just them who were dazed ¨C the entire group of people watching from below was also stunned.

    No one expected Cloud Leopard to be supported by so many people.

    Su Chen, Wang Doushan, Yue Longsha, Ji Hanyan, Gu Qingluo......

    With so many people pushing a single person higher, they were no longer using brute-force tactics. Rather, Cloud Leopard was basically being carried along by the wind!

    The tenth day of the end-of-yearpetition drew to a close.

    Cloud Leopard secured his ce in the top 20 with a 6th-ce finish, giving him the right to participate in the uing battle.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 124: Training 1

    Chapter 124: Training (1)

    The end-of-yearpetition was finished.

    This was just the end of another school year to many people, but this was only the beginning for those who were victorious.

    The day after the end-of-yearpetition concluded, Su Chen and the others were called to the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s Goose Cloud Pce.

    The pce was already filled with nearly a hundred students by the time they arrived.

    Students not part of Su Chen¡¯s year were also present. The strongest students within each year were all gathered here. Everyone also had another simr characteristic: every person here was in the Qi Drawing Realm. Only students below the Blood Boiling Realm were eligible for the Competition for the Ruins.

    An elder was standing at the front of the pce and gazing at the assembled crowd. He cleared his throat and said, ¡°Quiet, please!¡±

    The noise in the hall began to slowly die down.

    The old man said, ¡°I¡¯m very happy to see you all. The ones standing here today are, without a doubt, the most talented and outstanding disciples the Institute has produced. I am called Si Mingli, and I am delighted to be one of your training instructors. Perhaps some may wonder why a training instructor like me has seemingly appeared out of nowhere; I will address this shortly. We have called you here today to make an announcement. There might be a few among you who are aware of this now, but some still don¡¯t know; in any case, it¡¯s about time for us to make it public anyways.¡±

    As the old man spoke, news of the conflict between Long Sang and the Gravel Lizard Tribe over the Arcana Ruins began to spread. Upon hearing that they were going to enter those ruins, all of the students became incredibly excited.

    Si Mingliughed coldly, ¡°Don¡¯t get so excited yet. I need to remind you all of one thing: the ruins are incredibly dangerous. You all know that the Ferocious Race and the Human Race have always harbored enmity towards each other. The only reason we are willing to call a temporary truce is because we don¡¯t want this matter to blow up. If we elevate hostilities, we will only reap less benefits. However, this doesn¡¯t mean that we will necessarily be peaceful with one another. After entering the ruins, there will definitely be conflict between them and us. Remember, the battles you¡¯ll face aren¡¯t like those in the Refinement Pavilion but true life-or-death battles. We will not show mercy to them, nor will those barbarians show mercy to us. Thus, this mission will require you to put your lives on the line; whether you return alive depends on your ability.¡±

    His words sent a chill into everyone¡¯s hearts.

    Si Mingli continued, ¡°Are you afraid? Don¡¯t worry. If you are afraid, there is still time. Only forty people are allowed on this mission, not 100; thus, not everyone here today will be selected to enter the ruins. Among you, another 60 people will be eliminated, and only the remaining 40 will have the right to participate in this expedition as the true elites amongst all of the Institute¡¯s students.

    Upon hearing those words, thoughts of retreating began to surface.

    Si Mingli said, ¡°Of course, whoever is willing to remain and is able to achieve a service of great merit for the human race will receive corresponding benefits.¡±

    ¡°What kind of benefits?¡± a student asked.

    Normally, this would have been a rude interruption, but in this case it couldn¡¯t havee at a better time.

    Si Mingli gently smiled. ¡°Anyone who enters the ruins, regardless of how much they contribute or whether they survive, will receive a 3rd-tier Hero¡¯s Medal. Other benefits will be awarded based on contribution. If someone performs a particrly meritorious service, he or she will be allowed to select a treasure from the Emperor¡¯s storehouses of corresponding value.¡±

    Upon hearing those words, the pce erupted with conversation.

    The Hero¡¯s Medal was a unique medal within Long Sang country. Not only did it carry a lot of prestige and weight behind it, but it also gave one many unique privileges.

    If Su Chen were to obtain such a medal, the Six Great ns would need to think twice about targeting him again. Killing him might incite not only Shi Kaihuang but also the Long Sang Army into action.

    Because of this, obtaining a Hero¡¯s Medal was never easy.

    A 3rd-tier Hero¡¯s Medal was at the lowest tier, but there were still only a handful distributed every year.

    The prospect of obtaining a 3rd-tier Hero¡¯s Medal upon entering the ruins, regardless of survival, was enough to cause countless students¡¯ blood to boil.

    They could obtain honor and prestige along with actual material benefits.

    In addition, this was only the beginning; if they were able to make a significant contribution, they could enter the kingdom¡¯s treasury and be the subject of even more envy and yearning.

    There would be great rewards for any heroes.

    Forcing people to enter such a dangerous situation wasn¡¯t appropriate. After all, most of these exceptional students were from Bloodline Nobility ns. Instead, they had basically dangled a fat, juicy carrot before the students to encourage them to go.

    Indeed, many students who were originally intending to withdraw were suddenly filled with fighting spirit.

    Youths were always filled with anticipation towards the future, but they did not have sufficient experience with the cruelty of reality. It was only natural that the situation had developed to this point with someone leading them around.

    Si Mingli seemed quite happy with everyone¡¯s attitude. Heughed, ¡°We will be entering the ruins three months from now. During these three months, it will be my duty to train you. On one hand, I will train you on how to fight in teams, and you will get to know each other¡¯s battle styles. On the other hand, I will be picking out forty of the most outstanding students amongst you all.¡±

    He specifically emphasized the words ¡°the most outstanding¡±.

    With youths, it was sometimes necessary to use prestige in addition to material benefits.

    There were even asions when the former was more effective than thetter.

    Indeed, the crowd only grew more and more excited, and their fear of the Ferocious Race had also decreased drastically. Si Mingli borrowed this opportunity to describe the contents of the training and announce that training would begin tomorrow.

    The training regimen was split into personal training and regimental activities.

    Apart from generally raising a person¡¯s strength, other skills like ruin examination, neutralizing Origin Formations, understanding Arcana Inscriptions, etc. all needed to be taught by specialized instructors. This was to bring the students up to par with theplexities within the ruins. Every student needed to sign up for a special ss. In this selection, a student¡¯s learning ability for each of those subjects would be taken into ount as well. If two students possessed roughly the same amount of strength but one of those students either had prior experience with or was more talented in a certain subject than the other, then that student would be more likely to be chosen.

    Su Chen selected Arcana Inscription Identification. In reality, he was more proficient in Alchemy and Medicine Concoction. However, he had only briefly studied Arcana Inscriptions with an Instructor, while for thetter he was already proficient enough to be considered an Instructor himself.

    Cloud Leopard selected Ruins Examination. He was already extremely proficient in concealing himself and scouting out a location, but he did not have much experience doing so in ruins. Nheless, selecting this ss would allow him to demonstrate what he was good at.

    After selecting a special ss, everyone returned to their own ces to rest.

    This was thest night they would spend within their own school residences.

    From tomorrow onwards, all of the students would leave their original dormitories and move to the training grounds for three months. During this period of time, all of the students would live together.

    This was done so that the students could be more familiar with ande to know each other better, as well as build up a rapport amongst them. They were only going to be able to cooperate in battle if they viewed each other asrades.

    Those who loved to stir up internal strife would definitely be a burden on the battlefield. Getting rid of those people was fine.

    Because of this, the first rule of training was that there was to be absolutely no internal battles.

    Anyone who dared make trouble for no reason or for something dumb like ¡°I simply found it annoying to look at him¡± would be exposed to the scorching sun for three days. Bloodline distinctions were even more intensely avoided; it was forbidden to even mention them.

    At this moment, everyone was just of the human race ¨C there was no more distinction on difference in bloodline level!

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 125: Training 2

    Chapter 125: Training (2)

    On the second day, Su Chen, Cloud Leopard, and Wang Doushan woke up together and headed for the training grounds.

    The training grounds were not within the Hidden Dragon Institute but within the Thousand Ashes Gorge.

    Based on what Si Mingli had said, all of the students needed to head out early in the morning and arrive before sundown to construct their own tents.

    In actuality, the training had already begun.

    Reaching the Thousand Ashes Gorge in a single day was not an easy task. It was quite a long trek, but there were also many Vicious Beasts along the way.

    Team Bright had taken two whole days to reach the location in the past.

    Because of this, students needed the ability to avoid confrontation much more than rawbat strength if they wanted to reach the training grounds in a single day.

    Without a doubt, Cloud Leopard was extremely talented in this regard.

    No Vicious Beast could evade his detection.

    The three of them moved at a rapid pace, charging through Falling Eagle Mountain without even stopping. Finally, they arrived at the training grounds in 8th, 9th, and 10th ce. The only reason they hadn¡¯t gotten there first was because the fatty Wang Doushan had slowed them down. After cultivating Devouring the Heavens, hisbat ability had greatly increased, but his speed had been adversely affected as a result.

    In that sense, the fatty was better suited for stage battles than for realbat.

    As one of the first people to arrive, Su Chen and the others had a lot of freedom to choose where to set up their tent.

    The Thousand Ashes Gorge was next to ake and surrounded by mountains. The scenery was beautiful, but Vicious Beasts were everywhere. The best location to set up a tent allowed a team to avoid danger to the greatest degree.

    The three of them each chose a good location for themselves, pulled out a tent and frame from their Origin Rings, and set up their campgrounds. As the other students continued to arrive, the Thousand Ashes Gorge began to fill with the sound ofughter and chatter.

    Nightfall had arrived by the time thest student arrived.

    A brawny, male silhouette, clearly that of an Instructor, appeared and said in a booming voice, ¡°I am Yu Chengjiao, yourmander. Truth be told, you lot have greatly disappointed me. Perhaps you think that you are elite, but in my eyes you are all worthless from head to toe. I would rathermand a toon ofmon troops than this group of so-called geniuses. Twenty five of you werete to a simple rendezvous exercise...... everyone who waste will have toplete the Mountain-Carrying Punishment.¡±

    As he spoke, he upended his palm, and twenty five students flew into the air. It was precisely the aforementioned twenty fiveters.

    The moment those twenty five people emerged from the ranks, twenty five poles with buckets attached to the sides flew forwards,nding on them. Even with their strength, this group of students felt their knees almost buckle under the load. Smoke swirled within the buckets attached to the poles. This smoke was actually a type of refined stone. Even though it assumed the form of smoke, it was incredibly heavy. It took one hundred bulls to hold up one of these loads, and the punishment was worthy of its name.

    The twenty fiveters were faced with the Mountain-Carrying Punishment. They needed to bear this load for two hours, whether they were sitting or walking as a kind of tempering. Undoubtedly, this left a bitter taste in their mouths.

    But the others wouldn¡¯t get off much better.

    Because in the following days, they were going to be trained by Commander Yu Chengjiao.

    Yu Chengjiao¡¯s training methods were simple yet brutal. He first split everyone into teams of three, then forced them to battle amongst each other within the nearby forests.

    Those who lost would need to endure the Mountain-Carrying Punishment, while those who were victorious would continue to do battle until they lost.

    Quite simply, everyone would eventually be punished. What differed was that those who were victorious could avoid the Mountain-Carrying Punishment for longer because everyone finished the Mountain-Carrying Punishment all at once.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, individual strength was not as important as teamwork. Not only did they have to be strong, but they also needed to cooperate with andpensate for their teammates¡¯ strengths and weaknesses.

    The teams were drawn at random, with Yu Chengjiao randomly selecting people to be part of teams.

    Because of this, Su Chen was separated from Cloud Leopard and Wang Doushan.

    He was teamed up with two random students, and the three-man team entered the first battle of the training stage.

    Su Chen¡¯s trio was victorious in its first match, but they were defeated in the second match. Almost instantly, a crushing weightnded on Su Chen¡¯s shoulders.

    Su Chen felt his body almost crumple underneath the massive weight.

    At that moment, he heard a voice say, ¡°Gather your Qi in your Middle Sea and nourish the Warm Springs......¡±

    It was Yu Chengjiao¡¯s voice.

    Su Chen kept his surprise in check and followed Yu Chengjiao¡¯s instruction. Immediately, he felt as if the burden on his back had somehow be lighter.

    He instantly understood with some surprise that the Mountain-Carrying Punishment was also a form of cultivation. What Yu Chengjiao had taught him was a body-tempering technique that could increase his strength, using the heavy weight as a cultivation aid. It took half as much time to get double the effect. Since it had gotten easier, Su Chen began to control his breathing.

    Even so, when the Mountain-Carrying Punishment ended, he was so tired that his muscles felt like jelly. Unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t allowed to copse to the ground.

    Punishment was punishment. Even though it had the effect of tempering his physical body, it was still meant as discipline. There were many other ways of tempering himself, and there wasn¡¯t necessarily a need to use this method.

    If he wanted to avoid this punishment in the future, the best way to do so would be to survive longer in tomorrow¡¯s battles. Better cooperation and teamwork was necessary if he wanted to be victorious.

    Perhaps this was what the instructors were trying to show the students.

    Survival and sess within the ruins would require a great deal of cooperation and teamwork.

    Thus, after the day¡¯s training exercise ended, all of the teams began to spend time with each other, identifying each person¡¯s strengths and weaknesses to prepare for the next day of battle.

    Dusk was when the students studied. Other instructors gathered the students based on the specialties they had selected and instructed them.

    Everyone spent the first day either journeying, battling, studying, or discussing.

    Su Chen originally thought that he could find an opportunity to talk with Gu Qingluo, but the truth was that he hadn¡¯t even had the opportunity to think about her ever since the training had begun.

    After lots of discussion and investigation, the three-person teams decided on their battle ns for the next day, and the instructors finally let them rest.

    But on the second day, a new set of rules left everyone dumbfounded.

    The previous three-person teams had been dissolved. Everyone needed to form a new team that wasposed of five people.

    Yu Chengjiao said, ¡°No one knows what will happen within the ruins. Some ruins have the ability to teleport people. If that¡¯s the case, you may not end up with other people once you enter. This means that you will need to be able to form a team quickly with anyone regardless of who you run into, and you must be able to do so quickly and effectively. Thus, your teams will not be set, and the number of people in each team will not be set either. You must be able to quickly adapt to the strengths of any individual and respond ordingly. In addition, I can assign you a mission at any time and in any ce, and you must rely on your own strength toplete these missions.¡±

    As he spoke, Yu Chengjiao waved his hand and said, ¡°Today¡¯s mission is for every team to bring back a Rainbow Mirage Pheasant. As long as you can bring one back before dinner, you will havepleted the mission. But if you are unable to bring one back, prepare to be punished. Don¡¯t worry, it won¡¯t be the Mountain-Carrying Punishment today.¡±

    Heughed and then said with a grating tone, ¡°It will be Thunder Punishment.¡±

    As the name implied, Thunder Punishment involved using electricity to torment others. It definitely was not morefortable than the Mountain-Carrying Punishment, and everyone felt a chill go down their spines when they heard that name.

    ¡°Oh, right, I almost forgot to add one thing,¡± Yu Chengjiao said. ¡°The Thousand Ashes Gorge did not originally contain Rainbow Mirage Pheasants; the Hidden Dragon Institute had to release some here. After the pheasants are released, they will run all over the ce. Whether they are still within the Thousand Ashes Gorge, I cannot say. Most importantly...... we have only released fifteen pheasants. In other words, of the twenty teams here, at least five will not be able toplete the mission, period.¡±

    Everyone nced at each other and then suddenly began yelling as they charged forwards.

    As he watched the students charge madly, Yu Chengjiao let out a sinisterugh.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 126: Hunt 1

    Chapter 126: Hunt (1)

    Of the twenty teams, only seven were able to retrieve a Rainbow Mirage Pheasant in the end. The other eight probably ran out of the Thousand Ashes Gorge to an unknown location.

    Cloud Leopard easilypleted the task. To him, it was not difficult at all.

    Su Chen was unlucky and did notplete the mission, so he got a taste of being physically tempered by thunder and lightning.

    Two teams of students tried to be clever ¨C they thought to themselves that since there weren¡¯t many Rainbow Mirage Pheasants to begin with, they tried to forcefully seize them from other students. In the end, they were severely punished with one day of flogging.

    Yu Chengjiao savagely whipped the students as he yelled, ¡°You were informed at the beginning of this training that you are forbidden from attacking anyone under any circumstances unless it is abat exercise! We are not trying to raise tricky snakes; we¡¯re preparing your teams for battle. This is not apetition but a true battle!!!¡±

    SNAP!

    The sharp whip carved outrge chunks of flesh and blood.

    All of the students stood there, mutely gazing at the ten students who were being punished. This moment was deeply etched into their memories.

    Before going to bed, the students began to interact with each other much more frequently.

    They introduced themselves to each other and got to know one another. No one knew who would be in a team with who, so getting to know more people would make forming teams on-the-spot much easier.

    Even those who were arrogant, like Ji Hanyan, lowered their haughty attitudes and began interacting with other people.

    That night, everyone fell into a deep sleep.

    Their hard work and fatigue caused them to quickly fall to sleep. Su Chen went straight to the Dreamrealm to cultivate his Ancient Arcana Techniques.

    This habit of his, however, brought him suffering: just when he was getting into it, he suddenly felt the world before his eyes begin to shake.

    The tremors were so powerful that it felt like the world around him was going to copse.

    A massive crack opened up beneath Su Chen¡¯s body, and Su Chen¡¯s body plummeted into it.

    ¡°AHH!¡± Su Chen loudly yelled and opened his eyes. He discovered that he had been tied securely to a wooden column.

    Yu Chengjiao yelled at them from nearby, ¡°Idiots! Morons! Did your instructors never tell you that your ability to respond to the outside world is basically nonexistent when you¡¯re in the Dreamrealm? If you¡¯re not in a secure environment, absolutely do not enter the Dreamrealm! Daring to enter the Dreamrealm in this kind of situation is not looking for death butmitting suicide!!! Those of you who entered the Dreamrealm tonight can sleep atop these columns!¡±

    Su Chen turned his head to gaze around him, only to find around twenty people also tied up on the column like him.

    As he gazed into the distance, he found that the training grounds had been ravaged.

    All of the tents had been destroyed and knocked over as if a heavy storm had moved through.

    No, there were still four tents that were still standing. They stood alone amidst the carnage.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Some people who still hadn¡¯t caught on to what had happened yet couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    Su Chen realized something and turned around to look at Cloud Leopard.

    Cloud Leopard walked over and said, ¡°A few of the instructors came and ambushed peoples¡¯ campgrounds.¡±

    So it was exactly as he had expected.

    He should have realized this much earlier. During this period of time, he had truly be too careless. He had focused all of his efforts on his studies, but he had overlooked the purpose of this training.

    The goal was to simte a true battle!

    Cloud Leopard continued, ¡°Those who were able to detect and guard against the ambush were left alone, but those who didn¡¯t detect it had their campgrounds destroyed. People like you, who entered the Dreamrealm, or those whose instincts were too slow, met this fate.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then asked, ¡°What about you?¡±

    Cloud Leopard¡¯s lips quirked up in a smile as he pointed at a perfectly untouched campground. ¡°Mine is over there.¡±

    As expected.

    After they woke up, Yu Chengjiao was waiting for them at the Reflection Rock.

    Behind him was arge ck cloth covering something.

    After everyone had arrived and lined up, Yu Chengjiao yelled, ¡°Today¡¯s mission is The Great Forest Escape. On the battlefield, you will encounter all kinds of situations. Sometimes, you will have the advantage, but sometimes you can also run into great danger. Today, you will be tested on your ability to survive even in the face of such dangers.¡±

    As he spoke, he pulled away the ck cloth behind him with a flourish, revealing arge number of Origin Formation cages.

    Confined within the cages were Demonic Beasts.

    Demonic Beasts!

    These were Demonic Beasts!

    All of the students felt their hearts seize.

    Yu Chengjiao said, ¡°That¡¯s right. These Demonic Beasts are the targets that you need to deal with. Of course, your mission is not to kill them but merely to escape and survive their attacks.

    Everyone involuntarily trembled in fear.

    Someone mustered up the courage and asked, ¡°What if we can¡¯t escape?¡±

    ¡°Then you will die!¡± Yu Chengjiao replied.

    Everyone was stunned.

    Was this some kind of practical joke? Those were Demonic Beasts!

    Even the lowest-tier Demonic Beast was more powerful than the strongest Vicious Beast. Their strength was roughly equivalent to that of a Yang Opening Realm expert.

    The most powerful Vicious Beast within the Thousand Ashes Gorge, the Dragonfish, was already a nightmare for many students. Now, a horde of Demonic Beasts had suddenly appeared for them to deal with.

    They might as well have asked all the students to cut off their own heads andmit suicide.

    As if anticipating the despair everyone felt, Yu Chengjiaoughed, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, the Demonic Beasts we got this time are of the lowest tier, and they have been drugged in order to limit their strength.¡±

    Upon hearing these words, everyone felt a ray of hope reappear.

    Someone asked, ¡°How much has their strength been decreased?¡±

    Yu Chengjiao spread his hands. ¡°That¡¯s hard to say. All I can tell you is that every beast¡¯s strength has been decreased by an unknown amount. Some might only be weakened by 10%, and their strength is mostly the same. Some might be weakened by 90%, making them even weaker than most high-tier Vicious Beasts. Knowing exactly how much they have been weakened by and how strong they are requires you to test the waters yourselves. When battling enemies, assessing your opponent¡¯s strength is a critical skill. A mistaken assessment means you might make the wrong choice, and a wrong choice could result in failure or even death. Thus, whether to battle or flee depends on you. Of course, if a team decides to counterattack and sessfully kills a Demonic Beast, there will be a reward. But if your strength is not up to par, then your death is deserved.¡±

    Upon hearing these words, everyone fell silent.

    Today¡¯s training exercise was not simple in the slightest.

    It not only tested everyone¡¯s analysis and observation abilities, but it also tested their ability to fight or flee.

    As he gazed at everyone¡¯s serious, contemtive expressions, Yu Chengjiao nodded in satisfaction. ¡°Remember, you can use any method to escape, but you cannot leave the Thousand Ashes Gorge. Each team will be made of four people today;e on up and draw lots. Every person gets one number, and those with the same number are on the same team! Every team is assigned to one Demonic Beast. As for how strong your opponent is, that depends entirely upon your luck.¡±

    After he finished speaking, one group of people after another began to draw lots.

    Su Chen was part of thest group to draw lots. His number was 12.

    Not far away, the students were beginning to team up based on their number.

    Someone waved a stick in the air as he yelled, ¡°Who is 12? Over here!¡±

    Su Chen turned to look in the direction of the speaker and found three people standing there.

    One of those people was Gu Qingluo.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 127: Hunt 2

    Chapter 127: Hunt (2)

    Finally, he was standing in front of her again.

    Su Chen felt his heart tremble slightly.

    The other two people in the group began developing a n for today¡¯s exercise, but Su Chen acted as if his soul had fled from his body.

    Gu Qingluo was the same as him. She had never expected to end up in the same team as Su Chen, so she was understandably bewildered.

    ¡°The pursuit will begin after the time it takes for three sticks of incense to burn, so right now is our opportunity to prepare. We can choose a ce to hide up, or we can set up a trap to try and counterattack. I suggest we first set a trap for it and use that trap to assess the strength of the Demonic Beast pursuing us. After determining how strong it is, we can decide what to do next,¡± one of the team members, Wei Bin, said.

    ¡°Setting up a trap will take too long, and normal traps will not be enough to assess the strength of our target. I think that we should give up on trying to counterattack. I know of a kind of medicine that can conceal a person¡¯s smell when rubbed on, and that should be enough to avoid its pursuit,¡± the other member, Luo Jin, replied.

    ¡°What do you two think?¡± The two of them simultaneously looked to Gu Qingluo and Su Chen.

    ¡°Hey.¡±

    Su Chen and Gu Qingluo were both jolted to their senses as if awaking from a dream. They realized that the nning had already begun while the two of them were staring at each other in a daze.

    ¡°What¡¯s with you guys?¡± One of the team members seemed to realize something was up.

    ¡°Nothing, sorry.¡± Su Chen refocused himself. ¡°I agree with Luo Jin¡¯s assessment. We should focus on escaping first. However, I don¡¯t think that getting rid of our smell will do the trick entirely. At the very least, the instructors won¡¯t make it that easy on us. Unfortunately, we might be forced into a pursuit anyways.¡±

    ¡°Whether it will do the trick is something we can figure out as we go,¡± Gu Qingluo said.

    The four of them began to head out together.

    As they walked, Su Chen suddenly drew near to Gu Qingluo and said, ¡°Why are you avoiding me?¡±

    Su Chen had gone to look for Gu Qingluo quite a few times, but Gu Qingluo had refused to meet him every time.

    Gu Qingluo turned away from him. ¡°I don¡¯t want to discuss this during the training period.¡±

    ¡°Then when do you want to talk about it? After we enter the ruins?¡±

    Gu Qingluo sped up. ¡°Don¡¯t you already have a girl that you like? Why are you still bothering me about it?¡±

    Su Chen was shocked. A girl that he liked?

    He suddenly realized that she might be referring to Zhu Xianyao.

    He didn¡¯t grow agitated; rather, he suddenly felt a surge of joy as he stayed on Gu Qingluo¡¯s heels. Heughed, ¡°Are you jealous of me? So you still care for me, right? If you didn¡¯t like me, you wouldn¡¯t have said such a thing.¡±

    Gu Qingluo hissed resentfully, ¡°Who¡¯s jealous of you? How shameless!¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t take offense. He said, ¡°The girl you sawst time was there to kill me.¡±

    What?

    Gu Qingluo trembled slightly when she heard this and stopped to turn around, looking at Su Chen intently.

    The sentence that Su Chen just said had directly hit one of Gu Qingluo¡¯s weak points.

    Even though she pretended that nothing had happened a momentter, her terrible acting had been seen through by Su Chen. The words ¡°I still like you¡± were basically written on her face, giving Su Chen a surge of confidence.

    Heughed, ¡°Are you still going to insist that you don¡¯t care for me?¡±

    Gu Qingluo grew agitated. She lowered her head and sped forward. ¡°When did I care for you.¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°The girl that wanted to kill me was from a Demonic Emperor Bloodline Nobility n, but I used her to get back at them, along with three Demonic Lord Bloodlines and three high-tier Demonic Beast Bloodlines. Oh, and some people from the Immortal Temple.¡±

    Gu Qingluo stared at Su Chen in shock.

    Su Chen said, ¡°I just want to tell you that many people have wanted me dead in these past few years, but I am still perfectly alive and well. I can protect myself, and I can also protect you. A Demonic Emperor Bloodline can¡¯t defeat me, and the same goes for the Gu n. No matter what, I want to be with you.¡±

    Gu Qingluo was speechless.

    She stared at Su Chen in a daze, the words that Su Chen had spoken resounding in her head.

    He hadn¡¯t said anything grand or visionary, but his calm tone carried with it his unshakable self-confidence.

    This was true self-confidence; confidence that he could take care of everything. He wasn¡¯t just speaking a few words to motivate himself, nor was he simply speaking in a moment of passion and love.

    Gu Qingluo waspletely charmed by Su Chen¡¯s self-confidence. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that someone chose that moment to speak up and ruin the atmosphere, she might have actually allowed Su Chen to embrace her.

    ¡°Hey, keep up! What are you guys doing?¡± Wei Bin yelled impatiently.

    Gu Qingluo came to her senses. She backed up and avoided Su Chen¡¯s hand.

    Su Chen sighed. He knew that he had missed a crucial opportunity.

    If Gu Qingluo hadn¡¯t dodged and had allowed herself to be embraced, a torrent of affection might have caused her to forget everything else.

    Now, reason had once again taken over her instincts, and it would be difficult for him to try and embrace her again.

    Indeed, Gu Qingluo refused to talk to Su Chen afterwards, and she actually seemed to be avoiding him.

    They had finally agreed as a team to first apply the medicine and conceal their scent before setting up a trap to test out the Demonic Beast. They would escape immediately if they decided that they weren¡¯t the Demonic Beast¡¯s opponent.

    Under these circumstances, Su Chen focused all of his attention on preparing everything.

    Just as they were about to finish preparing, they heard the Demonic Beasts begin to howl loudly from far away.

    The students all knew that the Demonic Beasts that were being kept in the cages had been released.

    ¡°We need to start moving!¡± Luo Jin yelled.

    They hurriedly finished setting up the trap and then retreated to a higher elevation.

    They didn¡¯t have to wait long before a Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast came charging as it howled.

    Because they had used a Beast Drawing Medicine, the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast directly charged into the trap they had set for it. Thunder crackled and lightning shed as the trap was activated.

    The trap was an Origin Energy Formation. As soon as a beast came into contact with it, it would release arge swathe of lightning and thunder. The attack it could produce wasn¡¯t weak in the slightest.

    However, this attack only left numerous small cuts on the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast¡¯s skin and didn¡¯t injure it seriously. The Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast howled, unleashing a hurricane from its mouth.

    This hurricane swirled and forcefully dissipated all of the thunder and lightning.

    Wei Bin, who was watching carefully, said in shock, ¡°Dammit, this Demonic Beast has at least sixty percent of its original strength still.¡±

    The students of the Hidden Dragon Institute were quite familiar with all kinds of Demonic Beasts, so they could determine how much strength the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast had remaining from just a few clues.

    The Thunder Imprisonment Formation was the most powerful Origin Formation the students knew how to control. However, the Cloudroam Beast dealt with it easily, and it was evident that their luck was not very good.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Su Chen yelled.

    The four of them gave up on trying to counterattack and turned around to flee.

    However, the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast had no intention of letting them go.

    It tilted its head back and let out a low howl as it charged towards them. Just as Su Chen had said, concealing their odor did not have any use whatsoever. This Demonic Beast seemed to know where its targets were because it charged directly towards them, picking up speed as it went.

    The team was stunned upon seeing this scene.

    Even as a low-tier Demonic Beast, the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast¡¯s speed was much faster than theirs. Its limbs swam through the air as it shot forward.

    Demonic Beasts could harness the Origin Energy in their environment, making them much more dangerous than Vicious Beasts, who only knew how to battle with their physical bodies. Peak-tier Demonic Beasts could create a storm, walk on air, and a variety of other constantly changing abilities.

    Even after so many years, the Beast Race was the most adept at controlling the Origin Energy in their surroundings. If the human race hadn¡¯t borrowed their bloodlines, their innate control over Origin Energy would have been socking that they might not have even been able to reach the Yang Opening Realm.

    This Demonic Beast, even if its strength had been decreased, could still easily control its Origin Energy.

    Its legs flew through the air as it chased furiously after its target, its jade-green eyes glowing coldly.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 128: Hunt 3

    Chapter 128: Hunt (3)

    ¡°Run!¡±

    Panicked yells sounded out throughout the forest. Everywhere, students were yelling in fear.

    The frightening Demonic Beasts ran amok in the mountainous forests, pursuing the escaping students.

    Su Chen sprinted forwards, the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast hot on his heels.

    It was so fast that it caught up to them in no time.

    Dammit, was this really just an escape mission?

    Even without restricting their escape, there was no way they could have escaped from the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast in just three sticks of incense time, not to mention now that they were not allowed to escape outside of the Thousand Ashes Gorge.

    This was basically just sending them all to die!!!

    Su Chen, Gu Qingluo, and the others were all infuriated.

    Despite their anger, they could only grit their teeth and continue moving when faced with the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast¡¯s furious pursuit.

    The Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast drew closer and closer.

    With its strength, it could already begin attacking them at this distance.

    However, the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast seemed to enjoy the thrill of the hunt. It was in no hurry to attack, and it continued to draw near the students.

    Despair began to appear in Su Chen and the others¡¯ eyes.

    Yes, despair.

    They couldn¡¯t possibly hope to defeat it, and now they had no chance but to escape. When faced with such an impossibly difficult situation, what else could they do?

    ¡°Let¡¯s just go all out!¡± Luo Jin yelled.

    ¡°No! Let¡¯s wait for a bit and try to draw it to the y Giant so that they¡¯ll duke it out!¡± Su Chen yelled back.

    ¡°That¡¯s too far away. We won¡¯t make it in time,¡± Gu Qingluo said as she nced behind them.

    The Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast continued to draw closer.

    When it opened its mouth, a gust of wind flew forth, transforming into dragon. Trees in its path were mowed down, and dust flew in its wake. The sky seemed to darken slightly under the influence of this attack.

    This was a Demonic Beast of the lowest tier, but it was already able to unleash an unbelievable amount of power without much effort at all.

    This was the power of the Origin Race, pampered by the Heavens!

    Streaks of dragon-like wind howled forwards, surging at Su Chen and the others.

    There was nothing the four of them could do other than try to forcefully endure the blow.

    At this point, they couldn¡¯t afford to not go all out even if they wanted to.

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s body suddenly shot forwards as she activated the Snaking Mist Steps. A handful of willow leaves shot out of her hands, turning into sharp needles as they whistled towards the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast. At the same time, Wei Bin, Luo Jin, and Su Chen all unleashed their own Origin Skills, generating a powerful torrent of energy.

    Even so, when their Origin Skills drew close to the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast, all it did was open its mouth and howl. The ensuing st of air sent Gu Qingluo¡¯s willow leaves, Wei Jin¡¯s Heaven and Earth sword, Luo Jin¡¯s Red Cloud Palms, and Su Chen¡¯s Erupting Firehawk flying away.

    Their dazzling Origin Skills were as trivial as spray from the ocean whenpared with the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast¡¯s might.

    An instantter, the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast opened its mouth again, this time sending numerousrge air tentacles at them.

    The Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast¡¯s ability to control wind far exceeded their expectations.

    The four of them hurriedly retreated.

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s hands continued to sway back and forth, pushing out in front of her. A radiant, cold light suddenly shone in front of her, and the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast¡¯s movements began to slow. Finally, it bepletely encased in ice, and it stopped moving.

    This was the Gu n¡¯s third Absolute Skill, Waterstar Chill.

    Upon seeing this scene, Wei Bin and Luo Jin let out excited yells.

    In the next instant, however, the ice began to slowly crack. Waterstar Chill could not control the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast for much longer.

    Gu Qingluo was shocked. She continued to direct the Origin Energy in her body, and a massive image of a Soaring Serpent appeared behind her. Evidently, she was revolving the energy within her body to its absolute limit.

    However, theyer of ice continued to slowly crack.

    Therge cracks in the ice continued to spread and multiply. Finally, the ice shattered apart with a bang.

    ¡°AH!¡± Gu Qingluo yelled as she flew into the air.

    The Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast opened its mouth wide, and a massive air tentacle snaked its way towards Gu Qingluo,tching onto her.

    ¡°QINGLUO!¡± Su Chen howled.

    He watched as Gu Qingluo was wrapped up by the tentacle and slowly dragged towards the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast¡¯s mouth. The beast opened its mouth wide as if it were about to swallow her whole. Wei Bin and Luo Jin were frozen stiff from fear.

    Bang!

    Smoke exploded everywhere.

    A Thunderfire Ballnded on the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast.

    It was not particrly powerful, and it only left a small scorch mark on the beast¡¯s skin.

    Su Chen pulled out a vial of medicine and poured it on himself.

    Beast Drawing Medicine.

    At the same time, he curled his finger at the Demonic Beast and gestured disdainfully at it.

    He said, ¡°Come at me, you bastard! If you have the guts,e for me!¡±

    The attack, the mocking gestures, and the Beast Drawing Medicine all attracted its attention.

    The Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast finally stopped trying to swallow Gu Qingluo.

    The air tentacle whipped through the air, sending Gu Qingluo flying off into a direction.

    The Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast charged at Su Chen.

    Su Chen booked it, simultaneously yelling, ¡°Everyone, split up! I¡¯ll distract this guy!¡±

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± Gu Qingluo yelled.

    ¡°Quiet, this is the only way to survive!¡± Su Chen yelled as he tossed another strengthened Erupting Firehawk at the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast.

    The strengthened Erupting Firebird was quite powerful, and even a Demonic Beast would feel some pain if struck by it. It pounced at Su Chen, enraged, and it chased after him into the forest.

    ¡°Su Chen!!!¡± Gu Qingluo yelled out sorrowfully.

    She wanted to chase after him, but Wei Bin and Luo Jin grabbed her and pulled her off to the side. Su Chen had already drawn away the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast. Chasing after him now would only lead to death.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    As he ran furiously, Su Chen increased his speed to its limit.

    Unfortunately, no matter how much energy he used, he could not escape the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast because of its incredible control over wind.

    The Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast seemed to enjoy toying with Su Chen. It chased after him without any sense of urgency.

    After chasing him for quite a while, it seemed to grow impatient.

    It spit out a wind de.

    Whoosh!

    The wind de sliced into Su Chen¡¯s back.

    The magic barrier shattered, and Su Chen was sent flying.

    As he flipped through the air, he tilted his hand backwards, and a strengthened Erupting Firehawk flew forth from his hand. This was the only attack he had used so far that could at least injure the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast.

    Boom!

    The Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast forcefully endured the blow, its skin slightly scorched again.

    This made it a bit angry.

    It tilted its head back and howled, increasing its speed to arrive right in front of Su Chen and opening its mouth to bite him just as Su Chen was about tond.

    As it opened its mouth, however, Su Chen¡¯s eyes suddenly began to shine. ¡°Die!¡±

    A fist mmed right into the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast.

    Armor-Piercing Awl!

    Su Chen had been waiting for this opportunity the entire time. He utilized his opponent¡¯s arrogance to try and glean an opportunity to survive.

    The iron-like fist surged with dangerous momentum. In that instant, even the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast was able to recognize that something was off.

    It stopped its biting action and tilted its head to the side. Simultaneously, its skin began to take a crystalline, jade-like color and texture.

    An instantter, Su Chen¡¯s fist prated the crystalline skin, passing through the Cloudroam Beast¡¯s face as if there were nothing there.

    Armor-Piercing Awl!

    And it wasn¡¯t just Armor Piercing Awl. Su Chen¡¯s fists glowed with a strange light, a muffled explosion of energy surging out from within the wounds.

    Explosion Fists!

    This was the fist technique Hong Ming had used against Uncle Eleven. It relied onpressing one¡¯s Origin Energy to an extreme degree and then allowing it to explode all in one instant.

    It did not have high prative ability, but it was frighteningly explosive. When paired with Armor Piercing Awl, the amount of damage it could do was almost inconceivable.

    ¡°AWOO!¡±

    A pained howl resounded through the forest.

    This was the first time that a beast had let out a howl of pain since the escape mission hadmenced.

    Its nose had beenpletely mangled.

    A frighteninglyrge hole had been sted into the side of its face.

    This was perhaps the greatest sess that any of the students from the Hidden Dragon Institute had experienced ¨C seriously injuring a Demonic Beast with just the strength of a single person.

    Even so, Su Chen did not feel any delight.

    His heart sank after seeing the result of his fist strike.

    He had still failed in the end, hadn¡¯t he?

    Su Chen¡¯s original n had been to directly punch through its eyes all the way to its brain, killing it in one blow.

    This was also the only chance he would have of turning the tables. Even so, he himself knew that the chances of sess were low.

    Indeed, he had still failed. Even though he had destroyed the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast¡¯s nose and had inflicted heavy damage, the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast¡¯s strength had not been affected at all. Having caught it off guard once, there was no way that Su Chen could possibly seed twice.

    In reality, even if the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast allowed him to hit it again, it was unlikely that he would be able to replicate his sess. His previous blow had expended too much of his blood and Qi.

    The battle was concluded.

    Bang!

    The Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast mmed its paw into Su Chen¡¯s body, knocking him back.

    Su Chen could hear his bones audibly crack as the paw mmed into him, sending him skidding across the ground.

    He spit out a mouthful of blood. His entire body was wracked with pain, and he found it difficult to even move.

    Those palm strikes had at least broken six of his ribs.

    The Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast slowly stalked forwards.

    This time, it did not soar through the air. Instead, it kept its feet solidly on the ground.

    It continued forward slowly step by step, its energy rising, bringing about an aura of death.

    At the same time,rge amounts of Demonic Qi began to seep out from its body and gather around the wound. Su Chen watched as its mangled nose began to regenerate!

    The wound that he had expended so much energy to create hadpletely disappeared!

    Su Chen¡¯s heart chilled.

    He had heard before that Demonic Beasts were much different from Vicious Beasts, but it wasn¡¯t until he observed this that he realized just how vast the difference was.

    When faced with such an existence, wanting to kill it with his current strength was a joke!

    At this moment, the Jade-eyed Cloudroam Beast drew near Su Chen, lowering its head as it stared at him coolly.

    Whoosh!

    It blew out a mouthful of air, blowing aside the Thunderfire Ball that Su Chen was concealing in his hand.

    Su Chen finally felt hopelessness.

    This Thunderfire Ball looked the same as all of the others, but it wasposed ofpletely different medicinal ingredients that made it much more powerful. When his opponents thought it was just like any other Thunderfire Ball and neglected it, they would be met with a powerful st. This was his final trump card ¨C and hisst resort.

    But now, the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast had blown it away.

    Just as he was about to activate Fata Morgana without any regard for the consequences, the Demonic Beast suddenly stopped in its tracks.

    It stared at Su Chen and said, ¡°I won¡¯t be overconfident anymore, even if it¡¯s something that isn¡¯t very powerful.¡±

    Su Chen stared at it in surprise, his eyes wide. ¡°You can talk?¡±

    The Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast squinted its eyes. ¡°Demonic Beasts have consciousness. Since we can think and have consciousness, naturally we can study human speech. Is it that strange that we know how to speak?¡±

    As it spoke, it actually began to retreat step by step, its figure slowly fading into the distance. All that remained were its parting words, lingering in the air: ¡°Consider yourself lucky, brat. This was only a test; otherwise, based on how much you injured me, I would have beaten you to a pulp!¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 129: Medicine Bath

    Chapter 129: Medicine Bath

    The Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast left.

    It left just like that!

    Hadn¡¯t it been made clear that anyone who couldn¡¯t escape would die?

    Why did it suddenly give up just as it was about to kill him?

    Su Chen was unable toprehend what had happened until a person appeared before him.

    Shi Kaihuang.

    ¡°Instructor!¡± Su Chen yelled.

    Shi Kaihuang walked over andughed, ¡°Well done! You said before that you weren¡¯t a person who wasn¡¯t afraid of anything, but you seemed pretty brave just then.¡±

    Su Chen sat in a daze. He wanted to say something, but no words came out.

    Shi Kaihuang seemed to understand what he was trying to say. He said, ¡°It was for that girl, right? Don¡¯t worry; no matter what your reason was, being willing to sacrifice yourself to save your teammates is a good thing.¡±

    ¡°So the hunt was all a lie from the very beginning? Was it just to test our reactions under life-or-death situations?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Shi Kaihuang replied, ¡°The battlefield is a ce of life-or-death. There was no way we weren¡¯t going to test it. Since we are sending you there, we naturally need to select the most appropriate candidates. The most appropriate candidates may not be the strongest, but they need to be brave, resolute, and never give up ¨C both themselves and theirrades. Only someone like that is suited to undertake such a big mission.¡±

    Su Chen understood. This mission was in actuality just a test.

    Everyone was thrown into a ¡°death trap¡± in order to test their response to a life-or-death situation.

    ¡°So were there any Demonic Beasts whose strength had been reduced to only 10% of their original strength?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Shi Kaihuangughed, ¡°Those Demonic Beasts were all trained after being caught by the Hidden Dragon Institute. Although they are beasts, they are under the control of us humans. They don¡¯t need to be restricted by medicine to understand how to control their own strength. However, Little Qing clearly underestimated you; you actually shattered its nose. Haha, even though it is just a small wound, it¡¯s probably quite humiliating for it.¡±

    ¡°Hey...... that didn¡¯t make it any easier on me,¡± Su Chen replied, cradling his chest.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll take care of it.¡± Shi Kaihuang motioned his hand upwards, and Su Chen began to levitate.

    He tapped his finger on Su Chen¡¯s body a few times, and Su Chen¡¯s bones began to reconnect. Then, he pulled out a vial of medicine and gave it to Su Chen, who began to rapidly heal.

    What rendered Su Chen speechless was the fact that he was the one who had concocted that medicine.

    ¡°You are quite generous with things that belong to others,¡± Su Chen said as he carefully felt his bones.

    ¡°Alright, alright. As the first person to pass the test and even injure Little Qing, your aplishments will be recorded and evaluated. The students will be assigned a student number at the end of this test, and yours will be better than most of the students¡¯.¡±

    Student numbers were a unique method that the Hidden Dragon Institute used to sort the students entering the ruins. They went from 1 ¨C 40 and were distributed to each student. The lower the number, the better the students were.

    If two students had differing opinions, the person with a higher student number would get to make the final decision.

    Put inly, the goal was to create a hierarchy of authority. With so many people, some needed to have more say than others.

    The Hidden Dragon Institute didn¡¯t decide on one person to be the leader because that would be too confusing inside the ruins. What if the leader wasn¡¯t present? Or what if the leader had died?

    Ordering the students with corresponding student numbers put an organized hierarchy in ce, and it also limited the authority any one person could have. No one could wantonly order others around.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t care much. Hezily said, ¡°I¡¯d like something a bit more tangible.¡±

    Shi Kaihuangughed, ¡°I knew you would say that. Don¡¯t worry, there¡¯ll be some benefits for you.¡±

    As he spoke, he grabbed Su Chen and flew into the air.

    He was in the Light Shaking Realm already and didn¡¯t need Origin Skills to fly. By flying at top speed, they reached the Reflection Rock in no time.

    A small pool had been carved into Reflection Rock at some point, and the pool was filled with ck silt.

    Shi Kaihuang tossed Su Chen into the pool. ¡°You can stay here until sundown. You should use your time wisely and absorb as much as you can.¡±

    It was at this point that Su Chen discovered that the silt was an extremely powerful medicinal mud.

    Su Chen knew the Dartfrog Absorption Technique. As he activated it, he instantly feltrge quantities of medicinal energy stream into his body through his finger, slowly saturating his being.

    He was an alchemist as well, so he instantly realized that the medicinal mud had at least three hundred different kinds of rare medicinal herbs infused into it. The medicinal energy was extremely concentrated. If he sent the energy into his Dan Sea, it would raise his cultivation base, while if he allowed it to flow through and temper his body, his physique would be strengthened.

    With his Origin Energy eye, Su Chen was never in a hurry to raise his cultivation base. As such, he did not hesitate to absorb the medicinal energy and allow it to pass through his body to temper him. To avoid wasting this opportunity, he wasn¡¯t even willing to use this medicinal energy to heal himself.

    Time flew by. After a while, he heard the sound of other students approaching as well.

    Su Chen paid them no mind. He focused all of his attention on revolving the Dartfrog Absorption technique to absorb as much medicinal energy from the pool as he could.

    More and more people began to arrive at the pool, and the medicinal strength of the pool began to decrease as a result.

    Su Chen redoubled his absorption efforts.

    After an unknown period of time, he heard a voice say, ¡°Alright, everyone insidee out now.¡±

    Su Chen opened his eyes to find that there were roughly ten other people also sitting in the pool with him. Unsurprisingly, Cloud Leopard was in that group.

    The mud inside the pool had turned greyish at some point and had lost its stickiness. Su Chen grabbed a handful, and the ¡°mud¡± sifted through his hand like sand.

    Su Chen knew that all of the medicinal energy within the mud had been absorbed.

    There were also a few students outside of the pool, sitting on the ground and resting, while others were being subjected to Thunder Punishment.

    Six people were the most miserable.

    They were hung atop a tree, heavily whipped, and then subjected to Thunderfire Punishment.

    Su Chen saw Wang Doushan not too far away from him and walked over. He pointed his chin out at the six people hanging on the tree. ¡°What did those guys do?¡±

    Wang Doushan replied, ¡°Those six bastards pushed their ownrades into the path of the Demonic Beasts in order to survive.¡±

    He spit on the ground with contempt.

    Upon hearing that those people had sent theirrades straight into the jaws of the Demonic Beasts, Su Chen felt no sympathy for them. ¡°How are they going to be dealt with?¡±

    ¡°They will be punished for three days and then expelled from the Institute.¡±

    ¡°What about those people?¡± Su Chen asked, referring to those who were only undergoing Thunder Punishment.

    ¡°They left their teammates behind and attempted to escape on their own,¡± Wang Doushan replied.

    Su Chen nodded. He had guessed that was the case.

    ¡°So those of you who were neither rewarded nor punished basically didn¡¯t make any serious mistakes but didn¡¯t have an outstanding performance either?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°We¡¯re not like you, sacrificing your life for a woman. But you ended up benefitting anyways.¡±

    Su Chen quickly changed the subject. ¡°What about Cloud Leopard? Who did he sacrifice himself for?¡±

    ¡°He wasn¡¯t like you either. Those who were in the pool weren¡¯t all necessarily willing to die for others. He and his team sessfully escaped from the Demonic Beasts.¡±

    ¡°Escaped from the Demonic Beasts?¡± Su Chen opened his eyes wide.

    After he was informed that the Demonic Beasts in fact had not been fed medicine and were still at full strength, Su Chen had not expected anyone to triumph over the Demonic Beasts. This was just a test from the beginning, so it would¡¯ve been surprising if anyone could have escaped.

    Shockingly, however, Cloud Leopard had been able to evade the Demonic Beast¡¯s pursuit.

    After Wang Doushan exined the situation, Su Chen understood. Cloud Leopard had gotten quite lucky to be paired up with three individuals who were not weak and had their own unique strengths. One was skilled in Origin Formations, one was an alchemist, and one possessed an Origin Skill that could raise the whole team¡¯s speed. When factoring in Cloud Leopard¡¯s detection skills, they relied on their speed and constant ambushes to escape.

    Even though the Demonic Beast was powerful, it was not built for speed. It was constantly being dyed by the traps set for it, and its targets were all agile and quick. This carefully executed n made it so that the Demonic Beast wasn¡¯t able to catch up to Cloud Leopard¡¯s team for the entire day.

    His team was the only one that hadn¡¯t been caught and had sessfully survived. Thus, even though they hadn¡¯t made any valiant acts of sacrifice, they were also allowed ess to the medicinal pool.

    Upon hearing that this was the case, Su Chen was rendered speechless.

    Those people were quite impressive, to be able to y hide-and-seek with a Demonic Beast.

    However, Su Chen was more concerned about Gu Qingluo.

    He scanned his surroundings. Finally, he found Gu Qingluo near a tent that had just been set up.

    Gu Qingluo was also staring back at him.

    Her expression wasplex.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 130: Night Conversations 1

    Chapter 130: Night Conversations (1)

    Nightfall arrived, and sparkling stars began to appear across the sky.

    The students, who were all worn out by the day¡¯s events, once again fell into a deep sleep.

    Gu Qingluo, however, couldn¡¯t fall asleep.

    She rolled around restlessly in her tent. All she could think about was how Su Chen had selflessly drawn the Jade-Eyed Cloudroam Beast away from her.

    A woman¡¯s heart was very tender.

    She knew she couldn¡¯t fall asleep, so she dressed herself and exited her tent.

    She sat down on a corner of Reflection Rock and hugged her knees to her chest, resting her chin on her knees. She gazed off into the distance, scenes involving Su Chen racing through her head.

    ¡°Can¡¯t fall asleep?¡± A voice suddenly spoke up

    It was Su Chen!

    Gu Qingluo almost fell off the rock out of fright.

    A hand reached over and held Gu Qingluo firmly.

    Gu Qingluo lifted her head in shock. Su Chen¡¯s face was very close to hers, the clear moonlight illuminating the features of his face quite clearly.

    Su Chen said with a gentle smile as he helped Gu Qingluo up, ¡°Careful.¡±

    He then sat next to Gu Qingluo. ¡°I couldn¡¯t sleep either. Why not chat for a bit?¡±

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s face was thoroughly red. She twisted away from him, but she still said, ¡°Thanks for what happened today.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing much. In any case, it was all fake. Even without me, that Demonic Beast wouldn¡¯t have killed you,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°But you didn¡¯t know that at the time.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, but what about afterwards? Do you feel like you owe me something now?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Gu Qingluo was silent.

    She didn¡¯t know how to respond to his question.

    She truly wanted to express her gratitude, yet she continued to increase the distance between them. However, Su Chen evidently wanted to use this opportunity to bring them closer together regardless of what tactic he used.

    Yes, he had always been a person who would go to any length to achieve his goals. How could she have forgotten this point?

    Gu Qingluo cursed at herself.

    Upon seeing that Gu Qingluo wasn¡¯t going to respond, Su Chen smiled. ¡°Sorry, I might have been a bit too aggressive there. If what I said made you feel sad, I apologize.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need.¡± Gu Qingluo hurriedly shook her head.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°In reality, I just wanted to tell you that death is not always something to fear; at least, that¡¯s how I feel...... I have already faced simr dangers many times before.¡±

    Gu Qingluo stared in shock at Su Chen.

    She was reminded of what Su Chen had said during the day.

    After hesitating for a moment, she finally couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°You told me earlier that the girl was trying to kill you, and you also said something else about a Demonic Emperor Bloodline. What was that all about?¡±

    When Su Chen heard her question, Su Chen smiled happily.

    He truly felt happiness.

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s question implied that she had finally begun to care about Su Chen again, and it also implied that the feelings she had been repressing for so long had once again sprung up.

    Even so, Su Chen was more than happy to allow this tiny bit of affection to blossom.

    He began to talk about the Zhu n¡¯s origins.

    Even though they had both attended the Hidden Dragon Institute for so many years, Gu Qingluo never knew about many of the things that had happened to Su Chen.

    She didn¡¯t know that Su Chen had be Shi Kaihuang¡¯s disciple, didn¡¯t know what Su Chen had been researching all these years, and didn¡¯t know what Su Chen was trying to achieve. She didn¡¯t dare care for him or ask; she was worried that her concern and inquiries woulde to affect her and cause her to lose control, or worse, attract some negative consequences.

    Because of this, Gu Qingluo was stunned by Su Chen¡¯s monologue of all that had happened to him.

    She would never have imagined that Su Chen was the ¡°Cloud Bat¡± that had rocked the human race; she could not have imagined the pressure that Su Chen had to endure just to release Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven; simrly, she would never have imagined that Su Chen would be able to turn the tables on his opponents even under those dire circumstances, taking care of the Six Great ns and the Zhu n together...... She would never have imagined how many amazing urrences she had missed during the years that she and Su Chen had been apart.

    She stared at Su Chen in a daze as he continued to recount his story.

    It was as if her consciousness had returned to Northface City, as if she had returned to the side of the blind yet free-spirited Su Chen who was above politics and familial ties. She felt as if she was once again standing next to Su Chen, facing all dangers, obstacles, and forces together.

    The days where they had stood shoulder to shoulder while fighting off enemies were the happiest days of her life.

    Now, as she listened to Su Chen¡¯s tale, it was as if she was standing by his side again.

    Thus......

    Her heart became intoxicated, and her will wavered.

    ¡°Just like that, I wiped her memories, and that was the end of it. Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven sold quite well, so I earned a ton of Origin Stones and didn¡¯t need to rely on hunting to earn money. Because of this, I haven¡¯t had to leave the Hidden Dragon Institute these past few years. Being invisible has saved me a lot of trouble until now,¡± Su Chen concluded inly.

    Then, heughed, ¡°But I guess I cannot remain motionless for too long. That¡¯s why I made a reappearance here...... Thankfully, I made that choice, which is why we can talk to each other now.¡±

    He gazed intently at Gu Qingluo as he spoke.

    Gu Qingluo didn¡¯t dare look back at him. She said as she lowered her head, ¡°Why would you do this? You know that we can¡¯t be together.¡±

    Su Chen said seriously, ¡°Do you think that everything I just said was to brag about myself? No, I just wanted you to know that the path that I chose will put me at enmity with everyone. My instructor told me that all of the Bloodline Nobility ns under the heavens will be my enemies if I really do break through the bloodline restrictions one day. All of them!!! Do you know what that means? If I am willing to provoke every Bloodline Nobility n, how can I be afraid of just the Gu n? I have already made many enemies, so what¡¯s one more? Perhaps I will die, but if I die pursuing the path of truth, I will have no regrets. Simrly, if I die one day while pursuing the girl that I love, I will have no regrets!¡±

    Gu Qingluo lowered her head and said quietly, ¡°That¡¯s not the same. It¡¯s not the same.¡±

    ¡°Why is it not the same? Just because your surname is Gu? Just because you are a remnant of the Illustrious Divine Dynasty?¡±

    Gu Qingluo was stunned. ¡°You know?¡±

    Su Chen gazed deeply at Gu Qingluo. ¡°Yes, I know. The Longxi Gu n is actually just one of the descendants of the Illustrious Divine Dynasty. I should have realized this a long time ago; in fact, I should have realized it when you ced that drop of blood onto my forehead when you were teaching me the Snaking Mist Steps.¡±

    Gu Qingluo said in disbelief, ¡°What did you say? Why should you have known when I taught you the Snaking Mist Steps? Shouldn¡¯t you have realized it after learning about the secret details of the Illustrious Divine Dynasty in the Hidden Dragon Institute and guessing that I am from the Illustrious Gu n?¡±

    Su Chen was surprised. ¡°What secret details? I realized it because of your bloodline. That day, when you gave me a drop of blood, I saw that the origin of your bloodline was not a Soaring Serpent, but a dragon.¡±

    ¡°A dragon?¡± Gu Qingluo was stunned.

    Su Chen was simrly dumbfounded by Gu Qingluo¡¯s confusion.

    The two of them stared at each other before realizing something and saying simultaneously, ¡°So you didn¡¯t know!¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 131: Night Conversations 2

    Chapter 131: Night Conversations (2)

    Su Chen and Gu Qingluo stared at each other briefly before simultaneously saying, ¡°You go first!¡±

    Their simr responses made it so that they couldn¡¯t help butugh.

    Su Chen raised his hands in surrender and said, ¡°Fine, fine. I¡¯ll go first.¡±

    He began to describe what he had seen that day.

    Gu Qingluo was stunned when she heard this. ¡°You...... actually saw a dragon?¡±

    ¡°Yes. At the time, I thought that it was just an illusion, so I didn¡¯t pay attention to it. After arriving at the Hidden Dragon Institute, I learned that there actually was a n with the bloodline of a dragon: the Gu n. The Illustrious Divine Dynasty Gu n, the only n with the bloodline of an Origin Beast,¡± Su Chen replied as he slightly smiled at Gu Qingluo.

    Origin Beast!

    The nightmare of all of the Intelligent Races on the continent!

    The once flourishing, prosperous Arcana Kingdom controlled roughly two-thirds of the continent¡¯s territory at its peak.

    Just as they believed themselves to upy the peak of the entire world, a single Origin Beast ruined everything. They could not have possibly anticipated the frightening strength an Origin Beast possessed.

    The Origin Beast was a dragon.

    The Shining Dragon!

    From hearsay, the Shining Dragon was thousands of kilometers long and as tall as a steep cliff. Its eyes were like the sun and moon, and its cry was like the peal of thunder; its every footstep caused the earth to tremble, and its every breath changed the wind and clouds. A simple flick of its tail could level thousands of kilometers. Unsurprisingly, the Arcana Race¡¯s armies,posed of millions of soldiers, were wiped out almost in an instant.

    This was far beyond the capabilities of human strength. In fact, there was no way to even imagine or describe how powerful this dragon was.

    It was under its unstoppable might that the powerful Arcana Kingdom copsed almost overnight.

    However, the Shining Dragon had no way of limating to theck of Origin Energy. It continued to weaken until one day, it finally died.

    The day it died, the sun and moon seemed to fade, the earth became deste, the stars flickered, and thunder pealed across the continent.

    Not long afterwards, its corpse became a mountain range thousands of kilometers long, its blood turned into rivers, and its bones turned into veins of ore. In the end, its physical body returned to nature.

    It was so powerful that even in death no one could get near it.

    But under those circumstances, one person was able to get close to it and obtain a portion of the Shining Dragon¡¯s blood before its flesh and bones transformed.

    This person was the founder of the Illustrious Divine Dynasty, Gu Youhuang, who was also the former captain of the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s human ve army.

    After obtaining the Shining Dragon¡¯s bloodline, Gu Youhuang instantly brought the human ve army back to the Evesting City. There, he used the Bloodline Extractor to give himself the bloodline. His strength multiplied overnight, and his lifespan even increased to around three thousand years.

    Not long afterwards, as the Arcana Kingdom was slowly being plundered and its heroes dying, his strength began to reach a point that it had never reached before.

    The countless races that had endured the Arcana Race¡¯s oppression for so many years allied together to overthrow their rule.

    Gu Youhuang rebelled,manding the human ve army and seizing the Bloodline Extraction Instrument, therebyying the foundations for the Illustrious Divine Dynasty¡¯s twenty thousand year rule.

    Because of this, the Shining Dragon Bloodline was also the only Origin Beast Bloodline that the human race possessed!

    When Su Chen learned of this history and then recalled the scene that he had seen previously, he instantly realized that Gu Qingluo¡¯s bloodline was not merely as simple as the Soaring Serpent bloodline. Deep within her bloodline, there was another more powerful bloodline thaty dormant ¨C for now.

    There had only been one dragon that has ever appeared on the Primordial Continent, at least in recorded history. After flipping through a few records and confirming based on some drawings that he had truly seen the Shining Dragon, Su Chen was sure that Gu Qingluo was one of the descendants of the Illustrious Divine Dynasty Gu n.

    However, he did not understand why the Illustrious Gu n was not destroyed and why the Shining Dragon Gu n had be the Soaring Serpent Bloodline.

    Upon hearing Su Chen finish describing what he had seen, Gu Qingluo was also evidently shocked.

    ¡°Shing Dragon...... you actually saw the Shining Dragon from within my bloodline......¡± She stared at Su Chen in a daze.

    Su Chen recognized that her expression was a bit strange. He knit his eyebrows and asked, ¡°What? Is something wrong?¡±

    Gu Qingluo was jolted out of her reverie. She said seriously, ¡°Do not tell anyone about this.¡±

    ¡°From your tone, it seems like this isn¡¯t very good news.¡±

    An indecisive and conflicted expression appeared on Gu Qingluo¡¯s face. ¡°Truth be told, I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s good news or not. To the Gu n, this might be good news, but it might not be to some people.¡±

    Su Chen somewhat understood what she was getting at. ¡°You¡¯re worried that other people will discover your identity?¡±

    Gu Qingluo, however, shook her head. ¡°No, it¡¯s no secret that the Longxi Gu n is a descendant of the Illustrious Divine Dynasty. Quite the opposite, in fact ¨C almost all of the upper-tier Bloodline Nobility ns all know this.¡±

    Oh?

    Su Chen was surprised by this fact.

    He originally thought that perhaps some members of the Gu n had escaped after the Illustrious Divine Dynasty had been toppled, resulting in the current Longxi Gu n. But from what Gu Qingluo had said, it seemed that nothing of the sort had urred.

    Gu Qingluo said with some sadness and helplessness, ¡°In reality, even though the Illustrious Divine Dynasty was wiped out, the descendants of the Gu n were left unharmed.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡±

    ¡°Because they need the Gu n¡¯s bloodline. They need the bloodline of an Origin Beast!¡± Gu Qingluo replied. ¡°The human race has never totally escaped from danger, neither in the past nor present. To deal with the Beast Race, the Ferocious Race, and many other non-human races, we were forced to band together and treasure anything with strength. The Illustrious Gu n could be wiped out, but the Shining Dragon Bloodline absolutely could not. No one knows when the human race will be in a crisis. To ensure that this peak-level strength does not disappear, they needed to preserve the Gu n.¡±

    The Gu n owned the only Origin Beast Bloodline in the whole continent.

    How powerful was this bloodline? It was obvious just by looking at the strength of a Demonic Emperor Bloodline.

    Ignoring certain special circumstances, a Demonic Emperor Bloodline could increase a person¡¯s strength by an entire tier higher than a high-tier Demonic Beast Bloodline.

    Origin Beast Bloodlines were two tiers higher than that.

    Back then, when Shi Kaihuang had exterminated the Formation-Piercing Rhinoceros with a single finger strike greater in power than most Yang Opening cultivators were able to release, he had said that there were Qi Drawing Realm cultivators who could achieve a simr effect.

    This vast difference between two realms referred precisely to the Origin Beast Gu n!

    Without an Origin Beast Bloodline, the highest realm a human could reach was the Light Shaking Realm.

    It was because of the presence of an Origin Beast Bloodline that the human race was able to make further discoveries and advance step by step, eventually resulting in the seven realms an Origin Qi Schr could achieve!

    This was why an Origin Beast Bloodline was so important.

    Not only was it the peak strength of the human race, but it also provided a direction for the human race to advance.

    Thus, the Gu n could be wiped out, but the Origin Beast Bloodline could not!

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Su Chen began to understand what was happening. ¡°But they still don¡¯t trust you, right?¡±

    ¡°Naturally.¡±

    The Origin Beast Bloodline could not be lost, but the Illustrious Gu n could not rise to prominence either!

    As the n that possessed the greatest amount of strength, they needed to be closely monitored and controlled.

    Because of this, the Gu n was split into two groups.

    One group was allowed to keep their Origin Beast Bloodline, but the number of people in that group was limited. All offspring were carefully controlled, and all of the n members were restricted in where they could go. They were also constantly being monitored. Though they possessed incredible power, they were doomed to never be free.

    The other group had their bloodlinebined with others, polluting their bloodline.

    Bloodlines were mixed by the joining of two people with different bloodlines.

    It was difficult to say what the result ofbining bloodlines would be. Sometimes, the bloodline would be strengthened, but mixed bloodlines were rarely passed on. Sometimes, they would cancel each other out, weakening the bloodline. Other times, one bloodline would suppress another. The awakened bloodline would dominate, while the other would remain concealed.

    For most people, even if mixing bloodlines might produce potentially stronger bloodlines, it wasn¡¯t particrly valuable because mixed bloodlines could not be transmitted.

    Thus, most of the time, people would selectively repress one of the bloodlines, usually by relying on some kind of medicine. This would result in the repressed bloodline being passed on to any offspring.

    The mixed-blood remnants of the Gu n were created by relying on such Bloodline Suppression medicines.

    Based on the overarchingws governing the Seven Kingdoms, all of the Gu n¡¯s descendants needed to take Bloodline Suppression medicines. They were only allowed to have children after suppressing the Shining Dragon Bloodline within their bodies.

    This way, they controlled the Shining Dragon Bloodline instead of wiping it out.

    If someday the human race were to fall into dire straits, the dormant Shining Dragon Bloodline might be reactivated in the Gu n¡¯s descendants. But until that day arrived, it was better to keep that bloodline in hibernation.

    The Illustrious Gu n actually had quite a few descendants scattered throughout all seven of the Seven Kingdoms, but most of them possessed the Soaring Serpent or a Demonic Flood Dragon Bloodline. The Shining Dragon Bloodline had been securely repressed. Because of this, those people had much more freedom than the core of the Gu n did, but their marriages were carefully controlled and they did not have the right to choose their mates.

    They could not marry anyone with a bloodline that was too powerful because that would suppress the Shining Dragon Bloodline too much, making it too difficult to awaken.

    They were also not allowed to marry anyone with a weak bloodline or without one because the suppression would be weak and the Shining Dragon Bloodline would be too easily awakened.

    The human race treated the Gu n like a powerful weapon that they could lose control of at any moment. They needed to carefully preserve its strength, but they also needed to ensure that it wouldn¡¯t bite back at them. As such, they kept it under careful control, not allowing it to go out of control.

    If Su Chen could see the Shining Dragon in Gu Qingluo¡¯s blood not because he had some kind of genius-level talent, then the only exnation was that Gu Qingluo¡¯s Shining Dragon Bloodline was stronger than most people¡¯s.

    In other words, her bloodline was more likely to awaken.

    That was not a good thing.

    If her bloodline were to awaken now, when the human race wasn¡¯t in particr danger, she would only have two fates.

    ¡°Either we are killed, or we are sent to Empty Mountain,¡± Gu Qingluo said.

    ¡°Empty Mountain?¡± Su Chen was shocked.

    ¡°Yes, the Empty Mountain! It is at the heart of the Seven Kingdoms, and it is the only one of the Seven Kingdoms that does not have enmity with any other kingdom. What they need to deal with......¡±

    Gu Qingluo paused for a moment, then said, ¡°Is the Gu n!¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 132: Team

    Chapter 132: Team

    Su Chen and Gu Qingluo talked for quite some time. Finally, they reluctantly returned to their own tents and went to sleep.

    Although Gu Qingluo never explicitly said that she wanted to return to how things were previously, Su Chen could still sense the change in her attitude.

    This made Su Chen feel extremely excited. He slept fitfully that night, resulting in an unanticipated benefit ¨C Yu Chengjiao came to raid their tents again, and this time Su Chen caught him in the act.

    When the sun rose, they continued their training. However, they had lost six students, bringing their number down to 94 from 100.

    While standing in front of everyone, Yu Chengjiao yelled in his uniquely coarse voice, ¡°Today, everyone can form their own teams of at most seven people.¡±

    Everyone was extremely excited.

    They were not randomly assigned to teams, meaning they could choose to be with their friends.

    The goal of the random team assignment was to improve everyone¡¯s adaptability to the strengths ofplete strangers, while the goal of allowing the students to select their own teams was so that they could team up with those whom they were more familiar with, resulting in a greater level of unspoken coordination and understanding.

    A momentter, Su Chen, Cloud Leopard, Wang Doushan, and Yue Longsha gathered together.

    The four good friends could finally undertake missions together. Naturally, they were quite happy.

    They were still missing three members.

    At that moment, Ji Hanyan walked over and said, ¡°Do you want me?¡±

    ¡°You?¡± Su Chen was startled for a moment.

    ¡°What? You don¡¯t want me on your team?¡± Ji Hanyan asked.

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s not what I meant. I just thought that you would join their team.¡± Su Chen pointed in He Niliu¡¯s direction.

    Ji Hanyan replied, ¡°I don¡¯t want to be on a team with people that I can¡¯t beat.¡±

    ¡°......¡± Indeed, Ji Hanyan¡¯s personality was still the same.

    At that moment, Jiang Xishui walked over and said, ¡°Then count me in as well.¡±

    Anywhere Ji Hanyan was, Jiang Xishui would be as well. This had basically be an unspoken rule.

    Even though Ji Hanyan frowned, Su Chen still happily epted him.

    No matter what, Jiang Xishui was truly powerful.

    ¡°Just one more team member,¡± Wang Doushan said.

    Su Chen nced at Gu Qingluo.

    He went to Gu Qingluo¡¯s side and said, ¡°I hope you will join our team.¡±

    Gu Qingluo nced at Su Chen, then at the people behind him, and said in a low voice, ¡°Just as a team.¡±

    Su Chen replied sincerely, ¡°Just as a team.¡±

    He didn¡¯t try to force the issue. Gu Qingluo felt the pressure in her heart subside, as if none of it existed anymore.

    She gazed at Su Chen, and a smile that he had not seen in a long time appeared on her face.

    ¡°Okay!¡± She replied happily.

    From this day onwards, Su Chen and Gu Qingluo once again began talking with each other.

    There were no oaths of undying love or any whispered sweet nothings. The two of them were not exactly friends or lovers.

    They were closer than just regr friends, yet they alsocked the mutual adoration between most lovers.

    It was as if they had both returned to Northface City.

    This made their interactions very natural.

    However, there was a trace of anticipation and sweetness for the future deep within their hearts.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    No matter what their feelings were towards each other, the training still needed to continue.

    Every day, the students were trained and tempered by the instructors. They battled all kinds of opponents, including students, soldiers, beasts, and even Ferocious Race captives.

    The instructors gave them pointers on theirbat style and how to integrate it others¡¯, as well as continuing to task them with missions.

    Sometimes, they would pit the camps against each other to improve theirrge-scale battle abilities. Other times, they would be given reconnaissance missions to test and improve their perception. They would also sometimes be tasked with dealing with Origin Formations because there were likely many traps within the ruins, in addition to the Ferocious Race. Finally, they would also allow the students to form their own teams and spar with the instructors. The instructors were like powerful bosses, changing up their tactics to give the students a taste of despair.

    At night, the students also needed to study the subjects that they had selected.

    The days flew by, packed with training and studying. Life was filled with substance and happiness.

    Yes, happiness.

    At the very least, Su Chen felt that way.

    He didn¡¯t care about how difficult the training was or what dangers woulde in the future. All he knew was that the girl he cared about was by his side. This was his greatest source of happiness.

    Su Chen particrly looked forward to missions that allowed him to choose his team.

    Every time that happened, he could be with Gu Qingluo.

    During battles, he particrly paid attention to protecting Gu Qingluo. When being rewarded, he was willing to ept less if it meant taking care of her.

    As time went on, everyone began to realize what was happening.

    Of course, since Su Chen didn¡¯t say anything, everyone just pretended that they didn¡¯t know what was happening.

    Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, the three-month training period was nearing its end.

    On thest day of training, the students were allowed to form seven-man teams with whomever they wanted. The mission was to search for treasure on their own.

    The words ¡°on their own¡± carried a certain connotation with it.

    On that day, Su Chen and Gu Qingluo didn¡¯t do anything. They used ¡°searching for treasure¡± as their excuse to spend some time ying around within the forest.

    As for the other five people on their team...... who cared about them.

    As dusk approached, Gu Qingluo said, ¡°Let¡¯s go sit by theke.¡±

    Su Chen and Gu Qingluo arrived at the Ancient Ma Lake.

    The ancientke was beautiful and calm. Water gently rippled across the surface, scattering the light from the setting sun.

    A Blueheart Lotus swayed gently on the surface of theke, shining radiantly.

    Gu Qingluo rested her hands against her cheeks as she gazed at the Blueheart Lotus. She let out a sigh, ¡°How pretty.¡±

    ¡°You like it?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Gu Qingluo nodded.

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll go and get it for you,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be silly. The Dragonfish is in theke; you won¡¯t be able to defeat it.¡±

    ¡°Who said I¡¯d have to fight it?¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°Watch me.¡±

    He walked towards theke.

    Gu Qingluo began to grow a bit anxious. ¡°Su Chen, don¡¯t mess around. The Dragonfish isn¡¯t easy to deal with!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not nning on dealing with it.¡± As Su Chen spoke, he arrived near theke and whistled. Suddenly, a small capybara appeared from seemingly nowhere.

    The capybara¡¯s chubbiness made it extremely cute. It did not appear to be afraid of Su Chen in the slightest; rather, it excitedly ran towards him.

    Su Chen pulled out a few strips of dried meat and fed it to the capybara.

    The capybara swallowed it immediately and cried out in excitement.

    It circled Su Chen a few times. Clearly, it wanted more.

    Su Chen patted it on the head. ¡°You want it? Fine, but you need to bring me that.¡±

    He pointed at the Blueheart Lotus.

    The capybara let out a few cries and then jumped into the water.

    It swam its way over to the Blueheart Lotus and picked it up with its mouth by the stem. Then, it carefully dragged the Blueheart Lotus back to the shore.

    From beginning to end, the Dragonfish didn¡¯t appear once.

    Su Chen fed the capybara a few more strips of meat as a prize and then brought the Blueheart Lotus back to Gu Qingluo.

    He ced the Blueheart Lotus in front of Gu Qingluo and said, ¡°For you.¡±

    In that instant, the Blueheart Lotus was no longer some kind of precious medicinal herb but a flower that represented his feelings ¨C a beautiful flower that he had picked for the girl he loved.

    Gu Qingluo was in shock.

    She took the flower, still in shock. ¡°How...... how did you do that?¡±

    ¡°Want to know? Give me a kiss and I¡¯ll tell you.¡±

    Gu Qingluo blushed furiously as she kicked at him. ¡°Tell me, how did you do it!¡±

    Su Chenughed and dodged.

    Gu Qingluo flew forwards in pursuit. Su Chen dodged as he yelled, ¡°Okay, okay, I¡¯ll tell you! It¡¯s actually really simple...... the Dragonfish doesn¡¯t eat anything without Origin Energy, so you can just train amon lifeform to do your bidding...... how do you train it? Give me a kiss and I¡¯ll tell you...... Hey, I already gave you an answer, and you¡¯re still kicking me!¡±

    She chased after him the entire way.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 133: Three Days of Vacation

    Chapter 133: Three Days of Vacation

    The training ended.

    After three months of training, only 56 of the original 100 were still present.

    The Hidden Dragon Institute selected the final 40 from this group of 56.

    Of these, there were 16 tenth-year students, 11 ninth-year students, 8 eighth-year students, 4 seventh-year students, and 1 sixth-year student.

    The group of ninth-year students, of which Su Chen was a part of, wasposed of 11 people: He Niliu, Duan Jiangshan, Su Chen, Cloud Leopard, Wang Doushan, Gu Qingluo, Yue Longsha, Ji Hanyan, Wang Xuan¡¯an, Zhou Doni and Yuan Mengshi.

    Shockingly, Jiang Xishui, who was ranked third amongst the ninth-year students, was not selected.

    Jiang Xishui was quite powerful, and his temperament wasn¡¯t bad either. Even though he was a prince of a great Nobility n, he didn¡¯t put on many airs. Su Chen had exchanged blows with him and fought side-by-side. Regardless of the circumstances, Su Chen felt as if Jiang Xishui hadn¡¯t disyed his full strength. He originally thought that he would have an opportunity within the ruins to assess Jiang Xishui¡¯s strength, but he only ended up being disappointed.

    In fact, Jiang Xishui didn¡¯t seem to be surprised, as if he had guessed that this would happen.

    After selecting thest person to enter the ruins, the Hidden Dragon Institute gathered all forty of those who had been selected and brought them into arge hall before beginning to distribute student numbers.

    The person who received the number 1 was a tenth-year student called He Yuandong. He was extremely powerful and his personality was steady. He was looked upon quite favorably during the training period, so nobody was really surprised. The person who received number 2 was called Qi Weiyan. Even though she was a woman, she was quite intelligent, and she had money and power to back up her talent. Qi Weiyan seemed to possess a unique, innate ability. She never rushed when speaking, and her words were cultured and refined, so people always seemed to hear what she was saying. Her ability to convince and unite others was why she was given the number 2.

    Su Chen received the number 3.

    After having been around each other for so long, the group had also begun to understand one another somewhat.

    They had absolute confidence in Su Chen¡¯s ability to scheme. Despite this, they did not give Su Chen the number one spot because he was too good at scheming andcked the qualities of a leader. Neither He Yuandong nor Qi Weiyan were adept schemers. Because of this, they inspired more confidence. He Yuandong was chosen as the leader, Qi Weiyan as an assistant, and Su Chen behind them.

    They did this to tell the other students that,pared to scheming against enemies, uniting and working as a team was much more important!

    Thankfully, Su Chen also knew that he was not suited to act as a leader and didn¡¯t care much for it either, so he didn¡¯t take it to heart.

    After distributing the student numbers, it was time for a lecture.

    That old man, Si Mingli, was still the one doing the talking. He said to everyone, ¡°Now, we are going to tell you what exactly is inside the ruins.¡±

    Before this, everything that was in the ruins was kept secret. Until the final participants were selected, exactly what was inside would was kept secret

    As Si Mingli spoke, everyone realized that these ruins were left behind from the days of the Arcana Kingdom and had been sitting around for nearly around thirty thousand years.

    The reason it hadsted unperturbed for so long was because the ruin was enclosed in a half-isted void.

    The half-isted void existed between the cracks of space. It wasn¡¯t until recently that the half-isted void¡¯s energy had been nearly exhausted, causing it to begin to show up.

    In fact, most of the untouched ruins on the Primordial Continent existed in such a state ¨C as long as they still had energy, they could continue to remain hidden for thousands or even tens of thousands of years. They appeared only once they had run out of energy, giving people a chance to search them and profit.

    The entrance to the ruins was located near a pile of rubble at the delta of the Goldwater River. Thus, it was called Goldwater Ruins, and Long Sang and the Gravel Lizard tribe had locked the area down, not allowing anyone to get close or enter.

    Based on preliminary investigations, the half-isted void was the private research station of some great Arcana Master.

    This kind of situation was very normal. At the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s peak, almost every one of the well-known Arcana Masters had a habit of converting their own half-isted voids into research stations. Thus, this was the mostmon type of ruin.

    It was hard to say how valuable the items within the ruins would be. After all, that depended on the wealth of its former owner.

    But undeniably, as long as it was a ruin, it was valuable!

    Because the Goldwater Ruins had existed for so long, the stability of the void was terrible. As such, there was only one opportunity to enter; if anyone entered from the outside, the entire void would begin to quickly copse.

    Simrly, any violent surges of Origin Energy would hasten the void¡¯s copse, so those who were too powerful could not enter either.

    It was for this reason that Long Sang and the Gravel Lizard Tribe had agreed to only let those under the Blood Boiling Realm to enter in order to prolong the duration that the void would remain intact. This would give everyone a longer chance to search the ruins.

    Apart from cultivation base and number restrictions, there was another rule in ce that anyone who entered was not allowed to bring in items worth more than a total of ten thousand Origin Stones.

    This was not a void-rted restriction but a rule that both sides had agreed upon.

    If they hadn¡¯t set this rule, then money might have be more important than strength in determining the oues of battles.

    Given the dangers within the ruins, no one wanted the situation to unfold that way.

    The students were going enter three days from now, so everyone had three extra days to rest. They could use that time to hone their strength or enjoy themselves to their heart¡¯s content.

    This was an advance reward for everyone attending. After all, no one knew who was going to return alive from this expedition.

    After discussing all of these matters, every student was allowed to go off and do their own thing.

    Su Chen went directly to find Shi Kaihuang.

    ¡°Instructor, are there any more specific materials rted to the Goldwater Ruins?¡±

    Shi Kaihuang was a bit surprised. ¡°What other materials do you want?¡±

    ¡°Everything,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Shi Kaihuang understood what Su Chen was trying to say. He thought for a moment before he said, ¡°I can understand that you want to familiarize yourself with the ruins a little bit before entering, but because no one has ever entered the ruins before, the exact details are not clear, and they might not be of much use to you.¡±

    ¡°Being a little prepared is better than not being prepared at all,¡± Su Chenughed.

    Shi Kaihuang nodded. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, then fine. I¡¯ll get someone to prepare aplete dossier for you.¡±

    ¡°Sounds good. Right, it would be best if there were also some materials on the Arcana Kingdom.¡±

    ¡°You can go to the library yourself. During these few days, the library will bepletely open to you. You won¡¯t have to pay any contribution points.¡±

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t ask for any more.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not nning on enjoying anything else?¡± Shi Kaihuang suddenly said.

    Su Chen was startled. ¡°Anything else? What else could there be?¡±

    Shi Kaihuang said meaningfully, ¡°Naturally, something that a man should enjoy. The Hidden Dragon Institute has reserved the biggest wine taverns and brothels for you nearby. You can go wherever you want; no matter what you do, the Institute will cover the costs. You...... are still a virgin, correct?¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s face turned bright red. ¡°Instructor, I¡¯m still a student!¡±

    Shi Kaihuang replied while stroking his beard, ¡°When I was your age, I was already quite experienced.¡±

    ¡°......¡± Su Chen fled in defeat.

    Whenever he thought about Shi Kaihuang¡¯s words, his heart began to burn.

    Of course, he wasn¡¯t thinking of anyone other than Gu Qingluo

    But when he remembered that he hadn¡¯t even managed to coax a kiss out of Gu Qingluo, he felt that he was a long ways away from losing his virgin status. His expression turned slightly bitter because of this.

    During the following three days, everyone did what they wanted to.

    A small group of people chose to continue cultivating, unwilling to let go of a single day.

    Most of them, however, chose to rx and enjoy themselves.

    Wang Doushan spent his three-day break flirting with other women. He was an old hand at it, and had lost his virginity long before entering the Hidden Dragon Institute. This time, he found twenty-two women to spend some time with him. The only reason he hadn¡¯t found more was because the Hidden Dragon Institute had directly intervened, not because of money, but because they were worried that he would wring himself dry and not have any energy for battle. Even if he had cultivated before and was about to embark on a dangerous expedition, there was no need to put his life on the line like that!

    Cloud Leopard wanted to spend his three days cultivating, but his ¡°friend¡± Wang Doushan had dragged him down. Cloud Leopard didn¡¯t find too many women; he picked a rtively pure-looking woman to spend three days with him and lost his status as a virgin. The day they were to separate, Cloud Leopard tried to buy her. However, when the woman heard that she would be on the battlefield and could die at anytime, she refused on the spot. All of the purity disappeared immediately as she went to cater to other customers, causing Cloud Leopard quite a great deal of heartbreak. This matter became a running joketer amongst his friends.

    Su Chen immersed himself in the library for three days.

    He intently read thepiled materials concerning the Goldwater Ruins. Simultaneously, he pored over the history, culture, and background of the Arcana Kingdom.

    Gu Qingluo was also with him.

    Sometimes, she would help Su Chen look for some books that he required, while other times she would sit on her own and read.

    She sat by Su Chen¡¯s side and watched as he read diligently, pondering over the information and taking copious notes.

    asionally, Su Chen would raise his head to look at Gu Qingluo. As if their souls were linked together, Gu Qingluo would also raise her head to look at him.

    The two of them gazed at each other and smiled simultaneously, then lowered their heads and continued to read.

    During those moments, Su Chen felt that he was quite happy even if they had not advanced to the next step.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 134: Enraged

    Chapter 134: Enraged

    Three dayster, the break ended.

    On that day, the forty chosen students gathered together again. The instructors herded them onto a flying warship, which began to ferry them to the Goldwater Ruins.

    The flying warship flew extremely quickly. The Goldwater Ruins weren¡¯t very far away from the Hidden Dragon Institute in the first ce, so they reached their destination in only half a day.

    When the students arrived at the Goldwater Ruins, they saw troops garrisoned in barracks and gs waving in the air. Countless armor-d soldiers were marching in file, and the skies were filled with other flying warships.

    There were garrisons set up across from them as well. Countless Ferocious Race individuals yelled barbarically, asionallybining their voices to unleash a thunderous roar.

    Whenpared to the orderly, disciplined human armies, the Ferocious Race soldiers were much more untamed. They did not line up in an orderly fashion; rather, they still possessed an indescribably wild aura. They were constantly yelling and howling, often wrestling barbarically with one another.

    In between these two campgrounds was an unassuming pile of rubble.

    The pile of rubble seemed ordinary, but upon closer inspection one would find that the air above the pile of rubble appeared distorted, as if there was a fire burning underneath it.

    They were void distortions, implying that there was a void node nearby.

    Someone with void-type Origin Skills could even take a peek at what was behind the void node.

    A tall stage had been constructed atop the pile of rubble.

    A few human and Ferocious Race generals were sitting atop the stage.

    By the time the flying warship ferrying all the students arrived, a group of young Ferocious Race individuals were already gathered atop the stage.

    These Ferocious Race youths were brawny and d in animal skins. They were roughly equivalent in size to someone from the Cliff Rac, and their bodies were sharply sculpted and covered in intricate designs and inscriptions.

    When Su Chen and the others stepped off the warship, they locked gazes with the Ferocious Race youths. Instantly, the mes of bloodthirst erupted in their eyes.

    Both sides knew that they would soon be enemies.

    Even though there were no grudges between them, they would take every opportunity to kill the other party.

    A tall Ferocious Race captain said, ¡°Since everyone is here, let¡¯s begin the test.¡±

    ¡°No objections,¡± a Long Sang officer replied.

    Both the human and Ferocious Races had lived under the rule of the Arcana Kingdom. Thus, they had developed the habit ofmunicating in the samenguage. Even though their development afterwards led to the evolution of a few local dialects, they couldmunicate with each other without any issues.

    The test they were referring to was to inspect whether or not any student had brought along anything worth more than ten thousand Origin Stones.

    To avoid pointless squabbling, every item was valued based on what tier it was.

    For instance, a Grade 9 Origin Tool was valued around eight thousand Origin Stones.

    Amon-tier medicine was worth around five hundred Origin Stones.

    In other words, students could not possess two Origin Tools at once. Even if a student were to select the most outstanding item from that tier, they would still be limited in quantity.

    Origin Rings and a few other survival necessities were not included in this evaluation.

    Most of the Ferocious Race students brought along weapons, with the vast majority of those weapons being battleaxes. This extremely violent race enjoyed nothing more than splitting open people¡¯s¡¯ heads like watermelons with their battleaxes.

    These axes were hewn out from stone.

    In particr, they were made from Bloodiron Stone, a unique resource of the Harvey ins. They were extremely sturdy and thick, and blood-red inscriptions ran along the body and handle of the axe. These were the result of the Ferocious Race¡¯s unique techniques that increased the power of their axes, giving them the ability to wreak incredibly devastation amongst their enemies.

    Inparison, the human students had brought along all kinds of items.

    Some had brought weapons, some had brought defensive items, and still others had brought Origin Formation Disks.

    The person who had brought the most items was Su Chen.

    The Ferocious Race officer opened Su Chen¡¯s Origin Ring and dumped out arge pile of medicinal vials, flowers, herbs, and even a table. He was stunned by what he saw. ¡°What is all of this?¡±

    ¡°This one is a triangr sk, this one is a dropper bottle, this one is a measuring beaker, this one is a long sk, this is Seven Wisps incense, these are pink entrails, these are beast tendons......¡± Su Chen described them one by one to the officer.

    That Ferocious Race officer could feel his head growingrger. He stared at Su Chen fiercely and said, ¡°I¡¯m asking you what you are nning on doing with all of this.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s none of your business,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°But the issue is that I have no way of determining their value.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s very easy to determine,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Look at these vials. They have no Origin Energy inside them and are simplymon tools that can be bought with just a few coppers. They can be lumped under the category of survival necessities. As for those medicinal herbs, you can determine their market value and count that.

    That Ferocious Race officer seemed to understand. ¡°You¡¯re an alchemist, right? Brat, you must want to bring these items in to concoct medicinester. That¡¯s a smart idea; a simplemon-tier medicine is worth 500 Origin Stones, but you will be able to multiply that value many times over if you bring them in as medicinal herbs.

    ¡°That¡¯s none of your concern. I¡¯m just doing things based on the rules.¡±

    ¡°No, absolutely not. These vials cannot be considered to be under the survival necessities category.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just what you think, Mo Lihan!¡± One of the Long Sang officers walked over. ¡°The way I see it is that this youth is just someone who likes to drink water from different kinds of containers. Based on the rules, any item without Origin Energy and that cannot drastically affect the oue of a battle can be brought in without restrictions, as long as it¡¯s a survival necessity. These vials must be allowed in without any restrictions based on the rules that we have already set!¡±

    ¡°The human race has always tried to be tricky. Xiao Feinan, do you think that you will win just by taking advantage of this loophole?¡± Mo Lihan harrumphed.

    ¡°Whether we win or not is our business. More importantly, the rules need to be followed, Sir Mo Lihan,¡± Su Chen said coolly. ¡°If the cowards from the Ferocious Race are afraid, then they can leave right now and avoid losing face.¡±

    As he spoke, he purposefully nced towards the Ferocious Race youths, the corner of his mouth curling upwards in disdain.

    ¡°Watch your tongue, bastard!¡± The Ferocious Race youths began to howl with rage.

    The Ferocious Race was always quick to anger. Their rage began to burn when they heard Su Chen¡¯s incendiary diatribe and saw his mocking expression.

    Su Chen ignored it and said again, ¡°I said that you are all just a bunch of cowards. You don¡¯t dare fight us head-on; you are only willing to use these kinds of methods to create trouble for your opponents.¡±

    ¡°Bastard! You¡¯re asking for it!¡± a Ferocious Race youth howled and charged forward, punching Su Chen.

    BANG!

    The powerful fistnded on Su Chen¡¯s body. Su Chen let out a yell as he flew through the air, spitting out arge mouthful of blood.

    He did not attempt to dodge, instead allowing this fist to send him flying.

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± Everyone crowded around him to support him.

    The human race¡¯s officer, Xiao Feinan, was enraged. ¡°Mo Lihan, what are you doing!? If you want to throw the rules out the window, let¡¯s fight it out right now!¡±

    Even Mo Lihan was stunned. He turned around and red at that member of the Ferocious Race. ¡°Who told you to attack!¡±

    The Ferocious Race youth knew that he had caused some trouble. He lowered his head and remained silent; however, he continued to re at Su Chen, hatred smoldering in his eyes.

    Su Feinan looked back at Su Chen. ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Sir, I have suffered some internal injuries, and I won¡¯t be able to revolve my Origin Energy very easily. I think that we need to demand some reparations from the other party.¡±

    Su Feinan was startled at first before he seemed to catch on and began tough darkly.

    He turned around to nce at Mo Lihan. ¡°Mo Lihan, you heard it for yourself. Your side injured our side before we even entered, breaking the rules. We have the right to demand some form of retribution.¡±

    Upon hearing that Su Chen had received such serious injuries, Mo Lihan was stunned. ¡°That¡¯s not possible!¡±

    He strode over and grabbed Su Chen¡¯s hand, only to discover that Su Chen had truly suffered some internal injuries. Even though they weren¡¯t very serious, he truly had been injured.

    ¡°How useless. I just gave him a careless punch anyways,¡± that Ferocious Race youth continued to mutter.

    ¡°Shut your mouth, idiot!¡± Mo Lihan whirled around and struck out, sending that Ferocious Race youth flying.

    Then, he looked back at Su Chen. ¡°What retribution do you want?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°That guy hit me with a punch. My demands are very simple: either let me strike him once or let me bring another item worth ten thousand Origin Stones inside.¡±

    Allow Su Chen to strike him?

    That Ferocious Race youth had just carelessly punched him and hadn¡¯t used his full strength. The only reason Su Chen had been injured was because Su Chen hadn¡¯t tried to defend himself.

    But if Su Chen were to attack, the circumstances would be different.

    Mo Lihan knew that it might even be possible for that human to kill the Ferocious Race youth in a single blow if the human in front of him possessed some kind of killing move.

    He understood. ¡°You did this on purpose, did you not? You purposely angered us in order to provoke a response out of us just for this?¡±

    ¡°What I did it for is not important. What¡¯s important is that I was injured, and you have a duty of making some kind of reparation. You can choose one of the two conditions.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 135: Entrance

    Chapter 135: Entrance

    Mo Lihan did not choose to allow Su Chen to retaliate with a strike.

    He did not want the 40 Ferocious Race youths to be reduced to 39 yet. Not only would they lose one of their members, but it would also damage their morale.

    However, he could not possibly allow Su Chen to bring in another item worth ten thousand Origin Stones just like that.

    After a period of fierce negotiation, they finally settled on allowing Su Chen to bring in an item worth more than three thousand Origin Stones.

    In other words, Su Chen exchanged his light injuries for this privilege.

    If he encountered little-to-no danger upon entering the ruins, then Su Chen¡¯s alchemy skills could turn these extra three thousand Origin Stones worth of medicinal herbs into medicines that were worth much, much more.

    But if he were to run into battle, the injuries he had sustained would at the very least hinder him a little bit.

    Regardless, this kind of exchange was still well worth it.

    Because of this, after both sides had finished their negotiations, Mo Lihan said to the Ferocious Race youths behind him, ¡°If you see that brat, kill him first no matter what the cost, understand? That guy is an alchemist. He didn¡¯t bring any Origin Tools, but he brought a lot of medicinal ingredients. If you let him concoct enough medicine once he¡¯s in there, he will have raised theirbat ability as a whole.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± All of the Ferocious Race youths yelled simultaneously.

    Even without Mo Lihan¡¯s urging, Su Chen¡¯s inmmatory words had invoked a lot of hatred towards himself.

    On the other hand, those on his own side had much more respect for him.

    Xiao Feinan watched Su Chen andughed, ¡°What a brave young man. You aren¡¯t worried about digging yourself into a hole if a big battle breaks out within the ruins?¡±

    ¡°In theory, I shouldn¡¯t be,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°The stability of this kind of half-isted void is questionable, so all of those who enter will be randomly distributed and won¡¯t arrive in the same ce. I also have the confidence to deal with any battles that I might face. Of course, there are still some risks, but if we aren¡¯t even willing to take these risks, then how could Mo Lihan have given me the right to bring in an extra three thousand Origin Stones? If you want them to suffer a loss, you need to give them a reason for it. It¡¯s worth it as long as the potential benefits are greater than the risks.¡±

    Xiao Feinan nodded in satisfaction. ¡°Very good, it seems like you¡¯ve thought this through very carefully. Since that¡¯s the case, as the person who is in charge of the exploration of the ruins, all that I can do for you is to allow you to enter the ruins first.¡±

    Being the first to enter meant that he could find a safe location as quickly as possible, allowing him to avoid any battles.

    Su Chen naturally wouldn¡¯t turn down this kind of special treatment.

    Very quickly, both sides had finished their preparations.

    The void node above the pile of rubble began to slowly open under the efforts of both sides. A distorted space that rippled like water appeared.

    ¡°Enter!¡± Su Feinan yelled.

    Su Chen took the lead and entered.

    Upon entering the void node, his sight began to blur. Suddenly, he appeared on a piece of grassy ground.

    The void was overcast. Off in the distance was arge mountain, and grey, cloudy wisps floated through the air. Gentle white light shone from outside of the void as if it hade through a filter.

    The fog was quite thick, restricting his sight.

    There were no enemies nor strange creatures ¨C just an empty grasnd and the majestic mountain in the distance. Su Chen let out a sigh.

    Even though he had already made preparations, Su Chen still hoped that he could avoid doing battle at the very beginning.

    Now, it seemed like his luck was pretty good.

    Su Chen pulled out an item from within his Origin Ring.

    It looked like an eye, spinning around in Su Chen¡¯s hand as if it were alive.

    Su Chen tossed it into the air. The eye began to scan the surroundings, and what the eye saw directly appeared in front of Su Chen¡¯s eyes.

    This was the Scanner Eye, which possessed incredibly visual acuity. Su Chen needed to use it to examine his surroundings and find a suitable ce to concoct medicine. Simultaneously, he could use it to avoid the Ferocious Race and search for his own people.

    This item was extremely practical. Even though it could be only used three times, it was still valued at 500 Origin Stones.

    By utilizing the Scanner Eye, Su Chen very quickly spotted a forested area to his right, where he was likely to find concealment.

    Su Chen stowed away the Scanner Eye. Instead of hurrying there immediately, he first pulled out his workbench and some ingredients, beginning to concoct medicines in the middle of the open. At this point, no one had entered yet; they were probably sent to different locations.

    He very quickly concocted a recovery medicine and downed it.

    His wounds began to slowly heal.

    It would take some time for his wounds topletely recover, so Su Chen concocted a few more recovery medicines as backups. He then stowed away his items and began heading for the forest.

    As he walked, he didn¡¯t run into a single human or Ferocious Race individual.

    This meant that the void was most likely veryrge, since eighty people had been dispersed into this ce and had yet to run into each other.

    The bigger the better.

    Therger size meant that there was more to be explored and more opportunities to be discovered.

    Su Chen liked to be prepared for battle. He believed that not many people were better than him at exploiting their surroundings and circumstances to their own benefit.

    Thus, he trusted that time was always on his side.

    More precisely, the entire human race preferred this situation.

    Thus, Su Chen very quickly ran into the forest, preparing to concoct some more medicines there.

    However, he stopped immediately after arriving at the forest ¨C a massive Mottled Python was coiled around a tree branch, staring at him as it stuck out its tongue.

    The python was insignificant in and of itself, but more importantly, its presence implied that this void was a void that could support biological life and that a unique ecosystem had already evolved.

    In other words, there were likely other types of lifeforms here apart from the Ferocious Race and the human race.

    Everyone was already somewhat prepared for this type of situation. After all, the human race had discovered quite a few ruins in the past, and a few of them had also contained other life forms.

    General evolutionary principles held that the more powerful a lifeform was, the more space it would need to grow.

    A half-isted void was still a restricted space no matter how vast it was. Thus, it was impossible for any extremely powerful lifeforms to be born.

    The issue was that it was hard to say what constituted ¡°extremely powerful¡±.

    To mere Qi Drawing students, there were many lifeforms that were not ¡°extremely powerful¡± that could still pose quite a danger to them.

    In addition, just because there was no way for a powerful beast to be born in such a half-isted void didn¡¯t mean that there weren¡¯t any powerful beasts present.

    If some Arcana Master were to bring in a powerful beast from outside and that beast could produce offspring, then this became a possibility.

    One time, humans discovered an extremely powerful Demonic Beast within an isted void.

    This was the worst oue that could happen to any of those who tried to enter.

    Because of this, Su Chen immediately stopped in his tracks upon finding the Mottled Python.

    Before confirming that there was nothing in the forest that could harm him, it wouldn¡¯t be a good idea to rashly enter the forest.

    After thinking for a moment, Su Chen pulled out a few ingredients and his workbench again.

    Very quickly, he concocted a vial of medicine.

    The fragrance that this medicine emitted could stir up and enrage most non-Intelligent Race species.

    Su Chen picked up the vial of medicine and tossed it off into the distance.

    The vial of medicine shattered on the ground, immediately releasing an attractive fragrance.

    An instantter, the sound of beasts roaring could be heard clearly, their howls clearly agitated.

    One of those howls was particrly clear and loud, shocking his heart.

    Dammit, it was a Demonic Beast!

    He turned around and sprinted away!

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 136: Scouting

    Chapter 136: Scouting

    After leaving that dangerous forest behind, Su Chen decided to head for the faraway mountain.

    The mountain was not veryrge. Gray fog enshrouded the mountain, making it appear as if it hade to life straight off the pages of a poem.

    But when he got closer to the mountain, Su Chen was shocked by how bleak and deste the mountain actually was.

    Greyish-yellow wind whistled through the peak violently, blowing away any vegetation, preventing anything green from growing. The sandy soil could hold no water, and it was as if the mountain was actually standing alone in the middle of a desert. The only green that he could see was the grass at his feet.

    To Su Chen, this desteness was actually a good thing ¨C it was much less likely for any powerful Demonic Beasts to survive in this kind of environment.

    But just as he got close to the base of the mountain, he discovered that another person was already there.

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± The other party yelled.

    ¡°Zhao Xin!¡± Su Chen recognized the other party.

    Zhao Xin was a seventh-year student with student number 38. He was one of the weaker students, but his attitude wasn¡¯t bad, and he also had two kinds of unique abilities.

    In a stroke of luck, the first person that Su Chen encountered was not an enemy.

    Su Chen quickly ran towards Zhao Xin, only to discover that Zhao Xin¡¯s chest was stained a bright red as he got closer.

    ¡°You¡¯re injured?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I just ran into a Ferocious Race youth and battled with him for a bit.¡±

    ¡°How did it go?¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t his opponent, so I ran,¡± Zhao Xin replied without concealing anything.

    During the training period, the instructors had hammered into their heads that they should forget about saving face during real battle. There had been too many examples in history of people lying about their strength or making a mistake when assessing the strength of their opponent, resulting in their own death. A loss was a loss. Trying to conceal it or quibble about the details was basically equivalent to ying with one¡¯s own life.

    The Ferocious Race possessed an innately powerful physique. Not many Intelligent Races couldpete with them in terms of pure physical strength.

    This advantage was extremely prominent at lower cultivation levels.

    Because of this, it was verymon for Qi Drawing Realm humans to lose to Ferocious Race individuals. Their opponents had been selected out of countless candidates, just as Su Chen and Zhao Xin had been.

    What humans relied on from the very beginning was not their strength but their brains. Origin Formations, medicines, team tactics, etc. were all things that the human race excelled at.

    Thus, from the very beginning, the students never intended to face the Ferocious Race head-on. Rather, the importance of teamwork was constantly beat into their heads so that they would use their brains when battling. If someone was caught in a one-on-one battle, they were rmended to retreat.

    The Ferocious Race member that Zhao Xin faced was very powerful and well-suited for battle. The inscriptions on his body could activate the Qi in his blood, multiplying his strength and hardening his body like iron.

    Zhao Xin¡¯s Sudden Rain Needles only covered the Ferocious Race individual in small red dots.

    Su Chen knew how powerful Zhao Xin¡¯s Sudden Rain Needles were. A single needle was not particrly powerful on its own, only equal to the strength of thirteen bears, but they were much stronger inrge numbers. Despite this, however, the needles could not pierce their target, implying that the opponent¡¯s defense was at least greater than the strength of thirteen bears.

    This was even more powerful than the Adamantine Battle Body.

    Based on what Zhao Xin had said, the Ferocious Race individual he had fought hadn¡¯t even used his full strength.

    ncing at Zhao Xin¡¯s wounds, Su Chen pulled out a vial of medicine from his Origin Ring. ¡°For you.¡±

    Zhao Xin happily took it. ¡°Thanks a bunch. It really is good having an alchemist.¡±

    ¡°No problem. You¡¯re very important as well. Next, we will need to activate your Golden zing Eagle Eye,¡± Su Chen said.

    Zhao Xin¡¯s bloodline was the Golden-Eyed Eagle, granting him the Golden zing Eagle Eye skill. Not only did it sharpen his vision drastically, but it also allowed him to see past a few obstacles that weren¡¯t too thick. In addition, he was one of the more agile students sent from the Hidden Dragon Institute. Thus, even though he couldn¡¯t defeat that Ferocious Race member, he could at least escape.

    The main duty he had as part of the team was to investigate any enemies and to plot their surroundings.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m here,¡± Zhao Xinughed.

    As he spoke, he ran to the top of the mountain.

    Once he arrived at the top, Zhao Xin activated his bloodline. His eyes began to glow with a fiery light; under the intense beams of light, the greyish fog could not impede his vision.

    An instantter, Zhao Xin pulled out a piece of white paper, gently brushing his hand over it. Everything that he saw appeared on the scroll in front of him.

    This was the other utility Origin Skill that Zhao Xin possessed. He could directly project everything he saw onto a scroll, forming a map.

    An instantter, he produced a detailed map on the scroll and handed it to Su Chen.

    ¡°Beautifully done.¡± Su Chen took the scroll.

    Zhao Xinughed, ¡°That¡¯s why I was chosen toe along in the first ce.¡±

    Many of the students who were chosen this time were not particrly strong, but they all had their unique talents. Zhao Xin was one of these people.

    Su Chen spread the map to take a closer look.

    From the map, he could tell that this half-isted void was quite expansive. Zhao Xin¡¯s Golden zing Eagle Eye couldn¡¯t map out the whole void, and this map was only one part of the terrain.

    Based on what they had been taught, the two of them first determined the cardinal directions of the map and marked the mountain they were at as the center of the map. The forest Su Chen came from was to the west, and there was a river to the east. Zhao Xin hade from the south; nothing was there but a deste wilderness. To the north, however, they could faintly see an even taller mountain, and it seemed that there were things floating in the air.

    Su Chen pointed to the north. ¡°That investigation target should be a priority for us. As for where we are right now, we should be in the outer circles of the heart of this ce.¡±

    ¡°What are we waiting for? Let¡¯s get a move on then.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no hurry,¡± Su Chen said as he restrained Zhao Xin. ¡°I need to make some medicine first.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you already make some?¡± Zhao Xin said.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Just the simplest recovery medicines. I need to make advanced medicines to greatly increase ourbat strength. However, advanced medicines tend to be moreplicated to make and will require more time, so I need someone to stand guard for me and prevent anyone from disturbing me.¡±

    ¡°Leave it to me.¡± Upon hearing what Su Chen had said, Zhao Xin began to grow excited.

    Next, Su Chen found a cave and began to concoct medicines.

    Right now, he was at the peak of being a Distinguished Alchemist, and he could concoct quite a few higher-tier medicines.

    While Su Chen was concocting medicine, Zhao Xin didn¡¯t just sit around idly.

    He used his Golden zing Eagle Eye to search for other students.

    In fact, he was able to spot a few, but they were too far away. It was no use if all he could do was spot them; even though he wanted to call them over, he was afraid of attracting unwanted attention from the Ferocious Race. Summoning medallions was a double-edged sword; unless they were in dire circumstances, it was best to avoid using them too lightly.

    If Qian Haoli was here, things would be much better.

    Qian Haoli was one of the four seventh-year students here. He had a very powerful innate Origin Skill that could connect people¡¯s consciousnesses over extremely long distances. The only prerequisite was that the two people must be able to see each other.

    Zhao Xin and Qian Haoli were known as the best pair of partners amongst all of the students.

    But once that partnership was torn apart, there was nothing that he could do even though he had such a powerful skill.

    Naturally, Zhao Xin spotted a few Ferocious Race individuals as well.

    More than once, his keen vision spotted traces of a few powerful Ferocious Race individuals.

    If looks could kill, Zhao Xin would have assassinated all of them already.

    But very quickly, Zhao Xin discovered that trouble was about toe their way.

    A Ferocious Race youth was headed in their direction.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 137: Powerful Ambush

    Chapter 137: Powerful Ambush

    He took a deep sniff of the scent that was borne to him on the wind.

    ¡°That¡¯s the smell of a human for sure!¡± Burke said in a low voice.

    He quickened his pace towards the mountain.

    Burke enjoyed killing!

    Burke relished the scent of blood!

    Burke wanted topletely wipe out the annoying group of humans!

    His excitement and speed continued to grow as he constantly repeated this to himself.

    Finally, he arrived at the base of the mountain.

    There, he found a young human standing in ce.

    The human was very small, like a tiny bean sprout, but he began to yell provocatively at Burke.

    ¡°Come at me you useless meathead! I¡¯ll kill you!¡± Zhao Xin yelled at Burke as he gestured disdainfully at him.

    Burke¡¯s lips curled back to form a smile.

    Burke did not grow angry.

    That was because Burke did not get angry with people who were already dead!

    Heughed, his mouth opening like a deep chasm.

    Then, he pulled the giant axe off of his back and rushed Zhao Xin.

    Even though Zhao Xin was only being attacked by a single Ferocious Race individual, he felt as if he was facing an entire army.

    He stood there and watched as the Ferocious Race youth charged at him like a wild bull, dust flying up in his wake.

    Zhao Xin hurriedly retreated, simultaneously unleashing a torrent of needles.

    The Ferocious Race youthughed. The inscriptions on his chest began to glow crimson, and a powerful torrent of energy exploded forth, covering himpletely. The rain of needles bounced off of his body like it was made of stone, ttering off of his body. The massive stone axe sliced down towards Zhao Xin.

    A hundred feet!

    He was still a hundred feet away from Zhao Xin when he unleashed his attack. The axe mmed directly into the ground.

    The ground began to split and crack, rushing directly towards Zhao Xin¡¯s feet.

    In response to this attack, Zhao Xin leapt into the air, the Golden-Eyed Eagle appearing behind him, Eagle Spreading Its Wings taking him high into the sky.

    Burke smiled savagely. The inscriptions on his feet began to glow, and Burke forcefully pushed off the ground.

    Bang!

    The ground spiderwebbed beneath his feet as he flew into the air.

    The frightening rebound allowed him to close the distance between him and Zhao Xin. His stone axe chopped down once again, the turbulent air surrounding it giving off the sense that the axe could obliterate anything in this path.

    Just as that axe was about to cleave Zhao Xin in half, Zhao Xin suddenly increased his speed. His body shed with a brilliant light, flying backwards with an unprecedented speed and avoiding the blow.

    Burkended on the ground violently. The axe mmed into the ground again, creating a crater upon impact, sendingrge chunks of earth flying everywhere.

    Zhao Xin¡¯s face was ashen. He glided for a distance beforending back on the ground and immediately booking it in the opposite direction. He did not forget the duty he had been entrusted with, so as he ran he continued to provoke Burke, ¡°Come at me you bastard!¡±

    Burke, however, was in no hurry to chase after him.

    He continued to sniff the air, and his eyes squinted slightly. ¡°The wind smells a bit different...... there¡¯s more than one person here!¡±

    He nced at his surroundings, constantly sniffing as he searched for any traces of another human.

    Zhao Xin was agitated. He knew that he wasn¡¯t the Ferocious Race youth¡¯s opponent, but he still gritted his teeth and turned back, sting a column of light from his palm.

    Burke flipped the head of his axe around. The column of light mmed into the axehead, sending a shower of sparks flying upon impact.

    He stared at Zhao Xin, who had returned, and tilted his head. ¡°You¡¯re worried for your friend?¡±

    Zhao Xin froze.

    Burkeughed.

    The Ferocious Race was crude and wild, but they were not idiots!

    He howled, ¡°What useless camaraderie!¡±

    The inscriptions on his body began to glow bloody red again.

    Massive waves of energy surged forth, and Burke recklessly charged towards Zhao Xin, the ground trembling beneath his feet.

    ¡°DIE!¡± Burke howled as he swung his axe down at Zhao Xin.

    Zhao Xin hurriedly dodged.

    Boom!

    The battleaxe barely missed Zhao Xin, but the energy roiling from the axe¡¯s surface still mmed into Zhao Xin and sent him flying.

    He was blown into the air like a willow leaf.

    Burke leapt into the air, not waiting for Zhao Xin to descend. He struck down at Zhao Xin with earth-shattering momentum.

    Boom!

    The waves of energying off the axe mmed into Zhao Xin with a thunderous explosion, and it was as if the heavens themselves were about to copse.

    One blow!

    Just one blow!

    Blood flowed from every orifice of Zhao Xin¡¯s body, his life-force seeming to flicker in that moment.

    If he hadn¡¯t put up a barrier at thest moment or activated a defensive Origin Tool, that axe strike would have killed him right then and there.

    Zhao Xin fell heavily to the ground as he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

    Burke also came crashing back to the ground like a massive boulder, sending dust and chunks of earth everywhere.

    Burke yelled as he stomped forwards, ¡°Your weakness astonishes me, human!¡±

    He spun the axe in his hand and put it on his back. ¡°I only need one hand to put you down.¡±

    Zhao Xin stood up, gritting his teeth as he gripped the de in his hand tightly.

    The inscribed totems on Burke¡¯s arms began to glow.

    Zhao Xin struck out with his de, the surface of the de shining brightly.

    Burke punched out with a single fist. ¡°Not good enough!¡±

    His iron-like fist mmed into the de, causing the de to sh with color.

    An instantter, the de shattered into tiny miniscule fragments, forming a cloud of metal powder in the air.

    Even though it wasn¡¯t an Origin Tool, Zhao Xin was still stunned that it had been destroyed in a single blow. The force from the blow continued through the de and spread to Zhao Xin¡¯s chest, causing Zhao Xin to spit out another mouthful of blood and retreat.

    He fell on the ground, unable to crawl back to his feet for some time.

    ¡°Useless trash. If every human is as weak as you, this trip will be quite boring,¡± Burke growled.

    Zhao Xin clutched at his chest as he stood up. ¡°You sure talk a lot.¡±

    He stood up unsteadily. ¡°Don¡¯t forget that you haven¡¯t managed to kill me yet.¡±

    As he spread his hands, countless needles shot forth like rain, shooting at Burke.

    Even though Burke was powerful, he would still be seriously injured if these needles were to pierce his eyes.

    Thus, Burke lowered his head and shut his eyes, his arms raised above his head as his chest began to glow again, his body instantly hardening like it was made of adamantine.

    The sound of metal ttering on metal once again rang out.

    A brief momentter, the rain stopped.

    Burke lowered his arms. They had been covered in swathes of red dots, but had not sustained any substantial injury.

    Burkeughed, ¡°What a weak attack.¡±

    Zhao Xin replied, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect it to be of much use against you. I just......¡±

    His voice suddenly lowered.

    Burke couldn¡¯t hear what he said at the end. ¡°What did you say?¡±

    ¡°I said......¡± Zhao Xin suddenlyughed and yelled, ¡°You are an idiot!¡±

    A sudden sense of danger surfaced in Burke¡¯s heart.

    ¡°AHHHHHH!!!¡±

    Burke whirled around to unleash a punch behind himself.

    BOOM!!!

    Burke¡¯s punch mmed into the ambush from behind.

    An instantter, Burke¡¯s arm, which was as tough as iron, snapped like an old, rotting tree branch.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 138 â€“ Beaten to Death

    Chapter 138 ¨C Beaten to Death

    The Armor-Piercing Awl bored into Burke¡¯s fist like a spike into a tree, splitting through Burke¡¯s entire arm.

    Burke¡¯s arm was instantly shattered and smashed into a bloody pulp.

    Next, Burke let out an extremely pained yell.

    All of the bloody inscriptions on his body lit up simultaneously, a ferocious wave of energy exploding forth, surging at Su Chen and Zhao Xin simultaneously and sending them flying.

    Even amongst the Ferocious Race, some were considered stronger than others. This one was probably not weak given that he could still unleash such fearsome power despite being seriously injured.

    ¡°DIE!¡± Burke howled maniacally as he charged Su Chen. He pulled the battleaxe off of his back with his left hand and chopped down at Su Chen.

    ¡°Su Chen, careful!¡± Zhao Xin yelled.

    Su Chen took multiple steps in midair, dodging with an extraordinary amount of skill. A Firehawk took shape in his right hand and soared forth, mming into Burke and sending mes washing over him.

    The scarlet inscriptions glowed even brighter, and Burke¡¯s energy continued to soar.

    This guy seemed to constantly be exploding with energy. His wild strength once again surged, and he tossed the axe in his hand right at Su Chen. The axe began to shine brilliantly, and a wave of energy rushed through the air. Su Chen felt his body suddenly stop in ce, and it was difficult for him to move his body.

    This axe had some kind of ability that slowed a person¡¯s movements.

    Under this wave of energy, Su Chen couldn¡¯t even activate Whitetower Teleportation.

    As he watched the axe fall, Su Chen struck out.

    Thunder de also began to shine. Simultaneously, his body began to take on a golden luster.

    Adamantine Battle Body!

    The battleaxe mmed down with great momentum, cleaving the thunder in two. It was so powerful that the air around the axe distorted, and it was as if it was tearing open a void in the sky. All traces of the de were shattered, and even the de in his hand fragmented. The shockwaves mmed into Su Chen.

    Threeyers of Meg¡¯s Guardian shattered simultaneously before the attack mmed into Su Chen¡¯s chest, causing a section of his chest to cave in as he flew back.

    But even as he flew backwards, Burke¡¯s figure also trembled slightly.

    Even though Burke¡¯s previous attack had been extremely fierce, he had expended an extreme amount of energy to unleash it. After he unleashed this attack, the inscriptions on his body had greatly dimmed.

    So Chen crawled to his feet, rubbing his chest. He stared at Burke and said, ¡°Do you only have those three axe strikes?¡±

    ¡°You despicable, lowly ambusher!¡± Burke howled.

    ¡°That¡¯s your fault for being an idiot. You knew that there was one more person, but you still didn¡¯t take any precautions,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Another Erupting Firehawk began to take form in his hand.

    As the effect of the inscriptions began to wear off, Burke¡¯s speed began tog behind Su Chen¡¯s. With just Erupting Firehawks, Su Chen could just wear Burke down to death.

    But at that moment, Zhao Xin suddenly yelled, somewhat panicked, ¡°There¡¯s another oneing! Su Chen, you¡¯d better hurry up, there¡¯s another Ferocious Race heading here. He is furiously sprinting here at the moment. Damn, he¡¯s really fast!¡±

    Dammit!

    Su Chen knew that wasn¡¯t good. That Ferocious Race youth, who had been passing by, had definitely heard themotion and charged over. Unfortunately, these kinds of attacks were too noticeable and could be spotted from even very far away. Any Ferocious Race passerby definitely wouldn¡¯t ignore it.

    ¡°What should we do?¡± Zhao Xin¡¯s tone carried a hint of unease.

    If a single Ferocious Race youth was already this hard to deal with, what if another one came?

    Su Chen sighed, ¡°I guess I¡¯ll have to use this.¡±

    Burke, who knew that he was about to receive reinforcements, charged at Su Chen. However, Su Chen ignored him, instead pulling out a vial of medicine from his Origin Ring.

    He used Whitetower Teleportation to dodge Burke¡¯s attack, then pulled out another vial of medicine and downed it.

    He activated Snaking Mist Steps next. As his figure seemed to disappear like a wisp of smoke, he pulled out a third vial of medicine and downed it as well.

    Zhao Xin stared in disbelief as Su Chen drank five vials of medicine.

    Then, the two of them discovered that Su Chen¡¯s energy had suddenly soared.

    A red light began to suffuse out from Su Chen¡¯s body, causing him to exert a tremendous pressure.

    The cave that Burke had created in Su Chen¡¯s chest earlier actually began to heal at a rate that was visible to the naked eye.

    This scene stunned Burke.

    Su Chen said darkly, ¡°Are you having fun fighting? Take this punch!¡±

    A punch flew through the air.

    ¡°AHHHH!¡±

    Burke howled as he charged forward to greet the blow. He knew that this was a critical moment. All of the inscriptions on his body began to glow brightly, filling the air with the smell of blood.

    At this moment, Su Chen¡¯s single punchnded.

    Boom!

    His iron-like fist pierced through Burke¡¯s chest, creating a hole in it. The turbulent energy continued to wreak havoc within his body, exploding with a shocking light.

    This wasn¡¯t the Armor-Piercing Awl, but rather a punch containing an umtion of all the strength in his body. However, it resulted in a shockingly serious injury. Even Zhao Xin was stunned.

    Burke swayed slightly. The Ferocious Race¡¯s powerful life force allowed him to remain alive, at least for now, even though he had been seriously injured. The two hearts they possessed allowed them to continue battling even if they lost one.

    He raised the axe in his hand again.

    Su Chen had already leapt forward, his fistnding on Burke¡¯s left wrist. Burke¡¯s wrist shattered instantly, and his battleaxe fell to the ground. Su Chen charged forward like a whirlwind and aimed a kick at Burke¡¯s forehead.

    With a crack, Burke¡¯s neck snapped. His head drooped, and the light from his body faded.

    ¡°NOO!¡± An enraged howl came from behind him.

    Burke¡¯s reinforcement had finally arrived, only to watch as Burke died under Su Chen¡¯s feet.

    The inscriptions on his legs began to glow as the Ferocious Race youth leapt through the air, gathering energy around his battleaxe. Su Chen was frozen in ce once again, and there was no ce for him to go.

    However, Su Chen had no intention of dodging.

    He picked up Burke¡¯s battleaxe and charged at the other Ferocious Race youth, the axe in his hands building momentum.

    Boom!

    The furious onught of energy was nullified as it collided with Su Chen¡¯s axe. Before anything even happened to the two people locked in battle, Zhao Xin had been knocked over by the resulting shockwave.

    As he flew through the air, he watched as their battle axes were blown aside. Su Chen yelled as he punched the Ferocious Race youth nearly a hundred times in an instant. Simultaneously, he activated the Adamantine Battle Body and Thunder de, causing thunder to boom and lightning to sh everywhere, rushing towards his opponent like a sea of lightning.

    ¡°AHHH!¡±

    With a pained howl, that Ferocious Race youth was sent flying.

    He had been sent off as quickly as he had arrived.

    ¡°This is impossible!¡± howled the Ferocious Race youth who had charged over in anger.

    He could not believe that a mere human had suppressed him.

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing impossible about it!¡± Su Chen yelled as his body took on a metallic luster. Previously, when he had activated the Adamantine Battle Body, his movements had been somewhat hindered. At this moment, however, it seemed as if that restriction no longer applied to him. His figure shed through the air so quickly that it was hard to believe that someone only at the Qi Drawing level could achieve this effect.

    Armor-Piercing Awl!

    Su Chen finally pulled out his trump card once again.

    The inscriptions on the Ferocious Race youth¡¯s body lit up again, the bloody glow shining intensely as his energy surged abruptly.

    But all of this was useless in front of Su Chen, who had worked himself up into a frenzy!

    Bang!

    The youth was sent flying again.

    A member of the Ferocious Race, a race renowned for their straightforward, relentless style of battle, had been defeated in a battle of pure strength.

    Su Chen charged again, attacking with another flurry of fists.

    Thunder boomed, as if a terrible storm was brewing.

    The Ferocious Race youth howled. In response to Su Chen¡¯s thunder attack, he activated the inscriptions on his body to their limit as he attacked Su Chen. Even so, the inscriptions were rendered of no effect.

    Regardless of whether it was speed, strength, or physical defensive capabilities, Su Chen was not weaker than this Ferocious Race individual.

    Bang bang bang bang!

    The two of them exchanged countless blows. The Ferocious Race youth was battered and broken, and wounds also began to appear on Su Chen¡¯s body.

    Even so, these wounds were only present for a brief moment before they began to heal and disappear. Su Chen continued to charge forwards madly as if he didn¡¯t notice them, unleashing his rage without pause.

    Berserk, fearless, aggressive, and iron-blooded.

    He was like an enraged barbarian who had lost all control. At this moment, Su Chen was even more ferocious than the Ferocious Race itself!

    The Ferocious Race youth was unable to endure the onught.

    Blood began to pour out of his orifices, and his iron-like skin could not withstand Su Chen¡¯s iron-like fists. His two hearts could not sustain these injuries. If he wanted to survive this onught, he would probably need to create two new hearts first.

    Finally, the two of them once again came to a standstill.

    Su Chen stood in ce, coldly looking at the Ferocious Race youth.

    The youth spit out a mouthful of blood as he backed up repeatedly.

    All of the energy in his body had disappeared. To him, it was already a fantasy just to remain standing.

    ¡°You...... win......¡± he spat out arduously before copsing, never to crawl back to his feet again.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 139: Using Local Materials

    Chapter 139: Using Local Materials

    ¡°We won! We won!¡±

    Zhao Xin yelled excitedly as he charged at Su Chen and hugged him when Su Chen¡¯s body suddenly swayed slightly as the color drained from his face.

    ¡°Su Chen, are you alright?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, just a little exhausted. Damn, that guy was really powerful. If he had been able to hold on for just a bit longer, then I would¡¯ve been in some real hot water,¡± Su Chen said in between breaths as he gasped for air.

    He had never particrly focused on brute force battles. The previous battle had been a first for him in many ways.

    ¡°Two Ferocious Race youths! Su Chen, you killed two of them all on your own. You¡¯re so powerful!¡± Zhao Xin said excitedly.

    He couldn¡¯t defeat a single Ferocious Race youth even if there were three of him, so Su Chen¡¯s performance was quite shocking to him.

    ¡°What do you mean, powerful? Didn¡¯t you see me gulp all those medicines down?¡± Su Chen said somewhat crossly.

    ¡°Right, what medicines were those? Howe they were so powerful?¡± Zhao Xin asked.

    ¡°Advanced Strengthening Medicine, Advanced Iron-Skinned Medicine, Advanced Vitality Recovery Medicine, Advanced Wind Agility Medicine, and a Frenzy Medicine,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Holy cow!¡± Zhao Xin eximed animatedly. ¡°If you were able to be so powerful with just those few vials of medicine, then can you make some more for me so that I can beat up some Ferocious Race youths too?¡±

    ¡°Make some more? Do you know how much these five vials of medicine cost?¡± Su Chen countered.

    Zhao Xin paused for a moment. ¡°How much?¡±

    He knew in his heart that they couldn¡¯t possibly have been cheap.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°These five vials were all advanced medicines, worth roughly 2500 Origin Stones each. Frenzy Medicine is also worth 3500 Origin Stones.¡±

    Even though he had prepared himself, Zhao Xin was still stunned by the number. ¡°You¡¯re saying that you used 13500 Origin Stones worth of medicine in a single moment?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right; 13500 Origin Stones is only enough to let you go all out for such a short period of time. Otherwise, how could I possible achieve such a great effect?¡±

    Alchemists were divided by skill level into Novice, Qualified, Distinguished, Master, and Legendary. These tiers generally corresponded to the value of the medicine they could concoct ¨C a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, a hundred thousand, and a million Origin Stones, respectively.

    The medicines that Su Chen had concocted were all advanced-tier medicines, which could be concocted by Qualified Alchemists, so each one was worth a few thousand Origin Stones. In fact, they were considered quite cheap since Su Chen hadn¡¯t dared to try concocting any medicines with greater effect. Spirit Sobering Medicine, for instance, which could generally only be concocted by Distinguished Alchemists, fetched a pretty thirty or forty thousand Origin Stones. Otherwise, why would the Immortal Temple continue to bargain with Su Chen? Three thousand vials were worth nearly 100 million Origin Stones. The Recovery Medicines he had concocted earlier were all low-tier and not worth much money.

    Su Chen had only brought ingredients with him, but that didn¡¯t mean that these ingredients were worthless.

    13500 Origin Stones of medicine still required around 3000 Origin Stones in raw ingredients. Of the 13000 Origin Stones of items he had brought, medicinal ingredients made up around 11000 Origin Stones.

    In other words, he could only make three batches of such medicine in total.

    He had already used up one batch just like that.

    ¡°I originally nned to let Wang Doushan and Cloud Leopard use them. After all, I¡¯m not that good at close-quartersbat, and I can¡¯t manifest the full potential of these medicines. However, if they used it, they could probably take care of two to three Ferocious Race youths on their own. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t get very lucky......¡± Su Chen sighed regretfully. One could only imagine what the two Ferocious Race youths whom Su Chen had beaten to death would feel if they had heard what he had said.

    ¡°So you can only make two more batches of such medicine,¡± Zhao Xin also sighed.

    ¡°Actually, I can only make one more batch,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°What? Why is that? Don¡¯t you still have around seven to eight thousand Origin Stones worth of ingredients left?¡±

    ¡°Because not all the ingredients I brought can be used to concoct those medicines. For instance, the Advanced Strengthening Medicine requires Cliff Grass and Blood Lotus. I brought enough Cliff Grass to make four vials of Advanced Strengthening Medicine but only enough Blood Lotus to make two. Now, I only have one more Blood Lotus remaining. Even if I have enough Cliff Grass, I only have enough Blood Lotus to make one more vial of this medicine.¡±

    Zhao Xin was stunned. ¡°Why would you do this?¡±

    ¡°Because you can find Blood Lotuses here,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Zhao Xin was dumbfounded. ¡°How do you know? Isn¡¯t this the first time anyone has been allowed to enter?¡±

    Su Chen smiled. ¡°You can infer some things without ever entering the ruins. For instance, it has already been established that this ruin has existed for nearly 36000 years. Thus, it probably came into being during the 41st millenium of the Chaos Era. During that time, the Arcana Kingdom had just invented the Bloodline Extraction Instrument, and they were probably furiously analyzing and researching bloodlines. Blood Lotuses are extremely important for the Bloodline Extractors, so almost every Arcana Master would grow them inrge quantities in their own personal voids. In addition, Wind-Silencing Grass, which can be used to concoct the Advanced Wind Agility Medicine, is also a very important organism within the void. It can generate breathable air, making it a criticalponent in keeping this void space alive. In fact, I have already verified this; there is a forest nearby in which I found Wind-Silencing Grass. Unfortunately, however, there was a Demonic Beast there, so I wasn¡¯t able to harvest it. There are many more grasses and herbs like this scattered throughout that I am confident are here even though I have never entered these ruins before.¡±

    Zhao Xin was stunned. ¡°So your n from the beginning was to use local materials as ingredients to concoct even more medicine?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. However, I still brought along two sets ofplete ingredients with me just in case so that I wouldn¡¯t be too deep in the hole if I had made an incorrect assumption. In addition, I would be able to use a batch of medicine immediately if I needed it. Unexpectedly, I really did need to use that batch almost immediately.¡±

    ¡°How do you know all of this?¡± Zhao Xin said, his face filled with awe.

    ¡°While you all were enjoying yourselves in the flower houses1, I was doing some research in the library.¡±

    Upon hearing the words ¡°flower houses¡±, Zhao Xin¡¯s face reddened. Heughed awkwardly, ¡°So if you can gather all these materials, then you can make a total of four batches?¡±

    ¡°Actually, I can make six.¡± The number that Su Chen reported gave Zhao Xin another shock.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you only brought enough to make four batches?¡±

    ¡°I told Cloud Leopard and the others to help me bring some too.¡± Su Chen had already pretty much recovered as he got back to his feet. ¡°Thus, the most pressing matter right now is to quickly find them. I have a n, but I¡¯ll need your help.¡±

    ¡°Just say it. I¡¯ll be sure to take care of it,¡± Zhao Xin said. He had an immense amount of respect for Su Chen now, so he would have been willing to listen to Su Chen even if he didn¡¯t have the third student number.

    ¡°I want you to leave this ce and go look for others because you have the Golden zing Eagle Eye. As long as you stay watchful of your surroundings, you shouldn¡¯t be in too much danger. After you find them, let them know two things: first of all that I am here and that they can find he here if they are wounded¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going to stay here?¡± Zhao Xin was somewhat unwilling to part with Su Chen.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to the forest to find some ingredients and concoct a few more medicines. I need to have a set location to treat other people¡¯s injuries, since it won¡¯t do for me to be running all over the ce. Thus, the task of finding our allies falls to you. You can also use this opportunity to continue mapping out the ce.¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± Zhao Xin agreed somewhat reluctantly.

    ¡°Secondly, you need to tell them that I need these ingredients.¡± Su Chen pulled out a piece of paper. On it was a list of the names of many medicinal herbs that he needed.

    He handed it to Zhao Xin and said, ¡°If they find any of these medicinal herbs, they should bring them to me.¡±

    ¡°Mhm!¡± Zhao Xin nodded his head vigorously.

    It was evident just how important those herbs were. If they could gather them for Su Chen, just these six batches of Advanced Medicine would be serious weapons, enough to deal a huge blow to the Ferocious Race youths.

    ¡°Lastly, I need you to do one final thing,¡± Su Chen said straightforwardly.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Zhao Xin replied.

    ¡°Go find Ji Ruoyu. No matter what, nothing can happen to him!¡±

    1. Chinese culture tends to refer to young maidens as ¡°flowers¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 140: Last-Minute Preparations

    Chapter 140: Last-Minute Preparations

    Ji Ruoyu was a sixth-year student of the Hidden Dragon Institute and the only sixth-year present. He was the youngest out of everyone who entered the ruins, and he was also the weakest. His student number was 40, and people often referred to him as Little Forty.

    Yet, Su Chen regarded Little Forty as the most important individual here.

    Based on the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s selection criterion, the weaker a student was, the more likely they were to have a unique talent.

    Ji Ruoyu was no exception. The only reason he was selected was because he had a special innate Bloodline Skill: Void Sensing.

    Void-type Origin Skills were rare. Even if they were conferred by a bloodline, the user often had to reach a certain level of strength in order to put them to good use.

    Ji Ruoyu¡¯s innate Bloodline Skill was the same. He didn¡¯t know any techniques like Void Transportation, Void Sundering, or Mount Sumeru Shrinking1. Even Su Chen knew Whitetower Teleportation, which allowed him to warp a short distance forward, but Ji Ruoyu didn¡¯t know that either.

    The only thing he could do was sense void fluctuations and any disturbances that ured.

    Even though it soundedpletely useless, that skill was incredibly valuable in a ce like a ruins.

    As soon as the ruins opened, violent void fluctuations would begin, and the void would be more and more unstable until it finally copsed.

    Only people who could sense these fluctuations could precisely determine the time of copse and locate a safe exit location.

    Knowing what time the ruins would copse was incredibly important. It controlled what everyone would do during that period of time.

    If you set a n for thirty days but the void ended up copsing after ten days, everything might be over before the n was even really put into motion. All of the effort you had put in earlier would have gone to waste. If one were to encounter void winds as the void fragmented, it would be difficult to exit safely.

    Developing a n of action was only practical once they knew how long the void would remain intact for.

    This was why Su Chen had ced so much emphasis on protecting Ji Ruoyu ¨C nothing could happen to him. He needed the help of someone like Ji Ruoyu the most, since he was someone who was used to making a move only after everything had been set in ce.

    Even so, Su Chen wasn¡¯t too worried about Ji Ruoyu¡¯s safety yet. Ji Ruoyu had been told over and over to avoid battle and to just stay alive. His Origin Ring was filled with escape-type items such as transportation scrolls, defensive scrolls, Light Shield Talismans, and a bunch of other items. As long as his luck wasn¡¯t so terrible that there were Ferocious Race youths everywhere he went, he would be fine for now.

    After he finished briefing Zhao Xin, Su Chen handed him two low-level Windspeed Medicines and two Recovery Medicines before sending him on his way.

    He returned to the cave to wait for other students.

    While he was waiting, there was nothing to do, so he began to perform research on the two Ferocious Race youth¡¯s corpses. Unexpectedly, he reached a lucky breakthrough in just half a day.

    However, he would require some raw materials to substantiate those breakthroughs.

    Fortunately, Su Chen¡¯s original n included venturing out anyways, so he didn¡¯t wait any longer. Instead, he left a letter and his medallion within the cave, instructing them to wait there for him before venturing out into the forest.

    After arriving at the forest again, he didn¡¯t enter it directly. First, he determined the wind direction, then hiked to a corner of the forest and lit a stick of incense.

    The incense began to waft out and pour into the forest.

    This was Beast Drawing Incense, and it was even more effective than Beast Drawing Medicine. Its effect could be carefully controlled to, for instance, only attract Vicious Beasts.

    Not long after, a white, long-eared Vicious Beast stepped out of the forest.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know what Vicious Beast it was. After reproducing in a void for tens of thousands of years, the appearances of these Vicious Beasts were drastically different from those of the outside world. This wasn¡¯t particrly surprising.

    However, now was not the time to analyze such things.

    He twirled the axe in his hands, then wagged his finger at his target.

    The white-eared beast didn¡¯t instantly charge over. Rather, it stared intently at Su Chen.

    Perhaps it wanted to observe its opponent first, but the Beast Drawing Incense overrode its cautious tendencies.

    Finally, it couldn¡¯t contain itself and charged him.

    The battleaxe chopped forwards, a shocking wave of energy surging forward.

    The weapons that the Ferocious Race possessed were bothrge and cumbersome and very difficult to use. However, it was quite effective at dealing with Vicious Beasts, who weren¡¯t able to adapt to situations very well and relied on their physical bodies to battle.

    The beast¡¯s w mmed into the battleaxe. In one blow, the beast¡¯s w was split in two, and blood spurted out.

    The Vicious Beast let out a pained cry and retreated.

    It wanted to run after experiencing its opponent¡¯s strength.

    The axe in Su Chen¡¯s hand chased after it, cleaving the white-eared beast down its back into two pieces.

    After killing the Vicious Beast in two axe strikes, Su Chen tossed the axe aside, moved to the corpse, and began to absorb Origin Energy.

    Yes, this was Su Chen¡¯s true motive ¨C he wanted to absorb more Origin Energy to raise his cultivation base.

    Concocting medicines was only one part of Su Chen¡¯s n. The other part was to improve his strength and break into the Blood Boiling Realm.

    The only reason that the two races had forbidden Blood Boiling Realm cultivators from entering the ruins was because they were worried that powerful energy fluctuations would disrupt the void, elerating its copse.

    However, this concern only applied to the group as a whole. One or two Blood Boiling Realm cultivators would only have a limited effect on the copse rate.

    Of course, the two races had also taken precautions against this, so they had proposed that the candidates¡¯ cultivation bases be limited to ny Yellow Stars or below when selecting candidates.

    There were ten Yellow Stars between ny Yellow Stars and making a breakthrough. For most people, these ten Yellow Stars would require a year to obtain. Even the most talented individuals would probably take at least half a year.

    The ruins would definitely not survive for such a long time, so they could avoid any breakthroughs from urring.

    However, this provision did not take into ount Su Chen¡¯s eyes.

    During the training period, Su Chen had already raised his cultivation base to the stage of 90 Yellow Stars. Afterwards, he had carefully controlled his cultivation rate in order to avoid losing the right to attend.

    After entering the ruins, however, he no longer had any apprehensions. Ten Yellow Stars was just one to two hundred Vicious Beasts.

    This was also why he needed to find Ji Ruoyu. He would only know how long the void would exist and how his breakthrough would affect that duration if he found Ji Ruoyu.

    For instance, if this void could onlyst three more days, Su Chen would just give up on his n of breaking through here and go look for treasures instead.

    However, if it couldst for more than ten days, he could prepare to enter the Blood Boiling Realm.

    After absorbing the white-eared beast¡¯s Origin Energy, Su Chen began to clean up the corpse. These Vicious Beasts had existed in istion for tens of thousands of years, allowing evolution to act on them. They had greatly diverged from the outside world, and researching them might bring some shocking discoveries to light.

    He had just taken care of the corpse when another Vicious Beast came charging out of the forest.

    Based on Su Chen¡¯s current strength, as long as it wasn¡¯t a peak-tier existence like the y Giant, he had nothing to fear from regr Vicious Beasts.

    He wasted no time in killing it and absorbing its Origin Energy. Everything went as smoothly as could be, and Su Chen began to execute his cultivation n.

    1. There¡¯s a purportedly famous Buddhist quote: ¡°Mount Sumeru hides mustard seed; mustard seed contains Mount Sumeru.¡± ording to my best interpretation, this is some kind of shrinking technique.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 141: Sacrifice

    Chapter 141: Sacrifice

    In the empty space right next to the forest, Su Chen continued to harvest Vicious Beasts like they were ripe fruit.

    When the gap in strength was big enough, battling really was as easy as picking fruit.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that he was worried of stirring up too much of amotion and drawing out the Demonic Beast inside, Su Chen probably would¡¯ve just charged in without even using the Beast Drawing Incense.

    After the incense had burnt out, he had basically wiped out all of the Vicious Beasts near the periphery of the forest.

    Su Chen entered the forest and began harvesting Wind-Extinguishing Grass.

    Concocting Advanced Wind-Type Medicines required Wind-Extinguishing Grass that was at least ten years old.

    Wind-Extinguishing Grass itself was not too rare, but those that hadsted for more than ten years were hard to find simply because they fetched quite a high price. One or two Wind-Extinguishing Grasses could be worth hundreds of Origin Stones.

    But within this forest, ten-year-old and above Wind-Extinguishing Grasses were not rare at all, and there were even quite a few that were over a hundred-years old. There were no grasses older than that, however, because Wind-Extinguishing Grass usually could only survive for a hundred years or so.

    Su Chen began to quickly harvest the Wind-Extinguishing Grasses without hesitation.

    These were all treasures.

    There were two main kinds of treasures that could be found within ruins. One type was the relics left behind by previous upants, while the other type was the countless flowers and herbs that had grown in a naturally-preserved environment.

    Thetter could sometimes be even more valuable than the former. After all, the left-behind relics might not be worth anything anymore after tens of thousands of years, while flowers and herbs could grow without limit.

    That didn¡¯t mean, however, that ten-thousand-year-old herbs would be everywhere.

    It was impossible for ten-thousand-year-old herbs to exist in a ce where the ecosystem wasplete. Vicious Beasts weren¡¯t stupid either, and any treasures like them would be eaten almost immediately.

    However, hundred-year herbs were still quitemonce.

    Su Chen really did find quite a few good things.

    For instance, he found some moring Hawk Bells, some Jade Conch Spices, and a plethora of other herbs that he hadn¡¯t been able to deduce the presence of. Now, however, they had be Su Chen¡¯s spoils.

    Earning unexpected spoils was to be expected. After all, there was no way that the documents could include every possible valuable item inside. However, for these unexpected spoils to be put to use required some luck.

    As he harvested more raw ingredients, countless recipes and forms shed through his head.

    To him, the best oue was one where the ingredients that he had discovered could be used to concoct some kind of medicine, regardless of what kind.

    If he wanted to, he could also pair them with the ingredients he already had on hand.

    The worst-case scenario was that these medicinal herbs could only remain as raw ingredients, unable to be utilized.

    Su Chen diligently searched every corner of the forest, not letting anything escape his vision.

    After scouring the forest¡¯s outskirts and taking his spoils, Su Chen lit a second stick of Beast Drawing Incense.

    He followed this pattern and continued to slowly advance.

    As he umted more and more spoils, the number of medicines that Su Chen could concoct also began to grow.

    However, most of them were low-tier medicines. Not many could be used to make high-tier medicines.

    Just as he was getting into the swing of things, however, he saw a plume of smoke suddenly billow into the sky.

    That was the message talisman Su Chen had left behind in the cave. Its activation meant that the person there was in dire straits and was willing to expose themselves to get Su Chen toe back.

    Su Chen turned around and ran back to the cave as quickly as he could, keeping an eye out for any ambushes on the way.

    Even though Ferocious Race members weren¡¯t particrly bright, they had learned how to set ambushes and other rtively simple tactics after battling the human race for so many years. However, alchemy and Origin Formations were still too difficult for them.

    As he returned to the cave, Su Chen found two students waiting for him there.

    One was called Jiang Hanfeng and the other was called Pi Yuanhong. Jiang Hanfeng was an eighth-year student who specialized in Origin Formations. Pi Yuanhong was a tenth-year student who specialized in identifying medicinal herbs. However, this ¡°specialty¡± didn¡¯t actually mean anything when it came to him. He had merely chosen it as a stopgap measure because the training had forced everyone to choose a specialty. In fact, his skill in alchemy couldn¡¯t even reallypare to Cloud Leopard¡¯s, let alone Su Chen¡¯s.

    He had one true strength: battle.

    Pi Yuanhong possessed the Genesis Split-Toothed Beast¡¯s Bloodline. This was one of the eight Demonic King Bloodlines among the forty students who entered the ruins. It possessed incrediblebat ability, making him one of the few students who could face a Ferocious Race individual head-on.

    But at this moment, Su Chen saw that Pi Yuanhong was covered in blood and on the verge of dying.

    Upon seeing Su Chen, Jiang Hanfeng wailed, ¡°Third Senior Brother, you¡¯re finally here. Eighth Senior Brother has been wounded; we¡¯ve been waiting for you forever.¡±

    Jiang Hanfeng was by nature a jokester. He had a carefree personality and easily made friends with everyone.

    After the instructors distributed the student numbers, Jiang Hanfeng basically began to call the other students by ¡°Senior Brother¡± or ¡°Junior Brother¡± based on their student numbers. The instructors hadn¡¯t assigned the student numbers by seniority but rather strength, attitude, etc. Jiang Hanfeng¡¯s naming convention threw everyone for a loop.

    For instance, even though Pi Yuanhong was older than Su Chen, Jiang Hanfeng had basically turned Pi Yuanhong into Su Chen¡¯s younger brother.

    However, it sounded much better than just calling someone ¡°number so-and-so¡±, so everyone tacitly agreed to it.

    Today, however, Jiang Hanfeng, who was normally joking around, was bawling.

    Su Chen hurried to Pi Yuanhong¡¯s side. After he sent a strand of Origin Energy into Pi Yuanhong¡¯s body, his expression instantly tightened. ¡°He has four broken bones, some of his internal organs have ruptured, and he is experiencing a bacsh from an Origin Energy imbnce...... If this continues, he will without a doubt die!¡±

    Pi Yuangon¡¯s wounds were much more serious than they appeared!

    Pi Yuanhong¡¯s lips cracked in a smile. ¡°There was nothing we could do. We ran into three Ferocious Race youths all at once.¡±

    He could still smile about it.

    ¡°A one-on-three? No wonder he was injured so badly,¡± Su Chen sighed.

    Su Chen understood how powerful the Ferocious Race youths were.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t a one-on-three; I was there too,¡± Jiang Hanfeng interjected.

    Su Chen sighed, ¡°If you weren¡¯t there, your Eighth Brother might have had it a little easier.¡±

    Jiang Hanfeng was like Zhao Xin. He was much weaker than Pi Yuanhong, and he probably really was a burden during the battle.

    There was nothing that Jiang Hanfeng could say.

    Pi Yuanhong interjected, ¡°Zuo Ningdang was there too.¡±

    Su Chen froze in ce. ¡°He didn¡¯t make it?¡±

    Pi Yuanhong shook his head.

    Su Chen¡¯s heart sank.

    Zuoning was a tenth-year student and ranked twenty-third, but his true strength was higher than that. In addition, he had a simple and honest demeanor and carried himself like a gentleman. If anyone needed his help, he would do his best to be of use.

    Unfortunately, he was the first one to depart since entering the ruins.

    Even though he had known that not everyone could leave the ruins alive, he still felt a wave of sorrow wash over him when he heard about the loss of hisrade.

    Jiang Hanfeng¡¯s yful demeanorpletely vanished. He muttered, ¡°If I was just a bit more powerful or hadn¡¯t been a burden, perhaps 23rd Senior Brother wouldn¡¯t have died......¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t your fault.¡± Su Chen patted his shoulder. ¡°You have your task. If you don¡¯t want Zuo Ningbai¡¯s death to be in vain, do what you need to do.¡±

    ¡°But we haven¡¯t even gone to the mountain yet. What can we do?¡± Jiang Hanfeng said, pouting.

    ¡°You can be useful here too. Old Eight¡¯s wounds are too serious, and he won¡¯t recover from medicine alone. All that we can do now is cut him open, suture his internal organs, purify his blood, and adjust his Origin Energy flow. This requires my absolute concentration, and I must not be disturbed. The use of the talisman will definitely attract the attention of other Ferocious Race youths. Their noses are also very sharp, and they will be able to pick up the scent of blood when I cut him open, causing them to be led here. Thus, I need you to set up a concealment formation to prevent the Ferocious Race from finding this location.¡±

    ¡°But I am not that proficient in concealment formations; that¡¯s Senior Brother Ma¡¯s specialty......¡± Jiang Hanfeng still wanted to exin.

    ¡°Number 33!¡± Su Chen said harshly. ¡°I cannot hope that the people I need will appear by my side in my moment of need! If you don¡¯t want your Eighth Senior Brother to die, then you must give it everything you have! Whether we can save him or not depends on you!¡±

    Jiang Hanfeng¡¯s heart trembled. He nodded his head, dazed.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 142: Surgery

    Chapter 142: Surgery

    As Jiang Hanfeng watched Su Chen carry Pi Yuanhong into the cave, he paused for a moment before gritting his teeth. ¡°Dammit, If I need to do it, then I¡¯ll do it. I don¡¯t believe for a second that I won¡¯t be able to do it!¡±

    Jiang Hanfeng pulled out arge quantity of materials from his Origin Ring and began to set up a formation.

    Just like Su Chen, Jiang Hanfeng didn¡¯t bring aplete Origin Formation Disk with him. Instead, he brought ingredients with him to make them. Otherwise, there was no point in bringing along a Formations master.

    However, he didn¡¯t make any estimates like Su Chen. Instead, he prepared all of the materials beforehand, attempting to adapt as best as he could for all kinds of circumstances.

    Jiang Hanfeng wasn¡¯t that skilled in creating concealment formations, but he had no other choice at this point.

    Pi Yuanhong and Su Chen didn¡¯t have a choice either.

    Su Chen was not nearly as proficient in medical skill as he was in concocting medicines, but he could not possibly back down just because of this.

    He aimed the knife carefully and took a deep breath. However, he couldn¡¯t start the cut.

    Pi Yuanhong could sense Su Chen¡¯s thoughts. He said with a smile, ¡°Do it. If I¡¯m unlucky and die here, I will repay those Ferocious Race youths.¡±

    ¡°How will you repay them if you die,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°I¡¯ll just copy the Spirit Race and transform into a physical body.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because they have the Spirit Transformation Tool. Who knows, they might not want that attitude of yours, and it might not seed anyways.¡±

    ¡°Hey, you making fun of me?¡±

    ¡°How am I making fun of you? I¡¯m just telling you the truth. Is it even worth being jealous of those half-human half-ghost creatures?¡±

    ¡°Who said I was jealous of them? It¡¯s enough that you¡¯re dismembering me, but now you want to distort what I¡¯m trying to say as well?¡±

    As they spoke, the surgery began.

    There was no anesthetic avable. Pi Yuanhong endured solely with the powerful will that an Origin Qi Schr possessed. Even if the pain was so great that it felt like the sky was about to fall and the earth about to copse, Pi Yuanhong forced himself to endure by using conversation as a means to distract himself from the pain.

    As the knife began to cut deeper, Pi Yuanhong spoke faster and faster, but Su Chen began to grow silent.

    His concentration sharpened, and his movements began to slow.

    Pi Yuanhong couldn¡¯t help but wonder at some points whether Su Chen was trying to torture him to death or save him.

    He felt ¨C just for a moment ¨C that he would rather have died than suffer such agony.

    As his pain climaxed, Pi Yuanhong even thought about jumping up and grabbing Su Chen by the neck and then tying his own intestines around Su Chen¡¯s neck and choking him to death with them.

    But he resisted it in the end.

    Pi Yuanhong remained stalwart and determined, and he endured the most painful part with his extraordinary willpower. When Su Chen told him that the surgery had seeded and began to suture him back together, Pi Yuanhong, who hadn¡¯t let a single tear fall the entire time, suddenly began to bawl.

    ¡°DAMMIT, next time I¡¯d rather die than ask you to save me!¡± Pi Yuanhong howled.

    ¡°Do you think I want to do this? Dammit, if I seed then it just means that your body and will are exceptionally tough, but if I had failed, then I would have killed you! Fuck!¡± Su Chen let out a rare curse.

    Pi Yuanhong had to endure tremendous physical pain, while Su Chen had to endure the tremendous pressure in his heart. He needed some way to let it all out.

    He needed to carefully treat Pi Yuanhong¡¯s injuries while using Origin Energy to control Pi Yuanhong¡¯s blood loss to prevent him from bleeding out. There was simply too much to pay attention to; any one mistake could have resulted in failure.

    He thanked Hong Ming!

    It was his selfless sacrifice that had given Su Chen a better understanding of the human body.

    In this world, medical knowledge like this was never passed down. He had obtained all of his skills by poring over medical books and constantly performing experiments on other humans.

    One could argue that Su Chen had used his own ideas and theories to forge a new path in a world where surgery was a rare urrence.

    Su Chen had no forerunners on this path, so he needed to make this journey alone. Thus, he didn¡¯t know what blood transfusions were; all he could do was use his own Origin Energy to control the loss of blood. He didn¡¯t know how necessary anesthetics were, but just based on Pi Yuanhong¡¯s pained, tortured expressions, a form for a pain-reduction medicine was already forming in the back of his mind.

    Too many firsts, too many attempts.

    If he could seed, then that would be a great blessing.

    Pi Yuanhong was exhausted after Su Chen closed his wounds. After drinking a vial of recovery medicine, he fell into a deep sleep.

    No one had brought nkets with them, so Su Chen pulled out the Wind-Extinguishing Grass he had harvested and arranged a makeshift nket, covering him in it.

    Wind-Extinguishing Grasses would be quickly ruined upon contact with blood, but Su Chen didn¡¯t care.

    He measured Pi Yuanhong¡¯s pulse again. After ensuring that everything seemed normal, Su Chen staggered to the edge of the cave.

    Outside, Jiang Hanfeng was keeping watch, not daring to blink.

    His focus was taut.

    Upon seeing him standingpletely still on a finished formation, Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but ask him, ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Jiang Hanfeng replied, ¡°I am standing on the foundation of the formation. I couldn¡¯t get it to work properly, and Origin Energy fluctuations were constantly appearing. There was nothing else I could do, so I stood on it to absorb the fluctuations myself.

    ¡°You¡¯re saying that you¡¯ve been standing on this thing, absorbing the Origin Energy fluctuations using your own body, until now?¡± Su Chen was shocked.

    Origin Energy pulses weren¡¯t harmful, but they could cause the Origin Energy in a person¡¯s body to resonate with the pulses at close distances. In light cases, one would feel dizzy from the disruption to smooth Origin Energy flow. In moderate cases, hidden injuries might begin to umte, and in serious cases one¡¯s Origin Energy could rebound.

    Jiang Hanfeng had stood on the formation foundation for such a long time in order to conceal their location......

    In that moment, Su Chen felt moved.

    Jiang Hanfeng¡¯s body trembled

    Su Chen grabbed hold of Jiang Hanfeng and pulled him aside, quickly inspecting Jiang Hanfeng¡¯s body.

    Thankfully, there wasn¡¯t too much damage. He wouldpletely recover with some rest.

    Jiang Hanfeng, however, was unwilling to leave. ¡°I can¡¯t go. As soon as I go, the Origin Energy fluctuations will start.¡±

    ¡°You can go now. We won¡¯t need this anymore,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°You¡¯re saying that Eighth Senior Brother is fine now?¡± Jiang Hanfeng was delighted.

    ¡°Yes, but he still needs to rest for two days or so. Go and make him some meat porridge, and make it a bit more mushy. At this point, he just needs some nutrients.¡± Su Chen pulled out a Vicious Beast carcass from his Origin Ring and tossed it to Jiang Hanfeng. Even though Origin Qi Schrs were all superhumans, in a certain sense, it was impossible for them to recover without nutrients.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Jiang Hanfeng excitedly took the Vicious Beast and ran to make food. The nausea from the Origin Energy fluctuations was still present, however, and Jiang Hanfeng fell t on his butt before springing back to his feet and racing into the cave.

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t help butugh at his silly antics.

    He slowly climbed to the top, gazing off into the distance.

    Images of Gu Qingluo began to surface in his mind.

    Qingluo, where are you right now?

    Are you alright?

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 143: Totem Medicine

    Chapter 143: Totem Medicine

    The surgical operation was finished, and all that remained was to let Pi Yuanhong rest and slowly recover.

    Because Jiang Hanfeng¡¯s concealment formation wasn¡¯tpletely perfect, Su Chen didn¡¯t go out to hunt anymore. Instead, he stayed behind to protect Pi Yuanhong and Jiang Hanfeng.

    Of course, that didn¡¯t mean that he was just lying idly around. If there was nothing to do, he would perform experiments or concoct medicines, assigning some of the pettier tasks to Jiang Hanfeng.

    On this particr day, Jiang Hanfeng walked in while Su Chen was still busy doing things.

    ¡°He drank the whole bowl of soup and then went to sleep.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t let him eat too much. He needs to take it slowly, even if he is an Origin Qi Schr,¡± Su Chen said without even turning around.

    ¡°I told him already, but he wouldn¡¯t listen to me. He said that he wanted to recover hisbat ability as quickly as possible,¡± Little Jiang mumbled as he walked over.

    But when he arrived next to Su Chen, he was given quite a surprise.

    A partially-dissected Ferocious Race youth corpse was lying in front of Su Chen.

    ¡°A Ferocious Race youth? Where did you get this Ferocious Race youth corpse from?¡±

    ¡°I killed him, of course. Where else would ite from?¡± Su Chen replied as he pulled out the Ferocious Race youth¡¯s heart and carefully inspected its structure.

    Jiang Hanfeng was dazed by Su Chen¡¯s bloody behavior. ¡°You killed a Ferocious Race youth? And you¡¯re dissecting him?¡±

    ¡°Two. The other one is there.¡± Su Chen pointed to a not-so-faraway corner.

    The other Ferocious Race youth corpse was hanging on the wall. It had beenpletely skinned, with its various organs and limbs spread all over the ce as precious specimens. Arge heady there as well, a vicious expression still on its face, almost as if it were still alive.

    Jiang Hanfeng felt the world spinning around him. He had seen dead people before, but he had never seen dead people who were still that scary.

    Fear and happiness simultaneously washed over him. He was happy because his Third Senior Brother was indeed powerful, since he was able to take care of two Ferocious Race youths simultaneously. He was fearful, however, of Su Chen¡¯s brutal actions. His heart trembled involuntarily, and he was rendered speechless for some time.

    ¡°What? Scared?¡± Su Chen continued to inspect the heart using his Origin-Energy-seeing eye.

    Jiang Hanfeng gulped and said with some difficulty, ¡°I don¡¯t understand why you are doing this.¡±

    ¡°To understand theposition of their bodies and to see if I can figure out a better way to deal with them. For instance, it¡¯smon knowledge that they have two hearts, so they can still survive even after you destroy one of them. However, it¡¯s notmonly known that their spleens are extremely critical; puncturing the spleen is even more effective than destroying a heart,¡± Su Chen said to Jiang Hanfeng as he put the heart in his hand back down and picked up the spleen.

    His Origin Energy-seeing eye had allowed him to determine all of this. Su Chen¡¯s mind rapidly distilled and interpreted everything that his eyes saw, bing part of Su Chen¡¯s understanding of the Ferocious Race¡¯s physical constitution.

    ¡°Is that what that one is for too?¡± Jiang Hanfeng pointed at the Ferocious Race hanging from the wall.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m using that one to understand the totemic inscriptions on their bodies. I skinned that one to see whether those inscriptions are still useful after they have been separated from a body and found that they, in fact, are not. Those totemic inscriptions are all drawn on with a special medicinal liquid containing an abundant supply of energy. It is activated by Blood Qi, and the resulting effect is determined by the inscriptions themselves. By unraveling the secrets of these totemic inscriptions, the human race will be able to harness their abilities.¡±

    Totemic inscriptions were as important to the Ferocious Race as Origin Skills were to the human race; they were the foundation of the Ferocious Race¡¯s strength.

    Every totemic inscription was equivalent to a unique, powerful skill. Regardless of whether they were used to augment one¡¯s own abilities or to attack others, they were all exquisitely drawn.

    Unlike the human race¡¯s multifaceted Origin Skills, the Ferocious Race¡¯s inscriptions were incredibly straightforward, focusing primarily on pure power. Because of this, the totemic inscriptions were often used to directly strengthen themselves by increasing their power, hardening their bodies, and raising their speed. Even though this style of battle was very one-dimensional, it was still very effective.

    Jiang Hanfeng shook his head. ¡°These totemic inscriptions are the closely-guarded secrets of the Ferocious Race¡¯s Divine Temple. It¡¯s impossible for you to unravel the mysteries within.¡±

    ¡°Be careful when you use the word ¡®impossible¡¯; otherwise, you might find your face getting pped around,¡± Su Chenughed as he picked up a vial containing a radiant, glowing blue liquid.

    ¡°This is......¡± Jiang Hanfeng said in shock.

    ¡°The liquid medicine used for drawing totemic inscriptions,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°That¡¯s not possible!¡± Jiang Hanfeng yelled.

    The Totemic Medicine¡¯s form was a secret that the Ferocious Race priests of the Divine Temple guarded fiercely. They were the only ones who had the ability and privilege to draw on these inscriptions, and that was the primary reason for their existence.

    How was Su Chen able to concoct it instantly?

    This was unbelievable.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I told you to be careful when you say that something is impossible,¡± Su Chenughed.

    Su Chen himself had not expected that his first great discovery upon entering the ruins would not be from the ruins themselves, but from the corpses of his enemies.

    Yes, after inspecting the totemic inscriptions on the Ferocious Race¡¯s body using his unique eyes, he was instantly able to deduce the medicinal form.

    It really was that simple!

    The Ferocious Race wasn¡¯t really known for using their heads, so howplicated could the medicine they invented be?

    The concoction technique was also incredibly simple. All he needed to do was gather all of the medicinal herbs and simmer them in a pot for some time.

    Because of this, Su Chen was able to instantly uncover the secrets within.

    In the instant that he made the breakthrough, he didn¡¯t think that it was possible for the heart of these inscriptions, which had been passed down for tens of thousands of years in the Ferocious Race, to be so simple.

    Su Chen made a quick forage run in the forest. After finding a few raw ingredients andbining them with the ingredients that he already had in his Origin Ring, he was able to sessfully concoct it in just a few tries.

    It was such a simple process that he himself was inplete disbelief.

    It was then that Su Chen realized that the only reason the human race hadn¡¯t unlocked the secrets behind these inscriptions was partly because the human race didn¡¯t have a convenient tool like his Origin Energy-seeing eye. The other more important reason, however, was that even though these totemic inscriptions could release an astounding amount of energy, they relied on a person¡¯s own Blood Qi as a foundation. Only the Ferocious Race, who possessed two hearts and were by nature extremely barbaric, could utilize them. If humans were to attempt to activate these inscriptions, they would bleed themselves dry in just a few blows.

    The human race hadn¡¯t deciphered it not because they couldn¡¯t, but because they didn¡¯t want to ¨C no one was interested in spending the time and energy to decipher something that wouldn¡¯t be one bit useful to themselves.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then why would you try to decipher it?¡± Jiang Hanfeng couldn¡¯t help but ask upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s exnation.

    ¡°Because I¡¯m not just trying to mimic them. The Ferocious Race¡¯s inscription medicine is extremely crude and simple, and I can improve its effect. Or, I can always just adjust these inscriptions so that they don¡¯t rely on the body¡¯s Blood Qi to be activated but on Origin Energy. Isn¡¯t that enough of a reason?¡±

    Jiang Hanfeng was stunned.

    Indeed, the thoughts of schr overlords were hard to understand. To those who only focused on the immediate, short-term benefits, Su Chen¡¯s ns were simply too far-fetched.

    But Su Chen¡¯s attitude toward the totemic inscriptions was the same as his attitude towards researching Origin Skills. They were all quite useful ¡°inheritances¡± that he could absorb and modify, turning them into tools usable by those without bloodlines.

    If he wanted to give those without bloodlines strength of their own, he would need to broaden his horizons and attempt to absorb anything and everything that he could possibly use.

    This was the case for Ancient Arcana Techniques, as it was now for totemic inscriptions.

    There was no way he would make any breakthroughs if he grewcent.

    ¡°Unfortunately, that¡¯s not something I¡¯ll be able to aplish overnight,¡± Su Chen said with some reluctance.

    Deciphering the makeup of the totemic inscriptions was not difficult, but changing them so that they could be used by the human race was going to take a lot of work.

    Jiang Hanfeng¡¯s face fell. ¡°So you mean that this Totemic Medicine is not going to be useful to us right now?¡±

    ¡°That might not be true,¡± Su Chen replied.

    He tilted the vial and said, ¡°Even though we humans do not have the physique that the Ferocious Race possesses, we can still probably find a few exceptions to the rule. Thankfully, within our group of students, I can already think of a few who may find this medicine useful.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 144: Pursui

    Chapter 144: Pursuit

    Wang Doushan didn¡¯t know why, but his ears suddenly felt warm.

    ¡°What bastard is talking about me behind my back?¡± he grumbled as he swung hisrge hands through the air. His palm mmed into the Inky Dan Cloud Beast in front of him. Even though the beast had quite an artistic, elegant name, it was really quite thickheaded. It loudly howled and bit Wang Doushan¡¯s arm.

    Wang Doushan¡¯s thick elbow locked the beast¡¯s mouth in ce. Its razor-sharp teeth were lodged in a thickyer of fat and muscle, unable to extricate itself.

    Wang Doushan grabbed its neck and gave it a twist.

    Crack! The neck broke.

    ¡°Great, time for another yummy meal,¡± Wang Doushanughed heartily.

    He turned around and yelled, ¡°Little Forty, c¡¯mere, it¡¯s time to eat!¡±

    A skinny, elegant youth came running in his direction, hisrge eyes dancing around animatedly.

    As he ran, he yelled, ¡°Time to eat again? We¡¯ve already eaten four meals today. Are we still trying to link up with the other students toplete the task that the Institute gave us?¡±

    This was Ji Ruoyu, the person that Su Chen was so concerned about.

    Ji Ruoyu was pretty lucky. He encountered only two Ferocious Race youths upon entering the ruins, so he had used his life-saving treasures to escape. After that, he ran into Wang Doushan.

    With Wang Doushan¡¯s protection, his safety was much more secure.

    However, Wang Doushan¡¯s habit of constantly eating was giving him quite the headache.

    Wang Doushanughed, ¡°Where are you going to get your energy from if you don¡¯t eat? How are you going to fight if you don¡¯t have energy? And where are you going to get food from if you don¡¯t kill these beasts...... Hey, how can you fight against the Ferocious Race if you don¡¯t have any strength? As for our mission...... the herbs and grasses we have been collecting this entire time can be considered to bepleting a part of the Institute¡¯s mission. The main reason we were sent here by the Institute is to collect these medicinal ingredients. Killing the Ferocious Race is just an additional task. It¡¯s important to keep your eyes on the prize. Ai, you¡¯re still too young, so it¡¯s no wonder that you don¡¯t understand.¡±

    As he spoke, Wang Doushan skillfully skinned and cut open the animal, removed its inner organs, and was about to begin cooking it.

    The handsome young man crossed his arms. ¡°You make it sound so good, but I haven¡¯t seen you deal with any Ferocious Race youths yet either. Why didn¡¯t you fight the Ferocious Race youth we just ran into instead of dragging me off to hide?¡±

    ¡°Hey!¡± Wang Doushan mmed the ground with his palm, causing a slight tremor. ¡°I¡¯m doing this to protect you! If it weren¡¯t for you, I would have gone to take care of that guy already.¡±

    ¡°Hmph!¡± Ji Ruoyu disdainfully snorted. ¡°You just don¡¯t think you can win.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m putting your safety first!¡± Wang Doushan said. ¡°If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Su Chen had told me again and again to not let anything happen to you no matter what, I wouldn¡¯t be afraid of that guy in the slightest.¡±

    Ji Ruoyu curled his lips and spun around arrogantly.

    ¡°I wonder how Su Chen, Cloud Leopard, and the others are all doing,¡± Wang Doushan sighed.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°We go left!¡±

    ¡°We go right!¡±

    ¡°Left!¡±

    ¡°Right!¡±

    Cloud Leopard and Ji Hanyan red at each other, neither of them willing to back down an inch.

    ¡°Please, let¡¯s not fight about this. Why don¡¯t one of you just back down a little? What good does this argument do you?¡± Gan Haoli said, smacking his forehead repeatedly.

    Cloud Leopard and Ji Hanyan probably got along the worst. Theypeted over every little thing, and this was from the training period until now.

    Cloud Leopard said, ¡°It¡¯s not that I want to argue with her; it¡¯s just that her choice is the wrong one. The direction I picked is the right one.¡±

    Ji Hanyan coldlyughed. ¡°Both directions have paths that we can take. Why do we need to go with your choice?¡±

    ¡°Because there are Vicious Beasts along the path that I have chosen!¡± Cloud Leopard replied.

    ¡°Then there¡¯s even less reason for us to go down that route. We need to preserve our strength to fight the Ferocious Race youths. Since there are Vicious Beasts that way and there aren¡¯t anymotions, that means there aren¡¯t any Ferocious Race youths there. We are much more likely to run into them if we take my path.¡±

    Cloud Leopard said angrily, ¡°Our main mission is to collect ingredients. Su Chen also needs us to help him find more herbs before he can help us concoct medicines.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t know when we will run into him. Why are you in such a hurry?¡±

    ¡°It will be toote to start searching once we find him.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve really gotten good at ying the role of a little brother.¡±

    ¡°And you don¡¯t know what it means to follow orders. I am Number 12, while you are Number 17. You should be listening to me,¡± Cloud Leopard yelled.

    Ji Hanyan did not like the fact that she had been assigned the number 17 one bit.

    Student numbers were not assigned purely on strength; they were also based on temperament and intelligence.

    Ji Hanyan was not weak, and she wasn¡¯t stupid either. However, her personality was like Cloud Leopard¡¯s ¨C nothing topliment about.

    Unlike her, however, Cloud Leopard had a unique survival instinct within a forest that Ji Hanyan didn¡¯t have at all.

    This was why she was only Number 17, while Cloud Leopard was Number 12.

    But this absolutely did not mean that she would obediently bow her head so easily.

    Upon hearing Cloud Leopard¡¯s words, Ji Hanyan¡¯s expression chilled. ¡°If you try to threaten me with those numbers one more time, I¡¯ll beat some sense into you!¡±

    ¡°Come at me! Do you think I¡¯m scared?¡± Cloud Leopard screeched.

    Gan Haoli cradled his head in his arms. He wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn¡¯te. Howe he had to run into these two insufferable personalities?

    Heavens, please send a Ferocious Race youth our way!

    At this point, only a Ferocious Race youth could convince them to stop fighting with each other.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°Pu!¡± Yue Longsha spit out a mouthful of blood. Her already pale face grew a few shades whiter.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Gu Qingluo supported her.

    ¡°I¡¯m alright. My flow of blood still feels a little stifled, and the flow of Origin Energy in my body is not smooth. That guy really is scary!¡± Yue Longsha said with some fear. ¡°Thankfully, you were here; otherwise, I really might have died to him.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re all on the same team. Let¡¯s not say things like that,¡± Gu Qingluoughed.

    ¡°Yes, we¡¯re all in this together. There¡¯s no need to be so polite around us,¡± another pretty voice said. A young maiden holding a bowl of jade-green medicinal porridge appeared and said, ¡°Miss Yue, drink this Five Poisons Heartbreak Porridge. It will do your body wonders.¡±

    Yue Longsha helplessly took it. ¡°It¡¯s meant to cure wounds, so why call it Heartbreak Porridge and make it this color? It makes people scared to try it.¡±

    The maiden covered her mouth and giggled. ¡°It¡¯s made from poisonous herbs in the first ce, so of course it had to be named that. Not bad, right? I¡¯m pretty good ating up with names.¡±

    The maiden¡¯s name was Han Linxia, one of the four seventh-year students here, and she was ranked 39th. Her Bloodline Talent was quite unique. She could activate a herb¡¯s medicinal power so that it would be extremely effective. She could even convert some of her Bloodline Energy to medicinal power. Of course, the medicinal efficacy of this conversion was much lower inparison.

    The Hidden Dragon Institute had selected her because her ability was useful on its own and could be paired with Su Chen¡¯s. Part of the reason why Su Chen had dared to only bring enough ingredients for two batches of improved medicine was because of Han Linxia.

    All Han Linxia had done was harvest a few poisonous herbs and turn them into a medicine for Yue Longsha to ingest.

    Even though it looked extremely poisonous, it was incredibly effective.

    Yue Longsha downed it and said, ¡°I am quite envious of Junior Sister Han¡¯s unique Bloodline Talent. I¡¯m not sure how I feel about your naming ability, though.¡±

    At that moment, a person came flying out of a nearby thicket.

    He was called Li Yun. He was one of the tenth-year students, and his student number was 22.

    This oldest student, who was quite powerful in his own right, said with a heavy expression, ¡°We need to leave this ce now. He¡¯s about to catch up to us!¡±

    Upon hearing this, Yue Longsha, Gu Qingluo, and Han Linxia all became much more serious.

    Gu Qingluo grabbed Yue Longsha¡¯s arm and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±

    The four of them sprinted away.

    Not long after they left, a young Ferocious Race youth arrived at the site they had been at.

    The Ferocious Race youth seemed a bit smaller in stature than the other members of his race, and he also didn¡¯t have the characteristic battleaxe slung over his back. However, his body was covered in brilliant azure totemic inscriptions. He had a nose ring as well, and even his whole face was covered with inscriptions.

    He looked at the medicinal dregs on the ground and then sniffed the air to catch the residual scent. The Ferocious Race youth tilted his head slightly, then continued his pursuit.

    He was recklessly chasing after four people on his own!

    Meanwhile, in another corner of the ruins.

    ¡°AHH!!!¡±

    Followed by this tragic yell, a Ferocious Race youth expressionlessly squashed his opponent¡¯s head.

    Beneath his feety two beheaded corpses.

    ¡°AWOO!¡±

    The Ferocious Race youth, who had killed three people on his own, tilted his head back and howled.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 145: Establishing a Stronghold

    Chapter 145: Establishing a Stronghold

    When Pi Yuanhong awoke, Su Chen was not there anymore. Jiang Hanfeng was sitting there, staring at a vial in his hand intently. He seemed to be tracing some kind of pattern with a needle.

    ¡°Hey, what are you doing?¡± Pi Yuanhong forced out.

    Jiang Hanfeng was startled badly. His hand instinctively trembled.

    Pu!

    The tip of the needle pierced down.

    Jiang Hanfeng pouted. ¡°Eighth Senior Brother, don¡¯t scare me like that.¡±

    He carefully pulled out the needle and massaged the wound as he nced at Pi Yuanhong. Heughed, ¡°Eighth Senior Brother, you look much better now.¡±

    ¡°Mhm. That guy, Su Chen, is pretty good at medicine even though he isn¡¯t that strong.¡±

    Isn¡¯t that strong?

    Jiang Hanfeng smiled bitterly as he thought to himself, that¡¯s because you haven¡¯t seen the two Ferocious Race corpses in his researchb.

    Pi Yuanhong asked, ¡°Right, where did Su Chen go?¡±

    Jiang Hanfeng replied, ¡°Since you looked like you were getting better, he went to the forest to hunt a few Vicious Beasts.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s still interested in hunting at this point?¡±

    ¡°Yes, he said that you needed nutrients and that he needed to gather more medicinal herbs to concoct medicine.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Pi Yuanhong slowly got to his feet and took a few steps. He still felt weak, but he was at least able to sit upright and walk without any issues.

    Jiang Hanfeng nced at him. He sat in thought for a moment and thenughed, ¡°Eighth Senior Brother, you must feel a bit stuffy after being in here for two days, right? Why not take a walk with me outside? I¡¯ll show you around a bit.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Pi Yuanhong began to walk outside.

    Jiang Hanfeng led Pi Yuanhong around the mountain for a bit, then brought Pi Yuanhong to a nearby cave and said, ¡°This is Third Senior Brother¡¯s researchb. Don¡¯t you want to go in and take a look?¡±

    ¡°What could there be worth seeing in there?¡± Pi Yuanhong replied carelessly.

    ¡°Just go in and take a look. There are some pretty impressive things in there,¡± Jiang Hanfeng chuckled a bit strangely.

    Pi Yuanhong noticed his strangeughter and muttered to himself, ¡°What are you on about?¡±

    He walked inside.

    Suddenly, his figure visibly froze.

    Two dissected Ferocious Race youth corpses hung on the wall, their expressions contorted in pain. Pi Yuanhong suddenly felt the sting of what he had said earlier.

    Pi Yuanhong turned around to stare at Jiang Hanfeng. ¡°He did this?¡±

    ¡°Mhm.¡± Jiang Hanfeng pretended to casually shrug his shoulders.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Su Chen returned two hourster, but not on his own.

    Two more people returned with him.

    When Jiang Hanfeng saw them, he excitedly ran out and said, ¡°Second Senior Sister, Sixth Senior Brother, you guys are here too!¡±

    It was the second-ranked student, Qi Weiyan, and the sixth-ranked student, Zhu Anyi. They were some of the strongest students here, and they were all in their final year at the Institute.

    Upon seeing Jiang Hanfeng, Qi Weiyanughed, ¡°Zhao Xin told us that Su Chen was here, so we came to take a look. In the end, we ran into him while we were still on our way over.¡±

    Upon hearing this, Jiang Hanfeng sighed. ¡°I was worried that you had all been injured.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t jinx us!¡± Zhu Anyi smacked the back of Jiang Hanfeng¡¯s head fondly.

    Qi Weiyanughed and hugged Jiang Hanfeng. ¡°It¡¯s so good to see you all. Old Pi, it seems like you¡¯re feeling much better now.¡±

    ¡°Hm,¡± Pi Yuanhong harrumphed.

    Qi Weiyan was a bit stymied by his agitated expression. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°He said that next time he would rather die than have me save him...... To save him, I almost had to disassemble him.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Everyone began tough.

    After joking around with each other for a while, the four of them sat down.

    Qi Weiyan asked Su Chen, ¡°What do you think we should do next?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Before we find Ji Ruoyu, I think it¡¯s still too early to make any ns. Our current mission should still be to find everyone and straighten things out.¡±

    Qi Weiyan nodded. ¡°I think so too. But if that¡¯s the case, we will still probably have to move individually.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing we can do about it. The ruins are toorge, and it would be inconvenient to gather together anyways,¡± Zhu Anyi said.

    Everyone knew that they were stronger as a group, but if everyone was to gather together simultaneously, their ability to search the ruins would be greatly limited. If that was the case, then there wouldn¡¯t be much point in defeating the Ferocious Race youths.

    The main goal of searching the ruins wasn¡¯t to battle but to obtain resources. Killing a few more or a few less Ferocious Race youths wasn¡¯t that important. In other words, the only reason to battle was to reduce the number of future conflicts andplications that might ur.

    Of course, the Ferocious Race youths might not think the same way that they did.

    ¡°Su Chen has chosen a pretty good location.¡± Qi Weiyan pulled out a map that Zhao Xin had constructed, though this one was muchrger and moreplete. Qi Weiyan pointed at a corner of the map and said, ¡°Zhao Xin has already discovered what seems to be the extremes of the ruin. From the map, we are at this stone mountain currently, which is probably near the middle of ruins. I think we should make this location a rendezvous point.¡±

    Pi Yuanhong rubbed his chin and muttered, ¡°We can make this a headquarters of some sort, where people can be treated, and people cane and leave as they want. They can rest in safety here. But if that¡¯s the case, it might create too muchmotion and attract the attention of the Ferocious Race youths, and they will begin to target this location. If the Ferocious Race youths gather in numbers and unleash an attack......¡±

    Zhu Anyi said, ¡°Even though the Ferocious Race youths are powerful, they are impulsive, and acting only aftering up with a n is unlike them, to say the very least. If they discover that this is our gathering point, they will more likely attack directly instead of waiting for reinforcements and ganging up on us.¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°You might say that, but those who are participating in the search of the ruins are all elites. We humans are able to produce a few extremely powerful individuals from time to time, and the Ferocious Race might be able to produce a few people with some intelligence. When faced with such opponents, it is hard to say what will happen.¡±

    ¡°So what you mean is that we shouldn¡¯t have a rendezvous point?¡± Zhu Anyi asked.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s still a good idea to have a rendezvous point. We can use this a stable headquarters, but we also need to take precautions against any preparations our opponents might make. This might include concealment or defensive-type formations.¡±

    ¡°We should also have a n of retreat, an alert system, and a way to rapidlymunicate with each other. Once our defenses areplete enough, there shouldn¡¯t be any problems,¡± Qi Weiyan said.

    Everyone continued to throw in ideas, nning out various aspects of the headquarters.

    Very quickly, aplete set of ns for the headquarters had been drafted and refined.

    The n was not veryplicated; after all, without Ji Ruoyu, no one knew how long the void would stay up for. This was still the initial stage, and things still needed to stay flexible.

    After they drafted up the n, they began to carry it out.

    Neither Qi Weiyan nor Zhu Anyi wasinjured. They could instantly move out and search for their otherrades, as well as notify them of the headquarters¡¯ location.

    At first, only Zhao Xin was notifying others, so it was not surprising that his sess rate was low. With Qi Weiyan and Zhu Anyi¡¯s help, they were much more likely to seed.

    Not long after, more and more people began to arrive.

    After they understood the n, they would also pitch in, beginning to snowball their effectiveness until everyone had gathered and was moving in unison.

    This was one of the human race¡¯s greatest advantages, and this was a situation in which they could really use it to their own benefit.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 146: Gathering

    Chapter 146: Gathering

    After settling everything that needed to be done and giving Su Chen some of the medicinal herbs they had gathered, Qi Weiyan and Zhu Anyi left.

    Pi Yuanhong wanted to go too, but Su Chen said that his wounds weren¡¯tpletely healed yet and forbade him from going out. Pi Yuanhong was infuriated.

    Thus, Su Chen basically used his status as number three to prevent him from leaving. That damned Qi Weiyan supported Su Chen as well, so Pi Yuanhong could only remain on the mountain.

    The third night within the ruins, Su Chen encountered the third wave of hisrades.

    It was the tenth-year, number neen student Fan Ruzhi and the eighth-year, number thirty-seven student Ma Xuan.

    Ma Xuan¡¯s arrival greatly excited Jiang Hanfeng.

    He was the person who was extremely talented at setting up concealment Origin Formations.

    Ma Xuan immediately adjusted Jiang Hanfeng¡¯s formation upon arrival and made it so that both sound and smell werepletely concealed. From the outside, all one could see was the mountain ¨C this was so that the students looking for the location could still find it.

    On the fourth day, the tenth-year, number five and number sixteen students Feng Yigu and Shi Jiangbai, as well as the seventh-year, number twenty-one student Wu Xiao arrived.

    Wu Xiao was the most powerful of the seventh-year students, and he also had the highest student number.

    That was because he was one of the eight with a Demon King Bloodline.

    His irvoyant Beast Bloodline was quite a rare Demonic Beast. It had the unique ability of detecting an opponent¡¯s vitals and evaluating their physical conditions.

    The irvoyant Beast Bloodline was quite powerful in and of itself, making him the only one of the four seventh-year students who didn¡¯t need protection.

    Wu Xiao arrived and immediately delivered Su Chen some bad news.

    Chen Qianfu, Yuan Mengshi, and Cen Wende had died.

    Chen Qianfu was a tenth-year student ranked number 24, Yuan Mengshi was a ninth-year student ranked number 31, and Cen Wende was an eighth-year student ranked number 27.

    None of them were weak.

    Of them all, Cen Wende¡¯s loss was the most unfortunate.

    Cen Wende was the third and only student apart from Su Chen and Cloud Leopard without a bloodline. The three of them were the only ones who represented those without bloodlines in this entire group of people.

    Cen Wende didn¡¯t have a bloodline, but because he had used a Bloodline Medicine at some point, he probably could be considered to have a Mixed Bloodline at the very least.

    But he hadn¡¯t relied on that bloodline to get strong; rather, he had relied on his own efforts. It was quite impressive for him to reach the rank of 27 on the back of his own strength.

    Even so, this hardworking youth, who had quite a big future ahead of him, was killed even before he had made any important contributions.

    When Wu Xiao discovered them, their corpses were all piled together, and their heads had all been crushed to a bloody pulp. He had to spend quite a bit of time to correctly identify them.

    Then, he used his own bloodline¡¯s unique ability and discovered that they had died to a single Ferocious Race youth.

    ¡°A single Ferocious Race youth killed the three of them?¡± Su Chen¡¯s squinted his eyes.

    They could ept the fact that the Ferocious Race was stronger than humans in a one-on-one battle, but it was hard for them to ept that a single Ferocious Race youth had defeated three of them together.

    ¡°They should be one of the Temple Heros,¡± Feng Yigu said.

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°That¡¯s the only possible exnation...... the Origin Energy Temple!¡±

    These words pierced everyone¡¯s heart like a needle.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    The fifth day in the ruins, Su Chen encountered the highest-ranking student, He Yuandong.

    He Yuandong had aposed, weighty personality. His strength and moral character were all very admirable, and his presence was like that of a solid, steadfast pir.

    The tenth-year, number 9 student Shen Yucheng and number 20 student Shui Dong were with him.

    Upon seeing Sheng Yucheng alive and well, everyone was extremely happy.

    Shen Yucheng had a twin brother called Shen Longcheng. Even though the two of them only had high-tier bloodlines, they had a few powerful skills they could unleash when working together. In addition, they were born with a unique Bloodline Skill that allowed them tomunicate even across extremely long distances.

    In other words, finding Shen Yucheng was equivalent to finding Shen Longcheng.

    And, Shen Longcheng was with Wang Doushan and Ji Ruoyu at the moment!

    Finally, they had located Ji Ruoyu.

    Su Chen sighed in relief. ¡°How long will the ruinsst for?¡±

    Shen Yucheng replied, ¡°Ji Ruoyu says that, under these circumstances, the ruins can stay up for seventy-seven more days. However, this is only under the present conditions. You know that the Origin Energy fluctuations from the constant battles will only elerate the rate at which the void copses.¡±

    ¡°Ask him how many days there were when we first came.¡±

    Shen Yucheng closed her eyes.

    After a moment, she replied, ¡°Ny days or so.¡±

    ¡°Ny days, huh? After five days, that number has already gone down to seventy-seven.¡± Su Chen did some quick calctions and then said, ¡°Then this ce can at mostst thirty more days.¡±

    Upon determining this figure, Su Chen sighed again.

    That was more than enough time for him to break through to the Blood Boiling Realm.

    ¡°How many people havee here so far?¡± He Yuandong asked.

    ¡°Including me, fourteen, and now with Longcheng and the others, it¡¯s seventeen in total. But ording to what Senior Sister Qin and I discussed, not everyone will move together; instead, we¡¯ll treat this ce as a headquarters......¡± Su Chen continued to exin his n to He Yuandong.

    He Yuandong listened closely, deep in thought.

    He said, ¡°This mountain is a great rendezvous location to send exploration missions from, but we also need to consider our own safety. It¡¯s best if we have three people per team and send the strongest groups out first. People like Hanfeng and Ruoyu should stand guard. In addition, every team should choose a direction so that we avoid crossing paths. Finally, we should set an amount of time in which hunting and foraging expeditions must return. If they don¡¯t return soon enough, we will need to send out search parties. This should be a moreplete n.¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Yes, your n is moreplete.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t that Su Chen couldn¡¯t have thought of this on his own. They just had too few people at the time, and there was no way they could have done things so precisely.

    Now, with He Yuandong and the others here, the strength of the mountain headquarters had increased, so the n would naturally see some changes.

    In the afternoon, Shen Longchang, Wang Doushan, and Ji Ruoyu finally arrived.

    Naturally, Su Chen was excited to see his good friend.

    Unfortunately, Su Chen asked everyone present, but no one knew anything about Gu Qingluo¡¯s whereabouts. He couldn¡¯t help but feel nervous.

    But when he remembered Gu Qingluo¡¯s speed, he was sure that even if she couldn¡¯t beat her opponents, she would at least be able to escape.

    As long as...... she didn¡¯t run into those from the Origin Energy Temple.

    Being anxious now wouldn¡¯t do him any good, though, and all he could do was force his worries about Gu Qingluo down.

    In fact, Wang Doushan¡¯s arrival meant that Su Chen could finally do something that he had always wanted to try.

    ¡°What? You want to finish off the Demonic Beast within the forest?¡± Wang Doushan yelled in shock.

    Everyone turned around to gaze at him in surprise.

    Demonic Beasts were not easy to deal with. There would definitely be a fierce battle involved, and this meant more danger.

    With the Ferocious Race youths keeping an eye out for them, carelessly taking risks was not a good idea.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Su Chen said with conviction.

    There was nothing he could do. That Demonic Beast was still prowling the forest, and he had already drawn out all of the Vicious Beasts at the perimeter of the forest that he possibly could. As long as that Demonic Beast was still there, he didn¡¯t dare go in.

    At this point, his cultivation base was at 96 Yellow Stars. He could initiate a breakthrough after four more Yellow Stars, but he couldn¡¯t find any more prey.

    Of course, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t say this aloud. Instead, he said, ¡°There are many more ingredients that I need from within the forest, but as long as that Demonic Beast is prowling through the area, I have no way of collecting them. I need those ingredients to make medicine for everyone, so we need to think of a way to deal with it.¡±

    ¡°Do you know how strong that Demonic Beast is?¡± He Yuandong asked.

    ¡°I got Wu Xiao to go take a look already, and he confirmed that the target was just a low-tier Demonic Beast. If we make the appropriate preparations, I believe we will be able to defeat it.¡±

    Wu Xiao¡¯s detection ability may not have been as good as Cloud Leopard¡¯s in terms of detecting targets at long distances, but he could urately gauge the target¡¯s strength, making him peerless in scoping out a potential opponent.

    With Wu Xiao¡¯s confirmation, Su Chen had much more confidence in their ability to defeat that Demonic Beast.

    ¡°We need more people,¡± He Yuandong said. ¡°We should wait for more people to get here.¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°That means that you guys all need to wait here too; that¡¯s a waste of our manpower. I have a n that, if everything goes well, will make sure that we can take care of it with just the few of us here.¡±

    ¡°What n?¡±

    Su Chen pulled out the Totemic Medicine. ¡°First, we need to give that fatty a makeover.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 149: Asking For Assistance

    Chapter 149: Asking For Assistance

    Su Chen charged the little purple-scaled beast. An Erupting Firehawk took flight from his hand and mmed into the beast¡¯s body. He then quickly changed directions and ran off to the side of the forest.

    The little purple-scaled beast¡¯s intelligence was even worse than the older one¡¯s. Its attention was instantly drawn away, and it chased Su Chen into the forest.

    Wang Doushan cursed as he watched the beast chase after Su Chen, ¡°Dammit, he¡¯s doing it again!¡±

    Back then, Su Chen had done this with the Giant Adamantine Ape, and now, he was doing it again.

    Wang Doushan could only hope that they wouldn¡¯t wind up being tied down here because of some beast.

    As he thought of that, he decided to throw caution to the wind. The inscriptions on his right arm began to glow brightly.

    The surge of strength caused his arm to grow even thicker, and it mmed into the purple-scaled beast¡¯s chest like a massive steel pir. The purple-scaled beast howled in rage. It spat out an extremely thick purple de of light from its mouth, and strange electricity traveled across its surface.

    ¡°Open for me!¡± Wang Doushan¡¯s eyes glinted coldly. The iron-like fist mmed into the web of electricity, setting off a dazzling disy of light everywhere and lighting up the entire forest.

    The iron-like fist began to build up a shocking momentum and energy.

    The inscriptions on his arm were activated to their limit. Energy pulsated across his arm as it descended, bringing with it a towering killing intent.

    Bang!

    A gaping, bloody wound appeared on the purple-scaled beast¡¯s chest. The wound was serious enough that the beast could not possibly heal the wound with its Demonic Qi.

    When everyone saw this, they felt both happiness and a tinge of regret.

    They were happy because of how powerful an effect the inscriptions had, but they also felt some regret because most of them had no way of using them.

    ¡°Target its wounds!¡± He Yuandong yelled as he unleashed his Raging Heavenly Fists.

    Even more blows began to rain down on the target¡¯s body.

    ¡°AWOO!!¡±

    The purple-scaled beast let out a final, tragic cry.

    The cry echoed for some time within the void.

    The purple-scaled beast¡¯s life-force had finally been exhausted, and it toppled to the ground.

    ¡°We did it!¡± everyone yelled in excitement.

    ¡°We need to go help Su Chen!¡± They all ran off in pursuit without sparing the corpse on the ground another nce.

    They charged through the forest, only to find the little purple-scaled beast standing next to Su Chenpletely still.

    Wang Doushan couldn¡¯t help but howl, ¡°Dammit, you didn¡¯t kill it on your own again, did you?¡±

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen shushed them all, telling them to be quiet.

    That was when they all discovered that the little purple-scaled beast wasn¡¯t dead; it was just standingpletely still for some unknown reason.

    Su Chen ced his finger right between the beast¡¯s eyebrows, but the little purple-scaled beast did not react in any way.

    The others all looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

    After quite some time, Su Chen finally removed his finger.

    The little purple-scaled beast awoke and let out a confused yell as if it wondered what had happened to it before its confusion turned to rage as it charged at Su Chen.

    Su Chen quickly dodged backwards. ¡°Don¡¯t kill it; I want it alive.¡±

    ¡°What are you trying to do, Su Chen!¡± He Yuandong said, knitting his eyebrows. ¡°Don¡¯t forget that there¡¯s another adult lurking somewhere around here.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. There¡¯s only a single mature Demonic Beast within the forest ¨C the same one that we just killed earlier.¡±

    Hm?

    Everyone was stunned.

    Wu Xiao was ecstatic. ¡°So you mean that my detective skills weren¡¯t wrong?¡±

    Wang Doushan asked, ¡°So where did that little guye from then?¡±

    ¡°Of course it had to be born. It¡¯s just that its father isn¡¯t here,¡± Su Chen replied.

    He tilted his chin in the direction of a mountain off in the distance.

    Everyone finally understood.

    ¡°How do you know?¡± Pi Yuanhong asked.

    Su Chen smiled without replying. Pi Yuanhong knew that his question had been a bit too rash.

    Everyone had their own secrets. If Su Chen didn¡¯t want to let the others know, then there was no point in asking further.

    As they spoke, they were quickly able to capture the little purple-scaled beast.

    Though it tried its best to furiously escape, there was nothing it could do when faced with all of these strong individuals.

    ¡°What do you want this little one for?¡± He Yuandong asked.

    ¡°Give it to Zhou Juanjia to control.¡±

    Zhou Juanjia was an expert in controlling Vicious Beasts. She was an eighth year student ranked 28th, roughly equal in strength with Jin Ling¡¯er. One major difference, however, was that she was particrly skilled at controlling Vicious Beasts, and she could control multiple at a time. She was also able to control beasts stronger than her to a certain degree, making her better than Jin Ling¡¯er in that sense. She was also not too weak in her own right.

    ¡°Control it?¡± He Yuandong was stunned for a moment before he recovered. ¡°To deal with the other big one?¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°That¡¯s a mid-tier Demonic Beast we¡¯re talking about.¡±

    Everyone sucked in a breath of cold air.

    Upon realizing this, the group¡¯s attitude towards the little purple-scaled beast was no longer the same.

    He Yuandong said, ¡°Hanfeng, we¡¯ll leave it to you. Before Juanjia gets here, take good care of it. If it escapes under your watch, you¡¯ll have to answer to me.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Jiang Hanfeng patted his chest confidently.

    He was exceptionally skilled at restrictive formations. Making a cage for this little Demonic Beast wouldn¡¯t be a problem.

    By taking care of the Demonic Beast within the forest, Su Chen could now continue to sweep through the forest, and because of this, he could raise his cultivation base and search for more ingredients.

    ¡°Look, boss, I found something.¡± Ji Ruoyu was waving a strange crystal above his head.

    ¡°It¡¯s an Origin Crystal!¡± The eyes of Ma Xuan, Shui Dong, and the others all lit up.

    Origin Crystals were formed from the Origin Energy of beasts. They were simr to Origin Stones, but because their purity was much higher, they could be used to directly increase a person¡¯s cultivation base. Thus, they were also worth quite a bit more.

    This Origin Crystal had just been harvested from the purple-scaled beast¡¯s corpse. An Origin Crystal like this would be worth around 500 ¨C 1000 Origin Stones. Unsurprisingly, most of them were quite excited.

    However, Su Chen and He Yuandong only smiled.

    Even though Origin Crystals were worth money, they weren¡¯t particrly rare in the outside world.

    Their goal on this expedition wasn¡¯t to find thosemonly obtainable objects. Only items that could not be found in the outside world and for which there were no substitutes had real value.

    Thus, neither Su Chen nor He Yuandong paid much attention to this little Origin Crystal. Their gazes were still fixed on the faraway mountain.

    At this moment, they were just preparing for their attack on that mountain in the distance.

    At that moment, a frantic yell suddenly interrupted the moment.

    ¡°Su Chen!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Senior Sister Qin!¡± Su Chen recognized the voice. He said, ¡°I¡¯m over here!¡±

    An instantter, Qi Weiyan appeared in the distance.

    But at this moment, her body was covered in fresh blood. She was clearly in dire straits.

    ¡°Senior Sister Qin!¡± Everyone rushed to meet her, stunned.

    Qi Weiyan yelled, ¡°Quick, Su Chen, go help Qingluo. Qingluo and the others are in danger!¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 150: A Promise Between Men 1

    Chapter 150: A Promise Between Men (1)

    ¡°Qingluo?¡± Upon hearing about Qingluo, Su Chen instantly became visibly agitated.

    He charged forward and grabbed Qi Weiyan, asking frantically, ¡°Senior Sister Qi, what exactly happened?¡±

    Qi Weiyan was about to reply when she spat out a mouthful of blood instead, her whole body sagging to the ground.

    Her wounds were quite heavy, and she had sprinted the whole way here. Now that she had finally arrived, she could no longer keep herself upright.

    Finally, someone else appeared behind Su Chen. It was Ma Xuan.

    He was originally responsible for guarding the stone mountain. However, when he heard the news from Qi Weiyan, he had also rushed to the forest with her. Despite this, he was still slower Qi Weiyan, who was injured; evidently, Qi Weiyan had pushed herself to the limit to make up for time.

    Upon seeing this, Su Chen hurriedly pulled open a vial of medicine and fed it to Qi Weiyan.

    Qi Weiyan¡¯splexion began to look a little better. She grabbed Su Chen and said, ¡°There¡¯s a cliff 20 kilometers west of here. Qingluo, Longsha, Linxia, Liyun, Yan Ling, and Anyi are all stuck there right now.¡±

    Upon hearing this, everyone present was about to charge into battle to rescue them.

    He Yuandong was the most levelheaded out of all of them. He said, ¡°How many opponents are we looking at?¡±

    Qi Weiyan replied, ¡°Three.¡±

    Only three?

    Three people were enough to tie down six people and seriously injure Qi Weiyan?

    Qi Weiyan said, ¡°Two of them are from the Origin Energy Temple.¡±

    Upon hearing these words, everyone realized what was happening.

    The Bloodline Extraction Instrument was to the human race what the Origin Energy Temple was to the Ferocious Race.

    Both of these two devices were invented by the Arcana Kingdom back in the day with the goal of improving their activation and use of Origin Energy.

    One important difference, however, was that the Bloodline Extraction Instrument relied on the strength of the Beast Race. At its core, it was just an amplification device and could only build off of preexisting strength.

    The Origin Energy Temple, on the other hand, was used to change a being¡¯s intrinsic life force, improving the being¡¯spatibility with Origin Energy and efficiency of use.

    The Arcana Race had inherently weak bodies. Their bodies couldn¡¯t withstand Origin Energy, hence their reliance on Origin Energy Patterns and external methods of activating and controlling Origin Energy. Whereas the human race could absorb Origin Energy into their bodies and strengthen them, for instance, the Arcana Race could not.

    Because of this, the Arcana Race invented the Origin Energy Temple in the hopes of breaking through the limitations of their physical bodies, allowing them to further perfect their control over Origin Energy.

    One could say that the Origin Energy Temple was the Arcana Race¡¯s direct attempt to achieve their goals.

    ording to their original n, they would first use the Origin Energy Temple to change their physiques, then use the Bloodline Extraction Instrument to raise their strength, giving each Arcana Race member powerful control over Origin Energy. This would allow them to be truly powerful.

    However, after the Origin Energy Temple was invented, the Arcana Race very quickly discovered that it had a huge drawback: passing through the Origin Energy Temple required the person to resist an excruciating amount of pain and intense psychological assaults. Even though one could achieve incredible power, many of them would suffer from bouts of intermittent madness.

    The Arcana Race relied on their brilliant minds to dominate the continent. That was how they were able to uncover many of the secrets of this world; it was the source of all the knowledge they had obtained.

    The Arcana Race was unwilling to ept such a consequence. Thus, they viewed this invention as a failed product and gave up on it after attempts to improve it failed.

    Once the Arcana Kingdom fell, the five races divided up the spoils.

    The human race obtained the Bloodline Extraction Instrument, while the Ferocious Race chose the Origin Energy Temple.

    The Ferocious Race weren¡¯t afraid of intermittent bouts of madness.

    They were impulsive and crude by nature ¨C brutal, bloodthirsty, and war-crazed. They would act crazy even when they weren¡¯t going crazy. What was the asional bout of madness to them? The Ferocious Race¡¯s bodies were naturally good at absorbing Origin Energy, most of which went to strengthening their physiques and raising their physical capabilities. However, their style of battle was extremely simple; they weren¡¯t good at adapting toplex situations.

    The Origin Energy Temple resolved that issue for them, granting them the ability to control Origin Energy much more efficiently.

    In fact, only such a wild, powerful species was even capable of carrying such a massive, heavy temple right out of the Eternal City to the Harvey ins tens of thousands of kilometers away.

    The human race might not even have been able to carry away the Origin Energy Temple even if they wanted to.

    After obtaining the Origin Energy Temple, the Ferocious Race could drastically improve their control over Origin Energy.

    Because of their innately powerful physique, their power would reach frightening levels once they were ¡°baptized¡± by the Origin Energy Temple.

    Luckily, there was only one Origin Energy Temple, and only three people could be baptized in any given day.

    There were 380 days in a year on the Primordial Continent, implying that at most they could create 1040 Temple Warriors in a single year.

    To an entire species, this rate of production was still a little too low.

    The biggest drawback to Temple Warriors was that there were simply too few of them.

    But it still had to be said that Temple Warriors really were tyrannically powerful.

    The human race traditionally relied on numbers to deal with Temple Warriors, using sheer numbers to swarm and overwhelm them.

    But under certain circumstances, this kind of tactic wouldn¡¯t be useable.

    This expedition to the ruins was such a circumstance.

    In fact, the joint expedition had been proposed by the Gravel Lizard Tribe in the first ce for this reason.

    Of course, the people in Long Sang weren¡¯t idiots. They demanded that the number of Temple Warriors be limited. Otherwise, if the Gravel Lizard Tribe sent forty Temple Warriors to the ruins, unless the emperor¡¯s lineage was to attend, there would be no point in having this expedition.

    The Gravel Lizard Tribe also knew that there was no way that the humans would allow them to bring forty Temple Warriors to the expedition. Finally, after some negotiation, the two parties agreed that the Gravel Lizard Tribe could have at most three Temple Warriors in their ranks.

    As rpense, the Ferocious Race agreed to raise the limit on what could be brought into the ruins to ten thousand Origin Stones.

    Utilizing resources and items was a strength of the human race. The Ferocious Race lived in a bitter, unforgiving environment; as such, they didn¡¯t rely on external items to aid them in battle. In fact, they would prefer that everyone entered the ruins stark naked.

    Before entering the ruins, both parties had already engaged in a game of political chess.

    Now, Gu Qingluo and the others were paying the price that the human race had agreed to: Temple Warriors!

    Based on what Qi Weiyan said, she had run into Yue Longsha and the others during her search for the other students. At that point in time, the four of them were being chased by a single Temple Warrior.

    After Qi Weiyan and Chu Anyi appeared, the Temple Warrior gave up on his pursuit.

    They originally believed that the issue had been resolved, but that evening, the Temple Warrior returned to ambush them again.

    A single Ferocious Race youth had tried to ambush six people!

    Thankfully, Yue Longsha, Gu Qingluo, and the others were all somewhat aware of it and had made preparations; thus, the ambush failed. However, the Ferocious Race youth didn¡¯t retreat far away; rather, he continued to tail them, patiently waiting for another opportunity.

    Both sides had entered the ruins with the same number of people. Once one group of people began to gather, the other party would also be much more likely to run into theirrades.

    In the end, the Ferocious Race youth had linked up with two more Ferocious Race youths.

    Unfortunately, one of the two was another Temple Warrior.

    The result was pretty easy to imagine.

    ¡°We ran as quickly as we could, but those two Temple Warriors are not only incredibly powerful but also extremely fast. If we hadn¡¯t run into Yan Ling, we really would have been out of luck,¡± Qi Weiyan said arduously.

    Yan Ling was an eighth year student ranked 36th. His strength was average, but he was exceptionally skilled in defense Origin Formations.

    This was perhaps the only fortunate thing that had happened amidst all of this misfortune.

    Gu Qingluo and the others had set up a formation to defend themselves. Qi Weiyan was responsible for breaking through the siege and requesting reinforcements.

    ¡°Go and save them! Yan Ling won¡¯t be able to hold out for much longer!¡± Qi Weiyan grabbed Su Chen¡¯s arm as she cried out.

    Wang Doushan said anxiously, ¡°So what are we waiting for? Let¡¯s go!¡±

    He was about to run off when he realized that Su Chen was kneeling on the ground andpletely still.

    Wang Doushan was stunned. ¡°Su Chen, what are you doing just staring nkly?¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t say anything. He stared intently at Qi Weiyan.

    He Yuandong felt his heart jolt. ¡°How are her wounds?¡±

    Su Chen swallowed, then said with some difficulty, ¡°Her internal organs are in critical condition; she has overdrawn her supply of Origin Energy. She ran so hard for over twenty kilometers with such serious injuries...... she¡¯s in serious danger!¡±

    Everyone simultaneously sucked in a breath of cold air.

    ¡°Is there any hope?¡± He Yuandong asked seriously.

    ¡°There is hope, but we must act immediately. We cannot afford to wait.¡±

    Everyone understood.

    They were all clear by this point the rtionship between Su Chen and Gu Qingluo, and they also knew that Yue Longsha was his good friend.

    His girlfriend and good friend were both in danger; naturally, Su Chen wanted to be the first to rush to their side.

    But Su Chen couldn¡¯t.

    Qi Weiyan¡¯s condition was even more critical than Pi Yuanhong¡¯s wounds. If he didn¡¯t act now, she would most likely die.

    He wouldn¡¯t sit and watch as Qi Weiyan died.

    Even so, his heart was still filled with worry for Gu Qingluo.

    He let out a long sigh and hardened his heart as he said, ¡°You go and save them. I¡¯ll take Senior Sister Qi back to the mountain.¡±

    He Yuandong¡¯s heart trembled slightly.

    He knew how excruciatingly difficult this decision had been for Su Chen and patted him on the back. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Qingluo will be fine. I¡¯ll bring her back to you safe and sound!¡±

    Su Chen stared at He Yuandong briefly before nodding his head seriously. ¡°I promise you as well that once you return, you will find Senior Sister Qi alive and well!¡±

    The two of them shook hands firmly.

    This was a promise between fellow students.

    This was a promise betweenrades.

    This was a promise between men!

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 151: A Promise Between Men 2

    Chapter 151: A Promise Between Men (2)

    Su Chen dragged Qi Weiyan behind him the whole way, quickly running into the stone cave.

    Su Chen gently ced Qi Weiyan onto a stone b and said, ¡°Senior Sister Qin, forgive me.¡±

    Qi Weiyan said, ¡°We¡¯re all adults; there is no need to be so apprehensive. Do what you need to do.¡±

    ¡°Got it!¡± Su Chen assented, then pulled open Qi Weiyan¡¯s clothes and picked up a de. He was just about to begin the surgery when he seemed to suddenly think of something. He pulled out a vial of medicine and handed it to Qi Weiyan. ¡°Drink this; it might make the pain a bit more bearable.¡±

    Qi Weiyan silently drank it.

    The de fell.

    Qi Weiyan¡¯s body tensed up hard, a pained expression appearing on her face.

    The surgery had begun.

    Su Chen carefully directed the knife through Qi Weiyan¡¯s body.

    His heart was a mess, but his hands were steady.

    Even though his heart was full of worry for Gu Qingluo, he knew that he couldn¡¯t afford to be sloppy.

    If he was sloppy, Qi Weiyan would die for sure.

    Su Chen activated his Origin-Energy-seeing eye to its fullest extent, helping him identify all the injuries in Qi Weiyan¡¯s body. He searched intently for the causes of her injuries as he contemted how to heal them.

    Su Chen ced all of his attention on Qi Weiyan.

    At this moment, there was just the patient in front of him!

    Anything else was a temptation!

    Su Chen used these thoughts to steel himself.

    The waves in his heart began to subside, and his movements became more stable and decisive.

    He continued the surgery as quickly as he could, wordsing out of his mouth all the while. ¡°Hold on; it will all be done soon. You know, your luck is better than Old Pi¡¯s; when I was treating him, I hadn¡¯t evene up with this medicine yet.¡±

    ¡°What medicine is it? Guess.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, even though your injuries are serious, they¡¯re still rtively easy to treat. It won¡¯t take too long. We¡¯re almost there...... at the very least, it will take less time than Old Pi¡¯s injuries.¡±

    Su Chen never stopped speaking as he attempted tofort Qi Weiyan.

    Qi Weiyan¡¯s vision was a blur.

    She felt that she could faint at any moment.

    But Su Chen wouldn¡¯t let her.

    He was worried that if she passed out, she might not wake up again.

    This was the most critical moment for Qi Weiyan. He had to focus and carefully control all of Qi Weiyan¡¯s energy to give her the best chance of survival.

    His hands grew even steadier as he quickly treated Qi Weiyan¡¯s wounds, words continuing to flow from his mouth.

    Pi Yuanhong had done all the talking while his injuries were being treated. Now, it was Su Chen¡¯s turn.

    His words were both to help numb Qi Weiyan as well as himself, helping to distract the both of them from the dire circumstances, to distract them from the danger and suffering they were in.

    Qi Weiyan¡¯s eyes began to ze over. Everything in the room began swirling around her. She felt like she was about to lose her grip.

    Su Chen fed her another vial of medicine as he furiously tried to keep her awake.

    Qi Weiyan felt like her soul had left her body.

    Su Chen¡¯s voice seemed to being from the horizon.

    The pain had be so extreme that she was beginning to be numb to it.

    Her senses slowly began to slip away, as did the pain.

    Her life force dipped to its lowest limit, and her consciousness began to fade.

    At this point, she no longer cared about the oue of the surgery. All she could see was the spinning ceiling above her.

    As the world revolved around her, Qi Weiyan¡¯s vision slowly began to dim......

    ¡°Senior Sister Qin!¡±

    ¡°Senior Sister Qin!¡±

    ¡°Senior Sister Qin, wake up!¡±

    Something seemed to be calling out to her from far away.

    Qi Weiyan¡¯s consciousness began to awaken.

    She wanted to move, but the pain left her whole body weak.

    Su Chen¡¯s face swayed in her vision, his expression filled with worry and anxiety.

    ¡°I...... am I dead?¡± she muttered weakly.

    ¡°No, you¡¯re still alive! And you will continue to live for a very, very long time!¡± Su Chen grasped her hand as he spoke.

    As he gazed at Qi Weiyan¡¯s pale, haggardplexion, his heart, which had been in his throat the whole time, gradually began to return to normal.

    He didn¡¯t tell Qi Weiyan that she had really been at death¡¯s door for a moment.

    The moment she closed her eyes, Su Chen was about to go crazy.

    He yelled Qi Weiyan¡¯s name over and over again to no avail.

    Just as he was about to lose all hope, however, Qi Weiyan suddenly woke up again.

    After taking a tour of death¡¯s realm, she had returned.

    In that instant, Su Chen felt a wave of raw emotion rush over him as tears streaked down his cheeks.

    He hurriedly finished up the remaining parts of the surgery before giving her a third vial of medicine. He then fell on his butt, drained of all his energy.

    The moment he finally allowed himself to rx, Su Chen felt a bout of weaknesse over him. He couldn¡¯t even remain standing.

    Qi Weiyany on the bed, breathing in the fresh air around her.

    She said, ¡°Is the surgery finished?¡±

    ¡°Mhm!¡± Su Chen replied from his position on the ground.

    ¡°So will you tell me what medicine you fed me now?¡± Even though her presence was weak, Qi Weiyan still spoke in the same unhurried,posed manner.

    An embarrassed smile appeared on Su Chen¡¯s face. ¡°Even though I really wanted to invent some medicine like that, I wasn¡¯t able to seed...... I only gave you a Vitality Medicine. Sorry for lying to you, Senior Sister Qin.¡±

    Qi Weiyanughed, ¡°I knew it.¡±

    So he hadn¡¯t tricked her at all. Su Chen felt a bit embarrassed.

    ¡°But it was quite effective. I...... think that it was much less painful than what Old Pi went through.¡±

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t help butugh and say, ¡°You don¡¯t know what Old Pi¡¯s pain was like, do you?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s about the same...... Anyways, I wasn¡¯t that hysterical, was I?¡± Qi Weiyan giggled weakly.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Su Chen nodded. ¡°Senior Sister Qin is the mostposed woman on the whole continent. How could such little pain trouble you at all?¡±

    Qi Weiyanughed upon hearing this.

    Herugh was very graceful and natural.

    She said, ¡°You are quite impressive, Third Junior Brother. How many of us can make it out of these ruins will depend on you.¡±

    Su Chen nodded with conviction. ¡°I¡¯ll do my best.¡±

    Upon seeing the focus in Su Chen¡¯s eyes, Qi Weiyan smiled with relief.

    Her aura grew noticeably weaker.

    Su Chen shot over to her side in fear, only to find that she was drained of energy and was about to go to sleep.

    Su Chen sighed, ¡°Senior Sister Qin, you must be tired. You can sleep now.¡±

    Qi Weiyan closed her eyes and soon fell into a deep sleep.

    As he watched her sleeping figure, Su Chen felt another wave of exhaustion wash over him.

    He felt a bit dizzy.

    This dizziness was from being overly anxious and exhausted, and it was also from the worry and fear he had been forcefully suppressing this entire time.

    Now that Qi Weiyan was out of danger, the worries in his heart were no longer being kept in check by him, and they appeared again at this time.

    Fear took over his body again, further draining his energy.

    Qingluo!

    You must be okay!

    He yelled in his heart.

    Just as he was worrying, he suddenly heard the sound of people outside.

    It was He Yuandong!

    They had finally returned!

    Su Chen¡¯s heart trembled. He raced out of the cave.

    Indeed, it was He Yuandong and the others.

    He Yuandong and the others also wore worried expressions.

    The moment they saw each other, they both yelled out simultaneously:

    ¡°Is Weiyan alright?¡±

    ¡°Is Qingluo alright?¡±

    The two of them stiffened for a moment.

    Then, they both understood the meaning behind each others¡¯ gazes.

    Su Chen replied. ¡°The mission was sessful!¡±

    He Yuandongughed.

    He didn¡¯t reply. A figure darted out from behind him and leapt into Su Chen¡¯s embrace.

    Gu Qingluo!

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 152: The Wolf In The Darkness

    Chapter 152: The Wolf In The Darkness

    ¡°So what you¡¯re saying is that those three left without even bothering to fight?¡±

    Su Chen sat atop arge stone at the peak of the mountain. Gu Qingluo was leaning into him.

    After going through this experience of separation under life-or-death circumstances, there was no need for them to hide their affection anymore.

    ¡°Yes. Those three Ferocious Race youths were quite intelligent; upon seeing that we had the numbers advantage, they immediately retreated. Usually, the Ferocious Race is known for its impulsiveness, but those youths seem to have a brain,¡± Feng Yigu said.

    ¡°Their impulsiveness depends on the circumstances. If they weren¡¯t able to even discern this type of thing, the Ferocious Race wouldn¡¯t even exist anymore,¡± He Yuandong said.

    ¡°The individuals sent here are likely the cream of the crop, chosen from amongst thousands of individuals. Our instructors taught us how to deal with the Ferocious Race, and their instructors likely taught them the same thing,¡± Pi Yuanhong said.

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right. If I was their instructor, even if I couldn¡¯t teach them anything else, surely they would be able to learn how to retreat against stronger opponents and press their advantage against weaker opponents, right?¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s not all,¡± Gu Qingluo sighed. ¡°Perhaps it is because they have fought with us humans for so long, but they have also learned a few of our tactics. The Temple Warrior chasing us is called Danba. He knows how to use his advantages quite well. In a four-on-one, we shouldn¡¯t lose to Danba......¡±

    Gu Qingluo began to describe their encounter with Danba in greater detail.

    Gu Qingluo, Yue Longsha, and the others were all quite lucky in the beginning. Not long after entering the ruins, they had managed to find one another.

    Even though they ran into Ferocious Race youths twice, they relied on their superior strength to win both of those battles. However, the Ferocious Race youths had been trained as well. They knew to retreat when they were outmatched, so no actual results came from that battle other than one of them had been seriously injured.

    Not long after, they ran into Danba.

    This Danba was really something; he leapt in to fight four people on his own without hesitation.

    Even though he was eventually forced to retreat under theirbined assault, no one expected that Danba had only faked his retreat. Instead, he continued to follow them and ambushed them at night.

    ording to Danba¡¯s estimation, Gu Qingluo and Yue Longsha were the strongest ones in the four-person team, followed by Li Yun and then Han Linxia, who was the weakest.

    As long as he could quickly kill one of the two, he could win the ensuing one-on-three battle.

    However, there was a small issue with his n.

    It was that he had chosen to target Yue Longsha.

    While battling during the day, Gu Qingluo¡¯s Waterstar Chill had left quite the impression on Danba, and he had assumed that she was the strongest one. To ensure that his ambush would seed in one blow, Danba targeted Yue Longsha instead.

    This was originally quite a logical decision. After all, as long as either Gu Qingluo or Yue Longsha was in, the remaining three would be no match for him.

    However, he didn¡¯t know that Yue Longsha possessed the Moonlight Rabbit Bloodline, making her more powerful at night. Thus, though Yue Longsha seemed inferior to Gu Qingluo during the day, Gu Qingluo was actually slightly weaker than Yue Longsha at night.

    He had chosen the most powerful target to ambush. In the end, Yue Longsha detected him as he was approaching. In a critical moment, she dodged his most powerful attack and evenunched a counteroffensive, injuring him slightly and forcing him to retreat.

    However, Yue Longsha was also injured because of this, and herbat ability weakened.

    The four-person team didn¡¯t dare remain there. They could only retreat.

    Danba, however, continued to hunt them down relentlessly.

    He wanted to use his overwhelming strength to kill the humans in front of him with one strike.

    Everyone knew what happened next. When Qi Weiyan and the others came to help, this confident guy didn¡¯t run. Instead, he actually dared to continue his sneak attacks. Though he didn¡¯t seed, everyone was in constant fear of him. He continued to follow behind them and search for opportunities; this time, he had almost wiped them out.

    One could say that Danba was superior both in terms of temperament and strength.

    Su Chen began to subconsciously feel like Danba was really like someone he knew.

    Cloud Leopard.

    Back then, when Zhang Sheng¡¯an and the others had forcefully tried to steal away the Giant Adamantine Ape, Cloud Leopard¡¯s n was identical to Danba¡¯s current scheme. However, Su Chen had stopped Cloud Leopard, preventing him from mounting a gueri assault against them.

    After hearing about the events that had transpired, Jiang Hanfeng suddenly said, ¡°So is it possible that Danba hasn¡¯t left at all but is continuing to tail us and watch us?¡±

    Yue Longsha¡¯s expression sank. ¡°That¡¯s very possible!¡±

    He Yuandong and the others said, ¡°Now we¡¯re in some trouble.¡±

    If Danba hadn¡¯t run, but had instead continued to tail them boldly, this implied that the rendezvous point at the mountain may have already been exposed.

    Everyone¡¯s original n was to use this ce as their headquarters, with teamsing and going from this location. They would be able to gather resources very quickly and team up to protect themselves. However, if this ce was discovered, their movements could be grasped by their opponents, and it would be very dangerous.

    Even something as simple as sending out a team to perform some task would give Danba an opportunity to strike.

    But if they didn¡¯t split up, Danba and his one or two allies would essentially be suppressing all of them.

    They might not have any sess, but He Yuandong, Su Chen, and the others might as well give up on doing things as well.

    This was equivalent to giving up on the opportunities that they had created for theirrades.

    ¡°We need to think of a way to confirm whether Danba is nearby!¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°How will we do that? If there are too many people, he definitely won¡¯t appear. If there are too few, it will be dangerous,¡± Shi Jiangbai said.

    ¡°Then we should find a person who seems like they can¡¯t escape but can actually escape,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Hm? What could he possibly mean?

    ¡°First, we need to find someone Danba believes he can catch up to......¡± Su Chen nced at Gu Qingluo and the others.

    Gu Qingluo, Yue Longsha, and the others were quite fast. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that they were held back by Han Linxia, they would have escaped a long time ago.

    Using them as bait wasn¡¯t suitable.

    Han Linxia was too weak.

    Su Chen¡¯s gaze fell onto Li Yun and Chu Anyi.

    He said to Li Yun, ¡°Senior Brother Li, how is your speedpared to Danba?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s not that big of a difference, but if the three of them gang up on me, I might not have an opportunity to escape,¡± Li Yun replied.

    Su Chen tossed him a Wind Agility Medicine. ¡°Using this should be enough.¡±

    Li Yun caught it. His eyes lit up. ¡°Then I can definitely escape!¡±

    Now that the n was set, all that remained was pulling it off.

    After Li Yun left the mountain on his ownter that day, the others watched his movements from the top of the mountain.

    Li Yun disappeared from their vision, but no one saw Danba or the others appear.

    It wasn¡¯t until half an hourter when Li Yun suddenly reappeared, racing like the wind towards them.

    Even though they couldn¡¯t see his pursuers, everyone could tell from his ragged appearance that Danba was close.

    ¡°It looks like he¡¯s been eyed by the wolf,¡± He Yuandong said heavily as he gazed at Li Yun.

    ¡°Now we need to think of a way to take care of this nuisance,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°How will we do that? With too many people, they¡¯ll run; with too little, they¡¯ll keep advancing. These guys really know how to y the situation to their advantage,¡± Gu Qingluo said anxiously.

    ¡°Then we need to create a circumstance where they won¡¯t try and escape,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°That might be difficult,¡± Wang Doushan said, feeling a headacheing along. ¡°This guy has absolutely received some instruction beforeing here. He probably won¡¯t put himself in great danger too lightly.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right, but there is a certain circumstance under which they will not retreat, even if they die,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°What kind of circumstance?¡± Everyone looked intently at Su Chen.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°A one-on-one battle!¡±

    ¡°Takusha!¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 153: Takusha

    Chapter 153: Takusha

    As nightfall loomed, a plume of smoke from a campfire began to rise into the air.

    Danba sat next to the campfire quietly as if he were thinking about something. Light from the flickering mes danced across his face, giving the inscriptions on his face an otherworldly quality.

    The Ferocious Race rarely did much contemtion.

    The Ferocious Race didn¡¯t like contemtion, but Danba was an exception.

    Danba liked to think about things quietly and on his own.

    He was very different from the other barbaric Ferocious Race youths, who wanted to brawl as soon as they felt even the slightest bit bored.

    His youth wasn¡¯t filled with much happiness because of this.

    It was only because of their Head Ancestor¡¯s support.

    The Head Ancestor said, ¡°The Ferocious Race doesn¡¯t like thinking things over; because of this, they might even look down on Ferocious Race individuals who use their brains. But the Ferocious Race¡¯s existence and expansion rely on those who can use their brains. So don¡¯t worry about thinking too much, Danba. You not only need to learn how to use your fists to kill your enemies, but you also need to learn to use your intelligence to size up your opponents and control yourself!¡±

    From that day on, Danba became the youth in his tribe who liked to think the most, and he also became the Head Ancestor¡¯s favorite youth.

    When Gravel Lizard Tribe Leader Barca Lunt came to the Head Ancestor to request people, the Head Ancestor didn¡¯t rmend the temple¡¯s most powerful youth, Kaza, but Danba instead.

    He had said, ¡°Take Danba with you. He will surprise you.¡±

    Just like that, Dan Fei had been made one of the three captains on this expedition.

    Unlike the human race, who had divided up all of their participants neatly by numbering them one through forty, the Ferocious Race had simply chosen the Temple Warriors as captains, with the rest of the Ferocious Race youths subject to theirmands.

    This had nothing to do with intelligence or how much they thought things over.

    Danba felt somewhat sad, but there was nothing he could do.

    This was his race. He had to respect the way his race thought about things.

    As the night progressed, the sky grew darker. Gradually, the only light that could be seen came from the mes of the campfire.

    If it were Danba, he would have chosen to extinguish the mes. This way, they could avoid revealing their position to the opponents.

    Unfortunately, however, he wasn¡¯t able to.

    Ferraro didn¡¯t agree.

    He reckoned that this was too cowardly, not something that should be done by true warriors. True warriors weren¡¯t afraid of exposing themselves. If they were discovered, then so be it.

    If it weren¡¯t for Danba holding him back, Ferraro probably would have chosen to charge the whole group of people during the day.

    That was a group of nearly ten human youths.

    He really was something else!

    But even so, Ferraro was very unhappy about it.

    ¡°Danba, I think that standing guard here is pointless. Either we should go and finish them off, or we should leave this ce and search for other humans on their own. I feel like I¡¯m wasting my time standing here!¡±

    Ferraro sat down next to Danba as heined unhappily.

    ¡°But this is the best way for us to deal with them,¡± Danba replied. ¡°They have almost twenty humans gathered there. There¡¯s no way they won¡¯t do anything. With us keeping track of their movements, they¡¯ll be hard-pressed to do anything. Yes, perhaps we won¡¯t be able to do anything right now, but we will give ourrades more opportunities. In addition, if ourrades have the absolute numbers advantage, they¡¯ll sweep through this entire ce and kill all of the humans here. We can then take everything from here.¡±

    ¡°But that¡¯s of no use to me, right?¡± Ferraro yelled angrily. ¡°I came here to make contributions under my name, not to serve others!¡±

    Danba replied, ¡°Trust me, that is a contribution! After we return victorious, when everyone realizes that the three of us alone were able to suppress twenty opponents, the Ferocious Race will cheer for us.¡±

    ¡°Are you telling the truth?¡± Ferraro nced a bit doubtfully at Danba.

    Danba nodded his head seriously.

    ¡°Fine, then I¡¯ll listen to you this once. It¡¯s just that not fighting makes me very sad.¡± Ferraro hugged his axe and went back to sleep.

    As he watched Ferraro return to the tent, Danba muttered, ¡°There will be fighting...... and perhaps bitter fighting at that.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Daybreak. The sky was still a hazy gray.

    Danba, who had just been asleep, suddenly opened his eyes.

    His years of training had given him frightening perceptive abilities. He discovered that something was off almost instantly.

    Someone was here!

    He walked out of the tent and quickly woke up Ferraro and Mendiano.

    Not long after, four silhouettes began to emerge from the early morning haze.

    They were heading right towards the tent.

    That damned Ferraro, I told him we should have extinguished the campfire, Danba thought to himself, but he remained silent in the end.

    When he saw the humans appear, Ferraro¡¯s desire to battle surged.

    ¡°Four people, only four people! Danba, you won¡¯t stop me from fighting with them now, will you?¡± Ferraro licked his lips in anticipation.

    ¡°No, wait a moment!¡± Danba said.

    He stared at the humans walking towards them, his expression serious.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Ferraro didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°Look, what is that?¡± Danba pointed at the person at the very front.

    That person was a skinny human. To the Ferocious Race, all humans were skinny and weak; they preferred thick, sturdy physiques, even in women. Gu Qingluo and Yue Longsha, who were considered beauties in the eyes of many humans, were like poor-quality goods that wouldn¡¯tst for long. They found Zheng Bashan much more attractive inparison.

    However, that wasn¡¯t important. What was important was the item that person was holding in their hands.

    A g!

    A g that had been constructed out of a tree branch and a piece of cloth dyed with blood.

    A battleaxe was drawn on the g, with tworge bones directly underneath, symbolizing death and violence.

    Upon seeing this g, the three Ferocious Race youths froze before saying at the same time, ¡°Takusha!¡±

    Takusha, an old ceremonial tradition that had been passed down amongst the Ferocious Race through the years. Takusha was a word from their ancient tribalnguage that meant something simr to a duel.

    When two Ferocious Race individuals had a struggle that couldn¡¯t be resolved, they would propose a Takusha.

    The loser would perish, while the winner would be considered righteous.

    To the Ferocious Race, Takusha was a sacrosanct word.

    No Ferocious Race individual could vite a Takusha; otherwise, they would have betrayed their own race, and refusing a Takusha challenge would be seen as cowardice and weakness.

    Because of this, Takusha also became amon method that certain Ferocious Race individuals would use to challenge their right to the throne.

    Seizing control of the tribe could be very simple.

    One didn¡¯t need to move massive armies. All one needed to do was carry arge g representing a Takusha challenge in front of the tribe leader¡¯s tent and stab it into the ground, then wait for the tribe leader¡¯s response.

    The tribe leader could refuse the Takusha and still remain as the tribe leader, but they would be viewed as a weakling and would lose many of their supporters. If a Ferocious Race warrior organized a coup d¡¯etat at that time, the sess rate would be much more likely.

    Because of this, the Ferocious Race¡¯s tribe leaders were usually the most powerful warriors. Their strength was nothing to be sneered at.

    If you weren¡¯t strong enough, you would be easily overthrown by other warriors.

    One could say that the reason the Ferocious Race ced so much value on strength was directly rted to Takusha, where only the strong could be victorious and the losers would be eliminated. They resolved everything by fighting; if you didn¡¯t value strength, what would you value?

    Danba had never expected that these humans would actuallye over waving a Takusha challenge g.

    ¡°They want to duel!¡± Ferraro couldn¡¯t believe his eyes.

    Then, he began to howl withughter. ¡°They must be looking for death!¡±

    At this moment, the group of humans had drawn near to the three Ferocious Race youths.

    They made no promation. All they did was stick that tattered g, which represented a sacred tradition of the Ferocious Race, into the ground

    Nothing needed to be said.

    ¡°Ho!¡± Ferraro yelled. ¡°Want to Takusha, is it? That¡¯s great! May the ancestors witness our victory here!¡±

    Ferraro was about to meet them head-on.

    ¡°No!¡± Danba held him back.

    ¡°What do you want to say, Danba?¡± Ferraro asked.

    Danba replied, ¡°The humans know how strong we are. There¡¯s no way they would initiate a Takusha for no reason. There must be some kind of ploy they¡¯re trying to pull.¡±

    Ferraro said impatiently, ¡°Your problem is that you think too much! The Ferocious Race doesn¡¯t fear ploys or petty tricks.¡±

    ¡°Takusha is just a method that Ferocious Race individuals use to duel with each other. These humans came to battle, not to duel. We can just ignore it.¡±

    ¡°Enough!¡± Ferraro howled angrily. ¡°Takusha is Takusha; it¡¯s a sacred ceremony. The Ferocious Race cannot avoid a Takusha, regardless of whether it was initiated by a human or a Ferocious Race individual. If you¡¯re afraid, you can watch from the side. No underhanded tricks are allowed during this sacred duel. Stop their shamelessness and prevent those humans from getting any opportunity!¡±

    Danba relinquished his hold on Ferraro¡¯s arm.

    He knew there was no point in trying to restrain him anymore. At this point, even Mendiano was staring at him intently.

    Even though he was just a normal Ferocious Race youth, Mendiano¡¯s excitement was no less than Ferraro¡¯s.

    Their eyes were filled with longing.

    Danba nodded. ¡°Okay, Ferraro. You¡¯re right, I shouldn¡¯t be holding you back. I should be preventing them from scheming something during this Takusha. Since they want to Takusha...... we¡¯ll give them Takusha.¡±

    Ferraroughed with satisfaction. ¡°That¡¯s what a real Ferocious Race individual should say!¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 154: Guardian Totem

    Chapter 154: Guardian Totem

    As expected, the Ferocious Race had epted the challenge.

    This was entirely within Su Chen¡¯s expectations.

    This wasn¡¯t any particr disy of intelligence; after all, everyone knew that this was the Ferocious Race¡¯s unique way of doing anything.

    On the other hand, when one of the Ferocious Race youths had charged at them, the other one had pulled him back, piquing Su Chen¡¯s interest.

    Su Chen¡¯s hearing was very good.

    He gleaned a bit of information based on the words that floated to him on the wind.

    That Ferocious Race youth was trying to convince the other one to stand down.

    Su Chen learned from Gu Qingluo that he was Danba.

    A smart, cautious, yet bold Ferocious Race youth.

    Su Chen began to realize that perhaps this was what he had feared all along: a Ferocious Race individual who was willing to use his brain.

    The discussions between Danba and the others made this fact abundantly clear.

    Danba agreed to the Takusha, but he demanded that those watching the battles needed to keep themselves an appropriate distance from the battle to ensure the fairness of the fight.

    If any of the humans or Ferocious Race youths tried to intervene in the battle, that could be considered the opponent surrendering. The Takusha would be dissolved, and the other party could retreat immediately.

    Su Chen agreed.

    He had never nned on ying any tricks regarding this matter, but the opponent¡¯s diligence confirmed his suspicions that he would have to take his opponent seriously.

    Perhaps not everything Danba was doing was just because of his teacher¡¯s pointers.

    After both parties agreed, Su Chen, Gu Qingluo, He Yuandong, Danba, and Mendiano all backed up.

    They retreated to an appropriate distance.

    From their location, it would take some time for them to reach the battle even if they ran as fast as they could.

    Only two people remained on the battlefield.

    Wang Doushan and Ferraro.

    This time, Wang Doushan was going to participate in the duel.

    Su Chen had spent a lot of time attempting to convince everyone.

    Wang Doushan and Ferraro squared off in front of the g.

    Ferraro grinned as he sized Wang Doushan up, revealing his eerie white teeth. ¡°Does the weak human race finally have the guts to fight us head on? It seems that you¡¯re the strongest one out of all of them, but you¡¯re too fat! True strength isn¡¯t something that a pile of useless flesh can produce.¡±

    Wang Doushan sneered. ¡°I didn¡¯t know that individuals from the Ferocious Race liked to run their mouths so much.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just giving you a parting gift, is all.¡± Ferraro leapt forwards, his battle intent soaring.

    He yelled, ¡°Die!¡±

    As he howled, he unleashed a punch that carried with it an aura of death. The ensuing waves of energy surged relentlessly forwards at Wang Doushan.

    Wang Doushan smiled.

    Even in the face of such a punch, which threatened to exterminate everything in its path, Wang Doushan responded with an attack of his own.

    ¡°HA!¡±

    Wang Doushan also howled, and he also struck out with a punch.

    Dust flew everywhere from the collision, demonstrating the two parties¡¯ fierce desire to battle.

    Boom!

    The iron-like fists mmed into each other, and violent shockwaves radiated from the point of impact.

    A massive wave of earth-shattering energy exploded forth. An instantter, the twobatants were sent flying.

    Wang Doushan was like a flying mountain. When he mmed into the ground, the earth beneath hisrge feet seemed to tremble.

    Inparison, Ferraro was much more nimble. He flipped through the air, effectively countering the momentum of his opponent¡¯s attack. When hended, he didn¡¯t even kick up a speck of dust, demonstrating his frightening control over his own energy.

    In this exchange of blows, the two of them were actually equal in power.

    Ferraro stared at Wang Doushan intensely, his gaze burning with excitement. ¡°You are quite a bit stronger than I expected; it seems like that¡¯s not all fat.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you already leave me a parting gift?¡± Wang Doushan said disdainfully.

    As the two of them gazed at each other, their battle intent suddenly surged.

    ¡°AHHH!¡±

    They simultaneously howled as they charged at their opponent, wildly punching at each other as they both began to disy their barbaric styles.

    The violent waves of energy from their attacks sent dust flying everywhere.

    As the spectators watched the two battle from afar, even Danba couldn¡¯t help but feel some surprise. Even though it wasn¡¯t like the human race had never produced a strong individual before, it was still quite incredible for a human topletely rely on his own strength to fight a Temple Warrior to a standstill.

    But because of this, Danba actually felt significantly more relieved.

    Hidden schemes were usually only used when an individual¡¯s strength was vastly inferior to his opponent¡¯s. If a person was strong enough, there wouldn¡¯t be a need for any scheming.

    This human was strong enough to put up a fight against a Temple Warrior. Perhaps that was why the humans dared to initiate a Takusha in the first ce.

    If that was the case, Danba wasn¡¯t worried at all.

    The Ferocious Race feared bloody battles the least. Even if they were to lose, they would die without remorse as long as it was a fair fight.

    Mendiano, who was standing off to the side, suddenly said, ¡°This fatty is pretty powerful, but if you think that he can win over Warrior Ferraro with just this level of strength, you couldn¡¯t be more wrong. To Ferraro, this is just a warmup.¡±

    He shot Su Chen a provocative nce as he spoke.

    Mendiano hadn¡¯t forgotten that Su Chen was the one who had yed them before entering the ruins, and Mo Lihan had charged them to kill Su Chen first.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that the Takusha was still ongoing, he would have already charged over to finish off those weak humans already.

    Su Chenughed derisively in the face of Mendiano¡¯s provocation. ¡°Oh, is that so? To our guy, this doesn¡¯t even count as a warmup yet.¡±

    Mendiano¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Shameless boasting!¡±

    Su Chen replied with a razor-sharp retort, ¡°Hey, you know how to use idioms?¡±

    Gu Qingluo couldn¡¯t stifle herughter, and she let out a giggle.

    Mendiano wanted to say something more, but Danba stopped him. ¡°Don¡¯t squabble with the humans; that¡¯s their specialty. All we need to do right now is kill them!¡±

    Mendiano nodded, then retreated.

    At this moment, the tides of the duel had turned.

    Perhaps because he was growing weary of a battle of pure physical strength, Ferraro howled as soon as he and Wang Doushan separated again. The inscriptions on his body began to glow.

    Unlike the Ferocious Race youth Su Chen had killed earlier, Ferraro¡¯s whole body lit up at once.

    Blood-colored smoke began to emanate from the inscriptions of Ferraro¡¯s body. The smoke slowly began to take form, arranging itself into an borate image above Ferraro¡¯s head.

    A Red-Eyed Direwolf!

    The Ferocious Race¡¯s inscriptions weren¡¯t carelessly thrown together. They were usually pieced together one-by-one to form aplete entity that could turn into a true totem, also known as their Guardian Totem.

    When the Origin Energy Temple didn¡¯t exist, Guardian Totems were representative of the Ferocious Race¡¯s strength. They attempted to develop their strength in that aspect.

    However, most of the Ferocious Race individuals needed to reach at least the equivalent of the Blood Boiling Realm before being able toplete a Guardian Totem, yet Ferraro had been able to do it while still at the Qi Drawing Realm (and quite beautifully at that).

    The massive Red-Eyed Direwolf tilted its head back and howled. It seemed simr to the bloodline images that the Bloodline Nobility ns could project, but there were some differences.

    The ferocious image and its imposing aura indicated that a frightening amount of energy was about to be released..

    Smoke began to pour out of every opening on Mendiano¡¯s body, giving the surroundings a hazy, almost illusory quality.

    ¡°Die, human! Crimsonwolf Fury!¡±

    The Red-Eyed Direwolf in the sky howled before pouncing.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 158: The Second Battle

    Chapter 158: The Second Battle

    Afternding on the ground, Wang Doushan sighed deeply.

    The surging energy in his body slowly began to calm down. Wang Doushan felt a weakness that he hadn¡¯t felt earlier.

    It wasn¡¯t a side effect of using Strength Medicine. Rather, he wasn¡¯t used to the sudden loss of strength yet.

    It felt really good to possess power!

    He walked a few steps to Ferraro¡¯s side.

    Ferraro was still breathing. However, his forbidden technique was about to expire, and his lifeforce was slowly fading.

    ¡°You win,¡± Ferraro said betweenbored breaths. His tone carried a trace of dissatisfaction and annoyance.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t really count. I originally wanted to fight you based on just my own strength, but unfortunately, I was still forced to use a Strengthened Strength Medicine,¡± Wang Doushan replied.

    For this battle, Su Chen had prepared some medicine for him. Those were his final trump cards.

    However, Wang Doushan didn¡¯t want to use it.

    He wanted to use his own strength to defeat his opponent.

    Unfortunately, even after expending the fat he had spent four years maintaining, he still had no way of obtaining victory. He was forced to use a single Strength Medicine vial.

    Even though it was just one vial, in Wang Doushan¡¯s eyes, he had already lost.

    Ferraro didn¡¯t seem to mind. ¡°You humans aren¡¯t as strong as us, but you are better at studying all kinds of other things. Aren¡¯t you all skilled in alchemy?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true, but I also used my weapon. The rules stated that I could only use resources worth at most ten thousand Origin Stones. My Origin Tool is worth 8000 Origin Stones, and the medicine is worth another 2500. I went over the limit by 500 Origin Stones, so in principle, it¡¯s still my loss.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± A trace of delight could be seen on Ferraro¡¯s face.

    He wanted to say something else, but the words died on his tongue.

    He died.

    Upon seeing Ferraro die, Wang Doushan sighed.

    He took Ferraro¡¯s ring and picked up the Takusha g. He slowly sauntered towards Su Chen and the others before suddenly realizing that he wasn¡¯t a fatty anymore. There was no need for him to act like he was still burdened by his weight, so he ran over to Su Chen and said, ¡°I¡¯ve returned. The mission was sessful.¡±

    ¡°Well done.¡± Su Chen patted him on the back.

    ¡°Unfortunately, I still had to use a vial of medicine,¡± Wang Doushan said with some disappointment.

    Su Chen understood his disappointment. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will have better Origin Skills to give you in the future. One day, you¡¯ll be able to beat those Temple Warriors even without going all-out.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll be waiting.¡± Wang Doushan smiled wide.

    Su Chen turned around to nce at Danba and said, ¡°Then we¡¯ll continue with the next fight?¡±

    Danba nodded. ¡°No problem.¡±

    The Ferocious Race didn¡¯t fear death as long as it wasn¡¯t at the hands of petty tricks.

    Wang Doushan had killed Ferraro based solely on his own strength. Even though he had said himself that he had used resources worth 500 Origin Stones too many, Danba could overlook it.

    To the Ferocious Race, this didn¡¯t even count as cheating when considering the kinds of schemes humans were capable of pulling off.

    This wasn¡¯t an inurate thought. An instantter, however, he experienced the shamelessness of his opponent.

    Su Chen said, ¡°That¡¯s good.¡±

    He nodded at He Yuandong. He Yuandong stepped forwards, taking the g from Wang Doushan, and then tossed it at Mendiano¡¯s feet. ¡°Please.¡±

    Both Danba and Mendiano were stunned.

    Danba stared angrily at Su Chen. ¡°What are you trying to do?¡±

    Su Chen shrugged. ¡°Just as you said, Takusha.¡±

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t it supposed to be between you and me?¡± Danba said angrily.

    ¡°Next round,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°But before this, it¡¯s those two!¡±

    Su Chen pointed at He Yuandong, then at Mendiano.

    Dammit, you bastard!

    I should have known that you humans would be scheming something.

    Indeed, Mendiano was also of the Ferocious Race, and he also had to respect the rules of Takusha.

    However, he wasn¡¯t a Temple Warrior. He wasn¡¯t absolutely confident that he could defeat these humans.

    On the other hand, even though He Yuandong hadn¡¯t fought yet, his aura was steady. Evidently, he was an extremely stable individual, and he might be the strongest amongst this group of humans.

    With such a human as Mendiano¡¯s opponent, Danba had no confidence in obtaining victory.

    ¡°No...... I don¡¯t......¡±

    ¡°I agree,¡± Mendiano suddenly said.

    What?

    Danba stared at Mendiano with some shock and fury.

    Mendiano said, ¡°I understand your feelings, Danba. However, this is Takusha, the foundation of our honor. A Ferocious Race individual can die, but he cannot have no honor.¡±

    Danba¡¯s said heavily, ¡°Ferraro is already dead......¡±

    ¡°Yes, but he died in an appropriate way. He wasn¡¯t killed by a human¡¯s scheme, but by that human¡¯s personal strength. We shouldn¡¯t have any objections about that. I am the same. Danba, make sure this is a fair duel regardless of who wins or loses.¡± Mendiano knew very well that he might not be He Yuandong¡¯s opponent, so all he requested was that the duel would be fair.

    Danba was speechless.

    He could forcefully interfere, but when faced with his own race¡¯s traditions and pursuit of glory, there was nothing he could do.

    For just an instant, he thoroughly despised these traditions.

    These traditions made the Ferocious Race brave and fierce, but they would only ever be brave and fierce.

    Even so, he had no say in the matter. He could only ept what had happened.

    Danba nodded and stepped to the side.

    Another duel began, this time between He Yuandong and Mendiano.

    Unlike the previous one, Danba wasn¡¯t confident in the oue of the duel.

    Indeed, the instant that the battle began, Mendiano began to attack He Yuandong with all his might.

    No trace of color could be seen on Danba¡¯s face.

    Usually, it was the weaker party who would attack the fiercest at the beginning of a battle. This was because they knew that wasting time wouldn¡¯t help them at all. It was better to simply go all-out at the beginning and get it done with a single stroke.

    Under certain circumstances, this tactic could be effective.

    But, it was evidently of no use against He Yuandong.

    He Yuandong didn¡¯t have an explosivebat style. He was very steady.

    During the training period, he had already made this fact clear. No matter what the task at hand was, he always did things calmly and in an orderly fashion, not too fast or too slow. Sometimes, he might miss an opportunity, but it also meant that he rarely made mistakes.

    He was the type that could maintain hisposure and patiently wear you down.

    He had defeated many opponents who were stronger than him simply because they couldn¡¯t maintain theirposure and werepletely ground to death by him. Su Chen had battled him six times in the past and had lost all six times.

    It could be said that someone with He Yuandong¡¯s personality was a perfect counter to a person like Su Chen.

    The Hidden Dragon Institute had considered his stability and his impressive personal strength when assigning him the number one rank.

    This person, even when faced with Mendiano¡¯s torrent of attacks, was still unhurried.

    He struck back with his Raging Heavenly Fists steadily. His attacks weren¡¯t fast, but all of them were guaranteed to not miss. Every blow was aimed with a specific purpose.

    Mendiano used every tactic with every variation at his disposal, but in the end, he couldn¡¯t stop He Yuandong.

    He didn¡¯t even get an opportunity to put his life on the line.

    He Yuandong ensured that his body was always covered with a barrier.

    His physical body¡¯s defense was already decent. With the support of the magic barrier, no matter what trump cards Mendiano tried to pull out, it would be impossible for him to defeat He Yuandong in one strike.

    Even if he missed many opportunities or expended a lot of Origin Energy, He Yuandong would continue to fight steadily.

    This was the tactic that Su Chen had prepared for him, which just so happened to correspond with He Yuandong¡¯s personality.

    When an already stable individual paid special attention to minimizing risks, that person¡¯s cautiousness and imprable defense were enough to send most people into a fit of rage and helplessness.

    When faced with this cautious, impregnable defense, Mendiano found himself slowly running out of energy.

    His attacks gradually lost their vigor, and his speed also began to decrease.

    Based on this downward trend, it seemed like He Yuandong could casually kill him with a palm strike at any moment.

    However, He Yuandong continued to fight in an unhurried matter,pletely ignoring Mendiano¡¯s condition.

    Mendiano fellpletely into despair.

    He stared at He Yuandong and yelled, ¡°I¡¯ll risk it all!¡±

    As he howled, a totem image appeared behind him.

    This was Mendiano¡¯s Guardian Totem.

    Based on his strength, it shouldn¡¯t have been possible topletely form a Guardian Totem.

    But at this instant, Mendiano, in his despair, didn¡¯t care anymore.

    He didn¡¯t harbor any hope of killing his opponent; he just hoped that he could at least injure his opponent, even if just a little bit.

    Following Mendiano¡¯s all-out attack, the Guardian Totem turned into a forceful torrent of energy that surged forwards.

    He Yuandong remained as expressionless as always, but his aura had grown stronger.

    An illusory Raging Inferno Beast image appeared behind him, mming into Mendiano¡¯s Guardian Totem. The collision resulted in the most dazzling disy of light since the battle had begun.

    He Yuandong harrumphed and retreated a few steps.

    The powerful waves of energy crashed against his barrier. After flickering and sending sparks everywhere, the barrier disappeared, and a trickle of blood appeared at the corner of He Yuandong¡¯s mouth.

    But that was all.

    He nced at Mendiano.

    Mendiano swayed slightly before toppling to the ground.

    He died!

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 159: Exterminate

    Chapter 159: Exterminate

    Danba sighed as he watched Mendiano die.

    Even though he had expected Mendiano to die, there was just nothing he could do.

    He Yuandong pulled off Mendiano¡¯s ring, then returned and said, ¡°The mission was sessful.¡±

    ¡°Thanks for your hard work,¡± Su Chen replied with a warm smile.

    Then, he looked at Danba. ¡°It looks like it¡¯s our turn now.¡±

    Danba stared at Ferraro and Mendiano¡¯s corpses before suddenly saying, ¡°Can you wait for me to take care of their corpses? I¡¯m worried that no one will take care of them after I die.¡±

    ¡°No problem,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Danba walked over and moved Ferraro and Mendiano¡¯s corpses to the side. Then, he began to dig.

    He dug very slowly.

    Based on his strength, he could have probably sted a huge hole in the ground with a single punch.

    But Danba didn¡¯t do so. Rather, he used both of his hands to dig a small ditch.

    The four of them weren¡¯t in a hurry. They watched as he slowly carved out a small hole in the ground.

    But for some reason, Su Chen felt like something was off.

    After he dug for some time, the hole was finally of a suitable size.

    Danba ced the corpses inside, then began to cover up the corpses.

    After recing thest bit of dirt, he nced at Su Chen. ¡°You were the one who proposed the idea of a Takusha, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Su Chen nodded.

    ¡°Can you tell me your name?¡±

    Su Chen froze for a moment. ¡°I am called Su Chen.¡±

    Danba nodded. ¡°I will remember this name and tell my fellow n members you were the one who got Ferraro and Mendiano killed.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s eyebrows knitted slightly. ¡°I don¡¯t think there¡¯s a need for that. After you and I start to fight, there will only be one person remaining. Either you will die, or I will.¡±

    ¡°But the one who will survive will be you, is that right?¡± Danba suddenlyughed.

    Su Chen froze. ¡°You don¡¯t have any self-confidence? Or you think that I am stronger than Wang Doushan?¡±

    Danba shook his head. ¡°This has nothing to do with who¡¯s stronger or weaker. Actually, you weren¡¯t nning on ever giving me a fair fight in the first ce, were you?¡±

    Su Chen remained motionless.

    Danba continued, ¡°You are very smart. First, you only sent four people against the three of us, making it seem like there were no possible schemes you could set up. Then, you arranged for two fair fights. Based on a normal train of thought, the third battle between me and you would likely be fair as well. However, you chose this moment to be underhanded...... There won¡¯t be a third duel. Right now, I¡¯m facing a 4v1. If you all swarmed me at once, I would lose.¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Why do you have to interpret it this way? Look, I¡¯m still here, and I¡¯ll still fight you.¡±

    ¡°Of course. Of course, you will still challenge me to a Takusha,¡± Danba coldlyughed. ¡°But that will be just to dy for time so that you can call for reinforcements, and you will use our battle to expend my energy. You and I will truly have a fair battle. You will definitely lose, but you won¡¯t die. However, my condition will have declined because of my battle with you. If those three were to surround me at that point in time and then further reinforcements arrive......¡±

    Danba spread his hands. ¡°I¡¯ll be dead for sure, right?¡±

    A trace of panic could be seen on He Yuandong, Gu Qingluo, and Wang Doushan¡¯s faces now that their n had been seen through.

    Su Chen remained as expressionless as ever. ¡°No matter what, none of this has yet to happen. I could just say that you¡¯re ndering me.¡±

    ¡°Whether it¡¯s nder or not is very simple to determine.¡± Danba suddenly smiled.

    He leapt backward and said, ¡°I reject your Takusha challenge!¡±

    As a Ferocious Race youth, he had actually refused a Takusha challenge!

    In that instant, Su Chen sighed heavily. ¡°I knew that there were some smart individuals in the Ferocious Race. Brothers, it looks like the reinforcements won¡¯t arrive in time. We¡¯ll have to strike ourselves.¡±

    As he spoke, he waved his hand, and the four people began to press towards Danba.

    Yes, Danba was absolutely correct. This had been a scheme from the very beginning.

    The first two battles were all fair, but the third battle wouldn¡¯t be.

    Su Chen¡¯s challenge to Danba was merely to exhaust some of his energy and dy for time so that Danba wouldn¡¯t find an opportunity to escape.

    Because of this, he couldn¡¯t let Danba just reject the Takusha and leave.

    He was going to kill Danba!

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±

    Following this low bark, the four of them charged at Danba.

    Gu Qingluo charged the fastest. She activated her Snaking Mist Steps to jump a long distance. A wave of frost mmed toward Danba.

    The reason they had brought Gu Qingluo wasn¡¯t because she was Su Chen¡¯s girlfriend, but because her Waterstar Chill could seal off the surroundings and dy the opponent.

    To prevent Danba from escaping, they would have to slow him down first.

    Even so, Danba had made preparations. Right as Gu Qingluo struck out, Danba waved his arm. Countless grains of sand flew into the air towards Gu Qingluo. Each grain of sand carried a shocking amount of momentum.

    Gu Qingluo waspletely caught off guard. She couldn¡¯t pay any more attention to Danba. Instead of using the wave of frost on Danba, she had to use it to deal with the oing grains of sand.

    At the same time, Su Chen, He Yuandong, and Wang Doushan had arrived.

    Danba hurriedly retreated.

    This time, he was really retreating when facing so many opponents.

    With everyone chasing him in this direction, they were bound to run past the hole he had dug for Ferraro and Mendiano.

    Wang Doushan was first, Su Chen second, and He Yuandong third.

    Just as the three of them charged past the hole, Danba gestured upwards vigorously with his hand. A wall of earth suddenly shot up from the ground.

    This wall was perfectly timed. It happened to cut off He Yuandong from Su Chen and Wang Doushan, leaving He Yuandong trapped momentarily behind the wall.

    Next, Danba struck out. A razor-sharp palm strike shot at Wang Doushan.

    Wang Doushan wanted to block, but he found grains of sand flying at him; Danba had concealed a handful of sand in his hands. The handful of sand blinded him, and Wang Doushan¡¯s reaction was a bit slow. Danba took advantage of the opportunity by suddenly reversing directions.

    He charged at Su Chen!

    He wanted to kill Su Chen!

    Even under these circumstances, he wanted to kill Su Chen!

    At this moment, Gu Qingluo, He Yuandong, and Wang Doushan were all temporarily upied with Danba¡¯s attacks. Su Chen was now facing Danba on his own.

    Even though it was only a brief moment, Danba wanted to seize it to kill Su Chen!

    Heunched a fist.

    What shocking power!

    Violent Origin Energy began topress as the Totemic Inscription on his body shone dazzlingly.

    A Crowned Iron-Feathered Eagle appeared.

    Danba unclenched his right fist just as the massive eagle in the sky let out a piercing cry. A column of Qi formed from the sky to Danba¡¯s palm before heunched it at Su Chen.

    This strike was no weaker than Ferraro¡¯s Direwolf ming w; it was actually even stronger.

    He wanted to kill Su Chen with a single blow.

    There was no time to dodge, and Su Chen didn¡¯t intend to dodge. Faced with this terrifying strike, Su Chen responded in kind with a terrifying strike of his own.

    Armor-Piercing Awl!

    Since Danba wanted to use the opportunity to kill him, how could he let an opportunity to kill Danba pass?

    Their arms mmed into each other, unleashing vast waves of energy before they both flew into the air, spitting out mouthfuls of blood.

    In this exchange of blows, both of them were actually equal in strength.

    As they flew away from each other, Danba gestured with his left hand, wing down at Su Chen. Simultaneously, Su Chen reoriented himself and unleashed an Erupting Firehawk, not attempting to dodge.

    Bang, bang!

    With two explosions, both of them were struck by the other¡¯s attack. While Su Chen had been hit by the opponent¡¯s w strike, his Erupting Firehawk exploded on Danba¡¯s midsection, leaving behind a bloody wound.

    Both of them mmed into the ground.

    At this moment, He Yuandong, Wang Doushan, and Gu Qingluo charged over.

    Su Chen was trading wounds with Danba precisely for this moment.

    Danba, however, coldly harrumphed. He suddenly gestured at a wall off in the distance.

    With a bang, the stone wall fragmented. Countless silver sharp discs whistled at the four people.

    Most of the discs were headed for Su Chen. At this moment, Su Chen was wounded, and he wasn¡¯t able to react in time.

    It seemed as if Su Chen was about to get hit.

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± Gu Qingluo yelled and charged over, Waterstar Chill activating as it froze arge swathe of the silver discs. Simultaneously, He Yuandong charged over, grabbed Su Chen, and rolled. A silver disc scraped past his back, cutting off a chunk of flesh. He Yuandong growled in pain.

    Wang Doushan had to focus all of his energy on dealing with the silver discs.

    Danba pushed against the ground. A thick swathe of smoke and ash was sent into the air, instantly clouding the environment and making it really difficult to see much in the surroundings.

    ¡°Not good! He¡¯s going to run!¡± Su Chen ignored his wounds as he yelled, charging forwards.

    But after charging out of the smoke and ash, he couldn¡¯t find any trace of Danba¡¯s figure.

    ¡°He ran!¡± Su Chen turned around to nce at the cloud of dust and smoke behind him.

    That was where Danba had buried Ferraro and Mendiano. Evidently, while he imed to be burying them, he was actually secretly making preparations. Not only was he able to stop He Yuandong at a critical moment, but he had also almost killed Su Chen and had managed to escape.

    ¡°This guy...... we were set up by him.¡± Su Chen¡¯s expression was steely.

    This was the first time that he had been on the receiving end of a scheme.

    ¡°I never would have expected that such a tricky fellow would exist amongst the Ferocious Race.¡± Wang Doushan walked over to him. ¡°Are your wounds okay?¡±

    Su Chen inspected his own wound and said, ¡°It¡¯s not light, but it can be dealt with. I hit that guy with my Armor-Piercing Awl and an Erupting Firehawk; he won¡¯t be able to get far. Tell the others to hurry over and search the surroundings. We absolutely need to find him no matter how far we need to search!¡±

    At this moment, Su Chen seemed almost like a mob boss from a movie, ordering his subordinates to exterminate a wanted target.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 160: Handling

    Chapter 160: Handling

    If possible, Su Chen would rather have let Ferraro and Mendiano go than Danba.

    That guy was simply too cunning. In fact, he was so cunning that he didn¡¯t seem like he was from the Ferocious Race anymore.

    If the brainless Ferocious Race had him as a leader, things would be much moreplicated.

    Unfortunately, battles weren¡¯t like business transactions. You couldn¡¯t make a substitution just because you wanted to.

    Even though the other students all arrived quickly and began searching the surroundings, they were unable to find Danba.

    The students weren¡¯t hired soldiers. They couldn¡¯t afford to expend too much energy just to find Danba, and they were forced to return to the stone mountain empty-handed after some time.

    The whole way there, Su Chen was clearly in bad spirits.

    ¡°Alright, you don¡¯t need to be so mncholy. We were still able to finish off two Ferocious Race individuals, one of them a Temple Warrior. These are all your aplishments,¡± He Yuandong said whileforting him.

    ¡°Danba really isn¡¯t simple. The fact that he escaped is going to give us no end of troubles in the future,¡± Su Chen sighed.

    ¡°I know. However, you don¡¯t need to be too anxious. First of all, he is injured, and the Ferocious Race doesn¡¯t have much in the way of recovery medicines. At least in the short-term, he won¡¯t be able topletely recover, so he won¡¯t be as much of a danger. Second, Danba is Danba, and the Ferocious Race is the Ferocious Race. The only person he can really control is himself, not the other Ferocious Race youths.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Leader is still the most clear-headed; you¡¯re absolutely right. Danba can only control himself, not the other Ferocious Race youths.¡±

    If Danba had the authority to control the other Ferocious Race youths, then there wouldn¡¯t have been a Takusha in the first ce. Thus, even though Danba was smart, he wouldn¡¯t be able to use his intelligence to its full potential.¡±

    He Yuandong had managed to pinpoint Danba¡¯s main weakness in just a few sentences.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Wang Doushan also rushed over tofort him. ¡°It¡¯s just Danba. Even if he¡¯s smart, his strength is only so-so, and you were even able to injure him.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. He¡¯s a Temple Warrior, but Third Senior Brother was actually able to injure him in a one-on-one. He really only seems so-so.¡± Jiang Hanfeng ran over to fawn on Su Chen as well.

    Su Chen, however, let him have a little bit. ¡°Don¡¯t spout such rubbish. Even though it was a one-on-one then, Danba had to constantly focus on dealing with Doushan and the others. Regardless of whether he was blocking them or using them, he would need to divert some of his attention. There¡¯s no way he could have focusedpletely on fighting me. In addition, my Armor-Piercing Awl uses too much Blood Qi, and I can¡¯t use it often. On some level, Doushan and I are simr; we rely on overdrawing ourselves to temporarily fight our opponents to a standstill. If it were truly a fair fight, I wouldn¡¯t be Danba¡¯s opponent. Temple Warriors are still Temple Warriors. Right now, I¡¯m not strong enough to deal with him.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s how it was.¡± Upon hearing what Su Chen said, Jiang Hanfeng felt deted.

    ¡°However, this is only temporary. Even though I may not be his opponent right now, I¡¯ll be able to take him down in the not-so-distant future,¡± Su Chenughed.

    ¡°Mhm! Third Senior Brother, you can definitely do it!¡± Jiang Hanfeng raised his hand into the air and yelled.

    As they conversed, everyone finally returned to the stone mountain.

    They had just arrived when they saw Cloud Leopard, Ji Hanyan, and Gan Haoli walk over.

    While the rest of them had gone to kill Danba, the three of them had arrived at the stone mountain.

    Cloud Leopard and Ji Hanyan had bickered the whole way, depressing Gan Haoli to the point that he greeted the others as if they were long-lost family members.

    After exining what had happened, both sides gradually came to know what had transpired.

    ¡°No wonder I thought this person seemed familiar; it¡¯s actually Fatty Wang,¡± Ji Hanyan said as she looked at Wang Doushan.

    After Wang Doushan had slimmed down, his appearance was very different from how it had been before.

    ¡°Yeah, Senior Brother Wang looks much more handsome now,¡± Gan Haoli said, joining in.

    Wang Doushan beamed withughter.

    Truth be told, Wang Doushan was pretty handsome when he wasn¡¯t that fat.

    Off to the side, Cloud Leopard coldly added, ¡°He¡¯s much weaker too.¡±

    Wang Doushan was infuriated. ¡°Dammit, Leopard, do you not know how to say something civilized for once?¡±

    Cloud Leopard turned around and ignored him.

    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s not squabble,¡± He Yuandong said. ¡°Right now, Danba won¡¯t be able to keep an eye on us for now because he is injured. It¡¯s time to put our n into effect.¡±

    The n that He Yuandong was referring to was the establishment of a headquarters that Qi Weiyan and Su Chen had discussed earlier.

    Using the stone mountain as a headquarters, they could send out teams and collect resources.

    The stronger individuals would be formed into small teams for expeditions, while the weaker ones would remain to guard the headquarters, handle logistics, and act as reinforcements if necessary.

    If faced with a small annoyance, the small teams would take care of it. However, if faced with a bigger problem, they could call for reinforcements orbine teams. Su Chen had done this when he requested nearly ten people to help him deal with the Demonic Beast in the forest. Within the ruins, there would likely be more than one Demonic Beast; if needed, anyone could request the backup of the other teams.

    If they encountered any dangerous targets, like other Ferocious Race youths, they could run back in the direction of the stone mountain and fire off emergency arrows. The people at the stone mountain would also react ordingly.

    This way, their ability to explore the ruins would be much greater, and it would be much safer as well.

    There were a total of 26 people at the mountain in this instant: He Yuandong, Qi Weiyan, Su Chen, Feng Yigu, Zhu Anyi, Shen Yucheng, Shen Longcheng, Pi Yuanhong, Wang Doushan, Cloud Leopard, Yue Longsha, Ji Hanyan, Gu Qingluo, Shi Jiangbai, Fan Ruzhi, Shui Dong, Li Yun, Wu Xiao, Wang Xuan¡¯an, Gan Haoli, Jiang Hanfeng, Wei Yang, Yan Ling, Ma Xuan, Han Linxia, and Ji Ruoyu.

    Taking away the students who had already been killed and Zhao Xin, who had yet to return, they had already gathered most of the students. It really was time for them to continue with the next step of their n.

    Based on He Yuandong¡¯s arrangements, the 26 people were split into two groups, and those two groups were responsible for external or internal affairs.

    Su Chen, Gan Haoli, Jiang Hanfeng, Wei Yang, Yan Ling, Ma Xuan, Han Linxia, and Ji Ruoyu made up the eight-man team responsible for handling everything within the headquarters, including guarding the mountain and forming emergency rescue teams.

    The other eighteen people would be split into teams to explore the ruins.

    Because Qi Weiyan was still recovering from her injuries, she would temporarily stay in the mountain to nurse her wounds.

    Wang Doushan had truly be much weaker after losing all that fat, so he was ced with Cloud Leopard, Gu Qingluo, and Yue Longsha.

    He Yuandong, Wu Xiao, and the Shen brothers were another four-man team, and they were the strongest one. They chose to head to the north, where the otherrge mountain was. Their task wasn¡¯t to gather resources but mainly to scout out the area, collecting resources as they went, in order to determine a good next step.

    The remaining three three-person teams each chose a direction. They would leave at sunrise and return by sunset, exploring the surroundings and gathering resources.

    He Yuandong would handle the external affairs, while the internal affairs would be handled by Qi Weiyan.

    He Yuandong said to Su Chen, a restless expression on his face, ¡°I know that Brother Su is extremely knowledgeable and talented, and it would have been more suitable to leave the internal logistics to you. However, given that our headquarters will need to be in contact with all the other students, we¡¯ll need to coordinate the other student teams, which requires a more human touch as opposed to pure knowledge. Weiyan is extremely suited for this. Thus, I ended up choosing her to handle the internal affairs, but unfortunately, that leaves you out.¡±

    Su Chen smiled. ¡°I think that sounds great. You¡¯ll be responsible for handling the outside situations, while Senior Sister Qi will be responsible for dispatching reinforcements; that¡¯s a perfectly fine arrangement. The more people we have, the more difficult things will be. For instance, look at Leopard and Miss Ji ¨C the two of them seem to fight as soon as they even look at each other. We can¡¯t allow this to go on forever, so someone will need to act as a mediator between them. I don¡¯t have any confidence in my ability to do this, but Senior Sister Qi is well-suited for this kind of thing. I have a lot of faith in letting her handle this.¡±

    He Yuandong nodded. ¡°As long as you understand.¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°In any case, it¡¯s not like I won¡¯t have anything to do. You two can focus on handling the other students. I, on the other hand......¡±

    He purposely paused, thenughed, ¡°I¡¯ll be responsible for handling the Ferocious Race youths.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 161: Charging Through

    Chapter 161: Charging Through

    Whoosh!

    A battleaxe thudded against flesh, causing blood to ssh through the sky.

    A Vicious Beast fell to the ground.

    Su Chen walked over and began to absorb the motes of Origin Energy that floated out of the Vicious Beast¡¯s body.

    Asrge quantities of Origin Energy entered his body, Su Chen could feel his body changing.

    He felt as if the Origin Energy in his body had reached its peak and was about to overflow

    This implied that Su Chen¡¯s cultivation base had reached the peak of the Qi Drawing Realm.

    Yes, after two days of diligent hunting, Su Chen had finallypleted all of the necessary preparations before making his breakthrough. Next, all he actually had to do was charge past the bottleneck.

    To reach the Blood Boiling Realm, he needed to light his heartmps.

    Lighting one¡¯s heartmps involved refining oneself and concentrating one¡¯s Origin Energy so that the heartmps would begin to shine, illuminating one¡¯s heart as well as the principles governing magic usage.

    After seeding, one¡¯s body would bepletely reborn from one¡¯s internal organs all the way outward, almost like a rebirth.

    Once a person¡¯s cultivation base reached this level, their lifespan would increase by another hundred years. The person¡¯s usage of Origin Energy would be more efficient and powerful, and their recovery ability would be much faster as well. In the past, Su Chen had to use secret techniques to speed up his body¡¯s slow recovery process. However, if he were to receive a heavy injury now, as long as his body didn¡¯t disintegrate, Su Chen could utilize his own Origin Energy to help him recover. Finally, one¡¯s bloodline strength would increase, allowing one to truly demonstrate the power of one¡¯s bloodline.

    In reality, the meaning of ¡°the body and internal organs bing clear¡± was referring to lighting one¡¯s heartmps. A person¡¯s understanding of their own body would greatly increase, and a person could better treat their own injuries and save themselves from trouble.

    But to aplish this step was no small feat. It required all kinds of preparations.

    Thankfully, Su Chen had made adequate preparations for charging into the Blood Boiling Realm. After reaching the peak, he headed directly for the stone mountain, not wasting any time.

    After arriving at the mountain, the clever Jiang Hanfeng came to greet him. ¡°Third Senior Brother, two more people have arrived. It¡¯s Zhou Juanjia and Tang Ming.¡±

    ¡°Juanjia and Tang Ming are here? That¡¯s great,¡± Su Chen said with delight.

    Zhou Juanjia¡¯s arrival meant that the little purple-scaled beast could be put to use.

    Tang Ming¡¯s arrival was even better. He was the only student out of the forty of them who had a Demonic Emperor Bloodline. In the past few days, he had also killed a Ferocious Race youth on his own.

    In terms of purebat ability, apart from Wang Doushan when he hadn¡¯t lost any fat, Tang Ming was the strongest.

    However, even though Tang Ming was very powerful, his personality was very arrogant, and he had some trouble getting along with others. Thus, he was only number 7. Tang Ming had sulked about this for a few days.

    Apart from these two, four more students had also arrived during the past few days. They were the tenth-year students Xie Qiming, ranked fourth, and Yu Mengnan, ranked 15th; and the ninth-year students He Niliu and Duan Jiangshan, ranked 25th and 26th, respectively. He Niliu and Duan Jiangshan were like Tang Ming. Their strength was quite impressive, but they had personality issues. He Niliu¡¯s personality waszy, and he didn¡¯t like having responsibility. Duan Jiangshan was bossy and arrogant, and he liked starting things. Thus, they were only assigned numbers ranging in the twenties.

    Thus, Su Chen wasn¡¯t surprised at all when Jiang Hanfeng said, ¡°Tang Ming, He Niuliu, and Duan Jiangshan have started to go at it.¡±

    In any case, Qi Weiyan was responsible for internal affairs. If anyone was going to get a headache about it, it would be her.

    Su Chen felt very grateful that he hadn¡¯t been assigned to manage personnel.

    The more people there were, the more issues there would be.

    Getting many people, each with their own unique personality and temper, to y nicely with each other was no easy task. It required not only different tactics but also patience.

    Su Chen had many tactics, but he didn¡¯t have much patience.

    Time was extremely valuable!

    Thus, he didn¡¯t bother worrying about that. All he said was, ¡°With the arrival of those six, as well as the deceased Zuoning, Jianfu, Meng Shi, Wende, and Zhao Xin who hasn¡¯t returned yet, the only people we haven¡¯t heard from yet are Zhao Xinze, Zhou Doni, and Li Baiyu.¡±

    ¡°Juanjia says that number thirty is already gone,¡± Jiang Hanfeng sighed.

    Number thirty was Zhou Doni, one of the ninth-year students.

    Another confirmed death.

    Su Chen sighed as well.

    In reality, he also understood that after being in the ruins for so long, any of their fellow students they hadn¡¯t been able to contact yet didn¡¯t have much of a chance of surviving.

    Su Chen stopped thinking about this problem. He asked, ¡°Have the newest teams been formed?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s precisely what they¡¯re arguing about. He Niliu and Duan Jiangshan don¡¯t want to separate, Ye Qiming and Yu Mengnan don¡¯t want to separate, and Tang Ming and Zhou Juanjia don¡¯t want to separate either. However, there are six of them; to make two groups of three, one of them definitely needs to be split up. None of them are willing to relent, so Tang Ming and the others began to fight. Weiyan is currently trying to keep the peace. Since you¡¯re back, I came to ask you for help.¡±

    When Su Chen heard that, he turned around without even looking. ¡°That¡¯s none of my business.¡±

    Internally, however, he was puzzled. Yu Mengnan and Zhou Juanjia were both girls; it was understandable that they weren¡¯t willing to part with their protectors. What reason do you two, He Niliu and Duan Jiangshan, have for not splitting up?

    He suddenly seemed to think of something and trembled. For that kind of thought toe to him, it seemed that he really was a bit too excited about breaking through into the Blood Boiling realm. Unforgivable.

    He quickly walked into his own research station and then said after a moment of thought, ¡°I will be closing these doors for about half a day. No matter what happens, don¡¯t let theme and disturb me.¡±

    As he spoke, he entered his room and sealed the entrance.

    After entering the room, Su Chen pulled out some ingredients and began to concoct medicine. He had prepared the ingredients a long time ago, which were just waiting to be used.

    After concocting the medicine, he made his final preparations for breaking through. Naturally, the technique he was going to use was Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven.

    To most users, Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven would only have a forty percent chance of seeding. However, the inventor of Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven would naturally have a much higher chance of sess. Su Chen estimated that he had about an eighty percent chance of sess.

    Even so, there was still a possibility that he could fail.

    If he were to fail, all of his preparations would have been for naught. Most importantly, he would have to wait another half a year before being able to try again.

    Because of this, Su Chen¡¯s movements were very careful to avoid making any missteps.

    Within the stone room, Su Chen began to focus all of his attention on breaking through.

    Outside the stone room, Tang Ming and Duan Jiangshan were still arguing.

    ¡°Tang Ming, don¡¯t think that you¡¯re special and that you can look down on me, Duan Jiangshan, just because you have a Demonic Emperor Bloodline.¡±

    ¡°My Demonic Emperor Bloodline is something special. If you have the ability, be a Demonic Emperor yourself! When a King meets an Emperor, the King has to bow down. Even if you don¡¯t agree, there¡¯s nothing you can do. Regardless, my student number is higher than yours, and I am also stronger than you. Thus, you have to listen to me.¡±

    ¡°Psh, then can¡¯t I apply the same logic to Zhou Juanjia?¡±

    ¡°The one surnamed Duan, don¡¯t bring the girls into this!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just what I want to do. If you use your student number to pressure me, I¡¯ll do the same to her.¡±

    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll use my strength. The one surnamed Duan, don¡¯t me me for bullying you. As long as you can find someone here stronger than me, I¡¯ll listen to you!¡±

    Just as they were really beginning to go at it, the nearby stone cavern suddenly shook violently.

    A blood-colored light shone brilliantly through the cracks in the opening, carrying with it a boundless aura.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that Su Chen¡¯s researchb? What¡¯s thatmotion all about?¡±

    Everyone was shocked and amazed.

    Qi Weiyan revealed an astonished expression when she saw what was happening. ¡°Why does it seem like...... someone¡¯s breaking into the Blood Boiling Realm?¡±

    ¡°Breaking into the Blood Boiling Realm?¡± Everyone was badly startled by this promation.

    Qi Weiyan hesitated for a moment, then nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve seen a student break into the Blood Boiling Realm before, and it involved simr phenomena. But it shouldn¡¯t...... be possible.¡±

    Because she was in her tenth year, Qi Weiyan had seen those who cultivated faster enter the Blood Boiling Realm before, so she wasn¡¯t surprised by it.

    But she couldn¡¯t figure out how Su Chen had suddenly charged into the Blood Boiling Realm.

    Could I have made a mistake?

    Qi Weiyan was still confused when she suddenly heard a loud boome from the stone cavern.

    A brilliant red light began to shine all the way into the sky like a rainbow. This was a sign that someone had entered the Blood Boiling Realm.

    A momentter, Su Chen stepped out of the stone cavern imposingly, his skin glowing with a faint luster as if it were slightly translucent. In between his eyebrows was a red mark, indicating that he had sessfully lighted his heartmps and a sign of the heartmps¡¯ prating power. This was the indicator of someone in the early stages of the Blood Boiling Realm.

    Su Chen had really broken into the Blood Boiling Realm!

    How was this possible?

    Everyone present was dumbfounded.

    Jiang Duanshan turned around and asked Tang Ming, ¡°What did you say earlier?¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 162: Skirmishes

    Chapter 162: Skirmishes

    Standing at the mountain peak and gazing around him, Su Chen felt invigorated like never before.

    It wasn¡¯t only because of his delight at raising his cultivation base. More importantly, his physical body and his senses were very different from before.

    After reaching the Blood Boiling Realm, he could feel that his body had be lighter and that his consciousness had be fuller. Most importantly, he had much greater control over his body.

    At this moment, his strength might not have increased by much, but his control over the energy in his body had greatly increased, and his sense of Origin Energy was much more perceptive.

    This was the benefit of reaching a higher cultivation realm. It wouldn¡¯t directly increase one¡¯sbat ability ¨C after all,bat ability depended on Origin Skills ¨C but it could improve the basic essence of one¡¯s physical body, serving as a foundation for improving one¡¯sbat prowess.

    Now, if Su Chen were to use his Erupting Firehawk, it would form much more quickly. Whereas before it would have taken roughly one breath¡¯s worth of time to form, it only required half a breath¡¯s time now. Its explosive power would also increase, as the Origin Energy would be condensed to an even greater extent. Apart from this, the amount of Blood Qi his body contained also increased, so the strain that Armor-Piercing Awl ced on his body would be greatly reduced.

    Previously, he would feel drained after using Armor-Piercing Awl just a single time. Now, he could use it multiple times in a row without any severe side effects.

    These effects were all due to reaching the Blood Boiling Realm. Su Chen¡¯s strength had increased pretty significantly as a result.

    Just as he was nning on enjoying this sensation a bit longer, he suddenly found himself mobbed by other students.

    ¡°Su Chen, Su Chen!¡± Qi Weiyan was the first to run over. ¡°Did you just reach the Blood Boiling Realm?¡±

    Su Chenughed and replied, ¡°I did; it seems that I couldn¡¯t keep it hidden from Senior Sister Qi¡¯s perceptive eyes.¡±

    Keep it hidden my ass!

    You made such a bigmotion; do you think that we¡¯re all blind?

    Qi Weiyan stared at him uncourteously. ¡°I say, how did you do it? How did you reach the Blood Boiling Realm just like that?¡±

    Su Chen calmly said the answer he had prepared long before. ¡°Oh, wasn¡¯t I in the forest hunting these past few days? I inadvertently ate a piece of fruit; unexpectedly, after eating it, my cultivation base shot up, causing me to reach the peak almost instantly. I thought to myself that I might as well try to reach the Blood Boiling Realm since I¡¯m already at the peak, and I just so happened to seed.¡±

    Who are you trying to deceive!

    Everyone rolled their eyes simultaneously.

    It wasn¡¯t like fruits that could increase one¡¯s Origin Energy didn¡¯t exist, but which one wasn¡¯t an iparably valuable treasure? How could you possibly obtain one so casually?

    And after you ate it, your cultivation base reached the peak of Qi Drawing?

    It¡¯d be more likely to cause your body to explode!

    The Origin Energy contained in those treasures was plentiful and abundant. How could they be used so casually? They all needed to be refined into medicines that could increase one¡¯s Origin Energy first before they could be used.

    If it were someone else who didn¡¯t understand this fact, this behavior might be a bit more understandable, but as an alchemist, how could you just pop that unknown fruit into your mouth without analyzing it first?

    Please, if you¡¯re going to lie, at least make it a bit believable, will you?

    Su Chen, however, didn¡¯t care about that. He waved his hand and said, ¡°Whether you believe me or not, that¡¯s how it happened. I just had a lucky encounter, and my cultivation base benefited because of it. That¡¯s all. Which one of us hasn¡¯t had a lucky encounter before? Furthermore, we¡¯re all here to find treasures, which also requires a lucky encounter. Sorry, I ate that fruit for myself so that I¡¯m the only one who benefits. As long as you all don¡¯t me me for being selfish, that¡¯s good enough.¡±

    Qi Weiyan was infuriated by his rascally behavior, but after thinking about it for a bit, she realized he was right.

    For Su Chen¡¯s cultivation base to suddenly increase like this, he must have had a lucky encounter. Knowing that was enough; what need was there to figure out exactly what had happened?

    Just as Su Chen had said, everyone was here to search for treasures.

    Finding something was totally dependent on a person¡¯s individual luck.

    Those that could be used immediately might as well be used then. Long Sang Country wouldn¡¯t say anything; there was a tacit understanding that everyone who was willing to risk death would obtain some kind of benefit. Those that couldn¡¯t be used immediately could be brought back and considered a contribution.

    After realizing this, nobody asked him any more questions. They just came up to him individually to congratte him.

    Only Tang Ming stood off to the side with a bitter expression.

    Su Chen, seeing Tang Ming stare at him with such bitterness, felt a bit unsettled. ¡°Did I do something to offend him?¡±

    Duan Jiangshan recounted what he had said earlier to Su Chen.

    Su Chen smiled when he heard that. ¡°I thought that was what had happened. You all are honestly so stubborn! Since you pairs don¡¯t want to separate, just wait for the other small teams to return and rearrange with them. Won¡¯t that be sufficient?¡±

    The group of people all looked at each other.

    Right!

    How had they not thought of this?

    Duan Jiangshan harrumphed, ¡°Kid, count yourself lucky that Su Chen here was kind enough to speak on your behalf. Otherwise, I really would have forced you two apart.¡±

    Su Chen was just about to try and stop him when Tang Ming walked over and said, ¡°Su Chen, I don¡¯t need you to speak on my behalf. Even though you¡¯ve reached the Blood Boiling Realm, that doesn¡¯t mean you are the strongest. I want to duel with you to see which one of us is the stronger one!¡±

    Su Chen: ¡°......¡±

    He looked at Qi Weiyan, who rushed over to coax Tang Ming like a mother would coax a stubborn child.

    Duan Jiangshan, watching Tang Ming depart, couldn¡¯t help but add, ¡°It¡¯s just a Demonic Emperor Bloodline; is there any need to act this way? What a terrible temper. If I didn¡¯t know better, I would have thought that he had an Origin Beast Bloodline.¡±

    Su Chenughed and patted him. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. If he has strength, is he not allowed to have a bit of a temper? Doesn¡¯t Cloud Leopard get even more love than him? But, he was still awarded the twelfth rank.¡±

    Everyone: ¡°......¡±

    Cloud Leopard, who was out searching the surroundings, felt his eyelids jump and rubbed his eyes. Gu Qingluo asked him what was wrong, to which he replied, ¡°Nothing, I just felt a chill.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    News of Su Chen reaching the Blood Boiling Realm began to spread as everyone returned from their searching expeditions, giving everyone even more confidence in seeding in their mission.

    On the other hand, the ingredients that Su Chen needed were slowly being gathered and organized. Vial after vial of precious medicine began to emerge from Su Chen¡¯s researchb. Upon distribution, they would increase the likelihood of survival for many of the students.

    Even so, news of injuries continued to spread.

    Every day, a group of students would run into some Ferocious Race youths and battle, so someone was always injured.

    Most of the time, everyone was able to safely return, but there were also students who weren¡¯t able to escape in time.

    On the eighth day in the ruins, Su Chen received a notice: Li Yun was lost.

    He, Wang Xuan¡¯an, and Shui Dong had run into a group of Ferocious Race youths, and he had died during the battle.

    On the ninth day, Zhu Anyi was gravely wounded.

    He had run into Danba.

    If it weren¡¯t for Fan Ruzhi and Shi Jiangbai risking it all to save him, he would¡¯ve died already.

    Su Chen did his best to save him, but he was unable to do so in the end.

    Zhu Anyi had the highest student number and was the strongest out of all the students lost in the ruins up until this point.

    Of course, there was also some good news.

    In the past few days, there were also two Ferocious Race youths who had died at the hands of other humans.

    At this point, seven humans had died in battle, and two were still unounted for. On the other hand, seven Ferocious Race youths had been killed, one of them a Temple Warrior.

    Up until this point, all of the battles were small-scale, like skirmishes before the main war.

    But based on the information that had beening in the past few days, the Ferocious Race youths were also definitely gathering. They were gathering much more slowly than the humans, but they were definitely beginning to group up.

    One day, He Yuandong¡¯s four-man team finally returned from the tall mountain to the north.

    They hadpleted their preliminary scouting rounds of the tall mountain.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 163: Conference

    Chapter 163: Conference

    ¡°We can confirm that that ce was a great Arcana Master¡¯sboratory, all the way at the peak of the mountain. However, the mountain isyered with Origin Formations, making it a very restricted area,¡± He Yuandong said as he spread the map and pointed at the tall mountain on the map.

    At the top of the stone mountain headquarters, a small high-level conference was going on.

    ¡°Restricted area¡± was a form of jargon within the ruins. It implied that the area was full of dangers and restrictive Origin Formations.

    Restricted areas could be found all over the ruins. As legacies of the Arcana Kingdom, every ruins would have a restricted area. This was the reason why Su Chen and the others didn¡¯t decide to rush over immediately.

    Breaking into a restricted area required them to concentrate all of their manpower on that task!

    This was also why everyone was searching for resources right now while not everyone was present. It wasn¡¯t just to find the other students but also to deal with the easier tasks first before taking on the harder tasks.

    The map of the ruins was alreadypleted to a satisfactory degree, and Zhao Xin, who hadpleted the map, had returned to the stone mountain for some time already.

    Zhao Xin had focused most of his attention when finishing up the map on mapping out the mountain. Thus, the scenery was very detailed; it almost looked like someone had taken a bird¡¯s-eye view picture of the mountain.

    Based on the map, there was a massive ring-shaped castle at the peak of the mountain. Because the center area protruded and towered over the peak of the mountain, it looked as if it were floating in midair.

    He Yuandong was referring to the whole mountain when he said that it was a restricted area.

    He Yuandong had tried entering the castle at one point, but because they didn¡¯t have any students who were proficient in Origin Formations with them, every step would potentially be dangerous. In the end, they were forced to retreat after only making a bit of headway.

    However, this trip of theirs was just a scouting expedition anyways. They would rather have nothing happen than make some kind of important contribution at this stage.

    As the scouting party began to recount everything they had discovered about the castle, the students who were proficient in Origin Formations began to record them down so that they could prepare appropriately for them.

    Because everyone had basically gathered together, they had also concluded a preliminary investigation of the tall mountain. Next, they could begin to develop a strategy on how to approach the tall mountain.

    However, Su Chen suddenly asked, ¡°Right, did you run into any Ferocious Race youths in the mountains?¡±

    Shen Yucheng replied, ¡°We ran into them twice but didn¡¯t run into any Scarlet Fiends.¡±

    The Ferocious Race didn¡¯t learn things like alchemy or Origin Formations, but that didn¡¯t mean that they had no way of dealing with them.

    There were individuals amongst the Ferocious Race known as Scarlet Fiends. They were specialized to deal with Origin Formations because the Totemic Inscriptions on their body conferred a powerful resistance to Origin Formations and could disrupt them effectively. However, because Scarlet Fiends usually relied on their physique to directly assault the Origin Formations, they would often receive serious wounds. Because breaking these Origin Formations would result in self-harm, if their wounds umted, they would eventually die.

    Put simply, they didn¡¯t know how toy down Origin Formations, but they had a way to destroy them. They really were a race that was created to destroy things.

    But to the Ferocious Race, there was another even simpler method, which was just to follow the humans.

    After fighting for thousands of years, the predatory Ferocious Race had already developed a way to deal with their shorings. To them, the human race was both their mortal enemies and a tool that could be utilized.

    Thus, no one would be surprised if the Ferocious Race hadn¡¯t brought Scarlet Fiends.

    ¡°Was it in the same ce both times?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Shen Yucheng replied, shaking his head.

    Of the two times they had run into the Ferocious Race youths, once was in the mountain. At that point, everyone was focusing on breaking through the Origin Formations, but none of them seemed particrly skilled. That was why Wang Yucheng could confirm that the opponent had no Scarlet Fiends. The other time was at the outskirts of the mountain. They unintentionally ran into three Ferocious Race youths who charged them, wanting to do battle. However, He Yuandong and the others had no desire to fight, and they immediately retreated.

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then said, ¡°The Ferocious Race youths may not havepletely finished gathering yet.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡± Everyone felt their spirits rise somewhat.

    There was too big of a difference between them havingpletely grouped up versus not having grouped up yet, that much was obvious.

    Su Chen pulled out a piece of paper. The page was filled with details on every encounter with the Ferocious Race that had happened in the past few days.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Look, three days ago, Qingluo and the others ran into two Ferocious Race youths near this forest. Two dayster, three more Ferocious Race youths appeared there. Entering a ce where there are already no resources indicates that they aren¡¯t receiving directions from the others yet. In addition, five Ferocious Race youths appeared within this area simultaneously but in three different specific locations. Evidently, they are still fighting on their own and have yet to form anyrger groups.

    They didn¡¯t have the careful Zhao Xin looking for other students nor Su Chen to establish a center of operations. It wouldn¡¯t be easy for the Ferocious Race youths to coordinate their efforts. Most importantly, what would they do if they got together? Gathering resources in groups would be much more inefficient, their strength wasn¡¯t enough to assault the researchb yet, and if they ran into any humans, the humans would need to be willing to fight them. Because of this, even if any temporary groupings urred, they could also fragment shortly thereafter, resulting in this kind of scenario.

    But this kind of scenario wouldn¡¯tst too long. After sweeping the ruins for resources, the Ferocious Race¡¯s attention would once again turn to the researchb.

    At that time, the Ferocious Race would begin to really group up.

    Because they were sending out small teams, who were bringing backrge quantities of precious resources, to gather resources every day, Su Chen was quite clear about the resource situation of the ruins. At this point, the ruins were almostpletely stripped of its natural resources.

    ¡°Two days. At most, we have two days until the natural resources nearby will bepletely exhausted. At that point, the Ferocious Race youths will begin to gather,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°This period of time is the advantage we have. My rmendation is that we don¡¯t need to be in such a hurry to go to the mountain in the north. The mountain won¡¯t go anywhere anyway, and there¡¯s more than enough time for us to search it. Our current goal should probably be to use these few days to decrease the gap in strength between us and the Ferocious Race!¡±

    At this point, the difference in strength between the two sides wasn¡¯t thatrge.

    Normally, the period of disorder before was beneficial to the Ferocious Race. Under those scattered conditions, the Ferocious Race youths were more powerful than their human counterparts. Only after gathering together would the human students have an opportunity to disy their advantages.

    However, Su Chen¡¯s two endeavors resulted in the deaths of four Ferocious Race youths, one of them a Temple Warrior, instantly wiping out the human students¡¯ earlier disadvantage and resulting in the two sides possessing roughly equal standing.

    To the humans, this was a great benefit because they were now in a position to put their advantages on full disy.

    Because of this, Su Chen hoped to use this advantageous period to deal with the Ferocious Race youths first.

    He Yuandong nodded. ¡°Sun Tzu¡¯s ¡®The Art of War¡¯ says that if you keep thend but lose the people, you lose both; but if you keep the people and lose thend, you will still be able to recover. I support Su Chen¡¯s idea; the researchb won¡¯t be going anywhere. We should try to deal with these Ferocious Race bastards first.¡±

    Qi Weiyan said, ¡°But utilizing these two days won¡¯t be too easy. Those Ferocious Race youths don¡¯t seem stupid; they are quite tricky to fight, and they won¡¯t engage in battle when they know they can¡¯t win. If we send too few people, we don¡¯t know if we¡¯ll win, while if we send too many, they won¡¯t fight us in the first ce. Also, those guys aren¡¯t particrly slow either.¡±

    ¡°Even the craftiest wolf cannot escape an experienced hunter¡¯s grasp,¡± Su Chen said calmly.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 164: Ambush

    Chapter 164: Ambush

    ¡°Ha!¡±

    A loud yell preceded a thunderous explosion. A Vicious Beast was smashed to smithereens with just one punch from Hansach.

    He quickly skinned the Vicious Beast and pulled out its bones. After harvesting what he needed to harvest, he arrived in front of a small herb.

    ¡°This herb has four leaves with sharp ridges around the edges, and the leaves are linked together by silver threads...... This should be the Life-Opposing Four Leaf Clover,¡± Hansach muttered as he nced at the booklet in his hand. He then pulled out a jade box and ced the four-leaf clover inside. He hadpleted his task.

    The Ferocious Race couldn¡¯t identify herbs on their own, but that didn¡¯t mean that they had no way of identifying them at all.

    However, relying on a manual to identify these herbs was only possible if those herbs were actually recorded in the manual.

    If it wasn¡¯t, then there was no way to recognize it.

    But that didn¡¯t really matter. Even if he didn¡¯t know what it was, he wouldn¡¯t let the humans have it.

    Hansach unleashed a fierce, energetic punch, ttening the surroundings.

    The Ferocious Race always did things this explosively and simply.

    Upon seeing that the area had beenpletely cleaned out by him, Hansach prepared to leave, searching for the next resource location.

    But just as he was leaving, he suddenly saw an arrow fly into the air.

    ¡°The humans¡¯ emergency arrow.¡± Hansach smiled darkly.

    Hansach would much rather hunt humans than search for resources.

    Humans were much better at finding treasures than the Ferocious Race.

    He quickly walked towards where the emergency arrow had been shot from, his powerful legs propelling him forward as he left a trail of dust in his wake.

    Upon arriving, he found a human fleeing in a panic, a Ferocious Race youth chasing closely behind.

    Upon seeing Hansach arrive, panic could be visibly seen on the human¡¯s face. The human suddenly changed directions and ran in another direction.

    In the moment of panic, the human ran into a nearby stone forest.

    Hansach had searched that stone forest already. He knew that it was a dead end.

    At this moment, Hansach smiled in delight when he saw the human run towards a dead end. He began to follow closely as well.

    ¡°Hansach, don¡¯t fight with me over this one. This guy is mine!¡± the other Ferocious Race youth yelled.

    ¡°Novi, don¡¯t even think about it. Aren¡¯t I the one who forced him into a dead end?¡± Hansach frowned and replied.

    ¡°Even without you I could have caught him,¡± the Ferocious Race youth called Novi said with some frustration.

    ¡°Forget about it. These humans have no particr skill except running away. Defeating them is quite easy, but killing them isn¡¯t that easy,¡± Hansach said. ¡°Of course, I can understand the effort you put in as well. I suggest we split the spoils evenly.¡±

    ¡°No, I get 70%. You get 30%.¡±

    ¡°Then his head belongs to me.¡±

    ¡°Fine, you moocher!¡± Novi harrumphed unhappily. The two of them walked into the stone forest as they argued with each other.

    To them, that human was already a dead person.

    But upon entering the stone forest, the two Ferocious Race youths were stunned.

    Five human students stood blocking the path ahead.

    The human who was being chased was also there.

    ¡°Come on! Weren¡¯t you just starting to get excited chasing me? Come on!¡± Jiang Hanfeng, who was responsible for luring them here,ughed loudly.

    This guy wasn¡¯t particrly powerful, but he was quite clever and not particrly slow either. He also had a natural talent for acting, much better than most of the other students present.

    If He Yuandong were to act as the bait, the Ferocious Race youths probably would¡¯ve figured out that something was up; if they used Cloud Leopard, he probably would start fighting them before even drawing them to the right location.

    Four other students stood by his side. It was He Yuandong, the Shen twins, and Pi Yuanhong, who were all smiling coldly at the two Ferocious Race youths.

    Hansach and Novi nced at each other, then instantly turned around and ran.

    They had just been talking about how good the humans were at running, but they seemed to be just as good at it.

    However, they had only taken a few steps when they saw four more people appear behind them.

    It was Ji Hanyan, Gu Qingluo, Yue Longsha, and Feng Yigu.

    They knew that they had run into a trap. The Ferocious Race¡¯s bloodthirsty and barbaric nature manifested itself at this point.

    Hansach and Novi nced at each other again, then simultaneously howled, ¡°CHARGE!¡±

    The two of them charged forward simultaneously.

    ¡°There¡¯s no escape!¡± Ji Hanyan said cooly. Two streaks of frost began to race towards the two Ferocious Race youths.

    The two of them knew that their situation was dire. They charged forwards with all their might.

    When they began to go crazy, their strength really was something else.

    Ji Hanyan¡¯s and Gu Qingluo¡¯s frost attacksnded on them; even though the frost quickly began to spread across their bodies, their totemic inscriptions shone brilliantly. An instantter, they broke through the ice and continued to run.

    Simultaneously, He Yuandong and the others began to attack them. Thunderous, fiery explosions boomed out right behind them.

    The two Ferocious Race youths coughed up a mouthful of blood, but they continued to charge forward,pletely ignoring the attacks from behind them.

    ¡°Anyone who gets in my way will die!¡± Hansach yelled barbarically as the battleaxe in his hand cleaved through the air in front of him with a wild momentum.

    All of his strength was concentrated on this axe strike. It mmed into Feng Yigu¡¯s Arcane Turtle Shield. Even though it wasn¡¯t able to shatter it, the powerful momentum of the strike forced Feng Yigu back a great distance.

    Novi simultaneously leapt forward. He mmed the Arcane Steel Battlehammer he wielded onto the ground, generating massive shockwaves that sent Ji Hanyan, Gu Qingluo, and Yue Longsha flying. They were able to forcefully open a way out.

    The two of them rejoiced. They forcefully endured the blows from He Yuandong and the other behind them, sessfully escaping the four-man siege. Theyughed loudly, ¡°Useless humans!¡±

    Yes, they weren¡¯t able to be contained even after eight students ambushed them. How could they not be happy?

    An instantter, however, four more students appeared in front of them.

    It was He Niliu, Duan Jiangshan, Ye Qiming, and Cloud Leopard.

    The two of them were stunned. At this moment, the eight people behind them had caught up already.

    Turning around to fight wasn¡¯t an option. They hardened their hearts and continued to charge.

    The battleaxe and battlehammer swung through the air madly as the youths activated the totemic inscriptions covering their bodies to their fullest extent.

    The attacks from He Yuandong and the others mmed into them, causing blood to fly everywhere.

    The two coughed up another mouthful of blood as they charged forward. Their sole thought at this moment was, Freedom is just on the other side.

    Under the all-out, wild attacks and the fierce charge, those four students were also knocked aside.

    They had once again forcefully broken their way through the blockade.

    The two were both shocked and happy.

    They couldn¡¯t help but think to themselves, So what if the humans were tricky? The humans were so weak that even with two lines of reinforcements, they were able to escape just by charging forward relentlessly.

    However, they hadn¡¯t taken many steps when they found four more students blocking their way.

    Dammit, how many helpers had this guy managed to pull over?

    The two of them werepletely dumbstruck.

    With so many people, why didn¡¯t they show themselves earlier?

    Suddenly, they realized something.

    Hansach yelled in grief and indignation, ¡°You purposely let us past?¡±

    ¡°Hahaha, it seems you¡¯ve only now realized it,¡± Jiang Hanfengughed, clutching at his belly. ¡°If we give you just a bit of hope of escaping, you won¡¯t want to fight at all, focusing all of your attention on escaping instead. We can attack you without fear from behind. This is called ¡®Surrounding the Enemy on Three Sides and Leaving One Side Open¡¯ in ¡®The Art of War.¡¯ As long as we give you a way out, you won¡¯t want to fight. Third Senior Brother is truly a master tactician!¡±

    As he spoke, the forest suddenly began to shine brilliantly. Countless stone columns began to emerge from the ground, intecing with the stone forest to form aplete encirclement.

    This stone forest had been filled with Origin Formations in advance.

    At this moment, Hansach and Novi had already discovered their n. There was no need to continue with the battle strategy, so Jiang Hanfeng directly activated the formation, permanently locking them into the stone forest.

    Novi stared at the humans with rage. ¡°You deceitful humans; you have so many people, but you still need to rely on these underhanded tactics.¡±

    The only reply he got was a wave of attacks, swallowing the two of them whole.

    With so many people, they could all just swarm them with attacks.

    However, those who had been selected for this expedition on both sides were all chosen with careful consideration; no side knew what trump cards the other side had brought. In case they ran into a particrly powerful enemy who resorted to mutual destruction, that would be a big issue.

    Even if theirrade survived, he could potentially be crippled.

    This was why Su Chen had chosen such a roundabout approach. He purposefully allowed them to charge out of the encirclement, allowing the students to determine the strength of the youths they had trapped before unleashing all of their attacks.

    By the time the Ferocious Race youths realized that escape was just an impossible fantasy, it would already be toote.

    The battle quickly ended.

    The stone forest returned to its original condition, but two additional hostages had been secured.

    Yes, hostages.

    Another reason why the setup had been soplicated was because the students¡¯ goal was to capture their targets alive, not kill them.

    This had been one of Su Chen¡¯s requests.

    He hadn¡¯t participated in the hunt. Rather, he sat in his researchb waiting for the research specimens to be delivered to him. It was rare for him to have so many enemies that he could perform experiments on.

    Of course, he promised everyone that these Ferocious Race youths would eventually die.

    ¡°Now, only 31 of them remain,¡± He Yuandongughed as he nced at the two people on the ground.

    ¡°Haha, we did well.¡± Everyone began to apud and cheer.

    ¡°A single Ferocious Race youth has appeared near Spirit Mountain,¡± a voice suddenly said in everyone¡¯s consciousness.

    It was Zhao Xin.

    He wasn¡¯t here but perched on a nearby tree closely watching the surroundings, specifically searching for any traces of the Ferocious Race youths. Gan Haoli was also with him to notify everyone as soon as possible.

    ¡°Another target has presented itself. Everyone, let¡¯s clean this ce up quickly!¡± Pi Yuanhong yelled, speaking as if he were the boss of a crime sting.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 165: Two More

    Chapter 165: Two More

    For the next period of time, the human students reused this ploy over and over, either baiting their opponents in or searching the surroundings for Ferocious Race targets.

    The Ferocious Race waspletely out of luck.

    Because theycked an effective organized system, the Ferocious Race was alwayspletely outnumbered, and they were captured in waves.

    This made everyone extremely happy; they would have preferred to continue doing this over and over again.

    Unfortunately, there were only so many Ferocious Race youths, and they were all spread out in the vast ruins. Finding them really wasn¡¯t that easy.

    In reality, killing them wasn¡¯t extremely difficult, but finding the Ferocious Race youths took the most time.

    Even with Zhao Xin¡¯s eagle eye, finding these Ferocious Race youths still took a significant amount of time and energy.

    In the first day of hunting, they managed to find six waves of Ferocious Race youths and seeded four times, capturing a total of six Ferocious Race youths. The other two times, the Ferocious Race youths were alert enough and didn¡¯t step into the trap.

    Six more research specimens had appeared in Su Chen¡¯s researchb. Once again, Su Chen felt excitement rising in his heart.

    The second morning, however, the students ran into some trouble when trying to continue executing their n.

    This time, only a single Ferocious Race youth fell into the trap.

    However, the opponent instantly discovered that something was wrong. Instead of retreating, he chose to attack!

    His powerful offense caught everyone off guard. No one expected the opponent to be that decisive.

    Only after he struck out did everyone realized that he was a damned Temple Warrior!

    The Ferocious Race was really quite deceptive in this regard.

    The only difference between a Temple Warrior and a regr Ferocious Race youth was that one had passed through the Origin Energy Temple. This would only result in a difference when using Origin Energy, and it was impossible to distinguish between a regr Ferocious Race youth and a Temple Warrior under normal circumstances.

    Whether they had inscriptions on their faces or chose not to use weapons wasn¡¯t an indicator of whether they were a Temple Warrior or not; that was only a matter of personal preference.

    Before they attacked, no one knew whether a Ferocious Race youth was actually a Temple Warrior or not.

    However, they were easier to identify on an actual battlefield. Temple Warriors usually wore a unique set of armor, but in this ce, they werepletely identical to the other Ferocious Race youths.

    Thus, by the time everyone figured out that their ¡°prey¡± was actually a Temple Warrior, he had already aplished the one thing he could do: capture Yu Mengnan.

    Yu Mengnan, who was ranked fifteenth, wasn¡¯t weak in his own right. However, he wasn¡¯t even able tost three moves against that Temple Warrior before he was captured. Ye Qiming¡¯s eyes were red when the Temple Warrior ced his hand around Yu Mengnan¡¯s throat.

    After negotiating for a long time, they were forced to let that Ferocious Race youth go.

    This was the first real setback they had experienced while executing their n.

    Afterward, they seeded two more times, capturing four more Ferocious Race youths.

    But on their fourth attempt, they ran into another problem.

    This time, it was Danba.

    Just before the targets were about to step into the trap, Danba suddenly appeared, warning hisrades of the n and causing it to fail.

    Most shockingly, he hadpletely avoided Zhao Xin¡¯s detection.

    He Yuandong had sent people to chase after Danba, but he had almost turned the tables on them. Duan Jiangshan had almost been seriously wounded or even killed.

    He Yuandong knew that their hunting days were about toe to an end.

    Indeed, in the following few ambushes, Danba constantly followed them around, ruining their ns a number of times. Even though He Yuandong tried to set up the teams to deal with Danba, that crafty guy was somehow always able to escape.

    The number of Ferocious Race youths that escaped continued to increase, and the students¡¯ sesses became few and far between......

    Within the researchb.

    ¡°So you mean to say that Danba ruined our n once again?¡± Su Chen said calmly as he ced a kidney back into the Ferocious Race youth¡¯s body and then sealed up the incision.

    The Ferocious Race youth was still alive, but he seemed to have lost all of his senses,pletely submissive to Su Chen¡¯s actions.

    Jiang Hanfeng nced at the Ferocious Race youth, who had been dissected like a rag doll but just wouldn¡¯t die, and gulped before replying, ¡°This guy is really crafty. Zhao Xin can¡¯t find any trace of him at all.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell Cloud Leopard to keep an eye on him?¡± Su Chen said as he carefully pulled back the Ferocious Race youth¡¯s eyelids.

    His careless attitude really made him seem like the boss of an underground gang.

    The Ferocious Race youth¡¯s pupils were about to turn white.

    He was about to fold.

    Su Chen pulled out a pen and a piece of paper, then began to write down, ¡°Chillheart grass is confirmed to have additional effects on a Ferocious Race individual¡¯s physique. The Numbing Medicine¡¯s preliminary step is a sess, but it has some slightly poisonous properties and still needs to be improved. When added to blood......¡±

    Jiang Hanfeng replied, ¡°Danba has a helper, another Temple Warrior. Cloud Leopard wasn¡¯t able to deal with both of them on his own.¡±

    ¡°Temple Warrior?¡± Su Chen froze. ¡°The same one asst time?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    Su Chen stopped writing, his expression turning heavy.

    He turned around to look at Jiang Hanfeng. ¡°You said it¡¯s not the same one?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s a fourth Temple Warrior, not within what we agreed upon,¡± Jiang Hanfeng said harshly. ¡°Dammit, I knew that these Ferocious Race youths weren¡¯t up to anything good. We agreed that they could only bring three Temple Warriors in, but they forcefully added a fourth. Who knows what method they used to pass the Origin Energy screening.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no point in thinking about that now. More importantly, if they were able to sneak an extra one in, they could have snuck in more!¡± Su Chen said heavily.

    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s exactly what Leader thought, so he told me toe find you.¡±

    Su Chen understood. He turned around to nce at the Ferocious Race youth in front of him and said, ¡°I will give you an answer soon.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Half an hourter, Su Chen walked out of hisb.

    He wiped off the blood on his hands.

    ¡°How¡¯d it go?¡± He Yuandong was already waiting outside.

    ¡°I managed to dig it out. There are a total of five Temple Warriors. The other two were snuck in by some secret concealment technique that their race possesses. Unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t able to discover what that secret technique was. However, I don¡¯t believe for a second that those Ferocious Race youths, with their unique temperament, cane up with something too clever. If they were able to trick the Long Sang army¡¯s inspection, it¡¯s likely because our side was too overconfident. But the cost should be quite high, which is why only two were able to make it.¡±

    A ck line appeared on He Yuandong¡¯s forehead. ¡°You¡¯re still in the mood to think about what their secret technique is?¡±

    ¡°Oh, sorry, that¡¯s an upational thing. But truthfully, I really didn¡¯t expect those Ferocious Race bastards to pull off something thisplicated. Now that there are two extra Temple Warriors, things have be much moreplicated,¡± Su Chen sighed.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Who says that the Ferocious Race is dim-witted? It seems like each one is more cunning than thest,¡± Jiang Hanfeng said in frustration.

    ¡°That¡¯s why people say that you suffer the most when you get tricked by someone who¡¯s normally well-behaved,¡± Su Chenughed.

    ¡°Right, those Ferocious Race youths are also bing more alert and beginning to group up. Just now, they tried to organize a counterattack against us. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Cloud Leopard detected it, we might have all been killed. It looks like we¡¯ll have to end our hunting ploy. What do you think we should do next?¡± He Yuandong asked.

    Even though Su Chen wasn¡¯t the leader, He Yuandong respected him immensely. They would always discuss any ns together before executing them.

    ¡°Looks like the good days are going to end soon,¡± Su Chen sighed.

    In the past two days, the humans had captured a total of twelve Ferocious Race youths without losing a single person. This was quite an impressive aplishment.

    The Ferocious Race had been dealt a serious blow. Most importantly, the bnce of power had shifted considerably. If they were to go into battle now, the humans wouldn¡¯t be afraid of their opponents.

    ¡°Yes, the good days have already ended, and the time for picking isted fights is also over. Next, we should probably n on cracking open that mountain.¡±

    ¡°Which also means that the all-out battle is about to begin,¡± Su Chen said.

    Once they arrived at the ancientboratory, the amount of open space would greatly decrease. The distance between the two groups would be almost nonexistent, setting the stage for a full-fledged battle.

    ¡°At this point, if we are to fight against the Ferocious Race, our efforts have really only leveled the ying field. We still don¡¯t have a definite advantage if we fight all-out now,¡± He Yuandong said with some worry.

    Killing more than ten Ferocious Race youths should have given them a huge advantage.

    The appearance of two more Temple Warriors, however, had cut into their advantage quite significantly.

    ¡°This only makes it more interesting,¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°If we have the absolute advantage, would there be a point in fighting? In addition, the Ferocious Race youths aren¡¯t idiots. If they really are at a disadvantage, they won¡¯t make any rash moves. Instead, they¡¯ll probably try and backstab us at any opportunity they can get; that would be even more frustrating. As long as they think that they can still win in an all-out fight, they¡¯ll be willing to directly attack us. That¡¯s the only way that they¡¯ll continue to fall into our traps, not the other way around.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he began to squint.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 166: Assaulting the Mountain

    Chapter 166: Assaulting the Mountain

    As soon as they said that they were going to do it, they began to make their preparations.

    Since they had already decided to go to the mountain in the north, Su Chen, He Yuandong, and Qi Weiyan held a short meeting before gathering everyone to head to the mountain.

    That evening, after everyone who had gone out had returned, He Yuandong directed everyone to the north without stopping even once. Their goal was to utilize their organizational efficiency to react more quickly.

    Under the cover of night, everyone finally arrived at the mountain.

    They could tell that this mountain was much taller than the stone mountain they were previously at. The rock face of the mountain was covered with lush, green vegetation, making it seem quite picturesque.

    Just as they were about to enter the restricted area, Ji Ruoyu suddenly said, ¡°Careful, there¡¯s some kind of powerful void energy here.¡±

    ¡°Powerful void energy here? What¡¯s it used for? Killing someone? Transportation? Or something else?¡± Qi Weiyan asked.

    ¡°No, that¡¯s not it.¡± Ji Ruoyu shook his head.

    He reached out and closed his eyes, using his heart to feel the void within these mountains. After some time, he finally opened his eyes and said, ¡°It¡¯s just a naturally-urring maze that was created due to the void¡¯s copse. There shouldn¡¯t be any danger. However, this mountain will be evenrger than what we see now. Once we enter inside, we¡¯ll be walking in circles, and it will be difficult to reach the top. At the very least, however, retreating shouldn¡¯t be a problem.¡±

    Upon hearing these words, everyone let out a sigh of relief.

    As long as it wasn¡¯t a deadly formation, they would be ok.

    However, it would also be annoying to deal with. After all, they only had a limited amount of time; if they were to get lost deep in the mountain, they would have failed their mission.

    ¡°No wonder the road seemed so longst time; it was like we couldn¡¯t get there no matter how fast we walked,¡± Shen Yucheng said.

    ¡°Little Forty, can you figure out this maze?¡± Pi Yuanhong asked.

    Ji Ruoyu shook his head. ¡°I can¡¯t figure it out right now, but I can sense the void nodes. Hopefully, we¡¯ll save some time because we won¡¯t be retracing our steps so often.¡±

    ¡°How much time will it take?¡±

    ¡°Three or four days.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s great,¡± everyone cheered.

    Someone elseughed, ¡°The Ferocious Race is in for it now.¡±

    This voidbyrinth seemed to cover the entire mountain. It wouldn¡¯t be so easy to deal with.

    Those Ferocious Race youths might be able to deal with the Origin Formations based on their own strength, but they would bepletely at a loss when dealing with the maze.

    ¡°This is what happens when you can only rely on brute strength to do things,¡± He Yuandongughed.

    ¡°What are we waiting for then? Let¡¯s go!¡± Qi Weiyan said.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±

    Everyone yelled, then embarked on their journey up the mountain.

    After setting foot at the base of the mountain, everyone began to pay close attention to their movements.

    Every nook and cranny on this mountain could be concealing a powerful ancient restrictive formation.

    Thankfully, the Hidden Dragon Institute had made preparations for this long in advance.

    Wei Yang, Jiang Hanfeng, Ma Xuan, and Yan Ling were all proficient in Origin Formations, and they specialized in killing, restrictive, illusion, and defensive formations, respectively. These four types were enough to deal with most of the Origin Formations on this mountain.

    Ji Ruoyu pointed the way, while the four formation experts neutralized any hidden formations. Ever since they had stepped foot on the mountain, they had yed a leading role.

    While the four of them neutralized the formations, the others would carefully watch their surroundings, protecting the four of them.

    This mountain had not only Origin Formations but also Vicious Beasts and even Demonic Beasts.

    After stepping foot on the mountain, Wei Yang and the others each pulled out an item.

    Wei Yang was holding a mirror in his hand, Jiang Hanfeng a jade circlet, Yan Ling a cloudy, glowing Night Pearl, and Ma Xuan a miniature clock.

    Su Chen asked Jiang Hanfeng out of curiosity, ¡°What are these things?¡±

    Jiang Hanfeng replied, ¡°The mirror is a True Sight Mirror. It can expose all kinds of concealed items and determine the location of Origin Formations. The pearl is a Perception Pearl, which can sense Origin Energy in the air and determine the strength of an Origin Formation. The Jade is Rainbow Jade; when faced with different types of Origin Formations, it will turn different colors corresponding to that type of Origin Formation. The clock is a Soul Tone Clock. It is specifically used to handle consciousness disruptions and break through illusion techniques.¡±

    As he spoke, the jade circlet in Jiang Hanfeng¡¯s hand suddenly turned red.

    Simultaneously, more fog appeared on Ma Xuan¡¯s pearl.

    Ling Yan said, ¡°Second-tier strength.¡±

    Jiang Hanfeng said, ¡°Fire-type Origin Formation.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s there.¡± Wei Yang nced at the mirror in his hand, then pointed at a far-off stone.

    The three of them stepped forward and did something to the stone. A momentter, Jiang Hanfeng turned around and said, ¡°Okay, everyone can continue.¡±

    Once everyone arrived, Wei Yang then regenerated the Origin Formation.

    This way, the Ferocious Race youths wouldn¡¯t be able to get an advantage by following after the humans.

    They were both neutralizing and reforming Origin Formations as they went; thus, their speed wasn¡¯t anything noteworthy.

    After walking for some time, everyone arrived in front of a dirt slope.

    Ma Xuan¡¯s tone was serious as he nced at the dirt slope and said, ¡°Careful, it¡¯s fourth-tier strength.¡±

    The higher the tier, the more powerful an Origin Formation would be. A fourth-tier strength formation was simr in power to an all-out attack from a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator. Everyone tiptoed cautiously around it.

    The four of them began trying to neutralize the formation.

    At that moment, Cloud Leopard suddenly yelled, ¡°Careful!¡±

    A foot flew through the air andnded right on Jiang Hanfeng¡¯s butt, sending him scooting along.

    With a ¡°whoosh,¡± a sharpened stick of bamboo flew right past where Jiang Hanfeng had been standing previously.

    The sharpened bamboo had been thrown by a White-Nosed Ape, which let out a threatening howl at the group of students.

    An instantter, countless Origin Skills mmed into its body.

    Once the smoke and dust from the attacks had subsided, the White-Nosed Ape had already died.

    Wang Doushan ran over to the ape. ¡°Aren¡¯t you guys a bit too overbearing? I can¡¯t eat it anymore because the ten of you ruined this ape by mming it with Origin Skills!¡±

    His tone was pouty.

    After his battle with Ferraro, he had been searching for meat to eat because he had expended so much fat.

    The Vicious Beasts that Su Chen had killed were all given to him to eat. Another one had appeared, but it had been sted into meat paste. It would be virtually impossible to try and roast it.

    Su Chenughed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. There should be plenty of Vicious Beasts on this mountain, more than enough for you to eat.¡±

    ¡°What if there aren¡¯t that many?¡± Wang Doushan asked.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that better? It means less work for everyone,¡± Su Chenughed.

    Wang Doushan realized that Su Chen¡¯s words made a lot of sense and couldn¡¯te up with anything in response.

    Jiang Hanfeng returned, rubbing his butt. ¡°I say, Senior Brother Twelve, if you want to save me, that¡¯s fine, but do you really have to kick me? And if you¡¯re going to kick me, please don¡¯t kick me in the direction of the Origin Formation, okay? If it weren¡¯t for the fact that my reflexes kicked in and I found the right ce tond, I might have activated the formation...... in which case, I would much rather be speared by the bamboo, thank you very much.¡±

    Cloud Leopard: ¡°......Got it.¡±

    Upon seeing Cloud Leopard¡¯s embarrassed appearance, everyone couldn¡¯t help butugh loudly.

    Cloud Leopard harrumphed, ¡°Right, there seems to be some kind of Origin Formation suppressing the perceptiveness of my consciousness. My ability to detect things has been suppressed to the lowest point, and I won¡¯t be able to discover Vicious Beasts a long ways away. You all should be vignt.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, Leopard,¡± everyone replied, not cing too much weight on what he had said.

    ¡°Right, since there are Vicious Beasts within the mountain, then why don¡¯t those Vicious Beasts activate the Origin Formations when they walk over them?¡± Wang Doushan asked.

    Wei Yang said, ¡°Normally,rge-scale formations will all have specific mechanisms to discern between humans and beasts, allowing those beasts to bypass the formations. The Origin Formations here should be no exception.¡±

    Ma Xuan added, ¡°But those kinds of discernment mechanisms aren¡¯t easy. Usually, you need to ce a control mechanism in the middle of the formation.¡±

    Central control mechanisms weren¡¯t simple, even during the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s height of prosperity. Not just any Arcana Master could set one up.

    Evidently, these ruins were created by someone with quite a high social status.

    That was very good. It implied that there could be some real treasures.

    Everyone expected much more now, and they continued pressing onwards with even more energy. However, because there were so many Origin Formations in their path, they were still moving very slowly. The others were growing impatient, but Su Chen was more than happy to take it nice and easy, learning from Jiang Hanfeng and the others how to neutralize Origin Formations.

    Jiang Hanfeng said, ¡°Third Senior Brother, you¡¯re already such a talented student. If you be an expert in Origin Formations as well, what will we do in the future?¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°Don¡¯t be so flippant; I¡¯m just dabbling a bit. In any case, I don¡¯t have anything else to do.¡±

    He said that he was just dabbling, but his rate of learning was astounding, shocking Jiang Hanfeng and the others.

    This wasn¡¯t actually that surprising. A lot of this type of knowledge was very interconnected.

    Su Chen had been studying Origin Energy for nearly ten years. Even though he primarily focused on cultivation methods, all of the universe¡¯s governing principles all returned to the same root. They were all just different ways of using Origin Energy.

    If Su Chen understood one principle, he could understand them all. Thus, as he followed the four of them, he reached a skill level where he could be considered a novice with just a few pointers in the right direction.

    After a day, even though he was far from mastering Origin Formations, he could understand what the four people were doing and why they were doing it.

    The four of them had just encountered an Origin Formation and were neutralizing it when they suddenly heard a strange noise.

    Immediately afterward, a swathe of white fog appeared off in the distance and began to swarm towards them.

    ¡°It¡¯s an Origin Formation!¡± Wei Yang shouted loudly. ¡°The Origin Formation activated; everyone, be careful of a surprise attack!¡±

    ¡°Why would the Origin Formation suddenly activate?¡± He Yuandong yelled loudly.

    ¡°The reason is unclear. No one got near it; it just suddenly activated on its own,¡± Jiang Hanfeng yelled. He couldn¡¯t understand why this was happening.

    No matter what the reason was, the fog was getting closer and closer to them. The whole forest was eventually shrouded in fog, greatly decreasing their vision. It was hard to see anything further than an arms-length away from them.

    At the same time, a shrill cry echoed throughout the mountain.

    The beasts were attacking!

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 167: Sudden Attack

    Chapter 167: Sudden Attack

    ¡°Careful!¡±

    It was unknown who yelled out the warning. Immediately after, countless attacks began to be unleashed.

    They couldn¡¯t see anything, but it didn¡¯t matter. As long as they unleashed attacks at their surroundings, that would be good enough.

    Waves of Origin Energy surged like a tide, charging forth vigorously. Immediately after, the sky was filled with pained roars. No one knew how many Vicious Beasts were charging in their direction.

    But based on the sound, it didn¡¯t seem like they were low in number.

    At this moment, Cloud Leopard¡¯s warnings were of no use because the Vicious Beasts were everywhere.

    Wang Doushan¡¯s expression shifted. ¡°Dammit, what¡¯s with these Vicious Beasts? Could they be cooperating with the Origin Formations?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know either!¡± Wei Yang yelled. ¡°That shouldn¡¯t be the case!¡±

    ¡°Forget about whether it should be happening or not; we have a battle to fight! Protect Ruoyu, Zhao Xin, and the others!¡± Su Chen growled.

    Strengthened Erupting Firehawk after Strengthened Erupting Firehawk began to take shape.

    Even though he couldn¡¯t see, his ears were extremely perceptive. He could clearly tell where the Vicious Beasts were the most concentrated. Then, he waved his hand; the Firehawk soared forth, disappearing into the fog before mming into something, inciting howls of pain and rage.

    After entering the Blood Boiling Realm, his strength had greatly increased, as did the explosiveness of the Erupting Firehawk. He could unleash a cast of Strengthened Erupting Firehawks, and their power wasn¡¯t small in the slightest. They had instantly killed who knew how many Vicious Beasts within the fog.

    But an instantter, he heard Han Linxia yell from beside him, ¡°AH!¡±

    Su Chen instantly determined Han Linxia¡¯s position and charged over to her, only to find a fierce armored beast snapping at her. He didn¡¯t have time to figure out exactly what it was before he sent a fist out.

    Armor-Piercing Awl!

    A single strike was enough to explode its head.

    After entering the Blood Boiling Realm, Su Chen expended a lot less Blood Qi when activating the Armor-Piercing Awl. Even though he couldn¡¯t casually throw it out like any other move, he could use it at least ten times consecutively without much issue.

    After the strike blew open the Vicious Beast¡¯s head, Su Chen yelled, ¡°Don¡¯t make any rash decisions. Everyone, get into a tight circle. Anyone with a student number under thirty stays in the middle. Move, NOW!¡±

    ¡°Quick, assume defensive positions! Don¡¯t let those Vicious Beasts get close!¡± He Yuandong yelled.

    Their extensive training period paid off at this moment. The students began to find each other in the fog and link up, relying on their yells and their limited vision to form an outer perimeter. The students with numbers less than thirty were all kept inside of that perimeter. Even as they were being protected, they took what opportunities were avable to unleash attacks of their own.

    It was hard to tell how many Vicious Beasts there were within the fog, but not a single student had tried to retreat or escape yet. Rather, they began to demonstrate their own strengths.

    ¡°Dammit, looks like I¡¯ll have to really put some effort into it,¡± Pi Yuanhong cursed before unleashing a palm strike towards the ground. ¡°Open!¡±

    Countless stone spikes emerged from the ground.

    St! St! St!

    The Vicious Beasts skewered themselves like kebabs on the stone spikes, showering the students with blood.

    At the same time, He Yuandong punched out at the sky.

    His fists boomed through the air, sending scorching mes in all directions like a boundless, majestic sea of mes. Who knew how many Vicious Beasts ran headfirst into this inferno, instantly filling the air with the fragrance of cooked meat.

    Even so, his attacks weren¡¯t the most powerful.

    The most powerful attacks came from Tang Ming.

    This guy, who possessed a Demonic Emperor Bloodline, probably cared the least about fighting in the fog.

    That was because his battle style naturally made use of fog.

    As he wed through the air, the dense fog gathered around his hands, assuming the form of little fog dragons as they whistled through the air. They leapt at the Vicious Beasts, instantly garroting many of them to death.

    Simple, effective, efficient!

    ¡°Tang Ming, do you think you¡¯ll be able to absorb all of the fog here or at least direct it somewhere else?¡± Qi Weiyan asked loudly.

    ¡°I won¡¯t be able to do that!¡± Tang Ming replied. ¡°Even though I can control the fog, it seems endless. Every time I absorb a bit, more justes to take its ce. There¡¯s no point in trying to banish it!¡±

    ¡°Ma Xuan, think of a way to neutralize this Origin Formation. It¡¯s an Illusion Formation, so it should fall under your purview!¡± Su Chen yelled.

    Ma Xuan replied bitterly, ¡°I can¡¯t! This is Heyser Fog. It doesn¡¯t actually affect a person¡¯s consciousness. Calling it an Illusion Formation is stretching it a bit.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care; you need to think of some way to dissolve it!¡± He Yuandong said harshly.

    If the fog continued like this, everyone would be in serious danger.

    It felt pretty good to unleash attacks at their surroundings indiscriminately, but it also expended a huge amount of energy and was definitely unsustainable. Once they ran out of Origin Energy, they could only rely on their physical strength to do battle.

    ¡°I¡¯m doing my best!¡± Ma Xuan and Jiang Hanfeng were hurriedly constructing an Origin Formation, trying to use it to cancel out the Heyser Fog¡¯s disruption. ¡°You guys will need to hold on for some more time.¡±

    ¡°Leave it to me.¡± Su Chen pulled out a few Thunderfire Balls from his Origin Ring.

    Just like the medicine, Su Chen had crafted these Thunderfire Balls with the ingredients he had brought. However, the cost of the raw materials was even lower because some parts of the device could be constructed out of everyday living items. For instance, Su Chen had made the metal casing of the Thunderfire Balls out of a pile of metal pots and pans.

    It really was quite an ingenious way to use them.

    Inparison to the previous Thunderfire Balls, the current edition¡¯s power output had increased somewhat. Su Chen tossed them out, resulting in a number of fiery explosions.

    The scent of charred meat in the air grew even stronger.

    Even so, the Vicious Beasts continued to pounce unrelentingly. They weren¡¯t particrly powerful, and most of them were low-tier Vicious Beasts. However, their temperaments were much wilder than usual, charging out of the fog like assassins. After quickly arriving near everyone, they opened their bloody mouths and bit down on their opponents.

    ¡°Faster! We¡¯re almost unable to hold on!¡±

    Feng Yigu sted away a Vicious Beast pouncing at him, simultaneously kicking away one that had gone for his legs. However, another Vicious Beast bit his arm. Even though Feng Yigu shattered its skull an instantter, blood began to flow from his wounds.

    ¡°Just hold on for a bit longer!¡± Jiang Hanfeng yelled as he hurriedly continued to assemble the formation.

    Whoosh!

    A Vicious Beast suddenly jumped over everyone¡¯s heads, going for Jiang Hanfeng.

    At this moment, Jiang Hanfeng waspletely focused on the Origin Formation in front of him. He didn¡¯t sense it at all until the beast was right on top of him, but it was already toote.

    The beast¡¯s ws were about to sink into Jiang Hanfeng¡¯s eyes. Jiang Hanfeng could only watch,pletely in shock.

    Just at that moment, the Vicious Beast suddenly froze in midair, just like that.

    Then, that Vicious Beast was forcibly moved aside. Su Chen was standing right behind it.

    He carelessly twisted the Vicious Beast¡¯s neck and said, ¡°Focus on your task.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Jiang Hanfeng was startled out of his reverie as he returned to his work.

    Su Chen tossed aside the Vicious Beast, then turned around to nce in the direction of the fog, a cold chill emanating from his gaze. He knew that if he didn¡¯t pull out something here, they might not be able to make it out unscathed.

    He reached out with his right hand. A massive firehawk began to gather in Su Chen¡¯s hands.

    This firehawk was muchrger than any of the firehawks Su Chen had unleashed before. Dense, fiery Origin Energy swirled around his body, the power from the mes driving away the fog from around him. Su Chen¡¯s figure appeared in front of everyone.

    This Ultra Firehawk was so massive and bright that it attracted the attention of every living being present, human or otherwise, as soon as it appeared. The mes surged, seemingly burning to the sky.

    Su Chen pushed the Ultra Firehawk out and said, ¡°Go!¡±

    ¡°Eeeee!¡± The Ultra Firehawk let out a shrill cry as it soared through the air and then pped its wings, taking flight. It left behind a trail of mes in its wake as it mmed into a Vicious Beast. That Vicious Beast was instantly incinerated. The Ultra Firehawk, however, didn¡¯t disintegrate; rather, it continued advancing, mming into another Vicious Beast. After incinerating that one, it then attacked another Vicious Beast. This time, it couldn¡¯t incinerate the Vicious Beast immediately. Instead, it exploded with a dazzling brilliance and unleashed a shocking amount of energy, killing that beast and sending the surrounding beasts flying.

    This one strike wiped out three Vicious Beasts and had wounded many more with the explosion. Everyone was dumbfounded.

    Even the Vicious Beasts were stunned. After being hit by such an overwhelming attack, none of them were willing to pounce for some time.

    ¡°Blood Boiling Realm!¡± He Yuandong muttered to himself.

    He could never have expected that Su Chen¡¯s strength would increase to such a degree after reaching the Blood Boiling Realm. Most importantly, he had already developed a move worthy of a Blood Boiling Realm Origin Qi Schr after such a short period of time.

    Even though he was building off of a preexisting foundation, this was already incredibly impressive. Su Chen truly was a genius in every sense of the word.

    With this Ultra Firehawk, Su Chen really could be considered a bona fide Blood Boiling Realm cultivator now.

    Su Chen......

    He really was too scary!

    This thought surfaced in everyone¡¯s heart.

    At the same time, they thought to themselves, Thank goodness he¡¯s our ally, not our enemy.

    Su Chen himself, however, wasn¡¯t too happy with it. This Ultra Erupting Firehawk was still pretty new, so it still had plenty of ws. It wasn¡¯t nearly polished enough, so it could only be used under certain circumstances. It might be okay to use as an opening gambit, but it wasn¡¯t suitable for continual use yet.

    ¡°Sess!¡±

    Jiang Hanfeng suddenly yelled.

    As he yelled, a brilliant light suddenly began to shine. Under the shining light, the dense fog began to melt like frost before itpletely disappeared.

    Without the protection of the fog, all of the Vicious Beasts automatically retreated.

    The ce, which had just been the location of a fierce battle, instantly became calm again.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 168: Deep in the Mountains 1

    Chapter 168: Deep in the Mountains (1)

    The mes from the battle had yet to dissipate. Dense smoke was dispersed throughout the forest.

    In this quiet, calm-seeming forest, dangers were hidden everywhere.

    No one dared to let down their guard, carefully scanning their surroundings for anything that might jump out.

    He Yuandong and Cloud Leopard nced at each other. Cloud Leopard stepped out of the group and walked some distance forward. After some time, he turned around and shook his head at He Yuandong, indicating that there were no more hidden Vicious Beasts in the area.

    He Yuandong sighed with relief and said, ¡°Let¡¯s keep the formation the same and advance like this. Wei Yang, Jiang Hanfeng, Ma Xuan, and Yan Ling, you guys step out of the formation and deal with the Origin Formations. Leopard, you take point. Qingluo and Hanyan, you focus on protecting them. If any situations arise, use your ice to control it as best you can. Tang Ming, bring those Vicious Beast corpses over.¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡± Everyone began to carry out their assigned tasks.

    As they watched the massive pile of Vicious Beast corpses being collected, Ye Qiming patted Wang Doushan¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Fatty, you¡¯ll now have more than enough to eat.¡±

    Everyone began tough, relieving the tension from the earlier beast ambush.

    Only Su Chen continued to stare at the surroundings, deep in thought.

    At that moment, they discovered another Origin Formation nearby.

    The four of them were about to begin neutralizing the Formation when Su Chen suddenly said, ¡°Wait a moment. You three back up. Wei Yang, you go and deal with this Origin Formation.¡±

    ¡°By myself?¡± Wei Yang was a bit surprised.

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Yes, by yourself. Can you do it on your own?¡±

    ¡°I should be able to; it¡¯ll just be slower than usual,¡± Wei Yang replied as he nced at He Yuandong and Qi Weiyan.

    He Yuandong¡¯s eyebrows were furrowed, but he knew that Su Chen didn¡¯t boss people around for no reason. There would be a reason for everything that he said, so he nodded. ¡°Do it.¡±

    Jiang Hanfeng and the others retreated. Wei Yang stepped forward.

    Just as he entered the area of effect of the Origin Formation, Su Chen suddenly lifted his hand. A Meg¡¯s Guardian appeared on Wei Yang¡¯s body.

    Simultaneously, a strike of lightning exploded right in front of Wei Yang, mming into him. Wei Yang was sent flying in a ball of lightning.

    ¡°Wei Yang!¡± everyone yelled.

    Just as he was about to hit the ground, Ye Qiming waved his arm. Wei Yang¡¯s body stayed suspended in midair. Simultaneously, Qi Weiyan flew forward and grabbed Wei Yang. The lightning energy danced across her skin and was actually absorbed by her. She let out a low cry of pain, and her face grew visibly paler.

    On the other hand, Wei Yang, who had been protected by Meg¡¯s Guardian and then had the lightning energy sucked away by Qi Weiyan, waspletely fine besides the fact that he had been frightened half to death.

    Su Chen tossed a vial of regr Recovery Medicine towards Qi Weiyan.

    Qi Weiyan caught it and drank it, and her face regained most of its color.

    At this moment, everyone understood why Su Chen had told Wei Yang to deal with the Origin Formation on his own. It was because he could only have saved one of them. If all four had gone up in the first ce, three of them might have died already.

    Jiang Hanfeng and the others were scared half to death.

    This was already the second time that the Origin Formation had activated on its own without anyone triggering it. This time, it would have cost Wei Yang and the others their lives, if Su Chen hadn¡¯t said anything.

    He Yuandong nced at Su Chen. ¡°How did you know it was going to activate on its own?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I just felt that if something like the previous attack had happened to us already, it could happen to us a second time.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? Why are these Origin Formations activating without anyone triggering them?¡± Wang Xuan¡¯an, who was easily aggravated, yelled.

    ¡°We don¡¯t really know either.¡± Wei Yang and the others shook their heads. This was their first time running into something like this as well.

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then suddenly said, ¡°I remember you mentioning previously that these Origin Formations are controlled by a central control mechanism located within the researchb, right?¡±

    Yan Ling replied, ¡°We didn¡¯t say that there was a central control mechanism for sure, only that a central control mechanism could be used to distinguish between Vicious Beasts and any other species.¡±

    ¡°What if the setup is even moreplicated than we suspect?¡±

    ¡°You mean......¡±

    ¡°Not only can it distinguish between Vicious Beasts and us, but it can also automatically activate different formations.¡±

    Everyone simultaneously sucked in a breath of cold air.

    Yan Ling nced at the researchb high up on the mountain. ¡°It looks like that¡¯s the only viable exnation. These Origin Formations were set up defensively; if that¡¯s the case, of course they¡¯re set up to prevent outsiders from entering. Since we¡¯ve neutralized their defensive capabilities, naturally, they would attack us automatically. Doesn¡¯t that make a lot of sense?¡±

    Pi Yuanhong gulped. ¡°Who cares if it makes sense or not? I don¡¯t like that reasoning one bit.¡±

    Ma Xuan said, ¡°That¡¯s definitely not something a normal central control mechanism could achieve.¡±

    ¡°Right now, I don¡¯t care about what the central control mechanism is like. I just want to know how we can get there; we¡¯ve still got a long ways to go,¡± Tang Ming said unhappily.

    Jiang Hanfeng gestured helplessly. ¡°I don¡¯t know. If the Origin Formations activate as soon as we get close, there¡¯s nothing we can do about it.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Su Chen suddenly said. ¡°At the very least, you can tell us where the Origin Formations are and their strength tier. Since we can¡¯t peacefully neutralize them, we¡¯ll have to use direct force.¡±

    Origin Formations could either be dealt with by skill or by brute force.

    Since their opponent didn¡¯t seem to intend to give them an opportunity to demonstrate their skill, then they would just mimic the Ferocious Race by relying on brute force to power through.

    A momentter, Feng Yigu, who was brawny and thick-skinned, ran to the front, recing the four-man team. He activated his Arcane Turtle Shield, Steel Battle Body, and covered himself with a magic barrier. Under the four-man team¡¯s direction, he went to an Origin Formation. Without any activity of his own, an explosion sounded out, enveloping Feng Yigu in a ball of fire.

    Feng Yigu resisted the impact and walked out of the mes like a steel god of war. Apart from the fact that his skin was somewhat ckened, he wasn¡¯t injured at all.

    ¡°Hurray!¡± Everyone began to cheer.

    ¡°It seems like this is more effective than using you guys when dealing with Origin Formations,¡± Duan Jiangshanughed as he patted Jiang Hanfeng on the shoulder.

    Perhaps because he was dissatisfied with being looked down on, Jiang Hanfeng replied, ¡°You can¡¯t say it like that. Forcefully charging through Origin Formations is quite effective, but it expends a lot of energy, is dangerous, and there¡¯s no way to regenerate the Origin Formations. If those Ferocious Race youthse chasing after us, we¡¯re basically just opening the way for them.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Those Origin Formations from before are still there; they should be more than enough to deal with them.¡±

    Upon hearing this, Su Chen suddenly squinted and thought for a moment before saying, ¡°Wei Yang,e over here for a second.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Wei Yang came over.

    Su Chen leaned in and whispered a few sentences in his ear.

    Wei Yang¡¯s expression slowly became one of shock. ¡°Is that really necessary?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about whether or not it¡¯s necessary. Just go and do it.¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Wei Yang nodded seriously. He handed his True Sight Mirror to Jiang Hanfeng, then walked towards the back.

    The others were confused by his behavior. All Su Chen said was, ¡°Don¡¯t worry; I¡¯ve given him a special task. He¡¯ll be back soon.¡±

    ¡°What scheme have youe up with now?¡± He Yuandong asked.

    ¡°Nothing much. Just taking some precautionary measures is all,¡± Su Chen replied expressionlessly.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 169: Deep in the Mountains 2

    Chapter 169: Deep in the Mountains (2)

    Forcefully breaking down the Origin Formations greatly increased the students¡¯ efficiency in advancing up the mountain.

    Jiang Hanfeng would discover where the Origin Formations were, and Ling Yan would determine their strength. As long as it was of fifth-tier strength or below, they would rely on Feng Yigu¡¯s powerful defense to forcefully activate the Origin Formations.

    If they ran into stronger Origin Formations, they would activate it at a distance if possible; otherwise, they would take an alternate route. They would rather take a long detour than face them head-on.

    However, a new situation quickly appeared.

    After sting their way through a number of Origin Formations, Feng Yigu arrived at another Origin Formation.

    However, the Origin Formation didn¡¯t activate this time.

    Feng Yigu, who had already made his preparations to deal with the oing st, just stood there and waited; however, nothing happened.

    He looked back a little sheepishly and yelled, ¡°Why isn¡¯t it exploding? What should I do?¡±

    Jiang Hanfeng and the others also looked at each other.

    He Yuandong asked, ¡°You¡¯re sure that there¡¯s an Origin Formation there?¡±

    Jiang Hanfeng nodded. ¡°Yes. It¡¯s of 5th-tier strength and should be a wind-attribute formation. If it activates, it will unleash arge quantity of wind des.¡±

    ¡°But now nothing is happening.¡±

    ¡°So things get more difficult now,¡± Ling Yan gulped and replied.

    Yes, more difficult.

    The main issue was that the Origin Formation wouldn¡¯t activate if Feng Yigu was the one standing next to it. However, if Jiang Hanfeng and the others were to approach it, the Origin Formation would very likely activate.

    Given the strength of Jiang Hanfeng and the others, it was already hard enough for them to survive Origin Formations of 4th-tier strength even with barriers applied.

    Wang Doushan squinted. ¡°Are you sure that a central control mechanism is controlling the Origin Formations and not a sly old ancient Arcana Master?¡±

    ¡°No one can live for tens of thousands of years,¡± Ma Xuan replied.

    ¡°Then this control system has definitely gained some kind of consciousness,¡± Wang Doushan said.

    Yes, if the control mechanism could adapt to these situations, the only possible conclusion was that it had gained some kind of consciousness.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care if it¡¯s gained consciousness or not. The question is, what do we do now?¡± Feng Yigu said unhappily, standing next to the Origin Formation.

    Su Chen suddenly said, ¡°Let me try.¡±

    ¡°You?¡± Feng Yigu said with shock.

    ¡°Yes, let me do it!¡± Su Chen replied decisively. ¡°Feng Yigu, you back off. Jiang Hanfeng, Ling Yan, and Ma Xuan, you guys get close and watch me take apart the Origin Formation. Tell me how to do it, and I¡¯ll neutralize it.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve never approached it before. It might activate,¡± Jiang Hanfeng replied.

    ¡°Then that¡¯s even less of an issue,¡± Su Chen replied.

    As he spoke, he activated his Adamantine Battle Body, then applied a Meg¡¯s Guardian to himself.

    In terms of defensive ability, he wasn¡¯t as good as Feng Yigu, but he was stronger than Jiang Hanfeng and the others. A fifth-tier Origin Formation might injure him, but it wouldn¡¯t kill him.

    Su Chen advanced towards the Origin Formation and said, ¡°Okay, tell me what I should do.¡±

    Jiang Hanfeng and the others nced at each other before saying, ¡°Release your Origin Energy slowly and sense the movements to find the trigger point...... yes, that gap is the trigger point, which tells you that the wind des will fly out from that direction. If you move it over there, those wind des won¡¯t fly into your face at the very least. Then, search for the Origin Energy loop...... yes, start cutting in from there...... no......¡±

    Bang!

    A rock suddenly exploded right in front of Su Chen, a razor-sharp wind de shooting forth from the gap. It sliced past Su Chen, leaving behind a deep incision in the ground as it cut through seven or eight trees in a row before disappearing.

    Thankfully, everyone was prepared for this, and they dodged very quickly. Only Su Chen was sent flying by the wind de. Meg¡¯s Guardian shattered, and some of the force from the blow was transferred onto Su Chen himself.

    ¡°Senior Brother Su!¡± everyone yelled.

    Su Chen spat out a mouthful of blood before lifting his hand, gesturing at them to stay where they were. ¡°Don¡¯te here. I¡¯ll be okay. Just then, I didn¡¯t control my energy well enough. Let¡¯s continue. Where¡¯s the next Origin Formation?¡±

    Jiang Hanfeng stared nkly for a moment before pointing in front of him. ¡°That pale-green tree over there is a wood-attribute Origin Formation. You should make poison-resistance preparations.¡±

    Su Chen walked over to the Formation and began to neutralize it under the direction of Jiang Hanfeng and the others.

    This time, he didn¡¯t make a mistake.

    Very quickly, the Origin Formation was sessfully neutralized.

    Su Chen advanced, neutralizing the next Origin Formation.

    Su Chen discovered that neutralizing Origin Formations was actually quite simr to picking up girls.

    First, you would have to find a way to develop a rapport with the target and begin to understand it. Then, you would need to cautiously move around until you find the target¡¯s ¡°sweet spot.¡± Once you found the sweet spot, as long as you weren¡¯t too rough and made a mess of things, there was always a chance. Then, you would search for the right time to strike and permanently get rid of any of the defenses.

    The thought process was simr; the only difference was the target.

    Fire-type, Thunder-type, Wind-type, Wood-type, Earth-type, and other Origin Formations were just like girls with different personalities. You had to take the time to get to know them first before you were able to take the appropriate steps.

    Thus, very quickly, Su Chen was able to taste sess.

    His speed at neutralizing the formations also continued to increase. Sometimes, he didn¡¯t even need Jiang Hanfeng and the others to direct him; just a few simple pointers were enough for him to figure out what to do.

    Jiang Hanfeng and the others were extremely satisfied with his performance. ¡°Third Senior Brother really is a genius. If you are willing to spend some time studying the path of Origin Formations, you will definitely be a talented Origin Formation Master.¡±

    ¡°Neutralizing them is always easier than making them. I am already very happy if I am able to neutralize them effectively,¡± Su Chenughed.

    As he spoke, he had sessfully neutralized another Origin Formation.

    A day flew by very quickly. Upon seeing that it was nearing sundown, everyone found a ce to set up camp, rest, and cook food.

    As nightfall came, everyone went to rest. Although there were people standing guard, however, the rest of the students couldn¡¯t fall asleep.

    The night passed uneventfully.

    The following morning, everyone continued to advance deeper into the mountain. The research station seemed simultaneously close enough to touch and as far away as the horizon.

    This void was truly quite mysterious. For it to have remained intact for nearly 36000 years, everyone was extremely excited by what might be in the researchb.

    They proceeded in this manner for three days. With Ji Ruoyu¡¯s help, they finally arrived close to the researchb.

    During that time, they had been ambushed by Vicious Beasts a number of times. However, their teamwork was quite good, and they had made it to this point without a single casualty.

    As they nced up the mountain, they found that the peak was just above them.

    The massive researchb was clearly in view.

    Even though they called it a researchb, it was more like a massive castle constructed at the top of a mountain. Dense Origin Energy enveloped the ancient castle, and it gave off an extremely imposing, awe-inspiring aura.

    Upon reaching this point, the mountain¡¯s restrictions could no longer stop their advance. Everyone anticipated their imminent victory.

    ¡°We¡¯re finally there,¡± Wang Doushan sighed in relief. ¡°I want to see what good things are within the researchb.¡±

    ¡°Everyone, be careful,¡± Ji Ruoyu said. ¡°I can feel that the researchb is surrounded by a powerful voidpression force. We might not be able to get in just like that.¡±

    ¡°What will happen if we do go right in?¡± He Yuandong asked.

    ¡°It¡¯ll activate!¡± Ji Ruoyu replied.

    Activate?

    The students nced at each other.

    ¡°What will it activate?¡±

    ¡°If we pretend that this mountain is like a piece of paper, right now, it¡¯s crumpled up into a ball. However, if you break the voidpression force¡¯s bnce, the metaphorical piece of paper will tten out. What happens then?¡± Ji Ruoyu replied.

    Qi Weiyan replied, ¡°It will be muchrger.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Ji Ruoyu nodded.

    ¡°So what?¡± The others couldn¡¯t understand. If it grewrger, then it grewrger. Why did Ji Ruoyu seem so serious about it?

    Su Chen said, ¡°This disturbance wouldn¡¯t be small, would it?¡±

    Ji Ruoyuughed, ¡°If a mountain suddenly copses, could the disturbance possibly be small?¡±

    ¡°Of course not,¡± Su Chen sighed. ¡°Most importantly, the ruins might not be able to withstand a disturbance of this magnitude.¡±

    Everyone was stunned by this. They finally understood what Ji Ruoyu was saying.

    The space within the ruins was constantly destabilizing. If therge mountain were to suddenly copse, the void space would be affected, greatly decreasing the amount of time they had left in the ruins.

    ¡°It looks like we can¡¯t attack it head-on,¡± He Yuandong said. ¡°Ruoyu, you go with Wei Yang, Hanfeng, and the others. Try to think of a way to break through this voidpressionyer.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Ji Ruoyu nodded.

    ¡°Wait a second. You few will be enough. Wei Yang has something else he needs to take care of,¡± Su Chen suddenly said.

    He nodded at Wei Yang, who understood and turned around to leave.

    Everyone was caught off-guard. They didn¡¯t know what Su Chen was trying to do by giving Wei Yang directions at this point.

    He Yuandong nced at Su Chen. ¡°You do know that we should be focusing our attention on breaking through this voidpressionyer right now, right?¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°I know, but I won¡¯t need him for too long. I¡¯m just taking some preventative measures is all.¡±

    He Yuandong stared at him but said nothing in the end.

    He had trusted Su Chen in the past, and he chose to continue trusting Su Chen at this moment.

    Half a dayter, Wei Yang returned, nodded at Su Chen, and then joined their efforts in bypassing the voidpression formation.

    The voidpression formation wasplex and not easy to neutralize. If it weren¡¯t for Ji Ruoyu¡¯s assistance, the four of them would have had some serious trouble neutralizing it. Even so, they had to be careful at every step.

    ¡°At most, we only need another half a day until we can break this open!¡± Jiang Hanfeng, whose personality was very lighthearted, couldn¡¯t help but proim in excitement over their imminent sess.

    At that moment.

    Boom!

    A massive explosion sounded out.

    Below them, a swathe of mes had engulfed a section of the forest, sending a wild burst of energy surging everywhere.

    An unknown number of trees caught fire under the onught of these mes.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Everyone waspletely stunned.

    ¡°Nothing too serious. The Inferno Origin Formation I set up earlier has been triggered,¡± Wei Yang replied as he turned around to nce behind him.

    Inferno Origin Formation?

    Was that what Wei Yang had been up to?

    ¡°Su Chen told you to set it up?¡± He Yuandong asked.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Wei Yang nodded. ¡°Three days earlier, Su Chen told me to gather all the ingredients and prepare to set up this formation. I thought that Senior Brother Su was overthinking things, but it seems like he was absolutely correct.¡±

    ¡°Who activated it?¡± someone asked in a daze.

    ¡°Do you even need to ask?¡± Wang Doushan coldlyughed. ¡°Of course it¡¯s the Ferocious Race.¡±

    As if in response to what he had said, a multitude of Ferocious Race youths appeared in the forests below them.

    The Ferocious Race youths, who should have been bumbling around in the voidbyrinth way below them, had suddenly appeared here. They stared upwards with ferocious expressions, the inscriptions on their bodies glowing as they passed through the mes. They let out enraged howls, their desire to kill soaring.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 170: Team Battle 1

    Chapter 170: Team Battle (1)

    ¡°Prepare for battle!¡±

    Following He Yuandong¡¯smand, all of the students hastily assumed a battle formation.

    The originally casual, rxed atmosphere was instantly reced with tension and anxiety.

    ¡°AHHH!¡±

    The Ferocious Race youths howled with rage.

    They didn¡¯t waste time talking or negotiating. As soon as both sides saw each other, the battle began.

    The Ferocious Race youths charged towards their opponents in a frenzy, the inscriptions on their bodies beginning to shine brilliantly as they advanced.

    Boom!

    Once the first few Ferocious Race youths arrived, a wave of energy surged forth with a loud bang.

    Wave after wave of Origin Energy was released, generating a massive amount of pressure as they pressed onwards relentlessly.

    The barbaric warcries caused the ground beneath their feet to tremble. Immediately afterwards, one Ferocious Race youth covered in inscriptions after another charged out of the forest and began to attack the humans with reckless abandon.

    There were no formations or tactics involved. The Ferocious Race¡¯s attacks were just that: wild, direct, powerful, and barbaric.

    Their strength was so shocking that they began to kick up a storm behind them as they sprinted forwards, surging forwards like a wave of death. Even though there were only ten or so of them, the pressure they gave off was like that of an entire battalion of soldiers.

    ¡°Stay calm! Stay calm! Front row, block! Back row, attack!¡± He Yuandong yelled until his voice went hoarse.

    He Yuandong, Feng Yigu, Pi Yuanhong, Ye Qiming, Duan Jiangshan, Wang Xuan¡¯an, Tang Mind, Cloud Leopard, and the Shen twins formed the iron-like frontline. They focused all of their attention on defending, forcefully resisting the Ferocious Race youths¡¯ charge.

    Wang Doushan should have been on the frontlines originally, but after losing so much fat, his defensive capabilities had greatly decreased. He wasn¡¯t as suited for being on the front lines anymore. Even though Su Chen was powerful, he wasn¡¯t much of a close-quartersbat specialist, so he and Cloud Leopard had switched ces.

    At the same time, Su Chen, Gu Qingluo, Ji Hanyan, He Niliu, and the other students also began attacking, unleashing all of their power towards the Ferocious Race youths.

    Su Chen¡¯s cast of Erupting Firehawks, Gu Qingluo¡¯s Waterstar Chill, and Ji Hanyan¡¯s Frostbird White Ice Fists were all put on disy at this moment. The attacks flew forward wildly. Light constantly shed from the countless Origin Skills being used, filling the air with the sound of destruction and death.

    Blood began to flow.

    Sprays of blood began to fly everywhere amidst the chaos.

    Some of it was from the Ferocious Race youths, while some of it was from the humans.

    There was no gradual, step-by-step buildup. The battle was at its climax from the very beginning. Each person unleashed their full-force attacks immediately, attempting to defeat their opponent as quickly as possible.

    The angry howls from the Ferocious Race youths filled the air, apanied by their overbearing, fierce attacks.

    At this moment, Su Chen¡¯s attacks were the sharpest. When faced with the Ferocious Race youths, Su Chen didn¡¯t hold back at all. He brought his strongest attack to bear again; the Ultra Erupting Firehawk appeared, emanating an intense amount of energy. It mmed into a Ferocious Race youth. Though it wasn¡¯t able to wipe out three enemies at once this time, it still burned that Ferocious Race youth to ashes immediately. The condensed energy exploded in all directions upon impact, stunning everyone present. They couldn¡¯t help but gaze at Su Chen in awe.

    Even though the humans¡¯ attacks were powerful, the Ferocious Race youths¡¯ physical advantage began to manifest itself.

    An exceptionally tall, brutal Ferocious Race youth howled maniacally as he charged forwards, the inscriptions on his body shining brightly, giving him an incredibly strong aura. Countless Origin Skills mmed into his body, but they only resulted in a ssh of light. His momentum was like that of an unstoppable mountain. He ignored all of the attacks that came his way until Su Chen sent an Ultra Erupting Firehawk at him.

    The Erupting Firehawk soared through the air like a dazzling rainbow, mming into the mountain-like youth.

    Boom!

    Amidst the massive explosion, the mountain-like youth¡¯s figure swayed slightly. He lowered his head to look at his chest and found arge hole there. However, an instantter, the hole began to close up as his wounds began to heal. He howled in Su Chen¡¯s direction, then charged forwards once again.

    ¡°Careful, it¡¯s a Temple Warrior who specializes in defense!¡± He Yuandong yelled.

    The mountain-like youth stampeded forward like a bull. Just as he was about to m into Su Chen, Feng Yigu intercepted him.

    The mountain-like youth¡¯s fist mmed into Feng Yigu¡¯s Arcane Turtle Shield. Even with Feng Yigu¡¯s defensive capabilities, he wasn¡¯t able to block it entirely. He was forced back a few steps, and his Arcane Turtle Shield shattered.

    ¡°Dammit, not only is his defense impressive, but his offensive abilities aren¡¯t weak either!¡± Feng Yigu yelled as he formed another Arcane Turtle Shield.

    The Shen twins nked him and advanced, four fists raining down on the mountain-like youth. The mountain-like youth swayed slightly before tilting his head back and howling at the sky. The inscriptions on his body burned ever more brightly, and the energy emanating from his body became even more wild and untamed. Boom! The Shen twins were sent flying.

    A hole had suddenly appeared in the battle formation.

    Just as this wild Ferocious Race youth was about to continue advancing, Su Chen¡¯s figure suddenly appeared.

    He raised his hand and swung his arm through the air.

    The Temple Warriorughed disdainfully, sending out a punch of his own in response. The heavy punch descended, colliding with Su Chen¡¯s punch.

    ¡°AHH!¡± that Ferocious Race youth cried out in pain.

    That iron-like fist, which was even able to forcefully shatter Feng Yigu¡¯s Arcane Turtle Shield, caved in like a piece of metal under a hammer¡¯s blow when it collided with Su Chen¡¯s Armor-Piercing Awl. A gaping hole was left behind.

    Su Chen¡¯s fist continued to bore forwards, traveling halfway up the Ferocious Race youth¡¯s arm. Chunks of bloody flesh and bone flew everywhere.

    However, Su Chen also took a few steps back and grunted in pain. His right arm had slightly changed shape.

    As his blow was boring through the opponent¡¯s iron-like arm, it was impossible topletely avoid injuring himself.

    Just as he was about to try and take advantage of the opportunity to attack, a lightning-fast ck streak shot towards his own throat.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t have time to dodge.

    Just at that moment, Pi Yuanhong charged over and managed to intercept the blow.

    A short spear plunged into Pi Yuanhong¡¯s body, almost skewering him.

    ¡°Old Pi!¡± He Yuandong yelled as he charged over, sending a Raging Inferno Fist right at the back of that Ferocious Race youth¡¯s head.

    That Ferocious Race youth was much smaller in stature than most of his peers, but he was as nimble as a ghost, advancing and retreating with incredible speed. He had already retreated to a safe distance by the time He Yuandong¡¯s Raging Inferno Fistnded, and he had also managed to take that mountain-like youth with him back to safety.

    This guy was evidently also a Temple Warrior, but one who specialized in speed.

    Simultaneously, the third Temple Warrior had also appeared. He was currently locked in battle with Tang Ming, who had activated his Demonic Emperor Bloodline to its greatest extent. His true skilly not in controlling fog but water. At this moment, numerous water dragons were circling his body as they howled. He was holding off the Temple Warrior all on his own, but it seemed like he was about to lose control of the fight.

    ¡°Old Pi, hold on!¡± Su Chen dragged Pi Yuanhong to the back lines, pulling out a vial of high-tier Recover Medicine and feeding it to him.

    At that moment, Feng Yigu yelled, ¡°What are you waiting for? Drink that medicine and finish them off!¡±

    After obtaining a vast amount of raw ingredients, Su Chen had concocted six sets of medicine. The raw ingredients he had taken in with him were enough to concoct another full set. Ignoring the Strengthening Medicine that Wang Doushan had ingested, he had a total of seven sets. Using a single set would multiply a person¡¯s strength by nearly three times.

    Su Chen kept one set for his own use and gave the other six sets to He Yuandong, Cloud Leopard, the Shen twins, Feng Yigu, and Pi Yuanhong. These six were used to close-quartersbat. Upon hearing those yells, Pi Yuanhong and the other five simultaneously retreated, pulled out the vials of medicine, and drank them.

    As the medicinal power entered their bodies, they began to glow with a blood-red luster. The explosive increase in power caused their eyes to turn red.

    ¡°Die!¡±

    Feng Yigu let out a loud howl as he charged forward.

    The Arcane Turtle Shield covered his body as he charged at the mountain-like youth.

    Even though the mountain-like youth had been badly injured by Su Chen, he was still incredibly fierce.

    He swung his arm through the air. Violent waves of energy pulsated from his body, and his killing aura grew so thick that it was almost physically tangible.

    Boom!

    With a massive explosion, the mountain-like youth and Feng Yigu shed again.

    An instantter, Feng Yigu charged forward again, smiting with his shield and causing blood to ssh into the air.

    The mountain-like youth had lost an arm already. There was no way he could block Feng Yigu¡¯s powerful attack.

    However, his opponent was quite decisive. Upon seeing that he couldn¡¯t defend himself, he gave up on defending entirely.

    He tilted his body, allowing Feng Yigu¡¯s shield m tond on his shattered arm. He reached out with this right hand and grabbed a hold of Feng Yigu¡¯s neck, then pressed down on him like a mountain.

    Feng Yigu unleashed an all-out assault. His heavy blows mmed into the mountain-like youth¡¯s body, shaking him to his bones and causing him to repeatedly cough up blood. However, he maintained his vice-like grip on Feng Yigu¡¯s neck unrelentingly.

    Feng Yigu panicked. He continued to unleash a fierce onught. Suddenly, he relinquished the shield with his left hand and extended two fingers to jab at the mountain-like youth¡¯s eyes. With one strike, he had permanently blinded his opponent.

    The mountain-like youth howled in pain but just wouldn¡¯t let go.

    With blood flowing from his eyes, he tilted his head back and let out a thunderous howl.

    ¡°HA!¡±

    With unprecedented power, he twisted his arm. Feng Yigu¡¯s neck snapped.

    At the same time, the attack Feng Yigu had unleashed right before death pierced through the mountain-like youth¡¯s throat. The two of them remained locked in this deadly embrace as they toppled to the ground.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 171: Team Battle 2

    Chapter 171: Team Battle (2)

    Whoosh!

    Cloud Leopard shot forward with astounding speed, closing in on the spear-wielding Temple Warrior. The Temple Warrior stabbed the spear in his direction.

    Cloud Leopard¡¯s figure suddenly changed directions, leaving behind a blurry afterimage as he continued to advance. After closing in on the Temple Warrior, Cloud Leopard unleashed 128 palm strikes, utilizing the frenzy medicine to its greatest advantage. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that he had also ingested a strengthened Recovery Medicine, this onught of attacks might have shattered his own elbow.

    The Ferocious Race youth knew that he was in trouble. He had no time to defend with his spear, so he could only dodge, simultaneously retaliating with a number of palm strikes of his own.

    The palms collided in midair, causing miniature explosions of energy upon impact that were like constant ripples in a body of water.

    The Ferocious Race youth was extremely fast, but Cloud Leopard was actually faster than him. Cloud Leopard stuck closely to the Ferocious Race youth, constantly striking out.

    With a series of continuous bangs, that Ferocious Race youth had been struck an unknown number of times while in the process of retreating.

    This furious assault eventually sent him flying over to the other Ferocious Race youths as he let out a tragic cry.

    Even the glowing inscriptions on his body couldn¡¯t withstand the monsoon-like attacks raining down on him. Blood spurted from his mouth.

    That Ferocious Race youth couldn¡¯t believe that he was inferior to his opponent in terms of both speed and strength. He flew upwards in disbelief, then pushed both his arms forwards. Thousands of illusive palms raced towards Cloud Leopard.

    An instantter, both of them flew backwards, each with their own injuries.

    Cloud Leopard leapt to his feet immediately after hitting the ground, the Steel Medicine and high-tier Recover Medicine greatly increasing his defensive and regenerative capabilities. He was able topletely ignore the wounds he had received as he resumed his onught against the Temple Warrior.

    The Temple Warrior finally realized that something was wrong. After spitting out arge mouthful of blood, he booked it.

    Cloud Leopard chased after him with all his might. At this point, the formation had slowly devolved into chaos, and both sides had begun to establish their own positions. Cloud Leopardpletely gave up on defending. He focused all of his efforts on killing his opponent.

    He Yuandong found himself fighting the Temple Warrior that Tang Ming had been battling earlier.

    Tang Ming had been under intense pressure while fighting against a Temple Warrior one-on-one. He Yuandong¡¯s timely interference gave him a chance to take a breather.

    Boom, boom, boom!

    He Yuandong immediately unleashed his Raging Inferno Fists. Every blow unleashed a torrent of mes, and the power of his attacks was really quite impressive.

    A malevolent expression appeared on the Temple Warrior¡¯s face. He tilted his head back and howled thunderously, then punched the air, causing the air around him to be extremely turbulent.

    With an overbearing, arrogant aura, the Temple Warrior unleashed waves of energy that kicked up the surrounding dust.

    Suddenly, a bright halo appeared on his left hand, which then went right for He Yuandong¡¯s neck.

    The brilliant light was dazzling and eye-catching.

    He Yuandong extended both his arms, activating the Raging Inferno Beast bloodline to its greatest extent, his body glowing like a giant red sun.

    This glowing halo wasn¡¯t able to break through for a moment.

    It wasn¡¯t until this point that He Yuandong discovered that his opponent was actually holding a paper-thin de made out of light.

    He Yuandong hadn¡¯t expected the wild, barbaric Ferocious Race to use things like concealed weapons.

    The de only paused for a brief moment. Then, it cleaved the mes aside, stabbing towards He Yuandong.

    Blood spurted into the air, casting a blood-red glow on the shining light.

    The Temple Warrior stared at He Yuandong coldly, his killing intent rising. The glowing de swung through the air again, this time heading straight for He Yuandong¡¯s heart.

    Amidst the inferno, the streak of cold light snaked its way towards He Yuandong, who had no way of dodging.

    He mmed his palms together with all the force he could muster.

    Bang!

    He Yuandong sped the de between his two hands. The tip of the de was only a centimeter from He Yuandong¡¯s chest.

    The next moment, the inscriptions on the Temple Warrior¡¯s body lit up. A turbulent wave of energy suddenly surged as the Ferocious Race youth¡¯s arms suddenly grew much thicker.

    He Yuandong waspletely unprepared for his opponent¡¯s sudden increase in strength.

    The de pierced He Yuandong¡¯s body.

    ¡°AH!¡± He Yuandong let out a thunderous roar. He channeled all of his energy into his arms.

    Regardless, the de continued to advance bit by bit, slowly burrowing its way towards his heart.

    ¡°You¡¯re dead for sure!¡± the Temple Warrior howled with excitement.

    Just as the de was about to pierce He Yuandong¡¯s heart, a snow-white dragon mmed into the Temple Warrior¡¯s face, sending him to the ground. This snow-dragon attack was so vicious that his entire face had been mangled.

    He Yuandong pushed his hands out. The de of light flew through the air as blood spurted from He Yuandong¡¯s chest. He Yuandong grabbed the de out of midair without even looking and chopped downwards.

    The Temple Warrior swayed for a moment before his body separated into two halves.

    He Yuandong turned around and saw Tang Ming looking at him.

    Tang Ming said arrogantly, ¡°No need to thank me.¡±

    ¡°You little turd.¡± He Yuandong shook his head helplessly.

    His legs suddenly buckled as he sat down. Devoid of energy, he kept pressure on the wound on his chest.

    The Shen twins were in apletely different situation than He Yuandong, Feng Yigu, and Cloud Leopard, who were all battling Temple Warriors, the strongest Ferocious Race youths present.

    Even though the two of them were extremely powerful in their own right, they searched for weaker targets, especially bullying those who were isted. This really was quite an underhanded tactic.

    A Ferocious Race youth had just charged over when his vision suddenly blurred. Two figures shed past him in the blink of an eye.

    Before he could even react to what had happened, he had already beenunched into the air.

    Two palms pressed against his chest. Their originally multiplied strength increased another twofold to total a fourfold increase in strength, and he was struck by two of these blows. The Ferocious Race youth felt the bones in his body instantly shatter.

    The Ferocious Race youth howled and swung his battle axe through the air, the only attack he would make. The twins allowed the attack to scrape by them before they ced their palms on the Ferocious Race youth¡¯s forehead.

    Boom.

    The Ferocious Race youth¡¯s head cracked open, the contents spilling out onto the ground.

    They had taken his life with just two blows!

    The twins immediately began searching for another target.

    This type of battle technique was shameless, but it was without question an effective one. In just a short period of time, four Ferocious Race youths had already died at the hands of the twins. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that two of the Ferocious Race youths who weren¡¯t that weak suddenly went all-out to keep them tied down, they would have continued their killing spree. However, even so, those two Ferocious Race youths would be doomed sooner orter.

    Once the five sets of medicines were used, the humans suddenly gained a huge advantage.

    The three Temple Warriors were being suppressed, and the Shen twins were wreaking havoc. The humans had finally established a solid advantage. All that remained was to turn that advantage into an absolute victory.

    Even so, no trace of delight could be seen in Su Chen¡¯s eyes.

    He was still anxiously scanning the surroundings as if he were looking for something or someone.

    Danba!

    Of the Ferocious Race youths who had charged forward, Danba wasn¡¯t among them.

    The Temple Warrior who had sessfully tricked Su Chen once had yet to reveal himself.

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but feel his heart palpitate.

    He didn¡¯t know what Danba was waiting for, but as long as he didn¡¯t appear, Su Chen didn¡¯t dare believe that he had grasped victory.

    His gaze swept across his surroundings, hoping to find any trace of Danba.

    Suddenly, Su Chen felt something trigger in his gut.

    He turned around to find a person already standing in front of the researchb, who was coldly staring at Su Chen.

    His gaze was filled with coldness, stillness, and a thick, palpable hatred.

    Su Chen suddenly realized something. He yelled, ¡°NO!¡±

    Danba had already turned around andunched a fist at the researchb!

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 172: In Full Swing

    Chapter 172: In Full Swing

    Boom!

    The blustering explosion of energy released a colorful disy of light.

    The entire sky was instantly filled with multicolored light, glimmering like a massive rainbow.

    Then, Su Chen suddenly discovered that the sky was spinning, as was the earth.

    The whole world seemed to be in flux.

    It was as if something was stretching, expanding, and dting.

    This was the mountain ttening and the void stretching. The scene felt surreal, and it was as if they were riding on the shoulders of a massive person who had been asleep for a long time.

    Ye Qiming unleashed a punch towards a Ferocious Race youth¡¯s face. The blow was about tond when he suddenly discovered that his reach was much too short. Even though they seemed close together, it was as if they were separated by a massive ocean......

    Cloud Leopard closed in on the spear-wielding Temple Warrior. He was faster than his opponent, but he found that the more he ran, the greater the distance became between them. Even though his opponent was slower, the gap between them only continued to widen......

    Tang Ming gestured. A water dragon coiled around his body, then howled as it charged forwards. However, it didn¡¯t return to Tang Ming¡¯s side; rather, it continued its charge, quickly pulling apart from him. Tang Ming had lost control over it......

    The other people also felt the effects of the world being thrown topsy-turvy.

    The mountain was agitated, and the void was trembling. The whole world around them rocked as if it were being shaken by violent waves of energy.

    At this moment, the void had suddenly gained physical substance. It was being squeezed and was beginning to copse and destabilize.

    Shockingly, the castle at the very top also began to erge.

    Upon seeing it massively expand like a beast swallowing them up, everyone was stunned.

    It expanded so fast that it quickly took over most of the remaining space in the void, including the battle happening below it.

    The people who were still fighting saw the researchb¡¯s door suddenly open. The pitch-ck entrance opened like a giant maw and swallowed them up.

    ¡°AHHH!¡± Everyone let out frightened, panicked yells.

    However, they werepletely powerless against the void¡¯s massive expanding power. They slowly gravitated towards the seemingly bottomless hole.

    ¡°Qingluo!¡± Su Chen yelled.

    Gu Qingluo spun through the air towards the ck hole. She nced at Su Chen as if she wanted to say something, but she wasn¡¯t able to get the words out in time before she disappeared into the entrance.

    Su Chen wanted to chase, but he was still holding Pi Yuanhong. He could only watch as Gu Qingluo disappeared, allowing himself to be slowly drawn in as well.

    Suddenly, he heard Ji Ruoyu cry out from beside him, ¡°Senior Brother Su, save me!¡±

    Su Chen waved his hand. An air tentacle wrapped around Ji Ruoyu and pulled him next to Su Chen. The three of them fell into the dark hole simultaneously.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Bang! Su Chen, Pi Yuanhong, and Ji Ruoyu mmed into a nearby wall.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Ji Ruoyu cradled his head as he cried out in pain.

    He found that he had collided with a wall made of metal.

    At this moment, he was in a long corridor.

    Su Chen ced Pi Yuanhong on the ground and began to take in his surroundings. He stared at the ceiling above him and said, ¡°It seems that we are inside the researchb now. But Ruoyu, can you tell me why we ended up here if we fell through the front door?¡±

    Ji Ruoyu replied, ¡°It should be due to multidimensional interference.¡±

    ¡°Multidimensional interference?¡± Su Chen understood somewhat.

    The concept of ¡°multidimensional interference¡± was a void-dimension-rted term. During the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s reign, some Arcana Masters had proposed the concept of ¡°dimensions¡±, splitting the perceivable world into three dimensions. Su Chen had heard of this theory before; two-dimensional objects were nar, while three-dimensional objects upied physical space. Looking from three-dimensional space into two-dimensional space was like a person looking at a piece of paper. Everything on the piece of paper could be clearly seen. An ant, for instance, would need to crawl across the whole sheet of paper to get from one end to another, but to a human, all it took was a simple nce.

    This was what Ji Ruoyu meant when he said ¡°multidimensional interference¡±.

    If it was because of multidimensional interference, Su Chen could understand why they had appeared in this particr corner of the researchb.

    From a higher-dimensional viewpoint, the whole researchb was spread out and could be directly entered.

    This was also the theory behind jumping in and out of ancient Arcana void spaces. Every void jump was actually due to temporarily bringing one¡¯s body into a higher dimension and then going from that higher dimension back into a lower one.

    However, this was different from Whitetower Teleportation, which relied on an alternative shortcut that isn¡¯t worth mentioning here.

    ¡°Now what do we do?¡± Ji Ruoyu nced at Su Chen.

    ¡°What else can we do?¡± Su Chen nced at his surroundings again. ¡°Since we¡¯re already here, we¡¯ll deal with things as theye up. Kill whoever needs to be killed, save whoever needs to be saved, and take whatever needs to be taken!¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Ji Ruoyu nodded seriously. ¡°But we should move fast. I can sense that the void¡¯s copse is only elerating. We might not have much more time left.¡±

    ¡°How long do we have left?¡±

    ¡°We originally had thirty days left, but if the copse continues to elerate, these thirty days could go by in three hours.¡±

    ¡°Dammit! What are we waiting for?¡± Su Chen grabbed Pi Yuanhong and began to walk in a certain direction.

    As they walked down the hallway, they passed by room after room.

    The rooms weren¡¯t toorge. Each room had a bed; based on the size of the beds, it seemed like they weren¡¯t used by Arcana Race individuals but by humans.

    Because humans were rtively intelligent, the Arcana Race preferred to use them as ves.

    They were probably in the ves¡¯ quarters right now.

    It wasn¡¯t possible for any valuable items to be here, so Su Chen just took a cursory nce before leaving.

    Time was short. He couldn¡¯t afford to slowly search every corner.

    They walked through the long hallway and down a few more winding corridors when Su Chen¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up.

    They hade in front of a bright, spacious room. Through the window made of crystal in front of them, they could see all kinds of strange vials and jars containing unknown substances.

    ¡°It¡¯s a researchb!¡± Su Chen said excitedly.

    He charged in, holding Pi Yuanhong in his arms.

    He was just about to enter when a Ferocious Race youth suddenly charged out of the researchb.

    The Ferocious Race youth¡¯s body was covered in blood. Evidently, he was pretty seriously wounded. However, he showed no fear upon running into Su Chen and the others as he pounced forwards.

    Upon seeing that Ferocious Race youth charge at him, Su Chen threw Pi Yuanhong over to Ji Ruoyu, then charged forward to meet him.

    The Ferocious Race youth howled as he charged forwards. Su Chen grabbed the Ferocious Race youth¡¯s arm. The two brieflypeted in strength, but Su Chen won. He pulled the Ferocious Race youth¡¯s arm back, breaking it with a loud SNAP. Then, Su Chenunched a kick right at the Ferocious Race youth¡¯s knee.

    The Ferocious Race youth couldn¡¯t even activate the inscriptions on his body after having fought for so long. Su Chen¡¯s kick shattered his kneecap, causing him to instantly buckle to the ground.

    Su Chen took advantage of the opportunity to cradle the Ferocious Race youth¡¯s head in his arms before making a violent twisting motion.

    With a crack, the Ferocious Race youth sagged to the ground.

    ¡°Beautifully done!¡± Ji Ruoyu yelled.

    ¡°The opponent was already badly wounded. That wasn¡¯t much of a victory,¡± Su Chen casually replied as he nced back at Ji Ruoyu.

    Suddenly, his speed shot up as he kicked Ji Ruoyu, sending him flying.

    Boom!

    A ferocious flying axe narrowly whizzed by Ji Ruoyu¡¯s body, mming into the ground.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 173: Plunder 1

    Chapter 173: Plunder (1)

    Ji Ruoyu hugged Pi Yuanhong tightly as he rolled on the ground.

    He rolled seven or eight times before looking up and realizing that he had been ambushed by a steel puppet.

    The puppet¡¯s opening strike hadn¡¯tnded, but its fist came crashing down towards Su Chen. Su Chen quickly dodged to the side. The iron fist mmed into the metal wall with a resounding ng.

    Su Chen gestured, and a strengthened Erupting Firehawk mmed into the metal puppet, the force from the blow sending the puppet flying.

    A cast of Erupting Firehawks flew forth in rapid session, mming into the metal puppet¡¯s body and exploding in a brilliant disy of fireworks.

    The iron puppet wasn¡¯t weak; it was roughly equivalent in strength to an average Blood Boiling Realm cultivator. However, Su Chen had seized the advantage with a single strike. It had no chance of counterattacking under the furious onught. It could only allow itself to be bombarded into oblivion as mes covered its body. After Su Chen¡¯s slew of attacks, it finally toppled to the ground.

    From start to finish, it hadn¡¯t touched Su Chen even once.

    Ji Ruoyu was stunned. He gave Su Chen a big thumbs up. ¡°Senior Brother Su, you¡¯re awesome!¡±

    The iron puppet may be equivalent to a highyer Blood Boiling Realm cultivator in terms of physical strength, but its adaptability was terriblepared to a normal human¡¯s. Thus, Su Chen was able to easily st it into oblivion.

    ¡°Even after thirty thousand years, this thing can still move. That¡¯s really quite strange,¡± Su Chen said as he walked over, inspecting the puppet¡¯s internal mechanisms.

    ¡°Do you see anything of note?¡± Ji Ruoyu asked, walking up to Su Chen¡¯s side.

    Su Chen reached his hand inside of the puppet and pulled out a crystal unit, inspecting it as he said, ¡°It only has the old style of Origin nucleus installed. There¡¯s nothing special about it. It wouldn¡¯t evenst three years, let alone thirty thousand.¡±

    ¡°Why can it still move?¡± Ji Ruoyu was perplexed.

    Su Chen carelessly tossed the nucleus to the side.

    It didn¡¯t even have any value as a raw resource.

    ¡°Because it¡¯s new,¡± Su Chen said as he stood up.

    ¡°New?¡±

    ¡°Yes, new,¡± Su Chen said as he entered the room.

    Under normal circumstances, even precious treasures would decay after thirty thousand years. Perhaps only divine-tier objects would be able to resist the passage of such a long period of time.

    However, this ce seemed as if it were untouched by time. It was almost as if everything had just happened yesterday. Ingredients that hadn¡¯t beenpletely used up were still out on the workbench, and all kinds of stuff was scattered on the floor.

    Su Chen knew that this had nothing to do with how fast or slow time was flowing. Rather, a powerful Origin Formation had sealed everything here, preserving all of the items in the room in their original state and preventing them from decaying.

    This was a method the Arcana Race used to preserve things. It helped them ensure that their property and assets wouldn¡¯t decay over time.

    It was for this reason that their sessors were able to find all kinds of treasures within the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s ruins.

    However, most of these sealing Origin Formations had limited effectiveness. Over long periods of time, they would also gradually lose their effectiveness before eventually being smothered by the sands of time as well. Because of this, most of the treasures obtained were in various states of decay and weren¡¯t particrly useful. Only extremely powerful items could survive for longer periods of time.

    But evidently, that wasn¡¯t the case here.

    Even after thirty thousand years had gone by, the Origin Formation was still perfectly functional, preserving all of the items here perfectly.

    However, because this period of time was so long, anything with life-force couldn¡¯t have possibly survived even with the protection of the formation. Even though all of the ingredients on the workbench seemed perfectly fine, the energy they once contained had long since dissipated, making them as lifeless as rocks.

    Fortunately, Su Chen wasn¡¯t expecting to find any kind of treasure like a thousand-year-old Blood Lotus ¨C all he wanted was knowledge.

    He picked up a book from the table and flipped through it briefly. It was an experimental log.

    By relying on the ancient Arcana script he had been learning, he could roughly understand the book¡¯s contents. Most of the book was filled with insights from the experiments.

    Su Chen casually stowed the book away and continued to browse.

    Because so much time had gone by, the items here had lost almost all of their energy. They had no value to speak of.

    Ji Ruoyu did a quick search but didn¡¯t find anything particrly valuable. He sighed regretfully, ¡°What a pity. None of this is useful.¡±

    ¡°Finding treasure in an ancient Arcana ruins depends a lot on luck. Don¡¯t be so hasty,¡± Su Chenughed.

    To him, no treasure was as important as knowledge.

    Time could slowly whittle away at treasures, but it couldn¡¯t whittle away knowledge.

    Because of this, Su Chen had harvested quite a bit.

    As a researchb, there was no shortage of written documents, and logs were scattered everywhere.

    As long as it was a book with writing on it, Su Chen took it with him.

    After circling the ce once, Su Chen was just about to leave when he discovered that there was still another booklet on the floor.

    He opened it, only to find that it was a tattered diary.

    The diary was in extremely bad condition. All that could be gleaned from it was a few fragments here and there.

    ¡°...... finally arrived at Patelocke¡¯sb. I¡¯m so excited! I believe that this ce will be the beginning of my glorious journey.¡±

    ¡°...... Is this Master¡¯s n? Too profound, too marvelous! Master really is awesome; I will follow in his footsteps and fulfill his grand dream!¡±

    ¡°...... The experiments failed, but it doesn¡¯t matter. We will seed sooner orter.¡±

    ¡°...... It seems like our lucktely isn¡¯t that good.¡±

    ¡°...... I¡¯ve had some trouble falling asleeptely. There¡¯s always a strange sound echoing in my head. It sounds a bit like someone pleading and crying.¡±

    ¡°...... My ve died again. These idiots are always so clumsy; I worked this one to death. Hopefully, my ves will be a bit smarter next time.¡±

    ¡°...... How unlucky! I got a female ve......¡±

    ¡°...... Her name is Yi. She has very beautiful eyes.¡±

    ¡°...... The experiments haven¡¯t been going well and the troubles just keep piling on. Apparently, the higher-ups feel like we are wasting too many resources, so they n on stopping the experiments. Master was infuriated.¡±

    ¡°...... Yi is sick. I¡¯m very worried for her and can¡¯t get much sleep. What¡¯s wrong with me? She¡¯s just a lowly, despicable human. I shouldn¡¯t be anxious about her.¡±

    ¡°...... This is a disaster.¡±

    ¡°...... It feels like the end of the world is near.¡±

    ¡°...... Every living thing dies eventually; there aren¡¯t any exceptions. Perhaps what we are pursuing may nevere to fruition.¡±

    ¡°...... I heard Yi crying again in my head. This makes me fearful. This ce has been overtaken by demons...... Demons that we created.¡±

    ¡°...... The experiments failed again. Master was infuriated; he killed twelve ves all at once. We are all very afraid and don¡¯t know what to do.¡±

    ¡°...... Master has gone more and more insane. Main thinks that he could have secretly used some of that on himself. Just the thought alone terrifies me.¡±

    ¡°...... When I first came here, I was filled with hope. I thought that I could fulfill my grand dream. But now, I feel like I¡¯m in the depths of hell. Yes, this ce is truly hell.¡±

    ¡°...... Main died. Master killed him.¡±

    Su Chen flipped to the diary¡¯sst page.

    ¡°Everything ends today!¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 174: Plunder 2

    Chapter 174: Plunder (2)

    Su Chen stowed away the diary, then walked out of that room and went into another.

    The researchb was huge and had many rooms. Su Chen searched them one by one, looking for all the books he could find and taking them regardless of whether they were useful or not.

    Upon arriving at one of the rooms, Su Chen discovered to his delight that it was actually a library filled to the brim with books.

    In this day and age, it was very difficult to find ancient Arcana records, particrly those that had beenpletely preserved.

    After flipping through a few of them, Su Chen discovered that most of the books were expositions on the fundamental theories of Origin Energy.

    These theories weren¡¯t anything like Origin Skills. They wouldn¡¯t increase a person¡¯s strength in the slightest. Rather, it was an analysis of the natural world and, more specifically, Origin Energy. These books would allow a person to gain a deeper understanding of Origin Energy as well as any ensuing changes that mighte about.

    To other people, these books would be useless, but to Su Chen, these books were priceless treasures.

    There wasn¡¯t much material avable about Origin Energy. The human race prioritized practicality, while the Arcana Race prioritized knowledge.

    In terms of Origin Energy applications, the humans had created contemporary Origin Skills, which surpassed the Arcana Race¡¯s own Ancient Arcana Techniques. However, the Intelligent Races¡¯ understanding of Origin Energy¡¯s intrinsic qualities hadn¡¯t advanced in the past thirty thousand years; rather, their understanding had regressed

    Undoubtedly, finding all of this information on the Arcana Race¡¯s study of the fundamental properties of Origin Energy was a great help to Su Chen.

    In his eyes, no ten-thousand-year-old herbs, powerful Origin Tools, nor amazing cultivation techniques, couldpare to these foundational knowledge.

    They were just like Brooke¡¯s Form and the Origin Talisman Energy Formation. They gave Su Chen the ability to create.

    When the door of knowledge is opened to you, the possibilities are limitless!

    Thus, upon seeing so many books, Su Chen was overjoyed. Numerous air tentacles stretched forth and wrapped around those books, carrying them into Su Chen¡¯s Origin Ring. In the blink of an eye, the entire room was cleaned out.

    Ji Ruoyu had also discovered something on his end. When he ran over and picked something up, he yelled excitedly, ¡°Cosmic iron! Look, it¡¯s cosmic iron!¡±

    He held a pitch-ck metal in his hands. If he hadn¡¯t known about it in the first ce, it would have been really hard to tell that this chunk of metal was actually cosmic iron.

    Cosmic iron didn¡¯t contain any Origin Energy; in fact, it was an instor of it. Thus, this type of metal wasn¡¯t used to construct Origin Tools but suits of armor. Armor fashioned out of cosmic iron had extremely high defensive properties against Origin Skills. In the contemporary era, this chunk of cosmic iron was likely worth at least a million Origin Stones.

    Truly, there were many valuable things within the researchb.

    ¡°Not bad,¡± Su Chen praised when he saw it. Then, he walked out of the library.

    Upon seeing that Su Chen didn¡¯t seem to care that much, Ji Ruoyu¡¯s excitement was greatly dampened. He muttered, ¡°I really don¡¯t get why you like books so much. You don¡¯t even pay such a valuable treasure any mind. Forget about it; even if you don¡¯t want it, I do.¡±

    He hurriedly stowed it away in his Origin Ring.

    After walking a certain distance, the three of them arrived at an open-air courtyard.

    Ji Ruoyu saw this and began to yell excitedly, ¡°There are spirit medicines here!¡±

    The courtyard wasn¡¯t big, but it was packed with herbs growing everywhere.

    Most importantly, no Origin Formations were present in the courtyard. These spirit medicines had grown smoothly and were basically at their peak lifespan.

    Because these herbs were bred within the researchb, their quality was also better than herbs just growing in the wild. Thus, there was nock of thousand-year-old herbs.

    Herbs like Jade-Stemmed Cane, Thousand-Eyes Flower, ck Acid Grass, and Dragonberries were all extremely precious in the outside world. Here, however, they grew inrge, flourishing patches. Ji Ruoyu was about to go mad with excitement.

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Not bad. Now we have something we can turn in to the higher-ups. Ruoyu, go harvest those herbs for them.¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Ji Ruoyu excitedly hurried over, harvesting all of the herbs present and stowing them away carefully.

    As he harvested the herbs, he couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Senior Brother Su, are you not nning on saving some for yourself?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°These are all going to be given up anyways. Do I need to be that active about it?¡±

    Long Sang Country didn¡¯t spend a lot of energy to send everyone here so that they could gorge themselves. Items that could be used immediately were an eptable loss, but anything they took out with them would be turned in. Long Sang Country wouldn¡¯t coddle them so selflessly.

    ¡°...... You¡¯re not wrong.¡± Ji Ruoyu was stunned for a brief moment, and his harvesting speed became noticeably slower.

    Upon seeing his sagging countenance, Su Chenughed and tousled his hair. ¡°I¡¯m just messing around with you, silly. The higher-ups are going to reward us based on our contributions, and these spirit medicines will be valuable for that. I¡¯ve already made a ton of medicines. I also have a track record of killing our enemies, so I¡¯m not worried about my contributions. You should take the lion¡¯s share of our harvests back with you.¡±

    Su Chen had concocted a bunch of medicines; had single-handedly in four Ferocious Race youths; had saved many of hisrades; had orchestrated the n to kill Ferraro and Mendiano; and had established the rendezvous point so that the humans had gathered two days in advance, which they used to kill more than ten Ferocious Race youths. In terms of contributions, he was head and shoulders above the rest of the students, which was why he didn¡¯t ce much weight on bringing those medicinal ingredients back for contribution points.

    But to Ji Ruoyu, these contribution points were still quite meaningful.

    Ji Ruoyu¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Got it.¡±

    While Ji Ruoyu was busying himself with finding everything in the courtyard, Su Chen nced at his surroundings. He found a stone tablet hung on top of the courtyard that said in Ancient Arcana script, ¡°Kaffelot¡¯s Garden.¡±

    Upon seeing this, Su Chenughed, ¡°You¡¯d better hurry up. This ce seems like it was just the private garden of an assistant, not the master of this ce. In other words...... there¡¯s even more for us to findter.¡±

    Upon hearing this, Ji Ruoyu¡¯s movements became even faster.

    After clearing away all the herbs in this garden, the trio moved on.

    They hadn¡¯t gotten far before they suddenly encountered another trio.

    It was Yu Mengnan, Duan Jiangshan, and Yue Longsha.

    When both parties saw each other, they were overjoyed.

    Su Chen greeted them. ¡°Longsha, have you seen Han Linxia?¡±

    Yue Longshaughed, ¡°I thought you would have asked about Qingluo first.¡±

    Su Chen smiled. ¡°Qingluo is strong and fast. I¡¯m not too worried about her. We just found a garden back there and harvested a few precious medicinal ingredients. If Han Linxia was here, she might be able to extract their medicinal strength and feed it to Old Pi, helping him recover faster.¡±

    ¡°When we fell in, I saw Linxia with Wei Yang and Jiang Hanfeng.¡±

    During the all-out battle, the three of them were being protected at the very rear of the formation. Thus, it made sense that they had fallen in together.

    Upon hearing that they were together, Su Chen sighed with relief, ¡°That¡¯s good, then.¡±

    He had to admit that Danba¡¯s strike had given them quite a headache.

    Humans were better at fighting in teams, while the Ferocious Race specialized in individualbat.

    If the humans were dispersed, the Ferocious Race youths could freely disy their individual strength andbat prowess.

    The two Temple Warriors were particrly powerful. If they were given an opportunity to show off their strength, the humans would definitely suffer big losses.

    Thus, any human who was alone was in serious danger.

    Upon hearing that Han Linxia and the others were still together, Su Chen sighed with relief, knowing that they were in much less danger.

    But he had yet to finish sighing when he suddenly heard a loud cry of pain.

    ¡°That¡¯s Shui Dong!¡± Yue Longsha recognized the voice.

    ¡°He¡¯s over there!¡± Su Chen turned around and charged into a different hallway.

    He ran all the way to the end, only to find Shui Dong lying in a pile of blood, bloody bubbles frothing from his mouth. A huge hole was in the center of his chest.

    ¡°Shui Dong!¡± Duan Jiangshan yelled as he charged over and lifted Shui Dong¡¯s head off the ground gently.

    He turned around and yelled at Su Chen, ¡°Quick, save him!¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. He¡¯s beyond saving.¡±

    Shui Dong¡¯s heart had ruptured. There was no way he was going to survive.

    Shui Dong stared at Su Chen and opened his mouth, wanting to say something. However, the words died on his lips as he closed his eyes and his body went limp.

    Everyone felt their hearts hurt from the loss of anotherrade.

    It was Ji Ruoyu who interrupted the mourning atmosphere. He said, ¡°We don¡¯t have much time left. The void is quickly copsing on us right now.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Su Chen reigned in his emotions and began to walk down the path.

    ¡°Where are we going now?¡±

    ¡°To the researchb at the heart of thisplex.¡±

    ¡°But we don¡¯t know where the heart of theplex is.¡±

    ¡®I do,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°How do you know?¡± everyone asked.

    Su Chen pulled out an item. ¡°Because I looked at the map.¡±

    The library had contained not just books but also a map of the researchb. While Ji Ruoyu had been carried away with excitement over the cosmic iron, Su Chen had been rejoicing over discovering the map.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 175: Dark Black Puppets

    Chapter 175: Dark ck Puppets

    Even though they were pressed for time, Su Chen didn¡¯t forget to look for bookshelves.

    Two air tentacles surrounded him wherever he walked. They looked like two long tails, but they grabbed every book that Su Chen passed by and put them into his Origin Ring as if they had eyes. Even the scraps of paper on the ground didn¡¯t go unnoticed.

    Su Chen¡¯s insatiable thirst for knowledge rendered everyone else speechless.

    However, they weren¡¯t much better themselves.

    Precious herbs, rare metals, Ancient Arcana Techniques, Origin Tools, mannequins ¨C if they could be taken, they were taken regardless of whether they were useful or not.

    Ji Ruoyu plundered as he yelled, ¡°We¡¯re rich! We¡¯re rich!¡±

    Even though he knew that these resources wouldn¡¯t belong to him, he felt extremely excited just by thinking about the contribution points he would earn by bringing all of these resources back.

    Just as they were busy looting the ce, Ji Ruoyu suddenly pointed in a direction and said, ¡°Look!¡±

    In front of them was anotherrge garden, many timesrger than the private one they had stumbled across earlier. Large quantities of precious herbs were growing there. In addition, these herbs were of much higher quality than even the private garden. Su Chen even found a few legendary-tier herbs growing there.

    These were herbs of the same rarity as a Corpse Spirit Flower, yet they grew abundantly within the garden.

    However, there were already people within the garden.

    He Yuandong, Qi Weiyan, the Shen twins, and a bunch of other students were there. There were also seven or eight Ferocious Race youths. Both sides were currently locked in an intense battle.

    When Ji Ruoyu saw the situation, he said anxiously, ¡°Great, we¡¯ve finally found Eldest Brother He and the others. Let¡¯s go and help them!¡±

    He began running in their direction.

    Su Chen, however, said, ¡°We aren¡¯t going.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Everyone was stunned.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Time is short. Right now, our main priority isn¡¯t to fight but to take out everything that is of value within thisplex! Otherwise, if we miss this opportunity, there¡¯s no point even if we kill all of the Ferocious Race youths.¡±

    ¡°But Eldest Brother He and the others......¡±

    ¡°Leader He isn¡¯t going to lose,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Open your eyes and look closely. Right now, we¡¯re the ones with the advantage. At this stage of the battle, half of the Ferocious Race youths are either injured or dead. They¡¯re already weaker than us in terms of strength.¡±

    During the battle below the researchb, the humans had taken quite a few Ferocious Race youth scalps, including two powerful Temple Warriors. The only price they had paid was Feng Yigu.

    Under these circumstances, He Yuandong and the others were confident that they could defeat their enemies even without Su Chen¡¯s aid.

    ¡°But......¡± Even so, everyone was still a bit hesitant.

    Su Chen¡¯s words weren¡¯t wrong, but they felt ufortable about leaving theirrades in battle while running off on their own to harvest some rewards.

    In the end, it was Pi Yuanhong who spoke up, saying, ¡°Su Chen¡¯s absolutely right. At this moment, our most pressing mission is to take everything within the ruins with us. Since Old He and the others have the advantage, we¡¯ll leave the garden to them. We will handle the researchb at the center of thisplex.¡±

    Since Old Pi had said as much, there wasn¡¯t much to dispute. They followed Su Chen and left.

    They followed the map as they ran, eventually arriving at arge open room. From what was drawn on the map, the central researchb was just on the other side of thisrge room.

    Just as they were about to cross the room, however, two dark ck puppets appeared in front of them.

    Compared to the iron puppet, these dark ck puppets were clearly much more powerful. Razor-sharp des protruded from their arms, and a row of sharp spikes protruded from their backs. They didn¡¯t look like puppets; rather, they looked like some kind of demonic lifeform.

    Considering the circumstances, there was no point in wasting words.

    Su Chen, Yue Longsha, Duan Jiangshan, and Yu Mengnan charged forwards together, ganging up on the puppets. Ji Ruoyu was left behind to protect Pi Yuanhong.

    Bang! Bang! Bang! A series of Erupting Firehawks mmed into one of the dark ck puppets.

    Su Chen¡¯s cast of Erupting Firehawks was his trademark Origin Skill. Its power and might had even left a strong impression on the Ferocious Race youths, but against these dark ck puppets, all it caused was an explosion of mes. The dark ck puppet swayed slightly before continuing to charge at Su Chen. When it had closed in, it suddenly leapt forward, raising its massive arm and stabbing it in Su Chen¡¯s direction, causing a brilliant burst of energy to surge at Su Chen.

    When faced with such a powerful attack, Su Chen didn¡¯t dare to resist it forcefully. He dodged it with his Snaking Mist Steps as he simultaneously unleashed a flurry of Origin Energy bullets.

    However, the bullets seemedpletely ineffective against the puppet. Meanwhile, Yue Longsha had tossed out a Moonlight Stone. A streak of moonlight mmed into the puppet, but it seemed to be ineffective as well.

    With two loud bangs, Su Chen and the puppet traded blows twice. Su Chen was forced back, but he was able to unleash a Wind de and two Thunder des as he slid backwards.

    The ethereal des sliced across the puppet¡¯s body, leaving behind two faint incisions.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes glimmered. ¡°Be careful. These things have an extremely high resistance to Origin Energy. Use close-quartersbat skills to deal with them!¡±

    Ancient Arcana Techniques relied on Origin Energy, not on a person¡¯s innate physique. During the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s rule, these puppets would have been the arch-nemesis of every Arcana Master. Unfortunately, after thirty thousand years, the times had changed. Even someone like Su Chen, who studied Ancient Arcana Techniques in great detail, wouldn¡¯t neglect the cultivation of his physical body. After all, that was how one¡¯s lifeforce and vitality increased.

    Duan Jiangshanughed, ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m the most skilled in!¡±

    A Mountain-Shattering de stabbed through the air imposingly.

    Duan Jiangshan¡¯s Mountain-Shattering de was truly a battle formation skill, and it was one of the most powerful physical skills any of the students could unleash. The de shed downwards forcefully, chopping down onto the dark ck puppet and leaving behind a deep cut.

    Indeed, its physical defenses were quite average.

    Duan Jiangshan¡¯s lips peeled back into a feral smile. ¡°That¡¯s all there is to it...... Mountain-Shattering Eight des, First Stance ¨C Mountain Shaking Jab!¡±

    Duan Jiangshan stabbed forward. The simple, direct strike carried with it a shocking momentum.

    The dark ck puppet met the blow with its arm de, but it was unable to defend. The de stabbed forth with incredible force, piercing through its head. It continued downwards through the rest of its body, splitting the puppet open.

    ¡°Sess!¡± Duan Jiangshan let out augh of delight.

    He turned around to nce at Su Chen, only to find that Su Chen¡¯s Armor-Piercing Awl had entered the puppet¡¯s chest.

    ¡°Psh!¡± Duan Jiangshan curled his lip, thinking to himself that he was still faster.

    But when he thought about the fact that Su Chen didn¡¯t specialize in close-quartersbat, knew how to use Ancient Arcana Techniques, and could concoct medicine, he really didn¡¯t have much to be proud of. He was a bit frustrated that the puppets weren¡¯t stronger. If they were stronger, he would have been able to show off more stances of his Mountain-Shattering Eight des.

    This idea had just surfaced in his head when he suddenly saw that the two puppets on the ground were slowly crawling to their feet, the wounds on their bodies gradually disappearing.

    Most shockingly, this healing process looked strangely simr to how a human being might heal from their wounds.

    ¡°This...... What¡¯s going on?¡± Duan Jiangshan was stunned.

    He watched the puppet that he had personally cut open slowly stick itself back together and then continue advancing as if nothing had happened.

    Su Chen frowned. ¡°These aren¡¯t normal puppets.¡±

    ¡°Rubbish, of course they¡¯re not normal puppets!¡± Duan Jiangshan yelled. ¡°Have you ever seen puppets that can reassemble themselves after being chopped in half?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not talking about that...... that¡¯s not reassembly.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Duan Jiangshan was stunned.

    ¡°It¡¯s a fusing process!¡± Su Chen said. ¡°A fusing on the biological level.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 176: Biological Experiments

    Chapter 176: Biological Experiments

    A fusion on the biological level?

    How could a puppet made of metals and Origin Formations possess self-recovery abilities?

    What kind of sick joke was this?

    However, the truth was right in front of him. Two dark ck puppets leapt forwards, their armdes glinting under the moonlight.

    Theirbat style was quick and forceful, and their strength and speed were both first-rate. Their only drawback was that they probably only really had one offensive move, which was to constantly sh at their opponents with their armdes. However, when paired with their seeming invincibility, they really were quite a pain to deal with.

    Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

    Duan Jiangshan continued to unleash the next four stances of the Mountain-Shattering Eight des, knocking the puppets to the ground four times. However, the puppets got right back up.

    ¡°Dammit, are these guys impossible to kill?¡± Duan Jiangshan howled.

    ¡°Nothing is impossible to kill,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°However, as long as the nucleus installed in their bodies is still there, they will be able to repair themselves.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that they had self-recovery abilities? Why do they still need a nucleus to power themselves?¡± Duan Jiangshan replied.

    ¡°Because they are puppets. Shouldn¡¯t they have energy nuclei?¡± Su Chen countered.

    Duan Jiangshan couldn¡¯t retort. He struggled for a moment and then yelled, ¡°This is pissing me off!¡± as he sent another de strike.

    Yue Longsha and Yu Mengnan were tickled pink by this exchange. They stood to the side casually and observed without interrupting.

    In the end, it was still Ji Ruoyu who said, ¡°Seniors, please hurry up! We don¡¯t have much time before the void willpletely copse.¡±

    Su Chen assented. ¡°It seems we can¡¯t wait for them to expend all their energy...... This type of puppet has never appeared in the history of the Arcana Kingdom, which means that they aren¡¯tpleted products. They most likely have a critical w.¡±

    ¡°What kind of w?¡± everyone asked.

    Su Chen muttered to himself as he continued to beat the puppets back, ¡°This kind of w shouldn¡¯t be hard to detect, and it shouldn¡¯t be hard to exploit. Otherwise, they would still be useful to manufacture and produce...... If that¡¯s the case...... what other techniques haven¡¯t we tried yet......¡±

    His eyes suddenly lit up. He stared intently at the dark-ck puppet and sent a consciousness st at it.

    This simple consciousness-level attack was easily irresistible by anyone who had even average willpower. Evenmoners would be able to shake it off to some degree, but when the dark-ck puppet was struck by such a basic attack, it stopped moving and swayed slightly before toppling to the ground.

    This time, it didn¡¯t crawl back to its feet.

    ¡°What the hell is that!¡± Duan Jiangshan was stunned.

    Yu Mengnan also sent out a consciousness st on his end. The puppet that Duan Jiangshan was battling also fell over.

    ¡°So they¡¯re weak to consciousness-type attacks,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Why do these puppets fear consciousness-type attacks?¡± Duan Jiangshan waspletely befuddled.

    Puppets should be inanimate objects; it didn¡¯t make sense for them to be susceptible to consciousness-type attacks, which only affected living beings.

    ¡°That¡¯s because they¡¯re not just puppets...... they¡¯re puppets that have been augmented with life force,¡± Su Chen replied.

    He chopped down with his hand as if shing a de, cutting open one of the puppets¡¯ bodies. Inside, he could see a number of organs and a few strange mechanicalponents.

    Su Chen¡¯s analysis was correct. These puppets had been specially modified such that it was hard to say whether they were living organisms or puppets at this point.

    An instantter, a shocking scene unfolded in front of them.

    Everyone watched as the two puppet corpses began to quickly melt into g, very quickly turning into a puddle of yellowish murky water. Only a pile of mechanicalponents and an Origin Crystal, which served as the power core, remained.

    Su Chen picked up the Origin Crystal and inspected it. It was a high-tier one, harvested from at least a lord-ss Demonic Beast.

    It seemed that these puppets weren¡¯t cheap to manufacture.

    These puppets were expensive to make, yet they had such a massive w. No wonder they had never seen the light of day.

    He tossed the Origin Crystal to Ji Ruoyu. ¡°You can have this. It should be worth a considerable amount. I¡¯ll keep all of this stuff for myself.¡±

    He stowed away the puppetponents, nning on taking them back with him to do some research on them.

    Without those two dark-ck puppets blocking their way, the group walked through therge room and were greeted by a massive open space.

    They were in a massive researchb.

    Upon walking in, they could see that ss vessels were scattered everywhere.

    Making ss vessels during the time of the Arcana Kingdom was somewhat of aplex task, and they often went for a high price. However, this researchb was filled with them.

    Inside the vessels were all kinds of biological specimens.

    There were cow heads, horse bodies, deer antlers, turtle shells, half-human-half-wolf specimens, eagles with the head of a horse, and many other bizarre abominations.

    They saw a human with a handsome face and a clear, distended stomach. Beneath the translucent skin, they could see eight tentacle-like non-human lifeforms within the stomach.

    They saw a Ferocious Race individual¡¯s head separated from the rest of its body with countless strange tubes protruding from it. It looked like the Ferocious Race individual was being kept alive by these strange tubes; the individual¡¯s face was contorted in pain.

    They even found a Craftsman Race specimen. This race possessed an even weaker physique than the Arcana Race, but their hands were incredibly agile and precise. They were born with six fingers, and each finger could bend at an absurd angle, moving independently of one another. Now, however, a pair of wings unique to the Feathered Race were protruding from this Craftsman¡¯s back. The massive wings enveloped his small body. It really was quite a shocking sight.

    Without exception, these lifeforms had all died.

    They had been dead for nearly thirty-six thousand years.

    However, their bodies were preserved and hadn¡¯t decayed because of the Origin Formations.

    ¡°This...... What is this?¡± Yue Longsha and Yu Mengnan asked in shock. As the two females, they were unable to take it any longer.

    ¡°It seems like they should be some kind of experiment,¡± Su Chen replied. He was no stranger to using live subjects for experimentation, but he couldn¡¯t do things in such a cruel, callous manner such that the experiments could still scare people even after tens of thousands of years.

    ¡°What kinds of experiments need to be taken this far?¡± Duan Jiangshan was stunned as well.

    ¡°No matter what the original n was, the master of this ce already failed,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°How do you know that?¡±

    ¡°No matter how brutal the experiments seem, there is often a mighty and grand ambition driving them. From the vessels, it seems like these experiments were for some kind of lifeform-altering study. It¡¯s probably that they were trying to create a new race. From this standpoint, they may have been trying to determine the substance of life itself. Or perhaps they were trying to find some way of improving the Intelligent Races. But regardless of what their goal was, we haven¡¯t seen any results in our world. From this, we can assume that their research didn¡¯t seed.¡±

    Unlike Yue Longsha and the others, who only noticed the grotesque appearances of the specimens, Su Chen¡¯s research experience helped him immediately grasp the crux of the issue.

    ¡°No matter how cruel the experiments, there is always a grand ambition behind them...... Is this how a mad scientist thinks?¡± Yue Longsha murmured as she nced at Su Chen.

    Within Su Chen¡¯s researchb in the stone mountain, the Ferocious Race youths¡¯ expressions were frozen in fear and anguish. Everyone had a deep, subconscious fear of Su Chen, the mad scientist, at this point.

    At this point, Yue Longsha finally began to understand a little bit of what went on in Su Chen¡¯s head.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°That¡¯s not wrong. However, my experimental subjects are always those who wanted to kill me. To my enemies, I never show mercy.¡±

    ¡°Then remember those words. No matter what, don¡¯t expand your circle of test subjects,¡± Yue Longsha said straightforwardly.

    Su Chenughed in response, ¡°Of course. Don¡¯t worry about it. I know not to lose sight of myself. No matter what, I will always abide by my own principles. These principles will serve as a kind of protection for me.¡±

    He thought for a moment, then added, ¡°In any case, it seems like this world has a shortage of everything but enemies anyways.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 177: Crystal Ball

    Chapter 177: Crystal Ball

    As they walked through thebyrinth of ssware and continued to advance, they saw a massive research workbench in front of them.

    The workbench was covered in all kinds of research equipment. Based on the quality of the research equipment, this was definitely an Arcana Master¡¯s workstation.

    ¡°Thousand Degree Meter, Eight Minute Ruler, Origin Energy Mirror, Desation Needle...... Ha, they really have the good stuff.¡± Su Chen was excited by what he saw.

    Many of these instruments were things that Su Chen had always wanted but had never been able to obtain. In fact, some of them hadpletely disappeared after the destruction of the Arcana Kingdom.

    Upon seeing Su Chen¡¯s excited appearance, Ji Ruoyu sighed and shook his head, ¡°I have no way of understanding this guy¡¯s eye for appraisal. He didn¡¯t want any of those thousand-year-old herbs, ancient treasures, or precious raw ingredients, but these worthless tools are enough to get him all excited.¡±

    Yue Longsha replied, ¡°Because those thousand-year herbs, precious raw ingredients, and ancient treasures will only benefit one person. But what he wants to do is benefit millions of others.¡±

    Yue Longsha was still moved by Su Chen¡¯s feelings.

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen said, ¡°I¡¯m not as selfless as you think I am, Longsha. I just feel like those thousand-year herbs, precious raw ingredients, and ancient treasures can all be found in our world and bought with money on some level. As long as it¡¯s something I can buy with money, then its value is limited. What I am pursuing are things that have no substitute in this world. In any case, these medicinal treasures and raw ingredients will be consumed upon use, but I want to create things. It¡¯s the ability to create more treasures that is truly valuable. Finally, an extremely important reason is that the higher-ups won¡¯t value these things. No matter how good those precious herbs are, they¡¯ll all be turned in. Things that they consider ¡®dregs¡¯ I can keep for myself.¡±

    Su Chen said everything with a faint smile.

    The explosive sales of Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven had skyrocketed Su Chen to levels of insane wealth, and his view had broadened quite a bit.

    From that moment on, he realized that if he considered things based on their mary value, searching ruins was actually less profitable than disseminating information.

    The Immortal Temple had spent a lot of time and energy to obtain those Corpse Spirit Flowers, but in the end, it had only been a matter of around 100 million Origin Stones.

    In other words, you could force the Immortal Temple to bow to your demands with ¡°just¡± a hundred million Origin Stones.

    Howrge of a sum was enough to motivate Long Sang Country and the Gravel Lizard Tribe to send out eighty of their elites to fight over these ruins?

    Based on Su Chen¡¯s estimate, the value of all thebined resources would be roughly equivalent to two or three hundred million Origin Stones.

    Inparison, knowledge was ¡°worthless.¡± But as long as it was used correctly, it was ¡°invaluable¡± and could generate a simr amount of wealth, if not more.

    This was why Su Chen was so excited.

    As for what Yue Longsha had been saying about him wanting to benefit the millions of other people, that wasn¡¯t wrong.

    He really did want to aplish that. Actually, most people who weren¡¯t terrible human beings had simr desires.

    But this wasn¡¯t the main reason for Su Chen¡¯s activity. It didn¡¯t mean that Su Chen considered the masses with every move that he took. In any case, it was usually more practical to advance the human race by taking care of himself.

    Most importantly, he didn¡¯t like to be viewed too highly by others.

    If people treated him as a saint, then he would be required to act like one in every move that he took. How could Su Chen continue to operate?

    Even carelessly tossing a piece of trash on the ground would result in a loss of face and incur criticism.

    Thus, Su Chen not only refuted Yue Longsha¡¯s words, but also needed to express that he was primarily motivated by self-interest.

    Upon hearing Su Chen say this, Yue Longsha was also stunned. ¡°So that¡¯s how you thought about it?¡±

    ¡°Do you feel a little disappointed?¡± Su Chenughed.

    Unexpectedly, Yue Longsha smiled. ¡°No, I¡¯m very happy to hear it.¡±

    ¡°Happy?¡± This time, it was Su Chen¡¯s turn to be amazed.

    ¡°Yes, happy. I originally thought that you were someone who carried the weight of the whole world with you, and I felt somewhat inferior standing next to you. But now I realize that you¡¯re just an ordinary person with your own passions and desires. You care for your own personal profit, which makes me feel much more at ease. This is the Su Chen that I prefer to see,¡± Yue Longsha said slowly.

    Holy crap!

    Even though her words were simple and her tone mild and tactful, why did it seem like there was a specific meaning behind her words?

    Su Chen¡¯s heart trembled slightly.

    Duan Jiangshan and Old Pi were both unrefined, and they didn¡¯t pick up on the meaning of Yue Longsha¡¯s words. Theyughed together, ¡°That¡¯s right! That¡¯s right! That way, Su Chen seems like an actual human. Otherwise, how could any of us rte to him?¡±

    Yu Mengnan seemed to actually sense something, but she didn¡¯t say anything.

    Unexpectedly, a careless sentence of Ji Ruoyu¡¯s was able to pierce to the truth of the situation. ¡°That¡¯s right! Originally, all Senior Brother Su did was bury his head with experiments. I thought that he was someonepletely devoid of personality, but the truth is that he has his own pursuits as well, huh? That¡¯s right. We¡¯re all youths, and we should reserve some time to enjoy ourselves. If we don¡¯t find a few girlfriends and enjoy ourselves in the flower districts1, how can we take advantage of our youth and enjoy the years we have left?¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s heart trembled slightly, and he began to understand somewhat.

    Pi Yuanhong smacked the back of Ji Ruoyu¡¯s head yfully. ¡°All you know is how to spout nonsense. What are you thinking?¡±

    After some time, his wounds had gradually healed, and his strength had already recovered somewhat. However, this smack still made Ji Ruoyu cry out in pain.

    But under these circumstances, Su Chen couldn¡¯t say much else. All he said was, ¡°Leave these things to me. You guys go and see if there aren¡¯t any more treasures remaining.¡±

    As he spoke, he approached the workstation and began to stow away the experimental logs and research equipment on the table.

    Upon seeing Su Chen turn his back to her, Yue Longsha sighed quietly and went to look for any other valuable that might be within the researchb.

    Perhaps because this was theb of a great Arcana Master, there were a lot of valuables within the researchb. A drawer was right next to the research bench; inside, there were all kinds of precious ingredients. All of the spirit herbs had wilted and were basically useless, but items without any vitality or lifeforce, such as unique metals, were just fine.

    ¡°Starmetal, Chillstones, Stardust...... Ha, there are too many good things here!¡± Duan Jiangshan and Pi Yuanhong yelled out with excitement.

    Yue Longsha opened a chest and found a skin inside.

    The skin was blood-red and covered in meticulous inscriptions. When Yue Longsha picked it up, she could even sense a profound ancient auraing from it.

    This skin still had some vitality!

    After thirty-six thousand years, it had still preserved its vitality.

    Yue Longsha knew that this item was extremely rare. She hurriedly stowed it away, then continued to look for other treasures.

    Ji Ruoyu saw an item in the corner of the room.

    He saw a crystal ball not too far away from where he was.

    Ancient Arcana Masters often used Crystal Balls to perform magic. Apparently, these special Crystal Balls not only had good Origin Energy conduction properties, but they could also recall Origin Power, resulting in unique effects when activating Ancient Arcana Techniques.

    Perhaps this was an Arcana Technique Crystal Ball.

    Ji Ruoyu reached out to grab the Crystal Ball.

    At that moment, a foreign voice suddenly sounded out, ¡°If I was you, I wouldn¡¯t touch that.¡±

    1. Red light district.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 178: Jailor

    Chapter 178: Jailor

    This sudden voice gave everyone quite a fright.

    Everyone simultaneously turned around. Those with weapons drew them, while those without weapons gathered their Origin Energy. Whether one had a weapon or not, everyone was preparing for a fight.

    But when they turned to face the direction the voice hade from, they discovered the speaker wasn¡¯t an actual person.

    Not far away from them was a stone table. On that stone table was a b of seemingly unassuming gray rock. Both the stone table and the rock were covered in beautiful, intricate carvings, and they radiated an incredibly profound aura.

    In that moment, a hologram of a person was floating above the stone table.

    He wore the Arcana Race¡¯s typical magic robes and held a three-headed serpentine staff in his hands. He wasn¡¯t too tall, and his eyes were a deep blue. Without question, he was an Arcana Race member.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Everyone approached the stone table cautiously.

    Su Chen nced at the stone b and then the table, noticing that the carvings on the stone table extended all the way into the ground and then continued radiating outwards in a spider web fashion. He suddenly grasped the situation and said, ¡°It seems like you¡¯re the central control mechanism here.¡±

    Central control mechanism?

    Upon hearing these words, everyone understood what was happening.

    Earlier, when they had been climbing the mountain, the Origin Formations had adapted again and again, making it seem like an intelligent lifeform was controlling them. However, after thirty-six thousand years, it was inconceivable for any lifeforms to have survived to this point.

    But now, it appeared that the center of the mystery was right in front of him.

    Ji Ruoyu stared dumbly at the Arcana Race hologram as he said, ¡°This is the central control mechanism? What is he? A Tool Spirit?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Even though top-tier Origin Tools usually all have Tool Spirits, they only appeared after the Arcana Kingdom fell into ruin. This individual in front of us is less of a Tool Spirit and more of a specter or a ghost, a specter within the control mechanism.¡±

    Upon hearing these words, everyone stared at the hologram in shock.

    The Arcana Race hologram trembled slightly. ¡°So the Arcana Kingdom was destroyed? Then right now, the Primordial Continent is under the control of the humans.¡±

    ¡°You can think of it that way. So who are you, then? Why are you in this stone b?¡± Duan Jiangshan asked.

    ¡°I......¡± A trace of confusion appeared on the hologram¡¯s face.

    He thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°I think my name is ine, ine Lamburn, an assistant to the mighty Master Patelocke...... Sorry, I¡¯ve been kept here for so long that I have trouble even remembering my own name.¡±

    ¡°But you didn¡¯t forget how to make trouble for us,¡± Yu Mengnan crossed her arms and said.

    ¡°Oh, are you talking about the matters from earlier? Yes, that was me,¡± ine Lamburn replied. ¡°But it evidently was of no use.¡±

    ¡°Does that include what happened with the Ferocious Race group too?¡± Su Chen said.

    Ferocious Race? What happened with the Ferocious Race?

    Everyone else was confused.

    ine Lamburn replied, ¡°Yes, I was the one who shut down the Origin Formations around the mountain so that they could chase you.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Duan Jiangshan¡¯s temper instantly red. ¡°So the Ferocious Race youths were able to catch up to us because of you? Dammit!¡±

    It wasn¡¯t until now that poor Duan Jiangshan knew how the Ferocious Race youths had caught up to them so quickly.

    He charged forward, wanting to squash the hologram. However, ine Lamburn¡¯s figure just distorted slightly as Duan Jiangshan¡¯s hand passed right through him,pletely ineffective.

    ¡°Enough, Jiangshan. There¡¯s no need to fight with a specter like this, especially one that¡¯s been shut in for thirty thousand years.¡±

    ¡°Yigu died because of his actions!¡± Duan Jiangshan replied.

    ¡°I know, but that¡¯s not going to bring Yigu back. Besides, as the owner of this ce, he has the right to refuse us entry. We were the ones who barged in here in the first ce; we can¡¯t me him for not weing us,¡± Su Chen slowly said.

    Everyone was stunned by what Su Chen said. ine Lamburn gently smiled. ¡°I¡¯m delighted to meet a youth who knows how to be reasonable. I think we will have a pleasant conversation.¡±

    ¡°Whether it¡¯s pleasant or not, you won¡¯t be able to stop us from doing anything,¡± Duan Jiangshan harrumphed. ¡°We¡¯ll be taking all of the treasures here.¡±

    ¡°You mean those ingredients?¡± ine Lamburn smiled slightly. ¡°If your goal is just those things, I have no objections.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Duan Jiangshan froze in ce.

    ine Lamburnughed, ¡°As you can see, I¡¯m just a specter who died nearly thirty thousand years ago, and I¡¯m still around only because of a few special circumstances. I have no interest in those treasures because I have no need of them.¡±

    ¡°So why didn¡¯t you let us in?¡± Yue Longsha asked.

    ¡°I just hoped to prevent you all from making a big mistake,¡± ine Lamburne said. ¡°You want treasure? No problem. Anything you can take, take it. The only thing you shouldn¡¯t touch is that crystal ball.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Yu Mengnan asked.

    ¡°A key.¡±

    ¡°A key to what?¡± Ji Ruoyu asked.

    ine Lamburn waved his hands. A wall not far from them actually began to turn transparent.

    Everyone could see that there was a strange lifeform just lying there behind the transparent wall.

    Its appearance was strange because it looked just like a pile of meat lying on the ground. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that this meat pile actually had a mouth, they might have thought that it really was just that.

    ¡°What is that?¡±

    ¡°Patelocke¡¯s Nightmare!¡± ine Lamburn sighed. ¡°Perhaps you might think that it doesn¡¯t have any strength, but believe me, it¡¯s one of the most frightening things in this ce. If you were to release it into the wild, this thing would dominate the entire Primordial Continent in less than ten years.¡±

    The students looked at one another.

    Su Chen asked, ¡°What exactly is it?¡±

    ¡°A kind ofbined lifeform from Patelocke¡¯sb, a byproduct from the pursuit of our dreams,¡± ine Lamburne replied. ¡°This creature ispletely invincible. Regardless of if you use mes to burn it, water to drown it, or any other methods, it just won¡¯t die. It has an insatiable appetite. Metals, nts, ores ¨C it can eat anything. Whenever it consumes a certain amount, it will split, turning from one into two, then into four, splitting itself without end......¡±

    Su Chen and the others were dumbstruck.

    No wonder ine Lamburne said that it was a nightmare. If such a frightening entity were to enter their world, it would definitely cause a cmity.

    ¡°Why would you research these kinds of things?¡± Duan Jiangshan asked angrily.

    ¡°Why else? Of course, it¡¯s to create an immortal lifeform,¡± ine Lamburn sighed.

    An immortal lifeform?

    So this was the owner of theb¡¯s n.

    ine Lamburne said, ¡°Patelocke¡¯s dream was to achieve immortality. He was a master of the biological sciences, and performed countless experiments to achieve his dreams, eventually resulting in the creation of Patelocke¡¯s Nightmare. However, it wasn¡¯t originally; it was called the Dream of Immortality, and carried with it the burden of all our hopes and dreams.¡±

    ¡°At that time, we had already discovered that our own lifeforce stems from one of the most foundational substances in our bodies. The extension of an organism¡¯s lifeforce depends on how many times this substance separates, and the number of possible separations is limited ¨C hence the reason why our lifespans are limited. Thus, we tried to create a type of organism that could separate this substance an unlimited number of times, then extract its power.¡±

    ¡°We seeded, and we also failed. The lifeform did have the ability to separate this substance an unlimited number of times. However, to aplish this, it constantly swallowed everything it ran across. When we realized this problem, it was already toote.¡±

    Traces of fear appeared on his face as he said, ¡°We began to panic and tried toe up with a way to exterminate it. But at that point, things had already begun to move out of our control......¡±

    A long timeter, he said, ¡°We spent a lot of energy, but we were still unable to kill it; on the other hand, we ourselves were badly injured by its attacks. In the end, all we could do was keep it locked up in this eternal prison. And I died in the course of that battle. When I awoke again, I discovered that I had been turned into the form that you see now. That¡¯s how I¡¯ve continued to survive until this point.¡±

    So that¡¯s how it was.

    ¡°What about the other Arcana Race individuals who survived?¡± Yu Mengnan asked.

    ¡°I think they¡¯ve probably left. Since something this serious happened, the best thing to do to ensure their own safety was to just ce this entire researchb in a void. I was responsible for keeping watch over Patelocke¡¯s Nightmare. That was also the reason that they resurrected me.¡±

    Upon hearing these words, everyone somewhat understood why ine Lamburne had done what he did.

    He was unwilling to let everyone in because he was worried that someone would identally open it and release such a frightening beast.

    ¡°As long as you don¡¯t touch that crystal ball, I can help you find all of the treasures in here. I even know of a few extremely hidden treasure stores.¡±

    Upon hearing these words, everyone was extremely excited.

    ¡°Awesome!¡± Ji Ruoyu said excitedly. ¡°We agree!¡±

    The others also nodded.

    There was no reason not to agree.

    Su Chen said, ¡°So, where¡¯s the hidden treasure?¡±

    ¡°No need to be in such a rush, young man,¡± ine Lamburnughed. ¡°First, you need to take this stone tablet off of the table. Do you see the inset hole there? Just ce the stone tablet into that divot and turn it three times. That should be enough.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Ji Ruoyu replied and was about to pick up the stone tablet.

    Su Chen stopped him. He asked, ¡°What does this have to do with the hidden treasure stores?¡±

    ¡°Because this is how to open the treasure rooms,¡± ine Lamburne replied.

    Su Chen, however, was still apprehensive. He continued to ask, ¡°Can you not open it on your own?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just a specter,¡± ine Lamburne replied. ¡°Even though I have my own thoughts, I cannot touch physical objects.¡±

    ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s how it is?¡± Su Chen muttered.

    ¡°So can you do it now?¡± ine Lamburneughed as he asked Su Chen.

    Ji Ruoyu was about to advance again when Su Chen held him back yet another time.

    Everyone stared at Su Chen with a confused expression. Su Chen lowered his head in thought.

    ine Lamburne began to grow impatient. ¡°What are you thinking? Young man? Are you not interested in the hidden treasures?¡±

    Su Chen replied slowly, ¡°I was just thinking that if you couldn¡¯t touch physical objects, how could you control those Origin Formations? And what would be the point of leaving you here to watch over Patelocke¡¯s Nightmare if you couldn¡¯t do anything?¡±

    ine Lamburne was stunned.

    Everyone else was stunned.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°If a jailor can¡¯t even use the key himself but still ims that he¡¯s there to stand guard over the ce, isn¡¯t that pretty ridiculous?¡±

    ¡°Let me put it this way. You aren¡¯t the jailor, are you? You¡¯re a criminal who got locked up, isn¡¯t that right, Master Patelocke!¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 179: Arcana Master

    Chapter 179: Arcana Master

    Master Patelocke!

    As soon as those words were uttered, everyone else was sent into a daze.

    Shock could be seen in ine Lamburne¡¯s eyes. ¡°Young man, haven¡¯t you gotten something wrong? How could I possibly be Master Patelocke? I¡¯m ine Lamburne, one of his assistants.¡±

    ¡°An assistant knows where the treasure is hidden?¡± Su Chen countered.

    ine Lamburne replied, ¡°That¡¯s because I am Patelocke¡¯s personal assistant. I know all the secrets there are to know about him.¡±

    ¡°But even if that¡¯s the case, why would Patelocke need to ce secret treasure stores in his own researchb? After all, this is a researchb; don¡¯t you think that it would be very illogical to hide treasures here of all ces? Sorry, but I have performed my own fair share of experiments; I cannot fathom a reason as to why I would take the time to dig out a few rooms to hide my treasure while I¡¯m buried in my research.¡±

    ine Lamburne was stunned and didn¡¯t know how to respond.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°Most importantly, if the other researchers banished thisb for safety reasons, why didn¡¯t they take the treasures with them? Look, look at these ingredients: Dragonbird Roots, Crimson Pity Grass, Starmetal, Chillstones...... Whether they¡¯ve lost their value or not, each one is a precious ingredient. Even during the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s reign, when resources were abundant, these items were all quite valuable. And they just gave them up just like that? They didn¡¯t feel reluctant leaving these behind whatsoever? Don¡¯t you think that¡¯s very interesting?¡±

    ine Lamburne was silent.

    To abandon theb but also leave behind such arge pile of valuable resources without taking them ¨C this truly was a big w in his logic.

    However, he continued, ¡°Young man, if you give me time, I can exin. They didn¡¯t take these resources with them because they left in a hurry. You should know that Patelocke¡¯s Nightmare is incredibly scary. In fact, it is so scary to the point that they left this ce as soon as they locked it up. They never even thought about......¡±

    Su Chen interrupted him. ¡°Then how do you exin the fact that as the jailor, you have no way of activating the crystal ball?¡±

    ¡°This......¡± ine Lamburne was once again at a loss for words. He still wanted to exin himself, but Su Chen said, ¡°Even if you have other ways of carrying out your duties as a jailor, don¡¯t you think it¡¯s strange that they would just leave a dead person in charge and forget about itpletely? They aren¡¯t afraid at all that in these thirty thousand years you would for some reason let it out?¡±

    Duan Jiangshan couldn¡¯t resist saying, ¡°Perhaps he never thought that far. All these guys know is how to bury their heads in books and create new inventions without ever thinking about the consequences of those inventions.¡±

    ¡°Trust me, Jiangshan, true schrs are clearer than anybody else what their inventions might do. The thought that schrs only know how to create things and not what the consequences of their creations will be is just something people take for granted. Performing research is, in a sense, very sacred; people who can do it well are more creative than even the most romantic poet and more precise than even the strictest judge,¡± Su Chen said straightforwardly.

    As a schr overlord, Su Chen was clearer than any of them of how deep this misunderstanding towards people like him extended.

    If they didn¡¯t even possess the fundamental capacity of foresight, how could they pierce through the dense fog and discover the profound truths hidden within?

    As Su Chen spoke, he nced back at ine Lamburne. ¡°Let me give you an exnation. The reason why this is happening is because you were lying from the very beginning. You aren¡¯t ine Lamburne nor some jailor. In fact, behind that wall isn¡¯t even a real Patelocke¡¯s Nightmare...... This is one of the reasons why I don¡¯t believe you. What rubbish! Insatiable appetite, unlimited separations, an organism that is invincible and immortal...... No such organism can even exist! That vites the most fundamentalws of life on this. There are no treasures, and there is no nightmare; everything is a lie!¡±

    ine Lamburne shook his head. ¡°If I am Patelocke, why do I need to hide my identity? Why would I need to tell such poor-quality lies?¡±

    Su Chenughed coldly, ¡°Let me answer yourst question first. The reason why your lies are of such poor quality is because you were in too much of a hurry. You were in such a hurry that you didn¡¯t have time to think it through or make it more airtight. Coming up with a wless lie isn¡¯t easy to do. I¡¯m a master liar, so I am very clear about how difficult it is myself.¡±

    Over the past few years, Su Chen had schemed against others many, many times. Those schemes, which seemed simple on the surface, had actually consumed a lot of his time and energy to think it over, looking for any significant holes to prevent them from being discovered.

    Because of this, he knew how much thinking a good lie required.

    One absolutely needed an abundance of time to think things over.

    No one coulde up with a perfect lie in such a short period of time. Su Chen couldn¡¯t do it, and neither could this specter.

    Behind the seemingly logical lies were a lot of logical potholes and leaks that couldn¡¯t withstand close investigation.

    Even so, this lie had already tricked Ji Ruoyu and the others.

    After all, not everyone was like him, who could spot the crux of the issue almost immediately. Most of the time, as long as a lie was even somewhat believable, most people would be tricked into believing it.

    ine Lamburne still hadn¡¯t given up yet. ¡°Then why do I need to keep my identity hidden?¡±

    ¡°Because of those experimental specimens outside.¡± Su Chen pointed outside the researchb. ¡°You know you can¡¯t pin those ruthless, inhumane experiments on anyone else. If we found out that you were Patelocke, we definitely wouldn¡¯t be so inclined to believe you or listen to you. That¡¯s why you pretended to be just a helper, so that you could demonstrate your friendliness. But you forgot one thing ¨C no matter who you impersonated, that person would still be of the Arcana Race. During the Arcana Race time period, humans were ves! How could the assistant of a high-ranking Arcana Master possibly speak courteously with human ves? Don¡¯t you think that¡¯s the biggest logical facy?¡±

    The void image was stunned.

    Even Yue Longsha, Duan Jiangshan, and the others all stared at Su Chen, speechless.

    Ji Ruoyu¡¯s eyes were filled with small stars. He muttered, ¡°Incredible! Senior Brother Su, you¡¯re too incredible!¡±

    In that instant, ¡°ine Lamburne¡± lowered his head andughed.

    ¡°Hahahaha, I never would have expected to run into such a formidable youth. Yes, I am Patelocke.¡±

    As he spoke, his appearance changed from that of a young Arcana Race individual to an old, white-haired Arcana Race individual.

    Duan Jiangshan stared at him in shock. ¡°Holy crap! This specter can change forms?¡±

    Patelocke said, ¡°I apologize for my lies earlier. I¡¯ve been trapped in this prison for far too long. To stave off the indescribable loneliness, I forced myself into a deep sleep, only waking once every thousand years. At this point, I¡¯ve awakened thirty-six times in total. I originally thought that I would never regain my freedom until I found you all...... Young humans, I express my regret again in lying to you all. My sincerest apologies. I am an old man who hasmitted many sins, but these past thirty six thousand years have served as penance. At this moment, all I want is to escape the bitterness of such loneliness.¡±

    ¡°So what you were telling us to do before this was just to let you go?¡± Ji Ruoyu asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Patelocke replied. ¡°The mechanism on that stone tablet is the key to helping me out of this spirit tablet. As long as you rotate it, I¡¯ll regain my freedom. I sincerely entreat you, forgive me and release me. If you can give me my freedom, I¡¯m willing to be your loyal ve. Trust me, as one of the chief Arcana Masters during the Arcana Kingdom, I¡¯ll definitely be of great use to you.¡±

    Upon hearing these words, everyone¡¯s eyes lit up.

    They all turned around to look at Su Chen.

    They evidently still wanted to get Su Chen¡¯s opinion on the matter.

    However, Ji Ruoyu couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Senior Brother Su, don¡¯t you value knowledge a lot? If this old man follows you, he¡¯s basically a living encyclopedia. All of the knowledge surrounding Ancient Arcana Techniques will be unveiled to you.¡±

    ¡°The prerequisite is that we actually survive,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Everyone was stunned by his words.

    Patelocke hurriedly said, ¡°I¡¯m just a specter that has no way of touching physical objects. There¡¯s no way that I could harm any of you.¡±

    Yue Longsha couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Yes, he has no way of contacting physical objects. How could he hurt us?¡±

    ¡°Does him not being able to contact physical objects mean that he doesn¡¯t have any abilities?¡± Su Chenughed coldly. ¡°Then what was his transformation just then?¡±

    Yue Longsha was stunned. ¡°You mean......¡±

    ¡°He knows a lot more than you might think,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°Otherwise, how could hemunicate with us? Someone like him who can speak ournguage fluently shouldn¡¯t be underestimated.¡±

    Everyone suddenly realized that they had overlooked something. From the very beginning, Patelocke had been conversing with them using their ownnguage.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 180: Beast Spirit Controllers

    Chapter 180: Beast Spirit Controllers

    Patelocke¡¯s expression finally changed.

    He made a final, stubborn attempt to resist. ¡°I just used a few consciousness-rted techniques. I¡¯m not capable of actually harming you.¡±

    Su Chen coldlyughed, ¡°You may be only able to use consciousness-rted techniques, but that doesn¡¯t mean that you¡¯re incapable of harming us. In fact, apart from your transformation and your proficiency in ournguage, I know of at least one more method that you¡¯re using to deal with us. Do you dare say that you haven¡¯t?¡±

    Patelocke froze.

    Duan Jiangshan and Ji Ruoyu nced at Su Chen. ¡°What else did he do?¡±

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s that!¡± Su Chen pointed at the wall off in the distance. ¡°I said earlier that something that was immortal and had an insatiable appetite was a lie made up by him, so what¡¯s the deal with this image of Patelocke¡¯s Nightmare, then? Do you dare deny that this isn¡¯t an illusory image you created?¡±

    As he spoke, he suddenly unleashed a powerful strike.

    The fist mmed into the transparent wall.

    Boom!

    Amidst the massive rumble, everyone watched as the image in front of them disappeared.

    There was no pile of insatiable meat. Instead, what reced it was a room filled with Origin Formation inscriptions arranged in a six-pointed star formation.

    Within that room stood a massive organism.

    ¡°Purple-Scaled Beast!? Ji Ruoyu, Yue Longsha, and the others yelled in shock.

    Behind the wall was a Purple-Scaled Beast. However, it was clearly muchrger and fiercer than the one they had encountered in the forest.

    A mid-tier Demonic Beast.

    ¡°It is......¡± None of them could understand why a Demonic Beast would suddenly appear in the researchb.

    Su Chen said, ¡°If I¡¯m not mistaken, this guy¡¯s the real jailor of the researchb.¡±

    Everyone was stunned.

    If a Demonic Beast was the jailor of the researchb, then the one it must have been imprisoning was the former master of the researchb, Patelocke?

    Such a strange twist of events was impossible for them to wrap their heads around.

    The Demonic Beast seemed like it had been struck by some Origin Skill, and it stood there, strangely motionless. However, the intense aura emanating from its body reminded them all that it was truly a mid-tier Demonic Beast.

    ¡°You¡¯re saying that everything we¡¯ve run into thus far is because of that Demonic Beast?¡± Duan Jiangshan asked in disbelief.

    ¡°Do you remember our earlier doubts? It would be understandable if something was controlling the Origin Formations, but why would the Vicious Beasts cooperate with the Origin Formations and attack us simultaneously?¡± Su Chen said. ¡°Now, you know the answer. To a Demonic Beast, controlling the Vicious Beasts on this mountain isn¡¯t anything difficult.¡±

    ¡°How does it control the Origin Formations?¡± Ji Ruoyu asked.

    ¡°Of course, it¡¯s by using the central control mechanism. Right now, we are just in a small jail cell in the researchb. The Demonic Beast is in the control room. Otherwise, the researchb and the central control mechanism would bebined, which doesn¡¯t make much sense.¡±

    ¡°How can a Demonic Beast control the central control mechanism?¡± Yu Mengnan was dumbfounded. ¡°How could it possibly reach this point?¡±

    ¡°It was obviously trained. Don¡¯t forget that Demonic Beasts have intelligence. As long as it is taught, it can evenmunicate with other humans. Learning how to control a system like this isn¡¯t that much.¡±

    ¡°Who taught it? Those people left a long time ago. This couldn¡¯t possibly be the same Demonic Beast from thirty-six thousand years ago!¡± Yue Longsha said.

    ¡°Of course, it inherited it through its bloodline. If you brand a certain mission into its bloodline and pass that bloodline down indefinitely, the Purple-Scaled Beast and its descendants will serve as the jailors of this ce.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not possible!¡± Duan Jiangshan was shocked. ¡°How can knowledge and orders be passed down through a person¡¯s bloodline? The Arcana Kingdom never had such skills.¡±

    ¡°But Patelocke does because the primary reason for this researchb¡¯s existence isn¡¯t to pursue immortality, but to improve and facilitate the transfer of information. This way, when Arcana Race individuals were born, they would have already had a wealth of knowledge avable to them and wouldn¡¯t need to go through a study period. This would save them a lot of time...... Am I right, Master Arcana Patelocke?¡±

    Patelocke was stunned. ¡°How did you know?¡±

    ¡°In the researchb we just walked past, more than half of the specimens were pregnant...... That doesn¡¯t look like a pursuit of immortality. Originally, I couldn¡¯t figure out the direction of your research. At first, I thought you were trying to graft lifeforms together and create a new race. Though the n is quite massive, the ambition behind it isn¡¯t that grand. But if you were to create a new race, you could put it to good use...... For instance, you could control its memory.¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°Creating a new race, imnting specific memories in the individuals of that race, then turning them into ves of the Arcana Race to rece the Human Race, Ferocious Race, Feathered Race, and other ves with a rebellious nature ¨C now that¡¯s quite a grand ambition! In the future, you would be able to take this one step further and use it on Arcana Race individuals. If you think about it broadly, Arcana Race newborns would have had all of this knowledge preinstalled. If you think about it selfishly, you could control the Arcana Race with this singlehandedly.¡±

    Everyone was stunned by what Su Chen said.

    ¡°I just so happened to have read a few books that mentioned that during the Arcana Kingdom period, a few Arcana Masters skilled in controlling hordes of beasts were able to dominate the continent for some time.¡±

    Upon hearing this, Patelocke howled, ¡°Those bastards, stealing my grand invention!¡±

    His originally benevolent, amicable expression contorted viciously. All of his pretenses disappeared instantly. His figure instantly grewrge until his head was at the ceiling.

    ¡°Those traitors! They dare disobey my, Patelocke¡¯s, orders! I¡¯ll skin them alive!¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to trouble yourself with that. They died thirty-six thousand years ago,¡± Su Chen said coldly.

    Upon hearing this, Patelocke¡¯s frenzied appearance began to stabilize.

    Yue Longsha, who had also read a few records of ancient Arcana history, was suddenly enlightened. ¡°You mean the Beast Spirit Controllers? So Beast Spirit Controllers actually originated from thisb?¡±

    In ancient Arcana History, a unique profession known as Beast Spirit Controllers had appeared before.

    They purportedly had a unique ability to controlrge hordes of beasts without relying on any tricks or tactics.

    On the Primordial Continent, most things abided by thews of equivalent exchange. To individuals who were proficient in controlling other lifeforms, usually the more targets a person controlled and/or the stronger those targets were, the more energy one would need to expend.

    However, the Beast Spirit Controllers shattered this restriction. It seemed like they could control an unlimited number of beasts, making it so that each Beast Spirit Controller was like a general, each with an army at hismand. During the height of their prestige, they left quite a mark on the Arcana Kingdom, which was why they were subsequently mentioned in the history books.

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Yes, it should have been then. Beast Spirit Controllers existed only for a short time in the Arcana Kingdom time period. Even though their appearance was shy, they never reached the peak. Their disappearance was just as sudden as their appearance. Most people didn¡¯t understand why this was, but it seems that there is really only one reason...... The technique they used wasn¡¯tpleted yet.¡±

    Patelocke froze for a moment before nodding. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right! This technology wasn¡¯t even close to perfect. Even though we did seed in imprinting memories in a bloodline, allowing them to be inherited, any beast that was modified to incorporate this technology would have its capacity to grow stronger greatly limited. After a certain point, there would be no way for the beasts to get stronger. Individuals who used this technique on themselves would result in organ failure due to the intense radiation.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Su Chen finally understood. ¡°Let me piece together the situation, then. Because of your merciless behavior in the researchb over a long period of time, even killing your own assistant, the rest of your assistants finally couldn¡¯t take it anymore and rebelled against you together. However, they paid a heavy price during this battle. After you died, you were imprisoned within this stone tablet, and only a few of them were able to escape alive from the researchb. By using the technology they had been working on here, they began to control hordes of beasts, imprinting the beasts¡¯ bloodlines with amission to be absolutely submissive to their will. That¡¯s how the Beast Spirit Controllers appeared. However, because the beast armies would only listen to their masters¡¯mands, once the controller themself died, the beast armies would scatter.¡±

    ¡°That should be how things happened,¡± everyone agreed.

    ¡°But I have one more question. I don¡¯t understand why they didn¡¯t try to kill you?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Because they wanted to keep me around so that I would help them improve the technology! They never gave up on performing the experiments!¡± Patelocke howled. ¡°But how could I allow those traitors to use me? This is my researchb; I should be the one in control! Thankfully, I left behind a few secret tricks that I could use. With those tricks, I moved my researchb from its original location in void space and allowed it to drift before putting myself into a deep sleep. I would rather wait for a few ten thousand years for my researchb to reenter the main world after it ran out of energy than give those guys a chance!¡±

    Patelocke¡¯s howls resolved the final question in Su Chen¡¯s heart.

    ¡°So that¡¯s why.¡± Su Chen nodded. ¡°Then you admit that you still have a few tricks up your sleeve that you haven¡¯t shown yet?¡±

    Patelocke began tough, ¡°Yes. What point is there in refusing to admit it now? You damn human, your intelligence is so annoying. You guys are just lowly, cheap lifeforms. I gave you an opportunity, but you insisted on taking this path. Now, I, the great Patelocke, will give you onest opportunity. Let me out of this prison this very instant; otherwise, I will kill you all!¡±

    Immediately following his menacing words, the whole researchb was enshrouded in a dark fog, and it was as if everyone had suddenly been thrown into a haunted area.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 181: Spirit Table

    Chapter 181: Spirit Tablet

    As the boundless ck fog rushed over them, a cold, chilly atmosphere began to set in. There were even strange, etherealughs floating around them, as if something was floating around in the dark.

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t bait us in, so now you¡¯re resorting to using force?¡± Su Chen coldlyughed as he nced at his surroundings.

    ¡°Young man, it¡¯s just like you said. Even though I¡¯m just a specter, I can still use a few Arcana techniques. As a former Arcana Master, my power isn¡¯t something you can withstand. Thus, if you don¡¯t want to die, you¡¯d better let me out of this prison obediently......¡± Patelocke said malevolently.

    Everyone was stunned by his suddenly heartless demeanor. Everyone prepared to defend themselves.

    However, Su Chenughed coldly, ¡°Arcana Master? Perhaps while you were still alive, but now that you¡¯re dead, how much of your original strength do you have left? Enough, Patelock. The only skills that you have left are some consciousness techniques, given that you can¡¯t contact physical objects. That¡¯s the only thing you can do with your spirit body.¡±

    Patelocke froze.

    An illusion technique?

    Was this all just an illusion technique?

    Everyone present looked closely at their surroundings. Indeed, even though the ck fog around them was sinister and dense, there weren¡¯t any real attacksing their way.

    Patelocke yelled angrily, ¡°Even if I only have consciousness techniques, I still have many ways of controlling you. If you anger me enough, I can even shatter your soul, turning you into an idiot immediately!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Su Chen nodded seriously. ¡°Consciousness techniques can do that to someone, but that doesn¡¯t mean that you know them. If you had that ability, that Purple-Scaled Beast there behind the wall wouldn¡¯t just be sitting there dumbly. It should have charged over, released you from the stone tablet, and then wiped us all out. After all, you¡¯re not a specialized illusions master; you can¡¯t do it!¡±

    Patelocke yelled, ¡°Do you really think so? Yes, I¡¯m not an illusions master in my spirit body, butut do you think that I¡¯ve only been sleeping for thirty thousand years? No! Ten thousand years ago, I might not have been able to do anything, but things are different now. I just haven¡¯t done it because I don¡¯t want to pay such a high price to control that Demonic Beast. Even if I leave this stone tablet now, I don¡¯t have an appropriate body......¡±

    His voice suddenly died down.

    Su Chen coldly said, ¡°So you finally reveal the truth? Let me guess what you didn¡¯t finish saying...... In reality, what you wanted to say was that even if you left the stone tablet, without an appropriate body to possess, you would still die, right?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Patelocke began to yell.

    ¡°This is why you need us specifically to let you out,¡± Su Chen harrumphed. ¡°It¡¯s not just so you can be free, because while that stone tablet is your prison, it¡¯s also your final lifeline. Without that spirit tablet, your soul will disappear from this world. That¡¯s why you must not only escape but also find a suitable body. I don¡¯t know whether you can control that Demonic Beast or not, but even if you could, you would probably prefer not to be a beast. That¡¯s why you chose to sleep and wait.¡±

    ¡°No...... No......¡± Patelock howled. ¡°I just want to be free; you¡¯re not telling the truth!¡±

    ¡°You just want a new body,¡± Su Chen coldly said. ¡°A newer, healthier body.¡±

    Ji Ruoyu shivered when he thought about what might have happened if he had done what Patelocke had told him to by releasing this great Arcana Master¡¯s specter. His body might¡¯ve been forcibly seized by the other party. He couldn¡¯t help but tremble as he realized the full implications and said, ¡°This demon!¡±

    ¡°Bastards! You¡¯ve pissed me off! Now, you¡¯ll know the price of offending me!¡± Patelocke yelled in fury.

    As he howled, a shrill, piercing screech suddenly began to echo in the room, the noise tunneling into their brains. Everyone simultaneously clutched their heads as they yelled out in pain.

    What Patelocke said wasn¡¯t wrong. Even though he could only use consciousness techniques, he could still kill people with them. Patelocke evidently still had techniques like that up his sleeves.

    But just as he let out that blood-curdling screech, Su Chen charged forwards, snatched up the stone tablet, and said, ¡°If you don¡¯t shut your mouth, I¡¯ll shatter this tablet!¡±

    The howling and screeching immediately stopped.

    Patelocke stared at Su Chen in disbelief. ¡°How...... how did you know?¡±

    Yes, Patelocke fantasized about leaving the spirit tablet, but that didn¡¯t mean that just shattering the tablet would be enough. His spirit was bound to the tablet; if the tablet shattered, so would his spirit. Only through the divot mechanism on the wall, through which his spirit could be extracted from the tablet, would he be able to achieve freedom.

    To most people, Patelocke appeared desperate to leave the tablet. Naturally, that tablet would be viewed as a chain, a prison. No one would think of using this prison to threaten Patelocke.

    Su Chen, however, had instantly pinpointed Patelocke¡¯s greatest weakness.

    Heughed, ¡°Didn¡¯t you just teach us how to let you out? If there was an easier method, why wouldn¡¯t you use it? Naturally, that¡¯s because it isn¡¯t the actual way of releasing you.¡±

    Patelocke trembled.

    That¡¯s right. If he could achieve freedom simply by shattering the stone tablet, why did he need to do something soplex as to trick Ji Ruoyu into doing it for him?

    Su Chenughed coldly, ¡°You put on strong airs but don¡¯t have much strength. No matter how many skills or tricks you have, they cannot cover up the truth of your biggest w. From now on, you¡¯d better listen to my orders carefully.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he picked up the stone tablet.

    ¡°No!¡± Patelocke let out a despairing howl. ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it!¡±

    As he howled, arge boom sounded out.

    The wall on the side of the researchb had suddenly copsed.

    The Purple-Scaled Beast charged out from behind the rubble and pounced at Su Chen.

    Patelocke actually got rid of the illusion the Purple-Scaled Beast had been ced under at this moment. The Demonic Beast had charged over purely based on instinct when it had seen everyone so close to Patelocke¡¯s spirit tablet.

    Su Chen pulled the stone tablet close to himself, cing it in between him and the Demonic Beast as a makeshift shield.

    Shockingly, the Purple-Scaled Beast actually stopped moving.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is, huh?¡± Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°Your mission is to guard, not to destroy, right?¡±

    The Purple-Scaled Beast stared at him as it growled in warning.

    Even though Demonic Beasts had the capacity to speak humannguage, there needed to be a human to teach it first. Without instruction or appropriate mimics, even humans could only babble incoherently.

    As he watched the Purple-Scale Beast growl at him threateningly but without moving, Su Chen confirmed that it was stopping itself from destroying the stone tablet. He smiled and said, ¡°I can leave it like this, but I would like to ask you not to make any trouble for us. Is that alright?¡±

    Even though it couldn¡¯t understand human speech, the Purple-Scaled Beast still had basic intelligence. It evidently understood Su Chen¡¯s meaning. After growling at Su Chen a few more times, it slowly backed off.

    ¡°Very good.¡±

    Su Chenughed as he returned the stone tablet to its original ce when Ji Ruoyu suddenly shouted, ¡°Senior Brother Su, be careful!¡±

    Behind Su Chen, an individual¡¯s figure appeared, charging towards Su Chen like lightning and unleashing a vicious blow right at his back.

    Danba!

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 182: The Last Temple Warrior

    Chapter 182: The Last Temple Warrior

    This punch had been sneakily aimed at Su Chen with the intent of taking his life.

    Just as Ji Ruoyu yelled, Su Chen had already reacted.

    He didn¡¯t turn around. Instead, he immediately charged forwards, simultaneously tossing up the spirit tablet into the air.

    As the spirit tablet was tossed into the air, Patelocke¡¯s figure flew along with it, yelling frantically all the while.

    The Purple-Scaled Beast angrily howled as it charged forwards. It wanted to catch the stone tablet before it hit the ground.

    Su Chen, the Demonic Beast, and Danba were destined to collide with each other because of the spirit board.

    A momentter.

    Boom!

    Arge cloud of dust flew into the air. Two figures simultaneously shot backward.

    It was Su Chen and Danba.

    ¡°AWOO!¡± The Purple-Scaled Beast stood in the middle of the collision as it let out a regal bellow.

    In this exchange of blows, the Purple-Scaled Beast had evidentlye out on top.

    However, the spirit tablet¡¯s movement was affected because of this. No one caught it, and it spiraled towards the ground.

    ¡°No!¡± Patelocke yelled in despair.

    The stone tablet fell to the ground.

    Patelocke¡¯s illusory body flickered for a moment before he realized that he still existed.

    It didn¡¯t shatter?

    He stared in shock, only to discover that there was actually still a cushion of air between the stone tablet and the ground. They hadn¡¯t actually collided.

    Upon closer inspection, he realized that a tentacle-like silhouette was wrapped around the stone tablet. It was this tentacle-like object that had stopped the stone tablet from hitting the ground and shattering.

    ¡°This is......¡± he said in shock.

    ¡°Mine,¡± Su Chen said with a slight smile.

    He gestured. The spirit tablet flew into the air under the guidance of the air tentacle andnded back in Su Chen¡¯s hand.

    Danba¡¯s expression sank. ¡°You were prepared for this!¡±

    Su Chen tilted his head. ¡°I¡¯ve waited for you a long time now.¡±

    Danba had already ruined Su Chen¡¯s ns two times, causing him to experience two setbacks.

    If Su Chen still hadn¡¯t taken any precautionary measures, then he wouldn¡¯t be Su Chen.

    Even though he didn¡¯t know how Danba would find this ce, Su Chen believed that Danba definitely wouldn¡¯t miss this central location.

    As he spoke, heshed out with his right hand. The air tentacle gripping the spirit tablet mmed back in Danba¡¯s direction.

    Yes, he was going to use the spirit tablet like a hammer.

    ¡°AHH!¡± Patelocke¡¯s frightened yells began to sound once more. As the tablet flew at Danba, the mid-tier Demonic Beast leapt into action, snarling as it flew towards Danba.

    Danba knew the situation wasn¡¯t good. He hurriedly backed up, a Crowned Iron-Feathered Eagle appearing behind him and wing at the spirit tablet. Evidently, he wanted to shatter it.

    Patelocke howled in sheer panic.

    Su Chen jerked the air tentacle back. The spirit tablet flew into the air, narrowly avoiding the w strike.

    ¡°HA!¡± Danba yelled angrily. A powerful wave of energy surged at Su Chen, the Demonic Beast, and the stone tablet. Suddenly, time seemed to slow down.

    At that moment, a streak of light suddenly shot towards Su Chen. Simultaneously, another streak of light appeared; however, this one was aimed at Danba.

    Whoosh!

    Following the shes of light, blood sshed through the air from Su Chen and Danba. Their directions in midair were altered as a short spear suddenly protruded from their bodies.

    Near the entrance of the researchb, another Ferocious Race youth had appeared.

    The Temple Warrior with the short spear.

    His body was covered in blood, and a sizable cavity had appeared in his chest. Evidently, he had been injured quite seriously before he had struck out, but that sneak attack had still injured Su Chen.

    A short spear was also protruding from Danba¡¯s stomach.

    That spear was from Pi Yuanhong.

    ¡°You¡¯re not injured!¡± Danba yelled as he stared at Pi Yuanhong.

    ¡°It¡¯s already pretty muchpletely healed,¡± Pi Yuanhong replied. His wounds had opened up again because of how much effort he had exerted, but he didn¡¯t care in the slightest.

    Though the Temple Warrior¡¯s short spear was incredibly sharp, it wasn¡¯t a life-threatening blow. On the other hand, after drinking a high-tier Recovery Medicine, Pi Yuanhong¡¯s wounds had quickly improved. However, Su Chen hadmanded him to pretend like he was still badly injured so that he could unleash an ambush at that moment.

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen had told Pi Yuanhong to lie in ambush, while Danba had set up the short-speared Temple Warrior beforehand, resulting in both of them being ambushed and attacked at the same time.

    All that could be said was that both of them were truly sinister.

    As he spoke, Pi Yuanhong sent out a punch. Simultaneously, Duan Jiangshan and Yu Mengnan followed him up. Even though two Temple Warriors were still quite formidable, they were clearly injured, and they might not be able to unleash their full strength.

    But at this moment, the Purple-Scaled Beast charged forward again, spitting out a purple fog from its mouth at everyone.

    This was a mid-tier Demonic Beast. Everyone knew just how strong it was, and no one wanted to sit around waiting to get hit by it. Pi Yuanhong and the others could only retreat helplessly, as did Danba and the short-spear-wielding Temple Warrior.

    The Purple-Scaled Beast was about to spit again when a stone tablet came hurtling in its direction. It was Su Chen using the stone tablet to attract the beast¡¯s attention. Beside him was Yue Longsha scrambling to pull out a vial of medicine for Su Chen to drink while Ji Ruoyu helped him remove the spear and bandage the wound. Patelocke¡¯s panicked yells echoed through the air, giving the scene an almostical effect.

    ¡°Old Pi, drink the medicine and kill them!¡± Su Chen yelled.

    ¡°Understood!¡± Pi Yuanhong replied, then pulled out a set of medicine and drank it. Instead of drinking the high-tier Recovery Medicine, however, he tossed it to Yue Longsha so that Su Chen could use it.

    Four vials of medicine went down one after another. Pi Yuanhong¡¯s energy wildly surged, the blood in his body starting to heat up.

    ¡°Kill Danba first!¡± Su Chen yelled loudly.

    To him, killing Danba was worth more than killing the other thirty-nine Ferocious Race youthsbined.

    ¡°AHH!¡± Pi Yuanhong howled as he charged Danba.

    The Crowned Iron-Feathered Eagle spread its wings again as it raked its ws down, mming into Pi Yuanhong¡¯s iron fists. Sparks flew everywhere, yet the powerful Temple Warrior was forcefully sent flying by Pi Yuanhong¡¯s strike.

    This wasn¡¯t just because Pi Yuanhong¡¯s strength had greatly increased; it was also because the Temple Warrior had been seriously wounded by the spear.

    ¡°DIE!¡± Pi Yuanhong howled as he charged forwards like the wind, mming his palm down onto Danba¡¯s head.

    Just as he was about to shatter Danba¡¯s head, the short-spear-wielding Temple Warrior suddenly charged, intending on exchanging blows with Pi Yuanhong. The moment right before the two of them mmed into each other, a brilliant light began to shine from his body.

    This light looked identical to the forbidden technique that Ferraro had used right before he had died.

    ¡°Lonter!¡± Danba yelled.

    The short-spear-wielding Temple Warrior nced at him and yelled, ¡°GO!¡±

    Danba kept the pressure on his abdomen as he retreated.

    ¡°Don¡¯t even think about running!¡± Pi Yuanhong erupted, wanting to chase after Danba and kill him.

    The short-spear-wielding Temple Warrior had recovered to his peak condition after unlocking the forbidden technique. The effects of his earlier wounds were forcefully suppressed; even though Pi Yuanhong had ingested a full set of medicine, the Temple Warrior¡¯s strength at this point was roughly equivalent to his. However, although this Temple Warrior specialized in agility, he was forced to meet the blows head-on and couldn¡¯t evade to ensure Danba¡¯s escape. There was no way he could defeat Pi Yuanhong.

    In addition, Yu Mengnan and Duan Jiangshan were also close now, and the three of them began to attack in tandem.

    The short-spear-wielding Temple Warrior blocked the doorway and wouldn¡¯t retreat.

    Boom, boom, boom!

    Blow after blow rained down on his body, the forceful blows causing him to spit out blood constantly.

    However, the Temple Warrior continued to endure, his short body suddenly emitting a brilliant light. His Spirit Ape Totem appeared above him for thest time.

    ¡°HA!¡± Duan Jiangshan yelled as his Mountain-Shattering de sliced past the Temple Warrior¡¯s body. Blood flew through the air.

    Lonter continued to tenaciously swing his spear as if the wounds on his body didn¡¯t exist at all.

    Bang!

    Bang!

    With a continuous series of impacts, Lonter was struck by three of Pi Yuanhong¡¯s punches and two palm strikes from Yu Mengnan. The totemic inscriptions on his body began to dim as blood began to flow from the wounds covering his body.

    However, he didn¡¯t back down. Duan Jiangshan yelled and unleashed another balde strike. Lonter didn¡¯t attempt to dodge; the spear in his hand stabbed out in response, the spear shaft suddenly glowing with ck light as it stabbed into Duan Jiangshan¡¯s chest, skewering him. Simultaneously, Duan Jiangshan¡¯s de carved deep into Lonter¡¯s body.

    Pi Yuanhong followed up with a punch to Lonter¡¯s head. Lonter¡¯s head snapped back, a dent near his temple appearing from the impact. Even so, he refused to die as his remaining arm struck out with lightning speed, mming into Pi Yuanhong¡¯s injured midsection. Even though Pi Yuanhong had used an Iron-Skin Medicine, this strike caused his whole body to tighten up in pain.

    Yu Mengnan closed in quickly, her expertly-aimed palms ramming into Lonter¡¯s chest. Numerous cracks could be heard as his ribcage gave way, one of them stabbing directly into his heart. However, relying on the remaining vestiges of power from unlocking the forbidden technique, Lonter just wouldn¡¯t die. He counterattacked; in the exchange of blows, Yu Mengnan¡¯s strength was weaker than Lonter¡¯s, and she was sent flying. However, as she was sent flying, a silver thread suddenly appeared in her hand, wrapping around Lonter¡¯s arm. With a fierce tug, Lonter¡¯s remaining arm went flying.

    Having lost both his arms, Lonter howled as he charged forward, kicking his feet out in onest effort.

    Unfortunately, this kick was stopped in its tracks.

    Pi Yuanhong grabbed his feet and said cooly, ¡°You refuse to die? Let¡¯s see if you can survive this.¡±

    He pulled firmly with his two hands, splitting Lonter in two.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 183: Submission

    Chapter 183: Submission

    While Pi Yuanhong and Lonter were locked in a fierce battle, Su Chen was walking the dog.

    Yes, he was walking the dog!

    The spirit tablet flew back and forth through the air, Patelocke yelling and screaming as if he were bungee-jumping. The Purple-Scaled Beast chased constantly after the spirit tablet, running back and forth as if it were on a leash.

    The Purple-Scaled Beast wasn¡¯t stupid, but the imprinted orders left behind on its bloodline gave it no other choice.

    While the Purple-Scaled Beast had no choice, however, Patelocke did.

    Patelocke, who didn¡¯t want to be thrown around in the air any longer, yelled angrily, ¡°Enough! Stop it all!¡±

    As he yelled, an invisible wave of consciousness energy washed over the Purple-Scaled Beast and Su Chen.

    However, the Purple-Scaled Beast reared back and let out an angry howl. Patelocke¡¯s will was not able to control the Purple-Scaled Demonic Beast.

    He had never been skilled at controlling other lifeforms. He only began studying it once he was turned into a specter and couldn¡¯t contact physical objects, but because he had no foundation and couldn¡¯t read any of the books, he had no path of studying and had to rely on his own insights, making his progress incredibly slow. He had only been able to control the Purple-Scaled Beast previously because it had never experienced something like that before and had been ambushed. Now, repeating that would be quite difficult.

    As for controlling Su Chen, that was even further out of the question. Humans were more intelligent and possessed stronger willpower than Demonic Beasts. If the Demonic Beast could resist this consciousness assault, it wasn¡¯t even worth mentioning Su Chen.

    Patelocke¡¯s consciousness assault didn¡¯t control either Su Chen nor the beast, giving Su Chen an opportunity.

    Just as the Purple-Scaled Beast was resisting the consciousness-attack, Su Chen activated Fata Morgana. The Purple-Scaled Beast instantly fell into an illusion realm, unable to escape.

    Su Chen only used Fata Morgana sparingly and under very special circumstances. However, every time he used it, it was almost guaranteed to seed. No matter what, he wanted to avoid a bacsh.

    The Purple-Scaled Beast froze in ce, and Lonter had been split into two by Pi Yuanhong. The battle had finally concluded.

    Su Chen kept his hand on his midsection as he stood up, his face pale. He asked, ¡°Ruoyu, how much more time do we have?¡±

    ¡°At most, the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn before this ce copses,¡± Ji Ruoyu replied.

    ¡°So what are we waiting for? Let¡¯s hurry up and grab what we can!¡± Su Chenmanded.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Ji Ruoyu and Yue Longsha nodded, then began to tear through the researchb like a tornado.

    At this point, they no longer considered the value of the objects. As long as it didn¡¯t look half-bad, they would stuff it in their Origin Rings and look at itter. Even Yu Mengnan and Duan Jiangshan ignored their wounds and began to scour the ce.

    Su Chen, however, stood there motionless, holding the stone tablet in his hands as he gazed at Patelocke.

    ¡°Tell me, how should I deal with you?¡± heughed coldly.

    ¡°Don¡¯t kill me!¡± Patelocke began to yell. ¡°I am willing to be your most loyal ve! I used to be one of the leading Arcana Masters during the Arcana Kingdom and have an abundance of knowledge. I can teach you all kinds of things. Aren¡¯t you studying Ancient Arcana Techniques? Air Tentacles? What kind of trash is that? I can teach you many more outstanding techniques!¡±

    ¡°That sounds pretty good. But unfortunately, everything that we find here needs to be turned in to the higher-ups. If you be my ve, I won¡¯t be able to exin it to them,¡± Su Chen said indifferently.

    Patelocke froze.

    Su Chen said, ¡°It¡¯s better if I just shatter the tablet.¡±

    Patelocke panicked. He yelled, ¡°You could hide me......¡±

    The words hadn¡¯t even fully left his mouth when Su Chen said in a low voice, ¡°Shut your mouth. Are you trying to get me to sell out my own country?¡±

    Patelocke¡¯s heart trembled. He realized that Su Chen wasn¡¯t the only person here.

    He nced at Su Chen, who was looking at the Purple-Scaled Beast.

    Patelocke had been alive for tens of thousands of years. He nced at Su Chen, then at the Purple-Scaled Beast, and suddenly reacted. He yelled, ¡°If you kill me, you¡¯ll lose the ability to threaten that Demonic Beast after it breaks free of your illusion.¡±

    Indeed, Su Chen¡¯s hand paused before he said, ¡°But if I leave you here, it¡¯ll still attack us. What should I do?¡±

    ¡°What should you do?¡± Patelocke didn¡¯t know how to answer Su Chen¡¯s questions. He stared at Su Chen dumbly.

    Su Chen sighed and reminded him, ¡°Unless I have some way to control you.¡±

    Patelocke suddenly understood what Su Chen was getting at. ¡°Your blood...... If you put a drop of your blood on the stone tablet and then recite the corresponding chant, the words inscribed on this tablet, you will be the tablet¡¯s owner from here on out. But as a price, you won¡¯t be able to dissolve this connection.¡±

    ¡°Is that so,¡± Su Chen sighed. ¡°Well, there¡¯s nothing I can do. It¡¯s a life-or-death emergency.¡±

    Yue Longsha couldn¡¯t help but roll her eyes when she heard this.

    For someone as smart as her, how could she not realize what Su Chen was doing?

    He just wanted to find a logical reason to take the spirit tablet for himself.

    Smuggling the spirit tablet past inspections wasn¡¯t practical. Because Su Chen was friends with everyone, the others might agree to help him smuggle it through if he begged them.

    However, this would also give people leverage over him.

    At this point, everyone was still good friends, but no one knew what might happen in the future.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t want that to happen, so he needed to find an excuse.

    Luckily, the Purple-Scaled Beast was a perfect excuse.

    With this excuse, Su Chen could righteously im the tablet.

    In fact, Su Chen¡¯s intentions might be seen through by people other than Yue Longsha.

    However, it was just a spirit tablet. Patelocke¡¯s knowledge was an invaluable treasure to Su Chen, but it wasn¡¯t worth anything to the others. To people like Pi Yuanhong, if you told them to read a book, they would fall asleep before even getting halfway through.

    In addition, Su Chen¡¯s rtionship with everyone was very good. They might struggle with helping Su Chen openly, but no one had any issues with just pretending to be blind. Also, they would also gain Su Chen¡¯s favor; gaining favor just by doing nothing was something everyone liked to do.

    Su Chen was the same. Even if they did discover it, Su Chen could im that it had been a decision made under extreme duress and that he had no alternative but to im the tablet for himself. In any case, things would be much easier to exin.

    Next, Su Chen squeezed a drop of blood onto the spirit tablet and began to recite the chant inscribed on the tablet. In reality, it was just a unique Origin Energy Pattern.

    Once he finished the chant, the process of getting the spirit tablet to recognize an owner was alsoplete. From this point onwards, it belonged to Su Chenpletely. It would be impossible to give it away even if he wanted to.

    After subduing the spirit tablet, the Purple-Scaled Beast was also beginning to wake up from its dream.

    Surprisingly, it didn¡¯t attack Su Chen; instead, it merely gazed at him intently.

    Su Chen gazed at the Purple-Scaled Beast and said in a low voice, ¡°I know you don¡¯t believe me, but I want you to know that everything you saw in that dream is true.¡±

    Even though the Demonic Beast couldn¡¯t understand human speech, it could still sense Su Chen¡¯s meaning.

    ¡°AWOO!¡± It tilted its head back and let out a resonant cry.

    Following this cry, the cry of a Demonic Beast sounded far off in the distance in response.

    It was the little Purple-Scaled Beast¡¯s response upon hearing its father¡¯s cry.

    Upon hearing this howl, the Purple-Scaled Beast cried out sadly as it stared at Su Chen angrily.

    Su Chen said, ¡°I¡¯m very sorry for killing your mate. However, if you¡¯re willing, I can take your child out of here. The Purple-Scaled Beasts¡¯ mission is over. Your child will be set free from this moment onwards.¡±

    He had no way of conveying to the Purple-Scaled Demonic Beast his thoughts viaplexnguage, but he still had his own tricks.

    An instantter, Su Chen cast Fata Morgana again, demonstrating the aftermath of the copse of the ruins.

    This was somewhat of a risk. The Purple-Scaled Beast knew that it was in a dream realm. As long as it wanted to, it could easily break through.

    However, it didn¡¯t.

    It quietly watched as Su Chen demonstrated to it what would happen next.

    It knew that this was the promise Su Chen was making with it.

    Within the dream realm, it watched as Su Chen and the others left. A young girl took the little Purple-Scaled Beast with her to the wilderness and unlocked the restrictions, giving it freedom.

    The dream ended. When the Purple-Scaled Beast awoke again, it saw the little Purple-Scaled Beast standing not too far away from itself, itsrge eyes staring at its father with a confused look.

    The Purple-Scaled Beast let out a soft croon.

    Under the control of Zhou Juanjia¡¯s will, the little Purple-Scaled Beast padded over.

    The two Purple-Scaled Beasts, one big and one small, rubbed their necks against each other, sniffing the familiar odors.

    Not far from them, Su Chen watched along with Zhou Juanjia and Gan Haoli. ¡°You guys came right on time.¡±

    ¡°It seems like it wasn¡¯t of much use after all...... I was originally hoping to use it to turn the tides,¡± Zhou Juanjiaughed.

    ¡°Not every advance preparation needs to have some great use,¡± Su Chen replied as he watched the two Demonic Beasts cuddling. ¡°Don¡¯t you think that this conclusion is pretty good?¡±

    ¡°Hm...... Yes, it is pretty good,¡± Zhou Juanjiaughed.

    ¡°Unfortunately, this period of calm is only temporary,¡± Su Chen sighed. He turned around and asked, ¡°Ruoyu, how much time until it begins?¡±

    Ji Ruoyu shrugged and replied, ¡°It¡¯s already begun.¡±

    Strange ripples suddenly washed over them as if a stone had been tossed into a still pond. The void space began to flicker.

    The ruins had begun to copse.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 184: Returning Favors

    Chapter 184: Returning Favors

    Gold River Basin.

    The human and Ferocious Race armies stood opposite each other, the pile of rubble in between them.

    Xiao Feinan stood not far from the pile of rubble, his expression solemn.

    Not long before this, one of his Origin Formations masters had informed him that the void space of the ruins had experienced a massive fluctuation of energy, drastically decreasing the stability of the space. The ruins were copsing rapidly, indicating that the expedition was going to end today. He had been standing there solemnly and alertly since early that morning.

    The Ferocious Race wasn¡¯t nearly as informed as the humans about the situation in the ruins, but they had their own way of figuring things out ¨C by keeping a close eye on the humans.

    Once Xiao Feinan appeared on the basin, Mo Lihan also appeared.

    Very quickly, the space above the pile of rubble began to ripple vigorously, the fluctuations gradually increasing in intensity.

    ¡°They¡¯re here!¡± one of Xiao Feinan¡¯s subordinate officers said anxiously.

    The Ferocious Race camp also realized something was happening.

    This was the Ferocious Race. They never pursued discipline, only bravery and strength.

    While the Ferocious Race¡¯s organizational capabilities were the lowest, their heroism and morale were always the best.

    It was a Ferocious Race youth.

    ¡°AWOO!¡± all of the Ferocious Race individuals present howled in celebration. Xiao Feinan and the other humans felt their hearts sink ever so slightly.

    However, the next figure to emerge was a human. It was Wu Xiao.

    This time, the humans celebrated, while the Ferocious Race individuals were subdued somewhat.

    The Ferocious Race youths and humans appeared in this alternating fashion one after the other. However, very soon, the number of humans returning began to edge out the number of Ferocious Race youths returning.

    Upon seeing He Yuandong, Qi Weiyan, Su Chen, etc. step out of the void one after the other, Xiao Feinan¡¯s face was filled with joy. In contrast, Mo Lihan¡¯s expression only grew uglier.

    When thest person stepped out of the void, the space above the pile of rubble trembled violently before the portal disappeared. Everything returned to its former calm. Next, the armies that had been waiting for their return began to rush up to meet the returnees.

    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Mo Lihan stared at the Ferocious Race youths in front of him, his eyes widening.

    Seven!

    Only seven Ferocious Race youths had returned alive.

    What about the humans?

    Twenty-nine!

    Twenty-nine humans had returned alive.

    Without question, the Ferocious Race side had suffered serious losses this time.

    ¡°How could this happen? How could this happen!?¡± Mo Lihan yelled. He grabbed a nearby Ferocious Race youth by the neck and howled, ¡°Where are your other brothers? Where are the other Ferocious Race youths?¡±

    ¡°They won¡¯t be returning, captain,¡± Danba said, his face deathly pale.

    ¡°That¡¯s not possible!¡± Mo Lihan stumbled backwards.

    Five Temple Warriors!

    They had sent five Temple Warriors into the ruins, but only one had returned.

    On their end, Xiao Feinan was also learning from He Yuandong and Qi Weiyan that there had been five Temple Warriors within the ruins.

    His face paled. ¡°Five? You¡¯re sure there were five?¡±

    He Yuandong and the others were just about to confirm it when Su Chen suddenly said, ¡°Actually, we can¡¯t be sure about it.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Everyone stared at Su Chen in shock.

    Su Chen said clearly, ¡°The reason why we assumed they were Temple Warriors was because our opponents were incredibly powerful, but power doesn¡¯t necessarily imply that they were Temple Warriors. For instance, though Bloodline Nobility ns are usually more powerful, there may be one or two individuals without bloodlines that are able to surpass the normal limits. With the Ferocious Race¡¯s potential, producing one or two exceptionally powerful individuals wouldn¡¯t be out of the ordinary; thus, we can¡¯t confirm that they were actually Temple Warriors. Personally, I don¡¯t think they were Temple Warriors at all.¡±

    Upon hearing this, Xiao Feinan sighed in relief. However, Tang Ming began to grow agitated. ¡°How could they not be? Feng Yigu even ingested that set of medicine, and the guy he was fighting had already been injured. However, they both perished together in the end. And that Ferocious Race youth I fought ¨C do you think that we¡¯d need both me and Leader He to deal with a normal Ferocious Race youth?¡±

    ¡°Tang Ming, shut your mouth!¡± He Yuandong said. ¡°I also think that those two weren¡¯t Temple Warriors.¡±

    ¡°I second that thought,¡± Qi Weiyan said.

    ¡°What?¡± Tang Ming froze.

    He nced around him, only to find that most of the people around him were nodding.

    Even though his personality was arrogant, he wasn¡¯t an idiot. He suddenly realized that if he continued to maintain that there were five Temple Warriors, there wouldn¡¯t be any effect on the Ferocious Race group assembled. After all, they were all dead, and there was no way that they could verify the truth of the matter. However, it wouldn¡¯t have a small effect on Xiao Feinan. At the very least, he would be used of having been toox while supervising the situation.

    Everyone was familiar with Xiao Feinan. If he was just an arrogant, haughty general, they might not have said anything, but Xiao Feinan was a pretty good person. No one wanted to see him get in trouble. In addition, the method that the Ferocious Race had used to sneak two Temple Warriors in was still a secret. No one could say for sure whether Xiao Feinan had been toox or the opponents¡¯ tactics had been superior. There was no point in dragging him down over this.

    That was why Su Chen maintained that there were two additional suspected Temple Warriors. This could be considered giving Xiao Feinan an extra opportunity.

    Most importantly, they could use this to get on Xiao Feinan¡¯s good graces.

    In this way, Xiao Feinan would owe everyone present a favor.

    How much value getting in someone¡¯s good graces varied from person to person and was hard to estimate. At the very least, however, Xiao Feinan¡¯s impression of Su Chen increased significantly because he was the first to mention that the Temple Warriors might not actually be Temple Warriors.

    Upon realizing this, Tang MIng didn¡¯t say anything.

    Xiao Feinan also understood what was happening. He sped his hands and said, ¡°Everyone has worked hard on this expedition to the ruins. I, Xiao Feinan, recognize the blood, sweat, and tears you all have poured out. I believe I can say on behalf of Long Sang Country that you all will be justly rewarded for your contributions!¡±

    Naturally, Xiao Feinan was expressing his gratitude.

    Of course, gratitude was still just gratitude; the inspections still needed to be done. The resources within the Origin Rings still needed to be collected, and the students themselves were also inspected to make sure that they didn¡¯t conceal anything. Finally, they needed to interview each student to determine what exactly had happened in the ruins byparing everyone¡¯s testimonies, then making an evaluation.

    Under these circumstances, the spirit board couldn¡¯t possibly remain concealed.

    Within the main tent, an officer was interrogating Su Chen, writing down everything that he had done within the ruins.

    The officer¡¯s attitude was very cordial. Nothing happened to make Su Chen unhappy.

    After asking precisely about the matter of the ownership of the spirit tablet, the officer said amicably, ¡°I¡¯ve already written down everything that¡¯s happened. Overall, there aren¡¯t any issues with your testimony. As for this spirit tablet, even though it¡¯s already recognized a master, it should still remain here with us ording to the rules until the higher-ups are able to take a look at it.¡±

    This...... Su Chen hesitated.

    When he was answering the officer¡¯s questions, Su Chen had downyed Patelocke¡¯s value intentionally. Though the officer knew that the spirit of an Ancient Arcana Master was within the tablet, he didn¡¯t know that the spirit was actually a Chief Arcana Master, and one that could use consciousness techniques. Without question, this would cause his valuation of the spirit tablet to greatly decrease.

    However, if Su Chen were to turn the spirit tablet over to him, the oue would be hard to predict ¨C if Patelocke were to secretly try and foil his ns by spilling everything, Su Chen might not be able to hang onto the spirit tablet.

    ¡°Since it¡¯s already recognized a master and isn¡¯t something incredibly valuable, just return it to him. I¡¯ll exin the situation to the higher-ups.¡± At this moment, a voice came from outside the tent. Xiao Feinan walked in, his hands behind his back.

    ¡°Many thanks, General Xiao!¡± Su Chen stood up and said.

    He knew that this was Xiao Feinan returning his favor from earlier.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 185: Rewards Based On Meri

    Chapter 185: Rewards Based On Merit

    That evening, the human camp threw a massive celebration in the name of Su Chen and the others. Many of the officers and soldiers took turns pouring drinks for them. Normally, as Origin Qi Schrs, they could easily neutralize the alcohol; however, the troops brought out wine brewed from spirit medicines, strengthening the alcohol content. Su Chen ended up dead drunk.

    This was the second time in his life that he had gotten drunk, and he awoke with the same splitting headache asst time.

    Upon leaving his tent, he was greeted by the sight of soldiers training, yells and shouts filling the air.

    Su Chen went to take a closer look out of curiosity. Every soldier possessed a powerful physique, and the soldiers were all at the peak of Body Tempering.

    The troops were usually separated by ranks. Apart from a few elite ranks, Body Tempering realm individuals were usually soldiers, while Origin Qi Schrs would at least be low-ranking officers.

    For every one of this battalion¡¯s soldiers to be at the peak of Body Tempering implied that this regiment was quite strong. Againstmon Body Tempering soldiers, Su Chen would probably be able to take on a hundred at a time without issues. However, Su Chen wasn¡¯t confident that he could take on a hundred of these soldiers all at once; even if he were to win, he would have to pay a big price.

    ¡°Well? What does Prince Su think about my troops?¡± Xiao Feinan walked in Su Chen¡¯s direction.

    Su Chen thought for a moment before replying, ¡°Their formations are well-defined, and their bravery is impressive. They should be elite troops who have gone through many battles.¡±

    ttery was always quite effective. Xiao Feinan tilted his head back andughed, ¡°Well said! Every soldier here is a veteran; after all, Goldriver Fort is the first line of defense against the Ferocious Race. Although they aren¡¯t as powerful as you geniuses, they¡¯re still a force to be reckoned with when they work in tandem. However......¡±

    Xiao Feinan suddenly changed topics and said, ¡°Good soldiers need good officers tomand them. My Goldriver Fort isn¡¯tcking good soldiers, but weckmanders who have both brains and brawn. What do you think? Would you be interested in joining the Heaven¡¯s Mist Army?¡±

    Su Chen finally realized that Xiao Feinan was here to recruit him.

    That wasn¡¯t that strange. Anyone from the Hidden Dragon Institute was definitely an elite amongst their peers in the country. They were talents who were always highly sought after. Anyone who participated in this expedition was an elite even amongst elites.

    Now that Heaven¡¯s Mist was so close to these kinds of talents, how could they not try to get first picks?

    Because of that, Xiao Feinan kept everyone near under the guise of throwing a celebration even though they were free to go after the inspection wasplete. He could thus express his goodwill to them one by one and try to rope them in.

    He didn¡¯t expect to rope in everyone, but if he could convince even one of them to join, he would have made a huge profit.

    Su Chen¡¯s performance was the most outstanding within the ruins, which was why Xiao Feinan hade to recruit him personally.

    Su Chen understood Xiao Feinan¡¯s meaning and bitterlyughed, ¡°I¡¯m afraid I¡¯ll have to let General Xiao¡¯s goodwill down......¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so hasty to refuse,¡± Xiao Feinan said. ¡°If you¡¯re willing to join, I will put you inmand over a ward.¡±

    Armies of the Seven Kingdoms were organized into squadrons, fireteam, guards, wards, battalions, garrisons, and armies.

    A ward contained three hundred soldiers, which would make Su Chen a mid-ranking officer.

    Su Chen was only in the Blood Boiling Realm and had no experience in leading troops. Putting him inmand of a ward immediately was absolutely an exception to the rule; from this, it was clear how much Xiao Feinan valued Su Chen.

    However, Su Chen still shook his head. ¡°Sorry, my ambitions aren¡¯t here.¡±

    Xiao Feinan sighed, ¡°If you¡¯re not willing, then forget about it. A talent like you will have a bright future. Right, the higher-ups have made their decision. You can keep that spirit tablet as a reward for the dangers that you braved, but it will count towards your contribution points.¡±

    Su Chen felt his heart tighten. ¡°You mean I won¡¯t have any other rewards?¡±

    Xiao Feinanughed, ¡°How could that be possible? You all risked death for Long Sang Country. If we acted this way over such a trivial matter, everyone would hate us. Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯ll just be a small deduction.¡±

    Indeed, they had just returned to the Hidden Dragon Institute when the higher-ups informed him that he had made the most contributions during the expedition. They rewarded him with a 2nd-tier Heroes Medal, the only one handed out to any of the students. All the other students received a 3rd-tier Heroes Medal. In addition, he was allowed to choose three treasures from the Emperor¡¯s treasure stores not worth more than his current possessions, the spirit tablet being one of them. In other words, Su Chen was allowed to pick out two treasures from the Emperor¡¯s treasure stores. In addition, though he had to turn in all of the hidden books he had found in the ruins, he was allowed to keep copies of them.

    Undoubtedly, they were being extremely generous.

    On that day, a court official took him to Long Coiling City to visit the imperial pce¡¯s storeroom.

    Upon entering the storeroom, Su Chen was greeted with the sight of innumerable Origin Tools, precious medicinal ingredients, etc. Every item was of the highest possible quality.

    The old man who was responsible for leading him there said, ¡°This is the imperial pce¡¯s storeroom. Prince Su, you may select two treasures from this room. If you have anything you need, you can also let me know.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, sir. I would like to choose a technique that condenses Origin Energy first,¡± Su Chen said.

    The old man led Su Chen to the cultivation technique storeroom. Indeed, the technique that he was looking for, the Golden Scripture Art, was there.

    Because this technique¡¯s value was extremely high, it hadn¡¯t been ced within the Emperor¡¯s personal library. Instead, it was treated as a treasure and kept in the storeroom. After Su Chen took it, however, the imperial family wouldn¡¯t be able to cultivate that technique anymore in the future.

    Afterpleting the task entrusted to him by Shi Kaihuang, Su Chen was in a good mood. He began to slowly peruse the treasures, looking for something that suited him.

    After searching for nearly half an hour, he had circled the entire storeroom once but hadn¡¯t found anything suitable.

    The old man asked, ¡°There are so many treasures here. Are none of them worthy of Prince Su¡¯s valuation?¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°Sir, you¡¯ve misunderstood me. I have a unique fault; I think that anything that can be bought with money isn¡¯t worth my time. Only items that cannot be purchased with money are real treasures. There are indeed many treasures within the imperial pce¡¯s storeroom, but most of them have an associated price tag. I can¡¯t get too excited about anything with a price tag on it.¡±

    The old manughed upon hearing this and said, ¡°Prince Su is indeed a clever man. I believe what you are looking for are treasures that are without equal. There are such treasures here, but perhaps Prince Su may not be able to use them!¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Su Chen¡¯s interest was piqued. ¡°I can only determine whether or not I¡¯ll be able to use them after I take a look.¡±

    ¡°Prince, please follow me.¡±

    The old man led Su Chen to a certain corner in the storeroom.

    A pile of grey rocks was erected in that corner. They seemed quite unassuming.

    The old man picked up one of the rocks and said, ¡°These stones were identally discovered by His Excellency one day when he was exploring the outer realms. They have the extremely unique effect of causing one¡¯s Origin Energy to boil.¡±

    ¡°Causing one¡¯s Origin Energy to boil?¡± Su Chen asked in shock.

    As the name suggested, an Origin Qi Schr¡¯s Origin Energy would boil and fluctuate violently, giving it an extreme ability to condense.

    The effect of condensing one¡¯s Origin Energy in this way would greatly increase the power of all of one¡¯s Origin Skills, but because of how effective it was, it would make the Origin Energy difficult to control.

    The rocks in the storeroom had been obtained by Lin Mengze, the current emperor of Long Sang Country, during his travels amongst the other realms before he ascended the throne. At the time, he discovered that they could cause one¡¯s Origin Energy to boil, making him think that he had found an ingredient that could increase the strength of one¡¯s Origin Skills. Unfortunately, after performing a few experiments on the rocks after his return, he discovered that the Origin Energy fluctuations were too chaotic and simply impossible to control. After trying out numerous ideas to no avail, he finally gave up on them and kept them in this ce.

    Because he had found these stones inadvertently while exploring the outer realms, no simr existence could be found on the whole continent. No price tag could be ced on them; calling them treasures without equal, for which there were no substitutes, wasn¡¯t wrong in the slightest.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 186: Origin Substance

    Chapter 186: Origin Substance

    ¡°What?? You chose a pile of crappy rocks as one of your treasures?¡± Wang Doushan yelled in shock, his eyes wide.

    They had returned to the Origin Tower.

    At the time, Wang Doushan couldn¡¯t help but wonder what Su Chen had chosen for his three treasures after working so hard to obtain first ce.

    However, neither the spirit tablet nor the Golden Scripture Art directly increased his strength. Thest ¡°treasure¡± was even worse ¨C he had picked a pile of useless rocks.

    A wide smile covered Su Chen¡¯s face as if he had gotten a great bargain.

    He said, ¡°Did you know? It¡¯s immensely satisfying for other peoples¡¯ trash to be my treasures. I can turn things that most people consider worthless into necessities, giving me a value that most people cannot attain.¡±

    Patelocke, who was inside the spirit tablet, was an Arcana Master during his time period. Even though Ancient Arcana Techniques had gradually be neglected over the years, people wouldn¡¯t neglect the understanding and knowledge that the Arcana Race had towards their continent. While these things might not seem valuable in the eyes of others, they were peerless treasures to Su Chen.

    The Golden Scripture Art was the same. It was an absolute necessity for his instructor to develop a cultivation method allowing those without bloodlines to reach the Yang Opening Realm.

    Each item had a true value that far outstripped its face value.

    However, Su Chen was actually the most delighted about the pile of rocks.

    While he had been inside the storeroom, Su Chen had inspected the rocks with his Origin-Energy-seeing eye. He discovered that the rocks contained more than ten unique Origin Substances.

    It was extremely significant that so many Origin Substances could coexist within a seemingly ordinary rock.

    Even though Su Chen didn¡¯t understand why it was significant yet, it was already worth it for Su Chen to choose them simply because of the ten-plus Origin Substances inside.

    Su Chen had analyzed arge number of bloodlines, but he had only really controlled two Origin Substances. Merely extracting the Origin Substances from the Soaring Serpent Bloodline and the Thunder Spirit Bloodline had resulted in the Snaking Mist Steps, Flying Flower Hands, and Thunder de to surpass the theoretical limits of his bloodline restrictions, reaching the stage ofrge sess. In fact, the Erupting Firebird and theter upgraded versions were also built upon this foundation.

    As for the others, he was still diligently researching them.

    Now, more than ten unique Origin Substances had appeared in the stones, and they were the kind that would sit there obediently and let Su Chen perform all kinds of experiments with them. How could Su Chen not feel excited?

    To Su Chen, the pile of rocks really was a treasure. He wouldn¡¯t trade them even if someone offered him a divine-tier Origin Tool in exchange.

    Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s words, Wang Doushan said helplessly, ¡°Fine, it¡¯s your opportunity anyways. What treasures you chose is your business.¡±

    The two of them chatted casually for a bit before Wang Doushan took his leave.

    Su Chen returned to his researchb and pulled out the spirit tablet. ¡°Come on out.¡±

    Patelocke¡¯s specter appeared and bowed to Su Chen respectfully. ¡°Master!¡±

    Su Chen sat down. ¡°You¡¯ve seen what¡¯s happened these past two days. I used up an opportunity to select a precious treasure to bring you back. I hope that you won¡¯t make me regret this decision.¡±

    Patelocke hurriedly replied, ¡°I will demonstrate my worth.¡±

    ¡°Very good. Then, you are my research partner from now on. Right, what do you think about reverse diffusion of a substance through a surface?¡±

    This was a test, as well as an opportunity to learn.

    Patelocke said unhurriedly, ¡°Reverse diffusion has three main factors: permeability, adhesiveness, and isomerization. Let¡¯s look at permeability first......¡±

    Su Chen listened diligently and intently.

    Underneath the yellow candlelight, the old specter and the young human began to discuss both the ancient and modern knowledge they had umted.

    To Su Chen, Patelocke really was an invaluable treasure store of information.

    The Arcana Race ced a lot of emphasis on developing foundational knowledge. They possessed a unique understanding and point-of-view of the world that they lived in.

    For instance, the Origin Substances that Su Chen discovered had actually been discovered already during the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s existence. However, they were called Particles instead.

    The Arcana Race discovered that Particles were the foundational element of Origin Energy, with different Particles having different uses. Once these Particles gathered inrge enough numbers, they would manifest themselves as an Origin Energy Attribute ¨C for instance, fire-type or wind-type Origin Energy.

    Demonic Beasts and Deste Beasts were so powerful because they had arge number ofpatible Particles inside their bodies. Humans borrowed bloodlines to strengthen themselves because they could obtain the particles that corresponded with their bloodline.

    This waspletely in line with Su Chen¡¯s discoveries, but because he was always researching on his own, hecked informationworks.

    ¡°If bloodlines can be inherited, does that mean that an organism can also produce Particles itself?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Patelocke shook his head. ¡°A Particle is the most elementary substance in the universe. No organism can produce Particles, but they are constantly converted into different forms. Bloodline inheritance urs because humans develop a mechanism for absorbing the appropriate Particles floating about in the air when a human obtains a bloodline.¡±

    Su Chen understood. ¡°So those who are considered ¡®talented¡¯ mostly have a superior mechanism for absorbing Particles? For instance, I cultivate fire-type Origin Energy, so I should cultivate in a ce with a lot of fire because the density of fire-type Particles will be the highest, right? But if I don¡¯t cultivate in the right ce, it doesn¡¯t matter how much talent I have. This is why members of Bloodline Nobility ns need to awaken their bloodlines; this awakening process is actually just triggered by the absorption of enough Particles. Only when a person has reached this critical threshold will the strength of their bloodline be manifested.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. And the Bloodline Medicines you humans have created are the product of forcing doses of Particles corresponding to a given bloodline into a human body but without altering the body¡¯s ability to absorb the right Particles from their surroundings. This is the reason why humans with mixed bloodlines are not only weaker but are also unable to pass down their bloodlines to their offsprings.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, we might be able to improve Bloodline Medicines by specifically aiming to improve this drawback,¡± Su Chen muttered. However, his goal was to eventually break through the restrictions of a bloodline, not to create some kind of extremely powerful bloodline, which was why this thought disappeared in a brief moment. At the very least, he wouldn¡¯t be researching this anytime soon.

    They continued to converse.

    Patelocke was truly a Chief Arcana Master. His knowledge was profound, and his foundation was solid; Su Chen was able to glean a lot of information rted to the foundations of Origin Energy.

    For instance, during the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s time, someone had proposed the existence of substances even more elementary than Particles known as Origin Seeds. They could bebined to form different Particles, resulting in the corresponding attributes; Origin Seeds were the true source of everything.

    However, until the destruction of the Arcana Kingdom, not much progress was made in analyzing these Origin Seeds. There were records in an ancient book of someone who had verified the existence of Origin Seeds, but there wasn¡¯t much more detail provided beyond that.

    Su Chen felt quite regretful about that.

    If his own Origin Eye could see even smaller objects, perhaps he could uncover even more profound secrets in that microscopic world.

    He had a feeling in his heart that his eyes would perhaps reach that level of sight someday.

    At that point in time, the mysteries of the universe would be right in front of his eyes.

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 187: Flowing Jade Smoke

    Chapter 187: Flowing Jade Smoke

    After returning to the Hidden Dragon Institute, Su Chen resumed his previous manner of living. Every day, he threw himself into performing all kinds of different experiments.

    Of course, one difference this time was that Gu Qingluo was now by his side.

    Every day at dusk, Gu Qingluo would go to the Origin Energy Tower and keep himpany, further deepening their understanding of one another.

    From this aspect, Su Chen was a terrible boyfriend. Gu Qingluo was almost always the one taking the initiative; Su Chen was always buried in his research.

    This had a lot to do with the instruction that Shi Kaihuang had given him when he was still a new student.

    That time, Su Chen had vowed to break through the bloodline restrictions for Gu Qingluo¡¯s sake. It was Shi Kaihuang who had forced him to reexamine his own goals and pursuits.

    Otherwise, now that Gu Qingluo had returned, Su Chen¡¯s vow would¡¯ve been annulled. If his only goal was to chase after Gu Qingluo, how could he still spend every day mired in research? He had taken Shi Kaihuang¡¯s words about ¡°If you can make a vow for a girl today, you can break that vow for a girl another day¡± to heart.

    This was because he was now studying to bring the whole human race to prominence. Even though he had a girlfriend now, he continued to pursue and press forwards on his own path, not allowing any environmental changes to shake him.

    With Master Patelocke¡¯s guidance, Su Chen¡¯s speed of research soared.

    Another year went by.

    Today, Su Chen was still in his researchb performing his experiments.

    A prepared portion of hyacinth pollen was carefully poured into a sk, mixing with the blue liquid inside. A me appeared on the hand grasping the bottom of the sk, beginning to heat it. The intensity of the mes fluctuated, constantly adjusting the temperature of the vial. The liquid inside began to change and react to the heat as more ingredients were added to the mixture one after another.

    ¡°Add the Indigo Lizard Blood!¡± Su Chen said.

    Iron Cliff grabbed a nearby Indigo-Blooded Lizard and pinched its neck. The lizard spat out its tongue, which Iron Cliff poked a hole in. A few drops of Indigo Lizard Blood fell into the sk, causing a plume of white smoke to bloom from the sk.

    The mes on Su Chen¡¯s hand disappeared, transforming into frost instead, encasing the entire sk in ice and only leaving a small hole at the sk¡¯s opening.

    The white smoke flowed out of the sk continuously as if it had physical substance. After the condensing from the frost, the smoke had be thicker, slowly flowing out like water into another vial that had been set aside beforehand.

    Only once all of the medicinal ingredients in the sk had been converted into this white smoke and collected by Su Chen was the process finished.

    ¡°Whew! I¡¯ve finallypleted the Flowing Jade Smoke,¡± Su Chen sighed as he raised the sk in his hand.

    ¡°Congrattions, master. Finishing the Flowing Jade Smoke means that the Hemolytic Totem has begun the preliminary stages of development. Once you add the Shadow Substance, it should probably be close to a usable form,¡± Patelocke said to Su Chen from the stone tablet.

    ¡°Mmm. This is thanks to you divulging the secret method for cultivating Hemolytic Swordsmen,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Hemolytic Swordsmen had emerged during the Ancient Arcana Kingdom time period as a way for masters to increase the strength of their servants by altering their servants¡¯ existing bloodlines. However, it had severe side effects, and the strength increase was limited. Even so, it was still used as an effective way to increase amon person¡¯s strength. Many who knew that they had reached the limit of their future potential were often willing to be Hemolytic Swordsmen.

    In the beginning, Su Chen hadn¡¯t been interested in fostering any servants; after all, he only had Iron Cliff, and turning him into a Hemolytic Swordsman would greatly decrease his lifespan. Thus, Su Chen had only taken a look at it out of curiosity.

    However, upon closer inspection, he found that the method for developing Hemolytic Swordsmen had some simrities to the insights he had gleaned from the Ferocious Race youths concerning the creation of Totemic Inscriptions. Both relied on external transformation to increase a person¡¯sbat strength.

    One difference was that the Ferocious Race¡¯s Totemic Inscriptions method was much simpler and cruder, but it was only really useful for the Ferocious Race, who possessed innately powerful physiques. Creating Hemolytic Swordsmen was much moreplex, and it took a heavy toll on an individual¡¯s lifespan. However, it was suitable for anyone to use.

    Thus, Su Chen had begun to research how tobine these two techniques, which he decided to call the Hemolytic Totem.

    The principle was still the same: sometimes, breakthroughs came from the most unexpected ces.

    Doing scientific research is often a textbook example of trying hard to get lucky.

    Su Chen was researching many different topics simultaneously. The Hemolytic Totem was the least important out of all of them, but he had made the most significant breakthrough in something that he really hadn¡¯t expended much effort on researching.

    Holding the Flowing Jade Smoke in his hands, Su Chen was silent for a moment before he shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m really going off on a tangent. If Instructor finds out, he¡¯ll tell me that I¡¯m too distracted again.¡±

    ¡°The more higher-end certain knowledge is, the more foundational knowledge you will need to have. Though this may seem like a tangential path right now, it may serve as a base for a magnificent breakthrough,¡± Patelocke said.

    ¡°I agree with what you¡¯ve said, but it¡¯s just a possibility in the end, isn¡¯t it?¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°In the quest for knowledge, there¡¯s no such thing as an absolute guarantee,¡± Patelocke replied.

    Su Chen thought for a moment, thenughed, ¡°That¡¯s true. No matter what, making a breakthrough in my research of Hemolytic Totem is a good thing. Next, I need to start testing it out on people. Dang it, I still have ack of research targets!¡±

    He rubbed his head, feeling a headacheing.

    Because Hemolytic Totem was a technique that relied on external transformation to increase a person¡¯s strength, Su Chen once again felt regret over the recentck of research subjects.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why, but it¡¯s been quite calm recently. Not a single person hase to make trouble for you,¡± Iron Cliff said.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Didn¡¯t Old Bai¡¯s n want their secret technique back? Why have they gone quiet all of a sudden?¡± Su Chen asked

    ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s because you never really go outside,¡± Iron Cliff said.

    ¡°That can¡¯t be it.¡± Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ve been going on walks with Qingluo almost every night, and I¡¯ve left the Hidden Dragon Institute numerous times as well.¡±

    ¡°Then they¡¯re afraid of you. You got a Second-Tier Hero¡¯s Medal, after all. If they killed you, there¡¯d be a lot of trouble headed their way. The Thunder de incident was just a small matterparatively; it isn¡¯t worth it to take such arge risk.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a shame. So many Nobility ns, but none of them have any bravery,¡± Su Chen sighed as he shook his head.

    Other people might be afraid of making enemies and offending others; however, to Su Chen, who was in desperate need of research subjects, he hoped to make enemies and offend others. He could onlyment the fact that he didn¡¯t have an offensive face.

    ¡°Instructor said that I would be surrounded by enemies once I chose to walk down this path, but there don¡¯t seem to be any,¡± Su Chen mumbled. ¡°Maybe I should go and make some trouble on my own?¡±

    Iron Cliff was just about to respond when Su Chen said, ¡°Forget it, that¡¯s not right. Making enemies for the sake of finding more research subjects is just a more subtle way of capturing them outright. That¡¯s against my principles, so I can¡¯t do that. Iron Cliff, if I think this way again, you need to remind me. We need to have a bottom line when we do things.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡± Iron Cliff nodded his head seriously.

    Just as Su Chen was contemting the situation, Cloud Leopard spoke up from outside.

    ¡°Instructor wants to see you.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 188: Choice

    Chapter 188: Choice

    Shi Kaihuang sat next to the peacefulke, fishing.

    Of course, he was fishing with a line made of Origin Energy as always. A stick of incense was burning next to him; even as he was entertaining himself, he was cultivating.

    Su Chen approached Shi Kaihuang and stood next to him. ¡°Instructor, you wanted to see me?¡±

    Shi Kaihuang opened his muddy eyes and stared out at theke as he said, ¡°Do you remember? That year, it was here that you kowtowed to me as your instructor.¡±

    Upon hearing this, Su Chenughed, ¡°Yes, your disciple remembers. I really was so frivolous back then. I thought that I could gain Instructor¡¯s approval just with a bit of talent. Thankfully, Instructor gave me a verbal beating, waking me up from my stupor.¡±

    ¡°Ten years,¡± Shi Kaihuang sighed. ¡°Ten years have gone by in the blink of an eye; time really has flown by. In a few more days, you all will graduate.¡±

    Su Chen paused for a moment. He sort of understood why Shi Kaihuang had called him here now. All he could do was nod his head and say gently, ¡°Yes.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang asked, ¡°Have you given some thought as to what you will be doing after you leave the Hidden Dragon Institute?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°If possible, I would prefer to not do anything. Just buy a plot ofnd with a house on it and settle down, then slowly continue my experiments.¡±

    ¡°But you can¡¯t,¡± Shi Kaihuang said.

    That¡¯s right, he couldn¡¯t.

    Any student who graduated from the Hidden Dragon Institute wasn¡¯t allowed to be azy drifter.

    This was one of the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s rules, as well as one of Long Sang Country¡¯s rules.

    The Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s tuition wasn¡¯t high. However, the instruction and teachers at the school were top-notch. Considering the resources that were being poured out onto them, the students weren¡¯t allowed to do as they pleased after graduating with so much talent.

    Attending the Hidden Dragon Institute meant that one was destined to serve Long Sang Country for at least ten years. After ten years, you were free to do whatever you wanted, but anyone who tried to disobey before then wouldn¡¯t be spared.

    While you didn¡¯t have a say in whether you worked or not, you did get to choose where you worked.

    Shi Kaihuang was looking for him today to figure out what Su Chen¡¯s choice would be.

    Su Chen asked, ¡°Does Instructor have any good propositions?¡±

    Shi Kaihuang said, ¡°I have one idea: Stay in the Hidden Dragon Institute as a lecturer.¡±

    This wasn¡¯t a bad choice. The greatest benefit of remaining in the Hidden Dragon Institute was that nothing would change.

    Su Chen could continue to study under Shi Kaihuang and perform his experiments in the Origin Energy Tower under rtive safety. No one would dare to make trouble with him within the walls of the Institute, and this would only continue.

    However, Su Chen shook his head and said, ¡°Even though the Hidden Dragon Institute is an exceptional ce to study, my ability to apply what I¡¯ve learned is limited. Once my foundation is solid enough, I need to explore the vast outside world, seeing, experiencing, and learning new things. That¡¯s the only way that I can pursue my dreams.¡±

    Shi Kaihuangughed, ¡°Why don¡¯t you just say that you¡¯recking research subjects and that they¡¯re hard to find within the Hidden Dragon Institute?¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s face reddened. He replied, ¡°That¡¯s one reason, but my experiences in the ruinsst year taught me what ¡®walking ten thousand miles is better than reading ten thousand books¡¯ means. Without Patelocke, my foundational understanding and research of Ancient Arcana Techniques might just be sending me in circles. From this, it¡¯s evident that the outside world has many more opportunities waiting to be discovered and taken advantage of.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Shi Kaihuang sighed. ¡°It¡¯s been ten years already. You¡¯ve learned what you needed to learn, and your foundation is quite solid. It¡¯s about time for you to explode forth. If that¡¯s the case, why not go and apply to be a Knowledge Executor at the Origin Bureau.¡±

    The Origin Bureau was an internal affairs department within Long Sang Country responsible for managing Origin Qi Schrs. They mostly resolved conflicts between Origin Qi Schrs and supernatural affairs.

    Knowledge Executors were vicemanders within the department.

    Because Origin Qi Schrs were fewer in number thanmoners, there were usually fewer disputes, so they had a lot of free time on their hands. However, they still had quite a few responsibilities; after all, Origin Qi Schrs never stirred up smallmotions.

    Students of the Hidden Dragon Institute were powerful and had great potential, but theycked experience. As such, they were usually assigned to deputy positions at first, and many Hidden Dragon Institute graduates chose to be Knowledge Executors uponpleting their education.

    To Su Chen, this was exactly what he wanted.

    Su Chen said excitedly, ¡°That would be great, but do you think the higher-ups would give one to me?¡±

    ¡°Leave that to me. Just figure out where you want to go.¡±

    ¡°Disciple has already thought this through. I want to go to the Crow Region!¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°The Crow Region?¡± Shi Kaihuang was shocked. ¡°The path there isn¡¯t peaceful, and it¡¯s overrun by bandits. It¡¯s renowned as awless ce. Why would you want to go there?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°First of all, I need a lot of experimental subjects, which I can get there. Second of all, because it¡¯s such a hard ce to get to, there might be many ancient relics and medicinal herbs left there. With Patelocke by my side, I can find many opportunities there. Third of all...... It¡¯s very close to Longxi.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s voice grew quieter as he said thatst sentence.

    Shi Kaihuangughed, ¡°Perhaps thatst reason is the most important.¡±

    Su Chen was stubborn. ¡°If disciple was purely choosing based on Qingluo, I should have gone to Longxi.¡±

    ¡°The Gu n has to wee you first! You still need to establish your roots well. Only when you reach the Light-Shaking Realm will you perhaps be sessful when you ask for her hand.¡±

    Su Chen sighed. This was exactly why he didn¡¯t choose to go to Longxi.

    Until his strength reached a certain level, the closer he and Gu Qingluo got, the more difficult things would be. As such, finding a ce close to Longxi to stay was much better than going to Longxi directly.

    Shi Kaihuang said, ¡°However, the government¡¯s influence in the Crow Region is extremely weak, and the area itself is quiterge. Not many governmental officials want to go, so scrounging up a Knowledge Executor position won¡¯t be too difficult. It just so happens that recently, some strange urrences have been going on in Clear River City. Why don¡¯t you go there? Otherwise, it might be hard to say what kind of opportunity you¡¯ll find for yourself.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for Instructor¡¯s help!¡±

    ¡°You and I are master and disciple; there¡¯s no need to be polite. Just don¡¯t give up on your research in breaking into the Yang Opening Realm. Your only issue is that you get distracted too easily!¡±

    ¡°Your disciple will do his best.¡±

    In these few years, Shi Kaihuang had been researching how to get into the Yang Opening Realm, and Su Chen had made quite a few contributions. Even though he was about to leave the Hidden Dragon Institute, Su Chen wasn¡¯t about to give up on his joint efforts with Shi Kaihuang to develop a method for breaking into the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline. After all, they couldmunicate easily through the Dreamrealm.

    ¡°Your disciple understands,¡± Su Chen replied respectfully.

    Twenty dayster.

    When Gu Qingluo came looking for Su Chen, she found that he surprisingly wasn¡¯t in his researchb. Instead, he had dressed himself up and was standing on the Origin Energy Temple¡¯s balcony, gazing off into the distance.

    Gu Qingluo smiled as she walked over. ¡°Why do you have time toe out and bask in the sun today?¡±

    Su Chen pulled Gu Qingluo into his embrace as he gazed out into the distance. He said slowly, ¡°Ten years; I¡¯ve been in this Origin Energy Tower for ten years already, but I¡¯ve never paid much attention to the scenery outside. I can count on my fingers the number of times I¡¯ve stepped out onto this balcony. I haven¡¯t even had many opportunities to stand here with you. That¡¯s quite regretful.¡±

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t say such things for no reason. Is it......¡± Gu Qingluo said softly.

    ¡°You truly understand me,¡± Su Chen sighed. ¡°Instructor has already set everything up for me. I¡¯ll be appointed as a Knowledge Executor in Clear River City. The necessary documents and seals have already been issued. Our days in the Hidden Dragon Institute...... areing to an end.¡±

 Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 189: Conclusion

    Chapter 189: Conclusion

    Time flowed like water.

    Ten years passed by just like that.

    Every tenth-year soon-to-be-graduate was probably busy figuring out their future ns. Whether they wanted to or not, they all needed to make their own decision.

    In addition to Su Chen, who was going to be dispatched to Clear River City as a Knowledge Executor, the other people also quickly figured out their immediate paths forward.

    Wang Doushan would return to Flowing Cloud as a Knowledge Executor as a result of his family¡¯s influence. He was originally from Flowing Cloud, and he could continue to contribute to his n in a mutually beneficial way.

    Cloud Leopard was headed to Clear River with Su Chen. This guy¡¯s personality was incredibly stubborn. If he said that he would follow someone, he would go wherever that person went.

    This wasn¡¯t bad for Su Chen either. Having someone as a helper was never a bad thing.

    However, Cloud Leopard couldn¡¯t serve as a Knowledge Executor. Instead, Shi Kaihuang had helped him find a spot as a member of the Secret Task Force.

    The Secret Task Force was the special group that Yue Wuti hadmanded previously. Its main responsibilities were information-gathering, assassination, surveince, and other missions to keep the country safe. In the end, however, he had been assassinated himself.

    Cloud Leopard could obtain such a position in part because of his performance during the training period. His shocking perceptive abilities were noticed by themander of the Secret Task Force. Shi Kaihuang hadn¡¯t needed to help Cloud Leopard get into the Secret Task Force ¨C students from the Hidden Dragon Institute were highly sought-after everywhere, but Shi Kaihuang had lobbied to get Cloud Leopard sent to Clear River City. However, because there was a mandatory training session after being admitted to the Secret Task Force, he wouldn¡¯t be able to go with Su Chen directly.

    Gu Qingluo, like Wang Doushan, was going to return to her own n after graduating. She became a Knowledge Executor at Longxi.

    Yue Longsha was also entering the Secret Task Force. Her father had been the formermander of the Secret Task Force; now, themander was her father¡¯s former subordinate. Thus, she was directly given the position of deputymander. She hadplete control over an entire branch of the Secret Task Force. As a deputymander, the amount of influence she would wield wasn¡¯t to be underestimated.

    She had chosen the Crow Region as well.

    Ji Hanyan was going to Bachuan as a Vice Director there.

    Yes, she had actually chosen to be a director as a female. This greatly shocked everyone. When the others asked why she had chosen to take this path, Ji Hanyan replied, ¡°That¡¯s the only way that I can fight more battles.¡±

    Indeed, Ji Hanyan¡¯s personality was still the same.

    He Niliu was going to remain in Long Coiling City and work as an official in the Unique Treasures Department. This department specifically collected all kinds of strange objects to explore the mysteries behind them. If the Ferocious Race hadn¡¯t appeared at the Gold River Basin, the ones entering the ruins would¡¯ve been from this department.

    Duan Jiangshan was going to the Flowing Gold Fort. Xiao Feinan¡¯s recruitment efforts hadn¡¯t been totally in vain; Duan Jiangshan had already agreed a year ago to join the Heaven¡¯s Mist Army, so all of the pre-graduation procedures had been mere formalities for him.

    Wang Xuan¡¯an was also joining an army but not Heaven¡¯s Mist; his uncle was a high-ranking officer in the Flowing Shadows Army, which was why he had chosen that location.

    Jin Ling¡¯er was going to the Mirror Department. That ce specialized in the adjudication of cases; with Jin Ling¡¯er¡¯s expertise in consciousness techniques, she would be a great fit.

    Du Qing was going to Drum City to serve as a secretary. This was a scribe position, and she was responsible for handling the drafting of official missives and the curation of literature from all over the continent. She had chosen such a position even as an Origin Qi Schr. However, in a world where Origin Qi Schrs dominated, this decision was umon but not rare.

    Sun Jizu, like Wang Doushan, was returning to his old home. He took up an official post in Falling Water as a magistrate. He had returned to his hometown in splendor. As someone without a bloodline, he was very satisfied that he had obtained an official post.

    Jiang Xishui was once again the only exception.

    He didn¡¯t receive anymissions. Long Sang Country¡¯s rule that all students needed to work for the country for ten years after graduation seemed to bepletely null for him.

    No matter who asked him, he would only reply with a faint smile. Only Ji Hanyan seemed to have an inkling as to the reason. On that night, when they were all saying their goodbyes, she had let out a cold harrumph in response to Jiang Xishui¡¯s secrecy.

    Finally, the day of graduation arrived.

    The Hidden Dragon Institute threw a massive graduation party for all of the graduates.

    There was no end-of-yearpetition for them. They had all managed to walk this path all the way to the very end; there was no need for them topete with one another any longer.

    At this moment, everyone¡¯s hearts were filled with a bittersweet sensation and a reluctance to part.

    That night, all of the tenth-year students and teachers celebrated together.

    An old instructor said, tears streaming down his face: ¡°Another farewell. We¡¯ve known each other and been together for ten years, but they always leave. Every farewell causes a fresh bout of sorrow, and it¡¯s the same year after year. If possible, I...... will never be an instructor again!¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 1: Robbery 1

    Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil

    Chapter 1: Robbery (1)

    Early dawn. The sound of hooves clopping on the ground grew louder as a carriage slowly advanced along a path.

    Within the carriage was a brawny Cliff Race youth, his massive figure making him look like a small mountain. The carriage creaked and groaned under his weight.

    Next to the brawny Cliff Race youth was a small old man who pointed down the path in front of them and said, ¡°The fork is just ahead of us. Both paths will take you to your destination. The left path is around thirty kilometers shorter than the right, but I rmend you take the right path.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡± the brawny Cliff Race youth asked in a low, muffled voice.

    ¡°There¡¯s more bandits along the left path, of course. The left path will take you through a mountain, and the bandits are holed up everywhere there. Going that way is pretty dangerous,¡± the old man replied.

    ¡°Bandits?¡± Iron Cliff squinted his eyes slightly.

    He turned around and said, ¡°Master, he said there are more bandits along the left side.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Then let¡¯s go to the left,¡± an indifferent voice floated out of the carriage.

    ¡°Yah!¡± The horse carriage turned, entering the left-most path.

    ¡°Hey! This...... what are you doing?¡± The old man instantly grew agitated upon seeing this, and his entire body stiffened.

    The carriage¡¯s curtains were drawn back, revealing the face of a young maiden. Her skin was on the darker side, but she had some attractive features. Sheughed as she looked at the old man, ¡°Grandpa, what are you so worried about? Prince Su is an extremely talented person. With him here, we don¡¯t have anything to worry about. Besides, Uncle Iron Cliff alone would be enough to defeat ten of them.¡±

    Iron Cliff¡¯s face twitched when he heard the little girl call him Uncle. He was roughly the same age as Su Chen, but because he appeared older, the little girl called his master a Prince but himself an Uncle.

    The old man yelled, ¡°What do you know, girl! I can tell that Prince Su and Brother Iron Cliff have some skill, but is there ack of people in this world with ability? Even amongst bandits, there are likely some experts! It¡¯s better to avoid provoking them if possible. Safety first, after all!¡±

    ¡°You should tell Prince Su that, not me.¡± The young maiden rolled her eyes and then pulled the curtains again.

    The old man grew agitated again. ¡°Hey, weren¡¯t you just going to send him some water? Why are you stillzing around inside and noting out? Quick,e out; do you have the status to be sitting in that carriage?¡±

    The little maiden yelled from inside the carriage, ¡°I won¡¯t! How am I supposed to serve Prince Su from outside the carriage? Furthermore, there¡¯s only so much space outside, and you and Uncle Iron are already taking up most of the space. Wouldn¡¯t leaving so much free space inside be a waste? In any case, Prince Su has already allowed me to stay here.

    ¡°You...... you...... you...... Damn it all, I shouldn¡¯t have taken you along with me!¡± Old He said in distress, yet there was nothing he could do.

    Old He was an experienced courier. Within the surrounding regions, there wasn¡¯t a single road that he didn¡¯t know about.

    His granddaughter was called He Xiaochan. That name had been proposed by a visiting schr a few years ago, and she normally apanied Old He on his trips. Old He served as the guide, while He Xiaochan was responsible for serving the guest. That way, they could earn a little bit more money.

    Normally, his granddaughter would first dirty her face before serving others as a means of protection.

    This time, however, not only did she not dirty her face, but she also wore her favorite flowery garments. Now, she waszing around inside their guest¡¯s carriage and wouldn¡¯te out.

    Old He knew that his granddaughter had likely taken a fancy to the handsome prince inside.

    But was he someone you could afford to fancy?

    Old He sighed in his heart, but there was nothing he could say.

    He was an old man with plenty of experience, and his perception was still pretty keen. Even though he couldn¡¯t exactly determine how strong Prince Su was, he could at least tell that Prince Su wasn¡¯t a beast on the inside. This was why he allowed his granddaughter to remain inside the carriage; he knew that this was just a fantasy anyway.

    It¡¯s not a bad thing for her to run into a wall, Old He thought in his heart.

    Within the carriage, He Xiaochan cupped her hands on her chin as she stared at the person across from her.

    Su Chen leaned against the carriage walls, reading his book intently.

    ¡°Prince Su,¡± He Xiaochan suddenly said.

    ¡°Mmm?¡± Su Chen replied without even raising his head.

    ¡°Do you like to read?¡±

    ¡°Mhm.¡±

    ¡°What are you reading about?¡±

    ¡°Just some information about the Crow Region and local happenings.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s there?¡± He Xiaochan continued to search for things to talk about.

    Su Chen sighed, closed the book, and said, ¡°In the Crow Region, there are a total of sixteen prefectures separated by three major rivers and four major mountain ranges. The rivers are extremely serpentine, and the mountain ranges are very craggly, making it the mostplicated region in all of Long Sang Country in terms of terrain. Because of how treacherous the roads are here, its rtive desteness, and its distance from the emperor¡¯s pce, almost every piece ofnd has already been fragmented by tyrant overlords. The worst cases include Clear River, Suyuan, ckwater, and Panshan. Governmental influence in those locations is weak, and the territories arerge, resulting in constant conflict in those areas. Bandits have also settled down, infesting the area for a number of years.¡±

    This flurry of information was spat out at an extremely fast rate. He Xiaochan waspletely thrown for a loop. ¡°I...... I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t know, then don¡¯t ask so much,¡± Su Chen said sincerely.

    He picked his book back up and began to read.

    At that moment, wild yells began to sound out from outside the carriage.

    A gruff voice demanded, ¡°If you know what¡¯s good for you, hand over the money......¡±

    Upon hearing this, Su Chen raised his head.

    The curtain covering the carriage opened. Old He¡¯s head poked in, fear written on his face. ¡°Prince Su, the bandits are here.¡±

    Simultaneously, Iron Cliff squeezed his big head in. ¡°Master, there¡¯s twelve of them.¡±

    Having been with Su Chen for so many years, Iron Cliff was already extremely ustomed to Su Chen¡¯s habits. He was always concise and to the point when he spoke.

    ¡°Only twelve?¡± Su Chen felt some surprise.

    ¡°They should be small fry; there isn¡¯t even a single Qi Drawing Realm cultivator amongst them.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Su Chen was a bit disappointed. He thought for a moment, then said, ¡°Give them the money and see if they leave us alone.¡±

    ¡°Ok.¡± Iron Cliff understood Su Chen¡¯s intentions and went to carry out his orders.

    A momentter, the coarse yelling resumed.

    Through a crack in the curtains, Su Chen watched as a bandit waved his de and yelled, ¡°Damn, you want to pay me off with such a paltry amount? Give me everything you have!¡±

    Iron Cliff replied stiffly, ¡°What if I don¡¯t give it to you?¡±

    ¡°Then die!¡± the bandit yelled.

    Iron Cliff shook his head. ¡°I won¡¯t give you money even if you kill me.¡±

    The bandit sized up Iron Cliff¡¯s massive stature.

    In the beginning, when he saw Iron Cliff, his heart began to pound; after all, Iron Cliff was truly enormous. However, when he considered that they had the numbers advantage and some of them were even in the Body Tempering stage, he had mustered up his courage and ordered his group to advance.

    After seeing Iron Cliff hand over some money, his courage had been greatly bolstered. It seemed to him that his opponent was all brawn and no courage.

    To survive on the streets, courage was the most important thing; merely having strength wasn¡¯t enough.

    The more he thought about it, the less he feared Iron Cliff.

    Upon hearing Iron Cliff refuse to give him money, his ugly side manifested itself. He thought to himself that if the other party was so willing to hand over some money initially, they definitely had more treasures to give. However, this big lunk was still a big lunk, and he would probably go all out if his back was pushed to the wall. Thus, it was better for him to quickly make a move and finish him off, then deal with the old man and the people inside the carriage. That would make things much easier.

    This was why, after a moment¡¯s thought, he made a decision and said darkly, ¡°Then you can go die!¡±

    The de pierced towards Iron Cliff¡¯s chest.

    ¡°AHH!:

    As the de stabbed forwards, He Xiaochan shrieked in fear, yet there was also the metallic ¡°ng¡± of two pieces of metal colliding.

    Sparks were sent flying. The poor-quality de had snapped in two, half of it falling to the ground as it glinted in the sunlight.

    Everyone was stunned.

    How had the de broken?

    The ten or so bandits were stunned, as was Old He.

    Iron Cliff didn¡¯t even spare them a nce. He turned around and said, ¡°Master, this de strike was aimed at my heart with the intention to kill.¡±

    ¡°Then you know what to do,¡± Su Chen¡¯s calm, unruffled voice floated out from the carriage.

    ¡°Yes, Master.¡± Iron Cliff turned around and chuckled darkly at the bandits, then cracked his neck and said, ¡°Alright, now it¡¯s my turn.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 2: Robbery 2

    Chapter 2: Robbery (2)

    The horse carriage contineud to advance.

    However, it was now followed by an entourage of twelve bandits, stumbling along behind the carriage.

    He Xiaochan couldn¡¯t help but turn around and nce at the bandits behind them from time to time, making faces at them and giggling.

    Old He, however, continued to wear a frown.

    ¡°Grandpa, what are you so worried about? Didn¡¯t you see that Uncle Iron has already captured them all? I knew he wasn¡¯t someone ordinary,¡± He Xiaochan said.

    ¡°What do you know!¡± Old He said as he pped his thigh.

    Ever since Su Chen hade looking for himself to be their guide, and even when he had chosen the path with more bandits there, Old He knew that Su Chen and his servant were likely one of the legendary Origin Qi Schrs.

    But so what?

    Just as he had said, there were plenty of people with talent. Experts were present even amongst bandits.

    He had traveled extensively in these past few years, and he had seen many youths with inted opinions of themselves, acting without much restraint and consideration.

    What happened to them in the end? Did they not all die without even a proper burial, their bodies lost to the deste wilderness forever?

    In this kind of society, the number of talented individuals that died was not a small number!

    Capturing twelve bandits who weren¡¯t even Origin Qi Schrs didn¡¯t mean much at all.

    Su Chen continued to read, He Xiaochan only able to coax perfunctory answers from Su Chen. Iron Cliff diligently steered the carriage, while Old He continued to fret.

    The carriage proceeded at a steady clip, leaving behind a long shadow under the midday sun.

    After proceeding in this way for some time, Su Chen, whose face had been buried in his books, suddenly raised his head and said, ¡°Iron Cliff.¡±

    ¡°Master.¡±

    ¡°Stop the carriage. There¡¯s an ambush in front of us.¡±

    Old He felt his heart tighten, while a trace of excitement appeared in He Xiaochan¡¯s eyes.

    The carriage stopped advancing.

    Su Chen said, ¡°They have nearly a hundred people surrounding us from both sides. They¡¯ve set up quite arge formation.¡±

    Upon hearing that there was nearly a hundred bandits lying in wait for them, Old He nearly jumped in fright. Even He Xiaochan¡¯s former excitement was greatly suppressed.

    Old He began to yell, ¡°It¡¯s the Tortoiseshell Camp, it must be them! They have the most control over this region, and they have a number of Origin Qi Schrs amongst their ranks!¡±

    ¡°There should be five of them,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°How did you know?¡± Old He asked in shock.

    ¡°Because they¡¯re already here.¡±

    The bandits began to emerge from their surroundings ¨Cing out from behind boulders and trees, as well as emerging from nearby thickets. Bandit after bandit appeared, savage expressions on their faces, wielding sharp des as they advanced menacingly, surrounding the carriage.

    Five men on horseback stood blocking the path forward.

    ¡°Three Qi Drawing Realm and two Blood Boiling Realm cultivators...... Not a bad setup,¡± Su Chen muttered.

    Then, he turned around and asked Old He, ¡°What¡¯s the reputation of this Tortoiseshell Camp like?¡±

    ¡°What else could it be? Murder, arson ¨C there¡¯s no evil act they won¡¯t do!¡± Old He¡¯s legs were like jelly. Normally, the Tortoiseshell Camp focused onrger business transactions. Why would they send out such arge force against a mere shoddy carriage?

    He had overlooked the twelve bandits trailing behind the carriage.

    It was impossible for this string of bandits to not attract notice.

    The Tortoiseshell Camp normally wouldn¡¯t pay much attention to a single carriage, and even if they sent some men, the five camp heads wouldn¡¯t have made an appearance. But when they saw the trail of captured bandits behind their carriage, wasn¡¯t that quite an arrogant statement?

    A provocation?

    Whether it was a provocation or not, the Tortoiseshell Camp had no way of enduring this kind of insult.

    Forget about whether the other party was an expert or not.

    There were many experts in this world, but there were even moremoners!

    If a single person was able toe and walk around as he pleased with just a fewmon bandits in tow, what was everyone else out here doing?

    Whoever acted the most outrageously would be able to survive!

    So no matter what, as bandits they needed toe down and show off their true skill.

    If something was off...... they would figure it outter. Bandits only had so much patience; how could they take the time to draft up a n or think multiple steps ahead?

    It was probably more urate to say that they didn¡¯t look back no matter how many steps they took.

    In any case, upon seeing such an arrogant procession, the Tortoiseshell Camp bandits were immediately displeased. They quickly gathered together to surround the group.

    Still, they had demonstrated a bit of caution; all five of the camp heads had been mobilized.

    ¡°There¡¯s no evil act they won¡¯t do?¡± Upon hearing Old He¡¯s words, Su Chenughed. ¡°That¡¯s the way I like it. Iron Cliff, guard the carriage.¡±

    As he spoke, he leapt forwards.

    He didn¡¯t waste any time speaking. A strengthened Firehawk took flight from his hand, streaking towards one of the bandits.

    Su Chen had targeted one of the two Blood Boiling Realm cultivators present.

    The Firehawk shone brilliantly as it took flight. The Blood Boiling Realm banditughed viciously, therge iron hammer in his hand glowing with a shockingly bright white light.

    The hammer and Firehawk mmed into each other. A powerful wave of mes surged forth, prating the white light and mming into the bandit, sending him flying with a single blow.

    ¡°Boss!¡± the bandits yelled in rm.

    ¡°Damn! He¡¯s in the Blood Boiling Realm!¡± The bandit captain didn¡¯t die, but he was pretty heavily wounded and couldn¡¯t get to his feet.

    Upon seeing that their boss hadn¡¯t died, the bandits let out a collective sigh of relief. The other Blood Boiling Realm bandit yelled, ¡°Damn, acting so arrogantly just because you¡¯re in the Blood Boiling Realm? Brothers, let¡¯s go together!¡±

    ¡°HA!¡± Everyone yelled as they charged forward.

    Su Chenughed and stretched out his right hand. A flock of Erupting Firebirds appeared and surged forwards.

    At this point, his strength had reached a level where it was a simple matter for him to form an Erupting Firebird. As such, this flock consisted of over a hundred Firebirds.

    Even though Erupting Firebirds were small, Su Chen had relied on them to dominate while he was still in the early stages of the Qi Drawing Realm. It was more than enough to deal with a bunch of Body Temperingmoners.

    The birds began to seek out their targets, one bird per bandit.

    Old He and He Xiaochan watched inplete awe as mes rained down from the skies onto the charging horde of bandits, who copsed when faced with the onught.

    Of course, those four bandit chiefs didn¡¯t fall. Three of them were high-tier Qi Drawing Realm cultivators and one was a high-tier Blood Boiling Realm cultivator; they had no difficulty whatsoever dealing with a single Erupting Firebird.

    However, a momentter, a fiery glow began to appear from Su Chen¡¯s hand. This time, however, it was a cast of Firehawks.

    Ten Firehawks flew forth, divided amongst the four chiefs, forcing them to run for cover.

    ¡°Too weak,¡± Su Chen shook his head and sighed with dissatisfaction.

    The Blood Boiling Realm bandit chief was both shocked and enraged. Howe their opponent was that much stronger?

    The bandit who had charged first had gotten back on his feet. He yelled in rage, ¡°Charge forward, don¡¯t fight him head-on! This guy definitely isn¡¯t good at close-quartersbat!¡±

    As he yelled out hismands, a white glow began to cover his body. His speed greatly increased, and his aura instantly grew shot up in intensity.

    Simultaneously, the second-inmand raised his shield, blocking the charge of the Firehawks. The other three Qi Drawing Realm bandits followed behind him as they advanced.

    Su Chen coldlyughed.

    Another cast of Firehawks wasunched, but this time it was as if they had grown eyes. They circled around the second-inmand¡¯srge round shield and exploded behind the three Qi Drawing Realm bandits.

    Those Firehawks could injure even a high-tier Vicious Beast like the Giant Adamantine Ape; the three Qi Drawing Realm bandits were sent flying, and it was unknown whether or not they were still alive when they hit the ground.

    ¡°Too weak.¡± Su Chen shook his head again as he repeated his earlier utterance.

    In reality, two of the camp heads were highyer Blood Boiling Realm cultivators and three of them were highyer Qi Drawing Realm cultivators. They weren¡¯t weak by any stretch of the imagination.

    But what kind of person was Su Chen? He possessed immense talent, having graduated from the Hidden Dragon Institute, and those he had fought with were also the elites of the elites.

    Su Chen had tempered himself against experts, and his standards werepletely different from those ofmoners.

    When faced with truly average opponents, the discrepancy between them felt like the gap between heaven and earth.

    He even felt that, against these kinds of opponents, he could probably take on eight at once.

    The second-inmand was both shocked and enraged. He yelled, ¡°If you have the ability, try and break through my shield! Sneaking attacks in from behind isn¡¯t impressive at all!¡±

    ¡°Fine by me!¡± Su Chen replied.

    At that moment, the camp leader charged right at Su Chen, mming the hammer in his hand down at Su Chen.

    Su Chen twisted his body, causing the battle hammer to fly past his body. It mmed into the ground, leaving behind a massive crater in the ground.

    Su Chenpletely ignored the camp leader, instead charging at the second-inmand, striking out at his shield. ¡°Armor Piercing Awl!¡±

    Bang!

    The second-inmand suddenly felt his hand go light. His shield Origin Tool had shattered.

    It had been shattered by a single strike from his opponent.

    An instantter, Su Chen followed up with a punch towards his face. The second-inmand¡¯s vision went dark, and he passed out.

    Immediately after unleashing this punch, Su Chen leapt backwards, mming his elbow into the oing camp leader¡¯s midsection. The camp leader¡¯s body bent over double, and Su Chenunched an uppercut at his exposed chin. The camp leader was sent flying.

    As he flew through the air, a thought shed through his brain: Damn, this guy¡¯s close-quartersbat isn¡¯t weak either.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 3: Four Flats

    Chapter 3: Four ts

    The procession behind the carriage grew muchrger.

    This time, the formation was much moreplicated; over a hundred bandits had been tied together with rope and forced to follow behind the carriage, as if they were ves being led to the market to be sold.

    He Xiaochan stared at the bandits as she said with excitement, ¡°Grandpa, look, look.¡±

    ¡°I saw it already, you don¡¯t need to tell me again,¡± Old He replied impatiently.

    The whole time, He Xiaochan hadn¡¯t forgotten to bug him about it. He even knew what his granddaughter was about to say next.

    Indeed, He Xiaochan sped her hands to her heart and said, ¡°Prince Su, you¡¯re so amazing!¡±

    Old He couldn¡¯t help but sigh. His only thought was to quickly reach the Four ts District, finish hismission, then leave with his granddaughter.

    It wasn¡¯t like he was unhappy with Su Chen. It was just that Su Chen¡¯s strength put a massive amount of pressure on Old He, who just wanted to get out of there.

    This procession of bandits was undoubtedly terrifying; unsurprisingly, no more bandits came forth to give them any trouble after that.

    Su Chen was very unhappy with that, so he used arge-scale concealment technique called Cloud Cover Technique topletely hide the bandits in two behind him. In fact, he had learned this Arcana Technique from Patelocke. This Arcana Master had mastered quite a few Arcana Techniques; having him around was like having an ancient library at your fingertips. However, because Origin Skills needed to be used thousands of times for them to reach their greatest effectiveness, there was no point in only going for quantity. Thus, Su Chen primarily focused on the Origin Skills that he could use.

    After being concealed, the bandits were invisible to mostmoners, so a few more waves of bandits came at them after.

    Another twenty or thirty people were added to the group behind the carriage.

    Those numbers weren¡¯t higher because there were two groups of bandits that were rtively reasonable; they only wanted money, not to kill people, so Su Chen just let them go.

    When twilight came, the carriage finally reached Four ts.

    Four ts was a small district. It had no city walls, nor did it have any guards. All it really had was a run-down district office and a health center.

    Upon arriving at Four ts, Su Chen dissolved the concealment technique, then sauntered into the district.

    There was at least a hundred fifty people in two behind him. In the Four ts, this was quite the magnificent sight; as such, it almost immediately attracted a crowd.

    In addition, their hands had been tied together, and the onlookers could clearly see the way the dressed and the weapons they carried ¨C Su Chen hadn¡¯t taken away their weapons, so the onlookers instantly recognized where the captives hade from.

    ¡°They¡¯re thieves from the mountains!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, I¡¯ve seen some of those guys before. They¡¯re bandits from the mountain; they¡¯vee to the district before to sell some of their loot before.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that Gui Dashan? Tortoiseshell Camp¡¯s leader.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m positive! Look, that massive hammer is his trademark. How did he get tied up too? He¡¯s an Origin Qi Schr in the Blood Boiling Realm.¡±

    ¡°Not just him, isn¡¯t that Second Boss Cheng of the Tortoiseshell Camp right next to him? He was the one who had plundered Shopkeep Chang that year when Shopkeep Chang had been making a delivery run. Shopkeep Chang¡¯s death truly was tragic.¡±

    ¡°Third Boss Feng, Fourth Boss Li, Fifth Boss Jin ¨C he¡¯s got the whole Tortoiseshell Camp following him!¡±

    ¡°Who is inside that carriage? He was able to wipe out those bandit strongholds in an instant.¡±

    ¡°Do you even need to ask? Of course they¡¯re an expert. Our Four ts District is going to be much more peaceful from now on.¡±

    Everyone excitedly discussed the new development. The carriage continued to draw a lot of attention to it as the carriage progressed.

    It was rare for He Xiaochan to be the center of attention like this. She puffed out her chest and tilted her head back triumphantly; however, Old He constantly pulled his granddaughter down, lowering his head and hoping that no one would notice them.

    The carriage was headed right for the district office. Two of the office¡¯s guards were standing right outside.

    One of the faster guards had already ran up to them and yelled, ¡°Someone captured the bandits in the mountains and wiped out the whole Tortoiseshell Camp. They¡¯re headed this way now; it seems like they want to hand them over to the district office.¡±

    The two guards, who had previously been standing there listlessly, started badly and peered into the distance, finding that arge group of people was indeeding their way.

    The two guards nced at each other. One said, ¡°What are you standing around for? Go and let the higher-ups know.¡±

    The other guard ran inside in a panic.

    A momentter, arge group of guards charged out of the district office, their captain at the head followed by ten or so guards wielding wooden staffs. Upon seeing the procession headed their way, they were all shocked. How was the district office going to handle so many people? They might not even be able to close the doors to the jail.

    But even if they couldn¡¯t close the doors, they would have to. Catching so many bandits would undoubtedly be a great contribution.

    However, they might have to pay a hefty sum for such arge group of bandits. The captain didn¡¯t know how much money he would have to pay, but the thought of reneging on the debt didn¡¯t even ur to him. Anyone who could capture so many bandits at once definitely wasn¡¯t someone he could afford to provoke.

    While he made his calctions, the carriage grew nearer and nearer.

    Every guard at the district office stood outside at attention. The captain was about to go forward and greet the procession with a smile, but the carriage passed right by him and kept going in the same direction.

    It really passed right by him.

    Hm?

    What was the meaning of this?

    The group of guards stared dumbly at the horse carriage.

    The carriage continued to advance, pulling along the group of people behind it. It continued past the district office without stopping.

    Did they not see?

    The captain thought as he yelled, ¡°Sir, you on the carriage, the district office is over here!¡±

    Iron Cliff turned around and nced in his direction before turning back around.

    The carriage continued to advance.

    He had been ignored.

    The captain stared nkly as the carriage left with itsrge procession still in tow, eventually disappearing from his field of view. It wasn¡¯t until this point that he understood.

    The other party had never intended on handing over the bandits to them in the first ce.

    After the carriage passed the district office, it came to a stop at a nearby inn.

    Old He said, ¡°Prince Su, this is the best inn in the whole Four ts. Now that you¡¯re here, my task isplete.¡±

    ¡°Many thanks, sir. Here is the payment we agreed on.¡± Su Chen tossed a small pouch to Old He.

    Old He weighed it in his hand and froze. ¡°Prince Su, you seem to have given me too much?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just paying you back for all the anxiety you had to endure on this trip. If you don¡¯t feel safe after returning, you can find a new ce to live off of this.¡± Su Chenpletely understood Old He¡¯s fears.

    Without a doubt, he was worried that the bandits woulde back for him.

    The money Su Chen had given Old He was more than enough for him to find a new ce to live.

    Old He, upon seeing him do this, could only mumble his thanks.

    Before leaving, He Xiaochan was still a bit unwilling. She pulled on Su Chen¡¯s sleeve and said, ¡°Prince Su, if you have time you need toe visit us, okay?¡±

    ¡°I will,¡± Su Chen replied with a slight smile.

    However, they all knew that it wouldn¡¯t be possible.

    After Iron Cliff arranged the furniture and chased therge horde of bandits into an area behind the inn. They were just a bunch of hostages anyways; they had no right to sleep in the inn, so they would just sleep under the sky.

    As Old He watched the bandits being driven about, he thought for a moment, then couldn¡¯t resist asking, ¡°Prince Su, how are you nning on taking care of them? Will you keep them as prisoners, or...... will you kill them?¡±

    ¡°Kill them?¡± Su Chen nced at the hostages, then back at Old He andughed, ¡°Kill them? I wouldn¡¯t! There won¡¯t be any murder victims at my hands, only......¡±

    ¡°Failed experiments.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 4: Shadow Servants

    Chapter 4: Shadow Servants

    Within the inn.

    The room had beenpletely filled by a massive workbench and all kinds of research equipment scattered everywhere. A crystalntern hung from the wall, shining so that it appeared as if it were still daytime.

    A bandity on the research workbench,pletely powerless. Su Chen held a needle in his hand, slowly carving something on his flesh.

    This kind of engraving process originated from the Ferocious Race¡¯s body inscriptions, which were improved by Ancient Arcana Techniques. This made them even moreplicated and mysterious.

    Of note was that the person whose body was being engraved on couldn¡¯t feel the slightest bit of pain ¨C Su Chen had finally seeded in creating a numbing medicine.

    After three hours, Su Chen¡¯s experiment finished.

    Using nine needles of various sizes, Su Chen had engraved an intricate tattoo on the bandit¡¯s entire body; almost every area of skin had been covered with thick ck ink. When the light shone on those engravings, there was actually no reflection of light, as if they were unfathomably deep.

    Su Chen examined the bandit¡¯s internal condition carefully and nodded, saying, ¡°The medicine is beginning to soak into the marrow. Just a bit more and it should begin to take effect.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he watched as the bandit suddenly began to tremble violently as if there was an electrical current going through him.

    Su Chen pulled open the bandit¡¯s eyelids, only to find that his eyes had rolled into the back of his head.

    After inspecting the bandit¡¯s internal condition, Su Chen knitted his eyebrows and said, ¡°The medicinal power was too strong. His body isn¡¯t able to withstand it, so I have to decrease the medicinal strength next time.¡±

    The bandit spasmed uncontrobly for a bit before finally bing motionless.

    He had died.

    ¡°Iron Cliff, practice dissecting him,¡± Su Chen said.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t even want to waste their corpses. They would be good practice for Iron Cliff.

    ¡°Got it!¡± Iron Cliff walked over and carefully pulled out a surgical knife, then began to dissect the corpse under Su Chen¡¯s direction, identifying and studying the organs one by one.

    The Cliff Race wasn¡¯t the most intelligent, but that didn¡¯t mean they were imbeciles. In the past, they never had much of an opportunity to study due to their low social status. Iron Cliff knew very deeply how amazing of an opportunity he had been given, so he studied diligently and with great focus.

    At dawn, Su Chen hopped onto a carriage, then continued to take the hostages with him.

    This time, they were setting out for the distant Clear River. They still had quite a journey ahead of them.

    During the day, Su Chen would research whichbinations of medicinesplemented each other, and at night he would perform experiments.

    At first, he kept failing. If it wasn¡¯t that he had used too much medicinal strength, it was that he had used the wrong ingredient, which had begun to erode their body; or, he had created an energy imbnce, resulting in the body attacking itself; etc., etc.

    There were so many reasons for failure that Su Chen was basically discovering a new one every day.

    Slowly but surely, however, Su Chen was able to fix these reasons for failures. Eventually, there was no more room for failure to go, and it could only reluctantly give way to sess.

    Su Chen continued his experiments.

    Needles covered the body of his target. Once thest needle had gone in, a ck glow began to emanate from the bandit¡¯s body.

    A formless energy began to suffuse from the bandit¡¯s body, slowly gathering into a shocking amount of power.

    Next, an incredible scene appeared before their eyes.

    The bandit¡¯s figure began to slowly fade before itpletely disappeared from sight.

    Upon seeing this, Su Chen revealed a smile. ¡°Finally, sess.¡±

    ¡°I...... I...... What did you do to me?¡± The bandit couldn¡¯t help but yell in fright upon seeing his illusory body. The instant the experiment had finished, the bandit had broken free of his restraints, finally regaining his freedom.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. Draw in your consciousness and feel the energy in your body. Try and control the way it¡¯s moving in your body, and your body will reappear......¡±

    Under Su Chen¡¯s instruction, the bandit¡¯s figure reappeared.

    He stared at himself in excitement. ¡°I...... I can turn invisible?¡±

    ¡°It would be more urate to call it shadow concealment. It requires a source of shadow power to activate,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Shadow power was actually just a type of Origin Substance that Su Chen called Shadow.

    Su Chen had extracted this Shadow Origin Substance from that pile of ck rocks.

    After analyzing the ck rocks over the course of a year, Su Chen could already control one of the Origin Substances within. He discovered that this Origin Substance could give a person shadow-like qualities.

    The bandit was simply manifesting this ¡°shadow power¡± by shadow concealment.

    Upon concealing himself in a shadow, his figure began to disappear.

    This kind of disappearance was on the physical level. It would be difficult to detect even if someone passed their hand through the previously upied space. The user could only be detected via Origin Energy.

    The Hemolytic Totem wouldn¡¯t give someone that much power. It was just a vehicle that was responsible for transferring power. It was like a nk te in that regard. If you wanted some kind of ability, you would need to first give it a corresponding supplement. Naturally, this would consume Origin Energy.

    One could say that the Hemolytic Totem had realized a transition away from the Ferocious Race¡¯s Totemic Inscriptions. In addition, there were many more avable possibilities, and its future potential was much higher.

    The first individual with apleted Hemolytic Totem had been augmented with Shadow Origin Substance.

    Even though the current Shadow Origin Substance could only confer Shadow Concealment, its further development could result in even more shadow-type moves. The specifics depended on what aspects Su Chen wanted to focus on improving, as well as the physicalposition of his Shadow Servants.

    In some sense, this was like a bloodline. However, it had no way of being passed on, and it couldn¡¯t help a person raise their cultivation base or break through a bottleneck.

    It could, however, be used in conjunction with a bloodline. This had profound implications.

    Now that the first Shadow Servant had beenpleted, Su Chen and Iron Cliff were incredibly excited.

    That bandit was in simrly high spirits.

    He constantly controlled the flow of energy in his body, feeling out the changes, and his body faded in and out of view.

    ¡°I¡¯ve gotten stronger! I¡¯ve actually gotten stronger! Haha!¡± The bandit was extremely excited.

    He nced at Su Chen, a thought suddenly appearing in his heart.

    If I were to hide myself in a shadow and ambush him from behind, would I be able to kill him?

    That thought had just emerged when the bandit suddenly saw Su Chen¡¯s amused expression. His heart trembled violently as he cursed at himself; if this prince could create him, he could just as easily destroy him. His shadow concealment was probably nothing in the prince¡¯s eyes. Making a move against the prince was equivalent to asking to die. If the prince had put some restrictive measures on him, he might even be incinerated just for having such a thought.

    As soon as he thought of this, he instantly knelt down in fear. ¡°This little one, Chang Er, greets Prince. Many thanks for Prince¡¯s

    Upon seeing his behavior, Su Chen grunted. ¡°At least you¡¯re aware of the situation.¡±

    How could Su Chen not ce some kind of restriction on his target? If Chang Er wanted to try and kill Su Chen, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t even need to make a move; just a thought from him was enough to give Chang Er a tragic fate.

    At that moment, Su Chen said, ¡°You are all criminals. Since you¡¯vended in my hands, I control whether you live or die. You¡¯re quite lucky ¨C you¡¯re the first sessful individual to be a Shadow Servant. Not only did you not die, but you¡¯ve also gained the ability to turn invisible. From this day onwards, you¡¯ll be one of the Shadow Servants under mymand. As long as you obey mymands, you¡¯ll find that I¡¯m actually not too terrible of a master. But if you don¡¯t......¡±

    Su Chen paused, then said, ¡°I won¡¯t kill you either. I¡¯ll just make you a subject of my other experiments instead.¡±

    Chang Er was badly startled. He instantly kneeled and said, ¡°I will be loyal to Prince Su even unto death!¡±

    ¡°Very good,¡± Su Chen said indifferently.

    Of course, he wouldn¡¯t ce any trust in the loyalty of a bandit.

    But it didn¡¯t matter. He had enough self-confidence that, no matter how sly the bandit was, he wouldn¡¯t be able to escape from his grasp.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 5: Strange Happenings in the Li Clan Residence

    Chapter 5: Strange Happenings in the Li n Residence

    After creating the first Shadow Servant, the rest was much easier.

    In the following two days, Su Chen created five more Shadow Servants; this time, however, they were the five Tortoiseshell Camp leaders.

    Because Shadow Origin Substance wouldn¡¯t raise one¡¯s strength, getting stronger Shadow Servants required that the original target themselves be more powerful.

    Even though the five Tortoiseshell Camp leaders were only of average strength, their usefulness would greatly increase when paired with Shadow Concealment. They could use it to sneak behind a target¡¯s back, unleash a fatal strike, and then disappear, allowing them to assassinate even those of a higher tier in strength. If used properly, they would definitely be frightening assets.

    In order to achieve maximum damage output, Su Chen had even incorporated the Armor-Piercing Awl and the Raging Inferno Fists into the Hemolytic Totem.

    Only three Origin Skills could be added to the current Hemolytic Totem, including the Shadow Concealment conferred by the Shadow Origin Substance.

    As for Chang Er, even though his strength was somewhat lower, he would still be useful as a spy and had his own value, so Su Chen added in the Snaking Mist Steps and Whitetower Teleportation. He didn¡¯t need to kill anyone, but he did need to keep himself safe.

    Both the Armor Piercing Awl and the Snaking Mist Steps were loaded on, not passed down. As such, they could only use them, but couldn¡¯t pass them on to anyone, and they couldn¡¯t raise the power of those skills.

    Even so, to those people, their strength had increased by a huge amount.

    Unfortunately, the Shadow Origin Substance was contained within the ck stones, not something Su Chen could refine himself. As such, the amount of Origin Substance he could use was limited. He had already expended quite a bit of Shadow Origin Substance in his back-and-forth experiments; now, after creating six Shadow Servants, the amount he had left wasn¡¯t high.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t want to waste all of his precious Shadow Origin Substance on a few low-level targets, so he stopped making more Shadow Servants after these six.

    Five assassins and one spy was more than enough for the time being.

    Once the sixth Shadow Servant wasplete, Su Chen had pretty much arrived at the Crow Region.

    The Crow Region was in the south of Long Sang Country. To its west were the wastnds, to its east was the Spectre Forest, and to its south was Skirmish Lake. It was abat-rifendscape. Only to the north were the conditions slightly better, yet even then the roads were treacherous and filled with bandits. Because of this, it had thergest territory and the weakest government influence amongst the four border regions of the country.

    Clear River City was located near the northern area of the Crow Region; it was named so because there was a clear river that flowed through the town.

    The strange events that had been happening in Clear River City were due to the clear river in the city.

    After arriving at the Crow Region, Su Chen and his entourage finally arrived at Clear River City.

    Upon arriving at the outer reaches of the city, they found Li Shu, Ming Shu and Zhou Hong already standing on the side of the road, waiting for them. They seemed to be craning their necks in anticipation. A few others stood behind them; they should be the new recruits from Clear River City.

    After Su Chen had gotten the job as a Knowledge Executor in Clear River, the three of them had closed down their businesses in Long Coiling City and had settled down in Clear River.

    Upon seeing Iron Cliff¡¯s figure fade into view, the three of them simultaneously went forth.

    ¡°Young Master is finally here,¡± Li Shu smiled slightly as he said. ¡°We ran over as soon as we heard the news, but surprisingly Prince Su was two hourste.¡±

    ¡°We were lucky on the way here and happened to pass by a Thousand Kilometers Red about to bloom. It was going to ripen in only two hours, so I waited a bit. Sorry about making you wait,¡± Su Chen said as he stepped off of the carriage and stretchedzily.

    ¡°We should wait for you even if it take some time,¡± Li Shu replied.

    ¡°Right, were you all able to take care of the matters that I asked you to handle?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Li Shu replied, ¡°We began to prepare as soon as we got the message. There should be more than enough space for these a hundred people. Thankfully, because of Young Master¡¯s foresight, we bought a property outside of the city. If it were inside the city, we might be in for some trouble.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already had my fair share of trouble just trying to get here,¡± Su Chen sighed.

    Walking along with over a hundred people in tow had attracted quite a bit of attention. But with Su Chen¡¯s status as a Knowledge Executor over in Clear River, along with the fact that his captives were all bandits, no one made it too difficult for them.

    Thergepound they had bought for Su Chen wasn¡¯t far from the main city. The river ran in front of the pce, with mountains at the back. An apricot grove wasn¡¯t far from where they were, and Clear River City was to the west.

    There were tworge stone lions in front of the main entrance, and a card hung over the top, written inrge characters: ¡°Su Pce¡±.

    There were six entrances and twelve halls within the pce, including the front court, the entrance hall, the main hall, an interior garden. It took up over four hectares of space and had nearly two hundred rooms. There was a fake mountain in the flower garden, its rocks sharp and craggly, with an octagonal pavilion at the top. From atop the pavilion, one could see what was going on inside Clear River City.

    Su Chen walked over and inspected theyout of the ce. He casually said, ¡°How much did you spend to get it?¡±

    Li Shu replied, ¡°Ten thousand taels of pure gold.¡±

    At market value, a ce as big as this was actually probably worth nearly fifty thousand taels of pure gold.

    For Li Shu to have bought it with only ten thousand taels of pure gold was quite shocking. But Su Chenughed coldly and said, ¡°You needed ten thousand taels of pure gold? Isn¡¯t that a bit too expensive?¡±

    Li Shu jumped in fright. He hurriedly said, ¡°This little one doesn¡¯t dare try to pocket something for myself. It really is ten thousand taels of gold! That Li n was originally willing to sell it for five thousand, but unexpectedly the Long n appeared out of nowhere and began to raise the price, pulling it to ten thousand taels of gold. Forgive me for my inability!¡±

    ¡°The Long n? One of the ten great Bloodline Nobility ns?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Su Chen knitted his brows. ¡°Strange, why would they want this residence?¡±

    ¡°This little one doesn¡¯t know either.¡±

    Su Chen felt a strong sense of suspicion.

    This residence originally belonged to the Li n from Clear River City.

    The Li n¡¯s originsy in the fur trade. As they grew and expanded over time, they eventually became one of thergest ns in the city.

    A year ago, something strange had happened in this residence.

    The reason for the strange urrence was not actually that strange.

    One of the Li n¡¯s Second Chief¡¯s wife¡¯s maidservants suddenly became pregnant.

    Even though the Li n was a n with origins inmerce, they had managed to produce two government officials and a bunch of talents; as such, they liked to pretend that they were of schrly backgrounds.

    In the end, the girl refused to admit that there was an adulterer, and eventually she was pushed tomit suicide.

    The Li n were able to discover who the adulterer was, and so they thought that this matter was resolved.

    Unexpectedly, another maidservant got pregnant not long after.

    This time, the Li n was furious. They snatched up the maidservant and fiercely interrogated her, but she refused to admit that she had done the deed, dering that she was still pure.

    Her stomach was sorge already, yet she still continued to im that she was pure. Naturally, the Li n didn¡¯t believe her.

    Not long after, however, a third pregnancy urred.

    This time, it was the Li n¡¯s Fourth Young Miss.

    The Fourth Young Miss had yet to be married and had an upstanding moral character. Normally, she never went outside, so how could she do something so indecent?

    The Fourth Young Miss also wept and imed that she had never even touched the hand of a male before.

    This was when the Li n finally realized that something wasn¡¯t quite right.

    Thus, they began to think that there was a pervert hidden amongst the Li n, wantonlymitting crimes.

    For this, the Li n had begun to invite people over to try and catch this pervert.

    They spent nearly half a year trying to catch this pervert and had invited countless Origin Qi Schrs, but came up with no leads. In stark contrast, the number of pregnant women in the Li n skyrocketed. Thirty or so young maidens, all yet to be married, suddenly became pregnant during this period of time, basically ounting for all of the yet-married women in the Li n. Of course, they all denied having an affair with anyone.

    Clear River City was in an uproar over this matter as well. People began to say that there was an evil spirit or a demon within the Li n¡¯s residence.

    There might have been some truth to this rumor, since if it were just a pervert, they wouldn¡¯t focus on a single n. In addition, the women of the Li n would be fine as long as they weren¡¯t staying in this residence.

    Every maiden who had gotten pregnant was staying for an extended duration at the Li n¡¯s pce.

    Some people imed that these demons were sending them children with evil intentions.

    Under these circumstances, how could the Li n still dare to stay in that residence? They could only move out.

    It really was quite strange; after the Li n¡¯s members moved out, nothing else like that happened to them.

    Thus, the rumor about demons sending the Li n babies became cemented in folklore.

    When Shi Kaihuang had said that something strange was going on in Clear River, this was what he was referring to.

    Because of this rumor, there was no way anyone was going to want to live here. The ce had been put on sale, but no one dared to enter.

    Su Chen hade over this time with a specific mission, which was to figure out what exactly was going on. Beforeing, he hadmanded Li Shu to purchase this building. Not only could he live there, but he could also do some investigation on this case.

    Unexpectedly, it seemed that someone else was interested in fighting with him over this ¡°haunted¡± property.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 6: Demons Sending Babies

    Chapter 6: Demons Sending Babies

    ¡°Did they say why they wanted to buy this residence?¡±

    Su Chen sat in his spot in a private study and asked Li Shu.

    ¡°Apparently, the Long n¡¯s Young Master wanted it. He said that the whole ¡®demons sending babies¡¯ thing only affected women, not men, so he would buy it so that men could live there first. Perhaps if that demon were to leave, he could then remodel the residence and make a huge profit.¡±

    ¡°That seems to make sense. But is he not afraid of this at all? It does have to do with evil spirits, after all. They might leave, but they might also change their way of doing things and begin to stuff babies inside the stomachs of men, right?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Li Shuughed, ¡°Yes, that¡¯s what I thought as well. If that weren¡¯t the case, why would the Li n give up on this residence? They were afraid of this matter in the end and wanted to get out a bit earlier. But the Long n¡¯s representative said that they were a Bloodline Nobility n and weren¡¯t afraid of this. If evil spirits really came after them, they were willing to fight it out. Young Master, you¡¯re also an Origin Qi Schr and you¡¯re not afraid. So what ground do I have to force them to be afraid of it? His words were still reasonable, so I couldn¡¯t say much.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Then are there no Bloodline Nobility ns that aren¡¯t afraid?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s still rted to demons and evil spirits in the end. If they don¡¯t know how deep the roots go, they won¡¯t try and touch it easily. This world is so vast, and it is filled with ruffians and vagrants. If the Bloodline Nobility ns were to take unnecessary risks all the time, they wouldn¡¯t survive for very long.¡±

    ¡°The Long n and I just so happen to not fear evil spirits and are determined to live here, huh?¡±

    Li Shu awkwardlyughed, ¡°Young Master is different from them.¡±

    He was originally just ttering Su Chen, but Su Chen nodded. ¡°Yes, I am different from them. If I daree here, naturally I have my own source of confidence. What about the Long n? They¡¯re also probably different, right?¡±

    Li Shu froze. Su Chen said, ¡°Chang Er.¡±

    An individual wearing a ck cloak entered the room and kneeled in front of Su Chen. ¡°Master!¡±

    Bandits never had much integrity in the first ce. After Su Chen¡¯s ¡°training¡± of him, he hadpletely sold himself over to Su Chen.

    ¡°Go keep an eye on the Long n and see what¡¯s going on there.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    An instantter, Li Shu discovered that the ck-cloaked individual had actually disappeared without a trace from before his very own eyes.

    This gave him quite a bad shock.

    Even though he wasn¡¯t an Origin Qi Schr, he knew that invisibility techniques was not something every Origin Qi Schr could achieve. If Su Chen had achieved it, then he wouldn¡¯t have been as surprised. However, for a servant whom he had never seen before to possess such a technique ¨C there was no way he could have been prepared for it.

    Most importantly, he remembered that there were a total of six individuals dressed like this ck-cloaked individual

    After sending Chang Er off, Su Chen continued to discuss the situation with Li Shu.

    ¡°Right, this matter of demons sending babies, it happened about year ago. What happened to those girls that got pregnant?¡± Suu Chen asked.

    ¡°Most of them have already given birth, but every one was a stillbirth.¡±

    ¡°Stillbirths......¡± Su Chen muttered. ¡°Is it really a demon?¡±

    After thinking for a moment, Su Chen asked, ¡°So where are the stillbirths and the pregnant women at now?¡±

    ¡°Naturally, the stillbirths were discarded, with their exact location unknown. It¡¯s also unknown what happened to the mothers; somemitted suicide, some ran away, and others still were captured and locked by the Li n. In any case, none of them met any good fates; the only one who was a little better off was probably the Li n¡¯s Fourth Young Miss, who was apparently sent back to her old home and began a new life under a new identity.¡±

    Su Chen tapped his finger on the dragon-shaped mahogany armrest of his chair, resulting in a rhythmic echo throughout the study.

    He thought for a moment, then said, ¡°Gui Dashan.¡±

    ¡°I am here.¡± The ck-cloaked individual that walked in was the original leader of the Tortoiseshell Camp, Iron Hammer Gui Dashan. Currently, he was Su Chen¡¯s top-ranked Shadow Servant.

    ¡°Figure out where the Li n ended up disposing those stillborns, as well as where all the dead mothers are.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Gui Dashan simrly disappeared into thin air, giving Li Shu quite a big shock. His fear and admiration of Su Chen only increased.

    ¡°Right, how is my mother doing? Did you bring her the medicines I told you to bring her?¡± Su Chen suddenly changed the topic.

    ¡°Based on Young Master¡¯s orders, Zhou Hong went to visit Northface City a while back and brought the medicine over, and he also informed Madame of your wishes. But Madame said that she is getting old and her bones aren¡¯t as good anymore. She doesn¡¯t want to move here and there again, so she didn¡¯t want toe to Clear River.¡±

    ¡°Has she still not given up on Su Cheng¡¯an yet?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not it. In these ten years since Young Master has been at the Institute, Great Master ¨C I mean, Su Cheng¡¯an took in another four concubines, but his days only grew more and more difficult. He has beenbeled the trash of the Su n, and Madame has already given up on him a long time ago. But she also said that she was still a member of the Su n; as long as the Great Master doesn¡¯t die, she cannot leave. Otherwise, it will ruin family principles.¡±

    ¡°So she still isn¡¯t willing to break through this barrier of principle,¡± Su Chen sighed. ¡°But this might be for the best. The path I am going to take is going to be fraught with thorns. If she doesn¡¯te with me, she might have a bit more peace and be under a little less danger.¡±

    ¡°Now that Young Master has finished his studies, it would be good to go back and visit sometime,¡± Li Shu tried to persuade him.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I really don¡¯t want to return to that home. Let¡¯s just leave it like this. From this point on, me and the Su n will go our separate ways. I don¡¯t owe them anything anymore, and this way I won¡¯t involve them in any trouble that I stir up. As for mother...... Li Shu, go to the Gu District and buy a ce for her. Tell mother that every midsummer I will go there and live for a few days. If mother misses me, she can go there and live for a couple of days.¡±

    The Gu District was located in between Clear River and Northface, more towards Northface. Most importantly, it was quiet and charming, making it a popr summer getaway. Since Tang Hongrui didn¡¯t want to leave Northface, he would help her find a nice ce where they could see each other from time to time.

    After taking care of his family issues, he asked around again about how the new Agarwood Pavilion set up here was doing. Upon confirming that everything was in order, Su Chen said, ¡°Okay, you¡¯ll be the Chief Steward in this ce from today onwards. Everything will be under your control, while Mingshu will be responsible for handling internal security, and Zhou Hong will be responsible for handling external security.¡±

    Mingshu and Zhou Hong had reached the Qi Drawing Realm eight years before and had handled security at the Agarwood Pavilion all those years. Now, Su Chen was just giving them an official title.

    Next, Su Chen pulled out a few Origin Skills and medicines for them to use in cultivating. Even Li Shu got a vial of Aging Medicine.

    These people hade with them all the way from Northface until now. They were pretty much his trusted aids, so naturally he had to take care of them.

    After taking care of these matters, Su Chen rose and said, ¡°Iron Cliff, go and prepare the carriage. We¡¯re going into the city.¡±

    ¡°Young Master, you¡¯re going out?¡±

    ¡°Yes, we need to go to the Origin Bureau and hand over some official documents. Even though it¡¯s somewhat of a bother, we still need to do the required procedure,¡± Su Chen replied as he dusted himself off.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 7: Origin Bureau

    Chapter 7: Origin Bureau

    The Origin Bureau was on the southern road of Clear River City.

    The carriage progressed steadily. After arriving at the Origin Bureau, Su Chen disembarked the carriage and handed over his letter. Very quickly, someone came to show him in.

    The person greeting Su Chen was a steward called Cao Zhengjun. He wasn¡¯t an Origin Qi Schr; he was a genuine steward, and he said to Su Chen after they had introduced themselves, ¡°Prince Su, from now on you will be the Knowledge Executor at the Clear River Origin Bureau. Normally, you would need to meet City Head Liu first to take office, but City Head Liu left two days ago to take care of business and isn¡¯t in the bureau right now, so you¡¯ll have to meet him next time.¡±

    ¡°No worries. Once City Head Liues back I¡¯ll make a visit.¡±

    ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, sir, I might as well introduce you to some of the people in the bureau,¡±

    ¡°That will be fine.¡±

    They walked to the main hall of the lobby of the bureau, where only a few martial artists were scattered. Not a single Origin Qi Schr was present.

    If the Origin Bureau was responsible for handling conflicts between Origin Qi Schrs, naturally they would need to have Origin Qi Schrs as well.

    However, most of the Origin Qi Schrs had high statuses and weren¡¯t willing to be restricted. They would onlye if there was business to take care of; otherwise, how could this job be described as carefree?

    Even Su Chen wouldn¡¯t be able to ept being forced toe and check in every day.

    Thus, under most circumstances, there would only be a single Origin Qi Schr on duty within the Origin Bureau.

    The one on duty today was called He Yu. He knew that Su Chen was a graduate of the Hidden Dragon Institute, so he treated Su Chen with a modicum of respect.

    The two of them talked briefly, giving Su Chen a broad understanding of the circumstances here.

    Apart from Su Chen, there was a total of twenty-eight Origin Qi Schrs in the Origin Bureau, and three hundred Body Tempering Cultivators. City Head Liu Wuya was in the Yang Opening realm, while below him was another Yang Opening cultivator and eight Blood Boiling cultivators, with the rest all being Qi Drawing cultivators.

    Clear River City was not particrlyrge, and this force was more than enough to deal with most issues that arose. If they encountered any enemies that were simply too powerful, they could request for help from the Clear River City government or even from the nearby troop garrison.

    The Origin Bureau would give each of its Origin Qi Schrs a notification talisman. Under normal circumstances, when there was nothing to do, those not on duty could rest as long as they didn¡¯t leave Clear River City. If the notification talisman activated, they would need to instantly go into action.

    Everything was ording to how Su Chen wanted.

    But just before he was about to leave, a small incident urred.

    A tall, brawny individual suddenly came in from outside. After seeing Su Chen, he asked, ¡°Cao Zhengjun, who is this person?¡±

    Cao Zhengjun hurriedly replied, ¡°This is our new Knowledge Executor.¡±

    ¡°Our new Knowledge Executor? You¡¯re Su Chen?¡± The fierce man seemed to size up Su Chen, his eyes gleaming frigidly.

    After sizing Su Chen up, he harrumphed, then waved his sleeves and left.

    Su Chen was confused by his attitude. He asked Cao Zhengjun, ¡°That person is?¡±

    Cao Zhengjun said in a low voice, ¡°That is Sir Yuan, Yuan Lieyang. He is the other Yang Opening Cultivator here apart from City Head Liu. Originally, he was the one with the most hope to be the next Knowledge Executor.¡±

    Upon hearing this, Su Chen understood.

    Most likely, the other party wasn¡¯t happy because he had stolen his position.

    That wasn¡¯t too big of a surprise. After all, Yuan Lieyang was in the Yang Opening Realm, a whole cultivation realm higher than him. He had also been in this Origin Bureau for many years; in terms of seniority, cultivation base, and experience, he was superior to Su Chen. But as a fresh graduate from the Hidden Dragon Institute, he had wiped out all of Yuan Lieyang¡¯s efforts throughout the years and had even be Yuan Lieyang¡¯s higher up. Anyone would have a hard time epting this.

    Even though working for the Origin Bureau was pretty easy, with everyone minding their own business, there were also times where joint operations were necessary. At that point, Yuan Lieyang would need to listen to Su Chen¡¯s orders; that might be a stab to the heart to him.

    But so what?

    Su Chenughed coldly in his heart.

    What he pursued was not some kind of influential position. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that he had to work for his country for ten years after graduating, he wouldn¡¯t have evene to Clear River. He didn¡¯t care whether Yuan Lieyang listened to him.

    Working at the Origin Bureau was just out of duty. The attractiveness of the Knowledge Executor position wasn¡¯t even as interesting to him as the skeletons excavated from the Su n¡¯s pce grounds.....

    When he thought of this, Su Chen gentlyughed. ¡°Sir Yuan has quite the fiery temperament. It seems like his Infernal Ape Bloodline is affecting his mood. But if it¡¯s this bad even though Sir Yuan only has a mixed bloodline, he still needs to focus on cultivating his mental state and temperament.¡±

    Cao Zhengjun was stunned. How did Su Chen know that Yuan Lieyang had the Infernal Ape Bloodline? And that it was a mixed bloodline?

    Yes, because it was a mixed bloodline, and a bloodline that he had received while he was a Qi Drawing Cultivator, the Yang Opening Realm was the highest Yuan Lieyang¡¯s cultivation base was going to go. He would never reach the Light Shaking Realm.

    Perhaps because of this, Yuan Lieyang had given up on his cultivation, instead focusing on trying to gain societal status.

    Unfortunately, all of his effort couldn¡¯tpare to a single sentence from Shi Kaihuang. In addition, Su Chen had already demonstrated his own worth during the expedition to the ruins. Naturally, he couldn¡¯t let Yuan Lieyang do as he pleased.

    After Su Chen said that, he stepped out of the Origin Bureau ¨C he hadpleted his orientation, and he had no interest in remaining here for any longer.

    However, even though Yuan Lieyang had left, he had kept paying attention to Su Chen. Su Chen hadn¡¯t spoken loudly, but Yuan Lieyang had still heard him. The mes of anger instantly rose in his heart when he heard Su Chen¡¯sments. ¡°Are you going toment even on my temperament?¡±

    He charged out of the bureau and reached for Su Chen¡¯s shoulder.

    This grab seemed to just be meant to restrain Su Chen, but Origin Energy was concealed within the blow. If Su Chen let himself be grabbed, he would absolutely be injured; if he tried to block it, his whole arm might be severed.

    Just as it was about to m into Su Chen, his figure suddenly swayed. He didn¡¯t even turn around to deal with it, instead continuing to advance. Yuan Lieyang¡¯s w raked through the air.

    Even though this was somewhat of a casual strike, it was still from a Yang Opening Cultivator. Yuan Lieyang immediately felt like he had lost a lot of face when his blow didn¡¯t connect, and the mes of rage in his heart only grew hotter. Another w struck out, this time glowing faintly red with mes. Evidently, Yuan Lieyang was going to make a move even if it meant getting rid of all pretenses of cordiality.

    This time, Su Chen didn¡¯t treat it casually. He suddenlyunched a punch back, and the w and fist mmed into each other, releasing a wave of energy upon impact.

    The two of them separated. Yuan Lieyang hadn¡¯t moved, but Su Chen was blown nearly a hundred feet backwards. He sped his hands after regaining his bnce and said, ¡°Many thanks to Sir Yuan for sending me off, but please stay here. Su Chen bids farewell.¡±

    Yuan Lieyang harrumphed when he saw Su Chen sent flying by a single w of his, ¡°Don¡¯t act so cocky if you can¡¯t even block a w strike at 30% of my power.¡±

    He was about to give chase when he suddenly found that his feet were stuck in ce.

    He lowered his head and found that at some point, his feet had been encased in ice, firmly freezing him in ce.

    Su Chen had told Yuan Lieyang to stay put, and he had actually managed to make it so that Yuan Lieyang couldn¡¯t advance.

    Even though a momentter, the Infernal Ape Bloodline activated, and fiery Origin Energy melted away all of the ice and frost, Su Chen was already far away.

    Yuan Lieyang harrumphed angrily as he nced in the direction that Su Chen had left. After thinking for a moment, he decided to give up the chase.

    It wasn¡¯t like they were mortal enemies; there was no need for them to go all out. But Yuan Lieyang vowed that the next time they met, he would give Su Chen something to think about!

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 8: Dispute

    Chapter 8: Dispute

    After leaving the Origin Bureau, Su Chen wasn¡¯t in any hurry to return. He went on a leisurely walk around the street.

    Clear River was not arge city, but the soil was quite fertile, so the civilians lived quite peaceful lives. Because of the clear river running through the city, trade was convenient, so the market was also pretty busy.

    As Su Chen walked, he could hear many vendors hawking their wares. What shocked him was the fact that some were actually selling Origin Qi Schr level ingredients.

    Even though they were rtivelymon medicinal herbs like the Golden-Horned Chestnut or the Eight-Leaf Laurel, it was rare for them to appear in the hands ofmoners. No wonder people said that the Crow Region was rich in natural resources; indeed, many different medicinal herbs grew and originated here.

    Because this was origin and they were being sold bymoners, these medicinal ingredients were being sold for far cheaper prices than usual. Some were even merely a tenth of the price found in medicinal herb shops in Long Coiling City. Thus, Su Chen ended up buying a few as he continued to browse.

    Suddenly, Su Chen stopped and nced at an old woman next to him.

    The old woman¡¯s basket contained some Graywire Grass, amon ingredient used by alchemists. Su Chen walked over and asked, ¡°Ma¡¯am, how much are you selling this Graywire Grass for?¡±

    The old woman replied in a trembling voice, ¡°One silver per stalk; if you want to buy them all, a single tael of gold.¡±

    The old woman didn¡¯t have much Graywire Grass, only ten or so stalks lying all alone in the basket. Perhaps it was because she didn¡¯t dare bring any more; she was only willing to bring roughly a tael of gold¡¯s worth of ingredients with her at once, or else there might be trouble.

    Su Chenughed and reached into the basket, pulling out a single Graywire Grass. ¡°Look, this Graywire Grass has a silver thread next to it, implying that it haspletely transformed from Graywire Grass into Silverwire Grass. Silverwire Grass is much more valuable than Graywire Grass, roughly a hundred times as much.

    He ced that Silverwire Grass carefully into the old woman¡¯s hand. ¡°This stalk is worth at least ten taels of gold. Don¡¯t sell it too cheaply.¡±

    The old woman stared at him, dumbfounded. Su Chen shook his sleeves and left.

    The old woman hurriedly said, ¡°Many thanks for Young Master¡¯s guidance!¡±

    However, she picked up her basket and left. Evidently, this price of ten taels of gold had stunned the old woman. She didn¡¯t dare to try and sell it here; instead, she would search for another way to sell it.

    Weaker people always had their own ways of surviving. Su Chen wasn¡¯t worried about that old woman, but her cry of ¡°Young Master¡± made him chuckle.

    He continued to advance when he suddenly heard a loud boome from behind him.

    He turned around and saw a wave of energy rolling towards him. A number of people had been thrown into the air, as if they had been caught by a tornado.

    At least ten people were swept up by the wave of energy, including that old woman. She flipped through the air, then mmed into the ground. Because she was already old, this sudden impact killed her instantly. Her hand was tightly gripped around that Silverwire Grass, even unto death.

    Su Chen found that the source of the wave of energy was two males, who were currently entangled in battle.

    Both of them were Origin Qi Schrs, so every move of theirs was filled with power. Rocks flew everywhere, and energy billowed out from them. Who knew how many more people would be affected by this battle or even injured on the spot.

    However, those twopletely ignored their surroundings, continuing to fight to their heart¡¯s¡¯ content. They were even trash-talking each other while they fought: ¡°Yu Chengshui, have you used all of your energy up on women? You want to fight me with such little strength?¡±

    ¡°Shut your mouth, Sun Mao. Even if I were to finish off ten women, I¡¯d still be able to knock you out.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense! I¡¯m right here, show me how you¡¯re going to knock me out!¡±

    Boom, boom, boom!

    A flurry of fists and feet flew through the air, the waves of energy from their strikes surging every which way. A few of the established businesses were affected too; the peddlers and hawkers could still run away, but those running the businesses could only cover their heads and hold on, allowing the waves of energy to rush through their stores and throw everything into disarray.

    Su Chen¡¯s temper red when he saw this.

    As a Knowledge Executor, he was responsible for handling any conflicts between Origin Qi Schrs. But even if he wasn¡¯t, he couldn¡¯t possibly ignore this situation.

    He struck out with his palm at the two people. This palm strike seemed normal, but once it was unleashed, the surrounding turmoil disappeared, and the waves of energy subsided. Su Chen barked, ¡°Fighting in the middle of a public street and harming the innocent? Stop this instant!¡±

    He never expected that the two of them would suddenly turn around and yell, ¡°Where did this brate from? Mind your own business!¡±

    They simultaneously struck out at Su Chen.

    When a person obtained power, it was hard for them not to be arrogant, and even to look down onmoners like they were ants. This wasn¡¯t an umon urrence.

    The only reason the strong didn¡¯t rule over everything, with the weak under their tyrannical control, was because they still had other enemies, individuals who were still stronger than them.

    Even so, in this day and age, where bullies ran riot, many people viewed themoners like weeds and had no qualms about killing them.

    These two were evidently no exception. It was clear that they weren¡¯t mortal enemies, yet they insisted on fighting in this busy marketce,pletely ignoring the damage they would cause. Their attitude was quite despicable. Even when Su Chen tried to stop them, they attacked instantly.

    A trace of killing intent shed across Su Chen¡¯s eyes. ¡°Are you looking to die?¡±

    There were still people behind him, so he didn¡¯t attempt to dodge these two blows. Instead, he activated his Adamantine Battle Body and forcefully endured the blows, then gestured as an Erupting Firehawk took flight and rammed into Yu Chengshui.

    He carefully controlled the power output so that there weren¡¯t any obvious energy fluctuations, but all of the energy was contained within the Firehawk¡¯s body.

    Yu Chengshui growled and struck out with his palm, a shadowy, cold light gathering there before it shot at the Firehawk. The moment the two blows impacted, Yu Chengshui¡¯s shadowy light was instantly neutralized, but the Firehawk continued to advance at Yu Chengshui.

    ¡°Dammit!¡± Yu Chengshui cursed. He leapt into the air, not caring what might happen if Su Chen¡¯s blow were tond somewhere else. As long as he escaped, everything was fine.

    The Firehawk flew past beneath him. Just when he thought he had avoided the blow, however, he felt an intense heat at his back. He instinctively gathered all of his energy at his back, but with a loud BOOM, the Firehawk had already mmed into him. The mes engulfed Yu Chengshui almost immediately, causing him to howl in pain.

    Su Chen ignored him. After all, this guy was an Origin Qi Schr; that wouldn¡¯t be enough to kill him.

    Sun Mao had already charged forward at this moment, now wielding a hidden dagger that he stabbed at the left side of Su Chen¡¯s small back.

    Su Chen wed out behind him, grabbing onto Sun Mao¡¯s wrist. The two struggled briefly, with Sun Mao unable to extricate himself, allowing Su Chen tond a fierce kick onto Sun Mao¡¯s kneecap. Sun Mao cried out in pain and kneeled.

    ¡°You know now to kneel and ask for forgiveness?¡± Su Chenughed. He waved his right hand, and another Erupting Firehawk mmed into Yu Chengshui, who had just gotten to his feet. Simultaneously, he spun his left hand around, reversing Sun Mao and capturing him.

    ¡°You!¡± Sun Mao yelled loudly. A ck edge began to gather on his left hand, which he stabbed at Su Chen.

    His Extermination Jab was pretty powerful, but it expended too much energy, so he wasn¡¯t willing to use it casually. He hadn¡¯t used it in his earlier battle with Yu Chengshui, but at this point he risked it all.

    Unfortunately, this finger strike mmed into Sun Mao¡¯s own right hand ¨C Su Chen pulled Sun Mao¡¯s arm, using it as a shield to defend himself.

    ¡°AHHH!¡± Sun Mao howled in pain. His right arm had suddenly turned into a pile of mangled flesh.

    ¡°How vicious.¡± Su Chen¡¯s eyebrows jumped. This jab really wasn¡¯t weak; if he had been struck by it, he would have been seriously injured even if his arm wouldn¡¯t have been reduced to this state.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 9: Arres

    Chapter 9: Arrest

    Even though he had been captured, Sun Mao¡¯s vicious attitude didn¡¯t change. He yelled loudly, ¡°Bastard! Bastard! You dare interfere in my business and even ruin my arm? You¡¯re going to die! Die, you hear me!?¡±

    Yu Chengshui had stood up again. His entire body was covered in burn wounds, but he stared at Su Chen with rage. ¡°You dare attack us? Do you know who we are?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps you should ask me first who I am,¡± Su Chen replied.

    He pulled out a jade pendant and swung it in front of them. ¡°I¡¯m Su Chen, the new Knowledge Executor of Clear River City. You guys fought in a public market and harmed many innocent bystanders. I¡¯m going to take you into custody now.¡±

    Both of them paused upon hearing that Su Chen is a Knowledge Executor.

    But that didn¡¯t give them any fear. Rather, a fierce expression appeared on both of their faces.

    Yu Chengshui said directly, ¡°So you¡¯re the new Knowledge Executor. No wonder you intervened. But Knowledge Executor Su, did you not take the time to investigate whose business you can meddle in and whose you can¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°Oh? I didn¡¯t know that an Origin Bureau Knowledge Executor¡¯s duties include selecting targets.¡±

    ¡°Naturally, you need to select a target. Some people you shouldn¡¯t interfere with!¡± Yu Chengshui said severely, ¡°Have you heard of Clear River City¡¯s ten great Bloodline Nobility ns? Ie from one of those ns, the Lian n. If you tactfully let us go, we can pretend this never happened.¡±

    ¡°Absolutely not!¡± Sun Mao yelled hysterically. ¡°He ruined my arm, he must die! Die!¡±

    Yu Chengshui nced at him disdainfully. ¡°You not holding back against him is your problem. I have no time to y around with you.¡±

    As he spoke, he turned around to leave.

    Hepletely ignored Su Chen ¨C to him, the oue had been settled as soon as he mentioned that he was from the Lian n.

    This was why Yu Chengshui¡¯s figure visibly froze when Su Chen said, ¡°Did I say you could leave?¡±

    He turned around and stared at Su Chen, a steely glint in his eyes. ¡°What? You still want to continue offending the Lian n?¡±

    ¡°You talk too much.¡±

    Su Chen waved his hand. An Air Tentacle flew forth, wrapping around Yu Chengshui and dragging him back. As for Sun Miao, he continued to howl, but Su Chen knocked him out with a blow, then left, dragging each of them with one hand.

    The bystanders didn¡¯t seem happy when they saw this; rather, worry was written all over their faces. Evidently, they were feeling anxious for Su Chen.

    Someone even said, ¡°Another unlucky one.¡±

    Yu Chengshui howled, ¡°You dare offend two Bloodline Nobility ns at once? We¡¯ll give you something to think about! Your position as a Knowledge Executor will be short-lived!¡±

    Because Origin Qi Schrs had power far greater than that ofmoners, they were often above thew.

    Forget about harming the innocent while battling on the streets; even publicly killing other people was a rtivelymon urrence.

    Even though the government tried to suppress such urrences by arresting the culprits, most of the time nothing would happen. The government was mainly there to keep things under control and make sure they didn¡¯t escte too much. As long as the offense wasn¡¯t that big, they would usually look the other way.

    But regardless, the government was still the government. If the government couldn¡¯t catch you, then you could do as you pleased. But if you got caught, you had better obey.

    Thus, when Yu Chengshui said that, Su Chen¡¯s interest was piqued. ¡°What? Does a Bloodline Nobility n dare storm the Origin Bureau?¡±

    It was understandable that they had a sizable amount of influence here.

    But no matter how much influence they had, they couldn¡¯t ignore the government. If their influence had grown to the point that they could group up and storm the government to release someone, Su Chen could only concede that the Crow Region waspletely ruined.

    That wasn¡¯t the case, though; Yu Chengshui harrumphed, ¡°We won¡¯t need to charge into the Origin Bureau for us to be released. And from now on, you¡¯ll need to watch your back!¡±

    ¡°So it¡¯s the same tactics as always.¡± Su Chen nodded.

    It was fine as long as they didn¡¯t dare charge into the Origin Bureau.

    As for making a move secretly, that was totally normal. Even in Long Coiling City, themander of the Secret Task Force had been assassinated, much less in a ce like the Crow Region where people had no respect for authority.

    No matter how big they talked, they could only use secretive methods to deal with him.

    But that didn¡¯t matter. As long as they weren¡¯t willing to openly charge in, Su Chen wasn¡¯t afraid.

    The biggest issue with these secretive tactics was that they couldn¡¯t be done openly. If they couldn¡¯t be done openly, the scale of the operation and how much room they had to maneuver were both limited. As such, their strength would be greatly reduced.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t worry about any secret tactics they might try to use; he would only fear them if they used brute force to suppress him.

    If the Zhu n or the Six Great ns or even the Immortal Temple had ever relied on brute strength to suppress him, he would have died.

    But they didn¡¯t because of how cautious they were. They wanted to try their hand at some deception, but that only resulted in their ruin.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t care if they tried to set up traps for him; he only cared if they openly tried to crush him.

    But his opponents didn¡¯t know this. Everyone who had tried to finish him off had originally hoped to do the job while paying the smallest price, but they had all made terrible miscalctions, which resulted in them paying a huge price and eventually being forced to give up.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know how strong the ten Bloodline Nobility ns in Clear River City were, but if they had any intelligence at all, they wouldn¡¯t charge into the Origin Bureau to kill Su Chen for these two people who were clearly invited guests, not even from their own n.

    When Yu Chengshui saw that he couldn¡¯t frighten Su Chen, he hurriedly said, ¡°Trust me, you don¡¯t want to provoke these ten Bloodline Nobility ns. Even the City Lord An Siyuan doesn¡¯t dare offend us, so who are you?¡±

    ¡°First of all, I¡¯m not offending the ten Bloodline Nobility ns, just you and this guy called Sun Mao. Second of all, if you¡¯re all so powerful, then you¡¯lle right back out as soon as you go in. What are you so afraid of? Finally, even if I do offend them, I don¡¯t care.¡±

    Yu Chengshui¡¯s reply got stuck in his throat. At the same time, Sun Mao was beginning to regain consciousness.

    Upon hearing these words, he said savagely, ¡°Su Chen, is it? I¡¯ll remember this name. I swear that I will definitely kill you. The Long n won¡¯t let you get away with this. Absolutely not!¡±

    ¡°The Long n?¡± Su Chen paused. ¡°You¡¯re telling me that you¡¯re from the Long n?¡±

    ¡°What of it? Now you know how to fear? It¡¯s toote!¡± Sun Mao stared at Su Chen, his features contorted with rage. He really had quite the savage temperament.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m just amazed by the coincidence. Hm, perhaps I should change my n a bit,¡± Su Chen trailed off as he lowered his head in thought. He suddenly pulled out two vials of medicine from his Origin Ring and forced it down their throats.

    After doing that, Su Chen dragged the two of them back with him to the Origin Bureau.

    Cao Zhengjun saw him return and wanted to ask what happened when he saw the two people Su Chen was holding. He was so shocked that his eyes were about to pop out of their sockets.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t wait for him to ask anything. ¡°They were fighting in public and implicated bystanders. One died, three were critically injured, and thirty were wounded at that street over there. The city guards should be on their way there. Send someone to record it

    ¡°Me!?¡± Cao Zhengjun pointed at himself incredulously.

    ¡°Yes. If I capture some criminals, shouldn¡¯t I hand them over to you?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Yes, yes...... but......¡± Cao Zhengjun stammered, unable to speak clearly.

    Su Chen could tell from Cao Zhengjun¡¯s attitude that he had recognized that the two captives were from Bloodline Nobility ns. That was why he was so surprised and even unwilling to mark them as captives.

    His expression hardened. ¡°What are you stammering about? Is the Origin Bureau no longer responsible for maintaining the peace of the city and handling disputes between Origin Qi Schrs?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but......¡±

    ¡°No buts. Take them down and handle them ording to the rules.¡±

    Su Chen tossed over the two captives and then left.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 10: New Demands

    Chapter 10: New Demands

    After handing over the two Origin Qi Schrs over to the Origin Bureau, Su Chen returned to his residence.

    He had just arrived when Li Shu came to greet him. ¡°We¡¯ve found the corpses of those stillbirths.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Su Chen¡¯s interest was piqued. ¡°Let¡¯s go and take a look.¡±

    Soon, Su Chen was standing in front of an earthen pit. They were in a deste area ofnd outside of Clear River City.

    Inside the pit were a number of tiny corpses, along with the corpses of two adults. Those had probably belonged to the mothers.

    Because they hadn¡¯t been dead for long, their flesh hadn¡¯t fully dposed yet. Maggots had infested the rotting flesh; paired with the deathly stench, the scene made people want to vomit.

    Su Chen seemed to bepletely unaware of it, however. He picked up a bone from one of the stillbirths using his hand, which he had wrapped in a protective cloth, and began to closely inspect it.

    To the others, Su Chen was spacing out facing a bone. However, Su Chen¡¯s Origin Energy Eye was already analyzing theposition of the bone. Every fine detail wasid out clearly before him.

    Even though on the surface this bone seemed identical to that of a normal human, Su Chen found upon closer inspection that there was something strange about it.

    The more he inspected the bone, the more shocked he was.

    ¡°Young Master, this bone......¡± Li Shu asked as he leaned in.

    Su Chen, however, didn¡¯t reply. He only said, ¡°Clean up all of the bones. Don¡¯t leave any behind. Keep the adults and the infants separate from each other.¡±

    ¡°Yes sir.¡±

    ¡°And those mothers that have not died yet ¨C find them and bring them back to the Su residence. Right, the ¡®demons sending babies¡¯ incidentsted nearly half a year, right? So there should be some women who are still pregnant, right?¡±

    ¡°This...... there might be some, but I¡¯m not clear about the details.¡±

    ¡°Old Second Cheng!¡± Su Chen raised his voice.

    ¡°Little one is here.¡± The Tortoiseshell Camp¡¯s former second-inmand, Old Second Cheng, appeared nearby.

    ¡°Go to the Li n and find all of women who are about to give birth. If possible, bring them back here. In addition, see if you can find any other clues while you¡¯re there.¡±

    Old Second Cheng hesitated for a moment, then asked, ¡°What kind of clues should I be looking for?¡±

    ¡°Clues like whether any infants survived!¡±

    ¡°Yes! This little one understands!¡±

    After taking care of those matters, Su Chen returned to the residence.

    He had just entered his study when he suddenly knitted his eyebrows and said, ¡°Come on out.¡±

    ¡°Hehe, you¡¯re getting better and better to have discovered me there,¡± Night Demonughed from the darkness. She bounced out from her hiding ce, a scary mask on her face. It looked like she had been nning on surprising Su Chen, but unfortunately she didn¡¯t seed.

    Su Chen said curtly, ¡°You¡¯re getting softer and softer. Look, do you have any semnce of being an assassin?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t feel ashamed saying that? Ever since meeting you, I officially changed from an assassin to a messenger. Pity my dream of bing the king of assassins!¡± Night Demon said, aggrieved. ¡°I thought that I could regain my freedom after you left the Hidden Dragon Institute, but who knew that you would call me over to Clear River City too? Hey, do you think that I¡¯m your personal messenger or something? Taking me with you wherever you go?¡±

    ¡°Most people would fight over this job, but you don¡¯t want it. You¡¯re so set on bing an assassin, do you think that you won¡¯t die?¡±

    ¡°Hmph!¡± Night Demon turned her head away disdainfully.

    ¡°Okay, tell me what you want.¡± Su Chen sat down in his usual spot.

    ¡°Nothing, really. The higher-ups wanted me to discuss with you the matter of the Spirit Sobering Medicines.¡±

    ¡°You want me to make them faster still?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Su Chen and the Immortal Temple had set a rate of two hundred vials a year. Up to this point, Su Chen had already handed over twelve hundred vials of medicine.

    In reality, at his current skill level his rate of failure when concocting Spirit Sobering Medicines was basically nonexistent. If he really wanted to, he could quickly finish off the remaining eighteen hundred vials of medicine and repay his debt.

    But Su Chen was extremely aware of the benefits of owing someone a debt. As long as he owed the Immortal Temple something, they wouldn¡¯t pressure him unfairly, and they would treat him with much more respect. Naturally, there was no way he was going to try and get out of debt faster on his own.

    Night Demon said, ¡°That¡¯s not the issue. You also know that in these past six years, you¡¯ve concocted a total of twelve hundred Spirit Sobering Medicines. Twelve hundred! These are rare-tier medicines. The Immortal Temple doesn¡¯t know what to do with so much all at once.¡±

    ¡°You can sell them if you don¡¯t know what to use them for.¡±

    ¡°You say that, but don¡¯t you think that using a legendary-tier ingredient to make rare-tier medicines is somewhat of a waste? Of course, the number of medicines you can concoct will increase, so the total profit won¡¯t change much. But there are some things that have a price yet can¡¯t be bought.¡±

    Su Chen understood what she was getting at. Heughed, ¡°It seems like your higher-ups have some new ideas and requests. So there¡¯s too many Spirit Sobering Medicines. What, are you all getting tired of drinking them?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s pretty normal.¡± Night Demon plopped herself onto Su Chen¡¯s table. ¡°If we keep making them at two hundred vials a year, we¡¯ll have enough rare-tier medicines for each person in the organization to have one. You should have noticed these past few years that the Immortal Temple has given up on tormenting humans a long time ago. Everyone just wants to live a good life.¡±

    ¡°Mm,¡± Su Chen murmured, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with her.

    After the incident with Ma Renzen, he was exceptionally clear that the Immortal Temple wasn¡¯t unified. There were those in the organization who just wanted to live good lives, and there were also those who were cruel, vicious, and merciless.

    ¡°So the higher-ups want me to make a deal with you and have you concoct some different medicines. We won¡¯t ask you to make any medicines that can dorge-scale damage, but we do want some medicines befitting the rarity of an ingredient like the Corpse Spirit Flower.¡±

    ¡°Only Master Alchemists can concoct those.¡±

    ¡°Talented Distinguished Alchemists can also do it. And based on our investigations, you should have reached that level already, right? You just haven¡¯t gone to take the official test yet,¡± Night Demon said with a smile.

    Su Chen harrumphed. ¡°What investigation, you just discovered the two vials of high-tier Frenzy Medicine that I sold recently.¡±

    High-tier Frenzy Medicine could only be made by Distinguished Alchemists, and it took a different path than the Spirit Sobering Medicine. If Su Chen could concoct that, then he had definitely reached the skill level of a Distinguished Alchemist. No matter how blind the Immortal Temple was, they would at least have to recognize this point.

    Night Demon giggled. ¡°So you never nned on keeping it secret. Perhaps even my appearance here is all within your calctions.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Your intelligence seems to have gone up.¡± Su Chen was shocked.

    Night Demon¡¯s smile immediately disappeared. ¡°Shut up! We¡¯re brothers, so just tell me if you¡¯re going to do it or not.¡±

    ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°High-tier Blood Withering Medicine, Chaotic Soul Medicine, and Clear Spirit Medicine.¡±

    Su Chen knitted his eyebrows. ¡°Blood Withering Medicine is poison.¡±

    ¡°But it can¡¯t do anyrge-scale damage.¡± Night Demon seemed to have been prepared for this. ¡°You can¡¯t expect the Immortal Temple to always be the good guy. We still need to have some offensive measures. High-tier Blood Withering Medicine¡¯s unique point is that it restricts a person¡¯s bloodline power, but it won¡¯t kill them. Blood Withering Medicine made with Corpse Spirit Flowers is just a little more potent, so it will be more effective against high-level targets.¡±

    ¡°But to you guys, a person with suppressed bloodline power is a dead person.¡±

    ¡°Using the Spirit Sobering Medicine to strengthen oneself is also a way to kill an opponent,¡± Night Demon quickly replied.

    ¡°It seems like you¡¯ve been prepared for all of this. You have an answer to every one of my concerns.¡±

    Night Demon giggled. ¡°We¡¯ve swapped out for a much smarter leader.¡±

    This sentence exposed her true nature.

    ¡°Then what about the Chaotic Soul Medicine? You can use that to control your target¡¯s consciousness. What do you want that for? Are you nning on targeting a high-ranking imperial official, waiting for an opportunity to revolt?¡±

    ¡°We just have a very particr target we want to deal with, but it definitely won¡¯t be to throw the human race into disorder. It¡¯s so we can get some benefits, just like before. If you don¡¯t trust us, you can join us in this endeavor,¡± Night Demon replied.

    Upon hearing this, Su Chen was dazed.

    It seemed like the Immortal Temple really had picked someone with a brain to lead the troops this time.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 11: Metal Block

    Chapter 11: Metal Block

    The Immortal Temple had made adequate preparations this time.

    Their request wasn¡¯t too excessive. Just as they had said, the Blood Withering Medicine and Chaotic Soul Medicine both couldn¡¯t dorge-scale damage. Even though they were powerful, they were just like conventional weapons. Su Chen really didn¡¯t have a reason to refuse them.

    Most importantly, the other side had even voluntarily invited him to join their expedition.

    The biggest benefit to doing it this way was that they could lower Su Chen¡¯s vignce, making it easier to obtain the medicines. Second, his help would be greatly appreciated. An elite graduate from the Hidden Dragon Institute was never going to be weak. Thirdly, and most importantly, they would be able to reestablish their rtionship with Su Chen. They could mend the cracks that were present in their rtionship and bring the ties closer together.

    Perhaps they would be able to cooperate with each other in the future.

    After all, sometimes once one thing started, it was very difficult to cut it off.

    From this point of view, the Immortal Temple had basically pulled Su Chen over to their side.

    In other words, the Immortal Temple would be able to haul a ton of benefits just from this one expedition.

    But this way of doing things wouldn¡¯t put a bad taste in Su Chen¡¯s mouth. It was a much more efficient way of doing things than Ma Renze¡¯s threats.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, even Su Chen had no reason to refuse.

    Of course, no matter what these medicines were still legendary-tier, and at present Su Chen¡¯s ability was still somewhatcking. He still needed some time to prepare.

    Night Demon had already agreed on behalf of the Immortal Temple. They would give Su Chen three years to prepare; in the meantime, they would still need Spirit Sobering Medicine, but that number would go down to a hundred vials a year.

    After casually conversing for some time, Night Demon left.

    Su Chen saw her off, then returned to his residence, where he began to stroll aimlessly.

    The former Li n residence was well-constructed, and the scenery in the flower garden was very beautiful. Su Chen wandered slowly in the garden, taking in the sights.

    If there was any downside, it was that after the ¡®demons sending babies¡¯ incident, not a single woman dared enter this residence, so it was all males living here.

    Su Chen walked through the flower garden into the backyard.

    There was a well in the backyard. This was the well in which the first mysteriously pregnant woman hadmitted suicide in.

    Because someone had died here, the well had been abandoned, and the mouth of the well had been covered with metal bars.

    Standing and looking down into the mouth of the well, Su Chen could feel a cold, shadowy wind blowing across his face, as if there was something seeping out of the well.

    In the Primordial Continent, because of Origin Energy, all kinds of supernatural urrences could actually be reality. Even shadowy winds could be real.

    Thus, when he felt the chilling intent wash over him, Su Chen activated his Origin Energy Eye to take a closer look at the well.

    Unexpectedly, as soon as he activated his eye, he could see a bunch of strange particles of light floating densely within the well.

    ¡°This is......¡± Su Chen was shocked.

    He got closer and found that this wasn¡¯t an Origin Substance.

    These dots of light were muchrger than Origin Substance Particles, but they were still invisible to the naked eye. They floated in the air and could be inhaled into a person¡¯s body at any time.

    Su Chen stopped his breathing to prevent himself from taking in those motes of light.

    After thinking for a moment, he grabbed one of the bandits and tossed them into the well.

    Those dots of light were absorbed into the bandit¡¯s body as he inhaled.

    Su Chen ripped the bandit¡¯s clothes open to get a closer look. The bandit waspletely frightened, staring at Su Chen in fright as he covered his butt with his hands.

    Su Chen ignored him as he continued to observe the changes in the bandit¡¯s body.

    His Origin Energy Eye couldn¡¯t prate objects, but as the number of dots of light absorbed grew greater, there would definitely be some shining through, allowing Su Chen to make an analysis.

    To his surprise, he discovered that these dots of light weren¡¯t actually absorbed by the body itself. They circted through the bandit¡¯s body and then were exhaled after.

    It seemed like they werepletely harmless.

    But Su Chen didn¡¯t think that was the case.

    ¡°Harmless to humans...... or harmless to males? It seems like I need to find a woman to test it out,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    But finding a female target was going to be a problem. Su Chen only had a bunch of bandits with him, and not a single one was a female. His two rules for selecting human research subjects was that he wouldn¡¯t offend anyone who didn¡¯t offend him, and the second was that the offense had to be a significant one.

    This meant that he would need to find a female offender before he could use her for an experiment.

    ¡°This...... this is going to be quite troublesome,¡± Su Chen muttered.

    Of course, apart from doing experiments, there were other things he could do.

    Such as go down there to take a look.

    Since the dots of light were floating around near the well, that implied that there was something within the well creating these dots of light.

    If that was the case, he could make some kind of discovery just by going down to take a look. In any case, these dots of light were, at the very least, not harmful to males.

    But Su Chen didn¡¯t go down himself.

    Having reached this point, Su Chen was very clear about the importance of being cautious.

    He said to the bandit, ¡°You, go down into that well and take a look.¡±

    Even though the bandit was crude, he wasn¡¯t an idiot and knew that this ce was strange. He said with fright, ¡°Sir, I cannot!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll protect you. If you discover anything, tell me and I¡¯ll reward you,¡± Su Chen said as an air tentacle wrapped itself around the bandit and pushed him into the well.

    The cold water in the well drowned out the bandit¡¯s panicked yells as he sank to the bottom. Su Chen wasn¡¯t worried about the bandit drowning; the air tentacle wasn¡¯t just a rope, but it could also be used to help him breathe. He branched out a small tentacle from the main tentacle and put it in the bandit¡¯s mouth, helping him breathe. That way, the bandit would be able to stay underwater for longer.

    After some time, Su Chen pulled him back out and asked, ¡°Did you find anything?¡±

    The bandit shook his head. ¡°Everything was pitch ck down there and I couldn¡¯t see anything.¡±

    ¡°I forgot about that.¡± Su Chen pulled out a vial of medicine, sealed its opening with Origin Energy, then handed it to the bandit and said, ¡°There¡¯s a light technique stored in there. Go down and take a closer look.¡±

    The bandit was much bolder upon seeing that there didn¡¯t seem to be much danger. He took the light with him and went back into the water.

    However, he still shook his head upon emerging from the water. ¡°There was nothing down there.¡±

    ¡°Nothing?¡± Su Chen stared at the bandit intently, quietly activating his lie detection skill. ¡°Was there really nothing?¡±

    ¡°Really, there was nothing down there!¡±

    ¡°Bang!¡± Su Chen pped the bandit hard. ¡°I¡¯ll give you onest chance. Tell me the truth or I¡¯m going to send you to the researchb right now.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll talk! I¡¯ll talk!¡± The bandit was scared out of his wits. ¡°There¡¯s a metal block in the mud below.¡±

    ¡°Go and get it.¡±

    Su Chen tossed him back into the well.

    When the bandit reemerged, he was holding a strange block of metal in his hands.

    This metal block was extremely square, roughly the size of a bowl. It was covered in profound inscriptions; evidently, it was a man-made item.

    There was a small hole at the very center of the metal block.

    With his Origin Energy Eye, Su Chen could clearly see that the dark substance wasing out from this metal block.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 12: Microscopic Eye

    Chapter 12: Microscopic Eye

    ¡°Patelocke, have you seen this before?¡± Su Chen asked, now back in theboratory in his residence.

    Patelocke inspected the metal block and eximed in shock, ¡°These are very intricate Origin Formation Inscriptions. They carry an aura I¡¯m familiar with, but there¡¯s something different about it.¡±

    ¡°Are you saying this is an ancient artifact?¡±

    ¡°No! I¡¯m certain it¡¯s not,¡± Patelocke replied. ¡°There¡¯s a lot of technology in here that wasn¡¯t around during the time of the Arcana Kingdom.¡±

    Compared to Su Chen, Patelocke was much clearer about what technology existed during the Arcana Kingdom. After returning to the main world for a year, he was already beginning to understand the current situation and its development.

    Thus, he said, ¡°This is the result of thebination of a contemporary Origin Skill and an Ancient Arcana Technique.¡±

    ¡°Oh, another schr.¡± Su Chenughed.

    There was no way he would believe that he was the only person who was proficient both in contemporary Origin Skills and in Ancient Arcana Techniques.

    ¡°However, it¡¯s very different from your mainstream Origin Skills. I temporarily have no way of determining where it¡¯s from...... I still know very little about this world. If I had a body, though, I could......¡±

    ¡°Enough, Patelocke. At the very least, I won¡¯t give you your body back now. But if you cooperate enough, I will think about helping you find a body.¡± Su Chen pointed at the metal block and said, ¡°Apart from its origins, what else do you sense about this metal block?¡±

    ¡°It has a powerful life energying from it!¡± Patelocke replied.

    ¡°Powerful life energy? You¡¯re sure?¡±

    ¡°Extremely sure. I¡¯m an expert in that field after all.¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°That sounds about right. This metal block has been constantly emitting a microsubstance. I think this thing might be responsible for the whole ¡®demons sending babies¡¯ situation.¡±

    ¡°Microsubstance? You¡¯re sure about that?¡± This time, it was Patelocke¡¯s turn to feel shocked.

    Upon seeing Su Chen nod his head confidently, Patelocke suddenly grew excited. ¡°Microscopic Control! That¡¯s definitely Microscopic Control! Someone actually did it!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re telling me that someone actually created this substance?¡± Su Chen was shocked.

    ¡°I can¡¯t tell you for sure. If I had a physical body, I would have some methods to verify it, but I can¡¯t do that now. But if it really was created by someone else, it has enormous implications. Controlling things from the microscopic level has innumerable applications and an unlimited future!¡± Patelocke was beside himself with excitement.

    He yelled at Su Chen, ¡°Think about it! At the base level, everything isposed of microscopic particles, even Origin Energy. If you can control things on this level, you have the ability to create life! You can create all kinds of living organisms! You can create everything! Even matters rted to the use of Origin Energy! This could be the beginning to everything!¡±

    The more he spoke, the more Patelocke¡¯s speech grew incoherent.

    Su Chen was still rtively grounded. ¡°You¡¯re thinking too far off. To most Origin Qi Schrs, this is just a microscopic substance full of life force, and this metal block is just its container. And right now, we can¡¯t even control this substance; how can you even talk about creating things?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just because your consciousness power isn¡¯t high enough!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Su Chen was stunned.

    ¡°What do you think you use to control those microscopic substances? It¡¯s not Origin Energy. Origin Energy is on the macroscopic level; even though it can be put to use via Origin Energy Patterns or Talismans, it is still controlled macroscopically. But consciousness energy is different. Don¡¯t think that it can only be used to construct illusions or to assault another person¡¯s consciousness; it can also control physical substance. However, it can only act on a microscopic level, not a macroscopic level.¡±

    ¡°Controlled using consciousness energy?¡± Su Chen was shocked.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. How do you think Ipleted my lifeform-altering experiments? By using my finger to write memories on the pregnant mothers? No, it was by consciousness energy! The more powerful your consciousness energy is, the deeper your ability to control things on a microscopic level will be!¡±

    ¡°What do I need to do to be able to control this microscopic substance?¡±

    ¡°Raise your consciousness power. Then, you¡¯ll be able to gather it together and reach out with it...... In simple terms, it¡¯s to give your consciousness power physical substance.¡±

    ¡°Give my consciousness power physical substance in order to touch the microscopic world?¡± Su Chen muttered to himself, somewhat understanding.

    He asked, ¡°How far am I from that point?¡±

    ¡°Very far. Humans focus on cultivating their physical bodies. Your physical bodies are much more powerful than ours, but the quality of your souls is too poor, and your consciousness power is much weaker than ours. The human race¡¯s understanding of the Arcana Race has a big gap, which is that they treat Ancient Arcana Techniques as synonymous with the Arcana Race; however, that¡¯s a big mistake. True Arcana Nobility ns focused on developing their consciousness; only lower-status Arcana Race groups ced their attention on developing Arcana Techniques.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Su Chen understood. ¡°I assume the reason there is this misunderstanding is because, at that time, humans were all ves, and ves never had any opportunities to encounter high-status Arcana Race individuals. Thus, their understanding of those secrets is much lessplete.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps,¡± Patelocke replied. ¡°If you needed a hundred hypothetical units of consciousness power to reach a point where you can use it to affect the microscopic world, you¡¯re probably at around fifty units right now, which is why you have no way of influencing it.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound like that big of a gap to me,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°That¡¯s because you don¡¯t know. Evenmoners have roughly ten units of consciousness power. Your cultivation can cause a corresponding increase in your consciousness power. Qi Drawing Realm gives you an additional ten, as does reaching the Blood Boiling Realm. Therefore, you¡¯ve only actually cultivated around ten units of consciousness power. If you want to reach a hundred, you¡¯ll probably have to wait until you reach the Yang Opening Realm. But even if your consciousness power reaches a hundred, you still have no way of controlling it.¡±

    ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°Because you can¡¯t see them. Only if you can clearly see those microscopic substances can you contact them and control them. Relying on Origin Skills to acquire this sight has no point because that¡¯s just a kind of superficial sight and is a major deviation. All it can do is demonstrate existence, but it can¡¯t give you an exact position of the microscopic substance. After all, Origin Skills are still macroscopic-level.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re telling me that I can only control them with my consciousness power if I can see them?¡± Su Chen squinted his eyes slightly.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, but humans aren¡¯t able to do this.¡±

    Su Chen understood the meaning in his words. ¡°So the Arcana Race can?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± Patelocke replied arrogantly. ¡°We are the Arcana Race, and we have the ability to see the microscopic world! What do you think the tens of thousands of years of glory the Arcana Race was founded on? That was because we had two pairs of eyes. One to see the macroscopic world, and one to see the microscopic world.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s heart lurched. ¡°You¡¯re saying...... the legends aren¡¯t just legends? The Arcana Race really can see things on the microscopic level?¡±

    ¡°Only the Arcana Race nobles of the highest status could awaken this core bloodline talent!¡± Patelocke replied arrogantly. ¡°To the Arcana Race, who have Origin Blood, the world isposed of countless base elements, including Origin Energy. If you had a pair of eyes that could see the microscopic world, you could even see the gathering and dispersion of Origin Energy. As long as you kill a target with Origin Energy, you can absorb all of the Origin Energy dispersing from its body, making your cultivation speed far faster than it is now!¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 13: Consciousness Strengthening

    Chapter 13: Consciousness Strengthening

    Su Chen breathed in deeply, allowing his shock to slowly subside.

    Finally, Su Chen said, ¡°Is that so? That¡¯s truly a pity. Who knows if there are still even any Arcana Race individuals still with Origin Blood left in them. If I could find one and pluck out their Origin Energy Eyes and use them for myself, that would be best.¡±

    Because his emotional state was still turbulent, Su Chen identally made a small mistake ¨C he called those microscopic eyes his Origin Energy Eyes out of habit.

    Patelocke didn¡¯t notice this. He shook his head, ¡°I don¡¯t think there are still any Arcana Race individuals with Origin Blood still in them. The famous ones have all died; otherwise, any one of them could bring massive changes to the structure of this world. Think about it ¨C the Bloodline Extraction Instrument, the Origin Energy Temple, the Consciousness Converter Instrument, Sark¡¯s Nuclei are all precious treasure to the Intelligent Races. These are all the brainchildren of different Arcana Masters with Origin Blood. If even one still existed, he would definitely change the world!¡±

    ¡°Change the world......¡± Su Chen muttered to himself, a strange expression appearing on his face. ¡°Yes, I think that would be the case as well.¡±

    He nced at Patelocke. ¡°Let¡¯s hypothesize for a moment. If there was still an Origin Blood Arcana Race individual left, do you think I would be able to dig out his eyes and transnt them as my own?¡±

    ¡°Of course not,¡± Patelocke replied. ¡°Life¡¯sposition is incrediblyplex; how could such a simple and barbaric method possibly seed? If you chopped off a person¡¯s arm and gave it to another person, it would be able to attach itself?¡±

    ¡°Of course not. Not unless the other party had some kind of Origin Skill that let them assimte it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, and eyes are an even moreplicated matter. Where did you get the idea of plucking out the eyes of an Origin Blood Arcana Race individual to give yourself this microscopic sight? That¡¯s a stupid idea. You aren¡¯t a stupid person,¡± Patelocke said, somewhat baffled.

    ¡°It¡¯s not a bad thing to be a little foolish from time to time,¡± Su Chen replied indifferently.

    He didn¡¯t say anything else, instead lowering his head to inspect the metal block again.

    Suddenly, he thought of something.

    He didn¡¯t have enough consciousness power at the moment, but didn¡¯t he have a bunch of Spirit Sobering Medicines on hand?

    Spirit Sobering Medicine was mainly used to stimte and recover a person¡¯s consciousness power, acting as a protective screen. During the stimtion process, however, it would also increase a person¡¯s consciousness power.

    But because these medicines were too expensive, many tens of thousands for one vial, he had never dared to use them on himself. He simply needed too many resources for his experiments.

    But now, he wascking in consciousness power, so Su Chen was reminded of them.

    Thankfully, the Immortal Temple had just altered their demands and they required less vials of Spirit Sobering Medicine. Thus, he was given a little more room to work with.

    This ¡®little more room to work with¡¯ was to his benefit; it was perfect for him to use to raise his own strength.

    Upon thinking of this, Su Chen immediately began to concoct more Spirit Sobering Medicines.

    After concocting nearly a thousand Spirit Sobering Medicines, Su Chen was already so familiar with making them that he could do it with his eyes closed.

    Not long after, a Spirit Sobering Medicine had been finished.

    Su Chen tilted his head back and gulped it down.

    Spirit Sobering Medicine could recover a person¡¯s consciousness power, protect their mind, permanently increase a person¡¯s consciousness power, and a host of other effects. However, for Su Chen to only use it to increase his consciousness power was quite extravagant.

    As the Spirit Sobering Medicine began to take effect, his consciousness power did in fact increase.

    Of course, this increase was only temporary; once the medicinal power subsided, most of the increase would disappear, with only a small trace left behind.

    But Su Chen didn¡¯t mind. All he wanted was this temporary increase.

    Su Chen tested it out and discovered that even though his consciousness power had increased, he was still quite a ways away from reaching a point where he could give it physical substance. Thus, he ingested two more consciousness medicines.

    He drank three vials of Spirit Sobering Medicines, essentially trading a hundred thousand Origin Stones for a brief period of happiness. Yet Su Chen didn¡¯t mind at all.

    As he constantly converted and absorbed the medicinal power, allowing it to soak into his mind and strengthen his consciousness, Su Chen could feel his mind bing clearer, and even his vision seemed to grow sharper.

    ¡°So raising your consciousness power can have this kind of effect,¡± Su Chen muttered.

    He could feel his ability to think and see had both increased dramatically.

    No wonder those Arcana Masters were all great inventors; their wisdom and their profound understanding of the natural world didn¡¯t just rely on their microscopic eyes but even more on their powerful consciousness.

    After ingesting all three vials of Spirit Sobering Medicine, Su Chen tried again to stretch out his consciousness. This time, he could feel his consciousness forming tendrils as they reached out through the air.

    Su Chen controlled those consciousness tendrils and allowed them to slowly enter the metal block. As if his gaze could bend around corners, he could see that within the metal block was an isted space packed with those ck dots of light. However, because the metal block had somewhat degraded over time, more than half of those ck dots had already dissipated, and not many were left.

    Even though he didn¡¯t know what those ck dots of light were, Su Chen still instinctively knew that he should gather them as quickly as possible.

    He retracted his consciousness and then stood above the metal block, beginning to try and coax the ck dots of light back into the metal cube.

    However, these dots of light were pretty mischievous; even though Su Chen¡¯s consciousness tendrils could touch them, his control was still somewhat awkward. It took a long time before he was finally able to bring the ck dots of light back into the metal block.

    Once he finished that, Su Chen felt his vision suddenly blur.

    He knew that this was because he had expended too much of his consciousness energy.

    After ingesting another vial of Spirit Sobering Medicine, Su Chen left the room.

    Every one of the dissipated ck dots near the mouth of the well also needed to be taken back in.

    Su Chen forced all of the ck dots back into the metal block by drinking those Spirit Sobering Medicines like water. Then, he resealed it and returned to his room.

    He reawakened Patelocke, who yelled in shock as soon as he appeared, ¡°How did your consciousness power suddenly increase?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I drank a few Spirit Sobering Medicines,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°You tried to control the microscopic substance?¡± Patelocke instantly guessed Su Chen¡¯s intentions. Heughed, ¡°It seems like you didn¡¯t believe me. How did it go? Did you fail?¡±

    Su Chen shrugged. ¡°I didn¡¯t lose anything anyways. At the very least, my own consciousness power went up.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true. An increase in consciousness power is extremely useful. At the very least, you won¡¯t have to worry too much about any rebound that might ur when using Fata Morgana in the future.¡±

    Su Chen understood this point. Consciousness rebounds were primarily directed at the mind; if a person¡¯s consciousness was strong enough, they would be able to protect their mind from being injured.

    Fata Morgana was an extremely powerful control-type move, but Su Chen used it sparingly because of the rebound that might ur if he failed. But as his consciousness power increased, the rebound would decrease correspondingly.

    Because Spirit Sobering Medicines were so expensive, and Su Chen didn¡¯t know what level his consciousness would need to reach before he was protected from this bacsh, he had never tried drinking them before. Rather, he ced most of his focus on researching a Fata Morgana without any bacsh.

    But now, Su Chen¡¯s way of thinking was very different.

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°But this is just a temporary increase in the end, and it will subside soon. Patelocke, is there some kind of technique that can increase both the amount of consciousness power I have as well as my control over it?¡±

    Even though Su Chen had cultivated his consciousness power in the past, it was only a side effect of cultivating Fata Morgana. Otherwise, it couldn¡¯t have only increased such a small amount even after all these years.

    And now, he really needed a technique that could increase his consciousness power.

    ¡°You want to learn a technique that can allow you to increase your consciousness power?¡± Patelocke said with some surprise. ¡°You¡¯re a human. Why would a human need such a high consciousness power?¡±

    ¡°As a researching human, the high consciousness power will help me multitask better, making my experiments more effective,¡± Su Chen replied.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 14: True Spirit Technique

    Chapter 14: True Spirit Technique

    Patelocke thought for a moment, then asked, ¡°What kind of consciousness strengthening technique do you want to learn? I need to remind you that there are many directions you can develop in, but once you choose, you won¡¯t be able to change. For instance, some consciousness techniques will make you more suited for consciousness attacks; others are better for soul-splitting, which allows you to divide your soul into multiple parts, with each one able to maintain a unique personality; still others are best forbining consciousness energy and Origin Energy to create powerful Arcana Techniques and even magic incantations; some canmunicate with the fantastical beings in this world, gaining immense power from it, while others can even connect the heavens and the earth to see into the future, almost like a prophecy......¡±

    ¡°You can do all of these?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Of course I can¡¯t,¡± Patelockeughed. ¡°I¡¯m not a battle-oriented Arcana Master but a researcher. I only know one type of consciousness-strengthening technique called True Spirit Technique. It gives me the ability to analyze and calcte at a high level and helps me preserve my rity of mind even in the middle of aplex experiment. That way, I won¡¯t lose my sense of direction.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I need.¡±

    Patelockeughed. ¡°I knew that was the case. After all, we¡¯re very simr people. Nothing is more interesting to us than uncovering nature¡¯s secrets. When we can control thews of nature, we control everything! Since you want it, young man, I¡¯ll teach it to you!¡±

    As he spoke, he pointed his finger at Su Chen. Su Chen lowered the barrier to his soul, allowing a flood of memories to enter.

    His eyes constantly darted around behind his tightly shut eyelids.

    After a long time, he opened his eyes. ¡°So that¡¯s True Spirit Technique? I understand it now. It truly is an exceptional consciousness technique.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s every talented Arcana Master¡¯s favorite consciousness technique,¡± Patelocke emphasized.

    In the following days, Su Chen remained at the Su Pce. If he wasn¡¯t performing experiments, he was cultivating.

    Today, Su Chen was cultivating in his cultivation room.

    On the surface, it didn¡¯t seem like he was doing anything other than sitting quietly and meditating.

    But if you focused your vision or used some kind of Origin Skill that could elevate your eyesight, you would see thin strandsing off of Su Chen¡¯s body, dancing in the air like thousands of tentacles.

    These thin strands formed a unique barrier around Su Chen, blocking even specks of dust and preventing them from getting close.

    Su Chen¡¯s body had be a ce where not even dust could get to.

    Perhaps because he felt like this training wasn¡¯t enough, Su Chen suddenly reached out and grabbed a handful of flour from a nearby pouch and tossed it into the air.

    The flour floated down,nding on the consciousness tendrils. Eventually, most of the flour had been kept out by the barrier.

    However, a small amount of the flour made it through the,nding on Su Chen¡¯s shoulders and his body.

    White patches from the flour appeared all over Su Chen¡¯s body.

    When all of the flour hadnded, the consciousness tendrils disappeared. Su Chen let out a long sigh, picking up a Spirit Sobering Medicine and downing it in a gulp. The consciousness energy he had expended was immediately recovered.

    Even though the practice session had been short, Su Chen had expended quite a bit of consciousness energy.

    However, the cultivation technique that Patelocke had passed onto him was quite something. With only a few days¡¯ effort, Su Chen¡¯s control over his consciousness energy had markedly increased.

    Of course, this was because Su Chen also had the support of Spirit Sobering Medicines.

    These Spirit Sobering Medicines, along with the True Spirit Technique that Patelocke had passed onto him, caused Su Chen¡¯s control over his consciousness power to greatly increase.

    Patelocke had also given him a way to estimate his consciousness power. When he used it on himself at this moment, he had taken his original fifty units of power all the way to a hundred.

    ¡°Finally, I¡¯ve reached a hundred units,¡± Su Chen sighed.

    This was quite the improvement.

    Of these, thirty units came from the permanent increase in consciousness power bestowed by the Spirit Sobering Medicines, while the other twenty were a mix of using the medicine to recover and cultivating the True Spirit Technique.

    However, this rapid increase in consciousness power came at the cost of arge quantity of money.

    Apart from the four medicines that Su Chen drank on the first day, Su Chen drank an additional eleven vials of Spirit Sobering Medicine. In other words, he had expended over five hundred thousand Origin Stones in just a number of days.

    ¡°Even though this method is quite effective, it¡¯s not sustainable and can¡¯t be used often,¡± Su Chen sighed with some regret.

    Fortunately, his goal was merely to raise his own consciousness power to a hundred units. That way, he could begin to contact the microscopic world.

    As for the next steps, he could only progress slowly but surely.

    Even Su Chen couldn¡¯t afford to burn money like this.

    At that moment, Li Shu¡¯s voice reached him from outside the room. ¡°Young Master.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°The Origin Bureau sent word that City Head Liu has returned and invited you to go over and visit.¡±

    ¡°Got it. Let me get ready and then I will head over.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Half an hourter, Su Chen arrived at the Origin Bureau.

    A long-whiskered man was standing before him ¨C Liu Wuya, head of the Origin Bureau.

    City Head Liu hadn¡¯t called Su Chen here immediately after returning for no reason.

    After they introduced themselves, Liu Wuya said, ¡°Right, Knowledge Executor Su. You were the one who brought in Sun Mao and Yu Chengshui a few days ago, right?¡±

    Indeed.

    Su Chen had guessed that it was more than likely rted to this. He replied, ¡°Yes. They fought in public and harmed many of the innocent bystanders. An old woman was even killed. I¡¯m the Origin Bureau¡¯s Knowledge Executor, so naturally, I couldn¡¯t just stand by and watch.¡±

    Liu Wuyaughed bitterly and shook his head. ¡°Youths truly are hot-blooded. You just got to the Origin Bureau yet you¡¯ve already found a problem that¡¯s not big or small for me.¡±

    Even though he said it was a problem, his expression said that it didn¡¯t seem to bother him.

    Su Chen understood his meaning. ¡°The Lian and Long n¡¯s came looking for you, sir?¡±

    ¡°Yes, they wanted me to determine a release date.¡± Liu Wuya took a sip of his tea calmly. ¡°Tell me, isn¡¯t this a problem?¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°When did Bloodline Nobility ns suddenly gain the ability to ce boundaries on the government?¡±

    ¡°They have a lot of influence,¡± Liu Wuya said indifferently.

    ¡°No matter how big their influence is, do they dare attack a government-run organization?

    ¡°They might not dare to attack a government-run organization, but it¡¯s hard to say with people. If you offend someone you shouldn¡¯t have offended, you¡¯ll need to be careful when you walk on the streets, especially at night.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s dark at night, so it¡¯s hard to say who is going to be the one who runs into a wall.¡±

    Upon hearing this, Liu Wuya chuckled. ¡°Youths truly are daring and energetic! Graduates of the Hidden Dragon Institute really aren¡¯tmon!¡±

    ¡°As long as City Head doesn¡¯t me me for my impetuousness, I, Su Chen, feel very lucky.¡±

    ¡°Of course I wouldn¡¯t me you. Just like you said, the Origin Bureau is indeed responsible for handling disputes amongst Origin Qi Schrs. However, you also know the situation here; we only have a few strong individuals. We¡¯re more than enough to deal with some weaklings, but if we run into strong opposition, there¡¯s nothing we can do. The ten great Nobility ns have a lot of experts, and they¡¯re not people that my small, humble Origin Bureau can contend against. Therefore, I can understand why you did what you did, but I hope you can understand why I did what I did.¡±

    ¡°Understand what City Head did?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Liu Wuya sighed and put down the cup of tea. ¡°Since we¡¯ve met already, Knowledge Executor Su, you may leave. Take care of yourself...... on your way back.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 15: A Blood-Soaked Stree

    Chapter 15: A Blood-Soaked Street

    Su Chen left the Origin Bureau and stepped out onto the road.

    He didn¡¯t know when it had happened, but the road had bepletely deserted at some point.

    As he looked along the road, he could faintly see peoples¡¯ heads moving around near the tops of the surrounding walls.

    Those were the Origin Bureau¡¯s people watching Su Chen.

    At the end of the road, a group of people was headed in Su Chen¡¯s direction.

    He turned around and found another group of people also headed in his direction.

    The walls lining the street glowed brightly. A formless Origin Energy wall cut off any hope of Su Chen jumping over the wall to escape.

    All of his possible escape routes were cut off. There was nowhere he could run.

    Su Chen stood still.

    A young man was leading one of the groups walking in his direction. There was another person following behind him. It was Sun Mao, who now only had a single arm remaining.

    The young manughed, ¡°Knowledge Executor Su! Let me introduce myself since this is our first time meeting. I, your humble servant, am Long Shaoyou, the Long n¡¯s Young Master. Even though this is our first time meeting face to face, I have heard of Knowledge Executor Su¡¯s name before. After all, I let Knowledge Executor Su have the Li n¡¯s old pce outside the city.¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°You let me have it? Sorry, the way I see it is that someone fought with me over that residence, forcing me to spend an extra five thousand taels of gold.¡±

    Long Shaoyou¡¯s expression sank. ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I wanted to say. Dammit, you wanted to fight with me over a residence that has been infested by demons. Originally, I wanted to have a friendly chat with Knowledge Executor Su once Knowledge Executor Su came. If Knowledge Executor Su was tactful, I wouldn¡¯t have minded giving Knowledge Executor Su that residence as a gift. But before we even met, Knowledge Executor Su arrested one of my n¡¯s servants and even ruined his arm. Now, we¡¯ll have to settle both the old and new debts at once.¡±

    ¡°Oh? How are you nning on settling them?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°The things that you are carrying will belong to him, while your person belongs to me.¡±

    He turned around and found a red-clothed woman striding towards him. There was a person following her as well ¨C Yu Chengshui.

    ¡°I am called Lian Jiao. The character for ¡®Jiao¡¯ is that of ¡®shining brilliantly¡¯, not ¡®throwing a tantrum¡¯1. Don¡¯t get it wrong.¡± She stopped a few feet away from him, a rope whip in her hand.

    Su Chen said indifferently, ¡°I hear that the Lian n has a secret technique that enves living human beings and can control them. However, those who are enved be like corpses; their movements are sluggish, and they lose the ability to think for themselves, drastically decreasing theirbat prowess. It seems like that¡¯s the truth.¡±

    Lian Jiaoughed, ¡°Your investigative skills are quitemendable. Don¡¯t worry; as long as you behave yourself, it might even seed.¡±

    ¡°So it¡¯s not guaranteed to seed? What a terrible secret technique,¡± Su Chenughed.

    Lian Jiao¡¯s expression sank. ¡°You¡¯ll know how our secret techniques taste once you¡¯ve experienced it yourself.¡±

    ¡°Why continue wasting words on him?¡± Long Shaoyou harrumphed. ¡°If he isn¡¯t willing to, then just forget about it. Let¡¯s make a move.¡±

    As he spoke, he waved his hand. Therge group of hired guards he had brought with him began to advance.

    Even though these hired guards were only of the Body Tempering realm, they had a numbers advantage. There was also nock of Qi Drawing Realm Origin Qi Schrs present as well.

    There were also at least six Blood Boiling Realm cultivators present. When paired with such arge group of people, it was evident that they were treating Su Chen with extreme caution.

    Even so, Su Chen was stillughing.

    He said, ¡°If you can catch me, then you can divide me up.¡±

    As he spoke, he pulled out a vial of medicine from within his Origin Ring and shattered it on the ground.

    Boom!

    A plume of smoke and fog immediately engulfed Su Chen as well as the nearby surroundings.

    Long Shaoyou¡¯s expression changed. ¡°Not good! He wants to run!¡±

    ¡°Block the exits! Don¡¯t let him get away at any cost!¡± Lian Jiao also yelled.

    Both sides¡¯ hired guards and guests charged forward into the cloud of smoke and fog.

    Two more vials of medicine flew out from the cloud of smoke and fog,nding on the ground. Again, plumes of smoke and fog arose, but they engulfed the entire street this time.

    ¡°I can¡¯t see!¡±

    ¡°Dammit, I can¡¯t see where he is!¡±

    ¡°Quick, get rid of this fog!¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t get rid of it! It¡¯s a fog concocted by an alchemist. It¡¯s thick and dense, and it would be hard to drive away even if a hurricane were toe blowing through!¡±

    ¡°Get rid of it anyways!¡±

    ¡°Whoosh!¡± The sound of wind blowing could be heard amongst the group of people. Even though there was no way for the wind to immediately disperse the fog, the fog was beginning to fade.

    At that moment, a tragic cry suddenly rang out.

    ¡°AHH!¡±

    This cry was piercing and mournful, but it was cut short, stunning everyone present.

    ¡°Old Huang? Old Huang, are you okay?¡± Someone recognized the person who had cried out.

    There was no response.

    Rather, the person who yelled out suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back. He lowered his head, only to find that a de had pierced out his chest from his back.

    His eyes bulged in disbelief as he nced at the de sticking out of his chest. He wanted to cry out, but a hand covered his mouth. He felt himself being gentlyid down onto the ground.

    Su Chen retrieved his de, then continued to dart amongst the group of people.

    Yes, he hadn¡¯t run. Rather, he was borrowing the smoke and fog to constantly kill his targets.

    Six Blood Boiling Realm cultivators and fourteen Qi Drawing Realm cultivators ¨C he had memorized their locations while conversing earlier.

    He was going to find them, then kill them.

    This was how Su Chen was going to deal with them.

    He was like a seasoned hunter operating in the night, taking the lives of his prey one after another.

    Whoosh!

    The de pierced through another guard¡¯s throat, sending a ssh of blood through the air. The fog suddenly became blood red. Su Chen expertly withdrew his de, then turned around and swung the de down at another target in front of him. Su Chen, who was cut off and isted, didn¡¯t need to worry about identally injuring his allies.

    Everyone began to realize that they were being hunted, and they began to yell.

    ¡°He didn¡¯t run!¡±

    ¡°Everyone, be careful! He¡¯s hunting us!¡±

    ¡°Quick, get rid of this damned smoke!¡±

    ¡°Watch me!¡± a guard yelled, thrusting out his hands. ¡°Cloud Waves!¡±

    As he yelled, the dense fog actually began to ascend to the sky, clearing up the field of view below.

    ¡°Yes!¡± everyone yelled excitedly.

    That big manughed loudly, clearly happy that he had made such an important contribution.

    An instantter, however, another three vials of medicine shattered on the ground. Plumes of smoke and fog reappeared immediately.

    In addition, just before the fog enveloped everyone again, they saw a person¡¯s shadow fly by them, rushing right at the big man who had just used ¡°Cloud Waves¡±.

    As the fog once again began to obscure their vision, they saw a head fly high into the sky.

    ¡°No! This damned bastard!¡± Long Shaoyou was infuriated by the decapitation of one of his subordinates. ¡°Kill you, I¡¯ll kill you!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the opposite,¡± a voice suddenly said from next to Long Shaoyou¡¯s ear.

    Long Shaoyou¡¯s heart seized. He hurriedly struck back with his de.

    ¡°AH!¡± A tragic cry rang out.

    Long Shaoyou was ecstatic at first, but that joy quickly turned into shock.

    The person he had managed to hit was his subordinate.

    Not good!

    Long Shaoyou realized what had happened.

    Bang!

    A heavy blow mmed into the back of his head. Long Shaoyou¡¯s eyes flipped into the back of his head as he fainted.

    At the same time, the people in the smoke began to grow frenzied. In order to avoid being ambushed by Su Chen, they began to furiously swing their des around themselves, preventing anyone from getting near them. Because of this, they injured a lot of their allies.

    Lian Jiao realized that the situation wasn¡¯t looking good. She yelled, ¡°Retreat! Let¡¯s get out of here!¡±

    ¡°You aren¡¯t going anywhere!¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s icy voice reached her.

    Lian Jiao yelled as she struck out. With a series of bangs, waves of energy began to surge around her, but what met her was a sea of mes roaring over her and engulfing her vision......

    Finally, the fog dissipated.

    The people still fighting in a frenzy on the street also began to stop.

    What appeared before their eyes was the sight of corpses littered all over the ground.

    Worst of all, Long Shaoyou and Lian Jiao had disappeared.

    1. In Chinese, words can have the same sound but different meanings. Usually when you introduce yourself it¡¯smon to also include a word that incorporates multiple characters so that people know exactly what characters your name include.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 16: New Experiments

    Chapter 16: New Experiments

    In the front courtyard of the Su Residence.

    Arge group of people wearing guardsmen uniforms stood in neat rows, drilling under Iron Cliff¡¯s direction. These were the bandits that Su Chen had captured previously.

    ¡°Rise!¡±

    ¡°Turn!¡±

    ¡°Advance!¡±

    ¡°Retreat!¡±

    Everyone moved in unison following Iron Cliff¡¯s forceful yells.

    If those who were familiar with how they were in the past saw this scene, they would be so shocked that their jaws would probably hit the ground.

    A group of undisciplined, unorganized bandits had been trained into a neat, orderly group in a very short period of time. One had to admit that this was nothing short of a miracle.

    Even so, Iron Cliff wasn¡¯t satisfied at all. He would yell in between his orders, ¡°More force! Your punches need to be more forceful! Have you not eaten? Don¡¯t think that it¡¯s enough just to go through the motions. If any of you wants to y dumb, then you¡¯d better be prepared to be sent off to be the Young Master¡¯s research subjects!¡±

    Upon hearing this, all of the bandits moved with renewed vigor. Even the most exhausted ones seemed to be filled with energy again, uplifting the energy of the training grounds immediately.

    Yes, not bing the Young Master¡¯s research subjects was all the motivation they needed.

    Su Chen had no interest in trying to change their way of thinking, and there was no need to do that with these bandits. The pressure of fear was the simplest and most effective way to deal with them.

    These bandits needed to be afraid of Su Chen for them to listen to him!

    He wanted their fear to be an ingrained habit!

    He wanted them to tremble with fear even just by thinking about him!

    Luckily, Su Chen did indeed have this right.

    He didn¡¯t even need to do anything differently. The tragic howlsing out from his room at night and the corpses of the failed experiments were more than enough to deal with any issues that might arise.

    Previously, the bandits had also considered rebelling.

    However, they very quickly realized that there was no point in rebelling.

    Su Chen was merciless towards the bandits ¨C the only reason he had chosen them was because they were all sentenced to death anyways.

    Those who had tried to be stubborn immediately became Su Chen¡¯s research subjects, while the obedient ones could be trained.

    After a few such incidents, most of the bandits had be obedient.

    Now, if Iron Cliff told them to go east, none of them would dare go west.

    In fact, if they were set free from their restrictions and allowed to escape, most of them probably still wouldn¡¯t dare.

    Under Su Chen¡¯s frightening pressure, most of them hadpletely given up on fighting back.

    But that wasn¡¯t a huge loss. They had only lost such courage against Su Chen, but against others, they were just as savage as before if not more so.

    In the middle of this training session, a figure holding two people in his hands descended from the sky. It was Su Chen.

    Upon seeing Su Chen arrive, all of the bandits immediately knelt down in fear, stering their faces to the ground. Their only fear was that Su Chen would point at one of them and say, ¡°This one,e with me.¡±

    Iron Cliff saw that something was up. He came over and said, ¡°They made a move?¡±

    ¡°Mhm. Liu Wuya sold me out to the Lian and Long ns. They ambushed me on the street. Look, haven¡¯t I captured Long Shaoyou and Lian Jiao?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll order for the front door to be shut and the Origin Formations to be activated.¡± Iron Cliff turned around to make preparations.

    Before leaving the Hidden Dragon Institute, Su Chen had asked Jiang Hanfeng and the others to help him create a set of Origin Formation Disks. They were to be used on this pce for this very moment.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need. Those types of Origin Formations will only be effective against small groups, notrge armies. If our opponents want to use force, they won¡¯t be that effective. Just let everyone keep doing what they¡¯ve been doing. With Long Shaoyou and Lian Jiao in my hands, those two ns shouldn¡¯t be too brazen.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Iron Cliff respectfully replied.

    Su Chen picked up Long Shaoyou and Lian Jiao, returning to his study.

    ¡°Master!¡± Iron Cliff yelled.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    Iron Cliff nced at those two captives and asked, ¡°You..... how are you nning on dealing with them?¡±

    ¡°Them?¡± Su Chen understood what Iron Cliff was getting at andughed, ¡°How else would I deal with them? Same as before ¨C ask them some questions, then do some experiments. That¡¯s all.¡±

    More experiments!?

    These were the two shields ensuring that the Su Pce wouldn¡¯t be overrun by those two Bloodline Nobility ns!

    Su Chen understood Iron Cliff¡¯s thoughts.

    He said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. The experiments won¡¯t kill them.¡±

    As he spoke, he returned to the backyard.

    The bandits watched as Su Chen left, their bodies trembling in fear.

    Those two people were the heirs of two great Bloodline Nobility ns, but in Su Chen¡¯s eyes, they were nothing more than research subjects.

    He really was a research demon!

    Iron Cliff gazed coldly at the bandits gathered in front of him. When a simple and good-natured Cliff Race individual gazed coldly at people, however, the effect was somewhat mitigated.

    ¡°Everyone heard what Master said. This is the fate of all of Master¡¯s enemies. If you don¡¯t listen carefully to my orders, you will be treated as such!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± All of the bandits replied loudly, ¡°We pledge our loyalty to Master!¡±

    They spoke with a unison and energy that they hadcked previously.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    When she awoke from her stupor, Lian Jiao discovered to her horror that she was lying on an icy stone bed in a dark, shady room. Her limbs had been locked in ce by metal restraints on the bed, and she had no way of moving.

    Su Chen was standing right next to her. A crystalmp on the ceiling cast light into the room, but Su Chen was standing in the shadows, giving him an eerie, malicious glow and putting an enormous amount of pressure on Lian Jiao.

    ¡°What are you trying to do!?¡± Lian Jiao yelled in fear, thrashing violently against the restraints.

    It looked like a wicked viin who had captured a helpless maiden and was about to vite her no matter how you looked at it.

    Fortunately for her, Su Chen didn¡¯t make any advances.

    He said calmly, ¡°I want the Lian n¡¯s technique to turn a person into a living ve.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s my Lian n¡¯s Bloodline Origin Skill. You dare to covet it? Are you not afraid that my Lian n will tear you apart?¡±

    After her initial fear had subsided, Lian Jiao very quickly regained her self-control and began to curse loudly.

    She was betting that Su Chen wouldn¡¯t dare to take things too far with her.

    But there was no point in making this bet.

    That was because Su Chen very quickly let her know exactly how far he was willing to go.

    He pulled out a metal block.

    He said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m just doing a little experiment. This is a little something I found in the Li n¡¯s well. The whole ¡®demons sending babies¡¯ matter might have been due to the substancesing out of this metal block, but I need to do another experiment to confirm it. Unfortunately, I don¡¯t have any female subordinates...... Hm, even if I did, I might not be willing to risk it. But now that you¡¯vee along, I¡¯m going to borrow your body for a second.¡±

    As he spoke, he unsealed the metal block. ck dots began to emanate out from it.

    The consciousness tendrils began to guide them one by one into Lian Jiao¡¯s body.

    Even though Lian Jiao couldn¡¯t see what was happening, she could tell from Su Chen¡¯s ¡°heated¡± gaze that something was happening.

    ¡°NO!¡± She yelled furiously as she twisted violently, but she had no way of preventing the ck dots from entering her body.

    Su Chen watched as those dots of light entered Lian Jiao¡¯s body and then very quickly began to gather at a certain location in her body.

    He couldn¡¯t see exactly what was happening, but he could see the faint glow through her body and determined from how it was changing that something unique was happening in her body.

    This waspletely different from what had happened in the bandit¡¯s body earlier.

    ¡°So it really is only effective on females,¡± Su Chen muttered.

    He only needed to wait two more months to see whether these dots of light were responsible for the strange urrences that had befallen the Li n.

    Two months!

    That was somewhat of a long time.

    Su Chen thought with some consternation.

    If there was some method to speed up childbirth, that would be great.

    Wait a minute.

    Wasn¡¯t Patelocke an expert at transforming lifeforms?

    He might have a way to speed up the process.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 17: Interrogation

    Chapter 17: Interrogation

    ¡°You found a suitable research target?¡± Patelocke asked, now in the study.

    He could guess what Su Chen wanted to do as soon as Su Chen asked him for a technique to speed up the growth of life.

    ¡°Yes, someone came right up to my front door,¡± Su Chen replied.

    He exined in general terms what had happened earlier.

    Upon hearing that Su Chen had captured the Young Miss and Young Master of the Lian and Long ns, Patelocke cackled, ¡°You dared to go against the ten great Bloodline Nobility ns on your own? I respect you.¡±

    ¡°First of all, I was just carrying out thew impartially and never thought about going against anyone. They were the ones who came looking for me. Second of all, things might not be as bad as you think they are. If I¡¯m willing to make a move, naturally it¡¯s because I am confident.¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay. That¡¯s your issue, and I won¡¯t bother myself about it. I do have a technique to speed up the growth of life, but I need to remind you that any baby whose growth is sped up will definitely be a stillbirth. There¡¯s no way for the baby to survive.¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°That¡¯s quite the coincidence. The babies from the Li n are also all stillbirths. I wonder if the two ¡®deads¡¯ will cancel each other out, letting it survive?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Since Su Chen said as much, Patelocke didn¡¯t waste any more of his breath. Instead, he directly imparted the catalysis technique to Su Chen.

    Upon returning to the researchb, Su Chen began to use the catalysis technique on Lian Jiao.

    Very quickly, Lian Jiao realized that her situation was suddenly very strange.

    She stared at her stomach in a panic. In just a short amount of time, it had already begun to bulge slightly.¡±

    ¡°You...... what did you do to me!?¡± Lian Jiao yelled in fear.

    ¡°It¡¯s exactly as you see,¡± Su Chen replied.

    He ced his hand on Lian Jiao¡¯s stomach, sensing everything that was going on in Lian Jiao¡¯s stomach.

    At first, he could still feel a lifeforce present, but that lifeforcepletely disappeared very quickly.

    Lian Jiao felt a corresponding effect.

    At that very moment, her expression immediately became much uglier, and she instantly seemed to have aged a few years.

    Su Chen wrote down, ¡°Fetuses grown by the catalysis technique can only reach three or four months. Simultaneously, due to ack of nutrition, the fetus can only draw nourishment from the mother, cing a huge burden on the mother¡¯s body and resulting in a serious loss of blood Qi......¡±

    After carefully recording Lian Jiao¡¯s physical condition, Su Chen used his Origin Energy, and a formless force entered Lian Jiao¡¯s body, pulling the stillborn out of Lian Jiao¡¯s lower half.

    ¡°AH!¡± Lian Jiao yelled in fright.

    Thankfully, since she wasn¡¯t a virgin, and the stillborn was only three or four months old, it slid out of her lower body very easily.

    Su Chen held the palm-sized fetus in his hand and inspected it. His microscopic eye scanned carefully over every inch of the fetus¡¯s body, all while Lian Jiao screeched in the background, ¡°You monster! You¡¯re going to meet a tragic fate because of offending the Lian n!¡±

    ¡°It really isn¡¯t human,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    mes suddenly sprang from his hand, incinerating the stillborn.

    Lian Jiao was still cursing at him.

    ¡°You still have quite a lot of energy, huh? Let¡¯s try another experiment,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°What are you thinking of doing now?¡±

    Su Chen pulled out the metal block again. ¡°This time, I want to see if a woman who has already given birth can give birth again. After all, every woman who was given a baby by the demons was a virgin. This time, you might not get pregnant. But don¡¯t worry......¡±

    He paused for a moment. ¡°Perhaps I¡¯ll find a way to break through that restriction and make it so that someone who¡¯s already given birth can be pregnant again.¡±

    Like hell I¡¯ll be worried!

    Lian Jiao¡¯s eyes rolled into the back of her head as she fainted.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Su Chen left the researchb and wiped off the blood on his hands before heading to where Long Shaoyou was being kept.

    Inparison to Lian Jiao, Long Shaoyou¡¯s circumstances were much better.

    He hadn¡¯t been tied up to a bed and forced to undergo pregnancy experiments. Instead, he was sitting down on a chair, devoid of strength after being forced to ingest some medicine.

    When Su Chen arrived, he was still sitting there, cursing and yelling with quite a bit of energy.

    ¡°I¡¯m the Long n¡¯s Young Master! You dare capture me!? Just wait for the Long n¡¯s revenge! I¡¯m going to level your pce!¡±

    Upon seeing Su Chen arrive, Li Shu came forward and said, ¡°He¡¯s been cursing the whole time and hasn¡¯t stopped once. He only seems to know how to say these few sentences.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s an idiot.¡± Su Chen made his evaluation.

    He walked in front of Long Shaoyou and pulled out a research needle, stabbing it into Long Shaoyou¡¯s body.

    ¡°AHHH!¡± Long Shaoyou cried out bitterly, as if he was being subjected to ¡°Death by a Thousand Cuts1¡±.

    After a long period of research, Su Chen had be clear about where a human¡¯s pain points were. Sometimes, breaking a person¡¯s arm wouldn¡¯t incapacitate that person with pain since people with broken arms could still fight. But if some ces were hit by a precise strike, that person would lose the ability to continue fighting.

    At the very least, this had been true to everyone at or below the Yang Opening Realm. Only once a person reached the Light Shaking Realm would they be able to escape outside of the realm of medicine due to the strengthening of their bodies.

    Su Chen had targeted one of Long Shaoyou¡¯s pain points. Even the most hardcore individuals wouldn¡¯t be able to endure it, let alone a second-generation heir like Long Shaoyou.

    Only when Long Shaoyou¡¯s throat was beginning to go hoarse did Su Chen pull out the needle and say, ¡°If you cooperate now, this needle won¡¯t have to go in again.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll cooperate. I¡¯ll cooperate!¡± Long Shaoyou yelled hysterically.

    ¡°Who was the one who told you to buy the Li n¡¯s residence?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Long Shaoyou visibly froze. Evidently, he hadn¡¯t expected Su Chen to ask this question.

    ¡°I...... I just wanted this house......¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not possible,¡± Su Chen said calmly, inserting the needle into Long Shaoyou¡¯s body again.

    ¡°AHH!¡± Long Shaoyou cried out in pain.

    The needle was pulled out.

    The pained howls stopped.

    Su Chen said, ¡°You definitely didn¡¯t want this house for yourself. If you wanted it for yourself, with your ¡®Young Master temperament,¡¯ you would have continued to raise the price if someone was bidding against you, not back off. Since you backed off, that means that you weren¡¯t that set on buying the ce, which in turn means that you weren¡¯t clear about the exact situation of this residence. But I don¡¯t believe for a second that you just wanted it for no reason; it¡¯s too much of a coincidence, and I never believe in coincidences. Thus, there must have been someone who secretly instructed you to buy it. This person¡¯s status is probably not that high, so that person¡¯s influence over you is limited, which is why you gave up in the end. He¡¯s probably someone close to you, most likely a hired guard or a personal bodyguard. Think about it. Is there someone who talked to you and influenced you to think about buying this residence?¡±

    ¡°I...... I remember now...... There was someone who said to me that treasures are usually found in ces where strange urrences take ce. When I heard about it, my interest in the Li n¡¯s residence was piqued, so I wanted to buy it and take a look. But you raised the price, and I didn¡¯t feel like it was worth it to spend that much money. Afterwards, I heard that you were the new Knowledge Executor. Since Liu Wuya is under our control, I was nning on waiting for you to get here before trying to force you to hand over the residence,¡± Long Shaoyou said as he gasped for air.

    ¡°Who was that person?¡±

    ¡°He is called Wei Liancheng, one of my guards.¡±

    ¡°Was he at the massacre at Nan¡¯an Street?¡±

    ¡°No, he was sent to go guard a shipment and wasn¡¯t at Clear River. He is a very mysterious person, and I don¡¯t like him much, which is why I always send him to do a bunch of misceneous tasks. I was wrong, Knowledge Executor Su. Please let me go! I promise I won¡¯t be your enemy anymore!¡±

    ¡°It would be better for this promise toe from your father.¡± Su Chen turned around and left.

    1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_by_a_Thousand_Cuts_(book)

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 18: Refusing To Mee

    Chapter 18: Refusing To Meet

    ¡°Six Blood Boiling Realm cultivators, fourteen Qi Drawing Realm cultivators, and a hundred Body Tempering martial artists had him surrounded and the exits closed off, yet he still got away? And not only did he get away, but he also took my son and Lian Ao¡¯s daughter with him?¡± Long Qingjiang asked calmly, sitting in the main hall of the Long n¡¯s pce.

    He tapped his jade-like finger on thecquered armrest, generating a resounding noise that seemed to echo in Sang Maoyuan¡¯s heart.

    He knelt on the ground and replied, ¡°Yes. Su Chen used a king of fog medicine that obstructed our vision, and it was difficult to disperse. He then took advantage of the chaos and escaped.¡±

    Long Qingjiang squinted his eyes. He thought for a long moment before asking, ¡°This person...... what is his background?¡±

    ¡°As far as we know, he came from the Hidden Dragon Institute, but we aren¡¯t sure about any other specifics. I originally nned on sending some people to investigate his background, but Young Master said that there wasn¡¯t any need to make things soplicated over just a Knowledge Executor. He pushed to gather manpower instead and do things by force.¡±

    Long Qingjiang harrumphed, ¡°Gather manpower? Where was his manpower? Why didn¡¯t you go? Why didn¡¯t He Lianwei go? Why didn¡¯t Hai Zhen go? Why did only a few Blood Boiling Realm cultivators and a bunch of trash go?¡±

    Sang Maoyuan lowered his head and said, ¡°He Lianwei went to the eastern betting grounds because someone was there making trouble. Hai Zhen went to train in the southern deste swamp. I originally wanted to go, but something came up that dyed me. Young Master said that there was no need to use a sledgehammer on a walnut and left without waiting for me. That Lian Jiao girl didn¡¯t even say anything to the higher-ups before leaving on her own. In any case, this arrangement shouldn¡¯t have been too weak anyways ¨C six Blood Boiling Realm cultivators, fourteen Qi Drawing Realm cultivators, and nearly a hundred or so Body Tempering martial artists should have been more than enough to deal with an average Yang Opening Realm cultivator, let alone a single Blood Boiling Realm cultivator. Who would have expected that brat to have such a trick up his sleeve? That was a miscalction.¡±

    ¡°So what you¡¯re saying is that my son made the mistake of underestimating his enemy?¡± Long Qingjiang said shadily.

    ¡°Your servant doesn¡¯t dare! Your servant is just replying truthfully!¡±

    ¡°Even so, I don¡¯t like to hear that truth of yours,¡± Long Qingjiang sighed.

    Sang Maoyuan lowered his head, remaining silent.

    Long Qingjiang waved his hands. ¡°Drag him out and give him fifty strokes.¡±

    People had already stepped forward and pulled Sang Maoyuan down the steps. Soon, the sound of wooden boards smacking flesh could be heard.

    Those wooden boards weren¡¯t just ordinary wooden boards. They had been soaked in a medicinal bath so that even a Yang Opening Realm cultivator would have his flesh split open by those strokes.

    An old housekeep, standing to the side, said, ¡°Master, Young Master is still in Su Chen¡¯s hands. What should we do?¡±

    Long Qingjiang squinted his eyes and didn¡¯t speak for some time as if he had fallen asleep.

    After a long time, he said, ¡°If he captured my son, evidently he wants to negotiate with us. As long as he wants to negotiate, we won¡¯t have to worry about their safety. How about this? Su Gaoye, why don¡¯t you go to the Su Residence and try to ask him about his conditions for letting them go? Tell him that I can forget about everything that happened in the past as long as he is willing to let my son go. Of course, the Long n¡¯s prestige cannot be harmed, so he must sincerely apologize to the Long and Lian ns. Thus, our two ns will preserve our faces, and Su Chen can keep himself safe.¡±

    Housekeep Su said, ¡°Master truly is magnanimous. But Master, what if Su Chen doesn¡¯t agree to these conditions?¡±

    Long Qingjiang stared at his old housekeep. ¡°Do you think that my conditions aren¡¯t generous enough?¡±

    The old housekeep chuckled, ¡°Naturally, they are generous enough, but there are always some people who don¡¯t understand the situation they¡¯re in. It seems like Knowledge Executor Su is someone who is like this; otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have made a move even after finding out that Sun Mao and Yu Chengshui were from two great Bloodline Nobility ns.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Long Qingjiang thought for a moment, then nodded. ¡°When you put it that way, that makes sense too. If that¡¯s the case, then take Sun Mao and Yu Chengshui with you. Tell him that if he wants, we can give those two to him. That way, we can demonstrate that Bloodline Nobility ns still abide by thew.¡±

    ¡°What about the apology......¡± the old housekeep asked.

    Long Qingjiang¡¯s expression sank. ¡°The apology needs to happen; otherwise, where will the face of our Long n be in the future? Go talk things through with Knowledge Executor Su. After all, you share the same family name; if there¡¯s something that needs to be said, you can discuss it civilly.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Housekeep Su replied. However, inside his heart, he didn¡¯t have much hope for this negotiation.

    But even though he expected Su Chen to not meet Long Qingjiang¡¯s conditions, he hadn¡¯t expected that he wouldn¡¯t even get a chance to see Su Chen......

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°What? Su Chen doesn¡¯t want to see me?¡±

    The next morning.

    Housekeep Su stood outside the Su Pce and yelled, ¡°Did you tell him that I am the Long n¡¯s Housekeeper?¡±

    The person standing guard was a bandit who had already received instructions from Su Chen. He said impatiently, ¡°I already told you. My Master said that he doesn¡¯t want to meet with anyone from the Long n. If you want to talk,e back in two days.¡±

    Housekeep Su¡¯s said with a dark expression, ¡°Knowledge Executor Su captured someone from the Long n but doesn¡¯t want to negotiate. What is the meaning of this?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t ask me what this means;e back in two days meanse back in two days. It¡¯s not just you. Look over there; even the Lian n¡¯s Chief Steward wanted to meet with Su Chen, but he was also turned down.

    Housekeep Su turned around and found a person standing underneath a tree not too far from him, a small carriage behind the person. If that person wasn¡¯t the Lian n¡¯s Chief Steward Lao, who could it be?

    ¡°Hey, Chief Steward Lao, howe you¡¯re resting here too?¡± Housekeep Su walked over to him to greet him.

    Upon seeing Housekeep Su walk towards him, Chief Steward Laoughed bitterly, ¡°Old Su, you¡¯re here too? Could I not be here? Our Young Miss got captured, so I can onlye here to try and negotiate. But you¡¯re even distant rtives; how can he capture people yet not be willing to even meet us?¡±

    Housekeep Su hurriedly waved his hands. ¡°No, don¡¯t say that we¡¯re distant rtives. I don¡¯t know him; we just happen to have the same surname. Who knows what rock this unexpected little seed sprouted out from.¡±

    ¡°Sigh, he really is an unexpected seed. Logically speaking, he should have some level of perceptiveness since he is a Knowledge Executor. How can he offend two great Nobility ns as soon as he gets here? It seems like he¡¯s tired of living.¡±

    ¡°Whether he¡¯s tired of living or not, I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s making quite the headache for me though. No matter what, the Young Master and Young Miss need to go home. But if he isn¡¯t willing to meet us, how do we even report back to our higher-ups?

    Chief Steward Lao shook his head. ¡°Who knows what kind of n that guy is preparing. I think that all we can do is report back and thene back two dayster.

    ¡°That¡¯s all that we can do.¡±

    The two of them thought for a bit more, but they could only return and report back to their higher-ups regardless of how unwilling they were.

    Just before they left, Chief Steward Lao suddenly thought of something and said, ¡°Hey, do you think this kid will try and take the opportunity to run?¡±

    ¡°Run?¡± Housekeep Su squinted his eyes in thought, then said pensively, ¡°He shouldn¡¯t. But we should probably keep a few more people here to keep watch just in case.¡±

    They waited for a group of people to hurry over and surround the Su Pce to keep an eye on it before leaving.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 19: Reception

    Chapter 19: Reception

    A knock sounded on the door.

    ¡°Come in.¡±

    Zhou Hong entered the room and knelt down in front of Su Chen. ¡°Young Master, the Lian and Long n¡¯s Chief Stewards have both left, but they left arge number of subordinates behind to surveil this ce.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Su Chen replied as he shook the sk in his hand carefully. The brown liquid bubbled gently within the vial, constantly emitting hot air.

    Zhou Hong nced at the focused Su Chen and couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Young Master, why didn¡¯t you agree to meet them? Didn¡¯t you capture their young masters so that you could negotiate with them?¡±

    ¡°Of course we will have to negotiate, but not now,¡± Su Chen replied.

    He poured out the liquid in the vial, slowly pouring it out evenly on a stone tablet he had prepared. The liquid followed the nooks and crannies in the tablet, painting a beautiful picture.

    ¡°Not now?¡± Zhou Hong didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°Yes. Right now, the Lian and Long ns are still incredibly arrogant and won¡¯t ce me in their eyes. They think that I just got lucky. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that their sessors were in my hand, they wouldn¡¯t even be willing to speak with me. This kind of arrogant attitude isn¡¯t appropriate for negotiations.¡±

    ¡°But......¡± Zhou Hong trailed off.

    ¡°You want to say that they truly are stronger than us, right?¡± Su Chen turned around and nced at him, smiling.

    Zhou Hong lowered his head. ¡°Forgive me for my offense.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s no big deal. Your thoughts aren¡¯t wrong, anyways,¡± Su Chen said indifferently. ¡°We¡¯re weaker than them in the first ce. That¡¯s why we need to wait a bit.¡±

    ¡°What are we waiting for?¡±

    ¡°Naturally, for an opportunity when we have more clout...... Do you really think that I¡¯m fighting on my own in Clear River City?¡± Su Chen asked as he watched the liquid flow down the stone tablet.

    The thick liquid flowed across the surface of the tablet, quickly forming a patterned film.

    Su Chen gently blew on it, then pulled the membrane off of the stone tablet. He inspected it carefully, a satisfied expression on his face. ¡°Sess.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s seeded?¡± Zhou Hong was confused. ¡°The experiment? Or has an opportunity arisen?¡±

    ¡°Both.¡±

    Li Shu walked in from outside.

    ¡°Young Master, City Lord An would like to meet you.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Within the Clear River City Lord¡¯s residence.

    ¡°Hahahaha, juniors are quite promising!¡±

    An Siyuanughed loudly within the main hall.

    Outwardly, An Siyuan looked like a crude martial artist. He had a brawny figure, and his head waspletely bald and shiny. Anyone who saw it would find it difficult not to want to touch it.

    Hisugh was also quite coarse and loud, booming thunderously.

    An Siyuan continued, ¡°You showed your strength off to the Lian and Long ns as soon as you got to Clear River. Good job at the battle at Nan¡¯an Street!¡±

    His simple words clearly demonstrated his attitude towards the situation.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Does City Lord not me Su Chen for being impulsive and creating an issue as soon as he got here?¡±

    ¡°Hehe, if you¡¯re making trouble for those ten big Bloodline Nobility ns, the more the better,¡± An Siyuan chuckled darkly.

    Su Chenughed, ¡°I feel a lot more at ease hearing that.¡±

    Yes, other people might fear the ten great Bloodline Nobility ns, but An Siyuan wouldn¡¯t.

    The rise in power of a royal family weakened the government.

    As the City Lord, An Siyuan had an immense amount of control. Naturally, he wouldn¡¯t be happy if that control was to be usurped.

    In addition, he himself was from a n without a bloodline.

    To be head of a city without a bloodline was an indicator of how strong he was. Unfortunately, that had also limited his strength, and he wouldn¡¯t be able to get past the Light Shaking Realm.

    Long before his arrival, Su Chen had already discovered that An Siyuan and the Bloodline Nobility ns were always at odds with each other, and their disputes were already public. Naturally, this was both because of the differences in bloodline and the struggle for power.

    An Siyuan said, ¡°Unfortunately, not everyone is as courageous as Knowledge Executor Su and willing to fight the ten great Bloodline Nobility ns.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I never intended of doing battle with them. I just felt that I needed to carry out my duty as the Knowledge Executor of the Origin Bureau. The Bloodline Nobility ns think that they are rich and powerful and can ignore thew, so arresting them was the only way. As for the battle at Nan¡¯an Street, that was just another example of them acting as if they were above thew is all.¡±

    ¡°Mm! Well said!¡± An Siyuan nodded. ¡°No matter who the person is, as long as the person is a citizen, they need to abide by thew. However, there are always people who think that they are exceptions and rely on their own influence to do whatever they want. Even though I, An Siyuan, want to deal with these kinds of people, I am unable to on my own.¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°Why does City Lord feel such regret? There is always a ce for government officials in this world.¡±

    ¡°But Clear River City is about to be the yground of the Bloodline Nobility ns,¡± An Siyuan said as he rubbed his bald head. ¡°Knowledge Executor Su, I¡¯m not going to be courteous. Why are they so arrogant? Just because they have some hidden tricks? No! They control not only their own ns, but they also have the assistance of the empire! Let¡¯s take you as an example; you saw yourself that even Liu Wuya, the captain of the Origin Bureau, belongs to them. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that you are powerful yourself, you would¡¯ve been killed by them! Unfortunately I, An Siyuan, am useless, and I had to punish that damned bastard.¡±

    The Origin Bureau¡¯s captain was determined by the higher-ups. Even An Siyuan had no way of appointing someone, so he could only grit his teeth and endure.

    Of course, that didn¡¯t mean that he had no authority whatsoever. He was still the City Lord. He was saying all of this primarily to address Su Chen¡¯s concerns first.

    Su Chen had never expected An Siyuan to get revenge for him. All he said was, ¡°There must be some people who are loyal to the empire and obedient to City Lord, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course there are,¡± An Siyuan replied. ¡°The district office has always been loyal to the government, and I can also vouch for the Lingyuan Navy. It¡¯s just the Origin Bureau and the Investigations Office that haven¡¯t listened to me for a long time now. As for the Secret Task Force, they do things their own way and won¡¯t listen to anyone apart from the emperor himself.¡±

    The district office was responsible for handling the city¡¯s internal affairs. The Lingyuan Navy didn¡¯t belong to Clear River City alone but to the Crow Region as a whole, and they were muchrger in scale than the district office. An Siyuan controlled both of these critical forces, which were also the biggest means by which An Siyuan could resist the ten great Bloodline Nobility ns.

    The Origin Bureau was responsible for handling disputes between Origin Qi Schrs, while the Investigations Office was responsible for solving crimes. Both were responsible for public safety and had some measure of force, but An Siyuan couldn¡¯t rely on them.

    As for the Secret Task Force, just like An Siyuan had said, their sole goal was to serve the country. No one could order them around.

    Anyone who tried to interfere with them would be killed.

    In reality, the only reason An Siyuan still controlled the district office and the Lingyuan Navy was probably because the ten great Bloodline Nobility ns wanted to avoid offending the imperial family.

    They couldn¡¯t casually interfere with the army or with special intelligence groups. It was enough for them to just control the public safety branches.

    Even so, Su Chenughed, ¡°There might be another group of people that City Lord An wants to control but hasn¡¯t reached out to yet, right?¡±

    An Siyuan paused. ¡°You mean......¡±

    ¡°Criminal organizations.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 20: Shadow Flames

    Chapter 20: Shadow mes

    Where the light was, there would also be darkness.

    There was nock of criminal organizations within Clear River City.

    The criminals here were mostly waterfront gangs. There were ten major gangs, including the Green Snake Organization; each one was allied with a Bloodline Nobility n, forming apletework of mutual benefit.

    Even though these criminal groups couldn¡¯t be considered a true military force, one had to admit that they still carried a significant amount of heft.

    When these criminal organizations gathered together, they were absolutely a force to be reckoned with.

    When factoring in each major n¡¯s servants, bodyguards, guests, and soldiers, their influence was even more formidable.

    An Siyuan wanted to break the stalemate between government and nobility, but he was worried that his luck would run out if he messed it up. As such, all he could do was endure the stalemate.

    Until Su Chen appeared.

    First, he had captured a guest from two Bloodline Nobility ns and then their heirs immediately afterwards. His decisiveness caused An Siyuan¡¯s eyes to light up.

    He had called Su Chen over obviously not toin and whine to him but to rope him in as arade-in-arms based on the grounds of there being amon enemy, as well as to show his support for Su Chen.

    However, it seemed that this support was still quite shallow. He hadn¡¯t provided any substantial help yet.

    That was because he didn¡¯t know Su Chen yet. He didn¡¯t know what Su Chen was going to do with the two ns¡¯ heirs.

    Thus, he was going to wait and see first.

    The purpose of this meeting was primarily to determine what Su Chen¡¯s attitude was.

    Naturally, there was a lot for him to be happy about.

    But even so, An Siyuan didn¡¯t divulge much.

    That was because Su Chen needed to resist the attacks from the two great Bloodline Nobility ns on his own and further prove himself.

    Put inly, he wanted to use Su Chen to pave the way for himself.

    Thankfully, all Su Chen needed at the moment was An Siyuan¡¯s outward support. With An Siyuan¡¯s status on his side, Su Chen¡¯s next steps would be a lot easier to carry out.

    After a long conversation, Su Chen stood up and bid farewell.

    Upon seeing Su Chen leave, An Siyuan squinted his eyes, restraining his straightforward aura a bit. ¡°What an interesting kid. What do you think?¡±

    A Confucian schr behind him bowed respectfully and said, ¡°He didn¡¯t make any requests or demands of City Lord. If he¡¯s not an obedient person, then he hides a lot of things in his heart and should have made preparations well in advance.¡±

    ¡°He obviously isn¡¯t an obedient person.¡±

    ¡°Of course not,¡± the Confucian schr replied.

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll have to wait and see what he does next,¡± An Siyuan chuckled. ¡°I hope that he can bring me a pleasant surprise.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    On his way back, Su Chen didn¡¯t run into any pursuers from the Lian and Long ns. He returned uneventfully to the Su Residence.

    Even though he could already undergo negotiations with the Lian and Long ns, Su Chen wasn¡¯t in a hurry.

    To him, the situation benefitted him more the longer he waited.

    During the next period of time, Su Chen once again threw himself into his research.

    Afterpleting the Hemolytic Totem, Su Chen didn¡¯t stop there; he continued to research a newer version.

    Even though the old Hemolytic Totem was powerful, it had one major drawback ¨C the inscriptions needed to cover the entire body, including the face. As such, his six Shadow Servants had to cover themselvespletely in ck and had no way of seeing other people. Because of this, Su Chen had no way of using it on himself...... and even if he could, he couldn¡¯t, since he had no way of carving the inscriptions on himself.

    As such, Su Chen began to brainstorm new ways to aplish this.

    He wanted to refine the Totemic Inscriptions so that he could inscribe them on a piece of hide like an Origin Energy Talisman. But while Origin Energy Talismans unleashed Origin Skills by expending the talisman themselves, he wanted to make something that he could stick onto his body that would expend his own Origin Energy instead.

    Almost like an electric plug that a person could ¡°plug¡± in and out of one¡¯s body.

    It would be just like how Origin Substances were like different plugs for the Hemolytic Totem.

    This was the Hemolytic Totem 2.0 that Su Chen was nning to design.

    But at the moment, he was still a long ways off from reaching that point.

    He took the membrane that he had prepared earlier and ced it on his body. It slowly began to be absorbed into Su Chen¡¯s body. He could feel energy beginning to well up inside his body.

    ¡°The Hemolytic Membrane was sessfully absorbed and can unleash roughly three-tenths of its full power. It has a slightly poisonous side effect and can damage a person¡¯s blood substance. I¡¯ve confirmed that this path is viable, but it needs some further improvement......¡± Su Chen diligently recorded.

    After finishing his experiment, Su Chen walked out of the researchb and went to an Origin Skill testing room off to the side.

    Su Chen raised his left hand. A ball of mes appeared from it.

    The mes began to change shape in Su Chen¡¯s palm, gradually taking form. However, it didn¡¯t form an Erupting Firebird or Firehawk; rather, it began to take on a faintly humanoid form.

    This humanoid swayed constantly in Su Chen¡¯s hand, but it never fully came together. Finally, it exploded with a ¡°bang!¡±

    ¡°Another failure,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself. However, not a trace of disappointment could be seen on his face.

    The process of creating something was bound to be fraught with failure. Su Chen was already quite used to it; this level of failure wasn¡¯t something that would cause his expression to change.

    He was figuring out a future direction for the Erupting set of techniques. Unlike before, where his main focus was to do as much damage as possible, Su Chen had new needs and requirements after reaching the Blood Boiling Realm.

    One of his goals was to develop a technique with more sustainable damage.

    Patelocke had told him that during the Arcana Kingdom, there was a fire-gathering technique that could gather all of the fire-type Origin Substance in the air together, finally bing a massive man made of fire.

    Gathering such arge quantity of fire-type Origin Substance was eventually known as Fire Element Summoning.

    During that time, most people named their Origin Skills after the elements, so they usually incorporated words like ¡°wind¡±, ¡°wood¡±, ¡°water¡±, ¡°fire¡±, etc.

    But after delving into the matter a bit more, Su Chen realized that this kind of division by elements was far too simple. The world of Origin Substances was extremely plentiful, and such a simple ssification system was totally insufficient.

    Regardless, the Fire Element Summoning technique gave Su Chen something to mull over.

    Unfortunately, it was quite a high-tier andplex Ancient Arcana Technique. It took a long time to learn and unleash, so it wasn¡¯t practical for battle.

    Contemporary battles focused more and more on speed, relying on high-speed attacks to suffocate the opponent rather than long-range battles. This was because humans had more powerful bodies than the Arcana Race, and humans¡¯ also had better close-quartersbat skills

    A technique like Fire Element Summoning was out of fashion.

    As such, Su Chen was borrowing Brooke¡¯s Form to constantly improve the Ancient Arcana Techniques that he wielded. That way, he could develop a set of techniques that belonged only to himself.

    However, because the Erupting set of techniques and Fire Element Summoning were still quite different, his previous experiences weren¡¯t of much use. Su Chen basically had to start from the beginning, so he hadn¡¯t made much progress in the past year.

    Upon seeing yet another failure, Su Chen didn¡¯t pay it much attention. He continued to calcte new arrangements for the patterns, and mes constantly erupted from his palm and took shape in the air.

    Suddenly, Su Chen felt a slight jolt of pain shoot through his hand.

    Su Chen knew that this was the poison from the Hemolytic Totem experiment acting up. The poison wasn¡¯t powerful and would disappear on its own.

    Su Chen paid it no attention, but a light bulb suddenly lit up in his head. He had thought of something.

    He concentrated his willpower in his arm.

    A trace of medicinal power was still left there from the Hemolytic Totem, including the remnants of the Shadow Origin Substance.

    Su Chen activated his microscopic eye, carefully sensing the changes in his body as he slowly forced out the Shadow Origin Substance within his body. As the Origin Substance left his body and came into contact with the mes in the air, Su Chen discovered that the mes calmed down significantly.

    A shadowy, miniature humanoid figure made of fire appeared before him.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 21: Negotiations

    Chapter 21: Negotiations

    Two dayster.

    Within the Su Residence¡¯s Main Hall

    ¡°...... We¡¯ve listed out all of our requirements above.¡±

    Su Gaoye watched Su Chen as he spoke, his head slightly tilted up and a self-confident smile on his face.

    He had practiced this smile in front of a mirror for nearly two days. It was neither too servile nor too overbearing; it both gave Su Chen enough face and didn¡¯t tarnish the grace that the ten great Bloodline Nobility ns should have.

    ¡°So the Lian n is the same, then?¡±

    Su Chen turned around to nce at Chief Steward Lao.

    Chief Steward Lauughed, ¡°The Ten Great Bloodline Nobility ns advance and retreat together. Naturally, the conditions are the same.¡±

    ¡°Advance and retreat together?¡± The corners of Su Chen¡¯s mouth quirked up in a disdainful smile.

    Then, he said unhurriedly, ¡°Since both Chief Stewards have already listed your requirements, then please listen to mine. I can release the captives, but I want a million Origin Stones as reparations. You must also apologize to me, and you must give me ess to your secret libraries......¡±

    ¡°Rubbish!¡± Su Gaoye pped the table and stood up. ¡°Su Chen, you dare ckmail us? Our two ns being willing to reconcile with you is already giving you a tremendous amount of face!¡±

    ¡°Reconcile?¡± A cold light suddenly shot from Su Chen¡¯s eyes. ¡°Who cares about reconciling with you?¡±

    The two of them were shocked.

    Su Chen enunciated every word as he spoke, ¡°If you want to fight, I can amodate you! But if you want to take someone back with you, you¡¯ll have to provide the corresponding benefits! The conditions put forth by the two Bloodline Nobility ns are simply too disgraceful and aren¡¯t even worth discussing. If you still want to maintain your previous attitude, we might as well just skip straight to the fighting. But if you really want to negotiate, we¡¯ll do it by my standards!¡±

    ¡°Su Chen, don¡¯t even think about......¡±

    ¡°What I think about is my problem, what you do from here on is your problem. Of course, if one of you agrees first, I can make some concessions to that party. Otherwise, you can wait to collect the corpses of your heirs.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Su Gaoyi pointed at Su Chen, so angry that he couldn¡¯t speak.

    Su Chen waved his sleeves and stood. ¡°Li Shu, send our guests off!¡±

    The two Chief Stewards cursed the entire way out of the Su Residence.

    ¡°He¡¯s taken it too far!¡±

    Su Gaoye pointed at the Su Residence and said, ¡°Brother Lao, this Su Chen is too much. We absolutely cannot agree to his conditions!¡±

    ¡°Naturally not,¡± Chief Steward Lao nodded repeatedly.

    The two of them left, filled with rage, indicating that they wouldn¡¯tpromise. They puffed each other up, then returned to their own respective ns.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Within the Long Pce.

    Long Qingjiang¡¯s expression was dark. ¡°That¡¯s how he said it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Su Chen said he didn¡¯t care for reconciliation. If you want him to release the persons, you¡¯ll need to pay money as reparations. It must be this way even if you attack him immediately after,¡± Su Gaoye replied, exaggerating the story somewhat as he talked.

    ¡°How bold.¡± Long Qingjiang shattered a teacup, turning into powder as it floated to the ground like white snow. ¡°He isn¡¯t worried that I¡¯ll head over there right now and eliminate him immediately?¡±

    ¡°He still has Young Master and Young Miss under his control. Whether he dies isn¡¯t important, but it¡¯s not worth getting Young Master and Young Miss involved,¡± Su Gaoye reminded Long Qingjiang.

    Upon hearing of his son, Long Qingjiang couldn¡¯t think of anything else.

    It was his carelessness that had led to his son being captured.

    ¡°So all we can do is let him ckmail us?¡±

    ¡°This......¡± Housekeep Su muttered before saying, ¡°Even though Su Chen¡¯s tone was unyielding, he seemed to be indicating that everything can still be negotiated and the conditions he proposed aren¡¯t set in stone. But if we want to negotiate with him......¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    Su Gaoye hesitated for a moment, then said, ¡°If we want to negotiate with him, it¡¯s best if we go on our own.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡±

    ¡°Su Chen said that he was willing to negotiate with the first person who agreed to his conditions.¡±

    Long Qingjiang froze for a moment before he realized what was happening. ¡°He¡¯s trying to pit us against each other.¡±

    Yes, that was exactly what Su Chen was trying to do.

    Even though the Ten Great Bloodline Nobility ns normally cooperated with each other, that was only against the government. Behind closed doors, they still had their own conflicts with each other. There were even conflicts for status within a single n, so how could ten ns who didn¡¯t even share the same surname bepletely of one ord?

    If things were really that peaceful, why would Sun Mao and Yu Chengshui have any reason to fight? Were they just ying house?

    These conflicts were usually well-contained, however; as soon as the government tried to exert their influence, each of the ns would join together to counter.

    This was how they stayed united yet separate.

    Su Chen¡¯s requirement was, without a doubt, to try and tear down this superficial pretense.

    Want to negotiate? Fine! You must do it on my terms, and you can¡¯t do it secretly; the first person here will have an advantage.

    The Long n could ignore him, but could they really just sit and watch as their heir was kept shut up?

    Even if the Long n abided by the rules, what if the Lian n ignored them and secretly met with Su Chen?

    Would the Long n then make trouble for the Lian n for that?

    After leaving the Su Residence, both Chief Stewards had loudly agreed that they absolutely wouldn¡¯t acquiesce to Su Chen¡¯s demands, but both of them knew that they might not have a choice.

    It was all because Su Chen¡¯s hostages had quite a bit of value.

    However, they could not make that decision on their own. They could only go back and bring the difficult problem to their own n¡¯s patriarchs.

    Long Qingjiang pondered over it for some time before agreeing in the end. He told Chief Steward Su to return to the Su Residence and negotiate the release of individuals instead.

    Of course, he didn¡¯t bring up the matter of Su Chen apologizing anymore ¨C since he had already said that he wasn¡¯t worried about the Long ning to make things even after the deal, there was no point in threatening him anymore. As such, they could only lower their heads obediently.

    To prevent the Lian n¡¯s people from finding out, Chief Steward Su specifically set out at night to meet Su Chen.

    Upon arriving at the Su Residence, Li Shu informed him that Su Chen was performing an experiment and brought him to the back flower garden to wait.

    Su Gaoye waited for a long time in the flower garden before finally hearing somemotion from outside.

    The sound came from the opposite side of the wall. Su Gaoye instinctively got close to the wall. He peeked through the cracks and saw a person being led

    That person was Chief Steward Lao.

    That old bastard hade too!

    Su Gaoye was both surprised and angry. He knew that those people from the Lian n weren¡¯t to be trusted!

    A gentle cough came from behind him.

    Su Gaoye turned around and found Su Chen staring at him with a wide smile.

    Su Gaoye¡¯s heart jerked. He knew that Su Chen had let him see it on purpose to put more pressure on him.

    Su Gaoye calmed himself down before walking over and saying in a low voice, ¡°Gaoye greets Prince Su.¡±

    Su Chen waved his hands and pointed at a nearby stone bench. ¡°Chief Steward Su, please, have a seat.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re going to discuss things here?¡± Su Gaoye nced behind himself.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. He can¡¯t hear,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Su Gaoye sighed. ¡°My n Patriarch thought over Prince Su¡¯s agreements. He can give you a million Origin Stones, but the apology and the opening of our secret library we can¡¯t agree to.¡±

    The Origin Stones could be seized again afterwards, but the face lost couldn¡¯t be taken back even if they killed Su Chen¡¯s whole family afterwards.

    Su Chen said calmly, ¡°I can do without the apology, but I need your n to help me out with two things.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°First of all, I want Liu Wuya to apologize to me.¡±

    ¡°You want Liu Wuya to apologize to you?¡± Su Gaoye was shocked.

    ¡°Yes. No matter what, he is still the head of the Origin Bureau; he needs to at least make amends for what happenedst time.¡± Su Chen shrugged.

    ¡°That...... makes sense. I¡¯ll go back and let n Patriarch know, but it shouldn¡¯t be a problem,¡± Su Gaoye agreed.

    ¡°Second of all, you must give me a person.¡±

    ¡°I can hand Sun Mao over to Prince Su.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care about Sun Mao. I want someone else.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°Wei Liancheng.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 22: Exchange

    Chapter 22: Exchange

    Su Gaoye returned to the Long n with Su Chen¡¯s requests.

    After sending Su Gaoye away, Su Chen also met with Chief Steward Lao. After a brief period of discussion, Chief Steward Lao returned to his n, satisfied.

    Both of them believed that they were the quickest to meet with Su Chen, and the conditions Su Chen had posed weren¡¯t too extravagant. After finishing their mission, both of the Chief Stewards let out sighs of relief.

    On the Long n¡¯s side.

    As for why Su Chen wanted Wei Liancheng, Long Qingjiang didn¡¯t understand.

    But after thinking about it for a bit, he agreed to that condition as well.

    After all, Wei Liancheng was just one of the guards of the Long n. Handing him over was better than allowing Su Chen to ess their private library.

    The time was set for evening two days out because Wei Liancheng was out escorting a cargo load and needed two days to return.

    The hostage swap would ur at that point in time, and Liu Wuya would also apologize to Su Chen then.

    The matter was decided like that. Before leaving Su Gaoye had disdainfullyughed, thinking that this young man was truly still too ambitious. Even at this point in time, he wanted such temporary things.

    However, he didn¡¯t realize that the flowers would wither so soon after blooming ¨C Long Qingjiang decided that immediately after the exchange urred, they would directly make a move and eradicate Su Chen. The one to make a move would be the apologizing Liu Wuya. After he said his apology, he would stab his Water-Cleaving Spirit Sword into Su Chen¡¯s chest.

    To make sure the n went off without a hitch, Long Qingjiang even nned on sending a group of people to watch over the City Head¡¯s Pce, as well as the district office and the Lingyuan Navy.

    If Su Chen had any secret tactics up his sleeve, they would definitelye from the government.

    If they tried to do anything, the criminal organizations would create chaos and make it difficult for them to move at all.

    In any case, Su Chen must die!

    Everyone was calcting and everyone was scheming. Everything proceeded as arranged.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Two dayster.

    Ten kilometers outside of the west side of the city.

    The people from the Long n set up an inescapable web. The Long n¡¯s guards were watching everywhere, blocking off every avenue of escape. In addition, the Long n¡¯s guestsbed the surroundings, searching for any Origin Formation-type ambushes that might have been set up. They hadn¡¯t made any such arrangements because they had so many people and there was no need.

    When Su Chen¡¯s carriage slowly arrived at the location, the whole street had been swept clean.

    Long Qingjiang was sitting imposingly within the pavilion, with Liu Wuya, who was being served by an old government official, by his side. Behind them stood Sang Maoyuan and ten Origin Qi Schrs, ring fiercely like tigers watching their prey.

    At this point, they weren¡¯t using a cow-butchering knife to ughter a chicken, but a dragon-butchering knife1.

    Evidently, Long Qingjiang was being extremely cautious.

    The carriage slowed to a stop.

    Iron Cliff pulled open the carriage curtains. Su Chen disembarked the carriage, and Iron Cliff dragged Long Shaoyou out behind him. As soon as he removed Long Shaoyou¡¯s restrictions, Long Shaoyou began to yell in a frenzy, ¡°Father, kill him! Kill him!¡±

    ¡°Shut your mouth, you useless thing!¡± Long Qingjiang¡¯s expression sank.

    Iron Cliff wrapped his hand around Long Shaoyou¡¯s throat, helping him stay quiet.

    Long Qingjiang turned around and smiled at Su Chen. ¡°Knowledge Executor Su, you have quite the ability and courage! Even though Prince Su¡¯s methods have made me very angry, I have quite a bit of respect for Knowledge Executor Su. If Knowledge Executor Su is willing to help me just like City Head Liu is, then we can keep the current agreement as well as forget about everything else that happened in the past. What do you think?¡±

    It had to be said that the conditions Long Qingjiang had posed this time were truly sincere.

    Even the old Chief Steward and Liu Wuya both were startled. They evidently hadn¡¯t expected Long Qingjiang to say something like that, which was way outside of the scope of the n they hade up with previously.

    Fortunately, even though the Long n had deviated from the n as soon as negotiations began, Su Chen dragged it right back onto the original path.

    He shook his head. ¡°Sorry, I have no intention of selling myself to someone else.¡±

    Long Qingjiang expressed his regret. ¡°Isn¡¯t doing things for the government the same as selling yourself to someone else? The only difference is in how you will bepensated, and my side obviously has more to offer.¡±

    Upon seeing that Su Chen remained unmoved, Long Qingjiang finally gave up on trying to rope him over. He felt that this brat was reckless and that killing him was only just. After all, he had ounted for everything and couldn¡¯t imagine that Su Chen would have any hope of turning the tables immediately after the exchange was made.

    He waved his hand and said, ¡°Since Prince Su has already made up his mind, then so be it. Bring out the items.¡±

    Someone brought up a trunk and ced it in front of Su Chen.

    A million Origin Stones.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t even look inside. He put it away in his Origin Ring, then said, ¡°Where¡¯s Wei Liancheng?¡±

    ¡°Bring him up.¡±

    Someone brought Wei Liancheng up.

    He was a middle-aged man with no particrly strange features. It seemed like he wasn¡¯t an Origin Qi Schr ¨C just an ordinarymoner.

    He was bound by Origin Formations and handed over to Su Chen.

    He remained silent as he stared coldly at Su Chen,

    ¡°Wei Liancheng has been handed over to Knowledge Executor Su, but I would like to ask Knowledge Executor Su a question.¡± Long Qingjiang said.

    ¡°You want to know why I chose this person?¡±

    ¡°Yes. As far as I know, this person has never had any association with Prince Su.¡±

    ¡°He incited Long Shaoyou into fighting with me over the Li Residence, forcing me to spend an extra five thousand Origin Stones on it when buying it,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Long Qingjiang was stunned.

    That was the only reason?

    This...... wasn¡¯t this a bit too absurd?

    A momentter, Su Chen said to Wei Liancheng, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that this is a coincidence. What exactly do you know about the Li n?¡±

    Wei Liancheng coldly harrumphed, ¡°What if I tell you that I don¡¯t know anything?¡±

    ¡°Your tone tells me that you know everything. Of course, you can deny it, but before you do anything I need to tell you two things.¡±

    Su Chen raised a finger. ¡°First of all, I have already discovered what you are looking for in the Li Residence. It¡¯s a metal block, right?¡±

    Wei Liancheng¡¯s expression changed dramatically, instantly bing incredibly savage. A thick killing intent shed through his eyes.

    ¡°Very good.¡± Su Chen nodded, then raised his second finger. ¡°Second of all, I didn¡¯t bring it with me, and it¡¯s not in the Li Residence either.¡±

    Wei Liancheng¡¯s rage suddenly began to die down, and his vicious demeanor began to disappear. He suddenly appeared to be in thought.

    Su Chenughed and asked, ¡°Do you need me to help you break your fetters?¡±

    Wei Liancheng harrumphed and cracked his neck. Suddenly, his body began to emit a number of cracking sounds. Immediately afterwards, he had regained his freedom ¨C those restrictions were easily broken through by him.

    Even Long Qingjiang¡¯s expression greatly changed. ¡°Wei Liancheng, who exactly are you?¡±

    ¡°That has nothing to do with the Long n anymore,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°Next, let¡¯s take care of thest matter.¡±

    Liu Wuya gently smiled and stood up. ¡°Knowledge Executor Su, I sincerely apologize to you for the earlier matter.¡±

    ¡°What did you say? I can¡¯t hear you!¡± Su Chen dug at his ear and gestured for Liu Wuya toe back home.

    A trace of anger shed across Liu Wuya¡¯s face as he took a few steps closer. ¡°Knowledge Executor Su, I apologize to you.¡±

    ¡°Still too quiet, I can¡¯t hear you very clearly!¡± Su Chen continued to gesture.

    Liu Wuya forcefully suppressed his rage and came right next to Su Chen. He ced his hand on his sword hilt and said, ¡°Knowledge Executor Su, I, Liu Wuya, apologize to you. I was wrong in the earlier matter!¡±

    His voice was incredibly loud this time, the soundwaves exploding in Su Chen¡¯s eardrums.

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Since you apologized to me, I should also tell you something in return ¨C that¡¯s should only be polite.......¡±

    He suddenly trailed off at the end, and Liu Wuya didn¡¯t catch thest few words he said. ¡°What?¡±

    Su Chen leaned in to his ear and said, ¡°Armor Piercing Awl!¡±

    He punched out.

    The blow mmed right into Liu Wuya¡¯s throat.

    1. An boration on amon Chinese idiom. To preserve the meaning, I left the more literal trantion in, but basically it means that they¡¯re going beyond overkill.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 23: Backup

    Chapter 23: Backup

    Boom!

    The iron-like fist prated Liu Wuya¡¯s throat, slicing easily through his neck and then exploding.

    Raging Inferno Fist!

    A powerful surge of energy burst forth in Liu Wuya¡¯s wound. As blood gushed everywhere, a head flew into the air. Su Chen reached out, and an air tentacle wrapped around Liu Wuya¡¯s head and brought it into Su Chen¡¯s hands.

    Even if Liu Wuya was in the Light Shaking Realm, he would be dead without a head, much less in the Yang Opening Realm.

    Liu Wuya¡¯s corpse toppled over, shocking Long Qingjiangpletely.

    ¡°You......¡± He stared at Su Chen in anger beforeunching a palm strike at Su Chen.

    The palm strike seemed to swallow up the sky as its momentum grew to an unprecedented degree.

    This was the strength of someone at the peak of the Yang Opening Realm. A single palm strike was enough to badly injure Su Chen.

    When faced with this palm strike, however, Su Chen paid it no attention. He turned around and left. A shadow leapt from his right and blocked Long Qingjiang¡¯s blow.

    Wei Liancheng.

    Bang!

    Their blows collided. Wei Liancheng flew backwards, doing a somersault as he flew through the air.

    Even though he hadn¡¯t been Long Qingjiang¡¯s opponent in this exchange of blows, he wasn¡¯t injured.

    Long Qingjiang¡¯s eyes glinted fiercely. ¡°So you aren¡¯t at the Blood Boiling Realm but at the Yang Opening Realm. Wei Liancheng, what is your purpose in hiding your identity and infiltrating my n? And why do you want to help Su Chen?¡±

    Wei Liancheng said icily, ¡°Until I get the item, he cannot die to you.¡±

    ¡°You think you can stop me?¡± Long Qingjiang was infuriated. He waved his hands and said, ¡°Capture him!¡±

    The prepared Long n guards and guests yelled as they charged.

    Wei Liancheng retreated a few steps, a profound talismanic symbol appearing on his hand as he pressed it to the ground. With a ¡°Bang!¡± arge amount of ck, thick smoke emerged from the ground, shrouding the whole ce in darkness.

    ¡°This trick again!¡± Long Qingjiang said savagely. ¡°Did you really think that this type of tactic would be enough to deal with me?¡±

    Wei Liancheng¡¯s voice traveled through the ck smoke. ¡°Long n Patriarch, you¡¯ve misunderstood me. My tactic is a bit different from Knowledge Executor Su¡¯s. What he released was really smoke, but what I released...... isn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Long Qingjiang was stunned.

    A guard suddenly screamed from within the fog.

    ¡°AHH!¡± The piercing cry was miserable, causing everyone¡¯s hearts to begin to beat faster.

    Following this piteous cry, the sound of chewing could be audibly heard as if something was eating something else. Everyone felt their spines tingle.

    Immediately afterward, cries of pain began to ring out.

    ¡°There¡¯s something in the fog!¡±

    ¡°A monster, monster! What is this monster!?¡±

    ¡°Please, let me go! AHH...... no......¡±

    The cries came in waves, one after the other.

    At the same time, Su Chen got into his carriage.

    He waved his hands, and Iron Cliff threw Long Shaoyou into the smoke.

    Su Chen said, ¡°I¡¯m a man of my word. Here is the person I agreed to return to you. But whether or not he survives depends on whether or not you, the Long n Patriarch, are fast enough to save him.¡±

    ¡°AH!¡± Long Shaoyou was already beginning to yell.

    Originally, Long Qingjiang was still nning on chasing after Su Chen, but now he charged back into the fog to save his son.

    Wei Liancheng, upon seeing Su Chen leave, nced at him coldly. He didn¡¯t give chase; all he did was say, ¡°Knowledge Executor Su, remember you owe me one.¡±

    ¡°Of course. I will wait for your arrival at the Su Residence,¡± Su Chen said as his voice floated over to Wei Liancheng.

    The carriage left peacefully and without incident, the sounds of yelling and fighting stilling behind him.

    They hadn¡¯t gotten far when they saw a person standing by the side of the road.

    Chief Steward Lao.

    The carriage stopped in front of Chief Steward Lao. Su Chen stuck his head out andughed, ¡°Chief Steward Lao.¡±

    Chief Steward Lao sighed. ¡°Knowledge Executor Su, you¡¯ve won this bet. On behalf of my n¡¯s patriarch, I can tell you that we arepletely convinced.¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°Chief Steward Lao, you¡¯re too kind. Then, about our agreement......¡±

    ¡°Naturally, we¡¯ll go with the second option.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Su Chen disappeared inside the carriage again.

    Chief Steward Lao stepped to the side, and the carriage continued to advance.

    As he watched the carriage depart, the conversation he had had with Su Chen two days ago surfaced in his mind.

    ¡°The Long n and I have already agreed to exchange in two days. Though the Long n agreed to the exchange, however, they will most likely betray me after the exchange. Even though I have made some preparations and I¡¯m confident that I can escape without being harmed by the Long n, it¡¯s best to have some backup ns in ce.¡±

    ¡°Knowledge Executor Su wants us to save you? That might not be too good, right? Even though the Lian and Long ns aren¡¯t rted by blood, we are still allies facing amon enemy.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not asking you to attack each other, but it¡¯s also not my fault that the Lian n came a bitter than the Long n, which is why my negotiations with the Lian n can only be dyed. In addition, the Lian n isn¡¯t saving me but just watching over the process of the exchange. If I¡¯m killed by the Long n, who will you go to to find your Young Miss?¡±

    ¡°You...... Su Chen, you¡¯re cheating us!¡±

    ¡°Listen to what you¡¯re saying, like my earlier conditions weren¡¯t cheating you.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°So how about it? Have you thought it through?¡±

    ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll help you leave. However, this will create some issues between us and the Long n. Even though our patriarch can handle it, you cannot have any other demands.¡±

    ¡°Of course. However......¡±

    ¡°What else is there?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be angry. I just wanted to ask, what if I don¡¯t end up needing your help?¡±

    ¡°This......¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why we also need to have a supplementary arrangement.¡±

    ¡°What kind of supplementary arrangement?¡±

    ¡°Easy. What about making peace? I can give up on any benefits I might obtain from the Lian n, return the Young Miss to you without additional conditions, and even make a public apology to the Lian n. However, the Lian n must vow on their bloodline that they will never make trouble for me on their own.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Su Chen¡¯s words resounded in Chief Steward Lao¡¯s ears. Eventually, he shook his head and sighed.

    ¡°Chief Steward Lao, what do you think about this person?¡± A person asked from behind Chief Steward Lao.

    Chief Steward Lao gazed off in the distance as he said slowly, ¡°He¡¯s not simple at all.¡±

    ¡°Definitely. If he could escape from Long Qingjiang¡¯s hand alive, he must have some ability no matter what tactic he used.¡±

    Chief Steward Lao continued, ¡°I¡¯ve seen many people with ability before. But someone who seems so reckless yet has nned every step with pinpoint precision and prepared so many backup measures? That is something rare. Xin Lai, have you ever thought that, apart from us, Su Chen has some other backup measure prepared?¡±

    ¡°Other backup measures?¡± The man called Xin Lai froze. ¡°You think that Su Chen had something else prepared?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what I think is the most frightening part. If he defeats the Long n once, that¡¯s not such a big deal; what¡¯s scary is that he might not have used his full strength, and that would be disastrous.¡± Chief Steward Lao squinted his eyes.

    ¡°What other reserves could he possibly have?¡±

    ¡°Who knows. But if he does, I hope that the Lian n isn¡¯t the one to force it out.¡±

    ¡°Chief Steward Lao means......¡±

    ¡°If he wants peace, then give him peace.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 24: Tidying Up

    Chapter 24: Tidying Up

    After leaving the main road, the carriage didn¡¯t return to the Su Pce. Instead, it continued onwards into the city, heading for the Origin Bureau.

    Cao Zhengjun hurried forward to greet him. Upon seeing that it was Su Chen, he said hurriedly, ¡°Knowledge Executor Su? How do you have time toe here?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the Knowledge Executor of the Origin Bureau. Do I not have the right toe here?¡± Su Chen said as he headed quickly for the main hall.

    Cao Zhengjun followed closely behind. ¡°Sir Su, don¡¯t put it like that. How could I restrict you, sir? It¡¯s just that if you wanted something done, you only need to tell me; you didn¡¯t need toe here personally.¡± His forehead was already glistening with sweat.

    He knew Liu Wuya had sold Su Chen out, and he also knew what was supposed to happen today.

    That was why he was so frightened upon seeing Su Chen arrive at the Origin Bureau that his soul almost left his body.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Su Chenughed and suddenly stopped in ce. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, there is something I¡¯d like to ask you to take care of.¡±

    ¡°Sir, please just let me know.¡±

    Su Chen arrived at the hall and sat down directly on the seat that had previously belonged to Liu Wuya. Cao Zhengjun¡¯s eyelids jumped fiercely when he saw this.

    Origin Qi Schrs could behave recklessly, but the people who worked under Origin Qi Schrs didn¡¯t have that luxury.

    Those who worked here were used to surviving in the cracks. In particr, those who were experienced had exceptional observational qualities.

    Su Chen¡¯s reckless behavior had too many implications behind it, and he couldn¡¯t help but think about it.

    Su Chen said after he had sat down, ¡°Good. Then you can go and gather everyone who works for the Origin Bureau and call them over. I mean everyone!¡±

    Cao Zhengjun bowed and replied slowly, ¡°Yes...... this little one...... will go and do that now.¡±

    Even as he replied, thoughts raced through his mind.

    He wanted to gather everyone?

    Why?

    When paired with Su Chen¡¯s actions like sitting down in that seat, Cao Zhengjun quickly thought of a number of different possibilities.

    When he thought of the worst possible reason, his legs went soft, and he stumbled unsteadily out of the room.

    ¡°Wait a moment,¡± Su Chen suddenly yelled.

    ¡°What else do you need, sir?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell them all at once. Do it in waves, three at a time. In particr, make sure that the rtionships between them are only so-so...... and do it under City Head Liu¡¯s name.¡±

    ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll do it to your liking!¡± Cao Zhengjun left.

    Upon seeing his attitude, Su Chenughed, ¡°He¡¯s pretty smart.¡±

    Simultaneously, he picked up the tea leaves on Liu Wuya¡¯s table and took a whiff of them. ¡°Hmm, high-quality Purple Conch Spring tea! Liu Wuya knows how to enjoy himself.¡±

    He poured himself a cup.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Cao Zhengjun¡¯s movements were very fast. Not long after, some Origin Qi Schrs and soldiers under the Origin Bureau¡¯s control arrived.

    They were conversing amongst themselves as they arrived. ¡°What¡¯s going on? Why did we suddenly get called here?¡±

    ¡°Old Qiu, you¡¯re here too? I thought I was the only one called here at first.¡±

    ¡°Cao Zhengjun, what are you doing? I was cultivating when you dragged me over here in a hurry. If it¡¯s not anything important, I¡¯ll smash you into a pulp with my hammer for disturbing my cultivation session!¡±

    ¡°Hey, how could I dare do something like that? The new Knowledge Executor has a pressing matter and told me to pass down the order to you all. If you have any questions, ask Knowledge Executor Su.¡±

    The first three Origin Qi Schrs to arrive came to the main hall and found Su Chen sitting above them. Their expressions sank.

    One of the rasher Origin Qi Schrs said, ¡°You are the new Knowledge Executor, Su Chen? That seat isn¡¯t for you; it¡¯s for City Head Liu. You¡¯d better get out of that chair.¡±

    Another person said, ¡°Knowledge Executor Su, why did you call us over here in such a hurry?¡±

    Su Chen replied calmly, ¡°I called you over here because I wanted to discuss something. But before that, please, introduce yourselves. I want to get to know you all.¡±

    The aforementioned rash Origin Qi Schr yelled, ¡°What introductions? Su Chen, I told you to get out of the way; didn¡¯t you hear me? That seat isn¡¯t for you to sit in; it¡¯s reserved for City Head Liu.¡±

    Su Chen looked at him. ¡°You respect Sir Liu very much?¡±

    ¡°Of course. Who dares not to respect him?¡±

    The other two Origin Qi Schrs, however, knit their eyebrows together.

    They knew that Liu Wuya had sold Su Chen out to the Long and Lian ns. As such, they were clear that there was no way for Su Chen and Liu Wuya to be on good terms.

    In addition, for Su Chen to sit so publically on Liu Wuya¡¯s seat and to have called everyone over in such a rush, something big had probably happened. As such, they weren¡¯t so quick to respond.

    When Su Chen saw that, he smiled slightly and said, ¡°Not everyone shares your viewpoint, it seems. Good, that¡¯s the right kind of attitude. Even if Liu Wuya is the City Head, he can¡¯t hold up the heavens singlehandedly.¡±

    ¡°Dammit, what are you trying to say?¡± The rash Origin Qi Schr was beginning to show signs of wanting to make a move.

    ¡°You really want to know? Fine. I¡¯ll tell you why I¡¯ve called everyone here so urgently,¡± Su Chen said, nodding. ¡°There¡¯s only one simple reason I¡¯ve called you here...... Liu Wuya is dead.¡±

    ¡°What!?¡± The three of them were stunned.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Liu Wuya is dead. As Knowledge Executor, the Origin Bureau is now under my control from today onwards until the higher-ups send over a new City Head. Does anyone have any questions?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re spouting nonsense. Nothing could possibly happen to City Head Liu!¡± the rash Origin Qi Schr yelled.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t believe me, you can ask him yourself.¡± Su Chen gestured.

    ¡°Ask him myself? Where is he?¡± the Origin Qi Schr instinctively replied as he froze slightly.

    ¡°I¡¯ll send you to meet him.¡± Su Chen waved his hand. A strengthened Erupting Firehawk flew forth, mming into that Origin Qi Schr¡¯s chest and instantly exploding him into bits and pieces.

    Chunks of flesh flew everywhere as the scent of blood instantly filled the main hall.

    The other two Origin Qi Schrs felt their stomachs shrink upon seeing this.

    Su Chen...... was too vicious.

    ¡°Do you two have any other suggestions?¡± Su Chen asked with a bright smile.

    The two of them simultaneously shook their heads.

    ¡°Very good,¡± Su Chen said calmly. ¡°Someonee and clean up this mess! It¡¯s so filthy in here; what has this ce be?¡±

    A few martial artists rushed forward and began to clean up the main hall.

    Not long after, a few more Origin Qi Schrs arrived.

    The same scene repeated itself.

    Even though the Origin Bureau was controlled by the ten great Bloodline Nobility ns, not every Origin Qi Schr had truly allied themselves with one of the ten ns.

    As for the ten Bloodline Nobility ns, roping everyone in was too high of a price, and there was no need to do so. As long as they could control Liu Wuya, they controlled the entire Origin Bureau. For Liu Wuya, he also couldn¡¯t possibly turn everyone into his own trusted aides; as such, he controlled a select few people, which was more than enough to keep the Origin Bureau firmly under his own control.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, most people just went with the flow. Only a small portion of people were zealous followers of Liu Wuya.

    What Su Chen wanted to do was eliminate those who supported Liu Wuya.

    If these guys were toe all at once, that would naturally be troublesome. But since they were being called in waves, they fell victim to Su Chen¡¯s n of dividing and conquering.

    In addition, because it had been so sudden, no one had been prepared for it, and no one even had the concept of needing to defend oneself. In addition, those within the bureau who had unfulfilled ambitions recognized the opportunity and took the initiative to spread the news of Liu Wuya¡¯s death, making it very easy for Su Chen to determine who was part of the dregs of the previous dynasty, who was indifferent, and who wanted to shake things up.

    Naturally, all of the dregs of the previous dynasty had to be eliminated. To establish his dominance, Su Chen resisted the pain and gave up on turning them into experimental subjects. Those who were indifferent were fine as they were, while those who wanted to shake things up could naturally be used.

    Very quickly, the remnants of Liu Wuya¡¯s supporters were cleansed in a bloody fashion. Six Origin Qi Schrs had been murdered on the spot, and the remaining ones, trembling in fear, had at least temporarily epted Su Chen¡¯s rule.

    But Su Chen knew that this wasn¡¯t the end of it.

    If he really wanted these people to listen to him, he still had one final test in front of him.

    Yuan Lieyang.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 25: Control

    Chapter 25: Control

    Yuan Lieyang was the only other Yang Opening Realm cultivator in the Origin Bureau apart from Liu Wuya.

    Of note was that he wasn¡¯t actually Liu Wuya¡¯s follower, and his rtionship with the Bloodline Nobility ns was weak. However, this only meant that their interactions were limited; there was no way that they wouldn¡¯t interact at all. Every Origin Qi Schr within the bureau had, one way or another, taken advantage of the benefits offered by the Bloodline Nobility ns. Otherwise, they might not have been able to make it. And even if they wanted more, the Bloodline Nobility ns might not be willing to give it to them.

    Yuan Lieyang was someone like this.

    He wasn¡¯t a die-hard supporter of Liu Wuya, and he had taken advantage of some benefits from the ten Bloodline Nobility ns. He wasn¡¯t blindly loyal to Liu Wuya, but he had never opposed him ¨C he just had his own thoughts.

    His displeasure with Su Chen was because Su Chen had taken the Knowledge Executor position he had longed for. It had nothing to do with the ten Bloodline Nobility ns.

    Even though his rank was lower than Su Chen¡¯s, his strength as someone in the Yang Opening realm wasn¡¯t easy to overlook.

    Thus, if he didn¡¯t take care of Yuan Lieyang, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t be able to truly bring everyone in the Origin Bureau under his control.

    Yuan Lieyang was thest one to be notified.

    Cao Zhengjun was very smart; he immediately understood Su Chen¡¯s intentions and left the hardest bones forst. He let Su Chen deal with all of the weeds first before focusing all of his attention on dealing with Yuan Lieyang.

    By the time Yuan Lieyang arrived, the hall was filled with Origin Qi Schrs, and the front yard was packed with martial artists.

    He was caught off-guard by therge number of people gathered here. Upon seeing Su Chen sitting in the seat of honor, his expression became even moreplicated.

    ¡°You......¡±

    He pointed at Su Chen and said in disbelief, ¡°Su Chen, what are you doing?¡±

    Then, he nced at everyone else. ¡°What are you all doing? Don¡¯t you see that Su Chen is sitting in City Head Liu¡¯s spot? You aren¡¯t forcing him down here?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°There¡¯s no need, Sir Yuan. City Head Liu is no longer here; as the Knowledge Executor, I¡¯m responsible for taking his position temporarily.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Yuan Lieyang gazed in shock at Su Chen. ¡°What happened to City Head Liu?¡±

    ¡°Naturally, he died.¡±

    ¡°Died?¡± Yuan Lieyang repeated that word before he recovered somewhat from his shock. ¡°Died? How did he die?¡±

    ¡°The Clear River City Long n ignored kingdomw and assaulted City Head Liu. City Head Liu weeded out the traitors, but hadn¡¯t expected to be attacked here. He died on the job.¡±

    ¡°The Long n!¡± Yuan Lieyang yelled.

    What kind of joke was this?

    But he immediately understood soon after. ¡°You killed Liu Wuya?¡±

    Su Chen gently swirled the cup of tea in his hand. ¡°Sir Yuan, a loose tongue causes a lot of trouble. I already said that City Head Liu died to the Long n. If you still maintain that I was the one who killed him, that sounds like you¡¯re ndering a superior?¡±

    Yuan Lieyang quickly restrained his emotions. He nced at everyone else. ¡°So you all think this is the case too?¡±

    An Origin Qi Schr bowed. ¡°In reply to sir, since Knowledge Executor Su has said as much, that¡¯s how it happened.¡±

    This person was called Duan Feng. His status within the Origin Bureau wasn¡¯t high. He had apparently offended Liu Wuya in the past; as such, he had always been suppressed. After Liu Wuya died, he was the first to recognize Su Chen¡¯s position.

    This was a very risky decision. He had picked a side very quickly while the situation had still been unclear; if the winds were to suddenly change, he would undoubtedly have a tragic fate. Short-term, there was the retaliation from the ten Bloodline Nobility ns. Even now, Yuan Lieyang was in the Yang Opening realm, while Su Chen was still in the Blood Boiling realm. They were inpletely different tiers.

    Yet, Duan Feng had chosen to do so anyway.

    He had seen Liu Wuya¡¯s strength before, and he had watched Su Chen kill one of Liu Wuya¡¯s Blood Boiling Realm supporters with a single blow. He didn¡¯t believe for a second that Su Chen was suicidal.

    If he dared to do it, he had something giving him the confidence to do it.

    That was why he had chosen to support Su Chen without hesitation.

    Even though this was quite risky, there would be arge payoff.

    Yuan Lieyang harrumphed, ¡°What about Jiang Huali, Liu Tong, and the others? Why aren¡¯t they here?¡±

    ¡°They were with City Head Liu Wuya at the time, so they probably suffered the same fate,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Yuan Lieyang¡¯s gaze trembled slightly.

    How vicious!

    This Su Chen had just killed Liu Wuya, yet he had already swept away Liu Wuya¡¯s diehard supporters like they were decaying trash. His decisiveness and speed gave Yuan Lieyang quite the shock.

    The question was, how had he done it?

    How had a Blood Boiling Realm Origin Qi Schr killed Liu Wuya, Jiang Huali, and the others?

    He nced at an Origin Qi Schr not far away from him.

    That Origin Qi Schr understood. His lips moved slightly as he sent his words into Yuan Lieyang¡¯s ears, describing all that had taken ce prior to this.

    Su Chen saw it. He made no effort to stop it, but he silentlymitted that Origin Qi Schr¡¯s appearance to memory.

    It wasn¡¯t until this point that Yuan Lieyang knew why he was thest one to arrive.

    ¡°Cao Zhengjun!¡± He red fiercely at Cao Zhengjun.

    Cao Zhengjun was so frightened that he copsed onto the ground, not daring to lift up his head. All he could do was hope that Su Chen had some kind of backup to defeat this person; otherwise, he might not see the light of day again.

    Yuan Lieyang stared at Su Chen. ¡°So, Knowledge Executor Su is going to bear the responsibility of managing the Origin Bureau now?¡±

    ¡°I am bound by duty to do so!¡± Su Chen replied.

    Yuan Lieyang nodded. ¡°Then I want to know: how does Knowledge Executor Su n on running things after taking charge?¡±

    He didn¡¯t jump to oppose Su Chen directly. Instead, he openly asked Su Chen what his n was. No one could understand what his intentions were.

    Su Chen replied straightforwardly, ¡°Naturally, I will devote myself to my work and do as much as I can.¡±

    Upon hearing these words, Yuan Lieyang sank into a strange, silent state of contemtion.

    After quite a long time, he suddenly said, ¡°I don¡¯t like you.¡±

    When those words were uttered, everyone felt their hearts tighten.

    A momentter, however, Yuan Lieyang continued, ¡°But you are still the Origin Bureau¡¯s Knowledge Executor. Since the Bureau Head is dead, the Knowledge Executor should temporarily take over. That¡¯s all fair and ording to thew, and I have no objections.¡±

    Everyone there was dumbfounded.

    Yuan Lieyang continued, ¡°How City Head Liu died and who killed him, I have no interest in knowing, and I don¡¯t need to know. Finding the true culprit is the Investigations Office¡¯s business, not mine. All I know is that Liu Wuya made the decisions when he was in charge, and I was only responsible for carrying them out. As long as the order wasn¡¯t unreasonable, I would obey. The same is true now that you¡¯re in control of the Origin Bureau. As long as your orders are reasonable, I will obey them. But don¡¯t think that I will support you or obey you unconditionally. I, Yuan Lieyang, am an Origin Qi Schr under the Origin Bureau, and I don¡¯t want to ally myself too closely with any group. If there¡¯s going to be a fight, you fight it on your own ¨C don¡¯t drag me down with you. Knowledge Executor Su, do you have any objections to this?¡±

    Su Chenughed.

    ¡°Of course there¡¯s no problem. What Sir Yuan has proposed is exactly in line with my expectations. Sir Yuan, don¡¯t worry. I will honor my duty to the Origin Bureau, and I will do what I need to do.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. If there¡¯s nothing else, then I¡¯ll leave first,¡± Yuan Lieyang said as he turned around and left.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t stop him. He watched as Yuan Lieyang departed.

    Yuan Lieyang moved slowly, but every one of his steps was extremely steady.

    It wasn¡¯t until he left the Origin Bureau that his feeling as if someone had a knife to his back disappeared.

    Yuan Lieyang let out a long sigh and wiped away the sweat on his forehead. He nced behind him quickly before leaving in a hurry.

    Within the main hall of the Origin Bureau.

    After Yuan Lieyang left, Su Chen said, ¡°The matter has been resolved. Since no one has any objections, everyone can leave.¡±

    Having been pardoned, everyone left in a hurry.

    Soon, no one remained in the main hall.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Alright, you cane out now.¡±

    Five Shadow Servants slowly faded into view.

    ¡°Master!¡± Gui Dashan said, ¡°Yuan Lieyang seems to have detected our presence.¡±

    ¡°Yes. He probably has some kind of danger-sensing technique,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°It seems like I¡¯ll need to find a skill that can help you conceal your killing intent in the future.¡±

    The five of them were ecstatic. ¡°Many thanks, Master!¡±

    Even though they had lost a significant amount of freedom by following Su Chen, they were able to experience a much broader outside world. They had made incredible progress in their strength, let alone in all those other aspects.

    Of course, that didn¡¯t mean that these guys werepletely loyal. The cynical attitude that being bandits for many years had given them wouldn¡¯t be easily changed. However, as long as Su Chen could still control them, he wasn¡¯t worried about them rebelling.

    ¡°The situation has been resolved. You all can go back and cultivate. Tell Chang Er to keep an eye on Yuan Lieyang. If there isn¡¯t any killing intent, he shouldn¡¯t be discovered by Yuan Lieyang. Right, find another person to go to the City Lord¡¯s residence. Tell him......¡±

    Su Chen paused for a moment, then said, ¡°From this day onwards, the Origin Bureau will go under the name ¡®An¡¯.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 26: Regiments

    Chapter 26: Regiments

    Within the City Lord¡¯s residence.

    ¡°From this day onwards, the Origin Bureau will go under the name of ¡®An¡¯...... Hahahaha, well said!¡± An Siyuanughed as he rubbed his bald head.

    Then, he stood up vigorously and said, ¡°The Origin Bureau¡¯s Liu Wuya colluded with the ten Bloodline Nobility ns, turning a perfectly good Origin Bureau into awless ce. Now that Su Chen has killed Liu Wuya and cleaned the ce up, the Origin Bureau belongs to us now. He took care of that matter brilliantly.¡±

    The schr behind An Siyuan spoke. ¡°City Lord is right. Su Chen took care of that matter brilliantly. However, this whole ordeal isn¡¯t over quite yet.¡±

    ¡°Mm, you mean to say......¡±

    ¡°As the Knowledge Executor, Su Chen is currently the actingmander of the Origin Bureau. This is fine for the short-term, but the situation might change in the long run. As such, we still need to quickly get him a formal title.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Yiyang, you¡¯re absolutely right. I will inform the higher-ups and propose to them the idea of promoting Su Chen.¡±

    ¡°Now that he¡¯s offended the Long n, they definitely won¡¯t let him go. Su Chen can scheme the Long n once, but he can¡¯t do it forever, and he definitely won¡¯t be able to wipe them out just by scheming alone.¡±

    An Siyuan nodded. ¡°I know. He only said that the Origin Bureau will go under the name ¡®An¡¯ to get me involved. Hehe, he made such a big contribution and also demonstrated that he was firmly on my side. If I don¡¯t help him, who will want to follow me in the future? Okay, give him two regiments of Blood-Robed Guards.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Blood-Robed Guards were a group of elite guards that An Siyuan had trained himself. They were few in number, but each soldier was a highyer Qi Drawing Realm cultivator, and each regiment leader was a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator. Even though their strength was average, their teamwork was impable, and they had special skills and medicines that could activate their hidden potential. If they used these all at once, ten Blood-Robed Guards could fight a Yang Opening Realm expert to a standstill. They were excellent bodyguards.

    An Siyuan giving Su Chen two regiments of Blood-Robed Guards was a clear demonstration of how much importance he ced on Su Chen. He wanted to protect Su Chenpletely. At the same time, he ensured his control over the Origin Bureau; this would take care of two birds with one stone.

    ¡°Also, the funds previously docked from the Origin Bureau can be returned,¡± An Siyuan said.

    As the City Lord, An Siyuan had a considerable amount of authority, even over finances.

    Because the former Origin Bureau wasn¡¯t aligned with An Siyuan, An Siyuan had docked funds from the Origin Bureau. In the past few years, the Origin Bureau had beenpletely funded by the ten Great Bloodline Nobility ns. Even though this put Liu Wuya in a hard position, it made it so that many of the people working at the Origin Bureau weren¡¯t willing to listen to An Siyuan¡¯s orders ¨C if you weren¡¯t helping them put food on the table, why should they listen to you?

    Now that Su Chen had forcefully taken control of the Origin Bureau, An Siyuan immediately released those funds. They would be a help to Su Chen personally, and they could also help sway public opinion. After all, relying on force to control the Origin Bureau would onlyst for a time; long-term control required conciliatory tactics.

    Of course, they wouldn¡¯t be able to share in the benefits given by the ten Great Bloodline Nobility ns anymore.

    ¡°Finally, let Officer Zhu know that we will have a feast tomorrow. I need to congratte Su Chen!¡±

    ¡°Yes, City Lord!¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°You¡¯er, You¡¯er!¡± Long Qingjing howled pitifully as he gazed at his son, lying on the bed.

    Long Shaoyouy on the bed, unconscious, his face tainted with ck Qi. Most frightening of all, that ck Qi gathered on Long Shaoyou¡¯s face and would sometimes even assume different forms. Sometimes, it was a vicious monster, while other times it took the form of a blood-soaked battlefield. It was as if someone was staging a y on his body that could only be seen, not touched.

    He had been like this ever since he had been rescued out from the ck smoke. No matter what Long Qingjiang thought of, he had no way of purging the strange ck Qi from Long Shaoyou¡¯s body, and Long Shaoyou never regained consciousness.

    The doctor beside him took a look and shook his head. ¡°I can only me my incapability. I have never seen this kind of illness before.¡±

    ¡°Doctor Jiang, you¡¯re the best doctor in all of Clear River City. Please, think of something!¡± Long Qingjiang said anxiously.

    That Doctor Jiang still shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ve never seen a disease like this, so how could I think of anything? Long n Patriarch, you¡¯re better off asking someone more talented.¡±

    As he spoke, he began to pack up his things.

    Long Qingjiang grew agitated. ¡°Doctor Jiang, you¡¯re the best doctor in all of Clear River City! If you can¡¯t do it, who else can?¡±

    That Doctor jiang said somewhat impatiently, ¡°There¡¯s no point in telling me this. You saw it yourself; this isn¡¯t an illness, but the effect of some strange Origin Skill. There are many strange Origin Skills of all kinds out there, and a majority of them can¡¯t be treated with medicine. Most likely, this is some kind of strange curse. There¡¯s nothing more I can do for you. You¡¯re better off looking for the person who set this curse in the first ce.¡±

    As he spoke, he picked up his medicinal case and left.

    Long Qingjiang was helpless. All he could do was leave the room and go to the main courtyard. ¡°Servants!¡±

    ¡°Patriarch!¡± Sang Maoyuan hurried over.

    ¡°Gather all of the guards, guests, and servants, and head to the Su Residence. I must wipe Su Chen out today!¡± Long Qingjiang said, his expression thick with killing intent.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid that¡¯s not possible anymore.¡± SangMaoyuan lowered his head.

    ¡°What did you say?¡±

    Sang Maoyuan replied, ¡°I just received word that Su Chen didn¡¯t go to the Su Residence after leaving, but to the Origin Bureau.¡±

    ¡°The Origin Bureau?¡± Long Qingjiang froze as he realized something and yelled, ¡°Not good! Could he be......¡±

    ¡°Yes, he gathered all of the Origin Qi Schrs and martial artists under pretense of using Liu Wuya¡¯s authority. By dividing and conquering, he killed Jiang Huali, Liu Tong, and the others. Then, he used some unknown method to stun Yuan Lieyang into submission, and Yuan Lieyang even publicly announced that he wouldn¡¯t oppose Su Chen taking control of the Origin Bureau. Finally, he......¡±

    ¡°He what?¡±

    ¡°He sent people to inform An Siyuan that the Origin Bureau was now under his name.¡±

    ¡°BASTARD!¡± Long Qingjiang struck out violently. A hundred-year old tree nearby toppled to the ground.

    ¡°I¡¯LL KILL HIM!!!!¡± Long Qingjiang yelled furiously.

    Sang Maoyuan knew that anything else he said would only further stimte Long Qingjiang, but he could only harden his forehead and forge on. ¡°An Siyuan immediately sent him two regiments of Blood-Robed Guards from his residence as soon as he found out.¡±

    ¡°Bang!¡± Long Qingjiang struck out again. Sang Maoyuan flew into the air. Two of his bones had been broken, and he copsed to the ground in a heap.

    Long Qingjiang seethed with hatred, a bloody aura beginning to whip around his entire body.

    ¡°So you¡¯re telling me that even if I want to kill him now, I won¡¯t be able to, right?¡±

    Blood-Robed Guards not only represented strength; they represented the government¡¯s prestige. It wasn¡¯t that Long Qingjiang couldn¡¯t kill Su Chen along with the Blood-Robed Guards; however, doing that would result in open war!

    The consequences of that would be extremely severe.

    Sang Maoyuan lowered his head silently.

    He had said all that needed to be said. The decision was still Long Qingjiang¡¯s to make.

    Even though he desperately wanted to capture Su Chen and get revenge for his son, Long Qingjiang was very clear just how difficult that would be.

    He remained deep in thought for some time. Finally, he could only say, ¡°Send the order to focus our efforts on finding Wei Liancheng. We¡¯ll need to capture this person first. The responsibility for this matter with You¡¯er mightnd on his shoulders instead.¡±

    Sang Maoyuan replied. ¡°We looked for him already, but this Wei Liancheng is of the Yang Opening Realm. If he wanted to, he could even be escaping from Clear River City at this very moment. It¡¯s too hard to look for him.¡±

    Killing intent began to surge in Long Qingjiang¡¯s eyes again. ¡°So you¡¯re telling me that you can¡¯t find Wei Liancheng either, right?¡±

    Sang Maoyuan replied hurriedly, ¡°That¡¯s not it. From what happened earlier, it seems that Wei Liancheng helped Su Chen because Su Chen has something that he wants. Before he gets that, he doesn¡¯t want Su Chen to die.¡±

    Long Qingjiang paused. ¡°You mean......¡±

    ¡°Wei Liancheng will definitely go and find Su Chen to ask for that item. As long as we keep an eye on Su Chen, we¡¯ll be able to find Wei Liancheng.

    ¡°Very good. Go and take care of it. Don¡¯t disappoint me this time.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 27: Banque

    Chapter 27: Banquet

    ¡°Congrattions!¡±

    On that night, the sounds of celebration were unceasing from the City Lord¡¯s residence.

    News of the Origin Bureau¡¯s sudden shift in power had spread throughout Clear River City in a day. Basically, anyone and everyone who had some kind of power in Clear River City heard about it.

    Everyone knew what it meant for there to be a celebration at this time in the City Lord¡¯s residence.

    Thus, the invited guests came thick and fast, giving An Siyuan their congrattions.

    Of course, An Siyuan couldn¡¯t say that he had thrown this celebration because the Origin Bureau was under his control again; as such, he used the excuse that it was his concubine¡¯s birthday.

    The wave of guests was unceasing. The din ofughter and conversation, as well as the sounds of nonstop congrattions, echoed throughout the main hall.

    An Siyuan sat high up in the main hall¡¯s seat of honor. To his left was a male with a wide face, a tall nose, a pair of hands like an eagle¡¯s talons, and a grave, stern expression. His name was Lu Qingguang, the head of the district office and An Siyuan¡¯s most trusted, capable subordinate. To An Siyuan¡¯s right was Su Chen; from this position, it could be seen that Su Chen had already be one of An Siyuan¡¯s right-hand men.

    ¡°Knowledge Executor Su is extremely courageous, single-handedly giving the Lian and Long ns something to regret. Most importantly, you even seeded ¨C truly, your heroism is beyond your age!¡± An Siyuanughed as he raised his cup to Su Chen.

    ¡°Many thanks to City Lord for his praise.¡± Su Chen raised his cup in return. ¡°But from today onwards, Su Chen will be facing not just the Lian and Long ns but also all ten of the Bloodline Nobility ns. Without City Lord¡¯s protection, Su Chen might not be able to hold out.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s earlier battle was just a personal dispute with the Lian and Long ns. The other eight ns wouldn¡¯t participate.

    However, taking over the Origin Bureau and expressing his allegiance to An Siyuan changed everything.

    The Origin Bureau didn¡¯t just belong to the Lian and Long ns; rather, it was controlled by all ten Bloodline Nobility ns.

    Su Chen¡¯s actions were equivalent to offending all ten ns at once.

    This was the price of dering war openly.

    While gaining the support of An Siyuan, he had also made many more enemies.

    ¡°Knowledge Executor Su.¡±

    At this moment, while everyone was still happily conversing, Lu Qingguang said, ¡°There¡¯s something that I don¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°Captain Lu, please speak.¡±

    ¡°During the battle at the Ten Kilometers Pavilion, Knowledge Executor Su killed Liu Wuya, then escaped from Long Qingjiang¡¯s hand, creating a miracle. Of course, this miracle is a miracle precisely because it¡¯s iprehensible and illogical. Forgive me for being so bold, but can Knowledge Executor Su exin to me exactly how you did it?¡±

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then nodded. ¡°Fine, it¡¯s better to be open about some things; there¡¯s no point in keeping this matter hidden. It¡¯s probably best to start from what happened with the Li n¡¯s old residence......¡±

    Su Chen started from when he had heard about the strange things happening at the Li n¡¯s residence while still at the Hidden Dragon Institute. ¡°After I heard about it, I wanted to investigate the matter more closely, so I sent someone to buy the residence. But I hadn¡¯t expected someone to fight me for it......¡±

    Sitting in the main hall, Su Chen began to exin exactly what had happened.

    Even though there were many people in the main hall, Su Chen carefully controlled the volume of his voice to prevent it from spreading. Only An Siyuan, Lu Qingguang, and the schr Dai Yang, who was sitting beneath him and was clearly An Siyuan¡¯s brain trust, could hear.

    Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s analysis of the situation, Lu Qingguang couldn¡¯t help but praise him, ¡°Prince Su¡¯s thoughts are extremely intricate. I admire that very much.¡±

    ¡°But who exactly is Lian Weicheng? And how is he rted to the matter involving the Li n¡¯s residence?¡± An Siyuan said with some confusion.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°That, I¡¯m not sure. But if he wants that metal block, he will need toe look for me sooner orter. We¡¯ll know when the timees.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± An Siyuan nodded.

    The matter wasn¡¯t very rted to him, so he didn¡¯t continue to press for more information.

    The host and his guests continued to chat merrily. After three cups of wine, Su Chen bid farewell and took his leave.

    This time, however, he didn¡¯t leave on his own. In addition to the Blood-Robed Guards, Su Chen was apanied by three of the Origin Bureau¡¯s Origin Qi Schrs and nearly twenty martial artists. One could say that Su Chen definitely wasn¡¯tcking in manpower anymore.

    After the banquet ended, Lu Qingguang didn¡¯t leave. He was kept behind by An Siyuan, and they went to the back yard to drink some tea.

    An Siyuan held a teacup in his hands as he stood in front of his flowerttice, rearranging the flowers aimlessly with his fingertips as he said, ¡°Qingguang, what do you think of Knowledge Executor Su?¡±

    Lu Qingguang thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°Based on what we know already, Long Shaoyou was inflicted with a strange curse during the battle at the Ten Kilometers Pavilion and has remained unconscious until now. He could die at any moment. From this viewpoint, Su Chen shouldn¡¯t be one of their people.¡±

    An Siyuanughed, ¡°Haha, you¡¯re thinking too much. I never wondered if that was the case. Those lousy ns don¡¯t have nearly enough ability to reach their hands into the Hidden Dragon Institute. But don¡¯t you think that Knowledge Executor Su is frank to the point that it¡¯s surprising?¡±

    ¡°City Lord means......¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s obvious that Wei Liancheng isn¡¯t a simple character, and that metal block isn¡¯t a simple item. Someone else probably would have casually responded with a few sentences when faced with the question that you asked him. But instead, he clearly described what happened from the beginning to the end. Right, Dai Yang, you know a lie detection skill. Was he lying when was telling us all that?¡±

    Schr Dai Yang replied, ¡°Absolutely not. Every sentence of his was true.¡±

    ¡°See! So sincere and honest!¡± An Siyuan gestured.

    Lu Qingguang was confused. ¡°Isn¡¯t that a good thing? Why does City Lord say it like that?¡±

    An Siyuan chuckled, ¡°Candidness is a virtue that not everyone has. Normally, it is only manifest in a simple-minded, honest person. Qingguang, do you think that Su Chen is someone like that?¡±

    Lu Qingguang replied, ¡°Someone who can even include a person they¡¯ve never met before into their ns and n things out step-by-step so meticulously? Definitely not. It¡¯d be much more urate to describe him as shrewd and astute.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± An Siyuan¡¯s fingers began to trim even faster. ¡°Don¡¯t you think that it¡¯s strange for a person who was able to force the Long n into this kind of situation just by strategizing to suddenly be so open?¡±

    ¡°It could be that he views us as a backer and wants to gain our trust to build up a rtionship?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± An Siyuan shook his head. ¡°You don¡¯t understand people like him. Someone like Su Chen definitely wouldn¡¯t rely on our questioning to establish a rtionship. If I questioned his loyalty, he would think of a way to cut off Long Qingjiang¡¯s head and present it to me to justify himself instead of opening up to me.¡±

    Where had the reckless, straightforward attitude from before gone when he had been making this analysis?

    Lu Qingguang wasn¡¯t surprised by this. ¡°Then, Sir, you mean......¡±

    An Siyuan shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know why he would do this either, but I have a feeling that Wei Liancheng isn¡¯t simple. And Su Chen probably has some awareness of this guy¡¯s background; perhaps he even feels apprehensive. This is why he would take the initiative to inform us of this matter concerning Wei Liancheng...... Perhaps because he wants to investigate or even deal with this person for him.¡±

    Lu Qingguang was stunned. ¡°Su Chen doesn¡¯t strike me as an apprehensive person. If he¡¯s not even afraid of the ten great Bloodline Nobility ns, how could he...... could it be?¡±

    ¡°Yes, his apprehension towards Wei Liancheng is probably even higher than his apprehension towards the ten Bloodline Nobility ns,¡± An Siyuan said.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 28: Battle on the Stone Bridge

    Chapter 28: Battle on the Stone Bridge

    The carriage advanced along the main street steadily.

    A group of guards, dressed in either ck or red, surrounded the carriage as it slowly proceeded.

    The ck-clothed guards were the Origin Bureau¡¯s martial artists, while the red-clothed guards were naturally the Blood-Robed Guards.

    ¡°Stop the carriage,¡± Su Chen said when the carriage hade to a stone bridge.

    The carriage came to a stop. Su Chen walked out from inside the carriage and gazed at the stone bridge.

    A person was standing there.

    Wei Liancheng.

    He was standing on the bridge with his hands sped behind his back as he watched the swimming fish beneath the bridge. Above his head hung fiery-red willow branches.

    When Su Chen appeared, Wei Liancheng turned around and nced at him, then smiled slightly.

    He said, ¡°Knowledge Executor Su, in the two days we haven¡¯t seen each other, your presence seems to have be much more prevalent. This extravagance is much greater than it was before.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing I can do. The roads of life are difficult and not peaceful, and there are always rascals looking to act against thew. It¡¯s not that strange for a government official ot have guards, but you, Sir Wei, still dare to walk around in broad daylight even though you¡¯ve offended the Long n? Are you treating those Bloodline Nobility ns like they¡¯re just spring onions?¡±

    Wei Lianchengughed. ¡°I should be saying that to you. It seems like you¡¯ve offended them more, haven¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just doing my job as a government official; what offenses are there to speak of?¡±

    ¡°Well said. Knowledge Executor Su has Knowledge Executor Su¡¯s own source of confidence, as do I. But no matter what, I have aided Knowledge Executor Su before, so I would ask you to give me face and hand the item over,¡± Wei Liancheng spoke as he stretched out his hand.

    ¡°This?¡± Su Chen flipped his hand over, the metal block appearing in his hand. He tossed it over to Wei Liancheng.

    Wei Liancheng caught it and nced it over. He paused slightly. ¡°It¡¯s broken?¡±

    Then, he shook his head andughed bitterly, ¡°Of course it should be broken. Otherwise, how could something like that happen?¡±

    He said to Su Chen, ¡°Many thanks, Knowledge Executor Su, for returning this item to me. Now, we are even.¡±

    ¡°No problem,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°You won¡¯t be able to take this thing with you anyways.¡±

    Wei Liancheng was stunned for a moment.

    Then, he realized something and turned around to look behind him. Argemotion was beginning to stir behind him, and they seemed to be headed in this direction at high speeds.

    ¡°These bastards from the Long n really are fast,¡± Wei Lianchengughed.

    Su Chen reminded him, ¡°They¡¯vee with preparations this time. The tactics you used to beat themst time might not be useful anymore.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± Wei Liancheng replied. ¡°Have you been waiting for this moment the whole time?¡±

    ¡°I just wanted to see what kind of person you are. Right, if you can¡¯t hold on, you can give me this metal block for now. I can keep it safe for you.¡±

    If he couldn¡¯t hold on, he would die; without his life, what good would this metal block do for him? What was the point of keeping it safe anyways?

    Su Chen¡¯s words seemed illogical, but when Wei Liancheng heard it, he nodded his head. ¡°Okay. Then, Knowledge Executor Su, I¡¯ll leave it in your care for a bit longer.¡±

    As he spoke, he actually tossed the metal block at Su Chen.

    He turned around and walked towards the Long n¡¯s entourage.

    The one walking in the very front was a bearded bulky man. He was called He Lianwei, a Yang Opening Realm cultivator. Arge group of Blood Boiling and Qi Drawing Realm cultivators were behind him, followed by nearly a hundred martial artists. At the same time, to the left and right of the path, as well as behind Su Chen, appeared groups led by a Yang Opening Realm cultivator. Everyone was surrounded by them.

    Upon seeing Wei Lianchenge over, a savage expression appeared on He Lianwei¡¯s face. ¡°Wei Liancheng, if you surrender yourself and take away the prince¡¯s curse, we can leave you an intact corpse!¡±

    Wei Lianchengughed. ¡°I don¡¯t need an intact corpse, and I don¡¯t need you to let me pass.¡±

    As he spoke, his figure shed forwards, charging straight for He Lianwei.

    ¡°Seeking death!¡± He Lianwei¡¯s expression only grew fiercer upon seeing this. ¡°Let¡¯s go, but don¡¯t kill him! We need him alive!¡±

    ¡°Rah!¡± The guards swarmed forth with a cry. At the same time, an Origin Qi Schr raised a pearl in the air. The pearl shone with a brilliant, divine light, scattering any dark haze that might appear. Evidently, it was brought specifically to deal with the tactic that Wei Liancheng had usedst time.

    But this time, Wei Liancheng didn¡¯t use it.

    He just charged right into the pile of people, a steel de in his hand. The de swung through the air, a snow-colored glow suddenly shining form the de. A guard had already been sliced in two, but Wei Liancheng didn¡¯t stop; he continued to advance, the snow-colored de continuing to cut throw the crowd.

    Blood sshed everywhere.

    Wei Liancheng was like a fierce tiger, charging into the group of people and beginning to massacre everyone their.

    His de technique was extremely ruthless, and his figure was extremely agile. Blood sprayed from every de swing.

    In but a moment, nearly ten people had died to his de.

    He Lianwei was indifferent. Those martial artists were just cannon fodder anyways, like a meat shield. They were used to test Wei Liancheng and make sure that he didn¡¯te up with a new strange technique.

    The Origin Qi Schrs off to the side had already begun to react to Wei Liancheng¡¯s assault. Waves of Origin Energy began to rush towards Wei Liancheng. Even though their cultivation bases were weaker than Wei Liancheng¡¯s, thebined attacks from ten of them gave him quite a bit of pressure.

    As if he was suddenly carrying a mountain on his back, Wei Liancheng¡¯s agile movements suddenly became extremely slow and heavy. Even his de swings became stiff.

    Whoosh! Whoosh!

    Two streaks of de light shed through the air.

    One was from Wei Liancheng killing his opponent, but the other was from a strike thatnded on his back. Even though the guard who had sessfullynded a blow was killed an instantter, the group of people began to yell in excitement.

    Even more furious attacks began tond, and Wei Liancheng¡¯s fighting became more and more strained.

    He continued to hack unrelentingly, however.

    Even more blood sshed everywhere, some of it from the enemies and some from Wei Liancheng himself.

    Wei Liancheng, however,pletely ignored it, as if he couldn¡¯t feel pain. In fact, a faint smile was still on his face.

    This smile sent a chill down He Lianwei¡¯s spine when he saw it.

    He yelled, ¡°Wei Liancheng, you still aren¡¯t stopping? If you keep on fighting, you¡¯ll die!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I¡¯m hoping will happen,¡± Wei Liancheng said slowly. ¡°Death...... isn¡¯t the end, but the beginning! You mediocre people will never understand what I mean!¡±

    As he spoke, his movements began to speed up again, and his aura began to surge. He charged at the Origin Qi Schrs in front of him, his de surging with an unprecedented power. Two Origin Qi Schrs were struck by his blows and were both cleaved into two. Wei Liancheng then reached out his left hand and grabbed an Origin Qi Schr¡¯s skull, shattering it.

    Boom!

    A spear lodged itself in Wei Liancheng¡¯s midsection, but Wei Liancheng ignored it. He pulled his de horizontally, cutting open that Origin Qi Schr¡¯s throat.

    Another Origin Qi Schr charged forwards, his ws pulsating with purple light as he reached out for Wei Liancheng¡¯s chest.

    Wei Liancheng reached out with his left hand and grabbed the Origin Qi Schr by the neck. Just as he was about to break his neck, however, a de swung down, chopping off his left arm.

    Wei Liancheng had no strength to crush the Origin Qi Schr¡¯s neck anymore. Instead, he gave his severed arm a shove, sending half of his arm right through his opponent¡¯s throat.

    Three martial artists came charging at him from behind, their iron spears prating Wei Liancheng¡¯s back. One of them was particrly powerful and was actually able to prate his entire body, but he was actually an Origin Qi Schr in hiding.

    Wei Liancheng ignored it. The de in his right hand swung behind him. Three heads were lifted from their bodies.

    But at the same time, two palm strikes came thundering down at him. One mmed into his chest, while the other one mmed into his temple, almost causing Wei Liancheng¡¯s skull to cave in.

    ¡°No! STOP!¡± Long Qingjiang bellowed from afar.

    He wanted an alive Wei Liancheng, not a dead one.

    But in a life-or-death battle, it was hard to hold back. Even an order from the Long n¡¯s Patriarch wouldn¡¯t be enough to make those guards hold back in the face of such a crisis. Anyone who did listen to that order would only be looking to die.

    The Origin Qi Schr who had struck Wei Liancheng on the head paused ever-so-slightly upon hearing Long Qingjiang¡¯s howl. An instantter, Wei Liancheng nted a foot firmly on hisher regions, smashing his entire lower body into oblivion.

    An Origin Qi Schr flew by, swinging hisrge de and chopping off Wei Liancheng¡¯s leg. Wei Liancheng wobbled. With only a foot and an arm remaining, he had no strength to control his body anymore.

    But he hadn¡¯t given up on fighting yet. He leapt vigorously into the air. His de swung in aplete circle, unleashing one final burst of energy.

    It wasn¡¯t until three more heads had been sent flying that hended heavily on the ground.

    This time, he remained motionless.

    ¡°NO!¡± Upon seeing Wei Liancheng fall, Long Qingjiang began to howl in despair, ¡°If you die, what will be of my son? What will I do?¡±

    Su Chen watched silently from afar, his gaze focused.

    After a long time, he said, ¡°The matter is finished. Let¡¯s go.¡±

    He returned to his carriage.

    The carriage began to advance slowly along the long, winding road.

    They were still surrounded by the Long n¡¯s guards, servants, and guests, who were all staring at the carriage. In the end, however, no one made a move against them.

    The procession slowly disappeared off into the distance.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 29: Saving a Life

    Chapter 29: Saving a Life

    Upon returning to the Su Pce, Chief Steward Lao was already there, waiting.

    He hurried over to Su Chen and bowed in greeting. ¡°Hello, Knowledge Executor Su.¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t try to be courteous and epted his greeting. He went to his seat and said, ¡°Iron Cliff, go and bring Miss Lian out.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Iron Cliff obeyed hismand.

    A momentter, Lian Jiao was brought out by Iron Cliff.

    Upon seeing Lian Jiao, Chief Steward Lao said excitedly, ¡°Your servant greets Young Miss! Young Miss, how have you been getting by these past few days?¡±

    Confusion was written all over Lian Jiao¡¯s face. ¡°These past few days? How long have I been here for? Howe I don¡¯t remember?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Chief Steward Lao was stunned. He turned aroung and gazed at Su Chen angrily. ¡°Knowledge Executor Su, what did you do to my n¡¯s Young Miss?¡±

    ¡°Nothing much. I just wiped away her memories of what happened these past few days. Every person has their own secrets; I just don¡¯t want my secrets to be spread abroad, and I trust that the Lian n will understand my logic.¡±

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± Upon hearing that her memories had been wiped, Lian Jiao¡¯s ¡°Young Miss temper¡± began to re. Without her memories of what had happened during that period of time, her fear towards Su Chen was also gone. Naturally, she was just as overbearing as before. ¡°You dare treat me like that? I definitely won¡¯t let you get away with it!¡±

    ¡°Ai, my Young Miss, don¡¯t say things like that anymore.¡± Chief Steward Lao was so scared that he hurriedly dragged Lian Jiao outside.

    ¡°Chief Steward Lao, what do you mean? Does our Lian n fear him?¡± Lian Jiao still wanted to get revenge, but Chief Steward Lao wouldn¡¯t let her go. Finally, with no other option avable, he could only lean into her ear and say, ¡°Young Miss, you don¡¯t know. These past few days, of which you don¡¯t remember, Su Chen killed Liu Wuya, took over the Origin Bureau, and allied himself with City Lord An. Long Shaoyou was struck by a curse and it¡¯s currently unknown whether he will survive or not, and the Long n has been hit with setback after setback. Many of their members have already died! This is all because of Su Chen!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Lian Jiao was stunned.

    She stared at Su Chen in disbelief.

    Su Chen continued to drink his tea and waved his hand. ¡°If there¡¯s nothing else, then you may leave. Just remember our agreement.¡±

    ¡°The Lian n will definitely honor it.¡± Chief Steward Lao sped his hands and bowed, then took Lian Jiao with him as they left.

    Without even raising his head, Su Chen muttered, ¡°I¡¯m not afraid that you won¡¯t honor it.¡±

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t said it loudly, but the words still entered Chief Steward Lao¡¯s ears, causing his heart to tremble. He had already silently vowed to inspect Lian Jiao¡¯s body when they returned to make sure that he hadn¡¯t done anything else.

    After watching them leave, Su Chen fell into silent thought.

    ¡°A curse, huh......¡±

    After thinking about it for quite some time, he suddenly stood up and walked towards the researchb.

    He concocted a vial of medicine, then dumped it on a human mold that he had prepared.

    After the mixture had dried, a mask in the form of a human face had been created.

    Su Chen carefully took the mask off, then attached it to his own face. He nced at himself in a crystal mirror, rearranged his hair, and changed his outfit before walking out of the room.

    He didn¡¯t notify anyone. Instead, he just silently disappeared into the night.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    In the Long n.

    Long Qingjiang sat near his son¡¯s bed, sping his son¡¯s hand. His face was tight with anxiety.

    Long Shaoyou¡¯s body continued to weaken day by day. The strange ck fog continued tough maliciously and transform, slowly draining away Long Shaoyou¡¯s lifeforce.

    Wei Liancheng had died.

    Without him, there wouldn¡¯t be any way of releasing the curse.

    Long Qingjiang hadpletely given up all hope.

    Just as he was feeling sorrow for his son, Chief Steward Lao walked in from outside. ¡°Patriarch, someone would like to see you. He wants to try and treat Prince¡¯s illness.¡±

    ¡°Let him in.¡± Long Qingjiang¡¯s tone, however, wasn¡¯t excited at all.

    He had invited all of the famous doctors in and near Clear River City, andter Origin Qi Schrs, to take a look, but none of them had seen this kind of curse before, and none of them could do anything.

    This neer would probably only be able to shake his head and apologize helplessly.

    Even so, Long Qingjiang held onto a tiny trace of hope as he let the person in and greeted him respectfully.

    The neer was a middle-aged man with ck skin. He seemed quite mediocre, and he carried a medicinal box on his back.

    ¡°Long Qingjiang greets sir. May I ask, sir, what your name is?¡±

    ¡°Thank you. My surname is Chen, and my name is just one character ¨C Shu,¡± the doctor responded as he carefully inspected Long Shaoyou on the bed, his voice a bit raspy.

    He didn¡¯t blink in the slightest.

    Upon seeing his behavior, Long Qingjiang hurriedly said, ¡°Sir Chen, please,e in.¡±

    Chen Shu didn¡¯t pretend to be courteous. He came to Long Shaoyou¡¯s side and sat down, then grabbed one of Long Shaoyou¡¯s hands and began to take his pulse. He was quite direct and didn¡¯t waste any time dithering about.

    Long Qingjiang didn¡¯t mind. Rather, he felt that this doctor was much more reliable in doing things. Some of the earlier doctors who hade by had done a lot of talking, but in the end they weren¡¯t able to do anything.

    A momentter, that Doctor Chen let go of his wrist, then peeled back Long Shaoyou¡¯s eyelids to take a quick look. Afterwards, he examined his tongue, then pulled aside his clothes to look at his midsection.

    The prior doctors had all done that before, but none of them had looked at his midsection before.

    That Doctor Chen inspected Long Shaoyou¡¯s entire body from top to bottom before letting out a sigh. ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡±

    ¡°Doctor Chen, what did you find out?¡± Long Qingjiang asked excitedly.

    ¡°Yes, this is a kind of curse,¡± Chen Shu nodded and said.

    Upon hearing this, Long Qingjiang felt like he had been sshed by a bucket of cold water. ¡°Of course I know that it¡¯s a curse!¡±

    ¡°Then does Patriarch Long know what kind of curse it is?¡± Chen Shu said with a raspy voice.

    Long Qingjiang was stunned.

    Chen Shu said, ¡°This kind of a curse is actually the result of cing a unique, microscopic substance on a person¡¯s body, then controlling it by using some kind of secret technique.¡±

    ¡°Microscopic substance?¡±

    ¡°Yes, a kind of substance that is as small as specks of dust and can¡¯t be seen with the naked eye. This substance has a unique and mysterious ability. When under the control of a secret technique, it can slowly but surely drain a person of their lifeforce. The only reason Young Master Long is still alive is because Patriarch was probably usingrge amounts of medicine to nourish him, right? With enough nourishment, he is naturally able to hold on for some time. However, this curse will only continue to strengthen its effects over time as it sucks away your lifeforce. So as time continues to go on, the curse will only grow more and more vicious. Someday, this deficiency won¡¯t be able to be ovee by medicinal strength alone.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Long Qingjiang said sadly. ¡°Then my son is totally incurable.¡±

    During this period of time, he had truly used all kinds of precious medicines to try and save Long Shaoyou. It was fine at the beginning, but he found as time went on that the effect became less and less pronounced.

    So that was the root cause.

    ¡°That might not be true,¡± Chen Shu suddenly said.

    That thought was like a sh of lightning in Long Qingjiang¡¯s consciousness. He said hurriedly, ¡°Does Doctor Chen mean that there is a way to save my son?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Chen Shu nodded. ¡°There are two possible methods.¡±

    There¡¯s actually two methods?

    ¡°The first is to find the person whoid the curse down. As long as you break the way to control the technique, the curse will be iplete, and without something to keep it together the strange substance will dissipate on its own. But there are many different types of such techniques, and it¡¯s extremely difficult for outsiders to know what type it is. That¡¯s why you need the person whoid the curse themselves to get rid of it.¡±

    Upon hearing this, Long Qingjiang shook his head. ¡°The person who set the curse in ce is already dead.¡±

    ¡°Then there¡¯s only the second method. You don¡¯t need to know how the curse was set up; you can directly attack this kind of substance.

    Long Qingjiang asked hurriedly, ¡°Sir, can you do that?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen this type of substance before, and it¡¯ll take me some time to develop a corresponding medicine. Before then, I can try and suppress it; at the very least, Prince Long will have a bit longer to live.¡±

    As he spoke, Chen Shu pulled out three vials of medicine and handed them to Long Qingjiang. ¡°These vials should be useful to him. One pill every day, no more than that. Every vial willst for seven days. Twenty-one days from now, I¡¯ll be back.¡±

    Long Qingjiang was ecstatic. He bowed deeply to Chen Shu and said, ¡°Many thanks, sir!¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 30: Solution

    Chapter 30: Solution

    Even though he was repeatedly urged to stay, Chen Shu still bid farewell under the guise of developing a solution.

    If at all possible, Long Qingjiang really wanted to capture Doctor Chen, but because he said that he needed to go and search for medicinal ingredients, he could only let Doctor Chen go.

    Before leaving, Long Qingjiang sent him off graciously with a hundred taels of gold and repeatedly urged him to return after twenty days. He also secretly sent someone to follow him and keep an eye on him.

    However, the person who was sent to keep an eye on Doctor Chen discovered very quickly that his target had disappeared. He could only return resentfully, and there was no doubt that he was going to be beaten by Long Qingjiang in a fit of rage.

    After leaving the Long n, Chen Shu found an isted ce and took off his mask. Who else would it be if not Su Chen.

    After changing his clothes, Su Chenughed darkly. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to make this kind of a discovery.¡±

    As he spoke, he raised the vial in his hands. Inside the vial was some of Long Shaoyou¡¯s blood.

    Within Long Shaoyou¡¯s blood, Su Chen had discovered a strange substance. The substance was identical to the substance within the metal block; it was bigger than Origin Substance, and it seemed to have more energy.

    However, while the strange substance within the metal block could create life, the one in Su Chen¡¯s hand at the moment would exterminate it.

    These two kinds of substances contained many different types of Origin Substances, but their specialposition gave them interesting effects.

    Because they were bigger than Origin Substance particles, they were also more easily seen by Su Chen¡¯s microscopic eye. As such, Su Chen believed that it wouldn¡¯t be too difficult for him to study these two different substances.

    Because of this, he hurried back to the Su Residence ¨C he couldn¡¯t wait to get started

    A small unexpected incident urred on his way back.

    A man who was covered up from head to toe was walking in the opposite direction as Su Chen. Just as they were about to brush past each other, he suddenly jostled Su Chen with his shoulder.

    Su Chen could see clearly what was happening. Just as that person was about to reach his hand into Su Chen¡¯s midsection, Su Chen grabbed him.

    ¡°Hey, you¡¯ve put your hand in the wrong ce,¡± heughed.

    When that person saw that he had been caught, he cursed in a low voice, ¡°Dammit, are you looking to die?¡±

    He pulled out a shiv from his pocket and stabbed at Su Chen. His blow was exceptionally vicious.

    Su Chen¡¯s expression sank slightly. He twisted his hand around, snapping the person¡¯s knife-wielding hand. ¡°I wanted to let you go, but now it seems like you deserve to die. Since you¡¯ve sent yourself right to me, then I won¡¯t be polite.¡±

    As he spoke, he dragged the person with him and left.

    Even though it was nighttime, there were still some people on the streets.

    Upon seeing the person being dragged away by Su Chen, however, a majority of the bystanders actually pulled out their weapons and walked in Su Chen¡¯s direction, killing intent surging from them.

    The man in the lead yelled arrogantly, ¡°The Evil Tiger Gang is here on business. Everyone, get the hell out of here!¡±

    The passerby all ran away in fright, not even daring to spare Su Chen a pitying nce.

    Upon seeing therge group of people headed his way, Su Chen repeated, ¡°Evil Tiger Gang? The Evil Tiger Gang in the west of the city?¡±

    ¡°You know and yet you still dare to offend us? If you know what¡¯s good for you, let him go, then hand over all of your money......¡±

    ¡°So noisy.¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t even wait for the leader to finish before gesturing.

    Arge number of air tentacles sprang forth, coiling around them.

    Even though these air tentacles weren¡¯t strong by any means, they were more than enough to deal with groups of people with weak cultivation bases. They snaked forward, wrapping their way around the gang members¡¯ bodies.

    ¡°Not good, he¡¯s an Origin Qi Schr!¡± the gangsters yelled.

    ¡°Help!¡± the man in the lead yelled.

    One of the gangsters reached into his bosom and pulled out a whistle, about to sound the rm.

    Unfortunately, he had yet to ce the whistle in his mouth when an air tentacle snaked over and tossed him into the air. When he crashed back to the ground, he was knocked out immediately.

    Seven or eight gangsters were captured by Su Chen¡¯s air tentacles and dragged back to the Su Residence.

    Upon returning to the Su Residence, Iron Cliff was still there training the bandits, and Su Chen tossed him the gangsters.

    Iron Cliff came up to greet him. ¡°Master went out? These must be the new research subjects.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Toss them all into prison. Don¡¯t worry about training them. I worked so hard to get a hundred research subjects, but now that you¡¯ve trained them into house guards, it¡¯s hard for me to make a move on them. Now that I¡¯ve finally managed to catch a few of them, don¡¯t think about turning them into my underlings, alright?¡±

    ¡°Yes sir!¡± Iron Cliff scratched his head with some embarrassment.

    That group of bandits felt their hearts tremble violently. It seemed that to Su Chen, their true value was still to be used as research subjects.

    Originally, they hadined about and hated Iron Cliff for training them so hard, but they were now filled with gratitude; if it weren¡¯t for Iron Cliff, they might be going to meet their ancestors right about now.

    Iron Cliff didn¡¯t care much for their gratitude. He turned around and said, ¡°What are you all looking at? You should be training harder! Anyone who dares to ck off, I¡¯ll take away his spot as a house guard and send you back to Master¡¯s research station!¡±

    ¡°Yes sir!¡± everyone yelled.

    Within the researchb, Su Chen began his new phase of research ¨C to understand the two kinds of strange substances within the metal block and within Long Shaoyou¡¯s body.

    Originally, Su Chen¡¯s interactions with the microscopic world were primarily observational. Controlling any changes, however, would be extremely difficult; even if he could exert an influence, he had to do it using macroscopic-level tactics. An example of this was when he boiled the Frigid Water Herb to extract the Soaring Serpent Bloodline Origin Substance.

    But now, Su Chen had a much faster and more convenient way of interacting with them.

    Consciousness strands.

    Thousands of consciousness tendrils began to analyze, separate,bine, and then separate these substances again and again, observing any changes as Su Chen attempted to understand the operating principles and how he might apply them......

    Mountains don¡¯t know the months, and the cold doesn¡¯t know the years.

    Time always flies when a person is undisturbed. Very quickly, half a month passed.

    This half-month was incredibly peaceful. No one from the Long n came to give him trouble, and the Lian n had tactfully retreated. Everything seemed peaceful on the surface, but there were already things beginning to stir beneath the surface, waiting for the right opportunity to explode forth.

    To Su Chen, however, this half a month was the period of time when his growth was the fastest.

    He had sessfully determined thepositions of both types of substances, vastly increasing his understanding of how to use and control Origin Substances.

    It turned out that Origin Substances not only had their own unique properties, but they could also create amazing effects whenbined in the right ways.

    The two substances within the metal block and the curse, respectively, were both created by very special techniques. The crux of the matter was that they wereposed of differentbinations of Origin Substances.

    Of course, a person creating them might not need to understand things in such a detailed way. To them, any method that produced results was more than enough.

    To Su Chen, however, a veil covering the profundities of the microscopic world had been removed.

    The first result of this veil being removed was that Su Chen¡¯s control over and usage of Origin Substances had increased. He could finally continue his work on breaking through the restrictions imposed by bloodlines again.

    Back when Su Chen was doing his experiments in the Scarlet Mountain Range, he knew that there were only three ways for those without bloodlines to use Bloodline Origin Skills. First, he could modify and improve the Origin Energy Talismans himself. Second, he could improve absorption techniques, giving people the ability to absorb the corresponding Origin Substance and increase the quality of their Origin Energy. Third, he could extract the corresponding Origin Substance and then use it on himself.

    Up until now, he had only ever been able to work on the third aspect.

    But now, he finally had a way to work on the first aspect ¨C improving Origin Energy Talismans.

    Yes, after his deep analysis of these two substances, Su Chen had finally reached a great breakthrough in his understanding of Origin Substances. By borrowing his new understandings and the Origin Talisman Energy Formation, it took him only three days to improve his own Origin Energy Talismans.

    The result was that the strength of his Ancient Arcana Techniques and his contemporary Origin Skills had increased collectively by twenty percent.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 31: Retaliation

    Chapter 31: Retaliation

    Early in the morning, Su Chen was still eating breakfast when he suddenly felt the jade ornament hanging at his waist heating up as it glowed with a bright red light.

    This was the emergencymunicator given by the Origin Bureau. Anyone who received the call would need to go to the Origin Bureau at once.

    Did something happen?

    Su Chen calmly ate hisst bite of breakfast before wiping his mouth. ¡°Iron Cliff, prepare the carriage. We¡¯re going to the Origin Bureau.¡±

    When Su Chen arrived, a majority of the Origin Qi Schrs had already arrived.

    Upon seeing Su Chen, they bowed in unison. ¡°Greetings, Knowledge Executor!¡±

    Even though Su Chen spent most of his time in his researchb, he would stille to the Origin Bureau at least once a day to keep his control over the Origin Bureau. At this point, he was familiar with everyone who worked here.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Su Chen said as he walked over. However, he immediately discovered the reason for the summons.

    As the crowd parted, he found a corpse lying within the main hall.

    The deceased person was called Liu Jiyun. He was one of the Origin Qi Schrs at the Origin Bureau. He wasn¡¯t very strong, with a cultivation base only at the Qi Drawing Realm, but he had been one of the first individuals to openly support Su Chen. He could be considered to have been Su Chen¡¯s trusted aide.

    But now, he had died, and his corpse had been put on disy in the Origin Bureau¡¯s main hall.

    Su Chen asked expressionlessly as he stared at Liu Jiyun¡¯s corpse, ¡°Who discovered it? And where?¡±

    ¡°One of the night watchmen discovered it. He was found dead in West Water Street,¡± replied one of the Origin Qi Schrs responsible for standing guard.

    ¡°Why wasn¡¯t there a report yesterday?¡±

    ¡°There was. The Investigations Office took the case and just handed him over to us.¡±

    ¡°The Investigations Office?¡± Su Chen¡¯s gaze shrank viciously.

    He gazed at the corpse and asked, ¡°Was no one sent to the scene of the crime at West Water Street?¡±

    ¡°Someone was sent, but unfortunately, the person didn¡¯t discover anything. The Investigations Office didn¡¯t do anything to keep the location off-limits. People have been trampling all over the scene since early in the morning, and it¡¯s been ruined already. I asked them why they didn¡¯t hand over the victim earlier and why they didn¡¯t protect the scene earlier. They replied that the Origin Bureau isn¡¯t responsible for investigating and that we don¡¯t have the authority to lecture them. They said that they didn¡¯t give us the victim because there was no one at night and that everyone needed to rest. They didn¡¯t keep the location off-limits because there was no value in keeping it off-limits. This was just a gang murder as a result of a robbery gone wrong.¡±

    ¡°A gang murder?¡± Su Chen harrumphed angrily. ¡°Quite the excuse!¡±

    Liu Jiyun¡¯s corpse only had two wounds on it ¨C one in his chest and one in the back of his neck. Both were fatal wounds. It was obvious that he had been ambushed and killed by two Origin Qi Schrs.

    Gangsters didn¡¯t kill people like that.

    Evidently, the ten Bloodline Nobility ns were carrying out their revenge against him.

    Even if we can¡¯t attack you directly, we can at least attack your underlings!

    Upon realizing this, a cold smile danced on Su Chen¡¯s lips. ¡°So it¡¯s begun, has it?¡±

    ¡°Knowledge Executor Su! What should we do?¡± Duan Feng asked.

    Su Chen had realized it, but so had the rest of the people present.

    Su Chen knew very well that if he didn¡¯t manage this situation carefully, he, who had taken control of the Origin Bureau by force, would quickly lose the trust of his subordinates, and eventually his authority would be in name only. At that time, the Origin Bureau would fall into the hands of the ten Bloodline Nobility ns again.

    He lowered his head in thought for a moment before saying, ¡°From today onwards, everyone should be careful when on business, and try not to be alone. The Origin Bureau also needs to be more heavily guarded; we will need four Origin Qi Schrs here at all times. If you feel unsafe where you live, you can alsoe live in the Origin Bureau itself. In addition, we must begin to utilize the martial artists in the Origin Bureau better. Every person must take at least ten Origin Bureau martial artists with them before going out on business.¡±

    Someone said disdainfully, ¡°How useful can a bunch of Body Tempering martial artists be?¡±

    ¡°Using them as shields against ambushes, to secure retreat routes, and to dy and waste time are all possible.¡±

    ¡°But that¡¯s still not a way of dealing with the issue.¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°Just focus on protecting yourselves for now. I¡¯ll take care of everything else. Duan Feng, youe with me to the City Lord¡¯s residence.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    Half an hourter.

    In the City Lord¡¯s residence¡¯s backyard.

    An Siyuan teased his white-beaked parrot as he said, ¡°I already know what happened. Unfortunately, I probably won¡¯t be of much help concerning this matter. Even if we know that they were the ones who did it, it won¡¯t be of any use; without evidence, we can¡¯t just charge over there and demand payback, can we?¡±

    ¡°Junior officer understands. Actually, even if there was a formal investigation, it wouldn¡¯t have made a difference. The people at the Investigations Office are under their control anyways.¡±

    ¡°As long as you know. It¡¯s hard being the City Lord; I have a lot of ambition, but I¡¯m always being restricted by these nobility ns and can¡¯t bring my full strength out to bear. Don¡¯t you think so, Little White?¡±

    The white-beaked parrot pped its wings and screeched, ¡°Those Nobility ns are tyrannical; they ignore thew, cling to their self-importance, and corrupt basic moral order!¡±

    ¡°Well said,¡± An Siyuanughed as he fed his white-beaked parrot some treats.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Junior officer realizes this. But City Lord, don¡¯t you think that allowing the Investigations Office to do as they please for such a long time without restricting them is a big problem?¡±

    ¡°What? You also want to snatch the Investigations Office for yourself?¡± An Siyuanughed.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Junior officer is just one person, and I don¡¯t have the ability to clone myself; I¡¯m not thinking about controlling the Investigations Office. However, the Investigations Office is responsible for handling security within the city, and it wouldn¡¯t be appropriate to hand its duty over to a third party. Since that¡¯s the case, why not expand the authority of the Origin Bureau a bit......¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± An Siyuan froze. ¡°You mean, let the Origin Bureau take over the Investigations Office¡¯s job? That¡¯s impossible. That would be interfering with their authority.¡±

    ¡°Of course, it¡¯s impossible under normal circumstances, but what if it involves Origin Qi Schrs and turns into a joint operation?¡±

    ¡°Involves Origin Qi Schrs and is turned into a joint operation?¡± An Siyuan squinted his eyes. ¡°You mean?¡±

    ¡°City Lord, why don¡¯t you send out a notice saying that the Investigations Office didn¡¯t do a good job investigating the death of Liu Jiyun and that because this matter involves Origin Qi Schrs, the Origin Bureau should also be added to the case?¡±

    It was definitely impossible for the Origin Bureau to officially rece the Investigations Office. But a joint operation on one of the cases, with its authority restricted to that specific case? There wasn¡¯t any issue with that at all.

    An Siyuan understood what Su Chen was getting at. ¡°You want to blow the whole thing up?¡±

    ¡°That depends on how they respond,¡± Su Chen responded indifferently. ¡°They¡¯ve already fought their way to our front step; it won¡¯t make sense if we don¡¯t counterattack. As long as City Head is willing to give me this authority, I am willing to spearhead this attack.¡±

    ¡°Have you thought about the consequences?¡±

    ¡°The consequences are that they will die very tragic deaths.¡±

    An Siyuan was slightly startled before he tilted his back andughed loudly, ¡°Haha, good! Ambitious! Bold! Truly a hero amongst youths! Since that¡¯s the case, I¡¯ll agree. I¡¯ll write a letter granting the Origin Bureau the authority to participate in this case. The rest will depend on you.¡±

    Su Chen leading the Origin Bureau into battle against the ten Great Nobility ns would only benefit An Siyuan no matter what the oue of the battle was.

    With An Siyuan¡¯s support, Su Chen sped his hands and said, ¡°Many thanks for your support, sir. Please wait for the good news!¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    TL note: Below is the author¡¯s note. He whines a lot about his readers but in case any of you had some questions orments I felt like this would be pertinent to read. You may feel that it¡¯s controversial, in which case feel free to skip it. (Yes, he really does whine a lot.)

    I know that there are many people who have made many different suggestions andints throughout the process of my writing this novel. Some people are right, some people are wrong, and some people are just looking to pick a fight. To the former, I thank you; to the middle group, I can exin things; and to thetter, I will ignore you.

    This is a kind of progress in the human life.

    However, even though I¡¯m not going to argue with you, I still need to exin some things so that misunderstandings won¡¯t be turned into the truth and propagated.

    I¡¯ll exin some of these absurd ideas below for you.

    Some people attack Su Chen¡¯s moral character simply because he performs human experiments and question how a person like him is fit to talk about the prominence of the human race. Others think that because Su Chen was only in the Qi Drawing Realm when he made his vow to transform the human race that he is too naive.

    I think that¡¯s quiteughable.

    Let me first address the ¡°idealistic¡± concerns. People who raised thetter concern probably don¡¯t understand what ¡°youthful ambition¡± is. But at the very least, I know what ¡°Reading for the Reading for the Rise to Prominence of China¡± means. If you don¡¯t know who said it, you might want to go and take a look at who said it, and how old he was when he said it1

    If you don¡¯t understand still, Stephen Chow said it best: ¡°If a person doesn¡¯t have dreams, what¡¯s the difference between them and a salted fish?¡±

    That¡¯s all I¡¯ll say about being idealistic. There¡¯s no need to say much more, because that¡¯s mostly a personal opinion, not really facious reasoning. It won¡¯t confuse too many people.

    The people with facious reasonings are the former, who think that Su Chen¡¯s performing experiments on humans is hical and means that he isn¡¯t worthy of talking about the prominence of the human race.

    There are two main points that I must address.

    Firstly: Main points have always been different from details. Those who wishfully believe that people who don¡¯t bother with the details can¡¯t have grand ambitions are too naive. In fact, I have emphasized in this very novel that details and main points are very different. There are many examples of people who neglect some details but don¡¯t forget their main goal. Read some books and you¡¯ll be able to find plenty.

    Secondly: The ethical bacsh against human experimentation is a modern concept. It¡¯s not that we can¡¯t use current standards to evaluate the past, but please, be bnced. In this age, using humans for experiments isn¡¯t ethical, and neither is murdering people. The idiom that human life is invaluable isn¡¯t just a saying; no matter what kind of maltreatment you are subject to, you don¡¯t have the right to carry out your own form of vignte justice. There is only one organization that can kill peoplewfully, and that¡¯s the government¡¯s way of enforcing thew. However, in xuanhuan2, people are always getting killed as long as the author gives them a reasonable motivation.

    Vignte justice is entirely justified in the world of xuanhuan novels.

    If someone wrote a novel where the main character wouldn¡¯t kill anyone under any circumstances, I can only imagine how this novel would flop.

    That is because the valuation of human life in a novel is different.

    In the same principle, if killing people is allowed, then experiments that don¡¯t kill people should also be fine. As long as the people being experimented on aren¡¯t ethical themselves, then it¡¯s fine. This kind of principle, again, is verymon in settings of xuanhuan novels.

    Being fine with killing people but not with performing human experiments is a double standard in and of itself, and those who are trying to pick a fight often use this line of logic.

    I just want to exin this so that people aren¡¯t misled without even realizing it.

    There are a few other people who say things like ¡°Su Chen wants to start a revolution, but revolutions are only possible with women¡±, etc. These kinds of thoughts haven¡¯t spread, however, and will never spread, so I won¡¯t trifle with them.

    As the author, I will speak through my creation. You have the right to stop reading if you don¡¯t think it¡¯s a good book. But spouting nonsense...... Be careful not to get your face pped; even if I¡¯m not the one doing it, someone will do it.

    That¡¯s all I¡¯ll say for now.

    1. Zhou Ei (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhou_Ei), a very, very famous Chinese politician from the Mao Zedong era ofmunist China, said it in 1911, supposedly, which would be when he was 13. ording to other biographical notes, he also said lots of things along these lines when he was younger.

    2. This novel falls under the xuanhuan category. See this thread for more details (I like lividdeath¡¯s exnation the best): https://forum.novelupdates/threads/difference-between-xianxia-xuanhuan-and-wuxia.39018/)

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 32: Investigation

    Chapter 32: Investigation

    After leaving the City Head¡¯s residence, Su Chen headed for West Water Street.

    It was almost noon already. The road was bustling with traffic.

    One of the Origin Bureau¡¯s martial artists pointed to a corner of the West Water Street and said, ¡°That¡¯s where Sir Liu perished.¡±

    A toothless olddy was currently sitting and selling bean curds at where he was pointing.

    The Investigations Office¡¯s handling of this quite important matter waszy, to say the least.

    Su Chen asked, ¡°You personally witnessed the victim¡¯s death?¡±

    The martial artist was startled. ¡°How could I have seen it? The Investigations Office reported that to us.¡±

    ¡°So everything you know about the situation is just hearsay?¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    Su Chen walked back and forth along that section of the road. The olddy thought that Su Chen wanted to buy bean curds, and she stared intently at Su Chen with her muddled eyes.

    Even though the ground was covered with a lot of trash, it wasn¡¯t enough to obstruct Su Chen¡¯s vision.

    He shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s not even a trace of blood...... This shouldn¡¯t be where Sir Liu died, and the corpse was never here at all. The Investigations Office is just spouting nonsense. They didn¡¯t even try to fabricate a crime scene.¡±

    Duan Feng said, ¡°I¡¯ll go and look into the person who reported this case.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no point.¡± Su Chen shook his head. ¡°There isn¡¯t anyone who reported the case anyways. This is just the ten Bloodline Nobility ns taking their revenge on me.¡±

    ¡°So what are we waiting for, then? Sir, we should just ughter our way back and give them something to think about!¡± Duan Feng said.

    ¡°ughter?¡± Su Chen stared at him quizzically. ¡°With what? Can we ughter them? They¡¯re the ten Bloodline Nobility ns. Every one of them is an ancient n with deep reservoirs of strength. They might even have Light Shaking Realm cultivators. You¡¯ll ughter them? Are you trying to die?¡±

    Duan Feng was stunned. ¡°But......¡±

    ¡°Why wasn¡¯t I afraid of them before? Is that what you mean?¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°Because I¡¯m a government official.¡±

    Duan Feng didn¡¯t understand, and neither did Iron Cliff.

    Su Chen sighed, ¡°You guys still don¡¯t fully understand the situation here in Clear River.¡±

    Su Chen said as he walked, ¡°The Crow Region is really quite vast. In terms of strength, even the City Lord himself wouldn¡¯t be enough to defeat the ten Bloodline Nobility ns on his own, let alone us. The only reason the stalemate hassted this long is because the City Lord has the support of the imperial forces. If those Bloodline Nobility ns aren¡¯t trying to start a rebellion, they won¡¯t dare to push things too far. But the opposite also holds; because the government¡¯s influence is weak, the Bloodline Nobility ns can rely on this support to maintain their position, but they can¡¯t just do whatever they want. If the government pushes things too far, well, even a rabbit will bite a human if pushed too far, let alone these Bloodline Nobility ns, who have their own sources of confidence.¡±

    ¡°One side has authority, while one side has strength, meaning that both keep each other on their toes. As such, they have their own special ways of doing battle. Why would Ipletely ignore the ten Bloodline Nobility ns? Because what I did didn¡¯t actually cross that bottom line. Yu Chengshui and Sun Mao were fighting in the streets and injured bystanders, so I was just carrying out the duties of my office; Long Shaoyou and Lian Jiao brought people to ambush me, so capturing them was just self-defense; Liu Wuya betrayed me, so killing him was just revenge; after he died, the Origin Bureau should fall to me, since I¡¯m the Knowledge Executor. From the beginning until now, everything I have done is reasonable andwful. No one would be able to point out something wrong with it.¡±

    ¡°When the bnce of strength is unequal, strength is righteousness. When the bnce of strength is equal, righteousness is strength. Because the government and the Bloodline Nobility ns are restricting each other and everything I¡¯ve done up to this point iswful, reasonable, and justified, the Bloodline Nobility ns can only endure it no matter how much they dislike me. They can only use such underhanded methods and can¡¯t make any moves openly. But if I were to go on a rampage right up to their front door, then I¡¯ll really be trying to get myself killed.¡±

    Everyone was enlightened by Su Chen¡¯s exnation.

    No wonder those ten Bloodline Nobility ns seemed to be in such a tough spot. Their counteroffensive seemed somewhat feeble and not-so-grandiose.

    Just as he had said, if they were to make too much of amotion, the Bloodline Nobility ns wouldn¡¯t be justified norwful. They wouldn¡¯t be able to gain the sympathy of themoners that way. If they were even the slightest bit over-the-top, the government would move to suppress them ruthlessly.

    That was why they could only use such secret tactics to deal with Su Chen.

    ¡°So what do we do?¡± Duan Feng asked.

    ¡°Naturally, we need to find the true culprit, then deal with them. The ten Bloodline Nobility ns don¡¯t need to team up just to deal with Liu Jiyun, so Liu Jiyun was definitely killed by one of the Bloodline Nobility ns in particr. Which n that is, however, is hard to say. We will need to think of a way to figure out who did it first.¡±

    Duan Feng felt a headacheing on. ¡°That¡¯s going to be hard to investigate. With the Investigations Office making a mess of things, everything can be ruined by them.¡±

    Su Chen shook his head and said, ¡°It might not be that hard to find out. Take a couple of brothers with you and walk around the surroundings, especially any ce where the Bloodline Nobility ns exert their influence. Listen around; you might find something out.¡±

    Duan Feng disagreed. ¡°How could those shopkeepers possibly know something about this?¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°That¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong. I think that they do know because it is very likely that the Bloodline Nobility ns spread the news on their own.¡±

    ¡°Sir, what do you mean? I don¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°You need to know that the older a Bloodline Nobility n is, the more they¡¯ll want to save face. To them, face is something absolutely essential to their survival. When I captured Long Shaoyou, the Long n¡¯s Patriarch said that as long as I apologized to them, everything else was easy to discuss. Why? Because of face. But I didn¡¯t; instead, I made them look like even bigger fools. Even until now, Long Shaoyou is still unconscious on his bed. To those Bloodline Nobility ns, their biggest loss wasn¡¯t losing a number of promising young youths. Instead, it¡¯s that I wiped away all of their prestige and respect!¡±

    Duan Feng understood a bit better. ¡°So they urgently needed to do something to regain the face that they lost.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. That¡¯s why they must exact their revenge as fiercely as possible. Not only so, but they need to let everyone know that the Bloodline Nobility n¡¯s counterattack has begun. This is the price that Su Chen must pay for offending them!¡±

    Duan Fengughed, ¡°So even though they killed Liu Jiyun secretly, they want everyone to know that they were the ones who killed him.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Su Chenughed, ¡°That¡¯s exactly it.¡±

    Iron Cliff said with some curiosity, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, isn¡¯t there not much point in killing him secretly?¡±

    ¡°How could there not be much point to it?¡± Su Chen asked. ¡°So what if everyone knows that they did it? As long as there isn¡¯t any official evidence, they¡¯ll be fine. Those Bloodline Nobility ns are aiming exactly for this kind of effect. They want everyone to know that they did it, but they also don¡¯t want there to be any evidence that they were the ones who did it.¡±

    Duan Feng nodded. ¡°That¡¯s why they imed that Liu Jiyun mysteriously died in West Water Street and why the Investigations Office is almost brazenly uncooperative, omissive, and cking on its duties. It¡¯s all because those guys want to be a prostitute and have a memorial erected in their honor at the same time1!¡±

    Su Chen pped his hands. ¡°That¡¯s exactly it! Of course, this all is just my analysis, but I believe that it shouldn¡¯t be too far off the mark. If this is really the case, as long as you send someone to ask around, they might even tell you that they were the ones who did it.¡±

    This was why Zhang Sheng¡¯an, Guan Shanying, and the others had admitted to abusing Qiu Tang to death right to Yue Longsha¡¯s face. They just wanted to feel a thrill in that moment.

    This time, it was the same.

    After a period of time, Duan Feng got his answer.

    This was Clear River Lai n¡¯s doing, and the ones responsible for carrying out the deed was the Long Clear Gang.

    1. This effectively means doing underhanded, not-honorable things while wanting to be honored

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 33: Roping In

    Chapter 33: Roping In

    Su Chen had already been in Clear River City for some time now, and had some understanding of the Bloodline Nobility ns.

    Upon hearing that it was the Lai n who had done it, he even knew why they were the ones who had done it.

    Of the ten Bloodline Nobility ns, the most well-regarded and highest-ranking n was probably the Wang n. The Lai n was one of the weaker ones, and they hadn¡¯t been in Clear River City for more than a hundred years. For a Bloodline Nobility n, that was an extremely short period of time.

    The Lai n in Clear River City was originally a fragment of the Lai n from the Li Province. Their current patriarch, Lai Wuyi, had left the Lai n after failing to seize the patriarch¡¯s first wife. He came to Clear River City to establish the Clear River Lai n.

    The Lai n¡¯s Bloodline was the White Phosphorus Snake.

    It was a very sly, sneaky lifeform. Its body was covered in dense white scales, and it could transition between being visible and invisible. Apparently, it could go in and out of Hades as it pleased from birth.

    Whether that was actually the case, no one knew. However, the White Phosphorus Snake¡¯s vicious poison was a major source of headaches for its opponents.

    The White Phosphorus Snake Lai n was eventually recognized as a Bloodline Nobility n because of this.

    Like the majority of Bloodline Nobility ns with shallow foundations, the Lai n hurried to establish their roots here in order to better develop in the future. However, most of the property had already been divvied up, and the Lai n had spent nearly a hundred years just to snag a small piece ofnd for themselves.

    When there was ack of internal opportunities, the best way to resolve that issue would be to expand outward.

    As such, the Lai n was also the most eager to go against the government.

    They desperately thirsted for the businesses, territory, and influence under the City Lord¡¯s name.

    Su Chen¡¯s appearance at this time made him, without a doubt, the Lai n¡¯s best target.

    Just Liu Jiyun?

    No, that¡¯s just the beginning.

    The Origin Bureau was now under Su Chen¡¯s control, making it a fatty piece of meat that they could divide up.

    What Lai Wuyi wanted, without a doubt, was to swallow the Origin Bureau whole.

    ¡°Old Lai seems to consider this an opportunity for his own n,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself, sitting on his seat of honor in the Origin Bureau¡¯s main hall. ¡°But if he doesn¡¯t do it right, not only will his n not rise, but I also might need to start digging him a grave.¡±

    ¡°Sir, what should we do next?¡± Duan Feng asked.

    Su Chen sank into deep thought. After a long time, he said, ¡°I¡¯ll need to get an update as detailed as possible on the situation with the Lai n. Right, I also want to know about the Long Clear Gang too. If there isn¡¯t enough information, send someone to collect more.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    The Origin Bureau¡¯s efficiency rate in doing things was quite high.

    Three dayster, Su Chen had a pile of collected information on his desk. Some of it was well-known information, while the rest had been gathered by the Origin Bureau and Su Chen¡¯s Shadow Servants.

    In particr, the Shadow Servants, hiding in the darkness, could utilize their concealment to infiltrate many peoples¡¯ rooms and listen to secret conversations. As such, the information he obtained from them was much more substantial and full.

    Su Chen had been poring over these materials for two days. In the meantime, he had also gone to the Long Pce as Doctor Chen, leaving after giving him three vials of medicine to further dy. At least for now, Long Shaoyou was more useful alive than dead to him.

    During this period of time, another one of the Origin Bureau¡¯s Origin Qi Schrs was attacked. Thankfully, he was prepared and was able to make a clean getaway at the expensive of a few of the Origin Bureau¡¯s martial artists.

    However, rumors began to spread within the Origin Bureau that Su Chen was useless and that he waspletely helpless even against the Lai n¡¯s pressure.

    Su Chen ignored them. He continued to look over the gathered information.

    Finally......

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Intoxicating Fragrance Pavilion was a famous brothel within Clear River City. Not only were the women there indescribably beautiful, but many of them had noble backgrounds. Some were even Origin Qi Schrs.

    However, goods like those were of the highest quality; nomoners could even dream of touching them.

    Even though Wang Wenxin wasn¡¯t amoner, he could only sigh and gaze at the brothel¡¯s highest levels as long as he wasn¡¯t at the top levels of society in Clear River City.

    ¡°Hey, what are you thinking about?¡± a little flower lying on his bed called out to him flirtatiously.

    Wang Wenxin turned around and saw a woman lying in his bed, a nket covering half of her body as she stared at him provocatively.

    ¡°I was just wondering when I will have a chance to go into the Intoxicating Fragrance Pavilion and get a taste of the roses there.¡±

    The little flower covered her mouth andughed, ¡°Wow, are you really eyeing the pot when you still have food on your te? It seems like I haven¡¯t made you feelfortable enough if you still have energy to think about those roses. I¡¯m not convinced! I must have another battle with you.¡±

    As she spoke, she reached out to grab Wang Wenxin.

    Wang Wenxinughed. He reached over to grab the little flower when he suddenly heard a voice say, ¡°Sir Wang, you really are smooth, huh?¡±

    Wang Wenxin¡¯s expression changed drastically. ¡°Who is it?¡±

    As he spoke, he grabbed the little flower by the hand and tossed her behind him as he shot towards the window on the other side of the room.

    He did this to try and get the little flower to block a blow for him, giving him just enough time to escape.

    However, he hadn¡¯t expected the little flower to not be struck by any attack at all. Instead, he saw a palm suddenly appear right in front of him as he charged out the window.

    Wang Wenxin was basically charging right into that palm.

    Bang!

    Wang Wenxin flew back into the room.

    He still wanted to move when suddenly two people appeared from behind, grabbing him by the arms.

    ¡°What!?¡± Wang Wenxin waspletely caught off-guard by the appearance of these two people.

    A person entered the room through the window.

    Even though he hade in through the window, his behavior was confident and his steps leisurely as if he hade in through the front door.

    It was Su Chen.

    Heughed as he walked, ¡°Sir Wang, why are you in such a hurry to leave? And this pretty little maiden with you, tossing her aside like that ¨C isn¡¯t that too vicious?¡±

    As he spoke, he waved his arm. A formless wave of energy surged from his palming, knocking the little flower over instantly.

    ¡°Su...... Chen!¡± Wang Wenxin squeezed those two characters out from between his teeth.

    ¡°It seems like I¡¯m pretty famous these days.¡± Su Chen sat down on the table and pointed at the seat in front of him. The two Shadow Servants dragged Wang Wenxin over and forced him to sit down.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Let¡¯s not beat around the bush. Sir Wang, I came looking for you because I want to discuss something with you.¡±

    ¡°What do you want to discuss?¡±

    ¡°Liu Jiyun and Feng Yuzhen¡¯s attacks were carried out by your Long Clear Gang, right?¡±

    Wang Wenxinughed coldly, ¡°Oh, Prince Su, I can¡¯t afford to take credit for that.¡±

    ¡°It has nothing to do with whether you can afford to take credit for it or not. Just like if I want to right now, I could turn Sir Wang into a corpse. If those Bloodline Nobility nse looking for me, I can pull the same game as you.¡±

    Wang Wenxin continued to be stubborn. ¡°If you want to kill me, then kill me. Do you think I¡¯m afraid of dying?¡±

    ¡°Death? Of course Sir Wang isn¡¯t afraid of dying. When the Long Clear Gang and Evil Tiger Gang went at it, Sir Wang was struck by three different des, yet you still continued to charge forwards, taking down three experts. In the battle in the Sea-Traversing Pavilion, Sir Wang protected the rear on your own, allowing the former gang leader to escape. You even charged into the River Heart Embankment on your own, further disying your boldness. How could a person like you be afraid of dying?¡±

    What Su Chen said was precisely what Wang Wenxin was the most proud of. When he heard it, he said arrogantly, ¡°As long as you know.¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, Sir Wang didn¡¯t die at that point in time.¡± Su Chen suddenly redirected the conversation. ¡°If Sir Wang were to have passed away then, there probably would have been many people mourning for you. But if you die now, there will probably be a lot of people celebrating, right?¡±

    Wang Wenxin¡¯s expression grew steely. ¡°What are you trying to say?¡±

    ¡°You know exactly what I mean. Sir Wang made great contributions to the Long Clear Gang in the past, but look at yourself now. You aren¡¯t even a deputy gang leader, and the current gang leader views you as a thorn in his side and wants to get rid of you, isn¡¯t that right? No wonder; there are only two Yang Opening Realm cultivators in the Long Clear Gang, and you are one of them. In fact, you¡¯re even a bit stronger than him. How could he not fear you? How could he not be cautious around you? If I were to kill you here, I¡¯ll just be doing exactly what he wants.¡±

    Wang Wenxin understood.

    He chuckled darkly, ¡°It feels like Knowledge Executor Su isn¡¯t nning on killing me but is looking for some underlings.¡±

    ¡°¡®Helpers¡¯ is more urate. I¡¯m looking to join forces with people who think like me.¡±

    Wang Wenxinughed coldly, ¡°It sounds good when you say it, but you must be dreaming if you think that I¡¯m going to sell myself to you just because of a few words!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need you to sell yourself to me.¡± Su Chen¡¯s reply was outside of Wang Wenxin¡¯s expectations. ¡°I just don¡¯t want my profits to be harvested by someone else.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Wang Wenxin was stunned.

    ¡°I mean that I don¡¯t need Sir Wang to do anything to deal with the Long Clear Gang. Rather, it¡¯s theplete opposite; I will deliver the Long Clear Gang right into Sir Wang¡¯s hands. I just don¡¯t know if Sir Wang wants it,¡± Su Chen replied calmly.

    Upon hearing this, Wang Wenxin fell into a long period of silent contemtion.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t in a hurry.

    He wasn¡¯t worried about Wang Wenxin¡¯s decision.

    This matter wasn¡¯tplicated from the very beginning. The hardest part was finding a suitable target.

    As long as the appropriate target was found, the matter was extremely simple.

    After a long time, Wang Wenxin finally raised his head. ¡°You want me to follow you? That¡¯s not impossible. However, I, Wang Wenxin, have never liked people who only know how to p their lips. Everyone does their best to get by on the streets; at the end of the day, we rely on our strength to fill our bellies. You also know that Li Yue is in the Yang Opening Realm, and he has three deputy gang leaders below him who are all in the Blood Boiling Realm. If just the Long Clear Gang has this kind of strength, what about the Lai n or even the ten Bloodline Nobility ns? If you want me to follow you, you need to at least demonstrate that you have some ability, right?¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°So you want to fight? That¡¯s fine. Why not here and now, just me and you?¡±

    ¡°Me and you?¡± Wang Wenxin was stunned.

    You¡¯re in the Blood Boiling Realm, while I¡¯m in the Yang Opening Realm. You want to fight me?

    ¡°What? Sir Wang, did you forget who was the one who kept you here earlier?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because I didn¡¯t use my full strength!¡±

    ¡°Then use it and let¡¯s go again.¡± Su Chen flipped his hand. The space in the room suddenly seemed to congeal, and it became incredibly hard to move.

    Sumeru Void!

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 34: Beginning the Battle

    Chapter 34: Beginning the Battle

    The Clear River Dock.

    This was the busiest ce in all of Clear River City.

    Because Clear River City was far away and the route to get there was difficult, allmerce was basically done via the Long Clear River. The Long Clear River was basically the city¡¯s lifeline.

    The Clear River Dock was the busiest area in the entire city for this reason. Every day, many ships would drop offrge shipments of goods, allowing manymoners and peddlers to make their living here.

    The streets near the docks had always been the ce where criminals would gather and proliferate unchecked.

    The Long Clear Gang controlled the docks and even named themselves after the Long Clear River. Obviously, they ced a lot of importance on the docks. And because they controlled these docks, the Long Clear Gang stood above the rest of the criminal organizations. They were one of thergest criminal gangs out there.

    Like usual, the Clear River Dock was bustling with activity.

    A boat stopped near the river bank, and the cargo unloaders began to line up to unload the boat. They carried the heavy bundles off the boats as a bunch of gangsters surrounded them, constantly barking out orders and maintaining elders. Those responsible for inventorying the goods sat beneath umbres, keeping track of what was delivered and handing out wages. The sound of ttering copper coins in a person¡¯s hand represented that person¡¯s hopes for that whole day.

    Lu Tianyangy on hisrge recliner, one maidservant feeding him peeled grapes while another was massaging his legs. Four ck-clothed burly men nked him, their auras extremely forceful.

    A few of the cargo unloaders nced up as they walked by. Immediately, some gangsters responsible for keeping order cracked their whips at them. ¡°What are you looking at? Can you afford to look at the Long Clear Gang¡¯s Deputy Commander with those dog eyes of yours?¡±

    Those cargo unloaders lowered their heads and didn¡¯t dare look up again.

    Lu Tianyang liked this feeling of being far above everyone else. This gave him an immense feeling of satisfaction.

    What point was there in living in this world if you couldn¡¯t trample people underneath your feet?

    As Lu Tianyang thought to himself, he squinted his eyes, making it even harder for him to see.

    Just as he was enjoying his afternoon rest to the fullest, amotion suddenly began to sound out off in the distance.

    Lu Tianyang kept his eyes closed, unwilling to open them. All he said was, ¡°What¡¯s all that noise about?¡±

    A guard looked in the direction of the noise. ¡°It seems like someone is headed this way.¡±

    ¡°No matter who it is, break his bones and chase him out of here,¡± Lu Tianyang saidzily.

    ¡°That...... might not be possible,¡± a guard said with some difficulty.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Lu Tianyang opened his eyes to take a look.

    His eyes grew rounder and rounder the more he stared.

    Not far away, a group of people was headed his way.

    The person in front was a young man wearing a white robe. Behind him were twenty red-robed people, followed by nearly two hundred azure-robed people.

    These people were marching in an orderly fashion, every one of them with a de hanging from their belts. They weren¡¯t in a hurry and didn¡¯t make any noise, but they exuded a formless pressure as if they were an advancing army.

    The passerby, cargo unloaders, and gang members on the dock had never seen a formation like this before. They parted to two sides; themotion he had heard came from them.

    ¡°This is......¡± a ck-clothed guard whimpered in fright.

    ¡°These people are from the Origin Bureau!¡± Lu Tianyang recognized that those wearing the azure robes were guards from the Origin Bureau. Those wearing the red robes were obviously the Blood-Robed Guards.

    Guards from the Origin Bureau and Blood-Robed Guards? Lu Tianyang knew without even thinking who the white-robed person in the front was.

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± Lu Tianyang said, his voice trembling.

    He had obviously heard this name before.

    Provoking the Lian and Long ns immediately upon arriving, dealing the Long n a serious blow, and even snatching the Origin Bureau for the City Lord.

    This guy was a genuinely savage character.

    But why had hee to the Clear River Dock?

    Lu Tianyang couldn¡¯t figure it out.

    Therge procession was still advancing. They only stopped once they upied the entire dock space.

    Those gang members also began to react and slowly gathered around Lu Tianyang.

    The two parties quickly reached a standoff.

    Lu Tianyang finally said, ¡°Our visitor must be Knowledge Executor Su, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s me,¡± Su Chen replied, gesturing.

    ¡°Why has Knowledge Executor Sue to my Clear River Dock today?¡±

    ¡°Your Clear River Dock?¡± Su Chen looked around. ¡°Does the Clear River Dock belong to the Long Clear Gang? If a government official wants toe here, does he need your permission first?¡±

    Lu Tianyang was thrown off by Su Chen¡¯s words. ¡°Knowledge Executor Su, you¡¯ve misunderstood me. I just meant that if Knowledge Executor Su was nning oning, you should have let me know earlier so that I could properly greet you.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to greet me. I won¡¯t argue with you either about your slip of the tongue. In any case, I¡¯m here to carry out the investigation of a criminal case.¡±

    ¡°Investigate a criminal case?¡± Lu Tianyang was stunned. ¡°What criminal case?¡±

    ¡°An Origin Qi Schr of mine was killed around here. Of course I need to investigate.¡±

    Lu Tianyang was stunned. He blurted, ¡°Liu Jiyun? He died near West Water Street. What does that have to do with us?¡±

    Su Chen harrumphed, ¡°So you do know about it. Liu Jiyun¡¯s death only happened a few days ago, and his body was cleaned up by the Investigations Office in the middle of the night. They haven¡¯t made a public announcement, but Deputy Leader Lu already knows the identity of the victim and where he died. Isn¡¯t that a bit illogical?¡±

    Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s words, Lu Tianyang didn¡¯t panic. Instead, he began tough, ¡°Is there anything strange about me knowing? Are you trying to use this kind of reasoning to suspect me? Are you having a stroke?¡±

    The Long Clear River had the ten Bloodline Nobility ns as a supporter. They were usually arrogant and tyrannical, not even fearing any government officials.

    Upon hearing Lu Tianyang say that, all of the gang members began to guffaw withughter, their eyes filled with provocation.

    But in truth, Su Chen and Lu Tianyang both knew that suspecting him for this reason alone was pushing it. Even though the matter of Liu Jiyun¡¯s death had yet to spread, it probably hadn¡¯t been a secret in the underground world for quite some time. Everyone was waiting to see how Su Chen nned on dealing with the retaliation from the ten Bloodline Nobility ns.

    If he didn¡¯t deal with it well, what awaited him was a fiery ruin, and the Origin Bureau would fall back into the hands of the ten Bloodline Nobility ns.

    When faced with Lu Tianyang¡¯s unbridled mockery, Su Chen didn¡¯t take offense. All he said was, ¡°Whether I¡¯m having a stroke or not isn¡¯t important. Most importantly, I suspect that you have a connection with this case, and I request that the Long River Gang return with me immediately to the Origin Bureau for investigation.¡±

    Lu Tianyang harrumphed, ¡°The responsibility of investigating this case belongs to the Investigations Office, not the Origin Bureau.

    Su Chen pulled out a document and handed it to the person next to him. That person unrolled it and lifted it up as he proimed loudly, ¡°Sir Liu of the Origin Bureau was stabbed to death. Because this matter involves an Origin Qi Schr and the Investigations Office hasn¡¯t handled the case well, the Origin Bureau is now jointly investigating this case!¡±

    What?

    Everyone was stunned.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Did you get a clear look at it? This is the City Lord¡¯s personalmand medallion. The Origin Bureau has a part in investigating this case. Any suspects must cooperate.¡±

    Lu Tianyang harrumphed, ¡°At the very least, the Investigations Office hasn¡¯t had their investigative rights taken away yet, right? If Knowledge Executor Su wants any clues, you should go and look for them. There¡¯s not much else for me to say.¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°So you mean to say that you aren¡¯t going to cooperate with me?¡±

    ¡°What can you do if I don¡¯t agree to cooperate with you?¡± Lu Tianyang countered.

    Su Chen ignored him. He turned around and said to a martial artist not far from him, ¡°Did you get that all down?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got it, sir,¡± the martial artist said as he shook the Imaging Disk in his hand.

    ¡°Very good!¡± Su Chen nodded and said to the procession behind him, ¡°The Long River Gang is a suspect in the West Water Street murder. The Origin Bureau is under orders to investigate this case, and the Long River Gang refused to cooperate. They will be dealt with ording to the severity of their crime...... Attack!¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 35: Washing the Dock with Blood 1

    Chapter 35: Washing the Dock with Blood (1)

    ¡°Attack!¡± As Su Chen shouted out hismand, all of the Origin Bureau¡¯s officials and the Blood-Robed Guards yelled in response and charged at the Long River Gang.

    ¡°Su Chen, you bastard, do you dare!¡± Lu Tianyang was stunned.

    Su Chen really made a move as soon as he said he would.

    Lu Tianyang knew the situation wasn¡¯t good. There was no point in saying anything else; all he could do was fight back. With a loud yell, a berserk aura suddenly began to surge from his body, and the image of a massive ck bear appeared behind him.

    Lu Tianyang¡¯s background was of low status. He had only reached this point by brute fighting. He knew that his cultivation wouldn¡¯t take him too far, so he had epted his fate. While in the Qi Drawing Realm, he had chosen the Cliff Bear Bloodline, which coincidentally was the animal whose strength was used as a benchmark for the strength of an Origin Qi Schr.

    The strength of one bear or two bears came from this animal.

    Cliff Bears didn¡¯t have any attack techniques; all they had was their physical power. However, with the Cliffrock Armor, their defensive capabilities were pretty impressive. When also considering their powerful physiques, they really were quite capable meat shields.

    Lu Tianyang didn¡¯t expect to beat Su Chen, but he and his opponent were both in the Blood Boiling Realm. Because they were still in the same cultivation tier and he was proficient in defense, he should be able to hold on for a period of time without any problems.

    As such, he activated his bloodline power, then charged at Su Chen without any fear. A Mountain-Shattering Palm flew at Su Chen.

    The Mountain-Shattering Palm was a trademark bloodline-less Origin Skill. It was many times stronger than a normal attack, and whenbined with the strength from his bloodline, this punch was equivalent to the strength of eight bears.

    Lu Tianyang attacked with confidence, his palm strike surging with energy.

    However, he hadn¡¯t expected Su Chen to ignore him and say, ¡°Iron Cliff, he¡¯s all yours.¡±

    Iron Cliff appeared behind him and raised his left hand. Origin Energy congealed into arge shield, mming right at Lu Tianyang¡¯s fist.

    Boom!

    The blow mmed into the Iron Mountain Shield but didn¡¯t shatter it; it didn¡¯t even cause the surface of the shield to ripple. Even Iron Cliff felt a bit shocked by this oue.

    He stared at his shield, then back at Lu Tianyang. ¡°Are you really in the Blood Boiling Realm?¡±

    Up until this point, he had never met such a weak Blood Boiling Realm cultivator before.

    Lu Tianyang¡¯s face reddened. ¡°Don¡¯t be so brash!¡±

    The ck bear afterimage behind him let out a furious howl. The Cliffrock Armor appeared around Lu Tianyang¡¯s body. Not only that, but the armor began to glow with a faint golden light.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Iron Cliff said with some surprise as he continued to advance. He ignored Lu Tianyang¡¯s attack, replying with a punch of his own. The blownded on the Cliffrock armor, and Lu Tianyang¡¯s body cracked repeatedly. However, he wasn¡¯t seriously affected by it.

    Iron Cliff understood. He cracked a smile and said, ¡°So you specialize in defense? Perfect, so do I. If that¡¯s the case, then let¡¯s give it a test!¡±

    ¡°HA!¡± he howled as he struck out with another punch.

    This time, the punch had a tangible amount of force behind it. He had used Mountain-Shaking Vigor.

    Lu Tianyang¡¯s body trembled as if he had been struck by a bear¡¯s paw. He was knocked back by the blow. Upon closer inspection, his Cliffrock Armor had begun to crack and was beginning to fall apart. Lu Tianyang was shocked.

    Iron Cliff¡¯s smile only widened. ¡°Again!¡±

    He charged forward again, and Lu Tianyang flew backward, unleashing a counterattack. However, Iron Cliff didn¡¯t even try to dodge. Instead, he continued to attack as he yelled, ¡°What are you dodging for? Stand still for me. Whoever falls first loses!¡±

    Boom, boom, boom!

    The two of them had exchanged a number of blows already.

    The two of them were both Origin Qi Schrs who specialized in defense. However, Lu Tianyang¡¯s offensive abilities were quite weak, while Iron Cliff¡¯s offensive and defensive capabilities were bothmendable.

    The ferocious blows rained down on Lu Tianyang. Even the Cliffrock Armor couldn¡¯t withstand that barrage, and it began to fragment. Finally, a particrly ferocious strike from Iron Cliffpletely shattered it.

    Iron Cliff¡¯s fist continued to m into Lu Tianyang¡¯s body, but Lu Tianyang only swayed slightly instead of toppling over. The faint golden glow enveloped his body, giving Iron Cliff a bit of a surprise.

    ¡°Adamantine Battle Body?¡±

    Lu Tianyang was actually using the Adamantine Battle Body.

    Iron Cliff was delighted when he saw this. He also activated his Adamantine Battle Body, then charged at Lu Tianyang forcefully.

    His Adamantine Battle Body was much stronger than Lu Tianyang¡¯s, and he just used his arm as an iron baton as he mmed it down. Lu Tianyang was stunned and instinctively raised his hands to defend himself. He only barely withstood the blow.

    The corners of Iron Cliff¡¯s lips lifted slightly in a smile. He said, ¡°Did you buy your Adamantine Battle Body from the Dreamrealm?¡±

    Lu Tianyang instinctively replied, ¡°No, I got it from a friend.¡±

    ¡°So you don¡¯t have any money of your own. Damn...... well, you can die then!¡±

    Boom!

    The ferocious blow mmed into Lu Tianyang¡¯s face, sting him backward.

    He slowly pulled his arm back as he sneered disdainfully. ¡°What type of nonsense Blood Boiling Realm cultivator are you? A deputy leader? You¡¯re trash!¡±

    After having been in the Hidden Dragon Institute for so long and meeting so many elites, his horizons had been broadened. People in the Blood Boiling Realm of this tier could be easily brushed aside.

    While Lu Tianyang was being pummeled by Iron Cliff, the Long River Gang was being pummeled by the Origin Bureau.

    No matter how much influence and prestige the Long River Gang had, they were at their core just a bunch of ragtag hooligans brought together.

    Sometimes, battles weren¡¯t won based on how strong you were but on how weak your opponent was.

    It didn¡¯t matter if you weren¡¯t strong enough; as long as your opponent was weaker, everything was fine and dandy.

    No matter how weak the martial artists from the Origin Bureau were, they had received formalized training before, and they were legitimate, well-armed soldiers.

    Legitimate soldiers against a ragtag group of criminals? The criminals werepletely crushed.

    At this moment, arge group of the Origin Bureau¡¯s martial artists howled as they charged forwards, a few Origin Qi Schrs leading the charge. They carved through the gang members like a tornado, des flying through the air as blood rained down from the sky.

    ¡°Su Chen, you dare! Don¡¯t forget who the backer of the Long Clear Gang is!¡± one of the Long Clear gang members yelled.

    Su Chen said with his hands sped behind his back, ¡°No matter who the Long Clear Gang¡¯s backer is, you killed an imperial officer, and the sentence is death. I want to see who dares to protect you. Kill them all. Anyone who resists shall not be spared.¡±

    The mor of battle could be heard all over the dock.

    Those criminals cried out tragically as they were ughtered. They wanted to run, but they were surrounded by people from the Origin Bureau. Where could they run to?

    de strikes rained down on the gang members, carving them into pieces. Blood dyed the entire dock a dark crimson color.

    The crew of the boats near the riverbank were all frightened out of their wits, and those who had gotten off scampered back to their boats, absolutely unwilling to get off again.

    In the time it took to burn a stick of incense, the Long Clear Gang¡¯s influence on the Clear River Dock had been wiped clean.

    When the battle ended, not a single Long Clear Gang member was left standing.

    A martial artist responsible for cleaning up the scene made a thorough body count, then ran over to Su Chen and said, ¡°Sir, we killed 83 rebellious Long Clear Gang members and captured 32. In addition, we found this on Lu Tianyang¡¯s body.¡±

    The martial artist handed him an Origin Ring.

    Su Chen gave it a quick nce beforeughing coldly, ¡°This is Liu Jiyun¡¯s Origin Ring. How bold of him to wear it himself. It seems like he¡¯s definitely one of the people who killed Liu Jiyun.¡±

    This wasn¡¯t him being framed; it was the truth.

    Of course, Wang Wenxin had told him about it.

    This was also why Su Chen had chosen a day when Lu Tianyang was on duty to attack the Clear River Dock. He wanted to catch Lu Tianyang red-handed.

    Lu Tianyang was still alive. With him, this Origin Ring, and the recording on the Imaging Disk, all of the evidence had been gathered. The Long Clear Gang wouldn¡¯t be able to get out of this no matter how much they wanted to.

    Of course, they still had one opportunity.

    That would be to seize the Origin Ring back and destroy the Imaging Disk.

    Just as Su Chen finished cleaning up the dock, another group of people charged onto the scene.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 36: Washing the Dock with Blood 2

    Chapter 36: Washing the Dock with Blood (2)

    By the time Li Yue managed to charge onto the scene with the rest of the Long Clear Gang members, everything was inplete disorder, and corpses were littered everywhere.

    ¡°Su Chen, you dare!¡±

    Upon seeing this scene, Li Yue¡¯s eyes became bloodshot.

    The Clear River Dock was the Long Clear Gang¡¯s most important source of revenue. It was a foundational location for them. Because of this, those responsible for guarding this ce were also Li Yue¡¯s most trusted and capable underlings.

    Now, all of his trusted aids had been taken out in one fell swoop by Su Chen.

    Su Chen stood on the bloody dock andughed coldly as he stared at the Long Clear Gang leader, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t I be saying that? Li Yue, you are quite bold to dare kill Liu Jiyun, an official of the Origin Bureau. Killing a government official is equivalent to conspiring against the state. Do you acknowledge your crimes?¡±

    Li Yue¡¯s eyes burned with rage. ¡°You dare nder me without evidence?¡±

    ¡°nder? Do I need to?¡± Su Chen raised his hand. ¡°This is the Origin Ring I took from Lu Tianyang¡¯s hand. It originally belonged to Sir Liu and is engraved with his personal seal. There are even a few of Sir Liu¡¯s personal items in here that weren¡¯t taken care of yet. This is rock-solid evidence; do you still dare to refuse to admit what happened?¡±

    Li Yue jabbed his finger at Su Chen. ¡°You¡¯re framing me!¡±

    ¡°Whether or not you¡¯re being framed, you know the best. If you aren¡¯t satisfied, you can appeal to the higher ups. But in the meantime, I must detain you. Go and take him away!¡±

    ¡°You dare!¡± Li Yue howled.

    He knew that he was in a tough spot.

    Now that Su Chen had the Origin Ring, the Long Clear Gang had to make a move even if Su Chen didn¡¯t.

    He waved his arm and yelled, ¡°Attack!¡±

    Arge wave of gangsters charged forward from behind him.

    At this point, no one had any ground to retreat to. If they wanted to live, they would need to win this battle here!

    If Su Chen won, the matter of the Long Clear Gang murdering an official would be set in stone.

    If the Long Clear Gang won, then Su Chen would be ckmailing people for private gain and would damage private trust.

    This was a battle in which whoever won would be considered the ¡°righteous¡± party.

    Both sides had made the decision to fight to the death.

    Therge group of gang members surged forward, yelling wildly. Their des had all tasted blood before, and they seemed to have some measure of bloodthirstiness. If they really went all out, they might not be much weaker than the Origin Bureau¡¯s martial artists.

    Even so, at the same time that they charged forward, what awaited them was a storm of arrows falling from the sky.

    The razor-sharp arrows whistled through the air.

    These gang members didn¡¯t have any armor. The rain of arrows descended, causing blood to cover the streets. Most of them didn¡¯t even have a chance to swing their des before they died on the street that they had been charging up.

    ¡°Army crossbows?¡± Li Yue yelled in disbelief.

    These crossbows were clearly notmon crossbows; rather, they were the heavy crossbows used by the military. Even though they weren¡¯t Origin Qi Tools, they were weapons very close in strength to Origin Qi Tools. Their offensive capabilities were formidable. Just twenty crossbow-wielding soldiers were enough to pose a serious threat to an Origin Qi Schr. If they numbered in the hundreds, they could even threaten a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator. They basically represented the peak strength that amoner could achieve.

    The issue was that these heavy crossbows were only owned by the military; the Origin Bureau shouldn¡¯t have had any.

    Where had Su Chen gotten so many of them from?

    There were quite a few people wielding those crossbows; he estimated that there were at least fifty of them.

    Those fifty or so crossbow-wielding people weren¡¯t wearing the Origin Bureau¡¯s azure uniform or the Blood-Robed Guards¡¯ uniform. Rather, they were dressed up as servants. They were obviously the Su Pce¡¯s guards!

    In other words, these fifty heavy crossbows weren¡¯t given to him by the Origin Bureau. Su Chen had somehow managed to procure them himself.

    Upon realizing this point, Li Yue felt fear for the first time.

    Who exactly was Su Chen?

    But at this point, he couldn¡¯t afford to regret anymore. He understood very clearly that he could only regain control of the situation by killing Su Chen.

    When he thought of this, he raised his hand in the air. The countless crossbow bolts suddenly came to a halt in midair as if they had been put on a leash by someone.

    Next, Li Yue waved his hand. Those crossbow bolts all ttered to the ground.

    Li Yue then gathered all of the bolts and sent them flying back. The rain of arrows appeared again, but they were headed in Su Chen¡¯s direction this time.

    ¡°Rah! Leader is so strong!¡± all of the gang members began to yell.

    ¡°Su Chen, no matter what tricks you use, we live in an age where only strength is respected! It doesn¡¯t matter how much you scheme if you don¡¯t have enough strength!¡± Li Yue¡¯s amplified voice spread to every corner of the dock.

    He was trying to use this tactic to attack the peoples¡¯ faith in Su Chen.

    No matter what, Su Chen was still in the Blood Boiling Realm.

    A person in the Blood Boiling Realm couldn¡¯t possibly defeat someone in the Yang Opening Realm.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Su Chen smiled slightly as he reached his hand out, his fingers outstretched. The rain of crossbow bolts began to rapidly decelerate as if they had encountered some invisible resistance before losing their momentum and falling to the ground. ¡°Two people tried telling me that yesterday too. What do you think the oue was?¡±

    Li Yue was stunned.

    He didn¡¯t ask, and Su Chen didn¡¯t exin himself.

    He turned his palm over. An Ultra Erupting Firehawk flew at Li Yue.

    The mes forming the Firehawk seemingly threatened to wipe out everything as it rushed at Li Yue like a messenger of death.

    Li Yue instinctively felt threatened by this attack.

    He screeched. A streak of brilliant light shot into the sky, and a massive white snake rose into the air, slithering through the sky.

    White Phosphorus Snake!

    This was the benefit that Li Yue had obtained by selling himself to the Lai n ¨C the White Phosphorus Snake Bloodline.

    As soon as the White Phosphorus Snake appeared, it snaked its way around the Firehawk. The fierce mes mmed into the White Phosphorus Snake¡¯s body, but it seemed as if the mes were illusory. Gradually, the mes began to melt and disappear.

    At the same time, the White Phosphorus Snake swung in the air, a massive chilly aura emanating from its body. Everyone felt a chill go up their spines.

    Li Yue howled withughter. ¡°Do you feel it? That¡¯s the fear thates from death! This is the White Phosphorus Snake¡¯s power! Hades Snakebite!¡±

    The White Phosphorus Snake suddenly began to charge towards the ground.

    ¡°Interesting.¡± Su Chen nodded, activating Sumeru Void once again and greatly reducing the White Phosphorus Snake¡¯s speed. ¡°So relying on normal tactics to defeat a Yang Opening Realm expert is still a bit out of my ability level.¡±

    The Ultra Erupting Firehawk was an extremely powerful bloodline-less Origin Skill, and it would definitely be an invaluable treasure if he were to publicly release it. It was a first-rate Origin Skill. The only reason it didn¡¯t pose much danger to Li Yue was because of the marked difference in cultivation power.

    Li Yue was still in the Yang Opening Realm. With the amount of Origin Energy he could control along with the support of his bloodline, it was no surprise that he could wipe out the Ultra Erupting Firehawk.

    But to Su Chen, who had some new toys at his disposal, the Erupting-style Origin Skills really were just normal tactics now.

    mes began to gather in his hand once again.

    However, the mes this time weren¡¯t nearly as explosive. Rather, they seemed to be imbued with a deathly, gloomy stillness, and the light they gave off was cold.

    The dark mes continued to grow and burn, constantly expanding as they began to take on a human-like form.

    Su Chen constantly poured his Origin Energy into the human-like mes, which only continued to grow. Its size quickly surpassed Su Chen as it expanded, then past Iron Cliff, growingrger and taller until it reached a size of nearly 30 feet.

    ¡°HA!!¡±

    As soon as the massive humanoid appeared, it let out a thunderous howl.

    ¡°Attack, Shadow me Giant!¡±

    The Shadow me Giant howled and swung its fist, the momentum behind its punch threatening to wipe out everything in its path.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 37: Washing the Dock with Blood 3

    Chapter 37: Washing the Dock with Blood (3)

    The shadowy ming fist mmed into the White Phosphorus Snake¡¯s body with a frightening amount of power.

    The image of the White Phosphorus Snake was incinerated by the torrent of mes.

    The dark mes rolled forwards in waves as if a volcano had erupted, threatening to exterminate all life nearby.

    Li Yue yelled in shock when he saw this. An instantter, the ck mes had already reached him.

    He knew that his situation wasn¡¯t good. His White Phosphorus Snake Bloodline exploded with power, the resulting shocking howl sounding like the wails of a thousand ghosts.

    The massive White Phosphorus Snake appeared again and spat out a stream of poisonous energy at the Shadow me Giant that seemed to be able to corrode everything.

    The Shadow me Giant howled and continued to strike out. As Su Chen¡¯s newest, most powerful Origin Skill, the Shadow me Giant wasn¡¯t a one-use Origin Skill. As long as Su Chen could keep up with the energy expenditure, it couldst for some time.

    The devastating shadow me blows rained down one after another, unleashing enough waves of mes to cover a majority of the dock.

    Even Li Yue, who was in the Yang Opening Realm, found it difficult to handle the Shadow me Giant¡¯s attacks.

    Dammit!

    Dammit!

    DAMMIT!

    What Origin Skill was that? How was it so powerful?

    Is that the strength a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator should have?

    A single one of these Shadow me Giants was enough to deal with a Yang Opening Realm cultivator. How would he keep fighting if Su Chen joined in?

    His train of thought was spot on. An instantter, Su Chen sent an Erupting Firehawk his way.

    Simultaneously, Su Chen himself leapt forward, shing down at Li Yue with the Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de in his right hand while his left hand formed a fist and punched out.

    The long- and close-range attacks converged on him!

    In that instant, Su Chen used three moves at once. This was basically the peak of hisbat ability at the moment.

    Even a Yang Opening Realm cultivator would have nowhere to run when faced with these three simultaneous attacks.

    The White Phosphorus Snake danced in the air and spat out a wave of chilly energy to block the Shadow me Giant¡¯s heavy fist. Simultaneously, a barrier shed on its body as it forcefully endured the Ultra Erupting Firehawk.

    Barrier-type Contemporary Origin Skills were weaker than their Ancient Arcana Technique counterparts. When factoring in the strength of Su Chen¡¯s Erupting Firehawk, this single blow was enough to smash it to smithereens.

    Simultaneously, Su Chen¡¯s de strike and fist were both closing in. Li Yue had no time to retreat. He needed to make a split-second decision on how to deal with this de-and-fistbination.

    He chose to endure the punch.

    With as much force as he could muster, he jerked his body towards Su Chen¡¯s left side, narrowly dodging the de. Simultaneously, Su Chen¡¯s fist crashed into him.

    Boom!

    Fresh blood sttered everywhere!

    A shockingly mangled, bowl-sized wound had opened up in Li Yue¡¯s chest.

    ¡°You......¡± Li Yue yelled in shock.

    Su Chen replied coolly, ¡°My fist is stronger than a de.¡±

    The Shadow me Giant charged forward and unleashed another punch as it howled.

    The two Long Clear Gang deputy leaders charged over in that moment, one of them blocking the Shadow me Giant¡¯s arm while the other went to stop Su Chen.

    Su Chenunched another punch while he shed his de through the air.

    The rumble of thunder could be heard.

    The deputy leader grabbed Li Yue and dodged into the path of Su Chen¡¯s de. He would much rather be struck by Su Chen¡¯s de than by his fist.

    The Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de descended.

    The edge of the de boomed with a tremendously loud p of thunder.

    The frightening explosion of thunder pealed throughout the surroundings, followed by a piteous cry. The deputy leader¡¯s back became a mangled mass of flesh as if he had been struck by nearly ten Thunderfire Balls. He cried out pitifully as he flew through the air.

    ¡°You......¡± The deputy leader stared at Su Chen in fear.

    ¡°Just because my fists are stronger than my de doesn¡¯t mean that you can forcefully endure my de, idiot,¡± Su Chen replied calmly.

    An Erupting Firehawk immediately surged forth.

    The other deputy leader waspletely being suppressed by the Shadow me Giant and was evidently unable to hold on for much longer. The arrival of this firehawk sent the other deputy leader flying, who toppled in a heap, unable to get back to his feet.

    In the blink of an eye, two of the gang¡¯s deputy leaders were critically wounded by Su Chen alone.

    Su Chen finally stopped the flow of Origin Energy. The Shadow me Giant tilted its head back and let out a long howl before dissolving unwillingly.

    Su Chen let out a long sigh.

    The Shadow me Giant was indeed powerful, but it expended too much Origin Energy. Because he had to constantly supply it with energy, even Su Chen had no way of maintaining it for too long.

    Thankfully, Li Yue wasn¡¯t a particrly impressive Yang Opening Realm cultivator; if he had been even a little stronger and had hung on until now, Su Chen would have folded first.

    Su Chen was from the Hidden Dragon Institute and was used to dealing with elites. His horizons were broad; as such, he didn¡¯t really put much weight on this battle. To him, only defeating an elite Yang Opening Realm cultivator, such as someone who had graduated from the Hidden Dragon Institute, could really be considered jumping tiers.

    But to everyone else, Su Chen had defeated a Yang Opening Realm cultivator and two Blood Boiling Realm cultivators in a one-on-three battle,pletely shaking them up.

    Even the worst Yang Opening Realm cultivator was still in the Yang Opening Realm. Not just anyone could jump tiers like this and beat them.

    Everyone present stared at Su Chen in shock.

    The Long Clear Gang¡¯s gazes were fearful, while the Origin Bureau¡¯s gazes were filled with excitement.

    The Origin Bureau¡¯s martial artists let out a loud cheer, their morale in stark contrast to their opponents as they charged forward to ughter them. The Long Clear Gang members had no desire to do battle, and a bloodbath ensued as they tried to retreat.

    At that moment, a person¡¯s shadow suddenly flew over. ¡°Su Chen, let me entertain you!¡±

    Many palm strikes descended rapidly from the sky. Su Chen countered with a palm strike of his own. Both of them were sent backward upon impact.

    The person who had ambushed Su Chen from the sky flipped through the air andnded on the ground. It was Wang Wenxin.

    ¡°Sir Wang!¡± all of the gang members began to yell.

    ¡°Retreat!¡± Wang Wenxin¡¯s attack had gone smoothly. ¡°You all, get out of here! I¡¯ll protect the rear!¡±

    ¡°Sir!¡± the gang members continued to yell.

    Wang Wenxin had a lot of prestige in the Long Clear Gang. Otherwise, Li Yue wouldn¡¯t be so afraid and on guard against him.

    He had stepped forward bravely when the Long Clear Gang was in such dire straits, immediately winning over the hearts of all the gang members there. Everyone stared at him with gratefulness.

    ¡°Hurry up and get out of here!¡± Wang Wenxin swung his palm through the air, forcefully pushing the gang members behind him.

    One of the gang members yelled, ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here! Follow me!¡±

    The Long Clear Gang finally took advantage of this opportunity to scatter.

    Wang Wenxin continued to fend off the Origin Bureau on his own. He didn¡¯t harm anyone; all he did was yell loudly, ¡°Knowledge Executor Su, have mercy! The assassination of Sir Liu was done by Li Yue. The rest of the gang members don¡¯t know about it. Now that Sir Li is dead, please let them go, Knowledge Executor Su.¡±

    ¡°So you admit that the victim was murdered by you?¡± Su Chen asked slowly.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Wang Wenxin said with a helpless expression.

    ¡°Apart from this Origin Ring, is there any other evidence? Such as who participated in the murder.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t participate in this myself, so I don¡¯t know all of the details. But if Sir Su is willing to give me some time, I will find out who participated and hand them over to you, sir, as restitution!¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Su Chen¡¯s eyebrows jumped. ¡°You¡¯re that willing to cooperate?¡±

    ¡°The Long Clear Gangmitted the rebellious act. I just ask that sir gives the Long Clear Gang a way out.¡±

    ¡°If you cooperate, that¡¯s not impossible,¡± Su Chen said as he waved his hands. The surrounding attackers all retreated slowly.

    Wang Wenxin could finally stop defending himself. He sped his hands and said, ¡°Many thanks to Knowledge Executor Su for being merciful. Give me a bit of time, and I will definitely give you a satisfactory response.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll be waiting,¡± Su Chenughed.

    Wang Wenxin turned around and left.

    The curtain had finally closed on this act of the show.

    The verbal exchange between these two people had urred in a public ce with many witnesses. Even though many people had fled, there were a few courageous people who risked their lives to watch the battle. The people on the boats still docked on the river bank had seen and heard everything clearly as well.

    Wang Wenxin¡¯sst-minute appearance not only saved the majority of the Long Clear Gang members,id the foundation for his rise to power, provided irrefutable evidence that the Long Clear Gang had murdered a government official, and earned himself a lot of respect and prestige, but it also redirected the Long Clear Gang to begin cooperating with Su Chen.

    It was the Lai n¡¯s turn to suffer a headache.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 38: Slowly Solidifying a Foundation

    Chapter 38: Slowly Solidifying a Foundation

    Bang!

    A small pottery cup decorated with fish ying in the water and floral patterns had an intimate encounter with a b of obsidian, shattering into pieces.

    Lai Wuyi¡¯s expression was extremely cloudy.

    Even though he was already two hundred years old, Lai Wuyi had preserved his middle-aged appearance, and he was quite energetic.

    When this energy transformed into rage, however, it was exceptionally frightening.

    ¡°SU CHEN!¡± Lai Wuya growled, gritting his teeth.

    ¡°Father, things are a bit troublesome right now. After Wang Wenxin took control of the Long Clear Gang, the first thing he did wase to find me and ask me for help in settling the matter. He said that if we didn¡¯t settle it quickly, Su Chen would exterminate everyst one of them.¡±

    ¡°I know. I heard Su Chen wants Wang Wenxin to hand over the perpetrators of the murder within a certain period of time?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Lai Tianli said. ¡°Wang Wenxin has already found the culprits, but he hasn¡¯t handed them over yet. He is waiting to hear our opinion.¡±

    ¡°What does he mean, waiting to hear our opinion?¡±

    ¡°He wants us to bear the responsibility for this. Without question, he is lowering his head to Su Chen! Simultaneously he is also verifying Liu Jiyun¡¯s assassination and justifying Su Chen¡¯s actions. This is way too embarrassing! It¡¯s basically the same as kowtowing to him! Wang Wenxin doesn¡¯t want to make that decision, so he handed it over to us.¡±

    Lai Wuyi harrumphed, ¡°He can¡¯t just hand over a few random people?¡±

    ¡°The problem is that he isn¡¯t willing to do so,¡± Lai Tianli replied.

    ¡°Oh? Why is that?¡± Lai Wuyi said with some surprise.

    ¡°Father, think about it. Let¡¯s put aside the fact that Su Chen isn¡¯t an easy person to deceive and talk about the matter itself. We were the ones who ordered to make a move first, and the ones to carry it out were the former gang leader¡¯s trusted aides. To Wang Wenxin, the former gang leader has only just died, and remnants of his influence might still be there. It¡¯s hard to avoid there being some people in the gang who are still loyal to him. Anyone who could carry out the assassination of Liu Jiyun must be one of Li Yue¡¯s trusted aides, who also happens to be the most at odds with Wang Wenxin......¡±

    ¡°So Wang Wenxin wants to take care of them now.¡± Lai Wuyi understood.

    ¡°Yes, but it¡¯s best if he doesn¡¯t make the move himself,¡± Lai Tianli added.

    ¡°So he handed the de to Su Chen.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but he wants us to be the ones to hand Su Chen the de, not himself.¡±

    ¡°That bastard!¡± Lai Wuyi smacked the table in anger. ¡°He dares to use us to take the heat off of himself?¡±

    Lai Tianli said helplessly, ¡°Wang Wenxin was part of the Long Clear Gang, who was being suppressed. Even though we controlled the Long Clear Gang, it was through Li Yue, not through Wang Wenxin. He has no gratitude towards us, and that¡¯s the truth.¡±

    ¡°What about trying to rope him in now?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s toote for that,¡± Lai Tianli said. ¡°Even though he hasn¡¯t handed the individuals over yet, Wang Wenxin has already given Su Chen a list of names, and he¡¯s even prepared an oral confession. Both the human testimony and the physical evidence are there, and the Long Clear Gang¡¯s assassination of Liu Jiyun can be considered an open and shut case now. The only thing missing is that the perpetrators themselves haven¡¯t been turned over yet.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s afraid that we¡¯ll force him to switch out the individuals!¡± Lai Wuyi said in shock.

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly his intentions. Now that things have reached this point, Father, what should we do?¡±

    Lai Wuyi shut his eyes helplessly.

    After thinking about it for a long time, he said, ¡°If we don¡¯t agree to hand the people over, Su Chen will openly wipe out the Long Clear Gang with the Origin Bureau, further increasing his prestige. He could even continue to pursue the matter and link it to the Lai n. If we agree to hand the people over, we are lowering our heads to Su Chen, and our prestige and influence over the Long Clear Gang will be greatly diminished. Wang Wenxin will have full control of the Long Clear Gang. Is that the situation we are in?¡±

    ¡°Yes sir!¡±

    ¡°Ai! Looks like we¡¯ll have to pick the lesser of two evils,¡± Lai Wuyi said reluctantly.

    ¡°Your son understands.¡±

    Even though giving Wang Wenxinplete control of the Long Clear Gang didn¡¯t benefit the Lai n, it was just a matter of striving for influence. As long as they let him in on the profits and softened him up with some coin, they should be able to regain control of the Long Clear Gang. That was much better than forcefully taking the Long Clear Gang under their protection and further escting the situation.

    Even though Nobility ns were powerful, they still needed to know when to stop. It was precisely because they didn¡¯t have the power to shake the heavens that they needed to control their ambition; otherwise, they would be wiped out sooner orter.

    ¡°Then, what about Su Chen......¡± Lai Tianli asked.

    Lai Wuyi thought for a moment, then said, ¡°Nan¡¯an Street, Ten Kilometers Pavilion, and now Clear River Dock...... do you not understand yet? This person isn¡¯t simple at all.¡±

    ¡°Absolutely. Someone who is able to trap us multiple times and also possesses a significant amount of his own strength, even to the point that he killed Li Yue and the other two single-handedly, cannot be underestimated!¡± Lai Tianli sighed.

    ¡°Our previous defeats were precisely because we underestimated him. But we won¡¯t do something like this again. It¡¯s time for us to make up the homework that we¡¯ve been neglecting.¡±

    ¡°Father, you mean......¡±

    ¡°Find a few people and send them to Long Coiling City to look into this Su Chen¡¯s background. If we want to deal with this opponent, we need to understand him.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Next, we need to make Su Chen a high-priority target during the next coalition meeting.¡±

    ¡°A coalition target?¡± Lai Tianli was stunned.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Su Chen has already made us suffer too many setbacks, and we can¡¯t have the different ns moving on their own. After this, his control over the Origin Bureau will be even more solid. It will probably be difficult to shake his foundation in the future. Just his status as the substitute City Head of the Origin Bureau is more than deserving of bing a coalition target.¡±

    ¡°But if that¡¯s the case, we won¡¯t be able to deal with Su Chen in the short term.¡±

    ¡°Then we don¡¯t need to try to pursue a quick victory. The person who wins is the person who values patience. Our previous mistakes were because we underestimated our opponent and wanted to defeat him in a single battle. Now is the time for us to learn from our mistakes.¡±

    ¡°Yes sir!¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    One thing Lai Wuyi had said was absolutely correct ¨C after the battle at Clear River Dock, Su Chen¡¯s control over the Origin Bureau had be much more solid.

    Within the Su Pce.

    Yuan Lieyang stood in the main hall and paced around. His expression was filled with anxiety. No one knew what he was thinking about.

    After some time, Su Chen¡¯s footsteps could be heard from behind the screen wall.

    Su Chen walked out from behind the screen, his hands stained with fresh blood.

    Mingshu had already prepared a basin of water. When he saw Su Chen walk out, he hurried to carry it over to Su Chen.

    Su Chen reached his hands in the basin, the blooding off his hands and diffusing in the water, creating red flowers in the water.

    After washing his hands, Su Chen took the towel Mingshu handed him and wiped his hands before saying, ¡°This is Li Yue¡¯s blood. The White Phosphorus Snake Bloodline truly is unique and has some interesting aspects to it. Unfortunately, Li Yue was just a mixed breed of the lowest kind, and it was hard for him to disy the full strength of the White Phosphorus Snake Bloodline. But that¡¯s okay; I think that I will have an opportunity soon to see the real White Phosphorus Snake Bloodline for myself,¡± Su Chen said as he stared at Yuan Lieyang. He then reached his hand out and said, ¡°Sit.¡±

    Sweat beaded on Yuan Lieyang¡¯s forehead. ¡°With Knowledge Executor present, your subordinate doesn¡¯t dare to sit down.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t dare to sit down while I¡¯m here? Then why did you disobey mymand for you to go to the Clear River Dock?¡± Su Chen said coldly.

    There were nearly twenty Origin Qi Schrs in the Origin Bureau, but in the end, only six had shown up at the Clear River Dock along with Su Chen.

    It wasn¡¯t because Su Chen had only taken six people with him; rather, most of them still weren¡¯tpletely submissive to him. Even though they had helplessly acknowledged Su Chen¡¯s temporary substitution of the City Head position, they didn¡¯t treat Su Chen¡¯smands seriously.

    But today, everything had changed.

    Washing the Clear River Dock with blood and single-handedly killing three of the Long Clear Gang¡¯s gang leaders hadpletely shocked everyone.

    If they didn¡¯t respect him before because of his Blood Boiling Realm cultivation base, then his disy of strength on par with a Yang Opening Realm cultivator gave him authority throughout all of Clear River City!

    Most importantly, even Yuan Lieyang himself wasn¡¯t confident that he could take on Li Yue and the other two on his own.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, how could Yuan Lieyang dare not take Su Chen seriously?

    When he thought of the fact that he had even challenged this fierce expert, Yuan Lieyang felt regret oozing from every inch of his body.

    He really was looking to die.

    When faced with Su Chen¡¯s usations, Yuan Lieyang replied in a trembling voice, ¡°Sir, I was wrong!¡±

    ¡°If you know that you¡¯re wrong, then you need to make amends. Don¡¯t you think so?¡± Su Chen said neither warmly nor coldly.

    ¡°I understand, sir. From this day onwards, I will obey Knowledge Executor¡¯smands to the letter.¡±

    ¡°Good. Tomorrow, the Long Clear Gang will hand over the perpetrators of Sir Liu¡¯s murder. You go and deal with them.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Yuan Lieyang knew that this was Su Chen asking him to demonstrate his loyalty.

    When the heads of those culprits from the Long Clear Gang hit the ground, everyone knew that the Lai n had fallen.

    At the same time, a new star was steadily rising in Clear River City.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 39: Coalition Meeting 1

    Chapter 39: Coalition Meeting (1)

    The months and seasons flew by. In the blink of an eye, another year had passed. The weather was still beautiful.

    In the Origin Qi Schr era, Origin Energy was everything.

    Anyone who controlled unnatural power could control the temperature, ensuring favorable weather for crops year after year.

    Commoners could only endure the oppression by Origin Qi Schrs if there were no natural disasters urring.

    Because of this, many important figures would often hold a feast to share their surplus of natural resources during spring.

    They would gather together during this time and distribute the resources, assign people to various missions, and analyze and deal with any past situations that had urred.

    In Clear River City, the Coalition Meeting, with the ten Bloodline Nobility ns at the center of it all, was the recement for such a feast.

    The Wang n was responsible for hosting this year¡¯s Coalition Meeting

    The Wang n¡¯s patriarch, Wang Zhanyu, was already three hundred years old. He was a Light Shaking Realm expert and maintained an excellent physique; without a doubt, he was the Wang n¡¯s sturdy, irreceable pir.

    Clear River City wasn¡¯t that big of a ce. A Light Shaking expert was already rare enough.

    With him present, Clear River City¡¯s most powerful individual was on the Bloodline Nobility ns¡¯ side.

    On that day, the many ns and nobility in Clear River City all began to gather in the Wang n¡¯s main courtyard, which was near South Willow Lane.

    Carriage after carriage and procession after procession gathered on South Willow Lane.

    ¡°Old Hong, it¡¯s been a while!¡±

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s Old Rong! How is everything?¡±

    ¡°Ai, not the greatest. Things have been crazytely!¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that right.¡±

    The Wang residence was filled with the mor of people greeting each other.

    And within the Wang n¡¯s main hall, a small discussion only privy to the highest members of society had begun.

    There were a total of ten people in this discussion, representing the ten Bloodline Nobility ns, who possessed most of the strength belonging to the aristocratic families.

    The person sitting in the highest seat was the Wang n¡¯s current Patriarch, Wang Peiyuan.

    Wang Peiyuan had grown a long, ck beard, giving him an extremely dignified appearance.

    He sat in his high position andughed, ¡°We¡¯re all old friends already, so there¡¯s no need to make small talk. Let¡¯s get started.¡±

    Everyone murmured in agreement.

    Wang Peiyuan said, ¡°Well, let¡¯s talk about the first matter. Three months ago, our business partners over in the West River Forest mentioned that they wanted to raise their prices. From this year onwards, all of the Origin Skills, furs, and other precious materials that we purchase from them will triple in price.¡±

    ¡°Triple in price? How did they even think of that!¡± someone snorted.

    ¡°They think that their earlier prices were too low. We can turn around the things they sell to us for a hundred times the price, so they think that tripling their selling price isn¡¯t asking too much.¡±

    ¡°What a joke! Thosemoners should be happy that they can even earn money, but they still aren¡¯t satisfied! In my opinion, we shouldn¡¯t even be giving them a single cent!¡±

    ¡°You may say that, but those guys in West River Forest seem to have made up their minds. The vige there has rallied around them; if we don¡¯t agree to their price increase, they won¡¯t sell to us.¡±

    ¡°Who else can they sell to if they don¡¯t sell to us? We control Clear River City¡¯s businesses.¡±

    ¡°Of course they would sell it to other cities. You know that there are people who are jealous of us buying things from West River.¡±

    ¡°Dammit. I knew those thievingmoners had someone behind them supporting them.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Someone must be giving them ideas. West River Forest is our source of ie, and we cannot let anyone else stick their hands in. I think that if we want to resolve this matter, we cannot agree to the price increases. We should send somepetent forces their way and pick out those who are making trouble, and the problem should go away on its own.¡±

    Everyone nodded in agreement.

    After a brief discussion, everyone agreed that they absolutely couldn¡¯t agree to those thievingmoners¡¯ impolite requests. If thosemoners refused to sell to them, then they would have to send some troops and do things the hard way.

    ¡°The second matter is that a new group of pirates has appeared near Intersection Three. They are very rude and unreasonable;st month, boats belonging to two of our ns were taken by them. I sent some people to discuss things with them, but it seems like the discussions went nowhere. Unfortunately, we might be forced to resort to force to deal with them. We¡¯ll do it by the same rules; every party will need to send out a few participants.¡±

    Since the Coalition Meeting had been established, a set ofplete rules and guidelines had already been developed. Very quickly, a clean-up group was prepared under the suggestions of each n¡¯s n leader.

    The ns then proceeded to discuss a few more matters.

    ¡°Alright, we only have one more issue remaining. Last year, a new Knowledge Executor came to Clear River City. This Knowledge Executor isn¡¯t a simple person; he was able to immediately capture the Young Master and Young Miss of two ns, one of whom is still bedridden and is only alive today because of medicinal supplements. He then killed Sir Liu Wuya and forcefully took over the Origin Bureau, greatly decreasing our control over the government. Finally, he even pulled the Long Clear Gang into the mix. I heard that the Long Clear Gang is still notpletely under control yet?¡±

    Thest question was directed at Lai Wuyi.

    Lai Wuyi¡¯s face reddened. ¡°Wang Wenxin is like an untamable horse. He appears to respect us on the surface, but whenever I tell him to do something, all kinds of sloppiness emerges. If it¡¯s not extremely inefficient, then it¡¯s inplete confusion. The Long Clear Gang was saved by him single-handedly, and his influence within the gang is extremely high. I can¡¯t casually switch him out, so the situation has dragged on until now. But you can all rest assured, sirs, that I will deal with the Long Clear Gang sooner orter.¡±

    Wang Peiyuan nodded. ¡°The Long Clear Gang is the Lai n¡¯s problem, and I was just asking out of curiosity. But Knowledge Executor Su is a problem for all of us Bloodline Nobility ns. It¡¯s obvious that Knowledge Executor Su is siding with our enemies. As such, I propose that he be named an enemy of the coalition.¡±

    ¡°Agreed!¡±

    ¡°Agreed!¡±

    ¡°Agreed!¡±

    A thunderous agreement broke out in the hall.

    Ever since Su Chen had taken control of the Origin Bureau, he had be an enemy of the ten Bloodline Nobility ns in Clear River City; this change was just making it official.

    ¡°Then, Patriarch Lai and Patriarch Long, why don¡¯t you give us an idea of Su Chen¡¯s background. Don¡¯t tell me that you suffered such huge setbacks yet still don¡¯t even know what kind of person he is.¡±

    Lai Wuyi and Long Qingjiang felt their faces redden.

    The two of them nced at each other before Long Qingjiang said, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then I can go first. Ever since my son went into hisa, I sent people to the Hidden Dragon Institute to look into this person¡¯s origins. He was a student of Shi Kaihuang¡¯s and delusionally wants to break through the bloodline restrictions, allowing those without bloodlines to ascend. He truly is an enemy of all Bloodline Nobility ns.¡±

    ¡°Hmph, another arrogant, self-important dreamer,¡± many of the people in the roommented disdainfully.

    ¡°This person was born in the Three Mountains Region in Northface City into one of the bloodline-less ns there. When he was twelve, he lost his vision in some bizarre ident, and his n gave up on him. However, this guy was extremely stubborn and didn¡¯t give up, continuing his cultivation and iming first ce amongst his peers. Many people wanted him to give way, but they just couldn¡¯t beat him.¡±

    ¡°They couldn¡¯t even beat a blind person? What a trash n,¡± everyone mocked.

    Long Qingjiang continued, ¡°Yes, they really are just a bunch of trash. After being blind for some years, Su Chen somehow regained his eyesight. However, he chose to hide it and continued to pretend to be blind, which gave him many benefits. In the end, he stunned everyone in the Three Mountains Region entrance exam, reaching the top ten that year.¡±

    ¡°So he is quite patient and cunning.¡±

    Long Qingjiang said, ¡°Also, he was often schemed against because he continued to im first ce in his n even as a blind person, so he lost all faith in them and cut off his ties. Ever since entering the Hidden Dragon Institute, he basically had no more interactions with them.¡±

    ¡°So there¡¯s no point in using his family against him?¡±

    Even though threatening someone¡¯s family members was taboo even in this world, there were always people who preferred these simple, effective methods.

    But against Su Chen, it seemed that this ploy wouldn¡¯t work.

    Long Qingjiang said, ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be very effective.¡±

    ¡°What a pity,¡± everyone sighed.

    ¡°So this brat, apart from his lower cultivation base, doesn¡¯t have any obvious weaknesses, whether that¡¯s in rtion to his own temperament or to his family situation,¡± someone said. ¡°No wonder he¡¯s so hard to deal with.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s one more thing that Patriarch Long seems to have missed,¡± Lai Wuyi suddenly said.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Long Qingjiang didn¡¯t understand.

    Lai Wuyi added, ¡°He is also a recipient of a 2nd-tier Hero¡¯s Medal.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 40: Coalition Meeting 2

    Chapter 40: Coalition Meeting (2)

    2nd-tier Hero¡¯s Medal!

    This guy is one of the empire¡¯s 2nd-tier heroes!?

    Lai Wuyi¡¯s words caused the gathered patriarchs to almost fall out of their chairs.

    Obtaining a Hero¡¯s Medal was extremely hard to do. Every person who was awarded one had their name recorded down, and they were deeply respected in the military.

    It didn¡¯t give someone any extra authority in name, but it came with a lot of invisible benefits.

    For instance, anyone who dared to kill one of these heroes would be thoroughly investigated by the empire; they wouldn¡¯t permit any sloppiness. This also made it a death-warding medal.

    Another was that one would have extremely good rtions with the army. The army always valued heroes, and those who had earned Hero¡¯s Medals had made great contributions. No matter where they went, they wouldmand extreme respect.

    This was tradition,mon practice, etiquette, and even faith!

    This was why Su Chen had those fifty army-use heavy crossbows. Getting those things for him was too easy. He could just find any troops stationed nearby and ask to buy some; as long as he didn¡¯t ask for too many, the local troops would obviously agree. Of course, he still had to spend money, but other people couldn¡¯t buy them with money even if they wanted to. Su Chen, on the other hand, could buy them as he pleased, not needing to worry about the consequences.

    If he wanted to turn around and sell them for a profit, he would be able to earn quite the sum.

    Su Chen¡¯s Hero¡¯s Medal was his greatest trump card, and it was the main reason he was willing to act so stubbornly.

    Everyone was dazed when they heard this.

    The Lian n, who had remained silent up until now, thought back to the day when they were negotiating with Su Chen.

    On that day, Su Chen had used Wei Liancheng to counterattack the Long n, then used the Lian n as his backup. However, Chief Steward Lao had reckoned then that Su Chen could not possibly be relyingpletely on the Lian n.

    So he definitely had some kind of backup n.

    Now, it seemed like the 2nd-tier Hero¡¯s Medal was one of those backup ns.

    The issue was that, even after a few skirmishes with Su Chen, they hadn¡¯t even managed to force out this trump card.

    He was just like an unfathomably deep well. They didn¡¯t know how deep that well went, and they knew even less about how many secrets were hidden in that well.

    Now they knew about the Hero¡¯s Medal.

    But what else was there?

    If someday someone wanted to kill Su Chen no matter what the consequences were, what woulde on their head?

    Would they even be able to do it?

    No one knew.

    Long Qingjiang¡¯s expression was extremely ugly. ¡°2nd-tier Hero¡¯s Medal...... how does he have something like that? How is that possible? Did he participate in some big battle? But there haven¡¯t been anyrge-scale battles between us and the Ferocious Race in recent years!¡±

    Lai Wuyi sighed, ¡°Why are you asking me? How would I know? I only know that he seems to have participated in a secret expedition at one point and performed extremely well during that expedition, and he was awarded this rare prize.¡±

    ¡°Dammit! Dealing with him now is going to be really frustrating.¡± Long Qingjiang mmed his fist on the table heavily.

    If word spread that Su Chen possessed a Hero¡¯s Medal, many people would no longer dare to try and kill him.

    Upon seeing this, Wang Peiyuan frowned. ¡°What? A 2nd-tier Hero¡¯s Medal has you all frightened like this? Even if a 2nd-tier Hero¡¯s Medal is glorious, can itpare to the glory of a City Lord? If we can even keep An Siyuan under control, are we afraid of someone with a 2nd-tier Hero¡¯s Medal?¡±

    Upon hearing these words, everyone agreed after thinking for a moment. Their headache greatly lessened.

    In reality, Wang Peiyuan¡¯s words were both correct and incorrect.

    With the influence of the ten Bloodline Nobility ns, they didn¡¯t need to take a recipient of even a 2nd-tier Hero¡¯s Medal too seriously.

    But the prerequisite was that they focus all their attention onpeting with him.

    Could the ten Bloodline Nobility ns possibly ce all of their attention on Su Chen alone?

    Of course not!

    Therger the ns and their businesses, the more troubles and enemies they would have.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t their only enemy. The ten Bloodline Nobility ns had too many targets that they needed to keep their eyes on.

    Originally, it was as if they were only facing three Demonic Beasts, and the bnce of power was in equilibrium. But upon finding out that Su Chen was actually a 2nd-tier Hero¡¯s Medal recipient, it was as if another Demonic Beast had suddenly leapt out of nowhere, wrecking the bnce between the parties.

    This was the main issue with Su Chen.

    He couldn¡¯t possibly crush the ten Bloodline Nobility ns, but he could absolutely be an important weight in the bnce of power between the two sides.

    They had originally viewed him as a small insignificant chess piece, but things had progressed to this point. How could the Bloodline Nobility n leaders not feel a headacheing on?

    Wang Peiyuan¡¯s sudden changing of the subject had temporarily given everyone a bit more confidence, but he was very clear that Su Chen, like An Siyuan and Lu Qingguang, was already determined to be a stumbling block to the Bloodline Nobility ns.

    As such, he said after a moment of thought, ¡°Of course, no matter what, that Hero¡¯s Medal is going to pose an issue. Many tactics that might have been effective before can¡¯t be used anymore. But that doesn¡¯t mean that we have no way of dealing with him.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. If everyone joins forces, we can always find a way to deal with Su Chen.¡±

    At that moment, someone suddenlyughed coldly, ¡°It¡¯s just Su Chen. Is it worth having such a headache over?¡±

    Everyone nced in the direction of the speaker, realizing that the speaker was a man with triangr eyes.

    ¡°Patriarch He?¡± Wang Peiyuanughed. ¡°Do you have a good idea?¡±

    Patriarch He¡¯s name was He Wuqian. Even though his name meant ¡°no money¡±, his n was quite rich, and he had a good eye for business; in addition, his behavior was quite miserly.

    Upon hearing Wang Peiyuan¡¯s words, He Wuqian said, ¡°I have three ns that may be useful in dealing with Su Chen.¡±

    ¡°Please tell.¡±

    ¡°First, to deal with Su Chen, we first need to think of a way of separating him from the Origin Bureau. The Origin Bureau with and without Su Chen are two very different things. The biggest issue with Su Chen right now is that he isn¡¯t the Origin Bureau¡¯s head, but the Knowledge Executor. The only reason he can control the Origin Bureau is because Liu Wuya is dead. But who says that he can definitely be the next City Head after Liu Wuya dies?¡±

    Everyone froze, ncing at each other.

    Wang Peiyuan said, ¡°You mean......¡±

    ¡°An Siyuan has already proposed that Su Chen be the next City Head. The official verdict should being down this year. But we can make it so that the verdict neveres, and we can even propose that someone else who is willing to listen to us take over. At that time, if Su Chen wants to control the Origin Bureau, it won¡¯t be so simple.¡±

    ¡°Beautiful!¡± everyone yelled.

    Based on the ten Bloodline Nobility ns¡¯ influence, they still had some confidence in nominating someone to be the City Head if they wanted to. The only question was how much they would need to pay.

    The ten Bloodline Nobility ns hadn¡¯t taken Su Chen seriously before, so they naturally wouldn¡¯t exert that much force. Nominating one of their own people to take that position wasn¡¯t as desirablepared to bribing an official. Actually, thetter was much more convenient and would require less resources.

    ¡°Second, from our interactions with him in the past, we see that Su Chen is aggressive, unreasonable, and bossy. He doesn¡¯t respect anyone. Someone like that is going to be very hard to control. Another such bossy person is Lu Qingguang. As themander of the city¡¯s guards, Lu Qingguang was originally An Siyuan¡¯s most trusted confidant. But with Su Chen¡¯s sudden ascent, he will definitely shake Lu Qingguang¡¯s position. If we were to provoke that specific weak spot......¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Everyone began to cheer. ¡°Lu Qingguang temperament is obstinate, and he isn¡¯t much for talking. If we provoke him even slightly, they will definitely fight amongst each other!¡±

    ¡°Good n, Patriarch He!¡±

    ¡°But what is Patriarch He¡¯s third strategy?¡± Wang Peiyuan asked.

    Upon hearing everyone¡¯s praises, He Wuqian was delighted. He regretted not bringing a fan with him to shake a few times in order to entuate his strategic prowess. He continued, ¡°The third n is the simplest. Isn¡¯t Su Chen from the Hidden Dragon Institute? Isn¡¯t he very powerful? Then we can find someone from the Hidden Dragon Institute to deal with him.¡±

    Everyone stared at each other. ¡°Find someone from the Hidden Dragon Institute? Would someone be willing toe? Where would we go to find that person?¡±

    ¡°As long as we can spare the money, why wouldn¡¯t someone be willing toe? They might have been friends in the Institute, but after leaving, they have all gone to do their own things and pursue their own paths. The friendship between former ssmates can¡¯tpare to solid Origin Stones. As for finding them, that¡¯s even simpler......¡± He Wuqianughed. ¡°It just so happens that I know a few.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 41: Cloud Leopardâ€™s Arrival

    Chapter 41: Cloud Leopard¡¯s Arrival

    During that year¡¯s Coalition Meeting, Su Chen officially became the Coalition Target.

    From that day onwards, Su Chen didn¡¯t just have a personal grudge against individual Bloodline Nobility ns; rather, he was no longer tolerated by any of the Bloodline Nobility ns within Clear River City.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t mind.

    He continued to happily do his research, trying out anything new that came to mind and searching to further unlock the profound mysteries of this world.

    Time flew by very quickly.

    In the blink of an eye, two months had passed.

    At this point, Su Chen had been in Clear River City for nearly a year, and his standing in the city had be more and more solid.

    In this period of time, Clear River City remained rtively peaceful.

    As if both sides had learned how to restrain themselves, they quietly remained in wait, searching for an opportunity.

    Today, Su Chen was still doing his experiments when Mingshu came in and said, ¡°Young Master, Cloud Leopard is here.¡±

    ¡°Cloud Leopard? Is he finally here?¡± Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up. He put down the experiment he was working on and hurried out.

    Cloud Leopard was waiting for him in the main hall.

    Upon seeing Su Chen step out, Cloud Leopard smiled. ¡°Boss!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re finally here.¡± Su Chen nodded.

    He walked over, arms outstretched, and the two of them embraced.

    In that instant, both of them activated their power. A ferocious wave of energy exploded from them. Thankfully, the tables and chairs in the main hall were all made of reinforced steel, but they were still knocked back by the st.

    In this exchange of power, Su Chen grunted as he was forced back half a step.

    Cloud Leopard hurriedly pulled back. Su Chen rubbed his chest and said, ¡°You bastard, you¡¯ve made so much improvement in the time that we haven¡¯t seen each other.¡±

    Cloud Leopard¡¯s expression was filled with disappointment. ¡°My Jade Luster Body has already reached the stage ofrge sess, but I could only force you back half a step. You aren¡¯t even a pure fighter, so I have an unfair advantage.¡±

    ¡°Look at you so cocky. Are you not happy unless you can suppress mepletely?¡± Su Chen punched him, then sat down with him on the side. Mingshu poured them some tea before Su Chen continued, ¡°You finished your Secret Task Force Training?¡±

    Cloud Leopard mumbled, ¡°I finished a few months ago. I wanted toe over right then, but my drill instructor felt like I had hidden potential and gave me a few more months of training. I felt like I was going to die of irritation.¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°The higher-ups value you, but you seem extremely unhappy about that.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it just because I wanted toe and help a bit earlier? I heard that you¡¯re locked in a dispute with the other Bloodline Nobility ns that isn¡¯t so pleasant?¡±

    ¡°You call this unpleasant?¡± Su Chen was shocked. ¡°We¡¯re opposites like fire and water, okay? I killed quite a few of their subordinates, and they want to assassinate me. But because I¡¯m a government official, they don¡¯t dare be too over-the-top. They¡¯ve made a lot of movements in secret, though. A few days ago, they even caused amotion between Origin Qi Schrs on the streets, sending smoke everywhere and forcing me to scramble. There weren¡¯t any major injuries, but they don¡¯t want me to have any peace. Simultaneously, they¡¯re trying to demonstrate theirmitment to never stop fighting.¡±

    ¡°I can kill them for you,¡± Cloud Leopard said.

    ¡°How so? You¡¯ll kill them off silently one by one?¡± Su Chenughed.

    ¡°No need,¡± Cloud Leopard replied confidently. ¡°I¡¯ll just pin them with the crime of rebellion and bring the army in to wipe them off the face of the continent.¡±

    Su Chen almost choked to death on his tea. He stared at Cloud Leopard. ¡°Is this what you learned in more than half a year with the Secret Task Force?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it quite effective?¡± Cloud Leopard countered.

    Su Chen waved his hand. ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it. I absolutely won¡¯t permit doing it that way!

    Cloud Leopard might not be able to do it, but even if he could, he would definitely be harshly punished after the investigation determined that his im was fake. In addition, this would cause a lot of deaths, which was way beyond Su Chen¡¯s bottom line.

    Most importantly, making up a crime like that was too crazy. It broke the rules of the game.

    In the past, Su Chen might have used any tactic to deal with his opponents.

    But in the past ten years, Su Chen¡¯s eyes had been broadened, and his way of thinking was now much loftier. He realized that using any method to take down his opponents was the wrong way to do things.

    People not only needed to pursue victory, but they needed to do it in a reasonable and justified way.

    This was because victory was for the sake of possessing more.

    If the price of victory was losing more, then it wasn¡¯t worth it.

    Whether or not he respected the rules of the game was the most important factor in this.

    Obtaining victory while adhering to the rules of the game would require the lowest price.

    Obtaining victory while breaking the rules of the game would require the highest price.

    Many people overlooked the rules when valuing things, thinking that this was a more creative way of thinking. However, doing battle wasn¡¯t math; the result of thinking of breaking a set framework was often not good for that framework. Obtaining victory but not respecting the rules would be much more difficult than obtaining victory while respecting them. This was why leaping past the bounds of the rules to resolve an issue was something easy to get but hard to get rid of ¨C in other words, minimizing short-term conflict could create a number of troubles in the future that were hard to resolve. There was nothing praiseworthy about it.

    Of course, if you had the ability to change the rules of the game, then that was a different matter altogether.

    The battle for Clear River City fell under the same principles. If Su Chen allowed Cloud Leopard to do what he said, the ten Bloodline Nobility ns might be momentarily wiped out, but Su Chen would also be the enemy of all Bloodline Nobility ns. Even though he was fated to be their enemy anyway because of his research on surpassing bloodline limitations, that was something for the future. By the time he reached that point, his strength would be enough to deal with it. Doing it now, however, would cause him to instantly incur the wrath and furious revenge of all Bloodline Nobility ns.

    This was why Su Chen forcefully rejected Cloud Leopard¡¯s suggestion. In this matter, he definitely wouldn¡¯t give Cloud Leopard any approval. Otherwise, if he were to give Cloud Leopard a bit of ck, he might really go ahead and do it.

    Upon seeing that Su Chen was that determined, Cloud Leopard could only give up on that idea. ¡°Fine, so what should we do?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°We don¡¯t need to do anything apart from quietly watch the situation develop.¡±

    This reply clearly disappointed Cloud Leopard.

    Su Chenughed, ¡°Fine, if you really want to do something, there is something that I need your help with.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°These days I¡¯m nning on going out to temper myself. However, I don¡¯t have too much assurance about the situation here. With you here, I¡¯ll be a lot more at ease.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going to go out and temper yourself?¡± Cloud Leopard was shocked.

    ¡°Yes. If possible, I want to help Iron Cliff break into the Blood Boiling Realm. The best way to deal with our opponents is to increase our own strength. The biggest advantage we have is our position as government officials. Those Bloodline Nobility ns won¡¯t dare break the rules lightly. Our greatest disadvantage is that our strength isn¡¯t great enough. That¡¯s why I want to take advantage of this temporary standoff to raise my strength.¡±

    Su Chen spoke in half-truths.

    Raising Iron Cliff¡¯s strength was his n, but he also hoped that he could raise his cultivation base a bit during this period of time ¨C Shi Kaihuang¡¯s technique for charging into the Blood Boiling Realm had made an important breakthrough. Thebination of the Origin Talisman Energy Formation and Brooke¡¯s Form was still proving quite useful, allowing Shi Kaihuang to do in just six years what he hadn¡¯t been able to do in thirty.

    It wouldn¡¯t be long before a technique for reaching the Yang Opening Realm waspletely finished.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t want to find that his cultivation base was insufficient when that day came.

    This was why he decided it was time to strengthen himself.

    Cloud Leopard stared at Su Chen seriously.

    After a while, he suddenly said, ¡°Do you have some kind of technique that can raise your cultivation base in battle?¡±

    Su Chen was stunned.

    He thought for a moment, thenughed bitterly, ¡°It seems you saw through it.¡±

    ¡°Does it have something to do with those strange gestures that you make whenever you kill those Demonic Beasts?¡±

    ¡°...... That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re not some kind of Buddhist disciple?¡±

    ¡°...... No.¡±

    Su Chen was a bit embarrassed to have his secret seen through by Cloud Leopard.

    Then, Cloud Leopard nodded. ¡°Then I¡¯m not worried anymore.¡±

    ¡°Not worried? What aren¡¯t you worried about?¡± Su Chen was surprised.

    ¡°Now that I know you¡¯re not cing your whole life and hopes on some kind of illusory faith, I¡¯m not worried for you,¡± Cloud Leopard said sincerely.

    This was the first time that Su Chen had ever heard Cloud Leopard say something so deep before.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 42: Knowledge Sea Consolidating

    Chapter 42: Knowledge Sea Consolidating

    Before leaving, Su Chen went and found Wang Wenxin.

    Wang Wenxin appeared to belong to the Lai n, but in reality, he had alreadypletely submitted to Su Chen. Not too long ago, Su Chen¡¯s second iteration of the Hemolytic Totem had reached a breakthrough, and he had specifically told Wang Wenxin to choose a few of his trusted subordinates so that he could make some for them. The Hemolytic Totem 2.0 no longer required an individual cover their body with inscriptions; the Origin Skills it could support now, however, had increased to five.

    Wang Wenxin had nominated three people to Su Chen, who immediately turned them into experts. Of course, he hadn¡¯t given them any Shadow Substance. Even so, Wang Wenxin hadpletely given up any thought of resisting against Su Chen.

    The consequences of doing so were all too clear to him. After all, Su Chen could basically create batches of experts on his own now.

    Even though there were certain limitations, even a bunch of strong individuals at the same level could achieve quite a bit.

    From that day onwards, Wang Wenxin¡¯s control over the Long Clear Gang also became iron-d.

    Su Chen introduced Cloud Leopard to Wang Wenxin and distributed some assassins to them. After arranging everything, he took Iron Cliff with him and left.

    Because his departure was a secret, there was no ensuingmotion. He had asked Wang Wenxin to find him a boat along the Long Clear River and left, just like that.

    The boat wasn¡¯trge, and the only guests aboard were a young schr, a young mother and her child, an old man, and a dark-skinned, burly man. Including Su Chen and Iron Cliff, there were a total of seven people aboard.

    The boat was operated by a couple. The boss was quite tall and sturdy; his wife, on the other hand, was rather bright and bubbly.

    The boat¡¯s main cabin could house eight people in total. The couple operating the boat wanted to wait for another guest, but Wang Wenxin, honoring Su Chen¡¯s orders, didn¡¯t want word of Su Chen¡¯s departure to spread. In addition, having one less person would make the cabin more spacious. As such, he urged them to quickly leave. The coupleined incessantly about having lost a customer and that they were doing business at a loss. Even theirplexions seemed to grow ugly.

    Su Chen ignored them. He leaned against the boat and seemed to nod off to sleep, but in reality, he was training his consciousness power.

    His consciousness strands could already control the nearby microscopic substances. As long as he wanted to, he could prevent even specks of dust from getting within a three-foot radius of him.

    Consciousness power would develop from microscopic to macroscopic. Not long from now, Su Chen¡¯s consciousness power would be sufficient to actually control physical things.

    However, this wasn¡¯t Su Chen¡¯s goal.

    Even though using consciousness power to control objects sounded pretty good, Origin Energy could do the same more simply and conveniently. He would probably need to have the same amount of consciousness power as the Lord of the Dreamrealm, with enough power to create something like the Dreamrealm, in order to createrge-scale changes to the physical world like he could with Origin Skills.

    Using consciousness power to control physical objects was just a test of one¡¯s consciousness power; its true use was still to increase the power of a person¡¯s soul.

    Increasing the power of a person¡¯s soul had many benefits. It could improve the sess rate of illusions, the power of consciousness techniques, decrease the bacsh from failed consciousness techniques, improve the rity and agility of one¡¯s mind, etc......

    Because Su Chen was cultivating the True Spirit Technique and was still drinking Spirit Sobering Medicines from time to time, Su Chen¡¯s consciousness power had already reached 120. His thinking ability was far beyond that of a normal person. Perhaps this was also the reason why he had been making many breakthroughs in his cultivation recently.

    Su Chen sat in the cabin of the boat. Because he couldn¡¯t perform any experiments, he was instead testing out the consolidation of his own Knowledge Sea.

    After increasing his consciousness power, Su Chen¡¯s ability to perform calctions was much greater. He could already do a lot of rtively simple calctions in his head.

    As he was mulling over something, a strange thought suddenly jumped into Su Chen¡¯s head.

    Could he possibly solidify some things in his Knowledge Sea that he already knew and save a lot ofputational power?

    In other words, he would be consolidating his Knowledge Sea.

    Because a person¡¯s Knowledge Sea wasn¡¯t actually physical, everything he did consumed hisputational power.

    For instance, if Su Chen were to simte an experiment by trying to incorporate a new Origin Substance into his Hemolytic Totem, he wouldn¡¯t need to perform calctions on the Hemolytic Totemponent because he was already familiar with it. The only calctions he would need to make would be on the integration of the Origin Substance.

    However, at this moment, he needed to expend hisputational power to calcte both the Hemolytic Totem and how to incorporate the Origin Substance with it.

    If he were able to consolidate what he was already familiar with, he could save thatputational power and focus all of his attention on calcting what he wasn¡¯t familiar with.

    The benefit of this would be that he would save a lot ofputational power that he could then direct to more advanced, higher-level calctions.

    Before, Su Chen was always in his researchb and never needed to perform simtions like this. Now that he was on the boat with nothing to do, however, this thought suddenly emerged in his head.

    As soon as he thought of it, he began to try sending his own consciousness power back into his Knowledge Sea. A dense fog appeared over the surface of the waters.

    This fog was the physical form that consciousness power took within his Knowledge Sea.

    As the fog continued to swirl over the sea, some of it slowly gathered to form a long table.

    This was a research bench.

    Very quickly, the research bench waspletely formed.

    Perhaps because it was the first time he had made something like this, the research bench seemed crude, and its appearance left something to be desired. However, it was a new direction in which Su Chen could develop his consciousness.

    Su Chen attempted to solidify this research bench and disperse all of the fog.

    When thest strand of consciousness fog was separated from the table, Su Chen felt a small prick of pain in his consciousness, as if he had suffered from some kind of rebound.

    He discovered that his consciousness power had decreased a bit during this process.

    However, that research bench remained intact within his Knowledge Sea.

    So it was possible.

    Su Chen smiled slightly.

    Expending one¡¯s consciousness power just to create a research bench in one¡¯s Knowledge Sea wasn¡¯t something that many people would be willing to do, but Su Chen reckoned that this was very much worth exploring.

    No one knew how this would develop in the future. Perhaps it would be valuable, perhaps it would be worthless, or perhaps it woulde back to haunt him in the future.

    But Su Chen wasn¡¯t afraid to try.

    True schr overlords were filled with an insatiable appetite for knowledge, and they loved trying new things.

    Next, Su Chen began to construct beakers, triangr pyramids, etc., expending a bit of his consciousness power again.

    Next, Su Chen expended a bit of his consciousness power to create raw ingredients like the Corpse Spirit Flower.

    Then, he began to concoct Spirit Sobering Medicines within his Knowledge Sea.

    Having made so many Spirit Sobering Medicines, Su Chen was as familiar as he could get with the process of making them.

    However, making illusory items formed out of consciousness power react with each other as they did in the real world wasn¡¯t easy. A simr chemical reaction would need to be established as well.

    This time, Su Chen failed.

    Even though he could make Spirit Sobering Medicines with his eyes closed, within his Knowledge Sea, nothingplied with thews of the physical rules. Su Chen wanted to make them follow reality as closely as possible, requiring him to assign them to their correspondingws of nature even as he made them.

    Su Chen discovered that doing this was actually a study of the rules of nature themselves.

    For instance, if he had formted some theory about a certainw of nature but it failed to hold up in his Knowledge Sea, then that would mean that his theory was faulty and needed to be modified. On the other hand, if everything went smoothly, thatw was confirmed to be correct.

    Su Chen had found a reason to consolidate his Knowledge Sea.

    Luckily, if his experiments failed, all of the items would disappear and be returned to Su Chen as consciousness energy. The only drawback was that every time he had to make the ingredients again, his head would hurt as the consciousness energy was severed from him. Regardless, this greatly increased Su Chen¡¯s capacity to ept failure.

    Su Chen began to try things out left and right.

    Time flowed as he ran different scenarios through his head back and forth. The boat very quickly left Clear River City, heading west, until it arrived at a densely-forested river bank.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 43: West River Forest 1

    Chapter 43: West River Forest (1)

    ¡°Ahead of you is Dragonfish Gorge. West River Forest is just past Dragonfish Gorge, and West Forest Town is just past that,¡± the owner of the boat said, sitting at the prow of the boat as he pointed in front of them.

    ¡°West River Forest? Is that the forest that has been here ever since ancient times? Apparently, it contains many ancient beasts and rare ingredients, but because it¡¯s cursed, outsiders can¡¯t go in easily?¡± Su Chen asked, also standing on the prow.

    After nearly half a day on the boat, they had left Clear River City far behind. Su Chen had finished consolidating his Knowledge Sea, and his consciousness had returned to reality.

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± The boat owner nodded. ¡°That ce is really demonic. There are a lot of people who want to go in and search for resources, but not many people return alive.¡±

    ¡°But very little means that some people returned alive?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Ai, guest, don¡¯t think like that! The risk is too great. People have returned from West River Forest alive before, but the people who returned never went very far into the forest. Even so, many people returned with the curse on them. One such person actually brought a tragic fate upon his whole family!¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°That curse can be passed on?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that so? That¡¯s why it¡¯s so frightening.¡±

    ¡°But I heard that there are people who can survive in West River Forest?¡± the young schr asked.

    ¡°Those are the natives, a bunch of savages. Those people can live deep in the forest but aren¡¯t affected. However, they can¡¯t leave the forest either; apparently, they will also die if they leave the forest for too long. This really is a ce where the people inside can¡¯t get out and the people outside can¡¯t get in. It¡¯s like arge cage,¡± the boat owner said as he shook his head.

    ¡°No wonder I heard that the resources arepletely under the control of the Ten Bloodline Nobility ns even though the production of West River Forest is good,¡± Su Chen muttered.

    ¡°Exactly. That¡¯s a huge money farm for them. They buyrge quantities of those rare ingredients from these locals at low prices, then sell them for almost a hundred times the original price,¡± Iron Cliff said from the side. ¡°I heard that City Lord An and the Ten Bloodline Nobility ns are at oddsrgely because of this. City Lord An wanted to collect taxes on this, but those Bloodline Nobility ns kept trying to shirk their responsibilities and never reported their true profits. The profits from the West River Forest number in the tens of millions every year, but City Lord An doesn¡¯t even get a single tael of gold out of it. How could he not be agitated?¡±

    Su Chen harrumphed, ¡°So those Bloodline Nobility ns only know how to drain others dry and never contribute anything. They really deserve to die.¡±

    The Bloodline Nobility ns had quite a bit of local clout. When the guests heard what Su Chen said, they all jumped with fear and no longer dared to hold a conversation with him.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Boatmaster, I¡¯ve changed my mind. We¡¯ll disembark at West River Forest.¡±

    Originally, Su Chen was nning on hunting Vicious Beasts near the West Mountain Range further away, but he decided instead to take care of it here.

    When the boatmaster heard that Su Chen wanted to disembark near West River Forest, he quickly tried to convince him otherwise. However, Su Chen just wouldn¡¯t listen, and the boatmaster could only relent.

    The boat traveled for another half a day before it finally passed Dragonfish Gorge and arrived at West River Forest.

    Su Chen and Iron Cliff disembarked once the boat stopped and stepped onto the shore.

    As he watched the two people disappear into the forest, the boatmaster shook his head and sighed, ¡°Another two people sending themselves to their deaths.¡±

    In his eyes, the two of them were already dead men.

    Upon reaching the riverbank, the two of them set off for the depths of the forest.

    The forest was deep and secluded. The further in they went, the quieter and darker it grew.

    When they were deep inside, they found that the trees were taller and taller, but the roots protruded more and more from the ground. The ground was covered with roots intertwined with each other. Looking off in the distance, it was as if the ground was covered with snakes.

    Vines also hung down from the tree branches, but there were also real snakes lying in wait, suddenly exploding into motion when a person walked by.

    Whoosh!

    Su Chen raised his hand, grabbing the snake by the head with two fingers. Then, he tilted his head to the side as a streak of poisonous liquid shot past his ear.

    His fingers mped on the snake¡¯s head as he pried its mouth open, inspecting it closely and collecting some of the poisonous liquid before letting the snake go.

    Under his microscopic eye, the secrets behind the poisonous liquid became obvious at a nce.

    Su Chen very quickly dissected theposition of the poisonous liquid. It wasn¡¯t powerful, but he could refine it into a type of poisonous Origin Substance. If hebined it with some of the other poisonous Origin Substances he possessed, perhaps he could refine them into a powerful poison.

    Ten or so possiblebinations immediately leapt into Su Chen¡¯s head.

    Poison wasn¡¯t one of Su Chen¡¯s primary research directions, but even so, he could turn into a poison-concocting expert in just a matter of minutes if he wanted to.

    After tossing the snake aside, Su Chen and Iron Cliff continued to advance. Very quickly, they encountered a Jungle Flowery Python. Even though it was just a low-tier Vicious Beast, they would be able to use its Origin Energy after killing it.

    The master and servant pair didn¡¯t hesitate to kill it and absorb its Origin Energy.

    However, the effect of absorbing this Origin Energy clearly had more of an effect on Iron Cliff than on Su Chen.

    Cultivation bases in the Blood Boiling Realm were measured by Azure Stars, and the amount of Origin Energy needed to reach the Yang Opening Realm was much higher as well. A low-tier Vicious Beast could only raise his cultivation base so much. This was simr to a person who had received a promotion; to reach the next promotion, the person would need much more experience. Actually, killing beasts that were too weak would even lower his experience.

    Thus, the two of them didn¡¯t stop advancing and continued to head deeper into the forest.

    After walking a bit longer, Su Chen suddenly motioned for them to stop.

    All Iron Cliff could see was a hazy mist, and it seemed like nothing was there. However, Su Chen¡¯s eyes could see arge group of dense red dots floating in the sky not far from them.

    ¡°There¡¯s something ahead of us?¡± Iron Cliff realized something as he asked.

    ¡°Yes, a kind of lifeform roughly the same size as a microscopic substance. Let¡¯s call it a microscopic organism. Open your Spirit Eye and you¡¯ll be able to see it.¡±

    Ever since he had discovered the aggregates of Origin Substances within the block of metal and their special effects, Su Chen had taken to calling them microscopic substances.

    Microscopic substances, Origin Substances, and Particles became the three different tiers in Su Chen¡¯s eyes.

    Even though microscopic substances were hard to spot with one¡¯s physical eyes, spirit-eye type Origin Skills could still catch glimpses of them. However, it was impossible to see them as clearly as Su Chen could with his microscopic eye, which was all the way down to itsposition.

    Iron Cliff, however, replied with a bitter face, ¡°I thought it was too much of a hassle and never really cultivated it.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s expression sank. ¡°The Cliff Race is more of a physical race and cannot use Origin Energy as well as humans, but that doesn¡¯t mean that the Cliff Race is innately stupid. It also doesn¡¯t mean that the Cliff Race can only do brainless work. Iron Cliff, if you treat yourself as a Cliff Race member who only ever needs to fight and doesn¡¯t need to use his brain, you won¡¯t have any future prospects no matter how other people help you.¡±

    Iron Cliff lowered his head silently. ¡°Okay. I will cultivate it diligently when we go back.¡±

    Su Chen turned around to take a closer look at those microscopic organisms, then walked over to them.

    When he entered that patch ofnd, those microscopic organisms exploded forth and charged at Su Chen.

    From a macroscopic view, the stench of blood suddenly appeared, as if some vicious beast was encroaching. However, nothing could be spotted. All one could feel was a strange, dangerous sensation crawling over one¡¯s skin.

    If one used one¡¯s Spirit Eye, one would see wave after wave of a red fog spreading in all directions, flying through the air like smoke and ash from an explosion.

    And purely in the microscopic world, these microscopic organisms rushed forward like a tide, entering Su Chen¡¯s various orifices. After they entered, they continued to travel through his body, taking root in his body as they began to absorb his life force.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 44: West River Forest 2

    Chapter 44: West River Forest (2)

    Su Chen didn¡¯t avoid the microscopic organisms.

    At the same time that this red wave entered his body, he ripped apart his clothes and began to inspect his body.

    Whenbined with his internal view technique, he could clearly see what was happening in his body.

    He watched as those small red microorganisms burrowed their way into his bones like maggots, distributing themselves into every part of his body, including his heart, intestines, kidneys, stomach, spleen, and even his Qi Sea, where his Origin Energy was stored.

    In an instant, Su Chen suddenly found it hard to breathe. His heart rate began to race as his chest felt like it was burning, and he began to feel dizzy.

    ¡°Curse......¡± Su Chen spat out arduously.

    ¡°Master!¡± Iron Cliff could tell that Su Chen¡¯s situation wasn¡¯t right and was about to charge over.

    Su Chen swung his arm fiercely. ¡°Don¡¯te here! If youe over, I won¡¯t be able to save you!¡±

    ¡°But your body......¡± Iron Cliff pointed at Su Chen as he yelled in shock.

    In just a few moments, he watched as a strange change began to ur across Su Chen¡¯s body. Large swathes of red blotches began to appear all over his body and his face like red birthmarks, but they then began to blister.

    Suddenly, one of the blisters exploded. A pungent spray of water exploded forth, filling the air with a gross stench.

    Iron Cliff couldn¡¯t see the changes taking ce within Su Chen¡¯s body. This frightening turn of events had given him quite a shock.

    Su Chen lifted his arm. He could see that his entire body had been covered in arge, red, blistering rash.

    Su Chen coughed out a mouthful of blood.

    That blood was actually alive. It circled around in the air before slowlynding on the ground,nding on a bed of leaves. The blood began to sizzle as it corroded away

    If he couldn¡¯t clearly see what was happening within his body, even Su Chen would be badly scared by this scene.

    ¡°Master!¡± Iron Cliff couldn¡¯t help but yell out.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Su Chen replied, his voice hoarse.

    The red microscopic organisms had burrowed their way into his throat, making it difficult for him to speak.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t pay it any mind. Rather, his eyes began to glow brighter and brighter. ¡°So this is the source of the curse! No wonder most of the people who came in here died. Even Blood Boiling Realm cultivators wouldn¡¯t be able to endure this since it corrodes even Origin Energy. Impressive! Impressive! Truly impressive!¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he began tough. When paired with the blisters still covering his face, this scene was incredibly unsettling.

    ¡°But unfortunately, these things aren¡¯t effective against me in the slightest,¡± Su Chen said in a low voice.

    His consciousness tendrils began to reach out, capturing the red microscopic organisms.

    The consciousness tendrils didn¡¯t have physical substance and couldn¡¯t affect the macroscopic world. It was only effective against these kinds of microscopic organisms.

    When the consciousness tendrils expanded, the microscopic organisms that had entered his body were fiercely ughtered.

    If these microscopic organisms had a consciousnesses, it would be as if they had discovered a star full of energy. Just as they were consuming it, countless column-like demons suddenly appeared from the horizon and swarmed them, beating them to death with extreme precision.

    This was an urate representation of what these microscopic organisms were going through. The consciousness tendrils killed them in one blow like they were insects.

    Thousands of these consciousness tendrils constantly moved around, killing these microscopic organisms inrge waves.

    Iron Cliff watched as the red patches on Su Chen¡¯s body disappeared one after the other, and the blistered skin slowly began to return to normal.

    Su Chen¡¯s face, which had been extremely frightening to look at just moments before, had returned to normal.

    ¡°Whew!¡± Iron Cliff sighed. ¡°Master, you gave me quite a fright.¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t reply. He slowly raised his left hand.

    In the palm of his left hand, a bright red imprint remained.

    Su Chen had purposefully left this there.

    Then, he waved his right hand, forcefully ripping off this red mark from his skin.

    This time, however, he had used a macroscopic technique to try to handle the situation. He wanted to see if it would have any effect.

    He quickly discovered, however, that even if the red mark was ripped off, the microscopic organisms still remained in his blood.

    The microscopic organisms hiding in his body couldn¡¯t do much because of their small numbers. However, they were still secretly breeding and reproducing, continuing to survive.

    As long as there was some room left for them, they would constantly reproduce and expand......

    ¡°It seems like this is the root of the West River Forest Curse,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°If anyone identally stumbles into the region inhabited by these microscopic organisms, those people will be attacked. Even if they discover that something is off and cut it off immediately, even the tiniest amount that gets into them will slowly grow until they inevitably die of the curse. All that happens is that they dy the inevitable, I suppose.¡±

    ¡°But the lifeforms and natives in the West River Forest affected by these things,¡± Iron Cliff noted.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°This is what I¡¯m interested in too. They definitely can¡¯t use the way I deal with it. I just don¡¯t know what alternative they would use to fight back against it.¡±

    ¡°No matter what it is, we¡¯ll see for ourselves if we keep going,¡± Iron Cliff said.

    Su Chenughed, ¡°That¡¯s exactly right! Let¡¯s go.¡±

    As he spoke, he waved his arm. The red patch of skin he had ripped off from his palm went right into a beaker, along with a piece of beast meat. He had officially begun to study and cultivate these microscopic organisms.

    After taking care of this, the two continued to advance deeper into the forest.

    Even though these extremely strange and sinister microscopic organisms inhabited this forest, nature had found a way to propagate, and many Vicious Beasts still popted the forest. The abundance of food allowed the beasts to grow and reproduce rapidly, which in turn positively reinforced the cycle. As such, this ce was also rich in natural resources.

    The whole way, Su Chen and Iron Cliff constantly hunted any Vicious Beasts they encountered and harvested any resources they came across. As they progressed deeper into the forest, the beasts they encountered also grew stronger and stronger. They gradually advanced from low-tier Vicious Beasts to mid-tier, and then eventually to high-tier and even top-tier Vicious Beasts.

    Su Chen only ran into a single top-tier Vicious Beast.

    It was a Buried Armor Beast. Even though it didn¡¯t have as much brute strength as the y Giant, it was still an incredibly difficult opponent to deal with. Thankfully, Su Chen wasn¡¯t the same either. After a pretty intense battle, he was able to defeat it.

    The meat of a Buried Armor Beast wasn¡¯t worth much, but the single horn on its head was quite a rare treasure. The massive horn was like a curved sword. A Buried Armor Beast had the innate ability to charge through a person¡¯s defenses; as long as it infused Origin Energy into its horn, it wasparable in strength to a decent Origin Tool.

    Iron Cliff picked up the horn and waved it around in his hands a few time. It whistled through the air sharply, so he decided to treat it as an Origin Tool. The ck Streak Battle de¡¯s side effect was too big to ignore, and it was time to get rid of it.

    Iron Cliff took point as he advanced spiritedly, carrying the massive horn-de on his back.

    As they were advancing, they suddenly saw some movement in front of them.

    Iron Cliff stopped moving and carefully pulled the horn de off his back, staring intently in front of him. He was just about to attack when he suddenly saw a few people step out from the trees in front of them.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 45: Contact 1

    Chapter 45: Contact (1)

    These people were wearing tattered garments, and their faces were stained with mud. They were wielding spears.

    Upon seeing Iron Cliff, they froze for a moment, but when they saw the horn-de in Iron Cliff¡¯s hand, their expressions suddenly contorted with rage as they yelled angrily and charged over, stabbing their spears at Iron Cliff.

    Iron Cliff didn¡¯t understand where this sudden attack hade from. He was about to retaliate when Su Chen suddenly yelled, ¡°Don¡¯t kill them.¡±

    When he heard this, Iron Cliff was forced to put the horn-de away.

    Even though these people attacked fiercely, they were very weak ¨C only martial artists in the Body Tempering realm. Iron Cliff realized after defending against a few of their blows that they posed no danger to him, so he didn¡¯t even bother to return their blows. Instead, he activated his Adamantine Battle Body and allowed them to hit him.

    Those long spears nged against his iron-like body, but they didn¡¯t even leave behind any scuff marks.

    One of the men swung his spear viciously, crashing it down on Iron Cliff¡¯s head.

    With a bang, the spear actually broke in two.

    The men nced at each other, unable to conceal the fear in their expressions; then, they yelled and retreated simultaneously.

    ¡°Want to run?¡± A fierce expression appeared on Iron Cliff¡¯s face.

    He was just about to snatch them all up when Su Chen said, ¡°Let them go.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Iron Cliff was stunned.

    Su Chen walked over calmly. ¡°These people are the nearby natives. They attacked not because they wanted to plunder us but because we killed their Guardian Beast.¡±

    ¡°Guardian Beast?¡± Iron Cliff didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°The Buried Armor Beast,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°We killed off the Guardian Beast that they had tamed. Them attacking us out of anger is understandable.¡±

    When those people appeared, Su Chen had used hisnguage proficiency skill to interpret their yells. As such, he could understand why they were angry.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± When Su Chen said that, Iron Cliff felt somewhat ashamed. No matter how you put it, they were the ones at fault in the first ce.

    ¡°But for a bunch of vigers to tame a top-tier Vicious Beast? That¡¯s quite interesting. Let¡¯s go. Since we ran into them, we should at least increase our contact with them. It seems like there are still some tricks in this ce,¡± Su Chen said as he followed after those fleeing vigers.

    When he was training in the Hidden Dragon Institute, they had taught him some tracking skills. These vigers had never been trained and didn¡¯t know how to conceal their tracks. The direction and path they had taken when fleeing were extremely clear in Su Chen¡¯s eyes.

    As they followed the tracks left behind by the vigers, a stockaded vige very quickly emerged before them.

    The fortified vige was constructed out of wood from the massive trees nearby. There were even a few vige soldiers wielding either spears or bows standing guard.

    Their strength also seemed like it was in the Body Tempering Realm, and none of them appeared particrly exceptional.

    What really protected the fortified vige wasn¡¯t their own strength but that formless, invisible ¡°curse¡±.

    The vigers who had attacked Iron Cliff had already returned to the fort. The fort was obviously in amotion. When Su Chen and Iron Cliff appeared, a warning call sounded out from the fort. Immediately afterwards, a bunch more viger soldiers charged to the top of the fort.

    Bow after bow was drawn and pointed right at Su Chen.

    An old, white-haired man missing many of his teeth stood atop the wall of the fort and yelled down, ¡°Who are you people? Why are you attacking us?¡±

    What came out of his mouth was standard humannguage.

    ¡°I think you¡¯ve got it all wrong. We¡¯re not here to attack you, but you¡¯re the ones attacking us.¡±

    ¡°You killed our Guardian Angel Beast!¡± a viger who looked like he was themander of the troops yelled.

    ¡°Angel Beast?¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°You call a top-tier Vicious Beast an Angel Beast? Then what about Demonic Beasts? Are they Divine Beasts?¡±

    As he spoke, his expression sank. ¡°The Beast Race is the enemy of all Intelligent Races. If we worship them as divine beings, what room does that leave us humans? We can control and use beasts, but not in this manner!¡±

    The old man harrumphed, ¡°You make it sound so good, but if it weren¡¯t for the fact that you bully us tyrannically, we wouldn¡¯t be forced to eke out a living like this. We don¡¯t care about whether the human race is enemies with the beast race. All we know is that they keep our home safe from the invasion of you damn outsiders! Young man, we won¡¯t squabble with you over your offense of killing our Guardian Angel Beast because of your ignorance. Leave this ce now; otherwise, don¡¯t me us for being impolite!¡±

    A resounding cry came from the top of the fort walls. There were many Vicious Beasts hiding within the walls of the fort. From the sounds of their howls, it seemed as if they were mid-tier or higher.

    Even though these vigers weren¡¯t very powerful, the beasts they tamed weren¡¯t weak at all.

    The Beast Race was naturally violent and savage; beasts rarely submitted to humans.

    For mid- and even high-tier Vicious Beasts to submit to a bunch of weak vigers could be overlooked if it were just an exception, but arge group to submit was enough to give one significant pause.

    A sharp glint shed across Su Chen¡¯s eyes as he said, ¡°You won¡¯t squabble with me, or you can¡¯t afford to? I think that it¡¯s thetter, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    If Su Chen and Iron Cliff could kill a Vicious Beast, they could obviously kill many more. Even though the old man was acting as if he was being merciful, he was motivated by fear.

    Su Chen¡¯s words shattered his facade, and the old man¡¯s expression grew extremely ugly.

    Themander of the martial artists yelled, ¡°Chief, those outsiders are being far too brash. They were most likely sent by those Bloodline Nobility ns. Let¡¯s not waste our time with them and just kill them now!¡±

    However, the old man still hesitated. It was obvious that the two people in front of him weren¡¯t easy to deal with, and even if he could kill them, the price might be far too high for them to bear.

    Su Chen, however, froze slightly when he heard this, then said, ¡°Please, wait a minute. The ¡®Bloodline Nobility ns¡¯ you mentioned, does that refer to the ten Bloodline Nobility ns in Clear River City?¡±

    ¡°Are there any other Bloodline Nobility ns that woulde here?¡± the martial artistmander countered.

    ¡°It sounds like you don¡¯t like them very much. If I recall correctly, haven¡¯t you been doing business with them this entire time?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°We¡¯re not doing business with them; they¡¯re robbing us!¡± the young martial artistmander yelled loudly. ¡°But now, we don¡¯t want to be robbed by them anymore!¡±

    ¡°Is that how it is?¡± Su Chenughed.

    The old man seemed to realize something. He asked, ¡°Young man, you don¡¯t look like one of those Bloodline Nobility n people. They wouldn¡¯t possibly speak so cordially with us; they¡¯re far more arrogant and usuallye with more people.¡±

    ¡°Of course I¡¯m not one of them. I¡¯m actually the total opposite ¨C they¡¯re trying their best to kill me,¡± Su Chen replied.

    The old man¡¯s eyes shed with light. ¡°May I ask who you are?¡±

    ¡°Su Chen, the Knowledge Executor of Clear River City.¡±

    The vigers nced at each other. Evidently, Su Chen¡¯s prestige had yet to spread from Clear River City to here.

    But that wasn¡¯t important. If you don¡¯t know it, I can help you know it.

    Sometimes, you can¡¯t afford to be modest. If the timees where you need to boast about yourself, then you need to boast.

    Su Chen said, ¡°One or two hundred of their subordinates have died to my hands, including two Yang Opening Realm experts and ten or so Blood Boiling Realm experts. If you are also an enemy of theirs, I think that we can dispense with baring our fangs at each other.¡±

    ¡°Are you telling the truth?¡± the old man asked with cautious excitement.

    ¡°Trust me. Your defensive tactics aren¡¯t anything special in my eyes.¡± Su Chen casually tossed out a Thunderfire Ball.

    The Thunderfire Ball 3.0 was much stronger than before. It exploded in a location a ways off from where they were, sending a violent wave of energy in all directions. If he were to use it on the wooden walls of this fort, he could destroy them easily.

    After Su Chen revealed this tactic, the old man no longer had any more doubts. After all, the methods Su Chen had demonstrated could ruin their fort within a matter of moments. He yelled quickly, ¡°Open the doors to the fort and invite our esteemed guest in!¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 46: Contact 2

    Chapter 46: Contact (2)

    The door to the fortified vige opened, and arge wave of people poured out through the doorway.

    The old man leading the way sped his hands and said, ¡°My name is Xiu Chalei, and I am the head of the vige. Greetings to you, Knowledge Executor Su; please excuse our earlier ignorance.¡±

    ¡°Vige Chief Chalei, you¡¯re too polite. It was us who were rude and killed the beast you had tamed. I am willing to make reparations for that,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Upon hearing the matter ofpensation, the old man¡¯s eyes immediately lit up. ¡°I knew Knowledge Executor Su was definitely a good friend. Quick, pleasee in.¡±

    Earlier, when he was descending upon them like a powerful enemy, he hadn¡¯t said anything like that. Now that he mentionedpensation, they were instantly much more excited.

    The vigers¡¯ck of experience, however, didn¡¯t mean that they didn¡¯t have their own considerations. Their pursuit of benefits was ceaseless; the only difference was the different benefits that people valued.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t in a hurry. He talked with Chalei, slowly working out what the situation was in the fort while he took in his surroundings.

    The fort was called Happiness Residing Fort.

    The name was intended to have a lot of meaning, but unfortunately, the real situation didn¡¯t quite match up.

    From the circumstances, it seemed like Happiness Residing Fort didn¡¯t have more than three hundred people. In the center of the fort, there were two more colossal beasts, also top-tier Vicious Beasts. At this moment, they were casually rxing.

    Su Chen asked and found out that there were originally three top-tier Vicious Beasts here. The vigers didn¡¯t need to feed them; rather, they would go out, search for food, and return all on their own.

    Su Chen quietly marveled at this.

    Feeding Vicious Beasts was a fundamental requirement for taming beasts. Only if they were dependent on you would they listen to you.

    Humans would typically control beasts by controlling the food supply. This was already a practice that was thousands of years old. But now, some Vicious Beasts could be controlled without restricting their food. There were too many things to consider in this situation.

    However, Su Chen knew that this was one of the fort¡¯s secrets, and because he couldn¡¯t just ask the vigers directly, he took another approach. ¡°Vige Chief Chalei, it sounds like you and the Clear River City Bloodline Nobility ns are currently locked in a trade war? What¡¯s going on? How are you nning on continuing to do business?¡±

    Chalei replied, ¡°Ai, this matter originated from starting to do business in the first ce. Since Knowledge Executor Su came to West River Forest, you should also know what the forest is like now.¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°I have a rough understanding of it. West River Forest¡¯s terrain isplex, and it is filled with dangers. Not only do Vicious Beasts run rampant here, but there also seems to be some kind of curse that people other than natives have a hard time getting through without dying.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! Since Knowledge Executor Su was able to get here and killed the Divine...... Vicious Beast, you evidently have a lot of talent, which most people don¡¯t have. It just so happens that West River Forest is filled with resources. If they want to harvest them, they need to rely on us natives.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. After all, you are natives of West River, so the resources in West River should belong to you. How could any outsider im rights to it?¡± Su Chen said as he simultaneously ttered them and pointed out their weakness.

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly right!¡± The old man was instantly excited. ¡°So we should be able to sell the resources here in West River for the prices that we decide on, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Su Chen was already beginning to understand the whole story.

    ¡°But that¡¯s not what is happening,¡± a martial artist nearby said, his voice full of anger. ¡°The authority to put a price on these resources has always belonged to the Bloodline Nobility ns. Whatever price they set is the price we have to sell it for. A high-tier medicinal herb can be sold for a hundred taels of gold outside, but we have to sell it for just one tael!¡±

    ¡°The discrepancy is that big?¡± Su Chen was stunned by this difference.

    ¡°That¡¯s right! We didn¡¯t know what the outside situation was at first and were cheated by them, but that was because we didn¡¯t know better. But as we figured out what the outside situation was, we tried negotiating with them to raise the price, but they refused our conditions.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you sell them to other people?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°We thought about it before. However, the market in Clear River is totally controlled by them; it¡¯s impossible for us to try and sell it to anyone else!¡± Chalei sighed.

    The closest city to West River Forest was Clear River City. Those Bloodline Nobility ns controlled almost all of the businesses in Clear River City from the cargo boats to the docks to the shops themselves. Every single step of the way was controlled by them.

    If they wanted the resources from West River Forest to enter Clear River City, they would have to subject themselves to the Bloodline Nobility ns¡¯ control as soon as their goods were loaded onto the boats.

    Without permission from the Bloodline Nobility ns, their goods couldn¡¯t get on the boats; even if they got on the boats, they couldn¡¯t be unloaded on the docks; even if they were unloaded on the docks, no shopkeeper would dare to sell them.

    By the same principle, they needed to buy things after selling off the resources, and those stores were also controlled by the Bloodline Nobility ns. Even if you took care of all of the aforementioned issues and sold your wares, you wouldn¡¯t be able to buy anything with that money.

    By monopolizing the market, the Bloodline Nobility ns could force the vigers in West River Forest to sell the resources to them.

    ¡°Have you not looked around for other markets?¡±

    ¡°We tried before. Unfortunately, we have no boats, and the rivers here are filled with pirates. Those pirates are also controlled by the Bloodline Nobility ns, and some are even payrolled by them. We once constructed a boat and sent some goods to another city downriver, but in the end, they were all killed by pirates before they even reached the city. Actually, their heads were sent back to us by the Bloodline Nobility ns.¡±

    ¡°How vicious!¡± Su Chen was shocked.

    The Bloodline Nobility ns¡¯ way of doing things was basically monopolizing every path to the market, then using this to make obscene profits. Those who could produce and had the resources, however, could only ept this exploitation.

    But even so, the stubborn vigers didn¡¯t give up easily. The crops they nted and harvested, as well as the beasts they raised, could help reduce their dependence on the outside world.

    You might control the market, but I can control my production!

    They relied on this method to counter their opponents.

    When these economic pressures were applied to the point that neither party could tolerate the other, what often happened immediately after was a bloody, violent sh.

    The Bloodline Nobility ns were infuriated by the vigers¡¯ unwillingness to cooperate.

    They began to send people into the forest, preparing to directly attack the vigers.

    Even though the curse in West River Forest was frightening, the Bloodline Nobility ns had been operating here for many years, and they knew a little bit about West River City. They understood some of the secrets surrounding the curse.

    There was no way they could avoid the curse 100% of the time, but they had a few protective measures that could greatly decrease the chance of running into the curse.

    As long as people were willing to die, it wasn¡¯t a problem for them to prate the forest.

    This made it so that West River Forest¡¯s natural defenses were much less effective against them.

    The martial artists in West River Forest had tried to resist the Bloodline Nobility ns and prevent them from stealing away the resources that they worked hard to earn, but they had been bitterly defeated both times and were forced to pay a bloody price.

    Because they were in the wilderness, no one would stick their necks out for them either.

    In the end, the vigers could only lower their heads and allow the exploitation to continue.

    However, these circumstances had suddenly changed in recent times.

    All of the vigers had banded together again to fight against the Bloodline Nobility ns.

    The reason for this was because they had obtained some kind of skill that allowed them to control Vicious Beasts.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 47: Contact 3

    Chapter 47: Contact (3)

    As for how they hade by this skill and how it was used, Vige Chief Chalei didn¡¯t say, and Su Chen didn¡¯t ask.

    Both sides maintained a rare tacit understanding. After all, the trust between the two of them was based on their mutual hatred of the Bloodline Nobility ns.

    After understanding the situation between West River and the Bloodline Nobility ns, Su Chen exined roughly his conflict with the Bloodline Nobility ns as well.

    It wasn¡¯t very appropriate for him to toot his own horn, however, so he allowed Iron Cliff to tell it on his behalf.

    When he heard that Su Chen had killed the Origin Bureau¡¯s City Head, took over the Origin Bureau, and then washed the Clear River Docks with blood, the vigers¡¯ gazes grew even more fervent, and they stared at Su Chen with immense respect.

    Old Chalei said excitedly, ¡°Knowledge Executor Su, since we both have enmity with the Bloodline Nobility ns, we¡¯re allies! If we can team up, we can definitely defeat those evil nobles!¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°I think Vige Chief may have misunderstood something.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I never said that I had any enmity with the Bloodline Nobility ns. All I ever said was that they want to kill me.¡±

    Chalei was stunned. ¡°Is there a difference?¡±

    ¡°Of course there¡¯s a difference. As the Knowledge Executor of the Origin Bureau, everything I do is for the glory of heaven. My sryes from the imperial family, so my loyalty is to them. However, the way I do things made the Bloodline Nobility ns unhappy, inciting their attacks. I don¡¯t like that, but I still don¡¯t have a personal grudge with the Bloodline Nobility ns; it¡¯s just business. As such, if those Bloodline Nobility ns stopped making trouble for me, I wouldn¡¯t go to make trouble for them on my own.¡±

    Everyone there was stunned by these words.

    Su Chen had turned them down.

    This wasn¡¯t that surprising.

    Even though the vigers were simple, they had their own brand of sneakiness. For Chalei to proim that he and Su Chen were united against amon enemy was basically just trying to get Su Chen to do free work for them. He would put his life on the line for them but wouldn¡¯t be getting any benefit of his own.

    If it were anyone else, perhaps they would have agreed.

    If they were really so poor that they couldn¡¯t afford to give him any benefits, Su Chen might have agreed to help them.

    However, it just so happened that the person they had run into was Su Chen, and they weren¡¯t penniless.

    At the very least, in Su Chen¡¯s eyes, they had riches that they were unaware of.

    These riches weren¡¯t West River Forest¡¯s resources but their method to deal with the curse and the secret technique they used to control those beasts.

    Su Chen valued those two things highly.

    Even though the other party had something that Su Chen was interested in, there was no way he could possibly let it be known.

    When Chalei heard Su Chen to turn him down, he grew a bit anxious. ¡°Knowledge Executor Su, you killed one of our Guardian Angel Beasts......¡±

    He didn¡¯t mention a price, only asking forpensation; this kind of behavior made people extremely unhappy.

    Iron Cliff harrumphed, and even Su Chen knitted his eyebrows slightly.

    However, he continued to say with a smile, ¡°Oh, since you mentioned it, I will need to make good on my promise from earlier. A top-tier Vicious Beast is still somewhat valuable no matter how you look at it. In the outside world, a top-tier Vicious Beast is worth at least two thousand Origin Stones, but because the one you had was tamed, its price will be much higher. Let¡¯s just count it as ten times more expensive; that shouldn¡¯t disadvantage you in any way.¡±

    As he spoke, he pulled out twenty thousand Origin Stones from his Origin Ring and handed it to them.

    Twenty thousand Origin Stones wasn¡¯t a low price for them to pay. Under normal circumstances, he probably could¡¯ve negotiated the price down to around eight thousand Origin Stones. No matter how you looked at it, there was nothing that you could say Su Chen had done wrong.

    However, the Vige Chief didn¡¯t seem happy at all with the Origin Stones. Rather, he looked as if he were about to cry.

    They were currentlypletely locked down by the Bloodline Nobility ns; they couldn¡¯t sell or buy anything, so money waspletely useless to them.

    While Origin Stones could help one recover one¡¯s cultivation base, there weren¡¯t many cultivators in the vige, and the stones wouldn¡¯t immediately be converted into true strength. In the end, it wasn¡¯t nearly as useful as two powerful experts on their side.

    Even so, Su Chen was very generous with his money so that he could clear up any misunderstandings on his side.

    He said, ¡°I don¡¯t owe you anything more now, do I?¡±

    As he spoke, he made a motion to leave.

    When Chalei saw this, he grew agitated and grabbed Su Chen. ¡°Knowledge Executor Su, we can forget about the money as long as you¡¯re willing to help us out. To tell you the truth, the Bloodline Nobility n¡¯s people have alreadye to West River Forest. These past few days, they¡¯ve been constantly attacking us, and we¡¯ve been fending them off with our Guardian Angel Beasts. However, they¡¯ve already called for reinforcements; if this goes on, we won¡¯t be able to defend ourselves. Knowledge Executor Su, the Bloodline Nobility ns are your enemies. If you help defend us against them, it will be very beneficial to you as well! Weakening your enemies is the same as empowering yourself!¡±

    The old man was indeed somewhat cultured. He knew how to say things like ¡°weakening your enemies is the same as empowering yourself.¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Sorry, my n doesn¡¯t include you. Whether or not you are present doesn¡¯t affect me that much.¡±

    As he said that, he turned around to leave again.

    When he saw that Su Chen didn¡¯t care in the slightest, the old man yelled, ¡°Fine. If you stay and help us, I¡¯ll give you the technique we use to resist the curse!¡±

    Upon hearing this, Su Chen stopped and turned around, giving him a cold, disdainful stare. ¡°Vige Chief Chalei, I didn¡¯t harm you. Why do you want to harm me?¡±

    Chalei was stunned. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°I am interested in the technique you use to resist the curse, but if you think about it, there¡¯s probably a bunch of serious restrictions on it. It¡¯s likely that these restrictions are why you have no way of leaving the West River Forest for long periods of time and why those Bloodline Nobility ns didn¡¯t choose to use it. Otherwise, what need would there be to continue doing business with you? Why not just use that technique and thene to harvest those resources for themselves?¡±

    Chalei froze. He clearly hadn¡¯t expected Su Chen to see the situation so clearly.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Since the matter is now in the open, I¡¯ll be open with you as well. Want me to help you knock back the Bloodline Nobility ns? Fine. However, I want both techniques: the one to resist the curse and the one to control beasts. I won¡¯t have one or the other.¡±

    ¡°Absolutely not! We cannot give him the technique to control our Guardian Angel Beasts!¡± the martial artistmander yelled.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t angry.

    After all, this was the foundation of their survival. It wasn¡¯t surprising that they weren¡¯t willing to hand it over easily.

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. You can think it over. In any case, I¡¯ll be staying in this forest for a few days. Whenever you agree to my conditions, just let me know.¡±

    Chalei hurriedly said, ¡°The West River Curse is abnormally frightening. Knowledge Executor Su, you might be able to resist it for a bit, but you won¡¯t be able tost for a long time. It¡¯s not a good idea for you to stay here for a long time unless you stay in our vige......¡±

    He suddenly shut his mouth.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t look into it too much. Heughed, ¡°Everyone has their own destiny. If I can¡¯t deal with the curse, then I can¡¯tin about dying. Of course, as long as I¡¯m still alive, my earlier proposition still stands.¡±

    The vigers were speechless.

    Su Chen then said, ¡°Of course, even if this transaction doesn¡¯te to fruition, I think that we can still do some other business. For instance, you can sell me some of the items you want to sell, and I can also bring back some of the necessities you need as long as the quantity required isn¡¯t toorge.¡±

    When he heard this, Vige Chief Chalei sighed. He knew that this was the best he would be able to get in this situation.

    That evening, Su Chen and Chalei exchanged a few batches ofmodities for a price five times higher than what those Bloodline Nobility ns had been willing to pay.

    Even so, Su Chen had still purchased this batch of goods at twenty times below market value.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that he needed to raise his cultivation base, Su Chen really wanted to make a few trips between Clear River City and West River Forest to ship these resources.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 48: A Cry for Help

    Chapter 48: A Cry for Help

    In the following days, Su Chen and Iron Cliff camped out in the nearby area, searching for Vicious Beasts to kill to raise their cultivation bases.

    Su Chen returned one time and brought arge batch of staple necessities with him, using the necessities to exchange resources with the vigers.

    To the vigers, this was much more useful than Origin Stones, and their resentment towards Su Chen for his unwillingness to help them subsided a bit. Their trust in him gradually began to increase.

    In reality, some things needed to be built on trust in the first ce.

    Domesticating Vicious Beasts was West River Forest Vige¡¯s key to survival. If they handed it over to anyone who came by and imed that they had amon enemy, then they really were addled in the head.

    That was why Su Chen wasn¡¯t in a hurry to get an answer. Instead, he lived together with them, increasing his interactions with them as well as their understanding of one another.

    Just like when he was in the Scarlet Mountain Range.

    Most of the time, Su Chen wasn¡¯t actually hunting. That was Iron Cliff¡¯s job. Su Chen was just looking for a ce to perform his experiments.

    West River Forest had an abundance of resources, and he could perform a lot of experiments with the local resources alone.

    asionally, Su Chen would concoct a few medicines.

    Even though West River Forest had an abundance of resources, itcked people who knew how to utilize these resources and convert them into high-quality items.

    Many of the vigers hoardedrge stores of resources, but they still died from minor illnesses and wounds. It was like they were dying of starvation atop a mountain of gold.

    The medicines Su Chen concocted, to the vigers, were immensely useful.

    Today, just like normal, Su Chen was performing his experiments when he suddenly heard amotion from outside.

    The situation in the forest was pretty simple, so Su Chen wasn¡¯t doing anyplex experiments. He stopped what he was doing and watched as a few vigers charged in from outside.They were bearing two men on stretchers behind them.

    The viger at the very front knelt down in front of Su Chen and said, ¡°Sir Su, please save my brother.¡±

    Having known Su Chen for so long, they no longer called him Knowledge Executor. Instead, they directly referred to him as ¡°Sir.¡± To the vigers, ¡°Sir¡± could be used to address a schr, who Su Chen clearly seemed to be.

    Su Chen got close to take a look and found the two of them covered in wounds. One of the injured people had arge cavity in his chest, while a handprint could clearly be seen on the other person¡¯s body.

    ¡°They were wounded by other people. What happened?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°What else could have happened? It¡¯s those Bloodline Nobility n dogs! They¡¯re here again!¡± one of the vigers said angrily.

    Not long before, those Bloodline Nobility ns had sent some people to attack Happiness Residing Fort. Even though they had driven back their opponents with the help of the Vicious Beasts, they had paid the price with six deaths and two gravely injured.

    ¡°How many people did they send?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Just one. Just one person was enough to send the entire fort into an uproar,¡± the viger cried bitterly.

    Su Chen remembered him. He was called Yi Liang, an easygoing, carefree youth. Now, however, he was weeping bitterly.

    ¡°One person?¡± Su Chen murmured. ¡°Were your Guardian Angel Beasts unable to drive him away?¡±

    Yi Lang nodded. ¡°He was too fast, and the Guardian Angel Beasts couldn¡¯t keep up. He took advantage of that to attack us. He treated killing like a game, and he said that he wanted to take his time toying with us. Because of this, he won¡¯t kill more than ten people a day. He¡¯s going to be back tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Su Chen replied nomittally, turning his attention to the two wounded individuals.

    ¡°Bring them over to me,¡± he said.

    When they saw him like this, everyone else was a bit regretful.

    Su Chen knew very well what they were thinking, and he knew even better why they had brought their wounded here.

    It wasn¡¯t just so that he could save them. They hoped that he would sympathize with them.

    Unfortunately, Su Chen¡¯s stance was unyielding on this matter.

    The two wounded individuals were ced on the table. Su Chen began to work on healing them.

    He enjoyed healing the wounded not merely because tending to the sick gave him a sense of aplishment but also because it helped him better understand the human body, Origin Energy, and life in general.

    The two casualties weren¡¯t injured lightly, but Su Chen was still able to snatch them from the jaws of death.

    ¡°Alright, take them back and let them rest for a few days. During this period of time, feed him some porridge, but don¡¯t give him anything with too much substance. Same rules as always ¨C five hundred Origin Stones per person. You can pay either in resources or directly in Origin Stones,¡± Su Chen said as he wiped away the blood on his hands.

    A viger had already tactfully pulled out a thousand Origin Stones and ced them on the table.

    With the twenty thousand Origin Stones Su Chen had given to themst time as reparations, they could still afford to pay that price.

    ¡°Sir Su, that person wille back tomorrow......¡± Lang Yi said as he stared anxiously at Su Chen. ¡°You have a lot of ability and aren¡¯t afraid of them. Please, help us. We really can¡¯t give you the method to control the Guardian Angel Beasts, but if you have any other requests, we will absolutely satisfy them.¡±

    ¡°Is that so.¡± Su Chen lowered his head in thought for a bit before nodding and saying, ¡°That¡¯s fine. Tell me, what is the situation surrounding that guy? Roughly how fast is he? Did you notice anything unique about the way he fights?¡±

    Lang Yi answered him one by one.

    The vigers didn¡¯t have much experience. They couldn¡¯t even figure out the level of his cultivation base, but they could use very basic terms to describe their opponent¡¯s strength.

    For instance, they could describe his speed byparing it to that of another Vicious Beast¡¯s or to the speed of an arrow shot from a bow. He could destroy a boulder with his bare hands, and the transparent barrier he ced on himself could resist nearly seven or eight crossbow volleys, etc.

    After thinking it over, Su Chen very quickly made an estimate of their opponent¡¯s strength. ¡°He¡¯s an agility-type Blood Boiling Realm cultivator. He isn¡¯t actually that scary, but his movements are quite explosive. It¡¯s not that he¡¯ll only kill ten people a day but that he can only fight for that long. If he goes on for any longer, he¡¯ll slow down due to ack of energy. After he loses his speed, he¡¯ll be torn to shreds by your Vicious Beasts.¡±

    ¡°But he leaves before he slows down.¡± Lang Yi could at least make such a basic observation.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, so I¡¯ll teach you something,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°People who rely on speed often like to utilize the terrain. To avoid your Vicious Beasts, he was probably jumping from house to house, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°Fine, then find a room and prepare a trap for him there. Set up the trap like this ¨C find a few pieces of bamboo and ce them alongside the windows, with the pointy ends pointing inside. He won¡¯t be able to tell from the outside and will impale himself as soon as he enters the room......¡± Su Chen taught them step by step how to set up such a trap, causing the vigers to be extremely excited.

    ¡°...... Use crossbows to attract his attention, then find some poison and smear it on the tips. Don¡¯t you use some kind of numbing poison when you hunt? It can make a wild beast dizzy and greatly reduce its speed, right? If you use it on this guy, it might not be as effective as against a wild beast, but it should be more than enough to reduce his speed by thirty percent. Once he slows down, then use those Vicious Beasts to surround him!¡± Su Chen gestured dramatically. ¡°That should resolve the issue.¡±

    On the dusk of the second day.

    Happiness Residing Fort sent some people over again.

    This time, however, it wasn¡¯t a cry for help; they brought a beast they had freshly ughtered, along with some herbs that they had collected to express their gratitude.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t stand on courtesy and epted it.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 49: Ascending

    Chapter 49: Ascending

    ¡°What did you say? Zhongshan died too?¡±

    Shi Zhongwei¡¯s voice suddenly jumped an octave, while the temperature in the room suddenly seemed to drop.

    As if a gust of wind had suddenly blown past his neck, Lu Shuang shuddered. ¡°It¡¯s all because of my inability.¡±

    ¡°Tell me exactly how he died,¡± Shi Zhongwei said as he interrupted his subordinate¡¯s apology.

    ¡°The vigers in that fort dug a ditch in the ground. When Zhongshan stepped over it, he fell right into the pit. Then, they activated a mechanism, causing arge amount of sand to fall into the pit, burying him alive,¡± Lu Shuang said, his voice trembling.

    ¡°Buried alive......¡± Shi Zhongwei squeezed out from between his gritted teeth, ¡°You¡¯re telling me that the expert we sent over was buried alive by those vigers?¡±

    ¡°......Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°The fourth one...... This is already the fourth one. Xiafeng, Gui Yue, Hei Wang, Zhongshan...... They all disappeared in such an unclear manner!¡± Shi Zhongwei tightened his fist. ¡°How could this be? When did those hicks suddenly pick up such skills? How could they kill so many of us in such a short period of time?¡±

    The more he spoke, the higher and more piercing his voice got.

    Lu Shuang replied, trembling, ¡°You servant doesn¡¯t know! But now it seems like we don¡¯t have enough people. Master, shouldn¡¯t we ask the ns to send us a few more members as backup?¡±

    ¡°Nonsense! If I ask for reinforcements like this, I¡¯ll beughed to death by those old geezers! Attacking West River Forest is a cushy job. How many people would die to have a job like this? Since it belongs to me, I can¡¯t just let it go like this!¡± Shi Zhongwei howled angrily.

    Lu Shuang didn¡¯t dare to open his mouth again.

    Shi Zhongwei paced back and forth a few times, his hands sped behind his back.

    After a long time, he said, ¡°The situation in West River Forest can no longer be taken lightly. Not only do those guys have a technique to control beasts, but their brains also seem to have gotten brighter all of a sudden. Immediately gather everyone near West River Forest and don¡¯t let them go off on their own anymore. We need to consolidate our forces and attack that way.¡±

    ¡°But if that¡¯s the case, our sess rate will be far too low. The n has been constantly pushing us to increase the pressure on them and force them to submit.¡±

    ¡°Four Blood Boiling Realm experts are already dead, and the morale of those hicks is likely at an all time high. What can I use to pressure them?¡± Shi Zhongwei yelled. He thought for a moment, then added, ¡°Send news back to Clear River City. Tell them that the poisonous waves in West River Forest have changed, restricting our movements, and that we will need more time toplete the task. However, victory will be ours sooner orter, and they only need to be patient.¡±

    ¡°Then what vige should we start with?¡±

    Shi Zhongwei turned around to nce at the map. He pulled out a brush and drew a line across the various viges in West River Forest and said, ¡°We¡¯ll attack by following this line. Start at Thousand Abundances Fort, then Silver Metropolis Fort, then Happiness Residing Fort, then Middle Yang Fort......¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Deep within West River Forest, a formless fluctuation began to surge.

    Then, a blood-red column of light shot high into the air.

    It was a sign that someone¡¯s Blood Qi was beginning to boil, representing that an Origin Qi Schr had officially reached the Blood Boiling Realm.

    A momentter, the ground of the forest began to tremble and shake.

    A pair ofrge, powerful feet thudded into the ground, causing tremors with every step and the nearby trees to shake.

    Iron Cliff¡¯s brawny figure walked out of the forest, then knelt down in front of Su Chen. ¡°Master, Iron Cliff hasn¡¯t betrayed your expectations. I¡¯ve ascended to the Blood Boiling Realm!¡±

    His tone was extremely exuberant.

    To the Cliff Race, the Yang Opening Realm was their absolute limit. A Cliff Race individual in the Blood Boiling Realm could already be considered an expert, and for someone as young as Iron Cliff to aplish it was unheard of amongst the Cliff Race.

    Of course, he knew the reason why he was able to aplish all of this very clearly. His gaze towards Su Chen was filled with gratitude.

    Su Chen, however, said indifferently, ¡°My expectations of you aren¡¯t limited to this. Keep on cultivating. A Blood Boiling Realm Cliff Race individual should be able to do a lot. Get up and hit me. Let me see how strong you are now.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Iron Cliff knew how strong Su Chen was, so he didn¡¯t shy away. As soon as he got up, he mmed his fist down at Su Chen.

    The seemingly normal punch actually carried an immense amount of momentum behind it.

    Su Chen moved to block the blow with his palm and felt a frightening energy surging his way. If he hadn¡¯t moved his hand away at thest second, he might have broken his wrist.

    Su Chen retreated, borrowing the backwards momentum to diminish the force of Iron Cliff¡¯s punch. Simultaneously, he struck out with his palms nearly ten times, generating waves of energy that exploded with a thunderous roar.

    Iron Cliff, however, had only let out a single punch.

    His method of attack was simple, direct, and brutal.

    The momentum behind the punch was suppressed by the explosive waves of energy, but itpletely dispersed all of the force behind the palm strikes.

    The energy from the punch sailed past Su Chen and mmed into a tree behind him. The tree, which was sorge that both of them would need to carry it, was instantly obliterated.

    If a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator used their Origin Skills to attack a tree, obliterating it wouldn¡¯t be difficult at all.

    But doing it just by relying on the momentum behind a punch was quite rare.

    Even though it was difficult for Cliff Race individuals to increase their cultivation base, it had to be stated that their powerful physique gave them immensebat prowess. If they did ascend, worthy opponents would be hard to find for them in the same cultivation tier.

    Of course, this didn¡¯t include the Heaven¡¯s Chosen from the Hidden Dragon Institute, and this most definitely not the elite even amongst the Heaven¡¯s Chosen, such as Su Chen.

    Even as the momentum from the punch mmed into the tree, Firehawk after Firehawk took flight from Su Chen¡¯s palms.

    Iron Cliff couldn¡¯t dodge, and he wouldn¡¯t dodge.

    He braced himself with the Iron Mountain Shield as his body began to glow from activating Adamantine Battle Body.

    Bang, bang, bang!

    The Iron Mountain Shield shattered first, followed by a trial by fire of the Adamantine Battle Body. Finally, the tough, unyielding Cliff Race physique had to endure the onught of the Firehawks. mes scattered everywhere, enveloping Iron Cliff like fiery flowers.

    Even so, seven or eight Firehawks in a row didn¡¯t end up doing much to Iron Cliff.

    ¡°Not bad! Now that you¡¯ve reached the Blood Boiling Realm, your body has gotten stronger too.¡± A satisfied expression appeared on Su Chen¡¯s face. ¡°The Cliff Race is naturally inept with Origin Energy and has difficulties cultivating, but it¡¯s because of this that members of the Cliff Race possess innate defensive capabilities as well. The effect of most Origin Skills will be diminished on you. When you were in the Qi Drawing Realm, this advantage wasn¡¯t so obvious, but now that you¡¯re in the Blood Boiling Realm and have activated the power in your blood, the diminishing effect of Origin Skills should be even more prominent. No wonder people always said that the Cliff Race members were brawlers by nature. Unfortunately, they only know how to use the Cliff Race, not foster them. A truly outstanding Cliff Race brawler can¡¯t just be used as a shield. He also needs to be supported with rted Origin Skills as well.¡±

    ¡°With Adamantine Battle Body, Iron Mountain Shield, Devouring the Heavens, and the Melted Gold Battle Armor, even an all-out attack from a Yang Opening Realm cultivator shouldn¡¯t be able to do anything to me,¡± Iron Cliff replied loudly.

    ¡°That might not be true.¡± Su Chen gestured, and an Ultra Firehawk emerged, mming into Iron Cliff.

    This time, Iron Cliff couldn¡¯tpletely ignore the attack. When the mes subsided, burn scars could be seen covering his chest.

    ¡°See? Your defensive capability has its limits. Once this limit is exceeded, you will still be wounded rtively seriously. In addition, you aren¡¯t Wang Doushan; his Snow Crane Bloodline can help cover for his loss of speed when he puts on weight, but since you can¡¯t, Devouring the Heavens won¡¯t be as useful in your hands as in his. While in terms of recovery ability you can¡¯tpete with him, he can¡¯tpete with you in terms of pure defense. In the end, you still have the strongest ability to resist attacks.¡±

    When Iron Cliff heard this, heughed.

    To Iron Cliff, who was now a truly qualified meat shield, Su Chen¡¯s words were the highest praise he could receive.

    Just as they were about to continue probing Iron Cliff¡¯s strength, two vigers suddenly appeared, running in their direction.

    ¡°Sir Su, the situation isn¡¯t looking good!¡±

    ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°Those people from the Bloodline Nobility ns are attacking us en masse!¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 50: Fighting 1

    Chapter 50: Fighting (1)

    Within Happiness Residing Fort, fighting had finally broken out.

    Hundreds of ck-clothed martial artists wielding shields in one hand and des in the other howled as they charged toward the fort.

    The vigers standing on the walls of the fort drew their bows, and arrow after arrow flew into the sky,nding on the shields and ttering off. Not many, however, were actually able to hit their targets, and because they weren¡¯t using reinforced bows, the targets they did hit were usually only lightly wounded.

    However, the martial artists weren¡¯t experienced soldiers either. This measly shower of arrows was enough to slow them down and even stop them from advancing. There were even a few who turned around to retreat.

    At this moment, those responsible for supervising the troops began to act. After killing some of those who had retreated and stabilizing the emotions of the troops, they once again resumed advancing.

    ¡°A bunch of trash!¡± Shi Zhongwei said coldly as he watched from behind the front lines.

    As themander of the extermination operation in West River, Shi Zhongwei naturally had to appear personally to oversee it.

    Around ten people stood next to him, all of them official Origin Qi Schrs.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. If I¡¯m being honest, sending them here is as useless as farting. We don¡¯t need that many people; it would be so much better if we went up ourselves and took over the fort. It would be much simpler,¡± a yellow-haired Origin Qi Schr said.

    ¡°What do you know?¡± a purple-haired, white-robed Origin Qi Schr said. ¡°A group of around a hundred trained, experienced martial artists can easily take down seven or eight Qi Drawing Realm cultivators. It wouldn¡¯t exactly be rare for them to take down a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator either. You should know that Origin Qi Schrs are still human too. We have control over powerful energy, but our base life force hasn¡¯t changed. We cannot take the ce of countless martial artists.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± someone else added. ¡°Unless your cultivation base reaches the Light Shaking Realm, where your attacks can shake the heavens and the earth, you can go in and out of the void, and your life force increases to the point that you can regenerate your limbs and organs, having lower-leveled soldiers will always be useful.¡±

    ¡°Even someone in the Light Shaking realm, if faced with a regiment of Yang Opening Realm soldiers, would probably need to give way to them. Unless your cultivation base is three times higher than your opponent¡¯s, you cannot ignore the power of sheer numbers.¡±

    ¡°Because of this, the n elders decided to use these vigers as training for our soldiers. Four hundred elite soldiers plus us might even be able to take on someone in the Light Shaking Realm,¡± someone said confidently.

    ¡°Take on someone in the Light Shaking Realm? You¡¯re thinking way too far off in the future,¡± someone else sneered disdainfully.

    The Light Shaking Realm used to be the upper cultivation limit a human could reach. To most people, that was still a title that was too far away to achieve.

    That was also the truth. If a person like Uncle Eleven or Shi Kaihuang were here, they could easily wipe out everyone present.

    Unlike the other cultivation realms, the Light Shaking Realm was a major gateway, and the difference in strength was also colossal. Anyone who used the gaps between the Qi Drawing, Blood Boiling, and Yang Opening Realms to evaluate the Light Shaking Realm would be in for a rude surprise.

    However, there was no point in saying these morale-damaging words at the moment.

    On the battlefield, the fight was still going on.

    The martial artists, under the coercion of theirmanding officers, began to encroach upon the walls of the fort. At the same time, the vigers began to hurl short spears down at them.

    The tips of these short spears had been covered in poison, and the spears themselves were quite sharp and heavy. In fact, the vigers were much more fearsome when using these spears. A few martial artists, struck by the spears, found that their wounds quickly began to rot and fester. They cried out piteously as they covered their wounds, but themanding officers behind them continued to drive them forwards.

    As long as they weren¡¯t dead, they were forced to continue charging. Either they would die in the charge or die to theirmanding officers.

    If a skilled general saw this scene, he would definitely shake his head and curse: What kind of training was this?

    Force them to charge, seemingly unafraid of death? If this was what it took to train an army, then that was all too easy.

    The reality was that not every person in a Bloodline Nobility n knew how to train soldiers. Origin Qi Schrs spent the majority of their time cultivating and didn¡¯t understand how to lead soldiers. As such, this battle was not only training the soldiers but also the officers.

    Even so, the pressure from nearly four hundred martial artists was difficult for the vigers of Happiness Residing Fort to endure.

    The forces attacking the city weren¡¯t strong, but those defending it were even weaker.

    When faced with the tsunami-like charge of the hundreds of martial artists, many of the vigers were so scared that their souls seemed to leave their bodies. Many people regretted trying to resist the Bloodline Nobility ns. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that they still had the trump card of the Beast Controlling Technique, they probably would have been wiped out already.

    Even so, plumes of smoke began to rise from the walls of the fort.

    When he saw this, Chalei felt an immense sense of regret.

    He wasn¡¯t regretting resisting the Bloodline Nobility ns but that he hadn¡¯t listened to Su Chen¡¯s suggestion.

    Ten days earlier, Su Chen had already warned him that the Bloodline Nobility ns would mount a full-on assault after making a few investigative forays. If the forts in West River Forest didn¡¯t band together, they would be broken down one by one.

    However,bining all of the forts would make their lives incredibly inconvenient. The vigers, who were already cut off from their supplies by the Bloodline Nobility ns, couldn¡¯t endure any more suffering, so Chalei had waited this entire time, unable to make a decision.

    The truth was that he had held on to a trace of hope that the Bloodline Nobility ns wouldn¡¯t take things to this extreme. They were only raising the price to three times of what it was before; the Bloodline Nobility ns couldn¡¯t possibly want to take things that far for just a small amount of extra profit. The failures of the initial forays had demonstrated that they had the strength to justify this price increase.

    This was the way many weak individuals thought. They always hoped to be lucky even in the face of adverse situations, a hope that they often extended to their opponents for some strange reason.

    It wasn¡¯t until thest moment, when their hopes were shattered, that they came to their senses. However, it was toote.

    As he gazed at the Bloodline Nobility troops bearing down on him, Chalei¡¯s only hope was that the people he had sent to ask for reinforcements would quicklye back to save them.

    As long as he could save these people, Chalei would agree to any condition.

    ¡°Vige Chief, the martial artists have broken through from the northwest corner!¡± a viger yelled as he charged over.

    ¡°You guys, go and stop that opening. Quickly!¡± Chalei yelled.

    A few mobilized vigers ran over hurriedly, but by the time they had arrived, nearly ten martial artists had already scaled the walls and attacked.

    The gaps in their defense along the walls of Happiness Residing Fort were growingrger. Enemies were spilling in from every which way.

    ¡°Vige Chief, activate the Guardian Angel Beasts!¡± one of the vigers yelled. ¡°We won¡¯t be able to hold on for much longer.¡±

    ¡°But......¡± Chalei stared at the Origin Qi Schrs off in the distance.

    As the Vige Chief, he could still perform a basic analysis of the situation. He knew that as soon as the Guardian Angel Beasts appeared, those Origin Qi Schrs would move.

    With the viciousness of those Origin Qi Schrs along with their numbers, the Vicious Beasts absolutely wouldn¡¯t be able to survive. The battle would probably only end even more quickly.

    If things continued in this way, with only themon martial artists in the fray, they might be able to dy longer.

    However, the correct thing to do wasn¡¯t always easy.

    mes began to rise in Happiness Residing Fort, and viger after viger was ughtered.

    Tragic cries began to echo everywhere, with someone falling seemingly at every second.

    They were all people he was familiar with, and they stared at him as the light faded from their eyes, as if wondering why their vige chief hadn¡¯t yet released the Guardian Angel Beasts.

    The right things to do might not be easily understood either. The will of a single person can only be carried along by a group of people, and Chalei was forced to do it even though he knew it was wrong.

    He closed his eyes, unable to continue watching. All he said was, ¡°Release the Guardian Angel Beasts.¡±

    ¡°AWOO!¡±

    A chain of beast howls sounded out.

    Two massive shadows covered the walls of the fort and the enemy formation.

    Following the appearance of those two Vicious Beasts, the formation of soldiers was ripped apart, a thick stench of blood filling the air. The vigers atop the walls of the fort yelled excitedly as if victory was already within their reach.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 51: Conflict 2

    Chapter 51: Conflict (2)

    When those Vicious Beasts appeared on the top of the fort walls, the Bloodline Nobility ns didn¡¯t feel any fear. Rather, they revealed excited expressions.

    ¡°Is this their trump card? Two top-tier Vicious Beasts?¡± one of the Origin Qi Schrsughed coldly. ¡°They¡¯ll be fun to cut our teeth on!¡±

    Top-tier Vicious Beasts weren¡¯t particrly weak, but they were up against numerous Origin Qi Schrs and hundreds of martial artists. It was obvious that they werepletely outmatched.

    ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, let¡¯s wipe out these two beasts and give those bumpkins a taste of despair!¡± Shi Zhongwei said, his tone chilly.

    With a cry, a boundless wave of killing intent surged forward.

    One Origin Qi Schr after another flew forward and charged at the two top-tier Vicious Beasts. The Origin Qi Schrs began to emit a rainbow-colored brilliance that shot towards those two Vicious Beasts.

    ¡°AWOO!¡± The howls of pain seemed to shake the very air.

    The beasts¡¯ thick, hard scales shattered as the Origin Skills mmed into them. Blood flew everywhere.

    Even though they were top-tier Vicious Beasts and their life force far exceeded that of any human¡¯s, they were still subjected to immense pain from the Origin Qi Schrs¡¯bined attacks, along with the rainbow-like attack that seemed to be able to shatter clouds.

    In spite of this, the two Vicious Beasts weren¡¯t pushovers.

    A massive ck toad, after getting hit, sat down heavily on the ground. With a ¡°croak¡±, it spit out arge cloud of poison. Its back was also covered in poisonous pouches, some of which had ruptured when the toad had been struck. Arge amount of poisonous liquid sprayed out, enveloping the surrounding area in poison.

    However, the toad¡¯s poison didn¡¯t differentiate between friend or foe. This poisonous explosion harmed both the vigers in Happiness Residing Fort as well as the Bloodline Nobility ns¡¯ martial artists. Within a ten-meter radius of the toad, not a single person was left standing.

    Even the Origin Qi Schrs were forced back by the poisonous air. Two of them reacted a bit too slowly and breathed in some of the poisonous air. Theirplexion immediately worsened, and they quickly retreated to a safe ce so that they could deal with the poison.

    The other beast, a Frost Wolf, spit out arge stretch of icy frost. The extremely cold air surrounded the rainbow-colored attack, sending a burst of energy everywhere. The explosion of chilly energy generated a snowstorm, with the chilly cold enough to seemingly pierce into a person¡¯s heart.

    Boom, boom, boom!

    Amidst the continuous explosions, at least seven or eight of the Origin Qi Schrs were sent flying.

    The two top-tier Vicious Beasts made it obvious why they were considered kings of the Vicious Beasts.

    Even so, the Origin Qi Schrs counterattacked in an even harsher and more direct manner.

    An Origin Qi Schr howled and charged forward, a massive ck shadow appearing behind him. It looked like an eagle upon first nce, but it had a long, snake-like neck and three ws protruding from its belly. Its eyes also glowed red. As soon as it appeared, it hissed, the sound incredibly unpleasant to listen to, and it was as if two pieces of metal were scraping against each other.

    This was the Snake-Necked Eagle, a kind of Demonic Beast that could eat poison. As soon as it appeared, it charged right at the massive poisonous toad. The poisonous air wrapped around the Snake-Necked Eagle, but it had no effect. Instead, the Snake-Necked Eagle tilted its long neck back and opened its mouth wide. The nearby poisonous air was immediately sucked into its mouth.

    Even though it was just a bloodline afterimage, it had swallowed the poison, which had real substance. Furthermore, as if the poison were its food, it grew even stronger and more vicious. A momentter, the Origin Qi Schr struck out like a snake, mming into the toad¡¯s body and causing poisonous liquid to spray everywhere.

    Immediately afterwards, another Origin Qi Schr attacked, activating his Fiery Fox Bloodline and starting a firestorm. Under the intense mes, the frost that had previously covered the area quickly melted.

    Yet another person activated his Wind Owl Bloodline, whipping up a frenzy of wind that fought against the frost.

    Under thisbination of Origin Skills and the appearance of all kinds of bloodlines, a magnificent, grand disy of light manifested.

    This beautiful disy of light, however, was contrasted by the piteous howls of the two Vicious Beasts.

    These two top-tier Vicious Beasts were thest hopes of Happiness Residing Fort. When they saw the Origin Qi Schrs surrounding the Vicious Beasts and attacking them, all of the vigers of Happiness Residing Fort felt grief and indignation.

    The situation had greatly changed. These Origin Qi Schrs to them had be synonymous with evil itself, and the two top-tier Vicious Beasts suddenly became thest guardians of justice.

    However, when faced with the onught of the ¡°forces of evil¡±, the beasts didn¡¯t have an opportunity to counterattack. They could only defend themselves at all costs, wailing in their death throes. And during this process, even more vigers were affected by this and fell one by one. The defense mounted at the walls of the fort finally copsedpletely.

    ¡°NO!¡±

    Chalei cried out with despair.

    The flowing blood that he saw broke his heart, but there was nothing he could do.

    As he had anticipated, after releasing the Vicious Beasts, the Origin Qi Schrs appeared, only hastening the end of the battle.

    A mistake!

    He knew he was making a mistake, yet he did it anyway!

    This was probably the pitiful fate of most small characters. They didn¡¯t have a long-term vision, and they would often be unable to do what they knew they needed to do.

    On the blood-soaked ground, one person after another fell over. Chalei looked around. Everything seemed to be engulfed in mes.

    Was Happiness Residing Fort going to be wiped out here and today?

    ¡°Stop! Quickly, stop! We¡¯re willing to surrender!¡± Chalei howled.

    No one listened to him.

    The attackers were in the throes of bloodlust and had no need for captives. All they wanted was an unrestrained massacre to satisfy themselves.

    ¡°No! Please, stop!¡± Chalei cried out. ¡°As long as you are willing to stop, I agree to all of the conditions you made previously. I¡¯ll agree to anything!¡±

    ¡°So it¡¯s true that your heart won¡¯t die until you get to the Yellow River1? Unfortunately, now that we¡¯ve reached this point, I have no interest in your surrender anymore,¡± Shi Zhongwei coldlyughed. ¡°It makes more sense to kill you all so that the future viges will wisely choose to surrender.¡±

    As he spoke, his smile suddenly morphed into a savage expression. ¡°Redouble the offensive! Not a single one can survive!¡±

    ¡°Hoorah!¡± everyone yelled simultaneously.

    In this moment, whether it was the Origin Qi Schrs or the martial artists, they all were stirred up into a frenzy, prepared to massacre the vigers and wipe them out.

    Pu! Blood flowed everywhere as viger after viger fell, and the two Vicious Beasts were injured repeatedly.

    The massive toad had already expended all of its poisonous liquid and could only rely on its physical body to fight, and the Frost Wolf was beginning to run out of energy after spraying out so much frost. It was constantly being beaten back by the ferocious onught of fiery explosions, and its body was clearly covered in wounds.

    The human Origin Qi Schrs attacked like they were madmen, massacring the vigers as if it was a game. It seemed that at any moment the entire vige would be turned into scorched earth.

    Chalei fell intoplete despair. He knelt on the ground and howled with his head tilted upwards, ¡°WHY?? Heavens, why do you treat us this way?¡±

    ¡°You passed up opportunity after opportunity and made wrong decision after wrong decision, but now you me the Heavens when you are faced with a cmity and im that everything was because of fate? It is true that people who seem pitiful usually have a reason they are despised. Vige Chief Chalei, with the way you are now, I don¡¯t know if I should sympathize with you or look down on you,¡± a disdainful voice said from behind him, causing Chalei¡¯s body to tremble violently.

    He spun his head around and saw Su Chen standing not too far behind him. Su Chen was staring back at him idly as if he was looking at a dead person.

    When he saw Su Chen, Chalei was instantly energized. He yelled, ¡°Help us, and I will give you all of our secrets!¡±

    Su Chen sneered disdainfully and said, ¡°Your secret? You mean the medicine made from ck Kite Grass and Flying Vines that you use to withstand the curse? Or the Purple Colored ss you got from River City Fort that you use to control the Vicious Beasts? Forget about it, old man. You don¡¯t have anything that you can give me. What you consider to be a secret isn¡¯t even worth talking about anymore in my eyes.¡±

    1. Basically, means in this case that someone refuses to give up until they get what they want, or in this example are forced to a point where they can no longer go on.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 52: Despicable

    Chapter 52: Despicable

    What?

    Su Chen¡¯s words rendered Chaleipletely speechless.

    His greatest secret had been exposed by but a few words from Su Chen. Chalei felt a helplessness that stemmed from all of his secrets being seen through overtake him.

    As the inferno raged, he gazed at Su Chen, his eyes filled with fear.

    Su Chen coldly nced at him and said, ¡°You have nothing you can exchange with me, so you¡¯d best remember that everyone in this forest owes me a life.¡±

    As he spoke, he turned around and said to Iron Cliff, ¡°Go, while those two Vicious Beasts are still alive.¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡± Iron Cliff grinned, popping open the trunk he was carrying.

    In a brief moment, he had donned the Melted Golden Armor.

    He picked up the Bucktooth de, then let out a tiger-like growl and leapt forward.

    ¡°This guy?¡± A young Origin Qi Schr watched as a person wearing a set of heavy armor rushed in his direction. He disdainfully gestured casually, and a streak of palm wind rushed out from his hand.

    The palm wind was sharp like a de, and it mmed into the Melted Golden Armor, generating a shower of sparks.

    ¡°It¡¯s an Origin Tool?¡± The young Origin Qi Schr¡¯s expression immediately shifted.

    At this moment, Iron Cliff had already charged over.

    The Origin Qi Schr finally realized that something wasn¡¯t right and clearly began to take things more seriously. A massive cyan scimitar took form in his hands, which he then stabbed forward.

    A massive crescent of energy appeared and shot across the ground.

    Iron Cliff charged right at this crescent. Just as he was about to m into it, a massive shield appeared in his left hand, blocking the crescent of energy. A momentter, his massive figure leapt into the air, then descended towards his opponent.

    The young Origin Qi Schr¡¯s face contorted into a fierce expression. ¡°Looking to die!¡±

    In a brief moment, he struck out with 18 palm strikes.

    Iron Cliff continued his charge. The palm strikesnded on his Melted Golden Armor but only caused a resounding ¡°ng¡±; they had no way of stopping him even for a brief moment.

    The Origin Qi Schr¡¯s expression finally changed. He saw that Iron Cliff had already charged his way next to him and yelled, a protective barrier appearing around him.

    This mistake cost him his life.

    Iron Cliff had closed in on his target. A fist mmed into his target¡¯s face.

    As this punch, which also carried the weight of the massive golden armor behind it, shattered the Origin Qi Schr¡¯s head like an egg, a red-and-white mix sttered everywhere.

    iming a life with a single fist!

    Iron Cliff didn¡¯t stop and continued to charge at his next target.

    The death of an Origin Qi Schr finally caught everyone¡¯s attention.

    Three people simultaneously turned to look at Iron Cliff and attacked together.

    With frost everywhere, the Origin Energy interweaved and intertwined, and lightning and thunder boomed through the air.

    Iron Cliff growled and charged right through the three Blood Boiling Realm cultivators¡¯ attacks. As soon as he got near the first target, the Bucktooth de swung through the air, cutting open that person¡¯s throat. Next, he mmed his body right into the second target; his massive physique and strength made it so that this blow was more than sufficient to shatter the person¡¯s skeleton. Finally, he unleashed another punch, and the Armor-Piercing Awlnded on the third target¡¯s body. Even though the target avoided the brunt of the blow, his arm had beenpletely ruined.

    With just this single attack, two Blood Boiling Realm cultivators had died, and one had been injured. Everyone watching was stunned.

    ¡°Careful! There¡¯s a Yang Opening Realm expert here!¡± someone yelled loudly.

    Iron Cliff¡¯s vicious style of battle had elevated his opponents¡¯ estimate of his strength. Because he was wearing a suit of armor and his face was hidden, they had no way of determining his cultivation base. As such, they just said that he was in the Yang Opening Realm.

    In terms of pure power and defensive capabilities, it wasn¡¯t wrong to say that.

    Next, the Origin Qi Schrs yelled as six of them surged forth to surround him. One of them was a Yang Opening Realm cultivator.

    When the six of them advanced simultaneously, Iron Cliff immediately felt an immense pressure upon him, and even his breathing becamebored. It was as if he was experiencing Shi Kaihuang¡¯s Sumeru Void.

    This was the result ofyering the Origin Energy of these six people, demonstrating that they were using some kind ofbined technique. As a result, the increase in strength would be multiplicative the more people that they had.

    Even a genuine Yang Opening Realm cultivator would have trouble resisting this pressure, let alone a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator like Iron Cliff.

    ¡°So he¡¯s not in the Yang Opening Realm; he¡¯s just a somewhat stronger Blood Boiling Realm cultivator.¡± The leading Yang Opening Realm cultivator was already picking up on the clues. He said viciously, ¡°Count yourself unlucky. Since you dared involve yourself in the Clear River City Bloodline Nobility n Alliance¡¯s battle and even killed some of our men, you can only die!¡±

    The pressure from the air only continued to increase as if a formless mountain was pressing down on top of Iron Cliff.

    Iron Cliff stared intently at the Origin Qi Schr who had spoken, his eyes seemingly about to jump out of their sockets. However, the power of his movements grew stronger and stronger.

    ¡°Just because you have more people? That¡¯s not enough!¡± Iron Cliff howled as waves of stormy rage began to pulsate from his brawny, powerful body, filling up every corner and crevice in the Melted Golden Armor. The overflowing of this violent energy could be felt even through the thick armor ting.

    ¡°HA!¡±

    With a heavy, forceful growl, streaks of Qi began to swirl out from the cracks in the armor, surging like smoke and spreading in all directions.

    As this wave of energy began to surge, the pressure applied by the six Origin Qi Schrs began to dissipate.

    ¡°How is this possible?¡± the Yang Opening Realm cultivator said, his eyes round with shock.

    He was a whole tier higher than his opponent and was being backed up by five other Origin Qi Schrs. Despite this, however, he was still unable to suppress this mysterious armored individual. What exactly was the background of his opponent?

    ¡°HA!¡±

    Amidst a barbaric howl, seven people flew into the air simultaneously.

    The sh between the energy of Iron Cliff and the six Origin Qi Schrs finally reached a point where they exploded.

    Iron Cliff broke through the six-man team, and he himself was sent flying by the ensuing waves of energy. He tilted his head back and spit out arge mouthful of fresh blood.

    The six Origin Qi Schrs also flew backward at the same time. Even though they hadn¡¯t sustained any wounds, the energy in their bodies had been shaken to its limit.

    However, they would only need a brief moment to catch their breath.

    But at that moment, Su Chen made a move.

    Six massive Erupting Firehawks flew towards the six Origin Qi Schrs, attacking savagely. The Light-Shaking Realm expert, in particr, was attacked by Su Chen¡¯s Ultra Erupting Firehawk.

    Six fiery explosions appeared in the sky, along with piercing cries of pain and anguish.

    Next, a swift streak of light shot past the Yang Opening Realm cultivator¡¯s head.

    Whoosh!

    After a bloody sh, a head flew through the air.

    A Yang Opening Realm cultivator had died, just like that.

    ¡°No!¡± Shi Zhongwei yelled angrily.

    If a few Blood Boiling Realm Origin Qi Schrs died, that would be eptable. However, Yang Opening Realm cultivators were extremely important to the Bloodline Nobility n alliance. Every death would cause their hearts to pang with pain.

    To ensure that everything would go off without a hitch while dealing with the ¡°West River Rebellion¡±, the Bloodline Nobility n Alliance had sent a total of four Yang Opening Realm cultivators, but they had never expected to lose one here.

    With the death of this Yang Opening Realm cultivator, even if Shi Zhongwei were to quell the West River Rebellion, he wouldn¡¯t receive much in the way of rewards when he returned to Clear River City.

    When he thought of this, the anger in Shi Zhongwei¡¯s heart only burned hotter.

    Su Chen, naturally, was the one who had mounted the surprise attack. At this moment, he was wearing a white robe, and his face was covered in a demonic mask. It was exactly the same one that he had used in the Scarlet Mountain Range, and he had brought it out now nearly ten yearster.

    ¡°Despicable! Shameless!¡± Shi Zhongwei cursed bitterly as he stared at Su Chen.

    ¡°How ironic. When I hear you ughterers talking this way, I actually feel quite honored,¡± Su Chen said as he smiled. Unfortunately, his smile was covered by a mask, and no one could see it.

    ¡°But since you think I¡¯m shameless, then I¡¯ll just have to be a bit more shameless...... You still haven¡¯t made a move yet?¡± Su Chen suddenly barked.

    ¡°What?¡± Shi Zhongwei was stunned. A sudden sense of imminent danger surged in his heart.

    He quickly retreated, but it was toote.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Five consecutive fists seemed to appear out of the void, aiming for his head, chest, midsection, back, and hisher regions.

    Five Shadow Servants attacked simultaneously!

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 53: Showdown 1

    Chapter 53: Showdown (1)

    Since he had realized that the Bloodline Nobility ns would mount arge-scale assault a long time ago, how could Su Chen not make preparations in advance?

    The five Shadow Servants had been called to West River Forest nearly seven days ago in anticipation of this exact moment.

    The power of the five Shadow Servants was actually pretty average, but once they were taught the Armor Piercing Awl and the Raging Inferno Fists, their explosive power was now a force to be reckoned with.

    Sneak attacks were all about explosiveness. If an attack was rendered ineffective, the target would be able to quickly escape.

    Su Chen was quite an old hand in setting up ambushes. He had ambushed his way from the Bai husband and wife in Halcyon Gorge all the way to Liu Wuya here. Naturally, he had a deep understanding of the key to sess, and he had emphasized this aspect to the five Shadow Servants.

    Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!

    The explosions were immediately followed by piteous cries, and blood began to flow from five different wounds on his body.

    Arge dent had appeared in the back of his head as if it had been caved in by a sledgehammer. This was the work of Gui Dashan, the most powerful of the five Shadow Servants.

    His back, midsection, and chest had been sted into a mangled mess. That had been done by the three Qi Drawing Realm cultivators. They were still somewhat weaker, and there were two whole realms between them and the Yang Opening Realm expert. Even the Armor-Piercing Awl was only so effective against him, and their ability to draw out the full potential of the Raging Inferno Fists was limited.

    However, Shi Zhongwei¡¯sher regions had beenpletely smashed to pieces. Old Second Cheng, who was responsible for attacking that area, was exceptionally vicious and shady. He was a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator himself; because of his all-out attack against the opponent¡¯s weakest body part, this was the most serious wound that Shi Zhongwei had sustained.

    Shi Zhongwei felt as if his entire life had been destroyed by this single blow.

    ¡°NOO!¡± he howled as he punched back at one of the Shadow Servants.

    This instinctive counterattack wasn¡¯t an Origin Skill, but it contained all of his hatred, regret, and despair.

    This punch, which was filled with a boundless feeling of destion, mmed into the Shadow Servant, who exploded and was turned to meat past on the spot.

    All of the Shadow Servants were stunned and retreated together. Their figures swayed slightly before they disappeared into thin air.

    ¡°Falling Emotion Fist, Sorrowful Remembrance......¡± Shi Zhongwei was stunned himself.

    At this moment, he had reached a breakthrough in the strongest move of Falling Emotion Fist, which had been guing him for so many years.

    So only when he had tasted true despair and was filled with it could he utilize this attack?

    Shi Zhongwei finally understood.

    Unfortunately, no matter how powerful it was, there was no point in having it any longer.

    He stumbled backward a few steps, then fell to his knees.

    He hadn¡¯t died yet, but the severe damage to both his head and hisher regions hadpletely destroyed his consciousness, and his faith had beenpletely destroyed. After he had infused all of his despair into a single punch and unleashed it, all of his hopes had beenpletely destroyed.

    This person was no longer a threat.

    ¡°YOU BASTARD!!¡± He Lianwei howled with rage when he saw this.

    He Lianwei was one of the four Yang Opening Realm experts dispatched here. He had originally believed that assembling such a group to deal with a bunch of West River Forest hicks was giving them too much face. However, he hadn¡¯t expected for two people, one who could forcefully resist a Yang Opening Realm cultivator while in the Blood Boiling Realm and the other who could kill a Yang Opening Realm cultivator with an ambush and even had these invisible subordinates, to appear.

    He Lianwei was both shocked and enraged. He yelled, ¡°Old Jin, let¡¯s team up and take out these bastards!¡±

    ¡°Old Jin¡± was also a Yang Opening Realm cultivator. When he heard this, he nodded and said, ¡°Got it!¡±

    He took the lead and charged toward Su Chen.

    Two Yang Opening Realm experts decided to deal with Su Chen at the same time.

    When he saw this, Su Chen barked, ¡°I can deal with these two people. You guys stay here and deal with the rest. What do you think?¡±

    ¡°No problem!¡± the four Shadow Servants replied as they reappeared simultaneously in front of Su Chen.

    Now that they had already attacked once, the opponents would have some defenses in ce, and the Shadow Servants wouldn¡¯t be of any use against the Yang Opening Realm cultivators. As such, Su Chen decided to leave them here to deal with the Blood Boiling Realm cultivators, against whom they would still have some measure of effectiveness.

    Su Chen turned around and charged into the forest.

    ¡°Don¡¯t even think about running!¡± He Lianwei howled furiously as he charged forward, the image of a massive golden-winged tiger appearing behind him.

    Iron-Toothed Gold-Winged Tiger!

    Tigers were considered kings amongst beasts. They liked to show off and did things in a tyrannical way, winged tigers even more so.

    The wings on the tiger¡¯s back unfurled, unleashing a torrent of razor-sharp wind and enveloping He Lianwei as he charged forward majestically and with great momentum.

    The other Yang Opening Realm expert, called Old Jin, had the Darkness Cloud-Sundering Beast Bloodline, a rarely-seen strange beast. In fact, just byparing the Demonic Beast images, Old Jin¡¯s was actually a bit more powerful.

    These two bloodlines were both quite agile, so Su Chen couldn¡¯t escape even if he activated his Snaking Mist Steps to their absolute limit.

    Thankfully, he had never nned on escaping. After running a certain distance away, he stopped.

    ¡°What? You¡¯re not running anymore?¡± He Lianweiughed savagely when he saw Su Chen stop and came to a stop as well.

    Humans were quite weird. Since the two of them were fighting, they should have just fought. Where did all of this nonsensee from? They just had to spout a bunch of nonsense before attacking.

    On the other hand, humans weremunicators by nature. Using words to resolve issues was always better than using force.

    To weaker individuals, words could be used to stall for time and create opportunities. To stronger individuals, words could be used to affect the mood and subdue someone without fighting at all. Finally, they could be used to avoid ambushes.

    He Lianwei had learned from Shi Zhongwei¡¯s mistakes. While he seemed like he was just threatening Su Chen, he was actually inspecting his surroundings to see if there were any hidden troops lying in wait.

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°I stopped running because I felt like it would be better for me to take this off here.¡±

    As he spoke, he took off the demonic mask on his face.

    When he saw Su Chen¡¯s face, He Lianwei jerked involuntarily. ¡°Su Chen! So it¡¯s you!¡±

    An instantter, however, he grew excited. ¡°Hahahaha, you really ignored the path to heaven and insisted on barging your way into hell! If you remained in Clear River City, with the Blood-Robed Guards to protect you and your 2nd-tier Hero¡¯s Medal, no one would dare touch you lightly. But instead, you insisted oning to West River Forest to mess with us and seek death! Here, all those things you relied on won¡¯t be of any use anymore!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Old Jin also walked over. ¡°My Darkness Cloud-Sundering Beast has already confirmed that there aren¡¯t any people lying in ambush here...... the Blood-Robed Guards aren¡¯t here.¡±

    ¡°Even if they were, it wouldn¡¯t matter. We¡¯d just kill them all,¡± He Lianwei said sinisterly. ¡°As long as there isn¡¯t any evidence, we won¡¯t need to be afraid of anything.

    Su Chenughed, ¡°The problem is that I was never nning on relying on the Blood-Robed Guards anyways.¡±

    He Lianwei squinted his eyes. ¡°You mean to say that you want to fight against two Yang Opening Realm cultivators on your own?¡±

    Su Chen shrugged and saidzily, ¡°The difference of a single realm isn¡¯t something that can¡¯t be exceeded. In the Primordial Continent, it isn¡¯t actually that rare for people to jump realms. People who can exceed bloodline limits? Now that¡¯s rare. Furthermore, you guys only have mixed bloodlines, so you can only be average even in the Yang Opening Realm. Trash is still trash, the lowest tier in existence. For elites like me from the Hidden Dragon Institute to surpass you isn¡¯t actually strange; it would be strange if I wasn¡¯t able to.¡±

    ¡°How bold!¡± He Lianwei was infuriated. ¡°Brat, I want to see the tactic that gives you such arrogance.¡±

    Su Chen had the ability to resist a Yang Opening Realm cultivator. He Lianwei was aware of this.

    However, he absolutely didn¡¯t believe that Su Chen could do it in a two-on-one situation!

    When the gap in strength wasn¡¯t that great, numbers would often determine victory.

    Su Chen¡¯s battle with Li Yue demonstrated that he might be able to defeat some of the weaker Yang Opening realm cultivators, but he couldn¡¯t possibly suppress more than one.

    As long as he couldn¡¯t crush them, there was no possibility that he would seed against two Yang Opening Realm cultivators!

    ¡°What tactics?¡± Su Chenughed coldly. ¡°Haven¡¯t I already used my tactics?¡±

    As he spoke, he nced at Old Jin, who was next to He Lianwei.

    He Lianwei was stunned. He discovered that Old Jin was standing therepletely motionless with his eyes zed over.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 54: Confrontation 2

    Chapter 54: Confrontation (2)

    ¡°Old Jin?¡± He Lianwei was startled and couldn¡¯t help but blurt out.

    Old Jin stood there,pletely ignoring him. He continued to stare nkly.

    He Lianwei was both shocked and angry. He turned around to stare at Su Chen. ¡°What did you do to him?¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°Nothing much, just a small illusion technique. Just like you said, even I¡¯m not confident that I can win in a one-versus-two battle. It¡¯d be better if I took care of you guys one at a time!¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he gestured. An Erupting Firehawk appeared and took flight.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± He Lianwei unleashed a punch, which morphed into a golden-winged tiger that flew from his hand and mmed into Su Chen¡¯s Erupting firehawk, shattering it upon impact. The remaining momentum continued to rush at Su Chen.

    This single attack had obliterated an attack that Su Chen was quite pleased with. In terms of pure strength, he was still stronger than Li Yue from earlier.

    Su Chen, however, wasn¡¯t nning on getting into a brawl with him.

    He activated Whitetower Teleportation and easily avoided the punch.

    Just as he was about to counterattack, some of the mes from the Erupting Firehawk that had disintegrated washed over Old Jin¡¯s body.

    Old Jin jerked as he regained consciousness. He yelled, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°Old Jin, you¡¯re awake?¡± He Lianwei was ecstatic. He finally understood. So this damn illusion can¡¯t take any hits ¨C as long as he gets hit, he¡¯ll awaken.

    ¡°So what?¡± Su Chen, however,ughed coldly. His eyes shimmered strangely as he stared at Old Jin again.

    Old Jin¡¯s consciousness trembled, falling prey to the attack again as he stood there, motionless.

    An opponent awoken from an illusion by an attack wasn¡¯t the same as the opponent breaking through it on their own, and it wouldn¡¯t cause a consciousness bacsh to Su Chen. Otherwise, if Su Chen were to receive a bacsh every time he attacked the opponent, then there was no need to use Fata Morgana anymore either.

    He Lianwei, seeing that Old Jin had fallen prey again,ughed as he unleashed a punch.

    Bang!

    Old Jin was awoken by that punch.

    Evidently, he hadn¡¯tpletely reoriented himself from the influence of the illusion. When he saw that He Lianwei had attacked him, he yelled angrily, ¡°He Lianwei, you idiot, why are you hitting me?¡±

    He Lianwei sneered. ¡°I¡¯m helping you.¡±

    However, he watched as Old Jin once again froze. He knew that Old Jin had once again fallen under Su Chen¡¯s control.

    That damned Su Chen! He made no attempt to conserve his consciousness energy. Instead, he used an illusion technique over and over again to control Old Jin.

    ¡°Dammit!¡± He Lianwei could only helplessly punch Old Jin again.

    Even though someone under the influence of Fata Morgana would awaken as soon as they were struck, they couldn¡¯t be awoken by just any gentle prod. It had its own trigger limit, and a person needed to be injured a certain amount for it to trigger. As for the injury trigger, that depended on the level that Fata Morgana was at.

    As such, He Lianwei¡¯s punch couldn¡¯t be too light. His punchnded on Old Jin¡¯s body. Even though it awoke him again, the pain was enough to force him to grit his teeth. He yelled angrily, ¡°You¡¯re stilling hitting me!?¡±

    He had no idea what was really happening. He could overlook He Lianwei hitting him the first time, but to be attacked by his ally numerous times in a row? He angrily countered with a punch at He Lianwei.

    ¡°Hey! I¡¯m trying to help you here!¡± He Lianwei yelled loudly. He was just about to dodge the punch when he discovered that it was exceptionally quick. He couldn¡¯t even clearly see the path that the punch was taking before itnded on his face, sending him flying.

    ¡°Old Jin, dammit, have you lost your mind? You¡¯re actually hitting me?¡± He Lianwei yelled loudly.

    He nced at Old Jin, only to find that his eyes were now bloodshot. His entire aura had be strange and demonic.

    ¡°This is......¡± He Lianwei was stunned. He turned around and saw Su Chen muttering to himself, his head lowered as if he were chanting something under his breath. His entire body glowed with a strange light.

    ¡°You controlled him?¡± He Lianwei finally understood what was happening.

    ¡°I¡¯ll kill you!¡± Old Jin yelled as he charged forward and punched out again.

    He Lianwei lifted his hands up to block Old Jin¡¯s Cloud Sundering Hands as he pushed his palm out at nearby Su Chen, who was nearby.

    He knew that at this moment, he could only rescue Old Jin from Su Chen¡¯s control by killing Su Chen.

    Bang!

    Following a loud collision, Su Chen¡¯s entire body was suddenly shrouded in a dark light that forcefully stopped He Lianwei¡¯s attack.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this old Jin¡¯s Darkness Lotus?¡± He Lianwei was stunned.

    He quickly realized that Old Jin had to be protecting Su Chen.

    Dammit!

    He absolutely needed to kill Su Chen!!!

    He Lianwei howled angrily in his heart as the image of the golden-winged tiger once again appearing behind him, giving him a majestic and regal aura.

    The massive tiger paw descended towards Su Chen.

    Simultaneously, the Darkness Lotus covering Su Chen¡¯s body continued to bloom, the ck fog unfurling like petals. It then picked Su Chen up and stopped the tiger paw from descending.

    Boom!

    The two began to attack each other, the lotus petals stirring and the tiger w raking through the air.

    ¡°Old Jin!¡± He Lianwei yelled as he unleashed eighteen ming Tiger ws.

    Old Jin activated the lotus. The Darkness Lotus continued to revolve, batting aside the barrage of tiger ws like a blender, shattering them. The illusive images dissipated, returning again to Origin Energy.

    He Lianwei waspletely infuriated. ¡°Old Jin, you¡¯ve fallen into his trap! Quick, wake up!¡±

    ¡°What the hell are you talking about? You¡¯re the one who has fallen into his trap! Quick, wake up!¡± Old Jin yelled angrily, activating his Darkness Cloud-Sundering Bloodline. The Darkness Lotus waved furiously,pletely suppressing He Lianwei¡¯s energy.

    ¡°Bastard, bastard, bastard! Howe I just can¡¯t make you understand?¡± He Lianwei grew angrier the more he fought. He gave up on talking more and focused all of his energy on attacking Su Chen.

    Once he killed Su Chen, Old Jin would naturally awaken.

    He attacked furiously, and the Golden-Winged Tiger Bloodline activated to its max as the wings on its back generated a ferocious torrent of wind and thunder, causing thunder to constantly boom through the sky. Iron-like punches were interspersed amongst the booms of thunder, releasing an unprecedented amount of mes and energy.

    Old Jin also seemed to be infuriated.

    The Darkness Lotus continued to expand. All of the petals rearranged themselves into the shape of a massive ck maw with incredibly sharp teeth, chomping down at the Golden-Winged Tiger.

    The dark maw only continued to expand, growingrger andrger until it swallowed the Golden-Winged Tigerpletely.

    ¡°You still won¡¯t wake up?¡± Old Jin howled with anger and concern amidst the dark vortex.

    Upon hearing Old Jin¡¯s worried tone, He Lianwei felt his chest tremble. Howe it didn¡¯t sound like the voice of someone being controlled?

    Could...... Could it be that I was the person under Su Chen¡¯s control?

    When had it happened?

    He Lianwei began to dimly recall his earlier conversation with Su Chen.

    When Su Chen had been looking down on him, it seemed as if there had been a strange glimmer in his eyes.

    Could it be that he had been controlled ever since that moment?

    It wasn¡¯t Old Jin who had been controlled.

    It was me!

    The person being tricked the whole time was Old Jin!

    It was me who had always been attacking Old Jin!

    He Lianwei¡¯s heart was filled with regret and hatred.

    The scene before his eyes quickly reverted. The Su Chen that he had been attacking wasn¡¯t Su Chen ¨C it was clearly Old Jin!

    No wonder he was able to use Darkness Lotus so well......

    ¡°Old Jin......¡± He Lianwei copsed to one knee, blood trickling down the corner of his mouth.

    ¡°He Lianwei, you¡¯ve finally awoken?¡± Old Jin asked as he rubbed his chest.

    Even though during this battle he had inflicted some serious damage to He Lianwei, his own wounds weren¡¯t light either.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay now that you¡¯re awake. Don¡¯t be tricked again.¡±

    He walked up and gave He Lianwei a hug.

    He Lianwei was just about to speak.

    Spurt!

    A sharp pain suddenly

    He lowered his head, only to find Old Jin¡¯s fist embedded in his chest.

    This...... What was going on?

    Confused and in shock, he turned to stare at Old Jin. However, he was greeted by a pair of cold, unfeeling eyes and that sinister, sly face.

    Su Chen!

    He was just an image that Su Chen had conjured!

    He Lianwei was both stunned and infuriated.

    ¡°AHH!¡± With thest remaining bit of his strength, He Lianwei howled and gathered his energy. A golden wave of light then exploded forth.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 55: Showdown 3

    Chapter 55: Showdown (3)

    When he charged out of the forest¡¯s brush, Old Jin saw He Lianwei and Su Chen facing off.

    Old Jin was also caught off-guard when he found out that Su Chen was their opponent.

    However, what truly shocked him was what Su Chen had said.

    He was nning on defeating two Yang Opening Realm cultivators in a two-on-one fight?

    Yes, it wasn¡¯t rare in the Primordial Continent for elite Blood Boiling Realm cultivators to defeat opponents of a higher cultivation tier, but that was on the premise that the Blood Boiling Realm cultivator had a high-tier bloodline that could suppress the Yang Opening Realm cultivator¡¯s weaker bloodline.

    But who was Su Chen?

    He was just amoner without a bloodline, not even a mixed one. Even so, he still considered himself equal with someone with a high-tier bloodline? How arrogant!

    Old Jin was incensed.

    This was why, when Su Chen said those words, Old Jin said, ¡°Do you think you¡¯re good enough to do that?¡±

    ¡°Whether or not I¡¯m good enough, won¡¯t we know once we start fighting?¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Alright. If that¡¯s the case, then I¡¯ll cross swords with you for a bit,¡± Old Jinughed coldly. ¡°He Lianwei, this battle is between me and him. Don¡¯t interfere.¡±

    There was no response.

    Old Jin was startled. He turned around and found He Lianwei staring at him in a daze, not moving at all.

    ¡°He Lianwei, what¡¯s going on with you?¡±

    He Lianwei didn¡¯t reply.

    On the other hand, Su Chen suddenly gestured, unleashing an Erupting Firehawk.

    That Firehawk, however, was a bit strange. It flew into the air and then exploded on its own. The mes from the explosion washed over Old Jin, but because they had lost their concentrated power and explosiveness, it didn¡¯t wound him at all. It looked more like a practical joke than an attack.

    Old Jin was caught off-guard by this development when He Lianwei suddenlyughed, ¡°Old Jin, you¡¯re awake? So this illusion can¡¯t seem to withstand attacks. A single blow is enough to wake you up.¡±

    What?

    What illusion technique? You¡¯re the one who¡¯s under an illusion, alright?

    Old Jin was infuriated. He was about to say something when he suddenly saw He Lianwei step forward and punch him.

    Old Jin wasn¡¯t prepared and didn¡¯t defend himself in time, causing him to be struck by the blow. Even though it wasn¡¯t forceful, Old Jin still said angrily, ¡°He Lianwei, you idiot, why are you hitting me?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m helping you,¡± He Lianwei replied.

    Old Jin waspletely pissed off by his reply. He knew that He Lianwei was being tricked by Su Chen¡¯s illusion.

    Su Chen¡¯s skill in creating illusions wasn¡¯t actually that high. He couldn¡¯tpare with Jin Ling¡¯er and others like her in terms of controlling other people

    However, Su Chen was much more clever with his tactics.

    He couldn¡¯t use his illusions to totally control someone, but he could use them to constantly muddle the truth.

    When He Lianwei saw Old Jin fall under Su Chen¡¯s control, he had just fallen under Su Chen¡¯s illusion technique. At that moment in time, everything that he believed was happening was actually just in his mind, not in reality.

    When Su Chen took away the illusion, He Lianwei¡¯s movements would shift from only being in his head to actually being carried out, and his attacks would be very real.

    Old Jin didn¡¯t know the specifics of Su Chen¡¯s illusion technique. He only knew that, at this moment, He Lianwei was under Su Chen¡¯s control.

    However, he was still restraining himself, so he didn¡¯t counterattack.

    However, when He Lianwei attacked a second time, Old Jin¡¯s anger red, and he counterattacked with a punch.

    This made things a lot easier for Su Chen.

    He Lianwei was infuriated. ¡°Old Jin, dammit, have you lost your mind? You¡¯re actually hitting me?¡±

    Su Chen continued to use his illusion skill at just the right time. In that moment, He Lianwei saw Old Jin with bloodshot eyes, and it was as if he hadpletely lost his humanity.

    However, he didn¡¯t know that the Old Jin he saw was just an illusion. The real Old Jin had been given Su Chen¡¯s likeness. When he was attacking Su Chen with all his strength, he was actually attacking Old Jin with all his strength.

    To Su Chen, this was the most difficult part.

    His illusion technique could only create a realm of illusion and muddle the truth, but he couldn¡¯t use it to directly control someone. With the power of Fata Morgana, it was impossible for him to on the one hand confuse He Lianwei into thinking that Old Jin was Su Chen while on the other hand allowing him tounch attacks at Old Jin in the real world.

    Thankfully, Su Chen still knew another handy skill.

    Confusion Technique!

    That year, Jin Ling¡¯er had taught him the Confusion Technique, a skill that had a simrlyrge number of limitations, but it could affect reality to a certain degree.

    Back then, the members of the Bai n had attacked their own n¡¯s stewards because of the influence of the Confusion Technique.

    The requirements for using the Confusion Technique were quite high. Su Chen didn¡¯t have the ability to manipte too many conditions to affect He Lianwei. Thankfully, he wouldn¡¯t need to affect many.

    While He Lianwei was mired in Fata Morgana, Su Chen had used the Confusion Technique to bait He Lianwei. More specifically, he hadn¡¯t forced He Lianwei into viewing Old Jin as Su Chen; rather, he had simply put Su Chen¡¯s appearance onto Old Jin. If He Lianwei had taken a closer look in the beginning, he would¡¯ve found that the ¡°Su Chen¡± he was looking at was actually a bit blurry, as if someone had altered the image.

    Unfortunately, he hadn¡¯t. When Su Chen¡¯s Confusion Technique baited him in, He Lianweipletely lost his discernment. With Darkness Lotus further limiting his vision, he had no way of figuring out what was the truth.

    Simultaneously, Old Jin didn¡¯t know that he himself had actually fallen victim to Fata Morgana.

    Unlike He Lianwei, Fata Morgana¡¯s influence on Old Jin was more rted to his perception. That way, Old Jin wouldn¡¯t be able to figure out the crux of Su Chen¡¯s illusion techniques, and he would think that they could be used to directly control another person rather than just trick his opponents by muddling the truth.

    This misunderstanding caused him to miss the opportunity to reawaken He Lianwei, which resulted in a fierce battle between him and He Lianwei.

    The only thing that Su Chen hadn¡¯t anticipated was that Old Jin had concealed his true strength. His cultivation base had actually already reached a high cultivationyer in the Yang Opening Realm.

    When Darkness Lotus had been activated at full force and turned into a massive beast, swallowing up He Lianwei¡¯s Golden-Winged Tiger image, he had finally settled things down.

    He Lianwei finally reawoke from his confused state.

    ¡°Old Jin......¡± he muttered.

    ¡°He Lianwei, you¡¯ve finally awoken?¡± Old Jin replied a little short of breath as he rubbed his chest. ¡°It¡¯s okay now that you¡¯re awake. Don¡¯t be tricked again.¡±

    He took a step forward to hug He Lianwei and infuse him with some Origin Energy. Even though the previous blow was quite powerful, he hadn¡¯t killed He Lianwei; he had only made it so that He Lianwei would temporarily have no strength to continue fighting.

    When Old Jin saw that He Lianwei had recovered, he let out a sigh of relief.

    But just as he was about to infuse He Lianwei with his Origin Energy, he saw He Lianwei¡¯s eyes suddenly ze over again.

    Not good!

    He¡¯s under an illusion again!

    Old Jin yelled loudly in his heart.

    But just as he wanted to retreat, a fierce explosion of energy erupted from He Lianwei¡¯s body.

    ¡°NOO!¡±

    Old Jin howled madly.

    The violent eruption of energy, however, swallowed him up quickly.

    ¡°AHHHH!¡± After a long, tragic howl, the eruption of energy finally subsided. All that remained was a figure that had been charred ck.

    ¡°SU CHEN!¡± Old Jin said in a raspy voice filled with hatred and anger.

    ¡°You¡¯re still not dead?¡±

    Su Chen rubbed his temple, feeling a bit of a headacheing on.

    This headache wasn¡¯t because of Old Jin¡¯s stubbornness, but because the repeated use of Fata Morgana had consumed an incredibly great amount of his consciousness energy.

    Even though using Fata Morgana to blur reality was quite effective, it expended an incredible amount of consciousness energy. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Su Chen¡¯s consciousness energy was more powerful than a Yang Opening Realm cultivator¡¯s already, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to sustain this kind of consumption.

    However, wiping out two Yang Opening Realm cultivators without using any energy of his own was something to be proud of.

    No, it seemed like he was going to have to use a little bit of his energy.

    As he stared at Old Jin, Su Chen said, ¡°I respect your resilience. What a pity...... farewell!¡±

    He gestured. An Ultra Erupting Firehawk surged forth, the powerful mes engulfing Old Jin.

    This time, he wasn¡¯t able to survive.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 56: Massacre

    Chapter 56: Massacre

    Within Happiness Residing Fort.

    As he watched Su Chen lead the two Yang Opening Realm experts away, Iron Cliff shook his head andughed, ¡°It¡¯s our turn now.¡±

    ¡°Arrogant trash!¡± a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator yelled angrily. ¡°Qian Shan1, Su Chen, and Chang Mu, you three go deal with him!¡±

    Three Blood Boiling Realm cultivators leapt forth simultaneously.

    One of the three stretched one hand out and unleashedrge waves of icy energy at Iron Cliff.

    These waves of icy energy quickly began to freeze over uponing into contact with Iron Cliff¡¯s Melted Golden Armor. The frost began to then creep along the cracks of the armor, not only rigidifying Iron Cliff¡¯s body but also preventing him from demonstrating his explosive power. The joints of the armor began to tighten up, making it hard for Iron Cliff to move.

    At the same time, the second person made his move. He gestured, causing the ground around Iron Cliff to turn into mud. Iron Cliff stepped in, causing half of his leg to be engulfed by the mud. It was already hard for him to move around, and the mud only served to slow him down even further.

    The third person¡¯s attack was the most threatening. This person was exceptionally quick. He utilized the forest¡¯s terrain and constantly jumped from tree to tree, throwing darts repeatedly. These darts ttered loudly against Iron Cliff¡¯s armor. They didn¡¯t seem to be strong enough to destroy the Melted Golden Armor, but the momentum behind each dart was carried through to the interior of the armor, the constant jolting hard for even Iron Cliff to handle.

    Hisck of mobility only made him more of an easy target. The flurry of darts threw him left and right, and all he could do was wave his arms constantly in an attempt to defend himself.

    He had just been fighting six people on his own and hadn¡¯t even been afraid of attacking a Yang Opening Realm cultivator, but now, he had been pushed further by three Blood Boiling Realm cultivators.

    This was the result of restricting him.

    In terms of pure strength, Iron Cliff wasn¡¯t afraid of anyone. It was quite ordinary for him to challenge people stronger than him.

    However, his opponents had targeted his weaknesses, sending three people, one of whom was proficient with ice, one of whom was proficient with earth, and one of whom was exceptionally quick. Using speed to counter his brute strength and the elements to restrict his movements allowed them to easily suppress him.

    The person responsible for directing the Origin Qi Schrsughed loudly, ¡°We¡¯ll see how long you can continue being so arrogant!¡±

    As he continued to defend himself against the darts, Iron Cliffughed maliciously, ¡°You want to deal with me just with these trivial techniques? You¡¯ve got a ways to go!¡±

    ¡°Oh? Then what other techniques do you have?¡± the person responsible for directing the Origin Qi Schrs, who was called Jiang Xiaojun,ughed.

    ¡°You¡¯ll know when you see it,¡± Iron Cliff replied.

    With a swift motion, a vial of medicine appeared in his hand. He gulped it down.

    Another vial followed immediately.

    Jiang Xiaojun¡¯s expression changed immediately. Even though he didn¡¯t know what medicines Iron Cliff had drunk, he knew that medicine could change the oue of the battlepletely. He hadn¡¯t, however, expected for this brawny man to have such a thing on him.

    Even though he immediatelymanded the three Blood Boiling Realm cultivators to attack Iron Cliff to stop him from drinking medicines, the three of them weren¡¯t offensive-type cultivators. It wouldn¡¯t be a problem for them to slowly grind Iron Cliff to death, but it was impossible for them to attack Iron Cliff and forcefully stop him from drinking the medicine. Most importantly, Iron Cliff chose this moment to pull out arge golden bug.

    A guardian bug!

    He actually had his own guardian bug!

    Even though this bug had very low offensive capabilities (it hated fighting), its hard shell was extremely useful as a shield to defend its master.

    By borrowing the defensive capabilities of the bug, Iron Cliff was able to ingest five medicines almost immediately.

    Then, he howled, ¡°You worthless rubbish, get out of my way!¡±

    Boom!

    As if a p of thunder had suddenly boomed right next to their ears, everyone¡¯s mind was stunned for a moment. Iron Cliff leapt into the air, extricating himself from the mud.

    This leap was sent him tens of feet into the air. He raised his speed as high as possible, instantly catching up to the agile Chang Mu.

    Chang Mu hadn¡¯t anticipated Iron Cliff¡¯s speed to have suddenly increased to this extent.

    ¡°You......¡± A trace of shock could be seen in his eyes.

    ¡°Keep jumping!¡± Iron Cliff said sinisterly.

    With a ¡°crack¡±, Iron Cliff wrung Chang Mu¡¯s neck.

    When he had grabbed Chang Mu, they were both in the air. By the time hended, Chang Mu was already a corpse.

    He tossed the corpse to the side, then smiled. ¡°The one ying around with the mud, you¡¯re next!¡±

    He pointed at Sun Chen, who was responsible for the mud technique.

    Sun Chen was shocked and retreated, simultaneously activating his mud technique to its greatest extent.

    However, Iron Cliff didn¡¯t even bother chasing.

    With a loud roar, he mmed his fist into the ground.

    A massive wave of energy began to spread from below the ground. Originally, Iron Cliff wasn¡¯t able to control the direction of the spread of energy, but because Sun Chen insisted on using his mud technique, this created an invisible energy link between him and the mud. When Iron Cliff mmed his fist into the mud, he tapped into this energy tunnel.

    This violent, unrestrained energy roared through the tunnel and straight into Sun Chen¡¯s body.

    Sun Chen flew backward as if he had been struck by Iron Cliff directly.

    Iron Cliff didn¡¯t bother chasing him. He reached behind him with his left hand, picked up a nearby tree by the trunk, and forcefully chucked it. It mmed right into Sun Chen¡¯s chest.

    Sun Chen yelled tragically and died on the spot.

    All that remained was the Origin Qi Schr called Qian Shan, who was running away as quickly as he could, frightened out of his wits.

    At this point, he didn¡¯t have the heart to try to seal Iron Cliff¡¯s movements with ice. With no more restrictions, Iron Cliff charged forward andughed loudly. His speed was actually even faster than Qian Shan¡¯s.

    A few more Origin Qi Schrs charged at him from the nk. They were troops under Jiang Xiaojun¡¯s direction who had been sent to deal with Iron Cliff.

    Iron Cliff, however,pletely ignored them. He continued his barbaric charge, and the few Origin Qi Schrs who were trying to keep him contained were knocked aside like bowling pins.

    It was like he was a massive truck barrelling down an empty street as he mmed into Qian Shan¡¯s back.

    Qian Shan spat out a mouthful of blood. His spine was shattered immediately.

    ¡°Cliff Race!¡± Jiang Xiaojun¡¯s pupils shrank.

    He could finally tell that this fully-armored person was actually of the Cliff Race.

    Only the Cliff Race could have such a frightening amount of strength.

    ¡°HA!¡± Iron Cliff howled savagely.

    ¡°Attack together!¡± Jiang Xiaojun barked.

    Of the two top-tier Vicious Beasts, one had already been killed, while the other had been heavily injured and was dying. As for the four Shadow Servants, even though they were still slipping in and out of view and attacking, they were weaker in openbat. They could only attack once after appearing before being forced to disappear again. They would have a hard time against a strong opponent or arge army of hundreds of soldiers.

    On the open battlefield, the most frightening was still a wild warrior like Iron Cliff. If he began to fire on all cylinders, he was basically invincible and could wipe the floor with everyone.

    They absolutely couldn¡¯t allow him to build up momentum!

    This was what Jiang Xiaojun thought.

    In fact, he wasn¡¯t exactly wrong.

    He hadn¡¯t made any mistakes either.

    Unfortunately, sometimes you just couldn¡¯t win even if you didn¡¯t make a mistake.

    Iron Cliff watched as the martial artists charged over. He was just a single person; even with the support of medicine, fighting a hundred people at once would probably exhaust his supply of energy.

    However, Iron Cliff didn¡¯t seem to mind at all.

    Heughed, ¡°So they¡¯re attacking together? That¡¯s exactly how I like it.¡±

    He made a tossing motion, and a few Thunderfire Balls flew through the air.

    Boom, boom, boom!

    mes exploded in the middle of the crowd.

    These Thunderfire Balls were area-of-effect items; because they weren¡¯t concentrated enough, they weren¡¯t very powerful, but they were more than enough to deal with a bunch of Body Tempering Realm martial artists. In addition, some of these were the extremely strong versions that Su Chen had created.

    Amidst the explosions of fire and thunder, cries of pain could be heard throughout the crowd.

    In just the blink of an eye, dozens of individuals were struck by the Thunderfire Balls, and seven or eight of them were critically injured right then and there.

    The most frightening thing was that not only did Iron Cliff have these, but the four Shadow Servants also had them as well.

    After Iron Cliff tossed out his Thunderfire Balls, the four Shadow Servants, as if they had received amand, all began to throw out their Thunderfire Balls as well.

    In but a moment, the whole battleground had been engulfed in thunder and fire. Everyone was plunged into this inferno.

    The Lian n¡¯s Chief Steward, Lao, had wondered before what trump cards Su Chen possessed.

    During the Coalition Meeting, he found out about one of them.

    If he had been here, he would¡¯ve discovered another one.

    This was strength.

    When Iron Cliff and the Shadow Servants began to madly toss out Thunderfire Balls left and right, the numbers advantage was rendered meaningless.

    When Iron Cliff, supported by the metal-eating bug and the set of medicine, had charged into the group of people, even Origin Qi Schrs in the same tier as him were likembs waiting to be ughtered.

    Perhaps they might¡¯ve been able to make numbers mean a bit more, but the prerequisite to that was having enough people in the first ce.

    Obviously, the Origin Qi Schrs didn¡¯t have the numbers to reverse this gap in strength. When faced with Iron Cliff, who charged at them like a tiger, all that could be seen in their expressions was despair.

    1. His name means ¡°Money Mountain¡±. Just thought it was funny.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 57: Stealing a Winning Hand

    Chapter 57: Stealing a Winning Hand1

    The battle was aplete ughter.

    When it reached its final stages, most of the people remaining didn¡¯t have the will to fight and began to attempt to escape.

    At this point, the four Shadow Servants had used up all of their Thunderfire Balls, and the medicinal effects on Iron Cliff had also subsided.

    However, people who had lost their bravery had simply lost their bravery. People without the will to fight couldn¡¯t possibly turn around and counterattack.

    At this moment, the vigers in the fort charged out with high morale, catching up with Iron Cliff and the others and chasing the remnants.

    Even though they were essentially useless in the main battle, these vigers were extremely useful in chasing after the remnants and cleaning up the battlefield. At the very least, Iron Cliff and the others no longer needed to expend thest bits of their energy to fight.

    When thest mes were put out, everything returned to peacefulness.

    The battleground was littered with corpses. Very few people had been able to escape.

    Iron Cliff was tired to the point of exhaustion.

    He took off his armor, picked up arge pouch of water, and began to guzzle it down.

    ¡°It seems like the oue of the battle here is pretty good,¡± Su Chen said as he walked over to him.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t master expect this kind of oue a long time ago?¡± Iron Cliff replied.

    ¡°I watched the conclusion, but I didn¡¯t get to see it in all its glory,¡± Su Chen said as he smiled slightly.

    Gui Dashan walked over and said in a heavy voice, ¡°Master, Old Third died.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°Did he have any family members?¡±

    ¡°He had a wife and kids, all of whom are at Yanping Mountain.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± Su Chen thought for a moment, then said, ¡°Give his wife and kids a hundred taels of pure gold, and ten more every year from now on. If they are willing, they can also move over here. I¡¯ll take good care of them. Of course, that will depend on themselves.¡±

    ¡°Yes! Many thanks, Master!¡± Gui Dashan eximed happily.

    Even though banditsmitted all kinds of evils, they were still somewhat loyal to their own brothers. When Gui Dashan and the others saw that Su Chen was willing to take care of their deceasedrade, they felt it much easier to bear.

    In truth, even though they had lost a lot of freedom after following Su Chen and the danger had also increased, Su Chen¡¯s everyday treatment of them was pretty good. Most importantly, their strength had also gone up.

    Whenever Su Chen developed experimental objects or medicines that could raise one¡¯s cultivation base and he or Iron Cliff didn¡¯t need it immediately, he would give it to them. asionally, he would also give them some pointers so that they didn¡¯t waste too much time. The cultivation of these bandits usually progressed with starts and stops; they had never been officially trained before, so when they received Su Chen¡¯s instruction, it was as if they had been reborn. Their progress was quite remarkable.

    During this period of time, Gui Dashan and the others¡¯ cultivation bases were increasing rapidly.

    Old Third Feng, Old Fourth Li, and Old Fifth Jin were at the peak of the Qi Drawing Realm and would be able to break through shortly. Unfortunately, Old Third Feng wasn¡¯t able to make it until then.

    As for Gui Dashan and Old Second Cheng, it would take them a bit of time before they could reach the peak.

    However, the two of them weren¡¯t anxious. Su Chen had already told them that his instructor was working on researching a way to break into the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline. If all went ording to n, it should bepleted quite soon. In the meantime, there was no need to be in a rush. Even if a method for reaching the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline was never developed, obtaining a bloodline in the Yang Opening Realm was far superior to obtaining it while in the Blood Boiling Realm.

    These bandits, who had no connections whatsoever and were just blindly cultivating, wouldn¡¯t have had an opportunity to obtain a bloodline before. Now that they found out not having a bloodline could actually improve their fate, they were naturally extremely excited. As such, their desire to follow Su Chen became even more solid.

    On the other hand, Su Chen didn¡¯t actually care much for them.

    To him, whether it was a hundred taels of pure gold or them reaching the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline, both had little value to him.

    These mountain bandit Shadow Servants were only worth so much.

    Threatening them was always going to be more effective than appeasing them.

    Of course, there was no need to say this out loud.

    Now that he had appeased Gui Dashan and the others, Su Chen turned around to nce at Chalei and the rest of Happiness Residing Fort¡¯s vigers.

    Chalei walked over and knelt down in front of Su Chen. ¡°Many thanks for saving us, sir!¡±

    ¡°Forget about the formalities. I just want to remind you that the ten Bloodline Nobility ns will not stop their attacks here. I understand them too well; while you are a target that cannot fight back against them, they will do everything they can to deal with you. In particr, this touches the matter of their money.

    Previously, Su Chen could still use the Blood-Robed Guards lent to him by An Siyuan to intimidate his opponents. However, the importance of the West River Viges was so great that they were even more important than Su Chen¡¯s Origin Bureau. Even ten regiments of Blood-Robed Guards might not even be enough to stop the greediness of the ten Bloodline Nobility ns.

    Under such circumstances, one could easily imagine that the ten Bloodline Nobility ns¡¯ response would be swift.

    Chalei was clearly aware of this. He said bitterly, ¡°Then it seems that there¡¯s nothing we can do but agree to their earlier conditions.¡±

    Su Chen coldly said, ¡°Then what was the point of holding out until now? Did I help you just so that you could surrender? If that¡¯s the case, then I might as well kill you all right now so that you don¡¯t increase the strength of my enemies.¡±

    Chalei felt his heart jolt. He realized that he had obviously offended Su Chen with his words, so he hurriedly lowered himself and said, ¡°I misspoke. Forgive me.¡±

    He was already kneeling before. At this point, he was basically prostrating himself.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°However, I understand your fear. After all, the ten Bloodline Nobility ns aren¡¯t existences you can afford to resist.¡±

    As he spoke, he nced at Gui Dashan.

    At this moment, the benefit of having the bandits manifested.

    Gui Dashan instantly understood Su Chen¡¯s intent. He said loudly, ¡°You bunch of idiots, you can¡¯t defend yourselves against the Bloodline Nobility ns, but does my master fear them? With him here, he can naturally stop the Bloodline Nobility ns for you.¡±

    ¡°But sir is unwilling to protect us,¡± Chalei said, stunned.

    ¡°Nonsense! Of course, it won¡¯t work if you don¡¯t take anything out. If you want my master to protect you, you at least need to......¡± Gui Dashan suddenly stopped speaking. He didn¡¯t dare to make any demands on Su Chen¡¯s behalf. All he could do was nce back at Su Chen.

    Su Chen said indifferently, ¡°If you want to obtain my protection, it¡¯s quite easy. Sell the resources you earn to me.¡±

    Indeed, that was how it was going to be.

    In the end, Su Chen wanted to steal the ten Bloodline Nobility ns¡¯ winning hand and cut off their lifeline!

    They made millions of Origin Stones every year, which wasn¡¯t a small sum. If Su Chen were to forcefully seize their lifeline, the ten Bloodline Nobility ns would undoubtedly be harmed.

    Otherwise, what reason would Su Chen have to want to break apart the deadlock that was in ce?

    To him, peace was time, and time was strength!

    The only thing that could disrupt this equilibrium was money!

    Arge amount of money could rece arge amount of time!

    To Happiness Residing Fort, this was now a question of what position they would choose.

    Even though they had sold goods to Su Chen in the past, they were all small shipments, and Su Chen basically used them right away. They were consumed without ever leaving the forest, which made sure that they wouldn¡¯t attract trouble.

    Now, however, Su Chen wanted to take over directly and box the ten Bloodline Nobility ns out...... This was no longer a question of multiplying the price anymore.

    Chalei said as if he were about to cry, ¡°This matter concerns the entire fort. I cannot make that decision.¡±

    Su Chen said faintly, ¡°Please don¡¯t confuse the situation. If I had nevere, all of you would have died, and dead people don¡¯t have the ability to make decisions. I don¡¯t care about the other forts, just about your attitude. Vige Chief Chalei, do you want to follow me or them? In addition, I can promise you one thing. Didn¡¯t you want a threefold increase? The ten Bloodline Nobility ns were too selfish. If you follow me, I can not only protect you but also promise to raise the price to five times what it was before. How does that sound?

    Buying the resources for five times the original price still meant that Su Chen could sell it for twenty times the purchasing price.

    But to the vigers of Happiness Residing fort, this would be a huge change.

    Earning three thousand a month versus earning fifteen thousand a month would have apletely different effect on their standard of living.

    Su Chen¡¯s words became the straw that broke the camel¡¯s back. Chalei nodded and said, ¡°Okay, since Sir Su has said as much, the lives of the people in Happiness Residing Fort now belong to you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the way it should be,¡± Su Chen said with a slight smile.

    1. This is actually a really cool mahjong expression. To the best of my understanding, if multiple people want a certain piece toplete a winning hand, only the closest person wins. This expression has extended to modern lingo to mean something along the lines of stealing away someone¡¯s sess right as their on the cusp of it.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 58: Stealing a Winning Hand 2

    Chapter 58: Stealing a Winning Hand (2)

    ¡°There¡¯s one thing that I don¡¯t quite understand.¡±

    Within the main hall of Happiness Residing Fort, Chalei respectfully waited on Su Chen.

    From this moment onwards, Su Chen was the big shot supporting the fort.

    ¡°You want to ask me how I know how you resist the curse and control the Vicious Beasts?¡± Su Chen asked indifferently.

    ¡°Yes. However, brewing ck Kite Grass and Flying Vines into medicine to resist the curse isn¡¯t really a secret in this vige. In the numerous encounters with you, I wouldn¡¯t have been surprised if someone had revealed it to you, sir. The secret to the Beast Controlling Technique, however, isn¡¯t known by many even in Happiness Residing Fort. I cannot fathom how you were able to discover it,¡± Chalei said with some confusion.

    Su Chen replied calmly, ¡°The secret behind the Beast Controlling Technique really isn¡¯t known by that many people. However, Vige Chief Chalei, this technique isn¡¯t possessed by Happiness Residing Fort alone. You might be able to keep the people from Happiness Residing Fort from leaking the secret, but can you do that for the people in the other forts?¡±

    Once he heard this, Chalei understood.

    The Beast Controlling Technique didn¡¯t belong to a single fort alone. More precisely, they weren¡¯t even the ones to have discovered it; the Origin Gate Fort had disseminated it after discovering it so that the forts could ally together against the ten Bloodline Nobility ns.

    Chalei had protected the secret behind the Beast Controlling Technique, but he hadn¡¯t kept the fact that Su Chen was wandering around West River Forest practicing medicine a secret. He definitely didn¡¯t try to conceal Su Chen¡¯s position as an enemy of the Bloodline Nobility ns. As such, people very quickly discovered that a skilled medical practitioner was here, and many people who came to Su Chen weren¡¯t from Happiness Residing Fort. With the support of the Shadow Servants, it was even easier for them to discover the secret.

    Chalei had overlooked this point, allowing Su Chen to easily exploit it.

    If he had exined the circumstances more clearly to Su Chen, then Su Chen definitely would¡¯ve chosen the secret and not a monopoly over the resources.

    But now that the secret had been discovered by Su Chen by himself, Chalei could only sell himself to Su Chen to keep himself safe.

    However, that might not necessarily be a bad thing; if he did a good job selling himself out, he might be able to secure safe passage for himself.

    It wasn¡¯t about a loss of freedom at all; ever since ancient times, humans didn¡¯t hate selling themselves, but they hated not being able to sell themselves for a good price.

    The phrase ¡°wolves travel thousands of kilometers to eat meat, while dogs travel thousands of kilometers to eat feces1¡± was pure nonsense. Dogs were just tamed wolves, and to those starving wolves prowling in the wilderness, the life of a dog was something they could only yearn for. It was the ultimate goal of their evolution!

    As long as he sold himself to a good master, Chalei had no issues with it.

    As such, he quickly reorganized his thoughts and said, ¡°It¡¯s not that I didn¡¯t want to tell you openly. This Purple Colored ss is truly exceptionally dangerous.¡±

    ¡°I know. Every time you control a Vicious Beast, a person must die, right?¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°To be honest, you aren¡¯t really controlling a Vicious Beast; you¡¯re just recing the beast¡¯s soul with a human soul, which is why those Guardian Beasts will listen to yourmands. After all, they were your vigers in the first ce. But by the same principle, you couldn¡¯t force anyone to do this; otherwise, that person would turn around and bite you back.¡±

    ¡°You even know this?¡± Chalei was stunned. ¡°They told you all of that?¡±

    ¡°No one told me that,¡± Su Chen replied.

    No one?

    Then how had he figured it out?

    Every guess needed to have a basis. Any guess that wasn¡¯t based on a foundation of scientific knowledge was just a blind guess.

    Chalei didn¡¯t believe for a second that Su Chen was someone who liked to guess blindly, so he knew that Su Chen must¡¯ve had some kind of intuition about the situation. However, he couldn¡¯t figure out how Su Chen had figured out the properties of the Purple Colored ss without even seeing it.

    He stared dumbly at Su Chen.

    When Su Chen saw him like this, heughed, ¡°I killed one of your Guardian Beasts, yet you didn¡¯t immediately make another one, from which I guessed that the production method was unique. Of course, it would be strange if I could guess this property just based on this, but it¡¯s not convenient for me to exin the specifics to you. I just want to know one thing: do you know where the people in the Origin Gate Fort found this?¡±

    When he heard that there were still things Su Chen didn¡¯t know, Chalei calmed himself down and said, ¡°It¡¯s the Red Cliff Cave. However, all of the Purple Colored ss has already been taken away by the Origin Gate Fort¡¯s vigers a long time ago. Nothing is left there.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just what you think.¡± Su Chen had already stood up. ¡°I¡¯m going to the Red Cliff Cave for a bit. Chalei, send a few people to the next fort and exin the situation, then ask them to also make a decision. No matter what the oue is, I will ept it.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Chalei bowed and replied.

    Su Chen walked out of the main hall.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Su Chen¡¯s departurested for three days.

    Three dayster, Su Chen returned, his hands empty and his expression heavy.

    Chalei said with concern, ¡°Sir, please don¡¯t be concerned. Even though you didn¡¯t discover anything, the Origin Gate Fort already has some Purple Colored ss. After all, there aren¡¯t many people who are willing to die for the sake of the fort. If Sir is willing, I can go and......¡±

    ¡°I never said that I didn¡¯t discover anything,¡± Su Chen replied and pulled out a small, purple pearl. ¡°This is Purple Colored ss, right? They left one behind. You can have it.¡±

    He tossed it over to Chalei.

    Chalei hurriedly received it and stared at Su Chen in shock. ¡°So Sir did find something. Why is your expression so poor then?¡±

    ¡°Sometimes, it¡¯s better to not know about some things!¡± Su Chen said with deep meaning.

    When he heard this, Chalei didn¡¯t dare to ask more questions.

    ¡°Right, how did the matter of contacting the other forts go?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Chalei replied, ¡°I already got in contact with them, but......¡± Chalei nced at Su Chen, then gently shook his head.

    Evidently, they hadn¡¯t agreed.

    ¡°Did you tell them the whole story?¡±

    ¡°I did, even the fact that Thousand Abundances Fort and Silver Metropolis Fort were both wiped out. Even though they expressed outrage, they weren¡¯t willing......¡±

    ¡°Even five times the buying price of those Bloodline Nobility ns wasn¡¯t enough to get them to swear allegiance to me?¡±

    ¡°They believe that there won¡¯t be any room for mediation anymore if they do that.¡±

    ¡°They still want to negotiate,¡± Su Chen coldlyughed.

    ¡°That was our original intention. It¡¯s just that those Bloodline Nobility ns are too tyrannical.¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t bully someone with your strength, what is the point of even being strong?¡±

    Chalei sighed, ¡°Yes, that¡¯s also what I told them. They just didn¡¯t seem to understand.¡±

    Su Chen said coldly, ¡°It¡¯s not that they don¡¯t understand. They understand it very well.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Chalei was shocked.

    Su Chen already continued, ¡°They just want to use me to fight back against the ten Bloodline Nobility ns, then profit from it. They had already given up on raising the price by relying on the Vicious Beasts, but since I, an outsider, inserted myself into the situation, they now have a new opportunity.¡±

    Chalei opened his mouth in shock.

    ¡°However, how could I let them get what they want?¡± Su Chen said darkly. ¡°Since they want to wait until the ten Bloodline Nobility ns and I begin to fight, then they can wait as long as they want. I have no interest in remaining in West River Forest any longer.

    That¡¯s right; the other viges did intend on doing this.

    They didn¡¯t view Su Chen in a favorable light, but since he was there as apetitor, the value of their own products would increase, and they could harvest the rewards.

    Unfortunately for them, there was no way Su Chen would let them benefit from this dispute.

    Even though he had proposed a price of five times the original asking price, he had never expected to take total control. He had just purposefully done so to make the other party hate the Bloodline Nobility ns even more. He knew very well that now wasn¡¯t the time topletely monopolize the resourcesing from West River Forest.

    The other party moves werepletely within his calctions, and he had expected this kind of answer.

    ¡°What?¡± Chalei was stunned. ¡°If you go, what will we do? When the ten Bloodline Nobility ns make their way back, they definitely won¡¯t spare Happiness Residing Fort.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll leave you amunications device. If the ten Bloodline Nobility nse, you all go and hide.¡±

    ¡°But we can¡¯t leave the vige for too long!¡±

    Even though the medicine brewed from ck Kite Grass and Flying Vines allowed the vigers to resist the attacks of those red microscopic organisms, it formed a toxic substance within their bodies. This kind of poison could only be suppressed by more medicine, resulting in a vicious cycle. In addition, ck Kite Grass only grew here, making it so that those who lived in West River Forest had no way of leaving this ce.

    Because of this, the outsiders who entered West River Forest never used the locals¡¯ method to avoid the invasion of the poison because they would fall prey to it for the rest of their lives.

    ¡°It¡¯s just a kind of slow-acting poison. I can help cure you of it,¡± Su Chen said while waving his hand nonchntly.

    To him, this was an exceptionally easy task.

    What?

    Chalei waspletely shocked.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Author¡¯s note: Why Su Chen didn¡¯t want to take over all of the forts will be discussedter.

    1. Means that natural disposition is hard to change, analogous to an old dog can¡¯t learn new tricks.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 59: Medicine

    Chapter 59: Medicine

    To the people living in West River Vige, this herbal medicine was their defender, allowing them to avoid the curse; however, it was also their jailor, firmly locking them here and not letting them leave.

    Su Chen¡¯s words, however, would open uppletely new possibilities. They would be able to escape from their shackles and fly free from their cages to explore the broad, vast seas.

    However, if anyone thought that this would make them willing to leave, they would be gravely mistaken.

    Habit was an extremely powerful force!

    They had grown ustomed to living on this piece of earth for generations, making it hard for the people living here to part with it. Many people would rather die than leave the ce that had supported them for generations.

    The difficult feeling of leaving one¡¯s homnd behind was difficult for outsiders to understand.

    Thankfully, Su Chen didn¡¯t intend for them to leavepletely. Rather, he was just asking them to hide temporarily when the ten Bloodline Nobility ns came. There wasn¡¯t many problems with that.

    That evening, the people from Happiness Residing Fort arranged a massive banquet, celebrating their freedom. They sang and danced cheerfully.

    However, within the room belonging to the chief, Su Chen had sunk into a deep sleep. Iron Cliff stood guard at the door, blocking anyone from trying to get in. This meant that Su Chen had already entered the Dreamrealm ¨C after the training session that year, Su Chen now knew the importance of establishing a secure environment before entering the Dreamrealm.

    When he entered, he was greeted by a familiar castle.

    Every user of the Dreamrealm would appear in their starting location unless they wanted to change it. But even if they did change it, they wouldn¡¯t see anything new; after all, the Dreamrealm was just an information andmunicationswork. There weren¡¯t any magnificentndscapes to be found. The scenery was the same everywhere, and even the multicolored, brilliant lights would be of no importance very quickly.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t go to the busiest three Main Exchange Halls. Instead, he walked up the stairs to the Dreamcastle and found a small peaceful alleyway. He opened one of the doors and walked in. He was greeted by a small building in a quiet, secluded area surrounded by lush mountains and clear water.

    This was Su Chen¡¯s residence within the Dreamrealm Castle, and it was one of the benefits of having Meng Xun¡¯s support. Because it was his own ce, Su Chen could design it as he pleased. Evidently, Su Chen seemed to have the personality traits of a hermit.

    The Dreamrealm¡¯s residences could create a secure environment for their owners to discuss things. ording to the Lord of the Dreamrealm, this was the highest privilege obtainable; not even he could listen in on those conversations. Whether or not that was true, it was hard to say since he controlled these matters all on his own. At the very least, however, no one with the privilege of a Dream King could break into another person¡¯s residence.

    The Primordial Continent didn¡¯t have many quick ways tomunicate. The Dreamrealm was the fastest and most convenient way tomunicate with someone.

    Upon entering his own residence, Su Chen said, ¡°Open themunications line and call Instructor.¡±

    An invisible ripple was sent out.

    Not long after, a person appeared. It was Shi Kaihuang.

    ¡°Instructor!¡±

    ¡°Oh hoh!¡± Shi Kaihuang gazed happily at his pleased disciple. ¡°You haven¡¯te for a while. What have you been busy withtely?¡±

    ¡°Your disciple went to West River Forest to temper myself.¡± Su Chen began to exin what had happened during this period of time.

    ¡°Hmph, those Bloodline Nobility ns want to bleed the poor people dry. They¡¯re all incredibly greedy. urrences like this are all toomon. It¡¯s time to teach them a good lesson,¡± Shi Kaihuang harrumphed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. No matter what consequences there are, I will help shield you from them.¡±

    ¡°Yes, your disciple understands. My greatest backer until now wasn¡¯t the Shadow Servants or medicines; it was Instructor!¡± Su Chen replied.

    Shi Kaihuangughed, ¡°All you know how to do is tter people.¡±

    Even though he knew he was being ttered, it made him quite happy to hear it. In addition, this ttery wasn¡¯t fake.

    Without Shi Kaihuang as Su Chen¡¯s staunch backer, Su Chen would need to weigh his actions a lot more carefully.

    ¡°Right, Instructor, how goes the research on breaking into the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline?¡±

    ¡°The more progress we make, the harder it gets!¡± Shi Kaihuang shook his head and sighed.

    ¡°Are you still stuck at the Three Yangs Intersection?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m still stuck there and haven¡¯t been able to progress. The Three Yangs Intersection is where Origin Energyes together. If there are any mistakes, a person¡¯s blood flow will be thrown into chaos. I¡¯m going the Origin Opening route; even though it can stabilize a person¡¯s blood flow to a certain degree, I can¡¯t maintainplete control over it. You also know that if an ident happens here, the consequences would be disastrous. At the very least, one will fail to break through and experience an Origin Energy bacsh, but at worst it could take a person¡¯s life.¡±

    ¡°This is the reason why I came looking for Instructor today. I made a discovery while in the West River Forest. Perhaps it might be able to resolve the issue of the Three Yangs Intersection.¡±

    ¡°Oh? What is it?¡± Upon hearing this, Shi Kaihuang¡¯s interest was piqued.

    ¡°It¡¯s the West River Forest curse,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°The origin of this curse is actually an extremely small microorganism. Your disciple has been studying them recently and unintentionally discovered that these organisms are extremely helpful to the Three Yangs Intersection; they can stabilize a person¡¯s blood flow and unblock Origin Energy flow. If you can incorporate them into a medicine, it can resolve the issue of the Three Yangs Intersection.¡±

    When he heard this, Shi Kaihuang immediately shook his head. ¡°What I need is a way to reach the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline or medicine. If you rely on medicinal power to obtain sess, you will be restricted by the medicine. What is the difference between that and being restricted by a bloodline, then?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a big difference,¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°Medicine is much easier to obtain than a bloodline, and everyone will have the same opportunity. Developing a way to reach the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline is going to take a long time. Instructor should first focus on dealing with the problems in front of you rather than trying to pursue a perfect method from the very beginning.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang was stunned.

    He thought for a moment, then said, ¡°That makes a bit of sense. But since this kind of medicine relies on ingredients only found in West River Forest, the amount we can produce every year is limited right?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Therefore, your disciple intends to focus on improving it after we¡¯ve dealt with reaching the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline. Wasn¡¯t the method for reaching the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline built on the work of many others before us?¡±

    ¡°That...... is actually not wrong.¡± Shi Kaihuang nodded.

    He then sighed, ¡°That year, you were the one who came up with the method ofbining Ancient Arcana Techniques and contemporary Origin Skills,pleting the method for reaching the Blood Boiling Realm. Now, we need to add in medicine to reach the Yang Opening Realm. At the very least, in terms of your train of thought, you have greatly surpassed me!¡±

    ¡°But everything is still because of Instructor. I was just adding flowers to a brocade1, is all.¡±

    ¡°Adding flowers to a brocade? It¡¯s more like adding on the final finishing touches. If your medicine can really resolve the Three Yangs Intersection issue, then it¡¯s just a matter of time before weplete a way to reach the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline. Oh, you¡¯re probably waiting for this as well, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Instructor,¡± Su Chen replied with a slight smile.

    Shi Kaihuang could sense Su Chen¡¯s absurd cultivation speed.

    Even though they were in the Dreamrealm, Shi Kaihuang could sense that Su Chen¡¯s cultivation base had greatly increased from when they hadst encountered each other.

    However, every person had their own secrets. Since Su Chen didn¡¯t say anything, he wouldn¡¯t ask. They had a tacit understanding in this regard.

    To Su Chen, this kind of medicine not only represented a way to reach the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline but also an incredible haul of resources.

    The technique for reaching the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline could be made public, while the recipe for the medicine would be sold by himself.

    After an in-depth discussion about the technique to break into the Yang Opening Realm, Shi Kaihuang asked, ¡°Is there anything else?¡±

    Su Chen hesitated for a moment, then said, ¡°I made a new discovery in West River Forest. There¡¯s a kind of Purple Colored ss there that can transfer a person¡¯s soul and will into a Vicious Beast¡¯s body, allowing the person to control a Vicious Beast. When taking into ount the Li Residence and the matter with Wei Liancheng, we can basically confirm......¡±

    When he heard this, Shi Kaihuang¡¯s expression sank. ¡°So it is that group of neither human nor demonic individuals? They¡¯vee to our world again to stir up trouble!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because they have such low numbers,¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°If you want to do experiments, you need to go to a ce where there are enough research targets.¡±

    ¡°This won¡¯t do. We have a serious matter in our hands; I¡¯ll need to inform the higher-ups.¡±

    ¡°Instructor!¡± Su Chen got Shi Kaihuang¡¯s attention.

    He said, ¡°Why not leave it to me?¡±

    ¡°You?¡± Shi Kaihuang hesitated for a moment. ¡°It¡¯s not that I am looking down on you; it¡¯s just that your opponent this time isn¡¯t normal! You...... can you do it?¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t immediately answer. He thought seriously for a moment, then replied, ¡°I might not be able to take care of that guy right now, but with enough time, I¡¯m confident that I¡¯ll be able to.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang nodded. ¡°It seems like the situation over there is quiteplex. You have to deal with the ten Bloodline Nobility ns as well as those guys. It might be hard for you to handle it on your own. How about I send some helpers over?¡±

    ¡°Helpers? What helpers?¡±

    ¡°The fellow students who were with you in Gold Water Ruins. How does that sound?¡±

    1. Making things more beautiful.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 60: A New City Head

    Chapter 60: A New City Head

    The next morning, Su Chen, Iron Cliff, and the Shadow Servants returned to Clear River.

    When he returned to the Su Pce, Li Shu greeted him happily. ¡°Young Master, you¡¯re back!¡±

    ¡°Mhm. Has the pce been peaceful while I was gone?¡±

    ¡°Everything has been peaceful,¡± Li Shu hurriedly replied.

    Most of the time, Su Chen was buried in his research, so no one would know even if he disappeared for a period of time unless something just so happened to ur.

    ¡°Has anything big happened nearbytely?¡±

    ¡°Big? There was something,¡± Li Shu replied aftering thinking for a moment. ¡°A few days ago, the fleet the ten Bloodline Nobility n Alliance sent out encountered a disaster. Apparently, they ran into some bandits, and most of them were wiped out immediately.¡±

    When he heard this, Su Chenughed, ¡°That¡¯s quite an interesting piece of information.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Li Shu still didn¡¯t realize what was happening. ¡°The ten Bloodline Nobility ns ran into pirates...... but aren¡¯t the pirates reared by them? What a joke. They probably ran into some other trouble and med it on the pirates.¡±

    ¡°The ¡®some other trouble¡¯ that they ran into me,¡± Su Chen said calmly as he took a sip of the tea that Mingshu brought forward.

    ¡°They ran into you?¡± Li Shu said, his eyes wide. ¡°Young Master means......¡±

    ¡°We cleaned them up,¡± Iron Cliff said in a low voice.

    Li Shu was stunned.

    It seemed that everything big that happened here in Clear River City had something to do with Su Chen.

    The Bloodline Alliance¡¯s fleet was quiterge. They had a few hundred martial artists and dozens of Origin Qi Schrs. How had Su Chen done it?

    However, Li Shu knew to not ask about things that he shouldn¡¯t. After the initial shock had passed, he collected himself and said, ¡°Young Master is truly talented! But we can¡¯t let this matter get out.¡±

    ¡°No worries. I wore a mask, so they won¡¯t be able to find out. But I imagine that they will probably figure it out sooner orter; after all, Iron Cliff¡¯s size was still obvious,¡± Su Chen said calmly. ¡°In any case, we¡¯re already mortal enemies, so it¡¯s fine if they find out.¡±

    ¡°Right, Young Master, there¡¯s one more thing.¡± Li Shu suddenly thought of something.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a new Origin Bureau City Head.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Su Chen squinted his eyes.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    At the Origin Bureau.

    Su Chen walked towards the Origin Bureau casually and saw Cao Zhengjun walk out of it, totally flustered. When Cao Zhengjun raised his head and saw Su Chen, his eyes lit up. ¡°Aiya, my goodness, you¡¯ve finally returned.¡±

    ¡°What? If I didn¡¯t return, was the sky going to copse on top of the Origin Bureau?¡± Su Chen asked with a smile.

    ¡°The sky wouldn¡¯t copse, but the Origin Bureau may no longer be under the Su name,¡± Cao Zhengjun said in a lowered voice.

    Su Chen¡¯s expression grew serious. ¡°Cao Zhengjun, what are you saying? When was the Origin Bureau ever under the Su name? On arge scale, it is under the Lin name and serves only the emperor, and on a small scale it is under the An name and serves only the City Lord. You and I are both only lowly workers at the Origin Bureau, doing things ording to the rules. How could we casually take something public for ourselves?¡±

    Cao Zhengjun was embarrassed. He replied after some time, ¡°Sir Su is right in instructing me. This little one just wants to inform you......¡±

    ¡°A new City Head has arrived?¡±

    ¡°So Sir already knows,¡± Cao Zhengjun said as he wiped the sweat on his forehead.

    ¡°I just got the news.¡± Su Chen began to head inside. ¡°When did he get here?¡±

    ¡°Three days ago. He wanted to meet Sir Su as soon as he came, but the people at your pce said that you were currently behind closed doors. The new City Head was very unhappy and has been restructuring the Origin Bureau......¡±

    When Cao Zhengjun came to this point, he paused.

    Su Chen stared at him. ¡°If you have something to say, just say it.¡±

    Cao Zhengjun sped his hands and said, ¡°Duan Feng, He Qiwei, Gong Yuan, and Li Zhi were all arrested.¡±

    These four were the most loyal to Su Chen. The first thing Su Chen had done when he took control of the Origin Bureau was to deal with Liu Wuya¡¯s loyal supporters. Simrly, the new City Head had immediately dealt with Su Chen¡¯s supporters. The only difference was that he hadn¡¯t killed anyone.

    It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t want to kill them; however, he wasn¡¯t Su Chen.

    No matter what, the Origin Bureau still belonged to An Siyuan in name. If someone from the Origin Bureau was killed and the person was an Origin Qi Schr, An Siyuan would have the authority to question and investigate the situation.

    Su Chen could kill as much as he wanted, and An Siyuan¡¯s questioning would only be to p in support. He would even cooperate with Su Chen in shifting the me entirely to another group.

    If the new City Head were to start killing, however, An Siyuan¡¯s questioning would be very different.

    As such, the new City Head couldn¡¯t kill anyone. However, he could find an excuse to arrest those people, thereby making things difficult for Su Chen.

    Of course, this kind of method straightforwardly demonstrated his allegiance.

    ¡°Under what excuse?¡±

    ¡°He said they colluded with the pirates and conspired to attack the fleet. He also said that the evidence was quite sound.¡±

    ¡°The same fleet that was attacked by the bandits a few days back?¡± Su Chen was shocked.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    This ck pot had been put on Su Chen¡¯s back, but it actually wasn¡¯t really a wrong usation.

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but chuckle as he thought this.

    Cao Zhengjun was quite surprised that Su Chen still had the heart tough.

    Su Chen asked, ¡°What¡¯s their situation like?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re a bit skinnier and have suffered a bit, but they haven¡¯t been harmed too much. Sir, they¡¯re gunning for you!¡± Cao Zhengjun reminded.

    He was alreadypletely on Su Chen¡¯s side, but because he wasn¡¯t an Origin Qi Schr and was one of the most capable individuals in the Origin Bureau, the new City Head hadn¡¯t touched him. However, Cao Zhengjun knew that if Su Chen allowed the new City Head to continue doing as he pleased, he would be affected sooner orter. As such, he eagerly anticipated the moment that Su Chen would demonstrate his prowess.

    ¡°That¡¯s good to hear.¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t seem to care at all. ¡°Is the City Head within the Origin Bureau?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s inside right now.¡±

    ¡°Then let¡¯s go and pay him a visit,¡± Su Chen said as he entered inside.

    Cao Zhengjun could onlyin silently as he followed along.

    After entering the main hall, they saw a tall man sitting at the head of the hall, dumping wine from a wine jug into his mouth. Arge knife was strapped to his thigh, giving him an extremely vicious aura.

    When they saw Su Chen enter, the eyes that were originally muddled became filled with light. ¡°Are you Knowledge Executor Su?¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°You must be the new City Head, Sir Xing Shabei?¡±

    ¡°You know who I am, yet you do not pay your respects?¡± City Head Xing said sinisterly.

    Su Chen casually pulled out an object and swung it around in front of Xing Shabei. ¡°I have a 2nd-Tier Hero¡¯s Medal, meaning that I don¡¯t have to greet governmental officials up to three tiers senior to me. City Head Xing, you don¡¯t need to wave your one tier superiority in front of me.¡±

    Xing Shabei¡¯s expression slowly tightened. ¡°2nd-tier Hero¡¯s Medal...... Good, very good. Knowledge Executor Su, you truly are an umon talent. No wonder you were able to turn this whole city upside down and throw it into chaos.¡±

    Su Chen impolitely responded, ¡°Ever since I, Su Chen, have taken control of the Origin Bureau, I have always done things in an orderly fashion and have never harmed any civilians. I dare say that I have a clear conscience and have upheld heaven and earth. How have I thrown this city into chaos?¡±

    ¡°Do you dare say that the Clear River Dock case wasn¡¯tmitted by you?¡±

    ¡°It was done by me. The Long Clear Gang conspired against thew and killed an official of the Origin Bureau. With sound evidence, we apprehended the criminals, but they forcefully resisted and deserved to be severely punished. I was just acting ording to thew; the ensuing massacre waspletely justified! On the other hand, the Long Clear Gang, ever since that battle, no longer dares to make trouble and has taken on a new policy, representing just another one of my meritorious contributions.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 61: Demanding for People

    Chapter 61: Demanding for People

    Xing Shabei clenched his hand furiously, shattering the jug of wine that he was holding.

    ¡°What a bold tone!¡± he said darkly. ¡°Then how do you exin the death of City Head Liu and his supporters?¡±

    ¡°City Lord An has already settled the case. You don¡¯t need to ask me about it anymore. If you¡¯re not satisfied with my answer, you can go and ask the City Lord himself personally.¡±

    ¡°I knew that you were going to default to the City Lord. Don¡¯t believe for a second that you can act so fearlessly just because An Siyuan is protecting you!¡± Xing Shabei stared viciously at Su Chen.

    They both knew that they were opponents from the very beginning, so neither was polite to the other. They began to fight almost as soon as they met.

    ¡°Then what about City Head Xing? Which n¡¯s dog are you? Or is there more than one n feeding you?¡± Su Chen shot back sarcastically.

    ¡°How bold!¡± Xing Shabei mmed the table with his palm. The table itself was fine, but small cracks began to appear in the ground.

    This wasn¡¯t an Origin Skill. Rather, it was evidence that he was very skilled at controlling his power output.

    Without a doubt, he was the most proficient in close-quartersbat.

    At this moment, Xing Shabei continued, ¡°Su Chen, you are allowed to make a verdict regarding Liu Wuya and his supporters, but don¡¯t expect me to be polite about Duan Feng and the others!¡±

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you already done that?¡± Su Chenughed coldly. ¡°Right, as the City Head, you have the right to capture a few subordinates. But since you¡¯ve made the usation and imprisoned them, I have the right to view the materials and investigate whether they are guilty or not as the Knowledge Executor. I won¡¯t say that they arepletely innocent, so I can only ask City Head Xing to graciously hand them over.¡±

    ¡°What if I don¡¯t give them to you?¡± Xing Shabei countered.

    ¡°If you won¡¯t give them to me, then you won¡¯t give them to me.¡± Unexpectedly, Su Chenpletely dropped his forceful and stubborn demeanor, replying, ¡°Cao Zhengjun, did you hear that? I, as the Origin Bureau Knowledge Executor, requested to investigate the matter of Duan Feng coborating with the pirates to attack the fleet, but City Head Xing refused to cooperate. Now that it¡¯s been recorded down in the case, I have the authority to suspect whether City Head Xing is making false charges against loyal and honest people!¡±

    ¡°This little one understands.¡±

    Xing Shabei harrumphed, ¡°If you want to report it to the higher-ups, please do so. I¡¯m afraid that even if you were to shatter the sky with your yells, this report won¡¯t reach them!¡±

    If he dared to act in this way, he naturally had to have a source of confidence.

    ¡°What if I were to do it?¡±

    A voice suddenly spoke up at this moment.

    Xing Shabei raised his head and saw a youth walking slowly in their direction.

    The youth was wearing an azure robe with nine dragons embroidered on it with gold thread and a jade python belt wrapped around his waist. He wore a tall cap on his head, and a Grade Nine Origin Tool, Wind Eye de, was sheathed in a scabbard hung below his waist.

    The Secret Task Force was the emperor¡¯s guards, and the members acted on behalf of the emperor himself. How had one appeared here?

    Xing Shabei was stunned.

    The Secret Task Force wasn¡¯t just another government office; they could report directly to the imperial family.

    If the Secret Task Force were to bring this matter to the surface, Xing Shabei definitely wouldn¡¯t have a good oue.

    He stood up immediately. ¡°Esteemed sir, who might you be? I am very familiar with the Secret Task Force¡¯s Sir Li and Sir Bai.¡±

    ¡°My name is Cloud Leopard. You don¡¯t need to mention those two to me; I don¡¯t know who they are, and I am not nning on getting to know them anytime soon.¡±

    Cloud Leopard still spoke just as directly as before, not sparing anyone any face. He stood next to Su Chen and stared directly at Xing Shabei.

    Xing Shabei nced at Su Chen, then at Cloud Leopard, and seemed to realize something.

    ¡°Sir Cloud, you must be new to the Secret Task Force, right?¡±

    ¡°So what if I am?¡±

    ¡°Sir Cloud doesn¡¯t seem very old. Could you have graduated from an institute recently?¡±

    ¡°The Hidden Dragon Institute,¡± Cloud Leopard replied directly.

    ¡°So that is how it is.¡± Xing Shabei understood. ¡°Though the Secret Task Force has the ability to act at their discretion, they are responsible for protecting the country and exterminating any insurrectionists. The matters of the Origin Bureau aren¡¯t quite under your jurisdiction, are they?¡±

    ¡°That might not be the case. The Secret Task Force can also supervise government officials to make sure that they are operating in an orderly fashion. If someone isn¡¯t doing one¡¯s duty and is instead working for others or sets up a private criminal court to harm a fellow worker, then the Secret Task Force has the authority to supervise the situation.¡±

    It had to be said that after being in the Secret Task Force for some time, Cloud Leopard¡¯s manner of speaking had improved greatly. At the very least, he could speak like a government official.

    If it were before, he probably would¡¯ve said something like ¡°I¡¯ll do it if I want to¡±.

    The Secret Task Force¡¯s responsibility of supervising government officials and making sure that they were operating in an orderly fashion was actually a bit unclear. On the one hand, the government hadn¡¯t given the Secret Task Force the ability to directly supervise other branches of the government, but on the other hand, they had also been assigned this kind of a duty, making it so that it wasn¡¯t as clear-cut as it sounded.

    The Secret Task Force¡¯s true authority was still rted to assassinations and reporting to the imperial family. As for supervising other governmental officials, that was a responsibility in name only. Of course, if evidence fell in someone¡¯s hands and they reported it, the people involved would be punished ordingly, but if there was no evidence, then they were only really blowing hot air.

    However, Cloud Leopard could still use this as an excuse. He didn¡¯t request the interrogation, but if Xing Shabei disregarded procedure and refused to procure the dossier, he could report that.

    Xing Shabei had only just taken on this position and didn¡¯t want to be used immediately, so he could only say resentfully, ¡°Cao Zhengjun, bring the evidence over to Knowledge Executor Su.¡±

    Very quickly, a dossier was brought before Su Chen.

    Su Chen flipped through it carefully. He saw how Duan Feng and the other three got in contact with the pirates, then set up an ambush for the fleet on the outskirts of the river. Both human testimonies and material evidence were present.

    The dossier was quite impressive.

    Even though he knew it was fake, if he only looked at the dossier and the associated materials, he might really believe that such a thing had happened.

    Regardless, no matter how real they made it seem, it was still fake and couldn¡¯t conceal the truth.

    As he inspected it more closely, Su Chen said with augh, ¡°Interesting. Sir Xing, it says on here that Duan Feng and the others sold the information about the departure of the fleet to the bandits, which resulted in the fleet being exterminated. Is that urate?¡±

    ¡°So what if it is?¡±

    ¡°Nothing really. I just wanted to ask how they knew the time and path of the departure of the fleet? The Origin Bureau isn¡¯t responsible for financial matters.¡±

    ¡°They bought out one of the He n¡¯s underlings to obtain the information. We have a human testimony of this. Cao Zhengjun, go and grab......¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to bring the person to me. I¡¯m not interested in human testimonies. I just find it interesting that the He n¡¯s underling didn¡¯t sell the information directly to the pirates but to them. They took such a roundabout way and let someone else haul in the profits?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps he was too cowardly and didn¡¯t dare to directly interact with the pirates.¡±

    ¡°Then I have another question. On here, it says that the fleet was sent to West River Forest to buy medicinal ingredients and was robbed en route. I want to confirm whether they were robbed on their way there or on their way back.¡±

    ¡°Is there a difference?¡±

    ¡°Please answer the question.¡±

    ¡°This......¡± Xing Shabei hesitated for a moment, then said, ¡°It should¡¯ve been when they were on their way there. Yes, when they were on their way there.¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°That¡¯s quite interesting. Everyone knows of the reputation of the resources from West River Forest. What can be bought there for a tael of gold can be sold for hundreds of times the price outside. However, this market has always been firmly in the control of the Bloodline Nobility ns, and no outsiders can stick their hands in. Now, someone wants to steal the Bloodline Nobility ns¡¯ goods, but they attacked while the caravan was still on its way instead of waiting for them to finish harvesting the medicinal ingredients...... If that¡¯s the case, then what¡¯s the point of robbing the boats at all? If they wanted pure gold, why not just rob someone¡¯s store for it?¡±

    ¡°I remembered incorrectly. It was on the way back, they were robbed on the way back!¡± Xing Shabei hurriedly corrected.

    ¡°You¡¯re sure!¡±

    ¡°Extremely so!¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s expression sank. ¡°If it¡¯s on the way back, we have an even bigger issue. Based on what I know, the West River Forest vigers are still in conflict with the ten Bloodline Nobility ns over prices and shouldn¡¯t have sold them any goods in the first ce. If that¡¯s the case, what medicinal ingredients could the pirates possibly have stolen?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Xing Shabei was shocked.

    How did Su Chen know about that?

    Su Chen had already stood up and said, ¡°The Clear River Robbery case has too many points of doubt. I don¡¯t even need to interrogate the prisoners to figure out that there¡¯s something off; if I continued to investigate, even more problems might pop up. Of course, you can continue to overlook these discrepancies and continue to keep those people locked up, and we can report this impartially. Otherwise, we can agree to both take a step back.¡±

    ¡°Both take a step back?¡± Xing Shabei¡¯s eyes glinted coldly.

    ¡°Yes, both take a step back,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Perhaps you don¡¯t understand me that well, Sir Xing. Most of the time, I do things in a relentless fashion until I either seed or die trying. Taking a step back today is a rare urrence for me. Consider it a gift to Sir Xing from me for your new position. Please be sure to value it!¡±

    The words, though spoken indifferently, carried a weight behind them that was extremely difficult to rebuff.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 62: Preparation 1

    Chapter 62: Preparation (1)

    When he left the Origin Bureau, Su Chen not only had Cloud Leopard by his side but also Duan Feng and the others.

    Xing Shabei had lowered his head in the end.

    There was nothing he could do; with Cloud Leopard providing the means and Su Chen providing the content, Xing Shabei wouldn¡¯t be able to bear it if this matter were to explode on him.

    Xin Shabei actually knew exactly why Su Chen was willing to back off. In the end, it was just to scoop up people.

    If he continued to press whether or not the convoy had actually been robbed, Xing Shabei wouldn¡¯t be in a good spot, and Duan Feng and the others might die in prison.

    Confronting Su Chen over Duan Feng and the others wasn¡¯t worth it.

    If Su Chen did his best to try and save them but wasn¡¯t able to, it wouldn¡¯t be his fault. He would be able to win over the hearts of the people regardless.

    If Xing Shabei were to continue holding out, not only would an usatione down on him from the higher-ups, but he would also lose the favor and loyalty of those below him.

    Thus, even though it looked like he had a choice to make, there was only really ever one possible path.

    Of course, it still needed to look like the case was being investigated. As for how long the investigation wouldst, that was hard to say.

    After just half an hour, Duan Feng and the others had been released from prison.

    Even though they had been locked up by Xing Shabei for a few days and weren¡¯t in the best condition, they were still rtively healthy. However, they had suffered quite a bit, and their bodies were covered in wounds.

    Duan Feng, in particr, was tormented quite badly. He gritted his teeth and said, ¡°I won¡¯t ever let Xing Shabei go! Knowledge Executor Su, you have to take revenge for us!¡±

    ¡°I know. Leave this matter to me. You guys go back and rest first so that you can heal,¡± Su Chen said as he handed them each a vial of medicine.

    The medicine could recover their wounds, but the consciousness energy they had expended needed to be slowly recovered.

    After settling Duan Feng and the others, Su Chen said goodbye to Cloud Leopard and headed to the City Lord¡¯s residence.

    The people at the City Lord¡¯s residence had long since recognized Su Chen, and they hurriedly invited him in.

    An Siyuan was basking in the sunlight in the flower garden in his backyard. His bald head reflected the sunlight brilliantly.

    When he saw Su Chen arrive, An Siyuan chuckled, ¡°You are finally willing toe out.¡±

    ¡°Su Chen greets City Lord.¡±

    ¡°Alright, we don¡¯t need to be so formal. You know what¡¯s happened in the Origin Bureau, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±

    ¡°Dammit, this time it¡¯s my fault. I wasn¡¯t able to get you the position as City Head. A perfectly fine Origin Bureau is about tond back in their hands,¡± An Siyuan sighed as he shook his head.

    Su Chen, however, was calm andposed. ¡°Not having the City Head position is different than not having the Origin Bureau. These two are still different from each other.¡±

    An Siyuanughed loudly, ¡°Good, well said! It seems like your fighting spirit is still at a hundred percent.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a joy to fight with other people. Since those Bloodline Nobility ns want to make trouble for me, I don¡¯t have any qualms about giving them a fight,¡± Su Chen replied with augh.

    Then, he exined broadly what had happened earlier.

    When he heard that Duan Feng and the others had been saved, An Siyuan sighed in relief, ¡°So you¡¯ve already saved them. Very good. Even though I wanted to help in this matter, I couldn¡¯t muster up enough manpower to do so. It¡¯s for the best that you were able to deal with it on your own. What are you thinking of doing next?¡±

    With his position as the City Lord, his valuation of Su Chen was evident simply by him asking Su Chen what he was thinking his next steps would be.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Even though Xing Shabei is the City Head, I didn¡¯t waste my efforts this past half a year in the Origin Bureau. If he wants to boss people around, I can make him a mere figurehead. All we¡¯ll be doing is fighting anyway, and neither of us fears the other.¡±

    An Siyuan was the City Lord, but hadn¡¯t he been turned into a mere figurehead for the most part by the ten Bloodline Nobility ns?

    Xing Shabei wasn¡¯t Liu Wuya. As a new arrival, ensuring strict obedience within the Origin Bureau wasn¡¯t going to be so easy.

    Government officials were always jockeying with each other, always attempting to undermine one another. The most important thing was who got thestugh.

    The world of Origin Qi Schr government positions merely involved a few more underhanded tactics and a bit more violence. The basic essence of it, however, wouldn¡¯t change.

    ¡°There is another thing that is much more important to me than dealing with Xing Shabei,¡± Su Chen continued.

    ¡°Oh? What is it?¡± Upon hearing Su Chen say such a thing, An Siyuan¡¯s interest was piqued.

    ¡°A suppression force!¡±

    ¡°A suppression force?¡± An Siyuan was stunned. ¡°To suppress who?¡±

    ¡°Naturally, the pirates,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°These years, the ten Bloodline Nobility ns have colluded with the pirates to monopolize the waterways and control the economic lifeline of Clear River City. On drynd, criminals control the shops, and on water, pirates control the ferrying of goods. These pirates are the ws and teeth of the Bloodline Nobility ns. If we want to deal with those ns, we¡¯ll need to dew them and knock their teeth out first.¡±

    ¡°But suppressing the pirates is much easier said than done!¡± An Siyuan shook his head. ¡°The criminals are mixed in with the civilians, making it hard to determine their identities. The pirates hide along the waterways, are adept at traversing them, and appear and disappear without a trace. There are definitely some strong experts among them as well, giving them highly variable strength. If the force we send is toorge, they will all lie low. If the force we send is too weak, we won¡¯t be their opponents. The Bloodline Nobility ns¡¯ collusion with the bandits is going to be very hard to break up!¡±

    ¡°Would it be possible to mobilize the Lingyuan Navy?¡±

    An Siyuan shook his head. ¡°The Lingyuan Navy isn¡¯t under the jurisdiction of Clear River City, and I cannot direct them. Even though I have a few friends there, the Bloodline Nobility ns have their own fair share of connections with them as well. I can only affect one part, as can they, canceling out our efforts. It¡¯ll be hard to mobilize the navy as well! Otherwise, why would I allow them to run wild until now?¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case......¡± Su Chen thought for a moment, then said, ¡°Why not leave it to me?¡±

    ¡°You?¡± An Siyuan was shocked. ¡°You want to wipe out the pirates? Where will you get the manpower? Those pirates have quite a few powerful experts and aren¡¯t easy to deal with. In addition, a battle on water is very different from fighting onnd; the situation is going to be highlyplex. Even a powerful expert will have his strength roughly halved if he falls into the water.¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°I know, but that¡¯s what gives me confidence. If it were a battle onnd, I would be nearly as confident.¡±

    These words were enough to give An Siyuan pause. After some time, he finally nodded and said, ¡°It seems like you¡¯ve done the math a long time ago. Fine, I won¡¯t stop you. Do you need my help at all?¡±

    Su Chen handed An Siyuan a piece of paper. ¡°This is what I need.¡±

    An Siyuan nced at it and was a bit shocked.

    It wasn¡¯t that Su Chen¡¯s appetite was too great; rather, it was quite small.

    He nced up at Su Chen. ¡°Just this?¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°As long as you can get me these, I can take care of the rest.¡±

    An Siyuan stared at him meaningfully. ¡°A few boats and some essory equipment is no problem. I can take care of this for you. But in terms of manpower, you don¡¯t need me to provide you with a few more people?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Thank you for your good intentions, but I have a way to take care of it on my own.¡±

    An Siyuan¡¯s help might be with good intentions, but it could also involve other motives.

    ording to Su Chen¡¯s n, what he needed to do next was something that was going to be an important source of his strength. He needed people who would listen to him absolutely. Under these circumstances, Su Chen didn¡¯t wish to use someone else¡¯s influence.

    An Siyuan was only responsible for helping him acquire some necessary tools. After all, most of the shops in Clear River City were owned by the ten Bloodline Nobility ns. Wanting to buy something from them without the ten Bloodline Nobility ns knowing and even interfering was somewhat difficult

    ¡°Very good. I¡¯ll prepare these things for you as soon as I can.¡± An Siyuan stowed the piece of paper away.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 63: Preparation 2

    Chapter 63: Preparation (2)

    After leaving the City Lord¡¯s pce, Su Chen began to head back to his own residence.

    He didn¡¯t take a carriage. All he did was have the Blood-Robed Guards follow him.

    As they walked, three youths appeared, and they walked in the opposite direction.

    Even though they were still a ways off, Su Chen had a feeling as soon as he saw them that they wereing for him.

    In addition, the other party gave off a kind of aura that was oddly familiar to him.

    He squinted his eyes and stopped moving.

    The three youths continued to head in their direction.

    They stopped about ten feet in front of Su Chen.

    The youth in the middle had long hair that reached past his shoulders, and he had even brushed his hair through a golden hoop. He smiled, revealing his teeth, and said, ¡°Su Chen?¡±

    ¡°How bold!¡± Upon hearing someone call Su Chen directly by his name, the Blood-Robed Guard Commander barked angrily and put his hand on the hilt of his de.

    Su Chen stopped him. ¡°You are?¡±

    The youth with the golden hoop replied, ¡°I am called Ke Mingshou. These two are myrades, Zhou Bai and Wu Xiaoliang. They are both from the Hidden Dragon Institute as well. I believe you should be calling us your seniors.¡±

    ¡°So you three are my seniors,¡± Su Chen said with a slight smile. He bowed slightly to the three of them and said, ¡°Su Chen greets the three seniors.¡±

    ¡°No need to be polite,¡± the person standing to the side called Zhou Bai said. ¡°It seems like you understand social etiquette. That¡¯s good. I heard that you don¡¯t have the best rtionship with the Bloodline Nobility ns here in Clear River City.¡±

    ¡°So?¡±

    ¡°Nothing much. I just wanted to tell you that the Bloodline Nobility ns are the cornerstones of the human race in resisting the various tribes. They¡¯re absolutely essential. It¡¯s best if you have a certain measure of respect for them.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s eyebrows knit together. ¡°So you three seniors came to me because of the Bloodline Nobility ns? I believe that you have misunderstood me. I am just doing my duty as it pertains to my position. I don¡¯t want to overstep my authority. If there are any issues, you should go to the Bloodline Nobility ns and ask them, not me.¡±

    Wu Xiaoliang¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Su Chen, if you make excuses like that, does that mean you don¡¯t want to make peace?¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t even look at him. Instead, he spoke to Ke Mingshou, the one with a gold hoop in his hair. ¡°You guys aren¡¯t genuinely trying to persuade me, are you? If you did, you wouldn¡¯t stop me in the middle of the road like this, then try and force me to lower my head with just a few sentences. You should have paid me a visit first and tried to gain my friendship, establishing camaraderie before gently making an attempt. Instead, you guys appear here and spout such nonsense? Your true intentions are just to let me know that you are here now so that I¡¯m aware of you, and it is as if you are making a deration of war...... You act modest, but that is actually incredibly arrogant of you. In terms of acting pretentiously, I must admit that you have done quite a good job.¡±

    The three of them changed expressions immediately.

    Su Chen was immediately able to pinpoint their true intentions. Their pretentious act had been called out, making them feel like their faces had been pped a bit.

    ¡°Alright, now that you¡¯ve demonstrated your existence and said all you wanted to say, I¡¯m going to leave if there¡¯s nothing else.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he walked past the three of them,pletely ignoring them.

    Ke Mingshou¡¯s gaze was icy. ¡°Regardless, we are still you seniors, yet you treat us so rudely......¡±

    Su Chen interrupted him. ¡°Thousands of people graduate from the Hidden Dragon Institute every year. There are tens of thousands of people in Long Sang Country who can be considered my seniors. There¡¯s no need for you three to try and establish a rapport with me.

    After he said that, he left.

    The three of them were about to explode from anger as they watched Su Chen¡¯s departing figure.

    ¡°Good! Very good!¡± Zhou Bai said harshly. ¡°Who could have known that such a stubborn junior woulde out from the Hidden Dragon Institute? Looks like he needs someone to teach him a lesson.¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± Ke Mingshou and Wu Xiaoliang replied.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Ke Mingshou and the others hadn¡¯t expected their pretentious appearance to not have given Su Chen any additional pressure. In fact, they weren¡¯t even able to leave asting impression on him.

    Su Chen was still currently racking his brains, trying to figure out how to clean up those pirates.

    After returning to the Su Pce, Su Chen immediately summoned the Shadow Servants andmanded them to inform Wang Wenxin to bring fifty Long Clear Gang members who he trusted with him.

    After Wang Wenxin took control of the Long Clear Gang, it had undergone a period of restructuring. Now, he hadplete control. On the surface, he still listened to the Lai n, but he had been on Su Chen¡¯s side for a long time. Su Chen had intentionally nted a thorn amongst the ten Bloodline Nobility ns and hadn¡¯t allowed Wang Wenxin to publicly reveal himself. To Wang Wenxin, this was a good thing; after all, this mitigated the pressure that would be on him for fighting the Bloodline Nobility ns.

    Today, however, Su Chen was finally going to get the Long Clear Gang to do something for him.

    Fifty people. This number was neitherrge nor small, but the critical point was that they had to be people Wang Wenxin could trust. This would immediately take away many backbone members of the Long Clear Gang, and it could be considered the first test for Wang Wenxin.

    Wang Wenxin didn¡¯t know what Su Chen wanted these people for. After receiving his message, he hesitated and deliberated for a substantial period of time before agreeing in the end.

    Two dayster, the fifty Long Clear Gang members appeared in the Su Pce¡¯s main courtyard. Theybined with the bandits under Su Chen¡¯smand to form a toon of around a hundred fifty individuals.

    No one knew what Su Chen wanted these people for. In the following days, however, extremely piercing howls woulde out from Su Chen¡¯s researchb every so often.

    These howls seemed filled with despair and torment. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that everyone who entered would return alive and healthy, their expressions filled with joy, these cries would have been enough to cause everyone to copse.

    When they saw the strength that the people who emerged from the researchb now possessed, however, they were all filled with expectations.

    Power filled them with expectations, while the price they would need to pay for that power filled them with fear.

    The days passed by steadily as they were tormented one after another.

    Time passed extremely quickly. In the blink of an eye, half a month had gone by.

    On that day, Su Chen finally finished improving the final bandit.

    Working on ten of them a day was extremely taxing even to Su Chen. During this period of time, he had basically used all of his energy and focus on this. Now that he was finally finished, he couldn¡¯t help but feel as if he had been released.

    Just as he was still admiring his creation, someone said from outside his door, ¡°Young Master, someone would like to see you.¡±

    It was Mingshu.

    ¡°Who is it?¡±

    ¡°The visitor called himself Jiang Hanfeng.¡±

    ¡°Hanfeng?¡± Su Chen¡¯s mind was jolted. ¡°Quick, invite them in...... No, I¡¯ll go out and greet them myself.¡±

    Ignoring his exhaustion, Su Chen went to the main entrance and found a few youths standing outside. It was Jiang Hanfeng, Zhou Juanjia, Ma Xuan, Wei Yang, Tang Ming, Wu Shao, Zhao Xin, Yan Ling, and Gan Haoli, nine in total.

    When they saw Su Chen, the group of youths all began to yell.

    ¡°Su Chen!¡±

    ¡°Third Senior Brother Su!¡±

    ¡°Knowledge Executor Su!¡±

    ¡°Senior Su!¡±

    Amotion broke out.

    Su Chenughed and greeted them all. ¡°You guys are finally here.¡±

    Yes, they were the reinforcements Su Chen had received from the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    All of the students in the same year as Su Chen had already graduated. If Su Chen wanted to find some helpers, he could only ask for those younger than him.

    Jiang Hanfeng and the others were already tenth-year students. In just a few more months, they would officially graduate from the Hidden Dragon Institute. Before then, they had been entrusted with helping Su Chen. Not only could they earn contribution points for this, but they would also be helping out a good friend.

    To them, being able to fight alongside Su Chen was something that made them very happy.

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Jiang Hanfeng, who loved to speak, said with excitement. ¡°Unfortunately, Han Linxia and Little Forty had business to take care of and weren¡¯t able to make it. Otherwise, we would all be here.¡±

    ¡°No worries, your arrival is perfectly timed. It just so happens that I¡¯m in need of people. You guys will be a great help.¡±

    ¡°Third Senior Brother, just give the word! Who are we fighting? We¡¯ll fight wherever you point,¡± the group said animatedly. Only Tang Ming, like always, crossed his arms proudly and remained silent, but the desire to do battle was evident in his eyes.

    ¡°What if I point at the water?¡± Su Chen asked,ughing.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 64: Water Battle 1

    Chapter 64: Water Battle (1)

    If you traveled south along Long Clear River, the flow of water would be much faster once you passed the North Gaze Gorge.

    By following this path in the southwest direction, you would arrive at the Lingyuan Marsh.

    The path through Lingyuan Marsh was winding. Three rivers fed into twokes here, resulting in a veryrge, fertile ins. This became known as the Three Rivers ins.

    Because of itsplexyout, the Lingyuan Marshes became a ce where pirates tended to gather.

    There were dozens of different groups of pirates gathered in this location.

    The smallest pirate group only had a few dozen people and one or two boats, yet they were willing to fly the g and rob other people. Thergest group had nearly eight hundred members, and they could virtually do as they pleased, even daring to attack government ships.

    Callsign ¡°Beaver¡± cut quickly through the river, followed by Riverwolf, Riverlion, Rivertiger, and Riverfish, fourrge carracks.

    These kinds of carracks were narrow at the front and wide at the back, with both the front and the back elevated. The boats were quite deep in the water and could maneuver agilely, perfect for traversing difficult terrain. The interior of the boats were hollow and could store a lot of cargo, but there was no guard deck or tform. There were also no Origin Formations installed. Evidently, these were boats primarily intended to ship cargo.

    Su Chen was standing at the front of the boat. Beside him were Tang Ming, Wu Xiao, and the others.

    After the boats entered the marshes, their vision was much less obstructed. Right in front of them was a vast expanse of water, with one or two boats passing by from time to time.

    ¡°This is the Lingyuan Marsh. The eight hundred square kilometers of marsnd are traversed by tens of thousands of boats every day, and the marsnds support the millions of people living on both sides of the water as well as tens of thousands of pirates. Some of these pirates are actually just dogs raised by those Bloodline Nobility ns,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Did the Lingyuan Navy never try to clean up the area?¡± Jiang Hanfeng asked.

    ¡°Of course! How could they not? The issue was that it wasn¡¯t very effective. Out of ten cleanup attempts, eight were sessful, while for the other two it was considered a sess if they were even able to wipe out a few small fry,¡± Su Chenughed coldly. ¡°The reason the Lingyuan Navy exists isn¡¯t to wipe out the pirates but to use the pirates to give their existence meaning. Dealing with the pirates is obviously good, but if they are all taken care of...... what¡¯s the point in keeping the Lingyuan Navy around? So to them, control and intimidation are the most important.¡±

    ¡°No wonder it¡¯s so hard for the government to do anything,¡± Zhou Juanjia sighed.

    ¡°So if we help them wipe out all of the pirates, we¡¯ll actually be offending them?¡± Tang Ming said.

    ¡°That¡¯s right! So even though we can definitely kill some pirates, we cannot kill all of the ones wee across. We need to carefully select our targets. Of course, that¡¯s stretching it a bit; it would be difficult to wipe out all of the pirates even if we wanted to, so we don¡¯t actually need to think that far ahead.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. How could the pirates be so easily defeated? Each one of them is incredibly slippery. We¡¯ve been floating around for a day already, yet no pirates have appeared yet,¡± Jiang Hanfeng muttered.

    As soon as Jiang Hanfeng had finished speaking, a fewrge boats emerged from a foggy patch off in the distance.

    Because the patch of fog wasn¡¯t very far from them, the boat was quite close to them as soon as it appeared, close enough that they could see the vicious, bloodthirsty expressions of the people on the other boats.

    They were yelling and howling as the boats sailed at full speed, harnessing the power of the wind to charge in Su Chen and the others¡¯ direction. They were at least twice as fast as Su Chen¡¯s boats, if not more.

    ¡°Pirates!¡± someone began to yell.

    There was no fear nor unrest in their voice. Rather, it was filled with traces of excitement.

    ¡°HA!!¡±

    The wind bore with it the sounds of the pirates¡¯ bloodthirsty yelling. These valiant pirates were all naked from the waist up. They stood on top of their boats, waving steel des as they howled madly.

    To them, this was another grand hunting opportunity.

    They were not alone in this sentiment; Su Chen¡¯s side clearly thought the same way.

    As they stared at the oing fleet, no one was afraid. All they felt was an uncontainable excitement.

    ¡°Full speed ahead!¡± Su Chenmanded.

    The boats didn¡¯t try to escape. Instead, they charged forward as well, greeting the enemy with open arms.

    As if realizing that something was off, a tall pirate wearing an eyepatch of all things on one of the opposing boats yelled as he surveyed the situation, ¡°Zuo Siliang, take a closer look at our opponents. Something seems off. Could it be an ambush?¡±

    An old man walked over. He had an exceptionally long neck that he stretched out at this moment, a strange red light shining from his eyes.

    ¡°There are a few cultivators, but they aren¡¯t many in number. There¡¯s only ten of them, most of them in the Blood Boiling Realm. The remainder are all Body Tempering martial artists.¡±

    ¡°None of them are in the Yang Opening Realm?¡±

    ¡°No Yang Opening Realm cultivators!¡± the old man replied confidently.

    ¡°Then there¡¯s nothing to be afraid of,¡± the pirate leaderughed loudly. ¡°A bunch of people who don¡¯t know their own strength, wanting to fight with us with just that kind of strength? Boys, let¡¯s get ¡®em!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s get ¡®em!¡± the pirates howled with excitement, causing the heavens to shake.

    The pirates were filled with confidence. This group of pirates had nearly three hundred people, more than fifty of whom were Qi Drawing Realm cultivators, twenty were Blood Boiling Realm cultivators, and two Yang Opening Realm cultivators. Their boats had protective ting and been fitted with battering rams and Origin Formations for battle. In Lingyuan Marsh, they were probably a mid-tier group of pirates. Regardless of whether you considered cultivation base, boat quality, or numbers, they all had enough to suppress their opponents. Naturally, they felt little fear.

    The two fleets continued to charge at each other, growing closer and closer.

    The pirates¡¯ desire to kill had reached its peak.

    Just at that moment, however, they watched as the people on the other boats jumped into the water one by one like dumplings being dropped into a pot of boiling water as water sshed from the impact.

    ¡°What are they doing?¡± The bandit leader was also confused.

    Could they have suddenly felt fear and were jumping off the boat to try and run?

    But if they wanted to run, surely the boat would be the fastest?

    Just as he was feeling shocked, some pirates began to yell, ¡°Fire! Fire!¡±

    The opposing boat had suddenly been engulfed in mes. The raging torrent of mes began to take on the form of a massive fire dragon, which then charged at the pirates.

    ¡°Is that all they have?¡± the pirate headughed darkly before turning around and yelling, ¡°Scalp!!¡±

    ¡°Right here!¡± a stout Origin Qi Schrughed viciously and stepped out.

    He raised his hands, causing arge wave to suddenly soar into the air, transforming into thousands of water columns that shot forward.

    In this world, where people possessed extraordinary strength, fire-type attacks usually weren¡¯t life-threatening. As long as an Origin Qi Schr was present, there were simply too many ways to deal with those kinds of attacks.

    The overwhelming force of the water was the simplest and most effective way to deal with the ming boat. If the pirates were a bit crueler, they could have also chosen to adjust the direction of the wind so that the mes would burn their opponents instead. The reason they had not chosen to do so, however, was because the pirates still wanted to preserve the boat.

    The mes were engulfed by the torrent of water. Steam billowed into the air, making it seem as if a bout of fog had suddenly descended onto the surface of theke. Even their ability to see was adversely affected.

    The mes that had just arisen were wiped out just like that. All that remained were a few empty boats, now lifelessly floating on the surface of the water.

    However, the head of the pirates felt that something wasn¡¯t right.

    The people who had jumped into the water had disappeared.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 65: Water Battle 2

    Chapter 65: Water Battle (2)

    Standing at the front of the boat, the head of the pirates carefully inspected his surroundings.

    The surface of the water was totally calm, as if nothing had happened.

    Hundreds of people had jumped into the water, but there was nomotion.

    The quiet atmosphere was strange, sending a chill up the head of the pirates¡¯ spine.

    ¡°Something¡¯s not right!¡± he muttered to himself.

    ¡°He Laochou, Duan Xiao¡¯er, go down in the water and take a look.¡±

    Two figures dove into the water, creating a beautiful arc in the air before they disappeared without even causing a ssh.

    They were the best swimmers amongst all the pirates. Their strength was actually multiplied while in the water, and leaping a tier to kill their opponents wasn¡¯t a problem for them.

    However, after those two entered the water, no furthermotion was seen.

    The head of the pirates grew more and more anxious the longer he waited. He said, ¡°Something¡¯s wrong! There¡¯s something wrong below the surface of the water!¡±

    Even an idiot would realize that there was something wrong below the surface of the water.

    All of the pirates looked over the edges of the boats and stared into the water, but they couldn¡¯t see anyone.

    At that moment, the water below suddenly began to roil. Two corpses floated to the surface of the water. It was precisely the two people who had jumped into the water earlier.

    Everyone was astonished. The head of the pirates knew that the situation wasn¡¯t good, but before he could do anything, a massive explosion suddenly could be heard somewhere on the boat.

    ¡°Not good, they¡¯re trying to blow up the boats!¡± the head of the pirates yelled. ¡°Raise the barriers!¡±

    But it was already far toote.

    Boom, boom, boom, boom!

    After four massive explosions, the first boat waspletely shattered before it even had a chance to set up the barriers.

    The pirates on the boat were tossed into the water, and they wailed all the way down. They had just fallen in when arge group of people began to swim to the surface, their gazes locked onto these targets.

    It was almost like they were apparitions within the water.

    The most frightening thing was that where each person¡¯s legs should have been were actually long, fish-like tails.

    This wasn¡¯t possible!

    The head of the pirates was badly startled.

    An instantter, everyone was quickly swimming in his direction.

    They shot through the water, swinging their tails as if they were real fish. The des and spears in their hands were like the sharp teeth of a shark as they shed viciously at the bandits.

    One of the bandits had yet to even respond before ten people swam right past him as if they were horse-mounted warriors, leaving behind ten deep wounds on his body.

    Fresh blood flowed out from the wounds, dyeing the water surrounding the pirate a scarlet red color.

    Another pirate was subjected to the same fate immediately afterward.

    The pirates were quite good swimmers, but that was inparison to humans, not fish.

    At this moment, they were facing a school of vicious, merciless fish-men. No, more precisely, they were a bunch of martial artists who had used Su Chen¡¯s Hemolytic Totem.

    Even though Su Chen¡¯s second iteration of the Hemolytic Totem hadn¡¯t beenpleted, he had made a decent amount of progress.

    The current Hemolytic Totem could confer up to five Origin Skills while the surface area required for the totem only continued to decrease.

    In the past half a month, Su Chen had carved the Hemolytic Totem version 1.2 on all one hundred and fifty of his underlings and imbued them with a particr type of Medium Substance.

    ¡°Medium Substance¡± was the term Su Chen had coined when referring to the uniquebination of different Origin Substances, including the mysterious substances in the metal block and within the Long n¡¯s Young Master¡¯s body. They weren¡¯t Origin Substances, but they wereposed of Origin Substances and had their own unique properties and abilities.

    Medium Substances, Origin Substances, and Particles were the three distinct ssification levels Su Chen could identify in the microscopic world at this moment.

    Over half a year of research had given Su Chen a certain understanding of Medium Substances. He could already create a few unique Medium Substances of his own with just a fewbination techniques.

    ¡°Dragonfish¡± was one of them.

    Its primary foundation was the Gu n¡¯s Soaring Serpent Bloodline, along with a few otherbinations of Origin Substances.

    This type of Medium Substance didn¡¯t confer a concealment ability like the Shadow Origin Substance, and there was no room for him to further improve it. At the very least, however, it gave its user the ability to breathe underwater and transform partially.

    Those long fish tails were the best evidence of this.

    With a powerful swing of their tails, a hundred and fifty martial artists shot through the water like sharp arrows, beginning to harvest the lives of their opponents as they pleased by means of the spears and des in their hands.

    ¡°Run.......¡± the head of the pirates yelled, but the water drowned out the words that he wanted to say, shoving his words right back down his throat.

    He used his actions as a demonstration as he turned around and began to frantically swim back.

    He finally realized why the opponents had burned the boat.

    They had chosen to fight an underwater battle.

    Leave this ce quickly!

    This was the only thought running through the head of the pirate¡¯s head. Luckily, he had more than one boat.

    However, before he could swim to the second boat, he heard another loud rumbling. The second boat was also engulfed in mes. Splintered fragments of wood flew everywhere, and they were still on fire as theynded in the water and on the heads of the bandits. Pained cries sounded out. The situation was truly desperate.

    Dammit!

    How had they done this?

    The head of the pirates didn¡¯t understand how his opponents had blown up his boat, and he had no time to consider it any further.

    The group of fish-men surged forward, raising the shiny des in their hands.

    ¡°Dammit, we can¡¯t hold back against them!¡± The head of the pirates, who was busy treading water, knew that they had reached a dead end. His courage and bravery exploded at that moment.

    ¡°We¡¯re going all out!¡± all of the pirates yelled simultaneously.

    No matter what, they still had the advantage in terms of both numbers and cultivation bases.

    ¡°Let¡¯s do this!¡± a pirate yelled as he rose out of the water and gestured with his hands. A massive screen of water appeared and began to surge forward.

    However, when the fish-men ahead saw this, they simultaneously tilted their heads back and hissed. Then, with a powerful stroke of their tails, they leapt into the air like they were flying fish, jumping right over the wall of water. While the fish-men were in midair, before they had evennded back in the water, they pulled out spears and threw them forward.

    Whoosh!

    Amidst the rain of spears, the ten pirates who were at the very front were immediately poked full of holes.

    The fish-men slipped back into the water, then disappeared into the depths with a quick swing of their tails. They circled menacingly around the pirates from below andunched attacks upward.

    ¡°AHH!¡± one of the pirates suddenly yelled.

    A martial artist had appeared behind the pirate with a speed that was simply inconceivable, grabbed him, then bit him by the throat.

    The most frightening part of this was that the opponent¡¯s teeth had been constantly growing longer at the same time that the bite hadnded, quickly skewering him by the throat. With a jerking motion, half of the pirate¡¯s throat had been ripped out.

    The Razortooth Technique was probably the least practical Origin Skill to use inbat. After all, humans were not beasts. No one would use one¡¯s teeth to fight.

    However, under such circumstances, where water was greatly restricting freedom of movement and the fighting was being carried out in extremely close quarters, the Razortooth Technique became a somewhat practical skill to use underwater.

    By relying on their ability to breathe underwater and the agility their tails gave them, they could quickly close in on a target, use a restrictive technique to bind up their opponents, then bite down. Even if the target wasn¡¯t killed by the bite, they could continue to keep their targets busy and make sure that the fight continued in the water. Eventually, their opponents would run out of strength and die.

    This was the proper way to carry out an underwater battle, but not everyone had the ability to do so. It required the appropriate specialized Origin Skills.

    And at this moment, all of Su Chen¡¯s one hundred and fifty underlings had them.

    Yes, they were Su Chen¡¯s true trump card!

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 66: Water Battle 3

    Chapter 66: Water Battle (3)

    A massacre ensued as the demons in the water swarmed forward relentlessly.

    The head of the pirates watched as martial artists with long, fish-like tails swam back and forth. They basically never raised their heads from the water. No one knew when they would suddenly appear beneath any given pirate, drag them underwater, and then use their sharp, urate strength to kill their opponents below the water.

    Bloody clouds began to rise to the surface of the water one after another, dyeing the entire area red. The head of the pirates¡¯ heart ached so much that he wanted to die.

    He yelled loudly, ¡°All of the Origin Qi Schrs, get close to me!¡±

    At this point and time, there was no longer much point in relying on numbers alone. The only hope they had to change the situation was to rely on their elites¡¯ strength.

    All of the Origin Qi Schrs began to slowly gather around the head of the pirates.

    The head of the pirates yelled, ¡°Anyone who¡¯s good at using wind-type Origin Skills, lift us out of the water. Those who have long-range attacks, use them while we think of a way to get back on the boats!¡±

    Fighting underwater greatly diminished the amount of strength a person was able to use, making it so that great physical strength was of limited use and agility to only be so useful. All they could rely on was long-range attacks against such opponents.

    Immediately following hismands, all of the Origin Qi Schrs who could use long-range Origin Qi Skills gathered.

    Two Origin Qi Schrs pulled out bows and arrows, stood upright on the surface of the water with the help of theirrades, and began tounch arrows.

    Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

    Even though there were only two of them, they unleashed arrow after arrow, giving people a faint feeling that these arrows were like flying locusts.

    Bloody clouds appeared in the water again. A few of the fish-men in the water were struck by the arrows. Su Chen¡¯s forces had finally shown some signs of injuries.

    The other Origin Qi Schrs followed suit. des of wind, sword Qi, and flying darts began to whiz across the surface of the water.

    Contemporary Origin Skills were more suited for close-quartersbat; each Origin Qi Schr was highly talented and could use their own palm techniques, sword techniques, fist techniques, etc., but they were obviouslycking in long-range firepower. There were dozens of Origin Qi Schrs, but none of them had strength that was worth writing home about. But even so, the attacks from the Origin Qi Schrs were enough to make life hard for the fish-men martial artists.

    A fish-man had just leapt up from the water when he was struck by a de of wind. His entire face was split into two as he fell back into the water.

    ¡°Rah!¡± the pirates yelled excitedly.

    A momentter, however, a massive Erupting Firehawk descended from the sky and swooped across the surface of the water, mming into one of the bow-wielding Origin Qi Schrs. That Origin Qi Schr was instantly sted into little bits.

    Off in the distance, Su Chen was standing on the surface of the water, coldly staring at the pirates.

    In terms of long-range offensive capabilities, who couldpete with Ancient Arcana Techniques?

    He stretched out his right hand, and another Ultra Erupting Firehawk appeared, its two massive ming wings seemingly turning half the sky red.

    As the head of the pirates stared at this massive firehawk, he disyed his less-than-ster perceptive abilities and yelled, ¡°Run!¡±

    Run?

    To where?

    If they could run as they pleased in water, that would truly be an overpowered technique.

    Su Chen waved his hands, and the Firehawk let out a shrill cry before dive-bombing through the air.

    ¡°Stop it!¡± the head of the pirates yelled.

    Everyone simultaneously moved, gathering arge amount of Origin Energy that formed arge white wall.

    Did you really think that you could finish us off with just this?

    Yes, we are weak when ites to long-range attacks, but if dozens of Origin Qi Schrs pool their defensive capabilities, even a Yang Opening Realm person wouldn¡¯t be able to break through!

    But just as the white wall was erected, the Firehawk suddenly changed direction, swooping over the white wall and then attacking from behind.`

    Behind?

    The head of the pirate turned around in shock, watching as the Firehawk mmed into the third boat.

    After the first two boats had been blown up, all of the boats further back became vignt and took precautions to prevent anyone from sneaking up close. Indeed, nothing further happened.

    But when the Ultra Firehawk mmed head-on into the boat, the effects surpassed what anyone could have predicted.

    The Firehawk mmed into the boat¡¯s protective barrier, causing a brilliant explosion of light.

    The protective barrier surrounding the boat dimmed for a moment.

    This brief moment gave the ambushers who were underwater the opportunity that they had been waiting for for quite some time.

    Boom, boom, boom, boom!

    Another four explosions rang out from each corner of the three boats. Water began to rush into the boat from the four massive holes, causing therge boat to slowly but surely begin to sink.

    The people on top of the boat began to holler in confusion. Of the five original pirate ships, only two remained.

    The powerful explosion gave the people on the two remaining boats a strong sense of fear. They simultaneously stopped advancing and began to retreat.

    ¡°Bastards, don¡¯t run! Come and get us!¡± the head of the pirates yelled

    He knew that as long as they could return to the boats, they would be able to demonstrate their full strength.

    Perhaps because their ability to think suddenly kicked in, the two boats suddenly reversed and came back, driving toward the head of the pirates. Simultaneously, the pirates in the water began to swim furiously towards the other boat.

    ¡°Want to run?¡± Su Chenughed coldly. ¡°If we let you get away that easily, all of my nning would have been for naught. Iron Cliff!¡±

    ¡°Iron Cliff is here.¡±

    A massive figure appeared behind Su Chen. Iron Cliff was wearing the Melted Golden Armor, which gave him quite an awe-inspiring presence.

    What was most shocking was that, like Su Chen, he was also standing on the surface of the water.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Separate those people from that boat!¡±

    Iron Cliff cracked a smile. ¡°Iron Cliff understands!¡±

    He lowered his head, then charged forward, bounding across the surface of the water.

    ¡°How is this possible?¡± The pirates werepletely stunned by this scene.

    ¡°His shoes!¡± someone spotted what was out of ce and pointed at Iron Cliff¡¯s shoes as he yelled.

    The blue boots on Iron Cliff¡¯s feet were exceptionally eye-catching. When he ced his feet on the water, it didn¡¯t disturb any of the waves. Rather, a burst of momentum would carry him forward, making him exceptionally quick.

    Grade Six Origin Tool, Wave-Treading Boots

    Iron Cliff charged across the surface of the water and pulled out the Horn Battle de off his back before swinging it forward. ¡°Open for me!¡±

    Boom!

    The water on the surface of theke suddenly split, turning into massive waves that ran in opposite directions from each other.

    The boats were instantly going against the current and were forced back by the rushing wave. At the same time, those pirates were sent right back as well, pulling apart the distance between them and the boats again.

    Su Chen had told Iron Cliff to force the people away from the boats, and he was actually able to do it with his strength alone.

    This separating wave hadpletely cut off the pirates¡¯ escape like a steep cliff.

    The head of the pirates was both shocked and enraged. He stared at them with hatred and said, ¡°Fight it out with them!¡±

    An intensely bright light began to shine from his body, which began to slowly rise from the water.

    The power of a Yang Opening Realm cultivator was officially manifested at this moment.

    ¡°Attack!¡± he yelled loudly.

    A thick killing intent suffused out from his body. As this killing intent spread, the head of the pirates punched fiercely, the punch arcing like a rainbow before it mmed into one of the fish-men, sting him into pieces. The remaining momentum behind the punch carried it into a number of other fish-men before finally disintegrating with an explosion, sending even more fish-men flying.

    This single punch was actually that powerful.

    This was the strength that a Yang Opening Realm cultivator should actually have.

    After discovering that there was no way to retreat any longer, the head of the pirates dragged out all of the strength that he had for the fight.

    At the same time, on the boat in the back, a single pirate leapt into the air as he shed his de through the air viciously. A streak of de light shot forth quickly as it radiated with energy. It formed a cross with Iron Cliff¡¯s de strike from earlier.

    Unlike Iron Cliff¡¯s attack, however, this de strike swept countless droplets of water into the air, each one filled with a weighty momentum.

    The other Yang Opening Realm cultivator amongst the pirates also chose this moment to strike.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 67: Surrender

    Chapter 67: Surrender

    The simultaneous attacks of two Yang Opening Realm experts could not be overlooked, and these two were rtively powerful. If they weren¡¯t being obstructed, they probably could have turned the situation around.

    Unfortunately, ifs were only ifs.

    The advantage created by two Yang Opening Realm experts didn¡¯t evenst for more than three seconds before they incurred a ferocious counterattack.

    The first to attack was the Yang Opening Realm cultivator who had split the water with his de strike.

    He had just finished swinging his de when a massive dragon made of water came roaring at him.

    This water dragon was extremelyrge and lifelike. It exuded a powerful aura that was difficult to describe, and even the Yang Opening Realm expert was stunned.

    He nced into the distance. A young man was standing atop the water, gesturing with a single hand. His entire body was already enveloped within a water dragon.

    It was Tang Ming.

    He was skilled at using water-type attacks, had lived near water all his life, and turning water into dragons was his specialty.

    One could say that this ce was like his backyard.

    The difference between a Demonic Emperor Bloodline and a mixed bloodline was already far greater than the difference in cultivation base tier. Along with the terrain advantage, defeating this Yang Opening Realm pirate was as easy as reaching out and picking something up.

    On the other side, a kettle of Firehawks descended from the sky, scattering intense mes across the surface of the water.

    Su Chen¡¯s Erupting Firehawks were meant to counter the ferocious punches thrown by the head of the pirates.

    ¡°HA!¡±

    With a ferocious howl, a ruthless fist mmed into the kettle of Firehawks, causing a shower of molten mes to fall through the sky like shooting stars. Plumes of steam rose into the air as the mes fell into the bluish-green water.

    The head of the pirates continued to punch as if he had gone crazy. Fist after fist flew through the air, the momentum from the punches so concentrated that it seemed as if they had material substance.

    When a person reached the Yang Opening Realm, one¡¯s Origin Qi would be even denser. Every punch and move carried vigorous strength. The image of a massive turtle appeared behind the head of the pirates, which extended and shrunk its long neck in tandem with his punches. Every punch was closely followed by a headbutt; with a number of punches in quick session, the Firehawks began to explode one after another.

    The head of the pirates¡¯ Mystic Sea Turtle Bloodline allowed him to constantly shift between offense and defense, and it also improved his maneuverability in the water.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Su Chen was basically cheating by creating a hundred and fifty fish-men who were essentially invincible underwater, no one would have been his opponent in the water.

    The head of the pirates, who was floating on top of the water, unleashed his firepower to its fullest extent. The ferocious headbutt attacks had an iparable attack power behind them, making it so that even Su Chen was suppressed.

    Despite this, his ability to fight on water was not as good as onnd.

    It was much more difficult to maneuver on water, and close-quartersbat was rare. Unless he reached the Light Shaking Realm and could phase through objects as if his body had no substance, battling on water relied on the way a person fought just as much as how high the person¡¯s cultivation base was.

    Long-range specialists loved water battles. Anyone who had a high long-range output capacity would have the advantage.

    In this aspect, contemporary Origin Skills couldn¡¯tpare with Ancient Arcana Techniques.

    Even though the head of the pirates had temporarily suppressed Su Chen, he knew how much physical and Origin Energy this style of fighting consumed.

    He wouldn¡¯t be able tost for long.

    Inparison, even though Su Chen was being suppressed, he was much calmer andpletely unruffled. He continued to unleash Erupting Firehawk after Erupting Firehawk. To him, as long as he could dy this person, that was enough. In all the other battles, his men had the advantage.

    Tang Ming was still suppressing his opponent, and the one hundred and fifty fish-men were still massacring their opponents.

    They continued to dart through the water, leaping out from the water and then falling back in over and over. They attacked their opponents from all directions, forcefully turning the water battle into a battle from all directions.

    All of the pirates were terrified at this point. Some people even began to yell, ¡°I surrender! I surrender!¡±

    The pirates had no moral integrity to speak of.

    If they couldn¡¯t win, they would surrender. That was totally justified in their eyes.

    The fish-men were not bloodthirsty; anyone who surrendered was captured and then tossed into the back of the boat.

    Of course, there was a small number whose ferocious temperaments were still present and were only pretending to surrender.

    One of the pirates yelled loudly that he was surrendering, but when the fish-man who was chasing after him got close to him, he suddenly became hostile and pulled out a Water-Splitting de, stabbing it at the fish-man.

    ng!

    The metallic ng from the resulting collision gave the pirate quite a shock.

    He saw a faint golden luster envelop his opponent¡¯s body.

    Adamantine Battle Body!

    Apart from Fish-Man Transformation, the Razortooth Technique, and the Winding Hands, Su Chen had also taught them the Adamantine Battle Body.

    This was not the amateur version of the Adamantine Battle de avable on the Dreamrealm. Rather, it had been fully supplemented by the Adamantine Medicine.

    The Adamantine Battle Body had an extremely high defensive rating, but once a person used it, the person¡¯s body would be heavy, and their speed would drastically go down. However, this weakness waspletely nullified underwater. Battling underwater didn¡¯t require a lot of high-speed shifting and dashing. The force of buoyancy decreased a person¡¯s weight, pulling the difference between them closer. Whenbined with the weakening of a person¡¯s attacks to a certain degree when underwater, it basically gave them have impregnable defenses.

    Unless it was someone exceptionally strong like the head of the pirates, even normal Blood Boiling Realm cultivators would have a hard time killing them.

    This de strike wasn¡¯t able to prate the opponent; instead, the Water-Splitting de broke into two pieces.

    The fish-man curled his lips back in a smile. ¡°Damn, if you want to die that badly, then be my guest.¡±

    He opened his mouth wide and bit down on the pirate¡¯s throat......

    The battle waspletely one-sided at this point.

    Finally, the people on thest pirate boat also began to give up.

    But even if they wanted to run, they wouldn¡¯t be able to get away.

    That was because Iron Cliff had gotten onto their boat.

    Ma Xuan, Wu Xiao, and a few others had also gotten on the boat with him.

    ¡°If you lower your weapons and immediately surrender, you¡¯ll be able to keep your life. Otherwise, we will kill everyone,¡± Iron Cliff said menacingly as he waved the Horned de around.

    All of the pirates nced at each other. A few of them clearly wanted to surrender.

    ¡°We won¡¯t surrender even if you kill us!¡± a pirate yelled as he charged forward.

    Bang!

    Iron Cliff swung the Iron Mountain Shield, smashing the pirate¡¯s head into pieces.

    ¡°Is there anyone else?¡± he saidzily.

    The pirates nced each other, then finally tossed their weapons aside.

    On the other side, Tang Ming was still fighting it out with that Yang Opening Realm expert. The swirling dragon had alreadypletely shattered the opponent¡¯s de momentum. The massive water dragon continued to bear down on the Yang Opening Realm expert, who was already slowly beginning to be unable to hold on.

    ¡°If you surrender immediately, you can still live!¡± Tang Ming said.

    The person nced left and right, then finally sighed, knowing that their momentum was totally gone. He tossed aside the de and said, ¡°I surrender.¡±

    The water dragon suddenly coiled forward,pletely enveloping the person.

    From that moment on, his life was now in Tang Ming¡¯s hands.

    When the head of the pirates saw this, his heart was filled with shock.

    He also recognized that there was nothing that could be done anymore and steeled himself before yelling loudly, ¡°I surrender! I surrender!¡±

    ¡°Oh? You want to surrender too?¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°Fine, that saves me some trouble.¡±

    When the head of the pirates heard that, he let out a sigh of relief.

    At this point, his Origin Energy and physical energy had both been pushed to their limit. Even if he didn¡¯t surrender, he probably wouldn¡¯t be able to hold on for much longer.

    He basically gave up and went down to one knee on the water, appearing as if he had sumbed to Su Chen. In his heart, however, he had secretly decided to unleash a sneak attack as soon as Su Chen got close. This person was obviously the leader; if he was able to capture that person alive, he would be able to make it out alive somehow.

    Su Chen slowly walked across the surface of the waves and came near the head of the pirates. He reached out his hand and ced it on the head of the pirates¡¯ head, saying, ¡°What a pity......¡±

    A pity? What was a pity?

    The head of the pirates was stunned.

    An instantter, a quiet, concentrated burst of energy shot forth from Su Chen¡¯s palm.

    Bang!

    The head of the pirates swayed slightly, blood flowing from his ears and nose.

    ¡°You...... How did you...... know......¡± he said with great difficulty before toppling over in the water.

    Su Chen slowly retracted his hand. ¡°Do you not even understand this principle? As the leader, everyone else can surrender; only you cannot! If you do not die, how can I take over your subordinates? As for whether you had other intentions or not...... that¡¯s not important at all.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 68: Fighting Pirates With Pirates

    Chapter 68: Fighting Pirates With Pirates

    Aboard the deck of the Barracuda, arge group of people knelt in front of Su Chen. It was the pirates who had surrendered.

    ¡°There¡¯s 162 people in total, including one Yang Opening Realm cultivator, eighteen Blood Boiling Realm cultivators, and forty-one Origin Qi Schrs. The deceased include a Yang Opening Realm cultivator, five Blood Boiling Realm cultivators, and twelve Qi Drawing Realm cultivators,¡± Iron Cliff reported to Su Chen as he read off of the roster.

    Su Chen¡¯s gaze fell on the pirate who was kneeling the closest to him.

    It was the de-wielding Yang Opening Realm cultivator. He was called Jiao Yingguang and had the Stone Sickle Beast Bloodline. He was quite strong.

    Su Chen already knew that the group of pirates they had annihted was called the Third River Army. They were a mid-tier group of pirates within Lingyuan Marsh and had a certain amount of fame. Today, however, they had been bagged up all at once.

    ¡°How are you nning on dealing with this group of people? Are you going to kill them all, or are you going to hand them over to the authorities?¡± Tang Ming asked.

    Tang Ming had always been prideful, but ever since the expedition to Goldwater Ruins, Su Chen had be someone that he at least respected. But if you were to listen to him, he would say that he only respected Su Chen¡¯s way of dealing with things, not his strength...... Haha, now that everyone is in the Blood Boiling Realm, he can¡¯t rely on his cultivation base alone to suppress me.

    At this moment, he was asking Su Chen because he wanted to see how Su Chen was going to deal with them.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Hand them over to the authorities? I am a government official. What need is there to hand them over to anyone? As for killing them......¡±

    He purposefully stretched out his words. The pirates below him began to tense up, and some even began to cry out with fear, begging for mercy.

    ¡°So many people and so muchbat power ¨C it would be a waste to kill them. In addition, we already said that we wouldn¡¯t kill them if they surrendered. Eating our own words like that wouldn¡¯t be appropriate.¡±

    Everyone sighed simultaneously with relief.

    Only Jiang Hanfeng curled his lips. ¡°You didn¡¯t say that you were going to keep your word when you killed the head of the pirates earlier.¡±

    Wu Xiao kicked him, reminding him that this was not the time for friends to butt in, but Su Chen didn¡¯t mind. He continued, ¡°In fact, this kind of thing has a precedent. Wouldn¡¯t you say so, Iron Cliff?¡±

    Iron Cliff scratched his head, a bit embarrassed. ¡°Yes. Hand them over to me, and I can train them to adhere to you. Isn¡¯t that where our guys came from?¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s current underlings were all former mountain bandits; adding in a group of pirates to the mix wouldn¡¯t be that strange.

    One of the mountain bandits said loudly, ¡°You don¡¯t need to fear, either. As long as you follow our master, nothing bad will happen to you. We used to be bandits in the Four ts region, but we were captured by our master because we tried to rob him. Unexpectedly, we became his servants, and he has even bestowed mystical techniques on us. Did you see the Dragonfish Transformation from earlier? That was a blessing our master gave to us.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. As long as you follow along obediently and be useful to him, you¡¯ll have an opportunity to continue living.¡±

    ¡°But if anyone tries to be two-faced and betray our master, I promise you that you will suffer a fate that is ten thousand times more painful than death.¡±

    ¡°Haha, actually, master really likes it when people try to betray him. He never thinks that he has enough research subjects.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, but bing a research subject isn¡¯t that bad either. If your luck is good, you might even be able to be like Old Second Chang and have your strength soar.¡±

    ¡°Hahahaha, that¡¯s exactly right!¡±

    The group of mountain bandits began to chuckle andugh amongst each other.

    Su Chen was always strict and firm. No one would believe that Su Chen hadn¡¯t instructed this group of people to chuckle andugh like this.

    Those pirates, however, didn¡¯t know this. When they heard those words, hope began to rise in their hearts. One after another, they began to yell, ¡°We are willing to die for master!¡±

    Su Chen saidzily, ¡°As long as you¡¯re willing to listen, that¡¯s good enough. You don¡¯t need to die for me. If you really weren¡¯t afraid of dying, you wouldn¡¯t have surrendered so easily. But now that you¡¯re in my hands, I¡¯m not worried that you won¡¯t sell your lives to me. You don¡¯t know some things right now, but you will know eventually. Just like those guys said, I am very happy when you make mistakes. Iron Cliff trained these bastards too well, and now that they don¡¯t make mistakes, I am always somewhatcking in research subjects. If you aren¡¯t afraid, then go ahead and try to challenge me.¡±

    Those pirates felt their hearts tremble with fear. They had no idea what kind of person their master was, who would await day after day for his underlings to make mistakes. In addition, the former mountain bandits had been trained into a group of household guards. They originally should have beenpletely disorganized, but now each one of them was quite useful. This truly was somewhat inconceivable.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t want them to figure out the clues in what he had said. He then said, ¡°Alright, go ahead and take them down. Once I¡¯ve made some medicine for them to drink, you can bring them up again for training.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡± Some people stepped forward and led the captives down into the interior of the boat.

    After they had all been taken away, Su Chen said to Tang Ming and the others, ¡°I¡¯m not nning on bringing these people back with me.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you wanted them to submit to you?¡± Jiang Hanfeng was confused.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°They should submit to me, but that doesn¡¯t mean that I want to turn them into my household guards. Jiangfeng, Tang Ming, I have an idea, but I need your support for it to work out.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m nning on rebuilding the Third River Army.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Everyone present was stunned.

    ¡°Rebuild the Third River Army?¡±

    ¡°Yes! Rebuild the Third River Army,¡± Su Chen said confidently. ¡°The issue of the Lingyuan pirates isn¡¯t something that can be resolved with a single battle. The Third River Army is just a smallponent of all of the Lingyuan pirates, and they aren¡¯t even that critical. Furthermore, they don¡¯t belong to the Clear River City Bloodline Nobility ns. If we want to attack the Clear River City Bloodline Nobility n Alliance and clear out the Lingyuan pirates, we cannot be constantly starting and stopping in our attempts to exterminate them; it needs to be a continuous fight.¡±

    ¡°Continuous fight......¡± Tang Ming was beginning to understand Su Chen¡¯s intentions. ¡°You want to......¡±

    ¡°Fight pirates with pirates!¡± Su Chen replied.

    He would establish a group of pirates in Lingyuan Marsh belonging to himself, creating internal strife and using pirates to fight pirates while at the same time targeting the trade convoys belonging to the ten Bloodline Nobility ns.

    In these past few years, the ten Bloodline Nobility ns had relied on their influence to control the waterways and monopolize the natural resources, obtaining massive benefits from themselves.

    Now, however, Su Chen had interfered with their resources, then dealt a serious blow to their transportation of those resources.

    By this method, he could constantly weaken his opponents¡¯ influence and keep their hands full with dealing with him.

    Today, the ten Bloodline Nobility ns¡¯ conflict with the vigers in West River Forest was still ongoing. Now, with this disaster on the waterways, their attention would be further diverted, giving Su Chen a lot of time to work with.

    And time was what Su Chen desperately needed.

    Every day that went by, Su Chen would grow a bit stronger, and his opponents would grow a bit weaker.

    Dealing with the ten Bloodline Nobility ns was going to be a weighty and lengthy project. Su Chen was not in a hurry.

    In addition, apart from the ten Bloodline Nobility ns, there was an even more dangerous opponent waiting in hiding who hadn¡¯t appeared yet.

    Before dealing with that enemy, Su Chen couldn¡¯t waste too much of his attention and resources on the Bloodline Nobility ns.

    Let them fight amongst themselves.

    Tang Ming understood what he was thinking. ¡°But if that¡¯s the case, it is going to take quite a long time. After all, you still need to return to Clear River City to take care of the situation there.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. That¡¯s why I¡¯ll need to rely on you guys for what happens here.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 69: Jade Heart Island

    Chapter 69: Jade Heart Ind

    Jade Heart Ind was located in a reedy area in Lingyuan Marsh, and the waterways there were particrly winding and essible. When considering the fact that it was also far away from the city, it was no surprise that it had been infested with pirates a long time ago.

    The pirates would oftene here to do business after seizing boats and spoils. They would sell what they didn¡¯t need and buy what they needed. Sometimes, they would also trade information, leading to the rise of ¡°ckhands¡± who specialized in information-rted transactions, restoration of objects, searching for lost family heirlooms, etc.

    After traveling for two days, the Third River Army arrived at Jade Heart Ind.

    After arriving onnd, Su Chen said, ¡°Everyone is free to do as they please as long as they return after a day. Zhaoxin, Haoli, and Wu Xiao, you three are responsible for supervising them. Don¡¯t let these guys get cocky and try to stir things up. Tang Ming, Juanjia, Iron Cliff, and Jiao Yinguang, we¡¯re going to go and ask around for some information. Wei Yang and Ma Xuan, you guys stay here and stand guard.¡±

    ¡°Damn, unlucky!¡± Wei Yang and Ma Xuan cried out unhappily when they found out that they were assigned to guard duty.

    However, they couldn¡¯t just leave the ce unattended. Someone needed to do it.

    Su Chen disembarked with Tang Ming, Juanjia, and Iron Cliff.

    He wore the demon mask to avoid revealing his true face.

    Jiao Yinguang followed behind Su Chen and said in a low voice, ¡°Jade Heart Ind has three famous ckhands: Fifth Grandfather Tao, Long Gaosheng, and Demon Hand Zhang. Fifth Grandfather Tao owns an inn and a wine tavern. His wine tavern is where information changes hands. Long Gaosheng is in the business of antique calligraphy and is primarily responsible for receiving ck market antique calligraphy items. Demon Hand Zhang has a casino and a pawnshop; he¡¯ll take anything. Right, he is connected to the Bloodline Nobility ns.¡±

    Since he had decided to surrender, he would naturally do it thoroughly. Instead of waiting for Su Chen to ask him, Jiao Yinguang basically spilled everything that he knew.

    ¡°Demon Hand Zhang is backed by the Clear River Bloodline Nobility ns? Then what about Fifth Grandfather Tao and Long Gaosheng?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think Fifth Grandfather Tao has a backer, but his hands reach a lot of ces and he knows a lot of people, so everyone here tries to get on his good side. As for Long Gaosheng, he¡¯s part of the ck River Army.¡±

    There were three main branches of Lingyuan Pirates: Jade Mountain Army, Qingyuan Army, and ck River Army. Of these, ck River Army was the strongest; word on the street was that they had at least seven or eight Yang Opening Realm cultivators and might even have the support of a Light Shaking Realm cultivator. As such, they acted extremely arrogantly in Lingyuan Marsh and even dared to attack government troops.

    The Jade Mountain Army and Qingyuan Army were also quite influential. Even though no one said that they had the support of a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, the two of them had quite a few Yang Opening Realm cultivators between them.

    Most importantly, they were affiliated with the Clear River Bloodline Nobility ns.

    Specifically, the reason the Clear River City Bloodline Nobility n Alliance could affect the waterways was because it had good rtions with these two branches of pirates.

    Of course, not all the pirates listened to them. The ck River Army refused to be pulled along by the Bloodline Nobility ns and would make moves against them from time to time. However, the Clear River City Bloodline Nobility ns protected their own fleets, and both sides had their fair share of victories and defeats.

    After hearing what Jiao Yinguang said, Su Chen thought for a moment and then said, ¡°Let¡¯s go and pay Fifth Grandfather Tao a visit.¡±

    Based on what Jiao Yinguang had said, Fifth Grandfather Tao was a rtively neutral individual on Jade Heart Ind. They had just gotten off the boat, so it made sense to go to a neutral location first.

    After arriving at ¡°Tao Wine Tavern,¡± they found that the ce was filled with guests who came from different branches of pirates. Every one of them was guzzling down wine like crazy.

    At the wine tavern¡¯s counter, an average-looking old man was pouring some wine for some brawny individuals.

    ¡°That¡¯s Fifth Grandfather Tao,¡± Jiao Yinguang said as he pointed at the old man pouring wine.

    ¡°Peak of the Yang Opening Realm. No wonder he can protect his niche and ensure that it¡¯s stable,¡± Su Chen said.

    Old Tao, who was pouring wine for Body-Tempering martial artists, was actually a Yang Opening Realm cultivator.

    The ears of the old man behind the front counter pricked up. He looked up at Su Chen.

    Su Chen had seemingly spoken quietly, but it hadn¡¯t been able to escape the old man¡¯s ears. A trace of a smile appeared on his heavily wrinkled face. ¡°Young man, your perception is quite impressive. You just spoke a little too quickly.¡±

    He didn¡¯t speak very loudly, and the words should have been drowned out by the din from the other guests. However, Su Chen could hear it clearly; even the people next to him couldn¡¯t hear anything. The old man¡¯s control over his voice was virtually at the pinnacle.

    Both of them were slightly shocked.

    Su Chen was shocked at the old man¡¯s ability to control sound, while Fifth Grandfather Tao was shocked by Su Chen¡¯s perceptiveness.

    Determining a person¡¯s cultivation base relied quite heavily on perception. People of different cultivation bases would have different physical auras manifested. After a person reached the Qi Drawing Realm and could begin to control Origin Energy, there would be nearly invisible Origin Energy fluctuations over their body. When they reached the Blood Boiling Realm, their Blood Qi would begin to expand. The power of their bloodline would begin to overflow, taking on a physical manifestation.

    However, these could all be concealed.

    Fifth Grandfather Tao had been in Jade Heart Ind for many years. Everyone knew that this old man¡¯s strength was deep and hard to fathom, but no one had ever been able to determine the depth of his cultivation base so precisely before. Most relied on analysis and guesswork.

    This was Fifth Grandfather Tao¡¯s first time running into someone on the ind who could determine his cultivation base with just a single nce.

    He didn¡¯t know that Su Chen had his Origin Energy-seeing eye. Any secrets rted to Origin Energy would be uncovered before his eyes.

    He chuckled, ¡°Young man, since you¡¯vee, why not take a seat?¡±

    As he spoke, he pulled out a few cups and filled them.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t stand on courtesy. He walked over directly and took a sip, then frowned and put it back down.

    ¡°What is it? Are you afraid there¡¯s poison in my wine and don¡¯t dare to drink it?¡± Fifth Grandfather Tao asked.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°If there was poison, I would have drunk it already. This wine is just too inferior. I can¡¯t bring myself to drink it. It made me lose my thirst more quickly than if I had known that it was poisoned.¡±

    Fifth Grandfather Tao paused for a moment before a smile broke across his face. ¡°Interesting. It¡¯s been a long time since I¡¯ve met an interesting young friend like yourself. Since you¡¯ve said as much, it would be wrong of me if I didn¡¯t bring out some good wine for you. Here, try this.¡±

    He opened a jug of wine and poured some for Su Chen.

    Su Chen took a sip and nodded. ¡°This really is some good wine.¡±

    However, he put it back down.

    ¡°If it¡¯s good wine, why don¡¯t you drink more of it?¡±

    ¡°The wine is good, but its numbing and suppressing effect is too powerful. It¡¯ll take me some time to work through it, so I can only drink it slowly.¡±

    When Fifth Grandfather Tao heard this, he smiled so widely that his eyes disappeared. ¡°Truly an interesting young man. No wonder Liu Ji fell prey to you.¡±

    ¡°Liu Ji?¡± Su Chen was confused. ¡°Who is Liu Ji?¡±

    Jiao Yinguang leaned in. ¡°He was the former leader.¡±

    ¡°Oh!¡± Su Chen was enlightened.

    Fifth Grandfather Tao had been running a wine tavern in Jade Heart Ind for many years. Naturally, he knew all of the pirates here.

    Jiao Yinguang was the vicemander of the Three River Army. For him to be following obediently after Su Chen, it was clear that he had switched loyalties. When taking into ount the fact that the Three River Army¡¯s boats had just returned, it was obvious what had happened.

    Su Chen gently tapped the counter and said, ¡°Anyone whose de has tasted blood is not invincible. Liu Ji has fallen, but the Three River Army has not. I hope that Fifth Grandfather Tao won¡¯t be prejudiced against us.¡±

    ¡°Of course not,¡± Fifth Grandfather Tao said with a wide smile. ¡°You must be here for business. What should I call you as the new leader?¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 70: Seizing Boats

    Chapter 70: Seizing Boats

    ¡°Call me Demon Face,¡± Su Chen said inside the wine tavern.

    Even though using the moniker that he had adopted in the Scarlet Mountain Range might give his identity away, who cared?

    Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s words, the old man chuckled, ¡°Demon Face, huh? Okay, so what kind of services does Demon Face require from this old man?¡±

    Su Chen handed a piece of paper over to the old man.

    When the old man nced at it, his expression visibly froze. ¡°What do you want this information for?¡±

    ¡°That has nothing to do with you,¡± Su Chen replied.

    The old man shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s true. It¡¯s always this stuff anyway. It seems like the Clear River Bloodline Nobility ns are going to run out of luck soon.¡±

    As he spoke, he suddenly lowered his voice. His lips were moving, but no sound could be heard; however, Su Chen nodded repeatedly.

    After some time, Su Chen nodded, then pulled out a small pouch. ¡°This is yours.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re wee.¡± The old man opened the pouch and took a look at it, thenughed loudly.

    He efficiently stowed the pouch away, then saw that Su Chen had already turned around and was walking out of the wine tavern. He said, ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to stay and drink a bit more?¡±

    ¡°No need. When the matter is resolved, I wille and find you again,¡± Su Chen said as he waved, his back to the old man.

    Su Chen suddenly pulled out a vial of medicine as soon as he walked out of the wine tavern and gulped it down, sweat beading on his face.

    ¡°Master!¡± Iron Cliff yelled with concern.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. That old man¡¯s poison was quite strong; I was almost unable to hold out,¡± Su Chen said somewhat faintly.

    It seemed like he had only been making a simple transaction with Fifth Grandfather Tao, but they had already crossed hands below the table.

    Otherwise, how could Fifth Grandfather Tao have epted him so easily?

    At this moment, Su Chen said, ¡°Fifth Grandfather Tao is not simple, but we¡¯ve passed the test for now. If we need any information, we cane here in the future. As for right now, we have some other business to take care of.¡±

    ¡°What are we doing?¡± Tang Ming asked.

    ¡°Tonight, a fleet of ships from Clear River City will be passing by here.¡±

    Tang Ming¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°We¡¯re going to seize them!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the idea,¡± Su Chenughed.

    Since they had already drawn up a n to fight pirates with pirates, it was time to put it into effect.

    From now on, the Third River Army wouldn¡¯t rob anyone but fleetsing from Clear River City!

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Nightall, on the surface of Lingyuan Marsh. A fleet of boats slowly floated along the surface of the water.

    From a distance, it seemed like there were at least twenty boats all in a single line. The boats were loaded with goods that hade from foreignnds ¨C mostly goods like salt, white sugar, and furs.

    Perhaps because they hadn¡¯t encountered other pirates in a long time, the fleet was only lightly guarded by a few people who patrolled among the fleets.

    No one noticed an eye formed from Origin Energy watching them from a distance not too far away.

    After observing for a bit longer, the eye then flew away and returned to a reeded patch before slowly descending, disappearing after itnded in Su Chen¡¯s hand.

    Behind him, a group of pirates had gathered and were awaiting hismands.

    After putting the detection eye away, Su Chen said, ¡°There¡¯s a total of three Blood Boiling Realm cultivators and six Qi Drawing Realm cultivators all gathered in the front two boats. Notify all of the troops to prepare to attack.¡±

    With a series of low whistles, the pirate boats began to emerge from the marshes, and they headed in a certain direction under the cover of night.

    A few of the Origin Qi Schrs began to generate arge mass of ck fog, causing the already thick darkness to be even darker.

    The pirate boats advanced under the cover of the ck fog. They weren¡¯t discovered by the guards on the boat until they were very close to their targets.

    ¡°Who is it?¡±

    One of the pirates chuckled darkly, ¡°Naturally, people who want to make a profit off of the Bloodline Nobility ns! Brothers, let¡¯s go!¡±

    Bang!

    The boat at the front had already charged over at an angle, mming into the first merchant ship. An instantter, countless hooks flew forward andtched onto the body of the boat. Then, countless figures began to charge onto the boat, the original Third River Army vicemander, Jiao Yinguang, leading the way.

    With a single de strike, Jiao Yinguang cut down the mainmast, then yelled, ¡°Anyone who tries to resist or escape will be killed!¡±

    The sound of an rm began to ring out through the night.

    A few guards charged over. ¡°Who dares to rob the boats belonging to Clear River City?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re precisely the ones we¡¯re trying to rob!¡±

    Jiao Yinguang¡¯s de shed brilliantly again, stabbing through the night and skewering the guard at the very front.

    The boats that charged over at an angle created a bottleneck, locking the boats behind in ce and making it so that they couldn¡¯t advance or retreat. The pirate boats began to swarm over at this moment as well.

    Even though there were quite a few merchant boats, they were primarily carrying cargo and didn¡¯t have muchbat ability. Even though the guards fought as hard as they could, they were ughtered by the three hundred or so pirates.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t even participate in the battle; he just watched it unfold from a distance.

    In the time it took three sticks of incense to burn, the battle for the fleet had nearly reached its conclusion.

    After half an hour, the entire fleet hade under Su Chen¡¯s control.

    ¡°Boss, we¡¯ve captured twenty-three boats, a hundred twenty-four people, and countless goods. How should we deal with them?¡± one of the bandits reported.

    ¡°Leave one boat behind and send the people back on it. As for the rest, bring them all back to Jade Heart Ind and sell them to Fifth Grandfather Tao,¡± Su Chen said calmly.

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°A massive triumph,¡± Wei Yangughed.

    ¡°It¡¯s only the beginning,¡± Su Chen said.

    Now in the possession of arge quantity of goods, the fleet began to return to Jade Heart Ind.

    When day broke, Jade Heart Ind arose to wee its ownrge harvest.

    Cargo from dozens of boats lined the docks, causing the pirates to sigh with excitement. They couldn¡¯t help but wonder who had suddenly made such arge haul.

    But when they heard that the goods came from the Clear River fleet, the pirates¡¯ expressions changed.

    ¡°Damn, they dare touch Clear River goods? Do these guys not know what death means?¡±

    ¡°The Jade Mountain Army and Qingyuan Army won¡¯t let them get away with it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Some guysst time didn¡¯t know what they were doing and touched some of the Bloodline Nobility ns¡¯ goods. Weren¡¯t they wiped out by the Jade Mountain Army in the end?¡±

    ¡°And that time, it was just the goods of two of the Bloodline Nobility ns. This time, the goods seem to belong to the entire Bloodline Nobility n Alliance. He¡¯s gone and offended all of the Bloodline Nobility ns at once.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re dead for sure, but it is at the expense of the Jade Mountain Army.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, that¡¯s right.¡±

    The pirates all stared at Su Chen with sympathetic looks.

    No matter what these outsiders were thinking, the people in the Third River Army were in the process of enjoying the taste of making it big.

    After an intense period of discussions, Fifth Grandfather Tao finally named a price that was quite generous to buy all of the goods away from him.

    ¡°One million Origin Stones, all right here,¡± Fifth Grandfather Tao said as he handed Su Chen an Origin Ring.

    ¡°Fifth Grandfather Tao is quite generous,¡± Su Chenughed as he epted it.

    ¡°Don¡¯t me me for not reminding you. After you take the money, get out of here and don¡¯te back to Jade Heart Ind for some time,¡± Fifth Grandfather Tao said.

    ¡°Thank you, Fifth Grandfather Tao, for your reminder. I know what to do,¡± Su Chenughed as he left with the others in tow.

    They didn¡¯t loiter around; instead, they got on the boat as soon as they arrived at the dock and left.

    Not long after they left, arge boat came sailing in.

    A ferocious bandit with a broadsword slung on his back jumped off the boat and yelled piercingly, ¡°Where¡¯s the bastard who robbed Clear River City¡¯s fleet?¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 71: Confrontation

    Chapter 71: Confrontation

    Afterpleting the transaction, Su Chen didn¡¯t stay any longer. He quickly handed overmand to Tang Ming, Zhou Juanjia, and the others. Then, he left the Third River Army behind and hurried back to Clear River City.

    Before he left, he didn¡¯t forget to find Tang Ming and ask him for a vial of blood to research, causing Tang Ming to grumble unhappily.

    He hurried back to Clear River City under the cover of night. At this point, the sky had yet to brighten, and Clear River City was still quiet and restful.

    However, Su Chen knew that this peace and quiet probably wasn¡¯t going tost for much longer.

    He didn¡¯t do anything else. Instead, he headed back to the Su Pce to rest.

    The next morning, Su Chen was still sleeping when he heard the low ringing of a belling from the direction of the docks.

    That bell represented failure and mourning, implying that a massive loss had just been sustained.

    When he heard the sound of this bell, a trace of a smile appeared on Su Chen¡¯s face.

    He knew that the notice had finally been delivered.

    He turned over and then went back to sleep.

    Two hourster, Mingshu came and knocked on the door.

    ¡°Sir Daiyang requests to see you.¡±

    ¡°Let him wait in the guest hall for a bit.¡±

    A momentter, Su Chen emerged. A young Confucian Schr was standing in the guest hall; it was An Siyuan¡¯s servant, Lu Yiyang.

    When he saw Su Chen, Lu Yiyang raised his hands and bowed in greeting. ¡°Yiyang greets Knowledge Executor Su.¡±

    ¡°Sir Lu is courteous. For what reason have you suddenlye here today?¡± Su Chen invited Lu Yiyang to sit, then motioned for Mingshu to pour some tea.

    Lu Yiyangughed, ¡°Actually, Sir Su, you should know why I¡¯m here.¡±

    Su Chen pushed the dregs of tea leaves in his cup and said, ¡°Sir Lu, I¡¯m a bit confused by what you could mean.¡±

    ¡°If Knowledge Executor Su doesn¡¯t know, then I will just say it. Last night, a fleet ofmerce ships belonging to the Clear River Alliance was robbed.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Su Chen remained expressionless. ¡°Is that really so strange? Lingyuan Marsh is filled with pirates that roam there, andmerce ships are always being robbed. Is that so strange?¡±

    ¡°But this is the first time that boats attached to the alliance have been robbed.¡±

    ¡°So what?¡± Su Chen raised his head and looked at Lu Yiyang.

    Lu Yiyangughed, ¡°Nothing much, really. I¡¯m just worried that there are going to be a lot of people who think that you had a hand in it. I am just under the City Lord¡¯s orders toe and check in first. There will probably be some others who are going toe and pay you a visitter.¡±

    When he heard this, Su Chen finally retracted his yful expression and asked, ¡°What did the City Lord say?¡±

    ¡°Just like everything else that Knowledge Executor Su has done previously, you cannot admit to it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid that even if I don¡¯t admit to doing it, they¡¯ll think that I was the one who did it anyway.¡±

    ¡°I trust that Knowledge Executor Su has your own way of dealing with it,¡± Lu Yiyang said.

    ¡°Mhm,¡± Su Chen said calmly as he yed with the dregs of tea leaves. ¡°These next few days, I will appear publicly a number of times. After a few days, when the robbery urs again, there naturally will be evidence that I was not present at the robbery.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s one way to do it. Even though they might not believe you...... But why do you need them to believe you? As long as you can get away with it, that¡¯s good enough. But Sir Su, if you aren¡¯t there, do you still trust those people to take care of things?¡±

    ¡°You can let the City Lord know that I have some friends who I can trust.¡±

    ¡°Alright! Then I will say goodbye for now.¡±

    Having obtained the answer he needed, Lu Yiyang didn¡¯t waste anymore words and took his leave.

    Lu Yiyang had just left when Chief Steward Lao came to visit.

    Of course, he was not representing the Lian n this time but all ten Bloodline Nobility ns.

    The Lian n was one of the first ns to get into it with Su Chen, but because of the peace negotiations afterward, the Lian n had never made any more trouble for Su Chen. Furthermore, Chief Steward Lao knew what he was doing, so Su Chen¡¯s rtionship with the Lian n was actually decent.

    After the robbery happened, all of the Bloodline Nobility ns wanted to find Su Chen immediately, but they discovered after a long time that Chief Steward Lao was the most suitable.

    After Chief Steward Lao came, they began to talk.

    First, Chief Steward Lao expressed his ¡°cordial greetings¡± on behalf of the Bloodline Nobility n alliance, then brought up his own thoughts on the matter involving the Lingyuan pirates. Su Chen cooperated by expressing his ¡°shock¡± and extreme unhappiness over the Lingyuan Disaster. He believed that the Lingyuan Disaster was a big issue and that everyone needed to unite to deal with it. Finally, both sides reached a mutual agreement on what to do regarding the pirate attacks; they agreed to strengthen their mutual efforts to wipe out the pirates before Chief Steward Lao bid farewell. Su Chen saw him out personally, demonstrating that this was a sessful discussion.

    Of course, as soon as he left the Su Pce, Chief Steward Lao¡¯s expression copsed.

    After sending Chief Steward Lao away, people from the Origin Bureau arrived.

    Xing Shabei wanted to see him.

    When he arrived at the Origin Bureau, Xing Shabei sat on his high seat, his expression gloomy.

    When he saw Su Chen, he said directly, ¡°Knowledge Executor Su! You seem to be quite free these days.¡±

    Xing Shabei was used to being bossy, and he had no interest in beating around the bush. He made an usation right off the bat; evidently, he had already made up his mind that Su Chen was responsible for robbing the fleet.

    Unfortunately, Su Chen wasn¡¯t a pushover. He didn¡¯t even look up as he said, ¡°You wanted to see me just to ask me how I was doing?¡±

    These words were extremely infuriating. Xing Shabei almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

    He stared at Su Chen and said, ¡°Su Chen, you......¡±

    Su Chen raised his hand. ¡°Let¡¯s not beat around the bush. I have a lot that I need to do every day. A lot of people have alreadye looking for me today, so I already know what you want to say. I¡¯ll answer you directly ¨C I have nothing to do with the robbery of the alliance fleet. I¡¯ll just say that. Whether you believe me or not is up to you.

    As he spoke, Su Chen began to walk out.

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± Xing Shabei mmed the table. ¡°Do you really think that you can act outside of thew after doing something like this?¡±

    Su Chen turned around and nced at Xing Shabei. ¡°Act outside of thew? Well said! These past years, the Bloodline Nobility ns have been cooperating with pirates to monopolize the waterways and resources without paying any taxes. Not only that, but they have also roped in criminal gangs and damaged this city. Do they really think they can act outside of thew?¡±

    Xing Shabei stared angrily at Su Chen. Su Chen stared back at him impolitely. Sparks flew as they red at each other confrontationally.

    After a moment, Xing Shabeiughed dryly, ¡°Good, good, brat! You¡¯ve got some guts! I want to see how long you can act so arrogantly for.¡±

    ¡°It will be longer than you can,¡± Su Chen answered as he continued to walk out of the Origin Bureau.

    As Xing Shabei watched him leave, he suddenly yelled, ¡°Su Chen, the Blood-Robed Guards and the Hero¡¯s Medal won¡¯t be able to protect you forever! If you push someone too far, they might not even need too many people ¨C a single expert might be enough topletely wipe you off the surface of this world!¡±

    Su Chen paused for a moment, but he didn¡¯t say anything in the end and left.

    However, the killing intent in his heart only grew stronger.

    He originally didn¡¯t have any feelings about Xing Shabei, but now it looked like he was getting more and more annoying.

    Perhaps it would be good to think of a way to get rid of him; otherwise, having this Origin Bureau Head always handicapping him was always going to be a bother.

    On the other side, however, Xing Shabei¡¯s words gave him a warning.

    He knew what Xing Shabei was getting at.

    If he really pushed the ten Bloodline Nobility ns too far, it wasn¡¯t impossible for them to kill him as long as they were willing to pay a price.

    A Light Shaking Realm cultivator could take care of everything.

    Perhaps...... I should start making preparations for that, Su Chen thought to himself.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 72: Night Attack

    Chapter 72: Night Attack

    News that the Bloodline Nobility n Alliance¡¯s fleet had been robbed blew like a gale through every street and alleyway in Clear River City.

    Everyone was expressing shock over how someone would dare to act so boldly.

    They didn¡¯t know, however, that shocking news always came one after the other.

    Su Chen, who had just orchestrated the robbery of the Alliance¡¯s ships, had begun to prepare another piece of news ¨C the death off of Xing Shabei.

    One chilly night.

    Su Chen donned his evening clothes and made his preparations. He was going over the final details of the n to make sure that nothing was missing.

    He was just thinking to himself when he suddenly felt a shadowy wind blow across his back.

    Hm?

    Su Chen was surprised. He quickly extinguished the light and nced outside, only to find that the main courtyard was filled with boundless ck clouds with lightning flickering across their surface. Outside of the Su Pce, however, no one would be able to see any movement. Anyone standing outside wouldn¡¯t see anything strange; only those who had cultivated Origin Energy before would discover that Origin Energy fluctuations had begun to gather within the Su Pce and reached a rtively frightening threshold.

    When he saw this, Su Chen was slightly shocked for a moment before he slightly smiled. ¡°Oh? I haven¡¯t even gone to find you yet, but it seems like you¡¯re already looking for me. Interesting.¡±

    He opened the door to the room. A group of ck-clothed people was already standing in the courtyard, ck wind whirling around them, casting a gloomy shadow on the whole courtyard. Even though they were wearing ck veils, Su Chen could tell from their physical shape that the burly man in the lead was Xing Shabei.

    So he wanted to kill Su Chen even more than Su Chen wanted to kill him.

    Apart from Xing Shabei, there were three other people Su Chen recognized despite the fact that they were wearing veils ¨C they were Ke Mingshou, Zhou Bai, and Wu Xiaoliang, the three people who had stopped him while he was on the road home that one time.

    Even though these three weren¡¯t in the Yang Opening Realm, they were from Bloodline Nobility ns and were powerful. When factoring in their cultivation bases, which were at the peak of the Blood Boiling Realm, evenmon mixed-bloodline Yang Opening Realm cultivators might not be able to defeat them, so they could basically be considered Yang Opening Realm experts.

    Four Yang Opening Realm experts and a bunch of Blood Boiling Realm underlings clearly meant that they were taking Su Chen quite seriously.

    Because Su Chen had sent most of the people in his pce away as pirates, the Su Pce was the emptiest it had ever been right now. This had allowed his opponents to reach the Su Pce¡¯s main courtyard in one straight go.

    But even if the house guards weren¡¯t present, the Blood-Robed Guards and the people from the Origin Bureau should have still been present. However, not a single one of them was in sight.

    For the people from the Origin Bureau to not be present was exinable. Xing Shabei was still the head of the Origin Bureau. He could easily send everyone on missions just before making his move, and he didn¡¯t need to notify Su Chen.

    However, the mysterious disappearance of the Blood-Robed Guards was worth pondering.

    Su Chen¡¯s gaze grew slightly chilly.

    Xing Shabei had used a Light Shaking Realm cultivator to suppress him during the day, yet he had made a move personally at night. Obviously, this guy knew how to use some trickery. However, if he was in such a hurry to make a move, the ten Bloodline Nobility ns were obviously involved. It seemed like they had already decided that he was the one who had done it, and they were going to try and take him out even if they had to pay a price for it.

    However, they had still underestimated him.

    If they had adopted this approach when Su Chen had just arrived, he might not have been able to handle it.

    But now...... It was already toote.

    At this moment, Su Chen was standing in the doorway, watching the ck-clothed people in the courtyard. However, the people in the courtyard couldn¡¯t seem to see him; they continued to walk around in circles within the courtyard.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Perhaps you think that you chose a good opportunity. If I was the one who did the Lingyuan Marsh incident, then the Su Pce should have beenpletely empty, making it a perfect target to attack. But if I dared to mobilize the troops out of the nest, how could I not have made preparations? Xing Shabei, since you¡¯ve thrown yourself into the, I won¡¯t be courteous.¡±

    As he spoke, he slowly lifted his hand. The ck smoke surrounding the intruders suddenly morphed into ferocious Vicious Beasts that charged at the ck-clothed intruders within the courtyard.

    The ck smoke wasn¡¯t from the ck-clothed people; it was something that had been set up in the Su Pce.

    As the ck fog transformed, countless fierce Vicious Beast images appeared and pounced on the people in the courtyard.

    The ck-clothed people yelled, ¡°Not good! We¡¯ve been ambushed!¡±

    ¡°Where did these Vicious Beastse from?¡±

    ¡°No, this is an Origin Formation! This is an Origin Formation! Dammit, how does Su Chen know how to make Origin Formations? No one told us he understood them.¡±

    ¡°Help me! I can¡¯t kill these Vicious Beasts.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s no use. These Vicious Beasts are made of Origin Energy and can¡¯t be killed in the first ce.¡±

    ¡°Dammit, this formation is too scary.¡±

    ¡°What are we going to do?¡±

    ¡°We must break the formation! Break the formation!¡±

    Panicked yells began to sound in all directions.

    In the eyes of the ambushers, they had entered a frightening world filled with Vicious Beasts made from Origin Energy. Even though they were illusory, their attacks had physical substance behind them because they were made of Origin Energy. They were much weaker than other Vicious Beasts, but they were superior in that an endless number of them could be made.

    When faced with these illusory Vicious Beasts, the ck-clothed people fought furiously, but the only result was that they were even more viciously attacked.

    Not only were the illusory beasts attacking them, but the formation also included lightning and thunder that interweaved with the formation. The storm continued to howl, as if millions of evil demons were howling and wailing, causing a shiver to go down the spine of all those who heard it.

    In Su Chen¡¯s eyes, however, all he saw was the ck-clothed people waving their des around wildly in all directions.

    If one used a microscopic eye to see, they would see that the Origin Energy was being used in a very particr way, forming strange energy flows that were affecting the opponents.

    A few of the energy flows could cause actual physical harm, but they weren¡¯t very powerful. A few of the energy flows buried deep into the person¡¯s body and became illusory senses. Still, more of the energy flows served as the frame upon which an illusory world could be constructed, causing an ovep between illusion and reality. Not only were the illusory beasts formed from Origin Energy being damaged, but the attacks of the people stuck in the formation were also being used against each other.

    A few of the ck-clothed peoples¡¯ attacks, under the influence of the formation, were redirected toward theirrades. In the eyes of the ck-clothed intruders, however, these attacks hade from the illusory beasts.

    They made quite themotion within the illusory realm, shing and slicing in all directions.

    This was the Ten Fiends Thousand Forms Formation.

    The Ten Fiends Thousand Forms Formation wasn¡¯t Su Chen¡¯s creation but the joint invention of Jiang Hanfeng, Wei Yang, Ma Xuan, and Ling Yan.

    Their first task upon arriving in Clear River City was to create a formation that Su Chen requested would be able to suppress at least seven or eight Yang Opening Realm experts or even dy a Light Shaking Realm cultivator.

    None of them coulde up with such a formation on their own, but if they allied together, along with Su Chen¡¯s investment that spared no expense, they were just barely able to develop it.

    When the formation had beenpleted, Su Chen had hoped that he would never have to use it.

    He hadn¡¯t expected that its first guest would appear in just a few days.

    At this moment, a gale suddenly began to whip up amidst the Thousand Forms formation. The sky changed color as thunder began to peal. The people in the ck-colored clothes in the formation were buffeted by the winds and the thunder, causing them to cry out in pain. Because the formation obstructed both sound and light, however, nothing could be seen outside. No matter how much the sky seemed to be copsing inside the formation, the area outside the formation was still calm and peaceful.

    ¡°Dammit, let¡¯s go all out!¡± Xing Shabei yelled explosively. The power of a Yang Opening Realm cultivator erupted from him at this point and surged forth from him in a majestic torrent of energy. If the formation wasn¡¯t present, he alone would have been enough to tten the Su Pce.

    Even so, the Ten Fiends Thousand Forms Formation had been constructed with Light-Shaking Realm targets in view. A few Yang Opening Realm cultivators wouldn¡¯t be able to escape from it easily even if they unleashed all their power at once. All of his efforts were like an ant shaking a tree; there was absolutely no point. He caused quite a scene, but only Su Chen was present to enjoy it.

    Boom!

    Following the loud explosion within the formation, a streak of lightning came crashing down. Xing Shabei toppled to the ground.

    The final intruder had failed. From start to finish, Su Chen hadn¡¯t made a single move.

    As he watched Xing Shabei fall, Su Chen waved his hands, dissolving the formation, then opened the door to Li Shu¡¯s room.

    Li Shu hadn¡¯t gone to sleep yet. He was writing something down on a book by candlelight.

    ¡°What¡¯s keeping you up sote?¡±

    When Li Shu saw that it was Su Chen, he hurriedly stood up and said, ¡°I¡¯m just nning out the next step.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Let me see.¡±

    Su Chen picked up the piece of paper and nced at it. He was immediately greeted by three characters.

    Xing Shabei!

    Li Shu exined, ¡°As the Bureau Head of the Origin Bureau, Xing Shabei will be a big burden to master if we don¡¯t take care of him. I¡¯m thinking of how we might finish this person off.¡±

    ¡°Mmm...... That¡¯s exactly why I came looking for you,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°So we have the same thoughts about this,¡± Li Shu said excitedly.

    ¡°No, I just wanted to ask you to grab a few people to clean up the mess outside for me.¡±

    ¡°Clean up? Clean what up?¡± Li Shu didn¡¯t understand.

    Su Chen flicked the piece of paper. ¡°Go take a look and you¡¯ll know.¡±

    A brief momentter, he heard Li Shu¡¯s shocked yelle from the courtyard.

    Su Chen nced at the piece of paper in his hand again and smiled slightly. A me emerged in his palm, burning the piece of paper to ashes.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 73: The Threat of a Light Shaking Realm Cultivator

    Chapter 73: The Threat of a Light Shaking Realm Cultivator

    ¡°So you mean to say that they were able to draw you away by using this?¡± Su Chen seemed to ask carelessly as he weighed a small medallion in his hand.

    The Blood-Robed Guards below him added, ¡°This is the City Lord¡¯smand medallion, and it has already been confirmed to be real. We just don¡¯t know how Xing Shabei got his hands on it.¡±

    ¡°What about the person who gave the order?¡±

    ¡°He was also a person from the City Lord¡¯s residence. After deceiving us, he killed himself.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is,¡± Su Chen muttered and didn¡¯t say much else.

    After some time, he waved his hand and said, ¡°This isn¡¯t your fault. You were just acting on orders. You may leave.¡±

    The Blood-Robed Guards all slowly took their leave.

    Mingshu harrumphed, ¡°Young Master, there¡¯s something wrong with these Blood-Robed Guards. Even if they were suddenly ordered to move, they should have at least informed you, right? Leaving without even letting you know is inexcusable. Anybody who is a human being should be able to tell that something is wrong.

    ¡°Yes, but so what if there is? Do I kill them all?¡± Su Chen countered.

    Mingshu couldn¡¯te up with anything to say.

    ¡°They¡¯re not our people, so it¡¯s not unusual that we can¡¯t rely on them. What I¡¯m worried about is whether the City Lord himself is behind this matter.¡±

    ¡°Apart from An Siyuan, who canmand the Blood-Robed Guards?¡± Mingshu said angrily.

    ¡°That might not be so. There might even be people who are hoping that I¡¯ll think this.¡± Su Chen tapped his finger on the desk as he said, ¡°They say that you can only get rid of someone after they¡¯ve served their use. As of today, the ten Bloodline Nobility ns still have the advantage in strength, but it¡¯s been diminished somewhat. The City Lord probably isn¡¯t in that much of a hurry to cut one of his own arms off, but if my rtionship with the City Lord begins to crack, I will have fallen straight into my enemies¡¯ trap.¡±

    ¡°But the Blood-Robed Guards......¡±

    Su Chen raised his hand and stopped him. ¡°Personally, I think that the matter with the Blood-Robed Guards is more likely to be something someone did for personal benefit. Whether that¡¯s true or not isn¡¯t important; I just hope that this situation doesn¡¯t grow. However, this matter has reminded me that relying totally on external support won¡¯t work long-term. It¡¯s time for us to seize the moment and begin building up our own strength.¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t Young Master already have the Third River Army?¡±

    ¡°The Third River Army is just a secret influence; they cannot have any ties to me above the board. We also need a force that can be on the surface and fight against those guys.¡±

    ¡°Young Master means......¡±

    Su Chen stood up and paced back and forth a few times before saying, ¡°Xing Shabei has been finished off, and the Origin Bureau is now in my control. I will begin to build up my strength using the Origin Bureau as the core. Li Shu!¡±

    ¡°This little one is here.¡±

    ¡°Write a letter to the City Lord¡¯s Residence under my name as the Knowledge Executor of the Origin Bureau and say that there have been more disputes in Clear River Citytely and that the Origin Bureau needs to increase its strength. I am going to begin recruiting.¡±

    Attracting subordinates by using the Origin Bureau¡¯s name and the government¡¯s resources!

    One had to admit that this was quite a brilliant idea.

    ¡°How many people do you need?¡± Li Shu asked.

    ¡°Eight hundred martial artists and one hundred Origin Qi Schrs.¡±

    Su Chen was like a lion opening his big mouth. He immediately wanted to triple the current strength of the Origin Bureau.

    Tripling the strength of the Origin Bureau would also multiply the amount of resources required; even An Siyuan might not be able to ept that.

    But with the matter of the Blood-Robed Guards, this was a perfect time to open his mouth at An Siyuan. If he missed this opportunity, An Siyuan might not be willing to acknowledge this debt in the future.

    While everyone was still making amotion over the Lingyuan Disaster, Su Chen had already begun to silently build up his own strength.

    Three dayster, An Siyuan¡¯s City Lordmand medallion was officially passed down, approving the n to expand the Origin Bureau.

    A schedule was posted for the Origin Bureau¡¯s recruitment. An announcement was posted that they were recruiting every Origin Qi Schr under the blue sky.

    At the same time, An Siyuan once again wrote a letter rmending Su Chen as the new Bureau Head.

    As for Xing Shabei, he wasbeled as ¡°missing,¡± and the issue was dropped.

    Even though everyone knew that Su Chen had killed Xing Shabei, there was no way for them to say anything.

    No one continued to poke at the matter.

    After all, if they made amotion and the actual situation came to light, Su Chen might be totally fine, while the ten Bloodline Nobility ns would have made things extremely inconvenient for themselves.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Within the spacious, bright researchb, Su Chen sat on his own, thinking about something.

    Patelocke surfaced from the nearby stone tablet like a ghostly specter.

    Actually, he was a specter. He appeared silently and without warning every time, giving him a kind of dark, deep aura.

    Like a cloud of smoke floating in the air, Patelocke watched Su Chen. ¡°My young master, if you¡¯re not doing your own experiments, what are you thinking about?¡±

    Su Chen rubbed his chin. ¡°I¡¯m thinking about a problem. There are many directions a person can take to get stronger, but I don¡¯t know which direction I should go in.¡±

    ¡°That depends on what you want to obtain, doesn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Strength. Enough strength to deal even with an extremely powerful opponent,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°How powerful?¡±

    ¡°What do you think about the Light Shaking Realm?¡±

    Patelocke¡¯s figure jolted. ¡°Are you kidding? With your current strength, you aren¡¯t even invincible in the Blood Boiling Realm, but you¡¯re already fantasizing about dealing with a Light Shaking Realm cultivator?¡±

    ¡°I know, I know. With my current strength, I can probably fight an opponent with a Demonic Emperor Bloodline who is in the same tier as me and defeat anyone below that. But if I¡¯m fighting a Yang Opening Realm cultivator, I can only fight against those of mixed bloodlines, and the weaker ones at that. Basically, I can only defeat weak Yang Opening Realm cultivators. If I ran into a Yang Opening Realm cultivator with a high-tier Demonic Beast bloodline or higher, I basically have no chance at winning. Of course, Fata Morgana can help me turn the tables, but it isn¡¯t always sessful. Its rate of sess is determined by the opponent¡¯s intelligence, not their strength, so it isn¡¯t very stable. As for a Light Shaking Realm cultivator...... I have no hope. Even the trashiest Light Shaking Realm cultivator would be able to wipe me out with a single finger.¡±

    ¡°As long as you know that.¡±

    ¡°But I must prepare,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°Xing Shabei and those seniors of mine from the Hidden Dragon Institute brought arge group of people to try and kill me, but they failed. Unless they¡¯re as stupid as pigs, their next move will be many times that level of strength. I believe that, whenparing ten Yang Opening Realm cultivators or a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, thetter is much simpler and more convenient. Isn¡¯t that so? Though, I would rather it be the former.¡±

    Even if he couldn¡¯t beat ten or so Yang Opening Realm cultivators, he might be able to at least escape.

    A Light Shaking Realm cultivator, however, was two whole tiers higher than him. If that were to happen, he wouldn¡¯t even have a chance of escaping.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Patelocke fell into deep thought. ¡°I have a question for you. Since the ten Bloodline Nobility ns have Light Shaking Realm experts amongst them, why have they not sent them out to deal with you yet?¡±

    Su Chen replied immediately, ¡°The ten Bloodline Nobility ns do have Light Shaking Realm experts. However, they aren¡¯t guests but the respective backbones of their ns. Every Light Shaking Realm expert is their own n¡¯s elder, patriarch, founder, etc. ¨C old ancestors who have immense prestige. You could say that the whole n is meant to serve this one person. To these important figures, all of the n members, guests, house guards, and servants are all just underlings to be used. If a problem happened in the lower tiers but they asked the n leaders toe out personally, what kind of situation would that be? The n leaders serving the underlings? Wouldn¡¯t this reverse their identities? So to those people, unless the n was at a life-or-death moment, they won¡¯t be easily convinced to personally make a move. On the other hand, if an underling ran into a problem that resulted in a decrease in the contributions they could make to the n leaders, then they might as well just switch in another person. Doing this not only saves their own strength but also spurs and motivates the underlings to do well. Isn¡¯t that perfect for them?¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, why are you still worried that they¡¯ll send a Light Shaking Realm cultivator after you?¡±

    ¡°Those who do not n for the future will find trouble at their doorsteps. Even though in theory those old men won¡¯te out on their own, what if there is someone who they particrly love to spoil? If that person were to suffer losses at my hand and were willing to pay a price to throw a bit of a tantrum in front of the n leaders, one of those old men might be willing to throw away their face to deal with me. I can¡¯t say for sure that this will definitely happen, but there is always a possibility. In addition......¡±

    Su Chen hesitated for a moment, then continued, ¡°I took over the Happiness Residing Fort vigers for my own use, then cleaned up the waterways of pirates, affecting the foundation of these Bloodline Nobility ns to a certain limited degree. Sooner orter, those old men won¡¯t be able to sit still anymore.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, you¡¯ll need to take it a bit easier in the future. How about you call your instructor over?¡±

    ¡°I could call him over, but the problem is that we don¡¯t know when those old coots are going to make a move. People can take a long time to n to be a thief, but you cannot be vignt against a thief all the time. In addition, if I haven¡¯t ever tried it, how can I know whether or not I¡¯ll be able to handle the threat of a Light Shaking Realm cultivator?¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 74: Direction

    Chapter 74: Direction

    Patelocke was convinced.

    Even though Su Chen knew that there was the possibility a Light Shaking Realm cultivator woulde to give him trouble, he insisted on facing it on his own.

    Even so, this was Su Chen.

    He was just this kind of person. If a person who dared to attempt to overturn all the Bloodline Nobility ns on this earth needed backup when faced with a single Light Shaking Realm cultivator, what point was there in even talking about his lofty ideals and grand ambitions?

    Since Su Chen had made his mind up to handle it on his own, Patelocke could only help him think up schemes and offer suggestions.

    He said after a moment of thought, ¡°There¡¯s still too much of a gap for you to take on a Light Shaking Realm cultivator with your current strength. The easiest way to resolve this problem is for you to ascend to the Yang Opening Realm as soon as possible. However, that will require a long period of cultivation and an ascension technique. Unless you¡¯re nning on using Bloodline Medicines, you can¡¯t even think about taking that path until Shi Kaihuang is able toplete the technique for reaching the Yang Opening Realm.¡±

    Patelocke didn¡¯t know that Su Chen was already a high-level Blood Boiling Realm cultivator. In his eyes, Su Chen still had quite a ways to go before reaching the Yang Opening Realm, while in fact Su Chen was already standing at the doorway of a breakthrough.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t exin that to him. After all, reaching the Yang Opening Realm was still a long ways off given his current circumstances ¨C even if he was standing at the doorway.

    In addition, Su Chen always valued building a solid foundation. Before he had done so in the Blood Boiling Realm, he was in no hurry to ascend.

    Patelocke continued, ¡°Since we can¡¯t use this method to resolve the situation, we have to settle for the second best thing ¨C what you can do with your current cultivation base. In my opinion, fighting a Light Shaking Realm cultivator isn¡¯t realistic, so you have to give up on that. What you should really be considering isn¡¯t how to defeat a Light Shaking Realm cultivator but how to run from one.¡±

    Su Chen shivered.

    Old people were old people. They had an abundance of experience, and Patelocke was able to identify the crux of the issue extremely quickly.

    Figuring out how to run from a Light Shaking Realm cultivator would be much better than figuring out how to fight one.

    After all, the former was much easier to aplish.

    Patelocke first helped Su Chen find the right direction.

    ¡°How do you think I should aplish that?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Patelocke quickly replied, ¡°Your Shadow Substance is pretty good. Slipping into the darkness would be quite a good way to escape.¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I haven¡¯tpleted my research on Hemolytic Totems. If I used it on myself now, I would lose out on any improvements I could make.¡±

    Patelockeughed, ¡°Who said you had to use it on yourself? You can just make an Origin Tool specifically used to carry the Hemolytic Totem.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Su Chen was stunned.

    He had never thought of that before.

    This whole time, he had been researching how to increase a person¡¯s strength, but he had never thought of applying this research to creating Origin Tools.

    This was very simr to the concept of contemporary Origin Skills.

    Because humans were physically stronger than the Arcana Race and were envious of the powerful Origin Energy bodies of the Ferocious and Beast Races, they particrly valued developing along the lines of improving their own strength. They preferred not to rely on external objects. Instead, they focused on cultivating themselves. To the human race, this was always the popr way of doing things.

    The Arcana Race was different, however. Because of their lower physical fitness, no one was as good as them at relying on external objects.

    Bloodline Extraction Instrument, Origin Energy Temple, Consciousness Converter Instrument, Sark¡¯s Nuclei, etc. ¨C these inventions could all single-handedly affect an entire race. It was obvious what level the Arcana Race had reached in the use of external items.

    To Patelocke, Su Chen was bing biased in his research of Hemolytic Totems. In reality, there were absolutely better directions that he could take.

    ¡°Turn it into an Origin Tool?¡±

    ¡°Yes, turn it into an Origin Tool! You¡¯re too stubborn about the way the Ferocious Race implemented their totemic inscriptions, but you¡¯ve overlooked the fact that it can just be a reference. The whole point of having intelligence is to make something that is best suited for you. You can definitely turn your Hemolytic Totem into an Origin Tool; that way, it can be of use to you in its current state, but you won¡¯t need to worry about any wasted potential.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up. He had to admit that this was quite a good idea.

    ¡°But my Hemolytic Totem is designed to work on other humans and expends Origin Energy, while Origin Tools are powered by Origin Stones. There¡¯s a big difference between the two. It might not be that easy to make the Origin Tool.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not an issue. Did you know that there was a research branch during the Arcana Kingdom that studied how to incorporate Origin Tools into bodies?¡±

    ¡°Incorporate Origin Tools into bodies?¡± Su Chen was shocked.

    ¡°Yes. During the Arcana Kingdom period, the Arcana Race had all kinds of strange ideas, and countless Arcana Masters advanced wave after wave to realize these ideas. Even though most of them failed, some seeded. Incorporating Origin Tools into an Arcana Race body and using the hard metal to make up for the Arcana Race¡¯s weak physique was one way of thinking. We called them Mechanical Arcana Masters, a special branch of alchemists.¡±

    ¡°Are you proficient in that?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m proficient in lifeform alteration, and Mechanical Arcana Masters touch on this science somewhat. Am I proficient? My answer is: if you need me to make shallow improvements, I can do it, but anything deeper requires a sufficiently deep understanding of Mechanical Origin Tools, and that¡¯s not within my abilities. But the one you have right now isn¡¯t soplicated.¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°Mechanical improvements, is it? Seems like I¡¯m about to try out something new. But even if I can conceal myself, I might not be able to escape from a Light Shaking Realm cultivator.¡±

    Even though the Shadow Substance could cause a person to disappear, that didn¡¯t mean that it was invincible.

    A person could still be hit by attacks even if they were concealed in the darkness.

    When a person¡¯s cultivation base reached the Light Shaking Realm, the essence of their strength would change. They might not be able to wipe out a city with a single palm strike, but a dozen or so would be more than enough to finish the job.

    If a Light Shaking Realm cultivator were to attack Su Chen, they would only need a single palm strike to unleash a strike almost a thousand feet in circumference without any issues. Even if Su Chen concealed himself immediately, he might not be able to escape that danger zone. That year, when Zhao Yu had single-handedly neutralized the Immortal Temple¡¯s attack, he had been able to protect the entire za.

    As for the battle in the bamboo forest, the scale of destruction wasn¡¯t asrge. However, that was because all the opponents were clearly visible. As such, everyone concentrated the scope of their energy output. There was no need for them to carelessly scatter their energy; after all, doing that would also decrease the power of their attacks.

    But with Su Chen¡¯s current strength, a Light Shaking Realm cultivator wouldn¡¯t need to concentrate their strength to finish him off.

    ¡°That¡¯s why we also need another tactic. Apart from concealing yourself, rapid movement techniques to escape from battle is always the best choice. Think for a moment ¨C what is the best escape technique you possess?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Snaking Mist Steps? No, it cannot make me faster than a Light Shaking Realm cultivator.¡±

    Every person who could reach the Light Shaking Realm was a monster who could fly through the air.

    ¡°I¡¯m not talking about the Snaking Mist Steps but something even better. It¡¯s just that you¡¯ve never seen it as important,¡± Patelocke said leisurely.

    ¡°What?¡± Su Chen froze for a moment. ¡°You mean......¡±

    ¡°Whitetower Teleportation. You don¡¯t actually know what a marvelous Ancient Arcana Technique that is, right?¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 75: Many Ways to Defend Against Light Shaking

    Chapter 75: Many Ways to Defend Against Light Shaking

    Su Chen truly didn¡¯t ce much importance on Whitetower Teleportation.

    It wasn¡¯t that it wasn¡¯t a good technique, but that it was just tooplicated.

    It was soplicated that Su Chen basically couldn¡¯t use it as he pleased in battle; he had to make preparations in advance in order to use it.

    Because it included Origin Energy Patterns, Su Chen could prepare a Whitetower Teleportation pattern before the battle, then use it at any time during the battle. However, after that, it was virtually impossible for him to use it again.

    Its overlyplicated Origin Energy Pattern diminished its value in actualbat, so Su Chen had never ced too much importance on it.

    Because Origin Energy Patterns could only be stored for a certain length of time, Su Chen had it ready on hand all the time. As such, the number of times he used it grew even lower.

    Patelocke had actually brought it up at this point.

    Su Chen froze for a moment before shaking his head. ¡°No, Whitetower Teleportation is tooplicated, and the distance I can teleport is too short as well.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because you haven¡¯t seen its true colors yet,¡± Patelocke replied. ¡°If I¡¯m not wrong, Whitetower Teleportation should be a tier-lowered version of Void Jumping.¡±

    ¡°Void Jumping?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Void Jumping was one of the most outstanding void-type Ancient Arcana Techniques during the Arcana Kingdom. Void Jumping isn¡¯t a skill that takes you the furthest, but it¡¯s the easiest and fastest to use out of all of them. The Arcana Master who created Void Jumping, Lamier, relied on it to aplish the legendary feat of wiping out a Ferocious Race tribe single-handedly. It is a great movement skill that can be used to teleport constantly within a certain area and escape. Even though one won¡¯t jump very far every time one activates the skill, activating it repeatedly can have the same effect of quickly escaping from the battlefield. In addition, the decreased teleportation distance of Void Jumping is just rtive. A perfect Void Jump can take you all the way from Clear River City¡¯s west gate all the way to its east gate.¡±

    ¡°But when I use it, I can¡¯t even jump from the library to the guest room.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because what you have is a low-tiered version. The reason why I believe that Whitetower Teleportation is a low-tiered version of Void Jumping is because the Whitetower branch of skills was created by Lamier. I have to admit that he was truly gifted. He wasn¡¯t obsessed with researching some new area or subject; rather, he constantly focused on simplifying Ancient Arcana Techniques so that Arcana Race individuals of lower tiers would be able to use these powerful Ancient Arcana Techniques in some manner as well.¡±

    Su Chen shrugged. ¡°The world has nock of dreamers.¡±

    From Ulrich, who he had met first, to Mainbrooke, then to Patelocke, and finally to Lamier who Patelocke was speaking about, Su Chen could see that there were too many existences who had their own dreams and goals.

    Every person was thirsting for something and pursuing something to the point that they would shed their own blood for it.

    Regardless of what their motivation or means were, their ability to dream and the effort they put into achieving those dreams wasmendable and also the foundation for their ability to achieve some kind of sess.

    Lamier¡¯s dream was for lower-tier Arcana Race individuals to be able to control more powerful Arcana Techniques.

    As such, he had always focused his efforts on lowering the required tier for use of Arcana Techniques.

    Void-rted skills were extremely valuable, regardless of whether they were contemporary Origin Skills or Ancient Arcana Techniques.

    For instance, Ji Ruoyu, who had a void-type Demonic Beast Bloodline, still could only sense the void. He couldn¡¯t use any teleportation Origin Skills. Evidently, these types of skills were extremely mysterious and hard to obtain.

    In fact, it had been said for a long time that normal people shouldn¡¯t even think about void teleportation Origin Skills until they reached the Light Shaking Realms. Even with an innate bloodline, they would need to reach the Yang Opening Realm before they could teleport.

    Whitetower Teleportation had broken that restriction, however, and Su Chen was able to use it even as a Qi Drawing Schr. In addition, it was totally separate from a bloodline, further demonstrating its impressiveness.

    Patelocke said, ¡°Lamier seeded in simplifying Void Jumping down to Whitetower Teleportation. Even though thisplicated the Origin Energy Pattern and limited the jumping distance, decreasing its practical usability, it was still a sess either way. You¡¯re lucky you only used it from time to time in the past and your opponents didn¡¯t notice anything wrong. If you use Whitetower Teleportation in front of an expert, believe me, they will definitely try and seize this technique from you.¡±

    This gave Su Chen quite a surprise. He muttered, ¡°Whitetower Teleportation¡¯sbat usefulness isn¡¯t that high, but they would fight over it...... is it possible to turn it back into Void Jumping?¡±

    ¡°Hahahaha!¡± Patelockeughed loudly. ¡°You finally understand. That¡¯s right. Whitetower Teleportation is based on a reduction of Void Jumping, so it definitely contains aplete reduction method. In other words, every time your cultivation base goes up a tier, you can remove a part of the Ancient Arcana Technique¡¯s Origin Energy Pattern that is unnecessary, making it simpler yet more powerful.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is?¡± Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Whitetower Teleportation is like an Origin Skill that¡¯s been sealed, and as my cultivation base progresses I can progressively unseal it before finally revealing its powerful intrinsic ability.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly right.¡±

    ¡°So do you know how to cut it off?¡±

    Patelocke spread his hands helplessly. ¡°I do not.¡±

    Even though Ulrich had left Whitetower Teleportation behind, he hadn¡¯t left a way to upgrade its tier behind. Truthfully speaking, he didn¡¯t have it either.

    Su Chen was a bit frustrated, but afterwards, he began tough again, ¡°If you don¡¯t know, then you don¡¯t know. I¡¯ll figure out a way to break through. It¡¯s just a game of simplifying an Origin Energy Pattern. As long as I get rid of the unnecessaryponents and keep the necessary parts, I believe that I¡¯ll be able to do it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. If you do it bit by bit, like unwrapping a silk cocoon, you¡¯ll be able to do it. I even think that Lamier might have purposely avoided leaving behind the technique to unseal it so that people would need to rely on their own efforts to recover or even improve the Arcana Technique he left behind. What level will it recover to in theing days, I wonder? Will it be the same Void Jumping, or will it be apletely new Ancient Arcana Technique in the hands of a different person? It¡¯s hard to say.¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°Interesting. Leaving behind an Ancient Arcana Technique is the same as leaving behind limitless possibilities. I like it!¡±

    ¡°Then diligently research it. Right now, you¡¯re in the Blood Boiling Realm. If you can get some solid results, Whitetower Teleportation¡¯s jumping distance will at least double, and it will be easier to use as well. If you add the Shadow Substance, perhaps you¡¯ll be able to escape from the attacks of a Light Shaking Realm cultivator.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps?¡± Su Chen repeated.

    He knit his eyebrows.

    He wasn¡¯t putting in so much effort just for a ¡°perhaps¡±.

    ¡°Yes, perhaps,¡± Patelocke said with certainty. ¡°Light Shaking is Light Shaking. You can never overestimate them.¡±

    ¡°I hate that answer.¡±

    ¡°Then continue your efforts and try and umte more trump cards for yourself.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 76: Surrender

    Chapter 76: Surrender

    Lingyuan Marsh.

    Zhou Juanjia and Tang Ming stood side by side on the deck of the ¡°Longwind¡± and were gazing off into the distance.

    Off in the distance, a massive whirlpool was constantly stirring as if there was something beneath the surface trying to swallow up everything.

    ¡°Look, that¡¯s the Devilish Whirlpool. The Devilish Crocodile must be nearby!¡± a pirate yelled as he pointed at the whirpool, unable to conceal the slight tremble of fear in his voice.

    In his view, the Devilish Crocodile was the most frightening existence within the whole marsh. Many pirates tried their hardest to avoid it without much sess, but his bosses weren¡¯t content with the spoils they had earned and just had to go and chase after the most frighteningly powerful Demonic Beast in the whole marsh. They had to be tired of living1.

    He could silently curse and disagree as much as he wanted, but the old sea dog still helplessly brought them here in the end.

    The vortex in front of him slowly spun, arge amount of water pouring into the middle. A massive crocodile surfaced on the water.

    This beast was truly massive. It looked just like a small mountain and could flip the whole boat over with just a raise of its head. Its cold, emotionless eyes stared at them like the gaze of the god of death.

    The old pirate yelled fearfully when he saw the crocodile¡¯s massive, fierce head breach the water, ¡°It¡¯se out. You shouldn¡¯t havee here! If you surprise it, no one will be able to run!¡±

    ¡°No one was nning on running in the first ce,¡± Tang Mingughed.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be crazy! You can¡¯t possibly defeat it, it¡¯s a mid-tier Demonic Beast! Mid-tier! Even the Jade Mountain Army would retreat if they ran into it!¡±

    ¡°Mid-tier Demonic Beast!¡± Jiang Hanfeng whistled. ¡°The Jade Mountain Army would retreat? That sounds pretty impressive to me. What do you think, Senior Sister Juanjia? Can you handle it?¡±

    Zhou Juanjia smiled sweetly. ¡°It¡¯ll be a little difficult, but aren¡¯t you guys here? Set up the formation!¡±

    ¡°Set up the formation!¡± Wu Xiao yelled in affirmation.

    Jiang Hanfeng, Wei Yang, Ma Xuan, and Yan Ling simultaneously moved. Each one of them held an Origin Formation Disk in their hands. The four Origin Disks simultaneously began to glow, as did the deck of the ¡°Longwind¡±. The four Origin Formation Disksbined to form a massive Origin Formation.

    Zhou Juanjia stood in the center of the formation, her long hair flowing in the wind and her eyes beginning to glow radiantly.

    At this moment, her consciousness power began to furiously expand.

    As her consciousness power continued to grow, Zhou Juanjia raised her hands. A formless ripple of energy surged forward from them, mming into the Devilish Crocodile¡¯s head.

    ¡°ROARRRR!¡±

    The Devilish Crocodile let out a low, infuriated howl.

    It could sense that there was a will attempting to control it.

    Demonic Beasts were different from Vicious Beasts. They possessed intelligence and had the ability to think things over, so it was immediately able to identify that someone was trying to control it.

    ¡°ROARRR!¡±

    A ferocious wave of consciousness swept back in Zhou Juanjia¡¯s direction.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Zhou Juanjia cried out, and blood trickled down the corner of her mouth.

    However, she did not give up; in fact, a delighted smile appeared on her face. ¡°Is that all you got?¡±

    She focused her will and continued to invade the Devilish Crocodile¡¯s mind.

    Unlike Jin Ling¡¯er, Zhou Juanjia¡¯s control of Vicious Beasts was even more direct and explosive.

    The Bewitching Butterfly relied on charm to control the opponent, while Zhou Juanjia¡¯s technique relied on brute force to enve the target. As such, every time she wanted to control something, she needed to engage in a battle of wills with it first.

    The greatest drawback of this kind of method was that exerting control over something was generally quite difficult and could even result in a bacsh. After failing, a person would experience a rebound.

    But if she seeded, she would have expended a lot less energy.

    When Jin Ling¡¯er controlled a Vicious Beast, she had to focus most of her consciousness energy on it, making it difficult to cultivate. Zhou Juanjia, however, had no such problems. As long as she controlled a Vicious Beast, she could keep it near her side as a bodyguard, which was much more convenient than Jin Ling¡¯er.

    Since she hade to Lingyuan Marsh this time, finding a local water-type Demonic Beast became her first choice.

    Mid-tier Demonic Beasts weren¡¯t existences she could control yet, but Origin Formations greatly increased her consciousness power, resulting in a massive increase in her strength.

    Her ferocious will mmed into the Devilish Crocodile like ocean waves. On the invisible consciousness level, a ruthless ughter had alreadymenced.

    If she relied entirely on her will to fight, Zhou Juanjia wasn¡¯t confident that she could win against the Devilish Crocodile even with the support of the Origin Formation.

    Luckily, she also had helpers.

    Just as Zhou Juanjia and the Devilish Crocodile were trading consciousness blows, Tang Ming raised his hands. A torrent of water shot into the air from the surface of the water, taking on the form of a dragon and charging at the Devilish Crocodile.

    Under normal circumstances, this water dragon wouldn¡¯t be of much danger to the Devilish Crocodile at all. The might of a mid-tier Demonic Beast wasn¡¯t something a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator could carelessly provoke, even if they were an elite amongst all Blood Boiling Realm cultivators.

    However, the Devilish Crocodile, who was currently fighting off Zhou Juanjia¡¯s will, had no energy to spare to deal with this attack, so it could only forcefully endure it.

    The massive water dragon roared past the Devilish Crocodile, turning into a razor-sharp de edge and carving out a number of fine wounds on its hard back.

    Even though these wounds automatically closed afterward, the pain brought on by the attack still affected the resilience of the Devilish Crocodile¡¯s will.

    A momentter, a massive red figure appeared from behind Zhou Juanjia. The upper half of the body was human, and the lower half was a six-legged spider. This was Zhou Juanjia¡¯s bloodline, the Stable Spider Demon. It was a powerful Demonic King Bloodline that gave a person heightened control over one¡¯s will.

    When the Stable Spider Demon appeared, it opened its maw wide and began to make soundless screeching. The powerful aura of a Demonic King emanated, causing everyone to feel a wave of fear wash over them. Everyone present trembled, not daring to move rashly. Only Tang Ming, who had the Demonic Emperor Bloodline, remained unmoved.

    This was the power of the Stable Spider Demon. It was a Demonic Beast with an innately powerful consciousness that could control a person¡¯s fear, spreading it like an epidemic. Any beings weaker than it would automatically feel subservient to it.

    The Devilish Crocodile evidently felt the increase in the strength of will. It was still attempting to resist, and the surface of the water roiled and frothed as a wave of shocking size surged toward the boat.

    ¡°How bold!¡± Tang Ming harrumphed, a strange glow emitting from his eyes.

    A unique fog appeared behind him. Upon closer inspection, this fog seemed to have a nose and eyes. From a distance, it really did look like a lifeform madepletely out of fog.

    Sea-Imprisoned Magic Cloud Beast!

    After reaching the Blood Boiling Realm, Tang Ming could actually bring out the strength of his bloodline. When the bloodline afterimage appeared behind him, the Sea-Imprisoned Magic Cloud Beast opened its mouth wide and howled at the oing wave.

    ¡°AWOO!¡±

    No actual roar was made, but every person seemed to hear a howl in their heart that was filled with the dignity and fury of an emperor.

    When a Demonic Emperor is enraged, everyone gets out of the way!

    The massive wave actually stopped in its tracks, as if it had mmed into a massive wall; afterward, it began to wash backward and dissipate.

    Rivers retreat with a single howl!

    ¡°Hiss!¡± The Devilish Crocodile let out an enraged hiss. Evidently, it had sensed the aura of this extremely powerful existence.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that this aura was very weak, meaning that it clearly wasn¡¯t from a real Demonic Emperor but rather something like a Demonic Emperor Puppet, perhaps the Devilish Crocodile would have surrendered from just that howl.

    At this moment, however, the mid-tier Demonic Beast Devilish Crocodile didn¡¯t want to give up its freedom just like that.

    It still wanted to struggle. A massive wave once again began to build all while its strong willpower resisted the consciousness attacks of the Stable Spider Demon.

    At this moment, even Zhou Juanjia felt a bit strained.

    ¡°Mid-tier Demonic Beasts really aren¡¯t easy to deal with, are they? Even with the support of a Demonic Emperor Bloodline and an Origin Formation, I still can¡¯tpletely suppress it. If that¡¯s the case, we can only fight a war of attrition,¡± Zhou Juanjia sighed.

    For a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator to want to fight a war of attrition with a mid-tier Demonic Beast was somewhat inconceivable.

    However, no one seemed to think that this was a problem.

    A momentter, Zhou Juanjia pulled out a vial of medicine.

    Spirit-Sobering Medicine.

    Before Su Chen left, he had given her a number of vials. They were necessities to increase her strength and a gift between friends. Even more so, it was a repayment for theming from so far away to help him.

    Upon drinking the medicine, the consciousness energy Zhou Juanjia had expended was boosted quite a bit. With renewed vigor, sheughed loudly, ¡°Let¡¯s keep going and see who willst longer! I¡¯m going to take you over today no matter what!¡±

    1. The literal trantion boils down to something like ¡°old people eating arsenic¡±.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 77: Sudden Emergence

    Chapter 77: Sudden Emergence

    An hourter.

    The turbulent surface of theke finally calmed down again.

    A massive crocodile nearly sixty meters in length swam calmly in the water and got next to ¡°Longwind,¡± swishing its tail in the water like a dog. It had lost all of its earlier berserk and tyrannical aura.

    ¡°Whew, we finally suceeded,¡± Zhou Juanjia said, wiping off the sweat from her forehead. ¡°It¡¯s still far too difficult for me to fully control a mid-tier Demonic Beast with my current strength; it took me three Spirit Sobering Medicines to conquer it.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s still a mid-tier Demonic Beast no matter how you look at it. How could it be easy to control? Now that you have control of this guy, however, you probably won¡¯t need to switch it out for a long time. That¡¯s quite a profit!¡± Jiang Hanfengughed as he congratted her.

    In terms of level, mid-tier Demonic Beasts were roughly equivalent to high-tier Yang Opening Realm cultivators.

    But in terms of pure strength, the situation was not the same. Among Demonic Beasts, there were many differences in strength. Just like how humans in the same cultivation realm had very different strengths, the same was true of Demonic Beasts. A powerful mid-tier Demonic Beast could possess strength that far exceeded expectations.

    The Lord-ss Bloodriver Demon had required thebined efforts of four Light Shaking Realm cultivators and the support of many lower-level Origin Qi Schrs. The battlested for three days, clearly demonstrating the power of Demonic Beasts.

    This Devilish Crocodile was the same. Even though it was only a mid-tier Demonic Beast, it could disy a shocking amount of power as long as it was in the water. Even seven or eight Yang Opening Realm cultivators encircling it might not be enough. Otherwise, how could even the Jade Mountain Army run and hide when they encountered it?

    ¡°Alright. With this Devilish Crocodile, we can begin to prepare to deal with the Jade Mountain Army and the Qingyuan Army,¡± Tang Ming said confidently.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be in such a hurry,¡± Zhou Juanjia said. ¡°Third Senior Brother said that we don¡¯t need to be in a rush to deal with Jade Mountain Army and Qingyuan Army yet. Our primary goal is to establish a solid footing and foundation upon which we can expand.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly the issue with how Su Chen does things. He¡¯s too stable andcks any drive,¡± Tang Ming said with some dissatisfaction.

    Zhou Juanjia calmly replied, ¡°This is what you need to learn from him. Su Chen¡¯s considerations are actually very logical. After all, our cultivation bases are still low, while the ten Bloodline Nobility ns runrge businesses with many powerful underlings. They have a lot of problems they have to deal with and can¡¯t focus all of their attention on dealing with us. But that doesn¡¯t mean that they can¡¯t do anything to us. The current advantage we have is that our opponents haven¡¯t ced all of their focus on us. If we¡¯re too excessive, we will definitely incur an all-out counter-attack. If we irritate a Light Shaking Realm existence and draw him out, we¡¯ll be in big trouble.¡±

    Why hadn¡¯t Su Chen taken all of the forts in West River City for himself even though he could have thought of a way to do it?

    That was because he knew if he did that, he would havepletely cut off the ten Bloodline Nobility ns¡¯ resources. This would absolutely pull out the old freaks behind the Bloodline Nobility ns.

    By simr logic, if he wiped out Jade Mountain Army and Qingyuan Army, causing the Bloodline Nobility ns in Clear River City to loseplete control over the waterways, it was likely that some of those old freaks would be drawn out.

    This was all a matter of uprooting!

    The ten Bloodline Nobility ns were like ten old trees with deep roots reaching all the way to the sky. If you dealt with the trees starting from the roots, you would be looking to die unless you had strength that could suppress everything.

    If you weren¡¯t strong enough, the best way to deal with those trees would be to first cut off the branches and leaves to weaken the target before gradually digging it up.

    Su Chen had taken Happiness Residing Fort in West River Forest and established the Third River Army in Lingyuan Marsh but had left behind a majority of opponents there for this exact reason.

    He had broken the monopoly of the ten Bloodline Nobility ns in these two areas, but he never threatened the foundation of the Bloodline Nobility ns there. This left him a way out.

    Perhaps he would push the Bloodline Nobility ns into a corner sooner orter, but at the very least, Su Chen could control the timing. At that time, Su Chen would have enough strength to fight back.

    Tang Ming¡¯s way of doing things might result in a temporary moment of bliss, but afterward, they would all be massacred.

    ¡°Alright, that makes some sense. Let¡¯s do it that way,¡± Tang Ming said helplessly.

    If anyone else were reasoning with him, he definitely wouldn¡¯t listen. Zhou Juanjia, however, was his girlfriend, and he couldn¡¯t be stubborn with her.

    While Tang Ming controlled the Third River Army in name, the person who actually made the decisions was Zhou Juanjia.

    Anyone who went to the Goldwater Ruins all had one¡¯s own talents. Tang Ming relied on his Demonic Emperor Bloodline and powerfulbat ability, while the youngdy relied not on controlling Demonic Beasts but on her clear, bright mind. While Su Chen was present, her radiance was suppressed by Su Chen, but now that Su Chen wasn¡¯t here, the talents that had been suppressed could finally begin to shine.

    ¡°So what should we do next?¡± Jiang Hanfeng asked.

    ¡°Jade Mountain Army and Qingyuan Army can¡¯t be wiped out, but that doesn¡¯t mean we can¡¯t weaken them. The Bloodline Nobility ns are still transporting cargo. We cannotpletely cut off all of their trade routes, but we still need to fight the battles we need to fight. After all, there are a lot of people we need to take care of. We just spent so much energy to control the Devilish Crocodile, so we¡¯ll need to use it at some point. We won¡¯t be fighting a full-scale battle, but we¡¯ll be engaging in many skirmishes, which will help us wear down our opponents and weaken them. During this next period of time, we should focus on keeping their strength in check and limiting their influence on the waterways while simultaneously increasing our own strength. Su Chen also needs experimental subjects while we need more talented sailors. We can determine the best and worst sailors in battle and send them over to Su Chen. The talented ones will be rewarded with Hemolytic Totems, while the worst ones will be Su Chen¡¯s research subjects,¡± Zhou Juanjia said calmly.

    The wind blew through the maiden¡¯s long hair. She spoke very calmly, but her words would affect the development of the situation in Lingyuan Marsh......

    From this day onwards, the Third River Army would begin to attack all parties from all directions, setting up ambushes everywhere and plundering the waterways.

    From the outside, it seemed like they attacked everyone, but in reality, their main targets were the boats belonging to the Bloodline Nobility ns or pirates who were tied to them.

    They didn¡¯t try and touch the Jade Mountain and Qingyuan Armies, but the smaller bandit groups that relied on them for protection were subjected to misfortune.

    The Third River Army began to swallow up small forces one after another mercilessly and with extreme cunning. They were giving everyone a headache.

    Even though there were pirates who opposed them doing things this way, there was nothing they could do. The Third River Army always pushed things to the bottom line, allowing them to gain the most benefits while meeting their own needs. Most importantly, the profits of the Bloodline Nobility ns weren¡¯t the profits of all the pirates. The Third River Army actually had the support of some of the pirates because of their battles with the Clear River City Bloodline Nobility ns.

    For instance, the ck River Army had never gotten along with the Bloodline Nobility ns.

    They tossed an olive branch at the Third River Army.

    In the third month of Zhou Juanjia¡¯s control over the Third River Army, the Third River Armyunched arge-scale attack against the Lingyuan Army, one of the two pirate groups representing the Bloodline Nobility ns¡¯ profits. The Jade Mountain Army was unable to participate because they were tied up by the ck River Army.

    The result was totally unexpected.

    The Lingyuan Army, who was much stronger on paper, suffered a huge defeat. Even themander of the Lingyuan Army, an expert at the peak of the Yang Opening Realm, was swallowed in one bite by the Devilish Crocodile.

    The pirates, who had the overpowered ability to swim freely in the water, aided by an armored warship equipped with a powerful Origin Formation, a Demonic Emperor Bloodline, and that frighteningly fierce Devilish Crocodile, became legends in stories that wouldmonly be told over cups of tea.

    A new star was beginning to rise in the pirate world; the Third River Army was bing one of the most powerful pirate groups in Lingyuan Marsh.

    The Qingyuan Army still existed, but their influence and strength had fallen significantly.

    Fall came. The branches and leaves on these Bloodline Nobility ns were slowly beginning to decay.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 78: Gloves

    Chapter 78: Gloves

    ¡°Blurp, blurp!¡±

    The molten Comet Metal was poured into a prepared mold, then ced into a box of ice to quickly cool it.

    The molten Comet Metal was then pulled out just before it solidified and poured into a new solution and mixed, forming a gel-like substance that slowly began to harden.

    A specialized needle was drawn across the surface of the gel, forming intricate andplicated patterns.

    ¡°Focus on controlling your output of Origin Energy. The inscriptions themselves aren¡¯t the most important, but the amount of Origin Energy you put in. The purpose of the inscriptions are to give the Origin Energy a pathway; there can be blocked pathways as long as the endpoint is the same. Focus on the Origin Energy!¡± Patelocke said quietly.

    ¡°The instructors in the Hidden Dragon Institute believe that the most talented formation masters are those who can draw the most urate inscriptions. You¡¯re telling me the exact opposite from what they said,¡± Su Chen replied as he continued to inscribe.

    Even though he didn¡¯t specialize in Origin Formations, he had made this particr one hundreds or even thousands of times. At this moment, he was entirely in his own element.

    ¡°Those guys are craftsmen, not masters!¡± Patelocke said with dissatisfaction. ¡°Instructors of an elite institution? They just seem so-so. A truly outstanding institute wouldn¡¯t teach you how to makepleted Origin Skills but would teach you how to think, just like Shi Kaihuang, who only taught you the Origin Talisman Energy Formation.¡±

    ¡°He taught me Sumeru Void and Nirvana Hand.¡±

    ¡°Those are just supplementary. The ability to think for yourself is the most important,¡± Patelocke said angrily. ¡°Every Arcana Master from the Arcana Kingdom was taught while they were still apprentices to learn to think for themselves, discover problems on their own, and have their own pursuits and goals. It¡¯s because of this philosophy that the Arcana Kingdom was able to flourish and blossom, creating an innumerable number of mighty inventions!¡±

    ¡°I think the Arcana Kingdom produced so many inventions entirely because you guys have eyes that can see the microscopic world.¡±

    ¡°Rubbish!¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to believe me, but think about it for a bit. If the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s spirit is really that useful, then why did the second Arcana Kingdom disappear so quickly after it was established?

    After the Arcana Kingdom was wiped out, a second Arcana Kingdom was established by Daniel Imbly, who wanted to recover the glory of the Arcana Kingdom.

    In reality, however, the second Arcana Kingdom didn¡¯t reestablish the glory of the former regime. Rather, it disappeared very quickly.

    There were many reasons why the second Arcana Kingdom wasn¡¯t wiped out. Everyone had their own reasonings.

    Su Chen believed that the second Arcana Kingdom didn¡¯t rise to the top was mainly because Daniel Imbly wasn¡¯t a high-ranking Arcana Race individual.

    High-ranking Arcana Race individuals had the microscopic eye, whilemon Arcana Race individuals did not.

    After the Arcana Kingdom was wiped out, almost all of the high-ranking Arcana Race individuals were killed.

    Even though Daniel Imbly created the second Arcana Kingdom, he didn¡¯t have the microscopic eye because he wasn¡¯t a high-ranking Arcana Race individual.

    Without the microscopic eye, he could not observe the microscopic world. As such, he had lost a fundamental quality that made the Arcana Race the Arcana Race.

    At this point in time, they discovered that the Arcana Race without the microscopic eye was nothing.

    This was Su Chen¡¯s opinion.

    Of course, he didn¡¯t deny that there were other reasons that could have led to the fall of the second Arcana Kingdom, but without a doubt, this was the most important.

    Patelocke couldn¡¯t muster up a temper when Su Chen put it that way.

    However, the old man continued to stick to his way of thinking. ¡°I still believe that only an institute that fosters an ability in its students to think independently and critically can be considered a good institute.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t disagree with that, but that¡¯s not very practical. It¡¯s actually quite simple. If they only foster an ability to think and study independently, how would they assess strength and talent? If there¡¯s no way to evaluate talent, do they just rely on fantastical and irresponsible boasting? Managing an institute is like managing a business; there needs to be a unified standard. Shi Kaihuang used a different method with me, but that doesn¡¯t mean that it will work with everyone. In reality, the elites are always few in number, as are those who can think independently and those who can invent new things...... Actually, most people only know how to imitate and repeat what already exists. The world is actually created precisely by these kinds of people.¡±

    ¡°Then what about you? What are you?¡± Patelocke asked.

    ¡°Me?¡± Su Chen thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°A pioneer.¡±

    ¡°A pioneer?¡±

    ¡°Yes. The world needs both people to pioneer and create. Being the former is always more difficult than thetter.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why you put the technique for reaching the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline out there? Because you¡¯re a pioneer?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯d be more urate to say that the moment I put the Blood Boiling Realm technique out there, I became a pioneer,¡± Su Chen said, adjusting his reasoning.

    Heughed, ¡°I¡¯ve just led the human race into taking a single small step. How the human race proceeds depends on them.¡±

    ¡°It won¡¯t be much longer before you¡¯ll lead them into taking another step,¡± Patelocke said.

    Shi Kaihuang had already notified him of the good news that a way to reach the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline was close at hand.

    ¡°It¡¯s best if I focus on taking this step properly first,¡± Su Chen muttered.

    He had finished inscribing one side and flipped the mold over, beginning to inscribe the other side.

    What he was creating was a glove.

    And it was just for the left hand.

    When both sides of the glove had been engraved, Su Chen retracted the iron needle and pulled out some ck powder, scattering it into the mold.

    The powder contained Shadow Substance.

    Su Chen had used all of his remaining Shadow Substance here.

    After doing that, Su Chen then poured another vial of medicine into the mold, giving it an outer surfaceyer while it sealed the Origin Formation firmly on the inside of the gloves.

    He then began another round of inscriptions.

    He continued in this way, pouring on medicine and Shadow Substance, then encasing it with more gtinous matter.

    He repeated this for a total of sevenyers, sealing six kinds of Origin Formations inside andpletely exhausting his stores of Shadow Substance beforepleting the glove.

    He pulled the glove out from the mold. It was clearly visible that even though the glove had sevenyers on it, it couldn¡¯t be considered thick. It felt soft to the touch, and because it was flesh-colored, anyone who wasn¡¯t paying close attention wouldn¡¯t be able to detect the glove¡¯s existence.

    Su Chen put the glove on his hand and felt around with it for a moment. He said, ¡°It feels quitefortable.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s just one step left now,¡± Patelocke said.

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Su Chen sighed.

    A thin ck piece of string was connected to the glove at the wrist. Su Chen slowly picked it up and inspected it, then said, ¡°Old man, this is your method. If it¡¯s not effective, don¡¯t me me for shattering your stone tablet.¡±

    Patelockeughed, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve done this kind of biological fusion thousands of times.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s do it then.¡±

    He poured his Origin Energy into the string, which became as hard as a needle.

    As soon as this string entered into his body, it began to extend countless thin tendrils, taking root within Su Chen¡¯s body like a nt growing in soil. It began to absorb Su Chen¡¯s blood and Origin Energy at a furious rate.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Su Chen groaned.

    The sudden siphoning of energy caused his vision to darken as he almost passed out.

    Thankfully, Su Chen had made preparations earlier. He quickly opened a vial of medicine, then gulped it down.

    Vial after vial was poured into his mouth.

    The glove was like a vampire, furiously sucking Su Chen¡¯s blood and Origin Energy. Even though Su Chen was drinking medicine like mad, he wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand this kind of consumption.

    Patelocke yelled, ¡°Hold on! Just hold on for a bit longer! It¡¯s almost done!¡±

    The glove began to glow with a faint red light.

    This red glow grew stronger and stronger until it was eye-piercingly bright. Suddenly, a column of light shot forth from it.

    ¡°Sess!¡± Patelocke yelled.

    Su Chen fiercely pulled the string and its tendrils out from within his body.

    ¡°Hiss!¡± The glove actually hissed sharply as if it were very unwilling. The string¡¯s tendrils wiggled fiercely in the air for a long time before they finally began to disappear.

    Su Shen hurriedly pulled the glove off and tossed it on the ground. The glove constantly wiggled and jumped on the ground, making all kinds of strange shapes.

    ¡°Dammit, what have I made now?¡± Su Chen cursed. ¡°Are you sure this is an Origin Tool?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Patelocke replied, ¡°this is an Origin Energy Conductor.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 79: Friends

    Chapter 79: Friends

    Origin Energy Conductors were an invention from the Arcana Kingdom era. They were one of the masterpieces created by Mechanical Arcana Masters.

    Whereas Origin Tools were closer to Origin Skills that had taken on physical forms, Origin Energy Conductors were meant to control Origin Substances. Yes, tens of thousands of years ago, the Arcana Race had discovered the existence of Origin Substances and had begun to analyze its fundamental properties and usage.

    The fundamental difference between Origin Energy Conductors and Origin Tools was that as an object that directly controlled Origin Substances, its power could be upgraded.

    Because of this, there was a legend that they possessed Origin Tools that could constantly be upgraded during the Arcana Kingdom era.

    This actually referred to Origin Energy Conductors.

    After the Arcana Kingdom was wiped out, no one had any microscopic eyes anymore or any blueprints for the creation of Origin Energy Conductors. All that remained was the simplest mechanical control over Origin Energy ¨C Origin Tools.

    As such, up to this point, there were still many who dreamed of these ancient ¡°upgradable Origin Tools¡±. Of course, these people also believed that these items were only talked about in legends and were too good to be true.

    Now, however, this dream had been realized in Su Chen¡¯s hands.

    This aplishment was both a result of his own efforts and Patelocke¡¯s continuous guidance.

    ¡°Origin Energy Conductor? So that¡¯s what this is?¡± Su Chen muttered to himself as he stared at the glove.

    Patelockeughed, ¡°Even though I wasn¡¯t a Mechanical Arcana Master and don¡¯t know how to create Origin Energy Conductors, I can tell that this is an Origin Energy Conductor. There might be some differences in terms of craftsmanship, but in intrinsic nature it¡¯s the same. Congrattions, Su Chen ¨C you¡¯ve recreated the glory of ancient times, reviving a technique that was once lost.

    Su Chen picked up the glove. The string from the glove automatically burrowed into his wrist, but this time it didn¡¯t attempt to suck him dry. Rather, Su Chen could sense that his own blood, Qi, and Origin Energy were now intimately connected to this string as if this glove was just an extension of his own body. This was apletely different sensation to wielding an Origin Tool.

    Yes, Origin Energy Conductors were like extensions of a person¡¯s body!

    At this moment, Su Chen had experienced it for himself firsthand.

    With but a thought, a ck sphere appeared in the palm of Su Chen¡¯s left hand.

    This ck sphere began to expand, first swallowing up Su Chen¡¯s left hand, then his arm, and then his entire body.

    Very quickly, Su Chen¡¯s entire body was covered by darkness.

    Darkness Concealment!

    Su Chen had finally mastered Darkness Concealment, but he had done so through this glove.

    However, Su Chen also discovered that relying on the Origin Energy Conductor to control Darkness Concealment was different from how Gui Dashan, Chang¡¯er, and the others used it. It would begin from the hand first and would need a period of time to spread from his hand to cover his entire body.

    Even though this period of time wasn¡¯t long, to an Origin Qi Schr, even the tiniest w could make a difference. Disappearing instantaneously was going to be an issue.

    There was nothing he could do about it. After all, this hade about because of the Origin Energy Conductor and was different in nature to Chang¡¯er and the others, whose whole bodies had been covered in Hemolytic Totem inscriptions.

    Next, Su Chen reappeared from the darkness, then raised his left hand again. A fiery glow radiated from his hand, and a Shadow me Giant began to take shape.

    An instantter, Su Chen extinguished the Shadow me Giant.

    Activating Darkness Concealment and Shadow me Giant in rapid session had consumed quite a bit of the Shadow Substance within the glove, but the Origin Formations within the glove began to kick in, automatically absorbing the Shadow Origin Substance that had been released into the air.

    Shadow Substance could only be absorbed in dark ces. Because it wasn¡¯t nighttime, its absorption capabilities weren¡¯t very good. Su Chen did some calctions and found out that if he expended all of the Shadow Substance within the glove, he would need about three nights for it topletely recover.

    Low storage capacity and slow recovery were also ws of the Origin Energy Conductor.

    But that wasn¡¯t too big of a deal. It could all be improved.

    Research was without end. Su Chen had to think first before he could improve, and he was already used to this kind of lifestyle.

    ¡°Overall, it¡¯s quite good,¡± Su Chen said with satisfaction. ¡°Right, how has your analysis of Whitetower Teleportation progressed?¡±

    Su Chen had taught Patelocke Brooke¡¯s Form. When Patelocke had received the form, he had also sighed with praise that Mainbrooke was truly a prodigy in Ancient Arcana Techniques.

    There were many Arcana Race prodigies, but they had all perished eventually in the rivers of time. All that remained was their inextinguishable wisdom.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already got some initial impressions,¡± Patelocke replied. He waved his illusory hand, and a dposition of an exceptionallyplicated Origin Pattern appeared in front of Su Chen.

    Patelocke exined to Su Chen the purpose behind every rearrangement or deletion of the Origin Pattern.

    Su Chen nodded as he listened. It was obvious that Patelocke had put a lot of effort into it.

    ¡°You did well, Patelocke, but I think that the way you did it is still a bit too cautious,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Cautious?¡±

    ¡°Yes, cautious. For instance, take a look at this.¡± Su Chen pointed at one of the Origin Patternponents and said, ¡°This pattern is used to protect the user, right? We can get rid of it.¡±

    ¡°Void Jumping ces arge burden on the body of the user even if the jumping distance is very short. Almost half of the Origin Patternponents in Whitetower Teleportation are used to protect lower-tier users, but you actually want to get rid of one of these protectiveponents?¡± Patelocke said with surprise.

    ¡°That¡¯s because this Arcana Technique isn¡¯t designed for humans to use, but humans have much stronger physiques than Arcana Race individuals. We can definitely remove some of the protectiveponents. In fact, when I used Whitetower Teleportation previously, I never felt any kind of dizziness or sickness when I jumped. This means that Whitetower Teleportation has ample protective measures in ce for me...... and ample means that there is waste. What I need is a way to activate it more quickly and jump further, not to protect myself as much as possible.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Patelocke rubbed his chin. ¡°That makes sense to me. If that¡¯s the case, I can try to simplify it further as long as you aren¡¯t worried that I¡¯m trying to kill you.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Patelocke. My greatest virtue is that I know who my enemy is. As long as you keep doing things well, I can consider helping you find a body in the future.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯ve learned how to dangle a carrot in front of a donkey, have you?¡± Patelockeughed.

    ¡°No, this is just a promise between friends.¡±

    ¡°Friends,¡± Patelocke repeated.

    Then, heughed, ¡°Are we already friends?¡±

    ¡°Of course, Patelocke. Unless you aren¡¯t willing.¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m willing! Of course I¡¯m willing! I¡¯ve lived for thirty thousand years as a specter, but now I have a friend, and one with a seemingly far-reaching path at that! Hahahaha, then, Su Chen, you must continue to live on. I¡¯ll be waiting for the body that you¡¯ve promised me.¡±

    ¡°Then it¡¯s settled!¡± Su Chen replied.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 80: Elimination

    Chapter 80: Elimination

    Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, another few months had passed.

    Su Chen had already been in Clear River City for over a year.

    During this period of time, Su Chen¡¯s reputation as the Knowledge Executor had spread far and wide. Everyone in Clear River City knew exactly who he was.

    Correspondingly, the influence of the Bloodline Nobility ns had been weakened.

    The world was just this cruel. The rise of one party was often established on the decline of another. Using the opponent¡¯s corpses as stepping stones for one¡¯s own rise to power was a story that didn¡¯t change for thousands of years.

    Of course, the Clear River City Bloodline Nobility ns weren¡¯t finished yet. Even though they were being frustrated, their foundation hadn¡¯t been destroyed yet and their core was still intact. Even so, their branches and leaves had been pruned by Su Chen to a certain extent.

    The best example of this was that whenever people saw Su Chen on the streets, they would all bow to him and pay their respects to him, greeting him as the Bureau Head.

    Yes, Su Chen was now the Bureau Head.

    This time, An Siyuan didn¡¯t let those Bloodline Nobility ns seed in their scheme and snagged the spot of Bureau Head for Su Chen.

    In truth, not many people wanted to be Su Chen¡¯s superior anymore ¨C not even a year, and two of them had been killed. Was there anything more threatening than that?

    As a result, the situation in Clear River City became quiteplex.

    Su Chen had ascended, but the Bloodline Nobility ns had yet to topple. Both sides were locked in a standstill, acting cautiously around each other and restricting each other.

    On the water, however, some things could be restrained for so long.

    Not long before, the Third River Army had fought anotherrge battle with the Jade Mountain Army.

    In fact, they fought with the Jade River Army plus half of the Qingyuan Army ¨C the ck River Army hadn¡¯t been able to keep watch over them and had allowed some of the Qingyuan Army¡¯s individuals for help.

    However, both Su Chen and Zhou Juanjia were aware that it wasn¡¯t that the ck River Army couldn¡¯t keep watch over them, but that they had purposefully allowed it to happen to ce some pressure on the Third River Army.

    In the past half year, the Third River Army had suddenly risen in power, making a lot of people uneasy, including the ck River Army. Even though they had a temporary alliance with the Third River Army, if Jade Mountain and Qingyuan Army were to suddenly copse, ck River and Third River would probably be next in line.

    As such, the ck River Army attempted to incite battles between the Third River Army and Jade Mountain Army while simultaneously allowing Qingyuan to assist in the battle, weakening Third River Army¡¯s influence.

    Even though Zhou Juanjia knew that this was their ploy, she still epted it.

    That was because they were about to return to the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    Zhou Juanjia and Tang Ming were both students a grade lower than Su Chen.

    Now that Su Chen had been in Clear River City for a year, it was time for Zhou Juanjia and Tang Ming to graduate.

    For the past half a year, they had been doing ¡°field work¡± in Clear River City and had obtained a perfect examination paper. Regardless of whether they wanted to or not, it was time for them to return and report on thepletion of their mission.

    Before they returned to the Institute, Su Chen nned out this final battle with Zhou Juanjia and Tang Ming.

    This water battle was extremely bitter.

    The Third River Army fought with the Jade Mountain and Qingyuan Armies. The blood of countless pirates dyed the water scarlet. In the end, the Third River Army, with their more powerfulbat frigates, the Devilish Crocodile, and the fish-men were victorious.

    Before they were even able to recover the spoils, the ck River Army brazenly attacked.

    The Third River Army acted like they had fallen victim to the trap and fled in a panic, leaving the Devilish Crocodile behind.

    After the matter, the ck River Army captain Shi Duanzhang yed the Devilish Crocodile personally, causing his prestige to skyrocket.

    The Third River Army was defeated shortly after their victory and paid the ¡°tragic¡± price of the Devilish Crocodile, quietly retreating...... Jade Mountain and Qingyuan Armies were defeated, and the Bloodline Nobility ns were sure to be infuriated. Let the ck River Army suffer the wrath of those old freaks.

    As for the Devilish Crocodile, it truly was too shockinglyrge for Zhou Juanjia to take it back with her to the Hidden Dragon Institute. In addition, its ability to fight onnd was poor, so there was no point in taking it with her anyways. Rather, it could serve as a ¡°price of defeat¡± that needed to be paid to convince their opponents.

    After the massive battle at Lingyuan Marsh, the end result was the downfall of the Jade Mountain, Qingyuan, and Third River Armies, leaving behind the ck River Army as the sole remaining powerful branch of pirates.

    On this day, hundreds of ck River Army pirates gathered at the public square in the middle of the ck River Army¡¯s headquarters, River Smoke Ind, lighting bonfires and drinking in celebration.

    At the very front of the square, Shi Duanzhang sat atop his tiger-skin-covered chair, pouring wine for himself into a cup made out of a cow¡¯s bone. He looked just like a barbarian that had walked out from some forested mountain range. His body was extremely muscr, and his face was densely covered with hair. Beneath his feet was a nine-ringed massive machete. A beautiful woman dressed in embroidered clothes stood behind him, massaging his shoulders for him.

    Shi Duanzhang, upon seeing the pirates below himughing in celebration, yelled, ¡°Let¡¯s drink! Today, we aren¡¯t going to bed until we get drunk!¡±

    A pirate took the opportunity and yelled, ¡°We aren¡¯t going to bed until we get drunk!¡±

    ¡°We aren¡¯t going to bed until we get drunk!¡± the crowd of pirates chanted in response.

    ¡°Long live ck River!¡±

    ¡°Long live ck River!¡±

    ¡°Captain is unrivalled!¡±

    ¡°Captain is unrivalled!¡±

    Every yell from the front of the square resulted in a thunderous echo from below. The square was virtually bubbling with activity.

    ¡°Long live ck River, Captain is unrivalled...... Hehe, is it worth getting dizzy with sess over just a single victorious battle?¡± A voice suddenly spoke up at this moment.

    The voice wasn¡¯t loud, but it clearly suppressed the mor within the square, as if there was someone speaking directly into the ears of every person in the square.

    Shi Duanzhang¡¯s expression shifted. ¡°Who¡¯s acting all sneakily over there? Come out!¡±

    ¡°You dare say I¡¯m acting sneakily? Good, very good! Indeed, I haven¡¯t been out and about so long that any rascal dares overlook my existence,¡± an old voice said from above.

    The pirates looked up in amazement, only to find an old man floating in the air above them.

    He floated above them calmly, dressed in grey robes. His countenance was not particrly eye-catching; actually, it was even a bit vulgar and off-putting.

    Even so, this old man with a bit of a vulgar appearance was giving everyone present a huge shock.

    ¡°Light Shaking Realm!¡± Shi Duanzhang yelled in shock.

    Only a Light Shaking Realm cultivator could float in midair without the assistance of any other skills or techniques.

    The old man stood in midair, staring coldly at Shi Duanzhang.

    Shi Duanzhang finally realized something. ¡°Senior, please, before you do anything, listen to me......¡±

    The old man sighed, ¡°What is there for you to say? It¡¯ll just be those excuses anyways. My making a rare excursion out isn¡¯t so I can hear your excuses. Lingyuan Marsh is not a ce you can afford to monopolize; since you are already the biggest force yet are unwilling to submit, then you can disappear.¡±

    ¡°No, my ancestor......¡±

    ¡°I know who your n ancestor is. His name can preserve you alive, but it¡¯s best if the ck River Army disappears.

    As the old man spoke, he waved his hand. A massive palm descended from the sky, rushing at the ground.

    ¡°RUN!¡± Everyone present began to flee in disarray, totally losing theirposure.

    Of course, there were also a few who refused to yield. Even at this moment, they yelled, ¡°Fight the enemy!¡±

    What awaited them was the massive palm descending from heaven, smashing them into paste with a single blow.

    Boom!

    The sound of thunderous booms erupted over the ind.

    The frighteningly massive palm that descended from heaven like it hade from a god was like a plow digging furrows in the ground, totally uprooting the influence of the ck River Army.

    In the time it took a stick of incense to burn, not a single person was left on River Smoke Ind apart from Shi Duanzhang.

    The ground was littered with corpses that had been smashed into bloody bits and pieces.

    The existence floating high in the sky, like a god, had easily wiped out everything, fully demonstrating what high-level strength looked like.

    After the old man had done this, he disappeared like the wind, leaving Shi Duanzhang all alone.

    ¡°They¡¯re all dead...... all dead......¡± Shi Duanzhang stared nkly at everything in front of him. The words that he had dered before leaving his n surfaced in his mind.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to rely on my n¡¯s power. I want to rely on myself to seize a greatnd for myself!¡±

    ¡°Silly child, you don¡¯t understand. Influence is all vain; only power is truly longsting. Influence is just to facilitate our collection of resources so that we can strengthen and serve ourselves. Using influence to increase strength is the right way to do things, but what you want to do is putting the cart before the horse.¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t believe it!¡±

    ¡°Then go and do it, young man. Some things you can only realize once you have suffered a little. But don¡¯t worry, my old face should be able to protect you as long as you don¡¯t go and provoke someone even I wouldn¡¯t dare to provoke. When you have failed in the outside world,e on home.¡±

    The conversation that had taken ce in the past now rang clearly in his ears. Shi Duanzhang finally understood and was clear.

    What the ancestor said was correct. What he was chasing was merely vanity in the first ce.

    Now that his dream had been shattered and he was clear, it was time for him to return.

    Shi Duanzhang stood on the ind for a long time before finallying to his senses.

    He sighed, then turned around to leave.

    Just at that moment, a voice floated toward him. ¡°No matter what, they followed you for such a long time. Even if you¡¯re going to give up on your base, you should at leasty their bodies to rest, shouldn¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Who is it?¡± Shi Duanzhang turned around with shock.

    A shadow slowly walked out of the darkness.

    The demonic mask he was wearing glinted by the light of the fire.

    ¡°Demon Face?¡± Shi Duanzhang was stunned.

    Of course he knew who the Third River Army¡¯s Demon Face was. But why would that person appear here?

    The visitor ced his right hand on the mask and slowly pulled it off, revealing the face of a youth beneath it.

    Shi Duanjiang hadn¡¯t expected the visitor to remove his mask in front of himself. ¡°You......¡±

    ¡°Let me introduce myself. My name is Su Chen, the current Bureau Head of the Clear River City¡¯s Origin Bureau,¡± Su Chen said.

    Su Chen?

    Of course Shi Duanzhang had heard this name before. He was an enemy of the Bloodline Nobility ns just like him.

    But he wasn¡¯t so naive to believe that Su Chen was his friend because of this. Rather, Su Chen¡¯s act of taking off his mask gave him a sense of imminent danger.

    ¡°What are you here for?¡±

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°Naturally, it¡¯s to make sure Sir Shi stays here as well. The ck River Army is already wiped out, so there¡¯s not much point for Sir Shi to remain on his own, is there? After all, a dead Sir Shi is more valuable than an alive one.¡±

    ¡°You think you have the ability?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I do!¡± Su Chen reached out his left hand. A swath of ck mes began to sweep forward......

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 81: A Way to Survive

    Chapter 81: A Way to Survive

    Outside of Clear River City, at the Ten Kilometers Pavilion.

    A ceremonious farewell was happening.

    Tang Ming, Zhou Juanjia, Ma Xuan, Wei Yang, Jiang Hanfeng, and Ling Yan stood on the side of the road, facing Su Chen, Cloud Leopard, Wu Xiao, Zhao Xin, and Gan Haoli, who were seeing them off. Wu Xiao and the others were one year younger still, so they could stay in Clear River City for another year.

    ¡°After I go back and graduate, I¡¯ll request to be stationed here in Clear River City to help you deal with those Bloodline Nobility ns,¡± Tang Ming said.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s no need. Every person has their own road they need to walk; it¡¯s not appropriate for me to ask you to waste so much time here just for a friend. This past year, you all helped me build up a fleet in a short period of time and took control of Lingyuan Marsh, alleviating a lot of the pressure on me. The Third River Army now has a solid foundation built beneath it. Even without you guys here, it will still serve its purpose for me. Mm, what I¡¯m saying is that I don¡¯t need you guys anymore, so I¡¯m tearing down the bridge after crossing the river.¡±

    Everyone knew that he was just saying this on purpose. No one would take him seriously.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°Anyways, don¡¯t I have Wu Xiao, Zhao Xin, and Gan Haoli here with me? In a few more days, Han Linxia and Little Forty are going toe over. They¡¯vepleted their previous assignments and can finally spare some time to earn contribution points over here.¡±

    Tang Ming crossed his arms and said arrogantly, ¡°Unfortunately, none of them can fight.¡±

    ¡°Hey, Tang Ming, can you not look down on us all the time?¡± Wu Xiao said with dissatisfaction.

    To Tang Ming, people like Han Linxia, Ji Ruoyu, and Zhao Xin were all on the weaker side, but anyone who was able to enter the Goldwater Ruins was selected from thousands of candidates.

    ¡°Weak¡± was always a rtive measurement.

    In truth, even the weakest Ji Ruoyu was still a grade A master. He would even be able to leap a tier if he carefully chose his opponents.

    After the Goldwater Ruins and training for another two years in the Hidden Dragon Institute, many of them had made leaps and bounds in their strength.

    For instance, Wu Xiao, who had a Demonic King Bloodline, was already ranked 21st as a seventh-year student. He was even more powerful now, and hisbat strength wasn¡¯t much weaker than Tang Ming¡¯s.

    ¡°I¡¯m just telling the truth,¡± Tang Ming continued to say arrogantly.

    In the end, it was Su Chen who smoothed things over. ¡°Alright, alright, you guys, stop fighting. If you want to talk about experts, there¡¯s one who¡¯s going to be here soon, though they might not be of much help...... oh, there actually might be two.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡± everyone asked.

    ¡°Ji Hanyan,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Ji Hanyan?¡± Everyone was stunned.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t she go to Bachuan to be a Vice Director?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Why would shee all the way to Clear River?¡±

    Cloud Leopard followed up, ¡°Bachuan has a wanted criminal that is on the run near the Crow Region. Ji Hanyan personally led a group of people out here and has already arrived in the area; she¡¯ll show up in Clear River City perhaps in a few more days.¡±

    ¡°Then why did you say there are two of them?¡± Tang Ming asked.

    Zhou Juanjia kicked him. ¡°Idiot, did you forget about the other person?¡±

    Tang Ming was dazed for a moment before he remembered. ¡°Jiang Xishui?¡±

    Everyone began to chuckle.

    Jiang Xishui had always had a crush on Ji Hanyan, but unfortunately for him, Ji Hanyan hadn¡¯t disyed any favorable inclinations towards him all the way up to the date of their graduation. But for whatever reason, Jiang Xishui never gave up. This person¡¯s background was mysterious, and he hadn¡¯t participated in the expedition to the Goldwater Ruins even though his strength was quite impressive. After he graduated, hepletely dropped off the radar.

    In this past year, no one had heard that he was looking for Ji Hanyan. Them saying that he would alsoe wasn¡¯t even so much as a result of educated reasoning as a blind guess and poking fun.

    Only Su Chen knew that this wasn¡¯t just poking fun.

    That was because Jiang Xishui had already arrived in Crow Region.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Standing at the bow of the boat, Jiang Xishui fanned himself, allowing the river wind to rush past his face as he gazed at the scenery.

    ¡°Esteemed guest, the wind from the river is very strong. It¡¯s better if youe inside the cabin of the boat to sit,¡± the old boatsman yelled from behind Jiang Xishui.

    ¡°There¡¯s no danger. This ce is quite good enough,¡± Jiang Xishui replied calmly.

    ¡°Prince Jiang is truly an umon individual. Old Boatsman, there¡¯s no need to yell at him any longer,¡± a ck-faced man said to the old man driving the boat as he walked out from the boat¡¯s cabin.

    The old boatsman stopped talking.

    Jiang Xishui didn¡¯t even turn around. All he did was say, ¡°How am I an umon individual?¡±

    The ck-faced manughed loudly, ¡°Prince Jiang, you don¡¯t need to hide it from me anymore. I can tell just from your demeanor that you are an Origin Qi Schr. What can this river wind mean to you? Even those pirates on Lingyuan Marsh might not be able to deal with you, Prince.¡±

    Jian Xishui smiled. ¡°It seems you¡¯re quite good too.¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± The ck-faced man was stunned, thenughed, ¡°Forget about me. I won¡¯t hide it from you ¨C I have trained my fists and feet for a few years, but I¡¯m just amon Body Tempering cultivator. At this point, I can¡¯t even pass the Qi Drawing Realm, and I¡¯m far from bing an Origin Qi Schr yet. I can¡¯tpare with you at all.¡±

    ¡°You know what cultivation realm I¡¯m in?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how to inspect a person¡¯s Qi. How could I see clearly your strength as someone weaker than you?¡±

    ¡°Then how can you determine that the Lingyuan Pirates won¡¯t be able to deal with me?¡± Jiang Xishui countered.

    ¡°This......¡± The ck-faced man froze for a moment, thenughed with some embarrassment, ¡°Perhaps it was a slip in the tongue. I hope that Prince won¡¯t take it too seriously.¡±

    Jiang Xishui said indifferently, ¡°It might not have been a slip of the tongue, but rather a probe.¡±

    The ck-faced man¡¯s expression grew somewhat ugly. ¡°Prince, what do you mean by saying that?¡±

    Jiang Xishui looked up at the sky. ¡°This is a world where there is always someone greater than someone else and a heaven outside a heaven, a world where if a person is strong enough, they can single-handedly dominate the entire world. In this kind of a bloody world, what¡¯s most important to eke out a living is not how strong you are or how much influence you have, but how perceptive you are. Never provoke someone you shouldn¡¯t provoke ¨C that is the way of survival for a pirate. Because of this, many pirates who have some smarts will often send a few of their own people to infiltrate their targets before making a move. Firstly, they can send information secretly, preventing their targets from escaping or defending themselves; secondly, they can investigate their target more thoroughly, preventing anything from being overlooked; third, they can act as nted agents, working together with the outside forces; fourth, they can determine the strength of their targets and not provoke any strong opponents.¡±

    The ck-faced man backed up a few steps, and even his voice had gotten lower. ¡°Prince, are you saying that I¡¯m an informant for those pirates? What¡¯s your intention in ndering me like this?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s not worry about whether or not I¡¯m ndering you right now. The boat behind us has been following us for a long time now. It should be waiting on your signal, right?¡±

    The ck-faced man¡¯s expression changed drastically.

    Jiang Xishui said, ¡°Why not make a gamble with me? I¡¯m going to go and kill them right now. You can notify them to leave or to prepare for a battle; it¡¯spletely up to you. After it ends, we will see who is the one standing in front of you again. At that point in time, you can tell me whether or not I¡¯m ndering you. Okay?¡±

    As Jiang Xishui spoke, he turned around and walked towards the back of the boat. Once he got there, he continued walking and was now standing on top of the water.

    The old boatsman steering the boat wanted to say something, but Jiang Xishui, standing stably atop the surface of the water, said, ¡°Please, wait for me here for just a moment. I¡¯ll be back soon.¡±

    He continued to walk forward.

    The roaring current became soft and docile beneath his feet. Even though he wasn¡¯t walking quickly, his figure quickly became blurry as he disappeared off into the distance.

    The ck-faced man charged forward and yelled, ¡°Quick, take the boat and get out of here!¡±

    The old boatsman turned around and nced at the ck-faced man. ¡°Old Hong, you¡¯ve been on these waterways for so long and should already have some perceptive abilities. Can you not tell? If you were able to escape so easily from that prince, that would be a big loss of face for him. Little people have little peoples¡¯ ways of survival. If you wait here obediently, you still have some hope of staying alive......¡±

    The ck-faced man was stunned.

    He pulled out an item from his pockets.

    It was a jade transmission pendant.

    He trembled as he activated it. Before he could even say anything, he heard shrill criesing out from the jade pendant.

    ¡°Ah!¡±

    ¡°Kill him!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s attack together!¡±

    ¡°No!¡±

    ¡°Hurry, run!¡±

    The shocked criespletely shocked ck Face¡¯s heart.

    After some more time, all of the yelling had ceased.

    Jiang Xishui¡¯s figure reappeared off in the distance.

    He was still wearing the same light-colored garment and was still fanning himself elegantly.

    He got back on the boat. When he saw the ck-faced man was still there, he nodded and said, ¡°Since you didn¡¯t run, I¡¯ll spare you your life.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 82: Threat of Light Shaking

    Chapter 82: Threat of Light Shaking

    After therge battle at Lingyuan Marsh, the influence of the various pirate groups underwent a big shuffle.

    The Jade Mountain and Qingyuan armies had suffered heavy losses, the Third River Army had gone into hiding, and the ck River Army had oddly been destroyed. The four main powers on the water had disappeared simultaneously, causing countless little forces to begin to vy for supremacy, causing a lot of turmoil and strife.

    However, this no longer had anything to do with Su Chen.

    After ordering the temporary dormancy of the Third River Army and sending off Tang Ming and the others, Su Chen once again returned to his life of doing experiments every day. asionally, he would go to the Origin Bureau to take care of some official business or conflicts between Origin Qi Schrs to preserve justice, as well as to suppress the Bloodline Nobility ns¡¯ arrogance.

    The days passed by gradually and uneventfully.

    Just like before, Su Chen was performing his experiments.

    Suddenly, he heard a huge ¡°boom¡± off in the distance.

    He put down the reagent in his hand and hurriedly walked out of his researchb. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but from the sound of it, it seems like it¡¯s happening far away. It shouldn¡¯t have anything to do with us,¡± Li Shu replied.

    Su Chen climbed up the fake mountain, looking down into the city from his vantage point. He saw a person floating in midair,rge amounts of ck smoke curling around him.

    ¡°Shen Yuanhong,e out!¡±

    Next, a low, rumbling voice could be heard speaking. ¡°Shi Zhonglin, what the hell are you doing?

    ¡°Shen Yuanhong, you¡¯re the one who¡¯s gone overboard! Give my grandson¡¯s life back to me!¡±

    The arms of the floating old man suddenly grewrge, and the ck fog behind him began to take the form of many specter-like apparitions that howled as they charged downwards.

    These apparitions were extremely frightening. Even though they were formed from ck fog, they had physical substance and turned the sky pitch ck. The arrival of the apparitions was apanied by panicked yells. In the blink of an eye, more than ten Shen n disciples had died on the spot, their blood totally sucked dry and their bodies withered, as if they were corpses over thousands of years old.

    Shen Yuanhong was both shocked and infuriated. ¡°Shi Zhonglin, you dare!¡±

    A massive hand shot forth into the sky, pressing towards Shi Zhonglin like a massive mountain.

    That old man opened his mouth and spat out a stream of ck fog that took on a humanoid form. It looked simr to Su Chen¡¯s Shadow me Giant, but it was taller and more powerful by who knew how many times. It formed in midair, then unleashed a punch, mming into Shen Yuanhong¡¯s palm strike that covered the sky. A turbulent burst of energy exploded forth so thick that the air seemed to turn into water, generating massive shockwaves of energy.

    Wave after wave of energy pulsated in all directions, causing the people below to yell with fright and scatter.

    When faced with the shocking power of a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, everything else seemed so negligible.

    Even Su Chen had never seen something like this before. Before, Uncle Eleven had been fighting conservatively and had prevented his energy from dissipating. Even though its actual might was more substantial, the impact and appearance wasn¡¯t quite as striking. This was a true demonstration of how much destructive power a Light Shaking Realm cultivator possessed.

    In truth, the difference between Light Shaking and Yang Opening was simply too great.

    The cultivation ascension of an Origin Qi Schr wasn¡¯t as simple as doing some mathematical calctions. Instead, it was a process that relied on transforming a person¡¯s physical body, sort of like a ¡°personal evolution¡± of sorts. Even though the Light Shaking Realm was only a single cultivation realm, it represented a massive breakthrough in a person¡¯s lifeforce. The gap between it and Yang Opening was far greater than the gaps between the lower three differences.

    This was also why Su Chen had no hope that he could defeat a Light Shaking Realm cultivator. Not to mention the fact that he had no hope now, it would still be difficult for him to jump that tier even if he were to reach the Yang Opening Realm.

    The sh between two Light Shaking Realm cultivators attracted a lot of attention in Clear River City. The hunting dogs and eagles were sent into motion, and the whole of Clear River City was thrown into chaos.

    ¡°Who dares make such a big fuss in Clear River City? Are you not clear about the Origin Battle Restrictions?¡± An enraged voice boomed out from above Clear River City. It was An Siyuan.

    An Siyuan stood in the air, disying his massive bald head. He looked like a massive giant as he stared at the two of them angrily.

    The Origin Battle Restrictions were written by all of the Intelligent Races. All Light-Shaking Realm existences and above cannot fight in a city. If they really did fight, they needed to control the extent to which they unleashed their power. Uncle Eleven and the others had fought like this not just to concentrate their Origin Energy but also to control the range of influence. However, the two of them present herepletely disregarded those restrictions and recklessly attacked each other. No wonder An Siyuan was so enraged.

    As he spoke, An Siyuan unleashed a punch.

    Inparison to the two¡¯s shocking power, An Siyuan¡¯s attack was much less majestic, but its power wasn¡¯t actually much weaker. This fist was aimed at Shi Zhonglin, who knew that the situation wasn¡¯t good. The ck fog giant dissipated, turning into a ck turtle-like shield and blocking the blow. Shi Zhonglin yelled, ¡°I¡¯m here to get revenge for my grandson!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care who you¡¯re getting revenge for. You must respect the rules I have here in Clear River City. Even if you can make it past me, can you make it past all of Long Sang Country?¡± An Siyuan said, his voice rumbling like thunder. It directly pierced into their hearts, sinking into ears of every person present.

    This was one of his clever points as a City Lord. Even if the vigers were scared, he needed to let them know that there were still rules in this world, and there was someone who was willing to stick out his neck for them. Those guys were not allowed to do as they pleased!

    Indeed, upon hearing the name ¡°Long Sang Country¡±, Shi Zhonglin froze for a moment before yelling, ¡°I¡¯m pissed off! The one surnamed Shen, we aren¡¯t nearly done yet!¡±

    As he spoke, he flew away.

    ¡°Even if you want to be done, I won¡¯t let you go!¡± Shen Yuanhong howled with anger.

    It wasn¡¯t that he hadn¡¯t heard Shi Zhonglin mention he was getting revenge for his grandson; Shen Yuanhong knew that something had gone wrong when he had let Shi Duanzhang go. But they were in a public ce with numerous people; trying to dispute that he hadn¡¯t killed Shi Duanzhang would be a show of weakness. In addition, Shi Zhonglin was extremely tyrannical and killed a number of his own n¡¯s disciples almost immediately. Would these disciples have died in vain?

    As soon as Shi Zhonglin wounded his people, it wasn¡¯t important to exin anything anymore. The most important thing was that this debt of blood needed to be paid.

    As he watched Shi Zhonglin fly away, Shen Yuanhong yelled and chased after him. The two people chased each other across the sky as they disappeared off into the distance. It looked like they were about to move their battle to somewhere else.

    As he watched the two of them disappear, Su Chen slowly walked down the mountain, something seemingly on his mind.

    ¡°Master?¡± Iron Cliff walked over and asked with concern.

    When Su Chen saw his timid expression, he knew what Iron Cliff was thinking andughed, ¡°Did you think I was afraid of them?¡±

    Iron Cliff froze.

    The sh between the two Light Shaking Realm cultivators had shaken the heavens and the earth,pletely overturning what Iron Cliff thought he knew. Whether Su Chen was afraid or not, he didn¡¯t know, but he himself had been badly startled.

    Su Chen, however, said calmly, ¡°My Instructor is also in the Light Shaking Realm. How could I not be clear about the power they possess? Want to scare me with just that much power? It¡¯s far toocking. I was just thinking that Shen Yuanhong has already chased after him, so the Shen n should bergely unupied right now. Couldn¡¯t we take advantage of the opportunity and finish off the Shen n?¡±

    What?

    Iron Cliff was badly startled by what Su Chen had said.

    Thankfully, Su Chen shook his head and said, ¡°Forget about it. Shen Yuanhong might not die, and now is not the time to fight the Bloodline Nobility ns yet. Leaving them here for now will be more useful.¡±

    Iron Cliff¡¯s forehead beaded with sweat.

    Su Chen returned to his researchb to continue his experiments.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 83: Spirit Race 1

    Chapter 83: Spirit Race (1)

    One morning, while Su Chen was still doing experiments, a notice he had been waiting to hear for a long time finally came.

    Ji Hanyan had arrived.

    Within the Su n¡¯s guest lobby, Ji Hanyan was dressed in patrol uniform. She wore a pair of Flying Clouds Boots and had a Hunting Clouds de strapped to her waist, giving her a valiant and formidable presence.

    Behind her stood another person. It was Jiang Xishui.

    ¡°You guys are finally here. I heard nearly thirty days ago that you guys wereing, but in the end I waited for nearly a month. Isn¡¯t that too slow?¡± Su Chenughed as he motioned for Mingshu to pour them some tea.

    ¡°We¡¯re on government business. How could we be as carefree as you, Knowledge Executor Su?¡± Ji Hanyan replied.

    ¡°Oh? Are you saying that I¡¯m holding down my job without doing any work?¡±

    Ji Hanyan harrumphed coldly, ¡°That¡¯s how it was before too.¡±

    Her reply was curt and impolite.

    Su Chenughed helplessly, ¡°You haven¡¯t changed a bit. Right, Brother Jiang, how have you beentely?¡±

    Jiang Xishui fanned himself and sighed, ¡°If you¡¯re holding down a job without doing any work, what good oue can I possibly have? Naturally, I¡¯m just idling the time away, dawdling about and neglecting my duties; I¡¯m just a piece of nouveau riche trash that only knows how to admire beautiful scenery.¡±

    Su Chenughed loudly when he heard this.

    The three of them squabbled for a bit before Ji Hanyan pulled the topic of conversation back to the main point.

    ¡°The reason we are here this time is mostly to catch a certain individual. There¡¯s some things that we want to ask you.¡±

    ¡°I knew you wouldn¡¯t juste and visit me out of the goodness of your heart,¡± Su Chen sighed. ¡°Let¡¯s hear it. What do you need my help with?¡±

    ¡°I heard that this residence you¡¯re living in had a ¡®demons sending babies¡¯ incident?¡±

    When he heard this, Su Chen¡¯s expression began to tighten.

    When he saw Ji Hanyan¡¯s expression grow serious, he said, ¡°You¡¯re not trying to tell me that something simr has been happening in Bachuan, right?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s different, but not that difference. Nearly three years ago, there was a string of cases in Bachuan of disappearing females. At the beginning, the Investigations Bureau only treated these cases asmon kidnappings of women, but they never found any more leads. It wasn¡¯t until two years ago that one of the Investigations Bureau¡¯s constables identally stumbled upon a cave. In that cave, they found dozens of female corpses; they were the women who had disappeared during the past year or so.¡±

    Su Chen immediately said, ¡°Let me guess...... These women all had physical signs that they had given birth before, right?¡±

    Ji Hanyan nodded. ¡°This matter triggered public shock, bing a case that the Investigations Bureau needed to solve quickly. Thankfully, the cave had been sealed previously, and all of the arrangements inside were there, including arge-scale Tempering Transformation Formation and a consciousness receiver. As such, everyone was quickly able to determine who the culprit was.¡±

    ¡°The Spirit Race,¡± Su Chen muttered in a low voice.

    Ji Hanyan smiled. ¡°Indeed, you already know about it.¡±

    Yes, how could he not know about it already?

    Long before, when they were discussing the ¡°demons sending babies¡± matter, Shi Kaihuang and Su Chen had already begun to suspect that this matter was rted to the spirit race. However, they never had any evidence to support that im.

    But after Wei Liancheng and the Purple-Colored ss appeared one after another, their suspicion of the Spirit Race¡¯s involvement became concrete.

    Only they were the ones who would need to research this kind of metamorphic transformation.

    Yes, this was all for the sake of research.

    If there was a race that was the most simr to the Arcana Race after the fall of the Arcana Kingdom, it was probably the Spirit Race.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    The Spirit Race were descendants of the Dark Spirit Race. They had an exceptional ability to sense Origin Energy, and were the closest to the Origin Race of the Intelligent Races.

    The Spirit Race had a liquid heart and were constantly in a shifting state of existence. This made them much more sensitive to and more able to absorb Origin Energy, but their bodies were exceptionally weak as a result. Under the Origin Race¡¯s system, the Dark Spirit Race were a delicacy. Their bodies were filled with energy, yet they were very tender and mellow.

    This made it so that the early Dark Spirit Race had extremely cruel and sorrowful fate.

    In reality, during the Ancient Era, apart from the dense, flourishing Beast Race, no one had a good fate.

    The Dark Spirit Race was the first race that embarked on a resistance campaign. During the Chaos Era, they relied on their exceptional sense for Origin Energy to first develop a system for using Origin Energy, sessfully establishing the first Intelligent Race Kingdom, the Origin Spirit Kingdom.

    The first rebels were always the mightiest, but they were also the most heavily persecuted.

    After the Origin Spirit Kingdom copsed, the Dark Spirit Race was forcefully suppressed by the Origin-rted lifeforms. Many of the Dark Spirit Race individuals died; very few of them sessfully hid underground, holding on even at death¡¯s door.

    To adapt to the dark, underground lifestyle, the Dark Spirit Race¡¯s body began to adapt.

    Their consciousnesses grew stronger, while their bodies continued to wither. Their ability to see in the dark and their hearing advanced.

    During the 32nd millenium of the Chaos Era, a few Arcana Race individuals stumbled upon the Dark Spirit Race.

    They were shocked at the massive changes to the Dark Spirit Race¡¯s bodies, especially their powerful consciousnesses and sensitivity towards Origin Energy, and began to capture them in hordes to analyze their biological makeup.

    After two thousand years of capturing, most of the Dark Spirit Race individuals had been captured and turned into the research subjects of the Arcana Race.

    At this moment in time, it was another powerful Arcana Master like Mainbrooke, Patelocke, or Lamier thatpletely changed the fate of the Dark Spirit Race.

    This was the Consciousness Converter Instrument¡¯s inventor, Ignatius.

    Unlike Mainbrooke, Patelocke, and the others, Ignatius¡¯s goal was both simple and direct, but it was what most lifeforms pursued ¨C immortality.

    Ignatius thirsted for immortality, so he was always focusing his attention on ways to prolong and extend life.

    In his extensive research, he discovered that as long as a biological organism continued to exist in physical form, death was an unavoidable oue. All of his efforts could only dy it, but not stop it froming.

    As such, Ignatius thought of a bold and extreme tactic.

    He believed that while a physical body would rot and decay, a consciousness would never disappear.

    Since biological organisms were always doomed to die, what about letting their spirits live forever?

    As such, he began to focus his research and energy on how to preserve a person¡¯s consciousness after they died.

    If you wanted a consciousness to not be extinguished, you needed to alter the lifeform and give it a powerful enough consciousness so that the consciousness could be stored in Origin Energy.

    As such, the Dark Spirit Race, who inherently possessed powerful consciousnesses, were great research targets.

    During this period of time, the Arcana Race was innovating the most. This was their most flourishing period of time.

    The Bloodline Extraction Instrument, Sark¡¯s Nuclei, and Consciousness Converter Instrument were all developed during this period of time.

    The endless research made it so that the Arcana Race became incredibly proficient in converting a person¡¯s consciousness energy and improving and modifying organisms. Ignatius finally seeded!

    He had developed the Consciousness Converter Instrument.

    Based on this kind of instrument, the Arcana Kingdom could give consciousnesses a unique form, allowing them to persist in this world like specters.

    This kind of conversion had a lot of limitations.

    Firstly, it could only be used on lifeforms already alive. Only when a lifeform was alive would their consciousness be condensed. If they died, their consciousness would dissipate and couldn¡¯t be converted in time. As such, the Consciousness Converter Instrument was called a converter and not an immortality machine for this exact reason, because you needed to first kill an organism before creating another unique organism.

    Secondly, only the Dark Spirit Race could be converted. The Dark Spirit Race had an innately powerful consciousness, making them the only ones that could withstand a consciousness conversion.

    Thirdly, the Spirit Race had no reproductive abilities.

    Even so, it incited a frenzy all across the Arcana Kingdom

    They believed that as long as they continued to unceasingly do their research, one day they would be able to create an even more powerful Consciousness Converter Instrument.

    As such, they began to perform a lot of research and experiments, creatingrge amounts of undying specters.

    From that day onwards, the Spirit Race was born.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 84: Spirit Race 2

    Chapter 84: Spirit Race (2)

    There weren¡¯t any ghosts in the Primordial Continent before. Once a person died, they were dead and no longer existed in the world.

    Before the Spirit Race appeared, they were just fantasies and folklore.

    But with the Spirit Race, ghosts truly appeared in this world.

    Unlike the other races, the Spirit Race were a race that had been created by another race.

    If you became the Spirit Race, you could live a long, long life.

    No one knew if this kind of life woulde to an end, because up to this point, no one had heard of a Spirit Race individual dying because of old age. Patelocke, in some sense, was also a Spirit Race, but his circumstances were unique. His consciousness couldn¡¯t take physical form on its own. It was the stone tablet that was supporting him, but apart from this, he and the Spirit Race were all alike. Because of this, he could live for tens of thousands of years without any issues.

    Ignatius reckoned that he could continue to improve the Consciousness Converter Instrument and eventually use it on an Arcana Race individual, even on those who had perished, achieving a different kind of immortality.

    In the end, however, he discovered that he had reached a bottleneck.1

    He was never able to break the shackles on the Consciousness Converter Instrument to the day of his death.

    The frenzy over immortality slowly died down after one failure after another. Only a few Arcana Race individuals unwilling to admit defeat continued this vain of research, unintentionally strengthening this germinating race.

    After the Arcana Kingdom was wiped out, the Dark Spirit Race, led by a group whose consciousnesses had already been converted and who had been waiting a long time, seized the Consciousness Converter Instrument.

    The Dark Spirit Race, now with the Consciousness Converter Instrument, disagreed on how to deal with it.

    Some of the Dark Spirit Race wanted to totally destroy it, allowing the Dark Spirit Race to be freed from suffering. However, those whose consciousness had already been converted exhorted the members of their race to convert themselves into an energy-type lifeform, thereby obtaining immortality as well as increasing their ability to use Origin Energy. Of course, as a price, they would lose the ability to reproduce or experience sexual pleasure.

    The Dark Spirit Race split into two camps because of this.

    One group of the Dark Spirit Race continued along the path of exile. They returned beneath the ground to live a life without sunlight. After living in darkness for many years, their bodies began to adapt to living in the dark. They developed night vision and the ability to move stealthily in darkness. They were ashamed of their ¡°ugliness¡¯, so they began to call themselves the Dark Race or the Night Race instead of the Dark Spirit Race.

    The other Dark Spirit Race group followed in the footsteps of their forerunners, willingly passing through the Consciousness Converter Instrument to turn themselves into a purely consciousness-based lifeform.

    This was the Spirit Race.

    Because their bodies were made from condensed Origin Energy, the Spirit Race had an innately powerful control over Origin Energy. Their individual strength was the greatest out of the five races. One could even argue that they had be Origin-rted lifeforms while preserving the ability to create of the Intelligent Races. They possessed a lifeforce that didn¡¯t decay and wouldn¡¯t die of old age. As such, one could say that they were all soldiers, each one of them psosessing great power.

    An eternal lifespan and powerful strength; these twobined were more than enough to create the most powerful and most glorious race.

    Thankfully, the Spirit Race had two main ws.

    One was that they could not reproduce.

    All that supported the numbers of the Spirit Race were a few Dark Spirit Race individuals who willingly gave up having their consciousnesses converted. After being improved, they were sent to the heart of Gloom City¡¯s ¡°Reproductive Temple¡± to be carefully guarded. They were known as ¡°Birth Mothers¡±.

    The second was that they were naturally solitary creatures.

    Their extensive lifespan made them apathetic, so they enjoyed floating around all over the ce.

    In addition to their floating around was their incessant pursuit of Origin Energy.

    The Spirit Race enjoyed doing research, as they had inherited the Arcana Race¡¯s intelligence. Because they could not cast off their immortality, many Spirit Race individuals would go the path of trying to develop a deep understanding of the world they lived in.

    As naturally isted individuals, they wouldn¡¯t interact with anyone else for long periods of time. This made them generally weak inrge-scale battles, as theycked cooperative capabilities. As such, the Spirit Race usually relied on terrain conditions when battling to triumph in smaller-scale skirmishes so that they could disy their individual strength.

    In the year 8300 of the New Star Era, another massive incident urred amongst the Spirit Race.

    Because of an experiment, an explosion happened in the heart of the Spirit Race headquarters. The Reproductive Temple was destroyed in this explosion, and the Birth Mothers were almostpletely killed.

    For the continuation of the Spirit Race, the Spirit Race once again was forced to extend an olive branch to their former ¡°Dark Race¡±patriots to obtain new Birth Mothers.

    Even so, evolution over long periods of time drove the Dark Race and the Spirit Race apart, making the children of the Dark Race¡¯s Birth Mothers inferior to before both in terms of sessful conversion rate as well as in strength after conversion.

    The Spirit Race¡¯s development fell into a decline because of this.

    From that point onward, the Spirit Race began to research in a new direction ¨C how to recover the Reproductive Temple.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    When Su Chen heard of the matter of ¡°demons sending babies¡±, he knew that more likely than not these were the result of the Spirit Race performing more research rted to reproduction. The matter with Wei Liancheng and the Purple-Colored ss were just further proof of this.

    When he heard Ji Hanyan say these things, Su Chenughed, ¡°Now we just don¡¯t know if the Spirit Race in Bachuan is the same as the Spirit Race in Clear River City.¡±

    ¡°That is hard to say. These ghost-like yet not ghost-like people have always done things very secretly, and the matter of the Reproductive Temple has historically been of utmost importance to them. It¡¯s not really that strange for there to be two groups of Spirit Race individuals who are researching reproduction in the same area,¡± Ji Hanyan replied.

    ¡°But there¡¯s no way that you came to the Crow Region for no reason,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°I came not to deal with those Spirit Race individuals but to find a specific person.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°About a year and a half ago, Bachuan¡¯s Vice Director, the one who discovered the corpses in the cave, suddenly disappeared. Before he disappeared, he left behind a letter that said that he had discovered a few clues regarding that Spirit Race individual that he was going to pursue. From that day onward, no one ever saw or heard from him again. Bachuan¡¯s Investigations Agency searched for him for a long time but never were able to find him again. It just so happened that we graduated from the Hidden Dragon Institute at that time, so I was sent to fill this Vice Director position.¡±

    Ji Hanyan continued to exin the situation in a clear and organized manner. ¡°After arriving at Bachuan, I investigated the disappearance of my position¡¯s predecessor as well, but I had to give up on ount of there being no clues whatsoever. His son, Wei Xiaofeng, however, was unwilling to give up and continued to search everywhere. About three months ago, I suddenly received a notice from Wei Xiaofeng that said that someone had seen his father in the Crow Region and that he was going there to search for him. I didn¡¯t take it seriously at the time, but not long after Wei Xiaofeng disappeared too. Before he disappeared, he left a few clues for us that proved that the Spirit Race could very well be in or near Crow Region.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is,¡± Su Chen muttered. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, the Spirit Race in Crow Region and in Bachuan seem to be the same.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not excluding that possibility, but right now our main priority is to find Wei Xiaofeng. If we can find Wei Xiaofeng, we can find the Spirit Race.¡±

    ¡°How do you know Wei Xiaofeng hasn¡¯t died yet?¡±

    ¡°Wei Xiaofenges from a Bloodline n. Even though this bloodline ismon, it has a unique power that allows him to leave a bloodline imprint that tells us whether he has died yet or not. Among the clues that he had left behind for us was this bloodline imprint. Not only so, but this bloodline imprint can give us a rough approximation of the location of the bloodline that is the source of the imprint. During this period of time, the bloodline imprint showed that Wei Xiaofeng was near Clear River. As such, we hurried over here immediately and are paying you a visit along the way.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Su Chen nodded, then casually asked, ¡°Right, what was the former Vice Director¡¯s name?¡±

    ¡°He was called Wei Liancheng.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 85: Persuasion

    Chapter 85: Persuasion

    Su Chen¡¯s hand paused slightly in midair while he was putting his teacup down. He sighed, ¡°It seems like you made the right call in dropping by.¡±

    Ji Hanyan said with curiosity, ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    Su Chen exined his encounter with Wei Liancheng.

    When she finished listening to Su Chen¡¯s exnation, Ji Hanyan was stunned for some time before she said, ¡°Based on what you¡¯ve told me, he really did find that Spirit Race group.¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, he¡¯s be a puppet under their control,¡± Su Chen sighed. ¡°A Vice Director had their heart and mind totally controlled by the Spirit Race. What a tragedy!¡±

    Because the Spirit Race had an ethereal body, they were especially proficient in consciousness ambushes. They had all kinds of techniques that made them experts in enving other individuals. One could say that every Spirit Race individual was a Jin Ling¡¯er or a Zhou Juanjia or a Zhu Xianyao, or possibly even stronger than them.

    This was because the lifeforms controlled by the Spirit Race often still had their own intelligence preserved; they would just be totally willing to die for their masters.

    ¡°Su Chen, you absolutely need to help me catch these damned Spirit Race individuals!¡± Ji Hanyan mmed her palm on the table, her expression filled with anger.

    It was no surprise that she was so angry. The Spirit Race¡¯s envement of other individuals was something that all the races hated.

    ¡°Alright. As long as you have the clues, you can notify me at anytime,¡± Su Chen nodded in agreement.

    There was no need for friends to act politely with one another. As long as it was within his capabilities, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t shirk his duties.

    That evening, Cloud Leopard was also called over. The four of them drank to their hearts¡¯ content.

    After they had drunk for a bit, Su Chen secretly asked Jiang Xishui, ¡°You and her...... how are things?¡±

    Jiang Xishui knew that he was talking about himself and Ji Hanyan. He shook his head andughed bitterly, ¡°Even though I¡¯m infatuated, my love is like falling petals being swept away by a ruthless current.¡±

    His tone was lonely and deste.

    Ever since he had been a student, he had been pursuing Ji Hanyan the whole time, but Ji Hanyan had never seemed to view him favorably. She had always been rtively indifferent towards him.

    This was the case even now. Even though Jiang Xishui hade so far to look for Ji Hanyan, he was just being treated as an attendant.

    Everyone else was envious of Jiang Xishui¡¯s infatuation, but they didn¡¯t know that his heart was actually very bitter.

    Su Chen¡¯s question caused Jiang Xishui to begin to utter some of this bitterness within his heart.

    Upon seeing him like this, Su Chen gently shook his head. ¡°What woman cannot be chased down? It might just be that you¡¯re using the wrong tactic.¡±

    ¡°Using the wrong tactic?¡± Jiang Xishui was shocked.

    Su Chen walked as he spoke, beginning to head toward the backyard.

    Jiang Xishui understood and hurriedly followed after.

    Aftering to the flower garden in the backyard, Su Chen said, ¡°You know what Ji Hanyan¡¯s temperament is like. Stubborn, haughty, and unwilling to admit defeat. A woman like her hates weak and soft men the most. I¡¯m not saying that you¡¯re weak and soft, but to subdue a woman like her means that you need to disy even more might than she does.¡±

    ¡°How do I do that? Do I fight with her? Defeat her?¡± Jiang Xishui asked.

    Su Chenughed and waved his hand. ¡°That¡¯s not called disying might, that¡¯s called looking for death. Many people want to demonstrate to a woman that they themselves are individually powerful, but that¡¯s a big mistake. The power of a man isn¡¯t used to defeat a woman, but is demonstrated by achievement and military prowess.¡±

    ¡°Achievement and military prowess?¡± Jiang Xishui was stunned.

    Su Chen sighed, ¡°You weren¡¯t present on the Goldwater Ruins expedition. This should be rted to your background. Unfortunately, that was your best opportunity to demonstrate your strength, but you lost it because of this. Xishui, have you ever asked yourself what big aplishments you¡¯ve achieved ever since leaving the Institute?¡±

    Jiang Xishui opened his mouth but couldn¡¯t find anything to say.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°I know you have an umon background, but a woman like Ji Hanyan won¡¯t care about your background at all. Do you believe me if I say that even without a bloodline and Gu Qingluo by my side, if I tried to take Ji Hanyan from you I am confident that Ji Hanyan would be willing to be the concubine of a bloodline-less person like me rather than be your woman? That is because up until this point, you haven¡¯t had any particrly great achievements, and even your achievements in the Hundred Refinements Pavilion were probably carefully controlled, right?¡±

    Jiang Xishui was dazed. He didn¡¯t know how to reply.

    Su Chen sighed and patted his shoulders. ¡°Knowing how to conceal yourself is a good thing, but that really only applies to someone who has already achieved something. Without anything achieved, what point is there in hiding? That¡¯s not called concealment, that¡¯s called acting pretentiously!¡±

    During those years in the Hidden Dragon Institute, Jiang Xishui hadn¡¯t done anything but earn a third-ce ranking in the Hundred Refinements Pavilion, and even this was done by suppressing his own performance. To him, this was being low-key and concealing himself, but to Su Chen he was being an idiot.

    Ji Hanyan liked strong men, but all you did all day was fool around. A rare opportunity for you to demonstrate yourself came around, but you still wanted to act foolish. Was this fun for you?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t care for fame either, but he had his own goals and pursuits. He was someone who wanted to do great things.

    Even though the two of them had very different backgrounds, their ways of doing things were very different from each other.

    Basically, Jiang Xishui¡¯s way of doing things was exactly what Ji Hanyan hated.

    It would be strange if Ji Hanyan were suddenly attracted to him.

    Jiang Xishui didn¡¯t know this before, but when Su Chenid it out for him like this, it was like he had been struck by lightning. His entire being was dazed.

    He originally thought that as long as he followed Ji Hanyan around, he could obtain her affection, but he never expected that doing this was what Ji Hanyan hated the most.

    ¡°Men should have spirit and style, and dreams. Even if you¡¯re a bastard and can¡¯t inherit any position of power, and even if you don¡¯t want to show off or brag, you should have your own path and your own choices. To Ji Hanyan, even if you make the wrong choice, that¡¯s better than not making any choices at all! She isn¡¯t a person who likes people that hesitate at three-way intersections!¡± Su Chen said sincerely.

    When Jiang Xishui heard this, he sighed and bowed deeply to Su CHen. ¡°So Brother Su already knows my identity. Thank you for your pointers. Xishui understands.¡±

    Su Chen patted him again. ¡°As long as you understand.¡±

    ¡°Then, Brother Su, what do you think I should do next?¡± Jiang Xishui continued to ask Su Chen.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°First, leave Ji Hanyan. Don¡¯t be like a pet always following her around. Since she doesn¡¯t like you now, it¡¯s useless no matter what you do. Advancing by retreating isn¡¯t a bad choice.¡±

    ¡°But I¡¯m worried that if I leave now, Hanyan might forget me. What if someone elsees by while I¡¯m gone......¡± Jiang Xishui hesitated.

    Su Chen said disdainfully, ¡°What need is there to treasure a bad impression? Time can cause memories to fade as well as negative impressions. Her currentbel of you is weak. If it were me, I would rather she forget about me, then return one day and try again. As for someone elseing by while you¡¯re gone...... trust me, with Ji Hanyan¡¯s personality, no one will be able to subdue her for a period of time. Secondly, if someone doese by while you¡¯re gone, there won¡¯t be any difference whether you¡¯re here or not. Actually, if you are here, it might even backfire against you.¡±

    Jiang Xishui was shocked. ¡°It isn¡¯t that bad, is it?¡±

    ¡°The most frightening thing a person can go through is that even as they are about to die, they have no sense that they are in danger...... Brother Jiang, your have no awareness of your current situation.¡±

    ¡°......¡± Jiang Xishui could only nod. ¡°Then what about the second thing?¡±

    ¡°Go and do something big, something that can change her impression of you. Make a name for yourself under the whole sun and show off your manly side! Brother Jiang, I believe that you are an intelligent and courageous person, but your affection for Ji Hanyan has suppressed your talent. Leave Ji Hanyan and disy your talent to the fullest extent in a more spacious ce; that¡¯s the only way you can really shine and let Ji Hanyan see that you aren¡¯tmon.¡±

    ¡°But you know what my background is. If I do things too ostentatiously, I¡¯m afraid that......¡± Jiang Xishui hesitated.

    ¡°That depends on by what means you act ostentatiously. Aren¡¯t they afraid that you have an ambition to try and seize a seat of power? If what you do doesn¡¯t help you seize that seat but actually damages it, then the more ostentatious you are, the happier they¡¯ll be.¡±

    ¡°You mean......¡±

    ¡°Go and be a pirate!¡± Su Chen replied.

    Having reached this point, Su Chen¡¯s fox¡¯s tail finally revealed itself.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 86: Desolate

    Chapter 86: Deste

    Yes, Su Chen had said all that just to trick Jiang Xishui into bing the pirate head of the Third River Army.

    The current situation of the Lingyuan Marsh was veryplicated.

    After the Lingyuan Marsh¡¯s massive battle, all of the major pirate groups had been seriously affected. Only the Third River Army maintained their original vigor. This was the perfect time to shuffle the deck again.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t dare allow the Third River Army to emerge, however, and continued to hide and pretend that they had also suffered serious losses because of his apprehension about those Light Shaking Realm freaks from the Bloodline Nobility ns. Those Light Shaking Realm cultivators might not care about a few losses here or there, but if anyone touched their lifeline, they absolutely would not ept it.

    Lingyuan Marsh was closely tied to the transport of goods on the waterways. Even if the Clear River Bloodline Nobility ns couldn¡¯t control it singlehandedly, they wouldn¡¯t allow it to totally slip out of their control.

    Under these circumstances, Su Chen could only stare at the big hunk of meat that was the Lingyuan Marsh but couldn¡¯t afford to swallow it.

    On the other side, Tang Ming and the others¡¯ departure also weakened the Third River Army substantially.

    Even though Wu Xiao was still here, it would be difficult for him to manage it single-handedly.

    If Jiang Xishui were willing to make an appearance, however, everything would be different.

    Even though he fawned in front of Ji Hanyan, he wasn¡¯t a weak person at all. The power of love had just suppressed everything else, including his intelligence. But if he left Ji Hanyan and joined the Third River Army, he had an innate ability tomand the troops as a descendant of a noble n. In addition, this would make the n behind him feel at ease, knowing that Jiang Xishui wasn¡¯t nning on returning to try and seize a seat of power.

    Finally, with Jiang Xishui¡¯s bloodline power, in addition to battling on water, he could resist for a bit even if a Light Shaking Realm cultivator were toe. He really was a rare person who didn¡¯t have to fear a Light Shaking Realm cultivator.

    When taking all of this into consideration, it was no surprise that Su Chen had already included him in his calctions long before Jiang Xishui had even arrived. He had been waiting for just this moment.

    When he heard Su Chen tell him about the Third River Army, Jiang Xishui seemed to recover a bit. He pointed at Su Chen and said, ¡°So you¡¯re involved with the pirate situation in Lingyuan Marsh? You brat, you probably calcted that I woulde here and wanted to rope me in to help you sub in for Tang Ming, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°See? As soon as you¡¯re not next to Ji Hanyan, hasn¡¯t your intelligence gone up? With your current observational skills and intelligence, I don¡¯t need to tell you whether my suggestions are good or bad for you.¡±

    ¡°Of course I know whether your suggestions are good or bad for me. But the issue is that you should have been the one asking me in the first ce with a sum of money to take up this position. Now that you put it this way, why does it feel like I¡¯m going to be working for you for free?¡±

    Su Chen was shocked. His recovery abilities were truly shocking.

    However, he continued to say evenly, ¡°If you aren¡¯t willing to, then forget about it. You can go back to chasing after Ji Hanyan; I won¡¯t need you to take the reins of the Third River Army.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± When he heard this, Jiang Xishui hurriedly said, ¡°I¡¯m just trying to get some benefit here, okay? If you won¡¯t give it to me, then fine, I¡¯ll go anyways. Isn¡¯t that good enough!¡±

    Ji Hanyan really was his weak spot. He went soft as soon as she was brought up.

    Su Chen said helplessly, ¡°If you go to the Third River Army, you¡¯ll have all kinds of benefits. Why do you need to hang onto my coattails?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s different. Some things I can only ask you to do.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Hanyan challenged Bachuan¡¯s Commander a few days ago and lost. She hasn¡¯t been very happy since. I was thinking to myself, since you can make Origin Skills on your own, would you be able to help me create another Origin Skill that suits her......¡±

    Su Chen felt anger rise in his heart. ¡°Bastard, it¡¯s for her again! Think about her a little less and yourself a little more, and Ji Hanyan will be yours sooner orter! Do you understand? Sometimes, the more you pay, the less you are able to obtain for yourself!¡±

    He aimed a smack at the back of Jiang Xishui¡¯s head. He was going topletely wake up this lovesick fool.

    Jiang Xishui hurriedly dodged. Su Chen closed in after him, and the two of them began to exchange blows just like that in the backyard.

    Bang, bang, bang! The sound of the conflict attracted Cloud Leopard and Ji Hanyan. The two of them came over to take a look. Ji Hanyan said with shock, ¡°Why are you two fighting? Stop right now!¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°It¡¯s been awhile since we¡¯ve run into each other

    A multicolored light burst forth from his hands, enveloping Jiang Xishui.

    Jiang Xishui swung his fan. A formless wind knocked Su Chen¡¯s hands aside. He was just about to say something when he suddenly heard Su Chen¡¯s voice transmit to him, ¡°Don¡¯t show weakness!¡±

    Jiang Xishui felt his heart jolt. He hurriedly said, ¡°Hanyan, don¡¯t interfere. Today I must teach this brat a lesson!¡±

    Ji Hanyan was stunned.

    Ever since Jiang Xishui had started pursuing her, she had never heard words like ¡°don¡¯t interfere¡± evere out of his mouth. She hadn¡¯t expected for him to suddenly grow a backbone. Had he drunk too much wine which was giving him courage?

    Ji Hanyan wasn¡¯t unhappy with this, however; she actually felt that Jiang Xishui was finally disying some manliness.

    Ji Hanyan had a stubborn personality and hated it when men were fainthearted and indecisive, so she never paid much attention to Jiang Xishui. Jiang Xishui¡¯s sudden disy of backbone made her quite pleased. However, she still said, ¡°I¡¯m going to interfere whether you like it or not!¡±

    As she spoke, she gestured. A Frosted Ice Palms came surging out from her hands.

    Jiang Xishui wanted to dodge, but Su Chen transmitted his voice again. ¡°Don¡¯t dodge and counter it. If you can¡¯t beat her today, don¡¯t think about sticking around her.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re even teaming up!¡± Su Chen said as he gathered an Ultra Erupting Firehawk and activated the Ten Fiends Thousand Forms Formation to conceal themotion. He saidmandingly, ¡°Jiang Xishui, take out your full strength. If you can¡¯t even beat the two of usbined, you¡¯re shaming your background.¡±

    When Cloud Leopard heard this, he was stunned. What background was enough to force Su Chen and Ji Hanyan tobine forces?

    The other three, however, felt that this was totally logical.

    Jiang Xishuiughed, ¡°Since Brother Su wants to see so badly, I¡¯ll let you take a look. Luo You ¨C Divine Water Spirit!¡±

    As he spoke, a fountain suddenly sprung up from the pond in the backyard.

    This fountain dispersed in the air, forming countless arrows of water that shot at Su Chen and Ji Hanyan.

    Ji Hanyan harrumphed. Her Frigid Ice Palms collided with those water arrows in the air.

    Su Chen¡¯s Firehawk shot forth simultaneously.

    The fountain began to change form, turning into a water shield and blocking in front of Jiang Xishui. The powerful Firehawk attack shattered the shield, but before it could continue, another water shield formed right behind that one. The Ultra Erupting Firehawk broke through seven or eight water shields in a row, but Jiang Xishui¡¯s water shields seemed to be endless, forcefully blocking Su Chen¡¯s attack.

    A momentter, Ji Hanyan¡¯s White Ice Fists struck forth, encasing the surroundings in ice. Her fists surged with powerful momentum, enveloping the entire flower garden with her attack.

    Jiang Xishui continued to remain motionless. The fountain spread out like a lily flower, softly slowing Ji Hanyan¡¯s punch and making it so that it could notnd.

    When he saw this, Cloud Leopard was shocked.

    He had seen Jiang Xishui attack before, but he had never seen this kind of technique before. The Jiang Xishui at that time had used a fan and relied on an elite close-quartersbat technique. He would only use Origin Energy asionally. Now, however, he had already used a myriad of Origin Skills to deal with Su Chen and Ji Hanyan.

    But that wasn¡¯t all!

    Immediately afterwards, Jiang Xishui¡¯s tactics continued to change. The fountain constantly took on different shapes and forms ¨C water arrows, water lotus, water shields, water spears, water des, water cranes, and even water spirits and water giants. All kinds of strange forms appeared.

    Su Chen was the person with the most Origin Skills that Cloud Leopard had seen up to this point, but Jiang Xishui had used more than ten kinds of water-type Origin Skills in a brief span of time. In addition, he was able to activate them extremely casually and at an unbelievably fast rate. He was clearly very familiar with using them.

    Thebined efforts of Su Chen and Ji Hanyan, two experts, were actually unable to make him disadvantaged in any way. No matter how they attacked him, he was able to nullify them without any issues.

    What was going on?

    Cloud Leopard waspletely dazed by what he saw.

    Wait a minute, what did he say before?

    Luo You ¨C Divine Water Spirit!

    Cloud Leopard finally realized something.

    A Shadow me Giant was taking shape in Su Chen¡¯s left hand, and Armor-Piercing Awl was activated in his right hand. Simultaneously, Ji Hanyan activated her frost-type skills, unleashing a shocking wave of cold energy. The wave of energy gradually took on the shape of a massive frost bird.

    The two of them simultaneously used their most powerful attacks, not holding back against Jiang Xishui at all, as if they had some kind of death grudge against him.

    Jiang Xishui¡¯s eyes shed. Intense surges of energy began to emanate from his body, and the wind began to whip up around him. A sudden sh of brilliant light shone behind him for a brief moment.

    It was impossible to see his body. A profoundly deep darkness began to spread in all directions. A massive eye appeared in the sky and slowly began to open, carrying incredible dignity and supremity.

    With this eye alone, the incessant rumbling of thunder, the powerful surges of energy, the illusory beast images, and the raging mes all disappeared.

    It was as if a hurricane had swept through and blew away all visible and invisible existences, causing them to disappear without a trace.

    Next, a light breeze blew through the air.

    It was as if a grand existence had let out a sigh of air.

    Su Chen and Ji Hanyan were blown away like pieces of paper......

    ¡°Deste Beast!¡±

    Cloud Leopard yelled hysterically, ¡°Deste Beast Bloodline!¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 87: Luo You

    Chapter 87: Luo You

    The human race¡¯s most powerful bloodline was from the Origin Beast, the Shining Dragon. There was no dispute over this point.

    Beneath Origin Beasts, however, Demonic Emperor¡¯s weren¡¯t the most powerful; rather, Deste Beast Bloodlines were.

    The Prehistoric Beasts were the overlords of the Primordial Continent once the Origin Beasts disappeared. For a long period of time, they were the nightmare of the various Intelligent Races. As Origin Energy continued to decay and the world could no longer support Deste Beasts, the Primordial Continent finally reached a state where the Intelligent Races could begin to rise.

    In that period of time, where the rulers were changing, the remaining Deste Beasts began to fight with the newly rising races.

    Unlike with the Origin Beast, which had singlehandedly wiped out the Arcana Kingdom, the Intelligent Races weren¡¯t overwhelmingly defeated in this battle even though the Beast Race were still the eventual winners.

    The Illustrious Divine Dynasty, which already possessed the bloodline of an Origin Beast, sent out their most powerful individuals, relying on the Origin Beast Bloodline and countless heroes attacking wave after wave to kill many of the Deste Beasts.

    In the ten-thousand-year anniversary of the Illustrious Divine Dynasty, they were able to obtain nine Deste Beast Bloodlines, using them to create nine Deste Beast Bloodline ns.

    These were the Illustrious Nine Cauldrons.

    As time went on, the Illustrious Divine Dynasty was declining, and the Nine Cauldrons began to rise or fall.

    Two kinds of Deste Beast Bloodlines were lost in the sands of time. Only Seven Cauldrons remained, and they became known as the Seven Cauldrons ns.

    Unlike the Intelligent Races, the power from passing on their bloodline allowed these Bloodline Nobility ns to maintain their glory and umon status for long periods of time.

    When the Illustrious Divine Dynasty reached its dying stages and was on the verge of copse in the rain and wind, these Seven Cauldrons, which had once been the staunch supports of this magnificent dynasty,unched a brazen coup, bing the main catalysts for the overturning of the dynasty.

    Afterpletely wiping out the Illustrious Divine Dynasty, the Seven Cauldrons divided up thend, bing the Seven Kingdoms and ushering in the current Seven Kingdoms Era.

    Because of this, the Seven Kingdom¡¯s ruling sses were truly fit to be kings because the blood that flowed in their bodies was from a Deste Beast. They were only inferior to the bloodline of an Origin Beast.

    If not for this,moners wouldn¡¯t even have had a chance to overturn someone with the power of an Origin Beast Bloodline.

    Cloud Leopard never would have expected that Jiang Xishui actually had a Deste Beast Bloodline.

    Knowing that his surname was Jiang, he naturally couldn¡¯t be a descendant of the Lin n, so Cloud Leopard realized after a brief moment and yelled, ¡°So you¡¯re from Water Sheen!¡±

    Of the Seven Cauldrons ns, the Lin n¡¯s Lin Xianyu established Long Sang Country, and the Jiang n¡¯s Jiang Jingchao established Water Sheen Country and set the capital at Mengxiang. Their bloodline was the Prehistoric Beast Luo You.

    Luo You was an ancient Prehistoric Beast nearly a thousand kilometers long and extremely powerful. It could control all the water spirits under the sky and take on a variety of forms.

    In the year 8400 of the New Star Era, Luo You emerged from the depths of the sea and arrived in the center of the Primordial Continent. Because of howrge its body was, it caused a spectacr mess. A single one of its breaths was like a violent storm, causing the weather to change.

    Apparently, Luo You was quite mild, but because it was too powerful, it turned the center of the Primordial Continent into a marshy swamnd even though it had no intentions of doing so.

    To deal with Luo You, the Illustrious Divine Dynasty allied with the Sea Race and the Feathered Race to attack Luo You. The Illustrious Divine Dynasty¡¯s third emperor, Gu Tingxuan, led the attack personally and slew Luo You. Luo You¡¯s Bloodline was given to those who had made the greatest contributions. One of the seven brothers, Jiang Dingtao, who had almost died on the battlefield, received the bloodline.

    Because Luo You was toorge, Jiang Xishui¡¯s illusory bloodline image had no way to manifest its entire body. All that appeared was a single eye and a single breath.

    Even so, this single eye and breath carried a shocking amount of power. Cloud Leopard couldn¡¯t possibly fathom how frightening this would have been if it were the real Luo You.

    He also further realized just how long and arduous of a path that Su Chen was embarking on.

    Even though this path was arduous and difficult, he had never given up.

    After falling through the air, Su Chen felt a sickly-sweet taste in his mouth. He spit out a mouthful of blood.

    ¡°Brother Su!¡± Jiang Xishui was about to rush over.

    Su Chen raised his hand. ¡°I don¡¯t need you to help me up!¡±

    He stared at Jiang Xishui, excitement in his eyes. ¡°Is this the power of a Deste Beast? Good, it truly is powerful! Who knows how many more times powerful than a Demonic Emperor Bloodline it is!¡±

    Su Chen had exchanged blows with Tang Ming before. The two of them were basically on par in terms of strength.

    Even though Su Chen had used the Shadow me Giant, he hadn¡¯t been able to defeat Tang Ming. The power of a Demonic Emperor Bloodline was obvious.

    Of course, as someone without a bloodline, fighting evenly with someone with a Demonic Emperor Bloodline was something that would stun countless people. It was even more astounding than Su Chen¡¯s being able to defeat a Yang Opening Realm cultivator.

    When facing Jiang Xishui, however, and the appearance of Luo You, Su Chen discovered that he had absolutely no way of defending himself.

    The difference between the two of them was like that of a Light Shaking Realm existence and him.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t strange. The difference between a Deste Beast and a Demonic Beast is substantial,¡± Ji Hanyan said as she stood up.

    Her wounds were a bit lighter than Su Chen¡¯s not because she was more powerful than him but because Jiang Xishui had instinctively tried to protect her, unwilling to harm her more than necessary.

    Origin Beasts, Deste Beasts, Demonic Beasts, and Vicious Beasts were the four tiers of the Beast Race. Even though Demonic Emperors were powerful, they were only mid-tier existences amongst all of the beasts and were a whole tier lower than a Prehistoric Beast.

    What Jiang Xishui was disying wasn¡¯t even one thousandth of a Prehistoric Beast¡¯s true strength, but it was already enough to allow him to act as he pleased in Clear River City.

    This was the power of a high-tier bloodline.

    When faced with such power, however, Su Chen didn¡¯t back up. He said with increasing excitement, ¡°Brother Jiang, there¡¯s something that I¡¯ll need your help with.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Jiang Xishui hadn¡¯t reacted yet.

    ¡°Borrow your blood!¡± Ji Hanyan and Cloud Leopard both said simultaneously before bursting out inughter.

    Jiang Xishui was stunned. He suddenly remembered Su Chen¡¯s notorious reputation ¨C in the Hidden Dragon Institute, he had basically taken everyone¡¯s blood at one point or another.

    He couldn¡¯t help butugh bitterly, ¡°What use will it be to you even if you do take it? You won¡¯t be able to obtain any results.¡±

    This blow hit Su Chen right where it hurt.

    Even though Su Chen had made many advancements with the Hemolytic Totem, his research of bloodlines hadn¡¯t advanced very much. Even though he had created powerful Origin Skills like the Shadow me Giant, he hadn¡¯t developed these through his research of bloodlines but rather bybining the Origin Substances in the ck stones with his Origin Energy.

    Even though he had been provoked by Jiang Xishui, Su Chen didn¡¯t be upset. Heughed, ¡°Research is just like sowing seeds all over the ce. You don¡¯t know when a seed that you sowed will suddenly sprout, grow, and bear fruit. But one thing is for sure ¨C if you don¡¯t sow anything and don¡¯t experience those failures, you won¡¯t achieve anything great.¡±

    ¡°Alright then, it¡¯s just a vial of blood anyways. If you want it, you can have it. But what I requested......¡± Jiang Xishui drew out his words.

    Su Chen lifted two fingers. ¡°Two kinds. You¡¯ll be happy with them for sure.¡±

    Jiang Xishui had requested that he create a new powerful Origin Skill for Ji Hanyan and had even thrown in a vial of his blood as part of the bargain, so Su Chen very generously agreed to help design two special Origin Skills for Ji Hanyan.

    Since he had already roped Jiang Xishui into his own camp, it would be difficult to justify not giving him any additional benefits.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 88: Breakthrough

    Chapter 88: Breakthrough

    After obtaining Jiang Xishui, Su Chen once again immersed himself into his researchb.

    This time, he went in for thirty days.

    During these thirty days, he spent almost all his time researching and basically didn¡¯t eat or drink. He relied totally on the powerful physique of an Origin Qi Schr and expended countless resources. Thankfully, Clear River City was already a ce of production for resources; thankfully, Su Chen had a resource vige that belonged to himself; and thankfully, Su Chen had enough money. Otherwise, these thirty days of research would have been enough to bankrupt some smaller nspletely.

    ¡°Three drops of Blood Boiling Solvent.¡±

    Within the researchb, Su Chen¡¯s voice was a bit hoarse, but it was still clear and distinct and full of self-confidence.

    His hands began to cup together, a red liquid suspended between the palms of his hands. It looked just like a red ball as it rotated stably in the air under the control of Su Chen¡¯s Origin Energy.

    Iron Cliff carefully inserted a pipette and dropped three drops of blue liquid into the ball of red liquid.

    As the Blood Boiling Solvent was dropped in, the red liquid began to boil and bubble violently just like boiling water.

    ¡°Keep it stable!¡± Su Chen¡¯s voice was tinged with concern. ¡°Add a bit more red saltpeter, but not too much!¡±

    Iron Cliff grabbed a pinch of red saltpeter powder from the nearby table. His lunky, unwieldy hands were surprisingly agile and familiar when performing these motions. Evidently, he had practiced this many times before.

    Su Chen constantly issuedmands, and Iron Cliff followed his instructions, constantly mixing in all kinds of medicinal ingredients to the ball of liquid. The boiling medicine continued to churn in midair as a formless pair of hands continued to press and shape it, causing its form to constantly twist and turn.

    Finally, after a long period of time, this boiling ball of medicinal liquid calmed down.

    At this time, it was no longer red but a silvery-white color. Under Su Chen¡¯s Origin Energy control, it floated in midair calmly like a sphere of metal.

    ¡°We¡¯ve seeded.¡± A trace of worry could be heard in Su Chen¡¯s voice. ¡°Bring the Stainless zed Ceramic Cup over here.¡±

    Iron Cliff pulled out a colorless ceramic cup with a gold-and-purple base.

    This cup wasn¡¯t just any ordinary cup. It was a utility-type Origin Tool. Even though it was useless in battle, the formations contained inside it could purify anything and make it spotless.

    Su Chen had extremely high requirements for the spotlessness of this silver medicinal ball in his hands. For this, Su Chen was forced to use Origin Energy to separate it from contacting anything else outside ever since he had begun to create it. In addition, he had to constantly sense and observe the internal changes taking ce, resulting in the unique medicinal concoction process that had just taken ce.

    When the silver-colored ball of medicine was ced in the Stainless zed Ceramic Cup, Su Chen let out a sigh. His entire body seemed to sag.

    Refining this medicine was like a big battle for him.

    ¡°Sess,¡± he sighed.

    ¡°We¡¯ve finally seeded,¡± Iron Cliff sight. ¡°This really wasn¡¯t easy.¡±

    He was extremely clear about how much effort Su Chen had spent in the past thirty days to achieve this.

    ¡°Yes, it really wasn¡¯t easy. Who knew that I would reach a breakthrough in my research of bloodlines in a manner such as this?¡± Su Chen replied with a slight smile.

    Miracles were always created spontaneously.

    Perhaps this was the Heavens rewarding the diligent, or perhaps even the Heavens could no longer stand to watch Su Chen fail again and again in his study of bloodlines year after year and had finally given him an opportunity.

    This opportunity was entirely because of a happenstance.

    While Su Chen had been researching Jiang Xishui¡¯s bloodline, Iron Cliff had identally knocked another vial of medicine over ¨C a vial containing Tang Ming¡¯s Demonic Emperor Bloodline ¨C causing it to mix with a medicine that contained Jiang Xishui¡¯s bloodline.

    Both of those medicines should have been totally ruined by this.

    Prompted by sudden impulse, he had nced at it using his microscopic eye out of habit.

    This simple nce, however, allowed him to discover a new and strange world.

    He discovered that after Tang Ming¡¯s Bloodline Medicine and Jiang Xishui¡¯s Bloodline Medicinebined, they reacted in a unique way.

    The two Origin Substancesbined and became a new intermediate substance, an all-new substance that contained immense untapped power.

    Su Chen was totally shocked and captivated by his discovery. He began to research thebination of these two kinds of bloodlines.

    Unexpectedly, he was able to discover a few new paths.

    Perhaps because both peoples¡¯ bloodlines were water-type, theirbination rate was extremely high. Most importantly, the new substance created by this type of mixing wasrger in size, making it easier to observe and manipte.

    Su Chen was very quickly able to control this new substance. In only thirty days, he had developed a new kind of medicine.

    Su Chen called it the ¡°Preliminary Primordial Blood Medicine.¡±

    The ¡°Primordial¡± here wasn¡¯t referring to Origin Beasts1, but rather the development of a preliminary bloodline that was a pure, unmixed bloodline belonging to humans alone.

    One could say that, with this Preliminary Primordial Blood Medicine, Su Chen had made the first giant leap of progress in his research on bloodlines. Luck always appeared when a person wasn¡¯t paying attention; often, it would deal a blow that would knock them silly.

    ¡°Drinking this medicine is like using a Blood Spirit Medicine, and it should give you the power of a bloodline. Unlike a bloodline, however, it doesn¡¯t give its user the ability to charge into higher cultivation realms, but it does still have its own advantages. Because it¡¯s not a bloodline, you can still use the Blood Spirit Medicine along with it, or any other medicines like it...... It won¡¯t ever restrict your ascension, but it will give you unlimited potential and powerful strength.¡±

    ¡°This is a grand invention!¡± Iron Cliff said with excitement.

    ¡°We still need to test it.¡± Su Chen picked up the ceramic cup. ¡°How about it? What to be the first person to try it out?¡±

    Iron Cliff smiled widely, ¡°That would be Iron Cliff¡¯s supreme honor!¡±

    He received the ceramic cup, then poured the silver medicinal ball into his mouth.

    The surging medicinal power spread its way through Iron Cliff¡¯s body. Iron Cliff grunted with pain, his expression contorted with pain. Evidently, this medicine not only brought power with it, but also the immense pain that came with reshaping a person¡¯s physical body.

    However, the Cliff Race were always tough and resilient. No matter how much it hurt, they could silently endure.

    Iron Cliffid on the ground, not making any big movements. Only his constantly rising and falling chest and the sweat that drenched his forehead showed that he was experiencing physical sufferings.

    Su Chen took advantage of the opportunity to inspect his body. He activated his microscopic eye to its maximum extent along with his vision pration technique, inspecting the changes in Iron Cliff¡¯s body. Every so often, he would jab out with his finger, dispersing the medicinal power and improving the medicine¡¯s efficiency. This would increase the medicinal effect, increasing the pain that Iron Cliff would experience, but neither Su Chen nor Iron Cliff considered this much of a price.

    If you wanted to aplish things that could stand the test of time, you needed to be willing to bravely put it all on the line. What was the point if he couldn¡¯t even stand this little bit of pain?

    Finally, after a period of suffering and torment, Iron Cliff¡¯s body began to calm down.

    At this point, the medicinal power had saturated his entire body. At a nce, Iron Cliff¡¯s body hadn¡¯t changed much, but upon closer inspection it was obvious that his aura was different.

    A boundless vigor was currently lying dormant within Iron Cliff¡¯s body, as if a Prehistoric Beast were concealed within.

    At this moment, the beast was still in hibernation. If it was awakened, a frighteningly powerful energy would definitely explode forth.

    1. The character tranted ¡°Primordial¡± here is the same as the one found in Origin Beasts. I tranted it as ¡°Primordial¡± here because I have an inkling that this may be the source of the title of the novel(!!), but who knows.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 89: Setting Up Shop

    Chapter 89: Setting Up Shop

    Three dayster, Su Chen finally stepped out of the researchb.

    When he saw Su Chen appear, Li Shu hurried over and said, ¡°Young Master has finallye out.¡±

    ¡°Has anything happened recently?¡± Su Chen asked as he used a grooming technique to clean off the filth on his body.

    ¡°Vice Commander Ji and Cloud Leopard both came to find you, but not for any important reasons. The Origin Bureau has been quite peaceful as well; a few smallmotions came up, but Cloud Leopard took care of them. Everyone knows now that the Secret Task Force supports Young Master. Their influence is great enough that even the Bloodline Nobility ns are apprehensive......¡±

    ¡°Pick what¡¯s important to tell me,¡± Su Chen began to take care of his fingernails and hair after using the grooming technique.

    ¡°Shen Yuanhong returned a few days ago.¡±

    ¡°Oh? He didn¡¯t die?¡± Su Chen arched his eyebrow. ¡°What a pity.

    Even though he hadn¡¯t held much hope about it in the first ce, the Shen n¡¯s old man not being killed made Su Chen a bit disappointed.

    ¡°He didn¡¯t die, but he should have been injured quite seriously. As soon as he returned, they announced that he was going behind closed doors.¡±

    ¡°Announced that he was going behind closed doors?¡± Su Chen paused for a moment. ¡°Did they announce that publicly?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Then it¡¯s no use. That shows that his wounds aren¡¯t that serious; he¡¯s just setting up a trap. Anyone who dares attack at this moment in time will only be seeking death.¡±

    Li Shu was stunned for a moment before he recovered. ¡°Young Master truly is perceptive! This war tactic is called feigning weakness in front of an enemy!¡±

    ¡°Ah, forget about it. Fighting against a mussel is always a matter of luck; if you can¡¯t make it as the fisherman, there¡¯s nothing you can do about it,¡± Su Chen said indifferently. ¡°How are things on the waterways?¡±

    ¡°Prince Jiang already went to Lingyuan Marsh, and the Third River Army has begun to reestablish themselves and unify the various forces there. A few days ago, I heard the wiped out an alliance of three groups of pirates, causing their influence to swell. If this continues to go on, there really might be a few Light Shaking Realm cultivators who get drawn out.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s alright. He has a Prehistoric Beast Bloodline; even if they¡¯re a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, Jiang Xishui might be okay as long as they don¡¯t have a lord-ss bloodline or higher. In addition, given his identity, there might not be many people who dare kill him even if he loses.¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t seem worried at all.

    ¡°There¡¯s one more matter......¡± Li Shu hesitated as he hemmed and hawed.

    Su Chen nced at him strangely. ¡°If there¡¯s something, just tell me.¡±

    Li Shu said, ¡°We don¡¯t have much money left.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t have much left?¡± Su Chen was taken aback. ¡°How much do we have left?¡±

    ¡°Below three million.¡±

    ¡°Only below three million?¡± Su Chen muttered.

    Previously, Su Chen had earned forty million almost instantaneously when selling Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven, followed by asional bursts of ie. But Su Chen spent the money just as fast as he earned it; every experiment often used thousands if not tens of thousands of Origin Stones. Given that he only spent money and didn¡¯t spend much time earning it, every month his stores would decline.

    The ridiculous rate at which his strength had advanced these past seven or eight years had been achieved basically by burning money.

    Even the descendants of a Demonic Emperor Bloodline Nobility n or even the imperial family wouldn¡¯t spend money like this when cultivating.

    The remaining three million or so Origin Stones were entirely the result of Li Shu¡¯s tireless maintenance.

    When he saw that Su Chen¡¯s expression was a bit unpleasant, Li Shu hurriedly said, ¡°I swear on my life that I did not pocket any of it for myself.¡±

    When Su Chen saw him like this, heughed, ¡°I know, I know, I¡¯m not suspecting you. I¡¯m just a bit regretful that I¡¯ll have to rein in my experiments in the future, and my progress will probably slow to a crawl as well. Perhaps it is time to start thinking about how to earn some money.¡±

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then said, ¡°Tell Jiang Xishui to make a few more raids in theing days and seize all of the Clear River Bloodline Nobility ns¡¯ goods for me. He doesn¡¯t need to send them to Jadeheart Ind and sell them for low prices anymore; he can just give them to me, and I¡¯ll deal with them.¡±

    ¡°How are you going to handle all these goods?¡± Li Shu asked.

    ¡°Of course I¡¯ll be setting up a shop. Later you should go and take a look at the streets and find a few aesthetic storefronts,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Right, we should open up a few medicinal stores as well.¡±

    Relying on Jiang Xishui¡¯s blood was evidently not enough. Su Chen nned on using some of his own creations as supplements ¨C it was time for him to make some medicine to sell.

    At this point, he was already a Distinguished alchemist, only one step below bing a master. An alchemist like him was already extremely valuable in the outside world. People who had reached this level yet hadn¡¯t plied their trade for some cash were probably quite rare.

    When he heard Su Chen say that, Li Shu reminded him, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, we¡¯ll be at oods with those Bloodline Nobility ns again.¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°Yes, we¡¯ll be at odds with them again. But what choice do we have? Who told those Bloodline Nobility ns to stretch their hands that far? They¡¯ve monopolized everything, from the raw source of resources in West River Forest to the waterway transports on Lingyuan Marsh to the storefronts themselves in Clear River City. If I¡¯ve bitten off a chunk of meat in West River Forest and a leg in Lingyuan Marsh, it¡¯s about time for me to face off with them in Clear River City itself as well.¡±

    ¡°West River Forest and Lingyuan Marsh are both a distance aways and arergely beyond their influence, but the stores in Clear River City are extremely close. If we provoke them here, their forces will be extremely close by,¡± Li Shu reminded him.

    Su Chen smiled slightly, ¡°There¡¯s some danger to that, but that can also be beneficial to us. Just go and do it; if anything happens, I¡¯ll take care of it.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    Li Shu was a talented steward. He would provide reminders or even outright object if necessary, but when his master made his decision, he would do his best regardless of whether he thought it was right or wrong.

    After Li Shu left to take care of hismission, a number of stores quickly sprouted up in Clear River City, including one medicinal store and one treasure pavilion. They mainly sold a few medicines that Su Chen had concocted and the Origin Tools that he had seized, all while acquiring a few treasures.

    To avoid any unnecessary problems ¨C or, in other words, to earn some money peacefully for a few days, Li Shu didn¡¯t add on Su Chen¡¯s name to the business.

    Every store was under a different name. Even the invited storekeeps had no idea that the truendlord was the Origin Bureau¡¯s Knowledge Executor Su.

    The businesses opened up in a low-key and quiet manner, beginning to do business peacefully and silently amassing arge quantity of money.

    At the same time, the Third River Army, under themand of Jiang Xishui, began to plunder the Clear River Nobility ns¡¯ fleet like mad. The Third River Army had always carefully controlled their actions to avoid the wrath of the Bloodline Nobility ns and would normally only go out once every month or so. This time, however, they set out three times in three days, robbing the Clear River City Bloodline Nobility ns¡¯ fleets and seizingrge amounts of goods.

    These goods were all sent to Su Chen through the Long Clear Gang, bringing a ton of resources to Li Shu¡¯s business.

    Three of the fleets heading to Clear River City had been robbed in quick session, immediately creating a deficit in the supply of products. The shops all began to increase their prices, causing turmoil and anxiety among the people. Thankfully, there were a few stores that continued to sell goods at the normal price, attracting many more customers and increasing their renown for a short period of time.

    The end result was that those businesses were suddenly being noticed.

    On this day, Li Shu was in the ¡°Peaceful Prosperous Shop¡± asking about the circumstances of the business. This was a store that primarily sold misceneous goods. Even though the goods themselves weren¡¯t worth that much, they made up for it in terms of quantity. Every day, arge number of guests woulde over.

    Just as they were speaking, a few gangster-looking youths swaggered into the store.

    The youth at the front yelled in a loud voice, ¡°Where¡¯s the steward of this ce at?¡±

    The storekeep that Li Shu had invited said, ¡°My name is Zhang Liu, and I¡¯m the storekeep of this ce. Is there something you would like?¡±

    The youth pulled back his robe, revealing a massive tattoo of a tiger head and said, ¡°Nothing much, we just wanted to tell you that from this day onwards, this shop of yours is under the protection of the Evil Tiger Gang. From this month onwards, pay us a thousand taels of gold and we¡¯ll make sure that nothing happens to your store.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 90: Slaughtering the Tiger 1

    Chapter 90: ughtering the Tiger (1)

    ¡°Bang, bang, bang, bang!¡±

    The sound of muffled blows echoed through the alleyway.

    After a brief moment, Zhou Hong stopped and said, ¡°I got it out of them. They are from the Evil Tiger Gang, but they¡¯re just doing a routine shakedown. They don¡¯t actually know who owns this shop.¡±

    Li Shuughed coldly, ¡°The big shots haven¡¯t even showed up yet, but the small fry are already at our door.¡±

    ¡°Once we take care of these guys, more small fry will show up very soon,¡± Zhou Hong said.

    ¡°Let Young Master know. He¡¯ll have something nned.¡±

    Not long afterwards, Su Chen¡¯s n arrived ¨C he had sent Iron Cliff.

    This made feel a bit at a loss for words.

    Even though the Evil Tiger Gang was only a second-rate gang in Clear River City, they still had a few experts amongst their ranks. No matter how strong Iron Cliff was, he was still just in the Blood Boiling Realm; fighting off that many people might still be a stretch for him.

    Even if you didn¡¯t send some people from the Origin Bureau, why not send some of the Shadow Servants?

    Su Chen, however, had dismissed him with a simple ¡°He¡¯ll be enough.¡±

    Li Shu could only clench his teeth and endure helplessly.

    Night came.

    An ominous calm had taken over the streets.

    Most of the shops had shut down for the day. Only the Peaceful Prosperous Shop remained open, thenterns at the front of the store zing merrily away. The head shopkeep and a few assistants remained inside the store, trembling, while Zhou Hong and Iron Cliff sat waiting outside. Iron Cliff¡¯s strength didn¡¯t need to be mentioned, and Zhou Hong was also already a Qi Drawing Realm cultivator with a certain measure of strength. He had already made ns to fight to the death once Iron Cliff couldn¡¯t hold on anymore.

    The sound of footsteps could be heard closing in from the far end of the street. Countless figures exuding a killing intent stepped out of the shadows wielding sharp des in their hands and filling the whole alleyway.

    It had to be said that the criminal gangs here always acted this brazenly. With the support of the Bloodline Nobility ns, they would often fearlessly wander the streets and alleyways, using clubs and axes to force themoners to submit to them and hand over their hard-earned profits.

    Most of the time, this tactic was quite effective.

    Sometimes, however, they might wind up kicking a steel te.

    Iron Cliff stood in front of the Peaceful Prosperous Shop, watching the crowd as they advanced.

    A brief count revealed that there were more than a hundred of them, including a number of Origin Qi Schrs.

    In terms of scale, this was quite big.

    Iron Cliff still curled his lip disdainfully. Of course, he was not being overconfident, so he called out the metal-eating bug and ced it right in front of the door, blocking it offpletely. He said, ¡°Don¡¯t let anyone go in.¡±

    He scattered some iron powder on the ground for it to eat before turning around to face the group of people.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get him!¡± yelled an unknown individual in the crowd.

    The crowd burst out into frenzied yelling.

    The gang members surged forward.

    Iron Cliff cracked his neck but didn¡¯t make any other moves. It wasn¡¯t until the first person got within striking distance that he raised his fist and punched the criminal hard and fast. That person flew backwards through the air.

    More people charged forwards.

    Iron Cliff didn¡¯t attempt to dodge. He scoffed disdainfully, ¡°A bunch of trash.¡±

    Bang, bang, bang!

    A number of des fell on Iron Cliff¡¯s body, nging off as if they had struck a boulder.

    Iron Cliff swung his massive arm, toppling the group of people like dominoes into a pile.

    His massive fist mmed into the ground repeatedly as if his fist were a jackhammer. Boom, boom, boom!

    The massive shockwaves spread through the ground as the surface of the earth erupted.

    If the Cliff Race had any innate talents, it would be that they were slightly more sensitive to earth-type Origin Energy than any other type, allowing them to put on much more impressive disys in this manner.

    Iron Cliff hadn¡¯t learned many earth-type Origin Skills, but his control and understanding of earth-type energy allowed him to transmit his energy anywhere he wanted through the ground within a certain radius from him.

    Torrents of mud shot up from the ground, sending people everywhere flying.

    The surly and intrepid gang members were suddenly airborne. They began to yell in fright.

    ¡°Get out of my way!¡± Iron Cliff punched out again. The waves of energying off of his punch swept the people away, only leaving a few people there untouched.

    Criminals loved to conceal experts amongst theirmon gang members, using these martial artists as concealment tounch sneak attacks.

    The waves of energy, however, from Iron Cliff¡¯s attack were at least able to expose who were his real opponents even though he wasn¡¯t able to defeat all of the enemies with a single blow.

    The eyes of one of the criminals who was able to withstand the blow lit up. ¡°This guy does have some talent, but this amount of skill alone won¡¯t be enough!¡±

    As he spoke, a thick killing intent began to gather around him. A wave of blood-colored light began to surge from his body, revealing the aura of a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator. As this criminal revealed himself, the other gang members began to disy their true strength as well, but they were all Qi Drawing Realm cultivators.

    Iron Cliff shook his head. ¡°You should have sent more people here. But no worries; once I defeat you guys as well, the others wille.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re looking to die!¡± The Blood Boiling Realm cultivator¡¯s figure shed as he closed in. His speed was exceptionally quick. A short dagger was already shing toward Iron Cliff¡¯s midsection from an inconceivable angle. The other people also simultaneously attacked, their spear and de attacks intersecting.

    This was the Tiger Garrotte, abined attack technique developed by the Evil Tiger Gang. No matter how powerful you were, as long as you weren¡¯t an expert in the Yang Opening Realm, you would find this attack hard to deal with. All you would be able to do would be to retreat.

    And if you retreated, the Evil Tiger Gang¡¯s eighteen-attackbo would only continue to grow stronger, eventually wearing the opponent to death!

    Even if they weren¡¯t able to kill their opponent immediately, they could exhaust them and take turns attacking to grind their opponent to death.

    This was quite a useful technique that the Evil Tiger Gang often used to deal with powerful opponents whose cultivation bases weren¡¯t that high.

    When faced with Iron Cliff, however, it was totally ineffective.

    This was because Iron Cliff didn¡¯t attempt to dodge or retreat.

    Instead, he charged!

    His powerful muscles began to glow with a faint golden sheen, making him look almost like a metal statue as he charged at the group of opponents.

    When the des and spearsnded on his body, none of the attacks could prate his skin. Iron Cliff bulldozed his way forward, crashing into the Blood Boiling Realm cultivator in the lead. That Blood Boiling Realm cultivator felt as if he had been hit by a Prehistoric Beast as blood flew everywhere.

    If the Tiger Garrotte was dealt with in a single blow, the oue of the rest of the battle could be easily anticipated.

    Iron Cliff casually broke the hands and feet of the gang members as if they were rotten wood, then tossed them on the ground. He didn¡¯t leave, because he knew that very quickly more members of the Evil Tiger Gang would arrive.

    The street was filled with the piteous cries and howls of the Evil Tiger Gang. From time to time, people living in the nearby buildings would poke their heads out to take a look before quickly going back inside.

    ¡°Let me see, let me see!¡±

    The Peaceful Prosperous Shop¡¯s assistants were probably the most excited. They fought each other to be the first to get out the front door and were in extremely high spirits.

    Only the old shopkeep sighed, ¡°Aiya, you attacked both the subordinates and some of their higher-ups. This n has a lot of people and influence, but our grudge with them is only bing deeper and deeper. How could this end well?¡±

    Zhou Hong was sitting to the side, ying around with the metal-eating bug as heughed, ¡°Shopkeep Zhang, just wait and watch. Don¡¯t worry; you won¡¯t be hurt at all.

    They didn¡¯t have to wait long.

    Shortly after, a few more people appeared in the alleyway.

    This time, there weren¡¯t too many people ¨C only five or six hade.

    At the very front was a brawny, de-wielding man.

    He walked over and sped his hands. ¡°I don¡¯t know who this esteemed sir is. My underlings were ignorant......¡±

    Iron Cliff raised his hand. ¡°You want to say that your underlings were ignorant and that it was their fault, but I also need to pay a price for wounding so many of your subordinates. If I am willing to pay reparations and apologize, we can forget about the matter, right?¡±

    That person was stunned. How did this guy know what he wanted to say?

    Iron Cliffughed, ¡°You guys all like to y this game. Let¡¯s not waste our time talking; since you¡¯vee here, you might as well stay.

    A massive shadow appeared behind him.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 91: Slaughtering the Tiger 2

    Chapter 91: ughtering the Tiger (2)

    As the boss of the Evil Tiger Gang, Jin Zhongyi wasn¡¯t as impulsive as the image of his gang might suggest.

    He was very clear that the world was very big and experts were everywhere. He himself was a Yang Opening Realm expert, yet there were a bunch of people in Clear River City alone that could wipe him out.

    As such, Jin Zhongyi could always stretch or pull back. He was savage, but also had the capacity to make decisions.

    Because of this, Jin Zhongyi was never above talking things out.

    Unexpectedly, his opponent wasn¡¯t willing to listen to reason and attacked immediately, both shocking and infuriating Jin Zhongyi. Dammit, who exactly was the criminal? Howe this brawny guy is even more unreasonable than we are?

    Even as he was infuriated, however, he prepared himself for battle.

    A ck tiger afterimage appeared behind him ¨C the ck me Tiger.

    Unlike other gang leaders, who had mixed bloodlines, Jin Zhongyi¡¯s bloodline was pure. He was one of the members of the ck me Tiger n. He had raped and murdered his older brother¡¯s wife before leaving his n, forcing him to flee ande to Clear River City to setup the Evil Tiger Gang. Even until now, he was still wanted for his crimes by his n.

    His ck me Tiger Bloodline was unadulterated, and he himself was quite strong. However, because of his inherent narrow-mindedness, distrust, and greediness, as well as hisck of strong subordinates, the Evil Tiger Gang had never grown that strong. However, in terms of personal strength, he was quite a bit stronger than the Li Yue of the Long Clear Gang.

    ¡°ck ming Heavenly Fist!¡± Jin Zhongyi howled with anger. ck mes shot forth, leaving behind ashes in their wake.

    Iron Cliff cracked a smile. ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem that bad.¡±

    When faced with these blustering mes, Iron Cliff calmly raised his hand.

    Up until now, he had been relying on his powerful physical body to fight, like a pure martial artist.

    This time, however, something was different.

    As Iron Cliff raised his hand, the illusory image behind him grewrger andrger and his aura grew stronger and stronger. Blood-colored smoke and fog began to pour out from within his body.

    This blood-colored fog seeped out from the cracks in Iron Cliff¡¯s skin, making it look as if Iron Cliff¡¯s entire body were lit on fire. After seeping out, they concentrated in Iron Cliff¡¯s hand, turning into a massive scarlet maw.

    ¡°This is?¡± Jin Zhongyi was stunned.

    The massive mouth made out of the bloody fog opened wide. Jin Zhongyi¡¯s ck mes had just arrived; that massive mouth swallowed Jin Zhongyi¡¯s ck mes in a single gulp, not even leaving behind any sparks for Jin Zhongyi. Then, the blood-colored fog roiled for a moment, after which it became clear that the ck mes had beenpletely put out.

    ¡°How is this possible?¡± Jin Zhongyi yelled.

    That scarlet maw actually belched after swallowing the ck mes, then slowly dissipated back into red fog that circled around Iron Cliff¡¯s right arm and assuming physical substance. It looked incredibly thick and dense.

    ¡°If you¡¯ve finished, it¡¯s my turn now,¡± Iron Cliffughed. He raised his right arm in the air and punched out.

    The red fog gathered around his right hand shot out in the form of a python, hissing as it advanced.

    Jin Zhongyi felt a chill down his spine as he retreated at full speed and yelled, ¡°Attack! You idiots, what are you standing there watching for? Attack together and finish him off!¡±

    ¡°Hiss!¡± The python descended from the skies as the red fog that made up its body suddenly rearranged into the shape of countless red arrows that shot forwards.

    If Jiang Xishui was present, he would definitely be able to tell that this was the transformation capabilities of his Luo You ¨C Divine Water Spirit.

    Luo You was a water-type beast and could control water to make it assume any form. The Divine Water Spirit was the nucleus of these transformations. As such, Jiang Xishui only needed a single Divine Water Spirit to use countless water-type Origin Skills.

    But there was no water present here; Iron Cliff had used the bloody fog as arrows instead.

    The medicine he had ingested was made from abination of the bloodlines of Luo You and the Sea-Imprisoned Magic Cloud Beast. The Sea-Imprisoned Magic Cloud Beast was also a water-type beast, but it was even more skilled at controlling fog, using these finer particles to obtain victory.

    Iron Cliff wasn¡¯t good at fighting on water, and there was no water nearby. However, his blood Qi was very abundant, so Su Chen had told him to turn his blood into fog, then use the Divine Water Spirit¡¯s way of fighting tobine the unique attributes of those two bloodlines. This created the extremely powerful Origin Skill known as ¡°Blood Fiend Constetion¡±.

    The red fog arrows made from Iron Cliff¡¯s own blood essence and Origin Energy were much more powerful than arrows formed by any regr water-type Origin Skill.

    The arrows whooshed forward, impaling a number of the Evil Tiger Gang¡¯s Origin Qi Schrs.

    Even though they had prepared defensive countermeasures in advance, the blood-colored arrows let out sizzling sounds upon impacting the barriers as they began to degrade the barriers.

    Those barriers decayed under the hail of arrows at a rate that could be seen by the naked eye.

    Iron Cliff simultaneously howled, wing out with a single hand. Bloody fog emanated from his body again and began to congeal, turning into a massive fist that soared through the air.

    Even though it looked like it was just amon long-distance Origin Skill, it carried the same force as an all-out punch from Iron Cliff because it was made of his blood essence. It mmed into Jin Zhongyi, whose body shed with light as the barrier he had erected waspletely demolished.

    ¡°Flowing Golden Bell!¡± Jin Zhongyi loudly.

    As implied by the name, the image of a massive golden bell surrounded his body, forcefully blocking the blow.

    ¡°Not bad!¡± Iron Cliffughed as he retracted his arm.

    The blood-colored fog reformed around Iron Cliff again, turning into countless fists that soared forwards again.

    ¡°I want to see just how many fists you¡¯re able to defend against!¡± Iron Cliff yelled. The fists began to rain down on Jin Zhongyi.

    Jin Zhongyi was badly startled.

    If a single fist was already that powerful, how was he going to handle so many simultaneously?

    He no longer hesitated and attempted to flee, but Iron Cliff harrumphed, ¡°You¡¯d better stay behind.¡±

    A streak of red fog turned into a piece of rope that snaked its way around Jin Zhongyi¡¯s leg and jerked backwards, sending him flying in Iron Cliff¡¯s direction.

    The powerful fists made of bloody fog mmed into him, causing him to howl with pain.

    Even though the Flowing Golden Clock was a high-tier defensive Origin Skill, it had no way of enduring Iron Cliff¡¯s frightening offensive power.

    Finally, it shattered with a bang.

    Just as the Flowing Golden Bell was prated, energy suddenly exploded from Jin Zhongyi¡¯s body. The roar of a tiger could be heard as ck mes surged forward again. ¡°Die! Tiger¡¯s Roar Fists!¡±

    A heavy fist struck out!

    The red fog adapted, turning into a massive barrier that shielded Iron Cliff.

    This was the first time that Iron Cliff had used a defensive-type skill.

    The Yang Opening Realm was still the Yang Opening Realm. With his weaker cultivation base, how could Iron Cliff hope to kill him that easily?

    Jin Zhongyi howled madly, ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid of him! Even though he¡¯s powerful, the price he pays is that he consumes his own body¡¯s blood essence! There¡¯s no way he¡¯ll be able tost for long!¡±

    He really was a seasoned veteran. Even though Iron Cliff¡¯s initial assault had left him reeling, he was still able to quickly determine the crux of the issue.

    Yes, even though Iron Cliff¡¯s Blood Fiend Constetion was powerful, he was still expending blood Qi. Every attack was weakening himself. When he had expended his blood Qi to the point that he could no longer defeat his opponents, the one who would be defeated would be Iron Cliff.

    Jin Zhongyi was confident that he could hold onto until then.

    How much blood Qi could a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator have?

    The number of people in Clear River City at the Blood Boiling Realm that could defeat a Yang Opening Realm expert were few in number.

    And his opponent wasn¡¯t any of these people!

    In addition, he himself did not have a mixed bloodline. A Blood Boiling Realm cultivator defeating a pure-blooded Yang Opening Realm was unheard of in Clear River City!

    Furthermore, he also had underlings helping him!

    As such, Jin Zhongyi firmly believed that with so many reasons on his side, he would ultimately emerge victorious.

    At this moment, he activated his strength to its maximum extent, the ck mes burning ever more intensely. Ignoring his consumption rate, he also bolstered his Flowing Golden Bell. His underlings followed his example and also began to attack with all their might.

    Boom, boom, boom!

    The furious assault and the ensuing explosions lit up the night sky of Clear River City.

    Of course, the people from the Origin Bureau had already received orders and wouldn¡¯te over to interfere.

    The battle had reached its climax at this moment. Even Iron Cliff was forced to use the red fog multiple times in a row to protect himself.

    Even so, following that indiscriminate bombing, the Flowing Golden Bell began to lose power. He discovered that Iron Cliff was still standing there, full of vitality. Red fog continued to seep out from his body constantly and without end.

    He coldly stared at his opponents. The fists made of the bloody fog reappeared, attacking with great force and wiping out the Origin Qi Schrs with Jin Zhongyi. Only Jin Zhongyi himself remained, barely holding on for dear life.

    ¡°How could this be? Are you not expending your own blood essence? I experienced it for myself ¨C this fog is made from blood essence, so why is this? Why have you expended so much blood essence yet you still can fight?¡± Jin Zhongyi was about to go crazy.

    Bang!

    The Flowing Golden Bell was once again shattered.

    Iron Cliff raised his hand. The bloody fog turned into a massive hand that wrapped around Jin Zhongyi¡¯s throat. ¡°You didn¡¯t experience wrongly. The Blood Fiend Constetion does expend blood Qi, but I¡¯m afraid I have an Origin Skill that burns off fat to recover my physical condition.¡±

    ¡°Burn off fat to recover your physical condition?¡± Jin Zhongyi was stunned.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t just taught Devouring the Heavens to Wang Doushan. Iron Cliff had also cultivated it.

    Unlike Wang Doushan, however, who umted fat at a furious rate, Iron Cliff¡¯s food intake was limited. Iron Cliff considered himself as a bodyguard for his master and firmly believed that even though putting on weight would give him an extremely powerful vitality, he would lose his quick movement and his ability to effectively protect his master. If he wanted to be a good shield for his master, he couldn¡¯t allow himself to get too slow.

    As such, Iron Cliff had begun to control his food intake.

    This did not mean that he had no way of recovering, however; it was just that his body¡¯s fatposition was rtively smaller, so he wouldn¡¯t be able to recover as much.

    But for today¡¯s battle, his existing fat stores were already enough.

    ¡°Have...... have mercy,¡± Jin Zhongyi spoke with difficulty.

    ¡°My apologies. My master hopes to take care of the criminal situation in Clear River City a little as well.¡±

    He tightened his grip. Jin Zhongyi¡¯s neck had been crushed by him.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 92: Clues

    Chapter 92: Clues

    After killing Jin Zhongyi, Iron Cliff tossed the corpse aside. ¡°Take the alive ones away!¡±

    Not many people in the alleyway were standing. Those who could run had run a long time ago. Those who could not run were crawling on the ground and whimpering.

    Zhou Hong walked over and knocked them out one by one, then tossed them into the cart out back ¨C they were going to be turned into research subjects as per usual.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Su Chen needed topletely intimidate the criminal gangs, Jin Zhongyi might have already beenid out on Su Chen¡¯s research workbench. Furthermore, if he were lucky and an experiment werepleted, giving him some kind of additional abilities, he might even survive to be one of Su Chen¡¯s underlings.

    Unfortunately, these if¡¯s didn¡¯t matter in this world. Since Su Chen¡¯s n required that he be killed, then he didn¡¯t even have the right to be a research subject.

    Zhou Hong walked towards one of the wounded Origin Qi Schrs on the ground and was just about to reach out his hand to pick him up when Iron Cliff suddenly yelled, ¡°Get out of the way!¡±

    What?

    Zhou Hong was stunned and didn¡¯t react in time.

    Iron Cliff charged over, sending Zhou Hong flying with a shoulder. At the same time, the person in front of him pounced forward, a ck streak of light shooting forth from their de and mming into Iron Cliff¡¯s chest.

    Bang!

    Iron Cliff¡¯s heavy body was sent flying, blood sshing from the wound in his chest.

    The ambusher took advantage of the opportunity and leapt forward again. A dagger glinted underneath the moonlight.

    Iron Cliff punched out with his fist, the blood-colored fog congealing into a fist that shook the air nearby and boomed like the sound of thunder. The ambusher didn¡¯t dare take the blow head-on. He was able to evade, but he had also missed out on his opportunity to kill Iron Cliff. The next moment, even more blood-colored fog seeped out,pletely covering Iron Cliff. That person didn¡¯t seem to mind at all. He chuckled darkly, ¡°It seems you have some skill, but you¡¯ll still be dead in the end.¡± As he spoke, he silently disappeared into the darkness. Zhou Hong charged over in a hurry. ¡°Iron Cliff, are you alright?¡± Iron Cliff didn¡¯t say anything. He stared off into the darkness in front of him silently. He suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood. Zhou Hong saw something within that blood squirming around. A chill went up his spine. Iron Cliff¡¯s body began to weaken. ¡°There¡¯s poison in the wound. Take me to see master.¡± ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Within the Su Pce. Zhou Hong waited anxiously outside. The lights within the room flickered, reflecting the constantly fluctuating state of mind that he was in. Finally. The door creaked open. Su Chen walked out from inside, holding a vial within his hands. Within the vial was fresh, scarlet blood. ¡°Young Master, how is Iron Cliff?¡± Zhou Hong asked as he got close. ¡°He¡¯ll be fine. He just needs a bit of rest,¡± Su Chen wiped the blood on his hands as he replied. ¡°It was my inability that dragged down brother Iron Cliff!¡± Zhou Hong cried regretfully. ¡°This isn¡¯t your fault. You just aren¡¯t strong enough yet. If anyone is to me, it¡¯s me. You and Mingshu have both been following me for many years, but I have never really increased your strength,¡± Su Chen said. Zhou Hong hurriedly knelt and said, ¡°Young Master has taken care of me extremely well. How could this little one think so rashly!¡± ¡°Alright, let¡¯s not talk about this for now.¡± Su Chen waved his hand. ¡°I didn¡¯t increase your strength in the past firstly because my research hadn¡¯t reached a point that I was satisfied with it and secondly because I feel that you are my family members and didn¡¯t want you to participate in these dangerous expeditions. But in reality, danger is everywhere in this world. Keeping you behind me isn¡¯t going to be a solution anymore. Thankfully, I¡¯ve made some breakthroughs in my research of bloodlines this time. It is about time for you guys to get stronger.¡± Zhou Hong was both surprised and excited when he heard this. ¡°Before this, however, I need you to do something for me.¡± ¡°Young Master, just give the word!¡± ¡°Go and notify Ji Hanyan. Tell her¡­¡­ I¡¯ve found the person she was looking for. Let here as soon as possible,¡± Su Chen said as he inspected the vial in his hands. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Within the main hall of the Su Pce. ¡°What did you say? You found that Spirit Race individual?¡± Ji Hanyan stared intently at Su Chen. Su Chen continued to drink his tea nonchntly. ¡°Truthfully, I¡¯ve found a clue regarding the Spirit Race.¡± ¡°What clue?¡± Su Chen pulled out a vial of blood and ced it in front of Ji Hanyan. ¡°This is¡­¡­¡± Ji Hanyan didn¡¯t understand. ¡°This is Iron Cliff¡¯s blood. A bunch of gang members were making trouble in front of one of my shops and were dealt with by Iron Cliff. But after he took care of them, someone suddenly ambushed him. While I was curing him after the fact, I discovered that his blood contains a very unique substance. This kind of substance is very small and basically is invisible to the naked eye, but it has very distinct capabilities¡­¡­ Hm, let me just tell you in the simplest way possible. This kind of substance, when mixed with a few specific Origin Energy techniques, can be a curse.¡± ¡°Curse?¡± Ji Hanyan was stunned. ¡°Yes, curse. Coincidentally, I have seen this kind of curse before. Guess who used this before?¡± Su Chen smiled gently. Ji Hanyan had an epiphany. ¡°Wei Liancheng!¡± Su Chen nodded. ¡°More specifically, it¡¯s Long Shaoyou. Wei Liancheng put a curse in his body, and the substance that Wei Liancheng used is identical to the substance in this blood. As such, we can basically confirm that that person from the Evil Tiger Gang is also a puppet being controlled by the Spirit Race.¡± Ji Hanyan stood up immediately. ¡°He¡¯s in Clear River City!¡± ¡°I think so too,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Where is that guy from the Evil Tiger Gang right now?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve already sent the Shadow Servants to go find him. The main question is whether that guy is aware that he¡¯s been detected after making the attack, but I don¡¯t think that the possibility of him realizing is high. This kind of substance is very difficult to discover, and puppets are still just puppets in the end. The Spirit Race couldn¡¯t have possibly informed him about Wei Liancheng. As such¡­¡­¡± Su Chen hadn¡¯t finished his thought when his eyebrow suddenly twitched. A smile appeared on his face. ¡°They¡¯re back.¡± A person appeared out of thin air. It was the Shadow Servant Chang Er. He cupped his hands and bowed to Su Chen as he spoke, ¡°This little one greets Master. We have found the target.¡± ¡°Speak.¡± Chang Er said, ¡°This person is called Yu Wei. He¡¯s one of the small ringleaders within the Evil Tiger Gang. After wounding Iron Cliff, he returned to the Evil Tiger Gang. Right now Senior Brother Gui and the others are keeping a close eye on him.¡± ¡°He didn¡¯t try to escape?¡± Ji Hanyan¡¯s eyebrows jumped. Su Chen said, ¡°Most likely he doesn¡¯t realize yet that his identity has been revealed. Also, do you not think it¡¯s strange? Clear River City has so many people. Why would the Spirit Race choose such a low-status criminal to control?¡± Ji Hanyan replied, ¡°The Spirit Race¡¯s control over puppets has certain limitations. Not every person is a suitable target. ¡° ¡°But that doesn¡¯t mean that he¡¯s the only suitable one in all of Clear River City,¡± Su Chen said. If the restrictions over who the Spirit Race could control were too great, Wei Liancheng couldn¡¯t have possibly been controlled by the Spirit Race previously. ¡°Then you mean¡­¡­¡± ¡°The Spirit Race definitely has some ns for the Evil Tiger Gang.¡± ¡°What kind of n do you think Su Chen didn¡¯t reply. He turned around to ask Chang Er, ¡°What was the little ringleader doing?¡± ¡°He¡¯s responsible for guarding the storehouses.¡± ¡°Guarding the storehouses?¡± Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°This means that the Evil Tiger Gang has something that the Spirit Race wants.¡± ¡°That makes sense.¡± Ji Hanyan nodded. The Spirit Race didn¡¯t do things without a good reason to do it. Since they had chosen one of the Evil Tiger Gang¡¯s storehouse guards as a puppet, they most likely had some kind of ulterior motive they were trying to achieve. ¡°This puppet is still here, so they might not have been able to get what they¡¯re after yet¡­¡­ Not good!¡± Su Chen¡¯s expression suddenly changed. ¡°Iron Cliff killed the leader of the Evil Tiger Gang. Right now, the Evil Tiger Gang is definitely in turmoil. It¡¯s the perfect opportunity for them to steal something!¡± Ji Hanyan stood up immediately. ¡°Let¡¯s go to the Evil Tiger Gang immediately!¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 93: Discovery

    Chapter 93: Discovery

    Within the Evil Tiger Gang¡¯s main storehouses.

    Yu Wei carefully undid the restrictions. The Origin Formations Disk shone with a bright light.

    As this light began to spread like water, an invisible door on the main storehouse¡¯s walls silently opened.

    Yu Wei¡¯s face revealed an excited smile.

    The Evil Tiger Gang¡¯s main storehouse was guarded extremely tightly. Even if he was a storehouse guard, he couldn¡¯t possibly steal from the storehouses as he pleased. In reality, he was only responsible for the outer storehouses. The treasures within the interior storehouse were personally overseen by Jin Zhongyi.

    After Jin Zhongyi had been killed, the Evil Tiger Gang was thrown into chaos. The deputy leaders of the gang fought for power to try and take the leader position for themselves. However, because of Jin Zhongyi¡¯s narrow style, no Yang Opening Realm cultivators or above were admitted, so all the deputy leaders were all very close in cultivation base. In the end, no one submitted to anyone else, and they were still fighting it out within the main hall.

    This gave Yu Wei an opportunity to sneak in.

    Because he didn¡¯t have the authority to enter the interior storehouse, Yu Wei had to spend some effort to break through the restrictions.

    Once he opened the interior storehouse, Yu Wei entered.

    There weren¡¯t any gold, silver, or precious stones, but there were a few Origin Tools within. To Origin Qi Schrs, only things that were rted to their cultivation had any value.

    Apart from Origin Tools, there were a few precious cultivation ingredients and materials.

    For instance, an Origin Energy Medicine that could decrease cultivation time, precious ingredients and resources that could be used to strengthen different types of Origin Skills or a person¡¯s individual strength, etc.

    However, Yu Wei was totally uninterested in these things.

    He walked over to a small wooden chest on the side, carefully scanning the surroundings of the chest before carefully opening it and pulling out a ck crystal ball from inside.

    ¡°The Darkness Crystal is finally mine!¡± Yu Wei said with joy.

    He stowed the Darkness Crystal away and turned around to leave. Just as he was about to leave through the door, a ck dagger suddenly appeared in Yu Wei¡¯s hand as he shed the air in front of him.

    Whoosh!

    Blood sprayed through the air as a figure tumbled to the ground seemingly out of nowhere. It was Feng the Second of the four Shadow Servants. A long, deep wound was across his chest; if it weren¡¯t for his instantaneous reaction, this sh would have cut him in half. Even so, the wound wasn¡¯t light. He stared incredulously at his opponent. ¡°You...... how did you know?¡±

    As a Shadow Servant, this was the first time that he had been discovered by someone before even making a move.

    Yu Wei said disdainfully, ¡°Did your master not tell you? Unless you conceal yourself in the void, the temperature, heartbeat, breathing, and footsteps of a human can all reveal you. Concealment does not equal invincibility. Having only concealment techniques without the corresponding abilities makes you like a candle in the darkness to me.¡±

    As he spoke, he suddenly roared and turned around, shing his de around himself again.

    With a ¡°ng¡±, another person tumbled onto the ground. It was Gui Dashan.

    Gui Dashan had been known for his strength when he was a mountain bandit, but when faced with Yu Wei¡¯s de sh, he was as weak as a child and was sent flying. Because he had been prepared, he wasn¡¯t wounded, but he stared at Yu Wei in shock. ¡°How could this be possible? You¡¯re just in the Qi Drawing Realm cultivator!¡±

    ¡°Haha!¡± Yu Wei tilted his head back andughed. ¡°Hasn¡¯t your master defeated many Yang Opening Realm cultivators even though he¡¯s only in the Blood Boiling Realm? What? Is only your master allowed to jump tiers and not anyone else?¡±

    ¡°So you already know who we are?¡± Another person appeared. It was Li the Fourth.

    ¡°Bureau Head Su, isn¡¯t that right? Him and his Cliff Race servant. That¡¯s not any kind of secret,¡± Yu Wei replied.

    ¡°Master has been waiting for you to look for him for a long time, but you never came,¡± Jin the Fifth appeared and said. Since concealment wasn¡¯t going to fool their opponent, there was no point in remaining hidden.

    ¡°The Fate Box has already been opened and the consciousness energy has already been dispersed everywhere. What point is there in finding him? Anyways, telling him I would return was just a tactic to stall anyways so that your master wouldn¡¯t try to hunt me down. Unexpectedly, he was still able to find me.¡±

    Gui Dashan coldly harrumphed. ¡°It wasn¡¯t us looking for you but you looking to die yourself. The matter had already been resolved, and Master wouldn¡¯t havee looking for you specifically. But since you dared to wound Iron Cliff despite knowing that he was Master¡¯s servant, how could Master possibly let you get off easy?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s just a servant. If Su Chen wants another one, I can send him many more,¡± Yu Wei replied.

    Even though he was a Spirit Race puppet, his tone in speaking was like he was a high-status individual.

    Feng the Second said viciously, ¡°You¡¯ll still need to pay a price for this servant here.¡±

    ¡°Just by relying on you few?¡± Yu Wei stared at Gui Dashan and the others, totally unconcerned.

    In terms of cultivation base, Gui Dashan and Feng the Second were all at the peak of the Blood Boiling Realm, and Li the Fourth and Jin the Fifth were all at the peak of the Qi Drawing Realm. With Su Chen¡¯s adjustment and training, their strength had increased dramatically.

    Yu Wei, however, didn¡¯t seem to care. He only said, ¡°Four pieces of trash don¡¯t need to try and pretend to be something in front of me. If you don¡¯t want to die, get out of here. The treasures in this storehouse and those Origin Tools and precious ingredients can all be yours.¡±

    If it were the past, these words would have been enough to bribe the four of them.

    However, after following Su Chen for this past year, they all knew what kind of person Su Chen was and what kinds of tactics he employed. They were filled with faith concerning their future as well. They neither dared nor willed to betray him.

    Yu Wei¡¯s warning only resulted in the four of them unsheathing their weapons and charging in.

    ¡°Courting death!¡± A vicious light shed across Yu Wei¡¯s eyes. The ck dagger in his hands waved, creating a ck w made out of light.

    He was only in the Qi Drawing Realm, so his bloodline power was much more inferior to Gui Dashan¡¯s and the other¡¯s. However, this de strike was filled with unusual power.

    Gui Dashan felt a wave of dizziness wash over him, and his reaction was a bit slower. By the time he started to move in response, the de strike had already reached him.

    ¡°Eldest Brother, be careful!¡±

    Feng the Second flew in at this moment to save him, knocking him to the side and allowing him to barely avoid it.

    Feng the Second yelled, ¡°Everyone be careful. This guy has Soul Petrifying techniques that can drastically slow down our reactions. I was also hit by this earlier.¡±

    Yu Weiughed coldly, ¡°Is this something that being careful can protect you from?¡±

    He turned around and shed again, this time at Jin the Fifth.

    Just as he said, even though Jin the Fifth was prepared in his heart, his movements still slowed as the de strike headed for him. The stupor ced on his consciousness was extremely hard to resist. Li the Fourth charged out from the side, forcing Yu Wei to defend himself with his de, allowing Jin the Fifth to narrowly escape as well.

    Li the Fourth, however, was now in danger, and he was saved by Gui Dashan.

    This Yu Wei gave each person a de strike. His unassuming movements pressured the four of them into an extremely awkward predicament. They were totally reliant on their numbers to save and support each other as they desperately hung on.

    Two Blood Boiling Realm cultivators and two Qi Drawing Realm cultivators, even with the support of the Hemolytic Totem, found it extremely difficult to fight a Qi Drawing Realm cultivator. The shock in their hearts made them retract their earlier underestimation of their opponents as they hung on with great difficulty.

    Yu Wei frowned. ¡°You clearly aren¡¯t my opponents, but you still hold on desperately and seem to be trying to dy for time. It looks like you¡¯re waiting for reinforcements. If that¡¯s the case, I can¡¯t let you dy any longer, but that¡¯s fine too; the faster I take care of you, the less problems it¡¯ll cause me.¡±

    As he spoke, he swept his hand through the air calmly, creating profound talismanic inscriptions in the air. Then, he ced his hand on the ground, causing ck smoke and fog to begin to pour out of the ground endlessly.

    This was the technique that Wei Liancheng had used previously to singlehandedly obstruct the entire Long n.

    Even though the Shadow Servants hadn¡¯t made a move back then, as Su Chen¡¯s trump card they had always followed him closely. As such, they had clearly seen what had happened that day.

    When he saw this scene, Feng the Second realized that the situation wasn¡¯t good. He yelled, ¡°Careful, retreat!¡±

    Within the fog, mournful wails began to sound out.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 94: Obstruction

    Chapter 94: Obstruction

    A fear-inducing pressure emanated from the smoke as shrill screams and mournful howls could be hearding from within the smoke, as if there were countless ghosts hidden inside.

    ¡°There¡¯s something in the smoke!¡± Jin the Fifth yelled loudly.

    He was the first one to experience the strange circumstances within the smoke.

    These existences weren¡¯t describable. They couldn¡¯t be seen or touched, but they could harm him. He felt as if something was eating him alive, yet had no way of attacking them. All he could do was furiously wave his battle de around. One of his arms was already beginning to decay at a rate visible to the naked eye.

    ¡°Quick, retreat!¡± Gui Dashan yelled frantically.

    ¡°You still think you can get away?¡± Yu Wei said darkly from within the smoke. ¡°Since the Imprisoned Fiend Fog has already spread, you¡¯d better sit there obediently and be their food.¡±

    Following his words, the chilly aura and the fear it caused became even more tangible.

    The four of them discovered that they had nowhere to run. This dark fog was like a formation that firmly hemmed them in, making it impossible for them to escape.

    The invisible biting only grew more intense. Jin the Fifth howled with panic.He futilely swung his de and used the Armor Piercing Awl and Raging Inferno Fists one after the other, but he had no way of harming these invisible existences. However, his instinctual responses to danger caused him to bring out all of the skills that he knew, even Shadow Concealment.

    The instant he activated Shadow Concealment, his surroundings suddenly quieted down.

    Jin the Fifth paused for a moment, stunned. He discovered that the darkness that had threatened to consume him had suddenly stopped biting him. All that surrounded him was a deathly silence.

    ¡°This is......¡± Jin the Fifth was stunned, but he didn¡¯t feel any further attacks.

    Shadow Concealment was effective?

    Jin the Fifth began to yell loudly, ¡°Hide yourselves! Hide yourselves! It works against these creatures!¡±

    When they heard his yells, Gui Dashan and the others simultaneously activated Shadow Concealment and found that indeed, the strange creatures within the fog suddenly seemed to lose track of their targets and stopped attacking them, even if they spoke loudly.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Yu Wei evidently hadn¡¯t thought that this kind of development would happen. ¡°I never expected that your concealment technique allows you to evade the detection of these fiends. Indeed, you have some skill. But if this is the case, I don¡¯t have a way to kill you anymore. This really is a pain.¡±

    Yu Wei was beginning to grow impatient.

    He knew that the more he tarried, the more disadvantageous the situation would be for him. If Su Chen were to get there, he would be the one in danger.

    When he thought of this, Yu Wei decided to immediately try and leave.

    He had finally given up on his intentions of killing these people.

    He made another mistake. If he had tried to leave while he still had the advantage, Gui Dashan and the others really might not have bugged him anymore.

    But now that his advantage was gone, how could they dare let him go?

    This was human nature. People often didn¡¯t know how to quit while they were still ahead. Yu Wei was this way, but so was Gui Dashan.

    Upon seeing that Yu Wei was trying to leave, Gui Dashan said harshly, ¡°You want to leave just like this even after wounding my brothers? Do you really think you¡¯re going to get away that easily? You¡¯d better stay for me!¡±

    The octagonal hammer in his hand swung with great momentum at Yu Wei.

    The dagger glowed with a ck light, mming into the hammer and causing sparks to fly everywhere. Yu Wei was forced back half a step as he grunted.

    He was still a Qi Drawing Realm cultivator in the end; in a pure conflict of strength, Yu Wei didn¡¯t actually have the upper hand.

    ¡°Courting death!¡± The fiery-hot killing intent in Yu Wei¡¯s eyes thickened. He red at Gui Dashan, whose body froze. Simultaneously, Yu Wei¡¯s dagger pierced Gui Dashan¡¯s body. Because they were separated by the fog, the other people couldn¡¯t save him; they could only watch as Yu Wei¡¯s dagger plunged into Gui Dashan¡¯s body.

    ¡°Boss!¡± the three of them cried simultaneously as they charged forward.

    Yu Wei pulled his dagger out and retreated, kicking out and sending Gui Dashan flying.

    The three of them caught Gui Dashan as he fell and began to retreat.

    ¡°Want to run?¡± Yu Wei coldlyughed as he charged forward.

    Just before this, he had been trying to run, but now that he had the advantage he was trying to kill his opponents first before leaving.

    Under the influence of the Imprisoned Fiends Fog, the four of them had difficulty retreating. Yu Wei attacked with another de strike.

    It was the same Soul Petrifying technique he had used earlier. This time, it was Li the Fourth who was struck. A dagger pierced his chest through.

    Yu Weiughed in delight and was about to pull his de out when he discovered that he wasn¡¯t actually able to.

    He discovered to his shock that Li the Fourth was holding onto the dagger firmly as he red intently at himself.

    At the same time, Feng the Second and Jin the Fifth simultaneously charged in from the nk.

    Two sshes of blood flew into the air.

    ¡°AH!¡± Yu Wei finally let out the first cry of pain he had made during this whole battle.

    Even though he had some Origin Skills with very unique effects, he was still a Qi Drawing Realm cultivator, and his life force was still significantly weaker than a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator¡¯s. This attack gave him significant internal injuries.

    Yu Wei was both stunned and infuriated. He wasn¡¯t afraid of dying; as a puppet of the Spirit Race, there was no need for him to fear death, but he had received an order from his master and absolutely needed to hand the item over to his master. If he died, he would have failed in his mission.

    As such, he immediately discarded the dagger and retreated.

    This time, he was really trying to run. He vowed silently in his heart that no matter what his opponents did, he absolutely needed to escape as quickly as possible.

    However, his opponents were determined toy their lives on the line now. Li the Fourth¡¯s serious wounds revived the valiant attitude these mountain bandits had in the past. Ignoring their own wounds, they all charged forward, trying to entangle him. Even Gui Dashan did his best topress his own wounds and stood up, charging forward again.

    ¡°Dammit!¡± Yu Wei cursed with anger.

    The three people in front of him were going all-out, making it impossible for him to escape.

    Seeing that he didn¡¯t have much time left, Yu Wei braced himself and said savagely, ¡°If you want to die, then you can all die together!¡±

    As he spoke, he violently coughed up arge mouthful of blood.

    This mouthful of blood, spat out into the ck fog, turned the fog red. Within the red fog, the strange creatures slowly began to assume physical form.

    These creatures were incrediblyplex and hard to describe with words alone. They looked like someone had taken some pieces of y, taken a piss on them, then carelessly squeezed it a couple times. Each one looked different from the next, twisting and maneuvering their deformed bodies as they wailed mournfully.

    The invisible ghosts ambushing them from before were these strange creatures.

    Only this time, these creatures had revealed their true colors. A fierce aura emanated from them and enveloped the entire battleground. The Shadow Concealment also seemed to lose its effectiveness, and the creatures began to howl and charge in their directions.

    The tables were turned once again. Gui Dashan and the others were immediately surrounded by these strange creatures.

    This time, Yu Wei didn¡¯t change his mind. He nced at Gui Dashan and the others as he turned around to escape.

    Just as he was about to leave, two figures appeared off in the distance.

    Yu Wei knew the situation wasn¡¯t good. He began to escape at full-speed.

    ¡°Master, he¡¯s the one!¡± Gui Dashan was quite able to endure; even in this kind of situation, he was able to point at Yu Wei and yell, ¡°He took something with him!¡±

    The two figures charged forwards like they were flying.

    ¡°You chase after him. I¡¯ll take care of rescuing them!¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Got it!¡± Ji Hanyan assented. She shot off in hot pursuit of Yu Wei.

    Su Chen gestured. Arge swathe of mes surged forward, mming into the monsters¡¯ bodies and causing countless piercing howls.

    Once the creatures had taken on physical form, their attacks had be much more direct and they could now discover concealed existences, but they had lost their most effective way of defending themselves.

    The fierce mes generated by Su Chen turned everything into a pile of ash.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 95: Coercion and Trickery

    Chapter 95: Coercion and Trickery

    A gust of wind blew by, scattering the ashes. Only Gui Dashan and two others were left.

    Li the Fourth died.

    He hadn¡¯t died to Yu Wei¡¯s dagger, but rather the deformed monsters that had appeared afterwards. Because of his wounds, he had no way of extricating himself, and he had been devoured by those monsters.

    By the time Su Chen had turned them to ashes, all that remained of Li the Fourth was half of a body.

    When Su Chen saw this, his heart involuntarily sank.

    If Li the Fourth¡¯s cultivation base had been a bit higher, he might not have needed to die. Su Chen could easily have helped him aplish this, but he had ignored it.

    ¡°I¡¯ll leave Li the Fourth¡¯s posthumous matters to you all. Just do what you did with Old Third. Go ahead and take all the things within the storehouse to raise your cultivation bases and increase your strength,¡± Su Chen said as he tossed the three of them a Recovery Medicine each.

    The things in the storehouse belong to us?

    Gui Dashan and the others were stunned when they heard this. ¡°Master.¡±

    ¡°Hurry up and break through. You¡¯ll be able to better do things for me,¡± Su Chen said indifferently as he left.

    Gui Dashan and the others felt overjoyed in their hearts.

    Su Chen walked out of the storehouse and was greeted by Ji Hanyan hauling Yu Wei back with her.

    Yu Wei wasn¡¯t afraid at all. He stared at Su Chen. ¡°Su Chen, you¡¯ve stuck your hands into too many things.¡±

    ¡°It seems to me that you¡¯re trying to reach too far.¡± Su Chen stuck his hand inside Yu Wei¡¯s robe and pulled out the ck crystal.

    When she saw this item, Ji Hanyan frowned. ¡°There¡¯s a very strong dark force within this thing.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m more willing to believe that this is a darkness-type medium that is very much alive.¡±

    Ji Hanyan was befuddled by this. Evidently, she had no idea what he was talking about.

    However, her focus was not on that. She jerked Yu Wei¡¯s head up by the hair and asked, ¡°Where is your master?¡±

    Yu Wei chuckled darkly, ¡°If you know my master is of the Spirit Race, do you really think that threatening me will be effective?¡±

    ¡°Yes, puppets are not afraid of dying. But that doesn¡¯t mean that I can¡¯t get the answers that I want from you,¡± Su Chen said as he ced his hand on Yu Wei¡¯s forehead. ¡°I have a kind of technique that allows me to search your memories. If you aren¡¯t willing to tell me, I¡¯ll find it for myself.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Yu Wei¡¯s expression changed drastically.

    Su Chen¡¯s hand was already on his forehead. Just as he was about to activate his technique, a sharp screech sounded out. A swath of ck fog enveloped the surroundings, immediately plunging the area into darkness. Immediately afterwards, the sound of biting and chewing could be heard.

    ¡°Who is it?¡± Su Chen barked sharply.

    ¡°Hehehehe!¡± A strangeugh echoed seemingly from everywhere. It was impossible to determine the source of theughter or what direction it wasing from.

    Ji Hanyan attacked furiously, chilly wind and biting frost flying everywhere. The entire surrounding area began to be covered by frost, shing with the ck fog and creating a snowy ck fog. The strange, mournful wails only grew more intense.

    However, theughing didn¡¯t stop and only continued to echo. Su Chen gestured, and a wave of mes surged forward.

    The ice and mes mixed together, the brilliant light from the mes scattered by the ice crystals. The ck fog dissipated slightly and grew thin.

    As if they had encountered some powerful expert, Su Chen and Ji Hanyan both leapt into the air, using their most powerful skills at the same time. They totally ignored the fact that they were still in someone else¡¯s territory, and no one else paid any more attention to Yu Wei.

    At this moment, a voice sneaked its way into his ears. ¡°Are you not going to leave and return the item to me?¡±

    An item flew into Yu Wei¡¯s hand. It was that Darkness Crystal.

    Yu Wei was shocked. He yelled, ¡°Master!¡±

    He turned tail and booked it.

    He sprinted furiously the whole way. He nced behind him and found that a fiery glow had lit up the whole sky.

    Yu Wei knew that his mission this time was to return the Darkness Crystal as he continued to run.

    Perhaps because of the surging adrenaline and the importance of the mission at hand, Yu Wei felt that he ran particrly fast today. He very quickly ran out of Clear River City until he arrived at a nearby mountain and ran inside.

    As he ran and ran, he suddenly felt that something was wrong.

    The two sides had created such amotion, but why hadn¡¯t the Evil Tiger Gang reacted in the slightest?

    Also, why would his master, with his calm, cool demeanor,e and save him?

    Furthermore¡­¡­ the terrain in this ce was a bit strange. It didn¡¯t look like a ce he was familiar with.

    He nced around at his surroundings. The more he looked, the more he realized there was a problem.

    He stopped in his tracks. ¡°No! Something¡¯s very wrong!¡±

    Following his yell, his surroundings began to melt away. The mountain, the water, and the city walls off in the distance all disappeared. He was still kneeling on the ground, and the person standing in front of him was still Su Chen. The words ¡°¡­¡­doesn¡¯t mean that I can¡¯t get the answers that I want from you¡± gradually became audible.

    ¡°So we were still found out in the end. What a pity.¡± Su Chen pulled his hand back, but his expression didn¡¯t appear regretful. He said to Ji Hanyan, ¡°That Spirit Race individual should be within Little South Mountain. Unfortunately, I¡¯m not too familiar with the surroundings of Little South Mountain, so the illusion I created of Little South Mountain weren¡¯t very realistic, which resulted in us being found out.¡±

    ¡°This is already enough,¡± Ji Hanyan replied.

    ¡°NO!¡± Yu Wei yelled hysterically. He leapt to his feet and charged at Su Chen, ring with hatred.

    Su Chen pushed his palm out onto Yu Wei¡¯s forehead. Yu Wei¡¯s figure trembled for a moment before sagging to the ground.

    This person had already be a ve to the Spirit Race and couldn¡¯t be saved anymore. Death was an escape for him.

    The Evil Tiger Gang¡¯s main hall was filled with people. Evidently, people had discovered themotion happening over here and hade to take a look.

    ¡°Let¡¯s leave now to save us some trouble.¡±

    The few of them left discreetly. Before leaving, Gui Dashan lit a torch and set the storehouse on fire.

    News of the Evil Tiger Gang¡¯s boss death and their storehouse being robbed spread very quickly.

    Immediately afterwards, another shocking piece of news arrived: The Long Clear Gang¡¯s Wang Wenxin had charged into the Evil Tiger Gang¡¯s headquarters. At that time, the deputy leaders of the Evil Tiger Gang were still fighting to be the leader. Wang Wenxin arrived and subdued them all forcefully, incorporating the Evil Tiger Gang into his jurisdiction. In the end, the Evil Tiger Gang was assimted, and the territory belonging to them was taken over by the Long Clear Gang.

    The other criminal gangs didn¡¯t hear about it until it was toote. By the time they discovered it, the Evil Tiger Gang had already begun to fly the Long Clear Gang¡¯s g and had been officially assimted, causing the other leaders of the gangs to stomp the ground with rage.

    Some who were unwilling to ept this development made an appointment to meet with Wang Wenxin, while the more violent ones made ns to secretly attack. Wang Wenxin didn¡¯t show any weakness either. For some time, Clear River City was thrown into turmoil. The disappearance of an Evil Tiger Gang actually created quite a bit of unrest.

    Those gangs were all supported by the ten Bloodline Nobility ns. Their mutual conflict made weakened the ten Bloodline Nobility ns as well, forcing them to send people to calm the warring groups. They wasted a lot of time and energy to be able to de-escte the situation.

    While Clear River City was in a period of chaos, no one noticed that Su Chen and Ji Hanyan had taken some people with them and quietly left Clear River City.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 96: Pursuit 1

    Chapter 96: Pursuit (1)

    Little South Mountain.

    Su Chen pointed at a craggy mountain path and said, ¡°Yu Wei took this path in the illusion, but he didn¡¯t go all the way down. Because I don¡¯t know anything about the Little South Mountain, I wasn¡¯t able to produce any more detailed content.

    ¡°As long as we have the direction, things will be easy enough. Leave the rest to my people,¡± Ji Hanyan nodded at the people behind her. A group of people wearing Investigations Bureau uniforms entered the mountain.

    Ji Hanyan had taken twelve people with her on this expedition. They were few in number, but they were all elites, and the weakest one was a Qi Drawing Realm cultivator.

    The rarest of all was that these people were all extremely skilled in investigative techniques. They were very experienced in pursuing people.

    The twelve patrolmen dispersed in all directions and very quickly disappeared into the depths of Little South Mountain. All that remained was to wait to hear back.

    This waitsted all of three days.

    Three dayster, a patrolman returned, having discovered a dubious point.

    A cave in the side of the mountain was covered in vines that covered up the mouth of the cave.

    ¡°The vines near the cave aren¡¯t naturally-urring; they were transnted there and have been pruned as well. Human feces were found nearby, and the grass in front of the cave has signs of being well-trod. From this we can determine that that cave is extremely suspicious,¡± one of the young patrolmen said, sitting atop a not-too-distant tree as he pointed at the cave.

    A satisfied expression appeared on Ji Hanyan¡¯s face. ¡°Well done, Little Blue. Grab the brothers and search the surrounding are a little more carefully. See if there are any other entrances or exits, but don¡¯t get close to it. We don¡¯t want to beat the grass and scare the snake.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    Simultaneously, Ji Hanyan began to ask for reinforcements.

    The Spirit Race were truly existences that were tough to deal with. Su Chen and Ji Hanyan weren¡¯t so excessively proud that they believed that they could handle the situation on their own.

    Upon hearing that there were traces of the Spirit Race near Little South Mountain, An Siyuan immediately sent armed forces as backup to surround the mountain. He even came personally ¨C this involved a member of a different race and was a big deal. Even the slightest neglect would be severely punished by Long Sang Country.

    In the forest that the Little South Mountain protruded out of, An Siyuan and Lu Qingguang met with Su Chen and Ji Hanyan. Cloud Leopard alsoe; as a member of the Secret Task Force, whose duty was to preserve the peace of the country, matters involving the Spirit RAce also fell into his jurisdiction.

    Sending so many experts wasn¡¯t necessarily because they needed this many experts to deal with the Spirit Race individual. Rather, it was a fundamental attitude.

    If the government wanted to apprehend a criminal, they wouldn¡¯t send only two people just because the criminal was alone and only had a de. They would definitely send out a group of nearly ten people to apprehend him and prevent any unexpected idents from urring.

    From ancient times until now, using a much more powerful force to steamroll your opponents was the right path to take.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, have you not seen that Spirit Race yet? And you can¡¯t confirm that the Spirit Race individual is actually in there?¡± An Siyuan said in a low voice.

    ¡°Yes, we didn¡¯t see it,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°As soon as we go in, it¡¯s very likely that we¡¯re going to alert our enemy.¡±

    Lu Qingguang said, ¡°But that also means that this expedition might not result in anything even though we¡¯ve taken such big measures. We might only end up making a fool of ourselves. Is that right?¡±

    Su Chen nced at him with some surprise. ¡°The Spirit Race is strange and is always difficult to deal with. When faced with an opponent like this, we cannot be cautious enough. Ending up empty-handed is par for the course. Why does Sir Lu require us to have a hundred percent certainty before making a move?¡±

    Lu Qingguang froze for a moment, but he only harrumphed and turned around, ignoring him.

    When he saw him act like this, Su Chen frowned.

    In this past half a year or so, he had heard a few rumors floating around even though most of the time he didn¡¯t leave his house.

    He had only chuckled at these rumors, believing that they wouldn¡¯t affect wise people. Now, however, it seemed like the situation wasn¡¯t actually that simple.

    What he could overlook, other people might not be able to ignore. Even if no hatred arose because of this, there might be a few knots in his heart.

    If that was the case, their n wasn¡¯t aplete waste.

    An Siyuan also seemed to realize this. He nced at Lu Qingguang, then said meaningfully, ¡°Su Chen spoke correctly. This matter involving the Spirit Race is of utmost importance; we cannot be too cautious. Since everyone is already here, let¡¯s prepare to go in.¡±

    ¡°Please, City Lord, wait just a moment,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°What is it?¡± An Siyuan asked.

    ¡°There¡¯s another group of people who areing.¡±

    ¡°Another group of people?¡± An Siyuan was stunned. ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°Naturally, the Investigations Bureau,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°The Investigations Bureau?¡± An Siyuan was stunned. ¡°Why would theye?¡±

    Chen Wenhui of the Investigations Bureau came from a Bloodline Nobility n and was a nephew of the Wang n. He had never showed An Siyuan any respect nor listened to his orders.

    Su Chen calling the Investigations Bureau over as reinforcements was indeed strange.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Of course they¡¯lle. Don¡¯t forget, Vice Commander Ji is the Vice Commander of Bachuan¡¯s Investigations Bureau. Hering to Clear River City to handle a case naturally requires the local Investigations Bureau¡¯s cooperation. Now that Vice Commander Ji has discovered traces of a Spirit Race individual, she must notify the Investigations Bureau, and they are duty-bound to send assistance for this case.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s words were very factual, but An Siyuan was able to discern what he was thinking. ¡°You mean......¡±

    Su Chen calmly said, ¡°The Spirit Race is powerful and can¡¯t be underestimated. No one knows what kind of price we¡¯ll pay fighting an existence like this. If a fight breaks out, perhaps a lot of people will die.¡±

    When he heard these words, An Siyuan understood Su Chen¡¯s intentions. He chuckled darkly, ¡°That¡¯s right, it¡¯s impossible for no one to die in this battle. The Investigations Bureau is responsible for internal security. Assisting Bachuan in capturing this Spirit Race individual is part of their duty; it will be hard for them to avoid suffering loss.¡±

    The people from the Investigations Bureau quickly arrived.

    Chen Wenhui had brought seventy or so Investigations Bureau individuals with him. When he saw An Siyuan, his expression immediately became a bit ugly.

    An Siyuan spread his hands. ¡°Long time no see, Commander Chen.¡±

    Chen Wenhui harrumphed and turned around, ignoring him.

    Ji Hanyan was in business mode. ¡°I don¡¯t care what kind of under-the-table grudges you have against each other. Our task today is to deal with the Spirit Race. If either of you messes things up big-time, don¡¯t me me for reporting this to the higher-ups.¡±

    Chen Wenhui harrumphed coldly, ¡°I know what to do.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then go and do it.¡±

    Ji hanyan took the lead and walked towards the cave.

    This woman was really quite bold. She led the group all the way at the front. Su Chen, who was somewhat worried for her, could only follow closely behind. Cloud Leopard was not far off either.

    The original n of using the Investigations Bureau as expendables fell to the wayside.

    However, this also set Chen Wenhui¡¯s mind at ease a bit, greatly decreasing his suspicions of what was happening.

    The cave was dark and damp, exuding an almost poisonous atmosphere.

    The tunnel was winding and long. In the darkness, it was hard to tell how long it was.

    One of the patrolmen lit up a crystalmp, the light illuminating the path in front of the group of people as they groped their way forward.

    After walking for who knows how long, they suddenly heard a roaring of pping wings as a colony of bats flew in their direction, giving everyone quite the fright. Some people lost their cool and attacked. A wave of mes surged forward, burning those bats to a crisp, but it also caused quite amotion. A massive wave of motion flew in their direction,plete with squeaking and pping.

    ¡°Dammit, can you keep the noise down a little bit?¡± Chen Wenhui¡¯s face reddened as he cursed at his subordinates.

    It was his subordinates who had lost their cool and made themotion.

    ¡°Forget about it. The Spirit Race has a lot of tactics up their sleeves. Even if we didn¡¯t make amotion, we probably wouldn¡¯t be able to keep the wool over their eyes.¡± An Siyuan was still the most calm.

    Since they had already made a lot of noise, everyone didn¡¯t try to stay hidden anymore. They made quick pace as they continued to advance.

    Finally, they arrived at a stone room.

    Within the stone room, a ck-robed person was standing their, his back to them.

    A strange, enigmatic voice echoed throughout the room: ¡°Wee, everyone, to Silence¡¯sboratory.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 97: Pursuit 2

    Chapter 97: Pursuit (2)

    The hall was incredibly spacious.

    At the center of the hall was a burning brazier. The whole room was lit up with the flickering light of the fire.

    At the very front of the hall was a massive research workbench, elevated like it was an altar. On top of the workbench were all kinds of strange items.

    The Spirit Race individual stood behind the research workbench, floating in midair like a ghost.

    The Spirit Race were created from consciousnesses. Like Patelocke, they had no real physical body; they were pretty much beings madepletely with energy.

    Because they were lifeforms made from consciousnesses and were made of energy, they had chosen to maintain the same appearances as before they had been converted ¨C they were exceptionally tall and had long limbs. His body was covered in strange inscriptions, and it was even possible to see his dark skin.

    He floated calmly in midair, roughly half a meter off of the ground, with a cloak draped over his shoulders.

    Su Chen thought to himself, ¡°Ghosts don¡¯t need to wear clothing. This means that he has likely kept the same habits as he had before he was converted, or perhaps he believes that it¡¯s improper to be naked even as a ghost.¡±

    The Spirit Race individual didn¡¯t seem to be surprised by their arrival.

    In reality, the Spirit Race were almost always calm and cool. They were used to being alone and preferred it. Their emotions had disappeared along with their body, making them like an old well that very rarely rippled.

    Even if the sky were to copse in front of him, he might not behave all that differently.

    When she heard what the other party said, Ji Hanyan coldly harrumphed, ¡°We¡¯ve finally found you, you damn tunneling rat.¡±

    Because of their solitary tendencies, the Spirit Race preferred to live in a ce far away from other people. In addition, their race was ustomed to living underground, making it a natural home for them. As such, the Spirit Race were often referred to as rats that liked to live in tunnels.

    Ji Hanyan¡¯s words were not meant to earn favor, and she spoke ugly-sounding words right off the bat. Silence didn¡¯t grow angry. All he said was, ¡°Poisonous words won¡¯t help you at all. It will only result in loss of the poise that you originally possessed.¡±

    ¡°But it makes me feel very good,¡± Ji Hanyan replied.

    Silence shook his head gently. ¡°Only by elevating your heart will you find real joy. My confused, sharp-tongued littlemb, it¡¯d be better for you to find the direction you lost sooner rather thanter.¡±

    Killing intent shed across Ji Hanyan¡¯s eyes. ¡°I¡¯m not one of yourmbs!¡±

    As she spoke, she unleashed Frostbird White Ice Fist in his direction.

    The force behind the punch didn¡¯t seem that impressive. It was just a simple punch, but all of the power behind it had beenpressed. The trail of ice followed along the trajectory of Ji Hanyan¡¯s punch, spreading toward Silence.

    This fist alone was enough to confirm that Ji Hanyan¡¯s strength had increased greatly from before.

    However, this powerful strike seemed to run into some kind of formless resistance when it got close to Silence. It came to a stop right before it reached Silence, and cracks appeared right in front of him like a dense spiderweb.

    Some kind of invisible barrier had absorbed Ji Hanyan¡¯s strike entirely.

    When Su Chen saw this, he felt like it was quite simr to an Ancient Arcana Technique known as Crystal Wall.

    Silence shook his head with a bit of regret. ¡°You¡¯re too reckless, young human. I was originally nning on having a conversation with you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. I wanted to talk with you too, but you should first obediently be bound!¡± Ji Hanyan unleashed another punch.

    The Crystal Wall in front of Silence didn¡¯t seem very powerful. If a single punch was enough to reduce it to this state, the next punch would definitely shatter it.

    Boom!

    The energy billowing from the fist did indeed shatter the Crystal Wall. Countless crystal shards flew through the air, glittering as they refracted the light that shone on them.

    However, Ji Hanyan¡¯s punch wasn¡¯t able to wound the person she wanted to wound. The frigid blow passed right through Silence¡¯s chest, but it couldn¡¯t harm him at all, as if he didn¡¯t actually exist in that spot.

    ¡°That looks like Nihility Body,¡± Su Chen thought to himself.

    Silence was still unperturbed. ¡°That might be very difficult for you to do. You are all too weak.¡±

    ¡°Weak?¡± When he heard this, An Siyuan could no longer remain calm.

    He was still the Clear River City¡¯s City Lord and a Light Shaking Realm expert, while his opponent was just a low-tier Spirit Race individual. How dare he look down on them with such scorn?

    It was very easy to determine the social status of a Spirit Race individual. Because they were made from conversion and had given up their former statuses, they had no fathers or mothers. Their surnames were meaningless. Most Spirit Race individuals used names for symbolic reasons and only had one character in their names. Only high-status Spirit Race individuals would haveplex names. This was the way to distinguish them from other Spirit Race individuals.

    They only needed to hear his name to know what kind of status he had.

    Low-status Spirit Race individuals had names with one character, while middle-status and high-status individuals had names with two and three characters, respectively. The leader of the race could have four, as well as a ¡°crown title¡± in front of their name. For instance, the current leader of the Spirit Race was known as ¡°Menus the Wise¡±.

    Silence didn¡¯t have a second character in his name, meaning he was a low-status Spirit Race individual.

    Even though Spirit Race individuals were strong individually, they weren¡¯t so strong that a low-status Spirit Race individual could totally overlook a Light Shaking Realm cultivator. Otherwise, the Spirit Race would¡¯ve been invincible a long time ago.

    For a low-status Spirit Race individual to ignore him like this, how could he not be enraged?

    ¡°Yes, weak!¡± Silence replied very sincerely.

    He nced at An Siyuan. ¡°I can feel the stores of surging energy within your body. That energy is powerful enough to overturn the rivers and the seas. If you unleash an all-out attack, you can easily level this mountain.¡±

    ¡°As long as you know this.¡±

    ¡°But so what?¡± Silence smiled slightly. ¡°Materialistic power is vain in the end. Only consciousness power issting. You humans are mired in the pursuit of materialistic power, but you¡¯ll never understand the importance of having a powerful consciousness. You¡¯ve lost your direction in your craving for material things and have made misstep after misstep in your advancement. No matter how much physical power you have, you¡¯re just viewing things through rose-tinted sses. It¡¯s all just an illusion.¡±

    ¡°Lies!¡± Lu Qingguang barked angrily.

    As he barked, a purplish-ckish wave of energy suddenly shot forward from him, soundlessly charging at his opponent.

    Su Chen knew that this was probably the Ripple technique that Lu Qingguang was well-known for.

    The ripple technique contained powerful vibrational frequencies. It could achieve tremendous jolting effects when used on an opponent. As such, its unique properties made it so that its initial attack power was only average, but could beyered multiple times to achieve incredible results. Because the effects were multiplicative, if he were given enough time, the power of his attacks would reach a staggeringly high level. In addition, he could use these kinds of shock attacks to attack any opponent. Even a Spirit Body wouldn¡¯t be able to avoid this kind of attack.

    Silence was a Spirit Race individual and had the Nihility Body Ancient Arcana Technique. Other skills might not be able to affect him much, but Ripple would definitely be effective against him.

    Even so, this attack that logically should have been effective was like a rock tossed into a body of water after passing through Silence¡¯s body. All it caused was some ripples, but it didn¡¯t have any substantial effects.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 98: Pursuit 2

    Chapter 98: Pursuit (2)

    How could this be?

    An astonished expression appeared on Lu Qingguang¡¯s face.

    ¡°Are you surprised?¡± Silence smiled slightly. ¡°Ignorant human. You are blindly convinced that you¡¯re powerful, but you never learned how to temper your heart. If you don¡¯t actually know my position, how can you possibly attack me?¡±

    As he spoke, countless crystalline walls emerged from the walls. Behind every crystal wall was a Silence.

    These Silences stood behind the crystal walls and spoke simultaneously, light refracting brilliantly off the ss. It was like they were in a room filled with countless mirrors, but the image in the mirrors weren¡¯t themselves but rather their opponent.

    ¡°Crystal Labyrinth?¡± Su Chen burst out.

    ¡°Oh? There¡¯s a kid here who knows Ancient Arcana Techniques?¡± Silence stared at Su Chen with some shock.

    Yes, Silence was currently using the advanced edition of Crystal Wall. The Crystal Labyrinth used light refraction to distort a person¡¯s position, concealing the user in an unknown location and allowing them tounch ambushes. If used well, it was a tactic that allowed a person to win from a position of weakness.

    As such, Silence wasn¡¯t actually in the position that he seemed to be in. As such, both Ji Hanyan and Lu Qingguang¡¯s attacks were both ineffective.

    ¡°Do you think these measly tactics are going to deter me?¡± Lu Qingguang harrumphed. He waved his hand, and arge amount of rippling spread in all directions. He could concentrate or disperse these ripples as he pleased; clearly, he was very proficient in its use.

    He was obviously nning on first destroying the Crystal Labyrinth before dealing with Silence.

    ¡°This is not the right choice,¡± Silence cackled.

    He tapped his finger gently in midair. The surrounding air began grow thick. Ripples could appear in both water and in air, but it was impossible on the solid ground. As the air continued to thicken, Lu Qingguang¡¯s ripples were gradually weakened. By the time they reached the Crystal Labyrinth, they were just like a gentle breeze passing by.

    ¡°Air Thickening,¡± Su Chen blurted out again.

    This technique was simr to Sumeru Void; they both resulted in the thickening of the nearby air. The only major difference was that Air Thickening only, well, thickened the air, while Sumeru Void relied on external pressure to generate a feeling of stagnation. Their power levels were onpletely different tiers. At lower tiers, the difference between the two wasn¡¯t very high; actually, because Air Thickening was easier to use, it was even better than Sumeru Void. But at high-tiers, the circumstances were totally different. Sumeru Void could interrupt the physical continuum of space, resulting in much greater obstruction to a person¡¯s movement.

    ¡°Ah! You¡¯ve seen through me again,¡± Silenceughed again. ¡°I admire you very much, young man that understands Ancient Arcana Techniques.¡±

    Su Chen frowned. For some reason that he wasn¡¯t too clear about, he felt that something was off.

    However, the others hadpletely lost their patience.

    Someone said, ¡°Dammit, let¡¯s attack together. I don¡¯t believe that this guy can stop us all.¡±

    Boom, boom, boom!

    A few of the city guards charged at the Crystal Walls.

    Anyone who could be a city guard had some talent to speak of. The sharp waves of energy mmed into the walls of crystal, which would likely be unable to withstand their attacks.

    Su Chen, however, shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s no use.¡±

    The crystal walls surrounding them suddenly shed with a cold light.

    A cold, metallic light spilled out, shrouding the crystal walls and absorbing their attacks.

    The metallic light sshed onto their faces while the Crystal Labyrinth remained in ce as it had been before.

    This was the Crystal Labyrinth¡¯s self-protective mechanisms. Otherwise, if it could be destroyed by someone in a few short moments, it would have been far too easy to deal with and would be letting down its ssification as a high-tier Ancient Arcana Technique.

    As those people attacked simultaneously, Silence said, ¡°I hate these kinds of unfriendly actions. It seems like I can¡¯t avoid teaching you a lesson.¡±

    As he spoke, he gestured. Transparent bullets took shape in the air that his hand had swept over.

    Su Chen¡¯s expression suddenly changed. ¡°Careful, this is Air Bullets!¡±

    Air Bullets wasn¡¯t a very powerful offensive Arcana Technique, but when paired with Air Thickening it could cause quite a frightening amount of damage.

    The effects of shooting someone with water and with a metal bullet were totally different. Once the air was thickened, its mass and destructive capabilities were secretly increased. Even though this kind of increase still couldn¡¯t put it on par with an actual physical attack, the Air Bullets were extremely fast andrge in quantity. Countless Air Bullets floated in midair before they shot at their opponents, thick and fast.

    These thickened Air Bullets were nearly ten times more powerful thanmon Air Bullets. They rained down hard, forcing those city guards to devote all their attention on defending themselves. Regardless, they were still sent flying.

    Thankfully, An Siyuan moved in time. He pressed his palm in the air, causing those dense Air Bullets toe to a halt.

    An Siyuan said darkly, ¡°With me here, can you really act so boldly?¡±

    He closed his fist. Those countless Air Bullets were shattered by him.

    The three of them let out a sigh of relief.

    Silence, however, shook his head. ¡°They must die!¡±

    ¡°Ah!¡±

    Shrieks of pain suddenly burst out.

    An Siyuan felt a jolt of shock in his heart. He turned around to look and found one of the city guards looking back at him. However, arge hole had appeared at an unknown point in time in his chest, and his heart had been plucked out.

    When had he attacked?

    Everyone there was stunned.

    Silence slowly lifted his blood-stained right hand, using his energy to expunge the blood from his hand. ¡°What is this? Young man, do you know?¡±

    ¡°Void Hand? Hidden Snake Tentacles? Specter Demon w?¡± Su Chen listed off a number of Ancient Arcana Techniques in rapid session.

    ¡°My oh my. Your knowledge and experience is shocking, but you are obviously still a little green,¡± Silence shook his head. ¡°Since you aren¡¯t here to make peace, I can only discipline you, starting with those people that tried to attack me.¡±

    As he spoke, he lowered his arm, then disappeared as if he had jumped into the void. Another pained howl sounded out, and another city guard had his heart taken right out of his chest.

    Even though Su Chen had tried to activate Sumeru Void as fast as he could, his cultivation base was obviously a bit weaker than Silence¡¯s and couldn¡¯t prevent Silence from making a move.

    In reality, he wasn¡¯t even able to determine what skill Silence was using exactly. After all, Su Chen apparently seemed right in his understanding of the techniques that Silence was using, but he was actually wrong.

    If it wasn¡¯t an air-type technique, then Sumeru Void would be even more ineffective.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± Upon seeing another one of his subordinates die, Lu Qingguang began to yell with rage, ¡°Everyone, attack!¡±

    At the beginning, they had been able to maintain some poise and converse with him for a bit, but ever since two of their people had died, poise and elegance no matter mattered. They tore off their fake masks. All that remained was a bloody battle.

    ¡°Attack!¡± everyone yelled as they charged forward.

    Even Chen Wenhui, who had been turtling behind to avoid giving An Siyuan any opportunity to attack, made a move ¨C no matter how sly and powerful this Spirit Race individual was, he was only a low-tier one. There was no way that he could possibly withstand all of these people attacking together.

    The furious waves of Origin Energy billowed in all directions. The violent surging energy ensured that the Crystal Labyrinth, even with its metallic luster, would be destroyed sooner orter.

    When that happened, Silence would meet his end.

    Before this, however, Silence could deal with his opponents as he pleased.

    Pu! Another city guard toppled over, blood pooling around him.

    The three city guards that had attacked first had all been killed at this point.

    Silenceughed strangely, ¡°You idiots, I¡¯m going to kill you one by one. Savor the fear of death!¡±

    As he spoke, the fourth person fell over.

    This time, it was a patrolman.

    Silence pointed at another person. ¡°The next one I¡¯m going to kill will be you!¡±

    He was pointing at one of Ji Hanyan¡¯s underlings.

    The patrolman¡¯s expression changed drastically. Ji Hanyan flew over. ¡°Protect him!¡±

    A thick patch of frost surrounded the patrolman and sealed him.

    Even so, this was not of much use. Silence¡¯s unpredictable attacks once again prated the target¡¯s body. A w-like hand appeared in front of the patrolman¡¯s chest and disappeared an instantter, leaving behind a gaping hole.

    The patrolman spat out a mouthful of blood. He nced down at himself, then back at Ji Hanyan. He wanted to say something but could only fall over in the end,pletely devoid of strength.

    When they saw this scene, everyone grew agitated.

    ¡°Sir!¡± Lu Qingguang yelled at An Siyuan.

    At this moment in time, only An Siyuan, who was in the Light Shaking Realm, could deal with this Spirit Race individual.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 99: Pursuit 4

    Chapter 99: Pursuit (4)

    An Siyuan was totally enraged.

    As the City Lord, he had his own dignity. If his subordinates could handle the situation, he wouldn¡¯t casually make a move himself.

    However, the current situation had clearly exceeded what they could handle. In just an instant, they had already lost four individuals, but they hadn¡¯t even managed to touch Silence yet.

    They had such arge formation and a huge numbers advantage, but they were basically offering their heads up to Silence and allowing him to get his money¡¯s worth before he died.

    Every person that died was a smudge to An Siyuan¡¯s honor.

    Even if Lu Qingguang hadn¡¯t yelled, he would have attacked anyways.

    He clenched his right hand and punched out at the Crystal Labyrinth in front of him.

    The simple and direct punch contained a frightening amount of power that had beenpressed to an incredible degree.

    Once a person¡¯s cultivation base reached the level that his was at, a single punch contained extreme power. Sometimes, a person didn¡¯t need too many fancy tactics.

    This single fist, with its incrediblypressed energy, sparked with energy as it flew through the air. Even the thickened air was cut asunder by it, returning to its original state.

    Using strength to break through!

    Overlord Fist!

    At that moment, all of them present felt the viciousness and strength behind this fist strike. Some people even couldn¡¯t help but blurt out praise.

    ¡°How powerful!¡± Silence sighed with praise.

    As he spoke, the sound of water crystals shattering could be heard.

    The Crystal Labyrinth couldn¡¯t withstand An Siyuan¡¯s blow. This single fist strike was enough to shatter it.

    The crystal shards that flew everywhere glittered brilliantly as they flew through the air, scattering eye-catching rainbow-colored light.

    A momentter, however, these crystal shards that were flying everywhere suddenly began to reform, as if time was going backwards. Everything that had happened earlier seemed like a theatrical act. The Crystal Labyrinth that had just been shattered recovered its original appearance.

    ¡°Time Reversal? This is impossible!¡± Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but yell out.

    Silence being able to use high-tier Ancient Arcana Techniques was understandable, but Time Reversal was a restricted-ss Arcana Technique. Arcana Masters would need to pay tremendous prices in order to use it.

    No matter what, it was impossible for Silence to use this kind of tactic.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I never said it was Time Reversal,¡± Silenceughed. ¡°Young man, you¡¯re a bitcking in your experience still. Time Reversal isn¡¯t the only skill that can revert something to its original condition.¡±

    ¡°What is it then?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Unless you let them stop, I have no time to answer your question,¡± Silence said.

    He wanted his opponents to stop, but he himself didn¡¯t stop at all. From the time that An Siyuan had shattered the Crystal Labyrinth until the time where it reformed, Silence had already harvested two more hearts. His movements were quick and merciless.

    An Siyuan was infuriated.

    With a howl, ten or so Overlord Punches wereunched in rapid session.

    Every fist carried enough power to split mountains and sunder clouds.

    Crystal shards filled the air again, forming a beautiful scene as rainbow light was scattered through the air.

    Even so, amidst this multicolored ssh of light, time began to fly backwards again, and the secretive attacks continued to continue. An Siyuan was just as powerful as he was before, but his subordinates only continued to die.

    At this point, many of the patrolmen and city guards had died under Silence¡¯s ws.

    He was just like a wolf hiding in the darkness, borrowing the concealment to constantly attack. His tactics were hard to defend against, and his target choices were impable.

    For a low-status Spirit Race individual to achieve this when faced with such arge group of humans, including a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, two Yang Opening Realm cultivators, and a bunch of Origin Qi Schrs, was extremely umon.

    Unfortunately, the more skill he disyed, the more infuriated An Siyuan grew.

    One person¡¯s glory was always established on the suffering of another.

    Silence¡¯s arrogance and delight only demonstrated An Siyuan¡¯s incapabilities. Using a Light Shaking Realm cultivator as a stepping stone gave all the glory to Silence.

    Regardless of whether he won or lost the battle, Silence had left a strong impression on the hearts of everyone here.

    When he saw this, Su Chen could only say that the world wasrge and talented individuals abounded.

    However, An Siyuan was unwilling to allow a low-ss Spirit Race individual stand above him.

    His pride as a Light Shaking Realm cultivator didn¡¯t allow him to ept this.

    In terms of pure strength, he was confident that he could crush this guy.

    Because his concealment technique was too strange, and the Crystal Labyrinth couldn¡¯t be shattered,

    ¡°If you have any ability,e at me instead!¡± An Siyuan howled angrily.

    Silence, however, chuckled coldly and didn¡¯t react.

    An Siyuan, seeing that his opponent wasn¡¯t going to respond to him, suddenly pulled a bracelet of beads off of his wrist.

    These beads were always around his hand. Normally, when he was bored, he would y around with them in his hands. Bystanders might think that they were just toys, but close confidants like Lu Qingguang knew that these were the ¡°Fiend Capturing Beads¡± that An Siyuan often relied on.

    The twelve Fiend Capturing Beads were refined out of Thundercloud Wood and nine other secret ingredients. When tossed out, they could unleash incredible power, destroying all fiend-like energies.

    The Crystal Labyrinth wasn¡¯t rted to fiends, so it wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything in that aspect. However, you couldn¡¯t always hope that your opponent would always be an easy target. Even if the target wouldn¡¯t be restricted much, the Fiend Capturing Beads would still have their own uses.

    At this moment, the twelve Fiend Capturing Beads flew through the air and began to revolve and expand in midair, unleashing peals of thunder and lightning everywhere as it spiraled through the air. It looked just like a storm cloud revolving through the air.

    An Siyuanunched another fist.

    He was not weak in the slightest. The Crystal Labyrinth that even ten people couldn¡¯t destroy was sted apart by a single fist of his. Crystal shards once again flew through the air.

    Just as those crystal shards were about to re-form, the thunderstorm clouds began to rain down thunder and lightning.

    The shocking power of the lightning mmed into the crystal shards, causing them to fragment into even smaller pieces.

    An Siyuan had adjusted the lightninging from the Fiend Capturing Beads. The lightning bolts themselves weren¡¯t actually that powerful, but it was superior in that it could constantly unleash power.

    Under the continuous barrage of thunder and lightning, Silence couldn¡¯t re-form the Crystal Labyrinth no matter what technique he tried to use.

    Even so, an instantter, an unbelievable scene urred again.

    Even under the powerful sts from the lightning, the Crystal Labyrinth continued toe back together resiliently and unstoppably.

    Amidst the refraction of light, countless Silence¡¯sughed disdainfully at An Siyuan. In the meantime, even more city guards and patrolmen fell.

    ¡°This is not possible!¡± An Siyuan was totally shocked.

    ¡°ept the mysterious punishment, ignorant idiots!¡± Silence chuckled darkly.

    Behind An Siyuan, a massive white beast appeared.

    The Lord-ss Bloodline Demonic Beast, White Lion.

    A Light Shaking Realm cultivator had been forced by a low-status Spirit Race individual to use his bloodline.

    Even though at this moment, his powerful bloodline exuded a frightening amount of pressure, causing everyone present¡¯s hearts to tremble, An Siyuan felt humiliated on the inside.

    He felt deeply humiliated.

    This damn bastard! He was definitely going to cut his corpse into ten thousand pieces!

    An instantter, however, a simrlyrge scarlet Demonic Beast appeared from seemingly nowhere within therge hall.

    ¡°Blood Tooth, give them something to look at,¡± Silence said coolly.

    ¡°AWOO!¡± An enraged howl filled the cavern.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 100: Pursuit 5

    Chapter 100: Pursuit (5)

    The massive blood-colored Demonic Beast emerged in front of them all, forcefully enduring An Siyuan¡¯s attack. Even though An Siyuan was powerful, he wasn¡¯t able to obtain an advantage.

    Even though they knew that the Spirit Race were quite proficient in controlling other lifeforms, it was quite shocking for a low-status Spirit Race individual to be able to control such a powerful lifeform.

    Boom, boom, boom, boom!

    An Siyuanunched punches in a frenzy, his Overlord Fists booming with power. ¡°Attack at full force! His Crystal Labyrinth can¡¯t regenerate indefinitely!¡±

    Everyone yelled and charged forward.

    They all though the same way as An Siyuan. There was no such thing as true invulnerability; the Crystal Labyrinth¡¯s regeneration time and time again undoubtedly consumed arge amount of Origin Energy. As long as they continued to fight, they would deplete all of Silence¡¯s energy, at which point they would be able to defeat him.

    Only Su Chen did not attack.

    For some unknown reason, he still felt like something was wrong.

    The battle inside the main hall was still continuing. Silence was still hunting them like prey as person after person fell over, blood pooling around their bodies.

    Their deaths spurred those alive into an even greater frenzy as they went all out on the Crystal Labyrinth, afraid that they would be the next one to be killed. They absolutely needed to break out of this ce before they were killed.

    Intense, multicolored light exploded forth, brightly illuminating their surroundings.

    What a piercing light!

    Su Chen squinted his eyes.

    A discrepancy suddenly came to his mind.

    Why didn¡¯t Silence try and kill some of the more powerful experts? Why had he started killing from the weakest ones?

    If Su Chen was Silence, he definitely would have chosen to kill the strongest An Siyuan first. Even if An Siyuan¡¯s strength made him very hard to kill, he would at least try once. Even if he wanted to conserve energy, he could attack either Lu Qingguang or Chen Wenhui, as well as Ji Hanyan or even himself, who were all a tier lower.

    He hadn¡¯t even tried to make a move against any of them, however. He continued to carelessly hunt the patrolmen and city guards, who were the weakest.

    Was he toying with them as if they were ying a game of cat-and-mouse?

    That was only something a person with absolute assurance that they would be victorious would have the heart to do.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t believe that his opponent was that strong. After all, with the strength that he had disyed so far, he had long surpassed what was possible for a low-status Spirit Race individual.

    If that wasn¡¯t the case, then there must be a reason that forced him to do so.

    What was it?

    Thoughts raced through Su Chen¡¯s brain as he considered every possibility, even as he could hear cries of paining from all directions.

    ¡°Su Chen, what are you doing? Why aren¡¯t you attacking!?¡± Ji Hanyan yelled.

    Su Chen lifted his head up and saw Ji Hanyan unleashing a wave of icy frost that enveloped the Crystal Labyrinth.

    The frost glittered brilliantly from the light refracting off of the crystal mirrors, shining so brightly that Su Chen almost couldn¡¯t keep his eyes open.

    He lifted his head and nced at the thick rock walls, then at the tesseted crystal lights hanging from the ceiling.

    Suddenly, he raised his hand into the air, punching at the lights on the walls.

    Bang!

    The light shattered.

    The lighting flickered.

    Su Chen was just about to destroy another one when he heard something whistling toward the air in his direction. It was a fireball.

    Su Chen easily dodged the attack and said with a slight smile, ¡°It seems like you don¡¯t really like me doing that. But why aren¡¯t you using your shady techniques to try and kill me?¡±

    There was no reply other than more fireballs that were sent in his direction along with the din and mor that surrounded him.

    Su Chen, on the other hand, became even more calm and collected.

    He lifted his left hand. A massive Shadow me Giant appeared, tilting its head back and letting out a loud howl.

    Even so, an instantter, Su Chen waved his hand. The Shadow me Giant disappeared without a trace.

    ¡°Su Chen, what are you doing?¡± Ji Hanyan was stunned.

    ¡°Nothing. I just suddenly realized that I didn¡¯t want to use this technique anymore,¡± Su Chen said.

    Calling out and then immediately dissolving the Shadow me Giant expended a ton of energy, but Su Chen didn¡¯t care. He said, ¡°Hanyan, Jiang Xishuimissioned me to help you create two new Origin Skills. Watch carefully; I¡¯m about to use one of them. I call this the Frosted Fragrant Blossom!¡±

    As he spoke, he pressed his palm forward. Large quantities of frost suddenly began to gather and revolve around his hands, very rapidly forming arge group of flowers made out of snow.

    These flowers made of snow had extremely sharp edges and glittered coldly, revolving at extremely high speeds in midair like a meat grinder made of snow. They ruthlessly pulled in anything that got close to them and chopped them into tiny bits.

    Su Chen¡¯s voice floated over. ¡°Ji Hanyan, your battle style is extremely forceful and ferocious, but youck stamina. For my style of battle, mitigating ws is more important than being extremely powerful, which is why I created this Frosted Fragrant Blossom technique for you. If can be activated continuously and can even automatically attack a target you specify. Because it is infused with frost, anyone who is hit by it will be slowed greatly even if they don¡¯t die. Right, it¡¯s also built on the base of the Clear Wind Net, so you¡¯ll be able to pick it up more quickly than usual.¡±

    Excitement shed across Ji Hanyan¡¯s eyes. ¡°That¡¯s quite a good Origin Skill. I never would have expected you toplete it in such a short period of time.¡±

    ¡°I neverpleted it,¡± Su Chen replied unexpectedly.

    ¡°What?¡± Ji Hanyan stared at Su Chen in confusion.

    Su Chen said, ¡°This is just an outline, but it¡¯s far from beingpleted.¡±

    ¡°But......¡±

    ¡°But how did I do that, right?¡± Su Chen pointed at the frost vortex in front of him and said, ¡°That¡¯s the most interesting part. Why is it that I can suddenly use a skill that I never evenpleted outlining? Silence, do you want to exin for us?¡±

    Silence¡¯s expression, which had always been calm and indifferent, finally changed.

    Every image of Silence within the Crystal Labyrinth appeared shocked and even a bit frightened.

    ¡°Hiss!¡± he hissed sharply at Su Chen.

    The massive blood-colored beast that had been fighting An Siyuan suddenly stopped in its tracks and turned around to charge at Su Chen.

    It wanted to leave, but how could An Siyuan let it do as it pleased?

    The Overlord Fists continued to rain down on the massive beast. An Siyuan yelled, ¡°What exactly is going on?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Su Chen coldly harrumphed. He looked up at the sky before suddenly leaping into the air,unching a fist at the thick stone ceiling above them.

    The air in front of the stone ceiling suddenly flickered. A massive and fierce arm suddenly shot out from the stone ceiling, mming at Su Chen and threatening to tten him.

    ¡°Help me block it!¡± Su Chen yelled.

    Ji Hanyan, Lu Qingguang, and the others all simultaneously attacked, blocking thatrge ferocious hand

    At the same time, Su Chen¡¯s fist mmed into the stone ceiling.

    ¡°Armor Piercing Awl!¡±

    ¡°NO!¡± Silence shrieked.

    Following Su Chen¡¯s full-strength blow, everyone watched as their surroundings suddenly melted away.

    What blood-colored beast? What Crystal Labyrinth? They all disappeared without a trace. All that remained was a rtively calm and quiet valley.

    They were all standing in the center of the valley, which was surrounded by vines that had already wrapped themselves around the chests of a few of the people and shattering their chests.

    On a teau not too far away from them, a Spirit Race individual was standing there and howling as if he were about to go mad.

    ¡°Bastard, you bastard! You actually destroyed my illusion formation! I¡¯m going to kill you! I¡¯M GOING TO KILL YOU!!!¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 101: Pursuit 6

    Chapter 101: Pursuit (6)

    An illusion formation!

    When they heard this, everyone understood.

    What gloomy cavern? What Crystal Labyrinth? It was all an illusion.

    This sly Spirit Race individual had tricked them from the very beginning.

    He had set up arge illusion formation here. As soon as they entered the mountains, they were brought into the illusion formation. Everything was staged and orchestrated by the illusion formation.

    No wonder An Siyuan couldn¡¯t beat this Spirit Race individual even as a Light Shaking Realm cultivator. Within the illusion formation, what they fought with wasn¡¯t raw physical power but consciousness power and imagination.

    ¡°So it was all an illusion technique!¡± An Siyuan also understood immediately.

    What damn Specter Demon w? What Void Han? They were all illusions generated by the illusion formation that had defeated them one after the other.

    Illusion techniques were the Origin Skills that could ignore cultivation base levels the most. A well-orchestrated setup could trick anyone.

    However, trickery was still trickery. Wanting to use an illusion technique to kill a person wasn¡¯t easy.

    Turning illusion into reality was always the greatest test for an illusions master. Every such person had their own experience in making this happen.

    Su Chen had used Fata Morgana to bait the two Yang Opening Realm cultivators into killing themselves. The Spirit Race individual in front of him, however, was even more cunning than he had been.

    He had first used an illusion formation to vastly expand the scope of effect of his illusions, instantly plunging everyone into this fantastical scenario, before picking them off one by one.

    Because a person would return to the real world just before dying, the most difficult thing for him to do was figure out how to kill his targets while simultaneously preventing the illusion from being broken through.

    It seemed that Silence was probably using the illusion formation to create a lot of background noise and lights to cover up the movements in the real world, then using some kind of technique to kill them off one by one.

    What this technique was wasn¡¯t easy to pinpoint, but it was likely rted to why he had been attacking from weakest to strongest.

    This was what had enabled Su Chen to see through him. Silence could only harass them with the illusion realm, but he couldn¡¯t harm Su Chen in reality because he hadn¡¯t reached Su Chen yet in the order of targets to be dealt with.

    Of importance was that even though the Silence in the illusion realm was very powerful, he wasn¡¯t invincible.

    Excessive strength was always a challenge to an illusion realm and could more easily expose the real situation. When Silence continued to increase his own strength within the illusion realm, he was also giving his opponents more opportunities to see through things. At that point in time, even if the opponent didn¡¯t directly discover that they were in an illusion realm, they would be able to detect something simply because of their own personal mysterious increase in strength.

    Su Chen had used this method to confirm that he was in an illusion realm ¨C he first used an Origin Skill that he was familiar with to confirm that the illusion realm could replicate the power of an Origin Skill by reading the user¡¯s memory, then used a skill that he hadn¡¯t evene close topleting.

    Because the illusion realm replicated the power of an Origin Skill by reading the user¡¯s memory, and Su Chen knew what the effect of this Origin Skill would be even though he hadn¡¯tpleted it, he was able to use an Origin Skill that was still very much iplete. This in turn allowed him to determine the truth and find the hole.

    Once he determined the truth, he then needed to forcibly break through.

    There was no point in attacking the targets created by the illusion. The best way to break through an illusion realm was to destroy its boundaries. That was how Iron Cliff had shattered Fata Morgana previously, and was the reason why Su Chen had unleashed a strike at the stone ceiling. Indeed, he had been able to break through with a single blow.

    Even though it was never explicitly stated, the people here were all experienced veterans. They were able to quickly piece the majority of the story together.

    Having finally realized what had happened, the group of peopleughed maliciously, ¡°Let¡¯s see how arrogant you can be now!¡±

    Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

    A sea of attacks roared in Silence¡¯s direction.

    Silence hissed, ¡°Did you think that the noble Spirit Race only knows how to use illusion techniques? Come out for me!¡±

    As he yelled, the valley trembled as the ground beneath them opened up. A massive snake crawled out of the crack in the ground. This time, however, it was not an illusion.

    The snake opened its jaw wide and hissed at them as soon as it appeared. Damp waves of foul-smelling air billowed out from its mouth, blowing them all back a bit.

    An Siyuan harrumphed, ¡°Do you think that you can still win now that the truth has been revealed? Overlord Fist!¡±

    He used the same technique. This time, however, the true power of a Light Shaking Realm cultivator was fully put on disy..

    The blow mmed into the snake¡¯s head, causing blood to ssh through the air.

    The biggest difference between reality and illusion was that people in the real world could be injured.

    ¡°Hiss!¡± the massive snake cried out in pain. Its wild nature exploded forth, causing it to attack the group of people even more ferociously.

    The White Lion afterimage appeared behind An Siyuan again, and a white aura billowed forth, wrapping around the massive snake like a long white rope.

    Another Overlord Fist was unleashed, mming into the snake¡¯s underbelly. This time, it prated and left a deep hole.

    The fists continued to unleash the power of a Light Shaking Realm cultivator. Every fist that descended left behind deep wounds on the massive snake¡¯s body.

    ¡°You guys, go and capture that Spirit Race guy!¡± An Siyuan barked at Chen Wenhui¡¯s patrolmen subordinates.

    Those patrolmen hesitated for a moment and nced at Chen Wenhui. Even though Silence¡¯srge snake was being kept in check by An Siyuan, the Spirit Race had many strange tactics up their sleeves. No one knew what they hadn¡¯t seen yet. If they advanced now, they were very likely to lose their lives.

    Upon seeing this situation, An Siyuan suddenly coldly harrumphed and slowed his movements down deliberately, drawing the snake a bit closer.

    The snake¡¯s massive body rumbled across the ground as it charged forward and opened its jaw wide again. With this charge, it directly swallowed seven or eight of the patrolmen into its mouth.

    ¡°An Siyuan, you!¡± Chen Wenhui was both shocked and angry.

    Even though he had expected An Siyuan to make a move on him, Chen Wenhui was still caught off-guard by An Siyuan¡¯s viciousness.

    An Siyuan said darkly, ¡°Chen Wenhui, don¡¯t think that you can oppose me just because someone is protecting you. Your mission today is to apprehend this Spirit Race individual,s o you¡¯d better put some more effort in. Otherwise, everyone here will be able to tell that you didn¡¯t exert any energy. At that time, don¡¯t me me for being impolite!¡±

    Chen Wenhui also knew that An Siyuan didn¡¯t dare kill him, but that he had already made up his mind to kill Chen Wenhui¡¯s subordinates.

    The problem was that Ji Hanyan was here. If he didn¡¯t make a good show of effort and continued to take precautions against An Siyuan, Ji Hanyan could report himter on.

    An Siyuan was basically reminding him that he was here to act as cannon fodder.

    If you voluntarily act as cannon fodder, everyone will be fine.

    If I have to force you to be cannon fodder, Ji Hanyan will report you after I¡¯m done with you.

    Faced with these two decisions, Chen Wenhui could only grit his teeth. ¡°You, advance!¡±

    He could only hope that Silence didn¡¯t have any other tactics up his hand.

    The patrolmen charged in Silence¡¯s direction.

    When he saw the group of people charging at him, Silence hissed, ¡°ept your punishment!¡±

    Arge swath of fog billowed out.

    It was the very same fog that he had used before. The sound of chewing could be hearding from the darkness.

    Su Chen, who had seen this tactic twice already, was unsurprised, but this attack was fatal to the patrolmen.

    ¡°AH!¡±

    ¡°Save me!¡±

    ¡°Sir, save me!¡±

    Tragic cries began to sound out.

    At this point in time, the person who could save them the most was An Siyuan. The giant snake had been badly injured by him and was clearly about to give in. However, when An Siyuan saw the people from the Investigations Bureau in desperate straits, heughed coldly. Lu Qingguang and the others also slowed their rate of attack.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 102: Pursuit 7

    Chapter 102: Pursuit (7)

    An Siyuan slowing down his movements gave the people from the Investigations Bureau tremendous pressure.

    Cries of pain and torment could be heard echoing throughout the fog.

    Chen Wenhui¡¯s heart hurt, but he knew that he wouldn¡¯t be able to escape from this battle without sacrificing a few lives.

    The only difference was how many lives that was.

    Chen Wenhui hoped that he could keep this number as low as possible.

    As such, he made his move.

    A blue-greenish lotus flew forward from between his brows, constantly growing and spinning in the air and emitting rays of light. It descended in the middle of the strange fog and began to glow with a cold light.

    Where the cold lightnded, the fiends retreated. They found it hard to endure, and howls of anger and fright could be heard from within the fog. However, there was nothing they could do.

    This was Chen Wenhui¡¯s Cleansing Light Lily.

    Unlike the Yang Opening Realm cultivators that Su Chen had encountered before, Chen Wenhui was born into a Bloodline Nobility n and had a high-tier Demonic Beast Bloodline. The Azure Lily Tree Spirit was very powerful, and the bloodline he had inherited was quite pure. Naturally, his attacks were extraordinarily powerful.

    Under the shining of the Cleansing Light Lily, the power of the strange fog was reduced, and even the patrolmen that had been bitten by the strange fiends within the fog began to recover.

    The Cleansing Light Lotusbined driving out demons with arge-scale healing effect.

    With the appearance of the Cleansing Light Lily, the situation quickly stabilized. Chen Wenhui was inwardly delighted. He nced at Silence to see what he was up to, only to find that Silence was charging in his direction, a strange light glowing in his eyes.

    Under the influence of the strange light, a thought suddenly entered Chen Wenhui¡¯s head: This damned An Siyuan only called me out here to harm me, and now he wants me to spearhead the charge, using the opponent to weaken me. His heart is tricky! If I¡¯m a real man, how can I ept being used by him like this? Even if I have to put my life on the line, I must make things difficult for him.

    The mes of rage surged in his heart. He couldn¡¯t control himself, and the Cleansing Light Lily suddenly changed directions, a few streaks of azure light shooting at the massive snake.

    The massive snake had already been beaten into submission by An Siyuan and was about to die. With the help of the Cleansing Light Lily, it immediately began to recover, and it experienced a massive increase in strength. It hissed loudly and snaked at them.

    An Siyuan did not anticipate this turn of events and was unable to respond in time. The massive snake slithered past him and mmed into seven or eight city guards, shattering the bones in their bodies. It seemed like they were no longer alive.

    An Siyuan was both stunned and infuriated. He yelled, ¡°Chen Wenhui, what are you doing?¡±

    ¡°If you won¡¯t let me live, don¡¯t think about living yourselves!¡± Chen Wenhui howled. The Azure Lotus Tree Spirit appeared behind him and began to shine, pressing down on An Siyuan.

    An Siyuan was shocked and enraged. He thought to himself, ¡°If this guy is going to act this recklessly, I might as well finish him off here.¡± He no longer cared to consider the consequences as his killing intent soared. An Overlord Fist surged forward, sweeping its way toward Chen Wenhui.

    An internal conflict suddenly broke out so suddenly that everyone present was stunned.

    Those who were a bit slow to react were still watching in a daze, while those who had reacted quickly had already begun to brazenly attack.

    The battlefield was instantly thrown into chaos.

    ¡°Stop!¡± Su Chen yelled.

    In the midst of this chaos, however, how could anyone hear him?

    Su Chen watched Lu Qingguang charge over and begin to attack Chen Wenhui.

    Su Chen hurriedly intervened and said, ¡°Deal with the Spirit Race individual first!¡±

    He had been trying to defuse the situation, but Lu Qingguang suddenly turned around and stared at him. A red glow shed across his eyes, and he suddenly howled, a violent wave of energy rippling from his body.

    As if he had been struck by lightning, Su Chen cried out and flew backward. The rippling energy wreaked havoc within his body, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± Ji Hanyan yelled, flying over to catch Su Chen as she stared at Lu Qingguang with rage. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Lu Qingguang¡¯s eyes were tinted red as he howled, ¡°You all must die!¡±

    Ripples of energy roiled off of his body like waves in the ocean.

    Ji Hanyan activated her Frosted Ice Palms, but no matter how strong she was, her opponent was still a Yang Opening Realm cultivator. When they collided, the pressure from her opponent¡¯s attack caused Ji Hanyan¡¯s body to vibrate violently, the force of the Frosted Ice Palmspletely nullified.

    Because of her stubborn personality, Ji Hanyan was about to attack again when Su Chen said, ¡°Don¡¯t fight him. He¡¯s under the influence of the Spirit Race individual¡¯s consciousness technique!¡±

    What?

    Ji Hanyan finally noticed that the conflict had seemingly started for no particr reason. So it was actually the Spirit Race individual who was making trouble for them.

    Even though she knew that the Spirit Race were exceptionally proficient in consciousness techniques, this was Ji Hanyan¡¯s first time witnessing it for herself. First the illusion formation, then inciting internal strife ¨C even though this Spirit Race individual wasn¡¯t physically powerful, he used his tactics brilliantly to turn the odds in his favor. No wonder he was considered such a dangerous enemy.

    ¡°What now?¡± Ji Hanyan asked as she watched Lu Qingguang charge in their direction.

    ¡°Let¡¯s stop him first!¡± Su Chen raised his left hand. A Shadow me Giant took shape.

    The shockingly powerful Shadow me Giant reappeared, stopping Lu Qingguang in his tracks. Under normal circumstances, Lu Qingguang might have elected to get past the Shadow me Giant and attack Su Chen himself. However, because his mental state wasn¡¯t so clear and he only knew to fight, the situation became a lot more manageable.

    Su Chen and Ji Hanyan finally earned a brief moment to catch their breath.

    They nced around themselves and found that many of the others were also under the influence of this technique and were attacking theirrades. Only a small group of people were still awake, but they had been dragged into the battle and had no way of escaping themselves.

    ¡°What do we do now?¡± Ji Hanyan yelled.

    ¡°What else can we do? Of course we¡¯re going to kill that Spirit Race individual!¡± Su Chen yelled as he charged straight at the fog.

    ¡°Su Chen, be careful!¡± Ji Hanyan yelled.

    An instantter, however, Su Chen¡¯s figure shimmered and disappeared, then reappeared behind the confusing fog.

    It was Whitetower Teleportation.

    After deconstructing it, Whitetower Teleportation¡¯s effectiveness had increased, allowing him to teleport right past most of the fog. He appeared right behind the fog.

    He raised his hand, and an Ultra Erupting Firehawk took flight, arcing through the sky and leaving behind a fiery glow in its wake.

    Su Chen shot forward like an arrow, following closely behind the mes.

    Silence hissed as he watched the mes roaring in his direction.

    ¡°HA!¡± Following this howl from him, the mes seemed to run into an invisible wall, pausing for a brief moment before they dissolved.

    At the same time as the mes disappeared, Su Chen¡¯s figure shot forward. He had gathered his energy all in his hand, which shot right at Silence.

    The Firehawk had just been a front; the Armor Piercing Awl was the real killing blow.

    Silence did not expect Su Chen to have a tactic like this up his sleeve. He didn¡¯t try to defend himself, however; just as the Armor Piercing Awl was about to m into him, a human figure suddenly appeared in front of him.

    Bang!

    Su Chen¡¯s arm exploded into the person¡¯s body, but that person totally ignored him and countered with a de sh. Su Chen evaded to the side as he violently twisted his arm within the opponent¡¯s body.

    If a normal person had experienced this, they might have passed out from the pain, but the other human didn¡¯t seem to care as if he could feel no pain. He leapt forward and nted his foot right into Su Chen¡¯s chest, then followed up with another de sh.

    The two of them exchanged a number of blows. Even though Su Chen was clearly stronger than his opponent, his opponent wasn¡¯t afraid to die and totally ignored Su Chen¡¯s attacks, forcefully enduring the blows.

    At the same time, Silence had finally finished preparing an Arcana Technique he had been setting up for some time. He pointed at Su Chen and said, ¡°Die!¡±

    A ck ball of light shot in Su Chen¡¯s direction.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 103: Pursuit 8

    Chapter 103: Pursuit (8)

    As soon as the ck ball of light appeared, Su Chen could sense that this unassuming ball of light contained an incredible amount of energy.

    If he allowed it to hit him, his body would probably shatter into pieces.

    At this point, there was no time for him to dodge or use Whitetower Teleportation. The ball of energy was just about to his him when a blood-colored glow suddenly appeared behind him. A blurry shadow could be seen within the blood-colored light, but it was impossible to figure out what it was. The shadow seemed to be leaping.

    Simultaneously, Su Chen tilted his head back and howled.

    With this loud yell, white energy surged out of his mouth, mming into the ck ball of energy.

    The ck energy and the white energy mmed into each other, generating violent shockwaves upon colliding.

    Thepressed Origin Energy exploded in an instant, creating a violent wave of energy in ferocious manner.

    The energy rushed over Su Chen like a massive wave, sending him flying.

    Silence also cried out mournfully, ¡°NO!¡±

    Not only had the attack inflicted serious damage on him, but it had also disrupted his consciousness influence on them. An instantter, the people who had been fighting each other awoke, only then realizing what they had done.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± An Siyuan clenched his jaw so tightly that his teeth were about to shatter after being yed by Silence twice.

    In terms of pure strength, An Siyuan was strong even among other Light Shaking Realm cultivators. He was the strongest individual in Clear River City, but his consciousness power was also the weakest. Most people would have a hard time taking advantage of this, but the Spirit Race, who were exceptionally talented in consciousness control, caught him totally off guard.

    How could An Siyuan be willing to ept this kind of humiliation?

    ¡°Die!¡±

    With a howl, his massive iron-like fist passed through the space-time barrier and charged right toward Silence.

    ¡°I won¡¯t die that easily!¡± Silence yelled shrilly.

    A sudden plume of smoke billowed out from beneath his feet. Following this smoke, his figure suddenly disappeared.

    Where had he gone?

    Just as An Siyuan was feeling startled, he heard Su Chen yell, ¡°He¡¯s there!¡±

    He pushed his palm forward, and a fiery streak of light shot through the air.

    ¡°AH!¡± With a shrill cry, Silence tumbled out of the sky. He had totally been caught off-guard and had been burned quite badly.

    ¡°How did you know where I was?¡± he yelled loudly. Even as he asked, however, his figure retreated. He was trying to run!

    Su Chenughed coldly, ¡°As you know, I¡¯m quite proficient in Ancient Arcana Techniques. You had better stay here. Winding Thorns!¡±

    As he spoke, arge patch of brambles appeared right behind Silence and wrapped toward him.

    Winding Thorns was a skill that Patelocke had taught him. It was exceptionally useful against fleeing enemies. To catch Silence, Su Chen had expended quite a bit of effort.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t that familiar with Winding Thorns, and his ability to use it effectively was quite low. As such, he was only able to slow Silence for but a brief moment.

    However, this was enough for An Siyuan.

    An Overlord Fist tore through everything in its path, carrying an awesome destructive capability right at Silence.

    Upon seeing the frightening punch sweep its way toward him, Silence yelled, ¡°I will not die!¡±

    As the Overlord Fist descended on him, his figure suddenly split into ten or so separate shadows which then flew in all directions.

    ¡°Streaming Light Clones!¡± Su Chen said with shock.

    Streaming Light Clones was an exceptionally rare and hard-to-master Ancient Arcana Technique. The user could split their body into ten or so targets to flee. Importantly, even though this technique would greatly increase a person¡¯s likelihood of escaping, it would greatly weaken them.

    But to the Spirit Race, who possessed specter-like bodies, the drawbacks to using Streaming Light Clones were basically negligible. This was because their bodies were naturally conducive to separation.

    ¡°Trying to run?¡± Lu Qingguang harrumphed and took a step forward.

    Rippling energy once again emerged, causing the very air to undte as the rippling energy spread in all directions.

    Ripple energy was exceptionally useful against groups of targets. The instant the Streaming Light Clones were struck by the ripple energy, they melted away like frost under the bright sun.

    ¡°Ah!¡±

    ¡°Ah!¡±

    ¡°Ah!¡±

    The Silence clones let out pained cries one after another in rapid session.

    At that moment, the giant snake suddenly hissed and charged at Lu Qingguang.

    The sudden change in situation caught Lu Qingguang off guard, and he was sent flying.

    ¡°Help me!¡± He yelled as he flew past Chen Wenhui.

    Chen Wenhui, however, pretended to be oblivious. At the same time, his Cleansing Light Lotus enveloped the remaining clones.

    At this moment in time, everyone felt their blood beginning to boil as they attacked simultaneously and hemmed Silence in. No matter what, they could not allow this guy to escape.

    One Silence after another flying through the sky deted and disappeared like balloons being popped as they yelled with anger and unwillingness. These defeated clones finally gathered together, forming aplete Spirit Race individual.

    When thest clone finally descended, the valley had returned to its former calm.

    At this point, the humans had paid quite a price in casualties. More than ten martial artists had died, along with even a few Origin Qi Schrs.

    There were so many of them dealing with a single low-tier Spirit Race, but in the end they had suffered such disastrous losses. The difficulty of dealing with a Spirit Race individual was made abundantly clear.

    Even An Siyuan couldn¡¯t help but sigh, ¡°Finally we¡¯ve taken care of this bastard. Dammit, these ghosts are really hard to deal with. Vice Commander Ji, when you return to make your report, make it clear that my Clear River City put in a lot of effort to kill this Spirit Race individual!¡±

    Ji Hanyan said with a slight smile, ¡°City Lord An personally came and kept the Spirit Race individual¡¯s strength in check. I will remember this well, and I offer my gratitude here to everyone for their assistance.¡±

    ¡°Hahahaha!¡± When An Siyuan heard this, a delighted smile appeared on his face. Only Chen Wenhui¡¯s expression was ashen.

    Even though a lot of people had died, most of them were from his branch of the Investigations Bureau.

    An Siyuan had sessfully gotten someone else to do his dirty work. Otherwise, with their strength, they wouldn¡¯t have

    That damned bastard City Lord!

    Chen Wenhui cursed in his heart, but he could only maintain his silence with a steely expression.

    Having dealt with this Spirit Race individual, it was time to see what spoils this Spirit Race individual had on him.

    Unfortunately, the Spirit Race sustained themselves on wind and dew rather than the cooked foods that humans required. They had no need of money and focused entirely on research, so there were no treasures within this valley. There was just a researchb stocked fully with all kinds of containers and ingredients. Su Chen made quite a haul off of these things.

    Upon seeing that there wasn¡¯t much for them to take back with them, the others could only sigh and prepare to leave.

    They were about to leave, but Su Chen and Ji Hanyan were still standing in front of a corpse.

    This was the corpse that had gave its life to protect Silence. Even though it could ignore pain, it wasn¡¯t invincible. It had been killed in the ensuing st from the collision between the ck and white energies.

    Su Chen saw that Ji Hanyan¡¯s expression was a bit strange. He walked over and asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Ji Hanyan replied, ¡°This guy is Wei Xiaofeng.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Indeed, Wei Xiaofeng had followed in his father¡¯s footsteps.

    Su Chen sighed, ¡°This might be the fate of this father-son pair.¡±

    ¡°No, this tragedy is because of the Spirit Race!¡± Ji Hanyan said fiercely. ¡°The Spirit Race¡¯s wanton envement of humans has caused countless disasters. Sooner orter, I will have them all die to my hand!¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 104: Swallow Up

    Chapter 104: Swallow Up

    Everyone began to leave when they saw that the situation had been resolved.

    Only Su Chen, who was collecting the instruments in the researchb, remained. He had said that these materials needed to be carefully handled to preserve their usefulness; otherwise, it would result in colossal waste. He had then proceeded to list out a bunch of different herb names, giving everyone who heard it a headache.

    Before leaving, Ji Hanyan asked him quietly, ¡°What skill did you use earlier?¡±

    ¡°What skill?¡± Su Chen wore a confused expression.

    ¡°Still pretending?¡± Ji Hanyan nced at him disdainfully. ¡°What was that white energy? I¡¯ve never seen you use that skill before.¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°Every person has their own secrets. Is there a need to get to the bottom of this?¡±

    Ji Hanyan punched him. ¡°I¡¯m not the only one who saw. You¡¯d better be careful.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me. I know what I need to do,¡± Su Chen said with a slight smile.

    Ji Hanyan left.

    As he watched everyone leave, Su Chen¡¯s expression sank slightly.

    He knew that Silence¡¯s earlier attack had forced out one of his trump cards, but the situation was dire, and there was nothing he could do.

    There was no point in worrying about this now, however. Su Chen casually gestured, stowing all the things on his workbench away in his Origin Ring. He came to an empty patch ofnd.

    There was a newly-dug grave there, the words ¡°Wei Xiaofeng¡¯s Grave¡± inscribed on the tombstone above.

    This was the grave that Su Chen and Ji Hanyan had dug earlier.

    ¡°Alright, everyone else is gone. You cane out now,¡± Su Chen said faintly.

    There was no response.

    Su Chen harrumphed. ¡°If I need to ask you again, I won¡¯t be as polite.¡±

    Pu!

    A hand prated the ground, reaching out from below the surface.

    The other hand emerged after.

    The ¡°dead¡± Wei Xiaofeng slowly emerged bit by bit from the ground. The wound Su Chen had inflicted was still on his chest, and the blood was already dry, but he could still move.

    His dull eyes gazed intently at Su Chen as he asked, ¡°How did you know I was here?¡±

    ¡°You should be asking yourself why you thought you could trick me,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Don¡¯t forget, I¡¯ve seen through your schemes twice already.¡±

    As he spoke, a shadow floated out of Wei Xiaofeng¡¯s body and reformed in the air. It was Silence.

    This Silence, however, was much smaller. It looked like a much younger version of his former self.

    Silence said as he floated in the air, ¡°I must admit that I made a mistake. I had thought that that Light Shaking cultivator was the biggest threat, but you were actually the biggest threat. You shattered my Illusion Realm and ignored my Chaotic Heart technique, and you have a powerful consciousness that far exceeds what you should have with your cultivation base. None of my confusion techniques worked against you, but I really cannotprehend how you were able to see through my Spirit Dwelling technique. That¡¯s something that cannot be sensed even by consciousnesses.¡±

    ¡°You could say that my vision is pretty good,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°I don¡¯t think that what I did was very special anyways; at the very least, your Chaotic Heart technique wasn¡¯t only ineffective against me.¡±

    ¡°No, no!¡± Silence shook his head. ¡°There truly were a few people who weren¡¯t affected by it, but that wasn¡¯t because they resisted it, but because the Chaotic Heart is ced in the shadwos of a person¡¯s heart, amplifying these hidden thoughts and turning longings into impulsive action. Some people don¡¯t have these kinds of thoughts, so amplifying them will have no effect. But you¡¯re different. I can tell that there are people in your heart that you don¡¯t like and wanted to finish off, but you did not do that. This means that my technique wasn¡¯t ineffective against you; it¡¯s just that you were able to sessfully resist it!¡±

    So that¡¯s how it was!

    No wonder it was ineffective against Ji Hanyan and her underlings. They had only arrived recently and hadn¡¯t built up any rtionships with the people here. They had no evil intent and no hidden grudges to take care of, so there was nothing to be amplified.

    Then, Lu Qingguang......

    Su Chen thought for a moment, thenughed, ¡°Your thoughts are quite malicious. Even now, you are still trying to instigate conflict between me and my allies.¡±

    ¡°Whether or not I was instigating things you know the best,¡± Silence replied.

    ¡°Whatever, that¡¯s not what I care about anyways.¡± Su Chen nced at Silence and smiled. ¡°I stayed behind not to hear you spout nonsense.¡±

    Silence chuckled darkly, ¡°Your biggest mistake was this, young man. You¡¯re too greedy; without the help of others, do you really think you can win against me?¡±

    ¡°If I was up against you at your peak strength, of course not. But now? It¡¯s hard to say.¡±

    Su Chen stretched his hand out. The Shadow me Giant once again appeared, howling and exuding boundless strength.

    The Shadow me Giant attacked as soon as it appeared.

    A shimmering screen of light erected itself in front of Silence.

    This was the real Crystal Wall.

    Silenceughed with delight as he used the Crystal Wall to block the Shadow me Giant¡¯s attack. ¡°Young man, you¡¯re still too naive. I admit that my strength is not as great as it was formerly, but do you really think you can beat me because of that? Even if I only have a third of the strength that I used to have, I can still deal with you easily!¡±

    A w made of ck light shed at Su Chen.

    Su Chen easily dodged the attack. ¡°A third? There were ten or so Streaming Light Clones, not three. If you said that you had one-thirtieth of your original strength, I might believe you, but one-third? Do you think I can¡¯t count?¡±

    As he spoke, a kettle of Firehawks soared into the sky, then divebombed in Silence¡¯s direction.

    Silence flew backward with a strange yell. The Crystal Wall couldn¡¯t resist such ferocious attacks and exploded on the spot. The Shadow me Giant howled and reached out to grab Silence.

    Silence¡¯s figure instantly turned on to a streak of light as he attempted to evade. ¡°I¡¯ll give you whatever you want, just let me go!¡±

    This time, he had finally stopped putting on an act.

    After using Streaming Light Clones, his strength had greatly decreased. Su Chen¡¯s consciousness was strong enough topletely ignore his consciousness attacks, already putting Silence in a bad spot. He had no hope of winning this battle.

    When he heard Silence say this, Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°What do I want? Of course I want all the knowledge you have.¡±

    ¡°If you stop, I¡¯ll tell you!¡± Silence yelled. ¡°I can give all of my knowledge to you.¡±

    Su Chen stopped the Shadow me Giant¡¯s movements.

    Silence finally stopped flying around. Perhaps because he had been beaten quite badly by the Shadow me Giant, he knelt on the ground, gasping for air as he said, ¡°I can transfer all my knowledge to you. The transfer of memories is very simple and convenient. As long as you let me put my hand on your head......¡±

    As he spoke, he reached out and put his hand on Su Chen¡¯s forehead.

    Just as his hand was about to make contact, lightning suddenly struck.

    Boom!

    The lightning exploded on Silence¡¯s arm, followed by a torrent of mes that sted around him.

    Silence howled as he flew backward. He stared at Su Chen in disbelief. ¡°You......¡±

    ¡°Did you really think I would believe you would surrender so easily? And I would allow you to put your hand on my forehead?¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°You thought things would go that well, but you¡¯ve underestimated me far too much. I¡¯ll take the things I want myself!¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he pulled out the Specter Tablet. Patelocke¡¯s image appeared above it.

    ¡°This is......¡± Silence blurted out, ¡°A specter?¡±

    ¡°A real specter,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°To him, creatures like you are quite the feast.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Silence began to yell. He seemed to realize what was going to happen to him and frantically tried to escape.

    But how could he get away?

    Patelocke, who couldn¡¯tunch any physical attacks at the humans, seemed to bepletely harmless, but he was the mortal enemy of someone like the Spirit Race ¨C as long as he could defeat them.

    In that instant, Patelockeughed loudly as he floated into the air, his specter-like body morphing into a massive beast that opened its maw wide and swallowed Silence whole.

    As he swallowed, muffled tragic cries could be hearding from within his body.

    After burping with contentment a few times, Patelocke patted his belly with satisfaction. ¡°It¡¯s been thirty thousand years since I had a full meal like this.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m more curious about what you obtained.¡±

    ¡°Some evil memories and a sea¡¯s worth of knowledge!¡± Patelocke replied.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 105: Complete 1

    Chapter 105: Complete (1)

    It was impossible for a person to absorb everyst nutrient from the food that they consumed. Simrly, Patelocke couldn¡¯t possibly absorb all of his memories and knowledge, but he could still absorb quite a bit.

    Silence¡¯s knowledge was extremely varied, but after getting rid of the unnecessaryponents, Patelocke helped organize the content that Su Chen wanted ¨C Silence¡¯s research insights and his Ancient Arcana Techniques.

    Even though it wasn¡¯tplete, it was close enough. Su Chen was confident that he could fill in the gaps.

    With Silence¡¯s memories, Su Chen finally knew why Silence had appeared here.

    Silence was a wandering Spirit Race individual. That wasn¡¯t that strange. Most of the Spirit Race individuals were used to wandering.

    Apart from wandering, Silence wanted to recover the Reproductive Temple.

    This wasn¡¯t weird either. Su Chen had realized this when he had seen the metal block.

    Silence had always been researching how to use other methods to rece the Birth Mothers, including the human race. For this, he had created a massive researchb and had conducted all kinds of research.

    However, his luck wasn¡¯t that great. Three years ago, his research had suddenly resulted in an error, and his researchb exploded. Because his researchb was constructed near a river canyon, not only was he seriously injured by the explosion, but a lot of his precious research ingredients had fallen into the river and were swept away by the current.

    These experiments were aplishments that had taken him nearly a thousand years to aplish. He wasn¡¯t willing to just let them go, so he had been searching for them all this time.

    The metal block and the Purple-Colored ss were all remnants from the explosion of his researchb, which was why Wei Liancheng and the others were drawn here under Silence¡¯s direction.

    What Su Chen found particrly interesting was that the source of the explosion was the Darkness Crystal.

    The Darkness Crystal was a treasure that Silence had unintentionally obtained early on in his wandering days. He discovered that it had the unique property of being able to gather energy, but it could only gather dark energy, so he decided to perform a few simple tests. These simple tests had resulted in an explosion of dark energy, ttening the entire river canyon. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that the Spirit Race possessed innately powerful abilities to slip through the void, he would have been sted into smithereens.

    Silence had always been looking for this Darkness Crystal, but even he didn¡¯t know what the true use of this Darkness Crystal was.

    Unfortunately, most of Silence¡¯s memories of his research were missing. Of course, even if they weren¡¯t missing, there wouldn¡¯t be many of them; the ability of lifeforms to remember things was limited. If memory was sufficient for everything, Silence wouldn¡¯t need to search for the experimental records he had lost or his research materials, etc.

    He did have many memories regarding different magical techniques.

    Su Chen was the most interested in the Illusion Realm.

    During this battle, Su Chen had witnessed Silence¡¯s use of illusion techniques.

    By relying on these illusion techniques, Silence was even able to toy around with a Light Shaking Realm existence. The way he approached things served as inspiration for Su Chen.

    ¡°It seems like you¡¯re going to spend some time to elevate Fata Morgana, then.¡± Patelocke clearly also understood the direction that Su Chen was going to take.

    ¡°There¡¯s always something new to research. I just can¡¯t seem to store up enough time,¡± Su Chen sighed.

    ¡°If you fought a bit less with those Bloodline Nobility ns, you would definitely have the time,¡± Patelocke replied.

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen nodded in agreement. ¡°The wound has already been opened. If we keep fighting, I might push things across the line. Before my strength reaches a certain level, it¡¯d be a good idea to act a little more reservedly.¡±

    Indeed, after a year of turmoil, Clear River City was very different from how it was before.

    The Origin Bureau was in Su Chen¡¯s hands, a fort in West River Forest had been imed by him, the waterways no longer belonged to the Bloodline Nobility ns, and Su Chen had also poked a few holes in their control over the shops. Even the Investigations Bureau had been harmed now; if An Siyuan wasn¡¯t an idiot, he would definitely start to toss some sand into the Investigations Bureau and begin to divide Chen Wenhui¡¯s influence.

    The monopoly the Bloodline Nobility ns previously had was gone.

    But because things were this way, Su Chen felt that it was the time to stop.

    With therge number of vacancies in the Investigations Bureau, Su Chen had been nning on sticking his hand in the matter, but upon reconsideration Su Chen decided to give up on that idea.

    Let An Siyuan fight it out with those Bloodline Nobility ns.

    After being the main character for a year and being almost too prosperous, there were even people on his side who were beginning to grow tired of hearing about him. If this were to continue, he would be cannon fodder for someone sooner orter.

    People who took the lead to charge forward weren¡¯t rare, but people who knew when to back off were.

    That afternoon, Su Chen returned to the Su Pce and began to analyze Silence¡¯s research, turning down An Siyuan¡¯s invitation and expressing that he had no desire to take any position of authority.

    Not long afterward, Su Chen received notice that during the celebratory banquet, An Siyuan had inserted arge number of his supporters into the Investigations Bureau, almost forcing Chen Wenhui to try and escape.

    Both parties had eventually reached an agreement. Chen Wenhui had kept his original territory, but the Investigations Bureau was no longer the watertight organization that it had previously been.

    The criminals in Clear River City were severely restricted. An Siyuan and Lu Qingguang used their influence to wipe out a lot of the Bloodline Nobility ns¡¯ influence and pped their faces in the process.

    However, this had nothing to do with Su Chen any longer. He peacefully stayed in his researchb, performing his experiments and analyzing his Origin Skills.

    After Silence had died, Ji Hanyan¡¯s official business was done too. After two days, she also bid farewell.

    Su Chen had originally thought that Jiang Xishui would go too.

    Unexpectedly, Jiang Xishui was finally clear-headed and knew that nothing good woulde of following after Ji Hanyan mindlessly. As such, he remained behind tomand the pirates and make a name for himself here ¨C in the end, he was of royal heritage and had quite an aura. He was extremely suited formand, and hemanded quite a bit of respect amongst the pirates. Even if Su Chen himself were toe, his words might not carry as much weight as Jiang Xishui¡¯s anymore.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t really mind. His ambitions were elsewhere anyways; if Jiang Xishui was willing to take the reins of the Third River Army, that was quite good for Su Chen.

    Now that he was no longer spearheading the action, Su Chen suddenly had a lot of time that was freed up, and he became a lot more carefree.

    Because he wasn¡¯t always fighting and scheming against someone, even his experiments became much more smooth.

    The Hemolytic Totem was developing quite well, and the results of his bloodline research made him quite happy. More of the Origin Substances in the small ck stones could be used by him now, and he even made some breakthroughs in improving Fata Morgana by musing on Silence¡¯s Illusion Realm.

    During this period of time, Su Chen¡¯s strength had secretly begun to rise at an astounding rate.

    He now had many more secrets that others didn¡¯t know about him.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t care. He was totally immersed in his own world.

    During the day, he would perform experiments, and at night he would enter the Dreamrealm.

    Most of the time, Su Chen would train in his Arcana Techniques in the Dreamrealm. Because he had an abundance of Dream Droplets, Su Chen could afford to extravagantly cultivate within the Dreamrealm, causing his proficiency in using these Ancient Arcana Techniques to skyrocket.

    With the remaining but of time that he had, Su Chen would asionally wander around the various stores within the Dreamrealm, searching for information about other regions.

    Of course, he would also discuss possible paths to reach a method to reach the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline.

    Today was just a normal day. Su Chen was in the Dreamrealm wandering around, searching for some new information that might inspire him when a message suddenly surfaced in his mind from Shi Kaihuang: ¡°Come over to me.¡±

    Su Chen hurried to the end of a street. A small door stood alone there.

    Su Chen pushed the door open and found himself in a small room. Shi Kaihuang was sitting on the ground, his legs crossed as he poured himself some tea.

    ¡°Every time I see this small room of yours, my heart hurts. You should listen to your disciple sometime,¡± Su Chen said as he sat down in front of Shi Kaihuang, taking one of the teacups and pouring some tea for himself. Even though the tea was created from the Origin Energy within the Dreamrealm, the taste and mouthfeel were all extremely realistic.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with this small run-down room? I¡¯m just tempering myself with suffering. How can a person who can¡¯t endure suffering aplish great things?¡± Shi Kaihuang harrumphed.

    Shi Kaihuang cultivated diligently and looked down on materialistic wealth. They had earned quite a sum by selling Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven, but he had given it all to his disciple and didn¡¯t keep any of it for himself. As such, his status in the Dreamrealm was even lower than Su Chen¡¯s, and his living quarters were the lowest tier possible.

    Su Chen wanted to try and help him raise his privilege tier, but Shi Kaihuang wanted nothing to do with that. He would talk about how he was getting old and didn¡¯t know when his legs would give way underneath him, and that raising his privilege tier would just be sending all the money right back into the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s hands.

    Su Chen replied helplessly, ¡°The times are different now, Instructor. The things a person can aplish don¡¯t necessarily depend on whether or not he can endure suffering. Anyways, we¡¯re in the Dreamrealm. Isn¡¯t it enough to just suffer in the real world? Why suffer within the Dreamrealm too?¡±

    Unfortunately, while Su Chen could even sway his enemies with his words, he just couldn¡¯t convince this stubborn old man.

    Shi Kaihuang snorted. ¡°Don¡¯t spout such nonsense in front of me. Degradation starts from the mind; if I act luxuriously within the Dreamrealm, I¡¯ll eventually end up living extravagantly in the real world. As long as my dream hasn¡¯t been finished, I won¡¯t let you drag me down with you.¡±

    ¡°Fine, if I say more, I¡¯ll be turned into a two-faced person that is trying to poison you,¡± Su Chen surrendered helplessly. ¡°If you want, you can just keep living here. I¡¯ll just stop talking about it. Right, what did you call me here for? Have you made progress in developing a way to reach the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s beenpleted,¡± Shi Kaihuang replied.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 106: Complete

    Chapter 106: Complete

    A method for reaching the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline had beenpleted.

    When he heard this, Su Chen felt a rumble in his mind.

    Even though he had made mental preparations for this, Su Chen still felt disbelief and incredulity when the good news came.

    Had another one of the locks restricting the human race for so long been unlocked?

    Su Chen felt his eyes moisten upon seeing the past eight years of difficult research finally bear fruit.

    He could sense that beneath Shi Kaihuang¡¯s calm expression was a simrly great excitement that he could barely suppress!

    They had developed a method for reaching the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline!

    This was far different from developing a method for reaching the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline.

    This was because before Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven, the human race already had methods for reaching the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline. Unfortunately, the sess rate was too low, and if they failed they would have no way of challenging the bottleneck again.

    That was why Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven wasn¡¯t apletely novel invention but rather a supplement. It transformed a wed challenging technique and made it more perfect andplete.

    But a technique for reaching the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline had never been done before this. It was a real novel creation!

    The implications of this were vastly different.

    Without this technique, a person without a bloodline could at most reach the Blood Boiling Realm. After ingesting a Blood Spirit Medicine, they would at most be able to reach the Light Shaking Realm.

    Shi Kaihuang was one such person. He was a mixed-bloodline Light Shaking Realm cultivator, so he had been limited his whole life with no way of advancing any further.

    But if a person could reach the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline and then used a Blood Spirit Medicine, they might be able to reach the Burning Spirit Realm even with a mixed bloodline.

    This would cause the entire human race¡¯s strength to increase in leaps and bounds. It was incredibly important, much more so than reaching the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline.

    When Su Chen heard these words, he was stunned. ¡°It¡¯s done? Is it really done?¡±

    ¡°Yes. The sess rate is around 30%, but if you fail you can try again. Every time you try and charge into the Yang Opening Realm, you¡¯ll need to use the Three Yangs Medicine to supplement, but I think that¡¯s exactly what you¡¯re after.¡±

    The reason a way to reach the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline could bepleted wasrgely in part to the Three Yangs Medicine that Su Chen had created to partially rece the Blood Spirit Medicine.

    As such, one could say that the sessful development of this technique was more so the sessful development of this medicine.

    Su Chen, however, was never a stickler for formality. He was very clear that the right path for him to take was to first develop a solution for problems without solutions, then improve them step by step.

    The existence of the Three Yangs Medicine would be extremely important in turning this into a source of revenue.

    With more resources, they would be able to procure even more materials and ingredients, perform more experiments, and create more inventions.

    As such, he replied, ¡°Yes, now is the time to strike it rich. With money, we¡¯ll be able to do more experiments.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Shi Kaihuang nodded, not objecting to Su Chen¡¯s viewpoint. ¡°I took a look at a few of your more recent experiments. They were very well-done and interesting. The development of a Preliminary Primordial Bloodline Medicine is extremely impressive. Both of these medicines are simr in some sense to the Blood Spirit Medicine, but unlike the Blood Spirit Medicine they can be improved or substituted for, so it¡¯s a much moreplete situation.¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, these kinds of medicine can only be used on people without bloodlines; Instructor won¡¯t be able to use it,¡± Su Chen sighed. ¡°But I will work in improving it in the future.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang, however, said straightforwardly, ¡°No, Su Chen, you can improve everything about this medicine except its ipatibility with bloodlines.¡±

    Su Chen was confused. ¡°Why is that?¡±

    ¡°Because this is the only way to improve the status of individuals without bloodline! You know that even if you¡¯ve developed a way to reach the Yang Opening Realm, people without bloodlines will only have received an opportunity to increase their strength, but they are still much weaker in terms ofbat ability than those from Bloodline Nobility ns. The Primordial Blood Medicine is a great supplement in this regard. If you want to change the status of those without bloodlines, you cannot increase their cultivation base without strengthening theirbat ability. Instructorpleted the former, so it¡¯s up to you toplete thetter. Only when both of these things have appeared will those without bloodlines have any hope of establishing themselves. Perhaps in the future, as the Primordial Blood Medicine begins to take off, human society will be dominated by those without bloodlines. At that period of time, those without bloodlines will be the real purebloods, while those with bloodlines will just be mixed seedlings. If you ask me, this is what it means to return to our roots, and for the human race to reim the status that they should have had from the very beginning!¡±

    ¡°Those without bloodlines will be real purebloods, while those with bloodlines will be mixed seedlings?¡± Su Chen was totally stunned.

    He had originally only hoped that those without bloodlines would be able to aplish what those with bloodlines could do, but he had never thought of helping those without bloodlines surpass those with bloodlines. Now, Shi Kaihuang had given him an even loftier goal.

    Su Chen felt dazed.

    Shi Kaihuang nodded sincerely. ¡°That¡¯s right. The appearance of the Primordial Blood Medicine has helped me see the future more clearly. I believe that you will be able to do it. Perhaps the human race will establish its own Divine Throne of Primordial Blood because of you!¡±

    That day, Shi Kaihuang and Su Chen talked about a lot of things.

    As Shi Kaihuang fantasized over the future, it seemed like he could already see the day when a society without bloodlines woulde to fruition.

    Everyone could rely on their own efforts to strengthen themselves, and bloodlines would no longer determine social status. Rather, the dividing line would be based on cultivation, and a small one at that.

    With the prestige of the Bloodline Nobility ns gone, and the rise of those without bloodlines to power, the human race would be even stronger and would eventually be able to defeat the other races and hold off the Origin Beasts, bing the rulers of this massive continent.

    The two of themughed loudly as they fantasized about the future, not leaving until the sky began to lighten.

    Before leaving, Shi Kaihuang left behind the second stage of Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven, which was the technique for reaching the Yang Opening Realm.

    Just likest time, Shi Kaihuang left it up to Su Chen to decide what to do.

    After holding the technique in his hands and contemting for a long time, Su Chen left the Dreamrealm.

    Upon returning to the real world, Su Chen sent out a notice, then returned to his bedroom and waited patiently.

    Not long afterwards, a small crack opened in the window of his room.

    ck smoke billowed into the room, turning into a ck-clothed, fair-skinned maiden. Who could it be if it wasn¡¯t Night Demon?

    After experiencing countless exchanges of ¡°investigation¡± and ¡°counter-investigation¡±, Night Demon no longer tried to scare Su Chen. She instead said, ¡°What do you think of my Smoke Transformation Technique? Pretty good, right?¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t even open his eyes as he reclined on his rocking chair and said, ¡°Yes, pretty good.¡±

    ¡°What attitude is that? Will you die if you praise me once?¡± Night Demon unhappily pinched Su Chen.

    Su Chen jerked his head aside. ¡°Stop messing around. I came looking for you for business.¡±

    ¡°Of course. Why would you look for me if you don¡¯t have business with me? Today¡¯s not the date you deliver the medicine, so what¡¯s up?¡±

    Her intelligence had indeed increased! Su Chen said to himself in his heart, but said aloud, ¡°Nothing much. I just want to borrow some money from the Immortal Temple.¡±

    ¡°Borrow money?¡± Night Demon nced at him quizzically. ¡°Are youcking money recently?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°How much do you need to borrow? I can lend it to you,¡± Night Demon said.

    Even if the little girl was silly, she was quite loyal.

    ¡°How much can you lend me?¡± Su Chen asked. ¡°I might need a bit more than you can afford to handle.¡±

    Night Demon waved her hand in a grandiose manner. ¡°I¡¯ve saved up quite a bit of money for myself. Anything below a hundred thousand Origin Stones I can handle.¡±

    As an assassin, being able to pull out a hundred thousand Origin Stones was quite impressive.

    Were all these terrorists such high-ie individuals?

    Unfortunately, Su Chen¡¯s expression did not soften. He said heavily, ¡°This...... might not be enough.¡±

    ¡°Not enough?¡± Night Demon thought for a moment, then said, ¡°If the deficit isn¡¯t too great, I can ask around and borrow some money from others as well.¡±

    This was quite the favor.

    Su Chen stared at Night Demon, clearly moved. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. The amount I want isn¡¯t a sum that you can just pool together carelessly.¡±

    Night Demon was extremely curious. ¡°How much do you need?¡±

    Su Chen put his hand out.

    Night Demon was stunned. ¡°Five million? You need that much?¡±

    Su Chen unexpectedly shook his head.

    Night Demon¡¯s jaw dropped. ¡°Fifty million? You aren¡¯t going to ask for fifty million Origin Stones are you?¡±

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°Of course not.¡±

    Night Demon sighed with relief.

    ¡°Five hundred million Origin Stones.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 107: Sentimental Attraction

    Chapter 107: Sentimental Attraction

    Pu!

    Tea sprayed out of Night Demon¡¯s mouth. Su Chen was prepared, however, and a Crystal Wall appeared from him ¨C he had learned that from Patelocke.

    When faced with Night Demon¡¯s ¡°water arrow¡± attack, Su Chen said helplessly, ¡°You don¡¯t need to act so surprised.¡±

    ¡°Five hundred million Origin Stones!!¡± Night Demon howled. ¡°Are you crazy? How could the Immortal Temple give you that much money?¡±

    Did the Immortal Temple have five hundred million Origin Stones?

    The answer was yes!

    Of course they did!

    To truly powerful organizations, five hundred million was a sum that wasn¡¯t unreachable.

    But to an Origin Qi Schr at the Blood Boiling Realm, this sum was enough to totally overwhelm arge group of them.

    If Su Chen had that much money ¨C no, one-fifth that much, hordes of experts from the Immortal Temple would be willing to sell their lives to him, and dealing with the ten Bloodline Nobility ns would then be a piece of cake.

    Yes, the ten Bloodline Nobility ns weren¡¯t even worth fifty million Origin Stones to the Immortal Temple.

    And now, Su Chen had opened his mouth to ask the Immortal Temple for five hundred million Origin Stones.

    He was totally crazy!

    Su Chen, however, didn¡¯t seem like he was crazy at all.

    He said indifferently, ¡°I¡¯ll return eight hundred million.¡±

    Plop.

    Night Demon copsed on the ground.

    She stared at Su Chen in a daze, totally stunned.

    After a long period of time, she said, ¡°You...... you¡¯re being serious?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m serious.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter of you¡¯re serious.¡± Night Demon regained her rity. ¡°Even if you say you¡¯re going to return ten billion Origin Stones, it won¡¯t be of any use. The Immortal Temple wouldn¡¯t give you that much money.

    The other party didn¡¯t have to trust him just because he said he was going to return more money.

    Many cheats would start by saying that the returns would be much higher.

    The people in the Immortal Temple weren¡¯t children. They couldn¡¯t possibly give Su Chen five hundred million Origin Stones, not even if he were incredibly rich.

    ¡°Then what if the ingredients that I exchange with the five hundred million Origin Stones I leave with the organization?¡± Su Chen said calmly.

    ¡°What?¡± Night Demon was totally dumbfounded.

    Su Chen definitely wanted to achieve something with those five hundred million Origin Stones, but it sounded like these things could be kept with the Immortal Temple.

    The situation was now totally different

    Night Demon said with curiosity, ¡°What are you trying to do?¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t answer. All he said slowly was, ¡°Go back and tell your boss that I have arge business transaction to discuss with him. Since the boss seems smarter now, it seems like he won¡¯t let this opportunity go.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Two dayster.

    Night Demon brought her new boss with her.

    This boss was a polite-looking middle-aged man who seemed quite graceful, but Su Chen could instantly sense the powerful waves of energying from his body the moment they met.

    This person was even stronger than Ma Renze.

    This person, however, evidently was not arrogant. After meeting Su Chen, he smiled slightly and said, ¡°I have heard that Prince Su is brimming with presence but have never had the pleasure of meeting you. You really are as graceful as a dragon. Oh, my name is Shi Mingfeng.¡±

    ¡°Oh, so it¡¯s the Xiyuan Rain Master! Su Chen greets you,¡± Su Chen hurriedly sped his hands and bowed in greeting.

    Shi Mingfeng was quite a well-known name, and the Xiyuan Rain Master was his title. This person was extremely skilled in water-type Origin Skills. Every battleground that he was at would quickly turn into a marshy area, which was why he was given the title of Rain Master.

    He hadn¡¯t expected this person to be from the Immortal Temple.

    He wasn¡¯t like Ma Renze, who was a publically wanted criminal. He had his own public persona and could walk and do as he pleased in the outside world. If his affiliation with the Immortal Temple were exposed, there would definitely be quite a reaction.

    And now, Shi Mingfeng had appeared so publically and openly in front of Su Chen. Su Chen admired this kind of attitude very much.

    Shi Mingfengughed, ¡°Prince Su is too polite. Xiyuan Rain Master doesn¡¯t count for much. Prince Su¡¯s actions these past few years, on the other hand, have vastly opened my eyes.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t need to exchange too many pleasantries. Mingshu, pour some tea.¡± Su Chen invited Shi Mingfeng to sit.

    After conversing for a bit longer, Shi Mingfeng said directly, ¡°Prince Su, what are you nning on doing exactly with the five hundred million Origin Stones?¡±

    ¡°I want to make arge batch of medicine,¡± su Chen replied.

    ¡°What kind of medicine?¡±

    ¡°Three Yangs Medicine.¡±

    ¡°Three Yangs Medicine?¡± Shi Mingfeng was stunned. He thought for a long time but couldn¡¯t think of what kind of medicine it was.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Rain Master, you don¡¯t need to think too much. This is a kind of medicine that I invented and hasn¡¯t appeared in the public before.

    ¡°Is refining this kind of medicine expensive?¡±

    ¡°Not really. Including consumable items, the ingredients needed for a single vial is about five hundred low-grade Origin Stones.¡±

    ¡°Then the five hundred million......¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m nning on refining a million vials,¡± Su Chen replied.

    This number even made Shi Mingfeng tremble. ¡°A million vials? You¡¯re telling me that you¡¯re going to refine a million vials of medicine all at once?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have enough time to take five years off. I will need some helpers that hopefully the organization will provide for me to help ease some of the burden.¡±

    ¡°You want to refine a million vials of medicine, then sell them all at once? Why not sell them as you make them?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because there won¡¯t be time. I did some calctions; as soon as this medicine is released, mimics will hit the markets in at most three months. Thepetition will be fierce and the price will go down, so we need to produce as much as we can before that. In addition, I don¡¯t want anyone to know that I invented this medicine, so I need to make some advanced preparations.

    Shi Mingfeng stared at Su Chen in shock. ¡°What kind of medicine is it? Why does Prince Su value it so much?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s best if you don¡¯t ask. I can leave you the refined medicines as a mortgage. You can be responsible for distributing them to the various medicinal pavilions, but I rmend you keep your identities a secret; otherwise, you¡¯ll end up with more trouble than you can handle. As for what these medicines are used for, you will know soon enough. The price of the medicine is around 1500 Origin Stones, meaning we will earn around 1.5 billion low-grade Origin Stones. After the matter is done and finished, you take eight hundred million, and I take seven hundred million.¡±

    This supposed ¡°mortgage¡± to the organization was actually just using the Immortal Temple to help him distribute the medicine. Su Chen had just put it in a way that made it sound better.

    ¡°Absolutely not!¡± Shi Mingfeng refused resolutely. ¡°Regarding the secret of the medicine, you must tell me clearly. If we think that it¡¯s possible, we won¡¯t care who holds onto it. Otherwise, the risk is too great, and I won¡¯t know if your n will seed or not. In addition, we¡¯re investing five hundred million Origin Stones into your n but will only earn three hundred million out of it; this kind of distribution is not fair!¡±

    Thisst sentence revealed Shi Mingfeng¡¯s attitude ¨C fif he was willing to negotiate, he was leaning towards trusting Su Chen.

    This kind of trust was built on their numerous interactions over the past few years. He knew that Su Chen wouldn¡¯t take big risks for no reason.

    ¡°The n will definitely seed,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Prove it to me!¡±

    Su Chen knew that if he didn¡¯t pull out something substantial, Shi Mingfeng definitely wouldn¡¯t agree. As such, he said, ¡°I can tell you the use of this medicine, but if that¡¯s the case, I will have the final say in how the medicine is used, and it cannot be spread outside.¡±

    ¡°This...... I agree!¡± Shi Mingfeng nodded.

    To the Immortal Temple, a logical n was much more important than a bunch of medicine that they had no idea how to use.

    Su Chen handed him a piece of paper.

    After reading what was written on the paper, Shi Mingfeng seemed to have been struck by lightning. ¡°This is......¡±

    ¡°Just as you have seen, this is the path to riches. You can choose to go through with this or not, but I believe that there are many others who would be more than willing to do business with me.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 108: Appointmen

    Chapter 108: Appointment

    Shi Mingfeng agreed.

    After Su Chen revealed his own trump card, Shi Mingfeng agreed, as expected.

    Shi Mingfeng was a Bloodline Nobility n member, but the benefits his background gave him were much lower than the benefits his status gave him.

    Shi Mingfeng was clear what kind of effect a technique for reaching the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline would create, but how could thatpare with a few hundred million Origin Stones?

    He didn¡¯t care much about the future of the human race. His own future, however, he was already clear about ¨C he was going to make a huge amount of money, which he could use to buy a lot of cultivation resources and increase his strength. Breaking into the Spirit Burning Realm was no longer just a far-off dream!

    Soon after, Shi Mingfeng and Su Chen reached an agreement.

    The Immortal Temple would supply the five hundred million low-grade Origin Stones to buy resources, as well as a few alchemists to help Su Chen refine the medicine. They would also be responsible for distributing the medicine to the major medicine pavilions for Su Chen. This was quite aplicated endeavor, and it required a certain amount of manpower to aplish.

    Because of this, both sides agreed to adjust the distribution of the profits to a sixty-forty distribution.

    Su Chen would receive six hundred million, the Immortal Temple four hundred million.

    This was a rtively normal split. Su Chen proposing giving the Immortal Temple three hundred million was just amon negotiation tactic. The Immortal Temple was going to have to pay quite a price.

    Even so, to get Shi Mingfeng to agree to these conditions, Su Chen had also secretly agreed to give Shi Mingfeng thirty million Origin Stones.

    As rpense, Su Chen¡¯s debt with the Immortal Temple waspletely taken care of.

    In the future, the Immortal Temple could still ask Su Chen to refine medicine for them, but the price would be determined vial by vial.

    Since everyone was happy with the negotiations, Shi Mingfeng returned to report to his bosses ¨C actually, even he didn¡¯t have the final say on this matter. All of this was just to express intent; the decision, however, had to be made by his bosses.

    Thankfully, the Immortal Temple didn¡¯t go crazy and reject the n because ¡°it might increase the strength of humans¡±. They allowed the n to go through.

    However, the Immortal Temple felt that the price on the Three Yangs Medicine was too low and requested that it be increased in price.

    They reckoned that, when the technique for reaching the Yang Opening Realm would just be hitting the market, they had all of the Three Yangs Medicine. As such, they could absolutely raise the price and make it higher.

    A medicine that only cost five hundred Origin Stones could absolutely be sold for fifty thousand Origin Stones.

    They didn¡¯t need to worry about people not buying it. To the Origin Qi Schrs who could afford to consider trying to break into a higher cultivation realm, fifty thousand Origin Stones was nothing.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that the medicine¡¯sposition and refinement process were both quite simple, they would have even pushed for the price to be five hundred thousand per vial.

    However, Su Chen had refused this suggestion and insisted on a price of one thousand five hundred Origin Stones.

    The Three Yangs Medicine was rted to the strengthening of the entire human race. He could profit from this, but there should be a limit to the amount. If he raised the price of the medicine past normal profits, he would have lost his original intention and would have gone against Shi Kaihuang¡¯s intentions.

    He had not forgotten that both the technique for reaching the Blood Boiling Realm and the Yang Opening Realm were both invented by Shi Kaihuang. Shi Kaihuang¡¯s handing of the technique over to him was a test in the first ce.

    He couldn¡¯t disappoint Shi Kaihuang, and he didn¡¯t want Cloud Bat¡¯s reputation to be damaged because of this.

    Money was just a number and was meant to be spent. As long as he had enough to use, that was enough.

    Even so, the Immortal Temple didn¡¯t give up and continued to try and convince Su Chen, causing him to grow impatient. In the end, he agreed to raise the price to three thousand Origin Stones per vial and refused to raise the price any further.

    Su Chen¡¯s refusal made the Immortal Temple feel extremely regretful. Theyined that Su Chen only saw the small profits, and that billions of Origin Stones were slipping through their fingertips.

    Even so, Su Chen controlled the way to manufacture the Three Yangs Medicine and the technique for reaching the Yang Opening Realm. The Zhu n had demonstrated with their lives that preventing a secret from spreading was much more difficult than guarding a secret. They were forced to give up on their thoughts of forcing things and epted Su Chen¡¯s requests and pricing.

    A n to make an incredible amount of money was put into motion.

    A constant supply of money began to stream from the Immortal Temple into Su Chen¡¯s hands. After buying a massive quantity of ingredients, Su Chen began to refine medicines along with the alchemists with him.

    Because Su Chen controlled a portion of the resources in West River Forest, Su Chen could also profit from them quite a bit. However, they had overlooked it because of the immense amounts of profit they were about to haul in.

    While refining, Su Chen didn¡¯t forget to continue his own research. He was now keeping track of his expenses when doing research ¨C he listed all of his research expenses as production costs. This was a privilege that belonged to the person who controlled the resources and production method.

    Su Chen began to diligently cultivate, do research, and refine medicine. He basically had no time to do anything else. For this reason, the fame that he had built up in Clear River City during that period of time had begun to .

    No one knew that a hidden storm was brewing and gathering energy, waiting for the right moment to explode forth and turn the whole world upside down.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Today, Su Chen was performing his experiments when Mingshu knocked on his door.

    ¡°Young Master, I have an invitation from the Peaceful Flourishing Hall.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you to refuse any non-important invitations?¡± Su Chen replied.

    At this point, he was someone who could be considered famous in Clear River City. He could cause the city to tremble with just a stomp of his foot. Even though he hadn¡¯t done so in the past few days, his prestige wouldn¡¯t disappear that quickly.

    ¡°This one might not be so easy to refuse,¡± Mingshu replied.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Su Chen was quite interested. He opened the door and let Mingshu in. ¡°What¡¯s the situation?¡±

    Mingshu said, ¡°Hasn¡¯t Young Master been looking for Seedless ck Lotus? West River Forest doesn¡¯t produce it, so we must obtain it from the west. The Peaceful Flourishing Hall has the best trade routes with the west.¡±

    ¡°So let the Peaceful Flourishing Hall buy it for me. Why do I need to personally appear?¡±

    ¡°A natural disaster wreaked havoc a few years ago in the west, greatly decreasing the production of the Seedless ck Lotus and causing its price to skyrocket. There¡¯s still a bunch of people who are trying desperately to obtain some. The Boss Zhou of the Peaceful Flourishing Hall treats it as a raremodity and isn¡¯t willing to sell it easily. However, Boss Zhou has always wanted to make your acquaintance. When I went looking for him to buy some of the Seedless ck Lotus, Boss Zhou proposed a meeting with you, and he even sent out a special invitation today. If you don¡¯t appear in person, they might not sell these ingredients to us.¡±

    Su Chen frowned when he heard this.

    The Seedless ck Lotus was quite a rare ingredient that could activate a person¡¯s bloodline power.

    Su Chen¡¯s research of the Primordial Blood Medicine had advanced another step, and he needed arge amount of Seedless ck Lotus. He didn¡¯t want to interrupt his progress at this point.

    When he thought of this, Su Chen said, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then let¡¯s make a trip. Where¡¯s the meeting going to be held?¡±

    ¡°Tomorrow at noon at the Soaring Pavilion,¡± Mingshu replied.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 109: Making Trouble

    Chapter 109: Making Trouble

    The Soaring Pavilion was in the south of Clear River City. It was an old establishment that had been there for over seventy years and was owned by a small n in Clear River City.

    This tavern specialized in exotic fare and tended to be on the lighter side to preserve the original taste of the food. Su Chen was from the Three Mountains Region, and his tastes were quite simr, so he quite enjoyed eating in this ce. For the other party to invite him here was quite a considerate move.

    The scenery around the Soaring Pavilion was quite beautiful. One could see Clear River City in all its splendor from the top floor to the north, while to the south was the Southern Mountains.

    At noon, Su Chen arrived at the Soaring Pavilion.

    Upon arriving, a servant brought him to a side room. It wasn¡¯t until he entered the room that he discovered the Peaceful Flourishing Hall¡¯s Boss Zhou hadn¡¯t yet arrived; he had only sent a small footboy to wait on him.

    The footboy was a in-spoken person. Upon seeing Su Chen, he only said, ¡°Bureau Head Su, please wait a few moments. My boss will be here shortly.¡±

    Su Chen frowned slightly. With his current status, others would usually wait for him. Why would he have to wait for someone else? It wasn¡¯t that he was putting on airs; this was just the most basic courtesy to be shown during this time period. The other party had invited him, but they were the ones who were arrivingte. This truly made him speechless.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t nitpick. He walked into the room and asked, ¡°What dishes has Boss Zhou ordered?¡±

    Thest time he hade to the Soaring Pavilion was half a year ago. He had eaten a Golden-Skinned Duck at the time and felt that the taste was quite good, and he was considering ordering it again.

    The servant in the room said, ¡°No food has been ordered yet.¡±

    ¡°They haven¡¯t ordered yet?¡± Su Chen balked.

    Even though these were all just small details, they gave off the impression that the other party didn¡¯t view him as important.

    If they didn¡¯t view him as important, why would they invite him here?

    Su Chen¡¯s heart suddenly jerked. He allowed his consciousness to spread in all directions.

    His consciousness had been further strengthened from before. As it spread, nothing that was happening within the Soaring Pavilion could escape his notice. He discovered, however, that there wasn¡¯t a single person in the entire pavilion.

    Not good!

    Su Chen recognized that the situation was dire and hurriedly pushed open a window.

    He had just opened a window when he saw a streak of light shooting quickly in his direction.

    Dammit, they really moved fast!

    Su Chen ducked and avoided the strike.

    With a massive explosion, the door and table behind him had been blown to bits.

    Borrowing the force of the explosion, Su Chen shot through the roof and into the air. Before he evennded, however,

    Light Shaking Realm!

    Dammit, he knew this was going to happen.

    Su Chen realized without a doubt that this was a plot the ten Bloodline Nobility ns had devised to deal with him.

    They had purposefully used the Peaceful Flourishing Pavilion¡¯s reputation to lure him out, then sent a Light Shaking Realm expert to personallye and kill him.

    They had specifically chosen the Soaring Pavilion, which was outside the city, because attacking here wouldn¡¯t affect the innocent and would have much less serious consequences. The field of view was extremely open and it was hard to hide, and An Siyuan had left the city on government business.

    The time and ce had all been carefully selected to ensure that they could kill Su Chen.

    Even though the Blood-Robed Guards were just downstairs, if a Light Shaking Realm cultivator were to attack without reservation, the Blood-Robed Guards were totally useless.

    This was an assassination that was absolutely premeditated.

    Even though Su Chen hadn¡¯t made any particrly brazen moves these past few years, his very existence was a threat to the Bloodline Nobility ns. It was because of him that the Bloodline Nobility ns were forced into being so passive.

    The Bloodline Nobility ns had been waiting for this day for a long time. When they didn¡¯t move, everything seemed quiet, but as soon as they did things would explode with lightning intensity.

    ¡°Su Chen, die!¡±

    With a loud howl, a palm strike split the clouds, the wind howling around it as it pressed down on Su Chen and enveloped the entire Soaring Pavilion, including Su Chen and the bodyguards that had apanied him.

    What a frightening attack!

    When faced with such power, Su Chen couldn¡¯t muster any battle intent.

    Just as the massive palm was about to blot out the entire sky, a trace of light glimmered across Su Chen¡¯s eyes as he stared at the Light Shaking Realm cultivator.

    This nce caused the Light Shaking Realm cultivator to freeze for just a brief moment. The hand that was about to obliterate the Soaring Pavilion froze for just a moment.

    ¡°Leave, now!¡± Su Chen yelled. This was all he could do for his underlings.

    As he yelled this, his figure disappeared into thin air.

    Darkness Concealment, Whitetower Teleportation.

    This was thebo Su Chen had prepared to escape from a Light Shaking Realm cultivator¡¯s attacks. His preparations against even remote possibilities had finallye into y.

    After absorbing Silence¡¯s illusion powers, Su Chen¡¯s Fata Morgana became much more powerful. Even if a Light Shaking Realm cultivator were to be hit by it, they wouldn¡¯t be able to escape from it for a brief period of time. If he were alone, perhaps this ambush would have been stopped in its tracks already, and Su Chen could safely retreat.

    However, this obviously wasn¡¯t possible.

    A re-like arrow shot into the sky from the ground, mming into the frozen Light-Shaking Realm cultivator.

    This re-like arrow was used to notify the others that the ambush had failed and to activate the backup ns. Now, it had another use, which was to awaken the Light Shaking Realm cultivator.

    The re-like arrow bounced off the Light Shaking Realm cultivator, glowing brilliantly. This rtively small perturbance was already enough to wake the Light Shaking Realm cultivator from his sleep.

    The Light Shaking Realm cultivator shuddered a moment, then realized that he had been under the influence of an illusion technique. He was both ashamed and infuriated: ¡°Bastard!¡±

    He searched for Su Chen but found that the air above the Soaring Pavilion was totally empty. His figure couldn¡¯t be seen anywhere.

    ¡°Trying to run? You won¡¯t get anywhere!¡± the Light Shaking Realm cultivator yelled. He knew that it was impossible for Su Chen to be in the Soaring Pavilion, but he needed to dispel the rage in his heart. His palm mmed downwards, obliterating the Soaring Pavilion.

    Immediately after this palm strikended, the Light Shaking Realm cultivator immediately aimed another palm at his nearby surroundings.

    He knew that he hadn¡¯t been deceived for long, and Su Chen couldn¡¯t possibly have escaped far. As such, with the Soaring Pavilion as the center, he began to unleash consecutive palm strikes, ignoring the actual situationpletely. The city outskirts were subjected to bombardment, and a few Blood-Robed Guards who weren¡¯t able to escape in time were ttened. But since he had made up his mind to attack, how could he care about the Blood-Robed Guards¡¯ identity any longer?

    The consecutive palm strikes rained down but didn¡¯t force Su Chen out. The Light Shaking Realm cultivator then gestured, sending a wave of mes surging towards the city gate.

    If Su Chen had returned to the city during this period of time, he would have been burned to a crisp.

    Regardless, the Light Shaking Realm cultivator couldn¡¯t see anything.

    Su Chen seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth.

    The Light Shaking Realm cultivator¡¯s expression immediately sunk.

    With his cultivation base and identity, a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator that he had personally attempted to kill had actually escaped from him. He felt embarrassment wash over him.

    The Light Shaking Realm scanned his surroundings from the high ground and said loudly, ¡°He didn¡¯t go inside the city. He must have run into the mountains! Find him at any cost! Whoever kills Su Chen will be awarded a hundred thousand Origin Stones!¡±

    The mountain was densely forested, and the crowns of the trees obstructed his sight and made it hard for him to spot any traces even though he was floating in the air. Chasing after him personally was no longer as attractive as simply getting his underlings to do it for him.

    When they heard the Light Shaking Realm cultivator¡¯s words,rge numbers of guards swarmed forward, charging into the mountains.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 110: Hun

    Chapter 110: Hunt

    After concealing himself, Su Chen¡¯s Whitetower Teleportation sent him in the direction of the Southern Mountains.

    He was very clear that these Bloodline Nobility n individuals wouldn¡¯t let him get into the city easily, and even if he could get in it wouldn¡¯t do him much good ¨C An Siyuan wasn¡¯t in the city, and Lu Qingguang might not be willing to help him (or at the very least wouldn¡¯t put much effort into it).

    If he went into the city, he would be like a bird trapped in a cage.

    Since this was the case, then why not y around with this group of people for a bit? Even though the situation had urred quite suddenly, Su Chen had been waiting for this moment for a number of years and was well-prepared.

    Su Chen dove right into the forest, his figure as quick as the wind.

    He hadn¡¯t run far when he heard the sound of pursuers on his tail. Most frustratingly, the sounds of dogs barking could be heard mixed in to the crowd.

    Darkness Concealment didn¡¯t actually cause an object to disappear, and there were many ways to neutralize it. The easiest way was just to use dogs.

    Shorttailed Foxhounds were mid-tier Vicious Beasts with extremely sharp noses and powerful pursuing abilities.

    During the course of their standoff these past few years, Su Chen¡¯s Shadow Servants were no longer really a secret, so the Bloodline Nobility ns had prepared a group of foxhounds to counter them. However, everyone had treated this as a reserve method; no one had expected that Su Chen would actually be able to escape from a Light Shaking Realm cultivator¡¯s attack.

    Su Chen knew that it was impossible to continue relying on Shadow Concealment, so he dispelled it to conserve Shadow Substance and continued to sprint through the forest.

    Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

    Countless figures whizzed through the forests. The Origin Qi Schrs were sprinting at top speed.

    The reward of a hundred thousand Origin Stones was enough to arouse the mes of desire in many of their hearts. This fortune was going to be theirs!

    The Light Shaking Realm cultivator floating in the air descended at this moment. ¡°Peiyuan!¡±

    ¡°Father.¡± A male with a ck beard appeared. It was the Wang n¡¯s Elder, Wang Peiyuan.

    The Light Shaking Realm cultivator in front of him was Wang Peiyuan¡¯s Father, n Leader Wang Zhanyu.

    Wang Zhanyu said, ¡°Tell everyone to surround the Southern Mountains and block every exit, and send some more groups of people into the mountain to hunt for him.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Wang Zhanyu turned around to leave.

    ¡°Father, are you not going to participate?¡± Wang Peiyuan asked with some surprise.

    Wang Zhanyu harrumphed, ¡°I¡¯ve already put out a reward. Why should I participate? Topete with them for the reward? Or to help put the reward into their hands?¡±

    Wang Peiyuan was surprised for a moment, but it made sense when he thought about it.

    Since the reward was already announced, if Wang Zhanyu continued to participate and took it for himself, it would leave behind the impression that he reneged on debts.

    The Bloodline Nobility ns weren¡¯t afraid of being mocked, but being mocked for reneging on a debt was too low and humiliating, and they could not tolerate it.

    ¡°But Su Chen is extremely cunning; if he escapes again......¡± Wang Peiyuan said carefully.

    ¡°That¡¯s why you¡¯ll need to hem him in tightly. He¡¯s all alone ¨C can you really not deal with him with so many people? Or do I always need to resolve things for you?¡± Wang Zhanyu¡¯s tone had be extremely unhappy at this point.

    As the ancestor of the Wang n, he should have been respected by those underneath him, and any matters that arose should have been taken care of by his disciples. His being asked to personally make a move to resolve a problem for the n was already making him quite unhappy. In addition, his opponent was only a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator, and he had a staggeringly great advantage.

    As such, this n patriarch had no desire to make another move now that he couldn¡¯t find Su Chen after making this attack.

    In fact, the real reason was that he had unleashed nearly ten palm strikes aimed at the surroundings of the Soaring Pavilion, ttening an area nearly a thousand feet wide. It was quite pleasurable and it fully demonstrated his strength, but he had also expended a significant amount of Origin Energy. The old man didn¡¯t want to flip his boat with his own fishing hook, so he could only put on these airs. When his energy had recovered, it wouldn¡¯t be toote for him to make a move if those useless subordinates of his hadn¡¯t finished Su Chen off yet.

    When he heard this, Wang Peiyuan didn¡¯t dare push the issue. He lowered his head and agreed.

    As he watched Wang Zhanyu leave, Wang Peiyuan said, ¡°Tell everyone to bring out their full strength here. Su Chen has already been forced into the mountain and must be exterminated. If we miss this opportunity, we might not ever get another one.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Su Chen also heard what Wang Zhanyu had yelled.

    This yell didn¡¯t make him anxious, however; in fact, his heart rxed a bit, because this implied that Wang Zhanyu wouldn¡¯t participate himself.

    Su Chen popped his head out of the foge to take a look and discovered that the Light Shaking Realm cultivator had indeed disappeared.

    The lion was gone, but the wolves were still prowling in search of him.

    Su Chen nced behind him and chuckled coldly, slowing down intentionally. Without the Light Shaking Realm cultivator here, he was not afraid of those people.

    ¡°Catch him! Don¡¯t let him get away!¡±

    ¡°Keep chasing!¡±

    Amidst the loud yells, a few of the faster Origin Qi Schrs had already caught up.

    One of the Origin Qi Schrs, upon seeing that Su Chen was close, raised his hand and unleashed a streak of ck light.

    The light shot straight at Su Chen¡¯s back. Just as it was about to hit him, Su Chen suddenly leapt into the air, shing behind him with his de and creating a streak of light of his own.

    Two more Origin Qi Schrs behind him also charged forward together, creating a brilliant disy of light with their de strikes.

    A massive wave of mes rose and rushed forward to intercept them.

    The two of them thought that it was just a regr fire-type Origin Skill and didn¡¯t pay it much thought, only raising a magic barrier in response. However, they soon noticed that the mes had a faint dark tinge to them. In the blink of an eye, the mes had morphed into a massive humanoid figure that stretched its arms out, threatening to envelop them.

    The two Origin Qi Schrs were simultaneously grabbed by the Shadow me Giant and burned alive. No matter how they struggled, they were unable to escape.

    Their Origin Energy barriers groaned under the furious onught of the shadowy mes, flickering and deforming before finally shattering with a ¡°bang¡±.

    The two Origin Qi Schrs were incinerated, as if they had been dropped into moltenva. The two of them were only Blood Boiling Realm cultivators and didn¡¯t ce much focus on tempering their bodies. Their bodies had never reached the point of being as hard as metal, so their skin only resisted for a brief moment before they began to disintegrate at a frightening pace. They shrieked and howled as they struggled, but they couldn¡¯t escape no matter what they did and were burned to ashes.

    These two had died in an extremely tragic manner, but it wasn¡¯t enough to scare the other Origin Qi Schrs into retreating.

    Most of them continued to yell loudly as they advanced.

    ¡°Men really do die for wealth!¡± Su Chenughed coldly as he turned around and continued to run.

    Even though Su Chen¡¯s Snaking Mist Steps were fast, there were quite a few people who were adept in speed. Very quickly, two new individuals caught up.

    ¡°Where are you trying to run?¡± the two of them yelled as they attacked simultaneously.

    This time, they had learned their lesson. They weren¡¯t in a hurry to try and kill Su Chen; instead, theyunched attacks at him from far away as bait, waiting for the people behind them to catch up so they could take him on all together.

    However, they had just unleashed their attacks when they saw Su Chen¡¯s figure suddenly disappear.

    Where did he go?

    The two of them nced around in all directions.

    ¡°Behind you!¡±

    A few Origin Qi Schrs catching up called out in warning.

    They turned around in shock, only to be met with Su Chen¡¯s calm, calcting expression.

    ¡°Armor-Piercing Awl!¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s fists blew right through their throats, causing flesh and blood to spray everywhere.

    Su Chen continued to charge forward, leaving behind the two corpses. He covered a few hundred meters in the span of a few seconds, then disappeared from view.

    The ones who were at the front were the fastest. When these guys were finished off, it would be much harder for the Origin Qi Schrs behind to catch up to him.

    One of the Origin Qi Schrs who was chasing from behind reached their corpses, took a look, and stomped angrily as he said, ¡°Put the Yang Opening Realm cultivators at the front. Every Yang Opening Realm cultivator shall take two Blood Boiling Realm cultivators, for Qi Drawing Realm cultivators, and ten martial artists. Each team will advance separately to hem him in and make sure that no person gets picked off individually. As long as he isn¡¯t able to escape from the Southern Mountains, this ce will be his grave sooner orter!¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 111: Remodel

    Chapter 111: Remodel

    Within the gloomy forest, a group of Origin Qi Schrs carefully patrolled.

    One of the Origin Qi Schrs was holding one of the Shorttailed Foxhounds in his hands.

    The Foxhound seemed small, but it was a genuine mid-tier Vicious Beast, and itsbat ability was decent as well. The small beast sniffed the air around it, an unsettled, impatient expression appearing on its face.

    ¡°The Foxhound is reacting to something. Everyone, be careful! He could be nearby,¡± the Origin Qi Schr holding the Foxhound said.

    Even though the Shorttailed Foxhound had an incredibly acute sense of smell, it wasn¡¯t impossible to deal with. Some medicines could conceal scent. If you were lucky enough, some mud might even be able to do the job.

    After charging into the mountains, his scent had be much weaker. Even though he hadn¡¯t been able topletely escape from the pursuit of the Shorttail Foxhounds, they were having a much harder time tracking him, and the Vicious Beasts needed to go back and forth before being able lock onto the scent. Otherwise, there wouldn¡¯t really have been a need for them to split up.

    The group of Origin Qi Schrs came next to arge tree. The Shorttail Foxhound¡¯s expression seemed to indicate that Su Chen might be nearby. One of the Origin Qi Schrs was already beginning to prepare a signal re to notify the other search parties.

    As they were looking around, however, they failed to notice that the tree they were standing next to had slowly opened its eyes. Countless roots began to snake across the ground, which they only noticed once the roots had wrapped around their legs.

    ¡°What¡¯s the situation?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°Dammit, it¡¯s the Vampiric Demon Tree!¡±

    ¡°Heavens, save me!¡±

    ¡°Launch the signal! Quick,unch the signal!¡±

    Amidst the panicked yells. The trees¡¯ roots were like snakes wriggling across the ground, and at the tip of the roots were mouths lined with sharp teeth. The mouths opened wide and began to bite down at the others.

    ¡°No!¡± All the Origin Qi Schrs began to retaliate, and the Origin Qi Schr responsible for shooting of the signal re released it.

    The leader was a Yang Opening Realm cultivator who specifically cultivated his physique. He growled, and the muscles on his body immediately began to tighten as his body grew rapidly in size.

    But even though he was powerful, the Vampiric Demon Tree was also extremely powerful. More root snakes appeared, wrapping their way around the Yang Opening Realm cultivator¡¯s body andpletely covering him from head to toe.

    ¡°Use mes and burn me!¡± the Yang Opening Realm cultivator howled.

    Another Origin Qi Schr, who had also been tied up, opened his mouth. Large amounts of mes surged forth from his mouth onto the Yang Opening Realm cultivator¡¯s body, burning both him and the roots wrapped around him at the same time.

    The Yang Opening Realm cultivator did not fear the mes, and his body continued to grow as the mes washed over him. On the contrary, the Vampiric Demon Tree¡¯s roots began to crackle loudly as the mes burned them.

    Even though Tree Demons were powerful, most of them had an inherent fear of mes.

    The Vampiric Demon Tree was no exception. It shrieked with pain as the mes scorched it. The Yang Opening Realm cultivator, on the other hand, only grew more powerful; under his full-strength struggling, the roots were broken.

    If no one else intervened, this small team could absolutely wipe out this Demon Tree.

    Unfortunately, things rarely went that smoothly.

    Su Chen¡¯s figure appeared from the darkness. ¡°Strength King He Houshan, your reputation precedes you. I must say, I respect your ability to go toe-to-toe with this Vampiric Demon Tree and your fire-absorbing ability.

    Su Chen pped twice. ¡°Unfortunately......¡±

    He gestured with his hand. Frost began to sweep through the air, forming an icy tornado. This was the Frosted Fragrant Blossoms that Su Chen had developed for Ji Hanyan.

    Under the icy wind, the mes were immediately suppressed. Not only so, but the chill even prated deep into He Houshan¡¯s body.

    He Houshan didn¡¯t fear mes, but his ability to defend himself against the frost was extremelyckluster, and he even feared it somewhat. The chilly energy prated deep into his body, causing his body to be covered in a sheet of ice. The Vampiric Demon Tree, assisted by the frost, once again sent its roots snaking towards He Houshan, the roots wrapping around him tightly as other roots stabbed right into He Houshan¡¯s body, causing blood to spray everywhere.

    The other Origin Qi Schrs were stunned when they saw this and began to cry out, ¡°Have mercy on us!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fun to chase me, is it? Is it worth a hundred thousand Origin Stones?¡± Su Chenughed as he walked over, shing with the Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de and cutting off the head of one of the Origin Qi Schrs.

    The de didn¡¯t stop and continued to stab towards the next Origin Qi Schr.

    de strike after de strike cut off one Origin Qi Schr¡¯s head after another.

    The Vampiric Demon Tree, upon seeing Su Chen killing people, wasn¡¯t happy and actually became angry. It began to howl, and even more roots surged forward to suck blood all the more voraciously. A few roots even snaked their way towards Su Chen.

    ¡°Quite ungrateful of you.¡± Su Chen¡¯s figure floated backwards, retreating out of the Tree Demon¡¯s attack range.

    He Houshan wasn¡¯t able to hold on anymore. With a series of loud cracks, the bones in He Houshan¡¯s body were shattered, and he died on the spot.

    As he died, Su Chen summoned arge number of Air Tentacles, grabbing He Houshan¡¯s body and pulling it away. The Vampiric Demon Tree was infuriated and wanted to try and take its spoil of war back, but an instantter, Su Chen gestured, and a kettle of Firehawks surged forward, mming into the Vampiric Demon Tree and starting a fire that roared brightly.

    Even though the Tree Demon was powerful, the gap in strength was too great. It was burned to a crisp in an instant.

    Su Chen appeared in front of the Vampirit Demon Tree in an instant, unleashing an Armor-Piercing Awl with his left hand and blowing its trunk open. He pulled out a greenish-blue crystal with countless strands of blood revolving around it.

    This was the Vampiric Demon Tree¡¯s Origin Energy Nucleus.

    This kind of Origin Energy Nucleus was extremely rare. It could only be formed by absorbing arge quantities of fresh blood, and it would disappear extremely quickly.

    After Su Chen retrieved the item, he then cut open He Houshan¡¯s chest.

    At this moment, He Houshan¡¯s body had been totally drained of blood. Cutting open his chest didn¡¯t actually cause more blood to spill out.

    Su Chen stuffed this Origin Energy Nucleus into He Houshan¡¯s body, poured a vial of medicine in after it, then retreated.

    The sounds of yells could be heard off in the distance. Others had detected themotion and were hurrying to the destination.

    Su Chen¡¯s mouth quirked up with a smile. ¡°ept my present, won¡¯t you?¡±

    As he spoke, he searched the bodies of the dead people onest time, taking the signal arrows with him before leaving.

    A momentter, arge group of individuals arrived at the smoky battlefield and found the ground littered with corpses. Everyone was stunned.

    ¡°They¡¯re all dead. Even Old He died,¡± an Origin Qi Schr said somberly.

    He Houshan¡¯s bodyy there peacefully on the ground, filling everyone with anger, fear, and sorrow.

    At that moment, He Houshan¡¯s finger suddenly twitched.

    The more astute individuals among them noticed and said, ¡°He¡¯s not dead yet!¡±

    A few of the Origin Qi Schrs charged over to help him up, then said with happiness, ¡°He¡¯s still alive! Old He is still alive...... AH!¡±

    Immediately following, they shrieked with pain.

    Two hands stained with blood were protruding out from their backs.

    A tall, massive figure slowly rose from the ground.

    The two corpses were casually tossed to the ground.

    ¡°What...... what¡¯s going on here?¡± Everyone stared at He Houshan in shock.

    The He Houshan before them was covered in visible veins of blood, and his skin had taken on a faint bloody luster. His eyes seemed as dark as ck holes.

    He was empty and lifeless, yet he exuded an incredibly frightening aura.

    ¡°What is this?¡±

    ¡°Demon!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a demon!¡±

    The whole group began to yell with panic.

    Their final memory was He Houshan¡¯s massive figure lumbering towards them as they werepletely wiped out......

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 112: Two-Faced Stone Toad

    Chapter 112: Two-Faced Stone Toad

    Su Chen had done many, many experiments.

    He had long lost track of how many experiments he had performed in the past fifteen or so years.

    Most of these experiments were failures.

    Even though they were failures, however, they had their own value.

    What he had used on He Houshan was a failed experiment called the Devil Puppet.

    He had gotten the idea for the Devil Puppet from another student¡¯s bloodline. This student¡¯s bloodline didn¡¯t let him control organisms that were still alive like Jin Ling¡¯er and Zhou Juanjia, but he could control deceased beings and cause them toe back to life.

    Of course, they weren¡¯t reallying back to life; this was just a kind of dummy control technique.

    After Su Chen had gotten his hands on that student¡¯s bloodline, he had begun to research whether or not he could develop a simr Origin Skill, but had failed in the end.

    The Devil Puppets Su Chen created didn¡¯t recognize friend from foe; they attacked anything that they saw. Because they had no life force, interestingly enough, they were often slightly more powerful dead than they were alive.

    When Su Chen had escaped to this area and found the Vampiric Demon Tree, he knew that he could use its core to create a Devil Puppet and had set up a small trap behind him.

    The puppet He Houshan had begun to massacre everything in sight. A grim smile appeared on Su Chen¡¯s face as he listened to the miserable shrieks.

    He muttered to himself, ¡°This is only the beginning.¡±

    He continued to run deeper into the forest.

    Even though the Southern Mountains weren¡¯trge, there were still a few Demonic Beasts inhabiting it.

    Su Chen was in the depths of the forest now, searching his surroundings as he ran. He very quickly stumbled upon a suitable target.

    The target was a massive toad whose body was asrge as a small hill. It was a mid-tier Demonic Beast. Su Chen knew that this toad was called the Two-Faced Stone Toad because the camouge on its back looked like a massive face. It was an earth-type Demonic Beast and had an affinity for earth-type Origin Energy. It absorbed its energy from the ground, so calling it an earth-eating lifeform wasn¡¯t going too far. It would asionally eat a few bug-type Demonic Beasts, but it didn¡¯t like eating humans. If it saw a human, it would leave them alone unless they provoked it.

    When he saw this Two-Faced Stone Toad, Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up. A new n was beginning to take shape in his mind.

    He was the inheritor of Ulrich, Mainbrooke, and Patelocke¡¯s Ancient Arcana Techniques, and he possessed quite a bit of knowledge as a result. Even though he had no way of learning everything, there was a lot of things that he knew but never needed to use. Now, it was time for him to show them off.

    He swaggered up to the Stone Toad. The Stone Toad didn¡¯t even nce at him and continued to mind its own business and remain asleep.

    Su Chen jumped onto the Stone Toad¡¯s back. Because of the Two-Faced Stone Toad consumption ofrge quantities of earth essence, the skin on its back was rocky. It wouldn¡¯t be able to feel anything even if Su Chen tried to stab it with a de, let alone jump on top of it.

    A number of Air Tentacles sprouted from Su Chen¡¯s body as he stood on top of the toad and wrapped around the nearby trees, using them to cover the Stone Toad¡¯s body. The Stone Toad didn¡¯t notice anything and continued to sleep. Only its sinister head gave away the fact that it was a Demonic Beast due to its skin being made of stone. Once it was covered in trees, its face disappeared, and it was impossible to tell that it was a Two-Faced Stone Toad. People would just think that it was a massive boulder.

    Su Chen dug out a hole on the Stone Toad¡¯s back but took care to only dig away the stone skin and avoid injuring the flesh below. He then pulled out a vial of medicine and poured it into the hole. The medicine caused the hole to growrger andrger, eventually revealing a cavern.

    A momentter, Su Chen actually jumped into the cavern and disappeared. It really seemed weird and inexplicable.

    The pursuers ¨C two teamsposed of a Yang Opening Realm cultivator, two Blood Boiling Realm cultivators, and four Qi Drawing Realm cultivators each ¨C arrived quickly on the scene. The Shorttailed Foxhounds barked like mad. Obviously, they had determined that Su Chen was nearby, but didn¡¯t know exactly where he was.

    The Yang Opening Realm cultivator in the lead waved his arms. The people behind him dispersed and began to scan the surroundings.

    These people were very cautious. Even though they split up to search, they didn¡¯t stray far from each other, and no one strayed out of each other¡¯s line of sight. If any one of them was attacked, they could respond immediately. They reckoned that organizing themselves like this made it basically impossible for Su Chen to try and do what he did before.

    However, things evidently weren¡¯t going to be that simple.

    A Qi Drawing Realm cultivator paced around the hill, scanning his surroundings, when unbeknownst to him a pair of hands reached out from the rocks behind him and grabbed him by the neck. The Origin Qi Schr¡¯s neck snapped instantly, and then with a pull, his body disappeared without a trace.

    Another Origin Qi Schr had just reached the top of the hill and was ncing around when two hands suddenly wrapped around his ankles and jerked downwards. That person disappeared beneath the surface of the ground. However, his reactions were a bit faster, and he was at least able to cry out before disappearing. Everyone heard the yell and ran over to investigate, but they found that the whole ce was empty. No trace of that Origin Qi Schr could be seen.

    The expression of the Yang Opening Realm cultivator in the lead sunk. ¡°Li Zhe is gone, and so is Cao Yang.¡±

    ¡°How did we lose people just like that?¡±

    ¡°It must be Su Chen! He¡¯s definitely doing something!¡±

    ¡°How did he do it?¡±

    The people discussed amongst themselves, rm suddenly rising in their hearts. This Su Chen seemed to appear and disappear without warning. There was little concealment here, yet Su Chen could still somehow hide himself and ambush them. Some people were already beginning to panic, and they said, ¡°Since he¡¯s nearby, we shouldunch the signal arrow quickly and summon the others to surround the ce!¡±

    Quite a few people agreed with this idea, but the other Yang Opening Realm cultivator said, ¡°What are you afraid of? If he doesn¡¯t dare attack us openly, then that means he knows he¡¯s not strong enough to kill us in the open, which is why he is hiding and looking for ways to ambush us. If we call the others over, won¡¯t we just be giving others more opportunities? Don¡¯t forget about the hundred thousand Origin Stone reward!¡±

    When they heard this, everyone froze.

    Right, a hundred thousand Origin Stones.

    If they called other people over, would they still have a portion for themselves?

    Greed was a powerful motivator, but it could also pull people into the abyss.

    This greedy w was going to lead them to their deaths.

    Whoosh!

    A wave of intense mes suddenly shot forth, turning into the Shadow me Giant. The Shadow me Giant wrapped its arms around an Origin Qi Schr, causing that Origin Qi Schr to shriek mournfully.

    ¡°He¡¯s below the ground!¡± someone yelled.

    Everyone simultaneously attacked the ground beneath them.

    Boom, boom, boom, boom!

    The fierce of waves of Origin Energy mmed into the rocks on the ground, sting them into the air and revealing an enigmatic,

    ¡°So he dug tunnels here!¡± the Yang Opening Realm cultivatorughed loudly as he took the lead and jumped in.

    Upon entering the cave, the Yang Opening Realm cultivator saw a person¡¯s figure sh in front of him. He immediately guessed that it was Su Chen and hurried to chase after him. However, he quickly discovered that the tunnelyout was strange; the ground underneath was uneven, and it was sometimes constricted and other times quite wide. The ground beneath his feet had strange depressions in it, as if he were stepping on something alive. He didn¡¯t pay it much attention at first, but the further he walked the more he began to realize that something was off.

    The Yang Opening Realm cultivator stopped in his tracks and nced more closely at the ground. He suddenly jabbed his finger downwards, only to find a thick, inky-green liquid oozing out from the ground. The Yang Opening Realm cultivator dabbed some of it on his finger, only to discover that the skin on his finger was beginning to decay.

    It¡¯s poison!

    This is......

    The Yang Opening Realm cultivator opened his eyes wide.

    The Origin Qi Schrs following behind him were already growing impatient because of the confusingyout of the tunnels. When the flock of Blood Bats suddenly flew towards them, a few of the Origin Qi Schrs instinctively raised their hands, unleashing a torrent of mes at the bats.

    ¡°No!¡± the Yang Opening Realm cultivator at the front yelled.

    It was already toote.

    ¡°ROAR!¡± A pained and enraged howl began to echo through the forest.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 113: Sea of Poison

    Chapter 113: Sea of Poison

    As soon as the howl sounded out, inky-green poisonous water began to spurt out from the ground underneath their feet .

    No, this wasn¡¯t water; this was the Two-Faced Stone Toad¡¯s poison springs.

    More specifically, they had been walking amongst the Two-Faced Stone Toad¡¯s poison springs from the very beginning.

    These holes were the warts on the Stone Toad¡¯s back, but because the Stone Toad had consumed so much earth essence, a thickyer of stone had formed on the outside of the warts. The stone was so thick that it made it seem like they were inside a cave. When they stepped into this ce, they had entered a toxic point on their own.

    Even though the Two-Faced Stone Toad was generally calm, that didn¡¯t mean that it was a pushover. It instinctively attacked the group of people who had crawled onto its back and had attacked it, breaking its defensive shell.

    Large quantities of poison began to pour out.

    ¡°Quick, let¡¯s get out of here!¡±

    Everyone yelled loudly as they tried to retreat.

    However, poisonous liquid was rapidly beginning to fill the ¡°cave¡±; how could they have time to run?

    Those who reacted quickly were able to erect barriers and temporarily stop the poison from acting on them.

    The martial artists, who had no Origin Skills, were doomed. The poisonous liquid continued to rise and washed over them like a wave, wiping them out in the blink of an eye.

    Some who were totally unprepared to deal with it even swallowed a few mouthfuls, causing their organs to rot from their esophagus to their intestines. ¡°Save me......¡± one of them cried, but no one paid him any attention. They were already having trouble saving themselves. Thankfully, he didn¡¯t need to suffer for long; the inky-green liquid washed over him, causing his entire body to melt into g. Only a few bones were left behind.

    The Stone Toad¡¯s poison wasn¡¯t the fiercest. The fiercest poisons could reduce a person to ashes upon even just a brief moment of contact. However, these people were totally submerged in poison. This was much more than just a brief moment of contact. The Two-Faced Stone Toad¡¯s poison immediately be much scarier.

    The next to fall were the Qi Drawing Realm Origin Qi Schrs.

    Even though they had barriers, the eroding strength of the poison washed against their barriers and wore them away.

    Very quickly, the low-tier barriers were no longer able to be sustained, and the result was that they were also washed away by the poison.

    Next were the Blood Boiling Realm cultivators.

    The frightening poisonous liquid posed a simr threat to them. Even though they focused all of their Origin Energy in sustaining the barriers, the barriers couldn¡¯t be sustained indefinitely with Origin Energy. They had their limits and would disappear if those limits were exceeded. Under this wave of poison, most of their barriers weren¡¯t going tost. All they could do was add a new barrier as soon as their old barrier shattered. Even if some poisonous liquid came into contact with their skin, the rtive weakness of the poison would only cause external rotting, and they would still have a hope of holding on and escaping.

    To most people, however, there was no way they were going to be able to do that.

    One of the Blood Boiling Realm cultivator¡¯s barriers shattered twice. Even though he hurriedly applied a third barrier, therge amounts of poison still seeped into his bodies. His skin had decayed, and even his chest had been affected. That was the center of his Origin Energy distribution; now that it was injured, his ability to direct the Origin Energy in his body drastically decreased. He wasn¡¯t able to sustain the barrier. This time, he was unable to run away, because both of his legs had also rotted away. Because the liquid rose steadily, his legs were the first to go.

    Another Blood Boiling Realm cultivator was rtively lucky. He furiously sprinted forward and finally reached the entrance just as his third barrier was about to shatter. His energy had been exhausted, and his footsteps slowed for just a brief moment when he heard a loud voice booming from behind him: ¡°Get out of the way!¡±

    Boom!

    A massive wave of energy mmed into him from behind, knocking him aside. Simultaneously, his barrier, which was already on the verge of shattering, finally gave in.

    The Origin Qi Schr stared in shock at the person who ran by him: ¡°Sir Chi Lianwei......¡±

    Chi Lianwei didn¡¯t even pay him any attention as he charged out of the cave.

    He was finally out!

    Chi Lianwei sighed a long sigh of relief.

    Inparison to those weaker Origin Qi Schrs, Chi Lianwei¡¯s Yang Opening Realm cultivation base helped him much more. He had escaped with minimal injuries. Even though parts of his body had begun to decay, they weren¡¯t wounds that couldn¡¯t heal. Once he healed his wounds, he would then......

    He hadn¡¯t finished that train of thought when a gust of wind suddenly blew past him. A powerful blow was rushing in his direction.

    Chi Lianwei was caught off guard and raised his fists to block. It wasn¡¯t until the blow mmed into him that he felt that something was off. This blow wasn¡¯t filled with explosive power...... it was pushing power!

    ¡°NO!¡± Chi Lianwei howled as he realized something.

    The pushing force shoved him right back in through the hole that he had just escaped from, causing him to m into the other Yang Opening Realm cultivator who was also thrown back. The poisonous liquid surged forward, washing over them and submerging them beneath the surface of the liquid.

    Immediately after, the inky-green poisonous liquid began to jet out of the Two-Faced Stone Toad¡¯s back.

    The Stone Toad finally raised its head and shook off the trees covering its head. It croaked a few times, then lowered its head and went back to sleep.

    Chi Lianwei flew through the air.

    His entire body had virtually rotted away. Only bone remained on one of his arms, and one of his eyeballs had fallen out. His skull was half exposed, making him look like someone who had been half-digested and then spit out again.

    Even so, Chi Lianwei hadn¡¯t died yet. His powerful Yang Opening Realm lifeforce was supporting him. He stood with strenuous effort and wanted to leave, but he saw a blurry shadow charging towards him.

    He shook his head to try and see more clearly, but he identally shook his other eye out.

    He was totally blind.

    Chi Lianwei instinctively raised his hands, but what greeted him was a merciless Firehawk onught, knocking him over to the ground.

    ¡°Su...... Chen......¡± he spat out arduously, ¡°the Wang n....... will avenge...... me.¡±

    ¡°Your name is Chi Lianwei, right? I¡¯ve met you before. You¡¯repletely wrong. The Wang n won¡¯t avenge you at all,¡± Su Chen said as he stomped Chi Lianwei¡¯s head into pieces, then turned around to face the other person.

    The other Yang Opening Realm cultivator was much better off than Chi Lianwei. After being knocked back into the sea of poison by Chi Lianwei, his barrier was still intact, but he had still suffered from corrosion, and his wounds weren¡¯t light. Apart from him, no one else here was still alive.

    Most importantly, he wasn¡¯t Su Chen¡¯s opponent even when he was still totally healthy. How could he do anything now?

    A wave of despair washed over him as he stared at Su Chen.

    He fell to his knees. ¡°Have mercy on me!¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. This isn¡¯t a personal grudge.¡±

    He raised his hand, and the Shadow me Giant reappeared.

    The Yang Opening Realm cultivator howled with despair.

    This howl shook the entire forest, prating the hearts of all those who heard it and sending a chill down their spines.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 114: True Strength 1

    Chapter 114: True Strength (1)

    Sitting inside arge tent, Wang Peiyuan stared at the report from his subordinates, his expression as still as a body of water.

    ¡°Two hours...... I gave you all two hours, but not only were you not able to catch Su Chen, your battle achievements were quite glorious, weren¡¯t they? Chi Lianwei died, Qiu Shanbei died, Hou Zhonglie died, and He Houshan also died...... Four Yang Opening Realm experts, twelve Blood Boiling Realm experts, neen Qi Drawing Realm experts and dozens of Origin Qi Schrs gone, just like that! You really are quite willing to die, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Wang Peiyuan¡¯s voice wasn¡¯t loud, but the mes of anger that he couldn¡¯t suppress sent chills down the spines of everyone present.

    ¡°me our ipetence, but that Su Chen is too slippery. That guy uses all kinds of different environments to set up traps ¨C the Vampiric Demon Tree and Two-Faced Stone Toad were all turned into his traps. Just before, he even set up a trap near the Demon Wailing Cliff and caused the cliffs to fly. His tactics are impossible to defend against, and that¡¯s how Qiu Shanbei...... was lost.¡±

    Wang Peiyuan said with anger, ¡°You truly are ipetent. I sent you to look for Su Chen, then notify those behind you and dy for time. But what happened? You found him three times, but all three times you were unable to hold on until I got there. All I am greeted by is a pile of their corpses!¡±

    Wang Peiyuan was so angry that he was about to explode.

    They had found Su Chen three times, but in the end Wang Zhanyu had made three trips without any results. The pile of corpses on the ground and their frightened expressions were a big embarrassment to a Light Shaking Realm cultivator.

    A Light Shaking Realm cultivator had been made a fool of three times. Upon returning empty-handed for the third time, Wang Zhanyu gave Wang Peiyuan a big p.

    One of the subordinates knelt on the ground, trembling. ¡°It¡¯s all because of my ipetence. However, we¡¯ve surrounded him now, with the ten Bloodline Nobility ns each guarding a different direction. We¡¯re tightening the noose. Su Chen won¡¯t have anywhere to run!¡±

    ¡°Show me the results!¡± Wang Peiyuan yelled, his voice hoarse.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Atop the Southern Mountains, arge number of Bloodline Nobility n forces were slowly inching upwards.

    Because the tip of the mountain was much more narrow than the base, the higher they reached, the tighter the encirclement became. This way, the denseness of the encirclement would gradually increase.

    Simply put, the higher up they went, the more people would be around to help them, and Su Chen¡¯s chances of escaping would go down.

    Once everyone gathered at the top of the mountain, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t have any chance of escaping. Even if Wang Zhanyu didn¡¯t attack himself at that point in time, Su Chen would be dead for sure.

    It was this realization that helped people maintain their confidence that they would be sessful eventually even though they had already suffered tremendous losses.

    On the slope of the Southern Mountains, a group of people was currently advancing.

    The person in the lead was a pale-faced youth called Lai Yunfeng. He was Lai Wuyi¡¯s nephew, and Li Yue¡¯s direct superior.

    Su Chen¡¯s massacre at the docks and murder of Li Yue had affected Lai Yunfeng the most.

    He had wanted to kill Su Chen more than once, and now he finally had an opportunity.

    Lai Fengyun stood at the foot of an incline and nced around, then said, ¡°The encirclement is nowplete. This bastard definitely won¡¯t be able to run. May the heavens bless me and make it so that Su Chen is where I am so that I can kill him myself.¡±

    ¡°A hundred thousand Origin Stones!¡±

    Inparison to his desire for revenge, his underlings were much more focused on the massive reward.

    The heavens really did bless them.

    A person suddenly appeared on a nearby slope. He was standing right below a tree and smiling at them.

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± One of the sharper-eyed individuals saw him and began to yell.

    ¡°Fire the signal arrow!¡± Lai Yunfeng yelled loudly.

    Even though he desperately thirsted to kill Su Chen personally, Lai Yunfeng wasn¡¯t actually impulsive. He had learned from the groups of people who had been killed earlier, so the first thing he did was to fire off the signal arrow, letting everyone know that Su Chen was here.

    The encirclement line was already halfway up the mountain. Because they were much closer together now, calling out to one another was also much easier.

    As soon as the signal arrow wasunched, the teams to the left and right of him would run over. They would be there before long.

    Su Chen, however, didn¡¯t seem to care in the slightest. He continued tough coldly at Lai Yunfeng.

    ¡°This ce is open and shouldn¡¯t have any traps. Everyone, attack together!¡± Lai Yunfeng yelled.

    He said that, but he himself remained motionless. Instead, he allowed the Origin Qi Schrs behind him to charge forward.

    Su Chen gestured. Arge kettle of Firehawks took to the skies and mmed into those Origin Qi Schrs,

    Even though those Origin Qi Schrs were beaten into sorry states, Lai Yunfeng felt his heart stabilize when he saw this.

    There were no traps!

    That was good.

    Lai Yunfengughed.

    He shook his head. ¡°Do you really think you¡¯re invincible just because you¡¯ve finished off a few pieces of trash, Su Chen? You aren¡¯t going to be able to get an advantage off of me.¡±

    ¡°You talk too much nonsense.¡± Su Chen gestured, and another kettle of Firehawks flew forward.

    When faced with the flock of Firehawks, Lai Yunfeng seemed unperturbed. A shadowy energy began to spread rapidly.

    When the Firehawks reached Lai Yunfeng¡¯s body, they automatically disappeared on their own.

    Lai Yunfeng strode forward arrogantly. ¡°This technique alone won¡¯t be enough. Let me see your Shadow me Giant so I can see how much skill you have.¡±

    ¡°If you want to see, I¡¯ll let you see.¡±

    ¡°ROARR!¡± With a loud howl, the Shadow me Giant appeared again.

    Lai Yunfeng jabbed his finger out. A white streak of energy appeared, turning into a long, white snake that pounced at the Shadow me Giant. It had no fear of the Shadow me Giant¡¯s power and

    ¡°See? Su Chen, I am not those useless mixed-blood individuals!¡± Lai Fengyun yelled loudly.

    He gestured, and a White Phosphorus Arrow shot at Su Chen.

    As a direct heir of the Lai n, Lai Yunfeng couldn¡¯t bepared to a mixed-bloodline person like Li Yue. His bloodline had been awakened to the second degree, making him much more powerful than Li Yue.

    Even though Su Chen had defeated a few Yang Opening Realm cultivators these past few years, they all had mixed bloodlines and were the lowest of the low amongst all the Yang Opening Realm cultivators.

    Because of this, Lai Yunfeng had more than enough reasons not to fear his opponent.

    Su Chen¡¯s Shadow me Giant waspletely wrapped up by its battle with the White Phosphorus Snake, while Lai Yunfeng gestured repeatedly,unching White Phosphorus Arrow after White Phosphorus Arrow. Just as Su Chen was about to dodge, a shadowy energy suddenly appeared and wrapped around Su Chen, causing him to freeze in ce.

    Lai Yunfengughed loudly. ¡°Try on my Hidden Murder Rope for size! Start harvesting for me!¡±

    His White Phosphorus Arrows were just camouge; the true killing blow was this Hidden Murder Rope. This Hidden Murder Rope was wrapped around Su Chen¡¯s entire body, the shadowy energy constantly sucking the energy out of Su Chen¡¯s body. Lai Yunfeng could almost see Su Chen dying to his hands already.

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°This is worthy of being a heir¡¯s bloodline, and you are indeed much more powerful than Li Yue. However...... I never said that I could only take on people with mixed bloodlines before.¡±

    What?

    Lai Yunfeng was stunned as he watched a frighteningly powerful aura suddenly surge forth from Su Chen¡¯s body.

    As this aura exploded forth, Lai Yunfeng¡¯s Hidden Murder Rope began to slowly disintegrate, and even the White Phosphorus Snake¡¯s Bloodline Image seemed to sense the threat as it retreated instinctively.

    ¡°Yang Opening! You¡¯re actually in the Yang Opening Realm!?¡± Lai Yunfeng yelled with shock, finally perceiving the crux of the issue.

    This bastard was already a Yang Opening Realm cultivator! Had he been hiding his cultivation base and his strength this whole time?

    ¡°I¡¯m not just a Yang Opening Realm cultivator!¡± Su Chen replied.

    He took a step forward and suddenly appeared right in front of Lai Yunfeng, grabbing him solidly by the throat.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 115: True Strength 2

    Chapter 115: True Strength (2)

    He casually picked Lai Yunfeng up like he was grasping a chicken by the neck.

    Su Chen nced down at Lai Yunfeng, who he had put in a subservient position, mockery written all over his face. ¡°Is this all of your strength?¡±

    ¡°How can this be possible?¡± Lai Yunfeng yelled with shock. He didn¡¯t believe that he couldn¡¯t even withstand a single grasp from Su Chen.

    Regardless, Su Chen¡¯s grasps were simply too quick. Lai Yunfeng didn¡¯t even have time to react before he was caught.

    ¡°NO!¡± he howled frantically, activating the Origin Energy in his body to its greatest extent. The Origin Energy in his body exploded, and the image of the White Phosphorus Snake appeared behind him, pouncing at Su Chen as if it had physical substance.

    The more times a person had awakened their bloodline, the more real the bloodline image would appear, as would the power that it possessed.

    Even so, Su Chen was totally dismissive.

    He nced briefly at the oing White Phosphorus Snake illusory image and shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s not fitting for a legless bug to act so ferociously.¡±

    As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and squeezed the White Phosphorus Snake. With but this single squeeze of his, the White Phosphorus Snake image was shattered. Lai Yunfeng had just begun to gather his energy, but this single squeeze hadpletely dispersed it. His energy levels instantly went from their peak all the way to the lowest valley.

    Lai Yunfeng almost died of shock. He couldn¡¯t believe something like this could happen and yelled, ¡°How is this possible? Even if you¡¯re in the Yang Opening Realm, this wouldn¡¯t be possible for you to do!¡±

    Su Chen shook his head casually. ¡°What¡¯s impossible about it? This is the true power of our human bloodline!¡±

    As he spoke, a wave of energy suddenly surged forth from his body.

    As Lai Yunfeng watched Su Chen, he felt like he was gazing up at a person of majestic, imposing, unquestionable authority.

    Arge illusory image appeared behind Su Chen. However, it wasn¡¯t that of any particr beast; it was the image of another human.

    A human bloodline!

    ¡°This is......¡± Lai Yunfeng stammered.

    ¡°My Bloodline Afterimage, but I prefer to call it my Primordial Blood Incarnation,¡± Su Chen said.

    This was when Lai Yunfeng discovered that the person holding him by the throat was actually this Primordial Blood Incarnation.

    This massive, unsympathetic shadow stood behind Su Chen, one of its massive hands enveloping Su Chen¡¯s arm, which was wrapped around Lai Yunfeng¡¯s throat.

    Su Chen rxed his grip. The incarnation¡¯s hand, however, remained firmly wrapped around Lai Yunfeng¡¯s throat as it slowly raised him into the air.

    It dangled him just like that in midair.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Goodbye.¡±

    ¡°NO!¡± Lai Yunfeng howled.

    Bang!

    The massive hand suddenly tightened. Lai Yunfeng had been ttened like a pancake.

    The Primordial Blood Incarnation disappeared.

    Yes, this was the increase in power that Su Chen had obtained from using the Primordial Blood Medicine.

    As a mimic of a bloodline, Su Chen had created this Bloodline Afterimage using a human as the base. Su Chen called the process by which he had obtained this Bloodline Afterimage ¡°Primordial Blood Awakening¡± ¨C that is, awakening thetent power hidden within a human¡¯s blood.

    Unlike the people who used the bloodlines of different beasts to obtain a myriad of unique skills, Su Chen¡¯s Primordial Blood Awakening didn¡¯t confer any strange skills to him. At the preliminary stage, it only increased his speed and strength by a bit, but the possibilities were limitless due to its incredible malleability.

    The Primordial Blood Incarnation was an incredibly pure existence; it was like a nk piece of paper.

    In the past five years or so, Su Chen had only given his Primordial Blood Incarnation a single ability: a massive increase in power.

    If it were possible, Su Chen would have turned the Primordial Blood Incarnation into a tform that he could use to absorb all kinds of different techniques and skills.

    However, Su Chen hadn¡¯t done so because it would ovep with the effect of the Hemolytic Totem. The Hemolytic Totem was such a tform, upon which many different Origin Skills could be added. Since that was the case, he didn¡¯t need to take the Primordial Blood Incarnation down that path. Origin Skills could be loaded onto the Hemolytic Totem, while the Primordial Blood Incarnation could be turned into the motor for the Hemolytic Totem.

    Improving the Primordial Blood Incarnation was simple and direct. Its job was to constantly store Origin Energy, increasing his strength and making him stronger, bigger, and faster.

    These past five years of tempering had only produced a single Primordial Blood Incarnation, but it already possessed an unbelievable amount of power. This pure power could even withstand a single palm strike from Wang Zhanyu. However, Wang Zhanyu could unleash multiple within the span of a few seconds, and the Primordial Blood Incarnation couldn¡¯t possible withstand multiple in a row. As such, Su Chen could only run.

    But just because he had to run from a Light Shaking Realm didn¡¯t mean that he needed to run from anyone else. Su Chen¡¯s showing of weakness to the enemy was actually his searching for a better opportunity.

    Lai Yunfeng had been killed in the blink of an eye. However, two more teams charged over to the side to support almost immediately.

    Upon seeing Su Chen, both teams yelled in celebration, ¡°Su Chen is over here!¡±

    They charged at Su Chen together.

    ¡°Courting death!¡± Su Chenughed coldly. His figure suddenly blurred as he moved with startling speed.

    The Primordial Blood Incarnation increased Su Chen¡¯s base physique, making him not only stronger but also faster.

    He shot past the left nk of one of the teams in a cloud of smoke, reaching out his hand and grabbing one of them as he flew past. At the same time, dark mes burst forth from his hand.

    Shadow me w!

    This was the third ability Su Chen had obtained after upgrading his Shadow me Glove and was an improvement of the Shadow me Giant. The destructive force it could unleash was weaker, but the power behind a single blow was greater, and it was also much more conservative of Shadow Energy.

    This w strike set the Yang Opening Realm cultivator on fire. The barrier the cultivator had erected melted like ice when it encountered Su Chen¡¯s Shadow me w and couldn¡¯t even resist for half a second.

    The other people were stunned when they saw this and cried out in astonishment.

    Su Chen chuckled, his figure darting through the air in rapid session as he activated the Snaking Mist Steps to their limit. If people from the Longxi Gu n were to see this, their souls might leave their bodies out of shock, because Su Chen¡¯s mastery of the Snaking Mist Steps had far outstripped what a person without a bloodline should be capable of. Even people who had a twice-awakened bloodline might not be able to keep up with him.¡±

    He could take steps in midair and change directions rapidly like an agile bird of prey. Su Chen put on a beautiful performance of his prowess. He was like a petrel nimbly traversing the stormy seas, evading the attacks that the Origin Qi Schrs hurled in his direction. His hand continued to w at the Yang Opening Realm cultivator¡¯s barrier.

    An instantter, an audible ¡°crack¡± could be heard as the Yang Opening Realm cultivator¡¯s barrier shattered.

    Su Chen¡¯s fingers wed through the Yang Opening Realm cultivator¡¯s body like it was tofu. The mes on his finger continued to burn, searing the opponent¡¯s internal organs.

    ¡°AH!¡± the Origin Qi Schr howled in pain. Because the attacks had been so furious, he hadn¡¯t even had time to activate his bloodline before he was cooked alive by Su Chen. Soon, he was turned to a pile of ashes that dissipated in the wind.

    Su Chen¡¯s figure didn¡¯t stop. He continued to dart through the group of people. When he darted past thest person, all of them simultaneously burst into mes and were turned into ash in a few minutes.

    Another team was wiped out.

    This massacre had been conducted in the presence of another team. Su Chen¡¯s agility, decisiveness, and savageness hadpletely stunned this other pursuing team.

    ¡°Monster! Monster!¡± some people couldn¡¯t help but yell.

    Still others shook their heads and turned around to book it out of there.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 116: True Strength 3

    Chapter 116: True Strength (3)

    ¡°My apologies!¡± Su Chen said as he watched the people running away. He leapt forward in pursuit. Arge number of Erupting Firehawks surged forward, but this time the Firehawks seemed to glow with a faint dark luster.

    They had also been infused with Shadow Energy.

    Even though Su Chen had somepassion for them, he knew that he couldn¡¯t be soft. If he let these people get away, they would definitelye back to trouble him if any reinforcements were toe.

    There were simply too many enemies. Even if Su Chen was stronger, he wouldn¡¯t allow himself to get caught in the endless onught of enemies. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have needed to conceal his strength like this all the way until now.

    As soon as he unleashed his true strength, he would need to resolve the situation quickly. Otherwise, if his enemies were to find out, he wouldn¡¯t have any more trump cards left up his sleeve to deal with the situation.

    The Shadow Firehawks flew forth, divebombing the people running away. The people who were at the very front were all ughtered

    At the same time, Su Chen sprinted forward, the Primordial Blood Incarnation appearing behind him. The massive hand mmed down at the other Yang Opening Realm cultivator.

    ¡°What is that?¡±

    The Yang Opening Realm cultivator hadn¡¯t seen Su Chen kill Lai Yunfeng, so he waspletely shocked when he saw the illusory image of a human appear.

    He had seen all kinds of strange beast afterimages, but he hadn¡¯t seen any human afterimages before and couldn¡¯t wrap his head around it no matter how hard he tried.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t reply. The Primordial Blood Incarnation behind him mmed its massive hand downward.

    The other Yang Opening Realm cultivator was also obviously a descendant of a Bloodline Nobility n, and his bloodline was the Blood-Sucking Bear. Even though the Blood-Sucking Bear was only a high-tier Vicious Beast, its close-quartersbat ability was incredibly strong. As such, the Yang Opening Realm cultivator wasn¡¯t afraid. Even as he felt shock, the Blood-Sucking Bear illusory image appeared behind him. The image was even bigger than Su Chen¡¯s Primordial Blood Incarnation, and it howled as it swiped its massive paw through the air.

    The two of them collided, causing a st of energy to explode from the point of impact.

    Even Su Chen was stunned. He obviously hadn¡¯t expected to meet an expert like this.

    His opponent stared at Su Chen delightedly as he yelled recklessly, ¡°You do have some skill. No wonder Lai Yunfeng died at your hands. However, I, Xiong......¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s Primordial Blood Incarnation didn¡¯t wait for him to finish and mmed its hand down at the Blood-Sucking Bear with unexpected speed. At the same time, shadowy mes engulfed the Incarnation¡¯s hand and causing the shadowy mes to spread and cover the bear¡¯s entire body. The bear only had time to rear back and howl before it shattered an instantter.

    ¡°Despicable!¡± The Yang Opening Realm was shocked and infuriated by Su Chen¡¯s actions.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have time to listen to you tell me your name,¡± Su Chen replied indifferently as he swung his hands again. Massive quantities of shadowy mes surged towards the Yang Opening Realm cultivator¡¯s chest, the inextinguishable mes continuing to burn until he had turned into a pile of ash.

    Su Chen had wiped out three teams with rtive ease, like he was breaking off dead branches from a tree. These included three Yang Opening Realm cultivators, six Blood Boiling Realm cultivators, and twelve Qi Drawing Realm cultivators. The quick and merciless manner in which he acted would leave any bystander speechless.

    However, Su Chen had also sued quite a bit of Origin Energy. He casually pulled out a mid-tier Origin Stone and began to absorb the energy within the stone as he sprinted down the mountain.

    The encirclement was already up the mountain, meaning that the lower regions of the mountain were empty. If he could escape from the encirclement, he would be free.

    However, the reality of the situation wasn¡¯t that simple. The Bloodline Nobility ns were aware of what would happen if they allowed Su Chen to break through the encirclement, so there were actually threeyers of encirclement, not one.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t run far when he saw a team of people charging in his direction.

    No, it was more urate to say that it was five teams.

    Once the signal arrow was released, everyone would be mobilized and would begin to gather. While Su Chen had been wiping out the three teams in the firstyer, the five teamsposing the secondyer were already beginning to gather to finish him off.

    When they saw Su Chen, they were all delighted and charged toward Su Chen.

    They didn¡¯t know about Su Chen¡¯s previous performance, and they wouldn¡¯t be scared even if they did. In their eyes, they were going to win for sure with nearly a hundred people surrounding Su Chen; the only thing to worry about was out of all of these people, who was going to im his scalp and earn the reward for themselves.

    Numbers were always important, unless the gap in strength was too great. Otherwise, enough Qi Drawing Realm cultivators could even push a Light Shaking Realm cultivator to the edge.

    Upon seeing so many people running in his direction, Su Chen cast a nce at one of the teams running at the very front.

    The team of people charging in his direction suddenly froze in ce.

    Fata Morgana!

    After absorbing the Illusion Realm, Su Chen¡¯s Fata Morgana had been drastically revamped. It could now be used against multiple targets, but it could only be used against one powerful individual and a bunch of weaker ones at the same time. As such, Su Chen had targeted one of the teams in particr. Simultaneously, the Primordial Blood Incarnation reappeared; this time, however, its entire body was covered in mes. This was the result ofbining the Shadow me Giant and the Primordial Blood Incarnation, as well asbining the Primordial Blood and Hemolytic Totem paths.

    Primordial Blood Incarnation!

    The Su Chen at this moment was the Su Chen with all his trump cards being forced out, and the Su Chen at his most powerful state.

    ¡°ROAR!¡±

    The Primordial Blood Incarnation covered in zing mes was not blurry like before. It was clear and distinct, and it howled, releasing its barbaric nature.

    Su Chen¡¯s speed abruptly increased. With the power of the Primordial Blood Incarnation and the Snaking Mist Steps supporting each other, his speed had reached the limit of what could be seen by the naked eye.

    He charged forward just like that, mming right into a Yang Opening Cultivator¡¯s chest as the massive Shadow me Primordial Blood Incarnation swung its massive hand through the air.

    Armor Piercing Awl!

    The Shadow me Primordial Blood Incarnation¡¯s oppressive Armor Piercing Awl blew away all of the Yang Opening Realm cultivator¡¯s defenses and lodged itself deep in his chest. The powerful blow sent the Yang Opening Realm cultivator flying, the shadowy mes burning away all of his remaining strength. He wasn¡¯t even given a chance tounch a blow before dying.

    Killing his opponent with a single blow!

    This scene overwhelmed the other three people with shock.

    Su Chen¡¯s figure shed again as he rocketed forward. As he charged, the Shadow me Primordial Blood Incarnation stretched out its massive arms, wantonly shooting off the mes on its body. Su Chen didn¡¯t even want to focus any attention on dealing with the opponents who were weaker than the Blood Boiling Realm, instead relying on a single area-of-effect attack to finish the job.

    Even the more powerful Yang Opening Realm cultivators were stunned when they saw this, and they began to retreat in the face of Su Chen¡¯s furious onught.

    Someone yelled, ¡°Form a spearhead and don¡¯t fight him head on! He won¡¯t be able to maintain this kind of condition for long!¡±

    This person was absolutely correct. Su Chen¡¯s all-out style of battling expended a ton of Origin Energy and Shadow Substance. He really wouldn¡¯t be able to maintain it for long.

    The problem with this, however, was whether or not the amount of time they could hold on would be shorter.

    One of the Yang Opening Realm cultivators had just retreated when his vision blurred as Su Chen¡¯s figure suddenly appeared in front of him.

    Whitetower Teleportation.

    Using this skill to close in on opponents and unleash close-quarters attacks was really quite sessful. When paired with the Snaking Mist Steps, his agility was unrivalled.

    The Shadow me Primordial Blood Incarnation was incredibly powerful, yet such a frightening existence also possessed exceptional agility. Thisbination really was killer.

    A massive hand stretched out, and dark mes poured out from the palm, engulfing him.

    Thest thing that Yang Opening Realm cultivator saw was the dark mes surging forward to embrace him.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 117: Spree 1

    Chapter 117: Spree (1)

    ¡°There¡¯s three more!¡±

    After killing this opponent, Su Chen licked his lips, then turned around to face the other two Yang Opening Realm cultivators who were still awake.

    The two of them were inplete panic. They simultaneously retreated, already nning on making their exit.

    Su Chenughed sardonically. ¡°You¡¯d better stay here for me!¡±

    His figure shed forward as he attacked, the massive Shadow me-covered Incarnation appearing behind him again.

    The two Yang Opening Realm cultivators split up. One of them unleashed a torrent of energy in Su Chen¡¯s direction. Concealed within the torrent of energy was the image of a Frost Scorpion, who aimed its massive stinger right at Su Chen.

    The other person unleashed an attack at the Yang Opening Realm cultivator who had been controlled earlier. After recovering from the initial shock, this person had obviously realized that the other Yang Opening Realm cultivator was under the influence of an illusion technique and was trying to arouse him as quickly as possible.

    Su Chen ignored the person who was being awakened. He charged at full speed at the person with the Frost Scorpion bloodline. The Shadow me Primordial Blood Incarnation swung its ming fist through the air, unleashing a swath of mes that surged forward and mmed into the massive scorpion image as if they were scraping against a crystal.

    The light from the mes brilliantly scattered from the ice crystals. Upon contact with the dark mes, the wave of ice melted and vaporized within moments.

    The massive scorpion¡¯s stinger prated the Shadow me Primordial Blood Incarnation¡¯s body at the same time that the Incarnation¡¯s heavy fist mmed into the massive scorpion¡¯s body.

    ¡°ROAR!¡±

    Amidst the infuriated howls and the unrelenting onught of the mes, the Frost Scorpion was melted away into nothingness.

    That Yang Opening Realm cultivator groaned with pain. The Incarnation unleashed a number of fist strikes in rapid session, blowing the Origin Qi Schr to bits.

    However, the mes on the Incarnation¡¯s body had noticeably dimmed, and the pressure it exuded had decreased correspondingly.

    ¡°He was injured!¡± the Yang Opening Realm cultivator who was responsible for awakening the other Yang Opening Realm cultivator yelled.

    A figure shot out from beside him. It was the Yang Opening Realm cultivator who had been affected by Fata Morgana earlier.

    This person had been hypnotized as soon as he had made a move by Su Chen. Hisrades had paid a price to reawaken him, and the humiliation and anger he felt couldn¡¯t be dissipated easily. Most importantly, because he hadn¡¯t seen Su Chen kill the three other Yang Opening Realm cultivators, he had no fear of Su Chen. As soon as he awoke, his anger at being humiliated caused him to charge at Su Chen recklessly. He activated the Origin Energy within his body to its greatest extent. A Silver Moonlight Falcon image appeared, shing a streak of moonlight in Su Chen¡¯s direction.

    This streak of sharp moonlight flew forwards, cutting through any and all shadow-rted fabrications. When faced with this streak of moonlight, the Incarnation let out a shrill howl, and the darkness retreated as the shadowy mes disappeared. All that remained was the zing red fire that continued to burn.

    This streak of moonlight had nullified Su Chen¡¯s Shadow Energy.

    There was no such thing as an invincible technique.

    Even though Shadow Energy was powerful, moonlight was its natural enemy because of its ability to disperse the haze and darkness.

    The streak of moonlight was like the actual moon in the sky, providing a faint light in the midst of the absolute darkness. Even though it wasn¡¯t brilliant, it served as a guide for people and could nullify all kinds of dark and evil techniques. This single streak of moonlight was enough to deal with the shadow half of Su Chen¡¯s Incarnation, and all that remained was the mes. Even though the mes were powerful, they had lost the corrosive element of the Shadow mes, decreasing their pration and weakening the explosiveness of the attacks.

    Every Yang Opening Realm cultivator was like a fort. They all had their own unique defensive techniques.

    After the mes had lost their corrosive shadow elements, the Yang Opening Realm cultivators could now demonstrate their unique defensive techniques. They had gotten rid of the infiltrators who had snuck into the fort, and now even if the opponent was strong, they would have to attack head-on.

    The situation was the same for Su Chen. Even though the Primordial Blood Incarnation¡¯s power was stillrgely present, he wouldn¡¯t be able to kill them with a single strike anymore.

    Ignorant individuals had no fear. The Yang Opening Realm cultivator who had been awakened didn¡¯t know how powerful Su Chen was and had unintentionally exposed Su Chen¡¯s killing technique.

    The other Yang Opening Realm cultivator was delighted when he saw this.

    However, he wasn¡¯t delighted for long; Su Chen charged at the cultivator. The Incarnation swung its fist brutally through the air.

    ¡°Don¡¯t fight him head-on!¡± the person who awoke the other Yang Opening Realm cultivator yelled.

    The Yang Opening Realm cultivator who had been awakened, however, attacked without fear.

    Ignorant in sess, ignorant in defeat.

    Now that the ¡°infiltrators¡± had been dealt with and all the weaknesses had been shored up, it would have been more than enough to just simply sit back and defend the ¡°fort¡±. However, he was like an arrogant general that wanted to lead the troops out of the city into further battle.

    The result of this could only be his death.

    Boom!

    The explosive st sent waves of energy in all directions and generated a brilliant sh of light.

    Amidst this st, the Yang Opening Realm cultivator who had been awakened was blown backwards, one of his arms contorted into an unnatural shape. It was only because he was quite powerful that he hadn¡¯t been blown into pieces on the spot.

    However, his attack wasn¡¯t totally ineffective either. The streak of moonlight shot forth and pierced the Incarnation¡¯s body, which actually decreased in stature by quite a bit.

    This was the Silver Moonlight Falcon¡¯s ability ¨C it could disperse anything made from Origin Energy. Even though it wasn¡¯t able to totally destroy the Incarnation, it was no longer as solidly formed.

    However, this was thest contribution he was going to make. As the streak of moonlight pierced through the Incarnation, Su Chen¡¯s figure shed flickered. As he soared through the air, the Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf de flew past the Yang Opening Realm cultivator¡¯s head, lopping it off.

    This was the first time Su Chen had used a de in battle.

    He wasn¡¯t particrly proficient at using weapons in battle. The use of this de implied that his strength was beginning to run out.

    At the same time, an invisible fist mmed into Su Chen from behind.

    Su Chen grunted with pain and retreated, swinging the de in his hand. The silver light shot forth from the edge of the de, sending seven or eight more heads flying.

    However, the person who had wounded him had retreated without an issue. It was thest remaining Yang Opening Realm cultivator.

    Most shockingly, Su Chen found that his legs suddenly felt incredibly heavy after being struck by that punch, as if someone had shackled his legs with incredibly heavy weights.

    ¡°Attack together! His bloodline ability is about to run out so he won¡¯t be able to hold out for much longer, and I struck him with my Heaviness Fist so his movements are restricted!¡± the final Yang Opening Realm cultivator yelled loudly.

    His Heaviness Fist wasn¡¯t particrly powerful, and it was difficult to use. However, it had one benefit, which was that any target struck by it would be slowed down by an extreme amount no matter how powerful they were. The difference was that the duration of effectiveness against those with higher cultivation bases would be shorter, while those with lower cultivation bases would be slowed for longer.

    Su Chen¡¯sbat ability was very strong, but their cultivation bases were on the same level, without much overwhelming superiority. In fact, he had a bit higher of a cultivation base, so this fist could at least dy him for around three seconds.

    Even though Su Chen had already killed four Yang Opening Realm cultivators, there were still arge number of Blood Boiling and Qi Drawing Realm cultivators still present.

    They unleashed all the firepower at their disposal recklessly at Su Chen. Origin Skills flew through the air thick and fast, charging right at Su Chen.

    When faced with this furious onught, Su Chen¡¯s figure suddenly shed as he disappeared from view.

    The Yang Opening Realm cultivator had seen Su Chen use Whitetower Teleportation before and knew he had that skill up his sleeve. When he saw this, he leapt backwards instinctively from fright. Simultaneously, he applied a protective barrier to himself proactively.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t appear next to him, but behind one of the Blood Boiling Realm cultivators. Even though this cultivator¡¯s cultivation base was lower, hisbat ability was decent and the sword he wielded was sharp. His sword arts had a bit of Zhong Shisi¡¯s vor to them, but his defensive capabilites were weak, so Su Chen chose to kill him first.

    His palm descended right onto the person¡¯s back. That person flew into the air, but before he evennded, his body had already exploded into bits. He died without even having time to say a single word.

    Everyone simultaneously retreated and continued to unleash a barrage of attacks.

    The Primordial Blood Incarnation stretched its arms out, grabbing two people and using them as shields. Simultaneously, Meg¡¯s Guardiansyered themselves on top of Su Chen. He borrowed this short period of time to apply more and more barriers in front of him. Simultaneously, he activated the Adamantine Battle Body. However, the furious onught of attacks immediately blew away the two human meat shields and then proceeded to m into Su Chen, sending him flying backwards as brilliant light sparked off of the barriers.

    When thest barrier was shattered, Su Chen¡¯s blood appeared for the very first time.

    Blood began to spray from his body.

    The spray of blood caused everyone present to grow excited.

    ¡°You¡¯re dead for sure!¡± thest Yang Opening Realm cultivator yelled as he charged forward, the battle de in his hand arcing through the air, a chilly energy concentrating at the tip.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 118: Spree 2

    Chapter 118: Spree (2)

    Yan Haozhe charged forward at top speed!

    The battle de glittered coldly as his killing intent soared.

    Sess!

    He was about to kill off this exceptionally persistent guy!

    A hundred thousand Origin Stones was about to be his!

    Yan Haozhe¡¯s body trembled with uncontroble excitement.

    The de prated Su Chen¡¯s body.

    A third of the de lodged itself in his body.

    Su Chen¡¯s hand flew forward and grabbed the de that was stuck in his body, staring coldly at his opponent.

    ¡°You can still resist?¡± Yan Haozhe was stunned for a moment before heughed menacingly, ¡°Maternal Severing de!¡±

    Pu!

    The tip of the de suddenly shot forth, prating through Su Chen¡¯s midsection.

    Su Chen spat out a mouthful of blood.

    ¡°Hahahaha. You didn¡¯t expect that, did you? How does my Maternal Severing de taste?¡± Yan Haozheughed loudly.

    He seemed to see the hundred thousand Origin Stones falling into his hands already.

    ¡°You talk too much,¡± Su Chen replied as he punched back in reply.

    ¡°Go die!¡± Yan Haozhe, seeing that Su Chen was near exhaustion, no longer had any fear. He swung his de down at Su Chen¡¯s shoulder.

    He believed that Su Chen would be forced to defend himself from this de strike. Once the offensive momentum had shifted, Su Chen would not have another opportunity to attack.

    However, he was wrong.

    Su Chen totally ignored that de strike, allowing it to m into his shoulder. It almost cut his arm clean off, but an Armor Piercing Awl unleashed through his left hand and mmed into Yan Haozhe¡¯s throat.

    Yan Haozhe cried out as blood spurted out from his throat.

    Thankfully, he was able to retreat in time before Su Chen¡¯s Raging Inferno Fists exploded and blew off his head. As such, he was still alive, but the massive hole in his throat was not a light wound.

    Yan Haozhe was both infuriated and shocked. He wanted to yell but couldn¡¯t make any noise. He could only stare at Su Chen with rage, unable to figure out why Su Chen dared fight so recklessly with him.

    Yes, this might have been pleasurable for you in the moment, but there are still dozens of people left on the battlefield.

    Your right arm is ruined; how are you going to keep fighting?

    Su Chen, however, continued to stare at him indifferently. He had already held on for three seconds, and the weights on his body had disappeared. He rapidly retreated as a vial of medicine appeared in his left hand.

    Medicine?

    Yan Haozhe was stunned. He suddenly remembered that the dossier he had received on Su Chen had mentioned that Su Chen was an alchemist.

    Alchemist!

    He was an alchemist!

    Yan Haozhe was so scared that his soul almost escaped his body.

    How had he forgotten that his opponent was an alchemist!?

    He watched as Su Chen poured the medicine into his mouth, as well as onto his right arm and his other wounded areas.

    A precious medicine that could be used to heal bone and muscle injuries could be used ten or more times, but Su Chen had extravagantly used it all at once. He then pulled out another vial of medicine, tilted his head back, and downed it as well.

    Su Chen drank a number of medicines in rapid session.

    Yan Haozhe watched as Su Chen¡¯s declining energy surged once again.

    Terror rose in his heart. He knew the situation wasn¡¯t good and attempted to turn around and flee, but Su Chen stopped retreating at this moment.

    He turned around.

    He charged!

    Right at the other ten or so Origin Qi Schrs

    The Primordial Blood Incarnation, which had grown faint, returned in full force, mes surging from its body and burning everything nearby into ashes. Yan Haozhe was stunned.

    He wanted to run, but it was already toote.

    Su Chen shot forward like lightning, the Primordial Blood Incarnation unleashing a dozen fists that mmed into Yao Haozhe¡¯s body. Yao Haozhe cried out in pain.

    When thest fist descended, Yan Haozhe couldn¡¯t hold on anymore. He died on the spot.

    Up until now, five Yang Opening Realm, ten Blood Boiling Realm, and twenty Qi Drawing Realm cultivators, along with fifty peak Body Tempering martial artists had all been killed. A massive pile of corpses was built up in this ce.

    However, after killing Yan Haozhe, Su Chen stumbled slightly, almost falling over. The Primordial Blood Incarnation behind his back disappeared as well.

    Yes, Su Chen was actually pretending.

    There was no way he had that many medicines on him.

    Because he thought that he was only attending a banquet, Su Chen hadn¡¯t made many preparations. All he had in his Origin Ring was a fewmon everyday items, but he hadn¡¯t prepared too many medicines.

    Because of this, Su Chen didn¡¯t have a single one of the medicines that he had brought with him into the Goldriver Fort.

    The Tendon Healing Powder Su Chen had used on his arm was real, but it didn¡¯t have that good of effect. The medicine he drank was just a low-tier Recovery Medicine; the recovery effect was real, but to a Yang Opening Realm cultivator, its usefulness was limited.

    Yan Haozhe had basically been frightened to death. If he had chosen to fight to the death rather than running, he might still have died, but Su Chen would also have been seriously wounded.

    ¡°Dammit, in the future I need to have a full set of medicine on me. No, one set is not enough; I need three sets! Five sets!¡± Su Chen muttered harshly to himself as he stared at the corpses littered on the ground.

    His current situation was not good at all. After fighting a number of battles in rapid session, the Primordial Blood Incarnation¡¯s efficacy had reached its limit. Even though he could use Origin Stones to recover his Origin Energy, the physical energy he had expended was very difficult to replenish. As such, he had to leave here quickly.

    However, the Southern Mountains had threeyers of encirclement. Su Chen had only just broken through the second.

    Themotion from before would probably have attracted the six or seven teams in the thirdyer.

    If he wanted to forcefully charge through, it would be incredibly difficult.

    The amount of Shadow Substance he had remaining in his gloves was low, so he stopped and found a tree to rest at.

    The amount of time he rested for wasn¡¯t long. Very quickly, he saw arge group of people headed in his direction.

    The person in the front was someone Su Chen was very familiar with.

    Long Qingjiang.

    The Long n¡¯s patriarch hade of his own ord.

    Upon seeing Long Qingjiang, Su Chen smiled slightly.

    He was waiting precisely for Long Qingjiang.

    The ten Bloodline Nobility ns were each responsible for guarding a single direction. Su Chen knew that Long Qingjiang would being in this direction, and he would be guarding thestyer.

    This was why Su Chen had chosen to take this path.

    Long Qingjiang had brought five teams of people with him, meaning that there were five Yang Opening Realm cultivators, not including Long Qingjiang himself, who was at the peak of Yang Opening.

    Even so, Long Qingjiang still carefully ced his subordinates at the very front, himself watching the surroundings cautiously and soberly.

    Long Qingjiang already knew that no amount of caution was too excessive when dealing with Su Chen.

    Before he had arrived, he had already sensed the powerful waves of Origin Energy rippling through the air. These Origin Energy ripples shocked him because they felt like they hade from a peak Yang Opening Realm cultivator like himself.

    Even if it were him, wanting to kill five teams of people in such a short period of time was basically impossible.

    However, Su Chen had done it.

    Everyone was in shock as they stared at the corpses strewn all over the ground.

    What kind of monster were they pursuing?

    How on earth had he done all of this?

    Just as everyone was feeling shocked, an item suddenly whizzed out of the forest.

    ¡°Careful!¡± everyone yelled.

    Everyone simultaneously made their preparations.

    Bang!

    A vial of medicine mmed into a nearby rock, the ss shattering into pieces.

    ¡°That was medicine! It might be poison fog!¡± someone yelled.

    Everyone simultaneously covered their mouths and noses.

    However, no fuming or foggy substances appeared.

    What was going on?

    Was this an invisible poison?

    Everyone had their own guesses as their hearts tightened. As such, no one noticed the expression that came across Long Qingjiang¡¯s face.

    His expression had be ugly as soon as he saw the medicine appear.

    That was because he had already recognized that the medicine Su Chen had thrown out was the same medicine that was being used to treat his son.

    A voice spoke near his ear, ¡°How are you, Long n Elder?¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 119: Escape

    Chapter 119: Escape

    Ever since Long Shaoyou¡¯s spirit had been corroded by Wei Liancheng¡¯s Imprisoned Fiend Fog, he had been lying on a sickbed.

    He had been bedridden for over six years.

    His remaining alive in these past six years was totally due to a doctor called Chen Shu.

    These past few years, Long Qingjiang had tried to search for other people and use different methods, but without exception they had all failed.

    Only Doctor Chen¡¯s medicine could slow down the poison within Long Shaoyou¡¯s body.

    Long Qingjiang had also suspected Chen Shu¡¯s identity before, and he had even guessed that it might be Su Chen.

    But he didn¡¯t dare verify it.

    He was afraid.

    If he verified that Chen Shu was Su Chen, what was he to do?

    He didn¡¯t want to think about this oue, so he could only avoid it.

    Even so, the biggest issue with this was that one day, sooner orter, he wouldn¡¯t be able to avoid it anymore.

    That day, that moment, had finally arrived.

    As soon as the vial of medicine shattered on the rock; as soon as Su Chen¡¯s voice floated into his ear, Long Qingjiang knew what was about to happen.

    Su Chen transmitted, ¡°Time is of the essence, so I won¡¯t waste time talking. You have two choices: one is to kill me, and the other is to help me. If you choose thetter, get that Shorttailed Foxhound under control and then let me go. After I get out of here, I will get rid of the poison within your son¡¯s bodypletely, and the ounts between us will have been wiped clean. What you do after that is up to you.¡±

    Long Qingjiang sucked in a long breath of air.

    He didn¡¯t say anything.

    Both he and Su Chen were quite experienced. There was no need to say anything, and there was no room here for negotiation.

    He didn¡¯t say anything; instead, he walked over to one of his subordinates and took the Shorttailed Foxhound, not allowing it to make too much noise.

    The Shorttailed Foxhound had already discovered that Su Chen was nearby, but the amount of noise it made was proportional to how close or far Su Chen was from it.

    If Su Chen wanted to pass through the group of people, the Shorttailed Foxhound would definitely go ballistic, notifying everyone.

    This was why Long Qingjiang was controlling the Shorttailed Foxhound personally and sent everyone far away from him.

    As he hugged the Shorttailed Foxhound, he could sense the Foxhound¡¯s struggling bing more and more frantic.

    It could sense that the target it was searching for wasing closer and closer and closer. It was excited, it was stirred up, it wanted to bark loudly.

    However, Long Qingjiang¡¯s hand was like a muzzle wrapped tightly around its mouth, not allowing it to move or bark. Origin Energy wrapped around it like a cage, keeping it firmly in ce and making it so that it could only let out wronged whimpers.

    Suddenly, the Shorttailed Foxhound began to go ballistic, like the dying throes of prey. It struggled so violently that Long Qingjiang almost lost his grip on the Foxhound.

    At that moment, he felt it.

    The person concealed in the shadows was standing right in front of him.

    The two of them were face to face.

    How bold of him!

    Long Qingjiang sucked in a breath of cold air.

    He could hear Su Chen¡¯s voice in his ear, but this time it wasn¡¯t a transmission technique; it was just normal talking.

    Su Chen¡¯s voice was just suppressed.

    It was only for the two of them to hear.

    Su Chen leaned into his ear and said quietly, ¡°Many thanks, Long n Elder.¡±

    Then, he patted the little Foxhound once before leaving.

    The Foxhound slowly calmed down.

    Finally, it stopped making amotion.

    Long Qingjiang knew that Su Chen had managed to survive.

    His subordinates were carefully searching the surroundings, but after the vial of medicine shattered against the rock, no furthermotion was made.

    Su Chen was gone.

    He had disappeared.

    He had escaped.

    No one knew where he had gone. No one expected that Su Chen had already escaped from the encirclement; they just reckoned that he had gone further up the mountain.

    As such, they were discussing whether or not to continue chasing up the mountain and forcing him out.

    Everyone was talking about how to set up ambushes and how to fill in the gaps.

    Long Qingjiang stood there silently like he was a ghost.

    He couldn¡¯t say or do anything. All he did was stand there in a daze, wanting to bothugh and cry in his heart.

    ¡°n Elder, are you alright?¡± one of the subordinates called out to Long Qingjiang.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Long Qingjiang seemed to have been awoken from a dream. ¡°Did you reach an agreement?¡±

    ¡°Su Chen might have gone in another direction,¡± the subordinate replied. ¡°Everyone feels like we shouldn¡¯t take too many risks and chase after him; instead, we should just hold the line. After all, Su Chen¡¯s strength...... is not to be underestimated.¡±

    Everyone had been scared to death by the simultaneous massacres of five teams.

    That subordinate was carefully watching Long Qingjiang and only finished his sentence upon confirming that Long Qingjiang wasn¡¯t growing angry.

    ¡°Oh, I see,¡± Long Qingjiang assented, then nodded. ¡°Alright, then let¡¯s do as you say.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± The underling cast a strange nce at Long Qingjiang but didn¡¯t take it to heart, thinking that Long Qingjiang might have been stunned by the massacre Su Chen hadmitted. He left to take care of arrangements.

    Long Qingjiang just stood there and watched his subordinates, as well as individuals from other ns, searching the mountain for the person who was no longer there anymore.

    At the base of the mountain, Su Chen nced up.

    The sky was already dark. Lanterns began to light up the whole mountain, making it seem like it was still daytime there.

    ¡°It seems like they aren¡¯t nning on sleeping tonight,¡± Su Chenughed as he turned around and left.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    The pursuitsted all of three days.

    On the second day, they reached the peak of the mountain, but aftering up empty-handed, the Bloodline Nobility ns sent another group of people on a search.

    The reason they did this was because no news of Su Chen¡¯s return had spread yet in Clear River City.

    Since Su Chen had yet to return, that meant that he might still be on the mountain.

    As such, everyone continued to diligently search.

    Su Chen¡¯s disappearance was like an invisible string pulling along everyone¡¯s hearts.

    Of course, no one would have imagined that Su Chen at this moment was sitting in one of the Intoxicating Fragrance Pavilion¡¯s private rooms drinking wine with Wang Wenxin.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe it. Not only did you escape from the grasp of a Light Shaking Realm cultivator and the ten Bloodline Nobility ns, you were also able topletely lead them on,¡± Wang Wenxinughed as he poured Su Chen a full cup of wine.

    ¡°First, I wanted to waste some of their resources, and second I wanted to protect Long Qingjiang. No one is an idiot; if I kill a bunch of people in Long Qingjiang¡¯s territory, then suddenly disappear and reappear in Clear River City, and Long Shaoyou suddenly recovers not long after, it won¡¯t be hard for people to connect these series of events.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re really nning on saving his son?¡±

    ¡°Having no trustworthiness is not a good thing. In addition, even if I protect him like this, Long Qingjiang will be found out sooner orter. When news that I, Su Chen, keep my word even to my enemies spreads...... Hmm, that will be beneficial to me too.¡± Su Chen tossed a peanut into his mouth as he spoke calmly.

    ¡°That¡¯s true. Then you¡¯d better stay here for a bit and wait for this all to blow over......¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s alright. I actually have a third reason as well ¨C I wanted to see how that bastard Lu Qingguang was going to react. In other words, at the very least I wanted An Siyuan to witness what Lu Qingguang did in these three days. The time should be about now,¡± Su Chen said.

    What had Lu Qingguang been doing in these past three days?

    He didn¡¯t do anything.

    Doing nothing was the greatest betrayal.

    If it was just one day, he could have found an excuse. Not doing anything for three days, however, was inexcusable.

    Su Chen wanted to let An Siyuan know who was the one plotting against them behind the scenes.

    ¡°Understood,¡± Wang Wenxin nodded. ¡°So what are you nning on doing next?¡±

    ¡°Help me send a notice to Jiang Xishui. Tell him that, from now on, he can begin his mission ofbining all the pirates. Oh, right, don¡¯t forget about West River Forest either; let him take the forts there as well. We can also take the Peaceful Flourishing Hall for ourselves too.¡±

    ¡°What? You¡¯re nning on confronting the Bloodline Nobility ns head-on at this moment?¡± Wang Wenxin was stunned.

    Su Chen said slyly, ¡°The only reason I didn¡¯t seize all their resources in West River Forest and left them some opportunities on the waterways was because I didn¡¯t want to force those Light Shaking Realm freaks out. Now that one of them has made a move against me...... do you think there¡¯s any need to hold back any longer? Send out the notice. I¡¯m going to dig them up by their roots this time so that they know what the consequences of angering me are!¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 120: Sale

    Chapter 120: Sale

    Within the Su Pce.

    Shi Mingfeng stared at Su Chen in shock. ¡°Your survival is beyond my expectations. I told you already that we could send you a few powerful bodyguards to protect you, but you just wouldn¡¯t agree. See? You almost died.¡±

    ¡°But I didn¡¯t die,¡± Su Chen said dismissively.

    ¡°But this is only one time. Now that they¡¯ve failed once, they will definitelye again until they seed.¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°That¡¯s what I think too, which is why I want to finish them off before this.¡±

    When he heard this, Shi Mingfengughed. ¡°You¡¯ve finally thought it through. Yes, making the first move is best! Since the ten Bloodline Nobility ns have already used their trump cards against you, it¡¯s time for you to use the trump card that is us. Let¡¯s see who has more hidden strength, hehe, as long as you¡¯re willing to pay a small price, the Immortal Temple can easily uproot them.¡±

    Of course Su Chen knew what this small price would be ¨C a 10% shift in the distribution of profits from the sales of the medicine.

    10% didn¡¯t seem like much, but this involved hundreds of millions of Origin Stones in profit.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not nning on spending that much money to deal with them. Actually, I wouldn¡¯t want to ask you to help me even if I didn¡¯t have to spend money.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng couldn¡¯t help butugh bitterly when he heard this. ¡°Is the Immortal Temple a demon to you? Must you be so cautious against us?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°The Immortal Temple isn¡¯t a demon, but allies should still keep a certain amount of distance between them. If we get too close, I might turn from an ally to a member.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng mused over this sentiment before finally nodding and saying, ¡°What you say makes sense. Your sober-mindedness is truly astounding. However, if you don¡¯t enlist our help, how will you deal with the Bloodline Nobility ns? They don¡¯t just have a single Wang Zhanyu; ording to what I know, the ten Bloodline Nobility ns have at least three Light Shaking Realm cultivators, which is also why they can suppress An Siyuan.¡±

    ¡°My current strength is not enough, but I don¡¯t think it will be long before it will be,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°It won¡¯t be long?¡± Shi Mingfeng was stunned. What could he possibly mean?

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Naturally, until my strength has reached the point where I can defeat my enemies.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng found this quite funny. ¡°Are you joking? That¡¯s impossible. I know that you defeated Yang Opening Realm cultivators while you were in the Blood Boiling Realm, but that doesn¡¯t mean anything. In the Primordial Continent, there are too many geniuses that can aplish this. But defeating a Yang Opening Realm cultivator as a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator doesn¡¯t mean that a Yang Opening Realm cultivator can defeat a Light Shaking Realm cultivator. Those are twopletely different ideas!¡±

    Yes, the differences between the realms were not the same.

    Unlike the previous realms, the gap between a Light Shaking Realm cultivator and a Yang Opening Realm cultivator was extremely great. This could be seen by the difference in strength disyed by Wang Zhanyu whenpared to the Yang Opening Realm cultivators.

    Light Shaking Realm cultivators could soar through the air, and storms would bend to their beck and call. They possessed tremendous power and were once the upper limit of strength that a human could achieve. At that time, humans believed that this was the peak of cultivation; any further and they would truly be immortals.

    After this, however, new realms were discovered, and humans discovered that to reach that omnipotent peak, there were countless cultivation realms that they had yet to discover. They were like steps of adder that needed to be climbed in order to reach the top.

    Because of this, the Light Shaking Realm once represented in some ways the peak strength that humans could reach for some period of time. Even now, they were quite potent deterrent forces.

    If a n had a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, they would have much more confidence. This was the base of their being nobles.

    If they didn¡¯t even have any Light Shaking Realm cultivators, their n was at best fabricated.

    A Yang Opening Realm cultivator could easily defeat five or so Blood Boiling Realm cultivators, but a Light Shaking Realm cultivator could defeat many more than five Yang Opening Realm cultivators.

    The Light Shaking Realm had seven Lotus tforms, each Lotus tform representing a level of strength.

    A single Lotus tform Light Shaking Realm cultivator could easily suppress a peak Yang Opening Realm cultivator by a factor of one to ten.

    The Zhu n¡¯s Uncle Eleven had been a single Lotus tform cultivator, but he had easily suppressed Zheng Bashan, Zhong Shisi, and a bunch of other peak Yang Opening Realm cultivators. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Su Chen had used Zhu Xianyao to create a weakness for Uncle Eleven, he could have wiped them out without even being injured.

    And he only had a single Lotus tform. With every additional Lotus tform, the strength of a Light Shaking Realm cultivator would increase in leaps and bounds.

    Wang Zhanyu had three Lotus tforms. Hisbat strength was even greater than the Demonic Emperor Bloodline Uncle Eleven. There were two more simr existences within the Bloodline Nobility ns, one of them being the Shen Yuanhong that Su Chen had also seen before.

    Upon hearing that Su Chen was going to rely on himself to defeat the opponents, Shi Mingfeng couldn¡¯t help butugh.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I need to think of a way to rapidly increase my strength,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Shi Mingfeng shook his head. ¡°No matter how much stronger you be, you won¡¯t be able to defeat even a single Light Shaking Realm cultivator. Even if you use a sea¡¯s worth of cultivation resources, arm yourself from head to toe with Origin Tools, an possess an inexhaustible supply of Origin Stones and medicines, you might not even be able to......¡±

    His voice suddenly caught in his throat.

    He had thought of something and stared at Su Chen in shock.

    Su Chenughed slightly, ¡°See, you¡¯ve already figured out the n.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng stared at him, his jaw wide open and his eyes filled with shock. ¡°You¡¯re nning on......¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s about time anyways,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Haven¡¯t you been waiting for this day for a long time?¡±

    Shi Mingfeng nodded. ¡°Yes, we have been waiting for a long time.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Within the Dreamrealm.

    As soon as Su Chen entered, Dream Spirit Lulu appeared before him.

    ¡°Esteemed Dream Officer, Lulu hasn¡¯t been summoned by you for a long time. Have you forgotten about the pitiful Lulu?¡±

    The Dream Spirit flew in a few circles around Su Chen as she pouted childishly.

    ¡°Haven¡¯t I summoned you now?¡± Su Chen smiled.

    ¡°That¡¯s not the same!¡± Lulu said, cing her hands on her hips. ¡°I am your own personal Dream Spirit. Every Dream Spirit can only serve one guest to ensure the best service. But you never summon me and you never buy anything in the Dreamrealm Castle. You never spend anything other than a few Dream Droplets a day to practice your Ancient Arcana Techniques, causing my profits to drastically decrease. I can only survive by acting as a guide formon Dreamrealm Users. My profits have been ruined, ruined, I tell you!!!¡±

    As she spoke, Lulu began to yell and stomp her feet angrily. However, even her temper tantrum was quite adorable.

    When Su Chen saw her like this, he purposefully teased her, ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. Then...... why don¡¯t you give up on me and stop being my own personal Dream Spirit?¡±

    Lulu shot him an angry nce. ¡°How can that be allowed? Us Dream Spirits are very devoted. How could we switch guests so casually? Unless the guest dies. But you seem very lively to me, and I probably can¡¯t hope for you to die in the near future. Sigh, consider me unlucky.¡±

    As she spoke, her head drooped.

    Su Chen was rendered speechless by her tantrum. He didn¡¯t know if he should praise her for her loyalty or teach her a lesson for so openly wishing that he die an early death.

    But to the Dream Spirits, this wasn¡¯t really a curse. Within the Dreamrealm, death wasn¡¯t actually that scary of a thing. Once they died, their consciousnesses would return to the Dreamrealm¡¯s source of life. They would bloom, bear fruit, and grow again.

    Yes, Dream Spirits were like fruits from a tree. They had to be grown in such a manner.

    As such, Dream Spirits were not really afraid of talking about death.

    Su Chen knew that Lulu didn¡¯t have any malicious intentions, so he didn¡¯t argue with her. All he said was, ¡°Then this time, I¡¯ll give you a good opportunity.¡±

    ¡°What kind of opportunity?¡±

    ¡°An opportunity that will let you earn a hundred years¡¯ worth of profits with almost no effort on your part. How does that sound?¡±

    He sent a message to Lulu.

    Lulu immediately stiffened when she saw the message,pletely dazed.

    A string of characters rolled across the main screen of the Hall of Knowledge.

    ¡°Selling: A technique for reaching the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline.¡±

    ¡°Price: Two hundred Dream Droplets.¡±

    ¡°Seller: Cloud Bat.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 121: Explosive Storm

    Chapter 121: Explosive Storm

    The Dreamrealm was filled withmotion.

    When the first person who saw the shocking status yelled out, ¡°How is that possible?¡±, everyone¡¯s attention was directed toward the screen and never left.

    Regardless of whether the Origin Qi Schrs had high or low cultivation bases, they looked like they had their hearts squeezed when they saw the simple line of words. They couldn¡¯t believe what they were seeing.

    ¡°How is this possible? How can a technique for reaching the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline appear?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t someone prove before that a method for reaching the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline was impossible?¡±

    ¡°Scam! This must be a scam!¡±

    ¡°Yes, we must expose it!¡±

    Everyone¡¯s first reaction was actually one of disbelief and anger.

    However, someone yelled immediately after, ¡°It¡¯s Cloud Bat! The seller is Cloud Bat, the Cloud Bat that sold the perfect Blood Boiling Realm technique!¡±

    Within the world of Origin Qi Schrs, people were more willing to call the technique for reaching the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline the perfect Blood Boiling Realm technique. After all, that was a name closer to the truth.

    As the name Cloud Bat began to spread, everyone was reminded of the name that had caused quite amotion in the human world nearly ten years ago.

    Cloud Bat!

    It was he who had sold the perfect Blood Boiling Realm technique for only a hundred Dream Droplets.

    And now, it was this very same person who was selling a technique for reaching the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline!

    When the name Cloud Bat appeared, many people quickly realized that this wasn¡¯t a scam!

    Someone had really done i!

    Whoa!

    ¡°Awesome!¡±

    ¡°Cloud Bat, well done!¡±

    ¡°Praise Cloud Bat!¡±

    ¡°Long live Cloud Bat!¡±

    Excited howls began to reverberate throughout the main hall.

    Countless people cried out with excitement because of this.

    That was gratitude, that was worship, that was reverence, that was admiration.

    This was the deep adoration and gratitude for the selfless contribution of a great individual.

    Countless numbers of the Origin Qi Schrs leapt for joy, screaming at the top of their lungs.

    Millions of Origin Qi Schrs dreamed of reaching higher cultivation realms without bloodlines. Now, a person had finally been able to achieve this dream.

    Even though it was just a single step, it demonstrated the limitless possibilities in the future.

    Most importantly, the gap between a technique for reaching the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline and a technique for reaching the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline had only been thirteen years!

    Thirteen years!

    He had only taken thirteen years to develop a technique for charging into the Yang Opening Realm. This implied that in theing days, there could be a method for reaching the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline, or even the Burning Spirit Realm.

    The future of the human race was no longer just a dream, but a reality with unlimited possibilities!

    A reality that caused countless people to be excited, filled with hope and longing for the future!

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Within the Dreamrealm, a wave of frenzied excitement was spreading.

    Even so, underneath the raucous celebration, there was nock of unrest and uneasiness.

    Most of that came from people with bloodlines.

    The perfect Blood Boiling Realm technique didn¡¯t threaten them much, and many of them had even benefitted from it. However, once the method for reaching the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline appeared, many people suddenly felt threat

    With the appearance of such a technique, wouldn¡¯t there be a technique for reaching the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline in the future? Spirit Burning Realm? Thought Manifestation Realm? Or even the Ultimate Emperor Realm?

    When a myth was disproven, what was shaken was the people¡¯s faith in the entire setup around the myth.

    It was like shattering a piece of ss at a single point.

    After the suspicion, anger, and excitement, the fourth emotion the crowd felt was fear.

    Amidst the waves of fluctuating emotions, it was time to test it out!

    They needed to verify whether it was real or not.

    Thankfully, the cost of verifying it wasn¡¯t very high.

    Someone bought the Yang Opening Realm technique!

    Yes!

    The person quickly thumbed through it, quickly discovering the w in this technique.

    ¡°So it¡¯s not aplete technique; it requires the supplement of a medicine known as the Three Yangs Medicine, and there¡¯s only a thirty percent chance of sess,¡± someone yelled, the happiness and excitement in his voice conflicting.

    ¡°Who knows what the Three Yangs Medicine is?¡±

    ¡°Never heard of it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of it before either.¡±

    ¡°Me neither!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what it is!¡±

    Countless people shook their heads.

    ¡°I get it. This medicine must have been created by Cloud Bat. He relied on thebination of this breakthrough technique and this medicine to break the bloodline restrictions on the Yang Opening Realm. This is the thought process of a genius! Not only is this person incredibly talented, they¡¯re also an outstanding alchemist!¡±

    ¡°Since he is the one who invented it, then he will absolutely be producing this kind of medicine.¡±

    ¡°Yes! If we find the medicine, we will find Cloud Bat!¡±

    Everyone began to yell.

    Everyone felt that they could use this opportunity to find Cloud Bat. As for why they wanted to find Cloud Bat, everyone subconsciously avoided thinking about it.

    Perhaps it was gratitude?

    Perhaps it was prevent him from doing more?

    Perhaps it was to rob him?

    Perhaps it was to assassinate him?

    No one knew.

    Everyone had different thoughts. Some were extremely grateful, while others held nothing but hatred; some were anxious concerning the future, while others were blinded by greed.

    All kinds of people existed under the heavens.

    Most importantly, apart from the Three Yangs Medicine, the rest of the content was real. In addition to Cloud Bat¡¯s selling of the perfect Blood Boiling Realm technique, many people realized that it was almost impossible for this to be fake.

    Without exception, the whole Dreamrealm was thrown into an uproar.

    Meng Lan didn¡¯t need to advertise for him. It just spread by word of mouth, but that was enough to move the sales of the Yang Opening Realm technique.

    Within a single night, the technique for reaching the Yang Opening Realm spread like wildfire throughout the Seven Kingdoms. Every person knew about the appearance of this technique, and every person was now aware of Cloud Bat¡¯s name.

    At the same time, the Three Yangs Medicine appeared in medicinal halls across the continent.

    It wasn¡¯t until the medicine appeared that everyone realized how slippery Cloud Bat was being.

    Cloud Bat had already prepared arge quantity of Three Yangs Medicine all over the continent and had alreadymissioned someone to carry out the sales. That way, Cloud Bat could conceal himself easily, and even therge medicinal halls didn¡¯t know who the seller was.

    This also meant that the Yang Opening Realm technique should have been around for some time, but Cloud Bat had never taken it out until he had prepared everything.

    With the Three Yangs Medicine, the first person to reach the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline appeared.

    More urately, it wasn¡¯t just the first person; it was the first wave.

    Too many Origin Qi Schrs had used Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven to charge into the Yang Opening Realm, making it very difficult to determine who exactly was the first.

    Signs of people sessfully breaking through into the Yang Opening Realm urred almost simultaneously all across the continent.

    Without a doubt, these people were Cloud Bat¡¯s fans, supporters, and staunch defenders.

    When the technique for reaching the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline appeared, they were the first ones to buy it without any hesitation and try it out, using their own bodies to demonstrate the effectiveness of the technique.

    The first wave of Yang Opening Realm cultivators without bloodlines appeared in in sight just like that. They came suddenly and fiercely, appearing out of nowhere like a tornado.

    Everything happened so fast that it finished within the span of a couple of days, and many people didn¡¯t even realize that something had happened when suddenly a bunch of Yang Opening Realm cultivators without bloodlines appeared out of nowhere.

    The whole human race was jumping for joy, almost crazy with excitement.

    Of course, the only ones celebrating were those without bloodlines.

    To the Bloodline Nobility ns, this was without a doubt a serious blow.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 122: A Huge Haul

    Chapter 122: A Huge Haul

    Bitterness was an almost instinctive response; they didn¡¯t need to wait until a destructive fate came upon them.

    Even though they couldn¡¯t see the effects of reaching the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline, those Bloodline Nobility ns instinctively disliked this kind of a development.

    This was like a precious toy that had originally belonged to themselves and a few close friends.

    But now, a bunch of lower-statusmoners had it as well.

    Since even themoners had it, it was no longer an item that the Bloodline Nobility ns could value. The pride that they once had also took a hit.

    For this kind of thing to happen with something closely tied to the strength and status of an Origin Qi Schr only amplified these hard-to-describe feelings.

    They couldn¡¯t openly say that the technique for reaching the Yang Opening realm without a bloodline was bad or publicly refuse to allow people to cultivate it, so they had to use their own methods to nder it.

    The first wave ofments targeting Cloud Bat and opposing the technique for reaching the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline appeared.

    ¡°What crappy bloodline-less Yang Opening Realm technique? It¡¯s only so-so.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, you even need a medicine to go along with it! This is clearly a tactic he came up with to pocket more money for himself.¡±

    ¡°If he truly is generous, he should make the form for concocting the Three Yangs Medicine public.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! This person is despicable and sinister to the uttermost. He¡¯s not a good person at all!¡±

    ¡°A secret technique created by such a person must have some kind of hidden w in it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! Everyone is better off not cultivating it; otherwise, if an ident does ur, it¡¯ll be toote to regret it.¡±

    ¡°I heard a few days ago that someone went mad with obsession a few days ago because they had cultivated this technique, causing great damage to themselves.¡±

    ¡°I heard the same!¡±

    They went from attacking the seller¡¯s moral character to attacking their products. These were always exceptionally effective tactics.

    This also demonstrated that a technique for reaching the Yang Opening Realm wouldn¡¯t be ignored like the Blood Boiling Realm technique. It had genuinely incited the anger of many of the Bloodline Nobility ns.

    As the Yang Opening Realm technique sold like crazy, nasty rumors about Cloud Bat began to spread all throughout the Dreamrealm and other ces.

    This was quite amusing. Most people didn¡¯t even know who Cloud Bat was, yet malicious rumors about his moral character were already flying left and right.

    However, making a move too quickly wasn¡¯t necessarily a good thing. The biggest problem with relying on rumors to nder an opponent was that they had no way to stand up to the truth.

    One bloodline-less Origin Qi Schr after another reached the Yang Opening Realm, the massive effects of this more than enough to shatter all of the rumors and even exposing the true intentions of many of those with ulterior motives.

    These rumors with ulterior motives were very quickly beaten down by the fans, and what reced it was an even hotter wave of support.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t even have to make a move himself for the scheme perpetrated by the Bloodline Nobility ns to be suppressed by the fiery excitement of the masses.

    When faced with the major event of raising the strength of humankind as a whole, a small scheme like this was like a bug futilely trying to stop a train, so weak that it couldn¡¯t even withstand a single blow.

    Arge force could not be stopped, but a single person could.

    Upon realizing that they had no way of stopping these individuals without bloodlines from reaching the Yang Opening Realm, many of them began to set their sights on Cloud Bat himself.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    While human society was still rejoicing and exulting over this bloodline-less Yang Opening Realm technique, Su Chen was already beginning to happily count his money.

    One of the rumors had actually been quite correct ¨C Su Chen was indeed thinking about the best ways to earn money for himself.

    Ten days ago, sales of the bloodline-less Yang Opening Realm technique had reached 34000. Because it was being spread by word of mouth, the sales were actually a bit lower than the technique for reaching the Blood Boiling Realm.

    However, Su Chen had raised the price to two hundred Dream Droplets, so his profits had reached a total of 68 million low-tier Origin Stones, disregarding any further earnings.

    Of course, this was not Su Chen¡¯s entire harvest. There was an even greater source of ie out there.

    The greatest source of ie was naturally the Three Yangs Medicine.

    34000 people buying the cultivation technique didn¡¯t necessarily mean that only 34000 people had read the technique. The transmission of the technique at much lower levels had ensured that the total number of readers had surpassed one million a long time ago. This technique could be pirated, but there was no way to pirate the Three Yangs Medicine, which had to be bought from a medicinal pavilion.

    Most importantly, the 30% sess rate of reaching the Yang Opening Realm implied that every person would need around three vials of Three Yangs Medicine to reach the Yang Opening Realm.

    Even if only 300,000 people needed to reach the Yang Opening Realm, they would probably need to purchase around 1 million vials of medicine, perfectly falling in Su Chen¡¯s calctions.

    Of course, it wasn¡¯t possible in reality for so many people to try and breakthrough at this precise moment, but people often had an irrepressible desire whenever they saw something good to try it out. As such, once the effectiveness of the Three Yangs Medicine was demonstrated, a ton of people went out to buy it even if they weren¡¯t actually at the point of ascending yet for fear that they might not be able to buy it in the future.

    This was actually the case. The excessive poprity caused the supply of Three Yangs Medicine to dwindle rapidly. Even the 1 million vials that Su Chen and the others had prepared wasn¡¯t enough. Some people had boughtrge quantities of medicine, creating a shortage of supply, then had sold them for a big margin to make some profit off of it. However, this no longer had anything to do with Su Chen. He could control himself, but he couldn¡¯t prevent others from raising the price. Only the Immortal Temple was bouncing with agitation.

    Because of this, the Yang Opening Realm technique hadn¡¯t even been around for a year when the million vials of medicine were totally exhausted. What they sold after that was all the medicine that they were able to create in these two months.

    Su Chen made quite a bit of money off of this haul as well.

    After that, however, Su Chen didn¡¯t continue to try and concoct more Three Yangs Medicine.

    That was because there was no longer any need.

    On the third month that the Yang Opening Realm technique had been put on sale, Cloud Bat made another move.

    This time, it was to publish the form for concocting the Three Yangs Medicine.

    Yes, even though there were still countless Blood Boiling Realm cultivators who needed to buy the medicine, Su Chen wasn¡¯t nning on selling any more.

    The Three Yangs Medicine wasn¡¯t a hard medicine to decode. The ingredient distribution was simple, as was the refining technique. Any Master-level alchemist would only need a bit of time to decode it.

    This was a monopoly that was impossible to break.

    This was why Su Chen had prepared to make a million vials of Three Yangs Medicine right from the start, so that he could earn a sum of money in the shortest amount of time possible, then throw out the medicinal form and make some more money.

    The timing of his publishing the medicinal form was quite timely. Many alchemists were already getting close to decoding the medicine.

    Su Chen making a move at this moment caused the effort and the resources they had invested in the past few months to be renderedpletely useless, causing those alchemists to hop with anger. The prices of the medicine returned to normal, and some of the people who had been hoarding the medicine lost big-time, paying back the profits that they had made previously.

    After the technique for refining the Three Yangs Medicine spread, the bottleneck for reaching the Yang Opening Realm had disappeared. West River Forest became the new focus of attention.

    This was because one of the ingredients required for the Three Yangs Medicine, Concealed Falcon Grass, was a unique product of that area. Su Chen had discovered it there and had used it toplete the Three Yangs Medicine and the Yang Opening Realm technique.

    When the form was made public, the prices of Concealed Falcon Grass shot up ten times. Su Chen had already umted arge quantity of Concealed Falcon Grass before this, which he put on sale at this moment and made another ridiculouslyrge haul of money.

    Su Chen had earned an incredible amount of money in the span of these three waves of sales.

    Within the span of three months, Su Chen anad the Immortal Temple had sold a total of 1.1 million vials of Three Yangs Medicine, obtaining 2.75 billion Origin Stones, of which 1.6 billion belonged to Su Chen. The profits from the form and Concealed Falcon Grass were 1.82 billion, making him the biggest profiter from this gold mine. The Immortal Temple earned 1.1 billion; when taking away therge number of manhours they had put in, their pure profits totalled around 900 million. This was a sizable profit that was enough to cause the whole organization to celebrate.

    Most Bloodline Nobility ns had no way of possessing so much money. When Iron Cliff heard how much they had saved up, it took him a long time to evene around to fathoming how massive a sum that was.

    The only drawback to this was that the Immortal Temple now knew of his identity of Cloud Bat.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t quite care. After all, apart from the Immortal Temple, the Zhu n knew as well.

    Cloud Bat¡¯s identity wasn¡¯t going to remain a secret for long. What the Zhu n could do in the past, the other Bloodline Nobility ns could do as well. Everything that Su Chen was doing now was just to dy the amount of time that he would be discovered.

    However, he knew that sooner orter, he would be able to face these Bloodline Nobility ns directly.

    Before then, all that he could do was strengthen himself as much as he could.

    This was why Su Chen¡¯s next n was to turn money into strength!

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 123: Meeting

    Chapter 123: Meeting

    ¡°You¡¯re going to Long Coiling City?¡± Cloud Leopard asked with some surprise, sitting in the Su Pce¡¯s main hall.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I made quite a bit of money selling the Yang Opening Realm technique this time, so I¡¯m nning on spending some of it to increase my strength. What do you think? Want toe along with me? You¡¯ll benefit as well.¡±

    ¡°Alright!¡± When he heard that they were going to be spending money, Cloud Leopard¡¯s interest was immediately piqued.

    Long Coiling City was the capital of Long Sang Country. Just like all the other human kingdoms, the best ingredients and treasures are all gathered there. Unfortunately, while they were students, most of their time was spent studying at the Hidden Dragon Institute, and most of them didn¡¯t have much money to speak of anyways. Opportunities were hard toe by because they were always stuck inside the city. Now that Su Chen had made a crazy sum of money and had an opportunity to go to Long Coiling City for a shopping spree, how could Cloud Leopard not be interested?

    Su Chen had another motive for going apart from increasing his strength: he missed Gu Qingluo.

    A few days ago, Gu Qingluo had been sent to Long Coiling city on business and was still there. Su Chen and Gu Qingluo had always kept in touch; when he found out that she was there, he had made up his mind.

    Every young man who had just received a paycheck would want to take good care of the young woman they loved. Su Chen was no exception to this.

    Like that, after drawing up a n, Su Chen took Cloud Leopard and Iron Cliff with him and set off.

    After traveling for around ten days, the three of them arrived in Long Coiling City.

    A figure came flying towards them at top speed and leapt into Su Chen¡¯s arms. It was Gu Qingluo.

    She grabbed Su Chen¡¯s hand, her eyes filled with happiness and a bit of pouting. ¡°Why did it take you so long to get here?¡±

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°It¡¯s a long road from Clear River City to here. We were already going as fast as we could and didn¡¯t ck off even a little bit.¡±

    Gu Qingluo poked Su Chen¡¯s forehead with her slender finger. ¡°I said you were silly, didn¡¯t I? You should have just bought a Cloud-Piercing Shuttle.¡±

    Cloud Piercing Shuttle was a kind of flying tool used by Origin Qi Schrs and was arge-scale Origin Tool. It was powered by Origin Stones, and people could sit in it as it flew. Its speed was extremely fast and was useful even to Light Shaking Realm cultivators. It was a tool that was useful under any circumstance.

    However, they were also exceptionally expensive. Even the lowest-grade Cloud-Piercing Shuttle was at least a few million Origin Stones, a sum Su Chen couldn¡¯t bear the thought of parting with.

    Now that he had made such a big haul, it was time to spend a little more luxuriously.

    Su Chenughed, ¡°I did have this in mind. How about let¡¯s go to the Flying Moon Workshop?¡±

    The Flying Moon Workshop was Long Sang Country¡¯s number one Origin Tool store and carried all kinds of rare and strange treasures.

    Since they were here to buy good things, they would naturally head for the best ce.

    Gu Qingluo was just about to answer when a voice suddenly called out from a distance, ¡°Seventh Junior Sister, did you run all the way out here so early in the morning just to meet this person?¡±

    They turned around, following the source of the sound all the way to a young man who was walking in their direction.

    He came near Su Chen¡¯s side, nced him up and down, then said, ¡°Is this the Su Chen that you think about day and night? He only seems so-so.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t know how to speak, then shut your mouth!¡± Gu Qingluo said angrily.

    She turned around and said to Su Chen, ¡°This is my Fourth Elder Cousin1, Gu Jintang. His eyes are always set on the skies; you don¡¯t need to argue with him.¡±

    Gu Qingluo only had a single older brother, but she had quite a few cousins on her father¡¯s side. This Gu Jintang was one of them.

    Su Chen knew that there were usually only two reasons a person would speak derogatorily to another person as soon as they appeared.

    One possibility was that they were naturally arrogant, and the second was that they had some ulterior motive.

    What Gu Qingluo said seemed to imply that this person didn¡¯t have any ulterior motives; he was just naturally arrogant. If that was the case, then there wasn¡¯t any need to argue with him.

    Gu Jintang already said, ¡°Seventh Junior Sister, the Tang n¡¯s people are still waiting for you. You won¡¯t take care of official business but you¡¯lle here to meet this guy? If you mess up this matter that rtes to the n, don¡¯t me me for not reminding you.¡±

    Su Chen got the gist of it. He asked Gu Qingluo, ¡°Do you still have other business?¡±

    Gu Qingluo rolled her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s nothing much. I just need to meet with a few people I don¡¯t want to meet. Let them wait for me; I¡¯ll take you to the Flying Moon Workshop first.¡±

    Gu Jintang immediately said, ¡°How can that be allowed? Sixth Elder Tang personally requested to meet you; you must go now!¡±

    Su Chen also said, ¡°Official business is more important. Go and take care of that first, and we¡¯ll have time to meetter.¡±

    Upon seeing that even Su Chen was saying that, Gu Qingluo could only agree helplessly. She said to Su Chen, ¡°I¡¯ll wait for you at the Wandering Wind Pavilion in the fifth room on the Heaven floor.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll remember it,¡± Su Chenughed.

    Gu Qingluo left, with Gu Jintang following closely behind.

    She had only taken a few steps when she suddenly thought of something and said to Gu Jintang, ¡°Su Chen doesn¡¯t know where the Flying Moon Workshop is. You take him there.¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± Gu Jintang was stunned.

    ¡°Yes, you!¡± Gu Qingluo said with conviction. ¡°Sixth Elder wants to see me, so whether you go or not doesn¡¯t really matter. Isn¡¯t it fine if you stay here and help me take care of Su Chen for a bit?¡±

    ¡°Does this Young Master need to take serve some people without bloodlines?¡± Gu Jintang said, his expression disdainful.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t go, then I can¡¯t go either. The task belongs to both of us anyways; if we fail, then we¡¯ll both be punished. I don¡¯t really care, but someone might not be willing to,¡± Gu Qingluo said intentionally.

    ¡°You!¡± Gu Jintang¡¯s eyes bulged with anger, but he thought for a moment and said in the end, ¡°You win!¡±

    He walked back over to Su Chen and said in a bad mood, ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±

    Su Chen watched as Gu Qingluo shot him a meaningful nce.

    The two had known each other for a long time and knew what the other person was thinking. Su Chen could tell that Gu Qingluo wanted him to teach Gu Jintang a lesson. He could onlyugh in his heart and nod in agreement.

    However, he had different ns.

    Gu Qingluo was the Gu n¡¯s invaluable Little Miss. She could do as she pleased without regard to the consequences. If Su Chen wanted to be the husband of someone in the Gu n, on the other hand, he needed to be quite cautious.

    This Gu Jintang was just naturally arrogant and had no particrly malicious thoughts against him. Teaching him a lesson wasn¡¯t as important as roping him in to his side. When he thought of this, a n was already beginning to formte in his heart.

    As he performed the calctions in his head, the four of them began to head for the Flying Moon Workshop.

    As they walked, Gu Jintang continued to mumble, ¡°The Flying Moon Workshop is a ce of luxury and is filled with all kinds of extremely precious treasures. How canmoners go as the please? Qingluoes from a noble n and is used to doing things extravagantly, but she doesn¡¯t know that people without bloodlinese from low-status backgrounds and don¡¯t have much in the way of resources. It¡¯s better if we choose a different ce so we don¡¯t waste any time.¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Let¡¯s just go to the Flying Moon Workshop.¡±

    ¡°Hmph, you¡¯re just keeping up appearances,¡± Gu Jintang muttered, but he still took the three of them with him.

    The Flying Moon Workshop was located in the southern regions of Long Coiling City underneath an octagonal tall pagoda.

    Upon entering the workshop, a pretty woman came forward to greet them, her tone modest and her attitude attentive.

    Anyone who coulde to the Flying Moon Pavilion to buy things were all wealthy and respectable. They were also all Origin Qi Schrs, so no one acted like a snob here.

    ¡°Four guests, what are you looking for today?¡± the woman asked politely.

    ¡°Let¡¯s take a look at your Cloud-Piercing Shuttles first,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Gu Jintang hadn¡¯t heard his conversation with Gu Qingluo earlier. When he heard that Su Chen wanted to look at the Cloud-Piercing Shuttles, he was noticeably startled.

    However, upon further thought, he realized that this was most likely Su Chen keeping up appearances. There was no way he could actually afford it. After seeing the Cloud-Piercing Shuttles, he would make excuses that this one and that one were no good and wouldn¡¯t end up buying any of them.

    The woman brought the three of them up to the fourth floor.

    Every bit of space within the pagoda had been extended by void-type Origin Skills, and there was a ton of space inside.

    Upon arriving at the fourth floor, they found that their surroundings were filled with Cloud-Piercing Shuttles.

    Some of the massive ships had multiple floors and were armed withrge cannons that were covered in profound Origin Formation inscriptions; there were also small ships meant for one person with a narrow front and back and a bulge in the middle like kayaks. There were also gigantic Cloud-Piercing Shuttles that looked almost like floating pces. However, those were sorge that even the void-augmented pagoda couldn¡¯t contain them; what was on disy here was just images.

    1. Most likely the son of Gu Qingluo¡¯s father and another woman who is not Gu Qingluo¡¯s mother.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 124: Cloud-Piercing Shuttle 1

    Chapter 124: Cloud-Piercing Shuttle (1)

    Upon seeing so many Cloud-Piercing Shuttles, the three of them clucked their tongues in amazement.

    It was no surprise that this Flying Moon Workshop was one of the stores within Long Sang Country with the most reknown. They even had so many Cloud-Piercing Shuttles, which were incredibly expensive treasures.

    Su Chen¡¯s 780 million Origin Stones might not even be enough to buy all of the Cloud-Piercing Shuttles stored on the fourth floor.

    When faced with this realization, Su Chen suddenly felt that the sum of money he possessed was far from being a lot.

    People who really had money were probably those who considered high-grade Origin Stones to be the base unit of currency. He was still far from reaching that status yet.

    ¡°Please, look. This is the Purple Lightning Shuttle. This Shuttle¡¯s biggest advantage is that it¡¯s extremely fast, one of the fastest Cloud-Piercing Shuttles ever created. It can travel thirty paces in a single breath.¡±

    The woman had already begun to describe the various Cloud-Piercing Shuttles without stopping.

    A pace was a unit of distance used by Origin Qi Schrs. It had been established nearly thirty thousand years ago when the human race was establishing the Seven Kingdoms and was the distance that a regr Light Shaking Realm cultivator could travel with a single leap. The fact that it could travel thirty paces in a breath meant that it could travel a distance equivalent to thirty leaps by the average Light Shaking Realm cultivator in just a single breath¡¯s worth of time.

    This was quite a frightening number.

    Normal Cloud-Piercing Shuttles were already considered fast if they could travel ten paces in a single breath, but this shuttle could do thirty. That kind of speed was almost perverse.

    Even so, Su Chen nced at it momentarily before shaking his head and saying, ¡°The space inside is too small and its defenses are too weak.¡±

    The Purple Lightning Shuttle was a small-scale shuttle and could only fit two people.

    That would have been fine, but the problem was that most of the energy distribution had been directed to maximize speed, but it was quitecking in terms of defensive ability.

    Cloud-Piercing Shuttles weren¡¯t just flying tools; they also needed to have a certain level of defensive capabilities. Otherwise, if it could be destroyed by a single blow from another person, millions of Origin Stones could be lost in an instant.

    Even though the Purple Lightning Shuttle was fast, it couldn¡¯t be faster than an Origin Skill, so Su Chen didn¡¯t look favorably at it.

    When he heard this, Gu Jintang began to say to himself, ¡°Look, look, it really was the case! I knew he was going to start looking for excuses to cop out.¡±

    The woman led the three of them to the next Cloud-Piercing Shuttle when she heard Su Chen¡¯s words. ¡°How about this one? This is the Golden Cliff Shuttle. It¡¯s constructed out of gold essence and has incredibly powerful defensive Origin Skills with a protective rating of 150.¡±

    Unlike Origin Tools, the restrictions between the tiers of Cloud-Piercing Shuttles were usually much morex, and they were often only split into high-tier, mid-tier, and low-tier. Yang Opening Realm Origin Qi Schrs and below could only use low-tier Cloud-Piercing Shuttles.

    Anything with a protective rating of 150 bears could withstand the all-out attack of a single Yang Opening Realm cultivator. It was already exceptional amongst all the low-tier Cloud-Piercing Shuttles. Cloud-Piercing Shuttles expended Origin Stones to power the barriers; the stronger the defensive rating, the less Origin Stones would need to be consumed.

    ¡°The speed is too low though. It probably isn¡¯t faster than even the most average Light Shaking Realm cultivator. This Cloud-Piercing Shuttle and the Purple Lightning Shuttle are on two extremes,¡± Su Chen said bluntly. ¡°Are there any better ones?¡±

    Gu Jintang harrumphed in his heart, ¡°You won¡¯t be able to afford the better ones. Stop trying to put on airs.¡±

    The woman smiled slightly. ¡°If this esteemed guest wants better ones, this workshop does have some. Come look at this one ¨C this ming Goose Shuttle is formed from ckwater Gold refined by Fire Essence. Its defensive rating is fifty and its speed is ten paces per breath. It glows like it¡¯s on fire when you¡¯re flying, making it extremely dazzling and eye-catching.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s shy, but if I¡¯m trying to escape, that shiness is only going to attract the attention of my pursuers,¡± Su Chen harrumphed.

    It wasn¡¯t that the maker had purposefully made it this way. The raw materials it was constructed from carried this kind of luster on its own, and concealing it would require an additional cost. It was more worth it just to leave it there for people who wanted to show off.

    However, Su Chen prioritized practicality above all else. He had no feelings about using a Cloud-Piercing Shuttle to show off.

    ¡°Then what about this one?¡± the woman continued to introduce other models without growing angry. The Cloud-Piercing Shuttles she introduced were more and more high-quality. She was really just trying to feel out Su Chen¡¯s bottom line that he was willing to ept.

    Of course, the way she saw it, Su Chen¡¯s pickiness was very reasonable. It seemed to indicate that he had quite a bit of spending power.

    On the other hand, to Gu Jintang, Su Chen was just putting on more and more airs. Sooner orter, it was going to copse in his face.

    He was already beginning to back up to increase the distance between them.

    The woman was already beginning to showcase a few much higher quality goods and had already begun to introduce the luxury models.

    ¡°The Flying Swan Shuttle has a defensive rating of sixty and a speed of twenty paces, and lightning cannons are installed at the aft of the shuttle. They can be used to attack pursuers as you are flying, but they can only fire backwards.¡±

    However, Su Chen continued to shake his head.

    This item was going to be the biggest item he was going to rely on to preserve his life. If he was going to get one, he was going to get the best one for his money.

    After all, he had quite a bit of money now.

    As such, he asked directly, ¡°Do you have any shuttles that have a speed higher than twenty five, a defensive rating higher than a hundred-twenty, that can seat around three to seven people, and are still rtively portable?¡±

    Upon hearing this request, the woman¡¯s expression became a bit ugly.

    Su Chen¡¯s requests weren¡¯t low, especially considering the fact that he had asked for it to be portable. That was the same as asking that the best Cloud-Piercing Shuttle alsoe with a Void-Type Origin Formation that could shrink it down in size.

    ¡°Cloud-Piercing Shuttles with those specifications are not easy to find, and they wille with quite a price tag,¡± the woman said.

    ¡°Just tell me if you have one or not,¡± Su Chen said directly.

    Gu Jintang thought disdainfully to himself, ¡°If you don¡¯t have one, it¡¯s your fault, and if you do, he will just push the price to a level you just cannot ept.¡±

    ¡°Please, wait for just a moment.¡± The woman retreated.

    Su Chen knew that she was going to ask the higher ups.

    Top-tier Cloud-Piercing Shuttles like the ones Su Chen had requested were already rare in the first ce, and even if they did have one, they could only be sold by the important individuals within the workshop.

    Very quickly, a woman dressed in borate clothing appeared on the fourth floor, followed by the woman who had been guiding them earlier.

    This woman was extremely beautiful and carried a charming aura with her. Upon seeing Su Chen and the others, she smiled without saying anything and drew near before bowing in greeting. ¡°The Flying Moon Workshop¡¯s Cui Miaoling greets this Prince. May I know your esteemed name?¡±

    ¡°Su Chen.¡±

    ¡°Oh, so it¡¯s Prince Su.¡± This Cui Miaoling led Su Chen and the others to sit down and motioned for the other woman to pour some tea before saying, ¡°The Cloud-Piercing Shuttle that Prince is looking for are top-tier qualities. There isn¡¯t actually anything in this little store that fits Prince¡¯s specifications.¡±

    Cui Miaoling¡¯s opening sentences caused Su Chen to frown.

    Thankfully, Cui Miaoling wasn¡¯t much for suspense. She immediately continued, ¡°But if Prince is willing, this workshop can procure one for Prince. It will probably take some time, but we also need to decide on a price.¡±

    Su Chen knew that the other party wanted to negotiate prices first.

    ¡°What¡¯s the price?¡±

    ¡°A hundred million low-grade Origin Stones,¡± Cui Miaoling replied.

    This number shocked Cloud Leopard and Iron Cliff.

    Even if Cloud-Piercing Shuttles were that expensive, they couldn¡¯t be expensive to that point, could they?

    Only Su Chen¡¯s expression remained calm. He had already done some looking into of Cloud-Piercing Shuttles beforeing. He knew that even though the price that Cui

    Even though you could say that, Su Chen still said, ¡°It¡¯s too expensive.¡±

    Gu Jintang began tough maniacally in his heart. The next step was going to be to push the price down to the lowest possible level, then purposely pretend that the negotiations couldn¡¯t seed and leave.

    Everything had gone ording to his expectations!

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 125: Cloud-Piercing Shuttle 2

    Chapter 125: Cloud-Piercing Shuttle (2)

    This Su Chen was just being pretentious; he had no money yet liked to pretend to act like he did. Maybe Seventh Junior Sister had been beguiled by him like this, but he couldn¡¯t get past Gu Jintang¡¯s sharp eyes. He was absolutely going to expose Su Chen¡¯s fakeness today and open Seventh Junior Sister¡¯s eyes, Gu Jintang thought to himself.

    Cui Miaoling was still discussing prices with Su Chen. ¡°Then how much does Prince wish it was?¡±

    ¡°Eighty million should be an appropriate price,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Pu!

    Gu Jintang, who had been sitting back watching the y unfold in front of him suddenly spat out his tea.

    Eighty million?

    Gu Jintang stared at Su Chen in shock.

    He dared to call out that kind of a price?

    More urately, this price was quite rational, and it implied that the Flying Moon Workshop was likely to ept it.

    Did Su Chen really have that much money?

    That was the first thought that shed through Gu Jintang¡¯s head.

    However, Cui Miaoling shook her head, putting him at ease again. Yes, Su Chen must have known that the Flying Moon Workshop wouldn¡¯t ept that price and had purposefully proposed it.

    Cui Miaoling said, ¡°Prince Su¡¯s price is too low. We are a business at the end of the day, and we need to make a profit.¡±

    ¡°I set this price precisely so that you could make a profit.¡±

    Cui Miaoling sighed, ¡°If Prince wants to buy something of high quality, why be so stingy over such few Origin Stones.¡±

    As she spoke, her eyebrows lifted in a charming smile that prated into a person¡¯s heart. Cloud Leopard and Iron Cliff were all instantly sent into a daze.

    However, Su Chen¡¯s consciousness power was high and he was able totally overlook it. All he said was, ¡°If Attendant Cui is going to negotiate with me using these kinds of tactics, then I can only reciprocate.¡±

    As he spoke, he nced at Cui Miaoling. Cui Miaoling felt her eyes suddenly go unfocused. She was already in a dream realm.

    The woman beside her was totally unaware. She just watched as Cui Miaoling froze for a moment before suddenly yelling, ¡°Alright, ten million Origin Stones it is!¡±

    What?

    The other woman was so startled that she almost jumped into the air.

    Then, Su Chen gently patted Cui Miaoling¡¯s face. Cui Miaoling suddenly started as if waking from a dream and hurriedly retreated as she barked, ¡°What did you do to me?¡±

    ¡°Nothing. It¡¯s just that if I hadn¡¯t patted you awake, you would have agreed to sell it to me for the price of ten million Origin Stones. Of course, there would be no end of problems because it wasn¡¯t a sale made using normal negotiation tactics, so I don¡¯t wish to do it this way. I can only hope that Attendant Cui doesn¡¯t do so either,¡± Su Chen replied with a smile.

    Cui Miaoling sucked in a breath of cold air. She knew that she had just been taught a lesson by Su Chen.

    What Su Chen had said was absolutely correct. If he had wanted to, he could have purchased everything here for a very small prace.

    Cui Miaoling had always been sessful in relying on her charms to influence negotiations. She didn¡¯t expect that this time Su Chen had managed to teach her a lesson.

    Only Gu Jintang harrumphed coldly in his heart. This guy really didn¡¯t have any money; if he couldn¡¯t even afford it for ten million, he really was just pretending.

    As for the matter of Su Chen counter-bewitching Cui Miaoling, he had automatically overlooked it.

    Cui Miaoling didn¡¯t grow angry that the other party had used her own tactics against her to teach her a lesson. Instead, she covered her mouth andughed flirtatiously, ¡°Prince truly has some skill; I didn¡¯t expect your consciousness power to be so great. Since Prince Su doesn¡¯t want to spend a lot of money but still wants a good item, I have a rmendation for you if you are interested.¡±

    She carefully downyed her guilt and pushed it away from her, and Su Chen didn¡¯t force the issue. He just said, ¡°Even though I don¡¯t really like the way that you put it, if you can really bring out something good, I can ept it.¡±

    ¡°Alright. We actually have this rmendation in stock right now,¡± Cui Miaoling gestured with a long slender finger. A stone tform nearby rose, a strangely-shaped Cloud-Piercing Shuttle ced on it.

    Unlike all the other Cloud-Piercing Shuttles, the one in front of him was made out of a Demonic Beast.

    The entire Cloud-Piercing Shuttle was actually just the body of a massive Flood Dragon. However, its back had been sliced open and its internal organs had been dug out, and its internal cavity was then lined with other materials to make the internal spacerge enough to fit five to seven people. The head of the shuttle was the Flood Dragon¡¯s head, which had two horns growing on it and was frozen in a vicious gaze. Even though it was already dead, it emanated a stifling pressure. A single nce would put quite a bit of pressure on someone.

    ¡°Demonic Emperor!¡± Su Chen and the others yelled simultaneously.

    Cui Miaolingughed as she covered her mouth, ¡°Prince truly has a good eye. This is made from the remains of a Demonic Emperor. This Flood Dragon is the Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor, the head of the Demonic Beasts on umted Thunder Mountain. Seven hundred years ago, the boss of this workshop passed by umted Thunder Mountain and ran into this Demonic Emperor. After a huge battle for three days and three nights, he killed it personally, then incorporated forty-eight different kinds of precious ingredients with the corpse as the base to form this Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle. This shuttle¡¯s defensive rating is 140 and its speed is 28 paces. It¡¯s equipped with Divine Thunder Cannons that can st an opponent as well as with a Thunder Barrier. It also has a Void-Type Origin Formation installed by which you can control the size that it takes on. Prince, please observe.¡±

    As she spoke, she activated an Origin Formation and pointed at the Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle. The shuttle suddenly shrank, bing small enough to fit into the palm of a hand.

    ¡°This is a good treasure!¡± Cloud Leopard said excitedly.

    Cui Miaoling could already tell that Su Chen was the master. She stared at Su Chen and said, ¡°Prince Su, what do you think?¡±

    ¡°This treasure is actually worth 100 million Origin Stones,¡± Su Chen replied. This was the greatest confirmation he could make about this Cloud-Piercing Shuttle.

    Cui Miaoling began tough, ¡°It seems like we don¡¯t have any disagreements when ites to the price then.¡±

    ¡°The prerequisite is that there aren¡¯t any faults with it,¡± Su Chen added on.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Cloud Leopard and Iron Cliff were both shocked. They red up at Cui Miaoling, their eyes filled with killing intent.

    That damned woman had already tried to pull a fast one on them twice.

    Cui Miaoling used herughter to conceal her guilt. ¡°Oh-ho, Prince is truly perceptive, even to the point of spotting that small w.¡±

    Su Chen coldlyughed, ¡°You¡¯re sure it¡¯s just a small w?¡±

    He hadn¡¯t actually been able to tell that there was an issue with the shuttle, but he could tell that Cui Miaoling wasn¡¯t being totally truthful. One of the benefits of having a strong consciousness power was that one could keenly sense the changes in thoughts a person had. His Fata Morgana also meant that he was used to paying attention to the details and was good at constructing lies, so he could immediately tell that Cui Miaoling was being problematic.

    Of course, he wasn¡¯t sure what kind of issue it was, so he had purposefully said something vague like ¡°the prerequisite is that there aren¡¯t any faults with it¡±. When Cui Miaoling heard it, she automatically assumed that Su Chen had spotted the w and pointed it out on her own.

    Cui Miaolingughed, ¡°The Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle has been used before and was damaged in battle one time, decreasing its quality. Not only did its strength decrease, controlling this shuttle also expends a ton of consciousness energy. I wasn¡¯t nning on rmending this treasure to Prince in the first ce, but Prince was able to resist my charm techniques and turn them on me, demonstrating your powerful consciousness. As such, the weakness of this shuttle isn¡¯t too big of a weakness for Prince.¡±

    So that¡¯s how it was.

    Su Chen yelled in his heart. So this Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle had been damaged before, making it require consciousness energy to control?

    What was the reason for that?

    However, the Flying Moon Workshop also didn¡¯t know much about the damage, so they had never fixed it. They could only leave it here and wait for someone with both money and a powerful consciousness to walk by and buy it.

    Cui Miaoling had said that this had happened 700 years ago. In other words, this Cloud-Piercing Shuttle had been sitting there for hundreds of years.

    Since no one had bought it even throughout hundreds of years, the number of people meeting this condition were quite rare.

    This was also normal.

    Anyone who could pull out a hundred million Origin Stones and whose consciousness power was strong enough to control the Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle would definitely be a celebrity. To celebrities, the defensive capabilities and speed of the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle might not be up to par, and they would likely choose other better flying tools, not a low-tier Cloud-Piercing Shuttle.

    To Origin Qi Schrs with low cultivation bases, the Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor was a divine tool, but the price was off-putting to most people. Even if someone came from a particrly wealthy nobility n, there was still the cultivation base restriction.

    Under such circumstances, it was unsurprising that this Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle couldn¡¯t be sold.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 126: Cloud-Piercing Shuttle 3

    Chapter 126: Cloud-Piercing Shuttle (3)

    Upon realizing this, the corners of Su Chen¡¯s mouth quirked up in a smile.

    He said, ¡°I want to try out how much energy it expends.¡±

    ¡°Prince, please.¡± Cui Miaoling raised her hand and unleashed the Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle. This Flood Dragon Shuttle expanded back to its original size. Su Chen jumped in and began to try and control this shuttle. Indeed, he felt a strong draw beginning to ur, as if a vortex was constantly pulling Su Chen¡¯s consciousness power in.

    Even with his consciousness power, Su Chen felt a wave of dizziness wash over him, and he was amazed in his heart. If this had been anyone else, they might have been knocked unconscious by the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle before even starting to drive it.

    He finally got the Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle going. A massive amount of light began to shine from the shuttle, lighting up the whole fourth floor.

    Su Chen and the others weren¡¯t alone within the space on the fourth floor. There were also a few other guests looking for different Cloud-Piercing Shuttles.

    When they saw the Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle appear, the guests who were familiar with it and knew about its wughed mockingly and walked over to look. Evidently, they were waiting for Su Chen to fall unconscious.

    Unexpectedly, the Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle began to rumble. The onlookers were dazed.

    There were quite a few Origin Qi Schrs who could activate the Flood Dragon Shuttle, but this was their first time seeing an Origin Qi Schr with such a low cultivation base do it. It was unsurprising that they were so shocked.

    Su Chen withdrew his hand and said, ¡°Activating it requires a ton of consciousness energy, as does maintaining a constant speed, though it uses less consciousness energy. This implies that even though I can control it, with my current consciousness energy I won¡¯t be able to hold on for too long.¡±

    ¡°But Prince can grow stronger, right? With the Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle¡¯s speed and defensive capabilities, you won¡¯t have any issues using it even as a Light Shaking Realm cultivator. With Prince¡¯s growth rate, you¡¯ll be able to control this Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle totally in just a few years.¡± Cui Miaoling obviously knew how to sell things, pinpointing Su Chen¡¯s thoughts precisely.

    That was true. Even though his current consciousness power made it so that controlling the shuttle was still a bit out of his reach, Su Chen could grow stronger. As long as he was willing, he could very quickly increase his consciousness energy.

    However, Su Chen would not openly agree with what Cui Miaoling said.

    He only said indifferently, ¡°How can it be that easy? Unless I cultivate for around ten years, I won¡¯t be able to reach the level of controlling it totally.¡±

    He didn¡¯t confirm nor deny it. He just exaggerated the amount of time that would be necessary to increase his consciousness power, but to Cui Miaoling and the others that was totally normal.

    After all, even people in the imperial family might not possess such an incredibly consciousness power tempering technique and a constant supply of Spirit Sobering Medicines.

    Cui Miaoling was a cold, calcting woman. When she heard Su Chen¡¯s words, she realized that it wasn¡¯t that the other party didn¡¯t want it; they just wanted to lower the price.

    Even though this Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle was good, it hadn¡¯t been sold for a few hundred years due to its massive draw on consciousness energy. It had be the Flying Moon Workshop¡¯s sore point, a massive source of ie just sitting there collecting dust.

    To the Flying Moon Workshop, they wouldn¡¯t miss an opportunity to sell it off. As for the price of a hundred million Origin Stones, they were just iming it in name only.

    Cui Miaoling said, ¡°They say that treasures choose their masters. This Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle¡¯s defensive capabilities and speed are higher than what Prince requested and suits Prince quite well. Perhaps Prince is the master that it has been waiting for for hundreds of years already. If Prince really likes it, Miaoling is willing to lower the price a bit.¡±

    ¡°How much?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Ny million Origin Stones.¡±

    Su Chenughed coldly. ¡°Too expensive!¡±

    ¡°Prince Su, this Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle is worth 1.5 million Origin Stones without defects. We¡¯ve only lowered the price to this because of this small w.¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a small w; it¡¯s a big one,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°If the problem was with something else, at most its performance would decrease. However, its requirement on consciousness power directly excludes most people from using it, and even I can only use it a limited amount. That kind of a w is enough topletely ruin the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle. Asking for ny million under these kinds of circumstances is too much.¡±

    ¡°Then what price does Prince think is appropriate?¡±

    ¡°Forty million Origin Stones.¡±

    Cui Miaoling immediately grew agitated. ¡°If we sold it at that price, it would be gone already. Would there be a point in waiting until now?¡±

    This statement was true. The Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle was still useable by a decent amount of people, and there were many people with cultivation bases at the Light Shaking Realm or above that could use it. However, they might not take a fancy to it.

    Cui Miaoling said, ¡°Prince Su, if you are genuinely interested in buying it, I can sell it to you for eighty million.¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I can consider it if you lower it to fifty million.¡±

    Cui Miaoling gritted her teeth. ¡°Seventy million. That¡¯s the lowest. We cannot go any lower.¡±

    She originally thought that Su Chen was going to lower the price a bit more, but he didn¡¯t. Instead, he pulled out a piece of paper and handed it over to Cui Miaoling. ¡°Apart from the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle, I¡¯m also nning on buying these things from you.¡±

    Cui Miaoling nced at them and almost had a heart attack. This piece of paper had written on it all kinds of precious and rare raw ingredients.

    If they prepared what Su Chen had requested, the cost might add up to another hundred million Origin Stones.

    Cui Miaoling couldn¡¯t help but say, a little out of breath, ¡°Prince has quite a bit of style in spending money.¡±

    ¡°How about 150 million Origin Stones for all of these thingsbined?¡± Su Chen asked.

    After another round of furious negotiations, the price was finally set at 155 million Origin Stones.

    It was also obvious that Cui Mingliao had put everything on the line for this sale. Even though she didn¡¯t dare use her charm techniques anymore, her ample endowments swung dizzyingly.

    When the dust all settled, everyone let out a collective sigh of relief.

    A sale of over a hundred million Origin Stones was rare even for the Flying Moon Workshop.

    As for Gu Jintang, he waspletely dazed.

    155 million Origin Stones!

    They had decided it just like that?

    Su Chen was someone without a bloodline. How was he able to so casually pull out such an astronomical sum of Origin Stones?

    How was this possible?

    Gu Jintang was the Gu n¡¯s Fourth Young Master and a Yang Opening Realm cultivator. Every month, the allowance he received from his n was only eight thousand Origin Stones. Normally he would even have to think of ways to get a bit more spending money to ensure that he had enough cultivation resources. At the most, however, he only really earned around a million Origin Stones every year.

    Now, this bloodline-less Su Chen had made a purchase of 155 million Origin Stones just like that.

    How was this possible?

    He was still unconsciously waiting for Su Chen to pull some kind of trick to confirm that he was just putting on airs.

    But when Su Chen pulled out the golden Origin Card from the ¡°Huitong Company¡±, Gu Jintang was renderedpletely speechless.

    Huitong Company was Long Sang¡¯srgest bank and did business all across the country. Their Origin Cards were very powerful forms of persuasion. Normally, the Huitong Company would assign their customers Origin Cards based on their value. This kind of golden Origin Card was the highest level one; it was impossible to obtain one unless your ount had at least a hundred million Origin Stones.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 127: Spending Flair

    Chapter 127: Spending ir

    Cui Miaoling adeptly swiped away 155 million Origin Stones from Su Chen¡¯s card, simultaneously cing the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle into Su Chen¡¯s hands.

    ¡°Congrattions, Prince. You¡¯ve obtained a rare treasure today; I have faith that it won¡¯t fail to live up to Prince¡¯s expectations. As for these other materials, this workshop will need a few days to gather them all. Pleasee back in three days to retrieve them.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡± Su Chen knew that he had asked for a lot, and the Flying Moon Workshop wouldn¡¯t be able to gather it all immediately. As such, he didn¡¯t push things; in any case, he was still going to be in Long Coiling City for a few days, so he didn¡¯t mind waiting.

    ¡°Does Prince require anything else?¡± Cui Miaoling asked.

    ¡°Oh, most of the things that I need we already have. I¡¯m just looking to fill in some equipment gaps.¡±

    Su Chen already knew exactly which raw ingredients he needed. Now, he was naturally going to try and bolster his own strength.

    Upon hearing that Su Chen also wanted equipment, Cui Miaoling¡¯s eyes began to glow.

    ¡°Prince, pleasee with me.¡±

    She took the three of them straight to the eighth floor.

    This was the floor where they sold Origin Tools. The room was filled with all kinds of different rare and precious Origin Tools.

    This time, Cui Miaoling had brought Su Chen and the others to the best Origin Tools directly.

    ¡°This is the Grade Six Origin Tool Limpid Light-Splitting de. It¡¯s made of Silver-Patterned Watergold and can cleave water and fire as well as ward off evil spirits. Most importantly, it has the ability to ignore most fire- and water-type barriers.¡±

    Su Chen picked it up and nced at it. The de was short and silver, with a slight curve to its edge. A snake¡¯s head was at the hilt; this snake head was from a real Demonic Beast known as the Fire Coveting Snake, and it allowed the user to ignore fire-type barriers. Its construction from Silver-Patterned Watergold allowed it to avoid water-type barriers. These were the most unique abilities of this de; since it could ignore fire- and water-type barriers, it could directly get close to a person¡¯s body with a 60% chance. It was quite a useful assassination tool.

    ¡°Not bad. It¡¯s for you.¡± Su Chen tossed the de over to Cloud Leopard.

    Cloud Leopard was excited. Ever since he had started on this path, he had fought bitterly for every inch. Origin Skills were already hard enough to find; he didn¡¯t even dare think about Origin Tools. Unexpectedly, a Grade Six Origin Tool had fallen into his hands just like that.

    It wasn¡¯t that Su Chen didn¡¯t want to give him anything better. It was just that in the Blood Boiling Realm, they could only use weapons up to that tier. Any higher and he wouldn¡¯t be able to control it.

    However, this was just the beginning.

    Su Chen helped Cloud Leopard find another three Origin Tools ¨C a pair of boots, a belt, and a piece of armor, totally swapping out his current setup.

    When the swap wasplete, Cloud Leopard seemed to be a totally different person. He had changed from an unsuspecting young kid to an elegant, graceful youth.

    Iron Cliff was also swapping out the Origin Tools that he used to have. The ck Streak Battle de was sold to the Flying Moon Workshop as refuse, and the Melted Golden Armor was exchanged for a Grade Six version. The Grade Six armor was lighter than the previous one, but its defensive capabilities were also much stronger. It could withstand an attack the strength of at least 100 bears.

    His weapon became the Armor-Piercing Mountain-Cleaving Hammer.

    Heavy weapons were extremely suited to the Cliff Race to use. Before, because they were poor, he would use whatever he could get his hands on. Now that they had money, he was naturally going to choose a weapon that was much more appropriate for himself.

    The Armor-Piercing Mountain-Cleaving Hammer was a Grade Six Origin Tool. Its unique attribute was that it could ignore armor.

    Origin Qi Schrs had two main types of defenses ¨C one was magical barriers, and the other was physical armor. The former was an Origin Energy-type defense, while the other was a physical defense.

    Armor-Piercing Mountain-Cleaving Hammer was specifically meant to deal with physical defenses.

    In the cultivation setup, Ancient Arcana Techniques were mostly Origin Energy defenses because the Arcana Race didn¡¯t have physical defenses. The human race¡¯s physical defenses were more powerful than the Arcana Race, so using physical defenses were more effective for them. As a person¡¯s cultivation base increased, so would their physical defenses.

    Because of this, in some sense ignoring physical defenses was even better than ignoring barriers.

    The Armor-Piercing Mountain-Cleaving Hammer could ignore 80% of a person¡¯s physical armor. This was a frightening number already. When factoring in its incredibly power when being swung through the air, most people would be blown away like a piece of paper on the wind.

    After exchanging Iron Cliff¡¯s equipment, Su Chen turned around and said, ¡°Brother Gu, do you see anything you like? Why not pick out a few?¡±

    ¡°Even me?¡± Gu Jintang was dazed.

    As the Gu n¡¯s Young Master, Gu Jintang had a certain sense of superiority.

    This kind of superiorty came from the massive amount of power hidden within the depths of his bloodline.

    Even though the Gu n was being controlled andcked freedom, one had to admit that the Gu n also possessed a supertent power to ¡°transform¡± at a critical moment.

    Because of this, Gu Jintang felt a certain sense of superiority, as if he could sweep his eyes across the whole continent.

    When he heard that Gu Qingluo had taken a fancy to a young man without a bloodline, his first thought was: is this some kind of joke? Most normal Bloodline Nobility ns aren¡¯t even worthy of marrying into my Gu n, let alone someone without a bloodline.

    Because of this, he was dissatisfied with Su Chen from the bottom of his heart.

    Even if Su Chen could pull out a hundred million Origin Stones, he was only shocked at Su Chen¡¯s wealthiness. In his heart, however, he still disdainfully scoffed, ¡°rich upstart¡±.

    But when Su Chen offered him a share, Gu Jintang was totally stunned and shocked.

    Me as well?

    At that moment, Gu Jintang really wanted to proudly say that he didn¡¯t need it, since the Gu n had money.

    But when he saw the Origin Tool in Su Chen¡¯s hand, Gu Jintang¡¯s words died before they left his lips, and he didn¡¯t dare say anything.

    Su Chen was holding a long sword that glowed with a chilly light. When it was unsheathed, the surrounding temperature dropped a noticeable amount. The body of the sword was transparent, and a few snowkes could be seen floating within the body of the sword. In fact, that was an Origin Formation; the Origin Formation waspressingrge amounts of Frost Soul within the body of the sword. If it was released, it would result in the release of arge wave of frost.

    Frost Soul Chilly Sword!

    Because one of the Gu n¡¯s Three Absolute Arts was the Waterstar Chill and could utilize the Frost Soul, when used in conjunction with an Origin Tool like the Frost Soul Chilly Sword, the twobined would definitely unleash an incredible amount of power.

    As such, when Gu Jintang saw this sword, the words ¡°I don¡¯t need it¡± died on his tongue.

    A Grade Six Origin Tool!

    A high-quality Origin Tool!

    A high-quality, Grade Six Origin Tool!

    Just this Origin Tool alone was worth 400,000 Origin Stones!

    Gu Jintang yearned to use this kind of Origin Tool, but he had never been able to.

    The reason was very simple: he couldn¡¯t afford it.

    Did the Gu n have money or not? Of course they did, but he wasn¡¯t the Gu n.

    He was just a descendant of the Gu n; the Gu n had many more descendants like him.

    The Gu n couldn¡¯t afford to give every one of their descendants an Origin Tool like that.

    Therger a n was, the more this was the case. Unless the n was one of those rare ones that only had one or two descendants, otherwise the Nobility ns couldn¡¯t possibly provide their descendants with unlimited benefits.

    Under most circumstances, the Bloodline Nobility ns would give their own descendants the best training to provide them aplete foundation, but their improvement after that would only depend on their own strength.

    A Grade Six Origin Tool was ssified as an item being under this improvement phase, not a fundamental necessity. Sorry, it¡¯s up to you to fight for them.

    400,000 Origin Stones, even to Gu Jintang, was not a number he could umte very quickly, so he could only dream about a treasure like this Frost Soul Chilly Sword.

    And now, it had appeared just like that in front of his very eyes.

    In that moment, Gu Jintang swallowed a mouthful of saliva, unable to remain aloof. He reached for the Frost Soul Chilly Sword and said, ¡°Thank......¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when Su Chen pulled his hand back, dodging his reach and said, ¡°I picked this sword for Qingluo. What do you think?¡±

    Damn!

    So it¡¯s not for me?

    Are you messing with me?

    Gu Jintang was so angry that he almost started to hop with anger.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 128: Successful Roping In

    Chapter 128: Sessful Roping In

    An instantter, Su Chen handed him another de. ¡°Eight Doors Windbreaking de. It has incredibly attack speed. The de strikes are like wind and are difficult to dodge, but it¡¯s more useful for those who are nimble...... It doesn¡¯t suit you.¡±

    He took it back.

    Gu Jintang watched as yet another treasure shed past his eyes. He wanted to say, ¡°It¡¯s alright if it doesn¡¯t suit me¡±, but it was already toote.

    Su Chen picked up a bag of darts. ¡°Falling Leaves Darts. A very sharp concealed weapon. It can fly autonomously through the air and will automatically return when it hits a target. The body of the darts are empty and can be filled with poison. They also have a certain amount of armor pration. Paired with the Flying Flower Hands, they might be quite lethal. Unfortunately they¡¯re just a Grade Seven Origin Tool.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t finished yet when Gu Jintang grabbed it and said, ¡°It seems like this one is very suited for me!¡±

    ¡°You like it?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Gu Jintang nodded his head repeatedly. Dammit, if he didn¡¯t agree it was going to be taken away from him again.

    ¡°Alright, this belongs to you then. Right, can you also hold onto this bag of Grade Six Jade Leaf Darts for me too? I was nning on giving those to you, but since you like that bag so much, I¡¯ll give those darts to Qingluo.¡±

    Gu Jintang almost spat out a mouthful of blood. He could only stare at Su Chen forlornly.

    When Su Chen saw him like this, heughed quietly in his heart. He had teased him enough. He patted Gu Jintang and said, ¡°Take a look and see if there¡¯s anything else that you like.¡±

    Anything else?

    Gu Jintang was so excited that he was speechless.

    ¡°What? You don¡¯t want it anymore? Then let¡¯s go and eat.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    When they left the Flying Moon Pavilion, the four of them had grown quite close.

    They went to a wine tavern. After a few bowls of wine were drained, their rtionship became even more concrete.

    Gu Jintang yelled with a lisp, ¡°Good man, I think highly of you! Seventh Junior Sister¡¯s attraction to you is no mistake. No matter what the Gu n does in the future, at the very least I am standing on your side!¡±

    ¡°Then I will thank Fourth Senior Brother in advance,¡± Su Chen continued to pour wine for Gu Jintang, thinking to himself, ¡°One¡¯s in the bag now.¡±

    Getting the Gu n¡¯s people to ept him was going to be extremely difficult.

    Relying on a single method to get them all on his side at once was basically going to be impossible.

    Even though there wasn¡¯t a single efficient method, however, there were many inefficient ways to do it. For instance, he could do what he was doing now and pull them in one by one.

    Su Chen was already clear that marrying Gu Qingluo was going to be like moving a mountain.

    You couldn¡¯t possibly move a mountain all at once, but if you kept at it like a foolish man day after day, constantly digging, you would seed in the end.

    This Gu Jintang was the first shovel of dirt.

    Gu Jintangughed loudly, ¡°You don¡¯t need to be so polite. You are straightforward and loyal; I like that about you. Right, Su Chen, you bought a bunch of Origin Tools for everyone, but why didn¡¯t you buy any Origin Tools for yourself?

    Su Chenughed and didn¡¯t say anything. It was Cloud Leopard whoughed and said, ¡°He just didn¡¯t fancy any of them. Don¡¯t think that this guy is just a person without a bloodline; he is incredibly ambitious and won¡¯t use anything other than the best.¡±

    ¡°Oho!¡± Gu Jintang was delighted. ¡°No wonder he took a fancy to my Gu n¡¯s Seventh Junior Sister. Indeed, his view is quite high. Even though the Flying Moon Pavilion is the best treasure shop here and sells the highest-quality products, the real top-tier Origin Tools are still rare. If you want those kinds of items, it¡¯s best to go to the auction.¡±

    ¡°Auction?¡± Su Chen was momentarily stunned.

    ¡°Yes, the best things are always sold during the auctions. Two days from now, there¡¯s going to be an auction, one that is pretty high profile even for the Long Coiling City. If you want the best, you¡¯ll probably find it there.¡±

    ¡°How can I get in?¡± Su Chen asked hurriedly. Auctions weren¡¯t like shops; not anyone could just go in.

    ¡°You need to be specially invited. But don¡¯t worry, we have one. The Gu n¡¯s mission here this time is to get something from the auction anyways......¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Because Gu Qingluo was at the Wandering Wind Pavilion, Su Chen and the others also chose to live here.

    When Gu Qingluo returned and saw the four of them sitting around,ughing and joking with each other, Gu Qingluo¡¯s eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

    She took advantage of an opportunity to pull Su Chen to the side. ¡°How did you do it? My cousin is extremely high-minded andpletely ignores most people. Last time, a prince from a wealthy family tried to build a rtionship with him and spent a ton of money but wasn¡¯t able to do it.¡±

    ¡°Get him to try spending a hundred million Origin Stones,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°A hundred million?¡± Gu Qingluo was badly startled by this number. Even though she knew that Su Chen had earned arge sum of money, Su Chen had never told her the exact amount. It was no surprise that this sum of 100 million was shocking to her.

    ¡°More precisely, it was 158 million Origin Stones,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Su Chen had indeed given Gu Jintang a few benefits, but what had really shocked Gu Jintang was still the 100+ million that Su Chen had spent before. This 100+ million Origin Stones had totally wiped away Gu Jintang¡¯s impression of Su Chen, which had allowed him to be bought so much more easily in the end. Otherwise, if another person tried to use a Grade Seven Origin Tool to rope Gu Jintang in, they wouldn¡¯t have nearly as much sess.

    The world was just this brutal. Some people could aplish certain things while paying a very low price, while others might not be able to do it even if they had an astronomical sum.

    This all boiled down to the two words ¡°social status¡±.

    In addition, paying a price was only useful when both parties were on equal levels. Otherwise, a person with lower social status paying someone with higher social status would be more likely seen as a sign of respect.

    Put into in words, Gu Jintang was still Gu Jintang. His attitude hadn¡¯t changed, but Su Chen was no longer ¡°most people¡± and could no longer afford to be overlooked.

    Of course, this is all just a digression. In any case, Gu Jintang had been roped in by Su Chen. What happened after could be easily imagined.

    Gu Qingluo and Su Chen began to go on a number of happy dates. Every day, they were glued together as they whispered sweet nothings to each other andughed merrily.

    Su Chen also got to know Gu Qingluo¡¯s main reason foring to Long Coiling City. Just as Gu Jintang had said, they were primarily here for the Sea of Clouds Auction.

    A certain medicine was going to be auctioned at this year¡¯s Sea of Clouds Auction known as the Awakening Medicine.

    As its name implied, this medicine was used to awaken bloodlines.

    Awakening a bloodline was usually an automatic urrence. Most people with pure bloodlines wouldn¡¯t need the support of medicines. There were always rare cases where a person¡¯s bloodline just wouldn¡¯t awaken, in which case they would need the support of the Bloodline Awakening Medicine.

    However, this wasn¡¯t the Awakening Medicine that Gu Qingluo and the others were pursuing.

    There were many different kinds of Awakening Medicines targeted towards bloodlines of different rarities. Most Awakening Medicines could only awaken the purest bloodline within a person¡¯s body. In other words, no matter how many bloodlines you had in your body, the one that would be awakened in the end was the one that made up the most of the blood.

    The Awakening Medicine that Gu Qingluo and the others were bidding for was top quality and could awaken even the tracest amounts of bloodline.

    When he heard this, Su Chen immediately understood.

    ¡°You want to activate your Primordial Beast Bloodline?¡±

    Because their blood had undergone a lot of mixture, the Longxi Gu n¡¯s Primordial Beast Bloodline had be quite rare. Even in someone like Gu Qingluo, whose Primordial Beast Bloodlineponent was rtively great, it couldn¡¯tpete with the Soaring Serpent Bloodline in her body. Otherwise, Gu Qingluo couldn¡¯t possibly have the Soaring Serpent Bloodline.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, wanting to awaken a Primordial Beast Bloodline would require the use of this kind of top quality Awakening Medicine.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 129: Sea of Clouds Auction 1

    Chapter 129: Sea of Clouds Auction (1)

    ¡°One of the n¡¯s elders needs it. He was wounded badly two years ago in a duel with someone and has no way of recoveringpletely. We don¡¯t know how much longer he¡¯s going to be able to hold on. The only way to ensure his survival was to activate the Shining Dragon Bloodline in his body,¡± Gu Qingluo said.

    The Shining Dragon¡¯s bloodline was incredibly powerful and possessed a powerful lifeforce. As soon as it activated, he would naturally recover.

    ¡°But if that happens, that elder is going to need to leave the Longxi Gu n and head for the Empty Mountain, right?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Yes, but so what? The Empty Mountain Kingdom is a prison meant to contain the Gu n, but it isn¡¯t totally restrictive. As long as he doesn¡¯t leave Empty Mountain, he¡¯ll still have some freedom. The amount of territory the Shining Dragon Gu n has there isn¡¯t small either; if he goes there, he might not be that bad off,¡± Gu Qingluoughed.

    So that¡¯s how it was.

    In other words, the Gu n all over the kingdom were born with a secret skill: if they couldn¡¯t defeat their opponents, they could just ingest a vial of Awakening Medicine and immediately turn things around on their opponent.

    Most people couldn¡¯t handle this way of ying.

    It seemed like this top quality Awakening Medicine was hard toe by, however; otherwise, if each person could get their hands on a vial, the whole continent would be thrown into chaos.

    ¡°Sixth Elder Tang is the manager of the Sea of Clouds Auction. I originally was hoping that he would stop the auction and sell it to me directly, but unfortunately he refused. However, he agreed to save the medicine until the end of the auction, behind a number of important treasures. This way, everyone would have spent most of their money, and thepetition wouldn¡¯t be that fierce.¡±

    The Gu n wasn¡¯t the only n with a powerful bloodline. Many Bloodline Nobility ns had diverse andplex bloodline pedigrees. If they traced it back all the way, some might even have traces of a Deste Beast. If some Deste Beast Bloodline Nobility n individual leaves behind some seed elsewhere, but it gets suppressed for any number of reasons and is slowly diluted as it is passed on from generation to generation, that individual would still have an opportunity to suddenly rise to power...... this kind of person would also need the top quality Awakening Medicine.

    There was still a lot of room to fight for this top quality Awakening Medicine. Gu Qingluo couldn¡¯t directly buy the medicine, so she could only use this kind of tactic to decrease the intensity of thepetition.

    When he heard this, Su Chenughed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. With me here, you¡¯ll be able to get it for sure.¡±

    Gu Qingluo, however, shook her head. ¡°There¡¯s no need. This is just for an elder who is about to leave. Even if you buy it for him, nothing will really happen.

    Gu Qingluo identified the crux of the matter with a single sentence.

    Even though the Gu n¡¯s people possessed the ability to ¡°transform at any time¡±, after transformation they would be ¡°recycled¡±, making it so that the amount of support they would receive from the n afterward would be very much decreased.

    No n would invest all of their resources into a person who was definitely going to run away.

    As such, Gu Qingluo was only here on her n¡¯s orders, but the money was that elder¡¯s own ¨C the n had only symbolically offered twenty thousand Origin Stones.

    By the same principle, Gu Qingluo didn¡¯t n on letting her man dig into his pockets for an elder that was about to leave.

    From this aspect, it was obvious that Gu Qingluo was also maturing. She was no longer the silly inexperienced girl from before.

    Su Chen understood Gu Qingluo¡¯s meaning and didn¡¯t continue to insist.

    The two of them continued their happy life, walking through Long Coiling City together and holding hands until the Sea of Clouds Auction was ted to begin.

    On that day, Su Chen, Gu Qingluo, Gu Jintang, Cloud Leopard, and Iron Cliff all came to the Sea of Clouds Pavilion.

    The time when massive amounts of money were going to be thrown around hade.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    The Sea of Clouds Pavilion was bubbling with movement.

    The guests, who hade from all over the continent, gathered here. Each one of them was from an incredibly rich noble family.

    The Sea of Clouds Pavilion had sent forth their most experienced servants and most beautiful maidservants, and had set up the most luxurious hall to treat the guests.

    As Gu Jintang and the others stepped into the auction hall, they were greeted by a ceiling embedded with 4800 fragments of colored ceramic and the path beneath their feet made from twelve high-tier Demonic Beast hides. Cloud Leopard and Iron Cliff were a bit dazed.

    The Gu n was ced in guest room 16.

    Upon entering the guest room, they found two maidservants already waiting inside for them,rge crystal goblets filled to the brim with wine ¨C ¡°Jade Amber Wine¡±, to be specific.

    This kind of wine cost five hundred Origin Stones per jug and had no additional effects. They only drank it for the vor, so it was just to show off ¨C most wealthy people would die if they didn¡¯t show something off.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t have this issue yet. He picked it up and took a sip, thenughed, ¡°This is the Jade Amber Eye? It doesn¡¯t seem like much.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true. You usually drink wine much more expensive than this.¡±

    He wasn¡¯t lying. To improve his consciousness ability and control the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle better, Su Chen had begun to drink Spirit Sobering Medicine at an incredible pace once again.

    However, the maidservants nearby who heard took exception.

    The Sea of Clouds Pavilion¡¯s maidservants all had quite poisonous eyes. They could tell immediately that Su Chen and the others hade in with the Gu n. The Gu n¡¯s members hadn¡¯t even said anything yet, yet these two attendants dared to act so arrogantly. Of course, they only dared to say this within their hearts; their expressions didn¡¯t reveal anything.

    As they spoke, the Sea of Clouds Auction began.

    A middle-aged man stepped up to the podium. He was the host for today¡¯s auction.

    Iron Cliff was greatly disappointed. ¡°The host isn¡¯t a beautiful woman? Aren¡¯t most high-tier auctions hosted by the most beautiful women?¡±

    The two maidservants couldn¡¯t help but look down on them disdainfully.

    Using beautiful women as the hosts wasn¡¯t something the highest-tier auctions used. Actually, it was the exact opposite; the not-as-prestigious auctions used these kinds of lowly tactics to attract the others. Trulyrge auctions looked down on using these kinds of tactics; what they needed was not beautiful women but a professional host who had a deep understanding of the goods being auctioned.

    The host for today was called Sun Zhengtao, the Sea of Clouds Pavilion¡¯s best host. He had a profound wealth of knowledge and experience.

    After Sun Zhengtao offered the auction¡¯s opening words, he said, ¡°Next, we¡¯ll start by auctioning today¡¯s first item: the Sanxiang Ghost Jade Bracelet.¡±

    As the red veil was pulled aside, a purple-bluish jade bracelet appeared on the podium.

    ¡°The Sanxiang Ghost Jade Bracelet is thest creation of Tool-Refining Master Elder Shangkong. Even though it is only a Grade Six Origin Tool, it has an extraordinary ability. It contains an incredibly powerful Origin Skill, Malicious Ghost w. ording to tests, its attack power reaches 150!¡±

    Normally, the maximum limit of an Origin Skill unleashable by a Qi Drawing Realm cultivator was around 30, Blood Boiling around 100, and Yang Opening around 300.

    A Grade Six Origin Tool was an Origin Tool useable only by a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator or above, making it quite a scary tool.

    The aforementioned numbers mentioned were very close to the limit. To most people, reaching an attack power of around sixty or seventy in the Blood Boiling Realm was already quite impressive.

    This Grade Six Origin Tool had an attack power exceeding 150, making it close to normal Grade Five Origin Tools. This was quite rare.

    If any Blood Boiling Realm cultivator were to possess a treasure like this, it would be a huge killing tool.

    The auctioneer said, ¡°The starting price of this treasure is 800,000 Origin Stones!¡±

    Normal Grade Six Origin Tools usually started at around 300,000 ¨C 500,000 Origin Stones. Grade Five Origin Tools were at least a million Origin Stones.

    This Origin Tool¡¯s starting price was already set at 800,000 Origin Stones.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 130: Sea of Clouds Auction 2

    Chapter 130: Sea of Clouds Auction (2)

    Sun Zhengtao had just spoken when someone said, ¡°I¡¯ll take it for 800,000!¡±

    ¡°900,000!¡±

    ¡°A million!¡±

    ¡°1.1 million!¡±

    The price very quickly exceeded 1 million Origin Stones, reaching the price of a Grade Five Origin Tool.

    This was the attraction of a top-tier treasure. When a typical Origin Qi Schr used a Grade Six Origin Tool to unleash a power that surpassed their normal limits, it would increase their strength by quite a bit. It was worth paying even more money for it.

    Su Chen smiled at Gu Qingluo. ¡°That bracelet seems pretty good, and its design is quite elegant. What do you think about me gifting it to you?¡±

    Su Chen knew that to girls, most of the time practicality was much less important than appearances, so he emphasized the stylishness of the bracelet.

    Indeed, Gu Qingluoughed and replied, ¡°Is that really fine?¡±

    ¡°I think it¡¯s fine.¡± As Su Chen spoke, he raised his hand. ¡°1.5 million!¡±

    ¡°But this is just the first one.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, if we find something better after this we¡¯ll just buy it then.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    With this price of 1.5 million called out, no one else followed up after it.

    It wasn¡¯t that they couldn¡¯t afford this price, but that they were all looking for value for their money.

    It was just a Grade Six Origin Tool. This kind of price was already high enough, and any more wouldn¡¯t be worth it.

    An instantter, the Sanxiang Ghost Jade Bracelet was sent to Su Chen, and he personally put it on Gu Qingluo¡¯s wrist. The purple jade bracelet glowed faintly against Gu Qingluo¡¯s skin.

    ¡°The next time you don¡¯t treat me well, I¡¯ll use this to smack you,¡± Gu Qingluo said.

    Su Chenughed bitterly. ¡°Young Miss, is this the reward that I get for giving you a present?¡±

    Gu Qingluo covered her mouth as she giggled, sending everyone nearby into a daze.

    The two maidservants were stunned, feeling extremely lucky that they hadn¡¯t carelessly opened their mouths earlier. Otherwise, their faces would have been pped swollen.

    The second treasure was already being auctioned. It was a Grade Eight Origin Tool de.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t interested in this item, and Gu Qingluo had obtained the Frost Soul Chilly Sword from him, so everyone ignored it. They watched the people behind them fight over it.

    Good things would appear at the auction from time to time, making sure that the auction remained lively and bustling the whole time.

    Su Chen also bid on a few, distributing them to everyone.

    ¡°We are now selling the 37th treasure, the Deathwater Soul Prison Ring. This ring¡¯s most valuable attribute is the Soul Frightening Pearl on it. It can attack a person¡¯s consciousness and disrupt it, but on its own it isn¡¯t very powerful. The kind of effect it¡¯s going to have depends on the user¡¯s abilities. Because this is a consciousness Origin Tool, and a utility-type at that, the price of this ring is hard to determine. As such, we will treat it as a unique treasure, with the starting bid at 2 million Origin Stones.¡±

    ¡°Oh? This is quite a valuable item.¡± When he heard the price, Su Chen sat up.

    Amongst all the Origin Tools, consciousness-type Origin Tools were hard toe by because power that came from a person¡¯s consciousness was always mysterious and abstruse. It had no physical substance and couldn¡¯t be manifested with physical tricks and skills. Most Origin Tools relied on the materials they were constructed from and the Origin Formations they were imbued with to generate different effects, making them much more than the sum of their parts.

    Consciousness-type Origin Tools were different. Their effectiveness relied on the consciousness attributes of the materials they were created from. For instance, this Deathwater Soul Prison Ring was built around this Soul Frightening Pearl; it being fashioned into a ring was just for ease of use. After all, it would be inconvenient to have to take it out every time they faced an enemy. Actually, it would still be possible to use the pearl even if it were separated from the ring.

    When he heard Sun Zhengtao introduce the item, Su Chen activated the microphone within the guest room. ¡°Can this item strengthen a person¡¯s own consciousness?¡±

    Sun Zhengtao shook his head. ¡°It cannot.¡±

    ¡°How effective is it against a person¡¯s state of mind? Are there any limitations to its usage?¡±

    ¡°If you activate it directly, it can cause an opponent a certain amount of dizziness, but the exact effect depends on the gap in consciousness strength between the two people. If you own any consciousness-type Origin Skills, this ring can increase its effectiveness. Its usage limitations depend only on the user¡¯s expenditure of consciousness energy.

    The benefit of having a high-quality host was clearly evident now. He was very clear on what the asker wanted to know, and the preparations he had made were very adequate. With but a few sentences, he had clearly exined the unique aspects of this treasure.

    So this was an Origin Tool that could weaken the defensive capabilities of an opponent¡¯s consciousness.

    In reality, no matter what his answers were, Su Chen had already decided he wanted it upon hearing that it was a consciousness-type Origin Tool.

    But just as he was about to speak, he heard a voice call out, ¡°2.5 million. I want it.¡±

    The voice came from a nearby guest room. The speaker couldn¡¯t be identified, but hisnguid, self-content voice could clearly be heard. His simple yet powerful words carried a great deal of self-confidence.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyebrow jumped. He said, ¡°Three million.¡±

    The crowd immediately began to murmur.

    This Deathwater Soul Prison Ring was obviously something that could be only used by Origin Qi Schrs with powerful consciousnesses. In other words, this auction had at least two experts with powerful consciousnesses. As for how many exactly there were, it was hard to say.

    ¡°Four million.¡± The opponent obviously wasn¡¯t nning on backing off, adding on another million to the bid directly.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t back off either. ¡°Five million!¡±

    ¡°Hmph!¡± A dissatisfied and cold harrumph shot towards Su Chen from the other guest room, attempting to dig its way into his mind.

    Su Chen knew that this was his opponent testing him out.

    With a thought from Su Chen, his consciousness energy was erected around him like a wall, easily blocking this consciousness probe. Simultaneously, he shot a re at the opponent, a powerful dart of consciousness energy shooting towards the opponent¡¯s guest room. With his consciousness sensing, Su Chen could tell that there was an expert with a powerful consciousness in that guest room, attracting his attention like a burning me.

    However, this attack seemed to bepletely ineffective. It disappeared without a trace like a drop into the ocean when it hit its target.

    Even so, the opponent obviously hadn¡¯t expected Su Chen to counterattack and was both surprised and angry.. A fiercer wave of consciousness energy assaulted Su Chen.

    Su Chen endured it without any issues and countered.

    An invisible exchange between the two of them continued.

    On the surface, they were also continuing to call out prices.

    After Su Chen called out five million, the person in the other guest room immediately called out six million. Evidently, he was also someone rich and imposing.

    Su Chen bluntly called out a price of seven million.

    The opponent raised the price to eight million.

    The crowd burst into a hubbub. This was already quite a shocking price. In truth, the two of them were no longer bidding for the item, but to outdo the other.

    But just as everyone was waiting for Su Chen to call out a higher price, he suddenly stopped.

    The host called out 8 million three times. Upon seeing no one raise the price, the gavel fell, marking the item as sold.

    The person in the guest room obviously hadn¡¯t expected that Su Chen would suddenly stop bidding and was dazed for a moment. Su Chen took advantage of this to counterattack, throwing all of his consciousness energy at the opponent. The opponent couldn¡¯t respond in time and lost his grip on the situation. Su Chen¡¯s consciousness attack caused him to jump straight into the air.

    A piece of Su Chen¡¯s will had wriggled its way into the opponent¡¯s brain.

    Consciousness battles were not small matters. Defeat would not only result in damage to a person¡¯s mind, but the opponent¡¯s will could also infiltrate them, resulting in their memories being stolen or even them bing directly controlled.

    The opponent knew the situation wasn¡¯t good. He furiously attempted to defend himself as he simultaneously yelled, ¡°Quick, bring the Deathwater Soul Prison Ring over!¡±

    The person beside him began to dig for the ring.

    However, water far off in the distance couldn¡¯t quench one¡¯s immediate thirst. Su Chen drank a vial of Spirit Sobering Medicine, and another wild and unrestrained wave of consciousness energy smashed into the opponent.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 131: Sea of Clouds Auction 3

    Chapter 131: Sea of Clouds Auction (3)

    In terms of consciousness power, the person in the guest room was actually a bit more powerful than Su Chen.

    However, he couldn¡¯t withstand Su Chen¡¯s medicines!

    ording to his agreement with the Immortal Temple, Su Chen no longer needed to concoct Spirit Sobering Medicines for the Immortal Temple, but he still had plenty of Corpse Spirit Flowers leftover. After buying the Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle, Su Chen was nning on increasing his own consciousness power, so he had concocted a huge pile of them the night before. Unexpectedly, they came in handy at this moment.

    With his medicine as a trump card, Su Chen feared a battle of consciousness power the least.

    Even though the person in the other guest room had a powerful consciousness, he wasn¡¯t unafraid of consumption like Su Chen. Eventually, his defenses failed, and Su Chen forced his way into the opponent¡¯s mind.

    This person was extremely decisive. He attacked himself, enduring the pain, to sever the connection between Su Chen¡¯s will and his own mind, sealing it off and preventing Su Chen from further interacting with it.

    This heroic act was extremely timely. Su Chen¡¯s will had no way of infiltrating the opponent¡¯s mind, which was now protected by a figurative metal wall. It could only pace around the wall a few times before retreating unwillingly, swallowing a portion of that person¡¯s willpower at the same time as it returned.

    An instantter, the person within the other guest room felt as if a part of him had been chomped off by someone, a portion of his memories vanishing, never to return.

    ¡°NO!¡± The person in that guest room howled in torment.

    Su Chen, on the other hand, felt quite revived. His consciousness power suddenly expanded.

    Swallowing someone¡¯s consciousness felt too good.

    At the same time, Su Chen also found out who his opponent was. Heughed coldly, ¡°So it¡¯s Elder Shi Tianchou of the Spirit-Consuming n honoring me with his presence. No wonder you acted so arrogantly, attempting to harm others at the slightest pretext.¡±

    The Spirit-Consuming Demon was a type of high-tier Demonic Beast. Its physical strength was only so-so, but its consciousness power was a force to be reckoned with. They were apparently the Prehistoric Beasts¡¯ dream servants, able to float in and out of the dream world as they pleased.

    The Spirit-Consuming Demon liked to consume spirits, hence its name.

    This Shi Tianchou was in the Light Shaking realm, but because his consciousness power was much stronger than most of his contemporaries, it was impossible to guard against most of his attacks. As such, he had quite a reputation amongst the Light Shaking Realm cultivators. Unexpectedly, he had been bitten back by someone today; that could be considered retribution.

    Within the guest room, Shi Tianchou harrumphed angrily. ¡°You have quite some talent. Why don¡¯t you tell me your name?¡±

    Su Chen, however, had no interest in offering his name. ¡°If you have the ability, you can find out yourself.¡±

    The two of them had only exchanged blows on the consciousness level, so no one knew about it.

    However, an instantter, Shi Tianchou put on the Deathwater Soul Prison Ring.

    With the treasure at hand, Shi Tianchou¡¯s face contorted into a malicious smile. ¡°We¡¯ll see if you don¡¯t die this time!¡±

    He was quite smart; immediately after spending a ratherrge sum to obtain it, he was already nning on taking the opportunity to counterattack.

    Su Chen felt a strange force wrap itself around him and permeate his entire body, causing his consciousness to be much more subdued. His entire being felt a bit dizzy and sleepy.

    Su Chen knew that this was the power of the Deathwater Soul Prison Ringing into effect.

    Even though he hadn¡¯t been able to sessfully purchase the item, he got a firsthand taste of its power.

    ¡°Not bad!¡± The corners of Su Chen¡¯s mouth lifted up in a smile.

    This Deathwater Soul Prison Ring was truly quite effective. He could sense his own consciousness energy being dragged around, making it difficult for him to gather his consciousness together. He was like a person who had just woke up from a long nap; everything that he did was a bit slow and hesitant.

    If he tried to engage in a consciousness battle, he would absolutely suffer huge losses.

    Thankfully, Su Chen wasn¡¯t nning on continuing to fight with Shi Tianchou.

    He withdrew his consciousness and directly closed off his mind, erecting an iron wall of consciousness energy around it.

    He didn¡¯t attack or try to tangle with the opponent; instead, he focused all his energy on defending. Shi Tianchou would have an incredibly hard time prating, and even if he managed to seed, he wouldn¡¯t be able to swallow Su Chen¡¯s memories. In other words, even with the Deathwater Soul Prison Ring, he was forced to give up on trying to take back a little bit of advantages, unless his consciousness power was at least twice as strong as Su Chen¡¯s.

    When faced with this, Shi Tianchou went mad.

    He finally had the advantage after a great deal of effort, but the opponent wouldn¡¯t fight anymore. It was like spending a lot of time and energy to borrow some money to try and win some money back after losing a bet, only to find out that the opponent was no longer ying.

    How could Shi Tianchou not be infuriated?

    But no matter how much he wanted to explode with rage, Su Chen ignored him, continuing to pay attention to the auction.

    This was the Sea of Clouds Pavilion¡¯s territory. If Shi Tianchou dared to attack forcefully, there wouldn¡¯t be any good oues for him.

    If his consciousness attacks were useless and he couldn¡¯t attack physically either, was there any point in paying him any further attention?

    ¡°1.5 million.¡± A decent pair of Origin Tool boots were being auctioned. Upon realizing that Gu Qingluo was stillcking a pair of decent boots, Su Chen called out a price.

    With another 1.5 million Origin Stones spent, a pair of top-quality Origin Tool boots had appeared on Gu Qingluo¡¯s feet. Her face glowed with happiness, causing Gu Jintang¡¯s heart to ache. He wished that he could turn himself into a beautiful girl and leap into Su Chen¡¯s bosom.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t been able to get the Deathwater Soul Prison Ring, which he felt was a pity, but he had no regrets.

    There were many good items within this world. Unless it was an item unique throughout the world, most things could be substituted.

    If the Deathwater Soul Prison Ring could be bought for 8 million Origin Stones, there wasn¡¯t much need to pay it any attention.

    Indeed, another consciousness-type Origin Tool appeared shortly thereafter.

    Nightmare Snake Cane.

    This cane had a Nightmare Snake Origin Crystal at the top. The Nightmare Snake was also a very powerful consciousness-type Demonic Beast, and its Origin Crystal was even harder to obtain. It also had the effect of strengthening a person¡¯s consciousness-type Origin Skills.

    As soon as the Nightmare Snake Cane appeared, the whole auction was thrown into amotion.

    After a brief bidding war, Su Chen bought it with a price of 3.2 million Origin Stones.

    After obtaining the Nightmare Snake Cane, Su Chen directly removed the Origin Crystal from the top of the cane.

    This thing was like the Soul-Frightening Pearl; they both relied on the material¡¯s property itself, had no multiplicative benefits, and could be used with or without their supporting forms. Su Chen didn¡¯t like to wave things around in his hands when he fought, so he was nning on using it to create a thumb ring.

    Of course, the materials used to create the body of the cane were quite expensive, and the workmanship was exquisite. All told, it was still probably worth a few thousand Origin Stones. Su Chen said to Gu Jintang, ¡°If I gave this to you, it would be a humiliation to you,¡± and he gifted it to the maidservants.

    Gu Jintang could only cry tearlessly. I don¡¯t mind if you humiliate me. You can humiliate me all you want!

    Su Chen ignored him. He continued to watch the auction for the appearance of any good items. He hade this time to get some more equipment for himself, but up to this point apart from the Nightmare Snake Origin Crystal, he had nothing to show for it. Strictly speaking, there wasn¡¯t even a single piece of equipment that he wanted.

    Very quickly, however, things that Su Chen was interested in began to rapidly appear.

    The first was a Grade Six Arcane Heavy Armor. Su Chen directly called out a price of two million Origin Stones.

    The Arcane Heavy Armor was a defensive-type armor. It possessed an innate Arcane Barrier that could withstand very powerful attacks; even though it was like most barriers and couldn¡¯t be used in tandem with an Origin Qi Schr¡¯s own barriers, it could be used as an emergency backup during the brief moment between when the barrier is shattered. Its defensive stats weren¡¯t bad either. It could withstand a blow roughly around the strength of a hundred bears without breaking, making it a top-quality item amongst most heavy armors.

    This price scared everyone else off, and Su Chen was able to easily obtain it for himself.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 132: Sea of Clouds Auction 4

    Chapter 132: Sea of Clouds Auction (4)

    After the Arcane Heavy Armor came a pair of Shadow Stepping Cloud Boots.

    The Shadow Stepping Cloud Boots were Grade Five Origin Tools, which could typically only be used by a Light Shaking Realm cultivator. However, this Origin Tool was a bit unique; Origin Qi Schrs a tier lower could also use it. This pair of boots had a flight Origin Formation built-in. As soon as the user activated this formation, any weight-reduction techniques would be boosted, allowing a person to soar through the air. In addition to this, the user could activate a shadow-chasing Origin Skill once a day that allowed the user to jump to a person¡¯s shadow. It was quite a powerful movement skill.

    Even though Su Chen already had the Whitetower Teleportation, it could not be used in rapid session, and Su Chen didn¡¯t mind having an extra one on hand. This way, he could pounce and then retreat almost immediately, making his attacks even harder to defend against. The flying ability of the boots also supplemented hisck inbat. Even though he already had the Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Shuttle, it could only really be used strategically for retreating. Movement duringbat was much more easily aplished with these boots.

    But most importantly, the price was very cheap ¨C Su Chen was able to buy these boots for only five million Origin Stones.

    To Su Chen, spending five million really wasn¡¯t anything impressive anymore.

    Su Chen now had armor, shoes, and consciousness equipment, but he was still missing a good weapon.

    Unfortunately, what came next wasn¡¯t the weapon that Su Chen had wanted, but another item.

    It looked like a white tangled mass of yarn. Though it seemed messy, each strand glowed with a soft silvery light and fluctuated in a way that was hard to describe, as if the strands themselves were alive.

    ¡°This is the Algae Thread Coral from the Seafloor Rock Salt Kingdom, a strange existence that survives by consuming Origin Energy, and it is the best ingredient that can be used to make a Thread Coral Robe. We don¡¯t need to mention its value. There is no minimum bid!¡±

    ¡°Algae Thread Coral?¡± Su Chen was shocked. ¡°So it¡¯s this item? I didn¡¯t expect that they would even be able to pull out a treasure like this.¡±

    The Algae Thread Coral was a unique lifeform that could only be found in the Rock Salt Kingdom. The corals they formed were made out of thread-like organisms, which was why it was given the name Algae Thread Coral. It took Origin Energy as its food and only grew in ces where Origin Energy was dense. The Algae Thread Coral they formed when they died had extremely potent Origin Energy nullifying properties, making the Thread Coral Robe that could be made from them a top-tier defensive Origin Tool.

    The Algae Thread Coral couldn¡¯t be cut and their unique property could only be conserved by knitting them together. In addition, once used, they would form a unique connection with the user, as if recognizing a master, and would only belong to that user. No other person would be able to use it. As such, the Algae Thread Coral was only sold as a raw ingredient, not as part of a finished product.

    Unlike most defense-type Origin Tools, the Thread Coral Robe¡¯s defensive rating was rtively low, but it could weaken most Origin Skills by 10-30% and was ineffective against consciousness-type skills.

    In other words, no matter how powerful your cultivation base was and how much might you possessed, your attacks would all be weakened by an appropriate amount before taking effect against an opponent wearing the Thread Coral Robe. Most importantly, this Thread Coral Robe was like a consciousness-type Origin Tool; its power relied on a person¡¯s own physique, meaning that it likely wasn¡¯t infused with any Origin Formations and wouldn¡¯t be affected by Origin Energy interference. In other words, you could easily wear another defensive piece of equipment underneath, multiplying your defensive capabilities.

    This kind of absolutely overpowered defensive attributes were exactly why everyone was so covetous of the Algae Thread Coral. It was a useful treasure no matter what cultivation level you were at.

    If Su Chen paired the Algae Thread Coral with his Arcane Heavy Armor and activated his Adamantine Battle Body and Flowing Wind Body, his defenses would enable him to withstand a few all-out blows from a Light Shaking Realm expert.

    When they saw this item appear, everyone felt their blood start to boil.

    A material like the Algae Thread Coral was what truly attracted everyone¡¯s attention.

    An instantter, everyone began to call out prices.

    ¡°Two million!¡±

    ¡°Three million!¡±

    ¡°Five million!¡±

    ¡°Six million!¡±

    ¡°Eight million!¡±

    ¡°Ten million!¡±

    The Algae Thread Coral¡¯s price shot up at an rming rate, quickly breaking into the ten million range.

    Even so, this was only the beginning. As people continued to call higher and higher prices, the bid for the Algae Thread Coral quickly reached twenty million and only continued to rise.

    Algae Thread Coral took a long time to grow. A mass of Algae Thread Coral like the one before them would need at least ten thousand years to mature. This really was a ten-thousand-year-old treasure. Because of overharvesting, Algae Thread Corals had be rarer and rarer. They were incredibly hard to obtain now, so no one was willing to let this opportunity go by.

    The Sea of Clouds Pavilion had dared to sell it with no minimum bid because they weren¡¯t worried that no one would want something like this.

    ¡°Fifty million!¡± Su Chen made his first bid, directly raising the price to fifty million.

    However, this price of fifty million didn¡¯t scare anyone off. Very quickly, someone else raised the price to eighty million.

    Damn, there¡¯s so many people in this world that have money! Gu Jintang sighed in his heart. He came from a Bloodline Nobility n, but this was the first time he had felt so financially powerless.

    When the price reached eighty million, not many people could still afford to continue bidding.

    Apart from Su Chen, the guests in the 14th and 18th guest rooms were still in it.

    However, nothing like what happened with Shi Tianchou urred. Everyone continued to patiently raise the price,peting and showing off their wealth.

    Finally, Su Chen, who spent money like water, obtained it for a price of 110 million Origin Stones.

    The yarn-ball-like Algae Thread Coral was delivered into Su Chen¡¯s hands. Everyone stared longingly at that treasure.

    This was 110 million Origin Stones!

    Yet it had been exchanged for this ball of yarn. It was impossible for them not to have a weird feeling in their hearts.

    However, this feeling of depression ran back and forth in their hearts first before it gradually slipped away.

    ¡°Dammit, it¡¯s that guy from guest room 16 again. Is that bastard here to swipe all the goods from the auction? He¡¯s already won ten or so items, hasn¡¯t he?¡±

    ¡°Dammit! Where did this brate from? He doesn¡¯t treat money like it¡¯s worth anything.¡±

    The people discussed amongst themselves animatedly, but there was nothing they could do.

    Even Shi Tianchou was dumbfounded.

    If he had any thoughts remaining of trying to get revenge, he now put those permanently to rest.

    No matter what, anyone who could casually pull out 110 million Origin Stones wasn¡¯t someone that he could afford to provoke.

    Su Chen carefully put the Algae Thread Coral away. Someone was already knocking at the door to their guest room.

    The guests of the auctions had sent out invitations and greetings to try and meet this person who had spent a hundred million in a single blow to obtain the Algae Thread Coral.

    Su Chen politely declined them all, no matter who the other party was. In any case, since he didn¡¯te from a noble background, he was going to be the enemy of the Bloodline Nobility ns in the future, so there was no need to make trouble for himself.

    The Algae Thread Coral¡¯s appearance immediately pushed the auction into its climax. Everything that was auctioned subsequently was good.

    As long as it was something good, Su Chen wasn¡¯t nning on letting things go.

    There were indeed many rich people here, but someone who could pull out a hundred million Origin Stones to buy equipment for themselves were much rarer.

    Everything else began to fall into Su Chen¡¯s rhythm after that.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 133: Sea of Clouds Auction 5

    Chapter 133: Sea of Clouds Auction (5)

    After obtaining the Algae Thread Coral, Su Chen made five more bids, obtaining a golden bracelet, a set of throwing knives, an Inferno Beast Origin Crystal, a Frost Beast Origin Crystal, and a weapon.

    The golden bracelet was a defensive-type Origin Tool, but it wasn¡¯t a barrier defense or a physical defensive item. Rather, it could be tossed out into the air, and it would float there, blocking all attacks. Once it reached its limit, it would automatically fall to the ground.

    Each knife in the set of flying knives containedplicated Origin Formations. After striking a target, they could unleash the power equivalent to the full-power attack of a Light Shaking Realm cultivator with five Lotus tforms. They were incredibly powerful, but each throwing knife could only be used once.

    The Inferno and Frost Beast Origin Crystals were used to supplement fire- and ice-type Origin Skills. They would be useful for boosting Su Chen¡¯s Ancient Arcana Techniques.

    The weapon was a Grade Six Mountain-Beheading de, a powerful offensive Origin Tool weapon. Even though its attributes didn¡¯t quite measure up to what Su Chen was expecting, it was still worth using.

    Each item of these five was an incredibly rare and precious treasure.

    Su Chen had basically swept the floor of this auction; everyone else there was quite helpless.

    After buying these items, the top-quality Awakening Medicine that Gu Qingluo and the others were waiting for finally appeared. Again, there was no minimum bid.

    Just as Gu Qingluo had said, there were a ton of people who needed this item as well. As soon as it appeared, they all began to call out prices. The top-quality Awakening Medicine very quickly reached a selling price of 1.8 million Origin Stones.

    This was extremely shocking to Su Chen.

    A top-quality Awakening Medicine was a Master-tier medicine. ording to medicinal tiers, they should only cost a few hundred thousand Origin Stones, and definitely no more than a million.

    During this auction, however, this vial of top-quality Awakening Medicine shattered those limitations, breaking into the millions. At the very least, in terms of price this medicine was already beginning to reach the legendary tier.

    ¡°Why is this happening? It¡¯s just a vial of medicine,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°It has too many uses. As soon as an ancestor¡¯s powerful bloodline is awakened, a person¡¯stent talent will increase by a ridiculous amount. Medicine price is typically determined based on the cost of raw ingredients and the difficulty in manufacturing, not the uses it will have. The effect of a top-quality Awakening Medicine, however, far outstrips the cost of its ingredients. When you factor in the difficult refining process, the price it sells for easily breaks through the normal limits. There are a lot of ¡°rules¡± that aremon sense, but there are also many exceptions to those rules in the real world.¡±

    Su Chen understood now. For instance, Yang Opening Realm cultivators were stronger than Blood Boiling Realm cultivators ¨C that wasmon sense. But what about in the real world? There were many cultivators with powerful bloodlines that could surpass these limitations and defeat those of a higher cultivation tier than them.

    Even he himself was the same.

    If there wasn¡¯t the restriction that anyone who awakened an Origin Beast Bloodline needed to go to the Empty Mountain, then people might even be willing to pay 1 billion Origin Stones for a vial of top-quality Awakening Medicine to awaken a dormant Origin Beast Bloodline within themselves.

    If that was the case, then wasn¡¯t this Awakening Medicine quite a good means of making money?

    Su Chen suddenly realized something.

    Before, Su Chen had felt that refining medicines to make money wasted too much energy, so he was unwilling to do it. But if there was a medicine that he could make a profit ten times or a hundred times the original cost of the ingredients, it was worth looking into. After all, he had now experienced the sweet benefits of having money himself.

    When he realized this, he raised his hand and said, ¡°Three million!¡±

    When the Awakening Medicine¡¯s price reached 1.2 million, Gu Qingluo no longer called out any prices.

    That was because the amount of money the elder had given them was already no longer enough.

    Since they didn¡¯t have enough money, the mission was a failure. Thankfully, it was just a matter of a single elder, not the whole n. In other words, this mission was one issuing out of duty. Nobody really paid it much mind.

    As such, when Su Chen called out that price, Gu Qingluo stared at him in shock. ¡°I told you already that you don¡¯t need to help with this.¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°I know. I just want it for myself.¡±

    ¡°To do experiments?¡± Gu Qingluo understood him quite well.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Su Chen nodded. ¡°If there¡¯s any remaining, I can give it to your n¡¯s elder.¡±

    Gu Qingluo covered her mouth andughed. ¡°Then I thank you on behalf of Elder.¡±

    Three million for a top-quality Awakening Medicine was an extravagant number. When factoring Su Chen¡¯s earlier unting of his money, no one called a price higher than his. Su Chen imed the Awakening Medicine for himself.

    As soon as the medicine was delivered to him, Su Chen opened it and took a whiff. ¡°Embroidered Silk Grass, Quartz Blood, ck Fox Origin Essence, Red Sea Cuttlefish Scales......¡±

    He listed out the ingredients of this medicine one after another as if he was very familiar with it, causing everyone around him to stare in shock.

    However, just knowing the ingredientposition wasn¡¯t enough. He also needed to know how to process andbine them. This would require some trial and error on his part. Su Chen wrote out the list of ingredients and handed it to Gu Jintang. ¡°When we get back, help me look for these ingredients.¡±

    ¡°Got it,¡± Gu Jintang nodded enthusiastically.

    Wait a minute, when had he be Su Chen¡¯s errand boy?

    But upon further consideration, he realized that being an errand boy wasn¡¯t a bid thing. Hadn¡¯t the maidservants besides them even been given the Nightmare Snake Cane? If he was a good errand boy, he would definitely benefit handsomely.

    Unwittingly, this arrogant Young Master had totally set aside any airs and had beenpletely subdued by Su Chen. Anyone who met a friend that could spend three hundred million Origin Stones in the spawn of a few days would kneel automatically.

    Anyone who didn¡¯t kneel was an idiot.

    The next item for an auction was a block of Pure Stream Tea1.

    Pure Stream Tea was a well-known type of tea, with mellow and rich vors and a lingering aftertaste. Most unusual was that drinking it for long periods of time could prolong a person¡¯s lifespan, and it could even elevate a person¡¯s consciousness power.

    Su Chen knew that Shi Kaihuang lived a in life. He didn¡¯t have any hobbies other than drinking tea.

    If he gave Shi Kaihuang anything else, Shi Kaihuang might not like it, but he would definitely like this Pure Stream Tea. As such, he snagged it, nning on using it to be a good disciple.

    After buying the brick of tea, the auction began to reach its conclusion.

    The final item being auctioned was brought to the table. It was a weird wooden box with an animal hide inside.

    The host of the auction said, ¡°We received this beast hide thirty years ago. We don¡¯t know what kind of Demonic Beast it came from, but can only confirm that it is very old, likely the remnant of an ancient era. This hide is tough and durable, resistant to both fire and water, and it can automatically reassemble if it is cut apart. It¡¯s quite the treasure, but it has one huge w, which is that it cannot be separated from this box. If it leaves the box, it will quickly begin to decay. We once tried to cut it off and thought of many different ways to use it outside of the box, but they all failed. This beast hide was originally about thirty square feet in size, but after we researched everything we could about it, all that remains is this little bit that you all can see here.¡±

    Everyone at the auction chuckled. The remnant of the hide was roughly the size of a washbasin. The Sea of Clouds Pavilion had spent thirty years researching it, but all they had done was turn a mysterious treasure into something basically useless. Finally, they had brought it out, unable to do anything more with it.

    ¡°Because of this item¡¯s unique attribute, we don¡¯t know its price or how you would use it, so we will auction with no minimum bid. If any friends are interested, please feel free to bid.¡±

    ¡°A hundred Origin Stones.¡± Someone already called out a price.

    The Sea of Clouds Pavilion had spent thirty years researching this hide but couldn¡¯t make any conclusions, and only a small bit remained now. No one thought that they could sessfully get anything out of it.

    However, since the hide could resist fire and water and was hard to destroy, and there was the story of the Sea of Clouds spending thirty years struggling with this item, getting a historical relic like this wasn¡¯t a bad idea.

    Quite a few people had this kind of thought. They began to call out bids one after another, quickly reaching ten thousand Origin Stones.

    The people attending this auction were not poor by any stretch of the imagination. Spending ten thousand Origin Stones to obtain a historical relic to y around with was totally normal.

    However, if the price went up any more, they would have to consider things more carefully.

    Su Chen raised his hand. ¡°Thirty thousand.¡±

    Gu Jintang was stunned. ¡°Brother Su, you want this hide?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll use it as a cushion,¡± Su Chen replied calmly. Unlike the others, Su Chen had his microscopic eye, allowing him to see through many different kinds of profound mysteries. As such, he really liked things that others could not understand. Furthermore, this was a relic from the Arcana Kingdom era.

    With that old man Patelocke, Su Chen basically had a living encyclopedia with im.

    In any case, auctions were few and far between. If you didn¡¯t get something for a great deal, did you even attend the auction at all?

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    PS: I made a mistake earlier. Grade Six Origin Tools should be useable by Yang Opening Realm cultivators as well as people in the higheryers of the Blood Boiling Realm. I miscalcted.

    Origin Tools are distributed this way: Grade Nine tools can be used by Qi Drawing or above, Grade Eight by highyer Qi Drawing or lowyer Blood Boiling. Grade Seven are by lowyer to highyer Blood Boiling, Grade Six by highyer Blood Boiling to lowyer Yang Opening. So on and so forth.

    I made a mistake, so I will publicly announce it. As for the items that Su Chen had bought that didn¡¯t correspond with his cultivation base, look at them as special Origin Tools that could be used by individuals with lower cultivation bases.

    Thank you, Toad Jumping Into Shoes, for pointing this out.

    1. A lot of times, tea is sold as a block in China. See here: http://.pue/uploadfile/201703/20170308111843589.jpg

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 134: Beast Hide

    Chapter 134: Beast Hide

    When he heard Su Chen¡¯s words, Gu Jintang¡¯s expression tightened. Spending ten thousand Origin Stones to use it as a cushion? Brother, your pretentiousness has reached a whole new level.

    However, he thought about it more and realized that Su Chen wasn¡¯t acting pretentiously at all.

    To him, a few ten thousand Origin Stones really was just a small amount.

    After experiencing two more rounds of bidding, Su Chen finally got the hide for seventy thousand Origin Stones.

    This was thest item that he purchased from the auction.

    After he got it, he immediately activated his microscopic eye and inspected the hide. However, he discovered that this hide wasposed of countless microscopic organisms densely interwoven intoyers, forming an extremely strange scene that was hard to describe.

    Even with Su Chen¡¯s eyes, he couldn¡¯t tell what exactly they were. He could only suppress his curiosity for the moment, and he left with the hide.

    As they held everything they had won from the auction, everyone returned to the Wandering Wind Pavilion.

    Because they had won quite a bit, everyone returned to their own rooms to y with their ¡°new toys¡±.

    Gu Qingluo didn¡¯t y around with the few treasures that Su Chen had given her. Rather, she held a needle threaded around the Algae Thread Coral as she carefully embroidered this treasure.

    While Gu Qingluo was embroidering for Su Chen, Su Chen wasn¡¯t doing nothing either.

    Underneath the light from thentern, he stared at the hide in his hand, Patelocke¡¯s spectre right next to him.

    ¡°Do you know what this is?¡± Su Chen asked.

    The auction host had said that it was a relic from an ancient era, so only Patelocke might know about it.

    Patelocke took a close look at it, thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°If I remember correctly, this box should be a Breeding Box.¡±

    ¡°A Breeding Box?¡±

    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s specifically meant to breed microscopic organisms. Because of their unique situation, they can go dormant when theyck food. This beast hide is actually a form of camouge formed from these microscopic organisms.¡±

    When he heard this, Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but admire him.

    Based on the analysis of his microscopic eye, the situation was exactly as Patelocke had said. This hide was actuallyposed of countless microscopic organisms. This was why they could not possibly be separated, because as soon as they were, these microscopic organisms would lose their nourishment, meaning they would die extremely quickly.

    ¡°What¡¯s the use of cultivating these microscopic organisms?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°For a long period of time, cultivating these microscopic organisms was extremely popr within the Arcana Kingdom. Arcana Race individuals with high social status believed that these small organisms could do many things that they couldn¡¯t. If they were ever able to control them, they would be incredibly useful. This ended up being true in many cases; a lot of famous inventions are closely rted to these little things.¡±

    ¡°¡±Then what about the one we have?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. There are all kinds of microscopic organisms. Looking at them won¡¯t give you any information,¡± Patelocke shrugged. ¡°You need to do your own research in order to find out.¡±

    ¡°How should I do the research?¡±

    ¡°Use your consciousness energy. Consciousness energy are your formless hands that can help you interact with these organisms.¡±

    Su Chen tried to let out his consciousness tendrils, but it didn¡¯t seem to do much.

    Patelocke said, ¡°They¡¯ve been asleep for tens of thousands of years within this Breeding Box. Before you try to interact with them, you¡¯ll need to wake them up.¡±

    ¡°Wake them up? How do I wake them up?¡±

    ¡°That depends on what they want. Different microscopic organisms have different needs ¨C rotten vegetation, Origin Energy, fresh blood, beast meat, mud, nts...... who knows? Try out a few different things. Who knows, you might be able to find something that they like. Remember, when you feed them, you also need to stimte them with your consciousness a bit so that they can sense the presence of food.

    ¡°......¡±

    In the following days, Su Chen began to try to use all kinds of items to ¡°provoke¡± the hide, but without exception none of them resulted in any response.

    But when he thought about it, he realized that wasn¡¯t too surprising either. The Sea of Clouds Pavilion spent thirty years researching this hide, and without a doubt it hade into contact with a lot of things. However, they weren¡¯t able to discover anything in the end. Not just anymon item could satisfy their needs.

    As such, Su Chen was no longer in a hurry. There was no need to rush things. However, Su Chen built up a habit ¨C no matter what the item was, he would ce it in the box to test.

    Apart from researching this hide, Su Chen spent his remaining time analyzing that top-quality Awakening Medicine. After trying out a bunch of different things, he had already developed a rough understanding of how to concoct the medicine, but making it perfect would need some time.

    The rest of the time Su Chen spent with Gu Qingluo. The young couple were usually apart, so it wasn¡¯t surprising that they weren¡¯t willing to be apart.

    Gu Jintang wanted to try and convince her to leave early, but it was incredibly awkward for him to do so. The two of them were infatuated with each other, so how could he ruin things? He could only silently slink away and go mess around with Cloud Leopard and Iron Cliff.

    The two of them had also gone to visit Shi Kaihuang. The old man gratefully epted the tea brick, but refused all of the Origin Stones Su Chen wanted to leave for him. However, he was much more interested in the Primordial Blood Medicine Su Chen hade up with and asked for the recipe. He believed that this might be able to help himplete the technique for charging into the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline.

    Today, Su Chen and Gu Qingluo were on a walk through Long Coiling City¡¯s red maple forest in the northern areas of the city.

    Because it wasn¡¯t the right season, the red maple forest wasn¡¯t in its prime yet ¨C the leaves had yet to turn red, and there many people walking there. But they only had eyes for each other; they didn¡¯t care about any scenery. To Su Chen and Gu Qingluo, the red maple forest was just an excuse for them to get together. As long as both of them were happy, that was enough.

    The two of them strolled through the forest. As they walked deeper and deeper, they began to stray from the path. Eventually they lost track of where they were exactly.

    As they were talking, a snake suddenly shot out at them.

    Su Chen reached out and grabbed it. He took a look and said, ¡°It¡¯s a poisonous snake.¡±

    He casually pulled out the Breeding Box and stuffed the poisonous snake inside. Then, he used his consciousness to prod the box. This was already the habit he had built up in the past few days. No matter what he obtained, he would stuff it into the box as an experiment.

    He originally wasn¡¯t hoping for much, but unexpectedly as soon as the snake was put in, his microscopic eye saw those microscopic organisms beginning to move and squirm. The organisms, which originally seemed like they were dead, suddenly began to move in tandem, swarming like ants towards the snake.

    The macroscopic result of this was that the beast hide actually strangely began to curl up, wrapping around the snake.

    ¡°Hm? What¡¯s going on?¡± Gu Qingluo said in amazement when she saw this.

    ¡°They¡¯ve found some food,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Su Chen was also excited. Did these guys prefer to eat snakes?

    He had tried to get them to eat the flesh and blood from other beasts, but there had been no reactions. Were they just picky and only ate snake meat?

    At this moment, the beast hide had wrapped itself around the snake, which was thrashing furiously, as if it were experiencing something incredibly frightening. However, regardless of how hard it struggled, it was only met with an even tighter constriction.

    A brief momentter, the snake finally stopped its thrashing, and the beast hide returned to its original, quiet state.

    Su Chen discovered that the snakey on the beast hide perfectly fine. Its body hadn¡¯t been damaged at all, but it had already died.

    What was going on?

    Su Chen picked up the dead snake in shock.

    There was no damage.

    This implied that these microscopic organism weren¡¯t actually interested in the snake at all.

    Then what were they interested in?

    The answer to this question was actually very simple. He just needed to figure out what was missing from the snake¡¯s body.

    Su Chen very quickly discovered that it was the poison!

    The snake¡¯s poison had disappeared without a trace.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 135: Return

    Chapter 135: Return

    ¡°So these things like to eat poison? Understood.¡± Patelocke nodded. They were now within the room. ¡°It seems like these microscopic organisms were bred to try and create a poisonous organism so they could use it.¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°That¡¯s what I thought as well. I tried it out already; this kind of organism is extremely interested in any organism that is poisonous, especially poison from living animals. Their interest in artificially manufactured poison from theb is much less. In addition, they not only consume poison, but they can also release it. They release the poison that they consume, but the quality of the poison they release is much worse than their ability to eat it. This is probably because they use poison as food and convert some of that poison into sustenance.¡±

    Patelocke thought differently. He said, ¡°It might also be because they aren¡¯t a pleted product¡¯ yet because the creator hasn¡¯t perfected them yet.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s possible, but these creatures are already quite impressive. Having them is the same as having a poison-type Origin Tool, and they are multipotent,¡± Su Chen said as he whistled a few times. The Beast Hide within the box turned into a ck armband that wrapped around his hand.

    After awakening them, Su Chen used his consciousness power to interact with them, and they know acknowledged him as their master.

    Upon being awakened, these microscopic organisms wouldn¡¯t need to remain dormant in the box anymore. They could move as they pleased and even self-divide as long as they were fed a bit of poison every so often. Poison was their food; if they were kept outside of the box without any poison to eat, they would starve to death.

    ¡°Give them a name,¡± Patelocke said.

    ¡°Oh. Let¡¯s call them the Devouring Poison Fog,¡± Su Chen said.

    The armband around his hand suddenly morphed into a small white cloud of fog.

    These microscopic organisms were so small that their shapes couldn¡¯t be seen at all. All the human eye could capture was a wave of rolling dense fog.

    Even though most of the microscopic organisms had died because the Sea of Clouds Pavilion had spent nearly thirty years tormenting them, making it so that this fog had a limited area of effect. The amount of poison they could spit out was also limited, but if Su Chen took care of them, they would be able to be stronger.

    Su Chen felt incredibly happy. He had obtained an incredible steal by buying this Devouring Poison Fog for only seventy thousand Origin Stones.

    Su Chen had remained in Long Coiling City for close to a month. It was about time to return. If he didn¡¯t go back soon, Jiang Xishui was probably going to start cursing at him in the streets ¨C because Jiang Xishui¡¯s influence had started to grow, the Bloodline Nobility ns had unleashed two Light Shaking attacks against the Third River Army.

    However, Jiang Xishui had been able to resist twice. With his Primordial Beast Bloodline and them fighting on water, as well as the support of a bunch of pirates with the Hemolytic Totem, Jiang Xishui had enough power to defend themselves.

    The Third River Army, however, also paid quite a heavy price. A few experts that Jiang Xishui had personally trained also died. This was why Jiang Xishui was pushing for Su Chen to return so hard.

    After two unsessful attacks, they might send two Light Shaking Realm cultivators next time.

    Su Chen could only return helplessly.

    Before going, Su Chen handed the vial of Awakening Medicine to Gu Qingluo ¨C he had finished his analysis of the medicine and gave the remaining amount to her. As for whether or not the remaining amount of Awakening Medicine would be able to be useful to that elder depended on his luck. In any case, it hadn¡¯t required any of his money, had it?

    On the day of separation, Su Chen and Gu Qingluo stared at each other wordlessly.

    They tightly embraced, unwilling to leave.

    Su Chen said to Gu Qingluo, ¡°Wait for me. The next time Ie, I wille on a iridescent cloud to take you as my wife.¡±

    Descending on an iridescent cloud to take the girl he loved as his wife was something people on this continent liked to say to express their love for someone. It wasn¡¯t just empty words but rather a promise, a kind of expectation and hope.

    This was because only a person in the Light Shaking Realm could descend on a cloud. As such, this sentence in and of itself represented a kind of deadline, qualification mark, and a pledge.

    Yes, that was what Su Chen was thinking.

    The moment he became a Light Shaking Realm cultivator would be the moment that he would descend from a cloud to take Gu Qingluo as his wife.

    Gu Qingluo stared at Su Chen with happiness. She nodded. ¡°Okay, I will wait for you!¡±

    Su Chen hugged Gu Qingluo tightly before turning around to enter the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle, but they still held each others hands tightly.

    Finally, Gu Jintang said helplessly, ¡°If you can¡¯t bear to leave apart,e back down and hug for a bit longer.¡±

    Su Chen let her go.

    The Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle suddenly trembled. With a bright sh of light and a thunderous boom, the shuttle shot into the sky like a streak of lightning, disappearing from view quickly.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    The Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle was incredibly fast. In but a single day, Su Chen arrived at Clear River City from Long Coiling City.

    Instead of returning directly to the Su Pce, Su Chen headed straight for the Jade Heart Ind.

    Jade Heart Ind had changed a lot. The ind was once littered with all kinds of gs, but most of them had disappeared. Only the Third River Army¡¯s g remained floating high. This clearly demonstrated the dominance that the Third River Army now had.

    The pirates were not disorderly like before either. They wore the same uniform and did things ording to established standards and regtions. Even the way they walked had begun to look the same.

    The ind¡¯s docks were always being watched 24/7 by dedicated guards. If anyone dared cause trouble, they would immediately be captured and punished severely.

    The Jade Heart Ind became very orderly as a result; no trace of the barbaric and chaotic pirate society from before could be seen. It looked like the headquarters of a trained navy. All that was missing was the imperial g andbat frigates.

    It had to be said that nobility like Jiang Xishui truly had some ability. He had turned a bunch of pirates into soldiers.

    Even so, they might not be able to face a Light Shaking Realm cultivator with his support.

    The Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle descended near the central hall of the Third River Army¡¯s headquarters.

    The instant it descended, countless pirates swarmed around it as if it were a frightening enemy, and even glimmers of Origin Formations being activated could be seen.

    But when they saw Su Chen and the others disembarking from the shuttle, the pirates let out a collective sigh of relief.

    One of the pirate leaders stepped forward and said, ¡°Greetings to Bureau Head Su. Bureau Head, you¡¯re finally here.¡±

    Su Chen stowed the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle away. ¡°Where is your captain?¡±

    ¡°Captain is in the central hall.¡±

    Su Chen, Cloud Leopard, and Iron Cliff walked towards the central hall.

    Within the central hall, Jiang Xishui was jabbing and pointing at an illusory map of Jade Heart Ind. ¡°We¡¯ll put the Air Breaking Formation here and put some Dove Snake powder here as well. Beneath that, we¡¯ll put forty-nine aligned arrows. Doesn¡¯t that old bastard Shen Yuanhong like to fight in the air? I¡¯ll break his wings and beat him up on the ground!¡±

    ¡°Captain Jiang, what a temper you have! I felt a wave of killing intent from outside the front door,¡± Su Chenughed as he walked in.

    When he heard that voice, Jiang Xishui¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°You brat, you¡¯re finally here.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 136: Another Attack

    Chapter 136: Another Attack

    ¡°That¡¯s how it is. I used up all the energy I had to drive off Shen Yuanhong¡¯s attacks, but we sustained quite a few losses as well.¡±

    Jiang Xishui sighed within the central hall, ¡°Light Shaking is Light Shaking. The gap is truly too great. Even though I have a Primordial Beast Bloodline, I can¡¯t withstand them easily.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you still able to withstand them even now?¡± Cloud Leopardughed.

    ¡°But that¡¯s bybining everyone¡¯s strength,¡± Jiang Xishui replied straightforwardly. ¡°The first time, Shen Yuanhong gave me an opportunity to think things over when he saw that I have a Primordial Beast Bloodline, but the second time my identity wasn¡¯t enough to stop him. He said that he wanted to wipe out the Third River Army like the ck River Army, only leaving me alive. It was only by our furious counterattack that we were able to beat him back. Having failed twice, he will absolutelye again, and things won¡¯t be that simple next time. I think that when hees again, he will bring another Light Shaking Realm cultivator with him to attack.¡±

    ¡°Two Light Shaking Realm cultivators attacking simultaneously? What amotion,¡± Cloud Lopeardughed.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t feel that it was strange. ¡°The Clear River City Bloodline Nobility ns won¡¯t sit and watch as we cut off their lifelines. Even someone from the Water Sheen Kingdom¡¯s ruling n isn¡¯t able to get away with it.¡±

    Cloud Leopardughed sarcastically, ¡°That¡¯s because this ce is part of Long Sang Country. If the Lin n¡¯s Young Prince were toe here and try it, those Bloodline Nobility ns wouldn¡¯t even dare fart in his presence.¡±

    That was the truth. Even though Jiang Xishui was a prince, he wasn¡¯t Long Sang Country¡¯s prince, so his deterrent force was too weak. Shen Yuanhong didn¡¯t dare kill him, but he felt no pressure against clipping his wings. However, Jiang Xishui was quite powerful, and the strength that he was able to draw out from his troops had greatly exceeded Shen Yuanhong¡¯s expectations, which was why he had been forced back twice.

    Jiang Xishui didn¡¯t know whether or not there would be a third urrence, so he had requested repeatedly for Su Chen to return.

    However, he hadn¡¯t expected Su Chen to return so quickly. He said, ¡°Right, how did you guys get back so fast? Weren¡¯t you still in Long Coiling City just yesterday?¡±

    Su Chen and Cloud Leopard nced at each other and smiled.

    They were just about to reply when a voice boomed loud and clear from outside: ¡°Jiang Xishui, have you thought things through? As long as you are willing to give up the waterways, you can remain the ruler of this ce, but if you continue to persist stubbornly in your wrong ways, I am not going to show any mercy today!¡±

    When they heard this voice, everyone felt their hearts jolt. rms began to re on the ind, and the pirates began to move swiftly. They were already preparing for battle.

    Upon walking out of the center hall, they saw two people standing in the middle of the sky. One of them was Shen Yuanhong, and the other was an old man whose face was unfamiliar. It didn¡¯t take a genius to realize that he was definitely another Light Shaking Realm cultivator from one of the Bloodline Nobility ns.

    ¡°It seems like they came here quite quickly,¡± Su Chen muttered.

    Jiang Xishui looked up andughed, ¡°Shen Yuanhong, aren¡¯t you embarrassed? Are you sure thatst time you held back? Then why have you brought another person with you this time?¡±

    Shen Yuanhong¡¯s face reddened. He was just about to say something when he saw Su Chen.

    He had never seen Su Chen face to face, but he had seen pictures of Su Chen many many times and was familiar with his face. As such, when he saw this, his anger immediately began to surge. ¡°Su Chen, so you¡¯re hiding here!¡±

    ¡°Hiding?¡± Su Chenughed coldly. ¡°Did you think that I was forced into hiding by Wang Zhanyu and didn¡¯t dare to show my face anymore?¡±

    ¡°Is that not the case?¡± the other Light Shaking Realm cultivator said powerfully.

    He was called Wei Pei and was one of the Wei n¡¯s n Elders.

    ¡°Whether I was or not, you¡¯ll know just by trying it out.¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t bother wasting any words with him. He unleashed the Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle, jumped into it, and shot into the air.

    A Sky Lightning Cannon was installed on the back of the shuttle, its offensive capability around 300 or so. Su Chen directly activated it. An intense light began to shine from the aft of the shuttle. A thick column of lightning shot forward, searing the air. It almost seemed to howl at Wei Pei as if it were a lightning dragon.

    This furious attack gave Wei Pei quite a shock. An attack of three hundred offensive capability was something that even a Light Shaking Realm cultivator couldn¡¯t ignore. In that instant, Wei Pei¡¯s figure blurred, leaving behind an afterimage where he was standing before.

    The Sky Lightning Cannon shot right through Wei Pei¡¯s afterimage, exploding into a shocking cloud of mist.

    Su Chen felt a tinge of regret that his attack hadn¡¯t connected.

    Even though this Sky Lightning Cannon was very powerful, it generated an extremely bright light when activated, meaning that its attackscked a surprise factor. No Origin Qi Schr with brains would try to face it head-on. As such, its hit rate was abysmally low. When factoring in how much energy it expended, it became the most impractical weapon on the Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle.

    However, it didn¡¯t matter. This cannon blow of Su Chen¡¯s wasn¡¯t meant to kill his opponent with a single blow.

    An instantter, Su Chen controlled the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle and flew off into the distance.

    When Wei Pei saw this, he harrumphed coldly, ¡°Leave this one to me. You take care of Jiang Xishui.¡±

    Shen Yuanhong wanted to say that if he could handle Jiang Xishui on his own, what was the point of asking for backup? However, those words were simply too weak, and he couldn¡¯t say anything in the end other than a grunt of assent. He wanted to wait for Wei Pei to finish off Su Chen beforeing back to help him out.

    Wei Pei began to chase after Su Chen.

    Even though the Sky Lightning Cannon was very powerful, Wei Pei could already tell its major w. Because it could only shoot in a straight line, Wei Pei would bepletely safe as long as he wasn¡¯t right in front of the mouth of the cannon.

    As he pursued furiously, Wei Pei activated the wind from afar. A massive palm formed in the sky and began to descend towards the Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle.

    ¡°Do people who reach the Light Shaking Realm like to y this way?¡± Su Chen muttered as he raised his head and nced at the massive palm descending on him.

    As the palm drew near, another bright sh of lightning appeared, enveloping the shuttle¡¯s surroundings like countless sharp spikes. The Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle instantly turned into something like a hedgehog made of lightning.

    Wei Pei¡¯s palm mmed down right onto those densely packed spikes. It was like a balloon that had been pierced and exploded immediately.

    The lightning barrier was specifically meant to defend against these kinds of attacks. Wanting to directly snatch it was going to be impossible, so he was going to need to unleash real attacks.

    Upon realizing this, Wei Pei didn¡¯t hold back anymore.

    An illusory image of arge, fierce beast appeared behind him. It looked like a massive monkey with the face of a horse, but it had four eyes, and two unevenly-sized horns protruded from the top of its head.

    This beast was known as the Blue-Blooded Divine Wind Mythical Beast.

    The instant it appeared, it let out a reverberating howl at the Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle and leapt at the shuttle.

    This was the first time Su Chen had seen an illusory Bloodline Image attack independently of its owner and was shocked. Thankfully, his Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle was incredibly fast. With a sudden burst of speed, he was able to dodge that blow.

    With a p of the shuttle¡¯s body, the Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle rocketed forward.

    ¡°Where do you think you¡¯re going!¡± Wei Pei yelled. His figure shed as he suddenly appeared right where the Blue-Blooded Divine Wind Mythical Beast had been.

    So his Bloodline Image could not only attack independently of himself, but it also allowed Wei Pei to practically teleport. However, the distance this Bloodline Image could go was limited, so the teleportation distance wasn¡¯t unlimited.

    Upon seeing that the distance between himself and Wei Pei was being pulled closer, Su Chen chuckled to himself, ¡°It seems like I need to up my pace.¡±

    He increased the consciousness energy he was pouring into the shuttle. The shuttle¡¯s speed shot up again.

    The person and shuttle, one chasing and one escaping, flew off into the distance.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 137: The Chase

    Wei Pei was extremely fast, but the Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle was even faster.

    The core concept of a Cloud-Piercing Shuttle has always been a speed so fast it could easily oupete a powerful expert. As for its defensive and offensive capabilities, those were just additions to this foundation. The Sky Lightning Cannon¡¯s true purpose and intended function was to attract the enemy¡¯s attention.

    As long as Su Chen wanted to, he could have easily left Wei Pei in the dust.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t want to.

    He carefully controlled the speed of the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle, maintaining his distance from Wei Pei and stringing him along as if he were using a dangling carrot to lead a donkey. The donkey constantly chased after it, but regardless of its efforts it was unable to reach the carrot.

    At the beginning, Wei Pei didn¡¯t realize this because there were both fast and slow Cloud-Piercing Shuttles.

    The particrly slow Cloud-Piercing Shuttles, like the Golden Cliff Shuttle, could be caught by basically any Light Shaking Realm cultivator.

    Additionally, the Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle had just demonstrated powerful offensive and defensive capabilities. If it wasn¡¯t a top-quality item, then a corresponding sacrifice in speed was all too normal.

    As such, Wei Pei chased after him diligently. He felt that he could catch up.

    He constantly activated his Divine Wind Rush, blinking forward again and again in an attempt to try and close the distance between them.

    But this damned Cloud-Piercing Shuttle also seemed to have some kind of rushing technique. It would surge forward with a sudden burst of speed every time he closed the distance a bit.

    Cloud-Piercing Shuttles were Origin Tools, so it was quitemon for them to have corresponding Origin Skills as well. As such, Wei Pei didn¡¯t suspect anything at first.

    However, he soon began to feel that something wasn¡¯t right.

    Even though he had been constantly chasing after the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle for awhile now, the distance between them had barely changed the whole time. Having chased after Su Chen for some time, at this point Wei Pei had expended a lot of Origin Energy. To conserve energy, he decreased the number of times he was using Divine Wind Rush to charge forwards. Logically, the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle should have been able to use that opportunity to shake him off.

    This was how Wei Pei quickly realized that something wasn¡¯t right. ¡°You want me to waste most of my Origin Energy and then fight me?¡±

    When he realized this, Wei Pei slowed down again. Indeed, the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle in front of him slowed down as well.

    When he saw this, how could Wei Pei still want to continue chasing after Su Chen?

    He knew already that his speed couldn¡¯t match his opponent, so he gave up and turned around to fly back.

    Unexpectedly, a ball of lightning once again appeared near the aft of the shuttle.

    ¡°Not good!¡± Wei Pei realized what was about to happen, and he suddenly changed directions with a Divine Wind Rush.

    Boom!

    A massive column of lightning shot forward and exploded below him.

    That bastard!

    Wei Pei was so angry that he was about to grind his teeth to pieces.

    If he didn¡¯t chase after his opponent, then his opponent would turn around and attack him instead.

    However, the Sky Lightning Cannon¡¯s ability to attract attention was very potent. If Wei Pei didn¡¯t want to get spanked, he could only continue to chase.

    He helplessly turned back around in pursuit, and the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle continued to fly away.

    The two of them continued to fly through the air in a halting manner. Soon, they had flown arge distance away from where they had started.

    The further Wei Pei chased after Su Chen, the more shocked he felt. Where had that brat gotten so many Origin Stones from that he was willing to spend them in this fashion? And the performance of that Cloud-Piercing Shuttle was a bit too good, wasn¡¯t it?

    Wei Pei also had a Cloud-Piercing Shuttle, but because it didn¡¯t have a spatial Origin Formation, he had no way of taking it with him. As such, it was always left within the n. Even so, within the n it was viewed as quite a treasure.

    But his Cloud-Piercing Shuttle seemed far inferiorpared to the one in front of his eyes.

    He was a n elder and a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, but the treasures he had were inferior to a junior¡¯s. The more he thought about it, the angrier he felt.

    Once this thought took root in his mind, he pulled out an item from his body. It was a handful of sand.

    He looked at it reluctantly, then steeled himself and threw the handful of sand into the air. The sand gathered into the massive body of a demon. It let out an ear-splitting shriek in the direction of the Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle. The whole sky began to dim, and sand began to whirl everywhere. A terrifying sandstorm had suddenly appeared out of thin air.

    ¡°Hahahaha, now you will know the power of the Demon Sandstorm Domain! Start swirling and bring that little boat to me!¡± Wei Pei yelled loudly.

    The Demon Sandstorm Domain was something he had obtained after an incredibly dangerous encounter. It was extremely powerful and extraordinarily effective, but it was unfortunately a consumable item. Every time he used it, the amount of sand would decrease. At this point, he only had enough remaining to use onest time, so Wei Pei was extremely hesitant to use it.

    It wasn¡¯t until he was clear that this Cloud-Piercing Shuttle was umon that Pei Wei tossed it out.

    The Demon Sandstorm Domain truly had an extraordinary effect. The heavy grains of sand swirled through the air,pletely covering up the sun. Even the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle had a hard time enduring the raging sandstorm; the wind violently rocked it, and the grains of sand were like tens of thousands of arrows mming into the hull of the shuttle. Sparks flew off of the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle¡¯s hull, creating a brilliant disy of lights.

    ¡°Damn. Every Light Shaking cultivator indeed has his own trump cards.¡± Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but shake his head in admiration.

    Wei Pei only had a single Lotus tform, but he was already incredibly hard to deal with. How powerful would the even stronger ones be?

    Swirling sand seemed to be everywhere, and the dense sand made it seemingly impossible to advance. Wei Pei was extremely delighted. He believed that Su Chen had no way of escaping now.

    Su Chen, however, smiled slightly.

    He said, ¡°Idiot!¡±

    Then, he steered the shuttle around and charged back in Wei Pei¡¯s direction.

    He had turned back around!

    Even though Wei Pei¡¯s Demon Sandstorm Domain covered arge area, there was still a central core, and most of its power was at the very front. After all, Su Chen was in front of Wei Pei.

    Su Chen turning around would allow him to fly to an area where the sandstorm was weaker.

    However, the weaker area of the sandstorm was where Wei Pei was.

    As he watched the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle fly in his direction, a savage smile appeared on Wei Pei¡¯s face. ¡°Brat, I¡¯m going to......¡±

    He had yet to finish speaking when he saw another ball of lightning beginning to build on the hull of the boat.

    ¡°Dammit!¡± Wei Pei cursed as he hurriedly jumped aside.

    At the same time as when the massive column of light shot past him, Wei Pei watched in shock as the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle¡¯s speed suddenly began to rapidly increase.

    This eleration was different from before. It almost seemed like the shuttle was chasing after that column of lightning.

    This shocked Wei Pei so badly that his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

    Even though he already knew that the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle¡¯s actual top speed was much faster than anything he had seen so far, Wei Pei was still stunned when he saw just how fast it could fly.

    Top-quality!

    This absolutely was a top-quality Cloud-Piercing Shuttle.

    A Cloud-Piercing Shuttle of that quality would cost more than 100 million Origin Stones. Even a n Elder like himself couldn¡¯t possibly afford one.

    How had Su Chen gotten his hands on a shuttle like that?

    Before he was able to reach a logical conclusion, however, this Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Shuttle shot through the restriction and continued to fly off into the distance, not slowing down in the slightest. In the blink of an eye, it disappeared.

    What was going on?

    Wasn¡¯t Su Chen trying to lead him on a chase?

    Howe he had suddenly turned tail and run?

    A thought suddenly surfaced in his brain. Wei Pei yelled out loudly, ¡°Not good! Old Shen!¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 138: Changing Tides

    When Wei Pei had started chasing after Su Chen, the battle at Jade Heart Ind had also begun.

    Facing Shen Yuanhong, Jiang Xishui didn¡¯t say anything unnecessary. He directly activated his Bloodline Ability, causing the water around Jade Heart Ind to began to roil, until a massive wave rose high into the air, continuing to increase in size. Finally, the wave morphed into a thick arm that smacked at Shen Yuanhong.

    When they were in the Su Pce, Jiang Xishui could only conjure Luo You¡¯s eye, but now he could conjure an entire arm. This wasn¡¯t only due to the tempering he had gone through these past few years but also because they were near a body of water that he could use to best disy the Jiang n¡¯s Luo You Bloodline Ability.

    Even Shen Yuanhong didn¡¯t dare face the massive arm surging at him head on. He said, his expression serious, ¡°Deste Beast Bloodline!¡±

    An illusory image of a Steel Tyrannosaurus appeared behind him. At the same time, Shen Yuanhong unleashed a palm strike, and an erged image of a palm shot through the air off of his strike and mmed into Luo You¡¯s arm.

    Even though the Steel Tyrannosaurus had the character for ¡°dragon¡± in its name, it was actually a massivend-based creature with immense power1.

    Jiang Xishui possessed a Primordial Beast Bloodline and had a terrain advantage, but he was only in the Blood Boiling Realm, two realms lower than the Light Shaking Realm. The Steel Tyrannosaurus was also extremely suited for head-onbat, so when the two collided, the Steel Tyrannosaurus actually possessed a slight advantage.

    As the Tyrannosaurus howled, Shen Yuanhong¡¯s iron-like palm mmed into Luo You¡¯s arm.

    However, the water there was unlimited and free-flowing. Luo You¡¯s advantage was not that his attacks were extremely strong, invincible, or even peerless.

    It was that as long as he was near a body of water, Jiang Xishui could keep reforming Luo You¡¯s arm again and again.

    A massive dragon made of water surged into the sky, morphing into Luo You¡¯s arm as it flew through the air. Even though the Steel Tyrannosaurus was extremely powerful, it couldn¡¯t wipe Jiang Xishui out when faced with this deluge of self-regenerating arms unless Jiang Xishuipletely ran out of Origin Energy or the surrounding body of water was drained dry.

    At the same time, countless pirates emerged from the water and began to shoot arrows and crossbow bolts into the sky. They also activated an Origin Formation that strengthened the force behind these projectiles, forcing even Light Shaking Realm cultivators to take them seriously.

    Even more of the Origin Schrs grouped up together, gathering an immense of power and shooting into the sky under the direction of a peak Yang Opening Realm cultivator. This was a joint-attack Origin Skill from the Water Sheen Jiang n that couldbine everyone¡¯s strength and make good use of a numbers advantage.

    As such, a third attack consisting of a razor-sharp de edge arced towards Shen Yuanhong through the sky.

    Shen Yuanhong had been prepared for this. He waved his left hand, and a simple, unadorned long saber appeared in his hand. He swung the long saber, parrying the de edge and simultaneously stirring up a gust of wind that blew in front of him and dispersed the hail of arrows and crossbow bolts.

    His right hand continued to pressure Luo You¡¯s arm while the saber in his left hand once again arced through the air as he unleashed a strike against the pirates below them.

    At the same time that he attacked, Jiang Xishui¡¯s Luo You arm extended in a timely way, blocking that saber strike. Meanwhile, the pirates inmand leapt into the air as brilliant light from the Hemolytic Totem began to radiate from them. A shockingly powerful de edge flew at Shen Yuanhong once again, forcing him to back off and defend himself.

    Shen Yuanhong had alreadye to attack the Jade Heart Ind twice, so both parties were already familiar with the other. Even the way they fought disyed this tactic understanding of ¡°I know what you are about to do, and you know what I am about to do.¡±

    As such, Jiang Xishui¡¯s mission was to restrict Shen Yuanhong as best as he could and protect everyone like a shield. The pirates were responsible for attacking so that Shen Yuanhong couldn¡¯t go on an all-out attack.

    It was by relying on this kind of teamwork that they had been able to force Shen Yuanhong back twice.

    However, during the previous two battles, Jiang Xishui had also lost quite a significant number of troops. As such, the offensive capabilities of Jade Heart Ind were already somewhat insufficient.

    Amidst the unending barrage of attacks, this disadvantage slowly became more and more obvious, and it became harder and harder to endure.

    Shen Yuanhong defended himself against a wave of the attacks and coldlyughed, ¡°You¡¯re all just a bunch of dogs and kittens. What can you do even with more numbers?¡±

    He jabbed the saber forward. A shocking de of light pierced downwards. Just as Jiang Xishui was about to stop it, it suddenly split into three des. One of them was blocked by Jiang Xishui, and one of them was blocked by the power of thebined alliance. The smallest one, however, shot at the dense group of pirates.

    Like before, Shen Yuanhong wanted to slowly carve away at the Jade Heart Ind¡¯s power. Once that power fell to a certain level, the whole ce would copse. Under normal circumstances, Shen Yuanhong would need toe at least seven or eight times to aplish that, but this time he had the help of another Light Shaking Realm cultivator. That Light Shaking Realm cultivator wasn¡¯t here yet, but he would still put a lot of pressure on the pirates, causing their mental endurance to be much weaker.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, a few attacks might be more than enough to force them topletely give up any thoughts of continuing to fight.

    Shen Yuanhong continued to think along these lines as the saber strike glittered coldly, filled with killing intent.

    At that moment, a figure suddenly shot out from nowhere and intercepted the saber strike in midair.

    ng!

    The crisp, metallic sound echoed.

    The blow that Shen Yuanhong was determined tond had been blocked just like that.

    He gazed forward in shock. ¡°Sir Cloud?¡±

    The one who had blocked this saber strike was Cloud Leopard.

    As Clear River City¡¯s resident Secret Task Force member, Shen Yuanhong had obviously seen him before.

    An instantter, however, Shen Yuanhong¡¯s expression hardened. ¡°You brat, do you think that being a Secret Task Force member allows you to do as you please?¡±

    The wind began to blow again as the Steel Tyrannosaurus tilted its head back and howled. The saber of light appeared again, but this time Cloud Leopard was also one of its targets.

    Cloud Leopard replied indifferently, ¡°I have never used my identity as a Secret Task Force member to do as I please. If I want to do as I please, then I will simply rely on the de in my hand and the blood flowing in my body.¡±

    Shen Yuanhong replied with a palm strike filled with boundless energy, demonstrating the overbearing power of the Steel Tyrannosaurus.

    Cloud Leopard leapt into the air, unsheathing the Limpid Light-Splitting de. Layers of light exploded forth from the de, forcing this overbearing palm strike aside while continuing to charge at Shen Yuanhong. Shen Yuanhong was startled and unleashed another palm strike. The palm burst forth with energy, forcing Cloud Leopard¡¯s de strike back.

    Even though he had sessfully forced Cloud Leopard back and even caused him to spit out a mouthful of blood, Cloud Leopard¡¯s single de strike had been enough to draw out two palm strikes from Shen Yuanhong, giving him quite a shock. It was only now that he realized that Cloud Leopard¡¯s de was not normal, as was the case with his armor as well. Having realized what was going on, he said, ¡°So you¡¯ve equipped yourself with a bunch of top-quality Origin Tools. No wonder you dare topete with me.¡±

    Cloud Leopard ignored him. He growled and leapt into the air, attacking Shen Yuanhong along with Jiang Xishui and the pirates.

    Iron Cliff simrly charged forward, swinging the Armor-Piercing Mountain-Cleaving Hammer. The face of the hammer boomed with a shockwave, its momentum surging forward unstoppably. Their weapons had all been specifically purchased to deal with a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, regardless of whether it was the Limpid Light-Splitting de or the Armor-Piercing Mountain-Cleaving Hammer.

    Iron Cliff, who was also in the Blood Boiling Realm, was quite a bit more powerful than Cloud Leopard because of his innately powerful physique and his close-quartersbat ability. As the hammer swung through the air, it seemed to have a will of wiping out everything in existence, forcing Shen Yuanhong to retreat.

    This was the first time Shen Yuanhong had been forced to retreat throughout the whole battle.

    Both sides began to go all-out.

    Jiang Xishui was mostly responsible for defense, while thebined alliance was responsible for attacking. Cloud Leopard and Iron Cliff naturally filled in any deficiencies. Thisbination put a lot of pressure on Shen Yuanhong.

    The battle reached a stalemate. Neither side was willing to lower their head or admit defeat, so it was a contest of who was going to hold out until the end.

    Shen Yuanhong snarled madly as palms continued to fly through the air, ¡°But do you think that just a few Origin Tools are going to be enough?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s at least enough to dy you,¡± Cloud Leopard replied coolly.

    Shen Yuanhong¡¯s eyes glittered strangely. ¡°Dy me? So you¡¯re trying to dy until I run out of Origin Energy?¡±

    During theirst duel, Shen Yuanhong¡¯s Origin Energy had run out and he had been forced to retreat. Shen Yuanhong believed that the opponents should be nning on making the same move.

    But with Wei Pei present, he didn¡¯t think that his opponents could dy for that long.

    ¡°Dy until you run out of Origin Energy?¡± Cloud Leopard chuckled coldly. ¡°You think too highly of yourself. I¡¯m not nning on waiting until then.¡±

    ¡°Then what are you waiting for?¡± Shen Yuanhong asked angrily.

    ¡°He¡¯s waiting for me!¡±

    A voice seemed to cry out from the edge of the horizon. The Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle suddenly pierced through the clouds like an arrow, mming heavily into Shen Yuanhong¡¯s midsection.

    1. Dragons can fly, while Tyrannosaurs cannot.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 139: Beheading the Mountain

    The Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle¡¯s defensive capabilities were quite impressive, making it possible to use its physical body as a weapon. To ensure that his attack hit, Su Chen didn¡¯t use the Sky Lightning Cannon; instead, he used the shuttle as a physical ram to batter Shen Yuanhong.

    The incredible amount of momentum was all transferred over to Shen Yuanhong¡¯s body, and he felt like he had been pierced by a lightning-fast heavy spear, as if his back was about to break.

    He tumbled through the air a few times before catching himself, staring at Su Chen in disbelief. ¡°You...... Where¡¯s Wei Pei?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s dead.¡± Su Chen had no shame when lying. Simultaneously, he pressed the button for the Sky Lightning Cannon.

    The massive column of lightning once again shot forward. Shen Yuanhong didn¡¯t dare face it head-on, so he could only dodge. At the same time, however, a figure flew towards him at top speed. It was Su Chen. At the same time that he had fired the Sky Lightning Cannon, Su Chen had exited the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle. Because he had the Shadow Stepping Cloud Boots, he could walk on air like it was solid ground, allowing him to charge at Shen Yuanhong.

    Shen Yuanhong countered with a palm strike. An overbearing surge of energy swept forward. He wanted to smash Su Chen into a pancake!

    But at the same time that he attacked, Su Chen suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind Shen Yuanhong. This was the Shadow Stepping Cloud Boots¡¯ shadow-chasing skill!

    The de in his hand stabbed rapidly at Shen Yuanhong.

    In this moment of danger, Shen Yuanhong shouted. Su Chen¡¯s entire body froze momentarily as if he had been struck by lightning. Under normal circumstances, Shen Yuanhong would only need to turn around and attack once to seriously harm Su Chen.

    He couldn¡¯t do so, however, because he wasn¡¯t only facing Su Chen.

    While he and Su Chen were fighting, Jiang Xishui, Cloud Leopard, Iron Cliff, and the pirate alliance had simultaneously risen up. The strength that had been repressed by Shen Yuanhong was unleashed again and surged at Shen Yuanhong.

    Shen Yuanhong, without any other choice, could only activate his Steel Tyrannosaurus to its greatest extent. A vast wave of energy spread out in every direction, seemingly filling the whole sky.

    This move allowed him to block the attacksing his way, but Su Chen had also recovered.

    Once he recovered, the Primordial Blood Incarnation appeared.

    The massive faceless figure appeared, expressionless. It raised one of its gigantic arms and reached forward, actually grabbing Su Chen¡¯s Mountain-Beheading de. That dended in the Primordial Blood Incarnation¡¯s hand and automatically began to grow in size until it perfectlyplemented the size of the Primordial Blood Incarnation.

    That was one of the Mountain-Beheading de¡¯s special attributes ¨C it could growrger or smaller as the wielder pleased. This kind of increase in size wasn¡¯t just in appearance either. The power of the de would increase as the de size itself increased. In theory, the de could grow to a size of a thousand feet,rge and powerful enough to chop off the peak of a mountain. This was why it was known as the Mountain-Beheading de.

    However, this kind of transformation needed to be supported by a powerful physique. Therger the Mountain-Beheading de, the heavier it would feel. Only physically strong individuals could draw out the de¡¯s full potential, meaning that not just anyone could change the size of the de to increase its power.

    Because of this, there weren¡¯t many people who could make the Mountain-Beheading de truly dangerous.

    Su Chen had only bought the de because he had the Primordial Blood Incarnation, which was over a hundred feet tall. The corresponding size for the Mountain-Beheading de was thirty feet.

    As the de cleaved through the air, it exuded a tyrannical pressure, already giving off a pressure a bit like an attack from a Light Shaking Realm cultivator.

    Shen Yuanhong was badly startled. When faced with this frightening de attack, he didn¡¯t dare underestimate it. He gestured, and a frigid de intent surged forward to meet it, exuding the indomitable pressure unique to Light Shaking Realm cultivators. It shed with the Mountain-Beheading de, sending a brilliant shower of sparks through the air.

    If it were just Su Chen alone with this single de attack, Shen Yuanhong would be able to defend himself and possibly even counterattack.

    However, the constant attacks from Jiang Xishui, the pirate alliance, and the others gave him no room to counterattack. When faced with those attacks, Shen Yuanhong had no way of advancing or retreating, and he was in quite an unfavorable situation.

    Su Chen continued to swing the de through the air, every strike more threatening than thest. Most shockingly, Su Chen had imbued the de with the power of his Armor-Piercing Awl; even when Shen Yuanhong parried the blows aside, traces of de Qi would prate Shen Yuanhong¡¯s defenses, making things incredibly difficult for him.

    Shen Yuanhong knew that the situation wasn¡¯t looking good. If he continued to fight like this, he was definitely going to lose. As such, he decided to try and flee.

    He wanted to run, but Su Chen and Jiang Xishui wanted their guest to stay.

    Jiang Xishui raised his hands into the air. Luo You¡¯s arm split into numerous parts, forming a water prison that enveloped Shen Yuanhong. Shen Yuanhong, for the moment, was like a caged bird, unable to escape.

    A steely glint shed across Shen Yuanhong¡¯s eyes. ¡°You want to keep me here just with this?¡±

    The power of the Steel Tyrannosaurus was fully brought to bear, piercing through the water. The columns of water were dispersed by Shen Yuanhong¡¯s all-out attack and couldn¡¯t dy him.

    But when he wanted to charge out of that area, he was greeted by a thick column of lightning. The Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle was controlled by consciousness energy, but one benefit to this was that Su Chen could control it even if he wasn¡¯t physically within the shuttle.

    This column of lightning came at just the right time. The columns of water concealed the charge-up phase of the cannon, so Shen Yuanhong was basically flying head-on at it.

    In that critical moment, Shen Yuanhong let out a loud cry and smacked his forehead. A Lotus tform appeared above his head.

    The first step in bing a Light Shaking Realm cultivator was to form one¡¯s Lotus tforms.

    These Lotus tforms were the source of a Light Shaking Realm cultivator¡¯s power, connecting them to the heavens.

    When the Lotus tform appeared, it began to revolve, emitting a warm glow. Origin Qi emanated from it, a portion of it entering his body through his forehead and returning to his body. This was to supplement the Origin Energy in his body to help him endure this blow. The rest of it aggregated in front of his body like a screen door. The column of lightning mmed into the Lotus tform, the ensuing explosion causing wind to violently blow everywhere.

    Shen Yuanhong yelled strangely and flew higher into the air. This blow had dealt him quite a heavy injury. His physical body had been wounded, but more importantly, his Lotus tform had been damaged, affecting the foundation of his cultivation base. This was the cost of using his Lotus tform to protect himself ¨C his cultivation base would assume the wounds that would have otherwise been dealt to him.

    Shen Yuanhong¡¯s defense had ruined nearly ten years of difficult cultivation. He was infuriated and was determined to return to do battle some other day.

    Unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t going to have any more opportunities.

    Su Chen nced at him, activating Fata Morgana.

    However, this time it was much less effective than before. Shen Yuanhong had found out from Wang Zhanyu that Su Chen had such a consciousness-type Origin Skill, so he was rtively prepared. As such, his figure only froze for an instant before he was able to escape from the illusion realm soon after.

    Even so, that caused him to miss thest opportunity that he had to escape from this battle alive.

    Jiang Xishui¡¯s water prison once again appeared,plementing the violent swings of the Mountain-Beheading de.

    Shen Yuanhong was locked in ce by the water prison, the Sky Lightning Cannon, Fata Morgana, and a myriad of other techniques, making it so that he had no way of retreating.

    The attacks mmed into him forcefully wave after wave, causing blood to pour out of the body of Shen Yuanhong, a Light Shaking Realm cultivator.

    He knew the situation wasn¡¯t good. His only hope was to dy until Wei Pei arrived to support him.

    He pped his own forehead, and the Lotus tform reappeared

    The Origin Energy once again began to emanate and solidify, blocking most of the attacks.

    However, this powerful defense came at the cost of his cultivation base. Every blow hurt so badly that Shen Yuanhong felt like coughing up mouthfuls of blood. If things continued like this, his Lotus tform might shatter. If it shattered, he would basically revert to being a Yang Opening Realm cultivator. Without his cultivation base advantage, he would probably be smashed to paste in less than a second.

    The Lotus tform revolved continuously, trying to protect against the furious assault from all directions. Its originally smooth, glossy surface now began to show signs of cracking.

    Every attack sted away some of the cultivation base that Shen Yuanhong had been building up his whole life, bringing him ever closer to a cultivation base reversion.

    To Shen Yuanhong, this was as torturous as being slowly cut into a thousand pieces.

    At that moment, Wei Pei¡¯s figure appeared off in the distance.

    After a long chase, Wei Pei had finally arrived.

    When he saw Wei Pei appear, a trace of hope appeared in Shen Yuanhong¡¯s eyes. He yelled loudly, ¡°Brother Wei, save me!¡±

    ¡°He can¡¯t save you. But you may die in peace,¡± Su Chen replied coolly.

    A dark wreath of mes enveloped the body of his de, giving it an aura of death.

    ¡°NO!¡±

    Shen Yuanhong howled with despair as the Mountain-Beheading de mmed into the single Lotus tform.

    Bang!

    His Lotus tform shattered.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 140: Pursuit 1

    Chapter 140: Pursuit (1)

    After the Mountain-Beheading de shattered Shen Yuanhong¡¯s Lotus tform, it continued to descend, undeterred, onto Shen Yuanhong¡¯s body and cleave him in two.

    The dark mes roared, quickly turning Shen Yuanhong into ashes.

    This scene fell right into Wei Pei¡¯s sight. He was shocked and appalled as he watched a Light Shaking Realm cultivator turn into ashes and scatter into the wind.

    He knew that Su Chen¡¯s return would make things difficult for Shen Yuanhong, but in his view, Su Chen was only strong enough to give Shen Yuanhong a bit more trouble. It would already be impressive if he could force Shen Yuanhong into a disadvantaged situation.

    How could he possibly have expected that Shen Yuanhong wasn¡¯t even able to escape and would fall here?

    This change was too sudden. Wei Pei couldn¡¯t wrap his head around it, couldn¡¯t ept it. His heart was badly shocked, and he merely sat there in a daze.

    This caused him to miss hisst opportunity.

    After finishing off Shen Yuanhong, Su Chen turned around and nced at Wei Pei. Heughed and said, ¡°You came at just the right time.¡±

    Jiang Xishui¡¯s arms shoved forward. The water prison was once again formed.

    The Limpid Light-Splitting de and Armor-Piercing Mountain-Cleaving Hammer also began to demonstrate their power through precisely aimed attacks. Wei Pei felt his stomach churn and immediately turned around to run.

    Afterwards, he understood why Shen Yuanhong hadn¡¯t been able to escape.

    A massive column of lightning once again sealed of Wei Pei¡¯s escape route. Not only that, but the Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle also shot at Wei Pei with its shocking speed, carrying Su Chen along with it.

    Fata Morgana, the water prison, the Air Breaking Formation, and the hail of arrows all mmed towards Wei Pei without hesitation.

    Wei Pei was extremely powerful and fast, but when faced with so many powerful attacks, he was stunned, shocked, and frightened.

    A Lotus tform appeared above him as well, revolving with a brilliant light as Wei Pei yelled out loudly, ¡°I surrender, I surrender!¡±

    He was a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, but when he said the word ¡°surrender¡±, he shouted it without any spirit or prestige.

    But as long as he could survive, what did prestige mean to him?

    Bloodline Nobility ns usually viewed their faces as more important than even the heavens, but when faced with death, they could toss aside any prestige.

    However, even though he valued his own prestige, Su Chen and the others didn¡¯t care for it.

    The Mountain-Beheading de impartially descended as Su Chen said coolly, ¡°The best way for you to surrender is to die.¡±

    ¡°NOO!¡± Wei Pei yelled loudly.

    The Lotus tform appeared and began to revolve, blocking Su Chen¡¯s Mountain-Beheading de.

    The Mountain-Beheading de was enveloped in shadowy mes, with some even dripping off the edge of the de. The Lotus tform flickered wildly. Su Chen alone had pushed Wei Pei to this point, let alone Jiang Xishui and the others. In terms of purebat ability, the Blue-Blooded Divine Wind Ape could notpete with the Steel Tyrannosaurus.

    Wei Pei knew that the situation wasn¡¯t good. In this moment of life and death, if he was stopped for even an instant, he would not get another chance.

    He yelled loudly. The Blue-Blooded Divine Wind Ape charged forward, immediately leaping over a thousand feet away.

    When he had been pursuing Su Chen, the Blue-Blooded Divine Wind Ape only jumped three hundred feet at most every time, so Su Chen had always thought that this was the Divine Wind Rush¡¯s maximum distance. Unexpectedly, however, it was able to suddenly rush a thousand feet.

    An instantter, Wei Pei¡¯s figure shed. He was already a thousand feet away.

    Jiang Xishui¡¯s hastily conjured water prison was a bit too slow. Wei Pei continued to move forwards with Divine Wind Rush after Divine Wind Rush, using it three times in a row. Even though using it in such rapid session over such a long distance caused his Lotus tform to crack more and more, Wei Pei had at least escaped from the Jade Heart Ind¡¯s influence.

    This made it so that Jiang Xishui¡¯s water prison couldn¡¯t catch up to him, and thus the alliance, Cloud Leopard, and Iron Cliff were all left behind.

    Only Su Chen, who was controlling the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle, could catch up. However, he was not going to do something as idiotic as that. He returned to the shuttle and turned around to go pick up Jiang Xishui, Cloud Leopard, and the others.

    After bringing them inside the shuttle and returning to the skies, Wei Pei¡¯s figure was as small as a dot on the horizon.

    Su Chen controlled the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle in hot pursuit. Jiang Xishui frowned and said, ¡°Without the support of my troops, can the few of us take care of him?¡±

    Su Chen hurriedly boarded everyone onto the shuttle, but he could only fit Jiang Xishui, Cloud Leopard, Iron Cliff, as well as the Yang Opening Realm cultivator who was leading the group of pirates. This person was called Ma Hongfei. Jiang Xishui had subjugated him two years ago, and he had be Jiang Xishui¡¯s personal aide.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°He¡¯s been wounded and his Lotus tform is damaged. There¡¯s nowhere for him to go. You guys rest up here; I¡¯ll use the Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle and follow him around for a bit to wear him down a bit.¡±

    ¡°Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle? So this is a shuttle refined from the corpse of a Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle? No wonder it¡¯s so incredible,¡± Jiang Xishui sighed in praise as he felt the interior of the shuttle.

    After fighting for half a day, everyone was already quite tired. Even though they could recover Origin Energy via Origin Stones, the physical energy they expended couldn¡¯t be recovered. They were in need of some rest.

    ¡°Guess how much it cost,¡± Cloud Leopard said.

    ¡°Something like this? It probably was at least a hundred million Origin Stones. I say, where did you get so much money?¡± Jiang Xishui asked in shock. He was someone from a ruling n, so he could tell the value of the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle with a single nce. However, he was still caught off-guard by Su Chen¡¯s style in spending money.

    Su Chen ¡°modestly¡± smiled. ¡°Not that much, maybe around 60 million. This Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle has a few ws, so it was a bit cheaper. I also bought a few ingredients along with it, so I got it for a bit more than half off.¡±

    ¡°You also bought some ingredients? How much?¡±

    Su Chen tilted his head. ¡°A total of 1.55 million Origin Stones.¡±

    Jiang Xishui felt his vision go dark. ¡°You¡¯re telling me you spent 160 million Origin Stones all at once in Long Coiling City?¡±

    Su Chen maintained his indifferent attitude. ¡°No, that¡¯s how much I spent in the Flying Moon Workshop. In Long Coiling City? Hm, maybe around 300 million or so.¡±

    Jiang Xishui¡¯s body swayed as he almost fainted. Ma Hongfei, standing beside him, almost became mentally ill.

    If it weren¡¯t for the Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle, the Mountain-Beheading de, the Limpid Light-Splitting de, the Armor-Piercing Mountain-Cleaving Hammer, and the various glittering treasures and Origin Tools everyone owned, they would have thought that Su Chen was just exaggerating.

    Jiang Xishui stared at Su Chen intently. ¡°Tell me, how many Origin Stones did you spend?¡±

    ¡°Leopard, you tell him.¡± Su Chen focused on driving the shuttle. The Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle had already caught up with Wei Pei, but when considering the gap in strength, he didn¡¯t immediately attack. Instead, he aimed the cannon at Wei Pei.

    Even though the Sky Lightning Cannon¡¯s hit rate was incredibly low, its unbelievable power forced Wei Pei to be careful, so he would need to divert some energy to dodge from time to time, even changing directions sometimes when he didn¡¯t need to.

    However, his speed was much lower than the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle. No matter how he tried to evade, he couldn¡¯tpletely escape.

    As he watched the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle¡¯s cannon fire again and again, Wei Pei hardened his heart. ¡°Without the help of yourrades, do you really think that you guys are enough to deal with me?¡±

    He turned around, the Blue-Blooded Divine Wind Ape charging forth. The sky was thrown into turmoil, and arge blue hand swung through the air down at the shuttle.

    When faced with this situation, Su Chen patted the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle. It turned around around on the spot and retreated.

    He actually ran!

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 141: Pursuit 2

    Chapter 141: Pursuit (2)

    Upon seeing the Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Shuttle turn around to leave, Wei Pei was stunned, but he didn¡¯t chase after it. Instead, he harrumphed, ¡°At least you¡¯re aware!¡±

    He knew that he couldn¡¯t catch up, so he turned around to leave.

    However, when he turned around, the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle also turned around, firing off another cannon shot in his direction.

    Wei Pei couldn¡¯t do anything. He could only leap forward again, but this time he felt that the energy flow in his body was more turbulent than before. He knew that this was a result of his Lotus tform being damaged. If he didn¡¯t treat it quickly, his cultivation base would only continue to decline, so he wanted to nip it in the bud.

    However, that Su Chen was also quite tricky. He just wouldn¡¯t face him head on, using the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle¡¯s speed and attention-drawing abilities to attack from afar. If the enemy advanced, he would retreat, and if the enemy retreated he would advance.

    The Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle was faster, and the Sky Lightning Cannon¡¯s range was greater. In this kind of a situation, Wei Pei could only allow himself to get hit again and again.

    Cloud Leopard was still telling a story within the shuttle, which had some sunflower seeds and tea. Jiang Xishui and Ma Hongfei munched on some sunflower seeds as they listened to Cloud Leopard tell the story. asionally, Iron Cliff would also butt in.

    Upon hearing that Su Chen was actually cloud bat, all of the mysteries were made clear.

    Nothing else had happened recently that was bigger than this. Everyone also knew that the sales of the Three Yangs Medicine had to be rted to Cloud Bat.

    When he heard that Su Chen had saved up 1.8 billion Origin Stones, Jiang Xishui still felt dizzy.

    After that was the massive shopping spree that had urred in Long Coiling City. There wasn¡¯t actually anything interesting about it, but he couldn¡¯t help but talk about how much money they had spent and how casually they were able to buy things. The people listening were stunned and awed again and again.

    The outside situation was quite turbulent, but within the shuttle they were drinking tea and listening to stories, happy and at rest.

    Wei Pei¡¯s mood grew worse and worse as the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle continued to harass him. He knew that he couldn¡¯t do anything to them, so he stopped paying attention to it and began to focus all his attention on flying back to Clear River City.

    At the very least, Clear River City still had other Bloodline Nobility ns and other Light Shaking Realm cultivators to support him.

    Su Chen could tell what he was thinking. He turned around and said, ¡°He wants to go back to Clear River City and get some reinforcements. One of you should go and stop him.¡±

    ¡°Watch me.¡± Jiang Xishui flew forward.

    Because they were high up and without a water source, Jiang Xishui used the water vapor in the air to generaterge quantities of fog in the sky in front. It was just clear skies earlier, but it immediately became a dense mist.

    Wei Pei flew through the air, feeling like the air was bing damper and thicker, and the air resistance growing stronger and stronger. The situation only grew more and more dangerous, as he could be attacked at any time.

    Wei Pei was helpless. He could only change directions.

    Jiang Xishui, however, didn¡¯t continue to pester him. Instead, he returned to the shuttle and said, ¡°So what happened after? What about that Silver Crystal Screen?¡±

    Cloud Leopard replied, ¡°Oh, we had no use for it, so we let another guest take it away.¡±

    ¡°Aiya, you might not have had a use to it, but I would!¡± Jiang Xishui said with regret. ¡°The Silver Crystal Screen can be used to create a pool of water anywhere. You saw it yourselves; mybat ability when I am near a body of water and when I¡¯m not are on totally different levels! If I was near water, I could use my water prison to imprison him, but now in the air I can only use fog to make things difficult for him.¡±

    Iron Cliff replied obediently, ¡°I didn¡¯t think of that.¡±

    Jiang Xishui jabbed a finger at Su Chen. ¡°Where¡¯s your sense of brotherhood! You didn¡¯t even think of me at all, but I¡¯m helping you unify the Third River Army, cut off the waterways, and fend off Light Shaking Realm cultivators! But what about you? You didn¡¯t even think of me when you were enjoying all those benefits!¡±

    Su Chen hurriedly said, ¡°Alright, alright, I got it. It¡¯s my fault. At the time, I was only thinking of spanking those guys faster, but I really forgot about you. How about this, I¡¯ll give you ten millionter. You can buy whatever you want with it. What do you think?¡±

    Jiang Xishui felt dizzy again.

    Ten million!

    Su Chen could pull out such a sum so casually.

    ¡°Ok!¡± Jiang Xishui would be an idiot if he didn¡¯t ept. He thought for a moment, then added, ¡°But it can¡¯t just be me. Isn¡¯t Hanyan also your friend?¡±

    Damn!

    Su Chen cursed as he raised another finger. ¡°Twenty million. You guys can y around with it however you please.¡±

    ¡°Then that¡¯s settled!¡± Jiang Xishui yelled excitedly.

    Cloud Leopard saidzily, ¡°Then don¡¯t forget about Yue Longsha either. She¡¯s also our friend.¡±

    ¡°...... Yes, yes, she¡¯ll get ten million too.¡± Su Chen nodded repeatedly.

    ¡°And Wang Doushan,¡± Cloud Leopard continued.

    ¡°Yes, yes, he will too,¡± Su Chen said weakly.

    Iron Cliff also spoke up, ¡°Then what about our friends who went to the Goldwater Ruins?¡±

    Su Chen felt his kidneys aching. His hands trembled slightly, knocking the Sky Lightning Cannon slightly off-kilter. Unexpectedly, Wei Pei also happened to jump in that direction and was struck by the column of lightning. He yelled out in pain as his Lotus tform began to crack even more obviously.

    However, when he thought about the fact that they were quite good friends of his, it was inexcusable if he didn¡¯t take care of them as well. He made some calctions, then decided on giving each one of them a top-quality Origin Tool.

    Oh, and Night Demon too. That girl was the person he was the most friendly with in the Immortal Temple. He wouldn¡¯t be able to justify it if he didn¡¯t take care of her a little.

    In total, this was around one or two hundred million Origin Stones. Even Su Chen was rendered speechless. However, he wasn¡¯t really a selfish person, so after some consideration he agreed, chuckling to himself a little bit.

    Cloud Leopard added on, ¡°But when I think about it, the Origin Tools I have don¡¯t seem to be worth ten million in total, are they?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Su Chen wanted to pinch Cloud Leopard to death.

    He stopped looking at Wei Pei and turned around to look at Cloud Leopard. ¡°I will make it up to you.¡±

    ¡°Me too, Master,¡± Iron Cliff chuckled.

    ¡°Get out of here!¡± Su Chen sent him flying with a smack.

    Within the sky, the pursuit was still ongoing.

    Su Chen was getting more and more familiar with piloting the shuttle. Afternding that idental hit, Su Chen was already beginning to realize that just chasing after his opponent with the Sky Lightning Cannon wasn¡¯t smart. He began to anticipate Wei Pei¡¯s movements.

    Wei Pei was now in big trouble. He didn¡¯t know what direction the Sky Lightning Cannon was going to shoot at him from.

    Su Chen was also bing more familiar with his dodging habits, giving him some idea of which direction Wei Pei was going to head. In the end, two columns of lightning shot right in front of Wei Pei that were impossible for him to dodge.

    The Sky Lightning Cannon shattered Wei Pei¡¯s barrier and lit up half of his body. Even his Lotus tform had been damaged to a point where it was almost impossible for him to recover.

    When he saw this situation, Su Chen said, ¡°It¡¯s time for us to finish him off.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s do it!¡±

    Everyone simultaneously yelled as they charged out of the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle. A tform appeared on the shuttle that they could stand on, and the four of them began to unleash attacks at Wei Pei.

    It had to be said that as abat Origin Tool, the Cloud Thunder Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle was too easy to use. Its ability to cover arge area and generate a tform to stand on made it so that a bunch of youths who were much weaker than a Light Shaking Realm cultivator could unleash abat power surpassing their true strength to the point that even a Light Shaking Realm cultivator was sent packing.

    Upon seeing the desperate situation he was in, Wei Pei yelled, ¡°You won¡¯t be able to kill me!¡±

    He suddenly pulled out a vial of medicine and dumped it into his mouth. An instantter, the light from his Lotus tform grew more intense. The Blue-Blooded Divine Wind Ape appeared and howled, thenbined with Wei Pei¡¯s body. Then, his body turned into a streak of light that shot off into the distance, as if he were a shooting star, disappearing in the blink of an eye without a trace.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 142: Counterattack 1

    Chapter 142: Counterattack (1)

    As they watched the streak of light disappear into the distance, Su Chen, Jiang Xishui, and the rest all had dumbfounded expressions.

    ¡°Did...... did he get just away?¡± Ma Hongfei asked hesitatingly.

    ¡°Oh...... he should have gotten away, right?¡± Jiang Xishui wasn¡¯t too certain and nced at Su Chen.

    ¡°It seems like he¡¯s gotten away,¡± Cloud Leopard added.

    Only Iron Cliff was incredibly confident. ¡°He got away.¡±

    After staying with Su Chen for so long, they had be used to winning time after time. None of them ever expected that their opponent would sessfully escape, and they almost instinctively believed that Su Chen would still have some kind of tactic to turn around this loss.

    Su Chen sighed and said, ¡°This old man has been around for a long time. How could he not have some kind of ace up his sleeve? It¡¯s not that strange for him to have gotten away.¡±

    In reality, both Wei Pei and Shen Yuanhong hadn¡¯t taken their opponents seriously, so neither of them had made adequate preparations. Otherwise, with their many years of experience, how could they have so few trump cards?

    Jiang Xishui¡¯s expression was extremely regretful. ¡°One of the Light Shaking Realm cultivators escaped. That¡¯s going to be a bit troublesome.¡±

    Cloud Leopard said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. If he waited this long to drink that medicine, it must be an incredibly powerful medicine. He most likely had to pay an incredible price to get away.¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°I noticed some clues from off in the distance. If my guess is right, he used the Flower Birth Powder.¡±

    The Flower Birth Powder was a rare spirit medicine that could stimte a person¡¯s Lotus tform and transform it into Origin Energy. It was not some incredibly powerful medicine, but rather a medicine used for breaking through the smaller cultivation base tiers.

    Wei Pei had had a single Lotus tform for a long time and could form a second one whenever he wanted. He had originally wanted to wait longer to further solidify his foundation, and this Flower Birth Powder had been prepared for that a long time ago. He never expected that he would use it not to increase his cultivation base but instead to run away.

    Even though it wasn¡¯t an incredibly powerful medicine, the drawbacks were simr to one. The Flower Birth Powder¡¯s medicinal power was very forceful. Stimting one¡¯s Lotus tform and opening the second level could cause damage, though it could be healed over time if one sessfully broke into the next cultivation realm.

    Using it to escape had still stimted his Lotus tform, but he hadn¡¯t reached a higher cultivation base. When factoring in the damage that he had previously sustained, his condition even if he sessfully escaped could be imagined.

    A light injury to a person¡¯s Lotus tform might take a few tens of years to recover. A medium injury would cause a person¡¯s Lotus tform to shatter and fall into the Yang Opening Realm. A heavy injury would damage a person¡¯s Origin Energy source or even kill them.

    In any case, despite the fact that Wei Pei had managed to escape, he wouldn¡¯t be much of a threat anyways.

    After Su Chen said that, everyone let out a sigh of relief.

    ¡°Then what should we do next?¡± Cloud Leopard asked.

    ¡°Naturally, we¡¯ll be nning out our next steps on how to ughter our way into their dens!¡± Su Chen replied.

    When they heard this, everyone was stunned.

    ughter their way into the Bloodline Nobility ns¡¯ dens? Did Su Chen want topletely uproot the Bloodline Nobility ns? The problem was that these Bloodline Nobility ns had vast reserves of strength. Even if they lost two of their Light Shaking Realm cultivators, they wouldn¡¯t be able to deal with them so simply.

    Su Chen could already tell what everyone was thinking andughed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I have my own ns. There¡¯s no need to be in such a hurry. We¡¯ll y around with them for a bit.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Within the City Lord¡¯s pce.

    An Siyuan sat in his rocking chair, his expression heavy. ¡°Have we still not heard back from him yet?¡±

    Lu Yiyang, who was by his side, bowed and replied, ¡°Not yet. For now we haven¡¯t heard anything. It seems like either he isn¡¯t in Clear River, or......

    ¡°Or what? Tell me.¡±

    ¡°Or he just doesn¡¯t want to show himself.¡±

    ¡°You mean Su Chen hasn¡¯t reappeared because he¡¯s waiting for us to make some kind of move?¡±

    Lu Yiyang said, ¡°Everyone already knows about Wang Zhanyu¡¯s attack, and City Head even personally went to look for Wang Zhanyu after returning. You even fought with him over it. What kind of move is he waiting for? Unless......¡±

    Lu Yiyang trailed off again.

    An Siyuan let out a long sigh. ¡°Qingguang¡¯s actions were truly excessive this time. It¡¯s not surprising that he would be very disappointed.¡±

    Upon hearing Lu Qingguang¡¯s name, Lu Yiyang lowered his head wordlessly.

    An Siyuan muttered to himself, ¡°But Qingguang has been with me for a long time. Even though he¡¯s obviously made a mistake, he isn¡¯t our enemy. I have already reprimanded him, even though he might not be too happy about it.¡±

    Lu Yiyang meticulously replied, ¡°Some things need to be discussed slowly.¡±

    ¡°The prerequisite is that he gives me an opportunity to talk things out with him,¡± An Siyuan said as he shook his bald head.

    At that moment, a person reported from outside, ¡°The Origin Bureau¡¯s Bureau Head Su requests an audience with you!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± An Siyuan immediately sat up.

    Two minutester.

    Within the main hall of the City Lord¡¯s residence.

    ¡°Hahahaha, I knew that you wouldn¡¯t die so easily,¡± An Siyuan embraced Su Chen as he yelled loudly. His arms pressed so forcefully against Su Chen that Su Chen felt like the air was being squeezed out of his lungs.

    He said weakly, ¡°City Lord, if you don¡¯t ease up, I may not have been killed by Wang Zhanyu but I will die to your hugs.¡±

    An Siyuan reluctantly released him, rubbing that bald head of his. ¡°Where have you been these past few days? Howe you didn¡¯t return until now?¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t hide the truth. ¡°I went to Long Coiling City.¡±

    Long Coiling City?

    An Siyuan balked. Wang Zhanyu tried to kill you once, but why did you run all the way there? Were you nning on reporting this matter to the imperial family? But when he thought about it, was something as small as this really reportable?

    Thankfully, Su Chen didn¡¯t keep him in suspense and directly continued, saying, ¡°I went to go buy Origin Tools.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± An Siyuan squinted his eyes. Even though he looked crude because of his bald head, his thought process was incredibly meticulous. He knew that Su Chen couldn¡¯t possibly go all the way to Long Coiling City to buy Origin Tools for no reason.

    But if Su Chen said that he could deal with a Light Shaking Realm cultivator with just a few Origin Tools, he wouldn¡¯t believe it either, so he didn¡¯t understand what Su Chen was trying to get at.

    Su Chen thought for a moment and didn¡¯t see any need to keep An Siyuan in the dark, so he just straightforwardly said, ¡°Shen Yuanhong is dead.¡±

    Pu!

    Even a person of An Siyuan¡¯s status spat out the tea he was sipping upon hearing Su Chen utter this simple sentence.

    He stared at Su Chen. ¡°What did you say?¡±

    ¡°I killed him,¡± Su Chen said directly, and then added on after a moment of contemtion, ¡°Well, me and a few friends.¡±

    ¡°Are you telling the truth?¡± An Siyuan¡¯s voice became stern.

    Anything that involved a Light Shaking Realm cultivator wasn¡¯t a small matter.

    ¡°Wei Pei was also seriously injured and might fall out of the Light Shaking Realm,¡± Su Chen continued firing off the big guns, and An Siyuan felt like he was about to faint.

    Was this a joke? There was more than one person?

    Wei Pei might have fallen out of the Light Shaking Realm?

    Are my ears working correctly?

    ¡°The ¡®friends¡¯ you talked about...... it isn¡¯t Shi Kaihuang, is it?¡± An Siyuan thought for a moment before asking.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, this was the only possible exnation that he could imagine.

    Su Chen had been chased away by Wang Zhanyu and had to run to Long Coiling City to ask for help. Shi Kaihuang then personally made a move to take revenge for his disciple. With his strength, and Su Chen¡¯s help, that really might have been possible.

    For him, that was the only reasonable exnation.

    However, Su Chen shook his head, rejecting that line of reasoning. ¡°I don¡¯t need that old man to show himself for this kind of thing. I¡¯m here to see you because I think it¡¯s about time for us to make a move.¡±

    ¡°Make a move? What kind of move?¡±

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s to finish off those Bloodline Nobility ns,¡± Su Chen replied sinisterly.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 143: Counterattack 2

    Chapter 143: Counterattack (2)

    Of course it¡¯s to finish off those Bloodline Nobility ns!

    Finish off those Bloodline Nobility ns!

    Finish off Nobility ns!

    Su Chen¡¯s words rang out like thunder in An Siyuan¡¯s ears.

    Hadn¡¯t An Siyuan been trying to finish off those influential and powerful Bloodline Nobility ns this whole time?

    However, when Su Chen vocalized it, An Siyuan felt a strange feelinging over him.

    It wasn¡¯t because he didn¡¯t want to do that, but because he felt that for some reason Su Chen was in control of everything.

    Thankfully, this strange feeling retreated in but a moment. An Siyuan calmed himself and said, ¡°How do you want me to take them out? Just send troops like this? Even if a Shen Yuanhong dies, those Bloodline Nobility ns¡¯ foundation might not have been shaken at all. Even if Wang Zhanyu and Wei Pei also die, I cannot send troops to kill them for no reason, can I?¡±

    ¡°But they can attack imperial forces without repercussions?¡± Su Chen replied.

    An Siyuan replied, ¡°I have already reported it to the higher ups. They will make a judgment.¡±

    ¡°That judgment probably won¡¯t do anything to the Wang n, will they?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, I don¡¯t think they will do anything either. But that doesn¡¯t mean that the Wang n won¡¯t pay a price or won¡¯t have to make an effort. If they want to avoid danger and disasters, they will need to pay a heavy price.¡±

    ¡°So if you send troops to wipe out the Bloodline Nobility ns, you¡¯ll need to give the higher ups a reason for it. If you don¡¯t want anything to happen, you¡¯ll also need to pay a price?¡± Su Chen asked.

    An Siyuanughed, ¡°It¡¯s good if you know. Being a government official is a protection to you, but it is also a prison. We cannot do things as we please. Right, how did Shen Yuanhong die?¡±

    ¡°He went to Jade Heart Ind looking for a fight and found death.¡±

    ¡°So it was Jiang Xishui,¡± An Siyuan sighed. Even though Su Chen had never told him about Jiang Xishui, his identity as Su Chen¡¯s ssmate wasn¡¯t difficult to unearth, so everyone was very clear about it. However, Jiang Xishui had never done anything too over the top, and the waterways to Clear River City remained open, so no Light Shaking Realm cultivators had ever targeted him.

    After Su Chen had been attacked, Jiang Xishui had immediately cut off the waterways. An Siyuan also heard about it, so whenbining both pieces of information, An Siyuan immediately pieced together what most likely had happened. He nodded and said, ¡°That¡¯s for the best. We can push everything onto those pirates. However, attacking the Bloodline Nobility ns is one thing and needs to be nned out over a long period of time. Without a good excuse, I can¡¯t pay too great of a price, so we need to do things cautiously.¡±

    ¡°Then what if I cane up with an excuse and pay the price?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± An Siyuan was stunned for a moment. ¡°What excuse?¡±

    ¡°Restrictions on battles between Origin Qi Schrs: anyone in the Light Shaking Realm or above cannot fight within the city.¡±

    An Siyuan squinted, ¡°You mean......¡±

    ¡°As long as you can keep the Light Shaking Realm cultivators and above away, I can handle the rest.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not afraid that Wang Zhanyu will attack you once you leave the city?¡±

    ¡°When I leave the city, we can push everything onto those pirates,¡± Su Chen replied.

    An Siyuan felt his heart jolt for a moment before he tilted his head back andughed loudly. ¡°Haha! What a good idea! However, Su Chen, can you really do that?¡±

    ¡°We won¡¯t know until I try. In any case, if I fail, I¡¯ll be the one taking on the consequences. However, if I seed, I hope that no one on City Lord¡¯s side will be holding onto our legs.¡±

    An Siyuan understood Su Chen¡¯s meaning. ¡°Su Chen, Qingguang......¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°I can understand City Lord¡¯s difficulty, which is why I am not requiring City Lord do anything for me. I just hope that one day, if something to the opposite effect urs, City Lord will also understand why I did things that way and won¡¯t hold it against me.¡±

    An Siyuan frowned. ¡°Is there such a need? When faced with amon enemy, everyone should work together.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why I will wait until themon enemy has been dealt with to take care of the internal strife.¡±

    An Siyuan let out a long sigh and didn¡¯t say anything else.

    Su Chen knew that this was his implicit approval.

    He bowed to An Siyuan, then turned around to leave.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    At the Clear River Docks.

    Ever since the Third River Army had cut off the waterways, the number of boats at the dock had noticeably decreased. Even the Long Clear Gang was beginning to grow idle.

    Today, however, the situation was a bit different.

    Threerge boats filled to the brim with goods entered the docks, attracting the calls of numerous people who relied on the docks to earn a living.

    The boats were filled with all kinds of living necessities, especially food.

    Clear River City had a lot of medicinal ingredients but not much food. Every year, they would need to importrge quantities of food from outside to meet the need in the city. The obstruction of the waterways affected themoners first and foremost. The price of basic grains was already beginning to rise, so the appearance of these boats filled with foodstuffs could dissolve a lot of frowns.

    As soon as the boats docked, the dock workers would board the boats to unload the food.

    ¡°Everyone calm down! One at a time!¡± Under the direction of a foreman, bag after bag of foodstuffs was unloaded from the boat.

    No one noticed that in addition to food, the boats also hid arge number of people. They were also dressed up as dock workers, with white towels wrapped around their heads. They each picked up a bag of food and carried it off the boat. After disembarking, they headed for a secret storehouse near the docks.

    Very quickly, the ce was packed with people.

    ¡°There¡¯s a total of two hundred people here. They¡¯re all skilled individuals who have the Hemolytic Totem. This should be enough for you to use,¡± Su Chen said to Wang Wenxin within the storehouse.

    Wang Wenxinughed, ¡°This is more than enough to level the whole Clear River City. Bureau Head, please be assured that from this day onwards, Clear River City¡¯s underground belongs to the Long Clear Gang.¡±

    In the depths of night.

    Red Dust Street began to grow more and more lively.

    As a well-known sleepless street in Clear River City, nighttime was this ce¡¯s paradise.

    Red Dust District produced arge number of prostitutes. The Intoxicating Fragrance Pavilion that Wang Wenxin liked to frequent was also on this street.

    The entire street was under the Red Eagle Gang¡¯s control. More precisely, all of the flesh-rted business in Clear River City needed their approval before being conducted.

    However, everything was going to change that evening.

    People came and went on the busy street. The flow of guests never ceased.

    At some point, however, a group of people wearing red turbans and wielding steel des appeared at one end of the street. They didn¡¯t make any noise, but their killing intent filled the air, scaring many of the bystanders into hiding.

    The men wearing red turbans steadily walked along the street, causing quite a bit of turmoil no matter where they went.

    The Red Eagle Gang in charge of this area couldn¡¯t possibly sit and watch this situation develop. As such, very quickly a bunch of men wieldingrge des charged out. Even though they were also full of vigor, they were obviously weaker in formation than these people wearing red turbans.

    ¡°Friends from the Long Clear Gang, why have youe to my Red Dust Street?¡± a man at the very front said. He had obviously perceived the origins of these people.

    As he spoke, the group of red turbans split into two. A person walked out from their midst. It was Wang Wenxin.

    Wang Wenxin saidzily, ¡°What? If I want to go out for a walk, is the Red Eagle Gang going to stop me?¡±

    Upon seeing Wang Wenxin, the Red Eagle Gang member¡¯s expression became a lot more serious. ¡°So it¡¯s Gang Leader Wang. If Gang Leader Wang wants to go out for a walk, we naturally will not stop you. Buting here with so many people and such grandeur doesn¡¯t look like you¡¯re just talking a walk to me. Look, you¡¯re scaring away all the customers here.¡±

    Wang Wenxin nced at his surroundings. The customers were already beginning to hide and back away. A trace of a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. ¡°It¡¯s good we¡¯re scaring them away. They will thank me for thister.¡±

    The opposing male balked. ¡°Thank you for what?¡±

    ¡°Naturally, for sparing their lives.¡± Wang Wenxin¡¯s expression immediately grew serious. ¡°I am going to wash these streets with blood tonight. Those who are here to watch the show, if you don¡¯t leave now, are you waiting for me to kill you too?¡±

    As soon as he said this, the remaining bystanders all ran away in fear. The expressions of the people from the Red Eagle Gang drastically changed.

    Someone yelled loudly, ¡°Wang Wenxin, what is the meaning of this?¡±

    ¡°Meaning? The meaning is that from this day onwards, I am iming the Red Dust District for myself. Not only will this district belong to me, but so will the entire Red Eagle Gang. If anyone doesn¡¯t agree, I will be happy to take their life!¡±

    Wang Wenxin waved his hand. Arge wave of people wearing red turbans swarmed forth.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 144: Counterattack 3

    Chapter 144: Counterattack (3)

    That evening, the Long Clear Gang forcefully attacked, destroying the Red Eagle Gang. Gang leader Gong Kenan was killed on the spot, and the Red Dust Street became part of the Long Clear Gang¡¯s territory.

    When news of this matter spread, the whole Clear River City was shocked.

    The Long Clear Gang always did things under the control of the Bloodline Nobility ns, so major disagreements rarely urred, though there was the asional bit of friction. The Red Eagle Gang belonged to the Shen n, while the Long Clear Gang belonged to the Lai n. For the Long Clear Gang to make a move at this moment had profound implications.

    At that moment, a rumor suddenly began to spread.

    While Shen Yuanhong was out on a trip, he suffered a tragic death.

    The whole Long Clear City exploded intomotion like something dropped into a smoking hot pan.

    Shen Yuanhong was a Light Shaking Realm, one of Clear River City¡¯s well-known experts. He was also the Shen n¡¯s source of dominance.

    The sudden spread of the news of his death wasn¡¯t actually that big of a deal. It was just a rumor, after all, which the Shen n could deny. However, the sudden attack of the Long Clear Gang, along with the Shen n¡¯s sudden silence, immediately gave people cause to start thinking wildly.

    With the Long Clear Gang making a sudden move, many people believed that Shen Yuanhong had indeed gotten himself into trouble, and Lai Wuyi had instructed the Long Clear Gang to do so upon getting wind of it.

    Lai Wuyi was instantly under attack from all sides. Many people thought that he was kicking someone while they were down.

    ¡°Bastard! Wang Wenxin, what the hell did you do? Who told you to do this?¡±

    Within the Lai n¡¯s main courtyard, Lai Wuyi was in a fit of rage as he yelled while smacking the table.

    Wang Wenxin stood below him and replied confidently, ¡°n Patriarch Lai, that¡¯s not right for you to say. I didn¡¯t do anything wrong; what are you getting so mad at me for?¡±

    Lai Wuyi jabbed his finger at him and asked, ¡°Why did you wipe out the Red Eagle Gang?¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Wang Wenxinughed coldly, ¡°That¡¯s an interesting way of putting it. We have always been fighting over territory, haven¡¯t we? Red Eagle Gang has no one protecting them right now, yet they control such a fat portion of territory. How could I stop myself from trying to get a piece of it for myself?¡±

    ¡°But the Bloodline Nobility ns are all allied together. Your doing this is the same as kicking them while they¡¯re down and taking advantage of the state they are in!¡±

    Wang Wenxin immediately countered, ¡°Then when my Long Clear Gang was being wiped out on the docks by Su Chen, what did the other gangs do? Does that count as kicking us while we were down? Does that count as taking advantage of the state we were in?¡±

    Lai Wuyi was bbergasted.

    That year, when Su Chen washed the docks with blood, the Long Clear Gang had sustained heavy losses. Even though Wang Wenxin appeared afterwards to clean up the mess, losing power and influence was inevitable due to how many people had died.

    The real world was very practical. If you were weak, you shouldn¡¯t take so much territory.

    Even though they were under the control of the Bloodline Nobility ns, it was impossible to remove all conflict between the various gangs. The ns could only do as much as they could to mitigate the size of themotions.

    As such, during that period of time, some of the Long Clear Gang¡¯s territory had been divvied up by the other gangs.

    During that time, however, Su Chen had helped Wang Wenxin secretly train a group of skilled subordinates, with whom he was able to easily reim arge portion of that territory.

    No matter what, though, the gangs taking advantage of one another wasmon. This wasn¡¯t a grudge conflict. The Red Eagle Gang had indeed taken over some of the Long Clear Gang¡¯s territory and businesses back then.

    As such, when Wang Wenxin said this, Lai Wuyi couldn¡¯t think of anything to say in rebuttal.

    After thinking about it for a moment, he could only say, ¡°But if you do this, what does it say about how you view the Lai n?¡±

    Wang Wenxin raised his eyebrows. ¡°The Lai n?¡±

    ¡°Wang Wenxin, you can¡¯t possibly believe that the Long Clear Gang can rise up with just your support, right? Without the support of my Lai n, do you really think the Long Clear Gang could have evensted until now?¡±

    Wang Wenxin guffawed. ¡°The Lai n¡¯s support? You mean taking 70% of the profits of my Long Clear Gang, but doing nothing once the old gang leader died, giving away territory in exchange for making peace, and even delivering the gang members into the hands of those murderers? That kind of support?¡±

    Lai Wuyi froze.

    Back then, when Wang Wenxin had assumed control, Su Chen had forced the Long Clear Gang to hand over the culprit of the murder of the Origin Bureau¡¯s personnel. The Lai n had agreed helplessly, but they also knew that this matter would breed unhappiness amongst the gang.

    Indeed, that kind of acquiescence reared its ugly head today. Wang Wenxin and his subordinates no longer put the Lai n in their eyes.

    When he thought about it, that had to be the case.

    Otherwise, how could he dare do something like this?

    Lai Wuyi stared savagely at Wang Wenxin. ¡°If it weren¡¯t for what happened that year, you might not have been able to climb to the top either.¡±

    Wang Wenxin replied with a smile, ¡°You¡¯re not wrong, but that doesn¡¯t mean that I can¡¯t try and get revenge for the previous n leader.¡±

    Getting revenge for a dead person was a great excuse. Even if the sessor couldn¡¯t wait for that person to die, that didn¡¯t stop him from demonstrating sympathy once assuming the role to show loyalty. This could not only rope in the other gang members but could also serve as a pretext for waging war.

    In this kind of age, where status was incredibly important, giving appropriate pretext for waging war was still important.

    Otherwise, the Bloodline Nobility ns and An Siyuan wouldn¡¯t need to be so cautious. Actually, many people wouldn¡¯t need to act so cautiously.

    In a world without caution, where pure martial strength determined social status, was a world where brains were not so important and where the strong consumed the weak.

    They were very lucky that they were not in that kind of a world. This world had some semnce of order and regtion, resulting in a sense of caution.

    Even though there was a lot of chaos within that order, exceptions to those rules, and fearlessness in the face of caution, generally speaking there was still a need to maintain a certain amount of dignity.

    As such, when Lai Wuyi heard Wang Wenxin¡¯s words, he knew that he had already lost control of the Long Clear Gang.

    Actually, he had probably lost it a long time ago; it was just that the hands hadn¡¯t beenid out on the table until now.

    Lai Wuyi stared coldly at Wang Wenxin.

    He knew that he had two choices.

    The first was to immediately kill this disobedient bastard. However, doing so was equivalent to admitting to outsiders that he had lost control over the Long Clear Gang. The second reason was more chilling. After all, the Long Clear Gang had taken down the Red Eagle Gang and swallowed up their territory, increasing their profits. The people who would benefit the greatest were the Lai n. Wang Wenxin¡¯s actions were equivalent to a conquest. If Lai Wuyi were to kill him, it would be too hard for others to ept. Thirdly, he might not even be able to kill him. The Lai n had no Light Shaking Realm cultivators; their strongest experts were all Yang Opening Realm experts, a number of which had been lost in their pursuit after Su Chen. On the other hand, the Long Clear Gang had been on the up-and-up recently, and a number of new Yang Opening Realm cultivators had joined their ranks. Apparently, the Long Clear Gang had some kind of secret technique that had elevated the strength of the gang as a whole.

    That was why this wasn¡¯t a good choice.

    The second choice was to tacitly agree with Wang Wenxin¡¯s actions. This way, at the very least on the surface it would appear that he still had control over the Long Clear Gang, and could benefit from their swallowing up of the Red Eagle Gang ¨C Wang Wenxin hadn¡¯t said that he wouldn¡¯t pay up.

    However, this would put Lai Wuyi under the pressure of the other Bloodline Nobility ns.

    Lai Wuyi thought for some time, then said slowly, ¡°I can understand your sentiment of revenge for the former n leader......¡±

    The two of them simultaneously cursed in their hearts, What sentiment of revenge?

    ¡°However, your actions put me in a difficult position. But since you did it already, and you belong to the Lai n, it is my duty to protect you. When Li Yue was working for me, I wasn¡¯t able to protect him good enough. This time, you may consider it an apology from me. I will take the responsibility for it this time.¡±

    A delighted expression appeared on Wang Wenxin¡¯s face. ¡°Many thanks for n Leader¡¯s understanding! The Long Clear Gang will definitely continue to work hard for the Lai n.¡±

    ¡°However, your actions put me in a difficult position. But since you did it already, and you belong to the Lai n, it is my duty to protect you. When Li Yue was working for me, I wasn¡¯t able to protect him good enough. This time, you may consider it an apology from me. I will take the responsibility for it this time.¡±

    A delighted expression appeared on Wang Wenxin¡¯s face. ¡°Many thanks for n Leader¡¯s understanding! The Long Clear Gang will definitely continue to work hard for the Lai n.¡±

    ¡°Okay, you may go. Just don¡¯t make any more problems for me,¡± Lai Wuyi said as he waved his hand weakly.

    Of course, he couldn¡¯t have possibly dreamed that the Long Clear Gang¡¯s problems had only just begun.

    s

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 145: Counterattack 4

    Chapter 145: Counterattack (4)

    Within the Wei n¡¯s Residence, Clear River City.

    As soon as Wei Songlin walked out, a bunch of people swarmed around him. ¡°Elder, what¡¯s the situation like? How is n Patriarch?¡±

    Wei Songlin said, his expression dark, ¡°His Lotus tform shattered and his cultivation base has dropped back to the peak of the Yang Opening Realm.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Everyone who heard this was stunned.

    Wei Songlin added on, ¡°However, the foundation is still there. Father said that as long as he carefully nurses his wounds, he should be able to reach the Light Shaking Realm again.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± everyone sighed with relief.

    As long as he could reach the Light Shaking Realm again, then the situation wasn¡¯t too dire.

    ¡°However, it¡¯s going to take at least ten years or so.¡±

    This single sentence brought everyone abruptly back to reality.

    Ten years!

    Ten years wasn¡¯t really a long time, but it wasn¡¯t short either. Most importantly, how much strength you had determined how much benefit you had. Without the support of a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, the Wei n was going to have a difficult time of things for these next ten years.

    Someone sighed, ¡°If it¡¯s ten years, then it¡¯s ten years. At least it¡¯s better than the Shen n.¡±

    The Shen n!

    Upon hearing these words, everyone felt their hearts tremble.

    As soon as news of Shen Yuanhong¡¯s death had spread, the Shen n lost a lot of prestige. Many people were already beginning to eye the Shen n¡¯s businesses, and were reaching their hands in.

    Actually, even without Shen Yuanhong, the Shen n still had quite a few experts. The Lai n had no Light Shaking Realm cultivators, but even so in terms of pure strength they might not even be able to measure up to a Shen n without Shen Yuanhong.

    However, there was an issue with this: the influence a Bloodline Nobility n had was directly corrted to the power they possessed. ording to the territory outlines of the ten Bloodline Nobility ns, the Wang n had the most shops, Origin Qi Schrs, and territory, followed by the Shen and Wei n. With Shen Yuanhong¡¯s death, the number of businesses the Shen n owned didn¡¯t quite match up to their actual strength.

    Of course, this was only a mismatch. Things might not have been such a big deal since people would have been a bit more considerate. Shen Yuanhong had just died, and nobody would be so impatient as to swallow up his n¡¯s businesses (at least that quickly). They were stillrades and allies, so some camaraderie was present. Some ns even had inw rtions with others.

    As such, unless the Shen n had totally copsed, people wouldn¡¯t usually be this obvious about it. Even if they were going to take some, they would do it by slowly boiling the frog to death, one step at a time.

    However, the Clear River Gang had forced their way in.

    The Long Clear Gang had massacred the Red Eagle Gang on Red Dust Street just shortly after Shen Yuanhong had died and forcefully seized those businesses.

    Normally, this situation would have been brought to the alliance, and the Long Clear Gang would have been punished.

    However, no punishment actually urred.

    First of all, Lai Wuyi steadfastly defended the Long Clear Gang ¨C for his n¡¯s face, for the profits that were about toe his way, for the hearts of the gang members, and for his own well-hidden wild ambition, Lai Wuyi unhesitatingly stepped right into the pit Su Chen had dug for him.

    The Wang n remained silent ¨C An Siyuan had seriously warned Wang Zhanyu not to make any more careless moves and was watching him all the time. Wang Zhanyu had only attacked Su Chen once, but to mitigate anymotion he had been forced to use a connection in the imperial pce that had been very hard toe by. Things only calmed down then and only then, and he was not willing to start something again in the slightest.

    The Long n and Lian n followed suit. They also made quiet moves themselves, each seizing the territory of two of the smaller gangs belonging to the Shen n. Of course, they did it in a way that was not nearly as bloody as the Long Clear Gang.

    For a multitude of reasons, the Long Clear Gang¡¯s massacre of the Red Eagle Gang went unpunished, giving everyone else a bad idea.

    To countless people, the Shen n was like a piece of fat meat. Someone had already savagely bit off the first bite; talking things over civilly was longer possible. If they didn¡¯t want to be squeezed out of contention, they would need to quickly start fighting for it.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, the fate of the Shen n was quite obvious.

    In just a few days, the gangs under the Shen n¡¯s control had been attacked multiple times and were at this point almostpletely wiped out.

    Gangs were like knives.

    Knives meant for butchering fatty pieces of meat.

    Even though these organizations didn¡¯t seem like much, they were very useful to many people. Any dirty business that couldn¡¯t be seen by others were done through these criminal gangs, and these gangs were often responsible for attacking an opponent to probe their strength. Finally, territories that were hard to take over all at once were usually taken over slowly by these criminal gangs.

    For instance, storefronts.

    Since I control the gang that owns this street, I control all of the shops along this street as well.

    If I don¡¯t want certain shops on this street to continue doing business, there are many things I can do.

    One could say that gangs were the outermostyer of protection. Without thisyer of protection, the thick cut of fat meat would be revealed to everyone.

    As such, once they lost control of the gangs, the businesses belonging to the Shen n followed suit shortly after.

    The Shen n naturally had people guarding these stores, but everyone knew that how much strength you had determined how much territory you could possess. If you didn¡¯t have enough strength but had a lot of territory, protecting it would be very difficult.

    In the following days, the hundred or so businesses that the Shen n owned in Clear River City had all been harrassed on some level. The people from the Shen n did their best but could only protect a small portion of them.

    Under these conditions, the Shen n began to sell some of their businesses. Like this, they could concentrate their defensive efforts. This was often howrge Bloodline Nobility ns would adapt and protect themselves under dire circumstances.

    Some people could reascend to the top after a few years of hibernation, but others would totally copse, never to rise again.

    When he thought of the Shen n, Wei Songlin felt his jaw clench.

    He thought for a moment, then said, ¡°Old Li, organize the few shops along Large Willow Alleyter and sell them.¡±

    Chief Steward Li felt his heart leap. ¡°Elder, those stores are quite profitable!¡±

    ¡°I know!¡± Wei Songlin said impatiently. ¡°But if we don¡¯t give away some real benefits, who would be willing? With Su Chen here, Father¡¯s wounds definitely won¡¯t be covered up. Haven¡¯t you seen that Shen Yuanhong¡¯s death has already been announced? Right now, the best course of action is the safest.¡±

    ¡°Su Chen!¡±

    Upon hearing this name, everyone felt itchy with rage.

    If it weren¡¯t for him, everyone wouldn¡¯t have fallen to such a lowly condition.

    ¡°Ten years! Everyone, please wait patiently for ten years. When the n Patriarch recovers his strength and reforms his Lotus tform, the Wei n will definitely get revenge!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± everyone agreed at the same time.

    However, no one had expected that Su Chen wasn¡¯t nning on giving them ten years of time.

    A servant hurried over. ¡°Elder! Elder!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Why are you making such amotion?¡± Wei Songlin frowned. Even though the n had fallen on hard times, it wasn¡¯t a reason for servants to lose their heads in this kind of manner.

    ¡°Elder, Su Chen has returned!¡±

    Upon hearing the name Su Chen, everyone¡¯s hearts trembled. When they heard that he had returned, everyone was shocked.

    Hadn¡¯t he returned a long time ago?

    No, that wasn¡¯t right.

    Wei Songlin suddenly realized that the underling meant that Su Chen had openly appeared in Clear River City again.

    Ever since the massive pursuit outside of the city, Su Chen had kept himself in hiding.

    Now, he was officially announcing his return.

    ¡°In what fashion did he return?¡± Wei Songlin asked.

    ¡°In no particr fashion at all,¡± the underling replied, a little confused. ¡°He just appeared at the Origin Bureau and began to take care of business.¡±

    ¡°Take care of business......¡± Wei Songlin fell into deep thought. Suddenly, his expression changed: ¡°Not good!¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 146: Counterattack 5

    Chapter 146: Counterattack (5)

    Within the Eight Treasures Tower.

    Wu Shan sat at a seat near a window, gulping down a bowl of wine. The Eight Treasures Tower had eight delicacies, and this kind of wine was one of them. The alcohol content was extremely high, it had a lingering aftertaste, and was so potent that it would explode if even a spark touched it.

    Wu Shan loved to drink strong wine, just like how he liked strong females. Only wines that burned going down were worth drinking.

    After bing an Origin Qi Schr, the enjoyments of mortals would often be dull, so they would need to search for newer and more powerful stimuli. Some Origin Qi Schrs took lots of risks, others focused on their cultivation, and still others would constantly up the ante on the stimtion they received during their daily life.

    Wu Shan wascking in courage and determination, and his intelligence wascking. He couldn¡¯t be an adventurer or a schr, so he could only choose thest option. He blew his time and money in the best wine taverns and on the best prostitutes, consuming his energy with these things.

    As long as he could live this way until he died, that was enough for him.

    ¡°Wu Shan,¡± a voice spoke from behind Wu Shan.

    Wu Shan didn¡¯t even turn around. ¡°I don¡¯t give a damn who you are. Let your farts out quickly and don¡¯t interrupt my meal.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± The person behind him didn¡¯t beat around the bush. ¡°Wu Shan, you stirred up amotion three days ago in an official temple, killing two people and injuring twelve. The investigation has been concluded and solid evidence has been found. Come with us to the Origin Bureau.¡±

    Wu Shan didn¡¯t move. He guffawed, ¡°You must have made a mistake.¡±

    ¡°Whether or not we¡¯ve made a mistake will be made clear once we¡¯ve made a trip to the Origin Bureau.¡± The speaker grabbed Wu Shan¡¯s shoulder.

    Just as he touched Wu Shan, Wu Shan¡¯s arm suddenly bent at a strange angle and unleashed a palm at the person behind him. Origin Energy capable of splitting a sea and overturning a mountain exploded forth. At the same time, Wu Shan charged forward, breaking through the window and leaping into the air.

    However, when he leapt into the air, he found a person already there waiting for him.

    Yuan Lieyang.

    He jabbed a finger at Wu Shan. A blinding wave of mes exploded in front of him, sting Wu Shan back into the tower.

    Yuan Lieyang strolled casually into the tower and said, ¡°If I let you get away like this, how would I have the guts to face Sir Su when I return?¡±

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± Wu Shan tilted his head back and howled, as if he wanted to let everyone know who had captured him.

    Yuan Lieyangughed coldly and didn¡¯t stop him.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Qian Rongbo carried a birdcage with him as he wandered around the streets. When people on both sides of the streets saw him walk by, they would all lower their heads in fear.

    Qian Rongbo enjoyed this kind of feeling.

    This feeling of being feared and respected by others made him feel like he was a king, not one of the Bloodline Nobility ns¡¯ dogs.

    He wasn¡¯t a dog!

    What did people cultivate so hard for? Wasn¡¯t it for a higher status, a better life, and more freedom?

    But he had discovered very early on that freedom was a hollow word ¨C no matter how much effort you put in, there was always someone stronger than you.

    If you cultivated to the Qi Drawing Realm and became a prestigious Origin Qi Schr, there would be a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator above you. Once you reached the Blood Boiling Realm, there were Yang Opening Realm cultivators waiting in line.

    The path of cultivation was endless, but that meant there was always someone better than you.

    Qian Rongbo knew how talented he was. Perhaps the Yang Opening Realm was already his limit.

    As such, he had given up on cultivating a long time ago, instead focusing on enjoying himself.

    However, it was only in front ofmoners that he could feel the thrill and glory of being an Origin Qi Schr. Only in front of them was he no longer one of the Bloodline Nobility n¡¯s dogs, but a real, living big shot.

    He enjoyed this kind of feeling a lot.

    As such, he put all of his energy into maintaining amanding and awe-inspiring presence.

    He came to a young maiden and stopped in front of her, saying, ¡°You just stole a nce at me.¡±

    Qian Rongbo¡¯s eyes were very sharp. With a single nce, he had seen this young maiden shoot a nce at him when lowering her head. Perhaps it was due to internal conflict, or a moment of curiosity, or it was really just a careless nce. Regardless, she had taken just a peek at him.

    This nce of hers would be the source of her nightmares for the rest of her life.

    The young maiden lifted her head up to nce at the other party. ¡°Sir?¡±

    Qian Rongbo sighed. ¡°That was a very rude thing to do. Since you made a mistake, you need to pay the price.¡±

    Then, he stretched his hands out, gouging the young maiden¡¯s eyes out.

    A horrific shriek rang out, but Qian Rongbo acted like he had just heard the world¡¯s most moving music. He left with a satisfied smile on his face.

    ¡°Qian Rongbo,¡± a person from the Origin Bureau called out from behind him.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Qian Rongbo nced behind him.

    A trace of regret shed across Duan Feng¡¯s eyes as he watched the young maiden, who had copsed on the ground and was bawling.

    He had just been a moment toote!

    He said, ¡°It seems like I don¡¯t need to tell you your crimes. A piece of trash like you is the most worthy of death. Take him away!¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    At the same time, these kinds of arrests were happening all over Clear River City.

    The Origin Bureau¡¯s strength had soared under Su Chen¡¯s leadership year after year. It was no longer the Origin Bureau that only had twenty or thirty Origin Qi Schrs. At this point, there were over a hundred of them, including seven or eight Yang Opening Realm cultivators.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that the Bloodline Nobility ns had Light Shaking Realm cultivators inmand, Su Chen could easily turn the Origin Bureau into a nobility n himself.

    Now that Shen Yuanhong had died in battle, Wei Pei was seriously injured, and Wang Zhanyu had his hands tied by An Siyuan. In a situation where the high cultivation base individuals could no longer make a move, everything came down to the strength of the Yang Opening Realm cultivators.

    In this aspect, Su Chen had quite a bit of confidence.

    Ignoring Jiang Xishui¡¯s Third River Army and Wang Wenxin¡¯s Long Clear Gang, the Origin Bureau that Su Chen controlled was enough to throw all of Clear River City into turmoil.

    Now, that was exactly what he was doing.

    The Bull Mountain Pavilion, Ancient Arrangement Gardens, Barley Creek District, Dragon Head Monastery, Cheap Profit Pond, Knd Bay, Well Vige, Pagoda Rock Alley, Mill Street, West Slope Street, Immortal Temple...... Arrests were being made all over Clear River City.

    The Origin Qi Schrs who had behaved unreasonably in Clear River City, had stirred up trouble, had killed people before, had harmed innocents, or had scammedmoners, were all captured.

    Some tried to fight back publicly. The luckier ones were taken in after some injuries, while the unluckier ones were killed on the spot.

    A ¡°crackdown¡± storm blew through Clear River City, but the crackdown was specifically on Origin Qi Schrs because the Origin Bureau was responsible only for dealing with Origin Qi Schrs. They had no right to execute thew onmoners.

    But even if they were only dealing with Origin Qi Schrs, everyone could tell that Origin Bureau¡¯s execution of thew was selective.

    They only targeted individuals from the Bloodline Nobility ns ¨C that went without saying.

    However, they were selecting targets even from amongst the Bloodline Nobility ns.

    The Origin Bureau¡¯s main targets belonged to the Shen n and Wei n.

    On the day that Su Chen returned, the Origin Bureau went on a tear cleaning up Origin Qi Schrs that weren¡¯t in ordance with thew, and seventy or eighty percent of those ¡°not in ordance with thew¡± came from these two ns.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 147: Counterattack 6

    Chapter 147: Counterattack (6)

    ¡°Even Lian Yanyi and Luo Yu were arrested?¡±

    Wang Peiyuan stared at the report in his hands, his expression stern.

    There report was short but concise, giving him a lot of pressure.

    The consequences of not being able to kill Su Chen had reared their ugly heads. Su Chen had begun to retaliate as soon as he returned.

    Actually, he wasn¡¯t surprised that Su Chen would try and get revenge, but to do it in such a decisive and unstoppable manner had totally caught him off guard.

    Most importantly, Shen Yuanhong had been killed and Wei Pei was seriously injured.

    The loss of these two peak existences caused Su Chen to lose his fear and begin to move in a much bolder way.

    Even though the Wang n still had Wang Zhanyu, An Siyuan¡¯s existence nullified Wang Zhanyu¡¯s usefulness, making it so that sess of this battle depended on those with lower cultivation bases, which was exactly what Su Chen was going for.

    Wang Peiyuan felt his heart tighten whenever he thought of this. ¡°We cannot allow Su Chen to continue tormenting us like this. Do you have any ideas for how to resolve this matter?¡±

    An official to the side said, ¡°You can either do things openly or shadily. At this point, Su Chen and we are like fire and water. Bribing him won¡¯t be effective at all. He is also doing things in the name of the Origin Bureau, and the people he is catching do indeed have crimes. With proper justification, along with An Siyuan¡¯s support, reporting him to the higher-ups will be useless. As such, the only way to resolve this issue will probably need to be carried out secretively.¡±

    Another person said, ¡°Su Chen always takes his guards with him whenever he goes out so that he is always surrounded by nearly a hundred of them. In addition, he doesn¡¯t leave Clear River City for no reason, so killing him probably won¡¯t be easy. Unless......¡±

    He did not continue to speak, but everyone knew that he was about to say ¡°unless Wang Zhanyu personally makes a move.¡±

    Wang Peiyuan shook his head. They coulde up with all kinds of ideas, but it always came back to his father. ¡°With An Siyuan present, that won¡¯t be possible.¡±

    An official said, ¡°We obviously can¡¯t do anything publicly, but what if we try to catch him off-guard......¡±

    Wang Peiyuan was stunned. ¡°You want Father to do such a lowly thing and act like an assassin? How can that be?¡±

    He stood as he mmed the table.

    Even though An Siyuan could protect Su Chen, he wouldn¡¯t be able to stay at Su Chen¡¯s side all the time. If Wang Zhanyu was willing to put down his pride and assassinate Su Chen secretly, Su Chen might not be able to escape it.

    But wasn¡¯t that too embarrassing?

    A Light Shaking Realm cultivator needed to secretly assassinate a Yang Opening Realm cultivator?

    Wang Peiyuan could already imagine the beating he would receive if he were to suggest this to Wang Zhanyu,

    ¡°No way! Absolutely not!¡± Wang Peiyuan shook his head repeatedly.

    The official sighed. Actually, when he had made this suggestion, he already knew that Wang Peiyuan most likely wasn¡¯t going to agree. The nobility ns valued their faces, but oftentimes their face was their downfall. If Wang Zhanyu hadn¡¯t cared so much for his face the first time he attacked and had continued to chase after Su Chen when he ran into the mountains, Su Chen might not have been able to escape, and no counterattack would be urring.

    It was entirely because of face that Wang Zhanyu wasn¡¯t willing to take the route of a secret assassination, giving Su Chen another opportunity.

    If this continued, it wouldn¡¯t be long before they wouldn¡¯t be able to assassinate him even if they wanted to.

    Truly, as soon as they suffered one setback, they suffered several in a row.

    This was how the real world worked. People would always hesitate to pay a price in order to resolve an issue. By the time the situation had degraded to the point that they were willing to pay that price, the price would already have grown quite a bit, causing them to hesitate again. This would repeat itself until there was no ce for them to retreat......

    This was what was happening to the Wang n.

    When Su Chen¡¯s main target of attack wasn¡¯t the Wang n, Wang Peiyuan didn¡¯t know any pain, so he continued to wait carelessly. But when the Shen and Wei ns copsed...... that official shuddered and didn¡¯t dare think any further.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    The situation degraded much faster than expected.

    On the seventh day that Su Chen had officially returned, another matter urred in Clear River City.

    The Evil Tiger Gang ughtered their way through in Street.

    Yes, the same Evil Tiger Gang that should have been ruined after Su Chen had killed off their leader.

    The only reason the gang still existed was because Su Chen felt that controlling an Evil Tiger Gang in addition to the Long Clear Gang was a good idea.

    Because of Su Chen¡¯s support, the Evil Tiger Gang didn¡¯t disappear. Rather, they had begun to develop at breakneck speeds.

    The Long Clear Gang had wiped out the Red Eagle Gang and incited conflict amongst the Bloodline Nobility ns over the Shen n¡¯s businesses, but they had sustained some injuries. Su Chen didn¡¯t want to expose the Long Clear Gang too soon and couldn¡¯t have them take over in Street, so the Evil Tiger Gang hade into y.

    The Evil Tiger Gang had never really crossed paths with any of the gangs on in Street, but they didn¡¯t need to cross paths to get the job done. The Long Clear Gang had a valid justification, but the Evil Tiger Gang could do things purely out of greed. After all, criminal gangs were still criminal gangs; could you really consider yourself a criminal if you didn¡¯t have any greed at all?

    As such, the Evil Tiger Gang openly and brazenly ughtered their way through in Street, massacring the gangs there and iming the territory for their own. in Street originally belonged to the Wei n. After the Evil Tiger Gang had taken over that territory, the Wei n¡¯s helpless retreat exposed another vulnerable chunk of fat meat.

    If the Long Clear Gang¡¯s attack had aroused the greed within the hearts of the Bloodline Nobility ns, turning them against their fellow allies, then the Evil Tiger Gang¡¯s acts only fed the appetite of these Bloodline Nobility ns, causing them to tear off the masks of cordiality and revealing their true ferocious nature underneath.

    From this day onwards, the Wei n¡¯s influence came under attack, and they lost territory after territory. The shops they owned were bullied into capitting, causing their prices to be so high that people could only shake their heads and cluck their tongues.

    Wei Songlin originally nned on sacrificing some shops to regain the peace, but he quickly discovered that he needed to sacrifice much more than he had expected.

    The Wei and Shen ns were the first two ns amongst the ten Bloodline Nobility ns to suffer a cmity and were being attacked from all sides. Even though Wei Songlin tried to convince people again and again not to fight amongst themselves just for a bit of benefit, iming that Su Chen was like a wolf waiting to devour them, what really happened demonstrated that any kind of alliance knelt in the face of profit.

    Even though some Bloodline Nobility ns stopped because of this, as long as one continued, the strife amongst the Bloodline Nobility ns would only continue.

    As for An Siyuan and Su Chen...... Their enemies were there the whole time, but nothing was ever done to them. Throwing immediate profits away because of an enemy? What a joke! What person with any influence would do this?

    People often became greedy when the outward situation became chaotic. After all, the messier the outward situation was, the more opportunities there were internally.

    An Siyuan and Su Chen didn¡¯t give most of the ns too much pressure. After all, they had been fighting for so many years, and neither side had been able to do anything to the other. None of them believed that Su Chen would be much of a threat to them even if he had killed Shen Yuanhong.

    The Long Clear Gang and Evil Tiger Gang continued to attack, wantonly consuming the Wei and Shen n¡¯s streets and businesses and stoking the fiery greed within the Bloodline Nobility ns¡¯ hearts. They officially kicked off the divvying up of the territory of these rich and powerful ns.

    Even though the big Bloodline Nobility ns called each other brothers outwardly, often saying that they weren¡¯t the ones giving the order, they were all secretly eyeing therge amounts of profit,manding the gangs under their control to attack and seize more and more territory.

    This wasn¡¯t very surprising. History proved time and time again that as a kingdom was fragmenting, countless noble ns would not be willing to sacrifice anything for fear of losing their own profits simply because ¡°other people weren¡¯t sacrificing much either.¡±

    This kind of a frightening standoff was more than enough to destroy any clear-headedness, which would only lead to ruin.

    The situation before their eyes was no exception. The Bloodline Nobility ns had no awareness of the big picture. It wasn¡¯t that they weren¡¯t aware of the threat Su Chen posed; however, the attitude of ¡°if I don¡¯t grab what I can while others are grabbing things too, I¡¯ll lose big¡± made everyone lose their calm and ignore the general situation.

    In addition, their understanding of Su Chen was stillcking. Thoughts of getting lucky wreaked havoc in their hearts, making it so that everyone eventually put everything else aside to fight one another.

    Like this, the Long Clear Gang and Evil Tiger Gang were like two sticks stirring a pot of feces, easily destroying the alliance amongst the Bloodline Nobility ns and causing it to copse.

    When an entity was no longer whole, it was time to destroy it all in one blow.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 148: Counterattack 7

    Chapter 148: Counterattack (7)

    The He n.

    The He n was one of the weaker ns amongst the ten Bloodline Nobility ns. They had no Lgith Shaking Realm cultivators, but one of their elders was at the peak of the Yang Opening Realm, only a step away from reaching the Light Shaking Realm. However, the Light Shaking Realm was a different animal than the previous three realms and was hard to break into. Even those from Bloodline Nobility ns might not be able to break through, so the elder was biding his time and waiting for a better opportunity.

    The He n¡¯s Patriarch was incredibly shrewd and astute, and was one of the few clear-headed individuals amongst the Bloodline Nobility ns. The three plots for dealing with Su Chen had been suggested by him. Even though two of them had been unsessful, the n to sever rtions between Su Chen and Lu Qingguang had seeded, making things quite troublesome for Su Chen.

    Amidst the chaotic situation amongst the Bloodline Nobility ns, many of them were all for participating in the attack on the Shen and Wei ns. The He n was one of the staunch opponents.

    Unfortunately, their opposition only gave the other Bloodline Nobility ns more opportunities to be greedy. Afterwards, the He n¡¯s junior generation hadn¡¯t been able to sit still and had also participated in the divvying up of the Wei and Shen ns. Even though He Wuqian was enraged and tried to stop it, he couldn¡¯t prevent people from acting under their own authority and keeping it hidden from him.

    This was the helplessness of arge n. There were always one or two sober-minded individuals, but if everyone was in a stupor, this kind of action would only result in a person bing the target of attacks from all side.

    He Wuqian¡¯s prohibition was totally ineffective, and it actually caused the lower rungs of the n to murmur with unhappiness. Eventually, He Wuqian was forced to back down.

    In the end, the Wei and Shen ns had already been mostly divided up. The He n had movedte, so they hadn¡¯t gotten much out of it, and the rest of the nined quite a bit.

    However, they would soon stopining.

    Nighttime.

    Rain poured down from the sky.

    The torrential downpour made it seem as if the river in Heaven was flooding, enveloping the entire Clear River City in a raging storm.

    No one was willing to go outside on a stormy day like this, even the Origin Qi Schrs.

    Spinning Top Alley.

    A group of people wearing ck robes and red turbans and wielding iron des stood in the downpour. The rain beat down on them, soaking thempletely, but these people remainedpletely motionless as they stared coldly at the massive front door at the end of the alleyway.

    The He Residence!

    Jiang Xishui stood at the very front of the group. The rainnded on his body but didn¡¯t leave behind any traces of wetness.

    Jiang Xishui looked up at the sky, a satisfied expression appearing on his face. ¡°It is raining quite heavily. It seems that even the Heavens are trying to destroy them.

    Wang Wenxinughed from behind him, ¡°Prince Jiang¡¯s words are very urate. The Heavens are exterminating the He n. We...... are only carrying out Heaven¡¯s will, is all.¡±

    Beside him stood another bearded man. He was called Guo Long, the current leader of the Evil Tiger Gang.

    ¡°Heaven¡¯s will......¡± Jiang Xishui mused over those words beforeughing, ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right. The will of the emperor is the will of the Heavens. If that is the case, then you may go and carry out that will.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± everyone called out together. Under Wang Wenxin¡¯smand, the group rushed into the He Residence.

    Because of the heavy rain, the He Residence¡¯s front gate wasn¡¯t being guarded by anyone. The Long Clear Gang and the Evil Tiger Gang slipped into the pce without any trouble.

    Upon entering the residence, someone finally detected themotion.

    A person within the pce cried out, ¡°Who is it?¡±

    The reply he got was a violent wave of Origin Energy that swallowed him uppletely.

    The group slipped right past him, only leaving behind that person¡¯s corpse lying in a puddle of his own blood.

    However, his cry had alerted the others.

    ¡°Ambush! An enemy is ambushing us!¡± A piercing cry called out.

    The pouring rain made it impossible for the cry to travel far. Even so, many of the n¡¯s guards woke up, charging out of their rooms only to be met by a storm of de and sword light.

    Whoosh!

    Shadows flickered along the walls of the courtyard, leaping from roof to roof. Every time someone charged out of their room, one of the gang members would intercept them, either capturing them or kiling them.

    ¡°Don¡¯t kill the women, children, or elderly.¡± Wang Wenxin suddenly reached out and stopped one of the Evil Tiger Gang members whose bloodlust had been awakened and was about to chop off a woman¡¯s head.

    That gang member unwillingly grunted submissively, flipped the de around in his hand, and knocked the other party unconscious.

    At this moment, another group of felt their way along another courtyard.

    Wang Wenxin suddenly felt something, as if a grave threat was headed their way. He turned around and yelled, ¡°Be careful!¡±

    With a massive boom, the wall of the courtyard exploded, sending ten or so gang members flying.

    A person stepped forward amidst the wind and rain. ¡°Who dares offend my He n?¡±

    This person was called He Wujiu. He was He Wuqian¡¯s elder and the He n¡¯s powerful peak Yang Opening Realm cultivator.

    When Wang Wenxin saw this, his eyes glittered as he leapt forward, the de in his hand unleashing a sweeping arc that sharply sliced through the rain.

    He Wujiu waved his sleeve. An azure w appeared in midair as bright as lightning, raking through the de arc and continuing to swipe at Wang Wenxin. Wang Wenxin poured his energy into the de¡¯s edge but couldn¡¯t withstand the azure light and was sent flying. He spat out a mouthful of blood as he flew through the air.

    In this brief confrontation, Wang Wenxin hadn¡¯t been He Wujiu¡¯s opponent in the slightest.

    He Wujiu harrumphed, ¡°A mere mixed-blood dares contend against a n with a pure bloodline like mine? Courting death.¡±

    As he spoke, his arm flickered out like a snake spitting its tongue out, reaching for Wang Wenxin¡¯s throat. The seven or eight gang members around him tried toe to his aid, but none of them could stop it. It seemed as if Wang Wenxin¡¯s throat was about to be crushed when the rain suddenly froze in ce.

    It was as if time had suddenly stopped. The rain droplets then began to gather before forming a massive wall of water. He Wujiu¡¯s w strike mmed into the wall of water, but it felt like it was as light as a feather and had no impact. His attack had been stopped in his tracks.

    He Wujiu¡¯s heart trembled slightly. He knew the situation wasn¡¯t good; being quite a decisive person, he immediately withdrew his w and retreated. The rain in the air suddenly shot in He Wujiu¡¯s direction, as if arrows made of water were raining down from the sky on him.

    ¡°HA!¡± He Wujiu yelled loudly as energy began to undte from his body. A number of azure ws appeared in the air, blocking these streaks of rain. However, the rain continued to fall, charging at He Wujiu wave after wave. He Wujiu felt like he was standing right below a massive waterfall pounding on his back.

    No, this rain was even more frightening than a waterfall.

    He could stand underneath a waterfall for three days and three nights without even frowning, but when faced with these drops of rain, he felt like he was unable to bear the weight.

    The massive force was about to send him to his knees, but he knew that as soon as he gave in he would die.

    ¡°Who is it?¡± he howled. ¡°Come out and show yourself!¡±

    Jiang Xishui calmly revealed himself.

    Behind him, an illusory image of Luo You floated in the air, covering the sky and the earth and making it seem as if the rain was falling because of it. In reality, when Luo You¡¯s Bloodline Ability was activated to its greatest extent, it could create a storm, but Jiang Xishui would at the very least need to be in the Yang Opening Realm or have awakened his bloodline to the third level in order to do this.

    Even so, this massive creature demonstrated its frightening control over the sky. Luo You¡¯s appearing caused the rain to begin to gather and form a massive dragon made of water that howled and charged forward.

    When he saw this scene, He Wujiu waspletely stunned. ¡°Luo You...... the Jiang n!?¡±

    Jiang Xishui looked up slightly. ¡°I am Jiang Xishui. I have never fought an expert at the peak of the Yang Opening Realm before. I can¡¯t beat a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, but I still have some hope to give it a shot.¡±

    As he spoke, he said to Wang Wenxin, ¡°You guys go and deal with the others. Leave this man for me.¡±

    Wang Wenxin turned around and left.

    As he watched the people charge in amidst the cover of the rain, understanding dawned in He Wujiu¡¯s heart.

    The He n was done for.

    But before that, he hoped to win back a bit of honor for the He n.

    He stared at Jiang Xishui, then let out a howl. His entire body exploded with an unprecedentedly brilliant light.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 149: Counterattack 8

    Chapter 149: Counterattack (8)

    The He n was finished.

    The n Patriarch He Wuqian died inbat, and the n¡¯s elders, He Wujiu, He Wuxiang, and He Wuxin were all killed along with a whole bunch of the n¡¯s elites.

    This news spread throughout every alley and street of Clear River City like the rain from yesterday¡¯s storm, shocking everyone.

    The ones bearing the me were naturally still the Long Clear Gang and the Evil Tiger Gang. This time, however, the two gangs were not fighting on their own but had allied themselves together.

    What people had the hardest time understanding was why the He n?

    The Shen and Wei ns were the main powers that were being attacked, the ones being humiliated and whittled away. When had it suddenly be the He n?

    And how could the Long Clear Gang and Evil Tiger Gang deal with the He n?

    The gangs were always under the control of the Bloodline Nobility ns because they didn¡¯t have enough strength. However, these two gangs had suddenly demonstrated power that they had never had before, giving everyone quite a shock.

    The Lai n was once again thrust into the spotlight. Everyone believed that the Lai n had incited the incident, and the Long n also came under fire because they controlled the Evil Tiger Gang. However, like Lai Wuyi, Long Qingjiang had long since lost control of the Evil Tiger Gang.

    Even though Lai Wuyi and Long Qingjiang were very vocal that this matter had nothing to do with them, the other Bloodline Nobility ns wouldn¡¯t believe them so easily.

    Within the Lai Residence.

    A bunch of Bloodline Nobility n elders were in a heated discussion with Lai Wuyi.

    ¡°I told you already, I didn¡¯t order the Long Clear Gang to do that,¡± Lai Wuyi angrily stared at Wang Peiyuan and the others, who had forced their way to his front door.

    ¡°If you say that it wasn¡¯t you, then please, Brother Lai, hand him over to me,¡± Wang Peiyuan said.

    Lai Wuqi replied unhappily, ¡°If I could hand him over, I would have done it a long time ago. Would you even need toe looking for me? I already sent a bunch of people to look for Wang Wenxin this afternoon, but the Long Clear Gang had already cleared out a long time ago.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know where he went?¡± Astonishment shed across Wang Peiyuan¡¯s face before giving way to suspicion. ¡°Brother Lai, you aren¡¯t joking with me, are you? You don¡¯t know where to find your own subordinates?¡±

    ¡°Ai! To tell the truth, this has been happening for a long time. I don¡¯t have much control over the Long Clear Gang anymore.¡± Now that things had reached this point, Lai Wuyi couldn¡¯t afford to care about his face anymore. He could only tell the truth.

    Wang Peiyuan and the others were stunned. ¡°What did you say?¡±

    Someone yelled angrily, ¡°Then why did you insist on protecting them during thest Coalition Meeting? Do you dare say that the Long Clear Gang¡¯s wiping out of the Red Eagle Gang also wasn¡¯t your idea?¡±

    ¡°Of course it wasn¡¯t my idea......¡± Lai Wuyi felt so much regret that he wished he could p himself. He wanted to exin himself but couldn¡¯t find the words and could only me himself for being too greedy. He plopped down on his chair and said, crestfallen, ¡°I also fell for that bastard¡¯s trap. In any case, whether you believe me or not is up to you.¡±

    Wang Peiyuan fell deep into thought when he saw Lai Wuyi¡¯s depressed demeanor.

    Was all of this really not initiated by him?

    Then who had given the Long Clear Gang the guts to do these things?

    A name surfaced in Wang Peiyuan¡¯s mind.

    Wang Peiyuan shivered as he shook his head and muttered to himself, ¡°No, that¡¯s not possible.¡±

    Everyone stared at him strangely.

    Wang Peiyuan¡¯s expression grew uglier and uglier.

    Even though he kept repeating that it wasn¡¯t possible, when he recalled all that had happened these past few days, Wang Peiyuan increasingly felt that it had to be possible.

    He couldn¡¯t stay seated anymore and stood up suddenly as he said, ¡°We¡¯ll conclude today¡¯s matter here. I need to go back for a bit.¡±

    He finally realized that he was in a precarious situation and was going to go back and discuss with Wang Zhanyu some countermeasures.

    He didn¡¯t tell anyone else about his guesses; after all, it was just a guess. If he were to guess incorrectly, everyone wouldugh at him. The Bloodline Nobility ns¡¯ love of their own faces was deeply ingrained in their heart to the point that it filled every corner of their being.

    Wang Peiyuan left in a hurry. The remaining people were totally befuddled, and their energy and vigor obviously decreased.

    There were a total of five ns that hade this time to interrogate Lai Wuyi: the Wang n, the Lian n, the Yu n, the Xiong n, and the Lin n.

    The Long n was also being interrogated and couldn¡¯t possibly be there, and the He n had been wiped out, so they couldn¡¯t be there either. The Wei and Shen ns at this point already had a deep-seated hatred for the other Bloodline Nobility ns, so it was impossible for them to tag along to try and get justice for the He n.

    After that the Wang n had left, the rest of them interrogated the Lai n a bit more. Upon seeing that nothing was going toe of it, they turned their attention to the Long n.

    The Long n was much more straightforward. They directly expressed that they had no desire to protect the Evil Tiger Gang and would leave it up to everyone else to punish them.

    After leaving the Long Residence, one of the members of the Xiong n said, ¡°Patriarch, do we want to go and wipe out the Evil Tiger Gang now?¡±

    The Xiong n¡¯s patriarch, Xiong Tianyue, rubbed his beard. ¡°I can¡¯t help but feel like there¡¯s something odd about this. When did the Long Clear Gang and Evil Tiger Gang be bold enough to attack the He n? Did the Lai and Long ns really secretly instigate this matter? From Lai Wuyi¡¯s and Long Qingjiang¡¯s attitudes, I don¡¯t think so. Perhaps their telling the truth. In addition, I don¡¯t know what came over Wang Peiyuan for him to leave so suddenly like that...... there¡¯s too many problems with this.¡±

    ¡°Patriarch means?¡±

    Xiong Tianyue nced at the other ns, who were being extremely aggressive. He frowned and thought for a moment before saying, ¡°Let¡¯s talk about it when we get back.¡±

    They turned around and left for the Xiong n.

    Sitting in his pnquin, Xiong Tianyue was still pondering over why it was the He n that had been attacked.

    Why had they chosen the He n as their target?

    If it was a premeditated attack, there must have been somepelling reason for choosing the He n.

    Was it for money? That was obviously impossible. Xiong Tianyue rejected that idea immediately. Because of He Wuqian¡¯s prior opposition? That was a possibility; after all, they were one of the fews that had objected to the territory seizure. However, killing him couldn¡¯t force him to take back the words that he had spoken and might even cause others to take it more seriously. Was it for his martial ability? Forget about it. The He n¡¯s Profound Transparent Beast Bloodline was decent, but it was more effective for detecting enemy ploys and preventing ambushes. In terms ofbat power, however, they were the weakest among all ten Bloodline Nobility ns.

    Wait a minute!

    Detecting enemy ploys and preventing ambushes!

    Xiong Tianyue suddenly trembled.

    He poked his head out of the pnquin and saw that his n¡¯s procession was walking along a long and narrow alleyway.

    A sense of imminent danger suddenly surged in his heart. Xiong Tianyue yelled, ¡°Stop advancing. Turn around immediately! Turn around!¡±

    Before the procession could turn around, a drawn-out voice plunged Xiong Tianyue into the depths of despair.

    ¡°n Patriarch Xiong, how astute of you!¡±

    Following the unhurried voice¡¯s speaking, a figure wearing a white robe that billowed in the wind appeared directly in front of them and walked leisurely towards them. Beside him were Jiang Xishui, Cloud Leopard, and Iron Cliff.

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± Xiong Tianyue spoke from between gritted teeth.

    Whoosh!

    Countless people appeared on the surrounding walls, each of them aiming a crossbow down at their opponents. Simultaneously, the walls began to glow with light. An Origin Formation had been activated that firmly protected the walls on both sides. Even a Yang Opening Realm cultivator wouldn¡¯t be able to break through. It also cut off any hope of them escaping through the air.

    Above, below, and all around them ¨C there was nowhere for them to run!

    Their path of retreat was blocked off by anotherrge group of people that suddenly appeared, led by Wang Wenxin.

    This scene was identical to how the Lian and Long ns had surrounded Su Chen all those years ago.

    However, the tables had now been turned. The one being encircled was now the one doing the encirclement.

    Xiong Tianyue stared at Su Chen in something akin to despair. ¡°If you kill me, everyone will know that you were the one who did everything.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t really care.¡± Su Chen shrugged. ¡°I never believed that the ten Bloodline Nobility ns would be dumb enough to fight each other to the death. Inciting internal conflict is a nice way to weaken them, but that is still only weakening. If I really believed that these ns would really kill one another, then I would be the stupid one. As such, ever since I killed He Wuqian, I have been prepared for you to stop fighting amongst yourselves and rebuild the alliance. There¡¯s an old saying that is absolutely urate...... If you want something done well, do it yourself.¡±

    As he said this, Su Chen paused for a moment, then waved his hand elegantly and said, ¡°Kill them.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 150: Roping In 1

    Chapter 150: Roping In (1)

    Long Qingjiang watched the various ns leave before returning to the room, his expression serious.

    ¡°Father, have they left?¡± Long Shaoyou came over and said.

    After letting Su Chen go at the Southern Mountain, Su Chen had sent over the medicine for saving Long Shaoyou, allowing Long Shaoyou to recover and be healthy again.

    Long Shaoyou had been bedridden for six years. His temperament had be much calmer. His face was a bit pale because he hadn¡¯t seen the sun for a long time, but his condition had been on the up-and-up during these past two months of recovery.

    ¡°Mmm.¡± As he watched his son mature, Long Qingjiang felt that every price that he had paid was worth it.

    No matter how greedy, cruel, and savage he was, he was at the very least a proper father when taking care of his son.

    Long Qingjiang watched his son and said, ¡°The people left, but their misgivings haven¡¯t yet. Su Chen yed his hand perfectly! He ruined the entire alliance basically without making a sound.¡±

    ¡°Since Father has already guessed that Su Chen was the perpetrator, why didn¡¯t you tell them?¡±

    ¡°So what if I guessed that it was him? Some things don¡¯t depend on whether or not you can think of it but when you think of it. Now that the situation has reached this point, he is already revealing the cards he holds. Su Chen probably doesn¡¯t care if everyone knows at this point.¡±

    ¡°But if we say it now, at the very least they won¡¯t think that we were responsible......¡±

    Long Qingjiang interrupted him. ¡°So what? If they think the Evil Tiger Gang was under my control, would they try to destroy me?¡±

    Long Shaoyou was stunned.

    Long Qingjiang said, ¡°They won¡¯t, but Su Chen would!¡±

    ¡°Su Chen.¡± Long Shaoyou felt a jolt go through his heart. ¡°Father, you......¡±

    Long Qingjiang sighed. ¡°Shen Yuanhong is dead, Wei Pei has fallen into a lower cultivation base, and Wang Zhanyu personally tried to stop Su Chen but failed. Every time we have shed with him these past few years, we have always been the ones toe out at a disadvantage. Yes, I am afraid. I don¡¯t want to offend him anymore.¡±

    ¡°But isn¡¯t this equivalent to giving up on the others? Father, isn¡¯t that a bit too selfish?¡±

    ¡°Selfish?¡± Long Qingjiangughed coldly, ¡°The fates of the Shen and Wei n should be sufficient to demonstrate that no one is not selfish. Where did Su Chen get the guts to use just a Long Clear Gang and an Evil Tiger Gang to incite internal strife amongst the ns? Wasn¡¯t it because he could tell that everyone had their own goals and ns? An alliance? That alliance was founded for the sake of profits, and so it can be dissolved for profits as well. It cannot be relied on. Shaoyou, you must understand that allies are the people you can rely on the least in this world. They will always help you when you don¡¯t need it, but will discard you as soon as you are the most in need.¡±

    Long Shaoyou patted his son and said, ¡°I would rather be the one doing the abandoning rather than the one being abandoned.¡±

    Long Shaoyou felt his heart tremble. He nodded and said, ¡°Your son understands.¡±

    ¡°Since you understand,e with me to invite our guest in,¡± Long Qingjiang said as he stood.

    ¡°Guest?¡± Long Shaoyou was confused.

    He turned around and saw that the hall was still totally empty.

    Long Qingjiang, however, spoke to the empty doorway: ¡°Esteemed guest, pleasee in. I wee you.¡±

    A chuckle could be hearding from the empty doorway.

    Immediately afterwards, a person¡¯s figure seemed to slip out of the shadows. It was the Shadow Servant Chang Er, but at this point he was already a Qi Drawing Realm cultivator.

    Chang Erughed, ¡°n Patriarch Long, you truly are perceptive. The few tactics I have cannot deceive you.¡±

    Long Qingjiang waved for his aides to retreat. ¡°I am a trustworthy person. I am very grateful that he kept his end of the deal and saved my son. Please, let him know that I have no heart to fight him in the future.¡±

    Chang Erughed. ¡°n Patriarch Long, your act of conceding defeat is quite convincing, but you didn¡¯t tell your son that there is another important reason that you don¡¯t want to offend my master, right? You are afraid that my master will tell everyone how he was able to escape from Southern Mountain, right?¡±

    Long Qingjiang¡¯s expression changed.

    This old fox Long Qingjiang acted like he was afraid of Su Chen because he had been beaten so many times, but he was actually afraid that Su Chen would disclose what had urred on the Southern Mountain. If Su Chen were to disclose that, Wang Zhanyu definitely wouldn¡¯t let him off easily.

    This was why he pretended not to know anything even though he had already guessed what was going on and even bore the cross of the Evil Tiger Gang willingly. This was also why he pretended not to know that Chang Er was nearby even though he was quite aware of it.

    However, he hadn¡¯t expected that Chang Er was already quite aware of what was going through his head.

    Chang Er had never been that good at talking and likely wouldn¡¯t have thought of all these things. As such, Su Chen had probably already guessed what was going on beforehand.

    Upon realizing this, Long Qingjiang let out a long sigh. ¡°Indeed, nothing escapes Bureau Head Su¡¯s attention. If that¡¯s the case, may I know why Bureau Head has sent you here?¡±

    ¡°Nothing really. There¡¯s just an interesting scene that is about to y out. He asked me to invite Patriarch Long toe watch with him.¡±

    ¡°What kind of interesting scene?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll know when you get there.¡± Chang Er turned around and left.

    Long Qingjiang and his son nced at each other, then walked out together. Quite a few members of the Long n followed closely behind.

    Chang Er led the Long n on a winding path before they finally arrived near an alley.

    Chang Er opened the door to one of the residences and walked in. Within the courtyard was a small tform.

    A person was standing on the tform. It was Su Chen. He stood on the tform with his hands behind his back, as if he were looking at something.

    When he saw that Long Qingjiang hade with his son, Su Chenughed and said, ¡°Please, Patriarch Long,e take a look.¡±

    Long Qingjiang didn¡¯t understand. He stepped on top of the tform and directed his attention to what Su Chen was looking at. His body suddenly froze.

    Within the alleyway, a violent battle was taking ce.

    Rather than a battle, but it was more like a one-sided ughter, and the ones being ughtered were Xiong Tianyue and the Xiong n. At this moment, he had activated his Bloodline Ability to its greatest extent, and an illusory Vampiric Bear image roared behind him. However, under the Origin Formation¡¯s effect, no sound could be heard. It almost looked like they were watching a silent film from where they stood.

    ¡°You!¡± Long Qingjiang stared at Su Chen in anger. ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡±

    ¡°No particr meaning. I just wanted to tell you that from this day onwards, another n will be gone from the ten Bloodline Nobility ns,¡± Su Chen replied indifferently.

    Long Qingjiang clenched his fists. ¡°So what? You¡¯re just relying on your momentary advantage from mounting a sneak-attack. From this day onwards, if they don¡¯t realize who¡¯s the one causing trouble, they must be so stupid that no medicine will be able to save them.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s correct. From this day onwards, even an idiot would realize this. At that time, if I wanted to ambush them and kill them one by one, it would be impossible,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°That¡¯s why I called you over.¡±

    An uneasy feeling began to well up in Long Qingjiang¡¯s heart. He said, his heart pounding, ¡°What does this have to do with me?¡±

    ¡°How could it not have anything to do with you?¡± Su Chen said calmly. ¡°No matter how you look at it, thest ce he visited was the Long n. With the matter of the Evil Tiger Gang at hand as well, tell me, how do you think they will view you after this?¡±

    Long Qingjiang¡¯s heart trembled so violently that it almost shattered. He spoke through gritted teeth, ¡°I will exin everything to them.¡±

    ¡°Hmph, you haven¡¯t even exined the matter of the Evil Tiger Gang yet,¡± Su Chen said disdainfully. ¡°Of course, I know that if you really want to exin things to them, you would be able to do it. Actually, you would even be able to cover up the matter of the Southern Mountain to them, so I have prepared an additional form of insurance.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Long Qingjiang didn¡¯t understand.

    Su Chen pointed at a nearby ce and said, ¡°See, there¡¯s an Origin Formation Disk over there, recording us talking right now. The Xiong n Patriarch is currently fighting for his life, but Patriarch Long is here talking peacefully with a disruptive criminal like me as he watches the Xiong n fall into ruin...... If this kind of an image falls into the hands of the other Bloodline Nobility ns, I believe that you wouldn¡¯t be able to wash it away even if you were to jump into the Heavenly River.¡±

    Long Qingjiang felt his vision go dark.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 151: Roping in 2

    Chapter 151: Roping in (2)

    Long Qingjiang stared at Su Chen, tongue-tied. ¡°Su Chen...... You¡¯re too vicious! You¡¯re trying to wipe us out too!¡±

    ¡°Wipe you out? I don¡¯t think so. Actually, it¡¯s the exact opposite ¨C I¡¯m saving you as rpense for what happened at the Southern Mountain,¡± Su Chen said calmly.

    ¡°Do you really think that you¡¯ve won for sure?¡± Long Qingjiang stared at Su Chen savagely.

    ¡°Why not?¡± Su Chen countered. ¡°The He and Xiong ns have both been finished off, and the Wei and Shen ns are being bullied by you guys and would love to see you all destroyed. They won¡¯t be any help at all, at least at the very beginning. The Wang n is being suppressed by City Lord An. They might not even be able to bring out any strength to help; instead, they might need the help of the other ns. In other words, the current alliance is only reallyposed of five ns.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t be able to deal with five ns either!¡± Long Qingjiang said.

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t your ten-n alliance unable to do anything to me before?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because I was helping you!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m asking you for help just like before,¡± Su Chen quickly replied, causing Long Qingjiang to fall silent.

    Su Chenughed, ¡°See, the situation really is that easy. If you help me, I¡¯ll have the Origin Bureau, the Long n, Long Clear Gang, Evil Tiger Gang, and the Third River Army to boot. That should be more than enough to deal with four ns.¡±

    ¡°And then? You¡¯ll eliminate me as well?¡±

    ¡°You know I¡¯m not the type of person to forget a favor,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°It¡¯s not that Clear River City cannot have any Bloodline Nobility ns. However, the Nobility ns have be puffed up and no longer answer to the emperor. They break thew because they are strong, monopolize the economy, and offer no tributes nor taxes. This is the reason why both sides have been locked in a battle all the way until now. As long as the Long n is willing to be under the imperial jurisdiction in the future, none of this will be an issue.¡±

    Long Qingjiangughed coldly, ¡°Bloodline Nobility ns bing puffed up is not something that only urs in this city but all over the territory belonging to humans. You can keep Clear River City in check, but can you watch over the whole human race?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Of course not, and I have no interest in doing so either. I am only doing this because I am an official of the Origin Bureau, and this is my duty. Once my term is fulfilled, I will leave. At that time, it won¡¯t matter to me if you want to throw Clear River City back into chaos.¡±

    Long Qingjiang stared at him in shock. ¡°I thought you were an official who loves themon people like your own sons.¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°Perhaps I love themon people, but not as my own children. The world is too big and there are too many people. I can¡¯t love all of them. It¡¯s enough for me just to do what I should do.¡±

    ¡°But didn¡¯t you vow to pave a way forward without a bloodline and to overthrow the Bloodline Nobility ns?¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s smile only grew wider. ¡°So you guys know about this too? You really did your homework. However, one thing you got wrong ¨C the vow I made was to break through the bloodline restrictions and create a cultivation system belonging uniquely to humans so that they don¡¯t have to rely on bloodlines to cultivate. This will cause the human race to rise to prominence...... but I never said that I want to overthrow the Bloodline Nobility ns. That¡¯s just how some people choose to interpret my actions.¡±

    ¡°But if themon people rise to power, where will the Bloodline Nobility ns find a ce to shelter themselves?¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t concern me. I know that if themon people rise to power, the Bloodline Nobility ns will be indirectly attacked. However, that is not my goal nor my pursuit. For instance, people will always produce excrement after eating, but you cannot say that I eat for the purpose of producing waste, can you? I don¡¯t care about whether the Bloodline Nobility ns exist or perish. Truthfully speaking, as long as they don¡¯t bother me, I¡¯m toozy to even pay them any mind. Whether there are still Bloodline Nobility ns in Clear River City doesn¡¯t affect or matter to me at all. The conflict between us was never a fight over social status but because I was trying to carry out my duty and you all disapproved, causing you to try and make trouble for me. It¡¯s as simple as that.¡±

    Long Qingjiang was stunned. When he recalled the hatred he had initially felt for Su Chen, he realized that it was just because he had arrested two Origin Qi Schrs who had been stirring up trouble.

    Su Chen was just carrying out his official duties, but in the eyes of these Bloodline Nobility ns it became a provocation, and they immediately sentrge numbers of people after him to have him answer for his ¡°crimes¡±.

    It was at that moment that Su Chen had joined forces with An Siyuan. Before then, he hadn¡¯t ever gone to the City Lord¡¯s residence to try and curry favor with him.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it was...... everything started merely because you were just carrying out your official duty?¡± Long Qingjiang muttered to himself.

    ¡°But that¡¯s not strange, and there¡¯s no way to change that truth,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°As long as the Bloodline Nobility ns wanted to try and remain above thew, refusing to answer to the emperor, this kind of conflict was bound to happen sooner orter. If I didn¡¯t arrest them on that day, I would have done it a few dayster. And if you guys tried to retaliate then, you would do it a few dayster. The only difference would have been timing, but this didn¡¯t all ur by happenstance.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± Long Qingjiang didn¡¯t deny that the Bloodline Nobility ns held themselves in much too high of regard. They wouldn¡¯t have been able to ept being suppressed by a lowly Knowledge Executor like Su Chen, so something like this would happen sooner orter.

    However, this conflict was originally not irreconcble, yet things had still yed out in this manner in the end.

    It really was toote for Long Qingjiang to regret it even if he wanted to.

    Su Chen said, ¡°I¡¯ve already said all that needs to be said. I don¡¯t have any prejudice against the Bloodline Nobility ns; everything I have done until now is just for self-preservation.¡±

    Long Qingjiang thought of something. ¡°So you don¡¯t need to kill everyone, right? The ns have already been taught a lesson and don¡¯t want to go on fighting. I can take the lead on our side and begin a peace negotiation to resolve the situation!¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I can agree to a peace negotiation, but only under one condition.¡±

    ¡°What condition is that?¡±

    ¡°Light Shaking Realm! Clear River City does not need the existence of a Light Shaking Realm cultivator who refuses to be subject to the emperor.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    There was only a single Light Shaking Realm cultivator in Clear River City who refused to be subject to the emperor: Wang Zhanyu.

    Wang Zhanyu was a Light Shaking Realm cultivator with three Lotus tforms and the most powerful expert amongst all the Bloodline Nobility ns ¨C the cornerstone keeping everyone else in ce.

    Su Chen¡¯s basing the peace negotiations on wiping out Wang Zhanyu was tantamount to saying that this was impossible.

    ¡°No room for discussion?¡±

    ¡°No room for discussion!¡± Su Chen replied very decisively.

    Wang Zhanyu must die!

    If he didn¡¯t die, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t feel at ease.

    If he didn¡¯t die, An Siyuan wouldn¡¯t feel at ease.

    Only once he died would the Bloodline Nobility ns truly have lowered their heads.

    Like Su Chen, An Siyuan didn¡¯t actually need all the Bloodline Nobility ns to be wiped out.

    They couldn¡¯t all be wiped out anyways. If he defeated a wave today, a new group would rise up tomorrow.

    He only needed these Bloodline Nobility ns to lower their heads and obey.

    Wipe out the ones bubbling up, split up the ones gathering together, weaken the strong ones, and leave behind the obedient ones.

    This was Su Chen¡¯s n.

    Long Qingjiang asked, ¡°What tactics do you have to get them to agree?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have to provide them any incentives; I can also just threaten them,¡± Su Chen said in a measured tone. ¡°We¡¯ll talk seriously first. If they are willing to lower their heads, that will be for the best. If they don¡¯t, then we¡¯ll beat them until they do. If they still aren¡¯t willing, then we¡¯ll wipe them out immediately. Of the ten Bloodline Nobility ns, two have already been eliminated. A few more won¡¯t make a huge difference.¡±

    ¡°You killed so many people belonging to them, then propose such a harsh condition? I think it¡¯ll be hard to seed.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because they haven¡¯t reached desperate straits yet. As long as they realize that they have no chance of winning, things will be much easier,¡± Su Chen replied casually. ¡°Also, don¡¯t I have your help? Why don¡¯t you tell me which of these ns have the weakest wills and are the most cowardly. We¡¯ll start by eating the softest fruit and go after the more difficult onester.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 152: Betting Fight 1

    Chapter 152: Betting Fight (1)

    Within the Lin Residence.

    The Lin n¡¯s bloodline was the Silver Moonlight Falcon, the same bloodline that the Origin Qi Schr who had destroyed Su Chen¡¯s Shadow Substance possessed.

    After killing Xiong Tianyue, Su Chen led the others without stopping to the Moonlight Alley, where the Lin Residence was located.

    They didn¡¯tunch an ambush or a surprise attack. Instead, they just burst right through the front door.

    After the He Residence had been attacked, all of the ns had bolstered the defenses within their residences as well, preventing anyone from getting anymore advantages.

    The opportunity tounch an ambush had passed, so now it was time to directly strike at the opponent.

    This was why Su Chen and the others broke in in an imposing manner.

    Their footsteps were quick and agile.

    Their robes rippled in the wind.

    Their killing intent billowed everywhere.

    Su Chen led a bunch of subordinates to right in front of the Lin Residence.

    They gave off an incredibly dominant aura.

    A bunch of pce guards, experts, and strong disciples immediately appeared, lining the walls, filling the courtyard, and blocking the entrance to the residence.

    Even so, when they saw Su Chen and his subordinates, their expressions were filled with despair.

    Su Chen had too many people with him.

    The Long Clear Gang, Evil Tiger Gang, Third River Army, and the

    Origin Bureau were all with him. The Origin Bureau alone had a hundred

    Origin Qi Schrs.

    Nearly a thousand warriors surrounded the whole Lin Residence in total. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that the area right in front of the Lin Residence¡¯s front door was wide open and exposed, the ce wouldn¡¯t even be able to face the whole ce. Su Chen stood foremost, facing the front door with his hands behind his back. Standing at his side were Jiang Xishui, Wang Wenxin, Yuan Lieyang, Duan Feng, and many more.

    Since they were fighting head-on, Su Chen needed to bring arge force with him. The Origin Bureau¡¯s troops whom had been training for so long finally found their use here. As they stood in front of the Lin n¡¯s residence, Lin Fengtang¡¯s heart trembled as he watched the imposing scene unfold before him. Upon hearing that Su Chen had sent over arge army, he was still wondering whether Su Chen was having trouble thinking things through. It wasn¡¯t until he saw this scene that he fully understood the whole situation.

    The Long Clear Gang and Evil Tiger Gang already belonged to him, as did the Third River Army. The Origin Bureau¡¯s, and along with it, Su Chen¡¯s power and influence, had already reached this kind of level. In the end, they had still underestimated Su Chen.

    They were always underestimating him.

    Every time, they felt like they were taking their opponent very seriously, but they were always shocked by the trump cards the opponent ended up pulling out and could only suffer the bitter consequences.

    Now, these consequences had fallen onto the Lin n. As he stared at Su Chen, Lin Fengtang¡¯s expression was filled with grief and indignation. ¡°Bureau Head Su, so it was you. Then everything that has happened until now is all part of your n, right?¡±

    Su Chen replied with a smile, ¡°You¡¯re talking so miserably and solemnly it¡¯s as if you think I¡¯m the one that¡¯s going to harm you. It almost made me forget that I was the one who was being chased back in the Southern Mountain.¡±

    Lin Fengtang froze. ¡°That was the Wang n¡¯s n. It had nothing to do with me.¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Whether or not the n had something to do with you, you participated; your hands are stained with the blood of my people, and my hands have imed the lives of your n members. At this point, trying to escape from the situation doesn¡¯t have much meaning, does it?¡±

    Lin Fengtang sighed and lowered his head. ¡°True. It¡¯s already pointless to try and maintain my innocence.¡±

    ¡°However, there isn¡¯t such a thing as a grudge that can¡¯t be resolved. The enmity between us might not yet be impossible to dissolve.¡±

    Lin Fengtang was stunned. ¡°Dissolve? How so?¡±

    ¡°Surrender,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°How do I surrender?¡± Lin Fengtang wasn¡¯t so naive as to believe that simply surrendering was going to resolve the issue.

    ¡°How was it done when people were still fighting for kingship?¡± Su Chen countered.

    As soon as he heard these words, Lin Fengtang shuddered.

    He understood what Su Chen was getting at. When people fought for kingship, if one side admitted defeat, they would be executed, and the other would be crowned as king. The victorious party could forgive most of the opposing party, but they could never forgive the leader. The decline of an influential power often urred because the person taking the lead died, causing the curtains to fall on that period of time.

    Su Chen obviously meant that anyone could be forgiven but the Wang n. How could Lin Fengtang not feel shocked, not feel afraid?

    He trembled. ¡°No, I cannot.¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°I guessed that you would say that. Don¡¯t worry. How about this? Let¡¯s make a bet. Don¡¯t me me for not giving you enough opportunities.¡±

    A bet?

    A bet on what?

    Su Chen said, ¡°Let¡¯s bet in apetition of martial artists. I will send out two hundred martial artists, and you can send out a hundred eighty martial artists and twenty Qi Drawing Realm Origin Qi Schrs. We¡¯ll fight it out that way; if my people win, you will surrender, and if my people lose, I will immediately leave. What do you think?¡±

    Two hundred martial artists against a hundred and eighty martial artists and twenty Origin Qi Schrs?

    Lin Fengtang¡¯s eyes lit up.

    He stared at Su Chen intently and asked, ¡°Are you telling the truth? You¡¯re not trying to pull one on me, are you?¡±

    Su Chen smiled slightly, ¡°I just want you to know the distance between me and you. If I try to pull one on you, even if you lose you won¡¯t ept defeat. But if I win¡­¡­¡±

    Lin Fengtang said straightforwardly, ¡°If your people can win under these kinds of circumstances, my Lin n will truly surrender.¡±

    The gap between Origin Qi Schrs and martial artists was simply too great. This kind of gap was like the difference between a Yang Opening Realm cultivator and a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, surpassing the gaps between any of the other cultivation realms. Even a cultivator who had just entered the Qi Drawing Realm could easily defeat ten peak Body Tempering martial artists. Su Chen¡¯s suggestion wasn¡¯t just to give the Lin n¡¯s side a bit more strength, but to double it. Under these kinds of circumstances, Lin Fengtang had no reason not to ept the bet. And just as Su Chen had said; if Su Chen¡¯s side won cleanly, Lin Fengtang would have no choice but to surrender.

    Su Chenughed, ¡°As long as you understand.¡±

    As he spoke, he backed up a few steps, revealing a horde of martial artists behind him.

    These martial artists were all in the peak of Body Tempering, ones that Su Chen had carefully picked out. They were all brawny and of huge stature, and their bodies were filled with strange tattoos.

    Lin Fengtang also began mobilizing his side. The Blood Boiling and Yang Opening Realm cultivators all backed off, leaving twenty Qi Drawing Realm Origin Qi Schrs and a hundred and eighty carefully selected Body Tempering martial artists.

    As both sides got into formation,. Su Chen said, ¡°As soon as the battle begins, you cannot stop it. Both sides have their duty of keeping the fight going until the battle reaches its conclusion. Let it begin now.¡±

    The two sides charged at each other like crashing waves.

    A chaotic battle emerged.

    As soon as the two sides began to exchange blows, Lin Fengtang discovered that the martial artists under Su Chen¡¯s control had begun to glow with a blood-colored light. Under the influence of this blood-colored light, Su Chen¡¯s martial artists suddenly seemed unafraid of death, and even the aura they exuded had changed as if they had ingested some kind of medicine.

    One of the Lin n¡¯s martial artists crossed des with one of Su Chen¡¯s subordinates. With a loud ng, the de was parried aside. Immediately afterwards, the opponent lunged in, stabbing his de repeatedly into that martial artist¡¯s chest.

    Vicious, ruthless, merciless, savage.

    Lin Fengtang felt his heart seize. ¡°What is that?¡±

    A voice spoke in Lin Fengtang¡¯s ears, ¡°I developed a secret technique that can confer an Origin Skill to someone¡¯s physical body. What you¡¯re witnessing right now is ¡®Blood of a Warrior¡¯ and ¡®Strength of a Rabid Bull.¡¯ Both are Ancient Arcana Techniques that increase a person¡¯s will to fight and their strength. A sandbox battle emphasizes morale, so the Blood of a Warrior can stir them into a feverish frenzy and make them unafraid of dying. The Strength of a Rabid Bull makes their endurance power almost endless so that they can fight for a long time without growing tired. What do you think? Pretty good, huh?¡±

    He turned around and saw that Su Chen had moved next to him at some point.

    ¡°That¡¯s cheating!¡± Lin Fengtang grew extremely agitated. ¡°How can they use Origin Skills?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I said I wouldn¡¯t use Origin Qi Schrs, not that these martial artists don¡¯t know how to use Origin Skills. Lin Fengtang, you also must have known that I couldn¡¯t possibly give you such a big advantage for no reason. Something like this should be expected; it would be weird if it didn¡¯t happen, right? As long as I didn¡¯t cheat, that should be fine.¡±

    Lin Tangfeng froze. He felt that Su Chen¡¯s words were incredibly logical, leaving him at a loss for words.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 153: Betting Fight 2

    Chapter 153: Betting Fight (2)

    ¡°Attack!¡±

    de strikes began to fly left and right across the battlefield.

    Battles between martial artists weren¡¯t as shy as battles between Origin Qi Schrs. Their confrontations were bloody and direct, and power and bravery determined the oue of the battle.

    With the support of Blood of a Warrior, Su Chen¡¯s martial artists were filled with boldness. The battle had just started and blood was already flying through the air.

    With but a single charge, the Lin n¡¯s martial artists were forced back. Lin Fengtang felt his heart tighten.

    He furiously tried tofort himself. The Origin Qi Schrs were still there! The Origin Qi Schrs were still there!

    Yes,pared to those Body Tempering martial artists, the twenty Qi Drawing Realm cultivators were his true source of hope.

    He had specifically chosen these twenty Qi Drawing Realm cultivators. They were the strongest ones within the whole Lin Residence at their cultivation tier, and some of them were even elites that had awakened their bloodlines.

    At this moment, the Origin Qi Schrs began to attack.

    The twenty Origin Qi Schrs attacked, causing waves of thunderous sword light and freezing de light to soar through the air. Illusory images of beasts also appeared; tigers howled and hawks shrieked. These twenty people put out a wave of Origin Energy that was clearly much more powerful than what the other one hundred and eighty martial artists had been able to achieve.

    Even Lin Fengtang was silently rejoicing. Thebat strength of the subordinates he had chosen truly didn¡¯t disappoint.

    Even so, a stone shell suddenly appeared around those martial artists just a momentter.

    The Origin Qi Schrs¡¯ attacksnded on that stony shell, chipping off shards of rock but totally unable to injure their opponents. On the other hand, those martial artists continued to furiously swing their des like mad, making it so that those Origin Qi Schrs¡¯ barriers were unable to endure this flurry of attacks. They were quickly forced back again.

    Lin Fengtang¡¯s expression sank. He turned around and asked Su Chen, ¡°What is that?¡±

    ¡°Cliffrock Armor,¡± Su Chenughed in response. ¡°What do you think? Pretty good, right?¡±

    Lin Fengtang harrumphed, ¡°It seems pretty good, but wanting to fend off the Origin Qi Schrs with just that isn¡¯t going to be enough.¡±

    As he spoke, those Origin Qi Schrs simultaneously raised their hands to the skies. A vast wave of mes surged forward.

    Even though the Cliffrock Armor could defend against the attacks of physical weapons, it was much less effective against elemental attacks. The martial artists didn¡¯t dare fight this wave of mes had-on, and it unprecedentedly stopped the charge of these martial artists in its tracks.

    When Lin Fengtang saw this, he sighed with relief and thought to himself, ¡°Origin Qi Schrs are still Origin Qi Schrs. How could a bunch of martial artists, even with Origin Skills, defeat them?¡±

    Even so, an instantter, the situation on the battlefield changed again.

    Those martial artists seemed to transform again. A wave of frost began to emanate from their bodies with them at the center, mming into the wave of mes and

    The gap in strength could be observed at this moment. In terms of Origin Energy purity, those Qi Drawing Realm cultivators were much more powerful than the Body Tempering martial artists. If it was a one-on-one battle, the Origin Qi Schrs would win without question.

    The main issue was that Su Chen had two hundred martial artists on his side and outnumbered them ten to one. He had forcefully seized the advantage.

    In the blink of an eye, the frost suppressed the mes, not onlypletely extinguishing them but also continuing to surge forward and encasing arge number of Origin Qi Schrs in ice.

    Next, a red glow began to emanate from the martial artists again as fireball after fireball appeared in the air.

    Fireball Technique!

    The simple and practical fireball technique appeared above these martial artists, but they burned with a shocking intensity.

    Two hundred fireballs simultaneously flew forth, making it seem like they were about to cover the whole sky.

    Those twenty Qi Drawing Realm cultivators simultaneously howled, activating their barriers.

    They had lost their previously scornful attitude and focused all of their attention on blocking this wave of attacks.

    Boom, boom, boom!

    The fireballs exploded in rapid session, and those twenty Qi Drawing Realm cultivators were sted flying. The Lin n¡¯s other martial artists were even more doomed. A couple of the martial artists who were making more trouble were killed immediately, serving their use as cannon powder.

    Lin Fengtang¡¯s face couldn¡¯t be any paler. ¡°How...... how could they have so many Origin Skills? How many do they know?¡±

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°Not too many. Only seven or so. There are two more that they know ¨C one is a position-swapping technique, allowing them to teleport short distances, and the other is a speed regeneration technique, allowing them to recover from their wounds faster.

    When he heard this, Lin Fengtang felt a chill run up his spine. He knew that he hadpletely lost this battle.

    A normal Qi Drawing Realm cultivator only controlled three to five Origin Skills and wouldn¡¯t learn too many all at once.

    The martial artists before him, on the other hand, who hadn¡¯t even be fully-fledged Qi Drawing Realm cultivators yet, possessed seven Origin Skills. How could they possibly fight these people?¡±

    ¡°What skill is that?¡± Lin Fengtang asked.

    Lin Fengtang had initially been too invested in the oue of the battle, but it wasn¡¯t until he knew that he was going to be defeated that he realized the shocking power of Su Chen¡¯s ¡°secret technique¡±.

    Giving a normal martial artist seven Origin Skills was basically equivalent to directly creating an Origin Qi Schr. This really was shocking news.

    ¡°Hemolytic Totem,¡± Su Chen replied calmly. ¡°This is a kind of supplementary technique that utilizes the Ferocious Race¡¯s Totemic Inscriptions and medicine.¡±

    ¡°So it¡¯s the Ferocious Race¡¯s Totemic Inscriptions!¡± Lin Fengtang was enlightened. ¡°You actually deciphered the Ferocious Race¡¯s Totemic Inscriptions!?¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t very hard. The difficult part was improving it.¡± Su Chen exined his observations of the Ferocious Race¡¯s Totemic Inscriptions while he was in the Goldwater Ruins.

    The battle was still going on, but he and Lin Fengtang had begun to chat.

    Lin Fengtang¡¯s attention was being strung along by Su Chen¡¯s words. He didn¡¯t notice that at all. Instead, he said, ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. So you were trying all along to make it so that humans could rely on these Totemic Inscriptions to control Origin Energy...... Wait a minute!¡±

    Lin Fengtang thought of something and yelled, ¡°These martial artists obviously aren¡¯t Origin Qi Schrs! How can they use Origin Skills?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s one of the ws of the Hemolytic Totem. Unless the totems were formed from refined Origin Substances, a Hemolytic Totem would need to be activated by blood Qi. I spent a lot of time researching this without any breakthroughs, but one day when I was growing impatient abd couldn¡¯t get it to work with Origin Energy, I would just use it on normal martial artists. Perhaps they would be a trump card at some point in the future. In reality, that line of thinking was the same as admitting defeat, one borne out of desperation.¡±

    ¡°So these martial artists are just failed byproducts of your experiment?¡± Lin Fengtang was stunned when he heard this.

    ¡°Notpletely. Three years ago, I finally made a breakthrough in my research of the Hemolytic Totem. I seeded in constructing a Hemolytic Totem that consumed 90% blood Qi and 10% Origin Energy. Originally, I didn¡¯t think that my totemic martial artists would be of any use, but now there was a ray of hope. However, this also posed a problem, which was how martial artists could possibly utilize Origin Energy. How do you think I resolved that problem?¡±

    ¡°...... Origin Stones?¡± Lin Fengtang asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Su Chen chuckled. ¡°A single Origin Stone was enough. After this, my research became much more straightforward. At this point, Origin Energy is 50% of the consumption, and the martial artists you see before you are perfect examples of this. They have the Hemolytic Totem drawn on them, and are expending their own blood Qi and Origin Energy in equal measure.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is,¡± Lin Fengtang understood.

    Having reached this point, he no longer had any suspicions, and he also no longer had any confidence in continuing to do battle.

    He yelled loudly, ¡°Stop! Let¡¯s all stop fighting! We surrender!¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 154: Display of Loyalty 1

    Chapter 154: Disy of Loyalty (1)

    Surrender!

    Lin Fengtang had finally surrendered.

    He couldn¡¯t not surrender. These people were all his subordinates. Would he only surrender once those two hundred martial artists killed all of his people?

    Surrendering now at the very least would mean that less people would die.

    This unsuspenseful battle ended just like that.

    Half of the martial artists had been injured or killed. The Origin Qi Schrs weren¡¯t injured at all, but their expressions were extremely dire. Evidently, the scene they had just witnessed had shocked them to their very core. None of Su Chen¡¯s two hundred martial artists had died. Not only that, but they still had enough energy to joke around with each other. They didn¡¯t look like they had just fought a fierce battle at all.

    This totally stunned everyone who had witnessed the strength of the martial artists that Su Chen had improved.

    In reality, there was one thing that Su Chen hadn¡¯t told Lin Fengtang, which was that expending half Origin Energy and half blood Qi was more appropriate for humans.

    Humans didn¡¯t have the weakest physiques, and after a long period of cultivation and constant strengthening, they also possessed abundant blood Qi. Even though they weren¡¯t as powerful as the Ferocious Race, they had their own methods. Cutting the blood Qi expenditure to half also saved martial artists more than half of their physical power.

    This was like an all-out sprint versus a quick run. If you ran at half speed, the total distance you could run would be almost ten times more than how far you could run in an all-out sprint.

    The same went for the usage of Blood Qi.

    SInce using the Hemolytic Totem now didn¡¯t wring a person dry of their bodily strength, even Body Tempering martial artists would be a lot stronger with the support of the Hemolytic Totem.

    Upon realizing this, Su Chen knew that the importance of converting the Hemolytic Totem to only use Origin Energy had gone down greatly. The current Hemolytic Totem was already incredibly useful.

    These Body Tempering martial artists only needed a single Origin Stone to reach the power level of a normal Qi Drawing Realm cultivator.

    This kind of upgrade was massive.

    It was very easy to imagine the shock that would appear when a huge wave of people endowed with the Hemolytic Totem appeared in a future battle.

    In reality, Lin Fengtang was the first person to experience this shock. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have surrendered so easily. As long as Su Chen was willing and put the Hemolytic Totem on disy, the Clear River City Bloodline Nobility ns would do anything to get their hands on it.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t done so simply because he didn¡¯t want to do so.

    It was the same reason why he didn¡¯t want to conduct business with the Immortal Temple and his attitude towards the billion Origin Stones he had earned. To him, wiping out these Bloodline Nobility ns was something that he could do with just a flip of his hand, but he didn¡¯t like doing things that way. He rather enjoyed this way of doing things.

    When Lin Fengtang surrendered, the whole Lin Residence was plunged into despair.

    They had lost just like that?

    They had surrendered just like that?

    A Bloodline Nobility n had been forced to lower its head just like that?

    Many people were unwilling to and didn¡¯t dare ept this kind of oue.

    Su Chen knew the thoughts in their hearts. He directly said, ¡°Since Patriarch Lin is willing to surrender, then things couldn¡¯t possibly be better. However, Patriarch Lin should also understand that surrendering isn¡¯t just something that can be aplished through a single sentence. There needs to be concrete action taken.¡±

    ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°A disy of loyalty,¡± Su Chen said as he smiled slightly.

    A disy of loyalty?

    Lin Fengtang was stunned. ¡°Right now? Where will I go to look for a disy of loyalty?¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t need to look for anything. Someone will create an opportunity for you,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Create an opportunity?

    As if in response to what Su Chen had said, a voice suddenly yelled from the outside:

    ¡°Su Chen! What are you doing?¡±

    Everyone nced in the direction of the voice. A group of people was heading in their direction, with Chen Wenhui at the very front.

    The Investigations Bureau had showed up at this very moment.

    Su Chen smiled at Chen Wenhui and replied, ¡°So it¡¯s Sir Chen. Sir Chen, you have quite a bit of time on your hands today, huh? Why have youe all the way to the west side of the city?¡±

    ¡°If I didn¡¯te, you would have wiped out the Lin n, wouldn¡¯t you have?¡± Chen Wenhui said darkly. ¡°How bold! Who gave you the authority to gather a group of people to attack the Bloodline Nobility ns?¡±

    ¡°Who gave the Bloodline Nobility ns the authority to attack me?¡±

    Chen Wenhui lifted up his head. ¡°The higher-ups have already made a decision on this case.¡±

    ¡°What kind of decision?¡±

    ¡°It was all a misunderstanding. Patriarch Wang was chasing after a criminal and identally implicated you.¡±

    ¡°He yelled out my name.¡±

    ¡°That was to tell you to get out of the way. You just didn¡¯t hear clearly, and Patriarch Wang didn¡¯t want to bicker with you. However, since the higher-ups have already made a decision, don¡¯t even think about overturning it. Furthermore, don¡¯t think about using this as an excuse to attack the nobility ns!¡±

    ¡°Using this as an excuse?¡± Su Chen¡¯s eyebrows jumped. ¡°Sir Chen, you must be misunderstanding something! I am not using this as an excuse to attack the Lin n.¡±

    ¡°You dare say you aren¡¯t?¡± Chen Wenhui pointed at the battlefield. Those ten or so dead martial artists have yet to be carried away. ¡°What are those?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not rted to me,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°I¡¯m only responsible for the Origin Bureau. I can promise you that none of the assants belonged to my Origin Bureau. As for the others, they have nothing to do with me.¡±

    Chen Wenhui was caught off guard. Wang Wenxin and Guo Longughed simultaneously, ¡°We were the ones that attacked. Sir Chen, do you have any objections?¡±

    ¡°You guys?¡± Chen Wenhui¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Do you know what the consequences of betraying the nobility are?¡±

    Wang Wenxin and Guo Long simultaneously frowned and ignored him.

    Su Chen said, ¡°See, was I wrong? These people don¡¯t belong to me, and what happened also has nothing to do with me.¡±

    ¡°So what are you doing here?¡± Chen Wenhui asked.

    ¡°Naturally, I am carrying out my duty as the head of the Origin Bureau. All battles between Origin Qi Schrs are under my jurisdiction. If they aren¡¯t Origin Qi Schrs, it¡¯s not my business,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Chen Wenhui balked. As he nced again at the corpses, he discovered that they were all corpses of martial artists. Not a single Origin Qi Schr had been killed.

    He was stunned.

    He was rendered speechless by Su Chen, but the killing intent in his eyes only grew thicker.

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± he growled.

    ¡°Finally stopped looking for an excuse?¡± Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°That¡¯s right. If you want to fight, let¡¯s fight it out. What need is there to try and find such empty excuses?¡±

    As he spoke, he waved his arm. His people got into formation.

    ¡°You¡¯re right. If we¡¯re going to fight, let¡¯s have ourselves a good fight. What need is there for excuses?¡± Chen Wenhuiughed. ¡°But do you really think you can win?¡±

    ¡°Whether I can win or not, we won¡¯t know until we fight.¡± Su Chen gestured. Arge group of people charged forward.

    Those two hundred martial artists were still at the very front, but this time both gangs¡¯ Origin Qi Schrs also attacked. Only the people from the Origin Bureau remained motionless, as if they were only here on business like Su Chen had said. However, this carrying out of business was too off the mark. So many people shing simultaneously couldn¡¯t possibly be ignored.

    Chen Wenhui said savagely, ¡°A bunch of lowly trash wants to contend with me?¡±

    His figure trembled. Countless vines emerged from his body, each one as agile as a serpent as they snaked in all directions.

    Unlike before, his opponent was not a demon, so Chen Wenhui didn¡¯t use his Cleansing Lotus Lily. Instead, he activated his Young Tree Nymph Bloodline, causing countless vines to shoot towards his opponents.

    These vines were like massive pythons, wrapping themselves around their opponents and strangling them to death.

    Even the Cliffrock Armor had a hard time withstanding these attacks. Under the constriction of these vines, the Cliffrock Armor began to peel off their bodies inrge chunks.

    The other Origin Qi Schrs, however, made a move at the same time. Countless des of wind shot at Chen Wenhui. In response, a bluish glow suddenly appeared at the center of Chen Wenhui¡¯s forehead. ¡°Rise!¡±

    The Cleansing Light Lily reappeared, blocking most of the attacks. At the same time, the vines quickly retracted.

    With a snapping sound, the vines sliced away seven or eight of the Hemolytic Totem martial artists¡¯ lives.

    ¡°You should feel embarrassed by your insignificant talent!¡± Chen Wenhui howled as heunched a palm strike. A wave of energy surged forward, forcing a few of the Origin Qi Schrs backwards, fully demonstrating the power of a peak Yang Opening Realm cultivator with a high-quality bloodline.

    Su Chen eyes lit up. ¡°Indeed, he has some skill. Patriarch Lin, wouldn¡¯t you say so?¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 155: Display of Loyalty 2

    Chapter 155: Disy of Loyalty (2)

    When he heard these words, Lin Fengtang knew that it was his time to move.

    Actually, as soon as Chen Wenhui appeared, Lin Fengtang knew what Su Chen was talking about when he mentioned a show of loyalty.

    Chen Wenhui was Wang Peiyuan¡¯s nephew. Even though he didn¡¯t have the Wang n¡¯s bloodline, his ties with the Wang n ran quite deep. Touching Chen Wenhui was equivalent to provoking the entire Wang n.

    Su Chen¡¯s request for this disy of loyalty was basically forcing Lin Fengtang into a dead end ¨C he wouldn¡¯t relent just because of a single sentence of surrender from Lin Fengtang. He needed to push Lin Fengtang to a point where there was nowhere else for him to go.

    The people from the Origin Bureau were actually there to force the Lin n into action.

    Lin Fengtang was very clear that if he didn¡¯t agree, the people from the Origin Bureau would ughter their way over.

    If the members of the Long Clear Gang and Evil Tiger Gang all had the Hemolytic Totem, then martial artists of the Origin Bureau might also have it, and an improved version at that.

    But could he change sides so quickly?

    Lin Fengtang was a bit reluctant to do so.

    He nced at Su Chen, only to find that Su Chen was also looking at him.

    A smile hung on his lips, but his eyes were filled with killing intent. Origin Energy danced around his fingertips.

    Lin Fengtang knew it wasn¡¯t good to act like an idiot. He could only stammer, ¡°Chen Wenhui is here to save me. If I attack him, it¡¯s too......¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s not trying to save you specifically, but rather this defunct alliance. The Wei n and Shen n have both backed out, the Long n has surrendered, He Wuqian is dead, and so is Xiong Tianyue. If he doesn¡¯t save you, then this alliance will fragment immediately.¡±

    ¡°What did you say? Xiong Tianyue is dead? The Long n has surrendered?¡± Lin Fengtang was shocked.

    Su Chen had charged straight at the Lin n after killing Xiong Tianyue. At that moment, the other ns might have already received the news, but the Lin n had been totally unaware because they had been locked up in this situation. News of the Long n¡¯s surrender was yet another serious blow to Lin Fengtang¡¯s mental state.

    As if Su Chen felt that it wasn¡¯t enough, a figure could be spotted not far from Su Chen. It was Long Qingjiang! However, he was hiding himself amongst a group of people. If one didn¡¯t pay attention, he was almost impossible to spot.

    The shock Lin Fengtian felt was incapable of growing further. Su Chen continued, ¡°See, I don¡¯t necessarily need you to do this. There are many people waiting in line behind you. You are not the first ones to surrender, and if the Long n also steals away the first opportunity to demonstrate their loyalty, that wouldn¡¯t be too good. As such, the opportunity falls to you. If you aren¡¯t willing to do even this ... do you know what a dog eats if it can¡¯t find any food?¡±

    Su Chen leaned in and slowly said in Lin Fengtang¡¯s ear, ¡°Either it eats feces, or it dies!¡±

    These words were like a sharp stab to Lin Fengtang¡¯s heart.

    He wanted to explode with anger, wanted to be indignant and filled with bloodlust like a real man and denounce Su Chen to his face.

    However, a human being was still a human being. If even ants strove to survive, how much more would a human do the same?

    As he stared at Su Chen, he found that he could not say anything.

    An ¡°I don¡¯t care whether you all die¡± was enough to topple his resolve.

    He helplessly nodded.

    ¡°Then go,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°Don¡¯t waste any more of my time.¡±

    Lin Fengtang let out a long sigh. He shut his eyes, then said, ¡°Men of the Lin n, follow me. Attack!¡±

    Chen Wenhui was still fighting Wang Wenxin and Guo Long. Even though he was fighting a two-on-one battle, he still held the advantage. His fists were filled with incredible momentum, forcing his two opponents to retreat time and time again.

    When the people from the Lin n charged over, Chen Wenhui thought that they wereing to help him out. He yelled, ¡°Don¡¯te over in case Su Chen ambushes you!¡±

    The only response he got, however, was a furious assault from the Lin n¡¯s members.

    Chen Wenhui let out a tragic cry. He couldn¡¯t believe his eyes.

    What was going on?

    How could this be?

    ¡°Lin Fengtang, what are you doing?¡± Chen Wenhui couldn¡¯t stop himself from yelling.

    ¡°I......¡± Lin Fengtang wanted to apologize, but he didn¡¯t say anything in the end.

    Regardless of what was happening, he was still a n elder.

    As an elder, what was most important wasn¡¯t how much he schemed but how decisive he was in a critical moment.

    Since he had made a decision, he wouldn¡¯t regret it and wouldn¡¯t think too much about it. Otherwise, his followers would be indecisive, and his subordinates would be unhappy with him, damaging the effectiveness of what his actions. As such, he needed to be decisive.

    This was why Lin Fengtang only got one word out before changing his tone.

    He responded, ¡°Nothing. I am just borrowing your head to build a foundation for the Lin n!¡±

    As he spoke, he charged forward as fast as lightning.

    His Silver Moonlight Falcon Bloodline was activated, increasing his speed by a ridiculous amount.

    His trembling hands unleashed a moonlight projectile that shot at Wang Wenxin.

    Chen Wenhui didn¡¯t even have time to curse as he flew back to dodge. Wang Wenxin and Guo Long closed in and attacked ferociously, not giving him any opportunity to escape.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± Chen Wenhui was infuriated. Vines began to sprout from his body like mad, as if he were a massive tree trunk.

    However, even if he was powerful, so were his opponents.

    Wang Wenxin waved his hand and said, ¡°Go!¡±

    Those two hundred martial artists once again unleashed a flurry of fireballs.

    No matter how powerful the Young Tree Nymph was, it couldn¡¯t possibly withstand two hundred fireballs. It was battered around violently, causing Chen Wenhui to howl loudly and withdrew the vines. Thankfully, at that moment a constable from the Investigations Bureau charged forward, forcefully enduring the attacks from Wang Wenxin and the others.

    ¡°Sir, the Lin n has betrayed us! Quick, let¡¯s get out of here!¡± the constable yelled.

    Chen Wenhui quickly surveyed the situation. The Clear River Gang and Lin n already held the absolute advantage and were massacring his subordinates.

    He felt a pain in his heart and could only yell, ¡°Let¡¯s leave!¡±

    ¡°Leave? Do you think you can?¡± Su Chen smiled gently.

    He had purposefully led Chen Wenhui here in order to finish him off here. How could he let Chen Wenhui get away?

    He jabbed with his finger. A column of fire shot into the sky.

    As he watched the column of fire surge into the air, Chen Wenhui was stunned. Just as he was wondering what it was exactly, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back.

    ¡°AH!¡± he howled as he shoved his palm behind him. His ambusher tumbled back into the group of people.

    Chen Wenhui had identified the person who had attacked him. He screeched, ¡°Peng Bin, it¡¯s you!¡±

    The person who had ambushed him was the constable that he trusted the most.

    Peng Bin said emotionlessly, ¡°City Lord An sends his regards...... still not attacking!?¡±

    As he yelled out, more tragic cries immediately sounded out.

    Ten or so constables suddenly turned hostile and began to attack those on their own side.

    The people from the Investigations Bureau were already in dire straits. With this vicious betrayal, they were unable to hold on and their formation instantly copsed.

    Upon seeing this scene, Chen Wenhui was both shocked and infuriated. He spat out a mouthful of blood.

    Chen Wenhui¡¯s group had sustained quite a few losses when they were attacking the Spirit Race individual. Thus, An Siyuan and Su Chen afterwards had taken advantage of the opportunity to throw a few grains of sand into the Investigations Bureau and insert their own people.

    Even though Chen Wenhui had done his best to try and weed them out, eliminating quite a few outsiders, a few people had tenaciously remained.

    Chen Wenhui also knew that many of his subordinates were untrustworthy, so he had specifically taken care not to bring along anyone that he didn¡¯t trust. However, he hadn¡¯t expected that he would be betrayed by so many people, and especially didn¡¯t expect that even Peng Bin would sell him out.

    He finally realized that Su Chen¡¯s goal was never to deal with the Lin n but rather to deal with himself.

    The de strike he took to his back had cut to the bone, almost slicing through him. In addition, the de had been soaked with poison that was currently attacking his heart and eating away at his body.

    He was totally surrounded by enemies. At that moment, Chen Wenhui had nowhere left to go.

    Even under these kinds of circumstances, Chen Wenhui unexpectedly began to exude the aura that a powerful expert should have.

    Heughed ferociously, ¡°Want to kill me? You¡¯ll need to pay quite a price!¡±

    He tilted his head back and howled, vines surging out from his body again. This time, however, these vines seemed to be made of blood and flesh, as if his muscles and blood vessels were all being set free from his body. They were like countless snakes swallowing up everything in all directions.

    The frighteningly dense wave of bloody vines made it impossible for people to advance. A few Origin Qi Schrs and martial artists couldn¡¯t dodge in time and were swept up, then immediately torn to pieces.

    At that moment, Chen Wenhui had brought his full power to bear, demonstrating his frightening strength. Hundreds of martial artists and tens of Origin Qi Schrs were present, yet none of them dared to get close to him.

    Even Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but sigh, ¡°How courageous.¡±

    However, even the most courageous person would eventually meet their end.

    A streak of silvery light prated all of the defenses it encountered until it mmed into Chen Wenhui¡¯s body.

    ¡°Pu!¡±

    Chen Wenhui spat out a mouthful of blood. All of his momentum suddenly came to a screeching halt.

    He stared at Lin Fengtian and muttered, ¡°You......¡±

    Lin Fengtian lowered his head wordlessly.

    In the end, he hadpleted his disy of loyalty.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 156: Coaxing Out Surrender

    Within the Lian Residence.

    Lian Chengshan sat in his own seat, his expression dark, somber, and ugly.

    An Origin Qi Schr subordinate was standing in front of him. He said, ¡°We¡¯ve already confirmed that Patriarch Xiong Tianyue has indeed died near West Alley, and the people apanying him are all gone. Corpses litter the alleyway, and blood has already stained the streets red.¡±

    ¡°Do you know who did it?¡±

    The subordinate shook his head. ¡°I didn¡¯t see anything. However, the Investigations Bureau¡¯s head deputy Chen came by. After investigating the scene of the crime, he took a bunch of people over to the western area of the city.¡±

    ¡°The western area of the city......¡± Lian Chengshan muttered.

    Was it Lin Fengtang?

    Su Chen, you move so quickly!

    Lian Chengshan sighed in his heart.

    Logically, he should have made a move as soon as he heard the news, sending reinforcements to the Lin n to surround Su Chen, just like what the others were doing at the moment.

    However, he did no such thing.

    He remained there, sittingpletely motionlessly.

    That subordinate was a bit surprised to see him act like this. He said, ¡°Patriarch......¡±

    ¡°I know. You can step down now,¡± was all that Lian Chengshan said.

    When the subordinate saw him still acting like this, he mustered up his courage and said, ¡°Patriarch! Su Chen is obviously nning on taking us down one by one. He should be going to deal with the Lin n right now. If we don¡¯t send reinforcements now, I¡¯m afraid......¡±

    ¡°I said that I know already. Isn¡¯t head deputy Chen already on the way? The other ns should also have received the notice. If that¡¯s the case, what need do we have to hurry? You may leave. I have a handle on the situation.¡± Lian Chengshan waved his hand. His subordinate didn¡¯t dare say anything else and could only retreat.

    Lian Chengshan withdrew his hand and began to pace back and forth.

    He was gripping a notice tightly in his hands.

    Lian Chengshan nced at the notice and let out a sigh, closing his eyes.

    After an unknown period of time.

    An underling called out from outside, ¡°Patriarch, there¡¯s a guest here for you.¡±

    ¡°Who is it?¡±

    ¡°Su...... Su Chen.¡±

    The voice carried with it a bit of shock and trembling.

    Lian Chengshan, however, wasn¡¯t surprised at all.

    He frowned. ¡°So he came after all.¡±

    He had actually known that Su Chen woulde.

    ¡°Let him in,¡± he said.

    A momentter.

    Su Chen stood within the hall, all alone.

    All around him were the Lian n¡¯s subordinates, elites, and generals.

    These people all stared at Su Chen, killing intent dancing in their eyes and bloodlust exuding from their bodies.

    Su Chen, however, acted as if he were unaware of his surroundings. He smiled at Lian Chengshan and said, ¡°Su Chen greets Patriarch Lian.¡±

    ¡°Bureau Head Su, you have a lot of nerve.¡± Lian Chengshan nodded. ¡°You have already ughtered three of our ns, yet you still dare appear in front of us?¡±

    ¡°ughter?¡± Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I didn¡¯t ughter anyone. The word ¡°ughter¡± is only really fitting when referring to killing chickens and dogs. It also carries with it a sentiment of wiping out an entire family. The people I killed were not so weak that they couldn¡¯t retaliate and were simrly not so innocent. I also didn¡¯t wipe out the entire family ¨C only those who posed a threat to me. Most importantly...... it wasn¡¯t three ns, but two.¡±

    He raised his two fingers.

    Two slender, pale fingers.

    ¡°Two ns?¡± Lian Chengshan squinted his eyes. ¡°The Lin n wasn¡¯t harmed?¡±

    ¡°A few of them died, but not many, and those that died had no status to speak of.¡±

    ¡°They surrendered?¡± Lian Chengshan was stunned.

    He wasn¡¯t stupid. He knew exactly what Su Chen was implying.

    ¡°They surrendered!¡± Su Chen replied confidently.

    Lian Chengshan sat in shock.

    Someone off to the side said, ¡°So you¡¯vee all this way just to strut around and brag?¡±

    The speaker was called Ma Yuan, a Yang Opening Realm cultivator and a guest of the Lian n. He had quite a bit of status here and was often treated with respect, which was why he was allowed to interrupt.

    ¡°Strut around?¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t go that far. I just wanted to tell you one thing.¡±

    Someone else interjected again, ¡°Even if the Lin n surrenders, there are still seven more ns. Su Chen, do you really think that you can swallow all of them by yourself?¡± Since one person had already taken the lead, the others were emboldened to continue.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Seven ns? I don¡¯t think so. Right, I forgot to tell you that Long Qingjiang is also listening to me now, so only six of the ten Bloodline Nobility ns remain.¡±

    What?

    Everyone¡¯s expression immediately changed.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°And even then, the six ns won¡¯t be able to easily do anything. The Wang n is currently surrounded by City Lord An, so no one will be able toe out for a bit of time. When I attacked the Lin n, the Yu n¡¯s members were on their way to reinforce the situation, but they weren¡¯t able to get there in time because Lu Qingguang sent some people to stop them. After I finished off the Lin n, I sent Wang Wenxin and the others to the Lai n. Right now, they¡¯ve probably already arrived. Lai Wuyi was once the Long Clear Gang¡¯s master, but now their rtionships is about the flip the other way. As for the Wei and Shen ns, they were bullied by you guys into their current state, so their focus is on protecting themselves. They won¡¯t make a move easily. However, to prevent any idents from happening, I sent Long Qingjiang and Lin Fengtang to blockade their residences so that they don¡¯t make any trouble for me. You won¡¯t be able to count on any of your allies.¡±

    Everyone sucked in a breath of cold air.

    Had Su Chen¡¯s influence really reached this point without them even realizing it?

    Lian Chengshan harrumphed, ¡°But if that¡¯s the case, then you¡¯re the only one here.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°It¡¯s just me. But I alone am enough.¡±

    ¡°Absurd!¡±

    ¡°Outrageous!¡±

    ¡°Arrogant!¡±

    The main hall burst forth into an uproar. Everyone present was indignant and infuriated.

    Su Chen, however, remained expressionless. ¡°I¡¯vee here today to seek peace. The reason I chose toe here is because in the past, we all had a mutual agreement of nonaggression. These past few years, I have always honored this agreement and have never offended the Lian n. However, during the battle on Southern Mountain, your n broke this agreement, and members of your n attacked me.¡±

    Lian Chengshan sighed. ¡°Everyone else was pushing for that. There was nothing I could do.¡±

    ¡°Then what about now? Is this agreement still in effect? Basically, if I¡¯m not persuasive enough, will Patriarch Lian again consider capturing me?¡±

    Lian Chengshan was stunned. ¡°This was the reason you darede alone? You thought that an agreement alone would be enough to protect you?¡±

    ¡°I just wanted to see if Patriarch Lian has any intention of honoring that agreement.¡±

    Lian Chengshan froze for a moment, then shook his head. ¡°If I missed this opportunity just because of an agreement, I would be stupid.¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Unsurprisingly, you aren¡¯t swayed by empty words and reputation. Patriarch Lian, are you rejecting my good intentions?¡±

    Lian Chengshan was shocked. ¡°Can you not even say anything else? You want me to surrender with just youing on your own and offering a few sentences?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s not much to say. What needs to be said has already been said. The situation is now quite clear; anyone with a clear head should be able to tell what¡¯s going to happen next. There¡¯s no point in saying any more. Patriarch, please make your decision.¡±

    ¡°Then you are wrong. If you came with arge army to suppress me, you might have forced me into capitting. However, right now you are alone. The current situation in Clear River City is due to you. As long as I kill you, the situation you have created will copse. Su Chen, you are too arrogant, and it¡¯s this arrogance that has caused you to make this fatal mistake. Do you really think that no one dares to touch you in this kind of situation?¡± Lian Chengshan said as he stood up.

    As he stood, the members of the Lian n all closed in, surrounding him tightly.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t surprised. He nced at the people surrounding him and said, ¡°So you¡¯ve made up your mind?¡±

    ¡°Naturally,¡± Lian Chengshan replied quite confidently.

    Su Chenughed.

    Lian Chengshan didn¡¯t understand why Su Chen wasughing. Su Chen chuckled a bit before saying, ¡°The reason you refused me was because you feel like meing alone into the Lian Residence is just asking to get killed. The reason I¡¯m here isn¡¯t for any stupid agreement.¡±

    He nced at Lian Chengshan. ¡°In this residence, yourself included, there are a total of five Yang Opening Realm, twenty-one Blood Boiling Realm, and forty-six Qi Drawing Realm cultivators, along with three hundred martial artists. Maybe you think that this kind of strength is enough to deal with just me alone. But you seem to have forgotten that I was facing this many opponents when I escaped from the Southern Mountain.¡±

    Lian Chengshan¡¯s expression changed slightly.

    ¡°Of course, you could say that the Lian n is much stronger than before, but I am not the same as I was before either.¡± Su Chen slowly unsheathed the Mountain-Beheading de. ¡°The current me is much more prepared than before! That is why I dared toe here on my own. The only reason I need is ...... I alone am enough to destroy you all!¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 157: Courageous Battle

    ¡°AHH!¡±

    Tragic cries rang out from within the Lian Residence.

    These cries continued relentlessly without stopping. Anyone who heard it would tremble from fear.

    The cries only ceased after time it takes to burn a stick of incense passed.

    The front door creaked open.

    Su Chen walked out, his body covered in blood.

    When he had first stepped into the Lian Residence, his clothes were white. When he walked out, his white robe was dyed red, and even the Mountain-Beheading de was not excluded.

    A top-quality Origin Tool treasure was disying signs of wear.

    The ferociousness of the battle that had just taken ce was obvious.

    The blood on his body was both from his enemies and his own.

    He had been wounded thirty-seven time, twelve of them being quite heavy. Even the Algae Thread Coral and the Mystic Heavy Armor couldn¡¯tpletely defend him.

    However, he was still alive.

    He was as vigorous as a tiger or a dragon and still had enough energy to leap and prance about.

    Su Chen tossed back thest vial of high-tier recovery medicine he had, swished the vial of medicine as if it were a bowl of wine, and let out a satisfied burp.

    He had eaten quite a bit today.

    Then, he tossed the vial of medicine behind him. It arced through the air and plopped into a small river nearby.

    Iron Cliff, who had been watching from outside, walked over. ¡°It¡¯s done?¡±

    His job was to guard against any sudden changes to the situation. If any outsiders entered the arena, he would hold them off for a bit and have Gui Dashan and the others to notify Su Chen.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t lied. He hade on his own, but he had also brought a few subordinates with him to make sure he could adapt as the situation changed.

    Thankfully, nothing unexpected had urred.

    ¡°It¡¯s all done?¡± Iron Cliff asked at this moment. Even though he knew the answer to his question already, he asked anyways.

    ¡°Anyone who attacked is dead, and anyone who didn¡¯t is still alive,¡± Su Chen said as he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. ¡°Lian Jiao is still alive, and some of her brothers also knelt in surrender. Later, you can pick one of them to inherit the Lian n.¡±

    ¡°Then, Lian Jiao?¡±

    ¡°As you please.¡±

    ¡°You got her pregnant before anyways.¡±

    Su Chen stopped in his tracks and nced at Iron Cliff. ¡°It seems to me that you¡¯re bing less and less like a Cliff Race individual. Aren¡¯t they supposed to be the strong, silent type?¡±

    Iron Cliff replied, ¡°Do you wish for me to be a Cliff Race individual like that? Master, if you want, I can do that as well.¡±

    ¡°No, this is fine with me,¡± Su Chen said as he patted Iron Cliff on the shoulder. ¡°Keep up the good work.¡±

    As he spoke, he got on the horse carriage that had been prepared for him. He first used a cleansing technique to wash himself, then changed into a new set of robes, allowing him to regain his princely, elegant demeanor from before.

    ¡°Take me to the Thousand Treasures Pavilion. There¡¯s no need to rush,¡± Su Chen said, theny down to rest.

    The next thing he heard was Zhou Hong¡¯s voice gently calling him out of his reverie. ¡°Young Master, Young Master.¡±

    Su Chen awoke again. The carriage was already at the Thousand Treasures Pavilion.

    ¡°So fast,¡± Su Chen said, squinting his eyes. He felt like he had just closed his them.

    ¡°It¡¯s my fault for rushing here. Please pardon my mistake,¡± Zhou Hong hurriedly said.

    He stepped out of the carriage and walked into the Thousand Treasures Pavilion, only to find Jiang Xishui standing there already gulping down food and drink.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t stand on courtesy and picked up a pair of chopsticks, using them to stuff food into his mouth.

    ¡°No need to eat so barbarically. It¡¯s not like there¡¯s not enough food for all of us,¡± Jiang Xishuiughed.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I single-handedly wiped out most of the Lian n and have exhausted most of my Origin Energy and Blood Qi. I have many wounds, and even the medicines I prepared were all used up. If I don¡¯t eat enough to replenish my body, I might wring myself dry.¡±

    ¡°I know how hard you worked this time, so all the meat we ordered is Vicious Beast meat. It¡¯s very vorful and nutritious, perfect for you,¡± Jiang Xishui said.

    Origin Qi Schrs didn¡¯t not normally have physical needs, but Su Chen had expended a great deal of energy and needed arge quantity of food, which was why he was devouring the food in front of him.

    ¡°Speaking of which, you were asking for trouble. Why not just bring me along? You had to go and do it yourself. So what if you earned the reputation of wiping out an entire n single-handedly? Is it worth it?¡±

    Su Chen lifted his head up from his food. ¡°Do you think that I did that just for reputation?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Of course not,¡± Su Chen said as he swallowed down a beast leg and replied, ¡°I challenged the Lian n alone firstly because I wanted to evaluate my own strength and see what point I¡¯ve reached. It¡¯s also harder to grow without difficult battles. I¡¯ve managed to learn quite a few secret techniques in the past couple of years, but I don¡¯t feel like I¡¯ve had many opportunities to let loose my full strength.¡±

    He paused for a moment and drank arge bowl of Beast Blood Wine before continuing, ¡°I asked Instructor, and Instructor said that it was because I have experienced too few serious battles. If I fight a life-or-death battle, I can pull out my hidden strength and master these skills all at once. These past few years, I have only focused on obtaining strength and Origin Skills equal to Bloodline Skills, but I have beencking a tempering by blood and fire...... Waiter, get me another Labyrinth Armored Beast.¡±

    ¡°So you went all-out against the Lian n to temper yourself by blood and fire? How did it feel?¡± Jiang Xishui asked.

    ¡°Not too good,¡± Su Chen shook his head.

    He gulped down half of a Golden Goose, then pointed at the wounds on his chest and said, ¡°Here, here, and here. I was shed by a de and stabbed by a spear, but I didn¡¯t feel any hidden strength surge forth, and I didn¡¯t master anything all at once. All I feel is that after this bloody battle, human lives have decreased in value in my eyes. Well, I have a better understanding now of the Origin Skills I possess, but I am far from reaching the level described by Instructor.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps that¡¯s because you had Iron Cliff and the others outside.¡±

    ¡°What kind of reasoning is that?¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°Why would putting Iron Cliff and the others outside affect my bing stronger?¡±

    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t affect it, but having them there means that you were prepared for the battle,¡± Jiang Xishui replied. ¡°Since you had your own preparations, you naturally expected to win, which was why you fought in the first ce. From the beginning, you didn¡¯t have any ns of fighting to the death. Even though the fight was difficult, it was just difficult, and even though you were wounded, they¡¯re only wounds. Neither the difficulty nor the wounds were fatal, so you were never pushed to the point where you had nowhere to go. If you were never pushed to where you had nowhere to go, how could you fight with your back against the wall?¡±

    Su Chen was stunned and couldn¡¯t think of anything to say for some time.

    Jiang Xishui said, ¡°You¡¯re used to scheming and only fighting when everything is under your control. However, real heroes have courage in their chests and guts in their hearts; they fight if they want to fight. In a head-on battle, those with more courage are often the winners. They won¡¯t think about how much control they have over their situation or their chances of sess. When you think too much, your vigor leaks out and your guts will decay. It would be strange if you seeded in trying to scheme your way along the path of a hero. You thought that you were fighting to the death, but you were actually just showing off your strength!¡±

    Su Chen was stunned by this when he heard it. ¡°Isn¡¯t charging ahead single-mindedly without any backup in ce too dangerous?¡±

    Jiang Xishuiughed, ¡°That¡¯s the point. The ¡®path of a hero¡¯ is really just a few hundred people charging up a single path, and thest person remaining is the hero. It¡¯s not a path that really suits you. You¡¯re better off staying on your path of research and bing a schr overlord, using your absolute strength to steamroll all the opponents in your path. As for fighting with your back to the walls, that¡¯s not your style. If someday you really are put into that kind of situation, you can think about walking this path. At that time, it won¡¯t be toote for you to explode with hidden potential and ughter a few thousand people.¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°Consider me educated! Get me another bowl of fried Phoenix-Tailed Chicken!¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 158: Being Brave

    Su Chen had finally eaten and drunk his fill.

    He patted his stomach. ¡°I finally feel a bit more alive. Right, how¡¯s the situation over there going?¡±

    ¡°Where are you talking about?¡± Jiang Xishui asked with a chuckle.

    ¡°Everywhere.¡±

    ¡°Wang Zhanyu tried to make a move once, but he was fought off by City Lord An. The Shen n hasn¡¯t moved, while the Wei n tried to support the Lin n but was stopped by our men.¡±

    ¡°Old Wei has quite a bit of foresight,¡± Su Chen sighed. ¡°Then what about the Lu n?¡±

    Jiang Xishui said, ¡°You¡¯re asking about Lu Qingguang, right?¡±

    Su Chen said exasperatedly, ¡°That bastard has already screwed me over twice. If he doesn¡¯t think I¡¯m an idiot, he should know that I won¡¯t let him get away with it. He can¡¯t possibly pass up such a big opportunity, can he?¡±

    ¡°He might not want to pass it up, but City Lord An sent Lu Yiyang over to personally keep an eye on him so that he doesn¡¯t get an opportunity to harm you.¡±

    Bang! Su Chen smacked the table. ¡°Is he saving me? Or saving Lu Qingguang?¡±

    Jiang Xishui sighed. ¡°Using saving you as an excuse to save him. Unfortunately, Cloud Leopard and the others wasted their time setting up a plot against him.¡±

    The plot that he had prepared against Lu Qingguang had been thwarted by An Siyuan. Su Chen was in a very bad mood.

    His feelings revealed themselves on his face, and his expression carried a few traces of ugliness and anger.

    He stood up. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±

    ¡°Where?¡± Jiang Xishui asked.

    Su Chen replied in a raspy voice, ¡°I¡¯ve eaten and drank my fill, but my mood doesn¡¯t seem to have gotten better. I want to go out and kill some people to get rid of this gross feeling!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going to kill Lu Qingguang?¡± Jiang Xishui immediately realized what Su Chen was thinking and was stunned. ¡°You¡¯ve thought things through?¡±

    ¡°Thought? Thought about what? Didn¡¯t you say earlier that walking the path of a hero means having courage in your chest and guts in your heart? If I want to fight, I¡¯ll fight; what need is there to think so much?¡±

    ¡°But that¡¯s not who you are.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m only doing it after drinking some wine. I¡¯ll borrow the influence of the alcohol to go a little crazy and throw my strength around a bit. It¡¯s not often I get to enjoy myself and let loose a bit. Doesn¡¯t that sound like fun? If I¡¯m not even willing to make some mistakes under the influence of alcohol, how could I im to have a heroic spirit?¡±

    As he spoke, he stood up and walked down the stairs.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Lu Qingguang sat atop a tall horse at the intersection between 13th Street and Ganba Avenue.

    He seemed quite pleased with himself.

    Opposite him was a square-faced,rge-eared old man.

    His name was Yu Huaien.

    He was the Yu n¡¯s current Patriarch, and his bloodline was the Gigantic Frost Scorpion bloodline, yet he was bowing down to the person in front of him.

    The Yu n had surrendered.

    The Yu n, one of the Ten Bloodline Nobility ns, had officially surrendered at this moment.

    If there was anything that made Lu Qingguang unhappy, it was that the person who wasrgely responsible for this surrender wasn¡¯t himself but the young man that he was deeply jealous of.

    Lu Qingguang already couldn¡¯t remember when his feelings of jealousy for Su Chen had sprouted.

    Too much time had passed. He couldn¡¯t remember such things clearly anymore, and he didn¡¯t want to either.

    He only needed to know that ever since Su Chen had appeared, he was no longer the second most powerful individual in Clear River City. His enemies would no longer tremble in fear before him, and he was no longer the person that An Siyuan relied on the most. That was enough to set him off.

    Even Wang Zhanyu¡¯s pursuit hadn¡¯t been aimed at him.

    Though this was a good thing, being overlooked only infuriated him and filled him with hatred.

    He detested Su Chen, detested him for stealing away his prestige, detested him for stealing away his status.

    Wasn¡¯t this an incredibly normal situation?

    Most people would feel hatred under these circumstances.

    He wasn¡¯t worried that Su Chen would find out about his actions.

    So what if Su Chen knew about it?

    Su Chen had no evidence, and with An Siyuan protecting his head, there was nothing that Su Chen could do to him.

    Of course, he hadn¡¯t forgotten to deal with these nobility ns either.

    ording to his original n, he was going to allow the Yu n to go and deal Su Chen a blow from behind. If necessary, he would even make the move himself.

    This would be his third time plotting against Su Chen. He believed that he would seed this time.

    However, everything had been ruined by that damned Confucian schr.

    Lu Yiyang¡¯s presence made it impossible for Lu Qingguang to let anyone through.

    His persuasion and warning represented An Siyuan¡¯s intentions; An Siyuan didn¡¯t want any issues to ur between his own people at this critical juncture of them dealing with the Bloodline Nobility ns.

    As such, he could only endure.

    At this point, the Yu n had officially surrendered.

    Yu Huaien had surrendered because someone had notified him that Su Chen had charged into the Lian Residence and single-handedly cleanly massacred the Lian n.

    Thus, he had surrendered.

    This was also another reason why Lu Qingguang was unhappy.

    To convince Yu Huaien to surrender, he had coaxed Yu Huaien with many promises and pleasant words, but they couldn¡¯tpare to a single action of Su Chen¡¯s.

    He felt that someone had dealt him a heavy blow to the back of his head.

    He felt like even Lu Yiyang¡¯s gaze towards thim was filled with disdain, as if he were saying, ¡°See, didn¡¯t I tell you? You can¡¯t afford to provoke Su Chen. If you provoke him, you will be the one to die. The City Lord didn¡¯t let you go in order to save you.¡±

    ¡°In order to save you.¡±

    ¡°To save you.¡±

    ¡°Save you.¡±

    These words echoed in Lu Qingguang¡¯s brain incessantly, making him incredibly irritated.

    His gaze towards Yu Huaien was extremely icy. ¡°What point is there in surrendering now? The way I see it, I should just kill you and be done with it.¡±

    Yu Huaien was stunned. ¡°General Lu, you weren¡¯t saying that earlier!¡±

    ¡°Earlier was earlier, and now is now. I gave you an opportunity before but you didn¡¯t take it. Now that you¡¯ve received the news and are afraid, you want to surrender. But do we need you to surrender now?¡± Lu Qingguang asked as he squinted his eyes. ¡°The Lian n is wiped out, and the Lai n has surrendered. Only four of the ten major noble ns remain. Keeping you here has no real merit; you¡¯ll only be taking away our supplies. By killing you, we¡¯ll have one less mouth to feed and will actually obtain more resources. Isn¡¯t that better!¡±

    Yu Huaien yelled, ¡°City Head Su sent someone to say that as long as I am willing to surrender, we can let bygones be bygones!¡±

    The person who had sent him the notice was from the Origin Bureau. He was Su Chen¡¯s subordinate and the person responsible for soliciting the surrender.

    Lu Qingguang said indifferently, ¡°Su Chen¡¯s words are not my words. He agreed to the surrender, but I haven¡¯t yet.¡±

    He was in quite a bad mood and wanted to vent.

    If he couldn¡¯t vent onto Su Chen, he would heap all of it onto Yu Huaien¡¯s head.

    When Lu Yiyang saw this situation, he frowned slightly.

    However, he said nothing in the end.

    He knew that Lu Qingguang was in a bad temper and needed to blow off some steam. Of course, this would ruin Su Chen¡¯s ns and make some trouble for him.

    But what did this have to do with him?

    Stopping Lu Qingguang wouldn¡¯t be useful and might result in him getting burned instead.

    Sorry, Yu n. The misfortune will fall upon your head this time.

    Lu Qingguang grabbed Yu Huaien¡¯s head and pulled it up.

    The soldiers around them raised their des.

    Yu Huaien felt terrified. His expression paled as his heart quivered.

    At that moment of despair, he heard Su Chen¡¯s voice.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t agree to the surrender, step aside and don¡¯t get in my way. If you dare touch even a hair on their bodies, I¡¯ll cut off one of your fingers. If you touch more than that, I will cut you into pieces and turn you into meat buns to feed the dogs.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 159: Battle of Courage

    Lu Qingguang¡¯s hand froze in midair.

    He wanted to continue his motion.

    However, he didn¡¯t dare.

    ¡°Su...... Chen!¡± Lu Qingguang spat out between gritted teeth as he turned around to face the source of the sound.

    Su Chen walked over slowly, his hands behind his back.

    Lu Qingguang¡¯s troops parted way as Su Chen walked forward.

    It wasn¡¯t that they didn¡¯t want to stop him; it was that they couldn¡¯t.

    Like a sharp knife cutting through tendon or like Moses parting the Red Sea, Su Chen¡¯s path was both natural and instinctive.

    Behind him naturally was Jiang Xishui, who greeted everyone cheerfully as he walked forward. ¡°How are you all doing? You¡¯ve all worked hard.¡±

    When Yu Huaien saw Su Chen walking over, he was so moved that his heart almost jumped out of his chest.

    He had always hated Su Chen, but at this moment Su Chen suddenly appeared very lovable.

    He yelled loudly, ¡°Yu Huaien greets Bureau Head Su! From this day onwards, the Yu n is willing to work like a dog or a horse for Bureau Head!¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t need to work like a dog or a horse for me. As long as you don¡¯t run rampant, pay your taxes on time, and don¡¯t wantonly seize territory, you will be regarded and treated as fine citizens. Pay what you need to pay, do what you need to do, release what you need to release, and guard what you need to guard,¡± Su Chen said calmly.

    ¡°Of course, of course,¡± Yu Huaien hurriedly replied.

    The battle between the government and the nobility ns was based on benefits in the first ce. They vastly underreported the territory they controlled, barely paid some thousands of Origin Stones despite raking in millions, and walked as if they owned the streets, fighting where they wanted to fight. These were the original crimes of the Bloodline Nobility ns, and were also the reasons for the original conflict.

    If they obeyed the rules and kept thew, there wouldn¡¯t have been any issues.

    However, the Bloodline Nobility ns had a lot of influence. How could they be willing to obey the rules? This was why there was so much friction.

    If they were willing to surrender today, then the rules they should have followed would naturally be respected.

    Yu Huaien agreed emphatically, but Lu Qingguang¡¯s expression grew uglier and uglier. ¡°Su Chen, what did you say to me earlier?¡±

    Su Chen turned around and smiled at him. ¡°Are you deaf? Could you not hear me clearly? Then I¡¯ll say it again. I told you to screw off. If you touch the people that belong to me, I¡¯ll chop you to pieces.¡±

    Lu Qingguang stared at him, his killing intent bing palpable.

    He was calcting whether or not he could kill Su Chen if he made a move at this moment and how much confidence he had in seeding.

    He had heard of Su Chen¡¯s exploits in escaping from the Southern Mountain, and he knew that Su Chen had just massacred the Lian n.

    However, he hadn¡¯t seen it firsthand, and more importantly, he didn¡¯t believe it.

    He didn¡¯t believe that a person without a bloodline could be that powerful, and didn¡¯t believe that Su Chen could do this all on his own.

    He believed that Su Chen had only escaped from the Southern Mountain because of Long Qingjiang¡¯s assistance. He also believed that Su Chen could only wipe out the Lian n on his own because he had actually brought along arge number of Shadow Servants.

    He found excuse after excuse for Su Chen¡¯s exploits, and also had some evidence on his side to support this. For instance, Long Qingjiang had truly helped him escape from the Southern Mountain, and he hadn¡¯t arrived at the Lian Residence alone.

    As such, he wasn¡¯t afraid.

    After all, he also had the support of all his loyal soldiers with him.

    Lu Qingguang believed that these soldiers were much stronger than the ones in the Lian Residence.

    As such, he had confidence and belief that he could take Su Chen.

    However, he didn¡¯t make a move because of this. Lu Yiyang was still there. Some things always needed an exnation, and some things still needed to be said.

    He turned around and nced at Lu Yiyang. ¡°Sir Lu, you saw as well. This Su Chen acts arrogantly and is as headstrong as a stubborn mare. He thinks that he can do as he pleases just because he has made a few contributions.¡±

    Lu Yiyang nodded. ¡°It was indeed too much. Su Chen, watch your tone; after all, everyone is on the same side here.¡±

    He didn¡¯t speak much, but his words were quite forceful. He represented An Siyuan, the City Lord of Clear River City, and also Su Chen¡¯s greatest supporter and ally.

    Su Chen, however, didn¡¯t even look at him. He said, ¡°Who are you to order me around? When Lu Qingguang was about to kill my people, why didn¡¯t you say anything? You¡¯re just a useless dog!¡±

    He knew what kind of trash Lu Yiyang was.

    Don¡¯t put too much stock in the fact that he looked like a tactician.

    Actually, this guy had neither courage nor intelligence. An Siyuan used him merely as a cover so that everyone would think that the ideas and plotsing out of the City Lord¡¯s residence were all from this Yiyang guy.

    In reality, this Yiyang guy was nothing more than a house pet or a decoration. Actually, he was probably even inferior to a house pet.

    Even so, he was still An Siyuan¡¯s subordinate.

    You needed to make sure who the owner was before hitting a dog.

    Humiliating a dog like that would not leave a good taste in the owner¡¯s mouth.

    Su Chen, however, didn¡¯t care in the slightest.

    Lu Yiyang¡¯s expression changed. He pointed at Su Chen and said, ¡°You...... you...... you, you, you, you!¡±

    Su Chen stared at him. ¡°If you keep pointing at me, I¡¯ll cut your finger off and break your arms so that you no longer have any hands. Want to keep pissing me off?¡±

    Lu Yiyang was scared badly by this. He immediately pulled his hand back, afraid to keep pointing, and could only look towards Lu Qingguang in fear.

    A strange light flickered across Lu Qingguang¡¯s eyes. ¡°You dare insult the City Lord¡¯s people? Su Chen, you must be going crazy. Could it be that after you deal with the ten Bloodline Nobility ns, you¡¯ll take care of Sir An as well?¡±

    ¡°Who I take care of next is none of your business, but I¡¯m going to deal with you right now!¡± Su Chen said darkly.

    He unsheathed his de: Mountain-Beheading de!

    He stepped forwards: Snaking Mist Steps.

    He shot right past the dense group of hundreds of soldiers and charged right at Lu Qingguang.

    He charged!

    If I say that I¡¯m going to fight, I¡¯m going to fight!

    His advance was so swift and quick that everyone was stunned.

    They didn¡¯t expect it and couldn¡¯t react in time.

    ¡°Block him!¡± Lu Qingguang yelled loudly.

    Even though he had all kinds of disparaging thoughts about Su Chen, Lu Qingguang didn¡¯t believe that he was individually stronger than Su Chen and wasn¡¯t nning on fighting a battle to the death with him.

    His savagery was founded upon the fact that he had arge group of people with him. Naturally, he was going to use this group to its greatest potential.

    The soldiers drew their des.

    Numerous de edges pointed at Su Chen.

    As the soldiers moved to attack, so too did Jiang Xishui.

    He swung his arm, tossing out a pouch.

    The pouch was filled with wine.

    Wine that had just been taken from the Thousand Treasures Pavilion, Golden Wind Liquor.

    The wine sshed out of the pouch, carrying the scent of wine everywhere.

    The scent was incredibly thick.

    At the same time, countless droplets of the wine flew through the air, shooting towards the soldiers one after another.

    The soldiers around Su Chen all flew into the air before crumpling to the ground.

    The drops of winended on them, infiltrating their body and charging towards their brains, bringing with it an instantaneous bout of dizziness.

    A single drop of wine was enough to make one of them drunk.

    It wasn¡¯t because the wine was strong, but because Jiang Xishui¡¯s handiwork was extremely precise, and the alcohol had directly suffused into their brains.

    ¡°How fragrant,¡± a few of the soldiers even muttered as they fell to the ground.

    Su Chen was still charging forward.

    No one could stop him.

    A massive humanoid image appeared behind him: Shadow me Incarnation!

    As Su Chen charged forward, the Mountain-Beheading de began to grow in size, turning into a massive glowing de that rose up into the sky, the light from the de reflecting off of Lu Qingguang¡¯s eyes.

    It cleaved down.

    The de light was over three hundred feet tall!

    What a long streak of de light! What a ferocious de strike! What a piercing gaze!

    These thoughts shed across Lu Qingguang¡¯s mind, but his movements weren¡¯t slow at all.

    At the same time that Su Chen attacked, he applied a barrier to himself and activated a defensive technique, as well as his Ripple Technique. He then lifted up his Ocean-Propping Golden Spear and hefted it at Su Chen¡¯s Mountain-Beheading de.

    ng!

    The metallic ng resounded like the ringing of a giant bell, echoing in everyone¡¯s ears.

    Then, Lu Qingguang watched as the energy rippling from himself collided with Su Chen¡¯s Shadow me Incarnation, only causing a bit of the mes to scatter off before fading into nothingness.

    Then, his Ocean-Propping Golden Spear split in half.

    The barrier on his body instantly shattered and disappeared.

    Finally, it was him turn. With a quiet crack, a thin line of blood appeared on his forehead and quickly spread to the rest of his body.

    ¡°Your strength has already......¡±

    He wanted to say something else, but he couldn¡¯t finish his sentence. His figure swayed slightly before his body split in two down the middle.

    With a single strike, killed!

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 160: Final Coercion 1

    Chapter 160: Final Coercion (1)

    The Wang Residence.

    The Wang n¡¯srge courtyard had once been extremely prestigious. Back then, the stone tigers that guarded the front door had been so lively it was as if they had their own spirits that frightened the evil demons away.

    However, even the barking dogs within the residence were now silent, let alone the stone tigers.

    Large numbers of soldiers had surrounded the entire residence.

    They were solemn, quiet, serious, and vicious.

    They had surrounded the Wang Residence thoroughly so that no leaks could get through.

    This harsh aura and oppressive force had gathered together like a dark cloud above the Wang Pce.

    The Wang Pce was where those surnamed Wang lived; it was not just the Wang Patriarch¡¯s residence.

    As such, when their residence waspletely surrounded by soldiers, everyone knew that something bad was about to happen.

    Even the Wang n¡¯s Patriarch had made an appearance once earlier.

    Unfortunately, he was immediately beaten back.

    An Siyuan was sitting in his Peaceful Four Seas Carriage, his bald head glistening as he projected his voice into the pce. ¡°Old Wang, you¡¯ve cultivated for a few hundred years, but it seems that the longer you live the further back you regress. Others have their descendants make offerings to them. As long as the supply of resources doesn¡¯t end, the n will not fall. This is why you must be detached from outside affairs. But you dragged yourself into these muddy waters and fought on behalf of your descendants. However, you didn¡¯t realize that once the surprise abated, what awaited you was a violent storm.¡±

    Wang Zhanyu stood straight on top of the roof of his house. ¡°You¡¯re absolutely correct. I couldn¡¯t withstand the pleading of my sons and grandsons, and couldn¡¯t bear to ignore their interests. I personally made a move and broke the rules, resulting in this disaster. However, you¡¯ve got quite a long ways to go from wiping out the Wang n. An Siyuan, do you really dare attack the Wang n? Or do you think that you alone will be enough to defeat me?¡±

    An Siyuanughed loudly, ¡°You have three Lotus tforms, while I only have two. How could I be your opponent? However, I am also an official of the empire, and my Chaos and Peace Seal and Peaceful Seas Carriage represent my pursuit of peace. If you really want to fight me, I can risk my life to battle you for a bit if it makes you happy.¡±

    Wang Zhanyu¡¯s expression was cold and determined.

    An Siyuan could resist the ten Bloodline Nobility ns on his own until now not just because of his prestige as a governmental official but also because of his own personal strength, which was further bolstered by the support of the Chaos and Peace Seal and the Peaceful Seas Carriage.

    The Chaos and Peace Seal and the Peaceful Seas Carriage weren¡¯t just Origin Tools; they represented the prestige and influence of the imperial family.

    He could use these two items to simultaneously attack and defend, with the Chaos and Peace Seal allowing him to attack wantonly while the Peaceful Seas Carriage protected his body.

    As long as An Siyuan was sitting in the Peaceful Seas Carriage, Wang Zhanyu couldn¡¯t carelessly attack. Otherwise, he would bemitting a crime.

    Of course, it wasn¡¯t that Wang Zhanyu couldn¡¯t bear the responsibility. However, he had just used his connections to resolve another issue. If he did this now, it might not be that easy to deal with.

    Most importantly, if they fought, he might not be able to win!

    Apart from the Chaos and Peace Seal and the Peaceful Seas Carriage, An Siyuan had plenty of experts under his control. Each one was incredibly fierce. He also had sixteen Blood Hands, five hundred Blood-Robed Guards, and three thousand Lightning Martial Artists.

    He had brought all of these people with him.

    If the ten Bloodline Nobility nsbined forces ¡ª no, if even a single Bloodline Nobility n hade to help him out, Wang Zhanyu wouldn¡¯t be afraid.

    However, in this isted situation, Wang Zhanyu couldn¡¯t avoid feeling anxious and afraid.

    Even if he were to fight back with all his strength, he would still be trapped here.

    Wang Zhanyu stared at An Siyuan and said, ¡°Do you really believe that a single Su Chen will be able to take care of the other nine ns?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe it, but I can¡¯t discount him either,¡± An Siyuan replied. ¡°He has already killed Shen Yuanhong, wasted Wei Pei, wiped out the He and Xiong ns, roped in the Long n, and is currently asking the Lin n to surrender. As we speak, he¡¯s constantly eradicating, eliminating, and exterminating your friends and allies. Today will be a day of bloodshed, and the heavens and earth will be overturned.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re not going to just watch and let him do it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. We have also prepared for this. Lu Qingguang, the Origin Bureau, and even the Third River Army ¨C Su Chen has a lot of backup, and I have some as well. Perhaps we won¡¯t be able to seed every step of the way, but for every step we take, the number of the ten ns will be reduced by one. That¡¯s good enough.¡±

    An Siyuan spoke quite cordially as he chuckled.

    He continued, ¡°The deeds are done by Su Chen. Any consequences and grudges will be borne by him, but I will receive all of the benefits. As such, the only question of this matter is how hard we will win. There¡¯s no such thing as failure.¡±

    Wang Zhanyu felt a chill in his heart.

    He knew that what An Siyuan said wasn¡¯t wrong. They had already lost this battle; the only thing that mattered now was how much they lost by and how many of their members could survive.

    They couldn¡¯t kill off all the Bloodline Nobility ns.

    Su Chen knew this, An Siyuan knew this, and Wang Zhanyu also knew this.

    However, Wang Zhanyu didn¡¯t want to surrender yet.

    That was because he still had a bit of hope.

    He still hoped that the other nine ns could break through the encirclement and rescue him.

    However, only bad news came one after another, and Wang Zhanyu felt his heart grow cold.

    The Lin n surrendered.

    Chen Wenhui died.

    The Lian n was massacred.

    The Lai n surrendered.

    The bad news came without stopping as if they were all strung together on a single line. He didn¡¯t even have enough time to take a breath.

    When Wang Zhanyu heard that the Wei n had also surrendered, he finally gave in.

    He knew that he couldn¡¯t wait any longer. Any more and there wouldn¡¯t be any need for them to surrender.

    As such, he said, ¡°The Wang n is willing to surrender and serve City Lord An in the future. The resources we give, the taxes we pay, and the territory we hand over won¡¯t becking. We will pay the whole price. We can even hand over the rights to the waterways and the West River Forest.¡±

    An Siyuan sighed, ¡°The West River Forest and waterways don¡¯t belong to you anymore. They belong to Su Chen. Why are you trying to pull these kinds of schemes now?¡±

    Wang Zhanyu gritted his teeth. ¡±The Wang n is willing to hand over all its businesses for the City Lord to deal with.¡±

    An Siyuan shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s no point. If you can hand them over today, you can take them back tomorrow. Money is only worth something in the hand ¡ª you know this, I know this, everyone knows this.¡±

    Wang Zhanyu stomped his feet. ¡°The Wang n can also add on two hundred Origin Stones.¡±

    An Siyuan replied, ¡°Su Chen¡¯s intention is that everyone can live but not you. Clear River doesn¡¯t need that many Light Shaking Realm cultivators.¡±

    ¡°The Wang n¡¯s Fragmentation de, Jade Dragon Shuttle, and Hundred Refinements Divine Armor can also be gifted to City Lord.¡±

    An Siyuan¡¯s smile became even more self-satisfied. He quickly said, ¡°Then you can also add on the King-Battling Fists, the Wind Candle Palms, and the Annihting the Heavens technique.¡±

    Wang Zhanyu felt a pain in his heart.

    Even so, he couldn¡¯t refuse.

    If he didn¡¯t agree, he would die.

    If he didn¡¯t agree, his entire n would be wiped out.

    If he agreed, all of their businesses, assets, treasures, and even techniques would all be taken.

    But at the very least, they could survive.

    It was good enough if they could survive.

    If they survived, there would be more opportunities.

    An Siyuan was absolutely correct. Wang Zhanyu hated Su Chen.

    Even though all of the benefits had gone to An Siyuan, all of the overwhelming hatred had fallen onto Su Chen¡¯s shoulders.

    This was An Siyuan¡¯s craftiness on disy.

    He didn¡¯t need to do much to finish off his opponents or even Su Chen, whose influence was reaching a point that it could already threaten his own position.

    Was An Siyuan totally trusting of Su Chen?

    Of course not.

    A superior that didn¡¯t know how to be suspicious of his subordinates wasn¡¯t worthy of being a superior.

    At the very least, that was how An Siyuan thought.

    However, he wasn¡¯t as rash, incapable, impulsive, or idiotic as Lu Qingguang.

    He would choose the best opportunity and do things in the calmest and mostposed manner.

    If Wang Zhanyu survived, then he and Su Chen would continue to fight.

    While they fought, he could watch from on high while the two of them exhausted themselves.

    This was called an equilibrium.

    Only in this way could he make his position more stable and increase his influence.

    At this moment, however, he received bad news.

    Lu Qingguang had died.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 161: Final Coercion 2

    Chapter 161: Final Coercion (2)

    The one to send the notice was Lu Yiyang.

    He was still alive, but his whole body was trembling with fear. His face was white and his lips were purple, and even his words were incoherent. He had to repeat himself three times before he could make himself clear.

    ¡°So he used a single de strike to kill Lu Qingguang?¡± An Siyuan asked, his eyebrows raised.

    He didn¡¯t care why Su Chen had killed him or how he had dared to kill him. He only cared about what methods Su Chen had used.

    A single de strike!

    A single de strike was enough to kill Lu Qingguang.

    Even if this strike contained all of Su Chen¡¯s strength and his consciousness power, that was still quite frightening.

    No wonder he had been able to kill Shen Yuanhong.

    An Siyuan asked, ¡°What else did he say?¡±

    ¡°He said...... he would...... personally...... personallye...... and give City Lord...... an exnation,¡± Lu Yiyang stammered.

    An Siyuan felt a sudden surge of anger when he saw him like this.

    He stroked Lu Yiyang¡¯s face and gently said, ¡°Did a single Su Chen scare you that badly? You¡¯re still my counselor and tactician. What kind of tactician can you be if you are scared stiff like this by someone?¡±

    Lu Yiyang started to cry. ¡°That guy is so loathsome...... He...... he scared me.¡±

    His voice was already beginning to grow a bit thin.

    An Siyuan sighed. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t put on this kind of expression at this moment. Even though I hate to do this to you, I have no other choice.¡±

    ¡°Sir......¡± Lu Yiyang stared at An Siyuan in shock. An Siyuan¡¯s hand had wrapped around his neck.

    Lu Yiyang furiously tried to pry his fingers open, but no matter what he did, he couldn¡¯t escape from the grasp of that hand.

    His eyes bulged before his arms finally copsed at his sides, devoid of strength.

    An Siyuan tossed him aside, then wiped his hands. ¡°He¡¯s personallying to give me an exnation? That makes things a bit more difficult.¡±

    No one had clearly seen this murder other than Wang Zhanyu.

    However, he was not surprised. After all, he understood An Siyuan¡¯s unique addiction quite well. There wasn¡¯t much meaning to it.

    However, for him to suddenly make a killing move now made it obvious that he was really angry in his heart.

    Wang Zhanyu just didn¡¯t know what the consequences would be.

    As such, he was a bit worried.

    This was because the negotiations they had justpleted seemed like they were about to undergo another change.

    An Siyuan fell into silence as he waited.

    Not long afterwards, Su Chen arrived.

    He had personallye to give An Siyuan an exnation.

    And for that exnation, he had gathered everyone together.

    The Long Clear Gang, Evil Tiger Gang, Third River Army, Long n, Lin n, Yu n, etc. ¡ª arge group of people hade.

    Even the Wei n!

    The Wei n had also surrendered.

    An Siyuan felt quite shocked.

    He nced at Su Chen. ¡°How were you able to do it?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I promised Wei Pei that as long as he listened to me, I would help him refine a medicine that would enable him to reach the Light Shaking Realm within a year.¡±

    An Siyuan asked, ¡°Why would he believe that you have that ability, and why would you even be willing to do that?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Returning to the Light Shaking Realm not only requires medicine but also the right technique, and it demands certain amounts of consciousness power from an alchemist. I¡¯m not just an alchemist but also a doctor with a decent understanding of the human body and the principle of circrity1. In addition, my consciousness energy levels are adequate, so in terms of ability I at least meet the basic requirements.¡±

    Su Chen continued, ¡°I¡¯m in the Yang Opening Realm right now, and I will want to reach the Light Shaking Realm eventually. Breaking into the Yang Opening Realm is totally different from breaking into the Light Shaking realm. Even someone from a Bloodline Nobility ns will try multiple times. Less than one in a hundred eventually seed. To ensure sess, I must have a few more Light Shaking Realm cultivators that I can study. Patriarch Wei was once in the Light Shaking Realm, but now he¡¯s back in the Yang Opening Realm, making him a perfect experimental subject. This kind of opportunity is incredibly rare. I will refine medicine for him, and he will support my experiments. Both sides will benefit. These are the reasons why I am willing to do it.¡±

    An Siyuan was stunned when he heard this. ¡°Are you not afraid of him making trouble for you once he returns to the Light Shaking Realm?¡±

    Su Chenughed and replied, ¡°I¡¯m more afraid of City Lord letting Patriarch Wang go. All of us here will be tormented by that kind of a decision.¡±

    An Siyuan¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Su Chen, are you trying to tell me what I should do?¡±

    Su Chenughed, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare. I just don¡¯t want to raise a tiger just to get bitten. Actually, I only want to do two things.¡±

    ¡°Oh? What two things?¡±

    ¡°The first is to do my duty. My time in office in Clear River City will only be ten years. After ten years, I will be free to do as I please. However, within these ten years, I would like to do my job well. As of today, only four years remain.¡±

    ¡°Then what about the second?¡±

    ¡°I want to quietly and peacefully do my own experiments. Under normal circumstances, as long as you don¡¯t provoke me, I won¡¯t go around provoking others either.¡±

    ¡°What if they¡¯ve already provoked you?¡± An Siyuan asked.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°As long as it¡¯s not a grudge that can¡¯t be dissolved, I don¡¯t feel a need to bicker excessively over it. For instance, someone schemed against me five years ago, but I didn¡¯t be confrontational because of it.¡±

    An Siyuan knew that he was referring to Lu Qingguang¡¯s secret diversion of the Blood-Robed Guards all those years ago.

    He said, ¡°But you¡¯ve taken care of him now.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because he provoked me again,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Actually, all I want is to be able to pass my days peacefully while doing research.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± An Siyuan asked. ¡°Why do you insist on throwing away your career prospects and instead focus so much on burying your head in your research?¡±

    ¡°Every person has their own reasons,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°My reason is that I want to reach the peak of Origin Energy mastery as someone without a bloodline. Right now, I haven¡¯t even reached the halfway mark yet. How could I have any heart to fight for position or status at this moment?¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, the world is like a constant game of chess, and conflicts are happening everywhere. It won¡¯t be easy for you to sit outside of it.¡±

    ¡°I still need to do my best. No matter what happens in the future, at the very least I will know that I tried.¡±

    An Siyuan sighed deeply. ¡°So if this matter gets taken care of today, you¡¯ll bury your head in your research and not care about anything going on outside?¡±

    ¡°I will still need to take care of my duties at the Origin Bureau, and I will still be keeping tabs on my friends¡¯ situations.¡±

    ¡°If nothing happens to anyone else?¡±

    ¡°Then it may stay that way forever,¡± Su Chen replied definitively.

    Once the discussion had reached this point, everyone understood.

    An Siyuan did have his schemes, but Su Chen wouldn¡¯t confront him about them because he didn¡¯t care.

    He just wanted everything to be put back on the right track. Small schemes, as long as they didn¡¯t result in much damage, were tolerable.

    He would still respect An Siyuan and listen to his orders.

    This would continue for four years, when his ten-year period of service would conclude.

    This was an extended olive branch.

    Some people might ept it.

    Some people might refuse it.

    An Siyuan chose to ept it.

    Even though there was some hostility and suspicion from before, Su Chen¡¯s words were so transparent and clear that An Siyuan was willing to believe him for once.

    Not every bit of disharmony and enmity needed to be resolved through dying the streets red with blood.

    As such, An Siyuan nodded and said, ¡°Fine. As you please.¡±

    He turned around and said, ¡°It seems that I cannot ept your treasures anymore.¡±

    Wang Zhanyu¡¯s face was deathly pale. ¡°If I hand over everything andmit suicide, will that ensure the safety of my Wang n?¡±

    An Siyuan watched Su Chen.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I am only a guest here, and soon I will be like the geese flying above the clouds. Even if some people here hold a grudge against me, I¡¯m not worried about them being able to do anything to me. If City Lord An doesn¡¯t mind, then I don¡¯t mind either.¡±

    An Siyuan nodded.

    Wang Zhanyu let out a long sigh. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then many thanks.¡±

    Heunched a palm strike at the center of his forehead.

    1. Chinese society heavily emphasizes bnce, especially when ites to human health. Imbnces in the body¡¯s cirction aremonly associated with diseases.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 162: Explanation

    Wang Zhanyu¡¯s death put an end to this long, drawn-out battle between the nobility ns and the government.

    This exchange had ended in the great sess of Su Chen and An Siyuan, ushering Clear River City into apletely new age.

    An age ruled by the City Lord.

    Everything was as Su Chen had said. After the battle, Su Chen didn¡¯t participate in any power struggles the Investigations Bureau and City Guards were all given over to An Siyuan to manage, and he even allowed An Siyuan to insert people into the Origin Bureau. Most of the criminal gangs were now under the control of An Siyuan, and even the Third River Army became obedient to him with their control of the waterways. This made it so that the entire Clear River City was under An Siyuan¡¯s control.

    However, on the resource side of things, Su Chen didn¡¯t back off at all. Most of the stores were auctioned off, with the money going over to Su Chen. He also controlled West River Forestpletely, so in theing years it would serve as a means for him to make a ton of money. Now that Clear River City was unified, he could begin to exercise control over West River Forest ¡ª because of the Three Yangs Medicine, more and more people were noticing this ce and were trying to get involved.

    An Siyuan had dealt with the internal struggles, but when he turned around he found that his outside enemies seemed to have umted even more. Because of this, he was even more unwilling to fall out with Su Chen. As a price for An Siyuan helping Su Chen to protect the West River Forest, Su Chen applied the Hemolytic Totem to three hundred of An Siyuan¡¯s Blood-Robed Guards, giving An Siyuan another powerful branch of troops.

    Even so, the pressure on An Siyuan continued to mount. The attraction of the Three Yangs Medicine wouldst for a long time. It was like a piece of rotting flesh that would only attract more and more flies as time went on. An Siyuan couldn¡¯t possibly hold onto this ce forever.

    But so what? Based on Su Chen¡¯s agreement with An Siyuan, Su Chen¡¯s duties would be fulfilled in four years. After he left, the West River Forest would belong to An Siyuan. After that, however many years An Siyuan could hold onto it would depend on his own abilities. Su Chen guessed that without his help and the increasing pressure from the outside world, it would already be quite good if he couldst for one or two years.

    One or two years was more than enough to earn quite a fortune.

    Of course, this could only be said in hindsight.

    On the fourth evening after the battle, Su Chen entered the Dreamrealm, as was his habit from before ¡ª he was going to talk with Shi Kaihuang again.

    He appeared in Shi Kaihuang¡¯s room and found him sitting there, drinking tea.

    His manner of living was still as simple and pure as it was before.

    ¡°Instructor.¡± Su Chen sat down in front of Shi Kaihuang.

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re here.¡± Shi Kaihuang seemed to be the same, but Su Chen couldn¡¯t shake off the feeling that something was wrong.

    He couldn¡¯t pinpoint his uneasiness. It was one that came from more than ten years of knowing being familiar with his instructor.

    ¡°How is the situation over in Clear River?¡± Shi Kaihuang asked.

    ¡°Everything has been taken care of,¡± Su Chen replied after refocusing himself.

    He then recounted everything that had happened in Clear River City.

    His exnation was very detailed, and Shi Kaihuang listened very intently.

    Once Su Chen had exined everything, Shi Kaihuang continued to contemte over what Su Chen had said and didn¡¯t speak for a long time.

    ¡°Instructor?¡± Su Chen said softly.

    ¡°Oh, you did very well.¡± Shi Kaihuang finally responded.

    ¡°Instructor, is there something on your mind today?¡± Su Chen asked directly.

    Shi Kaihuang froze momentarily before smiling. ¡°So you still noticed, huh? Yes, your perception is quite sharp. How could you not notice it?¡±

    ¡°What is troubling Instructor so? Are you able to tell me? Perhaps disciple can help put Instructor¡¯s mind at ease.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang shook his head. ¡°You won¡¯t be able to resolve this. Even the headmaster won¡¯t be able to resolve this issue.¡±

    Su Chen felt his heart tighten.

    He knew that the headmaster that Shi Kaihuang was referring to was the headmaster of the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    The Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s Sir Yang had a good reputation in Long Sang Country, was of high social status, and possessed incredible power. Even he couldn¡¯t resolve it? What could the issue be?¡±

    Shi Kaihuang leisurely said, ¡°A few days from now, I will be going to Flowing Gold Fort.¡±

    ¡°The Flowing Gold Fort?¡± Su Chen was stunned. ¡°Why?¡±

    The Flowing Gold Fort was on the front line of the battle between the Ferocious Race and the humans. What was the meaning behind Shi Kaihuang¡¯s going there?

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s to enlist in the army. The fort is heavily guarded, and to prevent nighttime ambushes, no one is allowed to enter the Dreamrealm without good reason. So from that point on, I won¡¯t have many opportunities to enter the Dreamrealm. We won¡¯t have a lot of opportunities to see each other in the future.¡±

    ¡°Enlist?¡± Su Chen immediately stood up. ¡°You already have so many years under your belt, so why do you need to enlist? And weren¡¯t you originally in the army before?¡±

    Shi Kaihuang replied calmly, ¡°Why do I need to enlist? The surface reason is that I am just idling away at the Hidden Dragon Institute and am ignoring my proper duties. I haven¡¯t epted a disciple in a few decades. Hm, from that aspect, the reason is not wrong.¡±

    ¡°But didn¡¯t you already ept me as your disciple?¡±

    ¡°Does epting one mean that I haven¡¯t been shirking my duty?¡± Shi Kaihuang countered.

    Su Chen was stunned.

    Yes, did having a single disciple mean that he hadn¡¯t been shirking his duties?

    Of course not!

    Instructors were instructors. Their duties were to educate disciples. A single disciple in a few decades was not something even worth bringing up.

    As such, Long Sang Country had conscripted him in the end. Since you were in the army before, you can go back to being in it. In any case, in the Light Shaking Realm, there was no such thing as growing weak in old age. Someone like Shi Kaihuang might be old, but he was still full of strength and resolute determination.

    ¡°So what¡¯s the real reason?¡± Su Chen asked.

    A few decades had passed, but no one had ever tried to do anything to Shi Kaihuang. Making a move on him at this juncture wouldn¡¯t be without reason.

    Shi Kaihuang replied, ¡°Naturally because they know who invented the technique for reaching the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s heart sank.

    Hadn¡¯t they found out anyways?

    Actually, this was not much of a surprise.

    Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven contained two characters from Shi Kaihuang¡¯s name in it, after all.

    Cloud Bat¡¯s castle in the Dreamrealm was also located in the territory belonging to the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    When factoring in a number of other clues, it wouldn¡¯t be difficult to determine the true creator of Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven as long they were diligent about it.

    ¡°So they attacked you?¡± Su Chen said, his voice hoarse.

    ¡°Nothing that serious,¡± Shi Kaihuang waved his hands andughed. ¡°I must admit that the darkness I saw before was too simple. There are a lot of things that are higher than what I¡¯ve been able to perceive. Those Bloodline Nobility ns aren¡¯t afraid of a technique of reaching the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline because that can¡¯t shake their foundations. However, the speed at which a technique for reaching the Blood Boiling Realm and a technique for reaching the Yang Opening Realm came out must have given them cause to worry......¡±

    Su Chen understood. ¡°They can tolerate a method for reaching the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline because that increases the strength of the human race as a whole, but they cannot ept a technique for reaching the Light Shaking Realm?¡±

    ¡°The Light Shaking Realm is a milestone that represents a fundamental change in an Origin Qi Schr¡¯s strength. 90% of all Light Shaking Realm cultivators belong to Bloodline Nobility ns. A technique for reaching the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline will result in more mixed-blood Nobility ns, but at the very least they have mixed bloodlines, and are not bloodline-less. If a technique for reaching the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline is created, that would represent a massive breakthrough in the cultivation paths of those without bloodlines and would rock the Bloodline Nobility ns. They don¡¯t want me to continue my research, so I was conscripted into the army. Once I¡¯m in the army, I won¡¯t have nearly as much free time on my hands.¡±

    ¡°They don¡¯t want to give you time to research?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what the headmaster told me, along with the thoughts of those Bloodline Nobility ns. Of course, only time will tell how the situation will unfold. At the very least, before I make any more breakthroughs, there shouldn¡¯t be any strange movements.¡±

    Su Chen let out a long sigh.

    As long as they weren¡¯t nning on killing Shi Kaihuang, that was good enough.

    Shi Kaihuang said, ¡°I will continue researching a technique for reaching the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline. However, I am aware that making significant progress will be very difficult. As such, I hope that you will be able to continue my research. I have a feeling that sessfullypleting two techniques is my limit. In the future, we will all be relying on you to continue down this path.¡±

    Su Chen grew agitated. ¡°But I¡¯m not even in the Light Shaking Realm yet. How can I......¡±

    Shi Kaihuang raised his hand. ¡°Every obstacle is meant to be ovee. Just because you¡¯re not in the Light Shaking Realm doesn¡¯t mean you won¡¯t be able to sessfully develop a technique for breaking into it. Don¡¯t you already have Wei Pei as your research subject? In the future, you might have even more. Go with assurance and do it, child. I believe in you.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 163: New Medicine

    Early morning. The sky was beginning to brighten.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes were still watery, and Shi Kaihuang¡¯s words were still echoing throughout his mind.

    He wiped away his tears and sat up, walking into his research room.

    From this day onwards, he had another topic of research to conduct: a technique for reaching the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline.

    The gap of the three prior realms and that of the Light Shaking Realm was very different.

    The Qi Drawing, Blood Boiling, and Yang Opening Realms were fundamentally rted to drawing out thetent talent of a physical body and improving its control over Origin Energy.

    However, the Light Shaking Realm represented a massive increase in a person¡¯s life force.

    Reaching the Light Shaking Realm necessitated the formation of Lotus tforms.

    The Lotus tforms were formed from abination of a person¡¯s own Origin Energy and their bloodline, which was then contained within a person¡¯s body.

    It was actually just like a new organ being formed within a person¡¯s body, but this organ¡¯s main function was to control and improve that person¡¯s ability to utilize Origin Energy. The resulting increase in strength was almost an order of magnitude greater, which was the reason behind the massive gap between the Light Shaking Realm and the prior realms.

    The first step in creating a Lotus tform was to form a simple model within a person¡¯s Origin Energy Sea, which required expending arge quantity of Origin Energy and bloodline power. The formation of a Lotus tform was extremelyplicated, as it required a very particr method, and the process was not only difficult but also very dangerous.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t in the Light Shaking Realm, but he needed to develop a technique for breaking through into that realm. The insurmountable difficulty of this task was like wanting to write a book without even fully understanding words.

    Could he still seed?

    It might not be impossible.

    Miracles always existed. After all,pletely illiterate people could produce top-quality schrs, and those without the strength to even tie up a chicken could still defeat a powerful expert. No matter what world you were in, life was always full of illusions, miracles, and impossibilities.

    So why was it impossible for someone who hadn¡¯t yet reached the Light Shaking Realm to develop a technique for breaking into that realm?

    Even though Su Chen wasn¡¯t in the Light Shaking Realm, he had a few benefits that Shi Kaihuang didn¡¯t have.

    His Microscopic Eye.

    With his Microscopic Eye, Su Chen¡¯s understanding of the essence of objects had grown quite a bit.

    For instance, the Lotus tforms were formed of abination of Origin Energy and bloodline power, but bloodline power was just a means of controlling Origin Energy at the Origin Substance level. As such, Su Chen only needed to improve his understanding of Origin Substances and their applications to use them as substitutes for bloodline power.

    As such, Su Chen dived headfirst into the bottomless pit that was researching a tactic for entering the Light Shaking Realm.

    Time flew by very quickly.

    In the blink of an eye, a year had passed.

    In this past year, Su Chen had sessfully concocted the medicine that Wei Pei needed and had helped him return to the Light Shaking Realm. Simultaneously, by using Wei Pei as his target of research, Su Chen¡¯s understanding of the Light Shaking Realm grew deeper and deeper. At the very least, he understood how to form the Lotus tforms without any issues.

    Simply put, hepletely understood the entire process that would be necessary to form a Lotus tform.

    However, he was still miles away from finding substitutes for bloodline power.

    After Wei Pei had reached the Light Shaking Realm, he immediately announced that he was going into closed-door cultivation and didn¡¯t reemerge.

    Su Chen knew that Wei Pei was really just avoiding him. He didn¡¯t want to be Su Chen¡¯s research subject anymore.

    Without Wei Pei, Su Chen¡¯s research had reached a bottleneck. In the following three years, he achieved very little and could only really perform some theoretical experiments.

    The three years flew by.

    This year was now also the tenth year that Su Chen hade to Clear River City.

    After one more month, Su Chen would havepleted his term. At that moment, he would be able to hang up his crown and leave in peace.

    Su Chen was resting in the courtyard, his eyes closed as he rocked back and forth on the rocking chair, enjoying the feeling of the wind blowing past his face.

    However, his heart jumped slightly as he said, ¡°Come on out.¡±

    There was no movement.

    Su Chen sighed. He stood up, walked over to the fake mountain in the courtyard, and reached his hand behind it.

    ¡°Hey, hey, why are you pinching my ear?¡±

    Night Demon was hauled out by Su Chen.

    Su Chen released his grip, letting Night Demon go. ¡°I told you toe out but you wouldn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because I thought you were cheating me,¡± Night Demon said, feeling wronged.

    She grabbed a nearby chair and plopped down on it, then picked up a Red Serpentfruit and took arge bite out of it. Juice ran down her mouth.

    Su Chen ignored her and returned to his rocking chair, closing his eyes and falling back into a slumber.

    Night Demon ate three of the Red Serpentfruits in a row before patting her stomach and saying, ¡°That felt good. Hey, do you have anymore? Maybe you can bring me another tter of them.¡±

    ¡°Red Serpentfruits only grow in territory belonging to the Ferocious Race, so the quantities we can obtain each year are extremely limited. The ones you ate were specially delivered to me by Wang Doushan and there¡¯s only a single basket. After giving Cloud Leopard and the others a few, I only had six left. I ate three of them, and the remaining three were eaten by you.¡±

    Night Demonughed when she heard this. ¡°It seems like I came at just the right time! Anyter and they would have been gone.¡±

    Su Chen said bluntly, ¡°I left it for you anyways. It¡¯s about time you showed up.¡±

    ¡°Oh? You knew that I wasing? Then do you know why I¡¯m here?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why you¡¯re here, but since I¡¯m about to be relieved of my official duties, the Immortal Temple wouldn¡¯t have any reason not to send someone to talk with me about my future ns unless they weren¡¯t nning on cooperating with me anymore in the future.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re too clever,¡± Night Demon mumbled. ¡°Chief wanted me to ask you whether you¡¯ve put some thought into where you¡¯re going to go after finishing your term. If not, he has something he¡¯d like you to do.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re waiting for me to say something like ¡®I haven¡¯t thought of where to go yet¡¯ right now, right?¡±

    Night Demon tilted her head back andughed before saying, ¡°The Immortal Temple has a job. Will you do it or not?¡±

    ¡°What kind of job?¡±

    ¡°Remember what I told you when you first came to Clear River City?¡±

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then remembered. ¡°You mean that the Immortal Temple has drunk so many Spirit Sobering Medicines that they are about to throw up?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Night Demon pped and said, ¡°I asked you to make a few new kinds of medicine then, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes. But not long after that, I coborated with the Immortal Temple to make the Three Yangs Medicine, and I owe them nothing at this point.¡±

    One of the conditions Su Chen had agreed on with the Immortal Temple was that all of Su Chen¡¯s debt to the Immortal Temple would be totally erased. With no more debt, naturally there were no more medicines to concoct for them.

    As such, Su Chen always believed that this matter no longer had anything to do with him anymore.

    It wasn¡¯t until now that Night Demon reminded him again.

    Night Demon said, ¡°You don¡¯t owe the Immortal Temple anything anymore. However, the medicines that the Immortal Temple needs right now are ones we want to purchase from you. The price is quite negotiable, since the Immortal Temple has be quite richtely.¡±

    Night Demon acted rich and imposing, forgetting that this windfall had beenrgely due to Su Chen¡¯s contributions.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°I thought that you guys had taken care of that already.¡±

    ¡°How could it be that easy? The situation is extremelyplicated. We need the Chaotic Soul Medicine and the Clear Spirit Medicine for this. However, both of these medicines require Corpse Spirit Flowers to concoct. The weather has been favorabletely and not many people have died, so Corpse Spirit Flowers are hard toe by. The few we found were all ruined by those trash alchemists, harming our n as well. We don¡¯t have much time remaining, and the Chief is starting to get anxious, which is why he told me toe find you. When considering both Corpse Spirit Flower inventory and medicine-concocting abilities, you¡¯re probably the only person who can concoctrge quantities of these two medicines in a short time frame.¡±

    Su Chen squinted his eyes. ¡°From what you¡¯ve told me, it seems like you won¡¯t be able to ask anyone else for help. Doesn¡¯t this mean that I can get a good price for them?¡±

    Night Demon covered her mouth, her expression horrified. ¡°I said too much again!¡±

    Su Chenforted her, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. This is why I was so insistent on making you my contact. If anyone else were doing this, I wouldn¡¯t ept it. First, tell me what you guys are nning on doing in a bit more detail so that I can think of an appropriate price.¡±

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 164: Kapius the Eternal

    ¡°Nothing much, really. The organization has found a few more hidden ancient areas these past few years,¡± said Night Demon very ambiguously with her legs crossed.

    ¡°I¡¯m not surprised at all,¡± Su Chen said.

    Recently, the Immortal Temple had been deteriorating quite rapidly. For these past few years, if they weren¡¯t setting up terrorist assassinations, then they were looking everywhere for treasure. These two things were actually closely rted.

    For instance, the Immortal Temple¡¯s assassination of Yue Wuti was to safely open the Spirit-Burying Terrace, and that was obviously to obtain the Corpse Spirit Flowers. These flowers could be used to make a ton of medicine, which could be sold for lots of money, which could then be used to kill lots of people.

    This was not a new concept.

    No matter how you spun things, this was often the basic principle behind everything.

    The Immortal Temple was no exception.

    Even they scrambled back and forth every day over such trivial matters.

    When Night Demon told him that they had found another hidden area they wanted to open up, Su Chen wasn¡¯t surprised. He would have actually been surprised if they mentioned anything else.

    ¡°And why do you need the Chaotic Soul Medicine to enter this hidden area?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Because this hidden area has a master.¡±

    ¡°It has a master?¡± Su Chen was extremely shocked.

    It was only after Night Demon exined some things to him that Su Chen finally understood.

    It actually wasn¡¯t a hidden realm that had been sealed by the sands of time, but rather one that had been excavated nearly a thousand years ago. The site was an ancient castle from the Illustrious Divine Dynasty¡¯s time period, making it in and of itself a treasure just on its merit of surviving through tens of thousands of years.

    Over the past thousand years, this castle had changed hands a few times already. Right now, it belonged to a leader of the Sand Race known as Pall.

    The Sand Race was like the Cliff and Moon Race ¡ª they were a minority race that was, in general, grouped with the human race.

    As such, the Sand Race couldn¡¯tpare with the human race in terms of status as a whole.

    However, to cate the various minority races, the human race had set aside a bit of territory for some of these races. The Sand Race was one of these lucky races. They weren¡¯t wanderers like the Cliff Race, and they had a section of territory belonging all to themselves called the Lonely Swan Ramparts, located in Ind Abyss.

    Pall was the ruler over this piece ofnd.

    In other words, he was the ruler of the entire Sand Race.

    ording to the Immortal Temple¡¯s investigations, this castle had once belonged to a Spirit Race Master. He had left behind a lot of relics all throughout this castle, though the relics had all been divvied up by those who originally discovered the castle, only leaving behind the castle itself.

    However, the Immortal Temple had also discovered that the Spirit Race Master¡¯s most previous relics were still within the castle walls and had yet to be taken.

    ¡°How do you know that there are still treasures remaining?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°We found out from the Spirit Race,¡± Night Demon replied.

    The Immortal Temple had encountered a number of Spirit Race individuals in the past few years. After paying a tremendous price to exterminate those Spirit Race individuals, they finally discovered that these Spirit Race individuals were targeting West Laina Castle.

    From the few isted phrases that they had been able to get out of the mouths of those Spirit Race individuals and their targets, the Immortal Temple had concluded that Laina Castle, which had once belonged to the Spirit Race, still held many treasures that were yet to be extracted.

    Those Spirit Race individuals were returning there now to try and retrieve those relics.

    And based on therge numbers of Spirit Race individuals that they encountered, the Immortal Temple determined that these relics were obviously quite valuable.

    ¡°How does the Spirit Race know that there are still relics left?¡± Su Chen asked. ¡°Most of them live a life of istion. Even if these ruins were left behind by a Spirit Race Master, that¡¯s not a good reason for all the other Spirit Race individuals to know about it, and especially not for them toe one after another for it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because this castle was very likely left behind by Kapius.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± When he heard that name, Su Chen immediately sat up. ¡°Kapius? Kapius the Eternal!?¡±

    ¡°There are only three people in the Spirit Race with four-character names1,¡± Night Demon said in a rare moment of rity. ¡°Apart from him, who else could it be?¡±

    ¡°Kapius the Eternal!¡± Su Chen¡¯s heart jumped violently. He almost jumped to his feet, unable to suppress his excitement.

    Who was Kapius?

    He was the second leader of the Spirit Race.

    Because of their ability to never grow old, the Spirit Race only had three leaders in the tens of thousands of years that they had been around.

    Achilles the Immortal, Kapius the Eternal, and Menus the Wise.

    Kapius was the second leader of the Spirit Race and had aplished an impossiblyrge number of incredible feats. There were simply too many stories about him.

    Kapius¡¯s greatest contribution to the Spirit Race was his ¡°Radiation¡± n.

    In the 8300th year of the New Star Era, the Spirit Race¡¯s Origin Energy Mine had exploded. The Reproductive Temple was ruined and the Birth Mothers were injured. The Spirit Race thus began to convert their members to that of the Dark Spirit Race. As such, there were two kinds of Spirit Race individuals: the first were conceived from the remaining Birth Mothers, while the second were direct conversions of the Dark Spirit Race. Even so, the converted Dark Spirit Race individuals might not always be willing topletely align themselves with the Spirit Race. Not only was the sess rate low, but their strength after the conversion would also be lower than normal Spirit Race individuals.

    The Spirit Race, who werecking in strength and had no way of replenishing it, thus began to sharply decline.

    ns for the Spring of Immortality were also put on indefinite hiatus because of this.

    In the 9600th year of the New Star Era, the high-status Spirit Race individual Kase changed his name to Kapise, officially being inducted into the Elder¡¯s Society.

    That year, Kapise proposed the ¡°Radiation¡± n. He hoped to utilize the Origin Energy¡¯s principles of radiation to greatly increase the Consciousness Converter Instrument¡¯s operating constraints so that it wouldn¡¯t only be restricted to the Dark Spirit Race.

    If this idea had been proposed at any other time, it would have been rejected. However, after the Reproductive Temple had been destroyed, a few of the Spirit Race elders finally acquiesced.

    Even so, many of the high-status Spirit Race individuals didn¡¯t want to ept those who weren¡¯t converted from Dark Spirit Race individuals.

    Yet even in the face of vicious opposition, Kapise¡¯s Radiation n began to aggressively spread. The Spirit Race started attacking other races wantonly and experimenting on them. They transferred the tragic history they had experienced onto the other races.

    In the 13000th year of the New Star Era, a young Spirit Race individual known as Silence identally discovered a member of another race who had failed to be converted yet was still alive and was very easily influenced by his own consciousness. That individual became Silence¡¯s ve. More importantly, this kind of consciousness ve wouldst forever.

    Silence realized that even though the Consciousness Converter Instrument might not ever be able to totally convert individuals of other races, it still had some effect on them. By emitting suggestions, it made it easier to control their targets.

    This discovery stirred up the entire Spirit Race, and the goal of the Radiation n slowly changed. It turned into a n to producerge quantities of consciousness ves.

    From that day onwards, the Spirit Race¡¯s consciousness ves stunned the entire Primordial Continent.

    It could be said that without Kapius¡¯s Radiation, the Spirit Race wouldn¡¯t have the consciousness envement technique that everyone hated and feared.

    Now, the Immortal Temple discovered that the West Laina Castle was very likely to have been left behind by Kapius. Because of this, the appearance of these Spirit Race individuals was also taken much more seriously by the Immortal Temple.

    They had enough reason to believe that the West Laina Temple definitely contained other hidden treasures.

    If they wanted to scour the castle for relics, they would first need to take care of the territory¡¯s ruler, Pall.

    ¡°So your n is to find Kapius¡¯s hidden treasures in a castle that belongs to the Sand Race leader?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Night Demon nodded seriously.

    ¡°Then I need to correct you on one thing. Your mission this time is not to uncover a hidden area.¡±

    ¡°Then what would you call it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s called robbery!¡±

    1. My trantion of Kapius has four characters: ¿¨±È¶íË¹.

 Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 165: Conclusion

    Spring was always Clear River City¡¯s busiest season.

    During this time, the rivers thawed and the waters began to flow again, causing trade andmerce to boom.

    Ever since the Bloodline Nobility n alliance ceased, the pirates near Lingyuan Marsh had almost ceased all activity.

    The Third River Army was still present, but they were no longer robbing boats. Instead, they now collected protection fees. For only a small fee, every boat that wanted protection could get it from the Third River Army.

    The same went for all the other businesses in Clear River City. The Long Clear Gang and the Evil Tiger Gang ruled the underground scene in this city and had established a new state of order in Clear River City.

    Clear River City¡¯s economy also began to boom because of this. In just a few short years, business had almost doubled.

    Of course, a lot of this was due to the contributions of the Origin Bureau and the Three Yangs Medicine.

    The former preserved Clear River City¡¯s stability, while thetter brought more businessmen.

    One could even say that the four years following the dissolution of the alliance were the best four years that Clear River City had experienced in a long time. Because of this, a lot of traffic moved through the city, and it began to flourish and prosper.

    However, on this day, all of Clear River City seemed quiet, insistent on not making amotion.

    A horse-drawn carriage slowly proceeded down a long street.

    Su Chen sat in his carriage. He could see that the two streets on either side were lined with people seeing him off.

    Today was Su Chen¡¯s final day as a government official.

    Su Chen had woken up very early to hand over his seal before leaving the Origin Bureau. He was now sitting on the horse carriage, and the driver was Iron Cliff.

    The citizens who received word of it had alle one by one to see him off.

    No one was weeping bitterly or wailing to the heavens. They all just watched him silently, a trace of unwillingness in their eyes.

    The carriage reached the city gates.

    An Siyuan was already waiting there, his head gleaming. A delighted smile was on his face. Obviously, he was in quite a good mood.

    The carriage stopped, and Su Chen walked out of the carriage. ¡°City Lord An is here personally to see me off? I¡¯m a bit scared.¡±

    An Siyuan chuckled and patted Su Chen¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Bureau Head Su is a promising youth. In merely ten years, you were able to unroot the deep weeds of Clear River City, causing this ce to prosper and flourish. All we have done is ride on your coattails. If you were willing to stay here, Clear River City and all of its citizens would be incredibly lucky. Unfortunately, Bureau Head Su is ambitious and is chasing after a grand dream. There are too many trifles in the human realm that aren¡¯t suited for you and are a burden on you; we cannot force you either. I only came to congratte Bureau Head Su and express my well-wishes. If you ever achieve anything big, don¡¯t forget toe back and visit.¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°I don¡¯t dare think about any big achievements, but I will definitelye back to visit. Even though I have personally left, my family is still here. My Su Residence, my Peaceful Prosperous Shop, and all the friends I made are all still here. City Lord An, I¡¯ll be direct ¡ª the business, resources, and friends I¡¯ve fought for here in Clear River City weren¡¯t easy toe by. I would like to ask you to help me keep an eye on them so that nothing happens to them.¡±

    He specifically emphasized the word ¡°friends¡±.

    An Siyuan chuckled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Brother Su. I have always done things in an upright and honest manner, and I am a reasonable person. I can¡¯t promise that your businesses will prosper forever or that your friends will always be healthy, but I promise that I will do my best. No unnecessary troubles will ur. As for those businesses and friends, what happens to them in the future will still depend on you.¡±

    ¡°Your word is good enough for me,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°As long as you understand!¡± An Siyuan guffawed loudly.

    The two of them conversed for a bit before the carriage finally exited the city. An Siyuan turned around and left as well.

    Outside the city, Wang Wenxin, Guo Long, and Jiang Xishui were all waiting there.

    When they saw the carriage approaching, Wang Wenxin and Guo Long simultaneously bowed. ¡°Bureau Head Su.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not the Bureau Head anymore, just a normal person. You can just call me Prince,¡± Su Chen said indifferently. ¡°After I leave, the situation here will probably change very quickly. The situations in the Long Clear Gang and the Evil Tiger Gang will definitely change, and An Siyuan will definitely raise up another force. I hope you all will listen to this advice: don¡¯t confront An Siyuan. Anyone who tries to act will be like a mantis trying to stop the chariot and will only be crushed underfoot.¡±

    Wang Wenxin and Guo Long nced at each other, then replied simultaneously, ¡°We will listen to Prince¡¯s orders!¡±

    They agreed on the surface, but Su Chen could tell that there were traces of unwillingness in their hearts. In response to this, Su Chen just let them go.

    A person¡¯s path could only be walked alone; a person¡¯s fate was chosen alone.

    If they were determined to fight, there was nothing he could do to stop them.

    An Siyuan had already promised that his friends would remain ¡°healthy,¡± so as long as they didn¡¯tmit a fatal error, so An Siyuan probably wouldn¡¯t kill them.

    He nced at Jiang Xishui, only to hear himugh, ¡°I¡¯ve already handed the Third River Army over to Hong Fei. Hanyan¡¯s notified me that she¡¯s run into some trouble and asked me to go and help.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Congrattions,¡± Su Chenughed.

    Ji Hanyan inviting Jiang Xishui of her own ord clearly indicated that her view of Jiang Xishui had changed.

    Jiang Xishui replied, ¡°It¡¯s all thanks to your reminder that I realized that chasing after someone with an infatuated heart isn¡¯t always the best method. Making yourself the best person you can be is more important.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to thank me. It¡¯ll be enough if you return those ten million Origin Stones to me.¡±

    Jiang Xishui said, ¡°I think I¡¯m better off thanking you. It¡¯s cheaper.¡±

    The two of them nced at each other, then burst intoughter simultaneously.

    ¡°Right, how about Cloud Leopard?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Oh, he¡¯s behind the tree and doesn¡¯t want toe out. He¡¯s just mad that you aren¡¯t willing to wait for him,¡± Jiang Xishuiughed.

    Cloud Leopard was still being trained by the Secret Task Force since he had started his dutyter. He originally wanted Su Chen to wait for him so that they could leave Clear River City. However, Su Chen didn¡¯t wait for him and was nning on leaving that same day. It was impossible for him not to feel disappointed.

    Su Chen found it quite funny. He yelled to the tree, ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you? I really do have something urgent I need to take care of. Can¡¯t you juste to Mountain Overlook City after youplete your tasks?¡±

    Cloud Leopard¡¯s figure appeared from behind the tree.

    He stared at Su Chen intently. ¡°I¡¯m not mad because you aren¡¯t waiting for me but rather because you won¡¯t listen to me. I can sense that you¡¯re going to be in serious danger this time!¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°Is there any ce that isn¡¯t dangerous? Don¡¯t forget that we¡¯re all Origin Qi Schrs. We advance in the face of danger, and in any case, sometimes the reward is the greatest in the most dangerous ces.¡±

    Cloud Leopard thought for a bit, then finally walked over and gave Su Chen a hug. ¡°Good luck!¡±

    They conversed for a bit longer before they each took their leave.

    Su Chen returned to the carriage, and Iron Cliff pushed the cart back into motion.

    They continued to travel farther and farther away until the people sending him off disappeared from view.

    Su Chen leaned against the wall of the cart and said, ¡°Alright,e on out.¡±

    With a giggle, Night Demon appeared in Su Chen¡¯s carriage as well.

    ¡°You really do have good friends! They¡¯re all concerned for you. But don¡¯t worry. With the Immortal Temple present, any danger will be knocked t!¡± Night Demon said extremely confidently.

    ¡°Then what if the dangeres from the Immortal Temple itself?¡± Su Chen countered.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Night Demon was stunned, then began tough. ¡°How could that be?¡±

    Su Chen smiled. ¡°I was just postting. Come on, let¡¯s get going.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Night Demon yelled excitedly.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 1: Mountain Overlook City

    Book 4: Near Blood

    Mountain Overlook City.

    This ce was located at the intersection of Crow Region and Wolf Smoke Region. North of here was the no-man¡¯snd, the Lonely Swan Ramparts..

    The Lonely Swan Ramparts was a vast territory, but virtually no one lived there.

    The ce was extremely desertified. Vegetation had a hard time growing here, resources were scarce, and traveling through the region was very difficult. As such, it was not an environment in which humans could thrive.

    The Sand Race were one of few Intelligent Races that could survive in this kind of ce.

    The Sand Race required very few resources. They could survive off of just a bit of water. Even in the most barren environments, they could survive, and their tenacity for survival was astounding.

    In the 1200th year of Long Sang Country, Long Sang Country invaded the Sand Race and forced a peace treaty with the leader of the Sand Race. The Sand Race would acquiesce to the human race, and in exchange they would leave the Sand Race a refuge for survival.

    That ce was the Lonely Swan Ramparts.

    About eight hundred years ago, a massive earthquake suddenly urred in the Lonely Swan Ramparts.

    After the earthquake, the Lonely Swan Ramparts¡¯s geographical makeup changed massively. Arge mountain range appeared from the ground, and a few underground rivers burst forth, creating an oasis within the Lonely Swan Ramparts just like that.

    This was the Ascending to the Clouds Mountain, the Rising Spring River, and the Abyss Oasis.

    Mountain Overlook City was originally started as a small rest station for humans, used to provide people traveling through the Lonely Swan Ramparts region with food and water. After the Abyss Oasis appeared, because of the unique geography of this location, a few special medicinal ingredients had appeared. Every year, the number of people willing to brave the dangers grew, and Mountain Overlook Station turned into Mountain Overlook Township before bing Mountain Overlook City.

    Because the city was so young, it had a unique kind of lively atmosphere surrounding it.

    The streets were lined with peddlers hawking their wares, including a few tall, brawny Sand Race individuals.

    The Sand Race appeared simr to humans, but their skin was extremely coarse and rtively dark in tone. The biggest difference between them and the human race was that they had two small whiskers in the back of their heads. These small whiskers were their sixth sense, allowing them to sense earth-type Origin Energy and utilize it. As such, the Sand Race were inherently talented in controlling the earth. They didn¡¯t need any wind to conjure up frighteningly powerful sandstorms, and they could create sand soldiers, sand shields, etc.

    The Sand Race were naturally violent and belligerent. Having grown up in harsh circumstances, where resources were very hard toe by, they were taught to not be afraid of killing and forcefully seizing those precious resources.

    The Sand Race had been one of the biggest sources of headache for the human race.

    Even now, their interactions with the Sand Race were conducted very gingerly.

    ¡°How much are you selling this for?¡±

    Shi Mingfeng and Su Chen walked side by side down the streets of Mountain Overlook City. Night Demon, Iron Cliff, and a few experts from the Immortal Temple followed closely behind.

    Because they were near Lonely Swan Ramparts, many of the shops were selling items that Su Chen had never seen before. This piqued Su Chen¡¯s interest.

    Su Chen walked over to one of the street vendors and pointed at a purple stained ss bead, asking about the price.

    This kind of stained ss bead had no effect. It was just rare because it was a unique product of the Lonely Swan Ramparts and was quite pretty. It had caught Su Chen¡¯s eye, and he was nning on buying a strand of them for Gu Qingluo.

    ¡°A low-grade Origin Stone for a single bead,¡± the Sand Race individual replied.

    A single Origin Stone for a useless bead? Su Chen was badly startled.

    He shook his head and refused, but unexpectedly the Sand Race individual became infuriated and began to curse at him.

    Su Chen frowned and was about to say something when Shi Mingfeng said beside him, ¡°If you don¡¯t want to buy what they are selling, don¡¯t ask what price they are selling it for. Otherwise, you¡¯ll be cursed at, threatened, or even physically assaulted.¡±

    ¡°That overbearing?¡± Su Chen was shocked.

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly how overbearing they are. If you don¡¯t want to stir up trouble, you should at least by one,¡± Shi Mingfeng said.

    ¡°What would I do with a single bead?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Shi Mingfeng shrugged. ¡°Lose a bit of money to ward off a disaster. You don¡¯t want to start a fight given that we¡¯ve just gotten here, right? You don¡¯t really care about a single Origin Stone anyways.¡±

    ¡°But I don¡¯t like the feeling of being extorted.¡± Su Chen tossed over a single Origin Stone, retrieved a single purple ss bead, then left.

    After buying the item, everyone continued forward as they analyzed the situation within the city.

    Shi Mingfeng said, ¡°Even though Mountain Overlook City is a a human city, a number of Sand Race individuals have infiltrated in recent years. There are now some shops, betting grounds, inns, and camel stations run by Sand Race individuals. It¡¯s especially difficult to stick your hands into the camel station business. Anyone who tries to sell camel-like beasts here will be attacked by the Sand Race.¡±

    These camel stations were ces where camel-like beasts were put on sale.

    Not many camel beasts could pass through the Abyss Ind. The most exceptional ones were the Camel Wolf, Sand Rhinoceros, and the Large-Crowned Flying Serpent. Camel Wolfs were good at taking people. They were veryfortable to ride, and the Sand Race calvary sometimes used them as mounts. Sand Rhinoceri were extremely patient, but also extremely slow, making them good for carrying cargo. The Large-Crowned Flying Serpent could bring people through the Abyss Ind very easily because of its flying abilities, but it was much more expensive, and its strength was rtively low.

    ¡°The Sand Race individuals in the Ind Abyss are also bandits?¡± Su Chenughed.

    ¡°Of course,¡± one of Shi Mingfeng¡¯s subordinates said. ¡°The Sand Race is one of the most vicious and conscience-less races, and even the Ferocious Race acquiesces to them. Once you¡¯re in Lonely Swan Ramparts, if you aren¡¯t under their protection, you could be robbed at any time.¡±

    ¡°But this is a ce that belongs to us humans. Why do we allow the Sand Race to act so recklessly?¡± Su Chen asked.

    The underlingughed coldly, ¡°It¡¯s because of that damn agreement. When the Ferocious Race was pressuring our borders, the emperor helplessly signed that agreement with the Sand Race in order to mobilize more troops against the Ferocious Race. He agreed to a pact of nonaggression, and the Ind Abyss would be controlled by the Sand Race. Now we have the issue of the rise of a kingdom within another kingdom. These Sand Race guys rely on this excuse of autonomy to do as they please in an overbearing manner on territory belonging to us humans. They¡¯re just a weak race, but they rely on that generous policy to run amok and pretend like they¡¯re strong. They¡¯re a bunch of ouws, hooligans, scoundrels!¡±

    Su Chen found it amusing that a terrorist would curse someone else out for being an ouw and a hooligan.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, that¡¯s right! Especially the leader Pall! He is a perpetrator of all kinds of crimes, enough to fill the heavens and would fill every book on earth if you wrote them down,¡± Night Demon added on.

    Su Chen said, ¡°You¡¯ve been sitting on that sentence for a while, haven¡¯t you?¡±

    Night Demon said in surprise, ¡°How did you know?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°You put three idioms into a single sentence. That¡¯s not your style at all.¡±

    Night Demon kicked him hard. ¡°Weren¡¯t you the one who insisted on us proving that that leader was evil before you were willing toe?¡±

    One of Su Chen¡¯s requests of the Immortal Temple before he agreed to their ns was that their target needed to be worthy of being dealt with.

    This era¡¯s system of values was very simple and crude.

    Humans decided right and wrong not ording to legal standards but ording to their own subjective morality.

    As long as you were strong enough, anything you did was an act of thew.

    To most people, the criterion for whether they should deal with a person wasn¡¯t whether or not they had the right to do so but whether or not they felt like that person deserved to die.

    That judgment of being deserving of death was naturally defined by themselves and based on publicly epted ceremonial etiquette.

    Even Su Chen couldn¡¯t overlook that custom, and he didn¡¯t want to overlook that custom ¨C doing things without restriction meant that you were a person without a bottom line, but having too many restrictions meant that you wouldn¡¯t be able to live a happy human life.

    As such, heughed, ¡°I know, but you don¡¯t need to need to emphasize that to me. The easiest way to tell if someone is good or bad is to experience it for yourself.¡±

    ¡°How will you experience it?¡±

    Su Chen nced around. He spotted a maiden not far away leading around arge wildebeest. However, everyone around her took one look and hurriedly left in the opposite direction. No one wanted to buy it. The maiden¡¯s expression was extremely ugly because she was having trouble selling the wildebeest.

    Wildebeest were mounts with quite a bit of endurance and patience. They were quick but could also carry a decent amount of cargo. Their practical usage was higher than a Camel Wolf.

    The only reason that they weren¡¯t in fashion in Mountain Overlook City had only one reason: Ind Abyss didn¡¯t produce any wildebeest.

    As such, the Sand Race didn¡¯t wee these animals bing the main mode of transportation in Ind Abyss.

    Su Chen walked over and saw that the maiden was selling it for ten Origin Stones.

    It was actually a bit cheaper than a Camel Wolf.

    He said, ¡°I¡¯ll buy that wildebeest.¡±

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Shi Mingfeng reached out to stop him.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that if you didn¡¯t ride their camel beasts, you would be attacked?¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°I want to try it out for myself.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 2: A List of Names

    Ten Origin Stones for a wildebeest was very cheap.

    Yet when Su Chen bought it, the maiden still thanked him before leaving in a hurry.

    Su Chen looked around and saw that a few of the nearby Sand Race individuals had turned their attention towards him.

    Their gazes were vicious and carried traces of killing intent.

    No matter how you looked at it, the evaluation of the Sand Race as being overbearing and tyrannical wasn¡¯t incorrect.

    After he bought the wildebeest, the other people also bought a few Camel Wolves.

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but think that if he were the only one following the ¡°rules¡±, then what would the Sand Race pirates do if they attacked while Su Chen and the others were traveling?

    Would they let him off because he was the only one abiding by the rules? Would they implicate everyone else? Or would they only target him?

    ¡°You really know how to stir up trouble.¡±

    As he was deep in thought, a disdainful voice interrupted his thoughts.

    He turned around and saw that it was one of Shi Mingfeng¡¯s subordinates. Su Chen remembered that his name was Kong Cheng, a Yang Opening Realm cultivator.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t expect that Kong Cheng would provoke him of his own ord. He responded, ¡°I thought that we came here looking for trouble in the first ce.¡±

    ¡°Not in the manner you¡¯re going about it. We already have a very specific nid out. If you keep randomly messing around, it¡¯ll ruin our n,¡± Kong Cheng harrumphed.

    ¡°Kong Cheng, shut your mouth!¡± Shi Mingfeng admonished him.

    Unexpectedly, Kong Cheng ignored him and continued toin, saying, ¡°I just hope that he doesn¡¯t hold us back.¡±

    Su Chen was a bit shocked. He stared at Shi Mingfeng and said, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Shi Mingfeng sighed, ¡°You should know that the Immortal Temple is arge organization......¡±

    Su Chen was enlightened. ¡°Ah, I see now. I was originally under the impression that this mission was nned by you.¡±

    ¡°It was indeed nned by my branch, but because this matter involved Kapius a lot of people wanted to get involved.¡± When he got to this point, Shi Mingfeng leaned in and said in a low voice, ¡°Kong Cheng was rted to Ma Renze. If you¡¯re interested...... kill him.¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°You want to kill someone while having someone else bear the consequences?¡±

    Shi Mingfeng indifferently replied, ¡°This Kong Cheng is very annoying. He has no skills to speak of, but his older sister¡¯s husband is one of the Immortal Temple¡¯s elders. Killing him would be very troublesome. He was sent here to watch over me and I¡¯ve wanted to kill him since a long time ago, but no one was willing to bear the responsibility on my behalf. As such, I could only endure. Now that you¡¯re here, things will be much easier to handle.¡±

    ¡°Why do I have to be the one to help you with this?¡± Su Chen replied expressionlessly.

    ¡°First of all, you killed Ma Renze, so you won¡¯t get along with him in the first ce; otherwise, Kong Cheng wouldn¡¯t treat you like this. Secondly, they are part of the extremist branch of the Immortal Temple. Anything that involves attacking someone is usually carried out by them. I know that you¡¯re wary of the Immortal Temple, and for good reason. It¡¯s precisely these kinds of people that you need to be wary of. Actually, you could say that you would never get along with them ever since you were born. If you don¡¯t kill Kong Cheng now, you¡¯ll inevitably kill himter. Thirdly, if you kill him, you¡¯ll be able to take the first pick of the treasures within the castle. Finally, you¡¯re the only person who doesn¡¯t fear him. With the potential you¡¯ve demonstrated and the contributions you¡¯ve made to the Immortal Temple, they view you as an immensely valuable ally. Even if you kill Kong Cheng, they can only endure.¡±

    Su Chen sighed, ¡°It seems like I don¡¯t have any good reasons to refuse.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng said with a slight smile, ¡°Why else would I try so hard to invite you onto this mission? Oh, right ¡ª I also secretly recorded his provocation of you earlier. It¡¯ll be the best evidence of him provoking you of his own initiative, and I will try and create more opportunities like this in the future.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯ve already considered everything,¡± Su Chen sighed in praise.

    Shi Mingfeng replied, ¡°In this day and age, finding a scapegoat isn¡¯t easy, especially a willing one!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Su Chen sighed. Yue Longsha appeared in his mind.

    That year, just like Shi Mingfeng, he had used Yue Longsha as a scapegoat to deal with Ma Renze. The wheel of fortune had turned, and now he was carrying the burdensome pot for someone else.

    All paths led to the same location, and all schemes under the heavens were alike.

    As they spoke, the rest of the group finished purchasing their camel beasts.

    Su Chen was still chatting with Shi Mingfeng, but now they were talking about how to deal with Kong Cheng. Kong Cheng hadn¡¯te alone; a few subordinates hade along with him, and one of them was even a Light Shaking Realm cultivator.

    Yes, there were two Light Shaking Realm cultivators on this expedition. One of them was Shi Mingfeng while the other one, Qi Shenyuan, was responsible for protecting Kong Cheng

    Wanting to kill someone being protected by a Light Shaking Realm cultivator wasn¡¯t an easy thing to do, but that made it all the more interesting.

    As Su Chen and Shi Mingfeng were joking around, Su Chen suddenly saw a person¡¯s figure fly by him.

    He abruptly stopped in his tracks.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Shi Mingfeng saw that Su Chen¡¯s expression was a bit strange.

    ¡°I saw an old friend,¡± Su Chen said straightforwardly after a moment of thought.

    ¡°An old friend?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I¡¯m going to go chat with him for a bit.¡±

    When he heard this, Shi Mingfeng frowned. ¡°If it¡¯s not necessary, it¡¯d be best not toplicate things more than they need to be.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I know my limits.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng nodded. ¡°Alright. Just say that you need to go to the bathroom. We¡¯ll meet up again at the inn. After a night¡¯s rest, we¡¯ll be on our way.¡±

    Su Chen left Shi Mingfeng and walked towards an alley.

    At the end of the alley, a white-clothed woman was standing there. It was Yue Longsha.

    ¡°It really was you.¡± Su Chen walked over. ¡°Why are you in Mountain Overlook City?¡±

    After graduating from the Hidden Dragon Institute, Su Chen and Yue Longsha had only seen each other twice. Both times were when she hade to Clear River City on official business. But because she was very busy, they could only meet for a brief period of time.

    When he saw Yue Longsha, he felt that she was as elegant as ever. Her gracefulness was more moving than ever before.

    ¡°I came looking for you,¡± Yue Longsha said directly.

    ¡°Looking for me?¡± Su Chen was surprised for a moment before he realized what this was about. ¡°Cloud Leopard.¡±

    Cloud Leopard was actually Yue Longsha¡¯s subordinate, and his rtionship with Yue Longsha was the closest. It wasn¡¯t hard for Yue Longsha to figure out what Su Chen was up to.

    ¡°What do you need?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Yue Longsha directly asked, ¡°Is there a person called Kong Cheng apanying you guys?¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°What? You¡¯re interested in him?¡±

    Yue Longsha replied, ¡°Have you heard of the name Ainsley before?¡±

    Su Chen thought for a moment before finally realizing something. He blurted out, ¡°Scarlet Hand Ainsley!?¡±

    People might not know the name Ainsley, but the title Scarlet Hand was one that everyone knew.

    His greatest battle achievement was wiping out an entire city single-handedly, resulting in a massacre. The number of lives taken by his hands was incalcble.

    One could say that, because of the existence of a person like Ainsley, the Immortal Temple¡¯s reputation as a terrorist organization had be reality.

    ¡°You¡¯re not trying to say......¡±

    ¡°That Kong Cheng is Ainsley¡¯s wife¡¯s younger brother, or Ma Renze¡¯s boss,¡± Yue Longsha said.

    Indeed, even ten thousand random items would be rted in some way.

    ¡°What do you want me to do?¡± Su Chen asked. ¡°Kill Kong Cheng?¡±

    ¡°No. I need you to find something on his body. What it is exactly, I don¡¯t know, but I know that it has a detailed list of people like Ainsley and how to contact them.¡±

    Yue Longsha said, ¡°Once you get the list of names, we can begin to get rid of the Immortal Temple¡¯s radical influences. You should know how many innocent lives this will save.¡±

    She paused for a moment, and then added, ¡°This is not a personal grudge.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 3: Plan

    Upon returning to the inn, Su Chen found that everyone was already there waiting for him.

    When Su Chen arrived, Kong Cheng unhappily harrumphed, ¡°What a grand reception! We can¡¯t even start until he gets back.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng directly said, ¡°Su Chen is one of our most important allies and is a good friend of the Immortal Temple. The Immortal Temple doesn¡¯t have many such friends, so please show a little respect for our allies.¡±

    Su Chen knew that Shi Mingfeng was definitely secretly recording all this, which was why he was speaking so politely.

    Kong Cheng rolled his eyes. ¡°This is the first time I¡¯ve heard of an ally that harms his own teammates.¡±

    Even though Yue Longsha took on the responsibility of killing Ma Renze, everyone knew that Su Chen had manipted things behind the scenes. The only reason he needed Yue Longsha to take responsibility for him was to give both sides a way out of the situation.

    By the same principle, even if Kong Cheng died, everyone would know that it had something to do with Shi Mingfeng.

    However, conjecture was always conjecture. If you didn¡¯t have enough evidence, you would never know how deep the connection actually was.

    As such, Kong Cheng¡¯s disagreements with Su Chen were tant, but it was impossible for him to do much more than that.

    However, things would be made clear very quickly.

    Su Chen walked over and replied, ¡°Are you an idiot? Being someone¡¯s ally isn¡¯t the same thing as treating someone like you would yourself. It¡¯s more like being partners and having amon interest. I¡¯m allied with the Immortal Temple. Do you know what that means? That means that only the Immortal Temple can offer and define a cooperation with me. As for people below that, they¡¯re only insignificant ants. If I crush an ant underfoot, I don¡¯t necessarily need to care about the reputation of the master. If our cooperation runs deep enough, I can even beat the master¡¯s dog to death.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Kong Cheng stared at Su Chen with rage.

    ¡°I said...... in my eyes, you¡¯re just an ant. I am a person who can bring the Immortal Temple great rewards. Oh, speaking of which, thest time I cooperated with the Immortal Temple, I made them a tidy sum of about seven or eight hundred million Origin Stones. How many times is that more than how much your pathetic life is worth?¡±

    Kong Chen said darkly, ¡°I know that if we had killed you back then, the billion or so Origin Stones you earned would have gone to us.¡±

    ¡°No, you wouldn¡¯t have gotten anything. Did you really think I would dig out that kind of loophole for you? This is why you¡¯re still only a nobody even though you have your sister¡¯s prestige backing you up. It¡¯s because you¡¯re so stupid that it¡¯s scary!¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Kong Cheng fury deepened even further. He hated people saying that he had relied on his older sister to get to this position more than anything.

    ¡°Want to fight me one-on-one? I promise that I¡¯ll leave your corpse intact,¡± Su Chen said casually.

    Su Chen wouldn¡¯t ce this kind of trash in his eyes even if it had a pure bloodline, much less a mixed-bloodline.

    For him to take an opponent in the same cultivation realm as him seriously, they would need at least a Demonic King bloodline or above, and they would also have to be an elite of elites as well.

    A Kong Cheng was worth no more than a fart.

    Kong Cheng also knew that he wasn¡¯t Su Chen¡¯s opponent. This was someone who had massacred the Lian n single handedly. However, the fury in his heart wouldn¡¯t subside, and neither was he willing to show weakness. He could only stare fiercely at Su Chen, as if he were trying to kill him with his gaze alone.

    Finally, Shi Mingfeng made a move to alleviate the atmosphere. ¡°Alright, we¡¯re all on the same team, so there¡¯s no need to fight like this. Kong Cheng, Su Chen is the Immortal Temple¡¯s important guest. Like he said, we wouldn¡¯t have earned those eight hundred million Origin Stones without his help. There¡¯s a reason our lives these past few years have been quite good ¡ª the amount of cultivation resources avable has almost doubled because of Sir Su¡¯s aplishments. Don¡¯t try to make a mountain out of a molehill.¡±

    Kong Cheng yelled, ¡°But we also helped him earn an oceanic sum of money.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all because of Su Chen¡¯s ability. If you continue to argue with him irrationally, don¡¯t me me for reporting it to the higher ups!¡±

    Shi Mingfeng was getting angry, so Kong Cheng could only endure.

    Shi Mingfeng pulled out an item. It was an Origin Formation Disk.

    After activation, it projected an image of a massive, ancient castle.

    Shi Mingfeng pointed at the castle and said, ¡°This is West Laina Castle, one of many castles belonging to Pall. Our mission is to infiltrate the castle without alerting Pall and search it from top to bottom for any secrets regarding the Spirit Race.¡±

    ¡°You said that this is one of many castles belonging to Pall? In other words, he has more than one?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Shi Mingfeng replied, ¡°Here in Abyss Ind, Pall has six castles in total. This is just one of them. Every summer, Pall will spend a bit of time here, but most of the time he lives in the Ali Pce in the Western region of Ind Abyss. That¡¯s where the Sand Race elders all live.¡±

    ¡°In other words, we won¡¯t need to face Pall and a bunch of other Sand Race individuals?¡± Night Demon asked.

    Even though the n of attack had been drafted up a long time ago, only Shi Mingfeng knew the details. This was the first time that he had revealed a more detailed n to everyone.

    ¡°Yes. If everything goes ording to n, we won¡¯t run into Pall or too many other Sand Race individuals,¡± Shi Mingfeng replied. West Laina Castle houses roughly 150 Sand Race individuals, most of them servants. Only a few are warriors, and their strength isn¡¯t even worth mentioning. The only somewhat strong person there is the captain of the guards, Culler. The Chaotic Soul Medicine will be used on him.¡±

    One of the subordinates stuck out his tongue. ¡°I thought we were using it to deal with Pall.¡±

    Shi Mingfengughed, ¡°Pall is an expert with five Lotus tforms. His consciousness is extremely powerful, and the Chaotic Soul Medicine might not have any effect on him. He also has a lot of experts with him, so getting close enough to him to use it on him might not be possible. This type of medicine has to be drunk in order to be effective.¡±

    ¡°So how will we have Culler drink the medicine?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do it,¡± one of Shi Mingfeng¡¯s subordinates offered.

    He was called He Xu.

    He Xu said, ¡°My bloodline is the Thousand Faces Beast Bloodline. I can disguise myself as a Sand Race individual and infiltrate the castle.¡±

    The Thousand Faces Beast was an extremely crafty Demonic Beast. It had the ability to shapeshift into anything as long as it was roughly the same size as it.

    ording to Shi Mingfeng¡¯s n, He Xu would first get close to Culler by pretending to be one of West Laina Castle¡¯s residents, then secretly put the Chaotic Soul Medicine into his food and use it to control Culler.

    As soon as Culler was under their control, the Immortal Temple would be able to openly enter the castle and search the ce.

    Simple and practical.

    The best ns didn¡¯t need to beplicated. Actually, it was the exact opposite ¡ª a simple, practical n was often the most useful.

    Simple meant that the difficulty and number of variables would both be low.

    This was the case for Shi Mingfeng¡¯s n.

    The only issue with the n was that they didn¡¯t know how long they would need to search for.

    Theirck of information about the Spirit Race¡¯s hidden treasures was the n¡¯s greatest w, and it was also the variable that would make thergest difference.

    However, you didn¡¯t need to have a 100% chance of sess to do something in the real world.

    This was why Shi Mingfeng and the others had to prepare to the best of their abilities.

    ¡°What if that fails?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Then we can only do our best and leave the rest up to the Heavens. Failure is nothing out of the ordinary and isn¡¯t something to be surprised over,¡± Shi Mingfeng said with a slight smile.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 4: Night Lodging

    They were in a destend.

    There wasn¡¯t a single de of grass in sight, let alone any buildings. The only thing there was the dusty ground that filled their vision.

    The sky somehow seemed to press down on them, while the sun hung high in the sky. No clouds masked the rays of sunshine that bore down on them, and the sand on the ground was so hot that it felt like they were about to melt at any moment.

    At nighttime, however, this ce would grow much colder very quickly, and a frightening wave of cold wind constantly blew. Any water exposed to it would be instantly frozen.

    The huge temperature range between the daytime and nighttime made Ind Abyss one of the most difficult ces to live. Even Origin Qi Schrs trying to walk in the day would feel like they were being cooked alive.

    Su Chen pulled out his sk and drank some water. He nced at the others around him and noticed that they were feeling the sun¡¯s torment. Everyone¡¯s spirits were a little deted.

    ¡°There¡¯s a mountain in front of us. Let¡¯s pick up the pace a little and get there before the nighttime falls. We¡¯ll set up camp there!¡± an ¡°Eagle Eye¡± responsible for scouting the path ahead said.

    Even though he made the mountain sound very close, they were still quite a distance away.

    In reality, Su Chen could pull out the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle at any time and get there very quickly, but there was no point in showing it off here. Also, using it would be too dangerous ¡ª the Ind Abyss was an all-natural dangerous area. There were many Demonic Beasts roaming around, and some were even faster than the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle.

    As such, Su Chen could only continue to slowly walk with everyone else.

    Thankfully, no one here was much of a burden. The person with the lowest cultivation base amongst all of them was still in the Blood Boiling Realm. With theirbined effort, they finally reached the slope of the mountain right before nightfall.

    The temperature was already beginning to fall, and it no longer felt like they were going to be cooked to death. However, the night chill was also difficult to deal with, so everyone hurriedly set up campfires and tents, preparing for the night ahead.

    Su Chen pulled out an item from his Origin Ring and tossed it into the air. It automatically turned into a stone house.

    This was something he had bought from an Origin Tool market, called the Stone House. They were portable and adjustable in size, making them good travelling essories. However, because this item required spatial transformations, it was quite expensive. It also had nobat function, so most people wouldn¡¯t buy it.

    Su Chen had quite a bit of money. Even if his research cost a lot of money, burning a billion Origin Stones worth of money was quite a daunting task. Naturally, he had bought a few nice things for himself to use.

    ¡°Night Demon, this is for you.¡± Su Chen tossed the other one to Night Demon.

    That was originally for Iron Cliff, but he would have to take the hit this time and let thedy go first.

    ¡°Ha! Awesome, you really are a bro!¡± Night Demon patted Su Chen¡¯s shoulder happily.

    In this deste area, two lonely stone rooms suddenly sprouted up. Everyone else was jealous.

    Even Shi Mingfeng couldn¡¯t help butugh, ¡°Indeed, you¡¯re rich if you can afford something like that.¡±

    ¡°Now that you mention it, I¡¯m curious. Didn¡¯t the Immortal Temple save up a lot of money? Howe you guys are still living so frugally?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Shi Mingfeng rolled his eyes in mock anger. ¡°Do you know how many people are in the Immortal Temple? Across the whole Seven Kingdoms, we have hundreds of thousands of members. Eight hundred million Origin Stones truly is quite arge sum, but how much could fall into our hands if it gets distributed amongst so many people?¡±

    ¡°But you can¡¯t possibly have distributed it to all those people, right?¡±

    Shi Mingfeng chuckled. ¡°Even the branch within Long Sang Country has a lot of people! With that many people participating in the expedition, the appropriate rewards and bonuses needed to be distributed as well.¡±

    ¡°It can¡¯t be so extreme that you can¡¯t even afford a stone room.¡±

    ¡°But we¡¯re reluctant to do so.¡± Shi Mingfeng shook his head repeatedly. ¡°That money goes directly towards strengthening ourselves. How could we afford to act so wastefully?¡±

    Cultivation required resources. When demand exceeded supplies, effective cultivation resources were extremely expensive.

    With an Origin Energy Medicine as the standard, a normal vial would go for around five thousand Origin Stones and would have a significant effect in strengthening a martial artist. On the other hand, to a Qi Drawing Realm cultivator it would only raise it by a single White Star. In other words, you would need to spend 450,000 Origin Stones to reach the peak of the Qi Drawing Realm. Once you were in the Blood Boiling Realm, that number would jump to 4.55 million.

    No one could afford to spend so astronomically. As such, the money they did save would be used to directly strengthen themselves. What was the point in buying something so impractical as a Stone Room?

    Only someone from a massive n or a person with a fortune like Su Chen could treat money like it wasn¡¯t worth anything.

    When Su Chen heard this, he chuckled. ¡°If I had known that you were like this in the first ce, I would have brought you one as well.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯m still a Light Shaking Realm cultivator; something small like this won¡¯t give me much trouble.¡± As Shi Mingfeng spoke, he pointed at the ground. Earth began to protrude from the ground, and under Shi Mingfeng¡¯s control, the earth assumed the form of a house-like structure. It looked very simr to Su Chen¡¯s stoom room, just a bit cruder.

    Su Chen was stunned. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that the Master of Rain would be proficient in earth-type Origin Skills as well.¡±

    Even though forming a house seemed very simple, it required a significant amount of control.

    For instance, generating a surging wave was actually quite easy, but directing each individual drop of water to its appropriate location, or even making it take on a desired shape, was not easy to do.

    The Primordial Continent¡¯s Origin Skills could not be supported with just imagination; every physical manifestation of a phenomenon needed to be backed up by an actual system for releasing it.

    Otherwise, there wouldn¡¯t be any point in doing so much research.

    It wasn¡¯t that there were no Origin Skills that allowed you to create a house out of nowhere, but such a skill required developing a system for converting the shape of the house into amand. Simrly, that also meant that the skill would beplicated. Even if you sessfully developed that kind of skill, you could only ever make one type of room. If you wanted a different roomyout the next time, you would need to redesign the skill.

    To an Origin Qi Schr, this was a colossal waste of money and resources. It was even more wasteful than buying a Stone House. This kind of Origin Skill did exist, but very few people would spend the time to learn it.

    The tactic Shi Mingfeng had chosen to use, however, wasn¡¯t an Origin Skill. Rather, he relied on his own will to control earth-type Origin Energy, which required a deep understanding of earth-type Origin Energy. This was also why Su Chen felt quite shocked.

    Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s praise, Shi Mingfeng chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s just a small disy of skill, not worth very much.¡±

    The others didn¡¯t have Shi Mingfeng¡¯s skill, and they couldn¡¯t ask Shi Mingfeng to do something for them. They could only pitch their tents obediently.

    The sky began to grow dark. Even though the cold wind began to blow, the stone room remained as warm as ever.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t go to sleep. Instead, he held a vial of fresh blood in his hand and analyzed it. Under the discerning gaze of his microscopic eye, all of the secrets contained within that vial of blood were revealed to Su Chen.

    The blood was He Xu¡¯s.

    Su Chen was still continuing to research every single bloodline that he ran across. The Thousand Faces Beast had be his new target.

    After having done thousands of experiments, Su Chen¡¯s experimental methods had be extremely routine.

    He would first observe the Origin Substance within the bloodline, then use different kinds of methods to observe how the Origin Substance was being used in the body. Finally, he would try to iste that Origin Substance and use it himself.

    It seemed like a simple process, but there were countless difficulties that he would encounter. Every step was apanied by countless failures, and sometimes he would fail and fail again only to reach a dead end.

    But at this moment, Su Chen¡¯s luck seemed decent. He had very easily discovered the strange Origin Substance he had been looking for. This kind of substance¡¯s ability to hide itself seemed to be weaker than other Origin Substances, and Su Chen soon seeded in one go at identifying the method to utilize the Origin Substance.

    This surprised him quite a bit. He felt as if he was going to hit the jackpot ¡ª after countless arduous experiments, would he finally have an easy time reaping the benefits?

    His reverie was suddenly interrupted by a shrill scream.

    ¡°AHHH!¡±

    It was Night Demon!

 Book 4: Near Blood - 5: Exploding Houses

    Because Su Chen hadn¡¯t fallen asleep yet, he was the first one to charge out of his room.

    But when he arrived in front of Night Demon¡¯s room, someone was already standing there.

    Shi Mingfeng.

    He reached out and smashed the front door into smithereens.

    Kong Cheng was there, facing off against Night Demon. At that moment, Night Demon was only wearing a small nightgown that revealed her pale white shoulders while brandishing a Water-Splitting Needle pointed right at Kong Cheng, her expression filled with killing intent.

    When Shi Mingfeng saw this, his expression sank. ¡°Kong Cheng, what are you trying to do?¡±

    ¡°Nothing really, it¡¯s just a bit cold outside so I wanted toe in to warm up,¡± Kong Cheng said nonchntly.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± How could Shi Mingfeng not understand what Kong Cheng was trying to do? He was just lusting for beautiful flowers!

    The air was filled with a strange fragrance that smelled exactly like Bewitching Incense. That bastard wanted to drug Night Demon, but for some reason the medicine was ineffective against her, which was why she was able to scream for help.

    ¡°It¡¯s just a misunderstanding. Brother Shi, there¡¯s no need to take offense over this,¡± Shi Mingfeng had yet to truly grow angry when he heard someone else speak up.

    Shi Mingfeng didn¡¯t even need to turn around to know that it was Qi Shenyuan.

    Qi Shenyuan didn¡¯t usually talk; even when they were discussing their n of attack, he didn¡¯t ask too deeply. Shi Mingfeng could decide everything, except if it involved Kong Cheng; otherwise, he was definitely going to appear.

    Protecting Kong Cheng was his sole mission.

    Shi Mingfeng angrily said, ¡°Mistake? Do you take me to be an idiot? You......¡±

    ¡°Master of Rain, since Senior Qi says it¡¯s a misunderstanding, then let it be just a misunderstanding,¡± Su Chen suddenly said.

    Shi Mingfeng was stunned.

    He knew of the rtionship between Su Chen and Night Demon. For these past few years, Night Demon had born the responsibility of keeping in contact with Su Chen. Her profession was no longer that of an assassin but rather Su Chen¡¯s special courier.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, how could he not be shocked that Su Chen was speaking up for Kong Cheng?

    Su Chen walked over and pulled out a robe, draping it around Night Demon. He asked, ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    Night Demon shook her head. She stared at Kong Cheng angrily and replied, ¡°This guy wanted to take advantage of me.¡±

    No matter how naive she was, she absolutely knew why Kong Cheng hade for her.

    Su Chen said gently, ¡°I know. Leave it to me, okay?¡±

    Night Demon was so used to listening to Su Chen that she instinctively agreed.

    Su Chen then said, ¡°Since Brother Kong likes this stone room, then Brother Kong can have it. Night Demon will sleep at my ce.¡±

    ¡°Your ce?¡± Everyone was stunned.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Su Chen replied seriously. ¡°Even though there isn¡¯t much space, squeezing two people into one Stone House won¡¯t be an issue. Night Demon, you don¡¯t have an issue with that, right?¡±

    As he spoke, he shot Night Demon a nce.

    Night Demon gasped before saying, ¡°Oh, I...... I can.¡±

    ¡°Then it¡¯s settled.¡± As Su Chen spoke, he escorted Night Demon back into his own stone room.

    Everyone stared at the two of them as they disappeared, as if they couldn¡¯t understand what had just happened.

    Even Shi Mingfeng was shocked. Could Su Chen have not fought with Kong Cheng just for an opportunity to try and take advantage of Night Demon?

    No, he wasn¡¯t that kind of person. Shi Mingfeng quickly denied that possibility. He knew exactly how many times Su Chen and Night Demon had interacted before. If Su Chen had wanted to do so, he absolutely didn¡¯t need to wait until now.

    Su Chen probably had his own n.

    Shi Mingfeng thought for a moment, then nced at Kong Cheng and angrily said, ¡°Since you like that room so much, then get the hell in there and go to sleep. Don¡¯t make any more trouble tonight.¡±

    After he finished speaking, he returned to his room.

    Kong Cheng¡¯s n had failed and he had only embarrassed himself. He nced around and found that everyone else was staring at him, causing him to yell, ¡°What are you all looking at? Have you never seen this before?¡±

    He walked into the room.

    Su Chen and Night Demon had entered Su Chen¡¯s room. Night Demon was just about to say something when Su Chen put his finger on her lips and shushed her, before tossing a cup of water on the ground.

    The surface of the water glimmered before the situation outside of the stone room came into view.

    Su Chen watched the puddle of water and muttered, ¡°Four...... three...... two...... one.¡±

    After he said ¡°one¡±, Night Demon listened for a bit but didn¡¯t hear anymotion. She said in surprise, ¡°Howe nothing¡¯s happening?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Say ¡®boom¡¯!¡±

    Night Demon said in a daze, ¡°Boom!¡±

    BOOM!

    An explosion suddenly burst forth outside of the stone room.

    Su Chen pushed the door open. The room that Night Demon was staying in earlier was now in mes.

    A person charged out of the burning room. Naturally, it was Kong Cheng.

    However, he was in quite the sorry state ¡ª the clothes on his back and the items he was carrying had all been totally burnt to a crisp. All that remained was a bead he carried in his hands. Even though that bead didn¡¯t help him avoid the mes, Kong Cheng still held onto it for dear life as he charged out of the mes.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on now?¡± The others also ran out of their lodgings.

    However, when they saw this scene, they were stunned yet again.

    A perfectly good Stone House had been burned to the ground, and Kong Cheng was in terrible shape. Even though he was an Origin Qi Schr and had put up his Origin Energy barriers, the explosion was sudden and had totally caught him off guard, so he had sustained quite a few wounds. Even though they were only flesh wounds, he was still quite a sorry sight, especially his face that had been totally stripped off.

    When he saw Su Chen, anger appeared in Kong Cheng¡¯s eyes. ¡°Su Chen.¡±

    He wanted to charge over and give Su Chen some hell, but Shi Mingfeng grabbed him and held him back.

    Qi Shenyuan reappeared as well. He was a bit surprised when he saw Kong Cheng¡¯s appearance and stared at Su Chen angrily. ¡°Is this your doing?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s what he did!¡± Su Chenughed coldly. ¡°I¡¯m already being very polite in not killing this piece of trash.¡±

    ¡°Arrogant!¡± Qi Shenyuan¡¯s expression was filled with killing intent, as if he were about to attack Su Chen.

    Shi Mingfeng didn¡¯t try and stop him. He justughed coldly, ¡°Qi Shenyuan, if you want to move against Su Chen, I won¡¯t stop you. I don¡¯t need to remind you what kind of person Su Chen is and how much help he¡¯s been to us. Do you dare kill him? That will be the day of your demise. I don¡¯t think you¡¯re as idiotic as this master of yours.

    Qi Shenyuan froze. He didn¡¯t make another move.

    What Shi Mingfeng had said waspletely urate. Qi Shenyuan really didn¡¯t dare kill Su Chen.

    He was just trying to scare Su Chen.

    However, scaring Su Chen was pointless. Both Su Chen and Shi Mingfeng could see clearly that their opponent only put up a strong front while actually being weak.

    Qi Shenyuan sucked in a deep breath of air. ¡°I¡¯ll let you go for now, the one surnamed Su. But if you dare make a move against Kong Cheng next time, don¡¯t me me for being impolite.¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°This kind of threat is useless against me. You¡¯re better off warning the person you¡¯re protecting. If he tries to make another move against Night Demon, it won¡¯t be something as simple as leaving a few Thunderfire Balls in his room. I promise that I will chop off his dick so that he can never use it again.¡±

    As he spoke, he returned to his room with Night Demon. The other people, seeing that no more excitement was to be had, also all returned to their lodgings. Only Kong Cheng and Qi Shenyuan stood there in ce.

    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Kong Cheng asked Qi Shenyuan harshly.

    Qi Shenyuan sighed, ¡°My apologies. What Shi Mingfeng said was absolutely right. I cannot make a move against Su Chen. If I kill him, the organization won¡¯t let me get away with it.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll find someone else to take care of it!¡± Kong Cheng lifted up the bead in his hand and poured a trace of Origin Energy into it. Countless headshots of individuals appeared on it.

    He pointed at one of the headshots and said, ¡°Feng Xihuo, immediatelye to Ind Abyss. I have a secret task for you......¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 6: Sleeping Together

    Su Chen casually waved his sleeves and the puddle on the ground disappeared. He then smiled slightly before saying to Night Demon, ¡°Alright, if there¡¯s nothing else then you can go to sleep.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Night Demony obediently on the bed.

    Su Chen continued with his experiments.

    But as Night Demony down on the bed, she didn¡¯t close her eyes. Instead, she watched Su Chen busy himself.

    ¡°Su Chen.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Su Chen carefully pricked his hand, drawing out a drop of blood that he then ced onto a nearby experimental paper before mixing it with other liquids.

    ¡°If I sleep on your bed, where will you sleep?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m researching He Xu¡¯s bloodline and won¡¯t be sleeping tonight,¡± Su Chen replied without looking up.

    ¡°Oh,¡± Night Demon responded with some disappointment.

    After a while, Night Demon suddenly said again, ¡°Su Chen.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t sleep, won¡¯t you be tired tomorrow?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re both cultivators. What¡¯s a night without sleep?¡± Su Chen¡¯s experimental paper suddenly burst into a cloud of smoke. Su Chen nced at it more closely, then frowned and said, ¡°I made a mistake...... Don¡¯t talk to me. I need to focus on my experiments.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Night Demon felt a bit wronged.

    She thought for a moment, then suddenly again said, ¡°Su Chen.¡±

    ¡°If there¡¯s anything you want to say, can you say it all at once? My goodness,¡± Su Chen said helplessly.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing, really. I just can¡¯t fall asleep. Can you keep mepany for a bit?¡±

    ¡°......I can¡¯t, I¡¯m busy,¡± Su Chen refused,pletely uninterested.

    Night Demon opened her eyes and red at him harshly.

    She said with a pouting expression, ¡°Fail...... Fail...... Fail...... Poof!

    Poof!

    White smoke drifted up from the piece of experimental paper again.

    Su Chen¡¯s expression sank. Night Demon said with an innocent expression, ¡°I wasn¡¯t talking to you.¡±

    Su Chen ignored her and continued his experiments.

    Night Demon continued to stare at Su Chen, along with constant curses for him to fail.

    Unfortunately, Su Chen wasn¡¯t affected this time and sessfullypleted the experiment.

    He happily stared at the vial of medicinal liquid before saying, ¡°Okay, my dear Night Demon, can you stop bothering me now? I really need to do some important experiments. My luck is pretty good today, and everything up til now has been quite sessful. Perhaps I¡¯ll be able to finish this experiment very soon.¡±

    ¡°Can you not do it tomorrow?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll be in a hurry tomorrow, and my luck from today might not transfer over to tomorrow. I need to strike while the iron is hot.¡± Su Chen proceeded to the next step.

    Night Demon continued to pout and threw a tantrum.

    At this point, she had no intentions of going to sleep. When she saw that there was no point in cursing Su Chen to fail, her eyes darted back and forth sneakily before she suddenly lifted her arms and took off the robes that Su Chen had given her, revealing her slender, jade-like arms.

    Su Chen¡¯s hand trembled, almost causing the medicine to be ruined.

    Night Demon continued; an instantter, she pulled down her chest garment a bit, revealing the upper half of her smooth cleavage.

    Su Chen lost control.

    Poof!

    The medicine was destroyed again.

    ¡°......¡± Su Chen turned around. ¡°What exactly are you trying to aplish?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m taking my clothes off before I go to bed,¡± Night Demon said, her expression one of righteous anger. ¡°Got a problem with that?¡±

    Su Chen nced at her chest, which was slightly pushed out, and swallowed hard. ¡°Can you be a bit more considerate of the people around you?¡±

    ¡°You only have eyes for your experiments anyways,¡± Night Demon replied. She suddenly smiled and said, ¡°Right weren¡¯t you focused on your experiments? How could you have seen me take my clothes off? Oh, I know, you actually don¡¯t want to do experiments at all. You¡¯re trying to sneak a peek at me!¡±

    Su Chen rolled his eyes unhappily. ¡°Alright, I¡¯m really afraid of you now. If you want to take it off, then take it off. If you have the ability, take it all off. Anyways, when I¡¯m focused on my experiments I won¡¯t have time to look at you.¡±

    As he spoke, he turned back to his experiments.

    Night Demon stared at Su Chen angrily.

    After a long time, she suddenly jumped into the air.

    Su Chen already had a bit of experience. Every time he reached the next step of the experiment, he would nce at Night Demon to prevent her from trying anything funny. When he saw her stand up, he instinctively backed up a step. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    His expression made it seem like he was about to be assaulted.

    Night Demon beamed withughter. ¡°What are you so worried about? I just want to see how you¡¯re carrying out your experiments. I won¡¯t speak, I¡¯ll just stand to the side and watch. Is that not allowed either?¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t have the appropriate foundation, you won¡¯t be able to understand.¡±

    ¡°Just let me take a look!¡± Night Demon tried to twist her way around him.

    ¡°...... You¡¯re not allowed to touch anything or speak.¡± Su Chen could only agree.

    Night Demon walked over to watch him work.

    She stood extremely close, and the clothing she wore was quite revealing. A light fragrance wafted into Su Chen¡¯s nose, causing his state of mind to fluctuate wildly.

    Su Chen forcefully calmed his mental state down and retreated a few steps. Night Demon followed closely.

    One retreated while the other advanced until Su Chen had been backed into the corner.

    Su Chen was helpless again. ¡°Why are you getting so close to me?¡±

    Night Demon replied with conviction, ¡°I want to take a look. If I don¡¯t get close, how can I see?¡±

    ¡°What are you going to see anyways?¡± Su Chen said helplessly.

    ¡°Howe you can see it but I can¡¯t?¡± Night Demon hugged her chest. Her rtively t chest protruded at this moment as she squeezed it.

    Su Chen helplessly pointed at her. ¡°I¡¯ll say it one more time. Don¡¯t get too close, don¡¯t talk, and don¡¯t disturb me!¡±

    Night Demon nodded repeatedly.

    Su Chen continued his experiments.

    Night Demon didn¡¯t do anything else to disturb him. She just stood there silently watching.

    However, Su Chen felt his state of mind constantly fluctuating and would turn around from time to time. With his attention so divided, it wasn¡¯t surprising that he failed a number of times in a row.

    Night Demon giggled softly and made faces at him, as if to imply that this time it wasn¡¯t her fault.

    Su Chen sighed. He could only continue his experiments.

    He was quite resolute, though, and continued his experiments with gritted teeth.

    A momentter, however, he felt something brush across his back.

    He turned around and found that it was a couple strands of Night Demon¡¯s hair that had drifted past the back of his neck, giving him quite the strange sensation.

    Su Chen pulled aside the strand of hair, but an instantter the strange sensation reemerged.

    Su Chen turned around quickly and found that Night Demon was blowing air at him, trying to blow her hair onto his body.

    When she saw Su Chen turn around, Night Demon hurriedly closed her mouth.

    However, she knew that she had been seen by Su Chen and muttered, ¡°You only said that I couldn¡¯t get near and couldn¡¯t talk. You didn¡¯t say that I couldn¡¯t blow air.¡±

    Su Chen was renderedpletely speechless.

    Night Demon squirmed under his gaze as she continued to mutter, ¡°It¡¯s your fault for not keeping mepany. I¡¯m going to make trouble for you, make trouble for you......¡±

    She didn¡¯t speak loudly, but Su Chen could still hear her very clearly.

    Su Chen rolled his eyes. ¡°Fine! I give up. I¡¯ll stop doing experiments, okay?¡±

    He put the vial of medicine down on the table and went to sleep on the bed.

    When Night Demon saw this, she grew agitated. ¡°Hey, that¡¯s my bed.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s my bed. If you won¡¯t let me do my thing, then I can only go to sleep and rest.¡±

    ¡°Then what do I do?¡±

    ¡°How should I know?¡± Su Chen turned around with his head facing inwards, making some space for Night Demon. ¡°If you don¡¯t think it¡¯s too tight of a fit, then you can squeeze here with me.¡±

    ¡°This...¡± Night Demon discovered that her mischievous prank had suddenly backfired on her.

    ¡°What? You¡¯re not brave enough to get on?¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Who¡¯s not brave enough?¡± Night Demon grew a bit angry and did actually get on the bed.

    Once she was on the bed, she began to feel apprehension in her heart and said, ¡°Um...... you won¡¯t do anything to me, right?¡±

    Su Chen askedzily, ¡°Are you hoping that I¡¯ll do something to you? Or hoping that I won¡¯t do anything to you?¡±

    ¡°I...... Of course I¡¯m hoping you don¡¯t do anything to me. We¡¯re brothers,¡± Night Demon said in a low voice, but her heartbeat began to speed up.

    Am I hoping that he¡¯ll do something?

    Or am I hoping that he won¡¯t do anything?

    The more she thought, the more confused she felt. And like that, she slowly drifted off to sleep.

    After she fell asleep, Su Chen, who looked like he was already asleep, slowly opened his eyes.

    He turned around to nce at the sleeping Night Demon. When he saw her long eyshes, he couldn¡¯t repress the urge in his heart and gave her a kiss on the cheek, then turned around to go back to sleep.

    However, no matter how much he tossed and turned, he couldn¡¯t fall asleep.

    One thing was for certain: he was not getting a good night¡¯s sleep tonight.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 7: Holding Onto Original Intentions

    The night passed uneventfully.

    However, the next morning, Night Demon¡¯s expression was a bit strange, though Night Demon¡¯s silliness quickly manifested itself again.

    Night Demon¡¯s silliness once again manifested itself. She didn¡¯t notice anything and talked with everyone just like before.

    After eating breakfast, they embarked on their trip. As they walked, Su Chen could sense Kong Cheng¡¯s poisonous gaze boring into his back as they walked.

    He just smiled slightly and paid it no mind.

    The Lonely Swan Ramparts were tall and far, while the surroundings were totally deste. They had to walk a number of days before finally appearing in Ind Abyss.

    After entering Ind Abyss, the vegetation became much more plentiful, and the number of travelers also noticeably increased.

    Today, as the caravan advanced, a group of Sand Race individuals suddenly appeared, charging and yelling in their direction.

    As this group of Sand Race individuals charged at Su Chen and the others, everyone thought quietly in their hearts, ¡®they¡¯re here.¡¯

    These past few days, they hadn¡¯t encountered anyrge groups of the Sand Race. The few they did see were all on their own or in small groups. This time, however, nearly a hundred Sand Race individuals had appeared, including a few mid-tier Sand Race members.

    The method of determining the Sand Race¡¯s members¡¯ strength was very easy. On the backs of their heads were some whiskers; the thicker those were, the stronger.

    At this moment, therge group of Sand Race members surged forth. The one in the leader pointed at Su Chen and his group and yelled, ¡°Attack!¡±

    They didn¡¯t waste their time talking as they charged forwards.

    Even though Su Chen knew that the Sand Race had extremely violent personalities and that not buying the camel beasts they sold was equivalent to provoking them, he was still shocked by the speed at which they chose to attack and how they didn¡¯t differentiate between perpetrators and associates. He frowned and said, ¡°Sand Race? More like the Killer Race1)

    Shi Mingfengughed, ¡°The sand people are all like this ¡ª vicious, bloodthirsty, and savage to the extreme. How about it, do you believe me now?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Since that¡¯s the case, I¡¯d like to see the Master of Rain¡¯s strength firsthand before entering West Laina Castle, if possible,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Shi Mingfeng chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m the one that¡¯ll need to clean up the trouble you stir up.¡±

    Su Chen replied indifferently, ¡°To the Master of Rain, that shouldn¡¯t be any trouble. At most it¡¯s an intermission.¡±

    As they spoke, Shi Mingfeng waved his arms. A dense fog began to spread through the air, the individual droplets of water vapor falling onto the Sand Race. The seemingly soft water vapor was packed with dense water-type Origin Energy, pressing on them like a river pouring from the heavens. When itnded on the Sand Race individuals, their bodies began to disintegrate like sand. The frightening water-type Origin Energy continued to surge forward, enveloping everyst one of the Sand Race individuals. Not a single one was able to escape, and they were all downed in one fell swoop by Shi Mingfeng before they even had a chance to counterattack.

    Whoosh!!!

    Under the torrential downpour, all the Sand Race members dissolved into nothingness and disappeared.

    The water vapor that Shi Mingfeng had summoned from the heavens also disappeared, as if it had never existed.

    ¡°You truly are befitting of the title ¡®Master of Rain,¡¯¡± Su Chen said sincerely.

    Shi Mingfeng smiled slightly. ¡°It¡¯s just a little trick of mine, not worth mentioning.¡±

    ¡°From your trick it seems that you have at least three Lotus tforms, right?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Shi Mingfeng said with a bit of pride, ¡°I reached four about two years ago by hanging onto your coattails.¡±

    He wasn¡¯t saying that to be polite.

    Per their transaction, Su Chen had secretly passed thirty million Origin Stones to Shi Mingfeng under the table. With this profit, he had sessfully broken through the bottleneck and formed four Lotus tforms. Shi Mingfeng¡¯s gratitude towards Su Chen was heartfelt.

    ¡°But now that you mention it, with the amount of resources you currently control, you should have reached the peak of Yang Opening a long time ago. Howe you are still mid-realm?¡± Shi Mingfeng asked.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°So what if I reach the peak of Yang Opening? Won¡¯t the next step be to reach the Light Shaking Realm anyways? Taking that next step will be too difficult.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng said in a low voice, ¡°If you need it, I can help put you in touch with some people with good bloodlines......¡±

    Heughed when he saw Su Chen shake his head, understanding his intentions. ¡°It seems that you still hope to reach the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline. But if that¡¯s the case, your instructor will need to make a breakthrough in that aspect first.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Master of Rain, you don¡¯t need to try and test me. To tell the truth, my Instructor won¡¯t be of much help to me anymore.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Why is that?¡±

    Su Chen then told him about how Shi Kaihuang had been sent to Flowing Gold Fort.

    ¡°Instructor is an officer again and is busy taking care of military matters. He can¡¯t spend all his time every day researching, so he handed that responsibility over to me.¡±

    ¡°You?¡± Shi Mingfeng was stunned. ¡°But you aren¡¯t in the Light Shaking realm. How can you research that?¡±

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°That¡¯s also what I said earlier...... guess how my Instructor responded?¡±

    ¡°How did he respond?¡±

    ¡°He told me to go and create a miracle.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Shi Mingfeng was also rendered speechless for a while. In the end, all he could say was, ¡°It seems that you won¡¯t be able to ascend for a long time.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps. This may be the highest point that I reach in my lifetime.¡±

    ¡°Then why not choose to give up? With the current resources you have, you could absolutely obtain a good bloodline and reach the Spirit Burning Realm. Who knows, you might even be able to shatter those chains and go one step higher.¡±

    Yes.

    With Su Chen¡¯s intelligence and strength, as long as he obtained a Bloodline Medicine andbined it with his Primordial Blood Incarnation, he really could reach the sixth cultivation realm out of the seven total.

    If that was the case, he would at least be able to look down on the whole world even if he wasn¡¯t at the apex.

    To most people, this was more than enough. Any sober-minded individual wouldn¡¯t treat themselves as the center of the universe. It wasn¡¯t wrong to pursue reaching the very top, but it was unhealthy to excessively obsess over it.

    Su Chen was the same. To him, that kind of aplishment would be more than enough to satisfy him.

    But if he used a bloodline, what would all of his dreams and pursuits up until now have been for?

    The Su Chen with a bloodline would not be the same persistent Su Chen as before, and the pledges he had made would be nothing more than trash.

    He could give up on reaching the peak, but he couldn¡¯t go back on his word.

    Even if it meant that he might never take another step forward.

    Yet wasn¡¯t all human life like this anyways?

    If there was no free will, what were choices? If there was no surrendering, what were sacrifices? If there were no dangers, what were challenges?

    The path Su Chen had chosen was bound to be fraught with danger, and not only because the path was long and arduous and the research was difficult, but also because it meant making a choice to give up on something.

    To continue to strive for an uncertain future and pursue your dreams? Or quit while you¡¯re ahead and be a winner?

    Most people would choose thetter.

    Only a select few people would choose the former.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t an idiot. He had hesitated and contemted this over and over again.

    Thankfully, he had chosen to continue steadfastly on the route he had chosen.

    He told himself that a person could be smart, flexible, and intelligent in many different aspects, but in pursuing one¡¯s dreams it was better to be a bit idiotic.

    As such, Su Chen replied, ¡°I just don¡¯t want to forget the vow I made earlier.¡±

    ¡°So you chose this path for everyone under the heavens? And not due to a personal desire for power?¡± Shi Mingfeng asked, a bit surprised.

    ¡°What? Is a person like me not allowed to worry about other people?¡± Su Chen countered.

    Shi Mingfengughed, ¡°I just find it very difficult that a person like you, who could earn a billion Origin Stones by selling some Three Yangs Medicine and a bloodline-less technique for reaching the Yang Opening Realm, could harbor such a grand ambition.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°What does that count for? People only try to help others when they are already ahead, but I am willing to give myself up for the sake of the whole world. Making a profit and caring for everyone under the heavens don¡¯t necessarily need to conflict.¡±

    ¡°Then what if one day there is a conflict between the two?¡± Shi Mingfeng pressed.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t reply.

    1. Su Chen is making a pun. The character for sand (É³) and kill (É±) are pronounced the same in Chinese.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 8: Infiltration

    After journeying for twelve days, the party finally arrived at Castle Garrison.

    West Laina Castle was located there, which was where the name ¡®Castle Garrison¡¯ came from.

    The castle itself was located atop a small mountain outside the city. Because it was the leader¡¯s castle, outsiders were not allowed entrance easily. Every day, people from within the castle came out to buy things.

    The entire Castle Garrison was built for the sake of serving those within the castle.

    Even though this territory belonged to the Sand Race, many humans also lived here. Quite a few traveling merchants wandered back and forth, hawking their wares; as a result, Su Chen and the others didn¡¯t seem out of ce.

    Su Chen had also left the wildebeest behind a long time ago, exchanging it for a Camel Wolf so that they didn¡¯t run into any needless trouble the rest of the way there.

    After arriving, everyone spent their day resting in the garrison.

    When nightfall drew close, they sprang into action.

    They dodged the patrolling Sand Race members and quickly arrived at the base of the mountain.

    ¡°The rest is up to you,¡± Shi Mingfeng said to He Xu.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± He Xuughed delightedly and began to slink up the mountain. At the same time, a mirror appeared in Shi Mingfeng¡¯s hand, and reflected on that mirror¡¯s surface was He Xu¡¯s face.

    He Xu very quickly reached the outer walls of the castles. He tossed a few stones at the walls, and a few yellow ripples appeared across the surfaces of the walls.

    Those were the castle¡¯s defensive barriers.

    But He Xu didn¡¯t grow agitated. He pulled out a silver disk from his Origin Ring and ced it onto the barrier. Sharp spikes began to appear on the surface of the disk, prating the barrier. Next, the disk began to expand via the aid of a steel bar pushing it wider and wider, eventually creating a hole about the size of a washbasin in the barrier.

    An instantter, He Xu¡¯s figure elongated until he was about as skinny as the hole, allowing him to pass through it.

    This was one of the Thousand Illusion Beasts¡¯ abilities. Not only could he change his appearance, but he could also alter his body¡¯s shape.

    After passing through the protective barrier, He Xu began to scale the castle walls.

    Once he reached the top of the walls, however, he didn¡¯te down. Instead, he pulled out a special crystal and aimed it at the ground.

    Wherever the crystal was aimed, it was possible to see traces of blue light dancing across the ground.

    Shi Mingfeng pointed at the blue light and said to Su Chen, ¡°That is the Blue Sentinel Light. It can¡¯t be seen by physical eyes, and anything touching it will trigger an rm. If the magic barrier is the first hurdle, then these blue lights are the second. A lot of people will fail at this stage, but of course it¡¯s useless to us.¡±

    As he spoke, Shi Mingfeng seemed to grow a bit giddy.

    Su Chen really wanted to tell him that he had seen the blue light since a long time ago; that hidden blue light couldn¡¯t escape his microscopic eye. However, in the end all he said was, ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. My eyes have truly been broadened. I never expected that I could learn so much from a simple infiltration mission.¡±

    ¡°Of course. We¡¯re professionals after all,¡± Night Demon said proudly from the side.

    ......

    Su Chen was speechless.

    At this moment, He Xu began to descend. He aimed the crystal right in front of him, carefully avoiding the Blue Sentinel Light.

    After avoiding the Blue Sentinel Light, He Xu didn¡¯t continue to advance as before. Instead, hey on the ground and turned into a lizard, slowly crawling across the ground.

    Shi Mingfeng exined, ¡°The castle has detection-type Origin Formations beneath that can detect footsteps from people walking over them. This kind of formation is hard to deal with because it¡¯s below ground, which is why He Xu turned into a lizard. The Sand Race likes lizards a lot, and there are quite a few being bred within the castle. They¡¯re also used as sentinels, so even if the Sand Race discovers a lizard passing through the Origin Formation, they won¡¯t pay it any attention.¡±

    As he spoke, He Xu had just finished passing through the spacious courtyard. Indeed, a few lizards waggled their heads and walked over. Even though they weren¡¯t familiar with the lizard that He Xu had transformed into, they didn¡¯t cry out in rm. They just took a mental picture of him and licked him a few times before leaving.

    After walking past the open courtyard, He Xu finally reached a building.

    He turned into a human and wiped the saliva off of his face. ¡°Damn, these guys have so much saliva and it smells so bad.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ve taken a liking to you,¡± one of the Immortal Temple¡¯s underlingsughed.

    Each of them had brought a special transmission Origin Tool. As long as they didn¡¯t exceed a certain range, they could converse with one another. It was incredibly useful.

    ¡°That was a male one,¡± He Xu replied unhappily.

    ¡°That makes sense, you only attract members of the same sex anyways,¡± someone else added.

    Everyone burst intoughter.

    He Xu helplessly shook his head. Upon seeing that no one was to his left or right, he used a lock picking technique to open the door in front of him. It had to be said that the Immortal Temple was very proficient in performing this kind of criminal activity.

    As he opened the door and walked in, He Xu transformed into the image of a Sand Race servant.

    He nced around and saw no one, then walked in.

    Shi Mingfeng said, ¡°You¡¯re in a hallway right now. Open the door to your left, go through that long hallway, and you¡¯ll have reached the main hall. You need to find the servant responsible for giving Culler his food. Any longer and Culler will start eating.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m looking for him right now,¡± He Xu replied.

    He opened the door, walked through the long hallway, and arrived at the main hall.

    As soon as he opened the door to the main hall, he felt a wave of dizziness wash over him.

    Sand Race individuals were gathered everywhere there, talking andughing with one another.

    He Xu hurriedly returned to the hallway. ¡°Dammit, they¡¯re holding a banquet in there.¡±

    ¡°Leave, now!¡± Shi Mingfeng barked.

    If they were holding a banquet, the previous rhythm they had settled upon was no longer reliable. A lot of people who weren¡¯t originally part of the n had suddenly appeared.

    Making a move now would be too risky, so Shi Mingfeng immediately ordered him to retreat.

    Unfortunately, he was still toote.

    He Xu was just about to leave when a Sand Race official approached him.

    He saw He Xu and barked, ¡°Hey, you,e over here!¡±

    He Xu nced around. There was no one else there besides him.

    The Sand Race official yelled, ¡°I¡¯m talking to you! Don¡¯t ck off! Go and carry this food over there.

    As he spoke, he picked up arge tter of food and handed it over to He Xu, then gestured at He Xu to follow him.

    He Xu could only steel himself and follow closely behind.

    When Shi Mingfeng saw this, he smacked his thigh and yelled, ¡°Damn! We¡¯re in trouble.¡±

    A spanner had been thrown into the works. It wouldn¡¯t be easy for He Xu to get back out.

    But since this was the case, they could only adapt to the situation.

    At this moment, He Xu had entered the main hall with the other Sand Race official.

    The castle¡¯s main hall was very luxurious. Sounds of elegant music hung in the air while brilliant light reflected off of the dangling crystal chandeliers. Under this festive atmosphere, some of the Sand Race guests danced while others chatted pleasantly.

    He Xu followed the Sand Race official all the way up the stairs. After reaching the top, they entered a small room. A few Sand Race individuals were sitting there, conversing with one another.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding me! Pall¡¯s here!¡± Shi Mingfeng suddenly yelled.

    A massive Sand Race individual was sitting within the small room.

    It was hard to imagine how a Sand Race individual could be that fat. He looked like a massive whale, and he alone sat on a bench that could easily sit three people.

    In front of him were two Sand Race dancers putting on a show for him.

    A few people were sitting beside him. One of them was a Sand Race individual, while the other two were humans.

    When he saw one of the two humans, Su Chen¡¯s heart suddenly jumped.

    That was because he recognized that person.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 9: Negotiations

    ¡°ckrock Gold is the Primordial Continent¡¯s highest quality metal. Any Origin Tools made with it will have its strength raised by at least ten percent. At the same time, it is also one of the Sand Race¡¯s most important resources. I won¡¯t leave it up to a human to deal with.¡±

    Pall devoured a roastedmb leg as he spoke, his hands covered in oil. However, it didn¡¯t seem to impact his speaking, almost as if he had two mouths.

    ¡°ckrock Gold is a very high-quality metal, but it¡¯s definitely not the best, and it improves the durability of an Origin Tool, not its strength. Most importantly, the ckrock Gold stores here are almost exhausted.

    Zhu Xianyao sat in her own seat and spoke in an elegant matter, immediately pointing out the ws and lies in Pall¡¯s words.

    Pall didn¡¯t mind and chuckled as he continued to gnaw on themb leg. ¡°Oh. But you still want it, right?¡±

    ¡°But that¡¯s not a reason for you to try to open your mouth to swallow so much all at once,¡± the other human replied.

    He was called Zhu Baiyu.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t even begun to open my mouth yet,¡± Pall said as he waggled his head. ¡°Since you have said as much, however, then I¡¯ll start with an opening price. A hundred million Origin Stones!¡±

    ¡°A ckrock Gold Mine that¡¯s about to go bad?¡± Zhu Xianyaoughed coldly. ¡°Leader Pall, are you so poor that you¡¯ve gone crazy?¡±

    ¡°Watch your tone, damn woman!¡± Pall harrumphed.

    This was the first time that Zhu Xianyao had ever been called a damn woman.

    The Sand Race¡¯s eye for beauty was really quite unttering.

    Pall continued, ¡°I¡¯m not an idiot. I know that you have ulterior motives. You don¡¯t want that ckrock Gold Mine at all; that¡¯s just a pretense. If you won¡¯te clean, then don¡¯t me me for being impolite. Also, I came all the way here to meet you specifically. If you won¡¯t give me an eptable answer, then don¡¯t even think about heading back. Even a Demonic Emperor Bloodline Nobility n can¡¯t act wantonly in my territory!¡±

    Zhu Xianyao and Zhu Baiyu nced at each other.

    Zhu Xianyao nodded before Zhu Baiyu said, ¡°Fine. Esteemed leader, your intelligence exceeds what I expected. I must admit that our goal is not just the ckrock Gold Mines. No one would be interested in a nearly exhausted mine, right? That lie was truly a bit too much.¡±

    Pall chuckled. ¡°Then tell me your true motives foring here.¡±

    ¡°Leader knows that we are from Liao Ye Country. Even though we are part of the human race, like Long Sang Country, we are not actually the same country. Because of this, doing things here is quite inconvenient,¡± Zhu Baiyu said. ¡°As such, we were always hoping to find some kind of foothold in Long Sang Country, a bit of territory belonging to ourselves where we have some control.¡±

    ¡°You want to establish a foothold here in my territory?¡± Pall was extremely shocked.

    ¡°Only one toy a foundation for increasing our strength,¡± Zhu Xianyao replied. ¡°This territory belongs to the Sand Race, and the Long Sang Country¡¯s hands can¡¯t reach in here. This is perfect for our initial expansion.¡±

    ¡°Why must you establish a foothold in Long San Country? Do you already have total control over Liao Ye Country and have nowhere else to expand?¡± Pallughed.

    Of course this was impossible, but it seemed from this great leader¡¯s mocking tone that he also didn¡¯t believe that reason.

    Zhu Xianyao replied emotionlessly, ¡°We¡¯ve been forced to do this in order to deal with certain people.¡±

    ¡°What kinds of people?¡±

    ¡°Has Leader heard of the Qing, Mu, or Zhang ns?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s so many Bloodline Nobility ns under the heavens. How could I possibly know each and every one of them?¡±

    ¡°Then what about the Immortal Temple?¡±

    Upon hearing this name, Pall immediately sat up.

    Outside the castle, Shi Mingfeng and Su Chen nced at each other.

    Shi Mingfeng said, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that the Zhu n¡¯s Young Miss would run all the way over here as well.¡±

    ¡°You know her?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Quite a few of our members have died to the Zhu n the past few years. How could we not recognize them. Hey, now that you mention it, this problem seems to have been caused by you, huh?¡± Shi Mingfeng nced at Su Chen.

    Su Chenughed. ¡°It was caused by that bastard Ma Renze.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true. But it seems like this Young Miss Zhu harbors a lot of hatred for us if she¡¯s willing to set up a base of operations in Long Sang Country to confront us.¡±

    Su Chen suddenly said, ¡°She¡¯s willing to make such a huge investment just to deal with the Six Bloodline Nobility ns and you guys? Is that worth it?¡±

    ¡°The Bloodline Nobility ns can be very headstrong sometimes.¡±

    Everyoneughed out loud.

    Su Chen made a shushing motion. Everyone quieted down and continued to listen.

    Pall¡¯s fat face assumed a serious expression. ¡°I hate those half-truth-telling bastards, and I have to admit that they are a big pain to deal with. Those scoundrels steal, rob, and kill people as they please without even blinking an eye.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s rich! He¡¯s the biggest scoundrel out of everyone, yet he dares to make fun of us,¡± everyone began to say scornfully outside the castle. Su Chen was forced to shush them again.

    ¡°So, leader, we have a strong basis for cooperation: we are both enemies of the Immortal Temple, since you don¡¯t like them either. With us keeping watch here, we can help defend you against all kinds of external greed,¡± said Zhu Xianyao as she took advantage of the opportunity in the conversation.

    ¡°What kind of price are you willing to pay for this?¡±

    ¡°We can give the Sand Race a greatmercial opportunity. We promise that goods worth no less than five million Origin Stones will pass through here every year, including food, water, and other survival necessities for the Sand Race. We can provide them to you at the lowest possible price.¡±

    ¡°Only five million worth of goods?¡±

    ¡°This is every year!¡± Zhu Xianyao said weightily. ¡°This is a long-term deal. Don¡¯t drain the pond just to catch all the fish.¡±

    Pall harrumphed, ¡°You humans are too tricky. How do I know that you¡¯ll keep your end of the bargain? There¡¯s a benefit to being short-sighted, which is that it¡¯s difficult to be cheated.

    Zhu Xianyao was so angry that her face was beginning to turn pale. ¡°No one can hand over more than a hundred million Origin Stones all at once.¡±

    Outside of the castle, everyone pointed at Su Chen. ¡°He can.¡±

    Su Chen rolled his eyes.

    The negotiations were continuing within the castle.

    At that moment, He Xu had already ced all of the food down and was standing to the side, his head lowered as he pretended to be awaiting further orders.

    At that moment, a Sand Race individual suddenly walked over to He Xu and said, ¡°Who are you? Howe I¡¯ve never seen you before?¡±

    Dammit!

    Everyone cursed silently.

    Because he hadn¡¯t anticipated the evening banquet, He Xu had just carelessly transformed into a Sand Race individual. After all, this was just to get by momentarily. However, he hadn¡¯t expected to be caught like this, and even more hadn¡¯t expected for an error to ur at this moment.

    He Xu was stunned. He wanted to exin more, but a Sand Race individual standing not far behind Pall suddenly nced over.

    He nced at He Xu.

    With this single nce, He Xu felt the energy in his body suddenly begin to fluctuate wildly, causing him to almost lose control of his disguise.

    He Xu knew the situation wasn¡¯t good. A strange light shed across the eyes of the Sand Race individual staring at him.

    He yelled out loudly, ¡°It¡¯s a spy! Catch him!¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 10: Discovered

    ¡°Run!¡± Su Chen yelled internally as soon as the Sand Race individual said, ¡°Spy!¡±

    He Xu knew the situation wasn¡¯t good. He turned around and bolted.

    ¡°After him!¡±

    All of the Sand Race individuals present charged forwards, howling madly, but Zhu Xianyao¡¯s only reaction was that her eyebrow jumped up slightly. Zhu Baiyu nced at Zhu Xianyao, who shook her head slightly, before returning to his seat.

    As for Pall, he merely harrumphed, ¡°A tiny mouse? A tiny mouse dares appear in my castle? Catch him. We¡¯ll have a nice, long chat with him.¡±

    Hordes of Sand Race individuals were after him now. He Xu fled as fast as he could.

    ¡°He won¡¯t be able to get away.¡± Shi Mingfeng¡¯s expression was deathly pale.

    At this point, if He Xu was still able to get away, the Sand Race might as wellmit suicide right there and then. The only reason that He Xu could still run around like this was because the Sand Race¡¯s powerful experts disdained at making a move personally. But if he were to run outside of a certain distance, then the powerful experts would definitely make a move.

    Su Chen yelled into the mirror, ¡°He Xu, listen to me. Don¡¯t try to run outside of the castle. They won¡¯t let you get out of there! Right now, stay within the castle¡¯s walls and try to buy time. We¡¯lle and save you.¡±

    ¡°Save me? Are you joking?¡± He Xu responded

    ¡°No, because I¡¯ming in right now!¡± Su Chen replied.

    As he spoke, he ran towards the castle.

    Shi Mingfeng was stunned. ¡°Are you crazy!? Going in now is just looking for death! The n has already failed, and what we need to do is immediately leave!¡±

    ¡°Yes, but we need to get him out first.¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t even look back as he sprinted forwards.

    He quickly arrived at the castle wall. The hole that He Xu had opened up was still there.

    The hole was very small.

    ¡°You can¡¯t even get past this first step,¡± Shi Mingfeng said.

    Then, he watched as Su Chen pulled out a vial of medicine and downed it. An instantter, his body began to grow longer.

    ¡°How is this possible?¡±

    Shi Mingfeng was instantly rendered speechless.

    This was He Xu¡¯s Bloodline Origin Skill. How could Su Chen use it?

    Had he broken through in just the span of a few short days?

    Yes, Su Chen had broken through!

    The process of analyzing He Xu¡¯s bloodline had gone exceptionally smoothly. Su Chen was easily able to extract the shapeshifting Origin Substance from He Xu¡¯s bloodline, then master its transformation process. The only current drawback was that he had yet topletely assimte it; he could only temporarily use it by ingesting the rted medicine.

    This, however, was enough.

    An instantter, Su Chen slipped inside the castle.

    He quickly scaled the castle walls.

    ¡°Damn, he doesn¡¯t have the irvoyance Crystal,¡± Shi Mingfeng cursed.

    Because the n had only called for He Xu to infiltrate the castle, and irvoyance Crystals weren¡¯t cheap, they had only prepared one.

    An instantter, however, a shocking scene appeared once again before their eyes.

    Su Chennded on the ground, then began to walk carefully across the castle grounds. From his movements, it seemed that he was avoiding the Blue Sentinel Lights. None of the castle¡¯s rms were ever triggered.

    ¡°Has he also cultivated some kind of irvoyance-type Origin Skill as well?¡± someone asked with some curiosity.

    ¡°Then he really knows how to do quite a few things,¡± someone else replied.

    Yes, Su Chen really did know how to do quite a few things. He knew how to research and concoct medicines, and his own strength was also quite impressive. He even possessed a irvoyance-type Origin Skill.

    Everyone watched Su Chen continue to advance with fascination as if they were watching a strange creature.

    Kong Cheng coldlyughed, ¡°So what if he knows something like that? He still won¡¯t be able to save He Xu. I say, why are you all still sitting here dumbly like this? Shouldn¡¯t we be taking advantage of this moment to leave instead of waiting for the people inside toe looking for us?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s wait a bit longer. Perhaps Su Chen does have a way of dealing with it,¡± Shi Mingfeng replied.

    At this moment, Su Chen had already gotten past the Blue Sentinel Lights and reached the open ground.

    Unexpectedly, he didn¡¯t turn into a small lizard like He Xu had. Instead, he activated Whitetower Teleportation and directly teleported across the open ground ¡ª after reaching the Yang Opening realm, Su Chen¡¯s Whitetower Teleportation had improved once again. A small distance like this couldn¡¯t give him much trouble.

    He arrived at the same small room in the castle. But just as he was about to pull open the door, a few lizards charged at him.

    Su Chen turned around. He had already taken on the appearance of a Sand Race individual and was exuding an aura of savagery.

    When the lizards saw this, they lowered their heads and retreated simultaneously.

    Su Chen opened the door and entered.

    ¡°I¡¯m going in,¡± he said.

    Everyone simultaneously let out a long sigh.

    Su Chen quickly walked towards the main hall. ¡°He Xu, hold on for a moment and wait for me.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t be able to hold on for much longer!¡±

    ¡°Then put everything you have into your Origin Ring and hide it. Don¡¯t let them figure out your intentions ining here!¡±

    As he spoke, he pulled out the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle.

    Su Chen¡¯s n was very simple. After linking up with He Xu, they would immediately escape using the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle. The castle¡¯s barrier only affected things outside of the barrier. If they were able to charge out of the castle, the Sand Race wouldn¡¯t be able to catch up given the speed of the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle.

    This n was quite dangerous, but apart from this Su Chen didn¡¯t have any better ideas.

    He hurriedly arrived at main hall. Su Chen watched as He Xu charged out from another door off to the side.

    An opportunity!

    But just as he was about to expand the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle, he saw a figure sh past him from the second floor.

    This was the Sand Race individual standing behind Pall.

    They had finally lost their patience.

    In the blink of an eye, the Sand Race individual appeared right in front of He Xu¡¯s path.

    He reached out a single hand, like he was trying to catch a chicken, and picked up He Xu.

    Damn!

    Su Chen knew that he had been a step toote to save He Xu.

    He was only ten steps away from He Xu, but those ten steps seemed as far away as the horizon.

    He nced meaningfully at He Xu, having been forced to stop in his tracks.

    Su Chen immediately turned around and left.

    At that moment, he heard the Sand Race individual yell, ¡°Search the entire castle. See if there are any other spies here.¡±

    All of the Sand Race guards agreed, then dispersed to search their own directions.

    Su Chen knew the situation wasn¡¯t good. At this point in time, he had already left the main hall and was walking down the hallway.

    Just as he was about to reach the end, a pair of Sand Race guards came walking in his direction.

    Su Chen was forced to turn and walk down another hallway, the barkedmands of that Sand Race individual still within earshot: ¡°The mice that have infiltrated this ce have the ability to shapeshift. All of you, pair up and interrogate one another to avoid any impersonations.¡±

    Dammit!

    Su Chen cursed quietly.

    At that moment, Su Chen saw a person walking over.

    That person was obviously not a ve. His clothing was quite extravagant, and his figure was very fat. He was clearly of noble status, and he was even holding a small dish in his hands filled with pastries that he was stuffing into his mouth.

    When Su Chen saw this, his eyes lit up. He charged forwards, grabbed that person, and knocked him unconscious.

    ¡°My apologies,¡± Su Chen said as he shoved the person into a nearby closet.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± a group of Sand Race guards shouted from behind Su Chen.

    Su Chen slowly turned around. He had already assumed the prince¡¯s appearance.

    ¡°So it¡¯s Prince You,¡± the Sand Race individual at the front. ¡°What are you doing here?¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know who Prince You was. He could only raise the pastry in his hand and stuff a piece into his mouth.

    When the Sand Race individual saw that, heughed and said, ¡°So Prince You was just feeling hungry! If that¡¯s the case, feel free to eat slowly.¡±

    He then left, taking the rest of the Sand Race soldiers with him.

    After Su Chen made sure that they had all left, Su Chen dragged Prince You out again.

    ¡°Su Chen, what are you doing? He Xu has already been caught. You won¡¯t be able to save him!¡± Shi Mingfeng yelled.

    Su Chen pretended not to hear anything. He smacked Prince You a few times to knock him awake.

    That person gradually awoke. When he saw his own face staring back at him, he was badly startled. ¡°You......¡±

    ¡°Shush!¡± Su Chen silenced him. ¡°Don¡¯t yell. I¡¯m asking the questions here and you¡¯re answering them. If you act up, then you¡¯ll die!¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 11: Pig Dragon Prince

    ¡°What is your name?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°I...... save......¡± Prince You wanted to yell.

    However, the words had yet to leave his mouth when they were stuffed back in by Su Chen.

    Su Chen pointed his finger at Prince You, whose face contorted into a pained expression.

    Su Chen said shadily, ¡°You won¡¯t have a second chance. I¡¯ll ask you one more time. What is your name?¡±

    As he spoke, he released his grip. Prince You replied, trembling, ¡°My name is You...... You Tian......li.¡±

    At the very least, he hadn¡¯t lied about his surname, meaning that this name was most likely the truth.

    Su Chen picked up You Tianli and walked back towards where he hade from as he said to Shi Mingfeng, ¡°Meet me at the entrance.

    Everyone hurried over.

    Su Chen quickly teleported past the open grounds, skirted past the Blue Sentinel Lights, and leapt over the wall. Then, he pulled out a vial of medicine and forced it down You Tianli¡¯s throat, then began to choke You Tianli. ¡°Do as I say. Imagine that you¡¯re a snake. Control the Origin Energy in your body and elongate your body......¡±

    ¡°Snake......¡± You Tianli¡¯s eyes rolled into the back of his head.

    ¡°Hurry...... only by bing a snake will you avoid being choked to death by me,¡± Su Chen said darkly.

    You Tianli¡¯s body began to slowly elongate.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t even wait for him to finish turning into a snake before shoving him through the small hole.

    At this moment, Shi Mingfeng had already arrived. When he saw that Su Chen hadn¡¯te over but was shoving a fatty out through the hole, he asked in shock, ¡°What are you doing!?¡±

    ¡°Watch over him for me. I¡¯m going to go save him and our n at the same time.¡±

    ¡°The n¡¯s already failed!¡±

    ¡°No, not yet! It¡¯s not time to give up yet,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°I¡¯m going to assume this guy¡¯s identity, save He Xu, andplete our mission in the meanwhile. Help me interrogate him and figure out everything that he knows, then let me know.¡±

    He jumped back up over the wall and disappeared.

    West Laina Castle¡¯s walls, which were deemed impregnable, had been exploited by Su Chen and He Xu four times in one night.

    When they saw Su Chen disappear again into West Laina Castle, everyone was stunned.

    ¡°Is that guy crazy?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s definitely crazy.¡±

    ¡°The question is, what should we do?¡±

    Everyone turned to look at Shi Mingfeng.

    Shi Mingfeng nced at the spot where Su Chen had disappeared before gritting his teeth and saying, ¡°Let¡¯s leave for now and wait for his next signal.¡±

    He turned around and walked down the slope.

    The people within the castle had already begun to pour out of the castle, searching the surroundings.

    Kong Cheng said angrily, ¡°The n has already failed. Are you all waiting around to die? If it were up to me, I would leave immediately!¡±

    Night Demon yelled, ¡°If you want to go then go, but one of our people is still in there, and Su Chen is still in there. I¡¯m not going to leave.¡±

    ¡°Do you want to die along with that idiot?¡± Kong Cheng¡¯s eyes were red with anger.

    ¡°Perhaps,¡± Shi Mingfeng replied. ¡°Perhaps we are all crazy. But without craziness, how can you produce a miracle? Prince Kong, if you want to leave I will not try and stop you. It makes no difference to us whether you are here or not.¡±

    When Kong Cheng heard this, he froze. He didn¡¯t know what to do for quite some time.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    After returning the castle again, Su Chen took a deep breath before walking into the main hall.

    The main hall was already under lockdown. Every person there was being interrogated.

    However, Su Chen was treated quite well because he wasn¡¯t a Sand Race individual but rather someone belonging to the Zhu n.

    Since Zhu Xianyao had run all the way over to the Sand Race¡¯s territory, she must have brought more people with her than just Zhu Baiyu. However, the others didn¡¯t have the authority to attend the negotiations.

    These people were also within the main hall right now. When they saw Su Chene over, one of the Zhu n¡¯s members said, ¡°Tianyang, where did you go?¡±

    Tianyang?

    You Tianyang?

    You damned fatty, where¡¯d you get the balls to lie to me like that?

    Su Chen covered his mouth and said, ¡°Torture him a bit more, then ask him who the people I¡¯m facing are.¡±

    At the same time, he walked forward and said, ¡°I was looking for things to eat.¡±

    The main reason he had talked with that fatty earlier was because he needed to figure out what his voice sounded like.

    Su Chen¡¯s imitation was quite urate.

    ¡°Some people infiltrated into the castle, so it¡¯s a bit chaotic right now. Don¡¯t go wandering around,¡± that person said.

    ¡°He is Zhao Jingwen, the captain of Zhu Xianyao¡¯s guards. The person with Zhu Xianyao is called Zhu Baiyu, the Zhu n¡¯s Sixth Pir.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng was interrogating You Tianyang as they hurried away. The little fatty couldn¡¯t withstand it and could only introduce the guards one after another.

    ¡°Then what is his own identity?¡± Su Chen continued pretending to look for food as he lowered his head, hiding himself amongst all that chaos.

    ¡°Zhu Xianyao¡¯s cousin, and her fiance.¡±

    ¡°Pfff!¡± Su Chen almost spat out what he was eating. ¡°Fiance?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what he said.¡±

    ¡°Confirm that for me.¡±

    An instantter, Shi Mingfeng¡¯s voice came over. ¡°It¡¯s confirmed; he really is. He is from the Pig Dragon You n.¡±

    ¡°Pig Dragon? The Large-Bellied Pig Dragon?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the Large-Bellied Pig Dragon.¡±

    Su Chen was stunned. ¡°Another Demonic Emperor Bloodline? So why was that guy so weak? I knocked him out instantly.¡±

    ¡°Let me ask him real quick,¡± Shi Mingfeng replied. An instantter, Su Chen heard You Tianyang¡¯s pained cries despite themotion.

    Shi Mingfeng replied shortly after, ¡°Because his bloodline hasn¡¯t awakened yet. The Large-Bellied Pig Dragon is not like other bloodlines; their bloodlines awaken muchter and are stimted by long periods of eating. Before then, their foundation doesn¡¯t change at all. As such, he didn¡¯t really cultivate much and only focused on eating and sleeping. Only when his bloodline awakens would his cultivation period have begun.

    ¡°It seems like my luck is pretty good,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Why is Zhu Xianyao engaged to this gluttonous fool?¡±

    ¡°The Zhu n and You n are good friends. When the Large-Bellied Pig Dragon and the Slyheart Enchanting Fox bloodlines arebined, there is a chance of forming an even stronger bloodline variant. Even though it can¡¯t be passed on, it is incredibly powerful, and that person¡¯sbat prowess won¡¯t be any lower than that of the Imperial Family. Not too manybinations like this exist; the Zhu and You ns are two such examples.¡±

    ¡°Then does Zhu Xianyao like this fiance of hers?¡±

    ¡°Obviously not. You won¡¯t have any opportunities to take advantage of her, Su Chen,¡± Shi Mingfeng chuckled.

    Su Chen, however, let out a long sigh of relief. ¡°That¡¯s good news. I won¡¯t need to get close to that woman.¡±

    He had just finished speaking when Zhao Jingwen walked over. ¡°Prince You, Young Miss has asked to speak with you.¡±

    ......

    Su Chen could only helplessly follow after Zhao Jingwen.

    Because Zhao Jingwen was right next to him, he couldn¡¯t say much to Shi Mingfeng. Thankfully, Shi Mingfeng understood what was going on and had already begun to interrogate You Tianyang for more information.

    He followed Zhao Jingwen to a side room. Zhu Xianyao was in that room, but Zhu Baiyu wasn¡¯t, and neither was Pall.

    Su Chen sighed in relief when he saw that. The person he was afraid of the most at this moment was the Sand Race individual who had seen through He Xu¡¯s disguise. He obviously had very powerful investigative abilities and could see through all kinds of concealment and disguising techniques. Apart from him, Su Chen was also afraid of Zhu Baiyu, a Light Shaking Realm existence.

    Even though Light Shaking Realm cultivators might not have the right Origin Skills to see through Su Chen¡¯s disguise, they were still incredibly perceptive. Even if they weren¡¯t able to unmask him directly, they could sense even minute differences in aura, walking pattern, speech, Origin Energy fluctuation, habits, etc. and quickly determine that something was wrong.

    Their ability to observe their surroundings was extremely keen and precise. Wanting to trick them wouldn¡¯t be an easy matter, so Su Chen needed to be very careful.

    He arrived at the room and said, ¡°Yaoyao, were you looking for me?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t even turn around. ¡°Call me Yaoyao one more time and I¡¯ll rip out your tongue.¡±

    Very good, at least he hadn¡¯t called out the wrong name.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 12: Interrogation 1

    Chapter 12: Interrogation (1)

    Compared to back then, Zhu Xianyao¡¯s appearance hadn¡¯t changed much. She was still a pure beauty, but her temperament had changed drastically.

    The Zhu Xianyao back then was extremely attractive and lovable, making it so that anyone who saw her would want to embrace her.

    The current Zhu Xianyao¡¯s aura had taken aplete 180.

    He hadn¡¯t noticed when he was far away, but now that he was close it was obvious.

    Even though Zhu Xianyao was still elegant, she was no longer mild. Even though she was beautiful, she was no longer charming. Even though she was still full of life, she had lost her purity.

    She was like a flower that had endured a snowstorm, transforming from a lily into a snowy rose.

    Her eyebrows were cold, her face was cold, and even her gaze was cold.

    This made Su Chen feel quite a bit of shock.

    He was deeply aware that Zhu Xianyao¡¯s former attitude wasn¡¯t because she was born that way but because it had been the result of constant training after her birth. After all, women with the Slyheart Fox Bloodline needed to be charming in order to confuse their targets.

    But what was with this current Zhu Xianyao?

    This kind of noble, cool attitude wasn¡¯t meant to charm people into getting closer but to keep them thousands of kilometers away.

    And this kind of attitude and aura obviously wasn¡¯t something that had surfaced overnight but was a habit developed over a long period of time. Only then would she possess such a majestic presence.

    Su Chen refocused himself and lowered his head as he said, ¡°Just tell me what you called me here for.¡±

    This voice was very nasally and asinine, but it was in line with how You Tianyang usually behaved in front of Zhu Xianyao.

    ¡°Some humans tried to infiltrate earlier, but they didn¡¯t belong to us. Let me ask you, did you tell anyone else about what we are here to do?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked coldly.

    Su Chen froze. Zhu Xianyao thought that this was all because You Tianyang couldn¡¯t keep his mouth shut and had told someone else?

    But when he thought about it, it wasn¡¯t too surprising. They hade all this way to discuss things with the Sand Race, so how could other humans infiltrate for no reason? Nothing had happened in West Laina Castle for many years, so why were there people trying to get into the castle just as Zhu Xianyao and the others had decided toe and visit?

    Was this a coincidence? Or was this a scheme of hers?

    It would have been strange if Zhu Xianyao wasn¡¯t suspicious.

    In reality, it wasn¡¯t just Zhu Xianyao who was suspicious. Even Pall had realized this point, but he hadn¡¯t immediately acted was all. Perhaps he was waiting for Zhu Xianyao to give him an exnation.

    Upon realizing this, Su Chen¡¯s heart seized. He said haltingly, ¡°This......¡±

    He purposefully hesitated and didn¡¯t speak. Zhu Xianyao said, ¡°You told Zhu Xianling, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know who this Zhu Xianling was, but he still seized the opportunity and nodded his head.

    ¡°You piece of trash! Didn¡¯t I tell you not to let het her know?¡± Zhu Xianyao yelled in anger.

    Su Chen rubbed the back of his head. ¡°I......¡±

    He was still dilly-dallying when an old man to the side spoke up. ¡°Young Miss, you know that Prince Tianyang¡¯s bloodline has yet to awaken. With Second Young Miss¡¯s techniques, it¡¯s very hard for him to endure.¡±

    ¡°Even if he couldn¡¯t endure, he should have at least told me earlier so that I could prepare myself! Now what can we do? Our negotiations were going fine, but people suddenly tried to infiltrate the castle. Does she want to try and mess up my n with chaos? Or does she want to try and assassinate Pall in order to frame me?¡± Zhu Xianyao said angrily.

    Su Chen had never seen Zhu Xianyao speak in such an angry manner.

    Perhaps the Zhu Xianyao he had seen before was someone living as a disguise and was never real. The current Zhu Xianyao seemed a bit more genuine to him somehow.

    She was made of flesh and blood and had quite the temper, and even a bit of a tomboyish attitude.

    This tomboyish attitude was obviously a turn-off to most men, so Zhu Xianyao never disyed it openly. It wasn¡¯t until now that Su Chen saw this side of her.

    Su Chen thought for a moment. Suddenly, a thought came to him as he said, ¡°Their leader wasn¡¯t angry and didn¡¯t turn on us. No matter what the spies¡¯ goals were, you could say that they failed in their mission this time. I think that what we should do now is interrogate the criminal and figure out what his target was, as well as what their next steps are.

    He said this clearly and sinctly, giving even Zhu Xianyao a bit of surprise. ¡°You¡¯ve finally said something sensible for once.¡±

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t worried that Zhu Xianyao would suspect him because of what he had said.

    Even though You Tianyang looked like he was an idiot, his outward appearance didn¡¯t necessarily match up with his real situation. You Tianyang had tried to lie to Su Chen even after he had fallen into Su Chen¡¯s hands, showing that he wasn¡¯t aplete idiot.

    More importantly, people had many different characteristics and were often hard to understand. It might be possible to assign them certain stereotypes, but reducing them to a base set of rules was impossible.

    As such, no matter how much Su Chen¡¯s words didn¡¯t seem like they could evere out of You Tianyang¡¯s mouth, Zhu Xianyao wouldn¡¯t suspect him ¡ª you wouldn¡¯t suspect a normally stupid friend of being someone else just because they said something smart from time to time unless it started to happen constantly and their entire personality had changed. However, this method of discovery throughparison required a lot of time.

    Su Chen needed to openly talk about interrogating He Xu in order to get into contact him without being suspected.

    ¡°Young Miss, Leader Pall might not allow us to interrogate him,¡± the old man said.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. I¡¯ll talk things over with Pall; I need to make sure that this guy didn¡¯te here to target us,¡± Zhu Xianyao said as she turned around and left.

    Not long afterwards, Zhu Xianyao returned, her expression tired. ¡°He agreed.¡±

    Pall wasn¡¯t an idiot. The Zhu n hade with a request and had no reason to scheme against him under these kinds of circumstances. In addition, if they wanted to assassinate Pall, they wouldn¡¯t have sent a Yang Opening Realm cultivator. As such, he epted what Zhu Xianyao had said and believed that it was likely the Zhu n¡¯s opponents were purposefully making trouble. Of course, he didn¡¯t just ept that reasoning for nothing; he had harshly extorted Zhu Xianyao again, causing her to go pale with anger.

    ¡°It¡¯s all because of that damned bastard, costing me an additional hundred thousand Origin Stones. This guy won¡¯t ept any payments in installments and just wants a one-time reward. He has no long-term insight whatsoever,¡± Zhu Xianyao cursed angrily.

    ¡°He¡¯s just been tricked one too many times. Even the dumbest person will start to be cautious when they¡¯ve been lied to enough, and he¡¯s not nearly that stupid,¡± Zhu Baiyuughed as he walked into the room, carrying He Xu over his shoulder.

    Upon seeing Zhu Baiyu arrive, Su Chen lowered his head silently.

    ¡°Sixth Uncle!¡± Zhu Xianyao said in a low voice, obviously agitated.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Zhu Baiyu replied. ¡°Those Sand Race individuals aren¡¯t there anymore, so feel free to speak.¡±

    Upon hearing this, Su Chen felt his heart jolt.

    So Zhu Xianyao and the others actually did have other goals in mind ining here? Establishing a foothold in Long Sang Country to fight with the Immortal Temple was all a lie?

    Zhu Baiyu set He Xu down, then returned and sat next to Zhu Xianyao, preparing to start the interrogation. The others stood behind them.

    Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t like You Tianyang, but Zhu Baiyu didn¡¯t seem to have any issues with him. He said quite gently, ¡°Tianyang, you can have a seat too. Why are you standing there like you¡¯re a servant?¡±

    Su Chen lowered his head and replied, ¡°Tianyang messed up and told Second Young Miss that we wereing here, causing this matter to ur. That¡¯s why Tianyang doesn¡¯t dare sit.¡±

    Zhu Baouiughed. ¡°I already know about this matter; it¡¯s not entirely your fault. Don¡¯t worry, have a seat.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Su Chen pretended to sit down clumsily. In a moment of inattention, an item fell out from his clothes, rolling forward until it came to a stop at He Xu¡¯s feet.

    When he saw that item, He Xu¡¯s eyes lit up.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 13: Interrogation 2

    Chapter 13: Interrogation (2)

    Under He Xu¡¯s feet was a glowing violet bead.

    When Su Chen saw that he had dropped it, he hurriedly ran over to pick it up, then turned around and bowed to Zhu Xianyao as he said, ¡°My apologies, I dropped something.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao rolled her eyes. ¡°What are you doing carrying around women¡¯s jewelry? Sit back down!¡±

    Zhu Baiyuughed, ¡°He probably bought it for you, but with your fierce attitude he didn¡¯t dare give it to you.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao harrumphed. ¡°I hate that useless attitude of his the most.¡±

    Zhu Baiyu sighed. ¡°He wasn¡¯t like this originally, but every time he sees you he¡¯s like a mouse in front of a cat. It means that he really does like you, which is why he¡¯s always nervous around you and can¡¯t act like himself.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao turned her head away in scorn. ¡°I wish he would defeat and subdue me like a real man rather than follow me around all the time like a puppy because of his parents¡¯ orders.¡±

    ¡°If you put it that way, then the person you really like should be Su Chen,¡± Zhu Baiyu said.

    Upon hearing his own name in the conversation, Su Chen felt his heart skip a beat, but he continued to act nonchnt as he sat down.

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Sixth Uncle, even if I respect you and call you my Uncle, you cannot humiliate me like this! The humiliation Su Chen inflicted on me is something I will never forget! And even if I do forget it...... I will re-remember it!¡±

    When Su Chen heard this, he was shocked.

    Hadn¡¯t he taken care of those things? Why did Zhu Xianyao still hate him so much?

    Where had he made a mistake?

    While he was still contemting this, Zhu Xianyao said to He Xu, ¡°Tell me. Who sent you here?¡±

    He Xu nced at Zhu Xianyao and the others, then lowered his head and said, ¡°It..... it was Second Young Miss Zhu.¡±

    ¡°I knew it was her! That damned woman never has any good intentions!¡± Zhu Xianyao said as she mmed the table.

    ¡°Why did she send you over here?¡± Zhu Baiyu said.

    ¡°This......¡± He Xu opened and closed his mouth a few times as he turned to look at Su Chen.

    Brother, just how am I supposed to respond to that question?

    Yes, after seeing the Purple Stained ss Bead, He Xu knew that the fatty in front of him was most likely Su Chen.

    He was shocked at Su Chen¡¯s courage, that Su Chen had the guts not to run even under these circumstances. A trace of hope had also surfaced in He Xu¡¯s heart.

    Because of what Su Chen said earlier, He Xu had followed up to say that he had been sent here by some Second Young Miss, but he didn¡¯t know what to say after that.

    A sudden bang sounded out in the room. Everyone turned their heads to look at the source of the sound and saw that the Violet Stained ss Bead in his hand had shattered.

    As if he was nervous under everyone¡¯s gazes, Su Chen rubbed his neck and stammered, ¡°Ruined...... ruined...... I ruined it.......¡±

    Zhu Xianyao rolled her eyes unhappily.

    He Xu was immediately enlightened. ¡°Ruin...... ruin...... your......¡±

    ¡°Ruin your ns?¡± Zhu Baiyu frowned, unable to endure the slow pace at which he was speaking.

    ¡°Yes, yes!¡± He Xu said repeatedly.

    At this point in time, he was already clear that Su Chen¡¯s n was to get them to believe that He Xu had been sent here by some Second Young Miss. All he could do now was try and cooperate with Su Chen to the best of his ability.

    When he realized this, He Xu knew how to respond once Zhu Xianyao asked him more about the detailed n.

    ¡°Second Young Miss told me to infiltrate the castle and search for an opportunity to create chaos, all in order to ruin your negotiations. The best oue would be assassinating Pall and then pinning the me on you.¡±

    Su Chen began to thumb at his chin.

    He Xu knew that Su Chen was telling him that he had done a great job.

    His mental state became much calmer, and his lies also flowed much more fluently. ¡°I was just acting under her orders.¡±

    ¡°Apart from you, did they send other people in?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked.

    Su Chen nodded his head slightly.

    He Xu understood his intentions and said hurriedly, ¡°Yes, a few others came with me. We originally said that we would move together, but I was greedy and came in on my own. Don¡¯t kill me! If theye again, I can help you find them!¡±

    Su Chen began rubbing his thumb against his face.

    That lie was too beautiful, and it was told wlessly.

    Unexpectedly, Zhu Xianyao frowned and said, ¡°No, that¡¯s not right. He¡¯s lying!¡±

    Su Chen and He Xu were both taken aback.

    Zhu Xianyao stared intently at He Xu. ¡°My Slyheart Bloodline is the best at manipting minds and is extremely sensitive to changes in a person¡¯s state of mind. You dared to lie to me and thought you thought you could get away with it? Tell me, who are you exactly? What is your goal ining here?¡±

    Su Chen cursed silently. How had he overlooked this point?

    Anyone who was proficient in manipting consciousnesses had a certain ability to determine if someone was lying. However, this investigative ability only worked on people whose consciousness power was low. Zhu Xianyao wouldn¡¯t be able to tell if someone like Su Chen, who possessed a powerful consciousness, was telling the truth or lying. However, He Xu obviously didn¡¯t have this ability, and he was instantly exposed by Zhu Xianyao.

    Su Chen withdrew his thumb and clenched his fist. Whether or not He Xu could understand his intentions depended on his perceptive abilities.

    A momentter, He Xu said, ¡°That¡¯s the truth, whether you like it or not!¡±

    Yes, that was Su Chen¡¯s goal.

    Don¡¯t admit it even if you are beaten to death.

    Since they couldn¡¯t get away with lying, he could only grit his teeth and hold on. He could not divulge their goal ining here no matter what.

    A trace of anger shed across Zhu Xianyao¡¯s eyes. ¡°You¡¯re only making things harder for yourself! Jingwen!¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡± Zhao Jingwen stepped forwards and ced his finger on He Xu¡¯s body.

    This finger jab caused He Xu¡¯s entire body to start spasming. He arched his body, obviously in tremendous pain, and it seemed as if his eyes were about to bulge out of their sockets.

    An instantter, Zhao Jingwen withdrew his finger.

    Zhu Xianyao said, ¡°Tell me! Who are you, and what is your goal?¡±

    He Xu looked up at the sky and began tough.

    ¡°Jingwen!¡± Zhu Xianyao said harshly.

    The finger descended again.

    This continued a few more times. He Xu was tormented to within an inch of his life, but he continued to grit his teeth and remain silent.

    When Zhu Xianyao had been studying with Su Chen, he had obtained a rough understanding of the Zhu n¡¯s Origin Skills, and he was very clear about the power of the Zhu n¡¯s Consciousness-Scouring Finger.

    The kind of torment brought about by this skill was enough to make people wish they were dead.

    The only reason that He Xu was still holding on even now, in addition to his innately strong will, was because he still had hope.

    It was this hope that allowed him to hold on.

    But if things continued like this, perhaps he would begin to feel like living was much worse than dying. That would be the moment that he would give up.

    When he realized this, Su Chen suddenly stood up and began to yell, ¡°Yaoyao! I love you!¡±

    Everyone suddenly felt as if they were about to faint.

    Zhu Xianyao stared at Su Chen in shock. ¡°You Tianyang, what are you doing?¡±

    ¡°No matter what you think of me, I will always love you, and only you! I won¡¯t be polite to anyone who harms you no matter who they are. I want you to see that I am also a man. I have enough courage to do anything for you!¡±

    As he spoke, he strode over to He Xu, grabbed him, and began to yell, ¡°Regardless of who you are, if you dare harm my Yaoyao, I won¡¯t let you get away with it!¡±

    As he spoke, he clenched his fists and began to beat He Xu violently.

    Everyone else was dumbfounded by what Su Chen was doing, and no one stepped forwards to stop him.

    Su Chen was really putting a lot of force behind his blows. And since He Xu had beenpletely tied up and had no way of defending himself, the barrage of blowsnding on his face caused blood to fly everywhere.

    To He Xu, however, the pain of this physical beating was much less than the pain brought about by the Consciousness-Scouring Finger.

    At the same time, Su Chen was still furiously attacking his head, knocking him dizzy.

    He Xu felt his vision go blurry.

    Even as his gaze grew dim, Su Chen¡¯s eyes remained in focus. A strange light flickered across Su Chen¡¯s eyes, and He Xu¡¯s consciousness was drawn in by that strange light until he fell into it......

    Then, he said, ¡°The person Second Young Miss sent me to assassinate wasn¡¯t Pall. It was you.¡±

    Bang!

    Su Chen¡¯s fistnded on his head, knocking him outpletely.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 14: Plan 1

    Chapter 14: n (1)

    Zhu Xianyao stood at the window and gazed off into the distance. For some reason, she felt like her whole body was drained of energy.

    Su Chen stood right behind her, not daring to speak.

    At this moment, they were in Zhu Xianyao¡¯s chambers. More specifically, they were in the chambers that Pall had prepared for Zhu Xianyao.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know why Zhu Xianyao had suddenly called him over. He could only stand in the corner, mute and apprehensive. Right now, his cowardice was his greatest source of protection.

    A momentter, Zhu Xianyao slowly said, ¡°When Xianling and I were young, we were good friends. Back then, we would often go together to catch fish in the river and climb trees searching for bird nests like wild little boys. Xianling¡¯s temperament was very gentle back then. Whenever she got into an argument with someone, she would stand off to the side and cry, and I would always stick up for her. I remember one time she was being bullied by one of Second Uncle¡¯s boys. I walked over there and gave that bastard a beating, then dragged him over to apologize to her. At that point in time, Xianling said that having me as an older sister was the luckiest thing that had ever happened to her.

    Su Chen lowered his head and didn¡¯t say anything.

    Evidently, He Xu¡¯s lie had triggered a certain state of mind in which she had fully immersed herself.

    This kind of mood needed to be vented before it could be lifted. Put inly, she just needed an audience.

    But he didn¡¯t know why she had chosen him.

    Zhu Xianyao continued, ¡°But I don¡¯t know when Xianling stopped thinking about us this way. She grew to hate this older sister of hers because she felt like my existence was stopping her from inheriting the position of the Zhu n¡¯s n Patriarch. She felt like she was better than me in all these different aspects except for age, so she wasn¡¯t satisfied with the situation. Eventually, she and I couldn¡¯t see eye-to-eye. And I was so headstrong at the time, always ordering her to do this and that because of my seniority, forcing her to listen to me...... Her unhappiness with me is also probably due to my stubbornness at the time.¡±

    When she got to this point, Zhu Xianyao¡¯s voice was already very heavy. ¡°The battle at the Hidden Dragon Institute was the greatest loss I have ever suffered in my whole life. Uncle Eleven died, and I even lost my memories of that period of time. I was even fed a bunch of lies by a bunch of people. My n was then even involved in a conflict between the six Bloodline Nobility ns and the Immortal Temple.¡±

    When he heard this, Su Chen felt his heart start pounding.

    She knew about it?

    Zhu Xianyao continued, ¡°Xianling felt like her time hade. She tried to pull influence from anywhere she could, all in an attempt to ruin my status as the sessor. However, she was still a bit too hasty, and I gave her quite the lesson. Do you think what I did was right?¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know what kind of punishment she had given her. He could only nod his head and say, ¡°However you punished her, you were right.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t feel any happiness though. She sighed, ¡°I knew you would say that. Tianyang, you¡¯re a good person. Even though your appearance is not spectacr and you are veryzy, that¡¯s not your fault......¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s forehead was drenched in sweat. He thought to himself, ¡®You Tianyang, you¡¯ve done quite a good job for yourself! Not only did you earn yourself the evaluation of not having a spectacr appearance and being veryzy, she even said that it wasn¡¯t your fault!¡¯

    ¡°I know now that I was a bit too much that time. Perhaps it was because I had a bellyful of rage and Xianling¡¯s challenge finally gave me a chance to let it out...... I shouldn¡¯t have humiliated her like that.¡± Zhu Xianyao shook her head repeatedly. ¡°Actually, I regret it a lot now. I apologized afterwards, but I know that she didn¡¯t ept it. She is so proud and arrogant; how could she resign herself to a fate of losing to me? I knew that she would try and do something. I just didn¡¯t expect that....... I didn¡¯t expect that she would do something this vicious.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s tone only grew more depressed, and her countenance was heavy.

    Yes, assassination and fighting for a position were different. The former indicated that all bets were off. Even when Su Chen and Su Keji had fought with each other in the past, they had never reached the point of trying to assassinate each other.

    One could only say that this lie had dealt Zhu Xianyao quite the blow.

    After thinking for a while longer, Zhu Xianyao then said, ¡°Forget about it, there¡¯s no point in talking with you about these things. I¡¯m very thankful for what you said today, and I¡¯m very thankful for everything you¡¯ve done for me. However, Tianyang, we are not people that belong to the same realm. If you¡¯re smart, after we return, you should nullify the engagement...... We can still be good friends.¡±

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then said, ¡°I want an opportunity.¡±

    ¡°Opportunity?¡± Zhu Xianyao was stunned.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Su Chen nodded. ¡°An opportunity to prove myself. If you haven¡¯t fallen for me by the end of this mission, I will return home and nullify the engagement. But before then, will you give me another opportunity to prove myself?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao stared at Su Chen in surprise. ¡°You seem a bit different today.¡±

    Su Chen straightened up and purposefully began to stammer, ¡°People...... will...... change...... If Zhu Xianyao could change, I...... I can too. I want to...... be a real man...... not like I was before.¡±

    This was the method Su Chen had thought of to deal with Zhu Xianyao. This way, he could acknowledge her dissatisfaction with him in the past and demonstrate that he was willing to put in effort and try to be more outstanding.

    This way, even if Zhu Xianyao discovered that You Tianyang was different from before, she would think that it was because You Tianyang was trying to change himself and sessfully grow up. At the very least, she wouldn¡¯t suspect him as quick.

    She nced at Su Chen for a long moment, thenughed. ¡°You really are quite courageous. Yes, people can change. Xianling changed, I can change, and you can change as well. We will all change, but perhaps not for the better.¡±

    Su Chen tactfully remained silent.

    Zhu Xianyao thought for a moment, in somewhat of a daze, then sighed and said, ¡°Alright, I promise you, Tianyang. However, don¡¯t get your hopes up too much. It seems to me that no matter how much you change, I will not develop feelings for you. Even so, I hope that you can show me a better side of yourself.¡±

    Su Chen ¡°blushed¡± and said, ¡°You will definitely fall in love with me.¡±

    As he spoke, he turned around and left.

    When she saw him act like that, Zhu Xianyao burst intoughter.

    Of course, she didn¡¯t know that their conversation had been monitored by Shi Mingfeng.

    In a small room in Castle Garrison, Shi Mingfeng nced at the mirror and then said with a chuckle, ¡°It seems like our Prince Su is currently doing his best to try and win the heart of that beauty for you.¡±

    He turned and looked at You Tianyang, who was tied up in the corner. You Tianyang looked back at him, his expression filled with fear.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    West Laina Castle¡¯s dungeon.

    He Xu sat in the prison, staring idly at the ceiling. His face was beaten so badly that he was unrecognizable, and the bridge of his nose had been broken by Su Chen. However, his consciousness was still intact.

    The faint sound of footsteps echoed throughout the dungeon¡¯s hallways.

    Su Chen walked in from outside. At his sides were a Sand Race guard and a Zhu n guard.

    He came to a stop in front of the prison door and looked at He Xu. He Xu felt his vision go blurry before he reappeared in a flower garden. All around him were flowers in bloom and birds in song.

    ¡°This is......¡±

    ¡°My illusion realm. You¡¯ve been here before, remember?¡± Su Chen replied with a slight smile. Here, Su Chen had returned to his original appearance.

    He Xu understood. ¡°This illusion realm was created by you?¡±

    ¡°Yes. It was originally used to trap opponents, but I never expected that I could use it for secretmunications.¡±

    ¡°The two guards beside you won¡¯t notice this?¡±

    ¡°As long as it¡¯s not for too long.¡±

    ¡°Then let¡¯s keep it short and sweet. What other ns do you have?¡±

    ¡°I want you to tell me first where you hid the Origin Ring......¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 15: Plan 2

    Chapter 15: n (2)

    There was a room on the eastern side of West Laina Castle. It was quite spacious, and the interior was rtively organized and tidy.

    That was Su Chen¡¯s room.

    He was there now, standing at the window and gazing outside as if he were deep in thought. But in reality, he was listening to Shi Mingfeng¡¯s words.

    ¡°Okay, that is all the material we have on You Tianyang and the Zhu n. Unfortunately, You Tianyang doesn¡¯t know what their true motives are ining here either. Zhu Xianyao really was quite cautious. Su Chen, what are you nning on doing next?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°First, we¡¯ll need to limit our contact. The chances of us being discovered are too high with Light Shaking Realm cultivators around. From now on, we¡¯ll contact each other once a day early in the morning as people are the least alert during that period of time. If I don¡¯te looking for you, then don¡¯t try and find me. I also need to think of a way to protect He Xu. If I want to prevent them from killing him, I need to make his life more valuable. Old Shi, I need you to make some movements outside so that Zhu Xianyao believes that her younger sister did in fact send multiple people to assassinate her.¡±

    ¡°Is it worth making such a hassle for a single person?¡±

    ¡°Does the Immortal Temple not value the lives of their own people?¡±

    Shi Mingfengughed, ¡°No, we¡¯re just used to failure being equivalent to death.¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m not used to it yet, and neither have I failed yet.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng fell silent for a moment before saying, ¡°Okay, so now what?¡±

    ¡°Now we wait.¡±

    ¡°Wait? Wait for what?¡±

    ¡°Wait for Pall to leave.¡±

    When would Pall leave? Of course it would be after business negotiations had concluded.

    Two dayster.

    Within one of the guest rooms on the castle¡¯s second floor, Pall and Zhu Xianyao were still locked in fierce negotiations with one another.

    ¡°Ten million Origin Stones! You need to pay at least ten million Origin Stones. All other conditions are only meaningful if they¡¯re built upon this foundation,¡± Pall said as he patted hisrge stomach.

    Opposite him were Zhu Xianyao, Zhu Baiyu, and Su Chen.

    After three days of negotiations, all conditions besides one had basically been settled. The only thing that hadn¡¯t been set yet was the down payment.

    Zhu Xianyao and Zhu Baiyu nced at each other before Zhu Xianyao finally said, ¡°We can agree to that condition. However, we don¡¯t have that much on us, so we can only ask the n to deliver it. This will take about a month.¡±

    ¡°No problem,¡± Pall nodded and agreed. No matter how short sighted he was, he was patient enough to at least wait for a year.

    ¡°Alright then. We hope that during this period of time we can continue to stay in this castle. This ce is remote and rtively deste, so it seems that we can only stay here anyways.¡±

    ¡°As long as our deal is on, you can stay here for as long as you like.¡± Pall didn¡¯t seem to mind at all.

    As he spoke, he motioned with his hand. A Sand Race servant approached Pall and knelt before him.

    Pall then said, ¡°This man is the captain of the castle¡¯s guards, Culler. I cannot remain here for too long, since the territory I own has too many matters that I need to attend to. Your safety here will be overseen by Culler. Culler, help me take care of these esteemed guests.¡±

    That Sand Race individual lowered his head. ¡°As you wish, esteemed Leader.¡±

    Su Chen, however, felt his heart tremble slightly as a strange feeling surfaced.

    The same day that their negotiations concluded, Pall led his subordinates and returned to Ali Pce. West Laina Castle returned to its former peacefulness, but with a few additional human guests from a different country.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    That night, Su Chen was resting in his own room when he suddenly heard a knocking sound from his door.

    It was Zhao Jingwen.

    ¡°Young Miss has requested your presence,¡± he said.

    This time, Zhu Xianyao met with Su Chen in her own chambers, but Su Chen wasn¡¯t alone with her this time. Zhu Baiyu, Chief Steward Zhu Jiu, and Zhao Jingwen were all there, along with another group of people. They were all Zhu Xianyao¡¯s direct subordinates.

    ¡°Sixth Uncle.¡± Zhu Xianyao first nced at Zhu Baiyu,

    Zhu Baiyu nodded. ¡°We searched the ce already. There aren¡¯t any Origin Tools here that can eavesdrop on us.¡±

    ¡°Check everybody¡¯s body too,¡± Zhu Xianyao suddenly said.

    Su Chen felt his heart jump.

    Was this prudent caution? Or were they suspicious of something?

    Zhu Baiyu walked over and began to search each one of them.

    Thankfully, Su Chen had been somewhat prepared for this and hadn¡¯t brought any transmission Origin Tools with him, allowing him to pass the test uneventfully.

    After confirming that everything was safe, Zhu Xianyao continued, ¡°Because Pall insists on us handing over ten million Origin Stones, we can only rely on this dying tactic. In other words, from this point onwards we only have a month toplete our n.¡±

    So they did have other intentions after all! They had never nned on handing over a single Origin Stone from the very beginning.

    This was all a ploy!

    Once he heard Zhu Xianyao¡¯s words, Su Chen could finally confirm this point.

    Zhao Jingwen said, ¡°A month is too short. Pall hasn¡¯t discovered the secrets hidden in this castle after all this time, meaning that Kapius¡¯s stashes won¡¯t be easy to find.¡±

    Boom!

    Su Chen felt like an explosion had gone off in his head.

    Kapius!

    So they were also here for Kapius¡¯s secret treasures!?

    Su Chen immediately understood. Undoubtedly, Zhu Xianyao had gotten wind of this matter from the Immortal Temple, which was why she was also here. After all, the Zhu n had been fighting the Immortal Temple for a few years now, and obtaining information and clues unrted directly to the matter at hand while interrogating their captives was an extremelymon urrence.

    Everything else that had urred before this fell into ce.

    Zhu Xianyao and the others hadn¡¯t taken a forceful stance. Instead, they had contacted Pall under the excuse e of purchasing the ckrock Gold Mine. On the surface, it seemed like their goal was to obtain the mine and establish a base of operations here, but they were actually nning on searching the castle. As soon as Pall had agreed to let them stay in this castle, they had also obtained the right to search the castle as they pleased.

    Actually, this was much more reliable than Shi Mingfeng¡¯s n. After all, controlling someone¡¯s state of mind wasn¡¯t invincible. Over prolonged periods, it would eventually be discovered. Zhu Xianyao¡¯s tactics were effective for a long period of time, and the chances of idents urring were also diminished.

    Unfortunately, their luck wasn¡¯t good. Pall just wouldn¡¯t fall for their bait and only gave them a month in the end.

    But why was the Zhu n so interested in Kapius¡¯s secret stashes? Had they caught the Immortal Temple¡¯s disease of wanting to dig up holes everywhere?

    Zhu Xianyao said, ¡°That¡¯s not something we can do anything about. From this day onwards, everyone will need to search diligently. Right, Tianyang.¡±

    ¡°Ah?¡± When he heard Zhu Xianyao call out his name, Su Chen was stunned. This n involved him too?

    Zhu Xianyao sighed, ¡°You kept asking me before this why I brought you here, and now I¡¯m going to tell you very clearly. You know about Kapius, right?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I know a bit......¡± Su Chen replied in a slow tone.

    As expected, Zhu Xianyao had to give Su Chen a quick primer on Kapius. It was obvious that Zhu Xianyao knew quite a bit about him, and some of the information was new even to Su Chen. As such, Su Chen listened with keen, unfeigned interest.

    ¡°Our goal this time is to find the secret stashes that Kapius left behind. You should know by now why we brought you along, right?¡± Zhu Xianyao replied.

    When he heard this, Su Chen abruptly came to his senses.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 16: Searching the Castle 1

    Chapter 16: Searching the Castle (1)

    Every n had their own trump cards and secret techniques.

    Some were possessed since birth, while others were developed through training afterwards.

    Because the Large-Bellied Pig Dragon n had a unique bloodline where most of their members¡¯ bloodlines remained dormant, they were very weak during their early stages.

    The You n understood their own circumstances. Topensate, they chose to develop another skill.

    The skill the You n had selected was Restrictive Origin Formations.

    Every Long n disciple was a Restrictive Origin Formation expert. They didn¡¯t need to cultivate before their bloodlines awakened, but they were forced to study Restrictive Origin Formations. Before their bloodlines awakened, this was the foundation of their existence.

    If Zhu Xianyao wanted to uncover the secret stores, she would definitely need to neutralize all the restrictions in West Laina Castle. This meant that she required a Restrictive Origin Formation expert to support her.

    Since her n had betrothed her to You Tianyang, and that fatty You Tianyang had feelings for her, Zhu Xianyao had naturally selected You Tianyang as her restriction-neutralizing expert.

    You Tianyang didn¡¯t know what Zhu Xianyao had brought him along for. He thought that Zhu Xianyao had brought him along to try and cultivate her feelings for him.

    Zhu Xianyao stared at Su Chen as she spoke.

    Su Chen silently cursed, ¡°I¡¯m finished.¡±

    He wasn¡¯t totally oblivious about Restrictive Origin Formations. He had learned a bit from Jiang Hanfeng and the others when he was in the Goldwater Ruins, giving him some experience with it. But whenpared to someone like You Tianyang, who had been studying this for decades, he was definitely far inferior.

    But now that things had reached this point, Su Chen could only thicken his skin and say, ¡°Alright...... I will do my best to help you find Kapius¡¯s hidden treasures.¡±

    ¡°Then you may go. I¡¯ll get Jingwen to help you.¡±

    ¡°No, not necessary. I alone will be enough. I don¡¯t like other people following me,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Zhu Xianyao was caught a bit off-guard by his decisiveness and felt slightly surprised. It wasn¡¯t that his words were strange. After all, it was normal for him to preserve his n¡¯s secrets as best as possible. However, this firm tone didn¡¯t seem to fit him. Zhu Xianyao nced at him deeply before she said, ¡°You are truly different from how you were before.¡±

    Su Chen followed along with her words and said, ¡°I told you before that I would change.¡±

    He did his best to try and assume a serious, confident expression, but it only made him look moreical. However, it was still possible to sense the determination in his words and actions.

    At that moment, even Zhu Xianyao gave him some encouragement. ¡°I¡¯m starting to believe you a bit.¡±

    After leaving Zhu Xianyao behind, Su Chen returned to his room and pulled out the transmission Origin Tool. ¡°Old Shi.¡±

    ¡°What is it? Didn¡¯t we say that we would only talk in the early mornings? Did something big happen again to make you break your own rule so quickly?¡±

    Su Chen sighed and told Shi Mingfeng everything that he had heard.

    Upon hearing that the Zhu n was here for Kapius¡¯s secret stores, Shi Mingfeng was totally stunned. ¡°How is that possible? How could that news have possibly leaked?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps your people were captured,¡± Su Chen guessed.

    ¡°No, the only people that know about this all are high-ranking officials. I haven¡¯t heard of any high-ranking officials being captured by the Zhu n in recent memory.¡±

    ¡°Then there¡¯s only one other exnation......¡± Su Chen said slowly.

    Without question, someone in the Immortal Temple was secretly feeding the Zhu n information.

    This had nothing to do with Su Chen, so he wasn¡¯t nning on worrying about it too much. All he said was, ¡°Let¡¯s forget about this for now. The highest priority right now is the Restrictive Origin Formation Techniques. Hurry and interrogate You Tianyang. Get everything that you can out of him, as well as which Restrictive Origin Formation neutralizing techniques I¡¯ll need to use while searching the castle.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not a problem, but are you really nning on helping them find the secret stashes?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this a good thing? The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Shi Mingfeng thought for a moment, thenughed. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s true. This way, our n will be much simpler.¡±

    With You Tianyang¡¯s cooperation, the ensuing matters were much easier to deal with.

    Based on what You Tianyang had told him, when searching for something like a hidden stash, the easiest way to go about it was to simply neutralize Restrictive Origin Formations with other Origin Formations.

    Some Origin Formations were specifically designed to neutralize these kinds of concealed Restrictive Origin Formations.

    Shi Mingfeng forced You Tianyang to write down everything he knew about Restrictive Origin Formations. Su Chen then left the castle once under the guise of going out to buy materials to meet with them.

    When he reappeared in front of everyone, they all sighed in awe.

    When Su Chen had forced his way into the castle, many people thought that he wouldn¡¯t leave in one piece. However, his imitation of You Tianyang was shockingly urate, allowing him to leave openly without much suspicion.

    Of course, apart from praising Su Chen for his guts, they also expressed their gratitude for his sense of brotherhood. If not for him, He Xu would have probably been killed already, and their movements and ns would have beenpletely revealed.

    ¡°The people from the Zhu n haven¡¯t started suspecting you yet?¡± Shi Mingfeng asked.

    ¡°It hasn¡¯t been long and they¡¯re very busy right now. They don¡¯t have the time to suspect every little thing. However, it¡¯ll be hard to say long-term,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°What will you do then?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll see when we get there,¡± Su Chen smiled carelessly. ¡°In any case, that super perceptive guard left with Pall, and Zhu Baiyu shouldn¡¯t have any Origin Skills that can see through disguises. Even if they suspect me, they won¡¯t do anything to me until they can figure it out for sure. My current mission is still to find Kapius¡¯s secret stashes as quickly as possible.¡±

    ¡°You Tianyang drew all of the Restrictive Origin Formations here. As for whether there¡¯s anything wrong with them it¡¯s hard for me to say. This guy likes to pretend that he¡¯s stupid, but he is actually quite bright. He should know that we won¡¯t let him get away after this matter is over.¡± Shi Mingfeng handed Su Chen arge stack of paper withplicated inscriptions drawn on them.

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t you let him go?¡± Su Chen countered. ¡°He¡¯s never offended us; we were the ones who imprisoned him. It¡¯s better to let him go if there¡¯s no reason not to.¡±

    ¡°He knows too much about us already.¡±

    ¡°Then wipe out his memories. I can do that for you.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng stared at Su Chen, then said with a slight smile, ¡°You¡¯re a bit more kind-hearted than I expected.¡±

    ¡°I just don¡¯t like killing people for no reason,¡± Su Chen replied. He stared at Shi Mingfeng. ¡°Promise me that you won¡¯t kill him unless you have to.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng nodded in agreement, and Su Chen took the stack of Restrictive Origin Formations back with him to the castle. At that moment, no one noticed the resentful gaze that a little fatty was shooting at them from the corner.

    After returning to West Laina Castle, Su Chen began to construct the Origin Formation. Even though his movements were a bit clumsy, no one was near him and nobody would see.

    The first Restrictive Origin Formation was a detection-type formation. It specifically targeted and searched for other Restrictive Origin Formations.

    There were a ton of Origin Formations in West Laina Castle, but they were all mostly the castle¡¯s defensive formations, which included the barrier surrounding the outer wall, the Blue Sentinel Lights, and more. There were also a few hidden in the corner that they had missed the first time around.

    With this detection-type Restrictive Origin Formation, Su Chen gained a thorough understanding of the defensive capabilities of West Laina Castle.

    Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t find any concealed formations that could be rted to Kapius.

    That wasn¡¯t that strange, though; if Kapius¡¯s hidden stashes were that easy to find, they would have been found a long time ago.

    Since the detection-type Restrictive Origin Formation didn¡¯t give him anything useful, Su Chen switched to another Restrictive Origin Formation.

    This was also a detection-type formation, but it didn¡¯t target Restrictive Origin Formations. Instead, it searched for non-Origin-Energy objects and any hidden mechanisms. Things such as secret doors, tunnels, and even hidden spaces between walls all fell within its detection limit.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 17: Searching the Castle 2

    Chapter 17: Searching the Castle (2)

    The effectiveness of this Restrictive Origin Formation that focused on finding hidden mechanisms was shocking, except the results were anything but.

    Su Chen had searched every corner of the castle. Apart from some foolish Sand Race individuals who had hidden a few Origin Stones behind a brick, he discovered nothing.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t grow frustrated. He continued to construct all kinds of Restrictive Origin Formations to probe the castle.

    There was an Origin Formation that generated Origin Energy ripples and could sense any Origin Energy responses; another Origin Formation could exert gravitational forces to probe into the depths of the ground; yet another Origin Formation could scan and analyze the castle¡¯s construction materials.

    Regardless, all of these Restrictive Origin Formations were totally ineffective.

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t find a single point of suspicion.

    The Origin Formations themselves were fine. Su Chen had already confirmed that for himself while using them, but it was just that this ce really had no hidden secrets. Even if You Tianyang himself were here, he probably wouldn¡¯t be able to discover even a single hair left behind by Kapius.

    Su Chen¡¯s failure threw the Zhu n¡¯s entire n of attack out of whack.

    Everyone grew anxious, apprehensive, and frustrated because of this.

    Even Zhu Xianyao was losing her patience. Every day that passed, her expression would grow a bit uglier.

    ¡°It¡¯s already been seven days, but we have still discovered nothing! I think that we¡¯re just wasting our time!¡± Ba Lieyuan yelled in frustration.

    This eight-foot-tall, muscr man with a bald head just like An Siyuan¡¯s was You Tianyang¡¯s subordinate. Even though he was only in the Yang Opening Realm, his immense physical power gave him the ability to fight against Light Shaking Realm cultivators. Of course, the prerequisite to this was that the Light Shaking Realm cultivator didn¡¯t use speed to dance around him.

    Shi Mingfeng and Su Chen could confirm that You Tianyang¡¯s brain was sharp in part because of this guy. ording to conventional logic, if the master¡¯s brain wasn¡¯t that sharp, then at least one of his subordinates would need to be in order to make up for the master.

    And since Ba Lieyuan was all brawn and no brain, it meant that You Tianyang was definitely not an idiot, although he did have very little courage. This was made clear by the ensuing interrogation.

    It was also because of this that Su Chen was able to pretend to be You Tianyang up until now. Ba Lieyuan, who was closest to him, couldn¡¯t even tell that anything was wrong. All he did was pace in the hallway in frustration day after day.

    Zhu Baiyu said, ¡°Getting frustrated won¡¯t resolve the problem, Lieyuan. What kind of person was Kapius? It¡¯s not really surprising that his secret stashes are hard to find.¡±

    ¡°But those Spirit Race individuals didn¡¯t seem to think so.¡±

    The few Spirit Race individuals that the Immortal Temple had captured were all going for West Laina Castle. Based on the preparations they had made, it seemed like their ns were all very simple, as if they had never even considered the possibility of not being able to find the stashes.

    When he heard Zhu Xianyao say this, a sh of inspiration suddenly hit Su Chen. He blurted out, ¡°Kapius is a member of the Spirit Race, so the secret stashes he left behind should have been specifically prepared for the Spirit Race. Could it be that these secret stashes can only be discovered and opened by Spirit Race individuals?¡±

    Hopeful gazes appeared on everyone¡¯s faces.

    Zhu Xianyao said, ¡°That¡¯s right! These secret stashes are most likely aimed at other Spirit Race individuals, which is why all the tactics we normally use are allpletely useless.¡±

    Ba Lieyuan was stunned. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, doesn¡¯t that mean that we¡¯ll never be able to find the secret stashes?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°If we know what aspect of the Spirit Race that they¡¯re specifically targeting, we might be able toe up with a workaround.¡±

    Everyone nced at each other, then blurted out simultaneously, ¡°Consciousness!¡±

    The Spirit Race had ethereal bodies, and their racial trait could be considered to be a powerful consciousness. While humans needed to cultivate bitterly to strengthen their consciousnesses, it was a piece of cake for the Spirit Race.

    If Kapius wanted to ensure that the secret stashes could only be opened by a Spirit Race individual, the best way to aplish this was to use this aspect as the key to all his preparations.

    When they understood this, everyone felt like their field of view had suddenly opened up.

    An instantter, however, they began to sober up.

    Zhu Xianyao frowned. ¡°Then doesn¡¯t that mean that the strength of our consciousnesses must be equivalent to that of a Spirit Race individual in order to open the secret stashes? And is that a low-tiered Spirit Race individual? A mid-tiered one? Or even a high-tiered one?¡±

    Zhu Baiyu shook his head. ¡°Even the level of a low-tiered Spirit Race individual is unattainable.¡±

    The lowest-tier Spirit Race individuals had consciousnesses with a power level of at least a thousand.

    To most humans, this was basically a figure that they could only dream of but never achieve. Very few could reach this level even if one only looked at the humans who specialized in cultivating consciousness power.

    Su Chen had cultivated the True Spirit Scriptures for ten years and ingested Spirit Sobering Medicines from time to time, but his consciousness power was only at around four hundred or so. His consciousness power was something to be proud of amongst most humans; in terms of pure consciousness power, he was already on par with an average Spirit Burning Cultivator.

    But the gap between that and a thousand was insurmountable.

    After Su Chen, Zhu Xianyao¡¯s consciousness ability was the highest ¡ª around 180 or so. However, Zhu Xianyao also had a treasure that could amplify her consciousness power to around three hundred or so. Below that was Zhu Baiyu. Even though he was a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, his bloodline didn¡¯t have the charm ability, and he had never specifically cultivated consciousness power. As such, his rating was around 100.

    Zhu Xianyao said, ¡°There¡¯s always a way. If there¡¯s nothing else we can do, we can also try to temporarily raise it.¡±

    ¡°But we need to find some medicine that can strengthen our consciousnesses,¡± Zhao Jingwen said.

    Zhu Xianyao shot Su Chen a nce. ¡°Can you set up an Origin Formation that increases consciousness power?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I can try to.¡±

    ¡°An Origin Tool that improves a person¡¯s consciousness energy would be even better,¡± Zhu Baiyu said.

    Zhu Xianyao frowned. ¡°The Lonely Swan Partition is scarce in resources. Finding treasures like this will probably be difficult.¡±

    ¡°Then we can only go to Long Sang Country to look,¡± Zhao Jingwen sighed.

    Everyone turned to nce at Zhu Baiyu,

    The distance between Long Sang Country¡¯s interior and Lonely Swan Partition was quite far, and finding a treasure that could amplify one¡¯s consciousness power was even harder. If they wanted to do this in the remaining twenty-three days, they needed Zhu Baiyu to make a move himself.

    Zhu Baiyu understood what everyone was getting at. He nodded and said, ¡°Then I can only make that trip. But about Xianling......¡±

    Shi Mingfeng had sent a few experts to Castle Garrison to cause a few particr incidents, such as the strange deaths of some farm animals, the appearance of vampiric beasts, or the sudden appearance of a strange green light, etc. On the surface, it seemed as if these incidents were bizarre and unconnected, but it implied that there were some mysterious people within the town, making Zhu Xianyao and the others extremely nervous. Every day, they would interrogate He Xu, but He Xu would allow himself toe under the influence of Su Chen¡¯s consciousness. He would only offer up some small amounts of information in this dazed state, making it so that Zhu Xianyao could not kill him.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, Zhu Baiyu¡¯s departure would increase the danger to Zhu Xianyao. However, for the sake of the n¡¯s sess, Zhu Xianyao still decided to take the risk.

    From this it was quite apparent that Zhu Xianyao had matured quite a bit after the incident at the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    That evening, Zhu Baiyu left the ancient castle. At the same time, Su Chen used the excuse of gathering ingredients to leave the castle again. In reality, however, he was going to go and interrogate You Tianyang about developing a method to amplify a person¡¯s consciousness ability.

    During this expedition, they hadn¡¯t found any treasure at all, but Su Chen¡¯s skill in making Restrictive Origin Formations had increased greatly.

    At the same time, Zhu Baiyu¡¯s departure took a huge burden off of Su Chen. After all, a Light Shaking Realm cultivator with a Demonic Emperor Bloodline was simply too powerful. Zhu Baiyu¡¯s presence had pressured Su Chen quite a lot.

    Apart from constructing a consciousness Origin Formation, Su Chen would also take advantage of this opportunity to concoct a few consciousness-strengthening medicines.

    No one knew what Zhu Baiyu would return with, so Su Chen could only prepare for the worst possible oue no matter how much he hoped that these preparations would never need to be used.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 18: Suspicion

    Su Chen awoke early in the morning and made himself presentable.

    One of the Sand Race servants came over and said, ¡°Prince You, Sir Culler has invited you to breakfast.¡±

    ¡°Got it. I¡¯ll be right over,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Upon arriving at the main dining hall, Su Chen saw that almost everyone was present.

    The Sand Race had adopted the Arcana Race¡¯s habits when eating. They sat around extremely long tables when eating, while ornate candlesticks and fine eating utensils decorated those tables. Crystalmps hung high above them.

    Culler was technically half the owner of this ce, so he sat at the head of the table. To his left was Zhu Xianyao, and his right was empty.

    When he saw Su Chen arrive, Cullerughed and beckoned him over. ¡°Prince You, pleasee and sit over here.¡±

    He was pointing directly at the seat to his right.

    That spot originally belonged to Zhu Baiyu, but after Zhu Baiyu had leftst night, that seat had opened up.

    Su Chen pretended to act timid and nced at Zhu Xianyao.

    Zhu Xianyao said faintly, ¡°If he tells you to sit, then sit.¡±

    Su Chen muttered an ¡°oh¡± before sitting across from Zhu Xianyao. From here, he could see her exquisite appearance quite clearly. She no longer had that meticulously sculpted charming aura from before. Instead, she appeared quite sleepy andnguid, giving her a unique attractiveness that was hard to resist.

    This was the first woman Su Chen had ever seen that surpassed Gu Qingluo in terms of beauty. He couldn¡¯t help but shoot a few extra nces at Zhu Xianyao.

    ¡°It seems like Prince You likes this seat a lot,¡± Culler said with a smile. ¡°But now that you mention it, it seems like no one has told me why Sir Zhu isn¡¯t here anymore?¡±

    Su Chen felt his heart jump. He knew that Culler had still ended up growing suspicious.

    These past few days, the Zhu n had been scouring West Laina Castle for the Spirit Race¡¯s secret stashes. Even though they did their best in trying to avoid the eyes and ears of the Sand Race individuals, they weren¡¯t inanimate objects. How could they possibly not notice anything?

    Now that Zhu Baiyu had suddenly disappeared, Culler¡¯s suspicion only grew stronger, which was why he had purposefully brought it up this morning.

    Zhu Xianyao remained expressionless. ¡°This is the Zhu n¡¯s business. We don¡¯t need to report our every move to Sir Culler, do we?¡±

    Culler continued to smile. ¡°But you are still on territory that belongs to the Sand Race and you are all staying in my Leader¡¯s castle, so you should at least give me an exnation. I also have seen you guys wandering all over the castle, but you haven¡¯t asked a single thing about the ckrock Gold Mine. This isn¡¯t the attitude of people interested in doing business, is it?¡±

    Even though Culler looked like he was crude on the surface, it was obvious from the way he spoke that he wasn¡¯t an idiot.

    This made sense. How could the Sand Race Leader¡¯s personal attendant be an idiot?

    Zhu Xianyao maintained herposure. ¡°The ckrock Gold Mine isn¡¯t our main goal. Pall should know this as well. As for why we¡¯re always walking around in the castle...... well, we should give Sir Culler a straightforward exnation.¡±

    ¡°Please, I¡¯d like to hear the details,¡± Culler said calmly as he carefully cut into the beef in front of him.

    ¡°Does Sir Culler remember that man who snuck into the castle nearly ten days ago?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked.

    ¡°Of course. He¡¯s still locked up right now.¡±

    ¡°He was an assassin sent by my younger sister to kill me, and there might be more than one of them.¡±

    ¡°You mean......¡±

    ¡°Some strange things have been happening in Castle Garrison. If my guess isn¡¯t wrong, my sister¡¯s people have already arrived. We need to defend ourselves against this, so we have made a few arrangements throughout the castle,¡± Zhu Xianyao replied.

    When Su Chen heard this, he nodded to himself. This truly was a very good excuse.

    The best way to make a lie more believable was to link it up to events that had urred and would ur in the future. Zhu Xianyao¡¯s reply was obviously not off-the-cuff and had been prepared since a long time ago, allowing her to answer without growing flustered.

    Indeed, Culler froze for a moment.

    He had been suspicious about the Zhu n¡¯s actions, but suspicion was only suspicion in the end. Now that Zhu Xianyao had given him a very reasonable answer, it was hard for him to hold onto it.

    He thought for a moment, then asked, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then why did Sir Zhu leave anyways?¡±

    ¡°The reason why snakes are so frightening is because they are always hidden in the darkness. We don¡¯t want to always be on guard for assassination attempts even when we are sleeping, so the best way of doing this is to bait them onto a hook.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. But isn¡¯t that quite dangerous for you?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why we needed to set up a few more defensive countermeasures within the castle as a precaution,¡± Zhu Xianyao countered without batting an eyelid.

    Culler thought for a moment, then nodded. ¡°As long as you aren¡¯t going to tear the castle apart, I can agree to this. In actuality, if you sent over the ten million Origin Stones, my master would probably be willing to give this castle over to you.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao smiled.

    Of course I know that getting the castle isn¡¯t an issue if I spend some money.

    But the problem is that I don¡¯t want to spend any!

    Do you really think the Bloodline Nobility ns can spend money as if it grows on a tree?

    After breakfast, Culler left.

    Zhu Xianyao also stood and said, ¡°Tianyang, follow me for a bit.¡±

    ¡°Ok,¡± Su Chen ¡°obediently¡± responded.

    Zhu Xianyao walked in front, her hands behind her back. She didn¡¯t say anything, and Su Chen followed behind her in silence.

    It wasn¡¯t until they arrived at the entrance to the castle that Zhu Xianyao finally stopped.

    Zhu Xianyao watched the people working outside the castle from afar and said, ¡°You should probably set up a few more Origin Formations in this castleter.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re really going to set up Origin Formations?¡± Su Chen was a bit surprised.

    ¡°Yes. Since we¡¯ve told Culler as much, we need to follow through on this. And since Xianling¡¯s subordinates are here already, they will attack sooner orter. Sixth Uncle has just left, making this a great opportunity for them to attack. There¡¯s no way that they¡¯ll let it go. Being prepared just in case is never a bad thing.¡±

    Su Chen was amazed when he heard this.

    The mostmon repercussion of a lie was that you would need to construct more lies to keep it upheld.

    Zhu Xianling¡¯s assassination attempts were a lie that had resulted from Su Chen and the others¡¯ attempts to save He Xu. Now, however, Zhu Xianyao had taken it to heart, and it was even affecting her nned movements.

    Perhaps Zhu Xianyao had been telling some parts of the truth, and that she was also hoping to use this opportunity to draw out an assassin.

    The problem was, where were the assassins for her to draw out?

    Su Chen cried piteously in his heart.

    But no matter what, he could only nod and agree with Zhu Xianyao¡¯s requests.

    Well, now he had to go and probe You Tianyang to get a method to make defensive Origin Formations.

    The You n¡¯s secret Restrictive Origin Formations were basically going to bepletely studied and learned by Su Chen at this rate.

    ¡°Alright, then I¡¯ll go out and look for some more materials in a bit,¡± Su Chen said.

    He nced out at the front of the castle.

    A carriage had been slowly advancing in their direction, but it had crashed into a person on the street and flipped upside down. The person pushing the carriage began to argue with the person he had hit.

    A single nce was enough for Su Chen¡¯s expression to change drastically. He yelled, ¡°Careful!¡±

    An arrow came flying in their direction.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 19: Assassination

    Whoosh!

    The sharp arrow flew through the air, hurtling towards Zhu Xianyao¡¯s face.

    Just as it was about to pierce her face, Su Chen suddenly shoved Zhu Xianyao, knocking her aside.

    The arrow, which glowed with an inky-green hue, flew past her face, only slicing off a few hairs as it flew by.

    Zhu Xianyao quickly rolled backwards into a crouched position. She had yet to get back on her feet, however, when a number of figures appeared in rapid session at the feet of the castle and began to shoot up the side of the castle.

    This kind of castle wall was basically useless against Origin Qi Schrs. Scaling the wall was an easy feat ¡ª with just a few leaps, the group of people quickly reached the top of the wall.

    The person at the very front shed at Zhu Xianyao with his de. The de surged with majestic momentum, carrying with it a strong killing intent.

    At this moment, Zhu Xianyao had already begun to react. She mmed her palm into the ground, sending herself shooting into the air to dodge that strike.

    At the same time, two more people charged forwards, their swords glinting with a sharp, piercing light. The edges of their swords glowed frostily.

    Zhu Xianyao retreated.

    Her bare hands unleashed a wave of energy. At the same time, a shrill screech escaped from her mouth. She was obviously calling out for reinforcements.

    However, the other opponents also knew that their window to kill her was growing slimmer. A wave of massive energy surged forward, blocking off Zhu Xianyao¡¯s front, back, left, and right, making it so that she had no way of maneuvering at all.

    At the same time, the first three assants simultaneously raised their des and swung them at Zhu Xianyao.

    Zhu Xianyao knew the situation wasn¡¯t good. In the face of such desperate circumstances, she revealed a pitiful expression. When the three assassins saw this, they actual froze briefly for just a moment.

    ¡°Idiots! Wake up!¡± A low growl shook the three of them simultaneously out of her reverie.

    However, in this brief moment of hesitation, Zhu Xianyao had already attacked. Layers of energy began to emanate from her hands, mming into one of the assants and knocking him flying. She immediately turned around and jabbed her finger at another assant. That person responded with a sword strike, forcefully blocking the finger jab from advancing. At the same time, the third person¡¯s sword rushed over. Zhu Xianyao wanted to activate her charm skill again, but a sudden shrill cry pierced into her consciousness.

    She could only hear the noise, but couldn¡¯t actually see the person who had made the noise.

    As if she had been pierced by a needle, Zhu Xianyao felt her head suddenly hurt, and she was unable to activate her charm skill in that moment. The assassin¡¯s sword was already on its way towards her, carrying with it a strong killing intent. A sensation of despair creeped its way into Zhu Xianyao¡¯s heart.

    At that moment, a fat body figure suddenly shed in front of her, mming heavily into the assant.

    ¡°DON¡¯T HURT MY YAOYAO!¡± Following this deep growl, two entwined figures tumbled over the wall of the castle.

    ¡°Tianyang!¡± Zhu Xianyao yelled.

    Whoosh!

    Another arrow flew through the air.

    Zhu Xianyao already flew into the air. A ray of golden light began to shine from her body.

    The arrow mmed into her body but was unable to prate it.

    Streaks of sharp de light surged through the air, chasing after Zhu Xianyao.

    One, two, three!

    Under the power of these three de strikes, Zhu Xianyao¡¯s ray of golden light protecting her shattered.

    The de strikes continued to chase after Zhu Xianyao, who danced through the air as she retreated.

    This cry had also shocked the people in the castle into motion. Zhao Jingwen was the first one to charge out. His eyes turned red from rage when he saw this and charged forwards, his long spear surging forward.

    The spear roared forward like a dragon, mming into the de strikes flying through the air and unleashing a frightening ripple of energy.

    Zhao Jingweng was forced backwards.

    The most shocking thing was that a fifth de strike had appeared.

    It was aimed at Zhu Xianyao again. It seemed that the assant wasn¡¯t going to return if he didn¡¯t kill Zhu Xianyao.

    Just as this fifth de strike was about tond, a massive hand made out of sand appeared, grabbing the streak of de light.

    That de of light struggled in the grasp of the massive hand of sand as if it were alive. In the end, the hand of sand actually couldn¡¯t maintain its control and it was eventually shattered by the de and blew away in the wind, disappearing without a trace.

    ¡°Raise the defensive barrier!¡± Culler yelled loudly.

    Boom!

    A third arrow shot through the air, but it mmed right into the barrier.

    The people in the shadows knew that their assassination attempt had failed. One of them barked, ¡°Retreat!¡±, and their attacks ceased.

    ¡°Trying to leave so soon?¡± A trace of anger appeared on Culler¡¯s face.

    The massive hand of sand appeared again, wrapping itself around the de-wielding assassin, while Zhao Jingwen¡¯s Cloud-Rending Spear had managed to restrain the sword-wielding assassin.

    Zhu Xianyao ran towards the edge of the castle wall and looked down. She saw ¡°You Tianyang¡± t on his face near the castle walls, while the assassin that had been tossed by him off the castle walls had been killed. Upon closer inspection, he had died from a severed spine. Perhaps he was unlucky and his head had hit the ground first, causing his neck to snap upon impact.

    When she saw this, Zhu Xianyao sighed in relief.

    As long as You Tianyang was fine, that was good enough.

    Just the fact that he had saved her, not to mention his own identity, had greatly increased Zhu Xianyao¡¯s feelings of goodwill towards him.

    The two of the other assassins knew that they wouldn¡¯t be able to escape and decisively turned their des on themselves. They would rather die than fall into the hands of their enemies.

    Now that all the assassins were dead, Zhao Jingwen ran over. ¡°Young Miss, are you okay?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s expression was steely. ¡°I¡¯m alright, but unfortunately I had to burn the Protective Gold Talisman from Mother.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all my fault. I wasn¡¯t able to protect Young Miss well enough!¡± Zhao Jingwen said with immense regret.

    ¡°Forget about it. It¡¯s not your fault. This time it¡¯s all thanks to Tianyang ¡ª he was the one who saved me; otherwise, that first arrow probably would have taken my life. I wouldn¡¯t have even had the opportunity to activate my protective golden talisman.¡±

    ¡°He also has a Demonic Emperor Bloodline. Even if it hasn¡¯t awakened yet, he is still not amoner,¡± Zhao Jingwen said respectfully and went to go grab Su Chen.

    Culler also walked over, his expression somber. ¡°I must apologize to you all. It seems that your sister really does want to kill you. You should be a bit more cautious.¡±

    ¡°They attacked just after Sixth Uncle left. It seems like they really were growing impatient.¡± Zhu Xianyao¡¯s expression was extremely ugly. She hadn¡¯t expected a second attack to ur, but her opponents didn¡¯t seem willing to spare her and wouldn¡¯t leave her alone until she was dead.

    Even Su Chen, who was being supported back by Zhao Jingwen, had an ashen expression.

    Assassination!

    There had actually been an assassination!

    There had actually been a damn assassination!

    And he had saved Zhu Xianyao!

    What was going on?

    Su Chen suddenly felt quite dizzy. The development of the situation had far surpassed his expectation.

    Zhu Xianyao walked over. ¡°Tianyang, are you alright?¡±

    Su Chen rubbed his head and revealed a dumb smile. ¡°I¡¯m alright. My body is thick, so I¡¯m okay. It¡¯s just my shoulder that was wounded a bit.¡±

    As he spoke, he revealed his fat arm. Indeed, the flesh on his shoulder had been mangled and was very bloody.

    Even though it looked quite shocking, it was still just a light wound.

    Zhu Xianyao pulled out a vial medicine. ¡°This is the Jade Dragon Powder. Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll be fine very soon once you rub it on.¡±

    As she spoke, she leaned in to apply the medicine to Su Chen personally.

    Her hands were slender, and her touch was gentle and warm. As she kneaded Su Chen¡¯s arm, Su Chen felt his jaw go ck.

    Even thought it was just an instant, Su Chen maintained this expression. He knew that if this was You Tianyang, he would definitely act a bit more depraved.

    Zhu Xianyao watched as ¡°You Tianyang¡± stared at her in a daze, his mouth opening wide as a satisfied smile appeared on his face. A bit of drool also leaked out of his mouth......

    The goodwill that she was feeling towards him decreased quite a bit. Zhu Xianyao red at him and stuffed the medicine into Su Chen¡¯s hand. ¡°Put it on yourself.¡±

    Su Chen knew that his acting had been a bit over-the-top, but this was also his original intent.

    No matter what, he didn¡¯t wish to be too close to Zhu Xianyao.

    After all, Zhu Xianyao finding him a nuisance was much better than her liking him.

    But even if he wanted things to be like that, reality often turned out to be the exact opposite.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 20: Revenge

    Zhu Xianyao was standing in her room, staring at the window when someone suddenly knocked on her door.

    Zhu Xianyao said, ¡°Come in.¡±

    Su Chen pushed open the door, holding a vial of medicine in his hand. ¡°This...... I came to...... return your medicine to you,¡± he stammered as he ced the vial of medicine down before carefully retreating.

    ¡°Stop right there!¡±

    Su Chen stopped in his tracks.

    Zhu Xianyao turned around. ¡°Did I say that you could go?¡±

    Su Chen scratched his head unabashedly, purposefully acting as if he didn¡¯t know what to say.

    Zhu Xianyao stared at him and said, ¡°You used to try and stay here as long as you could when you came, but you¡¯ve changed these past few days. You aren¡¯t as clingy and seem to even be distancing yourself. Since you proim to be doing your best to show off your good side, is this what you are trying to show me?¡±

    Su Chen replied calmly, ¡°Yes, this is what I am trying to show. You didn¡¯t like it when I was obsessed with you. After I thought things through, I realized that the kind of person you like is a hero who can hold up the heavens singlehandedly, not a person like me who is nearly talentless. If I want to win your affections, I need to cultivate hard and achieve something so that you¡¯ll see me differently. That¡¯s what a real man would do. I said before that I would change, and I meant what I said.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao continued to stare intently at Su Chen. ¡°What you say is correct, but you¡¯ve changed so quickly that I¡¯m still not too used to it. It¡¯s almost as if you¡¯ve changed into a different person, and this...... person feels very familiar.¡±

    Familiar?

    Your memories of Su Chen have been almostpletely wiped away. How can this person still feel so familiar to you?

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t understand.

    However, things like memories were always hard to grasp. Even though Su Chen had a technique to wipe away people¡¯s memories, that didn¡¯t mean that he could understand thempletely. You could wipe someone¡¯s memory by giving them a strong smack to the head, but that didn¡¯t mean that you understood the exact mechanisms behind how memories worked.

    Su Chen was a bit shocked by what Zhu Xianyao had said, but he continued to act dumb. ¡°It wasn¡¯t that fast. Perhaps it¡¯s just because you aren¡¯t used to a person who used to follow you around all the time suddenly distancing themselves.¡±

    ¡°But even though you say that you¡¯re distancing yourself from me, you were still the one who saved me at that critical moment.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m doing it in order to strengthen myself and get closer to you first. From start to finish, my feelings for you have never changed. Is it that strange that I saved you?¡± Su Chen replied.

    Su Chen¡¯s exnation was so wless that even he felt a bit intoxicated himself.

    Zhu Xianyaoughed. ¡°You indeed have improved quite a bit. Even the way you speak is different from before.¡±

    ¡°If you say so, then I am very delighted. This means that my efforts have been quite sessful,¡± Su Chen replied with a slight smile.

    ¡°Yes, they have been very sessful.¡± Zhu Xianyao nodded.

    ¡°But it¡¯s not enough to get you to fall in love with me, right?¡± Su Chen asked on purpose.

    Zhu Xianyao shook her head. Su Chen purposefully sighed with disappointment, then said, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, I¡¯ll take my leave.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao said, ¡°Even though I haven¡¯t fallen for you yet, you¡¯re a friend that I can believe in. If you have any needs in the future, please just let me know.¡±

    If the real You Tianyang heard this, he would probably have been so excited that he would have jumped into the air.

    Su Chen was forced to emte this excited attitude. Then, after a moment of thought, he said, ¡°Since we are now friends that trust each other, I have a question that I¡¯m not sure if I should ask.¡±

    ¡°Ask. If I can give you an answer, I will.¡±

    ¡°Why are you so interested in Kapius¡¯s secrets? Is it just for the sake of money?¡±

    ¡°Money?¡± A scornful expression appeared on Zhu Xianyao¡¯s lips. ¡°No one knows exactly what Kapius left behind, and no one knows if it will be worth anything. From a business perspective, spending so much energy to obtain a reward that no one knows the value of at the risk of offending the leader of an entire race is extremely stupid.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what I was thinking too,¡± Su Chen said.

    If it were just for money, Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t necessarily need to do things this way.

    Zhu Xianyao sighed, ¡°The reason I¡¯m taking this risk isn¡¯t because there might be something valuable in those stores but because of Kapius himself. Kapius was the leader of the Spirit Race and was extremely talented in consciousness-type Origin Skills. The things that he leaves behind will most likely be rted to consciousnesses.¡±

    ¡°Yaoyao, you want more consciousness-type Origin Skills? Is it to further strengthen your bloodline?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao shook her head. ¡°The things that Kapius left behind might be helpful in strengthening the bewitching powers of my bloodline, but the chances of that happening are too slim so that¡¯s not my main goal. My main goal is because...... only with a consciousness-type Origin Skill can I regain the memories that I have ost.¡±

    Su Chen felt his heart tremble.

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s eyes glowed intensely. ¡°Uncle Eleven, Zhu Chen, and Yanniang...... they all died. That was the most bitter defeat I have ever suffered, and not knowing how I myself was defeated was even more tormenting! I lost my memories because Su Chen used one of my Zhu n¡¯s secret techniques!¡±

    So she did know that he was the one who had wiped out her memories. Su Chen confirmed this thought at this moment.

    But evidently, she was unaware of those memories¡¯ contents.

    She knew that Su Chen had lied to her, but didn¡¯t know what the truth was.

    ¡°The Zhu n¡¯s secret techniques?¡± Su Chen pretended to be shocked.

    ¡°Yes, the Zhu n¡¯s secret techniques. I didn¡¯t lose my memories because of an injury but because of Su Chen!¡± Zhu Xianyao said angrily. ¡°But I can¡¯t tell anyone.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± Su Chen asked. As soon as he blurted out the question, however, he realized how stupid it was.

    Indeed, Zhu Xianyao said, ¡°If I told someone, that would mean that I had fallen into the opponent¡¯s hands, and even cooperated with the opponent at some point. I was the one who helped him swindle my n and who passed on my n¡¯s secret techniques to him. And it was because of me that this conflict between my n and the Immortal Temple came about......¡±

    She stared at Su Chen. ¡°Do you know what that means?¡±

    ¡°It means that you made a huge mistake and would be heavily punished by your n. Even your status as the inheritor might not be preserved,¡± Su Chen replied helplessly. This was something that he had thought through a long time ago.

    And even though Zhu Xianyao had yet to recover her memories, she could reason out the general scheme of things as soon as she realized that she had been tricked by Su Chen.

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s eyes filled with tears. ¡°Yes. So, I cannot say anything.¡±

    ¡°But if that¡¯s the case, then why must you go and look for those memories? You¡¯ve already guessed the answer. Even if you continue to investigate, all that will happen is you will confirm what already happened. What¡¯s the point of that?¡± Su Chen couldn¡¯t resist asking.

    The truth wasn¡¯t far from what Zhu Xianyao had guessed. Even if she recovered her memories, it would only fill in some small gaps.

    Zhu Xianyao replied harshly, ¡°Of course I must investigate! This is the greatest humiliation I have ever endured. No matter what, I must search for the memories that I¡¯ve lost. Only by finding those memories can I know what Su Chen did to me, what secrets and weaknesses he has, and what all of his ns are. Only then...... can I take my revenge!¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 21: Anger

    It had to be said that Zhu Xianyao¡¯s thought process was correct.

    After having gotten to know Zhu Xianyao during that period of time, Su Chen hadn¡¯t tried to keep any of his secrets from her because he knew that her memories were going to be wiped.

    His home, his loves, his dreams, his ns, his temperament, his friends, everything that he was and wasn¡¯t good at......

    Even though he hadn¡¯t told her specifically, Su Chen hadn¡¯t ever tried to conceal these things from her, so she really did know quite a bit.

    The current Zhu Xianyao, with her temperament and her brains, could really pose quite a threat to him if he let her recover her memories.

    It was for this goal that Zhu Xianyao had run all over the ce these past ten years, searching for ways to recover her memories. Unfortunately, none of it was very effective.

    And once Zhu Xianyao knew that Kapius¡¯s secret stores were here, she immediately came because this was yet another source of hope for her.

    At this moment, Su Chen totally understood Zhu Xianyao¡¯s n.

    He said, ¡°So that¡¯s how it is...... Right, how did you know all that was one of Su Chen¡¯s setups?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao finally revealed the backup n she had put in ce all those years ago.

    When Su Chen found out that all of his ns had been ruined by a hidden observer, he could only sigh helplessly.

    On the surface, however, he pretended to be full of indignation. ¡°Yaoyao, don¡¯t worry. I will definitely help you find that guy and crush him into pieces.¡±

    This feeling of cursing himself was something he had never really experienced before.

    Zhu Xianyao said, ¡°Tianyang, I have told you what you wanted to know. Do you know what this means?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± Su Chen said excitedly. ¡°It means that Yaoyao finally trusts me!¡±

    Zhu Xianyao smiled slightly. ¡°As long as you understand. The current mission is to find the secret stashes and recover my missing memories. Everything is in your hands.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Su Chen nodded vigorously.

    ¡°You may go now.¡±

    Su Chen bid farewell and left.

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s gaze flickered as she watched Su Chen disappear. It was unclear what she was thinking about.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Upon returning to his room, Su Chen¡¯s previously excited expression faded away.

    He pulled out his transmission Origin Tool. ¡°Old Shi.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m here.¡±

    ¡°Zhu Xianyao is starting to suspect me.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Shi Mingfeng¡¯s voice grew noticeably louder.

    ¡°Someone just tried to assassinate Zhu Xianyao......¡± Su Chen roughly exined what had just happened. Of course, he didn¡¯t mention that Zhu Xianyao was trying to regain her memories. Just like how Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t want her n to find out that she had done something that was to her n¡¯s disadvantage, Su Chen didn¡¯t want the Immortal Temple to find out that Zhu Xianyao had appeared here because of him.

    However, Zhu Xianyao¡¯s suspicion of him was a certainty. No matter how sincere she appeared, Su Chen knew that something was up.

    It was because she was suspicious of him that she pretended to be genuine.

    Upon hearing that Su Chen had saved Zhu Xianyao¡¯s life, Shi Mingfeng¡¯s voice almost cracked. ¡°You saved her!? Is something wrong with your damn brain?¡±

    The Xiyuan Rain Master always did things calmly and spoke evenly. It was obvious that Su Chen had pissed him off quite badly for him to curse like this.

    That was true. If Zhu Xianyao had died, things would have been much easier to handle.

    However, Su Chen had saved her and had even incurred Zhu Xianyao¡¯s suspicion because of it. That was a huge loss.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°You don¡¯t understand. The situation in West Laina Castle is moreplicated than we thought. I¡¯ve been with them this entire time and have searched the castle with them, but we haven¡¯t found any clues that are rted to the Spirit Race yet.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because they weren¡¯t sufficiently prepared.¡±

    ¡°It won¡¯t make a difference, not even if you have the Clear Spirit Medicine. I tried it before but didn¡¯t notice any spirit-type response. A few vials of medicine won¡¯t resolve the issue. Right now, the only thing we can do is wait for Zhu Baiyu to return with items that will increase our consciousness power. We¡¯ll use methods that are only useable by entities with spirit bodies to search for it. That¡¯s the most likely path to sess. Before then, Zhu Xianyao cannot die!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re looking for excuses, right?¡± Shi Mingfeng wouldn¡¯t be tricked so easily.

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then said, ¡°Yes, I admit that I am being a bit selfish. I inflicted quite a bit of harm on her back then; even if it was in self-preservation, I would still like to help her out a bit if possible. Brother Shi, I¡¯m very clear about what I am doing. I will do as much as I can to take care of my conscience, but it won¡¯te at the cost of myself. Zhu Xianyao being alive will benefit us, and that¡¯s reality!¡±

    But now you¡¯re being suspected.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just the first signs.¡±

    ¡°Alright, Su Chen, don¡¯t y this game with me! You¡¯re an expert in lying, so you should know that as soon as suspicion appears, there¡¯s no such things as first signs anymore!¡±

    There was no such thing as being partly suspicious of someone.

    Unlike strength, which could be measured with rtive percentages, suspicion was something that grew very, very rapidly as soon as it appeared until it reached its climax.

    When you didn¡¯t suspect a person, you wouldn¡¯t be surprised by anything they did.

    Once you started to suspect a person, any points that didn¡¯t line up would be quickly discovered and emphasized, causing your suspicions to be quickly confirmed.

    This process was very quick.

    Zhu Xianyao had taken ten or so days to begin to suspect him.

    But it would probably only take one or two days to confirm her suspicions.

    ¡°I¡¯ll think of a way to deal with it.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d best be able to,¡± Shi Mingfeng said angrily.

    He ended the call and felt a headacheing on.

    He began to massage his temples as he sank deep into thought.

    ¡°See? He only ended up causing trouble for us!¡± Kong Cheng coldlyughed from the side.

    He would only feel happy about Su Chen falling into this predicament.

    ¡°You, shut your mouth!¡± Shi Mingfeng said angrily. ¡°If you won¡¯t be of any help, then scram. At the very least, Su Chen is still trying to remedy the situation, while all you¡¯re doing is being a hindrance.¡±

    ¡°Did you say that I¡¯m only a nuisance?¡± Kong Cheng was infuriated.

    Shi Mingfeng raised his arm and grabbed him by the throat. Clutching him by the throat rendered himpletely immobile.

    Qi Shenyuan was just about to intervene when Shi Mingfeng said, ¡°You¡¯d best not move!¡±

    As he spoke, he mmed Kong Cheng into the wall. ¡°Remember, you idiot, there¡¯s literally nothing good about you. I¡¯ve been tolerating you on behalf of your brother-inw, but that doesn¡¯t mean that I¡¯m afraid of you. If you dare try to drag me down, you¡¯ll know what real pain tastes like!¡±

    As he spoke, he exerted a bit more force, shoving Kong Cheng into the wall. The wall surprisingly didn¡¯t topple, but Kong Cheng was embedded into it and hung from the wall like a piece of art.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Half an hourter.

    ¡°He dared to treat me like that! How dare he!?¡± Kong Cheng rubbed his neck as he paced back and forth in his room, infuriated.

    Shi Mingfeng¡¯s earlier attack had fractured his vertebrae. Even though it wasn¡¯t enough to kill him with the strength that he possessed, the wound was still quite serious and would need a number of days to recover.

    Qi Shenyuan stood to the side, remaining silent.

    ¡°You just stood there and watched him attack me?¡± Kong Cheng continued to howl madly.

    ¡°He wasn¡¯t trying to kill you,¡± Qi Shenyuan replied.

    However, he was sighing in his heart.

    He wasn¡¯t sighing about Kong Cheng but about An Sili.

    An Sili was old.

    Even though he was very powerful, he was still growing older.

    And once a person got old, their minds also became muddled.

    It wouldn¡¯t have been such a big deal if he had merely doted on amon street prostitute, but more importantly he had also pulled this useless younger brother of hers up as well.

    A person putting their family member in an important position wasn¡¯t a problem. Putting a totally ipetent family member in an important position, on the other hand, was a big problem.

    This was the case with Kong Cheng.

    He had no brains and no perception. It was only because of his sister that she was able to reach this point. Yet he still felt like he was a very impressive person......

    Qi Shenyuan had hoped that Shi Mingfeng¡¯s lesson would cause Kong Cheng to simmer down, but it seemed like Shi Mingfeng hadn¡¯t seeded.

    Kong Chen waspletely enraged.

    At that moment, a voice spoke up. ¡°Subordinate Feng Xihuo is here under orders.¡±

    Kong Cheng¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°You¡¯re finally here.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 22: Friends

    Su Chen stopped the transmission and rubbed his head. He could feel a headacheing on.

    He quickly reviewed what had urred thus far.

    The greatest problem Su Chen was facing right now was He Xu.

    Just He Xu¡¯s existence had brought about two crucial effects.

    First of all, his Thousand Faces Beast Bloodline had confirmed that Zhu Xianyao¡¯s enemies could disguise themselves. When there was one it was extremely likely for there to be a second. Zhu Xianyao had no reason to believe that there wouldn¡¯t be another person with the Thousand Faces Beast Bloodline. This was also the main reason why she had grown suspicious in the first ce.

    Secondl, He Xu was both the best hostage and greatest weakness at this moment. Su Chen had protected him for a while, so nothing had happened to him yet. But as soon as Zhu Xianyao began to suspect him, it would be very difficult for Su Chen to save He Xu for much longer.

    The good news was that Zhu Xianyao and the others had no way of directly seeing through disguises yet.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, all Zhu Xianyao could do waspel him by force.

    She would either force Su Chen to disy abat strength that You Tianyang wouldn¡¯t have, or she would make him to expend all his energy until he wouldn¡¯t be able to keep up his appearance anymore. Both were quite effective tactics.

    Thankfully, these tactics were all equivalent to discarding all pretenses. Zhu Xianyao wouldn¡¯t do this until she had confirmed her suspicions.

    No, that wasn¡¯t right.

    She had one more option, and that was to spar with him under the guise of exchanging pointers!

    When he realized this, a strange light shed across Su Chen¡¯s eyes.

    At that moment, footsteps could be heard outside the room. Su Chen immediately pushed open the door, walked out, and found Zhao Jingwen walking towards him.

    When he saw Su Chen, Zhao Jingwen smiled and was just about to say something when Su Chen waved and said, ¡°Jingwen, perfect timing. Do you have any Origin Stones? Lend me some.¡±

    ¡°You want to borrow some Origin Stones? What do you need them for?¡± Zhao Jingwen was stunned.

    ¡°For buying materials, of course. Yaoyao wanted us to make preparations within the castle and set up Origin Formations, but before I could do anything, the assassins came. You saw that not all of the assassins died. They might be waiting for an opportunity to spring another trap. That¡¯s why I need to go and buy some more materials.¡±

    ¡°But there are assassins outside. Isn¡¯t it dangerous for you to go out right now?¡±

    ¡°They just suffered a failure, so for the time being they shouldn¡¯t be too intent on trying again. In any case, what reason would they have to attack me? Their target is Yaoyao. If I risk myself a bit more for Yaoyao, she might feel even more gratitude towards me and even begin to like me. Hurry, hurry......¡±

    ¡°Ah...... oh,¡± Zhao Jingwen helplessly acquiesced. Even though Su Chen had asked to borrow them, he never nned on returning them; after all, they were being used towards the Young Miss¡¯s safety.

    Su Chen grabbed the Origin Stones and scurried off. Only then did Zhao Jingwen realize that he hadn¡¯t done what the Young Miss had asked him to do yet.

    He was about to call him back, but when he thought about the fact that You Tianyang was in a hurry to protect the Young Miss, calling him back to spar would be a bit too ill-timed. It was better to wait for a bit.

    It wasn¡¯t until Su Chen exited the castle that he let out a sigh of relief.

    He was just about to head towards Shi Mingfeng and the others when a figure suddenly leapt out of a nearby alleyway and pulled him in.

    It was Yue Longsha.

    ¡°Why are you here?¡± Su Chen said in surprise.

    ¡°Cut the crap. You still haven¡¯t done what I asked you to do. Thank goodness I came along,¡± Yue Longsha pouted.

    Su Chen sighed, ¡°The situation has be a bitplicated.¡±

    ¡°I know, Zhu Xianyao is here,¡± Yue Longsha said.

    ¡°You¡¯re well-informed.¡±

    ¡°The Secret Task Force isn¡¯t just idling around. How else would I have found you?¡± Yue Longsha said as she looked at Su Chen with a self-satisfied expression.

    Su Chen knew that some of Shi Mingfeng¡¯s subordinates were definitely spies for Yue Longsha. She couldn¡¯t possibly have such a firm grasp on the situation otherwise.

    However, he didn¡¯t want to concern himself with this matter. All he said was, ¡°He Xu was captured. I don¡¯t want the n to fail, so I snuck in by myself. The matter that you¡¯ve entrusted to me I have always kept in my heart. Actually, before this all happened, I discovered the location of that list of names. I just haven¡¯t had the opportunity to seize it.¡±

    ¡°Where is it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s in a crystal ball that Kong Cheng keeps on himself. It seems like it can¡¯t be ced inside an Origin Ring, so it probably has some kind of spatial-type attribute to it.¡±

    ¡°Spatial-type attribute?¡± Yue Longsha asked with curiosity.

    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s not just a list of names; it¡¯s also a long-distancemunications tool that canmunicate with specific targets that are very far away.¡±

    ¡°How do you know?¡±

    ¡°Because he used that list of names to get a guy called Feng Xihuo toe and assassinate me.¡±

    ¡°Feng Xihuo?¡± Yue Longsha was stunned. ¡°No wonder he would appear here of all ces.¡±

    ¡°You saw him?¡± Su Chen was stunned.

    ¡°This afternoon, just before Zhu Xianyao was attacked,¡± Yue Longsha replied. ¡°He¡¯s a well-known hitman amongst the Immortal Temple¡¯s ranks. You could say he¡¯s also well-known amongst the Secret Task Force as well. Even though he¡¯s in the Yang Opening Realm, he has quite a few secret techniques that allow him to explode with sudden strength and deal killing blows in a single strike. He¡¯s even killed a Light Shaking Realm cultivator before. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that I want that list of names and didn¡¯t want to alert the enemy to me, I would have captured him today.¡±

    ¡°What does he look like?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s a middle-aged man with a face full of wrinkles. His skin is very dark, and he looks just like a little old man. He¡¯s quite short and his ears stick out. Because he isn¡¯t skilled in disguising himself, he likes to wear a straw hat that covers his face, and one of his habits is wearing shoes woven from grass. His bloodline is the Fierce Explosive Beast, which allows him to store up energy and unleash it all at once to inflict a fatal blow. This is what makes him very difficult to deal with if you aren¡¯t prepared. The Light Shaking Realm cultivator that he killed was done so in one such blow......¡± Yue Longsha said without stopping.

    He had to admit that the Secret Task Force did indeed have some skill considering how much they knew about Feng Xihuo¡¯s background.

    Unfortunately, even though they had a clear understanding of his background, they still weren¡¯t able to catch him. Feng Xihuo had a habit of quickly escaping if his first blow didn¡¯tnd; thus while he had many sessful assassination attempts, he also had many failures as well. But whether he seeded or failed, he always kept himself safe. Not only did he have the ability to explode with power, but he was also very fast.

    ¡°Got it.¡± Su Chen nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll try and think of a way to keep helping you.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need,¡± Yue Longshaughed. ¡°Since we know what the list of names can do and where it is, I can go and take it myself.¡±

    Her initial headache was that she didn¡¯t know enough about the list of names. Now that she knew that it was kept in a crystal ball, she was brave enough to fight for it even without Su Chen¡¯s help.

    ¡°Wait, Longsha,¡± Su Chen called out. ¡°How many people did you bring with you?¡±

    ¡°More than enough to deal with Shi Mingfeng and the others.¡±

    ¡°Can you wait for a bit? I don¡¯t want to make things even moreplicated before we find Kapius¡¯s secret stashes.¡±

    ¡°Do I have to agree?¡± Yue Longsha asked.

    Su Chen grew a bit agitated. ¡°I was the one who told you about the location of the list of names.¡±

    ¡°But I also told you about Feng Xihuo. I don¡¯t owe you anything anymore!¡± Yue Longsha said without a trace of politeness.

    ¡°This......¡± Su Chen was rendered speechless for a moment.

    He hadn¡¯t expected Yue Longsha to refuse him so bluntly and coldly, and that her brain would be so quick.

    He didn¡¯t know what to say for some time.

    After a while, he finally said, ¡°What if I am just asking for help? You are my friend. I hope that you can help me.¡±

    Yue Longsha smiled and said, ¡°Fine.¡±

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t expected that Yue Longsha, who was refusing him so bluntly just now, would suddenly be so easily persuaded. He couldn¡¯t help but feel stunned.

    Yue Longsha said, ¡°The reason I refused you beforehand was because I didn¡¯t like that reason...... but I like this one.¡±

    She turned around and left once she finished speaking.

    As she was leaving, she said, ¡°Remember, Su Chen, we are friends. This is the reason that I am helping you.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 23: Awakening

    After leaving Yue Longsha, Su Chen continued walking forwards.

    He crossed the street and walked through a long alleyway before arriving at a copper door.

    He grabbed the metal ring on the door and gently knocked it three times, paused, then repeated it three more times. He was just about to do it again when he heard the door creak open. Night Demon¡¯s cute face popped out.

    Su chen was stunned. ¡°I haven¡¯t finished the secret knock yet.¡±

    ¡°What secret knock? I saw you from up there. Come in,e in! Don¡¯t bother with the secret signal, it¡¯s such a pain.¡±

    She grabbed Su Chen and pulled him into the room.

    Shi Mingfeng and the others were discussing the n of action inside.

    When he saw Su Chene in, Shi Mingfeng said, ¡°Howe you¡¯re already here?¡±

    ¡°I came out to avoid extra attention so that Zhu Xianyao won¡¯t be able to do anything to me for now,¡± Su Chen said, helplessly exining his conjectures.

    Shi Mingfeng nodded when he heard this. ¡°That is a problem indeed, but even if you can dodge it once, you won¡¯t be able to dodge it fifteen times.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t afford to worry so much. When I get back, I am going to dy for as long as I can under the guise of setting up Origin Formations,¡± Su Chen said as he stretched out his hand.

    Shi Mingfeng knew what he wanted. Long before the assassination attempt, Su Chen had already told Shi Mingfeng to force out a few more Origin Formations from You Tianyang.

    Shi Mingfeng handed over the drawings of the Origin Formations and said, ¡°This is not a long-term solution.¡±

    Su Chen put the drawings away. ¡°Each and every day I dy is valuable. The most important thing right now is to get He Xu out. I n on creating another assassination attempt in the next few days. Your men will pretend to be the same assants as from a few days ago and attack, while I¡¯ll take advantage of the disturbance to save He Xu. That way, even if the n fails, I can at least save him.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng thought for a moment, then nodded. ¡°If nothing else works, that¡¯s what we¡¯ll have to do.¡±

    The two of them continued to discuss ns a bit longer.

    Su Chen suddenly thought of something. He asked, ¡°Right, how has You Tianyang beentely?¡±

    ¡°Pretty good. If he isn¡¯t eating, he¡¯s sleeping, and if he isn¡¯t sleeping, he¡¯s eating. He has no worries.¡± Shi Mingfengughed as he raised his hand and pushed a button. A nearby door opened, revealing You Tianyang lying on the bed, snoring loudly. It seemed like he was quite energetic.

    ¡°He can even fall asleep here, huh?¡± Su Chenughed.

    ¡°Not just that, but he¡¯s like this every day. He sleeps at least ten hours, and when he is awake all he does is eat. He¡¯s just like a pig!¡± one of the Immortal Temple¡¯s grunts said.

    ¡°He sleeps that much?¡± Even Su Chen was a bit stunned. ¡°He wasn¡¯t like that at the start.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Who knows why he can sleep so much now,¡± another one of the grunts said.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Su Chen thought for a moment, then added, ¡°When things change, it usually means that something is about to happen. You guys, pay a bit more attention. Don¡¯t let him get away.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, Su Chen. This guy won¡¯t be able to get away.¡±

    ¡°If you ask me, it¡¯d be better to just kill him. It¡¯d make things a lot easier.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, that¡¯s right! We¡¯ve already gotten everything we need out of him anyways.¡±

    The group of people began to discuss amongst themselves.

    They were indeed part of a terrorist organization. Even if they were the mildest type, they had no problems killing others. The greatest difference between them and the most extreme organizations was probably that they didn¡¯t kill people out of perverse joy.

    After exining things, Su Chen prepared to leave ¡ª he still needed to buy the ingredients mentioned on the Origin Formation drawings.

    ¡°Let me send you on your way,¡± Shi Mingfeng said.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to be so polite.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not me being polite. Rather, I want to see if there are any other areas that we can move to. Once the assassination begins, the Sand Race is going to be enraged again. It won¡¯t be possible unless we switch locations.¡±

    ¡°Alright, then let¡¯s go together,¡± Su Chenughed.

    The two of them walked out of the alleyway, conversing as they advanced down the street.

    A cold light shed across Kong Cheng¡¯s eyes as he watched them leave. ¡°Uncle Qi, go tell Xihuo to prepare to carry out his mission.¡±

    ¡°Right now?¡± Qi Shenyuan was a bit hesitant. ¡°Su Chen is in West Laina Castle right now and is in the middle of carrying out his mission. If we attack now, the mission will be a failure.¡±

    Kong Cheng coldly harrumphed, ¡°The mission is Shi Mingfeng¡¯s, not mine. It might not be a bad thing for my brother-inw if it fails. In any case, we only found out about Kapius¡¯s secret stashes from hearsay. If the Zhu n can¡¯t even find it, why does Shi Mingfeng think that he can? I¡¯m willing to give up on these illusory benefits and riches in exchange for an opportunity to carry out my revenge!¡±

    Qi Shenyuan was speechless. He could only nod and agree.

    He walked in the opposite direction.

    At the same time.

    Within the room that held You Tianyang captive.

    You Tianyang¡¯s body suddenly began to tremble.

    His formerly pale white body had taken on a red color, and sweat steamed off of his body. If someone were to feel his forehead, they would find that it was shockingly hot.

    You Tianyang continued to emanate a steamy fog, from which strange shapes began to appear. Faint sounds of fighting and yelling could be hearding from the fog.

    The noiseing from the fog finally attracted the attention of those outside. One of the Immortal Temple¡¯s members shoved open the door. ¡°What the hell are you doing?¡±

    However, he froze momentarily when he saw You Tianyang. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    He walked over to take a look at You Tianyang and flipped him over.

    You Tianyang¡¯s eyes suddenly snapped open. ck whirlpools churned in the depths of his irises, causing that person to stop in his tracks. An instantter, You Tianyang leapt to his feet and bit the Immortal Temple Member¡¯s throat.

    ¡°AH-¡± That person was only able to get out half of a scream before his voice was cut off.

    Upon hearing themotion, everyone outside rushed over. They found You Tianyang and that person locked in an embrace, as if they were passionate lovers.

    An instantter, however, the scene quickly turned grisly.

    You Tianyang slowly lifted his head, revealing a face and lips streaked with scarlet.

    ¡°Not good!¡± everyone yelled simultaneously.

    You Tianyang chuckled. An image of a massive, sinister creature appeared behind his back, howling at everyone present.

    ¡°AWOO!¡±

    A shocking pressure began to build up, revolving throughout the room and forming arge whirlpool of energy. The Immortal Temple members in the room had no way of dodging and were sucked in by the attack.

    At the same time, You Tianyang leapt into the air, unleashing a palm strike at one of the subordinates

    His attack was simple and direct, but it carried an aura that threatened to wipe out everything. It mmed into that person and shattered every bone in his body, killing him on the spot.

    You Tianyang didn¡¯t stop and continue to charge forwards, rushing with a violent intensity.

    He was very clear about his current circumstances ¡ª even though his bloodline had just awakened, it was still in its preliminary stages. He was far from being able to wipe out everyone present, so his immediate objective was to escape as soon as possible!

    As such, he charged forward unrelentingly after his attacknded.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let him get away!¡± The people from the Immortal Temple knew what letting You Tianyang escape entailed.

    There were two people standing outside the room on guard who ran over as well when they heard themotion.

    Unfortunately, they were one step toote, and their reactions were toote as well.

    You Tianyang was charging forward like an enraged bull. He charged right through the wall, churning up a cloud of dust. With two bangs, the two Immortal Temple guards were sent flying. You Tianyang shot right past them, the Pig Dragon Bloodline Image behind him growingrger.

    He might be a bitcking in courage, but he wasn¡¯t an idiot.

    Even while escaping, he didn¡¯t forget to make amotion. If Zhu Xianyao saw this, she would immediately realize that something had happened to him, and Su Chen would have a hard time continuing pretending to be him.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 24: A Sudden Storm

    ¡°AWOO!¡±

    A massive howl thundered out.

    Within West Laina Castle.

    Zhu Xianyao felt her heart tremble when she heard that noise.

    Then, Zhu Xianyao did something.

    She leapt to her feet and bolted out of her room through the window, floating through the air until shended gently atop the wall. Her eyes pulsated with a strange light as she stared off into the distance.

    She clearly saw a fierce-looking beast churning up a cloud of dust behind it.

    ¡°The Pig Dragon! It¡¯s really the Pig Dragon! He really awakened it at this moment,¡± Zhu Xianyao yelled in surprise.

    ¡°Young Miss!¡± Zhao Jingwen also charged over, along with Ba Lieyuan, Culler, and a few other Sand Race and Zhu n elites. Evidently, they had also seen themotion caused by You Tianyang¡¯s explosion of strength.

    ¡°It¡¯s Tianyang! Something¡¯s happened to him,¡± Zhu Xianyao yelled.

    The rising cloud of dust and the enraged howl of a Demonic Emperor Bloodline meant that You Tianyang had unleashed his energy to its limit and was running at high speeds. Normally, this could only mean one thing ¡ª he was running away as fast as he could.

    ¡°Go, save Tianyang!¡± Zhu Xianyao yelled.

    ¡°Yes!¡± everyone agreed at the same time.

    They didn¡¯t wait for the doors of the castle to open and leapt off of the castle walls, charging straight into town.

    Su Chen and Shi Mingfeng heard themotion at the same time.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± The two of them turned around simultaneously.

    A thick cloud of dust billowed behind him.

    It seemed as if it wasing from their own residence.

    The ferocious howl was enough to put an immense pressure on a person¡¯s heart. Even Shi Mingfeng felt his heart tremble slightly in response.

    ¡°Something¡¯s wrong,¡± he said.

    Even though he couldn¡¯t confirm that themotion wasing from their residence, Shi Mingfeng could feel a threat looming towards them.

    ¡°You go and take a look. I¡¯m going to return to West Laina Castle first,¡± Su Chen said decisively. ¡°If there is something wrong, let me know immediately.¡±

    ¡°Gotcha!¡± Shi Mingfeng nodded in response.

    They wasted no time arguing. Shi Mingfeng ran in the direction of themotion, while Su Chen hurried along back to the castle.

    The dust was still billowing off in the distance and was clearly heading towards West Laina Castle at high speeds. The formless entity within the cloud of dust came closer and closer to Su Chen.

    As the cloud of dust drew closer and closer, Su Chen could faintly make out a massive illusory image in the middle of it.

    ¡°That¡¯s......¡± Su Chen¡¯s eyes widened, his gaze growing more and more intense.

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± Shi Mingfeng¡¯s voice barked from next to his ear. ¡°It¡¯s You Tianyang! He¡¯s awoken his bloodline!¡±

    ¡°I saw,¡± Su Chen replied in a low voice.

    Yes, he had seen it.

    Even though he had never seen the Large-Bellied Pig Dragon before, its bloated pig¡¯s body and fierce dragon head, as well as the overbearing aura it gave off, were all indicative of the frighteningly powerful Demonic Emperor Large-Bellied Pig Dragon.

    Its figure prevented it from making any agile movements, but it was a beast that specialized inbat. In terms ofbat prowess, its power was quite a bit above that of the Slyheart Demonic Emperor.

    And now, You Tianyang had awakened that bloodline of his.

    ¡°That bunch of trash let him get away! They¡¯ve made a hugemotion now, and the people at the castle have definitely noticed. Su Chen, you cannot go back. The n has failed; we¡¯re retreating immediately!¡± Shi Mingfeng yelled.

    ¡°Do you always give up that easily?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Then what other good ideas do you have?¡± Su Chen was about to drive Shi Mingfeng crazy. Even at this moment, he refused to give up.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have any ideas right now, but I¡¯m thinking. I¡¯m not used to giving up until thest moment,¡± Su Chen said as he stared at the oing cloud of dust.

    He was very fast!

    Su Chen knew that he was out of time. Even though he wasn¡¯t willing for it to be so, it seemed like this mission really was going to be a failure.

    What a pity for He Xu. He had suffered so much, but Su Chen hadn¡¯t been able to get him out in the end.

    He nced at his surroundings and was just about to retreat when he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

    Not far away from him, a person wearing a wide-brimmed bamboo hat was standing.

    Feng Xihuo?

    Su Chen felt his heart jolt. He swept his gaze to the woven grass shoes his opponent was wearing, then turned around, as if he hadn¡¯t noticed anything. However, the waves of turmoil in his heart were already beginning to surge.

    He knew that Feng Xihuo was definitely here to deal with him.

    At that exact moment, an idea suddenly shed through his mind.

    He walked forwards. The bamboo-hat-wearing person followed closely behind.

    Su Chen increased the speed of his footsteps, and his pursuer followed suit.

    At this moment, the cloud of dust was already extremely close. Su Chen continued to speed up. Just as that cloud of dust shot into the small alleyway, Su Chen suddenly shot forward, diving into the alley from the other end.

    As he disappeared, Su Chen¡¯s figure and appearance began to change.

    Before entering the alleyway, he still looked like You Tianyang. After entering, he took on the appearance of amon person. He rolled to the side, escaping into a nearby home.

    As soon as Su Chen sped up, Feng Xihuo immediately realized that the situation was not good.

    His target had discovered him and was trying to escape!

    If his target had been a Light Shaking Realm expert, he would have attempted to escape as soon as he was discovered.

    But Su Chen was only in the Yang Opening Realm. He did not believe that he would lose in a fight.

    More importantly, he had the utmost faith in his own speed!

    No one had ever been able to catch him before.

    Even if he failed, he could still run away.

    This was why he didn¡¯t hesitate in the slightest and continued to pursue after Su Chen.

    He boosted his speed to its greatest extent and shot into the alleyway at the speed of light.

    He was so fast that the gap between them was closed in an instant. Even though Su Chen had entered the alleyway before him, he had only disappeared in Feng Xihuo¡¯s eyes for just a brief moment, almost in the blink of an eye.

    However, he didn¡¯t expect that everything would change in just this blink of an eye.

    What greeted him was a totally empty alleyway.

    There was nothing there. Feng Xihuo was at a bit of a loss.

    Where¡¯d he go?

    An instantter, he saw a massive person charging in his direction like an enraged bull.

    ¡°Su Chen?¡± Upon seeing that fat-faced, big-eared target of his, Feng Xihouughed.

    If he had the time to think things through, he would have realized that something was off about this ¡°Su Chen¡±. First of all, his positioning wasn¡¯t right ¡ª how had he gotten so far away in just the blink of an eye? Was Su Chen faster than himself? The aura he exuded was totally off as well ¡ª the cloud of dust in his wake and the illusory bloodline image were both still there and didn¡¯t seem like they could have been conjured by Su Chen. Finally, the direction he was facing was wrong. Su Chen had discovered him, but instead of running he was acting like he was going to go all out? Even if you wanted to go all out, you didn¡¯t have to run that far away first, did you?

    In any case, there were many details wrong about this ¡°Su Chen¡±.

    However, Feng Xihuo didn¡¯t discover notice of them.

    That was because he didn¡¯t have time.

    He had no time to think things over and analyze them.

    The moment he first saw You Tianyang, his opponent was still far away. One blink and You Tianyang was already in the middle of the alleyway. Another blink and You Tianyang was already pressing on him.

    You Tianyang¡¯s charge was so fast and fierce, threatening to bulldoze anything that was in his way, that Feng Xihuo had no choice but to attack. Otherwise, he would be ttened first by the opponent.

    He instinctively believed that this was one of his opponent¡¯s tactics or some kind of special Origin Skill that needed to be activated over a certain distance. Su Chen had just been waiting for him to fall for the trap.

    That was why he attacked.

    He drew his de!

    A dazzling light shone across the surface of the de.

    Shattering Moon Strike!

 Book 4: Near Blood - 25: Substitution

    You Tianyang was extremely happy as he ran away.

    This happiness and excitement came from the newfound strength that he now possessed.

    Even though he was running for his life, he felt the bliss of being able to release all the power in his body.

    At the same time, he was spending a lot of energy to run.

    This was for the sake of his freedom, for his right to live on.

    He was so caught up in the excitement and bliss of running that he waspletely caught unawares when another person appeared in front of him, blocking his path forward.

    He waspletely caught off-guard by the surge of de light.

    He didn¡¯t even have time to slow down as he rushed forward to impale himself.

    Running to greet the glowing de, to embrace the killing intent washing over him.

    In that instant, a single thought shed across You Tianyang¡¯s brain.

    Am I going to die?

    What a joke! I just awakened my bloodline power, but now I¡¯m about to be killed.

    He hadn¡¯t even finished that train of thought when he suddenly saw that de pause in mid-swing.

    The de¡¯s momentum was halted, as if something was stopping it in ce.

    This halting gave You Tianyang an opportunity.

    He finally came to his senses.

    Just as the de was about to collide with his body, a powerful burst of energy suddenly surged from You Tianyang¡¯s body. Every muscle he had flexed simultaneously, causing his skin to be as hard as steel.

    At the same time, the de stabbed into You Tianyang, prating his body.

    Crunch, crunch!

    The sound was like that of metal being crushed.

    Next, a powerful wave of energy exploded within You Tianyang¡¯s body.

    Boom!

    You Tianyang was sent flying.

    But as he was flew into the air, he opened his mouth and let out a howl. A torrent of energy surged from his mouth and mmed into Feng Xihuo, who cried out in pain.

    He spat out a mouthful of blood and retreated.

    But just as he began to retreat, the door of one of the nearby residences shattered. A sharp de swung through the air, chopping at Feng Xihuo¡¯s midsection.

    This attack was so vicious and sudden that it seemed like Feng Xihuo wasn¡¯t going to be able to dodge. However, he let out a strange yell, and his figure twisted strangely as he shot straight up into the sky.

    The Mountain Beheading de followed him upwards, seeking to draw blood.

    Feng Xihuo dodged again. He took a number of steps in midair, causing the Mountain Beheading de which threatened to cleave him in two to narrowly whizz past him. An instantter, however, a wave of ck mes surrounded Feng Xihuo and pressed in on him.

    Feng Xihuo rapidly changed directions for the third time, this time shooting straight towards the ground. The ck mes singed his hair but didn¡¯t harm him at all.

    Feng Xihuo rolled as soon as hended, drawing his de and swinging it in one fluid motion at his opponent as he retreated simultaneously.

    Even though that move of his seemed simple, it was a sequence that he was incredibly proud of. Now that he had used all these skills in rapid session, he wouldn¡¯t be able to use them again for a time, so his main goal with this de strike wasn¡¯t to inflict any major harm but to force his opponent to retreat.

    However, the greatest benefit of ambushing someone was that you could prepare yourself.

    You could make very thorough preparations!

    Su Chen charged forwards without stopping, allowing Feng Xihuo¡¯s de strike tond on his body.

    The Moon-Shattering de destroyed his Meg¡¯s Guardians and prated his Arcana Heavy Armor but was stopped by the Thread Coral Robe and Adamantine Battle Body.

    The Mountain Beheading de¡¯s edge once again descended, and a mountain-cleaving momentum descended once again.

    Feng Xihuo still had tricks up his sleeve.

    A red light shone on his body, allowing him to block the Mountain-Beheading de. Even though it had only protected him against this single fatal blow, Feng Xihuo had still managed to hold on for one more exchange of moves.

    Feng Xihuo retreated once again.

    He was so fast that by the time Su Chen took one step forward, he had already taken three back.

    The distance between them was pulled apart once again.

    An instantter, however, Su Chen opened his eyes wide, letting off an intense light from them. Feng Xihuo was immediately frozen in ce.

    Su Chen took advantage of the opportunity to charge forward again. The Mountain Beheading de descended once again.

    Whoosh!

    The streak of de light narrowly missed.

    Feng Xihuo¡¯s body shattered into millions of dots of light. At the same time, another figure leapt into the air on the other side of the alleyway. It was Feng Xihuo.

    This person had a shocking number of escape techniques. Even under these kinds of circumstances, he was able to get away.

    Upon seeing that Feng Xihuo was just about to leave the alleyway, Su Chen¡¯s figure swayed slightly before he reappeared right next to Feng Xihuo and struck out with his de.

    This time, Feng Xihuo had no way of dodging.

    ¡°AHH!¡±

    Following this tragic cry, an arm flew through the air.

    Blood sprayed everywhere.

    Feng Xihuo didn¡¯t slow down; rather, he sped up, as if the pain gave him even more strength.

    ¡°I¡¯ll remember you!¡± he cried out as he charged out of the alleyway and disappeared without a trace.

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to remember me.¡± Su Chen raised his Mountain-Beheading de. The de suddenly expanded and carved through the nearby wall. ¡°Because you¡¯re about to die.¡±

    Pu!

    Feng Xihuo¡¯s body was bisected. His lower half took a few steps forward before it fell onto the ground.

    Su Chen reached out and gave the wall a push before it copsed.

    Su Chen walked over.

    ¡°You...... how did you...... know...... I......¡± Feng Xihuo said as blood burbled from his mouth.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have said anything. My hearing is very good. As soon as you spoke, I knew that you hadn¡¯t gone far; instead, you had doubled back as soon as you left the alley and was standing on the other side of the wall. This is the only way you could immediately disappeare after leaving the alleyway...... Don¡¯t forget that that¡¯s how I disappeared on you as well.¡±

    ¡°I was...... too clever...... for my own...... good!¡± Feng Xihuo¡¯s head sagged as he died.

    Staring at his corpse, Su Chen said, ¡°Even if you ran as fast as you could, I wouldn¡¯t have let you get away.¡±

    With the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle, how could he let Feng Xihuo escape?

    However, this person¡¯s ability to get out of tricky situations was really quite something. No wonder Yue Longsha and the others couldn¡¯t do anything to him.

    He turned around to look and found You Tianyang still lying on the ground.

    Su Chen ran over to inspect him. He confirmed that You Tianyang wasn¡¯t dead yet, though he was very close.

    Su Chenughed, ¡°You¡¯re lucky to have run into me here, but you¡¯re also quite unlucky.¡±

    He pulled out a vial of medicine and gave it to You Tianyang to drink.

    After doing this, Su Chen thought for a moment, then pulled out a de and put it in his hands. He moved Feng Xihuo¡¯s corpse over to the side so that it seemed like the two of them had fought a battle to the death before he turned around and left.

    Because he was in a hurry, he had made a lot of mistakes. However, Zhu Xianyao and the others weren¡¯t professionals and probably wouldn¡¯t notice.

    Su Chen had just left when Zhu Xianyao ran over behind them.

    When she saw You Tianyang lying on the ground, she yelled, ¡°Tianyang!¡±

    She ran over to him and hugged him tightly.

    ¡°Young Master!¡± Ba Lieyuan howled as he charged over. ¡°Who was the one who injured you? Tell me!¡±

    Unfortunately, You Tianyang was unconscious. How could he respond?

    Zhu Xianyao shoved him aside. ¡°If you keep shaking him like that, you¡¯ll shake him to death! Jingwen, hurry and take him back. Right now, only Old Ye can save him.¡±

    Zhao Jingwen walked over and picked You Tianyang up.

    ¡°Do you know who did this?¡± Culler asked as he approached.

    ¡°We¡¯re not sure yet.¡± Zhu Xianyao nced at Feng Xihuo, but unfortunately Su Chen had bashed his face in, making it impossible to determine that person¡¯s identity. ¡°It seems like they should be rted to the group of people who tried to assassinate us earlier.¡±

    Culler said darkly, ¡°No matter where these people are from, they must pay a price if they are willing to stir up trouble in the Sand Race¡¯s territory. Leave it to me, Young Miss. I will definitely find the bastards who did this.¡±

    ¡°May it be so.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao stared at You Tianyang, worry written all over her face.

    If she had been suspicious of You Tianyang at one point, all her suspicions had been wiped out now by the traces of his bloodline that still lingered.

    Right now, all she cared about was whether or not You Tianyang¡¯s life could still be saved.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 26: Passing Fish Eyes Off as Pearls

    Zhu Xianyao hurried back with You Tianyang, her expression extremely solemn.

    The alley wasn¡¯t far from the castle, but this short distance was going to be fraught with danger.

    They had just gotten out of the alleyway when the first attack struck.

    Whoosh!

    A streak of snowy light shed through the air, piercing towards Zhu Xianyao.

    At the same time, a shrill metallic shriek rang through the air; it was an arrow flying right at Zhu Xianyao.

    ¡°It¡¯s them!¡± Zhu Xianyao yelled.

    It was the people who had tried to assassinate Zhu Xianyao earlier in the castle.

    As expected, they hadn¡¯t left yet.

    As expected, they hadn¡¯t given up yet!

    As expected, they chose this moment to attack. At this critical moment, they were going straight for the jugr!

    The de descended with an astonishing killing intent towards Zhu Xianyao¡¯s arm.

    If that strikended, she would be dead for sure.

    Even so, at this moment, Zhu Xianyao suddenly stopped in ce.

    She raised her hand and pointed off towards the side.

    The de light froze in ce, as if time had suddenly stopped.

    Cracks began to appear in the air.

    They began to spread outwards radially like a spiderweb.

    The de strike was frigid; it was fierce; it was sharp; it was austere.

    However, this powerful de strike seemed frozen in time, as if it were stopped by an invisible force. All it could do was shine brilliantly in front of Zhu Xianyao¡¯s body.

    Zhu Xianyao even said, ¡°You¡¯ve alreadye for me twice. Did you think I wouldn¡¯t be prepared?¡±

    She jabbed her finger out again.

    It prated the spiderweb, causing a brilliant light to burst forth.

    Heavenly Fox Finger!

    The assant hiding in the dark let out a shrill screech that was abruptly cut off. A person¡¯s figure arced through the air as blood sprayed everywhere.

    From beginning to end, Zhu Xianyao had totally ignored the arrow that was shot at her.

    The arrow hade at her from the front.

    It was released second but arrived first, approaching Zhu Xianyao even faster than the initial de strike had.

    However, it also had no way to advance.

    That was because Zhao Jingwen acted.

    As soon as the arrow appeared, Zhao Jingwen moved to intercept it, piercing forwards with his Cloud-Sundering Spear. The tip of the spear then mmed into the arrow with extreme precision.

    Just as that arrow was about to collide with the spear, another small arrow shot was spat out from the first arrow towards Zhao Jingwen¡¯s forehead.

    Zhao Jingwen ignored it and continued to jab forwards. Therger arrow shattered, but the small arrow continued to fly forwards.

    Zhao Jingwen opened his mouth and caught the arrow between his teeth.

    Then, he charged forwards.

    The people ambushing them had fired the arrow four hundred feet away, which was quite the distance. However, Zhao Jingwen only took three strides, covering fifty feet with the first, a hundred fifty with the second, and reaching the archer with the third. The long spear in his hand jabbed forwards again at the archer¡¯s head.

    The archer hurriedly retreated, drawing the bow tight in his hands and unleashing another arrow. Zhao Jingwen opened his mouth and spat out the small arrow, which collided with the other arrow. The archer retreated again, with Zhao Jingwen in hot pursuit. The Cloud-Sundering Spear jabbed forth repeatedly, lightning-fast and leaving behind thousands of afterimages. Each strike was more powerful than thest, until the bow finally shattered, and seven or eight bloody holes appeared on the archer¡¯s chest as blood poured out from his wounds.

    At the same time, Culler and Ba Lieyuan attacked, but they approached from the left side and from behind, respectively.

    Tens of assassins came pouring out from behind walls and out through windows and doors, charging at the small group. Their strength was only so-so, but they were incredibly courageous, and their weapons were all dipped in poison. Even the tiniest wound could cause the poison to take effect and kill its target.

    However, the Zhu n and the Sand Race individuals were prepared.

    Sand began to fly through the air as the Sand Race soldiers simultaneously exerted their control over it, formingrge walls of sand that obscured eyesight and decreased speed.

    Ba Lieyuan howled madly and mmed the ground with his fists. An intense wave of mes spurted forth from the ground, leaping towards the oing assassins.

    The Zhu n¡¯s guards all joined in on the fray, keeping the assassins at bay.

    Even as her strike connected, Zhu Xianyao muttered to herself, ¡°Lightning de and Heartless Arrow? They¡¯re from the Temple of No Return.¡±

    Like the Immortal Temple, the Temple of No Return was also a well-known assassin organization; the only difference was that the former could be found all over human-owned territory, while thetter only operated in Long Sang Country. Whether it was in terms of influence or status, they were vastly inferior in both to the Immortal Temple.

    Apparently, every assassin from the Temple of No Return had a special kind of medicine that they would take before a battle. If they failed, they would die. Only the most elite assassins would be allowed to retreat if they weren¡¯t able to aplish their mission.

    The de-wielding assassin was obviously one of these elites ¡ª upon seeing that his strike was ineffective, he immediately retreated.

    Zhao Jingwen wanted to chase him, but he saw a few ck orbs fly at them and explode amongst the small group, causing dense ck smoke plumes to encircle them.

    ¡°Don¡¯t chase after them!¡± Zhu Xianyao yelled. ¡°Everyone stay on guard!¡±

    Gradually, the mor of fighting calmed down. When the ck fog had dissipated, they were greeted by the sight of the ground littered with corpses.

    Most of them were the Temple of No Return¡¯s assassins.

    The true mission of these assassins wasn¡¯t to kill but rather to protect the retreat of the two elite assassins. Only after those two had sessfully escaped would they be allowed to retreat. Even though the battle had onlysted a short time, it had still left behind quite a few corpses.

    ¡°Is everyone alright?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked.

    ¡°We¡¯re alright, but Yuan Gang¡¯s leg was injured,¡± one of the guards replied.

    Zhu Xianyao walked over to the guard called Yuan Gang, inspected his leg, then said, ¡°It seems like the wound isn¡¯t too serious. Feng Yun, help him back to the castle.¡±

    Yuan Gang stood up with some effort and said, ¡°Many thanks for the Young Miss¡¯s concern, but I can walk myself and don¡¯t need anyone to support me.¡±

    As he spoke, he pushed aside Feng Yun, who hade to support him.

    Feng Yun said helplessly, ¡°Brother, why put on such a tough front? Don¡¯t slow everyone else down because of your pride.¡±

    Yuan Gang said, ¡°I know. You guys just go on; there¡¯s no need to wait for me. It¡¯s only my leg that¡¯s been wounded. I¡¯ll get there eventually even if it takes me a bit longer.¡±

    ¡°What are you saying? We¡¯re all brothers. How could we leave you here?¡±

    However, Yuan Gang¡¯s expression sank. ¡°What are you saying? Everyone is here to protect Young Miss, and guaranteeing her safety is the number one priority. What is my life worth? Why burden yourselves with me? Right now, Prince You is injured and people are trying to ambush the Young Miss, so what are you doing messing around here? I¡¯m just a lowly guard. Who would try and assassinate me?¡±

    Everyone was momentarily stunned by what he said, but they agreed that it made sense and everyone nced at Zhu Xianyao.

    Zhu Xianyao saw Yuan Gang¡¯s resolute attitude and knew that she wouldn¡¯t be able to convince him otherwise, so she nodded. ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll leave first and take Tianyang to see Old Ye.¡±

    Everyone began to run towards the ancient castle.

    As he watched them leave, Yuan Gang¡¯s expression suddenly flickered strangely.

    He took a few step backwards, then entered a nearby dumpling store that had been half-destroyed and picked up a few of the boards lying on the ground. Underneath those boards was an unconscious Yuan Gang.

    The one who was still conscious was obviously Su Chen.

    Su Chen spoke into the transmission Origin Tool, ¡°The goods are underneath the dumpling store¡¯s floorboards. Take good care of it for me; don¡¯t make things hard for me again.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll be right there,¡± Shi Mingfeng¡¯s voice came through from the other end. ¡°You¡¯re quite lucky to find another opportunity to get back in after leaving.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the ones who are lucky. I was originally nning on letting your men charge forward on a suicide mission to cover my tracks,¡± Su Chenughed.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 27: Banishmen

    t

    By the time Su Chen arrived back at West Laina Castle, You Tianyang was already being treated by Old Ye.

    Old Ye was the old man who had followed Zhu Xianyao here. Even though he seemed ancient, he was quite agood doctor.

    But no matter how good his medical skill was, he couldn¡¯t figure out how to neutralize the Soul Suspension Medicine that Su Chen had given You Tianyang. The Soul Suspension Medicine was one of Su Chen¡¯s personal inventions, and its effect was to preserve the consumer¡¯s lifeforce for a time but with the side effect of forcing them into aatose state, from which one would need at least three days to recover. It wasn¡¯t a recovery mechanism, however ¡ª it was just a way to dy for three days. After three days, what was originally going to happen would still happen, so it didn¡¯t really have much use. Su Chen had synthesized this medicinepletely by ident while researching some bloodlines. He had quite a few ¡°failed inventions¡± like this lying around.

    After being ambushed by Wang Zhanyu, Su Chen had kept a few special medicines on him at all times. Indeed, it hade in handy now.

    Three days was enough for Su Chen to do a lot of things.

    Because everyone was worried about You Tianyang at the moment, Su Chen immediately headed for the dungeons .

    Within the dungeons, He Xu was sitting there listlessly. Zhao Jingwen¡¯s men hadn¡¯t spared He Xu from their interrogation. While Su Chen had managed to preserve his life, he wasn¡¯t spared from the physical torment.

    When he saw Su Chen, He Xu only blinked once before returning to his dazed state.

    Su Chen walked over and said, ¡°It¡¯s me.¡±

    He Xu jumped a bit when he heard this voice, then sat up. ¡°Why did you put on a new face?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t bring it up. You Tianyang managed to escape.¡± Su Chen exined what had happened earlier.

    Upon hearing that You Tianyang¡¯s bloodline had awakened, He Xu was also stunned. ¡°What a pain in the ass. His bloodline had actually awakened at this moment?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s some benefits as well, one of which is that all suspicion on You Tianyang is now gone,¡± Su Chen replied.

    He Xu understood what he was getting at. ¡°You want to try and be You Tianyang again?¡±

    ¡°Bing You Tianyang has more benefits than being a guard. I can hear a lot more secrets. If we want to obtain Kapius¡¯s secret stores, we cannot get too far from Zhu Xianyao,¡± Su Chen said with a slightugh.

    ¡°How are you nning on doing that?¡±

    ¡°I need your help......¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Castle Garrison.

    In a house near the east side of the city, Shi Mingfeng stared at Qi Shenyuan, his expression grim.

    ¡°When You Tianyang awakened his bloodline, where did you go?¡±

    Qi Shenyuan replied, ¡°I went out for a walk.¡±

    ¡°You went out for a walk? It¡¯s because you went out for a walk that You Tianyang was able to escape, and even kill a bunch of our members!¡± Shi Mingfeng barked.

    Qi Shenyuan¡¯s expression sank. ¡°I am not your subordinate. I¡¯m only here to protect Kong Cheng. What happens to your people is none of my concern.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Then how do you exin the person who tried to assassinate Su Chen? Did you think I wouldn¡¯t recognize him? That was Feng Xihuo! What the hell is Feng Xihuo doing here? And he even tried to assassinate Su Chen.¡±

    ¡°His target was You Tianyang,¡± Kong Cheng interjected.

    ¡°Bull!¡± Shi Mingfeng cursed. ¡°Do you think I¡¯m an idiot?¡±

    Kong Cheng jutted his chin out arrogantly, ¡°Shi Mingfeng, don¡¯t y games with me. Even if Feng Xihuo was trying to assassinate Su Chen, what does that have to do with me? What basis do you have to pin this on me? If you don¡¯t have the evidence to back it up, don¡¯t spout such nonsense!¡±

    Shi Mingfeng was just about to say something when he had a nagging feeling. He said, ¡°You stay here. I¡¯m going out for a bit. When Ie back, we¡¯ll resume this conversation.¡±

    Once he finished speaking, he left the room.

    As soon as he left, Shi Mingfeng activated his transmission Origin Tool. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°I need your help with something......¡±

    A short whileter, Shi Mingfeng terminated the connection.

    He returned to the room. When he looked at Kong Cheng again, his anger had subsided substantially.

    With a slight smile, he said, ¡°Prince Kong is right. I have no reason to pin Feng Xihuo¡¯s actions on you. As for You Tianyang¡¯s escape, it was my people who didn¡¯t keep an eye on them, so it obviously isn¡¯t Old Qi¡¯s fault.¡±

    His tone had changed so suddenly that even Kong Cheng and Qi Shenyuan didn¡¯t know how to react.

    Shi Mingfeng continued, ¡°However, Old Qi, just as you said, you came here only to protect Young Kong, and not to help us. As such, there really isn¡¯t much point in you continuing to stay with us.¡±

    Qi Shenyuan squinted his eyes. ¡°What are you trying to say?¡±

    ¡°Not much, just that we have different goals. Since I cannotmand your Young Master Kong and you are not under my authority, we should part ways here.¡±

    Kong Cheng mmed the table and stood up. ¡°Shi Mingfeng, what are you trying to say? Are you kicking me out of the operation?¡±

    Shi Mingfeng sighed, ¡°Kong Cheng, you can refuse to admit that you were the one who sent Feng Xihuo, but you and I both know in our hearts what the crux of the matter is. You can refuse to confess, but one thing you must admit is that you were never interested in Kapius¡¯s secret stores, right?¡±

    Kong Cheng stared at Shi Mingfeng with a slight smile. ¡°So what?¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re willing to cooperate, then you can stay. Otherwise, we will part ways,¡± Shi Mingfeng said.

    He was officially kicking them out now.

    ¡°And what if I don¡¯t leave?¡± Kong Cheng countered.

    Shi Mingfeng replied, ¡°Then I¡¯ll kill you.¡±

    Kong Cheng¡¯s expression changed drastically. ¡°You dare!¡±

    ¡°Try me. If you¡¯re willing to die, then I¡¯m willing to send you on your way!¡± Shi Mingfeng said without any trace of politeness.

    The two of them were ready to go at each other.

    It was Qi Shenyuan who said, ¡°Forget about it, Young Master Kong. There¡¯s no point in continuing to resist.¡±

    He shook his head at Kong Cheng.

    If Shi Mingfeng had said this much, then he could obviously no longer bear with them. If they continued to stay, they would only force Shi Mingfeng to try and kill them. There was no point.

    When he heard Qi Shenyuan say this, Kong Cheng resentfully said, ¡°Fine. We¡¯ll go! We¡¯ll see who ends up getting thestugh.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng said, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then Young Master Kong, please sign this statement that you are leaving our group.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng pulled out a document as he spoke.

    Kong Cheng knew that this was mandatory procedure and could only sign it.

    Once the agreement was signed, Shi Mingfeng said with a smile, ¡°Alright, then from now on Young Master Kong is not my responsibility anymore. From today onwards, you can do whatever you want to do. It has nothing to do with us.¡±

    Kong Cheng harrumphed and turned around to leave.

    Shi Mingfeng said, ¡°Since I am the one who is forcing us to separate, then I cannot make more trouble for you. You may stay here; we should be the ones leaving.

    As he spoke, he walked out of the room.

    Upon exiting, Shi Mingfeng walked a bit further, then pulled out his transmission Origin Tool and said, ¡°It¡¯s a sess.¡±

    When he received the news, Su Chen smiled slightly.

    He walked over to the kitchen. ¡°For tonight¡¯s meal being sent to the dungeon, add a chicken leg. Tell him that his time is up.

    ¡°Yes sir!¡±

    That night.

    An old man carried a te of food into the dungeon and ced it in front of He Xu. Consider yourself lucky. You get an extra chicken leg tonight. This time next year will be your day of remembrance. Eat more so that you¡¯ll have strength for the journey.¡±

    He Xu nced at the chicken leg and couldn¡¯t help but smile.

    He diligently devoured the entire chicken leg until not a single scrap of meat was left, then grabbed onto the cell bars and yelled, ¡°I¡¯ll talk...... I¡¯ll talk...... I¡¯ll tell you everything you want to know!¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 28: Stab Me

    ¡°They¡¯re in 42 Old Duck Street,¡± He Xu said, exhausted. They were still sitting in the dungeon.

    ¡°Howe you¡¯re willing to speak now?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked.

    She hadn¡¯t let down her guard just because He Xu was now suddenly willing to cooperate.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to die,¡± He Xu replied straightforwardly.

    ¡°You don¡¯t want to die? Do you think that anything you can say now will have any value? You¡¯ve been gone for so long now that anyone who has half a brain should realize that you¡¯ve fallen into my hands. Even if you weren¡¯t in my hands, those assassins have already failed twice ¡ª there¡¯s no way they would stay holed up in the same ce if they don¡¯t want to be detected. What¡¯s the point of giving me that address now?¡±

    ¡°Of course there¡¯s a point. That¡¯s an important secret rendezvous point that they didn¡¯t tell me about. I found out about it on ident. This is the biggest secret I know. Can¡¯t you tell if I¡¯m lying or not? You figure it out!¡± He Xu yelled.

    He Xu was really putting on quite the performance.

    Zhu Xianyao carefully inspected He Xu and found that there weren¡¯t any strange fluctuations. She nodded and said, ¡°He isn¡¯t lying.¡±

    She stood up. ¡°Inform the others to get ready to immediately depart.¡±

    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am!¡± Zhao Jingwen said before leaving.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Young Miss, since this person has told us everything he knows, should we......¡±

    He made a swift chopping motion with his hand.

    He Xu panicked. ¡°No, no, you promised me that you wouldn¡¯t kill me if I told you!¡±

    ¡°Shut your mouth!¡± Su Chen grabbed He Xu by the throat. It seemed as if a single word from Zhu Xianyao would be enough to end his life.

    Zhu Xianyao thought for a moment, then shook her head. ¡°Forget about it. Leave him here for now. Who knows, he might still be useful to us in the future.¡±

    ¡°Count your lucky stars.¡± Su Chen grabbed He Xu by the cor and dragged him back to his cell.

    However, he could only sigh in his heart.

    If Zhu Xianyao had agreed to kill him, He Xu would have obtained his freedom. Su Chen had already given He Xu a Death Faking Medicine; as long as Zhu Xianyao gave the order, he would immediately ¡°kill¡± He Xu, then dump his body. The people on the outside woulde by to pick him up and He Xu would be free. He had spent quite a bit of time gathering the ingredients for this medicine these past few days to refine it.

    Unfortunately, Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t want to kill him, so this Death Faking Medicine hadpletely gone to waste.

    ¡°That¡¯s your bad luck.¡± He dragged He Xu towards the cell.

    ¡°Then what should I do next?¡± He Xu was growing agitated.

    ¡°Stay here for a bit. I¡¯ll get you out of here.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what you saidst time, but I¡¯m still here!¡±

    ¡°So you think that I¡¯m useless? Don¡¯t worry, I can switch with someone else.¡±

    ¡°......That¡¯s not what I meant,¡± He Xu muttered.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± As he spoke, Su Chen shoved He Xu back into the cell.

    Then, he pulled out an Origin Ring. ¡°Don¡¯t me me for not giving you an opportunity. This is your Origin Ring. Everything is still in there, along with a few vials of medicine I put in there. Now that you have it, whether or not you escape will depend on your own ability. But don¡¯t do it today. You just drank the Death Faking Medicine; even if you won¡¯t be injured, you¡¯ll automatically fall asleep soon anyways.

    He Xu grabbed it, then looked at himself and said with some apprehension, ¡°Where should I hide it?¡±

    Su Chen shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s your own problem.¡±

    He definitely wouldn¡¯t be able to wear it on his finger. He Xu nced himself over once before his gaze paused near his crotch.

    Su Chen smiled slightly.

    He Xu swallowed hard. ¡°You thought of this beforehand, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t tell anyone.¡±

    He Xu rolled his eyes.

    He began to stuff it in his pants. When he saw Su Chen standing there, he said impatiently, ¡°Why aren¡¯t you leaving yet?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen anyone put a ring on that thing before,¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°Of course, the other reason is that I need to dy a bit. Zhu Xianyao is currently organizing the troops up there; if I dy a bit, I¡¯ll be able to avoid the expedition this time.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going to remain in the castle? Aren¡¯t you going to go deal with those guys that tried to assassinate you?¡± He Xu was stunned.

    Su Chen waved his hand dismissively. ¡°I still need to turn back into You Tianyang.¡±

    ¡°......You really have thought everything through.¡± He Xu helplessly stuck his hands in his pants. His hands reemerged a momentter, and the ring was gone.

    Su Chenughed. ¡°Okay, then I¡¯m going to leave for now.¡±

    He suddenly thought of something as he was walking up the stairs. He turned around and said, ¡°Let me warn you about something.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t think about women.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Zhu Xianyao took the others and left.

    Only a few guards remained in the mostly empty castle.

    Su Chen walked up the castle¡¯s long, coiling staircase before he arrived at You Tianyang¡¯s room.

    A guard was standing in front of the door.

    Su Chen merely shot the guard a nce and he fell into a deep sleep.

    Upon entering the room, Su Chen quickly drew up to You Tianyang¡¯s bedside.

    ¡°Large-Bellied Pig Dragon Bloodline......¡± Su Chen smiled, then pulled out a medicinal vial and ced it on You Tianyang¡¯s wound.

    He gently pressed down, causing the wound to open up again. After collecting a few vials, Su Chen stopped the flow of blood again.

    After taking care of this, Su Chen changed You Tianyang¡¯s clothes for him, then picked up You Tianyang and walked downstairs.

    Su Chen used Fata Morgana on anyone he ran into as he swaggered out of the castle. All of the experts in the castle had left. No one was aware of Su Chen¡¯s entering or exiting.

    Once he came to the castle outskirts, Su Chen whistled a few times. Night Demon reappeared.

    She nced at You Tianyang and asked with some confusion, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say it was going to be He Xu this time? Howe it¡¯s this fatty again?¡±

    ¡°He Xu can¡¯t get out right now, so I could only bring this guy first. Don¡¯t lose him again.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. With me there, he definitely won¡¯t be able to run away,¡± Night Demon said as she patted her chest confidently.

    ¡°Get him to take care of Yuan Gang too.¡±

    ¡°Got it. Any other orders?¡± Night Demon asked.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Su Chen began to take off his clothes.

    ¡°Hey, what are you doing!?¡± Night Demon was badly startled.

    Su Chen ignored her. He changed into You Tianyang¡¯s clothes, then pointed at himself. ¡°Right here. Stab me.¡±

    Night Demon looked on nkly.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, I¡¯ll be fine. This kind of small wound won¡¯t affect me,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°I......¡± Night Demon raised her de, hands trembling. The young, simple-minded maiden finally felt a trace of fear.

    ¡°Hurry!¡±

    Pu.

    Night Demon stabbed down.

    Su Chen nced at the small wound on his body and asked Night Demon, ¡°Did you eat yet?¡±

    ¡°I...... I did.¡±

    ¡°Then can you not use a bit more strength? Who¡¯re you trying to fool with a wound this shallow?¡±

    Night Demon stabbed again.

    Su Chen grunted. Fresh blood came flowing out.

    He sensed his body¡¯s condition briefly before saying, ¡°It¡¯s still a bit shallow. Again!¡±

    Night Demon gritted her teeth and thrust out hard.

    Pu!

    Su Chen spat out a mouthful of blood.

    ¡°How are you doing?¡± Night Demon began to panic.

    ¡°Dammit...... it¡¯s too deep,¡± Su Chen managed to squeeze out.

    ¡°Then let me try again.¡± Night Demon pulled the de and plunged it back in.

    Pu.

    Su Chen lowered his head and nced at the de sticking out from his body,pletely silent.

    ¡°Is it good enough now?¡± Night Demon asked carefully.

    ¡°It¡¯s...... good enough......¡± Su Chen waved his hand with great difficulty. ¡°You can leave now.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Night Demon pulled out the de. Fresh blood poured out of the wound, causing Su Chen to almost pass out.

    He snatched the de from her. ¡°That¡¯s good enough...... Your job is done. Take him and get out of here.¡±

    He walked unsteadily back to the castle, pressing tightly on his wound.

    ¡°Are you going to be fine?¡± Night Demon yelled from behind him.

    Su Chen clenched his fists.

    As soon as he returned to You Tianyang¡¯s room, Su Chen arduously drank down two vials of medicine, theny down.

    Lying on the bed, Su Chen muttered to himself, ¡°Why did I think to let her do it? I should have asked He Xu instead......¡±

    His eyes rolled into the back of his head as he cleanly passed out.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 29: All According to Plan

    When he reawoke, three days had passed.

    Su Chen lifted up his head and looked at his wound. It had closed up significantly.

    Su Chen carefully used the wall to prop himself up.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move!¡±

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s voice called out from behind him.

    She hurried over to him. ¡°Your wounds are quite serious. Lie back down.¡±

    She pushed him back down as she spoke.

    Su Chen said helplessly, ¡°My wounds have almost healed.¡±

    This was the truth. He had passed out because of the medicine, not because of the wounds. Even though Night Demon had stabbed him quite deeply, she had steered clear of his vitals, so Su Chen¡¯s body quickly recovered. Su Chen actually needed to use medicine to slow down the healing process and to knock himself out.

    ¡°You don¡¯t need tofort me. Old Ye already took a look at you; even though that de strike missed your vitals, the de Qi it sent into your body is too frightening and saturated your whole body. If it weren¡¯t for the strength of your Pig Dragon Bloodline and the fact that you seemed to have taken some kind of strange medicine, you might not have made it.¡±

    ¡°But the de Qi has all left now. Try it if you don¡¯t believe me,¡± Su Chen said as he grabbed Zhu Xianyao¡¯s hand and ced it on his chest.

    He hadn¡¯t thought about it too much when he made the move, but Zhu Xianyao¡¯s face immediately flushed, causing him to realize that his action was a bit too rash. He immediately let go.

    Unexpectedly, Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t remove her hand. She left it on his chest, continuing to sense his heartbeat.

    The two of them remained like this for some time.

    After a long time, Zhu Xianyao seemed to suddenly start and removed her jade-like hand.

    ¡°Oh.¡± Zhu Xianyao said in a low voice. ¡°There...... there isn¡¯t a problem anymore.¡±

    ¡°See? I told you I was fine,¡± Su Chen revealed a ¡°dense¡± smile.

    Under normal circumstances, Zhu Xianyao should have reacted to this smile with annoyance.

    Unexpectedly, Zhu Xianyao continued to stare at him in a daze and didn¡¯t seem to mind.

    Uh oh.

    Su Chen felt a trace of anxiety.

    He heard Zhu Xianyao say, ¡°Tianyang, you did very well.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°Do you know who the person who tried to assassinate you earlier was?¡±

    ¡°Who was he?¡±

    ¡°He was Feng Xihuo!¡± Zhu Xianyao said. ¡°He¡¯s one of the Immortal Temple¡¯s well-known assassins and has a record of 37 sessful assassinations, some of them Light Shaking Realm cultivators! Yet not only did you stop his assassination attempt, but you also killed him. That¡¯s really something.¡±

    Su Chen continued to smile dumbly, but even the dumbest smile seemed incredibly handsome, suave, and charming in Zhu Xianyao¡¯s eyes.

    She stared at Su Chen and said, ¡°You killed Feng Xihuo immediately after awakening your bloodline, which is proof of how strong you are. More importantly, however, you were incredibly brave. Even under those kinds of circumstances, youunched a counterattack. Tianyang, you aren¡¯t a coward; you were just always concealing your true nature. Even you didn¡¯t know how powerful you could be.¡±

    ¡°Oh...... Was I...... that good?¡± Su Chen stared at Zhu Xianyao doubtfully.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Zhu Xianyao replied seriously.

    ¡°Alright then.¡±

    If you¡¯re that insistent about it, I can only agree.

    Oh, You Tianyang, it seems like I¡¯ve already captured her heart for you. Take it as your reward for being captured.

    With You Tianyang¡¯s feelings for Zhu Xianyao, he might really prefer to be captured if this was the oue.

    Of course, once they switched back, he wouldn¡¯t be able to continue to conquering Zhu Xianyao¡¯s heart, but that wasn¡¯t something that Su Chen needed to consider.

    In any case, Su Chen had once again be the object of Zhu Xianyao¡¯s affection.

    Zhu Xianyao probably never would have even dreamed that she had unknowingly fallen for the same person twice.

    The first time she fell him, she lost all her memories of that time. Now, she had fallen for him again, but she didn¡¯t know that the person she liked was also the person who had caused her so much suffering before.

    Fate oftentimes had a strange sense of humor.

    Su Chen had yet to realize what would happen in the future. All he realized was that Zhu Xianyao¡¯s attitude towards You Tianyang had changed.

    ¡°Right, you said that the person who tried to assassinate me was the Immortal Temple¡¯s Feng Xihuo. If that¡¯s the case, then the Immortal Temple must have initiated the assassination. So this has nothing to do with Miss Xianling then?¡± Su Chen purposefully asked.

    ¡°The Immortal Temple did participate in the assassination attempt, but it might not have beenpletely unrted to Xianling......¡± Zhu Xianyao began to recount what they had found out.

    After extracting the address from He Xu, Zhu Xianyao had taken her people with her and ran over.

    Naturally, the address had belonged to Kong Cheng.

    Kong Cheng¡¯s existence was too much of an obstacle for Shi Mingfeng and Su Chen.

    The best oue was then to use Zhu Xianyao¡¯s hand to kill him.

    Su Chen and the others weren¡¯t worried about Zhu Xianyao relenting because the person didn¡¯t belong to her n. After all, the Immortal Temple was still their bitter enemy.

    More importantly, Shi Mingfeng had nted one of his own people near Kong Cheng. As soon as he saw Zhu Xianyao and the others arrive, he immediately reacted as violently as possible and attacked on sight. In the end, the whole ce was thrown into chaos.

    ¡°How did it turn out?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Do you even need to ask? Of course we seeded,¡± Zhu Xianyao replied happily. ¡°Even though they had a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, he was of a mixed bloodline. How could he contend against my Demonic Emperor Bloodline? Zhao Jingwen, Ba Lieyuan, and I would be enough to take him on, not to mention that Culler and a bunch of our elite subordinates were there as well.¡±

    It appeared to be true that women would purposefully unt themselves in front of the man they liked.

    Zhu Xianyao was strong, of course, and Zhao Jingwen and Ba Lieyuan weren¡¯t weak either. However, Su Chen didn¡¯t believe that the three of them were quite enough to deal with Qi Shenyuan; they had probably received quite a bit of support from the guards with them.

    Kong Cheng¡¯s greatest problem was that he didn¡¯t have enough people with him. Zhu Xianyao¡¯s people and the Sand Race soldiers probably numbered in the hundreds. How could just Kong Cheng and Qi Shenyuan alone handle them?

    ¡°So what happened next? ¡°Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Next? We killed them all, of course!¡± Zhu Xianyao replied. When she saw Su Chen¡¯s disbelieving expression, she stuck her tongue out and said, ¡°Alright, maybe one or two of them got away.¡±

    One or two got away?

    Su Chen squinted his eyes.

    However, he knew that he probably wasn¡¯t going to get a straight answer from Zhu Xianyao, so he didn¡¯t say much else. He only asked, ¡°How about our losses?¡±

    ¡°Four died. The most tragic was Yuan Gang. He came a bitte, but because he was not a part of the main force, he ran into the opponents and was killed immediately. What a pity.¡±

    The two of them talked for a bit longer before Zhu Xianyao left.

    Su Chen got into contact with Shi Mingfeng using themunications Origin Tool before discovering that, indeed, Kong Zheng and Qi Shenyuan had gotten away.

    Kong Cheng had escaped under Qi Shenyuan¡¯s protection.

    Because they didn¡¯t know Kong Cheng¡¯s identity, the Zhu n¡¯s people weren¡¯t too worried. Qi Shenyuan¡¯s all-out protection had given Kong Cheng an opportunity to escape. Immediately after, Qi Shenyuan also ran away at full-speed. With his strength as a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, he might not be able to win, but running away wasn¡¯t an issue.

    ¡°So they still got away in the end?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I¡¯m worried that they¡¯ll realize that we set them up. There will probably be some problems in the future,¡± Shi Mingfeng said, his voice tinged with anxiety.

    He hadn¡¯t expected the Zhu n to be so useless that Kong Cheng and Qi Shenyuan had both managed to get away.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Didn¡¯t we agree to this a long time ago? I¡¯ll bear the responsibility,¡± Su Chen said with a faint smile.

    ¡°I originally thought that the Zhu n would carry it,¡± Shi Mingfeng sighed.

    ¡°If they died, then the Zhu n would have.¡±

    ¡°But they didn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Who knows,¡± Su Chen said mysteriously before cutting off the transmission.

    He pulled out another transmission Origin Tool and said, ¡°Hey.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s me.¡± Yue Longsha¡¯s voice came out from the other end.

    ¡°How did it go?¡±

    ¡°All ording to n.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 30: Nine-Eyed Jade Python Sash

    All ording to n!

    As soon as Su Chen heard this, a smile appeared on his face.

    Yes, he actually hadn¡¯t ced all his hopes onto Zhu Xianyao and the others being able to kill Kong Cheng. The true heavy hitter was Yue Longsha in the end. In other words, the Zhu n had only been used as a front from the very beginning.

    Qi Shenyuan would have never dreamed that there would be another group of people hidden in the shadows waiting to im their lives while he was trying to escort Kong Cheng away safely.

    It would have been strange if they could escape, having been ambushed after a long battle.

    Yue Longsha and her subordinates had easily taken care of the two of them and found what they were looking for.

    ¡°As long as everything went smoothly,¡± Su Chen replied to Yue Longsha.

    ¡°Thanks for taking care of it.¡±

    ¡°No worries. We¡¯re friends, after all.¡±

    ¡°Friends......¡±

    On the other end of the line, Yue Longsha fell silent.

    After a long time, she said, ¡°Yes. Friends.¡±

    Su Chen could sense a hint of bleakness in her voice.

    As such, Su Chen also grew solemn.

    After some time, he said, ¡°Right, since this matter has been dealt with, what are you nning on doing next?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to leave and turn in this mission. After that, well, we¡¯ll see if there are any new missions up for grabs. We¡¯re the Secret Task Force, after all; our job is to investigate potential threats to our country.¡±

    ¡°Now that you mention it, I have some information you might be interested in.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°The Slyheart Zhu n is trying to infiltrate the Long Sang Country, which might be bad news for us. How about it? Does that interest you, deputymander?¡±

    Yue Longsha chuckled. ¡°Yes, I discovered that too. There have been Bloodline Nobility ns from other countries sneaking across the border to contact other races recently, and there are still some dregs from the Immortal Temple conspiring against thew that need to be dealt with. There¡¯s even a former Bureau Head helping them out secretly, colluding with the viins. Each one will be investigated thoroughly and then reported.¡±

    ¡°Cough, cough!¡± Su Chen coughed a few times. ¡°It¡¯s no fun if you y like that.¡±

    Yue Longsha giggled, ¡°In any case, even though we now have the list of names, we¡¯ve only uncovered the tip of the iceberg in regards to our opponents¡¯ ns, so we will have to continue pursuing this matter with utmost diligence. The others will go back to turn in the mission, but I¡¯ll remain here to continue keeping an eye out.¡±

    ¡°......Then take care of yourself,¡± Su Chen finally uttered after thinking for a long time.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    In the following days, Su Chen continued to rest, allowing his injuries to fully heal.

    After Su Chen had recovered, he was no longer suspected by Zhu Xianyao, which allowed him to roam freely throughout the castle.

    As for He Xu, because he had provided information about the address, he underwent another round of interrogation. Thankfully, with Su Chen¡¯s protection, his life was preserved yet again.

    Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, twenty days had passed.

    As the deadline of a month slowly inched closer, Zhu Baiyu finally returned.

    Wind and dust blew everywhere.

    ¡°How did things go, Sixth Uncle?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked.

    ¡°I have not disappointed your expectations.¡± As Zhu Baiyu spoke, he began to pull out item after item ¡ª first, a sash, followed by a scroll, an Origin Formation, and three vials of medicine.

    ¡°This is the Nine-Eyed Jade Python Sash. You can embed consciousness-type crystals in it; for every one you add, it will increase your consciousness power by a hundred points. Unfortunately, finding these consciousness-type crystals was hard, and I was only able to find three up until now. The scroll is the Consciousness Surge Scroll that can increase a person¡¯s consciousness power to around two hundred or so, but it can only be used once. The Origin Formation Disk is the Consciousness Amplification Disk and can increase a person¡¯s consciousness power by a hundred. It can be used three times in total. As for the medicine, here are three vials of Spirit-Sobering Medicine. Thankfully, production of these has increased over the past two years, so their price has gone down. Otherwise, I might not have been able to get my hands on them so easily.¡±

    When Su Chen heard this, he was speechless. If you want Spirit-Sobering Medicines, I¡¯ve got more than I know what to do with over here!

    The most valuable item that Zhu Baiyu had brought was probably the Nine-Eyed Jade Python Sash. Even though it didn¡¯t have any power on its own, the ability to iy a consciousness-type crystal made it extremely umon. Embedding one or two consciousness-type crystals wasn¡¯t difficult, but embedding many and stopping them from interfering with one another was very difficult. The mediation ability of this Nine-Eyed Jade Python Sash was really quite impressive. Su Chen had been looking for items that had sockets for Origin Crystals like this. Unexpectedly, Zhu Baiyu had managed to find one.

    If Zhu Baiyu had said that he had bought all of these things, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t have believed him for a second. Even though he still carried himself with the same elegance and no bloodstains were visible on his body, Su Chen could sense the thick, bloody scent that still emanated off of Zhu Baiyu¡¯s body.

    He had probably killed quite a few people on this trip of his.

    ¡°Since the treasures belong to us now, tell everyone to prepare to search for the secret stashes shortly,¡± Zhu Xianyao said excitedly.

    ¡°Wait just a moment,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    Su Chen asked, ¡°Yaoyao, who are you nning on using these items on?¡±

    ¡°Of course myself,¡± Zhu Xianyao said with a strange look. ¡°Is there anyone here who has a consciousness power stronger than myself?¡±

    ¡°This......¡± Su Chen scratched his head. ¡°Actually, there¡¯s one thing I never told you.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°My consciousness power has reached the point where I can influence physical objects,¡± Su Chen said after thinking for a moment.

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Zhu Xianyao stared at Su Chen in disbelief.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t waste time speaking and activated his consciousness energy. As it began to spread, everyone felt a gentle gust of wind blow past them and whistle through the room. A few of the lighter objects, such as paper, began to fly into the air.

    This was one of the effects when someone¡¯s consciousness power reached a certain level ¡ª they could influence physical objects.

    Actually, a person¡¯s consciousness power could always influence physical objects. However, unlike other systems of energy, consciousness power¡¯s initial levels of influence started at the microscopic level. For instance, in the early stages, Su Chen had used his consciousness tendrils to connect to the birthing substance the Spirit Race had invented because his consciousness power was only strong enough to affect things on a microscopic level.

    But as his consciousness power continued to increase, his ability to influence the macroscopic world would increase as well.

    The Spirit Race, after forming their spirit bodies, had consciousness power of roughly around a thousand. They would be able to use their consciousness power to influence reality and control Origin Energy, among other abilities.

    Su Chen¡¯s consciousness energy was only around four hundred, but he could already influence reality. If he wanted to, he could even use it to move a piece of small wood around. Of course, Su Chen kept that part of his strength hidden; right now, he was showing off consciousness power only equivalent to around three hundred units or so, which was why he was ¡®only¡¯ able to blow around a piece of paper.

    Even so, this was enough to shock everyone else present.

    ¡°You¡¯ve reached the point where your consciousness can affect the outside world? How did you do this?¡± Zhu Xianyao stared at Su Chen in shock.

    ¡°Actually, I have always been cultivating a technique that increases my consciousness power. You also know that before the Pig Dragon Bloodline awakens, we are extremely weak. To hasten that awakening, I must eat and sleep a lot and cannot cultivate a lot. However, one thing that¡¯s not included in that restriction is my consciousness power,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t lied about that. The Pig Dragon n did have a few consciousness-type cultivation methods so that their weak phase wouldn¡¯t be a waste of cultivation. However, their consciousness power cultivation techniques were not nearly as powerful as Su Chen¡¯s True Spirit Scripture; after all, the Arcana Race were the real consciousness power cultivation experts. Su Chen¡¯s extravagant spending style also allowed him to use Spirit-Sobering Medicines to cultivate. Not even Demonic Emperor ns could afford that luxury.

    Even though You Tianyang¡¯s consciousness power was a bit stronger than your average person, he was far from reaching the level that Su Chen was disying now. However, now that Su Chen was You Tianyang, whatever he said would have to go.

    Actually, even though he was able toe up with such an excuse, Su Chen¡¯s actions were still quite risky.

    However, Su Chen was forced to do so.

    Because only in this way could he haveplete control of the secret stashes and take initiative.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 31: Shocking Consciousness Power

    No one knew what they would actually find in the secret stores.

    It might be good, it might be bad, or it might be neither.

    But regardless of how good or bad the discoveries were, Su Chen wanted to be the first to know. This was the only way to maximize his benefits ¡ª by getting the first pick, he could take anything good and avoid everything bad. Taking the initiative meant that you would always get to choose first.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t want to give up that kind of privilege, so he was going to fight for it even if he was going to incur some suspicion.

    Thankfully, Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t suspect him.

    After the assassination attempt, Zhu Xianyao¡¯s trust in Su Chen had greatly increased. No matter what, she would never suspect him anymore.

    She felt that Su Chen¡¯s suggestion was only natural.

    ¡°I never expected that you would have so many hidden talents,¡± Zhu Xianyao said as she stared at him meaningfully.

    To Zhu Xianyao, Su Chen probably seemed like someone who had pretended to be a pig in order to hunt the tiger.

    Su Chen could only reply, ¡°It wasn¡¯t that high before, but after my bloodline awakened, I felt my consciousness power increase quickly. I don¡¯t know if it was because of my bloodline or because of the wounds I had sustained.¡±

    ¡°If being wounded was enough to increase a person¡¯s consciousness energy, I¡¯d be willing to be hit seven or eight times a day,¡± Zhao Jingwenughed.

    ¡°Keep dreaming,¡± Zhu Xianyao snorted. She handed the Nine-Eyed Jade Python Belt over to Su Chen. ¡°Here.¡±

    Once he received the sash, he began to set up the Origin Formation.

    The best ce for setting up this kind of Origin Formation was in the castle¡¯s main hall. That ce was both in the middle of the castle and an empty space, allowing him toy down the entire Origin Formation.

    Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t waste any time before bringing everyone down to the main hall.

    Su Chen pulled out the Origin Formation Disk in the main hall. He had yet to ce it when he suddenly heard footsteps from outside.

    Culler charged over angrily. ¡°Young Miss Zhu, what on earth are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Exactly what you¡¯re seeing. We¡¯re setting up an Origin Formation here.¡±

    Now that things had reached this point, Zhu Xianyao had no interest in continuing to y games with Culler.

    Culler savagely said, ¡°Leader wasn¡¯t wrong. You guys were never sincerely trying to do business here.¡±

    ¡°So what?¡± Zhu Baiyu took a step forward and reached forward, grabbing Culler by the throat. ¡°Brat, stay put if you want to keep your life. Otherwise, I¡¯ll kill you right now!¡±

    Culler harrumphed and remained silent.

    Su Chen felt his heart jolt slightly. He said to Zhu Xianyao in a low voice, ¡°Be careful, there might be something wrong with this guy.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll kill him right now!¡± Zhu Xianyao said.

    ¡°No, wait a bit! Once we¡¯ve opened the secret stashes, we can use him as a guide,¡± Su Chen said.

    He ced the Origin Formation Disk on the ground. A brilliant wave of light began to pulse out from the disk, illuminating the entire main hall.

    Su Chen stood in the center. He immediately felt his vision ripple as his consciousness suddenly surged.

    Countless consciousness tendrils began to leak out of his body, fluttering furiously on a level invisible to the naked eye. A strong wind started blowing through the main hall.

    This was the physical manifestation of Su Chen¡¯s consciousness energy growing stronger. His ability to influence the external environment also grew more noticeable.

    At this moment, Su Chen was already wearing the Nine-Eyed Jade Python Sash. With the support of the Origin Formation, his consciousness energy had reached around 800 or so, but he still could not sense any fluctuations from within the castle.

    ¡°Tianyang, catch.¡± Zhu Xianyao pulled off the jade bracelet from her wrist.

    The Clear Bright Bracelet could raise his consciousness power by another 120 units. Zhu Xianyao had relied on that to raise her consciousness power to around 300 units. Even though it was rather feminine in appearance and Su Chen felt a bit awkward wearing it, now was not the time to fuss about small details like that.

    Unfortunately, he was still a bit short of a thousand.

    Su Chen pulled out the vials of Spirit-Sobering Medicine and drank them all in one go.

    It was only possible to drink three vials of Spirit-Sobering Medicine at once, and the effects would diminish with each sessive vial; the fourth vial would have no effect whatsoever.

    The three Spirit-Sobering Medicines gave Su Chen an additional 150 units of consciousness power, pushing him through the 1000 unit barrier.

    A powerful current of consciousness energy surged forth, generating a tornado within the main room. His consciousness power had taken physical form and brought with it an immense pressure that bore down on everyone in the room, as if they were in the presence of an awe-inspiringly powerful person.

    This was consciousness pressure!

    Consciousness pressure that came from an extremely powerful individual.

    Even though Su Chen¡¯s physical strength had yet to reach that level, the consciousness pressure he exuded was at the level only a supremely powerful human could emit. His mere presence was enough to strike fear into everyone¡¯s hearts and overwhelm them to the point that they spontaneously wanted to bow down and worship him.

    If Su Chen were to use a consciousness technique right at this moment, everyone would definitely fall headfirst into it.

    Unfortunately, even so, he still could not sense any traces of Kapius¡¯s hidden stores.

    His expression shifted slightly. ¡°I still can¡¯t sense anything.¡±

    ¡°How could this be?¡± Zhu Xianyao said

    They had expended so much time, money, and energy to reach this point, but was it still impossible to find any traces of Kapius¡¯s secret stores?

    That was too disappointing.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not be too hasty. A thousand units is just the entry point; perhaps it¡¯s still a bit too low.¡±

    ¡°Use the scroll!¡± Zhu Baiyu said.

    ¡°Wait a moment. There¡¯s still this.¡± Su Chen pulled out another item. It was the Nightmare Snake Origin Crystal he had won from the Sea of Clouds Auction back then.

    Everyone was stunned. They hadn¡¯t expected Su Chen to have hidden such a treasure on him. Zhu Baiyu¡¯s eyes glittered strangely.

    When he ced the Nightmare Snake Crystal in the Nine-Eyed Jade Python Sash, Su Chen¡¯s consciousness power increased by another hundred units.

    However, Su Chen still failed to discover anything of note.

    He gritted his teeth and tore open the scroll.

    Boom!

    A massive burst of consciousness energy exploded forth from Su Chen¡¯s body. His consciousness power had already reached 1370 units at this point.

    As his consciousness energy continued to climb, the entire main hall was subjected to the pressureing from Su Chen¡¯s body.

    At this point in time, the consciousness pressure wasn¡¯t merely affecting their consciousnesses anymore and it could pose a physical threat to them. As long as Su Chen wanted to, he could activate his consciousness power to incapacitate arge group of people. Normal people would immediately be like zombies, and even people like Zhu Xianyao who had made significant attainments in cultivating would find it hard to resist.

    This was exactly why the Spirit Race was so frightening. They could rely on their powerful consciousnesses to easily control a human¡¯s intelligence and use illusion techniques on them.

    Once his consciousness power reached this point, Su Chen finally felt that something was different from before.

    ¡°I can feel it!¡± Su Chen yelled loudly.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Zhu Xianyao yelled with excitement.

    ¡°It¡¯s a vortex, an energy vortex...... It¡¯s right...... Right on top of us,¡± Su Chen said as he looked up at the ceiling.

    However, the ceiling of the main hall remained t, with no sign of any kind of energy vortex in sight.

    ¡°It hasn¡¯t shown itself yet,¡± Zhu Xianyao blurted out.

    Su Chen immediately realized something. ¡°It¡¯s consciousness power, my consciousness power isn¡¯t enough to get it to fully manifest. Dammit, we¡¯re still short, but I¡¯m already right at the edge! I can sense it, it¡¯s right there! I just can¡¯t get it to show itself!¡±

    Su Chen began to yell with some irritation, ¡°A hundred thirty units, I¡¯m only short a hundred thirty units!¡±

    This secret stash could only be opened with a full 1500 units of consciousness power.

    But where would those hundred thirty missing unitse from?

 Book 4: Near Blood - 32: The Mantis Stalks the Cicada, Unaware of the Flock of Orioles

    ¡°130 units of consciousness energy?¡± Zhu Xianyao froze for a moment.

    She stared at the Su Chen standing in the middle of the Origin Formation, the wind whirling around him furiously, and bit her lip as she said, ¡°You¡¯re only missing 130 units?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sure of it!¡± Su Chen said resolutely. ¡°If you have any way of boosting it, then hurry up and use it. If we miss this opportunity, we won¡¯t get any more chances!¡±

    He could sense that they were so close topletely opening it.

    ¡°Okay! I¡¯ll give it to you!¡± Zhu Xianyao yelled.

    She suddenly sprang into motion, leaping towards Su Chen.

    ¡°Xianyao!¡± Zhu Baiyu realized what she was going to do and called out. He reached out his hand to grab her, but Zhu Xianyao nimbly dodged his outstretched hand and flew to Su Chen¡¯s side, then cradled his neck.

    She stared at Su Chen.

    Then, she kissed him.

    A deep, long kiss!

    Su Chen was totally stunned by this action. He wanted to speak but couldn¡¯t find the words, so he could only stare at Zhu Xianyao, totally in a daze.

    However, he could sense that this kiss had imparted a strange consciousness energy into his body that carried with it Zhu Xianyao¡¯s will, her thoughts, her mood, and even traces of her memories......

    These emotions all surged into Su Chen¡¯s mind.

    Su Chen understood that Zhu Xianyao was using some kind of special technique to transfer her own consciousness power over to him.

    Consciousness power and soul power were equivalent.

    What they called consciousness power was actually the power of one¡¯s soul.

    Because of this, when she sent her consciousness power over, Su Chen could sense her mood, her youthfulness, and all kinds of other subtle parts of her consciousness, all ineffable. These things were not clear and were incrediblyplicated, but they all rushed into Su Chen¡¯s mind simultaneously, making him feel like he had suddenly turned into Zhu Xianyao albeit just for a brief moment.

    An instantter, Zhu Xianyao pulled back, her face red as she said, ¡°Hurry up!¡±

    She wouldn¡¯t have done this unless it was absolutely necessary.

    If this little fatty hadn¡¯t changed the way she viewed him during these past few days, she also would not have done so.

    But no matter what, she had already done it. In that moment, Zhu Xianyao¡¯s heart was thrown into turmoil again.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know that what Zhu Xianyao had done was called Budding Affection.

    Once affection started to bud and the roots had taken hold, they would only love one person no matter how many storms they had to weather for it.

    The Budding Affection technique primarily transmitted a feeling of love. Consciousness power was just brought along for the ride.

    Now, to raise Su Chen¡¯s consciousness power, Zhu Xianyao was forced to attach her feelings to Su Chen.

    She thought that she was choosing You Tianyang, but she didn¡¯t realize that she had fallen for the same person twice.

    After being kissed, Su Chen¡¯s consciousness power shot up again. The tens of thousands of consciousness tendrils rose high into the air, all rushing towards the hole simultaneously. Su Chen could sense that the invisible existence was finally manifesting itself. A blue energy vortex appeared on the ceiling of the main hall seemingly out of nowhere.

    The energy vortex slowly descended until it was right before the firece in the main hall. It floated above that firece, which flickered before unleashing a blindingly bright blue light.

    After quite some time, the blue light disappeared. A path had appeared in that firece with no visible end. No one knew where it would lead.

    ¡°The door has appeared!¡± Zhu Baiyu said excitedly.

    ¡°Kapius¡¯s secret stashes do indeed exist,¡± Su Chen muttered.

    It had to be said that the method Kapius had chosen was both simple and effective. The secret stash was probably kept in an isted void. The entrance was ced at this firece, but it was concealed byrge amounts of consciousness energy. The requirement of 1500 units of consciousness power basically excluded most races apart from the Spirit Race.

    But there was no mechanism that was unbreakable. Even the requirement of 1500 units of consciousness power had been reached under everyone¡¯s joint efforts.

    As they watched the entrance open, excitement appeared on everyone¡¯s face.

    ¡°So that¡¯s what you were looking for?¡± Culler muttered. ¡°This castle does indeed have secrets that have yet to be uncovered, but this is actually a way to open them up.¡±

    ¡°Even if you know now, it¡¯s already toote.¡± Zhu Baiyu dragged Culler and walked over towards the firece. Origin Energy began to sneak its way into every corner of Culler¡¯s body. At the same time, he raised his hand, and a special rope bound him securely. Zhu Xianyao then tapped his finger at the center of Culler¡¯s forehead, and a streak of light snuck its way into his forehead.

    Culler didn¡¯t mind. He chuckled darkly and allowed them to do as they pleased.

    Once he had taken care of this, Zhu Baiyu tossed Culler into the portal.

    The opening of the portal on the firece rippled as a faint blue glow began to emanate from it. Culler had already disappeared.

    A blurry image appeared on Zhu Xianyao¡¯s hand. The image was of a dark, gloomy room.

    ¡°There are no dangers. Everything in the surroundings is normal. The spatial fluctuations are a bit unstable, so it¡¯s confirmed that this leads to an isted void.¡±

    Zhu Baiyu¡¯s expression grew more focused. ¡°It seems like this is a Projection Void.¡±

    ¡°Projection Void?¡± Zhu Xianyao was stunned. ¡°You¡¯re telling me that Kapius opened a Projection Void here?¡±

    Zhu Baiyu nodded his head seriously.

    A Projection Void was a projection of the real world.

    It wasn¡¯t a genuine isted void but an illusory realm of sorts.

    But unlike dream-realms, which were purely consciousness voids, Projection Voids were the physical manifestation of these illusory realms. It was the other side of the figurative coin of true voids.

    It was very difficult to understand the principles behind a Projection Void. One needed to have a sufficiently deep understanding of spatial principles in order to grasp them.

    The Spirit Race were all known for having incredible consciousness power. No one had expected Kapius to also be quite proficient in spatial-type magic, and Projection Voids to boot.

    ¡°Are there any inherent dangers to Projection Voids?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to say,¡± Zhu Baiyu said seriously. ¡°Projection Voids are the shadows of true voids. They are real projections, but they also exist by their own set of rules. Nothing that happens inside needs to obeymon sense, so we need to be extremely careful when exploring.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, them we¡¯re in even greater need of cannon fodder,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°That is indeed the case,¡± Zhu Baiyu chuckled, then turned around and gestured. Culler¡¯s subordinates were all swept into the firece portal by this gesture of his.

    Having taken care of this, Zhu Baiyu said, ¡°Let¡¯s go. We can go in now too.¡±

    Everyone began to enter one after another.

    Shortly after the Zhu n¡¯s people entered, Shi Mingfeng and the others also appeared in West Laina Castle.

    Since both the Zhu n and Culler¡¯s people were no longer there. The Immortal Temple was able to enter without any incident.

    Shi Mingfeng took a nce at the firece and chuckled, ¡°Projection Void...... Who would have expected that Kapius would actually set up a Projection Void. Thankfully, the Zhu n was here; otherwise, it would have been very hard to find this ce. Let¡¯s go and take a look.¡±

    He took the lead to enter the firece.

    The firece continued to ripple and emit beams of blue light as the Immortal Temple¡¯s soldiers walked through one after another.

    Not long after they went in, another group of people appeared in West Laina Castle¡¯s main hall.

    The person in the lead was the Sand Race Leader, Pall.

    As he stared at the firece, Pall chuckled. ¡°See what our esteemed guests have brought us? Kapius¡¯s secret stores...... Hahahaha, I said a long time ago that humans are never to be trusted. Thankfully I never fell for their tricks from the very beginning, though I didn¡¯t expect there would be two groups of humans trying to steal my treasures.¡±

    ¡°They aren¡¯t on the same side. We can wait for them to kill each other off before attacking,¡± one of the Sand Race individuals said.

    ¡°That¡¯s a good idea, Doug.¡±

    The eagle-eyed Sand Race individual behind Pall said, ¡°But Leader, Culler is in their hands.¡±

    ¡°I know. But you saw yourself, Salk, that there are two groups of them. We can wait for them to kill each other off before making a move.¡±

    ¡°Then what about Culler?¡±

    ¡°May the Heavens protect him. Your younger brother¡¯s sacrifice will not be in vain,¡± Pall said as he patted Eagle Eye.

    As they spoke, they also walked into the Projection Void.

    No one noticed what was going on beneath the main hall.

    Within the dungeon.

    He Xu nced up at the ceiling.

    He smiled slightly and said to himself, ¡°Su Chen was absolutely right; those Sand Race individuals aren¡¯t easy to fool at all. It¡¯s time for me to regain my freedom.¡±

    As he spoke, he took out his Origin Ring from his trousers and pulled out a vial of medicine, then dumped it into his mouth.

    The energy he had suppressed finally surged forth. Cracks could be heard all over He Xu¡¯s body.

    He unleashed a palm strike on one of the columns of the jail cell. It shattered in half, and He Xu strode out of the cell towards the firece.

    Of course, he didn¡¯t notice a pair of eyes glittering in the shadows watching everything going on.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 33: Inanimate Spirits

    As soon as he stepped through the firece portal, Su Chen felt something dragging his body through space.

    It was a very strange feeling, as if his body was bing as t as a board. His surroundings distorted into a weird perspective, as if the world around him was also being ttened at the same time.

    Thankfully, this feeling only persisted for a brief moment. An instantter, he discovered that he had been transported into a dark and gloomy room.

    The room was musty and dark, and no traces of light could be seen at all. However, it was still possible to vaguely make out the surroundings. For instance, the room was square, there was a bed in the corner, and next to the bed was a table with a rug underneath it and amp on top.

    But regardless of if it was the bed, the table, or the light, they were all grey.

    The entire room looked like it had been drawn with ck ink. Only the people were in color.

    Yes, the clothes that Su Chen and the others were wearing had preserved their color, making them the only source of color within this grey space.

    ¡°We¡¯re in the Projection Void now?¡± one of the guards asked curiously.

    ¡°It¡¯d be more urate to say that this is a void projection of the real world. Anything that isn¡¯t alive can take form in this ce, so we call them Inanimate Spirits,¡± Zhu Baiyu said.

    ¡°Inanimate Spirits? Then what about the spirits of living objects?¡± someone asked.

    ¡°Then you¡¯re in a dream realm, silly.¡±

    Everyone chuckled lightly.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you feel like this ce is very familiar?¡± someone asked.

    ¡°It seems like it¡¯s Xu Guang¡¯s room. I recognize his underwear.¡±

    Everyone began tough again.

    The young Zhu n guard Xu Guang¡¯s face flushed thoroughly red. He ran over to his bed and was about to pick up his void-projected underwear.

    Su Chen grabbed his hand. ¡°Don¡¯t touch anything.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just a pair of underwear,¡± Xu Guang said.

    He didn¡¯t take Su Chen¡¯s words to heart and reached out to grab the underwear.

    At that instant, the underwear suddenly leapt into the air and opened its mouth wide, chomping at Xu Guang.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Xu Guang howled heartrendingly.

    The underwear¡¯s bite was quick and savage, severing his hand immediately.

    Everyone simultaneously attacked, unleashing a barrage of Origin Skills on it.

    The underwear jumped into the air and cried out shrilly, ¡°No!¡±

    Then, it turned into scraps of cloth that floated through the air.

    These scraps floated through the air, looking just like shadowy strips that slowly faded out of existence.

    ¡°What is that bloody thing?¡± Ba Lieyuan yelled in shock.

    ¡°Just as I said, Inanimate Spirits!¡± Zhu Baiyu emphasized. ¡°Since they¡¯re Inanimate Spirits, they naturally have their own consciousness. You cannot usemon sense here; be as careful as you can, because you have no idea what will suddenlye alive and do that to you.¡±

    He walked over and nced at Xu Guang. ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    Xu Guang¡¯s forehead was beaded with sweat. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t touch things so carelessly next time.¡± Zhu Baiyu gave Culler a shove. ¡°Let the Sand Race go first.¡±

    Everyone pushed the Sand Race individuals along as they walked out of the small room.

    As a void projection of the real world, they were currently still in West Laina Castle. However, the entire castle had taken on a grey hue, as if it were an old property that had been long since abandoned. If you added in a strangeugh echoing in the background and some shadows floating through the air, it would look just like a haunted castle.

    There were no ghosts in the Projection Void castle, but the castle had no shortage of strange and bizarre things within.

    They had just walked out of the room when they saw a broom floating in the air. The broom had two arms branching off from it and a single eye on the main shaft. It was quite badly surprised when it saw everyone and cried out, ¡°Oh my God!¡±

    Then, it immediately turned around and ran, leaving behind a trail of dust in its wake.

    The dust floated in the air but didn¡¯t return to the ground. Instead, it morphed into a human face that took a good look at the neers before turning into an arrow made of dust and shooting off towards another corner of the castle.

    A few paintings were hung on the wall, and the people in the paintings all came to life, beginning to mor, ¡°Look! There¡¯s some humans.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s so strange about that? Aren¡¯t we humans too?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re joking! We aren¡¯t humans, we¡¯re just pieces of art!¡±

    ¡°But we¡¯re humans inside a painting, and so we are humans.¡±

    ¡°No, humans in paintings aren¡¯t humans.¡±

    ¡°They are!¡±

    ¡°They are not!¡±

    ¡°They are!¡±

    ¡°They are not!¡±

    Their argument became more intense. The people within the two paintings suddenly stepped out of the paintings and began to physically brawl with each other.

    An old man in a nearby painting who was smoking a pipe sighed. ¡°Those two sure love to fight.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not their fault,¡± the ¡°Bishop¡± on the nearby painting replied, ¡°Who told Caulk to scheme away his businesses?¡±

    Most of the paintings hanging in this ce were of the former owners of this castle. The castle had exchanged hands a few times in a not-so-aboveboard manner, so some of the figures in the paintings actually held grudges with one another.

    Su Chen and the others had been guests in West Laina Castle for the past few days and knew a bit about the history of the castle.

    However, they never would have expected that this history would manifest itself in such a fashion once they entered the Projection Void world. Their horizons were vastly broadened.

    The people within the two paintings were still arguing, while the other paintings were watching themotion and whispering to one another. However, they didn¡¯t show any signs of wanting to attack these strangers.

    The old man smoking the pipe took the initiative to say, ¡°Wee, guests from the real world.¡±

    ¡°Wee? I thought that you would want to drive us away,¡± Zhu Baiyu said.

    ¡°Why would we drive you away?¡± The old man was stunned. ¡°We¡¯ve been in this dead ce for an eternity and have long since grown sick of it. We¡¯ve always been hoping for something new to happen and make things interesting. But the only thing here apart from projections are more projections, and so there will be never anything new to y with. Now that guests have finally appeared, why wouldn¡¯t we wee you?¡±

    ¡°But it seems like not everything here thinks the same way you do. See, a pair of underwear bit off my friend¡¯s hand just a moment ago.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re talking about the new guy.¡± The old man understood.

    He nodded, and a pair of underwear suddenly appeared in midair.

    It was the same underwear that had bitten off Xu Guang¡¯s hand.

    Didn¡¯t we kill it? How is it alive again? Everyone was stunned.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be surprised! Don¡¯t be surprised!¡± the old man began to chuckle. ¡°Don¡¯t forget that this ce is just a projection of the real world. Everything here is just a projection of the real world, so as long as the object still exists in the real world......¡±

    ¡°Then the void projection won¡¯t die,¡± Su Chen answered.

    ¡°Exactly!¡± the old manughed.

    ¡°So as long as we return to the real world and burn his underwear, this guy will really die, right?¡± Su Chen said.

    The old man¡¯s smile froze, and that frenzied underwear was dazed.

    It began to yell, ¡°No, you cannot do that!¡±

    ¡°You were the one who attacked me first!¡± Xu Guang said, enraged. ¡°The first thing I¡¯m going to do when I get back is burn you to ashes!¡±

    ¡°Do it, do it! I¡¯d rather be turned into ashes than be your underwear!¡± the pair of underwear howled madly. ¡°You always use me to do those disgusting things. Every time you fantasize about that female master of yours, you shoot out that evil stuff, and you never wipe me clean! It always ends up getting all over me. I¡¯ve had enough, enough, I tell you!¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 34: Ancient Sacrifice

    Time seemed to stand still at this moment.

    Everyone turned to look at Xu Guang with a strange look in their eyes.

    Xu Guang¡¯s face flushed violently.

    ¡°I¡¯ll kill you!¡± he howled as he attacked furiously.

    Fist wind billowed out violently, ripping the underwear to shreds. An instantter, however, it reformed and let out a disdainful chuckle at Xu Guang.

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s face was also scarlet.

    She wanted to say something, but Su Chen grabbed her hand. ¡°Forget him. Admiring someone isn¡¯t a crime.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao nced at him, somewhat dazed. She felt like Su Chen¡¯s words were extremely logical.

    She nodded. ¡°Then I¡¯ll spare him this once.¡±

    She gave Xu Guang a hard re and said, ¡°Stop arguing about such pointless things. What we need to do now is to continue advancing and look for the remains that Kapius left behind.¡±

    ¡°Kapius? You¡¯re talking about Kapius?¡± the old man asked in shock as he continued to smoke his pipe.

    ¡°What? Do you know something about him?¡±

    ¡°Of course! These past few years, there have only been two groups of guests from the real world that have visited this void projection castle. You are the second group, and Kapius was the first. He had a youthful spirit body full of vitality at the time, and I could sense the strong ambition that he carried with him.

    ¡°You¡¯re just a painting. You don¡¯t know anything, old man,¡± one of the people in a nearby painting butted in.

    ¡°Then do you know what Kapius left behind here?¡± Zhu Xianyao hurriedly asked.

    ¡°How would I know?¡± The old man rolled his eyes in response. ¡°I¡¯m just a painting. Apart from here, I cannot go anywhere else.¡±

    Everyone sighed.

    There were never any shortcuts to finding treasure. They would have to look for it themselves.

    ¡°You might be able to ask that broom over there. Its name is Mair and it has the greatest mobility of all the items in the castle because it needs to clean this entire castle every morning, even though I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything to clean here, hahahaha,¡± the old man chuckled at his own tepid joke.

    The broom poked its head out from a corner, its single eye darting back and forth incessantly.

    Zhu Xianyao walked over and was just about to speak when that broom suddenly shot through the air as it yelled, ¡°I won¡¯t tell you anything!¡±

    ¡°Trying to run?¡± Zhu Baiyu harrumphed. He raised his hand and motioned at the broom. Mair flew backwards into Zhu Baiyu¡¯s firm grasp and was unable to escape.

    ¡°You¡¯d better tell me what you know. Otherwise......¡± Zhu Baiyu said bluntly.

    ¡°Otherwise, what? You¡¯ll kill me? I¡¯m not afraid of death,¡± Mair replied.

    ¡°No, but I can lock you up so that you have no way of moving for all of eternity,¡± Zhu Xianyao said as she pulled out a rope, seemingly about to tie it up.

    That move was quite effective, and Mair began to yell, ¡°Okay, okay, I¡¯ll talk! There¡¯s a room near the top of the castle that¡¯s locked. The things you want might be in there.¡±

    ¡°You should have just said so in the first ce,¡± Zhu Baiyu said as he let him go.

    Because they were very familiar with West Laina Castle, everyone knew where to go without Mair¡¯s assistance.

    As it watched them leave, Mair harrumphed angrily, ¡°You dare threaten me? You¡¯ll suffer for it.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s in that room?¡± the old man in the painting asked.

    ¡°A nightmare!¡± Mair replied.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    They walked past the long hallway and easily arrived at the castle¡¯s upper room.

    They had finally reached the room that Mair was talking about.

    The room was all the way at the end of the hallway. The door to the room wasrge and white and even had a beast head formed from bronze on it.

    ¡°Strange,¡± Su Chen muttered when he saw this door.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember a room like this in West Laina Castle,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Once Su Chen pointed it out, everyone came to the same realization.

    In West Laina Castle, there was only a wall here and no door.

    But this void-projected castle actually contained a door to a room that didn¡¯t exist in the real world.

    Ba Lieyuanughed, ¡°Then doesn¡¯t this mean that the broom told us the truth? This should be the ce where Kapius¡¯s secret stash is. The hidden treasures aren¡¯t a projection, so there isn¡¯t an equivalent model in the real world.¡±

    This seemed quite logical to everyone, who nodded in agreement.

    However, Zhu Xianyao still forced one of the Sand Race¡¯s individuals to open the door.

    That Sand Race individual walked up and pushed the door but found that he couldn¡¯t open. He was just feeling at a loss when the bronze beast head slowly began to open its eyes.

    It boomed resoundingly, ¡°The door will not open without a sacrifice.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao stepped forward. ¡°What kind of sacrifice are you looking for?¡±

    ¡°Fresh blood and a person¡¯s soul.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao nodded. ¡°The person right in front of you is the sacrifice.¡±

    That Sand Race individual was so frightened that his soul almost left his body. He wanted to run, but with Zhu Baiyu holding him firmly in ce, how could he possibly escape?

    The bronze beast head let out a metallic howl and slowly opened its mouth before biting down on the Sand Race member¡¯s arm.

    Fresh blood flowed into the beast¡¯s mouth, and blood began to creep along the along the surface of the door. Eventually, the door was covered in a bloody engraving.

    ¡°Not enough!¡± the bronze beast head yelled after draining that Sand Race captive dry.

    ¡°Then have another one!¡± Zhao Jingwen grabbed another Sand Race captive and tossed him over.

    Even more fresh blood flowed into the beast¡¯s mouth. The bloody engravings grew thicker and expanded, forming a pattern filled with profound mysteries.

    This pattern was actually an extremelyplicated Origin Formation that had finally activated at this moment.

    After sucking the second Sand Race captive dry, the bronze beast head spoke. ¡°Since you have brought forth the sacrifices, then the ancient ritual has been established. I will respond to your request and open up this passageway!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Zhu Xianyao was stunned.

    What ancient ritual?

    The bronze beast tilted its head back and howled. The door finally opened, revealing a pitch-ck space.

    Then, out of this pitch-ck space, a dark energy began to surge out like a raging flood, releasing a terrifying aura.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Zhu Xianyao began to scream.

    ¡°Hurry and retreat!¡± Su Chen grabbed Zhu Xianyao and jumped backwards.

    The wave of darkness had already swallowed up an unfortunate Sand Race captive. That captive cried out before disappearing without a trace.

    Everyone was badly startled and began to retreat at full-speed. The darkness continued to advance unyieldingly, only stopping once it had imed the majority of the hallway.

    Then, the darkness turned into a massive giant and boomed, ¡°Death, destruction, extinction! I smell things decaying again, hahahaha!

    ¡°Damn! This isn¡¯t Kapius¡¯s secret stash, it¡¯s an evil summoning ritual!¡± Zhu Xianyao yelled.

    No one had expected that this door would lead to a strange space, and that frightening existences would pour out of the door as soon as it was opened.

    This evil summoning ritual required the use of very specific methods to summon extremely wicked creatures. No one knew what these creatures would be, as different worlds would give these creatures different attributes.

    The evil summoning ritual set up here in this void projection was obviously aimed towards darkness-type substance, which was appropriate for the unique nature of a Projection Void.

    That damned broom had lied to them.

    Only Su Chen¡¯s eyes began to glitter faintly.

    That was because he sensed a very familiar aura on the body of this summoned darkness beast.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 35: Darkness Demon

    Regardless of what the summoned creature was, this summoned darkness beast obviously did not have any good intentions.

    Its furious, unrestrained howls gave away the summoned darkness beast¡¯s malicious intent. Waves of dark energy surged forward from its body as it yelled, ¡°Be food for the darkness!¡±

    ¡°Careful! Everyone back up!¡± Zhu Baiyu yelled.

    A blood-colored energy rose up from the surroundings to meet the wave of darkness. The two opposing waves of energy shed, unleashing a frightening wave of energy that threatened to wipe out everyone present. Anything that these waves of energy touched would immediately disintegrate, but then reform an instantter.

    This ce was quite good for doing battle. No matter what kind of damage urred, it would quickly repair itself.

    ¡°You insignificant insects, remember my name! I am the Darkness Demon Heath!¡± the summoned darkness beast howled. Dark clouds began to gather and turned into a massive two-sidednce that pierced down at Zhu Baiyu.

    ¡°How arrogant!¡± Zhu Baiyu harrumphed as he jabbed out with his finger.

    This single jab carried with it the bewitching aura of the Heavenly Fox and the power of a Demonic Emperor as it raced towards the Darkness Demon. As soon as it touched the longnce, it exploded with a brilliant light.

    ¡°ARGHH!¡± The Darkness Demon howled in pain. The massive spear fragmented under Zhu Baiyu¡¯s finger strike and turned back into ck fog. The bright light was like poison as it corroded the Darkness Demon, causing its body to grow much smaller.

    ¡°Damn bastard!¡± the Darkness Demon howled angrily as the ck waves surged forward again.

    An arm of one the Zhu n¡¯s guards was swept up by the darkness; his entire arm turned into dark fog that then dissipated.

    ¡°No! Save me!¡± the guard yelled, but he could only watch as the darkness continued to eat away at him until he faded away.

    Everyone felt fear rising in their hearts as they watched a person be swallowed up by darkness just like that.

    ¡°Everyone, activate your Origin Energy barriers and attack from range. Don¡¯t get into close-quartersbat with it!¡± Zhu Xianyao yelled.

    This was the best way to deal with the Darkness Demon.

    Only Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up.

    Shadow Substance!

    He could finally confirm that this Darkness Demon¡¯s body was made entirely out of Shadow Substance.

    Su Chen had obtained Shadow Substance from the little ck stones earlier. Because their origin was mysterious, Su Chen had never found another way to extract more apart from recycling it from his own abilities.

    However, without new Shadow Substance, Su Chen would have a very hard time producing more Shadow Servants, and even strengthening the current Shadow Servants would be quite difficult.

    But now, Su Chen had actually discovered a lifeform whose body was literally made of Shadow Substance.

    How could he not be excited?

    At this moment, everyone was locked in battle with the Darkness Demon. Su Chen was standing to the side, carefully watching the Darkness Demon fight.

    The Darkness Demon was exceptionally powerful and seemed to possess boundless stores of darkness power that was extremely corrosive. Anyone who came into contact with the dark fog, even if a little bit, would rapidly disintegrate.

    Pu!

    Zhao Jingwen¡¯s Origin Energy barrier shattered. Before the new barrier could form, a bit of the Darkness Demon¡¯s darkness-type Origin Energy came into contact with his body. He acted quite decisively and cut off the piece of meat from his own shoulder and threw it on the ground. That chunk of meat rapidly dissolved into ck fog and disappeared without a trace.

    The corrosive power of the darkness was really quite frightening.

    In Su Chen¡¯s eyes, this was just the concentrated Shadow Substance attempting to find a target to corrode.

    This was a special corrosive property of the Shadow Substance. Su Chen had found this out a long time ago when he hadbined it with his mes to make the Shadow me Giant. However, the amount of Shadow Substance he possessed was limited, as was the corrosive ability of the giant. He never expected that Shadow Substance could have such a shocking corrosive ability when it became concentrated enough.

    The presence of this much Origin Substance was a huge pile of treasure in Su Chen¡¯s eyes!

    His eyes flickered with greed.

    ¡°Tianyang, what are you doing!¡± Zhu Xianyao yelled when she discovered Su Chen¡¯s strange movements.

    The current Su Chen had voluntarily let down his barrier and gotten close.

    Was he trying to get himself killed?

    HOWL!

    The Darkness Demon swung its arm at Su Chen.

    Su Chen raised his de. The Darkness Demon¡¯s arm wasn¡¯t sturdy and was immediately sliced through.

    However, the broken arm still hit Su Chen¡¯s body. Arge quantity of darkness began to envelope his body. Zhu Xianyao screamed as if she was the one being killed.

    An instantter, however, the darkness seemed toe under Su Chen¡¯s control, eventually gathering near his left hand before disappearing without a trace.

    ¡°How is this possible?¡± the Darkness Demon howled in shock.

    It could sense that there was something on this human¡¯s left hand that could exert incredible control over itself.

    It was like the frost melting under a scorching hot sun.

    Large amounts of Shadow Substance entered the Shadow Glove. This unique item immediately surged with power. Because Su Chen¡¯s blood was connected with it, Su Chen could even sense a kind of satisfaction emanating from it!

    It was the satisfaction that came from eating a full meal.

    Obviously, Su Chen wasn¡¯t nning on letting things go just like that.

    The target in front of him was a huge sink of Shadow Substance. If he missed this opportunity, he would regret it for a long time.

    Su Chen lifted his left hand and swung it at the Darkness Demon.

    With a tearing sound, Su Chen ripped off arge chunk of the dark fog on the darkness demon¡¯s body.

    The glove on his hand began to glow faintly and rapidly absorbed the dark fog.

    An instantter, Su Chen swung again.

    As if he was eating amb or a cow, Su Chen cleaved away at his opponent blow after blow, consuming it bit by bit. Large quantities of Shadow Substance surged into the glove, constantly raising the power of the Shadow Glove.

    ¡°NO!¡± the Darkness Demon howled in fear.

    It couldn¡¯t understand how his opponent was doing this, but it knew that every sessful attack of Su Chen¡¯s would weaken it until it couldn¡¯t fight anymore.

    The Darkness Demon finally felt fear and began to retreat.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let it get away!¡± Su Chen yelled.

    The other people also realized that Su Chen¡¯s glove could restrain the Darkness Demon and began to strengthen their attacks to try and keep it in ce.

    The Darkness Demon howled repeatedly and tried to escape. It was not nearly as threatening as it was before. It looked just like a creature made of sludge as it crawled along the ground. However, Chef Su Chen stopped it at every step of the way and continued to cut away at it.

    Once Su Chen had torn off a final chunk of Shadow Substance, the Darkness Demon could no longer maintain its physical form and disintegrated.

    Large quantities of dark fog billowed everywhere as it dissipated, leaving behind a bit of grey powder behind.

    Su Chen picked up a bit of the powder. The powder containedrge quantities of Shadow Substance. When he saw the powder, Su Chen was reminded of the ck stones he had obtained previously.

    He started to understand the origins of those ck stones.

    Su Chen carefully collected the powder without wasting it.

    They still were full of research value.

    When he stood back up, he found that everyone around him had a strange look on their faces.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 36: Laying All the Cards on the Table

    When he stood up, Su Chen found himself surrounded by four people.

    Zhu Baiyu, Zhu Xianyao, Zhao Jingwen, and Ba Lieyuan.

    ¡°What are you guys doing?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°You¡¯re not You Tianyang. Who exactly are you?¡± Zhao Jingwen said in a low voice.

    Su Chen squinted his eyes and said, ¡°Zhao Jingwen, what nonsense are you spouting?¡±

    Ba Lieyuan said menacingly, ¡°I am sure that the Long n does not have any techniques that can control a Darkness Demon. I have also never seen Young Master You cultivate any kind of secret consciousness technique before.¡±

    Su Chen said disdainfully, ¡°Just because you haven¡¯t seen it doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t, idiot.¡±

    Ba Lieyuan replied, ¡°Young Master You wouldn¡¯t talk to me like that either.¡±

    Su Chen coldlyughed. ¡°Your tone almost made me think that you¡¯re the master.¡±

    At this point, Su Chen knew that he had been exposed, so even the way he spoke began to change. He was no longer pretending to be You Tianyang, but he continued to stubbornly insist otherwise.

    Zhu Baiyu said, ¡°Enough. Before we even came in here, I was already aware that you were no longer You Tianyang.¡±

    ¡°Oh? What proof do you have of this?¡± Su Chen countered.

    ¡°The proof is that Origin Crystal.¡± Zhu Baiyu pointed at Su Chen¡¯s sash.

    ¡°An Origin Crystal? What¡¯s wrong with an Origin Crystal? Am I not allowed to own a consciousness-type Origin Crystal?¡±

    ¡°Of course you¡¯re allowed to. But you should have taken it out before you used the three vials of Spirit-Sobering Medicine,¡± Zhu Baiyuughed coldly. ¡°Spirit-Sobering Medicine is a consumable and disappears once it is used, but you can use an Origin Crystal repeatedly. Under these circumstances, any clear-headed individual would have taken out the reusable crystal first before using the consumable medicines and scroll. But you? You used the medicine first and only pulled out the crystal once you realized that the medicine wasn¡¯t going to cut it. The only reason you would do that is if you weren¡¯t nning on revealing that you had a consciousness-type Origin Crystal. And that is because you were very clear that the more you revealed abilities that didn¡¯t match up with what You Tianyang could do, the more of a risk you would be taking.¡±

    ¡°So you did start to suspect me back then,¡± Su Chen said with a slight smile. ¡°I¡¯m actually not too surprised; ever since I decided to rece Zhu Xianyao in opening the secret stashes, I knew that I couldn¡¯t avoid all suspicion.¡±

    ¡°But you still chose to do it.¡±

    ¡°Yes. I had no choice. No matter what, opening the secret stashes was the highest priority. If I didn¡¯t take the risk of standing out then, we wouldn¡¯t have been able to get in in the first ce.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re not denying that you¡¯re not You Tianyang?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked as she forcefully suppressed her anger.

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°Of course not. You don¡¯t seem to like that answer much, do you? Oh, that¡¯s right! That kiss...... you thought you were giving it to You Tianyang, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he gently licked his lips and chuckled softly.

    ¡°BASTARD!¡± Zhu Xianyao was about to go insane.

    Just as she was beginning to fall for You Tianyang, she discovered that this You Tianyang wasn¡¯t the real You Tianyang. How could she not be infuriated?

    Even worse, she had nted a seed of affection towards the other party with that kiss of her.

    But now, she discovered that she didn¡¯t even know who she had given her affection to!

    How could she not feel like she was going mad?

    ¡°I¡¯ll kill you!¡± she yelled as she unleashed a palm strike.

    ¡°I feel like dealing with me should not be your most urgent priority.¡± Su Chen countered with a palm strike of his own, then leapt backwards towards Zhu Xianyao.

    ¡°How bold!¡± Zhu Baiyu barked. He was just about to intervene when he heard a voice speak. ¡°Zhu Baiyu, your opponent is me!¡±

    Raindrops suddenly appeared, seemingly frozen in midair. As a gust of wind blew by, the raindrops began to fall through the air.

    Zhu Baiyu took these ostensibly simple raindrops extremely seriously. He was forced to withdraw his strike against Su Chen and instead howled, unleashing all the energy in his body in the form of a massive shockwave that repelled the raindrops and prevented them from advancing.

    ¡°Shi Mingfeng!¡± he howled.

    ¡°That¡¯s me.¡± Shi Mingfeng appeared with a slight smile. Rain continued to drizzle down, seeping into every crack and chilling down to the bone. Zhu Baiyu felt a bit of panic creep into his heart.

    He wasn¡¯t panicking over Shi Mingfeng but over the fact that their mission had been exposed. This meant that the opponent would have made even more preparations.

    Indeed, after Shi Mingfeng appeared, the Immortal Temple¡¯s experts also began to appear one after another.

    Zhu Xianyao stared fiercely at Su Chen. ¡°So you belong to the Immortal Temple!¡±

    As she spoke, she jabbed out with her finger.

    Heavenly Fox Finger!

    She had immediately opened with a killing move, demonstrating her hatred for Su Chen.

    It wasn¡¯t just because of Su Chen¡¯s deception. Actually, it was more so due to the seed of affection.

    The only way to uproot that seed was to kill the person to whom it had been given.

    ¡°I hope that doesn¡¯t make you unhappy,¡± Su Chenughed.

    He clenched his right fist and punched out at the finger. This seemingly simple punch was actually enveloped in a transparent illusory image ¡ª this was Su Chen¡¯s Primordial Blood Incarnation, but his control over it had be much so precise that he could even gather it solely to one part of his body.

    Boom!

    The fist and finger jab collided. Both Su Chen and Zhu Xianyao simultaneously took a step back.

    The Slyheart Demonic Emperor¡¯s Heavenly Fox Finger was the Zhu n¡¯s strongest killing technique. Even though Zhu Xianyao wasn¡¯t particrly well-known for herbat strength, this strike was not something that just anyone could defend against. Yet even so, Su Chen had blocked it rtively easily and was not disadvantaged in the slightest. He even had the strength to try and counterattack.

    An instantter, he reached out and grasped at Zhu Xianyao.

    Zhu Xianyao hurriedly retreated in shock while Su Chen charged forwards in hot pursuit. As one fled while the other chased, they continued to exchange more blows between the two of them.

    At this point, it was clear who held the advantage.

    Even though the Heavenly Fox Finger and the Primordial Blood Incarnation had drawn even, the Heavenly Fox Finger was Zhu Xianyao¡¯s ultimate trump card. Su Chen¡¯s punch, on the other hand, was just a normal move. He hadn¡¯t even imbued it with Shadow me.

    As such, every time Zhu Xianyao attacked, she had a rtively long recovery period. Inparison, Su Chen could unleash blow after blow after blow, each one with the same amount of power behind it. Zhu Xianyao barely had any time to catch her breath.

    This person was that powerful?

    Zhu Xianyao was totally stunned as she stared at the face that was perfectly like You Tianyang¡¯s.

    She had a Demonic Emperor Bloodline and was a Yang Opening Realm cultivator, but she was still being suppressed by these seemingly basic punches.

    How could she not be surprised?

    Thankfully, Ba Lieyuan and Zhao Jingwen charged over at that moment.

    ¡°Where is my Young Master?¡± Ba Lieyuan howled fiercely as his massive axe swung forward at the same time that Zhao Jingwen¡¯s Cloud-Sundering Spear pierced forwards.

    ¡°Of course he¡¯s in my hands,¡± Su Chen replied as the Mountain-Beheading de appeared.

    The de cleaved through the air.

    Ba Lieyuan and Zhao Jingwen felt as if the air in front of them was distorting. This would only happen once a de strike was sharp enough and it implied that normal barriers wouldn¡¯t stand a chance against it.

    The two of them were both stunned. Where had this expert suddenly popped out from? They simultaneously withdrew their attacks to defend themselves. The collision unleashed a scintiting light before the three of them separated.

    However, Su Chen was only forced back a single step. A massive, human-like illusory image had appeared behind his back, towering over them like a mountain. This transparent humanoid image had only needed to take a single step back to neutralize the momentum of their attacks. The Mountain-Beheading de almost instantaneously grew in size and shed again at Ba Lieyuan and Zhao Jingwen.

    This de strike exuded an overbearing amount of pressure that seemed to swallow up mountains and rivers. This kind of power could only belong to the peerlessly powerful.

    In that instant, Zhu Xianyao felt that her opponent wasn¡¯t just a normal Origin Qi Schr but rather a Light Shaking Realm expert or even someone with a Primordial Beast Bloodline.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 37: Negotiations 1

    Chapter 37: Negotiations (1)

    Any normal Yang Opening Realm cultivator would have been cleaved into two by this overbearing, ruthless de strike.

    Luckily, Ba Lieyuan and Zhao Jingwen weren¡¯t normal Yang Opening Realm cultivators.

    They were both trusted subordinates of their respective ns. Naturally, their ns¡¯ bloodlines had been imnted into them. Of those with mixed bloodlines, they were the closest to being pure-blooded.

    As Su Chen¡¯s de surged domineeringly towards the two of them, a bloody glow began to emanate from their bodies.

    A blood-colored demonic fox appeared, its bewitching eyes staring at Su Chen as it jabbed out with a finger. This finger jab merged into Zhao Jingwen¡¯s spear attack ¡ª this was Zhao Jingwen¡¯s Heavenly Fox Spear that he had developed. Every bloodline had its own core Bloodline Skills and some derivative Origin Skills. Thetter might not be the most powerful, but they were definitely the most flexible.

    At the same time, a Large-Bellied Pig Dragon appeared behind Ba Lieyuan. Its massive body began to exude a massive amount of energy as if it were a Prehistoric Beast that had reawakened; its powerful aura threatened to extinguish all life in its surroundings. This power fused with Ba Lieyuan¡¯s Inferno de, imbuing it with a frightening deathly aura.

    Heavenly Wolf Spear, Pig Dragon Tooth Spike!

    The two powerful Bloodline Origin Skills exploded forth, simultaneously mming into Su Chen¡¯s Primordial Blood Incarnation.

    An instantter, a blindingly brilliant light shone forth, and a violent explosion of energy surged through the entire castle, causing portions of it to copse before they reformed.

    People who didn¡¯t know any better would have thought that two Light Shaking Realm cultivators were fighting each other.

    Su Chen was forced back again, but this time he didn¡¯t get off so easy. Blood was trickling down from the corner of his mouth.

    Ba Lieyuan and Zhao Jingwen had also received some minor injuries.

    The three of them nced at each other, both sides feeling some surprise.

    ¡°Who is this guy?¡± Zhao Jingwen blurted out.

    Two powerful experts with Demonic Emperor Bloodlines had failed to defeat their opponent even when teaming up. This was simply too shocking for them.

    Their opponent hadn¡¯t even used his full strength.

    This was very easy for them to determine, because Su Chen was still maintaining You Tianyang¡¯s appearance.

    He still had spare energy to keep up a disguise!

    Su Chen shook his head, a trace of excitement appearing in his eyes. ¡°Demonic Emperor Bloodlines...... They are truly extraordinary. I can take on ten normal Yang Opening Realm cultivators without any problems, but the two of you are enough to hold me back. This is truly addicting! But I haven¡¯t reached my upper limit yet. Taste another de strike first!¡±

    As he spoke, the Primordial Blood Incarnation behind him surged with energy, immediately growing to a height of fifty feet.

    More specifically, this was its actual size. In the past few years, Su Chen¡¯s cultivation base hadn¡¯t gone up much, but his development of Origin Skills hadn¡¯t stagnated in the least. The Primordial Blood Incarnation had also improved repeatedly.

    At the same time, the Mountain-Beheading de had also grown.

    Therger the de became, the stronger it was, making it extremelypatible with Su Chen¡¯s Primordial Blood Incarnation. In addition, the de¡¯s surface was now coated with ayer of shadowy mes.

    Even though they had never seen Su Chen¡¯s shadowy mes before, everyone knew that those mes weren¡¯t just for decoration.

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s expression changed drastically as she yelled, ¡°Everyone, be careful!¡±

    She gestured with her hands, causing a wave of fragrant incense to billow forth from her hands.

    The incense contained a kind of bewitching substance and was extremelypatible with the Heavenly Fox¡¯s charming effect. It had a very powerful confusion effect.

    Unfortunately, Su Chen knew about all of the Zhu n¡¯s tactics. This method was totally ineffective against him.

    Su Chen took in a long breath, sucking in the fragrant incense like a whale would suck in water, then shook his head and said, ¡°Smells great!¡±

    ¡°You......¡± Zhu Xianyao eximed in shock.

    Su Chen¡¯s gaze was clear and showed no trace of being bewitched.

    He stared calmly at the three of them. ¡°You three should team up. Let¡¯s have ourselves a good fight!¡±

    As he spoke, the Mountain-Beheading de surged forward.

    Even a Light Shaking Realm cultivator would need to take this de strike seriously.

    Upon sensing the frightening aura emanating from the de, Zhu Xianyao, Ba Lieyuan, and the others all felt their expressions fall.

    They didn¡¯t know if they could defend against the blow, but they had no choice! They could only guard!

    However, at this moment, Su Chen¡¯s arm suddenly froze in ce, and the de remained suspended in midair.

    He tilted his head, as though he were listening for something, and then said, ¡°Our guests are here.¡±

    As he said that, he actually pulled his de back.

    He could actually pull this de strike back on a whim without any bacsh. This meant one thing: he had yet to use his full strength. On the other hand, the three of them could only feel despair when facing this de strike.

    Zhu Xianyao and the others all wore expressions of shock.

    Who was this person?

    How could he so powerful to this extent?

    When he heard Su Chen¡¯s words, Shi Mingfeng said, ¡°It¡¯s them?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Su Chen agreed.

    Shi Mingfeng unleashed a palm strike, raindrops shooting forth from his palm and merging to form arge wall of water. This wall of water wasn¡¯t straight but had many curves, making it look like an extremely uneven mirror. It perfectly separated the people fighting, another demonstration of the Rain Master¡¯s exquisite control over water-type Origin Energy.

    The two groups were forced apart after just having been in battle not long before. Shi Mingfeng said, ¡°Pall is here. Everyone, stop for now!¡±

    Pall?

    Everyone was stunned when they heard that name.

    Wasn¡¯t that Sand Race Leader still all the way back at Ali Pce? Why was he here now?

    Su Chen said, ¡°If you don¡¯t believe me, ask him.¡±

    He pointed the Mountain-Beheading de at Culler.

    Culler smiled savagely. ¡°Leader had never trusted you humans in the first ce. He knew that you humans would definitely have ulterior motives. This is why we purposefully used you to search for the secret treasure so that we could swoop in and snatch itter. Now that Leader is here, you guys are dead for sure.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao was stunned when she heard this. She stared at Su Chen and asked, ¡°You guys have known about this for awhile now?¡±

    Su Chen shrugged. ¡°It was just a suspicion, but now we¡¯ve confirmed it.¡±

    ¡°So what if you¡¯ve confirmed it?¡± Zhu Baiyu said harshly. ¡°You dare plot against the Zhu n and steal the Zhu n¡¯s benefits? You will all die!¡±

    Shi Mingfeng chuckled, ¡°Steal the Zhu n¡¯s benefits? Zhu Baiyu, you¡¯ve got it all wrong. You got the news about West Laina Castle from the Immortal Temple, so you¡¯re the one who¡¯s trying to steal our business. How did you spin it to be the other way around?¡±

    ¡°......That.¡± Zhu Baiyu froze. It was only then that she realized that they had found out about the secrets in West Laina Castle from the Immortal Temple.

    After so much squabbling, it wasn¡¯t the Immortal Temple robbing the Zhu n but the Zhu n robbing the Immortal Temple?

    When Shi Mingfeng put it that way, everyone was immediately rendered speechless.

    Whether or not logic was useful often depended on the people involved, the timing, and the exact circumstances.

    Trying to be rational under some circumstances was totally useless.

    While under other circumstances, being rational could have a huge effect.

    This was a perfect example of that: originally, the Zhu n had thought that the Immortal Temple¡¯s people had set up an ambush for them to try and swoop in at thest moment and steal their rewards. As such, they felt that their indignation was justified and were naturally prepared to fight to the death.

    But now that Shi Mingfeng had turned their logic on its own head, it was the Zhu n who was robbing the Immortal Temple, who were then justified in counterattacking. The mes of anger in everyone¡¯s hearts were doused significantly.

    Without this anger, even though they were still enemies, they were no longer at the point where they would rather die than give the opponent an advantage, so negotiations would happen much more easily.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Pall has arrived and will be here soon. He is a Light Shaking Realm cultivator with five Lotus tforms and also has a number of experts under hismand. If we continue like this, the only oue is that we will all be wiped out in one fell swoop.¡±

    Zhu Baiyu¡¯s gaze grew focused. ¡°You mean?¡±

    ¡°We should team up and deal with the intruders first,¡± Su Chen replied.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 38: Negotiations 2

    Chapter 38: Negotiations (2)

    Allying with the Zhu n to deal with the Sand Race wasn¡¯t something that Su Chen hade up with on a whim. He had nned for this a long time ago.

    From the very beginning, Su Chen was suspicious of whether the Zhu n had sessfully tricked Pall. This was easy to determine after examining Culler¡¯s reactions and decision-making abilities; he had been way too easy to trick.

    If Pall trusted him to keep watch over the castle while he was gone, then Su Chen didn¡¯t believe that Culler would be a person who was all brawn and no brain. The only reason he would act like that was if he had been purposefully instructed to act like an idiot.

    This also meant that Pall was likely close by.

    However, ording to Su Chen¡¯s initial n, the Immortal Temple would wait to make a move after Pall appeared. The Zhu n would fight with Pall first before the Immortal Temple would swoop in to reap the rewards.

    However, in the end he had exposed himself while trying to deal with the Darkness Demon, forcing Shi Mingfeng and the others to reveal themselves and save him.

    As such, the n needed to be modified from swooping in at the end like an oriole to allying together to fight.

    When Zhu Baiyu heard what Su Chen said, he squinted his eyes. ¡°Ally with you guys? What a joke!¡±

    Su Chen said indifferently, ¡°You will agree in the end.¡±

    ¡°Why? Just Pall isn¡¯t enough to scare us!¡± Zhu Xianyaoughed coldly.

    ¡°What about You Tianyang? Don¡¯t forget that he¡¯s still in my hands,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Upon hearing that name, everyone was temporarily rendered speechless.

    Shi Mingfeng said, ¡°Even though the Zhu n and the Immortal Temple have some grudges, it isn¡¯t anything that can¡¯t be dealt with. In the end, all we are fighting for are some material benefits. Those Sand Race individuals are of a different tribe. When faced against these foreign tribes, we should team up against them.¡±

    Ba Lieyuan frowned. ¡°Don¡¯t try and intimidate us with just that. I would rather the secret stashes fall into a foreign tribe¡¯s hands than into the Immortal Temple¡¯s hands.

    ¡°Ba Lieyuan, don¡¯t try and y this game with me. The Immortal Temple has no grudges with the You n. You should be a bit quieter for the sake of your n¡¯s Young Master.¡± Shi Mingfeng was instantly able to see through Ba Lieyuan¡¯s harsh pretense.

    Ba Lieyuan immediately shut his mouth.

    Su Chen said, ¡°I can promise you that, as long as we team up right now to deal with Pall, I will immediately let You Tianyang go once this whole ordeal is over.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t even know who you are. Why should we believe your words?¡± Zhao Jingwenughed coldly.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. If you want us to believe in you, you should at least reveal your real appearance, right?¡± Zhu Baiyu said.

    ¡°That......¡± Su Chen hesitated, then said with a bitter smile, ¡°For the sake of a pleasant cooperation, I feel like it would be better if I didn¡¯t reveal my true appearance.¡±

    What did that mean?

    Everyone was immediately stunned.

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s gaze grew more focused. ¡°It sounds like he has a blood debt with my Zhu n.¡±

    Everyone was enlightened and realized why the opponent wasn¡¯t willing to reveal his true appearance.

    However, the Zhu n and the Immortal Temple had fought many times, and there were quite a few such blood debts on both sides. Even though they couldn¡¯t think of an expert that specialized in consciousness power that had killed many Zhu n members, the fact that they assumed Su Chen was someone from the Immortal Temple meant that nobody even considered Su Chen as a possibility.

    Zhu Baiyu coldly harrumphed. ¡°I also have the blood of a few Immortal Temple lives on my hands, but aren¡¯t you still here asking me for peace? If you don¡¯t reveal your true appearance, how can I trust you?¡±

    Su Chen immediately said, ¡°First of all, I¡¯m not suing for peace. This is a negotiation. Second of all, the reason I am not revealing my true appearance is because I want the negotiations to go smoothly. The Immortal Temple has a lot of tolerance, and we can overlook the fact that you have killed our members before, but that doesn¡¯t mean that the Bloodline Nobility ns will also be so generous. Third of all, if you don¡¯t trust me, then you can have the Rain Master vow in my stead with his Origin Energy as a seal. After this battle, I will definitely release aplete, undamaged You Tianyang back to you.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s words were extremely thorough, rendering everyone speechless for some time.

    As she pondered it over, Zhu Xianyao asked, ¡°Then what about Kapius¡¯s secret stores? How will we divide those up?¡±

    She originally thought that Su Chen was going toe up with some way of distributing them, but instead he said without hesitation, ¡°They¡¯ll belong to us.¡±

    What?

    Everyone from the Zhu n was simultaneously enraged.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Young Miss Zhu, you want Kapius¡¯s secret stores because you want to regain your memories, right?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s face reddened. ¡°So you had already impersonated him all the way back then.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao had told Su Chen the reason that she wanted to find Kapius¡¯s secret stores after the assassination attempt. Now that Su Chen said it out loud, she naturally knew that Su Chen had taken You Tianyang¡¯s ce for quite a long time. In other words, the You Tianyang that she had gradually fallen for wasn¡¯t actually You Tianyang. How could this not agitate and distress her?

    Su Chen said, ¡°I know of a way to help you remember the truth. If you are willing to leave Kapius¡¯s treasure to us, then I can help you remember the truth again.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng was totally speechless.

    Oh, Su Chen, you sure are shameless.

    Everything that happened back then was all because of Su Chen. Naturally, he could also resolve the situation.

    The key was the words that he used, ¡®I can help you remember the truth.¡¯

    He specifically mentioned the truth but not her memories.

    However, that truth would stille out of his mouth. Whatever he said, Zhu Xianyao would have to listen to it!

    Exchanging the secret stashes for a story? That was quite an exchange.

    Shi Mingfeng quietly gave Su Chen a big thumbs up in his heart.

    Even Zhu Xianyao was stunned.

    She stared at Su Chen. ¡°You...... will help me rediscover the truth?¡±

    ¡°Yes! Even though I cannot reveal my face, I can at least have the Rain Master testify on my behalf. If I don¡¯t do as I say, then the Rain Master will cut off his own Origin Energy and ept punishment from the Heavens, a fate worse than death!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Everyone was rendered speechless for some time.

    Don¡¯t use other people¡¯s lives to make vows so carelessly, okay?

    Shi Mingfeng stared at Su Chen. ¡°Brat, are you trying to force me to put my life in your hands? If you don¡¯t fulfill your promise, then I¡¯ll be the one who ends up in huge trouble.¡±

    Origin Energy vows were no small matter. They could be somewhat hit-or-miss.

    There were many profound mysteries of the heavens that couldn¡¯t be described.

    If this vow wasn¡¯t fulfilled and was used instead to achieve a certain aim, Shi Mingfeng really might end up in some trouble because of this vow.

    The gaze that Shi Mingfeng was giving Su Chen was filled with bitterness.

    Su Chen shrugged. ¡°You could always not do it.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Damn your mother!

    Shi Mingfeng cursed to himself.

    Of course he could choose not to, but that meant that the negotiations would have a hard time proceeding.

    And as long as he did make that vow, the Zhu n would give up on all of the profits and even help them deal with Pall.

    The entire n had been orchestrated by Shi Mingfeng in the first ce. He had no reason to throw it away now by his own hands.

    As such, he could only give Su Chen a hard stare. ¡°If you don¡¯t fulfill your end of the deal, I¡¯ll skin you alive!¡±

    Su Chen said with a slight smile, ¡°You should say that a bit louder. I think that they¡¯d like to hear it as well.¡±

    ¡°Get the hell out of here!¡± Shi Mingfeng aimed a kick at Su Chen, whoughed and dodged easily.

    Culler said darkly, ¡°Even if you ally together, you won¡¯t be strong enough to defeat Leader!¡±

    ¡°At the very least, you¡¯ll be dead before that happens,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Whoosh!

    He raised the de in his hand and let it fall, directly cutting off Culler¡¯s head.

    Now that the battle was near, there was no point in leaving this guy alive. He would only be a burden on them.

    Even so, everyone was stunned by the decisiveness and ruthlessness of that de strike.

    There wasn¡¯t much time, so Shi Mingfeng instantly made the vow.

    Only Zhu Xianyao continued to observe Su Chen.

    She didn¡¯t know why, but she still felt like this person before her was a bit familiar.

    Now that he was not pretending to be You Tianyang, Su Chen¡¯s way of speaking had returned to normal.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 39: Collision

    Boom!

    Pall¡¯s face revealed a trace of impatience as he crushed the zed y bowl that just would not shut up. ¡°I¡¯m getting tired of these unkible bastards. Where is the thing I want?¡±

    ¡°They should be right ahead,¡± Eagle Eye Salk replied.

    A small vortex of sand spun through the air, turning into a golden arrow that pointed straight forward.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that all kinds of strange objects were jumping out from time to time and stopping them from advancing, perhaps they would have already arrived.

    ¡°Then hurry up!¡± Pall strode forward withrge steps.

    A candle suddenly jumped out of nowhere. ¡°Don¡¯t think about taking away anything in here!¡±

    Pall rolled his eyes. ¡°Oh, dammit all. You were my favorite silver candle; are you also going to oppose me?¡±

    The silver candle wiggled its body. ¡°That¡¯s not strange at all, because the blood of the old Leader that you honored and respected has dyed my body. After you stuffed me down his throat, I touched with his enraged blood, turning me into the mes of hatred that have waited for you until this moment.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± A few of the Sand Race troops stared at the candle in shock.

    ¡°Ah, dammit!¡± Pall smacked his forehead. ¡°I should have melted you down.¡±

    ¡°If I were made of gold, then you probably would have done so already,¡± the candle replied.

    One of the guards stared at Pall angrily. ¡°You said that the old Leader was killed by humans.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s exactly what I said, just like how you said that you will always be loyal to me,¡± Pall barked back impatiently.

    That guard shook his head.

    He looked a bit confused, as if he were unsure what to do. He could only retreat one step at a time.

    Perhaps that was his way ofpromising.

    However, Pall was obviously dissatisfied by this.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have tried to hold onto both things. Giving up your loyalty is the same as betrayal.¡± Pall reached out with his hand.

    His movements were not fast, but that simple motion of his caused the guard to fly into his hands.

    He grabbed the guard by the throat and said, ¡°I once appreciated you, but you were too stupid in the end.¡±

    He clenched his fist, crushing the guard¡¯s throat instantaneously.

    ¡°Oh!¡± the candle yelled as it covered its eyes. ¡°That¡¯s too brutal!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s brutal is what has yet toe,¡± Pall said as he picked up the candle, then caused it to explode in his grip.

    However, the silver candle quickly reappeared.

    It floated through the air. ¡°You can¡¯t kill me!¡±

    ¡°I can. Once I leave this ce, I will burn everything here to a crisp. Every inanimate object here will turn to dust!¡± Pall coldly harrumphed.

    ¡°NO!¡± a piercing howl resounded throughout the castle.

    Candles, brooms, grandfather clocks, pianos, dishes, cutlery, and teacups all came charging out at Pall.

    Even though they were quickly destroyed, their ability to regenerate made Pall feel quite frustrated.

    ¡°Get out of my way, you damn pieces of rubbish!¡± Pall yelled impatiently. Arge wave of sand suddenly burst forth in front of him. Any rubbish that got near him was instantly crushed into fine powder.

    This frightening sandstorm refused to die down, and those projection lifeforms had no way of getting close to him.

    As such, he continued to boldly advance in the direction that Eagle Eye had pointed. They were making so much noise that it was impossible for them tounch a sneak attack anymore.

    As such, when he came to the foot of the upper hallway and saw Shi Mingfeng and Zhu Baiyu standing together, even he felt like that wasn¡¯t anything strange.

    He said, ¡°I originally wanted to give you a surprise, but those pieces of rubbish dyed me for too long. They¡¯re really quite annoying.¡±

    Shi Mingfengughed, ¡°I think they actually helped you a bit...... we were nning on giving you a counter-surprise.¡±

    Pall squinted his eyes. ¡°From what you said, it sounds like you guys knew that I was going toe?¡±

    Zhu Baiyu harrumphed, ¡°That shouldn¡¯t be surprising. No one is an idiot.¡±

    Pall¡¯s expression hardened as a formless anger began to emanate from him. ¡°But you treated me like an idiot, right? Even going so far as to rely on such lowly tactics to try and trick me.¡±

    Zhu Xianyaoughed coldly. ¡°If it weren¡¯t for the fact that you were tricked by a few bastards before, those tactics would have been perfect for dealing with someone like you.¡±

    ¡°RRRAGHH!¡± Pall howled loudly.

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s words had sessfully infuriated him. As if his anger was his source of energy, the vortex of sand swirling around him grew even more violent and turbulent as it began to expand towards the people in front of him.

    Shi Mingfeng raised his hand. A gentle breeze blew through the air as raindrops began to fall. At the same time, Zhu Baiyu moved as well. A blood-colored glow began to emanate from his body, intertwining with the sleek drops of rain and forcing the advance of a sandstorm to a halt.

    Pall¡¯s strength was obvious at this point. Even though he was against two people at once, of which one possessed a Demonic Emperor Bloodline, Pall wasn¡¯t disadvantaged in the slightest.

    The violent sandstorm surged recklessly, evenly matched with thebined attacks of its two opponents. Wherever the wind blew, all objects were torn to shreds, regardless of whether they were the lifeforms that could talk or the castle itself. They were all destroyed before regenerating over and over again. Arge part of the Void Projection was subjected to this cycle of creation and destruction.

    However, Demonic Emperor Bloodlines were still Demonic Emperor Bloodlines in the end. If the battled continued in this direction, Pall would not have a chance of beating the two of them together.

    The problem was that he wasn¡¯t the only Light Shaking Cultivator amongst all of the Sand Race members present.

    Just as the three of them were locked in a fierce standoff, another Sand Race guard attacked. He was also a Light Shaking Realm cultivator. Thebined assault of the two Light Shaking Realm Sand Race individuals caused the sandstorm to grow even more violent, subjecting Zhu Baiyu and Shi Mingfeng to an intense pressure.

    When they saw this scene, Ba Lieyuan, Zhao Jingwen, and the others also made their moves, as did the rest of the Sand Race guards.

    Battles were always like this. As soon as it started, the number of people participating in the battle and the intensity of the battle would both ramp up until everyone was involved, and would only end once a victor was crowned.

    Su Chen, however, wasn¡¯t nning on joining the battle.

    Once the battle began, Su Chen immediately began to retreat.

    ¡°Where are you going? Are you trying to escape without even fighting?¡± Zhu Xianyao demanded as she walked over.

    Her attention had never left Su Chen from the very beginning.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to look for Kapius¡¯s secret stores, of course,¡± Su Chen said as he headed off in another direction.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to leave behind your people and go and search for the secret stores yourself?¡± Zhu Xianyao said in shock as she followed closely behind.

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Su Chen replied in a self-justified manner as he walked. ¡°That¡¯s nothing to be surprised over. This was our goal in the first ce. Whether we win or lose the battle isn¡¯t that important; the important thing is whether or not we achieve our goal. We are not here to kill Pall but to obtain the secret stores. If we don¡¯t get that, then there¡¯s no point even if we beat Pall. On the other hand, as long as we can get our hands on those secret stores, we¡¯ll be winners even if we lose to Pall.¡±

    ¡°You make it sound so good, but all you¡¯re trying to do is cover up your personal greed!¡± Zhu Xianyao said loudly.

    ¡°Actually, it¡¯s exactly the opposite. This was something Shi Mingfeng and I had discussed since a long time ago. You can go right now and tell him that I¡¯m leaving to go look for the secret stores and he won¡¯t make any effort to stop me. He might not, but Pall will probablye and try.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao was stunned. ¡°How could that be? Is he not worried that you¡¯ll take all of the benefits for yourself?¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°Of course not. Out of everyone here, the only person he can trust is most likely me.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 40: Physical Illusion Realm 1

    <h4>Chapter 40: Physical Illusion Realm 1</h4>

    Chapter 40: Physical Illusion Realm (1)

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t lied. If Shi Mingfeng could only choose a single person to enter the secret stores alone and retrieve what was inside, he would choose Su Chen as he trusted him the most.

    It wasn¡¯t because of Su Chen¡¯s character but rather because the two of them were seeking two totally different things.

    The Immortal Temple wanted the treasures themselves: precious Origin Tools, rare resources, exceptional cultivation techniques ¡ª anything that had value.

    Su Chen, on the other hand, only wanted one thing: knowledge.

    He was notcking in money. A few billion Origin Stones were in his hands; even after spending them quite extravagantly, he still had around 1.2 billion Origin Stones left.

    Su Chen would be able to buy any treasure as long as a price tag could be put on it. No one had as much expendable funds as Su Chen, not even the king of Long Sang Country.

    To him, any item that could be bought was not valuable. He only cared for knowledge.

    On the other hand, the Immortal Temple did not value knowledge at all.

    They wouldn¡¯t value it even if offered to them for free.

    The sess of their agreement was partly because they did not ovep in what they were after. Because of this, Su Chen was able to openly say that he was going to go search for the benefits while they did all the fighting.

    Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t understand that.

    However, she did realize at least one thing.

    She stared at Su Chen. ¡°You aren¡¯t Shi Mingfeng¡¯s subordinate?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Su Chen was stunned.

    Zhu Xianyao said, ¡°You keep saying Shi Mingfeng¡¯s name without using any honorifics and talking about him in an extremely casual tone, as if you¡¯re talking to someone at the same level as you. You¡¯re only a Yang Opening Realm cultivator, but you¡¯re allowed to speak with Shi Mingfeng as if you¡¯re on the same level. You definitely aren¡¯t his subordinate, and¡­¡­ and you might not even be a part of the Immortal Temple!¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t expect that Zhu Xianyao could pick out so much from just a few careless sentences of his. He froze momentarily before saying, ¡°You¡¯re thinking too much into it.

    He turned around and continued walking forward.

    Zhu Xianyao followed closely behind. ¡°Your expression tells me that my guesses are right!¡±

    Su Chen angrily stopped walking. ¡°I say, why do you keep following me? We¡¯ve already agreed that Kapius¡¯s secret stores belong to us.

    ¡°You promised that you would help me recover my memories, so of course I need to follow you! What if you run away?¡±

    ¡°Shi Mingfeng has already made a vow. Once we take what¡¯s in the secret stores, I will naturally help you remember your memories once we leave this ce!¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, what are you so worried about? I already agreed not to fight with you over the secret stores, so why do you insist on chasing me away? Do you have some kind of ulterior motive?¡±

    ¡°Ha!¡± Su Chen spread his hands. ¡°What ulterior motives could I have? I just don¡¯t like you always following me around.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not following you around; I¡¯m just walking with you side by side. Also, you can look for the secret stores, but so can I! I promised not to take anything from inside the secret stores, but not that I wouldn¡¯t look for them. I just want to see what¡¯s inside; that should be fine, right?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡­¡±

    Zhu Xianyao was quite sharp-witted. Su Chen discovered that he wasn¡¯t actually able to refute her words.

    He thought for a moment, then said, ¡°Then why don¡¯t you go and look for them yourself? Why do you keep following after me?¡±

    ¡°Because you still have some things of mine that you haven¡¯t returned yet!¡± Zhu Xianyao replied self-righteously.

    Things of yours?

    Su Chen paused for a moment.

    He suddenly thought of something and took off the rity Bracelet from his wrist. ¡°Here.¡±

    Since their hostility had turned into an alliance, holding onto what belonged to other people was a bit excessive.

    ¡°And the Nine-Eyed Jade Python Belt,¡± Zhu Xianyao said.

    ¡°This thing is quite good. I¡¯d like it. I¡¯ll pay you Origin Stones for it.¡±

    ¡°A hundred million Origin Stones.¡±

    ¡°Stop joking around. Three consciousness-type Origin Crystals for ten million Origin Stones is quite good. I only spent 3.25 million to get this Nightmare Snake Origin Crystal. The Nine-Eyed Jade Python Sash is probably worth another 2 million, so I¡¯ll give you 12 million in total.¡±

    ¡°15 million. The Zhu n is notcking in money.¡±

    ¡°13 million. I¡¯ve never heard of anyone on this earth who truly has no need of money.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao gazed at him meaningfully and said, ¡°Who exactly are you? There aren¡¯t many people who can pull out 13 million Origin Stones without batting an eye.¡±

    ¡°That has nothing to do with you. Now can you stop following me around?¡±

    ¡°You still owe me 13 million Origin Stones and my memories!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡­¡±

    Su Chen realized that he wasn¡¯t going to be able to shake Zhu Xianyao off.

    ¡°Alright then. Since you like following me so much, then you can follow me, but let me tell you this now. Don¡¯t hold me back.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao pouted. ¡°That depends on how I feel and how well you perform.¡±

    Su Chen was toozy to pay her any mind. He continued to walk forwards and search for the secret stores.

    They searched as they walked until they quickly came to a stop in front of arge, pitch-ck door.

    ¡°This door doesn¡¯t exist in West Laina Castle,¡± Zhu Xianyao said.

    ¡°That was the same for the Ancient Summoning Ritual.¡± Su Chen walked over and took a closer look, sensing the surroundings inside the door.

    Thankfully, therge door didn¡¯te to life this time.

    Then, he motioned for Zhu Xianyao to back up a bit.

    He ced his hand on the door and carefully pushed it open.

    With a creak, the door opened.

    No vicious creature came charging out at them. Behind the door was just a dark void.

    Su Chen pulled out a crystalmp from his Origin Ring and tossed it out, the light illuminating the massive cavern. A long hallway revealed itself, leading to some unknown destination. However, the walls of the hallway were lined with strange precious stones, all of them flickering under the light of the crystal and dazzling brilliantly.

    ¡°Purple Petal Stones, Soaring Rosy Clouds Stones, and Deceased Spirit Stones¡­¡­ Did Kapius ever find a precious stone mine?¡± Zhu Xianyao walked over and tried to pull one off, but found that these precious stones were securely anchored in the wall. She had to expend quite a bit of energy to pry just one off.

    Just as she was about to pull off another one, Su Chen stopped her and said, ¡°Stop trying to pull them off. Let¡¯s hurry up and go inside.¡±

    ¡°I just thought that they looked pretty. I know that they belong to you guys,¡± Zhu Xianyao said with a slight pout.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that I can¡¯t bear letting you have them. If it were just these precious stones, I wouldn¡¯t care too much about giving you a few. But I have a sneaking suspicion that we¡¯d better not waste our precious time on these things.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s expression shifted slightly. ¡°Is your suspicion right?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but if I were Kapius, I wouldn¡¯t want the heir of my treasures to ce all of their attention on a few beautiful stones.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s face reddened. ¡°Are you mocking me?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re thinking too much into it,¡± Su Chen replied.

    He continued to walk quickly through the long hallway, refusing to even nce at these valuable precious stones.

    As she gazed at Su Chen¡¯s fading figure, Zhu Xianyao sighed, ¡°Okay, I guess Shi Mingfeng wasn¡¯t wrong to trust you.¡±

    She stowed the stone away.

    They walked along the hallway, which was strangely long, and only reached the end of the hallway after quite some time.

    When they reached the end of the hallway, the two of them found themselves standing beneath a starry sky. The sky above them was filled with twinkling lights, while beneath their feet was seemingly an empty void. Even though there was nothing in the void, they found that they didn¡¯t sink, as if they were truly in a vacuum. This gave them a feeling of destion.

    ¡°What is this ce?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked in awe.

    Su Chen nced at the surroundings, then replied, ¡°Don¡¯t be nervous. These aren¡¯t real stars. If my guess is right, we¡¯ve probably entered a space made from consciousness.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re saying that we¡¯ve fallen under an illusion technique?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m saying that we¡¯ve entered a physical illusion realm.¡±

    ¡°Is there a difference?¡±

    ¡°The difference is that¡­¡­ it¡¯s not our consciousnesses that have entered.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 41: Physical Illusion Realm 2

    Chapter 41: Physical Illusion Realm (2)

    A person¡¯s real body could enter an illusion realm!

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s vision blurred for a moment.

    She could notprehend this at all.

    ¡°How can physical people enter an illusion realm?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I can¡¯t tell you either. This is really quite an interesting phenomenon. Kapius is truly worthy of his title; he was even able to fuse reality and illusion together into a physical illusion realm.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s voice was filled with praise as his eyes practically glimmered.

    Schr overlords could only be understood by fellow schr overlords.

    Perhaps only Su Chen and Shi Kaihuang could understand how magnificent Kapius¡¯s inventions were. Zhu Xianyao might not understand even if Su Chen exined it to her.

    Zhu Xianyao directly replied, ¡°I don¡¯t understand why this would be useful.¡±

    ¡°Why it would be useful?¡± Su Chen said. ¡°Let me give you an example. Say that a person¡¯s consciousness is an ¡®illusory¡¯ existence, while a physical body is a physical existence. The Dark Spirit Race is able to convert their consciousnesses into physical bodies via the Consciousness Converter Instrument. That is a process of converting something illusory into something physical. In other words, turning something illusory into something physical might not seem like much, but it was able to create an entirely new race!¡±

    Zhu Xianyao was stunned. ¡°Are you saying that this current illusory-turned-physical realm can create another race that is simr to the Spirit Race?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m saying that an invention that seems pointless can actually have very important, long-term consequences. The utility of turning an illusory realm into a physical one might not be apparent now; after all, it depends to what degree this realm has been converted. But one thing is for sure; this is an impressive way of thinking.¡±

    ¡°What degree it waspleted to?¡± Zhu Xianyao was confused.

    ¡°Yes, Kapius¡¯s physical illusion realm wasn¡¯t totally sessful,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°How do you know?¡±

    ¡°Because the Spirit Race doesn¡¯t have this kind of technique. Kapius was the leader of the Spirit Race, and if he had seeded, there¡¯s no way he wouldn¡¯t have made it publicly known. This implies that this attempt of his failed.¡±

    ¡°Where exactly did it fail?¡±

    Su Chen nced at their surroundings. ¡°This physical illusion realm exists in the Projection Void, implying that it probably relies on this Projection Void¡¯s unique attributes to remain stable. In other words, Kapius wasn¡¯t able to take the most critical step...... Considering that he gave up here, he probably realized that this project was upletable.¡±

    Zhu Xianyaoughed coldly. ¡°Reality is reality, and illusions are illusions. If you could turn something illusory real, then would illusions still be illusions? I think that this Spirit Race leader was just letting his imagination run wild.¡±

    Su Chen nced at her in pity. ¡°You¡¯re like a frog in a well1.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao angrily retorted, ¡°What did you say?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I said that you will never understand the heart of someone who harbors enough ambition to swallow the whole world. Even though this n of turning the illusion realm into something tangible failed, Kapius¡¯s research on this matter wasn¡¯t entirely useless. I can guarantee that his Radiation n was built with this theory as the foundation.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re telling me that Consciousness Envement is rted to the research done here?¡± Zhu Xianyao was shocked.

    The Spirit Race¡¯s Consciousness Envement was the Zhu n¡¯s nightmare. This was understandable, given the story of Wei Liancheng and his son. The Zhu n could only aplish this through the power of their Demonic Emperor Bloodline, but every Spirit Race individual could do it easily.

    And it was all because of Kapius ¡ª more specifically, Kapius and Menus¡¯s cooperation, thatid the foundation for the fear that the Spirit Race represented.

    ¡°Not bad. So now you realize?¡± Su Chen stared at Zhu Xianyao in pity. ¡°Even if it¡¯s a failed experiment, it has a reason behind it.¡±

    As he spoke, he reached in front of himself and made a grabbing motion. An item appeared in his hand ¡ª a teapot.

    However, this teapot¡¯s lid was covered in dense Origin Formation inscriptions. This was obviously an Origin Tool.

    Zhu Xianyao was stunned. ¡°Where did that thinge from?¡±

    ¡°From here,¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you? This is a ce where illusions and physical substances intermix. Kapius¡¯s secrets are all here right before our eyes. It just depends on whether you can see them or not.¡±

    As he spoke, he put the Origin Tool away.

    Zhu Xianyao also made a simr grabbing motion, but no matter how much she waved her arms around, she could only catch air.

    She turned around to look at Su Chen, only to find that every time he reached out in a grabbing motion, an item would appear in his hands.

    All kinds of strange items appeared this way ¡ª Origin Tools, Origin Stones, books, exotic and rare ingredients, resources, medicines, talismans, scrolls, etc., as well as a number of strange items that Zhu Xianyao had never seen before.

    Zhu Xianyao couldn¡¯t sense any strong Origin Energy fluctuations from any of these items, which meant that they were not incredibly precious. However, she was still slowly being driven mad by the feeling of watching someone pull out item after item while she herself was unable to find anything.

    ¡°What is going on? Why can¡¯t I sense anything?¡± Zhu Xianyao yelled.

    ¡°Because you can¡¯t see these things with your physical eyes,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°Use your consciousness energy.¡±

    Consciousness energy?

    Zhu Xinyao froze momentarily. She closed her eyes and released her consciousness energy as strongly as she could. When she was close to her limit, she finally sensed some faint rings of light encircling her body. These rings of light floated up and down, above and below her, changing positions every second.

    Her consciousness energy was weak, so she could only barely make these things out. With Su Chen¡¯s consciousness energy, however, everything in this ce was extremely clear and even seemed to him like they had beenid out in an orderly fashion in front of him.¡±

    ¡°Focus your consciousness energy, then reach out and try to grab it.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao did as he said. Her hand darted out and actually came back with an object, making her extremely excited. However, when she saw that the item in her hand was just amon vial, she immediately grew discouraged.

    Su Chenughed. ¡°Don¡¯t be discouraged. There aren¡¯t many good things here anyways. Even though this ce is Kapius¡¯s researchb, that doesn¡¯t mean that he absolutely has to leave his good stuff here. Most of what¡¯s left behind is worthless junk...... Obviously, he left in a hurry.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Then why would the Spirit Race still send spies over here?¡±

    ¡°Because they were never trying to take away treasures in the first ce. They probably came for this physical illusion technique itself,¡± Su Chen sighed.

    To the Spirit Race, whose bodies were ethereal, this physical illusion technique had unimaginable value to them.

    After Kapius¡¯s death, his physical illusion realm technique probably hadn¡¯t been passed down because it was a failure. But Menus or some other high-status Spirit Race individuals might not have thought the same. Perhaps they believed that this failed technique still had room for improvement and held its own value, as all kinds of different paths were still open to explore.

    As such, Spirit Race individuals came one after another to this ce, searching for this physical illusion realm.

    ¡°No wonder you¡¯re acting so generously. You probably guessed this from the very beginning, right?¡± Zhu Xianyao shot a nce at Su Chen.

    ¡°Don¡¯t put it that way. At the very least, the stones outside are quite valuable,¡± Su Chen said as he began to increase his gathering speed, particrly focusing on the books, experimental records, and ingredients. The principles behind the physical illusion realm were all contained in those items.

    ¡°They don¡¯t belong to me anyways,¡± Zhu Xianyao harrumphed as she crossed her arms.

    ¡°What if I let you take them?¡± Su Chen countered.

    ¡°Ah? Why would you be that generous?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked in astonishment.

    Before Su Chen could reply, a voice spoke out, ¡°Because this ce is going to copse very soon. Everything will then turn into nothingness.¡±

    1. Amon idiom in Chinese and othernguages. Essentially, the frog thinks they know everything, but they can actually only see things from a very limited perspective.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 42: I Donâ€™t Like It!

    <h4>Chapter 42: I Don¡¯t Like It!</h4>

    As the voice spoke, a figure emerged from the darkness.

    Eagle Eye Sark.

    ¡°It¡¯s you?¡± Su Chen¡¯s gaze trembled slightly.

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s me!¡± Sark red coldly at Su Chen. ¡°You killed my younger brother, so I¡¯m here for my revenge. Is that so strange?¡±

    ¡°Your younger brother?¡± Su Chen was stunned.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± Sark was clearly a bit surprised as well before he said, ¡°Culler is my younger brother.¡±

    Su Chen was enlightened. ¡°So he was your younger brother. But how do you know I¡¯m the one who killed him¡­¡­¡±

    Su Chen suddenly paused and turned to look at Zhu Xianyao in disbelief. ¡°You!?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it was me,¡± Zhu Xianyao said with a slight smile. ¡°I was the one who told him that you killed his younger brother, and I was also the one who told him that you were here.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s gaze retracted slightly. ¡°Why would you do that?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao retreated a few steps and replied, ¡°We weren¡¯t friends from the start. This is just a temporary alliance. But finding the time to scheme against each other a little apart from this alliance isn¡¯t strange, is it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not strange,¡± Su Chen nodded. ¡°But you¡¯d better not forget that if I die, no one will be able to help you find the truth anymore.¡±

    Su Chen slowly pulled out the Mountain-Beheading de as he spoke.

    ¡°I know, but so what?¡± Zhu Xianyao countered as her eyebrow jumped. ¡°Did you think that holding You Tianyang hostage, pressuring us with the threat of a greatermon enemy, and baiting me with promises of recovering my memories would cause me to trust you without question? Yes, your tactics wereplete and your reasoning sound. Any rational person would have gone along with you. However, the world is never rational. I, Zhu Xianyao, am a woman, and I have a temper of my own. Why should I let you lead me around by my nose?¡± she said as she jabbed her finger at Su Chen.

    Su Chen was stunned.

    Zhu Xianyao continued to say incisively, ¡°I don¡¯t know who you are, but I know that I hate you and I hate that confidence you have as if everything¡¯s under control¡­¡­ I don¡¯t know why I hate it so much, but I just don¡¯t like it!¡±

    Yes, she didn¡¯t like it!

    This was why Zhu Xianyao had done this. This was her reasoning!

    To her, that was good enough.

    ¡°¡­¡­ Don¡¯t¡­¡­ like¡­¡­ it¡­¡­¡± Su Chen muttered.

    In that instant, he remembered the Hidden Dragon Institute, the small bamboo forest, and his tion in feeling like everything was under his control.

    Zhu Xianyao no longer remembered the details of those memories.

    However, the humiliation permeating that scene of failure was deeply etched into her heart. She detested, loathed, and instinctively disagreed with all this.

    Thus, even though she knew that no one would be able to fulfill the promise to her if Su Chen died and that doing this to him wouldn¡¯t bring her any advantages, she still did it.

    This was a woman¡¯s temperament.

    Not everything in this world was decided based off of profits and benefits.

    There were always a few people and a few instances in which they would do things even while knowing that they shouldn¡¯t.

    Su Chen had calcted correctly for everyone except Zhu Xianyao, resulting in him falling victim to her scheme.

    Zhu Xianyao said, ¡°Then right now, let me see who you really are! I have a certain kind of feeling that¡­¡­ I will recognize you!¡±

    A trace of hope shed within her eyes.

    Sark said coolly, ¡°I also want to see the true face of my brother¡¯s killer!¡±

    A piercing glow appeared in his eyes.

    This glow could shatter any kind of disguising technique and prevent the opponent from maintaining their disguise. They would immediately revert to their original appearance, making this skill a natural enemy of all assassins.

    Su Chen felt the Origin Energy in his body suddenly surge, as if he were losing control of himself. His face began to distort as the disguise began to disappear.

    Zhu Xianyao stared intently at Su Chen with her eyes wide, not blinking even once.

    Under Sark¡¯s Eagle Eye, the fat figure of ¡°You Tianyang¡± began to slim down, and his round face began to elongate, constantly changing. Just as her opponent¡¯s true appearance was about to be revealed, Zhu Xianyao saw him lower his head. A mask had suddenly appeared on his face.

    A worthless mask in the image of a demon face.

    ¡°No! You bastard!¡± Zhu Xianyao began to yell.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Sorry, I really can¡¯t let you see what I look like. It¡¯s better if Young Miss Zhu doesn¡¯t see it so that I don¡¯t scare you.¡±

    Sark¡¯s body began to exude an intense killing intent. ¡°Then I¡¯ll take it off myself!¡±

    A sweeping wave of energy suddenly burst forth from his body at Su Chen as a Lotus tform appeared on Sark¡¯s forehead.

    Light Shaking!

    He was actually a Light Shaking Realm cultivator!

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s expression changed.

    Just like how she had misjudged Su Chen, she discovered that she had also misjudged Sark. The guard standing behind Pall, who seemed to at most be at the peak of the Yang Opening Realm was actually a Light Shaking Realm cultivator!

    The slippery Pall had tricked everyone!

    Even Su Chen was a bit surprised. He also hadn¡¯t expected for Sark to be a Light Shaking Realm cultivator.

    However, facing a Light Shaking Realm cultivator didn¡¯t fill Su Chen with the despair that Zhu Xianyao was currently immersed in. He pulled out a few vials of medicine, drank them, then spun the Mountain-Beheading de in his hand. ¡°Can we really team up now? If you still insist on acting foolishly, the end result will be both of us dying.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao replied with gritted teeth, ¡°I wasn¡¯t acting foolishly.¡±

    ¡°I just asked you if we were going to team up or not!¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do it!¡± Zhu Xianyao yelled loudly in reply.

    Even though she was stubborn, she wasn¡¯t an idiot. She knew that if Sark killed Su Chen, she would also be subjected to a miserable fate.

    Sarkughed coldly, ¡°Two weak chickens aren¡¯t worth¡­¡­¡±

    Whoosh!

    Before he could finish speaking, the Mountain-Beheading de expanded to a length of eighteen feet. Under the control of Su Chen¡¯s Primordial Blood Incarnation, it swung through the air in an extremely threatening manner, the surface of the de coated with a shadowy me.

    Su Chen had immediately opened with his killing move. When facing a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, even Su Chen couldn¡¯t hold back.

    Zhu Xianyao made a move at the same time.

    She didn¡¯t use the Heavenly Fox Finger. She was very clear that her cultivation base was not sufficient to unleash the power that the Heavenly Fox Finger should possess.

    She sang.

    Her clear, resonant voice rang out gracefully. Her sweet swinging was enough to move even the hardest hearts, like causing water to spring forth from rocks.

    She danced.

    Her dance was lively, graceful, and fluid, her peerless beauty enough to charm any onlooker.

    Strands of silky fog also began streaming through the air, forming picturesque works of art in the air.

    A dazzling song and dance had begun.

    The song was the Jade Immortal Bad, each and every syble plunging deep into the heart. The dance was the Heavenly Fox Dance, each movement drawing the eye in. The smoke was the Soul-Disturbing Smoke, each strand of smoke bewitching the soul.

    Zhu Xianyao had also opened up with the Heavenly Fox Zhu n¡¯s absolute technique.

    Any normal person would be instantly infatuated in just a nce, whisper, or whiff,pletely losing their sense of awareness. There might even be some who would fall under her direct control, to be used as she pleased.

    However, Sark wasn¡¯t just a normal person.

    He was a Light Shaking Realm cultivator.

    The Lotus Pavilion guarded his consciousness, allowing him to remain clear-headed.

    Even someone of the same cultivation base wouldn¡¯t have any easy time charming him with the Heavenly Fox Dance, let alone a mere Zhu Xianyao.

    Even so, Zhu Xianyao had never nned on aplishing that.

    She didn¡¯t think that she couldpletely bewitch Sark, but the Zhu n¡¯s Heavenly Fox Dance wouldn¡¯t bepletely ineffective.

    If Sark didn¡¯t want to be affected he would have to divide his attention. His focus would be distracted, his will weakened, and even his Origin Energy would have to be redirected to guard his mind.

    That would be enough.

    Zhu Xianyao, who had exchanged blows with Su Chen personally, knew how muchbat strength that man possessed.

    Even if her song and dance could only reduce Sark¡¯s strength by twenty percent, with that Su Chen wouldn¡¯t be likely to lose.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 43: Fighting Against Light Shaking 1

    Chapter 43: Fighting Against Light Shaking (1)

    Whoosh!

    The streak of de light surged forward, carrying with it a faint carmine glow.

    Even though this glow wasn¡¯t particrly shy, its surface carried with it a deathly aura.

    When Sark saw this de strike approaching, his gaze grew focused.

    How powerful!

    How fierce!

    How devastating!

    Who was this guy? How could he unleash such a forceful de strike?

    Sark didn¡¯t have any time to ponder over these questions, however, and instinctively raised a wall of sand in front of himself.

    The Sand Race were inherently proficient in using earth-type Origin Energy and controlling sand through their Origin Skills, so naturally many of their techniques involved the use of sand. Sark was no exception ¡ª the first move he used was the Yellow Sand Shield.

    This wall of sand appeared unassuming but it immediately expanded, carrying with it an immense stopping power.

    The wall of sand wasn¡¯t intended to stop attacks entirely but rather to weaken them. Any attacks that collided with the wall would slow down as if they were being dragged through a muddy swamp, as the sand slowly dissipated the strength of the attacks.

    Su Chen, however,pletely ignored it. His entire body began to crack loudly as he unleashed his physical strength to the fullest extent.

    The power flowed out from his body and surged through the air, whipping up a violent storm.

    The mes zed and consumed the wall of sand, causing its effectiveness to be reduced by more than half. Meanwhile, the Primordial Blood Incarnation¡¯s de strike continued to sh through the air, totally unhindered.

    Thankfully for Sark, he wasn¡¯tpletely dependent on the wall of sand.

    At the same time as the wall of sand was erected, the muscles on Sark¡¯s body suddenly bulged as rock scales began to cover his entire body. It was as if a man carved out of stone had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, producing an effect simr to Su Chen¡¯s Primordial Blood Incarnation but with a different method.

    ¡°You¡¯re just an insect!¡± Sark howled angrily as he unleashed a punch with his massive stony arm.

    Boom!

    The Mountain-Beheading de and the stone fist collided violently, causing powerful energy fluctuations to radiate outwards from the point of impact.

    ¡°ARGHH!¡± Sark tilted his head back and howled with rage.

    His arm had beenpletely severed by Su Chen¡¯s Mountain-Beheading de.

    During this exchange of blows, the Light Shaking Realm cultivator had ended up losing.

    Was that strange?

    Not at all!

    Su Chen was much stronger than when he had battled Shen Yuanhong and Wei Pei, and his battle experience against Light Shaking Realm cultivators was also greater now.

    He was very clear about the massive gap between a Light Shaking Realm and a Yang Opening Realm cultivator and that it couldn¡¯t be bridged simply through strength. After all, reaching the Light Shaking Realm resulted in aprehensive increase of strength. They would grow more powerful, but besides that their will, consciousnesses, and control over Origin Energy all far surpassed that of a Yang Opening Realm cultivator¡¯s. They really were on an entirely different level.

    But on the other hand, it was possible to get close to a Light Shaking Realm cultivator or even surpass them in terms of just pure strength.

    The space in the room was quite limited, and there wasn¡¯t too much free space avable for Sark to maneuver.

    This gave Su Chen an opportunity.

    Su Chen¡¯s Primordial Blood Incarnation was already apletely strength-focused skill; if the power of the Mountain-Beheading de were factored in, then he wasn¡¯t inferior in terms of brute strength in the slightest. In addition, before the battle, Su Chen had sneakily ingested an entire set of medicine, causing his strength to be even further bolstered. His preparations for battle werepletely shameless.

    Sark, however, was under the influence of Zhu Xianyao¡¯s spell, which was weakening his attacks by around 20%.

    He was fighting from an extremely disadvantageous position.

    It would¡¯ve been illogical for Sark to not have been driven back.

    Sark howled in pain as his arm was severed.

    As he howled, yellow sand swarmed forwards, enveloping Sark¡¯s destroyed arm.

    Once a person reached the Light Shaking Realm, their lifeforce would be much more vigorous, and trying to deal permanent damage with average techniques was extremely difficult. Not only could they fly without any Origin Skills, but they could also regenerate back most injuries. Those little grains of sand seemed like just that, but they were actually pure earth-type Origin Energy that were constantly rebuilding Sark¡¯s body. Under normal circumstances, Sark¡¯s arm would very quickly reappear.

    Unfortunately, these weren¡¯t normal circumstances.

    Su Chen naturally wouldn¡¯t allow Sark to recover so easily.

    Having seized the advantage with that de strike, Su Chen attacked again. The shadowy mes surged forward again.

    Because Zhu Xianyao had seen Su Chen¡¯s Erupting Firehawk, Snaking Mist Steps, Thunder de, etc., Su Chen didn¡¯t have the boldness to use those techniques. Instead, he relied on the most direct and brute-force attacks in his arsenal to deal damage.

    The mes ebbed and flowed in tandem with the falling and rising of his de.

    Even though these attacks were quite simple, they were all vicious, overbearing, and dominant.

    When faced with this second de strike, Sark didn¡¯t dare face it head on. He retreated as drops of rain began to fall from the sky ¡ª the sand had liquidized, which then congealed into sludge that made it hard for Su Chen to keep pressing at him.

    If Su Chen hadn¡¯t gotten to know Shi Mingfeng, he might have been mired in the mud for some time.

    However, Shi Mingfeng was also someone who was proficient both in earth-type and water-type techniques. In addition, the reason he was proficient in earth arts was because he specialized in long-distance attacks thatcked explosiveness. Supplementing these attacks with earth-type Origin Skills could increase his defensive power and allow him to more fully disy his advantage. Combining earth and water to make mud was something he was extremely skilled at.

    Su Chen had seen this kind of move a long time ago, and he knew exactly how to deal with it.

    ¡°HAA!¡± Su Chen yelled. A frosty wind began to whip up around him, forming a revolving vortex around him that caused ice crystals to condense everywhere. This was the skill that Su Chen had designed for Ji Hanyan: Frosted Fragrant Blossom!

    In terms of control over water-type Origin Energy, Su Chen was far inferior to Ji Hanyan. The might of the frost and its ability to do damage were both limited. However, Su Chen wasn¡¯t trying to use the skill for its power but rather for the vortex that it created.

    The vortex of wind churned, sweeping up the sand into a tornado that charged forward.

    At the same time, Su Chen swung his de through the air again.

    This de strike was incredibly powerful!

    Even though Sark¡¯s massive stone giant was powerful, it could only retreat when faced with such an intense barrage.

    As he retreated, Su Chen advanced.

    He kept the pressure up every step of the way!

    Even though the earth-type Origin Energy could help Sark recover from his wounds, that also weakened hisbat ability. Su Chen wanted to seize this opportunity and achieve a great sess.

    As such, he continued to unleash de strike after de strike ruthlessly.

    Sark, a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, was being forced to retreat again and again by a Yang Opening Realm cultivator. Anger overflowed from his body in the form of a thick killing intent.

    ¡°You¡¯re courting death!¡±

    As he spoke, he pulled out a ckish-yellow pearl and shook it at the tornado. Sand began to billow out from his hand, morphing into a de of sand that shed through the air.

    That de seemed like one formed from an Origin Skill, but it was actually an Origin Tool. It was an Origin Tool made from that Fifth Earth Pearl. As such, its power was not to be underestimated.

    Sark originally thought that he could beat Su Chen empty-handed, but he didn¡¯t expect for Su Chen¡¯s attacks to be that powerful to the point that he would be forced to use the Fifth Earth Pearl. When he attacked again, it was with his favorite move: Wild Beheading Sand.

    ng!

    A dense shockwave of energy exploded forth. Su Chen couldn¡¯t inflict any significant harm onto Sark, but his stalwart energy and his refusal to budge even an inch gave Zhu Xianyao and Sark quite the shock.

    A Yang Opening Realm cultivator was evenly matched with a Light Shaking Realm cultivator in terms of strength?

    Even with Zhu Xianyao¡¯s support and the medicines that Su Chen drank, anyone who heard this would be seriously shocked.

    Even so, this wasn¡¯t Su Chen¡¯s limit.

    ¡°Light Shaking Realm......¡± Su Chen chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ve killed them before!¡±

    Then, his eyes began to glow faintly.

    Fata Morgana!

    Fata Morgana ignored cultivation tiers, not to mention that Sark was still being affected by Zhu Xianyao¡¯s Heavenly Fox Dance and Jade Immortal Bad. Fata Morgana immediately took ahold of Sark, forcing him to a standstill.

    At that moment, Su Chen¡¯s Mountain-Beheading de whistled through the air, aimed right at Sark¡¯s neck.

    Even if you were a Light Shaking Realm with an extremely powerful physical body and life force, you¡¯d still die if your head gets cut off!

 Book 4: Near Blood - 44: Fighting Against Light Shaking 2

    Chapter 44: Fighting Against Light Shaking (2)

    This de strike surged forward, carrying with it nearly all of Su Chen¡¯s power as he attempted to reap Sark¡¯s life.

    Just as that de was about tond, Sark¡¯s body suddenly began to glow with an intense golden light.

    Upon seeing this golden light, Su Chen knew he was in trouble.

    Indeed, that golden light immediately froze Su Chen¡¯s frighteningly powerful de strike in ce, stopping it in its tracks and preventing it from even touching Sark¡¯s body. No matter how much strength Su Chen applied, he was unable to break through.

    An extremely powerful Origin Energy barrier.

    It was probably an extremely precious consumable Origin Tool because Su Chen could almost hear the sound of something shattering in the background.

    Even so, he wasn¡¯t satisfied. His goal with this de strike wasn¡¯t to destroy an Origin Tool but instead to im Sark¡¯s life.

    Under the all-out force from Su Chen, the golden barrier of light groaned with a harsh metallic screech. It didn¡¯tpletely shatter, but it deformed significantly under the pressure. Even Sark¡¯s neck was forced to bend to the side.

    Crack!

    With a crisp sound, Sark¡¯s head tilted sharply. The immense pressure had snapped his neck.

    Su Chen immediately mmed his palm into Sark¡¯s body, sending him flying through the air.

    Sark regained consciousness in the air. The massive pain from his neck area had stimted him quite a bit.

    Sark, who had just awakened from a dream, discovered that one of his life-saving Origin Tools had been destroyed and his neck had been broken in just the blink of an eye.

    In other words, he had died once already in this short period of time.

    ¡°NO!¡± he howled, his head skewed at a strange angle.

    The earth Origin Energy furiously rushed towards his neck as he tried to quickly recover from his injury.

    Su Chen sucked in arge mouthful of air, trying to recover from therge amount of energy he had expended in that de strike. Under normal circumstances, he would have unleashed an Erupting Firehawk to continue applying pressure. But with Zhu Xianyao watching, he could only ¡°let Sark off the hook¡±.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± Sark yelled as he gritted his teeth. The Lotus tform on his head began to glow, encircling his body in white light.

    At this point, Sark hadpletely discarded his initial underestimation of his opponent and was going all out. Even that cracked neck of his began to recover quickly.

    Unfortunately, his regenerative abilities were much slower than the rate of destruction.

    Before Sark could lift his neck up, Su Chen¡¯s Mountain-Beheading de once again swung in his direction.

    The two of them exchanged powerful blows repeatedly.

    If Su Chen was like a tall mountain, moving forward with unbridled momentum, then Sark was like the ocean, shifting away at every opportunity.

    Light Shaking Realm cultivators had a tremendous reserves of strength that couldn¡¯t be easily ovee just by a genius and a few Origin Tools.

    The massive rock giant swung its arm through the air, causing sand to fly everywhere in a violent fashion, surging around turbulently.

    But when both sides went all-out, Su Chen was the one who hade out disadvantaged.

    Su Chen was shocked to discover that Eagle Eye Sark was not poor at all; he also had quite a few powerful Origin Tools.

    Apart from that life-saving golden barrier Origin Tool and his Fifth Earth Pearl, Sark had pulled out another item ¡ª a golden grain of sand.

    This golden grain of sand floated through the air, turning into a golden river of sand that began to swirl around the room.

    Su Chen suddenly had the sense that everything in this area had suddenlye under the control of his opponent; the river was cing an immense amount of pressure onto Su Chen under Sark¡¯s control, making it extremely difficult for him to move.

    Not satisfied with just that, Sark also pulled out a pouch and tossed it into the air. A low-tier Demonic Beast lizard scurried out and opened its mouth at Su Chen. Thankfully, there was no actual earth here, making it impossible for the lizard to use its earth-type skills that it was the most proficient at. Most of its strength was limited, but the additional pressure it put onto Su Chen had suddenly sent him into a mad scramble.

    Immediately afterwards, Sark pulled out a painting. The painting actually reached out a hand and grabbed at Su Chen. Su Chen finally identified the painting: it was one of the paintings in the hallway that they had just walked past. For some reason, however, it had been tamed by Sark and was currently being used by him.

    A string of treasures came out one after another, forcing Su Chen to scramble to find an answer.

    Sarkughed darkly, ¡°Brat, did you think you could fight me with just a few outstanding Origin Tools?¡±

    The torrent of energy, the river of sand, and the Demonic Beast all continued to pressure him.

    When she saw this, even Zhu Xianyao couldn¡¯t help but say anxiously, ¡°Do you have any other skills you can use?¡±

    When he heard this, Su Chen shot her a disdainful nce. ¡°You need me to fix the trouble that you started?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because you schemed against me!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because you came to try and steal our profits.¡±

    ¡°I do as I please. Is that any of your business?¡± Zhu Xianyao stated with a re.

    ¡°Hmph! All women are like this. If they can¡¯t win through logic, theypletely toss it out the window.¡±

    The two of them continued to bicker, but the situation around them was growing more and more dire by the second.

    The golden sand continued to swirl through the air, surrounding the two of thempletely. A burning-hot killing intent shed across Sark¡¯s eyes.

    Zhu Xianyao said anxiously, ¡°Hey, let¡¯s not argue right now, okay? Can you use the bewitching technique you used earlier again? Try it on him again!¡±

    ¡°It won¡¯t work. He¡¯s prepared himself and his Lotus tform is protecting his consciousness. He¡¯ll be able to wake himself back up, and I won¡¯t be able to confuse him anymore,¡± Su Chen replied.

    This Sark was quite strong. He had identified the weak spot of Fata Morgana after only being hit once and was now defending himself with his Lotus tform, as well as constantly using small amounts of Origin Energy to stimte himself. He would awaken as soon as he fell under Su Chen¡¯s spell. As such, Su Chen¡¯s Fata Morgana would be totally useless against him.

    ¡°So is there nothing we can do?¡± Zhu Xianyao said with disappointment.

    ¡°That might not be the case!¡± Su Chen suddenly ignored Sark¡¯s attack. The Mountain-Beheading de descended on the painting, and the dark, shadowy mes descended onto the woman¡¯s outstretched arm, cutting it open like a ck knife. The mes spread into the interior of the painting, causing a piercing shriek to ensue.

    However, the price of turning his attention to the painting was that Sark¡¯s Sand de had finally breached Su Chen¡¯s defenses. The golden light shone intensely on Su Chen¡¯s body. Even with the assistance of the Algae Thread Coral Robe, Su Chen flew through the air with a groan. The Arcane Heavy Armor cracked as stress fractures appeared all over its surface.

    ¡°DIE!¡± Sark howled as he unleashed another attack. He wanted use this opportunity to im Su Chen¡¯s life.

    At that moment, Su Chen suddenly yelled, ¡°Go, now!¡±

    Sark felt a moment of shock before moving aside.

    Trying to trick me?

    A sudden gust of wind surged from behind his back.

    Not good!

    Sark recognized the seriousness of the situation. He felt an explosive pain as a massive hole was blown out of his back. He unleashed an attack behind himself in response and heard a dull groan as the assant soared backwards.

    ¡°It¡¯s you!¡± Sark finally discovered that the person who had ambushed him was Zhou He.

    No one had expected for him to appear at this moment in this ce.

    ¡°It¡¯s him!?¡± Zhu Xianyao was stunned.

    ¡°It¡¯s always necessary to have a few backup ns in y,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°RAAGH!!!¡± Sark howled as hemanded his lizard to keep Su Chen in ce and leapt at Zhou He.

    He wanted to kill Zhou He first.

    But just as he turned around, Su Chen¡¯s figure suddenly disappeared and reappeared right behind Sark, the Mountain-Beheading de stabbing into the hole that had just been opened by Zhou He.

    Dark mes burst forth.

    ¡°ARRGHH!¡± Sark shed backwards with his right hand, and the Fifth Earth de mmed into Su Chen¡¯s right arm, cutting off his arm at the elbow.

    Zhou He countered with a sword strike, piercing Sark¡¯s throat. Sark punched forth, and his left hand prated into Zhou He¡¯s midsection.

    Zhu Xianyao flew through the air and finally jabbed out with a Heavenly Fox Finger right on Sark¡¯s eyeball.

    Pu.

    Sark¡¯s eyeball exploded.

    At the same time, however, the golden sand suddenly doubled back, sting Zhu Xianyao into the air.

    An instantter, Su Chen¡¯s left hand entered Sark¡¯s body.

    Armor Piercing Awl.

    Raging Inferno Fists.

    Another massive explosion of energy coursed through Sark¡¯s rocky body.

    The lizard crawling across the ground howled. Su Chen turned around and shot it a stare, activating Fata Morgana, and freezing the lizard in ce.

    Sark, however, shot a kick backwards right at Su Chen¡¯s knee, forcing him to the ground.

    Zhu Xianyao flew over again, stomping her feet heavily on Sark¡¯s neck.

    His neck was already broken in the first ce; he had only just managed to readjust it a bit when it suddenly broke again, causing his head to droop to his chest.

    However, even though he was gasping for air, he had yet to suffer a fatal injury.

    The violent air waves mmed into Zhu Xianyao, sending her flying backwards again. At the same time, he swung his left hand down, causing Zhou He to m heavily into the ground.

    Sark retrieved his bloody hands. ¡°I must see who you are!¡±

    Heunched a punch at Su Chen.

    Boom!

    The mask on Su Chen¡¯s face shattered, and his nose was immediately smashed to pieces as he toppled backwards.

    But at the exact same moment, the Mountain-Beheading de¡¯s momentum crashed into Sark, prating his entire body and slicing the upper half of his body in two.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 45: The Fourth Person

    Bang!

    Su Chen fell to the ground heavily as he spat out a mouthful of blood. At the same time, he raised his hand to cover his face.

    Even at this point, he didn¡¯t want Zhu Xianyao to see his face.

    Sark was obviously much stronger than Shen Yuanhong. In addition to his own personal strength, he had many treasures on him.

    This wasn¡¯t that surprising. Even though the Sand Race wasn¡¯t the human race, he, as the most trusted subordinate of the Sand Race¡¯s leader, was definitely going to be richer than Shen Yuanhong, a Bloodline Nobility n elder in some remote city.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t able to triumph over Sark in terms of either wealth or strength, so he could only try to clean up the situation after dealing Sark a serious blow.

    But no matter how helpless he felt, Sark only felt more aggrieved and angered.

    ¡°You actually wounded me to this point! Dammit, dammit, dammit!¡± he howled madly, his head tilted at an unnatural angle as hey in a pool of his own blood. ¡°I won¡¯t lose!¡±

    ¡°Dammit, you¡¯re still not dead yet?¡± He Xu cursed as he clutched at his midsection. He gestured, and a few streaks of light mmed into Sark¡¯s body.

    Sark didn¡¯t even react to that attack. He exerted all the energy in his body to raise his arm. Under his control, the river of golden sand undting forward once again, continuing to advance at Su Chen.

    ¡°Psh. You can still struggle on your deathbed?¡± Su Chen gestured, and a few Thunderfire Balls flew through the air.

    Boom, boom, boom, boom!

    Large swathes of mes surged forward, sting the golden sand aside. One of them even sent Sark flying through the air.

    However, this opponent was quite resilient. He unleashed another palm strike directly at the lizard on the ground.

    Bang!

    This gentle blow reawakened the lizard from the illusory realm.

    ¡°Haha, go and kill them!¡± Sark yelled loudly.

    That lizard charged towards the three of them.

    ¡°NO!¡± Zhu Xianyao¡¯s face revealed a desperate expression.

    At that exact moment, however, a low whistle suddenly sounded out from off in the distance.

    When it heard that whistle, the lizard immediately charged off into the darkness.

    Immediately afterwards, the sound of a fierce battle broke out. However, under the cover of darkness, it was impossible to tell what was going on.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Sark was stunned.

    ¡°Nothing much. It¡¯s just a friend of mine,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Then isn¡¯t he showing himself?¡± He Xu and Zhu Xianyao asked simultaneously.

    ¡°He¡¯s a bit wary of strangers,¡± Su Chen replied.

    He Xu and Zhu Xianyao nced at each other. They obviously couldn¡¯t figure out why Su Chen was acting so secretively.

    ¡°NO!¡± Sark howled in despair and rage.

    He was just about to seed when someone else had interfered yet again. How could he be willing to ept this situation?

    The anger in his heart and his serious injuries then caused him to die on the spot.

    Zhu Xianyao said angrily, ¡°You still aren¡¯t going to lower your hand? Or are you going to cover your face forever?¡±

    Su Chen sighed and lowered his hand.

    An extremelymon and nd face appeared.

    ¡°You......¡± Zhu Xianyao was stunned. She had never seen this face before. It took her a moment before she realized what was going on. ¡°You¡¯re still disguising yourself?¡±

    Without Sark¡¯s Eagle Eye, Su Chen could use his camouge again.

    ¡°Instead of getting upset over this, take some time to recover,¡± Su Chen said as he tossed out a few Recovery Medicines at Zhu Xianyao and He Xu.

    ¡°Drink the red vial and pour the blue vial on your wounds,¡± Su Chen said.

    He simultaneously pulled out a vial of blue medicine and began to rub it on his arm.

    A decent-sized chunk of flesh had been cut off of his right arm, and a long wound covered his chest. His internal organs were threatening to burst out. However, as soon as the blue medicine came into contact with the wound, countless strands of fibrous tissue began to intece over the wound, quickly returning it to its original state. In just a few moments, Su Chen¡¯s broken arm had begun to fuse together again.

    ¡°What kind of medicine is that?¡± Even Zhu Xianyao had never seen a medicine with such miraculous recovery abilities like this before.

    ¡°A very expensive medicine,¡± Su Chen replied.

    After using the medicine, Su Chen¡¯s wounds quickly healed to such a point that he was able to stand, but the broken bones wouldn¡¯t be able to heal immediately. Even with the aid of the medicine, they would still take some time to fully recover.

    If only there was some kind of technique like Devouring the Heavens with an incredible recovery ability and no unhealthy consequences, Su Chen sighed to himself.

    If he had time, perhaps it would be worth researching.

    Themotion in the darkness was still ongoing, but it had quieted down quite a bit.

    The conclusion came swiftly.

    Not long afterwards, themotion finally died down.

    The quiet footsteps sounded out again, but they seemed to be disappearing off into the distance.

    When Su Chen, He Xu, and Zhu Xianyao found the other battleground, they could only find the lizard¡¯s corpse. Its opponent had already disappeared without a trace.

    They came silently.

    They left silently.

    He Xu and Zhu Xianyao were a bit stunned.

    It was Su Chen who said, ¡°This ce is about to copse. You guys should go and dig out those precious stones while you still have time.¡±

    He Xu and Zhu Xianyao snapped out of it and hurried to the tunnel to try and mine the precious stones. Su Chen, on the other hand, returned to retrieving the remaining secret items in the space and using some medicines on Sark.

    A Light Shaking Realm cultivator was truly rare.

    To Su Chen, this guy was a great experimental material.

    The two of them came to the tunnel lined with precious stones.

    Zhu Xianyao said as she tugged at the stones, ¡°These stones won¡¯t belong to me anyways. Why should I help you harvest them?¡±

    ¡°Because you were the one who lured that bastard over here and wasted our time. Also, I was imprisoned by you for a month, woman. If it weren¡¯t to give Su...... face, I definitely wouldn¡¯t let you get away with it!¡±

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s hand froze. ¡°To give who face?¡±

    ¡°Ah? I said...... to give my friend face,¡± He Xu replied.

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s expression fell. ¡°No, you didn¡¯t say friends earlier.¡±

    He Xu chuckled nervously. ¡°You really are always suspicious. Perhaps you just heard me incorrectly?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s expression grew dark. ¡°You just said the word ¡®Su¡¯...... this guy¡¯s surname is Su, is it not?¡±

    He Xu licked his lips nervously. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. Su? What Su? I think you heard incorrectly.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re lying!¡±

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s voice suddenly grew shrill and her eyes were filled with anger.

    He Xu cried out in panic silently.

    He had forgotten that this damned woman could tell if he was lying or not.

    Zhu Xianyao advanced on He Xu. ¡°Why would you lie? Why would you deny it? So what if his surname is Su? Why can¡¯t you tell me...... Oh my God.¡±

    Her expression had totally changed by the time she stopped speaking.

    She stared at He Xu. ¡°He¡¯s Su Chen, isn¡¯t he?¡±

    He Xu swallowed with great difficulty. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re lying!¡± Zhu Xianyao continued.

    She turned around and saw Su Chen walking out of the dark room with Sark¡¯s body in hand.

    He had finally taken care of everything in the room.

    When he saw Zhu Xianyao and He Xu standing next to each other, Su Chen was a bit surprised. He instinctively asked, ¡°What are you guys doing?¡±

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± Zhu Xianyao said.

    Su Chen froze.

    At that moment, time seemed to freeze as the three of them stood there.

    Su Chen remained motionless.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 46: Illusion Crystal

    After a long time, Zhu Xianyao was the first to speak. ¡°Su Chen, it¡¯s you, right?¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t reply. He nced at He Xu.

    He Xu gestured helplessly. ¡°I didn¡¯t do it on purpose.¡±

    These words were equivalent to a confession.

    Su Chen sighed gently.

    There was no point in continuing to pretend at this point.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t say any more. His appearance gradually began to morph until he reverted to his original appearance.

    When she saw the familiar face appear in front of her, Zhu Xianyao waspletely enraged.

    ¡°It¡¯s really you! It¡¯s really you!¡±

    Whoosh!

    Heavenly Fox Finger.

    She went straight for the jugr, starting out with a killing blow almost immediately.

    Su Chen, however, was not surprised. He disappeared and reappeared behind Zhu Xianyao, giving He Xu a shove and pushing him into Zhu Xianyao to block her. He sighed, ¡°What¡¯s the point of doing this? What benefit does knowing these things give you?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s better than being toyed wtih by you like I¡¯m some kind of circus monkey!¡± Zhu Xianyao shoved He Xu aside as she charged at Su Chen.

    Su Chen dodged to the side, continuing to stand behind He Xu. ¡°I never toyed around with you. Running into you this time was just a coincidence. My goal was just to save someone and carry out our n.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care. You lied to me!¡± Zhu Xianyao kicked out furiously.

    Su Chen hurriedly dodged. This kick mmed into He Xu instead.

    ¡°AH!¡± He Xu yelled in pain.

    Su Chen continued to orbit around He Xu so that he was always between Su Chen and Zhu Xianyao. ¡°I already promised to give you your memories back. What¡¯s the point of acting like this?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t y this game with me! You said you would help me recover the truth, not my memories. You¡¯re definitely going to lie to me again!¡± Zhu Xianyao unleashed another kick, this one aimed at He Xu¡¯s head.

    Oh, so now she was clearheaded and could tell the difference between the truth and recovering her memories.

    Su Chen slipped by underneath He Xu. ¡°I promise that I¡¯ll tell you the truth.¡±

    ¡°Taking things out of context can also be the truth, as is trapping me with misleading statements or answering selectively!¡± Zhu Xianyao continued to unleash flying kick after flying kick, iling her legs around everywhere.

    Her intelligence seemed to have suddenly risen.

    Thankfully, Su Chen could use Whitetower Teleportation again. He directly reappeared behind He Xu and grabbed him, then retreated.

    He Xu yelled anxiously, ¡°Why do you keep hiding behind me!¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°This ce ispletely empty. There¡¯s no cover apart from you here. Also, you revealed my identity, so you need to be taught a lesson.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao unleashed another palm strike.

    Su Chen grabbed He Xu and continued to retreat. ¡°If you want to interpret it that way, then there¡¯s nothing I can do. But first I want to tell you something.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to listen to you!¡± Zhu Xianyao replied.

    She was just about to attack again when she suddenly felt a wave of dizzinesse over her as all the energy seemed to drain from her body. She swayed and actually copsed onto the ground.

    What was going on?

    Zhu Xianyao was stunned.

    Su Chen walked over. ¡°Don¡¯t be anxious. You just used the medicine to recover earlier. Even though this kind of medicine can help you quickly recover, it also expends arge amount of physical strength. You shouldn¡¯t make too many moves after taking this medicine since your body needs time to process it. Since you forced things a little bit, you just exhausted thest remaining bit of physical strength in your body. Don¡¯t worry; you¡¯ll be fine after a quick nap......¡±

    Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t hear the rest as the waves of dizziness overcame her. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she fainted.

    ¡°Whew! Scared me half to death.¡± He Xu sat down on the ground, totally drained. Su Chen stared at him coolly.

    He said, ¡°You wasted quite a bit more time, so you¡¯d better pray that your movements are a little faster.¡±

    He Xu was badly startled. He no longer sat down to rest and began furiously excavating the precious stones.

    At this point in time, he could also sense the void here bing unstable and was going to copse soon.

    In other words, it was going to be impossible to excavate all of the precious stones in here.

    He Xu felt a wave of grief wash over him.

    What a pity!

    Su Chen, however, ignored himpletely. He picked up Sark and Zhu Xianyao and walked out through the tunnel.

    Outside of the tunnel stood Yue Longsha.

    When she saw Su Chen appear, Yue Longsha smiled slightly. ¡°It seems like your troubles have only just begun.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps this is fate. No matter how hard you try, it¡¯s impossible to avoid any mishaps,¡± Su Chenughed.

    ¡°So what are you nning on doing next?¡± Yue Longsha asked.

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then said, ¡°Since she wants the truth, then let¡¯s give her the truth. But you should be the one to tell her. What do you think?¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± Yue Longsha pointed at herself, shocked.

    ¡°Yes, you!¡± Su Chen said with conviction. ¡°I think that this might be the best way to get her to ept the situation. Right now, she has a certain bias against me. She won¡¯t believe me no matter what I say. As for you, she might at the very least be able to tell that you aren¡¯t lying.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Yue Longsha hugged her arms. ¡°So how will you repay me?¡±

    Su Chen smiled bitterly. ¡°I owe you another one, okay?¡±

    ¡°Not okay!¡± Yue Longsha arched her eyebrows.

    ¡°We¡¯re friends, aren¡¯t we......¡±

    Yue Longsha waggled her finger. ¡°Just because we¡¯re friends doesn¡¯t mean that I¡¯ll do anything for you for free.¡±

    ¡°Then what do you want?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Yue Longsha thought for a moment. ¡°Since I¡¯ve helped you so much, I should have a share of the spoils, right?¡±

    Su Chen was stunned.

    Thest time he had proposed this to Yue Longsha, he had made her unhappy.

    This time, when he brought up their friendship, Yue Longsha started to negotiate benefits with him.

    What was going on?

    He stared at Yue Longsha, a bit confused. Yue Longsha, however, reached out her hand and said, ¡°Let¡¯s do this. However, let me say first of all that I won¡¯t ept anything that isn¡¯t worth anything.¡±

    ¡°This......¡± Su Chen hesitated for a moment. He nced at what he had, only to find that there was nothing he had that really suited her.

    He watched as Yue Longsha pried a rainbow-colored stone from his hand.

    It was the Illusion Crystal that Su Chen had just pried off of the tunnel wall.

    The Illusion Crystal wasn¡¯t any particrly valuable stone. It had no cultivation uses and its supply was not that rare, so its price was rtively low. Because it was rtively durable,moners often used it as a symbol of eternal love. The Illusion Crystal Su Chen had found was rtively rare and was multicolored. It had a moon-like imprint and two human-like figures, making it quite a unique treasure. This was why Su Chen had pried it off, as he was nning on giving it to Gu Qingluo.

    Unexpectedly, Yue Longsha had set her sights on it.

    A happy expression shed across her face as she took the rainbow Illusion Crystal from Su Chen¡¯s hands. ¡°It¡¯s very pretty. Let¡¯s treat this as repayment for what I¡¯ve done for you.¡±

    ¡°You......¡± Su Chen stared at her, dumbfounded.

    ¡°What? You aren¡¯t willing to part with it?¡± Yue Longsha asked.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Of course I am. Since you like it, then you can have it.¡±

    ¡°It would be impolite of me to refuse,¡± Yue Longsha said as she picked up Zhu Xianyao and walked away.

    She wanted to leave first.

    Su Chen watched her as she disappeared, remaining silent for quite some time.

    Eventually, cracks began to appear everywhere.

    This meant that the entire physical illusion realm was about to copse.

    Within the tunnel, He Xu also unwillingly headed for the exit as he pried off a few final stones......

 Book 4: Near Blood - 47: Return to Reality

    Boom!

    With a massive explosion, the physical illusion realmpletely copsed.

    The space began to distort and swirl like a vortex before copsing in on itself. It shrunk down into the size of a small dot, then disappeared.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Su Chen had dragged He Xu along at thest moment, he probably would have disappeared along with the physical illusion realm.

    ¡°Dammit! There were still so many gems in there that I didn¡¯t get to excavate! What a tragedy!¡± He Xu yelled as he stomped his feet.

    He stared at Su Chen with a bit of grievance. ¡°Did you not think to help me?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t really care anyways. We agreed that all of these things belong to you; it doesn¡¯t make much difference to me,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°I knew you would say that,¡± He Xu sighed.

    ¡°Alright, alright. No matter what, you guys didn¡¯te here in vain this time, and you managed to make it out alive, right?¡± Su Chen patted He Xu on the shoulder as heughed.

    ¡°Yeah, I guess so.¡± He Xu nced around him. ¡°Where¡¯s Zhu Xianyao? Howe she disappeared?¡±

    ¡°My friend took her away. Don¡¯t worry, she¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    ¡°Like hell I¡¯m worried about her.¡± He Xu spat on the ground. ¡°Let¡¯s go and help Old Shi.¡±

    ¡°There probably isn¡¯t a need to anymore,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°The physical illusion realm was destroyed, so the entire Projection Void will copse next. Better get ready to return to reality.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, they watched as the entire projection castle began to tremble. Those inanimate spirits began to cry out:

    ¡°No, is our world about to copse?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re going to die.¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t want to leave this world!¡±

    ¡°Thos damn bastards! They destroyed the nucleus of this world. Our end is near.¡±

    The whole castle began to mor.

    At the same time, the tremors running through the castle grew stronger and stronger. Parts of the building began to copse, and the walls began to turn to dust.

    This time, however, they wouldn¡¯t return back to normal.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± He Xu discovered that Su Chen was holding an Origin Formation Disk in his hand and was pointing it in all directions at his surroundings.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I¡¯m recording this. The copse of a Projection Void is something that is very difficult to witness. Once I get back, I¡¯ll be able to more deeply understand the working principles behind spatial techniques, allowing me to further strengthen and refine the spatial techniques I already know.¡±

    He Xu rolled his eyes. ¡°I¡¯m in awe of you.¡±

    ¡°Actually, I¡¯m pretty in awe of myself as well,¡± Su Chen said with a slight smile.

    Boom, boom, boom!

    Sounds of the castle crumbled off in the distance as Su Chen and He Xu slowly returned to reality.

    They found that they were standing in one of the hallways in West Laina Castle that waspletely analogous to the one in the Projection Void, but at this moment it was fluctuating in between reality and illusion, as if the two were superimposed over each other. As the Projection Void grew fainter, West Laina Castle¡¯s physical appearance began to fade in until Su Chen and He Xu were fully returned to reality.

    Standing in that hallway, Su Chen felt like he was free-falling, as if death were iming him to hell. Finally, he discovered that he had arrived in apletely different world......

    ¡°What a strange feeling.¡± Su Chen raised his head and stared at the ceiling. The castle faded back into existence and the final illusory traces disappeared.

    Everything had returned to normal just like that.

    The sounds of a still-ongoing battle could be heard off in the distance.

    That was Shi Mingfeng and the others, who were still fighting against Pall.

    Su Chen smiled. ¡°There¡¯s no need for us to waste any more time here.¡±

    As he spoke, he walked in the opposite direction. After traversing through two different hallways, he came to an unassuming wall and began to search the surface of the wall. Suddenly, the surface of the wall became reflective, like a mirror. The scene that appeared in the mirror was the battle between Shi Mingfeng and the others and Pall.

    Pall, leader of the Sand Race, had five Lotus tforms, and was incredibly powerful. However, Zhu Baiyu¡¯s Demonic Emperor Bloodline wasn¡¯t just for show ¨C both sides seemed evenly matched, with no one iming an advantage. Because the Projection Void hade undone, they had also been returned to reality, and were currently locked in furious battle within the main hall. This time, the destruction was real, so their exchange sent chunks of rock flying everywhere. The castle trembled violently again and again; if this went on, it would probably copse very quickly.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go and help,¡± He Xu said when he saw the situation.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need. Just stay here and watch,¡± Su Chen replied.

    As he spoke, he pulled out a six-cornered crystal and waved it slowly a few times in front of the mirror. The main hall suddenly began to glow with an intense golden light that surrounded the wall. Next, streaks of thunder began to boom out from the castle walls, raining mercilessly down on Pall and his subordinates.

    The onught was incredibly fierce, each strike filled with enough energy to obliterate anything it came into contact with. One of the Sand Race subordinates couldn¡¯t dodge in time and was immediately burnt to a crisp.

    Everyone who saw this frightening power waspletely shocked.

    ¡°How did you do that?¡± He Xu asked.

    ¡°Do you remember when we were looking for Kapius¡¯s secret stores in this ce before?¡±

    ¡°Of course. But weren¡¯t you guys just searching for Origin Formations at that point in time?¡±

    ¡°I thought about it at the time and realized that I wouldn¡¯t be able to keep my identity a secret forever. What if I was discovered by them ahead of time? At that point in time, getting Old Shi to help me wouldn¡¯t be possible, so wouldn¡¯t I be in huge trouble? That¡¯s why I also got Old Shi to pass along a few offensive Origin Formations as well and secretly set them up.¡±

    ¡°Oh......¡± He Xu said. ¡°You¡¯re really quite sly.¡±

    Actually, the other important reason Su Chen had chosen to do so was because he wanted to study a few more Origin Formations.

    There was no way he could do any research while in the castle. Su Chen, who valued his time as much as his life itself, needed to think of other things to do. He also still had some apprehension about Zhu Baiyu and the others, so he had secretly set up all of this.

    Unexpectedly, he ended up not using it on the Zhu n but on Pall.

    At this moment, West Laina Castle¡¯s main hall was filled with the booming peals of thunder. Even Pall himself was put in a terrible position.

    He finally realized that the situation wasn¡¯t good and howled, ¡°Get out of here!¡±

    He was trying to run.

    ¡°Stop him! Don¡¯t let him get away!¡± He Xu said excitedly.

    Su Chen restrained him by the shoulder. ¡°Forget about it. With our strength, we might not be able to stop him and could actually put ourselves in mortal danger. In addition, letting him get away isn¡¯tpletely without its benefits.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± He Xu was stunned. ¡°Why do you say that?¡±

    ¡°Have you never thought about what might happen after Pall is killed?¡± Su Chen countered.

    ¡°After Pall is killed......¡± He Xu paused. He hadn¡¯t thought about it for a long time.

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°The Zhu n......¡±

    He Xu was enlightened. ¡°Yes, the Zhu n will definitely turn against us.¡±

    The Zhu n¡¯s and the Immortal Temple¡¯s alliance was established because of Pall. Without Pall, the Zhu n and the Immortal Temple would definitely immediately turn on each other.

    This was something that Su Chen did not want to happen.

    ¡°Now that you mention it, I was the source of the conflict between the Immortal Temple and the Zhu n, so let me put it to rest first,¡± Su Chen sighed.

    ¡°You aren¡¯t worried that after this is all over, the Zhu n will try toe and make trouble for you?¡± He Xu asked.

    A strange gaze shed across Su Chen¡¯s eyes. ¡°Whether or not the Immortal Temple is here, they probably won¡¯t forget me for a long time.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 48: The Truth

    Zhu Xianyao slowly came to in a room on the west side of Castle Garrison.

    Upon opening her eyes, she was greeted by a elegant, beautiful face, one that had appeared many times in her memories.

    ¡°Yue Longsha!¡± She immediately sat up.

    ¡°You just woke up. Don¡¯t be in such a hurry,¡± Yue Longsha said with a slight smile as she brought a bowl of medicine over to Zhu Xianyao.

    Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t take it. She nced at her surroundings, then at Yue Longsha apprehensively. ¡°Where am I right now?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re in the Castle Garrison, where else?¡± Yue Longsha replied.

    ¡°Why would you be here?¡±

    ¡°We were chasing after a target from the Immortal Temple. Oh, that¡¯s right, I¡¯m now a part of Long Sang Country¡¯s Secret Task Force. Logically speaking, you belong to a nobility n from another country. Sneaking in is a vition of our borders,¡± Yue Longshaughed.

    Zhu Xianyao harrumphed and didn¡¯t bother responding to that.

    In this current day and age, the Beast Race threat was still present and the five races still dominated. As such, even though the human race had fragmented into seven countries, these countries were still friendly with one another because of the need to face amon enemy. Otherwise, Zhu Xianyao couldn¡¯t possibly have made a move so simply.

    Zhu Xianyao said, ¡°Then where is Su Chen?¡±

    ¡°He handed you over to me so that I will tell you the truth of what happened back then, then went to take care of his own business.¡±

    ¡°You?¡± Zhu Xianyaoughed scornfully. ¡°Why should I trust you? You and Su Chen were the ones who lied to me back then! I want to recover my memories, not be told another story!¡±

    By the end, Zhu Xianyao¡¯s tone was borderline hysterical.

    Yue Longsha replied, ¡°I promise that this time everything will be true.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao harrumphed, ¡°Why should I trust you?¡±

    ¡°Because the story is extremely terrible, so terrible that...... you will probably wish that it weren¡¯t true.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ......

    ......

    ¡°......and that¡¯s basically what happened.¡±

    After telling the story in a decently short period of time, Yue Longsha concluded, ¡°This the truth. Whether or not you believe it, I¡¯ve already told it to you. What you should do next is also up to you; if you want to add me into the list of people you want to take revenge on, I don¡¯t particrly care.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao remained silent.

    To her, this probably was a story that was so terrible it couldn¡¯t possibly get any worse.

    Everything was as she had feared ¨C she had fallen for Su Chen¡¯s trap, causing Uncle Eleven to die and the Zhu n to be caught in a skirmish with the Immortal Temple and the Six Great Bloodline Nobility ns. Even more, she had taught Su Chen all of the secrets rted to the Zhu n¡¯s secret techniques, allowing him to haveplete control over all kinds of the Zhu n¡¯s techniques.

    That really was so terrible that it couldn¡¯t get any more terrible.

    Even so, Zhu Xianyao still felt like there was something missing from the story.

    This was a feeling somewhere in her heart that she just couldn¡¯t quite put a finger on.

    Zhu Xianyao believed that Yue Longsha hadn¡¯t lied this time and had told her the full truth, but she still felt like something very important was missing here.

    One thing that perhaps even Yue Longsha wouldn¡¯t know about.

    She fell into a long period of silent contemtion.

    ¡°Do you have any more questions for me?¡± Yue Longsha asked when she saw Zhu Xianyao acting like this.

    Zhu Xianyao thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°I want to see Su Chen.¡±

    ¡°Is there a need? The current you is not his opponent,¡± Yue Longsha said with some curiosity.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to fight him. I just want to ask him a few things.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already told you everything.¡±

    ¡°Then do you know what I like to eat? How many times a day I usually like to take a bath? The way that I tend to speak with other people? What I talked about with Su Chen exactly? Did he tell you about all of these petty, unimportant, unassuming matters?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked.

    Yue Longsha was taken aback.

    Of course there was no way for her to know these things.

    All she knew about was the crafty tricks and schemes Su Chen had used, not these seemingly trivial details.

    Zhu Xianyao said, ¡°I want to know.¡±

    ¡°Why do you want to know these things?¡± Yue Longsha couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    ¡°That¡¯s none of your business.¡±

    ¡°...... I suppose so.¡± Yue Longsha nced outside the window.

    Off in the distance, smoke was billowing out from the castle as shes of lightning could be seen pealing through the sky.

    ¡°They¡¯ve returned to reality,¡± Yue Longsha said. ¡°Going to look for them now is the best time.¡±

    She didn¡¯t say anything about who had won or lost.

    Neither Yue Longsha and Zhu Xianyao were worried about the oue of this battle.

    Indeed, on their way to West Laina Castle, they saw Pall beating a hasty retreat from the castle, his followers straggling behind.

    ¡°He¡¯s still alive,¡± Zhu Xianyao said with some surprise.

    ¡°Perhaps because Su Chen doesn¡¯t want him dead. Pall is the leader of the Sand Race, after all; if he dies, it could stir up a lot of trouble.¡±

    ¡°But if that¡¯s the case, we will definitely be attacked by the Sand Race on our way back.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that pretty good? Then the Zhu n and the Immortal Temple won¡¯t be in such a hurry to get back at each others¡¯ throats,¡± Yue Longsha replied.

    Zhu Xianyao asked after a long moment of silence, ¡°Do you think that he even thought of this?¡±

    Yue Longshaughed. ¡°Would you rather it be this way? Or not?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t reply.

    When they came to West Laina Castle, Zhao Jingwen came to greet her. ¡°Young Miss, it¡¯s good to see that you¡¯re alright.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s Su Chen?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s inside discussing with everyone how we¡¯re nning on leaving,¡± Zhao Jingwen sighed.

    At this point in time, he also knew now that the fake You Tianyang was actually Su Chen. He had no words that he could say.

    Zhu Xianyao strode quickly into the room.

    Zhao Jingwen said, ¡°Prince You was returned to us. Do you want to go see him?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao stopped in ce. She replied after thinking for a moment, ¡°Let him get some rest...... Him and I are only friends, got that?¡±

    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am!¡± Zhao Jingwen lowered his head.

    Since the You Tianyang who had won her heart wasn¡¯t the real You Tianyang, all of Zhu Xianyao¡¯s feelings for him had vanished like a cloud of smoke.

    All of the members of the Zhu n who had been waiting for them to get together this whole time could only sigh.

    Upon entering the main hall, she found Zhu Baiyu, Shi Mingfeng, Su Chen, and some others sitting there and discussing their situation.

    When Zhu Baiyu saw Zhu Xianyao return, he sighed in relief. ¡°Xianyao, you¡¯re back? That¡¯s good to hear.¡±

    The reason he had been waiting here was for Zhu Xianyao.

    ¡°Since the Young Miss has returned, then what I have promised I have done. We can go now, right?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say you could leave!¡± Zhu Xianyao stared at Su Chen angrily.

    ¡°What? You want to renege on your debt?¡± Su Chenughed in response.

    ¡°No, I just want you to keep your promise all the way to the very end.¡±

    ¡°Did she not tell you the truth?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not enough!¡± Zhu Xianyao said as she advanced. ¡°I need to know everything that happened in the Hidden Dragon Institute back then no matter how great or small! That, and only that, is the full truth.¡±

    ¡°No matter how great or small? Everything that happened?¡± Su Chen was dumbfounded. ¡°That¡¯s not something that I could tell you with just a few sentences.¡±

    ¡°Then you can tell me as we go!¡± Zhu Xianyao replied.

    Tell me as we go?

    Everyone was dumbfounded.

    They were going to travel together?

    ¡°What? You aren¡¯t brave enough to go with me?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked.

    ¡°...... Of course not.¡±

    Even though he didn¡¯t want to, Su Chen hardened his forehead and agreed.

    Only Zhu Baiyu was frowning as he watched this unfold.

    For some reason, he had an unpleasant premonition about this whole situation.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 49: Rival

    Without dying anymore, the discussions concluded and everyone immediately set off.

    But before they left, Su Chen didn¡¯t forget to pick up Sark and bring him along.

    The Zhu n was much less used to Su Chen¡¯s obsession with research than the Immortal Temple. Zhu Xianyao asked, ¡°What are you bringing him along for?¡±

    Su Chen simply replied, ¡°Experiments.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao stared at Su Chen silently, somewhat in a daze.

    She just couldn¡¯t quite pinpoint where this sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu wasing from.

    It was like a word on the tip of her tongue that she just couldn¡¯t remember.

    Was Su Chen¡¯s crazy obsession with research a part of the memories that she had lost?

    She didn¡¯t know, but the more she tried to avoid thinking about it, the more she did so.

    Zhu Xianyao also didn¡¯t understand why she felt this way.

    Was it because of the interactions she had had with Su Chen in the past? Was it the seed of affection that she had nted through that kiss? Or was it one of the memories that she had lost ying tricks on her?

    Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t know the answer to those questions, but she knew that she wasn¡¯t willing to leave Su Chen like this.

    Her reason of wanting to know more about the past was all just an excuse. Zhu Xianyao just wanted to be with Su Chen.

    This was a desire that came from deep within her heart.

    She had no way of resisting.

    As she stared at Su Chen like this, You Tianyang¡¯s figure appeared from behind her and quietly said, ¡°Yaoyao.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Zhu Xianyao replied without even turning around.

    ¡°My...... my bloodline has awakened.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I know.¡±

    ¡°I...... I can protect you now,¡± You Tianyang said as he rubbed his neck.

    Zhu Xianyao nced at him, then ced her attention back onto the Su Chen who was busily packing things up. ¡°I don¡¯t need your protection.¡±

    ¡°But...... I......¡± The little fatty was obviously a bit agitated and wanted to say something but couldn¡¯t get it out.

    Zhu Xianyao turned around and shot him a nce. You Tianyang could only shrink back obediently. Zhu Baiyu sighed when he saw this and patted his shoulder, trying tofort him, saying, ¡°Forget about it. There are some things you just can¡¯t force.¡±

    ¡°Sixth Uncle, does Yaoyao not like me because I am ugly?¡± You Tianyang asked Zhu Baiyu, his eyes filled with tears.

    Zhu Baiyu thought of the kiss that Zhu Xianyao had given Su Chen when they were opening the secret realm.

    If that ¡°You Tianyang¡± had been the current one, Zhu Xianyao might have chosen to give up on the secret stores rather than give him a kiss.

    He sighed again, ¡°Believe me, Tianyang, when I tell you that the reason a man cannot win a woman¡¯s affections is not due to his appearance but rather because of his temperament.¡±

    As he spoke, he turned around and left as well.

    You Tianyang was dumbfounded. He turned to stare at Ba Lieyuan and said, ¡°Is my temperament not good?¡±

    Ba Lieyuan rubbed the back of his head and replied, ¡°Young Master, you are a good person. But honestly...... If I could choose a master, I would be more likely to chose that fake Young Master.¡±

    You Tianyang lowered his head and muttered an ¡°Oh¡±, feeling very disappointed.

    When Su Chen heard this, he walked over to You Tianyang and said, ¡°Let me give you some advice; perhaps this may serve as a small apology for wronging you for so long. If I were you, I would send that guy flying just because of what he said.¡±

    You Tianyang said, ¡°Lieyuan is a good person. He just doesn¡¯t think sometimes when he speaks.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I know, but that¡¯s not important. He can do things without thinking, but he must respect you. Respect isn¡¯t a disposition but a recognition and a habit, something that even a dog can learn. If you can¡¯t even subdue your own servants, how can you subdue anyone else?¡±

    Su Chen left after speaking his piece.

    You Tianyang froze, then nced at Ba Lieyuan.

    Ba Lieyuan nodded. ¡°I think that what he said makes sense, Young Master.¡±

    Bang!

    Ba Lieyuan was sent flying.

    You Tianyang pulled his fist back, a serious expression on his fat face. ¡°I will do my best to learn!¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Su Chen sat inside the Camel Wolf-pulled carriage, diligently reading a book.

    This was a book he had obtained from Kapius¡¯s secret stores that recorded his studies of a person¡¯s consciousness.

    Su Chen was so focused that he had almost forgotten that there was a person sitting opposite him, Zhu Xianyao.

    Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t grow angry. Instead, she poured a cup of tea for Su Chen and said in a low voice, ¡°You must be tired from all that reading. Have some tea and take a break for a bit.¡±

    Anyone who saw this scene would probably rub their eyes in disbelief.

    Where was any desire to seek the truth?

    Where was the irreconcble enmity?

    Where had this young married woman suddenlye from?

    If You Tianyang were here, he would probably be bawling his eyes out.

    But You Tianyang wasn¡¯t on the carriage ¨C Night Demon was.

    The young maiden sat right beside Su Chen, with Zhu Xianyao sitting opposite both of them. She stared at Zhu Xianyao angrily with a pout that would make a fish proud.

    She didn¡¯t know why she disliked Zhu Xianyao so much. Perhaps it was because they were enemies from the beginning? Or was there some other reason?

    The simple-minded young maiden couldn¡¯t think about too many things at once and often followed her instincts in taking action.

    If she didn¡¯t like her, then she didn¡¯t like her. What other reason did she need?

    When she saw Zhu Xianyao pour tea for Su Chen, she also picked up a fruit and handed it to him. ¡°Here, eat this.¡±

    Su Chen took a bite of the fruit and a sip of the tea. ¡°Thanks.¡±

    He lowered his head and continued to read.

    Zhu Xianyao and Night Demon nced at each other. Night Demon harrumphed and turned her head the other way.

    Upon seeing her act like this, Zhu Xianyao¡¯s eyebrows jumped.

    The Zhu n¡¯s women weren¡¯t afraid of such conflicts.

    Actually, Zhu Xianyao herself didn¡¯t understand what she had been doing these past few months. She just wanted to get closer to Su Chen and understand him more. She reckoned that if Night Demon hadn¡¯t been so hostile, she would have just let things stand as they were, but Night Demon¡¯s behavior had sparked herpetitive spirit (finally, she had an opportunity!)

    Her eyes darted back and forth quickly before she asked , ¡°Have you learned anything from Kapius¡¯s notes yet?¡±

    Su Chen rolled up the scroll and sighed, ¡°Kapius was worthy of being the Spirit Race¡¯s leader. His experiments on consciousness reached an almost godly level, and he was also very experienced. We humans are far inferior inparison. I know now why he wanted to establish his researchb here. Apart from the Projection Void, he was also studying the secrets behind the birth of living organisms.

    ¡°The birth of living organisms? You mean the inanimate spirits?¡±

    ¡°Yes. He used his research on inanimate spirits to better understand a person¡¯s soul.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, once you understand the fundamental principles of a soul more clearly, your consciousness power will increase again?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked.

    Su Chenughed. ¡°This is just knowledge that helps us understand the world around us. It has nothing to do with cultivation and won¡¯t increase my consciousness power.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao pressed her lips together. ¡°Then doesn¡¯t that mean its basically useless?¡±

    ¡°That might not be true,¡± Su Chen replied mysteriously. ¡°The way I see it, they have a lot of usefulness.¡±

    ¡°Like what?¡± An excited expression appeared on Zhu Xianyao¡¯s face.

    Su Chen continued to act mysteriously. ¡°That¡¯s a secret for now.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s face fell, dejected.

    The two of them chatted merrily, but Night Demon couldn¡¯t get a word in edgewise. She could only sit to the side and stare with agitation, squeezing a short dagger in her hand and stabbing it into the wooden floor of the carriage.

    She cursed in her heart over and over again: Stab you to death...... Stab you to death...... Stab you to death......

    Crack!

    The floor of the carriage gave way.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 50: Soul Armamen

    t

    After Night Demon fell through the floor, the procession stopped in the wilderness as per usual.

    Within the stone room, Su Chen began his experiments ¡ª Night Demon wanted to sleep there again, but she was quickly chased out by Su Chen. He needed to do something important this time and couldn¡¯t afford to let Night Demon bug him like before.

    Today¡¯s experiment was going to be different than normal. Su Chen pulled out the stone tablet.

    Patelocke¡¯s expression was a bit anxious. ¡°Are you sure this will seed?¡±

    ¡°It should,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°It¡¯s not really an experiment, and more so making a small change.¡±

    ¡°But this small change is rted to my survival! If you fail, I¡¯ll be done for!¡± Patelocke said agitatedly.

    Su Chen shrugged his shoulders. ¡°Truthfully speaking, that isn¡¯t an oue that I can¡¯t ept.¡±

    Patelocke¡¯s expression sagged. ¡°Don¡¯t be like that. I have followed you faithfully for these past few years and have never betrayed you. Even if I haven¡¯t aplished anything particrly huge, I have still worked hard.¡±

    ¡°You think that I¡¯m out to get you now? ¡°Su Chen countered. ¡°If you don¡¯t want to, we don¡¯t have to do anything.¡±

    ¡°...... You know that¡¯s not what I meant. I just want a more trustworthy guarantee,¡± Patelocke said with some embarrassment. ¡°For instance, we could try it out on a different spirit first.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not possible.¡± Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I won¡¯t go and kill someone else for you, and this kind of experiment will only work if the other party cooperates. I cannot possibly use a malevolent spirit to do my research. Of course, if you¡¯re willing to wait a bit longer......¡±

    ¡°Forget about it.¡± Patelocke shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ve had enough of sitting around in this stone tablet with nowhere to go. I¡¯m desperate to regain my own freedom, even if there¡¯s some risk to it. I don¡¯t want to wait any longer.¡±

    When he heard this, Su Chenughed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    He began to concoct some medicine.

    In the blink of an eye, ten or so vials had appeared.

    After concocting the medicine, Su Chen carefully took out the Mountain-Beheading de.

    He then carefully poured the medicine onto the surface of the de,yer afteryer.

    With everyyer that he added, Su Chen also engraved Origin Formation inscriptions onto the de¡¯s surface, just like how he had done so when making the Shadow me Glove.

    This was a slow and drawn-out process. It wasn¡¯t until he had applied the fifthyer and added the fourthyer of inscriptions that he stopped.

    The Mountain-Beheading de began to glow with a faint blue light. The blue light was mysterious and actually seemed a bit simr to the stone tablet¡¯s glow.

    Next, Su Chen picked up a vial of ck medicine and poured it onto the Spirit Tablet.

    The medicine traced the engravings on the surface of the Spirit Tablet, slowly filling them in. Patelocke began to yell anxiously, ¡°It hurts, it hurts! I haven¡¯t felt this much pain in such a long time! This is right, this is definitely a consciousness-type medicine! Your idea was spot-on!¡±

    ¡°This was originally Kapius¡¯s idea. I justpleted what he was unable to do...... He wasn¡¯t an aplished alchemist,¡± Su Chen replied slowly.

    Patelocke¡¯s originally spectre-like body began to slowly congeal, as if he were taking on actual physical form.

    Once the final bit of medicinended on the stone tablet, white smoke began to waft from its surface.

    Patelocke reached out his hand and pressed it on Su Chen¡¯s.

    ¡°I touched it! I can touch things now!¡± he said excitedly.

    ¡°Congrattions, but this is only the beginning. Now, I¡¯m going to move you away from the stone tablet,¡± Su Chen said as slowly lifted his hand. Patelocke stood on Su Chen¡¯s hand, actually separating from the Spirit Tablet.

    After his spirit body had taken on a physical form, Patelocke wouldn¡¯t need the Spirit Tablet ever again.

    In some sense, he was a Spirit Race individual right now.

    This was the Spirit Race¡¯s invention and what Kapius had pursued his whole life ¡ª turning others into Spirit Race individuals.

    However, he failed in the end.

    Of the secrets that Kapius had left behind in West Laina Castle, one of them was his preliminary thoughts on the Radiation n. However, this n required a deep foundation in alchemy. Kapius¡¯s talent in alchemy was only so-so, so he had never managed toplete this n of his. As soon as Su Chen saw his initial research, however, Su Chen discovered that he was only a hair¡¯s breadth away frompleting the n that Kapius had left behind.

    He then easily traversed that distance and fulfilled Kapius¡¯s dream.

    Of course, this wasn¡¯t the same as fulfilling his grand n of turning living organisms into Spirit Race individuals. The Spirit Substantiation Medicine could only cause a spirit to take on physical form for a limited period of time before dissipating shortly after.

    But for Su Chen, that was more than enough.

    Next, Su Chen transferred Patelocke¡¯s substantiated spirit body into the Mountain-Beheading de. ¡°Look, this is your new home.¡±

    Patelocke flew into the Mountain-Beheading de. His figure shimmered slightly before disappearing.

    Su Chen watched as a pair of eyes suddenly appeared on the handle of the de and blinked at him a few times before a pair of wings also sprouted from the de.

    The de began to fly through the air on its own.

    A mouth appeared below the pair of eyes, speaking with Patelocke¡¯s voice: ¡°You seeded! I have a body now! Haha, transferring me into a de, that is really a creative way of doing things.¡±

    ¡°I was inspired by those inanimate objects that we ran into.¡±

    Su Chen was only using the Spirit Substantiation Medicine to transfer Patelocke from one object to another. His true goal was to move him over to the Mountain-Beheading de.

    The Mountain-Beheading de was covered in Origin Formation inscriptions and ayer of medicine, creating an environment that was simr to the Spirit Tablet. No, it was actually better. Patelocke could mesh with the de more effectively and even control it. As of now, he was the de, and the de was him.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Try out yourbat ability.¡±

    As he spoke, he aimed a punch at the Mountain-Beheading de. The Primordial Blood Incarnation¡¯s hand surged towards the de, carrying with it a frightening aura of extermination.

    The de automatically flew into the air without anyone controlling it. It shed in the direction of Su Chen¡¯s punch, causing the momentum from it to actually split. The de floated in the air for a second, then charged immediately at Su Chen¡¯s throat.

    Su Chen unleashed three punches in a row to forcibly knock the de aside. The de circled around again in midair,pletely brushing the attacks off. The transparent wings sprouting from it appeared extremely strange as it floated in midair.

    ¡°Is it sturdier than before? No, now that it has a consciousness, it knows how to avoid and mitigate danger...... Hey, it seems pretty useful,¡± Su Chenughed.

    ¡°It¡¯s not just useful; this is an incredible discovery!¡± Patelocke began to yell. ¡°You¡¯ve managed to give inanimate objects consciousness! And you¡¯ve managed to allow spirits to escape the Spirit Tablet so that they can be transferred back and forth, as well as give your weapon the ability to attack autonomously. If this spreads, it will definitely shake the entire Primordial Continent!¡±

    All of a sudden, Patelocke froze. ¡°I say, you aren¡¯t nning on selling this as well, are you?¡±

    Su Chen replied indifferently, ¡°I haven¡¯t spent my billion Origin Stones yet. I¡¯m in no waycking any money.¡±

    Patelocke sighed with relief. ¡°That¡¯s what I think too. People should think a little more carefully and not just buy everything theye across.¡±

    ¡°But it will definitely be sold in the future. One day, this skill will be somethingmon that anyone will be able to learn.¡±

    ¡°...... I knew it would be something that.¡± Patelocke harrumphed. After thinking for a moment, he asked, ¡°What are you going to call these new types of Origin Tools? From now on, this de is no longer just amon Origin Tool. You should give it a more impressive name.¡±

    Su Chen lowered his head in thought for awhile before replying, ¡°Since these Origin Tools now have souls, let¡¯s call them Soul Armaments.¡±

    ¡°Alright! From this day onwards, the first Soul Armament has appeared on the Primordial Continent. From this day onwards, I will be the king of Soul Armaments!¡± Patelocke yelled excitedly.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 51: Flying Snake 1

    Chapter 51: Flying Snake (1)

    Early in the morning, Su Chen walked out of his room and found Night Demon sitting not too far away, her hands cupped around her chin.

    Su Chen walked over to her and smiled. ¡°What? Are you still unhappy with me?¡±

    Night Demon rolled her eyes at him and turned around, ignoring him.

    ¡°Alright, alright, it¡¯s because I had to do something important. Also, you¡¯re a girl; doesn¡¯t it give off a bad image if you constantly stay at my ce?¡±

    Night Demon continued to look the other way and ignore him.

    Su Chen pulled out a pouch of jerky. ¡°Here, for you.¡±

    Night Demon red at him. ¡°What? You want to bribe me with just a single pouch of jerky?¡±

    Su Chen slowly pulled out another pouch.

    Night Demon stared at the pouch of jerky, then at Su Chen, and then held out three fingers. ¡°At least three.¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t hesitate to add on another one. Night Demon immediately grabbed them from him. ¡°I¡¯ll forgive you for today.¡±

    ¡°It seems like three pouches of jerky is only enough to buy off a day of your anger.¡±

    ¡°Fine, then two days.¡±

    ¡°Alright, alright, you win. Happy?¡± Su Chen said helplessly.

    The two of them looked at each other, then burst out inughter.

    She began to chow down on the jerky.

    As she ate, Night Demon asked with her mouth full, ¡°Hey, what were you researching yesterday?¡±

    ¡°Why do you want to know?¡±

    Night Demon rolled her eyes. ¡°You were very eager to answer when Zhu Xianyao asked.¡±

    ¡°Alright then. Yesterday I was mostly researching high-level application and conversion of soul-type Origin Substances, as well as the effects of bringing it to a higher energy level. I was also inspired by Kapius and examined its interactions with a metal surface......¡±

    Night Demon raised her hands in mock surrender. ¡°On second thought, that¡¯s good enough.¡±

    Su Chen shrugged.

    Night Demon said dispiritedly as she ced her head in her hands, ¡°Say, don¡¯t you think that I¡¯mpletely useless?¡±

    ¡°Not at all,¡± Su Chenughed along. ¡°You¡¯re pretty good.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t patronize me,¡± Night Demon said slowly. ¡°Actually, I know that I¡¯m pretty useless. My strength is average and I don¡¯t think before I speak. I get tricked by people all the time and I am very dumb. I¡¯m not even a good assassin. I¡¯ve even changed profession and be just a messenger. The only reason you chose me this whole time as your messenger is probably because you also know that I¡¯m useless.¡±

    Huh, it seemed that even the silliest person would have moments of insight.

    Su Chen cleared his throat. ¡°Don¡¯t say that. You¡¯re kind and cute. You¡¯re a very good girl. I like you a lot.¡±

    ¡°But they say that only a woman who isn¡¯t smart, pretty, or warm and has no other points worth praising gets called cute.¡±

    Su Chen grew angry. ¡°Which idiot said that?¡±

    Then, he said, ¡°Don¡¯t listen to the others. You¡¯re really very good.¡±

    ¡°Tell me the truth!¡± Night Demon said harshly.

    ¡°Well...... Okay, fine. You are a bit silly sometimes, but it¡¯s very endearing. Do you know what kind of person is the strongest in this whole universe?¡±

    ¡°What kind?¡±

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s the kind of person that someone likes,¡± Su Chen replied straightforwardly. ¡°So what if you¡¯re silly sometimes and you aren¡¯t that gentle? It¡¯s fine as long as someone is willing to make sacrifices for you.¡±

    Night Demon¡¯s eyes light up. ¡°So is there someone that likes me and needs me?¡±

    ¡°Of course. I do! I need you! I believe that there are a lot of people who need you,¡± Su Chen replied diligently.

    Night Demon blinked. It seemed like Su Chen was being very serious, and her previously mncholy attitude had lifted by quite a bit. She tilted her head back and began tough. ¡°I get it now. You¡¯re right, if there are people who like me, then I am invincible. Who cares what those guys do?¡±

    When he saw her ¡°arrogant¡± attitude, Su Chen felt a shiver run down his spine. He felt like he had somehow pushed her out of the frying pan and into the fire.

    He didn¡¯t say those words at this moment though.

    Just as they wereughing and talking with one another, they suddenly saw a dark cloud appear off in the distance.

    The dark cloud closed in on them very quickly. Upon closer inspection, they discovered that it was actually arge crowned flying snake. On the flying snake¡¯s head was perched a strange crown that looked like arge royal water lily upon which someone would sit.

    Therge crowned flying snake was the only tameable flying beast that existed on the Lonely Swan Ramparts. Even though its carrying limit was low, it was extremely fast.

    A Sand Race individual sat on each head of therge-crowned flying snakes in the swarm.

    ¡°Those are our Sand Race pursuers,¡± Su Chen said as he immediately realized the situation they were in.

    Since Pall had gotten away, there was no way he was going to let them go so easily. Everyone was already prepared for this.

    The current group closing in on them was probably just the advance squad.

    At this moment, when the group on therge-crowned flying snakes saw them, they began to whistle loudly. At the same time, they gestured with their hands raised towards the sky, creating a massive sandstorm that surged forward.

    This sandstorm was not meant to be used offensively. Instead, it was like a re to let the troops behind them know that their targets were here. At the same time, it also served as a hindrance to slow down their escape.

    When they saw this, steely glints shed across Zhu Baiyu¡¯s and Shi Mingfeng¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Courting death!¡± the two of them howled and flew into the air simultaneously.

    Two Light Shaking Realm cultivators emerged from the mass of flying snakes to meet Shi Mingfeng and Zhu Baiyu, stopping them in ce.

    Because they were lying in ambush, Pall hadn¡¯t brought too many people with him this time. There were only two Light Shaking Realm cultivators amongst the scouts and another two amongst the reinforcements. Including him, there were five in total. During the battle in West Laina Castle, Sark died in battle, and Pall and Duluth had both been injured and were still recovering. Pall also knew that wanting to fight the humans at peak strength would be impossible. He could only send his two Light Shaking Realm cultivators to protect the scouting force and dy Su Chen¡¯s party for a bit. Once the main force arrived, they could rely on the strength of the Sand Race¡¯s army to overwhelm even the Light Shaking Realm cultivators.

    As the two Light Shaking Realm cultivators faced off against Shi Mingfeng and Zhu Baiyu, the otherrge-crowned flying snakes began to draw near, slowly approaching as the sandstorm grew stronger. The Camel Wolves howled as they curled up against the sand onught. It seemed like there was no point in trying to run away.

    ¡°Jingwen, find a few archers and shoot them down,¡± Zhu Xianyao yelled as she charged over.

    ¡°It won¡¯t do any good. We don¡¯t have any good archers on our side, and the sand is so intense that we can barely keep our eyes open!¡± Zhao Jingwen replied loudly.

    Zhu Xianyao was angry but helpless.

    Her cultivation base hadn¡¯t yet reached the Light Shaking Realm and she had no way of flying on her own. There was nothing she could do against airborne opponents.

    At that moment, they suddenly heard a metallic ring as a de flew into the air. It shed with a dazzling light before shooting off at arge-crowned flying snake.

    It was Su Chen¡¯s de.

    Quite a few people recognized it.

    ¡°That won¡¯t have any effect,¡± Zhu Xianyao sighed.

    Even if Su Chen¡¯s physical strength was shockingly powerful, what use was there in throwing the de through the air? Couldn¡¯t the opponent easily dodge?

    Indeed, therge-crowned flying snake casually moved to the side.

    A shocking scene, however, rapidly ensued. The de that had flown into the air didn¡¯t immediatelye back to the ground. Instead, it suddenly changed directions and flew back towards therge-crowned flying snake.

    Whoosh!

    The snake was cleaved into two. The Sand Race individual riding it immediately fell to the ground and was smashed into a meat paste.

    ¡°How did that happen?¡±

    Everyone was totally stunned. They watched as the Mountain-Beheading de suddenly sprouted a pair of transparent wings in midair, then turned around again and charged at the group of Sand Race scouts.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 52: Flying Snake 2

    Chapter 52: Flying Snake (2)

    Within the sky, a de with wings swam through the air, soaring back and forth through the air. Everywhere it went, blood sprayed everywhere.

    One of the Sand Race¡¯s heroes shed their scimitar at the de. But the flying de suddenly jerked in the opposite direction, not only dodging the scimitar strike but also expanding at the same to,e. It prated right through the Sand Race hero as well as the flying snake¡¯s body. The flying snake screeched as it tumbled to the ground.

    The de then arced through the air as it suddenly changed directions. After dodging a few attacks, de momentum began to surge from its body.

    Whoosh!

    The radiating wave of momentum swept past three Sand Race soldiers at the same time, instantaneously cutting them into six pieces.

    The Mountain-Beheading de seemed to screech with delight. It made a u-turn in midair again and continued unleashing streaks of de light.

    The streaks of de light seemed to have physical substance. They prated a few of the Sand Race individuals¡¯ bodies and began to glow a bloody red. The Mountain-Beheading de then leapt forwards as fast as lightning to collect them.

    The people watched as a streak of lightning jumped from person to person. As it leapt back and forth, arms, legs, heads, and bodies began to rain down from the sky.

    Corpses flew everywhere, and chunks of meat rained down incessantly. The Zhu n and the Immortal Temple were just as badly shocked as everyone else.

    ¡°What...... what kind of demonic weapon is that?¡± Zhu Xianyao said in shock.

    ¡°Soul Armament,¡± Su Chen replied with a slight smile.

    Soul Armament?

    Everyone stared at each other in astonishment.

    Night Demon asked, ¡°Is this what you finished developing yesterday?¡±

    Su Chen nodded slightly. ¡°Yes, this Origin Tool has a soul attached to it and doesn¡¯t need a person to control it, allowing it to fly around and kill things on its own. I originally didn¡¯t think that it would be too useful, but now it seems like I was wrong. Its performance has far surpassed what I originally expected.¡±

    The Mountain-Beheading Soul Soldier was still continuing its onught. Those Sand Race soldiers were in big trouble.

    These guys weren¡¯t actually that weak. However, they were unable to disy their full strength because they were suspended in midair, and they had also never faced an opponent like the Mountain-Beheading de before. They had no idea what to do against a weapon that could control itself, which was why they were being beaten so badly.

    Actually, the best way of dealing with the Mountain Beheading de would be to use heavier weapons and overwhelm it with power.

    However, none of the airborne scouts would possibly have thought of bringing along a heavier weapon as it would just be a needless burden. You couldn¡¯t just take any old hammer and call it a heavy weapon; it needed to be formed fromrge quantities of refined metal, at least five hundred kilograms heavy, before it could be considered a ¡°heavy weapon.¡±

    Any person who brought out such a weapon on a flying mount would squash the flying snake before they even started to fight.

    The flying soldiers had no idea what to do against the Mountain-Beheading de. They could only be ughtered left and right.

    One of the Light Shaking Realm cultivators couldn¡¯t stand watching their troops be ughtered any longer. He purposefully allowed an opening to show so that he could throw a punch at the Mountain-Beheading de.

    However, the Mountain-Beheading de was made of an incredibly sturdy material and had a soul attached to it that could use Origin Energy to protect it. As such, it was impossible for the Light Shaking Realm cultivator to destroy it with just a single blow.

    As he watched the de whizz in their direction from faraway, that Light Shaking Realm cultivator could only bark, ¡°Retreat!¡±

    ¡°Want to leave? At the very least, one of you must stay behind!¡± Su Chen said. ¡°Breaking one finger is better than injuring all ten. The rest of you may leave, but this one must die!¡±

    As he spoke, he pointed at the Light Shaking Realm cultivator who had attacked his Mountain-Beheading de.

    ¡°Understood!¡± Zhu Baiyu and Shi Mingfeng simultaneouslyughed.

    Even though Su Chen wasn¡¯t their boss, they understood the logic behind Su Chen¡¯s words and naturally listened to him.

    The two of them simultaneously shed out at the Light Shaking Realm Sand Race cultivator.

    When the other Sand Race soldiers saw this, they hurried over to support him.

    Su Chen coldly harrumphed and pulled out the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle.

    The Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle crashed into the Light Shaking Realm cultivator in a blur.

    The Light Shaking Realm cultivator hadn¡¯t even regained his bearings when he saw a Cloud-Piercing Shuttle charging in his direction. His reactions were rather quick; an armor of sand quickly formed on the surface of his skin, preventing the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle from breaking through.

    The Sand Race Light Shaking Realm cultivator was pressed against the body of the shuttle. He red intently at Su Chen. ¡°You!¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s me,¡± Su Chen said with a slight smile and activated the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle again.

    The Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle suddenly shot into motion again, bringing that Light Shaking Realm cultivator far, far away.

    The Light Shaking Realm cultivator had never even dreamed that he would receive this kind of treatment. The sheer momentum from Su Chen¡¯s Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle was forcing his internal organs up against each other.

    Even though his cultivation base was vast and he had an incredible amount of strength, he was unable to escape from the massive amount of pressure for a few moments. Thankfully, the opponent didn¡¯t do anything to him; he had just briefly be a piece of paper blown away by the wind.

    It wasn¡¯t until they had reached the cloudyer, an incredibly dangerous area of space where massive flying Demonic Beasts could ambush them at any moment, that Su Chen suddenly stopped in ce.

    He said, ¡°Goodbye!¡±

    That Sand Race soldier could see Su Chen¡¯s malicious expression through the crystalline viewport. He seemed to realize something and yelled loudly, ¡°NO!¡±

    The Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle unleashed a dazzlingly bright column of light.

    Sky Lightning Cannon!

    As the cannon boomed out, the Sand Race Light Shaking Realm cultivator was sent flying like a ser ball into the sky, disappearing off into the horizon with a twinkle. It was a pity that he didn¡¯t have the time to yell out, ¡°I will return!¡±1

    Su Chen knew that he definitely wouldn¡¯t die. The Sand Race had a powerful innate constitution. This Sky Lightning Cannon wouldn¡¯t kill him, but it would remove him from the action. The rest depended on his luck. The skies were filled with danger, with fierce birds of prey everywhere. Even Su Chen, who had the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle, didn¡¯t dare fly around carelessly here. If this guy¡¯s luck was bad, he might not ever reach the ground again.

    Of course, Su Chen knew that he couldn¡¯t pin his hopes on this, so after sending his opponent flying, he immediately turned the shuttle around and flew back down to the ground.

    The battle going on below hade to its logical conclusion.

    Everyone was stunned by how Su Chen had sent that Light Shaking Realm cultivator flying. The other Light Shaking Realm cultivator knew that he himself probably wouldn¡¯t be able to escape, so he fought as hard as he could to try and create an opportunity for the others to escape.

    Even though Patelocke was controlling the Mountain-Beheading de and chasing after them nimbly, a few Sand Race soldiers were able to escape on top of theirrge-crowned flying snakes.

    When faced with this kind of situation, Patelocke could only sigh helplessly and turn around to put more pressure on the Light Shaking Realm cultivator.

    That Light Shaking Realm cultivator was already in a bad position when he was being ganged up on in a three-on-one. Su Chen¡¯s return was like a massive boulder that shattered the camel¡¯s back ¡ª he parked the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle not too far away and locked onto the opponent, then began to bombard him.

    The Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle Sky Lightning Cannon was very powerful, but it could only shoot in a straight direction and would glow brightly before firing, telegraphing where it was aiming. As such, its uracy tended to be somewhat low. But if people were keeping the target tied down, the Sky Lightning Cannon was incredibly useful.

    Su Chen unleashed cannon strike after cannon strike at what seemed to be a scarecrow, enjoying himself immensely.

    No matter how strong the Sand Race Light Shaking Realm cultivator was, Su Chen¡¯s constant barrage was injuring him seriously.

    He howled furiously and attacked with all his might, but in the end he was unable to escape his fate of death. After expending everything and going all-out, he was finally captured.

    The only reason he hadn¡¯t been killed was because Su Chen didn¡¯t want him dead yet.

    ¡°I need experimental subjects,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°Light Shaking Realm experimental subjects.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you already have Sark?¡±

    ¡°The only thing better than one Light Shaking Realm test subject is two...... I can never have too many of these kinds of specimen,¡± Su Chen replied with augh.

    As they gazed at his smile, Shi Mingfeng and Zhu Baiyu felt a shiver run down their spines.

    Strange. Why had they felt a bit scared of him even though his cultivation base was far lower than theirs?

    1. Most likely a reference to a cartoon series about goats and wolves that is called ¡°Pleasant Goat and Big Bad Wolf¡±. This is the wolf¡¯s catchphrase whenever he gets sent flying and is outsmarted by the goats.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 53: Experiments

    The newly fixed and improved carriage had be much more stable. Even a cup filled to the brim with water wouldn¡¯t spill a single drop.

    Sarky on a research workbench. When he woke up, he discovered that his body was covered in ayer of white cloth.

    Someone was standing right next to him: Su Chen. He was holding a small scalpel in his hand, with all his attention focused on Sark¡¯s midsection as he seemed to be doing something.

    Sark wanted to lift his head and see what Su Chen was doing to him, but he soon realized that he couldn¡¯t move at all.

    He had no energy left in his body and found it difficult to move even a finger, let alone gather any Origin Energy.

    ¡°You¡¯re awake?¡± Su Chen turned around to nce at him, nonchntly holding a red strip of meat in his left hand that made a smacking sound as he tossed it onto a nearby silver tter.

    ¡°What...... are...... you...... doing to...... me......?¡±

    ¡°What am I doing to you?¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°I¡¯m just analyzing the anatomy of your body. Oh, right, you probably can¡¯t see anything right now. Let me help you with that.¡±

    He put down the scalpel in his hand and lifted Sark¡¯s head up.

    Sark saw that his midsection waspletely opened up, revealing an assortment of vibrantly red organs. One of them was even squirming violently.

    Sark was badly stunned. ¡°You......¡±

    He suddenly had trouble breathing.

    ¡°Did you get a good look?¡± Su Chen put him back down. ¡°Don¡¯t be worried. You can¡¯t feel any pain, right? This is an anesthetic that I invented. Pretty good, right? That year during our expedition to the Goldwater Ruins, I had to perform an emergency intervention on my friend. Oh, you can¡¯t even imagine the pain that he felt back then! He would rather have had me give up on treating him and died instead. At that time, I had already thought about creating some kind of medicine that would dull or numb away a person¡¯s sense of pain. I managed to do it in just a few years, but it could only be used on individuals whose strength levels were rtively low ¡ª certainly not on anyone in the Light Shaking Realm. I¡¯ve been trying to improve it incessantly. In Kapius¡¯s secret stores, I managed to find a recipe for a substance that can disorient a Light Shaking Realm cultivator. I improved it a bit and then tested it out on you; it seems like it is quite effective.¡±

    Su Chen smiled with satisfaction.

    ¡°You...... just kill me!¡± Sark yelled hoarsely.

    ¡°No, no, you won¡¯t die so easily. I would hate to do that to you. The Sand Race are the closest race to humans, and even use a simr method to break into different cultivation realms. This makes you an extremely qualified research subject. If I want to develop a way of reaching the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline, I will need your help.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re...... dreaming!¡± Sark howled with a hoarse voice.

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°Yes, it is just a dream. But you know what? The more you do something, the better you get at it. The same goes for dreaming. My Instructor has alreadypleted two of the small goals. To me, cultivating to a higher realm without a bloodline is not something to daydream about without any hope of sess. It absolutely can be done...... and that¡¯s the most important part.¡±

    He paused for a moment, then continued, ¡°Pursuing one¡¯s dreams is an incredibly dangerous process. You never know what you will run into along the way. As such, at the very least I must have faith that this is not an impossible dream. Only with this conviction will I have the courage to continue onwards.¡±

    ¡°You bastard...... that has...... bugger all to do with me,¡± Sark squeezed out from between gritted teeth.

    Su Chen shrugged. ¡°You¡¯re my research subject. Doesn¡¯t that mean it does have something to do with you? Also, there are some things that I can¡¯t find anyone else to talk to about, so I can only converse with you about them.¡±

    ¡°You bastard...... I¡¯m going to kill you......!¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t grow angry. He continued to write down notes. ¡°The Heartless Medicine¡¯s ability to inhibit pain is extremely potent. The subject¡¯s consciousness is still awake and his organs are in good shape. Any adverse side effects have yet to surface, so this medicine is cleared for use.¡±

    After recording those words down, Su Chen then said somewhat apologetically, ¡°Sorry, I got sidetracked. The most important goal is to research reaching the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline. However, I can always research a few other things along the way. Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll be back on the right path soon again.¡±

    ¡°Like...... hell...... we¡¯re on...... the right...... path......¡±

    Su Chen began to use his de to slice open Sark¡¯s body once again. This time, it was all the way from his midsection to his chest. ¡°If a Light Shaking Realm cultivator¡¯s skin is cut open and their internal organs aren¡¯t harmed, they can survive for at least three days. However, because I used the Origin Shackles Medicine, your body has no way of using Origin Energy and can only protect itself with physical energy. As such, your survival time is only about three hours. You¡¯d better stimte your Lotus tforms as much as you can. That¡¯s the only way you¡¯ll be able to preserve your own life.¡±

    ¡°Just let me die......¡±

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°If you won¡¯t activate them, then I can only forcefully help you do so. It¡¯ll probably be a bit painful though.¡±

    As he spoke, he pushed his finger down firmly.

    ¡°AHH!¡± Sark howled, his body wracked with pain.

    He didn¡¯t understand. Hadn¡¯t Su Chen already used the Heartless Medicine on him? Howe he could still feel so much pain?

    ¡°This is the Soul-Piercing Needle, a kind of attack that targets a person¡¯s soul. The Heartless Medicine¡¯s effect ispletely useless against the Soul-Piercing Needle. This is also something I learned from Kapius¡¯s secret stores; it¡¯s pretty useful! However, I¡¯m not that proficient in using it yet, so I¡¯m using you for practice...... killing two birds with one stone, if you will,¡± Su Chen said all with a smile.

    Sark felt as if a demon wasughing at him.

    Next, Sark¡¯s soul felt like it was being dragged into hell as it suffered through unceasing waves of torment.

    Every time his soul was stabbed, he felt a heart-rending pain reverberate through his consciousness. At the same time, his body instinctively tried to resist, causing his body to start glowing with a white light.

    That was the glow from the Lotus tform¡¯s protective instincts kicking in.

    Unfortunately, with Sark restricting it, the Lotus tform had no way of fully appearing. Even though it fought with all its might, it could only unleash small traces of energy.

    Su Chen was waiting for precisely these traces of energy so that he could observe them more closely,e to understand their basic constitution, and eventually find a way to artificially recreate them.

    Back then, Su Chen had also experimented on Wei Pei, but the Wei n had already surrendered at that point in time, and a few of the bloodier methods wouldn¡¯t have been appropriate to use on Wei Pei. As such, Su Chen¡¯s understanding of the Light Shaking Realm had been far too shallow. Of course, this shallowness only referred to his own expectations.

    Now that he had Sark¡¯s help, things were a lot easier. Su Chen had never been polite to his enemies and used any and all kinds of techniques on Sark.

    The best part was that Light Shaking Realm cultivators were very powerful and wouldn¡¯t die easily. If he took care of a test subject, he would be able to use it many times and for a long time.

    Under Su Chen¡¯s constant stimtions and observations, all of Sark¡¯s Lotus tform¡¯s secrets were beingid bare before him. One could say that Su Chen knew more about Sark¡¯s secrets than even Sark himself.

    If the two of them were to fight again, Su Chen would at the very least be able to fight him one-on-one for a day if not defeat him.

    Two hours passed. Sark had yet to die, but Su Chen had already gotten what he was after.

    ¡°Very good. Research subjects really are necessary if I want to advance quickly. Unfortunately, I can only continue using him for ten days after using him once.¡±

    Su Chen spoke with great satisfaction and no regret.

    He closed up Sark¡¯s wounds and gave him some more medicine, then carefully ced him within an ice cab. ¡°Look at how easy you have it! You get to rest now, but I need to continue working.¡±

    He had a total of two ice cabs in the carriage. The body lying in the other cab was the other Light Shaking Realm Sand Race cultivator that Su Chen had just captured earlier today.

    ¡°So you¡¯re up next, then......¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 54: Recovery

    The troop ofrge-crowned flying snakes didn¡¯t reappear after being eliminated.

    However, Shi Mingfeng still urged the procession to advance quickly and leave the Lonely Swan Rampart as soon as possible.

    On the sixth day after leaving Castle Garrison, a billowing cloud of sand appeared in the distance once again.

    Shi MIngfeng and Zhu Baiyu flew into the air to take a look, and then came down and said, ¡°They¡¯ve chased us all the way here. This time it¡¯s arge group of them, and Pall is with them as well.¡±

    ¡°How many soldiers are there?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Around three thousand or so.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s quite arge number! It seems like we¡¯re in for another fierce battle,¡± Ba Lieyuan sighed.

    ¡°That might not necessarily be true,¡± Su Chen said.

    Hm? What does that mean?

    Everyone stared at Su Chen simultaneously.

    Su Chen looked up at the sky.

    He said, ¡°Brother Shi, in a little bit, can you create some wind and have it blow in their direction?¡±

    ¡°I can.¡±

    Su Chen pulled out a vial of medicine. ¡°Then, Brother Shi, please blow the stuff that¡¯s in this vial in their direction.¡±

    A strange look appeared in Shi Mingfeng¡¯s eyes. ¡°This is......¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll know once you use it, Brother Shi.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng opened the vial of medicine, causing a pink smoke to waft out through the opening. Shi Mingfeng knew that this pink smoke definitely wasn¡¯t anything good, and he generated a current that began to blow the pink smoke towards the opposition. The pink smoke began to dissipate as the wind blew it downstream, making it very difficult to spot.

    At this moment, therge group of Sand Race soldiers on wolf mounts had charged into the dissipated cloud of smoke.

    Ba Lieyuan nced at it and said with some curiosity, ¡°It seems like it didn¡¯t do anything.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be in such a hurry. You¡¯ll see the effects soon,¡± Su Chenughed.

    As even more Camel Wolves charged into the fog, the Sand Race calvary that had charged headfirst into the strange fog all soon began to howl. Their faces were corroding away as chunks of meat began to melt off of their bones. The same went for the Camel Wolves they were riding, who howled painfully as their bodies fell apart.

    Very quickly, even more Camel Wolves had charged into the wave of corrosion. Camel Wolves began to topple one after the other as they cried out bitterly with pain.

    Only the Sand Race soldiers whose cultivation bases were at the Yang Opening Realm or above were able to avoid this cloud of poison, but they also experienced varying degrees of corrosion by the fog of poison.

    Not long after, the poisoned Sand Race soldiers stopped whimpering and fell silent.

    The now-calm desert was strewn with the corpses of the Sand Race soldiers, who had markedly suffered an extremely tragic fate.

    Only a few of them were still standing, but they were so stunned by this scene that they could only tremble and howl in fear.

    Even Zhu Baiyu couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°What kind of poison is this that is so frightening?¡±

    ¡°A kind of poison refined from Corpse Spirit Flowers,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Corpse Spirit Flowers were extremely poisonous. Any gue-like medicine refined from them could wreakrge-scale havoc. The medicine Su Chen hadn¡¯t concocted wasn¡¯t even a gue but more of amon disease; even so, it had instantly wiped out a few thousand soldiers. The frightening power of the medicine could be seen from its results.

    No one had expected that an alchemist could be this frightening. Their gazes towards Su Chen were filled with veneration and fear.

    Zhu Baiyu said, ¡°Would you be willing to sell some of this poison to the Zhu n?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Forget about it. The power of these things is too great. If anyone were allowed to use it, they would be easily able to wipe out a whole city. Using it to deal with these evil Sand Race soldiers is okay, but as for other circumstances, it¡¯d be better not to think about it.¡±

    Upon hearing that he wasn¡¯t willing to sell it, Zhu Baiyu didn¡¯t try and force him. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s fine as well. This poison is just too fierce; if it really does spread far and wide, it would be a disaster.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Then there¡¯s no need to waste words. The battle we need to fight still needs to be fought. Don¡¯t forget that there are still people who haven¡¯t died yet.¡± Su Chen pulled out his Mountain-Beheading de.

    The Sand Race soldiers were regathering themselves on the battlefield in front of them.

    Pall was there, along with his two Light Shaking Realm cultivators and twenty or so Yang Opening Realm cultivators.

    They were the final group of elites still pursuing them, the truly strong, and they showed no sign of falling back even amidst a deeply distressful situation.

    Pall¡¯s sturdy body was standing in the lead. He stared at Shi Mingfeng and the others and yelled, ¡°Follow me. Charge!¡±

    ¡°Charge! For our brothers that died in battle!¡± all of the remaining Sand Race cultivators howled.

    A frighteningly powerful sandstorm began to billow around them as they advanced ferociously.

    No matter how effective the medicine was, it looked like a battle was unavoidable.

    ¡°They have an additional Light Shaking Realm cultivator on their side,¡± Shi Mingfeng said.

    His gaze fell onto Su Chen.

    Indeed, Su Chen lived up to his expectations and casually replied, ¡°Leave him to me.¡±

    After one battle after another, his understanding of how strong a Light Shaking Realm cultivator was had grown. Additionally, the difference between his strength and the Light Shaking Realm also only grew closer and closer.

    After bestowing the Mountain-Beheading de with a soul, he no longer had any reason to fear Light Shaking Realm cultivators.

    Shi Mingfeng said with a slight smile, ¡°Someone without a bloodline at the Yang Opening Realm can fight against a Light Shaking Realm cultivator. Prince Su will definitely be a name that reverberates throughout the heavens.¡±

    Su Chen replied calmly, ¡°I have no wish for my name to reverberate throughout the heavens. I¡¯m only interested in research subjects that are at the Light Shaking Realm. If you are willing to help me, then you don¡¯t need to tell me anything ¡ª you only need to hand over the Light Shaking Realm cultivators that are still alive to me.¡±

    Zhu Baiyu stared at Pall. ¡°Five Lotus tforms won¡¯t be easy to deal with.¡±

    Su Chen tossed him a set of medicine.

    Zhu Baiyu caught them and took a look at it before revealing a satisfied expression. ¡°That¡¯s more like it.¡±

    ¡°Then let¡¯s prepare for battle.¡± Su Chen waved his hand, and arge pile of medicines was distributed to everyone.

    With an alchemist present, things were always this efficient.

    The dust devil surged forward along with the charging Sand Race soldiers.

    Everyone yelled as they charged forward to meet their attackers. A fierce battle was now underway.

    There was no mercy andpassion here ¡ª only a bloody, vicious battle of hatred. Even someone as powerful as the Sand Race¡¯s leader was just a normal soldier at this point who wanted to take revenge for the deaths of hisrades.

    Desert sand and blood mixed together and flew everywhere. Every person was fighting with their life on the line.

    Perhaps Zhu Xianyao was the only person here who could be a bit more rxed ¡ª she had used her Heavenly Fox Bloodline¡¯s bewitching techniques to control a Sand Race member and made him fight for her to his death, before changing to another puppet.

    She could stay far behind and observe the development of the situation. If anyone was in trouble, she would direct her troops over to save them.

    Most of the time, however, Zhu Xianyao¡¯s gaze was focused on Su Chen.

    He jumped back and forth amongst the fighters, killing as he pleased amidst a storm of blood. His Primordial Blood Incarnation was infused with Shadow mes. Whenbined with the Mountain-Beheading de, even a Light Shaking Realm cultivator would be forced into a disadvantageous situation.

    He really was incredibly powerful!

    Zhu Xianyao felt her heart tremble.

    Someone without a bloodline had actually grown this powerful. Her concepts and ideas about bloodlines from before had beenpletely rocked.

    As she watched him fight, Yue Longsha¡¯s words suddenly began to ring in her ears.

    She began to recall the truth and everything that had happened.

    Her mind was flying all over the ce as image after image burst into her mind.

    These images mostly came from the descriptions that Su Chen and Yue Longsha had provided, but the more she thought about it the more the truth seemed toe out.

    Zhu Xianyao suddenly felt like she could see the fight between her and Su Chen that evening, everything that happened within the small forest, and their schemes against one another in the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    She also saw her and Su Chen walking through the covered path as they conversed with one another.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think that¡¯s too big of a leap1?¡±

    ¡°Is it? I think that this doesn¡¯t count for much whenpared to a bloodline-less cultivation technique for all seven cultivations realms. Besides, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. It¡¯s because the goal is so far away that I need to get going a little faster.¡±

    ¡°Could you make some changes to the ending we agreed on?¡±

    ¡°The original n was to have Miss Yue and me together...... I want you to change it to yourself.¡±

    I want you to change it to yourself......

    I want you......

    Zhu Xianyao suddenly began to tremble.

    She remembered!

    She remembered it all!

    So she had fallen for him since all the way back then!

    1. This conversation urs in Book 2, Chapter 110.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 55: An Extraordinary Origin Substance

    The battle had concluded by sunset.

    In the end, the Sand Race contingent had beenpletely routed.

    The Sand Race group hadn¡¯t been able to gain an advantage with their peak-strength cultivators, and they had lost horrifically in regards to their Yang Opening Realm cultivators. One of the reasons for this was that the Zhu n¡¯s Demonic Emperor Bloodline was truly something special. Zhao Jingwen and Ba Lieyuan were elites that had been chosen out of thousands of contenders. Iron Cliff had also disyed his shockingly overbearingbat strength. The other reason was that Su Chen¡¯s medicine was quite effective and not only increased their strength but also made them unafraid of receiving wounds. Their endurance in battle was even greatly increased.

    In the end, the Sand Race¡¯s entire army had been wiped out, while the Zhu n and Immortal Temple had only paid a very small price.

    One more of the three Light Shaking Realm cultivators had died.

    And that one had actually died at the hands of Su Chen.

    The Sand Race individual that Su Chen faced off against was the one that he had sted far away during theirst battle. He was still alive, but he had been seriously wounded and hadn¡¯t yet recoveredpletely. It was by relying on this small advantage that Su Chen was able to pull even and overwhelm this Sand Race soldier, though unfortunately he was unable to capture him alive.

    During the bitter battle, the opponent had used their killing technique, and in order to preserve his own life, Su Chen didn¡¯t dare hold back in the slightest. In the end, he won the fight, but was unable to capture his opponent alive. On the other hand, both Shi Mingfeng and Zhu Baiyu sessfully captured their targets, making Su Chen feel somewhat depressed.

    Through the course of this battle, Su Chen was also able to clearly see that the gap between him and the Light Shaking Realm was closing ever so slightly.

    Perhaps he would soon be able to openly fight against a Light Shaking Realm cultivator.

    After Pall died, the Zhu n and Immortal Temple no longer had any reason to remain allied with each other.

    However, after beingrades in arms for two different battles and sharing the burdens and joys of travelling, people on both sides had begun to build up a rtionship with one another, with some even bing friends. There was no desire on either side to continue fighting with one another. The most important reason was that the Zhu n now knew that the Immortal Temple was just shouldering the me for Su Chen.

    But as for getting revenge on Su Chen......

    When they saw their Young Miss¡¯s behavior, the Zhu n¡¯s members all automatically gave up on this idea.

    What kind of feeling was it to fall for the same person twice?

    It was impossible to resist.

    Even if Zhu Xianyao had been able to resist her feelings for Su Chen, even through the seed of affection that she had nted in him, recovering her memories had caused her hidden feelings to surge forward like an unstoppable flood. Zhu Xianyao was no longer able to control her feelings.

    Even Zhu Xianyao hadn¡¯t expected that the only difference between the truth and her memories was a thin veil of emotion. The instant she remembered, she was submerged beneath a flood of emotions. Actually, she regretted everything in that moment.

    Didn¡¯t I already understand the truth? Why did I still insist on recovering my memories?

    However, it was toote to regret things. The mes of desire burned uncontrobly in her heart. If before this her feelings were like a piece of rope entangling her heart, then now they were like a web of robes that her heart had no way of escaping from.

    Zhu Xianyao knew that her emotions were inplete freefall.

    Su Chen was totally oblivious to this.

    It wasn¡¯t that he hadn¡¯t noticed Zhu Xianyao¡¯s sudden change in attitude around him, but that his experiment had reached a critical moment.

    Apart from the two Light Shaking Realm subjects, Su Chen had also began to use Darkness Origin Substance that he had obtained from the Projection Void. This Darkness Origin Substance helped Su Chen discover a way of extracting Origin Substances by borrowing a kind of summoning skill to call forth creatures from a different kind of realm. Apart from this, Su Chen¡¯s understanding of the ck stones had also reached another level, and he was now using and experimenting with anotherpletely new Origin Substance.

    In other words, Su Chen would soon be able to create new Hemolytic Totems and Origin Conducting Tools like the Shadow me Glove.

    With so many important matters at hand, how could Su Chen have the time or energy to pay any attention to Zhu Xianyao?

    Hepletely ignored the sorrowful expressions constantly written all over Zhu Xianyao¡¯s face.

    That evening, Su Chen continued his research just like normal.

    A ck stone was soaking within a reaction sk, giving off bubbles from time to time.

    This was the Origin Substance that Su Chen was trying to extract.

    He had finally found a way to do so and would probably finish today atst.

    At that moment, someone knocked on his door.

    ¡°My great aunt, can you give me a break?¡± Su Chen helplessly opened the door, only to find that it was Zhu Xianyao standing at the door.

    ¡°It¡¯s you?¡± Su Chen was taken aback.

    ¡°What? You thought I was Night Demon?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked.

    Su Chen shrugged. ¡°That girl loves toe and mess around, but I¡¯ve been extremely busy with my researchtely and haven¡¯t had time to pay her any mind.¡±

    ¡°Then can you let me in? I just have a few things I want to say. I promise I won¡¯t make any trouble for you,¡± Zhu Xianyao said in a soft voice.

    ¡°Well......¡± Su Chen hesitated for a moment, then agreed in the end.

    Zhu Xianyao walked into the room. The stone room didn¡¯t have much space, and most of it was taken up by Su Chen¡¯s research station. Zhu Xianyao had a hard time finding a ce to sit.

    Su Chen said, ¡°You can sit on the bed. It¡¯s a little messy in here.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao walked over to the bed and sat down, staring intently at Su Chen. ¡°Sixth Uncle said that we¡¯ll reach Mountain Overlook City by tomorrow. Once we reach Mountain Overlook City, everyone will probably split up and do their own things.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao was upset by his coldness, but she still tried her best to gracefully smooth out her long hair as she said, ¡°Did I ever tell you that I recovered my memories?¡±

    Su Chen could no longer maintain his cold indifference as his mind returned to reality from his contemtions. He looked at Zhu Xianyao and said, ¡°Is that so? Then congrattions. You should know then that we didn¡¯t lie to you and had told you the truth that time.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but there were also a few things that you didn¡¯t tell me.¡±

    Su Chen frowned. ¡°Unless it was a few unimportant details, then I don¡¯t think that Yue Longsha would purposefully try to hide them from you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a different matter entirely. You guys wouldn¡¯t have known either,¡± Zhu Xianyao replied.

    She hesitated for a moment, then continued, ¡°I¡¯m in love with you. I¡¯ve spent a lot of time thinking these past few days. I¡¯ve always been hesitant and indecisive; my eleventh uncle was killed by you, as well as Zhu Chen, Yanniang, and the others. The Zhu n was also thrown into a conflict with the Immortal Temple because of you, causing even more people to die. I shouldn¡¯t be with you, but I can¡¯t control myself......¡±

    As she spoke, Zhu Xianyao began to tremble as tears began to fall from her eyes. Su Chen was totally stunned.

    Actually, it wasn¡¯t that he was unaware of Zhu Xianyao¡¯s feelings. He had just never expected her to be so direct and bold as to say it out loud.

    After a long pause, he responded, ¡°You know that I have someone that I love.¡±

    ¡°I know. I¡¯m not asking you to take multiple wives,¡± Zhu Xianyao said as she wiped her eyes, then tilted her chin upwards in an attempt to seem dignified. ¡°I¡¯m not here to ask you to love me.¡±

    Su Chen froze. ¡°Then, you mean......¡±

    ¡°I want you to wipe away all of the memories I¡¯ve had during this period of time so that I can forget it all,¡± Zhu Xianyao replied.

    So that¡¯s how it was going to be.

    Su Chen was still a bit stunned. ¡°But if that¡¯s the case, we might be enemies again.¡±

    ¡°We won¡¯t. I¡¯ve already written down a letter for myself with everything that I need to and can know. I even told myself that I voluntarily chose to have my memories wiped. I won¡¯t lie to myself and say that I didn¡¯t fall for you. Without my memories, there won¡¯t be any foundation for my feelings to build upon, so even if I know that I loved you it won¡¯t affect me anymore. That way it would only be a mental recognition, not an actual emotion.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s words werepletely logical.

    Actually, what she said wasn¡¯t wrong at all. If she lost her memories, and then learned of what had happened through purely second-hand sources, her feelings towards Su Chen would greatly decrease. At that time, her rational side would be able to triumph over her emotional side, and Zhu Xianyao would no longer be in a state where she couldn¡¯t control herself.

    For some reason, however, Su Chen felt a bit unhappy about Zhu Xianyao¡¯s decision.

    But in the end, he still nodded his agreement. ¡°Alright. Wait just a moment; we can do it once this experiment of mine is finished.¡±

    Su Chen turned his attention back to the medicinal vial in his hand.

    The ck stone continued to bubble.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked.

    ¡°A stone that contains all kinds of strange Origin Substances. Oh, Origin Substances are the particles that fundamentally allow us to control Origin Energy. If you control them, you can skip the requirement of having a bloodline and directly use Origin Skills.¡±

    ¡°It sounds very powerful. How did you manage to get your hands on all of these techniques?¡± Zhu Xianyao¡¯s heart was a bit drawn towards him, and she almost unconsciously leaned in to get a better look.

    Within the vial, the ck stone was already bubbling at a furious rate, causing a light pink smoke to hover above the surface of the solution. However, the stopper on the bottle prevented it from leaking out.

    ¡°I¡¯ve seeded.¡± A delighted smile appeared on Su Chen¡¯s face when he saw this.

    This was the special Origin Substance that Su Chen wanted to extract.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Zhu Xianyao was curious and took the vial to inspect it, then popped it open.

    ¡°No, don¡¯t open that!¡± Su Chen yelled.

    However, it was already toote.

    A pink smoke began to waft out of the opening.

    In that instant, Su Chen¡¯s perception of Zhu Xianyao changed dramatically.

    Zhu Xianyao felt like her vision had suddenly grown hazy.

    She raised her hands. Her muslin robe dropped to the ground, revealing jade shoulders and pink undergarments.

    When he saw this, Su Chen lost all control. He instinctually grabbed Zhu Xianyao and pushed her down onto the bed.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 56: Decision

    Early morning.

    Zhu Xianyao woke up in a daze. She rubbed her somewhat messy hair, then turned around, wanting to stay in bed a bit longer.

    She suddenly seemed to remember something and jerked upright, her eyes wide open, revealing the smooth, silky upper half of her body.

    She instinctively covered her chest and raised her head to see Su Chen standing in front of the research station, holding a sk with a contemtive look on his face.

    Zhu Xianyao stared at Su Chen, in a daze. ¡°You...... me......¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re awake,¡± Su Chen said without lifting his head.

    Zhu Xianyao stammered, ¡°Yesterday, we......¡±

    Scenes of what happenedst night began to sh through her head.

    It was quite strange; in the heat of the moment they had both been dibobted, but she could still clearly remember what had happened. There was no indication that her memories were chaotic or disorganized at all.

    Yet it was because of this that she felt even more angry and humiliated.

    How could she have done something like that with him?

    Perhaps if it was an act born from love, Zhu Xianyao wouldn¡¯t have been angered at all upon finding out about this. Actually, she might have even felt a bit of happiness and bashfulness at the same time.

    Instead, there was aplicated feeling of bewilderment that stemmed from her achieving what she wanted but in a way that was all too sudden.

    Even Zhu Xianyao herself didn¡¯t know what she should do anymore.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Su Chen said in a low voice. ¡°We did what we should not have done.¡±

    It¡¯s almost like you were the one who was wronged, Zhu Xianyao cursed silently. She couldn¡¯t help but grow a bit angry when she saw his heavy expression, and her expression also began to sink.

    ¡°How did that happen?¡± she asked.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes flickered as he stared at the vial of pink smoke. ¡°It was caused by this strange smoke.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s an aphrodisiac?¡± Zhu Xianyao was stunned.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s much more advanced than an aphrodisiac! Aphrodisiacs only amplify a person¡¯s lust, so anyone with a strong will can resist it. However, this substance directly affects a person¡¯s consciousness; not only does it stimte lust but it also wipes out all rationality. Even someone at the Light Shaking or even Spirit Burning Realm might not be able to resist its influence.¡±

    ¡°You were actually researching something like this?¡± Zhu Xianyao stood up angrily, then discovered that she wasn¡¯t wearing anything and sat back down.

    Su Chen, however,pletely paid her no mind. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that the new Origin Substance would be like this either, and that the extraction would have seeded at that point in time. Perhaps this is just how life is.¡±

    Su Chen sighed.

    ¡°So you feel like you¡¯ve suffered a great loss? Like you were totally helpless? Like you are in pain?¡± Zhu Xianyao stared at Su Chen, her eyes filled with rage and hatred.

    ¡°Of course not. I just think that fate is so fickle sometimes......¡± Su Chen fell silent for a few moments, then continued. ¡°Do you still want me to wipe your memories away?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao was taken aback.

    At this point in time, she no longer knew what to do.

    After thinking about it for a long time, she stood up. Her beautiful, jade-like skin once again appeared in front of Su Chen.

    Even though he had already seen the wonders of Zhu Xianyao¡¯s naked body, he was quite shocked upon seeing it again.

    She put on her clothes just like that in front of Su Chen, then began walking out of the room.

    ¡°Wait just a moment,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°What? You want another go at it?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked.

    Her tone was harsh, but in reality she was hoping for Su Chen to say yes.

    In other words, what she wanted most was for Su Chen to be warm towards her.

    Unfortunately, Su Chen was going to disappoint her.

    He handed her a vial of medicine and said, ¡°Since this was your first time, your Qi and blood are likely in disarray and what happenedst night could be easily uncovered. If you don¡¯t want that to happen, drink this.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao took the medicine and red fiercely at Su Chen. ¡°That¡¯s all you want to say? Drink this medicine and then pretend like nothing happened?¡±

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°I know what you want to hear, but I¡¯m sorry. I need some time to calm down and think about some things. I cannot give you any kind of promise right now, but could you give me some time?¡±

    When she saw Su Chen¡¯s helpless expression, the mes of anger in Zhu Xianyao¡¯s heart were suddenly snuffled.

    A tear rolled down her cheek. Zhu Xianyao wiped it away and said, ¡°I¡¯ve made my decision.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°I don¡¯t need you to wipe my memories away anymore. No matter what you do, I will continue to be myself.¡± As she spoke, Zhu Xianyao put the medicine back down. ¡°I don¡¯t need you to help me keep things quiet. So what if I¡¯ve lost my virginity and other people find out? The first man I have ever had is you, Su Chen; even if you don¡¯t take me as your wife, I will not try to deny it. I won¡¯t force you either, since everything will be my own voluntary choice. No matter who mocks or curses or humiliates me, I have made this choice without any regrets. You don¡¯t need to feel guilty over this. If you don¡¯t like it, then that¡¯s fine. Since I¡¯ve fallen for you, then I will willingly wait the rest of my life for you.¡±

    Once she had said her piece, she walked out.

    What the hell.

    Su Chen¡¯s heart was in overwhelming turmoil.

    Can you not paint me out to be a merciless wastrel with your self-righteous words?

    Saying things like ¡®If you don¡¯t like it, then fine,¡¯ ¡®I¡¯m willing to wait the rest of my life for you,¡¯ ¡®No matter who mocks or curses or humiliates me, I won¡¯t regret it¡¯ ¡ª aren¡¯t you just trying to force my hand with underhanded tactics?

    But it had to be said that, in the instant Zhu Xianyao put down the medicine and walked out of that room, everybody realized what had happened.

    Right now, her eyes were dazzling. The reason why Night Demon had dared to sleep in his room and wasn¡¯t afraid that anyone wouldugh at her was because there were always some special after effects that would be immediately noticed.

    As soon as Zhu Xianyao walked out of that room without disguising herself, she was basically announcing to the whole world what had happened.

    In that sense, Zhu Xianyao was definitely not ying any games.

    For him, she would pay any price.

    However, this was also what drove Su Chen speechless.

    Holy crap, can you not be so crazy?

    Even so, regardless of whether he liked it or not, that was the current situation.

    All Su Chen could do was face it head on.

    After thinking about it for such a long time, Su Chen finally made up his mind.

    He walked out of his room and found Zhu Xianyao sitting atop arge rock. A few people would nce at her from time to time and whisper to one another. Even though it was impossible to hear what they were saying, it was pretty easy to guess.

    Su Chen walked over to Zhu Xianyao. ¡°I¡¯ve thought this matter through. Since everything happened like this, then I need to see it through. I can exin things to Qingluo; I believe she will understand.

    Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t appear much happier after hearing what Su Chen had to say.

    Sheughed coldly at Su Chen. ¡°Did you think that doing this would be eptable as an apology? Or, in other words, that a woman who has lost her chastity has nothing left? That¡¯s why you¡¯re taking pity on me and offering to care for me, but you still need to go back and ask your wife for forgiveness?¡±

    Su Chen was taken aback.

    Zhu Xianyao said, ¡°Su Chen, you should realize that I¡¯m not someone whose sole value is my virginity. Do you believe that I could go right now and drag a bunch of men over who would be crying and begging to have me?¡±

    ¡°You know that¡¯s not what I meant.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao harrumphed. ¡°I know what you mean, but I don¡¯t want your pity. Also, don¡¯t think that everything will be fine just because Gu Qingluo nods her head yes. Did you really think that you could just marry a woman from a Nobility n just because you want to? I am the heir of a Demonic Emperor Bloodline; I will never be married off to someone, and I will always choose who I marry, understand? And even if I did marry you, you, Su Chen, would need to be part of the Zhu n! As for Gu Qingluo, I would also need to agree before she can even get through the door! Of course, if she awakens her Origin Beast Bloodline, then the situation would be reversed. But before this, as someone with a Demonic Lord Beast Bloodline, she has to listen to me! You thought you could decide everything for me? No, you can¡¯t decide anything at all!¡±

    Su Chen frowned. ¡°I just want to take responsibility for what I did.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need you to!¡± Zhu Xianyao replied harshly. ¡°I understand now. You thought that everything I said to you earlier was to put pressure on you? You thought that I was trying to force you to do something? Su Chen, you¡¯re totally wrong! I am not that clever; perhaps I was in the past, but I would not do something like that now. That¡¯s because after all my experiences at the Hidden Dragon Institute I realized that the Heavens never help man; man must help himself!¡±

    She stared intently at Su Chen. ¡°I do love you, but I don¡¯t need your pity. If you don¡¯t love me, then don¡¯t force yourself. From this day onwards, you and I both have our own lives. I don¡¯t need you to take responsibility for my future!¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 57: Bewitched

    After the procession stopped to rest for a bit, they continued advancing. However, the atmosphere was now a bit strange.

    Anyone whose eyes were working could tell that something about Zhu Xianyao had changed, and they all easily realized what had happened

    Different people had different ways of looking at it.

    Zhu Baiyu stared at Zhu Xianyao, deeply troubled. He knew about Zhu Xianyao¡¯s feelings for Su Chen, but he hadn¡¯t anticipated that those feelings would reach this point in the end. On the other hand, Zhu Xianyao¡¯s expression indicated that she didn¡¯t care at all, as if it were just ayer of skin that had been identally broken. Actually, that was the most superficial truth in terms of what had physically happened.

    You Tianyang curled up into a ball and cried, hiding in his carriage. His tears hadpletely soaked through three different handkerchiefs, but he still did not charge out to fight Su Chen.

    Shi Mingfeng went looking for Su Chen personally and asked him about what he thought they should do next. He wasn¡¯t worried about anything except if Su Chen started leaning towards the Zhu n more because of this. Even though the Immortal Temple and the Zhu n seemed to be at peace with each other, that didn¡¯t mean that Shi Mingfeng could ept Su Chen joining with the Zhu n. On the other hand, if it was because of this mission that Su Chen allied himself with the Zhu n, the Immortal Temple would have lost an incredibly valuable ally, and the losses would greatly outweigh the gains. Thankfully, Su Chen¡¯s response put him at ease.

    The private matter between these two people affected countless people. Every person made their own assumptions and had their own opinions, regardless of whether they were part of the Immortal Temple or the Zhu n. The only person who wasn¡¯t distressed over the situation was Night Demon ¡ª she was the only one who hadn¡¯t noticed what had happened between the two.

    As such, she continued to simple-mindedly follow Su Chen around, trying to get more food out of him while spouting all kinds of nonsense. The only thing she noticed was that Zhu Xianyao wasn¡¯t clinging to Su Chen¡¯s side today, which made her happy, even if Su Chen continued to ignore her and focused all of his attention on the rare Origin Substance within his vial.

    Of course, this time he was especially careful to not give Night Demon any opportunities to mess around with the vial.

    After traveling for around a day, they finally arrived at Mountain Overlook City.

    At this point in time, it was time for them to go their separate ways.

    After asking Zhu Xianyao about what her future ns, Zhu Baiyu was about to take the others and leave. However, Su Chen walked over and said, ¡°If the Zhu n doesn¡¯t have any urgent business to attend to, I rmend that you guys stay here for a few more days.¡±

    ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡± Zhu Baiyu asked.

    ¡°I want to give Xianyao a parting gift, but making it will require some time.¡±

    Zhu Baiyu stared at Su Chen, his expressionplicated. ¡°Anything you can give us, the Zhu n probably already has. If there isn¡¯t anything else, then......¡±

    ¡°Does that include medicine that can increase the strength of a person¡¯s bloodline?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Zhu Baiyu¡¯s heart jolted. ¡°You have a medicine that can increase the power of the Zhu n¡¯s bloodline?¡±

    ¡°It would be strictly limited to the Heavenly Fox Bloodline, and I¡¯m still in the researching phase.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re telling the truth?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I just found a kind of substance, one that...... can activate a person¡¯s concealed lust. It even pierces through consciousness defenses. If I couldbine it with the Heavenly Fox Bloodline, perhaps I could help the Heavenly Wolf Bloodline¡¯s bewitching ability transcend the power of its bloodline,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Zhu Baiyu, Shi Mingfeng and the others immediately understood.

    Su Chen actually was using this exnation as a unique method of exining what happened yesterday evening.

    Though some things still needed to be exined.

    Zhu Baiyu stared at Su Chen. ¡°Are you sure you can do it?¡±

    If it were really as Su Chen said, then the power of the Heavenly Fox Bloodline would definitely jump by an incredible amount.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I can¡¯t be sure, but I will definitely do my best to aplish it.¡±

    He nced at Zhu Xianyao. ¡°She¡¯ll probably be punished when she gets back, right?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao stood there and purposefully nced off into the distance, refusing to respond.

    Zhu Baiyu sighed, his silence saying everything that needed to be said.

    Su Chen said, ¡°If her bloodline can grow more powerful, I think that that would resolve a lot of her issues. As such, no matter what, I will do my best to help her achieve this.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao harrumphed. ¡°Do you think that I¡¯m scared?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°You don¡¯t have to be afraid of punishment, but you cannot dislike strength.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao was silent.

    Su Chen said, ¡°You are right. The Heavens don¡¯t help man, man must help himself. Since you want to be strong, you shouldn¡¯t give up on any opportunities that present themselves to you. If you forego this opportunity because of what happened between us, then that means that you are still naive and immature. You may fake the appearance of an adult, but you don¡¯t actually understand anything.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao stared at him for a long time before suddenly smiling. ¡°You¡¯re absolutely right. No matter the circumstances, I have no reason to refuse improving my strength. But why should I believe that you¡¯ll be able to do it?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°If I can¡¯t do it, then I will hand the Hemolytic Totem over to you. You should have witnessed how the Cliff Race was able to use it. You could consider this as beingparable to monopolizing the technique for reaching the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline. What do you think?¡±

    In terms of practical usage, the Hemolytic Totem wasn¡¯t any inferior than the technique for reaching the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline.

    Su Chen had basically just handed over something that the Zhu n had fought bitterly over yet was unable to obtain.

    No one else could say anything.

    At that moment, a thought suddenly surfaced in Zhu Baiyu¡¯s mind; in some sense, using the beauty as a trap had seeded, but the payoff had taken many, many years to manifest in this strange fashion.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    After that, the Zhu n and Su Chen stayed behind in Mountain Overlook City.

    Shi Mingfeng also wanted to stay behind with Su Chen just because he couldn¡¯t be sure that Su Chen wouldn¡¯t join the Zhu n. However, with Su Chen repeatedly promising him that no matter what happened with the Zhu n, it wouldn¡¯t affect his rtionship with the Immortal Temple, he could only leave reluctantly. Before leaving, he asked Su Chen what his next steps were.

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then replied that he wanted to go on a trip to Longxi.

    He was going to go find Gu Qingluo.

    It wasn¡¯t just because he missed her after being apart for a long time, but also because he needed to give Gu Qingluo an exnation regarding Zhu Xianyao.

    As such, Shi Mingfeng left with some reassurance. Before leaving, he left behind a Hundred Kilometers Origin Formation that allowed them tomunicate whenever they were within that distance. This was the Origin Formation with the longestmunication distance that had been invented so far, and longer distances were not yet possible. If they wanted tomunicate, the message would probably need to be ryed through several of these formations before it could reach its target.

    Regardless, with this item in hand, Su Chen and Shi Mingfeng would be able to contact each other much more easily.

    Night Demon was a bit reluctant to leave, but her feelings for Su Chen hadn¡¯t intensified to the point of love, so she simply left after a bit of cajoling.

    After all the people from the Immortal Temple left, Su Chen threw himself into his research.

    He channeled most of his energy into researching the pink Origin Substance, which he named ¡°Bewitching Passion.¡±

    The Bewitching Passion Origin Substance was the fiercest aphrodisiac Su Chen had ever seen, and that was not even considering its additional effect of directly influencing a person¡¯s consciousness and its ability to ignore any defensive barriers that might be set up.

    Just like how consciousness attacks could ignore physical barriers, this Bewitching Passion substance could also ignore consciousness barriers. No matter how great your consciousness power was, you would always be affected by it. Of course, if your consciousness power was higher, you would recover from it much more quickly, which was why Su Chen had sobered up so quickly. However, by that point it was already toote to regret anything, and Zhu Xianyao was in the throes of fiery passion. Her naked body was incredibly alluring, and eventually Su Chen caved in and pretended that he was still ¡°under the influence¡±.

    Of course, he would never tell Zhu Xianyao that.

    If he wanted tobine the Bewitching Passion Origin Substance with Zhu Xianyao¡¯s bloodline and improve it so that it would only bewitch its target, it would take quite a bit of work. He would need to repeatedly analyze and test his theories, which would require Zhu Xianyao to cooperate through giving him her blood.

    As such, even though she kept saying that she was going to be stronger on her own and leave Su Chen, the truth of the matter was that Zhu Xianyao and Su Chen grew even closer.

    And it wasn¡¯t just that.

    Within the room, Su Chen pulled out a vial of medicine that he had refined and said, ¡°Let¡¯s try out the effects of this one.¡±

    The smoke wafted out again, and their consciousnesses simultaneously trembled. They nced at each other, their eyes zing over as they rushed to embrace one another......

 Book 4: Near Blood - 58: Stroll

    Su Chen ended up staying with the Zhu n in Mountain Overlook City for three months.

    During these three months, Zhu Xianyao helped Su Chen with his research as much as she could, so they were together almost every night. Because Su Chen was also modifying the medicine almost every day, they needed to indulge in their passion basically every night, sometimes even multiple times a day.

    The first and perhaps the second time could have been considered an ident, but after that it became a habit.

    Su Chen felt guilty about Gu Qingluo the first and maybe the second time, but that feeling soon began to fade.

    Things were always like this. Once you fell through your bottom line, it would be adjusted and broken over and over again.

    The situation even reached the point that, even without the medicine, the two of them might have had a go at it for no reason in particr.

    It had to be said that both Su Chen and Zhu Xianyao enjoyed doing it far more when they were sober, because only when they were sober would they remember and experience those sensations deeply.

    The others also quickly realized the sudden changes that had urred between her and Su Chen.

    The members of the Zhu n actually took it quite well. Su Chen¡¯s promise had taken care of all the problems between them ¡ª the bigger a n was, the more they valued profits. As long as Su Chen was willing to provide benefits, paying him with Zhu Xianyao wasn¡¯t a problem. Back then, they had already promised to exchange Zhu Xianyao and a few other things with Su Chen; they were just carrying out their end of the deal many yearster...... and they didn¡¯t have to pay any of the ¡°other¡± things either.

    You Tianyang could only cry himself to sleep.

    After finding out that Zhu Xianyao had lost her virginity, the little fatty was still holding onto his love for her. As long as Yaoyao was willing, he could overlook this matter. It wasn¡¯t untilter that he discovered that even if all he wanted was the leftovers, the other party wasn¡¯t going to give him any.

    Three months passed just like that. Zhu Xianyao began to mature under Su Chen¡¯s guidance. Her figure became more womanly, and a flirtatious aura surrounded her without her needing to expend much effort. Even if she didn¡¯t use her charming abilities, anyone who saw her would feel themselves being drawn in. It was hard to say if her natural charm was increasing or if it was the work of the Bewitching Passion Origin Substance.

    Even so, Su Chen was unable to finish his research with the Bewitching Passion Origin Substance. It wasn¡¯t that the substance was useless; actually, within the first month, Su Chen hadpleted a way to merge the Heavenly Fox Bloodline with the Bewitching Passion Origin Substance, allowing Zhu Xianyao¡¯s bewitching techniques to be used on those who were an entire cultivation base tier higher than her.

    In other words, Zhu Xianyao was now able to dazzle Light Shaking Realm cultivators while she was only at the Yang Opening Realm level.

    This was quite an impressive increase.

    The problem was, Su Chen was still having a lot of trouble getting rid of the Bewitching Passion Origin Substance¡¯s side effect of also affecting the user. As soon as Zhu Xianyao used her bewitching abilities, she would be able to bewitch those a tier higher than herself, but she would also be drawn into the throes of passion.

    Up to this point, Zhu Xianyao had already lost control over a hundred times, and every time she had used Su Chen to get rid of the problem.

    This gave Su Chen a bit of happiness even as he fretted over this problem.

    Unbeknownst to him, Su Chen¡¯s bottom line was also constantly going lower and lower.

    As per usual, today Su Chen was continuing his experiments.

    ¡°Strange. This kind of Origin Substance¡¯s ability to cause chaos is mostly due to what happens after it enters the mind. As long as you can restrict its activity so that it isn¡¯t able to enter your mind, then theoretically the user should be able topletely avoid its effects. So howe it¡¯s not working?¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    ¡°If you can¡¯t figure it out right now, don¡¯t fret too much,¡± Zhu Xianyaoforted him. ¡°This kind of thing doesn¡¯t happen overnight. Take it slow. If you¡¯re too tired, you could go out for a walk to rx; perhaps you might be hit by some sudden inspiration.¡±

    Upon hearing her say this, Su Chen thought for a moment and then nodded, agreeing. ¡°You¡¯re right. I¡¯ve been cooped up in this room for more than enough time these past few days. I should go out for a walk; who knows, I really might think of something useful!¡±

    The two of them smiled at each other, then walked out of the room.

    Mountain Overlook City¡¯s streets were filled with people, but there were far less Sand Race members this time. Pall¡¯s disappearance had thrown the entire Sand Race into disarray, and all the Sand Race individuals who had been in a position to contest for the spot of the leader were duking it out right now.

    The streets that were once upied by the Sand Race hawkers had obviously be much more orderly. No one was forcing anyone else to buy wares, and there weren¡¯t nearly as many unspoken taboos when doing business. Even the women could wander around the street, chatting andughing with one another.

    Su Chen and Zhu Xianyao walked down the street, buying whatever caught their eyes and trying whatever looked good to eat. They were exactly like a couple in love as theyughed and talked, enjoying each other¡¯spany.

    Su Chen was a young, handsome man full of vitality, and Zhu Xianyao was a graceful, peerless beauty. They made quite the couple and attracted the attention of those around them.

    ¡°Hey, does this one look good?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked Su Chen as she picked up an ornamental flower and ced it on her head.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s too crude.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao put down the ornamental flower and continued onwards. Immediately after, a pearl ne caught her eye, and she asked Su Chen whether or not it was good.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Young Miss, this is the Lonely Swan Rampart. There¡¯s no sea nearby, so where would the pearlse from? And even if there were, the price would be unbelievably high. How could it possibly be that cheap? This kind of thing is definitely fake.¡±

    If this were one of the Sand Race hawkers, the seller might have already pulled a de and attacked regardless of the fact that Su Chen¡¯s logic waspletely on point. The person selling the fake pearls, however, was a human, so he only cursed a few times under his breath.

    Zhu Xianyao pouted. ¡°But I like the way that it looks! So what if it¡¯s fake?¡±

    Her appearance was incredibly charming.

    Su Chen knew that Zhu Xianyao was doing this on purpose. With her perception, how could she not tell that the pearls were fake? She was just relishing in the experience.

    Relishing the feeling of throwing a small tantrum in front of the man she loved, relishing the experience of being gently cajoled by Su Chen.

    It was amon saying that women in love would be stupid. It probably wasn¡¯t that they had be stupid; they were probably just pretending to be a little silly.

    However, the person she loved was Su Chen.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t that affectionate, and he had no intentions of flirting around. He wouldn¡¯t follow along with Zhu Xianyao¡¯s prompts. All he said was, ¡°If you like it, then you can buy it yourself. In any case, whether it¡¯s real or not doesn¡¯t seem to matter to Young Miss Zhu. If you have the money, then buy it.¡±

    He left after speaking his piece.

    He left Zhu Xianyao behind, her expression pouting as she stomped her feet in anger.

    Someone who was trying to meddleughed, ¡°Hey, beauty, that dull piece of wood is no fun. He¡¯s mean and miserly, so why follow him around? If youe with me, I¡¯ll keep you happy every night.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao pped him without hesitating, causing that person¡¯s vision to blur as he was knocked back onto his butt.

    The Zhu n¡¯s Young Miss had never had a good temper, and she was only gentle with Su Chen. An emboldened bystander wanted to try his luck, but he was still beaten. This was still in Long Sang Country as well, so Zhu Xianyao had gone easy on him; if this were in Liao Ye Country, he might have even been killed on the spot.

    However, the person who had been hit was obviously unaware of this. He hadn¡¯t expected that a single line of his would have earned him a hit, and anger immediately rushed to his head. ¡°You slut, go die!¡±

    A bunch of people charged forwards.

    The conclusion was obvious. Everyone watched as people began to fall from the sky like dumplings as they copsed into a pile on the ground.

    The people watching themotion all clucked their tongues in amazement. They had just been envying Su Chen, but suddenly they felt sympathy for him.

    Zhu Xianyao walked forward, but attacking someone seemed to have alleviated a lot of her anger. She wrapped herself around Su Chen¡¯s arm and said, ¡°If you don¡¯t think it¡¯s good then I won¡¯t want it anymore. If you won¡¯t listen to me, then I¡¯ll just amodate you. Is that good enough for you?¡±

    Where was any trace of her previously domineering, valiant attitude? The onlookers were so surprised that their jaws almost hit the floor.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 59: Surprise Attack

    Zhu Xianyao was incredibly happy as they walked down the busy street.

    The current her was like an innocent little girl. Even though this woman could be quite scary when she was enraged, you still couldn¡¯t help but take a few extra nces at her. There were even a few masochists who would willingly allow her to step all over them.

    Because of this, Su Chen, as the man by Zhu Xianyao¡¯s side, was subjected to countless infuriated gazes.

    When faced with this kind of circumstance, with Zhu Xianyao was still going on her merry way, Su Chen could only shake his head helplessly.

    He had a feeling that if this were to continue, something was bound to happen sooner orter.

    He could only jinx himself with the bad omens.

    And indeed, it happened extremely quickly.

    A group of people stepped out in front of them, forcing the two to stop in ce.

    A dandy popped out of nowhere and leered at Zhu Xianyao as he said to Su Chen, ¡°Here, a thousand taels of pure gold for this broad.¡±

    Su Chen turned around to nce at Zhu Xianyao, who was standing there hugging her arms while grinning at him.

    Under normal circumstances, Zhu Xianyao would have been infuriated; however, this time she wasn¡¯t angry. Obviously, she wanted to see what Su Chen¡¯s reaction was going to be.

    Su Chen shrugged and said in a low voice to the dandy, ¡°Don¡¯t me me for not letting you know. This woman you¡¯re trying to buy is a Yang Opening Realm cultivator. Are you sure you can get her with just a thousand taels of pure gold?¡±

    Yang Opening Realm cultivator?

    That dandy was obviously given quite a bad fright. Buying a Yang Opening Realm cultivator with the equivalent of a thousand Origin Stones? No matter how much of a silk pants he acted like, even he knew that he was basically asking to get killed. He was scared so badly that he couldn¡¯t even think of a response, only able to scurry away with his group, their tail between their legs.

    Zhu Xianyao pouted. ¡°That¡¯s how you¡¯re nning on dealing with that situation?¡±

    ¡°What else did you think I was going to do? First act like I was afraid, bait him into attacking me, then teach him a lesson he¡¯ll never forget or perhaps even kill them all?¡± Su Chen countered.

    After thinking for a moment, he said, ¡°Yes, as a woman, perhaps you just like to watch men fight over you. That¡¯s exactly what you want, right?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao replied, ¡°I just wanted to see how deep your feelings for me are.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to see anything. You knew from the beginning.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao froze.

    Yes, she had known from the very beginning. But why did she seem to be unable to resist the urge to try to get Su Chen to y his hand?

    It was because she loved him, and because she still hoped that he would see her the same way she saw him.

    Yes, she hoped that Su Chen would make a huge scene on her behalf and teach those brats a lesson until they pissed their pants in terror. It wasn¡¯t so that she could feel absolutely in control, but rather that of being protected by someone.

    Of course she didn¡¯t need to be protected.

    But she still wanted Su Chen to protect her.

    Even if that protection was totally unnecessary.

    Unfortunately for her, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t give it to her.

    He had used the simplest and most effective way of resolving the issue. There was no climax or stimtion. All Zhu Xianyao felt was disappointment.

    Zhu Xianyao was sad and hurt because of this, but she also wasn¡¯t willing to just leave. She could only stare at Su Chen resentfully.

    When he saw her like this, Su Chen sighed. ¡°You like watching me fight for you? Fine, watch this.¡±

    What?

    Zhu Xianyao was stunned.

    She watched as Su Chen drew his de.

    Bang!

    The Mountain Beheading de surged through the air, destroying the nearby wall. A tragic cry rang out through the air.

    Blood flew through the air.

    A bisected Sand Race corpse toppled to the ground.

    This is......

    Zhu Xianyao was stunned.

    ¡°He¡¯s discovered us!¡± A suddenmotion could be heard.

    In the blink of an eye, the old man selling cold-brewed tea, the man selling Camel Beasts, the porter carrying a shoulder pole, the fortune teller, the servants in the store, and the passerby on the streets all began to charge at Su Chen.

    Hordes of individuals charged out of the nearby shops as well. The formerly open street had suddenly be crowded with tens if not hundreds of people.

    The Sand Race!

    Zhu Xianyao immediately understood. The Sand Race was here to get their revenge!

    After Pall had fallen, there were still a few people loyal to him even though most of the Sand Race officials were currently locked in an internal conflict with one another.

    They had chased Su Chen all the way here and had been looking for opportunities this whole time.

    Now was their opportunity!

    Su Chen and Zhu Xianyao hade out by themselves, while there were more than a hundred Sand Race individuals who hade here to get revenge.

    The most shocking part of it all was that they had two Light Shaking Realm cultivators with them!

    Two!

    When the two Light Shaking Realm cultivators appeared before Zhu Xianyao and Su Chen, the vigorous aura emanating from the two Light Shaking Realm cultivators gave them quite a bad shock.

    Su Chen¡¯s current strength was sufficient to fight against a single Light Shaking Realm cultivator, but not two at once, not to mention the hordes of helpers they had brought along.

    More shockingly, the instant they appeared, they used their immense reserves of Origin Energy to lock down the surroundings, making it impossible for Su Chen to use the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle to escape.

    ¡°Kill them!¡±

    The Light Shaking Realm cultivator in the lead pointed at Su Chen as he barked.

    ¡°Hurry, let¡¯s get out of here!¡± Su Chen turned around and barked at Zhu Xianyao.

    He grabbed Zhu Xianyao¡¯s hand and tossed her behind him.

    Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t have enough time to react. In the blink of an eye, she had flown almost a hundred feet. As she flew through the air, she watched as Su Chen faced off against ten Sand Race individuals that were charging towards him.

    ¡°No!¡± Zhu Xianyao screamed.

    Every woman dreamed of having a man who would risk their life to protect them and fight for them.

    When that day came, however, she discovered that what she felt wasn¡¯t gratification but pain.

    Yes, Su Chen had finally thrown everything away to protect her, but she would rather not have Su Chen do that.

    She was terrified, anxious, and even regretful.

    Yes, shepletely regretted everything at this point.

    She regretted letting her emotions overwhelm her. Tears flowed out of her eyes uncontrobly.

    She flew through the air as she watched Su Chen fight the horde of Sand Race soldiers that surrounded him.

    One of the Light Shaking Realm cultivators was personally attacking, filling the sky with sand that rushed towards Su Chen. Obviously, they knew that now was not the time to fight a prolonged battle, so they were determined to finish off the battle quickly.

    The other Light Shaking Realm cultivator had charged over at Zhu Xianyao.

    He was as fast as lightning.

    A confident smile hung on his face.

    Did you think you would be able to get away just because you retreated one step earlier?

    How naive!

    How could a Yang Opening Realm cultivator outrun a Light Shaking Realm cultivator?

    A smile of victory appeared on the Light Shaking Realm cultivator¡¯s face.

    He was going to capture this brat, and then indulge in his lustful desires. Such a beautiful woman was definitely a peerless treasure amongst the human race!

    Zhu Xianyao waspletely petrified by the vicious expression on the Light Shaking Realm cultivator¡¯s face.

    She stared at him in shock, her face deathly pale. Tears were forming at the corner of her eyes. They dide from fear, right? It really was an incredibly charming appearance.

    The Sand Race Light Shaking Realm cultivator became even more aroused.

    ¡°Little girl, you¡¯re better off under my care!¡± With a ferocious howl, sand began to gather around him and formed arge hand that reached out to grab Zhu Xianyao.

    Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t move at all and allowed the Sand Race individual¡¯s hands to wrap around herself. In that instance, her life was in the opponent¡¯s hands.

    However, she continued to maintain her weak and pitiful appearance. Her body trembled slightly, and fear was written all over her face. The Sand Race cultivator¡¯s heart trembled, and his grip lessened considerably.

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t kill me, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course I wouldn¡¯t kill you,¡± the Light Shaking Realm cultivator said gently.

    ¡°You¡¯ll love and take care of me, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course. I will love and take care of you,¡± the Light Shaking Realm cultivator replied adoringly.

    ¡°You will protect me and not let anyone harm me, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course. I will protect you and stop anyone who tries to harm you,¡± the Light Shaking Realm cultivator replied steadfastly.

    ¡°You will obey me. Anything that I say, you will do. Is that right?¡±

    ¡°Of course. I will obey you. Anything you say, I will do,¡± the Light Shaking Realm cultivator replied, his eyes burning with passion.

    ¡°You will respect me and worship me and take me as your leader. If your leadermands it, you would leap headfirst into a fire and risk your life for her. Right?¡±

    ¡°Of course. I will take you as my leader and respect and worship you. If my leadermands it, I will leap headfirst into a fire and risk my life for her!¡± the Light Shaking Realm cultivator replied as he got down on one knee.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 60: Deception

    Many yearster, Zhu Xianyao would ask Su Chen why he had thought to throw her far away and risk his life to save her. Su Chen would reply with the following: ¡°If two people both fight to the death simultaneously, then the oue will be their deaths. But if I fight as hard as I can just to dy for time, you cane back with reinforcements, and that would give us at least a sliver of hope. In terms of battle tactics, this is absolutely the correct way to do things.¡±

    After hearing this, Zhu Xianyao would be very angry. She believed that Su Chen was purposefully trying to make her angry.

    He was always doing that.

    Just as he would never admit that he had also fallen for her.

    This was what Zhu Xianyao thought to herself.

    However, Su Chen himself knew that that was simply the way he thought about these things.

    Back then, this was the only way he could have possibly ensured their survival. In addition, if Zhu Xianyao were to escape, she would definitely draw away a portion of the soldiers. That would also make it a bit easier for Su Chen to hold on longer.

    There was no way he could defeat two Light Shaking Realm cultivators by himself, but through the assistance of medicines, the Algae Thread Coral Robe, and all the other tricks and cards he had up his sleeve, he would at least be able to hold on for a certain period of time.

    That was all he was thinking about at the time.

    However, he hadn¡¯t expected two sudden changes to suddenly take ce.

    First of all, he hadn¡¯t expected one of the Light Shaking Realm cultivators to personally pursue Zhu Xianyao, and he was worried for her. He wanted to go back and save her, but the other Light Shaking Realm cultivators kept him tied down and wouldn¡¯t let him get away.

    The second change was that the Light Shaking Realm cultivator suddenly returned again, this time in a much different fashion..

    He returned, full of energy and vigor, leaping at the Light Shaking Realm cultivator that Su Chen was fighting. He immediately opened with his killing blow: Explosive Sand Hand. The other Light Shaking Realm cultivator howled, ¡°Gron, are you crazy? You¡¯re attacking me!¡±

    The other party didn¡¯t respond at all. He continued to unleash palm strike after palm strike, sending four of the Sand Race soldiers attacking Su Chen flying with broken bones.

    The tables had turned so quickly and suddenly that even Su Chen wasn¡¯t able to fully seize the opportunity.

    He turned around, looking for an exnation and found Zhu Xianyao striding forward boldly.

    The wind was fluttering through her hair and her long dress was billowing, giving her quite the heroic aura.

    mes of cold anger burned in her eyes as she spat out ruthlessly, ¡°Don¡¯t let a single one of them get away!¡±

    The Light Shaking Realm cultivator named Gron began to fly into a frenzy, not even sparing the Sand Race peddlers who weren¡¯t a part of the assassination attempt. All of them were enveloped in a dense wave of sand.

    ¡°Bewitching technique! It¡¯s a bewitching technique!¡± That Sand Race Light Shaking Realm cultivator finally understood. ¡°How could this be? How did you do that? You¡¯re only in the Yang Opening Realm; how is it possible for you to control a Light Shaking Realm cultivator? Gron, wake up! Dammit, hurry and wake up!¡±

    But no matter how loudly he yelled, Gron continued his furious onught. One Sand Race assant after another fell to his de. Su Chen didn¡¯t even need to do anything himself; the Mountain-Beheading de autonomously flew through the air and picked off targets to make up for any deficit.

    Gron¡¯s strength was obviously not enough to suppress all of the Sand Race assants present, but Zhu Xianyao¡¯s absolute control over him shocked everyone present to their core.

    The pressure that came from a formerrade who had suddenly be an enemy intrinsically meant that the other Sand Race Light Shaking Realm cultivator wasn¡¯t able to disy his full strength. As such, he was genuinely being suppressed.

    By the time he recovered and wanted to fight with his full strength, it was already far toote.

    Gron¡¯s aura was at its peak, but most of his subordinates were already dead. Su Chen¡¯s flying de was also supporting him.

    Su Chen himself also had yet to attack. All he did was use a Fata Morgana to freeze that Light Shaking Realm cultivator in ce for a moment.

    Yet another Origin Skill that could ignore cultivation tier gaps. When used with a Light Shaking Realm cultivator there to follow up, it was exceptionally effective.

    That Light Shaking Realm cultivator suddenly froze in ce. An instantter, Gron¡¯s palm mmed into his chest, destroying his protective magic barrier. The Mountain-Beheading de surged forward, shing down at his forehead.

    A beautiful one-two punch, iming a life in a singlebo!

    The assassination attempt was stifled just like that.

    At this point in time, news of the battle that had urred probably hadn¡¯t spread yet. Most likely, it hadn¡¯t reached Zhu Baiyu and the others¡¯ ears yet.

    Su Chen and Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t waste any time and immediately got out of there, the Sand Race cultivator named Gron following closely behind them.

    Su Chen nced at her and asked, ¡°Eternal envement?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao lowered her head and mumbled, ¡°Yes.¡±

    Eternal Envement was a unique control skill possessed by the Zhu n. Once a target was enved, there was no way of reverting it. This was different from the Bewitching Butterfly bloodline, and one of the reasons why a Demonic Emperor Bloodline was so powerful.

    However, activating Eternal Envement required the user to pay an incredibly high price. The user¡¯s cultivation base would regress and would require around three years of time to recover.

    The Zhu n¡¯s bloodline originally didn¡¯t allow them to control anyone with a cultivation base higher than the user, so to them, wasting their precious cultivation base on controlling Yang Opening Realm and below cultivators wasn¡¯t worth it. As such, Zhu Xianyao had never used Eternal Envement on any target before. She would need to wait to at least the Light Shaking Realm before feeling a need to use it.

    However, Su Chen¡¯s Bewitching Origin Substance had given her the ability to break through cultivation barriers and use it on targets with a higher cultivation base than hers. This also greatly increased the sess rate of usage. The end result was that Zhu Xianyao was able to control a Light Shaking Realm cultivator.

    Despite such a happy asion, no trace of happiness could be seen on Zhu Xianyao¡¯s face.

    She lowered her head, her expression that of a guilty child, as if she were waiting for Su Chen to berate her.

    Su Chen sighed and said, ¡°So the issue of the Bewitching Origin Substance affecting the user was solved a long time ago, right?¡±

    Yes.

    Su Chen had finally discovered the truth.

    This damned broad had used Eternal Envement but showed no signs of being in the throes of passion. She hadn¡¯t been affected at all.

    This meant that she had been lying to him the whole time.

    No wonder!

    No wonder he had found a theoretical solution that should have worked but just wouldn¡¯t.

    Because she was pretending the whole time!

    He stared at Zhu Xianyao.

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s eyes were filled with tears. ¡°Yes, I lied to you. You managed to solve the problem by the end of the first month, but I didn¡¯t want to say anything...... because I knew that if I told you the problem was resolved, you would give up on me. You would feel like you didn¡¯t owe me anything anymore, and you would send me away. Then, you would continue your research in peace and go to Longxi to look for Gu Qingluo. I didn¡¯t want that to happen......¡±

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°I¡¯m not ming you.¡±

    ¡°Bang!¡± Su Chen received a p.

    Zhu Xianyao yelled hysterically, ¡°Why would you me me? Do you think that your saying that is very generous of you? Meaning that you forgive me? I love you, I want to be with you, I want to be in the same bed with you, but you want to forgive me!? You bastard!¡±

    Su Chen was stunned.

    He just felt like what she said was quite logical.

    But just as he was about to apologize, Zhu Xianyao leapt into his arms and hugged him tightly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I shouldn¡¯t have hit you. The moment you threw me to safety, I was extremely moved and happy...... You still care about me, right? You were willing to die for me, so why can¡¯t you be a little warmer and gentler with me?¡±

    She stared at Su Chen, her eyes filled with tears.

    ......

    Can you not be so flustered about everything?

    Su Chen swallowed hard and was unable to carry out his n in the end.

    In that instant, when he saw Zhu Xianyao¡¯s pitiful appearance, his heart inadvertently softened a level.

    Zhu Xianyao continued to hug him as she said, ¡°Forget about it. I know that I¡¯m hoping for too much. You are only you; you don¡¯t understand what it means to be gentle, or even if you do you won¡¯t show that side to me. So now that you know I lied to you, are you going to chase me away?¡±

    Su Chen finally reacted a bit.

    He thought for a moment, then said, ¡°All that seeded was the medicine, so the bewitching effect is only temporary. It still hasn¡¯t be a bloodline you can pass on yet. I promised to strengthen your bloodline, not to give you a stronger medicine. So I think that you should continue to stay here for a bit.¡±

    A sweet smile appeared on Zhu Xianyao¡¯s face.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 61: Farewell

    Even Su Chen didn¡¯t expect that this to turn into an ordealsting longer than half a year.

    During this half-year, Zhu Xianyao and Su Chen had acted just like husband and wife, appearing together in public all the time and enjoying each others¡¯pany.

    Zhu Baiyu had no objections in the slightest ¡ª when he ryed this matter to the Zhu n, the Zhu n was about to go crazy.

    It was a craziness that stemmed from happiness.

    Strengthening the power of their bloodline was something that every n dreamed of achieving. Its actual value far exceeded that of a technique for reaching the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline ¡ª at least to the Zhu n. After all, thetter could only produce a few low-level cultivators and increase their potential slightly, while the former could increase the strength of the whole n.

    Su Chen was giving the Zhu n the ability to increase the strength of their control techniques. This kind of improvement was almost unprecedented when it came to bewitching techniques.

    The Spirit Race could enve people stronger than them because they targeted their opponents¡¯ consciousnesses. However, they could only control individuals whose consciousness power was weaker than their own.

    Liaoye¡¯s Imperial Family, the Dream Dragon Li n, could control individuals stronger than them, but they couldn¡¯t do it in battle. They could do so after sneaking into their opponents¡¯ dreams.

    Small ns like the Bewitching Butterfly Jin n or the Stable Spider Demon Zhou n weren¡¯t even worth mentioning. They had to be selective about their targets even when at the same cultivation base and could only control targets weaker than them. They couldn¡¯t even dream of daring to leap cultivation bases.

    It could be said that controlling someone stronger than you was an incredible leap. Any n that specialized in bewitching techniques would thirst badly for such an ability. As for losing three years of cultivation, that wasn¡¯t important. If they had as much money as Su Chen, they could recover that in no time.

    Because of this, the Zhu n agreed to every one of Su Chen¡¯s conditions. When Zhu Baiyu said that Zhu Xianyao wanted to stay behind to help Su Chen continue his research of their bloodline, the Zhu n indicated that they had no objections.

    In reality, they were already incredibly satisfied with Su Chen¡¯s progress ¡ª even without the bloodline, the medicine was quite good. Even if they required medicine to control someone stronger than them, they could still control the enemy. As long as they grew stronger, who cared about the method? As long as he was willing to hand the recipe over to them and keep it private, they would agree.

    It was still private.

    Half a yearter, Su Chen finallypleted his improvement of Zhu Xianyao¡¯s bloodline.

    It was an increase on the most fundamental level. From this day onwards, Zhu Xianyao would be able to control people stronger than her, and her sons and daughters would also be able to inherit her bloodline and this power.

    ¡°From today onwards, you are the progenitor of the Zhu n¡¯s new bloodline,¡± Su Chen proimed after a long and passionate ¡®battle.¡¯

    A naked Zhu Xianyaoy in Su Chen¡¯s embrace as she said, ¡°So this day still came arrived in the end, huh? We¡¯ve been waiting for this moment for a long time, but now that it¡¯s here I just feel reluctant.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Su Chen agreed.

    Zhu Xianyao gazed at him happily. ¡°So you¡¯re not willing to leave me either, right? Why don¡¯t you juste back with me to the Zhu n? With your ability, giving you control over the Zhu n in the future wouldn¡¯t be that big of a deal.¡±

    ¡°You know that¡¯s not what I¡¯m after. Also......¡± Su Chen¡¯s voice trailed off.

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s expression dimmed slightly as she leaned against Su Chen. ¡°You still miss her.¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t reply.

    There was no need to reply to some topics.

    As such, Zhu Xianyao continued, ¡°Alright, then I will agree to marry into the Su n from today onwards. I don¡¯t care whether Gu Qingluo agrees or not. Also, even though you two fell in love first, your first time was with me, so I want to be equal in status to her, and not just a concubine. Finally, of the children I bear you, one of them must be surnamed Zhu......¡±

    Arge list of conditions came pouring out.

    Su Chen could onlyugh bitterly.

    ......

    Time flew away.

    Another half month passed by in the blink of an eye.

    Even though she was unwilling to part with him and even though she had done her best to dy, that inevitable day of separation came.

    On the day of their separation, Zhu Xianyao wept profusely.

    She clung onto Su Chen¡¯s hand and said, ¡°You will definitelye find me and ask for my hand, right?¡±

    Su Chen nodded confidently. ¡°I will. This is the 1872nd time you¡¯ve asked this, Young Miss. No matter what, I will get her to agree, and thene and ask for your hand. You belong to me, Su Chen, and I won¡¯t allow you to be with anyone else. So wait for me obediently back in the Zhu n!¡±

    Zhu Xianyaoughed at his statement as Zhu Baiyu and Zhao Jingwen dragged her back to the carriage under You Tianyang¡¯s sorrowful gaze.

    The clopping of hooves grew faint as they disappeared into the distance.

    Zhu Xianyao had left, along with a part of Su Chen¡¯s heart.

    Feelings usually took time to foster. The former Su Chen could confidently say that he didn¡¯t love Zhu Xianyao.

    The current Su Chen, however, could not say the same.

    No matter; it was now time to find Gu Qingluo.

    There were some things that needed to be exined to her. Hopefully she would be able to ept it.

    As Su Chen was deep in thought, he suddenly heard a voice from behind him. ¡°What? You aren¡¯t willing to let go of her?¡±

    Su Chen was given quite a bad shock. He turned around and saw Yue Longsha behind him.

    ¡°Where did youe from? Have you been watching me these past few days?¡± Su Chen asked, still surprised.

    Yue Longsha rolled her eyes at him. ¡°I¡¯m not interested in watching you. However, you have Pall in your hands, so I wanted to ask if he was still alive. In the end, he still is the leader of the Sand Race and has some value. I wasn¡¯t expecting to run into this though.¡±

    ¡°Then you should havee a bit earlier. I lost track of time while I was doing researchst month and ended up killing him.¡± Su Chen shrugged.

    ¡°Oh, then forget about it. I just happened to pass by and wanted to ask about it,¡± Yue Longsha replied carelessly. No matter how you looked at the situation, it didn¡¯t seem like she hade for Pall at all.

    Yue Longsha said, ¡°Oh, by the way, how did you and Zhu Xianyao get so cozy with one another? What about Gu Qingluo?¡±

    Her question seemed innocent, but Su Chen felt a different vibe.

    However, he still told her everything that had happened between him and Zhu Xianyao. In the end, he sighed, ¡°I never would have expected that matters would reach this point. You could say that one wrong step led to many in a row.¡±

    ¡°You looked like you were pretty reluctant to leave her back there. It sure doesn¡¯t seem like you took that many wrong steps in a row.¡±

    Su Chen said with some shame, ¡°I¡¯m just making the best out of a bad situation.¡±

    When Yue Longsha heard this, she asked, ¡°So, Su Chen, have you already given up on being faithful to Gu Qingluo until the day you die?¡±

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°I always thought that even though there were lots of pretty girls in this world, I would only ever love her. I didn¡¯t expect things to develop into this. Thus, I have no choice but to give up being faithful to her forever. I hope that she can understand.¡±

    ¡°But what if she doesn¡¯t understand? Will you give up on Zhu Xianyao?¡± Yue Longsha asked.

    Su Chen fell silent for some time, then shook his head and said, ¡°I won¡¯t. Since things have reached this point, there¡¯s no turning back. If I turn back now, I¡¯m not a man. No matter what, I must be responsible for Zhu Xianyao until the end.¡±

    Yue Longsha smiled. ¡°You didn¡¯t disappoint me.¡±

    ¡°Hm? What does that mean?¡±

    Yue Longsha said casually, ¡°When ites to love, you¡¯re either single-minded or you¡¯re promiscuous. Once you¡¯ve made your decision, you don¡¯t regret it, nor do you waffle back and forth incessantly. Su Chen, you aren¡¯t going to be able to cling onto just Gu Qingluo anymore ¡ª remember that. Your backyard is now open; perhaps in the future there will be one or two more there as well.¡±

    Hm?

    Su Chen was stunned.

    Yue Longsha said, ¡°I¡¯m talking about Night Demon. Don¡¯t you think that the girl likes you a lot too?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s still too simple-minded about these kinds of things and wouldn¡¯t understand it.¡±

    ¡°But even the youngest girl will still eventually grow up. One day she¡¯ll understand these things.¡±

    ¡°Why do you care about these things? Do you want to be in my backyard as well?¡±

    Yue Longsha blushed fiercely and said, ¡°So improper. I still have business to take care of and won¡¯t take up too much more of your time, so I¡¯ll leave first.¡±

    As she spoke, she began to leave.

    Su Chen seemed to think of something as he stared at her. He called out, ¡°You didn¡¯te here for Pall, did you?¡±

    Yue Longsha stopped in her tracks, then waved goodbye at Su Chen without turning around, disappearing amongst the crowd of onlookers.

    Trantor¡¯s notes:

    I know many of you hate harem. One thing I will say is that harem has been well-established in this universe. Su Chen¡¯s dad also had multiple wives. Does this development suck? Maybe, depending on what you think of it. Despite the fact that I am not the biggest fan of it, I think the author is justified in including it given that it has already been established and not just because Su Chen is a horndog (though of course that ys arge part). If you¡¯re turned off by this and choose not to read any further, thanks for sticking around and I greatly, greatly appreciate your support!

 Book 4: Near Blood - 62: Swallow River City

    Longxi.

    There was arge mountain in Long Sang Country known as the Yellow Dragon Mountain.

    It was thergest mountain in all of Long Sang Country, spanning ten thousand kilometers from north to south and traversing through six regions.

    Longxi was to the west of the Yellow Dragon Mountain. It was originally known as the West Dragon Region andter became known as Longxi.

    The trip from Mountain Overlook City to Longxi Region would take a few months even on a fast horse.

    But thankfully, Su Chen had the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle and wasn¡¯t in any particr hurry.

    The Gu n was quite a sizable n in Longxi Region, as they had extended their reach quite far and had many different branches scattered around the ce. The main branch was in Swallow River City.

    Swallow River City was near a river, but that river wasn¡¯t called Swallow River but was actually the Longevity River. There was also a nearby fjord known as the Swallow Fjord.

    The name of Swallow River thus came from abination of the Swallow Fjord¡¯s and the Longevity River¡¯s names.

    The main branch of the Longxi Gu n was located at the very center of Swallow River City.

    The Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle descended near the outskirts of Swallow River City. The city was guarded, as was the airspace above the city. If Su Chen tried to recklessly fly in, he would be attacked.

    Afternding, Su Chen stowed the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle away and walked towards Swallow River City¡¯s interior.

    The Gu n was located in Swallow River City¡¯s West Willow Alley.

    Once he reached West Willow Alley, he was greeted by arge set of copper doors nked by two obsidian hornless dragon statues adorned with gold. Two Qi Drawing Realm cultivators guarded the front door with imposing auras, demonstrating the style of arge n.

    The Origin Qi Schrs guarding the front door were rtively polite. Upon seeing Su Chen walk towards them, they asked, ¡°Who are you looking for?¡±

    Su Chen sped his hands and said, ¡°I am Clear River City¡¯s former Origin Bureau Head Su Chen, and I am looking for Prince Jintang.¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t directly ask to see Gu Qingluo but instead Prince Gu Jintang first, whom he had met in Long Coiling City back then.

    When the guards heard that Su Chen was a former Bureau Head and Gu Jintang¡¯s friend, they naturally wouldn¡¯t make any trouble for him and hurried back to report it. Not long afterwards, Gu Jintang appeared.

    When Gu Jintang saw Su Chen, he said happily, ¡°Brother Su, it¡¯s you! You¡¯re finally here. Hey, Qing......¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t wait for him to finish his sentence and grabbed him. ¡°Brother Gu, it¡¯s been awhile. I¡¯ve missed you a lot.¡±

    He pulled Gu Jintang back.

    Gu Jintang realized something and said softly. ¡°What? You don¡¯t want Qingluo to know?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not the right time yet. Let¡¯s talk for a bit first,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°You¡¯re really interesting. Alright, let¡¯s find a ce and talk about it slowly,¡± Gu Jintangughed.

    Within the Thousand Incense Pavilion:

    Gu Jintang and Su Chen sat across from each other in an ornately decorated room, with Iron Cliff standing guard at the front door.

    ¡°Come,e, let¡¯s have a toast. It¡¯s been a number of years since we first met at Long Coiling City, but for cultivators like us things just happen this way. Time flies by in the blink of an eye, so I still vividly remember everything that happened back then. Later on, I heard of your return to Clear River City and your exploits there. You dealt with the ten Bloodline Nobility ns in short order. All I can say is that I¡¯m totally impressed,¡± Gu Jintang said as he ate.

    Gu Jintang drank a mouthful of wine and then continued, ¡°But now that you mention it, no matter how long we cultivators live and how insignificant time seems to us, taking too much time isn¡¯t a good thing either. Seventh Junior Sister is already of age; even though thirty-seven is quite young for someone in a Bloodline Nobility n, she¡¯s reached an age where marriage is a consideration.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°That¡¯s what I also realized, so I came here as soon as my term expired. However, some unforeseen circumstances happened on my way over, wasting a year of my time. I hope that nothing bades of it.¡±

    ¡°Nothing really bad has happened per se, but there is a small issue,¡± Gu Jintang replied. ¡°You¡¯re quite smart toe look for me first. If you went looking for Qingluo, you might havended in some trouble that would be hard to escape.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Then Brother Gu, please exin.¡±

    ¡°It isn¡¯t anything that big,¡± Gu Jintang replied. ¡°My uncle found a fianc¨¦ for Qingluo.¡±

    ¡°Fianc¨¦......¡± Su Chen squinted.

    Gu Jintang began to exin.

    Not long before, Gu Qingluo¡¯s father, Gu Xuanmian, had personally found a suitor for Gu Qingluo. The other party was Zhou Qingkuang from the Crane City Zhou n, and he was going to be here in a few days to formalize the wedding procedures.

    ¡°What kind of person is this Zhou Qingkuang?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Have you heard of the Cinnabar Crane?¡± Gu Jintang answered with a question of his own.

    Su Chen¡¯s expression sank. ¡°The Scarlet-Eyed Demon King?¡±

    During Emperor Ping¡¯s rule, the country was weakened and without strength, allowing outsiders to easily infiltrate the country. The Beast Race put the country in quite a crisis, and Demonic Beasts were often able to sneak in, wreaking havoc amongst the human race.

    One of the more infamous Demonic Beasts during that period of time was the Scarlet-Eyed Demon King.

    The Scarlet-Eyed Demon King, as its name suggested, was a Demonic King-level Demonic Beast. It possessed incredible strength, but its worst characteristics were its ungodly speed and bloodthirsty temperament. Unlike most Demonic Beasts, which killed humans for food, the Cinnabar Crane merely killed humans for sport. It particrly liked to hunt Origin Qi Schrs and because it was so fast, it was always able to escape regardless of whether it seeded or failed. It had once been encircled by countless humans, but it was still able to escape.

    One time, they even sent out two Thought Manifestation experts, and even then it was able to escape, a clear demonstration of its evasive abilities. The Scarlet-Eyed Demon King became quite well known because of this and was one of the Demonic Beasts that terrorized humans for the longest amount of time. In the end, it took the efforts of the Cloud-Pecking Du n, who possessed the bloodline of a Primordial Beast, to kill it.

    This Crane City Zhou n was likely the n that had ultimately inherited the Scarlet-Eyed Demon King Bloodline.

    Even though the Gu n had thetent bloodline of an Origin Beast, they still could only utilize the Soaring Serpent Bloodline, a Demonic Lord Beast. Whenpared to a Demonic King Bloodline, they were still far inferior. Gu Mingxuan wanted to bring glory to his n; as such, choosing a marriage alliance with a Demonic King Bloodline Nobility n was an extremely normal decision.

    But now that Su Chen was here, what wasmon under normal circumstances was no longer so.

    ¡°What do you think? The pressure¡¯s on, huh? Winning the hand of my Seventh Junior Sister isn¡¯t that easy now, is it?¡± Gu Jintangughed.

    ¡°But it¡¯s not impossible, right? Even you believe that I still have hope, right?¡± Su Chen countered.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Gu Jintang pped the table. ¡°Who told you to have so much money! If you have money, then you¡¯re the boss!¡±

    That¡¯s right. Gu Jintang didn¡¯t think that Su Chen would lose to the Zhou n, even if he didn¡¯t have a bloodline.

    Because he had money!

    He had a lot of money!

    As long as they lived in a world where resources were needed and could be used in an exchange, then money still held quite a bit of importance.

    Su Chen still had over a billion Origin Stones in hand. This was enough to purchase an entire Bloodline Nobility n.

    Even an extremely grand Demonic Emperor n only needed one of the Bewitching Origin Substances; just the technique for reaching the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline, or the Hemolytic Totem were enough for them to hand over Zhu Xianyao plus extra benefits.

    How much money was that worth? Far below a billion Origin Stones.

    If a Demonic Emperor n¡¯s Young Miss wasn¡¯t even worth that much, how much could Gu Qingluo, who was from a Demonic Lord n, be worth?

    As long as Su Chen was willing to m a few hundred million down, Gu Xuanmian would absolutely agree.

    So what if they were a Demonic King n? Could he not just give them arger dowry?

    The question was: was Su Chen willing to pay that price?

    The answer was: no.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 63: Clan Relative Society

    Achieving one¡¯s dreams was never an easy thing.

    It always required arge amount of investment and even sacrifice sometimes.

    Developing a cultivation path for those without a bloodline was something that countless geniuses had longed for and diligently pursued. So why was it that, prior to Shi Kaihuang, people without bloodlines could only reach the Blood Boiling Realm at most, and would even need to rely on luck?

    It was because this path was an extremely difficult one from the very beginning!

    Why was Shi Kaihuang able to make two sessive breakthroughs?

    Because he was standing upon a foundation built by others, and because he had Su Chen¡¯s help.

    And where had Su Chen¡¯s helpe from? They both came from fragments of historical knowledge as well as his repeated experiments, which consumed a ton of resources.

    Shi Kaihuang didn¡¯t need money when he did research, but that was solely because everything that did require money was taken care of by Su Chen.

    This was also a reason why Shi Kaihuang had put Su Chen in charge of setting the price. He knew that Su Chen was the most suited for this.

    As such, it could be said that the path of cultivating without a bloodline had reached the extent that it had in no small part due to money. In the future, it would be even more important, because he would be less and less able to utilize his prior knowledge. Every possible path would require Su Chen himself to explore it. This would require a ton of resources, even if just to prove that the path was an incorrect one!

    This all required money!

    Su Chen was very clear about the advantages of doing the research himself.

    Whenpared to the countless geniuses that hade and gone by these past few millennia, his greatest advantage was his microscopic eyes, followed by the vast amounts of knowledge he had umted over the years, and then finally his deep pockets.

    Even so, every step Su Chen took towards his next goal of reaching a Light Shaking Realm technique without a bloodline was excruciatingly difficult. He had no idea when he was going to reach it.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, he would have no more hope if he had no money.

    Even though a billion Origin Stones was in fact an incredible amount of money, it might not be enough even if he used it all for the pursuit of this goal.

    As such, how could Su Chen be willing to just hand it over to the Gu n?

    Shi Kaihuang had said a long time ago: promises made for a woman could also be broken because of a woman.

    Su Chen was very lucky. Under Shi Kaihuang¡¯s direction, his dream no longer revolved around Gu Qingluo, so he also wouldn¡¯t choose to throw money at the problem in order to ¡°buy¡± Gu Qingluo.

    Of course, this didn¡¯t mean that he would give up on her. A bit of spending was still eptable.

    As such, he said, ¡°I¡¯m not nning on spending more than ten million Origin Stones on this matter.¡±

    Gu Jintang¡¯s expression sank a bit. ¡°That makes thingsplicated. Even though ten million Origin Stones isn¡¯t a small amount, using that to try to settle things with my old fogey of a Senior Uncle might not be enough. Even if you settled things with him, you would still need to settle things with the elders of the n as well.¡±

    ¡°So Qingluo¡¯s marriage requires everyone in the Gu n to agree to the marriage, not just the Gu n¡¯s Patriarch?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Gu Jintang replied, ¡°Seventh Junior Sister is Senior Uncle¡¯s daughter. Under normal circumstances, his approval alone would be enough. The problem is that it her engagement to Zhou Qingkuang would be a normal circumstance, but her engagement to you would not be! That¡¯s called marrying into a lower social ss......!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    After thinking about it for a bit, Su Chen said to Gu Jintang, ¡°So tell me a little about the inner workings of the Gu n. I want to know more about them ¡ª the more the better.¡±

    Gu Jintang revealed a hesitant expression. ¡°That¡¯s not appropriate, is it? Even though you aren¡¯t an enemy of the Gu n, telling you insider secrets about the Gu n still feels like I¡¯m selling the n out. How could I possibly do something like that?¡±

    Su Chen pulled out a card. It was a normal Origin Card from the Huitong Company and carried a maximum of 50,000 Origin Stones on it. The one he ced in front of Gu Jintang was naturally a full one.

    Gu Jintang still shook his head. ¡°You¡¯re looking down on me! I won¡¯t be shaken by money, I really can¡¯t do this for you.¡±

    Su Chen pulled out another card.

    A hundred thousand Origin Stones was now on the table.

    Gu Jintang was getting a bit upset. ¡°Hey, I have bottom lines too. Can you not be like this?¡±

    Su Chen pulled out another card.

    Gu Jintang cried out bitterly, ¡°You¡¯re just making things difficult for me!¡±

    Su Chen pulled out another card. ¡°You know that Gu Qingluo would also tell me these things for free.¡±

    Gu Jintang swiftly grabbed the four cards. ¡°The Gu n¡¯s patriarch is my Senior Uncle Gu Xuanmian, but he is only responsible for the day-to-day matters. Actually, there is a n Rtive Society and our n¡¯s ancestor above him. The n Rtive Society is mostly responsible for the major matters, including the appointment and dismissal of n patriarchs, ancestor worship, war derations, etc. Of course, that also includes determining the fates of individuals from different races. The n¡¯s ancestor usually doesn¡¯t interfere with anything. They mostly just send requests to other retainers: today I want these resources, tomorrow I want those resources, why have my resources not arrived yet? Anyone who is incapable will be dismissed, castrated, or dragged out and killed. Of course, they will also go out on journeys on a whim. No one knows when he leaves or when hees back, so you don¡¯t need to take him into consideration. That depends on fate.¡±

    ¡°Seventh Junior Sister¡¯s marriage is a day-to-day matter, so Senior Uncle is responsible for managing it. However, if she is going to marry someone without a bloodline, that¡¯s another matter entirely. Bloodline Nobility ns ce a lot of weight on bloodlines. Even if someone from a high-status Bloodline Nobility n married someone from a low-status Bloodline Nobility n, that might be eptable. However, marrying someone without a bloodline is considered a humiliation. If news spread, everyone would think that it was a reversal of fortunes within the n. As the old men say......¡±

    Gu Jintang massaged his throat, then pped his chopsticks together like casts. ¡°If news of this spreads, how will my Gu n have any face left to remain in Longxi? Those people who covetously eye the Gu n mighte and try to see how sharp our fangs still are. Even those who we have no enmity with might start provoking us!¡±

    After giving his impression, Gu Jintang returned to his normal voice and sidled up to Su Chen. ¡°Right, do you have any interest in marrying into our family? If you are, the difficulty will be lower; at the very least, the elders would feel like they can save some of their face.¡±

    Su Chen shook his head.

    Gu Jintang continued, ¡°Then there¡¯s not much you can do. This matter will reach the n Rtive Society as soon as it gets brought up. If Gu Qingluo marries you, then the Gu n will lose face, meaning each and every one of them will lose face. How could they agree to something that would only harm them and not bring any benefits?¡±

    He didn¡¯t even pause once when he said all of these things. Su Chen was renderedpletely helpless.

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then asked, ¡°How many people are in the n Rtive Society?¡±

    Gu Jintang replied, ¡°The Gu n¡¯s older members were all quite reproductive. My father and uncle¡¯s generation has six in total, my grandfather¡¯s generation has seven, three of whom died. The total number of descendants from these peoplebined is around forty, but there are only fourteen within the n Rtive Society. There were also seven in my great-grandparents¡¯ generation, but five of them are dead now. Oh, right ¨C my great-great-grandfather is still alive. He¡¯s my grandfather¡¯s grandfather. He also has his descendants, but they are considered a side branch of the n, not the main branch. Regardless, he and his descendants also have their ce in the n Rtive Society. There are twenty-seven people in total.¡±

    Su Chen was astounded. ¡°So your n ancestor is your great-great-grandfather?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Gu Jintang shook his head. ¡°I told you already that the n ancestor is not a part of the n Rtive Society. However, the n Rtive Society has to listen to what he has to say. The n ancestor is my grandfather¡¯s grandfather¡¯s grandfather. He should be around 400 years old, but I don¡¯t remember exactly how old he is. There¡¯s too many people here in the n and I can¡¯t keep track of all of them.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 64: We Need to Be Resolute

    After answering a few more questions and revealing the inner workings of the Gu n a bit more, Gu Jintang had drunk and eaten his fill. He then swaggered off into the distance.

    Before he left, Su Chen told him to let Gu Qingluo know that he, Su Chen, was here, but not to let anyone else find out.

    An hourter, Gu Qingluo appeared in the Thousand Incense Pavilion¡¯s doorway. As soon as she saw Su Chen, she leapt into his embrace, carrying with her a wave of fragrant perfume.

    Su Chen caught her out of the air and gestured at the door, causing it to close. ¡°How¡¯d it go? No one tailed you on your way here, right?¡±

    Gu Qingluo blinked herrge eyes she gazed at him. ¡°No, I did as you told me. I didn¡¯t say anything other than that I was going for a stroll. But why do I need to be this secretive?¡±

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°Because taking you as my wife is something that will take a long time to aplish.¡±

    Gu Qingluo understood. She lowered her head and rubbed her neck as she pouted, ¡°So you found out...... is it because I am about to have another fianc¨¦?¡±

    Su Chen shouted in his heart, the problem isn¡¯t that you¡¯re about to have an extra fianc¨¦, it¡¯s that I already have one!

    Yes, Su Chen had never really ced this Zhou Qingkuang in his heart.

    Even if the Scarlet-Eyed Demon King Bloodline was powerful, was it more powerful than the Heavenly Fox Bloodline?

    If even the n of a Demonic Emperor Bloodline had approved of him, what was a measly Demonic King Bloodline?

    Even without the Mountain-Beheading de, he was confident that he was able to smash all the teeth out of the mouth of any Yang Opening Realm cultivator with a Demonic King Bloodline.

    However, the issue involving himself was going to be a problem.

    He had no idea how to tell Gu Qingluo about Zhu Xianyao.

    Having multiple wives was amon thing in this day and age, but that didn¡¯t meant that all women desired such a thing and would ept their husband having three or four wives.

    Just because something was legally eptable didn¡¯t mean it was also emotionally eptable.

    Both Gu Qingluo herself and the Gu n were essentially blocking him in from both sides.

    The Gu n wouldn¡¯t really care if Su Chen had multiple wives, but what mattered the most was the status of his bloodline and whether his status was worthy of marrying into the Gu n.

    To Gu Qingluo, Su Chen¡¯s social status or bloodline status weren¡¯t important. What mattered to her was whether or not he loved her and was willing to marry only her.

    This was the nature of the problem.

    Because of this, Su Chen couldn¡¯t tell her about Zhu Xianyao yet.

    He needed Gu Qingluo¡¯s help to first deal with things on the Gu n¡¯s side. After settling things there, he could then resolve his personal problems with Gu Qingluo.

    Creating and carrying out this kind of n felt like boiling the hound after it had caught the rabbit. Su Chen felt that he was being despicable.

    Oh, so it wasn¡¯t until now that he realized that what he was doing was despicable?

    Su Chen gulped hard and said, ¡°Yes. I¡¯ve already talked with Gu Jintang. There¡¯s two main problems: first of all, we need to think of a way to stop the wedding, and the second is that we need to get the n Rtive Society to agree to our engagement.¡±

    Gu Qingluo anxiously said, ¡°Neither of these two are going to be easy.¡±

    ¡°It all depends on our effort, and I am confident that we can do this. As long as you¡¯re by my side, we can do anything.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Gu Qingluo nodded emphatically as she grabbed Su Chen¡¯s hand. ¡°No matter what, I will only belong to you.¡±

    Su Chen continued, ¡°That¡¯s easier said than done.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have faith in me?¡±

    ¡°Not at all. I¡¯m just telling you that in the future, we might run into all kinds of obstacles. Your n and your fianc¨¦ are just the ones we know about now, but who knows when new troubles might appear? These new troubles might be extremely headache-inducing. What if a sudden battle breaks out, I might be sent off to fight. Or if someone injures me, I might disappear temporarily. Or some woman might even suddenly appear out of nowhere and say that her child is an illegitimate child of mine¡¯s to try and break us apart. Our enemies could use any and all kinds of tactics. That¡¯s when we need to be the most resolute! We must trust one another, rely on one another, and never give up on one another!¡±

    Gu Qingluo stared suspiciously at Su Chen. ¡°You¡¯re not trying to tell me that you have an illegitimate son, are you?¡±

    Su Chen replied straightforwardly, ¡°I swear on my own Origin Energy that I absolutely do not have one.¡±

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s expression softened. ¡°Yes, don¡¯t worry. I understand what you¡¯re saying. Our enemies are deceitful and will resort to any tactics they can. The most important thing is that you and I cannot give up. No matter what, we must face any adversity together!¡±

    She gripped Su Chen¡¯s hand tightly as she spoke.

    ¡°That¡¯s the right attitude!¡± Su Chen sighed in relief.

    On some level, Gu Qingluo was like Night Demon. She had a bit of a childlike naivety and innocent nature to her. However, she was not silly to the point of almost being mentally challenged. Gu Qingluo might be a bit naive, but she was also quite smart; she was cute, but also somewhat crafty. The only reason she hadn¡¯t disyed this side to Su Chen at the Hidden Dragon Institute was because she was still suffering due to him. Her quick-witted side had been suppressed by quite a bit.

    After she and Su Chen had gotten back together, her disposition was beginning to reemerge and return to the way that it was before. She seemed carefree and absent-minded sometimes, but she wasn¡¯t single-mindedly silly. She definitely had her own thoughts and feelings.

    Because of this, Su Chen wanted to use this opportunity to try and catch Gu Qingluo.

    Once they had steeled themselves, the next step was to figure how to deal with the problem.

    The first step was to stop the wedding.

    ¡°I have a way of doing that.¡± Gu Qingluo waved her small hand. ¡°Find Zhou Qingkuang a woman, get her to bait him onto a bed, and then catch him in the act. I¡¯ll naturally be able to openly annul the engagement.¡±

    Hiss!

    Su Chen sucked in a breath of cold air. ¡°That wouldn¡¯t be too good, would it? A man having three or four wives is prettymon. Also, he still isn¡¯t married yet, so even if he is caught in the act, you could just write it off as an act of passion. You might not be able to annul a marriage agreement for that reason.¡±

    Gu Qingluo rolled her eyes and ced her hands on her hips. ¡°Why not? I¡¯m the Gu n¡¯s Young Miss. How could I belong to someone who acts hot and cold like that? Anyone who sows wild oats all over the ce should be castrated. If you want to be my man, you need to be with solely me until the end.¡±

    ¡°Hey......¡± Su Chen nodded. ¡°That¡¯s true, but it seems a bit overbearing. I¡¯m worried that if news of this spreads, the Zhou n might back out first before you can annul the agreement. That kind of reputation......¡±

    Reputation was still important even in this society. If word spread that a woman was violent, that was still not a good thing.

    Because of this, even if women didn¡¯t like it when their men took a concubine, they had to appear generous on the surface unless the situation was too excessive. Those who were more traditional wouldn¡¯t even worry about their husband taking concubines; instead, they would instead worry about whether or not they appeared overly jealous. Rather than stopping their husbands from taking concubines, they encouraged it.

    As such, people fought a lot over whether or not concubines were allowed. Some refused to ept it, some tolerated it, and others even encouraged it.

    Gu Qingluo didn¡¯t have too many thoughts regarding this matter. She just like this feeling of posturing, but when Su Chen¡¯s words seemed pretty reasonable to her, so she dropped the whole controlling attitude. She blinked flirtatiously at Su Chen and asked, ¡°Then what do you think I should do?¡±

    ¡°This is a pretty big deal, so we should approach things carefully......¡± Su Chen pondered for a moment, then asked, ¡°Right, when is Zhou Qingkuang going to arrive in Swallow River City?¡±

    ¡°He said that he woulde as soon as he finished taking care of business with his family. It¡¯ll probably be at least seven or eight days.¡±

    Su Chen lowered his head in thought for a few moments. ¡°That¡¯s too little time. We need more time. Taking care of family business...... taking care of family business...... Iron Cliff!¡±

    ¡°Right here, sir.¡±

    Su Chen tossed the Shadow me Glove over to Iron Cliff. ¡°Go to Hecheng and create some ¡®family business¡¯ for him to take care of to his heart¡¯s content. The longer you dy, the better.¡±

    ¡°Yes sir!¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 65: Deploymen

    t

    Clear River City.

    Within the Su Residence.

    Mingshu satzily in the main courtyard and yawned, ¡°I¡¯m so bored.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re bored, thene and train. Look, you¡¯ve gotten fat from yourziness,¡± said Zhou Hong as he diligently swung a set of stone barbells through the air.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have any energy and I don¡¯t want to train,¡± Mingshu replied.

    Zhou Hong harrumphed. ¡°There¡¯s so many people in the world that would love to train and study here but don¡¯t get the opportunity. You, on the other hand, are just sitting here cking off.¡±

    ¡°Young Master¡¯s not here anyways. What¡¯s the point in working so hard?¡± Mingshu muttered.

    ¡°It¡¯s not like the Young Master isn¡¯t going toe back once he leaves. This ce is still his home. He will return sooner orter. Once he returns and tests your strength, only to find that you¡¯re still at the early stages of the Blood Boiling Realm, he¡¯ll definitely punish you by spanking you a few times.¡±

    ¡°Psh. He¡¯s been gone for more than a year and hasn¡¯t asked about us once. Who knows when he¡¯ll be back,¡± replied Mingshu, his lips curled.

    He had just spoken when he saw a Cloud-Piercing Shuttle suddenly appeared in the sky, almost as if it had teleported above them. Of course, this wasn¡¯t actual teleportation; the shuttle¡¯s speed was just so fast that their eyes had misperceived it.

    ¡°Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle?¡± Mingshu was initially taken aback before he began to yell with excitement, ¡°Young Master! The Young Master is back!¡±

    Zhou Hong threw the stone dumbells to the side and knelt down in front of the shuttle. ¡°Zhou Hong greets Young Master!¡±

    Su Chen stepped out of the shuttle. ¡°How have you all been?¡±

    ¡°In response to Young Master, everything has been good. Even though Young Master has not been here, City Lord An has been taking care of everyone. He isn¡¯t as facilitatory as when Young Master was here, but in general things haven¡¯t been bad. No one has bullied us,¡± Zhou Hong replied.

    ¡°Mm, that¡¯s good then.¡± Su Chen nodded.

    With Su Chen absent, there was no way that the Su Residence would carry as much weight as before, but as long as they were able to get byfortably that was already good enough.

    Zhou Hong continued, ¡°But the Long Clear Gang and the Evil Tiger Gang have be a bit at odds with City Lord An recently.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s eyebrows jumped. ¡°So they weren¡¯t able to keep themselves in control, huh? Don¡¯t worry about them. Their fate is now in their own hands. Go grab Li Shu, Gui Dashan, and the others, as well as all of the Su Pce¡¯s guards and servants.¡±

    Zhou Hong felt his heart jolt. ¡°Is Young Master nning on giving up the estate here?¡±

    ¡°¡®Giving up¡¯ isn¡¯t really the right phrase. We¡¯re just going to a different ce to set up a division into a smaller group,¡± Su Chen replied.

    The Su Pce¡¯s servants and guards numbered around three hundred in total, some of them bandits he had captured in the Four ts Regions, some of them pirates, and some of them criminals from the gangs. None of them had particrly upstanding backgrounds.

    However, after following Su Chen for quite a long period of time, their loyalty towards Su Chen was now resolute. They also all possessed the Hemolytic Totem, so theirbat ability was also very impressive.

    If Su Chen wanted to make a name for himself in Swallow River City, he alone would not be nearly enough; as such, he had made the decision to bring his subordinates along as well.

    For this, he was even willing to give up on his businesses in Clear River City ¡ª in any case, he had already capitalized on the biggest opportunities. There wasn¡¯t much profit left to be made, so he was now handing the Su Residence over to An Siyuan.

    During his discussions with An Siyuan, Su Chen could tell that An Siyuan had intentions of dealing with the Long Clear Gang and the Evil Tiger Gang.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t oppose this. He just pointed out that if the two of them did end up fighting and if the gangs lost, he hoped that An Siyuan would be able to let Wang Wenxin and some others keep their lives if they surrendered.

    Not pulling the weeds out by its roots was normally a big taboo, but An Siyuan agreed to it in the end.

    Therge bald man was very smart and knew when to press his advantage and when to retreat.

    After taking care of these matters, Su Chen visited the Long Residence. He brought on a few more people, then left with Li Shu, Mingshu, Gui Dashan, and the others on the Flood Dragon Emperor shuttle. The others would stay in a nearby city and then rent out arge-scale Cloud-Piercing Shuttle to fly to Swallow River City. They would probably end up arriving around three days after Su Chen.

    One thing worth mentioning was that Zhou Hong, Gui Dashan, Old Second Cheng, and Old Fifth Jin were all Yang Opening Realm cultivators now. Under Su Chen¡¯s grooming, their strength already far surpassed their peers. The only one who was a bit weaker was Chang Er, through he was already an Origin Qi Schr in the Blood Boiling Realm.

    The bandits from the mountains were now Su Chen¡¯s most loyal and effective subordinates.

    After umting arge amount of Shadow Substance from West Laina Castle, Su Chen chose six more people from his group of followers and turned them into Shadow Servants. After this, Su Chen now had ten of them in total.

    Two dayster, the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle arrived at Swallow River City and along with it, Mingshu, Li Shu, and the others.

    ¡°Is this Swallow River City? No wonder it¡¯s one of thergest cities in Longxi Country. It¡¯s much more extravagant than Northface City,¡± Li Shu and the others chattered.

    ¡°Do you all remember what I told you on the way here?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Li Shu said solemnly, ¡°Your subordinates understand.¡±

    ¡°Then let us begin.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Iron Cliff felt a bit at a loss as he stood outside the Zhou Residence.

    This was his first time carrying out a mission on his own.

    There was no one telling him what to do or how to do it.

    The Cliff Race were not usually known for their ability to use their brain.

    They were guileless, persistent, diligent, and brave, but they weren¡¯t that good at thinking things through.

    Iron Cliff, however, was different.

    That was because the master he served was Su Chen.

    Su Chen always told him, ¡°You need to learn to use your head. If you can use your head to resolve a problem, then don¡¯t use brute force.¡±

    It was very difficult at the very beginning. Iron Cliff could never figure out why he had to do it like this or like that.

    Every time, Su Chen would patiently tell him the reasoning behind it.

    Over time, Iron Cliff had slowly begun to understand.

    He had started from the most obvious basics and progressively moved on to more and moreplex scenarios.

    He observed how Su Chen had cheated his opponents and toyed with them, what Su Chen¡¯s thought process was when he was scheming, and how Su Chen had arranged the situation for his ns to seed. He also needed to know how to ount for fine details and understand the human temperament.

    However, even understanding human temperament wasn¡¯t enough.

    The Cliff Race was really bad at using their heads, and they didn¡¯t have the patience to think things over. As such, they could do battle for three days and three nights strength and still possess the mental acuity to remain alert, but they might feel a migraine and exhaustioning on after ten simple math problems.

    However, Iron Cliff was different.

    He also needed to follow Su Chen when Su Chen performed his experiments.

    Performing experiments was something that required great attention to detail and patience.

    If you were too coarse or callous, your experiment would fail.

    Iron Cliff had started out not being able to craft even the most basic vial, but as he continued to follow Su Chen, and under Su Chen¡¯s neverending patient guidance, Iron Cliff had begun to improve.

    He hadcked patience and an eye for detail before, but after constantly participating in experiments day in and day out, he had now learned how to do these things.

    He had learned how to observe, how to think, how to remain calm, how to do a lot of things that many Cliff Race individuals struggled to do.

    At that point in time, Iron Cliff understood something: knowledge was like strength in that it could be nurtured!

    However, Iron Cliff had just never had a chance to test himself.

    Until today, that is.

    Su Chen sending him over here might not have been for Iron Cliff to exercise his thinking ability.

    Even so, he wanted to do a better job than expected and give his master a favorable resolution.

    He stood in front of the Zhou n¡¯s front door and thought about everything he had gone through with Su Chen. The nkness in Iron Cliff¡¯s eyes began to fade as it was reced with determination and confidence.

    ¡°Attacking them on their way over is too obvious, so I can¡¯t do that. If I try to stir up trouble, the Zhou n has stewards that can take care of it, and he might still be able to leave...... What if someone he cares for a lot suddenly falls ill?¡±

    Iron Cliff¡¯s eyes lit up.

    ¡°Humans value ceremony highly. If someone close to him falls ill but he still leaves to try and settle this marriage, he¡¯d be considered unfilial. Hm, I think that will work. Is there something that can give someone the appearance of dying but without actually killing them?¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 66: Peerlessly Heroic

    The Lin n had sold their main courtyard.

    News of this quickly spread throughout Swallow River City¡¯s main streets and small alleyways.

    The Lin n wasn¡¯t without a reputation in Swallow River City. They had three residences in this city alone. The one they had sold was near the outskirts of the city and was thergest one they owned. Apparently, the Lin n¡¯s patriarch really liked it and would go over to live there from time to time.

    Why had they suddenly sold it?

    No one had heard of any newstely of the Lin n had suffering any kinds of losses?

    Very quickly, some of the busybodies caught wind of rumors.

    It wasn¡¯t that the Lin n had suffered some losses ¡ª it was that the person who wanted to buy the residence had offered too much money. Even the Lin n couldn¡¯t resist the temptation.

    150,000 taels of pure gold!

    150,000 tales of pure gold! This was not a small number. It was about twice the actual value of the residence. No wonder the Lin n was willing to part with it.

    Apparently, when the new owner moved in, he had made quite amotion. Unfortunately, no one was able to see what he looked like. All they knew was that he was a young man.

    He hadn¡¯t brought any women with him.

    The city¡¯s people began to discuss amongst themselves where this Young Master of a rich n had suddenly popped out from.

    All they could glean from the ¡°Su Residence¡± sign hanging above the front door was that this person was surnamed Su.

    Something like this normally would have only been talked about for a few days or so.

    However, the owner of the Su Residence had then made another big move.

    The ¡°Fragrant Elegance Boudoir¡± had been sold.

    The Fragrant Elegance Boudoir was Swallow River City¡¯s number one brothel. Any high-ranking official or royalty could use their hard-earned money to pleasure themselves there.

    A cash cow like that was sold?

    People were so shocked that their jaws almost hit the floor.

    Even so, that was exactly what happened. The im that the Su Residence had immediately snagged the Fragrant Elegance Boudoir for themselves was quickly verified. In addition, though the ownership had changed hands, the people working there had remained the same. Everything was business as usual.

    People couldn¡¯t help but specte what the Su Residence had used to entice the former owner of the Fragrant Elegance Boudoir.

    ¡°What did they use to entice me? Of course it was money! There must have been enough money involved!¡± Cao Dazheng said as he picked his teeth, his legs crossed.

    The Fragrant Elegance Boudoir did in fact make a lot of money. But even if it maxed out its profits, they would still only be raking in around 3000 taels of pure gold a day ¡ª no more than a million a year. This was not including any personal or business expenses, which would decrease that amount to around 600,000 or so. They would then need to pay a bit more in protection fees. After all, for a ce like the Fragrant Elegance Boudoir to not have any protection was impossible. Government officials wanted taxes, criminal gangs wanted benefits, and there were even some people who would enjoy themselves without paying. In the end, they only made around 300,000 to 400,000 taels of pure gold a year.

    How much had the Su n¡¯s people offered?

    1.5 million!

    That amount of money was more than enough for Cao Dazheng to open five more simrly-sized Fragrant Elegance Boudoirs.

    And the Su n had only requested one thing ¡ª after buying the Fragrant Elegance Boudoir, the Cao n was not allowed to open another one for half a year.

    In other words, as long as the Cao n didn¡¯t open another brothel within half a year, they would be able to obtain the rest of the 750,000 Origin Stones, with which they could do whatever they wanted. If the Su Residence didn¡¯t hand over the money, the Cao n could take back the Fragrant Elegance Boudoir from them. It was basically equivalent to renting out the Fragrant Elegance Boudoir for half a year. What could possibly be more worth it?

    Cao Dazheng had no reason not to agree.

    The day after the Fragrant Elegance Boudoir was sold, the Flying Smoke Boudoir was also sold.

    This was Swallow River City¡¯s number two brothel.

    Next in line were the Red Incense House, the Glittering Jewels Garden, the Jade Feathered Pce ¡ª Swallow River City¡¯s top five brothels all changed ownership, creating huge waves throughout the city.

    Was the new Su Residence nning on unifying all the brothels in Swallow River City?

    At this point in time, the price that these five brothels had been sold for also began to spread. When the business owners in Swallow River City heard of the selling prices, they cluckedtheir tongues in amazement.

    If you had that much money, why not find a ce of your own to start up your own business? Why would you buy someone else¡¯s? And why would you offer such an extravagant price?

    The Chief Steward of the Su Residence, Li Shu, replied that his Young Master always did things with efficiency in mind. If he was to open a shop of his own, he would need to find the right location, build up a reputation, find workers, and even then it would be gambling on whether or not it would work out. That was a waste of time and energy. If the Young Master wanted to im a piece of territory for himself in Swallow River City, he wouldn¡¯t need to do things in such aplicated manner. Slowly expanding his territory wasn¡¯t the way he did things; his deep pockets were more than enough to aplish this.

    Everyone who heard this all sighed regretfully. Indeed, he was quite the wealthy young man.

    He possessed money and no patience. That was the end of the story.

    However, that person had achieved at least one of his goals, which was to spread his name all over Swallow River City.

    Now that everyone knew that Prince Su had a lot of money, there were quite a few people who tried to seek an audience with him every day, with no shortage of people rmending their own unmarried daughters.

    Unfortunately, Prince Su was not particrly interested in seeing guests. He usually lived a secluded life, and not many people sessfully received an audience with him. Chief Steward Li Shu was usually responsible for taking care of any visitors. As such, he also became quite well-known throughout Swallow River City.

    This kind of situation only grew once the Su Residence once again made a move and acquired the Eternal Happiness House.

    The Eternal Happiness house wasn¡¯t a brothel ¡ª it was a casino.

    The number one casino in all of Swallow River City, which belonged to one of the four big Bloodline Nobility ns in Swallow River City ¡ª the He n.

    It was obvious that the Su Residence had offered an unimaginably high price that even the He n couldn¡¯t resist if they were willing to sell the Eternal Happiness House.

    But weren¡¯t you only trying to unify all the brothels? When did you switch over to casinos?

    A few of the smarter people sniffed out an opportunity to make a profit.

    Some of the owners of the smaller casinos sought audiences with Su Chen and voluntarily brought up the matter of business transactions.

    Soon, a bunch of casinos under the Su Residence¡¯s name also appeared.

    On the 21st day since the Su Residence¡¯s appearance in Swallow River City, another wave of news began to spread like crazy.

    The Su Residence bought the Sorrow-Forgetting Residence.

    The Sorrow-Forgetting Residence wasn¡¯t a casino.

    It was a wine tavern.

    The reason that the news had spread in such a fiery manner was because it implied that the buyer had incredibly deep pockets. The Prince Su, who was currently scattering money all over the ce, also had his sights set on the wine industry.

    Indeed, in the following ten days, the top wine taverns in Swallow River City ¡ª the Ten vors Residence, the Floating Fragrance Tower, the Food Demolisher, the Old Gentleman¡¯s Pavilion, and the Sea and Clouds Pavilion all changed their surname to Su.

    In just a month¡¯s time, the Su Residence now owned five brothels, four casinos, and six wine taverns, and these were the best of the best within Swallow River City.

    That wasn¡¯t all. During this period of time, the Su n had also purchased four theatrical troupes, two theaters, and three public baths, again all the finest Swallow River City had to offer.

    Some people estimated that, in this past half a month, the Su Residence could have spent up to 30 million taels of pure gold in purchasing all of these businesses. Even if they had only paid half that amount, that was still 15 million taels of pure gold!

    This was madness!

    There were manyrge ns that had 15 million taels of pure gold in the form of resources and properties, but very few had that much spending power as free cash. Anyone who could do this would definitely need to possess at least a Demonic Lord-level bloodline, and even then this series of acquisitions would require basically wiping out the n¡¯s entire store of money.

    Was there a single Origin Qi Schr possessed 15 million taels of pure gold?

    Yes, Light Shaking Realm cultivators with at least three Lotus tforms might have that much worth, and Spirit Burning Realm cultivators would probably have that much in-hand that they could spend.

    But even a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator wouldn¡¯t burn more than 10 million Origin Stones over a bunch of shops.

    There were quite a few rich people amongst the Origin Qi Schrs, but those who could misuse money like this were very few. Every one of them harbored thoughts of buying treasures or acquiring precious resources to improve their cultivation base.

    No one could afford to throw away money quite like Su Chen could.

    As a result, Prince Su¡¯s background became a hot topic of discussion amongst everyone in the city.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 67: Contact 1

    Chapter 67: Contact (1)

    Gu Xuanchao loved going to the Red Door Tower in the morning to have a bowl of Truffle Porridge paired with a Thousand-Layer Pastry made by Jiang Min and his wife. He felt like this was pretty much the best part of his life.

    After breakfast, he would usually go to the Hundred Songbirds Courtyard to listen to some music. For lunch, he would eat at some restaurant; he would take a bath in the afternoon, and then in the evening he would go to the Flying Smoke Pavilion or the Fragrant Elegance Boudoir to find a few girls that pleased his eyes. asionally, he would also spend some time at the casinos. He didn¡¯t care about whether he won or not; he just wanted some excitement.

    Gu Xuanchao was a Light Shaking Realm cultivator. His Demonic Lord Bloodline had reached the limit, as any higher and he would reach the Spirit Burning Realm. This was an inevitability of being in a higher social ss; initially, people without a bloodline could at most reach the Blood Boiling Realm, those with mixed bloodlines could reach the Light Shaking Realm, and those with bloodlines weaker than Demonic King Bloodlines could reach the Spirit Burning Realm.

    To someone with a Demonic Lord Bloodline, charging into the Spirit Burning Realm was very dangerous and had a low sess rate. Gu Xuanchao valued living in the moment, and for him quality mattered more than quantity in a person¡¯s life.

    As such, he didn¡¯t want to charge higher.

    He had given up.

    Living in an intoxicated dream for a few hundred years was pretty good. At this point, it was more likely for him to lose control and activate his Origin Beast Bloodline, than him attempting to charge into the Spirit Burning Realm.

    However, it was time to find a new ce to indulge himself.

    Perhaps this was a luxury that was only avable to those surnamed Gu. Regardless of whether they viewed their Origin Beast Bloodline as a curse or a blessing, they at least had the right to choose.

    As such, Gu Xuanchao lived a simple, clean, and carefree life. He didn¡¯t even spend any time on daily cultivation.

    Actually, he wasn¡¯t the only one who lived this way; there were a lot of people from the Gu n who had made such a decision. If you discovered that a chance activation of your bloodline would easily outstrip decades if not centuries of diligent cultivation, you would probably also choose to live life to the fullest and indulge in the pleasures of the mortal world.

    As per usual, Gu Xuanchao headed straight for the Red Door Tower as soon as he woke up.

    When he arrived, however, he discovered that Jiang Min and his wife¡¯s breakfast station wasn¡¯t there anymore.

    ¡°Hm? Howe Sir Jiang isn¡¯t here selling food today?¡± Gu Xuanchao asked.

    The old woman selling tofu soup to the side replied, ¡°Of course he¡¯s selling food. He¡¯s just moved over to the Floating Fragrance Tower. Apparently, the Floating Fragrance Tower bought his stall, so they¡¯re doing business over there now.¡±

    ¡°The Floating Fragrance Tower?¡± Gu Xuanchao was taken aback. ¡°The Su Residence?¡±

    How could he possibly be ignorant of the name that the Su Residence had created for itself?

    ¡°Yes, it was the head of the Su Residence himself. He¡¯s rich,¡± the old womanughed in reply, as if the Su n¡¯s head had given her a bunch of benefits as well.

    Gu Xuanchao harrumphed. ¡°Who knows where this prodigal son came from? Is he trying to buy all the good things in Swallow River City for himself?¡±

    He waved his sleeves crossly and headed for the tower.

    Gu Xuanchao entered with a dissatisfied attitude. In his opinion, the Su Residence was guilty of forcing him to change the habits that he had developed over a number of years. However, when he walked inside and saw the clean interior, as well as the Truffle Porridge that Jiang Min and his wife weredling out of a brand new wok, he suddenly felt that it was always windy outside with dust flying everywhere. Eating breakfast within the tower was pretty good too, he thought to himself, and his mood lightened up a bit.

    One of the waiters with keener eyesight spotted him and said, ¡°Hey, if it isn¡¯t Fourth Elder Gu! Please,e and have a seat.¡±

    He hurried over and led Gu Xuanchao to a seat.

    Gu Xuanchao carelessly said, ¡°Oh, so you know who I am.¡±

    ¡°How could I not know of the Gu n¡¯s Fourth Elder? The Jiang couple talks about Fourth Elder all the time, and our boss also said that we need to take good care of guests from the Gu n. Fourth Elder, please sit.¡±

    He brought Gu Xuanchao over to the Floating Fragrance Tower¡¯s innermost seat, then brought over the Truffle Porridge and Thousand-Layer Pastry, along with a few appetizers that he ced neatly on the cleaned table.

    Gu Xuanchao took a bite and nodded. ¡°Even though it¡¯s in a different environment now, the technique and vor are both the same. The porridge is heavy and the Thousand-Layer Pastry is fragrant and light. It came quite quickly.¡±

    The waiterughed along. ¡°As long as Fourth Elder likes it. Right, Fourth Elder, are you still nning on heading to the Hundred Songbirds Courtyard after breakfast?¡±

    ¡°Kid, you seem very familiar with my movements. You aren¡¯t nning on trying to assassinate me, are you?¡±

    The waiter hurriedly replied, ¡°Fourth Elder, it¡¯s not like that. How would I dare? I¡¯m just asking on behalf of my boss and Jiang Min and his wife. The movements of any important guests need to be determined so that we can provide the best service. If Fourth Elder is nning on going there, then I will notify someone to prepare a spot for you in the Hundred Songbirds Courtyard. Now that we¡¯re all under the same banner, it¡¯s extremely convenient for us to provide services like this. Fourth Elder, you won¡¯t need to ever worry that you won¡¯t be able to find a good spot.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s quite interesting. Okay, then please reserve a spot for me. Right...... do these things cost extra money?¡± Gu Xuanchao asked as he pointed at the appetizers on the table.

    The waiter hurriedly replied, ¡°Fourth Elder, please eat them without worry. The owner already said that these are justplimentary items for Fourth Elder. We won¡¯t charge anything extra for them.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s a tactful man,¡± said Gu Xuanchao as he nodded.

    After breakfast, he headed to the Hundred Songbirds Courtyard. Indeed, someone had already taken care of everything for him. The piece being performed was the ¡°Dragon Touch,¡± by the Zhao n. It was his favorite piece.

    Just as the song swelled to its climax, Gu Xuanchao saw a group of people walk in from outside and head for the guest room with the best position. The young man at the very front carried himself with an imposing manner. One nce at him and anyone could easily tell that he was nomoner.

    Gu Xuanchao felt his heart jolt slightly as he drew a conjecture silently.

    Not long after that man seated himself, a servant came running over from over there, carrying an invitation over to Gu Xuanchao. He respectfully said, ¡°My n¡¯s prince heard that Fourth Elder Gu was sitting here watching the y and specifically asked me to send his greetings over to you. He wille by to pay his respects personally in a bit.¡±

    Gu Xuanchao epted the invitation and took a nce. He saw two words embossed onto the golden invitation.

    Su Chen.

    So it was indeed him.

    Gu Xuanchao said, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, then please, Prince Su,e sit with me.¡±

    A momentter, Su Chen appeared in Gu Xuanchao¡¯s room.

    ¡°Su Chen greets Fourth Elder Gu. This is just a small expression of my goodwill.¡±

    He gestured. A person next to him stepped forward with a red bowl filled with bags of tea from Old Auspice.

    The seal itself was made from Young Spring Amber. This item wasn¡¯t very expensive, but it was produced in low quantities and was often hard to find.

    This Prince Su had obviously put quite a bit of effort into preparing this present. Gu Xuanchao¡¯s attitude towards him became much more favorable as he epted the gift without much formality. ¡°Prince Su, please sit.¡±

    Su Chen sat down, and Gu Xuanchao continued, ¡°Prince Su¡¯s name has echoed in my ears like thunder for the past month or so. So now even Old Auspice is under your name?¡±

    Su Chen said with a slight smile, ¡°Fourth Elder Gu, please forgive the brusque way I have conducted myself these past few weeks.¡±

    Gu Xuanchao said, ¡°I originally thought that was the case and that you were just a silk trousers Young Master squandering money like it was dirt. But now it seems that those rumors are not true in the slightest. Prince Su knows how to speak courteously and acts in a measured manner. It is no surprise that you are from arge n.¡±

    ¡°You tter me, Fourth Elder.¡±

    The two of them began to converse with one another.

    They didn¡¯t talk about anything of particr importance, instead just chatting casually. Even so, as they chatted, Gu Xuanchao got a better idea of Su Chen¡¯s character.

    The two of them became more and more familiar as they conversed.

    After some time, Su Chen bid farewell and left.

    As he watched Su Chen depart, Gu Xuanchao said with a slight smile, ¡°This Su Chen is quite an interesting character.¡±

    The perfect first impression.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 68: Contact 2

    Chapter 68: Contact (2)

    Gu Xuanchao viewed Su Chen quite favorably, but that was merely his first impression.

    However, this first impression had gradually grown into familiarity.

    Gu Xuanchao discovered that, no matter where he went, he couldn¡¯t escape from Su Chen¡¯s influence.

    Where he ate breakfast, where he listened to operas, where he ate lunch and dinner, where he bathed and the brothels he frequented ¨C any establishment Gu Xuanchao liked to go, Su Chen owned.

    At this point in time, not getting to know this Prince Su seemed impossible.

    No one knew when Su Chen would appear in which store of his.

    As a result, the two of them gradually got to know each other more as time went on.

    One day, Gu Xuanchao finished his dinner and then went to the Jade Feathered Pce as per usual.

    The Jade Feathered Pce was one of Swallow River City¡¯s most famous floating houseboats. Gu Xuanchao liked to enjoy himself on these boats where his shrewish wife had a hard time finding him. With ten or so of these houseboats gathered together, it would take some effort to track him down.

    As soon as he stepped foot onto the Jade Feathered Pce, a provocatively dressed woman named Sister Cha, the owner of the houseboat. greeted him courteously. This was the nice part of Su Chen¡¯s business tactics; no matter what he purchased, he wouldn¡¯t rece the original workers there, keeping it so that everyone was still just as familiar with one another as before.

    When Sister Cha saw Gu Xuanchao walk over, she hurried over to him and said warmly, ¡°Oh, if it isn¡¯t Fourth Elder Gu! It¡¯s good to see you.¡±

    ¡°Mm,¡± grunted Gu Xuanchao in acknowledgment. ¡°Where¡¯s Little Xian? Call her over to see me.¡±

    Sister Cha¡¯s expression turned a bit ugly. ¡°This...... Little Xian already has a customer.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Gu Xuanchao¡¯s expression immediately turned into one of anger. ¡°Didn¡¯t I send someone over earlier to tell you that I wasing over and not to let Little Xian be with anyone else?¡±

    Sister Cha replied hurriedly, ¡°Yes, that was the n in the first ce. However, Third Elder also came.¡±

    ¡°Third Elder?¡± Gu Xuanchao was taken aback. ¡°What Third Elder? Old Third Gu Xuanyu?¡±

    Sister Cha nodded.

    Gu Xuanchao charged into the room, his expression steely.

    Upon entering the room, he saw Gu Xuanyu flirting with a young maiden sitting in his bosom who had on quite a bit of makeup. Who else could it be other than the Little Xian that he had set his heart on?

    When he saw this, Gu Xuanchao¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Old Three, are you really that bored? I asked for Little Xian first, but you came along and snatched her from me?¡±

    Gu Xuanyuughed. ¡°Old Fourth, I abide by the rules. How could I snatch something from another person? Especially from you. Come,e, have a seat first.¡±

    Gu Xuanchao harrumphed and sat down.

    He and Gu Xuanyu didn¡¯t have any conflicts. However, Gu Xuanyu was extremely casual and didn¡¯t carry himself with any airs. As such, he could be friends with anyone. Gu Xuanchao felt like his attitude besmirched his status of belonging to a Bloodline Nobility n, so he was always a bit dissatisfied with Gu Xuanyu, but that was the extent of it.

    Gu Xuanchao said, ¡°Regardless, there must be a proper order to things. I asked for Little Xian first. You said you didn¡¯t snatch her from me, so what¡¯s going on here? I don¡¯t believe that Sister Cha would have stepped on my face like this if it weren¡¯t for you.¡±

    Gu Xuanyu said, ¡°Old Fourth, this really is a misunderstanding. I didn¡¯t take her from you, really ¡ª I obtained her through the rules set by Jade Feathered Pce.¡±

    As he spoke, he pulled out a jade tablet and ced it in front of Gu Xuanchao. ¡°See?¡±

    ¡°What is that?¡± Gu Xuanchao was stunned.

    He had been in the Jade Feathered Pce a number of years, but this was his first time seeing this kind of jade tablet.

    ¡°This is the Jade Feathered Pce¡¯s VIP tablet,¡± Gu Xuanyu replied. ¡°Anyone who has this tablet has an advantage overmon guests. Even though you made a reservation, Old Fourth, you¡¯re not a VIP. If a VIP were toe along, then they would get first choice. So it¡¯s not that Sister Cha isn¡¯t giving you face, and it¡¯s not like I was trying to take her from you. Before you came, I didn¡¯t even know that you wanted Little Xian. I just said that I wanted her, so they took care of things for me.¡±

    ¡°So there¡¯s something like that?¡± Gu Xuanchao opened his eyes wide. ¡°Why have I never heard of this VIP tablet before?¡±

    Gu Xuanyu replied, ¡°That¡¯s not strange. This was a rule set by the new owner.¡±

    ¡°Su Chen?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡±

    Gu Xuanchao¡¯s expression sank.

    He originally thought that his rtionship was Su Chen was pretty good, but it seemed like it was still a bit short of the mark.

    However, he knew that he normally treated people a bit too arrogantly, while Gu Xuanyu was much friendlier than him. It wasn¡¯t that strange that Gu Xuanyu had be friends with Su Chen faster than him, but he still felt a bit unhappy in his heart.

    Gu Xuanyu could tell that Gu Xuanchao wasn¡¯t in the best mood. Heughed and said, ¡°Don¡¯t be in such a hurry. He¡¯s going toe byter today. I can ask for one for you, and you can have Little Xian for yourself.¡±

    ¡°Hmph. I don¡¯t care for it,¡± Gu Xuanchao replied.

    It was hard to say whether he didn¡¯t care for the VIP tablet or Little Xian.

    As they spoke, Su Chen appeared.

    Gu Xuanyu¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Brother Su,e have a seat.¡±

    Su Chen walked over andughed, ¡°Third Elder Gu, Fourth Elder Gu, it¡¯s good to see you all. How are you enjoying yourselves?¡±

    Gu Xuanyuughed. ¡°That¡¯s a great question. Old Fourth here isn¡¯t happy today.¡±

    ¡°Oh? How do you mean?¡±

    Gu Xuanyu said, ¡°You only gave that VIP tablet to me, not to Old Fourth. Would you happen to have a solution for this?¡±

    Su Chenughed when he heard this. ¡°So that¡¯s what this is all about. Fourth Elder Gu, this is just a misunderstanding. How could I favor him and discriminate against you? It¡¯s just that there are certain conditions needed for this VIP tablet, so I haven¡¯t been able to give it to Fourth Elder yet.¡±

    ¡°Oh? What conditions? Tell me about them. How much money do I need to pay?¡± Gu Xuanchao asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s not exactly it. This VIP tablet can only be given to business partners who are interested in cooperating.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Gu Xuanchao was taken aback. He nced at Gu Xuanyu. ¡°What kind of cooperation are you guys involved in?¡±

    ¡°I just invested in Brother Su¡¯s business, is all.¡± Gu Xuanyu replied casually.

    ¡°Invested?¡± Gu Xuanchao was stunned. ¡°Do you mean in these businesses?¡±

    Su Chen said hurriedly, ¡°Of course not. I bought these businesses mostly on a whim, and I was never nning on profiting from them. How could I ask Third Elder to invest in businesses that will never be profitable?¡±

    ¡°So what¡¯s the business, then? Let¡¯s hear it. If I¡¯m interested, I might decide to invest as well,¡± Gu Xuanchao said.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I want to make a Flight Network.¡±

    ¡°Flight Network?¡± Gu Xuanchao was stunned.

    A Flight Network was a type of aerial transportation.

    Humans usually used extremelyrge Cloud-Piercing Shuttles for aerial transportation, and these kinds of massive shuttles were powered by Origin Stones. They were incredibly expensive and traveled very slowly. People called them the most expensive flying toys that money could buy. Because of the high cost involved in a single flight of the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle and the high risk, starting up a Flight Network wasn¡¯t something that could easily be set up. Having money to y around with wasn¡¯t enough.

    How could Gu Xuanchao not be surprised that Su Chen was nning on doing something like this? Most importantly, Gu Xuanyu had invested as well.

    Gu Xuanchao knew what kind of temperament Gu Xuanyu had. Even though he acted casually, he never did things without lots of consideration.

    If he was willing to make an investment, could it be that Su Chen really had a way of bringing a Flight Network to fruition?

 Book 4: Near Blood - 69: Investmen

    t

    Gu Xuanchao dispensed with courtesy for the sake of time. He continued, saying, ¡°Arge Cloud-Piercing Shuttle costs at least ten million Origin Stones and can fit a thousand people at most. Every time you operate it, you¡¯ll need to spend tens of thousands of Origin Stones. The cost of operation is high, the risks great, and the profits are limited. I wonder how Brother Su is nning on resolving these problems?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I wasn¡¯t nning on using arge Cloud-Piercing Shuttle in the first ce.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not nning on using arge Cloud-Piercing Shuttle?¡± Gu Xuanchao was stunned. ¡°Then what are you nning to use?¡±

    ¡°Cloud-Soaring Dragon Boats,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Gu Xuanchao was taken aback. ¡°Even though Cloud-Soaring Dragon Boats are cheaper and cost less to operate, you need at least two hundred people to drive them. The cost is still too high, and the speed is even slower.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to use humans. I¡¯m going to use Demonic Beasts,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Demonic Beasts?¡± Gu Xuanchao squinted. ¡°So Brother Su has a technique for controlling Demonic Beasts then?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll just be using some Beast Taming Medicine,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Su Chen was inspired by the Sand Race¡¯s Large-Crowned Flying Snakes to use Demonic Beasts to control the Dragon Boats. As long as the Demonic Beasts werepatible, they could easily recerge numbers of people and control the boats, bing the cornerstone of the Flying Network. Even though raising Demonic Beasts cost money as well, it was much cheaper than tens of thousands of Origin Stones. In addition, Demonic Beasts possessed decentbat prowess themselves, so they might be useful in the event of a pirate attack.

    Actually, using Demonic Beasts to control boats wasn¡¯t something that Su Chen had invented. It had been conceptualized a long time ago, but because of the high requirements on the user, who both had to be a skilled Beast Tamer and had to carefully raise the Demonic Beast by hand, it wasn¡¯t cheap either. As such, it had never gained mainstream poprity.

    However, Su Chen had the confidence that he could greatly decrease the costs from this aspect because he was a great alchemist.

    As Gu Xuanchao continued to discuss the Flight Network with Su Chen, he immediately realized that Su Chen wasn¡¯t just speaking whatever came to mind. If he could get this done, it would definitely be a source of long-term profit. This would be extremely beneficial to the development of Swallow River City as well.

    Gu Xuanchao had known Su Chen for more than just one or two days, and he knew that Su Chen wasn¡¯t someone who spoke carelessly but rather was a young man who kept his secrets well-guarded. Everyone had faith that he would be able to do the job properly.

    This was the benefit of Su Chen getting to know everyone from a business perspective.

    If he had opened instead by telling them that he was here to marry Gu Qingluo, everyone would be on their guard against him. No matter what he did, they would mentally discount him.

    But Su Chen wasn¡¯t taking this route at all. He had appeared solely under the guise of a businessman. First, he publicly bought all of the ces that people liked to spend money to establish a reputation for himself and demonstrate his deep pockets. Then, he would get to know the elders by chatting with them. Once they were acquainted, then sess woulde very naturally.

    This was one of the benefits of making such amotion. The Gu n¡¯s important figures would all get to know him and perhaps evene to like him.

    The next steps would be to deepen his rtionships with them.

    Even though nobility ns were rich, the money belonged to the n itself. Every person still hoped to save up a little money for themselves.

    Su Chen had already taken the appropriate steps toy down the framework for the Flight Network.

    The Flight Network was arge investment. It was very difficult for a single person to set it up. Merely having a ton of cash wasn¡¯t enough. Once the path was opened, there would need to be someone responsible for protecting the boats. Otherwise, they would run into trouble regardless of how many Demonic Beasts were on the boats; there were more than quite a few pirates out there. If any one of them were to run into trouble, the losses would number in the millions or even tens of millions.

    Because of this, he needed to gather a group of people who held quite a bit of influence and could help him organize things from top to bottom. Only in this way would the business be able to officially take off.

    Roping in partners for something like a Flight Network was totally normal. With this as the foundation, he¡¯d be able to drag the Gu n down with him. And not just the Gu n ¡ª he could pull a bunch of ns down with him, further increasing his influence and prestige.

    Yes, that was Su Chen¡¯s thought process.

    He wanted to take Gu Qingluo as his wife, but he didn¡¯t want the entire Gu n to be on his payroll. Instead, he wanted the Gu n¡¯s members to give HIM money.

    Did you think that giving the other party money was enough to rope them over to your side?

    Wrong!

    Totally wrong.

    People were quite sly and would pull the rug out from under you as soon as they were on the other side. Not every person would work for you after receiving some benefits from you. Others might do you a favor but merely put in some good words for you, so that the price they paid was never even close to what they were given.

    But if you took their money, then things would bepletely different.

    Not only could you use the other party¡¯s money to do business, but you could even ask the other party to work for you.

    You won¡¯t do it? How are you nning on getting your money back then?

    As such, Su Chen¡¯s n wasn¡¯t to give them money but to ask for it.

    He wanted to tie himself to the Gu n so that they would benefit together. From that point onwards, they would be inseparable.

    And at that point in time, he wouldn¡¯t need to worry about Gu Qingluo anymore.

    Actually, he might not even need to bring it up himself ¡ª there might be quite a few people who would propose marrying Gu Qingluo to him.

    Of course, there were many more steps he would need to take before the situation reached that point.

    Gu Xuanchao continued to ask question after question about the Flight Network, and Su Chen answered them one after another.

    This wasn¡¯t a scam in the first ce, as there was just a small ulterior motive hidden in the n. As such, his responses were all quite detailed and contained no falsehoods. Actually, his subordinates had already secured the first node of the Flight Network and had begun its construction. The Demonic Beasts that would drive the Dragon Boats were also being prepared.

    After all of his questions were answered, Gu Xuanchao was visibly moved.

    If Su Chen¡¯s n seeded, the Cloud-Soaring Dragon Boats would be much cheaper to operate than a massive Cloud-Piercing Shuttle. The profits would also be quite substantial.

    Gu Xuanchao¡¯s eyes began to glow.

    He said, ¡°Brother Su, would it be possible for me to get in on this business of yours?¡±

    ¡°This......¡± Su Chen pretended to y hard to get. ¡°Honestly, there have been quite a few friends who have made an investmenttely. I¡¯ve almost collected all the money I need at this point, so I¡¯m notcking any money......¡±

    ¡°Aiya, how could you possibly have enough money? This is just the beginning. You¡¯ll need moneyter on anyways,¡± Gu Xuanchao said anxiously. ¡°Anyways, a Flight Network isn¡¯t meant to be just limited to one location. It should be spread out over multiple regions! Brother Su, you can¡¯t possibly do something like buy all the wine taverns, brothels, and casinos like you did here, right? You¡¯ll need some people to do things for you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± Su Chen nodded. ¡°What kinds of connections does Fourth Elder have......¡±

    Gu Xuanchao said, ¡°I know a number of people in Clear Level City from when I lived there in my youth. I know all the influential figures there; if I put in a word for you, our Dragon Boats will be able toe and go from there as well.¡±

    ¡°Alright!¡± Su Chen smacked the table. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then it¡¯s settled. I¡¯ll leave it to Fourth Elder to figure out the route from Swallow River to Clear Level City. In turn, I¡¯ll set aside 1 million Origin Stones¡¯ worth of shares. You can decide how much you want to buy.¡±

    Gu Xuanchao was originally nning on only investing 300,000 Origin Stones. When Su Chen said that, Gu Xuanchao felt like he would regret passing up on this opportunity andughed loudly, ¡°Then a million!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s do it!¡± Su Chen and Gu Xuanchaoughed loudly and pped their hands.

    A million wasn¡¯t a small number for Gu Xuanchao either. That was pretty much all the savings he had on hand right now. He felt a sharp pain in his heart when he handed over the money, but Gu Xuanchao had decided to throw caution to the wind for the sake of profits further down the road.

    He wasn¡¯t worried about what might happen if Su Chen incurred losses. Wouldn¡¯t they still have shares in all of these wine taverns and casinos?

    If Su Chen hadn¡¯t showed off his incredible spending power before this, Gu Xuanchao wouldn¡¯t have agreed to hand over the money that quickly.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 70: Obstruction

    ¡°So are you saying that Mother isn¡¯t seriously ill at all; she was just misdiagnosed by all those quacks?¡± Zhou Qingkuang said with a tight-lipped expression.

    ¡°Mottled Vermilion Rash and Werewolf Splotches share very simr symptoms. It¡¯s not surprising that the doctors made a wrong diagnosis,¡± replied Miao Changqing replied.

    ¡°But this mistake cost me a lot this time,¡± Zhou Qingkuang said angrily. ¡°Send word that those doctors who misdiagnosed Mother are to be captured and beaten thoroughly for me. If you don¡¯t have the ability to discern correctly, don¡¯t be a doctor.¡±

    Miao Changqing was stunned. ¡°Young Master, those are the best doctors in all of Crane City.¡±

    ¡°So what?¡± Zhou Qingkuang tilted his head back arrogantly. ¡°If they do a bad job, they should be punished for it. Is that not right?¡±

    ¡°......Yes, sir!¡± Miao Changqing agreed helplessly.

    ¡°Tell everyone to get prepared. Tomorrow morning, we depart for Swallow River. We¡¯ve already dyed this matter for two months; I can¡¯t wait any longer,¡± Zhou Qingkuang said as he straightened his clothes.

    The next morning, Zhou Qingkuang had just finished his preparations for the trip and was about to leave when he heard someone yell, ¡°Fire! The western side is on fire!¡±

    What?

    He lived on the eastern side!

    Zhou Qingkuang was stunned and angry. He charged over, only to find his n members already all gathered there.

    Thankfully, the fire wasn¡¯t burning very strongly. An Origin Qi Schr used a transportation technique to move someke water over, quickly dousing the mes.

    Even so, the houses on the western side were all a big mess, including the one where Zhou Qingkuang lived.

    ¡°What the hell is going on? How did the western side catch on fire?¡± Zhou Qingkuang asked angrily.

    ¡°Young Master, a Fire Gopher appeared from who knows where and started the fire.¡±

    ¡°Have you found that Fire Gopher yet?¡±

    ¡°Not...... not yet.¡±

    ¡°Worthless trash!¡± Zhou Qingkuang howled angrily.

    With this ident, Zhou Qingkuang¡¯s trip was dyed once again. After all, the ce he lived had been destroyed, and he needed to make new living arrangements.

    Three dayster, the Zhou n finally caught the Fire Gopher and killed it.

    However, just as Zhou Qingkuang was about to leave, he caught wind of another piece of information.

    Light had been spotted shining from a nearby forest, indicating that a treasure was about to appear.

    A ruin from the Ancient Arcana Kingdom time period had been discovered in the small forest before, and the person who had discovered it had struck it rich. However, because the ruin was too old, the items that were once stored within were now scattered all over the ce. Even now, there were many rumors that said that there were still many treasures left in the small forest.

    Anything from the Ancient Arcana Kingdom, even if it was an item with no practical use, was a treasure worth saving. It was always potentially worth quite a bit of money.

    As such, upon receiving the news, Zhou Qingkuang was forced to dy his trip yet again and see if there was any opportunity for him to find treasure.

    This matter took up another half month¡¯s time.

    Half a monthter, Zhou Qingkuang finally discovered the source of the light. He felt like crying as he picked up the golden crystal.

    A golden crystal wasn¡¯t a bad treasure. Aplete one like the one he had found would be worth around a thousand Origin Stones. Unfortunately, Zhou Qingkuang had spent around five thousand Origin Stones to find it.

    Zhou Qingkuang felt that he was incredibly unlucky. He had wasted another half month, not to mention four thousand Origin Stones.

    He knew that there wasn¡¯t much time left, so Zhou Qingkuang steeled himself to set out for Swallow River City no matter what happened. In the end, just before he left, he himself fell sick.

    The doctors he invited this time did not misdiagnose him; they simply told him, ¡°You¡¯ve been poisoned.¡±

    The poison was from the golden crystal. It was covered in poisonous liquid made from Corpse Spirit Flowers. Thankfully, there wasn¡¯t too much of it; otherwise, Zhou Qingkuang would have been killed then and there.

    Based on the doctor¡¯s analysis, this golden crystal had probably been buried by its original owner, who had no way of removing the poison of the Corpse Spirit Flowers after identally getting it on the crystal. Unexpectedly, the light from the crystal could prate the ground, allowing Zhou Qingkuang to find and excavate it. The end result was that Zhou Qingkuang had fallen victim to the poison of the Corpse Spirit Flower.

    Zhou Qingkuang felt likemitting suicide by mming his head into a wall.

    Why did I insist on digging it up?

    The poison from the Corpse Spirit Flower didn¡¯t prate too deeply into his body, but even so, Zhou Qingkuang needed to spend half a month to recover.

    After some calction, he realized that three months had already passed. But just as Zhou Qingkuang was nning to set out for Swallow River City, he heard another piece of news: Gu Qingluo had left.

    It wasn¡¯t just Gu Qingluo; Gu Xuanmian, Gu Xuanchao, and a bunch of others had left as well.

    In other words, there wasn¡¯t any more point in him going to Swallow River City right now.

    Zhou Qingkuang could only wait at home helplessly, stewing in his anger. He couldn¡¯t figure out why the Gu n had suddenly sent all these people out.

    It was obviously for the Flight Network.

    In three month¡¯s time, Su Chen had already roped in more than ten stockholders, including members from the Zhu n but also people from the Zhong, Liu, and Fang ns, the other threergest ns in Swallow River City. By doing business this way, he had managed to snag them all at once.

    Apart from just collecting their investment money, Su Chen also requested his stockholders to go out themselves to set up nodes to ensure the sessful setup of the Flight Network. Large amounts of money exchanged hands as the Flight Station in Swallow River City began construction.

    The first wave of Cloud-Soaring Dragon Boats had already been purchased and were on their way. Su Chen chose Prisoner Sheep as the beasts to control the boats. These Demonic Beasts were extremely powerful and could survive only on grass, making them extremely suitable for driving the boats. However, Prisoner Sheep were hard to tame, and at the moment only two ns had sessfully trained Prisoner Sheep to listen tomands.

    Su Chen was the third person to do so.

    After twenty years of research, Su Chen now possessed a vast sum of knowledge. However, most of the time he did not choose to convert that knowledge into money.

    However, schr overlords could achieve immediate results whenever they did feel the urge to earn money.

    The Three Yangs Medicine was a good example of this idea.

    And so was the Beast-Taming Medicine.

    Just like that, everything proceeded ording to n.

    In the fifth month after Su Chen entered Swallow River City, he felt like it was time and ordered Iron Cliff to return.

    ¡°Why do I need toe back now? I still have many different tactics to keep him there,¡± Iron Cliff said.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need. We¡¯ll need to have an open fight with Zhou Qingkuang sooner orter, and now is probably the best time.¡±

    ¡°But won¡¯t dying it longer make it easier to prepare more beforehand?¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°Of course not. The Flight Network and feeding stations are all under construction, and they have already invested their money. When their investments start producing dividends, that is the best time to pressure the Gu n for a decision. If we wait until the Flight Network is constructed, they might feel like nothing bad will happen even if they kick me to the side. But right now, if they kick me aside, they will lose all their investments. Even though they can forcefully seize the wine taverns, brothels, and other businesses to make up for their losses, they won¡¯t be able to overlook the agreements I signed...... In any case, they will find that simply kicking me aside will be a very difficult thing to do. Of course, that doesn¡¯t mean that they would decide to do that for sure, but it¡¯s best for us to just avoid even giving them that opportunity.¡±

    Iron Cliff said with delight, ¡°Master is truly wise.¡±

    Three dayster, Zhou Qingkuang finally embarked on his journey to Swallow River City.

    This time, no other idents dyed his departure.

    However, what he didn¡¯t know was that a show was waiting for him at his journey¡¯s end.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 71: Provocation

    ¡°Swallow River City,¡± Zhou Qingkuang muttered to himself as he gazed at the three characters hanging atop the main gate.

    He had finally arrived.

    From the moment he had decided to go to Swallow River City until now, it had taken him nearly half a year. Countlessplications hade up one after another to the point that even Zhou Qingkuang felt mentally and physically exhausted. He couldn¡¯t help but wonder if he and Gu Qingluo were simply fated to be apart.

    Thankfully, he had finally arrived.

    But since he was here, that thought disappeared as quickly as it came.

    After half an hour, Zhou Qingkuang found himself sitting in the Gu n¡¯s guest hall. Above him was the Gu n¡¯s Patriarch, Gu Xuanmian.

    Gu Xuanmian held a teacup in his hand as he said, ¡°This trip must have been quite difficult for you. Was your journey here peaceful?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Uncle. Everything went well. I also brought a present from my father as a show of respect.¡±

    As he spoke, he pulled out the gift that his subordinates had prepared.

    The Zhou n had carefully picked out a present. Of course, it was quite valuable. Under normal circumstances, Gu Xuanmian at the very least should have expressed appreciation for it.

    However, Gu Xuanmian only nced it over briefly before stowing it away. The gift that Zhou Qingkuang had sunk so much effort into preparing did not achieve the desired effect, causing his mood to sour slightly.

    The two of them chatted for a bit longer before someone came and notified them that the guest room had been cleaned and that Zhou Qingkuang could settle himself in now.

    Gu Xuanmian then suggested that Zhou Qingkuang go and make himself at home.

    After unpacking his luggage, Zhou Qingkuang sat inside and remained quiet for a long time, deep in thought.

    After some time, he said, ¡°Changqing, did you feeling that Gu Xuanmian¡¯s attitude was a bit strange today?¡±

    ¡°Young Master means?¡±

    ¡°I feel like he isn¡¯t nearly as warm and weing as he was in the past, and his responses also seemed a bit curt today. Do you...... think that he¡¯s considering breaking the engagement off?¡±

    Miao Changqing hesitated for a moment before replying, ¡°The Gu n¡¯s Patriarch still probably views you favorably. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have decided to bethroth his daughter to you thest time you met. In addition, the Gu n¡¯s Patriarch has an exceptionally good reputation. He probably wouldn¡¯t do something like annulling the engagement randomly.¡±

    ¡°The problem is that we haven¡¯t officially entered into an agreement yet. Regretting his decision is still something he can afford to do right now.¡±

    ¡°However, it still stands that it¡¯s a matter that both of you have agreed on, and he also epted your gift. That all points in your favor. Perhaps the Gu n Patriarch simply has something weighing on him right now.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s hope that that¡¯s the case.¡±

    As they were speaking, a servant reported, ¡°Prince Gu Jintang requests your presence.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s here. Tell him he maye in.¡±

    Gu Jintang and Zhou Qingkuang had met before. When Gu Jintang entered, he sped his hands and said, ¡°Brother Zhou, thank goodness you¡¯re back.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Zhou Qingkuang frowned when he heard this. ¡°It sounds like Brother Gu is hinting at something.¡±

    ¡°Sigh, I¡¯m not trying to hide anything from you, so I¡¯ll just tell you straight up. If you hade just a bitter, this fianc¨¦e of yours would have been snatched away by someone else,¡± Gu Jintang said as he tapped the fan in his hand.

    Zhou Qingkuang and Miao Changqing nced at each other. ¡°Brother Gu, please have a seat. What exactly is going on?¡±

    ¡°Nothing, really. It¡¯s just that a group of people with some influence arrived in Swallow River City awhile back. The prince of that n took a fancy to Gu Qingluo and found a few people of our n to support him in asking my Uncle for her hand.¡±

    Zhou Qingkuang said, ¡°Did Uncle not say that Qingluo had already been betrothed to someone?¡±

    ¡°He did,¡± Gu Jintang replied. ¡°But that prince had an incredible amount of money! He pulled out three million Origin Stones without even batting an eye and imed that, as long as Qingluo was instead betrothed to him, he could hand over another three million.¡±

    Zhou Qingkuang sucked in a breath of cold air.

    That was six million Origin Stones all at once!

    What kind of person could act so extravagantly?

    ¡°So Uncle, he......¡±

    Gu Jintang fanned himself. ¡°Uncle didn¡¯t agree immediately, but it would probably be impossible for him to not suddenly start thinking about some things more seriously.¡±

    ¡°No wonder......¡± Zhou Qingkuang said in a low voice.

    Now he finally understood why Gu Xuanmian had acted so lukewarmly towards him. He had been enticed by a vast sum of six million Origin Stones!

    ¡°Brother Zhou, I heard that you arrived today so I specifically came to tell you this. Even though that guy was turned down twice, it seems like he hasn¡¯t given up yet and is still concocting other ploys. In any case, you had better be careful.¡±

    ¡°Many thanks for Brother Gu¡¯s reminder!¡±

    ¡°All I get is a sentence of thanks?¡± Gu Jintang leaned back with a bit of dissatisfaction.

    Zhou Qingkuang understood. He shot a nce at Miao Changqing, who pulled out a pouch. A few hundred Origin Stones were stuffed inside.

    Gu Jintang chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re just trying to chase me away, aren¡¯t you? Whatever, it¡¯s better than nothing.¡±

    He stowed it away.

    Upon hearing this, Zhou Qingkuang felt anger rise in his heart, but he couldn¡¯t openly express it. All he could do was have Miao Changqing give him a few more Origin Stones so that the overall number hit a thousand.

    Gu Jintang put the Origin Stones away and headed for Gu Xuanmian.

    Gu Jintang greeted Gu Xuanmin. ¡°Eldest Uncle.¡±

    ¡°Mm. What made you decide toe and visit me today?¡± Gu Xuanmin asked as he pored over a business ledger.

    ¡°Oh, I heard that Brother Zhou was here and came to visit him, and then since you were along the way, I also decided to drop by here.¡±

    ¡°Mm. Qingkuang is a guest. You should take good care of him.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Nephew has already talked with Brother Zhou. However, he seems unhappy about something.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Gu Xuanmian opened his eyes. ¡°What is he unhappy about?

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t there someone who came to ask for Gu Qingluo¡¯s hand in marriage a few days ago? Qingkuang somehow found out about that and he seems a bit unhappy.¡±

    Gu Xuanmian harrumphed, ¡°So what? Whose daughter doesn¡¯t have a few suitors chasing after her? Gu Qingluo has an excellent temperament, a strong cultivation base, and a fairy-like appearance. Isn¡¯t it normal for people to ask for her hand? Didn¡¯t I turn that suitor down? What is there for him to be unhappy about?¡±

    ¡°But you didn¡¯t tell him about it?¡±

    ¡°What good would it do to tell him about it? Do I need to report everything to him?

    ¡°But he feels ufortable about it. In addition, the person who proposed marriage even offered six million as a dowry. He felt that that event might have been why you seemed as if you didn¡¯t think he brought enough gifts, which would also exin why you didn¡¯t give him the warmest wee,¡± Gu Jintang said with a sly tone.

    ¡°That¡¯s a load of crap!¡± Gu Xuanmin mmed the table as he stood up. ¡°So what if he promised six million? Is there a shortage of rich people in this world? I¡¯m not trying to sell my daughter off. Zhou Qingkuang is thinking too much. Also, I¡¯m his senior and he¡¯s my junior. How affectionate does he want me to be with him? There¡¯ve been a lot of things happeningtely; just yesterday I signed a business agreement with Su Chen on behalf of the Gu n and invested five million Origin Stones into that Flight Network of his. The entire n is currently working hard to bring this massive business endeavor to fruition. Me taking the time toe and visit him personally is already me regarding him highly. What else could he want from me?¡±

    ¡°This......¡± Gu Jintangughed. ¡°It¡¯s no use telling me all this. You¡¯re the one who picked this fianc¨¦ for your daughter.¡±

    Gu Xuanmian harrumphed and sped his hands. ¡°I heard that the Zhou n has had a number of incidents ur recently, and Zhou Qingkuang¡¯s multiple attempts ating here were continuously stopped. Perhaps he¡¯s just impatient after having to wait for so long. Youths are always so impulsive and emotional. Oh, forget about it. When Qingluoes back, perhaps I¡¯ll send Qingluo over to spend some time with him.¡±

    ¡°Eldest Uncle, it¡¯s not like you don¡¯t know that Seventh Junior Sister doesn¡¯t like Zhou Qingkuang.¡±

    ¡°What I do with my children is none of her business.¡±

    Gu Jintang smiled slightly. ¡°That may be so. Everything is up to Eldest Uncle in the end. But is Eldest Uncle not nning on asking his own daughter what her thoughts are?¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Gu Xuanmian said slowly as he stared at Gu Jintang.

    Gu Jintang shrugged. ¡°Pretend I didn¡¯t say anything.¡±

    As he spoke, he left.

    After leaving the study, Gu Jintang directly left the Gu Residence.

    He took a few random turns before slipping through a small door.

    Within the courtyard, Su Chen and Gu Qingluo were enjoying tea and refreshments together. There was even a young man standing to the side with his hands sped.

    ¡°Aiya, I¡¯m out there running errands for you guys left and right while you sit here and enjoy tea and desserts,¡± Gu Jintang sighed and shook his head.

    ¡°How¡¯d it go?¡± Su Chen asked, not acknowledging hisment.

    ¡°Would I dare not take care of anything you tell me to do?¡± Gu Jintang said as he reached his hand out.

    Su Chen tossed a bag full of Origin Stones over to him. Gu Jintang opened it up, then put it away with a big smile.

    Driving a wedge between two parties was a tactic that had stood the test of time and wasn¡¯t rare at all, but it was extremely simple and easy to use.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 72: Haunted by Greed

    Gu Jintang received his reward and left, leaving behind Su Chen, Gu Qingluo, and the other young man.

    Su Chen drummed his finger gently against the table for a long while before he finally said, ¡°Since Gu Jintang has bitten our hook, then Shaoyou. Go ahead and execute the second part of the n.¡±

    The young man beside him said, ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    He was Long Shaoyou.

    Even after the ten Bloodline Nobility ns had fallen, Su Chen had maintained his authority over them. This time, he had brought Long Shaoyou with him from amongst the reinforcements he had requested.

    Long Shaoyou¡¯s job was quite simple: to propose marriage.

    Yes, he was the person who had offered Gu Xuanmian six million Origin Stones for Gu Qingluo¡¯s hand.

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t possibly ask for her hand himself at this moment. That would reveal his true intentions, and the Gu n would be suspicious of every move he would make from then onwards.

    Just because Su Chen wanted to ruin Zhou Qingkuang¡¯s engagement didn¡¯t mean that Su Chen himself necessarily had to personally appear.

    Finding someone else to try proposing could achieve the same effect that Su Chen was aiming for, and it would also allow him to remain acting as the mastermind behind the scenes. Su Chen was confident that Gu Xuanmian¡¯s personality wouldn¡¯t allow him to ept Long Shaoyou. Of course, even if he did it wouldn¡¯t be a problem; actually, it might be even easier that way. He would find one reason or another to have Long Shaoyou disappear, and then Su Chen himself would appear and offer 10 million Origin Stones. Perhaps this would make things much simpler as well.

    Long Shaoyou was from a Bloodline Nobility n. His appearance was quite stately as well, so he fit well into this role he was ying.

    After Su Chen gave hismands, Long Shaoyou walked out of the courtyard.

    A dayter, Long Shaoyou once again took a group of people with him to the Gu Pce.

    His purpose was still to propose marriage.

    However, this time he had raised the dowry to ten million Origin Stones.

    Gu Xuanmian was extremely moved, but he still refused ¡ª Zhou Qingkuang was still here, and he just couldn¡¯t do something like tell Zhou Qingkuang that his daughter was going to instead marry Long Shaoyou. This was because his n still held considerable influence!

    The biggest problem with Long Shaoyou¡¯s approach wasn¡¯t that he wasn¡¯t offering enough money; it was just that he wasn¡¯t tactful enough.

    Bloodline Nobility ns also needed face!

    As such, Long Shaoyou unsurprisingly returned without seeding.

    Unsurprisingly, news of this also reached Zhou Qingkuang in just half a day.

    Bang!

    The blue-and-white patterned ceramic cup shattered against the ground.

    Zhou Qingkuang¡¯s expression was steely. ¡°Who is this Long Shaoyou exactly?¡±

    Miao Changqing replied, ¡°I investigated him a bit. He seems to be from a Bloodline Nobility n in the Crow Region who came here for an unknown reason. He broughtrge amounts of money with him, perhaps because he wanted to establish his roots here. This might also be the reason behind his marriage proposal to the Gu n.¡±

    ¡°Spending ten million Origin Stones just for that?¡±

    Miao Changqing said, ¡°That guy only has money and nothing else.¡±

    ¡°Only has money and nothing else?¡± Zhou Qingkuang¡¯s eyes lit up.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Miao Changqing nodded. ¡°That Long Shaoyou looked like he only brought ten or so house guards with him, only one of whom is at the Light Shaking Realm.¡±

    Zhou Qingkuang tilted his head back andughed, ¡°This guy must be a madman! He has so much money but has no muscle to protect it. Changqing, are you thinking what I¡¯m thinking?¡±

    Miao Changqing replied, ¡°Like taking candy from a baby.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Zhou Qingkuang shot to his feet. ¡°Since this guy only has money and no strength, and he seems to be at odds with us, he¡¯s like amb to the ughter. Wouldn¡¯t it be a shame if we didn¡¯t take advantage of this opportunity?¡±

    Miao Changqing said, ¡°Young Master is absolutely right. However, this isn¡¯t our territory.¡±

    ¡°So what?¡± Zhou Qingkuang said shadily. ¡°I¡¯m the Gu n¡¯s soon-to-be son inw. I¡¯m pretty much a person from Swallow River City already. Also, ten million Origin Stones...... if we get our hands on that, what kind of woman would be out of reach? Even if I had to give up Gu Qingluo, that would be fine. Anyone who wants to aplish great things cannot stumble over their insignificant feelings!¡±

    Long Shaoyou lived on the outskirts of Swallow River region in a secluded residence. His closest neighbors were all quite far away, making this the perfect ce to try and kill someone.

    Zhou Qingkuang and his subordinates marched there all together, full of vim and vigor. By the time they arrived, it was already dusk, and few people were out and about.

    Zhou Qingkuang swept his arm forward as he stood at the doorway of the Long Residence. ¡°Attack!¡±

    The Zhou n¡¯s house guards charged forward.

    The Zhou n was a Demonic Emperor Bloodline n, so his subordinates were by no means weaklings.

    As the doors were knocked down, he heard a few panicked cries of ¡°Who dares!?¡± followed by sounds of yelling and fighting.

    Zhou Qingkuang chuckled coldly as he stood in front of the door, waiting for the good news.

    A few momentster, themotion died down. Zhou Qingkuang sauntered in through the front door with his hands behind his back, followed closely by Miao Changqing.

    However, as soon as he stepped into the main courtyard, Zhou Qingkuang was stunned by the scene before his eyes.

    He never would have expected that the n members who he believed would easily sweep aside the enemy were all lying dead on the ground.

    Most shockingly, all of the corpses belonged to the Zhou n members that had just charged in through the front door.

    These corpses wore fearsome expressions and had clearly died in a tragic way, as if they had seen something unspeakable before they died. Terror was written all over their faces.

    How could this be?

    Zhou Qingkuang was badly startled.

    He turned around and was about to leave when the door behind him suddenly mmed shut.

    A person had suddenly appeared before him. It was Long Shaoyou.

    There were a few people standing beside him. Nothing seemed too extraordinary about them, but they were all exuding bloody auras. It was quite obvious that they were the ones who had ughtered his subordinates.

    Long Shaoyou stopped not too far away from Zhou Qingkuang andughed, ¡°Oh? If it isn¡¯t the Zhou n¡¯s Young Master?¡±

    Zhou Qingkuang¡¯s expression was dark. ¡°You recognize me?¡±

    Long Shaoyou tilted his head. ¡°Crane City¡¯s Zhou n, Zhou Qingkuang. Your name has long since echoed like thunder in my ears.¡±

    ¡°So do you know then that I¡¯m still Gu Qingluo¡¯s fianc¨¦?¡±

    Long Shaoyou¡¯s eyebrows jumped. ¡°I heard a little bit, but from what I could gather you haven¡¯t officially be her fianc¨¦ yet.¡±

    ¡°I will be soon. The reason I came this time was toplete the wedding arrangements!¡±

    ¡°If you die, then there won¡¯t be any wedding arrangements toplete,¡± Long Shaoyou replied carelessly. He unsheathed his de and pointed it at Zhou Qingkuang.

    Zhou Qingkuang¡¯s expression hardened. ¡°How bold!¡±

    ¡°I should be the one saying that. Do you think a Demonic Emperor Bloodline is that impressive? You think you can run into someone else¡¯s home, kill their subordinates, and steal their property as you please? Is there no justice in this world?¡± Long Shaoyou said as he swung his de. ¡°Kill him! The Long n is just acting in self-defense and meting out the justice of the Heavens!¡±

    A group of people charged out from behind Long Shaoyou.

    ¡°Changqing, kill them!¡± Zhou Qingkuang yelled.

    No one in this group had a cultivation base higher than the Blood Boiling Realm, while Miao Changqing was at the peak of the Yang Opening Realm. He alone could easily wipe out all of them, and Zhou Qingkuang had absolute faith in him.

    Even so, an instantter, a scene he couldn¡¯t believe appeared before his eyes. Those people began to glow with a strange light, and theirbat ability suddenly surged, allowing them to forcefully resist Miao Changqing¡¯s attacks.

    The Demonic Emperor Bloodline had also been nted into Miao Changqing¡¯s body. He was stronger than many of his peers within the same cultivation tier.

    Even so, these six or so Blood Boiling Realm cultivators and seven or eight Qi Drawing Realm cultivators were enough to stop him from advancing when they teamed up. Not only that, but they even had enough spare energy to mount an attack. They advanced and retreated in tandem with such extremely precise coordination it was as if all their moves were choreographed. Miao Changqing gradually fell deeper and deeper into a disadvantaged position.

    Only at that moment did Zhou Qingkuang finally understand why the subordinates he had sent in earlier had been chopped up like they were nothing but vegetables.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 73: Spare Him

    Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

    Streaks of light flew through the air.

    The de strikes were filled with an chilly energy that gave them quite a bit of prative power.

    Miao Changqing was identally hit by one of the de strikes. Three percent of the energy prated his barrier and mmed into him. Even though it couldn¡¯t get through his Source-Returning Armor, it still gave him quite a surprise.

    These people weren¡¯t simple!

    Their attacks only seemed so-so, but what was that strange glow emanating from their bodies? Why did it give them seemingly exceptional power? Even Miao Changqing felt surprised and a hint of fear.

    When faced with these kinds of circumstances, Miao Changqing knew that he was probably going to lose if he held back any longer.

    As such, he drew his de.

    The General-Beheading Night de.

    The General-Beheading Night de was an exceptionally useful tool when fighting at night because its attacks were invisible.

    When Miao Changqing attacked, no one could see where his dended. They would only see him wave his hand, causing the darkness of the night to thicken in some specific ces. The darkness would then seep into the target¡¯s body and swallow them up.

    However, Miao Changqing was in an unusual situation today.

    He waved his General-Beheading Night de, but he couldn¡¯t see any of his opponents falling apart.

    A glistening yellow light began to shine on their skin.

    ¡°Cliffrock Armor?¡± Miao Changqing frowned.

    How had this Ancient Arcana Skill, which had been abandoned for centuries, suddenly reappeared in the hands of a normal guard?

    But that didn¡¯t really matter.

    He continued to attack.

    Only this time, he switched targets.

    Unexpectedly, yellow light began to glow again.

    Dammit, still another Cliffrock Armor user.

    What¡¯s with these guys? Why are their cultivation paths identical?

    Some apprehension was beginning to seep in. He unleashed eight strikes in a row against eight different targets and was greeted by eight shes of yellow light.

    Cliffrock Armor, Cliffrock Armor, and Cliffrock Armor yet again!

    Miao Changqing waspletely dumbfounded.

    Their bulging and expanding muscles caused their clothing to tear, revealing dense tattoos that almost looked like they had been inscribed into their skin.

    ¡°This is......¡±

    Miao Changqing was stunned.

    These tattoos glowed with a strange light that flowed through the lines. They seemed to pulsate with an incredible amount of Origin Energy, giving off a terrifying amount of pressure.

    In that moment, the ten or so Origin Qi Schrs stood together and swung their des simultaneously. An enormous de took form in the air and began to descend, seemingly with the intent to bisect the whole earth.

    This all happened so quickly that Miao Changqing felt as if he were facing a Light Shaking Realm cultivator.

    ¡®NO!¡¯ he yelled in his heart as he rushed forwards to defend himself with all his might.

    The two sides collided violently, and Miao Changqing was sent flying with a grunt, as were the ten Origin Qi Schrs, who all fell to the floor in a crumpled heap.

    ¡°Pu!¡± Miao Changqing spat out a mouthful of blood. He was unable to get back to his feet.

    Thankfully, his opponents weren¡¯t much better off. All of them were seriously injured.

    In this exchange, both parties had suffered losses.

    ¡°Young Master......¡± Miao Changqing said withbored breath, ¡°Forgive my uselessness......¡±

    Zhou Qingkuang said coldly, ¡°You were indeed a bit useless. Even a bunch of trash like this could injure you to this point. But this is not that bad, since now......¡±

    He stared at Long Shaoyou as he said, ¡°Only you and I are left.¡±

    As he spoke, he walked forwards slowly. ¡°I must admit that your performance surprised me. Even so, that¡¯s as far as you go.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Long Shaoyouughed. ¡°Your strongest subordinate can¡¯t even get up due to his wounds, but you still want to act this arrogantly?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Zhou Qingkuang stopped advancing. ¡°That¡¯s because I am stronger than him!¡±

    As he spoke, Zhou Qingkuang¡¯s entire body began to emanate with energy.

    This energy began to surge and increase as a Scarlet-Eyed Cinnabar Crane illusory image appeared behind him. It stretched out its wings, manifesting the imposing appearance of a Demonic King.

    Whoosh!

    Zhou Qingkuang attacked.

    This movement was so fast that it was as if he had disappeared into thin air. Long Shaoyou didn¡¯t even see him move before he found himself beingunched into the air.

    An instantter, Zhou Qingkuang reappeared in the same ce, as if he hadn¡¯t moved at all.

    By the time he had returned to his original position, Long Shaoyou was still tumbling through the air.

    Bang!

    He rolled along the ground beforeing to a stop and spitting out a mouthful of blood.

    ¡°So fast!¡± Long Shaoyou spat.

    ¡°Do you recognize the gap between us now?¡± Zhou Qingkuang walked forwards arrogantly with his hands sped behind his back.

    Long Shaoyou clutched at his chest as he retreated. ¡°I get it now. You¡¯re very fast, but you¡¯re quite weak. You live up to your reputation of having a Demonic King Bloodline that is good for nothing but fleeing!¡±

    Killing intent shed across Zhou Qingkuang¡¯s face. ¡°You¡¯re asking for death!¡±

    The Scarlet-Eyed Demon King had quite the reputation, but it was the most well-known for its ability to flee. Of course, the Zhou n didn¡¯t appreciate this moniker one bit.

    Long Shaoyouughed when he saw Zhou Qingkuang¡¯s expression. ¡°I admit that I¡¯m not your opponent in a one-on-one fight, but you shouldn¡¯t think that you¡¯re something special. A person like you, who specializes in speed to the point of neglecting physical strength, must also have weak defenses. If you get hit even once, you won¡¯t be able to withstand it at all.¡±

    Zhou Qingkuangughed loudly, ¡°So what? My movements are as fast as lightning, and I cane and go like the wind. Who can hit me? You?¡±

    Long Shaoyou sighed, ¡°Of course I can¡¯t. The person behind you can, though.¡±

    Zhou Qingkuang trembled as he quickly spun around and leapt backwards. However, he didn¡¯t see anyone behind him.

    He viciously snarled, ¡°Trying to trick me, are you!¡±

    However, he then heard a voice speak, ¡°He wasn¡¯t tricking you.¡±

    Zhou Qingkuang was badly startled as he instinctively leapt into the air.

    His Scarlet-Eyed Demon King Bloodline allowed him to move at what seemed like the speed of light, but at this point it was already toote.

    An attack that seemed to emerge from the depths of Hades itself charged towards him, the pressure it exuded threatening to shatter every bone in his body.

    ¡°Armor Piercing Awl!¡±

    ¡°AH!¡± Zhou Qingkuang yelled as he flew through the air, blood spraying from an open wound on his back.

    Even though he had been badly injured, his speed activated at this moment. In the blink of an eye, he had escaped from his attacker, whose Raging Inferno Fist had yet to be unleashed.

    Even so, he had unwittingly run in the wrong direction.

    ¡°Shadow me w.¡±

    A voice spoke coolly from in front of him, followed by a hand covered in shadowy mes mming into his chest.

    Zhou Qingkuang yelled loudly in pain. The jade charm he wore around his neck shattered as a jade-green glow began to suffuse out. The Shadow me w mmed into the jade light instead, causing a blinding explosion of light to burst forth.

    The white light gradually faded.

    Taking advantage of the distraction, Zhou Qingkuang continued to retreat as he shot into the air before the person chasing behind him could catch up.

    However, he didn¡¯t expect there to still be more people waiting for him even in midair.

    It was the Shadow Servants.

    ¡°Erupting Firehawk!¡±

    Arge, me-winged hawk appeared in the air.

    It mmed into Zhou Qingkuang¡¯s midsection, causing him to spit up a mouthful of blood as he flew through the air.

    He hadn¡¯t died yet.

    He lowered his head as a cyan leaf flew into his mouth. A faint green light began to crawl over his body and illuminate it, causing the wounds he had just sustained to rapidly recover.

    Just at that moment, however, two more streaks of light glinting off of two de strikes arrived.

    Whoosh.

    These two de strikes mmed into Zhou Qingkuang¡¯s legs.

    ¡°AH!¡± Zhou Qingkuang howled out of desperation.

    This time, he was no longer able to jump into the air and toppled to the ground.

    Five people walked out of the darkness. Because they were shrouded in darkness, it was impossible for Zhou Qingkuang to identify them. They very quickly tied him up.

    One of the people smacked him with the t of the de. The cyan leaf came flying out of Zhou Qingkuang¡¯s mouth.

    Without the aid of this greenish-blue leaf, Zhou Qingkuang¡¯s recovery ability ceased.

    The other four people simultaneously raised their des.

    Despair shed across Zhou Qingkuang¡¯s eyes.

    But just at that moment, a voice spoke.

    ¡°Spare him!¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 74: Engagement On Hold

    ¡°Spare him!¡±

    Upon hearing this voice speak, the five Shadow Servants all flew into motion. Three of them immediately hid themselves, while the other two ced their des near Zhou Qingkuang¡¯s neck and midsection, demonstrating their impable coordination.

    A person descended from the sky. It was Gu Xuanmian.

    ¡°Uncle, save me!¡± Zhou Qingkuang howled when he saw Gu Xuanmian appear.

    Gu Xuanmian shot him a nce and frowned slightly before turning to Long Shaoyou and saying, ¡°Prince Long, would you be willing to spare this man on my behalf?¡±

    Long Shaoyou chuckled. ¡°Patriarch Gu, are you going to ask me to pardon him without first looking into what happened?¡±

    Gu Xuanmian replied, ¡°I don¡¯t need to ask. I already know what the situation is. Qingkuang was wrong in this matter, and I apologize to you on his behalf.¡±

    Long Shaoyou said, ¡°This isn¡¯t something that can be resolved with just an apology, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    ¡°I understand,¡± Gu Xuanmian replied. ¡°The Gu n is willing to make concessions as long as your demands aren¡¯t too excessive.¡±

    Long Shaoyou rubbed his chest as he stood up. He tilted his head in thought for a moment before saying, ¡°Fine. I only have three conditions. First, this person will belong to me from now on.¡±

    He pointed at Miao Changqing.

    ¡°Him?¡± Gu Xuanmian was surprised.

    ¡°Yes, him! From this point onwards, he belongs to me. How I deal with him is my problem,¡± Long Shaoyou demanded.

    ¡°Alright.¡± Gu Xuanmian agreed. Miao Changqing was just an underling, anyways, and didn¡¯t even belong to the Gu n. He had no reason to interfere on Zhou Qingkuang¡¯s behalf in this matter.

    ¡°My second condition is that he needs to kneel to me and apologize.¡±

    Gu Xuanmian frowned. ¡°The apology goes without saying, but does he really need to kneel?¡±

    Long Shaoyou sincerely replied, ¡°Patriarch Gu, I was just sitting at home minding my own business when disaster came looking for me. Is just an apology really enough? If that were the case, then there would be a lot less conflict in this world. Or is the Gu n nning on forcing......¡±

    Gu Xuanmian raised his hand. ¡°You don¡¯t need to say anything else. I agree. What¡¯s your third condition?¡±

    ¡°The third condition......¡± Long Shaoyou walked over and picked the cyan leaf off of the ground, and then drew a vial of blood from Zhou Qingkuang¡¯s body andughed. ¡°This should be enough.¡±

    Gu Xuanmian sighed as he said, ¡°Alright, I can agree to that as well.¡±

    ¡°No, you can¡¯t!¡± Zhou Qingkuang howled. ¡°Uncle Gu, don¡¯t make me kneel; don¡¯t let him take away my n¡¯s treasure......¡±

    Gu Xuanmian sighed. ¡°You were the one who made the mistake, so the consequences are also yours to bear. Qingkuang, do what you must.¡±

    As he spoke, he gestured once, causing a formless energy to wrap around Zhou Qingkuang. The people around him were forced to retreat.

    Then, Gu Xuanmian ced him on the ground. Under his control, Zhou Qingkuang knelt on the ground. Gu Xuanmian made his precise control quite obvious, suggesting to Long Shaoyou that it wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t have the power to do things forcefully but rather that he just didn¡¯t want to.

    ¡°You still haven¡¯t apologized!¡± Gu Xuanmian barked.

    As if someone had hit him in the back of the head, Zhou Qingkuang felt his consciousness tremble as he stuttered out, ¡°I was wrong.¡±

    He kowtowed in apology.

    Long Shaoyou said with a slight smile, ¡°Very good. Patriarch Gu is truly fair and impartial. Shaoyou thanks you.¡±

    Gu Xuanmian harrumphed and waved his sleeves, taking Zhou Qingkuang with him as he flew away.

    Gu Xuanmian¡¯s voice came floating down from the sky. ¡°This matter is finished. In the future, Prince Long and your friend beside you, please do note asking for my daughter¡¯s hand anymore. The Gu n¡¯s territory is small and does not have enough space for an extravagant n like the Long n.¡±

    As he spoke, he flew away.

    Long Shaoyou was a bit surprised. ¡°He knows you.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s figure appeared from the shadows. ¡°He just knows that there was someone instructing you, that¡¯s all ¡ª he doesn¡¯t know that it was me specifically. Also......¡±

    Su Chen paused for a moment.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Long Shaoyou asked.

    ¡°The next time you listen to mymands, can you not act so smart about it? Anyone would be able to tell that someone is instructing you if you act like that.¡±

    A sudden peal ofughter rang out.

    Gu Qingluo also emerged from the shadows, carrying an Origin Formation Disk inside.

    The Origin Disk recorded Zhou Qingkuang¡¯s fight with Long Shaoyou and his appearance as he begged for mercy.

    ¡°He came to steal someone¡¯s riches but was sent packing with his tail between his legs and even lost his personal subordinate, then was forced to kowtow and apologize! I want to see how Zhou Qingkuang will try and pursue the engagement like this,¡± Gu Qingluo said happily.

    The reason why Su Chen had asked Long Shaoyou to propose these three conditions was solely to torment Zhou Qingkuang and humiliate him.

    This way, even if Gu Xuanmian still wanted to have Zhou Qingkuang marry his daughter, as soon as the contents of this Origin Formation Disk were leaked, Gu Xuanmian would no longer be able to recognize him as a son-inw anymore.

    Of course, doing so would also offend Gu Xuanmian. However, because Long Shaoyou was acting as the strawman in this scenario, Su Chen got off scot-free.

    This was the benefit of staying behind the scenes.

    ¡°Patriarch Gu isn¡¯t someone who can¡¯t see things clearly. I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll need to use this disk to resolve the problem,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°So now I can be engaged to you?¡± Gu Qingluo¡¯s eyes glowed with excitement.

    ¡°No. We¡¯ve only annulled the existing arrangement, and we¡¯re still a ways away from our own engagement. Destroying is always easier than creating,¡± Su Chenughed.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡± Gu Qingluo crossed her arms. ¡°You took my fianc¨¦ away, so you need to repay me with another.¡±

    ¡°So how about I give Shaoyou to you?¡± Su Chenughed.

    ¡°Die!¡±

    A swiftly aimed kick aimed at the seat of his pants.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Bang!

    Zhou Qingkuang was tossed unceremoniously onto the ground.

    At this moment, he had been returned to his own courtyard within the Gu n.

    Gu Xuanmian said, his expression dark, ¡°You have disappointed me greatly.¡±

    Zhou Qingkuang felt his heart tremble as he knelt there. ¡°Uncle, I know I was wrong. It was because I loved Qingluo too much that I did this! That bastard came to propose an engagement twice; I was worried that I was going to lose her! That¡¯s why I wanted to teach him a lesson, but who would¡¯ve known......¡±

    ¡°Shut your mouth!¡± Gu Xuanmian barked. ¡°Do you take me for an idiot? You think I don¡¯t know why you went after him? The ten million Origin Stones moved you, didn¡¯t it? You wanted to try and steal them from him and make a huge profit? Did you not think that someone who could afford to bring ten million Origin Stones around with him would have strong people around? Even I might have some difficulty getting some kind of benefit from him, let alone you.¡±

    When he heard this, Zhou Qingkuang was stunned. ¡°But how could that be? You have seven Lotus tforms, and are only a step away from reaching the Spirit Burning Realm.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m telling you that you don¡¯t know anything!¡± Gu Xuanmianmented. ¡°Young Qingkuang, your father was absolutely right in giving you this name[1. Qingkuang¡¯s name roughly trantes to ¡°youthful impulsiveness¡±.]. I didn¡¯t have enough time to get to know you, so my understanding of you was iplete. I didn¡¯t expect that you were such a reckless and greedy person.¡±

    Zhou Qingkuang could sense the undercurrents of Gu Xuanmian¡¯s meaning. He said in shock, ¡°Uncle, I know I was wrong. I won¡¯t be like this in the future.¡±

    Gu Xuanmian shook his head. ¡°Qingluo didn¡¯t like you from the beginning and even kept trying to avoid meeting with you. I was the one forcing her the whole time. It seemed like she was just about to give in too, but then you went and did something like this. Perhaps Gu Qingluo was correct, and you might not be the fianc¨¦ best suited for her.¡±

    ¡°Uncle!¡± Zhou Qingkuang began to yell desperately. ¡°Uncle, I know I was wrong. Please, give me another opportunity!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s put your engagement with Qingluo on hold for now,¡± Gu Xuanmian said as he waved his sleeves and left.

    When he heard this, Zhou Qingkuang looked like someone whose spine had been removed as he crumpled to the ground.

    All the color had drained from his face.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 75: Theurgical Ar

    t

    Back in the same familiar room.

    Su Chen carefully tilted the test tube sideways and poured out a single drop of blood onto a crystal chip. He then brought it close to his eyes to carefully inspect it.

    Next, he ced the crystal chip into a pre-prepared sk and infused it with Origin Energy.

    As his Origin Energy surged into the sk, the liquid began to boil.

    This was a special concoction of Su Chen¡¯s unique design. It could activate Origin Substances and excite them, making it easier for Su Chen to observe.

    Underneath the stare of his microscopic eye, the Scarlet-Eyed Demon King Bloodline¡¯s secrets were pried wide open.

    Three hourster, Su Chen emerged from his researchb. Now, no one understood the secrets of the Scarlet-Eyed Demon King¡¯s Bloodline better than him.

    The next step was to figure out a way to replicate this incredible speed as part of a bloodline-less solution.

    ¡°I first need to create an absorption technique that can gather enough Origin Substance to rece the bloodline. I also need a way to utilize the Origin Substance. Crane City¡¯s Zhou n has passed this bloodline on for many generations, but they haven¡¯t been able to draw out the full power of their bloodline. If they did, they would be even faster. All in all, the experiment this time was pretty straightforward. I think that I¡¯ll be able to make use of that level of speed pretty soon,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself inside the courtyard.

    ¡°Master¡¯s knowledge on bloodline substitutes seems to be increasing,¡± Iron Cliff said cheerfully.

    ¡°Unfortunately, the technique for charging into the Light Shaking Realm is stilling along slowly,¡± Su Chen sighed.

    ¡°This kind of thing can¡¯t be rushed,¡± Iron Cliff said tofort him.

    Yes, it indeed couldn¡¯t be rushed.

    Su Chen knew that there was no point in trying to rush things. Only by constantly performing research and toiling over it would he eventually break through in the end. He was still young, and reaching the Light Shaking Realm a few decades from now wasn¡¯t toote. Even so, the subject was still valuable for him to diligently study.

    As he became more and more learned, his understanding of cultivation also deepened. The problems that had gued him in the past were not that difficult anymore.

    Back then, he had expended so much energy just to make some progress in the Snaking Mist Steps, and his progress even then was quite limited.

    Today, he was able to make a breakthrough with a Demonic King Bloodline without too much effort. He was confident that he would be able toe up with a working version of the associated technique within two months.

    The was the difference after having built up a foundation.

    His foundation from twenty years ago was very different from his foundation twenty yearster.

    Even so, focusing on improving himself was only going to help him further solidify his foundations.

    Su Chen¡¯s thought process was very clear at this point. As such, he kept things simple and set small goals for himself to steadily fortify his foundation.

    He knew that his current style of battling had the same strengths and weaknesses: he was a jack of all trades.

    He was currently quite aplished in Ancient Arcana Techniques and had a solid grasp on contemporary Origin Skills. He also had the Primordial Blood Incarnation and the Hemolytic Totem, meaning that he was quite well-rounded. On the other hand, he had some obvious holes in his arsenal ¡ª there was no way for him to use everything at the same time, so he could only use them one at a time, preventing him from multiplying the effectiveness of his skills.

    If he could improve thepatibility of all his techniques, then even without developing anything new, his strength would likely suddenly soar.

    The former Su Chen wasn¡¯t this rxed, but now he finally had found some free time to consider this path.

    Since he wanted topatibilize them, the first order of business was to decide on a direction.

    For instance, should he mainly focus on Ancient Arcana Techniques or contemporary Origin Skills?

    Su Chen decided to focus on contemporary Origin Skills as a rough goal.

    The reason he had given up on Ancient Arcana Techniques was because they weren¡¯t aspatible with the needs of most humans. Contemporary Origin Skills were sharper and could be unleashed at a ferociously rapid rate. Even though theycked the ir of Ancient Arcana Techniques, they were often more practical in a battle.

    However, Ancient Arcana Techniques had their own unique strengths, and their strong points could be used as supplements to help him continue improving himself.

    Apart from this, his own consciousness energy was also steadily increasing. It was probably the right time to start thinking of a way to incorporate that as well.

    After determining his future ns, Su Chen knew what his next steps were.

    He constantly made calctions in his head and muttered to himself as his hands flickered rapidly and formed multiple strange seals, causing them to glow with a mysterious and profound light.

    Suddenly, Su Chen clenched one fist and loosened the other. A small flower of me blossomed in his hand.

    Just at that moment, Gu Qingluo walked in. ¡°Su Chen......¡±

    Su Chen squinted his eyes slightly. He sent one of the fire flowers at Gu Qingluo.

    Gu Qingluo chuckled when she saw this. ¡°Weak.¡±

    She flicked at the fire flower with her finger, which was immediately extinguished upon contact.

    ¡°What is this?¡±

    ¡°An improved version of the Erupting Firehawk,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°An improved version?¡± Gu Qingluoughed. ¡°Howe it seems so much weaker now?¡±

    ¡°Because I wasn¡¯t improving on its strength, but rather this.¡± Su Chen gestured as he spoke. A fire flower appeared in his palm and once again flew towards Gu Qingluo.

    Gu Qingluo carelessly defended herself against this one as well, but found that more and more flowers seemed to be shooting out from Su Chen¡¯s hands. Eventually, there were so many of them that they seemed to fill the sky, as if fire were raining down from the heavens. Gu Qingluo was scrambling to defend herself. ¡°Hey, hey, this isn¡¯t right! This is way too different from the Erupting Firehawk...... this isn¡¯t an Ancient Arcana Technique!¡± she yelled, finally realizing what had changed with his technique.

    Yes, this was no longer an Ancient Arcana Technique.

    This was a contemporary Origin Skill, one that Su Chen had developed after fully understanding the unique points of the Erupting Firehawk skill.

    Its biggest benefit was that the amount of Origin Energy it consumed had been greatly reduced and the formation rate of the flowers was also very rapid. It was entirely possible to unleash hundreds or even thousands of attacks in just a brief period of time.

    An instantter, Su Chen growled, ¡°Condense!¡±

    The fire flowers floating through the air suddenly began to aggregate, forming a massive ming phoenix that floated in the air.

    ¡°This is......¡±

    Gu Qingluo was stunned.

    She had never seen any Origin Skill that could change forms like this, and this transformation was also filled with killing intent.

    Unfortunately, she wouldn¡¯t be able to know yet just how powerful this killing blow was, because a momentter Su Chen caused the ming phoenix to dissipate without a trace, as if it had never even existed in the first ce.

    ¡°What...... what was that? How can it transform like that?¡± Gu Qingluo asked, bbergasted.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know either,¡± Su Chen replied unexpectedly.

    He said, ¡°I just wanted to transcribe the strong points of the Erupting Firehawk technique into thebat style of contemporary Origin Skills. That way, I would be able to exercise my superior consciousness power as well. I didn¡¯t anticipate something like this would happen.¡±

    ¡°Consciousness power? You need consciousness power too?¡± Gu Qingluo asked, dazed.

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Su Chen nodded. ¡°That final condensation was powered by consciousness energy.¡±

    Humans were far inferior to the Spirit Race in terms of both overall consciousness power and their rate of improvement. Apart from consciousness-type Origin Skills, most did not require the user to have a strong consciousness.

    At this moment, however, because of Su Chen¡¯s improvements, the situation had changed drastically.

    Su Chen could sense that it was because of his consciousness power that he was able to condense all his energy into a single strike, and it was also the main reason why this effect hade about in the first ce.

    He didn¡¯t know how powerful this change would be, but for just a moment he had been able to sense the shocking amount of energy hidden within that ming phoenix. It was because of this that he had dispersed it just as quickly.

    He didn¡¯t dare to y around with it. No one would know what the consequences would be.

    ¡°That¡¯s not a contemporary Origin Skill,¡± Gu Qingluo said in a daze.

    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± Su Chen sighed. ¡°I think we should just call it Theurgical Art.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 76: Developmen

    t

    The first Theurgical Art in human history had appeared without causing anymotion. However, now that the first stone had been cast into theke, the effects of the ensuing ripples would soon be felt.

    At this moment, however, Su Chen was still continuing to deal with the matter of his marriage.

    Actually, he was only really busy with one thing: the Flight Network.

    The Flight Network¡¯s infrastructure had already been firmly established. Li Shu truly was an entrepreneur, and many elites from the Bloodline Nobility ns all wanted to get involved. As such, the construction had gone quite smoothly.

    However, the Flight Network was a business that would cross territories. Every node of the Flight Network needed to be built on top of a solid foundation of contacts. Not only did the Bloodline Nobility ns need to cooperate with him, but the government also had to support it as well. As such, after its construction, it wasn¡¯t just the Bloodline Nobility ns in Swallow River City that wanted to participate ¡ª even a few of the Bloodline Nobility ns from the other cities wanted to try and get in on the action.

    This was something that Su Chen had not expected.

    His original thought was just that the Flight Network would simply strengthen his ties with the Gu n, but it was starting to attract more and more people.

    In the end, it became impossible for Su Chen to try to put a stop to it even if he wanted to. There were just too many people whose profits were now implicated.

    Thankfully, Su Chen had never nned on stopping anyways. He just hadn¡¯t expected to be an aviation tycoon while he was in the process of pursuing marriage.

    The whole situation left himpletely speechless.

    The tycoon was walking along one of the city¡¯s long pathways, mulling over all of the trivial matters and how to take care of them.

    ¡°News from West Bank City came. The vigers there aren¡¯t willing to set up feeding grounds there. They said that the Cauterized Grass that the Prisoner Sheep like to eat puts red ash into the air and would affect the growth of their crops.¡±

    ¡°Howe the other ces didn¡¯t seem toin about this?¡±

    ¡°Cauterized Grass mostly interferes with ck Yams and not much else. Not too many people nt ck Yams in those cities, but because West Bank City is so hilly andcks natural resources, they primarily farm the hardy and resourceful ck Yams there, meaning that they would be affected more. West Bank City¡¯s City Lord Li requested an audience with me when he found out and was hoping that we would be willing to spare some funds for his vige. However, I turned him down; you know that once we make an exception for one person, the others will quickly swarm to us. As such, we¡¯re currently at a standstill.¡±

    ¡°Can you not ask them to switch to farming something else?¡±

    ¡°The problem is that they aren¡¯t willing.¡± Li Shu gestured helplessly. ¡°You also know quite clearly that these farmers sometimesck long-term views. I¡¯ve sent a lot of people there to give them some good advice and tell them about the benefits of switching to other crops, but no one wanted to listen. To these people, changing their habits is a momentous asion. That¡¯s why we¡¯re currently stuck in this dilemma. Fourth Elder Gu is also getting agitated. He already said twice that he was going to send people to kill everyone in those viges, but I was able to calm him down both times.¡±

    Su Chen began to frown and pace around with his hands behind his back. ¡°Even if West Bank City is hilly, the ground there should be suitable for growing other crops like Vermilion Millet. Send people to West Bank City tomorrow and establish a grain retailer there, and have him buy Vermilion Millet for a high price.¡±

    Li Shu¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°This is a good idea. The farmers there value profits; as long as these profits are tangible, we should be able to seed in getting them to change their crops. I¡¯m just worried that there will be people who try to start things or cheat us on purpose, or even people who just won¡¯t believe us......¡±

    ¡°You can negotiate with the people who don¡¯t believe and use gold to pre-order next year¡¯s Vermilion Millet. As for people who try to start things or cheat us......¡± Su Chen¡¯s eyes glowed with a fierce light. ¡°I never vite my principles when I do things. When we need to make allowances, we¡¯ll make allowances, but when we need to kill some people that harbor malicious intent, we¡¯ll kill them!¡±

    Li Shu cupped his hands. ¡°Understood.¡±

    ¡°Is there anything else?¡±

    Li Shu continued, ¡°East Creek City¡¯s Liang Baizhi ims that if Swallow River City¡¯s Flight Network wants tond in his territory, 30% of thework¡¯s profits must go to him.¡±

    ¡°30% of the profits?¡± Su Chen burst outughing. ¡°Is he trying to rob me? That¡¯s an impossible number.¡±

    ¡°Yes. I sent some people to negotiate first, and it wasn¡¯t untilter that I found out that he just wants performance shares.¡±

    ¡°He wants some shares?¡± Su Chen squinted. ¡°But he isn¡¯t willing to pay?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°He must be dreaming!¡±

    ¡°However, he is the City Lord of East Creek City. If he doesn¡¯t agree, our Dragonboats cannotnd there.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s responsible for keeping East Creek City in check? Why isn¡¯t he taking care of things?¡±

    ¡°Gu Huaisong.¡±

    Upon hearing this name, Su Chen¡¯s expression sank slightly.

    Gu Huaisong was Gu Xuanmian¡¯s younger cousin and was one of the members of the n Rtive Society. Evidently, however, he wasn¡¯t like Gu Xuanchao or Gu Xuanyu. He was very mischievous and hated taking responsibility.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t known that Gu Huaisong was like this at the beginning. At first, his only goal was to rope in all of the people in the n Rtive Society into his ranks, but now that his n had seeded, his opinions and thoughts on the situation also began to change.

    For instance, he was starting to be a bit picky.

    He regretted roping Gu Huaisong in.

    However, it was already toote to regret things. He lowered his head in thought before saying, ¡°Let¡¯s not focus on the line to East Creek City for now. We need to make some changes to the division of profits. In the future, the lines will be overseen by special overseers, and everything will be under their control. Of course, they will also receive some additional, special rewards.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, our profits will go down significantly,¡± Li Shu said.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I didn¡¯t start the Flight Network for money.¡±

    From start to finish, Su Chen hadn¡¯t forgotten why he had done all of this.

    If it made things less of a hassle, he wasn¡¯t worried about giving up on some profits.

    A lot of things hinged on whether or not you were willing to pay a price. If Su Chen was willing to give up on his profits, a veryplex problem would suddenly be quite simple.

    Three dayster, Liang Baizhi withdrew his previous request and began to cooperate with Swallow River City¡¯s Flight Network, and the originallyzy Gu Huaisong immediately began to spring into action, running all over the ce. The Flight Network route to East Creek City took shape rapidly.

    This helped Su Chen realize thatziness was rtive, and his views of certain things began to change.

    It could be said that this whole process of setting up the Flight Network had helped Su Chen deepen his understanding of the world in general. In his attempting to understand the hearts of others, he was also learning more about the world that he lived in.

    In the past, he had relied a lot on little tricks to get his way, but as he began to grow and mature, all the while umting experience, he began to see the bigger picture.

    This whole process had caused Su Chen¡¯s thought process and insight to reach new heights.

    Perhaps it was because of this that he was able to create such a heaven-rending, earth-shaking concept like theurgies.

    Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, many months had passed, and the construction of the Flight Network reached its final stage.

    Su Chen and Gu Qingluo were also growing closer and closer. Su Chen himself was already amon guest of the Gu n, and could enter and leave Gu Pce as he pleased.

    Su Chen and Gu Qingluo naturally became ¡°acquainted¡± under these circumstances before gradually progressing into the stage of ¡°friendship.¡±

    Everything was developing ording to n.

    Soon, it would be time for him to propose.

    However, at this critical moment, something unexpected happened.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 77: Demonic Calamity 1

    Chapter 77: Demonic Cmity (1)

    As per usual, Su Chen performed his experiments as he continued to guide Iron Cliff¡¯s cultivation - ever since dividing responsibility over the Flight Network, the pressure on Su Chen had greatly decreased.

    Iron Cliff was cultivating the True Spirit Sculpture. After developing the Theurgy Arts, Su Chen realized the importance of consciousness power. Not only did he spend more time on personally cultivating his consciousness power, even Iron Cliff was dragged into it.

    However, to the Cliff Race, cultivating consciousness power was extremely difficult.

    As he practiced, Iron Cliff¡¯s eyelids began to droop before he began to snore rhythmically.

    ¡°Sizzle!¡± A coil of mes descended on Iron Cliff¡¯s skin and sizzled as it burned. The pain immediately jolted Iron Cliff awake, and he hurriedly resumed his cultivation. The area that had been burned away by the mes very quickly recovered and disappeared without a trace.

    As Su Chen watched the wound recede, he sighed, ¡°It seems like if you keep cultivating this True Spirit Sculpture, your consciousness power might not increase much, but your ability to resist mes will go up.¡±

    Iron Cliff scratched his head. ¡°Master, the Cliff Race has always had weak consciousnesses. We never relied on something like this, so I might not end up using this ever even if I practice it.¡±

    ¡°This is exactly why I keep pressing you to cultivate your consciousness power,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°No Light Shaking Realm cultivator has ever appeared amongst the Cliff Race. I analyzed your bodies before; actually, there aren¡¯t really that many differences between the Cliff Race¡¯s body and a human¡¯s body. Even though your physique is much brawnier, the core essence is quite simr. But in terms of consciousness power, the Cliff Race is a bit weaker than humans. If you want to condense your Lotus tforms and reach the Light Shaking Realm, you will need the support of your consciousness energy. That¡¯s why I think that the bottleneck afflicting the Cliff Race is actually their consciousness energy.¡±

    ¡°Alright, then I¡¯ll keep cultivating,¡± Iron Cliff replied helplessly.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright. Let¡¯s take it a bit at a time; after all, we have a lot of time on our hands,¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    ¡°Ok,¡± Iron Cliff agreed. He was worried about falling asleep again, so he picked a new topic of conversation on his own. ¡°Right, Master, what time are you thinking of asking the Gu n for an engagement?¡±

    ¡°I still need to wait for a good opportunity to make everything feel natural. Don¡¯t talk too much - focus your attention and release your consciousness. Try and spread it externally, using your consciousness energy to sense the outside world...... Tell me, do you feel anything?¡±

    ¡°Wind is blowing past my face, water vapor in the air is floating around, and Origin Energy is flowing......¡± Iron Cliff slowly said as if he were sleeptalking. Everything he was sensing was exactly what a beginner consciousness cultivator would sense.

    Su Chen nodded with satisfaction. Even though Iron Cliff seemed like he was a bit dense, he was actually quite a bit smarter than most other Cliff Race individuals.

    ¡°I also...... smell something bloody,¡± Iron Cliff said as he sniffed a few times.

    What?

    Su Chen was taken aback before he suddenly sensed something as well. His expression sank.

    Iron Cliff was still sitting there sensing the environment with his eyes closed. ¡°I sense a pressing wave of power getting closer and closer...... it seems primordial and wild in nature...... What an imposing presence! It feels hard to breathe!¡±

    Iron Cliff¡¯s body began to tremble. He yelled loudly, ¡°What is this? Master, howe I feel like darkness is encroaching?¡±

    ¡°Because it is,¡± Su Chen replied coolly.

    Iron Cliff¡¯s eyes snapped open. He saw that the skies above him had suddenly be dark without even realizing it.

    The darkness rolled over the ground like a thick fog. Swallow River City waspletely shrouded in darkness now.

    As day seemed to turn into night, a formless pressure enveloped the surroundings.

    ¡°This...... what¡¯s going on?¡± Iron Cliff was shocked.

    ¡°It¡¯s just as you said and sensed,¡± Su Chen said slowly.

    Whoosh!

    Boom!

    A streak of lightning flew through the air, thunder booming behind its wake. It charged towards them and disappeared off into the distance almost seemingly at the same moment.

    The darkness seemed to grow denser as a wild aura began to pervade the very air.

    ¡°It¡¯s a Demonic Beast! A huge one!¡± Iron Cliff blurted out.

    He finally understood what was happening.

    Demonic Beast Infiltration!

    Even though the humans had set up arge army at the border to defend against the Beast Race, it was inevitable thatrge numbers of Demonic Beasts broke through those defenses and infiltrated human territory. They would then unleash ughter and chaos upon their prey.

    Any Demonic Beast that could break through the border guards was definitely no normal Demonic Beast.

    Dark clouds filled the sky and Demonic Qi surged into the air. It was obvious that a powerful Demonic Beast had arrived on the scene.

    ¡°Lord-ss! It has to be at least a Lord-ss beast!¡± Iron Cliff yelled in shock.

    As if in response to Iron Cliff¡¯s yells.

    ¡°HOWL!¡±

    A thunderous howl pierced through the dark clouds, shortly followed by the emergence of a massive head.

    The head was asrge as a house, and its snake-like lower body looked almost like hills contouring the ground. Lightning flickered across its eyes.

    As soon as the massive snake appeared, it opened its gaping mouth at the ground below it. A thick column of lightning suddenly beamed down onto the ground, mming into the west side of Swallow River City. It was as if a de had suddenly descended from heaven and carved out a massive crater in the ground. Anywhere the lightning went, the people nearby were instantly incinerated.

    Powerful, vicious, frightening, explosive!

    This was the power of a real top-tier Demonic Beast.

    ¡°Demon, don¡¯t think you can get away with acting so brutishly!¡± At this moment, a voice boomed through the sky as a streak of light shot into the air.

    It was Gu Xuanmian.

    Streaks of brilliant light flew forth from his hand. They glowed like stars in the darkness, illuminating the dark sky. Theynded on the Lightning Snake¡¯s body and exploded in a fiery ze.

    This was the Gu n¡¯s Flying Flower Hands. However, under Gu Xuanmian¡¯s control, this skill appeared to take on a life of its own.

    However, the massive snakepletely ignored him. It crashed head-on into the flying flowers and opened its mouth wide.

    Another column of lightning shot out of its mouth, but this time it was directed at Gu Xuanmian.

    When faced with this column of lightning, Gu Xuanmian didn¡¯t dare tackle it head-on. He hurriedly dodged, avoiding the attack. The column of lightning shot past him and mmed into the ground.

    Just as another hundred people were about to be incinerated by the st, another streak of white light surged forwards, intercepting the column of lightning.

    ¡°Six-Directions Battle Elephant!¡±

    With a loud howl, a massive image of a white elephant appeared and forcefully endured the blow from the column of lightning.

    ¡°It¡¯s the Fang n¡¯s Patriarch, Fang Zhaoyang!¡± the people below cried out one by one.

    At the same time, two figures shot into the sky.

    One was dressed in white robes, while the other was dressed in golden armor. It was the other two Bloodline Nobility n Lords: Liu Wusheng and Zhong Yuanqi.

    As soon as the two of them appeared, Zhong Yuanqi yelled, ¡°Every cultivator at the Light Shaking Realm, join forces with me and face this beast!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    Following his yell, twenty or so people shot into the air.

    Swallow River City was truly one of therger city¡¯s in Longxi Region. There were many more Light Shaking Realm and above cultivators present here than in Clear River City.

    When there was no joint enemy, these Bloodline Nobility ns often fought amongst one another and exploited each other. But Su Chen had to admit that as soon as a joint enemy appeared, the people serving as the backbone of the entire human race were also these Bloodline Nobility ns.

    It was undeniable that, despite all the scummy things that happened here or there, most people were still aware of what their duties were.

    The Bloodline Nobility ns enjoyed their high status most of the time, but they would still be on the front lines when they needed to fight.

    Even so, that massive serpent only nced disdainfully at the Origin Qi Schrs surging in its direction.

    Then, it let out a low howl.

    The howl reverberated like that of a dragon¡¯s.

    Following that howl, the thick column of lightning appeared again, but this time there were more than a hundred of them that formed a densely weaved of lightning that crashed down onto the entire city.

    ¡°Demonic King! It¡¯s a Demonic King!¡± Panicked cries began to fill the air.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 78: Demonic Calamity 2

    Chapter 78: Demonic Cmity (2)

    As soon as the web of lightning appeared, Su Chen knew that they were in trouble.

    This Lightning Serpent had actually reached the level of a Demonic King.

    From the many years of experience umted by humans fighting Demonic Beasts, a high-tier Demonic Beast had been determined to be roughly equivalent in power to a Light Shaking Realm cultivator with five Lotus tforms. A Demonic Lord was roughly equivalent to a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator, Demonic King equivalent to a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator, and a Demonic Emperor equivalent to an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator. That was also the highest cultivation level that any human had reached up till now. As for the stronger Deste Beasts? Unfortunately, no human could take one of them on single-handedly.

    The few victories where humans had defeated these Deste Beasts were all because entire kingdoms had been mobilized, and even then it was only sessful through the help of many strong individuals from other races.

    At first, everyone thought that it was only a Demonic Lord; even though it was as strong as a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator, twenty or so Light Shaking Realm cultivatorsbined would be more than enough to take it on.

    However, once they actually started fighting, they discovered that this guy had actually concealed its strength at the beginning. Its true strength was actually that of a Demonic King¡¯s! They were in big trouble now.

    As the powerful web of lightning descended, Origin Qi Schrs began falling out of the sky.

    These Origin Qi Schrs were all Light Shaking Realm cultivators, strong enough to be considered cornerstones of the whole human race. Now, however, they were being swept out of the sky like pieces of rotten wood just from a single attack by the Demonic King. A few of the weaker ones were even killed immediately.

    Even more columns of lightning fell onto Swallow River City, causing explosions to ring out all over the city. Millions of ferocious lightning tendrils snaked across the ground like fiery serpents, toppling countless houses and killing masses of innocents that were in their paths.

    In the blink of an eye, Swallow River City had been decimated. Blood flowed in rivers on the streets.

    ¡°Despicable!¡±

    A furious howl echoed through the air. A massive Soaring Serpent flew into the air, with its maw wide open towards the sky. Countless streaks of light shot forth from its mouth, filling the sky with a torrent of mes. It was still using the Flying Flower Hands, but even more powerful and imposing than when Gu Xuanmian had used it.

    At the same time, changes started to appear on the western, southern, and northern sides of the city.

    A massive armored elephant, as sturdy as a mountain, began to trumpet with its thick trunk.

    A Jade Sword Ape growled as it wielded its mountain-like sword. Every time it exhaled, air would ripple across the ground like a tidal wave.

    A Six-Winged Flying Scorpion scuttled across the surface of the Swallow Fjord, itsrge stinger piercing the heavens while shooting out streams of dark purple fog at the sky.

    ¡°Ancestor!¡± the Origin Qi Schrs present all began to cry out simultaneously.

    The people who had appeared were the ancestors of the fourrge ns in Swallow River City, all of them powerful existences at the Spirit Burning Realm.

    The four Spirit Burning Realm cultivators attacked all together at the same time,pletely epassing Swallow River City under their awe-inspiring might. The sea of Origin Energy became turbulent, but under the control of these four individuals, the whole city was sheltered from the attacks.

    ¡°Protect the city! Activate the Origin Formation!¡± someone cried out in a raspy voice.

    It was City Lord Hua Tingyue who had spoken.

    A mystical light suddenly began to glow from the cracks in the ground, gradually forming a wall of light that reached high into the sky.

    This was what was preventing the remnant waves of energy from the battle taking ce above from reaching the city.

    However, because the attack hade so suddenly, Swallow River City¡¯s Origin Formation had been seriously damaged. Arge part of the city was not under the protection of the formation.

    What only exacerbated the situation was that Swallow River City was not a strategic town in the defense of the border. Even with the protection of the Origin Formation, its strength was far too weak to resist the energy fluctuationsing off of a battle between Spirit Burning Realm cultivators and a Demonic King.

    Sparks flew off of the barrier as wave after wave of energy fluctuations crashed into it. It was obvious that the barrier wouldn¡¯t be able to hold for long. Energy fluctuations were also able to propagate in from wherever the barrier was iplete, massacring any nearby innocents.

    ¡°Someone plug up those holes!¡± Hua Tingyue yelled out loudly.

    One Origin Qi Schr after another charged towards these holes and used different kinds of Origin Skills to block the energy trying to force its way in through these holes.

    These people were all below the Light Shaking Realm. They had no way of participating in the actual fight in the air, but they could at least stay on the ground and try to protect the civilians.

    At this moment, whoever was a hero and whoever was a coward was made crystal clear. Origin Qi Schr after Origin Qi Schr charged towards the gaps in the barrier to face the energy falling down in torrents from the sky head-on. The Light Shaking Realm cultivators teamed up with the Spirit Burning Realm cultivators to drive back the giant snake. Since they were on the front lines, they were also the ones who received the brunt of the attacks.

    Lightning shed across the sky repeatedly, each streak carrying with it the frightening numbness of death.

    Boom!

    One of the streaks of lightning mmed into a Light Shaking Realm cultivator,pletely bypassing his magic barrier. That cultivator immediately seized up and began trembling uncontrobly. Three more streaks of lightning snaked towards him, shattering his Lotus tform. He died on the spot.

    ¡°HISS!¡±

    The Lightning Snake hissed in delight. It weaved in and out of the clouds, lightning dancing between its iridescent scales as everything it touched disintegrated into dust.

    The four Spirit Burning Realm cultivators were clearly having a hard time keeping the massive Lightning Snake at bay.

    The difference in strength was just too great!

    ¡°Master, are we still not going to do anything?¡± Iron Cliff asked as he stared at Su Chen, worry clearly showing all over his face.

    From the moment the Lightning Snake had appeared until now, Su Chen had only watched; he hadn¡¯t made any moves at all.

    Of course, Iron Cliff knew that Su Chen was not the Demonic King¡¯s opponent, and he didn¡¯t even dare dream that Su Chen could kill the snake with a single blow. However, he hoped that Su Chen would at least be able to do something, and not just stare at this beast in a daze.

    Su Chen, however, remained calm. ¡°Don¡¯t be so anxious. I¡¯m watching carefully.¡±

    ¡°What else is there to watch?¡± Iron Cliff didn¡¯t understand.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I know that you¡¯re worried, Iron Cliff. But trust me, I¡¯m not afraid; I¡¯m just thinking.¡±

    ¡°Now is the time when we urgently need to do something.¡±

    ¡°The more urgent the issue, the calmer you need to be and the more you need to avoid making mistakes,¡± Su Chen replied.

    He stared at the sky, traces of suspicion shing across his eyes. ¡°I know that Demonic Kings are very powerful, but don¡¯t you think it¡¯s strange that this Demonic King would choose to attack Swallow River City? This city isn¡¯t small and has four major Bloodline Nobility ns, four Spirit Burning Realm cultivators, and a handful of Light Shaking Realm cultivators. Even if it is a Demonic King, it would have to expend a lot of energy and pay a significant price to destroy this ce on its own. What I¡¯m trying to say is, every Demonic King should be quite smart, right? The reason these beasts can run rampant across human territory and kill countless experts isn¡¯t just due to its strength. More importantly, they should understand the principle of preying upon the weak and avoiding the strong. Since that¡¯s the case, why would it insist on attacking a ce like Swallow River City?¡±

    ¡°Why would itt?¡± Iron Cliff asked, somewhat dazed.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Perhaps because it still has backup?¡±

    As he spoke, he closed his eyes.

    He stopped using his physical eyes to observe his surroundings and instead began to probe the surroundings with his consciousness.

    His consciousness energy had reached around 420 points, and the Nine-Eyed Jade Serpent Sash supplemented him with another four hundred.

    Someone with eight hundred points of consciousness power could already be considered a consciousness master.

    Under these circumstances, Su Chen¡¯s consciousness silently spread across the entire city.

    This consciousness web allowed Su Chen to sense the locations of the countless lifeforms in the city, and even their moods, which was represented by a color. Perhaps it was because they were panicked, but most of the lifeforms showed up as a red color representing fear.

    Even so, at this moment Su Chen could sense an even more powerful lifeform off in the distance. Its mood was ck.

    Shadowy, dark, and full of killing intent.

    Su Chen extended his consciousness over towards it. The ck lifeform suddenly trembled, as if it sensed something. It opened its mouth wide and immediately swallowed up the consciousness tendrils that Su Chen had extended in its direction.

    Su Chen cried out as he spat out a mouthful of blood. He had been immediately thrown out of his consciousness-sensing state.

    He lifted his head and yelled out loudly, ¡°Careful! There¡¯s another Demonic Beast hidden nearby!!!¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 79: Demonic Calamity 3

    Chapter 79: Demonic Cmity (3)

    As soon as the words left Su Chen¡¯s mouth, the color of the sky suddenly changed.

    An azure streak of light shed across the sky, charging over from somewhere far off in the distance. It leapt straight at Gu Yaoye, the ancestor of the Gu n.

    If it weren¡¯t for Su Chen¡¯s warning cry, this attack would have probably seriously injured Gu Yaoye.

    However, Gu Yaoye reacted as soon as Su Chen¡¯s voice reached his ears, his body suddenly turning transparent as if it had melted into thin air. He blended into the darkness and became nearly indiscernible from the night sky.

    The azure light shot over and mmed into Gu Yaoye. However, it was as if the blow hadnded in water. Ripples burst forth from the point of impact, passing through the transparent body. Gu Yaoye was still Gu Yaoye, and hadn¡¯t been injured in the slightest.

    Immediately afterwards, a razor-sharp de light also shed through the sky. The streak of azure light spun around a few times in midair, dodging the oppressive de strikes. It then returned to its original form, an azure-furred wolf.

    It looked down from its vantage point in the sky and coolly said, ¡°What a pity. I was actually discovered by such a puny human.¡±

    ¡°Lord-ss! This one¡¯s only a Lord-ss beast!¡± one of the Fang n¡¯s Origin Qi Schrs yelled out.

    ¡°Xuanmian, you guys go and take care of that guy. Leave this snake to me,¡± Gu Yaoye said coldly. With an unreadable expression, he nced at Su Chen and said, ¡°Many thanks, youngster.¡±

    Without Su Chen¡¯s reminder, Gu Yaoye would have been seriously injured if not outright killed by that sudden ambush.

    At this point, the four Spirit Burning Realm cultivators were all still battling the Lightning Serpent Demonic Emperor while the rest of the Light Shaking Realm cultivators squared off against the Azure Wolf Demonic Lord.

    Su Chen frowned as he surveyed the situation.

    The humans still surrounded the two Demonic Beasts while they fought, but the appearance of the Azure Wolf Demonic Lord had diverted a lot of the power originally used to deal with the Lightning Snake. The four Spirit Burning Realm cultivators were fighting the Demonic King, while the twenty Light Shaking Realm cultivators were fighting the Demonic Lord. It was obvious that the stronger group was also the group with the greatest deficiency.

    In other words, if there was a problem, the top would copse first. If the four Spirit Burning Realm cultivators weren¡¯t able to hold the Demonic King at bay, then Swallow River City would be totally annihted. It was for this reason that the four Spirit Burning Realm cultivators were holding on so bitterly. They just hoped that Gu Xuanmian and the others could deal with the Azure Wolf Demonic Lord quickly before helping them.

    However, the Azure Wolf Demonic Lord also knew this. It constantly leapt about in the air, just keeping them busy instead of fighting to the death. It was also waiting, but in contrast, it was waiting for the Lightning Snake to finish off the Spirit Burning Realm cultivators.

    ¡°We can¡¯t go on like this! We must help them push back the Demonic King¡¯s offense. Otherwise, Swallow River City will lose for sure!¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Master, you¡¯re not nning on going, are you? This isn¡¯t a battle we can participate in.¡± Iron Cliff was badly startled and tried to persuade him otherwise.

    It was already quite impressive that Su Chen could fight a low-tier Light Shaking Realm cultivator. Dealing with the Demonic King or Azure Wolf Demonic Lord was way out of his pay grade, but Su Chen¡¯s tone seemed like he was preparing to participate in the battle. Wasn¡¯t he just looking to die? He¡¯d be squashed if he got anywhere near it!

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say I was going to try to kill the Demonic King, but that doesn¡¯t mean that I can¡¯t help them,¡± Su Chen said as he suddenly stood up. ¡°I¡¯m going to go help them. You stay in the city and keep people safe.¡±

    As he spoke, he began to drive the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle up.

    The current sky was already inundated with a sea of fire, thunder, lightning, and de Qi......

    The sky was incredibly stormy and turbulent.

    me and frost danced in sync as lightning shed across the sky.

    An assortment of Origin Skills flew through the sky, causing it to churn with energy. The pressure in the air was immense, making it feel heavy and thick. Moving through the air was like moving through a swamp. The pressure was actually high enough that it could crush someone to death.

    This pressure forced anyone at or below the Yang Opening Realm back, preventing them from participating in the battle.

    Su Chen drove the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle into the thick of battle. Even though he was sitting in the shuttle, he felt the pressure keenly. Even so, he was not scared; rather, his desire to do battle soared.

    True heroes needed to be courageous!

    He watched as waves of energy washed over the surface of the shuttle. Countless columns of lightning shed through the sky past him, sizzling with tititing levels of energy.

    ¡°Su Chen, what are you doing here?¡± Gu Xuanchao yelled out loudly.

    At this moment, he and the others were entangled in a fierce battle with the Azure Wolf Demonic Lord. None of them were expecting Su Chen to suddenly appear out of nowhere.

    Why didn¡¯t you just stay down there? Why did youe all the way up here? Are you trying to get yourself killed?

    Su Chenpletely ignored them. He flew right for the four Spirit Burning Realm cultivators. Gu Xuanchao, Gu Xuanmian and the others were all stunned.

    Would it kill you to not be so damned stubborn?

    We don¡¯t care if you want to die, but what about our investments!?

    At this moment, Gu Yaoye and the others were facing off against the Lightning Snake Demonic King, enduring a ton of pressure. A veritable sea of lightning was consuming them, the violent energy endlessly surging towards them. The four Spirit Burning Realm cultivators were in a predicament.

    Just as Su Chen had guessed, they were trying to bitterly hold on.

    It was at this moment that Su Chen arrived on the scene, enduring the sea of lightning around him.

    However, the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle truly was fashioned from the corpse of a Demonic Emperor. It could withstand the immense pressure, but even so, Su Chen was still knocked about like a helpless bird amidst the sea of lightning. Despite this, that little bird resolutely and confidently flew without hesitation. He relentlessly charged into this bitter battle and ended up close to Gu Yaoye.

    ¡°Senior!¡± he yelled loudly.

    Gu Yaoye waspletely focused on the battle with the Lightning Snake. He had no spare energy to pay Su Chen any mind. He could only shoot him a nce, after which a shocked expression appeared on his face.

    An instantter, Su Chen opened the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle and made a throwing motion. A vial flew towards Gu Yaoye.

    ¡°Drink it!¡± Su Chen yelled loudly.

    When he saw this, Gu Yaoye decisively reached out with a strand of Origin Energy and grabbed the vial of medicine, dragging it towards himself.

    He uncorked it and took a whiff. A refreshing wave of fragrance entered his nose. Gu Yaoye felt his heart jolt slightly; he knew that this was definitely good stuff, so he tilted his head back and gulped it down as soon as it reached his hands.

    An instantter, his aura suddenly surged. He casually reached out, and a massive hand congealed in midair, intercepting a streak of lightning that was headed right at Su Chen. That column of lightning thrashed about in his hand like a small snake, but it had no way of escaping. Gu Yaoye crushed it in his hand, causing the lightning to disappear without a trace.

    Gu Yaoyeughed loudly. ¡°Not bad. I didn¡¯t expect that Junior was actually such a talented alchemist. Do you have any more of this medicine?¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Su Chenughed.

    He tossed Gu Yaoye a few vials, and then directed his Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle towards the three others.

    BOOM!

    Lightning began to rain down from the sky towards Su Chen.

    The Lightning Snake had originally treated Su Chen as a small, insignificant bug. But this little bug had suddenly proved itself to be very useful to its opponents, so naturally it had to stop him.

    Gu Yaoye unleashed three palm strikes as he said, ¡°Hurry and grab the medicine!¡±

    The other three people retreated in Su Chen¡¯s direction.

    Su Chen waved his arm, andrge quantities of medicine flew through the air.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 80: Demonic Calamity 4

    Chapter 80: Demonic Cmity (4)

    Ever since he had been set up by Wang Zhanyu so many years ago, Su Chen always kept a lot of medicine on him. And ever since he had been ambushed by the two Light Shaking Realm Sand Race cultivators in Mountain Overlook City, the quality of the medicine that Su Chen kept on him had also gone up.

    If Su Chen were to use the medicine he had prepared on himself, he could probably multiply his strength by three times. On Gu Yaoye, however, it could only raise his strength by 20%, though this did not mean that Su Chen¡¯s strength was 15% that of Gu Yaoye.

    Even so, this 20% increase was extremely timely.

    The current battle was at a critical moment. A 20% increase in strength would at least double the amount of time that they could hold on for.

    Boom, boom, boom, boom!

    The four Spirit Burning Realm cultivators attacked together. ming Origin Energy began to surge from them, shining like four torches and driving the darkness away. The mes resisted the relentless onught of lightning bolts.

    Su Chen took advantage of the opportunity to retreat. If he didn¡¯t run now, he wouldn¡¯t have a chance to do soter.

    The Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle shone brightly as it shot off into the distance.

    The Lightning Snake howled explosively as streaks of lightning shot in Su Chen¡¯s direction. A few were able to break through the ming encirclement and fly at Su Chen.

    The Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle dexterously dodged through the air.

    ¡°ROAR!¡±

    The Lightning Snake suddenly uttered a strange cry that seemed to explode right next to Su Chen¡¯s ear.

    A soul attack!

    This soul attack was quite powerful. Any normal person might have had their head explode on the spot, but Su Chen¡¯s consciousness was quite powerful. Even Gu Yaoye and the others were weaker than Su Chen in this aspect, so this soul attack didn¡¯t even make him dizzy. Su Chen just felt a bit ufortable.

    An extremely thick column of lightning shot towards the shuttle as the follow up attack.

    Unfortunately, the snake¡¯s attempt to stun Su Chen had failed, and Su Chen didn¡¯t just stand by and watch idly as the lightning surged towards him; hemanded the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle to dodge.

    He then stopped in his tracks, seemingly no longer in a hurry, and then turned around to stare at the giant snake. ¡°Did you think that you were the only one with consciousness techniques? Try mine on for size!¡±

    He opened his eyes wide and activated Fata Morgana.

    In terms ofbat ability, he would be totally steamrolled by this Demonic King, but in terms of consciousness power, he wasn¡¯t afraid at all.

    An instantter, the Lightning Snake Demonic King froze momentarily, falling into the illusion realm.

    Even though its strength allowed it to easily break free, the illusion realm still tied it up for a bit, and this bit seemed like an eternity to the experts surrounding it.

    An instantter, the Soaring Serpent, White Elephant, Sword Ape, and Sky Scorpion all took advantage of the opportunity to attack.

    That was especially true for the Jade Sword Ape. It unsheathed a sword from its back.

    All of the Demonic Beasts were mere illusory images, meaning they were just manifestations of strength. However, at this moment, illusory became reality, as if a real Jade Sword Ape had appeared. Boundless sword light expanded from the sword¡¯s edge as the Jade Sword Ape raised its arm and swung the sword through the air.

    Whoosh!

    Ancient blood sprayed through the air.

    ¡°AO!!!¡±

    The Lightning Snake cried out in pain.

    It had actually been wounded!

    A Demonic King like itself!

    What a humiliation!

    Whoosh!

    A violent wave of lightning surged forth from its mouth. This lightning was so concentrated that it became sma and forced the four Spirit Burning Realm cultivators to defend themselves with all their might. They were like boulders resolutely withstanding the waves. As for Su Chen, even though he was far away, the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle was still sent flying, and the body of the shuttle groaned underneath the load. The Origin Stones responsible for powering the defenses of the shuttle immediately were drained of more than half their reserves.

    If Su Chen¡¯s physical body had to endure this blow, he would have been seriously injured if not killed.

    ¡°Dammit,¡± Su Chen cursed, not having expected a simple Fata Morgana from him to have incurred such serious consequences.

    He didn¡¯t dare use Fata Morgana again. Instead, he turned to look towards the Azure Wolf Demonic Lord.

    If he couldn¡¯t afford to provoke a king, what about a lord?

    Another Fata Morgana was activated.

    This was a very normal decision.

    The Azure Wolf Demonic Lord was only capable of facing off against its opponents by relying on its agility. It couldn¡¯t possibly defeat so many Light Shaking Realm cultivators.

    However, this Fata Morgana from Su Chen was going to im his life.

    Just a moment¡¯s hesitation was enough for countless attacks tond on its body.

    The Azure Wolf Demonic Lord, which had been dodging all the attacks aimed at it with glee, was immediately sent flying. Its entire body was engulfed in light from the sheer amount of energy thrown at it, and blood sprayed through the sky.

    ¡°ROAR!¡± The Azure Wolf Demonic Lord howled as it retreated. Clouds began to gather and converge on its wounds, forcing the energy from the other Light Shaking Realm cultivators that had condensed inside its body to be expelled rapidly. Without the remnant energy¡¯s interference, its wounds began to rapidly close.

    Even so, Su Chen tossed out another Fata Morgana in its direction.

    The Azure Wolf froze again. Another wave of attacks mmed into its body.

    The Azure Wolf Demonic Lord was powerful ¡ª its defenses sturdy, its speed lightning-quick, its Origin Skills powerful, and its lifeforce vigorous. Even so, it was still beaten into a sorry state. Its former leisurely attitude had disappeared.

    ¡°BASTARD! I¡¯m going to kill you!¡± the Azure Wolf Demonic Lord howled as it turned into a streak of light and leapt at Su Chen.

    It was actually faster than the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle, to the point that Su Chen didn¡¯t even have enough time to fly away. The azure streak of light caught up in an instant and unleashed a w strike onto the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle¡¯s hull, which flickered with protective light as Origin Stones were consumed.

    Su Chen paid it no attention and simply waved his hand. A ton of Origin Stones ttered into the reservoir, replenishing what had been consumed.

    Are you going to oust my stores of Origin Stones?

    As he continued to resupply the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle¡¯s stores, Su Chen didn¡¯t forget to throw out Fata Morganas. In any case, he didn¡¯t have any other skills that would be useful against an enemy of this caliber, so he focused all his attention onto using that skill.

    Unsurprisingly, the Azure Wolf Demonic Lord was sent flying again.

    It charged at Su Chen again, but Su Chen froze it in ce again before it was sent flying.

    A strange scene appeared in the sky. A Demonic Lordpletely ignored all of its other opponents and concentrated all of its attacks on the weakest Yang Opening Realm cultivator.

    But it was this puny Yang Opening Realm cultivator that was relying on this Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle to freeze this Azure Wolf in ce, turning it into a target over and over. The people below were dumbfounded.

    ¡°NO!¡± the Azure Wolf Demonic Lord howled angrily.

    Upon hearing this howl, the Lightning Snake nced at the Azure Wolf, then suddenly stopped unleashing its sea of lightning and tilting its head back to let out a howl.

    This howl was different from the ones before. It didn¡¯t explode like a p of thunder next to someone¡¯s ear and was not imbued with the power of thunder. However, it was filled with prestige and majesty, as if it was the ruler of the whole world.

    In response, countless howls sounded off from their surroundings one by one.

    When everyone heard this, they yelled out simultaneously, ¡°Not good!¡±

    Countless Demonic and Vicious Beasts began pouring out of the mountains, forests, and rivers, and charging towards the battlefield.

    These Demonic Beasts did note from the territory owned by the beast but had instead been ¡°domesticated¡± as an exploited resources. However, at this moment, they were summoned by the Demonic Beast¡¯s call and were instantly thrown into a frenzy as they surged forward to attack.

    This was an ability only avable to a beast at least as powerful as a Demonic King: calling a beast horde.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 81: Demonic Calamity 5

    Chapter 81: Demonic Cmity (5)

    The king¡¯s cry pierced into the heavens.

    Even though the Demonic Beasts that lived within the confines of human territory had never seen their king before, all of their bloodlines contained atent instinct that forced them to acquiesce.

    They howled; they yelped; they rampaged.

    Beasts began to emerge from everywhere, converging towards the origin of the call.

    There were massive, three-headed birds that could generate hurricanes with a p of their wings. There were massive turtles with steel-like tails and another head at its very tip. There were spiders that crawled at lightning speed across the ground with human-like upper bodies ¡ª both male and female, and even male and femalebined. Yet another was

    a massive tree with iling limbs and branches. Seven or eight corpses still swung from the branches, obviously drained empty. Despite that, those corpses were squirming strangely.

    These were all Demonic Beasts that had been in hiding within the boundaries of human borders. Some were had hidden, some had infiltrated, and a few had even assumed human forms. Regardless, they all charged forward upon hearing the king¡¯s call. In the blink of an eye, they were everywhere.

    Gu Xuanmian and the others began to panic when they saw this.

    Most of the beasts were Vicious Beasts, and the few Demonic Beasts that came out weren¡¯t that strong, but using them as cannon fodder to hinder their movements was no simple problem. In addition, a few of the Vicious Beasts were charging directly at the city, preparing to ughter innocents.

    Tragic cries began to ring out all across the city. It was unknown how many innocent civilians had already died.

    Upon seeing this situation, Su Chen¡¯s eyes went red as he charged downwards.

    The Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle flew incredibly quickly, so it reached the ground in no time at all. In its descent, it mmed into a charging Vicious Beast, smashing it into meat paste.

    Su Chen then turned the shuttle around, unleashing a cannon strike at a Vicious Beast that had leapt onto an old man. The blow disintegrated the ck bear as blood flew everywhere.

    The Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle charged towards thergest group of Vicious Beasts. Upon reaching its destination, the door flew open, and a massive de extended out the door. The Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle whooshed past, cleaving who knows how many beasts and only leaving corpses in its wake. Blood flowed like a river as it spurted out from all the corpses.

    Both the beasts and the humans were all stunned by this savage method of killing. An instantter, the massive de flew through the air again and unleashed arcs of sword light aimed towards the beast horde.

    That wasn¡¯t all; next, four Origin Tool Swords flew through the air all on their own, killing opponent after opponent.

    There were now four more Soul Armaments.

    These four Soul Armaments had been made from the souls of the four Light Shaking Realm Sand Race cultivators. Of course, they didn¡¯t get the same treatment as Patelocke; their personalities had been wiped away during the process, only leaving behind an obedient core. This made them a tier weaker than the Mountain-Beheading de, but at the very least they could fly through the air and attack enemies on their own.

    The five Soul Armaments danced through the air, ughtering any and all beasts they encountered.

    One of the spiders charged over. Its male upper body was taut with muscture, and he wielded a long spear in his hands, which was tossed at Su Chen like a javelin. As it flew, the spear¡¯s tip began to glow with an intense energy that seemed to grant it the power to pierce metal. Su Chen stopped the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle in ce as a humanoid figure appeared behind him. Even though it was only an illusory image, when it reached out to grab the spear, the spear was stopped in ce.

    The long spear wriggled in the Primordial Blood Incarnation¡¯s hand, but the incarnation simply put its hands together and snapped the spear in half. The male spider cried out in pain. It the same time, Su Chen activated the Sky Lightning Cannon, sting that spider into smithereens.

    Next, a handsome youth charged over and opened its mouth wide at Su Chen. Its tongue was actually a thin, long poisonous snake that immediately spat a cloud of poisonous smoke at Su Chen.

    Su Chen swayed slightly. He stopped the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle in ce. The Primordial Blood Incarnation lost its support and disappeared.

    The youthughed darkly as the snake-tongue began to wrap itself around Su Chen.

    Suddenly, Su Chen opened his eyes and stared at the handsome youth. The Primordial Blood Incarnation appeared again and grasped the snake tongue. The handsome youth finally realized what was about to happen and yelled, ¡°NO!¡±

    The Primordial Blood Incarnation, just as expected, ripped the snake tongue out of the handsome youth¡¯s mouth. He spat out a mouthful of blood and cried out in pain before his face split down the middle as his skin began to peel away, eventually revealing a Snake-Tailed Scorpion. The Primordial Blood Incarnation had pulled the Snake-Tailed Scorpion¡¯s tail off, and even as it sat there crying out in pain, its tworge pincers were reaching menacingly for Su Chen.

    Su Chen tilted his hand. A wave of red flowers flew forwards.

    These red ming flowers took shape abruptly, then quickly transformed into a massive ming phoenix that crashed into the Snake-Tailed Scorpion. The mes raged against the Snake-Tailed Scorpion¡¯s body, immediately burning it to ashes. These mes were truly frightening and were likely equivalent to a Light Shaking Realm cultivator¡¯s attack power.

    At that moment, a shadow was suddenly cast on Su Chen¡¯s forehead.

    He lifted his head back and saw a massive beast descending towards him. It was a Blue-Eyed Lion, which had opened its mouth wide and wanted to swallow him whole

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t Sun Wukong[1. Probably the most well-known character from the most well-known piece of Chinese literature: Journey to the West, which chronicles the travels of a Buddhist monk and his followers on a journey to seek enlightenment. The monkey has a number of supernatural powers, including the ability to expand or shrink at will. One story involves him getting swallowed and defeating the demon from the inside-out.] and couldn¡¯t aplish a miracle after being swallowed. When faced with this gaping maw, there was only enough time for him to do one thing.

    He smacked the shuttle¡¯s body, causing it to shrink.

    With a metallic ng, the Blue-Eyed Lion opened its mouth wide and chomped down, but it wasn¡¯t able to close its mouth fully.

    The Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle was like a metal bar stuck in the lion¡¯s mouth, forcing it to stay open.

    ¡°ROAR!¡± The Blue-Eyed Lion howled in rage.

    A bloody-smelling wind surged forward from the lion¡¯s throat, almost killing him with its disgusting stench.

    Su Chen waved his arm, and an object flew into the air.

    It was a beast hide.

    This was the beast hide that he had bought from the auction in Long Coiling City.

    That beast hide immediately turned into a ck cloud when it appeared, which quickly traveled down the Blue-Eyed Lion¡¯s throat. An instantter, its throat began to rapidly decay and this rot quickly spread over its entire body.

    The Blue-Eyed Lion howled in pain. Even without the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle propping it open, there was no way it could close its mouth any longer.

    Su Chen took advantage of the opportunity to turn the shuttle around and charge out of the lion¡¯s mouth.

    He turned around and found that the ck cloud had continued to spread. The Blue-Eyed Lion rapidly decayed, only leaving behind its pearly-white bones. Even Su Chen was surprised. The poison from that Snake-Tailed Scorpion was really quite frightening.

    Yes, the poison was the Snake-Tailed Scorpion¡¯s poison, but it had run into the poison-devouring beast hide, which was its kryptonite. Not only had its poison been absorbed but it had also then been used to poison the rarely-seen high-tier Demonic Beast, the Blue-Eyed Lion, to death.

    There weren¡¯t many high-tier Demonic Beasts within the entire beast horde. These were existences as powerful as Light Shaking Realm cultivators, but Su Chen had poisoned one to death immediately.

    However, Su Chen wasn¡¯t satisfied.

    Beasts were still running wild in the city. If this continued, not many people would survive.

    As Su Chen gazed at the massacre urring all around him, he felt anger and sorrow.

    He gritted his teeth, pulled out a vial of medicine, and poured it onto the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle.

    Beast-Drawing Medicine.

    The Beast-Drawing Medicine was used to attract beasts. Normally, it was effective even in small doses, but Su Chen had dumped a whole vial of medicine onto the shuttle.

    He still felt like this was too little and pulled out two more vials of medicine. All of the Beast-Drawing Medicine he was carrying was poured onto the exterior of the shuttle.

    The dense scent began to spread, and all of the beasts began to move as they charged frantically in Su Chen¡¯s direction.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 82: Demonic Calamity 6

    Chapter 82: Demonic Cmity (6)

    On that day, the citizens of Swallow River City saw the most courageous thing they had ever seen ¡ª a Cloud Piercing shuttle flying through the air as arge horde of beasts trailed behind.

    They were howling and frothing at the mouth as they chased the shuttle in a mindless frenzy.

    They had gathered into a mob as they all charged at that shuttle, as if it were some kind of delicacy. They had given up on all other targets.

    And behind the beast horde were arge number of Origin Qi Schrs chasing them and attacking wantonly.

    The sounds of battle and thunderous explosions rang throughout the air, apanying the drumming beat of hordes of beasts charging across the surface of the ground.

    The Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle very quickly reached the outskirts of Swallow River City. He couldn¡¯t fly too high or too quickly.

    If he flew too high, the beasts wouldn¡¯t be able to reach him and would soon give up and return to the city; if he flew too fast, the beasts wouldn¡¯t be able to smell the Beast-Drawing Medicine once he got out of range and would also give up on their pursuit.

    As such, he needed to carefully control his speed and height so that the beasts would be able to see him but not catch up.

    He weaved back and forth as the beast hordes chased after him like a leaf being blown along by violent winds.

    The beasts weren¡¯t idiots, especially the Demonic Beasts. They had an umonly sharp intellect that rivaled that of a human¡¯s.

    They didn¡¯t only chase the shuttle; there were other things they could do.

    BOOM!

    A streak of lightning mmed into the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle¡¯s body.

    Even though it wasn¡¯t from the Lightning Serpent Demonic King, sparks still flew off the protective barrier of the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle.

    The shuttle¡¯s barrier wasn¡¯t destroyed by the attack, but it did rock slightly, causing it to m into a tree before continuing to advance.

    Next, a cloud of dark fog surged forward.

    This ck cloud floated very low above the ground, only about 100 feet or so. However, it carried with it a frighteningly destructive aura. It flew above the shuttle, drizzling yellow droplets of liquid down onto the shuttle. When these dropletsnded on the barrier, they sizzled corrosively. Su Chen was forced to use a bunch more Origin Stones to sustain the shuttle¡¯s barriers.

    The Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle was powered by Origin Stones. In theory, as long as there were enough Origin Stones, it would never be destroyed.

    However, theory was just theory. An extremely powerful attack could outstrip the barrier¡¯s ability to absorb Origin Energy and replenish itself, and there were also a few attacks that could pierce through barriers to attack the shuttle. And most importantly, Su Chen didn¡¯t have an unlimited supply of Origin Stones.

    Yes, he had a lot of money. Even now, he still had around 1.2 billion Origin Stones.

    However, he couldn¡¯t possibly keep all of those Origin Stones on himself.

    Most of the Origin Stones were kept in a bank or within the Dreamrealm. With enough time, he could pull them out, and then he would be able to fight with these beasts for as long as necessary.

    However, he didn¡¯t have this opportunity, so he was burning through the Origin Stones he had on hand quite rapidly.

    ¡°It seems like I still need to prepare more medicines in the future, as well as a bunch of Origin Stones,¡± Su Chenughed bitterly.

    He nced behind him. The beast horde was closing in on him.

    The dark cloud in the sky had dissipated after expending all of its energy, but next an extremelyrge fireball came crashing towards the shuttle.

    The fireball was asrge as a house and hade from the mouth of an Armor-ted ming Rhinoceros. It had only expanded after it left the rhinoceros¡¯s mouth. Finally, it began to descend like a meteor shower onto the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle. The shuttle was tossed about violently in the sky as it rolled and trembled. Su Chen was sent for quite the spin.

    The Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle¡¯s energy was drained rapidly. In the blink of an eye, two more Demonic Beasts closed in.

    Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

    Seven or eight streaks of white lightning mmed into the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle, causing it to tremble even more violently. Even worse, some of the attack power had snuck through the barrier andnded on the body of the shuttle, causing the shuttle itself to sustain some damage.

    ¡°Damn!¡± Su Chen hurriedly tried to bring the shuttle back under control and stop the jolting. Because he was using his consciousness energy to control the shuttle, waves of consciousness attacks came at him one after another. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that his consciousness power was incredibly strong, he probably would have passed out already.

    ¡°Su Chen! Hurry, fly into the air!¡± Gu Qingluo¡¯s anxious voice came to him.

    She was currently flying through the air towards him as fast as she could.

    Because of the attraction of the Beast-Drawing Medicine, the Demonic Beasts werepletely ignoring her and continuing to chase after Su Chen.

    Su Chen nced at her and smiled slightly.

    He knew that Gu Qingluo woulde for him. If this were to continue, he wouldn¡¯t be able to hold on forever. However, leaving the whole city and everyone in it to die was something that he couldn¡¯t bring himself to do.

    He still hadn¡¯t forgotten the promise that he had made.

    Protection was the focus of his original promise and the foundation of his vow.

    How could he back down now that his promise was being put to the test?

    As such, he only smiled slightly and continued to drive the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle onwards.

    Countless Demonic and Vicious Beasts chased after him as the attacks came in relentless waves. However, Su Chen felt no fear.

    He could see that, because of him, the human Origin Qi Schrs were furiously hacking away at the beast horde, and the number of beasts was decreasing at a noticeable rate. In addition, the number of human casualties had fallen to a minimum.

    Those normal mortal civilians were also saved.

    And this was all because of him.

    That was enough.

    That was worth it.

    The smile on Su Chen¡¯s face widened.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Violent waves of energy continued to m into the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle, which only caused it tremble even more violently.

    Bang!

    The barrier shattered.

    As thest Origin Stone was expended, the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle finally lost its source of power.

    Not only that, but the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle also began to slowly fall out of the sky.

    Countless gaping maws were waiting for it on the ground.

    Just as the shuttle was about to m into the beasts, Su Chen shot out of the shuttle.

    The human and the shuttle separated.

    ¡°ROAR!¡± A massive Demonic Beast leapt at the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle.

    The Beast-Drawing Medicine had been poured onto the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle, and its attractive ability was almost irresistible.

    However, there were still a few Vicious Beasts that leapt at Su Chen. Having been inside the shuttle himself, the scent of the Beast-Drawing Medicine had inevitably diffused onto his body as well.

    Even though the scent was not nearly as thick as that of the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle, it was still enough to attractrge quantities of Demonic Beasts and Vicious Beasts.

    ¡°SU CHEN!¡± Gu Qingluo cried out in despair and sorrow when she saw this.

    When faced with that many beasts, even a Light Shaking Realm cultivator wouldn¡¯t be able to escape, let alone someone of Su Chen¡¯s strength.

    The others were also extremely worried for Su Chen.

    Everyone knew that if it weren¡¯t for Su Chen, they would have already sustained serious losses.

    At this moment, they had no wish other than that Su Chen would be able to survive.

    Su Chen shot a wistful nce at the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle ¡ª he probably wouldn¡¯t be able to save that Cloud-Piercing Shuttle any longer.

    Then, he reached out his hand andmanded, ¡°de. To me!¡±

    The Mountain-Beheading de shone with a piercing light and shot towards Su Chen like an arrow, cleaving apart an unknown number of Vicious Beasts on its way.

    It flew to Su Chen¡¯s side, who grabbed the de. A violent aura began to emanate from his body.

    The massive humanoid illusory image appeared behind him again, as if it were a titan holding up the heavens and stopping it from crashing down onto the earth.

    At this moment, the Primordial Blood Incarnation¡¯s body expanded to nearly three hundred feet, and the Mountain-Beheading de grew to a correspondingly gigantic size.

    ¡°Want to eat me? Fine! But you might find that I¡¯m much too big to swallow!¡± Su Chen said with a slight smile.

    The de whizzed through the air!

    Su Chen exuded a thick desire to do battle. The brilliant de light shed through the sky. Rivers of beast blood began to pour onto the ground, and the pained howls of beasts could be clearly heard for miles.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 83: Demonic Calamity 7

    Chapter 83: Demonic Cmity (7)

    The moment the de strike surged forward, everyone suddenly saw the sky lighten up quite a bit.

    It was like an arc of lightning, shining harshly against the backdrop of a dark night sky.

    Then, a wave of red began to spread like ink across the sky.

    The nearby spectators watched as a human figure appeared amidst the horde of beasts and began wreaking havoc, swinging a massive de back and forth. Razor-sharp waves ofpressed energy swept through the horde of beasts, eliciting enraged howls as the battle raged.

    After all the Light Shaking Realm and higher level cultivators rose to the skies to fight with the Demonic King and Demonic Lord, the highest ranking cultivators in the city naturally became that of the Yang Opening Realm.

    Even so, they could only watch as someone who seemed as powerful as a Light Shaking Realm cultivator unleashed a bloody onught against the beast horde, seemingly transcending all possible limits.

    This boundless fighting intent was converted into a pure killing energy, and the massive Primordial Blood Incarnation was like a fantastical being descending from the heavens, ruthlessly swinging its massive de and reaping the souls of any living being that approached him.

    Ten or so Vicious Beasts, along with a few Demonic Beasts, all charged at Su Chen.

    Su Chen gestured with his left hand. Wave after wave of fiery flowers appeared in the air, then converged to form a ming phoenix.

    The ming phoenix surged into the sky, waves of mes rolling off its wings that immediately swallowed up the surrounding waves of beasts.

    As the mes began to burn, the Vicious Beasts were immediately turned into ashes.

    ¡°Nice!¡±

    The people worrying on his behalf behind him cried out in happiness.

    Regardless of the death and destruction around them, even more beasts charged forwards fearlessly.

    The Beast Drawing Medicine had attracted two main targets.

    The more powerful Demonic Beasts were chomping at the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle, while the weaker ones chased after Su Chen.

    They might be weaker than him, but their numbers were far superior.

    Behind him,rge groups of Origin Qi Schrs were ughtering the Beast Race from the rear, so there weren¡¯t too many remaining now. Perhaps they would bepletely wiped out not too long from now.

    However, to Su Chen, there wasn¡¯t much of a difference.

    The remaining beasts were all charging in his direction. He wasn¡¯t confident that he would be able to hold on at that point, and wait for the rest of the Origin Qi Schrs to reach him.

    He could only fight as hard as he could right now.

    ¡°Su Chen, hold on!¡± Gu Qingluo yelled loudly.

    She attacked furiously, but there were so many Vicious Beasts that it was impossible for her to charge all the way over there.

    She could only pray desperately.

    Pray that Su chen would be able to hold on for just a bit longer and that the stronger Demonic Beasts wouldn¡¯t find Su Chen.

    However, fate was rarely ever so merciful.

    A Chain-Tailed Tortoise charged at Su Chen.

    It was a mid-tier Demonic Beast, and a strong one for that tier. Its strength wasparable to that of a low-tier Light Shaking Realm cultivator.

    It was originally charging at the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle, but it had been attracted by the scent of Su Chen¡¯s boiling Blood Qi. It recognized that consuming this human would be of great benefit to it. As such, it waggled its way towards Su Chen, its massive tail arched high in the air. A bloody aura emanated from its body as it ran forward. The de moved in response, its strike forming an invisible streak that rippled across the beast¡¯s tail, sending the chain-like tail flying. The tortoise howled in pain and tried to draw its head into its shell, wanting to retreat. However, the razor-sharp de light stabbed forwards again, mming into the hard tortoise shell. With a crack, the tortoise shell split in two, and the de light prated deep into the shell. Such a powerful Demonic Beast had been cleaved in two immediately.

    This scene shocked everyone present. This was a beast as strong as a low-tier Light Shaking Realm cultivator, and yet it had still been cleaved in two with a single blow?

    Su Chen¡¯s face paled slightly.

    Even he hadn¡¯t anticipated being able to release such a powerful de strike.

    ¡°Is this the strength I can unleash when I am at the edge between life and death?¡± Su Chen seemed to have realized something.

    He had always been hoping to participate in an actual life-or-death battle at some point so that he could experience the burst of strength that came from being in such a situation.

    However, because of the way that he always acted, he never had the opportunity ¡ª after all, he could not pointlessly throw himself into a perilous situation.

    Now, however, he felt it.

    He felt the pressure of the life-or-death situation squeezing out even more potential from his body.

    This was a kind oftent potential hidden in his body. It was a real, powerful, heroic kind of strength.

    He finally understood.

    He understood why contemporary Origin Skills had superseded Ancient Arcana Techniques and be the main cultivation system of the human race.

    Because only in this way would the hidden potential of humans be drawn out!

    This was something that Ancient Arcana Techniques could never achieve.

    ¡°This kind of hot-blooded style of fighting...... It¡¯s very good!¡± Su Chen sighed with praise. Every cell in his body was full of energy, as if they were rejoicing at his rebirth, growth, advancement, and other simr feelings.

    In any case, this sudden explosion of power was actually the result of his umted knowledge; it had manifested itself in this life-or-death situation. It was also the foundation of the human race¡¯s strength.

    Su Chen understood. He began tough with joy.

    The Mountain-Beheading de began to glow once more.

    A violent wave of wind surged forwards in all directions, and fresh blood spilled everywhere.

    Su Chen began to release all the energy in his body. His bloodthirst and anger pushed him to use every technique at his disposal. There was no more careful calction or nning involved; all he felt was the hot blood coursing through his body, pushing it to its limits.

    He was experiencing the feeling of truly letting loose with all his might, totally immersed in the rush of attacking recklessly.

    de Qi recklessly flew through the air, slicing countless beasts to shred. One powerful beast after another toppled to the ground.

    The bystanders watched as Su Chen walked amongst the beast horde like a god of death, reaping life after life. The Mountain-Beheading de shed and sliced everywhere, leaving behind deep scars on the ground.

    The hills had transformed into ins and the ins into valleys. How was this a Yang Opening Realm expert? He was obviously at least in the Light Shaking Realm.

    No, perhaps not even a Light Shaking Realm cultivator would have so many techniques they could use or attack with such overwhelming might.

    Waves of mes rushed forward as de Qi soared recklessly through the air, threatening to burn apart the very atmosphere itself though they left as quickly as they hade. The Primordial Blood Incarnation seemed capable of utilizing the profound truths of the universe.

    In that instant, Su Chen was like an immovable titan, spilling rivers of blood.

    He didn¡¯t know how many times he swung his de or used an Origin Skill. All he knew was that, as he fought, the number of the beast horde was beginning to dwindle, and he himself was growing more and more tired.

    Towards the end, his Origin Energy had been totally drained. Su Chen had no way of using any more Origin Skills and could only rely on ferociously attacking with his de. Even so, the beast horde didn¡¯t dare get too close to him.

    Even these low-intelligence beasts knew the meaning of fear. No matter how strong the allure of the Beast-Drawing Medicine was, it couldn¡¯t triumph over the innate feeling of fear.

    They paced around him and eventually backed off.

    The main reason was that the rest of the human Origin Qi Schrs had finally arrived.

    They had ughtered their way past theyers of hindrances and pushed through from the rear, killing off the rest of the Demonic Beasts.

    The three-headed eagle, the eight-legged spider, and the walking tree were all wiped out by the furious onught of the human Origin Qi Schrs. Some had even died with fragments of the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle still in their mouths.

    The beast horde was finally driven back.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t actually aware of this. He was still heroically waving his sword.

    When Gu Qingluo rushed over to him, Su Chenpletely ignored her and continued to swing his sword.

    Gu Qingluo was almost hit by him. She cried out, ¡°Su Chen, it¡¯s me!¡±

    ¡°Qingluo?¡± Su Chen froze slightly, and his muddled vision became slightly clearer. He stopped waving his de, and a familiar, blurry image appeared in front of his eyes.

    ¡°Qingluo, it¡¯s you...... so that must mean that we¡¯ve won.¡± He smiled slightly.

    ¡°Yes, we won,¡± Gu Qingluo wept as she embraced Su Chen.

    Su Chen finally rxed, and he toppled to the ground.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 84: Su Chen is a Good Kid

    Su Chen woke up two dayster.

    When he opened his eyes, he discovered that he was lying on a bed crafted from redwood. A soft, muslin canopy was draped across the bed, and the room was filled with the smell of a light incense. This incense, along with the pink bedding and the bejeweled mirror in the room, clearly indicated that he was in a girl¡¯s room.

    He gingerly sat up, trying to remember what had happened, but no matter how hard he thought, he could not recall anything after he had passed out. All he remembered was that he seemed to have passed out in Gu Qingluo¡¯s embrace.

    ¡°Qingluo!¡± When he thought of Gu Qingluo, Su Chen involuntarily cried out.

    This sound reached outside the room, and a person rushed into the room and stared at Su Chen, joy appearing in their eyes. It was precisely Gu Qingluo.

    She immediately leapt into Su Chen¡¯s embrace. ¡°You¡¯re finally awake!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine! I feel great right now,¡± Su Chen said tofort Gu Qingluo.

    He wasn¡¯t lying. At this moment, his consciousness felt incredibly sharp, and his entire body was full of energy.

    ¡°I know,¡± Gu Qingluo replied as she wiped away some tears. ¡°The doctor said that you were just too tired and that you would be fine after a nap. But who would expect that you would sleep for two straight days.¡±

    ¡°Two days, huh?¡± Su Chen murmured. ¡°So how did the battle from two days ago turn out?¡±

    Gu Qingluo replied, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. We won. It¡¯s all because of you that the beast race wasn¡¯t able to wreak too much havoc.¡±

    ¡°And the Demonic King and Azure Wolf Demonic Lord?¡±

    Gu Qingluo replied, ¡°The Azure Wolf Demonic Lord was badly wounded because of you. In the end, it couldn¡¯t handle Father and the other¡¯sbined attacks, so it ran away. It was so fast that no one could do anything to stop it. However, that Demonic King was doomed. Even though it was powerful, its speed was only average, and thus there was no possible way for it to escape. Even so, fighting it was still quite frightening, and we weren¡¯t able to take it down by ourselves. It took two of the nearby cities sensing the changes here and them sending a few more Spirit Burning Realm cultivators to y that beast.¡±

    When Su Chen heard that they needed the aid of Spirit Burning Realm cultivators from the neighboring cities to kill the Demonic King, he could only sigh in wonder at how strong these Demonic Kings were.

    An entire city had been mobilized to deal with a Demonic King. Who knows what might have happened if a Demonic Emperor had shown up? And there were still many Demonic Kings and Emperors still amongst the beast race. No wonder humans were unable topletely stop the beast race from infiltrating human borders. They needed thebined efforts of five different races just to secure a territory that they could call their own.

    ¡°Right, where am I right now?¡± Su Chen asked as he thought of something.

    ¡°My room, of course,¡± Gu Qingluo stated matter-of-factly.

    Su Chen was taken aback. ¡°You mean that I¡¯ve been sleeping in your room for the past few days?¡±

    Gu Qingluo nodded seriously.

    Su Chen¡¯s expression immediately changed. ¡°Not good! If that¡¯s the case, then won¡¯t Patriarch find out about the rtionship between me and you?¡±

    ording to Su Chen¡¯s n, now was not yet the time for him to appear on the scene!

    However, Gu Qingluo had arranged for him to sleep in her room. The rtionship between them had probably been revealed to everyone by now.

    ¡°Uncle, do you not understand? This was all a ploy!¡±

    Within the main hall of the Gu n, Zhou Qingkuang stood there, staring angrily at Gu Xuanmian.

    Gu Xuanmian drank his tea calmly. ¡°Understand what?¡±

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± Zhou Qingkuang said loudly. ¡°This is all a part of Su Chen¡¯s scheme!¡±

    He took two steps forward. ¡°What reckless purchases? What Flight Network? It¡¯s all fake, a scheme! Su Chen¡¯s true goal has always been Qingluo. He wants to marry Qingluo, so he created a pretense of being a businessman so that he could tie the Gu n to himself via profits. I was also dyed by situation after situation beforeing here because of Su Chen¡¯s silent interference behind the scenes.¡±

    Gu Xuanmian expressionlessly yed with the dregs of tea in his teacup. ¡°Oh? Is that so? Then I treated you wrongly before this.¡±

    ¡°Why are you still acting so indifferently, Uncle?¡± Zhou Qingkuang took two more steps forward. ¡°Do you not understand yet? Qingluo and he have known each other for a long time, and they have been having secret rtions since a long time ago! Even that Long Shaoyou is Su Chen¡¯s subordinate. I did some investigating. Long Shaoyou is from Clear River City, and beforeing here Su Chen was Clear River City¡¯s Knowledge Executor! And he and Gu Qingluo were even ssmates at the Hidden Dragon Institute! Do you get it now? This is all a devious scheme! Su Chen¡¯s the one pulling the strings behind the scene!¡±

    Gu Xuanmian nced at Zhou Qingkuang, a slight smile on his lips. I didn¡¯t expect your investigations to be this thorough.¡±

    ¡°I cannot possibly lose without even being aware of who I lost to!¡± Zhou Qingkuang replied. ¡°I admit that I was wrong in handling the matter with Long Shaoyou. However, afterwards, I felt that something was fishy, so I secretly sent people to investigate. And through that, I eventually discovered the link between Long Shaoyou and Su Chen. When I put that fact together with Su Chen¡¯s recent actions, it became easy to guess his motives. I wasn¡¯t sure at first, but after the battle with the Beast Race, Qingluo¡¯s actions opened my eyes. When you factor in the fact that Su Chen and Qingluo are both from the Hidden Dragon Institute, I would have to be an idiot to not recognize what had happened!¡±

    His words were filled with anger.

    Gu Xuanmian lowered his teacup. ¡°Then you missed one thing in your investigations.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Zhou Qingkuang was stunned.

    Gu Xuanmian said, ¡°Qingluo and Su Chen didn¡¯t actually meet each other first at the Hidden Dragon Institute.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Zhou Qingkuang was stunned.

    Gu Xuanmian said, ¡°Su Chen is from Northface City, in the Three Mountains Region. He¡¯s the sessor of the Su n, one of the fourrge bloodline-less ns in the area, but he seems to have cut ties with them and no longer visits them much. Because he had lost his eyesight early on, his n didn¡¯t treat him well. But once he recovered his eyesight, he naturally cut off his rtions with them. At that point in time, Qingluo was in Northface City¡¯s Lin n under my orders to train the Soaring Serpent. He and Qingluo met each other there, and Qingluo even taught him the Flying Flower Hands and Snaking Mist Steps then.¡±

    When Zhou Qingkuang heard this, he felt his heart plummet. ¡°You...... You¡¯ve known this all along?¡±

    Gu Xuanmian sighed. ¡°If even you know to carefully investigate things when something feels fishy, how could I not look into things closely? You¡¯re absolutely right. Su Chen was scheming from the very beginning. Every disaster you encountered was also set up by him in order to have me to annul your engagement with Qingluo.¡±

    Zhou Qingkuang grew excited. ¡°Since Uncle understands, then things couldn¡¯t be better! We should seize Su Chen now and hand him over to the government for punishment.¡±

    ¡°Seize him? Why?¡±

    ¡°Because he schemed against me with malicious intent!¡±

    Gu Xuanmian stared at Zhou Qingkuang as if he were looking at an idiot. ¡°How did he scheme against you with malicious intent? Using Long Shaoyou? Yes, he used Long Shaoyou as bait, but did he force you to attempt killing Long Shaoyou and plundering his wealth?¡±

    Zhou Qingkuang froze. ¡°I...... this......¡±

    Gu Xuanmian said, ¡°You have nothing to say? Don¡¯t me someone else for exploiting your own greed. This matter was your fault in the first ce. You can¡¯t shift the me to anyone else.¡±

    ¡°But Su Chen and Gu Qingluo have known each other for a long time, and they still chose to keep that a secret from you......¡±

    Gu Xuanmian interrupted him. ¡°He never said that he didn¡¯t know Qingluo. Actually, the first day I met with him, he told me that he knew Qingluo because they were ssmates at the Hidden Dragon Institute. It was just that back then I thought their rtionship was nothing more than that of ssmates; I never knew that they were actually this close.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it a sin for them to have a secret rtionship like this?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a sin to have secret rtionships?¡± Gu Xuanmian stared at Zhou Qingkuang patronizingly. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then there are too many sinners on this continent.¡±

    Zhou Qingkuang stared at Gu Xuanmian in shock. He really would be an idiot if he couldn¡¯t sense the sudden change in Gu Xuanmian¡¯s attitude.

    Gu Xuanmian said, ¡°True, Qingluo didn¡¯t tell me about her rtionship with Su Chen, but so what? What youth doesn¡¯t have a romantic period in their life? Young girls tend to be emotional and romantic. Her having feelings for one or two boys is not strange at all as long as she can keep her bottom line safe. Qingluo is still a virgin, so she hasn¡¯t overstepped the boundaries I have set for her. I have no reason to punish her. In addition......¡±

    Gu Xuanmian paused and then said the most important reason. ¡°In addition, Su Chen is a good kid.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 85: The Correct Decision

    Good kid!

    As soon as Zhou Qingkuang heard these words, he felt his heart tremble. The battle had more than likely been lost.

    Gu Xuanmian said slowly, ¡°I know that you¡¯re not satisfied with this oue, but consider what he did when the Beast Race attacked the city. Without him, Swallow River City probably would¡¯ve fallen to the Beast Race¡¯s onught, and we might not even be here having this conversation. It was Su Chen who saved Swallow River City, helped the Gu n¡¯s ancestor, helped me, and saved all of the citizens in Swallow River City. Where were you when he was risking his life to save others?¡±

    ¡°I......¡± Zhou Qingkuang was immediately at a loss for words.

    When the Beast Race had attacked the city, most of the Origin Qi Schrs had set out to protect the city. However, most did not mean all.

    There were always a few people who shirked their responsibilities and betrayed the hopes of themoners.

    Zhou Qingkuang was one of them.

    During that time, he had packed everything up and ran outside of the city to hide. How could he possibly have cared for the civilians inside the city?

    Gu Xuanmian despised him for this reason.

    Zhou Qingkuang angrily said, ¡°I¡¯m not from Swallow River City anyways, and Uncle had just annulled the engagement. I felt unjustly wronged and had no heart to fight for Swallow River City. I confess that this was a bit wrong of me, but my act is also pardonable!¡±

    ¡°Whether or not it is pardonable isn¡¯t up to you to decide, but the civilians,¡± Gu Xuanmian said casually. ¡°You don¡¯t need to try to keep anything hidden. Of course, just as you said, you¡¯re not someone from Swallow River City, so no one can say much even if you weren¡¯t willing to ce your life on the line for Swallow River City. But if that¡¯s the case, how can you even think about marrying someone from Swallow River City?¡±

    ¡°Then what about Su Chen? That cheater is suited to marry someone from Swallow River City?¡± Zhou Qingkuang said harshly.

    ¡°Cheater?¡± Gu Xuanmian¡¯s eyebrow bunched up. ¡°I admit that his goal was never to set up a Flight Network but instead to irreversibly tie himself and the Gu n together, making it easier for him to try and take Gu Qingluo for himself. However, this doesn¡¯t mean that the Flight Network itself is a scam; it¡¯s just that his priorities were never ced there, but thework itself is quite real. Today, the Network is expanding rapidly and developing quite well, and the investments we made are already beginning to produce returns. Everything that needs to be done has been done, so all we can do now is wait. As such, Su Chen¡¯s Flight Network is more of an overt plot than a covert one. Once the four Bloodline Nobility ns in Swallow River City decided to invest in this business venture, we were tied together with him, making it impossible for us to easily back out.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯ve changed your mind? Even though you knew Su Chen was lying, you¡¯re still willing to ept him? Even if he doesn¡¯t have a bloodline? Even if the Gu n will beughed at by everyone because of this?¡± Zhou Qingkuang said incisively.

    Bang!

    With a clear, resounding p, Zhou Qingkuang was sent flying.

    Gu Xuanmian slowly pulled his hand back and said calmly, ¡°This p is for your disrespect towards your elders. But since you are still young, and your father and I have some history, I will answer your questions. Yes, the biggest issue with Su Chen is his background. He is someone without a bloodline. But you forgot two important things.¡±

    Gu Xuanmian raised a finger. ¡°First of all, even though he doesn¡¯t have a bloodline, he has long since surpassed the limitations of a bloodline and even that of a cultivation base, evidenced by his strength that seems to be on par with that of a low-tier Light Shaking Realm cultivator. During the battle with the Beast Race, the powerfulbat ability he demonstrated should be proof enough of this point. Because of this, calling Su Chen a dragon amongst men wouldn¡¯t be too excessive. What does someone like this, who has no bloodline but is even stronger than many people with a bloodline, have to be ashamed of?¡±

    Gu Xuanmian raised another finger. ¡°Second, he saved the citizens in the city, earning their respect and gratitude. No onecks praise for him; they know that he has no bloodline but his incrediblebat ability allowed him to do something that many people from Bloodline Nobility ns couldn¡¯t even dream of doing. With knowledge of this incident being so widespread, do you really think it would be shameful for us to betroth Gu Qingluo to him?¡±

    Zhou Qingkuang was stunned.

    The biggest barrier to Gu Qingluo and Su Chen¡¯s marriage was face!

    Bloodline Nobility ns all treasured their face. Betrothing someone from a Bloodline Nobility n to someone without a bloodline was marrying into a lower social ss, a clear sign that the n was weakening. As such, Bloodline Nobility ns wouldn¡¯t easily permit such a marriage to ur.

    However, if a person without a bloodline proved his own strength, status, and prestige, and received acknowledgement, respect, adoration, and eptance from the public, then there was no humiliation to speak of.

    His wanton purchasing of the nearby businesses gave the people of Swallow River City a deep impression of his wealth; the Beast Race¡¯s invasion of the city made the countless people that he saved feel a deep adoration and respect for him.

    If people stillughed at someone like this being married to a Bloodline Nobility n, then was there any reason left to be found on the entire continent?

    Unless everyone had somehow be mentally challenged?

    Because of this, Gu Xuanmian agreed, as did the n Rtive Society.

    Despite knowing that Su Chen and Gu Qingluo had been involved secretly for a long time and that Su Chen had done everything with an ulterior motive, they still epted him.

    ¡°You have every right to be upset and angry over Su Chen using such methods to get close to the Gu n. But as a father, watching a heroic, affectionate, and resolute young man go to such pains to pursue my daughter, I have no reason to be angry. His ability to trick me is also just a demonstration of his skill. I¡¯m very impressed at his shrewdness despite his tender age. He thinks through every situation carefully but harbors great ambitions. He does thingswfully and is able to control himself. How could I not like a person like him? If I didn¡¯t like him, there must be something wrong with me, right?¡± Gu Xuanmian said candidly.

    Zhou Qingkuang was bbergasted. ¡°That¡¯s why you aren¡¯t angry even though he lied to you.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m not angry. Actually, I¡¯m delighted,¡± Gu Xuanmian replied. ¡°I¡¯m not the only one, either; everyone from the Gu n feels this way. They are even jealous and envious of me. If I didn¡¯t ept him as my son-inw, there would probably be a fight in the Gu n over him.¡±

    Zhou Qingkuang¡¯s entire body trembled.

    He couldn¡¯t ept this answer.

    Even so, this was the cold, harsh, painful reality.

    ¡°Good! Very good! I¡¯ll remember this!¡± Zhou Qingkuangughed harshly twice as he stumbled backwards. ¡°You Gu n people are all a bunch of cheaters, a bunch of lowlives, a bunch of people that throw morality out the window as soon as a hint of profitse your way!¡±

    His anger had reached a point that he was no longer able to control what he said.

    Gu Xuanmian shook his head. ¡°I understand how you feel, but that doesn¡¯t mean that you can disrespect my n like this. Considering my rtionship with your father, I can let what you just said slide by, but if you dare spout such nonsense again, don¡¯t me me for being impolite. Right, news just arrived that Su Chen woke up. Seven dayster, Qingluo will be wed to Su Chen. I wanted to let you know so that you can act appropriately. My advice is for you to leave as soon as possible so that the peaceful rtionship between our ns can be preserved. As for the presents you brought with you, you can take them back with you.¡±

    Upon hearing this, Zhou Qingkuang knew that the situation was now irreversible.

    He let out a long sigh. ¡°I understand Uncle¡¯s words. Since that¡¯s the case, I, Qingkuang, won¡¯t ask for anything else. But since Qingluo is going to be married and I am still here, then I think I should still attend. Uncle, will you give me this opportunity?¡±

    Upon hearing this, Gu Xuanmian frowned.

    Just based on his reasoning, he didn¡¯t want Zhou Qingkuang to remain here as he might say something outrageous during the wedding ceremony that would ruin the atmosphere or harm their reputation.

    However, Zhou Qingkuang was still the sessor to the Zhou n, and the Zhou n and the Gu n still interacted quite often.

    Even if the engagement had been annulled, the Zhou n still needed to be given a reason and an apology. If he didn¡¯t even let Zhou Qingkuang attend the wedding ceremony, that might be considered too heartless, and it would create problems for the Gu n if word ever spread.

    After thinking about it for a moment, he finally nodded and said, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, you may stay.¡±

    ¡°Many thanks for your agreement, Uncle.¡± Zhou Qingkuang bowed and left.

    Gu Xuanmian said as he watched Zhou Qingkuang¡¯s departing figure, ¡°Tell the subordinates to keep an eye on Zhou Qingkuang. Don¡¯t let him do anything that might ruin the wedding.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir,¡± a voice from the darkness replied.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 86: Well-Rounded

    ¡°So the Gu n already knows about our rtionship and has silently given their approval?¡± Su Chen said as his head rested in Gu Qingluo¡¯sp.

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Gu Qingluo giggled. ¡°You¡¯re quite lucky. We were able to resolve all the issues once the Beast Race attacked. If the Lightning Snake hade just half a year earlier, you might not have had an opportunity to show off.¡±

    ¡°Oh, then I would¡¯ve given up on everything and taken you far, far away. I trust that the Gu n wouldn¡¯t have had any spare energy to stop us at that point in time.¡±

    Gu Qingluo hit him as she rolled her eyes, but she suddenly noticed that Su Chen seemed to be spacing out and didn¡¯t want to talk.

    ¡°Howe you don¡¯t seem happy?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Of course I am.¡± Su Chen squeezed out a smile.

    How could he be happy?

    The matter with Zhu Xianyao hadn¡¯t been resolved yet.

    He had expended a ton of effort to settle matters on the Gu n¡¯s side, but had yet to take care of the issue with Zhu Xianyao.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know what would happen if he were to bring up the matter with Zhu Xianyao now. The dust hasn¡¯t settled yet, so perhaps it¡¯s best to wait, he thought to himself.

    Su Chen knew that he was being a bit selfish and unfair to Gu Qingluo, but he didn¡¯t want to give up on either Gu Qingluo or Zhu Xianyao. As such, this was his only course of action.

    Was this also called not giving up?

    Dammit!

    Su Chen cursed himself.

    Major issues aside, he was still a selfish person on the inside.

    He felt so conflicted.

    On one hand, he was a saint responsible for improving the quality of tens of thousands of peoples¡¯ lives. On the other, he was a selfish person.

    But this was just human nature, wasn¡¯t it?

    This wasn¡¯t really a conflict; it was just the coexistence and rtionship between morals and innate human nature.

    Saving tens of thousands of civilians was a matter of morality, the basic foundation of being a human. Doing things for personal profit, on the other hand, was instinctive, a manifestation of a lifeform¡¯s advanced development.

    Since the two of them coexisted, it often seemed like they were fighting against one another.

    Oh, what was the point of thinking about this right now?

    There was no need to feel so gloomy with such a happy asion at hand.

    He opened his eyes and nced at Gu Qingluo. ¡°So in a few days you and I will officially be engaged?¡±

    ¡°What? Are you not happy about it?¡± Gu Qingluo asked.

    ¡°No, I just want some of the benefits of being someone¡¯s fianc¨¦,¡± Su Chenughed.

    ¡°What benefits?¡± Gu Qingluo asked foolishly.

    When she acted silly, she seemed a bit like Night Demon.

    Su Chen puckered his lips.

    Gu Qingluo understood and shot him a hostile nce.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t get the kiss he had been waiting for and felt a little disappointed. However, he uncharacteristically didn¡¯t pester her any further.

    This was all because the matter of Zhu Xianyao was affecting his mood.

    Gu Qingluo didn¡¯t know this. When she saw him like this, she felt like he was unhappy. She thought for a moment, then lowered her head and kissed him gently.

    The kiss was as quick as lightning, and Su Chen didn¡¯t even have time to react. Gu Qingluo blushed fiercely. ¡°You happy now?¡±

    ¡°Just touching a bit isn¡¯t enough,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Then what do you want?¡± Gu Qingluo

    ¡°Deeper......¡± Su Chen said softly. The shadow of Zhu Xianyao in his heart began to fade away as he rxed, and even his tone became a little more lewd.

    ¡°Oh, deeper, huh......¡± Gu Qingluo chuckled.

    Suddenly, Su Chen felt a sudden pain in his midsection. He yelled, ¡°OW!¡±

    He sat up immediately.

    Gu Qingluo had jabbed his midsection, leaving behind arge purple bruise.

    Gu Qingluoughed. ¡°How about it? Is that deep enough for you? Do you want it deeper?¡±

    ¡°...... No need.¡± Su Chen¡¯s expression sank and he rolled over to the other side of the bed, giving her the cold shoulder.

    Upon seeing him like this, Gu Qingluo said softly, ¡°Hey, are you angry?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not,¡± Su Chen saidzily.

    ¡°I can tell you¡¯re angry just by the tone of your voice. You miser, I was just joking around,¡± Gu Qingluo said as she prodded him.

    Su Chen ignored her.

    Gu Qingluo scooted closer to him but was caught off-guard when Su Chen suddenly turned around and embraced her.

    ¡°AH!¡± Gu Qingluo cried out.

    Su Chen¡¯s face leaned into hers. ¡°If you won¡¯t give it to me, I¡¯ll take it myself.

    Gu Qingluo felt intoxicated by this deep kiss......

    In the following days, Gu Qingluo and Su Chen walked around all the time as a couple. They were quite well-known by the bystanders.

    Apart from the final barrier, which hadn¡¯t been broken yet, everything that could have happened had happened.

    Of course, they weren¡¯t spending all their time infatuated with each other.

    In his free time, Su Chen would still take care of the businesses he owned, but he no longer had any interest in them. As such, he was in the process of handing over the reins to the Gu n¡¯s subordinates.

    Most Bloodline Nobility ns didn¡¯t run their businesses on their own. Having been around for so long, many of them had a whole group of talented subordinates under theirmand, as well as a bunch of trustworthy members of the junior generation. After deciding what direction the businesses would develop in, these people would take over the reins and handle all of the practical arrangements.

    As for the important individuals in the n, the more ambitious ones would continue cultivating, while the others would intoxicate themselves with mortal pleasures.

    Su Chen was the same. These past few days, he was passing on his businesses so that he could open up more time for his own cultivation and research.

    After the battle with the beast race, Su Chen had discovered that he was not the same as before.

    His aura had be thicker, and Origin Energy flowed much more freely in his body. It was as if a bottleneck had been shattered in his cultivation, causing his strength to increase by leaps and bounds. Even without the microscopic eye, it was possible to tell that his cultivation had increased. His battle sense had also improved; whereas before, he would rely on schemes to do battle, he had now developed some battle instincts as well.

    This was what Gu Xuanmian had told him while they were sparring.

    Gu Xuanmian was a Light Shaking Realm cultivator with seven Lotus tforms. Even though Su Chen was strong enough to deal with Light Shaking Realm cultivators now, he could only win against the weakest ones.

    As such, when sparring with Gu Xuanmian, his only fate was to be a punching bag.

    Even so, Gu Xuanmian praised him constantly.

    Any Light Shaking Realm cultivator with Seven Lotus tforms would do the same if they saw a Yang Opening Realm kid with the ability to exchange around twenty blows or so with them, and even have enough spare energy tounch some counterattacks.

    As such, Gu Xuanmian gave him a few special pointers rted to battle.

    Shi Kaihuang was a good instructor, but he only taught people how to fish; he didn¡¯t actually give them any fish.

    Gu Xuanmian was moremon. He wasn¡¯t as farsighted as Shi Kaihuang, so what he taught was just straight-upbat skills. These wouldn¡¯t increase Su Chen¡¯stent strength, but they were still beneficial in raising Su Chen¡¯s ability to fight during a real battle, causing hisbat strength to once again surge.

    Perhaps it was because his foundation was so solid, but Su Chen could sense his strength increasing even in just the span of a few short days.

    His mastery over his skills increased, both in terms of the power he was able to unleash as well as his adaptability in using them.

    Good days always passed by quickly. In the blink of an eye, six days had passed.

    Tomorrow was the day of the wedding.

    A festive mood was present in the Gu n. The pce and courtyards were decorated withnterns, and a wave of guests was pouring in. Even Swallow River City as a whole was swept up by the celebratory mood ¡ª news of how Su Chen had saved Swallow River City had spread far and wide. Every surviving civilian felt indebted to him.

    The entire city was caught up in excitement for Su Chen.

    But no one noticed a poisonous gaze directed at Su Chen from the shadows.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 87: Thunder Origin Substance

    Su Chen and Gu Qingluo¡¯s happy day had finally arrived.

    On this day, guests came in and out of the Gu Pce, offering their congrattions. The Gu Pce was incredibly busy because of the asion.

    Because this was an engagement ceremony and not an actual marriage, the atmosphere in the Gu n was busy but not ceremonious, happy but not overjoyed. Compared to an actual marriage, the mood was much more carefree and lighthearted.

    The primary purpose of an engagement ceremony was to introduce the son/daughter-inw to the other side¡¯s friends and family. Therger the Bloodline Nobility n, the more friends and family there would be, meaning that the ceremony would take more preparation as well.

    Su Chen owned the service industry and the Flight Network in Swallow River City, so he knew quite a few important figures in the city. Despite this, he didn¡¯t know everyone; that was impossible no matter howrge or exceptional his brain was.

    Because of this, Su Chen had been dragged by Gu Xuanmian to greet people as soon as the sun rose.

    The first person he went to meet was the Gu n¡¯s Ancestor, Gu Yaoye.

    After the battle with the Demonic King, Gu Yaoye and the others had indeed defeated the Lightning Snake, along with a bunch of Spirit Burning Realm reinforcements. However, he himself was also wounded, so he had immediately returned to the castle to rest. As such, this was the first time they were meeting after that fight.

    They went to a lonely stone room in the Gu Pce¡¯s backyard. It seemed very ordinary, but a closer examination would reveal that this stone was Frost Flower Stone that was mined from North Sky Mountain. Frost Flower Stone had a consciousness-concentrating effect, and most normal people would only need a single piece to focus their minds. Simply put, this stone had quite a few benefits for someone cultivating their consciousness energy.

    Su Chen knew that if he cultivated to the Spirit Burning Realm, consciousness power would be the most important standard of cultivation. If you ignored his equipment, Su Chen¡¯s four hundred points of consciousness energy might be impressive amongst Light Shaking Realm cultivators, but it was not nearly as rare at the Spirit Burning Realm level.

    Frost Flower Stone was quite difficult to obtain, and North Sky Mountain wasn¡¯t within the Long Sang country¡¯s borders, so it was always priced expensively. Most people would have a hard time even getting a decently sized chunk, but unexpectedly, Gu Yaoye had somehow obtained enough Frost Flower Stone to construct a personal cultivation room.

    Su Chen felt that this Frost Flower Stone might not have been amassed by Gu Yaoye alone. More than likely, quite a few members of the Gu n had helped out.

    This was one of the benefits of being a part of arge n.

    They might not be able to pull out a few hundred million Origin Stones at a moment¡¯s notice, but bringing out valuable treasures might not actually be that difficult.

    ¡°What is it? Has the Ancestor¡¯s Calming Room caught your eye?¡± The door to the Frost Flower Stone room opened up, revealing Gu Yaoye sitting cross-legged inside like a statue also carved out of Frost Flower Stone. While within the room, Gu Yaoye could easily sense where Su Chen¡¯s attention was ced due to his powerful consciousness.

    ¡°Su Chen greets ancestor. I was originally wondering what kind of meeting gift I could obtain from Ancestor. Now, it seems that things are simple; any two random chunks from this room will do,¡± Su Chen replied with a smile. He didn¡¯t seem to grow anxious because of the Ancestor¡¯s sudden appearance.

    Gu Yaoye said with a slight smile, ¡°Asking for a meeting gift as soon as we meet? That doesn¡¯t seem like the person who was throwing money all over the ce before.¡±

    Su Chen replied straightforwardly, ¡°That was necessary as an investment. Today is probably a good day to collect some returns on those investments.¡±

    Gu Yaoye chuckled loudly. ¡°Alright, kid! It seems like you¡¯ve torn down all pretenses now!¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°In front of Ancestor, who dares to keep up pretenses?¡±

    Gu Yaoye harrumphed, ¡°But you¡¯re not afraid to ask for benefits as soon as you open your mouth.¡±

    Su Chen smiled and didn¡¯t reply.

    Gu Yaoye knew that Su Chen wasn¡¯t afraid of him. But he didn¡¯t grow angry; instead, heughed, saying, ¡°Kid, you really are something else. Your heroic actions when the Demonic Beasts attacked the city not only helped us but they also saved the citizens in the city. You even sacrificed a Cloud-Piercing Shuttle, if I recall correctly?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°It was manufactured from the remains of a Demonic Emperor. They¡¯re quite expensive.¡±

    Gu Yaoye shook his head helplessly and tossed Su Chen a pearl. ¡°This is the Thunder Origin Crystal refined from the Lightning Demonic King¡¯s internal essence. Even though it can¡¯tpare with your Demonic Emperor Shuttle as that was from a Demonic King, it is superior in that the thunder power contained within is still entirely intact. Your shuttle, on the other hand, was damaged from usage over time. This should be enough of a recement for your Demonic Emperor Shuttle.¡±

    Su Chen caught it and took a good look at it.

    Almost anyone else would see that the bead contained a crackling ball of lightning energy. It was possible to sense the immense power within the bead just by holding it in your hand.

    However, to Su Chen¡¯s microscopic eyes, this crystal was filled to the brim with Thunder Origin Substance that could be absorbed.

    Su Chen had seen quite a few Origin Crystals at this point in his life. Even though every one of them was indeed filled with Origin Substance, he had never seen one with such high concentrations. As such, he always had a hard time really applying them to practical use.

    He didn¡¯t expect the Origin Crystal of a Demonic King to be this densely packed with Thunder Origin Substance.

    As he continued to inspect the item, Su Chen¡¯s gaze grew brighter.

    Once Thunder Origin Substance was concentrated enough, the difficulties in putting it into practical use would be greatly decreased.

    This was like the difference betweenmon stone and iron ore. The former could also be refined into iron with time and effort, but no one would choose to do so.

    Su Chen had never possessed an Origin Crystal on the level of a Demonic King before, so he waspletely caught off-guard by the level of power contained inside.

    To him, there was nothing more practical that he could have asked for. As for a Cloud-Piercing Shuttle, he could always just buy another one. Even though the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle was very good, it wasn¡¯t unique without a recement. On the other hand, a mysterious natural resource like Origin Substances were much more beneficial to Su Chen. The former was just a tree, while thetter was a seedling that, in Su Chen¡¯s careful hands, would flourish and grow into arge forest.

    With this Thunder Substance, all of Su Chen¡¯s thunder-type Origin Skills would receive a significant upgrade.

    As such, when Su Chen obtained the Thunder Crystal, he was naturally overjoyed. ¡°Many thanks to Ancestor for his generosity!¡±

    Gu Yaoyeughed. ¡°Even though the Thunder Crystal is powerful, it isn¡¯t an endless source of energy. Giving a rootless tree like this to anyone else would be a waste, but in your hands it may turn out to be quite valuable.¡±

    When he heard this, Su Chen knew that the Gu n had investigated him quite thoroughly. Gu Yaoye clearly even knew about the fact that he and Shi Kaihuang were the creators of the bloodline-less Yang Opening Realm technique.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t deny it and instead forged onwards. ¡°Since Ancestor believes that this is the case, then it would be nice to get a few more of these in the future.¡±

    Gu Yaoye harrumphed and eximed, ¡°In your dreams! You saw how hard it was to deal with a Demonic King personally. Who knows how many years will go by before we are able to even take another one down? Where am I supposed to go to find you another one? Be happy with what you have.¡±

    ¡°Bloodline Nobility ns have been around for a long time, so shouldn¡¯t they have some stored up?¡± Su Chen¡¯s face was extremely thick. He chuckled and continued, ¡°After all, I¡¯m not asking for much. As long as I can have a bit for my research, that will be enough.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Gu Yaoye was interested. ¡°Then what are you looking for?¡±

    ¡°Something fire-type rted,¡± Su Chen replied without hesitation.

    The most powerful Origin Skills he could currently use were all under the Shadow me family, but the power of the Shadow me had never depended on the presence of fire-type Origin Substance because Su Chen had nevere across any. The two reasons it was so powerful was first due to Su Chen spending nearly twenty years refining and improving it, to the point that it was the technique he was the most familiar with, and secondly because of the Shadow Origin Substance.

    In other words, the Shadow me family of skills was a fire-type family of skills that had taken a detour. There was still much room for improvement.

    That woulde about once Su Chen got his hands on some real fire-type Origin Substance.

    Su Chen had always been looking for it but had never found it. The ck stones had given him Shadow, Dragonfish, and Bewitching Origin Substances, but it didn¡¯t contain any Fire Origin Substance. There was nothing Su Chen could do about it.

    Now that an opportunity had presented itself, it would be a shame if he didn¡¯t at least ask.

    Su Chen was really just fishing for a chance in a million, but Gu Yaoye unexpectedly replied, ¡°Fire-type, you say? I think there really just might be something like that.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 88: Poisoned

    A fiery red bead appeared. It had been sitting still for quite a while, so the outer surface of the bead had dimmed slightly. However, the fiery energy inside hadn¡¯t weakened at all. The violent fire energy within could be felt even through the surface of the bead.

    The mes seethed within the bead likeva, and Su Chen could feel the intense heat radiating outwards.

    Fire Origin Substance!

    It really was Fire Origin Substance!

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up.

    ¡°This is a core of a Molten Rock Demon. I obtained it in a battle two hundred years ago while defending the city against Demonic Beasts. Because my bloodline is not rted to fire, I never used it and have been looking for an opportunity to use it in a trade. I never expected at the time that it would take so long.¡±

    Su Chen was extremely delighted. ¡°Many thanks, Ancestor!¡±

    He was just about to take it when Gu Yaoye suddenly withdrew his hand. ¡°I didn¡¯t say that I was going to give it to you for free. I have already repaid the contributions you earned from defending the city from Demonic Beasts with the Lightning Serpent¡¯s Origin Crystal. I don¡¯t owe you this one, so what are you nning on exchanging for it?¡±

    Su Chen smiled a bit sheepishly. ¡°Ancestor, Qingluo and I are getting engaged. Aren¡¯t you nning on giving us a gift?¡±

    ¡°Of course I am,¡± Gu Yaoye replied. He picked up a Frost Flower Stone brick from where he was sitting. ¡°What do you think about this gift?¡±

    A fox was still a fox no matter how old they were.

    The Frost Flower Stone was very expensive. Giving it as a congrattory gift was no small matter, but it was far inferior to the Fire Origin Crystal.

    Gu Yaoye had him backed into a corner. There was nothing Su Chen could do, so he bitterly said, ¡°I can return all the stores I previously bought, as well as give you all my shares in the Flight Network.¡±

    Gu Yaoye was stunned. ¡°That¡¯s a lot of money. You¡¯re just going to give up on it just like that?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°My goal is to understand the ultimate secrets of this universe, not to hoard money. Money is just a tool that I use to achieve my goal and an investment to marry Qingluo. Since I have already achieved my goals, giving up on them isn¡¯t actually that big of a deal.¡±

    His expression turned serious when he talked about his goals.

    Gu Yaoye was full of admiration when he heard this. ¡°Good, good, very good! Since that¡¯s the case, then I ept.¡±

    As he spoke, he handed over the Frost Flower Stone and the Fire Origin Crystal over to Su Chen.

    Just as the two of them were conversing happily, a servant suddenly came rushing over. ¡°Ancestor, Ancestor, something terrible has happened!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s gotten into you?¡± Gu Xuanmian snapped unhappily.

    ¡°Ancestor, it¡¯s Fourth Young Miss. She...... she......¡±

    ¡°Qingluo?¡± Su Chen was stunned. He hurriedly asked, ¡°What happened to her?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s fainted.¡±

    Within the room, Gu Qingluoy on the bed, her face ashen and her bodypletely motionless.

    When Su Chen, Gu Xuanmian, and Gu Yaoye arrived, they were all stunned by the scene before them.

    Su Chen sprinted over to Gu Qingluo and held her wrist, measuring her pulse.

    Gu Xuanmian howled, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    A female servant knelt on the ground and stammered, ¡°She was fine just a few moments ago, but then she suddenly passed out just like that.¡±

    ¡°Did she eat or drink anything beforehand?¡± Su Chen asked.

    The maidservant replied after thinking for a moment, saying, ¡°Yes, Prince Zhou sent over some desserts, and Fourth Young Miss ate one.¡±

    ¡°Zhou Qingkuang?¡± Gu Xuanmian was stunned.

    ¡°Where¡¯s the dessert? Hurry, bring it over!¡± Su Chen yelled.

    The maidservant hurriedly brought the dessert over. Su Chen trembled after a single nce. ¡°The dessert¡¯s been poisoned.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Gu Xuanmian began to exude a thick killing intent, and rage burned in his eyes. ¡°ZHOU QINGKUANG!!!¡±

    How could he not realize what had happened at this point?

    Zhou Qingkuang was definitely displeased that Gu Qingluo was to be married to Su Chen, which was why he had chosen to exact revenge.

    However, he hadn¡¯t expected Zhou Qingkuang to be so bold as to try to poison her.

    Actually, this guy had been pampered by his n since birth and had never suffered from any setbacks before. His personality was also domineering, so it wasn¡¯t strange for him to do something like this.

    Gu Xuanmian seethed with anger. ¡°Where is he right now?¡±

    ¡°Young Master Zhou returned to the Zhou n in the morning.¡±

    ¡°That bastard!¡± Gu Xuanmian eximed angrily. However, he knew that now was not the time to focus excessively on it. He could only say, ¡°Chen¡¯er, you stay here to take care of Gu Qingluo. I¡¯m going to go find a doctor for her!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need. I¡¯m the best doctor here,¡± Su Chen replied evenly.

    As he spoke, he pulled out the beast hide.

    This item loved to devour poison. In theory, it could consume any kind of poison.

    As soon as he unfurled the hide, ck bubbles began to emerge from Gu Qingluo¡¯s body, rapidly forming round and full-bodied droplets.

    ¡°Purple ss Froth?¡± Su Chen immediately identified the poison.

    Purple ss Froth was an extremely frightening poison. It could rapidly corrode a person¡¯s body and damage their Origin Energy pathways. Even Light Shaking Realm cultivators would find it hard to fight off such a potent poison. Who could have anticipated that Zhou Qingkuang would use such a fierce poison against Gu Qingluo? He really was delusional.

    Su Chen was infuriated. The beast hide slowly rippled across Gu Qingluo¡¯s body, absorbing any poison it came across.

    However, as the poison was sucked away, Gu Qingluo¡¯s condition didn¡¯t appear to improve in the slightest. On the contrary, her body began to glow a strange reddish color as her breathing became even morebored.

    Suddenly, she spat out a mouthful of blood. The ashen color of her face receded, only to be reced by a ghostly paleness.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Gu Xuanmian grew even more agitated.

    Su Chen replied sorrowfully, ¡°Purple ss Froth is too poisonous. Even though the poison has been removed, the injuries it caused are still present, and without the suppression of the Purple ss Froth, her body¡¯s reactions have gone out of control...... we were still toote.¡±

    Purple ss Froth was unique in that its activation period was very short, but it could do an incredible amount of damage during that period of time.

    From the moment Gu Qingluo had fainted to the moment that Su Chen had treated her, some minutes had already passed. In that time, the Purple ss Froth had permeated Gu Qingluo¡¯s body, eroding her bones and causing noticeable damage. Su Chen¡¯s microscopic eye could see that she was bleeding internally everywhere ¡ª the Purple ss Froth had destroyed the functions of most of her internal organs, causing her condition to rapidly deteriorate.

    When they heard this, Gu Xuanmian and Gu Yaoye simultaneously trembled.

    They were somewhat familiar with Purple ss Froth, so they knew that Su Chen was most likely telling the truth.

    ¡°So is there nothing we can do?¡± Gu Xuanmian asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m thinking!¡± Su Chen replied. At the same time, he pulled out a vial of Recovery Medicine and fed it to her, then began to use his Origin Energy to try and stabilize her.

    However, the damage done by the Purple ss Froth was much too serious. Even the most expensive Recovery Medicine Su Chen had on him had no way of ameliorating Gu Qingluo¡¯s deteriorating condition.

    As he watched Gu Qingluo¡¯s lifeforce wane, Su Chen¡¯s heart sank.

    He knew that if the situation continued on like this, Gu Qingluo wouldn¡¯t be able to hold on for much longer.

    ¡°Cough, cough!¡± Gu Qingluo began to cough uprge mouthfuls of blood.

    ¡°Qingluo, hold on!¡± Su Chen forcefully patted Gu Qingluo¡¯s chest as he tried to increase the rate which the medicine was absorbed into her body. Even so, both his sense of Origin Energy and his microscopic eye told him that Gu Qingluo¡¯s lifeforce was still steadily declining.

    They had been just a bit toote in the end.

    ¡°NO!¡± Su Chen began to howl.

    He constantly infused her with Origin Energy, but no matter what Gu Qingluo would not respond.

    As he watched her face grow paler and blood trickle from the corner of her mouth ¡ª no, from every orifice on her body, Su Chen felt his heart grow cold.

    ¡°Qingluo!¡± Gu Yaoye watched the situation develop anxiously.

    Even though he was a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator, there was nothing he could do when faced with a situation like this.

    Gu Xuanmian paced back and forth agitatedly.

    ¡°You won¡¯t die, Qingluo. No matter what, I won¡¯t let you die,¡± Su Chen said softly as he stared at Gu Qingluo.

    He pulled out a small vial of medicine from his Origin Energy and helped Gu Qingluo drink it.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Gu Yaoye and Gu Xuanmian replied simultaneously.

    It wasn¡¯t that they didn¡¯t trust Su Chen. They just both instinctively realized that that medicine was in no way simple.

    ¡°A medicine that won¡¯t let her die,¡± Su Chen replied numbly. No trace of happiness could be seen on his face.

    ¡°Does it have some kind of bad side effect? For instance, will her cultivation base disappear?¡± Gu Xuanmian asked.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°No. In fact, it¡¯s the opposite......¡±

    When he heard this, Gu Yaoye was taken aback. So what are you so worried about then?

    A thought suddenly surfaced in his mind. Gu Yaoye felt his heart tremble. ¡°Could it be......¡±

    Boom!

    The unconscious Gu Qingluo¡¯s body began to undergo a drastic change.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 89: Origin Beast Awakening

    A shockingly powerful and thick wave of energy began to undte from Gu Qingluo¡¯s body.

    Gu Qingluo, who had originally been lying t on her back, began to float in the air.

    zingly intense energy radiated from her body, causing the nearby temperature to climb to unbearabe heights. The servants within the room all gradually became unable to withstand the heat and backed out of the room. Only Su Chen and Gu Yaoye remained in the room. Gu Qingluo¡¯s garments fluttered everywhere as the energy poured out from her body, as if she was a willow tree standing at the edge of a cliff.

    ¡°Really, she really...... awakened,¡± Gu Yaoye said, trembling.

    No one was clearer than him that the current Gu Qingluo had awakened her bloodline.

    Her Origin Beast Bloodline had awakened!

    He stared at Su Chen. ¡°How did you do it?¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s gaze was full of sorrow. ¡°When I was in Long Coiling City, I reverse-engineered the form for a top-tier Bloodline Awakening Medicine and refined this vial. Because there was never really any need, I just kept it on me......¡±

    Su Chen always seemed to be researching more and more areas. The Bloodline Awakening Medicine was just something he had looked into on the side. Because it was a medicine that already existed, reverse-engineering its form wasn¡¯t too difficult for Su Chen. He had never taken it too seriously, but it had unexpectedly found a use today.

    Reverse-engineering a top-tier Bloodline Awakening Medicine?

    Gu Yaoye was stunned.

    Perhaps to Su Chen, this wasn¡¯t even worth mentioning, and only inventing things the likes of which had never been seen before was impressive to him. However, to Gu Yaoye, this was a magnificent feat.

    Even so, despite having aplished this magnificent feat, no trace of happiness could be seen in Su Chen¡¯s eyes. His expression was heavy and sorrowful.

    Yes, all he felt was sorrow.

    Su Chen was very clear what her bloodline awakening would mean.

    They would be separated!

    Everything was over, from the moment that Gu Qingluo awakened her bloodline.

    Even so, Su Chen didn¡¯t have a choice.

    He could either sit there and watch Gu Qingluo die, or he could stimte Gu Qingluo¡¯s bloodline into awakening.

    The answer was obvious.

    The pressure from Gu Qingluo began to subside.

    She slowly floated back down onto her bed, and then opened her eyes.

    They were tinged red.

    As she stared at Su Chen, a tear rolled out of Gu Qingluo¡¯s eye.

    Su Chen understood that she already knew everything.

    The moment her bloodline had awakened, she knew exactly what had happened.

    ¡°Qingluo!¡± Su Chen said, his voice trembling.

    Gu Qingluo shook her head slightly.

    Su Chen reached out to try and grasp her, but Gu Qingluo suddenly dodged to the side, brushing past the back of Su Chen¡¯s hand.

    She shot past Su Chen and bolted through the door.

    ¡°Qingluo!¡± Gu Yaoye realized what Gu Qinguo was about to do, and he reached out to try and stop her as well.

    However, even though he was a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator, he wasn¡¯t able to catch her either.

    Gu Qingluo flew out the door like a gust of wind, past both Su Chen and Gu Yaoye.

    She was also only a Yang Opening Realm cultivator, but she easily ignored the restrictions of cultivation tiers and flew through the air on her own.

    ¡°Not good!¡± Gu Yaoye yelled. He waved his sleeves, rolling Su Chen into them, and then shot into the sky. Gu Xuanmian also chased after them.

    It wasn¡¯t just him. Even Gu Xuanyu, Gu Xuanchao, and a bunch of others had rushed over when they heard the news. When they saw Gu Qingluo soaring through the sky, they were all simultaneously taken aback and yelled out, ¡°Bloodline Awakening?¡±

    An instantter, they all jumped in the air to chase after Gu Qingluo as well.

    Gu Qingluo flew at the very front, while everyone else chased after her.

    However, in terms of speed, they were actually unable to catch up to Gu Qingluo.

    Gu Qingluo casually walked through the air. The floating clouds in the sky were like stepping stones for her. With every step she took, a white cloud would pass by. Su Chen wouldn¡¯t be able to achieve speeds like that even if he were constantly activating Whitetower Teleportation.

    The most shocking aspect was that Gu Qingluo was merely strolling about. She was far from using her full strength.

    When he saw this, Gu Yaoye shook his head. ¡°So that is exactly what happened. She originally possessed a predisposition towards awakening, which was why it urred so easily. Now that she has awakened her bloodline, her power has soared to extreme heights.¡±

    As he spoke, Gu Yaoye¡¯s figure shed like lightning as he shot forward at maximum speed, turning into a column of light. He yelled from behind Gu Qingluo, ¡°Qingluo, you need to calm down!¡±

    Gu Qingluo didn¡¯t even turn around. ¡°Ancestor, I am very calm. This is a decision I made while calm.¡±

    Gu Yaoye was agitated. ¡°Don¡¯t think that I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re nning on doing. You¡¯re going to the Zhou n, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I am going to the Zhou n,¡± Gu Qingluo replied. ¡°Zhou Qingkuang plotted against my life. I must get collect on this debt from him.¡±

    ¡°Aiya, do you really need to go that far? We can handle the matter with Zhou Qingkuang......¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want you to handle it. I want to take care of it myself,¡± Gu Qingluo replied coolly.

    After her Origin Beast Bloodline had awakened, her state of mind had gradually calmed down due to the influence of the bloodline.

    Actually, it wasn¡¯t really calmness per se ¡ª it was the transcendent attitude of an incredibly powerful individual, one that would not be bossed around.

    Gu Yaoye was still trying to convince her otherwise. ¡°The Zhou n is still a Demonic King Bloodline n, and they simrly have Spirit Burning Realm cultivators who are even stronger than me. It¡¯s not appropriate for you to do something like this. Why not not take a bit of time to make your decision......¡±

    Gu Qingluo countered, ¡°Do I still have time to weigh my options?¡±

    Gu Yaoye was taken aback.

    Of course he knew that Gu Qingluo didn¡¯t.

    The Six Kingdoms kept a close watch on anyone with the Gu n bloodline. As soon as someone¡¯s bloodline awakened, they would immediately send someone to deal with it.

    The reason Gu Qingluo was rushing over to the Zhou n as soon as she awoke was because she knew that she didn¡¯t have any time to waste.

    That was why she was going to head straight for the Zhou n.

    ¡°Su Chen, you try and convince her. No matter what, you are still her fianc¨¦. She¡¯ll listen to what you have to say,¡± Gu Yaoye said helplessly.

    ¡°Convince?¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Why do I need to convince her? Everyone needs to take responsibility for their actions. Since that Zhou Qingkuang dared to harm my fianc¨¦e, then he should be willing to face the consequences for his actions.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Gu Yaoye was taken aback.

    Su Chen said to Gu Qingluo, ¡°Qingluo, if you want revenge, how could you not bring me, your fianc¨¦, along?¡±

    ¡°Su Chen, you......¡± Gu Qingluo stared at Su Chen in shock.

    ¡°Or do you feel like I¡¯m no longer worthy of you now that your bloodline is awakened?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s eyes welled with tears. ¡°You know that¡¯s not what I meant. How could you say that?¡±

    Su Chen smiled. ¡°Then is this really okay? So what if you¡¯ve awakened your bloodline? So what if you need to go to the Empty Mountain? You are still my fianc¨¦e. The Seven Kingdoms¡¯w only states that anyone who awakens an Origin Beast Bloodline must go to Empty Mountain and be closely supervised, but they don¡¯t prohibit marriage, do they? No rule states that someone with an Origin Beast Bloodline can¡¯t marry someone without a bloodline, right? I will go wherever the woman I am marrying will go. What¡¯s wrong with that?¡±

    When she heard this, Gu Qingluoughed through her tears. ¡°People usually say ¡®if you marry a chicken, follow the chicken¡¯[1. Essentially means that you should follow what your spouse says or where they go.], but you reced that chicken with me, huh?¡±

    ¡°This is my wish. Tell me, will you bring me along with you to exact your revenge?¡±

    Gu Qingluo grabbed Su Chen¡¯s hand. ¡°Of course I¡¯m willing! Since you said that you will go where the woman you are marrying is going, then you need to follow through!¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Su Chen replied.

    However, he couldn¡¯t help but suddenly think of Zhu Xianyao.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 90: Flying on a Tool

    After flying for a bit, the two of them very quickly arrived at the sky above Crane City.

    Gu Qingluo pointed at one of therge courtyards below them. ¡°That¡¯s the Zhou n over there.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll go get them.¡± Su Chen was going to call them out.

    However, Gu Qingluo said, ¡°There¡¯s no need. Let me take care of it.¡±

    As she spoke, she reached out with her hand. A palm made from condensed clouds mmed down towards the ground.

    Su Chen was given quite the shock as he watched Gu Qingluo¡¯s overbearing attitude.

    Something that most Light Shaking Realm cultivators would struggle to do, Gu Qingluo had aplished with ease. An Origin Beast¡¯s Bloodline really was something else.

    Just as it seemed like the Zhou n was about to be ttened, a palm strike rose into the air in response and collided with Gu Qingluo¡¯s palm that was made of clouds, dispersing it into water vapor.

    A voice spoke: ¡°May I know the name of the person who has just arrived? Zhou Yashan greets you. If there¡¯s anything you want to say, we can talk cordially. Is there any need to start with killing blows?¡±

    ¡°Using killing blows from the start?¡± Gu Qingluoughed coldly. ¡°If I really used a killing blow from the start... Zhou Yashan, do you really think you could handle it?¡¯

    When he heard this voice, Zhou Yashan was obviously taken aback.

    Next, a person suddenly flew into the sky from the Zhou n, joining them in midair. His face was adorned with a long beard, giving him a bit of an immortal¡¯s aura. He stared at Gu Qingluo, his eyes filled with shock. ¡°Qingluo? Why are you here? How did you......¡±

    Zhou Yashan had met Gu Qingluo before, so he recognized her immediately. However, there was no way he could have anticipated that Gu Qingluo would suddenly be an expert this powerful. Gu Qingluo¡¯s previous attack was unleashed quite casually, but Zhou Yashan had to exert quite a bit of effort to drive it back.

    However, he immediately realized something, and his expression shifted drastically. ¡°Your Origin Beast Bloodline awakened? How is this possible?¡±

    Gu Qingluo said, ¡°I don¡¯t want to waste time talking with you. Hand Zhou Qingkuang over!¡±

    ¡°Qingkuang?¡± Zhou Yashan¡¯s expression changed yet again. ¡°What does this have to do with him? Didn¡¯t he travel to the Gu n to propose marriage?¡±

    Killing intent appeared on Gu Qingluo¡¯s face. ¡°Don¡¯t waste my time. Hand him over. Now.¡±

    Zhou Yashan finally realized something. ¡°Did my son get himself into trouble? I am willing to make reparations to Fairy Gu for this.¡±

    In terms of seniority, he was higher than Gu Qingluo, but given that he had called Gu Qingluo Fairy Gu, it was obvious that he now considered Gu Qingluo to be his equal.

    After Gu Qingluo¡¯s Origin Beast Bloodline had awakened, her temper had be much more explosive. Now that she carried with her the confidence of a supremely powerful individual, she no longer had any intentions of speaking more with Zhou Yashan. She just said, ¡°I don¡¯t need you to make any reparations. I just need his life.¡±

    Zhou Yashan¡¯s expression turned ugly. ¡°Fairy Gu, even if your Origin Beast Bloodline has awakened, that doesn¡¯t mean that you can treat my Zhou n like this. Did you really think that you are invincible now that your bloodline has awakened?¡±

    Gu Qingluo ignored him. It was Su Chen who spoke this time. ¡°Patriarch Zhou, Prince Zhou Qingkuang tried to poison Qingluo. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that her bloodline had awakened at that moment, she might have already been killed.¡±

    ¡°WHAT?¡± Zhou Yashan was stunned.

    ¡°We¡¯ve already exined the reason. Would Patriarch Zhou please hand Zhou Qingkuang over now?¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°This......¡± Zhou Yeshan hesitated. ¡°This matter is no small thing. Please give me a bit of time. After I get to the bottom of things, I will give Fairy Gu an answer. Is that okay?¡±

    This proposal of his waspletely reasonable, and there was nothing inappropriate about it. However, to Gu Qingluo, he was obviously trying to stall for time.

    And what Gu Qingluocked the most at this moment was time.

    When she heard him say this, the killing intent in her heart surged. ¡°I have no time to waste my breath on you. If you won¡¯t hand over Zhou Qingkuang, then you will die!¡±

    As she spoke, she unleashed a palm strike.

    This palm strike seemed totally normal, but a st of air surged forward as a boundless energy emanated from her palm. Immediately afterwards, the air in front of her became scorchingly hot.

    The Shining Dragon was an extremely powerful fire-type beast. After Gu Qingluo¡¯s bloodline had awakened, all of the Origin Energy in her body had turned into fire-type Origin Energy. Every time she attacked, the air in front of her would be blisteringly hot. At this point, Flying Flower Hands or frost-type skills were all pointless, because Gu Qingluo now possessed apletely new set of Bloodline Origin Skills.

    Gu Qingluo was using the Shining Dragon Bloodline¡¯s Undying me. A casual attack from her would send mes flying in all directions.

    Zhou Yashan saw the sea of mes rushing towards him and countered with a palm strike of his own. The two palm strikes collided, and a shockwave of energy rippled out from the point of impact. Zhou Yashan was actually forced backwards a few steps, giving him a bad scare.

    He was the Patriarch of an entire n with Seven Lotus tforms, but Gu Qingluo could fight with him even though she was only at the Yang Opening Realm. Actually, she was even more powerful than him. How could he not feel afraid?

    All that could be said was that an Origin Beast¡¯s Bloodline was simply impossible to fathom. Even the gap of an entire cultivation realm couldn¡¯t suppress it.

    Gu Qingluo attacked with palm strike after palm strike, leaving Zhou Yashan totally helpless. He could only let out a long sigh. An illusory white crane afterimage appeared behind his back as he shot off into the distance.

    The Zhou n¡¯s Scarlet-Eyed Cinnabar Crane Bloodline excelled in speed. Though itsbat prowess was only average at best, its ability to escape was unrivaled.

    As he flew away, he yelled out, ¡°Gu Qingluo, don¡¯t go too far!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the one who¡¯s gone too far!¡± Gu Qingluo yelled in response. She rapidly unleashed a number of strikes towards Zhou Yashan, generating even more mes in the sky. Even Su Chen waspletely stunned.

    ¡°Did you really think that having an Origin Beast Bloodline was enough for you to do as you please?¡± Zhou Yashan¡¯s gaze turned cold. The white crane afterimage appeared behind his back again as it pped its wings in one hard stroke. An array of feathers appeared in the sky before shooting at Gu Qingluo, the surfaces of the feathers glowing with a frigid energy.

    Gu Qingluo was holding Su Chen with one arm and had no way of utilizing her full strength. Even she felt a bit of apprehension when this scene unfolded itself before her eyes.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Let me go.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t, you¡¯ll fall down,¡± Gu Qingluo yelled.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me. I¡¯m not so weak as to be such a big burden on you,¡± Su Chenughed as he tossed the Mountain-Beheading de into the air.

    The Mountain Beheading de spiraled a few times in midair before reorienting itself underneath Su Chen¡¯s feet. Su Chen stepped onto it.

    When she saw Su Chen using this method to fly in the air, Gu Qingluo was slightly taken aback before sheughed. ¡°That¡¯s pretty good!¡±

    ¡°This is my first time trying,¡± Su Chen replied with a slight smile.

    Flying on a tool was an improvement Su Chen had made after creating the Soul Armaments. It had taken some adjustments to make it so that the Mountain-Beheading de could support his own weight. He had just finished the improvements a few days ago and had yet to really try it out, but an opportunity had unexpectedly presented itself today.

    He controlled the de to go right behind Gu Qingluo. Without Su Chen holding her back, Gu Qingluo could attack to her heart¡¯s content. mes shot from her palms repeatedly, gathering together to form arge dragon w that shed at Zhou Yashan.

    Zhou Yashan knew that this was the Shining Dragon Bloodline¡¯s Dragon Cloud w. Gu Qingluo¡¯s bloodline was still at its preliminary stage, but the Dragon Cloud w she formed already gave off a fragment of a dragon¡¯s aura. Its majestic power automatically struck a bit of fear into his heart. However, he was still a Light Shaking Realm cultivator with seven Lotus tforms. With a low growl, seven Lotus tforms appeared on his forehead, revolving and glowing with boundless Origin Energy.

    The white feathers grew even more solid. Simultaneously, the illusory Scarlet-Eyed Cinnabar Crane hooked its beak towards Gu Qingluo.

    The Cinnabar Crane¡¯s beak collided with the dragon w, causing the sky to suddenly darken.

    Zhou Yashan¡¯s Lotus tforms rotated furiously; at the same time, a strangely contoured red seal appeared at the center of Gu Qingluo¡¯s forehead. Light flowed across the seal in a dragon-like fashion, activating her bloodline to its limit. The power of the Dragon Cloud w increased.

    Su Chen instinctively began to observe what was going on with his microscopic eye. He fully took in both Gu Qingluo¡¯s and Zhou Yashan¡¯s techniques in that moment.

    After constantly using it for over twenty years, Su Chen¡¯s microscopic eye had grown even more dependable and could even dissect most attacks on the spot. However, he was rarely able to witness a battle on this level. The only other time it had happened was when the beast horde had attacked the city, and he was too busy trying to save everyone. At this moment, however, he had finally found an opportunity to closely observe the battle between two high-leveled Light Shaking Realm-level cultivators.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 91: Instruction

    As they exchanged blows, a ton of people began to pour out of the Zhou n. However, at this moment, Gu Yaoye, Gu Xuanchao, and the others all arrived on the scene as well.

    When Gu Xuanchao saw Zhou Yashan and Gu Qingluo¡¯s battle, he spoke up and said, ¡°Father, I¡¯ll try to persuade Qingluo to stop.¡±

    Gu Yaoye sighed, ¡°Forget it. Her heart is bent on vengeance and is filled with an intense anger that has to be vented before she can calm down. Let her fight and blow off all of her anger. This will be beneficial for her anyways.¡±

    ¡°But the Zhou n......¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll go toe-to-toe with Brother Zhou. Even though the Gu n is a Lord-ss Bloodline, we are nheless descendants of the Shining Dragon. Not just anyone can push us around. Since Zhou Qingkuang was willing to do something like that, he must pay the price.¡± As he spoke, Gu Yaoye flew down. His voice boomed towards the Zhou n courtyard, calling out, ¡°Gu Yaoye is here to visit Brother Yunkeng. Would you spare me some of your time?¡±

    A grizzled voice spoke out from the Zhou n¡¯s courtyard. ¡°I already know the main reason for all of this. Qingkuang¡¯s error is an extremely big one. However, Qingkuang is one of the only descendants with a rtively pure bloodline awakening. His potential cannot be quantified, and Gu Qingluo also didn¡¯t die. Would you give Yunkeng face and spare him? The Zhou n is willing to pay a million Origin Stones and ce additional tight restrictions on Qingkuang.¡±

    The price Zhou Yunkeng had offered wasn¡¯t low, but Gu Yaoye shook his head. ¡°I cannot make the decision in this matter. You¡¯re better off asking them.¡¯

    As he spoke, he pointed at the sky.

    Gu Qingluo unleashed w after w at Zhou Yashan as she floated in the air. She heard the words that Zhou Yunkeng had said and yelled in response, ¡°Zhou Qingkuang must die! I will not back down on this condition!¡±

    ¡°Hmph!¡± A disgruntled harrumph sounded out from the courtyard. Obviously, the Zhou n¡¯s ancestor was a bit unhappy. ¡°Girl, your bloodline has just awakened. You have no right to be this overbearing. Do you really think that you can do as you please just because you are a descendant of the Shining Dragon?¡±

    These words also encapsted what Gu Yaoye had said earlier.

    So what if you have the Shining Dragon Bloodline?

    You can only suffer the fate of being suppressed by the Seven Kingdoms!

    If Zhou Yunkeng was willing, he could personally attack and dy the Gu n. Once the people from Long Sang Country responsible for dealing with this matter arrived on the scene, Gu Qingluo would not be able to do anything more.

    The reason he hadn¡¯t done so was because he didn¡¯t want to destroy the rtionship they had with the Gu n. However, this didn¡¯t mean that he was afraid of them.

    ¡°So what if my bloodline has just awakened? If you won¡¯t hand over Zhou Qingkuang, the entire Zhou n will need to pay a price!¡± Gu Qingluo yelled with anger.

    She could sense that she didn¡¯t have much more time. The people responsible for handling the situation were probably already on their way to this location. They had a secret technique designed for pursuing those with Shining Dragon Bloodlines. No matter where she ran to, they would be able to find her. Because of this, those whose bloodlines awakened could only acquiesce silently.

    Gu Qingluo had already made her preparations for heading to the Empty Mountain, but it was for this exact reason that she needed to carry out her revenge before she left.

    As w strike after w strike raked the air, the mes only grew hotter and more intense.

    But even though the Scarlet-Eyed Cinnabar Crane¡¯s bloodline was weak in terms of directbat, its ability to flee was quite impressive. Zhou Yashan knew Gu Qingluo¡¯s weakness, so he didn¡¯t even try to fight her head-on. He just continued to evade her attacks and stall for time.

    His thought process was very clear. They had to make reparations for what Zhou Qingkuang had done, but Gu Qingluo¡¯s presence changed everything.

    If Gu Qingluo were to stay here, Zhou Qingkuang would die for sure. But if she couldn¡¯t, then the Gu n might not be willing to enact revenge on behalf of someone who wasn¡¯t at the Gu n anymore. At that point in time, they might choose to take the money and leave.

    Because of this, the Zhou n was determined to stall for as much time as possible.

    ¡°BASTARD!¡± Gu Qingluo was obviously aware of this, and she only grew more and more agitated.

    However, the more agitated she became, the cruder her attacks became, and the less effective her attacks were against Zhou Yashan. She was still a Yang Opening Realm; it was already impressive enough that she could fight on even grounds with someone with seven Lotus tforms, but defeating that person was simply asking for too much.

    Everyone else present had reached a tacit understanding. Since Gu Qingluo was fighting Zhou Yashan, it wasn¡¯t appropriate for anyone else to interfere.

    Zhou Yashan knew this as well, so he purposefully ridiculed her as he dodged her attacks, trying to provoke her into falling even deeper into her anger and ruining her rhythm. If he were to counterattack at this point in time, he might even win, but Zhou Yashan didn¡¯t really care about beating his opponent. Just dying for long enough was the right thing to do.

    When Su Chen realized this, he frowned slightly.

    Then, he suddenly spoke. ¡°Qingluo, use the Flying Flower Hands to create a of flowers.¡±

    Even though Gu Qingluo had awakened her Shining Dragon Bloodline, she could still use her Flying Flower Hands. However, that move was much weaker than her Dragon Cloud w. If anyone else had told her this, Gu Qingluo wouldn¡¯t have listened, but she trusted Su Chen¡¯s judgment.

    As soon as Su Chen spoke, Gu Qingluo unleashed a densely woven of finger energy at Zhou Yashan.

    ¡°Fog Shadow Sieve, Clear Wind Net!¡± Su Chen said.

    Su Chen was the inventor of the Clear Wind Net. He had taught Gu Qingluo this while they were both at the Hidden Dragon Institute. However, this time, Su Chen was asking her to unleash it through the technique Flying Flower Hands. If it were before, Gu Qingluo wouldn¡¯t have been able to aplish this. However, now that her Shining Dragon Bloodline had awakened, the Origin Energy she had ess to was seemingly limitless. Streaks of invisible wind surged forward in the form of a.

    Zhou Yashan was incredibly fast, but even the fastest fly was afraid of a spiderweb. As he shot through the air, countless Clear Wind Nets shot in his direction, quickly enveloping him. The high speed that had made him so difficult to catch actually made it impossible for him to dodge. The razor-sharp strands of the cut deeply into his skin. His physical strength allowed him to survive the attack; anyone else would have been shredded into bits already.

    Shockingly, Su Chen was still calling out, ¡°Dicang, Yinjiao, Xuanmen, Sea of Qi, Sea of Blood......[1. Acupuncture points on the body in traditional Chinese medicine.]¡±

    He called out nearly ten spots to pinpoint in a single breath. Every location he pointed out just happened to be where his weak points were exposed at that point in time.

    Gu Qingluo attacked with her Flying Flower Hands without any hesitation. Even though her Dragon Cloud w was powerful, she had learned it from her bloodline and wasn¡¯t too familiar with it. However, she had practiced the Flying Flower Hands for nearly twenty years and was extremely familiar with it. She was able to use it extremely naturally; even though it was weaker, with the support of the Shining Dragon Bloodline, it couldn¡¯t be easily ignored. In addition, they were aimed straight at Zhou Yashan¡¯s weak points, giving him quite a headache.

    It was at this moment that countless translucent streaks of wind rushed towards him. The faster he flew, the more he ran into. Even though the wounds they left behind weren¡¯t deep, he received tons of them, making Zhou Yashan feel quite ufortable.

    Anger began to rise in his heart and he switched from evading to attacking. The illusory image of a white crane appeared behind his back and unfurled its wings, generating powerful shockwaves of wind. In the blink of an eye, all of the Clear Wind Net strands were blown away.

    ¡°Dragon Cloud w to the front right!¡± Su Chen yelled.

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s finger jabs turned into a w that shot at the opponent.

    Zhou Yashan just happened to be charging forward. He hadn¡¯t expected Su Chen to see through the route he was nning on taking, and even take notice of his habitual flight patterns.

    This sudden attack from Gu Qingluo made it so that Zhou Yashan was suddenly charging right at Gu Qingluo¡¯s Dragon Cloud w.

    The w and its target collided.

    Zhou Yashan was indeed fast, but his speed only increased the power of the collision.

    With this attack, five bloody holes had appeared in Zhou Yashan¡¯s chest as he spat out a mouthful of blood.

    Still, he was still a Light Shaking Realm cultivator with seven Lotus tforms. His Lotus tforms began to suffuse his wounds with energy, washing away the remnant Origin Energy of the Shining Dragon.

    However, in that instant, Su Chen shot a nce at Zhou Yashan.

    Fata Morgana.

    Zhou Yeshan froze for just an instant.

    That instant was like an eternity to him.

    Gu Qingluo wed at Zhou Yashan again, this time aiming straight for his head.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 92: Separation 1

    Chapter 92: Separation (1)

    Boom!

    The Lotus tforms on his forehead shone brightly as light from them quickly congealed into a white lotus, blocking Gu Qingluo¡¯s attack.

    However, at the same moment that he defended himself, he heard Su Chen yell out, ¡°Midsection!¡±

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s palm mmed into Zhou Yashan¡¯s midsection.

    Blood sprayed from Zhou Yashan¡¯s body as he flew backwards. A slender, white hand reached out and snagged his body. This time, even seven Lotus tforms wouldn¡¯t be able to save him.

    Five sharp fingers prated deeply into his body. Large amounts of Origin Energy flooded his body, paralyzing him and robbing him of any strength to fight.

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s voice boomed through the sky. ¡°The situation now is simple. Either you die, or your son dies!¡±

    ¡°You......¡± Zhou Yashan howled with rage. ¡°That¡¯s not fair! If it weren¡¯t for that brat interfering......¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a match with rules,¡± Gu Qingluo replied coolly as she tightened her group. Zhou Yashan¡¯s vision blurred.

    He was still trying to hold on, but Zhou Yunkeng spoke up from below, saying, ¡°Forget about it. If Qingkuang was the one who stirred up this trouble, he needs to pay the price himself. Since you aren¡¯t able to protect him, you can only chalk this up to fate.¡±

    As he spoke, a person began to fly into the sky. It was Zhou Qingkuang.

    A swath of clouds bore him up to Gu Qingluo. Zhou Qingkuang howled madly as he ascended, ¡°Father, save me! Father, save me!!¡±

    Unfortunately for him, Zhou Yashan himself had already fallen prey to Gu Qingluo and had no way of saving anybody. He could only close his eyes and say, ¡°You must pay the price for the sins you havemitted.¡±

    He refused to watch any longer.

    Zhou Qingkuang had arrived near Gu Qingluo.

    Zhou Qingkuang felt a chill run up his spine when he saw Gu Qingluo¡¯s expression, which was filled with killing intent. ¡°Qingluo, I know I was wrong. I just suffered from a moment of confusion, a rush of blood to the brain. Please, spare me just this once. I won¡¯t do anything like this ever again in the future......¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t have to worry about the future anymore,¡± Gu Qingluo replied coldly.

    She didn¡¯t say anything more to Zhou Qingkuang. Instead, she lifted her hand and ced it on Zhou Qingkuang¡¯s forehead. His head trembled momentarily before exploding to bits.

    The swath of clouds disappeared, and the headless corpse descended to the ground,nding in the Zhou n¡¯s courtyard. The Zhou n¡¯s ancestor harrumphed angrily.

    Once she had taken care of this matter, Gu Qingluo felt her energy beginning to drain from her body, and she started trembling.

    She released her grip on Zhou Yashan, who stared deeply at her for a moment. However, in the end, he did not say anything and merely turned around before leaving.

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s figure trembled as her muscles began to rx.

    The feeling of fighting had been quite exhrating, but it wasn¡¯t until she had stopped that she realized that she had been attacking without reservation. Gu Qingluo¡¯s bloodline had still only just awakened; if it weren¡¯t for her rage supporting her and Su Chen¡¯s help, she wouldn¡¯t have been able to defeat Zhou Yashan.

    Such was the power of true anger. She was able to squeeze out everyst drop of power from her body, simultaneously unintentionally increasing hertent potential.

    However, whenpared to what she had lost, Gu Qingluo would rather that none of this had ever happened in the first ce.

    Su Chen flew over to Gu Qingluo on the Mountain-Beheading de and embraced her.

    Gu Qingluo weakly said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Su Chen carried Gu Qingluo on his back and returned, all the while Patelocke wasining unhappily, as he was now bearing the weight of two people. Thankfully, Gu Yaoye sent over a cloud, stabilizing the wobbling Mountain-Beheading de.

    They flew like this for an unknown amount of time before arriving at a nearby mountain.

    Gu Qingluo said, ¡°The scenery here is pretty good. I want to look around.¡±

    Su Chen put Gu Qingluo down.

    The scenery here was pretty good. Uneven mountain peaks loomed far off in the distance, while the slopes were covered in lush green pine trees. Clouds circled the peaks of the mountains, and the roars of a nearby waterfallpleted the scene.

    Su Chen and Gu Qingluo descended to a point right next to the waterfall.

    Gu Qingluoy in Su Chen¡¯s embrace, watching the clouds float by and listening to the waterfall. ¡°Do you remember the first time we met?¡±

    ¡°I remember. Back then, you were taking a bath near a waterfall, but that waterfall was much smaller.¡±

    ¡°Things were also much more peaceful,¡± Gu Qingluo said leisurely. ¡°After we separated, I thought a lot about those days behind the Su n¡¯s mountain. Things were...... really nice then.¡±

    Su Chen gently stroked her hair. ¡°Me too.¡±

    Gu Qingluo continued, ¡°Actually, I had already begun to like you back then, but I wasn¡¯t sure at the time of how deep my feelings were. I just liked being with you, because you made me feel carefree and happy. But after the Three Mountains Region¡¯s exam, everything changed. You poured out your heart, but I became afraid. I didn¡¯t know what to do, and I was really worried that the matter between the two of us would anger my n and get you killed. That¡¯s why I could only leave abruptly......¡±

    ¡°I understand,¡± Su Chen consoled gently.

    Gu Qingluo snuggled deeper into Su Chen¡¯s embrace. ¡°But I didn¡¯t want to leave. Every day I was apart from you, I thought about you. But I could only suppress these feelings and hide them deep in my heart......¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s heart trembled as he felt a prick of pain.

    Even though his rtionship with Gu Qingluo had been restored, there were some things she had never said to him and that he had never wanted to ask for fear that he would make her ufortable.

    However, Gu Qingluo had chosen to tell him all this of her own will.

    She continued, saying, ¡°It wasn¡¯t until the Goldwater Ruins that we had an excuse to be openly seen together. However, at the time, my heart was filled with fear. I was worried that you wouldn¡¯t be able to do what you had promised, and I didn¡¯t want to be seen in public with you. Now that I think about it, I was really selfish and dumb.¡±

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t your fault, Qingluo.¡±

    Gu Qingluo shook her head repeatedly. ¡°I missed too many opportunities and wasted too much time. If I had just trusted you a bit more and was a bit braver, we might not havended in this situation.¡±

    Su Chenforted her. ¡°Empty Mountain isn¡¯t a death sentence; you don¡¯t need to be like this. I promise you that we won¡¯t separate again.¡±

    ¡°But I always feel like there is always some kind of malevolent power trying to separate us and keep us from being together,¡± Gu Qingluo said teary-eyed as she gazed at Su Chen.

    She hugged Su Chen tightly. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that fate has something in store for us and won¡¯t let us go to Empty Mountain together.¡±

    ¡°Silly girl.¡± Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°Nothing like that will happen.¡±

    Gu Qingluo hugged Su Chen even tighter, unwilling to let go, as if she was afraid that Su Chen would fly off as soon as she released him.

    She had once given up on Su Chen on her own, and for a long time she had wavered over her choice indecisively, but now her hesitant nature was nowhere to be found.

    Her determination had manifested itself in love, and she refused to let go of Su Chen.

    ¡°Wherever I go, you will go,¡± she said.

    ¡°Wherever you go, I will go,¡± he said.

    At that moment, Su Chen suddenly felt his wrist heat up.

    He lowered his head to look at his hand. A strange symbol had appeared on the back of it.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Gu Qingluo asked.

    ¡°An emergency transmission from the Dreamrealm,¡± Su Chen replied, a strange expression on his face.

    Emergency transmissions could only be sent by those at least at the Dream Officer rank or above. Su Chen had yet to met someone like that.

    Who would send him an emergency transmission at this point in time?

 Book 4: Near Blood - 93: Separation 2

    Chapter 93: Separation (2)

    After thinking for a moment, Su Chen said, ¡°I¡¯m going to visit the Dreamrealm for a bit and see what the message is. Protect me, please.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Gu Qingluo nodded.

    Su Chen activated his Dreamrealm insignia.

    Right after he entered, he saw the Dream Spirit Lulu flying towards him. ¡°Aiyaya, you¡¯re finally here. It¡¯s been a long time since you¡¯vee to the Dreamrealm.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been a bit busytely. Is something the matter?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°There¡¯s some information regarding your Instructor that I thought you wanted badly, but you didn¡¯te for so long that all I could do was remind you,¡± Lulu replied.

    As Su Chen¡¯s personal Dream Spirit, Lulu was authorized to collect information rted to Su Chen. Like this, as long as there was something important he might be interested in, she would record it and set it aside or even remind Su Chen from time to time. If it was more urgent than that, Lulu would activate an emergency transmission. However, this had never happened to Su Chen before.

    Su Chen hoped that Lulu was looking for him because she had some important knowledge for him, but Lulu gave him exactly the opposite of what he wanted to hear.

    ¡°Instructor? What happened to him?¡±

    ¡°He disappeared,¡± Lulu replied.

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Su Chen immediately leapt to his feet.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get agitated yet. I have a letter here left behind by your Instructor. Take a look,¡± Lulu said as she handed Su Chen a letter.

    Su Chen understood once he read the letter.

    Not long ago, Flowing Gold Fort had fought once again with the Ferocious Race.

    Humans and the Ferocious Race had always been locked inbat. Every few years, they would fight; there wasn¡¯t much out of the ordinary about that. However, the situation this time was a bit different.

    After fending off the Ferocious Race attack thanks to the Flowing Gold Fort¡¯s strong defenses, the higher-ups of Long Sang Country decided for some reason that always being on the defensive wasn¡¯t good enough and that they needed tounch an attack to give the Ferocious Race something to think about.

    Shi Kaihuang had been sent along as a part of this attack team.

    ording to the letter Shi Kaihuang had left behind, the people at the Flowing Gold Fort wanted to turn Leguha castle into a frontline outpost, and use it to control the vast ins.

    Su Chen said angrily, ¡°This letter was left here three months ago. It¡¯s not like I haven¡¯t been in the Dreamrealm for three months. Why didn¡¯t you give me this letter earlier?¡±

    Lulu replied, ¡°That was on Sir Shi¡¯s orders. He said that if he returned before too long, then he wouldn¡¯t need to hand this letter over to you. That way you wouldn¡¯t be unnecessarily worried. If he didn¡¯t return after three months, then he might have died, and at that point it would be ok to hand the letter over. Also, he has already decided that you will inherit the Origin Energy Tower in the Hidden Dragon Institute. He doesn¡¯t want you to be concerned and to continue down the path you are currently on.¡±

    ¡°Bastard! He¡¯s so full of it!¡± Su Chen cursed. He wasn¡¯t saying that Lulu was full of it but rather that Shi Kaihuang was.

    After thinking for a bit, he asked, ¡°Do you know where that branch is now?¡±

    Lulu was a Dream Spirit, and she encountered all kinds of information in the Dreamrealm every day. She was incredibly knowledgeable about these kinds of things.

    When she heard Su Chen ask this, Lulu shrugged. ¡°All I know is that they disappeared. There isn¡¯t any news of what happened there.¡±

    ¡°How is that possible? Even if only one person survived, they should still be able to notify people through the Dreamrealm.¡±

    ¡°Messages andmunications between people in the territory of foreign races are confidential.¡±

    ¡°Why are they confidential?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s not our fault. This was a request from the different races. After all, no one would want their secrets to easily be revealed by an enemy spy, right? Of course, if you are a Dream Monarch and are willing to a high enough price, breaking one or two such rules isn¡¯t a problem. But you need to be a Dream Monarch, and your request can still be denied,¡± Lulu said baitingly, seizing the opportunity.

    ¡°So you want us to fight back and forth and spend millions of Origin Stones just to send information back and forth, is that right?¡± Su Chen immediately saw through the intentions of the Dreamrealm of allowing the different races to block the transmissions in theirnds. ¡°The Lord of the Dreamrealm has quite the eye for business.¡±

    Lulu giggled as she covered her mouth with her hand. ¡°Please, sustaining a Dreamrealm asrge as this takes a lot of effort.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why you can¡¯t be sure whether this expedition branch is alive or not, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Lulu said as she nodded. ¡°However, there is some information from sources within the human territory. They all point to disaster; most likely, they got lost somewhere within the Iron and Blood Country.¡±

    The Ferocious Race had named their kingdom the Iron and Blood Country when it was first founded. By now, it had fragmented into pieces, but remnants of the name were still present. As such, humans still often referred to it as the Iron and Blood Country.

    ¡°That¡¯s merely a possibility,¡± Su Chen said in a low voice.

    He thought for a moment, then asked, ¡°Lulu, if I were to enter the Iron and Blood Country, would I still be able to contact you?¡±

    ¡°That might not be possible. But if you were to be a Dream King, then you couldmand me to be at your side for free. However, as long as you are still in the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory, I cannot leave without you. In any case, Dream Spirits can¡¯t serve as a way for you to have contact with the outside world.¡±

    ¡°I know that the Lord of the Dreamrealm wouldn¡¯t leave behind such a big loophole, but at the very least I could still call you over, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Lulu nodded. Then, she suddenly realized something, and her expression changed drastically. ¡°You...... you aren¡¯t nning on going to the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory, are you!?¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t respond. All he said was, ¡°You¡¯d better get prepared. I¡¯m going to leave for now.¡±

    As he spoke, he backed out of the Dreamrealm.

    When he returned to reality and saw Gu Qingluo¡¯s hopeful expression, he felt a sharp pain in his heart and didn¡¯t know how to break the news to her.

    ¡°Did something happen?¡± Gu Qingluo could see the change in expression on Su Chen¡¯s face.

    After hesitating a moment, Su Chen told Gu Qingluo the whole story.

    Gu Qingluo understood.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to go save your Instructor?¡±

    ¡°Apart from my mother and you, he is the person who has been the best to me,¡± Su Chen replied.

    That was quite a tactful reply. Actually, Shi Kaihuang was probably more influential to him than Gu Qingluo.

    Gu Qingluo nodded. ¡°So you won¡¯t be able to apany me to Empty Mountain?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just temporary. I promise you that after I save my Instructor, I wille to find you,¡± Su Chen vowed as he pointed to the sky.

    Two hot tears leaked from Gu Qingluo¡¯s eyes. ¡°Saving a person whose survival is unknown from the Ferocious Race...... Is it that easy? I knew...... I just knew that fate would be always this fickle and always try to drive us apart.¡±

    ¡°Qingluo!¡± Su Chen yelled. ¡°Don¡¯t be like this! You know that I don¡¯t want to leave you. There¡¯s just some things that I must do!¡±

    Gu Qingluo stared at him sorrowfully but didn¡¯t say a single word.

    Su Chen knew that she wasn¡¯t intending on stopping him from going. She just didn¡¯t have faith.

    She truly believed that there was some kind of malicious force behind the scenes driving them apart.

    Su Chen grabbed her hand. ¡°Qingluo, you must believe me. Nothing can keep me from marrying you no matter how strong it is. All of this suffering is just a test, a stepping stone that we will ovee!¡±

    Gu Qingluo felt intoxicated when she heard this.

    She stared at Su Chen dumbly and muttered, ¡°It¡¯s all just a test......¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s all just a test!¡± Su Chen replied very seriously. ¡°This concerns the joining of someone without a bloodline to someone with an Origin Beast¡¯s Bloodline. We are fated to go through many difficulties. But it doesn¡¯t matter, because I can break through any barrier!¡±

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s mind was already stuck in a rut, as she believed that fate was trying to stop them. Su Chen was basically trying to reverse her way of thinking by saying that it didn¡¯t matter as even if Heaven didn¡¯t bless their rtionship, human wisdom would prevail over nature.

    Before this, he had no thought of triumphing over Heaven.

    After this, he would triumph over Heaven no matter what!

    ¡°So that¡¯s...... that¡¯s how it is.¡± A fog seemed to have lifted from Gu Qingluo¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s how it is. You only need to do one thing, and that¡¯s to believe in me.¡± Su Chen used simple words tofort Gu Qingluo.

    A sweet smile appeared on Gu Qingluo¡¯s face as she leaned into Su Chen again without saying anything else.

    Suddenly, a sigh reached their ears. ¡°What a pair of lovers! If possible, I would rather not have to break things apart.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 94: Forced Upon 1

    Chapter 94: Forced Upon (1)

    A young man stood behind Su Chen. He didn¡¯t seem too old, perhaps he was in his thirties or so. However, from his expression and leisurely way of speaking, it was obvious that this person was at least of the same generation as their grandfathers.

    The strength of someone who was able to appear behind Su Chen without alerting him was obvious.

    Neither Su Chen nor Gu Qingluo had any ns of forcefully resisting.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t a hot-blooded, impulsive youth. He knew that acting impulsively wouldn¡¯t solve any problems; in fact, it usually only created problems.

    As such, he stood up and said, ¡°May I ask, are you the Dragon Envoy?¡±

    The Dragon Envoy was a special title the Seven Kingdoms had created because of the Gu n. Dragon Envoys were specifically tasked with greeting people that had awakened the Shining Dragon Bloodline. Most of these politicians knew how to phrase things; even though it was obviously a forced relocation, they still insisted it on calling it a ¡°greeting.¡±

    Dragon Envoys didn¡¯t have much authority but they still held quite a high status. The people that could hold this office needed to be at least at the Spirit Burning Realm or higher. After all, they were responsible for escorting people with Origin Beast Bloodlines. It was always better to be safe than sorry.

    The Dragon Envoy smiled and said, ¡°Yes, that¡¯s correct. I am Tang Lifeng. Greetings, Young Miss Gu. You made it quite difficult to track you down.¡±

    Immediately after Gu Qingluo¡¯s bloodline had awakened, Tang Lifeng had noticed. He rushed over to the Gu n, but Gu Qingluo had already left for Crane City. He could only make a detour there, but when he arrived at Crane City, he discovered that Gu Qingluo had left yet again. Once again, he could only continue chasing after the trail. The fact that he had to spend so much energy finding them and yet was still all smiles indicated that his temperament was quite easygoing.

    Gu Qingluo, however, said, ¡°I have just been engaged to my fianc¨¦, but haven¡¯t gotten married yet. Since Sir Tang is here, can you witness that I, Gu Qingluo, am willing to marry Su Chen?¡±

    Tang Lifang was caught off-guard. He had not expected for Gu Qingluo to say something like this in the slightest.

    Even Su Chen was a bit stunned. ¡°Qingluo?¡±

    Gu Qingluo said with a slight smile, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you needed me to believe that nothing could stop you and me? Since that¡¯s the case, why not get married today? I want to see how Heaven will stop us. If not, then from this day onwards, I will be your wife. However, this is not a marriage where the man calls all the shots; where I go, you must also go.¡±

    When Su Chen heard this, his heart trembled, and he hugged Gu Qingluo tightly.

    After a long time, Su Chen softly whispered, ¡°There¡¯s something that I should have told you a long time ago. I am worried that if I don¡¯t say it, you won¡¯t be able to forgive me.¡±

    Gu Qingluo was stunned. She stared intently at Su Chen, and an ufortable feeling began to rise up in her heart.

    ¡°Do you remember Zhu Xianyao, from the Hidden Dragon Institute......?¡± Su Chen slowly exined everything that had happened from when he went to the ancient castle.

    The more Gu Qingluo listened, the more shell shocked she became.

    She stared at Su Chen in shock. ¡°You......¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s my fault for not telling you earlier. I promise you that that was only an ident.¡±

    ¡°But what about all the times afterwards?¡± Gu Qingluo stared at him teary-eyed. Then, she began to yell in anger, ¡°Su Chen, you bastard!¡±

    Why was it that Su Chen had chosen to tell her all this at this moment?

    Why did it have to be now?

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s heart was iparably bitter, but there was nowhere she could go to release it.

    She copsed onto the ground.

    She originally thought that this was just going to be a bittersweet farewell, a farewell where the two of them would pledge their undying love to each other before separating, a farewell where love would eventually find a way toe together. It was impossible for her to have predicted such a drastic turn, such a plot twist.

    Gu Qingluo was totally stunned.

    Were the Heavens really trying to stop them from being together no matter what?

    ¡°Why? Why did you have to tell me now?¡± Gu Qingluo asked, her eyes filled with tears.

    ¡°Because I couldn¡¯t possibly keep hiding it forever. I haven¡¯t married Zhu Xianyao yet, and you will always be the wife I have been waiting for. However, I couldn¡¯t keep you in the dark about her existence,¡± Su Chen replied seriously.

    Gu Qingluo stared at him angrily. ¡°Then did you think about my feelings at all? Telling me something like this at this moment?¡±

    ¡°Would you rather I kept it a secret from you?¡± Su Chen countered.

    Gu Qingluo couldn¡¯t say anything in response.

    She didn¡¯t know.

    She didn¡¯t know the answer.

    Perhaps if it were possible, she would rather not know about it.

    Even so, now she knew everything.

    How should she respond?

    Her heart was in chaos. For a long time, she felt helpless and could only remain silent.

    After a long time, she finally stood up and unexpectedly walked towards Tang Lifeng, dering, ¡°Senior Tang has spent a long time waiting. I¡¯m ready to leave.¡±

    She didn¡¯t even spare Su Chen a single nce.

    Her intention to leave was obvious.

    ¡°Qingluo!¡± Su Chen yelled.

    When he told Gu Qingluo the truth, Su Chen was hoping that Gu Qingluo would be able to say with a smile, ¡°It¡¯s okay. I don¡¯t mind.¡±

    However, reality rarely went as smoothly as one¡¯s imagination. Even though having three or four wives was quitemon during this period of time and this kind of a society, women still had their own feelings and opinions on love, meaning that they were in no way totally submissive.

    What these two lovebirds were arguing about wasn¡¯t society or its customs, but love.

    In terms of love, Su Chen was totally and utterly in the wrong, and Gu Qingluo had no way of epting it.

    At the very least, she had no way of epting it at the moment.

    As such, Gu Qingluo didn¡¯t even turn around as she said, ¡°Do you still not understand? This is fate. Even you are just a pawn of fate. You can¡¯t even break through the restrictions of fate. How could you possibly think of marrying me?¡±

    ¡°I can break them!¡± Su Chen yelled.

    ¡°Then go and break them, but I won¡¯t make you any promises. Perhaps one day, you will save your Instructor, break through the societal institution of bloodlines, reach the Light Shaking Realm or even higher, ande searching for me with the confidence that human wisdom can ovee nature. However, I cannot promise that I will still love you then or that my feelings will have changed......¡±

    Su Chen froze.

    Gu Qingluo finally turned around and stared at Su Chen.

    Her eyes were filled with tears. ¡°This is fate. You can choose your own, but you cannot choose mine. Since you have chosen another woman, then I choose to find another man.¡±

    Su Chen sucked in a long breath of air. ¡°You won¡¯t.¡±

    Gu Qingluo harrumphed disdainfully. ¡°Su Chen, don¡¯t think too highly of yourself......¡±

    Su Chen, however, charged forward to embrace Gu Qingluo. ¡°I told you about Zhu Xianyao not because I wanted you to leave me, but to make you more willing to marry me.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Gu Qingluo was totally stunned, but when she saw Su Chen charging at her, she quickly retreated.

    As Su Chen ran, he yelled, ¡°Dragon Envoy Tang, might I bother you to serve as a witness for us? From this day onwards, Gu Qingluo will be my wife.¡±

    ¡°Hey, you¡¯re crazy!¡± Gu Qingluo beat her fists against Su Chen. ¡°Let me go! I don¡¯t want to marry you!¡±

    ¡°You will marry me no matter what. If you won¡¯t be my woman today, I won¡¯t let you go anywhere.¡±

    ¡°Bastard! Scoundrel! Save me! He¡¯s a rapist!¡± Gu Qingluo yelled loudly.

    Tang Lifeng frowned.

    When faced with this pair of lovebirds quarreling with one another, he didn¡¯t know what to do.

    As a man, he didn¡¯t think anything was wrong with Su Chen having another woman.

    However, he could also understand Gu Qingluo¡¯s heart. Because of the sudden nature of the revtion, she had no way of epting the situation.

    The problem was that she didn¡¯t have any time to think things over or to gradually ept the situation.

    Su Chen was very clear about this, so he had chosen to act decisively.

    This was a smart move, but it put Tang Lifeng in a bind.

    Should he pretend not to have seen anything or interfere in the situation?

    If he didn¡¯t help her, Gu Qingluo might end up hating him.

    However, if he helped Gu Qingluo escape, she might hate him even more......

    There was no easy way out.

    However, he quickly thought of something: Gu Qingluo¡¯s bloodline had awakened, so how had Su Chen managed to embrace her?

    When he realized this, Tang Lifeng shook his head. ¡°Forget about it. The matter between you two doesn¡¯t concern me. I¡¯m going to go find a ce to rest for a bit.¡±

    As he spoke, he walked off to the side.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 95: Forced Upon 2

    Chapter 95: Forced Upon (2)

    ¡°Let me go, you rascal, you dirty scoundrel!¡± Gu Qingluo pounded Su Chen¡¯s back.

    She possessed an Origin Beast Bloodline, and now that it had awakened, she was very powerful, to the point that even Su Chen wasn¡¯t her opponent. However, when Su Chen embraced her, she felt her entire body go weak, and she had no way of resisting.

    Su Chen brought her into a forested area, set up a pile of stones, and propped a few pieces of straw up amongst the stone pile to serve as incense. He lit them, then said, ¡°With the Heaven as my witness, from this day forward, I, Su Chen, take Gu Qingluo as my wife. My love for her will not change until the end of time......¡±

    He was originally nning on saying some sentiments like ¡°til death do us part¡± and ¡°we¡¯ll grow old together.¡± But when he remembered that Gu Qingluo was about to leave him and that even having an extra day would be a big favor from the Dragon Envoy, he wasn¡¯t able to utter them. As such, he thought for a moment, before continuing to say, ¡°A kowtow to Heaven[1. This is amon routine in Chinese weddings. It is analogous to the exchanging of vows in traditional Western weddings.]¡±

    He brought Gu Qingluo over to kowtow as well.

    Gu Qingluo twisted her head away. ¡°Go away! I don¡¯t want to marry you!¡±

    Su Chen continued to hold onto her. ¡°Qingluo, I admit that I was wrong, but are you really willing to leave me and never see me again?¡±

    Gu Qingluo wanted to say that she was willing to do so, but as soon as she opened her mouth, Su Chen moved in and kissed her. Gu Qingluo felt like the world was spinning around her.

    Su Chen¡¯s kiss was not gentle and had a bit of forcefulness about it. Gu Qingluo, on the other hand, wasn¡¯t a forceful person at all. Her stubbornness had been riled up due to Zhu Xianyao, but she just couldn¡¯tpare with Su Chen. She felt herself going limp and had no strength to resist.

    Su Chen led her to kowtow together.

    Because none of their parents were here, Su Chen didn¡¯t say, ¡°a second kowtow to parents.¡± Instead, he took Gu Qingluo and kowtowed in Tang Lifeng¡¯s direction instead.

    Tang Lifeng was here to escort someone, but he had suddenly assumed first, the role of witness, and second, that of parental figures. He waspletely speechless.

    After the second kowtow came the third.

    For some reason, Gu Qingluo suddenly seemed to recover. She began to yell, ¡°I don¡¯t want to marry you!¡±

    She jabbed a finger at Su Chen.

    This time it was an actual attack.

    Su Chen shifted to the side, dodging this finger jab. Immediately afterwards, Gu Qingluo¡¯s palm came charging towards him. Because they were so close, Su Chen wasn¡¯t able to dodge. The palm mmed into him, causing him to cough up a mouthful of blood as he copsed to the ground.

    Gu Qingluo was frightened quite badly. She knew how powerful her strike had been; even though she hadn¡¯t used her full strength, it wasn¡¯t an attack that just anyone could withstand. She had attacked out of anger, and Su Chen had born the full brunt of her power. He would already be quite lucky if he didn¡¯t die.

    When Su Chen was still hale and healthy, she hated him. But when she saw him injured like this, her heart began to ache. She hugged Su Chen and said, ¡°Su Chen, Su Chen, are you alright?¡±

    Su Chen grabbed Gu Qingluo¡¯s hand and spat out with some difficulty, ¡°The husband and wife...... kowtow to each other.¡±

    When she saw that Su Chen still intended on going through with the marriage procedure, Gu Qingluo felt likeughing, crying, and yelling at him all at the same time.

    However, Su Chen held onto Gu Qingluo tightly. It seemed like there was nothing she could do but marry him. Gu Qingluo allowed him to press her head to the ground, and they kowtowed to one another.

    After finishing the marriage ritual with quite some difficulty, Su Chen¡¯s body began to sag.

    Gu Qingluo hugged him tightly, her eyes filled with tears.

    Su Chen, however, continued to smile. ¡°Now you are my wife. See, even Heaven itself cannot stop us, and neither can fate.¡±

    Gu Qingluo forced herself to turn away from him. It seemed like she wasn¡¯t fully satisfied yet.

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then said, ¡°Right, we haven¡¯t had our bridal chamber experience yet. Can we really say we are married if we arecking that experience?¡±

    Gu Qingluo was extremely embarrassed. She gave him a gentle shove and said, ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    Su Chen smiled at Tang Lifeng.

    He didn¡¯t say anything, but Tang Lifeng understood. Heughed, ¡°You two take care of your business. I will give you another evening ande back tomorrow.¡±

    As he spoke, he turned around and left.

    Su Chen leered a bit at Gu Qingluo. ¡°Only you and I are here now.¡±

    As he spoke, he picked up Gu Qingluo and began to carry her towards a nearby cave.

    Gu Qingluo blushed hard, and she struggled in Su Chen¡¯s arms. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t do this!¡±

    But how could a littlemb resist the big bad wolf? Su Chen carried Gu Qingluo to the cave, set her down, then began to undo her garments.

    Gu Qingluo was about to attack again out of shame and anger, but she saw Su Chen cough slightly as blood trickled out of his mouth.

    ¡°Su Chen, you......¡± She was flustered. ¡°Your wounds are too serious. Take some time to recover first; this isn¡¯t that urgent of a matter.¡±

    ¡°No worries. My lower half isn¡¯t injured,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Gu Qingluo felt like she was about to faint from embarrassment. She wanted to crawl into a hole and die, but she watched as Su Chen pulled off her outer robe, revealing her pale white shoulders and a rosy, dazzling bosom.

    Gu Qingluo screamed out like a girl who was about to be raped, ¡°Please, no!¡±

    However, this only awakened the beast-like instincts within Su Chen.

    He quickly took off his outeryer. Just as he was about to take off his undergarments, Gu Qingluo¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Thread Coral Robe?¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s heart jumped as he cursed silently.

    Indeed, Gu Qingluo¡¯s expression sank. ¡°You aren¡¯t actually that badly wounded, right?¡±

    Gu Qingluo had already held back when she attacked. With the Thread Coral Robe¡¯s protection as well, it was impossible for Su Chen to be wounded that badly.

    Su Chen mmed his palm into his own chest. The cracking sound of bones breaking could clearly be heard.

    ¡°What are you doing!?¡± Gu Qingluo shrieked.

    ¡°Now I am,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Gu Qingluo was dazed. ¡°Why would you do this?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m willing to die for you. What is a wound like this? Anything is fine as long as you are willing,¡± Su Chen replied.

    His words intoxicated Gu Qingluo.

    Su Chen gently pressed her down and, ignoring the wounds on his chest, began to undress Gu Qingluo. He identally brushed his own wounds, causing him to almost ck out from the pain.

    However, he forcefully resisted the pain and swallowed the blood in his mouth. He was going to have his way with Gu Qingluo no matter what. It was a rarity for someone to be in as a hurry as him.

    Even so, it seemed to be effective against Gu Qingluo.

    She didn¡¯t want Su Chen to hurt himself more, and every move that Su Chen made stirred up her lust as well. Gu Qingluo began to feel heady.

    Article after article of clothing fell to the ground, and each bout of resistance was met by an even stronger attack.

    The finalyer of clothing was peeled off, revealing the human body in all its beauty.

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s resistance had eroded away. She waspletely caught up in Su Chen¡¯s passion, though herst remaining bit of consciousness cried out, ¡°No!¡±

    Su Chen responded with a violent pration.

    The slight pain caused Gu Qingluo¡¯s heart to tremble, and she felt like her entire body was ascending to higher heights as Su Chen continued to attack.

    Her gaze began to grow distant and unfocused, and she gradually began to lose herself.

    She became lost in her sensations, just like that.

    She became depraved just like that.

    It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine. Everything might as well be this way.

    No matter how much fate tried to stop it, I am now his wife.

    She endured Su Chen¡¯s attacks as her train of thought drifted off in this direction.

    After the storm.

    Su Cheny on Gu Qingluo, breathing hard, after expelling thest bit of his essence.

    Gu Qingluo stared up at the ceiling as if she was in a daze.

    Su Chen asked her, ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    Gu Qingluo gritted her teeth and spat out, ¡°Dirty scoundrel!¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 96: Iron Cliffâ€™s Mission

    By the time Tang Lifeng had returned, the couple was no longer fighting with another.

    Gu Qingluoy in Su Chen¡¯s embrace, crying constantly.

    All she did was cry.

    asionally, she would fiercely jab at him a few times.

    The pain caused Su Chen to grit his teeth and regret injuring himself so heavily.

    When she saw Tang Lifeng arrive, Gu Qingluo knew that she couldn¡¯t dy any longer. She stared at Su Chen, teary-eyed. ¡°Be careful when you go to the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory and don¡¯t try to be a hero. Remember that there¡¯s someone waiting for you.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Su Chen nodded seriously.

    The next instant, Gu Qingluo¡¯s tone changed. ¡°No, there¡¯s actually two people.¡±

    Her voice became a bit sour.

    Su Chen could only sigh.

    Thankfully, this note of sourness disappeared rapidly. Gu Qingluo wrapped arms around Su Chen and stayed there a bit longer before Tang Lifeng finally coaxed her to leave.

    Gu Qingluo left along with Su Chen¡¯s heart. He looked as if his soul had been stolen from him.

    A person felt the pain of separating from a loved one the most keenly at their moment of parting, especially if it was unknown if the other side would ever return.

    For just a moment, Su Chen wanted to fight Tang Lifeng and take Gu Qingluo away.

    However, he knew that there was no point in doing so. The world didn¡¯t revolve around him, and neither did he have the ability to do as he pleased.

    Also, Shi Kaihuang¡¯s survival was still unclear.

    As such, he hurriedly tried to regain control of his state of mind and then walked down the mountain.

    Because he had flown recklessly and blindly to that mountain, Su Chen didn¡¯t know where he was now. It wasn¡¯t until he reached the bottom of the mountain that he realized that he was in Fanyang City, which waspletely opposite of where his goal was. It would be at least a three day journey from here to Swallow River City. That would be enough time for him to calm himself down.

    Three dayster, he arrived in Swallow River City. His state of mind had improved greatly, and he had regained most of his former calm.

    First, he went to the Gu Pce and greeted Gu Xuanmian and Gu Yaoye.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t put on a pretense of politeness. He directly told them that he had already married Gu Qingluo. Even though Gu Qingluo had left, the Gu Residence would need to ept him as a son-inw of theirs.

    Of course, he also handed over control of the Flight Network.

    Within the Su Pce.

    ¡°...... The matter is settled, then. From today onwards, you don¡¯t need to worry about the Flight Network. The medicinal pavilion will continue operations, and Li Shu and Zhou Hong will be in charge of that. They will be responsible for gathering resources, while the residence itself will be under Mingshu¡¯s control.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± The Su Residence¡¯s subordinates bowed their heads obediently.

    ¡°I¡¯m headed to Flowing Gold Fort tomorrow and might not be back for some time. Everything here will be under your control.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re in that much of a hurry?¡± Li Shu said in shock.

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°Instructor¡¯s life hangs in the bnce. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that I know that being hasty doesn¡¯t always equate to sess, I would have left already.¡±

    ¡°Master, be careful!¡± Li Shu said earnestly.

    He was very clear that Su Chen¡¯s trip was going to be fraught with danger.

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°If there¡¯s nothing else pressing, then you may all go. Iron Cliff, stay for a second.¡±

    Everyone filed out of the room slowly. Eventually, only Iron Cliff was left.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Iron Cliff, this time I will be heading into the territory of the Ferocious Race. It¡¯d be better if you didn¡¯te.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡± Iron Cliff opened his eyes wide in surprise.

    ¡°The journey to the Ferocious Race territory will be very dangerous. Surviving won¡¯t be dependent on just strength but also on this,¡± Su Chen said as he pointed at his own head. ¡°My goal this time is primarily to help Instructor, and bringing you along might not be that useful. Actually, you might just slow me down.¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t mince his words. He knew that if he tried to be too considerate of Iron Cliff¡¯s feelings, he would definitely say that he wasn¡¯t afraid of death and that his only request would be to follow after Su Chen. As such, Su Chen just told Iron Cliff directly that bringing him along would only slow him down. Iron Cliff stared at him ck-jawed, unsure of what to say.

    He was weaker than Su Chen, and dumber as well. Even though he was incredibly loyal, that wouldn¡¯t be of much use where Su Chen was going.

    He could only acknowledge what Su Chen had said. However, his face was thoroughly red, and his heart was filled with unwillingness.

    When he saw him like this, Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°Do you feel dissatisfied?¡±

    Iron Cliff nodded his head, depressed.

    ¡°I understand,¡± Su Chenforted. ¡°But just because you can¡¯te with me doesn¡¯t mean that you can¡¯t help me.¡±

    Iron Cliff stared at Su Chen quizzically, unsure of what Su Chen was trying to say.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Have you heard of the Limestone Mountain Range?¡±

    Iron Cliff nodded silently.

    ¡°The Limestone Mountain Range borders the Harvey ins and runs from north to south. Once you cross over that mountain range, you¡¯ll be in the ins. However, the mountain range itself is quite dangerous, and it is actually the territory of the Beast Race. Humans and the Ferocious Race can¡¯t just casually walk in as they please, so they can only set up a defensive perimeter on the outside.¡±

    Iron Cliff¡¯s heart jumped. ¡°Master means......¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m hoping that you can go there and take care of a problem for me.¡±

    Iron Cliff said loudly, ¡°I am willing to go through fire and mes for Master!¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t need you to die for me. I just need you to aplish this mission for me. You are my backup n, and I hope that I never have to use you. However, if I ever need you, I hope that you won¡¯t disappoint me.¡±

    Iron Cliff¡¯s heart sank when he heard this.

    At this moment, he didn¡¯t dare say that he had the confidence toplete the mission.

    When Su Chen saw Iron Cliff like this, Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°It¡¯s good that you can¡¯t promise me. Anyone who has that much confidence without even knowing what the mission is usually won¡¯t do a good job. But a person without any self-confidence also won¡¯t do a good job.¡±

    As he spoke, he suddenly changed topics. ¡°Iron Cliff, you¡¯ve been with me for twenty years now, right?¡±

    ¡°Twenty-three years and four months,¡± Iron Cliff replied.

    ¡°Twenty-three years, huh? Time really does fly. Now that you mention it, you are the one that has been by my side the longest. Qingluo, Instructor, Xianyao...... none of them have been with me as long as you. You know most of my secrets and everything that I have been doing, so you also understand me the best. Iron Cliff, you have been with me for twenty-three years, but you might not have noticed the changes that you yourself have also gone through.¡±

    Iron Cliff waspletely confused.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°Thest time I sent you to dy Zhou Qingkuang, you did a great job. Tell me, does a normal Cliff Race individual have that many tactics at his disposal?¡±

    Iron Cliff slowly shook his head.

    Most Cliff Race individuals had simple thought processes and simple natures. Fighting to the death was usually easier for them than using their heads to resolve problems.

    However, Iron Cliff was different.

    He had followed Su Chen for over twenty years, doing experiments and cheating other people. He usually used his brain more than his fists.

    Being a research assistant had taught him patience, and scheming against others had taught him how to n. Both of these personality traits hadbined to make him an umon Cliff Race individual. Otherwise, he couldn¡¯t possibly have dyed Zhou Qingkuang in such a beautiful manner.

    If you live with ame person, you will learn to limp.

    Su Chen continued, saying, ¡°That¡¯s why you must believe in yourself. Believe that you are already outstanding. And what I need is for you to utilize these outstanding attributes to their maximum potential.¡±

    Iron Cliff loudly proimed, ¡°Master, please rest assured that Iron Cliff willplete his mission!¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Su Chen handed Iron Cliff an Origin Ring and said meaningfully, ¡°You can use any resources and any method toplete the mission I am about to give you......¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 97: Reckless Purchasing

    The next morning, Su Chen left Swallow River City.

    He left on one of the Flight Network¡¯s Dragon Boats ¡ª and his trip was actually the inaugural flight. It was quite interesting that Su Chen was both thework¡¯s inventor and its first guest.

    The flight was set for Long Coiling City.

    It wasn¡¯t strange for the first flight to be headed for the capital of the country, and Su Chen was originally nning on going there anyways.

    Once he arrived at Long Coiling City, Su Chen headed straight to the Flying Moon Workshop.

    Cui Miaoling was there to greet him.

    Even though it had been a few years, Cui Miaoling still had a very deep impression of Prince Su¡¯s deep pockets. As soon as she saw him, she smiled and greeted him. ¡°Prince Su, it¡¯s been a few years.¡±

    Su Chen cut right to the chase. ¡°I¡¯m here to buy a Cloud-Piercing Shuttle.¡±

    ¡°A Cloud Piercing Shuttle?¡± Cui Miaoling was taken aback. ¡°Thest Cloud-Piercing Shuttle......¡±

    ¡°......Was eaten by a Demonic Beast.¡±

    Cui Miaoling felt her heart bleed.

    A Demonic Emperor Shuttle worth a few billion Origin Stones had been eaten just like that. How can you say it that so callously without even blinking?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t wait for her shock to subside before continuing to say, ¡°That¡¯s why I want to buy two this time.¡±

    Pfft!

    Cui Miaoling almost fell to the ground.

    Are my ears deceiving me?

    She opened her eyes wide and stared at Su Chen. ¡°You aren¡¯t joking around, are you?¡±

    ¡°Not at all. I want the best ones, ideally at the same level as the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle. If there are still shuttles that require powerful consciousnesses to control, that would be even better.¡±

    Cui Miaoling sucked in a mouthful of cold air as she tried to calm herself. ¡°Treasures like that can¡¯t be requested, only encountered by chance.¡±

    Su Chen interrupted Cui Miaoling. ¡°Then regr top-tier ones will be fine too.¡±

    Cui Miaoling¡¯s heart trembled once again.

    She quickly took out a Cloud-Piercing Shuttle. It was curved like a moon and sharp at both ends, giving it the shape of a small boat.

    ¡°This is the Silver Moon Shuttle. The Flying Moon Workshop gained its name from producing this model.¡±

    ¡°I know the Silver Moon Shuttle. It¡¯s the gship product of the Flying Moon Workshop and sells well every year. But what I want aren¡¯t the things that everyone has but the ships that are treasures amongst treasures.¡±

    Cui Miaoling chuckled. ¡°Of course. Since Prince Su wants top-tier items, how could we possibly try to deceive Prince Su with mediocre items? Please, take a close look ¡ª even though this Silver Moon Shuttle looks like any other Silver Moon Shuttle, its interior has been heavily modified and reced with top-quality materials. This shuttle¡¯s defensive rating is 130, and it can travel 35 paces in a single breath. It also has an Origin Formation so that you can resize it at will.¡±

    Numbers were often enough to reveal the truth.

    When he heard this number, Su Chen knew that this thing was good.

    ¡°What¡¯s the drawback?¡±

    ¡°If you want to talk about drawbacks, the biggest is that it has no offensive capabilities. Since Prince Su wants two shuttles, I was thinking that Prince Su could choose one that specializes in escaping and one that specializes inbat.¡±

    ¡°How much?¡± he asked.

    ¡°A hundred million.¡±

    ¡°What about thebat one?¡±

    Cui Miaoling pulled out another Cloud-Piercing Shuttle. ¡°This is the Burning Sun Shuttle. Its defensive rating is 120, and it can travel 23 paces in a single breath. Ites with a spatial Origin Formation, a Burning Sun Cannon, and a high-tier offensive Origin Formation. The offensive Origin Formation isposed of twelve minor Origin Formations that can unleash three Origin Skills in total. Finally, the shuttle allows its user to unleash Origin Skills from within the shuttle via some of the Origin Formations. As such, the user can attack from within the shuttle. However, only long-range Origin Skills will have an effect when used through this method; close-range Origin Skills can¡¯t be used.¡±

    This was truly a Cloud-Piercing Shuttle built for battle. Its speed was so-so, but its defensive capabilities weren¡¯t weak and it came with both pre-installed Origin Skills and allowed its user to unleash Origin Skills from within the shuttle. That would truly be much more convenient forbat.

    Su Chen asked, ¡°How much?¡±

    ¡°Also a hundred million. Since Prince Su wants to buy two shuttles, I can give them to you at 10% off for a total of 180 million.¡±

    One of the shuttles was specifically meant for escaping. It was even faster and had a higher defensive rating than the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle. The other was useful forbat and could multiply Su Chen¡¯s strength while he was in the air. It wouldn¡¯t be outdated even if he were to use it in the Light Shaking Realm.

    The price was simrly extraordinary. Each shuttle cost a hundred million Origin Stones.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t waste more of his breath. He nodded and said, ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll take it.¡±

    A transaction worth a few hundred million had beenpleted in just the span of a few minutes. Cui Miaoling felt dizzy just thinking about it.

    ¡°There¡¯s one more small favor that I would like to ask of Miss Cui.¡±

    ¡°Prince Su, please just tell me what you need.¡± At this moment, Cui Miaoling was willing to sleep with him, let alone help him out with a small favor.

    Unfortunately, Su Chen didn¡¯t have any eyes for her. He just handed her a piece of paper. ¡°Please help me gather everything listed here.¡±

    Cui Miaoling took one look at it and almost fainted. ¡°A hundred thousand Sky-Pealing Thunder Kernels? Prince Su, are you trying to level Long Coiling City? And a thousand kilograms of Nightmare Snake Poison...... A thousand kilograms? Have you gone mad? This is an incredibly rare poison, and you¡¯re trying to buy it by the kilogram? And what is this? Marching Pellets? That¡¯s fine, but why do you need a million? What are you trying to do?¡±

    ¡°You ask too many questions. I¡¯m just asking you whether or not you¡¯re able to help me buy these things.¡±

    Cui Miaoling said helplessly, ¡°No one can buy all of this. Even if you were to search through all of Long Coiling City, you might only find a hundred kilograms, no, a hundred vials of Nightmare Snake poison. As for Sky-Pealing Thunder Pellets, I can at most find five hundred for you, as well as fifty thousand Marching Pellets.¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s too few.¡±

    ¡°Then there¡¯s really nothing I can do,¡± Cui Miaoling said as she shook her head.

    Su Chen might have the money, but the items might not necessarily be there. Everything he was searching for was rare and hard to concoct, so there were limited quantities.

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then said, ¡°First get everything that you can, then search for some substitutes. That should be fine, right?¡±

    ¡°Substitutes......¡± Cui Miaoling thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°It¡¯s not impossible for me to think of something, but you¡¯re asking for too many things here that are simply too varied in their usage.¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°This is a big transaction, right?¡±

    Cui Miaoling understood the meaning behind his words and smiled. ¡°Yes, I understand what Prince Su is saying. I will activate as many people as possible to search for the resources that you need. But as for the price......¡±

    Su Chen pulled out an Origin Card and ced it in Cui Miaoling¡¯s hand. Cui Miaoling beamed with a smile when she saw the number on top of it.

    Lavish transactions required avish spending style.

    Once she received this massive order, the first thing Cui Miaoling did wasn¡¯t to send people to procure the resources. Instead, she called the storekeepers of all of therge shops within Long Coiling City over and exined the situation to them, soon after distributing the responsibilities to them.

    The pay was good and the quantity was high, so the various storekeepers happily agreed. Those who had the products already in stock supplied those, while those who didn¡¯t began searching. For a while, all of Long Coiling City was busy searching for what Su Chen wanted to buy. A few of the quicker-witted storekeepers also sent people to the nearby cities to import resources in, milking the surrounding cities dry and profiting handsomely.

    Within the span of a few days, the resources that Su Chen needed had been gathered in their entirely. This made it so that any resource Su Chen was buying was suddenly in short supply across the city, causing the prices to shoot up.

    At this moment, Su Chen took the resources he had bought and headed for Flowing Gold Fort.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 98: Flowing Gold For

    t

    At Flowing Gold Fort.

    This fort, which had been around since the Illustrious Divine Dynasty, had around seven thousand years¡¯ worth of history.

    It was initially constructed during Emperor Ping¡¯s rule and had been revived and abandoned many times afterwards. The first time it had revived was when Emperor Ping lost a lot of territory and the Ferocious Race took over. To deal with the Ferocious Race¡¯s attacks, the Illustrious Divine Dynasty had established this fort.

    Not too long after, the humans reimed some of the territory lost to the Ferocious Race. As their borders expanded, the Flowing Gold Fort gradually lost its purpose.

    However, the Illustrious Divine Dynasty¡¯s counterattack was like that of every dynasty¡¯s final generation: the Ferocious Race retaliated very quickly, and the Flowing Gold Fort once again became an important pir in defending the country.

    After seven thousand years, the Flowing Gold Fort had gone through many such cycles, and every time it revived, it corresponded to a weakening of the country.

    In that sense, the Flowing Gold Fort¡¯s importance was quite ironic.

    After the Illustrious Divine Dynasty split apart, Long Sang Country shouldered the burden of defending against the Ferocious Race because of their proximity to the north.

    As the current human race was quite weak, the Flowing Gold Fort had once again be a strategic location.

    The Flowing Gold Fort was located in between the Scarlet Mountain Range and the Limestone Mountain Range, while the Goldwater River flowed nearby. The fort was surrounded by water and mountains, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. It was for these reasons that the fort served as a shield to prevent the Ferocious Race from sneaking in.

    There was technically only one Flowing Gold Fort, but there were actually two more citadels and two more wing cities in that area for a total of five. They were ced in five strategically important locations across the two mountain ranges and were closely linked to one another.

    The main fort had twoyers; the outer wall was 150 feet tall, while the inner wall was 200 feet tall. This way, even if the enemies were able to scale the outer walls, the soldiers in the inner city could still attack the enemies outside.

    The walls were made from refined ck steel. When ck steel was mixed with blood, it would turn a golden color; hence the name Flowing Gold Fort. Refined ck steel wasn¡¯t known for its toughness but rather its ability to conduct Origin Energy. Each chunk of refined ck steel was covered in Origin Formation Inscriptions. The refined ck steel walls¡¯ primary purpose was not to withstand the attacks of the defenders but to power an Origin Formation. Once this formation was activated, a massive defensive barrier would be erected around the fort.

    This barrier only allowed attacks through from the inside of the barrier and would block all attacksing from outside the barrier

    There were nine tall towers within the city which protected the core of the Origin Formation. As long as one of these towers remained standing, it could supply an endless source of Origin Energy to the protective barrier. Of course, activating such arge formation required a ton of Origin Energy. Apparently, each second the barrier was active cost tens of thousands of Origin Stones.

    As such, the Flowing Gold Fort wouldn¡¯t activate this formation unless it was an emergency.

    Apart from the defensive barrier, the Flowing Gold Fort also had 1,400 Divine me Cannons, each one stronger andrger than the Sky Lightning Cannon that Su Chen had owned previously. There were even twenty specially constructed cannons that could apparently kill a Demonic King in a single blow. When faced with this kind of firepower, a single person would be totally outmatched no matter how strong they were.

    Even so, the most powerful weapons needed talented soldiers to bring out their full potential. As such, the Flowing Gold Fort was filled with powerful warriors.

    There were a total of one hundred thousand soldiers within the fort, each of them an elite soldier from Long Sang Country. Their training was rigorous and their coordination immacte, and each one of them possessed a brave and heroic spirit. Because their main battles were against the Ferocious Race, they were known as the Ferocious Extermination Army. This army was the most well known throughout the whole Long Sang Country.

    The Ferocious Extermination Army was split into ten battalions, each with around ten thousand people. They were named as follows: the Heavenly Might Battalion, the Heavenly Enlightenment Battalion, the Heavenly Mist Battalion, the Heavenly Fiend Battalion, the Heavenly Extermination Battalion, the Earthly Ferocious Battalion, the Earthly Fire Battalion, the Earthly Dragon Battalion, the Earthly Tranquility Battalion, and the Earthly Peaceful Battalion.

    The Heavenly Battalions were primarily responsible for offensive maneuvers, while the Earthly Battalions focused on defense.

    The group that had disappeared amongst the Harvey ins was Shi Kaihuang¡¯s Heavenly Might Battalion.

    The midday sun was zing brilliantly.

    Su Chen stared off into the distance at the towering walls that were alreadying into view. The intense sunlight bounced off the refined ck steel walls and scattered into dazzling rays.

    Because the Flowing Gold Fort was enveloped in arge formation and flying was forbidden, Su Chen could only walk there on foot.

    He had run his horse to death on the mountain, so Su Chen had to walk quite a ways before he arrived at the fort.

    The fort loomed over him like a tall mountain, making Su Chen feel as small as an ant in front of the main gate.

    Fighting the various races had one benefit, which was that there were rarely any foreign spies. After all, if someone with the Ferocious Race¡¯s unique physical features were to try to mingle with a group of humans, they would be spotted immediately. As such, the defenses at the back of the fort weren¡¯t very strict. The guards of the city just asked him a few perfunctory questions, and no extortion took ce.

    ording to the n, Su Chen was originally going to find the Heavenly Mist Battalion in order to search for Xiao Feinan, but immediately upon entering the city, he felt his stomach rumble in hunger. It just so happened that Su Chen spotted a wine tavern nearby, so he headed in that direction.

    He had just entered when someone suddenly jumped out in front of him. ¡°I¡¯ve finally caught you! Haha!¡±

    Su Chen was badly startled and attacked instinctively with a palm strike. Just before it was about tond, however, he suddenly noticed that it was Night Demon. Su Chen quickly forcefully dissipated the energy of his strike, causing his wrist to dislocate itself in the process, and gritting his teeth from the resulting pain.

    Night Demon didn¡¯t notice anything. Sheughed, her hands on her hips. ¡°What do you think? You didn¡¯t discover me beforehand this time, right? I¡¯ve finally sessfully ambushed you?¡±

    ¡°......Yes.¡±

    This time, Su Chen really hadn¡¯t sensed her presence, but did she really need to be so happy about it?

    They were in a military town and the streets were filled with people. In addition, there was a lot on Su Chen¡¯s mind. It was no surprise that he hadn¡¯t noticed her.

    He stared harshly at Night Demon. ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    ¡°I came looking for you, of course,¡± Night Demon said in high spirits.

    Su Chen nced around them. It didn¡¯t seem that anyone was paying them any attention, so he pulled Night Demon over to the side and asked her in a hushed voice, ¡°Young Miss, are you trying to get yourself killed? Don¡¯t forget that you¡¯re part of the Immortal...... You¡¯re one of them. If you get discovered, do you think you¡¯ll be able to escape?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll just be a bit more careful than usual.¡± Night Demon seemed like she couldn¡¯t care less.

    ¡°......Who told you toe look for me? And how did you know I was here?¡±

    ¡°Of course it was the boss. Don¡¯t you know that everyone has been paying close attention to you after the situation at Mountain Overlook City?¡±

    Su Chenughed coldly, ¡°Are they paying close attention to the Hemolytic Totem or the Primordial Blood Incarnation? Or is it the Soul Armaments?¡±

    Night Demon¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Oh? So you already knew!¡±

    What a joke! How could he not know?

    Even though Su Chen had profited quite handsomely from the trip to the castle, he had also revealed quite a bit of his strength. The Hemolytic Totem, Soul Armaments, and Primordial Blood Incarnation were all techniques that could make huge waves in the world. Who wouldn¡¯t be interested in obtaining these techniques for themselves?

    Because of this, the Immortal Temple had been keeping a close eye on him.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, it wasn¡¯t actually that surprising that they knew where he was.

    Su Chen going to the Gu n to ask for Gu Qingluo¡¯s hand in marriage didn¡¯t affect them, so they didn¡¯t intervene.

    But if Su Chen was going to the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory to search for Shi Kaihuang, then the situation was different.

    Even if Su Chen hadn¡¯t figured out what was happening at first, as soon as Night Demon mentioned that everyone was paying close attention to him after Mountain Overlook City, he had figured it out. If he didn¡¯t, he wouldn¡¯t be Su Chen anymore.

    When he heard what Night Demon said, Su Chen coldlyughed. ¡°I know, but unfortunately I¡¯m not nning on selling any of these three techniques.¡±

    Night Demon pped her hands and said, ¡°The higher-ups knew you would say this, so they wanted me to tell you that you really might need our help if you want to save Old Shi.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Su Chen was stunned.

    ¡°Nothing, really. It¡¯s just that my boss wanted me to tell you one thing: the remnants of the Arcana Race are everywhere. If they¡¯re amongst the human race, they must also be amongst the Ferocious Race.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 99: Rejuvenating Door

    If any force could exist as an intermediary to the five powerful races, it was most likely the remnants of the Arcana Race.

    These unkible ghosts of the Arcana Race wandered among the various races, their purpose unclear. They might just be trying to survive or they might be working towards the resurrection of their dreams. They roped in various host races and established bases of power all over the world, pulling the strings behind the scenes and creating chaos.

    Unlike the rtionship between the humans and the Arcana Race, the Ferocious Race embraced the remnants of the Arcana Race.

    The Harvey ins were quite deste and devoid of resources, to the point that even provisions like food and weapons needed to be imported, and humans being expert craftsmen especially needed these resources. Of course, the Ferocious Race couldn¡¯t go and purchase things themselves, so they could only do so through an intermediary. The remnants of the Arcana Race recognized this, making it difficult for the Ferocious Race to refuse their services. In addition, the Ferocious Race had been watchdogs for the Arcana Race in the past, as they were used to keep the other races in check. Even though they had been subject to torment as well, they were much better treated than the other races, and so they didn¡¯t have as much hatred and enmity.

    Because of this, the remnants of the Arcana Race were more or less an open organization amongst the Ferocious Race.

    Su Chen knew that this branch of the Arcana Race remnants were known as the Rejuvenating Door. They were closely rted to the Immortal Temple of the human race, the Fate¡¯s Hands of the Feathered Race, the Dazzling Society of the Spirit Race, and the ck me of the Sea Race

    The Rejuvenating Door typically boughtrge quantities of resources and weapons from the humans, most of them obtained via the Immortal Temple. From this, they were also considered as a steady source of long-term revenue for the Immortal Temple.

    When he heard all that Night Demon had to say, Su Chen immediately replied, ¡°Let¡¯s go talk about this somewhere else.¡±

    Night Demon giggled and followed behind Su Chen.

    They weaved back and forth until they finally arrived at a house. Upon pushing open the door, Su Chen found Shi Mingfeng sitting inside, waiting for them.

    When he saw Su Chen, Shi Mingfeng chuckled. ¡°My brother, how have you beentely?¡±

    ¡°You know exactly how I¡¯ve been. What is there to say?¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t waste time being polite and sat down. ¡°Since you appeared here, you should have some information about my Instructor, right?¡±

    The Ferocious Race couldn¡¯t send any news through the Dreamrealm, but that didn¡¯t mean that information couldn¡¯t spread in real life.

    The Immortal Temple had close ties with the Rejuvenating Door. If Shi Mingfeng didn¡¯t have any insider information, he probably wouldn¡¯t have appeared today.

    Shi Minfeng replied, ¡°I don¡¯t have any information about Shi Kaihuang specifically, but I do have information about the Heavenly Might Battalion.¡±

    ¡°How are they?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re still alive, but they¡¯re having a hard time. They got intercepted on their way back and were forced to split up. When I got wind of this, they were in the area of Wild Fox Mountain, but it¡¯s hard to say where they are now. You know that given the situation, if they were to stay in one ce for too long, they will be killed.¡±

    ¡°What can you offer me? And what do you want?¡± Su Chen asked straightforwardly

    Shi Mingfeng sighed, ¡°If you asked me what I wanted the most, it would be you, of course. The Hemolytic Totem, Primordial Blood Incarnation, and Soul Armaments all are worth less than you. What you are creating is not just individual Origin Skills but actually a path of limitless potential. You have already created three things along this road, and you are still so young. Most likely, you will achieve even greater things in the future. As such, you are the only thing valuable enough to ask for.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not for sale,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°But you aren¡¯t afraid of losing your life. The Blood and Iron Country is fraught with danger, and anything could kill you. It¡¯s possible that you might die at any moment, so why are you so against selling yourself?¡±

    ¡°Everybody will eventually die. There are some things you can do about that and some things that you can¡¯t. The Immortal Temple doesn¡¯t have the best reputation, and there¡¯s no point in trying to convince me to join your ranks.¡±

    ¡°Then do you think it¡¯s better for you to cooperate with us like this?¡±

    ¡°At the very least, I have a choice and can refuse. When I cooperate with you, I don¡¯t really mind if it¡¯s for profits, and I¡¯m also not against you dealing with people that I can¡¯t stand. But I can always refuse or even resist any other actions you do then. If I were to join the Immortal Temple, I would probably lose my freedom. In my eyes, the Immortal Temple is like all organizations; there are both good and evil part of it. I won¡¯t avoid you because of the evil parts, but I will oppose your evil actions. As such, if the Immortal Temple wants to do something evil, don¡¯te looking for me; otherwise, I might try to interfere. What¡¯s the point in recruiting someone like me anyways? Even if I did join your ranks, I would still oppose you and ughter my way out if you did something I didn¡¯t like.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng was dumbfounded when he heard this. After a long time, he finally nodded and said, ¡°You¡¯re absolutely right. I was the one who hadn¡¯t thought thingspletely through. Any organization will inevitably do some shady things as they grow. It¡¯s actually better if you don¡¯t join us. Otherwise, you wouldn¡¯t be able to avoid these scandals, and conflicts would likely arise. Things are quite good the way they are. Quite good.¡±

    His repetition seemed to indicate that Su Chen¡¯s words had convinced him.

    Then, he said, ¡°It seems like I only have one choice. Actually, I probably don¡¯t have much of a choice at all. How about I tell you what I can offer you first? You are unfamiliar with both the people and theyout of the Blood and Iron Country. We can give you a packet of information regarding the Ferocious Race, including a very detailed map, the various tribes and where they are camped, and a list of social taboos. Of course, you will need to swear with the Unsworn Testimony Fruit that you will not spread any of this information.¡±

    The Unsworn Testimony Fruit was a strange fruit. Any words spoken during a certain length of time after ingesting the fruit would be recorded down. If at any point in time a person went back on those words, the Unsworn Testimony Fruit would activate and cause the target¡¯s body shape to be fatter and fatter.

    The Unsworn Testimony Fruit wouldn¡¯t kill a person, but it would change a person¡¯s body shape, making them so obese that it would be hard for them to even move. The consequences were quite severe. Under most circumstances, making a swear under the influence of the Unsworn Testimony Fruit was very effective.

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°That¡¯s not a problem. Anything else?¡±

    ¡°You can ask the Rejuvenating Door for any information about the Ferocious Race and the Heavenly Might Battalion, but you will need to buy it from them. They will set the price. They probably won¡¯t ask for an excessive amount to give us face, but the specifics aren¡¯t under our control.¡±

    ¡°Then what if I want to ask them for help on my expedition? Do I need to pay as well?¡±

    ¡°Yes. As long as you can afford it, they will do anything. In theory, it would even be possible to get them to fight the Ferocious Race.¡±

    In terms of the organization¡¯s intrinsic culture, the Rejuvenating Door and the Immortal Temple were quite simr. They were drawn in by dreams and motivated by profits.

    Su Chenughed coldly. ¡°That would probably require an astronomical sum that no one could pay, right? For instance, a quadrillion top-tier Origin Stones?¡±

    Shi Mingfengughed as well. ¡°That might be enough to buy the whole Blood and Iron Country.¡±

    Theory was just theory. No one would take it seriously.

    But even so, Su Chen was satisfied.

    He said, ¡°You guys aren¡¯t paying much of a price, as it¡¯s just a map and some information. I still need to buy everything else on my own.¡±

    ¡°This is already a lot. The Rejuvenating Door was already extremely unwilling to hand over these things, as it¡¯s a big risk for them. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that I believe that you aren¡¯t that kind of person, a single Unsworn Testimony Fruit wouldn¡¯t be enough to disincentivize the lure of selling them to Long Sang Country.¡±

    In this day and age, maps were quite valuable and could fetch high prices.

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°I can hand over the Hemolytic Totem.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 100: Xiao Feinan

    The Hemolytic Totem was probably Su Chen¡¯s most practical invention.

    Its greatest benefit was that it could directly increase a person¡¯s strength in a simple and straightforward manner. The most significant drawback, however, was that once applied, there was no room for further improvement. As a person¡¯s personal strength increased, the Hemolytic Totem would eventually be tossed aside in favor of something else, which was why it was only used on low-level cultivators. It was for this reason that Su Chen had never used the Hemolytic Totem on himself. He only used this skill as the basis to make Origin Conducting Tools like the Shadow me Glove.

    Even so, it was still a very practical way to raise someone¡¯s strength, and the critical point was that it was incredibly cheap and easy to make.

    Cheap meant that Su Chen could manufacture it in veryrge quantities.

    In arge-scale fight, practicality was the most important.

    What would it mean if you were able to simultaneously increase the strength of a bunch of low-tier cultivators by around 20-100%?

    They would absolutely wipe the floor with any opponent.

    However, the Immortal Temple probably wanted this item the least out of the three listed.

    The reason was very simple; they didn¡¯t have an army.

    No underground organization could gather arge number of followers, and a generalck of members meant that the full potential of the Hemolytic Totem wouldn¡¯t be brought out. They would rather have the Primordial Blood Incarnation or Soul Armaments.

    Unfortunately, Su Chen wasn¡¯t willing to hand those things over as they both increased the strength of an individual.

    The reason Su Chen was willing to let go of the Hemolytic Totem was because it didn¡¯t affect a person¡¯s individual strength, though it would have profound impacts on the human race as a whole.

    The Hemolytic Totem had originally been developed in the Goldwater Ruins, when the Ferocious Race hadpeted against him. Now, it was being given away again while in the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory; in a sense, perhaps everything hade full circle.

    He said, ¡°And I won¡¯t just give it to you. I will publicly distribute it within the Dreamrealm.¡±

    ¡°Then what use would we have for it?¡± Shi Mingfeng said unhappily.

    If everyone had it, then in some sense it was the same as no one having it.

    ¡°There are two kinds of Hemolytic Totems. One is the kind that can directly ept an Origin Skill, while the other epts Origin Substances. The biggest difference between the two is that there is no way of improving the former, while thetter can be improved upon,¡± Su Chen said.

    There was no way to improve the default Hemolytic Totem, but the power of Origin Substances could be amplified and utilized in new Origin Skills.

    Su Chen¡¯s earlier Shadow Servants only possessed the Shadow Substance, and they already had the Shadow w ability, which was one usage of the Shadow Substance.

    Su Chen would release the Hemolytic Totem, but he was nning on keeping the method for extracting Origin Substance a secret from the public.

    ¡°I will teach you a method for extracting and using Origin Substance,¡± Su Chen stated.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Dragonfish?¡±

    Shi Mingfeng thought for a moment, then said, ¡°You mean the technique that you used to defeat all the pirates that one time?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s pretty good in water battles but it isn¡¯t as useful in battles onnd. What would be the point of giving that to us?¡±

    ¡°Quite the opposite; it¡¯s very useful,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Why would the Immortal Temple fight battles onnd? Are you still nning on stirring up trouble in Long Sang Country? As an underground organization, survival is probably the most important priority for you, right? The Dragonfish Origin Substance allows you to be like a fish in water, and anywhere there is water, it will be your yground. Is there a shortage of water on this continent? You¡¯ll be able to go anywhere you want within a body of water. While your attacks won¡¯t be more powerful, you will be able to easily keep yourselves safe!¡±

    ¡°Then it would make more sense for you to give us the Shadow Substance. We can keep ourselves even safer that way.¡±

    ¡°But you can also use it to kill. I would prefer that whatever I give you won¡¯t be able to be used as an instrument of murder. That was the case at the Spirit Burying Terrace, and that is still the case now.¡±

    ¡°Your own life is at stake and you¡¯re still worried about all of these things?¡±

    ¡°So do I not need to worry about these things if my life is at stake? I will abide by these ideals even if I were in the heart of enemy territory, let alone about to embark on my expedition. This is what¡¯s known as principles. If I gave up on them so easily, what kind of reasoning would that be?¡±

    Shi Mingfeng was rendered totally helpless against him. ¡°Nheless, you¡¯re giving me far too little. The exchange is far too disadvantageous for us.¡±

    ¡°The ck me wouldn¡¯t say the same thing if they were here.¡±

    ¡°The ck me?¡± Shi Mingfeng was stunned.

    The ck me was the Arcana Race remnant organization that had been set up in the Sea Race¡¯s territory. Obviously, this meant that their territory was filled with water. Unfortunately for the Arcana Race, they had a very hard time surviving amongst the Sea Race. As such, they usually lived on top of an ind. Out of the five organizations spread amongst the five major races, they were having the hardest time. Right now, their main goal wasn¡¯t to recover the Arcana Race¡¯s glory, but to just survive.

    This was an organization that had been created with the sole purpose of surviving.

    If they had something like the Hemolytic Totem that would allow them to breathe and move about freely inside the sea......

    Shi Mingfeng could absolutely imagine what kind of price they would be willing to pay.

    They didn¡¯t even need the Immortal Temple to pass it along to them; they just needed to ask Su Chen for it themselves.

    Even though survival was difficult in the Sea Race¡¯s territory, but there were quite a few treasures in the sea!!!

    When he thought of this, Shi Mingfeng couldn¡¯t help but sigh, ¡°Prince Su, you truly are conniving. But are you really just nning on handing over the Hemolytic Totem just like that?¡±

    ¡°The reason I invented it in the first ce was to have it increase the strength of the human race. That in turn will relieve some of the pressure on me.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all?¡± Shi Mingfeng didn¡¯t really believe him.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been spending a lot of moneytely.¡±

    ¡°Fine, then,¡± Shi Mingfeng replied.

    The matter was decided just like that.

    Su Chen then left his room and headed in the direction of the Heavenly Mist Battalion.

    The Heavenly Mist Battalion¡¯s headquarters were to the south of the city. Upon arriving, Su Chen nced at the people on guard and said, ¡°Su Chen is here to greet Duan Jiangshan and Duan Quchang.¡±

    Xiao Feinan was already the Heavenly Mist Battalion¡¯smander and held quite a high status. Not just anyone could meet him, so Su Chen had to think of a way to find Duan Jiangshan.

    He knew that Duan Jiangshan was looked favorably upon by Xiao Feinan and had been promoted to First Lieutenant, putting him in charge of three hundred soldiers. This rate of promotion was quite fast.

    As he spoke, Su Chen stuffed a few Origin Stones into his hand.

    The soldier ran off to do Su Chen¡¯s bidding happily, given that he had received some tangible benefits. Soon after, Duan Jiangshan emerged.

    His carefree attitude from back then was the same. When he saw Su Chen from a distance, he began to yell, ¡°When I first heard that a little Su Chen was here to look for me, I didn¡¯t believe it at all, but look at you! You¡¯re really here. What stray winds blew you over?¡±

    ¡°A ferocious storm,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°A ferocious storm that came from the north.¡±

    Duan Jiangshan was momentarily taken aback before he understood. ¡°Shi Kaihuang?¡±

    Su Chen nodded.

    Duan Jiangshan put his arm around Su Chen. ¡°Follow me into the barracks. I can¡¯t tell you anything, so you¡¯ll have to see Commander Xiao. Commander Xiao has a strong impression of you and still brings you up from time to time. He was quite upset that he wasn¡¯t able to get you to stay, and will definitely be very happy that you¡¯re here.¡±

    Half an hourter, Su Chen greeted Xiao Feinan in the battalion¡¯s barracks.

    Xiao Feinan had just returned from an expedition, and traces of fatigue could be seen on his face. When he saw Su Chen, he just nodded his head in greetings. ¡°I already know why you¡¯re here. Unfortunately, I cannot help you; when the Heavenly Might Army first disappeared, I requested many times to send reinforcements, but I was rejected every time......¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°General Xiao, you misunderstand. I¡¯m not here to ask you to send out troops on my behalf. I know that it¡¯s very difficult for the Flowing Gold Fort to send out reinforcements under these circumstances.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Then what are you here for?¡± Xiao Feinan was slightly taken aback.

    ¡°I just want to know who gave the order for the Heavenly Might Battalion to attack.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 101: Root Cause

    Who had given the orders for the Heavenly Might Army to attack?

    This was a question that Su Chen had been ruminating over for the past few days.

    For the few thousand years that the Flowing Gold Fort had been around, they had rarely sent out attack expeditions. Their primary responsibility was to defend. But if they did attack, the main strategy was to counterattack withrge forces in an effort to reim lostnd, not sending out a single battalion to fight.

    Even so, that was exactly how a branch of soldiers responsible for defending against the Ferocious Race was sent out into the Harvey ins. No matter how Su Chen thought about it, it was strange.

    This was why he hade looking for Xiao Feinan; it wasn¡¯t to ask for reinforcements but rather to figure out what had happened.

    Xiao Feinan fell silent for a moment when he was presented with Su Chen¡¯s question. After a long time, he said, ¡°Vice Commander Lin Wenjun was the one who proposed it, and the headmander agreed.¡±

    ¡°Vice Commander Lin Wenjun?¡± Su Chen was stunned. ¡°Wasn¡¯t General Long Pojun the vicemander of the Exterminating Ferocious Army?¡±

    Long Pojun was another exceptional person.

    He, like Su Chen, did not have a bloodline.

    Long Pojun had created countless miracles all without a bloodline. During his regional examinations, he hade out of nowhere and swept the floor with the other participants, obtaining the number one spot. This was because when he attacked,rge swathes of ck smoke would fly everywhere and cover the sky, earning him the nickname of ¡®ck Sun,¡¯ spreading his name far and wide across Long Sang Country. Not long after, he entered the Hidden Dragon Institute and continued to defeat every opponent that challenged him. He seemed invincible, and he quickly graduated from the Hidden Dragon Institute at the top of his ss. The results and des he had umted were even more impressive than Su Chen¡¯s. After all, Su Chen had only reached fifth in the Three Mountains Region exam, and he didn¡¯t have a particrly outstanding ranking during his time in the Hidden Dragon Institute. He had only disyed his brilliance for a bit during the expedition to the Goldwater Ruins. However, it was his intelligence and not his brute strength that had allowed him to emerge victorious.

    After leaving the Hidden Dragon Institute, Long Pojun had enlisted in the army and continued his path of glory as someone without a bloodline. He led his soldiers in countless sessful offensives against the Ferocious Race; even though his troops fought without the assistance of any tall walls, he was able to seed time and time again. Even Long Pojun, however, could only win battles. After defeating the enemy, he would chase after them for around a hundred kilometers before retreating. He had never done something like infiltrating deep into enemy territories before.

    When faced with Su Chen¡¯s question, Xiao Feinan sighed again. ¡°Two years ago, Vice Commander Long was ambushed while he was chasing after the Ferocious Race and thereafter disappeared. Shortly afterwards, this Vice Commander Lin took over his position in the Exterminating Ferocious Army.¡±

    ¡°Lin Wenjun...... His surname is Lin?¡± Su Chen frowned.

    Duan Jiangshan said, ¡°His Highness, the Crown Prince.¡±

    Su Chen was stunned. ¡°The Army Supervisor Crown Prince?¡±

    He immediately understood.

    The Seven Kingdoms had a tradition of appointing their Crown Princes as Army Supervisors to teach them how best to protect the borders. However, an Army Supervisor didn¡¯t have any actual authority, only the ability to provide suggestions.

    However, the current situation was quite unique.

    The former vicemander had disappeared in an ambush, and the Crown Prince had gone from being the Army Supervisor to bing the Vice Commander. Even though his status was a bit lower, his actual authority had greatly increased.

    Duan Jiangshan¡¯s exnation had given Su Chen an idea of what was happening.

    Su Feinan sighed again. ¡°The Crown Prince being made the Vice Commander was something that was criticized quite a bit. It was impossible to avoid a hasty attack to obtain quick results and quell the murmuring.¡±

    ¡°So he sent the Heavenly Might Army to attack Leguha Castle? He never considered that there was a reason that Leguha Castle is a frontline stronghold against the Flowing Gold Fort? Did he think it would be easy to take down? And did he not think about how to guard the castle after capturing it?¡± Su Chen said coldly.

    Su Feinan replied, ¡°Of course we thought about it. However, Leguha Castle¡¯s defenses and the number of soldiers they have stationed there are vastly inferior to us. When you factor in the Red Wolf Tribe¡¯s defeat and loss of morale, they probably wouldn¡¯t have been able to hold onto it. The Vice Commander decided on an ambush n that, in theory, shouldn¡¯t have been too difficult. Even we might not have deemed this n impossible.¡±

    Su Chen said coldly, ¡°Taking Leguha Castle might not be as difficult because the Ferocious Race wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand our attacks. For millennia, the Ferocious Race has been on the offensive and Long Sang Country on the defensive. They aren¡¯t afraid of using out; they¡¯re afraid we won¡¯te out at all. Of course they wouldn¡¯t station many defenders at Leguha Castle. If we attack them there, we will have fallen for their trap, as defending in that kind of a ce is many times more difficult than defending from the Flowing Gold Fort.¡±

    Su Feinan nodded. ¡°You¡¯re absolutely right. We weren¡¯t nning on defending the castle for long; we just wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to plunder it. We just wanted to hold onto it temporarily and never intended on holding onto it for a long time. The n seemed entirely usible.¡±

    Su Chen harrumphed, ¡°All disastrous ns seem pretty good before they actually go awry.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Su Feinan sighed as he ced his hand on his forehead. ¡°We didn¡¯t expect either that as soon as we took control of Leguha Castle, the Gravel Lizard Tribe suddenly appeared out of nowhere. They had probablyin in ambush, just waiting for the Heavenly Might Army to seize Leguha Castle. The Heavenly Might Army fought bitterly just to escape the castle, but they didn¡¯t realize that they had swam right into the fisherman¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°So what happened afterwards?¡±

    ¡°The Gravel Lizard Tribe setup ambushes all along the road back to the Flowing Gold Fort. The Heavenly Might Army couldn¡¯t do anything but scatter into the depths of the ins, barely escaping from the encirclement. However, they were also forced deep into enemy territory and had no way of escaping now. No one knows what their actual situation is right now.¡±

    ¡°Then what about His Highness, the Crown Prince? What about Vice Commander Lin?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Him?¡± Su Feinan chuckled coldly. ¡°He thought that his intelligence was unrivaled and that he could see everything clearly. He was so full of confidence, but as soon as the problems arose he immediately panicked. He was the one who refused to allow a single soldier out of the Flowing Gold Fort to reinforce them.¡±

    ¡°Even themander couldn¡¯t override him?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s the Crown Prince!¡± Su Feinan said deeply.

    Su Chen had heard some things about this crown prince.

    He wasn¡¯t actually a total idiot and had some wits about him, and a few of his exploits had made small waves.

    However, an actual idiot wasn¡¯t actually that scary because they were easy to deceive. They also normally didn¡¯t have much in the way of ambition. The scariest individual was someone who had some intelligence but believed themselves to be far smarter than they actually were as well as having a lot of ambition.

    A person like this was very likely to overestimate his ability. When you factored in his high status and his strong ambition, he normally might make few mistakes, but any mistake he did make would be catastrophic.

    Lin Wenjun was too focused on proving himself.

    This was the reason that he had hurriedly urged for the Heavenly Might Army to attack, then cowered at the front line and didn¡¯t dare take responsibility for his actions. As such, he had announced to the outside world that the Heavenly Might Army had taken action of its own ord. This person and his way of doing things was quite despicable.

    However, it wasn¡¯t certain that he was the only person who had made this decision. Whether or not there was someone behind the scenes pulling the strings to try and harm Shi Kaihuang wasn¡¯t known yet.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know, but after finding out that Lin Wenjun was the source of all of this, he now had a definite direction for his actions.

    As for right now, his primary goal was still to save the Heavenly Might Army.

    As he thought about these things, Su Chen said to Su Feinan, ¡°Apart from figuring out who was the person who gave the order, I still have a transaction to make with General Su. General Su, are you interested?¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 102: Releasing the Hemolytic Totem 1

    Chapter 102: Releasing the Hemolytic Totem (1)

    Bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Two soldiers were happily sparring with each other in a sand pit.

    One of the two soldiers was tall while the other one was quite short. It was obvious that the shorter soldier wasn¡¯t the taller soldier¡¯s opponent, and he was driven back repeatedly. Just as it seemed like he was about to be knocked out of the ring, a bracelet on his body suddenly began to glow. Next, the shorter soldier suddenly exploded with a powerful burst of energy as he unleashed a punch. The taller soldier was immediately sent flying.

    The taller soldier was enraged and wanted to counterattack, but the shorter soldier seized the moment to leap forwards, unleashing a lightning-quick barrage; punch after punch prevented the taller soldier from even making a move.

    As the bracelets around his arms and legs began to glow brighter, the shorter soldier¡¯s speed increased, as did his strength, culminating into a final blow that sent the taller soldier flying.

    The onlookers broke out into a hubbub, obviously shocked at the shorter soldier¡¯s disy of strength.

    When Xiao Feinan saw this, he muttered in a low voice, ¡°Indeed, it¡¯s the Ferocious Race¡¯s Totemic Inscriptions.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a few differences,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°I used a few other methods to improve its power; it draws on both Origin Energy and physical energy to activate itself, thus fully utilizing the advantages that we humans have.¡±

    The shorter soldier was obviously using Su Chen¡¯s Hemolytic Totem. Compared to before, the Hemolytic Totem didn¡¯t have any major changes, but there were a few improvements to some minor details. The surface area of the inscriptions had decreased, and a few of the inscriptions had also been simplified. More importantly, the light and sound produced when using the technique had improved as well. Every time it activated, the Hemolytic Totem would glow withplex inscriptions in the corresponding area, giving it quite a cool look.

    Good items needed to have good packaging. After having gained experience in both Clear River City and Swallow River City, Su Chen¡¯s evaluation method for his problems had be more well-rounded.

    The shy effects when the shorter soldier used the Hemolytic Totem had be even more shocking. The government officials would definitely like it when they saw it.

    Indeed, the officers standing to the side seemed to discuss things with one another before someone asked, ¡°How much does it cost to make a single one of these inscriptions?¡±

    ¡°Not much. A single one is seven hundred Origin Stones, but each totem has some small differences.¡±

    ¡°Only seven hundred Origin Stones?¡± Everyone was stunned.

    Seven hundred Origin Stones for such a massive increase in strength was simply too cheap.

    ¡°Yes, but there¡¯s one drawback; once you¡¯ve inscribed it, there¡¯s no way of removing it, and it cannot increase in strength as a person gets stronger. Its power is limited, so it¡¯s only effective on lower-tier cultivators. Once you reach the Yang Opening Realm, it won¡¯t be very useful anymore,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°And the inscription process also hurts like hell.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not a problem,¡± one of the officers said immediately. ¡°You can use special Origin Skills to increase someone¡¯s strength or speed, and even Yang Opening Realm cultivators like to use those skills. The main pirs of strength of our army are the Yang Opening and Blood Boiling Realm cultivators. As long as this group of individuals bes stronger, our entire army will be stronger.¡±

    ¡°You can also add skills that increase a person¡¯s defensive and recovery rates,¡± another officer said. ¡°You can never have too many defensive or recovery Origin Skills.¡±

    ¡°You can use it to inscribe some powerful Origin Skills that have aparativelyrger number of prerequisites needed to use them.¡±

    ¡°You can use it to inscribe Origin Skills andbine them. One of the benefits of the Hemolytic Totem is that not only can many users control the same few Origin Skills, but also that there is no dy when you use it.¡±

    ¡°You can make joint Origin Skills that increase the effect an Origin Skill has and strengthen an entire group of weaker cultivators.¡±

    ¡°Not only is it useful for drastically reducing the amount of time needed to increase one¡¯s strength, but it can also supplement a person¡¯s shorings. There are a few Origin Qi Schrs who will have no way of using certain Origin Skills from birth, but the Hemolytic Totem can fill those in. That¡¯s why even Light Shaking Realm cultivators can use it.¡±

    These officers conversed with one another. They were truly worthy of being veterans, given how quickly they were able to pinpoint the special points of the cultivation technique, its advantages, and how it could be used contextually. Even though it had the w of not being able to grow stronger with time, these officers brushed it aside immediately, instead focusing on the best way to use it and why it existed.

    As for the fact that the inscriptions would hurt, it wasn¡¯t even worth mentioning. What was a soldier who couldn¡¯t even endure any pain? In fact, it could be used to figure out who was soft and who was tough.

    If everything went ording to their n, the Hemolytic Totem would be extremely useful for them.

    Someone asked directly, ¡°This technique is extremely outstanding. How much are you nning on selling it for?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Three thousand Origin Stones.¡±

    ¡°Thirty million[1. For whatever reason, Chinese base units are in the ten thousands. As such, three thousand and three thousand ten thousands share the same base number, hence the ¡°confusion¡±.]? Fine, no...... Wait, did you say three thousand?¡± The officer was stunned.

    ¡°Yes, three thousand Origin Stones,¡± Su Chen said as he nodded firmly.

    ¡°Why that cheap?¡± Su Feinan asked.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Because I¡¯m nning on selling it to other people as well.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t!¡± One of the officers smacked the table and stood up. ¡°This will be an important tool for the kingdom. With it, our army would be much stronger, so how could you sell it to just anyone? We should be the only ones to control it.¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°I would rather it be an important tool for all humans to use, something that can protect everyone and raise everyone¡¯s strength - not just the strength of the Ferocious Exterminating Army. Yes, Flowing Gold Fort does need it to defend against the Ferocious Race, but Liao Ye Country needs it to defend against the Feathered Race, Cloudwind Country needs it to defend against the Beast Race, and Owl Country needs it to defend against the Spirit Race. There are too many people in need of it......¡±

    As soon as he said this, everyone was stunned.

    Even though the Seven Kingdoms had split, they were constantly under pressure from powerful enemies and banded under the same g. The Seven Kingdoms were united in amon effort and rarely fought with one another, at least on the surface.

    When Su Chen said this so righteously, no one knew how to respond to him.

    Su Feinan sighed deeply. ¡°I never would have thought that you would harbor such grand ambitions.¡±

    ¡°My ambitions have always been grand,¡± Su Chen said without pretense.

    ¡°But doing this will also support our enemies, right? The more people that know about it, the harder it is to keep a secret,¡± one of the officers said. ¡°As soon as this technique falls into the hands of our opponents, then we will have lost our advantage.¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°That¡¯s true, but there is no such thing as a secret thatsts forever. Most importantly, not just anyone can use this technique. The Ferocious Race have their Totemic Inscriptions, and since the Hemolytic Totem relies on Origin Energy, they won¡¯t be able to use it, so it doesn¡¯t matter even if they get their hands on it. The Spirit Race don¡¯t have physical bodies, so it¡¯s also useless to them. The Feathered Race can use it, but their physical bodies are weak and they have a hard time resisting pain, so most of them won¡¯t use it. The only people that will probably be able to use it are the Sea Race, but everyone also knows the situation of the Sea Race. If we gave it to them, everyone should be more at ease. We also don¡¯t have any real conflict with them, as our enmity is only because of what happened during the Illustrious Divine Dynasty. If it were me, I would rather hand over the Hemolytic Totem to the Sea Race to try and smooth over the rtionship between our two races.¡±

    One thing that Su Chen had said was absolutely correct - how could selling it to a single buyerpare in price to selling it to a whole bunch of people? Su Chen deeply understood the purchasing power of arge group of people after having experienced it himself a number of times.

    As soon as Su Chen had finished speaking, the officers began to converse with one another.

    People were huddled in intense discussion. Some were nodding, while others were shaking their heads.

    Finally, an officer said, ¡°We cannot make the decision on behalf of the higher-ups, but your words do make sense. We will pass on what you have said. However, we are still hoping that you can reconsider your stance; the Flowing Gold Fort is willing to pay a higher price......¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°This isn¡¯t about money. It¡¯s about the rise of the human rae to prominence. The biggest talking point of the Hemolytic Totem is that it is incredibly cheap and will strengthen more than one person - it will strengthen all human beings. If it¡¯s only useable by the Flowing Gold Fort, that would be such a huge waste. And if it was only distributed within Long Sang Country, it would eventually spread once people found out about it. I¡¯d rather sell it myself than let someone profit itself off of my hard work.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 103: Releasing the Hemolytic Totem 2

    Chapter 103: Releasing the Hemolytic Totem (2)

    Even though they were still trying to persuade him, Su Chen was dead set on his decision.

    Everyone eventually finally gave up after all their efforts hade to naught.

    Even though they couldn¡¯t monopolize the secret technique, the increase in strength it provided was very real, and it would absolutely save countless lives. As such, everyone was extremely respectful to Su Chen. When Su Chen mentioned that he wanted to buy a few military weapons, everyone agreed to make an exception and let him do so.

    Military weapons were pretty umon. They might not increase a person¡¯s individual strength directly by much, but they were exceptionally useful inrge-scale fights.

    Since Su Chen was going to go look for Shi Kaihuang, it was impossible for him to stock up too much. And even after this purchase, he still needed to strategically gather a few more resources.

    After a few negotiations, Su Chen¡¯s purse had be thicker, and the number of Origin Rings he possessed had increased again ¡ª he had simply bought too many things, and a single Origin Ring couldn¡¯t possibly contain it all.

    At the same time, great waves began to ripple through the Dreamrealm again.

    It was due to that very familiar name.

    Cloud Bat.

    After a number of years ofplete radio silence, his name once again appeared at the top of the list in the Hall of Knowledge.

    Beneath the words ¡°Hemolytic Totem¡± was a recording of a battle ¡ª a recording of the same two soldiers who had been battling before.

    As the halos of light lit up on the short soldier¡¯s body, his strength suddenly surged. Everyone who saw the recording was extremely excited, and the low cost of production stunned them as well.

    Without question, the Dreamrealm was thrown into turmoil once again.

    At this point, Cloud Bat was already quite well-known within the Dreamrealm. Even though he didn¡¯t make many moves, the Dreamrealm always exploded into activity whenever he did.

    ¡°Hemolytic Totem...... This is obviously the Ferocious Race¡¯s secret Totemic Inscription technique. He¡¯s just pirating them at this point.¡± Some people who thought they were clever madements like these disdainfully.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know anything. The Ferocious Race¡¯s secret technique expends physical energy, while this one burns Origin Energy. It¡¯s obviously been improved to be better suited for humans.¡± Most of the buyers were smarter.

    ¡°It has the greatest effect onmon martial artists and can raise their strength by many times. It can double the strength of a Qi Drawing Realm cultivator and strengthen a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator a bit, but it won¡¯t be very useful for people at the Yang Opening Realm.¡± People quickly identified the limits of the Hemolytic Totem.

    ¡°It¡¯s great forrge-scale battles.¡±

    ¡°It can increase the strength of people with lower cultivation bases.¡±

    ¡°It can also supplement a person¡¯s weaknesses.¡±

    Just like the Exterminating Ferocious Army¡¯s officers, countless intelligent consumers immediately pointed out the advantages of the Hemolytic Totem, as well as its value.

    Compared to before, the Hemolytic Totem was now priced a bit higher.

    To be precise, it cost a thousand Origin Stones per copy.

    The Hemolytic Totem wasn¡¯t a bloodline-less technique, so its importance wasn¡¯t as great, but it was for this reason that Su Chen feltfortable asking for a price that was a bit more normal. This would ensure that he would profit more than before.

    Even though a price of a thousand Origin Stones was not low, it wasn¡¯t a price that was out of reach. In particr, because the Hemolytic Totem was great for group battles, most organizations wouldn¡¯t hesitate to spend a thousand Origin Stones for it, as that was just a drop in the bucket for them.

    Apart from the Seven Kingdom¡¯s armies, there were many ns, sects, and people in power who had their own forces.

    In addition, unlike most individuals, who would try to save as much as possible, organizations often wouldn¡¯t care too much about small expenses ¡ª could you imagine if Gu Xuanmian had run to the other three ns and asked them to make a copy of the Hemolytic Totem for him to use on his subordinates?

    Because of this, even though the Hemolytic Totem was expensive, the asking price wasn¡¯t too high in the slightest.

    There were hundreds of thousands of Bloodline Nobility ns scattered throughout the human race, and they all basically had their own subordinates. In addition, Qi Drawing Realm and Blood Boiling Realm cultivators usually made up the foundation of a n or organization¡¯s strength, meaning that almost every n would benefit greatly from the Hemolytic Totem. When one added in the various individuals and sects, the sales of the Hemolytic Totem would most likely not be any lower than that of the technique for reaching the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline.

    In addition, Cloud Bat had already built up a great reputation, and no one was suspicious of him. As such, in just a single day, a hundred thousand copies of the Hemolytic Totem were sold. In the following days, even though the decreased demand caused the sales to decrease, total sales quickly reached more than three hundred thousand.

    This implied that anybody with even a modicum of influence had bought the Hemolytic Totem secret technique, and that at least a hundred thousand individuals had bought it.

    The Hemolytic Totem quickly spread like crazy amongst the whole human race, and the prestige of Cloud Bat skyrocketed once again.

    Countless people guessed at who exactly Cloud Bat was, but this time the secret was much harder to keep.

    The reason was the Flowing Gold Fort.

    Demonstrating the Hemolytic Totem at the Flowing Gold Fort had revealed Su Chen¡¯s true identity to everyone. Too many people already knew that Su Chen was the creator of the Hemolytic Totem, and when the Hemolytic Totem appeared in the Dreamrealm, the people in Flowing Gold Fort immediately realized that Su Chen was Cloud Bat. They also finally realized that the Cloud Bat, who had developed two techniques for charging into higher cultivation realms without a bloodline, was also Su Chen.

    The Flowing Gold Fort immediately exploded withmotion.

    Everyone was talking about it.

    The more people that knew something, the harder it was to keep it a secret, so the news that Su Chen was Cloud Bat began to spread quicker and quicker within the Dreamrealm.

    Most people were hearing the name ¡°Su Chen¡± for the first time.

    Who was Su Chen? What kind of person was he? Why would he do things like this?

    Behind the answer to each one of these questions were even more questions. Countless people wanted to figure out the secrets behind Cloud Bat¡¯s background.

    All kinds of legends about Su Chen¡¯s origins began to spread.

    Some people said that he was a genius from a certain region and that he had been performing miracles since birth. His studies, culture, cultivation, and martial arts were all outstanding.

    Others said that he was the descendant of somerge Bloodline Nobility n and was blessed with high innate talent and understanding of the natural world, which was why he was able to aplish these miracles.

    Another group believed that he was an orphan who had grown up in the wilderness and had been raised by wolves.

    Some even said that he was actually of the Arcana Race, since they understood many of the secrets of the natural world and had invented thousands of useful techniques; that was the only logical exnation for his achievements.

    Still others said that he was from a different race and hade to distribute all of these secret techniques to bait people into going astray, because passing down bloodlines was the only actual right path for humans to take.

    Of course, these theories were all just nder and smear tactics. There was probably more than a few people who just didn¡¯t like Su Chen.

    All kinds of rumors and legends began to spread about Su Chen.

    Of course, some people also said that Su Chen hade from the Three Mountains Region, with a in family background, and that he had been blind for a few years and graduated from the Hidden Dragon Institute.

    However, these stories were quickly drowned out by all the nonsense. Compared to all the exaggerated rumors, this origin story was toomon and simple, as itcked excitement and strange, bewildering circumstances. Even though it was the closest to the truth, there was no value in spreading it and no one would pay attention to it, so no one spread it.

    The truth was thus buried underneath a mountain of fantasy.

    That was also good. At the very least, Su Chen didn¡¯t want too many people to pay attention to him.

    However, for the people who had the heart, figuring out the truth wasn¡¯t too difficult.

    A few people had found him, and there were even some who sent out liaisons to contact him.

    There were people trying to rope him in, threaten him, or even kill him directly.

    But no matter what their goals were, they were going to be disappointed.

    This was because not long after he released the Hemolytic Totem, Su Chen embarked on his journey to the Harvey ins.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 104: Leguha Castle

    After leaving the Flowing Gold Fort and crossing the Goldwater River, one would arrive at the Harvey ins.

    The Ferocious Race had set up camp here in the beginning. They had been assaulted on all sides from the very beginning, and their territorial boundaries were was constantly in a state of flux. As such, the ownership of the Harvey ins often changed hands.

    Today, the Harvey ins wasn¡¯t a core area of the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory anymore; instead, it was located in the southern area of the Iron and Blood Country. Past the Harvey ins were the Permafrost Wastnds, the Blood Wastnds, the Halma Forest, the ck nds, and many more geographical features and areas. As their names implied, even though most of these ces were quiterge, they were also quite barren.

    Back when the Illustrious Divine Dynasty was driving the Ferocious Race back over and over, the resilient Ferocious Race had relied on their powerful physiques to traverse the ins, the wastnds, and the forests, paying a tremendous price to wipe out the various races around them before finally arriving at the ck nds, which was rtively fertile. They had set up camp there and recuperated before mounting a counterattack.

    Lots of blood had been spilled along this path, and corpses had piled up on both sides like mountains.

    That road still existed today. It was called the Ancient Bramble Road and represented the Ferocious Race¡¯s resolute spirit and fearlessness, through their arduous journey from the Harvey ins all the way to the ck nds.

    There were countless habitations and cities lining the path consisting of different Ferocious Race tribes. They were like pearls that had been scattered carelessly all over the ins.

    Because these groups of Ferocious Race individuals lived so close to the border, they were constantly alert, and even all themoners were quite gifted inbat.

    Every Ferocious Race individual became a soldier when they drew their des.

    They were the vanguard that defended against the human onught, and they were also the Ferocious Race¡¯s frontline cannon fodder.

    Unlike the humans, who resolutely defended their positions with experts, the Ferocious Race had ced all of theirmoners in this ce, making them both the bait and the mousetrap.

    As such, the Harvey ins was an extremely violent ce. If any human troops charged into the ins, it would immediately turn into a swamp of Ferocious Race individuals, entangling and swallowing up the human invaders.

    This was the unique way of defending themselves that the Ferocious Race had chosen.

    Leguha Castle was an important control point within this swamp.

    It was located near Dunc Lake on the ins and was thergest city for hundreds of kilometers in any directions.

    Its appearance was quite deste and wild. Who knew how it had managed to conceal the massive armies of the Gravel Lizard Tribe and unleash an ambush against the Heavenly Might Army.

    What an extraordinary situation!

    Because this battle had taken ce almost four years ago, by the time Su Chen arrived, Leguha Castle had basically reverted to its original state.

    The walls, which were made from red y, were short and unassuming, and the front gate looked like it could be knocked over with a single push. However, the moat in front of the walls and the inscriptions visible on the city¡¯s walls indicated that the city had some hidden defensive abilities ¡ª clearly, the Ferocious Race also knew how to hide things.

    By utilizing the Shapeshifting Origin Substance, Su Chen had transformed himself into a Ferocious Race individual.

    He now possessed a brawny physique and thick tusks, and a massive battle axe was slung across his back. This was something he had found amongst the Flowing Gold Fort¡¯s storehouses and had once belonged to a vicious Ferocious Race General.

    Leguha Castle wasn¡¯t hard to enter. At this point in time, disguising techniques were rtively rare, and there weren¡¯t many people who had the ability to see through disguises either.

    Su Chen easily infiltrated Leguha Castle. A few corpses were hung across the top of the front gate ¡ª they obviously belonged to the human armies.

    Su Chen felt a bit more relieved when he didn¡¯t see a mountain of corpses anywhere. That was something that the Ferocious Race loved to do ¡ª pile up all of their enemies¡¯ skeletons into a mountain for the shock effect.

    Just like what Xiao Feinan had told him, the Heavenly Might Army had managed to escape and run deeper into the ins.

    Right now, he needed to figure out exactly which direction the Heavenly Might Army had escaped towards.

    That wouldn¡¯t be difficult to find out; all he needed to figure out was where the Ferocious Race was headed.

    Naturally, the best ce to get information was a wine tavern.

    And there was a wine tavern in the center of Leguha called the Scarlet Tavern.

    Su Chen carried the corpse of arge wolf he had hunted along the way into the wine tavern. All around him were Ferocious Race individuals drinking and yelling at one another. No one paid him any particr attention.

    Su Chen walked over to the barkeep and tossed it in front of him, asking, ¡°Tell me how many Bone Tokens this is worth.¡±

    Origin Stones were a form of general currency, but Su Chen was pretending to be a Ferocious Race hunter, so it was better for him to use the local currency.

    Thankfully, because of the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s instruction, Su Chen could speak the Ferocious Race¡¯snguage quite fluently and knew many of their social customs.

    The barkeep flipped the wolf corpse over and inspected it. ¡°Fifty.¡±

    Su Chen shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s a bit low, but whatever. Give me some wine.¡±

    The barkeep poured him a cup of wine. It was unknown what had been fermented to produce the wine, as its scent was incredibly bloody. The wine did indeed live up to the tavern¡¯s name.

    Su Chen tried a mouthful and felt the pungent smell of blood crawl up his nostrils.

    He frowned. ¡°Is there any Dragonsblood Wine?¡±

    ¡°We only have this. If you don¡¯t want to drink it, then don¡¯t drink it. It¡¯s imported,¡± the barkeep replied brusquely.

    Even though Su Chen knew how to talk like a Ferocious Race individual, he still gave off the air of a foreigner. Thankfully, there were many different tribes amongst the Ferocious Race, so even though he spoke the Ferocious Racenguage with a bit of an ent, people would only think that he was from a different tribe. However, if a person was familiar with all the various ents of the Ferocious Race tribes, such as the Head Ancestor, then he would be in trouble.

    As such, the next thing Su Chen needed to do was to familiarize himself even further with the Ferocious Race¡¯snguage.

    Thankfully, it was more than enough to deal with this barkeep.

    ¡°It¡¯s such a pity, there isn¡¯t really anything good near the border. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that I wanted to kill some humans, I would have nevere here,¡± Su Chen mumbled to himself purposefully.

    ¡°Kill humans?¡± The barkeepughed tauntingly, ¡°That happened a few months ago. You¡¯re way toote for that.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not my fault. News traveled too slowly; I raced here as soon as I got wind of it, but who would have known that they would lose so quickly? Now I don¡¯t know where to go looking for more,¡± Su Chenmented as he drank some more of the Scarlet Wine.

    ¡°They went north. They¡¯re probably all dead now,¡± one of the Ferocious Race individuals said.

    ¡°No, not yet. At the very least, Lamicah Jurchen hasn¡¯t returned with his troops yet,¡± one of the Ferocious Race individuals added on.

    ¡°He will return, along with the skulls of those humans.¡±

    ¡°Or he might juste back with his defeated army.¡±

    ¡°Balza, watch your mouth. Don¡¯t get yourself into trouble.¡±

    ¡°I like to get into trouble. What are you going to do about it? I hate Lamicah Jurchen. I hate him with my life, and you can¡¯t do anything about it!¡±

    ¡°You damned bastard!¡±

    One of the Ferocious Race individuals charged over and punched Balza. Balza didn¡¯t shrink back and countered with a fierce punch of his own, and the wine tavern immediately exploded into a full-blown brawl. The barkeep continued to pour wine as if nothing was happening.

    Su Chen had heard from his instructors while at the Hidden Dragon Institute that the Ferocious Race only enjoyed eating, drinking, fighting, and sleeping.

    It seemed like there indeed was some truth to their words.

    Explosive adrenaline coursed through their veins, causing their desire to do battle to surge.

    If he were to draw some of their blood, perhaps he would be able to iste a new ¡°Frenzy¡± Origin Substance.

    As Su Chen¡¯s thoughts wandered, he poured the rest of the Scarlet Mary into his mouth.

    How refreshingly wild!

 Book 4: Near Blood - 105: Secrets of the Illusion Realm

    The Ferocious Race¡¯s taverns were incredibly simple and unrefined. The beds were weaved together from grass and covered with a beast hide.

    This was the case regardless of the season.

    Su Chen closed his eyes as hey down on the grass bed. He activated the seal on the back of his hand and began to sink into the Dreamrealm.

    This was a bit risky, but Su Chen had no other options. He absolutely had to obtain some precise information about the Heavenly Might Army. He hadn¡¯t been able to get any from the wine tavern, so he could only try to find something in the Dreamrealm.

    However, Su Chen immediately realized that something was wrong when he entered the Dreamrealm.

    He was still in a garrison city, but it wasn¡¯t the one he was in before. Instead, it was a small, rather deste town. The space was not nearly as strange as the multicolored castle in the human realm. Instead, Su Chen was greeted by a vast expanse. And the moment he appeared on one of the town¡¯s wide main streets, a few bucktoothed Ferocious Race individuals standing not too far from him were staring at him in shock ¡ª he had reverted back to the appearance of a human.

    Dammit!

    Su Chen knew that he was in trouble.

    ¡°A human!¡± Indeed, one of the Ferocious Race individuals began to yell and charged at him.

    ¡°Courting death!¡± Su Chen harrumphed as he made a hand gesture. Arge wave of fiery droplets began to converge and formed a massive phoenix that charged forward, turning the nearby Ferocious Race individuals to ash.

    Of course, those Ferocious Race individuals wouldn¡¯t actually be killed. Their consciousnesses still remained intact, and they would resurrect on the spot, and then very quickly spread the news that there was a human who had infiltrated the Ferocious Race territory to the others. In addition, Su Chen received a warning and a fine for attacking in a restricted area, but with Su Chen¡¯s wallet that wasn¡¯t an issue for him.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t hesitate to spend a bunch more Dream Droplets to summon Lulu.

    As soon as Lulu appeared, Su Chen shouted, ¡°Change my appearance, fast!¡±

    ¡°You will need to pay thirty thousand Origin Stones a day, but if you increase your privilege tier to that of a Dream Monarch, it will only cost you a thousand a day.¡±

    ¡°Do it!¡± Su Chen said decisively.

    He had just put the Hemolytic Totem on sale and had a few hundred million Dream Droplets in his bank that he hadn¡¯t used yet.

    ¡°Got it!¡± Lulu happily twirled in a circle, and a sea of Dream Droplets seemed to vanish into thin air. At the same time, Su Chen¡¯s privilege tier began to skyrocket past the Dream Officer rank and to that of a Dream Monarch¡¯s. At the same time, Su Chen¡¯s figure began to morph as he assumed the form of a Ferocious Race individual.

    ¡°Get me out of here!¡±

    Lulu grabbed Su Chen¡¯s hand and they disappeared on the spot.

    Not long after they disappeared, a horde of Ferocious Race individuals charged over.

    One of the Ferocious Race individuals who had been ¡°killed¡± by Su Chen earlier howled, ¡°I swear that he was here just a moment ago!¡±

    An exceptionally tall Ferocious Race individual nced around them, then said, ¡°Either he¡¯s left the Dreamrealm or he¡¯s changed his appearance. Regardless of what he did, if he has suddenly appeared in the Ferocious Race¡¯s Dreamrealm, that means that a human has entered the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory. Notify the cities near the southern Harvey ins border and ask if there have been any news of a human appearing. If not, then it¡¯s possible that this human has the ability to disguise himself. Tell them to go look for the Heavenly Eye Ancestor!¡±

    Even though this Ferocious Race individual had a tall and crude appearance, he spoke in an incredibly rational manner. Upon closer inspection, it was possible to see that there was a unique insignia on his forehead. That insignia meant that the Ferocious Race society considered him an intelligent individual.

    On the other side of the Dreamrealm, Su Chen arrived at the Ferocious Race¡¯s Hall of Information.

    Because of the typical Ferocious Race tendency to undervalue knowledge and information, not much information appeared on the list, and not many Ferocious Race individuals were present here either.

    But because there wasn¡¯t much information, anything that did show up was always important.

    Su Chen quickly scanned the information present, hoping to be able to find some clues on the whereabouts of the Heavenly Might Army.

    Just then, a few Ferocious Race individuals hurriedly arrived on the scene, apprehensively gazing at any individuals who were there.

    Su Chen looked over the information as if nothing was happening, then leisurely walked off towards the side.

    One of the Ferocious Race individuals stared at him suspiciously and walked over. ¡°Hey, you seem a bit unfamiliar. Where are you from?¡±

    ¡°Get the hell out of my way!¡± Su Chen barked.

    A powerful, majestic aura suddenly exploded from Su Chen¡¯s body.

    After reaching the Dream Monarch tier, Su Chen could clearly sense that his Dreamrealm avatar had changed. It was as if arge door had opened before him, in some sense giving him apletely different experience from before.

    His consciousness energy had been carried over from the real world into the Dreamrealm.

    In other words, this was the experience that a person with a powerful consciousness would normally have, but the suppression of the Dreamrealm made it impossible to sense things so clearly. Once he reached the Dream Monarch tier, however, this suppression had obviously weakened, allowing Su Chen to perceive his surroundings in a much more detailed manner.

    Normally, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t have been able to confirm this, but the moment he unleashed his anger on that Ferocious Race, he felt his aura condense, and a formless pressure begin to exude from his body. That Ferocious Race individual was so badly frightened that he unconsciously retreated a number of steps.

    The Ferocious Race were known for their fearlessness and bravery, so the fact that he had been frightened into backing down was a testament to the power of Su Chen¡¯s aura.

    The Ferocious Race retreated a few steps and stared at Su Chen in shock. ¡°You...... you...... who are you?¡±

    ¡°Are you even worthy of asking?¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t waste his words. He opened his eyes wide, and a violent wave of energy surged from his body. The Ferocious Race individual was unable to withstand the immense pressure and vaporized into a cloud of smoke on the spot.

    He could even scare someone to death? Su Chen was stunned.

    Then, he realized that he was in the Dreamrealm, a world that existed in the consciousness realm. With his consciousness power, which was already at eight hundred, it would have been more surprising if he couldn¡¯t squash that Ferocious Race individual to death, since they were widely known for having weak consciousnesses.

    Of course, that Ferocious Race individual hadn¡¯t really died, and he resurrected after his dream representation shattered, but he seemed dazed and confused after he reformed because he was so badly scared by Su Chen.

    As Su Chen watched that Ferocious Race individual disappear, he didn¡¯t say anything more and quickly scanned the rest of the contents.

    ¡°Found it!¡± Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up.

    He had finally found a piece of information about the Heavenly Might Army. It said that they were located near the Raging mes Mountain.

    This piece of information was a bit more encouraging because it had been sent out a month ago. In other words, they were still alive as of at least a month ago.

    Su Chen was incredibly excited. He didn¡¯t wait any longer and left immediately. With his aura being as powerful as it was, none of the other Ferocious Race individuals dared to provoke him ¡ª even though they were quite brave, no one would knowingly send themselves to their deaths.

    After finding a secluded location, Su Chen quickly disappeared from the Dreamrealm.

    When he woke up, he had returned to reality.

    His surroundings were peaceful and quiet, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

    Su Cheny on the beast hide nket as he reexamined everything that had just happened.

    The moment he had unleashed his own consciousness energy, he had felt something unique. It was as if he were a fish in the sea or a bird in the sky. He felt incredibly unconstrained, free, andfortable, as everything he was sensing suddenly filled his consciousness.

    Su Chen knew that this was most likely one of the secrets of the Dreamrealm.

    The Dreamrealm was formed from the consciousness energy of the Lord of the Dreamrealm; or actually, to be more precise, it was thebined efforts of him and the Dream Spirits that had formed this consciousness world.

    ¡°Dreaming¡± was just a way to ess this consciousness world. And when a person¡¯s consciousness entered that realm, that person¡¯s physical body would lose its perception of the outside world, making it seem as if a person was deep inside of a dream.

    However, the truth of the matter was that this ce was where people connected on a conscious level.

    Su Chen had finally understood the intrinsic essence of the Dreamrealm.

    To most other people, it wouldn¡¯t make any difference even if they realized it, but to Su Chen, this revtion had opened up an entirely new door to Su Chen¡¯s worldview ¡ª after all, it was about time for Fata Morgana to receive an upgrade.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 106: Pursui

    t

    After awakening, Su Chen rinsed himself quickly and then prepared to leave Leguha Castle.

    However, at that moment, he heard a mor uring outside.

    Su Chen froze momentarily. He gestured, and an eye appeared, floating in the air above his hand. Because he was in enemy territory, Su Chen was extremely cautious about everything he did, and had long since taken observational measures outside.

    The eye rolled around in his hand, and Su Chen watched arge group of Ferocious Race individuals walk in his direction, a few of them chatting back and forth with one another.

    It was hard to make out exactly what they were saying because they were too far away, but Su Chen could make out words like ¡°yesterday evening¡± and ¡°Dreamrealm.¡± He immediately realized that the Ferocious Race was well aware that something was wrong and had sent some investigators.

    Just as he was about to leave, a thought suddenly surfaced in Su Chen¡¯s mind: why not try out what he had learned yesterday on them?

    When he thought of this, Su Chen chose not to leave and instead waited quietly for them to arrive.

    Not long afterwards, someone knocked on his door.

    Su Chen opened it. Outside stood six or seven Ferocious Race individuals.

    The Ferocious Race individual at the front said, ¡°Tell me your surname and your ce of origin. Don¡¯t move around unnecessarily, or I¡¯ll kill you!¡±

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°My name isn¡¯t important. What¡¯s important is that you and yourpatriots have already searched this ce and didn¡¯t find anything suspicious. All the Ferocious Race individuals here arew-abidingmoners. There¡¯s nothing to look further into.¡±

    As he spoke, a strange light flickered across his eyes. The leader of the small pack of Ferocious Race individuals began to mutter the same words that Su Chen had just spoke, and not only him ¡ª even the six or seven people behind him began to do the same.

    The group of Ferocious Race individuals sank into an illusory realm that they were unable to extricate themselves from. Su Chen smiled slightly and said, ¡°That¡¯s more like it. You will wake up on the count of three, and then begin to search the other ces on your list...... One.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he walked out of his room.

    ¡°Two.¡± He was at the top of the staircase.

    ¡°Three.¡± He walked towards the front door of the inn.

    He gently snapped his fingers, and the Ferocious Race party snapped out of their stupor. They nced at each other before their leader said, ¡°We¡¯ve checked this ce out and it¡¯s fine. Next room.¡±

    Su Chen had just used the improved version of Fata Morgana.

    Last night, he had unintentionally been enlightened towards the secrets behind connecting consciousnesses, causing the path ahead of him to open up greatly as he was finally able to simultaneously use the Fata Morgana on a number of targets.

    Of course, using it on multiple targets meant that he would have to deal with thebined resistance of multiple targets. However, Su Chen¡¯s consciousness power was quite high, and the average Ferocious Race¡¯s consciousness power was quite low, so even seven or eight of thembined couldn¡¯tpete with him. They were easily subdued.

    On the other hand, Su Chen¡¯s control over the Fata Morgana technique had also greatly improved. It was no longer just a simple method to freeze someone¡¯s movements, as it could also be used to construct illusory realms that could deceive the target. This was a result of his consciousness power¡¯s interactions with the physical world, which formed the foundation of the existence of any illusion realm.

    After leaving Leguha Castle, Su Chen headed towards the Raging mes Mountain. Because the border¡¯s airspace was very carefully monitored, he didn¡¯t use his Cloud-Piercing Shuttle.

    The Raging mes Mountain was close to the Blood Wastnds. He would need to walk through the Harvey ins, pass through Whitewater Canyon, and traverse the Permafrost ins to get there, passing by ten or so major Ferocious Race cities on the way.

    If the Heavenly Might Army had appeared in a ce like that, then there was only one exnation: for the past few months, they hadn¡¯t been idling around and had been on the move the entire time.

    This was also the only way of evading the Ferocious Race, but the fact that they had chosen to venture so deep into enemy territory meant that the Ferocious Race was definitely keeping them locked down and surrounded, making it so that the Heavenly Might Army had no way of turning around.

    How was he going to save them?

    Su Chen pondered over this question as he walked.

    Just as he was pondering the situation, he suddenly heard the wind pick up at his back.

    He slowly turned around and found a group of Ferocious Race soldiers pursuing him at lightning-quick speed. They were riding on the Ferocious Race¡¯s unique Single-Horned Rhinoceros, whose heavy feet stomped on the ground, generating a rumbling thunder as they galloped.

    This group of Ferocious Race individuals charged forwards relentlessly until they screeched to a stop in front of Su Chen. Obviously, these people were very well trained soldiers.

    There were roughly four hundred Ferocious Race soldiers present. There was no way for Su Chen to influence them all unless they averaged an individual consciousness power level that was lower than eight.

    More shockingly, the Ferocious Race individual inmand this time was female.

    This female had a tall physique and was definitely not beautiful. Her skin was incredibly dark, and her face was covered in inscriptions. She wore a bone ornament on her forehead formed from the teeth of an unknown creature and wielded two bone daggers in her hands, which she was ying around with carelessly. She didn¡¯t wear much, and her clothing was actually a bit revealing, which would have made her seem flirtatious if it weren¡¯t for her utterly unarousing appearance. Her expression was cold and filled with killing intent.

    Su Chen knew that the Ferocious Race was patriarchal in nature, and males typically held almost all the leadership positions.

    However, it was for this reason that if a female managed to w their way into a leadership position, they were often very difficult to deal with. The path upwards for a female Ferocious Race individual was incredibly difficult, and they would need to be even more vicious and ferocious than a typical male Ferocious Race individual if they wanted to maintain their status.

    The same could be said for traitors, who were often harsher informants than any tortured enemy could be.

    Su Chen felt a trace of rm surface in his heart when he saw this female.

    As his consciousness energy had increased, his ability to sense danger had also gone up.

    The female sat on top of her Single-Horned Rhinoceros and shot him a cold nce. ¡°Tell me your name, your ce of origin, and why you are here.¡±

    ¡°My name is Toulouch, a rootless person of the former Dusty Tribe. I go wherever the wind takes me,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Since the matter of his ent hadn¡¯t yet been resolved, he couldn¡¯t associate himself with any major tribe. So he had to try to pass himself off as a descendant of a small tribe that had fallen into ruin. There were countless tribes that had disappeared over the past tens of thousands of years in the Blood and Iron Country. Even the Ferocious Race couldn¡¯t keep track of them all.

    The female pulled out a string of bone tokens. ¡°Bring him here.¡±

    Two Ferocious Race soldiers grabbed Su Chen¡¯s arms, who pretended to cooperate ¡ª he wanted to see what this female was going to do.

    He was brought in front of the female, who then cupped the string of bone tokens in her hands as she chanted something. Suddenly, she tossed them high into the air.

    The bone tokens fell to the ground. The female only needed a single nce before her expression dramatically changed. ¡°He¡¯s lying! He¡¯s a human!¡±

    The cold sheen of a de shed towards Su Chen¡¯s forehead.

    Vicious, direct, and decisive.

    There was no hesitation!

    ng!

    Su Chen¡¯s hand gripped the edge of the de tightly, locking it in ce like a mp. He stared intently at the female. ¡°How interesting. If you¡¯re so sure, then that means that this seemingly absurd way of prophecy has no chance of being wrong?¡±

    The female lowered her head again to nce at the bone tokens, her expression growing grim. ¡°The fourth unit, retreat. Everyone else, attack together!¡±

    As she spoke, she pulled out a bone dagger and stabbed at Su Chen.

    ¡°You can also estimate a person¡¯s strength?¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    The female¡¯s reactions made it obvious that she knew she was facing a tough opponent. Perhaps she had obtained this knowledge from those bone tokens as well.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up.

    This was the expression of someone who had an extreme thirst for knowledge, a result of the excitement that he felt when he knew that another window into the secrets of this world was about to open up to him.

    Even while he felt excitement surge through him, he did not remain idle. A wave of mes surged forwards and took the form of a massive phoenix, soaring into the sky.

    After absorbing the Fire Demonic Lord¡¯s Origin Substance, Su Chen¡¯s ming Phoenix Theurgy Art had be even more frighteningly powerful.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 107: A Mighty Invention

    The battle on the ins started suddenly, and the end came just as quickly.

    The mes receded and the hazy smoke faded. Only the female Ferocious Race individual was left standing. Though most of them had survived the battle, their hands and feet were broken and their bodies subsequently tossed to the side.

    Su Chen slowly walked towards the femalemander. ¡°Based on your bone-divining techniques, I imagine you are an esteemed Ancestor. I had heard that there were bone diviners in the temple who can use simple ceremonies to scry with bones, but I initially thought that it was just a wild rumor. It seems now I was actually the ignorant one all along.¡±

    The female drew her bone dagger and stared at him viciously.

    ¡°HA!¡± she yelled piercingly as she swung the bone dagger at Su Chen.

    Su Chen casually reached for the opponent¡¯s wrist. Originally, he was nning on grabbing it, but the Ferocious Race female agilely avoided his grab. The right bone dagger shed at Su Chen¡¯s lower half while the left bone dagger raked towards his throat. Her attacks were quite vicious and decisive.

    Su Chen sucked in a cold breath in shock. His response, however, was not slow, and he dodged to the side. At the same time, a formless wave of energy rolled off of his body as the Primordial Blood Incarnation roared to life. Even though the female¡¯s attacks were fast, her magic ability was far inferior to that of Su Chen. She had no way of dodging and was sent flying by Su Chen¡¯s palm strike.

    Unexpectedly, the inscriptions on the female¡¯s face lit up as she flew through the air. Her figure shimmered and then split into multiple figures, all of which simultaneouslynded on the ground and charged at Su Chen. At the same time, the toothed head garment on her forehead began to ring at a low frequency, causing Su Chen to feel a bout of dizziness.

    Being able to make Su Chen dizzy given his consciousness power meant that this technique was obviously extremely powerful.

    Unfortunately, that was all that Su Chen felt.

    He squinted his eyes and coughed. And in response, the female¡¯s tooth ornament began to crack repeatedly, until half of it disappeared in the blink of an eye. Su Chen had purposefully left the other half of the bone ornament intact because he wanted to research it.

    Next, Su Chen pulled out his Mountain-Beheading de and swung it horizontally. The illusory images all shattered under the destructive momentum of the de, and only the right-most figure remained ¡ª the female¡¯s true body, of course. She stood there, stunned and clearly dazed by what had just happened.

    Who the hell was her opponent? Even her Confusion Bone Ocarina was ineffective?

    An instantter, Su Chen grabbed the female¡¯s forehead. ¡°Will you answer me now?¡±

    ¡°Ha!¡± the woman opened her mouth wide, and a vicious spurt of consciousness energy shot towards Su Chen¡¯s mind. At the same time, she shoved her knee at Su Chen¡¯s midsection and then leaned forwards to take a bite out of Su Chen¡¯s throat.

    Su Chen ignored herpletely. He mmed his palm into the female¡¯s leg and drove it deep into the ground like a nail, then lowered his head. The female suddenly seemed to be going in for a kiss.

    The female instinctively shrunk back, but Su Chen leaned in and bit down on the woman¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°AH!¡± the female cried out bitterly.

    The lower half of her lip had been torn clean off.

    Su Chen spat out the mouthful of flesh. ¡°If you like biting, I¡¯ll bite you. You Ferocious Race all like to use your mouth too much, but mouths are supposed to be used to eat. But your flesh is putrid and I don¡¯t like it.¡±

    ¡°HISS!¡± the woman let out a snake-like hiss.

    Su Chen answered her with a heavy punch. He coldly said, ¡°I like it when my opponents have some guts. That means that I can be as violent as I want. I heard that the Ferocious Race all have strong bones and would rather die than yield, but in my experience that¡¯s a lie. All life fears death. The Ferocious Race is alive and thus also fears death. Any lifeform that doesn¡¯t fear death has died a long time ago. However, I do believe that there are still some people with tough bones amongst the Ferocious Race. How about you? How tough are your bones?¡±

    ¡°Tougher than you think!¡± the female replied.

    Su Chenughed. ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m hoping for.¡±

    As he spoke, he lifted the woman from the ground. In a quick flurry of moves, Su Chen broke her hands, feet, joints, and sent a powerful wave of Origin Energy to snake through her body, rendering her immobile.

    Once hepleted these precautions, Su Chen tossed her onto a Single-Horned Rhinoceros. ¡°From this point onwards, you are my captive, my ve, and my research subject. You can choose to not answer any of my questions, and I hope that you are able to maintain your resoluteness. After all, I like to find the answers myself.¡±

    As he spoke, Su Chen gathered the rest of the Ferocious Race members and ced them onto the Single-Horned Rhinoceroses as well, before herding them together and leaving. A single vial of medicine was enough for him to gain control over these beasts, which had given the Ferocious Race captives quite a shock.

    He hadpletely cleaned up the battlefield so that for some time, no one would realize that a troop had disappeared. Then, he disguised himself as a Ferocious Race individual again, as there were very few people who could see through his disguise. By the time the Ferocious Race realized that something was wrong, Su Chen would be long gone. Even if the head ancestor of the temple were to get involved, he might have a hard time uprooting Su Chen.

    By the time the Harvey ins received news of this and was thrown into a huge uproar, Su Chen was already thousands of kilometers away.

    Within the Ill Wind Valley.

    This was a small valley located in the middle of the Harvey ins.

    It was raining.

    However, even the fiercest rain couldn¡¯t wash away the fear in the hearts of the Ferocious Race soldiers.

    ¡°AHHH! Please, spare me! I¡¯ll tell you anything you want to know!¡±

    Terrified howls echoed through the gorge.

    ¡°Sorry, there¡¯s nothing valuable that you can tell me,¡± Su Chen said as he cut into the Ferocious Race soldier in front of him.

    This wasn¡¯t the first time he had dissected a Ferocious Race individual. He had done something simr back at the Goldwater Ruins. However, that was a long time ago, and Su Chen¡¯s knowledge base had grown greatly. His ability to form theories and put them into practice had improved significantly, and there were too many new things that he wanted to try out.

    In particr, there was a kind of experiment that was inappropriate to perform on a human, but now he finally had an opportunity to test out his train of thought.

    After cutting open that Ferocious Race soldier, Su Chen poured a vial of medicine into his body. That Ferocious Race soldier twisted and strained against the restraints, howling in pain. It was obvious that his intestines were decaying under the influence of the medicine, slowly melting away into water.

    Very quickly, the Ferocious Race soldier stopped struggling.

    His intestines hadpletely disappeared, only leaving behind an empty stomach cavity.

    ¡°Demon! He¡¯s a demon!¡± the Ferocious Race soldiers began to wail and cry out.

    ¡°When your soldiers invaded the border and cut open pregnant mothers and ripped their children¡¯s heads out, this is exactly how they cursed you,¡± Su Chen replied calmly. ¡°Believe me, what I am doing is not much worse than what you have done. In addition, I have a good reason for doing all of this, one that might eventually lead to the end of a war.¡±

    ¡°What exactly do you want?¡± the Ferocious Race female asked, trembling.

    She was called Reina.

    One of the Ferocious Race individuals that Su Chen had frightened half to death had told him that.

    Unlike her fierce, leopard-like attitude from before, the current Reina only knew fear.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I¡¯m researching a medicine that will only be effective on the Ferocious Race.¡±

    A medicine only effective on the Ferocious Race? Reina didn¡¯t understand the meaning behind these words.

    Su Chen then continued exining. ¡°A kind of poison that is only effective against the Ferocious Race. If I seed, a single vial will be enough to kill thousands if not tens of thousands of Ferocious Race individuals.¡±

    What?

    Reina and the other Ferocious Race soldiers were stunned.

    Su Chen smiled toothily. ¡°This way, us humans won¡¯t need to dirty our hands to wipe you all out. Perhaps with just a few tens of medicine vials, the Ferocious Race will be driven to extinction. Don¡¯t you think that this is a very mighty invention?¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 108: Mysterious System

    Su Chen¡¯s tone was incredibly t, as if he were merely talking about something incrediblymon.

    The addition of the slight smile made Su Chen seem like a demon to Reina, causing her to tremble uncontrobly.

    She yelled loudly, ¡°You won¡¯t seed, not now and not ever!¡±

    Su Chen replied calmly while wearing the same smile, saying, ¡°Actually, I¡¯ve already seeded.¡±

    What?

    Everyone present was stunned.

    Su Chen pulled out a vial of medicine and pointed at the Ferocious Race individual whose intestines had turned into water. ¡°This is the same medicine that I used on him previously. Watch closely.¡±

    He tilted his head back and gulped down the medicine.

    Everyone watched on in shock but quickly realized that Su Chen was totally fine.

    That medicine really had no effect on him.

    ¡°How is this possible?¡±

    ¡°How could this be?¡±

    ¡°This is impossible!¡±

    The group of Ferocious Race individuals began to mor loudly.

    Reina stared intently at Su Chen. ¡°There must be some restrictions to its usage. You won¡¯t be able to wipe us out that easily!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not wrong,¡± Su Chen acknowledged as he nodded. ¡°The biggest issue with this kind of medicine is that its propagation ability is too weak, and a lot of poison is needed before its effect manifests, and the rate at which it kills also limits its ability to spread...... In any case, there are still many issues that need to be resolved. But no matter how you put it, a prototypical poison that can be used to wipe out the Ferocious Race does exist. The next steps are to keep improving it, and I believe that one day it will be as effective as I envision it to be.¡±

    ¡°Please, I beg you, don¡¯t do anymore research......¡± Reina whimpered helplessly.

    Ever since Su Chen had captured her, Reina was willing to face death fearlessly.

    However, in this moment, she was truly afraid.

    She was afraid of what Su Chen had invented and that he would really seed.

    All of the Ferocious Race soldiers present stared at Su Chen in terror, as if they were staring at the devil incarnate.

    Su Chen then calmly said, ¡°It¡¯s impossible for you to stop my research, but I have a certain bad habit, which is that I have a wide range of interests. If there¡¯s something that can capture some of my attention, that would be enough to get me to temporarily put down my other research.¡±

    Reina immediately understood.

    She knelt on the ground before Su Chen. ¡°Bone Diviner Reina of the Gongga Divine Shrine greets the mighty human prophet. No matter what you desire to know, I will tell you everything I know.¡±

    ¡°Does that include your knowledge on bone divining?¡±

    Reina trembled before finally replying, ¡°Yes, that¡¯s correct.¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°See, didn¡¯t I tell you that you would be begging to tell me?¡±

    Su Chen actually did stop experimenting with his Ferocious Race poison.

    Actually, creating a medicine that could wipe out the Ferocious Race was kind of a pipe dream anyways.

    On the surface, it seemed like Su Chen had sessfully created a medicine that could wipe out the Ferocious Race, but just as he said, infectingrge groups of individuals would be difficult.

    Most amateurs would think that creating a medicine that only affected the Ferocious Race individuals was the difficult part and that increasing the medicine¡¯s range was a rtively easy problem, but that waspletely wrong.

    Creating a medicine that only affected the Ferocious Race wasn¡¯t actually that hard, but the issues that Su Chen had mentioned were much more of a problem. In some sense, they weren¡¯t any easier to resolve than the issues he had encountered when trying to create his bloodline-less cultivation system.

    The intricate principles behind concocting medicines couldn¡¯t easily be understood by people who were unfamiliar with the field.

    Reina and the other Ferocious Race individuals didn¡¯t understand medicine, so Su Chen¡¯s disy had scared them quite badly. In reality however, even if they did let him continue his research, he wouldn¡¯t be able to wipe out the entire Ferocious Race. It would be possible, though, for him to wipe out quite a few Ferocious Race individuals within a small localized area.

    Su Chen¡¯s ultimate goal was not to exterminate the Ferocious Race but rather to break through the bloodline limits, so using this medicine to scare Reina a bit and then achieve his goals was good enough.

    Indeed, Reina was quite cooperative with Su Chen afterwards, answering all of his questions obediently.

    To better understand the role of bone diviners, it is important to mention the Ferocious Race¡¯smand structure.

    As a race that emphasized strength, the Ferocious Race were innately barbaric warriors. They were used to fighting in terms of pure physical strength.

    However, relying on the strength of these martial artists alone would not be enough to hold onto all their territory.

    The Origin Energy Temple was basically the reason why the Ferocious Race had developed the ability to use magic.

    However, the productive capability of the Origin Energy Temple was too low and it couldn¡¯t make enough Origin Qi Schrs, so they needed another way to supplement their forces.

    Long before the creation of the Origin Energy Temple, the Ferocious Race possessed their own system of magic ¡ª their Divine Shrine.

    The Divine Shrine had existed for a long time, and its origins were unknown. All people knew was that it was around by the time the Ferocious Race was present.

    In the Ferocious Race¡¯s system, the Divine Shrine was like the brain of the Ferocious Race. It was responsible for creating Ancestors, performing life-saving procedures, providing enlightenment, transmitting Origin Energy, and developing the self.

    These procedures corresponded respectively to magic, medicine, knowledge, totems, and tempering.

    Bone divining was abination ss formed from the mastery of magic, medicine, and tempering.

    Apparently, for the Ferocious Race to raise a single bone diviner, it required carefully selecting a candidate from many Ferocious Race individuals until a suitable target was found, at which point they would be carefully groomed. Afterwards, they would undergo a long period of special training and ingest some special medicines to activate their hidden talent, before finally obtaining the ability to divine truth from the bones from their ancestors.

    After bing a bone diviner, they would apparently gain supernatural abilities and be able to find clues from seemingly nowhere.

    Su Chen was very curious about the mysterious nature of this technique.

    The path he was walking involved understanding the truths of the world that he lived in and resolving any mysteries along the way. Everything had aw by which it operated, even things which seemed like smoke and mirrors. There was always some truth or scientific principle of actual substance to be learned.

    However, these mysterious, profound, and seemingly supernatural phenomena were hard to exin using scientific principles, which was why they were allbeled as ¡°magic.¡±

    The Ferocious Race were of the ¡°learn by experience¡± school of thought. They rarely focused on the underlying theories and relied more on fate. As such, they hadn¡¯t made many contributions to the research of this system, but they did learn how to use it quite well.

    Su Chen finally had an opportunity to study this kind of magic, and he dived right into researching it with his endless curiosity towards the unknown.

    Magic tended to focus on illogical sequences and constant changes.

    Su Chen was having a hard time figuring out how to approach the problem.

    However, he had a resolute personality, so the more he felt the difficulty, the more determined he was to fully understand it.

    He believed that everything had a principle that it operated by, and that these mysterious magics were only mysterious because their principles were well concealed and had yet to be discovered.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that he was worried about Shi Kaihuang¡¯s safety, he might have stayed in this cave and researched much longer.

    The next day, the rain stopped.

    Su Chen brought his hostages with him and embarked for his next destination.

    At this point, they had left the border and he could finally use the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle.

    Su Chen used the Burning Sun Shuttle. The reason he had chosen thisbat shuttle was because its interior was muchrger than the Silver Moon Shuttle and could seat thirty people. However, Su Chen still had too many captives, so he had done a session of fatal experiments the day before to use up the excess. They only embarked after the extra Ferocious Race soldiers had been taken care of.

    This only further strengthened these Ferocious Race individuals¡¯ fear of Su Chen. In their eyes, he really was a demon.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 109: Infiltrating the Barracks

    After nearly ten days of constantly flying, Su Chen finally arrived at the Bloody Wastnds.

    He had encountered a number of Ferocious Race security checkpoints along the way, but with his disguising abilities, he was able to easily get through.

    The other Ferocious Race individuals had long since submitted to his control. Not a single one rebelled against Su Chen¡¯s tyrannical abuse, as the ones who did had already died.

    However, once he reached the Bloody Wastnds, Su Chen ran into a problem ¡ª he didn¡¯t know where the Heavenly Might Army had gone next.

    The Heavenly Might Army had initially been at the Raging mes Mountain when he left Leguha Castle.

    However, they wouldn¡¯t stay in the same ce for ten days. Obviously, they had left a long time ago, even before Su Chen had known where they were.

    This was because the news that the Ferocious Race received was always a bit dyed.

    Otherwise, if the pursuers had ess to the information any earlier, the Heavenly Might Army might have already been wiped out.

    At the same time, this also implied that the Ferocious Race individuals who were pursuing the Heavenly Might Army would only fall further and further behind as time went on.

    As such, if Su Chen wanted to find the Heavenly Might Army, he had to find them even faster than the Ferocious Race and also make a move before them.

    Su Chen had tried to reach out to them through the Dreamrealm, but it was obvious that none of them had ever tried to enter the Dreamrealm, mayhaps because they would reveal their location as soon as they appeared.

    ¡°I can¡¯t afford to wait. All I can do now is to try and guess how they will move,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    If he wanted to determine what direction the Heavenly Might Army was traveling in, he would need to get an idea of the Heavenly Might Army¡¯s situation, as well as some information that couldn¡¯t be transmitted through the Dreamrealm.

    Su Chen decided to pay the local city hall a visit that evening.

    But first, he found a cave to stow the remaining Ferocious Race individuals in before entering the city that evening.

    The city he was in was called Gully City. The Ferocious Race soldiers stationed here had participated in a mission to chase after the Heavenly Might Army not too long ago; even though their involvement had been quite superficial due to them never even seeing the Heavenly Might Army, they definitely had some way of gathering information on the Heavenly Might Army¡¯s movements.

    As such, Su Chen was going to try to get a feel for what was happening in their barracks and see if he could find anything helpful.

    Because the Ferocious Race was inherently undisciplined, their organization was not worth mentioning no matter how strong their army was.

    One of the Ferocious Race soldiers on guard didn¡¯t take his responsibilities seriously and was sleeping out there in the open. Su Chen stood behind him, staring helplessly at his opponent before knocking him out. Was there really a difference between being knocked out and sleeping? Would it have been better for him to have just walked past?

    Su Chen tantly walked through the barrack¡¯s main gates.

    His destination was arge golden tent in the middle of the barracks, which was most likely the Ferocious Race¡¯s main tent.

    By utilizing the darkness as a part of his disguise, Su Chen snuck close to the gold tent.

    His luck was pretty good, as there wasn¡¯t anyone in the tent.

    Su Chen directly walked in and saw a bunch of notices stacked up neatly on a nearby bookshelf.

    Su Chen picked them up and skimmed them over. The first one he looked at was a report regarding the whereabouts of the Heavenly Might Army.

    Even he was in disbelief that he had found what he was looking for so easily.

    This was way too simple.

    He flipped through it even as he was in dumb shock.

    The Ferocious Race¡¯s army didn¡¯t have any news on where exactly they were headed, but they did have a lot of information about the Heavenly Might Army¡¯s general vicinity. In particr, they had sent search teams all over the ce in hopes of figuring out which direction the Heavenly Might Army was headed towards. For instance, before the Heavenly Might Army had appeared near the Raging mes Mountain, they were heading towards the Direwolf Tribe¡¯s Gongga City.

    Gongga was known as the ¡°Pearl of the Bloody Wastnds¡± because it was one of the few wealthy cities on the Bloody Wastnds. However, due to its interior location, it wasn¡¯t very heavily guarded, and the Heavenly Might Army had easily ughtered their way through the city. They had done quite a good job, and what Su Chen had found was precisely detailed information about Gongga City.

    Su Chen noticed that, of the items that had been piged from Gonga City, Origin Stones were preferred over food and resources, especially earth-type and wood-type Origin Stones.

    This gave him some interesting information to be mulled over.

    Before sacking Gongga City, the Heavenly Might Army had passed through more than ten cities, and the losses from each city were carefully documented here as well. Su Chen nced over them one by one.

    He was just getting into it when he suddenly heard some footstepsing from right outside the tent¡¯s door.

    The footsteps were so fast that the owner of the footsteps entered the room almost as soon as Su Chen heard his arrival.

    Pu!

    The general who had just pushed open the ps to the tent stood there in shock.

    This Ferocious Race general had quite a bit of facial hair, a pair of copper-colored eyes, and a powerful aura. Actually, most Ferocious Race individuals were like this, their main feature being bulging muscles and fierce facial expressions.

    The beard was probably the only distinguishing feature of this general from the rest of his race, as most Ferocious Race individuals didn¡¯t keep their beards.

    That Ferocious Race general stared at Su Chen wide-eyed. ¡°Who are you? Why are you in my tent?¡±

    He had actually asked a question first.

    Of course, this was because of Su Chen¡¯s Ferocious Race disguise.

    Su Chen was a bit unwilling to put the information back. ¡°I came here to clean up the tent for you, general, and started carelessly flipping through these reports.¡±

    His words were calm and collected, but his acting was half-hearted and his expression seemed frozen in ce. This acting job really was terrible; even a pig would be able to tell that there was no sincerity behind his words.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± the Ferocious Race general roared. He was just about to attack when a strange light flickered across Su Chen¡¯s eyes, causing him to be a bit dazzled and stunned.

    The Ferocious Race had weak consciousnesses and were probably the weakest in terms of being able to defend against consciousness assaults. Naturally, the Ferocious Race general immediately fell under Su Chen¡¯s influence with just a single nce from him.

    Su Chen ignored him and pooled together the rest of the reports before sauntering out of the tent ¡ª in any case, he had been discovered, so he might as well just take everything he wanted with him.

    His steps seemed unhurried and calm, as if the Ferocious Race army was nothing to him. It wasn¡¯t until he was outside the tent that he heard amotion start from inside.

    The general had regained consciousness.

    The Ferocious Race general was a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, but the reason he had been knocked out by Su Chen for so long was in part because of the improvements Su Chen had made to Fata Morgana. Another important reason was obviously the weak consciousnesses that most Ferocious Race individuals possessed. After awakening, the general let loose an enraged howl. Arge bunch of Ferocious Race soldiers began to run in his direction.

    Su Chen, however, coldlyughed and mysteriously disappeared into the darkness.

    His disguising technique allowed him to camouge himself with a dark color, meaning that he was able to blend into the background quite well.

    He casually left the barracks and began to head back to Gully City.

    As he was walking, however, he suddenly saw a figure charge out of the barracks straight at his direction at high speeds.

    Not good! Su Chen cried out silently to himself.

    There was a Ferocious Race individual here who had actually discovered his presence!

    That Ferocious Race was quite self-confident. He hadn¡¯t called for any help and just charged at him alone.

    He was extremely quick and closed in rapidly on Su Chen, unleashing a powerful punch when he drew close.

    Su Chen nced at him. That person¡¯s figure trembled momentarily, but he was unaffected by Fata Morgana¡¯s influence, and his fist continued to descend onto Su Chen¡¯s head.

    ¡°Huh?¡± Su Chen eximed in amazement and dodged to the side, unleashing a fist of his own in response. The Ferocious Race individual didn¡¯t even try to dodge; he used his body to forcefully resist Su Chen¡¯s attack and brought his elbow down on Su Chen¡¯s arm.

    Boom!

    An explosion of energy radiated outwards from the point of impact.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 110: Dogfigh

    t

    In order to deal with this elbow, Su Chen was forced to retreat. The Mountain-Beheading de appeared in his hand, and he used it to intercept the path of the elbow jab.

    The elbow mmed into the de with a metallic ng.

    How violently powerful.

    The Ferocious Race individual continued pressing forward and unleashed a follow up kick.

    Su Chen could now see the Ferocious Race individual¡¯s appearance; he was quite youthful and had dark skin. His lip had a ring piercing, and his face was covered in inscriptions. His attacks were exceptionally vicious and fast, alwaysing one after another.

    The Ferocious Race always fought like this. Most of the time, they simply attacked using their fists and feet in a seemingly basic pattern, but these attacks all contained an extremely frightening power behind them.

    Bang!

    After Su Chen dodged to the side, the Ferocious Race soldier¡¯s kicknded on a nearby boulder, which immediately shattered. He seemed not to notice it at all and continued to attack, unleashing another fist strike. The fist flew right past Su Chen¡¯s face, crackling with energy. A forceful wave of momentum surged forward, blowing away the nearby trees and rocks through its sheer force.

    The scariest part of it all wasn¡¯t the power level of this fist strike. After all, most Yang Opening Realm cultivators were able to unleash this kind of power with an average Origin Skill. Actually, they would even be a bit stronger.

    The true headache was that Su Chen¡¯s opponent hadn¡¯t yet used his Ferocious Race Origin Skills; he was just attacking with simple punches and kicks.

    That was a huge problem.

    Generally, trying to fight against a Ferocious Race individual in close-quarterbat was ill-advised. Most of the time, people would actively avoid such a situation. Even a powerful human cultivator might find the tables being turned on them if they engaged in close-quarterbat with a Ferocious Race individual.

    However, Su Chen had no choice.

    He was still near the military encampment so if he were to utilize the ming Phoenix, the brilliant light emitted from the Origin Skill¡¯s contrast against the dark night¡¯s backdrop would quickly be spotted. Ifrge groups of Ferocious Race individuals started to congregate towards where he was, he would be in trouble.

    As such, Su Chen could only endure it and stay in close quarters with his opponent, trying to keep all of his attacks as unobstruse as possible.

    Staying low-key was the most important when fighting in a dark environment.

    This opponent also was unaffected by Fata Morgana, so he could only get knocked around as the fight progressed.

    However, Su Chen¡¯s temper began to re as well when he saw his opponent attacking repeatedly. He snarled, ¡°Did you really think you could do whatever you want just because we¡¯re fighting in close quarters?¡±

    His body began to glow with a faint golden light as a barrier appeared on his body. He swung his arm right at the opponent¡¯s chest.

    A light also shone near the Ferocious Race individual¡¯s chest, blocking his attack. His fist careened towards Su Chen¡¯s forehead in response, but Su Chen¡¯s activated his Meg¡¯s Guardian to block the attack, and then he jerked his knee up towards his opponent¡¯s midsection. The Ferocious Race individual responded in kind, and their mutual collision knocked each other a few steps backwards. The Ferocious Race soldier¡¯s totemic inscriptions had protected him, while Su Chen was simrly protected by an Origin Energy barrier. As such, the force from their attacks had been mitigated.

    Neither of them were wounded, so immediately after separating, they charged at each other again, attacking with elbow jabs, ws, knees, and even wrestling with one another on asion. These two mid-tier Origin Qi Schrs suddenly seemed to have devolved to the level of most mortal martial artists. Though their movements were simple, their attacks were extremely fierce and each move carried with it an extreme momentum.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang! After a particrly intense sh, the two of them separated again, and the glow on Su Chen¡¯s body ¡ª his Origin Energy barrier ¡ª had disintegrated. Su Chen swayed slightly as his foot slipped, and the Ferocious Race soldier charged forwards,unching another attack at him. The way he fought was somewhat reminiscent of Cloud Leopard¡¯s fighting style, but with even more savagery and fierceness. Su Chen raised his arms in an attempt to block him but was unable to resist all of the momentum, and his arms were pushed all the way to his chest. He spat out a mouthful of blood and stumbled a few steps backwards.

    Su Chen wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and admitted, while shaking his head, ¡±Alright, you truly are powerful.¡±

    He had the Algae Thread Coral Robe to protect him, along with his Adamantine Battle Body and Meg¡¯s Guardian. He originally expected that all this would make up for his deficiencies in close quartersbat, but the opponent in front of him was so powerful that not even the Algae Thread Coral Robe was able to fully withstand it.

    Even though his wounds weren¡¯t serious, he still found this hard to ept.

    He had cultivated the Flowing Wind Body and the Adamantine Battle Body Technique, giving him quite an outstanding physiquepared to most humans. However, inparison to the Ferocious Race, he was as weak as a fledgling chicken. Even with the aid of defensive Origin Tools and magic barriers, he wasn¡¯t able to withstand his opponents¡¯ attacks. Even though he was pitting his disadvantages against the opponent¡¯s advantages, Su Chen¡¯s prideful heart had difficulty epting the reality of the situation.

    The Ferocious Race soldier leapt forward once again.

    ¡°Dammit!¡± Su Chen cursed. ¡°Come at me!¡±

    A dim light began to glow behind his back as an illusory image began to take shape.

    It was his Primordial Incarnation.

    In some sense, this was kind of cheating, but in another, it wasn¡¯t.

    Su Chen was the one who had invented the Primordial Blood Incarnation. ssifying it under a technique category was very difficult; after all, it wasn¡¯t an Origin Skill because you couldn¡¯t cultivate it, but neither was it a bloodline because there was no bloodline source. It wasn¡¯t a body refining technique either. It didn¡¯t fit neatly into any of these categories, but at the same time you could say that it belonged in each category to some degree.

    At least in terms of power output, the increase in physical strength the Primordial Blood Incarnation conferred was enough to bring its user to par with that of the barbaric Ferocious Race.

    At this moment, Su Chen allowed the Primordial Blood Incarnation to merge with his physical body, causing his aura to surge.

    The Ferocious Race soldier was also a bit taken aback when he saw this. Su Chen viciously eximed, ¡°You want topete in strength? Come and try this!¡±

    An explosive punch boomed through the air.

    The Ferocious Race soldier instinctively answered with a punch of his own. The two punches collided, and the Ferocious Race soldier suddenly shot backwards like a kite that had its string cut.

    ¡°That¡¯s more like it!¡± Su Chen said as he nodded with satisfaction. He leapt forwards to close the distance between him and the Ferocious Race soldier, dive kicking in his approach.

    The Ferocious Rae soldier rolled backwards to avoid the attack, but he had enough spare energy to counter by kicking at Su Chen. Su Chen didn¡¯t try to dodge and forcefully endured the blow, thenughed, ¡°There was some momentum behind that one, but it was still a bit too weak.¡±

    He reached out with hisrge hand to grab the Ferocious Race soldier.

    An ominous drone suddenly began to emanate from the Ferocious Race soldier.

    His entire body immediately lit up as seven different Totemic Inscriptions began to supply his body with power. Even his basic punches were filled with a violent energy. The zingly bright light pierced the night sky.

    ¡°Over there!¡±

    The other Ferocious Race soldiers had finally discovered the battle going on and began to run over as they yelled.

    Now that his position had beenpromised, Su Chen didn¡¯t hold back anymore when attacking. ck mes roared to life, engulfing his opponent and giving off the impression that it was butting heads with the inscriptions on his opponent¡¯s body. Gradually, the shadowy mes began to eat away at the light of the totemic inscriptions, causing the Ferocious Race soldier¡¯s strength to rapidly decline. A surprised expression appeared on the young Ferocious Race soldier¡¯s face as the power of his totemic inscriptions corroded away.

    Bang!

    A palm strike imprinted itself on the young Ferocious Race soldier¡¯s chest, shattering the bones in the area and rupturing one of his hearts.

    The young Ferocious Race soldier howled, but he didn¡¯t die. He unleashed another punch, this one glowing white-hot with energy.

    Even under these kinds of circumstances, he still wanted, still desired , still dared to counterattack!

    ¡°Mmph!¡±

    Su Chen grunted and lowered his head to inspect himself.

    A dark red spot had appeared on his clothes.

    This fist had prated the Primordial Blood Incarnation, the Adamantine Battle Body, the Algae Thread Coral Robe, leaving behind an imprint on his physical body, wounding him.

    Even though the blow wasn¡¯t too serious, Su Chen could sense his opponent¡¯s determination.

    ¡°Unfortunately, willpower alone is not enough,¡± Su Chen stated.

    As he spoke, his palm mmed itself on the Ferocious Race soldier¡¯s head, stripping him of any remaining strength with which to fight. Su Chen picked up the Ferocious Race soldier and quickly disappeared into the darkness of the night.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 111: Soulless

    Upon returning to the cave, Su Chen tossed the Ferocious Race soldier he had been carrying onto the ground.

    The Ferocious Race soldiers originally being held captive by him didn¡¯t react much initially, but after seeing who the new captive was, they were stunned.

    ¡°Soulless! He¡¯s a Soulless?¡±

    ¡°Soulless?¡± Su Chen¡¯s eyebrows jumped up. ¡°So he¡¯s a Soulless? No wonder my Fata Morgana waspletely useless against him.¡±

    Like the Bone Diviners, the Soulless were also produced by the Divine Shrine.

    However, Soulless were not meant to deal with humans but rather, the Spirit Race.

    Because of their innately weak consciousness, the Ferocious Race were at a huge disadvantage when trying to defend themselves against consciousness attacks. As such, the Ferocious Race feared the consciousness-enving Spirit Race the most.

    The Ferocious Race had fought against the Spirit Race only once across all of history, but that was enough to make the Ferocious Race never dare not provoke the Spirit Race again.

    During that battle, the Ferocious Race had sent out three hundred thousand troops, while the Spirit Race had only sent out three thousand soldiers.

    However, these three thousand Spirit Race soldiers had etched their images into the nightmares of countless Ferocious Race soldiers. When the waves of Ferocious Race soldiers had surged forth, they had suddenly begun turning on each other and killing their ownrades. This battle had really been a cmity for them.

    Afterwards, the Ferocious Race personally withdrew from the conflict, conceding the Wai Caves to the Spirit Race. Fortunately for them, the Spirit Race was only really interested in researching and experimenting, so their requirements for territory were quite low. This was the only reason why the Ferocious Race had been able to survive.

    After that, the Ferocious Race feared the Spirit Race more than any other race even to this day, and they were also the greatest source of research subjects for the Spirit Race.

    The Ferocious Race had tried as hard as they could toe up with a way to deal with the Spirit Race.

    The Soulless were conceptualized under these kinds of circumstances.

    Based on the information avable to Su Chen, the Soulless were a special kind of Ferocious Race individual who had lost their autonomy. They could clearly sense the world around them, but all of these sensations were nd and tasteless and wouldn¡¯t affect their mood or actions. Their souls had been extinguished, and theycked the ability to think or make their own decisions. They had nothing other than a basic instinctive ability to fight.

    In other words, these people basically had no souls. It was precisely because they had no souls that they couldn¡¯t be controlled via their consciousnesses. They were essentially the same as a bunch of walking corpses.

    This was also why the Ferocious Race youth hadn¡¯t uttered a single word when fighting with Su Chen.

    He couldn¡¯t even speak. At most, all he could do was instinctively howl.

    Soulless were pretty hard toe by. Merciless methods were needed to strip a person of their will, and once a person became a Soulless, their strength would be forever locked in ce and couldn¡¯t improve.

    For this reason, an actual Soulless was hard to find. They were usually selected from a small group of death row criminals who were quite powerful. Even so, the chance of failure was quite high ¡ª the sess rate was only one out of every ten tries.

    As such, Soulless were never found on their own. They were often paired up with VIPs to serve as their bodyguards, especially to guard against consciousness-type assaulters. Soulless had a unique ability, which was that they could divert the effects of a consciousness assault onto themselves. As such, the intended target couldn¡¯t be controlled.

    The Soulless before his eyes was probably that general¡¯s consciousness protector, but for some reason he hadn¡¯t been near the general at that point in time, which was why the general had fallen under Su Chen¡¯s influence for a short period of time.

    The general¡¯ster reawakening may also have been due to the Soulless ¡ª he had most likely run over immediately after discovering that the general had fallen under someone¡¯s influence.

    The Soulless were exceptionally good at pursuing targets who had powerful consciousnesses. To them, these individuals were like a bright fire illuminated against the dark night sky, so Su Chen¡¯s concealment methods were totally useless against him. It was also this same reason that he hadn¡¯t notified any of the other Ferocious Race individuals.

    Now, this Soulless had fallen under Su Chen¡¯s possession. The Ferocious Race¡¯s anatomy included two hearts, so he would survive even though one of them had been pierced through by Su Chen. Without its own consciousness, it could only stare intently at Su Chen, still focused on killing him. However, there was no point for him to fight against Su Chen¡¯s restrictions; all it did was pique Su Chen¡¯s interest.

    ¡°Soulless...... How interesting. I have studied many different people, but never a target that has lost its own consciousness. This will be my first experiment that specifically targets the consciousness,¡± Su Chen said with some excitement. He was immediately able to identify the Soulless¡¯s usefulness to him ¡ª it would greatly improve his understanding of the consciousness.

    ¡°However, before that it seems like I need to research healing a Ferocious Race individual who has lost a heart back to peak health,¡± Su Chen added on.

    A Ferocious Race individual who had lost a heart was much weaker physically; if Su Chen wanted to increase the amount of time he could spend on this hard-earned research subject, he needed to think of a way to increase the target¡¯s physical durability.

    ¡°I need to develop some techniques for the Ferocious Race to grow stronger? Is this a joke? But it seems like I don¡¯t have any other choice,¡± Su Chen muttered as he made his decision.

    Without Iron Cliff by his side, it was quite inconvenient for him to do many things at the same time, and the urgency of searching for the Heavenly Might Army made it impossible for Su Chen to spend too much time immersed in his research. He could only forcefully suppress the thirst in his heart for more knowledge temporarily.

    After staunching the Soulless¡¯s bleeding, Su Chen tossed him to the side, then began to look over the materials and papers he had managed to gather.

    The Ferocious Race¡¯s information system was simple and trivial. They were always a step slower than the Heavenly Might Army, so most of the time they only heard about what the Heavenly Might Army had done after they arrived. Su Chen needed to use these signs to determine where the Heavenly Might Army was going to go next.

    ¡°They piged ten or so cities and only focused on grabbing Origin Stones...... Anyone who could keep the Heavenly Might Army alive until now is definitely a talented leader. Themander of the Heavenly Might Army definitely wouldn¡¯t do this for no reason, so he must have a n in mind. But where are they going next?¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    If he wanted to know what the Heavenly Might Army was nning, he also needed to figure out what their goal was.

    Their end goal was very easy to guess ¡ª naturally, it was to return to Long Sang Country, but actually achieving this goal was much moreplicated.

    The path back to the Flowing Golden Fort wasn¡¯t the only way back to Long Sang Country from the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory; apart from the Harvey ins, which was the simplest path, there were at least three more one could take. They could go through the sea and cut through the Violent Wind Gorge and Death Sea City, eventually reaching the marshes of the Sea Race¡¯s territory. They could then traverse the Wai Caves and go through the Spirit Race¡¯s territory, around the Western Rosy Bay, pass through the Shadow Wind Marsh, then finally pass through the Beast Race border into Raging Wind Country. Or, they could traverse the Limestone Mountain Range and pass through the Beast Race¡¯s territory to reach Cloud Rising Country.

    Every route was fraught with peril.

    Since the Heavenly Might Army was focusing on gathering Origin Stones, they were most likely choosing the sea route. Onlyrge boats that could resist the wind and waves and ward off the Demonic Beasts in the waters would require so many Origin Stones.

    The benefits of choosing this path was that the Sea Race and humans had the least amount of conflict, and they could be persuaded to leave them in peace. However, the dangers in the sea region weren¡¯t any less than that of the dangers in the Beast Race territory, as all kinds of powerful Demonic Beasts roamed the seas and heavily suppressed the Sea Race; there was good reason why the Sea Race suffered the most out of all the five major races.

    There was another important reason as well, which was that the Ferocious Racecked boats.

    Theycked boats that could traverse therge seas.

    Without boats, how could they cross such arge body of water?

    So were they deploying troops just to distract the enemy? Or were there other motives behind the scenes? Or were they really nning on taking the risk and cutting down some wood to make boats, and then floating across the sea?

    Su Chen fell deep into thought.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 112: Trend

    Anticipating someone¡¯s movements was never a simple task.

    Most intelligent lifeforms hadplex thought processes and were able to adapt quickly, making it hard to predict their thoughts.

    nning battle strategies far in advance was impossible.

    Saying things like ¡°I anticipated what my opponent would do because his personality is h h h¡± was all a bunch of crap.

    Anyone who imed to be able to n ahead based on a person¡¯s habits was full of it.

    This was because people were just too hard to predict.

    Back in West Laina Castle, Su Chen had nned on fighting alongside Zhu Xianyao, but she had sold him out and then baited Sark into pursuing him.

    Her reasoning for this was ¡®because she didn¡¯t like it.¡¯

    Humans could make both logical and emotional decisions at the same time.

    Because of this, logical predictions were often invalidated by emotional motivations.

    As such, any and all predictions were inherently risky.

    However, you couldn¡¯t just not make predictions because they were risky.

    On the battlefield, military maneuvers are often made based on predicted enemy behavior.

    The difference between an outstanding general and a mediocre one was that outstanding generals made few mistakes, while mediocre ones made many.

    As such, no matter how risky this prediction of his was going to be, Su Chen still had to make one.

    If he didn¡¯t, he would never be able to find the Heavenly Might Army.

    His only option was to carefully scrutinize the materials in front of him.

    The higher the desired uracy of his prediction, the higher his need was forrge quantities of information as a baseline for such a prediction.

    His eyes flew across the pages as he racked his brains in an attempt to put it all together.

    One piece of information in particr caught Su Chen¡¯s eyes.

    This information was from the Halma Forest, and it reported the appearance of some unidentified bandits within the forest. Even though they were unidentified, the traces left behind by them seemed to indicate that it was a branch of a human army. More importantly, the potentially human army had burned down arge swath of the forest after robbing the ce. The report said that thankfully, the mes were not too intense, and a Demonic Beast had summoned the rain, putting out the fire.

    Even so, Su Chen could tell that there was a hidden message concealed in the report: arge amount of wood had gone missing.

    The human army had secretly chopped down many trees, and then used the mes to cover up their activity.

    Were they really nning on crafting boots to try and sail across the sea?

    Su Chen narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

    The hidden message showed that the Heavenly Might Army was indeed gatheringrge quantities of wood to cross the sea. The other resources they had been gathering this entire time also pointed towards this conclusion.

    However, this didn¡¯t ay all of Su Chen¡¯s suspicions.

    This was because there was an illogical contradiction: If the Heavenly Might Army was secretly gathering wood to cross the sea, then they had no reason why they wouldn¡¯t conceal their theft of Origin Stones as well.

    Even though Origin Stones had many uses, the most likely usage for them was crossing the sea. Under these kinds of circumstances, did the Heavenly Might Army really need to conceal the fact that they were gathering lots of wood?

    Or were they really hoping that the lower-intelligence Ferocious Race wouldn¡¯t be able to spot the hole in this logic?

    This was actually possible, since the Ferocious Race weren¡¯t exactly known for using their heads. However, the chances of this being the case were quite low ¡ª individuals might be dumb, but it was hard to fool an entire race. There were so many Ferocious Race individuals, so at least one or two of them would be able to spot the contradiction, right?

    But if that wasn¡¯t their goal, then what was the point of spending so much energy on these activities?

    A diversionary tactic?

    No way. No one would spend that much energy on a mere diversionary tactic. The Heavenly Might Army was stuck deep in enemy territory and didn¡¯t have the spare time or energy to mess around by ying tricks.

    So what were they nning on doing?

    Su Chen continued to look through the clues he had gathered as he stayed deep in thought.

    Very quickly, Su Chen came upon another piece of information regarding the ambush of a small nearby tribe. This tribe¡¯s leader said that a very important treasure had been taken away from him: the core of a Nereid Worm. This wouldn¡¯t have been important if not for the fact that it jogged Su Chen¡¯s memory and reminded him of something ¡ª it seemed like there were other cases of Demonic Beast cores being snatched before this as well.

    However, not many of the reports mentioned what had been taken, so there weren¡¯t much of the information Su Chen that was looking for. The main reason this report had mentioned the core by name was because the tribe was too poor and the leader of the tribe had pestered them repeatedly again and again, which was the only way it had made it into the officer¡¯s report.

    Su Chen carefully flipped through the materials. Indeed, he was able to find some rted information, but most of them didn¡¯t have any particrly noticeable details.

    At this moment, Su Chen suddenly remembered something.

    A piece of information regarding the Heavenly Might Army.

    Before leaving the Flowing Gold Fort, Su Chen had specifically asked Xiao Feinan for information on the Heavenly Might Army. If there was an advantage that Su Chen had over the Ferocious Race in looking for the Heavenly Might Army, it was that he had a better understanding of hisrades.

    If you know yourself and you know your enemy, then you will always prevail.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know his enemies as well as the Ferocious Race did, but Su Chen knew his allies much better than the Ferocious Race did.

    During this kind of pursuit, knowing his allies was more important than knowing the enemy.

    Because of this, he thought of something else.

    More specifically, he thought of a single person.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up when he thought of this person.

    Suddenly, he had a guess as to where the Heavenly Might Army was heading next.

    However, before this he needed to do some more searching to confirm his guesses.

    Within the Jade Wolf Mountain Range.

    ¡°Zach! Where are you?¡± Aguli called out as she frantically searched her surroundings while carrying a basket in her hands.

    ¡°Mom, I¡¯m over here!¡± Little Zach¡¯s figure appeared on a somewhat distant tree. His face was covered in ck ash.

    ¡°Heavens, where did you run off to this time? I told you not to go running off on your own,¡± Aguli lectured as she ran over and dusted the ck ash off of his body.

    ¡°Cully bet me that I couldn¡¯t climb up the cliff there, so I took the bet. In the end I won, but he ran away,¡± Zach replied, a little upset.

    ¡°You climbed the Lonely Eagle Cliff? I told you before child, do not climb it! Why won¡¯t you just listen to me?¡± Aguli said angrily.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine! I¡¯m already eleven years old. The Lonely Eagle Cliff is nothing to me,¡± Zach muttered.

    ¡°That¡¯s not fine. It¡¯s still too dangerous.¡±

    ¡°I am the descendant of the Thunder Edge. The Thunder Edge¡¯s descendant does not fear danger!¡± Zach said loudly.

    Aguli¡¯s expression grew cloudy. ¡°Forget about the Thunder Edge, child. That no longer belongs to me or you anymore. There is no way for you to be the true Thunder Edge.¡±

    ¡°No, I can do it!¡± the youth yelled, dissatisfied.

    Aguli gazed tenderly at her son and rubbed his head. She wanted to say something but ended up staying quiet.

    A momentter, she suddenly felt trembling from beneath her feet.

    Aguli was stunned for a moment before she leaned towards the ground to listen. Her expression changed immediately.

    She leapt to her feet and looked behind her. An army had appeared off in the distance.

    ¡°Humans......¡± Aguli¡¯s heart began to beat faster.

    ¡°Mama?¡± Little Zach didn¡¯t understand what was going on, and he stared apprehensively at his mother.

    ¡°Hurry, run!¡± Aguli grabbed her son¡¯s hand and began to run as fast as she could.

    Behind her, a disheveled yet still spirited army surged forwards, exuding a strong killing intent as they engulfed this small tribe in a matter of minutes......

 Book 4: Near Blood - 113: Heavenly Mightâ€™s Seven Heroes

    Whoosh!

    A glittering saber shed through the air, sttering blood all over the ground.

    This branch of soldiers was extremely well-drilled and disciplined. One Origin Qi Schrmanded a group of ten or so people, and they were all mounted on Long Sang Country¡¯s unique Thousand Mile Buckskin Horses, which could bear heavy burdens and had great endurance and speed to boot.

    Group after group of soldiers all charged down the mountainside, wielding their spears and sabers. Their onught was as ferocious as a raging inferno, but their emotions were as cold as ice.

    Their lips remained sealed as they silently swung the weapons in their hands, advancing, retreating, and carrying out their officer¡¯smands without saying a word.

    Even though the Ferocious Race were savage, courageous, and unyielding, they were being crushed by this unified and organized battalion of human soldiers. Their heads had been split open like a rhinoceros that had charged into a thick steel wall.

    ¡°ROAR!!!¡±

    One of the tribe¡¯s heroes howled courageously as he swung his battleaxe and charged forward. A small group of ten human soldiers stepped in and stabbed out with their long spears, making it incredibly difficult for him to get close to them.

    That hero was obviously not an ordinary warrior. As he chopped down on the extended spears, his massive battleaxe glowed with a bloody light, sparkling and shed brilliantly in response. However, the ten-man squad remained calm and steady as faint white inscriptions began to shine from their bodies and weave together in the air. The ten spears collided with the battleaxe.

    Even though the battleaxe was extremely heavy, the ten spears were able to knock it aside. Then, the ten Thousand Mile Buckskin Horses backed up a bit before stopping.

    At that moment, the ten soldiers drew their sabers and shed at the Ferocious Race Hero.

    The ten desbined into one that shined with a razor-sharp light, and it stabbed towards the hero, forcing him back.

    ¡°AGH!¡± A piercing cry broke the silence of the battlefield.

    The ten spears whistled through the air.

    Pu, pu, pu, pu!

    They pierced through the hero¡¯s chest, stabbing him full of holes. The Ferocious Race hero toppled to the ground, drained of his strength.

    The ten-man squad withdrew their long spears.

    Even though they were just martial artists, their impable coordination and a few special tactics were enough for them to unleash power equivalent to an Origin Qi Schr¡¯s. That was why the hero of this tribe had been killed.

    One team after another charged forward, trampling their enemies underfoot. The small tribes nearby were quickly razed to the ground.

    Perhaps only the leader of this tribe was capable of posing any problems to these squads, and his power was enough to force five squads to deal with him simultaneously. Two of the soldiers had also been wounded in the process.

    Even so, that was all he could do.

    ¡°A minute.¡± After the final Ferocious Race individual fell, Li Chongshan nced at the time-measuring hourss in his hands, then frowned. ¡°Still a bit too slow.¡±

    The leader of the Heavenly Might Battalion didn¡¯t seem that extraordinary, and he kept his words simple and in. However, he had a certain stately disposition about him, and people found it impossible not to hang onto every word that came from his mouth.

    ¡°We¡¯ve been on the run for many days in a row. The soldiers must all be tired,¡± Shi Kaihuang said.

    At this moment, Shi Kaihuang didn¡¯t look like the unkempt, disheveled old man from before. Instead, his martial attire gave him the imposing aura of a battle-tested soldier, and even his age seemed to have turned back. However, this battle-tested soldier¡¯s left arm had disappeared sometime ago, and one of his eyes was also blinded.

    He sat atop a horse.

    A person could regenerate their limbs once they reached the Light Shaking Realm. If Shi Kaihuang had lost a limb and wasn¡¯t able to regenerate it, then he had either been struck by some kind of special attack that prevented his regenerative abilities from activating or he was just too weak.

    No matter that the exnation was, his future would be fraught with suffering.

    However, Shi Kaihuang didn¡¯t seem to mind. He watched the charging soldiers quietly.

    The Ferocious Race were being ughtered, but the human generals were more concerned about their energy expenditure.

    One of the soldiers suddenly toppled to the ground while he was in the middle of charging forwards.

    He hadn¡¯t been hit by any attacks. However, at this moment his lifeforce had been squeezed to its limits.

    The Ferocious Race tribe was in a miserable state, but so too were the human soldiers.

    They were tired, weary, wounded, and close to despair.

    Yet they still continued to fight on, refusing to surrender.

    They used any tactics they could to attack and fight. Even if they were to die, they would ensure that it came at a heavy price for their opponents.

    ¡°The prerequisite materials for the n have been gathered. Everything should be easier from now on,¡± a female general added on from besides Shi Kaihuang. Her name was Chu Yingwan, and her martial attire andrge physical stature simrly gave her an imposing manner. Yet she was also quite a beauty. Who knew how many young men admired her? However, she had eyes for no one save Shi Kaihuang, and her feelings for him were veryplicated.

    ¡°Hopefully we can do it before the Ferocious Race is able to react,¡± Li Chongshan sighed. ¡°The closer we get to the end, the more precious speed bes. There is no such thing as a wless n, and the Ferocious Race will discover our true intentions sooner orter. If we haven¡¯tpleted our n yet by then, everything will have been for naught.¡±

    ¡°We will. We will absolutely seed!¡± a person to the left of Li Chongshan said. This person was actually not wearing a martial uniform but an azure robe. He was called Guo Wenchang, the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s strategist.

    To Guo Wenchang¡¯s left was a brawny man. He smiled toothily when he heard Guo Wenchang¡¯s words and said, ¡°Even if we fail, all that happens is that we die. If we can have a good fight with those Ferocious Race bastards, I don¡¯t mind dying.¡±

    His name was Cheng Tianhai, the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s number onebat general.

    ¡°Cut the crap. If you keep talking like that, Cheng Tianhai, it¡¯ll reallye true. You never have anything good to say,¡± another general immediately butted in. This person had a pale, egg-shaped face, and his chin was quite elegantly sculpted. Upon first nce, some might confused him for a woman. However, he was a man through and through; it was just that his manner of speaking and tone were a bit feminine.

    It was indeed rare for a feminine general to exist in this world that was dominated by battle-tested males.

    This person¡¯s status was not low either. He was on Shi Kaihuang, Li Chongshan, and the others¡¯ levels, meaning that he was one of the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s Seven Heroes.

    His name was Jun Moxie.

    This Jun Moxie was making an elegant hand gesture as he stared unhappily at Cheng Tianhai. Cheng Tianhai chuckled and didn¡¯t say anything more.

    Another young general next to Chu Yingwan spoke up. ¡°We¡¯ll do our best and n for the worst. Old Cheng¡¯s words aren¡¯t exactly wrong.¡±

    Jun Moxie rolled his eyes at this young general. ¡°You¡¯re the only one who knows how to talk like this. You¡¯re the youngest one here, so you should have the most hope and optimism. Howe you get to act like such an old fart? What¡¯s the logic behind that?¡±

    The young generalughed. ¡°You aren¡¯t mature enough yourself, and yet you me other people for being too mature? What kind of logic is that?¡±

    Jun Moxie harrumphed, then turned around and ignored him.

    This young general was known as Lin Shaoxuan. He was known as the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s number one genius. Apparently, Li Chongshan liked him quite a lot, and intended on raising him up to be the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s nextmander.

    Li Chongshan, Shi Kaihuang, Guo Wenchang, Cheng Tianhai, Chu Wanying, Jun Moxie, Lin Shaoxuan ¡ª these seven were the main pirs of the Heavenly Might Battalion, responsible for bearing the main burden of the army. Their main goal at this moment was to figure out how to escape from the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory.

    For this goal, they were willing to pay any price!

 Book 4: Near Blood - 114: Investigation 1

    Chapter 114: Investigation (1)

    Gentle Breeze City.

    This was a snow-nketed city located in the heart of the Permafrost Wastnds.

    The Permafrost Wastnds were cold year-round, and the ground was also constantly frozen solid, making it hard for vegetation to grow. However, there were a few resilient species that were able to survive in this kind of environment, designating them as necessary resources for survival for all of the lifeforms in the area.

    Frozen Heart Grass, the mostmon nt on the Permafrost Wastnds, actually grew quite well in this cold environment. They were the sole source of green color against the eternally frost-covered blue palette of the area and sustained all of the ice-type creatures in the area.

    It was food for the Snow Rabbit, the White Fox, and the Ice Field Mouse, which were in turn food for Snow Hawks and Snow Wolves. Snow Wolves and Gumfish served as food for Ice Bears, and at the very top of the food chain were the Intelligent Races. All of the above, whether the Frozen Heart Grass, the Snow Rabbits, the Snow Wolves, or the Ice Bears, were all sources of food to them.

    Even so, food on the Permafrost Wastnds was a limitedmodity, and no matter how many living beings the wastnds contained, it wouldn¡¯t be enough to support the Ferocious Race¡¯s massive appetite.

    This was also the case in the Harvey ins, Halma Forest, and the Bloody Wastnds; it wasn¡¯t a unique situation here.

    The northern regions were usually so scarce in resources that even Demonic Beasts didn¡¯t want to live there.

    The Ferocious Race considered themselves to be strong and without peers, but one irrefutable truth among their race remained: the north was where all those who had failed would be banished to.

    Only those who had been defeated would live here.

    As such, none of the Ferocious Race¡¯s valiance, fearlessness, or bravery could conceal the truth of these residents: they were failures.

    They had attacked the southern fertile regions again and again, but failed every time. They also had to defend against the Beast Race¡¯s ambushes and the hunting of the Spirit Race to the west......

    Gentle Breeze City was slightly north-leaning, as it was a city that was constantly under pressure from both the Spirit Race and the Beast Race simultaneously.

    It was an important strategic town in the northern area of the wastnds, so its defenses were also a little tighter.

    This ce officially belonged to the Red-Eagle Tribe.

    The Red-Eagle Tribe had been quite illustrious in the past.

    Three thousand years after Gn Castle¡¯s transformation, or the year 7900 of the New Star Era, Sorna Red-Eagle had killed Uldritch the ughtering Axe, dering herself the Ferocious Race¡¯s new queen. The various tribes at that time protested and tried to revolt, but under Sorna Red-Eagle¡¯smand, the Red-Eagle Tribe started a long civil war to unify the Ferocious Race under one banner.

    This battle to unite the Ferocious Race gave the Red-Eagle Tribe an unprecedented amount of strength at the moment when the Ferocious Race was the weakest. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that the Illustrious Divine Dynasty was on the decline, the Iron and Blood Country might have beenpletely wiped out at the time.

    But in the end, the Red-Eagle Tribe wasn¡¯t able to unify the Iron and Blood Country after a whole three thousand years of conflict, and they themselves were forced to suffer in the end.

    In the 11,000th year of the New Star Era, the Red-Eagle Tribe formally surrendered when faced against thebined armies of the various tribes. Bobet Red-Eagle had also died fighting at Gn Castle, signalling the conclusion of the three thousand year conflict. As such, the Red-Eagle Tribe, which had been so strong for a period of time, had finally died out.

    The Red-Eagle Tribe of today was very different from before. They were just a small struggling township near the border. They wallowed in their former glory and had no strength left to try to rise to power again.

    At daylight, Su Chen had arrived at Gentle Wind City.

    Su Chen nced at the dark clouds above his head that circled the city, then stretched his neck as he walked into the city.

    Along the path he had taken to reach this city, it was possible to vaguely see traces of blood, as the frost permanently encased everything in ice, preserving traces of the battle that had urred not long ago. Even though he was almost half a monthte, Su Chen could still see the many traces of battle left behind here.

    The destroyed city walls, the houses in shambles, and the ravine-like roads all proved without a doubt that a fierce battle had urred here before.

    Half a month ago, the Heavenly Might Army had ambushed this ce, taking around a thousand lives of the Ferocious Race along withrge quantities of resources.

    And the reason why Su Chen hade was to verify a suspicion he was having.

    Su Chen walked alongside the cold and cheerless road until he stood before a wooden room. The sign hanging from the entrance indicated that this was most likely the location he had been looking for so long for.

    He pushed open the front door and saw an old Ferocious Race individual sitting there,zing around.

    Su Chen asked, ¡°Hey, old man, do you have any gophers? I¡¯d like some.¡±

    These ¡°gophers¡± were Ice Field Mice. They were good diggers and lived underneath the ground of the Permafrost Wastnds, relying on Frozen Heart Grass as their main source of food.

    Ice Field Mice had fatty meat and were quite tasty. Whenever food wascking, the Ferocious Race would often try to dig them up to find a meal. Even when food was not scarce, the Ferocious Race would breed a few of the mice in anticipation of those deste years. In other words, breeding these mice was an important business amongst the Permafrost Wastnds.

    However, the old man obviously had no interest in doing business right now. He didn¡¯t even raise his head and despondently replied, ¡°They¡¯re all gone. They were all snatched away.¡±

    ¡°Snatched away?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Yes, by those damned humans. Half a month ago or so, they stormed their way through here and stole all of the Ice Field Mice.¡±

    ¡°It seems like they arecking in rations.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a load of crock. If they werecking in rations, why didn¡¯t they go take New Solemnity¡¯s rations? They have much more there.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps they didn¡¯t know, or maybe they like meat better,¡± Su Chen replied quite carelessly. ¡°Right, I also want to buy some Cloudstone Powder. Do you know where I can find some for sale?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no more. Those damned humans also carried away all of the Cloudstone Powder,¡± the old man replied.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t seem to understand. ¡°Why would they take something like that?¡±

    ¡°Who knows?¡± The old man shrugged. ¡°They took everything they could get their hands on ¡ª rations, medicine, and even metal. No one knows what they could possibly want with these things. They¡¯re probably just venting their frustrations and trying to destroy everything in their path.¡±

    Only the Ferocious Race would want to destroy everything in their path, Su Chen criticized silently in his mind.

    However, the words he spoke were, ¡°Fine. It seems like I won¡¯t get anything here today.¡±

    Su Chen left the shop having obtained the information he was looking for, but he didn¡¯t leave the areapletely. Instead, he continued to walk down the street.

    The remnants of the destroyed city was a recording of what had happened during the battle. The fact that the Ferocious Race, who seemingly had no concept of health or reconstruction, knew to deal with the corpses was already a huge improvement in their intelligence. As a result, even though it was many days after the battle, Su Chen could still clearly see the traces left behind by the battle.

    These clues and remains transformed into scenes of the battle in his mind.

    It was almost as if Su Chen was personally witnessing the Heavenly Might Battalion charge into the city and wantonly kill everyone present, then taking away the resources that they needed.

    ¡°Ice Field Mice, Cloudstone Powder, as well as wood and metal cores...... so everything is pointing in that direction?¡± Su Chen pressed his lips together. He knew that he was now thinking along the same vein as the Heavenly Might Battalion.

    All he needed to do now was go to one more location and confirm his suspicions.

    Thisst ce was a forest located near the city.

    A unique kind of tree grew here, known as the Yellow Dragon Tree.

    Yellow Dragon Wood was a rare material. It easily conducted Origin Energy. This alone was not actually that strange ¡ª there were too many ingredients with high Origin Energy conductivity, but the way Yellow Dragon Wood¡¯s Origin Energy conducted Origin Energy was a bit more interesting than most materials.

    This was because it possessed a lot of earth-type attributes.

    A piece of wood having an earth-type Origin Energy character was exactly why it was such an exotic ingredient. It was also one of the highest exported items out of the Permafrost Wastnds.

    However, this Yellow Dragon Tree forest had beenpletely burned down.

    Su Chen stood before the Yellow Dragon Forest to the north of Gentle Breeze City, inspecting the scorched earth. A trace of a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

    Now that he had inspected the Yellow Dragon Forest¡¯s situation, Su Chen could finally verify what had been guesses this entire time.

    However, just as he was about to leave, he saw a group of Ferocious Race individuals headed in his direction.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 115: Investigation 2

    Chapter 115: Investigation (2)

    It was a small group of Ferocious Race soldiers.

    They were all wearing felt caps and thick hides. The frozen ground crackled and snapped underneath their feet.

    With but a nce, Su Chen immediately identified these Ferocious Race individuals as not from the Red-Eagle Tribe.

    The Red-Eagle Tribe did not have a habit of wearing felt caps. They preferred theirs to be made of fur, as felt caps weren¡¯t as effective at keeping out the cold and would freeze more easily.

    If they weren¡¯t local Ferocious Race soldiers, then why would they be here?

    As he considered all this, Su Chen didn¡¯t leave. Instead, he found a tree that hadn¡¯tpletely fallen over yet and hid behind it.

    The faraway Ferocious Race soldiers gradually approached. It was obvious that they were a trained group, and the leader of the group was covered in darkly colored inscriptions. Obviously, he had quite the high social status, and was roughly equivalent in strength to a Yang Opening Realm cultivator. Even though his style of attack was probably very simple and straightforward, his power was definitely extraordinary. The Ferocious Race leader was even emanating Origin Energy, implying that he was also probably a Temple Warrior.

    This was going to be a bit troublesome. His opponent was an official Origin Qi Schr, and one with an incredibly strong physique at that.

    Unlike humans, Ferocious Race individuals were primarily body cultivators.

    They relied on Totemic Inscriptions, which were split into four different tiers that corresponded to the Origin Energy system¡¯s Qi Drawing Realm to the Light Shaking Realm. It was virtually impossible to go any higher; in other words, if a Ferocious Race inividual relied solely on their system, they would only reach the Light Shaking Realm. However, by going through the Origin Energy Temple. they could also obtain a cultivation system like that of the humans, giving them a way to progress from the Qi Drawing Realm to the Light Shaking Realm in a more traditional sense.

    However, these Ferocious Race members would need to go to the Origin Energy Temple every time they wanted to advance a tier. As such, all of the high-tier Origin Qi Schrs among the Ferocious Race had entered the Origin Energy Temple multiple times. However, an individual could enter the Origin Energy Temple at most six times, meaning that the Temple Warriors could only reach the Thought Manifestation Realm at most, and never the Ultimate Emperor Realm.

    However, theirck of Origin Energy power was supported by their incredibly powerful physique. Since the Temple Warriors were cultivated both systems at the same time, they could break through the restrictions of their physique after reaching the Thought Manifestation Realm and achieve harmony between the two cultivation systems. With unrivalled physical power and and a Thought Manifestation cultivation, they could absolutely fight against an Ultimate Emperor Origin Qi Schr.

    The Temple Warrior before him had quite well-developed inscriptions, and it was very likely he had been baptized in the Temple before. Su Chen just didn¡¯t know how many times. Even if it was just once, his opponent was obviously going to be a handful, and that was not even considering the seven or eight Ferocious Race soldiers behind him.

    This was obviously an elite group of soldiers. It was even possible they were a group that focused on secret operations group, Su Chen thought to himself.

    He noticed that one of the Ferocious Race individual¡¯s eyes were clearly different, as they were glowing with a strange green color.

    A irvoyant.

    irvoyants weren¡¯t produced by the Divine Shrine; instead, the army had to use a secret skill to train them, and they specialized in seeing through people¡¯s disguises.

    Su Chen¡¯s disguise would be very difficult to maintain in front of the irvoyant.

    The Ferocious Race had few individuals with specialized professions, and irvoyants were no exception. Amongst the Ferocious Race¡¯s army, not even the investigations units had a irvoyant in every team. Only the elite ones would be assigned one.

    A high-tier Totemic Inscription Temple Warrior and a irvoyant? Without a doubt, the Ferocious Race team before him was an extremely elite group.

    What would an elite investigations unit be doing all the way out here?

    It couldn¡¯t be......

    A feeling of unease began to surface in Su Chen¡¯s heart. At the same time, he concealed himself in Shadow Substance ¡ª he wasn¡¯t confident that he would be able to trick the irvoyant.

    The small Ferocious Race squad finally arrived at the scene of the Yellow Dragon Forest.

    The Ferocious Race captain waved his hand, and the irvoyant stepped forwards, scanning the surroundings of the forest quickly.

    After searching the ce, he said, ¡°The fire happened about fifteen days ago. It¡¯s not easy to start a fire in the Permafrost Wastnds, and the Yellow Dragon Forest is even harder to ignite, but it still happened. The ashes indicate that the source of the fire was Origin Energy rted. In other words, this fire wasn¡¯t a coincidence ¡ª someone set it aze on purpose. There were also many points of origin for the fire, at least thirty of them.¡±

    ¡°At least thirty points of origin for the fire?¡± the Ferocious Race captain asked.

    ¡°Yes!¡± the irvoyant responded with confidence. ¡°The most interesting thing is that because of how cold this ce is, most of the ash has frozen over, but from the amount of ash left behind we can tell that not many of the trees were actually burned down. See......¡±

    The irvoyant pushed aside a pile of ash, revealing the tree trunk underneath. ¡°There¡¯s traces of an axe-slice, meaning that they were most likely felled before the fire was started.¡±

    A few members of the investigations squad nced at each other, and the captain said, ¡°Check out the other ces.¡±

    All of the Ferocious Race soldiers began to spread out and push the ash aside.

    ¡°The trunk over here has axe marks.¡±

    ¡°Same here.¡±

    ¡°Here as well. All of therge trees were chopped down, not burned to the ground!¡±

    The yells continued to spread, and the Ferocious Race captain¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Indeed, these crafty humans are doing something behind our backs. Their true motive foring here was probably the Yellow Dragon Wood!¡±

    ¡°Why exactly would they want this Yellow Dragon Wood?¡± the irvoyant asked. Even though he could tell that the opponents¡¯ actions were suspicious, he didn¡¯t know exactly what they were nning.

    The Ferocious Race captain shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know either, but the general definitely will. Since he sent us over here, he must have a guess in mind. Let¡¯s go back and send the news to him.¡±

    As he spoke, the Ferocious Race captain prepared to lead his squad away.

    Just as he was about to leave, a sudden feeling of danger surfaced in his heart.

    This feeling had been honed through countless battles. Almost instinctively, the captain leapt forwards to dodge.

    Whoosh!

    A streak of de light arced through the air, whizzing past his back and piercing towards the irvoyant.

    Not good! The Ferocious Race captain knew the situation wasn¡¯t good. The assassin was actually after the irvoyant.

    The irvoyant¡¯s response wasn¡¯t slow either; he contorted his body strangely in this critical moment of danger, and the Mountain-Beheading de whooshed past his body. One of his arms, however, flew into the air.

    ¡°Careful, there¡¯s an ambush!¡± A cry of warning finally came.

    Three or four Ferocious Race soldiers simultaneously flew towards the decaying trees.

    A violent wave of energy mmed into therge tree, prating through the tree. With a creaking noise, therge tree fell to the ground, but other than that there seemed to be no further movements.

    ¡°He¡¯s over there!¡± the irvoyant pointed to the air as he howled loudly.

    Su Chen¡¯s Shadow Concealment was indeed not effective against the irvoyant, given that he hadn¡¯t been able to kill the irvoyant in a single blow. His movements were now being immediately called out.

    It wasn¡¯t that he wasn¡¯t trying; hiding behind that tree would make it extremely hard for him to disy his full strength. If it weren¡¯t for his Soul Armaments and the fact that Patelocke had the ability to pursue targets autonomously, he might not have even been able to im that arm.

    These soldiers were truly elite!

    As the irvoyant called out Su Chen¡¯s position, six Ferocious Race soldiers charged forwards. Rather than directly attacking Su Chen¡¯s position, they instead aimed at his left and right, sealing off Su Chen¡¯s paths of escape. At the same time, two of the soldiers retreated to protect the irvoyant. The remaining Ferocious Race captain stood in the middle of the formation for support.

    He nced at the ground, observing as light footprints appeared on the frosty ground.

    Then, he attacked.

    He unleashed a booming fist strike thatnded precisely thirty feet in front of him.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 116: Thunder and Fire

    Bang.

    With a massive boom, Su Chen flew into the air. An illusory image appeared behind his back as hended on the ground ¡ª he had used Whitetower Teleportation to avoid thebined attacks from the six Ferocious Race soldiers, but he didn¡¯t expected to be suddenly assaulted by the Ferocious Race captain as soon as he had regained his footing.

    As he wiped away the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, Su Chen chuckled slightly. ¡°You are truly the elite.¡±

    ¡°A Ferocious Race individual?¡± The Ferocious Race captain was stunned.

    The irvoyant howled loudly, ¡°He¡¯s not of out Ferocious Race, he¡¯s a human!¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± The captain immediately understood. ¡°I heard that a human infiltrated our territory a few days ago and most likely had the ability to disguise himself. He wiped out hundreds of teams, infiltrated the army¡¯s main barracks, stole information rted to the Heavenly Might Army, and then killed a Bone Diviner and a Soulless. It seems like you¡¯re the one they¡¯ve been talking about.¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t try to conceal his appearance any longer. He reverted back to his original appearance and said with a slight smile, ¡°It seems like my reputation precedes me.¡±

    ¡°Regardless, your reputation wille to an end today,¡± the captain stated coldly.

    ¡°I feel like my reputation will include defeating a irvoyant and an elite investigations team instead after today.¡±

    Boom!

    Heunched a punch.

    When there was no more to be said, it was time to fight. Su Chen didn¡¯t hesitate, and his opponent didn¡¯t dilly-dally around either.

    The six Ferocious Race soldiers attacked simultaneously, intense pressure bursting from their bodies as light began to flow along their Totemic Inscriptions.

    They all had mid-tier Totemic Inscriptions.

    Even though Su Chen¡¯s strength was enough to deal with the six people attacking him simultaneously, he chose to retreat in order to conserve energy. As he leapt through the air, his figure seemed to turn hazy as he escaped like an agile bird. Even though the current Su Chen couldn¡¯t fly yet, he was more than capable of taking around a dozen or so steps in midair.

    The Ferocious Race were extremely proficient at close-quartersbat, but they weren¡¯t good at attacking from a distance. Pulling open the distance between them and then using the ming Phoenix to wipe them all out was a great idea.

    However, at the same time that Su Chen flew into the air, the six Ferocious Race soldiers simultaneously pulled out the same item.

    A throwing axe.

    Whoosh!

    Six axes shed in his direction, all glowing with a chilly light.

    This move shocked Su Chen and put quite a bit of pressure on him. Thankfully, the Mountain-Beheading de had returned to him, and he let out a yell as he swung the de through the air. Sparks flew everywhere as the six flying axes were sent ttering away. Even as they flew back, the axes actually readjusted their flight paths in midair and returned to their owners. However, even though Su Chen had just driven back one wave of attacks, he still had another to deal with.

    His move was simpler yet sharper than the rest.

    He swung his de.

    The surface of his de glowed with lightning and electricity sparked off quite menacingly. The moment he struck, the sky lit up as if lightning had suddenly struck down from the sky and shattered the darkness of the night.

    The sizzling streak of energy shot towards Su Chen. He had the distinct feeling that there was no way he was going to be able to withstand this blow.

    A Blood Boiling Realm¡¯s Origin Qi!

    Even though that didn¡¯t sound impressive, and it was far below Su Chen¡¯s Yang Opening Realm cultivation base, thatbined with his high-tier Totemic Inscriptions gave him the ability to unleash powerful torrents of Origin Energy that far surpassed his cultivation base.

    Boom!

    The massive Primordial Blood Incarnation illusion appeared, and the Mountain-Beheading de expanded, then swept through the air and collided with the streak of lightning. Sparks flew everywhere, creating a beautiful, scene reminiscent of fireworks.

    Su Chen¡¯s body flew back into the sky before he had an opportunity tond.

    Damn, I¡¯ve been sent flying again, Su Chen cursed silently.

    Increasing the distance between him and his opponents would allow him to attack from afar, but he would also lose the ability to unleash his full strength. The end result was that even though he had activated the Primordial Blood Incarnation, Su Chen was still forced to back off.

    Thankfully, he hadn¡¯t received any fatal injuries; the Qi and blood flow in his body had merely been momentarily disrupted.

    Su Chen finallynded back on the ground. The Ferocious Race captain didn¡¯t take advantage of the opportunity to attack and instead said, ¡°You¡¯re quite powerful, but your strength is not as great as your arrogance.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s expression was serious. ¡°I have fought many Ferocious Race soldiers on my way here, but few are as sober andposed as you.¡±

    The Ferocious Race captain didn¡¯t seem delighted when he heard this. He positioned his de in front of his chest and dered, ¡°My name is Shatan!¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t ask for your name.¡± Su Chen flipped his left hand over, and a sea of ming molten droplets appeared in the air.

    Theurgy Arts: ming Phoenix Ascends.

    The ming phoenix in midair tilted its head back and screeched piercingly, then shot towards the Ferocious Race squad.

    ¡°Out of the way!¡± Shatan howled fiercely as the inscriptions on his entire body shone brightly.

    The lightning-covered de struck again, splitting the clouds this time. The tip of the de shone brightly before shooting towards the ming phoenix.

    The mes and the lightning streak collided, and the resulting violent explosion caused a sh of light to shine forth. The ming phoenix shrieked as the ze on its body burned even brighter. The powerful mes engulfed the lightning,pletely dissipating the energy of the lightning.

    The blustering me energy charged towards Shatan, mming into his high-tier Totemic Inscriptions and causing them to sh and flicker unstably.

    The flying axes were thrown into the air again as the soldiers fought bitterly to protect their captain. Even the soldiers responsible for guarding the irvoyant flew into action. Eight flying axes flew through the air with shocking killing intent, attempting to break through the dense swath of mes.

    However, the majestic illusory image just waved its de, knocking aside all of the flying axes that flew in his direction.

    ¡°Insignificant creatures!¡± the massive illusory image boomed.

    It could actually speak.

    Its words represented Su Chen¡¯s will.

    This was the Primordial Blood Incarnation¡¯s improvement. In this moment, the illusory image hadbined with his physical body. Even Su Chen¡¯s physical body seemed to expand at this moment.

    Su Chen¡¯s de struck out viciously, cutting into one of the soldier¡¯s bodies. Even though that Ferocious Race soldier¡¯s inscriptions flickered violently, the de was able to go right through his inscriptions. The soldier flew through the air as blood sprayed from his wounds.

    ¡°Serey!¡± Shatan the captain howled sorrowfully.

    However, he hadn¡¯t even finished crying out when the de strike mmed into another one of his soldiers.

    The cold, biting steel had drunk of the blood of two Ferocious Race soldiers, and it was growing excited. It trembled with anticipation as its transparent wings unfurled, then charged towards the Ferocious Race captain. Just as the captain struck out with his lightning-covered de, however, the Mountain-Beheading de began to crackle with simr lightning energy.

    Thick tendrils of lightning wrapped around the erged Mountain-Beheading de, transforming it into a massive lightning-covered de that then mmed into the captain¡¯s lightning-covered de. With a loud cracking sound, the frenzied lightning on the surface of the de exploded forth, mming into the captain¡¯s chest and causing his entire body to seize up.

    ¡°How...... how is this...... possible......¡± Shatan¡¯s eyes were wide with disbelief.

    Su Chen¡¯s massive fist descended, glowing with a fiery steel sheen, into another Ferocious Race soldier. ¡°There¡¯s nothing impossible about it, silly. You¡¯re just a piece of trash who has gone through two baptisms at the temple and relies on his physical strength to act recklessly. But your understanding of Origin Energy is far too shallow.¡±

    As he spoke, the phoenix gathered in his left hand again, but his right hand began to glow with a wild, barbaric thunder energy.

    The two Demonic Lord cores Su Chen had obtained from Gu Yaoye had been consumed a long time ago. He activated his thunder and fire power to the greatest extent, then released them simultaneously. A Thunder de and a ming Phoenix surged forwards towards Shatan.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 117: Financial Suppression

    The thunder and mes mixed together wildly, before thebined sma burst forth like an ocean wave.

    ¡°Assemble!¡± Shatan howled piercingly.

    At this moment, he no longer had any intentions of underestimating Su Chen.

    The remaining Ferocious Race soldiers retreated simultaneously, surrounding the irvoyant and standing together.

    Their totems began to light up, forming something like a magic barrier. As they joined together, the Ferocious Race soldiers¡¯ totemic light coalesced into a massive sphere of light, with arcane inscriptions swirling across the surface of the barrier.

    Bang!

    The ming phoenix mmed into the golden sphere of light. The ming phoenix, which had been sessful up until now, was actually unable to prate the golden circle of light. Sparks flew everywhere as the tiny mes dissipated.

    However, the Thunder de immediately followed, mming into the golden sphere and causing it to crack slightly.

    In terms of power tiers, the ming phoenix was more powerful than the Thunder de, but the ming phoenix was an area-of-effect attack so its single-target damage was weaker. Its ability to do overall damage was greater but its focused power was weaker. As such, it was better against targets with weaker defenses, but it wasn¡¯t as effective against opponents with stronger defenses.

    The Thunder de was the exact opposite. Its overall killing power was much weaker, but it could break through stronger defenses and was great when used against a single target. This was why the Thunder de seemed more effective against barrier.

    When Su Chen saw this, he gave up on using his ming Phoenix Theurgy Art. Instead, he focused all his energy on the Mountain-Beheading de glowing with lightning, constantly shing with the de.

    Boom, boom, boom, boom!

    Eighteen Thunder des surged forwards simultaneously.

    Because the Thunder de was a rtively low-tier technique, it was quite simple to use and could be unleashed many times in rapid session.

    As the eighteen Thunder des mmed into the golden sphere, it began to crack heavily in a spiderweb pattern.

    The next instant, the golden sphere shattered.

    A massive wave of energy sent all of the Ferocious Race soldiers flying. Before they could evennd on the ground, Su Chen teleported behind one of them like a ghost. He had no strength to punch them with his right hand, having just unleashed eighteen straight Thunder des, but the Shadow me Glove on his left hand was covered with concentrated Shadow Substance as he wed at one of the Ferocious Race soldier¡¯s backs.

    Shadow w.

    He easily plucked out that Ferocious Race soldier¡¯s heart.

    Without missing a beat, Su Chen immediately teleported to the side as two flying axes whizzed past him. Two more mmed into him, but his Meg¡¯s Guardian was able to keep them at bay; he didn¡¯t even need to use the Algae Thread Coral Robe to protect himself.

    ¡°ROAR!¡± Shatan howled as he leapt into the air. His lightning-covered de swung through the air repeatedly, demonstrating his anger, and even his howls seemed to carry a devouring intent, as if he were a massive beast circling Su Chen, his prey.

    The captain was probably the only person here capable of threatening Su Chen.

    Bang!

    With this powerful attack, Su Chen¡¯s barriers finally shattered, but before the lightning-covered de was able to hit him, four more swords appeared by Su Chen¡¯s side.

    Flowerless Defensive Swords.

    These were Grade Five Origin Tools

    The four Flowerless Defensive Swords appeared simultaneously, and fouryers of lightpletely encircled Su Chen.

    Most normal people wouldn¡¯t be able to control four Origin Tools at once, not to mention that Su Chen was also still using the Mountain-Beheading de.

    However, Su Chen was different from most normal people.

    That was because these four Origin Tools were Soul Armaments.

    With the Soul Armaments and the riches that he possessed, Su Chen had such tactics at his disposal that no one could use: suppressing others purely through wealth.

    Boom!

    A ferocious wave of lightning rolled over the Flowerless Defensive Swords, but the fearsome attack only caused a wave of light to shine out in response.

    Su Chen gestured, and the four Flowerless Defensive Swords disappeared, reced by four more swords.

    The Limpid Frigid Swords.

    An icy breeze began to blow, and a chilly light emanated from the swords as they surged forwards.

    Trapped in the wave of extreme cold, the Ferocious Race soldiers felt themselves freezing over, and their movements became restricted.

    Whoosh, whoosh!

    Two Ferocious Race heads went flying as blood went flying everywhere.

    They couldn¡¯t tell where the attacks wereing from. All they saw was two bloody streaks, proving that two weapons that they couldn¡¯t see had beheaded them.

    Flowing Frost Shadowless Swords.

    These swords were invisible.

    After unleashing the Limpid Frigid Swords, Su Chen had secretly pulled out two invisible swords and cut off two of the Ferocious Race soldiers¡¯ heads.

    Now, there were only four people left in the Ferocious Race elite squad.

    ¡°NO!¡± Shatan howled angrily.

    This group of elites was the most outstanding amongst the whole tribe. They had undertaken all kinds of extremely dangerous missions in the past, and were exceptionally useful in the ongoing war against the humans. As such, they were seen as crucial tribe members. The tribe¡¯s leader had even said before that Shatan¡¯s group was worth a thousand main soldiers of the Ferocious Race¡¯s army.

    Now, however, this elite group of individuals, which could take on a thousand normal Ferocious race soldiers, had been chopped up like vegetables. How could he ept this?

    He finally realized that his group were simply no match for their opponents.

    He wasn¡¯t afraid of death.

    However, he was afraid of notpleting his general¡¯s mission.

    He finally yelled, ¡°Split up and escape separately! Bring news of this to themander!¡±

    Su Chen frowned.

    This was exactly what he was hoping to not hear.

    Not only was the small group in front of him powerful, but they could also use their brains ¡ª otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have been sent here to investigate the remains of the Yellow Dragon Forest.

    Upon hearing Shatan¡¯smand, the other three Ferocious Race soldiers seemed to understand and immediately turned around to run. Shatan, on the other hand, took the initiative to charge forwards. He was very clear that someone needed to stay behind to keep Su Chen busy, and that he was the only person capable of doing this.

    A killing intent shed across Su Chen¡¯s eyes, followed by a strange glimmer of light as the three Ferocious Soldiers attempted to escape. Fata Morgana was activated.

    The four soldiers simultaneously froze in ce.

    However, in that instant the irvoyant let out a shrill yell. Blood flowed from his eyes as Su Chen¡¯s Fata Morgana was nullified.

    The irvoyant could see through anything fake, running the gamut from illusions to concealments and disguises. However, this irvoyant was obviously not strong enough; even though he had seen through Su Chen¡¯s Fata Morgana, his eyes had been badly injured in the process. Su Chen also grunted in pain as he experienced the powerful bacsh. His consciousness was very powerful, allowing him to endure the bacsh, but he wouldn¡¯t be able to use Fata Morgana again for some time.

    The other two Ferocious Race soldiers took advantage of the opportunity to escape.

    ¡°Dammit!¡± Su Chen cursed. He gestured, and arge group of Soul Armaments split up to chase after those two soldiers.

    The irvoyant could still see despite the bleeding from his eyes. He furiously sprinted in that direction, using his own body to block the Soul Armaments.

    At least six of the Soul Armaments prated deep into his body, and the irvoyant pressed his hands firmly on the armaments, not letting them leave his body. One was able to dodge the irvoyant and stabbed at one of the Ferocious Race soldiers. His arm went flying, but he continued to charge forwards without even looking back.

    At the same time, Shatan charged at Su Chen. The lightning-covered de shone brilliantly as the energy reached new heights. Even Su Chen had to carefully deal with the all-out attack of a Ferocious Race Hero.

    Of the two groups of Soul Armaments he had sent out, Su Chen could see that one of them had skewered one of the Ferocious Race soldiers, but the other Soul Armaments had been kept in ce by the irvoyant¡¯s sacrifice, and that Ferocious Race soldier was now outside of Su Chen¡¯s attack range.

    Perhaps it was due to some special technique, but even though he had lost an arm, that soldier¡¯s speed was as quick as lightning. A blood-colored trail was left behind as he sprinted away. He was so fast that Su Chen would have a hard time keeping up with him even if there was no one hindering him.

    Even though he had escaped, he wasn¡¯t afraid of death.

    He had used his life to escape so that he could report the news to themander.

    Su Chen sighed as he looked at the frenzied Shatan, who was attacking wildly and without reservation.

    That Ferocious Race soldier was injured and was activating a secret technique to escape, so it was impossible for him to hold on until he reached the main tribe. But as long as he wasn¡¯t an idiot, he could just find any Ferocious Race individual and pass along the news, and the secret of what had happened at Yellow Dragon Forest wouldn¡¯t be a secret anymore.

    Of course, he could also die before he encountered any other Ferocious Race individual, but Su Chen also knew that wishing for this to happen was too far-fetched. It was obvious that he was heading for Gentle Breeze City.

    Su Chen knew that he didn¡¯t have much time left on his hands.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 118: Lookou

    t

    Near the Lonely Swan Desert.

    This ce connected the Harvey ins and the Permafrost ins. Any further east and one would be in the infamous Death Region.

    There were many ces on the Primordial Continent where life could not exist. The Death Region was obviously one of these ces.

    This lifeless ce had existed for tens of thousands of years and throughout its existence, nothing living had ever entered the Death Region ande out the other side alive.

    When the Illustrious Divine Dynasty had forced the Ferocious Race all the way back to the Permafrost Wastnds, they had once tried to pass through the Death Region so that they could and attack the humans from the rear, pulling off a miraculous rout in the process.

    However, this n ultimately failed. Two hundred thousand Ferocious Race soldiers had entered the Death Region, but no more than a thousand soldiers returned.

    The lucky Ferocious Race soldiers who had survived finally ryed what exactly existed in the Death Region.

    An Origin Beast.

    It slept in the middle of the Death Region, and destroyed any living being that would dare disturb it.

    From that day onwards, no living creature would ever dare challenge that dark area filled with the aura of death.

    A path through the Death Region wasn¡¯t even considered when traveling from the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory to human territory. This was because, ording to their concept, there was no possible path to be taken!

    However, the situation today was very different.

    A human army was approaching the entrance to the region from afar.

    They advanced silently. Even though there were many of them, no one was making a mor, demonstrating the impable discipline of a powerful army.

    Shi Kaihuang sat atop his Thousand Mile Buckhorse and gazed at the dark region off in the distance. From afar, it looked like a massive maw, waiting to devour any living beings that even thought of trespassing.

    Now, the Heavenly Might Battalion, which numbered in the thousands, was nning on challenging this region of death.

    ¡°No matter if we seed or not, we are destined to go down in the annals of history,¡± Shi Kaihuang sighed.

    ¡°If we fail, it¡¯ll be over in a matter of minutes. I still feel like it¡¯s better to turn around and ughter to our heart¡¯s content,¡± Cheng Tianhai muttered.

    ¡°Shut your mouth, you scoundrel. You can afford to not care about your own life, but you can¡¯t do that with your own soldiers. More importantly, there must be some of us who will be able to return alive so that we can tell the higher-ups everything we know,¡± Chu Yingwan replied unhappily.

    ¡°Unfortunately, we don¡¯t have any Dream Monarchs. Otherwise the situation wouldn¡¯t be such a pain,¡± Lin Shaoxuan said.

    ¡°Soldiers are all poor. Who has the money to buy higher authority tiers?¡± Li Chongshanughed.

    Spending hundreds of millions of Origin Stones to obtain a title in the illusory Dreamrealm was a bit out of a reach in the realm of possibility for these hardened veterans.

    ¡°That¡¯s true. What a pity, Old Shi! You gave all your money to your disciple; otherwise, you probably could have reached the Dream Monarch level,¡± Guo Wenchang said.

    Shi Kaihuang replied indifferently, ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be any use even if I were a Dream Monarch. They wouldn¡¯t let us send out any information anyways. The only person who would have profited from all of this fighting would be the Lord of the Dreamrealm.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. My beautiful n will definitely seed.¡± Jun Moxie¡¯s nted eyes glittered with excitement as he stared at the darkness ahead of them. ¡°When we pass through the Death Region and return home, we will be known everywhere as heroes. I can already hear the cries of praise and worship.¡±

    ¡°What an overconfident man,¡± Chu Yingwan frowned as she said disdainfully.

    ¡°What do you know?¡± Jun Moxie shot Chu Yingwan a dirty nce.

    ¡°Okay, okay, let¡¯s stop squabbling. We¡¯ve already reached the entrance. Everyone can get off of their horses and rest for a bit. Send out an investigations team to scout the surrounding area so that we will be prepared as best as we can be. There cannot be any nosie or fires. We¡¯ve already expended so much energy to get here, and we cannot fail at this point in time,¡± Li Chongshan said.

    As themander of the Heavenly Might Army, his words were the will of the army. Everyone agreed, then began to direct their own troops.

    However, the investigations team had just set out when they came back, yelling in rm, ¡°A Cloud-Piercing Shuttle is heading this way right now!¡±

    What?

    Everyone was stunned.

    Had the Ferocious Race discovered their movements? How was it possible for them to be this quick?

    ¡°Wait a minute, did you say it was a Cloud-Piercing Shuttle?¡± Shi Kaihuang asked the investigations soldier.

    ¡°Yes, sir! The Heavenly Investigations Eye saw it himself. A Cloud-Piercing Shuttle is heading right in our direction, and it should arrive soon. Should we shoot it down?¡± the investigations team soldier replied.

    ¡°How could the Ferocious Race have a Cloud-Piercing Shuttle?¡± Someone else ¡ª namely, Guo Wenchang ¡ª had also realized this contradiction.

    The Ferocious Race had their own air force. They relied on incredibly powerful poisonous wyverns for transportation. Thankfully, there weren¡¯t many of them, and they were hard to tame, so it was rare to encounter them.

    ¡°Could it be a fellow human?¡± Lin Shaoxuan muttered to himself.

    ¡°What human would be this bold as to fly in Ferocious Race airspace?¡± Li Chongshan sighed.

    The skies were never peaceful. There were many frightening Demonic Beasts flying about at high altitudes. The skies were the territory of these Demonic Beasts even in the airspace above the cities of the five major races. However, these Demonic Beasts wouldn¡¯te down easily, and the five major races wouldn¡¯t go up easily.

    The human race was in okay shape. Every year, they would take the initiative to clean up a few of the Demonic Beasts at high-altitude, preserving the safety of their airspaces. In contrast, the Ferocious Race allowed the Demonic Beasts to do as they pleased, as they helped them to defend against the human armies.

    Because of this, the Heavenly Might Army had never even considered flying back home. It wasn¡¯t just that most of them didn¡¯t know how to fly ¡ª it was that flying through the air was exceptionally dangerous.

    However, this Cloud-Piercing Shuttle was zooming in their direction seemingly without a care at all, giving everyone quite a shock.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go take a look!¡± Li Chongshan said.

    The Heavenly Might¡¯s Seven Heroes began to walk in that direction.

    On the mountain slope, a Heaven¡¯s Eye was currently set up there. It was one of the humans¡¯ ways of gathering intelligence. It could observe targets from extremely far away, but it could not see through therge-scale concealment used in battle.

    Li Chongshan stared at the sky for a brief moment. Indeed, a Cloud-Piercing Shuttle appeared in the crystal, shooting in their direction.

    It was worth noting that the top of the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle was open, making it possible to clearly see the person within the shuttle.

    Because he was getting closer, Li Chongshan could see the figure quite clearly. He blurted out, ¡°He¡¯s human.¡±

    ¡°Human?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s really a human?¡±

    ¡°How could this be? Why is someone bringing a Cloud-Piercing Shuttle over right now?¡±

    ¡°Careful! It could be a human traitor who is working for the Ferocious Race.¡±

    ¡°So what should we do? Should we shoot it down? That Cloud-Piercing Shuttle is extremely fast and will soon reach a distance where they can see us.¡±

    They began to discuss amongst themselves as they watched the shuttle approach.

    If the human on the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle was a traitor, then he would expose everyone¡¯s ns as soon as he saw them.

    ¡°Shoot him down!¡±

    ¡°Shoot him down!¡±

    ¡°Shoot him down!¡±

    Everyone began to call out.

    This matter was rted to the army¡¯s safety as a whole. At this moment, they would rather kill an innocent person than let a guilty one get away.

    At this moment, it was Shi Kaihuang¡¯s turn to lead.

    He took one nce at the sky before his figure trembled. ¡°Su Chen!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Everyone was stunned, unsure of what the name Su Chen was supposed to mean.

    Shi Kaihuang began to yell loudly, ¡°It¡¯s my disciple! That person is my disciple! He¡¯s here to save us!!!¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 119: An Old Opponen

    t

    The Cloud-Piercing Shuttle finallynded on the ground after circling around once.

    As soon as Su Chen jumped out of the shuttle, he was greeted by Shi Kaihuang¡¯s familiar face.

    ¡°Instructor!¡± Su Chen yelled with excitement.

    Even though he had seen Shi Kaihuang while flying through the sky and had confirmed that he was still alive, Su Chen was still so excited that he felt like crying.

    Shi Kaihuang grabbed Su Chen¡¯s hand and stared at him intently, looking him up and down. Faint astonishment appeared in his eyes.

    ¡°Good, very good! Very good!¡± he said.

    He didn¡¯t ask Su Chen why he was here or how he had found this ce. At this moment, he was just happy that he could see Su Chen again.

    ¡°Instructor, you don¡¯t look so good,¡± Su Chen said as he nced at his single eye and the empty sleeve.

    ¡°I was struck by the Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s Ancestor, Simotian, with his Nightmare Finger. I¡¯m lucky that I even survived; there¡¯s no need to be that insistent on the details,¡± Shi Kaihuang replied.

    ¡°Simotian, is it? I¡¯ll remember that name. Since he¡¯s taken Instructor¡¯s arm and eye, then next time I¡¯ll take two of his eyes and two of his arms for Instructor,¡± Su Chen said indifferently.

    ¡°Hoho! You¡¯re quite young but your tone is quite lofty,¡± Jun Moxieughed coldly. ¡°Simotian is the Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s Ancestor, one of the twelve most famous ones amongst the Blood and Iron Country. He has gone through five temple baptisms, and even themander doesn¡¯t know if he can defeat him. Where did you find the boldness to im that you¡¯ll take both of his arms and eyes?¡±

    ¡°I might not be able to now, but in the future I will be able to.¡± Su Chen seemed totally nonchnt.

    ¡°Alright. Now is not the time to talk about this. You said your name was Su Chen? How did you find your way over here?¡± Guo Wenchang said.

    This was what everyone was the most concerned about.

    To tell the truth, everyone was hoping that Su Chen had just happened to randomly stumble upon them.

    Obviously, however, he was going to disappoint them.

    Su Chen simply replied, ¡°I traced my way over. You pretended that you were going to cross the sea, but you actually were nning on going through the Death Region. Am I right?¡±

    Everyone¡¯s expression simultaneously changed.

    Jun Moxie shrilly asked, ¡°How did you figure it out?¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°Of course I figured it out. I admit that your actions were quite well-executed, and your idea to use the escape route of crossing the sea to conceal your true movements was quite good. Boats for the sea and boats fornd require very simr types of materials and can confuse the opponents. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that I know that General Jun is very proficient in refining tools, especiallynd boats, I wouldn¡¯t have thought of this either. Unfortunately, your n has still failed.¡±

    Everyone felt their hearts seize when they heard this.

    Li Chongshan asked, ¡°Failed? Do you mean that the Ferocious Race found out about our n?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s hard to say.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean it¡¯s hard to say?¡± No one understood.

    Su Chen then described what he had encountered on his way over.

    When they heard that he had gone to investigate the Yellow Dragon Forest, everyone sighed. Even though they had tried to cover it up as best as possible, keeping what had happened in therge Yellow Dragon Forest under wraps was no easy task.

    The Ferocious Race had obviously realized this as well, which was why they had sent an elite investigations team over.

    ¡°Unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t sessful. One of them was able to get away, so it¡¯s more likely than not that the Ferocious Race is now aware of your n. Going through the Death Region is no longer feasible,¡± Su Chen sighed.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t your fault. Actually, even if you were to kill all of the Ferocious Race soldiers, Simotian would probably have realized that his guess was right if they didn¡¯t return after some time,¡± Shi Kaihuang said.

    ¡°Simotian...... You think that the group of Ferocious Race soldiers who were sent to the Yellow Dragon Forest were also from the Gravel Lizard Tribe?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°It could only be them,¡± Chu Yingwan replied. ¡°There were a total of sixteen tribes that participated in hunting us down, but from start to finish the Gravel Lizard Tribe posed the greatest threat. They were the ones who sessfully ambushed us in the first ce, and they were also the ones who forced us all the way here.¡±

    Chu Yingwan¡¯s tone was incredibly angry. It was obvious that she harbored a lot of hate for the Gravel Lizard Tribe.

    ¡°Is this tribe really that powerful?¡± Su Chen asked suspiciously.

    He had studied the Ferocious Race¡¯s societal system while at the Hidden Dragon Institute, but of the thirteen main tribes that served as the Ferocious Race backbone, he had never heard of the Gravel Lizard Tribe. He didn¡¯t expect that this Gravel Lizard Tribe, which wasn¡¯t one of these major thirteen tribes, could pose such a threat to the Heavenly Might Army.

    Li Chongshan said, ¡°The Gravel Lizard Tribe suddenly rose to power recently. Not long ago, they defeated the Sand Cliff Tribe to be one of the major thirteen tribes. Their Ancestor Simotian was also subsequently named as one of the twelve main Ancestors because of this. The Gravel Lizard Tribe was able to aplish all of this because of Simotian¡¯s contributions.¡±

    ¡°Another genius leader also appeared recently amongst the Gravel Lizard Tribe. We have suffered tremendous setbacks precisely because of him,¡± Shi Kaihuang added. ¡°You should know who this Ferocious Race youth is.¡±

    Su Chen felt his heart jolt. He murmured, ¡°Could it be......¡±

    ¡°Danba,¡± Shi Kaihuang said.

    So it really was him?

    His opponent from the Goldwater Ruins had be the Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s genius vice chieftain in just eleven years?

    ording to the Ferocious Race¡¯s rules,rge tribes did not pass on leadership via inheritance. Instead, the current tribe chieftain and the Divine Shrine¡¯s Ancestor would each choose three warriors, training them and having thempete against each other until a victor was determined.

    During this period of time, all of the selected potential chieftains were known as vice chieftains because of their rtive youth.

    To avoid excessive injuries and deaths, the battles were restricted to a small area. All of the vice chieftains would have their resources and manpower restricted, and then freed to fight and strategize based on their own abilities. This made it so that the vice chieftains were often engaged in drawn-out battles against each other, which couldst as long as ten years.

    During this period of time, the vice chieftains would gain extensive experience, including military strategy and political tactics, making them qualified leaders of the tribe.

    Even though this conflict was supposed to be fair, the truth was that this ideal was often far from reality.

    Most of the time, the chieftain¡¯s side would be victorious.

    This was because the chieftain usually nominated their own sons or daughters, and though they seemed to have the same resources as the Divine Shrine on paper, the chieftain¡¯s champions would often receive secret support, giving them an inherent advantage over those from the Divine Shrine.

    For instance, the rules were that every vice chieftain couldn¡¯t start with more than ten subordinates, and the remaining ones must be roped in on their own.

    It seemed like a fair condition, but the chieftain could allow his own champions to rope people in at insanely low prices.

    The Divine Shrine controlled the religious side of society, but theycked troops. Most importantly, the value the Divine Shrine ced on material wealth was much lower than that of the chieftains.

    All these reasons made it obvious why the chieftain¡¯s side was usually the one who emerged victorious. These seemingly fair proceedings were just a front to cover up the passing on of the position by birth.

    Even so, the Ferocious Race and the Divine Shrine had a tacit understanding that thispetition was to temper the people that the chieftain had selected to seed in taking control of the tribe, and not to actually force them to give up the position to another Ferocious Race individual.

    However, if the champions on the chieftain¡¯s side weren¡¯t able to emerge victorious even with special treatment, then the tribe would silently acknowledge that that individual was not fit to lead the tribe and ept the sessor put forth by the Divine Shrine. For this reason, the special treatment provided by the chieftain was limited in some aspects, making it so that a few miracles would ur here or there.

    The appearance of each such miracle often signalled the rise of a tribe.

    Danba was thetest such miracle.

    Three years ago, he had defeated all of hispetitors and became the only remaining vice chieftain ¡ª the only suitable sessor to inherit the Gravel Lizard Tribe.

    Everything the Heavenly Might Army had suffered until now was because of what he had done.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 120: Ambush

    Even though he had known that Danba wasn¡¯t a simple character, Su Chen hadn¡¯t expected Danba to have undergone such a meteoric rise to power.

    After hearing Shi Kaihuang and the others¡¯ exnations, Su Chen realized that Danba had been selected by Simotian to be a sessor not long after returning from the Goldwater Ruins. Even though he had been defeated soundly there, all of the Ferocious Race youths who had gone in with him praised him and became his most loyal followers. Danba didn¡¯t act arrogantly because of this; instead, he used his failure at the Goldwater Ruins as an excuse to create an image that he had no ability.

    The three sessors, upon determining that their opponent was weak, began to fight amongst each other. Danba took advantage of this opportunity to group up with the other two Divine Shrine sessors and manipte the chieftain¡¯s sessors into fighting one another. After defeating one, they teamed up to defeat the second. The third sessor had finally realized what was going on and began to fight back with all his might.

    The support from the chieftain made this sessor much more powerful than the other sessors, but Danba still won in the end.

    It wasn¡¯t until his victory at the very end that Danba made it known to everyone that the many years of his studies had given him strength that surpassed all of his peers. He had just been resisting the urge to fully unleash it.

    And just like that, he was able to subdue five sessors in just seven years and be the undisputed sessor of the Gravel Lizard Tribe. Even the current chieftain, Barca Lunt, had nothing but good things to say about him.

    This was one of the Ferocious Race¡¯s good points ¡ª if you defeated the son I supported from behind the scenes, then the tribe¡¯s future is in your hands. The tribes were all founded on this kind of philosophy, allowing them to persist on the Primordial Continent for tens of thousands of years without being wiped out.

    ¡°When we attacked Leguha Castle, we set up a Heaven¡¯s Eye and sent outrge numbers of scouts. We made extensive defensive preparations as well, but the Gravel Lizard Tribe still appeared out of nowhere. They were like specters, suddenly appearing behind us and sending us into disarray. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that the chieftain had advanced prematurely and screwed up his positioning, we wouldn¡¯t have been able to escape in the first ce,¡± Chu Yingwan said in a heavy voice, her tone filled with fear at the thought of Danba.

    There were quite a few instances where humans had been beaten up by the Ferocious Race, but it was their first time falling for a scheme. In Chu Yingwan¡¯s eyes, the Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s nking ambush was executed beautifully. Even human generals would be hard-pressed to pull something like that off.

    ¡°I think they just got lucky.¡± Lin Shaoxuan was still a bit dissatisfied.

    They were both sessors, so Lin Shaoxuan¡¯s prestige and status didn¡¯t allow him to lower his head to Danba.

    Even so, Danba hadn¡¯t gained his reputation just from a chance sess. He had made a name for himself long before this and had fought at the very pinnacle during the battle at Leguha Castle. As such, his dissatisfaction was merely that.

    Everyone knew that he was just being stubborn for the time being, so none of them argued with him about it. It was Jun Moxie who said, ¡°Since Danba has guessed our n as well, then why haven¡¯t we seen any movements from them yet?¡±

    The Heaven¡¯s Eye was on constant surveince. The Heavenly Might Battalion had made even more preparations this time inparison to the battle at Leguha Castle. They would absolutely not allow the ambush from back then happen again.

    Even so, the patrol squads hadn¡¯t discovered any traces of an army. The Death Region was as deathly quiet as before, and no sign of any movements could be seen.

    ¡°Could it be that Danba still hasn¡¯t received the news?¡± Cheng Tianhai asked.

    This wasn¡¯t impossible.

    The Ferocious Race soldier who had escaped a few days ago couldn¡¯t havested long enough to deliver the news personally to Danba. No matter who he had passed the message onto, there could always be dys. In addition, Su Chen had gotten onto the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle immediately afterwards, so in theory he definitely should have been faster than Danba.

    ¡°The issue is, Danba might not have waited until he got news of the situation before moving,¡± Shi Kaihuang sighed.

    A talented chieftain wouldn¡¯t always wait for things to be confirmed before making a decision.

    Speed is precious in war, and sometimes a split second of indecision made all the difference.

    Guo Wenchang said, ¡°But it¡¯s also possible that they haven¡¯t made a move yet, right?¡±

    Shi Kaihuang fell silent.

    A talented general also wouldn¡¯t rashly make a move just based on a guess.

    Mistakenly making a move could also have disastrous consequences.

    So had Danba made a move or not?

    This became a question in everyone¡¯s hearts that no one could answer.

    If Danba hadn¡¯t made a move, that implied that they still had an opportunity to pass through the Death Region and leave this ce.

    If Danba had made a move, then there were probably troops of his lying here in ambush.

    This really was a situation where both dangerous decisions surrounded them on both sides. If they gave up now, they would lose an opportunity to escape that they had been nning for a long time. But if they chose to continue, they would need to take a risk.

    ¡°I think that there¡¯s no way that the Gravel Lizard Tribe is here. The Heaven¡¯s Eye has been activated to its maximum strength, and all of the elite investigation squads have been sent out. It¡¯s impossible for Danba to repeat what happened at Leguha Castle. If we can¡¯t find them under these circumstances, it¡¯s obvious that they aren¡¯t here,¡± Cheng Tianhai said. ¡°My rmendation is to continue with the n and pass through the Death Region.¡±

    Cheng Tianhai, who had originally been the most adamant opposer of this n, was suddenly in favor of continuing on with the n. The only reason for this was because he found a thrill in taking risks.

    ¡°We can¡¯t. If Danba thought to send people to check the Yellow Dragon Forest, he¡¯s definitely caught on to our n. The likelihood of him setting up an ambush here is too great. I don¡¯t rmend that we take this risk,¡± Guo Wenchang said. As the battalion¡¯s tactician and the only civilian officer, he was naturally the most cautious.

    ¡°Since Danba sent people to investigate, there is no reason for him to not wait until he receives confirmation before making a move. I think that this is thest opportunity for us to carry out our n,¡± Lin Shaoxuan said. He was also in support of continuing with the n, but rather than him anticipating Danba¡¯s movements it was more likely that he was hoping Danba would make a mistake.

    ¡°The scouting parties can only protect us against contingencies.¡± Shi Kaihuang¡¯s attitude was very clear from the very beginning. He was also in favor for giving it up altogether.

    ¡°We¡¯ll die if we stay and we¡¯ll die if we go. Why not seize the opportunity?¡± Jun Moxie said. He was the one who had proposed the n in the first ce, so he was obviously not hoping for the n to fail. His reasoning wasn¡¯t wed either.

    ¡°If we go, we¡¯ll die for sure, but if we stay we might be able to find an opportunity to escape,¡± Chu Yingwan replied. She stood staunchly with Shi Kaihuang.

    They were in a standoff, with three people on each side. Each of them had their own reasons and couldn¡¯t convince the others to listen.

    Everyone then nced at Li Chongshan simultaneously.

    He was the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯smander and had the highest status present. His decision would also weigh the scales in one direction and break the stalemate.

    Li Chongshan felt an immense burden on his shoulders.

    He thought seriously about it for some time, then turned to Su Chen. ¡°Prince Su, what do you think?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°My advice is that we should leave immediately. I¡¯ve exchanged blows with Danba before, and his intelligence is no lower than a human¡¯s. Actually, it¡¯s probably even higher. I had set traps for him before in the Goldwater Ruins, but even though I was able to kill hisrades, I wasn¡¯t able to trick him and almost fell victim to him instead. I can guarantee that he isn¡¯t a person who always waits until he receives information to make a move.¡±

    ¡°So why haven¡¯t we seen a single Ferocious Race soldier lying in ambush? Don¡¯t tell me that it¡¯s because we were ambushed at Leguha Castle by them sessfully. That was because they had set up arge formation in advance to conceal his troops. This time, we came prepared, and we won¡¯t give him any such opportunity,¡± Cheng Tianhai said.

    ¡°So that¡¯s why he must havee up with some other trick to deceive you to get you to charge right into his ambush,¡± Su Chen said without any hesitation.

    ¡°What kind of trick?¡± everyone asked at the same time.

    Su Chen pointed at the Death Region and said markedly, ¡°Have you checked that area with your Heaven¡¯s Eye yet?¡±

    Li Chongshan and the others nced at each other before shaking their heads.

    Guo Wenchang said, ¡°An Origin Beast lies sleeping in the Death Region. No one can set up an ambush there.¡±

    ¡°But you guys are nning on going through that ce,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°We¡¯re going underground,¡± Jun Moxie corrected as he said proudly, ¡°Mynd boats can travel four hundred kilometers beneath the surface. There¡¯s no way we¡¯ll awaken the Origin Beast.¡±

    ¡°But that means that the Ferocious Race also has a way to conceal themselves, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes. If they¡¯re experienced in concealment and don¡¯t go too far into the Death Region, it could be possible. But it¡¯s absolutely impossible for arge army to be hidden in there,¡± Lin Shaoxuan said.

    ¡°So what if it¡¯s not arge army but a small elite group?¡± Su Chen countered.

    ¡°An elite group of soldiers? For what?¡± Everyone stared at him in shock.

    What would be the goal of sending a small elite team over here?

    Su Chen simply said, ¡°To awaken the Origin Beast.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 121: Retreat 1

    Chapter 121: Retreat (1)

    Su Chen¡¯s words made Li Chongshan and the others pause.

    They had finally realized what kind of mistake they had made. Yes, they were truly nning on infiltrating through the territory of an Origin Beast.

    Actually, they themselves didn¡¯t have the confidence to say that they would pass this test for sure. Any small deviation from the n could result in itsplete failure.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, their opponents didn¡¯t even need to send arge army to ambush them. They just needed to send a small group of soldiers who were unafraid of death to the Death Region and station them there.

    Li Chongshan and the others could easily imagine what would happen as soon as the Heavenly Might Army entered the Death Region on theirnd boats ¡ª for the cost of just a few lives, the Ferocious Race could purchase the extermination of the entire Heavenly Might Battalion.

    ¡°Scouting team, turn the Heaven¡¯s Eye around and scan the Death Region!¡± Lin Shaoxuan yelled.

    ¡°All troops, fall back!¡± Li Chongshan made another order.

    There was no point dying any longer. When the Origin Beast awakened, the Heavenly Might Battalion might be wiped out even if they weren¡¯t in the strict boundaries of the Death Region ¡ª no one dared to test an Origin Beast¡¯s patience or offensive capabilities. This kind of frightening existence might sunder the heavens if it woke up on the wrong side of its bed.

    ¡°Release thend boats. If there are Ferocious Race soldiers actually in there, they have probably already spotted us already. Thend boats might trick them into thinking that we¡¯ve entered the Death Region and should help us buy some time,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Prepare a group of people as well. If they find targets, they will try their best to intercept them,¡± Jun Moxie added.

    Everyone felt a chill cover their hearts when they heard this.

    The people chosen to carry out this mission would definitely die.

    Even so, no one felt like what Jun Moxie had said was wrong. If there were really Ferocious Race soldiers hiding in the Death Region, sending out a team to intercept them was in fact the best tactical move.

    ¡°Shen Tian, Han Qiu, take your people and prepare to move out,¡± Li Chongshan saidmandingly.

    The two people he had chosen were his two personal captains who had been with him for many years. With the survival of the entire battalion at stake, Li Chongshan could only send the people he valued the most to their deaths.

    ¡°As youmand!¡± the two captains simultaneously responded.

    They also knew that they would not return once they set off, but they didn¡¯t hesitate in the slightest.

    ¡°Use the remaining time you have left to tell your men...... to write down theirst words,¡± Li Chongshan said.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need,mander. Everyone has already written theirs down ever since we set out for Leguha Castle. We are all already prepared,¡± the young captain Shen Tian replied.

    The other captain, Han Qiu,ughed. ¡°Commander, please rest easy. We are carefree men. If we die then so be it. As long as you all can kill some more Ferocious Race soldiers in my stead, then my death will not have been in vain.¡±

    Li Chongshan sighed and nodded wordlessly.

    Even Su Chen couldn¡¯t resist saying, ¡°Rest easy knowing that the Ferocious Race will be forced to pay a heavy price for this.¡±

    Shen Tian and Han Qiuughed. ¡°Many thanks, Prince Su.¡±

    ¡°You have saved everyone. We are all very grateful towards you.¡±

    At this moment, one of the scouting parties yelled, ¡°I found them! A Ferocious Race soldier is hidden in a mud pit ten kilometers to the west. Damn, he¡¯s really dug in deep! It took me three tries to spot him!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s another one here.¡±

    ¡°Here too. Damn, they¡¯ve split up to conceal themselves better.¡±

    Everyone sucked in a mouthful of cold air.

    Even though they had been prepared for the news, they still felt incredibly fortunate once their suspicions were confirmed.

    If it weren¡¯t for Su Chen, then the entire Heavenly Might Battalion would have been wiped out here.

    Concealing and nting these whistleblowers to observe the enemy¡¯s movements was definitely meant to act as a trigger to awaken the Origin Beast. This kind of tactic was vicious and heartless. There was no doubt as to what the oue would have been.

    Yet Su Chen was able to sniff out this kind of tactic. All you could say was that these two rivals were cut from the same cloth.

    ¡°Move out!¡± Li Chongshan said.

    Shen Tian and Han Qiu stepped into thend boats and slipped underground, heading towards the Death Region.

    At the same time, the Heavenly Might Army began to slowly retreat under Li Chongshan and the other¡¯s directions. Most of the stronger individuals remained at the rear and used all kinds of tactics to create an illusion that they were still there.

    No one knew how long their concealment tactics could deceive the Ferocious Race for. Now, all they could do was buy as many seconds as possible.

    The Heavenly Might Battalion was truly an elite group of soldiers. After being chased incessantly through the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory, their efficiency had be much higher than before. The ten-thousand-plus man battalion retreated as one with no dys.

    They were like a gust of wind, leaving just as quickly as they hade.

    Shi Kaihuang and the others were thest to leave. Their presence could further deceive the Ferocious Race for a bit longer.

    After watching thest group of people retreat, Guo Wenchang said, ¡°Let¡¯s go as well.¡±

    ¡°Wait for just a moment,¡± Shi Kaihuang said. ¡°We can give our brothers a bit more time.¡±

    ¡°Can I say something that might not sound that pretty?¡± Jun Moxie said. ¡°There¡¯s actually no point in doing so.¡±

    ¡°Why do you say that?¡± Chu Yingwan asked.

    Jun Moxie shrugged. ¡°You know that an Origin Beast can catch up to us with just a few breaths even if we were to run ten thousand kilometers away...... What really determines whether or not we die is not our speed but rather how pissed off that guy gets.¡±

    Everyone fell silent.

    It was Su Chen who spoke up first, saying, ¡°Would you chase after a mosquito and kill it if it bit you?¡±

    Jun Moxie stared nkly for a moment before shaking his head. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°But what if it was right next to you? You might try to kill it with a casual swing of your hands, right?¡± Su Chen said.

    Jun Moxie understood what Su Chen was getting at. Heughed, ¡°Thatparison does have some merit to it. I hope that it¡¯s as you say.¡±

    ¡°Then what are we waiting around for? Let¡¯s get out of here!¡± Chu Yingwan said.

    Everyone flew into the air.

    Shi Kaihuang was just about to grab Su Chen when he pulled out the Flying Moon Shuttle. ¡°I have this.¡±

    The Flying Moon Shuttle flew amongst the group of soldiers, not a single bit slower than the rest of them at all.

    ¡°Old Shi, this disciple of yours is quite interesting,¡± Li Chongshan said.

    ¡°He¡¯s the most gifted child I have ever seen, but he shouldn¡¯t havee here,¡± Shi Kaihuang sighed.

    Cheng Tianhai unhappily said, ¡°Listen to what you¡¯re saying. He just saved eight thousand lives.¡±

    ¡°If he survives, he will save even more,¡± Shi Kaihuang said bluntly.

    Li Chongshan understood his hidden meaning. ¡°Is it appropriate to ce all of your hopes on a kid like this?¡±

    Shi Kaihuang shook his head and replied, ¡°You only know that the techniques for reaching the Blood Boiling Realm and the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline were developed by me, but what you don¡¯t know is that I couldn¡¯t have done it without him.¡±

    What?

    Everyone was stunned.

    ¡°Unfortunately, my experience is limited past a certain point, and I won¡¯t be able to go any higher. I can only ce my hopes on him,¡± Shi Kaihuang said casually.

    He had told Su Chen before that once he entered the army, he wouldn¡¯t have any more time to research a technique for reaching the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline.

    However, only he knew that even without this barrier he wouldn¡¯t be able to make any more breakthroughs.

    His experiences had limited his ability, making it impossible for him to reach any higher.

    However, he knew that Su Chen could.

    Shi Kaihuang continued his train of thought, exining, ¡°I am very happy that he hase to save me, since it means that my appraisal of him wasn¡¯t wrong. However, Chongshan, promise me this ¡ª even if the entire Heavenly Might Battalion is exterminated, do not let Su Chen die. He is the hope of the entire human race. I firmly believe that he will break through the restrictions on all bloodlines and achieve a true path of cultivation for the entire human race!¡±

    Li Chongshan was speechless when he heard this passionate confession. He was just about to say something when he sudenly heard Li Chongshan yell, ¡°Quick, look over there!¡±

    He quickly turned around, only to find that the scenery behind them had undergone a massive change.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 122: Retreat 2

    Chapter 122: Retreat (2)

    A ray of light could be seen emerging from the originally lifeless Death Region.

    This light was not very bright. At first, it looked like a dim star against the backdrop of a night sky.

    However, this ming light quickly began to expand, turning from a small burning star into a vast column of mes that shot into the sky.

    This column seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. It spread rapidly, engulfing the entire Death Region in the blink of an eye, and covering an area of ten thousand kilometers. It was like a god had struck the earth, causing a violent wave of mes to surge forth and illuminate the night.

    The night was no longer lonesome and had turned into an eternal day. The brilliant me column continuously surged into the sky as if it had shot out of a volcano, lighting up the entire sky.

    In this instant, people in the Dark Wastnds, the Endless Sea, the Halma Forest, and even some locations further away could all spot this column of light that had appeared towards the very north.

    That was how brilliant and eye-catching it was.

    The Wankui Caves, the Seven Kingdoms, the Heavenly City, the Gn Castle...... powerful individuals turned their attention towards this direction and felt their hearts tremble slightly.

    Thankfully, this feeling subsided as quickly as it came.

    The moment the column of me disappeared from the sky, those peak existences across the different races let out sighs of relief. They knew that this was most likely the unintentional snort of some hibernating Origin Beast. It was akin to an unintentional moment of sleep talking or restlessness in bed.

    This wasn¡¯t the first time that something like this had happened in the history of the Primordial Continent.

    Even so, the situation was not nearly as simple to the people who were closeby.

    Yes, close enough to even almost be within reach.

    Ten thousand kilometers was a short distance to an Origin Beast. Just as Jun Moxie had said, the survival of a horde of ants near a human depended not on the ants but actually on the human.

    Su Chen and the others were quite lucky. The hibernating Origin Beast didn¡¯t seem to have any intentions of waking up. It grumbled unhappily before falling back asleep. Even so, in the eyes of the ants, this grumble seemed to shake the very foundation of the earth, and harsh waves of mes constantly surged forwards.

    The heat rushed towards them as the mes began to spread.

    The battalion watched from far off in the distance as the wave of mes surged in their direction like a supernova. Everyone yelled in shock, ¡°Raise the defenses!¡±

    Boom, boom, boom, boom!

    Barrier after barrier was erected just shortly beforerge waves of mes engulfed them.

    ¡°Woop!!!¡±

    The Cloud-Piercing Shuttle began to sound out with an rm.

    Su Chen began to burn Origin Stones like crazy. After the lesson he had learned with the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttlest time, he now always had a ton of Origin Stones on him at all times.

    The Cloud-Piercing Shuttle was blown about back and forth like a leaf in a rainstorm as the violent mes and drafts of hot wind pushed him relentlessly. Even though it was for just a few seconds, it felt like an eternity.

    The wave of mes dissipated and retreated, and the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle returned to normal. Su Chen turned around and saw that the other people around weren¡¯t in much better shape ¡ª their barriers had all been burned through and their skin singed. Shi Kaihuang¡¯s beard had been burned off, and a few people had lost arge chunk of their hair. They were all Light Shaking Realm cultivators, though, so they quickly recovered.

    Even so, everyone was quite badly shock.

    They were at the very edge of the region and had only experienced the aftershocks of the grumble. If they had to bear the brunt of it, they probably would have all turned into ash.

    Also, they were lucky that the majority of this grumble¡¯s energy had gone straight into the air. Otherwise, no one would have been able to escape.

    Was this the power of an Origin Beast?

    The true master of this continent had just let out a casual grumble and unleashed enough power to destroy an entire region.

    However, their immense power was also why the continent couldn¡¯t sustain them, causing them to fall into a long sleep.

    Even so, as long as the Origin Beasts were still alive, the Beast Race would never die out.

    At this moment, Su Chen recalled what Zhu Chen had said.

    When faced with this kind of frightening power, even the most heroic and ambitious person would falter, wouldn¡¯t they?

    He finally understood how the Bloodline Nobility ns felt, at least a little bit.

    What¡¯s wrong with me?

    Am I going to give up that easily?

    Su Chen forced himself out of his stupor. He knew that the shocking disy of strength he had just seen had rocked him internally, so he hurriedly reigned in his consciousness.

    So what if Origin Beasts were that frightening? They had been cast aside by this world.

    The future of this world would belong to the Intelligent Races, to mankind!

    Su Chen stared at the remaining zes, which had yet to die down. A resolute expression appeared on his face.

    Most people hadn¡¯t ever seen the power of an Origin Beast before. Even for Li Chongshan, that was his first time witnessing it.

    Having escaped from the jaws of death, everyone let out a long sigh.

    ¡°We survived! Ha, we actually survived!¡±

    ¡°Lady Luck truly is smiling upon us! Even that didn¡¯t kill us, haha!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! We escaped from the jaws of an Origin Beast!¡±

    ¡°Thank the Heavens! They are not unkind to us and didn¡¯t intend for us to actually die.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, that¡¯s right! Some good came out of the disaster, and we got to see an Origin Beast.¡±

    ¡°What good is that? Did you get any benefits?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t get any benefits, but we are still people who survived an attack from an Origin Beast! Once we get back home, won¡¯t that be a glorious feling when we tell other people? Has anyone ever seen an Origin Beast¡¯s power before? Haha!¡±

    ¡°Psh! You¡¯re talking like you¡¯ve actually seen one before. All we saw was one of its breaths. Did anyone actually see what it looks like?¡±

    ¡°If I saw what it looked like, I would be dead.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true. I¡¯m starting to feel like Moxie¡¯s n was really too far-fetched. We might not have been able to sneak by such a frightening existence even if Danba wasn¡¯t interfering.¡±

    ¡°Psh, even if we couldn¡¯t deceive it, it might not have awakened as long as we didn¡¯t provoke it.¡±

    ¡°That might not be true. That annoying buzzing sound when a mosquito flies past a person¡¯s ear is enough to warrant a p.¡±

    ¡°Mynd boats are not that loud.¡±

    ¡°Go tell that to the Origin Beast.¡±

    They had actually started to argue amongst themselves.

    ¡°Alright, stop fighting. That was something no one has ever tried before, so there¡¯s no point in arguing about the possible oues.¡± Li Chongshan interfered and stopped them. ¡°What we need to do now is toe up with a new n. No matter what, we need to leave this ce.¡±

    Everyone fell silent when they heard these words.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you guys?¡± Su Chen flew over on his Cloud-Piercing Shuttle and asked.

    Guo Wenchang sighed, ¡°There aren¡¯t many more rations. Our n has failed and the path is not clear. We don¡¯t have enough resources to survive off of.¡±

    To gather the resources for making thend boats, the Heavenly Might Army had robbed their way across the territory but hadn¡¯t found many rations.

    In other words, this n of theirs had to seed.

    It had failed, but they weren¡¯t dead yet.

    The troubles that they had been facing earlier were still there. They needed to fill more than ten thousand mouths ¡ª this was not an easy problem to resolve.

    Su Chen, however, began to smile when he figured out what the problem was. ¡°I was wondering what the issue was. I had anticipated this problem earlier before I came, so I brought some rations with me.¡±

    Lin Shaoxuan stared at him, in a bad mood. ¡°We have eight thousand people here. How many rations can a single Origin Ring contain?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°That¡¯s why I brought a ton of Origin Rings.¡±

    He opened the cover of the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle. Everyone saw a huge pile of Origin Rings sitting inside the shuttle, glittering and shining like a mountain of straw and wheat.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 123: Reunion 1

    Chapter 123: Reunion (1)

    Western Smoke Peak.

    This ce was to the west of the Halma Forest and had been known for its high rate of ore production. Nearly eight hundred years ago, the mine here had beenpletely emptied, causing the Western Smoke Peak to be abandoned. Now, it was a ce that no one visited.

    After a day¡¯s journey, the Heavenly Might Army came to this ce and started fires to begin cooking.

    They had been on the run for many months, and it was their first time in a long time eating a full meal.

    ¡°I never would have expected Prince Su to resolve this issue that was giving us such a bad headache,¡± Li Chongshan sighed as he gazed at the scene of his soldiers cooking.

    No one expected Su Chen to have so many rations on him. Su Chen had brought enough to feed eight thousand soldiers for a few months; that would require at least hundreds if not thousands of Origin Rings, and more importantly it would require money!

    A ton of money!

    ¡°Thankfully, Instructor let me handle the money we earned from the secret techniques. That¡¯s the main reason I was able to do it; at its roots, Instructor was still the one who enabled it,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Shi Kaihuang harrumphed. ¡°You don¡¯t need to push your contributions onto me. I was just toozy to bother with these troublesome matters, which was why I handed it over to you. Money is totally useless to me, but in your hands it¡¯s incredibly valuable.¡±

    ¡°Please, you two, can you stop being modest with each other? No matter what, the Heavenly Might Army owes you a favor today. Brother Su, if there¡¯s anything you need, please just say the word. Even if I must face incredible danger, I won¡¯t shrink back!¡± Cheng Tianhai said as he pounded his chest.

    He had a direct personality and would speak his mind. In Cheng Tianhai¡¯s mind, since the other party had saved his life, then now his life belonged to the other party.

    The logic of a soldier was simple and direct, and it was verymon to observe in a military setting.

    The other people involved were the same.

    At this point, they no longer called Su Chen Prince but Brother. Everyone selectively ignored the fact that Shi Kaihuan was now a tier higher than them because of it.

    Su Chenughed. ¡°It¡¯s still too early to say things like this. Let¡¯s wait until we get out of here.¡±

    Li Chongshan understood the meaning behind Su Chen¡¯s words. ¡°Brother Su, you seem to mean that you have a n for leaving here?¡±

    ¡°I do have a n, but the timing is not right yet. We need to make some preparations,¡± Su Chen replied.

    No matter what the escape n was, it wasn¡¯t going to be easy to pull off.

    Jun Moxie¡¯s n had necessitated the gathering of arge quantity of resources for hisnd boats, and Su Chen¡¯s n would also need simr amounts of preparations. Everyone was prepared for this already.

    However, when Su Chen exined his n, everyone was still blown away by Su Chen¡¯s thought process.

    After recovering from a momentary daze, Li Chongshan said, ¡°Junior brother truly has an umon spirit. This n isn¡¯t worse than Jun Moxie¡¯s n to sneak past the Origin Beast at all.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s still some differences,¡± Jun Moxie said. ¡°If my n failed, then the entire battalion would be wiped out. However, our junior brother¡¯s n will prove to be a headache for the Ferocious Race regardless of whether it fails or not. In this aspect, junior brother¡¯s experience is above my own.¡±

    ¡°General Jun, you praise me too highly. I¡¯ve done what I should have done, so the details of the n and how to execute it will depend on you. My mission here is done,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°So what are you nning on doing next?¡± Chu Yingwan asked. From his tone, it seemed as if he was quitting his responsibilities.

    ¡°Of course I¡¯m going to continue my experiments,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°I got quite a few rare research subjects recently but haven¡¯t had time to experiment on them yet because I was chasing after you guys. Now, I can finally ck off a bit and let you guys work out the details. I¡¯m just going to focus on my experiments.¡±

    What?

    Even when the enemy was all around, you still had the heart to do experiments?

    Everyone stared at Shi Kaihuang in shock, who nodded his head. ¡°He truly is that kind of person.¡±

    Su Chen had already flown away in his Cloud-Piercing Shuttle - he hade here in a hurry, so Reina and the other Ferocious Race soldiers were still hidden in the cave.

    They had gone hungry these past few days; hopefully none of them had starved to death.

    Summer ze City was a small city near the western region of Long Sang Country.

    At the center of a city was a wine tavern. Iron Cliff was sitting there, drinking his ale wine.

    The sky today was a bit hazy, reflecting Iron Cliff¡¯s slightly dark and distressed state of mind.

    The huge amount of pressure was subconsciously affecting him and making him feel out of sorts.

    Master had given him aplicated and difficult task!

    He couldn¡¯t help smile bitterly when he thought of the mission Su Chen had given him. Are you sure you¡¯re treating me like I¡¯m a Cliff Race servant? Your mission might not even be possible for a human!

    Even so, having followed Su Chen until now, the most important thing Iron Cliff had learned was to not give up easily.

    If he thought about it long enough, he would be able to find a way to resolve the problem.

    If he couldn¡¯t think of a way to resolve the problem on his own, he would find someone to help him!

    After parting with Su Chen at Swallow River City, Iron Cliff had thought repeatedly, believing that he had to figure out a way toplete the mission on his own. His hopes were too distant, however, so he had gone to find reinforcements without hesitating.

    His reinforcements were obviously Cloud Leopard, Yue Longsha, Ji Hanyan, Jiang Xishui, Wang Doushan, etc.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t told him to ask his old ssmates for help, but Iron Cliff knew that this was one of the resources Su Chen had left him.

    He needed to use his resources smartly!

    This was another thing Su Chen had learned from Iron Cliff.

    A researcher¡¯s foundational attribute was that they utilized the resources avable to them as best as possible and waste as few resources as possible. Iron Cliff had picked this up through the countless experiments he had performed.

    Half a month ago, he had contacted Yue Longsha, who then passed along the information to everyone - the Secret Task Force was responsible for gathering intelligence across the entire human territory, so they were extremely suited for this kind of work.

    Today was the day they were supposed to meet up, but he didn¡¯t know who would show.

    This was a test of a person¡¯s heart. It was probably normal for people to be scared away by the danger and gravity of the situation, right? Iron Cliff thought to himself.

    Just as he was thinking over these things, he heard the floorboards creak behind him.

    He nced in that direction and saw Yue Longsha appear within the the tower. She was still dressed in pure white robes, giving her a fairy-like aura.

    ¡°It seems like I¡¯m the first one here,¡± Yue Longshaughed.

    ¡°That might not be true.¡± Another voice echoed throughout the tower before a figure appeared outside of the window and swung in, carrying a gourd of wine with him.

    ¡°Old Pi, you¡¯re here too?¡± Yue Longsha yelled as her eyes lit up.

    That person was obviously Pi Yuanhong.

    Pi Yuanhong and the others had left the institute not too long after returning from the Goldwater Ruins Expedition. However, they had fought alongside each other before, so they had remained in contact.

    Yue Longsha had called as many people as possible, trying to get as many helpers as she could. She notified everyone who had a pretty good rtionship with Su Chen, but after so many years it was hard to say if they would be willing to help or not. As such, Yue Longsha had no grasp on what would happen.

    Yue Longsha¡¯s tightened heart began to rx when she saw Pi Yuanhong.

    Pi Yuanhong chuckled, ¡°Su Chen saved my life before. Now that he¡¯s in trouble, how could I note?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not the only life he saved.¡± Another voice came through the window, followed shortly afterwards by a figure who floated into the tower. It was a woman, a faint smile on her face.

    ¡°Sister Qi!¡±

    This time, both Yue Longsha and Pi Yuanhong cried out.

    The person who had just arrived was in fact Qi Weiyan.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 124: Reunion 2

    Chapter 124: Reunion (2)

    Qi Weiyan¡¯s arrival made both Yue Longsha and Pi Yuanhong excited. Yue Longsha leapt onto Qi Weiyan and hugged her tightly. ¡°Second Senior Sister, you came too!¡±

    Qi Weiyanughed, ¡°It¡¯s been ten years already, but you haven¡¯t changed at all. You¡¯re still just as beautiful as before. Have you married yet?¡±

    Yue Longsha blushed. ¡°What need is there to hurry?¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t hurry, you¡¯re going to get old.¡±

    Yue Longsha said, ¡°We¡¯re all cultivators. Ten years is like a single day; as long as we have our cultivation base, we can live for thousands of years. Why fear getting older?¡±

    ¡°You say that, but doesn¡¯t it get lonely?¡±

    Yue Longsha lowered her head and didn¡¯t say anything.

    When Qi Weiyan saw her expression, she understood a little bit and said, ¡°There are some people where waiting alone will do no good.¡±

    Yue Longsha answered quietly, ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°Know what?¡± Just as they were talking, another voice spoke to them.

    The people in the room all nced in the direction of the voice. It was Ji Hanyan and Jiang Xishui who hade in together. Before, Jiang Xishui was always walking behind Ji Hanyan and had never had the authority to walk besides her. Now, however, he was standing with her, and his ceremonial attitude was gone as well. Ji Hanyan¡¯s attitude towards him had changed greatly, and it seemed that Su Chen¡¯s advice was truly effective.

    Pi Yuanhong guffawed when he saw them and said, ¡°So the adulterous couple is finally close topleting a good thing!¡±

    His words were coarse, and he didn¡¯t say a single polite thing when he opened his mouth. Ji Hanyan¡¯s expression sank, and she was about to attack when Jiang Xishui held her back and said, ¡°Let me.¡±

    A streak of water shot towards Pi Yuanhong.

    Pi Yuanhong yelled, ¡°Come at me!¡± and unleashed a ferocious punch. Unexpectedly, the streak of water transformed into water arrows and pierced towards Pi Yuanhong from all different directions. If it were an opponent, Pi Yuanhong would have ignored the arrows and gone on the offensive, but since they were just friends sparring with each other, there was no point in going so all-out. All he could do was try to defend himself. His fighting style was no match for Jiang Xishui¡¯s, and in but an instant he waspletely soaked.

    Pi Yuanhong still wanted to attack, but Ji Hanyan gestured, and the water on him immediately turned into ice,pletely sealing his body inside

    ¡°Damn!¡± Pi Yuanhong cursed. He was just about break free as strength surged to his arms when Jiang Xishui cast more water onto him. Even though this water seemed soft, it had a peculiar strength about it, and Pi Yuanhong suddenly felt like the energy in his body had no proper outlet. An instantter, Ji Hanyan turned the water into ice again, this time even sealing his head inside.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see if you can bber anymore,¡± Ji Hanyan harrumphed.

    ¡°Beautifully done!¡± Apuse once again sounded out from outside. A few more people stepped into the room, with He Yuandong at the lead - the number one from the Goldwater Ruins expedition. Behind him were He Niliu, Jiang Hanfeng, Ma Xuan, Wei Yang, and a few others. They had all been picked up on the way over.

    He Yuandong said, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to be greeted by a spectacle as soon as I cam! Not bad, not bad. Old Pi, that mouth of yours has always been cheap. It¡¯s good you learned a lesson. Seems like Sister Hanyan is more powerful!¡±

    Jiang Hanfeng leapt in front of Pi Yuanhong and waved his hand as he chuckled, ¡°Eighth Senior Brother, it must feel pretty good to be encased in ice, huh?¡±

    Pi Yuanhong rolled his eyes but couldn¡¯t say anything.

    Even though Ji Hanyan¡¯s ice was bitingly cold, the truly annoying thing was still Jiang Xishui¡¯s water. It had the unique property of quickly dissipating any built-up strength, making it impossible for Pi Yuanhong to utilize his powerful physique to break out.

    Because Jiang Xishui hadn¡¯t gone on the Goldwater Expedition, Pi Yuanhong didn¡¯t know how powerful Jiang Xishui was. All he head heard was the rumor that he was the descendant of the Demonic King Luo You, but he didn¡¯t know if it was true or not. Now, however, it was obvious that the rumor was true. Only Luo You¡¯s bloodline could have defeated him so easily, and Jiang Xishui had done it without revealing his talent, making it seem like it was Ji Hanyan¡¯s strength that had aplished it.

    However, Ji Hanyan had no intention of epting Jiang Xishui¡¯s goodwill. She said coldly, ¡°I don¡¯t have the ability to seal him off so easily. Jiang Xishui¡¯s Luo You suppressed Old Pi¡¯s power, which is the reason I was able to gain the upper hand.¡±

    Jiang Xishui smiled bitterly and didn¡¯t say anything. Even though Ji Hanyan¡¯s attitude towards him had changed, their rtionship was not yet to the point that he was hoping it would reach.

    Hopefully there would be an opportunity for him this time to show off and win Ji Hanyan¡¯s heart.

    Iron Cliff very quickly realized Yue Longsha¡¯s ability to transmit information and Su Chen¡¯s ability to build longsting rtionships with people.

    After He Yuandong and the others, Cloud Leopard, Wu Xiao, Zhao Xin, Jin Ling¡¯er, Du Qing, Sun Jizu, Ji Ruoyu, and a whole bunch of others also arrived.

    Wang Doushan was thest one to arrive.

    By the time he came, the sky was already dark. They had agreed on the afternoon, but he had only gotten therete at night.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact everyone knew his personality, they might have assumed that he wasn¡¯ting at all.

    ¡°Damn fatty, you¡¯rete again!¡± Du Qing said as she grabbed Wang Doushan by the ear.

    ¡°Aiya, aiya, that¡¯s not my fault! I was running the whole way here. I was supposed to get here this morning by my estimation, so I left myself an extra half a day, but I don¡¯t know why I was stillte,¡± Wang Doushan said, looking like he was about to cry.

    ¡°By your estimation? Next time try leaving three days earlier and use that as your estimation,¡± everyone said together.

    ¡°Since the fatty is here as well, then anyone else who isn¡¯t here probably won¡¯t being,¡± Yue Longsha said.

    ¡°Who else did you notify?¡± Qi Weiyan asked.

    ¡°I basically notified everyone else from the Goldwater Ruins Expedition. Wang Xuan¡¯an was badly woundedst year and is still recovering, so he won¡¯t be able to make it. The Shen twins, though......¡± Yue Longsha didn¡¯t continue.

    The Shen twins were very powerful, but they were naturally a bit selfish. They had indicated when Yue Longsha had notified them that they probably wouldn¡¯te. Of the rest, some had indicated that they had urgent business they had to attend to, while others had agreed in the moment but hadn¡¯t appeared yet. Perhaps they had encountered an unforeseen predicament or difficulty, or perhaps they were just dealing with the situation for the moment.

    There were all kinds of people on the continent. Not everyone could bepletely loyal; actually, having this many people was already enough to be satisfied with.

    Everyone tactfully refrained from saying anything else.

    ¡°Aiya, we¡¯re finally here! I¡¯m beat.¡±

    At this moment, however, another voice spoke. A cute face appeared in the doorway following the delicate voice.

    It was Han Linxia.

    This young maiden looked the same as back then. Her figure was saucy and her appearance was very cute. However, her cheeks were incredibly rosy, as if she had been hurrying to this ce for a while. Beside her were two more people - Zhou Juanjia and Tang Ming, who were now husband and wife.

    ¡°You guys......¡± Everyone stared nkly.

    How were there people who were even slower than Wang Doushan.

    ¡°We ran into some trouble on the way here, which cost us some time,¡± Tang Ming said indifferently.

    ¡°Did something happen?¡± He Yuandong asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing, really. We just went to go grab something that will probably be useful for our next operation,¡± Tang Ming said as he pulled out an item.

    It was a heart.

    A heart that was still beating.

    Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Ba-dump!

    It beat again and again, seemingly resonating with the hearts of everyone else present.

    ¡°The Eternal Heart of a Dark Fear Demon!¡± Iron Cliff yelled as he stared intently at Tang Ming. ¡°You went to the Mourning Heart Valley?¡±

    Tang Ming smiled slightly. ¡°The rendezvous point was here, which means our target destination is the Limestone Mountain Range. If we want to pass through the Danger Crater, this Eternal Heart is absolutely necessary, so I took a detour to grab it. Oh, if you don¡¯t want it I¡¯ll take it back.¡±

    How could Iron Cliff not want it?

    The Eternal Heart was one of the materials he needed toplete Su Chen¡¯s mission. He hadn¡¯t expected, however, that Tang Ming would hand it over to him before the n even was under way.

    ¡°Many thanks, Prince Tang!¡± Iron Cliff said joyfully.

    ¡°Psh. You¡¯re the same as always! All you think about is stealing the limelight,¡± someone said disdainfully, having seen through Tang Ming¡¯s act.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so stubborn. We¡¯ve got a long road ahead of us,¡± someone said.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Since everyone is here, then we can begin to make our ns.¡±

    ¡°What is there to n for? Aren¡¯t we just going to fight our way through the Limestone Mountain Range and receive the Heavenly Might Army? That sounds easy enough to me.¡±

    ¡°Easy my ass!¡± everyone yelled simultaneously as they began to guffaw.

    At this moment, Iron Cliff felt a warmth in his chest as he gazed at this group of people.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 125: Heavenly River Ancient Road

    The vast Limestone Mountain Range was located in the western region of the Primordial Continent. To its south was the Crimson Bone Gorge, the north the Windrain Gorge, and the west the Vanishing Dragon Territory; overall, it was a ce that sat at the intersection between the Beast Race, Ferocious Race, and Human Race¡¯s territories.

    The Limestone Mountain Range wasn¡¯t originally a mountain but rather a spacious, empty in. However, during the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s reign, the Arcana Kingdom and the Beast Race had fought here countless times. Both sides had used all kinds of different tactics, including myriad terraforming Ancient Arcana Techniques, which blotted out the sun and moon while transforming mountains and rivers, turning mountains into ins, ins into ravines, and wastnds into mountain ranges.

    The Limestone Mountain Range had been no exception. It was formed across two separate conflicts, and there were still traces of the conflicts from before that still scarred itsndscape.

    Its foremost example was the Danger Crater.

    The Danger Crater was left behind by the various techniques of the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s Arcana Masters when they had fought Deste Beasts. The massive amount of power unleashed here had caused all kinds of deep scars to be left behind in the terrain. Many of them still contained remnant caches of concentrated poison, energy fluctuations, or fatal doses of radiation. There were also a few ces where departed souls hadn¡¯t dissipated yet, and they remained floating about within that area, looking for food to absorb and clueless people who stayed there to convert.

    These craters all became very dangerous traps scattered amongst the Limestone Mountain Range. Even Spirit Burning or Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators wouldn¡¯t lightly choose to brave these craters.

    In addition, the ce was filled with void ruptures.

    The massive conflicts here had caused space to split here, creating countless void ruptures everywhere. It was impossible to spot these with the naked eye, which naturally made them incredibly dangerous. Because space had been directly torn asunder here, there was also no defense that could withstand these ruptures. The only thing a lifeform could do if they were caught by a void rupture was to hope that their powerful life force could keep them alive.

    Unfortunately, regenerating limbs was only possible at the Light Shaking Realm or above; it was just like flight, unless you had a secret technique it was impossible. This factor made it impossible for anyrge battalion to pass through this region.

    Even so, the most frightening aspect of those areas still wasn¡¯t the craters or void ruptures.

    Even though these environmental traps were powerful, there was a somewhat regr pattern to their behavior. There were techniques to avoid these hazards and gaps in the ruptures to sneak past.

    Some existences, on the other hand, were hard to ascribe to any sort of set behavior.

    For instance, the Beast Race.

    The Demonic Beasts were really pampered by this kind of environment. Even in such a period of time, where Origin Energy levels had begun to recede, they still had an astoundingpatibility with the environment around them.

    Humans and the Ferocious Race had no way of surviving in the Limestone Mountain Range, but Demonic Beasts could ¡ª at the very least, a small group of them did.

    A few of the stronger ones, or ones with unique abilities, were able to survive in this ce that was fraught with danger like fish in water. Some even preferred to live in these kinds of environments, as it helped them grow up and be stronger at the same ce. Demonic Beasts were all over the ce, including below the ground and above in the sky, and they would flock together almost immediately to formrge hordes.

    Demonic Beasts could also gain some intelligence, unlike Vicious Beasts. Their intelligence might not beparable to that of the Intelligent Races, but they still knew to avoid the strong and attack the weak. They would all charge in together if they believed they could win, or they would set up ambushes in the surrounding regions if they couldn¡¯t face their enemies head-on.

    It was for this reason that this region was widely considered a no man¡¯snd.

    The only path through the mountain range was near the southwest corner. From there, you would need to walk through the Moon-Embracing Peak, enter the nk Line Gorge, climb around the No Return Pass, and finally traverse the Heart-Stopping Forest. Only once you passed through all of these treacherous areas would you be close to the human border.

    This path had its own name of the Heavenly River Ancient Road.

    The sky above the Limestone Mountain Range was also grey.

    This was caused by the radiation emitted by the Danger Crater.

    Danba stared up at the sky as he picked up a handful of mud. The mud quickly crumbled in his hands and fell to the ground, floating away with the wind.

    Danba opened his palm and nced at the corroded flesh in his hand.

    ¡°Leader, be careful. The poison in the Danger Crater is extremely powerful. Even though we¡¯re only in the outer regions of the crater, we cannot be too careless,¡± said a young Ferocious Race warrior. His name was Laxi, and he was one of the youths who had also attended the Goldwater Ruins Expedition. And now, today, he was one of Danba¡¯s personal guards.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. The Danger Crater is extremely poisonous. If those humans daree here, they will die for sure. I think that they¡¯re more likely to go through the Wankui Caves,¡± said another older, white-haired Ferocious Race soldier. His name was Kubrick, Danba¡¯s number one vicemander. Before Danba¡¯s rise to power, he was also the Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s best strategic general.

    However, in a ce like the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory, intelligence was never viewed that highly. In the words of the Ferocious Race, what was the point in having a strong cultivation if thinking about problems could solve them?

    However, the most important thing was that this strategic general was not as actually as smart as he thought he was ¡ª this was just when he waspared to the Ferocious Race in general.

    Amongst the human race, such a ¡°strategic general¡± was a dime a dozen.

    This kind of strategic general obviously wouldn¡¯t be of much use in a battle against humans, so his status wasn¡¯t very high either. However, Danba had still raised him up along with him. There was nothing he could do ¡ª he was forced to choose a mediocre person from a mediocre bunch. Even if Kubrick¡¯s intelligence couldn¡¯tpare with a human¡¯s, he at least had a rtively normal intelligence and could understand the meaning behind Danba¡¯s words.

    ¡°I hope that that¡¯s the case. It¡¯d be great if those damned humans fight it out with those spirits. That way we won¡¯t have to spend so much energy in chasing them down,¡± another Ferocious Race youth said.

    His name was Bayan. He was the current leader¡¯s son and one of the vicemanders that Danba had defeated to takemand.

    If possible, Danba wouldn¡¯t have wanted him at all.

    Unfortunately, he had no choice. He wasn¡¯t the leader of the tribe yet, and so to obtain the tribe¡¯s support, he had to show respect for the current leader of the tribe.

    Treating the leader¡¯s son, who was formerly his opponent, as a friend was an extremely effective way of demonstrating his respect.

    Even if this guy was an idiot and totally useless.

    ¡°Idiot! If they escape towards this direction, our entire n might be exposed!¡± one of the Ferocious Race soldiers said disdainfully. His name was Shaluo, and he had a treacherous and murderous personality. Even amongst the Ferocious Race, he was quite a rare existence.

    He was guilty of murdering his own master.

    A person who had murdered his own master and betrayed his tribe.

    If it weren¡¯t for Danba, a person like him would have never received a second chance.

    Before, some Ferocious Race individuals had asked Danba why he would use someone who had murdered his own master. To them, Danba had replied, ¡°Any rebellious force needs a person with a rebellious mindset to lead them.¡±

    The meaning behind this sentence was tooplicated for most Ferocious Race members to grasp, so they didn¡¯t understand what he was trying to say.

    ¡°No matter where they run, we will find them and tear them apart,¡± another Ferocious Race individual said.

    This Ferocious Race individual had an exceptionally tall andrge physique, even amongst the brawny Ferocious Race.

    His body emanated a stifling aura of pure power.

    His name was Lonzell.

    He was Danba¡¯s most trusted underling. And just like most trusted subordinates, he had the attitude of a fierce general. Lonzell was Danba¡¯s most vicious and loyal dog.

    He didn¡¯t care about what was right or wrong. Wherever Danba pointed his finger, he would leap in that direction.

    In some sense, this was also a kind of intelligence.

    It was both simple and effective.

    Danba stared mutely at the sky and didn¡¯t give an appraisal of Lonzell¡¯s loyalty.

    After a long time, he said, ¡°Never underestimate your opponents. No matter what, until the Heavenly Might Battalion ispletely wiped out, we cannot let up in our lockdown of the Limestone Mountain Range!¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 126: Forced Conscription

    The de carefully ran across the skin¡¯s surface, causing fresh blood to spurt out and spill all over the table.

    A pair of nimble hands quickly snuck into the body, pulling out an intact heart.

    Even though Chu Yingwan had killed many Ferocious Race soldiers before, she was still not yet used to this scene. She frowned and said, ¡°I don¡¯t understand what benefits this could possible have.¡±

    ¡°The Ferocious Race have two hearts, which allows their bodies to output immense amounts of power. However, power doesn¡¯t juste from one¡¯s hearts......They obviously have one extra heart, but their power is much greater than ours, by over twice the amount!¡± Su Chen replied with a slight smile.

    After meeting up with the Heavenly Might Battalion, the Ferocious Race captives were no longer as useful. As such, Su Chen continued to unsparingly perform research on his targets, causing his research progress to take off.

    The brutality of his opponents or the foreignness of the Ferocious Race were all supplemental information. Merely the hatred between them was enough for their rtionships to be irreconcble.

    As such, Su Chen didn¡¯t spare his opponents any pain or show them any mercy.

    Because he had taught everyone the Hemolytic Totem, the Heavenly Might Battalion became interested in Su Chen¡¯s research topics and woulde over every so often to take a look.

    However, the bloody nature of his research still made people ufortable.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it because of those totems?¡± Chu Yingwan asked.

    ¡°The totems are just supplementary ¡ª their powerful physical bodies act as their foundation, and the totems are just a tool to help them unleash the hidden potential in their bodies,¡± Su Chen said as he inspected the heart in his hands with his microscopic eye. ¡°The true source of their strength is Origin Energy.¡±

    ¡°Origin Energy?¡± Chu Yingwan was stunned. ¡°Don¡¯t the Ferocious Race have a terrible affinity for using Origin Energy?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a big misunderstanding that we have about the Ferocious Race, and it¡¯s something that even I only discovered a few days ago,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°I found that even though they can¡¯t utilize Origin Energy that well, it doesn¡¯t mean that Origin Energy is totally useless for them. On the contrary, they have a very unique microscopic substance in their bodies that constantly converts Origin Energy into raw physical power.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re saying......¡± Chu Yingwan said in shock.

    ¡°Yes, their raw physical power actually stems from converting Origin Energy. We absorb it, store it as actual energy in our bodies, and then unleash it via different Origin Skills. They absorb Origin Energy and convert it into lifeforce instead, resulting in extremely powerful physiques.¡±

    Humans absorbing Origin Energy was almost like increasing one¡¯s mana ¡ª once the mana reached a certain level, it could be manipted and converted into another physical substance. The Ferocious Race¡¯s absorption of Origin Energy, on the other hand, was more like increasing their health.

    In theory, once enough health was added, there should also be a resulting physical change.

    However, these changes were hard to notice for two reasons. Firstly, the Ferocious Race was powerful but only used simple attacks; secondly, they had very simple brains and didn¡¯t like to think too much, so they also didn¡¯t y around with trying new techniques.

    Any person who possessed this secret technique for increasing theirbat power had received it as a merit-based reward, but Su Chen¡¯s view of converting Origin Energy into lifeforce was obviously not so simple.

    He said, ¡°If we can unlock the secrets of how the Ferocious Race converts Origin Energy into life force, then there will be a day where perhaps we humans can also develop bodies as powerful as the Ferocious Race!¡±

    As soon as he said this, everyone was present was stunned.

    ¡°Is that really possible?¡± Li Chongshan hurriedly asked.

    ¡°Yes, but this requires time and luck,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°No one can say what the end result of research will be. Behind every sess is a mountain of failures. I have been researching for over twenty years, and the only three systematic sesses I have developed up are the Hemolytic Totem, Soul Armament, and Primordial Blood Incarnation. If I am able to make enough progress on researching the Ferocious Race, then that would be the fourth. I¡¯m nning on calling it...... body cultivation since you¡¯re tempering your physical body.¡±

    Throughout the history of human cultivation, many Origin Skills had been developed that could increase a human¡¯s physical strength, such as the Flowing Wind Body Technique that Su Chen currently cultivated.

    However, the increase in strength brought about by these techniques couldn¡¯tpare to that of the Ferocious Race¡¯s physique.

    If Su Chen could allow humans to cultivate their physical bodies, or even develop a system of cultivation for it, then that would truly be another grand invention under his belt.

    A sincere smile appeared on Shi Kaihuang¡¯s face as he gazed at his disciple. ¡°You will seed.¡±

    ¡°I hope so.¡± Su Chen maintained his normal skeptical attitude. ¡°Right, how have the Ferocious Race¡¯s movements been lookingtely?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re like a pack of wild dogs, searching over the ce for us all. Should we start moving out?¡± Lin Shaoxuan replied.

    The Ferocious Race¡¯s territory wasrge and sparsely popted, making it possible for the Heavenly Might Battalion to hide in many different locations. This was yet another reason why the Ferocious Race weren¡¯t able to easily catch them.

    However, despite therge amount of territory, much of it was deste, and the avable resources were low. The Ferocious Race had a hard time even keeping themselves alive.

    This made it so that rations were the most pressing problem for the Heavenly Might Battalion.

    The past few months, the Heavenly Might Army had been pressured greatly by theirck of rations. As such, they had paid a heart-wrenching price to stay alive. There was no point in going into exactly what kind of price they had paid, but that didn¡¯t mean that this price didn¡¯t exist.

    If it weren¡¯t for the rations that Su Chen had brought, the Heavenly Might Battalion wouldn¡¯t have been able to hold on for much longer even if they were able to avoid the Origin Beast crisis.

    Everyone turned to look at Su Chen in unison upon hearing what Lin Shaoxuan had said.

    Su Chen was a bit startled. ¡°What are you all looking at me for? We¡¯ve already talked about how to get out of here, and I¡¯ve made the preparations I can. Exactly how to move is up to you.¡±

    Li Chongshanughed, ¡°To pass through the Limestone Mountain Range sessfully, we¡¯ll need to make extensive preparations and plunder vast quantities of resources from the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory. What we attack first and what we attackter is a big issue. I want to hear your thoughts on the matter.¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± Su Chen was stunned. ¡°I¡¯m not one of the Heavenly Might Army¡¯smanders. It might not be appropriate for me toment, right?¡±

    ¡°You are starting from right now,¡± Li Chongshan said as he patted Su Chen¡¯s shoulder. ¡°From today onwards, you are the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s Hidden Mountain Garrison¡¯s deputy garrison chief. You have the authority to attend all military meetings and offer your insights!¡±

    Bing a deputy garrison chief so quickly would have caused almost anyone to beam with happiness.

    Su Chen, however, didn¡¯t appear happy in the slightest. Rather, he said, ¡°I¡¯m not interested. I prefer to stick to my experiments.¡±

    Li Chongshan said, ¡°You can¡¯t refuse. The Heavenly Might Battalion is in trouble and iscking personnel. Consider yourself drafted.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s expression changed. ¡°This is forced conscription!¡±

    Li Chongshan guffawed, ¡°That¡¯s right, you¡¯ve been forcibly conscripted!¡±

    Su Chen turned around to appeal to Shi Kaihuang. ¡°Instructor!¡±

    Shi Kaihuang sighed and said, ¡°He¡¯s the battalionmander, and these are the military¡¯sws. I can¡¯t refute him either.¡±¡¯

    Li Chongshan¡¯s delighted appearance, as well as the furtive smiles from Chu Yingwan, Lin Shaoxuan, and the others, told Su Chen that he wasn¡¯t going to be able to wriggle his way out of this one.

    He sighed. ¡°Hm, it seems as if I ran all those kilometershere just to run headfirst into a.¡±

    Chu Yingwanughed as he said, ¡°I know that you have no interest inattending to military matters. Don¡¯t worry, this deputy garrison chief is an empty title of sorts. If you want to exercise your authority with it, you can. And if you don¡¯t want to then no one will make trouble for you. However, the benefits thate with the title won¡¯t be withheld either. Themander has made a lot of effort for you.¡±

    Upon hearing this, Su Chen nodded. ¡°That¡¯s more like it.¡±

    ¡°So now what? Give us an idea. Where should we go to?¡±

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°Crimson Army Peak.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 127: Siege 1

    Chapter 127: Siege (1)

    Crimson Army Peak, Aurora City.

    This city was located in the western stretches of the Permafrost Wastnds, and it belonged to the Shivering Chill Tribe.

    The Shivering Chill Tribe was arge tribe that had historically dominated the Permafrost Wastnd. During the height of their power, they were strong enough to fight for control over the whole Blood and Iron Country. Even though they had never sat on the throne before, they were constantly very close to the top throughout the tens of thousands of years of Ferocious Race history.

    Even now, they were an extremely strong tribe in the Permafrost Wastnd.

    Aurora City was the ancient home of the Shivering Chill Tribe.

    ording to Su Chen¡¯s n, Aurora City was a checkpoint that absolutely needed to be taken. This was because the Extremity Ice Wolf Origin Cores found here were a crucial resource for passing through the Danger Crater.

    The reason they had chose to attack this ce first was primarily because this was going to be the hardest preparation they had to make.

    They had to break the hardest bone first before the Ferocious Race was able to respond and heighten their defenses. Otherwise, it would be even more difficult to break through if the opponent increased their defenses any further.

    The second reason was that since this ce was the ancient home of the Shivering Chill Tribe, not only did it possess arge military presence but also contained the tribe¡¯s Divine Shrine, which was where the Ferocious Race kept all their information. By taking this Divine Shrine, that was the equivalent of possessing the entire wealth of the Ferocious Face¡¯s information, meaning that he did not have to take as many detours when performing experiments. In addition, the Hemolytic Totem had been derived from the Ferocious Race¡¯s Totemic Inscriptions, so the Divine Shrine might containrge quantities of resources for making the Hemolytic Totem, which could then be used to further increase the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s power.

    Late in the night.

    The stars twinkled in the dark sky.

    At the front of the city, a group of Ferocious Race soldiers was sitting around drinking wine and scarfing down meat. In the middle were two Ferocious Race soldiers arm wrestling each other around a table made of ice.

    ¡°Go!¡±

    ¡°Go!¡±

    ¡°Go!¡±

    ¡°Go!¡±

    ¡°Go!¡±

    The crowd of onlookers yelled and cheered them on incessantly.

    The two Ferocious Race soldiers struggled as their eyes bulged and their foreheads began to turn purple.

    Finally, one of the soldiers began to slip, and his arm was slowly pressed down.

    The back of his hand finally fell onto the ice table¡¯s surface.

    ¡°WOO!¡±

    A few of the Ferocious Race soldiers began to cheer loudly.

    ¡°Nicely done, Gurr! You¡¯re worthy of the title ¡®Red Dragon!¡¯ I knew I was right to bet on you!¡±

    ¡°I won again!¡±

    ¡°Beautifully done!¡±

    ¡°AWOO!¡± The victorious Ferocious Race soldier waved his arms as he basked in the praise. A few of the other soldiers waved aroundrge bags of money as they danced around him.

    In contrast to their joy, there were a few Ferocious Race soldiers who seemed quite depressed.

    ¡°Damned Hanza, you said you could beat him.¡±

    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have trusted this bastard.¡±

    ¡°This useless thing! Trusting him was the biggest mistake I¡¯ve ever made.¡±

    The Ferocious Race soldiers who had lostined to vent their dissatisfaction.

    The Ferocious Race soldier who had been called the Red Dragon raised his hands high in the air. ¡°Anyone else?¡±

    No one answered his call.

    It seemed like everyone had given up challenging him.

    At this moment, no one noticed a cloud of dust silently encroaching onto the city.

    A battalion of soldiers was advancing silently under the cover of the night.

    The darkness concealed the battalion¡¯s movements. The stars tonight were quite bright, making the darkness itself stand out, an obvious target ¡ª that is, if those soldiers hadn¡¯t been so oblivious.

    It wasn¡¯t their fault. After all, they were in the backlines, and the soldiers here weren¡¯t used to fighting.

    However, these excuses weren¡¯t important. What mattered the most were the results.

    The darkness rapidly closed in, getting closer and closer to the city walls.

    The soldiers atop the city walls were still chugging down wine and making a ruckus, pushing each other around and making fun of each other.

    Finally, one of the soldiers stepped away from the group momentarily.

    Perhaps because he had drunk too much, he wandered around the city walls, swaying back and forth before he finally stopped at a corner of the city, pulling down his pants and relieving himself.

    At this moment, he finally noticed that something off in the distance was wrong.

    A moving wave of darkness.

    At first, he was a bit taken aback. He rubbed his eyes, and after confirming that his eyes weren¡¯t deceiving him, he said to another nearby soldier instead of reacting immediately, ¡°Tuer, look at that. What is that? Is my eyesight going?¡±

    The soldier named Tuer also walked over. He had drunk quite a bit as well, and he didn¡¯t realize what the strange scene outside the city walls was either. He said, ¡°I¡¯m not too sure ¡ª maybe it¡¯s fog?¡±

    The first soldier said, somewhat in a daze, ¡°I think I should go and find themander to take a look at it, or at least use the Eagle Eye.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be silly. It¡¯s just some fog; it¡¯s no big deal,¡± Tuer said disdainfully. He looked down, then said, ¡°Your appendage is about to freeze off.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± The soldier finally remembered that his member was still hanging out, so he hurriedly began to relieve himself.

    The fog had already reached the walls of the city. Liquid flew off of the walls and rained down on the fog below.

    The soldier chuckled with satisfaction.

    Then, a shocking scene appeared before his eyes.

    The dark fog suddenly shot up the city wall, and a covered face suddenly appeared before his eyes.

    ¡°This is......¡±

    The two Ferocious Race soldiers simultaneously sucked in a breath of cold air as they realized what was happening.

    Humans!

    The humans had managed to sneak in right under their eyelids.

    Just as they were about to cry out.

    Whoosh!

    de light shed through the air, and two heads flew in an arc through the sky.

    As two fountains of blood suddenly began to spurt from their necks, a high-ranking human officer d entirely in grey armor appeared at the top of the city walls, wielding his steel de.

    Drops of water were in his hair ¡ª pee from the aforementioned Ferocious Race soldiers.

    Anger and killing intent appeared in his expression,bining to give him a unique aura. The high-ranking officer raised his de and swung it through the air. ¡°Attack!¡±

    Immediately following thismand, soldier after soldier mounted the walls of the city, charging towards the partying Ferocious Race soldiers below.

    At this moment, the Ferocious Race soldiers finally reacted.

    ¡°Ambush!¡±

    Shrill cries began to ring out, but before they could travel far they were quickly silenced by a sh to the throat. A Ferocious Race soldier clutched at his wound, unwilling to fall to the ground, but another streak of light flew forward and cut off his head, forcing his cries to cease.

    Even so, there were other soldiers who were starting to cry out.

    ¡°Ambush!¡±

    ¡°Ambush!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re being ambushed!¡±

    The warning cries rang throughout the city.

    But just as these warnings came out, they were all silenced by a cold de light.

    In order to conceal the secret ambush, Li Chonghai and all the other generals of the Heavenly Might Battalion had personally taken to the field as the vanguard.

    The person who had gotten pissed on was Cheng Tianhai.

    Even though so many experts had simultaneously unleashed powerful attacks and killed many Ferocious Race soldiers, there were still one or two who were able to escape through the fishing and send out a warning.

    ¡°ng!¡±

    The crisp sh of metal ripped apart the calmness of the night.

    This time, it wasn¡¯t just individual Ferocious Race soldiers crying out. The entire city was now on alert.

    ¡°AMBUSH!!!¡±

    A clear shout rang through the sky. At this moment, even a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator would have a hard time suppressing the rm.

    However, it was already toote.

    RUMBLE!!!

    With an extremely loud squeal, the doors to the city were opened, and the human army rushed in like a tidal wave.

    ¡°Attack with full force!¡± Shi Kaihuang yelled out coarsely.

    The battle for Aurora City had officially begun.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 128: Siege 2

    Chapter 128: Siege (2)

    Aurora City was high on the list of Ferocious Race cities in terms of pure defensive prowess.

    Even though it wasn¡¯t as iron-d as Flowing Gold Fort, Aurora City also had its own defensive system. There were many defensive Origin Formations scattered throughout the city, as well as many Thunderfire Crossbows that were specifically used to target attackers from long-range.

    Even so, these defensive strategies were meant to be used against enemies outside the city walls. Once they managed to sneak into the city, the only line of defense left was the soldiers themselves.

    The Ferocious Race soldiers, who had lost quite a bit of territory, didn¡¯t panic. They charged forwards boldly, waving their des in the air. Some didn¡¯t even bother putting on body armor, deciding to do battle with just their weapons.

    Even so, bravery couldn¡¯t win against cold steel, and fearlessness could not defeat discipline.

    The valiant yet unprepared Ferocious Race soldiers would never be able to defend themselves against the human soldiers, who had made ample preparations for battle.

    Immediately after charging into Aurora City, all of the soldiers began to pour into the heart of the city under their respectivemanders. They weren¡¯t in a hurry to take control of a part of the city. Instead, they unrelentingly pushed deeper and deeper into the city. As they flooded every street and alleyway of the city, they ughtered every Ferocious Race individual they came across.

    The Ferocious Race were all natural-born warriors, and there was no distinction between amoner and a soldier. Every one, even if they were a woman or child, could be an outstanding warrior as soon as they picked up their weapon.

    Because of this, the Heavenly Might Battalion made no exceptions in their massacre, and they didn¡¯t let anymoners escape.

    The requirement Li Chongshan had given them was that not even a single de of grass could remain standing wherever they walked.

    Such was the nature of battles between races. This was the ultimate manifestation of the enmity and hatred between the two races ¡ª there was nopassion, no mercy. The only thought in every soldier¡¯s mind was the ongoing ughter.

    They would either exterminate their opponents first, or their opponents would exterminate them.

    Cheng Tianhai and his Seamount Garrison took point and charged into every street and alleyway of the city. Their job wasn¡¯t to kill, but rather to disrupt the Ferocious Race¡¯s defensive formations and instill a sense of panic, which would prevent their opponents from regrouping.

    Jun Moxie and his Dragon Mountain Garrison yed the part of the cleanup crew. They followed closely behind the rapidly advancing Seamount Garrison, wantonly killing the Ferocious Race individuals that had survived the initial charge. Their goal was to do as much damage as possible.

    Lin Shaoxuan and his Hidden Mountain Garrison were responsible for keeping watch from the city walls. Even though the city walls had been taken, there were still many Ferocious Race soldiers resisting and because they were on the patrol shift, they were well-armed and had maintained a certain degree of organization. More importantly, there were still many Thunderfire Crossbows mounted on the city walls. Not only did the Hidden Mountain Garrison have to kill the guards on the city walls, but they also had to turn the Thunderfire Crossbows around so that they could use it against the Ferocious Race soldiers still in the city.

    Aurora City was immediately engulfed in a fierce massacre. Blood and mes flew high into the sky, staining the entire city scarlet.

    At the same time, this was like a hunting game. The human soldiers hunted their way through the Ferocious Race army, running right through them as if they were rotten wood.

    ¡°ROAR!¡±

    An earth-shattering howl reverberated through the night.

    Following this howl, a massive battleaxe descended from the air out of nowhere, swinging at a charging group of soldiers.

    The group of ten or so soldiers raised their shields at the same time, bracing themselves for the blow as their shields gathered together to form a singr stout shield of light. Even so, this battleaxe strike cleaved right through thebined shield like it was air.

    As the shield shattered, the axe continued to fly through the air, mming into the ten-man team¡¯s captain and bisecting him. It continued onwards, its momentum totally unhindered, until it eventually mmed into a section of the city walls, causing it to copse.

    A massive figure walked out of the shadows.

    His brawny physique caused him to tower over everyone else like a mountain. The battleaxe he carried in one hand looked like it could split a mountain, and a bunch of throwing axes were slung over his back.

    ¡°DIE!¡± the Ferocious Race warrior yelled again, pulling out another flying axe from his back and tossing it at another group of soldiers. Even though those ten soldiers also did their best to try and defend themselves, their captain suffered the same fate of being cut in half.

    Having wiped out two ten-man teams and their captains, the gigantic Ferocious Race warrior leapt forwards again, jumping in between the two teams. His body began to glow with a radiant light as he swung his massive battle axe at the ground at the same time.

    Boom!!!

    A massive wave of energy began to radiate from him as the center, undting across the ground and coursing through the eighteen soldiers from the two squads. They cried out tragically as the waves of energy sent them flying. Without their captains to lead them, theirbined defensive formation could not be activated, and their average martial artist physiques were unable to withstand the violent energy. They were actually killed in a single blow.

    ¡°ROAR!¡± The Ferocious Race soldier tilted his head back and let out another fierce roar.

    Even so, his rampage was about toe to an end.

    Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

    Countless streaks of light arced across the sky as a squad of blue-garbed soldiersnded in front of his feet.

    They were also a ten-man team, but their bodies glowed faintly with the luster of Origin Energy.

    This group of soldiers were all in the Qi Drawing Realm, and their captain was at the Blood Boiling Realm.

    ¡°It¡¯s a Temple Warrior with high-tier totem inscriptions. Everyone, be careful.¡±

    ¡°Roar!¡± The Ferocious Race warrior chopped down with his battleaxe.

    However, his axe was not able to prate through his opponents¡¯ defenses so easily this time.

    The powerful barrier of light glowed brilliantly, withstanding the hacking attack of the battleaxe. At the same time, streaks of light began to rain down from the sky behind them, mming into the gigantic warrior. Two groups ofmon soldiers had charged forwards again, wielding heavy crossbows that shot out volley after volley.

    The lights on the warrior¡¯s body shed repeatedly but when faced against the unyielding torrent of attacks, it was still not enough. He howled and raged, wanting to charge out of the encirclement of Origin Qi Schrs, but he just couldn¡¯t escape. Gradually, he began to run out of energy.

    Finally, after yet another volley of crossbow boltsnded, the warrior¡¯s defensive barrier waspletely destroyed. Even more crossbow bolts continued to rain down on him, turning him into a pincushion almost immediately.

    Having finished off the massive warrior, the squad of Origin Qi Schrs retreated, focusing their attention on another target.

    This squad of Origin Qi Schrs were from the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s Blue Mountain Company.

    There were only a thousand people in the Blue Mountain Company, but they were all Origin Qi Schrs who had been hand-picked from arge group of soldiers. They were the elites of the Heavenly Might Battalion.

    The Ferocious Race soldier they had been fighting was one who had been baptized once by the Origin Energy Temple and whose totemic inscriptions were already at the high-tier level. His strength should have been equivalent to that of someone at the peak of the Yang Opening Realm, but the Blue Mountain Company had stopped his attack with just nine Qi Drawing Realm cultivators and a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator. And with the aid of two normal squads, they had managed to defeat that warrior, demonstrating their superiority and strength. The leader of this squad was Chu Yingwan.

    Su Chen had watched the Ferocious Race warrior go down. He couldn¡¯t help but sigh in amazement.

    This was the power of an army. They could turn numbers into actual strength. If he had faced an army like this back in Clear River City, he would have probably died.

    However, this kind of elite group was extremely rare, even among the human armies.

    Of course, determining the oue of a battle also depended on the performances of the powerful individuals!

    Boom!

    Energy surged forth as a column of light shot into the sky. Another massive figure appeared, followed by a booming roar, ¡°Li Chongshan, do you daree out and fight me!?¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 129: Siege 3

    Chapter 129: Siege (3)

    Styma floated in the air, staring angrily at his surroundings.

    He knew that he had lost this battle, and that Aurora City was doomed.

    However, as chieftain of the Shivering Chill Tribe, even if he died, he needed to do so by going out in a ze of glory.

    The moment he appeared, he had unintentionally exposed himself to all of the firepower in the city. In that instant, Li Shaoxuan ordered all of his soldiers to immediately aim at Styma with their Thunderfire Crossbows. They would have fired, if it weren¡¯t for Li Chongshan¡¯s response.

    His voice floated through the air in response to Styma¡¯s call. ¡°If Chieftain is the one inviting me, then how could I, Chongshan, not respond in kind?¡±

    As he spoke, he stepped out from a group of soldiers, floating towards the sky.

    In terms of Origin Skill cultivation, the Spirit Burning Realm Li Chongshan was obviously much stronger than Styma. He floated very casually through the air, giving off a leisurely and calm aura.

    However, the Ferocious Race did not care for elegance, and they did not fight with Origin Skills either.

    Styma howled as he watched Li Chongshan approach. The de in his hand began to glow, flickering with lightning and roaring with thunder as he stabbed at Li Chongshan.

    This simple de strike exuded a shocking aura of death that seemed to propagate infinitely before everyone¡¯s eyes.

    In that instant, a thought surfaced in everyone¡¯s minds: ¡®Impossible to block.¡¯

    Even so, when faced with this frightening attack, Li Chongshan stepped forwards to meet it. His body began to hum as it vibrated with energy, as if there were countless bells buzzing beneath his skin. The humming was almost celestial in nature, and the faint image of a divine pce appeared behind him.

    This divine pce released a bright radiance as it began to exert its influence on the lightning-covered de, preventing it from descending.

    ¡°Burning Spirit Divine Pce!¡± Su Chen blurted out.

    The Light Shaking Realm had Lotus tforms, while the Spirit Burning Realm had Divine Pces.

    These Divine Pces were equivalent to upgraded versions of a Lotus tform. They were the truest manifestations of a person¡¯s cultivation power.

    The Divine Pce in front of him had five levels, implying that Li Chongshan was an expert with a Fivefold Pce. The peak of the Spirit Burning Realm was at eight levels, so Li Chongshan was quite advanced even amongst for Spirit Burning Realm cultivators. Inparison, Gu Yaoye and the other three ancestors of the four big Bloodline Nobility ns were all roughly at this level. However, they were also much older than Li Chongshan, a testament to Li Chongshan¡¯s outstanding talent.

    The five-leveled pce protected Li Chongshan¡¯s body like a fortress. His defensive power was innumerably greater than that of a Light Shaking Realm cultivator. When the de of lightning collided with the Divine Pce, sparks flew everywhere as streaks of light arced through the sky.

    ¡°ROAR!¡±

    Styma howled savagely as he waved his de again. The lightning running across the surface of the de grew more and more intense, and the inscriptions on his body also began to flicker ominously.

    He opened with a killing move, going all-out from the very beginning.

    In this life-or-death situation, he couldn¡¯t afford to hold back. It was impossible for him to slowly advance during this battle.

    Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

    Eighteen des of lightning mmed into the Divine Pce repeatedly, knocking Li Chongshan around like a ping pong ball and forcing him back. The shes of lightning would asionally crash into the nearby buildings, reducing them to rubble. A few soldiers also identally touched the tendrils of lightning for just a moment, but they were instantly incinerated. The higher-level officials were forced to intervene.

    Converting a numbers advantage into pure strength only worked when the gap between cultivation tiers was limited to a certain level. Ten elite Qi Drawing Realm cultivators under the leadership of a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator could defeat a Yang Opening Realm cultivator, but ten times those numbers wouldn¡¯t ever be enough to deal with a Light Shaking Realm cultivator.

    ¡°Li Chongshan, die!¡± Styma yelled loudly. Another eighteen fierce attacks sprang forth.

    The Ferocious Race¡¯s style of battle was very simple and crude. All of their cultivation was focused on increasing their brute strength and raw defensive ability. Even the Origin Energy they received from the temple¡¯s baptism was treated as such. The lightning tendrils flickering across his de were a result of his baptism. When paired with his own frightening physical power, the might he was able to unleash was far greater than that of a normal Spirit Burning Realm cultivator.

    When faced with such an opponent, the best strategy wasn¡¯t to charge forwards recklessly but rather to use a human¡¯s natural agility to wear down the opponent, slowly grinding him to death.

    However, Li Chongshan ignored this conventional logic. He chose the dumbest and most inexplicable tactic.

    He used the Divine Pce to forcefully endure Styma¡¯s attacks. Multicolored light scattered everywhere, to the point that Styma actually found it hard to keep his eyes open.

    Then, he watched as the Divine Pce began to open its doors, and a massive tiger covered in raging mes emerged, opening its maw to bite down on Styma.

    Scarlet me Demonic King!

    Unlike lower-tier Origin Qi Schrs, Li Chongshan¡¯s bloodline had congealed to around 40% purity, which made the Scarlet me Demonic King he formed much more realistic. It already seemed to have a physical form and could partly unleash a Demonic King¡¯s true power.

    Even though it was just a fraction, that was already frightening enough.

    The Scarlet me Demonic Tiger charged forwards, causing the raging mes on its body to surge high into the sky. Its massive paw raked at the ground, making it seem as if the sun was about to collide with the earth.

    Styma swung his de fiercely. Streak after streak of lightning flew through the air, mming into both the tiger and Li Chongshan. The excess lightning from the unrestrained energy sent thunder and lightning crackling all over the ce, lighting up the sky.

    Only two people were involved in this frightening battle, but Su Chen felt as if he had returned to Swallow River City, as if he were once again watching the four Spirit Burning Realm cultivators fighting against the Demonic King. Unlike then, however, the area Swallow River City had covered wasrger, and the effects were more widespread. On the other hand, the forest also concealed some parts of the battle and made it hard to see the entire fight clearly. Right now, Su Chen could clearly observe the exchanges of the two experts in front of him and understand it better.

    He stared intently at the battle, his microscopic eye being utilized to its maximum extent as he observed the two of them trading blows.

    Perhaps it was because he had been using the microscopic eye for so long, but Su Chen¡¯s eyes could see things in quite high detail, and he could even capture the flow of energy. It was for this reason that he could observe the adaptations and fundamental attributes of both fighters¡¯ styles.

    At Swallow River City, he had been too busy focusing on saving lives and had had no spare time to observe the fight. Now, however, he had the opportunity to watch closely.

    This was also the highest-caliber battle Su Chen had ever personally witnessed, and it had a profound and deep impact on him.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is...... So that¡¯s how it is...... I understand now! I understand now!¡± Su Chen muttered incessantly to himself as his eyes lit up.

    Many of the questions he had been unable to understand before suddenly became extremely simple. Su Chen¡¯s path towards reaching the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline was advancing greatly the longer he watched the battle.

    If before the path in front of him was filled with darkness, then at this moment a ray of light had appeared, illuminating a way to advance for Su Chen.

    With a direction in ce, he could begin to pave the road!

    At this moment, Su Chen¡¯s confidence that he would be able to create a technique for reaching the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline had grown significantly.

    Li Chongshan and Styma were still fighting in midair, keeping themselves quite busy.

    If no one interrupted them, the two of them might have fought all the way until the sun rose.

    However, at that moment, a strange sound could suddenly be heard.

    It was as if someone was muttering next to one¡¯s ear. It was impossible to clearly hear what was being said, but there was a mysterious quality to it, and it made the listener feel like their consciousness was flickering slightly as their movements slowed.

    Li Chongshan, however,ughed loudly when he noticed the strange situation. ¡°So you¡¯ve finally made a move? Your Majesty the ancestor, we¡¯ve been waiting for you!¡±

    As he spoke, the situation suddenly changed.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 130: Ancestor 1

    Chapter 130: Ancestor (1)

    Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

    A number of shadows darted towards the chieftain in midair one after another, as well as the powerful existence hiding in the shadows.

    Following a thunderous boom, multiple figures flew into motion, illuminated by the lightning and mes.

    Styma howled angrily because he now had two additional opponents to deal with.

    Shi Kaihuang and Jun Moxie.

    The three of them attacked Styma at the same time, causing the situation to immediately shift.

    This was something that Li Chongshan had anticipated far in advance.

    In terms of pure power, Li Chongshan wasn¡¯t weaker than Styma.

    However, in terms ofbat style, Li Chongshan couldn¡¯t possibly fight as boldly and unrestrainedly as Styma. The Ferocious Race were natural warriors and didn¡¯t know what exhaustion was when they started fighting, as if they had a endless supply of energy. Most of the time, their attacks would hit just as hard at the end as at the beginning.

    Because of this, directly fighting with Styma put Li Chongshan at a disadvantage.

    This was true even if he had the support of the Scarlet me Demonic Tiger and the five-leveled Divine Pce.

    However, Li Chongshan had still chosen to do so.

    This was because he had a very clear understanding that, in a battle between two armies, morale was the most important factor. This was especially true at this critical juncture, where they needed to press forward with their offense the most. A general who fought from the shadows wasn¡¯t going to inspire as much morale as a general who fought an opponent head-on ¡ª see, our general faced off against their chieftain, so we humans are stronger than them!

    He could use this method to subtly create this kind of thought in his soldiers, stimting their courage and desire to do battle.

    On the other hand, he was also brave enough to do this because he had calcted that this battle wouldn¡¯t take very long.

    When they were already at a heavy disadvantage, who would care about the rules?

    It could be said that, from the beginning, everyone was waiting for the Head Ancestor to make a move.

    The Head Ancestor¡¯s appearance was essentially the signal for the one-on-one battle to end, as it served as a justification for them to gang up. As such, as soon as the Head Ancestor attacked, the rules of the one-on-one battle had been vited.

    Shi Kaihuang pressed down with his palm, activating the Sumeru Void technique, which caused Styma to feel like his lower half had suddenly been submerged in water as his movements were greatly restricted. Arge Buddha-like palm whistled towards the ground, and under its immense pressure, Styma¡¯s lightning was snuffed out.

    Jun Moxie¡¯s method of attacking was somewhat creepier.

    He wielded a smallmp, whose me flickered in the wind yet didn¡¯t go out. It shed repeatedly with light.

    Every time it shed, Styma¡¯s aura would weaken, while Li Chongshan¡¯s fiveyered Divine Pce would grow brighter. The Scarlet ming Tiger howled even more fiercely as the mes on its body actually turned white.

    White-hot ming spears shot at Styma, and he was unable to fend off the attacks with his de of lightning. The bright totemic inscriptions on his body began to detonate under the onught of the mes, and even his iron-like physique was unable to resist the attacks.

    All he could do was howl and thrash about angrily; when faced with the simultaneous attacks of three opponents, he found himself powerless.

    At the same time, Cheng Tianhai, Lin Shaoxuan, and Chu Yingwan charged at three separate Ferocious Race soldiers. Inparison to Styma, their opponents were much older.

    The Ferocious Race individual at the front had a white beard and strange inscriptions drawn across his face. In front of his neck hung a chain of skulls from real people that had been shrunk down to a smaller size. The eye sockets of each skull glowed with a mysterious blue me.

    The other two wielded long canes and seemed equally ancient.

    These three old men were the Shivering Chill Divine Shrine¡¯s three Ancestors.

    Unlike normal Ferocious Race Heroes, Ferocious Race Ancestors were obviously more suited to using arcane techniques to do battle. The Head Ancestor pulled off his skull ne and tossed it in front of him as he muttered a chant. The ne of skulls began to gnash their teeth as they charged at the three generals.

    Lin Shaoxuan shed his sword three times. The sword light mmed into those skulls but was unable to destroy them. The skulls continued to advance quickly as they spit out a ck smoke from their mouths.

    ¡°Careful, that¡¯s Soul Devouring Smoke,¡± Chu Yingwan yelled. A Lotus tform appeared at the center of her forehead and shone protectively, preventing the poisonous smoke from getting close to her.

    However, those skulls continued to tter and gnash their teeth, causing the opponents¡¯ hair to stand on end, and even their attacks to be slightly weaker.

    These Ancestors only had averagebat capabilities, but their tactics were all slippery as an eel. The skulls alone were enough to temporarily prevent the three generals from carelessly advancing.

    And at this moment, the other two ancestors also attacked.

    Another Ancestor pulled out a mirror at this moment and a light shone out from its surface at Cheng Tianhai.

    Just as the light from the mirror was about tond on Cheng Tianhai, Lin Shaoxuan charged over. He was an Origin Qi Schr that specialized in speed, and was incredibly quick; in the blink of an eye, he had appeared in front of Cheng Tianhai. The light shone onto Lin Shaoxuan, who felt his vision go blurry as he almost fainted. An instantter, he watched an exact replica of himself walk out of that mirror and charge in their direction.

    ¡°So this is witchcraft? It really is quite interesting!¡± Su Chen muttered to himself as he watched the scene unfold from afar.

    The Ferocious Race was able to survive here for tens of thousands of years not just because of the Origin Energy Temple. They also had their own established traditions, history, and unique cultivation systems.

    However, Su Chen wasn¡¯t worried about Chu Yingwan and the others. After having fought so many battles against the Ferocious Race, everyone knew of their tactics and abilities, and no one would fall into a trap like that so easily.

    Indeed, an instantter, Cheng Tianhai charged forwards, hacking at the Lin Shaoxuan mimic with hisrge axe.

    His style of battle somewhat resembled Styma¡¯s. They both charged forwards resolutely, but he didn¡¯t fight side-by-side with Li Chongshan because he was needed to deal with these Ancestors.

    The Lin Shaoxuan mimic was only about half as powerful as the real Lin Shaoxuan, but this half-power had been forcibly taken from the real Lin Shaoxuan. In other words, unless this illusion was killed, Lin Shaoxuan wouldn¡¯t be able to recover back to his full strength. Thus, to kill these mimics as quickly as possible, they needed a powerful and vigorous warrior like Cheng Tianhai.

    Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

    The battleaxe violently mmed into the mimic Lin Shaoxuan¡¯s body, causing a resplendent light to burst forth. The mimic Lin Shaoxuan shattered like a piece of stained ss dropped on the floor, refracting light everywhere as it broke apart into tiny pieces, each of which contained a tiny Lin Shaoxuan.

    ¡°HA!¡± Cheng Tianhai howled as his axe began to shine with a bloody luster. It charged at the wave of refracted light, sending all of the shattered fragments flying.

    The Ancestor immediately shrieked with rage. The mirror in his hands began to crack before finally shattering.

    If this illusion was destroyed too quickly, the damage sustained by the illusion would be transferred onto the mirror.

    Lin Shaoxuan¡¯s speed was incredibly fast but his defensive capabilities were low. On the other hand, Cheng Tianhai had both strong offensive and defensive capabilities. This meant that their best n of action was to have Lin Shaoxuan expose himself to the mirror¡¯s shining in Cheng Tianhai¡¯s ce, and Cheng Tianhai could then immediately respond with an explosive burst of power, quickly destroying the mimic. Their coordination had been impable.

    This Divine Shrine Ancestor¡¯s killing blow had been nullified just like that.

    The final Ancestor cried out as he pulled out another item. It was arge poisonous scorpion that increased in size as soon as it appeared in the air, then scuttled menacingly towards the three of them as soon as itnded on the ground.

    At the same time, the Head Ancestor began to chant once again. The spinning skulls in the air began to morph, and the poisonous smoke gathered on the skulls¡¯ surface, gradually taking on a new form. There were a total of eighteen skulls before, and at this moment they had be an eighteen-skull construct that actually wielded a weapon of its own as it charged at the three generals.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 131: Ancestor 2

    Chapter 131: Ancestor (2)

    These eighteen skulls seemed simple, but in actuality each one of them was special and had their own unique abilities.

    Cheng Tianhai¡¯s battleaxe mmed into the skull construct. If he had mmed it into the construct¡¯s head, it would deflect off, and if he mmed it into the body, the construct dissolve into ck smoke before reforming. The construct¡¯s attacks weren¡¯t easy to deal with either, as the weapon it wielded was also made from the ck smoke. Not only did it have ethereal properties, but it would also corrode anything it touched even if it collided with a barrier.

    Cheng Tianhai was hit by one of its attacks, and his iron-like skin actually began to rust and turn copper-green. His powerful body was actually as weak as a baby¡¯s against these skulls, shocking him quite badly in his heart. He yelled, ¡°This damned bastard isn¡¯t easy to deal with! Little girl Chu, what are you doing? Why haven¡¯t you used that yet?¡±

    Chu Yingwan snapped at him, ¡°Can¡¯t you see that I¡¯m busy?¡±

    She had her hands full with the poisonous scorpion.

    This poisonous scorpion wasn¡¯t a tamed Demonic Beast; rather, it was a poisonous organism that had been refined with a Demonic Beast as the starting ingredient.

    The Ferocious Race had a long history of being aplices to evil. First, they were shepherds for the Beast Race, then they allied with the Arcana Race and became their watchdogs. It wasn¡¯t until the Arcana Race fell that they finally obtained their own identity. This refined poison organism was something that they had picked up from the Arcana Race while they were their dogs, and it was something that the Arcana Race had given up on using.

    This was because the poison would also corrode the user¡¯s body, causing it to weaken.

    The Arcana Race was already very physically weak, so it was impossible for them to appreciate or use this kind of technique. However, the Ferocious Race¡¯s bodies were powerful enough to endure it.

    The skulls and the poisonous scorpion were both produced from this kind of system, and the user paid the same price of a weakened physical body. For this reason, even though the Divine Shrine Ancestors possessed powerful mystical abilities, they had sacrificed the powerful physiques that the Ferocious Race were known for. Their main purpose was to support theck of Origin Energy sensitivity that most Ferocious Race individuals were subject to.

    Because they were used to address a deficiency, the Divine Shrine Ancestors were powerful but not invincible. Their power alone wasn¡¯t enough to suppress an opponent ¡ª they needed to be protected by arge group of soldiers.

    And when soldiers werecking, their weak bodies would be their greatest weakness.

    As such, even though Chu Yingwan had responded to Cheng Tianhai¡¯s yell that she was busy, her movements didn¡¯t dy in the slightest.

    She pulled out something.

    It was a fistful of sand.

    After pulling out the sand, Chu Yingwan actually dumped it on her own head. As the grains of sand fell, they rapidly covered her entire body. Then, when the pile of sand reached the ground, Chu Yingwan had disappeared without a trace.

    Shock appeared on the Head Ancestor¡¯s face.

    He chanted a few sentences loudly. No one knew what he had said, but the eighteen skulls turned around and shot back in the Head Ancestor¡¯s direction.

    However, he was still a bit toote.

    Chu Yingwan¡¯s figure suddenly appeared out of thin air behind the Head Ancestor. The other two Ancestors yelled as they pointed behind him; however, the Head Ancestor seemed totally unaware and stood there,pletely motionless.

    No, he was moving, but his movements were incredibly slow.

    Chu Yingwan raised the spear in her hand and sighed, ¡°I wasn¡¯t nning on using this Time Sand, but finishing you all off would be too annoying otherwise. Oh well.¡±

    As she spoke, she raised the silver spear in her hand and pierced the Head Ancestor¡¯s heart.

    The Head Ancestor seemed to not feel anything and slowly moved to the side, wanting to escape from Chu Yingwan¡¯s control.

    However, his struggling was futile.

    Chu Yingwan stabbed her spear three more times into his spine, cutting off his Life Spring, destroying his Qi Roots, and wiping out his Magic Lines. These three areas were the vital points of the Ancestors. If any one of them were left intact, he might have been able to survive; however, Chu Yingwan¡¯s attacks were extremely precise, not sparing a single vital point.

    At this moment, the Time Sand¡¯s effect ceased, and the Head Ancestor¡¯s movements suddenly sped up as he escaped from Chu Yingwan¡¯s control.

    Chu Yingwan didn¡¯t chase after him. She stared coldly at him and said, ¡°You¡¯re already dead.¡±

    The Head Ancestor turned around to stare at Chu Yingwan in fear and shock before his head fell off of his body and bounced along the ground.

    The eighteen skulls had finally reached the Head Ancestor¡¯s side, and with his death, the skulls all screamed in unison before disappearing into a ck smoke that gradually dispersed away.

    The two remaining Ancestors howled with rage and began to unleash as much power as they could.

    Following their cries, arge group of Ferocious Race individuals came charging out of the Divine Shrine.

    These people were the guards of the Divine Shrine, with many of them having a specialized profession.

    ¡°A group brawl? My favorite,¡± Chu Yingwan said indifferently.

    She gestured, and the Blue Mountain Company¡¯s warriors all charged forwards to greet the Divine Shrine¡¯s warriors.

    A bloody metallic light lit up the night sky above the city.

    ¡°Time Sand......¡± Su Chen muttered as he watched Chu Yingwan kill the Head Ancestor.

    Time Sand was an incredibly rare treasure. Just as he had observed a few moments ago, it was able to affect an opponent¡¯s perception of time.

    The Head Ancestor of a Divine Shrine was an extremely frightening individual. In terms of strength, even the tribe¡¯s chieftain couldn¡¯tpare to him. Chu Yingwan and the others had dared to challenge him precisely because of this Time Sand. They had first waited for the Head Ancestor¡¯s eighteen skulls to all be activated, and then used the Time Sand to suddenly assassinate the opponent. The Head Ancestor had other ways of defending himself even without the skulls, but the sudden slowing of time he experienced made it impossible for him to activate them on time. His weak physique meant that his ability to endure attacks was much weaker, which resulted in Chu Yingwan killing him immediately.

    If it were the Chieftain who had been targeted by the the time slow, Chu Yingwan might have stabbed him repeatedly without killing him.

    Unfortunately, this treasure was a consumable, and it disappeared after being used.

    Su Chen nced at the scene somewhat pitifully, then turned his attention towards the Divine Shrine ¡ª now that the Divine Shrine¡¯s guards had alle out, it was a great opportunity for him to search the Divine Shrine.

    The shrine was simple and unadorned in appearance. The Ferocious Race was always a bit primitive; even though they had tens of thousands of years of history and development, their lives were still as simple as ever.

    To them, this was tradition, and it was this tradition that gave them strength.

    The tribe¡¯s Divine Shrine was the most strictly guarded location in the Ferocious Race tribe¡¯s territory, but now that the humans had taken the city, all of their tight defenses were useless.

    The guards of the Divine Shrine had perished, and the Divine Shrine itself was now totally open. No one was there to stop Su Chen from entering.

    He walked into the Divine Shrine right through the front door and found a few humans and Ferocious Race guards still fighting it out nearby. Because the human army had the absolute advantage, Su Chen didn¡¯t pay them any extra attention and took another route.

    After leaving the main hall, Su Chen found himself in a flower garden.

    Even though the Ferocious Race was crude, their Divine Shrine¡¯s flower garden had quite a few nice things in it, including quite a few rare resources such as Three Lives Fruits, Yellow Pce Ginseng, Thousand-Petal Red Lotus, Moltenme Dragon Grass, and more.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t even spare these resources a second nce and continued walking forwards.

    Even though these things were worth money, they still had a price tag on them. Only knowledge was priceless, and that was precisely what he was after.

    If he didn¡¯t harvest them, the army behind him would harvest them, and in the entire Heavenly Might Battalion, he was the best alchemist present. One way or another they would fall into his hands.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 132: Spiritual Energy 1

    Chapter 132: Spiritual Energy (1)

    Upon passing through the flower garden, Su Chen found himself in a stone room.

    He entered the stone room and found that it was filled with the fragrance of a variety of medicinal herbs.

    Su Chen immediately knew that this was the Divine Shrine¡¯s alchemy building.

    The Divine Shrine¡¯s alchemists were a bit different from human alchemists ¡ª- the way they refined medicine was by gathering the materials, then using the most primitive way to break them down into a medicinal powder, which they used to achieve the desired effect.

    This was a very low-level way of using medicines. Humans could basically overlook this technique.

    However, this didn¡¯t mean that there was nothing to be gained from the Divine Shrine¡¯s alchemical area. They had been making medicine for tens of thousands of years, and they had developed procedures to preserve the medicinal properties of these herbs, and they were unparalleled in their preservation processes and crude mixture methods.

    Su Chen had drooled over the Divine Shrine¡¯s method of concocting medicine for a while, but he had never been able to obtain it himself; even having Reina as a hostage wasn¡¯t good enough.

    Now, however, he could finally take the Divine Shrine¡¯s secrets openly.

    The Divine Shrine¡¯s techniques for concocting medicine were all recorded in bone books. These books were created using special types of bones, each sheet as thin as a cicada¡¯s wing. Words written on this book wouldst for a long time without disappearing.

    Within the medicinal hall, there were hundreds if not thousands of books chock-full of information. Su Chen didn¡¯t stand on courtesy and stuffed them into his Origin Ring without even looking them over - after giving the Heavenly Might Battalion all of his rations, his Origin Rings were much emptier.

    After emptying out the medicinal hall, Su Chen walked in another direction without stopping.

    Near the right side of the stone room was arge hall made out of white bone.

    Upon entering the hall, the first thing he saw was a young Ferocious Race individual. He seemed like he was an Ancestor candidate, and he was dressed in a white robe. Upon seeing Su Chen appear, he gritted his teeth and charged at him.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t waste time talking. He ced his hand on the youth¡¯s head and twisted, snapping the youth¡¯s neck.

    Upon killing that youth, Su Chen stepped into the white bone hall. He found piles of skulls everywhere, most of them human but a few of the Ferocious Race as well. Apart from skulls, there were also humeruses, corbones, femurs, etc.These bones seemed to be carelessly arranged, but in actuality they were ordered carefully, split up by type.

    Su Chen had learned from Reina that different kinds of bones had different uses.

    For instance, skulls could be used to store souls and practice witchcraft, humeruses and femurs were used for Bone Divining, corbones were used for medicinal purposes, etc. - there was a multitude of ways to use them.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t interested in the piles of bones, but there was arge wall at the back of the white bone hall that was filled with mysterious inscriptions.

    These inscriptions were the most importantponent of the Divine Shrine¡¯s bone refining and divination process.

    The Ferocious Race had over a thousand tribes, each one with their own unique way of divining bones. Most of them were simr, but a few of them were unique to every tribe.

    Themon ones Su Chen had obtained from Reina, but the ones from the individual tribes could only be obtained by visiting each tribe¡¯s Divine Shrine.

    Thankfully, there weren¡¯t too many of them here. Su Chen was able to identify the Shivering Chill Tribe¡¯s unique incantations with a quick nce and memorized them.

    After doing this, Su Chen went to the next location.

    This ce was arge pit, which was filled with tons of corpses.

    There were human corpses, Ferocious Race corpses, and even Demonic Beast corpses.

    The most shocking thing was that, above this pit, a somewhat transparent image was floating.

    A Spirit Race individual!

    This was obviously a Spirit Race individual, who had been imprisoned above the pit via a unique method. It wasn¡¯t clear what method was being used to make it impossible for the Spirit Race individual to escape. All it could do was flicker like an undying me above the pit.

    When he saw this strange scene, Su Chen slowed his movements.

    He carefully walked closer, finally stopping when he was around thirty feet away from the pit of corpses.¡±

    ¡°A Spirit Race individual was imprisoned in the Divine Shrine? That¡¯s quite a rare sight,¡± Su Chen said slowly.

    ¡°Save...... me......¡± the Spirit Race individual cried out bitterly, reaching out its crystalline hands towards Su Chen.

    ¡°Sorry. I¡¯ve only killed Spirit Race individuals before, but I have never saved them.¡±

    ¡°I can...... give you what you want......¡±

    ¡°Then you need to first know what I want.¡±

    ¡°Power......¡±

    ¡°Wrong answer,¡± Su Chenughed coldly.

    He nced at the surrounding setup, as well as the countless inscriptions sealing the Spirit Race individual inside. Many of the questions he had were being answered at this moment.

    ¡°An assimtion ceremony? They¡¯re currently extracting your consciousness energy,¡± Su Chen muttered.

    This Spirit Race individual was obviously being used as a ceremonial sacrifice. Its powerful consciousness was exactly what the Ferocious Race needed; as for the corpses in the pit, their purpose was to supply the Spirit Race individual and serve as its food so it wouldn¡¯t die.

    In some sense, this Spirit Race individual was like a consciousness energy converter. It constantly extracted the consciousnesses of the corpses in the pit before passing the energy contained along.

    What ceremony would be important enough for the Ferocious Race to kill so many lifeforms in order toplete it?

    Even Su Chen didn¡¯t know the answer, but his curiosity was piqued.

    ¡°Knowledge, limitless knowledge!¡± the Spirit Race individual began to yell again.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have unlimited knowledge yourself, but you want to talk about giving me knowledge?¡± Su Chen shook his head.

    ¡°But I have enough!¡± the Spirit Race individual yelled as he grasped onto thisst ray of hope.

    That was indeed true. All Spirit Race individuals were schrs and well-learned. Because their life span was unlimited, and they were proficient in performing experiments, each Spirit Race individual was like a rich library.

    ¡°That does sound pretty good. However, the question is: how will I control you?¡±

    ¡°I can open up my consciousness defenses and allow you to brand my soul.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°That¡¯s pretty good, but unfortunately I don¡¯t know how to do it.¡¯

    The Spirit Race individual hurriedly said, ¡°I can teach you. Open up your mind, and I can pass along that information to you. There¡¯s no way of faking this kind of transmission; you¡¯ll understand once you see it.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Su Chen said, ying along.

    ¡°Believe me, I just want to get out of this suffering. Even being your ve is better than enduring this torment!¡± the Spirit Race individual began to yell. ¡°Having a ve like me will not be of any detriment to you.¡±

    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll give it a shot. But don¡¯t try anything funny,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Grab my hand!¡± the Spirit Race individual yelled.

    Su Chen stepped forwards and grabbed his hand. The two of them connected, and the Spirit Race individual¡¯s body began to glow brilliantly.

    ¡°Rx your will. I will impart all of the knowledge I have regarding soul branding to you,¡± the Spirit Race said calmly.

    Su Chen closed his eyes and opened his mind.

    As his sea of knowledge began to expand, a powerful will began to charge in.

    ¡°Hahahaha, you idiot! Hand this body over to me!¡± the Spirit Race individual¡¯s howl reverberated in Su Chen¡¯s mind.

    ¡°So you did just want to use this opportunity to take over my body, right?¡± Su Chenughed coldly.

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± The Spirit Race individualughed loudly. ¡°Even though I need to give up my undying spirit body for this, it¡¯s better than being your ve. Don¡¯t worry, I will preserve your identity in the future, and I will even help you achieve even greater fame!¡±

    ¡°Thank you, but I don¡¯t need you to do that for me,¡± Su Chen said coolly. ¡°You¡¯re just a Spirit Race whose consciousness power is around 2500 units, and you have been tormented for so long. I want to see how exactly you¡¯re nning on stealing my body!¡±

    As he spoke, Su Chen¡¯s eyes began to glow with a strange light.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 133: Spiritual Energy 2

    Chapter 133: Spiritual Energy (2)

    Consciousness takeover was never an easy thing. In some sense, it was like exchanging blows at the consciousness level, and the strength of one¡¯s blows was determined by the strength of their consciousness.

    However, this battle didn¡¯t just depend on whose consciousness was more powerful.

    Even though they werepeting on such terms, what determined the victor was not just limited to this factor alone.

    The host¡¯s advantage was one of the most influential factors. Almost all lifeforms had an innate advantage when they were being invaded since they had various methods of protecting themselves and automatic defenses that would kick in.

    Defenders within a city would almost always have an advantage over the attackers. This kind of territorial advantage multiplied a person¡¯s normal strength, making it so that even a person with a weaker consciousness had a chance of resisting the influence of a person with a stronger consciousness.

    As to how much of a difference a host¡¯s advantage made, that depended on the person. Some people had the ability to defend their consciousnesses, making it possible for them to amplify their host¡¯s advantage. Other people didn¡¯t because they specialized in offensive tactics, which naturally reduced this advantage.

    In most cases, if neither side had any particr advantages, the Spirit Race¡¯s host¡¯s advantage allowed them to multiply their consciousness strength by about five. In other words, a Spirit Race individual with two hundred units of consciousness energy would seem to have around a thousand units when defending against an opponent in their own mind.

    Actually, consciousness control operated under a simr principle. The only difference was that if the control attempt failed, the perpetrator would only suffer a bit of bacsh; however, if consciousness takeover failed, the perpetrator would die.

    Because of this, even the Spirit Race wouldn¡¯t carelessly attempt something like a consciousness takeover. The sess rate was often low, and even if they did seed they were usually downgrading from an unlimited life span to a limited one. There was no good reason to do something like that.

    However, to this Spirit Race individual, it had already been tormented far too much. To it, death was no longer as frightening; this was why it was willing to go all out in its bid to escape.

    Unfortunately, his luck was terrible, as the person he had run into was an anomaly like Su Chen with a rtively powerful consciousness. Su Chen also had consciousness Origin Skills that could supplement his strength. Under these circumstances, if the Spirit Race individual wanted to take over Su Chen¡¯s consciousness, he would need at least ten thousand units of consciousness energy. That level of strength was something only Spirit Race Chieftains or the Lord of the Dreamrealm had.

    However, with the status that these figures had, neither would be willing to do so even if Su Chen were offering himself.

    As such, attempting to takeover Su Chen was truly a death sentence for him.

    For this reason, Su Chen didn¡¯t mind opening up his sea of knowledge. Not only that, but he had voluntarily started to attack the Spirit Race individual ¡ª since it hade, it had better not think of running. I¡¯ll simply kill you and devour your memories, and then I¡¯ll know everything I want to know.

    That was what Su Chen was thinking.

    His consciousness was not as powerful as his opponent¡¯s, but because of his host¡¯s advantage, he could attack the opponent as he pleased.

    Dark clouds roiled above the surface of his vast sea of knowledge, while thunder boomed and lightning crashed through the air.

    Su Chen was like an imposing god in his own mind as the wind and rain followed his beck and call. Under the control of his will, his entire sea of knowledge undted violently.

    The Spirit Race individual had also appeared in Su Chen¡¯s world and was being beaten ck and blue. It was impossible for him to retreat from the onught even if he wanted to, so he could only bitterly hold on as he yelled repeatedly, ¡°How can this be? How can this be? You¡¯re only a Yang Opening Realm cultivator. How can your consciousness be this powerful?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not powerful enough. Only after I swallow up your consciousness will I be more powerful,¡± Su Chen said sinisterly.

    The consciousness energy of a Spirit Race individual was an incredible supplement. This guy had voluntarily tunneled his way in; if Su Chen was sessfully able to devour it, his strength would increase dramatically. He had ingested too many Spirit Sobering Medicines, which had gradually caused the medicine to be ineffective. Now was the perfect time for him to take a supplement.

    ¡°No, spare me! I can give you the Soul Branding technique, this time for real!¡± the Spirit Race individual yelled.

    ¡°I can get that if I kill you as well,¡± Su Chen said disdainfully.

    ¡°No. I can at least destroy my most important memories!¡± the Spirit Race individual yelled.

    Its words caused Su Chen to pause momentarily.

    This was true. Even though this Spirit Race individual wasn¡¯t his match at all, it still had enough time to destroy a few of its most precious memories before Su Chen killed it.

    However, Su Chen gave up on that train of thought almost as quickly as it had surfaced.

    He said, ¡°The Spirit Race contains many schrs, so knowledge is not rare for your race. What I can¡¯t get from you, I will obtain from other Spirit Race individuals in the future. However, there aren¡¯t many who are willing to give up on their spiritual body and try to take over a human¡¯s mind. An existence like you is a fine delicacy; if I were to miss it, wouldn¡¯t that be a pity? As for Soul Branding, if I can¡¯t get it from you then so be it. In any case, I am currently stuck in the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory, and I can already control the Ferocious Race. There wouldn¡¯t be much point to it.¡±

    ¡°NO!!!¡± The Spirit Race individual was badly frightened. ¡°I have even more precious knowledge. I can give you a soul-controlling method...¡±

    ¡°Other Spirit Race individuals know this as well.¡±

    ¡°I can teach you a psychic storm attack...¡±

    ¡°Other Spirit Race individuals know those as well.¡±

    ¡°I can teach you illusion techniques......¡±

    ¡°I know them already.¡±

    ¡°I can teach you......¡±

    The Spirit Race individual continued to yell, listing off everything that it knew.

    However, everything it mentioned was either something most Spirit Race individuals knew or something that Su Chen already knew. asionally, there would be a few of its original insights and discoveries, but Su Chen only needed to ask it a few questions to realize that its insights were not very deep. This individual¡¯s usefulness to him was limited, so he continued to attack.

    The Spirit Race individual couldn¡¯t mention anything that could attract Su Chen¡¯s attention, so he knew that his death was imminent. He could only yell angrily, ¡°With the remaining consciousness energy I have as the price, I will wipe out all of my memories. You won¡¯t get any benefits from my death!¡±

    As he spoke, the Spirit Race individual began to glow brightly in Su Chen¡¯s mind.

    Without Su Chen¡¯s attacks, he was going to self-destruct.

    Su Chen frowned. He didn¡¯t try to stop the Spirit Race individual¡¯s self-destruction; rather, he continued to attack as quickly as possible.

    Thunder and lightning rained down on the Spirit Race individual¡¯s will. In an instant, the Spirit Race individual in the cloud of light was blown to smithereens, the shattered fragments flew away into Su Chen¡¯s mind.

    These sparkling fragments were the Spirit Race individual¡¯s surplus consciousness fragments.

    It had attempted to destroy itself as quickly as possible so that Su Chen wouldn¡¯t be able to get anything, but its efforts relied on its own strength. If it had been at peak strength, it could have destroyed itself almostpletely, and Su Chen truly wouldn¡¯t have been able to get anything from it. However, just as it had said when cursing Su Chen ¡ª ¡°with the remaining consciousness energy I have as the price, I will wipe out all of my memories¡± ¡ª- when its consciousness energy levels were low, it wouldn¡¯t be able to pay much of a price, so what it would be able to destroy would also be limited. The statement that Su Chen ¡°wouldn¡¯t get any benefits¡± needed to be heavily discounted.

    Su Chen¡¯s benefits would indeed be limited because of this, but it wasn¡¯t to the point that he wouldn¡¯t get anything.

    Actually, he was able to obtain quite a bit, rtively speaking.

    Su Chen greedly inhaled the glittering fragments into his sea of knowledge, rapidly absorbing all of them.

    These included some of the Spirit Race individual¡¯s memories, as well asrge quantities of consciousness energy.

    ¡°Hu!¡±

    After absorbing and digesting the final fragment, Su Chen opened his eyes.

    The consciousness battle had concluded, and Su Chen¡¯s consciousness had improved a great deal.

    Excluding any equipment bonuses, Su Chen discovered that his current raw consciousness power had already exceeded a thousand units.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 134: Spiritual Energy 2

    Chapter 134: Spiritual Energy (2)

    What a shocking improvement, Su Chen thought to himself.

    All he had done was absorb the remaining consciousness energy from a broken Spirit Race individual, but Su Chen¡¯s consciousness energy had still increased by six hundred units. This was really something else.

    Apart from the increase in his consciousness energy, the Spirit Race individual had also passed along its knowledge. Unfortunately, because of its self-destruction, its memory had been fragmented, and most of the information was iplete.

    However, that wasn¡¯t a big deal. To Su Chen, the fragmented memories were not a problem. He was quite confident that he would be able to fill in the gaps. Actually, a lot of this information was about consciousnesses, and it supplemented his weak points and opened his eyes. Many things that he wasn¡¯t clear about in the past had suddenly be clear to him.

    The Spirit Race¡¯s will and body werebined. Once the Spirit Race¡¯s will was exterminated, their spirit body would disappear as well.

    However, immediately after the spirit body disappeared, Su Chen found that a strange green stone had mysteriously appeared in the cage where the Spirit Race individual had been kept earlier.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Su Chen walked over and picked up the green stone. He immediately felt as if his consciousness was being refined by something.

    After he had absorbed the Spirit Race individual and strengthened his consciousness, he was already able to more clearly sense his increase in power. His consciousness could leave his body and wander the world as a separate entity now.

    Under the human system of cultivation, this was something that could normally only be achieved at the Spirit Burning Realm. Now, however, Su Chen was able to do that at the Yang Opening Realm because his consciousness power vastly exceeded what any normal human possessed.

    As Su Chen held onto the green crystal, he discovered that his consciousness energy was increasing again. His consciousness voluntarily left his body and rose high into the air. In the blink of an eye, the entirety of Aurora City was beneath his feet.

    He felt like he was flying through the air, calmly surveying the tens of thousands of lifeforms beneath him. He could even see himself standing on the ground, holding onto the green stone and staring at the ground in a daze.

    At this point, if someone were to behead his physical body, Su Chen could immediately try to take over another lifeform¡¯s physical body.

    This was the benefit of having such a powerful consciousness.

    His powerful consciousness would manifest inbat as an increase in Fata Morgana¡¯s power, and his usage of Origin Skills would also improve. He would be able to unleash many Origin Skills with but a thought, increasing his explosive potential.

    These were all things that only a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator should have been able to achieve, but he had done it as a Yang Opening Realm cultivator. Su Chen was ecstatic.

    It could be said that even if a Light Shaking Realm cultivator were to attack him now, Su Chen was highly confident in defeating him.

    A momentter, Su Chen¡¯s consciousness returned to his physical body, and he put the green stone away.

    At this point, he realized what the Ferocious Race had been trying to do.

    It was obvious that they had been constantly squeezing this Ferocious Race individual dry to produce these green stones.

    These green stones were likely an object that could be used to increase a person¡¯s consciousness. The Ferocious Race were innately inferior in this aspect, so this was obviously one method that they hade up with to try to supplement that deficit.

    However, an immense price was necessary to construct these consciousness crystals, and it required some brutal sacrifices. Many lives needed to be taken. It was unknown how just many lives had been sacrificed to produce just this small chunk of rock.

    Based on Su Chen¡¯s estimation, this small consciousness crystal alone was enough to cause Su Chen¡¯s consciousness power to increase by a thousand units.

    That was truly frightening.

    Su Chen had always only been interested in knowledge and not in physical resources. As such, he didn¡¯t care much for even the most precious resources, as long as they could be bought with Origin Stones.

    Even a rare medicinal ingredient like the Corpse Spirit Flower could be bought for the right price.

    However, this consciousness crystal was different. From the Spirit Race individual¡¯s memories, Su Chen could gather that creating this consciousness crystal was exceptionally challenging. There were other conditions that needed to be met than just sacrificing many lives and enving a Spirit Race individual.

    For instance, the Heavenly Spirit Stone, which was used as a vessel to contain the consciousness energy, was a rare resource in its own right. The Shivering Chill Tribe had used quite a bit of effort to obtain this piece. In addition, the Spirit Race individual that Su Chen had assimted was unique. When all of these conditions were taken into ount, it might not be possible to get another item like the consciousness crystal in front of him in the next ten million years.

    ¡°It really is quite a treasure,¡± Su Chen muttered.

    The main reason the Ferocious Race would construct a crystal like this was to deal with the Spirit Race. Because they lived in the interior, they didn¡¯t fight much with humans; instead, the Shivering Chill Tribe primarily were disturbed by the Spirit Race. The Spirit Race treated the Ferocious Race as a source of experimental subjects and would capture many of them to do research every year. To avoid this kind of fate, the tribe had racked their brains for a solution.

    Consciousness crystals were an effective tool to use against the Spirit Race. This crystal would give a Ferocious Race individual enough power to resist being controlled by the Spirit Race.

    Unfortunately, before it could be used, the Shivering Chill Tribe had been ambushed by the human army.

    In Su Chen¡¯s eyes, using this just to ensure that they wouldn¡¯t have their consciousnesses controlled was far too wasteful.

    It could have many more uses than that.

    ¡°Su Chen! How are things going for you?¡±

    Just as he was thinking of all the possibilities, a voice called out from behind him.

    It was Chu Yingwan.

    The Heavenly Might Battalion had ughtered their way into the Divine Shrine and was currently plundering it.

    Her cry confirmed one thing for Su Chen: the enemies had been defeated.

    The tribe¡¯s chieftain, Styma, was dead, the Head Ancestor had been killed, and the Heavenly Might Battalion had won the victory. All that remained was to reap the spoils.

    ¡°I¡¯ve gotten quite a bit of benefit from this trip, but they all suit me the best. The ingredients for making more Hemolytic Totems should be over there,¡± Su Chen said as he pointed off in a nearby direction.

    He was pointed at arge building that had been smeared with blood and covered in strange inscriptions. If he wasn¡¯t wrong, that should be the ce in the Divine Shrine where all the Totemic Inscriptions were drawn on. All of the materials Su Chen would need could be found in there as well.

    ¡°Go and gather anything that has any value!¡± Chu Yingwan yelled as she turned around.

    There was no mercy orpassion to be shown. People needed to die, valuables needed to be taken, not just for the sake of revenge but even more to improve one¡¯s strength.

    Large groups of soldiers charged into the building. Under the leadership of those who knew what they were doing, they furiously grabbed anything that might be of value.

    Medicinal herbs, crystal essences, pill kernels, unique metals, and theurgical literature - anything with any value was plundered. After everything was taken, someone lit a torch and burned everything else so that their enemies wouldn¡¯t have anything.

    mes rose all throughout the city. Su Chen walked amidst the mes, constantly giving directions as to where the soldiers should plunder next and where they should give up on.

    His insight was incredibly urate - anywhere he pointed, there would definitely be something valuable.

    The garden had been ransacked, the medicinal hall had been looted, and the ce of totemic inscriptions was destroyed. Even the Divine Shrine¡¯s training grounds weren¡¯t overlooked.

    Every year, the Divine Shrine would be tasked with developing as many individuals with special professions as possible, including Bone Diviners, Soulless, Cursed, Blood-Baptized, Beast Tamers, etc.

    All of these special professions were trained at the Divine Shrine¡¯s training grounds, but Su Chen and the others robbed the ce to their heart¡¯s content.

    Plunder the enemy to increase one¡¯s own strength - this was the unbreakablew of battle.

    The plunderingsted for three hours. Not only was the Divine Shrine swept clean, but even the houses of the tribe¡¯s wealthy werepletely emptied out.

    Rations, resources, riches - anything and everything was seized, and none of it became an encumbrance, as Su Chen had brought enough Origin Rings to take away half of the entire country¡¯s resources.

    After emptying out the homes of the wealthy, it was time to ransack the homes of the middle-ss. A few soldiers even began to vent by razing some of the buildings to the ground.

    The generals of the Heavenly Might Battalion made no attempt to stop them.

    The soldiers had been repressed for too long. They needed to vent some of the pressure building up in them, which was fine as long as they watched the time.

    ¡°It¡¯s time. Everyone, retreat!¡±

    In the end, the signal to retreat still came.

    No enemy would sit and watch their opponents invade their territory without counterattacking, so the advantage of surprise had a time limit. It was important to know when to strike, but it was equally important to know when to leave.

    Even so, the soldiers all groaned unhappily.

    Their time of enjoyment was short-lived, and they weren¡¯t able to plunder as much as they would have liked.

    Despite their unwillingness, the soldiers quickly packed up and retreated.

    Snow began to fall from the sky, concealing the light from the mes, as well as all of the unspeakable evils that had beenmitted there.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 135: Using Consciousness Crystals

    On a weedy slope.

    The Heavenly Might Battalion had set up camp at this strange area. Apart from a few groups of soldiers who were on guard duty, most of the soldiers had fallen asleep.

    Su Chen was one of the few people who couldn¡¯t fall asleep. His consciousness power made it so that he rarely needed to sleep. If need be, he could go ten days and nights without sleeping and bepletely fine.

    Within his tent, Su Chen yed with the consciousness crystal in his hand and stared at it intently.

    As he did so, the consciousness crystal glowed stably in his hands, and strange images gradually began to appear on its surface.

    ¡°How interesting! It can resonate with my will and I can project my will upon it.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a consciousness crystal, the physical manifestation of consciousness energy. If you were to ce me in it, I could use it to reform my own spirit body!¡± Patelocke said as his old, grizzled figure appeared above the surface of the Mountain-Beheading de.

    ¡°That would be the most pointless usage possible. Wasting such a precious crystal like this on a Spirit Race ve?¡± Su Chenughed as he shook his head. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t ever do something as silly as that.¡±

    ¡°But you can obtain my undying loyalty!¡± Patelocke said agitatedly.

    ¡°I don¡¯t need your loyalty, Patelocke ¡ª I just need your knowledge. However, the knowledge you¡¯ve been giving metely has been growing less and less,¡± Su Chen replied bluntly, shattering Patelocke¡¯s hopes.

    ¡°You cheapskate! All that this crystal will do for you is raise your consciousness power a bit, but you¡¯re notcking in that in the slightest! All you need to do is diligently cultivate the True Spirit Scripture I gave you and that will be enough to augment your consciousness¡¯s strength.¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not going to use it just to increase my consciousness power.¡±

    ¡°Then what else can you use it for? To deal with being attacked by someone with a stronger consciousness than you? Only a Ferocious Race individual would need to use it like that. Your consciousness is so powerful that not many people should be able to sessfully control you.¡±

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s not for that either. I have an even better use for it,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°What?¡±

    After thinking for a moment, Su Chen said, ¡°Patelocke, do you remember what got you into those dire straits in the first ce?¡±

    Patelocke froze momentarily before replying, ¡°Of course. I wanted to realize the glorious ambition in my heart.¡±

    ¡°More specifically, you were trying to aplish something. If I recall correctly, you were trying to manipte a person¡¯s memory, am I right?¡± Su Chen asked casually.

    Memory maniption was the main problem Patelocke had been trying to resolve back in his days as an Ancient Arcana Master.

    He wanted to find a way to pass on memories, which was the first great hurdle in achieving control over the various races.

    Even though he had failed in the end, his work wasn¡¯tpletely useless. The Beast Spirit Controller profession was a side-effect of his research, after all.

    This was something that far away in the past. Patelocke¡¯s ambition had been buried in the harsh, unforgiving sands of time, along with the failure of his ns and the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s decline.

    At this moment, however, Su Chen had suddenly brought it up again, confusing Patelocke slightly.

    He asked, ¡°Why are you asking me about this again?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve read some of your records regarding memory maniption awhile back, and I must admit that they were quite well-written. Unfortunately, I have focused most of my recent attention on increasing my personalbat strength, making it so that I haven¡¯t had much spare time to focus on this specific area of research. Even though I have inherited your knowledge, I haven¡¯t been able to make much of it yet.¡±

    ¡°Oh...... that¡¯s not really a big deal.¡± Patelocke felt ufortable and speechless.

    After pausing momentarily, Su Chen continued. ¡°Even so, this knowledge has inspired me from time to time. For various reasons, I haven¡¯t been able toe up with a solid research path, but asionally I¡¯ll try an experiment or two. For instance, when I was at Clear River City, I tried to reshape my sea of knowledge by solidifying some of the knowledge that I already possessed. That way, it would forever be imprinted in my memory, and many things that I normally have to calcte on a daily basis again and again would be much more manageable as it would all take ce within my head. In this way, I wouldn¡¯t need to do as many extra experiments. Like so......¡±

    Su Chen snapped his fingers. A swath of mes appeared in the air and assumed the form of a research workbench, followed by the formation of a few research tools. After absorbing the fire Origin Substance, Su Chen¡¯s control over mes had increased significantly, and giving fire physical form was not a difficult task for him anymore.

    He continued, saying, ¡°By using this method, I can quickly aplish things that would normally take a lot of calctions to perform.¡±

    Patelocke quickly understood what Su Chen was saying.

    All research and experimentation was established on top of a mountain of prior knowledge, from which it was possible to hypothesize about what might happen under unfamiliar conditions. This was the fundamental principle of carrying out research.

    For this reason, it was impossible for Su Chen to avoid repetition when performing most of his experiments.

    Su Chen had tried to use this method topartmentalize the most repetitive aspects of his work. If he seeded, his work efficiency might increase by tenfold if not a hundredfold.

    It had to be said that his way of thinking was quite creative.

    ¡°You seeded?¡± Patelocke asked.

    ¡°No, I failed,¡± Su Chen sighed. ¡°Molding things in my sea of knowledge requires too much consciousness energy and mental power. Even creating a mental image of a research workbench already greatly drains my consciousness power. My sea of knowledge just couldn¡¯t endure performing so many calctions unless I had a frightening amount of consciousness power like the Lord of the Dreamrealm. No, perhaps not even the Lord of the Dreamrealm could have seeded; after all, the Dreamrealm wasn¡¯t created by him alone, but rather the joint efforts of him, his descendants, and the Dream Spirits. If I had a vast dreamrealm like that, I could obviously conduct countless calctions, but I don¡¯t. I gave up on this idea soon after.¡±

    ¡°But for you to bring it up now...... Are you thinking of......!?¡± Patelocke began to yell in shock.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Su Chen picked up the consciousness crystal, his eyes glowing intensely. ¡°Do you not feel like this could be a calctory processing unit? This crystal is the substantialization of consciousness energy and is the most suited material for recording down all kinds of numbers to perform tens of thousands of different calctions. Any experiment whose results have been validated can be recorded down in it so that I canbine it with my sea of knowledge. This way, I¡¯ll basically have two minds, one of which I can dedicate to performing calctions. A mind that is calm, cool, emotionless, and only processes numbers...... That would be too perfect.¡±

    ¡°That would be inconceivable,¡± Patelocke muttered.

    He had never expected Su Chen to be so creative, and based on what Su Chen was saying, there was a high probability that he would seed.

    Because the crystal was the materialization of consciousness energy, Su Chen didn¡¯t even need to waste energy to try and refine it.

    ¡°I just need to ce it within my sea of knowledge, and then mold it into the shape that I desire.¡±

    ¡°Be careful, Su Chen. If you fail, it might blow your brains out.¡±

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°I won¡¯t fail. This will definitely be the most effective tool in anticipating and calcting the changes in Origin Energy!¡±

    As he spoke, Su Chen ced the crystal on his forehead. The consciousness crystal disappeared from view, reappearing inside Su Chen¡¯s sea of knowledge.

    An instantter, a powerful wave of consciousness energy surged into Su Chen¡¯s sea of knowledge.

    The consciousness energy violently blew everywhere like a hurricane.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 136: Elevation

    ¡°AH!¡±

    Su Chen cradled his head as he cried out bitterly. Origin Energy incessantly emanated from his body that actually seemed to possess an inherently destructive element. Su Chen¡¯s clothes were instantly turned into ashes, causing Patelocke¡¯s heart to beat wildly.

    Matters involving the consciousness were never something to take lightly. Su Chen had made it sound easy, but in actuality, making changes like this could easily turn someone into a vegetable if they weren¡¯t careful.

    However, Su Chen had still chosen to do it without any hesitation. Patelocke knew that this was because of the deep love for research that Su Chen had deep in his heart.

    As a schr overlord, a former Arcana Master from the Arcana Kingdom, he absolutely understood and empathized with Su Chen¡¯s sentiment.

    To more deeply understand the profound secrets of the world and to find answers to the questions that he wanted to solve, Su Chen was willing to use any method to resolve the issue, even if he risked sacrificing his own life.

    The consciousness crystal itself wouldn¡¯t be able to give Su Chen any answers, but it could greatly increase Su Chen¡¯s ability to find those answers.

    If sessful, this would probably be one of Su Chen¡¯s most useful tools after those eyes of his.

    Even though Su Chen had never told Patelocke about his microscopic eyes, Patelocke would have to be a major idiot if he couldn¡¯t tell that Su Chen¡¯s eyes were special after having followed him for so long.

    And also because he wasn¡¯t an idiot, he had never asked about it, though he never pretended like he had no idea either.

    Everything had happened naturally.

    ¡°AH! AH! AH! Ah...!¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s howls of pain continued as his voice began to diminish.

    His eyes rolled back into their sockets, giving him the image that he had drowned. His entire body was covered in sweat.

    He remained like this for some time, yelling and whimpering, before his body finally began to return to normal.

    Su Chen finally stopped straining his neck, and he sat in ce, rxing intoplete motionlessness.

    ¡°Su Chen! Su Chen!¡± Patelocke called out quietly, as if he were trying to awaken someone who had been sleeping.

    ¡°Mmm,¡± Su Chen groaned in a low voice.

    ¡°As long as you¡¯re fine.¡± When he heard Su Chen reply, Patelocke let out a long sigh of relief.

    ¡°What a terrible experience,¡± Su Chen replied.

    As he spoke, he began to stand up.

    Because his clothes had been burned to tatters, Su Chen¡¯s faintly glowing body waspletely naked, giving him a bit of a saintly aura. Patelocke was quite shocked.

    His consciousness was the part that had been resculpted, but his physical body had somehow also developed a kind of mesmerizing aura to it.

    No, it was actually his eyes that were glowing with a unique kind of energy. Even Patelocke, a spiritual entity, was affected by it.

    ¡°It seems like some incredible change has urred?¡± Patelocke couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s not really that incredible. It¡¯s just that my consciousness has been elevated,¡± Su Chen replied casually.

    ¡°Consciousness elevation?¡± Patelocke was stunned. ¡°You actually achieved consciousness elevation?¡±

    Consciousness elevation was amon expression amongst most Spirit Race individuals. Simply put, it signified an improvement of the fundamental level of his consciousness, and it could be considered a unique way of advancing for the Spirit Race.

    Consciousness elevation was exceptionally difficult. Even few Spirit Race individuals could aplish it, but Su Chen had somehow managed to do it.

    ¡°Mhm. I didn¡¯t expect to elevate my consciousness either. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that I had absorbed the Spirit Race individual¡¯s memories, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to confirm this,¡± Su Chen replied, shaking his head.

    ¡°Then the strength of your current consciousness......¡± Patelocke asked.

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then tilted his head and said, ¡°It should be around two thousand units now.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s doubled.¡± Patelocke was once again shocked. ¡°There probably aren¡¯t many people among the entire human race that have a stronger consciousness than you. Right now, your consciousness can even leave your physical body, granting you immortality in a certain sense. That should only be possible for someone at the Thought Manifestation Realm, but you¡¯ve managed to achieve it now.¡±

    Patelocke¡¯s voice was filled with wonder and praise.

    ¡°You say that, but I¡¯m still at the Yang Opening Realm,¡± Su Chen replied.

    The human cultivation system had its own rules, and a person could only really temper their consciousness after they reached the Spirit Burning Realm.

    First body, then soul was the progression of strength under this system.

    It could be said that Su Chen had broken that rule. Before his cultivation of Origin Energy had reached the appropriate level, his cultivation of his soul had advanced by leaps and bounds. From this point of view, Su Chen truly had managed to surpass the original system.

    ¡°If anyone tries to treat you as an ordinary Yang Opening Realm cultivator, they will definitely suffer a huge loss,¡± Patelocke said with some resentment.

    Su Chen agreed with a slight smile, ¡°That is true.¡±

    ¡°So how did the molding process go?¡± Patelocke didn¡¯t forget to ask about that; after all, molding the crystal was Su Chen¡¯s original goal in the first ce.

    ¡°I¡¯ve alreadypleted it.¡± Su Chen pointed at his own head and continued, ¡°Right now, my sea of knowledge has basically been split into two rtively independent spaces that can interact with one another. One side is better at performing calctions and can automatically record all of the data I obtain from my research experiments. It can also simte and anticipate the possible oues of a novel experiment. It¡¯s not just useful for storing down what is already known; it can also be used to predict certain things that are not known yet. Of course, the prerequisite is that I must possess the appropriate method of calction.¡±

    ¡°This is already very impressive.¡± Patelocke sighed with praise.

    With his microscopic eye and his consciousness calctor, Su Chen now had a much smoother path than anyone from the Arcana Race had ever walked.

    ¡°However, I also expended arge amount of my consciousness energy,¡± Su Chen sighed. ¡°My consciousness power could have been even higher, butpleting the molding required more consciousness energy than I had anticipated, so I have to expend quite a bit to maintain it.¡±

    ¡°This is already a very good ending. You can¡¯t really ask for more.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± Su Chen¡¯s eyes glimmered with anticipation. ¡°Do you know, I can now calcte all kinds of answers in seconds. There are a total of thirty seven ingredients on my workbench, which can be refined into 128 different medicines. However, there is only one good form that can utilize all those ingredients without wasting anything. You are three feet six inches from me, the remaining fuel in the crystalmp over there is enough tost it three hours and thirty-one more minutes, there are twelve ants crawling along the leg of the table over there, and a group of soldiers just walked past the tent. The soldier second in line has a wound on his foot......¡±

    As he spoke, his voice grew quieter, and his eyes shone with euphoria.

    The ability to assimte the nearby surroundings and urately analyze it was too wonderful.

    Not only could it be used to analyze experiments, but it could also be used in battle.

    Patelocke was dumbfounded when he heard this.

    ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Do you need me to demonstrate it to you? There¡¯s a person walking over here. They should enter the room as soon as I count to three. One...... Two...... Three......¡±

    Flutter.

    The covering of the tent flew open wide. A person walked in ¡ª Chu Yingwan.

    ¡°Su Chen...... Oh, Heavens!¡±

    Chu Yingwan hurriedly turned away.

    Su Chen discovered that he hadn¡¯t put on his clothes yet.

    ¡°Dammit...... Give me a moment.¡± Su Chen scrambled to throw on some clothes.

    ¡°I said that there is no such thing under the Heavens that is truly invincible...... There are always some things you can¡¯t anticipate,¡± Patelocke guffawed loudly.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 137: Immaculate Cultivation Technique

    ¡°......Very good. The water is boiling now. Prepare to add the Vicissitude Grass...... No, that¡¯s too much. A bit less...... A bit less...... Alright, put it in the blending vessel now and prepare to stir......¡±

    As he stood in front of the main tent, Su Chen directed the soldiers on how to prepare the medicines needed to create the Hemolytic Totem.

    Even though he had already given them the recipe, creating it on such arge scale while producing ten or more vials at a time was quite difficult. As such, Su Chen needed to watch from the side and provide pointers from time to time.

    The increase in calctory ability provided by the consciousness crystal to Su Chen had greatly improved his ability to analyze situations, and he didn¡¯t feel encumbered at all byrge quantities of numbers. If he could make one vial of medicine, then he could make a whole cauldron, and if the conditions were met, even a whole pool was possible.

    Under his instruction, the medicine inside the cauldron began to change and transform, every bubble within Su Chen¡¯s calctions.

    No idents urred. Everything was mixed together precisely and carefully.

    ¡°Alright, raise the cauldron!¡± Su Chen yelled.

    The soldiers quickly extinguished the mes and poured the medicine inside into individual bowls.

    This kind of medicine had be quite prevalent in the human kingdom. Yet because it was a new medicine, everyone¡¯s sess rate in concocting the medicine was rtively low. Any sesses would be carefully stored and sealed in jade vials to be soldter for a high price. Here, however, it was being mass produced by the cauldron and then stored in normal bowls. If people back at home were to see this, they might die of shock.

    The concocted medicine was being immediately distributed amongst the battalion. Trained officials were responsible for helping inscribe the soldiers, so there was really no need to store the medicine properly.

    ¡°Alright, everyone from Seamount Company has it now,¡± Cheng Tianhai said.

    ¡°The Dragon Mountain Company as well,¡± Jun Moxie said.

    ¡°The Hidden Mountain Company as well,¡± Lin Shaoxuan said.

    ¡°The Blue Mountain Company is still missing forty-eight portions,¡± Chu Yingwan said.

    ¡°Once we finish making this cauldron, we¡¯ll be done perfectly. No waste necessary,¡± Su Chenughed.

    Of course, this was all a result of his calctions.

    ¡°Good man! That¡¯s really something,¡± Chu Yingwan chuckled as she smacked Su Chen on the arm.

    The matter of him being seen naked had already passed, and no one paid any mind to it. They were all soldiers and had experienced bloody carnage before. They didn¡¯t even care for their own lives, so seeing someone else¡¯s bare bottom wasn¡¯t worth mentioning. Chu Yingwan had seen enough bare bottoms to fill an entirepany, so Su Chen¡¯s wasn¡¯t anything worth writing home about.

    ¡°With the Hemolytic Totem, the soldiers¡¯ strength will increase by around twenty percent. That¡¯s all due to your help!¡± Li Chongshan said with delight.

    ¡°Only twenty percent?¡± Su Chen felt quite dissatisfied.

    This was no surprise ¡ª the Hemolytic Totem was indeed useful, but for the Heavenly Might Battalion, whose elite soldiers were already used to working together, the Hemolytic Totem would only give them a few morebat options. Its effectiveness in increasing the power ofbined skills was also limited. When factoring in the fact that the Hemolytic Totem was useless on higher-level cultivators, the average increase in strength was only around twenty percent.

    To Li Chongshan, this twenty percent was already very satisfying, but Su Chen felt like it was far too inadequate an improvement.

    Thankfully, he wasn¡¯t nning on only relying on the totemic inscriptions.

    ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, then let¡¯s add this as well,¡± Su Chen said as he pulled out a small book.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Li Chongshan asked with some curiosity.

    ¡°A kind of heart cultivation method that I developed. I call it the Immacte Cultivation Technique,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°What does it do?¡± everyone asked simultaneously.

    Having known Su Chen for so many days, everyone had graduallye to understand Su Chen better as a person. Anything that he took out definitely wouldn¡¯t bemon.

    As they expected, Su Chen¡¯s response was not ordinary in the slightest. ¡°It should be able to help cultivators more clearly sense the presence of Origin Energy and absorb it more efficiently...... What I mean is, it should improve the rate of absorption of Origin Energy, and thereby increase their rate of cultivation.¡±

    Everyone immediately began to discuss amongst themselves.

    From the very beginning, the ability to absorb and utilize Origin Energy was what distinguishedmoners from Origin Qi Schrs. Even though in theory anybody could absorb Origin Energy and be an Origin Qi Schr, in reality this was not an easy aplishment. This was obvious from the fact that almost everyone in the Heavenly Might Battalion was still a martial artist.

    Over the past tens of millions of years, humans had developed all kinds of tactics and methods to absorb and utilize Origin Energy. Even though the rate of absorption had gone up, that increase was still limited.

    Su Chen had his microscopic eye, so his ability to absorb Origin Energy was many times faster than most people. Not only that, but in his free time Su Chen would even try to use the microscopic eye to observe the Origin Energy flowing through the air, trying to adapt his cultivation technique and increase the rate at which he could absorb Origin Energy.

    Obviously, he was not doing this for himself. One aspect of it was that he was fascinated by the process, but the other aspect was that he wanted to find a way for all humans to cultivate more rapidly.

    Because he could directly observe Origin Energy, Su Chen¡¯s talent in research was unparalleled. Even if he didn¡¯te up with anything particrly meaningful, Su Chen was able to find many news ways of absorbing and utilizing Origin Energy just by trying things out casually.

    He was very clear about what techniques had the highest sess rates or the best efficacy.

    After all, no one understood the core principles behind the use of Origin Energy better than him.

    This Immacte Cultivation Technique was aption of everything that Su Chen had umted over the years, which he had then trimmed and improved to turn into aplete cultivation technique.

    ¡°This kind of method lowers the necessity of talent to an absolute minimum. If Body Tempering martial artists at the peak of their realm cultivate it, they should be able to reach the Qi Drawing Realm within a month,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Reaching the Qi Drawing Realm in just a month?¡± Li Chongshan was startled.

    That speed was too fast, wasn¡¯t it?

    ¡°Yes,¡± Su Chen replied confidently. ¡°However, it¡¯s best to supplement their diets with lots of meat from Vicious Beasts. In addition, it¡¯s only really effective for martial artists. I haven¡¯t been able to develop a simr technique for the Qi Drawing Realm yet. After all, this is just something that I was looking into in my spare time, and is not the main direction of my research.¡±

    When he got to thatst part, Su Chen felt a bit embarrassed.

    However, everyone else who heard it felt like they were going to cry.

    A cultivating technique he had researched in his spare time was able to greatly reduce the time it took to reach the Qi Drawing Realm from the peak of the Body Tempering Realm? If that had been his main focus, what would have happened?

    But that wasn¡¯t the most important thing. The most important thing was that most of the soldiers in the Heavenly Might Army were peak Body Tempering Realm martial artists!

    The Flowing Gold Fort was guarded by elites. Even though martial artists were of the lowest tier, almost all of them were in the eighth or ninthyer, and even more were at the very peak of the Body Tempering stage. As such, every year there would be a sizable number of martial artists who became Origin Qi Schrs, ensuring that there was always a stable number of Origin Qi Schrs amongst the battalion¡¯s ranks. That group of Qi Drawing Realm cultivators made up the battalion¡¯s lowest-ranking officers; even though they weren¡¯t particrly powerful, they were the most important. They all possessed the cohesive teamwork that should be shown by a group of trained elites, a certain level of personal strength, and also a certain amount of leadership qualities.

    And with Su Chen¡¯s way of doing things, the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s foundation would be directly upgraded to Qi Drawing Realm cultivators. This was truly a substantial improvement.

    That was the same as all of their soldiers bing like the Blue Mountain Company.

    Li Chongshan and the others¡¯ eyes almost popped out of their sockets. ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°If you can guarantee a steady supply of beast meat, it will only be faster and not slower.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you pull this out earlier? This is good stuff!¡± Cheng Tianhai, whose personality was a bit more impulsive, grabbed the manual from Su Chen¡¯s hands and cradled it like a treasure.

    Su Chen said with some embarrassment, ¡°I only recently managed to cote everything together.¡±

    With his new calctor, Su Chen¡¯s first aplishment was this Immacte Cultivation Technique. Organizing andpiling knowledge was something that his calctor was perfectly suited for.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 138: Playing Second Fiddle

    With the Immacte Cultivation Technique, the Heavenly Might Army¡¯s movement policies had changed ¡ª there was much more of an emphasis on killing Vicious Beasts and Demonic Beasts now.

    Hunting beasts not only increased their avable rations, but it also decreased the amount of time before their soldiers broke through.

    As such, the Heavenly Might Battalion was filled with excitement.

    This was the first time that they had experienced happiness while behind enemy lines.

    Ever since they had entered the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory, they had been constantly under attack. At the time, they all felt like they were about to suffocate under immense pressure. There were even a few soldiers who although they didn¡¯t die in battle, couldn¡¯t handle the pressure and had actually chosen tomit suicide.

    Li Chongshan and the others had racked their brains to try and decrease the pressure on the soldiers.

    However, they needed to scour their surroundings for rations, evade pursuit, and alleviate the burden on their soldiers all at the same time. As such, the state of the battalion was quite haggard and run-down.

    Su Chen¡¯s arrival was like a ray of sunshine, breaking through the dark clouds floating above everyone¡¯s heads and shining down upon them. Everyone¡¯s hearts slowly began to warm up, and they suddenly began to feel a trace of hope again.

    Hope!

    That was the source of power and the motivation for spirit.

    A heart without hope had no way of continuing to press on bravely.

    Even Shi Kaihuang hadn¡¯t expected his disciple to be so outstanding. Not only did he save the battalion from fatal danger, but he had also brought rations with him, as well as powerful methods that could increase the battalion¡¯s collective strength.

    ¡°Anything else? Do you have any other methods that can increase everyone¡¯s strength?¡± Shi Kaihuang couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    ¡°This......¡± Su Chen thought for a moment, then nodded. ¡°I do have something like that, but it might be a little difficult to execute.¡±

    ¡°As long as you have a way, just tell us. Whether or not we can do it is something that we can decide on our own!¡± Shi Kaihuang said.

    ¡°Actually, you¡¯ve seen both of them already. The first is my Primordial Blood Incarnation. However, the Primordial Blood Medicine is much more costly to concoct than the Hemolytic Totem, as I had to use Jiang Xishui¡¯s blood as the source material to concoct it. He has a Deste Beast Bloodline, so if you want to take this route you must at the very least find me a Demonic Emperor Bloodline, and it cannot becking in quantity either,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Everyone was rendered speechless.

    Li Chongshan said, ¡°Forget about that one then. Is there anything else?¡±

    ¡°Then the other one is the Soul Armament,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Everyone has seen how powerful a Soul Armament is before. With it, amon magic-user should be able to fight against a Qi Drawing Realm cultivator, a Qi Drawing Realm cultivator against a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator, and so on and so forth. If the Heavenly Might Battalion were to use these Soul Armaments, a group of normal soldiers would probably be able to fight against a Yang Opening Realm cultivator, the equivalent of a Ferocious Race soldier with high-tier totems.¡±

    ¡°What are the requirements for producing a Soul Armament?¡±

    Su Chen held up two fingers. ¡°The first condition is that you need a soul. It doesn¡¯t need to be conscious; the Beast Race¡¯s souls will do. The second condition is that you need enough consciousness power, above two hundred units. Without enough consciousness power, it would be impossible to direct a beast soul into a weapon. And even if you did manage to do it, it would only be responsible for part of the battle. At most, it would only be able to y second fiddle to you.¡±

    Beast souls were easy to obtain, since everyone was trying to hunt Demonic Beasts at the moment. As such, the raw ingredients weren¡¯t a problem to get.

    The consciousness energy barrier, however, was going to be a bit more difficult to deal with.

    Two hundred units of consciousness power didn¡¯t seem like too much, but that was only to Su Chen. To most other humans, this number was too difficult to achieve.

    Amongst the current Heavenly Might Battalion, only Li Chongshan was quite a ways above two hundred units of consciousness power. As for the remaining six Light Shaking Realm cultivators, Chu Yingwan and Guo Wenchang also had met the two hundred units required because they cultivated some consciousness techniques. Shi Kaihuang often used his consciousness energy to perform calctions and also took Spirit Sobering Medicines from time to time, so he had also reached the required amount. The remaining three weren¡¯t quite there, but they weren¡¯t too far off; as long as they were willing to put in the effort, it was easily attainable for them.

    However, upon hearing that the requirement for consciousness energy was that high, everyone still couldn¡¯t quite believe it.

    Lin Shaoxuan especially was a bit dissatisfied. ¡°So you¡¯re saying that your consciousness power is even greater than ours?¡±

    Su Chen chuckled and didn¡¯t answer.

    Li Chongshan chuckled. ¡°What? Prince Su has done so much for us, but you still don¡¯t quite have faith in him, Shaoxuan?¡±

    Lin Shaoxuan replied, ¡°Prince Su has done much for the Heavenly Might Battalion. You could say that he¡¯s like our second parent. I, Lin Shaoxuan, am extremely grateful to him, and I would give my life to him if he asked for it. However, this is apletely separate matter to consider. If you mean to tell me that his consciousness power is higher than ours, and even higher than yours, general, I would be at least slightly skeptical.¡±

    Cheng Tianhai nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right! This is a totally separate matter. We¡¯re soldiers, so we just say it like it is; Prince Su, I hope that you¡¯re not offended. We all admit that you are something special, and if you told us to go east we wouldn¡¯t even consider going west. But if you mean to say that your consciousness power is greater than ours, then you¡¯ll need to bring out some proof to convince us.¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°How could I dare im to have a more powerful consciousness than you all? I just have a few tricks up my sleeve. How about this ¡ª I have an Origin Tool and a soul on hand right now. General Cheng, would you want to try and put the Beast Soul into the Origin Tool? Who knows, you might actually seed.¡±

    As he spoke, he handed over an Origin Tool.

    Cheng Tianhai chuckled as he received it. ¡°That¡¯s more like it. Just tell me what to do.¡±

    Su Chen gave him pointers from the side on how to infuse the Beast Soul into the tool.

    Cheng Tianhai did as he was instructed. Shortly after, the Beast Soul actually did sessfully enter the Origin Tool. The Origin Tool began to float in the air and flew around under his direction. It flew around in a circle before returning back to his hand, and Cheng Tianhai guffawed delightedly. ¡°How about it? I said it would be totally fine, right? It¡¯s just infusing a Beast Soul. How could it possibly have so many strange requirements? Hahahaha!¡±

    However, he didn¡¯t hear anyone else follow-up with what he had said, and he nced around with some curiosity only to find everyone staring at him with slightly strange gazes.

    Even Lin Shaoxuan had some sympathy in his eyes.

    Cheng Tianhai was stunned. ¡°What? Is there a problem?¡±

    Chu Yingwan sighed. ¡°Would you believe me if I told you that you aren¡¯t a match for Prince Su in a one-on-one match despite the fact that you¡¯re a Light Shaking Realm cultivator?¡±

    Cheng Tianhai opened his eyes wide and said, ¡°What are you saying?¡±

    Lin Shaoxuan added, ¡°Prince Su¡¯s consciousness power is indeed powerful! I was the one who was ignorant and underestimated Prince Su.¡±

    Li Chongshan patted Cheng Tianhai on the shoulder and pointed at the Soul Armament he was holding. ¡°Take another look.¡±

    Cheng Tianhai nced in the direction that Li Chongshan was pointing in and discovered that the Soul Armament shed once before disappearing. What remained in its ce was a stone sitting in his palm.

    ¡°A stone?¡± Cheng Tianhai was stunned.

    It was only now that he realized that what Su Chen had given him from the very beginning wasn¡¯t an Origin Tool or a Beast Soul but actually a stone. He had been infusing a rock with a bunch of air the whole time, but he hadn¡¯t noticed it at all. The implications of this were very obvious.

    Cheng Tianhai¡¯s face was extremely red. ¡°You should have told me earlier.¡±

    Chu Yingwan smiled furtively and pulled out an Origin Formation Disk. ¡°Why would we tell you anything? Actually, not only did we not tell you anything, we also recorded it all down! Our General Cheng wants to turn a rock into a Soul Armament! Shouldn¡¯t other people also have an opportunity to see something like that?¡±

    ¡°What? Give that to me!¡± Cheng Tianhai hurriedly stepped forward to try and grab the Origin Formation Disk, but Chu Yingwan giggled and easily dodged to the side.

    The two of them fought with each other while Li Chongshan said in a leisurely manner, ¡°It seems like we will need to start ying second fiddle to you to ensure that the Heavenly Might Battalion grows stronger.¡±

    Su Chen felt a bit embarrassed. ¡°That¡¯s why I said that we should just forget about it.¡±

    ¡°How could we ept that? Prince Su has done a great favor for the Heavenly Might Battalion; let alone y second fiddle, we would even be willing to be your servants or even your stepping stones. From today onwards, the Heavenly Might Battalion, from top to bottom, will answer to Prince Su!¡±

    Li Chongshan had decided the matter with but a single sentence.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 139: Hurricane Cliff Race 1

    Chapter 139: Hurricane Cliff Race (1)

    Inside Hurricane Canyon.

    This area was an offshoot of the Limestone Mountain Range and was physically close to both the Ferocious Race and human race¡¯s territories. It also didn¡¯t ovep with either the Danger Crater or the dangerous void ruptures in the area.

    Because this area was prone to hurricanes, there was very little vegetation and much more rubble in thendscape. For as far as the eye could see, thend was deste and littered with chunks of limestone scattered randomly. This barren scene was the reason why the Limestone Mountain Range was called such, and Hurricane Canyon was named after the natural disasters that often frequented it.

    A climate like this was naturally not suited for any lifeforms to live in. This area was another no-man¡¯snd, and nobody in at least a thousand kilometers in any direction lived there.

    This was the case for both humans and the Ferocious Race. Neither of them were willing to live in this kind of ce, but there was one race that had tenaciously managed to settle down here.

    It was the Cliff Race.

    As a subordinate race to the human race, the Cliff Race weren¡¯t very powerful, but they had a strong ability to endure rough conditions, and their adaptability towards a wide variety of situations was quite high. When you factored in their innate affinity with earth Origin Energy, it was understandable that they had persevered in Hurricane Canyon.

    Of course, because Hurricane Canyon¡¯s environment was too nasty, even the Cliff Race had no way of living there as arge group. It could not possibly serve as a ce for the Cliff Race to try and establish themselves. They would onlye here under dire circumstances in an attempt to avoid their enemies and wait them out.

    Because of this, most of the Cliff Race individuals who lived here were escapees from human territories. There weren¡¯t many of them, only a thousand or so, as the resources here couldn¡¯t support any more than that.

    Even so, this ce had the highest concentrations of Cliff Race individuals across the entire Primordial Continent.

    They had moved here to avoid a life as ves of the human race, instead living a life that seemed to be part of an earthly paradise, even if that paradise was pretty shoddy.

    Even so, this was reality.

    It was only in a ce like this that the weak could live without having to worry about their territory being seized.

    Iron Cliff¡¯s heart was heavy as he gazed at the deste environment in front of him.

    So the fellow members of his race lived in this kind of condition?

    How long had it been since he had seen other members of his race?

    Iron Cliff didn¡¯t know.

    From the very first day of his existence until now, he had wandered from one master to another, being sold back and forth until he met Su Chen.

    During that period of time, he had also seen other Cliff Race individuals, though usually it was just a nce from afar.

    This was the state of the Cliff Race. They didn¡¯t have their own territory or their own pride. All they could do was follow their masters unconditionally.

    Today, however, Iron Cliff hade here at Su Chen¡¯s request.

    More specifically, this was his real mission.

    The main point in getting Su Chen¡¯s friends toe was to gather support in the form of resources, and they would also provide ideas from time to time. Hurricane Canyon, however, was a crucial step in the n. This part would depend on Iron Cliff himself, because this mission was something that only Iron Cliff could aplish.

    Wind violently blew past Iron Cliff as he walked forwards step by step, constantly fighting to endure the fierce winds.

    Even with his strength, he needed to brace himself thoroughly to prevent himself from being blown away.

    The wind cut against his face like a knife, stinging his face as it blew by him. He was having a hard time even keeping his eyes open.

    It took him a day of walking like this to finally find the entrance to the canyon.

    The canyon was shaped like a wide-mouthed gourd. From where Iron Cliff was standing, it almost looked like there was a mouth-shaped crack from which the gourd was cruellyughing.

    He spotted a young Cliff Race individual seemingly searching for something near the entrance to the canyon.

    The reason Iron Cliff assumed that he was young was because he was only around the height of an average human. His hands and feet were both quite small, though the wrinkles on his face made him seem quite a bit older.

    Iron Cliff knew that this was absolutely a youth. The wrinkles on his face were just from weathering this harsh wind all the time.

    The young Cliff Race individual soon found a wriggling white bug in the ground and put it in his mouth without hesitation. He chewed on it a few times before swallowing it, and a satisfied expression appeared on his face. This bug was known as the Cliff Bug and lived in rocky and earthy environments. Their flesh was coarse and their texture quite unpleasant, as their bodies were filled with grains of sand. However, these bugs served as an important source of food for the Cliff Race in the Hurricane Canyon, as it was only by their iron-like intestines and affinity for earth that made it possible for them to live on these bugs.

    After eating the bug, the young Cliff Race individual lifted up his head and saw Iron Cliff.

    A panicked expression appeared in his eyes.

    At first, he was a bit afraid and retreated a few steps, but he very quickly grew interested in Iron Cliff¡¯s crude appearance.

    After ncing at Iron Cliff deeply, the youth turned around and walked into the canyon.

    Iron Cliff didn¡¯t say anything. He remained at the entrance to the canyon and waited.

    Very quickly, some motion could be seen from within the canyon.

    Iron Cliff watched as arge group of Cliff Race individuals appeared and headed in his direction. Some of them were even wielding des and axes made out of stone.

    The Cliff Race individual at the very front was extremely tall and brawny. He was a head taller than Iron Cliff, and his muscles seemed like they had been sculpted, as were the lines on his face.

    He carried the only Origin Tool amongst the entire canyon ¡ª a Wolf-Toothed Hammer.

    Iron Cliff¡¯s guess was that it should be a Grade Seven tool based on the lustering from it.

    ¡°Another fellow countryman hase to Hurricane Canyon? Wee, child. I am the leader here, and my name is Hadley,¡± said the tall Cliff Race individual at the front.

    ¡°I¡¯m very happy to see you all, my fellow countrymen. My name is Iron Cliff. This is my first time seeing so many fellow Cliff Race individuals,¡± Iron Cliff replied.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t just happen to pass by here, did you? Hurricane Canyon is not a ce you can reach just by wandering around,¡± Hadley said.

    ¡°Of course not. I came here for a specific reason,¡± Iron Cliff replied.

    ¡°Then tell me why you are here,¡± Hadley directly said. Iron Cliff didn¡¯t like to beat around the bush either, so he also replied back directly.

    ¡°I came here on behalf of my master to be friends with you,¡± Iron Cliff said.

    ¡°But what are your intentions behind bing friends? What is his motivation for doing so?¡± Hadley wasn¡¯t confused by what Iron Cliff had said. Almost all Cliff Race individuals from the outside had masters, so he was also very clear on what the meaning behind ¡°bing friends¡± was.

    This leader was not easy to trick.

    After hesitating for a moment, Iron Cliff finally said, ¡°My master is currently in the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory, and he needs a way out...... through the Limestone Mountain Range.¡±

    Hadley shook his head. ¡°So that was indeed the case. Bing friends? That was just an excuse. Humans treat us like their friends when they need us, but they will throw us away like a cleaning rag as soon as they have run out of use for us.¡±

    Iron Cliff hurriedly yelled, ¡°My master is not the same.¡±

    ¡°Of course he¡¯s the same,¡± Hadley interrupted. ¡°All humans are the same. They treat you as a friend when they need you, but when they don¡¯t need you they don¡¯t care about whether or not you survive. Iron Cliff, almost all of the Cliff Race individuals here have lived with humans before and have consequently been hurt by them, which is why we won¡¯t be so easily cheated by them again. I¡¯m very happy to see you, Iron Cliff, but unfortunately, we have no way of epting your ideals. Of course, since you are also of the Cliff Race, you can live here if you like. Since your master has gone to the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory, he may never return. If you returned to the human kingdoms, you would be like a stray dog that lost its master. If you don¡¯t want to live like that, you can stay in the Hurricane Canyon with us...... as long as you can get used to the terrible environment.¡±

    Iron Cliff replied, ¡°I have no ns of changing masters.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not something that¡¯s up to you,¡± Hadley said.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 140: Hurricane Cliff Race 2

    Chapter 140: Hurricane Cliff Race (2)

    Iron Cliff ended up staying in Hurricane Canyon ¡ª before hepleted Su Chen¡¯s mission, he wouldn¡¯t leave.

    Hadley also demonstrated rare generosity towards Iron Cliff ¡ª actually, there wasn¡¯t really much to demonstrate here. The most valuable thing in Hurricane Canyon were the Cliff Race individuals themselves.

    The Cliff Race here had dug many caves throughout the canyon, and most of the time they stayed inside those caves.

    There were many caves, so there was no shortage of ces to live.

    Iron Cliff had chosen a cave at the very bottom and was temporarily staying there. After having been cut at by the wind for nearly a whole day, Iron Cliff sighed with relief upon entering the cave.

    He was just about to lie down when a few small Cliff Race children appeared near the entrance of his cave.

    They nced around the cave with some curiosity, as if they were looking for something interesting to distract themselves with.

    When Iron Cliff saw them like this, he smiled at them and beckoned towards them with his hand.

    The small group of children got closer to him.

    One of the boys asked, ¡°You came from outside?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Iron Cliff replied.

    ¡°Is the outside big?¡± another child asked.

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°Is the wind outside blowing hard too?¡±

    ¡°Is it dangerous outside?¡±

    ¡°What do humans look like?¡±

    ¡°I heard they are very bad.¡±

    ¡°Why do you have to listen to what humans say?¡±

    The children asked question after question, until they were talking over each other.

    Iron Cliff knew that they had been born in Hurricane Canyon and had never seen the outside world before. They hadn¡¯t even seen a human before.

    The only things that they knew about the outside world came from their parents and their elders.

    For this reason alone, they were filled with curiosity towards the outside world.

    Iron Cliff chuckled and said, ¡°The wind out there is not great. They don¡¯t live in caves, but rather in houses made out of wood and stone. Humans are a bit shorter than us and aren¡¯t as muscr, but they can control Origin Energy and are more creative than us. They are the owners of thatnd, so if we don¡¯t listen to them then we will have a hard time surviving.¡±

    ¡°Then you can live here,¡± a young Cliff Race girl said.

    Iron Cliff thought for a moment and didn¡¯t say anything. Instead, he pulled out some food from his Origin Ring.

    This food hade from the human realm.

    He ced it on the ground.

    The young Cliff Race children gazed at him, their eyes wide with shock.

    A youth sniffed it and asked, ¡°Can it be eaten?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Iron Cliff nodded.

    He took a piece of cake and handed it to the young boy, who stared at it intently.

    One of the nearby girls grabbed his hand. ¡°Daddy said not to randomly eat someone else¡¯s food.¡±

    Iron Cliff responded, ¡°It¡¯s ok, I was the one who invited you all. Try it.¡±

    His tone was incredibly enticing.

    The youth swallowed his saliva. He tried his best to control his urges and respect the teachings of his elders, but the temptations of the outside world were not something that a youth could manage to resist.

    In the end, he wasn¡¯t able to hold on and reached out to grab a piece, sticking it in his mouth.

    This piece was enough to move the youth to the point of crying.

    This feeling was one that was impossible to describe. He felt like he had melted into pure bliss.

    The youth stared in disbelief for a moment before disregarding everything else and snatching the cake from Iron Cliff¡¯s hands, stuffing it furiously into his mouth.

    He had never experienced the wonders of the human realm before. But now, his senses were under furious assault. He felt like amoner facing off against a power that could decimate the entire continent. How could he resist?

    He had immediately fallen in head-first!

    At this point, he wouldn¡¯t stop even if someone told him that the cake was poisoned.

    All the other children were stunned when they saw the way that the boy was devouring the food in front of him.

    Iron Cliff smiled slightly at them and alluringly said, ¡°You all eat a little bit too. It¡¯s really very good.¡±

    The little girl reached out her finger and dipped it in a little bit of sauce, then licked her finger.

    Her eyes turned red as soon as she tasted it, as if she had been badly poisoned. She reached out and immediately grabbed all of the food in Iron Cliff¡¯s hands.

    The frenzied actions of their friends didn¡¯t entice the other children to fight for it. Instead, they took a few steps back out of fear.

    They nced at each other, then at theirpanions wolfing down the food, and finally all of them made the decision to run away, yelling as they left.

    ¡°Alright, it seems like I need to prepare some more food,¡± Iron Cliff said with a slight smile.

    He knew what was going to happen next.

    Indeed, it took ce very quickly.

    Arge group of Cliff Race individuals appeared once again.

    The one at the front was still Hadley.

    When he saw the young boy and girl devouring the cake that Iron Cliff had brought, Hadley immediately understood what had happened.

    ¡°Cake...... Truly a delicacy.¡± A reminiscent look shed across Hadley¡¯s eyes. ¡°When the children told me that Grew and Bair had been poisoned, I had a guess as to what kind of poison it was...... Good food truly is effective, Iron Cliff.¡±

    Iron Cliff shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t have any crafty schemes in ce, Leader Hadley.¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a crafty scheme; you¡¯re just baiting them openly.¡± Hadley walked over and opened his hand towards him. ¡°Any more?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Iron Cliff hurriedly pulled out some more cake and other delicacies.

    Hadley handed over the cake to the children behind him. ¡°Go on and have some. You guys will like this kind of food.¡±

    Since their leader was the one that was telling them to do so this time, the children obediently ate.

    Afterwards...... they fell into a frenzy as well.

    The adults ignored the children¡¯s crazed appearance and stared silently at Iron Cliff.

    Iron Cliff shrugged. ¡°I have some more food with me as well. I promise that it¡¯ll be better than what I¡¯ve already given you, and you all may have some too.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, but there¡¯s no need. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Grew and Bair had already eaten some of your food, I wouldn¡¯t have let the others kids have any either...... You know that this will only increase their longing for the outside world.¡±

    Iron Cliff nodded. ¡°You cannot stop them forever. They will leave one day.¡±

    ¡°But they will also return,¡± Hadley sighed. ¡°The outside world is very morous and attractive, but it is also very dangerous. Even though living here is not easy, it at least ensures that they will be safe.¡±

    ¡°That might not be what they want; that might just be what you want.¡±

    Hadley eyed him intensely. ¡°Perhaps that¡¯s the case, but so what? We are just a group of vanquished people who couldn¡¯t make it in the outside world and merely want to live here peacefully. If you want to stay, we wee you to do so. But if you are here to ask us to throw our lives away for the sake of your master, then forget about it.¡±

    As he spoke, he turned around to leave.

    As he walked away, he said, ¡°Don¡¯t use these kinds of tactics to entice the children again. Otherwise, I¡¯ll drive you out.¡±

    ¡°Leader Hadley, you cannot be too stubborn. They have the right to pursue their own happiness!¡± Iron Cliff yelled.

    ¡°At the very least, what I am doing will ensure that everyone survives, while your master only wants all of us to die...... You know how dangerous the Limestone Mountain Range is, right?¡± Hadley asked coldly.

    Iron Cliff was momentarily rendered speechless.

    He stared at the other Cliff Race individuals, then suddenly yelled out loudly, ¡°Is that what you all think as well?¡±

    All of the Cliff Race individuals stared at him in shock.

    Iron Cliff continued to yell loudly, ¡°You all want to stay tied up in this ce like a bunch of cowards, struggling at death¡¯s door? Even if you have an opportunity to change your own fate, you¡¯re all too scared to take this risk?¡±

    None of the Cliff Race individuals answered him.

    They just stared at him, silently and coldly.

    A trace of anger appeared in Hadley¡¯s eyes. He stared at Iron Cliff angrily and said, ¡°This is yourst warning. Don¡¯t say anything poisonous like that ever again. Otherwise, I¡¯ll kick you out right here and now!¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 141: An Important Breakthrough

    Withered Leaf Gorge.

    While Iron Cliff was still racking his brains over how he could convince the Cliff Race at Hurricane Canyon, the Heavenly Might Battalion had already advanced to the Withered Leaf Gorge.

    This ce was next to the western stretch of the Blood and Iron Country. Because they needed to hunt a ton of Demonic beasts, the Heavenly Might Battalion had taken a detour here as it also bordered the Beast Race¡¯s territory, meaning that Demonic Beasts ran rampant here.

    Unlike humans who knew how to tame Demonic Beasts, the Ferocious Race had no knowledge and no need to do so. And since there was no demand for them,rge numbers of beasts would enter this territory every year.

    Another differencepared to the human territory was that instead of being a natural stronghold, the western stretches of the region werepletely open, where even the weakest beast could cross the border. This was another reason why so many Demonic Beasts would appear here.

    By the same reasoning, the Ferocious Race didn¡¯t really have a western border. This was a ce where beasts and Ferocious Race individuals lived together.

    In this kind of a ce, there was no organization or structure. It was governed by the simplestw: primal, bloody killing. The strong survived and the weak died.

    This was the third theoretical path that they could take. From here, they could go through the Beast Race¡¯s territory and re-enter human territory from the other side. However, this path was actually not a path; the Heavenly Might Battalion would rather go through the Stormy Strait than through the Beast Race¡¯s territory. Passing through it a little was fine, but going straight through was equivalent tomitting suicide.

    As such, the most direct path was also the one that was impossible to take. Because they knew this, the Ferocious Race didn¡¯t station many groups here. And even if they did, it wouldn¡¯t have been very effective ¡ª the territory was just toorge.

    The Withered Leaf Gorge was a small gorge located in this chaotic ce. It was the only dent in the entire deste wastnd, and it wasn¡¯t even really a gorge; it was just a pit sandwiched between two hills. Even so, it was this small pit that was currently concealing the humans that the Ferocious Race had been chased for the past half year or so.

    At this moment, a group of humans was getting closer and closer to this area.

    Behind this group of humans were the carcasses of two beasts each asrge as a hill. One was a two-headed gori roughly a hundred feet tall with its heads cracked wide open, while the other was a Three-Horned Sword Rhinoceros. Thistter beast was incredibly strong, and the spikes on its back rose high into the sky. The scales on its body had been peeled off and its three horns broken.

    There were two people standing at the top of Withered Leaf Gorge. They were Li Chongshan and Shi Kaihuang.

    When the group reached the gorge, one of the captains flew up to the top of Withered Leaf Gorge and greeted Li Chongshan and Shi Kaihuang by kowtowing to them. ¡°General, we have returned. We did not betray your trust and managed to hunt one ck Mountain Gori and one Three-Horned Sword Rhinoceros.¡±

    ¡°I saw. Well done,¡± Li Chongshan said faintly.

    Shi Kaihuang asked, ¡°How many casualties?¡±

    The captain replied, ¡°One person died, and four were seriously wounded.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang frowned. ¡°You are a captain, and this was just a normal hunting exercise, but you still suffered from casualties. At this point in time, every loss is a serious one since we have no way of recouping them. This is your fault and came about because of your inability to properly lead your troops. Go back and receive tenshes.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡± The captain bowed his head and agreed.

    Li Chongshan didn¡¯t like to administer punishment, but Shi Kaihuang had a reputation for being a strict general, so the lower-level soldiers were really afraid of Shi Kaihuang over Li Chongshan.

    At this moment, Li Chongshan couldn¡¯t help but ask Shi Kaihuang, ¡°A ck Mountain Gori and Three-Horned Sword Rhinoceros are both considered quite strong amongst high-tiered Demonic Beasts as they can go berserk at any moment. Hunting them is quite difficult, and they only suffered one death. We should have evaluated it as a meritorious service for Captain Du Qian. Why was it necessary to punish them?¡±

    Shi Kaihuang replied, ¡°These two Demonic Beasts are indeed powerful, but these soldiers are elites amongst the human race. Especially now that they¡¯ve cultivated both the Immacte Cultivation Technique and the Hemolytic Totem, their strength has rapidly increased. If they were to fight calmly, they shouldn¡¯t have suffered any casualties, so the death was most likely a result of their overconfidence. That was why I punished him ¡ª to remind him to not ce himself at the same context as that of a normal soldier. If you are more powerful, you will also bear more responsibility as well.¡±

    Li Chongshan shook his head andughed bitterly. ¡°You were still a bit harsh. The soldiers worked hard and should be consoled nheless.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang said, ¡°You can console and encourage them. I¡¯m more than willing to be the bad guy. You are the general, and everyone should naturally look up to you. As your deputy, I am okay with being the person that they fear.¡±

    Li Chongshan shook his head repeatedly. ¡°You and that stubborn personality of yours.¡±

    Even though he said that, Li Chongshan knew that Shi Kaihuang was acting in both the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s and his best interests.

    Li Chongshan and Shi Kaihuang were the officialmander and vicemander of the troops. One was merciful while the other was firm, which was the right path to take in training soldiers. As Li Chongshan was the main general, it wasn¡¯t good for him to offend anyone. And thus, the role of the ¡°bad guy¡± was given to Shi Kaihuang to y.

    Although Li Chongshan had epted Shi Kaihuang¡¯s role in the past, he had different thoughts now, so he wasn¡¯t willing to let Shi Kaihuang do this anymore.

    Shi Kaihuang knew why he was being like this. He said, ¡°Su Chen is Su Chen, and I am me. He has done many things for the Heavenly Might Battalion, but you don¡¯t need to be this worried about me. If you feel grateful to him, you should go to him and personally express your gratitude. Don¡¯t try and pull something weird with me. I very much enjoy my position as vicemander, and I am satisfied with what I am currently doing. If there is anyone who isn¡¯t willing to listen, I¡¯ll beat him. Pretending to be mean while teaching people lessons is actually quite enjoyable.¡±

    ¡°You......¡± Li Chonghsnughed bitterly.

    He knew Shi Kaihuang¡¯s temperament very well. Upon hearing him talk like this, Li Chongshan knew that he should let the matter go.

    Suddenly, he thought of something and asked, ¡°Right, how has Su Chen been doing these past couple of days?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s still conducting his experiments. It seems like he¡¯s somehow been inspired about a way to reach the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline.¡±

    ¡°If he can achieve that, then he really would have made a huge contribution to the human race,¡± Li Chongshan sighed.

    The Light Shaking Realm was one of the most important gates for an Origin Qi Schr to pass through. If someone without a bloodline was really able to reach that level, it would truly leave an indelible mark on human history.

    The Hemolytic Totem and Soul Armaments as achievements paled inparison.

    ¡°That¡¯s the dream,¡± Shi Kaihuang said. ¡°I look favorably on Su Chen. This kid has been performing miracles seemingly ever since he was born. Even though I was the one whoid the groundwork for the techniques for reaching the Blood Boiling and Yang Opening Realms without a bloodline, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to finish them without him. His moment of glory wille from creating a technique for reaching the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline. I believe that this day wille eventually!¡±

    ¡°I believe so as well,¡± Li Chongshan agreed. ¡°I just don¡¯t know how long it will take him to get there.¡±

    ¡°It won¡¯t be too long,¡± Shi Kaihuang replied.

    Su Chen was currently sitting in a cave, meditating with his legs crossed.

    Unlike most people who kept their eyes closed while meditating, Su Chen¡¯s eyes were wide open. He was currently examining his own body closely.

    Even though prative sight techniques could observe the motion of Origin Energy, they fell a bit short of truly observing reality. Su Chen, on the other hand, could use his microscopic eye to visually pry into such secrets and ignore all the physical barriers to look directly inside his body.

    His eyes glowed brightly as he began memorizing every node within his body.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 142: An Important Breakthrough 2

    Chapter 142: An Important Breakthrough (2)

    ¡°The lotus is a hundred percent formed now. Indeed, I¡¯ve seeded,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    Within the Sea of Qi in his body, a stable Lotus tform had appeared there, glowing brilliantly with an enchanting light.

    This was precisely the most important requirement for reaching the Light Shaking Realm: forming a Lotus tform.

    Lotus tforms were actually a representation of an Origin Qi Schr¡¯s use of Origin Energy reaching the peak. At that point, the Origin Energy in their body would congeal and transform, taking the shape of a Lotus tform and resonating with the cultivator¡¯s physical body. After their initial formation, they then became important bridges for controlling Origin Energy.

    After an Origin Qi Schr sessfully formed their Lotus tform, their ability to use Origin Energy would improve tangibly and even change in its fundamental essence.

    This kind of change was directly represented by the density of their Origin Energy.

    Before forming their Lotus tforms, a cultivator might be able to unleash a single fireball within a breath¡¯s time, but after forming it, they would be able to form hundreds of fireballs within the same time span.

    This was also why, after reaching the Light Shaking Realm, cultivators were able to fly without invoking a skill; their strength had taken a tangible leap forward. This also made it so that even something as simple as breathing in and out could unleash power equivalent to a simple Origin Skill.

    Of course, Su Chen hadn¡¯t actually fully formed his Lotus tform yet.

    His Lotus tform was at the early stages of forming in his body, and it could not stay there for long before it would destabilize and copse.

    However, this also implied that Su Chen had taken one of the most important steps forward: his ability to coagte Origin Energy had increased.

    The coagtion of Origin Energy was one of the highest priority requirements for forming a Lotus tform.

    If Origin Energy was like a wind that couldn¡¯t be seen, then a Lotus tform was like a stone that could be physically touched.

    Concentrating air to the point that it bes as hard as stone would require a ton of external pressure topress and eventually form it .

    In the past, humans had relied on their bloodline power to aplish this, as they had utilized the external power drawn from a bloodline to constantlypress their Origin Energy until it eventually formed a Lotus tform, thus erecting the bridge.

    Su Chen¡¯s n for creating a technique for reaching the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline had to address the issue of ack of external pressure.

    Without any external pressure, Su Chen only had two ways of forming a Lotus tform.

    One was to create a different form of external pressure, while the other was to increase the Origin Energy¡¯s ability to condense.

    These were the two keys to forming a Lotus tform, and he had to have one of them.

    Before this, Su Chen actually hadn¡¯t made any headway into either solution ¡ª many things seemed simple but were difficult to put into practice.

    It wasn¡¯t until recently that Su Chen had devised a way to increase his Origin Energy¡¯s tendency to condense.

    The way to increase its effective condensation was none other than the Immacte Cultivation Technique.

    When Su Chen had first created the Immacte Cultivation Technique, his main goal was to increase the absorption rate of Origin Energy from the environment not primarily for himself but for the Cliff Race. With his calctor brain, he had been able to develop it at a much faster rate than was previously possible for him.

    It could be said that the Immacte Cultivation Technique was something that Su Chen had developedpletely unintentionally, as Su Chen hadn¡¯t ced much hope on it at all.

    However, it was exactly this technique that had inspired Su Chen regarding how he should proceed in his research towards advancing into the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline.

    The main reason for this was that condensing Origin Energy obtained via the Immacte Cultivation Technique was much easier than with other techniques.

    This was something that Su Chen had discovered while experimenting on the other soldiers. Because they relied on their cultivation much more than Su Chen, they had quickly discovered that their ability to sculpt Origin Energy obtained via this method was better than that of other methods, making it easier to form Origin Energy Patterns and also making the corresponding Origin Skills easier to use.

    In the simplestyman terms, with the Immacte Cultivation Technique, the power of an Origin Skill might increase by fifteen percent, while the cooldown period for its use would decrease by around twenty percent.

    Su Chen was extremely shocked when he had first discovered these effects.

    The ability to condense Origin Energy that he had been looking for for so long was right here, but he as the creator was actually unable to realize it. That rendered him quite speechless.

    Even so, that was how research went; many impressive inventions were often built on top of a foundation of random knick-knacks that seemed useless at first nce.

    A chance discovery had actually turned into a milestone that would determine Su Chen¡¯s future direction; this was part of the charm of research.

    Yes, Su Chen was a researcher that focused on the world of Origin Energy. His diligent efforts would pave the road for all future humans.

    After discovering this point, Su Chen¡¯s horizons seemed to be broadened, and his way of thinking had also be wider. The distance between him and sess was shortened considerably.

    The Immacte Cultivation Technique was modified again to further increase its ability to condense Origin Energy. At this point in time, Su Chen was no longer concerned about the rate of cultivation but rather the degree to which the produced Origin Energy could bepressed.

    The current Immacte Cultivation Technique had doubled thepressibility of its Origin Energy, but that was still not enough for Su Chen.

    ording to Su Chen¡¯s n, the new cultivation technique needed to amplify thepressibility factor by about five to ten times ¡ª before he started developing a way to amplify the ambient environmental pressure, Su Chen needed to increase thepressibility factor as much as possible.

    As such, Su Chen absolutely needed to continue adjusting and perfecting the Immacte Cultivation Technique.

    Perhaps it was time to take inspiration from his method of reaching the Blood Boiling Realm from the Qi Drawing Realm, Su Chen thought to himself.

    A hundred-thousand-foot tall tower was erected from the ground up, and aplete cultivation technique needed to be developed from the foundation. If he had brought it to the Yang Opening Realm, who knew what point it would reach in the end?

    Su Chen immediately acted on his spective thoughts and began to sketch out the next theoretical step of his cultivation technique. His calctor brain was activated and began to go to work ¡ª there was nothing more suited for the calctor brain than something like this.

    In just a day, Su Chen¡¯s Immacte Cultivation Technique had sessfully reached the second level.

    At this level of technique, the rate at which soldiers could cultivate from the Qi Drawing Realm to the Blood Boiling Realm had greatly increased along with thepressibility of its Origin Energy, the power of the user¡¯s Origin Skills, and the cooldown rate of those skills. However, because it was everyone¡¯s first time cultivating the technique, it was impossible for them to bring out its full potential. As the technique began to sink in, however, the soldiers very quickly began to recognize the changes that were happening to them.

    The Heavenly Might Battalion was evolving and growing stronger at an unprecedented rate.

    Two dayster, Su Chen upgraded it from the Blood Boiling Realm to the Yang Opening Realm, and even created a version for the three or fouryers from the Yang Opening Realm all the way to the peak of Yang Opening.

    Because it was something that was constantly being trimmed down and improved upon, the calctor brain was exceptionally effective at working on it. Su Chen¡¯s rate of calction was nearly a thousand times that of an ordinary individual¡¯s.

    As such, something that Su Chen could do in one day might take someone else three years to aplish under normal circumstances.

    Even Su Chen himself was stunned by this speed.

    After reaching the fourth level of the Immacte Cultivation Technique, Su Chen had sessfully improved thepressibility of its Origin Energy by 400%.

    This implied that someone at the Yang Opening Realm would have Origin Energy five times denser than someone cultivating a normal technique, and their strength would be a bit more than double someone else¡¯s at the same tier as them. In other words, even if Su Chen were to use the same Origin Skill as someone else, his skill would be almost twice as effective. As for his gship techniques, they would be even more frightening.

    Su Chen¡¯s Sea of Qi had also be a real sea at this point. His Origin Energy had begun to liquify, and arge quantity of his Origin Energy was now being stored in the form of liquid droplets. Every droplet contained extremely dense amounts of Origin Energy.

    However, to Su Chen this was still not enough.

    It hadn¡¯tpletely turned into a liquid yet.

    There was still room for the Immacte Cultivation Technique to improve.

    Su Chen¡¯s end requirement was for the Immacte Cultivation Technique to condense his Origin Energy by a factor of seven andpletely turn it all into liquid. This way, it would serve as a great foundation for his further formation on Lotus tforms.

    As such, a new round of experiments began anew.

    Two dayster, the Immacte Cultivation Technique reached its fifth level.

    Four dayster, it reached the sixth.

    The density of Su Chen¡¯s Origin Energy had reached seven times that of what it was before. At the same time, Su Chen could sense that, at this point, the Immacte Cultivation Technique had been perfected. It had reached a point where it was impossible to improve it any further.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 143: Sold Out 1

    Chapter 143: Sold Out (1)

    Heavenly River Ancient Road.

    Danba was sitting inside his tent, flipping back and forth through the reports he had received with his eyebrows furrowed.

    ¡°Strange. Something feels wrong about this, but what?¡±

    Kubrick, who was standing to the side, asked, ¡°Young Chief, what is so strange?¡±

    Danba tapped the dossier in his hands and said, ¡°The Heavenly Might Battalion has been stuck in the Blood and Iron Country for quite some time now. In theory, their forces should have run out of rations a long time ago. Even though they ransacked and piged many different viges, we can infer from the reports that most of their energy was spent trying to collect resources to build thosend boats, which negatively impacted the number of rations they were able to collect. ording to my estimates, they should have run out of rations after they passed by the Death Region. But what happened then? It¡¯s not a big deal that they ended up not going through the Death Region, but the first thing they should have done was try and stockpile rations. However, they didn¡¯t do that and instead rushed to attack the Permafrost Wastnds.¡±

    Kubrick hesitated for a moment, then replied, ¡°The Permafrost Wastnds also have rations.¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s far too little for what they need! That vige is in the coldest ce on the Permafrost Wastnds and produces the fewest natural resources. There aren¡¯t enough rations for them to take,¡± Danba said as his voice grew exasperated. ¡°I have already calcted and analyzed the rations they managed to collect these past few days andpared it to how much they should have burned through. Unless they ate all the Ferocious Race soldiers they killed, they should have starved to death a month ago, and that is already based on the most conservative estimates. But they are still alive, hale and hearty. Who can tell me what exactly is going on?¡±

    The more he spoke, the angrier he became.

    Kubrick was also stunned. ¡°How is this possible?¡±

    His intelligence was only at a level where he couldn¡¯t understand how this had happened. Bayan¡¯s intelligence wasn¡¯t even at that level.

    He said in a hoarse voice, ¡°Perhaps they ate grass or something else like that. Us Ferocious Race individuals can live for half a month without eating.¡±

    ¡°The problem with that is that they aren¡¯t Ferocious Race individuals, and they aren¡¯t starving and weak; they¡¯re still able to fight! Look at this report ¡ª three days ago, the Iron Tribe encountered a small group of humans. In the end, the elites of the Iron Branch Tribe werepletely wiped out by this small group of humans. What does this mean? This means that theirbat abilities are increasing! Under these circumstances!¡± Danba forcibly repressed the anger in his heart, but his tone was growing increasingly unstable and violent.

    It wasn¡¯t a big deal that the opponents were jumping around within the encirclement or that it was taking some time to wipe them out.

    However, what about the fact that the opponent¡¯s weren¡¯t growing weaker but rather were actually getting stronger? That was a serious problem.

    Even Kubrick felt that this was a thorny issue. He shook his head and said, ¡°How can this be?¡±

    ¡°Also, the Iron Branch Tribe is located to the west. Why would the Heavenly Might Battalion appear in that ce? Their attempt to go through the east failed, and now they are heading west; could it be that they¡¯re nning on going through the Beast Race¡¯s territory?¡± Danba muttered to himself.

    ¡°Perhaps they¡¯re trying to catch Demonic Beasts to eat, which is the reason why they haven¡¯t starved to death yet,¡± Bayan chuckled.

    ¡°Do you really think that ce is somewhere that humans can just go as they please?¡± Danba resisted the urge to smash Bayan¡¯s head into the ground and stomp on the brain matter a few times.

    Suddenly, however, he realized that even if Bayan¡¯s idea was stupid, it might actually be right on the mark.

    Even though the Beast Race was powerful, they were also very split up. When one considered the organization and discipline of the Heavenly Might Battalion, andbined with a strategy centered around dancing about the edges of this chaotic region, they might actually be able to survive.

    The only question was, what was the point of living like that?

    Were they nning on settling down in that ce?

    Or were they just trying to dy for time until something happened like the Ferocious Race running out of patience with the encirclement before attempting another escape?

    That wasn¡¯t entirely out of the question, as the Ferocious Race were the ones who weregging behind slightly and their endurance indeed had limits. The Ferocious Race¡¯s blockade of all the major paths couldn¡¯tst for a long time; as long as the Heavenly Might Battalion was patient enough and could hold out long enough, they might actually be able to wait until the Ferocious Race were no longer willing to maintain the encirclement.

    Even though this was a crude tactic, it was undeniably effective.

    However, Danba also knew that killing a few scattered Demonic Beasts wasn¡¯t going to be nearly enough to keep all these people alive.

    ¡°They must have a source of food that we don¡¯t know about!¡± Danba had actually hit the nail on the head after thinking about it for a long time.

    But where was this source of fooding from?

    Danba thought for a moment, then said, ¡°Notify Astin. I want to see him.¡±

    A dayter.

    A ck-robed individual appeared in Danba¡¯s tent.

    Upon closer inspection, it was obvious that this individual had a short stature, and was even shorter than most humans, giving him a somewhat withered look. Inparison to the tall Ferocious Race, he was like a dwarf.

    It was an Arcana Race individual!

    Only in this ce could the Arcana Race live their lives in a semi-open manner.

    At this moment, the Arcana Race individual was standing beneath Danba and bowing as he said, ¡°Astin greets the mighty Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s youngmander. For what have you called me here today?¡±

    Danba directly said, ¡°The Heavenly Might Battalion suddenly obtained a supply of rations mysteriously. I want to know where those rations came from.¡±

    Astin was obviously stunned. ¡°How would I know?¡±

    Danba harurmphed. ¡°Don¡¯t take me for an idiot, Astin. I know that the Resurrection Door has close ties with the human¡¯s Immortal Temple. There are some things that I am willing to keep an eye open and the other closed so that you guys can make money, and that¡¯s all precisely because of these moments when I need you. Now is that time, and it¡¯s impossible for you to not have any information given how big this matter is. Tell me, what outside help has the Heavenly Might Army gotten recently?¡±

    Astin shook his head. ¡°Sorry, Young Chieftain Danba. I really don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    Whoosh!

    Danba pounced forwards and grabbed Astin by the throat. ¡°You damned midget, are you still trying to y games with me? I can tell from your eyes that you¡¯re lying! Tell me the truth now, otherwise I¡¯ll kill you!¡±

    That damned bastard!

    Astin was being choked so hard by Danba that he was having trouble breathing.

    In terms of strength, Astin wasn¡¯t afraid of Danba in the slightest. As an Arcana Master, he was capable of toppling Danba with a single hand.

    However, he couldn¡¯t do that!

    This was no longer the era of the Arcana Race. Currently, they were only barely holding on with the Ferocious Race¡¯s protection, eeking out a living and rarely finding opportunities every once in awhile with their support.

    As the price, Astin could only endure and obey Danba¡¯smand even if Danba was really going to kill him!

    ¡°I¡¯ll...... I¡¯ll talk......¡± Astin tried to squeeze out.

    Plop.

    Danba released his grip, and Astin fell to the ground heavily.

    ¡°Give me an answer!¡± Danba said as he leaned in menacingly.

    ¡°It¡¯s Su Chen. He brought them rations,¡± Astin admitted helplessly.

    ¡°Su Chen?¡± Danba froze.

    He was all too familiar with this name.

    Even now, Danba¡¯s heart still hurt when he thought of the conflict that had taken ce at the Goldwater Ruins eleven years ago.

    That was the only time he had ever been defeated in his entire life. Even though it wasn¡¯t his fault, strictly speaking, it had still left an indelible impression on him.

    How could it be him?

    ¡°Tell me everything.¡± Danba¡¯s voice grew chilly.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 144: Sold Out 2

    Chapter 144: Sold Out (2)

    Within the main tent, Danba sat quietly, but waves were churning deep in his heart.

    Su Chen!

    He was able to supply an eight thousand-strong army all by himself?

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Astin had sworn repeatedly that he was telling the truth, Danba might not have believed him.

    He had harshly interrogated Astin repeatedly until he was finally able to confirm that Astin had really told him all that he knew. Only then did he finally stop asking.

    ¡°So you mean that he came here just to save his Instructor Shi Kaihuang? And his wealth came from selling his technique for reaching higher cultivation realms for cheap? And he has at least a billion Origin Stones now because of it?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Astin replied. ¡°Actually, I didn¡¯t dare believe it myself when I first heard it either. However, this matter is no longer a secret amongst the Immortal Temple; after all, Su Chen had already coborated with the Immortal Temple when he sold the Three Yangs Medicine. The Immortal Temple also got a ton of money from that. And two years ago, the prices of a few select rare medicinal ingredients began to surge because they were buying it in such great quantities. Not long ago, Su Chen again put out another useful technique known as the Hemolytic Totem. This kind of technique is exceptionally useful for lower-tier soldiers and can greatly increase theirbat prowess. If my guess is correct, that technique should be the reason behind the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s sudden increase in strength. Right, that Hemolytic Totem also made Su Chen a few hundreds of millions of Origin Stones...... This guy really has too much money.¡±

    Astin¡¯s tone was one who was sighing.

    ¡°Hemolytic Totem?¡± Danba said with shock. The word ¡°totem¡± instinctively gave him a bad feeling.

    ¡°Yes, a secret technique that imparts more strength via the inscription of totemic inscriptions. It seems quite simr to the Ferocious Race¡¯s techniques, doesn¡¯t it?¡± Astinughed. ¡°I believe he managed to derive it from the Ferocious Race¡¯s Totemic Inscriptions technique.¡±

    ¡°Hiss!¡±

    Danba sucked in a breath of cold air.

    That Su Chen! How had he managed to do something like that?

    Su Chen¡¯s image appeared in his mind, and Danba suddenly realized something.

    If Su Chen were to continue developing like this, then perhaps not too long in the future, the Ferocious Race would be at death¡¯s door.

    He had to find a way to kill Su Chen at any cost!

    This desire surfaced in Danba¡¯s mind.

    He nced at Astin. ¡°He never tried to look for you aftering here?¡±

    Astin sighed and shook his head. ¡°The Immortal Temple had already told him about us and that he could ask us for help if he needed it. However, Young Chieftain Danba, Su Chen truly never came looking for us. Perhaps he never intended on asking us for help from the very beginning. He might not trust us at all.¡±

    ¡°But you still gave him the map! Without the map, how could hee and go as he pleases in the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory!?¡± Danba yelled angrily.

    ¡°This...... You cannot me us for that. We gave it to the Immortal Temple, and they were the ones who gave it to him, not us,¡± Astin tried to exin.

    ¡°That is still part of your duty! You bunch of damned bastards! You¡¯re willing to sell any secret as long as it turns you a profit!¡±

    Astin cursed under his breath. If this wasn¡¯t the case, why would I pass this information along to you? You want all the benefits but none of the drawbacks thate with it. Where does that kind of bargain exist?

    Without the Resurrection Door, Su Chen still had other ways of getting a map, but Danba might have been schemed to death without ever fully realizing what was happening.

    Having the Resurrection Door exist gave the Ferocious Race more benfits than drawbacks, which was the sole reason they had existed up till now. However, Danba¡¯s tone made it seem like everything was their fault.

    Even so, he had no choice but to ept that burden.

    This was not a matter of right or wrong but rather a matter of the Ferocious Race¡¯s strength.

    The Ferocious Race was stronger, so the Arcana Race and Resurrection Door were therefore at fault.

    Astin could only lower his head and say, ¡°Selling him the map was done by Ryan of the Resurrection Door. I will go and kill him now to make up for this mistake to Young Chieftain.¡±

    Ryan was always facing off against him, so why not use Danba¡¯s hand to eliminate an opponent within the organization?¡±

    Unfortunately, Danba didn¡¯t fall for it. ¡°If there is a single person whose severed head could give me peace, then it would probably be Su Chen¡¯s. I don¡¯t need anyone else¡¯s head; I just need Su Chen¡¯s.¡±

    Astin was stunned. ¡°Su Chen really never came looking for us!¡±

    ¡°So you can¡¯t go look for him on your own?¡±

    Astin replied, ¡°We obviously need an excuse. If we just go looking for him just like that, he will definitely realize what¡¯s happening.¡±

    ¡°So then find an excuse. I don¡¯t care what method you use; you must get in contact with him. I¡¯m going to kill him no matter what the cost is!¡± Danba said loudly. ¡°Do this well and I will make Resurrection Door the masters of the southern regions!¡±

    Astin¡¯s heart trembled when he heard this.

    If Danba had promised to make him the head of the Resurrection Door, he wouldn¡¯t have believed him, since that was something that only the king of the Iron and Blood Country could do. However, if it was to make him the master of the southern regions, then it might really be a possibility given Danba¡¯s prestige.

    Danba¡¯s words gave Astin quite the shock. ¡°I am willing to serve the Young Chieftain!

    ¡°Then give me some suggestions. I don¡¯t want some half-baked ideas. I want aplete n!¡±

    Astin began to rack his brains as quickly as he could.

    After thinking for a while, he said, ¡°It¡¯s not appropriate for the Resurrection Door to just go and look for Su Chen, but if someone from the Immortal Temple is looking for him, that would be enough of an excuse.¡±

    ¡°Why would people from the Immortal Temple look for him?¡±

    ¡°Of course, we will need to fabricate a reason. For instance, we can have the Immortal Temple send a few people into the Ferocious Race territory and have them run into some trouble, and then ask him for help. However, this will require the Ferocious Race¡¯s cooperation.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not a problem. We will cooperate with you. But if that¡¯s your n, isn¡¯t that the same as selling out the Immortal Temple? Are you not afraid of the effects this might have on your rtionship with them?¡± Danba asked.

    Astin replied, ¡°It will have an effect, but so what? We all operate underground and need one another. The Immortal Temple won¡¯t break off rtions with the Resurrection Door over this, as Resurrection Door wouldn¡¯t do that either. Of course, to smooth over rtions, we will need to provide them with some restitution. As long as the payment is enough, none of this will be a problem.¡±

    When he heard this, Danba chuckled. ¡°You Arcana Race lot scheme all day long. It is truly dangerous to trust you too deeply.¡±

    Astin replied straightforwardly, ¡°When you live in a cave for too long, you be a rat even if you weren¡¯t one in the first pace. If you aren¡¯t skilled in betrayal and settingyers of fallback ns, how can you survive underground? Sacrificing others to strengthen yourself is an innate instinct of all lifeforms. If you don¡¯t understand this, you will be sacrificed by others. I don¡¯t want to be sacrificed, so I can only sacrifice someone else.¡±

    ¡°Well said. Then you¡¯d better remember that while there are some people you can sell out, there are also some people that you can never sell out!¡± Danba said, his meaning clear.

    Astin bowed and replied, ¡°The Resurrection Door will always be loyal to the Ferocious Race, to the Gravel Lizard Tribe, and to Young Chieftain Danba.¡±

    Danba didn¡¯t take these words seriously, as if they were just a light breeze blowing past his face.

    All he said was, ¡°Right, Su Chen isn¡¯t a person who will help just anyone. Even if it¡¯s the Immortal Temple, he won¡¯t be willing to make a move for just anyone. You will need to think carefully about your exact ns.¡±

    Astin replied, ¡°Then we will find someone he cares about. I can figure out who he has good rtions with in the Immortal Temple.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 145: Exchange

    ¡°What? You¡¯re sending me to the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory? Why?¡± Night Demon yelled in outraged as she shot daggers with her wide eyes.

    Shi Minfengughed. ¡°Su Chen is currently in the Iron and Blood Country and just found the Heavenly Might Battalion, and is in the process of dragging them out of the mud. Right now, even though the Heavenly Might Battalion hasn¡¯t left the Iron and Blood Country yet, their circumstances have drastically changed. Those Ferocious Race individuals are losing control of the situation.¡±

    ¡°So how does this concern me?¡±

    ¡°The borders between the Ferocious Race and the human race are still locked down, and even though the Heavenly Might Battalion is still alive, it is still difficult a feat for them to leave. As such, they will probably be engaged in a long-term battle. Do you know what this means?¡±

    Night Demon shook her head dumbly.

    Shi Mingfeng shook his head in exasperation. ¡°Money! Lots of money! Origin Stones, spirit medicines, and all kinds of resources!¡±

    ¡°What does that have to do with the Heavenly Might Battalion?¡± Night Demon still didn¡¯t understand.

    Shi Mingfeng could only exin things as inly as possible. ¡°The Ferocious Race¡¯s territory iscking in resources, rations, ore, and many other things. However, they are located far to the north, which has some special medicines that can¡¯t be found anywhere else. The western regions, on the other hand, mostly belong to the Spirit Race and the Beast Race, and they also have their own special products. Because the Ferocious Race is alwayscking in resources and are barely surviving by aggressively hunting beasts, so there are definitely a lot of Origin Crystals there as well. Let me put it this way ¡ª if we send them some food, spirit herbs, and pieces of scrap metal, we can get our hands on a few Origin Crystals!¡±

    Night Demon finally understood. ¡°Oh, those things are really cheap! Why don¡¯t we just go buy those things then?¡±

    ¡°Buy them my ass!¡± Shi Mingfeng smacked Night Demon on the back of the head. ¡°Do you know what we¡¯ve been doing these past few years? We¡¯ve been participating precisely in this kind of business!¡±

    Night Demon rolled her eyes. ¡°If we¡¯re already doing it, then why are you still talking about it?¡±

    ¡°Dummy. We were doing it with the Resurrection Door before, but the profits were split evenly and the quantity was quite low...... The Resurrection Door cannot do it for free, as they must take a cut of the profits. Now, however, the situation is different; the Resurrection Door fears the Ferocious Race, while the Heavenly Might Battalion doesn¡¯t.¡±

    Night Demon scratched her forehead, as if she was carefully thinking over the matter. ¡°So you¡¯re saying that we should do business with the Heavenly Might Battalion?¡±

    ¡°Finally, you understand.¡± Shi Mingfeng let out a long sigh. ¡°The Heavenly Might Army won¡¯t be afraid of the Ferocious Race, so we don¡¯t need to consider them either. They need rations, while we need spirit herbs and Origin Crystals. They are in the Iron and Blood Country, so harvesting food must be very difficult...... Even the Ferocious Race themselves don¡¯t have enough food to feed everyone, so how could there be enough to feed anyone else? However, spirit herbs definitely grow there like wildflowers. We¡¯ll just go and do business with them ourselves, right?¡±

    Night Demon pouted. ¡±Hmph, the path has already been blocaded already. How can we do business?¡±

    She finally seemed to be smarter.

    Shi Mingfeng chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s why I called you silly. Think about it ¡ª how was Su Chen able to support the Heavenly Might Battalion?¡±

    Night Demon was stunned. ¡°It can¡¯t be that he was the one who brought them all those rations single-handedly, right?¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± Shi Mingfeng countered. ¡°A n that is impossible for most people to execute isn¡¯t really too much for him.¡±

    No one was clearer than him about how rich Su Chen was. If there was a single person who could bring arge pile of Origin Rings that purely stored a ton of rations inside, and as a side-effect cause the prices of rations, Origin Rings, and other living essentials to surge back at home, it could only be Su Chen.

    Shi Mingfeng had only realized this because of the changes in the market ¡ª this guy had bought all the for-sale Origin Rings within a short period of time, causing the price of Origin Rings to skyrocket. These spatial-type Origin Tools, which were already quite pricey, had suddenly became raremodities.¡±

    ¡°But where am I going to get that many Origin Rings?¡±

    Shi Mingfeng said, ¡°Of course we won¡¯t be able to find that many Origin Rings from outside, but we can source them internally. Long Sang Country might not have any more, but can¡¯t we easily find some from other countries? As long as we¡¯re willing to think, there will always be ways to procureOrigin Rings. Unfortunately, this probably means that the price of Origin Rings is only going to continue rising.¡±

    ¡°Then how will I get in? Su Chen can shapeshift and sneak in, but that doesn¡¯t mean that I can.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to worry about it. The people from the Resurrection Door will help us.¡±

    ¡°Weren¡¯t we nning on skipping over them and doing business with Su Chen and the others directly? But they¡¯re still doing business with us?¡± Night Demon asked with some surprise.

    ¡°It¡¯s not the entire Resurrection Door, just a few specific people,¡± Shi Mingfeng replied.

    The excuse that Astin had given Shi Mingfeng was that even though the Resurrection Door couldn¡¯t do business with the Heavenly Might Battalion as that would be standing in brazen opposition to the Ferocious Race, he didn¡¯t want to let go of this opportunity, so he had secretly gotten in touch with the Immortal Temple so that they could carry out this business deal.

    That was a pretty good excuse. In this world, noone would call you a hero if you didn¡¯t have any intentions of lining your own pockets at the price of sacrificing some public good.

    Neither Shi Mingfeng nor anyone else would have found this excuse strange.

    Since they were going to meet up with the Heavenly Might Battalion, then they obviously needed to send someone reputable. The Immortal Temple was a group that was publicly considered to be a terrorist organization, so how would they be able to converse with the Heavenly Might Battalion? They needed to go through Su Chen.

    Even though he didn¡¯t know Su Chen¡¯s exact position, based on his personality and the supplies he had brought, it was quite easy to guess what status Su Chen had amongst the Heavenly Might Battalion ¡ª he was probably right below themander of the battalion.

    Funnily enough, they didn¡¯t know that even themander of the battalion himself was working under Su Chen ¡ª there were only a few people who could create Soul Armaments, so why not put Li Chongshan to work?

    Since the battalion had to rely on Su Chen, Shi Mingfeng, Night Demon, and the others became useful.

    This was also why Shi Mingfeng had gone to find Night Demon. No one else was quite as effective at speaking to Su Chen as she was.

    Currying favor with Night Demon was the same as currying favor with Su Chen. This might not be the way the entire Immortal Temple saw the situation, but at the very least least, Shi Mingfeng and the people under him agreed on this. As such, this girl had been treated extremely well in recent times.

    ¡°So you want me to get in touch with Su Chen and discuss business with him?¡± Night Demon asked.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s the n. But you won¡¯t be going alone; He Xu and I will also go.¡±

    Night Demon was surprised. ¡°He Xu can shapeshift, so I understand why he¡¯s going. But why are you going?¡±

    Shi Mingfeng harrumphed, ¡°Of course it¡¯s to protect a brat like you. Do you really think that the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory is that easy to get in, and that with the Resurrection Door¡¯s protection, you can do as you please without any worries? Also, don¡¯t say anything about He Xu¡¯s existence. Outwardly, it¡¯ll seem like only you and I are there.¡±

    Night Demon didn¡¯t understand that both He Xu and Shi Mingfeng wereing along to protect her.

    Shi Mingfeng was openly protecting her while He Xu was supporting from the shadows.

    This was all because of Su Chen.

    No matter what, Night Demon could not be lost. Given Su Chen¡¯s current rtionship with Night Demon, if something bad were to happen to her, then Su Chen definitely wouldn¡¯t give the Immortal Temple an easy way out.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, Shi Mingfeng had wisely chosen to also secretly bring He Xu along. However, He Xu¡¯s job wasn¡¯t to disguise himself as someone else, but rather to hide in the shadows and to take Night Demon¡¯s ce at a critical moment.

    ¡®I sure hope that we never have to use this backup n if at all possible,¡¯ Shi Mingfeng thought to himself.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 146: Beast Wave 1

    Chapter 146: Beast Wave (1)

    Li Chongshan sat in the main tent, rubbing his head.

    He had the beginnings of a headache.

    They had stayed in the middle region for some time now and hunted quite a few Vicious Beasts. All the while, the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s soldiers were making breakthroughs one after another, and their overall strength was increasing at a lightning-fast speed. More and more Soul Armaments were also produced with every day that passed, and today half of Blue Mountain Company possessed these powerful variant Origin Tools.

    Even so, there were problems that naturally urred exactly because of all this progress.

    The extended period of beast hunting that had gone on had alerted the Beast Race and caused them to respond and begin moving.

    The Beast Race were not idiots. Once they reached the Demonic Beast level, they would gain some intellect, and hunting them repeatedly would stimte them into responding ordingly.

    All this time, the Ferocious Race and the Beast Race had maintained a tight bnce between attacking and defending each other, avoidingrge-scale battles at the same time. This was especially true for the Ferocious Race, who didn¡¯t dare provoke the Beast Race without support; it was actually the Beast Race who often initiated Beast Waves to invade Ferocious Race territory.

    It could be said that the Beast Race were always the ones attacking. When had they ever been forced onto the receiving end by another race?

    This time, however, the situation was obviously different.

    A bunch of humans had appeared out of nowhere, started hunting them down, and tried to wipe them out.

    Even though the Beast Race knew that humans were the perpetrators and not the Ferocious Race, what did it matter to them? Hadn¡¯t they alle out of the Iron and Blood Country anyways?

    If one looked at it from a certain angle, didn¡¯t it even seemed possible that the humans and the Ferocious Race had allied together?

    This was a much bigger problem.

    When there was no danger, the Beast Race members were free to do as they please, and some even wandered around on their own.

    However, as soon as a threat emerged that endangered their race, they would immediately begin to group together.

    The current situation was no exception.

    From the reports, it seemed that the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s hunting expeditions had hit a nerve of the Beast Race¡¯s, and a Beast Wave was about toe.

    It was time for them to leave this ce.

    Even so, they had only managed to make a few hundred Soul Armaments, and there were still many soldiers who had yet to make a breakthrough.

    Determining what time to leave and where to go was the main point of discussion for the higher-ups of the Heavenly Might Army right now.

    ¡°Yanping Mountain won¡¯t work. The Inferno Tribe lives there, and they are themanders of the entire Ferocious Race. It¡¯s best to not piss them off too much,¡± Jun Moxie said.

    ¡°Will they not send more troops after us if we don¡¯t piss them off? Of the thirteen branches of the Ferocious Race Army that are chasing us, two of them are from the Inferno Tribe,¡± Guo Wenchang said.

    ¡°But if we attack Yanping Mountain, we might have to deal with two more branches of the Inferno Tribe.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter. It¡¯ll just be fifteen branches instead of thirteen branches; that doesn¡¯t make much of a difference to us.¡±

    ¡°I suggest that we go to Seven Armored Peaks. There are lots of Demonic Beasts there, of which we still need to supplement our strength,¡± Lin Shaoxuan said.

    ¡°That won¡¯t work. It¡¯s too close to where we are now, meaning that we won¡¯t really have moved at all. We cannot gamble on howrge or small the Beast Wave will be.¡± Shi Kaihuang shot down the suggestion as he shook his head.

    ¡°Then what about Eastern Shao Castle?¡± Chu Yingwan asked.

    ¡°Resources there are too sparse and we¡¯ll burn through our stores. Even if we go there, we¡¯ll have to leave sooner rather thanter.¡±

    ¡°What ce has mountains, rivers, and resources that haven¡¯t been upied yet? We¡¯ll be fighting no matter where we go.¡±

    ¡°Then let¡¯s go and attack Ten Foot Diameter City. They have a ton of resources.¡±

    ¡°The Silver Wolf Tribe¡¯s home? They have thirty thousand Ferocious Race soldiers, their chieftain has top-tier totemic inscriptions and has undergone three baptisms, and their Head Ancestor is one of the Ferocious Race¡¯s twelve Core Ancestors. Attack that ce? We¡¯d be better off staying here and trying to fight the Beast Wave.¡±

    ¡°Medieval Lake.¡±

    ¡°Heavenly Forest Wesnds.¡±

    ¡°Ayaculer Beach.¡±

    ¡°Shadow Moon Pass.¡±

    One location after another was thrown out before they were all quickly rebuffed. Everyone preferred their own suggestions and argued against the suggestions of other people. With all of them together, they all had different personalities and ideas, making it hard for them toe together on a ingle decision.

    Even Li Chongshan felt like he was caught in a dilemma and couldn¡¯t decide.

    Suddenly, a voice spoke, ¡°Th Castle.¡±

    It was Su Chen¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Th Castle?¡± Everyone turned around to stare at Su Chen in shock.

    Th Castle was in the center of the Iron and Blood Country, neighboring the Hawuli Forest. There was a smallke nearby, and there were a decent amount of resources there. The territory belonged to the Inferno Tribe, but there weren¡¯t many soldiers there.

    The benefits of attacking Th Castle was that there were many resources there and that it would be easy to take. However, the downsides were that they would offend the Inferno Tribe even more, and that the ce was difficult to siege as it was surrounded on all sides by heavily-fortified strategic cities. In other words, even if they were able to take the castle, they would run the risk of being surrounded.

    ¡°Why do you want to go there?¡± Chu Yingwan asked.

    ¡°Because that ce has Silverstar Flowers,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Silverstar Flowers were a unique product of Hawuli Forest. It was a rare nt that was exceptionally effective in medicines.

    Everyone thought that Su Chen was going to list a bunch of strategic reasons for targeting Th Castle, but Su Chen had unexpectedly offered a seemingly unstrategic reason.

    He continued, ¡°I want the Silverstar Flower.¡±

    ¡°Just because of that?¡± Shi Kaihuang frowned.

    He felt like his disciple should not be this selfish of a person.

    ¡°Yes, just for that,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Since you guys can¡¯t make up your mind, I thought that I would suggest something. Whether or not Th Castle is worth strategically targeting, I don¡¯t care, but I do know that I can get my hands on a ton of Silverstar Flowers if we go there. These can be used to concoct Origin Energy stimnts, and with a lot of Silverstar Flowers, I will be able to produce many of these medicines for the battalion. Also, the Silverstar Flower¡¯s property of stimting Origin Energy will be very useful for my experiments and are necessary in my ns. To me, they are very important. There are so many possibilities that at some point you need to make a decision. The person who makes the decision should obviously maximize profits and pick the lesser of two evils. I have said all I need to say; you all can keep discussing. Just let me know when you make a decision.¡±

    Li Chongshanughed, ¡°Well said; we must pick the lesser of two evils. Everyone is clear about Su Chen¡¯s ability, right? If it¡¯s useful to him, then it¡¯ll also be useful to the battalion. We must also consider the gains and losses of benefits.¡±

    Everyone nodded individually when they heard this.

    They were all clear about the pros and cons of attacking Th Castle. When factoring in Su Chen¡¯s needs, Th Castle became the most viable choice out of all of the ones that had been listed so far.

    ¡°Then what about the surrounding fortified cities? Th Castle is surrounded by them; getting in might be easy, but getting out will be difficult,¡± Guo Wenchang said apprehensively.

    There were many benefits and drawbacks here. Th Castle was indeed surrounded by many strategic cities, which was their biggest problem. Was it necessary to fight a brute-force battle with the Ferocious Race just over these resources? If that was the case, they might suffer serious casualties even if they were able to win. How many more of these brute-force battles could they even afford to take?

    Everyone fell deep into thought.

    At this moment, Su Chen suddenly said, ¡°Th Castle isn¡¯t too far from here, is it.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang nced at his disciple, somewhat understanding of what he was getting at. ¡°You¡¯re not nning on using the Beast Wave as an opportunity, are you?¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    Shi Kaihuang shook his head. ¡°In all our years of fighting, the Beast Race has had tacit understandings with all the other races. There can be Beast Waves, but they cannot prate too deeply; otherwise, the races will all band together to fight back. In addition, the current Beast Race is not the Beast Race of prior years.¡±

    ¡°All I¡¯m asking is whether or not the Beast Wave can reach Th Castle at maximum range?¡±

    ¡°It can, but that is only for arge Beast Wave, and the wave might not necessarily head in that direction.¡±

    ¡°If the direction isn¡¯t right, then we can redirect it. As for the size of the Beast Wave...... Instructor, you know that creating a conflict is always easier than de-escting one. If we can¡¯t resolve the issue with the Beast Race, why don¡¯t we just make exacerbate it?¡±

    Chu Yingwan¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°That¡¯s right. In any case, we¡¯re in the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory. Do we need to be afraid of the Beast Wave? The bigger, the better!¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 147: Beast Race 2

    Chapter 147: Beast Race (2)

    Once the n was set in ce, the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s movements began to grow at an even more unrestrained pace.

    They withdrew most of their lower-level soldiers and only left behind a few small groups of elites that began to aggressively target Demonic Beasts and furiously attack them. They hunted these beasts relentlessly and harvested their Origin Crystals. At the same time, they sent experts to assassinate nearby Ferocious Race individuals, not giving them the opportunity to discover and report what was going on.

    Without question, these activities were greatly aggravating the Beast Race, and groups of Demonic Beasts showed signs of gathering together.

    In just two days, at the border of the middle of the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory, a horde of Demonic Beasts were howling nonstop.

    The human army didn¡¯t have the ability to hunt any longer, because they were now facing a dense crowd of beasts that stretched for as far as the eye could see. These beasts were constantly howling, grunting, crooning, and uttering all kinds of strange sounds. They were so densely packed that it almost seemed like they were overflowing and piling on top of one another.

    Demonic Beasts raced across the ground and flocked to the skies. All kinds of ferocious birds were soaring through the heavens, so much so that if they all spread their wings simultaneously, the earth would be covered to the point that not a single ray of light could pass through their plumage, making it as if nightfall had descended.

    Li Chongshan sat in the Silvermoon Shuttle, watching the amassed beasts from afar. The scene of the wings blotting out the sun had shocked him quite badly.

    ¡°This might be the biggest Beast Wave that the Ferocious Race has ever experienced in the past thousand years.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s arge gift that we¡¯ve left behind for them,¡± Cheng Tianhai added.

    They all nced at each other andughed. This was the first time after they had entered the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory that any of them hadughed freely like this.

    ¡°Look, they¡¯re on the move now,¡± Chu Yingwan said as she pointed off towards the distance.

    Everyone watched as the line of beasts began to advance.

    The scene really did look like a massive ocean wave crashing towards shore down there. Now that they were on the move, the ground rumbled beneath their feet as they charged forwards one after another.

    Therge groups of Vicious Beasts were the first to start charging. They called out in a low voice reminiscent of a hunting horn as their powerful legs drummed up an intense vibration. There was an incredible number of them, and they came in all shapes and sizes ¡ª nearly a thousand unique species were present. The Beast Race didn¡¯t distinguish between species when reproducing, so new species came about every day, and all kinds of strange amalgams were present amongst their ranks.

    Behind them wererge groups of low-tier Demonic Beasts that were responsible for controlling the movement of the Beast Wave at the most basic level. Even though these low-tier Demonic Beasts were only so-so in terms of strength, their intelligence was much higher than their Vicious Beast subordinates, making them an important ry point between the cannon fodder and the higher tiered beasts that were inmand.

    Behind them were the mid and high-tier Demonic Beasts. These Demonic Beasts served as the organizational backbone, and theymanded groups primarilyposed of other Demonic Beasts. Actually, these groups were the main force of the Beast Race¡¯s army. They didn¡¯t make nearly as much of amotion as the Vicious Beasts. Instead, they were calm and unruffled, and their pace was neither fast nor slow. Clouds of Qi revolved around them ¡ª Origin Energy clearly bending to their whims. Their footsteps were powerful and filled with confidence, making them feel somewhat like a human army. If you saw this scene, you would immediately realize why the Beast Race had the right to be at the very top of the food chain in this world.

    Li Chongshan and the others weren¡¯t able to see anything further back.

    The Beast Wave was toorge, and the endless horde of beasts made it impossible to peer past the horizon and see what was at the back even as the groups at the very front drew closer.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go. If we don¡¯t leave now, then we won¡¯t ever be able to leave,¡± Shi Kaihuang warned.

    Su Chen controlled the shuttle and left.

    Cheng Tianhai sighed as he gazed at the wave of beasts. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be good if we could just eat them all?¡±

    ¡°One day, that will happen,¡± Su Chen replied with a slight smile.

    Migu Altar.

    Chalei stared at the sky aimlessly.

    Standing on guard was a very lonely and boring thing. Most of the time, Chalei could only pass the time by counting the ants as they crawled by. One day, he had discovered an ant hive at the base of an old tree near the beacon, and gradually befriended the ants there afterwards. Every day, he would watch these ants hurriedly run back and forth, and would even asionally toss some food to them just to watch them carry it away or fight over it with the nearby ant hive. This was his greatest source of entertainment.

    Sometimes, Chalei thought about whether there was a god in this world; he thought that if there was a god, then he was probably like Chalei, looking down upon the mass of people on the continent. All the lifeforms here were probably like ants to him, busily bustling back and forth. However, there wasn¡¯t much point to it other than to entertain the god. He wouldn¡¯t help the lifeforms on Earth, but he might asionally toss them some food or opportunities to entertain himself. However, he could also wreak devastation on them merely for entertainment¡¯s sake as well.

    To a divine being, everything was done for the sake of entertainment.

    Chalei didn¡¯t know if his thought process was right or not; he just knew that it was interesting to him. Actually, it was quite impressive for a Ferocious Race individual to have profound thoughts like this. But even the dumbest lifeform would be somewhat philosophical if they were to spend most of their time daydreaming everyday from boredom.

    Today, nothing was different for Chalei. He sat in front of the old tree near the beacon and stared at the ants, totally bored out of his mind.

    Suddenly, he noticed that the sky was turning dark.

    What was happening?

    Chalei lifted his head with curiosity. He watched as dark clouds seemed to rapidly advance towards his position.

    No, those weren¡¯t just dark clouds!

    Chalei stared at the sky in a daze. He could clearly see the tens of thousands of ferocious birds flying through the air.

    Heavens! How many birds were there in total?

    They were so densely packed that they almost seemed to blot out the sun.

    Beast Wave!

    It was a Beast Wave!

    Chalei finally reacted to the scene unfolding before him, and he hurriedly spun around to light the beacon fire.

    The Ferocious Race¡¯s beacons were specially constructed not to burn with physical mes but rather to shoot a beam of light made of Origin Energy into the sky. The beam of Origin Energy spread further and faster than a me, which made it a much faster method formunicating information andmands.

    Chalei¡¯s responsibility was to light the beacons, and that was the only responsibility he would ever have. The same day that hepleted his mission was the day he would die ¡ª there was no way for him to outrun those beasts.

    However, Chalei was fearless. He had known what his fate would be from the very moment he had chosen to be a beacon guard.

    Alerting his fellow Ferocious Race individuals was his sole purpose for existence and a testament to his fearlessness and courage. He was destined to enter the Hall of Heroes and be immortalized as an example and an inspiration for future generations.

    He could die without any regrets!

    In some sense, he had even hoped for this moment toe.

    He ran towards the beacon, advancing courageously.

    However, when he arrived at the beacon, he discovered that there were a few humans who had suddenly appeared next to the activation mechanism. At their feety a Ferocious Race individual.

    ¡°Nate!¡± he yelled.

    ¡°He won¡¯t answer you,¡± a young human replied with a slight smile.

    His smile was fleeting and his expression careless.

    Chalei¡¯s expression, however, was frozen.

    Scheme!

    This was all the humans¡¯ scheme!

    He stared viciously at that youth, then growled and charged forwards viciously.

    Just as he was about to enter the human youth¡¯s range, he suddenly changed directions and sprinted to the beacon as the inscriptions on his body lit up brilliantly.

    He wasn¡¯t afraid of fighting or of dying, but he knew that at this moment, lighting the beacon and alerting the rest of the Ferocious Race individuals was the highest priority duty.

    Whoosh!

    A cold de light shed through the air. Chalei¡¯s body had been almost perfectly bisected.

    Even so, his mutted body continued to fly towards the beacon resolutely. Chalei¡¯s gaze was focused as he stared intently at the activation mechanism in the middle.

    Whoosh!

    Another de strike.

    Chalei¡¯s head went flying.

    Even without his head, his will did not dissipate. Half of his body continued to fly forwards, and he raised his arm to activate the mechanism.

    Just as he was about to activate the beacon, another human youth suddenly appeared out of nowhere in front of the beacon.

    He raised his hand gently and ced it on top of the activation mechanism, preventing Chalei from pushing it.

    That was thest thing that Chalei felt.

    Finally, his eyes closed forever.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 148: Beast Wave 3

    Chapter 148: Beast Wave (3)

    Muliu Castle.

    A group of Ferocious Race soldiers paced the walls of the castle on guard. They were not doing so in an orderly manner like most humans would, but these tall Ferocious Race individuals had their own way of being on guard.

    The old soldier Gonko nced approvingly at his soldiers and yelled, ¡°Everyone, make sure to focus. The humans are jumping around as they please in our territory. The most recent news indicates that they are now in the central region, and no one knows when they will appear. If you don¡¯t want to die, open your eyes and don¡¯t let any humans get close.¡±

    ¡°If those humanse, we¡¯ll eat them alive!¡± one of the Ferocious Race soldiers howled in response.

    ¡°Muliu Castle isn¡¯t a small town. Those humans won¡¯t be able to piss all over us.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡±

    ¡°Absolutely!¡±

    The Ferocious Race soldiers on the castle walls cheered and mored.

    Just as they were hyping each other up, however, they suddenly saw a ck line appear on the horizon.

    ¡°What is that?¡± one of the Ferocious Race guards who had seen the line asked in surprise.

    The rest of the soldiers nced in that direction.

    Gonko squinted his eyes at the rapidly approaching ck line. ¡°Careful, that might be the humans. Everyone, pick up your weapons. Pai, go stand next to the rm beacon and be ready to light it on my mark......¡±

    One of the soldiers hurried off to the beacon.

    ¡°Something seems wrong. They are a bit faster than usual,¡± another Ferocious Race soldier said.

    The ck line rushed forwards like a wave at an umonly fast speed. Most importantly, the ck line was exceptionallyrge and seemed to connect the heavens and the earth. This was not something that should have been possible with an eight-thousand-man group.

    Finally, once the ck line drew closer, Gonko was able to clearly see what the ck line was.

    He cried out, ¡°Heavens!¡±

    Then, he turned around and howled, ¡°Beast Wave! The Beast Wave is ambushing us!¡±

    rms began to re through the city, shattering the silence that formerly enveloped the castle.

    Countless Ferocious Race soldiers scrambled to the top of the city walls to find a Beast Wave stretching out as far as the eye could see. The beasts howled incessantly as they surged forwards like a wave.

    ¡°Heavens!¡± the Ferocious Race soldiers cried out as they trembled.

    ¡°Arge Beast Wave! It¡¯s arge Beast Wave!¡± Gonko cried out desperately.

    Without question, they were facing a Beast Wave the likes of which only came about once every thousand years.

    ¡°Prepare for battle!¡± Themander¡¯s cry was drowned out by the incessant howling of the beasts. As the Beast Wave drew nearer, their thunderous roars only grew louder, assaulting the ears of the Ferocious Race soldiers and causing the ground and the castle walls to tremble.

    At this point in time, the first Vicious Beasts had already charged into the defensive radius of the castle.

    ¡°Demon-ying Crossbows, fire!¡± Following themander¡¯s order, a wave of heavy-duty crossbow bolts whistled through the air and rained down on the oing Vicious Beasts.

    ¡°ROAR!¡± The Vicious Beasts howled piercingly under the onught of the Demon-ying Crossbows, but even more Vicious Beasts and Demonic Beasts surged forwards to take their ce, trampling over the corpses littering the ground.

    Large waves of me Vultures swooped down from the skies. They could have moved even faster, but under themand of the Demonic Beasts, these guys had reduced their speed so that they attacked at the same instant that the Beast Wave came crashing onto the castle. The ground battle only burned more fiercely.

    The howling, ming gale bore down on the castle as me Vulture after me Vulture descended from the sky, picking up Ferocious Race soldiers before flying back into the sky. They were asrge as oxen in size, and their massive ws and ability to spit fire were extremely useful tactics. Apart from barbecuing their opponents, they liked to use their wings to fly into the air and then drop their opponents from the sky, killing them immediately.

    Soldier after soldier was picked off by the vultures. They struggled valiantly, and a few of the more vicious soldiers used the des in their hands to chop off the vultures¡¯ ws. They were able to return to the ground in time and preserve their lives. The other soldiers were taken high into the sky before they were dropped, some of the soldiers clinging onto the me Vultures and battling them in the sky. The peak-level Vicious Beasts were unable to gain aplete advantage against the courageous and valiant Ferocious Race, and they often fell from the sky in mutual destruction.

    Even so, the sacrifices of the me Vultures weren¡¯t in vain. Therge groups of Vicious Beasts had managed to push closer to the castle.

    ¡°Flying axes!¡± one of the Ferocious Race generals yelled.

    The Ferocious Race soldiers lining the city walls all pulled out their own flying axes as their arms began to glow brilliantly and energy flowed along the inscriptions on their arms. Under the direction of theirmanding officers, they began to unleash their axes into the sky.

    These flying axes had a limited range, but their power was unexpectedly great.

    A Deste ck-Eyed Wolf was charging forward when an axe suddenly careened into its skull. The axe cleaved the wold from head to tail, leaving behind two halves that toppled to the ground.

    ¡°ROAR!¡± Wild howls erupted from the Ferocious Race soldiers.

    Even if they were facing death itself, they would go out with a bang.

    At this moment, the Ferocious Race warriors demonstrated their formidable might. Something seemed to constantly be supplying them with morale; once their initial fear had worn off, excitement rose to take its ce, and they threw themselves into battle.

    However, even their limitless valiance was like a drop in the ocean to the Beast Wave.

    The flying axes might be falling like rain, but the Beast Wave was like the ocean.

    When the ocean surged, it took everything down in its way.

    The me Vultures were still swooping down from the sky one and another, as not all of them had died. However, they were now joined by White-Feathered Hawks and Three-Eyed Falcons. Most crucially, the Vicious Beasts advancing by ground had already reached the base of the castle walls.

    The first to arrive were the Iron-ted Rhinoceroses.

    These thick-skinned beasts were exceptionally useful as a vanguard. They put their powerful ramming abilities to use as they charged at the castle walls, using their heads as battering rams.

    Even the most sturdy wall wouldn¡¯t be able to handle rams from tens of thousands of these Iron-ted Rhinoceroses at once.

    ¡°Activate the defenses!¡± a Ferocious Racemander stood up and yelled loudly.

    A white barrier of light appeared on the surface of the walls.

    Even so, these Iron-ted Rhinoceroses ignored the barrier and continued to lower their heads and ram the walls.

    They watched as countless horns rammed into the white barrier of light, causing the barrier to fluctuate violently and radiate with an intense, blinding light.

    The Vicious Beasts that had been following behind the Iron-ted Rhinoceroses had also caught up at this moment and began to attack the wall¡¯s defenses.

    A massive beast appeared from behind them and forced its way to the front of the wave of beasts. It stood on two legs like a human and had the head of a mountain goat but the body of a human. In its hand was a long whip with lightning snaking across its surface, which it cracked at the barrier of light. The light barrier began to shine brilliantly as it had never before.

    It was a mid-tier Demonic Beast.

    ¡°Kill it!¡± the Ferocious Racemander howled.

    Hundreds of flying axes ttered through the air.

    The simple yet effective attack forced the powerful goat-headed man back, the flying axes chopping it up despite its retreat.

    An instantter, however, even more goat-headed men rushed forwards, cracking their whips against the wall¡¯s defenses and causing the flickering to grow even more intense.

    When he saw this, even the incredibly courageous Ferocious Racemander¡¯s expression changed. ¡°It¡¯s over.¡±

    The wall¡¯s defenses, which would have been enough to defend against arge army, were quickly prated like they were just thin pieces of paper.

    An instantter, the Beast Wave charged into the castle.

    Muliu Castle had fallen.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 149: Cove

    t

    The Beast Wave tore through the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory like the gue ravishing thend.

    Muliu Castle, ck Rain City, Iron City, Flowing Blood Tribe...... ce after ce disappeared upon meeting the Beast Race¡¯s onught. They were like an ind in the middle of the ocean; once the ocean surged, it could only resign itself to a fate of being swallowed up.

    This disastrous catastrophe was closely tied to Su Chen and the others¡¯ movements, who had used the Silver Moon Shuttle to assassinate the guards at border outposts. As such, information spread very slowly, and the Ferocious Race didn¡¯t have enough time to retreat. This made the Beast Wave¡¯s destructive power wreak unprecedented devastation on the Ferocious Race.

    Three days before the Beast Wave arrived, a total of twenty-six beacon-guards were ambushed, and all of them suffered tragic fates. It wasn¡¯t until three dayster that a few Ferocious Race individuals who had managed to escape delivered news of what had happened and the Ferocious Race tribes finally became aware of what kind of storm was brewing.

    At this moment, a few of the tribes near the border had already begun to retreat. Large groups of Ferocious Race civilians could be seen fleeing desperately in their attempt to escape across the ins. The formerly deste, lonely ins had be a bustling trail very quickly.

    ¡°Now the Ferocious Race¡¯s central regions havepletely be no-man zones,¡± Li Chongshan said as he gazed down at the scenery below from his vantage point in the Silver Moon Shuttle.

    ¡°When the Beast Wave passes, they will return,¡± Jun Moxieughed coldly.

    ¡°If we had known that the Ferocious Race would try to run like this, we would have left a few squads down there to loot the abandoned viges,¡± Cheng Tianhai said.

    No matter how much he had calcted and nned, when he saw the Ferocious Race individuals fleeing desperately for their lives, Cheng Tianhai still felt like he watching a herd of fattened sheep run away while that he just couldn¡¯t ughter no matter what.

    Chu Yingwang scoffed, ¡°You really are useless. What would piging a bunch of refugees do for us?¡±

    Cheng Tianhai said with conviction, ¡°Ie from a poor family unlike you, Miss Chu. We had split our copper coins in two when we used them.¡±

    ¡°Was only the midwestern area emptied out?¡± Su Chen suddenly interjected.

    As soon as he spoke, everyone fell silent and turned their attention towards him.

    Shi Kaihuang replied, ¡°Beast Waves are not that umon amongst the Ferocious Race. These past few years, everyone that lives near the border has some experience with them, and they know which directions the Beast Wave will expand towards and how much damage it can potentially cause. As such, they have a general idea of how to proceed even without being told anything.¡±

    ¡°But those reactions are made under the assumption that we humans didn¡¯t interfere, right?¡± Su Chen countered.

    Everyone was rendered speechless.

    Yes, all of the Ferocious Race evacuees¡¯ reactions were made under the assumption that no humans were pulling the strings behind the scenes.

    However, in reality, it was the Heavenly Might Battalion that had triggered the Beast Wave and increased its size, and it was also because of the Heavenly Might Battalion that the Ferocious Race¡¯s rm systems had been rendered ineffective and subsequently suffered serious losses.

    Everything had changed because of the Heavenly Might Battalion, so wasn¡¯t there something else that could be done?

    Indeed, Su Chen said, ¡°I want to increase the area that the Beast Wave affects.¡±

    ¡°How muchrger?¡± Li Chongshan asked.

    ¡°As much as possible,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Everyone nced at each other.

    Su Chen¡¯s thought process was bold and frightening, but there was an obvious question: how could they make it happen?¡±

    ¡°Of course we¡¯ll do it by angering those guys even more.¡±

    This Beast Wave had urred precisely because the Heavenly Might Battalion had angered the Beast Race, and the Beast Wave had grownrger because of this as well. As such, to further increase the magnitude of the Beast Wave, the simplest method would be to enrage them even further.

    ¡°Just killing them one at a time isn¡¯t going to be enough to make them angry,¡± Guo Wenchang said.

    During times of peace, killing one person was a big deal, but during a war, thousands or even tens of thousands of deaths were normal and epted.

    Since the Beast Wave was already underway, the Ferocious Race¡¯s counterattack was totally reasonable, and even the Beast Race wouldn¡¯t think that the Ferocious Race was fighting back to provoke them. As such, continuing to ughter beasts wasn¡¯t the best tactic at this point in time. The Beast Drawing Medicine could be useful, but it wouldn¡¯t be able to attract that many beasts, and neither would it be able to entice them for long either.

    ¡°That¡¯s why we need to think of a new idea,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°What idea?¡± everyone asked simultaneously.

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then said, ¡°The Beast Race hase out in full force, so there are probably not too many Demonic Beasts back at home defending against the Ferocious Race, right? What do you all think of sneaking into the Beast Race¡¯s territory right now?¡±

    Sneaking into the Beast Race¡¯s territory?

    Everyone was badly startled.

    Chu Yingwan said, ¡°Trying to get around the Beast Race to enter their territory won¡¯t be an easy matter. After all, the original n was just to take Th Castle.¡±

    ¡°The n to take Th Castle won¡¯t change. Just have the Heavenly Might Battalion continue on their current course, with you all continuing to lead the troops. As for mounting a surprise counterattack against the Beast Race, just leave that to me.¡±

    ¡°Leave that to you?¡± Everyone was stunned.

    ¡°Yes, leave it to me. I can shapeshift and infiltrate the Beast Race¡¯s territory easily, and I have the Silver Moon Shuttle, which will let me escape quickly, and the Raging Sun Shuttle, which is incredibly durable and powerful. More importantly, I am the one who proposed the n, so I should be the one to carry it out. Also, my doing this might redirect Danba¡¯s attention towards the Beast Race, giving us a better opportunity to escape.¡±

    They were all rendered speechless when they heard his words.

    It had to be said that this expedition wouldn¡¯t be like the others; there was a tremendous risk involved. Even though Su Chen had made tremendous contributions towards the Heavenly Might Army, and he had turned around their dire situations, his own life hadn¡¯t never really been at risk.

    Going in alone, however, would ce his own life in significant danger, and his will to volunteer himself also earned the respect of everyone present.

    After a long pause, Li Chongshan said, ¡°Su Chen is willing to die for the Heavenly Might Battalion; I, Li Chongshan, am extremely grateful.¡±

    As he spoke, he knelt down and bowed to Su Chen.

    Su Chen was badly startled, and he hurried to try to get Li Chongshan to stand back up.

    However, everyone else present also knelt down and bowed to him. Only Shi Kaihuang remained standing with a slight smile on his face; as Su Chen¡¯s instructor, there was no need for him to pay respects to his own student.

    Su Chen felt quite bad for epting everyone¡¯s bows. Actually, he also had some selfish motives for going to the Beast Race¡¯s territory this time, but he couldn¡¯t tell them the truth and so, he could only ept the saintly role they had given him.

    After a long discussion, everyone finally decided to not change the original n and to continue their attack on Th Castle. However, they had to factor in the danger of the concentrated Beast Race horde, so after taking Th Castle, they would immediately retreat to the east.

    After deciding on a n, everyone left.

    A trace of excitement shed across Su Chen¡¯s eyes as he watched everyone leave. ¡°The Beast Race¡¯s territory is a ce where countless people have wanted to go to before. I¡¯m finally going now.¡±

    The Beast Race¡¯s territory had been off limits to all Intelligent Race individuals for the past ten million years. Numerous people wanted to go in and explore but all had failed in the end.

    Apparently, that ce was filled with natural treasures that no one had harvested. There wererge quantities of spiritual medicines, many of which didn¡¯t even exist in the human world, not even in anyone¡¯s wildest imaginations.

    Su Chen had a lot of money, but money can only buy things that had a price tag.

    The Beast Race¡¯s territory contained many treasures that were priceless.

    Those things couldn¡¯t be bought with money even if you tried.

    The Beast Race¡¯s territory was abundant in resources, attracting the fantasies of many, but very few people had ever dared to brave the dangers of that ce.

    Anyone who could go in ande back out alive would make a handsome profit.

    Naturally, Su Chen had always been hungry for such an opportunity.

    Now, this opportunity had finally shown itself.

    The Beast Race had left in full force, and Su Chen had his shapeshifting technique and the ability to escape in the blink of an eye. Most importantly, however, Su Chen also had tons of empty Origin Rings...... Rings that needed to be filled by something...

    Filled with the countless resources and abundant riches of the Beast Race.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 150: Reaction

    After leaving Li Chongshan and the others, Su Chen began heading towards the Beast Race¡¯s territory.

    Obviously, he couldn¡¯t just walk in there directly, so he had to take a detour. If he went to the north, he would be walking straight into the heart of the Iron and Blood Country, where the Inferno Tribe resided. There was nothing Su Chen could do if he were to face off against thergest Ferocious Race tribe, so he had chosen to take the southern path instead.

    The southern pathy facing human territory, and this was also where the Sand Gravel Tribe resided.

    For Su Chen, his n had always been to go to the south, but before the scheduled time arrived, he was not in any hurry to reach his destination. At this moment, he was heading towards the southern stretches of the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory just so he could go further westter on.

    However, he didn¡¯t expect that taking this small detour would result in a chance encounter with some long-time friends.

    A group of people were currently trudging their way across the Harvey ins.

    Night Demonined as they walked, ¡°There¡¯s nothing on these ins. I¡¯m bored out of my mind! Su Chen didn¡¯t even leave behind any hints for us. This ce is so huge; how are we supposed to find him?¡±

    Shi Mingfeng smiled bitterly. ¡°Young Miss, they¡¯re being heavily pursued right now. How could they leave behind hints for us? But you don¡¯t have to worry; when we were at Mountain Overlook City, we setup a way with Su Chen for us tomunicate. It won¡¯t work if he¡¯s too far from us, but as long as we are within fifty kilometers of him, we will be able to contact each other.

    When they had parted ways at Mountain Overlook City, Shi Mingfeng had given Su Chen a summoning Origin Disk that was paired with his that allowed two users tomunicate with each other as long as the disks were within fifty kilometers of one another. If Su Chen was in the area, he would be able to sense it and get into contact with them.

    This was one of the reasons why Shi Mingfeng and Night Demon were confident that they would eventually be able to find Su Chen.

    However, all the while they weren¡¯t able to get that close, their confidence in being able to find Su Chen wasn¡¯t that high.

    On the other hand, the Ferocious Race and Resurrection Door were extremely confident that they could find Su Chen. After all, they could forcefully control the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s movements to some degree, but they couldn¡¯t pinpoint their exact location. If both methods were used simultaneously, the sess rate in finding the Heavenly Might Army was obviously going to be even higher.

    In that sense, as long as the Ferocious Race and Resurrection Door snatched the Origin Disk from the Immortal Temple, they would be able to find Su Chen and the Heavenly Might Battalion.

    However, Shi Mingfeng was as prudent and cautious as ever. He had never told Astin about his way of contacting Su Chen. When he took into ount Su Chen¡¯s cautiousness, Astin had decided not to press the issue.

    One of the subordinates of the Resurrection Door heart what Night Demon had said, he couldn¡¯t help but ask Astin, ¡°Someone who doesn¡¯t even understand that actually is a viscount in the Immortal Temple? Are theycking in manpower? Or does this girl have an important backer behind her?¡±

    The Immortal Temple¡¯s internal structure copied the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s five tiers: Duke, Marquis, Count, Viscount, and Baron. Of these, the ones with the highest statuses were known as Archdukes, not kings, since the kingdom had fallen. The other importantmanders were ssified at the Duke level, such as Scarlet Hand Ainsley. Below them were the marquises, which included Ma Renze and Shi Mingfeng. Below that were the viscounts.

    In terms of strength, Night Demon was at the Yang Opening Realm already, which was sufficient for her title of Viscount.

    However, cultivation base was not the only requirement; they also needed to have a certain level of intelligence. From that angle, Night Demon was almost in the negative tiers; normally, it would have been difficult for her to even be a baron, let alone a viscount. She probably would have just been cannon fodder.

    However, she was currently a viscount, a backbone of the Immortal Temple, and even someone like Shi Mingfeng had personallye to protect her. The people from Resurrection Door really couldn¡¯t believe their eyes.

    Astinughed coldly. ¡°Backer? Isn¡¯t her backer Su Chen?¡±

    That person was startled. ¡°Su Chen¡¯s that important?¡±

    ¡°If you earned Resurrection Door a few hundred million Origin Stones, you would also be that important,¡± Astin replied.

    Night Demon used to be a statusless assassin for the Immortal Temple, carrying out missions as cannon fodder, and never participating in any important missions. However, as her interactions with Su Chen increased, Night Demon¡¯s status also began to rise.

    The matter with Ma Renze had also made the Immortal Temple realize that appeasing Su Chen was much more effective than threatening him. Under these circumstances, Night Demon¡¯s status naturally rose even faster, and there was nothing strange about her bing a viscount. If the situation continued to progress at the current rate, and if Su Chen could bring the Heavenly Might Battalion out of the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory alive, then Night Demon would immediately be elevated to the position of count ?¡ª the same rank as Shi Mingfeng.

    ¡°Damn,¡± the Resurrection Door subordinate muttered when faced with Astin¡¯s response.

    ¡°So that¡¯s why all we can do is run back and forth. When will we get within fifty kilometers of him? When will we be able to contact him?¡± Night Demon was still asking questions like a curious child.

    ¡°Right now, this is all we can do. Thankfully, our friends at the Resurrection Door roughly know the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s whereabouts; as long as we follow in their footsteps, we should eventually get an opportunity to contact him.¡±

    ¡°But we also might run into Ferocious Race soldiers,¡± He Xu replied.

    Everyone was chasing after the Heavenly Might Battalion right now. The closer they got, the more likely it was that they would be discovered by the Ferocious Race.

    ¡°The Resurrection Door has their own way of dealing with the situation,¡± Shi Mingfeng replied. ¡°At the very least, everything has gone quite smoothly up till now, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± Night Demon nodded.

    ¡°Everything has gone very smoothly. Our friends at the Resurrection Door are quite talented,¡± He Xu also agreed, but he secretly shot Shi Mingfeng a nce at the same time.

    They were not Night Demon. They had much more worldly experience than her, and so their thought processes were also much moreplicated.

    Astinughed, ¡°We have always been half-epted here in the Iron and Blood Country, so it was simple for us to clear things up ahead of time with the Ferocious Race already, so nothing bad should happen. A while ago, we heard that the Heavenly Might Battalion had appeared in the central region of the Iron and Blood Country from the Ferocious Race.¡±

    He had just openly admitted that they had rtions with the Ferocious Race, making it harder for everyone to be suspicious of him.

    ¡°So why are we heading directly for the central region right now?¡± He Xu asked. ¡°Our path seems to be slightly off.¡±

    Astin replied, ¡°If we want to find the Heavenly Might Battalion, we can¡¯t just follow them around all the time. We need to first determine where they are heading to. The Heavenly Might Battalion will not remain in one ce for long, so ording to our analysis they should have already left that area by now. We don¡¯t know which direction they¡¯ll head towards when they leave, but since we just need to be within fifty kilometers of Su Chen to get in touch with him, then going to the central region is the best idea.¡±

    This decision hadn¡¯t been made by Astin but rather by Danba. It was not a coincidence that Danba was the same as Su Chen in terms of thought processes when searching for the Heavenly Might Battalion. The only difference was that Su Chen could go looking on his own, while Danba had to rely on his subordinates to aplish the task for him. As such, Su Chen had a lot more freedom and flexibility, causing his sess rate to be much higher; Danba had much more manpower at his back, but information traveled slowly, limiting the sess rate of his endeavors. In the end, Danba had managed to guess where the Heavenly Might Battalion would be three times, but the Heavenly Might Battalion had managed to escape for a variety of reasons each time.

    Of course, the Heavenly Might Battalion was also quite startled by this, and their movements had grown even trickier after each close call.

    ¡°In other words, even if we get to the central region, we might not be able to find him?¡± Night Demon sighed.

    ¡°That depends on our luck,¡± Shi Mingfeng replied with a slight smile. ¡°However, I believe that we will be able to find him there. And with you here, our luck definitely won¡¯t be bad.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Night Demon raised her eyebrows happily.

    Shi Mingfeng suddenly felt a warmth emanate from his chest.

    He yelled in shock, ¡°There¡¯s a response!¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 151: Danbaâ€™s Scheme

    Shi Mingfeng¡¯s cries of happiness gave everyone quite the shock.

    At that moment, Shi Mingfeng didn¡¯t even try to keep things hidden. He pulled out the Origin Disk and found that a small red dot was shing on the disk¡¯s side, and it was currently traveling in a certain direction.

    ¡°It¡¯s Su Chen!¡± Night Demon also realized what the dot signified and cried out, ¡°My luck really is pretty good.¡±

    An instantter, however, the red dot suddenly jumped to the other side of the disk before disappearing.

    ¡°Howe it disappeared?¡± Everyone was stunned.

    ¡°He left the effective radius of the disk again,¡± Shi Mingfeng replied.

    Su Chen had obviously just been in the transmission radius a few moments ago, but before Shi Mingfeng could even try to contact him, he had left the transmission radius. Most likely, he had merely brushed past the outskirts of the transmission radius.

    ¡°Do you know where he went?¡± Astin asked anxiously.

    ¡°That way,¡± Shi Mingfeng said as he pointed towards the west. That was precisely the direction that the red dot had disappeared in.

    ¡°The west? We ran from the central area to the south area, and now we¡¯re heading west. What does that mean?¡± No one understood Su Chen¡¯s movements.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about these things for now. Let¡¯s chase after them first and we can discuss thingster when we catch up!¡± Astin said agitatedly.

    ¡°Chase!¡±

    ¡°Chase!¡±

    Everyone began to yell.

    At this point in time, there was no point in hesitating. Everyone began to march double-time in that direction.

    A few people from the Resurrection Door purposefully allowed themselves to subtly fall behind.

    Astin nodded to someone beside him, who pulled out an unassuming ck stone and began writing on it. As he wrote, the words shed quickly before disappearing, and the writer nonchntly tossed it into a bush off to the side as soon as he was done and left it there.

    An hourter, a group of Ferocious Race elites arrived on the scene, all mounted on Azure Wolves. These Azure Wolves weren¡¯t asrge as the Single-Horned Rhinoceroses, but they were much faster and much more vicious.

    One of the soldiers, who was holding a shining disk, leapt off of the Azure Wolf before it had evene to a full stop andnded next to the ck stone. He picked it up and ced it on his forehead, causing a streak of light to pour out from the stone into his forehead. The Azure Wolf-riding soldier¡¯s consciousness trembled for a moment before he said, ¡°We¡¯ve discovered traces of Su Chen¡¯s movements. He¡¯s headed west.¡±

    Upon hearing those words, the leader of the wolf-mounted squad shot a signal arrow high into the sky.

    A distance away, a group of Ferocious Race soldiers was gathered, waiting for a signal.

    When the Ferocious Race army¡¯smander saw the arrow fly into the sky, he raised his arm and motioned forwards. The army began to advance imposingly in the direction that the signal arrow had flown in.

    At this moment, Shi Mingfeng and the others were totally unaware of what had just urred.

    They were merely chasing after Su Chen excitedly.

    However, after chasing after him for three days straight, their excitement had disappeared altogether.

    ¡°Something¡¯s seriously wrong here! We¡¯ve been chasing him for three days, so why haven¡¯t we caught up with him yet? Could he have made another turn?¡± someone asked.

    ¡°We just got word that the central region is currently under attack by the Beast Wave. Large numbers of Demonic Beasts crossed over the border and have already taken down ten or so cities,¡± Astin said.

    ¡°What?¡± Everyone present was stunned.

    How had such an unexpected situation suddenly have developed in the central region of the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory?

    He Xu realized something and blurted out, ¡°Could it have something to do with Su Chen?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s very possible.¡± Shi Mingfeng understood Su Chen far too well; with the tactics he was capable of employing, it was indeed possible for him to orchestrate something even as monumental as this.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then we definitely can¡¯t head to the north.¡±

    ¡°Then what about the south?¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t go to the south either.¡± Astin shook his head. He didn¡¯t exin further, but he knew that Danba¡¯s men were currently waiting there. If the Heavenly Might Army did go south, they would run right into the Ferocious Race army¡¯s hands.

    ¡°The north route is blocked and the south route can¡¯t be taken, so we can only continue moving west. Damn, they¡¯re an eight thousand man army; how are they traveling so fast?¡± Everyone believed that Su Chen was still with the Heavenly Might Battalion, which meant that Su Chen¡¯s movements were the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s movements. The speed of arge group just couldn¡¯tpare to that of an individual¡¯s, so when they considered Su Chen¡¯s speed as the battalion¡¯s, it seemed as if the Heavenly Might Battalion had an ungodly amount of speed.

    Shi Mingfeng couldn¡¯t answer that question, but based on the current situation it did seem like Su Chen was still heading west.

    ¡°If we go any further west, then we¡¯ll reach the Beast Wave¡¯s territory. What are they thinking, going so far west?¡± Astin asked apprehensively.

    Shi Mingfeng¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°The Beast Wave has just left their nest, so if they choose this moment to invade the Beast Wave¡¯s territory......¡±

    Everyone¡¯s minds suddenly trembled as they thought of something.

    Astin also realized what was going on. He said in shock, ¡°Countering by making a move on the Beast Wave¡¯s home, plundering all kinds of rare resources, and perhaps enraging the Beast Wave even further so that they destroy the Ferocious Race? And after all this, they might still even ughter their way through and return to the human territory...... Holy crap, this Su Chen is really something!¡±

    Even though Astin had never met Su Chen before, in that instant, all the credit of these borate and ambitious schemes hadnded squarely on Su Chen¡¯s head, even though there was nothing wrong in attributing these things to him.

    The Beast Wave¡¯s territory!

    At this moment, everyone¡¯s heart was stirred up.

    Now was the best time to raid the Beast Wave¡¯s territory since it was nearly empty. If the Heavenly Might Battalion could go in, why couldn¡¯t they?

    Braving dangers to find treasures ?¡ª everyone present was invigorated by the prospect. Even Astin was moved and couldn¡¯t help but wonder whether or not he should let Danba know. However, this idea disappeared as soon as it hade; he was very clear on how frightening Danba was. He knew that he wouldn¡¯t be able to keep news of this concealed from Danba.

    Soon after realizing Su Chen¡¯s ns, everyone made up their minds to chase after him and enter the Beast Wave¡¯s territory. Since the Heavenly Might Battalion dared to do so, then there was no reason for them not to do the same. Any disasters they were risking were simrly borne by the Heavenly Might Battalion, after all.

    The n was set in motion, and the group began to move out.

    An hourter, Danba received the news.

    ¡°They¡¯re going to the Beast Wave¡¯s territory?¡± Danba was also caught off-guard by this.

    He had always believed that, after their n had failed at the Death Region, that the humans would choose to return through the Limestone Mountain Range. Instead, they had seemingly chosen to pass through the Beast Wave¡¯s territory. However, given that a Beast Wave was currently underway and as a result, the Beast Wave¡¯s territory was going to be sparsely popted, there was indeed some possibility of them returning even if that probability was somewhat small ?¡ª only the Beast Wave¡¯s border would be sparsely popted.

    ¡°Young Chieftain, what should we do?¡± Kubrick asked.

    Danba tapped his finger rhythmically as he continued to contemte in silence.

    Bayan impatiently replied, ¡°Do you even need to ask? We should chase after them! If the Heavenly Might Battalion can go, then so can we. We might even be able to wipe out a few beasts while we¡¯re there.¡±

    It was obvious that Bayan was also enticed by the prospect of seizing so many riches.

    Even though he was kind of an idiot, at this moment the idiot¡¯s suggestion was supported by all the generals inside the tent.

    ¡°Yes, we should continue the chase! Let¡¯s stop the Heavenly Might Army in their tracks and make it impossible for them to advance or retreat.¡±

    ¡°Yes, let¡¯s charge our way into the Beast Wave¡¯s territory and demonstrate the might of the Ferocious Race army!¡±

    A cacophony of cheers burst forth from the tent.

    At that moment, Danba suddenly asked, ¡°How¡¯s the situation with the Beast Wave right now?¡±

    Why was Danba suddenly asking about the Beast Wave at this moment?

    Everyone was confused, but Kubrick still replied, ¡°When we got news of the Beast Wave, it had just taken Muliu Castle. Right now, the wave should be attacking the Iron City. It probably won¡¯t be long before they reach Hong.¡±

    Hong was the endpoint of the Beast Wave¡¯s invasion. After reaching that ce, the Beast Wave would usually recede as the beasts returned to their own territory.

    However, if the Heavenly Might Army were to attack the Beast Wave¡¯s nest, then the Beast Wave might grow evenrger. At that point in time, the Bloody Tribe wouldn¡¯t be the only one to suffer losses.

    The problem was that even if this was the case, the Gravel Lizard Tribe wouldn¡¯t be affected.

    The damage in the southern region had arisen due to the humans, while the damage in the central region hade from the Beast Wave. Because the Ferocious Race wasn¡¯t used to being at peace, they would only ally with each other when facing a dire situation that threatened all of them. As such, the disasters befalling the central region right now didn¡¯t move them through feelings of pity or sadness.

    Despite the culture of the Ferocious Race, Danba still fell deep into thought.

    It was as if there was a difficult problem troubling him.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 152: Marsh

    The Silver Moon Shuttle arced through the sky, leaving a silver trail in its wake. At the end of this silver sh in the sky was a flock of Iron Lion Condors furiosuly pping their wings, chasing after it.

    Su Chen blew through ten or so high-tier Origin Stones before reaching the limits of the shuttle¡¯s speed and finally shaking off the flock of condors. Afterwards, hended the shuttle in a marshy patch.

    ¡°Damn! All I did was take a few strands of your Iron-Threaded Grass. Did you really need to spend that much effort chasing after me for a whole day?¡± Su Chenined. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that most of the beasts in this area had left to participate in the Beast Wave, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t have been able to fly through the sky at all.

    Iron-Threaded Grass was a kind of spiritual herb that could improve someone¡¯s physical strength.

    It wasn¡¯t actually all that rare in the human kingdoms, but ten-thousand-year-old Iron-Threaded Grass definitely was. Actually, to some extent, you could even say that it didn¡¯t exist. For most humans, even ten-year-old Iron-Threaded Grass was effective enough to greatly increase their bone density. Naturally, they wouldn¡¯t leave it lying around just for someone else to pick.

    However, the Iron Lion Condors didn¡¯t use the Iron-Threaded Grass for food; instead, they relied on its structural properties to increase the rigidity and strength of their nests. Simply put, the Iron Lion Condors used this grass to build their houses, which was also the origin of their name.

    Su Chen¡¯s thievery of this grass was equivalent to tearing down their home, as he had ripped apart all of their nests at once. This was a grave offense, and it was not surprising at all that the Iron Lion Condors weren¡¯t willing to let him off easily.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t feel guilty about his thievery at all. Instead, he delighted in his profits ¡ª he had just entered the Beast Race¡¯s territory, and he had already obtained some herbs that were priceless by the human realm¡¯s standards. Obviously, he had made the right call ining to the Beast Race¡¯s territory. Su Chen didn¡¯t care about money at all, but the less he cared about money, the more he became interested in rare resources that money couldn¡¯t buy. These stalks of Iron-Threaded Grass were incredibly precious to him, not at all inferior in value to the Corpse Spirit Flowers from way back then.

    Su Chen stepped off of the Silver Moon Shuttle and stowed it away, before carefully advancing on foot.

    Even though the Iron Lion Condorshad chased him for over a day, that day hadn¡¯t been a waste. He had been able to explore quite a bit of the Beast Race¡¯s territory, which was quite helpful given that he didn¡¯t have a map. Su Chen could only use this method to get a feeling for where he was, as well as search for any other precious resources he could harvest.

    The ce that Su Chen had stopped at was one such ce, and it was clearly filled with an abundant amount of resources.

    While he was flying through the sky earlier, Su Chen had noticed this marsh through the forest. There was a strange kind of fruit growing in this marsh.

    Even though he didn¡¯t know what kind of fruit it was, the powerful Origin Energy fluctuations emanating from its skin told Su Chen that there was no way that this fruit wasmon.

    For safety¡¯s sake, Su Chen didn¡¯tnd dead center in the marsh. Instead, he touched down at the outskirts of the marsh before entering by foot.

    There was no clear path through the marsh, and putrid sludge smothered the ground. A ripe fruit thatnded in this putrid sludge had disappeared very quickly, leaving behind just a few bubbles.

    Su Chen stepped forward,pletely unfazed, and calmly walked atop the surface of the sludge without sinking in.

    Compared to before, Su Chen¡¯s strength had once again increased. Now, he only needed to apply a small amount of energy to support himself, and any terrain restrictions became moot.

    He casually strolled through the marsh and soon arrived at his target.

    His target was a scarlet fruit that emanated strong fluctuations of Origin Energy. The amount of fire-type Origin Energy contained within was enough to ignite the surroundings and cause mes to spontaneously appear in the air.

    However, when he got close to the fruit, Su Chen discovered that the temperature near the fruit was actually a few degrees cooler than normal.

    So this fruit¡¯s temperature was actually normal; it was just surrounded by ayer of fiery red energy.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t continued advancing. Instead, he stood a short distance away from the fruit, carefully inspecting it with his microscopic eye.

    The beasts here weren¡¯t the only threat. Although there were countless useful resources scattered across the Primordial Continent,there were just as many dangerous resources. The fruit in front of him had unknown origins, and its function was still unclear. In this scenario, no amount of precaution was too much.

    When Su Chen activated his microscopic eye, he discovered that the scarlet fruit¡¯s interior contained a small heart-like organ that seemed to beat every so often.

    At that moment......

    Su Chen¡¯s wariness peaked as a chill ran up his spine.

    He silently retreated a few steps and inspected his surroundings.

    The fruit was growing on a thin blue vine, but the fruit itself was almost as big as a human¡¯s head. It was also swaying strangely in the wind. The vine¡¯s lower half was submerged in the opaque marsh, and anything beneath the surface of the murky waters would be impossible to see.

    Even though Su Chen hadn¡¯t sensed any lifeforms moving around him, he still retreated a few steps, further widening the distance between him and that fruit.

    The scarlet fruit shook along with the wind a few times, glowing with an enticing luster.

    When Su Chen saw this, he began tough. ¡°The Beast Race¡¯s territory does haverge amounts of resources, but these resources exist either because the Beast Race don¡¯t need them or because the Beast Race protects them carefully, like the Iron-Threaded Grass and those condors. However, there are also a few strange nts that don¡¯t rely on a symbiotic rtionship with the Beast Race but rather on their own strength. Not only do they not need the Beast Race to protect them, they will even try to attract Beast Race members and swallow them up to increase their strength. I think you belong to this group, no?¡±

    There was no reply.

    Su Chen shrugged. ¡°Alright, since you¡¯re pretending to be stupid, then I can only say goodbye to you.¡±

    He turned around and prepared to walk away.

    ¡°Hu!¡±

    The wind began to whistle.

    Countless vines materialized behind Su Chen, snaking out from the marshy swamp and shooting forward to grab him like tentacles.

    Su Chen charged forwards without hesitation as soon as he felt the wind pick up as if he had eyes in the back of his head.

    The vines ended up up totally empty-handed ¡ª Su Chen¡¯s grasp of the distance between them was too perfect. With a single leap forwards, Su Chen had been able topletely avoid all of the vines¡¯ attacks.

    ¡°ROAR!¡± A violent howl sounded out.

    The howl hade from an old tree that was behind the fruit.

    A fierce expression appeared on the old tree¡¯s trunk as it howled at Su Chen. At the same time, the scarlet fruit emerged from the sludge and was pulled into the air. At this point, it was obvious that the fruit was connected to the tree behind it.

    Countless branches waved in the air, painting quite the creepy picture. However, because of the distance between the tree and Su Chen, there was nothing it could do to him.

    Su Chen stood calmly off in the distance and coldly stared at the octopus-like tree. ¡°Are you wondering how I could possibly know how long your reach is? Actually, the method is quite simple; I just relied on those birds.¡±

    There were a few small birds flitting around nearby. Before the tree had attacked, they were on the ground searching for food, but even when the tree attacked, they didn¡¯t fly away in fear. Instead, they continued to chirp brightly, totally unperturbed.

    They weren¡¯t Vicious Beasts; rather, they were just average, everyday weak birds.

    However, they could survive in this kind of a ce because of their ability to avoid danger.

    Carefully observing the environment and avoiding needless conflict was an instinct that every lifeform possessed. This shocking tree might be the nemesis of countless Demonic Beasts, but the small birds relied on it for protection. After all, it was because of their habits that Su Chen was able to unravel the dangerous secrets behind this tree.

    ¡°ROAR!¡± the old tree howled angrily.

    It seemed as if roaring was all it could do in response to Su Chen¡¯s provocation.

    ¡°I know you are very powerful, but it seems as if your weaknesses are too obvious. Your neighbors might be unintentionally exploiting your weaknesses, but unfortunately I am a human, and we particrly enjoy taking advantage of someone¡¯s weak points.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 153: Stone Forest 1

    Chapter 153: Stone Forest (1)

    Pu!

    Su Chen spat out a mouthful of blood as he dragged his beaten body out of the forest. His clean white robe was now stained red with blood, and he was unable to maintain his previously even stride on top of the marsh¡¯s surface. These injuries spoke to the difficulty of the battle he had just fought.

    ¡°Damn, I still looked down on that guy too much,¡± Su Chen said to himself as he walked out.

    That old tree demon had absorbed me energy for thousands of years, and its strength was shocking. Even though it had no way of moving, that didn¡¯t mean there was nothing it could do against ranged targets. In the end, even though Su Chen had been victorious, it hade at a price.

    Even so, Su Chen had still managed to im the tree¡¯s heart for himself.

    He had no idea what this thing was. There were too many strange beings and items all throughout the Primordial Continent. If one found something that no one had ever seen before, they could only make up an impromptu name for it on the spot. Since the fruit-heart was still beating, Su Chen called it the Tree Demon¡¯s Heart as it seemed appropriate. As for whether or not it was actually the old tree¡¯s heart, or if there was already something that went by that name, he didn¡¯t care.

    Its properties and usage were still unknown, but given that the old tree¡¯s strength was roughly equivalent to that of a level four Light Shaking Realm cultivator, it was obvious that they would all be umon.

    Most importantly, the item itself was rare and difficult to find.

    Even a piece of dog poop could be worth a lot of money as long as it was unrivalled across the continent.

    Su Chen put away the Tree Demon¡¯s Heart and rested for a short moment before getting back on the Silver Moon Shuttle and starting to search for his next target.

    His next stop was a nearby field, as there was a stone forest here.

    The reason why Su Chen believed that this stone forest might also house some unique treasures was because this stone forest had developed in a strange pattern, and it also emanated Origin Energy fluctuations.

    Searching for these fluctuations was the easiest way to search for treasures. Not every treasure released these Origin Energy ripples, but anything that did so at a high concentration was definitely umon.

    The world was so vast that Su Chen didn¡¯t need to get hung up on trying to uncover all the extremely well-hidden treasures that existed.

    He already had his hands full gathering the ones that he could easily see.

    Soon enough, he arrived at the field and found himself floating above the stone forest.

    The stone forest had developed on an uneven terrain, and the trees were all of different heights and sizes. However, each treebranch emanated powerful Origin Energy fluctuations. As Su Chen got closer, massive chunks of stone began to fly into the air, turning into stone beasts like wolves, monkeys, pigs, crabs, etc. Thergest ones were taller than a hundred feet, while the smallest was only around the size of Su Chen¡¯s palm ¡ª it was a crystalline, transparent stone scorpion.

    The one thing these stone creatures had inmon was that as soon as they formed, they all charged at Su Chen, yelling angrily,¡°These annoying guys are here again.¡±

    ¡°Kill them! Kill them all!¡±

    A chant rang out through the air.

    Su Chen retreated. To determine his opponents¡¯ fighting style, the most reliable tactic was to unleash arge group of Firehawks into the air.

    He was just probing their strength with these attacks, but the Firehawks mmed into these stone creatures and unexpectedly instantly killed them. Even Su Chen was stunned; these creatures were too easy to deal with, weren¡¯t they?

    ¡°He killed ourrade!¡±

    ¡°You demon!¡±

    ¡°We must kill it and uphold justice.¡±

    As they continued to yell nonsensically, the stone creatures charged at Su Chen with renewed vigor. They swung their stone arms and stone des through the air, their battle style simplistic and primal.

    When he saw this, Su Chen came to a quick decision and unleashed two more waves of Firehawks, easily wiping out all the stone creatures.

    However, just as the stone creatures died, another group of stone creatures arose from the stone forest and charged forwards as they howled.

    Su Chen attacked again, easily destroying this batch of stone creatures without much effort.

    However, then a third wave of stone creatures charged forward unrelentingly.

    Su Chen realized that something wasn¡¯t quite right.

    He destroyed one of the stone creatures and as he observed its remains, they actually autonomously rolled back to the stone forest, where it quickly repaired itself back to its original form, got back on its feet, and rejoined the battle.

    So that¡¯s how it was going to be? Unlimited lives?

    Theirbat strength was very mediocre, but this ability of theirs to constantly revive was a pain to deal with.

    If they could resurrect an unlimited number of times, didn¡¯t that mean that it was impossible to defeat them?

    Su Chen thought a bit more carefully about what the stone creatures had said as well. It was obvious that they had experienced many such battles; in other words, they had already died countless times, but never been truly killed. This meant that their revival ability was truly unlimited.

    Damn, why did I have to find an opponent like this?

    Most importantly, Su Chen wasn¡¯t getting anything valuable or important from his opponents.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t want to take this kind of battle, so he began to pull back.

    However, the creatures weren¡¯t going to let him go that easily.

    ¡°It¡¯s trying to get away. Stop it, stop it from running!¡±

    A few stone creatures leapt forwards, suddenly transforming as they drew closer and closer to him.

    Theybined into a massive stone that blocked off Su Chen¡¯s path of retreat and the sky above him.

    Su Chen was so angry that heughed. You guys aren¡¯t willing to overlook anything, are you? But do you really think that I¡¯m scared of you?

    Fiery rain began to descend from the sky, melting away all of the stone creatures.

    However, the creatures respawned at the same rate that Su Chen was killing them, and they constantly got in his way. It almost seemed like they were evil spirits that hadtched onto him and just wouldn¡¯t let go.

    ¡°So you can resurrect if you just roll home? Then what if I stop you from rolling back home?¡± Su Chen said coolly.

    Another powerful attack was unleashed, and the stone creatures in front of him crumbled yet again.

    But before these stone fragments were able to return to the stone forest, Su Chen waved his sleeves and threw the stone creatures behind him.

    An instantter, however, a streak of brilliant light shot forth from the stone forest, and the remains of the stone creatures that had been thrown into the air disappeared. Arge pile of stones appeared in the Stone Forest area, turning into all kinds of strange stone creatures that continued jibber jabbering as they charged forward yet again.

    So it isn¡¯t that easy? Su Chen thought to himself.

    Next, he tried to freeze the shattered stone fragments, but unfortunately no matter how he tried to destroy these stone fragments, they would always reappear in the stone forest, as if Su Chen had only been destroying illusions this whole time.

    They were also unaffected by Fata Morgana, as the stone creatures were totally immune to any and all consciousness attacks.

    The Primordial Blood Incarnation also wasn¡¯t much help because all it did was increase the power of Su Chen¡¯s physical body. If Su Chen¡¯s original attack was equivalent to ten units of power, then the Primordial Blood Incarnation could boost him to fifty units. However, these stone creatures died when struck with just five points of strength, so there was no point to using the Primordial Blood Incarnation.

    The same went for the Soul Armaments and the ming Phoenix Theurgy Art. When the simplest methods could deal with an opponent, any higher-level tactic lost all meaning, as they would only increase the user¡¯s rate of energy consumption when used.

    For a while, Su Chen felt totally helpless against this unending army of stone creatures.

    Suddenly, he noticed the small crystal scorpion. This crystal scorpion was the only beast that had stayed within the stone forest and had note back out to do battle.

    A sh of inspiration hit Su Chen. Could that be the weak spot of these creatures?

    However, the crystalline scorpion had squirreled itself away within the stone forest, and there was still arge group of stone creatures in his way. It was going to be difficult to destroy the scorpion.

    However difficult, this problem was not anything significant for Su Chen. An instantter, his figure shed as he teleported past the line of stone creatures and reappeared right in front of the crystalline scorpion. Highly concentrated me energy had gathered in his hand furiously, and a massive phoenix soared into the skies.

    ¡°Die!¡± Su Chen struck the crystalline scorpion with the phoenix.

    Crack!

    With a crisp tter, the crystal scorpion shattered.

    Whew.

    Su Chen let out a long sigh. It should be over with this attack, he thought to himself.

    However, an instantter, the scene that unfolded before his eyes rendered him speechless.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 154: Stone Forest 2

    Chapter 154: Stone Forest (2)

    As the crystalline scorpion shattered, all of the stone beasts howled angrily in unison.

    ¡°It killed Laome!¡±

    ¡°How could it do that? Laome was so lovable. It never attacked anyone.¡±

    ¡°Laome, our pitiful Laome!¡±

    ¡°It was still small, and it couldn¡¯t regenerate itself yet. But now it¡¯s gone forever.¡±

    ¡°Revenge! Revenge! Revenge!¡±

    The sheer volume of the yells and howls almost shattered Su Chen¡¯s eardrums.

    So the crystal hadn¡¯t been the core of the forest, but rather a newborn of the forest. It was just a delicate newborn, a newborn that couldn¡¯t even revive yet; was that why it had remained hidden in the forest and wasn¡¯t willing to attack?

    And he had destroyed it with a single Whitetower Teleportation and a ming Phoenix Theurgy Art?

    This realization rendered Su Chen speechless.

    Indeed,mon sense wasn¡¯t always reliable. The scorpion had seemed different from the other stone beasts, but that didn¡¯t necessarily mean that it was the strongest; it could also mean that it was the weakest.

    However, this was not particrly salient. More importantly, he had really angered those stone creatures this time.

    All of the stone creatures howled mournfully as they flew into the air. A magnificent sight appeared before Su Chen¡¯s eyes.

    The beasts began to meld into each other as they fused before his very eyes.

    Their tough stone bodies seemed to be as soft as mud as theybined with one another and took on a new form.

    Su Chen knew that the situation wasn¡¯t good. He wasn¡¯t nning on waiting around to see what they would be. In any case, there was no chance that he would prefer fighting that creature more ¡ª even thoughmon sense had failed him in this one instance,mon sense was still useful most of the time.

    He gestured, and a ming Phoenix Theurgy Art took flight. Not only that, but he immediately followed up with a Shadow me w. Even though his opponent was about to finish its fusion process, these attacks were noticeably stronger than before.

    However, the situation progressed in a way he had not anticipated. The ipletely fused figure was like a mud shield, and it forcibly absorbed his powerful attack without changing shape at all. It continued to squirm and shapeshift, gradually taking on the form of a massive stone scorpion. It looked quite simr to the crystalline scorpion he had killed earlier, but it was muchrger, and it almost looked like a stone castle floating in the air. Its tail alone was hundreds of feet long, which it swung at Su Chen immediately after it finished forming. It crashed down upon Su Chen with all the momentum of a raging torrent.

    Su Chen knew that this stone tail wasn¡¯t something that he could casually knock aside like before. The Primordial Blood Incarnation appeared, and dark mes immediately began to glow on its skin. He unsheathed the Mountain-Beheading de, exploding forth with an immense amount of power in only an instant.

    Boom!

    With a massive explosion, Su Chen was thrown backwards like a kite whose string had been cut. The Primordial Blood Incarnation flickered vigorously, and Su Chen was barely able to keep it active.

    ¡°Damn, that¡¯s really powerful!¡± Su Chen eximed as he wiped away the traces of blood from the corner of his mouth. He didn¡¯t feel fear; instead, the excitement in his eyes only grew thicker.

    Now this was a real battle!

    There was no fooling around this time, not like the weak trash that Su Chen had been fighting before.

    The Primordial Blood Incarnation expanded from fifty feet to over a hundred fifty. As its figure grew, so too did its strength at the price of its defensive capabilities and duration.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t care about anything else now that he had finally encountered a powerful opponent. He raised his strength to the peak, and the Mountain-Beheading de also grew correspondinglyrger as lightning began to flicker across its surface.

    His body glowed with dark mes and his de sparked with lightning dancing across its edge. The lightning and the mes mixed to produce a shocking luster, signifying that Su Chen had entered his most powerful state.

    ¡°Come!¡± Su Chen yelled as he stabbed out with his de.

    sma flowed across his de and continued sweeping forwards in a razor-sharp arc that threatened to bisect his opponent.

    The fused scorpion howled and cked its two massive ws together, then jabbed them at Su Chen.

    The de and the pincers collided, causing a wave of energy to explode forth as sparks flew everywhere.

    ng, ng, ng!

    Su Chen shed out a countless number of times, each de strike filled with the power of thunder and lightning. The explosive power of the strikes could not be stopped as it burst forth and built on itself one after the other into an immense pressure. The massive stone scorpion howled in shock; gone was the cacophony of howls, as they had been reced by a single primal and barbaric cry. Its massive w came crashing down again with all the momentum of a tidal wave.

    Another massive sh took ce as sparks flew everywhere and the very fabric of space itself seemed to be rent apart. Waves of dangerous energy pulsed in all directions.

    Su Chen was like a peerlessly dominant warrior. At this moment, he didn¡¯t back off in the slightest; instead, he increased his strength to its peak. The massive scorpion cried out with a piercing shriek as it unleashed wild attack after wild attack.

    Neither side was holding back in the slightest or showing mercy. Whoever could hold on until the very end was the winner.

    In terms of pure strength, the massive stone scorpion was actually a tier higher. Even though Su Chen¡¯s Primordial Blood Incarnation was already a hundred fifty feet tall, it was still a bit smaller than the massive scorpion. However, in terms of endurance, Su Chen was far superior to the stone scorpion.

    Su Chen possessed the Immacte Cultivation Technique, and his Origin Energy was much denser than anyone else¡¯s of the same cultivation level. The Thread Coral Algae Robe also helped disperse the impact of any hits he took, decreasing Su Chen¡¯s use of Origin Energy. And Su Chen also had countless recovery-type medicines to heal his wounds and an endless supply of Origin Stones to supplement his Origin Energy. As such, he constantly maintained himself at peak strength.

    If he wanted to, he could fight like this for another seven days and seven nights without even breaking a sweat, and the only price he had to pay was a few resources.

    And resources were something that hecked the least.

    Wealthy people didn¡¯t fear long, drawn-out battles. This was a rulemonly observed in the Primordial Continent.

    And without question, Su Chen was at the top of this world in terms of wealth.

    As such, he wasn¡¯t afraid of drawing out the battle with his opponent; actually, he was more than happy to do so.

    However, the stone scorpion obviously did not have this intention.

    It had very quickly discovered that even though it was a bit stronger than Su Chen, the opponent¡¯s resilience and endurance was many times greater than its own. As such, if they were to continue to fight, it would be the one to suffer the ultimate loss.

    With this realization, the stone scorpion finally began regretting its choice and wanted to retreat.

    However, Su Chen had no intention of letting it run away like that.

    That was because he had already pulled out another item.

    ¡°After you fused, you lost your ability to regenerate, right? And if you separate, you won¡¯t be able to ignore my attacks like before, right? Which means that you are actually the most vulnerable in your strongest form...... Even though I don¡¯t really like that saying, it really is fitting when applied to you.¡±

    ¡°Hiss!¡± the stone scorpion spat menacingly as a warning.

    ¡°I like that behavior of yours. You should know that everyone about to lose acts like that,¡± Su Chen replied with a slight smile.

    The more his opponent acted like this, the more it meant that its back was against the walls.

    Very good!

    The de in Su Chen¡¯s hands began to move even more sharply.

    Half an hourter, the massive scorpion had expended all of its strength and had no way of continuing to fight. Unlike humans, who had many ways of recovering their strength, the rtively simple and primal lifeforms lost their ability to fight once their energy ran out.

    Bang!

    Su Chen¡¯s de viciously shed through the air, splitting the stone scorpion in two. It toppled to the ground, never to crawl back onto its legs again.

    This time, it didn¡¯t regenerate. An unassuming round, ck stone rolled out of the remains of the scorpion.

    Just by sensing the Origin Energy contained in this stone, Su Chen could tell that this stone was a treasure.

    ¡°Very good! The Stone Heart belongs to me now too.¡± Su Chen continued to irresponsibly name his findings. Tacking on a ¡®heart¡¯ at the end of everything he found was truly an efficient way of naming things.

    However, just as he was about to walk over and pick up the Stone Heart, a bandaged hand suddenly emerged from the ground and snatched it before disappearing back into the ground.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 155: White Paper

    The sudden appearance and disappearance of the mysterious hand gave Su Chen quite a shock.

    An instantter, however, he angrily mmed the Mountain-Beheading de into the ground. ¡°Open for me!¡±

    Boom!

    A st of wild energy prated into the ground and exploded, causing the ground to crack as chunks of earth flew everywhere. The t ground had immediately turned into a devastated crater.

    No matter what kind of existence you are, if you dare steal something from me, then you must die!

    As the energy dispersed through the ground, a white streak shot out like a beam of light. It was exceptionally fast.

    ¡°Trying to run? Stay here for me instead!¡±

    Su Chen shed his de through the air.

    Thunder boomed and lightning crackled.

    Lightning was the fastest existence on the entire Primordial Continent.

    The wild lightning mmed into the white streak, causing sparks to fly off of its body. Its movements had finally been restricted as a result.

    Su Chen closed in on it, killing intent written all over his face. ¡°Die!¡±

    The Mountain-Beheading de descended, and a violent wave of Origin Energy surged forward, concentrated to a chilling degree.

    The white streak of light hurriedly stopped, giving Su Chen a chance to finally clearly identify this life-form as a bandaged humanoid figure. It looked like a mummy, but there were some key differences. The bandages on its body were made of paper, and there was only a void where a face should have been.

    A white paper doll!

    The Mountain-Beheading de was just about to m into the white paper doll when the doll suddenly made a gesture, causing numerous rolls of white paper to flutter through the air like a long white ribbon. They wrapped around the Mountain-Beheading de, preventing it from continuing to fall down.

    ¡°Interesting,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself. ¡°Rise!¡±

    The Shadow mes continued to grow more powerful

    His mes had be much more powerful ever since he had absorbed the Demonic Lord¡¯s fire Origin Substance. The white paper was burned to ashes immediately.

    An instantter, however, a powerful wave of Origin Energy burst forth in response, forcing back the mes. The strange energy even burrowed its way into Su Chen¡¯s body.

    ¡°Tsk!¡± Su Chen clicked his tongue with some annoyance.

    The mes surged again as the Primordial Blood Incarnation transformed into its Shadow me version. The mes zed brilliantly on its body and across the surface of the de, exuding an aura that threatened to extinguish the whole earth. When faced with such a powerful aura, the white paper doll seemed to disintegrate under the pressure, and the sticky mes quickly ran across the white paper strips onto the white paper doll¡¯s body.

    The white paper doll shrieked loudly as a ck energy began to seep out from its body, expanding into a vortex. Once again, Su Chen¡¯s attack was stopped in its tracks.

    Damn, yet another difficult opponent! Su Chen cursed in his mind. de Qi surged forth once again as streaks of ming light rained down. The mes threatened to burn the world to the ground, as the wild lightning arced towards his opponent.

    He was nning on using his de to physically sh through this opponent.

    The white paper doll seemed to be aware of what he was nning. It cried out piercingly as the white paper strips on its body unraveled and flew out, revealing a translucent ball of air underneath. The ball of air morphed and twisted until it took on the appearance of a human face. In the middle of this ball of air was Su Chen¡¯s Stone Heart from before. The white strips of paper flying through the air glowed with a dark light, turning the nearby area into a kill zone. Within that area, any existence would be quickly destroyed.

    Su Chen was the only exception!

    He towered in midair.

    Yang Opening Realm cultivators had no way of flying without cultivating some special flight Origin Skills, but Su Chen had managed to do it.

    He was standing still in midair at the moment, his body glowing with faint streaks of light.

    What kind of Origin Skill was that?

    Thankfully, no one else was here; otherwise, they would be extremely shocked.

    Su Chen, who had been steadfastly studying and improving himself, had an extremely solid foundation. As such, he could reach new breakthroughs at seemingly any point in time.

    What he was doing right now was a technique he had picked up while cultivating the Immacte Cultivation Technique and condensing his Origin Energy.

    It wasn¡¯t particrly profound, but it was more than sufficient enough to deal with the scene unfolding in front of him.

    When faced with the white strips of paper flying everywhere, Su Chen merely chuckled as streaks of light extended out from his body like tentacles before they self-ignited, covered in raging mes.

    The red and ck light collided with each other.

    Another contest of pure power took ce.

    Su Chen remained fearless.

    It was still the same strategy and principle as hisst battle. In the Beast Race¡¯s territory, no one would be able to defeat Su Chen in an endurance contest unless their strength was way higher than his.

    The white paper doll in front of him was the same.

    Radiant light danced around Su Chen, and there wasn¡¯t even much of an endurance contest to speak of. Soon enough, Su Chen tookplete control of the battle.

    He said in a low voice, ¡°Sumeru Void!¡±

    The countless lines of light simultaneously glowed brightly, and the surroundings seemed to freeze. The white paper doll¡¯s strips of ck light seemed to seize up as they lost their ability to move. At the same time, Su Chen¡¯s Mountain-Beheading de shed through the air again. This simple attack shone with boundless starlight, threatening to shatter anything in its path.

    The ball of air within the white paper doll tried to contract and float backwards.

    It finally felt fear and wanted to escape.

    ¡°Trying to run? You should stay here instead.¡± The Mountain-Beheading de zed intensely as it continued to descend.

    The ball of air shrieked again as it pulled back the white strips of paper. The strips of paper formed into a white shield, blocking the de strike. However, the raging mes surging across the body of the de still managed to burn some of the white paper into ashes.

    Some of the white paper was destroyed, causing the white paper doll¡¯s strength to decrease. At the start, it had been able topete evenly against Su Chen, but as the battle had gone on, the paper on its body had steadily been worn away, causing its strength to decrease.

    At this moment, Su Chen¡¯s mes and lightning bore down on the white paper doll, who had lost a third of its body and all of its four limbs. Thankfully for it, its limbs were only an outward manifestation and didn¡¯t actually have much practical purpose; even so, the white paper doll was being burnt to a crisp by Su Chen¡¯s attacks.

    ¡°Die!¡±

    Su Chen barked savagely as his de descended.

    The white paper doll shrieked piercingly, ¡°Don¡¯t hit me anymore! I give up!¡±

    ¡°Hm? You can talk?¡± Su Chen¡¯s de froze on top of the white paper doll¡¯s head and stopped descending.

    The white paper strips fell to the ground, revealing the cloud of air inside. It assumed the shape of a human face and opened its mouth to speak. ¡°I¡¯m willing to surrender to you. Please, spare my life, and I will swear loyalty to you.¡±

    As it spoke, it spat out the Stone Heart, and a tter of ck energy caught the heart and sent it over to Su Chen.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t seem too interested in it. He continued to stare intensely at the white paper doll. ¡°Surrender? Interesting. This is my first time seeing something like you. What are you, exactly?¡±

    The white paper doll said, ¡°What am I? That¡¯s a really profound question. Unfortunately, I cannot answer you, master. Ever since I gained consciousness, I have been like this. To me, this is the true substance of my life. In this world, there are all kinds of lifeforms with many different outward appearances. There should be many like me that seem iprehensible.¡±

    ¡°I never promised to ept you,¡± Su Chen said indifferently. ¡°I don¡¯t think the loyalty of a lifeform I cannot understand has much value. If I leave you by my side, you might betray me in the future; I should probably just kill you right now and save myself some pain.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 156: Plundering Relentlessly

    Su Chen¡¯s words badly scared the white paper doll. The ball of air began to emanate waves of energy, not to attack Su Chen but rather as an instinctive reaction when it felt a strong sense of fear.

    It seemed like this lifeform had a powerful desire to live.

    It loudly yelled, ¡°Don¡¯t kill me! You¡¯re a human, so you need a guide! I can provide you with all kinds of information!¡±

    ¡°Now you¡¯re talking.¡± Su Chen raised his eyebrows. ¡°So what do you know?¡±

    The white paper doll continued to yell, ¡°I¡¯ve lived here for eight hundred years. I¡¯m very familiar with everything that goes on here. I can tell you anything that you could ever want to know.¡±

    The light glowing from Su Chen¡¯s de faded a bit. ¡°Just as you stated, I¡¯m a human, and I¡¯m trying to find all kinds of different rare resources...... regardless of whether or not I¡¯m able to use them.¡±

    The white paper doll replied, ¡°Then you¡¯vee to the right person. I know of all the valuable things here and have tricks on how to get them.¡±

    Su Chen sheathed his de. ¡°You aren¡¯t able to safely harvest them, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Master. None of the abundant resources here are easily obtained even though the Beast Wave is in full force and the ce is rtively deserted. The resources will always be appropriately defended. The only real effect of the beast wave is that you won¡¯t have to worry about any outside interference.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not unexpected,¡± Su Chen said indifferently.

    He had never expected the resources to just be lying there for him to harvest. No treasures were ever that easy to obtain because tons of beasts would already be fighting over them wherever they existed.

    If those treasures couldst until now, then they must either be useless or heavily guarded.

    This was the case for both the Tree Demon Heart and the Stone Heart.

    To Su Chen, as long as there was no beast that was the size of a mountain that could threaten his life, then taking care of a few guards around his resources wasn¡¯t a problem.

    ¡°So are you willing to let me live and serve you?¡± the white paper doll said with a charming smile. Even though this strange creature was half-illusory, it actually wasn¡¯t too different from a human when it came to its desire to live.

    ¡°Yes, I am. But there¡¯s still one problem ¡ª how will I know that you will be loyal to me?¡±

    The white paper doll said with some difficulty, ¡°I¡¯m not qualified to be your opponent......¡±

    Su Chen interrupted him, ¡°That¡¯s not a guarantee of loyalty. You could absolutely try to escape when I am facing a powerful opponent, or even try and backstab me. Hand over your will, now. If you try and use your words to slip out of this situation again, then I can only assume that you have no intentions of being loyal to me.¡±

    The white paper doll helplessly retracted its arms back into its own cloud-like body and forcefully pulled out a chunk of itself, handing it over to Su Chen. ¡°This is the source of my life force. With it, you will be able to control me, and I will have no way of resisting you.¡±

    Su Chen nced at the cloud of fog in his hands and then at the white paper doll before shaking his head and saying, ¡°This still isn¡¯t enough. I guess I¡¯d better take it for myself.¡±

    As he spoke, he gestured and ripped off anotherrge chunk of cloudy fog from the white paper doll¡¯s body.

    The white paper doll howled in pain from its soul being torn apart, and it almost passed out.

    It trembled as it bitterly cried out, ¡°Master......¡±

    ¡°See, this time you sound a bit more sincere.¡± Su Chen condensed the clouds in his hands together and put it away. ¡°Now, take me to where we should be going. Remember, take the most logical path. I¡¯m not interested in wasting time.¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± the white paper doll replied as it gritted its teeth, enduring the pain.

    ¡°Right, what is your name?¡±

    ¡°Master, I am called Death Shadow of a Youth,¡± the white paper doll replied.

    ¡°Death Shadow of a Youth? I¡¯ll remember that. Let¡¯s go,¡± Su Chen saidzily.

    With the white paper doll leading the way, Su Chen¡¯s traveling efficiency grew much higher. Since he could use the Silver Moon Shuttle to fly through the air at breakneck speeds, in just a single day he had visited six different locations, fought six times, and seized six different precious resources. Of those six resources, Su Chen had never even heard of three of them, clearly demonstrating their rarity.

    Any one of these resources would cause a huge stir if they were to appear within the human realm, but now Su Chen was collecting them like plucking flowers as he strolled along.

    As long as he could defeat the creatures guarding the resources, Su Chen didn¡¯t let a single one get away.

    Even if he ran into ones that he couldn¡¯t defeat, it didn¡¯t matter. As long as the gap in strength wasn¡¯t too great, Su Chen would pretend to retreat and distract the target before having the white paper doll plunder the resources for him.

    There were some creatures that didn¡¯t fall for their ruse, but that didn¡¯t matter either, as Su Chen could simply give up on that resource.

    Given how many strange and unique resources there were here in the Beast Race¡¯s territory, he could just go somewhere else to look for other ones if a particr ce didn¡¯t work out. There was no need to waste too much time in one ce. Right now was prime raiding time, and spending too much time attacking was dumb, as picking all the low-hanging fruit was already more than he could carry.

    Because he looted with this attitude, Su Chen¡¯s journey was totally effortless, and he basically didn¡¯t run into any problems at all. This was because he ignored targeting any opponent that was more powerful than a four Lotus tform Light Shaking Realm cultivator, using the Silver Moon Shuttle¡¯s speed to escape.

    As they journeyed together, the white paper doll gradually began to have a better understanding Su Chen¡¯s strength and didn¡¯t even bother bringing Su Chen to certain ces, only picking opponents that Su Chen could deal with.

    Su Chen floated through the Beast Race¡¯s territory like this for seven days in total, relying on the Silver Moon Shuttle¡¯s speed to harvest all of the resources across the Beast Race¡¯s territory, regardless of big or small.

    However, even the most carefree life would run into a wall sooner orter.

    On his eighth day in the Beast Race¡¯s territory, Su Chen finally ran into that wall.

    It was a spider demoness, the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider.

    The upper half of its body was a beautiful maiden, while its lower half was that of a massive spider.

    The spider wasn¡¯t actually guarding any resources; it had just so happened to fall asleep near a stalk of Heavenly Sea Grass. When Su Chen had finished off the beast guarding the grass, the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider had woken up as well, its eyes glowing when it saw Su Chen.

    Young Beauty Bloodshed Spiders liked humans a lot because they used them as mates.

    As such, they hunted humans not to kill them but rather for breeding purposes.

    The Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider was a high-tier Demonic Beast, meaning that its strength was at a level higher than that of a four Lotus tform Light Shaking Realm cultivator. Even Su Chen didn¡¯t dare openly fight against it, so all he could do was run as it relentlessly chased after him.

    The Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider wasn¡¯t very fast, but it could chase its target extremely well. Any target that it had set its eyes on would have a hard time escaping unless they were at least a few thousand kilometers away from the spider.

    Su Chen still wanted to harvest a few more of the resources here, so running a few thousand kilometers away was not an option. As such, he could only allow the spider to chase him all over the ce.

    In the end, Su Chen was no longer able to peacefully collect his resources. Most of the time, he would be fighting with his target when the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider would appear suddenly and start chasing after him, its eight legs scuttling across the ground as itughed and called out, ¡°Big brother,e y with me.¡±[1. NOT sweet home bama ¡ª this is more akin to how calling someone ¡°daddy¡± can have a seductive connotation.] Its voice caused Su Chen¡¯s hair to stand on end. He could only pull out the Silver Moon Shuttle at that point and try to run.

    And just like that, his harvesting efficiency had greatly decreased.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 157: Refining Medicine

    ¡°Dammit! I refuse to believe that there¡¯s nothing I can do to you.¡±

    Su Chen was currently holed up in an unknown cave somewhere, mixing various reagents together.

    In front of him was a small cauldron. His left hand was below the cauldron, emanating a steady fiery blue glow as his right hand methodically stirred the ingredients in the cauldron.

    Most alchemists mastered and used their own Origin Energy mes as opposed to normal mes, as Origin Energy mes allowed them to control the size and temperature of the mes. At the same time, however, this also required alchemists to have a cultivation base high enough to match their high energy expenditure, which meant that most Origin Qi Schrs couldn¡¯t use such a heating method.

    Su Chen¡¯s use of mes when refining medicines was exceptionally skilled, and he was only a short ways away from bing a Master Alchemist. He truly had umted quite a bit of experience at this point.

    However, at this moment, even if he was a Distinguished Alchemist, his forehead was covered in sweat as he refined this particr elixir. His eyes were firmly glued onto the medicinal cauldron in front of him, and he didn¡¯t even dare blink or rx his concentration for a moment; his microscopic eye was activated and being pushed to its maximum extent.

    There was only one kind of medicine that could force Su Chen to focus like this: a Legendary-Tier Medicine.

    Thick blue smoke overflowed from the cauldron and didn¡¯t dissipate even as it rose straight into the air. Above the cauldron was an vacuum unit that sucked up this blue smoke and guided it along a long, crystal pipe into a strangely shaped pitcher, where it collected and sat motionless.

    However, the crystal pipes had beenpletely eroded away by the blue smoke in a very short period of time.

    ¡°Change pipes,¡± Su Chenmanded.

    The white paper doll beside him hurriedly took down the used pipe and reced it with another one. Its movements were a bit too slow, however, and a small amount of the blue smoke touched the white paper doll¡¯s body. Its powerful paper strips began to harden and crack as they withered away, frightening the white paper doll into retreating back numerous steps.

    ¡°Next time, remember to have the pipe already prepared before pulling the used one off,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Understood,¡± the white paper doll replied sincerely.

    Su Chen sighed. If Iron Cliff were here, that would have been perfect. Having followed him for so many years, Iron Cliff had already be a more than qualified assistant.

    ¡°Check the time.¡± Su Chen continued to stir the liquid in the cauldron as he spoke to the white paper doll.

    ¡°There¡¯s still two minutes left,¡± the white paper doll responded emotionlessly. When it wasn¡¯t begging for mercy, the white doll¡¯s calmness was quite impressive.

    The hourss near the white paper doll continued to flow, the continuous trickling of the grains of sand signifying the passage of time.

    After being chased after by the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider for so long, Su Chen and it were now pretty familiar with each other. Su Chen could very easily guess when it was about to catch up with him.

    The time pressure grew stronger and stronger, but Su Chen¡¯s movements only became more and more calm.

    The burning mes weren¡¯t chaotic at all, and the blue smoke continued to ascend in a straight column.

    ¡°One more minute,¡± the white paper doll reminded in a calm voice.

    Su Chen acted as if he hadn¡¯t heard anything.

    The silhouette of an eight-legged spider appeared off in the distance.

    Its eightrge feet danced across the air as if it were t ground, flying straight in their direction. As it flew through the air, it yelled, ¡°My little lover, I can smell you from here! I know you¡¯re close to me. Are you finally not running this time? Hehehehe.¡±

    The voice was extremely prating and even somewhat bewitching.

    However, it was totally ineffective against Su Chen.

    ¡°Damn, this spiderdy got here a minute faster than we estimated,¡± the white paper doll cursed.

    Even the most meticulous calctions could be off by a little bit.

    ¡°Go and dy her,¡± Su Chen said.

    He continued to stably control the mes.

    ¡°Me?¡± the white paper doll exined in shock.

    ¡°Yes, you. Go, now!¡± Su Chen waved his hand, and the Mountain-Beheading de flew towards the white paper doll. ¡°Patelocke will help you. Dy her for just this one minute.¡±

    Perhaps it was because his attention had diverted slightly, but the tip of the me shook slightly. A bit of the smoke leaked out,nding on Su Chen¡¯s arm. Su Chen immediately pulled out a dagger and cut off arge chunk of flesh, then pulled out some medicine and gulped it down.

    The white paper doll could only helplessly grab the de and charge out.

    The Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider saw the white paper doll from afar andughed out loud, ¡°Death Shadow of a Youth, you¡¯ve decided to follow a human? You are a shame to us demons!¡±

    The white paper doll coolly replied, ¡°This is the reason why I am still alive right now. I won¡¯t fight to the bitter end just for the sake of my pride.¡±

    ¡°But you are going to fight me because of your master?¡± the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider guffawed.

    ¡°Sometimes there¡¯s nothing you can do about that,¡± the white paper doll sighed. ¡°I bowed my head to a stronger expert in order to survive, but because I did that now I need to face another even stronger individual. I shouldn¡¯t have been greedy about that Stone Heart in the first ce; the only reason I survived until now is because I was very cautious not to provoke the existences I shouldn¡¯t provoke. But my master possesses much greater strength than he shows, which resulted in me making an error in my calctions......¡±

    He began to talk in a long-winded manner, describing how he had fallen into Su Chen¡¯s hands.

    The Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider frowned slightly. ¡°You talk too much.¡±

    The white paper doll shrugged. ¡°I just hope that you understand, Miss Bloodshed, that I have no choice in this matter.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then you should move aside. When I¡¯ve wrung your master dry, you can serve an even more powerful master. Considering your unique existence, you should be somewhat useful to me,¡± the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider chuckled.

    ¡°That...... might not be possible,¡± the white paper doll said with some difficulty. ¡°You need to know that right now......¡±

    He continued to stammer.

    The Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider¡¯s expression sank. ¡°You bastard, you¡¯re dying for time, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°No, please listen to me......¡±

    Whoosh!

    A streak of silver light shot forward, and the white paper doll flew backwards with great shock as shreds of paper were torn off of its body.

    The silver light was actually a silver thread that the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider had spat out. After missing, it continued its path until it hit a mountain behind the white paper doll, splitting it in half upon impact with a low boom.

    The explosion spread into the cave, and the me in Su Chen¡¯s hand shuddered, causing the blue smoke to float throughout the cave.

    Thankfully, Su Chen was prepared this time.

    The Primordial Blood Incarnation appeared behind him, forcefully blocking the blue smoke behind him.

    Bringing out the Primordial Blood Incarnation just to deal with medicine was quite indicative of its power.

    The white paper doll outside had already unraveled all of its white paper, the ck light shining from its strips of paper in all its splendor.

    The Young Beauty Bloodshed Spiderughed loudly. ¡°Hehehehe, Death Shadow of a Youth, these attacks of yours won¡¯t be able do anything against me.¡±

    Her eight spider legs swished through the air as a barrage of silver streaks shot through the air.

    The silver streaks collided with the ck light, causing arge explosion of energy to burst forth. However, it was obvious that the ck energy was inferior to the silver energy. More and more silver streaks shot through the air, the individual strands gradually forming a silver web that descended like a tossed from the sky. In stark contrast, the ck streaks of light were forced back repeatedly and beaten mercilessly. The white paper doll was forced to desperately retreat repeatedly, and it felt like time was slowing down.

    In that moment, an instant seemed like ten thousand years.

    Bang!

    The white paper doll¡¯s ck energy was finallypletely depleted by the silver wave. After it had lost all of its defenses, it could only float in front of the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider, watching as the silver wave threatened to swallow it whole.

    At that moment, a cloud of blue smoke floated towards her direction.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 158: Blue Ice Star

    The blue smoke casually drifted towards the silver wave. Initially, it seemed as if it had no effect.

    The instant the spider walked into the smoke, however, its expression immediately changed as it hissed sharply in pain. Its eight legs skittered to a stop as it tried to retreat. At the same time, the silver threads it had shot out seemed to crack slightly as they began to tear apart like silk threads.

    It could be easily seen now that the blue smoke corroded its surroundings wherever it went; all the silver light it touched immediately turned faint, as if it were beginning to dissolve, like snow melting away.

    This poison was actually able to even corrode energy itself.

    If it could corrode energy, then that meant that barriers made from Origin Energy would bepletely ineffective. This was part of the reason why this poison was so frightening; if you came into contact with it, there was no way to deal with it other than to forcefully endure it. Thankfully, even though the smoke¡¯s corrosive ability was strong, its ability to kill was rtively weak, and the poison itself wasn¡¯t particrly lethal. However, to the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider, who relied on Origin Energy to attack, it was an extremely frightening poison ¡ª one that Su Chen had specifically chosen to counter the spider¡¯s particr attributes.

    To its credit, the spider was quite decisive; it quickly chose to sever the silver strands from its body. Even though this would greatly increase its energy expenditure, that was much better than allowing the poison to enter its body.

    Su Chen¡¯s figure slowly appeared. He held a blue jade pipe in his hands, from which the blue smoke had previouslye out from. The flute was originally a deep jade color, but the blue smoke had stained the entire flute blue.

    Su Chen nced at the white paper doll, which had been beaten like a stray dog, andmented, ¡°I ruined a Grade Five Origin Tool, the Water Jade Flute, to increase the surprise factor of this blue smoke. Unfortunately, it all came to naught, as I was forced to use it to save this idiot. What a pity, what a pity.¡±

    The situation a moment ago had been so severe that if Su Chen had been just a bit slower in acting, the white paper doll might have died.

    Helpless to do otherwise, Su Chen could only unleash the Blue Ice Star at that moment. Indeed, even though he was able to save the white paper doll, he had also revealed the Blue Ice Star in the process.

    Given the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider¡¯s agility, it would be impossible to use the Blue Ice Star on it again.

    When it heard Su Chen¡¯s regretful tone, the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider¡¯s voice sank. ¡°Brat, I didn¡¯t expect you to be a Master Alchemist. Consider yourself lucky. Since you can refine something like this Blue Ice Star, then I will spare you.¡±

    The spider retreated as it spoke, as it had no confidence in facing a frightening poison like the Blue Ice Star head-on.

    ¡°But did I say that I would spare you?¡± Su Chen remarked frigidly.

    The Blue Ice Star¡¯s greatest w was that it was rtively unstable. He had used up many precious ingredients to refine this poison, so wouldn¡¯t it be a shame if all he had to gain from it was scaring an enemy away?

    Since he had managed to refine it, he needed to use it.

    A frosty expression appeared on the spider¡¯s beautiful face. ¡°You don¡¯t really believe that a medicine concocted by a Master Alchemist is enough to let you ignore the massive gap between our cultivation bases, right?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re just a high-tier Demonic Beast. Anyways, I don¡¯t think the gap is that big. At the very least, in my estimation the gap is much smaller than you think it is. A vial of Blue Ice Star is more than enough topensate for the difference or even give me the edge.¡±

    The Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider was so enraged by Su Chen¡¯s words that it couldn¡¯t hold back itsughs. ¡°How arrogant! True, you would not have darede into the Beast Race¡¯s territory without courage. But if you want to die, then I will dly oblige!¡±

    It opened its mouth, and a streak of spider silk shot forth from its mouth.

    This silk was much stronger than the streaks of light from before, and the silver lustering off of its surface was even that much more brilliant.

    ¡°Die!¡± the spider hissed ferociously.

    ¡°That¡¯s what I was about to say,¡± Su Chen taunted back with a slight smile.

    Even as he smiled faintly, his aura suddenly began to rise rapidly as the Primordial Blood Incarnation appeared behind his back once again. At the same time, the Mountain-Beheading de began to expand as mes roared to life on its surface. Su Chen swung the de immediately after reaching peak strength.

    He held nothing back; this strike contained all of his strength gathered into one strike.

    He had opened with a killing blow!

    The de cleaved through the air without restraint!

    The de surged forth with incredible force. It mmed into the silver thread, and the spider silk that the spider had been spitting out was immediately shattered by this de strike. The de¡¯s momentum continued to advance, bearing down on the spider¡¯s head.

    ¡°Hiss!¡± The Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider hadn¡¯t expected Su Chen to open with an all-out killing blow instantly.

    Even as it was inwardly shocked, the amount of silk it spat out only increased.

    It shot out yet another web of silver silk, but this one exuded a profound aura and formed a protective barrier in front of its head.

    The rampaging energy from the lightning and mes dancing across the de vaulted onto the silver web, causing each string to vibrate violently and screech shrilly, as if they were untuned piano strings that had piercing straight into someone¡¯s heart.

    The Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider howled with rage, ¡°Human! Your arrogance knows no bounds!¡±

    ¡°This is only the beginning.¡±

    Following Su Chen¡¯s calm, callous response, the Mountain-Beheading de shed through the air again.

    The image of a white-clothed maiden appeared behind the spider¡¯s back. As soon as it formed, the white-robed woman began bleeding from all the orifices of her face as she swung her head. Arge amount of hair whipped forwards,tching onto Su Chen¡¯s Mountain-Beheading de and preventing it from moving any further.

    ¡°Taste the might of my Chains of Grief!¡± the spider hissed.

    ¡°Taste the might of my Blue Ice Star,¡± Su Chen replied coldly.

    Another wave of blue fog surged forth. There was a certain bewitching beauty to it, as if one was being enveloped by their lover.

    The Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider acted as if it had seen something incredibly frightening and scrambled to retreat.

    However, its Chains of Grief were firmly tying her to the Mountain-Beheading de, making it impossible for her to retreat ¡ª Su Chen had never nned on fighting it head-on, and his all-out attacks were only meant to tie his opponent up and restrict it.

    The Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider howled with fear. Normally, as long as it was able to restrict its opponent, it could then absorb its opponent¡¯s Origin Energy, then finally use it to attack the opponent¡¯s body and mind.

    Su Chen¡¯s mind was incredibly powerful, so he wasn¡¯t afraid of the opponent¡¯s consciousness techniques. Even so, there was nothing he could do to resist the shocking draining abilities of the Chains of Grief.

    However, the Blue Ice Starpletely changed the situation.

    The Blue Ice Star was the Chains of Grief¡¯s kryptonite. Not only could it eat through all of the spider¡¯s defensive abilities, but it could also nullify its most powerful ability. The Chains of Grief would only elerate the spider¡¯s downfall.

    As the Blue Ice Star leisurely crept forwards, the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider howled in anguish again. Its chains all shattered as it used its eight legs to propel itself backwards. At the same time, a shield made of dark clouds enveloped it.

    Unfortunately, the only thing this Origin Energy shield could do against the Blue Ice Star was to stall for time.

    ¡°So you made a decision without hesitating? Unfortunately, your biggest problem is that you were still too slow.¡± Su Chen casually pulled out the Raging Inferno Shuttle.

    His days of being chased by this Demonic Beast had finallye to an end. Now, it was Su Chen¡¯s turn to chase after his opponent.

    Unlike the spider, Su Chen didn¡¯t have the ability to track the scent of his target, but his speed was much faster than that of the spider. Since he started chasing, there was no way the spider could ever escape.

    Not even if Su Chen was using the Raging Sun Shuttle.

    The ming red shuttle quickly appeared above the spider¡¯s head. Ebullient mes gathered on the surface of the shuttle before they turned into a ming phoenix and charged forwards. The phoenix mmed into the spider¡¯s back, causing small mes to fly everywhere.

    Even with the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider¡¯s strong body, it felt a nearly unbearable pain when it was struck by the ming Phoenix Theurgy Art. It shrieked, wanting to fight back, but when faced with the Blue Ice Star¡¯s frightening power and the Raging Sun Shuttle¡¯s iron-d defenses, it could only continue trying to flee as it swallowed its rage.

    ¡°I¡¯ve always wanted to try barbecued spider meat,¡± Su Chen said with a dark smile. ¡°It seems like I¡¯ll finally be able to fulfill that craving today.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 159: Engulfed

    A rare scene was taking ce in the sky.

    The powerful, vicious Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider was skittering away at top speed, while a Raging Sun Shuttle leisurely chased after it at the same pace.

    From time to time,rge ming phoenixes would shoot out from the body of the shuttle and m into the spider from behind.

    As a high-tier Demonic Beast, the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider¡¯s strength was not something that could be easily brushed aside. However, it was currently restricted by the Blue Ice Star¡¯s potent toxicity, and as such, the spider could only passively take the attacks flung at it without retaliating. In the end, Su Chen sent ming Phoenix after ming Phoenix into the spider¡¯s back, scorching it into an unrecognizable burnt mass.

    ¡°Still not dead?¡± Su Chen mumbled to himself.

    It truly was worthy of being a high-tier Demonic Beast with strength equivalent to someone with four Lotus tforms, truly a frightening level. Its lifeforce alone was incredibly tough, as proven by the fact that even thirty or so ming Phoenixes weren¡¯t enough to kill it. Su Chen could only sigh with admiration at the beast¡¯s powerful defenses and lifeforce.

    Unfortunately, even the most powerful creature would be backed into a corner if all it could do was allow itself to be beaten into a sorry state.

    Under Su Chen¡¯s constant pursuit, the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider¡¯s lifeforce had rapidly waned, and it was gradually losing its ability to hold on.

    ¡°Please, spare me!¡± it yelled loudly.

    ¡°I cannot think of a reason to spare you,¡± Su Chen said coldly.

    ¡°I am the ck Wind Lord¡¯s woman. If you kill me, he will not let you go!¡±

    ¡°ck Wind Lord?¡± Su Chen was taken aback momentarily. ¡°A Lord-ss Demonic Beast?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s good that you know!¡±

    A Lord-ss Demonic Beast was about as strong as Spirit Burning Realm cultivator. Even with Su Chen¡¯s strength and techniques, it was impossible for him to contend against an opponent like that.

    However, Su Chen¡¯s expression sank. ¡°A Lord-ss Demonic Beast is very frightening, but so what? Did you think that I would spare you for the sake of a Demonic Lord who¡¯s not even here?¡±

    The Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider shrieked, ¡°He¡¯s at ck Wind Peak. If you kill me, he definitely won¡¯t spare your life!¡±

    ¡°So he¡¯s at ck Wind Peak? Thanks for telling me. I¡¯ll just avoid that ce from now on,¡± Su Chen said as he formed yet another ming Phoenix.

    The Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider finally realized that it had been tricked as the final phoenix mmed into its body, the molten mes spilling all over its body.

    It howled as it burned, ¡°If you dare kill me, the ck Wind Lord won¡¯t let you get away alive! I will release my consciousness and scatter my will into the air and imbue the ground and every de of grass and every tree leaf! The wind will carry it away and send it to the ck Wind Lord......¡±

    Whoosh!

    The de whizzed past the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider¡¯s neck, lopping its head off its neck. An expression of disbelief was forever frozen on the spider¡¯s face.

    Su Chen indifferently sheathed his de. ¡°If you want to do it, then do it. Don¡¯t waste your breath talking about it.¡±

    He had never underestimated the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider¡¯s strength, but he had entered the Beast Race¡¯s territory to hunt for benefits. This risky journey required him to have the boldness and courage to stake his own life.

    If he gave up just because someone threatened him, what would he be able to achieve?

    If that ck Wind Lord was going toe for him, then so be it.

    Even if he came...... couldn¡¯t Su Chen just run away?

    He had the Silver Moon Shuttle, so he didn¡¯t fear anyone. On the other hand, killing a high-tier Demonic Beast had caused Su Chen¡¯sbat prowess to increase. Unfortunately, this battle was an isted ughter, and there were no bystanders or spectators. Otherwise, if news of this were to reach the human territory, it would undoubtedly make great waves.

    Su Chen ignored the dead spider¡¯s threat and cut open its body.

    A silver-colored Origin Crystal appeared in his hand.

    ¡°At least I made up for a bit of my expenditures,¡± Su Chen sighed.

    The cost of refining the Blue Ice Star was simply too high, and even the core of a high-tier Demonic Beast wasn¡¯t enough to cover its costs. However, since the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider had attempted to flee, he still had quite a bit of the Blue Ice Star leftover. In that sense, he had profited, but only if he were able to use up all of the remaining Blue Ice Star within a month due to its limited shelf life. Every day thereafter, the medicinal efficacy would decrease drastically.

    Having taken care of this massive spider, Su Chen had finally dealt with the biggest problem guing him. He sighed with relief, then continued to search for more resources with the help of the white paper doll.

    The Beast Race¡¯s territory was unimaginably rich in resources. Su Chen was discovering all kinds of treasures that simply couldn¡¯t be found in human territory. Even though most of them were guarded by high-level Demonic Beasts and Su Chen had no way of harvesting them, the resources guarded by the beasts that Su Chen could take on were more than enough to fill his hands.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t waste any time and got back on the road as quick as he could.

    What he didn¡¯t know was that, not long after he left, a gust of ck wind blew in behind him.

    The ck wind paused at the corpse of the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider, circling in the air above it as it slowly assumed the form of a human.

    Actually, it wasn¡¯t really the form of a human, but rather a more ambiguous kind of bipedal lifeform. People liked to refer to these creatures as humanoid, but that was just to exalt humans further. Actually, most Demonic Beasts weren¡¯t humanoid at all; they had merely chosen to walk on two feet to free their hands and develop more specialized abilities. This was also an example of convergent evolution reaching the same functionality.

    For instance, the Demonic Beast here had a pair of hooves and a pair of curved horns on its head like a bull. However, it also had four arms, and every powerful stride it took caused the ground beneath its feet to quake.

    The ck Wind Lord walked towards the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider¡¯s corpse and sniffed it a few times. ¡°The scent of a human...... how strange, how did a human appear here?¡±

    His gaze narrowed as he stared intently at the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider¡¯s corpse. Suddenly, he reached out an arm and made a grasping motion in midair.

    The wind began to blow violently, forming a vortex in midair. Gradually, an illusory image of the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider appeared in the air.

    She floated in the air, wailing and shrieking, ¡°Avenge me...... Avenge me......¡±

    ¡°How many people killed you?¡± the ck Wind Lord asked calmly.

    The wailing paused for a brief moment. ¡°One...... person......¡±

    ¡°What cultivation base does he have?¡±

    ¡°Yang...... Opening...... Realm......¡±

    Apart from the phrase ¡°avenge me,¡± the specter¡¯s replies were all spoken with broken, tortured breath.

    ¡°A Yang Opening Realm cultivator killed you?¡± The ck Wind creature¡¯s expression finally changed.

    ¡°He...... used...... the...... Blue...... Ice..... Star...... and...... a...... shuttle......¡±

    ¡°No wonder. All of the techniques you use are based purely on Origin Energy, and the Blue Ice Star is your kryptonite. In addition, the flying shuttle would have been fast enough to keep up with you. But from the way you died, it seems like that human roasted you alive with me-type Origin Skills, and your injuries from the Blue Ice Star weren¡¯t actually that serious. You really are a weak and dumb woman; you didn¡¯t even have the courage to fight him to the death, so the opponent was able to preserve some of his Blue Ice Star.¡± The ck Wind Lord was able to quickly piece together aplete picture of what had happened.

    ¡°Avenge me......¡±

    ¡°I will. I will bring you with me so that you can see personally how I kill him,¡± the ck Wind Lord replied. ¡°But before then, I need you to go into my Continuity Prison and be a part of my strength.¡±

    ¡°NO!!!¡± the spider¡¯s spectre howled in despair.

    ¡°You are going to disappear eventually anyways. Why would I waste your soul? Being with me for an eternity should be my woman¡¯s highest desire,¡± the ck Wind Lord said as it raised its four arms. A ck hole formed between its four palms, generating an extremely powerful gravitational pull. The spider¡¯s spectre was immediately sucked in.

    An anguished wail could be hearding from the ck Wind Lord¡¯s back. This wail didn¡¯t actually have any physical substance, but it resounded continuously within the walls of his heart.

    The ck Wind Lord replied, ¡°Don¡¯t be in such a hurry. I¡¯ll have him join you shortly.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 160: Contac

    t

    A small treehouse had popped up on a tree in Blue Swamp Forest.

    At this moment, Su Chen was sitting inside the treehouse, concocting a new medicine ¡ª he was nning on using it to specifically deal with the ck Wind Lord.

    Even though he wasn¡¯t afraid of the ck Wind Lord, that didn¡¯t mean that he would wait around without making any preparations for him.

    Strategically looking down on the opponent yet tactically taking them seriously was the attitude every experienced warrior needed to have, even if they didn¡¯t consciously realize it.

    Just as he was in the middle of refining, however, the Origin Formation Disk he had on him suddenly began to heat up.

    Su Chen pulled it out. It was actually the transmission Origin Formation Disk that Shi Mingfeng had given him.

    It was them?

    How did they get in contact with him?

    And here? Had theye to the Beast Race¡¯s territory?

    Su Chen was extremely shocked.

    He ced the Origin Formation Disk on the table and activated it. A streak of light shone forth from the disk, revealing Night Demon¡¯s shocked and excited appearance. Behind her stood Shi Kaihuang and the others.

    ¡°Thank the Heavens! We¡¯ve finally found you,¡± Night Demon yelled happily.

    They were really quite exhausted from chasing after Su Chen all this time. Even though he was only traversing through the border region, this ¡®small¡¯ region was quiterge, and so they were quite lucky to have run into him.

    ¡°Night Demon? Shi Mingfeng? How in the world are you guys here?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Ha, you¡¯re asking me? Getting in touch with you really wasn¡¯t easy. You guys ran here so fast and actually went to the Beast Race¡¯s territory!¡± Night Demon yelled excitedly.

    ¡°You guys?¡± Su Chen was confused for a brief moment before he understood. ¡°You thought I was with the Heavenly Might Battalion?¡±

    ¡°Is that not the case?¡± Night Demon was taken aback.

    Su Chen smiled and didn¡¯t say anything.

    Shi Mingfeng said, ¡°So you really did separate from the Heavenly Might Battalion.¡±

    He wasn¡¯t surprised at all at this point. They were having so much trouble catching up with Su Chen earlier that he was already beginning to suspect that Su Chen was on his own.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t answer that question. All he said was, ¡°Why are you guys looking for me?¡±

    ¡°The Immortal Temple wants to do some business with you,¡± Shi Mingfeng said directly. He understood Su Chen¡¯s temperament, so he didn¡¯t waste any time beating around the bush.

    ¡°Resources?¡± Su Chen squinted. He also understood the Immortal Temple quite well and what kind of attitude they had.

    Shi Mingfeng chuckled, ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Right now, you guys are in the area where resources are the most abundant. The Beast Race has already left to deal with the Ferocious Race, so right now this ce is at its quietest and safest.¡±

    ¡°This ce has quality while the Heavenly Might Battalion has quantity,¡± Shi Mingfeng replied. ¡°We want both. Actually, in terms of umting and saving up money, quantity is more important than quality.¡±

    The resources produced in the Beast Race¡¯s territory were extremely rare and hard toe by, and by human territory standards, they were impossible to find. Some of them were so rare that it was impossible to even put a price tag on them, but because of this it was very hard to sell them. If the selling price was too high, no one would buy them, but if the price was too low then you would have lost out. Even more annoying were the many resources that had never been seen before, as it was almost impossible to fully determine their properties.

    Inparison, the Ferocious Race had fewer resources, but most of their resources had a price tag on them and they also came inrger quantities. Therge quantity and low price meant that these items could be sold all over the ce and generate a constant stream of ie, unlike those legendary ¡°priceless¡± items.

    The Immortal Temple would rather have the resources with a price than ¡°priceless¡± items.

    In that sense, they had apletely opposite viewpointpared to Su Chen¡¯s.

    Anything Su Chen could buy with money was not important; only these priceless resources were useful to him.

    And it was because both parties hadpletely different needs that there was a possibility for cooperation.

    As such, when Su Chen heard Shi Kaihuang¡¯s words, heughed. ¡°You want the resources that the Heavenly Might Battalion plundered from the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory? That¡¯s fine, I can reply on behalf of the Heavenly Might Army. At the same time, I also need a few things.¡±

    ¡°Rations, water ¡ª whatever you need, please just let me know,¡± Shi Mingfeng said extremely ¡°generously.¡±

    Su Chen guffawed. ¡°Usingmonce rations and water to purchase precious medicinal ingredients? Brother Shi, you¡¯re ying a beautiful hand. Did you think that the Heavenly Might Battalion and I would be incredibly moved by your proposition? How many rations were you nning on using to exchange for a thousand-year-old stalk of Three-ded Grass? Two stones worth? And how much water for a Frosted Lotus Fruit? One or two pots?¡±

    Shi Mingfeng grinned sheepishly. ¡°Sending these supplies all the way over here wasn¡¯t easy. You should know that not everyone can cross the border as easily as you can.¡±

    ¡°I know that. So that¡¯s your reasoning for trying to buy these resources for a thousandth of their selling price, right?¡±

    Shi Mingfeng replied, ¡°If there weren¡¯t any benefits to be had, who would be willing to take such a risk? If you don¡¯t agree with the price, we can discuss further. How many stalks of Three-ded Grass do you have? I¡¯m willing to use ten stone¡¯s worth of rations to trade for a single stalk.¡±

    A thousand-year-old stalk of Three-ded Grass could fetch thousands of Origin Stones in Long Sang Country, while one Origin Stone could buy at least four stones worth of rations.

    The gap between these prices was truly shocking.

    Even so, Shi Mingfeng was confident that the Heavenly Might Battalion wouldn¡¯t have much choice in the matter. One stone¡¯s worth of rations was enough to feed fifteen soldiers for a day, but this Three-ded Grass wouldn¡¯t be able to give a single soldier even a mouthful of food. The Ferocious Race¡¯s territory was exceptionally deste, and the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s ability to harvest resources should be limited, so it would be impossible for them to gather enough food to sustain themselves. Su Chen might be able to sustain them for a while, but not forever.

    Of course, he had merely opened with this price so that Su Chen could negotiate with him. But no matter how high of a price Su Chen was able to haggle it down to, the Immortal Temple would still be able to make at least a hundred times profit.

    ¡°Your tone makes you sound so generous,¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°But I believe that General Li and the others wouldn¡¯t agree to such a price.¡±

    ¡°How much do you want?¡± Shi Mingfeng asked.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s not a matter of how much. I was never nning on exchanging them for rations in the first ce.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Shi Mingfeng was stunned.

    Using these rations to exchange for spiritual herbs was the backbone of the Immortal Temple¡¯s n from the beginning. With this as the foundation of their trade, no matter how wide Su Chen opened his mouth, the Immortal Temple would be able to attack while advancing or defend while retreating. Usingmon resources to exchange for rare materials meant that the Immortal Temple wouldn¡¯t lose out no matter what kind of agreement was reached.

    However, Su Chen had rejected this proposal with a single sentence.

    Shi Mingfeng tried to hold back the agitation in his voice as he asked, ¡°Doesn¡¯t the Heavenly Might Battalion need rations?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Yes, but we don¡¯t need to get them through this way.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng was totally at a loss for words. ¡°Then what do you want?¡±

    Su Chen smile slightly. ¡°The same as you ¡ª rare nts, spirit herbs, resources that containrge quantities of Origin Energy...... all of which you can find here within the Beast Race¡¯s territory.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Shi Mingfeng was taken aback.

    He still was having some trouble understanding.

    Su Chen said, ¡°There aren¡¯t many opportunities to steal resources from the Beast Race¡¯s territory. It would be a pity for me to work alone. Since you guys are here, then you should apany me and go crazy in harvesting the items here. You want Three-ded Grass? That¡¯s easy, just pick some ingredients here that you have never seen before and any one of them will be enough to get you ten stalks. If they¡¯re higher quality, you might even get more than that.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng finally understood that Su Chen wanted to use them for hardbor, for them to go and pick these herbs for him.

    The problem was that the resources he was talking about belonged to the Heavenly Might Battalion. On what basis did Su Chen have the authority to bargain with the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s wealth?

    However, Shi Mingfeng suddenly understood what was going on when he saw Su Chen¡¯s self-confident expression.

    Perhaps Su Chen¡¯s influence in the Heavenly Might Battalion far outstripped what they had previously predicted.

    ¡°How will we conduct the exchange?¡± At that moment, a ck-robed, cloaked individual standing next to Shi Mingfeng spoke up.

    ¡°This is......¡± Su Chen nced at him and didn¡¯t say anything else.

    Shi Mingfeng hurriedly introduced him. ¡°This person is Astin. He is from the Resurrection Door and is responsible for the southern region of the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory. Originally, we were nning on cooperating with him to send rations to the Heavenly Might Battalion, but now it seems like there¡¯s no such need anymore.¡±

    ¡°Our cooperation can still continue,¡± Astin said.

    Su Chen nced at him and thought momentarily before replying, ¡°Then after the Beast Wave ends.¡±

    If they were going to make an exchange, then Su Chen needed to return to the Heavenly Might Battalion. That was the only way he could use the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s hand to control the exchange. Of course, doing so would waste time, and given that this was the best time to plunder this area, wasting time was the same as wasting money, lives, and the future. How could Su Chen possibly choose to do something like that?

    As such, he had proposed to wait until the Beast Wave had ended before making the exchange.

    In any case, sessfully harvesting resources from the Beast Race¡¯s territory didn¡¯t depend on strength or the amount of storage space avable in the Origin Rings.

    Shi Mingfeng didn¡¯t have any objections to this proposal, but Astin obviously couldn¡¯t ept it.

    The duration of the Beast Wave was not set. Small ones might recede after a month, whilerger ones couldst for longer than three months.

    Su Chen¡¯s provocation of the Beast Race would prolong the duration of the Beast Wave, so this one might evenst for half a year.

    Danba had no interest in waiting for half a year.

    Astin said, ¡°I hope to make the exchange sooner rather thanter. The Resurrection Door has been in dire need of resourcestely. We managed to harvest a few precious resources on our way to look for you, so I hope that we can make an exchange soon.¡±

    Su Chen still refused. ¡°I cannot leave the Beast Race¡¯s territory right now to go and look for the Heavenly Might Battalion.¡±

    Astin anxiously said, ¡°I can sell it to you on credit first.¡±

    ¡°Sell on credit?¡± Su Chen was taken aback, and a trace of suspicion shed across his mind: if the Resurrection Door needed resources, how could they temporarily sell to him on credit? That was totally illogical. If you allowed someone to umte an outstanding debt, then that meant that you weren¡¯t in serious need of resources at the moment.

    Also, the Ferocious Race¡¯s resources might be rare for most humans, so the Immortal Temple¡¯s n of hoarding them was reasonable, but they shouldn¡¯t be rare for the Resurrection Door, right? Even if they couldn¡¯t harvest resources wantonly due to their status, that didn¡¯t mean that they absolutely had to get resources from him!

    Why would the local bully ever need to hire an external force to obtain local resources? The proper order had been flipped!

    Su Chen¡¯s misgivings only grew stronger as he tightened up his guard.

    Su Chen maintained his expression. ¡°That sounds like a pretty good deal, but this is an extremely rare opportunity. There won¡¯t be many chances for me to move around as I please in the Beast Race¡¯s territory, and every day that I waste is a pity. I would still prefer to do business with you after the Beast Wave ends.¡±

    Astin then said, ¡°If Sir Su agrees to have the exchange earlier, we are willing to propose a better price.¡±

    Even Shi Mingfeng felt a bit surprised by this turn of events.

    Su Chen nced at Shi Mingfeng, then at Astin again, and lowered his head in thought for a moment before he finally said, ¡°If we do a one-to-five rate of exchange, then we can do a transaction three days from now.¡±

    Astin immediately asked, ¡°Where?¡±

    Su Chen nced deeply at him before saying, ¡°There are some marshes to the south of the ck Forest. I will be waiting for you there.¡±

    As he spoke, he waved his sleeves, ending the transmission.

    The Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s armies were stationed near the borders of the Beast Race and the Ferocious Race.

    Danba sat within the Ferocious Race camp¡¯s main tent, reading over the battle reports. He slowly said, ¡°Astin has already gotten in contact with Su Chen and has confirmed that he¡¯s not with the Heavenly Might Battalion. He went to the Beast Race¡¯s territory alone to try and steal resources, further angering the Beast Race and prolonging the Beast Wave. Astin also made a deal with him to make an initial exchange three days from now. Their transaction will be conducted...... through credit.¡±

    ¡°Then what are we waiting for? Let¡¯s go to the Beast Race¡¯s territory right now and wipe that bastard out!¡± Bayan howled loudly.

    Danba stared at Bayan coldly, then said, ¡°If you want to go so badly, then take your personal battalion with you and go kill him. What do you think?¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± Bayan was obviously startled.

    ¡°You don¡¯t mean to tell me that you and your thousand-man battalion won¡¯t be able to take care of a Yang Opening Realm cultivator, right?¡± Danba replied calmly.

    Bayan licked his lips excitedly. ¡°Of course not. I will personally hand the human¡¯s head over to you.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll be waiting for the good news,¡± Danba replied indifferently.

    Bayan left immediately. Kubrick, who was standing to the side, anxiously said, ¡°Young Chieftain, Bayan is still the Head Chieftain¡¯s son. Is it really appropriate to send him on a risky mission like that one?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sending him on a risky mission,¡± Danba unexpectedly replied. ¡°I¡¯m sending him to his death.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 161: Swamp

    In the swamps to the south of the ck Forest.

    Shi Mingfeng stood close by, intensely staring at the marshy swamnd as if there were something on his mind.

    Meanwhile, Astin paced back and forth impatiently.

    ¡°The agreed upon time has already passed. Why hasn¡¯t this guy shown himself yet?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re in too much of a hurry, Astin,¡± Shi Mingfeng said calmly. ¡°Actually, I feel like what Su Chen said was totally logical. Our time is limited, and opportunities to infiltrate deep into the Beast Race¡¯s territory are too few and far between. But instead of maximizing our efficiency and looting this ce, we are wasting our time carrying out this transaction. That¡¯s such a backwards way of doing things.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps. I¡¯m just a bit curious about this young man who¡¯s put the entire Ferocious Race on edge. What you say may be right, and I might have been a bit too hasty, but the deal¡¯s already been made and the situation has already reached this point, hasn¡¯t it?¡± Astin shrugged.

    Shi Mingfeng turned around to stare at Astin. ¡°Astin, tell me. Do you have some other scheme in mind?¡±

    ¡°Scheme?¡± Astin froze momentarily before he burst out inughter. ¡°What are you saying? I just want to make some money and get to know the person who is going to be bringing me endless waves of money in the future. Is there anything wrong with that?¡±

    When he saw the way Astin spoke, Shi Mingfeng nodded and replied, ¡°That¡¯s true. Under these circumstances and considering who you¡¯re making the deal with, anyone would probably want to get to know that person better.¡±

    Astin chuckled. ¡°As long as you understand.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng turned back around. ¡°There is a kind of flower within the ck Forest known as the Night Demon Cloud. It is a precious ingredient that can purify one¡¯s body. It can be consumed as-is, and there is no need to refine it into a medicine. However, the two boa constrictors guarding it aren¡¯t easy to deal with.¡±

    Astin didn¡¯t understand why Shi Mingfeng would suddenly bring something like this up, and he stared at Shi Mingfeng, puzzled.

    Shi Mingfeng continued exining. ¡°Of the two-headed boa constrictors, one of them is known as the Swamp Constrictor. As the name implies, it lives in the swamp.¡±

    Astin was stunned. He finally realized something and blurted out, ¡°Dammit!¡±

    A massive head slowly emerged from the surface of the swamp, the beady eyes of the constrictor fixed on the two of them.

    Shi Mingfeng continued. ¡°I will go into the ck Forest to harvest the Night Demon Cloud; you and your subordinates can stay here to dy this Swamp Constrictor. If everything goes as nned, we can harvest it before Su Chen gets here, and then we will have another bargaining chip to use against Su Chen.

    As he spoke, he took Night Demon and He Xu with him and prepared to head into the ck Forest.

    ¡°Wait a moment, Mingfeng, there¡¯s no need to do that!¡± Astin yelled out loudly.

    It was obvious from first nce that this Swamp Constrictor was not going to be easy to handle. He didn¡¯t want to go all out against a mere Demonic Beast here.

    Shi Mingfeng turned around to look at him. ¡°Do you not want an extra item to exchange for more resources? That¡¯s our whole reason foring here.¡±

    ¡°I......¡± Astin was speechless.

    Shi Mingfeng continued, ¡°Also, why would Su Chen choose to make the exchange here? Perhaps he wanted to borrow our hand to deal with these two boa constrictors. For him, this pair of snakes might actually be a bit hard to handle.¡±

    ¡°You mean......¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t finish it off, then Su Chen might not appear at all,¡± Shi Mingfeng said with a smile.

    As he spoke, he took his two subordinates into the forest.

    At this moment, the Swamp Constrictor had already fully revealed itself. Its body was hundreds of feet long, and every time it exhaled, small vortices of air formed in front of its nostrils. It was immediately apparent how frighteningly powerful this massive boa constrictor was.

    Astin nced at the massive creature, mulling over his personal mission. Finally, he could only gulp and say, ¡°Fine, then let¡¯s take care of this guy first...... Let¡¯s go!¡±

    Following hismand, the group of Resurrection Door subordinates charged towards the Swamp Constrictor.

    Streaks of Origin Light fiercely mmed into the Swamp Constrictor, causing blood to fly everywhere. The Swamp Constrictor responded in kind, as its massive body was its best weapon. Its innate affinity for earth-type Origin Energy allowed it to control the massive energy reservoir of the earth in the form of earth-type Origin Skills.

    A massive battle unfolded.

    The Swamp Constrictor wasn¡¯t a character that was easy to deal with, but the Resurrection Door was obviously stronger. In this face-off, the Resurrection Door held a clear advantage.

    As brilliant lights shed everywhere and howls rang through the sky, Astin¡¯s side slowly and steadily began to build up an advantage.

    Once this advantage was firmly established, Astin was able to rx slightly, and his brain had some free time to process other questions on his mind.

    As such, Astin suddenly thought of something in that moment.

    How had Shi Mingfeng known about the Night Demon Cloud in the ck Forest? And how had he known about the two constrictors?

    Even he, who was privy to the Ferocious Race¡¯s intel, didn¡¯t know such specific information regarding the situation here. So how had Shi Mingfeng known about it?

    As soon as this thought surfaced in his mind, Astin began to feel uneasy.

    Most of the effective scams in this day and age targeted people who weren¡¯t mentally prepared for them. If a person was mentally guarded against a particr scam, it would be much harder to pull off, and details which didn¡¯t seem that important would immediately stand out.

    Why did Shi Mingfeng know about the matter of the ck Forest? Why had he left in such a hurry? Why couldn¡¯t he stay to help Astin finish off this massive constrictor, and then go with him to deal with the other one?

    As soon as he saw through one of the lies, he very quickly discovered many other various ces where things didn¡¯t quite add up.

    At this moment, Astin felt a chill creep up his spine.

    Shi Mingfeng had lied to him!

    Even so, this chill hadn¡¯tpletely taken over him yet, and his hope had not yetpletely turned into despair.

    He hoped that his guess was wrong, or that at least Shi Mingfeng would have some other reason for doing this.

    Until he saw a nearby tree.

    That tree had withered and dried up a long time ago. Its branches were wilted, and dried out roots were sprawled across the ground. However, there was a piece of cloth hanging onto that old, withered tree.

    The piece of cloth didn¡¯t seem particrly eye-catching, as its color was grey; however, it couldn¡¯t have stood out more given the circumstances and environment.

    A piece of cloth!

    How could a piece of cloth from a human¡¯s clothes be hanging here?

    Astin suddenly understood.

    He called out in a trembling voice, ¡°Su Chen! You¡¯re already here, aren¡¯t you? Come out now!¡±

    There was no response other than the Swamp Constrictor¡¯s furious howls that reverberated into the sky. Waves of blustering earth-type Origin Energy surged at the Resurrection Door¡¯s Origin Qi Schrs, the neverending nkets of energy almost suffocating them.

    Astin¡¯s hand trembled, and his eyes grew round.

    ¡°I know you¡¯re here. Come out!¡±

    A gentle sigh could be heard.

    Astin spun around to face the source of the sigh and saw Su Chen.

    Su Chen was standing right behind him silently and casually, a slight smile hanging on his lips.

    He was holding a wine cup in his hands. Inside the wine cup was a blood-colored liquid.

    He stood beside the ck Forest on a patch of withered grass near the swamp.

    Against the stark gray and ck backdrop, this cup of red wine was extremely eye-catching.

    Astin gulped. ¡°Su Chen, I¡¯m here to make a transaction with you. I brought enough resources with me

    Su Chen carelessly shrugged. ¡°Your sincerity is about as trustworthy as the mud that makes up this marsh. All it¡¯s good for is covering up the dirty schemes and ploys you¡¯re hiding under the surface.¡±

    Astin¡¯s expression shifted drastically. ¡°I think there may be a misunderstanding between us.¡±

    ¡°Are you trying to tell me that you have nothing to do with the five hundred Ferocious Race soldiers waiting for me outside that forest?¡±

    Su Chen had even managed to pinpoint the number of people here, causing Astin¡¯s heart to shudder violently.

    ¡°You......¡± He stared at Su Chen in shock.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Danba actually only sent five hundred people to kill me. He must despise me to the extreme if he thinks that five hundred people is enough. Or is it that he thinks so highly of me that he isn¡¯t willing to take a bigger risk?¡±

    After thinking for a moment, Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know what he¡¯s trying to do, but at the very least I know that you and your men won¡¯t be return alive. Since you were able to discover me in time, you¡¯ve at least earned the right to have a one-on-one battle with me.¡±

    As he spoke, he pulled out the Mountain-Beheading de and gestured at his opponent. ¡°If we do this quickly enough, we should be able to dere a winner before your subordinates are all killed by that massive snake.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 162: Duel 1

    Chapter 162: Duel (1)

    After he made his deration, Su Chen¡¯s aura underwent a drastic change.

    His tone had been one of tranquility and indifference befitting his youth, but an immense pressure suddenly began explosively emanating from his body.

    A thick wave of killing intent burst out of him in a wild, unrestrained manner.

    Then a massive human-like image appeared behind him. It was still the Primordial Blood Incarnation, but this time it had grown to nearly two hundred feet. Its massive body stood erect like a tall mountain, and the Mountain-Beheading de seemed to have transformed into a Heaven-Sundering de. mes engulfed the edge of the de, mixing into the intensely crackling lightning.

    When he saw this, Astin¡¯s gaze narrowed sharply.

    What technique was this?

    Why could this youth who was only in the Yang Opening Realm suddenly give off such an intense pressure towards him?

    It didn¡¯t feel like he was facing a Yang Opening Realm cultivator, but rather a Light Shaking Realm cultivator just as strong as ¡ª no, perhaps even stronger than him!

    The vigorous desire to do battle and the dense waves of Origin Energy flowing out of Su Chen caused Astin to feel an immense power wash over him, and this power only seemed to continue increasing.

    This guy was actually getting even stronger!

    Astin knew that the situation wasn¡¯t looking good.

    At this moment, the best thing for him to do would have been to immediately attack and interrupt Su Chen while he was gathering his strength.

    However, he didn¡¯t do that. Instead, he pulled out something from his breast pocket and tossed it into the air.

    Whoosh!

    A streak of fire shot high into the sky like a re, lighting up the sky.

    After doing this, Astinughed delightedly. ¡°Su Chen, you¡¯re dead for sure!¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯ve finished notifying them? And with that you feel at ease?¡± Unexpectedly, Su Chen didn¡¯t seem to care. He stared at Astin, his gaze filled with contempt. ¡°A Light Shaking Realm cultivator¡¯s first move against a Yang Opening Realm challenger is to call for reinforcements. Astin, where did your courage go? You aren¡¯t even confident in yourself, so what right do you have to talk about fighting me?¡±

    Astin smiled ferociously. ¡°Trying to shake me with your words? Unfortunately, that has no use against me! I have never ced much faith in willpower or explosiveness. I will attack with the abilities that I have. I don¡¯t need self-confidence when I fight, just strength!¡±

    As he spoke, he began to sing an extremely strange song.

    As he sang, the Origin Energy in the air began to twist onto itself as wave after wave of Origin Energy began to condense, forming arge vortex that began to paradoxically simultaneously expand and contract.

    Elemental Vortex!

    As a remnant of the Arcana Race, it stood to reason that Astin would use Ancient Arcana Techniques.

    The Elemental Vortex was a Fourth-Ring Arcana Technique, so it wasn¡¯t extremely powerful. However, it was a foundation for many other Ancient Arcana Techniques, which was why it was a favorite technique for many Arcana Masters.

    Astin was stubborn and conservative, so he didn¡¯t like change. But just as he said, he would use as much strength as he possessed to defeat his opponent, which meant that he never lost the battles he should win, but also that he would never win the battles he should lose.

    It was formic, in a way.

    Because of this, Astin was known as the Ruler amongst the Resurrection Door.

    Rulers were measuring tools, so the name was extremely indicative of Astin¡¯s thought processes.

    After the elemental vortex appeared, what immediately followed was a full demonstration of the power of Ancient Arcana Techniques.

    The space between Astin and Su Chen began to distort as if there was a massive hand squeezing it. Countless streaks of lightning appeared out of thin air and gathered into a massive ball of lightning before shooting at Su Chen.

    It was patently obvious that this ball of lightning was different from the lightning that Su Chen used. Su Chen could sense that the lightning here was at least ten times more concentrated than his own.

    What a frightening attack!

    Ancient Arcana Techniques were powerful without equal, making their offensive prowess far greater than that of contemporary Origin Skills.

    When faced with this ball of lightning, which was so powerful that it distorted the very air as it moved towards him, Su Chen didn¡¯t dare take it head-on.

    His figure immediately disappeared as he shifted to the side. At the same time, the de in his hand whizzed through the air.

    The massive Primordial Blood Incarnation swung the equally massive Mountain-Beheading de through the air, generating massive shockwaves as it sliced through the air. There was a frightening feeling that an impending shower of blood was about to fill the air.

    The shockwaves of de energy traveled tens of thousands of kilometers, and countless illusory images of beasts appeared behind Su Chen, howling in unison.

    These silhouettes included the Soaring Serpent, the Thunder Spirit, the Mountain Demon, and even Luo You..... Su Chen had gathered countless bloodlines these past few years. For the few he liked, he refined, absorbed, and used them on himself. Even though he hadn¡¯t managed to fully integrate the power of their bloodlines, he had still incorporated them into his style of battle, forging them into his own unique brand of strength.

    This de seemed capable of carving through the fabric of the universe as it exploded with boundless light.

    The ball of lightning was deflected to the side by the de, but the explosive lightning energy still pushed Su Chen backwards.

    As Su Chen flew through the air, his figure suddenly shimmered and disappeared. He had used Whitetower Teleportation to appear behind Astin.

    ¡°Ancient Arcana Techniques?¡± Shock appeared in Astin¡¯s eyes. Su Chen had actually used an Ancient Arcana Technique!?

    Even as he was numbed with shock, Astin¡¯s figure contorted into a beam of light. Su Chen¡¯s de descended, but all it did was make the light tremble slightly, as if Su Chen had merely passed through a figure made of water.

    Astin quickly returned to his physical form. His right hand sted out an intense swath of mes which roared to life and climbed towards the sky before taking on the form of a de.

    This was me Strike, a Third-Ring Arcana Technique. It wasn¡¯t as powerful as the elemental vortex, but it formed and struck much faster. Given Astin¡¯s strength, it was possible for him to call forth this technique at a moment¡¯s notice.

    The sharp ming de flew straight at Su Chen¡¯s face, but was instantly blocked by a barrier.

    A momentter, Astin cried out again.

    As soon as he heard his voice, Su Chen¡¯s figure trembled as his movements slowed down dramatically.

    The Demonic Dirge could control the opponent¡¯s consciousness; it was a powerful skill that focused on slowing an opponent¡¯s Origin Energy gathering rate.

    Astin smiled darkly as a strange wave of darkness began to take form, preparing to envelope Su Chen.

    The Wave of Darkness was a Fifth-Ring Ancient Arcana Technique that contained incredible power, at the cost of taking a certain amount of time to charge up. As such, Astin liked to use the Demonic Dirge to first restrict his opponent¡¯s movements before activating it.

    However, the instant the ck wave of light appeared, Su Chen¡¯s figure disappeared yet again.

    He had beenpletely unaffected by the Demonic Dirge, and he showed it by sauntering away with a self-confident smile on his face.

    ¡°You aren¡¯t affected?¡± Astin was stunned.

    Su Chen tilted his head. ¡°I have a hard time feeling a consciousness attack on that kind of level.¡±

    As he spoke, he stabbed out with his de.

    As the de moved, lightning and mes congregated on the surface of the de. In the blink of an eye, Su Chen¡¯s power had multiplied once again, and the de¡¯s aura somehow grew even more violent and overbearing. It surged forwards with a peerless confidence.

    Astin yelled loudly, and powerful waves of energy began to stream forth again from the elemental vortex, gathering to form arge mirror that guarded in front of Astin. Another circle of light also appeared in front of Astin; that was the Order Shield. Finally, mes roared to life on Astin¡¯s body; that was the Inferno Armor.

    He had activated three defensive techniques simultaneously.

    Su Chen, however, had only unleashed a single de strike. A long, deep scar was left behind in the ground as the de built up momentum and mmed into the crystal mirror, shattering it and sending shards of ice flying everywhere. Next, it met the Order Shield, which reverberated with a saintly hum. As the shield rang out, the light on the de noticeably dimmed down. Finally, when only a fraction of the de strike¡¯s original strength was left, the Order Shield also broke. The remaining momentum crashed into the Inferno Armor, causing sparks and mes to fly everywhere.

    Boom!

    A massive, fiery explosion burst forth, all of it centered around Astin.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 163: Duel 2

    Chapter 163: Duel (2)

    ¡°AH!¡±

    Astin cried out in pain.

    Wounds andcerations covered his torso, stretching from his shoulders to his midsection.

    He had actually been wounded!

    A Yang Opening Rm brat had actually managed to wound him, an Arcana Master!

    Astin was incredibly angry.

    ¡°You bastard!¡± He howled fiercely as he stared intensely at Su Chen, a strange light flickering through his eyes.

    Pupil¡¯s Gaze!

    This was an innate Arcana Technique that only the Arcana Race could use. When he gazed at an opponent with this technique active, he could see through their defenses and tailor all his attacks to hit those weak points.

    As Astin stared at him, Su Chen instinctively felt a sense of extreme danger wash over him.

    He knew that the situation wasn¡¯t good. He drew the heaven-sundering de back into a defensive stance, and all of the buzzing lightning withdrew and channeled back into the de. The Primordial Blood Incarnation also shrunk along with Su Chen, and its might correspondingly decreased as Su Chenpressed himself as much as possible.

    A blindingly brilliant light began to shine.

    At the same time, raging mes began to gather within the elemental vortex. The surrounding temperature rapidly rose, making it feel like the sun was about to crash into the earth. The immense pressure almost caused Su Chen to start yelling.

    It was a Sixth-Ring Arcana Technique!

    This was the highest-tier Arcana Technique that Astin could unleash and was technically him skipping a tier. The frightening amounts of power that Arcana Techniques could unleash was put on full disy as the ambient energy surged wildly. Even the Swamp Constrictor, which was currently swallowing up the Resurrection Door¡¯s subordinates as it pleased, suddenly felt a wave of fear wash over it as it turned in that direction.

    Su Chen had no option but to try and meet the blow with all his strength.

    He immediately pulled out an Origin Stone and began to absorb the Origin Energy inside. He had no room to hold back, and didn¡¯t either, unleashing all the energy in his body in that instant. Meg¡¯s Guardian, Adamantine Battle Body, and all of his other defensive techniques were used unsparingly.

    The two violent waves of energy collided with each other.

    Boom!

    Su Chen was immediately sent flying. He crashed into countless trees, knocking them down before finallynding on the ground nearly a hundred feet away.

    Pu!

    Su Chen rolled onto all fours and spat out a mouthful of blood.

    ¡°How fierce! How powerful!¡±

    In that instant, even Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but sigh in amazement at how powerful Arcana Techniques were.

    The Fire Halo was typically meant to be used against a group of enemies. If it had been a skill that was meant for a single target, the oue might have been even more scary. Given Su Chen¡¯s current strength, he would have been seriously injured in a single strike.

    Ancient Arcana Techniques really were incredible.

    Now that he thought about it, he had neglected Ancient Arcana Techniques for awhile now in his research.

    Since he had run into Astin now, then perhaps now was a good time to further his understanding of Ancient Arcana Techniques.

    If he couldbine the Ferocious Race¡¯s body-tempering techniques with the Arcana Race¡¯s Arcana Techniques and assimte both of them into the human cultivation system......

    Su Chen began to fantasize.

    He actually had the heart to fantasize at this moment.

    Astin¡¯s gaze was filled with apprehension and a trace of fear.

    ¡°You blocked it? You actually blocked my Fire Halo?¡± He couldn¡¯t believe it.

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s only because I was well-equipped,¡± Su Chen replied as he modestly pointed to himself. ¡°I¡¯m actually not that well-versed in defensive techniques, so it¡¯s all thanks to my equipment that I survived. I thought it was more than enough, but you sure taught me a lesson. It seems like I need to spend some time increasing my defensive capabilities; I¡¯ll probably start with taking a look at how the Ferocious Race cultivates their physical bodies. Also, the Primordial Blood Incarnation grants me great offensive power, but not much in the way of additional defense. If I continue to improve it in the future, I should focus on strengthening its defenses......¡±

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t help keep bbering as soon as he started talking about his ns for the future.

    Perhaps this was a disease that every schrly overlord suffered from.

    Astin¡¯s expression was incredibly ugly. ¡°I didn¡¯te here just to listen to you talk about things like this!¡±

    ¡°Me neither,¡± Su Chenughed.

    He shed down with his de again.

    This de strike seemed different from before, as this time it threatened to tear a hole in the very fabric of space. Faint motes of starlight could even be seen upon the surface of the de.

    As these motes of starlight shone, the momentum of Su Chen¡¯s de surged to a shocking magnitude, and the pressure emanating from the de was almost impossible to withstand.

    The very air seemed to distort under the pressure.

    Unlike the warpage of a maic field, this distortion was purely a result of the de¡¯s powerful momentum.

    Different causes, but the same effects!

    The shocking wave of energy propagated forward, generating distortions no weaker than what Astin¡¯s lightning ball had been able to produce. However, Su Chen¡¯s de strikes came one after the other. In but an instant, twelve de strikes had been unleashed!

    How was a person to deal with twelve attacks as powerful as the lightning balls that Astin had released earlier?

    There was no ce left for him to run!

    This was the instinctive emotional reaction that Astin felt.

    However, Astin was no ordinary foe. At the exact same time that Su Chen attacked with his de, Astin ced his palm in front of him, and his crystal mirror appeared once again.

    This time, however, the mirror didn¡¯t appear in front of Astin but rather directly behind him. Not that, but its surface area was also pitifully small. It was about asrge as Astin¡¯s body.

    The crystal mirror shone onto Astin¡¯s body this time, causing his shadow toe to life.

    Mirror Body Technique.

    Not only that, but the two Astin¡¯s then attacked simultaneously. The space in front of them began to thicken and congeal, until a ck light appeared again, flowing out like a wave of pitch-ck ink. Under this light¡¯s influence, all of the de strikes seemed to slow down drastically and even began to collide with each other.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Seven of the de strikes narrowly missed Astin, leaving behind seven deep scars in the ground where they hit. The other five managed to connect with Astin, sting away the crystal mirror and sending him flying. He spat out a mouthful of blood.

    Actually, only one of the de strikes had managed to connect, but that single blow was enough to leave him even more gravely wounded than Su Chen!

    The Arcana Race was far inferior to the human race when it came to physical strength and resilience.

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°That¡¯s more like it.¡±

    In this exchange, both parties had been wounded.

    However, Su Chen¡¯s powerful recovery ability made it so that he could basically ignore this kind of wound......

    Wait a minute ?¡ª what was he seeing now?

    Astin had ced his hand on his body, and a green glow emanated out, enveloping his body.

    Then, the two wounds that Su Chen had managed to inflict on him disappeared just like that.

    Su Chen helplessly shook his head. ¡°Fine, a recovery-type Arcana Technique. It seems like it¡¯s one of those exceptionally powerful ones.¡±

    Recovery-type Origin Skills were quite obviously weaker with the exception of unique Origin Skills like the one Wang Doushan possessed, and there was no way the user could just recover whatever whenever they desired.

    Su Chen was forced to admit that he was once again at a disadvantage.

    ¡°Alright, I admit that you are very strong. However, this is just the beginning.¡± Su Chen smiled before his expression suddenly tightened. ¡°Receive my de!¡±

    Whoosh!

    Another wave of de energy surged forwards.

    This time, Su Chen unleashed his full strength. The space between the Heavens and earth was filled with his de light ?¡ª mes, lightning, and the glint of cold steel all mixed together to paint a beautiful, dazzling picture.

    Astin suddenly discovered that his own Arcana Techniques were not as strong as he would have liked when facing such a powerful attack.

    If Ancient Arcana Techniques were superior in terms of variability, then they were inferior in sustainability.

    ¡°NO!¡± Astin howled.

    No matter what, he could not ept the possibility that he, a Fifth-Ring Arcana Master that was equivalent to a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, would lose to a Yang Opening Realm human.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 164: Toyed To Death

    ¡°Willpower doesn¡¯t matter! All that matters is your strength!¡±

    ¡°If just gritting your teeth is enough to ensure victory, then what¡¯s the point of being strong?¡±

    ¡°Focus your attention and then unleash it! The Arcana Race is invincible!¡±

    Astin felt like he was hearing his past voice speak to his current self.

    How interesting. Before this, he had only believed in strength and not in the explosive power of potential, but now he was beginning to unleash his hidden potential.

    It was exceptionally difficult for Arcana Masters to unleash their potential.

    But if sessful, the results would be extremely frightening.

    Astin gathered all of his power, emanating a threatening aura. Even Su Chen could sense the immense threat gathering before his eyes.

    Astin was about to use another Sixth-Ring Arcana Technique.

    Astin was a Fifth-Ring Arcana Master. Under normal circumstances, he would only be able to use Fifth-Ring Arcana Techniques. But like how strong people could bypass Origin Energy restrictions, Arcana Masters also possessed their own ways of getting around their limitations. Long ago, during the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s rule, the Arcana Race had developed more than ten methods to ovee these restrictions. This was why Su Chen wasn¡¯t that surprised by the fact that Astin was able to use Sixth-Ring Arcana Techniques.

    But because he was jumping tiers, Astin could only really use the Fire Halo. Even though the Fire Halo was a Sixth-Ring Arcana Technique, it was meant to be used against multiple targets, so its general power wasn¡¯t actually that much higher than the ck Wave of Death. Astin had chosen this technique all those years ago because he had believed that he was more likely to be attacked by a group of people than a single assant.

    For the first time since then, he was beginning to regret that decision.

    The me Halo wasn¡¯t nearly enough to finish off his opponent, but at the very least he knew that Sixth-Ring Arcana Techniques posed a threat to Su Chen.

    A powerful single-target Sixth-Ring Arcana Technique could absolutely kill his opponent.

    As such, at this moment, he made the decision to cut off his paths of retreat.

    A venomous green light inteced with flowing streaks of ck light began to gather in front of him. It was obvious that the Arcana Technique Astin was about to use was extremely poisonous. However, he didn¡¯t stop just there.

    At the same time that the deathly green miasma appeared, a translucent figure of a charming woman also appeared. She tilted her head back and began wailing out a high-pitched, sorrowful song.

    Her voice was extremely bewitching, and anyone who heard it would want to serve her.

    As the technique was activated, Astin¡¯s body began to rapidly decline ¡ª this abnormal method of jumping Arcana Technique tiers was rapidly draining his lifeforce.

    ¡°Go, Ghost Maiden. Kill that bastard!¡±

    The woman with the bewitching voice giggled charmingly at Su Chen as the dense wave of miasma floated towards him.

    ¡°So that¡¯s your ultimate technique? It uses a consciousness technique and poison in tandem to amplify their individual effects. As the consciousness technique erodes the target¡¯s will, the target¡¯s ability to resist the poison will decrease, and the increased damage inflicted by the poison will then make it harder for the opponent to resist the consciousness technique. However, this also means that these two techniques on their own aren¡¯t actually that special; their effectivenesses from theirbined usage...... Oh, I get it! This technique must be the result of synthesizing two Four-Ring Arcana Techniques into one. No wonder you were able to jump tiers to use a skill like this; you already had a foundation set beforehand.¡±

    Su Chen indifferently vocalized his analysis. Not only was he able to defend himself against the Ghost Maiden¡¯s ambush, but he even had the mental capacity to calmly evaluate this Arcana Technique.

    ¡°This- how is this possible?¡± Astin stared at Su Chen inplete shock.

    How could he so easily defend himself against the attack of my Ghost Maiden?

    Su Chen nced at Astin somewhat pityingly. ¡°Your intelligence is far below your strength. Did you never investigate what kind of person I am? I am half a foot in the Master Alchemist rank, so how could a measly Fourth-Ring poison affect me? As for the Ghost Maiden¡¯s ambush on my consciousness, did you forget how your other consciousness control Arcana Techniques all failed on me?¡±

    Astin stared at Su Chen,pletely tongue-tied.

    The Ghost Maiden wed viciously but had no way of prating Su Chen¡¯s consciousness.

    The mighty walls that Su Chen had erected around his heart were impossible for her to break.

    Six-Ring Arcana Techniques were indeed very powerful, andbining consciousness attacks with poison was more than sufficient to deal with most opponents. Even Li Chongshan wouldn¡¯t have been willing to face such abination head-on.

    However, even the most powerful technique was weak if used against the wrong opponent.

    Su Chen was basicallypletely resistant to any poison-type or consciousness-type Arcana Techniques. If either of these were used against him, they would almost certainly fail.

    ¡°So now it¡¯s my turn, right?¡± Su Chen smiled savagely at his opponent.

    Astin¡¯s hair was alreadypletely white.

    No matter the end result of the Sixth-Ring Arcana Technique, the cost of using one was quite high.

    ¡°Die!¡± Su Chen yelled as he stabbed out with his de.

    ng!

    The clear, resounding hum of vibrating steel seemed to howl like a dragon breaking through the clouds, and waves of boundless energy rolled off of the de.

    In that instant, Su Chen infused this de strike with all of his thunder and fire energy as well as his consciousness power.

    The end result was a boundless destructive power that threatened to swallow up everything nearby.

    How frightening! How could this youth who was only in the Yang Opening Realm unleash an attack that clearly could have only been unleashed by a Light Shaking Realm cultivator?

    Astin was stunned, but he had no time to think too deeply on this.

    Nearly a hundred years ofbat experience helped him almost instinctively put up numerous defensive barriers. At the same time, his figure faded into nothingness.

    He was going to retreat.

    He wanted to dy for time until the Ferocious Race reinforcements arrived before working with them to kill Su Chen.

    de light pierced through barrier after barrier like butter. It continued to press on towards Astin, who was floating away like a cloud. This was the Void Transformation Technique, Astin¡¯s specialty. It granted him temporary invincibility, but it also prevented him from attacking. At this point in time, his only goal was to dy for time.

    However, the more he dyed, the more he felt like something was wrong.

    Why wasn¡¯t the Ferocious Race here yet?

    Those guys were too slow, weren¡¯t they?

    ¡°You¡¯re wondering why they haven¡¯t arrived yet, right?¡± Su Chen suddenly said.

    Astin¡¯s heart beat madly. He could sense that Su Chen was about to say thest thing he wanted to hear.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Laymen wonder about results, while wise men wonder about the process. If I were you, I wouldn¡¯t have only be suspicious at this point in time. Actually, I would have be suspicious as soon as my opponent let me send out a signal..... Why would he have let me do that?¡±

    ¡°You......¡± Astin stared at Su Chen, a look of confusion on his face.

    Su Chen sighed and continued, saying, ¡°Laymen sit waiting for answers toe to them, while wise men actively seek out answers. If I were you, I would have realized that my opponent¡¯s consciousness was far more powerful than my own as soon as I failed to influence his consciousness twice. And people who have powerful consciousnesses often have a few consciousness techniques up their sleeves as well. And there are only so many different kinds of consciousness techniques: either offensive, or controlling. You haven¡¯t been attacked at all, so the only logical conclusion is......¡±

    ¡°Illusion! You put me under an illusion earlier!¡± Astin yelled loudly as he reached into his clothes.

    He pulled out an item.

    The signal arrow!

    So he had never even sent a signal in the first ce. That fire arrow had all been an illusion.

    Completely instinctively, Astin tossed the signal arrow into the sky. With a whoosh, a fiery glow lit up the sky.

    ¡®It¡¯s definitely not an illusion this time. I was actually able to send out the signal,¡¯ Astin thought excitedly to himself.

    Whoosh!

    de light whizzed past him.

    Astin¡¯s figure trembled. He lowered his head and found that his body had been cleaved in two.

    It was impossible for him to throw the fire arrow in the sky while he was still in his intangible form, so he had momentarily returned to his physical body in the instant that he had tossed the arrow into the air.

    Even though it had been just a moment of weakness, Su Chen had managed to firmly grasp it.

    Bisecting the opponent in a single de strike.

    ¡°You......¡± Astin stared at Su Chen in disbelief as bloody froth appeared at the corners of his mouth.

    Su Chen said expressionlessly, ¡°Laymen follow others¡¯ movements, while wise men control the situation. It¡¯s still the same hypothetical situation; if I had heard my opponent talk to me that much, I would have realized that my opponent was waiting for me to do something.¡±

    ¡°Bayan...... will...... kill you.¡±

    ¡°Quite the opposite. I¡¯ll also toy him to death just like you,¡± Su Chen replied coolly.

    He raised his arm, and the de descended a final time.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 165: Uhayan Pool

    Bayan, who was wearing the Ferocious Dragon Iron Armor, paced back and forth restlessly.

    ¡°Dammit, they¡¯ve been gone for too long now. Why haven¡¯t we heard back from them yet?¡±

    ¡°Impatience is the biggest barrier to sess.¡± Bayan¡¯s assistant, a warrior named Kaska that had high-tier Totemic Inscriptions, cautioned him. ¡°Please be patient and wait. Astin will let us know soon enough.¡±

    ¡°I hate waiting!¡± Bayan howled with dissatisfaction.

    Even Kaska sighed. Bayan was just too impulsive and reckless. He was indeed extremely powerful, but his temperament made it impossible for him to be the new chieftain. Case in point - Danba had used his impulsive tendency to defeat him early on in their conflict.

    Hopefully, this mission wouldn¡¯t also be ruined by his impulsiveness.

    Kaska was very clear that Danba disliked Bayan. The sole reason he had kept Bayan by his side was because he needed the strength and support of the Head Chieftain.

    In other words, this was a politicalpromise.

    For this reason, Kaska believed that Danba wouldn¡¯t kill Bayan. If Bayan died, Danba wouldn¡¯t get anything out of it.

    But for some unknown reason, Kaska¡¯s subconscious was sending him uneasy signals.

    Was the situation really that simple?

    Given how intelligent Danba was, did Kaska really believe that he had a solid grasp of the situation?

    What if Danba had an even deeper n?

    This idea suddenly sprouted in Kaska¡¯s mind.

    Unfortunately, the Ferocious Race weren¡¯t particrly great thinkers, and all this thinking was making him ufortable.

    Ahh, just forget about it. Why think so much? As long as he took care of his own business, that was good enough.

    Kaska tried to ease his suspicions with these thoughts as he gave up on that nearly miraculous analysis of his.

    This was the Ferocious Race; they might have moments of intelligence, but they were far and few between, not to mention that it was impossible for them tost long.

    Their wait only continued.

    It had to be said that the Ferocious Race¡¯s ability to sense Origin Energy was simply too shoddy.

    Even though Bayan and his subordinates were hidden quite a ways away, the powerful Origin Energy fluctuationsing from there should have been sensed by any normal Light Shaking Realm cultivator a long time ago.

    However, to the Ferocious Race, their garbage ability to sense Origin Energy made it so that they werepletely unaware of the ongoing battle, even if this group had three Temple Warriors.

    That was, until a fiery arrow shot high into the sky.

    ¡°It¡¯s here!¡±

    Bayan was obviously incredibly excited now that the long-awaited signal had finallye.

    ¡°CHARGE!¡± he turned around and howled at the other Ferocious Race soldiers.

    Five hundred of his most trusted subordinates howled in response and fearlessly charged towards the swamp.

    They hadn¡¯t hidden themselves close to the swamp, but they weren¡¯t very far either. Given the Ferocious Race¡¯s incredibly powerful physical bodies, they quickly reached the marshes. However, they found that the ambush location waspletely deserted. There was nothing there.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Bayan¡¯s eyes were about to fall out of their sockets. ¡°Where are Shi Mingfeng and Astin?¡±

    All of the Ferocious Race soldiers nced at each other. They weren¡¯t sure what was going on either.

    ¡°Look, over there!¡± a Ferocious Race soldier suddenly yelled out loudly.

    Everyone nced in the direction that the Ferocious Race soldier had pointed in and saw Shi Mingfeng standing there.

    He stared at them, his gaze filled with anger.

    ¡°Astin!¡± He grimaced. Up to then, he had been hoping Su Chen and his suspicions were wrong, but upon seeing the Ferocious Race soldiers, his heart was filled with anger.

    ¡°Human!¡± Bayan licked his lips. ¡°It seems like you guys are prepared.¡±

    ¡°Better prepared than you could ever have imagined,¡± Shi Mingfeng replied.

    He raised his hand slightly, and Bayan watched as the swampy ground before him suddenly began to bubble.

    Foul-smelling ck mud began to rise to the surface of the swamp, as if something beneath the surface was moving.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Bayan asked, stunned.

    Kaska retreated a few steps. ¡°We should back up a little bit.¡±

    He didn¡¯t know what it was, but if the human was prepared for them, then whatever was about to happen next would probably not be good for them. Kaska at the very least understood this principle.

    He wanted to pull Bayan aside, but Bayan¡¯s curiosity kept his feet rooted to the ground.

    He replied, ¡°I don¡¯t sense any kind of powerful aura.¡±

    As the son of the Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s Head Chieftain, Bayan had a finely honedbat intuition regardless of his stupidity. This was one of the reasons he had been able to survive this long even though he was dumb.

    ¡°I don¡¯t sense any powerful auras either, but I still feel like we¡¯re better off getting out of the swamp as soon as we can,¡± Kaska said anxiously.

    ¡°You mean a few sentences from those guys are enough to scare you off?¡± Bayan smiled ferociously. ¡°I came here to kill Su Chen. No matter what, I cannot retreat before I see this main character for myself.¡±

    This was the crux of the issue. Even though Shi Mingfeng had proimed that he was well-prepared, Bayan didn¡¯t retreat. Who knew if the opponent was merely trying to pull the wool over his eyes? Before personally experiencing how terrible the situation was, it was impossible for him to retreat.

    When he saw this, even Shi Mingfeng couldn¡¯t help but sigh with amazement at Su Chen¡¯s calctions.

    His words were absolutely correct. The Ferocious Race were still the Ferocious Race; even if they knew they were running headfirst into a trap, they would still do so valiantly.

    The swamp continued to bubble as more and more mud floated to the surface. This process wasn¡¯t very long, but it wasn¡¯t short either. It was more than enough time for an alert person to escape, but it wasn¡¯t fast enough to scare off someone itching for a fight.

    ¡°Capture him!¡± Bayan yelled as he pointed at Shi Mingfeng.

    ¡°ROAR!¡± All of the Ferocious Race warriors howled in response as they charged at Shi Mingfeng.

    As he watched the wave of Ferocious Race individuals charging in his direction, Shi Mingfeng muttered, ¡°Everything is going exactly ording to Su Chen¡¯s n.¡±

    Flying axes began to shoot past Shi Mingfeng, interrupting his train of thought.

    Shi Mingfeng, however, didn¡¯t seem to react. The mud in the swamp began to bubble even more fiercely before it rapidly built up to form a wall that stopped all of the flying axes in ce.

    It didn¡¯t stop there, as the bubbling of the swamp only grew more vigorous. A momentter, columns of mud shot into the sky with a loud ¡°BOOM¡± sound, scattering mud everywhere.

    This mud didn¡¯t seem like anything to the Ferocious Race, but an excited expression appeared on Shi Mingfeng¡¯s face. ¡°Indeed, this is actually the Uhayan Pool! It¡¯s the Uhayan Pool! Hahahaha, I never expected to see something incredible like this here!!! Many thanks, Su Chen!¡±

    As he spoke, the mud in the Uhayan Pool began to take form, turning into a massive mud colossus.

    ¡°ROAR!¡± With a loud howl, the colossus charged towards the Ferocious Race soldiers and unleashed a vicious punch.

    A violent wave of energy burst forth, and a rapid flow of fierce energy washed over the Ferocious Race soldiers, sending many of them flying. The ten or so at the very front immediately died of shattered bones and crushed organs.

    ¡°Uhayan Pool!¡± Kaska yelled in shock.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Bayan still hadn¡¯t reacted yet, and he turned around to ask Kaska.

    Kaska yelled loudly, ¡°Quickly, leave this ce!¡±

    Bayan still wanted to say something, but at that moment, he suddenly felt that something was off.

    He turned around and saw that Shi Mingfeng¡¯s body was beginning to growrger, and his strength dramatically increased as he quickly broke through the limitations formerly limiting him.

    In that instant, Bayan felt like he wasn¡¯t facing a Light Shaking Realm cultivator but rather a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator.

    ¡°Damn!¡± Bayan yelled.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 166: Flowerless Door 1

    Chapter 166: Flowerless Door (1)

    Setting up and executing a sessful sneak attack on someone required a lot of skill.

    Most people had their own sensory techniques to suss out any hidden threats ahead of time.

    In return, this sparked a type of arms race between those sensory techniques and the various kinds of concealment and avoidance techniques.

    As a result of this race, there were many different ways of ambushing someone as well as ways to detect an ambush ahead of time. For instance, He Xu¡¯s disguise technique was very impressive, but Sark¡¯s Eagle Eye had been able to see right through him.

    There really was no such thing as an invincible technique; there were only techniques that were extremely fitting for the situation. This was the case both formoners and for Origin Qi Schrs.

    Shi Mingfeng had tried to guess what kind of ambush Su Chen would set up if he were to try it. Many different possibilities hade to mind, but none of them were even close to what was unfolding before his eyes.

    He could still clearly hear what Su Chen had told him before this.

    ¡°Although there isn¡¯t any Night Demon Cloud in ck Forest, there is an equally precious resource here known as the Uhayan Pool. I trust you¡¯ve heard of it before, right? It¡¯s an extremely useless kind of earth essence. Even though its power is very great, there is no way to use it to refine a precious tool because the energy contained inside is extremely dirty; it¡¯ll ruin most treasures it¡¯s ced into. Even so, this resource contains a ton of energy, but it requires a unique method to tap its potential ¡ª you can only use it where it urs naturally, and it can only be controlled by an Origin Qi Schr who is talented in manipting water-type Origin Energy......¡±

    Coincidence? Luck? Shi Mingfeng was in fact an Origin Qi Schr talented in controlling water-type Origin Energy. With the Uhayan Pool at his disposal, Shi Mingfeng¡¯s strength had multiplied tremendously.

    The most obvious manifestation of this increase in power was the sheer strength that the mud colossus possessed. The energy rolling off of its body had almost materialized, and its iron-like fists whizzed through the air like missiles, wiping out any Ferocious Race soldiers unlucky enough to be caught in its path.

    This, however, was only the beginning. A momentter, two more mud colossi appeared from the ground.

    Under normal circumstances, forming just a single mud colossus would have been extremely taxing on Shi Mingfeng. Now, however, with the support of the Uhayan Pool, he was actually able to form three at once. The increase in strength was obvious, and even Shi Mingfeng himself was stunned.

    What stunned him more, though, was how much control Su Chen had over the situation.

    How had he seen through Astin?

    And how had he known that himself and Astin weren¡¯t conspiring?

    He had set the rendezvous point here as soon as he had discovered that something was off about Astin, meaning that he had managed to analyze the situation and sketch out a n in mere seconds.

    How had he done it?

    A person with an extremely detailed thought process wasn¡¯t that scary; what was scary was that he had managed to process and absorb all of these minute details in such a short period of time.

    Why had Astin fallen for his trap? Because he would never have imagined in a million years that Su Chen was this good at creating ns on the fly.

    That was simply too inconceivable.

    Thank goodness he hadn¡¯t sold Su Chen out. Otherwise......

    Otherwise, what would have happened?

    He didn¡¯t know.

    But he knew that there was no way Su Chen didn¡¯t have some kind of backup n in ce.

    This was obvious from the fact that Su Chen hadn¡¯t told him about the presence of the Uhayan Pool here until after he had tested Shi Mingfeng during his battle with Astin. Only once he had determined that Shi Mingfeng wasn¡¯t there to harm him did he inform Shi Mingfeng of the Uhayan Pool and the method to use it.

    Everything he did had a deep meaning to it.

    ¡®This slippery guy,¡¯ Shi Mingfeng thought to himself.

    Up until this point, Su Chen had remained hidden in the shadows from the Ferocious Race. Shi Mingfeng didn¡¯t know what he was thinking, but as the person who had led his opponents straight to him, Shi Mingfeng was very clear that the best apology he could offer was to do his job well.

    Boom, boom, boom!

    Six massive stone fists hurled through the air, sending huge shockwaves of energy through the air. A gigantic dent was left behind in the formerly t ground.

    ¡°DIE¡±! Bayan howled as he swung his flying axe madly.

    A steady stream of flying axes whistled through the air as he threw them, intent on wiping out everything in their path.

    The axes collided with the fists, producing a booming thunderp; immediately afterwards, the arms of the colossi began to fragment and fall back into the marsh. Bayan pressed onwards, his flying axes glowing even more brightly than before, to the point that they were almost blindingly bright.

    ¡°Open!¡±

    With a ferocious howl, one of the colossi cracked and fell apart back into the pool under Bayan¡¯s shockingly powerful axe strikes.

    What frightening strength!

    Even Shi Mingfeng had to admit that, under normal circumstances, his chances of winning against this Ferocious Racemander was only around 50%.

    Even though he now had the assistance of the Uhayan Pool and could easily defeat Bayan one on one, Bayan also had the support of five hundred trusted subordinates, two of whom were only somewhat weaker than Bayan.

    Three powerful experts plus five hundred warriors ¡ª this gap in strength was not something that just the support of the Uhayan Pool could make up for.

    Thankfully, this was not all that Su Chen had left for him.

    ¡°The reason the Uhayan Pool even exists is because there is something even more terrifying lurking beneath the surface,¡± Shi Mingfeng sighed.

    The Uhayan Pool was indeed powerful, but Su Chen had never nned on defeating the Ferocious Race just with that alone. After all, Su Chen could not possibly know how many soldiers would be present until he saw Bayan¡¯s group for himself!

    In Su Chen¡¯s n, he had ounted for dealing with thousands or even tens of thousands of Ferocious Race soldiers.

    If that was the case, how could his arrangements possibly be so simple?

    Shi Mingfeng¡¯s attacks¡¯ primary goal wasn¡¯t to use the Uhayan Pool to attack his opponents, but rather just to stir up the Uhayan Pool. Only by doing this would the frightening existence beneath the pool show itself.

    Gurgle, gurgle.

    Even more ck mud began to spurt from the ground, the sludge seemingly never-ending.

    Upon close inspection, it seemed as if the mud in the swamp was beginning to circle around, as if a vortex were forming.

    No, it wasn¡¯t a vortex ¡ª it was a doorway!

    A strange, sinister doorway was slowly opening.

    ¡°Attack!¡± The Ferocious Race soldiers were still charging forward excitedly,pletely overlooking the vortex.

    Only Kaska had noticed that something was wrong.

    He stared wide-eyed at that vortex and yelled, ¡°Bayan!¡±

    ¡°What do you want now?¡± Bayan yelled impatiently, his flying axes glowing brilliantly as he shattered another mud colossus. Another one immediately rose to take its ce. However, the rate of destruction was higher than the rate of reformation, and Shi Mingfeng¡¯s brow was already covered in sweat, demonstrating the burden and difficulty that he was currently under.

    ¡°Look over there!¡± Kaska yelled as he pointed at the vortex forming in the swamp.

    Bayan followed Kaska¡¯s finger and saw the vortex. He froze momentarily and asked, ¡°What is that?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what I also want to know. Try and feel it out; hopefully you¡¯ll also tell me this time that it doesn¡¯t pose a threat to us,¡± Kaska replied.

    Bayan¡¯s expression immediately changed.

    This courageous, fearless Ferocious Race warrior who didn¡¯t know the meaning of death and was always charging forward recklessly suddenly disyed an expression of extreme fear.

    He howled, his voice breaking, ¡°Flowerless Door! It¡¯s the Flowerless Door! Hurry, get out of here!!!¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 167: Flowerless Door 2

    Chapter 167: Flowerless Door (2)

    The Flowerless Door led to a sinister, evil ce, and it represented the mysterious unknown.

    No one knew why there was a Flowerless Door beneath the swamp, but as soon as the door opened, all of the evil creatures inside would be released.

    This vortex spun, and the dark entrance expanded. A chilly, sinister aura began to creep out from the center of the vortex.

    This dark energy was filled with a deathly aura. It wrapped around a few of the Ferocious Race soldiers in the front, and these powerful, resilient warriors shrieked as they were pulled in by the ck vortex.

    This frightening energy didn¡¯t have any intentions of slowing down its expansion. As it continued to spread in all directions; anything it touched was sucked into the vortex. At this moment, the reason why Shi Mingfeng was standing on a faraway tree became evident ¡ª he had been trying to avoid this situation from the very beginning.

    ¡°Leave! Hurry and leave this ce!¡± Bayan screamed. He had totally lost his warrior-like aura ¡ª even the fiercest warrior had no desire to challenge an existence they had absolutely no chance of defeating.

    ¡°You won¡¯t be able to get away,¡± Shi Mingfeng sighed.

    With a wave of his hand,rge stone walls suddenly appeared, hemming the Ferocious Race army in. These walls weren¡¯t merely made of stone; they also exuded a powerful pressure, making it extremely difficult to fly within the confines of the walls.

    During their battle earlier, Shi Mingfeng had secretlypleted his most important task ¡ª creating an Origin Formation centered around the Flowerless Door that would trap all of the Ferocious Race soldiers in ce.

    At the same time that the formation was activated,rge waves of darkness began to expand, immersing the entire swamp in darkness.

    ¡°AH!¡±

    Ferocious Race soldier after Ferocious Race soldier was pulled into the dark vortex.

    Bayan charged forward relentlessly and began to frenziedly hack at the walls with his axe. ¡°Open for me!¡±

    The walls formed from the stones of the Uhayan Pool were extremely tough, almost as tough as the Flowing Gold Fort¡¯s walls. However, Bayan was so powerful that the stone walls began to crack under his furious axe strikes, and rubble began to fall to the ground.

    At that moment, tentacles manifested at the center of the darkness vortex and reached out, forming a thick, inescapable in the air as they grabbed at Bayan.

    Bayan yelled loudly and turned to hack at the tentacles. However, the tentacles were not cut by the axe; they instead coiled along the edge of the axe de and continued advancing.

    Just as they were about to wrap around Bayan, Kaska charged over and shoved him aside.

    The tentacles wrapped around Kaska, tying him up securely.

    ¡°Young Master...... ¡° Kaska reached out with his hand as he spat out a mouthful of blood, as if he were trying to get Bayan to pull him out.

    However, Bayan took a step back.

    Whoosh!

    The tentacles of darkness fully devoured Kaska and pulled him into the vortex.

    ¡°You served your master faithfully,¡± Bayan muttered, then raised his axe again and continued to hack at the walls.

    Rumble.

    The wall finally broke down, leaving behind a massive hole in the center.

    Bayan was extremely excited. Just as he was about to walk through the hole, however, he suddenly froze in ce.

    ¡°Hurry, let¡¯s go!¡± one of the nearby Ferocious Race warriors yelled loudly.

    In response, Bayan suddenly shot into the sky.

    He was flying back towards the center.

    Bayan, who had just been trying as hard as he could to fly out of the vortex, had suddenly turned back around.

    ¡°No......!¡± Bayan howled loudly.

    In response to his howl, tentacles began to snake out from the vortex again.

    An exceptionally thick tentacle whipped through the air a few times as if it were trying to break into the heavens, then wrapped itself around Bayan.

    Bayan struggled fiercely, trying to escape. ¡°Let me go!¡±

    However, his seemingly boundless strength and valor werepletely useless against the grip of this fathomless creature.

    A momentter, the tentacle retracted all the way back into the Flowerless Door.

    With a whoosh, Bayan was sucked into the darkness vortex and disappeared as well.

    Without Bayan, the rest of the Ferocious Race began to copse. The tentacles danced through the air, and the rest of the Ferocious Race soldiers were quickly pulled in.

    The battle ended, and the swamp returned to its former peaceful state.

    ¡°Whew. It¡¯s all over now,¡± Shi Mingfeng sighed.

    Damn! They hade to make trouble for Su Chen, so why had he be the mainbatant?

    Also, given how fierce the battle was, why had Su Chen not appeared yet? Where had he taken Night Demon and He Xu?

    If Su Chen was stillzing around and refusing to appear, that would be too much, wouldn¡¯t it?

    Just as he was quietlyining in his head, Shi Mingfeng suddenly heard the sound of someone knocking.

    Shi Mingfeng froze.

    The knocking wasing from the hole that Bayan had created.

    Following the knocking sound, a resolute and self-confident voice spoke out. ¡°Beautifully done. Su Chen is indeed Su Chen; I knew that he wouldn¡¯t be that easy to defeat.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡± Shi Mingfeng¡¯s expression sank.

    ¡°If you want to know who, won¡¯t you be able to find out once you take this wall down?¡±

    Shi Mingfeng harrumphed. Of course he would not destroy his own walls just because of a sentence from an opponent.

    The person outside the walls sighed. ¡°Since you aren¡¯t willing to tear them down, then I can only help you with that. Do it.¡±

    Immediately following thismand, resounding booms could be heard echoing across the surface of the walls.

    In an instant, countless heavy objects mmed into the sturdy walls, which began to crack and crumble. The booms seemed to reverberate right into Shi Mingfeng¡¯s heart.

    The walls formed from the Uhayan Pool very quickly became unable to bear the onught and crumbled.

    As the smoke and dust settled, Shi Mingfeng found an endless army of Ferocious Race soldiers standing outside, watching him.

    They wielded battle axes, fierce smiles on their faces.

    Standing at the very front of the Ferocious Race army were a fewmanders. They stood around a Ferocious Racemander in the very center. He wasn¡¯t old, but he wore a deep red overcoat ¡ª something that only Ferocious Race individuals of the highest status had the right to wear.

    ¡°Danba?¡± Shi Mingfeng suddenly understood.

    The only Ferocious Race member who could appear at this time and ce was the man who had managed to trick the humans and forced the Heavenly Might Battalion into helplessly runing back and forth ¡ª the Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s Young Chieftain, Danba.

    Danba smiled slightly. ¡°That¡¯s correct. I am Danba.¡±

    ¡°Why are you here?¡± Shi Mingfeng was taken aback momentarily before he began to grasp the severity of the situation. ¡°You¡¯ve been following that group the whole time? You used your own men as bait?¡±

    This kind of tactic was almost unheard of in all of their conflicts with the Ferocious Race.

    To the warlike Ferocious Race, this kind of tactic was not seen as intelligent but rather as despicable and shady. If any Ferocious Race general dared to do something like that, they might incur the disdain and dissatisfaction of their subordinates.

    However, Danba had done so, and there was no indication that his subordinates were unhappy with his choices.

    Usually, this implied one of two things ¡ª either Danba¡¯s status amongst the army was so incredibly high so that even betraying someone else was eptable, or the Ferocious Race soldiers that had died weren¡¯t too important to them.

    Shi Mingfeng believed that both were possible.

    He didn¡¯t know what status Bayan had; if he did, his suspicions might have been greatly ayed.

    Danba indifferently said, ¡°I didn¡¯t use my own men as bait. Bayan was stubborn and ignored my orders, and he moved out on his own ord. I sent out the main forces to try and save him, but unfortunately we were a step toote. Young Chieftain Bayan was killed by you and Su Chen, and I wasn¡¯t able to save him in time. This is my mistake, and so I can only make it up by killing you and offering your heads to the Head Chieftain as an apology.¡±

    ¡°Young Chieftain?¡± Upon hearing this, Shi Mingfeng understood somewhat the situation.

    Danba didn¡¯t have any desire to speak further with Shi Mingfeng. He said calmly, ¡°I¡¯ve said all I should say. Su Chen, are you going toe out now?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been here the whole time,¡± Su Chen said, his voice floating over through the wind.

    Danba nced in the direction of the voice and found Su Chen standing on a nearby old tree. Beside him were He Xu and Night Demon.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 168: Negotiations 1

    Chapter 168: Negotiations (1)

    The two fated opponents had finally shed again, causing sparks to fly as soon as their heated gazes met each other.

    After facing off for a bit, Danba suddenlyughed. ¡°Long time no see, Su Chen. After the incident at the Goldwater Ruins, I have been thinking of you all this time. You have be much stronger and harder to deal with.¡±

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°I feel the same way, and often think of you as well. You are the smartest Ferocious Race soldier I have ever met; the Ferocious Race sure is lucky to have you.¡±

    The two of them didn¡¯t seem to be raring to go at each other; instead, they both started praising the other side.

    Two extremely talented people praising each other was a normal way of putting on a facade. It allowed them to mask their pride behind a veil of humility.

    However, after running through this routine, their duel still needed to happen. Someone needed to advance and someone needed to fall down. The more ruthless person would advance first.

    Usually, the person who first went on the offensive was stronger one ¡ª at least, the person who believed they were stronger.

    As such, Danba said, ¡°Danba is just the Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s Danba; I can¡¯t even change the fate of my own tribe, let alone that of the entire Ferocious Race. However, Su Chen is the human race¡¯s Su Chen, and your existence is already changing the fate of humanity. You¡¯ve already so well already, creating techniques for reaching the Blood Boiling Realm and the Yang Opening Realm without a bloodline, as well as the Hemolytic Totem...... These discoveries alone are enough to increase the strength of the human race by a significant amount.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Brother Danba, you¡¯ve got it wrong. The techniques for reaching the Blood Boiling and Yang Opening Realms were created by my instructor. I just benefitted from his great contributions. The Hemolytic Totem, on the other hand, can be considered my creation.¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯re continuing that line of research, right? Your Instructor could do it, but I believe you will do an even better job. The Light Shaking Realm is the cornerstone of strength for the human race; once there is a path to reach that realm without a bloodline, that single step¡¯s value will exceed the value of all of its predecessorsbined. That would be a monumental contribution. You might be able to do it and you might not be able to do it, but either way the possibility is definitely there. As a Ferocious Race individual, I have the duty to nip such a possibility in the bud.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s why you took everyone here with you to capture me?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Danba replied sincerely. ¡°For the sake of the Ferocious Race, you must die!¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯m afraid you¡¯ll be disappointed. I can promise you that you won¡¯t be able to capture me today,¡± Su Chen replied with a smile.

    ¡°I know you have other ns in ce, but no matter what, I need to at least try,¡± Danba said as he raised his right arm. The countless Ferocious Race soldiers raised their battleaxes and prepared to throw them at Su Chen.

    Su Chen coldly watched on and said, ¡°You¡¯re going to make a move just like that? I thought that you would have been more willing to negotiate with me.¡±

    Danba shook his head. ¡°A long night has many dreams.¡±

    Danba might not know about the trope of a viin dying because they spoke too much, but the proverb he just spoke carried a simr meaning. It was also debatable whether Danba was actually a viin ¡ª from his perspective, everything he did was for his country and his people. As such, he was prepared to finish the matter as soon as perfunctory introductions were done. Danba would only know what backup ns Su Chen had put in ce once they started fighting.

    Su Chen sighed, ¡°Can you wait just a moment and wait for me to finish before you attack?¡±

    Danba shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s nothing you can say that can stop me from going for your life.¡±

    He was just about to give themand again when Su Chen said, ¡°What if I had a technique that could improve the physical attributes of the Ferocious Race and increase their ability to sense Origin Energy?¡±

    Danba¡¯s arm froze in midair. He waspletely caught off-guard by Su Chen¡¯s statement.

    He stared at Su Chen in disbelief. ¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing impossible about it,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Since you understand me so well, you should also know of my abilities. If I can break through the restrictions of the human race, then why can¡¯t I do the same for the Ferocious Race? I¡¯ve been in the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory for some time now, and I have captured and experimented on many Ferocious Race members during this period of time. To me, improving the ability of the Ferocious Race to sense Origin Energy isn¡¯t hard at all. Not only that, but I can also improve the bloodline-less techniques and turn the techniques originally meant for humans to also work for the Ferocious Race. You should know what this means, right?¡±

    Danba waspletely frozen in ce.

    Beforeing here, he had been filled with self-confidence.

    He had his massive armies and his intelligence. He had also seized the perfect opportunity to strike and with his army supporting him, he was sure to handle any scheme that Su Chen threw at him.

    Now, however, Su Chen¡¯s simple words had trapped him. He had no way of advancing or retreating.

    In that instant, Su Chen had painted a beautiful future for him. It was impossible for him to say that he wasn¡¯t moved in the slightest.

    Why couldn¡¯t the hope of the human race also be the hope of the Ferocious Race!?

    Perhaps they might even be able to surpass the human race some day!

    After all, the human race could rely on themselves to cultivate, while the Ferocious Race could also rely on the Origin Energy Temple.

    Danba sucked in a long breath of air and said, ¡°First of all, why should I believe that you can do it? Second of all, even if you could, why would you give it to me? The human race and the Ferocious Race have been enemies for tens of thousands of years. Why would you just hand over something that would so drastically increase the strength of your enemies?¡±

    Su Chen countered, ¡°First of all, it¡¯s not about if I can do it; it¡¯s that I have already done it. While I was researching the Ferocious Race, I reached a certain level of understanding regarding the Ferocious Race¡¯s anatomy and discovered a way to improve the Ferocious Race¡¯s sensitivity to Origin Energy. Just as you have said, I have yet toplete it because I have no reason to do so. Completing it is just a matter of time, not a matter of whether I will seed. Second of all, just as you said, the human race has been at odds with the Ferocious Race for tens of thousands of years; however, humanity¡¯s primary enemy is not the Ferocious Race but rather the Beast Race. More precisely, the Beast Race is the enemy of all Intelligent Races. This principle has never changed. Strengthening the human race will increase our ability to stand against the Beast Race, but strengthening the Ferocious Race will also have a simr effect.¡±

    Danba¡¯s heart trembled. Su Chen¡¯s words had prated deep into his heart.

    Even though the five Intelligent Races often fought amongst each other, the Beast Race was still the number one public enemy . Every Intelligent Race lived under the threat of the Beast Race; when a Beast Wave came, they would attack anybody within the wave¡¯s radius no matter what race they were from. Apart from the Feathered Race, who lived in Heaven¡¯s Castle far away from the influence of the Beast Race, the fourrge Intelligent Races were always constantly on guard against the Beast Race. The Sea Race was forced to handle the sea beasts all on their own, so they lived particrly miserable lives. Humanity, the Ferocious Race, and the Spirit Race all faced off against the beasts on the earth and in the skies.

    In principle, Su Chen¡¯s words weren¡¯t wrong.

    Unfortunately, Danba wouldn¡¯t believe him just because of this.

    His heart was only moved for a moment before he regained rity. He shook his head and said, ¡°That sounds very righteous of you, but it¡¯s not trustworthy enough. The Ferocious Race is still one of humanity¡¯s enemies. You could still resist the Beast Race by wiping out the Ferocious Race, taking over our territory, and reproducing rapidly while increasing the strength of a human individual. If you believe that you can easily wipe out an opponent, using one enemy to deal with another is extremely idiotic.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 169: Negotiations 2

    Chapter 169: Negotiations (2)

    When Su Chen heard Danba¡¯s reply, he shook his head slightly. ¡°That¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong. In theory, wiping out the Ferocious Race and taking over their territory to increase our own strength is possible, but that increase in strength is merely one of numbers; there¡¯s no actual step up in quality. The Ferocious Race isn¡¯t like the human race; you guys have innately powerful physiques and are the most fearless warriors, and even the Cliff Race is inferior. No matter how hard humans cultivate, we will always be inferior to you. This is a difference in fundamental life force quality that is impossible to make up with just a bit of cultivation. Fusing a human¡¯s strength with that of a Ferocious Race individual at the same level is much better thanbining two humans or two Ferocious Race individuals who are of roughly equal strength. I don¡¯t need to exin this principle to you, right?¡±

    Danba froze once again.

    Every race had their own unique characteristics and irreceable attributes. The Intelligent Races relied heavily on their alliance andbination of strengths to drive back the Beast Race.

    This was because no single Intelligent Races would be enough to handle the Beast Race.

    Su Chen¡¯s words weren¡¯t illogical, but Danba still shook his head. ¡°I admit that you are correct, but I also know that generosity is just a dazzling outer garment. Unless the entire continent is under the Beast Race¡¯s assault, humanity will not be this generous to the Ferocious Race. Given that the Deste Beasts are all currently hibernating, a Beast Wave of that size will most likely not appear for some time. As such, there is no basis for an alliance between the human race and the Ferocious Race given that humanity wouldn¡¯t ally with the Ferocious Race merely to attack the Beast Race.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± Su Chen countered. ¡°We didn¡¯t in the past because we weren¡¯t strong enough. But if in the future we do reach that point, what reason would we have not to counterattack?¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, by the time that dayes, the Ferocious Race will probably have been wiped out by you, right? You think that the best oue for us is to be humanity¡¯s ves,¡± Danba chuckled coldly.

    Not everyone could harvest the fruits of victory in this kind of age.

    The strength of humanity would never be easy for the Ferocious Race to deal with. That was the simple truth, and it wasn¡¯t something that Su Chen could cover up with a glib tongue.

    Even though the threat of the Beast Race was limited right now, Danba wouldn¡¯t even think about challenging their dominant position because he knew that he would not be the one to reap the rewards.

    In stark contrast, as the person who had invented all these new techniques, Su Chen craved this kind of a challenge because he was someone fated to stand at the very top, receiving worshipful gazes from all those around him.

    Under these conditions, the negotiations between the two of them had no foundation to speak of. Nothing woulde of talking and diplomacy no matter how much Su Chen tried to spin it.

    Of course, if Su Chen were to admit defeat so easily, then he wouldn¡¯t be Su Chen.

    He said with a slight smile, ¡°Then what if I add on another reason?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°That even if I give the Ferocious Race the ability to cultivate Origin Energy, I am still confident that the Ferocious Race won¡¯t be able to surpass the strength of the human race,¡± Su Chen said.

    Su Chen had given out a very simple reason. He was saying that although he wouldn¡¯t allow the Ferocious Race to be stronger than the human race, it was fine to hand out limited strength boosters as long as that bnce was maintained.

    For instance, once Su Chen opened the way to reach the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline, he could modify the technique for reaching the Qi Drawing Realm without a bloodline to suit the Ferocious Race. Even though the Ferocious Race would be able to cultivate to a higher realm, they still wouldn¡¯t be stronger than the human race.

    If it all took ce like how Su Chen had described, it was actually quite likely to be reality.

    ¡°But what would be the point of that?¡± Danba asked.

    Yes, what would be the point of that? The Ferocious Race still wouldn¡¯t be the human race¡¯s opponent in the end. So what if they were able to obtain a powerful cultivation technique?

    If that was the case, it was better just to kill Su Chen right now and preserve the current status quo.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Under normal circumstances, it wouldn¡¯t have any point. But if you can¡¯t kill me, then it suddenly holds immense meaning, doesn¡¯t it?¡±

    Danba¡¯s expression grew serious.

    Of course he understood what Su Chen meant.

    If Su Chen used this as a bargaining chip to escape, then there wouldn¡¯t have been any point. After all, as long as Danba killed his opponent, then everything Su Chen was saying would be meaningless.

    But what if everything that Su Chen was telling him now wasn¡¯t meant to negotiate safe passage in the first ce?

    If Su Chen could leave whenever he wanted and the Ferocious Race wasn¡¯t able to do anything to him, then would the cultivation technique designed for the Ferocious Race still have any meaning?

    Of course it would!

    It would have tremendous implications!

    If an opponent¡¯s strength started suddenly increasing by leaps and bounds, you had no choice but to chase after them as hard as you could, even if you had to pay a tremendous price, even if you couldn¡¯t ever catch up to that opponent.

    You still needed to chase!

    Even if it was just to prevent the gap from increasing even more, it still had meaning.

    By increasing their own strength, they could decrease the difference in strength between the two groups. By making themselves more powerful, they would have more authority amongst the other races, and they might even change their rtionship with the Spirit Race from being bullied to being the bully.

    When you had no way of finding and exploiting an opponent¡¯s weakness, submitting and receiving help from that opponent to spank another was apletely viable strategy.

    If you couldn¡¯t be the boss, then you might as well be the second-inmand.

    The Ferocious Race were very brave, but they weren¡¯tpletely rigid in their thinking. They had been ves of both the Beast Race and the Arcana Race in the past. Beneath their rabid dog-like courage and fiercenessy a ¡°henchman¡± attitude that every good dog had.

    As such, this was a strategy that they could execute.

    Danba stared fiercely at Su Chen. ¡°You have that much confidence that you can escape?¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Why don¡¯t we use this opportunity to make an agreement?¡±

    ¡°What do you want to make an agreement about?¡±

    Su Chen was just about to reply when Danba suddenly waved his right arm. ¡°Attack!¡±

    Whoosh!

    Flying axes filled the air.

    In that instant, countless Ferocious Race soldier threw their axes into the sky at Su Chen. There were so many axes flying through the air that theirbined mass covered the sun and cast a shadow on the ground. The razor-sharp axes whistled as they flew, cutting through the air itself.

    No one had expected Danba to suddenly attack at this moment. Shi Mingfeng¡¯s expression changed drastically. ¡°No!¡±

    Danba stared intently at Su Chen.

    Didn¡¯t you say that you were confident in being able to safely leave?

    Then let me see your abilities.

    tter.

    The sound of a crystal shattering could be heard.

    As the axes collided with Su Chen, He Xu, and Night Demon, they seemed to strike stone statues. Their figures began to crack and eventually shattered into tens of thousands of crystal fragments which brilliantly refracted the sunlight.

    ¡°How unfortunate for my Mica Crystals,¡± said Su Chen as his voice floated through the air like a ghost¡¯s. ¡°Danba, you have not disappointed me.¡±

    The voice seemed detached from a physical source.

    ¡°Where are you?¡± Danba howled.

    Su Chen¡¯s voice continued to float through the air. ¡°As repayment for attacking me, Danba, I have left you a gift. I hope that you like it. Don¡¯t you want to know how I am going to leave? I¡¯ll show you right now; make sure to keep your eyes peeled.¡±

    As he spoke, the pool of mud suddenly started boiling again, and the vortex reappeared.

    ¡°Flowerless Door?¡± Danba was stunned.

    What did this mean?

    At that moment, a few streaks shot through the air towards the Flowerless Door. It was Su Chen, He Xu, Night Demon, the white paper doll, and Shi Mingfeng. They were on a direct collision course with the door.

    Were they trying tomit suicide?

    Danba didn¡¯t dare believe his eyes.

    An instantter, the five figures disappeared through the Flowerless Door.

    This time, however, no massive tentacle appeared from the Flowerless Door. Instead, the surface remained a calm, deep blue color with nary a ripple marring its surface.

    As the five figures shed through the Flowerless Door, it shattered, causing a sky-blue wave to spread through the pool.

    An enraged howl followed the spread of this wave. ¡°Su Chen, don¡¯t run!¡±

    A ck hurricane blew in abruptly following this enraged howl.

    ¡°Demonic Lord? Damn!¡± Danba¡¯s expression sank. He knew that he was in trouble now.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 170: Scarlet Emperor Palace

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Five figures fell from the sky, crashing roughly onto a patch of grass.

    ¡°Aiya!¡± Night Demon yelled as she pushed Su Chen, who had fallen on her, off of her body. ¡°Why was the exit in midair?¡±

    She nced up. The exit gate, which was floating in midair roughly thirty feet above them, was gradually fading out of existence. To Origin Qi Schrs, this kind of a height wasn¡¯t anything crazy. However, traveling through the void was disorientating and it would throw a person¡¯s ability to use Origin Energy out of whack. As a result, the five of them had experienced quite a hard fall.

    Su Chen in particr hadnded right on top of Night Demon, pressing her firmly beneath him.

    Su Chen was more than able to get up immediately, but he wasn¡¯t in much of a hurry given the pleasant softness beneath him. Now that the possibility of a harem had opened its doors, the pressure in his heart had greatly decreased.

    An instantter, however, he was sted aside by Night Demon. No matter how pure she was, she still knew how to defend herself.

    After regaining their bearings, the group inspected their new surroundings. They hadnded in a green, grassy field. Not far from here was a flower garden that contained all kinds of rare nts and herbs growing in it. Not only were the nts extremely beautiful, but they could also fetch quite the high price.

    A bit further away was a pce.

    The pce¡¯s main construction material was a reddish stone that gave it an appearance as if it were covered in fresh blood.

    Above the pce towered a tall stone column. From a distance, it looked like a massive sword stuck into the ground, and it had quite an oppressive aura.

    ¡°What is this ce?¡± Shi Mingfeng and He Xu asked in surprise.

    The white paper doll floated down through the air as it replied, ¡°This is the Scarlet Emperor Pce.¡±

    ¡°Scarlet Emperor Pce?¡± Everyone was taken aback and didn¡¯t understand.

    Su Chen rified, ¡°The Scarlet Heart¡¯s pce.¡±

    ¡°Scarlet Heart...... ¡° Shi Mingfeng mulled over the name for a moment before his expression drastically changed. He shrieked in a high-pitched voice, ¡°You mean the Scarlet Demonic Emperor?¡±

    ¡°Shh!¡± Su Chen ced his finger on his lips as he motioned for them to quiet down. ¡°Don¡¯t yell.¡±

    ¡°Are you crazy? How could you bring us into its pce? This is a Demonic Emperor we¡¯re talking about!¡± Shi Mingfeng said as he grabbed Su Chen by the cor.

    Demonic Emperor!

    What kind of an existence was that?

    They were equivalent in strength to Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators. Where did the title ¡®Ultimate Emperor¡¯e from? Put inly, it meant that they had reached a level where they could face off against Demonic Emperors.

    The Azure Wolf Demonic Lord they had fought a while back had held an advantage even while fighting against twenty Light Shaking Realm Cultivators. Demonic Emperors were two tiers higher and the higher the tier, therger the gap in strength. As such, an existence on the level of a Demonic Emperor could kill Shi Mingfeng in a single breath.

    It would take a few hundred Light Shaking Realm cultivators to even be worthy of a Demonic Emperor¡¯s notice.

    Su Chen had actually chosen to escape and run into a Demonic Emperor¡¯s pce. If he wasn¡¯t trying tomit suicide, what was he doing?

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Su Chen said slowly. ¡°The Scarlet Heart is not here right now.¡±

    ¡°Not in the pce? Where is it?¡± Shi Mingfeng was momentarily taken aback before he understood. ¡°The Beast Wave?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Su Chen nodded. ¡°The Beast Wave was activated by it.¡±

    The Beast Wave¡¯s activation wasn¡¯t an instinctiverge gathering of Demonic Beasts. Higher-tiered existences were necessary to organize it. Most of the time, smaller Beast Waves were organized by Demonic Lords, medium-sized by Demonic Kings, andrger ones by Demonic Emperors. Any evenrger ones would most likely have to have multiple Demonic Emperors organizing it.

    Su Chen and the others had done their best to enrage the Beast Race, so this Beast Wave was arge one that had been activated by a Demonic Emperor.

    This Demonic Emperor was the Scarlet Heart Demonic Emperor. Even though its name sounded gentle, it was extremely powerful. The beast¡¯s true form was that of a badger that liked to feast on hearts, with an incredibly sinister and vicious disposition. It had cultivated for over three thousand years, but for a Demonic Emperor, that made it one of the younger ones.

    It was known for its irascibility, bloodthirstiness, and savage temperament.

    Even though Shi Mingfeng resided in Long Sang, he had heard of the Scarlet Heart before, so he almost pissed his pants when he heard that they had been teleported to that Demonic Emperor¡¯s nest.

    When he heard Su Chen¡¯s reply, Shi Mingfeng agitatedly said, ¡°Even if the Demonic Emperor itself is not present, there¡¯s no way it didn¡¯t leave behind any defenses! There¡¯s no way we¡¯re strong enough to ovee the defenses it¡¯s put in ce.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, so I wasn¡¯t nning on forcing my way in in the first ce.¡± As Su Chen spoke, his figure began to morph as he assumed the form of a tiger demon. He Xu chose to turn into a python. The white paper doll didn¡¯t need to transform, as it naturally belonged to the Demonic Beast category in the first ce. Actually, it had even made a bit of a name for itself here.

    ¡°Then what about me and Night Demon?¡± Shi Mingfeng grew anxious. After all, he couldn¡¯t transform.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be in such a hurry. Aren¡¯t I here?¡± Su Chen pulled out two more vials of medicine and handed them to Shi Mingfeng and Night Demon.

    He had worked on concocting transformation potions in the past, so at this point concocting two vials was an easy matter.

    He Xu¡¯s expression was still a bit unhappy. ¡°Don¡¯t hand out too many. Otherwise my n¡¯s ability won¡¯t be valuable anymore.¡±

    ¡°I know, I know. Don¡¯t worry, old Shi¡¯s is temporary. Only Night Demon¡¯s is permanent,¡± Su Chen said tofort He Xu.

    Shi Mingfeng almost spat out a mouthful of blood. Was it really good to be so specialized?

    Night Demon beamed and hugged Su Chen. ¡°You¡¯re such a good brother.¡±

    As they spoke, the two of them gulped down the medicine and also morphed into Demonic Beasts. Night Demon cared about her appearance, so she turned into a wily red fox. Shi Mingfeng turned into a simple,rge pangolin that was fairly nondescript.

    Once the transformation wasplete, Su Chen took the lead and headed off towards the pce.

    Shi Mingfeng caught up to him and asked, ¡°Brother Su, what are you hoping to gain by entering the pce?¡±

    ¡°Do you even need to ask? Of course I¡¯m trying to get rich!¡± Su Chen answered straightforwardly. ¡°The Scarlet Heart Demonic Emperor¡¯s pce definitely has lots of good stuff. Looting its castle is definitely much more efficient than scavenging around in the outside world, and we can also enrage it a bit more and increase the duration and scale of the Beast Wave.¡±

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t forgotten his ultimate goal ining to the Beast Race¡¯s territory.

    Naturally, plundering the Demonic Emperor¡¯s pce was a great way to enrage his opponent.

    ¡°But that¡¯s also much more dangerous. If the Demonic Emperor¡¯s pce has any detection abilities, we¡¯re finished,¡± Shi Mingfeng said anxiously.

    ¡°I know. That¡¯s why I never originally nned on doing this. But s, my luck is terrible, and a Demonic Lord seems to have set his sights on me,¡± Su Chen helplessly replied.

    The dumbest thing the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider had done was to reveal the ck Wind Lord¡¯s existence.

    Su Chen would not be Su Chen if he hadn¡¯t started making preparations for this as soon as he found out.

    But being prepared could only do so much good. He just had no way of defeating a Demonic Lord, not even if he concocted a literal ton of medicine.

    As such, he had thought extensively about this matter before eventually deciding to take the risk ande to this Demonic Emperor¡¯s pce. Even if the ck Wind Lord knew where he was, there was no way it would dare charge in recklessly.

    However, Su Chen hadn¡¯t anticipated that Danba would personally appear along with arge army, so he had chosen to dy for as long as possible by exchanging words with them until the ck Wind Lord arrived. He had then handed over that guy to Danba to deal with and taken his leave.

    Actually, Su Chen was just spouting a bunch of nonsense when he was talking to Danba about strengthening the Ferocious Race.

    However, after he had finished speaking, Su Chen suddenly felt like what he had said was a legitimate opportunity he could afford to take.

    Regardless of whether he had sessfully pulled the wool over Danba¡¯s eyes, Su Chen had managed to convince himself somehow. If the circumstances permitted it in the future, he really would start researching a way to increase the Ferocious Race¡¯s strength.

    Of course, his main task right now was to loot the Demonic Emperor¡¯s pce.

    Su Chen¡¯s heart began to beat madly as he thought about what he was about to do.

    This was a Demonic Emperor, after all ¡ª an existence many tiers higher than him, but now its home was about to be plundered by Su Chen. Anyone in his position would have been moved.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 171: Inviting Disaster 1

    Chapter 171: Inviting Disaster (1)

    After walking past the grassy ins, their group finally arrived at the pce.

    Two mid-tier Demonic Beasts were standing guard at the entrance.

    Shi Mingfeng could feel his scalp tingling when he saw that just the doormen were mid-tier Demonic beasts.

    Even so, once the bow was drawn, the arrow had to be released. At this point, Shi Mingfeng could only quietly follow behind Su Chen.

    Su Chen ignored all formalities and directly addressed the guard without a greeting, saying, ¡°I am here on the orders of His Majesty to deliver some spoils of war.¡±

    As he spoke, he opened his Origin Ring, and all kinds of resources came tumbling out.

    These resources were what the Heavenly Might Battalion had obtained from the Ferocious Race. Su Chen had brought them a ton of rations, and the Heavenly Might Battalion had responded by exchanging them for a ton of resources. The exchange that the Immortal Temple had wanted to make was fully aplished by just Su Chen alone.

    Now, however, he was pulling out all the resources that he had obtained so far.

    If you wanted to take, you needed to learn to give first.

    At this point, Su Chen was using big bait to catch an even bigger fish.

    When they saw that huge pile of resources, even the two Demonic Beasts standing guard were dazzled. They weren¡¯t suspicious at all and said, ¡°Wait a moment. Let us notify the head officer first.¡±

    A momentter, an old grizzled pangolin appeared, heading in their direction.

    Its body was covered in golden scales, and it walked upright on its two legs. Once it got close to Su Chen¡¯s group, it looked Su Chen up and down and said, ¡°You are the subordinates that His Majesty sent? Why haven¡¯t I ever seen you before?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Reporting to Commander Armored Enterprise. My name is Hunting Nightmare. I was newly promoted by His Majesty himself, so it¡¯s no surprise that you haven¡¯t seen me before.¡±

    The old pangolin stared intensely at Su Chen. ¡°His Majesty sent a new demon over? Where¡¯s Hunting King? Or ck me? Or Red Demon? Why didn¡¯t theye? You¡¯re just a small mid-tier Demonic Beast, but yet you were deemed worthy of being promoted by His Majesty himself?¡±

    Every sentence he said caused Shi Mingfeng¡¯s heart to beat exponentially faster.

    This old pangolin seemed simple, but it was a bona-fide Demonic Lord. A single swat of its paw could kill them all. Even though it wasn¡¯t well-versed in perception techniques, its mind was quite sharp, making it a difficult target to lie against. The biggest problem Su Chen had was that they were disguised as a bunch of unknown Demonic Beasts. The old pangolin didn¡¯t even have an inkling of a suspicion that humans had managed to sneak in, but it still had an instinctive apprehension towards Demonic Beasts it didn¡¯t recognize.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s normal formander to suspect us. But you also know that it¡¯s very easy to make contributions on the battlefield. A few days ago, this little one killed a Ferocious Race chieftain in a battle and actually found a Spirit Race captive. I presented it to His Majesty and was deemed to have performed an extremely meritorious service, which is why I was promoted.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Spirit Race captive? Why did the Ferocious Race have a Spirit Race captive?¡± The old pangolin¡¯s interest was piqued.

    Su Chen began to exin what had happened to him at Aurora City.

    Everything he said was real, but he reced the human race¡¯s assault with the Beast Race¡¯s assault. Because Aurora City was located to the west, it was a part of the area that the Beast Wave had overtaken. As such, this lie was pulled off seamlessly.

    The old pangolin couldn¡¯t help but exim in surprise upon hearing that the Ferocious Race was actually using Spirit Race captives to refine consciousness crystals.

    Consciousness crystals were extremely hard toe by, and they were valuable treasures to all Demonic Emperors. Considering that the story was logical yet fantastical, it was obvious that there was some actual experience involved and that it wasn¡¯tpletely fabricated. The old pangolin seemed to be swayed and it nodded. ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. His Majesty cultivates the Split Consciousness Technique, so these consciousness crystals are incredibly precious to him. No wonder he entrusted such an important task to you. You really got quite lucky...... Oh, that¡¯s quite a lot of spoils. Since that¡¯s the case, then I¡¯ll ept these.¡±

    When the old pangolin saw what was contained in the Origin Ring, there was no more room for suspicion in his heart ¡ª it would be difficult for someone with malicious intentions to offer up so many resources.

    In other words, any person who had malicious intent and a strong background wouldn¡¯t need to take such risks to enter the Demonic Emperor¡¯s Pce.

    The old pangolin wasn¡¯t stupid, and its thinking was extremely reasonable. However, because of this, it had fallen right into Su Chen¡¯s trap.

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡± Su Chen handed the Origin Ring to the old pangolin, then said, ¡°Commander, there are still a few more resources that I had to carry on me. I couldn¡¯t put them into the Origin Ring.¡±

    ¡°Oh? What are they?¡±

    Su Chen pulled out an item. It was a purplish-ck feather bobbing up and down in a strange, quicksilver-like liquid.

    When the old pangolin saw this item, his eyes almost popped out of his sockets. ¡°Sky-Rending Feather and Flowing Light Silver? What¡¯s going on? Isn¡¯t this the Sky-Rending Raven King¡¯s feather and the Boneless Demonic King¡¯s secret treasure?¡±

    The Sky-Rending Raven King was a well known Demonic King, especially for its spatial techniques. These techniques allowed it toe and go without leaving a trace by slipping in and out of spatial holes.

    The Sky-Rending Raven King molted once every hundred years and would leave behind a single life feather every time it molted. It allowed the user to obtain a portion of the Sky-Rending Raven King¡¯s spatial powers. It could even be said that this feather was one of the most valuable items that the Sky-Rending Raven King possessed.

    Because of this, Demonic Beasts often longed to somehow obtain the Sky-Rending Raven King¡¯s life feather. However, because the feather was rted to the Raven King¡¯s power, there was no way it would hand it over so easily. As such, these feathers were always kept hidden and secret. The Scarlet Heart had lusted after the Raven King¡¯s feather for a long time, but the Raven King was extremely cautious and didn¡¯t give the Scarlet Heart any opportunities. Unexpectedly, Su Chen had brought it here.

    Su Chen was able to obtain it because of his former experiences.

    The Raven King had been summoned for this Beast Wave primarily so that, once the Raven King died in battle, the Scarlet Heart could obtain this treasure for itself.

    However, the Raven King had naturally made prudent arrangements. It had brought a feather with it, hid a feather in its oldir, and grew another one on its body. These three feathers were connected and could be transported back and forth through the void with but a thought.

    Unexpectedly, before the Scarlet Heart was even able to attack, Su Chen had plundered the Raven King¡¯s nest under the white paper doll¡¯s directions. He had been able to sneak in just by transforming and easily snatched the life feather. This improved his Whitetower Teleportation¡¯s strength by two tiers, and he coulde and go in a sh without a trace. He could also conceal himself and slip in and out of the void now. Danba and his ten-thousand-man army weren¡¯t able to find him because of this new technique of his.

    The Flowing Light Silver had the opposite effect ¡ª it sealed spatial objects. Without this Flowing Light Silver, the life feather might have already flown away on its own and returned to the Raven King¡¯s main body.

    Because it was a spatial treasure, it couldn¡¯t be contained within an Origin Ring. If one tried, the spatial energies of the feather would cause the void storage space to copse, and the Origin Ring would be instantly destroyed.

    The old pangolin was quite badly shocked when it saw Su Chen pull out this item. Had His Majesty ended up making a move against the Raven King? It seemed as if the Boneless Demonic King hadn¡¯t managed to escape either.

    No, how could His Majesty do something like that? It must have been that the Ferocious Race¡¯s counterattack was extremely vicious and that the two Demonic Kings were unlucky enough to have fallen in battle.

    He automatically filled in the gaps in reasoning, so Su Chen himself didn¡¯t even have to exin anything. Just as the old pangolin was about to reach for the treasure, Su Chen said, ¡°Commander, please be careful. The void power contained in this feather has been sealed up, and a void fissure could explode forth at any point in time. That¡¯s why His Majesty sealed it with the Flowing Light Silver. The Flowing Light Silver is also somewhat damaged, so its sealing ability is limited. As such, the carrier needs to supplement it with a special cultivation technique.¡±

    ¡°What cultivation technique?¡± the old pangolin asked. He had no doubts regarding Su Chen¡¯s exnation of the spatial sealing. If the Raven King had realized that it was being set up by the Scarlet Heart, then it was no surprise that it had tried to damage its own life feather.

    Su Chen exined the cultivation technique and didn¡¯t hide anything. The cultivation technique wasn¡¯t fake either; it was a spatial sealing technique that Su Chen had managed to piece together using Brooke¡¯s Form. It wasn¡¯t very practical because it had many fine details and was hard to cultivate. However, using it at this moment was exceptionally practical.

    The old pangolin felt like its head was about to explode, and it knew that there was no way it could learn such aplicated technique in a short period of time. It said, ¡°Forget it. I won¡¯t be able to pick up this cultivation technique quickly. Come with me to deposit these things in the storeroom.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Su Chen respectfully replied.

    Shi Mingfeng and the others finally understood. No wonder Su Chen had been so confident. It felt like he had been waiting and nning for this since a long time ago.

    They all felt extremely sympathetic for the old pangolin.

    Old man, you¡¯re practically inviting disaster in.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 172: Inviting Disaster 2

    Chapter 172: Inviting Disaster (2)

    Su Chen entered the Demonic Emperor¡¯s Pce and followed the old pangolin as they walked around. After taking a tortuous path, they finally arrived at arge hall.

    There was a massive rhinoceros lying in front of the door to the hall. It was in deep sleep, its state belying its strength of a Demonic Lord Beast.

    The old pangolin bowed to the rhinoceros. ¡°Armored Enterprise requests entrance.¡±

    The rhinoceros opened its eyes and nced at the old pangolin. ¡°Oh, so it¡¯s oldmander! Is there something you need?¡±

    ¡°His Majesty has sent a ton of treasures here from the front lines,¡± the oldmander replied.

    ¡°Oh, ok. Go on ahead then!¡± As it spoke, it took a few steps to the side.

    The doors creaked open, revealing a long ck hallway.

    ¡°Follow my footsteps. Don¡¯t take a single wrong step,¡± the oldmander said to Su Chen.

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±

    The oldmander walked down the long hall.

    Su Chen carefully followed him, secretly keeping track of his movements. After some time, they finally crossed the long hallway and arrived at a secret storehouse filled to the brim with all kinds of strange and unique treasures.

    The old pangolinughed, ¡°This long hallway has eighteen Origin Formations that are all extremely dangerous. If you take a single wrong step, even I won¡¯t be able to save you. This is the key to keeping the treasure room secure. But once you¡¯ve gotten past this restriction, you¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    Su Chen quietly cursed that old thing for being so slippery.

    This hallway was fraught with danger, but the true guardian of the treasury was the massive face in the reception pavilion. If anyone thought that the treasury only had these two kinds of defenses, they would be sorely mistaken. Actually, even before entering the reception pavilion, there were already two other locations simrly packed with restrictive formations. Even the space within the treasury itself was not entirely safe. At the very least, Su Chen could sense that there were restrictions hidden beneath many of the treasures kept here.

    These restrictions hadn¡¯t been ced on every item. Some had them and some didn¡¯t, and the cement seemed to follow no rhyme or reason.

    Even so, there were more safeguards in ce.

    Su Chen then said, ¡°Commander, His Majesty informed me that the Raven King¡¯s feather is a uniquely precious treasure and needs to be ced under the highest protection.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± The old pangolin thought for a moment then said, ¡°Turn around.¡±

    Su Chen obeyed. The old pangolin went off to the corner. With a ¡°nk¡± sound, the secret treasury¡¯s wall opened, revealing a small storeroom off to the side.

    The old pangolin then said, ¡°You can put that here.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡± Su Chen respectfully walked over and put the Sky-Rending Feather down.

    He didn¡¯t leave immediately after putting it down. Instead, he began chanting a spell, causing the Flowing Light silver to begin to glow and fade.

    The old pangolin curiously asked, ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Even though he was a Demonic Lord Beast, he had been promoted by the Demonic Emperor and had served His Majesty for his whole life. He wasn¡¯t unintelligent, but hecked worldly experience. His life experience consisted of managing household affairs and dealing with all kinds of different situations. He was aplete novice when it came to profound spatial techniques.

    Su Chen sincerely responded, ¡°Flowing Light Silver has the ability to seal void fissures, so it¡¯s exceptionally useful on the front lines. His Majesty wants me to bring the rest back to him.¡±

    ¡°Then what about the Sky-Rending Feather?¡± the oldmander asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ll leave behind a small amount that should be just enough to cover up the feather. As long as you don¡¯t touch it during this period of time, it should be fine. His Majesty will deal with it once he returns,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± The oldmander understood and didn¡¯t press any further.

    Su Chen continued to chant, retrieving a majority of the Flowing Light Silver. Only a small surfaceyer was left covering the feather. Su Chen added on a few more stabilizing inscriptions, then sighed with relief and said, ¡°It¡¯s done.¡±

    Having done this, Su Chen left the storehouse along with the oldmander in an orderly fashion, taking care not to misstep anywhere.

    Upon leaving the storehouse, the oldmander said to Su Chen, ¡°Hunting Nightmare, you have had a long journey over here, and you were also responsible for guarding this treasure. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed. Why not stay here for a few days before leaving?¡±

    Su Chen said with a straight face, ¡°His Majesty is still waiting for me to return the Flowing Light Silver to him. I dare not tarry.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then I won¡¯t insist.¡±

    Su Chen said goodbye to the old pangolin and went to go see Shi Mingfeng. Shi Mingfeng and Night Demon had already gone to the flower garden in the back to chat with the other Demonic Beasts.

    Night Demon was in the midst of a story, grandly saying, ¡°Before he could even react, I shed out with my silver de, killing that Ferocious Race soldier where he stood......¡±

    One of the little demons listening in said with some curiosity, ¡°Isn¡¯t the Red Fox more well-known for its bewitching techniques and control of other individuals? Why did you sh out with a silver de? And what is that silver de? Don¡¯t Red Foxes use their Blood Fox ws?¡±

    ¡°Oh......¡± Night Demon was at a loss for words and looked to Shi Mingfeng.

    Shi Mingfeng hurriedly said, ¡°Even though the Red Fox is skilled in bewitching techniques, that¡¯s only useful in a battle formation, not when swords and des are flying everywhere and there isn¡¯t an opportunity to bewitch anyone. After all, even if you were to bewitch one, someone else from the side would run up and hack at you. That¡¯s why the Red Fox often relies on close-quartersbat as well. As for the silver de...... That was obviously a Ferocious Race¡¯s scimitar.¡±

    ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s how it is.¡± Everyone was enlightened.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s how it was.¡± Night Demon pped her hands and said, ¡°After I stabbed that Ferocious Race soldier to death, three more Ferocious Race soldiers came at me at the same time. But what kind of beast is the Red Fox? I was able to y them all in a single Horizon Illusory Moon de stance.¡±

    ¡°Horizon Illusory Moon de? What kind of de technique is that?¡±

    ¡°That sounds like a human de technique.¡±

    ¡°Why would a Red Fox know a human de technique?¡±

    The Demonic Beasts once again began to discuss amongst themselves.

    ¡°This......¡± Night Demon helplessly looked at Shi Mingfeng again.

    Shi Mingfeng sighed. ¡°You all know that foxes specialize in charm techniques. This charm technique works on the Ferocious Race, but it also works on humans. It can be used to enve, but it can also be used to learn. The Red Fox is quite smart; one time, it managed to bewitch a human and learned a few Origin Skills from that human.¡±

    ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s how it is.¡± All of the demons nodded again.

    Night Demon continued, ¡°We ughtered our way through them, in no small part due to my heroic efforts. That¡¯s why we were sent here along with Su Chen by His Majesty for this mission.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s Su Chen?¡± one of the Demonic Beasts asked with curiosity.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Night Demon was stunned. ¡°Did I say Su Chen?¡±

    All of the Demonic Beasts nodded.

    ¡°You all must have heard wrong, right?¡±

    All of the Demonic Beasts shook their heads.

    Night Demon turned to look at Shi Mingfeng again.

    Shi Mingfeng sighed. ¡°It¡¯s not Su Chen; it¡¯s Shu Cheng. It wasn¡¯t until arriving at the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory that he realized that Shu Cheng means ¡°surrender.¡± How could the Beast Race possibly surrender? That¡¯s why Shu Cheng changed his name to Hunting Nightmare, meaning that he hunts these nightmarish targets. We are Hunting Nightmare¡¯s old friends, which is why we call him by his former name.¡±

    Night Demon sighed with relief, ¡°Yes, yes, that¡¯s what I meant, Old Shi......¡±

    ¡°Cough, cough!¡± Shi Mingfeng coughed violently.

    Night Demon hurriedly continued, ¡°Actually [1. y on words. In Chinese, Old Shi (Lao Shi) and Actually (Lao Shi Shuo) sound quite simr.]...... I wanted to say that earlier as well, but Dark Hammer managed to exin it before I had a chance.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng stared at her and felt like crying but no tears woulde out. Miss, can you just stop talking?

    Thankfully, Su Chen returned at this moment. ¡°It seems like you guys are getting along quite well.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng was extremely happy to see Su Chen and hurried over to him. ¡°Thank goodness you¡¯re back.¡±

    ¡°What, she¡¯s getting herself in trouble again?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Shi Mingfeng was about to cry. ¡°Please, tell her to shut her mouth. Otherwise, we won¡¯t be able to even think of leaving here alive anymore.¡±

    He had yet to even finish his sentence when he heard Night Demon yell from far away, ¡°Su Chen, you¡¯re finally back?¡±

    Su Chen?

    Su Chen felt his vision go dark.

    ¡°It¡¯s Shu Cheng! Can you be a little bit clearer with your pronunciation!?¡± Shi Mingfeng yelled back unhappily. ¡°Also, sir Shu Cheng has already changed his name to Hunting Nightmare. Don¡¯t use that ¡®Surrender¡¯ name anymore!¡±

    He turned around to nce at Su Chen. ¡°Now do you understand?¡±

    Su Chen stared at Shi Mingfeng in shock before giving him a big thumbs up. ¡°You¡¯re something else!¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 173: Six Treasures

    Su Chen¡¯s group left the pce in a hurry and headed straight to the nearby forest. It wasn¡¯t until the pce was out of vision that they let out a collective sigh of relief.

    He Xu plopped himself onto the ground. ¡°That scared me half to death. Su Chen, let¡¯s just all agree to not let Night Demon participate next time when we go on an infiltration mission, okay? She¡¯s not suited for this line of work.¡±

    Su Chen was reminded of what had just urred and nodded. ¡°You¡¯re right, she¡¯s not suited for it.¡±

    Night Demon pouted, ¡°Sorry, I just got too excited there for a moment.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng wiped off the sweat on his forehead. ¡°A moment? You mean the whole time!¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Forget about it, at least nothing bad came of it. We¡¯ll just pay a little more attention in the future.¡±

    His main sentiment here was naturally not that Night Demon should pay more attention but rather that he wouldn¡¯t let Night Demon participate in these kinds of missions in the future.

    Shi Mingfeng¡¯s rush of adrenaline hadn¡¯t dissipated quite yet. He angrily continued, remarking, ¡°You¡¯re feeling quite generous today, huh?¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll make it up to you by giving you a few more items from the Scarlet Heart¡¯s treasury. Will that work for you?¡±

    Shi Mingfeng¡¯s ears immediately perked up. ¡°You offered, not me!¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Everyone gets three items from the outer treasury, and you get six. What do you think?¡±

    ¡°Fine!¡± Shi Mingfeng pped his thigh in excitement.

    Su Chen was the one doing all the nning and execution. The other people were just tagging along, so Shi Mingfeng was already very satisfied that he was even getting an extra cut.

    ¡°When are we going to make a move then?¡± He Xu asked excitedly.

    ¡°Right now.¡±

    Su Chen had already made an appropriate n, and they had set it in motion as soon as they had walked out of the pce.

    He pulled out an Origin Formation Disk from his clothes.

    This Origin Formation Disk was a spatial-type Origin Formation, and it allowed one to undergo small-distance teleportation. However, the user first needed to set an anchor point. Su Chen had prepared a number of different techniques to use while infiltrating the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory, and this was one of them.

    However, the emperor¡¯s pce was heavily restricted, and there were formations present locking down the space inside. Trying to enter a castle like that with just this measly Origin Formation Disk wasughable.

    Under normal circumstances, this would have beenpletely impossible.

    However, that would have only been true if Su Chen hadn¡¯t ced the Sky-Rending feather within the storehouse.

    The Sky-Rending Feather was a miraculous spatial object that had the ability to guide and channel spatial transportation techniques. Even the Scarlet Heart Emperor ced immense value on that feather, demonstrating just how powerful it was. With that feather inside the castle, breaking through the spatial restrictions of the castle wouldn¡¯t be that difficult.

    The most disgusting part in the entire n was that Su Chen had set up this anchor point right in front of the old pangolin¡¯s nose. The old pangolin waspletely oblivious and had no idea what Su Chen had been doing.

    The reason Su Chen dared to do something like this was partly because the white paper doll had given him tons of information. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to think of a solution so quickly.

    The Origin Formation Disk activated. A brilliant white light began to shine forth before a small void vortex gradually appeared. It was possible to see the interior of the storehouse on the other side of the vortex.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Su Chen took the lead and walked through the vortex.

    The Flowing Light Silver covering the Sky-Rending Feather hadpletely disappeared, and the feather was in the preliminary process of emitting void energy. The void energy connected with the vortex in midair, causing Su Chen to appear directly above the Sky-Rending Feather.

    Su Chen gently took a few steps in midair,nding gracefully on the ground.

    Shi Mingfeng, He Xu, and the others slowly came through after him.

    ¡°Hey! This ce......¡± Night Demon hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when Su Chen hurriedly covered up her mouth. He urgently whispered, ¡°Don¡¯t be so loud! This storehouse is guarded by a Demonic Lord. Even though I¡¯ve set up an istion Origin Formation, if we make too muchmotion it will still notice. Also, don¡¯t just take anything in this ce. Follow the order in which I say to take them.¡±

    Night Demon apprehensively blinked herrge eyes and nodded.

    Su Chen slowly pulled his hand back. Now that she had finally calmed down, he walked towards a corner and tapped it a few times. The wall creaked open.

    The Scarlet Heart¡¯s storehouse had aplete set of defenses and traps, but now that Su Chen had entered from the inside, many of these defenses wouldn¡¯t have any effects.

    The treasures in the outer storehouse weren¡¯t as valuable as the ones in the inner one, but there were more treasures here.

    Su Chen grabbed his own Origin Ring. Once he confirmed that nothing was wrong with it, he shot out a few streaks of light towards the ones in the storehouse. ¡°These few items have restrictions. Don¡¯t touch these yet. Take the other ones first. We don¡¯t have much time; no dilly-dallying around.¡±

    Breaking the seal on the Sky-Rending Feather hadn¡¯te without a price. As the void energy contained inside was slowly consumed, the feather itself was also slowly degrading.

    There wasn¡¯t much time. They didn¡¯t waste any time talking and immediately began plundering the Demonic Emperor¡¯s storehouses.

    Su Chen turned around and headed for the inner treasury.

    Inparison to the outer treasury, there were much fewer treasures here. Apart from the Sky-Rending Feather, there were only six in total, but each one of them was exceedingly rare.

    The first was a crystal hourss that shimmered and glowed with profound light.

    The hourss was made of an unknown material. It seemed metallic, but wasn¡¯t copper, silver, or gold. It was simple and unadorned, but it carried with it a boundless aura.

    Golden sand flowed through the hourss, but it flowed in reverse from bottom to top, giving it a profound aesthetic.

    These grains of sand were the same as the ones that Chu Yingwan had used at Aurora City.

    ordingly, this hourss was called the Hourss of Time.

    The Hourss of Time was originally the Ferocious Race¡¯s most important treasure. As for where they had gotten it from, no one knew. Roughly eight thousand years ago, the Beast Race infiltrated the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory and stole it away, only leaving behind a small amount of the Sands of Time. Then, while the Heavenly Might Army was trapped in the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory and recklessly snatching anything they found, they had unexpectedly grabbed a small handful of the Sands of Time, which proved to be extremely useful during the battle of Aurora City.

    The Hourss of Time produced Sands of Time. With this item, it was possible to have an endless source of Sands of Time. Of course, the rate of production of the sand was limited, and it could only produce a small pinch every year. Even so, that was more than enough to make this item a peerless treasure.

    The Scarlet Heart had fought bitterly for it and even killed a Demonic Emperor of the same tier to obtain the treasure.

    However, Su Chen was now going to be the one to ultimately benefit.

    The second item was a Demonic Emperor Origin Crystal, but this one was not from the Demonic Emperor that had fought him for the Sands of Time. Rather, it was from another Demonic Emperor that it had managed to kill around that point in time. Obtaining an Origin Crystal wasn¡¯t that hard, but obtaining an Origin Crystal whose energy had been so well-preserved and wasn¡¯t damaged or depleted was extremely difficult.

    The only way to aplish this would be to kill the target with a single blow.

    For this, the Scarlet Heart had investigated its target for decades, constantly looking for opportunities, and it had also procured a powerful one-time-use Origin Tool and a camouging treasure. It had then disguised itself, bought out the opponent¡¯s subordinates with massive sums, and activated its powerful single-use treasure to finish off its foe in a single attack.

    After unleashing that attack, the Scarlet Heart had underwent three years of closed-door cultivation.

    It was obvious how difficult it had been to obtain this intact Demonic Emperor Origin Crystal.

    The third treasure was a Thunder Spirit Totem.

    The Thunder Spirit Totem again came from the Ferocious Race. Every race possessed their own unique culture and history. There had been a few fortuitous urrences over the tens of thousands of years of history that the Ferocious Race had. One of these was the Sands of Time, and the Nine Great Totems were another. The Nine Great Totems consisted of the Wind, Fire, Water, Earth, Light, Thunder, Darkness, Spirit, and Life totems. Each totem contained an ancient, formidable power.

    The Ferocious Race¡¯s totemic system of cultivation had actually evolved from the Nine Great Totems as a temte.

    However, as time passed and the Ferocious Race continued fighting with the Beast Race over and over again, they suffered tremendous losses even as they made gains. The Nine Great Totems were one of the losses suffered. Apparently, there were now only three totems remaining in the Ferocious Race¡¯s possession; the other six had been scattered across thends.

    This Thunder Spirit Totem, which represented the power of thunder, hadnded in the hands of the Scarlet Heart.

    As the chief of the border region, Scarlet Heart had a lot of treasures from the Ferocious Race. One of his favorite pastimes was to invade the border. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that the Beast Race also needed to reproduce, the border would never have been at peace. The Scarlet Heart was even fine if a small Beast Wave started every three days and arge one every five days.

    The fourth item was some River Source Grass.

    This was probably the only precious treasure amongst the six great treasures the Scarlet Heart possessed that actually came from the Beast Race¡¯s territory.

    River Source Grass grew on the Beast Race¡¯s Sky-Breaching Mountain Range.

    Inparison to the other treasures, this one wasn¡¯t particrly useful in battle, but its practical value wasn¡¯t diminished in the slightest.

    That was because its main use was to improve the fertility of the nearby soil.

    River Source Grass grew at the riverhead on the mountain.

    Apparently, wherever River Source Grass was nted, even in a deste area, it could create a spring of water within a year and cause the surroundings to flourish beautifully in ten. If it were nted in a ce where resources were already abundant, it would further sculpt the environment to increase the quality of Origin Energy produced there. It was really quite a miraculous grass.

    In simpler terms, this treasure had an extremely high affinity for Origin Energy. Even though it couldn¡¯tpare to the legend of a single droplet causing life to flourish, it was an exceptionally precious resource nheless.

    However, this River Source Grass couldn¡¯t be used as one pleased; every so often, it needed to be ced in an environment rich in Origin Energy to recover. At the moment, this grass had been nted in some Boundless Dirt. If River Source Grass was an emperor-grade treasure, then this Boundless Dirt was at least a king-grade treasure. It was obvious how much importance the Scarlet Heart ced on this stalk of grass.

    Of course, the Boundless Dirt wasn¡¯t one of the six great treasures contained in the storeroom. It was like the Flowing Light Silver that the Sky-Rending Feather had been immersed in; at this point, it was merely a carrier.

    The fifth treasure was a stone statue of a white goose singing to the sky. However, this white goose hadn¡¯t been carved by a sculptor; rather, it had naturally been formed by nature. Actually, this white goose was a strange lifeform. Every year, it would awaken once. If ced in water during this time, it would suck up the water and then sing to the skies. Apparently, its songs contained profound mysteries of nature. Anyone who heard its songs would receive incredible enlightenment.

    In other words, it could improve the listener¡¯s cultivation base, temperament, strength, perception, and consciousness. The exact effects depended on who was listening.

    As a result, this stone sculpture was known as the Heavenly Truth Songstone.

    The Heavenly Truth Songstone was apparently the foundation of the Scarlet Heart¡¯s aplishments, and a major reason as to why it had been able to ascend to the Demonic Emperor Rank.

    By the time the Scarlet Heart had reached the Demonic Emperor realm, it had used the songstone too many times, so the effect the songstone had on it was quite small. Even so, it hadn¡¯t exchanged the songstone for another treasure but had instead kept it in here to serve as a memento.

    Thest item was a sparkling, crystal bottle.

    When looking through the ss surface of the bottle, it appeared to contain blood.

    Deste Beast Blood!

    Demonic Emperors were at the peak of the Demonic Beast realm, but that was not the peak in their eyes.

    No matter how tall of a peak you stood on, there would always be the sky above you when you looked up.

    Under these circumstances, if you wanted to take another step forward, you would have to look and observe those existences even more powerful than yourself.

    That was why the Scarlet Heart had worked so hard to obtain this vial of Deste Beast blood.

    For this, it had organized 128 massacres, 31 different plots and schemes, and taken the lives of millions,rades or not!

    It could be said that each of these six great treasures had taken the Scarlet Heart an incredible amount of energy, brainpower, time, and sacrifice to obtain. They did not belong to a nobody; in fact, they were a testimony of the Scarlet Heart¡¯s outstanding valor and aplishment, and they painted a picture of unrivalled power and authority.

    And now, these items all belonged to Su Chen, even the Boundless Dirt. Su Chen wasn¡¯t nning on even letting the scraps on the floor slip by him.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 174: Forgetting Loyalty for Profits

    The Scarlet Heart wasn¡¯t a Demonic Emperor well-versed in Origin Formations. Actually, the entire Beast Race weren¡¯t well-versed in these formations at all. As beasts, the Demonic Beasts might have intelligence, but their creativity was far inferior to that of the human race, and even to the other Intelligent Races.

    Origin Formations were an expression of creativity.

    It was for this reason that, even though there were Origin Formations beneath the treasures, someone like Su Chen who wasn¡¯t particrly well-versed in Origin Formations was able to easily neutralize them.

    After casually taking away all of the treasures there, Su Chen returned to the outer storehouse.

    Everyone was still excitedly picking up treasures.

    Even though the treasures in the outer storehouse weren¡¯t as valuable, there were many more of them. There were seven Demonic King level Origin Crystals, and they were all undamaged.¡±

    ¡°Blood Rain¡¯s Heart, Bristle Demon¡¯s Tooth, Deep Sea Prison Robe, Plunder Fog...... Heavens, there¡¯s so many good things here! I¡¯m about to go crazy!¡± Even though Su Chen had warned him about his voice multiple times, He Xu still couldn¡¯t repress his excitement as he yelled.

    Tens of thousands of people would be willing to fight over every one of the items he had listed off, but He Xu was naming them like they weremon items in a supermarket ripe for the taking. This kind of experience was so wonderful that it was hard to describe. Even if they didn¡¯t belong to him, he still felt giddy with joy.

    Su Chen began to neutralize the Origin Formations underneath the few remaining items in the outer storehouse, then took them all.

    The treasures in the outer storehouse that were protected by Origin Formations were also top-tier treasures.

    Battle Intent Spirit, Terror Nightmare, Amethyst Fragrance Grass, Nightmare Bone, etc. - all these items and more were taken by Su Chen and put into his pouch.

    The storeroom was quickly cleaned out. Su Chen put away the final pouch of Heartbroken Demon Bone Meal and said, ¡°Alright, hand over what you¡¯ve found. You all can choose three to keep, while Old Shi can choose six.¡±

    However, he didn¡¯t get the response he was expecting.

    Su Chen was taken aback. He turned around and saw He Xu staring intently at him.

    ¡°What?¡± Su Chen asked.

    He Xu gulped. ¡°Su Chen, you¡¯ve managed to save up quite a bit for yourself. All of the precious treasures in the inner storehouse were taken by you. Only leaving three items in the outer storehouse for us...... isn¡¯t that a bit too little?¡±

    Su Chen squinted his eyes. ¡°You mean......¡±

    He Xu raised the Origin Ring in his hand. ¡°Why not leave the things in the outer storehouse to the person who took them? The white paper doll is your subordinate, so his portion can count as yours. The rest of us will split the remaining items. What do you think?"

    Su Chen didn¡¯t reply. Instead, he nced at Shi Mingfeng and Night Demon.

    Shi Mingfeng frowned and didn¡¯t say anything. It was obvious that he was not the one who hade up with this idea, but He Xu¡¯s suggestion had in fact moved him. Since He Xu had jumped out to ask for a bit more, he wasn¡¯t against hearing what Su Chen had to say.

    Night Demon, on the other hand, was entranced by the Blue Maple Crystal as she bit her fingernail, trying to decide what other two treasures she should take. She hadpletely ignored what He Xu was saying.

    Su Chen understood. He chuckled, "What if I say no? What would you do?"

    He Xu didn¡¯t answer directly. Instead, he looked at Shi Mingfeng. "Old Shi, this is a huge haul here. I believe you would support me, right?"

    Shi Mingfeng thought for a moment, then replied, "Su Chen, witnesses have a portion. At the very least, we did also participate in this expedition. Giving out a little more wouldn¡¯t be too much. But as for how much extra to take, we can discuss that."

    Shi Mingfeng was quite slippery. He didn¡¯t offend Su Chen, but he also didn¡¯t oppose He Xu¡¯s suggestions.

    "Then hand it over for now. We can discuss thingster." Su Chen reached out his hand.

    He Xu withdrew the Origin Ring. "I think it¡¯d be better if we were to figure things out now."

    "What if I insist on you handing them over now?" Su Chen asked.

    He Xu chuckled. "Su Chen, I know I¡¯m not your opponent, but if Old Shi doesn¡¯t personally make a move, I think I can withstand at least a few blows without any problems. And if we can¡¯t even talk too loudly in this storehouse, if we start to fight, perhaps......"

    Su Chen squinted. "So that¡¯s where your boldnesses from? You believe I don¡¯t dare attack you here for fear of startling the guard dog at the front door?"

    "Do you dare?" He Xu countered.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t reply. He just stared at He Xu.

    After a long time.

    He said, "When we were in West Laina Castle, you were the one who infiltrated the castle and was discovered by Sark. At that point in time, everyone else was nning on giving up on you. I was the one who went in and saved your life.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s true!¡± He Xu nodded. ¡°But while you were fighting Sark, it was I who appeared, wounded Sark, and saved your life. Am I not wrong? So I don¡¯t owe you my life anymore.¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Indeed, all ungrateful people can find ways of rationalizing their actions. I¡¯m not surprised by this.¡±

    He Xu¡¯s expression contorted. ¡°Ungrateful? You haven¡¯t mentioned that you obtained a bloodline power from my blood and developed a disguise technique from it! You haven¡¯t mentioned that you took the ability of my Bloodriver n and used it to strengthen yourself and give it to others! I treated you as a friend, which was why I came with Night Demon and Old Shi all the way over here to do business with you. But what happened? You used us to enter the Demonic Emperor¡¯s Pce, obtained all the benefits, then left us a few treasures as if to dismiss us beggars. Do you think this is what a friend would do?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head slightly. ¡°I don¡¯t want to debate with you over these things. Even though I could tell you that, without me, your blood would be totally useless, that I had nned on infiltrating the Demonic Emperor¡¯s pce long before you came, and that I could have done all these things on my own, I won¡¯t make them an issue. Right now, the crux of the matter is that you don¡¯t think I dare make a move on you, right?¡±

    At this point in time, Night Demon had finally resolved the issue she was having in deciding on a treasure. She was about to ask what was going on when she saw Su Chen suddenly facing off against He Xu, but Shi Mingfeng pulled her aside.

    This was both to prevent Night Demon from trying to make peace and also even more to obtain a hostage for himself.

    At this point in time, Shi Mingfeng¡¯s condition was extremely

    The Immortal Temple had been hanging around for a long time. At this point, there was no such thing as a good or bad person; just whether or not they chose profits.

    To Shi Mingfeng, Su Chen was an investment with incredible potential and, on some level, a friend that he got along with quite well. However, that was all nothing in the face of treasures from a Demonic Emperor¡¯s treasury. As such, if the circumstances permitted it, he wasn¡¯t against turning hostile.

    There were many instances of things like this happening. There was no reason that if it could happen to someone else, it couldn¡¯t happen to Su Chen.

    However, this could only be done if you had control over the situation.

    Shi Mingfeng understood what kind of character Su Chen was, so he wouldn¡¯t be so quick to turn hostile.

    Even if he was a Light Shaking Realm.

    Forget Su Chen; even that white paper doll of his wasn¡¯t easy to deal with.

    Since He Xu was willing to jump out, that was even better. All he needed to do was carefully hold onto Night Demon.

    That way, no matter who won or lost, the benefits that should belong to him wouldn¡¯t be lost.

    Yes, Shi Mingfeng¡¯s n was to hold Night Demon firmly in ce and watch how the situation unfolded.

    There was no such thing as loyalty to friends here. All Shi Mingfeng was doing was weighing his options and how much control either party had.

    Shi Mingfeng had obviously decided to try and profit from their disagreement.

    He Xu was still responding to Su Chen¡¯s question. ¡°Is that not the case? You also said that this ce is guarded by a Demonic Lord. If we manage to attract it here, everyone will die!¡±

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°I understand now. So you thought you could rely on this to put pressure on me and take away a fourth of the treasures in this treasury. Old Shi will also benefit, and with Night Demon in his hands, you aren¡¯t afraid of me killing you after the matter. In any case, with such arge amount of resources, you might even be able to reach the Spirit Burning Realm. At that point, you wouldn¡¯t even be afraid of leaving the Immortal Temple, so what need is there to care about me, right? Friends? What are friends good for? Can you eat them? Am I right? Is that what you¡¯re thinking, He Xu?¡±

    ¡°So what if I am? Have you never been sold out by someone else before? Many people break off friendships because of profits. Didn¡¯t your n give up on you before because you lost your sight? If even family members prioritize profits over familial rtionships, how much importance should you ce on our friendship? Also, I¡¯m not asking for much. I just want one-fourth - that¡¯s not extreme at all!¡± He Xu gritted his teeth and responded.

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°You¡¯re right, that¡¯s not too extreme, but that¡¯s also because you don¡¯t have a choice. After all, with so many people here, you wouldn¡¯t be able to swallow all of it on your own. As long as you¡¯re willing to split the profits with everyone else, they would all support you.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t support......¡± Night Demon wanted to speak, but Shi Mingfeng ced his hand on her shoulder, and a wave of energy washed over her as her words caught in her throat.

    Su Chen pretended not to hear and said, ¡°You thought about this quite thoroughly, but unfortunately you still made two mistakes.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear you exin these so-called mistakes. I just want you to make way and let me leave with this Origin Ring!¡± He Xu said impatiently. He had no interest in ying these games with Su Chen.

    However, Su Chen wasn¡¯t nning on letting him go like that.

    He said, ¡°You¡¯re better off listening to what I have to say. It would be impossible for me to agree with you, even if you try and threaten me with the Demonic Emperor¡¯s pce. If you think I¡¯m afraid of startling that old pangolin, you¡¯ve made a big mistake. I¡¯m not afraid of that at all, because my original n was to make amotion anyways so he would find out.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± He Xu was stunned. Even Shi Mingfeng and Night Demon froze.

    Let that old pangolin find out? Was that a joke?

    ¡°Really.¡± Su Chen nodded. ¡°Did you forget about my reason foring to the border in the first ce?¡±

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t it for resources?¡± He Xu asked, dazed.

    A sympathetic expression appeared in Su Chen¡¯s eyes. ¡°Taking resources was just the means. Expanding the Beast Wave¡¯s influence is the end!¡±

    Shi Mingfeng¡¯s expression drastically changed when he heard this.

    He immediately realized that Su Chen wasn¡¯t joking around.

    Why had Su Chene to the Beast Race¡¯s territory? Actually, he had told Shi Mingfeng and He Xu before in the past, but neither of them had taken him seriously.

    However, Su Chen was very clear about his own motives.

    From the very beginning, his goal was to increase the intensity of the Beast Wave.

    How would he intensify the Beast Wave?

    By provoking them and angering them.

    Stealing their resources was for this express purpose. From beginning to end, this was just a means to an end, and the treasures he picked up were merely byproducts of this goal, not the main goal.

    Robbing the Demonic Emperor¡¯s pce was for this purpose as well, around which Su Chen¡¯s entire n had centered.

    If the Scarlet Heart, who was currently in deep in Ferocious Race territory, found out that his nest had been raided and the treasures that had taken him hundreds of years to obtain had all been snatched, what would he think? How enraged would it be?

    Without question, the Beast Wave would intensify many times over. Regardless of whether it was to vent or to restore some of the losses it had sustained, the Scarlet Heart would never let this Beast Wave end so easily.

    In this way, the pressure on the Ferocious Race would multiply, and the pressure on the Heavenly Might Battalion would decrease.

    If he wanted to do that, Su Chen could not possibly have nned on plundering this ce silently - the old pangolin wouldn¡¯t enter the storehouse without a good reason. In theory, as long as no additional treasures were to be ced inside, it was possible for the situation in the treasury to not be discovered until monthster.

    That wasn¡¯t what Su Chen wanted.

    As such, he would definitely be nning on making a noticeablemotion.

    He Xu using this to threaten him was basically asking to die!

    ¡°Your second mistake is that...... actually, with your current strength, you might not be able to withstand a single blow of mine.¡± Su Chen said his second

    Whoosh!

    He attacked with his de.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 175: Spatial Fissure Kill

    The de began to glow as specks of starlight appeared on its surface.

    This was the manifestation of Origin Energy that had been concentrated to its greatest extent. The twinkling fragments burst forth with astounding power, causing rays of starlight to shine blindingly.

    The starlight gathered into a stream that flowed towards He Xu¡¯s forehead. He Xu¡¯s pupils dted with extreme fear.

    "Don¡¯t!" Shi Mingfeng yelled.

    He only had time to cry out before a head was sent flying through the air.

    A single de strike!

    He had managed to behead He Xu with a single de strike.

    However, Shi Mingfeng wasn¡¯t surprised at all, because that de strike possessed power far beyond what an ordinary Yang Opening Realm cultivator should have been capable of unleashing. It had already reached the level of what a Light Shaking Realm cultivator could utilize.

    It was quite normal for He Xu to not be able to withstand even a single blow from someone at the Light Shaking Realm.

    If there was anything to be surprised about, it was how Su Chen had managed to unleash a de strike like that.

    But Shi Mingfeng wasn¡¯t even that surprised, given that Su Chen was the one who was wielding the de. He had already managed to perform countless miracles; performing yet another really wasn¡¯t that miraculous, was it?

    Shi Mingfeng watched as He Xu¡¯s corpse toppled to the ground.

    Before He Xu¡¯s corpse had even hit the ground, Su Chen had already managed to snatch the ring from He Xu¡¯s hand.

    "ROAR!"

    A thunderous howl echoed through the room.

    It hade from the rhinoceros demon standing guard outside of the storehouse.

    Even though He Xu hadn¡¯t had time to make any noise, Su Chen¡¯s de strike had disturbed the air and generated Origin Energy fluctuations, which the Demonic Beast was able to detect.

    The howl was like an rm, rapidly spreading through the entire pce.

    Su Chen nonchntly walked over to Shi Mingfeng. He reached out his hand and said, "Yours."

    Shi Mingfeng gulped as he handed over the Origin Ring in his hand to Su Chen. "I just wanted to see how you were going to deal with the situation. I never nned on betraying you," he exined.

    In some sense, this exnation was equivalent to Shi Mingfeng bowing his head and asking for mercy.

    A Light Shaking Realm cultivator was lowering his head to Su Chen.

    "I know," Su Chen replied faintly.

    Night Demon and the white paper doll also handed over their Origin Rings to Su Chen.

    The footsteps of a massive beast could be heard thundering outside the hallway.

    It was that rhinoceros demon.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t waste any time. He headed right for the inner storehouse.

    The Sky-Rending Feather¡¯s energy had almost beenpletely exhausted. The edges of the spatial fissure hanging in midair had begun to tremble, indicating its growing instability.

    Su Chen stepped forwards and walked through the spatial vortex.

    Next, the white paper doll and Night Demon stepped through.

    Just as Shi Mingfeng was about to emerge from the void fissure as well, he suddenly saw Su Chen standing across from him, pointing at something below with his de.

    He was pointing at that Origin Formation Disk.

    Shi Mingfeng stopped in his tracks.

    He stared at Su Chen.

    Su Chen said, "Do you know what will happen during spatial transport if the object anchoring the spatial node is suddenly destroyed?"

    Shi Mingfeng opened his eyes wide in fear.

    Su Chen said, "I don¡¯t know, but I want to find out. And not only do I want to find out what would happen, but I also want to find out what would happen to any lifeforms still caught within the fissure in that moment."

    Sweat beaded on Shi Mingfeng¡¯s forehead.

    He began to regret grabbing Night Demon. He should have controlled the exit instead!

    How had he forgotten this?

    The chance to strike it rich had ckened his heart, blurred his vision, and confused his mind.

    He remained silent as he stared intently at Su Chen.

    The lumbering footsteps outside grew louder and louder, apanied by the sounds of Origin Formations being activated. Those were the restrictions that had been installed in the hallways; the massive rhinoceros was totally ignoring those formations to get to the treasury.

    Next, a massive boom sounded out. The rhinoceros had mmed its forehead into the main door.

    Thankfully, this door was not amon door. It had been constructed of precious metals and was reinforced by all kinds of Origin Formations.

    But even a powerful door like this creaked and groaned under the burden of the rhinoceros¡¯s charge. Eventually, the door began to crack.

    It seemed like the door was going to crack at any moment.

    Shi Mingfeng was beginning to panic. There was no way he was strong enough to handle that kind of power.

    He stared at Su Chen. "Su Chen...... I......"

    ¡°Do you know what it feels like to be betrayed now?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Shi Mingfeng nodded seriously.

    ¡°Then remember the feelings that this moment has brought you. Never, ever make that kind of mistake again,¡± Su Chen said calmly.

    His tone was measured. By the time he finished speaking, the door to the treasury had already broken down. The frighteningly powerful rhinoceros charged in, howling madly. Powerful waves of Origin Energy emanated from its body, rolling over Shi Mingfeng like a wave.

    Just as that st of energy was about to swallow Shi Mingfeng up, Su Chen put his de aside and stepped off to the side. ¡°Come out.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng leapt in as quickly as he could. He jumped through the fissure and reappeared in the small forest.

    He turned around quickly and found that Su Chen was still standing near the

    ¡°Hurry, close the spatial fissure!¡± Shi Mingfeng yelled.

    If that rhinoceros was able to make it through, everyone would be finished.

    Su Chen calmly stared through the void.

    The rhinoceros howled and charged into the void fissure. The moment that it rushed in, Su Chen stabbed the Origin Formation Disk with his de.

    Bang!

    The Origin Formation Disk fragmented, and the spatial vortex began to rapidly disappear.

    The rhinoceros had just charged head-first into the spatial vortex and was still inside.

    At that moment, everyone watched as violent spatial energy began to slice through the area like small des. The

    countless Origin Formations lining the hallway could do nothing to this frightening rhinoceros, but in turn there was nothing it could do when faced with these spatial razors. Its body was immediately sliced into tens of thousands of pieces. Only its massive horned head was able to make it through the vortex andnded in front of Su Chen.

    ¡°ROAR!¡±

    The rhinoceros was still howling even though only its head remained. An illusory image of a rhinoceros appeared, and under the control of this illusory image, the blood that had flown everywhere suddenly turned back around and shot towards Su Chen like fragments of iron.

    Now that the beast¡¯s cultivation base had reached the level of a Demonic Lord, it wasn¡¯t so easy for it to die. Even if all that remained was its head, it was still able to regenerate its body over time. Their consciousnesses were powerful enough to allow them to use their consciousness to control things with physical substance. As long as their consciousness wasn¡¯t eradicated, they could continue to live on indefinitely.

    Of course, that was still a bit of an exaggeration; both Spirit Burning Realm cultivators and Demonic Lords were all restricted by their consciousness. Even if they could regenerate themselves, it woulde at the cost of arge amount of consciousness energy.

    If the rhinoceros focused its entire consciousness energy on regenerating its physical body, it would be able to do so, but only once. However, it chose not to do so; instead, it used all of its consciousness energy to try and attack Su Chen.

    No matter what, it needed to kill this bastard who had stolen His Majesty¡¯s treasure.

    The rhinoceros was extremely loyal, which was why it had been chosen to guard the storehouse.

    Unfortunately, this threat waspletely ineffective against Su Chen.

    ¡°Trying to use your consciousness energy to attack me? I¡¯m stronger than you in that regard,¡± Su Chen said calmly.

    A powerful wave of consciousness energy exploded forth. The rhinoceros felt like it had encountered a king-level opponent.

    ¡°NO!¡±

    It howled fiercely, mustering all its strength to try and resist.

    However, the rhinoceros¡¯s consciousness was weaker than Su Chen¡¯s in the first ce, and the fact that it had no physical body anymore meant that it had no way of recovering its consciousness energy.

    When faced with Su Chen¡¯s all-out attack, the rhinoceros wailed as its consciousness turned into ash and dissipated with the wind.

    A Demonic Lord had been finished off cleanly just like that. All that remained was the lord-ss Origin Crystal, whichnded in Su Chen¡¯s hand.

    The crystal was extremely hard to obtain, but inparison to what was in the Demonic Emperor¡¯s treasury, that crystal was far too ordinary.

    Looting was always more profitable than working for it.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 176: Pursui

    t

    A Demonic Lord had died just like that. Everyone who saw it waspletely stunned.

    ¡°You...... killed it?¡± Even Night Demon, no matter how dumb she was, knew what killing a Demonic Lord implied.

    ¡°It brought about its own destruction,¡± Su Chen said indifferently. He wasn¡¯t nning on taking the credit for this.

    ¡°ROAR!¡±

    Another enraged howl thundered through the sky.

    It was that old pangolin.

    From this position, it was possible to see a streak of yellow light shoot out of the Demonic Emperor¡¯s pce, heading right in Su Chen¡¯s direction.

    ¡°It¡¯s discovered us!¡± Shi Mingfeng was stunned.

    Dammit, the teleportation endpoint was still too close to the Demonic Emperor¡¯s pce.

    Of course, he could understand why. The closer the teleportation nodes were, the easier it would be to break through the Demonic Emperor¡¯s pce¡¯s spatial lockdown.

    However, at this moment a Demonic Lord beast was chasing after them. With such a short distance between them, there was no way they were going to be able to get away.

    Su Chen calmly pulled out an item.

    Silver Moon Shuttle.

    ¡°It¡¯s a Cloud-Piercing Shuttle!¡± Shi Mingfeng¡¯s eyes lit up. He finally understood where Su Chen¡¯s confidence hade from, and why him, Night Demon, and He Xu had been unable to catch up to Su Chen earlier.

    This time, he had learned his lesson, and he moved to try and get on the shuttle first.

    However, Su Chen stopped him from getting on. ¡°Transport fee is sixty million Origin Stones.¡±

    ¡°What kind of joke is that?¡± Shi Mingfeng was both stunned and enraged.

    ¡°I¡¯m not kidding.¡± Su Chen stared coldly at him.

    Shi Mingfeng suddenly understood when he saw Su Chen¡¯s gaze.

    You could not avoid paying a price for your betrayal. The price He Xu paid for his actions was his life, and Shi Mingfeng also needed to pay a price for sitting on the fence. The spatial fissure was a warning, and this was the price to pay.

    ¡°I can give up on what you agreed to give me,¡± Shi Mingfeng said.

    Su Chen released his grip and let Shi Mingfeng onto the shuttle.

    It was just a few treasures. Su Chen didn¡¯t really care much about them.

    However, if you made a mistake, you had to be punished.

    Shi Mingfeng¡¯s punishment was quite light. Otherwise, even if he was a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, Su Chen had the confidence that he could kill him somehow.

    Off in the distance, a yellow figure in the shape of a pangolin charged in their direction, leaving behind a long ditch in its wake. Once it got closer to Su Chen, it opened its mouth, and a powerful wave of energy shot high into the sky.

    The Silver Moon Shuttle arced through the air, dodging this attack and shooting off into the distance.

    ¡°You won¡¯t be able to get away!¡± the old pangolin howled angrily.

    As it howled, the ground trembled under its feet as massive rocks were torn from the ground and sent into the air. Even the nearby mountains were crumbling, turning into countless boulders that wereunched into the sky. Its strength was a bit weaker, and it wasn¡¯t able topletely uproot the mountain, but nevertheless these house-sized rocks and the ten-kilometer radius they epassed was really quite a shocking sight to behold.

    The boulders began to rain down from the sky like meteors, turning the entire sky a fiery red.

    Su Chen weaved in and out of the ¡°meteor shower¡± as fast as he could.

    ¡°Below, below! Careful!¡± Night Demon and Shi Mingfeng yelled together.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so anxious!¡± Su Chenughed. The Silver Moon Shuttle shuddered as it made a sharp 90 degree turn and narrowly squeezed past two boulders. The two boulders mmed into each other and burst open with a ¡°bang¡± behind them.

    An instantter, even more stones appeared, this timeing at them from the front.

    Su Chen controlled the Flying Moon Shuttle and sent it high into the air, narrowly avoiding these rocks as well.

    Bang!

    One of the stones flying from the side mmed into the Silver Moon Shuttle, sending it spiraling.

    ¡°We¡¯re about to crash!¡± the two of them yelled.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so anxious! It won¡¯t fall apart that easily.¡±

    Boom!

    With a brilliant light, the Silver Moon Shuttle pierced through the massive boulder, but the barrier enveloping the shuttle also dimmed as well. Su Chen hurriedly tossed a handful of Origin Stones at it.

    ¡°It¡¯s catching up!¡± Night Demon yelled loudly.

    Su Chen nced behind them. Indeed, even though they had been trying their hardest to escape, this guy had somehow managed to get even closer.

    ¡°It can really chase,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    The Silver Moon Shuttle slightly adjusted course and shot forwards in that direction.

    In front of them was a towering mountain, cutting off the path forward

    The old pangolin tilted its head back and howled with range. Even if it was an entire mountain range, it was going to pull it uppletely.

    However, that mountain range actually had a massive vein of metal ore once the surface rockyer was stripped. The metal did not conduct Origin Energy, so their value was quite low. The old pangolin had no way of controlling thisyer of metal. It howled and lowered its head, tunneling into the ground.

    To the pangolin, traveling through the ground was faster than trying to tunnel through this mountain of metal.

    When he saw the pangolin dig into the ground, Su Chen muttered, ¡°Idiot!¡±

    The shuttle changed direction again, heading off elsewhere.

    The pangolin reemerged from the ground and raised its head, but found no trace of the Silver Moon Shuttle. It spat out a mouthful of blood in shock.

    The blood sprayed on its face before forming another eye.

    ¡°Ultimate Dao Eye!¡±

    The old pangolin continued to expand the range of its vision without caring for the cost until it managed to spot the Silver Moon Shuttle.

    ¡°Bastard, do you really think you can get away?¡± the old pangolin howled.

    As it howled, it charged up to the peak of the mountain and howled to the sky, ¡°Golden-Winged ones, I, the Scarlet Heart¡¯s loyal servant, am summoning you!¡±

    ¡°Hiss!¡±

    Hissing noises could be hearding from the sky as golden light began to shine from the sky. It was the Golden-Winged Eagles that the old pangolin had called out for.

    ¡°A thief has stolen the Scarlet Heart¡¯s treasures. I request of you based on the vow you made with His Majesty thousands of years ago to catch that thief and seize everything that he has taken. In return, I promise to give you your freedom!¡±

    A massive Golden-Winged Eagle pped its wings and said, ¡°You aren¡¯t the Scarlet Heart. You don¡¯t have the authority to order us around, and you don¡¯t have the authority to make such a promise.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll swear on my own life......¡±

    ¡°No, you aren¡¯t swearing on your life. You¡¯re swearing on your death. Do you think I don¡¯t understand what has happened? You lost the Scarlet Heart¡¯s treasures. To you, death is the best rpense you can offer to His Majesty. Your life is no longer your own, so what authority do you have to give us freedom? We have been lied to by the Scarlet Heart once already. It won¡¯t happen again,¡± the Golden-Winged Eagle King said as it pped its wings, taking its troops with it and flying high into the sky.

    ¡°NO!¡± the pangolin howled in despair.

    The old pangolin faced towards the east in despair and slowly fell to his knees. Your Majesty, this old ve of yours has made a grave mistake and lost the treasures within the pce. All I can do now is offer my life as an apology.¡±

    As he spoke, his consciousness seemed to turn into wisps of air and wash away. It flew over a long distance, towards the Scarlet Heart who was currently in the Ferocious Race¡¯s territory directing the Beast Wave. Then, the old pangolin copsed, never to rise again.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 177: Renegotiation

    The Silver Moon Shuttle casually flew through the air like a bird, headed in the direction of the Ravager¡¯s borders.

    After stealing the Demonic Emperor¡¯s treasures, Su Chen had fullypleted his task in the Beast Race¡¯s territory, so it was no surprise that he was now nning on returning.

    The Silver Moon Shuttle quickly flitted through the air without any further incidents.

    There were Demonic Beasts faster than the Silver Moon Shuttle, but there weren¡¯t many who had been left behind as guards.

    The sky was clear, with not a cloud in sight.

    As the Silver Moon Shuttle rapidly flew through the air, grassy ins rolled by beneath, and the window revealed the pleasant scenery all around them.

    As they weren¡¯t being chased, Su Chen didn¡¯t fly too quickly or too slowly. They traveled at a leisurely pace, peacefully drinking in the scenery that went by.

    As they flew by, they suddenly saw arge group of soldiers and mounts slowly advancing on them. Upon closer inspection, they appeared to be Ravager soldiers.

    These Ravager soldiers seemed like they had just fought a huge battle. They had suffered quite a few casualties, and their current group seemed like even more were wounded.

    Su Chen immediately realized that this was a remnant group from the army that had battled the ck Wind Lord.

    Even though Demonic Lords were powerful, they couldn¡¯t possibly handle tens of thousands of Ravager soldiers on their own. Su Chen had predicted this oue from the very beginning.

    However, Su Chen was more interested in finding out whether or not that ck Wind Lord had died or if he had managed to escape.

    If the ck Wind Lord hadn¡¯t died yet, then it would eventually recover ande for him again. If he lured him into another battle with the Ravager, they might not be able to afford to chase him even if they wanted to.

    This was the advantage that a powerful expert had over individuals weaker than them.

    The entire Ravager army currentlyy beneath their aerial vantage point.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t see anything like a Demonic Beast corpse emanating a powerful aura, so he knew that the Ravager had most likely been unsessful. Aftering to this conclusion, a thought suddenly popped in his head. He chuckled, then drove the Flying Moon Shuttle downwards.

    Shi Mingfeng was badly startled by his actions. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I want to greet a few old friends.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng yelled, ¡°Are you crazy? They¡¯re the Ravagers!¡±

    Su Chen stared hard at him. ¡°Are you trying to lecture me?¡±

    Shi Mingfeng froze.

    He said, ¡°No...... I just wanted to remind you that the Ravagers have vicious personalities and aren¡¯t the most appropriate people to build up rtions with.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that they¡¯re much harder to deal withpared to most humans.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng could only sigh. It had been his fault for letting his greed get the better of him.

    At this point in time, he could only let Su Chen make the decisions.

    Even though he was in the Light Shaking Realm, he disyed none of the pride that an expert of that level ought to have had in front of Su Chen. The instinct in his heart was telling him that even in a one-on-one fight, he shouldn¡¯t have any confidence in winning.

    The Silver Moon Shuttle circled in the air a couple times beforending. It stopped its descent right above the Ravager army¡¯s head.

    Even so, the Ravagers were still able to spot the ship. They began to yell and mor, and a flying dragon made of poisonous liquid soon unfurled its wings and took flight.

    The Silver Moon Shuttle shot through the air, maintaining a certain distance from the flying dragon. At the same time, Su Chen pulled out a chunk of Mica Crystal, shone it at himself, and then tossed it out.

    Mica Crystals were a strange substance that couldpletely record a person¡¯s appearance. Within a given distance, it was even possible for a person to transmit words. It was precisely this item that Su Chen had used to trick Danba back during the battle at the swamp.

    All of the Ravager soldiers watched as an image of Su Chen floated down from the sky. Itnded on the ground and smiled, ¡°The Ravager really is hospitable to its guests.¡±

    ¡°A human!¡±

    The Ravager soldiers began to mor even harder amongst one another and were about to charge forward.

    ¡°Stop!¡± Danba barked out amand.

    The group of soldiers split down the middle, and Danba walked out of the army¡¯s ranks.

    He lifted his head and looked at the sky, then at the fake Su Chen on the ground. ¡°Your courage truly astounds me. You dare appear even in this situation?¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I dare? Just because of that worthless flying dragon of yours?¡± Su Chen coldly harrumphed. ¡°You won¡¯t be able to take me on just as you weren¡¯t able to take the ck Wind on.¡±

    ¡°So now you¡¯re here to provoke me?¡±

    ¡°You think I wasted a Mica Crystal on you just to provoke you?¡±

    ¡°Then why are you here?¡±

    ¡°Do you remember my suggestion fromst time?¡±

    Danba squinted.

    Of course he remembered.

    How could he forget?

    Su Chen¡¯s previous words were like a corrosive poison; it had entered through his ear and burrowed deep in his heart, making it impossible for him to forget.

    Improving the Ravagers¡¯ ability to utilize Origin Energy!

    Countless Ravagers had dreamt about something like this.

    However, when the words came from Su Chen¡¯s mouth, a chilling intent seemed to permeate everything he was saying.

    You knew that he didn¡¯t have good intentions, but the bait was so enticing that there was really no way to refuse.

    After being silent for some time, he asked, ¡°What exactly do you want?¡±

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen shook his head. ¡°What I want isn¡¯t that important to you. What¡¯s more important is that what I want is not something you can offer.¡±

    ¡°So why are you here wasting my time?¡±

    ¡°Just because you won¡¯t hand it over today doesn¡¯t mean that you won¡¯t do so in the future,¡± Su Chen replied with a bright smile. ¡°I came looking for you mainly to negotiate and to give you an opportunity. Why don¡¯t you listen to my conditions first. Someday, when you feel that these conditions are satisfactory, you cane looking for me.¡±

    ¡°What are the conditions?¡± Danba asked.

    Su Chen calmly said, ¡°I want the Inferno Divine Shrine¡¯s Origin Bone that their ancestor carries.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Danba¡¯s eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

    If the Ravagers had any precious treasures, the first would be the Origin Energy Temple because it allowed Ravagers to control Origin Energy. The second would be this ancient Origin Bone.

    This ¡°Origin Bone¡± was actually a bone from the Shining Dragon.

    After an Origin Beast died, it did not decay ordinarily because it was simply too powerful; every part of it would turn into mountains, valleys, rivers, and vegetation. Remains were very rare.

    However, the Shining Dragon had left behind its blood essence, an Origin Bone, and its Crystal Jade Essence.

    The human race had taken its blood essence and turned it into the Origin Beast Bloodline.

    The Origin Bone was taken away by the Ravagers and used as a base develop Bone Diviners. The source of these Bone Diviners¡¯ power was actually their connection with the Origin Bone. The Shining Dragon possessed boundless power and had the ability to peer into both the past and the future. This ability had been partially passed down in its Origin Bone. The Ravagers¡¯ unique Bone Diviners had been produced as reproductions of this ability.

    Su Chen had only managed to discover this secret of the Bone Diviners by interrogating Reina repeatedly.

    Su Chen¡¯s appetite was simply insatiable if he had requested this Origin Bone. Of course, it was impossible for Danba to make this promise, and even if he wanted to, he truly didn¡¯t have the authority to make that exchange.

    The Origin Bone was kept in the central Divine Shrine and only the Inferno Tribe, who ruled the Iron and Blood Country, held absolute authority in managing its affairs.

    ¡°That¡¯s absolutely impossible.¡±

    ¡°If that won¡¯t work, then the three totems you guys have left will also be fine,¡± Su Chen said casually. ¡°You can just pick one of the two choices I¡¯ve offered.¡±

    The totems were currently held in the Inferno Imperial Pce. It would be even more impossible for Danba to give them to Su Chen.

    Danba angrily said, ¡°You¡¯re proposing a transaction that¡¯s impossible!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s only impossible for now,¡± Su Chen said faintly.

    Danba felt his heart tremble slightly when he heard this.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°Of course, if you don¡¯t agree, I can also go look for the Inferno Tribe¡¯s people and discuss with them. They might actually agree.¡±

    ¡°You haven¡¯t even managed to create a way for the Ravager to control Origin Energy yet, but you¡¯re already asking for such a high price. Don¡¯t you think that you¡¯re going overboard?¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°Is it? Actually, neither you nor I have ever once doubted that I would be able to achieve it, right?¡±

    Danba fell silent.

    Su Chen raised a finger. ¡°A month! Give me one month¡¯s time, and I¡¯ll show you something that you won¡¯t be able to ignore. If I can¡¯t do that, then you can just pretend that I didn¡¯t say anything.¡±

    ¡°Alright!¡± Danba nodded. Suddenly, he grabbed one of the Ravager soldiers standing to the side and shoved him forward. ¡°Take one of my men with you. In one month, as long as this guy can use any Origin Skill, I will believe you.¡±

    ¡°Fine. Send him up here.¡±

    The flying dragon made of poison swooped down and picked up the Ravager soldier, bringing him into the sky.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 178: Expansion

    Within Th Castle.

    As a city ofmerce, Th Castle was naturally extremely rich in resources. Therge-scale of production of Silverstar Flowers made the city an extremely rare resource production area in the Ravagers¡¯ territory. Therge amounts of Silverstar Flowers produced here would be exported all over the world, even to the human race¡¯s territory, Spirit Race¡¯s territory, etc. In exchange, they would receive back all kinds of specialized resources produced in the other territories.

    The rtionship between the various races was both of conflict andmerce.

    Even though it was an important nonmilitary city and didn¡¯t have many defenses to speak of, it was surrounded by powerful military garrisons and sturdy forts. These included the Inferno Tribe¡¯s Unshakable Steel City, the Silver Wolf Tribe¡¯s Radiance-Seizing City, and the ck Water Tribe¡¯s Wind City.

    These strategic cities monitored and guarded against one another, allowing Th Castle to ignore most worldly affairs. It relied on theck of peace between the various tribes and the abundant resource production to fully enjoy the feeling of wealth.

    Because of this, the Ravagers living in Th Castle were amongst some of the happiest. They had an abundance of resources impossible to find elsewhere in theirnd, and they lived very luxurious lives. Even the poorest native of Th Castle had their own luxury carriage. Most of the Ravagers from there didn¡¯t even work; they justzed around and sunbathed from time to time. Most of the work was done by Ravagers of other tribes, and at least eighty percent of the people living there were primarily there for work. The remaining twenty percent were locals, enjoying the riches that they had gained from the hard work of others.

    Of course, this situation was based on the current era of peace.

    When the world was no longer that peaceful, Th Castle would no longer be such a great ce to live.

    During the first month of the Beast Wave, Th Castle was quite badly frightened. The ¡°unshakeable¡± Unshakable Steel City, the Radiance-Seizing City, and the Wind City all fell one after the other under the Beast Wave¡¯s unstoppable onught. Large numbers of soldiers were forced to retreat.

    Even though the Beasts had stopped advancing then because the Inferno Tribe was starting to gather their army and threatening them, the people living in Th Castle had been badly frightened, seeing as they had suddenly transformed from the back lines to the front lines. In particr, it was possible to see beasts running rampant in the distance from the city walls, shocking the Ravagers that had lived like kings from within Th Castle and had lost the ferocity and savagery of their ancestors. Some even lost control of their bowels on the spot.

    Even so, that wasn¡¯t the worst part.

    Their siege of their city came very quickly after that.

    The offensive was not initiated by the Beasts, but rather by the human race.

    The hateful Heavenly Might Battalion had set up an ambush here a long time ago and had been waiting for the arrival of the Beast Wave.

    Once the Beast Wave had wiped out the three major cities, destroying the Ravagers¡¯ front line of defense and forcing their line of engagement back, the Heavenly Might Army had taken advantage of the weak back line to strike. They had ughtered their way towards Th Castle with a spurt of energy.

    Th Castle fell after merely a half-day¡¯s siege.

    Afterwards came a wanton spree of killing and looting.

    There was no mercy orpassion to be found. The Heavenly Might Army took all of the resources that they could get their hands on.

    Th Castle, which was known for its fertility, was plundered like it had never been before. Vast seas of resources were whisked away just like that, and the Heavenly Might Army was able to swagger right out of the castle. They even set fire to half the city as they left, enveloping it in a sea of red mes.

    This kind of catastrophe was a heavy blow to Th Castle, and it caused the Ravagers living there to lower the heads that they had arrogantly been carrying so high for so long.

    Even so, they didn¡¯t know that their disasters were only just beginning. An even more frightening storm was brewing on the horizon.

    Large groups of Demonic Beasts were gathered about ten kilometers out from Th Castle, resting.

    At the center of the horde of beasts was a massive, blood-colored pce floating in midair.

    The floating pce was actually held in the air by eight massive armored crocodiles. They were as tall as small mountains, and their tails contorted like a dragon¡¯s body. White, icy air puffed out of their mouths as they breathed. These armored crocodiles could wipe out a city on their own in the human race¡¯s territory, but here they were merely treated as low-level grunts to carry a pnquin.

    Bright red fog swirled around the blood-colored floating pce, asionally fluctuating with a sinister, wicked energy. A Iron-Winged Bird identally flew into some of the red fog; before it could even finish forming its tragic cry in its beak, it was turned into a bloody mist.

    The Demonic Beasts around the castle became even more fearful after that. None of them dared to get close to the blood-colored castle without a good reason.

    Most of the time, the pce was quiet. There might be a few Demonic Beasts entering or exiting the pce from time to time, bringing with them orders andmands on where to move a horde of beasts next.

    Today, however, the situation was obviously different.

    ¡°ROAARRR!!¡±

    An earth-shaking howl reverberated across the deste, barrenndscape.

    ¡°Bastards! What nerve!!!¡±

    Following this enraged howl, a thick killing intent began to exude from the blood-colored pce.

    This killing intent took on physical form, sweeping across the ins. Everywhere it went, blood-colored clouds would spring up from out of thin air.

    A blood-red light filled the sky, and the thick killing intent that had manifested in these red clouds began to spread. Even Ravagers hundreds of kilometers away could sense the rageing from this powerful will.

    What had happened?

    All of the Ravagers were confused and didn¡¯t understand.

    An instantter, however, a shocking scene appeared before their very eyes.

    ¡°Dudu!¡±

    The low sound of a bugle horn once again echoed across the deste ins.

    The distant signal for attack sounded out again, carrying with it a boundless aura of ughtering.

    How could this be?

    How had the Beast Wave suddenly managed to expand to this degree?

    All of the Ravager soldiers were aghast at the sight.

    The Demonic Beasts had all immediately fallen into a frenzied state.

    Forget about the mutual understanding! Forget about quitting while you¡¯re ahead!

    There would be nopromise! There would be no mutual understanding! There would only be an endless attack!

    They would fight, hunt, consume, and die!

    This was the ferocity and barbarism that should have belonged to the Beasts from the beginning.

    ¡°ROAR!¡± The beasts on the deste ins began to howl with excitement. They had lost all sense of rationalism and were beginning to revert to their primal instincts.

    They started running.

    The Ravagers watched as arge horde of Beasts individuals appeared off on the horizon. They had gathered into a massive wave that was charging forward.

    Tens of thousands of hooves beat against the ground, causing it to rumble loudly beneath their feet, and the light from the sun was blotted out by the countless aerial beasts.

    Beasts filled the skies and the earth.

    They surged forward like a wave, bringing with them an irresistible momentum.

    ¡°Heavens!¡± the Ravager soldiers swore as they cried out in despair at the oing ughter.

    The ¡°Ravager¡± individuals in Th Castle were even more panicked as they watched the front of the Beast Wave get closer and closer.

    Boom!

    They washed over Th Castle in a manner of seconds like it wasn¡¯t even there.

    This well-known resource production city had disappeared underneath the Beasts¡¯ ferocity and rage just like that.

    Simr scenes were ying out all across Ravager territory. Those who had retreated to find shelter from the Beasts and those who were hard at work defending against the Beast Wave originally thought that they could wait the Beast Wave out like before. However, they discovered that their assumption was wrong this time.

    The Beast Wave rapidly expanded. The enraged Scarlet Heart was going to take as much Ravager blood as he could for repayment for everything that he had lost.

    That day, thirteen Ravager cities copsed simultaneously, and countless Ravagers died.

    That day would forever go down in history as a catastrophe for the Ravagers.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 179: Mutiny

    The Beast Wave had actually gottenrger!

    News of this rapidly spread through thend as quickly as the Beast Wave had grown in size.

    Because they weren¡¯t prepared, the Ravager soldiers defending the front lines didn¡¯t expect the Beasts to explode with such fury. They didn¡¯t even have time to set up their most basic defenses, and as such were routed mercilessly by the Beasts.

    Large numbers of soldiers died in battle, and the front lines were pushed back thousands of kilometers.

    The Demonic Beasts attacked rabidly, advancing everywhere and killing everything they could sink their ws into, threatening to drench the Ravagers¡¯s territory in a wave of blood.

    By the time the Beast Wave had started its second offense, Danba had already returned to the Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s main camp.

    Danba was silent for a long time as he gazed at the snowkes drifting down from the sky.

    ¡°We can confirm that Su Chen enraged the Scarlet Heart by plundering all the important treasures it kept in its pce. The Scarlet Heart has alreadymanded its troops to mount an all-out offensive. It seems like it isn¡¯t nning on stopping until one of us is dead,¡± Kubrick said, holding a stack of reports from the battlefield.

    ¡°Why do the Ravagers need to bear the sins of a human¡¯s actions? Does that damned Scarlet Heart not know who stole its treasures?¡±ined themander of Danba¡¯s guards, Laixi.

    Master-Killer Shaluo replied, ¡°He knows. The Beasts have already begun to openly pursue Su Chen. But that doesn¡¯t really matter to them; for them, the offensive must continue. His Majesty Anubi has already sent someone to try and determine why the Scarlet Heart is acting like this. The answer he received was his special envoy being ripped to shreds and sent to the bellies of those beasts. Of course, the Scarlet Heart still gave him an actual answer. He said that if it weren¡¯t for the Ravagers¡¯ inability, no human would have been able to plunder its territory. More importantly, he needs to make up for what he lost. He cannot possibly infiltrate another Demonic Emperor¡¯s territory or sneak into the human countries, so he can only earn back his losses from us. Simply put, the Ravagers are being held responsible for what his losses.¡±

    ¡°Those unreasonable bastards!¡± Kubrick yelled angrily.

    Shaluo chuckled coldly. ¡°If the Beasts were reasonable, they wouldn¡¯t be the Beasts anymore. These damned beasts are even more unreasonable than us Ravagers.¡±

    All of the Ravagermanders cracked a smile at that joke.

    ¡°The main issue right now is about still what we should do,¡± Kubrick said.

    Upon hearing these words, all of the Ravagers nced at Danba.

    The Ravagers were all like this. There might be one or two geniuses that rose from their ranks, but there would never be arge number. There was no possibility of a situation like this happening in the human race, where everybody had their own unique ideas. For the Ravagers, most of the time, everything that came out of their mouths was useless, and a leader would make the decision in a single sentence.

    To Danba, this was both good and bad.

    The bad part was that he had to face any situation almostpletely on his own.

    The good part was that he didn¡¯t have to worry about others refusing hismands or suggestions. His decisions were thew, and hismanders and soldiers who worshipped him would carry them out without hesitation.

    But would they still do so today?

    Danba calmly pondered the situation.

    However, he quickly stopped himself from continuing that line of thought.

    There were some things that just weren¡¯t good to think too much about.

    As a member of the Ravagers, he needed to possess the same resolve that they had.

    Danba nced at the people around him, then calmly said, ¡°Anubi has already sent out an order that all the surviving Ravager soldiers need to group up and defend against the oing Beast Wave invasion.¡±

    All of the Ravager soldiers turned to look at him.

    Even though the Ravagers hadn¡¯t fragmented into multiple countries like the human race, they somehow seemed to fight amongst each other even more often than the humans.

    The Inferno Tribe were the leaders of the Ravagers in name, as they were the most powerful tribe. However, as time went on, their influence had waned, and otherrge tribes had also rose to prominence. There was a lot of turbulence brewing right under the surface within Iron and Blood Country. However, like all the other races, when an outside enemy came knocking on their front door, the pressure would cause them to all band together. That didn¡¯t mean that any given side would acquiesce to another, of course.

    Because of this, Kubrick, Shaluo and the others wouldn¡¯t normally care for such summons.

    However, Danba had suddenly brought up this matter for seemingly no reason.

    Everyone was a bit confused as to why Danba would bring up this matter now.

    Danba said, ¡°I have decided to answer those summons. We¡¯ll take the tribe north to try and resist the Beasts.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± All of the Ravager soldiers were stunned.

    ¡°Are you really nning on doing that? Young Master, you¡¯re going to weaken our strength for the Inferno Tribe¡¯s sake?¡± Xi said.

    Danba sighed. ¡°There are certain things that you all don¡¯t understand, and I don¡¯t have the energy to exin it to you. All you need to know is that this will benefit us more than hiding off to the side.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir! Young Chieftain¡¯s will is the army¡¯s will!¡± all of the Ravagers yelled together.

    Even the wild and barbaric Ravagers knew how to demonstrate their loyalty when they needed to.

    ¡°However, there¡¯s one thing we need to pay attention to, which is that our rations are running low,¡± Kubrick reminded. ¡°Also, we are still the Gravel Lizard Tribe. We still need to inform the Head Chieftain that we will be supporting His Majesty Anubi in his efforts. Also, we need to give Head Chieftain an exnation for what happened to Bayan......¡±

    Danba nodded. ¡°I know. That¡¯s why I¡¯m nning on going back to the tribe first when we head north. We¡¯ll also replenish our supplies and our manpower there.¡±

    Replenish manpower? What did that mean?

    Everyone nced at each other.

    Shaluo asked, ¡°How many reinforcements is Young Chieftain nning on asking for?¡±

    Danba indifferently replied, ¡°The country is in trouble, and an official summons has been ced. Naturally, we should recruit all who are able to help...... I want all of thebat-ready soldiers from the Gravel Lizard Tribe.¡±

    When they heard this, their eyes all lit up.

    No matter how stupid they were, they could understand the meaning behind Danba¡¯s words.

    However, Shaluo skeptically said, ¡°These troops don¡¯t belong to Young Chieftain, but to Head Chieftain.¡±

    ¡°No. They belong to the Iron and Blood Country, and to the Ravagers as a whole,¡± Danba replied calmly. ¡°For the Iron and Blood Country¡¯s sake, and for the Ravagers as a whole, I believe that Head Chieftain will not be so stingy.¡±

    ¡°Then what if Head Chieftain doesn¡¯t agree?¡± Kubrick asked.

    Danba chuckled.

    He paused and nced at everyone present, then said, ¡°That¡¯s why we also need official documents to support us.¡±

    The few Ravagermanders nced at each other. They understood his meaning. Only the thick-headed Lonzell still hadn¡¯t understood. ¡°Whose support?¡±

    ¡°Idiot! Of course it would be our country¡¯s leader, His Majesty Anubi,¡± Laixi scolded.

    Danba pulled out a letter that he had prepared in advance. ¡°Laixi, tell Jensen to deliver this to Gun Castle. I want to see the reply in less than five days.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Laixi epted the letter, then walked out of the tent to take care of this matter.

    ¡°Kubrick, have the main forces prepare to move out. We need to return to the tribe within five days, so we don¡¯t have much time. On the double!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Kubrick left the tent with his orders.

    ¡°Lonzell.¡±

    ¡°Here, sir!¡±

    ¡°I need you to take a branch of our troops and set up camp in this ce. You must reach there within three days and thenplete the mission I have given you. Can you do it?¡±

    ¡°Lonzell willplete his mission at any cost!¡± Lonzell took his orders and left as well.

    As Danba continued to pass on orders, the Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s soldiers shifted into motion.

    Five dayster, Danba led his armies back to the Gravel Lizard Tribe.

    The Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s Head Chieftain came out personally to greet them.

    However, upon hearing Danba¡¯s rude request and finding out that his son had tragically died, the Head Chieftain was enraged and immediately refused Danba¡¯s request.

    On his way back, Lonzell charged onto the scene, and the Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s Head Chieftain died in battle.

    On that day, Danba used Anubi Inferno¡¯s authority and summons to mobilize the entire tribe and head north to defend the country.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 180: Silverheart Valley

    The Silver Moon Shuttle circled around a few times in midair beforending.

    Buller, the Ravager soldier, jumped out of the shuttle. He nced around and found that he was currently in a mountainous area, sandwiched between two peaks.

    ¡°The Heavenly Might Battalion is not here,¡± he said.

    ¡°Were you hoping that I would bring a Ravager individual to the Heavenly Might Battalion so that he could observe our every action and then inform his leader of all our ns when he returned?¡± Su Chen said as he stepped out of the shuttle. Behind him were the white paper doll, Night Demon, and Shi Mingfeng.

    They were currently in a valley in the northern regions of the Ravagers¡¯ territory. After leaving the Beast Race¡¯s territory, Su Chen hadn¡¯t immediately gone to look for the Heavenly Might Battalion. Instead, he had directlye here to make some preparations before beginning his experiments.

    ¡°I was never nning on returning alive anyways,¡± Buller replied. As a Ravager, Buller was full of their characteristic courage, valiance, and directness.

    As he had said, from the moment Danba had handed him over, Buller hadn¡¯t expected to return alive.

    ¡°I am not nning on throwing away the agreement I¡¯ve made with your master. Follow me,¡± Su Chen said as he turned around and began to walk through the valley.

    ¡°Where is this?¡± Night Demon asked, closely following behind him.

    ¡°Silverheart Valley, right next to the Halma Forest,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Why did wee to this ce?¡± Night Demon asked.

    Everyone had their suspicions and curiosity regarding Su Chen¡¯s movements, but only Night Demon was bold enough to ask.

    ¡°You¡¯ll know when you see it,¡± Su Chen replied.

    He continued to walk forwards without even turning around, only stopping when he was deep in the valley. Even though it was also his first time here, he continued to walk forwards evenly and confidently as if he had often frequented this ce many times in the past. Shi Mingfeng¡¯s heart jolted slightly when he saw this, and some ideas surfaced in his mind.

    The answer was quickly revealed.

    They finally got close to a mountain overhang. Shi Mingfeng saw a group of soldiers standing beneath it; even though it was only a group of ten or so people, they were all Yang Opening Realm Origin Qi Schrs.

    The captain of the squad cupped his hands in greeting to Su Chen and said, ¡°Commander Su, you¡¯ve returned. I hope that your travels went smoothly.¡±

    ¡°Smooth enough. How are things going with the generals?¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Everything is fine. We received news a few days ago that the Beast Wave has gottenrger, so we knew that Commander Su must have seeded in his endeavor,¡± the soldier said excitedly.

    Buller harrumphed unhappily off to the side.

    The captain saw Buller, the white paper doll, and Shi Mingfeng, and asked, ¡°Commander, these are......¡±

    The captain would have leapt to his feet a long time ago if he had seen a Ravager following anyone other than Su Chen.

    ¡°Shi Mingfeng, one of the regionalmanders for the Immortal Temple. Night Demon, my good friend. Death Shadow of a Youth, my new ve. As for this one......¡± Su Chen nced at Buller. ¡°A business wager, of sorts. He will return alive to the Ravagers, so if there¡¯s anything he shouldn¡¯t know about, you shouldn¡¯t let him find out.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± the captain replied respectfully.

    Su Chen took Buller and the others into the cave.

    Upon entering the cave, Buller¡¯s original suspicions were wiped clean from his mind when he saw what was in the cave.

    The cave was filled with arge number of Ravagers.

    He was originally wondering why the soldiers outside weren¡¯t surprised at all that Su Chen had a Ravager following in tow behind him, but now he understood.

    Su Chen¡¯s research on the Ravagers wasn¡¯t a secret. The Heavenly Might Battalion had always known about it; not only that, but they even supplied Su Chen with a steady stream of Ravager research subjects.

    ¡°Su Chen, answer me honestly. How much innocent Ravager blood is on your hands!?¡± Buller yelled with rage.

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember anymore. If you include the deaths from the Beast Wave, there must be millions if not tens of millions, right?¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°So why concern yourself with the ones I have here.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not the same!¡± Buller howled angrily.

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing different about it,¡± Su Chen said disdainfully. ¡°There¡¯s one thing that I need to correct you on. In the eyes of the human race, the Ravagers have never been innocent. You barbarians can only rely on plundering to survive, idling away your time and never moving past your barbaric and vicious way of life. You feel that the deaths of yourpatriots were undeserved, but who will feel that way about the deaths of mypatriots? Don¡¯t forget that for thousands of years, the Ravagers have always been the ones to encroach upon our territory.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because you humans control the most fertilend! The Ravagers cannot produce any resources, so we can only import them from the outside. If you were willing to even hand over a bit of that fertile territory......¡±

    ¡°If we hand over a bit, then the Ravagers will only grow hungrier and turn their mouths on the human race. Once they expand to a point where the territory they have is no longer enough to sustain them anymore, they will once again try to expand and invade our territory. Don¡¯t speak such nonsense, idiot. The Ravagers¡¯ appetite is insatiable. There is no point in having mercy for a reckless race like yours. ughtering you all is still the best choice,¡± Su Chen said bluntly.

    ¡°But you¡¯re cooperating with us right now,¡± Buller immediately countered back.

    ¡°It¡¯s like the cooperation between a human and a dog. If I toss you a bone, the only proper response is for you to bark ande lick it. Even though the Ravagers are vicious and deserve to die, from another angle they make quite useful dogs.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the one that deserves to die!¡± Buller howled fiercely as he charged forwards.

    Su Chen pped him, easily sending him flying. ¡°You can choose to not ept what I say, but it¡¯s the truth, and it¡¯s also what I have in store for your future. As for right now, before you can be my dog, you will have to be my research subject. You can choose to not cooperate, but don¡¯t forget that these experiments are being conducted to give the Ravagers the ability to control Origin Energy. You might feel humiliated by these experiments, but if you don¡¯t cooperate, then the remaining surviving Ravagers won¡¯t even be useful as dogs. But for you, the highest motivation is that you are Danba¡¯s loyal dog already, right? So you¡¯d better listen to his orders. Otherwise, I¡¯m not afraid to kill you, then hand over another subordinate to Danba in your ce. At that point, your death will have no value; on the contrary, it will only have made more problems for Danba.¡±

    Buller was rendered speechless.

    Only someone who held all the cards could afford to act so bullishly. Even though his opponent¡¯s every sentence jabbed at his heart and made it bleed, Buller had no way of refuting or defending himself against these statements.

    Buller knelt on the ground, staring maliciously at Su Chen like a vicious animal. ¡°You won¡¯t have a good ending.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps, but that¡¯s not important. The most interesting part of life is the living part,¡± Su Chen said indifferently.

    Then, he walked towards the Ravager captives.

    He said, ¡°You are lucky, yet you are also unlucky. Your fate is no longer that of being dissected and killed, but rather a different kind of experiment. However, I have no idea what suffering this new kind of experiment might bring to you. The only thing you can do is pray and cooperate. If you are lucky, you will survive, and you may even obtain great powers.¡±

    He didn¡¯t say what would happen if they were unlucky, but all of the Ravagers present knew what he was implying.

    Now that they had fallen in the demon Su Chen¡¯s hands, they would either be useful to him alive or be used to death. Actually, these two oues might even be the one and the same.

    ¡°Did you just say control Origin Energy?¡± a clear voice spoke out.

    It was Reina, the bone diviner.

    She hadn¡¯t died, and was lucky enough to still be alive. However, she had be extremely pale and haggard.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Su Chen smiled at her. ¡°I will be researching a method to allow the Ravagers to control Origin Energy. If you have any remaining allegiance to your race, then it¡¯s in your best interest to cooperate with me.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 181: Seedling

    ¡°So Su Chen has returned?¡±

    Within the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s tent, Shi Kaihuang frowned as he gazed at the report in his hands. ¡°Researching a way to help the Ravagers control Origin Energy? What is he thinking?¡±

    ¡°In his words, probably ¡®just a simple exchange,¡¯¡± Li Chongshan chuckled. ¡°This disciple of yours can reallye up with crazy ideas.¡±

    ¡°What a nonsensical idea!¡± Shi Kaihuang cursed. ¡°Giving the Ravagers the ability to control Origin Energy and increasing the strength of our enemies? What kind of idea is that?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that you can¡¯t see through his intentions,¡± Li Chongshan said. ¡°From a broader perspective, the five races are facing off against the Beasts together. In that sense, increasing the strength of the Ravagers is indeed beneficial for us. From a smaller perspective, he is fighting to obtain even more opportunities for the Heavenly Might Battalion.¡±

    ¡°Then what about from the middle perspective?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a detriment to Long Sang Country!¡± Li Chongshan immediately replied.

    Regardless of if you considered it from the standpoint of the mutual conflict against the Beasts or from the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s current viewpoint, making such an exchange with the Ravagers was appropriate as it could bring about great benefits.

    But since the threat from the beasts had yet to manifest apocalyptically and the five races were still fighting each other, the pressure on Long Sang Country would increase, as they needed to fend off the Ravagers on their own.

    In other words, the entire human race and the Heavenly Might Battalion might benefit, but Long Sang Country would bear all the drawbacks.

    Shi Kaihuang said, ¡°What do you think His Majesty would think if he found this out?¡±

    ¡°What he¡¯ll think about it, I don¡¯t know. I just know that without Su Chen, the Heavenly Might Battalion would already have fallen. Also...... Su Chen might have already taken all this into ount,¡± Li Chongshan stated calmly.

    With the advent of the bloodline-less Blood Boiling and Yang Opening Realm techniques, as well as the Hemolytic Totem, the strength of the human race was rapidly increasing. However, because it was still early on, this advantage was not yet obvious. But as time naturally went on, humanity¡¯s rise was inevitable.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, the people who would reap the most benefits from the human race¡¯s rise to power was obviously the people standing at the very peak.

    When there was no external threat, internal struggles often would begin.

    But what if the Ravagers¡¯ strength increased during this period of time?

    If the pressure on Long Sang Country didn¡¯t decrease, then what would the situation look like?

    On the other hand, if the Ravagers grew stronger but Su Chen also managed toplete the Light Shaking Realm technique, what would that mean......?

    Even though Li Chongshan hadn¡¯t known Su Chen for more than a few months, he understood Su Chen¡¯s character. For every step that Su Chen took, he would think three additional steps ahead, so it was undeniable that Su Chen would have some kind of backup n in ce.

    If Li Chongshan understood Su Chen, then how could Shi Kaihuang not?

    When he heard Li Chongshan¡¯s words, Shi Kaihuang froze momentarily, then sighed. ¡°This is the only shoring of this disciple of mine. His thoughts are too deep, and he relies too much on trickery and scheming.¡±

    ¡°In this chaotic world, having too many thoughts is not necessarily a bad thing. If you aren¡¯t intelligent, then how can you break through the restrictions that have suppressed tens of millions of people?¡± Li Chongshan said faintly.

    ¡°At least you¡¯re able to be this casual about it,¡± Shi Kaihuangughed bitterly. ¡°If he keeps doing things like this, we might be in even bigger trouble by the time we return to Long Sang Country.¡±

    Li Chongshan replied, ¡°Do you think that we won¡¯t have any trouble even if we return now?¡±

    Shi Kaihuang was stunned. He fell into a moment of contemtive silence.

    After a long time, he sighed and said, ¡°I was the one who harmed the Heavenly Might Battalion.¡±

    Why was the Heavenly Might Battalion in such a situation?

    On the surface, the Crown Prince had been too greedy and had taken a huge risk, but Shi Kaihuang was very clear that, unless someone had prodded him in that direction, the Crown Prince would not have made such a huge mistake.

    The reason someone had given him that prod was obvious once you thought about it.

    His actions had affected the benefits certain individuals were receiving.

    Shi Kaihuang had understood this principle while he was still at the Hidden Dragon Institute, but at that time all he thought was that he had to face this on his own.

    However, for as farsighted and wise as he was, there were still some things that he had overlooked.

    There were some burdens that he alone could not bear.

    His friends, hisrades, and his disciple were now all wrapped up in it because of him.

    However, none of them had said anything, and they had all epted this without anyints.

    Li Chongshan said faintly, ¡°There¡¯s no point in talking about these things. You didn¡¯t do anything wrong; there¡¯s just a few people who aren¡¯t willing to be washed away by the tides of change, is all.¡±

    ¡°The tides of change?¡± Shi Kaihuang¡¯s eyes lit up.

    ¡°The seed has already been nted. A revolution is near,¡± Li Chongshan exined calmly.

    Regardless of whether their opponents epted it or tried to stop it, it was impossible to prevent the tide of a new age from crashing in.

    Within Hurricane Canyon.

    ¡°Breathe...... use your cultivation technique to sense the outside environment. Calm yourself and focus your attention on the Phoenix Pool. Gather the Qi and concentrate your Origin Energy at the Wind in node in your body. Bring it into your Dantian, then your Origin Sea...... Don¡¯t be in a hurry, make sure to do it slowly and precisely......¡±

    Iron Cliff¡¯s voice was gentle and calm, making people unconsciously want to listen and obey it.

    The Heavens knew that he had never been this gentle before.

    But when he was faced with a group of children ¡ª a group of Cliff Race children ¡ª being as gentle as possible was the best thing to do.

    ¡°Uncle Iron Cliff, Father tells me that I need to attack all-out in order to expand my sea of Origin Energy,¡± one of the twelve-year-old Cliff Race boys said.

    His name was Miye, and he was the son of Hurricane Canyon¡¯s Chieftain Hadley.

    ¡°What your father taught you was wrong. Trust your Uncle and do as I have taught you. I promise that you¡¯ll be able to cultivate faster,¡± Iron Cliff replied with a slight smile.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll give it a shot,¡± Miye said as he tilted his head.

    Miye¡¯s small face turned as taut as a piece of mountain rock as he began to manipte his Origin Energy with all his might.

    Sweat began to bead and drip down from his forehead.

    Miye began to sway. ¡°I feel a bit dizzy.¡±

    ¡°Hold on just a bit longer, Miye. This is the most crucial step. Once you¡¯re able to charge past it, everything will be fine,¡± Iron Cliff continued to soothe. ¡°The same goes for everyone else.¡±

    The group of children ground their teeth and continued pressing onwards. Sweat trailed down their foreheads, but the children continued to diligently study.

    It was obvious that for them, just holding on was torturous and exhausting just based on the way that their bodies were swaying. However, their powerful wills allowed them to continue enduring.

    Iron Cliff saw in them a ray of hope.

    ¡°Stop! What are you doing!¡±

    An enraged howl sounded out from outside.

    Hadley strode in, staring at Iron Cliff angrily.

    ¡°I¡¯m teaching them how to control Origin Energy. What¡¯s wrong?¡± Iron Cliff asked as he stood up.

    ¡°The method you¡¯re teaching them is wrong!¡± Hadley yelled. ¡°Are you trying to take them down the wrong path?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve misunderstood, Chief Hadley,¡± Iron Cliff answered. ¡°This is a technique that my master came up after improving upon current ones. You know that the Cliff Race¡¯s perception of Origin Energy is weak; this kind of technique can increase our ability to sense Origin Energy.¡±

    ¡°Can it help us break into the Light Shaking Realm?¡±

    ¡°No, but it can raise the rate at which we cultivate and solidify our foundation. When better cultivation methods for us arise in the future, they will be easier to adopt as well.¡±

    Hadley barked, ¡°Then don¡¯t start spouting nonsense now. Improving the rate at which we can cultivate? There¡¯s no point in aiming for something like that, and I don¡¯t believe in it in the slightest. Iron Cliff, I reminded you before to not stir up trouble here, but it seems that you didn¡¯t take my advice to heart.¡±

    Iron Cliff asked with confusion, ¡°What did I do wrong? All I did was give the children some good food to eat, then taught them a better cultivation method. Can you tell me which one of these was wrong?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re all wrong!¡± Hadley said angrily. ¡°You¡¯re interfering with my tribe and our way of life. I was wrong to have let you enter this canyon in the first ce. You didn¡¯te here with good intentions at all! You¡¯vepletely allied yourself with the human race, and you¡¯ve brought their schemes and ploys here with you! If you want to poison our children to get at us, don¡¯t even think about it. You all, stop cultivating right now and stand up!¡±

    Hadley forcibly interrupted the children from cultivating further.

    Thankfully, Iron Cliff¡¯s method was quite gentle; otherwise, his mere interruption could have harmed them.

    Iron Cliff suddenly remembered something when he saw how angry Hadley appeared.

    ¡°There are lots of times when people can¡¯t clearly see what¡¯s good or bad. They might not be prepared to make a decision and can¡¯t see the truth. If you depend on them to find the right direction themselves, the possible oues are far too uncertain. Sometimes, we need to be a bit more forceful.¡±

    ¡°Like how an adult treats a child?¡±

    ¡°Like how an adult treats a child.¡±

    What his master had said was absolutely correct. Sometimes, people just didn¡¯t know what was good and what was bad.

    Hadley, who was extremely prejudiced against humans, instinctively degraded anything that was rted to them regardless of whether they were good or bad.

    Under these circumstances, using gentle tactics to rope in the Hurricane Cliff Race would not be enough.

    Perhaps he did have to use more forceful methods.

    Iron Cliff stared at Hadley. He said, ¡°Your words are not wrong. I am a ve to the human race. I have no freedom, and I must follow their orders. The reason I came here was entirely because my master gave me a mission, and everything that I have done is not without an ulterior motive.¡±

    When he heard this, a giddy smile appeared on Hadley¡¯s face. ¡°See, you¡¯ve finally admitted it. I knew that a despicable guy like you had ill intentions.¡±

    Iron Cliff shook his head. ¡°But there¡¯s one thing that you¡¯ve gotpletely wrong. These aren¡¯t the only tactics I have at my disposal.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Hadley was stunned, and an apprehensive expression appeared on his face.

    Iron Cliff stared at him empathetically. ¡°The Cliff Race is weak. In the past thousand years, we have relied on the human race to protect us in order to survive. You know this as well as I do. I don¡¯t deny that the human race has suppressed the Cliff Race, but neither can you deny that the human race has protected the Cliff Race. Most importantly, you cannot deny that the Cliff Race does not even have the ability to resist the human race. You thought that you could resist humanity¡¯s rule if you saw through my intentions and refused my kindness, but you have ignored a truth that you already know; if humanity wants to enve us, that is not something that needs our permission.¡±

    Hadley¡¯s expression changed.

    Iron Cliff continued, ¡°My master wants to use the Heavenly River Ancient Road, but that doesn¡¯t have to necessarily include the Cliff Race. I want to use the Cliff Race, but I do not necessarily have to appease you. Even so, both my master and I hoped to resolve this issue in the best way possible. You can call me hypocritical if you like, but I am going to tell you straight up that the moment you refuse our kindness is the moment you put yourself in a desperate situation. Do you really think that...... you can evade the human race¡¯s notice just by hiding here?¡±

    Hadley¡¯s expression sank like a rock in a pool of water. ¡°So you¡¯re nning on using humans to forcefully deal with your own fellow members?¡±

    Iron Cliff shook his head. ¡°I will not do that, and I don¡¯t need to do that. Chief Hadley, I respect your position and authority, which is why I tried to be as gentle as possible. However, that does not mean that you are my opponent.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Hadley¡¯s anger red again. The aura of a peak-level Cliff Race warrior began to emanate from his body.

    Iron Cliff seemed not to notice. He faintly said, ¡°You heard exactly what I said. Since you insist on acting like this, then I can only follow our traditions. Chief Hadley, I challenge you!¡±

    ¡°Challenge me?¡± Hadley howled.

    ¡°Yes, challenge you for your spot as the chief. This is the simplest and safest way. Hadley, you are a powerful individual who has cultivated for a hundred and eighty years, while I have only been alive for forty. I am your junior, but now I am challenging you so that you and our whole race may determine for themselves whether or not my methods are correct!¡±

    Hadley grabbed Iron Cliff by his garments. ¡°You¡¯re courting death!¡±

    Iron Cliff didn¡¯t move at all. ¡°Even if I die, I will have died in a glorious death on the battlefield.¡±

    Hadley stared at him fiercely.

    After a long time, he released his grip. ¡°Fine, I will give you the chance to fight. If you win, you will be the chieftain here, and the Hurricane Cliff Race¡¯s fate will be up to you to decide. If you lose, then you will die!¡±

    Iron Cliff thumped his chest fiercely. ¡°I will abide by these rules. Either I win, or I die!¡±

    Hadley turned around and strode away. Immediately afterwards, a signal summoning all of the Cliff Race members sounded out.

    Iron Cliff walked out of the cave, the signal causing his blood to boil with excitement.

    Just as he was about to leave the cave, he suddenly stopped and turned around to say to Miye, ¡°Continue your cultivation. I will check on you when I return.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Little Miye obediently replied.

    He sat there, silently following the cultivation method Iron Cliff had taught him.

    It was painful and difficult, but he continued.

    Grunts and yells began to float in from outside the cave. The other Cliff Race members were cheering and calling out as the two people exchanged blows, every impact exploding with power.

    Miye, however, remained grounded and focused all of his attention on directing the flow of Origin Energy in his body.

    Finally, he felt what Iron Cliff had been talking about. The formerly unfamiliar, isted Origin Energy suddenly became as clear as day in that moment. Miye felt as if there was a small star dancing around right next to him.

    Is this Origin Energy?

    He carefully sensed the happenings in his body, using his own skin to receive and catch ¡ª no, wee it. He began to rx his mind, allowing the energy to flow in on its own. Iron Cliff¡¯s words resonated in Miye¡¯s heart.

    He could sense the stars settling down on his arm and entering his body. Upon entering his body, it was immediately assimted, as if it were a drop of water falling into the ocean.

    Then, his sea of Origin Energy suddenly roared to life and began to glow brilliantly. Miye felt like his entire body was being illuminated.

    ¡°I seeded!¡± Miye yelled loudly.

    Uncle Iron Cliff was right!

    He was right!

    He wanted to cry out loudly.

    However, he discovered that the outside was now absolutely silent.

    What had happened?

    Miye turned around to take a look.

    He saw Iron Cliff standing at the entrance to the cave.

    Iron Cliff was smiling at Miye. He said, ¡°Congrattions, little Miye. You are a seedling of the Cliff Race¡¯s future.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 182: Dying For Oneâ€™s Country

    Boom, boom, boom, boom!

    A string of energy explosions repeatedly blew up along the ground, leaving behind a series of spiderweb-like cracks in the ground.

    Some of the more powerful explosions¡¯ remnant energies snaked through the ground with sharp, powerful strokes, leaving behind shockingly deep ravines.

    Even though these scars would close up and eventually disappear over time as the ground rejuvenated, at this moment the wounds were severe and the attacks furious.

    Demonic Beasts were running rampant left and right as far as they eye could see, crazily tearing everything in their path to shreds with their razor-sharp teeth.

    A ways away from them was a massive ck castle that had been erected on top of a mountain peak.

    Large numbers of Ravager warriors were gathered there, tenaciously resisting and holding back the onught of the Demonic Beasts.

    Unlike the Ravagers that the Heavenly Might Battalion had seen in the past, the ones in this castle were obviously the cream of the crop. All of them wore full sets of armor and wielded not flying axes but rather bows made from Iron Birch wood. The metal arrowtips were also poisoned.

    The Ancestors of the Divine Shrine patrolled the walls of the city constantly, singing a strange song that had an incredible effect. Everywhere the song traveled, the soldiers there would experience a surge of energy, and their strength would soar.

    A few specialized Ravagers wearing red or ck uniforms were also patrolling the city walls. These ck-garbed soldiers wielded scimitars and focused on quickly and cleanly killing every Demonic Beast that scaled the castle¡¯s walls. The red-garbed soldiers were constantly casting a variety of magic, unleashing massive waves of elemental energy at their enemies.

    The ck-garbed Ravager soldiers were the Soulless, while the red-garbed Ravager soldiers were the Guardians. They were all specialists raised and painstakingly trained by the Divine Shrine.

    However, when the Soulless, who were responsible for dealing with the Astral Beings, entered the battlefield, that meant that the Ravager¡¯s influence was drastically waning.

    One of the Bone Diviners tossed a bone a few times in the air, then got so low he almostid on the ground to inspect the profound truths hidden in the bone inscriptions.

    Then, he suddenly cried out, ¡°There¡¯s an ambush from behind!¡±

    One of the Ravager captains immediately sounded the bugle in its hands. Squad after squad of Ravager soldiers charged in the direction of the bugle call.

    At the same time, arge horde of venomous flying dragons suddenly appeared behind the castle, swooping downwards as they spat outrge volumes of poison. Because the castle¡¯s defenses had already beenrgely destroyed, the poison was able to easilynd inside the castle walls without any hindrances.

    As the poisonous liquidnded on the Ravager soldiers, it began to rapidly corrode their bodies as they cried out in pain and howled pitifully.

    Even though an Ancestor sensed it just a brief momentter and unleashed a healing fog, it was like trying to douse a fire with a cup of water. The damage caused by the venomous flying dragons had already killed off arge number of Ravager soldiers.

    ¡°Thunderfire Crossbows, release!¡± Following this frenzied howl, thick bolts made of fused thunder and fire shot forth from the heavy crossbows into the sky.

    This frightening volley of crossbow bolts dealt a heavy blow to the horde of venomous flying dragons. They shrieked as they fell from the sky, smearing the ground with blood.

    The remaining venomous flying dragons, however, continued to attack the Ravager soldiers. Even as they fell from the sky, the dragons spat out globs of poisonous liquid that destroyed the crossbows attacking them.

    After a few volleys, not many flying dragons remained in the air.

    ¡°Temple Unit, attack!¡±

    Massive figures shot into the sky, the totemic inscriptions on their bodies glowing radiantly with Origin Energy. They were all Temple Warriors.

    These valiant, powerful Temple Warriors trampled the remaining venomous flying dragons, and quickly dispatched them like a decaying log.

    Even so, no trace of happiness could be seen on the Ravager soldiers¡¯ expressions. They were very clear that the battle was far from over.

    War drums beat off in the distance and war gs fluttered in the wind. The massive blood-colored pennants seemed to foreshadow the imminent ughter ahead.

    The Beasts were still advancing in a frenzy. It seemed like they wouldn¡¯t rest until they had managed to im the castle.

    ¡°Are they crazy?¡± one of the younger Ravager generals muttered.

    ¡°They¡¯re going crazy,¡± a grizzled, weathered-sounding voice spoke.

    The speaker was an extremely tall Ravagermander. He had a long, white beard and long, white hair, obvious affirmations of his old age.

    Ravager individuals rarely died of old age. They were typically wild and unrestrained, and if they did manage to reach a certain age and their strength was declining, they would usually be rounded up and sent to attack a chosen enemy ¡ª either the Beasts, the human race, or the Astral Beings. This way, their race was essentially exchanging the lives of their aging poption for more resources and reduced consumption. This was one of the ways that the Ravagers used to survive.

    Even so, the Ravager standing before them was truly old.

    He was already 380 years old, a long time to live even amongst Ravagers.

    However, this weakened old man still firmly possessed an immense amount of authority, and countless Ravager warriors were willing to die for him.

    This was because he was Sachar Inferno, Anubi Inferno¡¯s blood-rted uncle, was one of the three Gods of War of the Inferno Tribe, and because even though he was old, he was not weak.

    He possessed peak-tier Totemic Inscriptions and had undergone a staggering six total baptisms in the Origin Energy Temple.

    Actually, he was equivalent in strength to a human Ultimate Emperor Realm expert, and he was strong enough to face off against a Demonic Emperor.

    At the same time, he was one of the rare Ravagers that had a certain measure of intelligence.

    He was like Danba, but with even more battle experience.

    Sachar had gone through countless battles, ranging from individual duels to shady fights for the throne. He had experienced every scheme, every ploy, and every brute-force tactic possible. He had three near-death experiences and had managed to survive even through extremely dire circumstances. The vast amount of experience he had umted was enough to fill many volumes of a biography, and it was for this reason that he was known as the Inferno Tribe¡¯s Shield and the Iron and Blood¡¯s Wall.

    The Ravagers believed that, with him here, the Inferno Tribe would never fall from their position as kings.

    Even so, this God of War wore an anxious expression as he gazed at the oing Beast Wave.

    Because he was facing a Demonic Emperor!

    The most elite existences amongst all Demonic Beasts, wielders of peerless intellect and strength!

    Even a God of War would feel apprehensive at the thought of facing such an opponent.

    ¡°Doing something like this is pointless. The Scarlet Heart is just wasting the lives of his subordinates. He controls too much territory, and the offensive line is far too long, so he must be fighting multiple tribes at a time. If he continues the war in this direction, then sooner orter he will be defeated," one of the Ravager captains said. This observation of his was unusually urate.

    Unlike Danba, the God of War had been inmand for some time now. He was not the only one who was smart and capable; arge number of his direct subordinates were as well. Many of them were quite clear-headed, and even though they were not geniuses, at the very least their intelligence could be considered normal.

    That captain¡¯s analysis was quite on point.

    The Beasts¡¯ momentum was beginning to slow down. Their reckless offensive had allowed them to advance at an incredible pace, but their casualties were also piling up.

    "But the Southern Advance Castle might not be able to hold out until all their military momentum is spent," another Ravager captain said with some anger.

    The Southern Advance Castle was the castle they were currently defending.

    The Ravagers had once been driven to the current northern border in the past and had vowed there to advance south again in the future to reim the fertilend there.

    From that point on, this castle had been known as Southern Advance Castle.

    Southern Advance Castle was the most important city separating the northern regions and the southern regions. It was not only useful in defending against the Beast Wave advancing from the north but also in keeping any possible rebellions by the various tribes to the south in check.

    Now, however, the castle had fallen into dire straits.

    "Yes, we won¡¯t be able to guard it forever," the old God of War muttered. All of the Ravager captains felt an unexinable shiver crawl up their spines.

    The Beast Wave rushed forwards.

    Perhaps their momentum after this would be severely limited, but it was inevitable that they would at least take this castle down.

    "Your Highness, then let¡¯s retreat!" one of themanders finally said.

    Even though the Ravagers never surrendered, all of the soldiers here might die if they didn¡¯t give up the castle under these circumstances.

    "Yes, we can only retreat," Sacher sighed. "Bartow, take everyone else with you and go."

    "Me?" Themander named Bartow was obviously taken aback. "Then what about you?"

    "I will remain here. Southern Advance Castle and I will share the same fate," Sachar replied indifferently.

    These words pierced into everyone¡¯s hearts when they heard this.

    "Your Highness!" all of the Ravagermanders cried out.

    "Your Highness, don¡¯t be rash!" Bartow yelled as he leapt forward and wrapped himself around Sachar.

    Sacher chuckled, but his gaze remained firm and unyielding. "Let me go, Bartow. Do you really think that you could hold me down anyways?"

    "......" Bartow relinquished his grip.

    Sachar said, "We can no longer hold onto Southern Advance Castle. The soldiers defending the city have almost exhausted their strength. If we want them to retreat, they must have enough time to do so. I will remain to hold the line and fight for as much time as I can."

    All of the Ravagermanders fell to their knees. "We are willing to hold the line!"

    Sachar impatiently waved his hand. "You are all the future of the Ravagers. If you die, who will they have in the future? Who will the Inferno Tribe have? I am already old, and my lifespan is limited. Since that is the case, then why should I waste it? Being able to die in battle is the greatest glory a Ravager warrior can experience. I am the Inferno Tribe¡¯s God of War and the guardian of Southern Advance Castle, and I am willing to die for my country. Don¡¯t argue with me about this."

    "Your Highness!"

    "Your Highness!"

    "Your Highness!"

    The Ravagermanders couldn¡¯t help but cry out, all of them vying for an opportunity to hold the line for the rest of the soldiers.

    "Enough!" Sachar barked fiercely. "Are you worthy of holding the front line and stopping the Beast Wave¡¯s advance? Are any of you here stronger than me?"

    All of themanders fell silent, dazed.

    "If not, then keep your mouths shut and get everyone else out of here. If you don¡¯t want my death to be in vain, then run. The faster, the better!"

    As Sachar spoke, he flew into the sky, charging towards the oing wave looming in the distance.

    "Your Highness!"

    All of the Ravager soldiers cried out sorrowfully.

    The mourning call of a bugle sounded. The Ravager army began to retreat when they heard this sound.

    At the same time, a small group of soldiers advanced while the rest retreated, walking resolutely against the tide. It was Sachar and his personal guards.

    This three thousand person Ravager force opened the main gates to the cities and charged out.

    As the personal guards of the God of War, this group of Ravager soldiers were the elite of the elite. Each one of them possessed high-tier Totemic Inscriptions, and more than a hundred of them had undergone at least one baptism of the Origin Energy Temple. They normally received the best pay and were treated with utmost respect, so when battle called, it was impossible for them to avoid taking on the most dangerous missions.

    In the previous battle, none of them had charged in, but they were now responsible for protecting everyone who was retreating.

    Even though none of them would survive this mission, they had no regrets.

    Because they were the God of War¡¯s personal guards!

    The three thousand soldiers prated into the enemy formation like three thousand arrows, immediately causing blood to fly everywhere. Anywhere they went, Iron-Armored Battle Rhinoceroses, Deste ck Wolves, ck-Blooded Sheep, Bigfoot Alligators, and countless other beasts all fell under the onught of these fearless Ravager warriors.

    Leading the charge was Sachar Inferno.

    The old God of War was like a god amongst men. None of the beasts present on the battlefield were fit to be his opponent.

    A horde of beasts howled and charged at Sachar. He swung the de in his hand, unleashing a swath of violent mes that devoured many of the beasts alive, only leaving behind a trail of ash hanging in the air.

    ¡°ROAR!¡± the old God of War howled.

    ¡°ROAR!¡± the three thousand personal soldiers of the God of War responded.

    Three Lord-ss Demonic Beasts charged in his direction, and Sachar fearlessly ran to meet and do battle with them.

    The brilliant mes rose to the skies, as if a burning sun had descended to the earth. The light was incredibly destructive.

    The Ravager warriors were brave, formidable, and unyielding.

    But even so, as they charged forwards relentlessly, their speed began to slow.

    Their momentum gradually weakened as their wounds began to umte.

    One of the Ravager soldiers finally fell to a sneaky Sabertooth Wolf after killing seventeen or eighteen beasts with his axe. Its razor-sharp teeth prated the defenses of his iron-like skin, rapidly tearing him to shreds.

    Yet even as another warrior was smashing open some beasts¡¯ heads like walnuts, a massive Demonic Beast lumbered by and trampled him into a meat paste.

    Even more Ravager warriors were pulled off of their saddles by all kinds of different Demonic Beasts, then ripped to shreds by razor-sharp teeth and ws. Their flesh and blood were devoured, not even leaving behind aplete skeleton.

    Ravager warrior after warrior died in such a manner, but they continued to charge forward relentlessly.

    They were merely following in the footsteps of their God of War, Sachar Inferno.

    His vigorous mes illuminated the sky. Sachar Inferno¡¯s entire body was enveloped in fire as he continued to charge forward imposingly.

    He had already managed to hack the three Demonic Lords to death, but three more Demonic Lords rose to take their ce, as well as a Demonic King.

    Sachar continued to swing his de. Blood and mes swirled around him as he advanced, a zing beacon amidst the sea of beasts.

    He didn¡¯t know how many times he had swung his de or how many steps he had taken, and he had long lost count of how many opponents he had killed or how many wounds he had received. All he knew was that he was growing tired, and that none of his personal guards were by his side any longer.

    His troops had all died.

    There was simply just too many opponents. None of them could take him on individually, but when they sacrificed their own lives just to inflict a nick or a scratch, even a peak-strength expert would eventually run out of options.

    The constant fighting had caused him to grow tired, and his hands became heavy.

    Seventeen Demonic Lords had died to his hands, along with three Demonic Kings.

    They stared at him, fearful expressions written all over their faces.

    You too know fear?

    A cold smile appeared at the corner of the old God of War¡¯s mouth.

    Then, he watched as a beam of light suddenly shot into the sky from the blood-colored floating pce.

    The sizzling beam of light arced towards Sachar.

    Under normal circumstances, Sachar would have been confident in being able to defend himself against this blow.

    However, the current him, who had exhausted his strength in battle, had no way of resisting.

    The zing de danced through the air and collided with the beam of light, but the mes quickly sputtered out, and the beam of lightnded dead center on Sachar¡¯s chest.

    Sachar trembled momentarily before he stopped in ce.

    Suddenly, his body exploded.

    As drops of blood and chunks of flesh flew everywhere, a strange, round pearl glowing with starlight remained floating in midair, and countless Demonic Beastsid their eyes on the radiant pearl.

    A ck hand appeared from out of nowhere and grabbed the pearl.

    A gentle sigh floated through the air. ¡°Finally, I¡¯ve made back a sixth of what I lost.¡±

    Dawn had arisen.

    Southern Advance Castle had fallen. Ravager God of War Sachar had died for his country.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 183: Remain

    Silverheart Valley.

    The Burning Sun Shuttle descended from the air andnded in the canyon. Shi Kaihuang, Li Chongshan, Chu Yingwan, and the others stepped out of the shuttle.

    A soldier bowed to Li Chongshan and the others and said, ¡°Deputy Garrison Chief is still doing his research and told us not to disturb him unless it was a serious crisis.¡±

    ¡°Then we¡¯ll just wait for a bit.¡± Li Chongshan wasn¡¯t particrly disturbed by this. Given how many contributions Su Chen had made at this point, no one had any issues with him making them wait for a bit.

    They sat beneath an old tree in the valley, drinking tea and ying a few games of chess with each other before Su Chen finally appeared, along with the white paper doll. Now that Iron Cliff was no longer with him, the white paper doll had be Su Chen¡¯s new assistant.

    ¡°How did you guys find time toe over today? And with my Raging Sun Shuttle to boot?¡± Su Chen asked with some curiosity.

    ¡°Southern Advance Castle has fallen,¡± Chu Yingwan said. ¡°Sachar Inferno has died.¡±

    ¡°Sachar Inferno?¡± Su Chen was stunned. ¡°The Inferno Tribe¡¯s old God of War?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Shi Kaihuang said as he nodded firmly.

    ¡°He¡¯s an important figure,¡± Su Chen said as he sucked in a mouthful of cold air. ¡°How did he die?¡±

    ¡°He died holding the line. Though he died, a majority of the hundred thousand Ravager soldiers inside were able to survive because of him. The Ferals had paid a tremendous price, but in the end they were only able to kill 24,000 Ravager soldiers. The main force of the Inferno Tribe had been preserved, and they had been able to safely retreat to the north of Sandsift Mountain,¡± Li Chongshan said.

    Su Chen muttered, ¡°Exchanging the life of an old man who is about to die to preserve the main Ravager force stationed at Southern Advance City? That¡¯s a pretty good exchange. What a pity......¡±

    No one knew what he felt was a pity.

    Shi Kaihuang said, ¡°I have another piece of news. The Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s Head Chieftain died, and Danba has officially taken over as Head Chieftain.¡±

    ¡°So he¡¯s begun to make moves as well,¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    ¡°You knew he would do this?¡± Chu Yingwan asked.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°All I know is that if he was having trouble even taking this step, then he has no right to discuss the conditions of our exchange.¡±

    Li Chongshan shook his head. ¡°He cannot satisfy the conditions you put forth on him.¡±

    Neither the Origin Bone nor the totems were items that Danba could afford to hand over.

    Su Chen calmly said, ¡°I was never nning on getting him to fulfill those conditions anyways. I just want him to do his best to satisfy them.¡±

    ¡°As expected,¡± Chu Yingwan sighed. ¡°You want to incite a civil war amongst the Ravagers.¡±

    Yes, this was what Su Chen was after.

    Only the person who controlled the Iron and Blood Country had the authority to sell the country¡¯s most important items.

    As such, when Su Chen made a proposal like that, he was secretly informing Danba what he was after.

    Internal conflicts, fragmentation, pitting Ravager against Ravager - that¡¯s what Su Chen was after.

    The Origin Bone wasn¡¯t important, and neither were the totems. Su Chen¡¯s goal had always been to strategically research how to increase thebat strength of the human race as a whole, not some treasure that could only increase the strength of the individual. With such a goal, neither the Origin Bone nor the totems couldpete with a cultivation technique that would bolster the strength of a race as a whole.

    If Danba wanted it, he would need to fragment the country.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t even need him to sell anything. As long as he tried to pick a fight with his current ruler, that was good enough.

    Li Chongshan and the others had some guesses about this, and now, they had managed to verify it straight from Su Chen himself.

    ¡°How do you know he¡¯ll do this?¡± Li Chongshan asked.

    ¡°Because he has ambitions and a patriotic spirit. Most importantly, he doesn¡¯t really even have a choice,¡± Su Chen replied.

    The bait Su Chen had offered was too good for Danba to even consider passing up. Any individual with the will to lead the Ravagers in the future would automatically want to bear the responsibility for the future of the Ravagers when faced with what Su Chen had proposed. Compared with the fate of the Ravagers, the Inferno Tribe and a short period of internal conflict were both nothing.

    Whether for his countrymen or for himself, Danba had no reason to refuse, so he could only ept.

    ¡°The question is, can he win?¡± Shi Kaihuang asked.

    ¡°Not right now. But I have given him the opportunity......¡±

    Given the Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s strength and Danba¡¯s power, it would normally have been impossible for them to challenge the Inferno Tribe for the throne.

    However, the Beast Wave had given him an opportunity.

    By relying on the devastation caused by the Beast Wave, Danba¡¯s responding to the royal summons meant that he could utilize the imperial decree to bolster his own influence.

    The first thing he needed to do was not to recklessly challenge an opponent but to increase his own strength.

    Once his power was adequate, he could afford to start making trouble for the Inferno Tribe.

    ¡°But even so, the Inferno Tribe will likely detect his scheme. They might exterminate him before he can deepen his roots,¡± Li Chongshan said.

    ¡°That¡¯s possible, but don¡¯t forget that I¡¯m here as well,¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    Everyone knew that he was referring to the technique that would allow the RAvagers to control Origin Energy.

    If Su Chen were to hand over this technique to Danba, then the Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s might would likely suddenly eclipse that of the Inferno Tribe.

    ¡°How is the research going?¡± Li Chongshan asked.

    ¡°Everything is going ording to n. I should be able to seed in at most ten days.¡±

    ¡°What point have you reached?¡± Shi Kaihuang asked.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°They can now sessfully reach the Qi Drawing Realm.¡±

    Even though it didn¡¯t sound like much, that was a staggering improvement for the Ravagers.

    This kind of cultivation technique was equivalent to allowing every Ravager to undergo baptism at least once.

    Shi Kaihuang couldn¡¯t help but feel apprehensive. ¡°I hope you¡¯re not ying with fire.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Quite the opposite. This is preserving the equilibrium. If the human race grows too powerful and dominant, we might not be needing to deal with the Ravagers but with other human warriors.¡±

    Li Chongshan, Shi Kaihuang, and the others were simultaneously taken aback.

    They hadn¡¯t thought the matter through as clearly as Su Chen had, who had managed to identify the ring issue immediately.

    After a long time, Shi Kaihuang sighed. ¡°Forget about it. It¡¯s your mission, so you make the decisions. I won¡¯t ask about it anymore.¡±

    Li Chongshan said, ¡°There¡¯s one more thing. Danba¡¯s Gravel Lizard Tribe has gone to the north, so there probably won¡¯t be many soldiers guarding the Heavenly River Ancient Road. In other words......¡±

    ¡°The path back home is now open,¡± Su Chen finished.

    The other reason for getting Danba to start an internal conflict was so that a path back home would be opened up.

    When Danba was cing all of his focus on the internal conflict, no one would be left to block the Heavenly Might Battalion from going home.

    This was the main reason why Li Chongshan and the others hade looking for Su Chen.

    They had been out and about for a long time. Without a doubt, the Heavenly Might Battalion was incredibly homesick.

    ¡°Yes, the path home is open now. Without the Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s aid, the few small tribes in our way will not be able to stop us,¡± Chu Yingwan chuckled. ¡°This is all possible because of what you have done for us. We came today to tell you that we can prepare to leave now.¡±

    ¡°We can prepare to leave now......¡± Su Chen remained in thought for some time.

    Then, he suddenly smiled. ¡°You guys can leave for now. I will remain here for a bit longer.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going to remain?¡± Chu Yingwan asked with some surprise. ¡°If it¡¯s because of the transaction with Danba, you can do that even if you go back. I promise that no one will stop you......¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Su Chen shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s not why.¡±

    ¡°Then what are you staying here for?¡± everyone asked simultaneously.

    Su Chen stood and took a few paces.

    Then, he stopped and looked up at the sky.

    After a long time, he said, ¡°I am different from you all. The Heavenly Might Battalion is constantly being pursued by the Ravagers, so all you have experienced in the Ravager territory is ughter and escape. You don¡¯t dare to stay in the same ce for a long time, and you cannot sleep peacefully at night. Even if you do want to go somewhere else, you need to spend time to deliberate over where to go. One simple mistake could damn you all to a terrible fate. You also don¡¯t have much time to rest during the day, so your physical strength has been exhausted to its limits. Because food is limited, your physical bodies are chronically malnourished, and many soldiers didn¡¯t die in battle but while on the move or even in their dreams...... there were even a few who chose to kill themselves.¡±

    ¡°The life of a soldier is not easy, and the same goes for you generals. Running a military requires strict discipline, and you need to n the next step immediately after encamping. You not only need to givemands during battle, but you also need to personally participate. Soldiers need to give their strength and their lives, while generals need to give their hearts and minds in addition to their strength and their lives...... Soldiers may want to die from exhaustion, while generals may want to cry from torment.¡±

    ¡°You could say that, even though the Heavenly Might Battalion has managed to aplish many glorious feats deep in Ravager territory, those feats were built upon a foundation of sacrifice and suffering. There were many times where you all should have died, but somehow you managed to survive, and if it weren¡¯t for my help, you would all have died. But all I can do for you is stall for a few days. The rations I brought are going to run out soon, right? No matter how conservative you are with them and how much we try and plunder the people around us, we are going to run into a supply crisis sooner orter.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why Ravager territory is not the ce for the Heavenly Might Battalion to stay, and the days that you all have passed through are not days that people can live for an extended period of time. That¡¯s why you want to leave, and that¡¯s why you all miss home so much.¡±

    The generals were all rendered speechless by his words.

    ¡°But I am different,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°I have the ability to disguise myself and can transform into a Ravager at will. I have the Silver Moon Shuttle, which is exceptionally fast, so I will be fine as long as I don¡¯t run into someone as powerful as a Head Chieftain. To me, the risk of living in Ravager territory is far lower than for the Heavenly Might Battalion. Not only so, but my quality of life won¡¯t decrease. Because I am alone and have a lot of money on me, I can fill my Origin Ring with enough supplies tost for ten years. I don¡¯t need to worry about resources or a supply of them, so my life will be much easier. As such, none of the sufferings the Heavenly Might Battalion needed to go through are a problem for me.¡±

    ¡°There is no threat or challenge for me to live here, but I can stand to profit much more here than I can in Long Sang Country. Every individual in Ravager territory is an enemy. I can do my business without worry; I can kill whoever I please, and I can experiment on whoever I want to experiment on. I will have no burden on my morality. Also, I can obtain all kinds of precious ingredients to haul in big profits. I already have an inconceivable amount of wealth just based on what the Heavenly Might Battalion has given me along with what I managed to snag from the Beasts. Even though I have lots of money in Long Sang Country as well, that is all because of my Instructor. Here, everything I have obtained is due to my own efforts. The feeling ispletely different.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled as he continued, ¡°So even though this ce is a ce of torment for the Heavenly Might Battalion, to me it is a ce of chance, a ce of destiny. My research has advanced in leaps and bounds here, my consciousness power has skyrocketed, I managed toplete the Immacte Cultivation Technique, and I am even upgrading the Ferocious Race...... It could be said that, during this period of time, my strength, my understanding of the world around me, and the amount of resources I possess have all increased significantly. Working on things behind closed doors all the time is not enough; from time to time, I need to go out and see the outside world to broaden my horizons. That is the way for me to gain more knowledge and achieve greater results.¡±

    Su Chen paused momentarily.

    Then, he continued, ¡°Most importantly, I have a feeling.¡±

    ¡°I believe that I canplete the technique for reaching the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline here!¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 184: Crazed Monarch

    Within Gun Castle.

    Twenty thousand years ago, this ce was merely a deste area on the Permafrost Wastnds. Nothing else was here.

    In the year 4189 of the New Star Era, the human race¡¯s Freedom Alliance was wiped out, and the Illustrious Divine Dynasty rose to power.

    The Bloodthirsty Tyrant Hanton Ironking took advantage of the opportunity and led the Ravager army against the newly-formed Illustrious Divine Dynasty to try and seize the Bloodline Extraction Instrument. However, they ran right into Gu Youhuang¡¯s ambush and suffered disastrous losses. They retreated to the Harvey ins after losing almost eighty percent of their army. Gu Youhuang had chased after them with his troops and captured Stormwind Fort. The Ravagers were forced to give up on the Harvey ins as well and retreated all the way back to the extreme north.

    The Ravagers were at the end of the line back then, and they were in a territory that was the most deste possible. Even the Ravagers themselves had given up on all hope of survival.

    At that critical moment, a miracle happened.

    One of the Ravager soldiers unintentionally stumbled upon a crypt. After walking through the long, hidden tunnel, he came upon an area that was flourishing with life.

    There, the sky was blue, thekes clear, the grassy earth covered in all kinds of green vegetation and strange running lifeforms. It seemed like paradise on earth.

    From this day onwards, the fate of the Ravagers would be forever changed.

    They named this ce Gun; in ancient Ravager tongue, this meant something simr to hallowed grounds.

    From that day onwards, Gun Castle became the holy city of the Ravagers, a ce of eternal happiness..

    After arriving at Gun, the Ravagers began the long process of building their country¡¯s capital.

    The history of constructionsted for around 1800 years. Various coups, usurpations, and bloodshed tempered the capital, eventually resulting in a glorious city that was called Gun Castle.

    In the year 4212 of the New Star Era, the Ravager General Dalich of the ughtering Axe killed the Ironking of Gun Castle, assuming the throne. This was henceforth known as the ¡°Gun Incident¡± by historians.

    In the year 7900 of the New Star Era, Sorna Redeagle killed Uldritch of the ughter Axe, dering that she was the first female Ravager ruler. The Ironbone n took the lead to rebel, and Barnard Ironbone led his troops out of Gun Castle, entering the Bloody Wastnds and wiping out the natives there in order to establish the Ironbone Tribe.

    These natives wereter known as the Ferals.

    Otherrge Ravager generals also began to split off and form their own tribes shortly afterwards.

    The Bloodhand Tribe, the Thunder Edge Tribe, the Droughthammer Tribe, the ck Sun Tribe, The ughter Axe Tribe, the Ironking Tribe, etc. were all created.

    In the year 8400 of the New Star Era, Sorna Redeagle met with the Elf Patriarch.

    In the year 8500 of the New Star Era, Sorna Redeagle began a second battle to try and unite the Ravagers under one banner with the help of the Elves.

    In the year 8800 of the New Star Era, Sorna Redeagle defeated the Droughthammer Tribe. The ck Sun Tribe, the ughter Axe Tribe, and a bunch of otherrge tribes began to discuss an alliance.

    In the year 8900 of the New Star Era, the Redeagle Tribe fought with the various allied tribes. The Redeagle Tribe was victorious, but paid an immense price, and Sorna was heavily wounded. The allied troops retreated to the Bloody Wastnds.

    In the year 9400 of the New Star Era, Bobet Redeagle led his army into the Bloody Wastnds and was ambushed there, then forced to retreat.

    In the year 10000 of the New Star Era, Tajita Ironshield established the Ironshield Tribe, separating from the Redeagle Tribe.

    In the year 11000 of the New Star Era, the allied tribes attacked a second time. The Redeagle Tribe was defeated, and Bobet Redeagle died in Gun Castle. The Redeagle dynasty ended. The ck Sun Tribe, the ughter Axe Tribe, the Ironshield Tribe, etc. began to fight with each other to establish dominance over Gun castle. Kerrich Nuyan was the final winner, and the Nuyan dynasty began.

    In the year 11200 of the New Star Era, the Ravagers, fresh off of the back of an internal conflict, were invaded by the Harpies and were defeated in battle. This defeat, however, resulted in the alliance of the various distinct tribes.

    In the year 12000 of the New Star Era, Kerrich Nuyan led the united tribes to Halma Forest, ughtering the traveling hunters and various races that lived there, iming that territory for themselves.

    In the year 17400 of the New Star Era, Ravager general Barham Berserk Hammer attempted and failed to assassinate Niyedi Gun.

    In the year 19000 of the New Star Era, the humans invaded.

    Benen Nuyan died in battle.

    Cleo ckfox counterattacked from the Bloodbath ins, allying with the Harpies to defeat the humans.

    In the year 19200 of the New Star Era, Cleo ckfox killed Charlotte Nuyan, and the Nuyan dynasty ended.

    In the year 20000 of the New Star Era, the Molten Steel Tribe and the Beech Tribe attempted to rebel.

    In the year 20800 of the New Star Era, the Redwolf Tribe rebelled, as did the Gravel Lizard Tribe.

    In the year 20900 of the New Star Era, Mark ckfox was poisoned, and Fetter Blueeye became the new emperor . Not long afterwards, Patrick Inferno rebelled, mounting an expedition against the human race and imingrge amounts of territory.

    In the year 23900 of the New Star Era, Alexander Inferno led his troops from the east to the northern regions, challenging the Ravager emperor at the time. He defeated the Blueeye Tribe and became the new emperor.

    Ravager history was full of internal conflicts, invasions, rebellions, and subjugations.

    Despite how many times control of the Ravagers had exchanged hands and how much history was there, the capital of Ravager territory had always been Gun Castle.

    It represented the Ravagers¡¯ history and their hope, the miniscule amount of beauty possessed by such a barbaric race.

    At the center of the flourishing territory of Gun Castle stood a white, round-domed building - the Ravager Imperial Pce, Eket.

    Eket Pce preserved some of the traditional architectural features of Ravager buildings. The style was simplistic and majestic, but it had also been ented with some of the more aesthetic features of Harpy buildings. The finer details had been greatly improved upon, revealing an borate design that was impossible for the Ravagers to produce. As such, it was often frowned upon by the Ravagers.

    Anubi Inferno really didn¡¯t like Eket Pce. If possible, he would rather have lived in Tefan Pce.

    That was a ce more suited for the Ravagers to live.

    However, just like he couldn¡¯t choose the country¡¯s capital, he also had no right to choose the castle he lived in.

    ¡°Sometimes, I really want to just burn this ce to the ground so that I can find a new ce to live,¡± Anubiined as he tapped his finger against his head. He was lying on a narrow bed constructed from the fur of a White-Headed Tiger King.

    ¡°Of course you can choose to do that, Your Majesty. After all, you are the unrivalled king......¡± a beautiful Ravager Female sitting next to Anubi said. She was basically naked, and all she wore was a simple strip of cloth. At the moment, she was drawing circles on Anubi¡¯s chest.

    She had a long, thin neck and sleek fingers, and her eyes were slightly nted, giving her a peerless charm about her. There was even a red dot ced in between her eyebrows, and all of her movements were effortlessly enchanting.

    There were seven or eight other maidens also only dressed in strips of cloth behind her or lying next to Anubi. asionally, they would croon seductively, filling the air with a decadent aura.

    Anubi ate the fresh milk grape that the woman fed him, then sighed, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, I would be an ipetent ruler.¡±

    ¡°So what? You can be whatever you like as long as it makes you happy,¡± the bewitching woman said charmingly.

    Anubi chuckled. ¡°My dear Alicia, if those loyal subjects of mine were to hear your words, they would say that you were a femme fatale bewitching the ruler and putting themoners¡¯ lives in danger, and then they would want me to hang you. I heard those humans like to do things like that.¡±

    ¡°Well, I would first need to be either your wife or your most favored concubine, but I am neither of those things. I am just the wife of a general, and I have no right to bewitch an ipetent ruler,¡± Alicia chuckled, covering her mouth.

    ¡°But you¡¯re in my arms right now,¡± Anubi naughtily stroked the woman¡¯s lower body.

    Alicia shook her head. ¡°That means I am just a pitiful, innocent woman who is being forced.¡±

    A cute, pitiful expression appeared on the woman¡¯s face.

    Anubiughed loudly. ¡°I like it when you¡¯re like this! Beautiful and erotic, yet filled with a bit of wickedness and charm. Your entire lower half is emitting a wicked allure!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just a weak, helpless woman......¡± Aliciay in Anubi¡¯s bosom.

    Anubi felt a surge of vitality he couldn¡¯t repress. He picked up Alicia and tossed her onto the couch, then savagely and recklessly entered into her body.

    Alicia responded with equal amounts of excitement. She bit Anubi¡¯s shoulder hard without holding back at all. Her razor-sharp teeth could shatter iron, and they sank into Anubi¡¯s flesh. However, all this did was cause Anubi to groan with pleasure.

    He furiously plunged in and out, the Origin Energy in his body surging like mes as it enveloped the two of them. The whole room was brilliantly lit up, as Origin Formation after Origin Formation was activated. These Origin Formations had cost a ton of precious resources, and countless human Origin Formation experts had been coerced into setting them up here, but their only purpose was to increase the pleasure the emperor felt as well as prevent the shockwaves of Origin Energy from destroying the castle.

    However, just as Anubi was about to climax, a Ravager servant hurriedly rushed in from outside.

    He knelt on the ground and turned a blind eye to what was going on above him, then said, ¡°An urgent report from the southwest!¡±

    ¡°Speak!¡± Anubi growled as if he was short of breath.

    ¡°Southern Advance Castle has fallen, and His Highness Sachar...... died in battle!¡± the servant said, trembling slightly.

    Anubi stopped his movements.

    He froze in ce like a stone statue.

    After a long time, he somewhat unwillingly extracted himself from Alicia¡¯s body.

    He sat up.

    He said, ¡°I understand. You may go now.¡±

    The servant left, still in a daze.

    Anubi ced his elbows on his knees, hunched over and staring intently off into the distance.

    He said calmly and slowly, "White Night, what do you think?¡±

    A voice spoke from within the shadows of the room. ¡°Even though the Beast Wave is fierce, it isn¡¯t one organized by multiple Demonic Emperors. Only the Scarlet Heart is going mad. Even though its attacks are very violent, it won¡¯t be able to sustain them for long, and Southern Advance Castle will be returned to our control.¡±

    ¡°True. But Southern Advance Castle¡¯s fall and the Beast Wave¡¯s wanton spread is causing my citizens to suffer, while I am here living the high life. There is something wrong with that, isn¡¯t there? Shouldn¡¯t I be doing something else?¡±

    The voice said, ¡°Your Majesty, you can kill a few of your subordinates to vent.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s a good idea. Alicia, you can pick one for me,¡± Anubi said.

    The beautiful woman on the bed pointed out an exceptionally beautiful maidservant from amongst the group. ¡°How about her?¡±

    ¡°No! Your Majesty!¡±

    Bang!

    Anubi¡¯s palm mmed into the maidservant, killing her instantly.

    He slowly withdrew his palm and let out a long sigh. ¡°I feel much better now.¡±

    Alicia wrapped her arm around Anubi¡¯s neck. ¡°Then does Your Majesty wish to continue?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Anubi shook his head. ¡°All that has been resolved is the matter of the fall of Southern Advance Castle. The death of my own uncle has yet to be dealt with yet.

    ¡°Then Your Majesty can kill a few more?¡± Alicia said, pouting with her red lips.

    ¡°Kill a few more? How could that be enough?¡± Anubi replied calmly.

    He ignored the maidservants below him trembling and said, ¡°That is my blood uncle, the God of War of the Inferno Tribe. He has taken care of me since I was a youth and has instructed me this whole time. He was the one who spent days tempering me and training me, turning me into a mighty warrior. He was the one who supervised my studies and forced me to learn not only martial arts but also culture andnguage. He was the one who stood his ground against the opinion of the masses and turned me into the Iron and Blood Country¡¯s ruler. It was him who watched over me to ensure that I didn¡¯t be a totally ipetent ruler. Every day, I needed to pay attention to the goings-on in the kingdom......¡±

    Anubi stood and cried out loudly, raising his hands, ¡°It was he who created everything I have now! And now, he¡¯s dead! How can you expect me to......¡±

    Anubi paused.

    He tilted his head back, staring at the sky through the crystal ceiling, then howled as loudly as he could, ¡°How can you expect me to not be happy!¡±

    ¡°...... Expect me to not be happy!!!¡±

    ¡°...... Expect me to not be happy!!!¡±

    ¡°...... Expect me to not be happy!!!¡±

    The voice echoed throughout the chamber like thunder.

    Then, Anubi began to guffaw. ¡°That old coot is finally dead! He was the one that caused me so much suffering! Even if I became the ruler of this country, I still needed to do things based on his countenance. He wouldn¡¯t even let me be an ipetent ruler! Now, he¡¯s finally dead. Who can control me now?¡±

    Alicia gently sat up. ¡°Congrattions, Your Majesty!¡±

    ¡°Whew!¡± Anubi let out a long sigh as he reached out to grab the woman¡¯s chin. ¡°So how can killing only one person be enough? I need to kill a few more than that! And I need to kill someone that I normally couldn¡¯t bear to kill!¡±

    Alicia¡¯s expression changed drastically. ¡°No, Your Highness!¡±

    ¡°Crack!¡± Anubi snapped Alicia¡¯s neck.

    Next, a violent wave of palm energy surged forth, ughtering all of the maidservants beneath him.

    The coppery smell of blood filled the air.

    Anubi breathed in deeply. ¡°How nice!¡±

    Then, he raised his hands and howled, ¡°Let the fierce storm grow stronger!¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 185: Annex

    ck Gold City.

    This city was located in the central region of Ravager territory. It was named after the nearby mine that mostly produced ck Gold.

    The guards of this city, the Droughthammer Tribe, might not possess the formidable might of their ancestors anymore, but by relying on the ck Gold Mine, they could at least livefortable lives ¡ª for the most part, at least.

    However, the good days were about toe to an end.

    Outside of ck Gold City, Bamito angrily stared at Kubrick, who was sitting on top of a Terror Rhinoceros¡¯s back.

    ¡°Sir Kubrick, what is the meaning of this?¡±

    ¡°Our meaning is quite clear,¡± Kubrick replied. ¡°The Beast Wave is headed for Gun Castle, and our country is currently in danger. As per imperial decree, all tribes need to go forth and defend Gun Castle. The Gravel Lizard Tribe is doing so, and the Droughthammer Tribe will not be an exception.¡±

    ¡°What the Droughthammer Tribe does is not the Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s business!¡± Bamito said angrily.

    Kubrick shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that that¡¯s not the case.¡±

    He waved his hand. A streak of light alighted on his hand, and it illuminated Ravager inscriptions, manifesting a forceful will.

    ¡°An Inferno Imperial Summons?¡± Bamito was stunned. ¡°How do you have one of those?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? Our Head Chieftain requested it from His Majesty. Under his orders, we have the right to conscript all tribes to resist the Beasts. Is the Droughthammer Tribe still nning on resisting?¡±

    After the former Head Chieftain died, Danba had assumed the position of Head Chieftain in his ce. As such, he was no longer called the Young Chieftain.

    Bamito searched Kubrick¡¯s eyes for answers. ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. You want to use that madman, Anubi¡¯s, hand to swallow up the other tribes?¡±

    Kubrick¡¯s expression sank. ¡°You dare to disrespect His Majesty!¡±

    ¡°What about you? Kubrick, between you and your chieftain Danba, does either one of you actually take that crazed emperor of ours seriously? We are Ravagers, fearless and bold. The Inferno Tribe has no authority over us; they can only invite us politely. If Anubi does not give us the respect we deserve, we refuse to be his dogs! And it goes without saying that we refuse to be your dogs,¡± Bamito replied.

    ¡°Then that¡¯s a shame. Head Chieftain Danba once said that unless you are the strongest existence in this universe, you will always be someone¡¯s dog. The same goes for me, you, him, and even for Anubi. Although I don¡¯t really understand what he meant, I believe that his words make sense...... He is always the smartest one,¡± Kubrick replied with a smile.

    He stared at Bamito and continued, saying, ¡°Head Chieftain also said that Bamito is a stubborn bastard and that it¡¯ll be very difficult to convince him through just words. That¡¯s the reason why he didn¡¯te talk to you personally. If he felt that there was any chance to convince you through words, then he would havee. But since he didn¡¯t, he sent me instead...... Along with arge group of soldiers.¡±

    Bamito¡¯s expression soured, and waves of killing intent began to roll off of the old Ravager¡¯s body. ¡°You dare toe to blows with us?¡±

    ¡°Why not? I¡¯vee with an army and an imperial edict, so I have both the justifications and the might to back it up. We were never here to negotiate anyways,¡± Kubrick said faintly. ¡°I just came to tell you that if you don¡¯t surrender, you will die. So you can die now.¡±

    He waved his arm.

    A signal arrow was shot high into the sky.

    ¡°ROAR!¡±

    A wave of wild howls seemed to resound from everywhere all at once, and the Gravel Lizard Tribe surged into action.

    They all leapt into battle without any hesitation.

    Bamito thought that he could make Danba hesitate, but he waspletely wrong.

    Just as Kubrick said, they hade with both the justifications and the might to back themselves up. Danba had no reason to waste time...... He needed to quickly finish off this tribe to get to the next battlefield.

    Time is equivalent to money. Efficiency is equivalent to life. Speed is equivalent to sess!

    Half an hourter, the battle had concluded.

    The Droughthammer Tribe had been dealt with in a single battle. Bamito had died in battle, along with another thousand or so tribe members. The rest had quickly surrendered afterwards.

    Conflicts between tribes were extremelymon amongst the Ravagers. Since they were all Ravagers, changing tribes was like changing houses; there wasn¡¯t really anything earth-shattering about that.

    The Ravagers were mainly nomads that relied on plundering and looting others to survive, unlike the more traditional agricultural races. Tribes were not organized territorially amongst the Ravagers, but were rather centered around a single powerful individual.

    For instance, the Thunder Edge Tribe had been established after Dalich the ughter Axe had imed Thunder Canyon and bestowed the surname Thunder Edge upon Bno, who had then taken the lead to enter the canyon. This eventually resulted in the formation of a new tribe.

    The ughter Axe, Redeagle, Ironbone, Bloodhand, Droughthammer, Hurricane, Ironking, and Nuyan Tribe had all been created in a simr way.

    Tribes were created because of powerful experts, and they would also decline when they lost these powerful experts.

    As such, tribes being restructured was quitemon amongst the Ravager Tribes.

    The Droughthammer Tribe had fallen, so that tribe would disappear. Of course, not every Droughthammer Tribe individual was willing to be swallowed up. A few of them might try to escape, rebel, or quietly bide their time. If someday they grew strong enough, they could try to reestablish the former glory of their tribe.

    These kinds of stories were amon urrence across the entirety of Ravager history.

    Danba didn¡¯t know if there were any Droughthammer Tribe members that would behave like that, but he also didn¡¯t care.

    All he needed to focus on right now was the present.

    Within the army¡¯s main tent, Danba was carefully reading over thebat reports when he heard a soldier reporting spoils of war.

    ¡°1024 opponents were killed and 8432 surrendered. We lost 106 soldiers, and 300 or so were injured. Our spoils of war were sixty trunks of fur, 3600 pieces of ore......¡±

    ¡°How many resources did you manage to take from Bamito¡¯s residence?¡± Danba suddenly asked.

    The reporting Ravager soldier was taken aback. ¡°What?¡±

    Shaluo, who was standing off to the side, said, ¡°We checked the ce, but Bamito was pretty poor, and we weren¡¯t able to find much.¡±

    ¡°Then shift some resources into his coffers. I would prefer it if the Head Chieftain that we killed was not so upright and honest.¡±

    Shaluo nodded. ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Also, let the soldiers rest for a day as we¡¯ll move out to ck River after.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re nning on taking over the ck River Tribe too?¡± Shaluo was obviously badly startled. ¡°They won¡¯t be easy to handle!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve already convinced Hatch. We won¡¯t be fighting with them; they¡¯ll be making an alliance with us.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s great to hear!¡± Shaluo said excitedly.

    Danba¡¯s expression, however, was not particrly cheerful. He had paid quite a high price to obtain the ck River Tribe¡¯s support.

    At that moment, another soldier came into the tent and saluted. ¡°Reporting to Head Chieftain, Buller has returned.¡±

    ¡°Buller!?¡± Danba shot to his feet.

    Shaluo was also taken aback. ¡°Buller? Didn¡¯t he go off with Su Chen? Could it be......¡±

    ¡°Su Chen must have really done it,¡± Danba said.

    ¡°Is Head Chieftain sure?¡± Shaluo was also growing excited. ¡°Isn¡¯t it possible that Su Chen failed instead?¡±

    Danba replied, ¡°If he failed, then Buller wouldn¡¯t have returned so quickly. In fact, he might never have returned at all.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 186: Making Things Difficul

    t

    Su Chen was sitting near a small creek outside of ck Gold City, casually holding a fishing rod in his hands.

    There was no bait attached to the fishhook. It just floated in the water.

    However, it didn¡¯t take long before a fish darted through the water andtched onto the fishhook, refusing to let go.

    Even though it had taken the bait, Su Chen didn¡¯t reel it in. He just watched the fish struggle.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t reel it in now, it¡¯s going to get away,¡± Danba said as he walked out of the forest behind him.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°It doesn¡¯t really matter. I wasn¡¯t nning on eating fish; I just wanted to see it struggle to survive.¡±

    As he spoke, he waved his hand, and the fish flew back into the river.

    However, it didn¡¯t try to run; instead, it continued circling around the fishing hook, as if there was a delicious bait attached to it.

    Danba remained silent as he watched the fish dance.

    After a long time, he said, ¡°So in your eyes, I am just another fish? An illusory piece of bait is enough to trick me into running circles around a fishhook for your entertainment?¡±

    ¡°No, you¡¯re much more powerful than this dumb fish, and the bait Iid for you is real,¡± Su Chen replied as he put away his fishing rod.

    The fish in the water had lost its target, so it shook its tail a few times before swimming away, disappointed.

    ¡°It¡¯s not enough, though. I inspected him already; the technique you taught him can indeed bestow us Ravagers with the ability to manipte Origin Energy, but there are two major ws. One is that it requires the use of medicinal supplements, and the second is that it¡¯s useless on Temple Warriors. How will you exin these shorings?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I didn¡¯t think that you would care about the first one. Resolving a problem that has gued the Ravagers for tens of thousands of years is obviously not going to be easy, even if I am the oneing up with a solution. It¡¯s impossible for the solution to not require some kind of external support. Using a medicine is the easiest solution. It¡¯s fine as long as the technique works, right? Why do you care so much about the method? Also, he is a down payment of sorts; once you give me what I want, I will naturally hand over the medicine¡¯s refinement method to you.¡±

    ¡°Then what about the second point?¡± Danba asked. To him, this was actually the most important issue.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Of course it¡¯s useless on Temple Warriors. If it could be used on them, then wouldn¡¯t Ravager generals be able to break through the limit of six baptisms? Forget about it, Danba. Not only is it currently impossible for me to make something that advanced, but I wouldn¡¯t create it even if I could. This cultivation technique will only allow Ravagers who cannot currently use Origin Energy reach the equivalent of the Qi Drawing Realm. It won¡¯t have any effect on anyone that¡¯s at or higher than the Qi Drawing Realm. Also, this technique can be thought of as a single Origin Energy Temple baptism, so a person who has cultivated this technique will experience a corresponding decrease in the number of baptisms their body can handle. In any case, I don¡¯t want to create any existences stronger than a human Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s indeed the case.¡± Danba was not surprised by Su Chen¡¯s response.

    If the Ravagers¡¯ Origin Energy Temple¡¯s baptisms stacked on top of Su Chen¡¯s cultivation technique, they would be able to exceed their current maximum limitations. This was something that Su Chen could not possibly ept.

    ¡°Then what if it wasn¡¯t a method usable by all Ravagers?¡± Danba asked.

    Su Chen paused. ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±

    Danba walked over and sat down next to Su Chen. ¡°I know what you want, Su Chen. But did you ever realize that what you are asking for is nearly impossible for me to obtain? At the very least, I will not be able to seed within the next hundred years.¡±

    ¡°Next hundred years......¡± Su Chen muttered, pondering over the meaning of those words. ¡°You mean......¡±

    ¡°Strength!¡± Danba said. ¡°My strength, the strength of a Head Chieftain! You should know that just having a brain alone isn¡¯t enough to effect change in this world where only power speaks!¡±

    That was true. In this world, no matter how smart or quick-witted you were, it would be impossible to climb to the top if you didn¡¯t have the strength to back it up.

    Danba was still much too young, and his strength was simrlycking.

    Even though he possessed intelligence, which made him unique amongst the Ferocious Race, his personalck of strength was his greatest weakness.

    This was a world made for the powerful. Without the strength to carry the entire tribe on his back, Danba¡¯s ability would be very limited if he only relied on his brain.

    Because of this, Danba desperately desired to grow stronger.

    ¡°The Origin Energy Temple is in Gun Castle, which is how the Inferno Tribe controls the other tribes. If any tribe shows signs of disloyalty, the Inferno Tribe can decrease their quota or evenpletely ban them from receiving any baptisms,¡± Danba said. ¡°I have only gone through two baptisms at this point. If I only rely on my own cultivation in the future, the only aspect of my cultivation that I can improve is the tier of my totemic inscriptions. However, my ability to use Origin Energy will stop here. If you cannot increase my personal strength, then don¡¯t even think about getting anything from me. When I reveal my true goals, I will no longer be able to use the Origin Energy Temple! And with my current strength, I can only unify the small tribes. I have no confidence in dealing with a medium-sized tribe, for a very simple reason...... I do not have the strength necessary to deal with a Takusha challenge from a powerful Head Chieftain. You don¡¯t need me to exin the significance of Takusha, right? After all, that¡¯s what you used to defeat us in the past.¡±

    Su Chen was taken aback.

    This was truly a problem he hadn¡¯t considered before.

    A faint smile of victory appeared on Danba¡¯s face when he saw Su Chen¡¯s stupefied appearance. ¡°What, was that beyond your calctions? I must say, I rather like this current expression of yours.¡±

    ¡°Hm......¡± Su Chen shrugged. ¡°Fine, I admit that I miscalcted and underestimated the magnitude of this problem. So you¡¯re confident that, unless I help you resolve the ipatibility between this cultivation technique and the Temple Baptisms, it is impossible for you to grow stronger?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Perhaps I can use my shamelessness and schemes to defeat a few Head Chieftains stronger than me and deal with a few medium-sized tribes, but you should know that won¡¯tst for long, and it will cause no small amount of trouble in the future. Ravagers will never fully submit to someone weak. Only a truly powerful person can unite the Ravagers, as demonstrated by tens of thousands of years of history. As such, I can suppress them for a while, but not forever. During this period of time, you must help me resolve this issue.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve really got me, huh?¡± Su Chen stared at Danba in surprise.

    ¡°Just like you got me before,¡± Danba replied impolitely.

    The two of them stared at each other for a long time before suddenly simultaneously bursting out intoughter.

    After a long time, Su Chen said, ¡°How interesting! I¡¯ve always been the one to scheme against others, but now it seems like someone else has me by the balls, and a Ravager at that.¡±

    ¡°If I couldn¡¯t do this, how could you pin your hopes on me?¡± Danba countered.

    ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Su Chen agreed. ¡°If you weren¡¯t like this, why would I invest so much effort and time on you?¡±

    ¡°So you agree to help me, then?¡±

    ¡°Well.¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t directly reply. Instead, he paced back and forth a few times, his hands sped behind his back.

    After thinking for a long time, he finally said, ¡°Resolving the ipatibility between the Temple Baptisms and this cultivation technique will require aprehensive understanding of how the Origin Energy Temple works. Before I see it for myself, I will not be able to fix this issue.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re telling me that you will be able to fix it once you see how the Origin Energy Temple functions?¡±

    ¡°I have a certain amount of confidence, but I¡¯m not absolutely sure.¡± With the consciousness crystal calctor, Su Chen¡¯s ability to do research had greatly increased, and he was filled with self-confidence. However, this matter of seeing the Origin Energy Temple firsthand was Su Chen deliberately making life difficult for Danba.

    Unexpectedly, Danba agreed casually, saying, ¡°If that¡¯s what you want, I can take you to Gun Castle with me.¡±

    ¡°Gun Castle? You can take me?¡± Su Chen was stunned.

    ¡°Yeah. Can¡¯t you disguise yourself? Turn into one of the Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s soldiers. I¡¯m the Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s Head Chieftain, so every year I am allotted a certain quota of individuals to undergo the baptism. Rmending a few warriors is no problem. The only question is...... do you dare go?¡±

    A mischievous smile danced across Danba¡¯s face.

    Up until now, Su Chen¡¯s interactions with Danba had all been firmly under Su Chen¡¯s control. No matter what tactics Danba had tried to utilize, Su Chen had always been able tomand the situation enough to maintain control.

    But if he were to go with Danba to Gun Castle......

    Su Chen would no longer have control of his own fate.

    The difficult choice had been tossed back to him.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 187: Ambition

    Ten or so venomous flying dragons flew across the sky, casting a greenish glow beneath them upon the ground of the Iron and Blood Country.

    Su Chen and Danba were sitting atop a particrlyrge dragon, which also happened to be the leader of this pack. The wind was blowing fiercely, making it hard for Su Chen to keep his eyes open.

    He wanted to erect a barrier to block the wind, but unfortunately, Ravagers who had not yet undergone a baptism could not use Origin Energy to do so.

    As such, he could only endure.

    ¡°I used to admire soldiers who flew on dragons, but now I know that this is much worse than flying around in a Cloud-Piercing Shuttle,¡± Su Chenined.

    ¡°All it means is that your physique is much weaker than your courage,¡± Danba replied indifferently as he continued steering at the front.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Are you making fun of me for being too weak? Or are youplimenting me on my bravery?¡±

    ¡°Both. No matter what, I must say that you changed my view of you just due to the fact that you were brave enough toe with me on this trip. There are many humans in this world who can y little tricks and games, but not many would dare to go to Gun Castle with me.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled again. ¡°If you¡¯re brave enough to show me your back, how could I not be brave enough to apany you on this outing?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s different. My life is not actually that valuable, but yours is. You are the human race¡¯s greatest hope for prospering in the future. If I traded my life for yours, the Ravager Race would benefit greatly.¡±

    ¡°Then why not do it?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Danba fell silent.

    Yes, why not make that trade?

    At the very start, he had been badly startled by who he believed to be his mortal enemy suddenly appearing at his doorstep. As a result, he had coerced the Resurrection Door and used all the methods at his disposal to try and kill Su Chen.

    The situation, however, had now been flipped on its head. In the blink of an eye, he and Su Chen were now sitting on the same flying dragon.

    Danba had no idea how to react to such a sudden change.

    He hadn¡¯t been able to finish Su Chen off in the past because Su Chen had never given him the opportunity to do so in their previous encounters.

    But now, an opportunity was clearly avable, and yet Danba was really beginning to give up on the idea of killing Su Chen.

    Why was that exactly?

    Even Danba himself didn¡¯t know.

    After ruminating it over for a long time, he spoke. ¡°If I said that I trulycked the confidence in killing you or that you aren¡¯t actually such an important person, those would beplete lies. But if I said that it was for myself, that wouldn¡¯t bepletely false.¡±

    ¡°Oh? There are still other reasons?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°You darede with me even though you don¡¯t fully grasp my reasons for not killing you?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be brave if everything was always under my control.¡±

    Danba smiled when he heard this. ¡°Well said! If you are always in control, that courage is not actually courage. I do have some selfish reasons for not killing you, but therger reason is that I want to see that future you painted for me.¡±

    ¡°The future I painted?¡± Su Chen was taken aback.

    ¡°Yes! Fighting the Beasts,¡± Danba rified.

    Su Chen finally understood.

    He had told Danba of this back at the Uhayan Pool.

    He had said that the reason he didn¡¯t consider researching a secret technique that would allow Ravagers to control Origin Energy a betrayal to the human race was because the Beasts were the true enemies.

    That had originally merely been an excuse that Su Chen had thought of on the spot.

    But it was this excuse that had given Danba the glimmer of hope that he had never seen before.

    A hope that the Intelligent Races could one day battle and ovee the Origin Race!

    Tens of thousands of years ago, the Arcanists had tried to aplish this.

    They had experienced a terrible failure.

    However, those tens of thousands of years had seemingly gone by in a split second.

    The Beasts had grown weaker, while the Intelligent Races were only growing stronger by the day.

    Could the Intelligent Races someday recapture the glory of the Arcanists and attempt to challenge the Origin Race again?¡±

    Danba didn¡¯t know, but just the thought of that caused a trace of anticipation and longing to surface in his heart.

    ¡°If we could experience a glorious day like that at least once in our lifetimes, it would be worth it no matter what the price, right?¡± Danba calmly exined. ¡°And in the face of a powerful enemy like that, what does the hatred between the human race and the Ravager race really count for?¡±

    Su Chen was mildly astonished by Danba¡¯s words.

    He couldn¡¯t help but think of what Zhu Chen had said all those years ago.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t even try to pursue your dream of bringing the human race to prominence.¡±

    ¡°Even if you did manage to achieve it, you would only invite disaster upon the human race.¡±

    ¡°The human race can never defeat the Origin Race. The only reason we have been able to carve a position for ourselves amongst the Origin Race isn¡¯t because we are powerful, but rather because we aren¡¯t powerful enough!¡±

    He had never forgotten these words. They were like nails eternally piercing his heart, causing him stabs of pain whenever he thought about it.

    And now, Danba was saying that he wanted the Intelligent Races to challenge the Origin Races?

    Su Chen froze momentarily before saying, ¡°If that day reallyes, do you know what kind of fate will befall us if we fail?¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Danba said with a slight smile. ¡°Won¡¯t we be wiped out? The Arcanists already showed us that a few tens of thousands years ago. But so what? Should we not challenge them just because we don¡¯t think we can win? That¡¯s not the way we Ravagers do things.¡±

    Su Chen fell silent.

    Refuse to challenge something because it was impossible to win?

    Danba¡¯s words echoed within the walls of Su Chen¡¯s heart.

    ¡°You......¡± Su Chen muttered.

    Danba turned around to look at Su Chen, revealing a delighted smile. ¡°Those Beasts have been suppressing us for tens of thousands of years. Even now, they control more than half of the continent¡¯s territory and are the dominant force in this world. They are indeed our greatest enemy and strongest opponent. The grudge between us Ravagers and you humans doesn¡¯t count for much inparison. Without the beasts, both of us would have vaster territory and plentiful resources; perhaps the hatred between us won¡¯t be as intense if our very survival isn¡¯t threatened. So why can¡¯t we be the ones to deal with them? Should we lose all our desire to challenge their authority just because they are strong?¡±

    Su Chen was rendered speechless.

    It was impossible for him to refute what Danba had said.

    Danba¡¯s smile grew wider. ¡°Indeed, you never thought about it like this before, right? You might have some courage, but it¡¯s not strong enough yet. You humans are always like this ¡ª you think too much and are too sober-minded, which is why you all have no ambition or fighting spirit. How many years has it been since any of you dreamed of defeating the Beasts? Perhaps in your eyes, only the Ravagers are your enemies, right? Because you only have a chance against us...... You only consider people to be your opponents if you have a chance of beating them, right?¡±

    Regardless of whether Danba¡¯s statements were factually correct or not, his words had moved Su Chen, causing him to fall into a contemtive silence.

    Atst, he nodded. ¡°You¡¯re absolutely right. The human race has lost the will to fight for far too long. In this aspect, we are truly inferior to you.¡±

    Danba¡¯s smile grew wider. ¡°So you see? We¡¯ve reached a point of agreement. Su Chen, I know that you weren¡¯t sincere regarding everything you said at the Uhayan Pool. But I hope that you can be a bit more sincere now. Your discoveries and inventions may benefit more than just the human race in the future......¡±

    ¡°...... You have quite the high opinion of me.¡±

    Su Chen had been totally rendered speechless by this conversation.

    The words Su Chen had used to deceive Danba had been thrown right back in his face. This foreign feeling made it so that he didn¡¯t quite know what to say.

    A suspicion arose in his heart. Was he the one who had deceived Danba, or had Danba been the one to deceive him?

    ¡°I¡¯m just giving you a target as an incentive. We should focus on the task ahead of us for now,¡± Danbaughed loudly. ¡°Green Demon, fly faster!¡±

    ¡°Hiss!¡± The venomous flying dragon king hissed in response and shot forwards even faster.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 188: Casted Metal Mountains

    The venomous dragon flew for roughly ten days before finally arriving at Gun Castle.

    Gun Castle was no longer the paradise that had been twenty thousand years ago. At this point, it had been turned into an imposing city of steel.

    The first thing that immediately stood out when arriving at Gun Castle was a mountain range constructed entirely out of metal.

    Yes, that was a mountain range that had been cast entirely out of metal, sprouting from the ground and stretching towards the sky like ring-shaped swords, encapsting Gun Castle within.

    These were the famous Casted Metal Mountains.

    These Casted Metal Mountains were one of the most impressive constructs created by the Intelligent Races. Apart from the Harpies¡¯ Sky Expanse City, nothing else couldpare to it.

    The Harpies¡¯ Sky Expanse City was the manifestation of crystallized intelligence, a hallmark of the limits of human creativity. The Arcana Kingdom had utilized countless individuals to create it.

    The Ravagers¡¯ Casted Metal Mountains, however, were manifestations of crystallized stupidity.

    These majestic metal mountains did note about because of intelligence but because of Ravager stupidity.

    After the Ravagers had discovered the Gun area, which at the time was like paradise, they began to construct their capital here, a process that took them more than 1800 years.

    However, after finishing construction, the poption only continued to grow, and the Ravagers gradually began to feel like the territory of Gun Castle was no longer enough to support them all.

    At the time, there were only two ways in and out of Gun, which was surrounded by mountains - the underwater tunnel and a secret mountain passage. To increase thend avable for them to use and to increase the practicality ofing in and going out of the Gun area, the Ravagers proposed something quite ridiculous: destroy the two mountains surrounding Gun Castle to make space for both of these.

    This ¡°brilliant, innovative solution¡± would definitely have beenughed off the face of the earth if a human had proposed it, and that person would have lost their job.

    But you cannot usemon sense to understand the actions of those of low intelligence.

    All kinds of unexpected situations could ur when dealing with individuals of lower intelligence.

    Yes, this unique suggestion was actually epted.

    To the Ravagers, there was nothing impossible about digging away two mountains. They had been the ones to drag the Origin Energy Temple all the way from Arcanist territory to Gun Castle.

    Other Intelligent Races might not be able to do it, but that didn¡¯t mean that the Ravagers couldn¡¯t.

    Actually, because this was a task that only required raw physical strength and power, it was no surprise that the Ravagers had been able to aplish it.

    If they could haul away the Origin Energy Temple, then they could easily level two mountains.

    The Ravagers began their work of foolishly moving the mountains.

    They had the support of not just one n but the whole race.

    In the end, the Ravagers really managed to level these tworge mountains in just three hundred years.

    Gun Castle was no longer a miraculous area hidden inside of a valley. Instead, it became a majestic city amongst an otherwise deste wastnd.

    Very quickly, however, the Ravagers began to pay the price for their idiocy.

    After leveling the two mountains, they discovered that the surroundings of Gun Castle were rapidly changing. The former paradise had begun to wither and die; without the protection from the two mountains, the deste atmosphere of the north was rapidly degrading the flourishing ecology of Gun Castle. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that the Lake of Eternity was still around, allowing the earth to still produce resources necessary for their survival, Gun Castle might have fallen a long time ago.

    This caused the Ravagers to panic.

    They gathered again to discuss how to address the problem.

    Another strange suggestion was put forth.

    Some Ravagers believed that, since leveling the mountains had created this situation, then wouldn¡¯t be enough just to rebuild the mountains?

    It was almost inconceivable how someone could even think of such an idea, but once again it was approved.

    The Ravagers always thought about things in such simple, direct, and forceful terms. If digging away the mountain wouldn¡¯t work, then they might as well restore it.

    The Heavens took pity on them, allowing them to finally put their pathetic minds to good use.

    One Ravager individual said that

    This suggestion was epted as well.

    After this, the Ravagers began their task of rebuilding the mountains.

    They had taken 300 years to destroy the two mountains, but it would take them twenty times as long to restore the mountains to their original condition.

    This directly caused the decline of two powerful tribes at the time: the ughter Axe Tribe and the Redeagle Tribe.

    Six thousand yearster, the Casted Metal Mountains were finally constructed, and the ecosystem of Gun Castle had begun recovering all throughout that process. Actually, the final stretch of finishing the Casted Metal Mountains had been done out of habit rather than necessity. To the Ravagers, only by restoring the mountains to their original heights would they be able to make up for their previous stupidity.

    The current Casted Metal Mountains were one of the most majestic creations that the Intelligent Races had been able to produce.

    These metal mountains, which stretched more than a hundred thousand feet into the sky, were more than enough to obliterate any buildings in apetition.

    At the same time, they were the most powerful defenses in this world, walls that were impossible to destroy. No existence would even think about trying to destroy Gun Castle¡¯s defenses.

    Fortunately, the Ravagers had not been so stupid as to not leave themselves a door.

    Apart from the underwater tunnel, the newly constructed mountains had a total of twelve doors.

    Behind each one of those doors was a path that stretched out for a few kilometers. The length was truly shocking.

    Tons of Ravager soldiers guarded the peaks of the mountains. They had set up small garrisons at the very top, and all of their working and resting in their daily lives was done here.

    Even the birds that wanted to fly over the peak would need their permission.

    Because the Casted Metal Mountains were too tall, and their peaks extended high into the sky, this ce was wracked by hurricanes all the time. Even the high-flying birds had a hard time withstanding the environment

    It could be said that this was a truly imprable defense, a city that would never fall.

    However, from a human vantage point, creating defenses like this was aplete waste!

    A waste from beginning to end.

    Apart from the Ravagers themselves, no one had any interest in attacking a ce that was impoverished with the exception of the city¡¯s interior.

    And the Ravagers didn¡¯t need to rely on brute force to attack.

    That was the case now.

    Danba dismounted the venomous flying dragon after bringing it down just outside the city walls. ¡°I am the Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s Head Chieftain, Danba. Here is my proof.¡±

    A bone medallion exuding an ancient aura appeared in Danba¡¯s hand.

    This was the Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s chieftain verification medallion, which had been formed from the bone essence of the Gravel Lizard Emperor. It was not only an identification medallion for the Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s Head Chieftain, but it was also a powerful Origin Tool in and of itself.

    Danba infused his own strength into the bone medallion. An illusory image of a massive Gravel Lizard shone on Danba¡¯s forehead, exuding a harmonious yet powerful aura. It almost seemed a bit like the bloodline illusory images that humans possessed.

    The Inferno Tribe soldier ced his hand over his chest and bowed in greeting when he saw this. ¡°Greetings to Head Chieftain! Gun Castle wees your arrival.¡±

    ¡°All hail the immortal Gun Castle!¡± Danba answered mechanically. He hopped on the venomous flying dragon and entered the city.

    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°What else do you want?¡±

    ¡°I thought they might ask why we came here.

    Danba chuckled. ¡°Unless there is some special event happening, most of the time Head Chieftains onlye here voluntarily for one reason and one reason only...... the Origin Energy Temple.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 189: Part-Time Worker

    The Origin Energy Temple was located in the western area of Gun Castle. It was on the other side of Eket Pce, and it was right next to the Saintly Light Divine Shrine.

    More specifically, it was a part of the Saintly Light Divine Shrine.

    The Saintly Light Divine Shrine was the main Divine Shrine of the Iron and Blood Country. It was constructed with three mainponents: the Sun Temple, the Halidom Pavilion, and the Origin Energy Temple.

    The Sun Temple was primarily used to offer sacrifices to Ancestors, and the interior was split into the Altar, the Pilgrimage Stage, and the Instruction Stage. The Halidom Pavilion handled treasure storage and specialization training. The Wild Origin Bone and Guardian Totem were both kept here. In addition, Ravager Bone Diviners, Soulless, Guardians, and all other specializations were trained and produced here. The Origin Energy Temple was obviously used for Origin Energy baptisms, which was also the only way for the Ravagers to control Origin Energy.

    Even though it was only one of threeponents, the Origin Energy Temple was the most important location in the entire Divine Shrine.

    This temple was more than two hundred feet tall, and it was spectacr and majestic. The whole body of the temple was constructed from different kinds of unique metals. The cornerstone was made from an Origin Energy instor known as Nightraven Gold. This kind of gold almostpletely prevented the transfer of Origin Energy, making it an incredibly useful armor against Origin Skills. A single piece of defensive equipment constructed out of Nightraven Gold could cost upwards of tens of millions of Origin Stones. Yet here, it was being used as the cornerstone for the Origin Energy Temple, ensuring that the Origin Energy contained inside would not leak elsewhere.

    The main body of the temple was made from Starcloud, Silverheart, Rainbow ss, and other Origin Energy conductors. Starcloud was incredibly resilient, and it was often used to make heavy-duty weapons to amplify the power of Origin Skills. Silverheart was incredibly soft and moldable, so it was often used to make shapeshifting Origin Tools. Su Chen¡¯s Mountain-Beheading de contained a certain amount of Silverheart, which was one of the reasons why it was so expensive. Rainbow ss was even rarer; it had the best affinity for Origin Energy that people knew of. Master Arcanists loved to use it during the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s heyday. The stone¡¯s body was translucent like a gem, which was why it was often iid into magic staffs. The Origin Skills unleashed from this stone would have their power amplified many times over.

    Even now, Rainbow ss was an exceptionally difficult Origin Energy conductor to obtain.

    Any of these materials would be exceptionally valuable anywhere else, but here they had been used to construct a massive Origin Energy Temple instead. The wealth that Su Chen was so proud of wasckluster inparison to the temple in front of him. If he were to pool everything he had together, he might be able to buy a chunk of the castle and take it for himself.

    At the very top of the temple was a ball of golden light.

    It shone brilliantly like the sun.

    This was the Origin Gathering Apparatus.

    The Origin Energy Temple relied on this apparatus to gather Origin Energy, which it then used in conjunction with the temple¡¯s extravagant materials and extremelyplicated Origin Formations to aplish the Origin Energy Baptism.

    Su Chen stood in front of the Origin Energy Temple, gazing at this massive, towering temple. He couldn¡¯t help but sigh with amazement.

    Because this item was constructed withrge quantities of Nightraven Gold, even an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator wouldn¡¯t be able to carry it away. Perhaps only the Ravagers, who had done something as dumb as construct mountains made entirely out of metal, could aplish such a feat.

    There were many guards surrounding the Origin Energy Temple, as well as Ancestors, Specialists, Temple Warriors, and normal soldiers, all running about in this ce.

    However, because of Danba¡¯s status, Su Chen was easily able to be brought to the Origin Energy Temple.

    ¡°I once dreamed of bing strong enough tomand all seven human countries, then ughtering my way over here to see the legendary Origin Energy Temple myself. I never would have expected the second half of my wishful thinking toe true like this long before the first half is even close to bing real,¡± Su Chen sighed.

    ¡°The rest of this will depend on you, then,¡± Danba said.

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°I won¡¯t be able to figure anything out just from watching, though. I need to understand the principle behind its use. I will need a map of its internal mechanisms, and it¡¯d be best if I could observe it for myself.¡±

    Danba immediately shook his head. ¡°That won¡¯t be possible. I can help you stand in front of the Origin Energy Temple, and I can even let you experience the baptism once for yourself as long as you can endure the brutal, violent energy and any other possible side effects. The rest, however, will depend on you.¡±

    ¡°You mean that I can experience the baptism for myself, but I can¡¯t watch other people be baptized?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Danba replied. ¡°I have the authority to nominate any one of my subordinates for a baptism, but I am not able to give you the permissions to stand and watch it happen.¡±

    Su Chen scratched his head, feeling a headacheing on.

    Origin Energy baptisms were only meaningful for the Ravagers. The powerful side effects it had on a person¡¯s consciousness were more than enough to get Su Chen to politely decline it. Su Chen just wanted to understand and observe the process, but there was nothing Danba could do to help him in this regard.

    ¡°Hey, you guys, what are you doing standing around and watching?¡±

    Just as he was considering how to solve the issue, a few of the Ravagers standing guard took notice of them and barked at them.

    Danba frowned. ¡°I am the Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s Chieftain, Danba. What, are we not allowed to even stand here?¡±

    Upon hearing that he was a Chieftain, the guard¡¯s tone became much more polite, but he still maintained his position. ¡°The Origin Energy Temple is not a ce that just anyone can stand around at. If you have someone you are nominating for a baptism, pleasee when your appointment with the ancestor is. Otherwise, please leave quickly.¡±

    The guards of the Origin Energy Temple possessed quite a bit of status. Even Danba didn¡¯t want to provoke these guys.

    Just as he was about to grab Su Chen and leave, Su Chen suddenly said, ¡°Howe that guy can go into the temple?¡±

    Danba nced in the direction of where his finger was pointed and found an old Ravager carrying a bucket of water as he walked to the top of the temple.

    ¡°That¡¯s one of the temple¡¯s part-time workers. They need to clean the temple every day,¡± the guard replied.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. I understand,¡± Su Chen nodded.

    As they left, Su Chen remained silent.

    When they had left the entire Saintly Light Divine Shrine behind, Su Chen said, ¡°Do you have a way of getting me......¡±

    ¡°You want to assume the role of a part-time worker so you can sneak in under the guise of cleaning the temple?¡± Danba asked.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°It is indeed easier to discuss things with smarter people. I was originally wondering if I could turn myself into a guard, but it seems like bing a part-timer worker would be better in this case. It seems that they demand more from the guards, while the cleaners are able to slip under the radar more. Also, cleaning the temple will require me to go to different locations in the temple, meaning that I will have to walk through the entire temple at least once...... That fits my goals perfectly.¡±

    Danba nodded. ¡°That¡¯s what I was thinking too. I should be able to make you a simple part-timer worker, but the question is how to ensure that you get put on cleaning duty without making any trouble for us in the future. Perhaps we should try this......¡±

    Every morning, the Saintly Light Divine Shrine would be extremely busy.

    The disciples of the temple would gather there every morning before the sun rose.

    They carried milk, honey, freshly skinned beast hides and bones to this ce, chanting as they entered the Divine Shrine in a very specific manner.

    The Ravagers believed in the God of Rage and ughter, Lonperth. He represented the source of the Ravager race¡¯s power, as well as their boundless ferocity.

    Lupis had nine gods in total, symbolized by the Nine Great Totems.

    Perhaps because their brains were simple, the Ravagers¡¯ belief system was rtively simple. It was much lessplicated than, say, that of the Harpies¡¯.

    The secr world was much more powerful than the religious world amongst the humans. All of the major religions were considered sects instead, and none of them had particrly high status. On the other hand, the Ravagers¡¯ Diving Shrine supported the existence of the entire Ravager race. The importance of this location was no lesser than Head Chieftains themselves.

    In some sense, the Ravager societal framework wasposed of a mix of the secr and religious. If a Head Chieftain did not have the support of the Divine Shrine, then they would be finished.

    For instance, Danba had only been able to overthrow the former Head Chieftain to be the newmander because the Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s Divine Shrine had supported him in doing so.

    The Divine Shrine¡¯s status and influence had always been greater than any secr organization or group.

    In any case, the Divine Shrine had an extremely important status amongst the Ravagers. Countless Ravagers hade to the Divine Shrine to embark on a pilgrimage to seek glory.

    The Head Chieftains spontaneously came here for the Origin Energy Temple, while themoners would usually ce a high priority on making a pilgrimage at the Saintly Light Divine Shrine at least once in their lifetime.

    Every year,rge numbers of foreign Ravagers woulde to the temple, making it so that the Saintly Light Divine Shrine was always incredibly busy.

    Waves of Ravager disciples walked in and out of the temple,ying down their most prized belongings underneath the blessings of the white-robed Ancestors, epting the blessing of the holy water, then leaving full of thanksgiving.

    The precious milk and honey was sprinkled into the saintly pool, which blended into the flow of the river.

    Beast hides and bones were piled up like small mountains.

    The bells tolled, and the sound of chants and songs rose high into the sky, permeating every corner of the ce.

    At this sacred asion, everyone behaved solemnly and respectfully. Even the wildest, most unrestrained Ravagers behaved themselves appropriately and followed the ceremonial rites.

    However, there were always a few exceptions.

    These exceptions were even willing to disrupt the order of the Divine Shrine.

    ¡°Out of the way! Out of the way! You damned bastards, I want to have an audience with Lonperth. Lonperth, I¡¯m here to see you!!!¡±

    The voice of a single Ravager pierced into the ears of the tens of millions gathered in this ce.

    Who would dare be so openly disrespectful?

    Countless Ravagers wondered silently.

    An individual who was in the middle of blessing a Ravager Head Ancestor lifted his head up to see what was going on.

    A Ravager was pushing his way forward through the crowd of attendees.

    He was cloaked in a beast hide, and he held a jug of wine in his hand, teetering to the side as he staggered forwards.

    ¡°A drunkard?¡± the white-robed Head Ancestor frowned.

    The Ravagers did like to drink, but very few were brave enough toe to the Divine Shrine after drinking.

    Especially if they had gotten as smashed as this.

    Well, they were probably only here like this because they were smashed, right?

    Did this guy not have anypanions? The reason this was happening was because none of the Ravagers had tried to stop him, the white-robed Head Ancestor thought to himself.

    At this moment, a few of the Divine Shrine¡¯s guards had already reached him. They grabbed the drunkard who was advancing and dragged him in front of the white-robed Ancestor.

    ¡°Head Ancestor Chag, we¡¯ve apprehended the drunkard. How should we punish him?¡±

    The white-robed Head Ancestor Chag said, ¡°Your drunkenness has caused your to act discourteously in making such a loudmotion, and you show no respect to our god by using his name directly...... As the rules state, you shall be fined three hundred Origin Stones.¡±

    ¡°Origin Stones...... That¡¯s too expensive, and I don¡¯t have any,¡± the drunkard slurred. ¡°Did you not see that I don¡¯t even have a gift to offer? I am still waiting for someone to give me food. Hey, doesn¡¯t that pool have a ton of milk? And there is meat on the altar...... I want to eat meat! I want to drink wine!¡±

    The white-robed head Ancestor stared at the drunkard. ¡°Youck Origin Stones and even more sincerity, as your goal is just to hustle some food and drink for yourself. You need to be taught a good lesson, so your punishment instead will be forcedbor......¡±

    Just as he was considering what kind of difficult task to assign, a grey-robed priest standing to the side said, ¡°Head Ancestor, one of the part-timers responsible for cleaning the temple yesterday wasn¡¯t paying attention and fell. Right now the severity of his injuries are still keeping him bedridden.¡±

    ¡°Oh, if that¡¯s the case, then assign him to clean the temple,¡± the white-robed Head Ancestormanded.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 190: Infiltration

    Su Chen wrapped his finger in a white cloth and rubbed it across the surface of the metal, creating a faint blot of dust on the surface of the white cloth. Su Chen stared at the cloth, which had already been stained a number of times, then tossed it aside and put on another one as he continued to wipe the surface of the metal.

    The Origin Energy Temple had extremely high requirements for cleanliness so that the crude,zy Ravagers who normally only bathed themselves once every few months maintained a strict daily cleaning schedule for the Origin Energy Temple. Every time they cleaned, they needed to use clean white cloths which would be tossed as soon as they grew dirty. They could never be reused.

    They did this not only because of how important this ce was but even more because of the practical enhancements it created.

    The Origin Energy Temple¡¯s operation required an extremely clean environment because the Origin Energy was forciblypressed via the Origin Energy Extractor and a number of extremelyplex Origin Formations into the target¡¯s body. The target would experience a cleansing, allowing them to use Origin Energy.

    During this process, any contaminant that managed to sneak in would affect the purity of the Origin Energy, and the target would suffer from the effects of it. This was also the reason why it was only possible to undergo six baptisms at the most; once you reached that point, the umted byproducts of daily life would create intense side-effects for the Ravagers, making it impossible for them to handle more Origin Energy. Actually, most Ravagers were forced to stop after four or five baptisms for this very reason.

    In that sense, the Ravagers had done far too little to preserve the cleanliness of the environment.

    Far too little!

    ¡°They should have at least given it arger housing and a dustless environment, and every person who enters should have to undergo numerous cleansing rituals, as well as their clothes. mes can destroy most microscopic organisms and contaminants, greatly decreasing the dirtiness of the surrounding area. It would be beast to find a few fire-type Ravager warriors to handle the cleaning, not somemoners whomitted a crime. Perhaps this is the utmost limit of cleanliness in the Ravagers¡¯ eyes, but to me it¡¯s so bad that it couldn¡¯t possibly be worse,¡± Su Chen said after returning to his residence from a long day¡¯s worth of work.

    ¡°You found a problem in a single day?¡± Danba, who had been waiting for him there the entire time, was stunned.

    Su Chen frowned. ¡°The totems didn¡¯t take me much time either. It¡¯s not that I underestimate you guys; your intelligence just makes it so that nothing you produce is particrly difficult for me to crack.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Danba didn¡¯t know if he should get angry at Su Chen¡¯s disdainfulment or support it.

    ¡°But from your tone it sounds like you also knew about this problem already?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Danba sighed. ¡°It¡¯s not really a secret. Some Ravagers mentioned it some time ago. But you should know that this is just too difficult for the Ravagers. Cleaning every day and inspecting every corner for dust, making sure to exchange for a new piece of cloth every time and using clean water required hundreds of years for the Divine Shrine to implement. This is simply our cultural and racial limitations. No matter how the Divine Shrine tried to force its subordinates, nothing worked.¡±

    ¡°You guys could build two physical mountains, but you couldn¡¯t create a building that could contain the Origin Energy Temple?¡± Su Chen asked, shocked.

    Danba shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s the Ravagers for you.¡±

    ¡°......¡± Su Chen was speechless.

    Yes, this was the way the Ravagers were.

    Of course, the problem that Su Chen had discovered was just the tip of the iceberg. There were simply too many secrets about the Origin Energy Temple for him to uncover, and too much knowledge for him to assimte.

    Su Chen began a life of cleaning the Origin Energy Temple on this day.

    Every day, Su Chen followed the other Ravager servants in cleaning the Origin Energy Temple from head to toe once. While he cleaned, Su Chen wouldmit to memory the sprawling Origin Formations inscribed on the walls of the temple and he would observe the circumstances of operation for the temple.

    His observation process was exceptionally straightforward. The innate crudeness of the Ravagers made them incredibly unalert, and Su Chen¡¯s impable camouge allowed him to easily infiltrate the Divine Shrine.

    Even though the Ravagers did have individuals who could see through his disguise, there were very few of them. In addition, many of these individuals had extremely high social statuses, and none of them would pay any attention to a small, lowly individual like Su Chen.

    After merely half a month, Su Chen had managed to get a feel for the Origin Energy Temple as a whole. He had copied most of the Origin Formation inscriptions down onto slips of paper. The process had been so simple that he almost couldn¡¯t believe it.

    As per usual, Su Chen returned to his residence afterpleting the day¡¯s work. He found Danba sitting there, intently inspecting the Origin Formation inscription drawings Su Chen had created.

    Upon seeing Su Chen return, Danba said, ¡°We should be able to fill in thisst missing section today, right?¡±

    ¡°Mhm.¡± Su Chen walked over to the inscription map and began to draw delicately on its surface.

    A momentter, the final portion of the inscription map had beenpleted.

    ¡°Your memory is really astounding,¡± Danba sighed in amazement as he stared at the Origin Formation that Su Chen hadpleted.

    These inscriptions were incrediblyplex, requiring a high degree of precision. There was no way that Su Chen was going to be able to trace the inscriptions then and there, so he could only draw it based on memory. Yet he was still able to recreate the Origin Formation in such a short period of time. If Danba hadn¡¯t witnessed it urring in front of his eyes, he would not have believed that anyone could aplish something like that.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Anyone who wants to aplish something in life needs to have the skill to back it up.¡±

    With the consciousness crystal in hand, his memory capacity had greatly increased along with his ability to perform calctions. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that he was still wary of Danba, he would have memorized the inscriptions in a single day. Even so, Danba was totally stunned by Su Chen¡¯s incredible memory.

    ¡°No wonder you have achieved so much.¡± Danba nodded repeatedly, as if he had obtained an answer. Su Chen¡¯s words seemed to have made an impression on him.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Now that the Origin Formation isplete, we can leave, right?¡± Danba asked. He had too many things he needed to take care of back at the Gravel Lizard Tribe, and staying here for too long wasn¡¯t good for him.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°What we need to do is not recreate an Origin Temple but to understand the secrets behind its use and figure out a way tobine it with the technique I have created for you.¡±

    Danba said with som exasperation, ¡°So this isn¡¯t enough either? What else do you want? Do you want to tear down the entire temple?¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°I won¡¯t need to be that extreme. I just want to analyze it a bit more thoroughly, and this won¡¯t take me much longer. Also, I need some data on its actual use.¡±

    ¡°What do you want to do?¡±

    ¡°I want to observe the baptism process.¡±

    ¡°You want to observe it yourself?¡± Even though he had guessed that this might be the answer, Danba¡¯s heart still jolted violently.

    Su Chen¡¯s request wasn¡¯t an easy one to grant.

    At that moment, however, Danba gazed at Su Chen intently before nodding in agreement.

    He was very clear that, at this moment, his only choice was to continue walking. There was no longer any possibility of turning around.

    Su Chen¡¯s request was very difficult to fulfill, but he must find a way to do it.

    The sky had yet to brighten when a few drunk Ravagers came knocking on the front door of the Divine Shrine.

    Two guards standing at the entrance stopped them from entering. ¡°This is the Origin Energy Temple. No one is allowed to just charge in.¡±

    ¡°Hey, friend, take a closer look. I¡¯m here to undergo a baptism,¡± one of the Ravagers said as he pulled out a bone medallion.

    These medallions were vouchers for the baptism. On the baptism was written the time of baptism. The guards had a special ability to determine the veracity of such vouchers, making it so that no one could sneak by with a counterfeit.

    The two guards took a closer look at the medallion, confirming that it was real, then nodded. ¡°You may go in. Everyone else, please leave.¡±

    ¡°Please, my best brother is going through one of the most important experiences of his life. I want to wait for him here to experience his strength and fortune for myself,¡± the Ravager standing to the side said.

    The only person who could say something like that was probably Danba.

    As he spoke, Danba handed an Origin Stone over. ¡°We¡¯ll just be right here. We won¡¯t go anywhere.¡±

    The Ravagers were impulsive, barbaric, and idiotic, but that didn¡¯t mean that they weren¡¯t greedy.

    The two guards nced at each other, then silently epted the Origin Stone.

    One of them said, ¡°Stay right here. Don¡¯t go anywhere.¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Danba chuckled.

    As they spoke, the individuals cleaning the temple also began to back away.

    ¡°Hey, Monk, it¡¯s time to go,¡± one of the servants said to Su Chen. Monk was the name he had chosen for this Ravager persona.

    Su Chen nced at the servant. ¡°I¡¯ll be leaving with you guys.¡±

    The Ravager servants seemed to start slightly before nodding and turning around.

    At the same time, a ck streak suddenly appeared outside the Origin Energy Temple, shooting into the temple.

    ¡°Careful!¡± Danba yelled as he gestured. A streak of light shot towards the ck shadow.

    ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± the two guards simultaneously cried out.

    The ck shadow turned around in midair, dodging Danba¡¯s attack and pouncing in his direction instead.

    ¡°Who dares trespass on the Origin Energy Temple...... A Soul- Soulless?¡± Fear was written all over Danba¡¯s face, as if he had run into some powerful expert. He no longer dared to attack, instead dodging as he constantly retreated.

    The ck shadow was one of the Ravager race¡¯s consciousness protectors, the Soulless.

    The Origin Energy Temple was an incredibly important location to the Ravagers. No matter how sloppy the Ravagers were, their defensive organization was quiteprehensive. Apart from the guards, there were specialized Soulless to deal with any opponents with strong consciousnesses that might infiltrate.

    The Soulless were the biggest annoyance to Su Chen, who had both disguise and illusion techniques.

    The reason Danba was here was to stop the Soulless.

    Even though they had a powerful perception of consciousness fluctuations, their defensive instincts made it impossible for them to choose to only attack targets with powerful consciousnesses. Anything that attacked them would immediately be their enemy and would experience a powerful bacsh.

    Danba had used this to purposefully attack the Soulless so that its attention would be fully upied by him instead.

    An instantter, however, the two guards had managed to restrain the Soulless.

    Upon discovering that Danba was no longer attacking itself, the Soulless refocused its attention on the Origin Energy Temple.

    However, the consciousness fluctuations it had sensed early had disappeared instantly. Only small traces of consciousness energy remained.

    The Soulless followed the traces of consciousness energy to a servant who was walking out of the temple.

    An instantter, its figure shed through the air, reappearing near the servant. It wed out, grabbing the servant¡¯s head and killing him immediately.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Themotion the Soulless was making had attracted the attention of other Ravager guards.

    A green jade belt had rolled off of the servant¡¯s body, which was currently lying on the ground.

    ¡°Hm?¡± An Ancestor who had hurried over upon noticing themotion picked up the green jade belt and inspected it closely. ¡°So it¡¯s a broken Origin Tool containing a soul fragment of the Jade-Eyed Demon. It seems like it¡¯s seen better tomes. Oh, it seems as if it was some treasure unearthed from a ck market. This guy must have gotten lucky and managed to find it from there. But this guy is also unlucky, to have brought it into the Origin Energy Temple. Hehe, no wonder the Soulless attacked. It seems like this was all just a misunderstanding. Everyone, you may disperse.¡±

    The Ancestor analyzed the situation, believing himself to be infallible, but what he didn¡¯t know was that he had fallen right into Su Chen and Danba¡¯s trap.

    With Danba¡¯s interference and the green jade belt¡¯s distraction, the Soulless had lost its original target.

    The main door to the Origin Energy Temple had already been closed behind the Ravager who had just walked inside. At this point, the n was about halfwayplete.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 191: Surfacing

    Upon closing the front door, the Ravager said to Su Chen, ¡°As Chieftain has ordered, I, Mole, will obey yourmands.¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°What I need you to do is very simple. Don¡¯t worry about me; just undergo the baptism. During this period of time, I might need your help with a few things, so I hope that you will be able toply then. Of course, I will do my best to ensure that your baptism goes sessfully.

    The Ravager nodded and walked into therge temple.

    At the center of the temple was arge metal pool that had been filled to the brim with a white liquid.

    The metal pool was surrounded by many Origin Formations, with the pool as the center. The inscriptions sprawled across the four walls of the temple.

    The Ravager took off his clothes and stepped into the pool, standing in itpletely naked. The white medicinal liquid went up to his midsection.

    He spread his hands and grabbed a metal rod in front of him. At the same time, a thick, metal chain wrapped itself around his body, firmly locking him in ce.

    At the same time, the Origin Energy Extractor had already begun to revolve, andrge quantities of condensed Origin Energy began to rapidly travel across the Origin Formation inscriptions like lightning, descending constantly. Finally, it mmed into Mole¡¯s body with a resounding boom.

    ¡°AH!¡± Mole tilted his head back and howled bitterly with pain. Even the hair on his skin was standing up straight.

    Origin Energy crackled across his body like lightning, furiously invading it. Hairline fissures blew open all across his skin, causing fresh blood to spray through the air.

    Even without the aid of his microscopic eye, Su Chen could see that Mole¡¯s lifeforce was rapidly being exhausted under the frightening, boundless torrent of energy.

    If this were to continue, it wouldn¡¯t be long before he was killed.

    Even so, just a brief momentter, the white liquid began to rapidly enter his body. Mole¡¯s lifeforce began to rapidly regenerate.

    So it was a liquid that could cause a person¡¯s lifeforce to recover?

    And it was quite a high-quality kind as well!

    Su Chen had been able to confirm this as soon as he saw the bubbling white liquid.

    This kind of liquid was pretty simr to Su Chen¡¯s Recovery Medicines, but one of the key differences was that the lifeforce recovery liquid could only recover lifeforce itself, not heal wounds. As such, its practicality was much less than the Recovery Medicines. In terms of pure lifeforce recovery, however, this liquid was simple and effective.

    The frightening wave of Origin Energy mmed into Mole¡¯s body, seriously injuring him. The lifeforce recovery liquid ensured that he continued to stay alive, so his wounds were not fatal. During this period of time, Mole seemed to be walking the line between life and death as wave after wave of intense Origin Energy washed over him.

    Su Chen understood the principles behind the operation of the Origin Energy Temple at this point.

    The seeminglyplex, profound Divine Shrine was actually using an incredibly crude method at its core.

    In typical Ravager fashion, they relied on brute-forcing Origin Energy into the target¡¯s body, baptizing the target via this storm of Origin Energy. It didn¡¯t change the fundamental physical makeup of their bodies; instead, the Ravagers would adapt to and be more familiar with the power of Origin Energy via such barbaric methods, eventually allowing them to extract Origin Energy from their surroundings.

    No matter how inept the Ravagers were in absorbing Origin Energy, it was impossible for them to not absorb some when it was crashing into them like this.

    This could be crudelypared to eating bowls of rice. Suppose a person could normally eat one bowl of rice andfortably digest it. But if you were to force-feed them ten bowls at once, the remaining nine bowls would have a hard time being digested and would build up on the body. If this buildup wasn¡¯t dealt with appropriately, it could result in massive damage.

    The Origin Energy Temple relied on this kind of tactic to make it so that the Ravagers¡¯ bodies would not be able to dissipate all of the Origin Energy, This would cause enough to umte in their bodies for them to forcefully open up an Origin Sea in their own bodies with the help of the nearby Origin Formations.

    This kind of simple, crude tactic had actuallye from the wise and farsighted Arcanists. Su Chen felt as if his eyes had been opened again.

    However, understanding the underlying principles was not enough. Su Chen also needed to understand exactly what it did to a Ravager¡¯s physical body.

    He activated his microscopic eye, and all of the changes taking ce in Mole¡¯s body immediately revealed themselves to him.

    ¡°So that¡¯s indeed how it is. This kind of forcible opening causes a certain amount of injury to the body, and the surrounding impurities also infiltrate through this path, making their Origin Sea impure. The violent energy can even disrupt the body¡¯s channels or even destroy them, and even a person¡¯s consciousness sea will be stimted and react. No wonder there are known cases of insanity developing after baptism...... This is almost illogically foolhardy. Perhaps only the Ravagers could withstand such physical punishment,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    The Origin Energy Temple was essentially forcefully carving new channels through the Ravager¡¯s body. Whatever way those channels turned out was they way they turned out, and improving or changing them was basically impossible.

    This was also the reason why Temple Warriors who had undergone baptisms before could only advance with more baptisms, because this kind of tactic simply created too many problems in their bodies.

    Mole¡¯s Origin Sea gradually came into existence under the furious onught of energy. The vessels and channels in his body all ruptured, only to rapidly recover and reshape with the support of the powerful life recovery liquid.

    The white pool was now died with scarlet blood.

    At first, it was pink, representing a mix of red and white, but it had gradually turned redder and redder over time.

    This was due to the umtion of blood, as well as the decrease in medicinal content of the bath.

    The rate at which Mole¡¯s lifeforce was recovering was beginning to slow, and his lifeforce was slowly beginning to wane.

    This helped Su Chen realize yet another point: This was why the Ravagers used to be able to survive for thousands of years, but now none of them seemed able to live past four hundred.

    Because experiencing baptisms consumed arge amount of their lifeforce.

    Humans could extend their lifespan based on their bloodlines and cultivation, but the Ravagers seemed unable to do the same.

    The baptism was nearing its conclusion.

    Mole¡¯s howls began to grow quieter as they died out.

    He grabbed the handrail and groaned. It seemed as if he had aged quite a bit.

    Su Chen sighed slightly when he saw this and handed him a vial of Recovery Medicine. ¡°Drink up.¡±

    A high-tier Recovery Medicine was much more effective than the lifeforce recovery liquid, but only Ravager nobles were allowed to use them.

    Mole shot him a grateful look, then took the vial and tossed it back. The lifeforce he had expended was rapidly recovered, and his youthful look returned (despite the fact that regardless of how young he looked, his face was always that ugly and contorted).

    Once thest bit of Origin Energynded on Mole, Mole¡¯s Origin Sea waspleted.

    Su Chen had also gotten another answer from this: they were applying a fixed amount of Origin Energy but to different targets, making it stiff and inflexible.

    With Mole¡¯s talent, his Origin Sea could have been upgraded a bit more, but since the Origin Energy Temple had stopped its infusion, this was as far as he could go.

    He would have to wait to enter again once his physical condition had reached the appropriate level and he had made sufficient preparations.

    Mole walked out of the pool and put on his clothes. ¡°The baptism isplete.¡±

    ¡°Mhm,¡± Su Chen responded faintly.

    Since the baptism was over, it was time to leave.

    The tactic they had used earlier wouldn¡¯t work again, so they would need to try something else.

    They nced at each other before Su Chen concealed himself in one of the darker corners of the temples, allowing the shadows to envelop him.

    ¡°Creak......¡±

    The doors creaked open, allowing light into the temple.

    Arge group of servants ran in, preparing to clean the interior of the templepletely.

    A few of the servants headed for the pool in the center to clean it, while the rest proceeded to clean the nearby walls.

    One of the Ravager servants walked over to one of the temple¡¯s columns. Just as he was about to begin cleaning it, he realized that there was a person hiding in the shadows. The surprise from this caused him to cry out instinctually: ¡°Ah......¡±

    As he yelled, Mole made his move. He appeared right next to that servant like an apparition and unleashed a palm strike, killing that servant instantly.

    The cry of shock was cut short. Because Mole¡¯s movements were so quick, people who hadn¡¯t actually seen what had happened thought that the cry had been due to Mole¡¯s attack.

    None of the other servants couldprehend what had happened. They all turned to look at Mole in shock.

    Mole drew back his blood-soaked hands, acting as if he was reveling in the euphoria. ¡°This feeling...... it¡¯s too good!¡±

    As he spoke, his figure shed through the air, and he teleported next to another servant. He punched, and his fist mmed into the servant¡¯s back.

    This fist strike was incredibly vicious. Even with his powerful physique, the Ravager servant had no way of enduring the blow, not to mention the fact that he was a Ravager of the lowest social status. The single punch was more than enough to st him into pieces.

    Mole nced at his fist and said, ¡°Not bad, not bad! This is really addicting. Hahahaha, I¡¯ve tried using my palms and my fists. Maybe I should try out the power of my legs next.¡±

    As he spoke, he looked at the other servants, as if he was about to kill another one.

    The servants were all badly stunned. They forgot about everything else and threw down their equipment, sprinting out the front door, afraid that Mole would choose them as the target.

    As they were running around in a panic, Su Chen took advantage of the opportunity to mingle along with the rest of them. He was originally a servant in the first ce, so no one detected his presence when he snuck into their ranks. When you factored in the immense fear that Mole was putting on them, given that he had already killed two servants, no one was ever going to notice that an additional person had infiltrated their group.

    Su Chen followed the tide of people out of the temple. The guards standing outside had charged over by this point. They were stunned when they saw the two corpses lying on the ground. ¡°What is going on here?¡±

    Mole frowned. ¡°I was just trying out my newfound strength on a few cheap ves is all.¡±

    ¡°How bold!¡± The Ancestor who was following closely behind saw this situation. ¡°You merely gained a bit of power, but now you dare wantonly ughter the servants of the temple? Seize him at once!¡±

    ¡°Who dares seize me!?¡± Mole howled fiercely. He actually began to trade blows with the guards there.

    However, it was quite obvious that he was not the guards¡¯ opponents. They easily captured him, shoving him out of the Origin Energy Temple.

    They had just walked out of the temple when Danba strode forward to greet them. ¡°Priest Handu! Mole just lost control of the power he had newly acquired. I promise that he will not do something like this again, so please, be generous to him.¡±

    Handu harrumphed. ¡°He killed the servants of the Divine Shrine. If I am to let him go here, how am I to give an ount to the Divine Shrine?¡±

    ¡°Temporary insanity after experiencing the baptism is not that umon. I believe that¡¯s what happened to Mole here,¡± Danba said.

    ¡°But it doesn¡¯t seem like he¡¯s insane right now to me,¡± Handu replied.

    Danba grabbed Handu¡¯s hand. Handu felt an object being pressed into it.

    It was an Origin Ring.

    Danba said sincerely, ¡°Please, Priest, take another look.¡±

    After inspecting the items within the Origin Ring, Handu nced at Mole again, then said, ¡°Oh, now it does seem a bit like it, but it doesn¡¯t quite seem to add up just yet.¡±

    Danba sighed and pulled out another Origin Ring, handing it over to Handu.

    A wide smile appeared on Priest Handus¡¯ face. ¡°Yes, these are truly the signs of temporary insanity post-baptism. Since that¡¯s the case, then we can forget about it. You take him back and teach him a good lesson, then make restitution for the dead servants, and that will be good enough.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for your benevolence!¡± Danba replied respectfully.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 192: Rooster

    Within the room, a small Origin Crystal was spinning in the air, radiating Origin Energy everywhere. The Origin Energy was channeled through Origin Formation inscriptions before entering the body of arge rooster.

    The rooster clucked, obviously in pain. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Su Chen was constantly using Recovery Medicines to keep it alive, it would have died already. Even so, the unceasing stream of Origin Energy invaded the rooster¡¯s body, causing it great suffering as it groaned and crooned.

    Because he had no Origin Energy Extractor, Su Chen could only use the Origin Crystal as a substitute.

    A mid-tier Origin Crystal was used on amon rooster. If word got out, surely all who heard would have clucked their tongues at the waste.

    Su Chen, however, didn¡¯t care.

    Research burned money, after all.

    Once he had expended all of the energy within the Origin Crystal, it disintegrated into a fine powder. Su Chen released his grip and stared at the rooster, saying, ¡°This should be good enough.¡±

    ¡°Just like that?¡± Danba stared with some suspicion at the rooster.

    Su Chen had basically simted one of the Origin Energy Temple¡¯s baptisms. Of course, it was much cruder than the original given the substitution of a mid-tier Origin Crystal for the Origin Energy Extractor and the simplified Origin Formation Disk in ce of the sprawling Origin Formation inscriptions. But Danba just couldn¡¯t wrap his head around how any person, even a genius, could recreate a simplified version of the Origin Energy Temple only a day after obtaining the Origin Formation inscriptions.

    The target of this experiment was a rooster.

    It wasn¡¯t that Su Chen hadn¡¯t wanted to find a better target; it was that Su Chen¡¯s simplified Origin Formation could only handle the power from a mid-tier Origin Crystal, and a mid-tier Origin Crystal could only be used to strengthen a rooster or an equivalent lifeform. In that sense, baptisms with Origin Energy were extremely wasteful, but since the Origin Energy Extractor pulled Origin Energy straight from the environment, it was much cheaper than burning condense Origin Crystals.

    As such, even though Su Chen could recreate the Origin Energy Temple, both the scale and the payoff were not worth it. It was only useful for running experiments, really.

    ¡°It seems like there isn¡¯t much change,¡± Danba said.

    ¡°Wait a minute. Don¡¯t be in such a hurry,¡± Su Chen said.

    Just as he spoke, the rooster tilted its head back and began to crow before it pecked the iron cage surrounding it.

    The cage had been fashioned from normal iron bars. Even though it wasn¡¯t particrly strong, no rooster could possibly peck its way through the cage.

    However, at this moment an inconceivable scene appeared. The rooster¡¯s peck mmed into the cage, blowing the iron bars open.

    The rooster shot out of the cage, pping it wings at full force. The p of its wings had be powerful enough to actually be an attack, and it flew into the air.

    Su Chen and Danba turned to look at each other and said simultaneously, ¡°We did it!¡±

    Even though the rooster could fly, it was obviously limited by its natural form and could only levitate at low altitudes, so itnded back in the courtyard after pping its wings a few times. However, it began to strut around arrogantly. asionally, it would peck, leaving behind holes in the ground.

    It seemed like it was barely powerful enough to be considered a Vicious Beast of the lowest tier.

    Even though using a mid-tier Origin Crystal to form a lowest-tier Vicious Beast was a colossal waste of resources, Su Chen and Danba couldn¡¯t have cared less - sessfully replicating the power of the Origin Energy Temple meant that Su Chen could already control the key principles behind the Origin Energy Temple. The only thing keeping him from actually recreating it was that he didn¡¯t have the resources.

    To Su Chen, who was only interested in the principles behind it and not recreating the temple itself, this was not that important.

    The sess of their research made both Danba and Su Chen excited. This kind of excitement caused Danba to forget the offenses between the two of them that had urred in the past. Instead, he and Su Chen began to execute the next phase of the research.

    Yes, Danba had be Su Chen¡¯s helper at this point.

    To Danba, Su Chen¡¯s world was mysterious and vast. Even if he couldn¡¯t do what Su Chen could do, Danba still hoped to increase his own experience and understanding by interacting with Su Chen more. Truly smart individuals would always jump at opportunities to learn and gain more knowledge.

    In other words, you had to have both knowledge and smarts in order to be considered intelligent.

    The two of them immersed themselves in their research, quickly losing track of time and everything else.

    Of course, they also overlooked the rooster.

    It was just a rooster, after all; there was no reason to pay it any particr attention. It was long gone by this point anyways.

    Halegy was one of the bazaars at Gun Castle. People primarily traded survival necessities here, so usually only the lowest-status Ravagermoners, farmers, and servants were found here.

    As per usual, Halegy was bustling with activity today. Ravagers everywhere were doing business.

    Even though the Ravagers were used to plundering and robbing others, there was still some order when they dealt with each other. However, these Ravagers seemed more like they were fighting with each other instead of haggling. Killing intent was written all over their faces.

    ¡°How much for this de?¡±

    ¡°Twenty bone coins.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s too much. I¡¯ll give you ten.¡±

    ¡°Get the hell out of here.¡±

    ¡°You dare curse at me? Courting death!¡±

    Bang!

    They began to fight just like that.

    Scenes like this were extremelymon and would ur every so often, but most of the time it didn¡¯t result in any big problems. Usually, they would go their own separate ways after fighting. The Ravagers were used to fighting all the time. In their eyes, fighting was also a form of negotiation. The person that won could usually propose a low price, and if the other party didn¡¯t agree, they would continue to be beaten. It was obvious that Ravagers valued doing these with brute force. No matter how smart you were, if you didn¡¯t have the strength to back it up, it would be hard for you to even buy anything.

    At this moment, a crowd of Ravagers were engaged in such negotiations when they suddenly saw a rooster walk in.

    Yes, the rooster swaggered in like someone with his hands stuck in his pockets. This scene would have given any human an extremely ufortable sensation.

    Unfortunately, this scene was not seen by humans, but by a Ravagers.

    The Ravagers always reacted in a simple and direct manner. The eyes of the Ravager who saw the rooster first lit up.

    ¡°A rooster!¡± he howled as he charged forwards to try and catch it.

    ording to societal rules, a chicken not kept in a cage had no master, so it belonged to whoever caught it. Even if the master came by to im it, they would need to fight first in order to determine ownership.

    The Ravager had ced all of his attention on keeping away other Ravagers, so he didn¡¯t notice the rooster¡¯s reaction at all.

    The rooster was swaggering forward. When it saw the Ravager leaping at it, it seemed to quiver slightly.

    Yes, just like a human would if it was startled by something.

    Then, it raised its w.

    It kicked out with its single tiny w.

    An instantter, a shocking scene unfolded. The Ravager that had pounced was sent flying by just a single chicken w.

    This huge lunk of meat arced over the crowd of Ravagers watching.

    He turned immediately to look at the chicken as soon as he hadnded on the ground. The chicken immediately turned around and bolted.

    Any human would probably have detected the strangeness of the situation by now and wouldn¡¯t be so quick to make a move.

    However, the Ravagers were much more likely to act instinctively, and in the tens of thousands of years they had been raising chickens, no one had ever needed to be cautious of them.

    In other words, caution was a rare quality amongst the Ravagers in the first ce, so all of the Ravagers immediately tried to capture the rooster when they saw it trying to run.

    The rooster was badly startled, and it began to p its wings as it zoomed forward.

    Even so, this speed was not something that flight alone could deal with. To some lifeforms, running was actually faster than flying.

    Some of the quicker Ravagers were closing in rapidly, swatting at the low-altitude rooster as they yelled, ¡°It¡¯s mine!¡±

    The rooster almost seemed like it was about to be swatted down when it suddenly turned around and nted its w on one of the Ravager pursuers, sending him flying as it pped its wings, using the momentum to m into another Ravager and nting its w on him as well. After sending that Ravager flying, itnded back on the ground.

    ¡°Cluck! Cluck!¡±

    The rooster clucked twice before it turned around, preparing to swagger off.

    Unexpectedly, the Ravager it had kicked earlier raised his hand and grabbed the rooster by its w, yelling, ¡°Let¡¯s see how you¡¯re going to kick me now!¡±

    The rooster was enraged. It pecked his hand hard, and the Ravager howled in pain. His hand was broken by this peck, and the rooster easily extricated itself.

    This scene stunned everyone present, and they finally realized that this rooster was not normal.

    However, this was only the beginning.

    The rooster was obviously angry now, possibly because it had been enraged by its pursuers.

    It didn¡¯t try to escape. Instead, it turned around and charged at the crowd of Ravagers.

    It had actually taken the initiative to charge forwards.

    ¡°Courting death!¡± the Ravagers howled as they swung their arms in the air.

    Your beak and your ws are powerful, but do you really think that makes you special?

    The rooster charged aggressively. Just as everyone was about to press the rooster to the ground, it suddenlyunched the feathers on its body in a wide spread, causing its speed to suddenly increase as the feathers shot everywhere, piercing the Ravagers like little arrows and turning them into feathered pincushions.

    They realized that the rooster might not be very powerful, but they were all low-status Ravagers, so they themselves weren¡¯t very powerful in the first ce.

    The rooster screeched and shot all the feathers on its body, leaving it totally naked.

    It descended, fluttering its wings. It nced at its totally naked body and tilted its head back, screeching. Then, it continued its rampage through the bazaar.

    Its talons repeatedly mmed into the ground, leaving behind talon imprints on the ground.

    The Ravagers continued to chase after it through the bazaar, causing bangs and crashes as the rooster and its entourage destroyed various stands and shops set up in this ce.

    As they watched the rooster scuttle back and forth amongst the market, all of the Ravagers felt like they were going to go insane.

    What kind of rooster was this? How could it behave so unnaturally?

    They had never seen a rooster as powerful as this before.

    No one had seen a Vicious Beast like this before, but it was far too powerful just to be some domestic fowl.

    Despite the suspicions in their heart, however, they still had to capture it.

    Finally, the rooster was captured amidst the incredible chaos it had caused.

    Perhaps because it was tired from struggling for so long, the rooster¡¯s head dangled slightly, as if it was now weak and without strength.

    No one knew what to do with it when they saw this.

    One of the Ravagers used his intelligence and yelled, ¡°We should give it to His Majesty.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 193: Taking On Light Shaking

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that the vascture destroyed by the Origin Energy Temple can still be used for cultivation once they are reintegrated? Why are you still doing so much research?¡±

    Danba chatted with Su Chen as they performed their research.

    Su Chen pulled out a mid-tier Origin Crystal, extravagantly using it on a mouse as he replied, ¡°That¡¯s true in theory, but it¡¯s not actually that simple. You know that the reason Ravagers have no way of cultivating Origin Energy isn¡¯t because you can¡¯t sense Origin Energy but because your bodies automatically convert Origin Energy into lifeforce, which in turn strengthens your physiques. The method I invented is attempting to suppress this innate conversion ability of yours so that Origin Energy can be stored in your bodies in its original form. This way, it can begin to gradually umte in your bodies.¡±

    Danba didn¡¯t understand. ¡°So what does that mean, then?¡±

    ¡°This method actuallyes at a cost of some physical strength. However, this decrease is very much worth it for the Ravagers. If we theorize that Ravagers have a hundred hypothetical units of strength, then by sacrificing twenty units or so they can obtain control of Origin Energy. This will allow them to control the elements and develop newbat styles. Even though the total amount of Origin Energy they possess is the same, thebination of Origin Energy and raw physical strength is much better than just having a powerful lifeforce.¡±

    ¡°I understand this principle.¡±

    ¡°However, the Origin Energy Temple relies on brute force to infuse the target with Origin Energy. Therge quantity of Origin Energy entering the Ravager¡¯s body overloads its conversion capacity, relying on this to forcibly create an Origin Sea in their body. This is a simple, barbaric, unreasonable way of doing things, and it actually adversely affects your lifespan.¡±

    ¡°So you want to decrease the impact on our lifespan?¡± Danba understood somewhat.

    Su Chen nodded.

    ¡°How much does it save?¡±

    ¡°That depends on our research,¡± Su Chen said as he patted the little mouse. ¡°Everything must be done methodically. The better the method we develop, the less of an effect it will have.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have too much time.¡±

    ¡°The same goes for me,¡± Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it won¡¯t take too long.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why, but I feel even more anxious when I hear you say that. I can¡¯t help but feel like there¡¯s something you¡¯re keeping from me,¡± Danba said.

    Su Chen shrugged. ¡°You think too much. Smart people are always overly suspicious.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Then can you tell me why you care so much about the Ravagers?¡± Danba asked. ¡°Aren¡¯t the Ravagers just a bunch of dogs you want to control in the future? Aren¡¯t we just making a business exchange? You help give me strength, while I help give you knowledge. Since we have already achieved our goals, why do you care so much about extending our lifespan?¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s hand remained firmly pressed on the small mouse. He said, ¡°I am just trying to fulfill my end of the bargain as much as I can.¡±

    Danba continued, ¡°Your end of the bargain was just to help me break through the limitations. As for what price I would need to pay, that isn¡¯t something that you should be concerned about. If I were you, I wouldn¡¯t go so far. Unless......¡±

    ¡°Unless I have ulterior motives for doing so?¡± Su Chen countered.

    Danba nodded. ¡°That¡¯s what I was thinking.¡±

    Whoosh!

    The light from the Origin Crystal shone on the small mouse, causing it to squeak loudly.

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°It really isn¡¯t easy to pull the wool over your eyes.¡±

    ¡°So you do have something else up your sleeve.¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t say anything. A small mote of Origin Energy appeared on his hand and shone on the small mouse, drawing out the Origin Energy in the mouse¡¯s body and causing it to transform and congeal outside of its body.

    ¡°This is......¡± Danba¡¯s gaze shrank.

    ¡°As you can see...... A Lotus tform,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°You¡¯re forming your Lotus tforms?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just trying to figure out the way to form Lotus tforms, is all,¡± Su Chen said.

    Danba stared at him fiercely.

    So this guy was indeed up to something.

    He wasn¡¯t researching a way to preserve the lifespan of Ravagers using this technique at all. Instead, he was trying to research his Light Shaking Realm cultivation technique. No wonder he wasn¡¯t willing to tell the truth; he was using Danba to aplish his own matters.

    Danba asked, ¡°So there¡¯s not really such a thing as a decrease in lifespan?¡±

    Su Chen chuckled, ¡°It does a little, but the effect is not really significant. As you said, I don¡¯t really care, and even you might not care about the little effect it does have.

    ¡°You¡¯re a right bastard, you know that?¡±

    ¡°I hope you don¡¯t mind. This is very important to me.¡±

    ¡°Of course. How could developing a technique for reaching the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline not be important?¡± Danba sighed. ¡°If you can find the time to research it even now, it seems like you¡¯re very close to seeding, right?¡±

    ¡°The truth is, I¡¯ve already seeded,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Danba was stunned.

    What? Already seeded?

    Countless humans had dreamed about something like this and tried to achieve it for almost all of human history, but he had seeded just like that?

    Then, an idea surfaced in his mind, and he realized what was happening. ¡°The Origin Energy Temple?¡±

    Su Chen nodded.

    Su Chen had been facing two main obstacles when trying to reach the Light Shaking Realm in the past. The first was the condensing of Origin Energy so that the liquid Origin Energy would solidify. The second was to use extreme external pressure to shape, engrave, and mold the Origin Energy to produce

    After creating the Immacte Cultivation Technique, Su Chen had managed to resolve the first problem, but he had never figured out how to resolve the second problem.

    This external pressure needed to be extremely powerful - there needed to both be enough Origin Energy present, and that Origin Energy needed to obey Su Chenpletely and bepatible with the Origin Energy in Su Chen¡¯s body. There was no way that Su Chen could just find any old expert to try and top him off with Origin Energy.

    However, when Su Chen saw the Origin Energy Temple¡¯s method of infusing an individual with Origin Energy, everything became clear.

    Wasn¡¯t this a kind of external pressure that was the most suitable for charging into the Light Shaking Realm?

    The Origin Energy Temple¡¯s powerful, berserk surge of Origin Energy and the fact that no person was controlling the Origin Energy made it a perfect fit. Su Chen couldn¡¯t resist trying to analyze how to practically implement this surge of Origin Energy.

    Of course, the mouse and rooster wouldn¡¯t form Lotus tforms. Su Chen was just borrowing their bodies to get used to the cultivation method and make ample preparations.

    Unexpectedly, Danba had managed to see through him before he had been able to aplish it.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Danba seemed to suddenly be enlightened when he heard Su Chen¡¯s exnation. ¡°In other words, if you want to reach the Light Shaking Realm, you must use the Origin Energy Temple?¡±

    ¡°At the very least, that¡¯s true for me. I cultivate the Immacte Cultivation Technique, so my Origin Energy is many times more powerful than most of my contemporaries, so normal techniques won¡¯t be able to do much for me. Only an enormously powerful infusion of Origin Energy like what the Origin Energy Temple has to offer will meet my needs.¡±

    ¡°So you haven¡¯t managed to create a technique for reaching the Light Shaking Realm yet. After all, you cannot possibly get everyone toe to the Origin Energy Temple in order to reach the Light Shaking Realm.¡±

    That was true. Even though Su Chen had found a way through, this method was not universally avable to others. As such, it wouldn¡¯t have any practical use for the human race.

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°But if I can reach the Light Shaking Realm, I might be able to resolve this problem .You should know that only once I reach the Light Shaking Realm will I be able to better understand how Lotus tforms work. I will first get it to work for myself, then figure out how to get it to work for everyone. This might be one of the ways that I do things in the future.¡±

    ¡°That is not something that I care about.¡±

    When he heard this, Su Chenughed. ¡°So it sounds like you¡¯re willing to help me?¡±

    ¡°Do I have a choice?¡± Danba shot back.

    ¡°You help me get stronger, and I help you get stronger. That¡¯s very fair.¡±

    The two of them stared at each other for a moment before bursting intoughter.

    Getting Su Chen into the Origin Energy Temple to undergo a baptism was much easier than trying to sneak him in - he assumed the disguise of a Ravager, and then Danba requested an appointment for him.

    Three dayster, Su Chen entered the Origin Energy Temple confidently under the guise of a Ravager.

    As therge doors to the temple shut, Su Chen once again saw the familiar light beginning to gather above his head.

    Su Chen sat in the pool, his palms to the sky as he began to embrace the ORigin Energy rushing at him.

    The oing streams of Origin Energy prated his body like dragons made of wind.

    If it were the Ravagers, they would begin to open their being to allow the Origin Energy in.

    However, Su Chen did not. As the Origin Energy surged into his body, the Origin Energy in his body responded and pushed back against it.

    The Origin Energy being blocked out by Su Chen began to umte, turning into a massive wave that began to fill the entire Origin Energy Temple, shimmering with light like that from fragments of stars.

    Su Chen, however, ignored this and continued to release his own energy underneath this flood, beginning to condense and solidify it.

    Therge number of Origin Energy strands were like snaking lines drawn on paper. They seemed jumbled and incoherent at first, but upon closer inspection they actually seemed to contain the profundities of the universe. The strands continued to wiggle and dance, gradually forming a tform.

    A faint image of a Lotus tform was beginning to appear.

    The Origin Energy Temple¡¯s power acted like massive Origin Energy hammers under Su Chen¡¯s guidance, constantly tempering and hammering Su Chen¡¯s Lotus tform. Slowly but surely, it was solidifying.

    It would have been impossible for him to fully solidify his Origin Energy with just the power that he possessed. As such, he needed some kind of external pressure to temper and hammer his Lotus tform together.

    Su Chen was not idle during this hammering process.

    Even though everyone¡¯s Lotus tforms were simr to some degree, there were some differences in the details.

    There were many uses for Lotus tforms. One of these was to solidify Origin Skills.

    Put simply, some of the moreplicated and unique Origin Skills could be directly branded onto the Lotus tform, allowing them to be activated much more quickly. The more powerful an Origin Skill was, the moreplicated it usually was, and the more restrictions there would be on its use. Lotus tforms could help mitigate this issue immensely. The Origin Skills directly activated from the Lotus tforms would be stronger, would expend less energy, and would be much easier to unleash.

    These Origin Skills became known as Natural Origin Skills.

    Because of this, choosing which Origin Skills to turn into Natural Origin Skills was incredibly important.

    Su Chen had already chosen his Natural Origin Skill.

    As his Lotus tform was produced, unique lines representing the transportation of Origin Energy began to crawl up the tform, gradually forming an interwoven, profoundlyplex inscription of some kind. Faint void fluctuations seemed to pulse from the inscriptions.

    Whitetower Teleportation.

    This was the Natural Origin Skill Su Chen had chosen.

    There was no Origin Skill that could possiblypare to this one both in terms ofplexity andbat practicality.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 194: One Step Further

    The Origin Energy Temple above him continued to pour Origin Energy down onto him like a waterfall.

    Su Chen¡¯s first Lotus tform gradually began to solidify under the torrential downpour of Origin Energy.

    However, when the Whitetower Teleportation inscriptions werepleted, Su Chen quickly discovered that his Lotus tform was different from most peoples¡¯.

    Normally, Lotus tforms were about the size of a single fist due to the immensepression of Origin Energy.

    However, Su Chen¡¯s Lotus tform was almost as big as a head.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know if this was due to his Origin Energy not being condensed enough or if it was because his Origin Energy was much denser than most other peoples¡¯ because of the Immacte Cultivation Technique.

    As a result of his Lotus tform¡¯srger size, Su Chen discovered that, after inscribing the Whitetower Teleportation, he could still inscribe yet another Natural Origin Skill.

    He was delighted.

    Normally, most people would choose to make their strongest Origin Skills their Natural Origin Skills. However, Su Chen was not the same as most people. He wasn¡¯t able to inscribe his most powerful technique, the Primordial Blood Incarnation, onto a Lotus tform, and his second strongest, the ming Phoenix Theurgy Art, was built on the foundation of his consciousness power and didn¡¯t need to be inscribed on a Lotus tform. As such, he considered the matter briefly for a moment before deciding to inscribe Shi Kaihuang¡¯s Sumeru Void.

    Shi Kaihuang¡¯s Sumeru Void was also a spatial-type Origin Skill. It sealed a designated space-time area, restricting the opponent¡¯s movements. However, Su Chen¡¯s mastery of this Origin Skill was not very deep, so he rarely used it in battle. Inscribing it on his Lotus tform would save him hours of time that he would otherwise have to spend cultivating it.

    Moreplex inscriptions stretched across the surface of the Lotus tform. Once the Lotus tform waspleted, the Sumeru Void Inscription would also beplete.

    However, the Lotus tform still was not finished even though it now had two Natural Origin Skills inscribed on it.

    Next, Su Chen needed to cast a Soul Imprint on his Lotus tform.

    To do so, he needed to infuse his soul into the Lotus tform, nourishing and expanding it greatly while simultaneously increasing his own consciousness power.

    When a human¡¯s cultivation reached this point, their consciousness power would increase significantly because of this. The Soul Imprint also would bestow some semnce of consciousness to the Lotus tform itself, causing it to act and move as if it were alive.

    When Su Chen infused his consciousness into the Lotus tform, it began to rumble loudly, generating a resounding hum, and then petals suddenly appeared out of nowhere, floating down idyllically.

    Those petals were formed from Origin Energy. Su Chen¡¯s consciousness touched them, affecting the way that they fell.

    Thankfully, he was alone in a sealed templed. Otherwise, if anyone from the outside were to see this scene, they might be shocked to the point of their jaws falling off.

    Normally, Soul Imprints would only cause the Lotus tform to move slightly or glow faintly, demonstrating that it was now ¡°alive.¡± Su Chen¡¯s Lotus tform, however, flickered and swayed noticeably, causing flowers to fall from the sky as it glowed with a zing brilliance as they began to bloom. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Su Chen was carefully controlling it, the Lotus tform might have split into four or five smaller ones. A miniature humanoid figure that was the spitting image of Su Chen could be seen sitting cross-legged in the center of the blooming Lotus Flower.

    No Light Shaking Realm cultivator had ever been able to achieve something like this.

    It was actually a Divine Throne Lotus tform!

    At this moment, the Origin Energy Temple glowed with a resplendent light as the lotus flower blossomed. Su Chen¡¯s consciousness had been firmly imprinted inside, and his consciousness also seemed to suddenly burst with power. He knew that the Lotus tform¡¯s nourishment was causing his consciousness energy to grow.

    However, at this point in time he couldn¡¯t care less about any of that. Instead, he focused all of his attention on perfectingpleting thest step of forming a Lotus tform.

    Chains formed out of Origin Energy and infused with consciousness power began to spiral out from the center of the Lotus tform, stretching towards an yet-unknown location.

    This was the final bridge that needed to be built in order to ensure a perfect connection between man and lotus.

    However, these chains were unsurprisingly also different from most other peoples¡¯.

    Most people¡¯s chains were somewhat white and ethereal. The number of chains that could appear often varied, but it was impossibly rare for there to be more than six or seven.

    In Su Chen¡¯s case, however, eighteen golden chains immediately sprang forth; each chain was covered in profound inscriptions and exuded an ancient aura as they stretched towards the void.

    The construction of this bridge was the final requirement necessary for Light Shaking Realm cultivators to control the power of nature.

    After reaching this point, the foundation of the Light Shaking Realm was basically already established. Apart from creating Natural Origin Skills, the most important part of advancing to the Light Shaking Realm was the ability to borrow the power of the heavens and the earth.

    The amount of power that could be borrowed depended precisely on this bridge.

    Su Chen relentlessly willed the golden chains to enter deep into the depths of the void.

    This kind of entrance was created at a deeper level than just physical. It felt as if the chains were entering a foreign dimension separate from reality, yet their movements still caused the flow of energy within Su Chen¡¯s body to boil.

    Su Chen¡¯s Lotus tform was shaking at this point, radiating with intense light.

    After an unknown period of time, the eighteen golden chains finally stabilized, meaning that a bridge had been established between the void containing the profound principles of the universe and Su Chen¡¯s Origin Sea. They began to gradually fade away before disappearing into nothingness. Even though it was impossible to see the chains anymore, the connection between the two had been fully established.

    The Lotus tform then slowly descended as it melded into Su Chen¡¯s body.

    Boom!

    A radiant column of light zed forth from Su Chen¡¯s body, indicating that he had sessfully and wholly entered the Light Shaking Realm.

    Whew!

    Su Chen opened his eyes and let out a long sigh.

    He had finally seeded.

    Su Chen knew that, from this day onwards, he had created another doorway along the path of humanity¡¯s cultivation.

    Even though the use of this doorway was extremely restricted, Su Chen was confident that he could resolve this limiting issue in the near future and make the technique universally avable for all cultivators.

    Upon seeing that he still had some time left and that Origin Energy was still pouring down from the ceiling of the Origin Temple, Su Chen decided to begin cultivating the Ravager race¡¯s hereditary technique to convert the excess Origin Energy into lifeforce.

    The Ravagers possessed an innately different physique from the other races. Having researched them for so long, Su Chen had naturally developed some methods to replicate the secrets behind their physique. He had to first ingest a medicine before spreading its medicinal effects through the rest of his body. As the Origin Energy rained down on him, the aura of his lifeforce began to gradually change.

    He still looked like a Ravager, but now it wasn¡¯t just his outward appearance that matched it. Even the flesh right beneath his skin was beginning to take on Ravager-like physical characteristics.

    This was due to his lifeforce changing on a fundamental level, which allowed Su Chen to possess some of the unique characteristics that belonged to the Ravager race.

    Only through this method would he be able to convert the Origin Energy he was absorbing into physical power, giving him a powerful, vigorous lifeforce.

    However, this was not enough. Next, Su Chen was going to reverse the operation of the Origin Energy Temple by forcefully converting Origin Energy into physical strength.

    This was something that perhaps only Su Chen, who had managed to decode the Origin Energy Temple¡¯s Origin Formations, could do.

    At the same time, he could only do this after reaching the Light Shaking Realm.

    The Lotus tform he had formed only moments earlier flew out of his body, and started circling above his head.

    All of the Origin Energy washed down onto the Lotus tform, entering Su Chen¡¯s body.

    At the same time, Su Chen¡¯s half-Ravager-like physical makeup came into effect as he converted the Origin Energy trickling into his body into physical power.

    Even though Su Chen¡¯s conversion rate was far too low inparison to a normal Ravager, the frightening amount of Origin Energying from the Origin Energy Temple allowed Su Chen to maintain the rate at which he converted the Origin Energy into lifeforce. As such, Su Chen¡¯s physique grew stronger at a breakneck pace.

    If any Ravager was to see this, their minds would definitely be blown.

    So the Origin Energy Temple could actually be used not to increase a person¡¯s Origin Energy stores but rather to improve their physique. Was that really possible?

    Su Chen¡¯s physical condition was already quite good due to his cultivation of the Flowing Wind Body technique, but quite good was merely quite good. It was at amon level given his status in the human race, but there were many other cultivators who specialized in close-quarterbat that were stronger than him.

    However, at this moment, the torrent of Origin Energybined with the Ravager race¡¯s ability to convert it into lifeforce caused his lifeforce to increase by leaps and bounds, and an aura of deep vitality began to emanate from him. His muscles began to bulge as his skin darkened. His figure was still as unassuming as before, but now every cell was filled with a shocking amount of power.

    Boom!

    Su Chen unleashed a punch into the sky, causing an explosion of sound to tear through the temple.

    That had just been from pure strength.

    There was absolutely no Origin Energy infused into that strike. The physical strength Su Chen could unleash was simply shocking.

    If he were tobine this physical strength with Origin Energy, the amount of power he could explode with was going to be nearly unfathomable.

    This was the power that had belonged solely to the Ravager Temple Warriors, but now Su Chen also possessed it.

    However, the Temple Warriors were much worse than Su Chen in terms of being able to effectively utilize Origin Energy. One could easily imagine what kind of terrifying power Su Chen would be unable to unleash in the near future.

    It was about time to leave.

    Su Chen could sense that his body was nearing its limits.

    He wasn¡¯t an actual Ravager, so a period of such rapid growth had quickly pushed him to his limits. Even though these limits weren¡¯t unbreakable, Su Chen didn¡¯t have the time to push through them right at this moment.

    Time was almost up anyways.

    The Origin Energy raining down on him from the ceiling began to lighten up, and the operation of the Origin Energy Temple slowly came to a halt.

    Su Chen sighed and stood up from the pool, put on his clothes, and quietly waited for the door to the temple to open.

    This trip to the Origin Energy Temple had benefited him significantly. Not only had he been able to break through to the Light Shaking Realm at this crucial juncture, but his physical prowess had also increased by a significant amount. As a result of all these improvements, hisbat ability had also soared.

    He was already able to fight with low-tier Light Shaking Realm cultivators before ascending. Now, his physique had been upgraded significantly, and fighting with Light Shaking Realm cultivators with six or seven Lotus tforms wasn¡¯t a problem. If he was given some more time to be ustomed to all the changes his body had gone through, he might actually be able to fight with a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator.

    As the seconds trickled by, the flow of Origin Energy gradually stopped, and the doors to the temple finally opened.

    Su Chen stood up and walked out of the Origin Energy Temple.

    Unexpectedly, he was greeted by arge horde of Ravagers heading towards him.

    Unlike the guards of the Origin Energy Temple, these Ravagers were outfitted with elite equipment and were incredibly disciplined. They advanced in an orderly fashion.

    This was extremely rare for the reckless, undisciplined, and unruly Ravagers.

    These Ravagers were equipped with armor made from the hides of Demonic Beasts and wielded des rather than the usual axes or hammers. They wore horn-shaped helmets on their heads, and each one of them was tall and sturdy, exuding an imposing aura.

    They were the Iron and Blood Imperial Guards!

    This thought immediately surfaced in Su Chen¡¯s mind.

    Having lived in Gun Castle for this period of time, Su Chen had already developed a rough understanding of the Ravager military hierarchy.

    These guards were the Inferno Tribe¡¯s most elite soldiers!

    Why would the Ravager Emperor¡¯s personal guards appear in a ce like this?

    Had his cover been blown?

    Had Danba sold him out?

    All kinds of possibilities shed through Su Chen¡¯s mind.

    Just as he was trying to guess what was going on, therge group of Iron and Blood Imperial Guards separated into two files, forming a passageway between them.

    A red silk carpet then spread itself all the way to the front door of the Origin Energy Temple.

    A few Ravagers stepped out from the crowd.

    The one at the very front wore a crown on his head. A blood-red mantle was draped around his shoulders, and he held a magnificent scepter in his hand, upon which a gem had been iid. The gem was obviously a Demonic Emperor¡¯s Origin Crystal.

    However,pared to the one that Su Chen possessed, this Origin Crystal was notpletely intact. As such, its glow was dimmer and its color fainter.

    Even so, it still glowed with an enchanting light.

    However, that enchanting light simply could notpare to the body of the scepter.

    The body of the scepter had been fashioned out of a bone.

    That bone was a fiery-red color. It emitted no light, but a single nce was enough to recognize that this bone embodied an endless number of profound mysteries, and anyone who saw it would immediately be sent into a daze.

    It was an Origin Bone.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 195: Origin Bone Scepter

    Su Chen knew who this visitor was as soon as he saw the Origin Bone scepter.

    The Ravager Emperor, the Crazed Monarch Anubi Inferno.

    As the Ravager Emperor, only Anubi would have the right to wield a staff fashioned from an Origin Bone ¡ª even though it had no practical use for him.

    This Origin Bone hade from the core of the Shining Dragon¡¯s skull. Technically speaking, it wasn¡¯t really a bone; it was the physical essence of the Shining Dragon¡¯s thoughts that had formed after its death. This essence had then been infused into a bone fragment and fashioned into its current shape.

    But regardless of the Origin Bone¡¯s past history, the most important thing was that this bone possessed temporal powers simr to that of the Sands of Time, and allowed the user to peer into both the past and the future.

    Bone Divinersmuned with this Origin Bone, using it to answer their questions while offering up their own lives in exchange.

    It could be said that these Bone Diviners were nourishing the Origin Bone, and in return, the Origin Bone gave them the ability to peer into time.

    This was all aplished via an ethereal connection. No physical contact was ever actually required.

    However, there was still a requirement to establish this connection, which was that the Origin Bone needed to be ced on the Divine Shrine¡¯s altar. Only there could the Origin Bonemunicate with the Bone Diviners.

    As such, the Origin Bone should have been ced safely on the altar in the Divine Shrine, not moved around so casually.

    However, the absurd personalities of the Ravagers had manifested itself yet again.

    18,000 years ago, after Sorna Redeagle killed Uldritch of the ughter Axe and proimed herself the first female monarch, Barnard had fled because he rejected the Redeagle Tribe¡¯s rule. As he fled, he had also taken with him the Origin Bone, which was the reason he had named his tribe the Ironbone Tribe.

    Having lost the support of the Divine Shrine, Barnard had no way of essing the Origin Bone¡¯s ability to peer into time.

    The Ravagers, who only feared thinking and not action, once again demonstrated their awe-inspiring intellect by attempting to use the Origin Bone in battle.

    After a period of fighting thatsted for nearly a hundred years, they had actually seeded.

    The Ironbone Tribe killed a Demonic Emperor that also possessed temporal control abilities, removed its Origin Crystal, and embedded it into this Origin Bone, bestowing unique time Origin Skills upon the Origin Bone.

    In other words, the divining Origin Bone had been turned into a weapon that not only had strategic value but also had actualbat capabilities.

    However, this was not a good thing.

    Because of the Ironbone Tribe¡¯s blind and reckless acts, the power of the Shining Dragon Origin Bone¡¯s temporal abilities were greatly decreased, along with its divining abilities.

    Decreasing its strategic value to increase itsbat abilities was something that only the Ravagers, who idolized strength, would do.

    Well, they had done many idiotic things in the past, so what was one or two more?

    However, a dispute over who owned the Origin Bone had then resulted.

    After the Ironbone Tribe was exterminated, the Divine Shrine initially reimed the Origin Bone. However, the Redeagle Tribe firmly believed that, since the divining power of the Origin Bone had drastically decreased while itsbat ability had increased, it should be ressified as an imperial treasure and kept in the imperial pce.

    The imperial family fought with the Divine Shrine for hundreds of years over this issue before eventually reaching apromise.

    Under normal circumstances, the Origin Bone scepter would be kept in the Divine Shrine so that its pitiful divining abilities could still be used. At the same time, however, it was a symbol of imperial authority. As such, during important ceremonies and when setting out on an expedition, the emperor had the authority to wield the scepter.

    In simple terms, the emperor could take the scepter when he wanted to use it, and when he didn¡¯t, the Divine Shrine took care of it.

    This custom had continued all the way until the present day.

    This was also why Su Chen had immediately identified Anubi as soon as he saw the Origin Bone scepter.

    But why would Anubi suddenly appear here?

    Even if he knew that a human had managed to sneak in, there was no need for him to personallye, right? And there was no need to take out the Origin Bone scepter either, right?

    When he thought of these things, Su Chen knew that Anubi had most likely note for him specifically but rather for a different reason.

    Anubi walked forward casually, holding the scepter in his right hand and cradling arge rooster in his left.

    A rooster?

    A buck-naked, featherless rooster?

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but rub his eyes in disbelief.

    What was going on?

    And why did this rooster seem so familiar?

    Before he could even react, someone thundered at him. ¡°His Majesty Anubi Inferno is personally gracing the room with his presence. Why have you not kneeled yet!¡±

    Su Chen put on a confused expression before he knelt down on one knee. ¡°Lontu greets His Majesty Anubi. Long live His Majesty, the Divine Emperor, ruler of all!¡±

    Anubi walked over, cradling the rooster in his hands. ¡°Your name is Lontu? You are very obedient. I appreciate what you said. As a reward......¡±

    He struck out with his palm at Su Chen.

    Su Chen never would have dreamed that this emperor would suddenly attack when his words had been so positive. He instinctively moved his Origin Energy to defend against the blow. With a resounding boom, Su Chen was sent flying.

    Anubi hadn¡¯t used his full power when attacking, and Su Chen¡¯s strength now could not bepared to before. Both hismand of Origin Energy and his physical strength had increased dramatically; otherwise, this palm strike would have heavily injured him if not killed him on the spot.

    Su Chen knew that the situation wasn¡¯t good. He bit down on his tongue, spitting out a long trail of blood before allowing himself to sink to the ground.

    Thankfully, Anubi didn¡¯t follow up with another palm strike. When he saw that Su Chen hadn¡¯t died, he chuckled. ¡°Oh? It seems that you are quite strong, but you shouldn¡¯t have made me wait outside for so long.¡±

    Su Chen finally understood why this guy had attacked him. Anubi had likely been waiting here for a while. Since the Origin Energy Temple was still being used and could not be opened, this ¡°Divine Emperor¡± Anubi could only stand outside and wait.

    Obviously, this had made him very unhappy.

    Fine, I guess I¡¯m just unlucky.

    Su Chen could onlyin silently in his heart.

    The group of Ravager soldiers walked inside,pletely ignoring him. Su Chen silently retreated.

    Danba walked over and asked in a low voice, ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m okay,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Why is he here?¡±

    ¡°Did you not see the rooster he was cradling?¡±

    Su Chen seemed taken aback for a moment before he suddenly realized something. His expression shifted. ¡°Could it be......¡±

    Danba nodded. ¡°The one we lost.¡±

    ¡°Damn! Now we¡¯re in trouble.¡± Su Chen sucked in a mouthful of cold air.

    He immediately realized why Anubi had appeared at the Origin Energy Temple.

    It was because this rooster had undergone a baptism.

    No matter how stupid the Ravagers were, they could not possibly ignore the signs of an Origin Energy baptism. After all, they had been carrying out this procedure for nearly ten thousand years.

    As such, as soon as this rooster was brought to Eket Pce, all of the Ravagers there were stunned.

    Why did a rooster have traces of a baptism lingering on it?

    How had it managed to withstand the baptism?

    Why had the baptism increased its intelligence along with its strength, unlike its effects on the Ravagers themselves?

    These suspicious signs immediately caught the attention of everyone in Eket Pce. Countless Ravager officials began arguing incessantly with one another about it, and even Anubi himself became extremely interested.

    Even though he was the Crazed Monarch, he was not an idiot, and he recognized the immense implications behind this matter.

    As such, he took appropriate measures and personally took this rooster to the Origin Energy Temple, in stark contrast to his usual pleasure-seeking attitude. He wanted to see if he could find any clues. However, his personality was one that enjoyed making a grand, majestic disy. So even though it wasn¡¯t a big matter, he still insisted on bringing the Origin Bone scepter with him. He even secretly thought to himself that since the scepter had stored up quite a bit of Origin Energy recently, he could increase the size of his appendage and experience more pleasure that way.

    If Sachar was still alive, there was no way he would have dared to use a national treasure to do something like this. However, with no one left to keep him in check, he could do anything he desired without fear.

    Of course, nobody else knew about this idea of his. All they saw was Anubi being unusually diligent. And the fact of the matter was that this situation really was quite important, which also helped to exin why he had personallye.

    However, after entering the Origin Energy Temple, no one knew what to do.

    Both the rooster and the temple were here.

    But could you ask the rooster or the temple about how they had managed to work together?

    Therge investigative campaigncked any intelligent direction, so a ratherical argument immediately broke out on the scene.

    The Ravagers were debating and analyzing amongst themselves, but Su Chen and Danba had begun to whisper to one another.

    ¡°That thing is pretty decent,¡± Su Chen said to Danba, his gaze locked onto the Origin Bone scepter.

    ¡°You¡¯re thinking of getting your hands on it again? Don¡¯t even think about it. I won¡¯t help you with this right now,¡± Danba replied.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be like that. Besides, I remember agreeing to hand over the secret Ravager cultivation technique only if you gave me the Origin Bone......¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯ve already given me the secret technique,¡± Danba replied.

    ¡°...... Isn¡¯t there another level?¡±

    ¡°Ignoring the fact that you haven¡¯t managed to develop it yet, would you even be willing to hand it over?¡± Danba countered.

    ¡°I have already developed a way to reach the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline. Letting the Ravagers grow one level stronger as well is not a problem.¡±

    ¡°But your technique is not universal!¡±

    Su Chen calmly replied, ¡°If I have that thing, I will be able to find a way to make it universal.¡±

    Danba froze for a moment before he understood. ¡°You want to conduct experiments with the Origin Bone scepter?¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°A treasure that can peer into both the past and the future should be very useful in discovering the truth.¡±

    ¡°The future can change, but the truth never changes. If you n on using the Origin Bone Scepter to determine whether or not you can sessfully resolve this issue, as well as confirm the how you can fully develop this technique, then that would......¡±

    ¡°It¡¯d save me lots of time,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Predicting the future was very difficult, because the future was never certain. Actually, the act of predicting the future could change the future.

    Because of this, the Ravagers could only get a rough estimate of what might happen in the future every time they tried to divine something with the Origin Bone. Most of the answers they received were vague andcked detail.

    And after the Origin Bone scepter¡¯s abilities had deteriorated, even obtaining these vague answers was quite difficult.

    However, if the question being asked was about the fundamental truths of nature, then the situation was altogether different, because the truth was constant and eternal.

    This was equivalent to asking if there existed such a force as gravity. The answer was obviously yes and would never change. Even if you used an Origin Skill to counteract this force and flew into the air, this truth would never change.

    Of course, the Origin Bone was not all-knowing. Actually, it didn¡¯t know anything on its own.

    But it could still see the future.

    For instance, Su Chen might be able to perceive a path to an answer with the aid of the Origin Bone scepter that might have taken Su Chen ten years toe to. That way, he could finish it immediately.

    Through this process, ten years might turn into a single night, but the result would not change, and that was enough.

    As such, Su Chen was still the one providing the answers.

    As long as it was something that Su Chen had the capability of figuring out, the Origin Bone scepter would be able to give him the answer.

    On the other hand, if Su Chen could not figure it out within his lifetime, the Origin Bone scepter could not give him any answers either.

    This was also fine, because it meant that Su Chen wouldn¡¯t need to bother wasting his time on going down paths that only led to dead ends.

    The value of the Origin Bone scepter to Su Chen was apparent.

    Of course, there were a number of restrictions on the use of the Origin Bone scepter, so Su Chen could not just use it as he pleased, and the answers might not be too clear. But having it was still better than not having it, and seeing a vague picture was better than not seeing anything at all.

    The Origin Bone scepter would be apass for Su Chen in the future. If he could obtain it, it would be one of Su Chen¡¯s most important tools right behind his microscopic eyes and his consciousness crystal.

    How could he not be excited by the thought of having it or try to think of a way to obtain it?

    Danba shook His head. "Keep dreaming. It¡¯s impossible for you to steal it. Do you know how powerful Anubi is? Do you know how many experts are protecting him right now?"

    Su Chen chuckled. "I never said that I was going to forcefully seize it."

    "Then what are you going to do?"

    "Get close to him. Since he wields the scepter, getting close to him by bing his subordinate is the best decision."

    Danba shook his head. "He will not ept a stranger into the ranks of his personal guards that easily."

    "It is impossible for a normal monarch, but nothing is impossible when he¡¯s crazy," Su Chen replied.

    How could the Crazed Monarch be crazy if he didn¡¯t break the rules and ignoremon sense?

    "Then how are you nning on getting his attention?"

    "Do you even need to ask? What is he holding in his hand right now?" Su Chen asked as he chuckled.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 196: Entering the Palace

    Inside the temple, arge group of Ravagers were still bickering with one another as they surrounded the rooster.

    Some said that they needed to dissect it, but to dissect it in the Origin Energy Temple? Are you kidding? And what would you be able to gather from it even if you dissected it?

    Some said that they should baptize it again to see what happened. Okay, so we gathered arge group of Ravagers just to watch a rooster take a bath.

    Some said that since the rooster could endure a baptism, then it might be possible for other small animals as well, so they should try it out on other lifeforms as well.

    This suggestion was a but more scientific. At the very least, many of them were prepared to see something like that.

    The problem was that Su Chen had just undergone a baptism himself. They would need to wait at least two more hours in order toplete another baptism.

    Since they were all standing around and didn¡¯t have much to do, it was only natural for them to continue arguing how this rooster had managed to survive the baptism.

    All kinds of inconceivable ideas were thrown out there. Some maintained that this was a divine rooster that hade from the Heavens, or that it had simply been at the right ce at the right time, or that its ancestors had blessed it, or that it was actually a demon in disguise. All these ideas and more surfaced in the discussion. There were even some who said that the Origin Energy Temple had been damaged and should be torn down and rebuilt - and that idea was only narrowly beat down.

    Only people who didn¡¯t understand science could spout such amusing nonsense.

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t endure it any longer. He stood up and said, ¡°This rooster didn¡¯t go through an Origin Energy baptism. It went through a simr process that is only a thousandth as intense.

    Whoosh!

    All of the Ravagers turned to look at Su Chen.

    Even though the Ravagers didn¡¯t have many rules, it was possible for amon warrior from a lowly tribe to lose their tongue if they interrupted the discussion of such important figures, not to mention the possibility of losing their head altogether.

    However, the Crazed Monarch indeed lived up to his title. Traditions and rules had no effect on him. All he pursued was a life free of restrictions and burdens, where he could do as he pleased.

    For this reason, he wasn¡¯t enraged by Su Chen¡¯s interruption. Instead, he said with excitement, ¡°That¡¯s quite an interesting statement. Why do you think that?¡±

    Why would I think that? Because I was the one who did it!

    The words that came out of his mouth were: ¡°Your Majesty, take a look. The crown of this rooster¡¯s head has some white feathers interspersed amongst all the red, which is a manifestation of being in direct contact with Origin Energy. This is probably one of the effects of it receiving Origin Energy. But from the color and luster it is immediately obvious that the power behind that Origin Energy was rtively weak and not even close to the power the Origin Energy Temple can unleash. Also, its feathers have begun to recede, so you can also clearly see the washing traces left behind on its skin. The arrangement of those traces is quite crude and rough, not nearly as refined as those from the Origin Energy Temple¡¯s inscriptions, but it does share some simrities in fundamental character. As such, it¡¯s quite clear that these were the result of an imitation Origin Formation with much weaker strength and intensity.¡±

    Anubi discovered that everything was exactly as Su Chen had said. He nodded repeatedly and said, ¡°That makes a lot of sense. But who could possibly replicate the Origin Energy Temple¡¯s inscriptions? And why would they do something like that?¡±

    Su Chen kept his mouth shut. There was no need for him to answer this question personally.

    Indeed, some Ravagers said, ¡°Your Majesty, it might be the foreign races.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s the humans.¡±

    ¡°How could there possibly be humans here?¡±

    ¡°Of course they did it with camouge techniques. There are a few Demonic Beast bloodlines that can give them that ability.¡±

    ¡°Or it might be the Astrals.¡±

    ¡°The Astrals don¡¯t need Origin Energy nearly as badly as the humans.¡±

    ¡°Those damned humans!¡±

    ¡°Search the entire city. We must find that bastard. Activate all the irvoyants!¡± Anubimanded.

    Then, he looked at Su Chen. ¡°Start with him!¡±

    In fitting Crazed Monarch fashion, the first thing he did to repay Su Chen for his contributions was to investigate him using a irvoyant¡¯s Eagle Eye.

    This time, however, the irvoyant was doomed to fail.

    While he was undergoing the baptism in the temple, Su Chen had shaped his physique to be more simr to that of the Ravagers. The current him was filled with vitality, and the sturdiness of his externalyer was in no way weaker than most Ravagers. He had managed to take on some of the characteristics unique to Ravagers as a whole.

    These characteristics were genuine, not fake, but they were concentrated at the exterior. The internalponents of his body were still human, allowing him to maintain the deftness and nimbleness of a human body while gaining the overbearing strength of the Ravagers.

    The irvoyants could only see through disguises, not deep into Su Chen¡¯s body. They would obviously be able to tell if he had disguised himself as a different race, but in some sense his Ravager physique was not just for show. As such, Su Chen appeared to bepletely clean in the eyes of those irvoyants. The only issue was that the Origin Energy in his body almost seemed to be overflowing - it was far too much, more than any Ravager should have.

    However, the irvoyant inspecting Su Chen quickly rationalized his discovery: the other party had just undergone a baptism, and the Origin Energy in his body probably had yet to bepletely distributed. As such, having some traces remaining on the surface was totally normal.

    As such, he nodded to Anubi and said, ¡°Your Majesty, he¡¯s real.¡±

    Anubi had merely issued themand on a whim and wasn¡¯t expecting anything toe of it, so he didn¡¯t seem surprised. He waved his hand and said, ¡°It¡¯s rare for there to be another intelligent individual emerging from the ranks of my people. Your name is Lontu, is it not? Are you willing to follow me?¡±

    Su Chen acted as if he were extremely grateful and knelt down on one knee. ¡°I am willing to serve His Majesty.¡±

    Ravagers valued loyalty above all else. Many of the Ravagers despised Su Chen for betraying his tribe and pledging his loyalty to Anubi without any hesitation.

    But just as Su Chen had expected, this did not pose a problem to Anubi in the slightest.

    He tilted his head back andughed loudly. ¡°Very good, very good. I never expected to get a profit like this. I appreciate smart people, because they are always able toe up with crazy, fantastic ideas that amuse me very much. So what about you? What will you show me, child?¡±

    ......

    So you want to surround yourself with intelligent Ravagers just to amuse yourself?

    Su Chen waspletely rendered speechless.

    However, he could not remain silent.

    He thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°That depends on what Your Majesty has andcks. I believe that all kinds of entertainment is built upon the foundation of something that is hard to normally obtain. Only things that you have yet to obtain or yet to be able to do are amusing. If it¡¯s something that you can obtain through some external aid, the amusement it brings is sure to be limited and shortsting.¡±

    When he heard this, Anubi was momentarily taken aback before he tilted his head back and howled withughter. ¡°Hear that? My subjects, this Lontu understands the principle of amusement. Bring him back to the pce and show him all the good things we have on offer, so that he can fill in for what Ick. If he cannote up with something that entertains me after three days, then kill him.¡±

    Anubi strode away as he spoke.

    Just before leaving, he tossed the rooster over to his subordinates. ¡°Stew this chicken for me!¡±

    Danba and Su Chen nced at each other.

    Then, Danba gave Su Chen a thumbs up.

    You¡¯re the smart one!

    Eket Pce was filled with traces of Ravager primitiveness and wildness.

    Even though it was designed by a master Harpy architect to be extremely beautiful, the savage, vicious aura deep in its bones could not be washed out so easily.

    Eket Pce was primarily constructed out of pure white stone. At the center of the pce was where governmental affairs were handled. There were six other regions off to the side: the Emperor¡¯s residence, the Imperial Concubine Chambers, the Servant Quarters, the Emperor¡¯s Entertainment Area, a tool and property storage area, and the Guard¡¯s Quarters.

    Su Chen immediately headed for Anubi¡¯s entertainment area as soon as he entered the pce.

    In terms of entertainment, however, the Crazed Monarch had quite a limited selection to choose from: drink wine, eat meat, or y with women.

    Apart from these three things, the only other source of entertainment Anubi coulde up with was fighting.

    There were special diator grounds within the Crazed Monarch¡¯s residence. Every day,rge numbers of Demonic Beasts and ves would be sent here to wrestle with one another. Sometimes, it was Demonic Beast against Demonic Beast; other times, it was Ravager against Ravager; still other times, it was Ravager against Demonic Beast. It all depended on the Crazed Monarch¡¯s needs at that moment in time.

    While Sachar had been alive, the main fighters had been primarilyposed of Ravagers who hadmitted crimes.

    After Sachar¡¯s deaths, who the Ravager diators were depended on the Crazed Monarch¡¯s needs.

    Apart from this, there were also flower gardens and fountains spread throughout the pce.

    However, the Crazed Monarch had no eye for beauty and gazing at scenery was boring for him. The only beauty he could appreciate were the naked bodies of women.

    As such, Su Chen was warned by one of the Crazed Monarch¡¯s guards as soon as he arrived at the pce: if he tried to entertain His Majesty by creating some kind of a beautiful disy, he might as well forget about that idea now, because His Majesty did not enjoy those kinds of things.

    And anything His Majesty didn¡¯t like wasn¡¯t entertainment but asking to die.

    Eket Pce had never really produced anything to satisfy Anubi¡¯s thirst for entertainment for the past few decades, and now Su Chen needed to find something in just three days.

    This was probably the cost of being promoted so rapidly. If you wanted to reach the Heavens in a single step, you had better be prepared to steal it.

    Su Chen, however, wandered casually around the pce, seemingly in no hurry.

    Eket Pce had quite an imposing aura to it, and the scenery was pretty good. Even if the Crazed Monarch didn¡¯t appreciate it, Su Chen did.

    That was especially true given thebination of Ravager and Harpy aesthetics, which embodied the mixing of raw strength with beauty.

    Eket Pce was also heavily guarded, but it was obvious that the guards were rtively undisciplined and sloppy. There were too many holes to sneak in through if someone wanted to carry out an assassination. What really kept the Emperor alive was not these guards but the Emperor himself.

    For instance, even though he had managed to sneak close to Anubi, he would only be able to wound Anubi if he tried to assassinate him, followed by the fate of being smashed into a meat paste right then and there.

    This was because Anubi was a peak-tier warrior who had undergone six Origin Energy Temple baptisms.

    Even though his addiction to women and wine had caused his strength to decrease, Su Chen was still far from being able to do anything to him.

    After wandering around once, Su Chen came to the diator arena.

    This diator arena was round in shape and was rtively to the rear of Eket Pce. Strictly speaking, it wasn¡¯t actually part of the pce, as it was a separate building of its own.

    Anubi himself had issued themand to build it.

    The guard responsible for leading Su Chen around said, ¡°There is at least one battle every day at the diator arena; the exact number of battles depends on His Majesty¡¯s mood. This is His Majesty¡¯s favorite ce toe, so to satisfy his needs, everyone racks their brains to think up all kinds of different ways to amuse him. If Sir Lontu wants to obtain His Majesty¡¯s favor, doing something at the diator ring would be quite wise, but honestly I don¡¯t think this is an easy task either.¡±

    He was obviously a Ravager that had been handling imperial affairs for a long time. His words were quite tactful. Even if he didn¡¯t view Su Chen in a good light, he was not so dumb as to offend Su Chen with his words for

    such a pitiful reason.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Many thanks for your pointers. Right, when will the next diator match be? I want to take a look.¡±

    ¡°Tomorrow. I¡¯ll arrange a seat for you.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 197: A Natural Favorite 1

    Chapter 197: A Natural Favorite (1)

    The diator match began the next afternoon.

    The arena was filled to the brim with Ravager nobility keen on spectating the match.

    Anubi stood in the best spectator box, nked by a host of nobility, officials, and beautiful women.

    It was only here that Su Chen realized that there were in fact beauties amongst the Ravagers.

    Anubi had almost a toon of beauties to himself, and most of them were very attractive. In addition, because the Ravagerscked social customs, they were clothed in anything they liked. As such, many of them wore quite revealing clothing.

    They sat there demurely, observing the people below them fighting for their lives.

    The match below had already begun.

    The first to stand forth was a tall, brawny Ravager. All he wore was a pair of short pants. He wielded a steel pitchfork. His body was covered with Totemic Inscriptions, and a symbol of a stone axe had been imprinted on the back of his hand, indicating that he was a descendant of the almost extinct Stoneaxe Tribe.

    The Ravager¡¯s opponent was a high-tier Vicious Beast, a Knotted-Tail White Lion.

    Its long, white tail, which had bulges on it like that of a bamboo section was its most standout attribute. Its massive body exuded an incredible pressure as it began to run towards the Ravager warrior.

    The Ravager warrior nimbly leapt aside, then stabbed at the giant lion with his steel pitchfork.

    This Ravager was obviously nimble and had quick reactions.

    However, he was facing a high-tier Vicious Beast, and his strength was somewhatcking.

    The Knotted-Tail Lion unleashed a savage flurry of attacks against the Ravager warrior. The Ravager warrior did his best to use his speed to dodge the attacks and didn¡¯t try to take it head on, but the pitchfork in his hand was knocked aside in a moment of negligence.

    An instantter, the Knotted-Tail Lion pounced, sinking its incisors deep into the Ravager¡¯s shoulder.

    The Ravager activated his Totemic power to its greatest extent, resulting in him deadlocking with the Knotted-Tail Lion.

    However, blood continued to flow from his wound, making it impossible for him to hold on forever. Even though his iron-like fists managed to wound the Knotted-Tail Lion quite heavily, it was of no use.

    He felt his gaze growing dim as his strength began to fade. The Knotted-Tail Lion, however, was still howling madly.

    He knew that the end was nigh.

    As his gaze swept across the cheering Ravager nobility, he pushed the energy to the greatest extent as he howled, ¡°Curse you, Inferno Tribe!¡±

    This howl was cut short as the lion devoured him.

    After this Ravager warrior died, the next match would pit two Demonic Beasts against each other.

    The two Demonic Beasts had been captured from battle. They were spoils of war that the Ravagers had paid blood, sweat, tears, and even lives for, but they were going to be expended in a pointless diator match.

    The two Demonic Beasts howled and paced in their cages. Their intelligence made it so that they knew what their fate was, and they weren¡¯t willing to fight one another for the sake of the ¡°lowly¡± Ravagers.

    However, the Ravagers were very prepared for this situation.

    They injected medicine into the bodies of these Demonic Beasts, who very quickly were engulfed by madness.

    Their eyes turned red as thest shred of intelligence they had remaining disappeared.

    The person in charge of the diator arena opened the cages at this moment. The two Demonic Beasts charged out of their cages and began to viciously attack each other once they couldn¡¯t find any other targets nearby.

    Because they were Demonic Beasts, their battle was incredibly intense, and the arena was covered in blood.

    Guttural howls rang throughout the arena, and chunks of flesh littered the ground. The powerful recovery abilities of these Demonic Beasts made it impossible for them to die quickly, so their battle was exceptionally brutal and ruthless.

    Even though their bodies were torn open and they were covered in wounds, they would gather all of their strength and continue to fight with each other until one of them fell and couldn¡¯t get back up anymore.

    The crowd watching cheered and called out, constantly making bets on who would win. Once the result came out, some cried out with joy, some cursed bitterly, some were enraged, and some celebrated excitedly. All kinds of reactions to the oue of the battle could be seen.

    The only person who wasn¡¯t interested was probably His Majesty Anubi himself.

    ¡°What a pointless battle,¡± Anubi yawned loudly, then howled, ¡°Get this trash out of here! Let me see something really exciting!¡±

    ¡°I will arrange it for you now, Your Majesty,¡± an official by his side hurriedly said as he began to wave a banner.

    Very quickly, the Knotted-Tail Lion was taken away, and two teams of twenty Ravagers each took center stage.

    For most people, there was not too much interest in watching a beast versus beast battle. An all-out fight between members of the same race, on the other hand, was worth seeing.

    As the drums were beaten loudly, the two Ravager teams leapt at each others¡¯ throats.

    Anubi¡¯s interest was finally aroused a bit.

    He opened his eyes wide, enjoying the carnage unfolding below him. It satisfied his unique craving for what he uniquely considered to be beautiful.

    Finally, the drums stopped, as did the ughter urring in the arena.

    The red-clothed Ravager team had won, but only three of them were able to remain standing.

    Broken limbs and corpses were strewn everywhere, and blood stained the ground of the arena a deep red.

    The spectators cheered wildly for the victors, but the victors stared at their fallenrades in sorrow.

    ¡°A bunch of idiots with no experience,¡± Anubi muttered disdainfully as he gazed at the nobility making such a mor.

    In his eyes, this battle was only decent.

    After therge battle was another one-on-one duel. This time, two Ravager females with a decent appearance were being pitted against each other, essentially equivalent to a dessert course.

    Even though the Ravager females¡¯ fight was not as powerful in terms of physicality, there was still a unique kind of beauty to it. Even Anubi, who had been constantlyining up until this point, didn¡¯t have any criticism to offer. He just quietly observed the diator match all the way until the end.

    What Hanbull said waspletely true. The Ravagers had already arranged all kinds of diator fights, so it was very hard toe up with anything fresh and new that could amuse Anubi.

    After the winner had been decided, Anubi stood and said, ¡°Send the woman who is still alive to my bed. That is the glory assigned to the victor.¡±

    He chuckled madly as he left.

    Licentious,scivious, ruthless, and bloodthirsty.

    Su Chen silently formed an evaluation of this Crazed Monarch.

    Hanbull walked over and asked, ¡°What do you think?¡±

    ¡°Those were quite marvelous battles,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°But to His Majesty, they are at most enough to make sure that he doesn¡¯t get angry.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to satisfy His Majesty¡¯s appetite.¡±

    ¡°But you must satisfy it.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s absolutely true.¡±

    Hanbull stared at him deeply before offering Su Chen a ¡°best of luck¡± and leaving.

    Su Chen was just about to leave when he suddenly heard a voice behind him. ¡°It seems like you have yet to obtain His Majesty¡¯s favor.¡±

    He knew who it was without even turning his head around.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you came as well.¡±

    He turned around and found Danba behind him, as expected.

    Danba shrugged. ¡°When I considered the request of His Majesty, I guessed that you might be in attendance here today, so I just came along to join in on the fun.¡±

    ¡°Just to join in on the fun?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°And to tell you something.¡±

    ¡°Which is?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m heading back.¡±

    Su Chen remained silent.

    Danba continued, ¡°Thanks for what you did for me. Right now, I can already sense Origin Energy and absorb it and use it on my own. Perhaps not long from now, I¡¯ll be able to reach a new breakthrough on the back of my own strength. But unfortunately I cannot remain here; the Gravel Lizard Tribe needs me, and I cannot be gone for too long.¡±

    ¡°So you just came to see me to say goodbye?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a few loose ends that need to be tied up,¡± Danba replied.

    Su Chen asked, ¡°Concerning my identity, right?¡±

    Danba nodded.

    Before he had entered the imperial pce, Su Chen had entered the temple as a member of the Gravel Lizard Tribe.

    If the issue of his identity was not resolved, then Danba would be in trouble as soon as Su Chen made trouble in the imperial pce.

    Even though Danba was going to face off against the Inferno Tribe sooner orter, he preferred to have control over the timing over Su Chen.

    ¡°So what are we going to do?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Danba smiled slightly. ¡°That¡¯s easy. I¡¯ll just beat you up a bit.¡±

    Bang!

    Danba punched out, his fistnding squarely on Su Chen¡¯s face and sending him flying.

    ¡°So Head Chieftain Danba believed that you betrayed the Gravel Lizard Tribe and beat you up out of unhappiness? And he proimed that he was driving you out of the Gravel Lizard Tribe?¡± Hanbull asked as he applied medicine to Su Chen.

    ¡°I don¡¯t really get it, Sir Hanbull. Everyone is a subject of the Iron and Blood Country, and our loyalties should lie with His Majesty. Serving His Majesty should be a matter of glory for our Gravel Lizard Tribe. Why would he do this to me?¡± Su Chen asked as he sucked in a mouthful of cold air.¡±

    ¡°I very much admire your intelligence and courage, Lontu. The fact that you were able to attract His Majesty¡¯s attention under these kinds of circumstances fully demonstrates your quick wits. But I don¡¯t like it when you pretend to be stupid with me. That¡¯s a humiliation to me.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°You are indeed a senior worth honoring.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re better off figuring out how to satisfy His Majesty first. If you can¡¯t do it, I can only take care of your corpse no matter how much respect you give me.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t I still have two days?¡±

    ¡°What n do you think you can execute in two days?¡±

    ¡°Sir Hanbull, you should know that the value of a n is not necessarily determined by the n itself but the target of the n. A blooming flower can cause a beautiful woman to stop and smell it, a delicious banquet can cause a noble to drool with delight, a beautiful bad can intoxicate a lover of music, an intricate charcoal drawing can draw the gaze of an art collector...... No matter how good or how bad a n is, it needs to have an appropriate target to attract his or her interest. Only once you have control over this aspect can you truly begin to develop a n that would astound people with its brilliance.¡±

    Hanbull was momentarily startled. ¡°That¡¯s quite interesting. But you should know that the person you are trying to satisfy is the hardest person to satisfy in the whole kingdom.¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong, Sir Hanbull. Even the pickiest individual is not as hard to satisfy as the masses. A group target is extremely variable and fickle. Each has their own interests and pursuits, and something you consider to be good might be considered bad by him and neither good nor bad by someone else. No matter how picky an individual is and how hard it is to satisfy them, as long as they have needs, you can create a n around meeting their needs, and it bes very easy to satisfy them...... at the very least, it¡¯s much easier than trying to satisfy arge group.¡±

    Hanbull was stunned.

    He stared at Su Chen, slightly in a daze.

    After a long time, he said, ¡°You make a very good point. Seems like you have already developed a n.¡±

    Su Chen cracked a smile, revealing two rows of neat teeth. ¡°I still need your help, Sir Hanbull. But I also need you to keep it a secret.¡±

    ¡°Say it. His Majesty sent me here to help you, and I am only loyal to His Majesty.¡±

    Su Chen nodded. Of course he was aware of this. As such, he exined his n in detail to Hanbull.

    Once he heard Su Chen¡¯s n, Hanbull shook his head and sighed, ¡°That is so absurd, ridiculous, and illogical, but there is indeed a very good chance that it will obtain His Majesty¡¯s favor.¡±

    ¡°So I have your approval?¡±

    Hanbull didn¡¯t reply directly.

    He stared at Su Chen for a long time, then said, ¡°You make a natural favorite subject of his, Lontu.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 198: A Natural Favorite 2

    Chapter 198: A Natural Favorite (2)

    Three days quickly went by.

    Su Chen¡¯s test finally came.

    Today, Anubi came to the diator arena again. Su Chen made an unprecedented appearance next to him this time.

    Anubi waved his hand and said, ¡°Three days have passed. My young, intelligent subject, what amusing show are you going to put on for me.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Please, Your Majesty. Pay close attention to the diator arena.¡±

    Anubi said, ¡°Oh, is that so? It¡¯s as you expected, Kenwo.¡±

    The Ravager standing beside Anubi chuckled fiercely, ¡°These lowly citizens from another tribe, what interesting things can theye up with? All they can do is use some cheap tricks rted to what Your Majesty likes. If my guess isn¡¯t wrong, he probably chose a few rarer Demonic Beasts and arranged for them to fight in a more creative format. However, because these lowly citizens haven¡¯t seen many diator fights, I believe it is very likely that the tricks he will show us are things that we have discarded a long time ago.¡±

    ¡°Hahahaha!¡± All of the Ravagers nearby began to howl withughter.

    Su Chen knew this Ravager whose name was Kenwo. He was Anubi¡¯s chief imperial officer and handled all of the internal affairs of the pce. He was in charge of all the servants, but his main task every day was to prepare all kinds of different amusements for Anubi.

    At this moment, Anubi had a new Ravager female by his side. Unsurprisingly, Kenwo was the one who had prepared her for him.

    To Kenwo, Su Chen¡¯s job was part of his responsibilities, so it was not unreasonable to interpret it as Su Chen taking away Kenwo¡¯s bowl of food. This was why Kenwo insisted on using such disrespectfulnguage when referring to Su Chen.

    He absolutely had to attack hispetitor viciously and mercilessly.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t mind. He calmly said, ¡°If His Majesty doesn¡¯t like it, then I am willing to be punished for it.¡±

    ¡°Then begin.¡± Anubi waved his hand, and Su Chen sat down next to Anubi.

    This was his first time sitting so close to Anubi, but if he didn¡¯t do a good job, then there would not be another chance in the future.

    The first fight began.

    Four warriors took the stage, but not in a two-on-two format, but a one-on-three.

    diator battles didn¡¯t necessarily need to be fair. In order to satisfy Anubi¡¯s audiovisual needs and his desire to see high-quality battles and unique ways of spilling blood. Stimting His Majesty¡¯s preference for novelty was the most important. As for the actual warriors participating in the battle, who cared which ones won or lost or died or lived?

    Of course, to make sure that the battle didn¡¯t end too quickly, the strengths still needed to be roughly equal.

    Even though it was a one-on-three fight, the first warrior to emerge was Burkitt, who had a very high win rate on the diator arena.

    Burkitt was a voluntary participant. He had entered for the sake of money and status. He possessed an incredibly viciousbat ability, and it could be said that he was unrivalled amongst his peers.

    Even though he was facing three warriors at once, Burkitt did not show any fear.

    Because in this battle, he was the one with the advantage!

    ¡°A battle without any suspense! Prepare your flowers and apuse!¡± Burkitt howled loudly at the audience.

    ¡°Roar!¡± the audience responded with howls of excitement.

    ¡°Burkitt!¡±

    ¡°Burkitt!¡±

    ¡°Burkitt!¡±

    Countless Ravagers yelled uncontrobly.

    The fight began.

    Burkitt savagely charged at his opponents. As everyone expected, he held an advantage over his opponents, who had the advantage in terms of numbers. Burkitt used his overbearing physicality and his powerful momentum to assault his opponents.

    He used his shield to defend against the attacks of his opponents as the il in his hand crashed downwards. After probing his opponents and exchanging blows a number of times, he finally managed to sessfully hit one of them.

    Taking advantage of the opportunity created by wounding one of his opponents, he charged forward mercilessly, mming his shield on the head of another Ravager before firmly gripping the third, using his powerful arms to trap him. The muscles on his arms bulged as he forcefully crushed the Ravager to death.

    The first Ravager that had been knocked flying crawled back to his feet and charged forwards again. Burkitt tossed the Ravager corpse aside and endured the blow, then pounced and grabbed his opponent, using his fist to beat him up.

    ¡°Help me!¡± that Ravager warrior cried.

    The other Ravager warrior managed to get back at this moment.

    Burkitt tossed the Ravager he was holding at the one charging at him, ruthlessly unloading a barrage on one of them and beating him to death.

    The third Ravager had already stabbed a sharp de into Burkitt¡¯s body. Burkitt seemed to be totally unaware. He tossed aside the second corpse and headbutted the opponent¡¯s nose, then bit down on the opponent¡¯s throat, severing both his airway and the arteries leading to his brain.

    Blood spurted everywhere. Burkitt¡¯s opponent retreated a few steps, his hand covering his throat, before falling to the ground, sapped of his strength.

    Burkitt raised his fist at the crowd, his face and mouth stained with fresh blood.

    ¡°Not a bad performance, but that has nothing to do with you,¡± Kenwo pped as he spoke, not forgetting to take a dig at Su Chen.

    Su Chen said with a slight smile, ¡°Of course it has nothing to do with me. The battle I have arrangedes at the very end...... It¡¯s the best cement for the climax.¡±

    Kenwo harrumphed. ¡°That¡¯s quite the coincidence! It seems that I have also arranged for a battle, and the battle I have arranged will be the actual finale.¡±

    Su Chen frowned.

    He knew that this was Kenwo targeting him, not wanting to give him the finale.

    Obviously, he had been observing his own movements quite closely.

    But it was fine. His n had been arranged in secret, so Kenwo shouldn¡¯t know the contents, just the things at the surface.

    But even so, Su Chen really detested this guy.

    He harrumphed and didn¡¯t say anything.

    The second duel consisted of Ravager females once again. This time, however, thirty people took the stage, fifteen people in each team.

    Normally, the more people there was in a battle, the more intense and bloody it would be, meaning the entertainment value would go up.

    As such, these duels were of quite high quality. The first involved a celebrity, and the second involved arge horde of women. Even so, all of these battles had nothing to do with Su Chen. Kenwo was obviously the one who had arranged all these battles.

    All Su Chen could control was the battle he had arranged.

    The reason Kenwo had raised the quality of these battles to this point was obviously to suppress him, using all kinds of high-quality ¡°programs¡± to demonstrate the averageness of Su Chen¡¯s programs. This would cause his status to decrease in Anubi¡¯s eyes.

    Even the simple and crude Ravagerspeted and schemed against one another!

    And the methods he had chosen were decent as well.

    The ughter of female Ravagers began. After seven or so died and more than half had been badly injured, the battle came to an end.

    After the arena grounds were cleaned up slightly, the third battlemenced - this time between Demonic Beasts.

    In order to satisfy Anubi and suppress hispetitor, Kenwo had chosen two rare, powerful mid-tier Demonic Beasts to fight each other.

    Mid-tier Demonic Beasts possessed rather powerful Origin Skills, and these ones in particr could use a unique Origin Skill that generated a lot of sound and dazzling light, making it far more interesting of a battle than that between Vicious Beasts. The barrier surrounding the arena flickered violently under their furious assault, and light scattered everywhere. The nobility couldn¡¯t help but cry out; only Anubi felt that the scene was merely average.

    The fact that he had not yet yawned was the greatest praise he could provide.

    There were normally four diator matches per day, so after the battle of the Demonic Beasts came Su Chen¡¯spetition.

    Very quickly, a team of twenty or so diators charged onto the arena.

    On the other end, a massive Terror Lizard was driven out onto the arena from the other side.

    The Terror Lizard was just a low-tier Demonic Beast. Its strength was decent.

    However, the twenty diators were obviously more powerful. Even though they weren¡¯t Temple Warriors, they all had high-tier Totemic Inscriptions bestowing on them powerful physiques. In addition, they were quite well-versed in team tactics, which was their trump card in this arena. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that their target was a mere Terror Lizard, there was no way the owner of these diators would have allowed them to participate and potentially suffer tremendous losses in battle.¡±

    Under these kinds of circumstances, the Terror Lizard was almost certainly going to lose.

    Even Anubi was slightly taken aback when he saw this. He stared intently at Su Chen and said, ¡°This is the show you¡¯ve prepared for me? A one-sided ughter with no suspense?¡±

    Su Chen said with a slight smile, ¡°Your Majesty, do you enjoy betting?¡±

    ¡°Of course. You want to bet with me?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty. I will bet on the Terror Lizard. If I win......¡±

    ¡°Then I will not kill you regardless of whether this amuses me or not. If you lose...... well, there won¡¯t really be much for you to lose anyways,¡± Anubi said.

    Su Chen, however, replied, ¡°If possible, I would prefer some other kind of reward.¡±

    Anubi stared at Su Chen with some shock. ¡°It seems like you are quite confident. What would you like?¡±

    ¡°As long as it is a favor from Your Majesty, anything will suffice.¡±

    Anubi nodded and said, ¡°You really have a way with words. Let¡¯s hope that your arrangement is just as precise.¡±

    As they spoke, the battlemenced.

    The twenty diators assembled into formation and charged at the Terror Lizard. They held their iron shields in a line, long spears poking out through the gaps as energy practically rolled off their bodies.

    Even though these high-tier totem Ravagers didn¡¯t have the ability to control Origin Energy, their powerful physiques allowed them to charge forwards fearlessly. The Totemic Inscriptions on their bodies lit up with dazzling light.

    The Terror Lizard, however, remained motionless. It lowered its head, which had a strangely long horn growing from it.

    A white streak of light shot out from the horn, colliding with the shields.

    This was the Terror Lizard¡¯s Innate Origin Skill. The powerful white light diffracted off of the shield as all of the warriors unleashed their strength simultaneously to resist the attack. At that moment, however, a tentacle-like object suddenly appeared behind the warriors¡¯ formation and pierced forward, stabbing a Ravager in the back.

    Because all of their defenses were facing forwards, they never even saw the ambush from behinding.

    Pu!

    The Ravager spat out a mouthful of blood as he was skewered. The massive tentacle-like object continued to advance through the wave of Ravagers.

    Pu, pu, pu, pu! In but a single breath¡¯s time, the tentacle skewered a number of other Ravagers as well.

    The diators only noticed the tentacle when three of them had been skewered and only began to react when two more of them were skewered, breaking apart their formation as they dodged to the side. The tentacle waved through the air, the five Ravagers skewered on it like candied fruits on a stick. Blood flowed from their mouths, indicating that they were not dead yet.

    At the same time that they dodged, the Ravagers all put their shields behind them instead.

    This was a fatal mistake.

    Because just a short momentter, the Terror Lizard sprang into action.

    It charged right at the team of Ravagers, its iron-like feet stomping on the ground and causing the arena to tremble. Given its size and speed, it tore through the ranks of the Ravagers with unstoppable momentum, knocking over six or seven more Ravager warriors.

    They had once again been attacked from behind. The Terror Lizard inflicted grievous wounds upon the warriors.

    When the Terror Lizard charged forwards, the tentacle floating in the air had also shot back into the ground, stripping off the corpses skewered on it as it continued to shrink until it returned to the Terror Lizard¡¯s body.

    So that tentacle was actually its tail.

    Anubi said with some shock, ¡°I have never heard of the Terror Lizard possessing this kind of ability.¡±

    ¡°I just made a small modification, Your Majesty,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Anubi understood. ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. I must admit that you are surprising me. Even though I do not yet feel amused, you have indeed shown me some new things.¡±

    ¡°I was not expecting you to be satisfied just with this.¡±

    ¡°Oh? You mean......¡±

    ¡°This is only the beginning, Your Majesty.¡±

    An instantter, a cry of rm sounded as the situation changed drastically.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 199: The Natural Favorite 3

    Chapter 199: The Natural Favorite (3)

    On therge arena, the rampaging Terror Lizard had begun its wanton ughter of the remaining Ravager diators.

    Because of Su Chen¡¯s modifications, not only could its use its tail in a sly manner, but even its strength and natural defenses had greatly increased, as had its intelligence.

    The current Terror Lizard¡¯s strength was probably closer to that of a high-tier Demonic Beast¡¯s.

    When faced with such a terrifying opponent, the twenty diators were basicallypletely swept aside without any resistance. Their owner felt his heart seize with pain, almost passing out.

    Even so, the battle was not over yet.

    After killing all of the diators, the Terror Lizard began charging madly at the defensive barrier. It seemed like one of the side effects of Su Chen¡¯s modifications was that the reptile had gone berserk, even wanting to challenge the light barrier. Powerful waves of energy pounded the Terror Lizard¡¯s body, causing it to howl madly. However, the intense pain didn¡¯t force it back; instead, it began to attack the light barrier even more ferociously.

    The Ravager Nobility very rarely saw anything like this. Their interest was piqued as they all crowded forwards, thinking that this was a scene like a fish trying to vainly break out of its fishbowl.

    However, they very quickly realized that something was going horribly wrong.

    The Terror Lizard was still furiously attacking the barrier without slowing down at all, while the barrier seemed to be gradually weakening.

    Finally, it used its sharp horn to fully prate the web of light. It was now outside of the arena stage, right in front of a couple of spectators. A few of the more cowardly noble females began to shriek and scream hysterically.

    ¡°Roar!¡± The howl of the Terror Lizard was much clearer now that its head had pierced through the barrier.

    ¡°Not good!¡± One of the generals by Anubi¡¯s side revealed a trace of distress.

    But before he was able to make a move, the Terror Lizard¡¯s horn began to glow with light again.

    The incandescence of the light this time was even more powerful than when it had used it against the twenty diators.

    Boom!

    An instantter, a massive beam of energy mmed into the spectator box. At least twenty Ravagers were caught in this attack; as for how many survived, it was unclear.

    ¡°AHH!¡± The arena was immediately plunged into a chaotic bem as screams and yells filled the air.

    The bloodthirstiness and valiance, intrinsic characteristics of the Ravager race, had all been but wiped away from these nobles a long time ago. Their easy lives had made them cowardly andzy, and when they were faced with such a sudden shock, not many actually knew what to do. The few Ravagers who were strong didn¡¯t immediately rush to attack the Terror Lizard; instead, they flocked to Anubi¡¯s side to protect him. Regardless of how powerful the Emperor was or how injured the Terror Lizard was, opportunities for them to express their loyalty were few and far between. If that lizard even managed to touch His Majesty, let alone wound him, they would have failed in their duties.

    At the same time, the Terror Lizard finally charged through the barrier of light.

    It howled as it bounded up the stairs, charging at the audience and opening its maw wide at a female Ravager who hadn¡¯t managed to escape in time.

    Snap, crackle, pop.

    The Terror Lizard continued to advance up the stairs, its jaw now stained with fresh blood as it continued to ughter any targets within its reach.

    The diator arena had devolved into total chaos by now.

    Only Anubi remained sitting, calmly and attentively observing the situation as it developed. There was absolutely no trace of fear in his expression at all.

    Conversely, his eyes were actually glowing with a kind of deranged excitement.

    He stared at the enraged creature as he calmly said, ¡°It seems as if there were some mistakes with your arrangements, my friend Lontu.

    ¡°Quite the opposite, Your Majesty. Everything is going exactly ording to n,¡± Su Chen replied coolly.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Anubi shot Su Chen a nce.

    ¡°What did you do!?¡± Kenwo stood up, totally enraged, and grabbed Su Chen by the cor.

    ¡°Release him, Kenwo,¡± Anubi said.

    ¡°But Your Majesty......¡±

    ¡°I said release him!¡±

    Kenwo was dazed and could only helplessly relinquish his grip.

    Anubi turned to look at Su Chen again. ¡°So are you saying that you nned for all of this to happen, that you nned for my subjects to die in order to please me?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°No, Your Majesty. That part was just an ident. The Origin Formation used to support the light barrier has been in use for a long time now, and a few keyponents of the formation are damaged, making the light barrier unstable. If the barrier isn¡¯t stressed, this wouldn¡¯t be a problem; however, the improved Terror Lizard is an anomaly. Its ability to sense pain is greatly numbed, while its power is greatly increased. More importantly, it has been tormented constantly for the past three days by Ravagers, filling it with an intense hatred for any and all Ravagers. With this intense hatred and power coupled with the declining condition of the protective barrier, I believe that is enough reason to sufficiently exin how this tragedy came about.¡±

    Anubi turned back to the Terror Lizard. A few of his powerful generals had personally made a move, quickly suppressing the rampaging lizard. They then came over personally to request forgiveness, but Anubi shook his head, indicating that he didn¡¯t care. ¡°So you¡¯re telling me that everything ispletely unrted to you?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°What I¡¯m saying is that everything that happened today was an ident. There are all kinds of idents; there are tragic ones...... and there are pleasant ones.¡±

    One of the less perceptive nobles savagely used, ¡°You bastard, what are you saying? What does this have anything to do with pleasant surprises? You killed so many nobles that you deserve to die!¡±

    ¡°Stop!¡± Anubi put him in his ce.

    All of the Ravagers present watched as Anubi¡¯s body began to tremble.

    Upon closer inspection, it seemed as if he was......ughing?

    A wildughter that he could not suppress.

    Then, he tilted his head back and began to guffaw unstoppably, ¡°Hahahaha! This is simply too interesting! An ident! Yes, an ident leading to a pleasant surprise! Do you not feel that this is the case?¡±

    All of the Ravagers said in a daze, ¡°Your Majesty......¡±

    ¡°Shut your mouths!¡± Anubi howled loudly. ¡°I¡¯ve had enough of your inflexibility and your ipetence. Everything is always arranged, arranged, arranged, used by you to lie to me. Do you think that I¡¯m an idiot? Do you think that I can¡¯t tell that you¡¯ve arranged everything? Everything is done ording to the rules, ording to a n. There¡¯s no creativity or spontaneity involved! That¡¯s not interesting in the slightest! I detest people doing things like this!¡±

    As he howled, a wave of powerful energy began to surge forth, sweeping across the stands. All of the Ravagers were forced to retreat; only Su Chen remained standing by Anubi¡¯s side, seeminglypletely unaffected. He had no question about Anubi¡¯s incredible strength.

    Anubi continued to howl, ¡°A pleasant surprise! I want pleasant surprises! I want something to happen outside of my expectations! Something different that wasn¡¯t nned, just like a smoking piece of meat that came off of the bonfire! I want it to be fresh, new. See this? This is......¡±

    Yes, this was precisely Anubi¡¯s taste!

    Su Chen had managed to see through this crazed monarch a long time ago.

    He hated rules more than anything, especially convoluted and over-borate ones.

    The reason why he was so crazy and insane sometimes was because he hated any form of restriction.

    He enjoyed things that he did not anticipate happening.

    He enjoyed things that exceeded his expectations.

    No matter what the oue was.

    An ident!

    Unexpected!

    Groundbreaking!

    Unfettered!

    That was exactly what Anubi wanted. If anyone was able to fulfill those requirements, he would like it!

    Su Chen, who had managed to perceive this, had carefully arranged such an ident for Anubi.

    As expected, Anubi had appreciated the scene a lot.

    One of the Ravagers said, ¡°But Your Majesty, so many died......¡±

    ¡°I said shut your mouth!¡± Anubi grabbed the Ravager by his head. ¡°Who cares about a few nobles? I can just raise some more in their ce. Are you afraid that not enough people will want to be a noble?¡±

    As he spoke, he closed his hand, and the Ravager¡¯s head shattered.

    Anubi withdrew his grip, and a servant handed him a white towel to clean his hands with.

    Anubi nonchantanly wiped his hands and stared at Su Chen. ¡°I enjoyed your arrangement very much, Lontu. However......¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty!¡±

    The sound of military boots on the ground could be heard off in the distance. A Ravager general walked over from a distance and seemingly impolitely interrupted Anubi.

    This Ravager was a middle-aged, masculine Ravager. He had quite a handsome appearance, which was rare for members of this race, a stalwart expression, and a pair of extremely piercing eyes.

    His name was Averigus, the Inferno Tribe¡¯s Iron and Blood Commander-In-Chief.

    Averigus was actually a mixed-breed between Ravager and Demons.

    The Demons were a small race that relied on the Ravagers for protection, simr to how the Golems relied on the human race. The most unique characteristic of this race was that all of the males and females were quite attractive.

    Averigus had inherited his mother¡¯s traits, so his appearance was handsome enough for any human woman to fall for him, and he was known amongst the Ravagers to be quite the lover.

    However, what had earned Averigus his position as Ravager general despite his mixed-blood status wasn¡¯t his appearance, but rather his uncanny talent formanding.

    He was responsible for defending against the Astrals¡¯ attacks on the western front. As soon as he had been dispatched there, the Ravagers, who were typically heavily suppressed and disadvantaged, had actually began to turn things around.

    This was an extremely rare urrence across all of Ravager history.

    Even under Averigus¡¯smand, they only won about half of their battles. Despite this, that was already an incredible record against the Astrals. Every time they battled, he would do his best to limit the number of casualties. It was these efforts of his that had greatly decreased the pressure on Ravagers from the western front.

    This was why he had been promoted to an Inferno God of War.

    Yes, he was one of the three Gods of War from the Inferno Tribe.

    Among the Gods of War, his battle results were the least glorious.

    Even so, this did not diminish his prestige in the slightest. Instead, it gave Averigus a reputation for being extremely stable and calm.

    Inparison to the God of War Sachar, the God of War Averigus was even more masculine. He was like a sun that had descended on the Inferno Tribe, and was the one in whom the Inferno Tribe had the most faith.

    Only an existence like him could face Anubi directly without fear of his imperial might.

    He was originally stationed at the western border, but because of the sudden expansion of the Beast Wave, he had temporarily been moved from the western border back to the central region to prevent the Beasts from moving further in.

    Averigus walked over to Anubi and said in a low voice, ¡°Your Majesty, the blood of these nobles should not be used to please you. You went too far this time.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Anubi turned to look at Averigus. ¡°Then what should it be used for? They are the ones eroding my country like pests as they steal from my storehouses, ruining our society, are they not?¡±

    It had to be said that even though Anubi was crazy, his worldview was quite clear.

    His dispassioned view of the nobility was not merely because he didn¡¯t care about lives but also because many of those nobles had indeed fallen corrupt a long time ago.

    Anubi was more than happy to see them die because they were corrupted, especially given the fact that he was not the one who had caused it, so there was even less pressure on him.

    However, Averigus didn¡¯t back down. ¡°I know that much of the nobility has fallen, but that doesn¡¯t mean that you can ignore their right to live. All things must be done in an orderly fashion. This Lontu was too aggressive, daring to use the lives of the nobility to amuse Your Majesty. He should be taken out and beheaded on the spot!¡±

    ¡°Oh, that is somewhat reasonable I suppose. Lontu, what do you think?¡± Anubi nced at Su Chen.

    Su Chen chuckled dryly. ¡°Iron and Blood God of War Averigus, I am afraid that you are mistaken on one matter. I never used the lives of the nobility to amuse His Majesty. This incident had nothing to do with me, from start to finish.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Averigus said angrily.

    ¡°I said that it¡¯s just an ident,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°An ident caused all of this, so why must you insist on cing the me on me?¡±

    ¡°Were you not the one who gave that Terror Lizard the medicine, resulting in all of this?¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°That was me, but so what if I used some medicine? The Terror Lizard is a low-tier Demonic Beast, and even after the aid of the medicine it is barely strong enough to fight a high-tier Demonic Beast. Is the God of War trying to say that the diator arena¡¯s defensive abilities are only enough to defend against the attacks of a mid-tier Demonic Beast?¡±

    ¡°This......¡± Averigus was rendered speechless.

    The defenses of the diator arena should have been able to defend against Demonic-Lord-level beasts under normal circumstances.

    As such, Su Chen¡¯s elevation of the Terror Lizard¡¯s level to that of a high-tier Demonic Beast did not necessarily mean that the me for this incident could be pinned on him.

    Averigus said, ¡°Are you trying to say that the barrier¡¯s malfunction had nothing to do with you?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Su Chen shrugged. ¡°I already said that the barrier has been in use for a long time, and that some wear and tear has naturally taken ce. It can no longer withstand as much force as it used to. However, that is the responsibility of the arena manager, not me.¡±

    ¡°So how did you know about it?¡±

    ¡°I came to the diator arena to search for a way to entertain His Majesty. As I was modifying the Terror Lizard, I discovered a safety w, so I wrote up a special report and handed it to the manager of the arena. It¡¯s only natural that I would know about it.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s the report?¡±

    ¡°In the arena manager¡¯s office. If you go and look for it now, you should be able to find it. But only if you are fast enough that no criminal can destroy the evidence.¡±

    Averigus turned around, and a few soldiers charged in that direction.

    Averigus knew, however, that more likely than not they were going to return to him with disappointing information.

    He stared at Su Chen and said, ¡°So how would you exin the matter of the Terror Lizard¡¯s rampage?¡±

    Su Chen calmly replied, ¡°An ident? A coincidence? Or perhaps a pleasant surprise. It depends on how you want to look at it, sir.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 200: Saving Lives

    ¡°Hahahaha!¡±

    A viciousugh tore through the silence.

    Without question, thisughter could only havee from the Crazed Monarch himself.

    He yelled, his arms in the air, ¡°Yes! Yes! This is exactly what I wanted to see! A climax! A true climax!¡±

    Averigus was stunned.

    Anubi continued to yell, ¡°Look! The great, wise Averigus, Defender of the Ravagers, Nightmare of the Astrals, shameless womanizer, is so deted!¡±

    Anubi continued to howl withughter. ¡°This is exactly what I was hoping to see! This is even more exciting to me than the deaths of all those nobility! I¡¯m going to kill you with love, Lontu! You have put on a performance I haven¡¯t seen for decades. I swear on my consciousness that I have never seen something as entertaining as this. See, look at Averigus¡¯s expression! He looks like an idiot who was yed! Averigus, you never would have dreamed that this day woulde, right?¡±

    Averigus¡¯s expression was steely. ¡°I don¡¯t think this is anything to be delighted about.¡±

    ¡°Of course not to you,¡± Anubi chuckled.

    The nobility around him also began to chuckle.

    One thing Anubi had said was absolutely correct. Averigus had never had the wind taken out of his sails so badly.

    This was the first time that his attempts to teach someone a lesson had been soundly turned around on him.

    Averigus calmed himself down and said, ¡°The soldiers that went looking for the evidence still haven¡¯t returned yet, right?¡±

    Anubi immediately said, ¡°But you and I both know that Lontu isn¡¯t lying, right? Unless you told your soldiers to destroy the evidence, but it¡¯s obvious that you aren¡¯t that kind of Ravager. You are a true god of war, and there¡¯s no way you could do something like that. That is one of the things I despise about you, but now, I am starting to appreciate that quality of yours. So it turns out that it¡¯s possible to find cute points about a hateful appearance. It¡¯s quite shocking to me, really, that I didn¡¯t discover it before!¡±

    Anubi shrugged and said, ¡°What I mean is, Lontu was able to dig up the lovable side of you and make you more lovable.¡±

    Averigus maintained his silence with a steely expression.

    The soldiers who had gone looking for the evidence very quickly returned.

    As expected, there really had been a report on the need to repair the barrier delivered.

    Obviously, however, the Ravager in charge had totally ignored it.

    Whether it was him just holding down a job without ever doing anything or he had just failed to do his job this once, both were quitemon to the Ravagers. It would have been strange if he had jumped to do something as soon as he received the report, not to mention the fact that Su Chen had chosen to hand over the report when the official was intoxicated to ensure that he would neglect his duties.

    The situation unfolded exactly as expected.

    Perhaps there were other details being overlooked?

    Other strategies under the surface?

    Other people pulling strings behind the scenes?

    But none of this was important anymore.

    The most important thing was that this situation had already unfolded, but it had all turned out to be an ident.

    Many nobles had died, the god of war had lost quite a bit of face, but the Emperor was quite pleased.

    ¡°Everything has its rules,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°Since you, the god of war, have no evidence implicating me as the culprit, am I allowed to go?¡±

    Averigus stared at Su Chen. After a long time, he finally nodded and said, ¡°I¡¯m keeping my eye on you, kid.¡±

    Su Chen replied straightforwardly, ¡°I think you¡¯re better off keeping your eye on those Astrals. We all know that Astrals have the ability to bewitch and transform. Perhaps the person in charge of maintaining the arena is an Astral who managed to sneak their way past your defenses into the city by virtue of his camouge. Who knows?¡±

    He was all but saying directly that Averigus was the chief culprit of this incident.

    However, it was undeniable that there was some logical truth to it. Averigus violently suppressed the mes of rage in his heart so that he didn¡¯t explode right then and there.

    He shot Su Chen a fiery re before turning around on his heel and marching off.

    Anubi muttered as he watched Averigus¡¯s departing figure, ¡°I have rarely ever seen him like this before. You¡¯ve really offended him now.¡±

    However, his tone quickly changed, ¡°But I like that about you! Hahahaha!¡±

    Anubi began tough maniacally again.

    Averigus¡¯s honesty and persistence weren¡¯t actually that well-regarded in Anubi¡¯s eyes.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Whatever pleases Your Majesty.¡±

    Anubi said, ¡°Very well. Since you have put on a marvelous performance for me, then I will also keep my promise. From this day onwards, you will be the head of my internal servants.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty!¡± Kenwo cried out.

    Even though being the head of internal servants was still lower than his status as Chief Imperial Officer, it triumphed in that it allowed him to be much closer to Anubi.

    Anubi was very sober-minded about how he used his subordinates. He ced the ones with more ability further out, while he kept the ones that entertained him nearby - when the Crazed Monarch wasn¡¯t, well, crazy, he had more rity than anyone else.

    The problem was that this did not benefit Kenwo in the slightest.

    He had always wanted to be the head of internal servants, but he was also worried that Anubi would kill him with a single p if he was in a bad mood. As such, Kenwo had never had the courage to ask.

    But now, there was no point in asking. He stared intently at Su Chen. A thought shed across his mind, reminding him of the possibility that he would need to suck up to Su Chen in the future. As such, he restrained the daggers in his gaze. But when he thought of the fact that Anubi might smack him to death the next day, he continued to re at Su Chen.

    Anubi didn¡¯t know howplicated his feelings were at this moment. He said, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say there would be still anotherpetition? Continue.¡±

    He still had an interest in continuing to watch more battles.

    True, everything that had happened before was in fact his ¡°amusement¡±. Since it was so amusing, it was only natural that he would continue.

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!¡± Kenwo replied respectfully as he waved his hand at one of the subordinates.

    He knew that he had lost this bout - the Terror Lizard¡¯s escape was definitely part of Su Chen¡¯s n.

    He wasn¡¯t worried, though. This Lontu had indeed pleased His Majesty, but he had also offended too many Ravager nobles. Offending arge group for the sake of one person was not viable, even if that person was an emperor. You never knew when that emperor would die at the hands of some other nobles, or if a Ravager would just try to kill him without a n. After all, the Ravagers weren¡¯t exactly known for carrying things out with ns.

    As such, he still tried his best to take care of his own business. Even if he couldn¡¯t get Anubi to howl withughter, he could at least tease Anubi with some dessert after the main course.

    Very quickly, a new group of duelists entered the battlefield.

    When Su Chen saw who the contestants were, even he was stunned.

    Humans!

    It was a group of humans.

    There were twenty of them in total. They all wore torn armor, revealing wounds and scars beneath. The Ravager soldiers around them drove them into the arena with whips.

    ¡°Humans!¡± Anubi murmured in astonishment.

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty,¡± Kenwo said as he bowed. ¡°These are a few human soldiers who managed to infiltrate through our borders. Today, the blood of these humans will be used as part of a sacrifice to please you, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°Oh!¡± Anubi nodded. Even if he was a Crazed Monarch, as a Ravager he still possessed a bone-deep hatred for the human race. By the same principle, watching these humans die was second only to watching the Astrals die in terms of entertainment value. Also, there were many more humans than Astrals.

    Su Chen¡¯s heart seized when he saw so many humans standing there.

    At that moment, he decided that he was going to save these people no matter what.

    But this wasn¡¯t something that brute strength alone would be able to bring about. He had toe up with a n.

    Su Chen racked his brains for an idea, the consciousness crystal in his body, allowing him to utilize his human intelligence to its greatest extent.

    Anubi had just spoken when Su Chen suddenly interjected, ¡°So this is going to be a one-sided ughter, is it not?¡±

    The mood was immediately stifled.

    Anubi and Kenwo both turned to look at Su Chen.

    Kenwo said with a dark expression, ¡°So what if it is?¡±

    The twenty human warriors¡¯ opponent had appeared on the other end of the arena.

    A pack of vicious Jagtooth Wolves.

    Jagtooth Wolves weremon mid-tier Vicious Beasts, but using them to deal with themon Heavenly Might Battalion soldiers was more than sufficient.

    Most importantly, there were even more Vicious Beasts waiting behind these Jagtooth Wolves.

    As Su Chen had said, this was definitely going to be a one-sided ughter.

    These human soldiers were going to use their blood and flesh to satisfy the unpredictable urges of these Ravager nobles.

    Su Chen coldly replied, ¡°It¡¯s a waste, a shameful waste!¡±

    Kenwo¡¯s expression flickered, and Anubi asked, ¡°How so?¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°Before I answer this question for Your Majesty, can I first request that Your Majesty stop the current fight? I have no way of stomaching such a reckless waste.¡±

    Anubi motioned to stop the ongoing battle, causing a screen of light to appear and separate the two sides from each other.

    Su Chen bowed and replied, ¡°Your Majesty, diator fights are like a kind of feast. Every diator is like a precious ingredient ced on the table. Combining these ingredients well is our responsibility. Only the best ingredients are worthy of the finest preparations, which results in the most delightful feast. Human diators are hard toe by, even in the mighty Iron and Blood Country. Isn¡¯t that right?¡±

    Anubi nodded. ¡°It is quite difficult to find them.¡±

    ¡°Such rare ingredients should be processed with the most exquisite methods in order to disy their immense value. But now, Sir Kenwo wants to use such a primal, barbaric way of squandering them...... what a pity. If I had these twenty human soldiers, I wouldn¡¯t need much time in order to turn them into the best performers for Your Majesty.¡±

    Kenwo¡¯s expression drastically shifted. ¡°Your Majesty, don¡¯t listen to him......¡±

    Anubi, however, chuckled. ¡°I think what he says makes perfect sense. It can be hard toe by humans, so wasting them in a diator match like this is a bit of a pity. We should train them a little more in order to produce the bloodiest spectacle. Since that¡¯s the case, these humans are yours.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty. Please, rest assured that I will definitely make those human warriors put on a beautiful show for Your Majesty!¡± Su Chen said loudly as he stood up.

    Anubi had given him two months time.

    A single sentence from Su Chen had managed to buy them two months¡¯ worth of time.

    Anubi didn¡¯t really seem to care. He nodded to express his approval and then left.

    Su Chen smiled slightly at Kenwo. ¡°So, Sir Kenwo. It seems that these humans are mine.¡±

    Kenwo harrumphed. ¡°You won¡¯t be so happy for long...... give him the twenty humans!¡±

    As he spoke, he turned his head around and left.

    ¡°Sir Kenwo, I think you¡¯re wrong. I said all of the humans when I was talking to His Majesty...... All of them!¡± Su Chen said. ¡°I¡¯d imagine you have more humans on hand than the ones here, right?¡±

    Kenwo stared at Su Chen fiercely. ¡°What are you trying to do?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I just want to set up a beautiful performance for His Majesty.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 201: Acting

    Within the diator residence.

    The human diators had all been locked up in a cramped cell. A rancid smell suffused through the air of the cell.

    Su Chen frowned, staring intently at these human captives.

    Their gazes were dull and lifeless, filled with hopelessness.

    Su Chen said, ¡°They¡¯re living in this kind of environment?¡±

    Bott, who was following behind him, replied, ¡°These guys are all going to die anyways, and they¡¯re also humans. Is there a need to give them better amodations?¡±

    Bott¡¯s replycked any formality or courtesy.

    That wasn¡¯t too surprising.

    As the person responsible for maintaining the arena, the Terror Lizard¡¯s escape was entirely his fault.

    Even though Su Chen had obtained Anubi¡¯s praises because of this, Bott had still been punished.

    The only reason he hadn¡¯t been arrested on the spot was because Anubi was in a good mood and had shown him mercy.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, how could Bott still speak politely with Su Chen, who was the one responsible for putting him in such an embarrassing situation?

    In that sense, Kenwo¡¯s insight was correct. Even though Su Chen¡¯s tactics had allowed him to rapidly rise through the ranks, he had offended too many other Ravagers.

    Su Chen however, didn¡¯t seem to care in the slightest. ¡°Only healthy, vigorous ves can put on the most beautiful performance...... I¡¯m nning on taking these humans with me. Do you have any problems with that?¡±

    Bott shrugged. ¡°No problems here. They belong to you already, seventy-six of them in total. Sign here and I will release them to you.¡±

    Even though he detested Su Chen, Bott wouldn¡¯t make any trouble for him. After all, Su Chen was now his superior, and a close subject of His Majesty.

    He could only wait for an opportunity to arise where he could take revenge.

    Of course, he had no idea that this day would nevere.

    Su Chen quickly signed his own name and brought the seventy-six captives away with him.

    The diators had special ropes ced on their necks before they were loaded onto the carriages and taken away.

    Su Chen requested for the carriages to be sent outside the city.

    Bott asked, ¡°Where is Sir Lontu nning on taking them?¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°Of course it would be to find a suitable ce to train them. What? Are you worried I would take advantage of this opportunity to set them free?¡±

    Bott replied, ¡°Of course not. In truth...... I would rather you do something like that.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s true. Unfortunately, it seems I can only disappoint.¡±

    Bott replied snarkily, ¡°It¡¯s not a problem if you disappoint me. Just don¡¯t disappoint His Majesty.¡±

    Su Chen stared at him intently and didn¡¯t say anything else. He motioned for the carriages to leave.

    The carriages slowly left the diator arena, slowly proceeding along Gun Castle¡¯s main street. After leaving the city, they continued advancing through a forest before they came to a stop in front of a small hill.

    Su Chen stopped the carriage procession. ¡°You guys stay here. All of the human warriors wille with me up the mountain.¡±

    ¡°Sir Lontu!¡± a Ravager soldier said with some agitation.

    ¡°What? Are you worried about me?¡± Su Chen stared at that Ravager soldier. ¡°Do you think that these humans would be able to kill me even if their shackles were taken off?¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he stretched out his palm, mming it against a nearby boulder.

    Bang!

    The rock was immediately smashed into a fine powder.

    Shattering boulders wasn¡¯t anything too extraordinary, but turning a boulder into powder wasn¡¯t something that could be aplished with strength alone. The user needed to have impable control over Origin Energy. A Blood Boiling Realm human cultivator would have been able to achieve this result, but to the Ravagers, it could only be done by someone who had gone through at least three baptisms - in other words, a Light Shaking Realm existence.

    Given how strong those humans were, the seventy-six captives would not be able to do anything to Su Chen at all.

    The Ravager soldier replied respectfully, ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    Su Chen brought all the human captives back up to the mountain.

    Upon arriving at the top of the mountain, Su Chen stopped, turning his cold gaze at the soldiers around him.

    He remained silent, causing those human soldiers to grow more and more anxious by the second.

    One of the soldiers broke under the pressure and yelled, ¡°Ravager, if you¡¯re going to kill us, then kill us. I am not afraid of you!¡±

    Su Chen said icily, ¡°I brought you here not to kill you but to torment you. Right now, kneel and curse the human race

    ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re dreaming!¡±

    ¡°You can kill a soldier, but you cannot humiliate him!¡±

    All of the soldiers began to howl and yell.

    ¡°Is that so? Since that¡¯s the case, then I¡¯ll start killing for you to see!¡± Su Chen suddenly attacked, cing his palm on a soldier¡¯s heart.

    The soldier spat out a mouthful of blood. He shook a few times before falling to the ground, his breathing stopped.

    ¡°If you kneel, you can live. Otherwise, you will die!¡± Su Chen said harshly.

    ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it!¡± all the soldiers began to yell.

    Su Chen¡¯s figure flickered among them as a few of the fiercest soldiers toppled over following the repeated bangs of palm strikes.

    Su Chen said darkly, ¡°Kneel, now! As long as you are willing to betray your country and your race, you can continue to live. Not only so, but I will also give you freedom. You will be allowed to live under the name of a ve.¡±

    Finally, someone could bear the fear no longer.

    A soldier fell to his knees. ¡°Don¡¯t kill me! I am willing to swear allegiance to you! The Ravagers are mighty, and humans are shameless!¡±

    ¡°You bastard!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t bow to him!¡±

    ¡°Get up! Don¡¯t insult the dignity of us humans!¡±

    The soldiers around them cursed vehemently, and there were even some soldiers who tried to pull them up, but Su Chen killed them on the spot with his palms.

    Another two soldiers knelt as well.

    The other soldiers retreated, full of anger and sorrow, leaving behind therades who had betrayed them.

    They red at Su Chen as if he was their mortal enemy.

    Never surrender, even unto death.

    ¡°There¡¯s still too few.¡± Su Chen shook his head with dissatisfaction. ¡°So it seems like I was only able to get three ves? Since that¡¯s the case......¡±

    He unleashed a barrage of palm strikes, and soldier after soldier died at his hands.

    ¡°Wait! I surrender as well!¡± A soldier began to yell as he knelt down.

    ¡°General Le!¡±

    ¡°General Le, you can¡¯t!¡±

    All of the soldiers began to cry out with grief.

    The kneeling soldier crawled over to Su Chen, still on his knees. ¡°Sir, I will agree to anything you demand of me. I only ask that you......¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°You only ask that I what?¡±

    General Le lowered his voice, making it hard to hear what he was saying.

    Su Chen bent over to hear more clearly. General Le suddenly sprang up and roared, ¡°I only ask that you die!¡±

    He wrapped his hands around Su Chen¡¯s throat as a violent burst of energy surged from his body. Even Su Chen was momentarily caught off guard. He was actually shoved off of the mountain, and him and General Le began to fall towards the ground below.

    ¡°General!¡±

    The group of human soldiers began to yell loudly as they leapt forwards.

    However, a scene which stunned them and filled them with despair suddenly appeared before their very eyes.

    That damned Ravager actually flew back up, holding onto General Le.

    He actually could fly!

    Flying was even harder for Ravagers than for humans. They could only do it after undergoing five Origin Energy baptisms.

    How was this Ravager that strong?

    Everyone fell into the pit of despair.

    In that instant, a soldier suddenly howled, ¡°We cannot let him fly back up!¡±

    He leapt forwards, hurtling towards Su Chen like a rock.¡±

    ¡°Yes, let¡¯s go all out!¡± the soldiers began to yell as they leapt off the cliff one after another, descending towards Su Chen like meteors.

    ¡°Holy hell, you guys are really going at it now!¡± Su Chen cursed. As the soldiers came tumbling down from the sky, Su Chen made a motion with his arms. Suddenly, countless Air Tentacles appeared. With Su Chen¡¯s current strength, it was no problem for him to make tens of them at once.

    These tentacles began to wrap up the soldiers falling from the sky.

    But as they continued to fall, Su Chen found that he actually had no way of catching them all.

    Su Chen could only helplessly teleport to the top of the mountain and throw all of the soldiers he had caught inside, then barked, ¡°Stay there for me!¡±

    All of the soldiers froze immediately in ce.

    An instantter, his figure froze, and he reappeared at the very bottom of the cliff.

    At the same time, the remaining soldiers were still tumbling through the sky.

    Su Chen appeared directly beneath him. His Air Tentacles wiggled like those of an octopus, snagging the falling soldiers and flying back to the top of the mountain.

    He wiped the sweat from his brow as he said, ¡°Damn, thankfully I turned Whitetower Teleportation into a Natural Origin Skill. Otherwise, a whole bunch of them would have died! I need to be a bit more careful ying around like this in the future.¡±

    As he spoke, he gestured, and all of the soldiers felt their consciousnesses tremble as they regained their ability to move.

    General Le red at Su Chen with rage. ¡°You Ravager brigand, I¡¯ll......¡±

    ¡°Alright, alright, General Le Feng. It was my fault, okay?¡± Su Chen interrupted him.

    General Le froze. ¡°You recognize me? Your voice...... howe it¡¯s so familiar? And how do you know how to speak humannguage?¡±

    An instantter, a shocking scene unfolded.

    Su Chen reverted to his original appearance.

    ¡°Commander Su!?¡± the soldiers began to yell loudly.

    Some of them had seen Su Chen before, while others hadn¡¯t. But regardless of whether they had seen him before or not, they all were familiar with his name, and they knew that he was the one who had saved the Heavenly Might Battalion.

    Upon finding out that it was him, everyone grew excited and agitated.

    ¡°You...... how are you here? No, you must be a fake!¡± General Le said emotionally.

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°When did you hear of any Ravagers that have camouge abilities? Didn¡¯t I save you once during the battle at Purple Mountain? And you repaid me by pushing me down the cliff?¡±

    Chalei said with shock, ¡°It really is you! It really is Commander Su! Commander Su is here to save us!¡±

    Everyone began to cheer and yell.

    ¡°Shh! Quiet down.¡± Su Chen held up a finger to his lips. ¡°There are still Ravagers below us.¡±

    ¡°I never expected Commander to be here. But why did you......¡± some soldiers asked, unable to understand.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Are you surprised? If I revealed my true identity to you just because you were human soldiers, I would be the dummy, wouldn¡¯t I? I would need to test who I can trust and who I cannot trust first, right?¡±

    As he spoke, he waved his sleeves, and the soldiers he had killed earlier were once again standing on their feet.

    With Su Chen¡¯s skill, pulling the wool over their eyes was too easy.

    Everyone present was stunned.

    So it was just a test.

    What Su Chen truly needed was soldiers who were truly brave and unafraid of death.

    Everyone simultaneously turned to look at the three kneeling soldiers.

    Obviously, they were the ones who had failed to pass the test.

    The three soldiers had heavy expressions. ¡°Commander, we......¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Su Chen nodded. ¡°I can understand your helplessness, and I do not me you. Anyone who can endure until now under these kinds of circumstances is a real man. Even if you could not endure, I understand. But I hope that you can also understand my actions.¡±

    The three soldiers stared at each other before kneeling. ¡°We are willing to ept Commander¡¯s discipline. We just hope that Commander will not allow our deaths to be in vain.¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Your blood will not have flowed in vain.¡±

    He raised his hand, then pressed his palm on them.

    This time, it was no act.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 202: Group Upgrade 1

    Chapter 202: Group Upgrade (1)

    ¡°Commander, these are all the resources that the seventy-three of us have.¡±

    General Le stood below Su Chen as he handed over arge handful of resources.

    Su Chen stared intently at them.

    General Le thought for a moment, wanting to say something but seemingly conflicted.

    Su Chen said, ¡°If you want to say anything, just say it.¡±

    Le Feng said, ¡°You...... Are you close to breaking through to the Light Shaking Realm?¡±

    Su Chen nodded.

    Le Feng said excitedly, ¡°No wonder you can fly now. That¡¯s really a good thing!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s good about it?¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t raise his head. ¡°In the world of the Ravagers, how much strength you have doesn¡¯t matter. The most important thing is effectively concealing yourself.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± Le Feng nodded. ¡°But since that¡¯s the case, then why did Commander reveal your true identity to everyone? You could have just probed one or two people, then chosen to reveal yourself to them instead.¡±

    Su Chen rolled his eyes. ¡°You think I didn¡¯t want to? You guys were the ones who suddenly seemed to go crazy, forcing my hand.¡±

    Le Feng said with some embarrassment, ¡°It was our fault. I am willing to ept any punishment.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Forget about it. You were brave and unyielding, searching for any opportunity to counterattack, and you didn¡¯t hesitate to take your enemy to the grave with you. What reason would I have to punish you? It was all because I wasn¡¯t careful enough and underestimated you. But that¡¯s quite alright. What we are going to do next will require you all to cooperate with one another. Now that you know my identity, at least you won¡¯t be confused or hesitant when I ask you to do things.¡±

    ¡°What other ns does Commander have?¡±

    ¡°Anubi¡¯s birthday is two months from now. I am nning on doing something great on that day, but I¡¯ll need your help.¡±

    Le Feng said excitedly, ¡°Are you going to try to assassinate the Crazed Monarch?¡±

    ¡°Assassinate?¡± Su Chen rolled his eyes. ¡°A deranged emperor that kills off his own subjects and views them as chickens and dogs? How could I assassinate someone like that? I would probably protect him first.¡±

    Le Feng was speechless.

    Su Chen calmly said, ¡°Even having ten outstanding generals on our side can¡¯tpare with having a deranged emperor doing things for us. We must appreciate such an opponent!¡±

    He specifically emphasized the word ¡°appreciate¡±, and Le Feng nodded repeatedly.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°The Inferno Tribe has a deep foundation. To borrow an old phrase, they have a long history. But with this Crazed Monarch at the helm, their reign will be cut short. If I set up some schemes for him and raise up a few opponents against him, the Ravagers might rebel before long. At that point in time, we humans will have it much easier.¡±

    Le Feng said, ¡°Commander is truly insightful.¡±

    Actually, he didn¡¯t quite understand everything Su Chen had said. But he still had the ability to recognize that it was awesome even if he couldn¡¯t understand it. Even though he was a hero and a warrior, he still knew when and how to tter people.

    Su Chen calmly epted it, then said, ¡°You don¡¯t need to worry about what I am going to ask you to do two months from now at the moment. Your current goal should be to increase your strength as rapidly as possible.¡±

    ¡°Increase our strength?¡± Le Feng revealed an unhappy expression. ¡°What can we do in two months?¡±

    Seventy-three soldiers, three of them Yang Opening Realm warriors, twenty Blood Boiling Realm soldiers, and the rest were all Qi Drawing Realm cultivators. This kind of strength was totally useless given that they were in Ravager territory.

    Su Chen, however, said, ¡°Two months is enough time to do a lot of things. First of all, cultivate the Immacte Cultivation Technique well.¡±

    From that day onwards, the seventy-three human diators came under Su Chen¡¯smand.

    Su Chen requested that these seventy-three humans be fed well and given their freedom so that they would be healthy and put on a good performance for His Majesty Anubi.

    With enough nourishment, the soldiers very quickly regained their healthiness.

    Next, they began to cultivate the Immacte Cultivation Technique.

    From this day onwards, the supervising Ravagers all watched as arge group of humans sat on the mountain, breathing deeply as they faced the sun, deep in meditation.

    To the Ravagers, this kind of cultivation was totally unheard of, so all they did wasugh disdainfully. None of them took it seriously.

    Of course, they never would have expected that such a seemingly simple cultivation method was causing the strength of these humans to advance at breakneck pace.

    The Immacte Cultivation Technique was a technique Su Chen had developed in order to increase the rate at which an individual could extract and absorb Origin Energy. At that time, he hadn¡¯t taken it too seriously. In his eyes, it was just a method that could hasten one¡¯s cultivation. In his eyes, only the actual method for breaking through cultivation realms without a bloodline was the most valuable.

    But there were always a few things that seemed unimportant early on that would gradually but unexpectedly increase in importance. Sometimes, they might even begin to serve a purpose beyond what the creator had originally intended.

    Today, Jiang Liu began to cultivate as soon as the sun rose, same as always.

    He sensed the warmth from the sun and breathed in and out, attempting to absorb the Origin Energy into his body as he cycled it rapidly. As it modified his physique, it began to dissipate out through his body. Everyplete cycle the Origin Energy made in his body, Jiang Liu¡¯s strength would increase, as would the amount of Origin Energy he had amassed.

    After three full cycles, Jiang Liu could sense that the amount of Origin Energy in his body had no way of growing anymore. His cultivation base was now full, and it was now impossible for him to advance any further without making a breakthrough first. He had been at the peak of the Qi Drawing Realm in the first ce, so it didn¡¯t take him long to reach this point. Even so, the rate at which he had managed to reach this point still astounded him.

    He was nning on stopping when an interesting idea popped into his head. What if he were to continue cultivating the Immacte Cultivation Technique? What would the result be?

    Even after doing it many times, there was still no change.

    But for some unknown reason, a strange sensation was rising in Jiang Liu¡¯s heart.

    He felt that the bottleneck was loosening, as if the Immacte Cultivation Technique¡¯s cultivation cycle could provide breakthrough power even once his cultivation base had be full.

    Completely out of curiosity, he continued to constantly cultivate.

    He didn¡¯t know how many cycles he had cultivated. In the blink of an eye, a whole day had gone by.

    Jiang Liu was still cultivating.

    An interesting sensation was surfacin in his heart. Jiang Liu felt like he could already afford to try breaking into the Blood Boiling Realm.

    Su Chen had distributed the method for reaching the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline a long time ago. Regardless of whether they had actually spent money on it, every peak Qi Drawing Realm cultivator had read the manual before.

    However, even with the technique for breaking through, a person needed to make adequate preparations, including some medicine to increase the likelihood of sess. Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven originally only had a 40% chance of sess, but as time went on, the intelligence of the human race as a whole manifested itself, and the rate of sess had been improved to 60%.

    However, these sess rates were under the assumption that a person was prepared. Someone like Jiang Liu, who wanted to charge into the Blood Boiling Realm as soon as his cultivation base was full, would probably only have a 20% chance of sess. This was definitely a reckless decision. Even though a person who used Kaihuang¡¯s Heaven could try to break through again if they failed, it would take many months to recover to a state where they were ready to try again, so it still wasted plenty of time.

    However, Jiang Liu had still chosen to do so.

    He didn¡¯t know why, but he had a certain sense that he could only seed if he made the breakthrough at this very moment.

    This was entirely an intangible sense. There was no logic behind it, but Jiang Liu was determined to try it at least once.

    He was a soldier of the Heavenly Might Battalion, had endured countless torments at the Ravagers¡¯ hands, and had managed to pass Su Chen¡¯s testing. A soldier with this amount of experience absolutely knew how to seize opportunities when they came by.

    He decisively made his choice, choosing to ignore the unfavorable outward circumstances. He didn¡¯t even have someone to protect him, and none of the soldiers knew about it. This would not help him in the slightest; on the contrary, it could pose a serious problem. But he had still chosen to do it regardless.

    When a person was fearless and courageous, no amount of reasoning could convince them to stop.

    Origin Energy began to gather inside his body, forming tall waves within his sea of Origin Energy. Clouds of Origin Energy began to brew over the ¡°waters¡±.

    The clouds grew denser by the moment.

    At thest moment, the dark cloud burst forth with activity as lighting rained down onto the surface of the Origin Sea.

    Boom!

    An enormous amount of Origin Energy flowed over his body, prating into the channels in his body and flowing through them. Under the direction of the Blood Boiling Realm technique, the energy began to alter and sculpt every inch of his body.

    Every cell in his body seemed to be bursting with vitality, as if they were cheering or celebrating some joyous asion.

    Jiang Liu could sense his body¡¯s celebration over his newfound power, and his heart began to hum energetically.

    His consciousness had grown stronger along with the rest of his body.

    He could sense the blood in his blood vessels boiling with energy.

    It was as if there was a boundless energy source supporting him.

    Atst.

    Boom!

    A beam of energy shot into the sky above his head.

    He had sessfully reached the Blood Boiling Realm.

    ¡°Sess!¡± a voice said gently next to his ear.

    It was Commander Su¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Sess!¡± a heroic cry sounded out.

    It was the sound of General Le.

    ¡°Sess!¡± Countless yells rang through the sky.

    It was the sound of hisrades.

    Jiang Liu opened his eyes. He gazed intently at the brothers-in-arms around him as he yelled excitedly.

    ¡°Sess! You really seeded!¡± a soldier yelled at Jiang Liu.

    Le Feng grabbed Jiang Liu by the cor and said, ¡°You brat, that¡¯s quite impressive! Charging into the Blood Boiling Realm as soon as you felt your cultivation base was full? Were you not worried that someone around you might have identally disturbd you, causing you to fall into insanity? Thankfully, Commander discovered that something was off and managed to tell everyone not to disturb you in time.¡±

    Jiang Liu looked up at the sky. Indeed, it was already dark.

    If it wasn¡¯t for Su Chen¡¯s reminder, his breakthrough might have been interrupted a long time ago.

    Jiang Liu said in embarrassment, ¡°I was just too excited and lost track of time. I almost made a huge mistake.¡±

    ¡°No, you didn¡¯t make a mistake. You actually did me a great service. Tell me, Jiang Liu, did you do this just because you were interested in the moment, or is there another reason?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Jiang Liu thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°I couldn¡¯t tell you either. After I managed to fill my cultivation base, I was originally just nning on doing a few additional cycles even if I knew that it wasn¡¯t going to do anything. But the more I did it, the more I had a sensation that I was entering a miraculous state.¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°So then you decided to try breaking through? And you seeded?¡±

    Jiang Liu said with some shock, ¡°Commander, how did you know?¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°I guessed. I don¡¯t think you are a person who doesn¡¯t know how important certain things are. A cultivator¡¯s perception is very important. Sometimes, we can obtain better results just by following our feelings.¡±

    Su Chen had indeed guessed part of it, but that was mostly because he saw it with his microscopic eye.

    He could see the situation unfolding in Jiang Liu¡¯s body, which was how he realized that the Immacte Cultivation Technique could increase the rate of sess of breaking into the Blood Boiling Realm.

    Perhaps this was because these techniques hade from simr sources, or perhaps it could be some other reason.

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t say at the moment, but he suddenly saw the importance and meaning of the Immacte Cultivation Technique in a whole new way.

    Perhaps this was the reason why he had been able to sessfully break into the Light Shaking Realm.

    The Immacte Cultivation Technique was the basis of all of this.

    He had created it, but someone else was first to discover its greater significance and usefulness.

    This was a bit ironic, but not at all surprising.

    But none of that was important. The present was the most important thing.

    With the Immacte Cultivation Technique¡¯s important effects, Su Chen was able to obtain arge group of experts under hismand.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 203: Group Upgrade 2

    Chapter 203: Group Upgrade (2)

    ¡°White Lotus...... Four-Leaf Cherry Blossom...... Merbromine......¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s voice was calm and stable as he sat within the room. He held a vial of medicine, his handspletely motionless. Le Feng had be his new assistant as he constantly added different kinds of herbal medicines under Su Chen¡¯s direction.

    Very quickly, a vial of medicine was sessfullypleted.

    Su Chen handed the vial of medicine over to Le Feng.

    ¡°One drop per person. You absolutely cannot give them more. Understand?¡± Su Chen told him repeatedly. ¡°If you give them too much, the Origin Energy in their body will explode, and they¡¯ll die if they aren¡¯t careful.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Le Feng sucked in a mouthful of cold air as he stared at the medicine in Su Chen¡¯s hands.

    A top-tier Origin Energy Medicine!

    A top-tier Origin Energy Medicine was something that only the richest ns could manage to obtain and use.

    The Origin Energy it contained was so powerful and full that lower-tier Origin Energy Schrs basically couldn¡¯t use it. If they were to gulp it down all at once, the oue would absolutely be as Su Chen had described - their bodies would explode from the overload of energy.

    Even Light Shaking Realm cultivators couldn¡¯t really use the Origin Energy Medicine properly. One had to at least be at the Spirit Burning Realm.

    Su Chen had just managed to refine it there, and was now handing it out for everyone to use

    This was too luxurious!

    There was nothing Su Chen could do about it, however. He didn¡¯t have any trash resources on him.

    Su Chen had harvested countless resources on this expedition through Ravager territory. In order to maximize his profits, he had chosen to harvest only the most valuable resources. When you factored in what the Heavenly Might Battalion had given him and the resources he had pilfered from the Demonic Emperor¡¯s storehouses, everything in his Origin Ring was extremely valuable, and he had more mid- and high-fiber resources than lower-tier ones. The low-tier resources he did have were being used to refine specific medicines that he needed.

    The end result was that Su Chen could only concoct top-tier medicines. At this point, he was a Master Alchemist, meaning that he could concoct any top-tier medicines avable on the market, with the exception of some rare legendary-tier medicines.

    The end result was that these soldiers were pulled along by hanging onto his coattails, directly starting by ingesting a top-tier Origin Energy Medicine.

    Unfortunately, even with such a medicine in front of them, no one had the ability topletely handle the potent medicinal effects, so this top-tier Origin Energy Medicine could only be used on the whole group of soldiers.

    Su Chen could make dozens of these medicines in one day, but because the group¡¯s conversion ability couldn¡¯t keep up, he could only sigh and shake his head. The soldiers felt incredibly stifled and could only vent by cultivating bitterly, increasing their ability to process the Origin Energy.

    With Su Chen¡¯s extremely generous support, the strength of these seventy-three soldiers increased in leaps and bounds.

    Jiang Liu was the first Qi Drawing Realm cultivator to enter the Blood Boiling Realm, but he was just a Qi Drawing Realm cultivator. With him as the example, seven more people broke into the Blood Boiling Realm on the second day, and ten or so did the same on the third day. Shockingly, not a single one failed.

    Su Chen¡¯s Immacte Cultivation Technique not only increased the rate of their cultivation but also intensified its effects. The soldiers were better able to control Origin Energy, and the power they obtained from cultivating was pure, far purer than that of a bloodline. The end result was that breaking into a higher realm was even easier, and the strength they possessed after breaking through was also much greater.

    Su Chen¡¯s medicine would further elerate the cultivation process. Even the soldiers at the very earlyyers of cultivation quickly reached the peak of their cultivation realm after two months and sessfully broke into a higher realm.

    In other words, theoretically everyone had gone up by an entire realm in terms of strength in but a period of two months.

    That kind of increase was just crazy.

    Even the three Yang Opening Realm cultivators weren¡¯t exceptions.

    Even though Le Feng and the others were at the earlyyers of the Yang Opening Realm and were quite a ways away from reaching the Light Shaking Realm, Su Chen¡¯s medicines made all of that irrelevant.

    To Su Chen, the only thing restricting the rate at which they got stronger was their conversion ability. If all seventy-three of them were at the early stages of the Yang Opening Realm, it would have been incredibly difficult to bring them to the peak, but given that there was only three of them, it was a piece of cake.

    My production volume is higher than your consumption at this point.

    As such, the three Yang Opening Realm cultivators didn¡¯t drag behind at all and managed to sessfully reach the peak of their cultivation realm.

    The only thing holding them back was a technique for reaching the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline.

    Su Chen had that as well.

    Even though the technique was not yetpleted, and he himself had only been able to aplish it with the help of the Origin Energy Temple, it had still given Su Chen some food for thought.

    Since he wasn¡¯t able to find a way to allow a person to break through into the Light Shaking Realm on their own, but applying external pressure seemed to work, then why not find someone else to help them break through?

    Using a cultivator to rece the function of the Origin Energy Temple!

    This was the idea Su Chen hade up with.

    This thought process was incredibly simple. Find an Origin Qi Schrs strong enough and use a simr method to help the target break through.

    The vast amount of Origin Energy the Origin Energy Temple could output meant that only a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator or higher could substitute.

    However, Su Chen seemed to think that it wasn¡¯t a problem. He himself was already a peak existence amongst most Light Shaking Realm cultivators. Even though he was a bit weaker than a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator, he wasn¡¯t too far off. The powerful medicines he had on hand were more than enough to make up for thisck.

    And if he couldn¡¯t do it, there were still others

    around who could help.

    Anyone who had cultivated the Immacte Cultivation Technique would have a certain level ofpatibility with someone else who had cultivated the same technique.

    Su Chen also used the principles behind the Origin Energy Temple¡¯s Origin Formations to link everyone and further increase thepatibility. In the end, Le Feng and the other three were finally able to break into the Light Shaking Realm.

    After bringing Le Feng and the others up, Su Chen had basically obtained two different methods of breaking into the Light Shaking Realm.

    One was to get the support of a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator, while the other was to use the even more powerful Origin Energy Temple Origin Formations.

    Even though both of these methods had their own limitations, they were quite eptable temporary substitutes.

    Under these circumstances, the strength of the seventy-three soldiers surged wildly.

    By the twentieth day of the second month, most of them had alreadypleted the upgrade process. There were even a few people who had managed to take yet another step after ascending. To those who were originally in the preliminaryyers of their cultivation realm, they would only reach the middleyer of the next realm. But to those who were already at the peak, that meant that they would be able to ascend yet another realm.

    Jiang Liu was one of these lucky ones.

    Fifty days ago, he was still a Qi Drawing Realm cultivator, and it had only taken him three days to reach the Blood Boiling Realm. With the powerful support of the medicines, his strength rapidly increased. In forty days, he had managed to do something that would normally take most people decades to do - he sessfully reached the Yang Opening Realm.

    Even though this rapid rise made his cultivation base a bit unstable, he could go back and fill in the gapster. At this moment, increasing his strength was the most pressing matter.

    ¡°Well done.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled as he patted Jiang Liu on the shoulder, then handed him a sword. ¡°This is for you.¡±

    ¡°But Commander, I already have a weapon,¡± Jiang Liu said with some surprise.

    ¡°This one is different,¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°Try it out.¡±

    Jiang Liu took the sword with some curiosity. He immediately sensed that there seemed to be some intangible connection between him and this sword.

    He swung the sword three times through the air. It felt extremelyfortable in his grip, as if he had been wielding it for many years. The sword was incredibly satisfying to use.

    ¡°Hm? This sword...... There seems to be a strand of will...... connecting me with it,¡± Jiang Liu yelled. He had already managed to sense the strangeness of the sword.

    ¡°The sword has a will?¡± Everyone began to guffaw.

    ¡°What kind of joke is that?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. What kind of weapon has a will?¡±

    Jiang Liu grew agitated. ¡°Really! I can sense that it has a will. It seems to...... seems to...... want to fly?¡±

    Jiang Liu began to yell.

    The guffaws and howls ofughter only grew louder.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Since it wants to fly, then why not let it fly?¡±

    Jiang Liu released his grip. The sword in his hands actually shot into the air, circling around a few times as it began to unleash a streak of sword light.

    ¡°This...... what¡¯s going on?¡±

    Everyone observing was dumbfounded.

    Jiang Liu yelled with excitement, ¡°It¡¯s flying! It¡¯s flying! I can sense that it will listen to me. Watch! Go fly over there!¡±

    Jiang Liu pointed. The sword flew through the air in the direction that Jiang Liu had pointed it in, unleashing a streak of sword light its tip. The sword light mmed into a boulder and shattered it.

    The onlookers began to discuss animatedly amongst themselves.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Do you want to make things even more exciting?¡±

    Jiang Liu was taken aback. ¡°What else is there?¡±

    ¡°Can you not sense it?¡± Su Chen pointed at the sword with his chin.

    Jiang Liu was stunned. He could sense a thought that seemed to being from that sword, and it caused his expression to immediately be quite amusing to look at.

    He shook his head repeatedly. ¡°That¡¯s impossible.¡±

    ¡°How do you know it¡¯s impossible if you don¡¯t try it?¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    Everyone couldn¡¯t resist asking.

    Jiang Liu stared at the sword and muttered, ¡°Fly...... it wants me to fly on it.¡±

    Whoosh!

    The sword turned around and shot back towards the ground.

    It deftly navigated through the gaps in the crowd and slid under Jiang Liu¡¯s feet.

    An instantter, the sword shot forwards, carrying Jiang Liu shrieking with it into the sky.

    He stood on the sword, wobbling back and forth as he yelled, ¡°Heavens, heavens! I¡¯m really flying! I¡¯m flying on a sword!¡±

    Su Chen picked at his ear. ¡°Quiet down a bit. I already told you there are Ravagers below the mountain watching.¡±

    Everyone waspletely dumbfounded.

    The sword flew around the mountain with Jiang Liu on it. At first, he was wobbling back and forth, but he quickly got used to it. After all, he was already a Yang Opening Realm cultivator. Even though the windchill he was experiencing was hard to get used to, standing stably on the sword wasn¡¯t a problem.

    After getting over his initial fear, Jiang Liu¡¯s heart began to stabilize. Recing it was an irrepressible excitement.

    ¡°Awesome!¡±

    ¡°This is too addicting!¡±

    Jiang Liu howled withughter, and the people below stared at him enviously.

    Very quickly, however, the sword began to slow down. Obviously, it was beginning to run out of energy.

    Jiang Liu could sense the issue with the sword. He called out, ¡°Commander, the sword doesn¡¯t have enough Origin Energy to fly anymore.¡±

    Su Chen saidzily, ¡°You can¡¯t rely on the sword alone to fly you everywhere. It might be out of energy, but don¡¯t you have plenty left?¡±

    Jiang Liu understood. Origin Energy flowed from his feet into the sword, causing it to suddenly elerate. Not only so, but once the sword epted Jiang Liu¡¯s Origin Energy, it also received his directions. It danced nimbly through the air like an extension of his arm.

    Jiang Liu said with excitement, ¡°So that¡¯s how you use it. You need to supplement it with Origin Energy.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°That¡¯s how it should have been in the first ce. Do you think this is a Cloud-Piercing Shuttle? This is a Soul Armament, a weapon that possesses a consciousness and will. You can use it to improve yourbat prowess, but it will also be much more responsive to your control. Flying on the sword is just one way of using these armaments; their real use is to attack from afar. Like so.¡±

    Su Chen gestured. A Soul Armament flew forth, unleashing a furious onught of sword Qi off in the distance. A section of the forest fell to the ground. Compared to how they had fought previously, this method was much more advanced.

    A single one of these Soul Armaments would greatly increase the user¡¯sbat ability, and everyone who saw the demonstration was green with envy.

    However, because they were all soldiers, they didn¡¯t dare open their mouths so casually despite how much they wanted it.

    Su Chen nced at them and asked, ¡°What? You guys don¡¯t like it?¡±

    Everyone said simultaneously, ¡°We like it!¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°Then why aren¡¯t you asking me for them?¡±

    Everyone was stunned. ¡°Can we?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Of course. Every one of you has one.¡±

    They were all stunned.

    Bang!

    The sound of something mming into the ground.

    Jiang Liu had lost control of his Origin Energy and had smacked into the ground head first.

    Previous Chapter

 Book 4: Near Blood - 204: Presenting a Gift 1

    Chapter 204: Presenting a Gift (1)

    Anubi¡¯s birthday finally arrived.

    Without question, this was an asion that everyone kept a close eye on. No Ravager knew what kind of spectacle would appear at Anubi¡¯s celebration, but none of them would have any high expectations.

    This was because, ording to past experience, he would alwayse up with all kinds of big, unexpected surprises.

    On Anubi¡¯s previous birthday, the Crazed Monarch had required every official in his governmental chamber to hand over his wife. Even though Sachar, who was still alive at the time, had managed to stop most of them, there were still a few that managed to reach Anubi. This was where the recently deceased Alicia hade from.

    The year before that, Anubi had set his own residence on fire. His reasoning was that he wanted to confirm that he was still the emperor and had the ability to do as he pleased. By the time Sachar had managed to make it on the scene, most of the house had already copsed. Sachar had flown into a rage and "attacked the monarch", pinning him to the ground and beating him up. Anubi had guffawed withughter the entire time.

    The year before that, Anubi had been more well-behaved. All he had done was to choose to personally take on a Demonic Beast. That in itself wasn¡¯t so bad, but after the battle he had chosen to mount it.

    Yes, he had done it with a Demonic Beast, right in front of all the nobles watching in the diator arena.

    Sachar was so mad that he almost went crazy, but it was obvious that while he could control most aspects of Anubi¡¯s life, he couldn¡¯t control Anubi¡¯s appendage. That fell under Anubi¡¯s "personal matters".

    For this reason, everyone was already used to Anubi trying to pull some kind of inconceivable stunt on his birthday.

    This was the first birthday Anubi was going to have after Sachar¡¯s death. What would he do? Everyone was curious.

    Su Chen came to Anubi¡¯s pce early in the morning.

    As the head of internal servants, Su Chen had some duties of his own to handle. Of course, his main responsibility was to amuse Anubi. While training Le Feng and the others, Su Chen had taught them a few things that they could do in order to satisfy Anubi¡¯s requirements.

    To Su Chen, this was not very difficult.

    Actually, someone like Anubi wasn¡¯t that hard to understand.

    As the emperor, he had seen and done everything. When everything was at your fingertips, those things all became quite tasteless.

    As such, Anubi was constantly pursuing different novelties and doing all kinds of unconventional things just so that he could experience this freshness.

    The Ravagers¡¯ limited creativity made it very difficult for them to satisfy Anubi¡¯s demands, but to Su Chen, this wouldn¡¯t be a problem - at least in the short term.

    Even if it wasn¡¯t a particrly grand ceremony, just a few small changes here and there would give Anubi this kind of sensation.

    At this moment, Su Chen came to Anubi¡¯s room, ignoring the charming, beautiful, scantily-d maidens sprawled all over the ground. He bowed to Anubi respectfully and said, ¡°Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°Oh, Lontu, my dear head of internal servants. You¡¯re finally here,¡± Anubi chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ve been watching your Recording Disk right now. Well done.¡±

    ¡°Just a few toys I got from the humans, Your Majesty. As long as you enjoy them, we are good,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Howe you have things belonging to the humans?¡± Kenwo asked shadily from the side.

    ¡°Perhaps he got it from selling out other Ravagers again,¡± another Ravager said from the side. He was Kenwo¡¯s personal aid, so he naturally knew when to say what.

    ¡°They dide from the humans, esteemed Chief Imperial Officer, but I didn¡¯t need to sell anyone out to get them. I just gave them some food to tide them over a bit longer,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Actually, those humans were ones I got from you, Sir Kenwo.¡±

    Kenwo was stunned. ¡°Those human diators?¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°I asked them to exchange their valuables for better treatment. We all know that the human race¡¯s ability to invent things is secondary only to the Arcanists. Their brains are very quick. Wasting them on a battlefield like this is a bit too much of a waste. What I mean is, at least before we extract everything we need from their brains first, we shouldn¡¯t be in such a hurry to kill them off.¡±

    Anubi nodded. ¡°That¡¯s a smart way of looking at it.¡±

    Kenwo still wanted to say something, but Anubi waved his hand. ¡°Kenwo, I know you don¡¯t like Lontu, but don¡¯t use such lowly methods to undermine him. Take this guy out and behead him.¡±

    The Ravager who had just said that Su Chen had sold out the other Ravagers was immediately dragged out.

    Kenwo¡¯s expression shifted slightly, and he didn¡¯t dare speak anymore.

    Anubi said, ¡°Oh, these humans must be the surprise you¡¯re talking of, right?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Partially, but not entirely.¡±

    Anubiughed loudly, ¡°I knew it! I knew you weren¡¯t someone who would do the bare minimum necessary to satisfy me. Tell me, what pleasant surprises have you prepared for me this time?¡±

    ¡°Surprises don¡¯t have to be the only items on the program. There are some things whose impact won¡¯t be affected even if I divulge them to you know,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Anubi said, ¡°Oh? Tell me more.¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°How about having those humans present you with a gift? Have them kneel before your feet and surrender their loyalty to you as a praise of you?¡±

    Kenwoughed. ¡°That¡¯s not possible. There¡¯s no way these stubborn humans will capitte so easily.¡±

    Any human that could do battle with a Ravager force was absolutely an elite individual. Even if they were captured, there was no way that they would surrender. This was obvious given how only three had given up when Su Chen was testing them.

    Not to mention that Su Chen was nning on having them act out praising Anubi.

    They would need to throw their entire being into it. It would be hard for them to put on a good performance if they had any trace of unwillingness in their being

    Su Chen said with a slight smile, ¡°See? Witnessing things that no one can achieve can also be entertaining. I¡¯m sure their praising of Your Majesty will be a great glory to the Inferno Tribe.¡±

    ¡°Hahahaha! That¡¯s quite an innovative way of thinking about it,¡± Anubi guffawed. Just as Su Chen had said, if this really panned out, it would be a great glory to them since they were able to do what many others could not. Indeed, not everything needed to be a surprise to be entertaining.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, what are we still waiting for? I can¡¯t wait to see your present!¡± Anubi yelled as he stood. ¡°Go, my underlings. Bring me to the diator arena so that I can see these humans kneeling before me personally!¡±

    ¡°ROAR!¡±

    It was impossible to pinpoint the source of the cry in response to Anubi¡¯smand. Hundreds of Ravagers suddenly swarmed the pce as they howled and cheered with excitement.

    At the same time, Anubi walked out of the room half-naked,pletelycking the majestic and imposing presence an emperor should have.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t really that surprised. He knew that this was equally a kind of tradition of the Ravagers. They used this kind of showiness and recklessness to disy their fearless, unrestrained way of life and inner substance.

    They all surged towards the diator arena, preparing the strongest wine to pair with the most brutal battles. They howled and jeered, releasing all of the excitement and energy pent up in their bodies.

    Another extravagant day of fighting began.

    Because it was the emperor¡¯s birthday, the quality of the battles was also extremely high.

    The ¡°diator King¡±, Shtuck ughteraxe, took the stage first to put on an extremely bloody show for Anubi. Immediately afterwards, two Death Warriors from the Dark Hignds were pitted against each other. These creatures were dark-skinned, bloodthirsty abominations. They preferred to cleave their opponents in two, using the opponent¡¯s blood to wash themselves. This kind of a barbaric, violent style of battle caused the noble spectators to yell with excitement.

    Battle after battle unfolded in such a manner. In the blink of an eye, seven battles had gone by.

    On the eighth battle, Su Chen¡¯s humans finally took the stage.

    Thirty diators marched onto the stage in an orderly fashion, full of fighting spirit.

    They walked over to the diator arena¡¯s wall, then knelt down and dered loudly, ¡°Greetings to our glorious chieftain. Your most loyal soldiers are here to fight until the death for you with no regrets!¡±

    Their deration seemed to soar to the heavens, immediately rendering all the Ravagers present speechless.

    These damned humans were actually bowing to a Ravager?

    If there were just one or two scaredy-cats, this wouldn¡¯t have been such a big deal. But for tens of soldiers to kneel simultaneously in an orderly fashion to announce such a rehearsed deration, not to mention that their gazes were filled with emotion and staunchness......

    This was not something that the fear of death alone could aplish.

    This required a firm conviction and eptanceing from the depths of their hearts.

    How was this possible?

    The Ravagers were only good at killing people, not at subduing and convincing others.

    Were they brainwashed?

    ¡°Hahahaha!¡± Anubi howled withughter. ¡°As you said, they¡¯re kneeling! They¡¯re worshipping me!¡±

    Even though announcing it earlier had lessened the surprise factor, it had increased the expectation.

    Anubi felt incredibly ted when that expectation of his was finally fulfilled.

    Hanbull¡¯s analysis had been spot on. If Su Chen was serious about pursuing this career, no one else would have been able to take his spot.

    A momentter, an earth-shakingmotion began to appear on the diator arena.

    All of the Ravagers exploded with discussion at this moment. They yelled with excitement, as if they had managed topletely conquer the entire continent.

    Le Feng coldly watched all of this as he sneered in his heart, ¡°Jump andugh all you want. Revenge will be ours sooner orter.¡±

    These Ravagers didn¡¯t know that they weren¡¯t kneeling to Anubi, but rather Su Chen.

    He was their true leader.

    He was the one they wereying down their burdens and swearing their loyalty to.

    If the spectators were human, they might not have been satisfied with the soldiers not mentioning Anubi¡¯s name explicitly, but this deration was enough for the Ravagers. Their simple brains couldn¡¯t handle thinking so much into it.

    Most importantly, they never thought about how others felt. It was good enough as long as they themselves were happy.

    After paying their respects, the thirty humans retreated to prepare for battle.

    Paying respects was important, but they still needed to prepare adequately.

    Su Chen had thought carefully about this aspect as well.

    The opposing door slowly creaked open. A massive shadow stalked out of the dark doorway.

    It was a massive humanoid figure roughly fifteen meters in height. In its hand was a metal hammer covered in ck mes, and heavy iron chains were wrapped around its entire body. At the center of its head was a singlerge eye.

    ¡°ROAR!¡± The violent howl reverberated through the entire arena like a shockwave.

    ¡°Single-Eyed Giant Demon!¡± Anubi yelled. ¡°It¡¯s a Single-Eyed Giant Demon! Lontu, how could you be willing to pit the soldiers you trained so hard against one of these things?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps the opposite is true, Your Majesty.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 205: Presenting a Gift 2

    Chapter 205: Presenting a Gift (2)

    The Single-Eyed Giant Demon was a rare creature amongst Ravager territory. It wasn¡¯t considered a Beast, but it wasn¡¯t a Ravager either. If you absolutely had to ssify it, you could consider it to be a Gargantuan Soul.

    Gargantuan Souls belonged to the Origin Races, not the Intelligent Races.

    They possessed inherentlyrge physiques, apanied by an equallyrge strength and appetite.

    Inparison, the y Giants were made of elements, making them fundamentally different from Gargantuan Souls. Despite their simrlyrge bodies, their essence was still elemental, making them part of the Elemental Races.

    Apparently, the Primordial Continent contained the Beasts, the Gargantuan Souls, and the Elemental Races during its earliest history. In the end, the Beasts emerged victorious.

    The Gargantuan Souls and the Elemental Races became weaker because of this, so they lost the most fertile ground. In addition, they had a harder time than the Intelligent Races in adapting to new environments. The defeated Origin Races could only walk down the path of extinction.

    Today, the Gargantuan Souls possessed a small territory within Ravager territory, and they eked out a difficult life there.

    Because they weren¡¯t servants of the Ravagers, the Ravagers tried to capture or kill them at every opportunity. However, the unique attributes of their territory allowed them to survive, albeit not without suffering.

    The Gargantuan Souls, as one of the Origin Races, possessed immense power. Their defeat had only resulted because of their low intelligence and numbers. It had nothing to do with their individual strength.

    A fully-grown Single-Eyed Giant Demon¡¯s strength was at least at the Demonic Lord level, which was more than enough to cause most people to fall into despair. Even Ravagers were apprehensive about fighting them.

    And now, Su Chen had actually sent his soldiers against this kind of a target.

    If that was the case, they should have been left to face the Jagtooth Wolves two months ago - at the very least, they would have had the chance to counterattack.

    Anubi felt his heart hurt a bit for the first time - after all, these people were humans that had sworn loyalty to him.

    Even he, who glorified ughter, felt like this was too much of the waste. At the very least, they should be killed one at a time, preferably by him, so that he could experience the amusement that came from destroying something beautiful. He would rather that than have them all destroyed by a Single-Eyed Giant Demon like now.

    This was how he felt when he suddenly heard Su Chen¡¯s reply, ¡°The opposite might be true, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Anubi was stunned.

    Su Chen waved his hand. ¡°It¡¯d be easier for you to see for yourself.¡±

    As the Single-Eyed Giant Demon took the stage, the battle began.

    Because it was a member of the Origin Races, it possessed the innate ability of controlling Origin Energy. However, it preferred to use its physical body as a weapon due to its massive size.

    The giant swung its massive iron hammer at the human soldiers with a barbaric howl.

    Two months ago, those soldiers would¡¯ve been ttened on the spot.

    However, these people had virtually transformed within just two months¡¯ time.

    There were now three Light Shaking Realm cultivators amongst the seventy-three soldiers; in terms of strength, Le Feng alone was enough to deal with the Single-Eyed Giant Demon.

    However, Su Chen had instructed him not to disy too much strength, so Le Feng kept himself in check and didn¡¯t exceed the limits of what should have been possible at the peak of the Yang Opening Realm. His main goal in this battle was actually to protect the other soldiers and limit the number of casualties. Unless it was absolutely necessary, he was forbidden from revealing his true strength.

    It was only under these kinds of circumstances that the Single-Eyed Giant Demon could even have a fair fight with the human soldiers.

    As the Single-Eyed Giant Demon began to attack, the thirty soldiers on the field drew their swords.

    Apart from Le Feng, who was at the Light Shaking Realm, there were four more Yang Opening Realm cultivators and twenty-five Blood Boiling Realm cultivators. If you took Le Feng out of the picture, they were roughly equivalent in strength to the giant. This was Su Chen¡¯s special arrangement. Only when their strength was even would the battle be more spectacr. And only when their strength was even could they squeeze everyone to the greatest extent, which would serve as even better training.

    When they struck with their swords simultaneously, streaks of sword Qi flew through the air.

    Because they possessed Soul Armaments, their Sword Qi was exceptionally fierce, and even the attacks from the Blood Boiling Realm cultivators left behind deep scars.

    Even though those wounds weren¡¯t deep, there were many of them, andbined they still posed quite a threat to the giant demon.

    Sword Qi flew recklessly through the sky. The Single-Eyed Giant Demon was instantly sliced open by dozens of swords.

    The demon howled with dissatisfaction. The massive hammer in its hand descended, but the soldiers were incredibly nimble and managed to dodge in time.

    The thirty soldiers were split into five six-man teams, with Le Feng and the four Yang Opening Realm cultivators each leading one. They advanced and retreated as if each team was a single person, and they disyed incredible coordination amongst themselves. They weaved back and forth, some attacking and some defending, putting on a good show against the Giant Demon.

    Even though the Giant Demon was powerful, it couldn¡¯t even touch the agile humans. It howled with anger, but the only reply it got was an umtion of wounds.

    They were like thirty nimble flying birds attacking a single dumb bear.

    ¡°What beautiful teamwork. They¡¯re putting on quite the show. This is the most exquisite, precise diator battle I have seen yet,¡± one of the Ravagers chuckled.

    ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± another Ravager added. ¡°Even though I like watching more direct, simple, barbaric fights, I must admit that these kinds of ¡®delicate¡¯ battles are also quite fun to watch.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s almost like embroidery. That¡¯s quite an interesting way of putting it. The most surprising thing is that a Ravager was the one who taught them to fight like this.¡±

    ¡°And then taught it to humans.¡±

    ¡°Heavens, what kind of a world do we live in? It seems like things are totally upside down.¡±

    ¡°Hahahaha!¡±

    The Ravagers all began to howl withughter.

    The Ravagers weren¡¯t unaware of their own wildness and madness. In their eyes, this was normal, and even correct.

    Only humans would be such sissies about everything.

    As such, this was partly due to the Ravagers¡¯ undervaluing of intelligence.

    ¡°But regardless, they are going to win,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°That might not be the case,¡± Kenwo chuckled coldly. ¡°The Single-Eyed Giant Demon is of the Origin Race too. Their strength is not so simple.¡±

    The Single-Eyed Giant Demon had a very powerful physique, but that didn¡¯t mean that it could only fight with its physical body.

    Indeed, just as Kenwo had said, the Single-Eyed Giant Demon began to change its battle tactics when it realized that brute force alone wasn¡¯t going to get the job done.

    It howled and unleashed a violent punch, and a blood-red light began to glow behind its back.

    As the blood-colored light shone more intensely, the Single-Eyed Giant Demon¡¯s slow movements began to pick up pace.

    Suddenly, it shot forwards, closing in on its opponents with unprecedented speed as it mmed its hammer down.

    ¡°Bloodthirsty Fervor! So there are still Giant Demons that choose to take the purely physical route?¡± the Ravagers eximed in shock.

    As an Origin Race, the Giant Demon possessed an Innate Origin Skill, and different Gargantuan Souls could choose to take different routes.

    This Single-Eyed Giant Demon obviously preferred to strengthen itself with Origin Energy, making it quite simr to Ravagers in that respect.

    The Giant Demon, whose speed had been increased, was not nearly as easy to dodge this time.

    The soldiers had no way out against the hammer descending from the sky.

    They didn¡¯t rely on their agility to escape this time. Instead, they flew into the sky, meeting the hammer strike head-on. Sword light flew from the tips of their swords, crashing into the hammer and causing brilliant, multicolored light as well as a shower of sparks to scatter everywhere.

    This massive iron hammer was actually unable to prate the sword formation.

    ¡°Whoa!¡± All of the spectators on the scene cried out in shock.

    ¡°They blocked it!¡±

    ¡°They actually blocked it!¡±

    ¡°I must be seeing things! How the hell did they block it?¡±

    The Ravagers began to yell loudly. They didn¡¯t dare believe their own eyes.

    The Single-Eyed Giant Demon was simply too powerful. Even amongst most Demonic Lords, it was an incredibly fearsome existence - not something that a few Yang Opening Realm cultivators plus a bunch of Blood Boiling Realm cultivators alone could deal with.

    Only Su Chen knew what was happening.

    During that collision, Le Feng had disyed some of his strength.

    He had managed to control it well, so no one was able to tell, making it seem like the formation itself was responsible for blocking the hammer strike.

    That was enough.

    The Single-Eyed Giant Demon¡¯s attack was fruitless, and the human sword formation transformed again. Thirty streaks of sword light simultaneously congealed to form a massive sword that descended towards the Giant Demon¡¯s forehead.

    This sword strike was so shockingly powerful that even the Giant Demon howled in fear. The iron hammer seemed to be unable to withstand the attack, greatly shocking the Ravager onlookers.

    Having fought with the humans for so many years, these Ravagers were very clear how strong the ones before them were.

    Humans had much more cooperative strength than them, but for it to be effective they needed to train up their oneness for years and years.

    If this was a set battalion amongst the human army, it wouldn¡¯t have been such a big deal. However, these soldiers were all captives from different garrisons, battalions, and squads of the Heavenly Might Battalion. Some of them had never even seen each other before, not to mention train together.

    For them to have this much teamwork in such a short period of time was really shocking.

    Actually, the truth of this matter was very simple.

    Part of this was because of Su Chen¡¯s strict training, but more importantly, themon starting point of the Immacte Cultivation Technique greatly increased their innatepatibility. Also, it was two different matters entirely for them to obey Su Chen versus a Ravager, so in principle it was apletely different matter. Of course, there was no need for Su Chen to divulge this.

    If the Single-Eyed Giant Demon couldn¡¯t defeat its opponents with brute force, then it was going to lose.

    Even though it tried to use a few other Origin Skills afterwards, demonstrating its shocking strength, Le Feng¡¯s hidden protection secretly nullified all of the Giant Demon¡¯s attacks.

    In the end, the thirty human soldiers easily defeated the Giant Demon with only three light casualties.

    All of the Ravager spectators exploded with energy the moment the Giant Demon toppled to the ground.

    Anubi himself stood to p his hands.

    He said to Su Chen, ¡°Beautifully done, my head of internal servants. This is the best diator match I have ever seen.¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°Thank you, Your Majesty, for your praise. It is a great glory for me.¡±

    ¡°How did you do all of this?¡± one of the Ravagers asked.

    ¡°As you have seen, I trained them. This training is not just to get them to capitte, but also to increase their strength,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Increased their strength? Are you referring to their training?¡± A voice spoke at this point in time.

    It was the God of War, Averigus.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Getting them to this kind of level in just two months...... You can train humans, so can you train Ravagers in the same way?¡± Averigus asked.

    Su Chen cracked a slight smile. ¡°Of course, Sir Averigus.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 206: Personally Taking Part 1

    Chapter 206: Personally Taking Part (1)

    Silence.

    A strange silence.

    After a long time, Averigus broke the silence.

    ¡°You have a lot of talent, Lontu, even more than I would have expected. Unfortunately, you¡¯re using your talents for the wrong thing......¡±

    ¡°So you mean that amusing the emperor is wrong, my great general?¡± Anubi said with squinted eyes.

    Averigus said, ¡°I just think that there are better ways for him to put his intelligence to use, Your Majesty.¡±

    Then, he turned to look at Su Chen. ¡°Are you interested in training my subordinates? I can give you a group of soldiers for you to train. If you do a good job, I can hand over control of the entire army to you.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Sir Averigus, I think you said one thing wrong. The army is not yours, it¡¯s His Majesty¡¯s. You are justmanding them as a deputy of His Majesty.¡±

    Averigus¡¯s expression sank.

    Anubi pped his hands and guffawed, ¡°Well said, Lontu! You have not betrayed my expectations.¡±

    Averigus stared at Su Chen deeply. ¡°You have such clear talent, but yet you refuse to take the straight path.¡±

    Then, he sighed and shook his head as he left.

    Su Chen murmured, ¡°His words make it seem like I have fallen into a pit and am totally unaware of it......¡±

    An effective provocation.

    Anubi¡¯s expression was dark.

    He clenched his hands. ¡°This guy really pisses me off...... There¡¯s another annoying guy I have to deal with after Sachar.¡±

    A noble standing to the side said, ¡°Averigus is a faithful official of the kingdom.¡±

    Anubi said angrily, ¡°Is that a reason why he can ignore me and provoke me again and again? He ims to be loyal and uses a stick of righteousness to beat me over the head with it? He ignored my prestige, my authority, and my status! Is that a faithful official?¡±

    The appeaser wisely shut his mouth.

    Anyone knew that continuing to speak up for Averigus would result in a bad oue for them.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Just as Your Majesty says, this general is just putting on a show of loyalty but actually does disrespectful things. No matter what kinds of contributions he has made in the past, ignoring the emperor like this is totallywless and wrong.¡±

    Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s words, Anubi¡¯s expression became a little more bearable.

    ¡°You are indeed my loyal subject, Lontu. As you have said, loyalty should be to the monarch. No matter how loyal they are, ignoring the authority of the emperor like this is wrong. This is why I need to test their loyalty. They always put on a show of loyalty, but stop me from doing this or that. Since I am the emperor, and they are my subjects, then they should listen to me! Howe they have so many contrary opinions?¡± Anubi howled.

    ¡°You¡¯re right, Your Majesty. Any official who isn¡¯t loyal to you should be punished,¡± Su Chen said emotionlessly.

    An incapable ruler was an incapable ruler. The biggest issue was that they confused loyalty to themselves to loyalty to the kingdom.

    To this incapable ruler, he represented the kingdom, and a true ruler could do as he pleased.

    A momentter, however, Anubi said, a bit upset, ¡°The problem is that I can¡¯t do anything to Averigus. Even though I can kill most targets that I want to kill, there are some exceptions. I cannot kill Averigus, and I can¡¯t even punish him.¡±

    ¡°Because he is the general responsible for guarding the western border? Because he controls the military?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Anubi replied, ¡°Both.¡±

    ¡°Then seize control of the army from him,¡± Su Chen said as he leaned into Anubi¡¯s ear.

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Anubi was stunned.

    ¡°As you heard.¡±

    Anubi shook his head. ¡°This cannot be. The western border must have Averigus guarding it.¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°I know. I¡¯m not telling you to do it right now. There are things you can do one step at a time.¡±

    Anubi asked, ¡°How would you do it one step at a time?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Directly and openly seize any threats to your rule, that way you can disce his control a bit and gain an army that belongs to yourself. No one can say anything bad about that, right?¡±

    Anubi was stunned. ¡°What exactly are you trying to say?¡±

    Su Chen smiled furtively. ¡°Do you remember those Beasts?¡±

    Upon hearing about the Beasts, Anubi grew even more confused. ¡°The Beasts that are currently attacking us? What about them?¡±

    ¡°Their strength is almost spent,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°We received battle reports yesterday that the Beasts took an entire day just to seize three mountain forts. You know that these three mountain forts were not very heavily guarded, as they were constructed to buy time for those retreating from the front lines. Theyck weapons, Ancestors, and medicines. Yet they were able to hold out for a day, and two-thirds of the soldiers stationed there were able to safely retreat. Apparently, towards the end of the battle, the Scarlet Heart himself personally made an appearance.¡±

    Anubi somewhat unerstood. ¡°So in other words, they¡¯ve reached the limits of their strength and have no way of continuing to fight. I¡¯m not surprised about this oue, as I and my top aides and officials hade to expect it. Unless two more Demonic Emperors were to arrive, the Beasts would be driven back sooner orter. But what does that have to do with anything?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Victory is at hand, Your Majesty! You have a chance to put your prestige, reputation, and might on disy, as well as obtain the support of all themoners!¡±

    Anubi was stunned. ¡°You mean......¡±

    ¡°Take the field! Take the field yourself!¡± Su Chen struck the nail on the head. ¡°This is the best opportunity. The Beasts have spilled over the border and invaded our territory. If you take to the battlefield yourself and drive them out, defeat them, and recover our territory, what could be better? When you defeat the Beasts, your prestige will be spread far and wide, and themoners will worship and adore you. All of the subjects will be forced to kneel before you, even Averigus......¡±

    Anubi understood.

    He squinted his eyes. ¡°Your words make a lot of sense. Before this, there have always been Ravagers cursing me for not caring about the plights of themoners, despite the fact that I really don¡¯t care. I didn¡¯t even pay much mind to the Beast Wave because I knew they would retreat eventually. But if I were to direct a group of troops and defeat those beasts, then it would be a big boost to my reputation. Even though I don¡¯t really care about my reputation, having a good reputation is better than not having one at all. The only problem is......¡±

    ¡°What is it, Your Majesty?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Anubi waved his hand. ¡°It¡¯s a pain. Going so far just to fight a battle doesn¡¯t sound very interesting.¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s not a problem at all. Actually, this is a bit interesting. Your Majesty, do you never feel stifled, being holed up in the imperial pce like this all the time? The Ravagers control a vast amount of territory, including mountains and rivers that you have never seen before. They belong to you, but you have never seen the beautiful scenery or the beautiful women there even once. Also, you¡¯ll get a chance to fight. How can sitting here in the diator arena, watching at most dozens of people kill each other,pare with the thrill of ughtering thousands or even tens of thousands on the battlefield? This is the true strength of the Iron and Blood Country - a hot-blooded battle!¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s enticing words caused Anubi¡¯s eyes to light up. ¡°Your words make a lot of sense.¡±

    Su Chen continued to add fuel to the fire. ¡°You can also use this to suppress Averigus. His reputation is too high right now, but if you take control of the army at this moment and sessfully achieve this great victory, then everything will be different.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s very true. Yes, that¡¯s absolutely right!¡± Anubi was obviously growing excited.

    He stood and began to pace as he spoke, ¡°I can personally lead the troops onto the battlefield. The Beasts are out of strength, so now is the best time to defeat them. Those idiots who thought that I had no reaction to the Beast Wave¡¯s invasion will discover that I, the great Anubi, will bring them a great victory. I will finish off all of the invading Beasts, using their blood to water the ground! I will be a monarch above all others and receive the praise of themoners. My subjects will lovingly present me with their most beautiful women.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, Your Majesty,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°But what if they don¡¯t present their women to me?¡± Anubi asked.

    ¡°They will,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°You are the hero who wiped out the Beasts, the great emperor who killed the Scarlet Heart.¡±

    ¡°Killed the Scarlet Heart?¡± Anubi shook his head. ¡°No, no, that¡¯s not possible. The Scarlet Heart is both slippery and powerful. It¡¯s not possible for me to kill him.¡±

    Anubi had no ns to kill the Scarlet Heart in his ns to wipe out the Beasts.

    As a Demonic Emperor, it was simply too hard to kill.

    Su Chen said, ¡°That might not be the case, Your Majesty. Have you ever wondered why the Beasts started this conflict even if they knew they were going to lose?¡±

    ¡°Because a damned human stripped his pce bare. The Scarlet Heart is attacking the Ravagers in order to make back what it lost. These damned bastards!¡± Anubi cursed.

    ¡°That is indeed the case. The Scarlet Heart wants to seize back what he lost, but there is no way he can reach his hands all the way into human territory, so he can only attack the Ravagers. And how much has he recovered at this point? At this point, I am only aware of one.¡± Su Chen raised a single finger. ¡°An Origin Energy Soul refined from Sir Sachar and ten or so powerful generals. The rest is just a pile of worthless items. They might be able to fill up that empty storehouse of his, but their value is far inferior. Do you think he would be satisfied with that?¡±

    Anubi shook his head. ¡°If it were me, I would definitely not be satisfied.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly the case.¡± Su Chen¡¯s words became even more alluring. ¡°That¡¯s why killing the Scarlet Heart will not be difficult. All you need to do is take out an item it likes, and then the Scarlet Heart will pounce on it like a hungry wolf, ignoring everything else...... That is when we will strike at the Scarlet Heart, firmly establishing Your Majesty¡¯s might and prestige.¡±

    Anubi¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°What treasure do you think we should use as bait?¡±

    Su Chen shrugged. ¡°There are many treasures you can use. For instance, you can use the Three Great Totems or the Origin Bone Staff. Perhaps having more would be better.¡±

    As he spoke, Su Chen finally revealed his foxy tail.

    However, it had to be said that this suggestion was effective precisely because it moved Anubi¡¯s heart.

    No matter what kinds of ulterior motives Su Chen harbored, he had seeded.

    Anubi decided to head out that night.

    He was going to personallymand the troops, bringing the Inferno Tribe¡¯s two hundred thousand or so man army into battle against the Beasts.

    ¡°History will remember this moment!¡± Anubi said.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 207: Personally Taking Part 2

    Chapter 207: Personally Taking Part (2)

    Under Su Chen¡¯s constant, unyielding urges, Anubi finally decided to personally make an appearance.

    The entire Ravager kingdom weed this change.

    Ravagers were a hot-blooded,bat-loving race. Their desire for victory and glory was unquenchable. His Majesty¡¯s deration was causing their blood to boil. At least in the short term, their morale and power had greatly increased. In this regard, Su Chen¡¯s analysis was spot on.

    Even Averigus showed support for this idea when he heard of it.

    Averigus was one of the only loyal subjects that truly lived by a set of principles, and what he hated was Anubi¡¯sckadaisical attitude.

    As such, when Anubi dered that he was going to personally lead an expedition, Averigus¡¯s first thought was that it was better that he dared to do it than not.

    This was the difference between a smart Ravager and a smart human.

    A human would definitely immediately think of all of the horrible possibilities that might ur if the emperor himself took to the battlefield.

    To the Ravagers, however, this was not important. Having an unyielding, zealous fighting spirit was the most important.

    Even a brilliant individual like Averigus had this kind of attitude.

    This was rted to the culture and fundamental thought process of their race as a whole. It had nothing to do with intelligence.

    With the support of the masses, Gun Castle¡¯s armies set out.

    As Anubi¡¯s head of internal servants and the one who had proposed this expedition, Su Chen naturally apanied me. Not only so, but he was actuallymissioned as the cavalry leader. This was an actual official position amongst the Ravagers, and Su Chen would havemand over a squad of five thousand Ravagers. This was not a small position - the holder of this title possessed real power. Even if Su Chen had managed to ¡°train¡± these seventy-three humans beyond all expectations, clearly demonstrating his skill, Anubi handing him this rank was still a bit much.

    But wasn¡¯t that the style of an ipetent ruler anyways?

    From the ipetent ruler¡¯s standpoint, this royal subject that he favored so much only had control over five thousand soldiers. This was already very wise, in his eyes. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that so many of the military officials had opposed him, he would have put Su Chen inmand of a hundred thousand soldiers.

    I have gotten much wiser recently; now, I can even listen to others criticize me, Anubi thought to himself.

    If there was one thing to be unhappy about, that was the Head Ancestor of the Divine Shrine¡¯s attitude.

    The Head Ancestor decisively refused to allow him to bring the Origin Bone Scepter or the totems into battle. He felt that this was too dangerous.

    However, in this matter there was no discussion to be had.

    Even without Su Chen¡¯s suggestion, Anubi would have brought the Origin Bone Scepter with him. This was obvious given that he had brought it with him just in a trip over to the Origin Energy Temple.

    Rejoicing in shows of grandiosity referred to people like him.

    Because the Origin Bone Scepter belonged to the imperial household in name, Anubi was able to rightly take it with him. The Head Ancestor¡¯s opposition actually didn¡¯t have much meaning at all.

    The Head Ancestor could, however, make a decision concerning the Three Great Totems.

    Even though Su Chen had emphasized and described the importance of taking the totems with them as Anubi¡¯s emissary, the Head Ancestor refused to bow his head in this matter.

    He had been alive for too long, and his temperament had also calmed down. He didn¡¯t really care much about killing a Demonic Emperor; how to ensure that the country¡¯s important treasures weren¡¯t lost was what he really cared about.

    Perhaps all older individuals would have this kind of attitude.

    Anubi flew into a rage three separate times, killing twelve of his subordinates before the Head Ancestor finally agreed to hand over a single totem.

    The Vitality Totem.

    The Vitality Totem was the most valuable totem amongst the remaining Three Great Totems, and it was the most suitable for the Ravagers¡¯ needs.

    Its totemic power could bestow upon its target a powerful lifeforce, giving them an almost endless amount of lifeforce.

    The Head Ancestor had actually handed over the most important totem over to Anubi.

    In spite of how unwilling he was to do it.

    That morning, the sky was clear in all directions, making it a great time to set out on an expedition.

    The two hundred thousand man army gathered together, then set out after participating in a few military traditions.

    Su Chen sat on the back of an Iron-Boned Bristlewolf. Behind him rode five thousand Ravager warriors, along with the seventy-three human soldiers he had trained.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why you insisted on bringing along these ves with you. cing them in this army is like cing a giant chunk of juicy meat amongst a hungry pack of wolves. How can you expect the wolves to focus their attention on the battle?¡±

    The speaker¡¯s name was tch, Su Chen¡¯s deputy general, a Quindicus.

    Quindicuses, ording to Ravager lingo, referred to people who did not have pure bloodlines.

    tch was not a mix between the Ravagers and some other race. Here, Quindicus referred to the offspring of a member of the Inferno Tribe and some other tribe. The social status hierarchy was quite simr for Ravagers as for humans and Harpies. There was a lot of emphasis being ced on carrying on a certain kind of lineage.

    ¡°If this chunk of meat can lead the charge and wipe out our enemies, serving as a kamikaze unit at the very front, then they have some value. As a general, what you need to consider is only whether or not your subordinates will listen to your orders. As for what race thee from, whether they are humans or Ravagers, or even Beasts......¡±

    Su Chen patted the iguana beneath his feet and cracked a smile. ¡°None of that matters.¡±

    tch nodded, ¡°You¡¯re absolutely right, sir. The Ravagers can control Beasts to attack Beasts, so of course we can use humans to deal with them as well. BHowever, we need to consider not only value but also morale.

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Yes, there do seem to be some effects on morale, but unlike you, tch, I think that these soldiers will only raise morale, not lower it.¡±

    ¡°Raise morale?¡± tch was stunned.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Yes, raise morale. Think about it. With a group of human soldiers suddenly stuck into a battalion, most Ravagers will ignore them and dislike them, right? This is why you think it will lower group morale.

    tch replied, ¡°Yes, that¡¯s correct.¡±

    ¡°But what of this group manages to make contributions on the battlefield? What if they are loyal to the letter, totally unafraid of death and willing to pay any price to ughter their opponents?¡± Su Chen asked.

    tch said, somewhat dazed, ¡°I would probably feel ufortable.¡±

    ¡°Yes, you would feel ufortable, dissatisfied, or even angry. But as long as you control this anger carefully, you can convert it on the battlefield into hotly burning mes of heroism, might, and tenacity...... Until you be the nightmare of our enemies.¡±

    tch understood. ¡°You¡¯re quite right! Ravagers, who emphasize winning in battle, will definitely not allow human captives to win against them. This will stimte their desire to fight, raising their morale essentially by provoking them. How did you think of it?¡±

    tch sent some ttery Su Chen¡¯s way in a timely manner, a skill every talented vicemander needed to have - even if they were Ravagers.

    Su Chen raised an eyebrow. ¡°Normal people see what¡¯s in front of them. Wise people see into the future.¡±

    This was a bit pretentious of him. Even tch required some time to respond: ¡°General is truly wise and foresighted!¡±

    Even though most of it was just ttery, tch did also recognize the merit behind Su Chen¡¯s words.

    However, he obviously didn¡¯t know an old human proverb: all disastrous ns seem perfect before they turn disastrous.

    Seven dayster, the army arrived at the River-Gazing ins.

    Arge river passed through the region. It was the Ravagers¡¯ well-known Flying Overflow River.

    The Flying Overflow River was lined with all kinds of vegetation, as it was a rare opportunity for life to flourish amongst the barren wastnd belonging to the Ravagers. It was, in a sense, a life source for the northern regions, so the tribes living in the area called this river the River Mother.

    However, the Flying Overflow River was not gentle like a mother should be. It flowed down from higher ground to the east, traveling 10,000 kilometers in the process and carrying with itrge quantities of mud, since the river was exceptionally turbulent. Because the Flying Overflow River was extremely uneven in terms of river width and depth - a result of tens of thousands of years of conflict between Origin Qi Schrs - the Flying Overflow River often flooded.

    The river was exceptionally narrow in the River-Gazing ins. The river was at times three thousand feet across before this point, but after passing through the River-Gazing ins, the river width would shorten to a hundred twenty feet, increasing the speed at which the water flowed and making earth-sculpting floods amon appearance.

    This was also why the Flying Overflow River was named such.

    Past the Flying Overflow River was Elmtree Mountain, Lump Mountain, and Miwo Mountain, known collectively as the Flying Overflow Three Mountains.

    At the center of these three mountains was the Three Mountain Castle.

    That castle had been seized by the Beasts not too long ago.

    After taking the Three Mountain Castle, the Beasts did not continue their advance. Instead, they set up camp there - after such a long battle, therge number of casualties they had suffered made it impossible for them to continue their offensive.

    Perhaps this would be the final battlefield for them.

    The Scarlet Heart didn¡¯t leave because he had gotten wind that Anubi was taking the Origin Bone Scepter and the Vitality Totem with him to personally make an appearance.

    Most importantly, he could sense the aura of the treasures he had lost.

    It was amongst the Ravagers.

    Even though he didn¡¯t understand how the treasures that had been stolen away by a human would suddenly appear amongst the Ravagers, confirming this fact was more than enough to send him into a frenzy.

    As such, the Scarlet Heart had no choice. To him, the Beasts weren¡¯t actually all that important, but those treasures were crucial.

    The Beasts lived in an even more chaotic environment than the Ravagers. Most of the Beasts here were not his direct subordinates; they had gathered because of the might of the Demonic Emperor, and they were attacking because of their thirst for flesh and blood. Once they retreated, they would naturally separate. There was actually no need for the Scarlet Heart to feel much pain over sacrificing these kinds of underlings. At most, they would just make it a bit difficult for the Scarlet Heart to withstand the challenges of other Demonic Emperors.

    However, the Scarlet Heart had already decided that he would absolutely reim the treasures he had lost, even if it meant that he would no longer be the emperor of the area to the west of the Ravagers¡¯ borders. Resources were equivalent to strength.

    And in the Beast world, strength was king.

    These two kinds of different environments and thinking styles made it so that, even if the Scarlet Heart knew it was going to lose, it wouldn¡¯t try to escape.

    He would take back what had been lost, and perhaps obtain even more.

    To achieve this goal, he was willing to pay any price!

    Under these kinds of circumstances, a fate-deciding duel was absolutely going to happen.

    After spending a day to reorganize near the River-Gazing ins, the two hundred thousand man army began their advance towards the Three Mountains.

    Within the Three Mountain Castle,rge hordes of beasts were beginning to gather. They stood guard atop the city walls like the Ravagers had in the past, staring intently out into the distance from on high.

    This time, however, the Ravagers were the ones attacking.

    The Beasts were the ones being attacked.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to catch them all in one,¡± Anubi said, his pride beginning to surge.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 208: Suggestion

    Anubi wasn¡¯t just speaking empty words.

    He really felt like he could capture his opponents in a all at once - after Su Chen had managed to help him analyze the Scarlet Heart¡¯s attitude, of course.

    As such, once the troops arrived, Anubi made a decision.

    ¡°What? Form an encirclement? Your Majesty, there¡¯s no need for this in the slightest! Let me takemand of the armies and we can just charge in immediately!¡±

    Within the Ravagers¡¯ main tent, Likarlon was yelling in his uniquely raspy voice. This bald-headed Ravager, whose brain was even made of muscle, was Anubi¡¯s most trusted general, and the Inferno Tribe¡¯s top warrior.

    The way he did things was very simr to how he looked - simple, direct, and crude. His reason for contradicting Anubi was simply because he felt like it was too much of a hassle. In that sense, Anubi could best ept this kind of reasoning, because this would also make him seem more wise.

    However, the reactions of the other Ravagers made him unhappy.

    ¡°The Three Mountain Castle is not a ce that can be easily surrounded. It is hemmed in on all sides byplicated, mountainous terrain. The soldiers will have a hard time spreading out, and the effect of setting up an encirclement will be minimal anyways,¡± Shinback said.

    Shinback was Anubi¡¯s transport official, primarily responsible for managing the army¡¯s logistics. Even though the Ravagers were known for their disastrous logistics and organizational skills, Shinback was at least decent at his job - at least, he was not the worst. For him to have reached this rank implied that he was also quite intelligent, which was also why he served as Anubi¡¯s think tank.

    Actually, because of his status, Anubi most often encountered the smarter Ravagers. After all, anyone who didn¡¯t have their wits about them wouldn¡¯tst long as Anubi¡¯s subordinate at all. Anyone who could climb up the socialdder to this point could not possibly be just an average individual.

    Shinback was two hundred years old already. He was not young, which also meant that he was very prudent.

    Shinback¡¯s words had only made Anubi unhappy. Inparison, the next person to speak caused him to fly into a rage.

    ¡°This is a disastrous, terrible idea. It will take at least a day to set up an encirclement given the terrain we are on, and in this one day the Beasts can attack at any point in time, exploiting the holes in our defenses. And even if we manage to stop their attacks, it won¡¯t be of any use. The terrain is very isted, so our troops will be split up into isted groups. The Beasts could just rely on this fact to attack a different area. The encirclement will turn into each area being attacked separately.¡±

    As themander-in-chief of the two hundred thousand man army, Gucha had the authority to speak in this manner.

    However, this didn¡¯t mean that his opposition would have any effect.

    ¡°This is my n. I¡¯m going to capture that bastard alive!¡± Anubi said.

    The hidden meaning behind his words was that if Gucha called this n stupid one more time, Anubi would skin him alive.

    Gucha began to demonstrate the characteristics most Ravagers had.

    Stubborn, unyielding, and inflexible.

    He said, ¡°This n will not allow you to capture him alive. You will only be an idiot loser.¡±

    ¡°Shut your mouth, you damned bastard!¡± Anubi howled as he charged. ¡°I¡¯ll kill you!¡±

    He unleashed a punch as he charged forwards.

    Unfortunately, Gucha was not Alicia. His punch did not kill the other party; all it did was create gigantic waves of energy that spread in all directions.

    ¡°Even if you are the emperor, don¡¯t think that you can do as you please!¡± Gucha howled as he counterattacked.

    He actually fought back!

    This was the first time Su Chen had ever seen anything like this. Even though he had made some preparations for the Ravagers being brainless, he was still a bit unused to this kind of urrence.

    Rather, this was the true nature of the Ravagers. Everything he had seen before was a representation of everything that RAvagers were not.

    The battle between an emperor and hismander-in-chief unfolded at this moment. The Ravager soldiers were neither surprised nor disturbed. Actually, they even began to circle around the fighters as they cheered and called out.

    In terms of strength, Gucha had reached the peak of Totemic Inscriptions, had undergone six baptisms already, and had countless years of actual battle experience, putting him above Anubi. However, Anubi was the emperor, and he was more than prepared to show off his powerful side.

    As he attacked, he howled, ¡°This is not a Takushi. I, the great Anubi Inferno, am punishing this bastard. You cannot fight back against me. If you hurt me, then your actions will be considered as treason.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t even think about trying to pin that crime on me,¡± Gucha howled powerfully. However, his attacks were still somewhat unrestrained.

    They fought like this for some time. In the end, Gucha was kicked back a few times by Anubi, and Anubi was punched by Gucha.

    In the face.

    As they ced their hands on the palm prints and footprints on their bodies, the conference resumed.

    Anubi pouted with dissatisfaction. ¡°Sachar is dead, but I still don¡¯t have freedom.¡±

    ¡°Your recklessness will bring about the destruction of the Ravager race. You¡¯d best learn how to control yourself a bit better,¡± an ancient-sounding voice spoke from off in the corner.

    The speaker was a white-haired, ancient man leaning on a cane.

    Even though he was already extremely old, no Ravager dared to look down on him.

    Because he was the Ravagers¡¯ central Divine Shrine¡¯s Head Ancestor, Goncourt. He was the religious representative for the entire Iron and Blood Country, the one who wielded the power of the hearts of the citizens.

    It could be said that Goncourt was the uncrowned emperor of the Ravagers. Without his support, any battles that the Ravagers fought would be considered unjust and even cursed.

    If Gucha¡¯s opposition to the emperor was one-third because of his own strength and two-thirds because of his temperament, then Goncourt¡¯s instruction of Anubi was proper and right, a matter of principle. It was like Sachar, an elder instructing his own junior.

    When faced with Goncourt¡¯s rebuke, even someone as cruel, savage, barbaric, and crude as Anubi could only lower his head obediently.

    ¡°Fine. Then what do you think we should do? Attack the city directly?¡± Anubi asked, somewhat stifled.

    ¡°I think that¡¯s a great idea,¡± Likarlon interjected with an honest smile.

    ¡°Idiot, the Beasts number in the hundreds of thousands as well, thirty of them at least at the Demonic Lord realm. Do you think that we can swallow them up without paying a price?¡± oncourt said. ¡°We need to find a way to deal with our opponents.¡±

    ¡°The Beasts aren¡¯t good at thinking up ns,¡± Likarlon muttered.

    ¡°What if we get them to run into an encirclement on their own?¡± Su Chen suddenly interjected.

    As the head of internal servants, his rank was the lowest, and as a mid-tier cavalry officer, his rank was the lowest. But as the emperor¡¯s close, favored subject, Su Chen did have some authority to speak.

    ¡°Shut your mouth, you bastard. You bewitch the emperor with your words,¡± Gucha harrumphed.

    If Su Chen wasn¡¯t a male, he might have cursed him for being a fox demonness.

    ¡°Let him speak, Gucha. Wise people don¡¯t stop others from speaking,¡± Goncourt said slowly, deep meaning behind his words.

    He had spoken this for Gucha to hear, but also for Anubi to hear.

    Su Chen shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s quite simple. We know the reason why the Scarlet Heart refuses to retreat - he is going for the Origin Bone Scepter. So if we give him an opportunity, it¡¯s obvious that he will charge over...... He will bring his troops along with him right into our encirclement.

    Gucha was stunned. ¡°You¡¯re saying that His Majesty should......¡±

    ¡°Be bait? Yes, that is what I mean,¡± Su Chen said with conviction. ¡°If we put His Majesty¡¯s carriage at the very front, the Scarlet Heart will feel like he has an opportunity.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s putting His Majesty in danger!¡± Shinback cried out, not wasting the opportunity to demonstrate his loyalty to Anubi.

    ¡°There won¡¯t be any danger,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°We can use a substitute, but we must give that substitute the real Origin Bone Scepter and the Vitality Totem.¡±

    Using a substitute to cheat the Scarlet Heart?

    Everyone nced at each other.

    ¡°Are you sure that the Scarlet Heart would charge in even if he knows there is an ambush?¡± Shinback asked.

    ¡°He will. As long as there are treasures, he doesn¡¯t care how many soldiers you have. His earlier actions are proof of this,¡± Su Chen said confidently.

    ¡°But the Scarlet Heart is not easy to lie to. It¡¯s impossible to trick him with ordinary camouge techniques¡± Gucha said.

    ¡°Humans have a special kind of technique that allows them to change appearances. You all should know about it, right?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Of course, but very few people can actually use this technique,¡± Gucha said. In his heart, however, he felt that this would not pose a problem for Su Chen. In other words, Su Chen was already prepared to deal with this when he made his suggestion.

    Indeed, Su Chen said with a slight smile, ¡°You forget that I have seventy-three human soldiers at my disposal. Coincidentally, one of them just so happens to possess this ability.¡±

    The group of high-status Ravagers were all stunned.

    This was indeed quite the coincidence.

    Of course, in reality this was not a coincidence at all. Su Chen had created a camouge technique of his own, so it was no surprise that he could teach it to other people.

    Goncourt asked, ¡°Then why didn¡¯t that human immediately use his camouge abilities to escape?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°He couldn¡¯t escape the eyes of the irvoyants. This kind of technique is only useful against someone who isn¡¯t prepared.¡±

    Goncourt said, ¡°That¡¯s the problem. If he can¡¯t trick a rivoyant, it¡¯s impossible for him to trick the Scarlet Heart either.¡±

    ¡°But that might not be the case if he has your help, right?¡± Su Chen countered. ¡°You don¡¯t need him topletely trick the Scarlet Heart; you just need to make it so that the Scarlet Heart has no way of figuring it out from a distance.¡±

    ¡°So we¡¯re going to hand over the Origin Bone Scepter and Vitality Totem to a human?¡± Gucha pointed out the most ring problem.

    ¡°Two hundred thousand Ravagers surrounding a single human?¡± Su Chen replied calmly. ¡°I was just posing a suggestion anyways. If you have a better n, please, feel free to propose it.¡±

    At the Three Mountain Castle.

    The Scarlet Heart sat upon his massive throne constructed from a skull inside of the floating bloody pce, which was being pulled along by eight Armored Crocodiles.

    The throne had been constructed from 999 skulls taken from Ravagers, Harpies, Oceanids, etc., including two Emperor-level existences and twenty-four King-level existences. These skulls were not dead, however; their eyes glowed with a mystical fire, and from time to time they would try to crash against an invisible barrier, howling and shrieking unhappily.

    The Scarlet Heart sat on this throne. He looked like an elegant, graceful, middle-aged human, but a ck fog emanated from his body, giving him a strange, enigmatic aura.

    His eyes were closed and his head tilted, as if he were asleep. In his hand was a scepter, which had three gems iid onto the wooden body of the scepter in a row. These three gems were red, blue, and ck.

    He rubbed his fingers gently over the gems on the scepter, tapping them rhythmically against the scepter, indicating that he was not actually asleep. The smaller Demonic Beasts kneeling below him couldn¡¯t help but tremble in fear.

    Suddenly, he opened his eyes.

    In that instant, the entire void seemed to suddenly light up.

    His gaze prated the walls of the castle as it spread.

    He said, ¡°I can sense it...... my treasure!¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 209: The Final Battle 1

    Chapter 209: The Final Battle (1)

    Speed is important in war.

    The Ravagers, as expected, sprinted into action.

    Since they had decided they were going to fight, they would not dy.

    After resting for only a day, the army set out the next morning.

    The Ravagers¡¯ military formation was quite representative of their personality. 120,000 of the Inferno Tribe¡¯s soldiers were more towards the center, and they were the main force of the Inferno Tribe. The remaining 80,000 consisted of soldiers from a few smaller tribes that had sided with the Inferno Tribe. These groups of soldiers were scattered and unevenly sized, making it seem like a dog had ripped out a few uneven chunks from the ¡°wings¡± of the army.

    Thisrge formation advanced steadily, with Anubi¡¯srge imperial carriage at the very front. Anubi sat openly on top of this throne, holding the Origin Bone Scepter in his right hand and the Vitality Totem in his left.

    Of course, this was not the real Anubi.

    He was Le Feng.

    After a long period of discussion, they eventually decided to stick with Su Chen¡¯s n.

    That old proverb was still true: all disastrous ns seemed like good ones before disaster struck.

    The same went for Su Chen¡¯s n. Actually, it didn¡¯t seem that bad.

    Regardless of whether the Scarlet Heart fell for his n or not, it wouldn¡¯t affect the Ravagers very much.

    The opposing Beasts didn¡¯t stay in the city either. The Three Mountain Castle wasn¡¯t an important, strategic fort anyways, and its city walls were quite low towards the rear. They could be easily toppled using physical strength alone, so it was basically the same as having no defenses at all. After all, the builders of this castle had considered before the problem of losing and taking back the fort before. There was no way that they would build high walls facing their own side.

    The Beasts¡¯ military formation was obviously much simpler. Hordes of Demonic Beasts gathered in a misshapen way, ring icily at the Ravagers. Theycked creativity, so they didn¡¯t know anything about military formation. However, they did have powerful bodies, vigorous life force, sharp fangs and ws, and an innate affinity for perceiving and using Origin Energy.

    They were the rulers of this continent, controlling it for tens of thousands of years. Even though other races hade to power in recent years, it was still irrefutable that the Beasts dominated this continent.

    They had been following this emperor of theirs for some time now, attacking cities and obtaining bountiful, endless supplies of food. In addition, their bloodthirsty nature had been awakened, making them even greedier for ughter.

    As a Demonic Emperor, the Scarlet Heart should have been responsible for keeping this kind of unrestricted assault in check. This time, however, the Scarlet Heart had chosen instead to unleash the primal nature of these beasts.

    At this moment, both parties seemed to be at a stalemate as they faced off against each other, howling and jeering loudly.

    The air seemed toe to a standstill, and the tension was palpable.

    ¡°Wu!¡±

    The call of a bugle finally could be heard echoing through the sky.

    ¡°Attack!¡±

    ¡°Attack!¡±

    ¡°Attack!¡±

    As the officials gave themand, the Ravager army began to advance.

    Boom, boom, boom, boom!

    Their footsteps caused the ground to rumble violently as countless soldiers raised their long spears, their battle axes, and / or their shields, forming an unclimbable wall that pressed forwards with boundless momentum.

    The Beasts maintained their position.

    However, the Ravagers were not a race used to just walking, so their movements quickly began to change.

    As the distance grew closer and closer, the bugle signal suddenly changed from long, drawn-out calls to short, repetitive bursts.

    ¡°Wuwuwuwu!¡±

    ¡°Charge!¡±

    ¡°Charge!¡±

    ¡°Charge!¡±

    Yells and howls once again sounded out.

    These howls were like a match tossed into a pot full of hot oil. In an instant, mes erupted from the Ravagers¡¯ hearts.

    The Ravager army, which had been advancing slowly but steadily up until this point, suddenly began to unleash all of their energy as they sprinted forwards.

    In that instant, their blood began to boil as the desire to do battle and the mes of rage surged in their hearts, which they converted into raw energy and ebullient momentum.

    They howled as they charged at the Three Mountain Castle.

    At the same time, a crisp, clear shriek could be hearding from the bloody pce.

    As this shriek resounded through the air, the Beasts simultaneously tilted their heads back and howled at the sky, then charged forwards, their energy sharply rising.

    The two violent waves were on a collision course, growing closer and closer until they finally mmed into each other.

    Boom!

    Fresh blood began to flow like a river almost instantaneously.

    The instant the two armies collided, nearly a hundred lives were lost.

    The powerful vitality of both sides became a joke at this point. No matter how strong you were, when facing tens of thousands of opponents unleashing a sea of Origin Energy at you, you were still weak.

    Boom, boom, boom, boom!

    Explosions rang out amongst the two armies.

    The experts on both sides were shing, unleashing their full power on their opponents.

    There was no holding back, no hiding of trump cards. They did their utmost to ughter their opponent, because no one knew if they would die an instantter. Unleashing one¡¯s strength to the greatest possible extent before one died was the best thing to do.

    Origin Energy wreaked havoc amongst the two front lines.

    The violent waves of energy seemed to boil with killing intent as they indiscriminately washed over the front lines.

    Utilization of the power contained in their surroundings became heavily restricted because of this.

    Origin Energy was not like air. Even though it was everywhere, there was a limit to how much was present. Whenrge quantities of usable Origin Energy was being consumed by lifeforms that could use it, the result was a deficiency in Origin Energy. Even Origin Skills being used would be adversely affected as a result.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, the most effectivebat tactic was for every Origin Qi Schr soldier to put their own strength on the line.

    This was also why experts would die more easily under these conditions. It wasn¡¯t just because of therge numbers of opponents, or the fact that their opponents could use group tactics to fight, but because the surrounding environment was dramatically affected and changed.

    p!

    A shockwave of energy rolled past, and a striking, magnificent de streak soared through the sky. However, it only traveled seventy or eighty feet before being wrapped up and dissipated in the raging torrents of Origin Energy nearby.

    Under normal circumstances, this Origin Skill would have been able to do incredible damage across a distance more than a thousand feet, but given how chaotic the flow of Origin Energy was on the battlefield, it was less than a tenth as effective.

    This kind of thing was happening all over.

    asionally, some of the luckier individuals would find that their attack was stronger than usual.

    BOOM!!!

    A violent explosion of energy burst forth, the massive shockwave of energy sweeping at least a hundred feet in diameter. All of the lifeforms nearby were wrapped up by it, and a few of the weaker individuals died on the spot.

    The individual that had unleashed such a frightening attack, however, was only a Temple Warrior of the lowest strength. He had merely unleashed a fireball at the center of the Origin Energy vortex, but to his surprise, he had managed to hit the convergence point of the energy. Due to the violent collisions of Origin Energy urring around it, this convergence point typically onlysted for no more than a tenth of a second, so the chance of actually hitting it was quite low.

    But as long as there was a chance, there was a possibility it would actually happen, and this time it had resulted in an incredible explosion of energy. However, the lucky individual was unable to escape from the st radius, and he was immediately sted into shreds.

    Su Chen was standing at the back of the battlefield, observing the situation and absorbing everything that was happening. Even though he had fought with the Heavenly Might Battalion before a few times, they had relied on explosive techniques due to their advantage in strength against weaker, outnumbered opponents. As such, it was very rare for him to see such turbulent, violent flows of Origin Energy.

    If the chaotic flow of energy right now was ssified as a ten, then the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s assault of Aurora City had involved a chaotic flow of energy merely at a ssification of one.

    The chaotic flows of Origin Energy created by this kind of arge-scale, high-level conflict were so powerful that even Demonic Emperors would be affected, making it hard for them to fully disy their true strength.

    But if you could harness the principles behind the chaotic flows of energy, you might be able to use this to your advantage? Su Chen suddenly began to think to himself.

    The chaotic flows of energy were a result of the attacks of the nearby Origin Qi Schrs, so they were changing and shifting every second. In other words, there was no real rhythm or pattern. Even if there was a pattern, it would disappear in but a moment, making it hard to act on.

    However, Su Chen was not worried. He had the consciousness crystal, so his ability to perform calctions was frighteningly fast. He also had the Microscopic Eye, and he was incredibly confident in his ability to observe these flows of Origin Energy. With these two as the foundation, even if he had a hard time grasping every opportunity or managing every detail, it was still possible for him to control therge-scale situation.

    When he realized this, Su Chen found it difficult to remain motionless.

    As soon as this thought arose, Su Chen turned around and said, ¡°tch, tell the soldiers to get ready!¡±

    tch asked in shock, ¡°Are we going to move out now?¡±

    Because of his love for his royal subject, Anubi had ced Su Chen and his troops near the left wing, making it so that he wouldn¡¯t need to participate in the battle at the beginning.

    However, this sudden burst of inspiration was going to cause Su Chen to personally take to the battlefield in order to test out his theory. Perhaps this was every mad scientist¡¯s personality - as soon as a genius idea appeared, he or she would immediately hurry to experiment with it.

    Thankfully, Su Chen was nning on taking to the battlefield in the first ce. He was just a bit ahead of schedule, but that wouldn¡¯t be a big problem. And if his experiment seeded, his n would proceed even more smoothly.

    Under Su Chen¡¯smand, the left wing cavalry began to advance.

    They began to nk around the main force, taking the initiative to get closer to the battlefield.

    Anubi very quickly discovered this interesting development.

    At this moment, Anubi was obviously not sat on top of the throne at the very front.

    He was standing atop some elevated terrain to the rear, observing the battle from on high. From time to time, he would issue orders, many of which were either ignored or changed by Gucha.

    However, this didn¡¯t stop Anubi from enjoying his position as the ¡°Genius Commander¡±.

    When he saw Su Chen¡¯s troops jump into action, even Anubi was momentarily taken aback before he began to chuckle, ¡°See? Lontu took his troops into battle on his own. He is going to unleash a fatal attack from the side. He is quite a courageous kid, isn¡¯t he? Is there anyone else who thinks that this guy can only curry favor with me but has no actual talent to back it up?¡±

    ¡°He attacked too early, Your Majesty,¡± Gucha replied.

    ¡°Oh, so what? The Beasts are going to lose anyways, aren¡¯t they? In any case, we are Ravagers. Ravagers rely not on patience but on bravery and willpower. He¡¯s a real Ravager, is he not? Hahahaha!¡± Anubi guffawed.

    ¡°He¡¯s a real Ravager all right,¡± Gucha replied.

    Even Gucha didn¡¯t think there was anything wrong with Su Chen attacking a bit too early. There was not too much variation possible in the oue of this battle. The only question was how much of a price would be paid.

    The Scarlet Heart didn¡¯t believe that he could win. The only thing he was interested in was whether or not he would be able to take back his own treasures.

    When a person¡¯s object of desire was firmly controlled by the other party, even the most powerful existence could only obediently allow themselves to be led around by the nose.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 210: The Final Battle 2

    Chapter 210: The Final Battle (2)

    ¡°Charge!¡±

    Following Su Chen¡¯s yell, the five thousand Iguana Cavalry charged at the Beasts. Su Chen himself was leading at the very front.

    The Ravagers fought the Beasts with the simplest tactics, but simple didn¡¯t necessarily mean easy. Actually, this simplicity made the battle much crueler and more direct.

    Their targets grew closer and closer. As they slowly advanced, Su Chen suddenly gestured, and a wave of mes surged forth.

    These mes were actually a simplification of his Erupting Firehawk technique. Ravagers fought with simple tactics, including the way they used Origin Energy. As a result, Su Chen had quietly altered the Firehawk to remove the hawk¡¯s body while leaving the hawk wings in ce, eventually forming a ming cone.

    The ming cones were just as powerful as the Firehawks, but they weren¡¯t as agile and couldn¡¯t attack from afar or chase after their targets. However, thosetter two effects weren¡¯t as important in such arge battlefield.

    The mes rolled forwards unrelentingly, and a few Demonic Beasts who charged forwards were immediately set on fire. They began to howl with rage.

    After absorbing fire-type Origin Energy and ascending to the Light Shaking Realm, Su Chen¡¯s use of that type of Origin Energy had reached quite a frightening level. However, when he unleashed his power at this moment, he was only able to inflict light wounds on them. It wasn¡¯t that these Demonic Beasts were too powerful; the chaotic Origin Energy flow had greatly weakened his attacks.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t think anything of it. The goal of this fight wasn¡¯t to kill the opponents anyways, but to carry out a n and test out his new inspiration.

    The howl drew even more Demonic Beasts, and thousands of beasts turned around to charge at Su Chen.

    Su Chen slowed down appropriately, andrge numbers of Ravagers appeared at his side, fearlessly charging forward to greet the Beasts.

    The Ravagers¡¯ innately brave temperament and their hatred at having their homnd invaded made it so that they had no fear of these vicious Demonic Beasts. All they felt was unending anger and enmity, in turn causing their blood to boil.

    Of course, Su Chen was not stirred up into a frenzy. Even if he had personally made a move, his heart was calm, and his blood was ice cold.

    Maintaining your cool in battle was not an easy thing to do. Even if he didn¡¯t belong to their race, just being in the middle of a fierce battle would make it incredibly easy to be affected and carried along by the atmosphere.

    However, Su Chen could. He activated the consciousness crystal, turning everything around him into numbers that he began to process rapidly in his brain.

    A hundred feet to his left, three Ravagers were facing off against a single Demonic Beast, fighting as hard as they could; to his right, five Ravagers were fighting two Demonic Beasts, but they were unaware that an Iron-Crowned Eagle was about to attack them from the sky; in front of him, a ck-Backed Rhinoceros was about to use a charging Origin Skill in three, two, one......

    Boom!

    Ten or so Ravagers were sent flying by the violent collision.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t satisfied. He wasn¡¯t after predicting his opponents¡¯ attacks but instead to predict the flow of energy. The things he noticed before were just details of lesser importance.

    The Microscopic Eye could see down to the smallest detail, able to perceive the intrinsic essence of most objects. As he continued to use it throughout the years, its perceptiv ability had greatly increased. Now, when he activated it to its fullest extent, Su Chen¡¯s surroundings turned into quite a spectacr sight.

    The lifeforms around him morphed into silhouettes, and the flow of Origin Energy became visible as streaks of light. Different colors of light represented different kinds of energy, and the density of the color was indicative of the power contained within that energy. These colored streaks of light constantly circted and moved about, representing the flow of energy due to the use of Origin Skills.

    Su Chen¡¯s world had be a dazzlingly multicolored one.

    If anyone was suddenly thrust into this kind of environment, they would definitely have a hard time getting used to it. However, Su Chen had used it constantly as it steadily advanced. Early on, he was unable to see energy through ayer of clothing, but now the energy was multicolored. This path had been long and fraught with difficulty.

    Now, the seed had begun to sprout and grow, and had even borne fruit a number of times. It was no surprise, then, that Su Chen waspletely used to it.

    He gently tugged at the iguana beneath him, and the iguana took a step to the side in response. A sharp, crescent-shaped streak of light shot past him.

    Before Su Chen dodged, this crescent-shaped streak of light hadn¡¯t even been released yet.

    However, even amongst the chaotic, brilliant flowing energy, he had managed to spot a gathering of light that seemed to be preparing to burst in his direction.

    As such, he took an evasive step to the side before the Origin Skill was evenunched.

    Even so, this was still not what he was after.

    He wanted more!

    Countless streaks of light blended together indiscriminately, transforming and colliding with one another, blending together and taking on new trajectories.

    Colors constantly appeared and disappeared, sometimes mixing together, sometimes colliding, creating all kinds of explosions of energy in the air.

    All Origin Skills were the release of energy in some way, shape, or form. However, the colors of the energy were mixed and blended together.

    This was the greatest understanding that Su Chen had managed to reach of the microscopic level.

    If he wanted to control them, he would need to understand the principles behind their usage and activation.

    For instance, this one.

    He stared intently at one of the streaks of light.

    This streak of light was a rtively simple mix of orange and red.

    Red represented fire-type Origin Energy, while orange represented vitality-type Origin Energy.

    Their real-world manifestation came about from the battle between a Totemic Warrior and a ming Butterfly. The shining totemic inscriptions glowed with a bright orange color, which rose to meet the raging mes unleashed by the ming Butterfly. The Totemic Warrior and the ming Butterfly were both lower-tier soldiers for their respective armies, useful primarily as cannon fodder, so theirbat styles were also quite simple. For this reason, the color of their energy was simple and easy to separate.

    The rapid energy appeared to disperse extremely quickly in this region. Any energy that entered this area would be affected.

    Affected, not weakened.

    Su Chen very quickly discovered that the trajectory of the Origin Energy was the most important factor in determining who was stronger. Origin Energy that went with the flow ended up being more powerful than Origin Energy that went against it.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. The truth of the matter is so simple that it¡¯s frightening,¡± Su Chen said with a slight chuckle.

    The power of an Origin Skill would be weakened because the turbulent Origin Energy flows around it caused its impact to rapidly dissipate. But no matter how turbulent the flow of Origin Energy was, there were always moments where the Origin Energy generally flowed in a uniform direction. This was when Origin Skills aligned with this flow would experience a multiplicative increase in strength, while Origin Skills going against the flow would be greatly weakened.

    Capturing the trajectory of Origin Energy was obviously not an easy matter, but if you weren¡¯t greedy, capturing a few was still possible.

    Su Chen blinked, causing his vision to return to the real world. However, a unique scene appeared in his sight at this moment. At the center of his visual field, a faint light could be seen dancing back and forth.

    These selectively filtered streaks of light appearing in Su Chen¡¯s vision was where Origin Energy was the most concentrated. Each of them represented an Origin Skill that was in the process of being formed.

    An instantter, a wave of blue mes surged in Su Chen¡¯s direction. At the same time, Su Chen punched out with his fist, which began to glow with totemic light. Of course, these were not real totemic inscriptions, but rather the result of an Origin Conducting Tool Su Chen had created. This Origin Conducting Tool was an extremely thin, transparentyer he had applied over his skin and would activate once ced on someone¡¯s body. In other words, it was a more delicate version of the Shadow me Glove.

    Back then, Su Chen had only created a single Origin Conducting Tool. As the years went by, he hadn¡¯t created any Origin Conducting Tools that were more powerful. However, he had refined his creation process a great deal for the sake of substituting the Ravagers¡¯ totemic inscriptions. Even though this thing was not very powerful, it was quite a passable imitation of the Ravagers¡¯ ability.

    As the fist mmed through the air, the blue mes seemed to suddenly stop in ce before rapidly going out.

    Energy was invisible, difficult to apprehend, and impossible to analyze. However, in Su Chen¡¯s eyes, it took on a tangible shape, and he was able to calcte their trajectories. With both shape and trajectory, he could easily get a handle on the flow of Origin Energy, allowing him to fully utilize his strength as he advanced.

    Of course, the prerequisite to this was that the opponent wasn¡¯t too powerful. In other words, this ability was really only useful when bullying weaker individuals.

    Even so, this ability was already incredibly shocking.

    But this was not what Su Chen was after.

    A high-tier Demonic Beast howled as it charged at him, opening its maw to unleash a gust of powerful wind. However, this wind was not aimed at Su Chen specifically but at him and all the Ravagers around him.

    At the exact same moment it opened its mouth, Su Chen attacked again. The same overbearing punch appeared, but hidden behind the violent momentum of the punch was an understanding and control of Origin Energy. An instantter, the frightening wind suddenly turned sharply and blew over a few low-tier Demonic Beasts instead, sending them flying.

    The high-tier Demonic Beast was also taken aback when it saw that its attack had been redirected. However, it was totally unaware that Su Chen had actually taken control of his attack.

    ¡°Still not enough!¡± Su Chen muttered.

    What he wanted was to be able to maintain his own strength in the midst of this chaotic field and to control others¡¯ strength. He wanted more, so he was going to try more things.

    Even more attacks surged his way from every direction, entering this chaotic, turbulent region.

    Su Chen, however, acted as if he was merely pacing around his own home¡¯s flower garden. He walked amongst the storm of energy, but most shockingly he was not injured at all.

    He seemed to pass right through the gaps in their attacks, narrowly avoiding danger every time. asionally, there would be an attack he couldn¡¯t dodge, but then he would just make a move, causing these attacks to change in different ways.

    At the beginning, Su Chen had been walking incredibly slowly, but as he grew more and morefortable with analyzing the flow of energy, he began to walk faster, all the way until he was directly in the midst of those Beasts.

    The countless Beasts howled and unleashed attacks in his direction.

    ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, then let¡¯s try out my new understanding,¡± Su Chen said faintly.

    He withdrew his right hand and pushed it in front of him. At the same time that his palm strike flew forth, a st of thunder and lightning exploded forth in all directions. Because of the countless Origin Skills being unleashed, the chaotic Origin Energy actually formed a vortex, drastically decreasing the power of any Origin Skill that entered the vortex¡¯s area of influence.

    However, Su Chen¡¯s attack wasn¡¯t weakened at all. Not only so, but it seemed to be expanding, with Su Chen as the center, rapidly forming a massive storm of lightning that began to spread in all directions.

    Boom!!!

    The powerful lightning abruptly spread out to a fifty foot radius, with Su Chen at the center. Only Su Chen himself was in a safe location. Even after such a frightening explosion of power, the white tendrils of lightning continued to dance through the air like silver snakes. It took a long time for them to finally dissipate.

    No one knew that this furious bout of lightning was just a careless attack from Su Chen. If he had used his full strength, the might of this attack would have been multiplied many times over.

    A slight smile appeared at the corner of his lips as he said to himself, ¡°That¡¯s more like it. That¡¯s what I was looking for.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 211: The Final Battle 3

    Chapter 211: The Final Battle (3)

    Su Chen constantly wandered the battlefield, feeling out his new discovery and developing a battle style that only he could really use.

    Very quickly, however, this extravagant performance of calctions depleted his consciousness energy, making him feel like it was impossible for him to continue.

    ¡°So there is some expenditure involved?¡± Su Chen rubbed his temples. Even with his current level of consciousness energy, he was still unable to maintain it for too long without feeling exhaustion. Obviously, performing so many calctions was extremely taxing.

    ¡°Making some calctions about the environment actually uses up so much consciousness energy. How much consciousness energy is needed to support Menus¡¯s Consciousness Network or the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s Dreamrealm? Right, they didn¡¯t rely on themselves alone but also on the assistance of their fellow species members. But the amount of consciousness energy needed tobine an entire race¡¯s consciousness energy into forming a massive consciousness realm must be exceptionally shocking, I¡¯d imagine,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    The higher he went, the more he was in awe of those standing at the very top, and the more he felt his own achievements paled inparison.

    Su Chen¡¯s first reaction to obtaining this new battle technique was to notice his own weakness. This was a direct indication of his progress.

    That was fine; only by having a goal set before him would he be able to continue to work hard and advance.

    He was off to the side, musing on his gains and losses, but the situation on the battlefield had drastically changed.

    The bloody, floating pce behind the front line of Beasts.

    The massive floating pce revolved in the air as it advanced. A formless pressure enveloped the battlefield, and as the pressure continued to spread, the heroic, powerful Ravagers actually began to tremble, no longer daring to move. The Demonic Beasts took advantage of the opportunity to devour them.

    Even so, this was just a side effect. The floating pce itself was the most frightening object. The bloody pce constantly emitted bloody streaks of Qi that revolved around it like a bloody wind. As soon as the wind came in contact with a Ravager, it would infiltrate their body and then tear them open from the inside.

    A few of the stronger Ravager warriors weren¡¯t affected by the pressure, but this bloody wind ended up killing them.

    However, it wasn¡¯t like the Ravagers were totally helpless against the Beasts¡¯ castle.

    The thirty-six Thunder Rhinoceroses pulling along therge imperial carriage advanced. Le Feng, who was standing at the very front of the carriage, raised the Vitality Totem high. Intense waves of orange light constantly emanated from the totem. Everywhere the light went, the Ravagers present seemed to suddenly have received some form of divine protection, enabling them to fight with incredible ferocity. Most frighteningly, they were able to recover no matter how badly they had been wounded.

    The Vitality Totem conferred upon them powerful lifeforces, more than vigorous enough to endure most wounds.

    Surrounding the imperial carriage wererge, sturdy baffles, behind which poked out shiny, metallic spearheads. These God-ying Spears had been constructed out of Stargold Siderite and were covered in unique Ravager inscriptions, giving them quite a mysterious, deathly aura. Finally, concealed behind these baffles were Demon-ying Crossbows. The killing power of this formation was easily imaginable.

    Even though the Ravagers had the lowest intelligence out of the five Intelligent Races, they still had more creativity than the Beasts.

    As the baffles were pulled open, the God-ying Spears jabbed forward, prating the oing Demonic Beasts. Those powerful Demonic Beasts were actually torn open by the sharp God-ying Spears as bursts of energy exploded deep within their bodies.

    Wherever the God-ying Spears went, they wreaked explosive havoc in wave after wave. They reaped lives like a scythe cut down grass. Even the Vitality Totem would have had no way of saving them.

    Very soon, not many guards could be seen around either the floating castle or the imperial carriage. They both continued to advance unrelentingly, the blood-colored wind and the God-ying Spears simultaneously attacking the opponent in wave after wave, crashing into the defensive barriers and causing light to ssh everywhere.

    As the two began to close in on each other, silhouettes began to appear on top of the floating pce.

    Those silhouettes were all of Demonic Lords of all shapes and sizes, each of them ferocious-looking and exuding a powerful, tangible pressure. The final three Demonic Beasts to appear were at the King level, each of them able topete against the Lightning Serpent that had attacked Swallow River City back in the day.

    The blood-colored floating pce probably contained another realm inside, since these three Demonic Kings were all massive, their figuresrge enough to blot out the sun. They cast a shadow over the ground.

    At the same time, arge number of Ravager officials charged out of the imperial carriage. They were all the Inferno Tribe¡¯s fiercest warriors. There were also dozens of Inferno Tribe Ancestors nearby, each of them wielding bone staffs and chanting strange chants.

    These chants caused the figures of the Ravager officials to bulge and expand, and the totemic inscriptions on their bodies lit up brilliantly. Power emanated from their bodies as if it had physical substance, giving them an incredibly wild, unrestrained aura.

    They were not as big as the Demonic Beasts, but if the Demonic Beasts were boulders, then they were iron.

    Underneath theyer of iron skin hid a level of strength that was difficult to fathom. One of the Ravagers immediately locked horns with a charging Demonic Lord as soon as he appeared. As he stopped the charging Demonic Lord in ce, his arms continued to expand until his arms were as thick as a normal human¡¯s legs. Power effused out of his arms seemingly without end.

    ¡°Goodness...... A bunch of freaks!¡± Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but sigh in disbelief when he saw this scene from afar.

    The highly-tempered waves of energy appeared in front of him again and again, causing Su Chen¡¯s blood to begin to heat up.

    However, he very quickly suppressed this sentiment.

    At this moment, the show had only just begun.

    He turned to nce at his surroundings. A Sickletooth Beast was charging in his direction.

    ¡°You¡¯ll do,¡± Su Chen muttered as he leapt at the Sickletooth Beast. The Origin Conduction Tool on his body lit up as he activated it to the greatest extent.

    As they collided, the defensive barriers surrounding Su Chen suddenly dimmed. An instantter, the sickle-shaped tooth mmed into him, generating arge flurry of sparks.

    The barrier shattered, and the sickle-shaped tooth sliced across Su Chen¡¯s body, causing blood to ssh through the air. The violent momentum sent him flying, and his blood sttered all over the ground.

    ¡°Hurry, save the general!¡± tch howled with urgency.

    Therge number of Ravager guards assigned to him charged over, determined to protect him with their lives. They charged at the Demonic Beasts in order to protect Su Chen and make sure that he wouldn¡¯t be further injured, even using their own bodies to defend him. The human soldiers all retreated immediately from the frontline, surrounding Su Chen.

    Su Chen nced at the wound on his body. The sickle-shaped tooth had cut across his entire body. If it wasn¡¯t for his powerful physique, he might have already been cut in half.

    ¡°I have no way to continue fighting right now, tch. You¡¯re in charge of everything here,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°I¡¯m going to go see His Majesty.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± tch yelled.

    ¡°All of the human soldiers,e with me to see His Majesty,¡± Su Chen yelled as he retreated along with the human soldiers. Because it was hismand, none of the other Ravagers took any exception to this.

    Su Chen hurriedly retreated to Anubi¡¯s side and said, iparably ashamed, ¡°Greetings, Your Majesty. Lontu was useless and was injured in battle. I have no way of continuing to fight for now.¡±

    Anubi said, ¡°I saw your brave battle, Lontu. You did very well. You can step down and let the Ancestors treat your wounds.¡±

    An Ancestor was already nearby and began to treat Su Chen¡¯s wounds. Because Su Chen¡¯s physique was very simr to that of a genuine Ravager, he began to quickly recover with the help of the high-level Ancestor.

    As he endured the Ancestor¡¯s treatment, Su Chen pulled out an item and began to y around with it.

    It was a stone in the shape of a white goose craning its neck towards the sky. Its appearance was incredibly lifelike.

    ¡°What is that?¡± the Ancestor asked.

    ¡°A harvest of my adventure. It¡¯s pretty great, huh?¡± Su Chen said with a smile.

    The Ancestor shook his head, indicating that he had no interest.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Goncourt suddenly made a noise of astonishment.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Gucha asked.

    ¡°The Scarlet Heart¡¯s pce is on the move. It¡¯s leaving the imperial carriage,¡± Goncourt said, his gaze focused.

    Gucha saw it as well. His expression shifted slightly as he said, ¡°How strange. Why would it suddenly change directions now?¡±

    The troops located at the two wings hadn¡¯t defeated the Beasts yet and had no way ofpleting the encirclement. If the Scarlet Heart wanted to escape now, no one would be able to keep him here.

    An instantter, however, they realized that something was off.

    The floating pce was heading right for them.

    At the same time,rge numbers of Demonic Beasts began to fill in where the pce had been earlier, chasing after the imperial carriage and driving the distance between them wider.

    ¡°Not good! Our position¡¯s beenpromised!¡± Gucha yelled.

    To attract the Scarlet Heart and resist the terrifying pressure this Demonic Emperor could unleash, Gucha and Goncourt had sent most of their elites to guard the imitation goods so that they could resist the enemy¡¯s attacks. As for where Anubi was, only Gucha and Goncourt had remained, but when faced with so many Demonic Beasts, the hordes of Demonic Kings and Demonic Lords were more than enough to upy them.

    ¡°Leave, now!¡± Gucha yelled loudly, and he and Goncourt began to escort Anubi away.

    However, as they left, the pce began to change directions. In addition, because of the gaps left behind due to their sudden movements, the pce¡¯s advance was even faster than before.

    ¡°They know we¡¯re here!¡± Gucha¡¯s expression was steely. ¡°How could this be? How do they know?¡±

    The blood-colored floating castle was like a charging bull in their eyes, rampaging in their direction relentlessly. Because most of the Ravagers were unaware that the ¡°emperor¡± in the imperial carriage was a fake, not many soldiers were sent to chase after the castle, allowing it to advance rapidly. And even though the imperial carriage had begun to change directions, its already slow speed was further hindered by the Demonic Beasts chasing after it.

    This resulted in two uneven battles.

    From the point of view of winning this conflict, this split was more advantageous for the Ravagers. After all, the Beasts were the ones who had charged into the Ravager encirclement. However, to the Ravagers, this battle would be a tragic loss even if they were to wipe out all the Beasts if anything happened to their emperor.

    ¡°We must retreat immediately, Your Majesty,¡± Su Chen said at the right time.

    ¡°No! We cannot retreat!¡± Gucha said loudly. ¡°If we retreat now, we will all have lost. The morale of our troops will copse.¡±

    ¡°The soldiers don¡¯t know that,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Are you trying to put His Majesty¡¯s life in danger?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all you......¡± Gucha stared at Su Chen angrily. ¡°It¡¯s your fault that we ended up in this kind of a situation.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no such thing as ¡®ending up in this kind of situation¡¯, General. The battle will be won; we just need to put it on hold for now. As long as the imperial carriage does not fall, the soldiers will believe that their emperor has been with them the entire time.¡±

    ¡°Then what about the Origin Bone Scepter and the Vitality Totem?¡± Goncourt asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go and retrieve it. I¡¯ll pit myself against the Beasts for His Majesty, for the Divine Shrine, and take back the important treasures to our kingdom. I can guarantee that there will not be any losses,¡± Su Chen said fearlessly as he retrieved the white goose stone.

    The blood-colored floating pce was growing more and more violent.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 212: Shocking Change

    The moment he put away the Heavenly Truth Songstone, the blood-colored floating pce¡¯s attacks abruptly grew stronger. Dust flew everywhere as the range of its attacks spread yet another hundred feet, storming right at Anubi.

    At this moment, the Scarlet Heart no longer needed the Heavenly Truth Songstone¡¯s aid to determine where he should attack - a group of soldiers was rapidly retreating, and the person leading them was Anubi himself.

    The Scarlet Heart naturally understood what was happening given its intelligence. Even though he didn¡¯t understand why his opponents would suddenly reveal themselves at this critical juncture, he was clear that this was the real Anubi. Most importantly, Anubi carried the aura of one of his treasures.

    It wasn¡¯t the Heavenly Truth Songstone, but a treasure that he had kept in his outer storehouse - the Charming Fragrance Mud. Applying a small amount would greatly stimte a person¡¯s consciousness energy.

    Su Chen had rubbed a bit onto Anubi. With the Heavenly Truth Songstone as the initial attractor and the Charming Fragrance Mud as the sustained homing beacon, as well as Anubi¡¯s identity, that was more than enough for the Scarlet Heart totch onto Anubi and refuse to let him go.

    Having taken care of this matter, Su Chen began to head in the direction of the imperial carriage.

    It was indeed time for him to take the treasures and go.

    The battle was still incredibly fierce, but the situation had changed somewhat.

    The battle had originally been enveloped by a vortex, with the blood-colored floating pce revolving at the center. After the pce had charged towards the rear, the vortex had thinned out significantly, disrupting the revolving energy. As such, the situation on the battlefield had changed significantly. Previously, there had been some semnce of order, but now the battlefield was totally thrown into disarray.

    Battles always devolved from being orderly into chaos, and the sudden change in direction by the pce had only elerated this process.

    At this moment, a distinct front line was nowhere to be seen. Ravagers and Demonic Beasts were scattered all across the battlefield, fiercely fighting for their own lives. The Demonic Beasts beat their wings and stomped their hooves, while the Ravagers howled madly. The atmosphere was incredibly harsh and fiery.

    Blood spilled everywhere, and life was extinguished callously.

    The Beasts and Ravagers were tangled in a war of attrition when it came to vitality, and the scales slowly but surely began to tip in favor of the Ravagers.

    This was not actually surprising. The Ravagers were stronger than the Beasts in the first ce, and the blood-colored floating pce¡¯s unrelenting advance had weakened its own side.

    Even so, wiping out the Beasts in a short period of time was not going to be easy.

    Killing was taking ce all over the battlefield. There was no longer any formation, and battle tactics had been thrown out the window. Strength and will were everything.

    Moving about amidst this kind of environment was not easy to do.

    However, after gaining some understanding of how the sea of Origin Energy moved, Su Chen¡¯s ability to move around in this chaos had greatly increased. At this moment, he was like a fish in the sea as he nimbly darted around, his human subordinates following him closely. Everywhere, massive sharks were fighting, but as a small fish he was able to easily avoid the most dangerous areas and travel through the rtively safer areas instead. asionally, he would take a risk and run right past two stronger groups fighting it out with each other.

    The group moved at a rapid pace, piercing through the chaos. Very quickly, they arrived at a location filled with Demonic Beasts.

    ¡°This is where the Demonic Beasts have separated, and where they are the most concentrated. Once we charge past this group, we will have arrived at the carriage. Notify all the soldiers to grab their flying swords. We will charge soon!¡± Su Chen yelled loudly.

    At this point in time, there was no longer a need to hold back.

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± all of the soldiers following Su Chen yelled.

    Seventy or so flying swords were pulled out, transforming into streaks of light that shot forwards with astounding speed. Even Su Chen pulled out a Soul Armament, the Moon Shadow Flowing Frost Sword, and attacked with them. With his current consciousness energy, controlling two Soul Armaments at the same time was no problem.

    If his earlier fighting was just to cope with the situation and protect himself, he was now putting his full strength on disy.

    Everyone¡¯s strength had greatly increased after Su Chen passed along the Immacte Cultivation Technique and the flying swords. The effects were obvious as soon as they attacked.

    Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! As the streaks of sword light descended, the Demonic Beasts standing at the very front had their hearts pierced immediately.

    A few Ravagers actually survived because of this. However, when they turned around to find that the people who had saved them were actually human, they were dumbfounded.

    ¡°ROAR!¡± A massive Iron-Skinned War Rhinoceros charged forwards, Origin Energy virtually pouring off of its body. This War Rhinoceros was actually a Demonic Lord.

    ¡°Careful, it¡¯s a Demonic Lord!¡± one of the Ravager soldiers yelled.

    The group of human soldiers, however, charged right at the War Rhinoceros.

    The Ravager soldier sighed, believing that this group of human soldiers was in big trouble.

    Demonic Lords possessed awe-inspiring strength that these average human soldiers would never be able to defend against.

    An instantter, however, a jaw-dropping scene appeared before his very own eyes.

    The humans caused their seventy swords to suddenly meld together into a single massive flying sword.

    ¡°Descend!¡± one of the soldiers barked.

    The massive sword chopped down, right onto the War Rhinoceros¡¯s body. The War Rhinoceros¡¯s howl of pain was cut short as it was split in two from top to bottom.

    The Ravager soldiers were immediately dumbstruck.

    That was a Demonic Lord!

    A Demonic Lord was taken apart by a group of human soldiers that easily?

    The frightening, gigantic sword continued to fall until it mmed into the ground, sending huge chunks of rock flying and leaving behind a deep imprint in the ground.

    Any Demonic Beasts thaty in the path of this attack were immediately wiped out.

    Even though the massive sword disappeared after this one strike, turning back into countless swords that flew into everyones¡¯ hands, a path forward to the imperial carriage had been cleared.

    ¡°Charge!¡± someone yelled.

    The soldiers all simultaneously charged at the imperial carriage.

    One of the Ravagers said dumbly when he saw this scene, ¡°These are the humans? The human captives? Our cannon fodder?¡±

    ¡°Yes, they are cannon fodder,¡± another Ravager said.

    ¡°If they are cannon fodder, then what are we?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I just know that I¡¯m still alive, and that¡¯s good enough for me,¡± a Ravager cracked a smile and said.

    The blustering sword light shed through the enemies like they were vegetables, allowing them to rapidly and decisively cleave through this territory.

    The imperial carriage rolled towards them at the same time.

    In order to save the emperor, many of the Ravager generals who had been protecting the imperial carriage had begun to ughter their way through the hordes of beasts, so the imperial carriage itself was only manned by the substitute Le Feng and a few Ancestors and guards responsible for keeping an eye on him.

    More specifically, to keep an eye on the Origin Bone Scepter and the Vitality Totem.

    Su Chen very quickly arrived in front of the carriage.

    The few Ancestors standing guard there stopped him. ¡°Sir Lontu, please stop there.¡±

    ¡°His Majesty and the Head Ancestor have sent me here to take the Origin Bone Scepter and the Vitality Totem back to them. Here is themand medallion,¡± Su Chen said as he pulled out themand medallion, allowing them to inspect it.

    The Ancestors epted it and, after verifying that it was real, allowed him to pass.

    Su Chen stepped up to the carriage¡¯s high tform.

    When Le Feng saw him, he smiled and said, ¡°You¡¯re here.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m here,¡± Su Chen replied with a slight smile as well, taking the Origin Bone Scepter and Vitality Totem from Le Feng¡¯s hands.

    They had finally seeded!

    Su Chen¡¯s state of mind was okay as he took the Origin Bone Scepter. All he felt was a profound wave of energy roll over his body. He knew that this was the effect of the time energy of the Origin Bone. However, the moment his finger touched the Vitality Totem, Su Chen felt his entire body go numb as a strange energy began to emanate from the Vitality Totem. He felt his state of mind tremble as his body was filled with lifeforce.

    At the same time, the Vitality Totem began to glow hotly, shooting up a streak of light into the sky.

    ¡°Hm? This is?¡± Su Chen was stunned.

    This sudden and strange scene rendered everyone present speechless. The Ancestors stared at him in shock, and even Le Feng was dazed.

    ¡°This...... What is going on?¡± Le Feng asked,pletely dumbfounded.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Su Chen replied as he stared intently at the Vitality Totem in his hand.

    Nothing like this had happened when he had taken the Thunder Spirit Totem.

    Light flickered continuously across the surface of the totem, as abundant lifeforce began to surge into his body.

    Suddenly, Su Chen had the feeling that he could absorb the Vitality Totem.

    Su Chen decided to follow this feeling. He tried to open up himself, allowing the energy to fill his entire body. Then, he watched as the totem began to tremble uncontrobly in his hands.

    The trembles grew more and more violent, causing Su Chen to feel like he was about to lose his grip.

    Su Chen did his best to hold onto it. At this moment, his entire body was linked with the totem, which glowed even more hotly. It actually forced Le Feng to take a few steps backwards.

    Then, a shocking scene appeared before them all.

    More and more ash began to fall from the Vitality Totem.

    ¡°It¡¯s molting!¡± Le Feng began to yell.

    ¡°I know,¡± Su Chen replied.

    If he were to let go, he might be able to stop this scene from unfolding. However, Su Chen didn¡¯t want to do that.

    He felt like he was currently undergoing a miraculous experience, one that had never urred throughout all of known history.

    If he were to miss this opportunity, it might not evere again!

    As such, he could not relinquish his grip.

    He stared at the totem in his hands, which seemed to be dissolving into tiny grains of sand that fell off of the totemyer byyer.

    As it dissolved, a seemingly boundless energy was surging through Su Chen¡¯s body, causing him to feel ecstatic. At the same time, however, there was the pain of feeling like his body¡¯s capacity was being pushed to its limits.

    Eventually, Su Chen could endure it no longer and howled in pain.

    He could feel that his body was satiated, and that there was nowhere for this energy to go anymore. However, his heart was telling him that at this moment he absolutely could not afford to let go. Otherwise, all the progress that he had made would be lost.

    He could only grit his teeth and endure the pain, the veins on his forehead bulging like mad.

    ¡°Heavens! What are you doing?¡± the Ancestors began to yell.

    One of the Ancestors muttered to himself, then raised his hand and shot out a streak of arcane light.

    However, this streak of arcane light seemed to melt like snow under the hot sun as it came into contact with the column of light, quickly disappearing from existence.

    Su Chen, on the other hand, tilted his head back and howled with pain.

    He could sense that his body was at its limit. Every cell in his body was filled with energy and was bulging to the point of exploding.

    ¡°AHHHH!¡± Su Chen roared bitterly.

    Amidst the incredible pain, he had no way of maintaining his disguise. The Ravager disguise disappeared, and Su Chen returned to his original form.

    At the same time, the Vitality Totem waspletely turned into powder and dissipated with the wind. The final joule of energy disappeared in through his hand. An instantter, Su Chen felt his chest suddenly turn warm.

    He tore open his clothes and nced at his chest. Another mysterious inscription had appeared on his chest.

    The Vitality Totem.

    It had actually appeared on his physical body.

    As this totem appeared, the congested feeling within his body receded. What reced it was an incredible hunger.

    ¡°Human, he¡¯s a human!¡± the Ancestors and Ravagers began to shriek.

    ¡°So my secret has still been revealed? It¡¯s a bit earlier than I was expecting, but that¡¯s not a problem,¡± Su Chen said as he turned around, a savage expression on his face.

    ¡°Perfect. I¡¯m hungry anyways.¡±

    He attacked.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 213: Battle of Emperors 1

    Chapter 213: Battle of Emperors (1)

    At the same time that Su Chen left, Anubi began his retreat.

    This Inferno Tribe Crazed Monarch hadpletely forgotten about trying to create history. He just wanted to get out of this ce as quickly as possible and evade the pursuit of the Demonic Emperor.

    Gucha said, ¡°Your Majesty, please leave. I will handle protecting this ce.¡±

    The Emperor could leave, but as themander-in-chief of the army, Gucha could not leave.

    Anubi nced at him. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then I¡¯ll leave everything in your hands.¡±

    He turned around to leave, not reluctant in the slightest.

    Gucha sighed as he stared at Anubi¡¯s escaping figure.

    Perhaps his own death mighte as good news for this ipetent ruler.

    He rubbed his cor as he stared off into the distance.

    At this moment, the blood-colored floating pce was doing its best to break through the Ravager army. Under normal circumstances, by the time it reached this location, Anubi and Goncourt should have been able to get far away.

    However, the floating pce suddenly unleashed a strange, bloody fog which began to surge forwards like a wave. In but a moment, it had broken through most of the battlefield, looking like a long streamer. No matter how violently the Origin Energy fluctuations around it were or how fierce the attacks, this ¡°ribbon¡± of red fog refused to dissipate.

    An instantter, a figure flew out from the pce, following the path set by this ribbon of fog.

    The figure was that of a middle-aged schr. He wielded a staff with three gems, and he walked casually along the ribbon of fog. His movements seemed leisurely, but every step he took propelled him a great distance forwards. Actually, he wasn¡¯t really walking; the red ribbon was pulling him along, making it so that he appeared above Gucha in but the blink of an eye.

    A razor-sharp de of light sliced through the air.

    As a peak-tier Totemic Warrior who had undergone five baptisms, Gucha unleashed a full power strike that contained everything he understood about the path of the de. It seemed quite simple, but contained within the strike was a boundless killing intent. In that moment, it seemed as if the de was strong enough to split a mountain, and even the sky was going to torn open.

    Even Gucha himself felt that this de strike was the most beautiful de strike he had ever unleashed since birth, and that the Scarlet Heart would be forced to deal with it seriously.

    However, he was still wrong.

    The Scarlet Heart continued to calmly walk across the ribbon, reaching an equilibrium between traveling extremely quickly or extremely slowly. His entire figure suddenly seemed to turn illusory.

    As Gucha¡¯s de descended, he made no attempts to block it or dodge to the side. Instead, he continued to walk forwards.

    Gucha¡¯s de sliced right through the Scarlet Heart¡¯s figure, but he felt no trace of resistance.

    It was as if the Scarlet Heart was not actually part of this world, but in a different pocket of space-time.

    At the same time, the staff in the Scarlet Heart¡¯s hand began to glow.

    The ck stone was the one glowing.

    A streak of ck light mmed into Gucha, causing his body to decay and wither.

    Even Gucha¡¯s vibrant lifeforce and powerful Origin Energy had no way of stopping this decay. He could only watch as his body grew older and older and his vitality sharply declined.

    ¡°Oh......¡± this fierce warrior sighed weakly. ¡°ck Light of Death......¡±

    As he rallied the remaining energy and lifeforce in his body, the ck light began to fade slightly.

    ¡°Hm?¡± The walking Scarlet Heart stopped in ce when he saw this.

    When he stopped, it seemed as if time itself had stopped. The ribbon stopped moving, and even fresh blood seemed to congeal.

    A slight trace of praise shed across the Scarlet Heart¡¯s eyes as he stared at Gucha. ¡°A truly powerful Ravager warrior. Unfortunately, he was only at the King level.¡±

    He waved his hand. Another ck wave surged forth,pletely swallowing Gucha up.

    Having taken care of this, the Scarlet Heart continued to meander forward.

    As before, he seemed to be walking quite slowly, but the gap between him and Anubi only grew shorter.

    Eventually, he was only an arrow¡¯s flight away from Anubi.

    In a faint voice, he said, ¡°The Mighty Anubi Inferno, as long as you are willing to hand over what you have taken from me, I can forget about all of our enmity. I am even willing to hand over my tens of thousands of Beast subordinates. The blood and flesh of these Beasts should be more than sufficient for you to recover what you have lost.¡±

    Anubi shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    The Scarlet Heart frowned slightly. ¡°This is not the answer I want to hear.¡±

    ¡°This is the only answer you will get!¡± a brave, cruel Ravager Warrior yelled as he hurled his handaxe at the Scarlet Heart.

    Lightning hammered down from the sky onto the axe, filling it with earth-shattering power.

    This blustering energy, however, was so insignificant in the Scarlet Heart¡¯s eyes that he didn¡¯t even take any particr measures to deal with it.

    He gently pushed his hand out in front of him, stopping the handaxe from advancing any further. As the handaxe floated in the air, he continued to stare at Anubi as he asked, ¡°So is that your final answer?¡±

    The Scarlet Heart considered himself to be a noble amongst the Beasts, which was why he had chosen the form of a gentleman. Unless he was angered to an extreme degree, it was very rare for him to lose his self control.

    At this moment, his tone was very imposing, already demonstrating his dissatisfaction and impatience. He didn¡¯t have much time to waste, as there were already Ravagers behind him pushing through to try and catch up.

    Anubi was still retreating.

    In terms of strength this emperor was a peak-tier Totemic Warrior that had undergone six baptisms, but that didn¡¯t mean that he was a truly powerful expert. Hecked truebat experience and the bravery to put his life on the line, making it so that his actualbat prowess was possibly even lower than Gucha¡¯s.

    Anubi had no intentions of fighting to the death. Even members of the most powerful, resolute race could be soft after decades of a dissolute lifestyle.

    As such, he didn¡¯t even hesitate to try and run.

    ¡°You greatly disappoint me!¡± The Scarlet Heart had lost its final shred of impatience.

    He calmly raised the tricolored staff in the air. A blue light began to rain down in front of him.

    This blue light sped across the ground, not harming anything that it shone on. It just continued to advance and spread relentlessly.

    Just as it was about toe into contact with Anubi, an ancient, shriveled hand made a stopping motion.

    The blue screen of light stopped in ce.

    It was Goncourt.

    The old man stared at the Scarlet Heart. ¡°Your Majesty, we do not have what you want.¡±

    The Scarlet Heart continued to activate his staff, and the blue screen of light actually shattered into fragments that appeared to be stars in the sky. ¡°But I can sense their aura.¡±

    Goncourt¡¯s expression was incredibly focused. ¡°Deep Blue Domain...... Your Majesty, I think there is a very big misunderstanding here......¡±

    ¡°There is no misunderstanding. You are just dying for time,¡± the Scarlet Heart said in a low voice.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Anubi was currently running, or that the Ravager army was in hot pursuit, he could have found time to talk things over with his opponent.

    However, the situation was urgent. All attempts at negotiations became dy tactics, and the Scarlet Heart had no interest in wasting time. As such, he attacked without hesitation.

    The Deep Blue Domain began to spread, causing a wave of sluggishness to roll over everywhere the domain was. Even the wind seemed to bezy. This effect was simr to Shi Kaihuang¡¯s Sumeru Void, but the main difference was that one was a domain, while the other was an Origin Skill. Origin Skills had extremely powerful one-time-use value, making them difficult to sustain and simpler to nullify. Domains, however, were different. They were a unique property that came from the user themselves, giving them an intrinsic quality. They could be activated for long periods of time to great effect. Most importantly, they possessed a fundamental level of authority that made it so that they could not be so easily nullified.

    When the Scarlet Heart activated his Deep Blue Domain, anything within the domain would slow down. This slowdown wasn¡¯t merely applied to specific targets but even to any Origin Energy caught within the domain. In other words, as the mobility of Origin Energy decreased, the amount that could be extracted from the surroundings did as well, and Origin Skills would be much weaker. Some Origin Skills might form more slowly, some might be less powerful, and others might be totally impossible to use. These effects did not apply to the owner of the domain either. As soon as the Scarlet Heart activated this domain, no one would be able to fight back against him unless they were an expert of the same level.

    The Ravagerscked control over Origin Energy. They had no such domains, but they didn¡¯t need domains. As soon as the powerful Ravagers reached the peak of their strength, they could exceed the limits imposed by nature andplete their totemic cultivation. Their powerful lifeforce did not need to be supported by Origin Energy; their bodies were like a realm unto their own, a contained system that they had absolute control over. As such, they could easily use their physical bodies tobat the domain.

    Unfortunately, there were no such experts on the battlefield.

    The only two individuals that had reached the Perfection Realm were Sachar and Averigus. The former had died on the battlefield as his strength had declined due to old age, and thetter had been left behind by Anubi due to jealousy.

    Thankfully, Goncourt was not weak either.

    As the Head Ancestor of the Divine Shrine, this old man¡¯s physical strength may have declined, but he possessed unique control of Origin Energy. Most importantly, he was not fighting alone.

    With a low growl, Goncourt tossed out a skull.

    That skull was in the shape of a small beast¡¯s head. It had been doused in medicine, giving it a sinister and vast power. Two massive teeth jutted out from its jaw. The instant that it was pulled out, the Dark Blue Domain seemed to fade slightly.

    ¡°The Tattooed Rau? You poor bastard, so you were killed by the Ravagers, and you were even turned into an Origin Tool,¡± the Scarlet Heart muttered to himself.

    Goncourt had pulled out a Demonic Emperor¡¯s skull, which had belonged to an old friend of the Scarlet Heart¡¯s, the previous ruler of the western border.

    ¡°Perhaps the Ravagers will obtain another skull today,¡± Goncourt said calmly.

    Since they had alreadye to blows, there was no point in holding onto any hope of negotiating. Right and wrong could only be clearly exined with the backing of strength.

    The Scarlet Heart also stopped wasting his breath. He slowly raised the staff yet again, and a ck streak of light snaked towards Goncourt.

    The Scarlet Heart was a true expert when it came to controlling Origin Energy. He had a deep understanding of three different kinds of elemental power, and hisprehension of water had reached the point that he had developed a domain around it. The red and ck gemstones corresponded with fire and darkness. The former was violent, powerful, and capable of causing great devastation, while thetter possessed incredibly corrosive properties. The Scarlet Heart also controlled a fourth element: lightning. Unfortunately, hisprehension of lightning had just begun when Su Chen stole the Thunder Spirit Totem. A route of further ascension had been cut off just like that.

    These ck snakes he was unleashing were Death Withering Snakes.

    Countless Death Withering Snakes surged forth, turning into a wave of darkness that pressed onwards relentlessly. This was the Scarlet Heart¡¯s unrivalled technique.

    He immediately opened with a killing technique.

    He wanted to finish this battle as quickly as possible!

 Book 4: Near Blood - 214: Battle of Emperors 2

    Chapter 214: Battle of Emperors (2)

    The Scarlet Heart immediately opened with a killing blow. Goncourt sighed as he tossed the skull of the Tattooed Rau into the air. The skull expanded on its own as it flew through the air, opening its maw at the oing wave of death. The countless Death Withering Snakes entered the skull¡¯s mouth, which contained a separate isted void. At this moment, a chaotic mix of green and ck Origin Energy began to tangle with each other.

    The Scarlet Heart sighed, ¡°You oppose me both in life and in death. I suppose I should allow you to rest.¡±

    A red light shone from the tricolored staff, and a wave of destructive mes surged forth

    The Tattooed Rau controlled wood- and earth-type energy, allowing it to counter the Scarlet Heart¡¯s use of water and darkness. The Scarlet Heart had mastered the use of fire in order to defeat it, but before he was able to do so, he found that the Tattooed Rau had died at the hands of the Ravagers.

    As such, these mes were the kryptonite of the Tattooed Rau.

    The Scarlet Heart had unleashed his most powerful Azure Dragon mes. These mes did not have any fancy outward manifestations, yet they burned with incredible power. The mes burned so intensely that they melted the mountain rock nearby, and in but a moment arge sea of mes had enveloped their surroundings.

    The Tattooed Rau couldn¡¯t withstand this frightening onught of energy.

    However, Goncourt could.

    ¡°Yah!¡± Goncourt suddenly cried out with a strange inflection.

    ¡°Yah!¡± All of the Ancestors standing behind Goncourt chanted in unison.

    In that moment, an ancient chant rose to the sky. As it reverberated through the air, the surging mes actually began to dissipate.

    ¡°Hou, An......¡± More of the chant was uttered, turning into something with actual physical form in the air. This was an incredibly strange sight impossible to describe with words alone. Sound had actually taken on the physical form of a cage, trapping the mes within.

    ¡°Sound Prison,¡± the Scarlet Heart muttered to himself. ¡°But there¡¯s no point in using something like this against me.¡±

    His hand trembled slightly. The very space itself rumbled violently in response.

    This was the Dark Blue domain¡¯s influence.

    All of the Ancestors caught within this domain immediately felt a vast pressure bear down upon them, greatly hindering them from supporting the chant.

    Actually, this secret chanting technique was still rted to the application of Origin Energy. It could restrict the mes because of the effect of Origin Energybating Origin Energy.

    As long as the Ancestors were within the Dark Blue Domain, this kind of a situation was bound to happen.

    It was fine before the Scarlet Heart had activated the Dark Blue Domain, but once it was activated, all of the Ravagers immediately felt the powerful restrictions it ced on them.

    ¡°Hiss!¡±

    The rhythm of the chant started to decrease. This rhythm was rted to the power of the chant; when the power of the chant was being suppressed, the rhythm of the chant would begin to slow down.

    Bang!

    A massive explosion rang out.

    The mes had broken through the sound cage.

    mes were made of energy, but this energy seemed like moldable dough in the hands of these two opponents. If they wanted it to be round, it was round; if they wanted it to be t, it was t; if they wanted to tear it in half, it was torn in half. If the sound could be a cage, the mes could break out of that cage, turning into a long ming dragon that charged forwards, its strength not diminished in the slightest.

    The Origin Energy in the surroundings was once again depleted, but no turbulent flows of Origin Energy appeared this time. Instead, the Origin Energy was being pulled from a continually expanding radius, pouring into this attack and causing it to be stronger and stronger.

    This was the attack of an Emperor-level existence.

    The power of his attack could be set, or it could increase through a process of umtion and evolution.

    At the same time, eighteen of the Ancestors simultaneously increased the volume of their chants, which became more intense and frenzied. The hundreds of Ravager Imperial Guards beside them charged out to attack.

    As the Emperor¡¯s personal guards, their whole purpose for existence was to challenge powerful individuals.

    The special Demon-Defying Totems they possessed allowed them to resist sts of Origin Energy, and the secret techniques they possessed allowed them to unleash attacks that even Emperor-level experts had to respect at the cost of their own lifeforce.

    Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

    Three handaxes whistled through the air towards the Scarlet Heart. At the same time, the bodies of three warriors who had thrown the axes began to turn to dust. This was an attack that had been filled with the power of their entire lifeforce. Perhaps these attacks would only slightly wound the Scarlet Heart, or perhaps they might not wound him at all. But at the very least, they posed a threat to him, and that was enough!

    This was the fate of an Emperor¡¯s Imperial Guard!

    The Scarlet Heart¡¯s left hand, which had remained motionless the entire time, flicked out three fingers. The three handaxes shattered before they could get anywhere close to the Scarlet Heart¡¯s body.

    Even more Ravager Imperial Guards charged forwards, however, stirring up a violent wave of energy. Their barbaric anger and rage boiled over as even more flying axes flew through the air, each one threatening to rip open a hole in the fabric of space.

    At the same time, Goncourt¡¯s volume began to increase.

    A massive ck silhouette appeared behind his back. It also wielded a handaxe that it used to hack at the Scarlet Heart. Even though the silhouette was obviously illusory, its attack was filled with a real, peerless strength.

    ¡°A Guardian Soul! You¡¯ve got a lot of treasures on you!¡± the Scarlet Heart said with some astonishment.

    The Guardian Soul was refined from the soul that the founder of the Inferno Tribe, Alexander Inferno, had offered after his death. This would allow him to continue protecting the Inferno Tribe even after death.

    While he was alive, this person was an unequalled general. After he died, he had be an incredibly powerful spirit.

    As the axe descended, the Scarlet Heart felt for the first time like it was impossible for him to dodge this attack.

    He sighed.

    ¡°Oh well.¡±

    As he sighed, the Dark Blue Domain suddenly erupted, and vibrant blue light scattered everywhere.

    Under the intense shining of the blue light, all of the axes became incredibly slow.

    At the same time, the Scarlet Heart closed his fist. The dragon made of mes actually flew back into his hands, howling as it circled in the air like a real dragon.

    The ck stone on the tricolored staff once again shone. This time, however, the target was not the Scarlet Heart¡¯s opponent but the ming dragon itself.

    The mes on the dragon began to darken, and the once vibrant, red mes took on a ck luster.

    ¡°Go and destroy them!¡± the Scarlet Heart howled madly.

    A scarlet, ming light once again surged through the sky.

    The ck lightning mixed with the scarlet blood, turning into a frightening nightmare that began to attack. Anyone who saw it felt a wave of nausea and dizzinesse over them that was hard to describe.

    A few of the supporting Ancestors were affected, and their chanting became slightly sluggish. The reddish-ck wave took advantage of thepse to enter their bodies.

    Boom, boom, boom! Their bodies exploded on the spot, sending chunks of flesh flying.

    ¡°Hiss!¡± An eardrum-piercing hiss boomed in the sky.

    The Tattooed Rau furiously attempted to swallow the reddish-ck energy, resisting the influence of the Dark Blue Domain. The massive Guardian Spirit also continued to attack with its axe, exuding a mournful, fierce aura.

    The Scarlet Heart finally made a move.

    This was the first time he moved this entire battle. He faded from view, then reappeared strangely at a different location.

    At the same time that he shifted, even more axes came hurtling in his direction.

    The Imperial Guards charged forwards with no regard for their own lives. They exchanged their own lifeforce for an opportunity to wound the emperor.

    These attacks were the weakest amongst the attacks of the Ancestors and the Guardian Spirit.

    That was the reason, however, that these attacks were able to actually hit the Scarlet Heart - because the attacks were so weak, they were allowed to pass because he didn¡¯t want to divert too much of his attention to them.

    Pu!

    One of the flying axes shattered the Scarlet Heart¡¯s barrier, leaving behind a small thin line of blood on his elbow as blood sprayed from the wound.

    The wound was so small that it had virtually no effect, and it closed up almost immediately.

    In the next moment, however, even more flying axes came crashing down.

    The Scarlet Heart was forced to dodge again. As long as he was within the Dark Blue Domain, he could move as he pleased, but the cost was that the Dark Blue Domain¡¯s restrictive power would weaken, naturally resulting in......

    Boom!

    When the Scarlet Heart reappeared yet again, a massive ck shadow enveloped him almost immediately.

    ¡°ROAR!¡±

    The Scarlet Heart howled in pain. The Guardian Spirit¡¯s powerful axended right on him. It didn¡¯t chop him in two, but his consciousness felt like it was being torn apart. He would rather have his body be chopped in two, since he could recover from that due to his Demonic Emperor strength. However, this feeling of having his consciousness torn to shreds was difficult for him to endure, and it dealt him a heavy blow.

    Another reddish-ck wave appeared, crashing into the Guardian Spirit and sending it flying. At the same time, a different ck wave appeared. All of the Ancestors caught in the Dark Blue Domain were struck by this wave.

    The Scarlet Heart had opened with a killing move, but now after being struck so viciously, he began to use restrictive skills. By relying on the Dark Blue Domain and the ck Wave of Death, he was able to ignore the effects of the chants and envelop everyone within that domain within that wave.

    The bodies of the Ancestors began to decay. Even Goncourt was no exception.

    He immediately ingested seven or eight medicines to help him deal with the effects of the ck Wave of Death, but all that did was stop the decaying effects for him. The other Ancestors quickly rotted into skeletons. In contrast, the Imperial Guards were able to ignore this attack - after all, they died as soon as they attacked, so even the strongest attack was of no great use against them.

    Whoosh!

    A vast wave of attacks descended from the sky, seemingly able to split clouds and break rain.

    The Imperial Guards charged forwards with a heroic energy one after another, madly unleashing their lifeforce to attack the Scarlet Heart.

    Flying axes rained down from the sky!

    Bang, bang, bang, bang! The Imperial Guards exploded one after another as they killed themselves.

    The Guardian Spirit¡¯s attacks were still descending. Goncourt had taken out twelve additional skulls. As the Head Ancestor of the Divine Shrine, he had quite a few tricks up his sleeves.

    The Scarlet Heart was once again faced with a decision, caught between facing one attack or the other.

    He could only choose to face the flying axes.

    The thunder-infused axes rained down like meteorites on the Scarlet Heart, causing blood to spray everywhere from his body.

    ¡°No!¡± he howled.

    The ming dragon grew longer, sweeping in all directions. In an instant, the mes covered an area a thousand feet in diameter, and thousands of Imperial Guards were burned to a crisp almost instantaneously.

    However, the Guardian Spirit managed to hit him yet again, causing his consciousness to feel like it was splitting. The pain almost caused him to go insane. He could only try to avoid yet again. At the same moment that he reappeared, however, the Tattooed Rau¡¯s skull had given up on controlling Origin Energy and flew forth, charging right at the Scarlet Heart. Its two razor-sharp teeth sank into the Scarlet Heart¡¯s body. At the same time, the Tattooed Rau shattered, releasing a powerful burst of energy deep into the Scarlet Heart¡¯s body.

    ¡°AH!¡± The Scarlet Heart tilted its head back and howled bitterly with pain.

    ¡°What a pity. There goes the skull of one emperor,¡± Gucha murmured. ¡°But it¡¯s fine if we get another one, I suppose.¡±

    ¡°I...... will remember you!¡±

    The Scarlet Heart gnashed his teeth as he spoke. The staff in his hand shone radiantly for a brief moment before it shattered.

    In that instant, the red, blue, and ck lights shone piercingly at the same time, forming a tidal wave of energy that surged in all directions.

    ¡°ROAR!¡± The Guardian Spirit simrly shed out with its most powerful strike yet as Goncourt simrly attacked with his Universe Upending Finger.

    Boom!

    Heaven and earth were swallowed up by the colossal waves of energy spreading in all directions.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 215: Escape 1

    Chapter 215: Escape (1)

    Fresh blood flowed from the imperial carriage, dyeing the entire carriage red.

    Ravager corpses were piled high.

    Su Chen stood at the very top of the imperial carriage, a satisfied smile on his face. This was a feeling that came from his hunger for vitality being satisfied.

    Unfortunately, it was merely his appetite that had been satisfied. His actual strength hadn¡¯t really increased.

    But that didn¡¯t really matter. Su Chen believed that everything must have happened for a reason.

    Everything had its own reason; it just wasn¡¯t time for the totem to manifest itself yet.

    At this moment, he held the Origin Bone Staff in his hands, as if he was the real emperor. Beside him were his seventy-three human soldiers.

    This scene was incredibly heroic, majestic, and even saintly that all the Ravagers were totally stunned when they saw this.

    They opened their mouths wide, unable to believe what was happening behind them. Their expressions were mixtures of confusion, shock, and even fear. They were in stark contrast with the human soldiers, who stood imposingly like they were in a painting.

    ¡°Bang!¡±

    A brief sh of light appeared from within the carriage, fixing this scene in ce for eternity.

    It was the image recording disk that Anubi had installed on his imperial carriage so that he could record this ¡°glorious and majestic moment¡±.

    Actually, this image recording disk had served its purpose, in some sense.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t actually know that his image had been left behind.

    Even if he had known, he wouldn¡¯t have cared.

    After killing his opponents, he hadpleted his mission.

    It was time for him to retreat.

    ¡°ROAR!!!¡±

    The closer Ravagers began to howl with rage.

    After recovering from their moment of astonishment, a few of the Ravager soldiers charged in Su Chen¡¯s direction aggressively.

    Unfortunately, it was already toote.

    Su Chen quickly pulled out the Silver Moon Shuttle and the Raging Sun Shuttle.

    ¡°Get in!¡±

    Following Su Chen¡¯smand, the soldiers scrambled into the shuttle one by one.

    However, not everyone got in.

    The Silver Moon Shuttle was built for speed, so its capacity was quite small. Normally, it could only seat five people. If you ignoredfort, you could cram in ten people at the most. The Raging Sun Shuttle, on the other hand, was muchrger and could seat twenty people, or forty people if you crammed. This would mean, however, that there were twenty people who couldn¡¯t fit inside.

    Su Chen and the others were prepared for this as well.

    Actually, they only put forty-five people into the two shuttles, all of them at the Blood Boiling Realm. The Yang Opening Realm cultivators stayed behind and didn¡¯t board.

    They had other ways of leaving.

    ¡°Go!¡±

    With this yell, the two shuttles flew high into the sky.

    ¡°Catch him!¡± the Ravagers howled angrily.

    Even so, the battlefield was extremely chaotic. The officials inmand had all gone to protect Anubi, so none of the remaining Ravagers had the authority to order each other around.

    Su Chen took advantage of the opportunity to yell, ¡°Anubi is dead!¡±

    ¡°Anubi is dead!¡±

    ¡°The Emperor has been killed!¡±

    ¡°The Ravagers are defeated!¡±

    These cries began to echo through the air.

    The battlefield was incredibly chaotic. None of the soldiers could see where the front line was, making it so that any lie was easily believable and would influence their morale. Even the bravest Ravagers couldn¡¯t help but panic when they heard this lie, causing them to lose their ability to think rationally. They couldn¡¯t see what was happening on the battlefield, and the endless ughter going on around them only increased their anxiety. When factoring in the strange scene that had just urred near the imperial carriage and the blood spilled everywhere, some of the Ravagers further away from the scene believed that something had indeed happened to Anubi. Some of the more confused Ravager soldiers began to propagate the same message, resulting in the lie spreading incredibly rapidly.

    In but the blink of an eye, news of the Ravagers¡¯ defeat spread far and wide. Countless Ravagers still embroiled in battle lost the will to continue fighting, and they were immediately killed by their opponents. Other Ravagers stared helplessly, unsure of whether to advance or retreat. Still other Ravagers immediately turned around to run......

    After making this deration, Su Chen, Le Feng, and the others began to run in a direction behind the carriage.

    At the same time, their figures morphed as they assumed the figures of Ravager soldiers.

    Yes, all of these soldiers had used Su Chen¡¯s medicines and obtained the ability to transform.

    They relied on this ability to escape.

    Even though they could transform, this was still quite dangerous. A few Ravagers had seen their appearances, so it was possible they would follow them, and there might even be some Beasts who would participate.

    As a result, these dangers were left to the strongest individuals to face.

    ¡°Meet on the western slope. If you don¡¯t see anyone in half an hour, then go!¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Le Feng and the others replied loudly andnded on the ground.

    Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

    A few flying axes hurtled in their direction.

    Everyone simultaneously dodged, then charged at the group of Ravagers attacking them.

    They didn¡¯t counterattack. That would only slow them down and put them in a deadlock. Only by mixing themselves with the other Ravagers would they be like drops of water in an ocean, indistinguishable from their Ravager opponents.

    ¡°CHARGE!¡±

    Su Chen transformed into a brawny Ravager and charged forwards. As he broke through the ranks of his opponents, he ced his hand on the ground, sending a massive cloud of dust into the air.

    The sound of winds and axes whistling through the air indiscriminately could be heard, throwing the ce into chaos.

    However, when the dust settled, those Ravagers had somehow managed to disappear without a trace.

    At the same time, Anubi had died, the imperial carriage had been destroyed, and news of the Ravagers¡¯ defeat spread. The Ravagers who were unaware of the truth lost their will to fight. Some wandered around indecisively, while others became deserters.

    The Ravagers were a brave and courageous race, but even the bravest race had cowardly individuals, just as they had managed to produce people like Danba, Sachar, and Averigus despite their inherent stupidity. For there to be a few deserters was nothing too spectacr. However, it was impossible for there to be too many deserters, just as it was impossible for them to produce too many smart individuals.

    But if someone were to take the lead and egg them on, then that was a totally different situation.

    Nearly thirty ¡°Ravagers¡± madly darted in and out of the hordes of Ravager soldiers as they yelled loudly, ¡°The Ravagers have been defeated!¡±

    ¡°Hurry and run!¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t run now, you¡¯ll be killed!¡±

    ¡°Think about the children at home......¡±

    These words had been prepared early on and were specifically aimed at the weak points of those Ravagers.

    At the beginning, perhaps only three or four Ravagers were fleeing the scene. However, this number began to rapidly increase, first to seven or eight, then to ten, then to dozens......

    Every second that passed, the number of deserters only increased, which in turn increased the rate at which others deserted.

    At first, it was hard to tell if their words were having any effect. However, it quickly became apparent that the Ravagers were retreating wave after wave.

    Once a soldier¡¯s morale had been broken, it was very easy for it to result in a chain reaction.

    The Ravagers on the battlefield were like pearls on a broken ne. They scattered everywhere, flying around like a headless fly. Even the braver, bloodthirstier Ravagers had lost their desire to fight. They didn¡¯t know what to do.

    Fortunately, because the Beasts were still attacking them, the battlefield had been split into two. Only the Ravagers near the imperial carriage had been totally defeated. On the side of the blood-colored floating pce, the soldiers¡¯ morale was still high. Even so, the rout of one side resulted in a great decrease in pressure to the Beasts on that front. As such, the Ravagers, who seemed to have victory in their grasp, suddenly found that the situation on the battlefield had seemed to turn slightly. It became difficult to determine who the winner would be.

    To Su Chen and the others, however, this was exactly the situation they were anticipating.

    ¡°Danba, you¡¯ll need to properly thank meter,¡± Su Chen said with a slight smile as he nced at the chaotic scene before him.

    No matter what the oue of this battle was, the Inferno Tribe was destined to pay a heavy price, and Danba would be able to rely on this opportunity to rise up.

    The Ravagers would fall into an internal conflict because of this and wouldn¡¯t pose a threat to Long Sang Country for a long time.

    As for the threat that Danba and the Ravagers would pose in the future, Su Chen was totally unworried. The strength of a race depended on the strength of theirmon citizens, not a single powerful leader. Also, even Danba was focused on the far-off future, focusing on the Beasts. How could Su Chen possibly restcently on hisurels?

    Su Chen quickly reined in his thoughts and continued to charge forwards.

    At this moment, he had charged out of the center of the battlefield and had reached the outskirts.

    Even here, there were Ravagers running all over the ce. They had clearly lost all their organization, having lost track of what they were pursuing.

    At this point, Su Chen waspletely safe. He let out a sigh of relief.

    At that moment, however, he saw a streak of light shoot across the sky.

    It was the Raging Sun Shuttle!

    It hadn¡¯t managed to escape yet?

    Su Chen felt his heart jolt. He knew that this situation wasn¡¯t good.

    As he focused his gaze to see what was happening, he found a flock of Silver-Crowned Eagles chasing fiercely after the shuttle, forcing it to weave back and forth.

    Unfortunately, the two shuttles had been osted by this flock of Silver-Crowned Eagles as soon as they had gotten airborne.

    The Silver-Crowned Eagle was a high-tier Demonic Beast. They were in big trouble if they were being surrounded by Demonic Beasts like that.

    The Silver Moon Shuttle fared alright due to its speed, allowing it to very quickly shake off the Silver-Crowned Eagles. Unfortunately, this had doomed the Raging Sun Shuttle.

    The Raging Sun Shuttle was not known for its speed in the first ce, and it contained the most passengers. It was therefore no surprise that it was unable to escape from the pursuit of the Silver-Crowned Eagles.

    Most importantly, the Raging Sun Shuttle was built for battle, but many of the offensive weapons had been disabled due to the shuttle being filled past capacity. This made it incredibly unlikely that they would be able to beat their opponents back. Right now, they were relying on a few streaks of starry sword light and the Divine Sky Cannon mounted on top of the shuttle to scare their opponents off. Doing so once and for all, however, was going to be difficult.

    Su Chen had managed to escape the battlefield, but the shuttle was being forced to run around in circles. The soldiers had been relying on the tough defenses of the shuttle to get by, but it didn¡¯t seem like the defenses were going tost much longer.

    When he saw this situation, Su Chen hurriedly opened his transmission disk. "Yan Kai, bring them over to Middle Column Peak."

    "Yes, sir!" a raspy voice spoke from the disk.

    Su Chen had prepared this disk especially for everyone present so that they would have a way tomunicate down the road. He had not expected it to be useful that quickly.

    After delegating certain tasks, Su Chen began to sprint in the direction of the nearest Miwo Mountain.

    Miwo Mountain was one of the Three Mountains. Its peak was right next to the Three Mountain Castle, which was why it was referred to as the Middle Column Peak. It extended high into the sky like a middle finger.

    Su Chen ran towards Middle Column Peak at top speed instead of flying. Then, he activated Whitetowere Teleportation multiple times in a row, bringing him all the way to the top

    At this point, his forehead was covered in sweat. Even though the energy consumption of Whitetower Teleportation had gone down after Su Chen had turned it into a Natural Origin Skill, activating it repeatedly in rapid session still put a strain on his body.

    Su Chen quicklyy down motionless atop the peak as if he was an inanimate rock.

    The Silver-Crowned Eagles flying in the sky were still fiercely attacking the Raging Sun Shuttle from all directions. The shuttle used all methods at its disposal but was still unable to shake off its pursuers. Even getting to the Middle Column Peak was an incredibly difficult feat for it to achieve. To make matters worse, a flock of Agitated Frost Crows was racing in this direction.

    The situation seemed to grow more and more dangerous.

    Su Chen started intently at the Silver-Crowned Eagles.

    Come closer!

    Just a bit closer!

    The swarm of Silver-Crowned Eagles gradually drew closer and closer to the peak.

    It was time to go!

    Su Chen¡¯s figure shed as he activated Whitetower Teleportation again. At the same time, the Primordial Blood Incarnation appeared behind him, ck mes covering its body as it stood there imposing. The incarnation was actually taller then five hundred feet, and the Mountain-Beheading de began to expand as well. Lightning flickered and danced across its surface as the de edge arced through the air at these Silver-Crowned Eagles.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 216: Escape 2

    Chapter 216: Escape (2)

    A single de strike!

    This single de strike contained all of Su Chen¡¯s techniques, Origin Energy, power, blood essence, consciousness power, and self-confidence.

    Even mountains were forced to step aside by the relentless momentuming from the sword. The entire battlefield was instantly lit up by this single de strike.

    Blood sshed through the sky.

    Twenty or so Silver-Crowned Eagles were killed almost instantly by the raging de Qi, while the remaining ten were badly injured and forced to flee.

    His ughtering of twenty or so high-tier Demonic Beasts with a single de strikepletely stunned Yan Kai and the others.

    This was the same as taking out twenty Light Shaking Realm cultivators with a single de!

    Su Chen¡¯s figure also swayed noticeably after unleashing this attack. It was obvious that he had expended quite a bit of energy.

    He hurriedly pulled out a vial of medicine and drank it before rapidly absorbing Origin Energy from Origin Stones. At the same time, he barked, "What are you all standing around waiting for? Get out of here!"

    "Oh!" Yan Kai, who was responsible for controlling the shuttle, seemed to awaken from his stupor. He drove the Raging Sun Shuttle away as fast as he could.

    Having saved the Raging Inferno Shuttle, Su Chen was just about to leave when he heard a venomous and sinister voice say from behind him, ¡°So this is where you are, Su Chen!¡±

    The Scarlet Heart!

    Not good!

    Su Chen¡¯s expression sank when he heard this, and he shot off into the distance without any hesitation when he heard this.

    A streak of light flew from the horizon right at Su Chen.

    Su Chen nced behind him quickly and immediately knew that his speed was inferior to the other party¡¯s, and he didn¡¯t have the Silver Moon Shuttle on him. After a moment of thought, he steeled himself and charged back down into the battlefield.

    The Scarlet Heart was obviously unprepared for this kind of decisiveness, but he followed suit as soon as he recovered from his shock.

    The old pangolin had notified him that everything was done by a human, and now this human possessed the Origin Bone Scepter and the Vitality Totem as well. As long as the Scarlet Heart killed the human, he would be able to recover everything he had lost and more. This was why he was desperate to kill Su Chen no matter the cost and followed after him so desperately.

    Su Chen rolled on the ground as soon as hended, assuming the form of another Ravager.

    The Scarlet Heart did not possess the ability of the irvoyants, but since he had managed to find Su Chen, his gaze was locked on tightly, and no amount of disguising would help Su Chen escape from his sight. Su Chen¡¯s transformation had no effect on him whatsoever. Thankfully, Su Chen wasn¡¯t trying to trick the Scarlet Heart.

    With but a few Whitetower Teleportations, Su Chen managed to integrate himself perfectly into the crowd of Ravager soldiers, making it impossible for them to figure out who he was.

    At the same time, the Scarlet Heart had managed to catch up.

    He paused momentarily in the sky, staring down below him.

    It was at this moment that Su Chen realized the Demonic Emperor was covered in blood and smallcerations and cuts, and the tricolored staff had disappeared. Normally, a Demonic Emperor¡¯s strength allowed them to heal minor wounds in but the blink of an eye, so the fact that these wounds remained either meant that the wounds were more severe than they seemed or that the Scarlet Heart¡¯s regenerative ability was spent.

    Even so, however, he was still a Demonic Emperor - powerful and invincible.

    The moment he appeared, he locked his gaze onto Su Chen.

    ¡°DIE!¡± A massive hand began to descend from the sky towards Su Chen.

    There was no Dark Blue Domain or Azure Dragon mes or Death Withering Snakes here. The shattering of the tricolored staff and the wounds on his body made it so that the Scarlet Heart could not use any of the three elemental techniques that he relied on so heavily. Even so, this simple-looking attack was filled with boundless energy and momentum.

    In that instant, Su Chen felt like he had returned to Clear River City, when he was faced with the Wang n Ancestor¡¯s sky-shaking attack, or to Swallow River City, when the Lightning Snake Demonic King had attacked.

    The situation felt just as hopeless as before, making it hard for someone to muster up any strength to resist.

    The difference this time, however, was that Su Chen had also gotten stronger.

    Whoosh!

    His figure suddenly disappeared. The upgraded Whitetower Teleportation allowed him to jump far greater distances. In that sense, its multiplicative effect wasparable to the Scarlet Heart¡¯s Dark Blue Domain. As such, he was able to easily escape the attack radius of this palm strike.

    However, you might be able to dodge the attacks of an existence with the Scarlet Heart¡¯s cultivation base, but there was no way you could dodge their focus.

    This was also the reason why Goncourt was able to attack almost immediately after the Scarlet Heart teleported, as he had also honed this lock-on ability of his.

    As soon as Su Chen reappeared, the Scarlet Heart unleashed another palm strike right at him.

    ¡°Damn!¡±

    Su Chen was forced to use Whitetower Teleportation almost immediately after reappearing.

    When facing such a powerful existence, all he could do was run. Fight him head-on? Forget about it.

    The sound of repeated explosions could be heard ringing throughout the battlefield.

    Palm after palm mmed down from the skies, indiscriminately crashing into the groups of Ravager soldiers, killing or wounding countless of them. Su Chen¡¯s figure shed as he darted in and out of these groups. In the blink of an eye, he had managed to traverse half the battlefield, with the Scarlet Heart¡¯s attacks closely behind him. This had carved a bloody path right through the Ravager.

    However, the price of such an overbearing disy was that countless axes began to be hurled the Scarlet Heart¡¯s way. A few generals even turned around and charged back at the Scarlet Heart. The Scarlet Heart¡¯s wild attacks were finally being somewhat restrained.

    Su Chen reappeared yet again.

    St! Su Chen vomited from the nausea as soon as he rematerialized.

    Even with his powerful consciousness, utilizing Whitetower Teleportation in such rapid session made his brain feel like it was about to split. If it wasn¡¯t for the efforts of the other Ravagers, it would have been hard for him to go much longer.

    Su Chen hurriedly pulled out a vial of Spirit Sobering Medicine and downed it. It rapidly dissolved away the exhaustion and mental taxation he felt was on him, as well as taking care of the uneasiness he felt at that moment.

    Su Chen knew that the Scarlet Heart had locked onto him and was unwilling to let him go no matter what.

    ¡°Damn, even this wasn¡¯t enough to kill you? You¡¯re really something else!¡± Su Chen cursed.

    Even though he had not expected for them to be able to fight as equals, the fact that the Scarlet Heart had managed to survive the earlier onught and still had enough energy to chase after him made Su Chen somewhat disappointed.

    However, this was reality. Given how long the Scarlet Heart had managed to live and what cultivation base he was at, fighting to the point of having his tricolor staff shattered was the limit. How could he be so willing to put his life on the line like that? Especially once he realized the fact that Goncourt may have just been being used.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that he had spotted Su Chen¡¯s de strike, the Scarlet Heart would have retreated a long time ago.

    Su Chen¡¯s appearance was what had given the Scarlet Heart a reason to actually fight.

    This time, he was not being used to fight a battle against a different opponent. He had managed to find the true target and was chasing after him.

    For this, the Scarlet Heart had called all the nearby Beasts to his side, seemingly even ignoring the peril to his own life!

    ¡°ROAR!¡±

    An enraged howl echoed through the sky.

    The Scarlet Heart floated high in the sky, unleashing a wave of ming clouds.

    The mes appeared yet again. Though this time it no longer had the support of the tricolored staff, it was still just as violent as before.

    Without Goncourt and the Tattooed Rau to keep it at bay, the Azure Dragon mes wreaked havoc, very quickly expanding to arge size and causing droplets of molten me to begin to rain down from the sky indiscriminately.

    This was a real area-of-effect attack.

    This was the real power of a Demonic Emperor!

    If he wanted to kill Su Chen, any beasts or humans that got in his way would also die.

    ¡°He really has gone crazy,¡± Goncourt said, dazed, as he stared at the scene.

    This Divine Shrone Head Ancestor had been burnt ck from head to toe, and even his beard whiskers had been singed slightly. The Ravager Ancestors around him had all died; not a single one had managed to survive.

    However, he could still stand. He could still fight.

    Yet he had no way of understanding this sudden bout of insanity from the Scarlet Heart.

    Streaks of fiery rain descended from the sky, covering the entire mountain range in a sea of mes. Howls and cries of pain and rage could be heard everywhere.

    ¡°Give me my treasures back!¡±

    Su Chen stared at the sky. ¡°You really are insane, but so what?¡±

    He stared intently at the Scarlet Heart as he retreated step by step.

    The battle had finally reached its white-hot climax at this point.

    Even if the sky was raining fire, burning countless animals alive, the Ravager soldiers were still yelling and howling madly. When the battle was really at a tipping point, the courage and heroism of the Ravager soldiers suddenly seemed to appear again.

    ¡°ROAR!¡±

    ¡°We fight to the death!¡±

    ¡°We fight to the death!¡±

    ¡°For the honor of the Ravagers!¡±

    ¡°For the honor of the Ravagers!¡±

    ¡°For the Inferno Tribe!¡±

    Cries and derations like this could be heard all over the battlefield.

    All of these highly trained, elite soldiers began to unleash their full power.

    ¡°Chilu! Monto!¡±

    The skies trembled and shook as these cries soared higher and higher, like a hymn or a poem or a fire or a sea.

    The Ravager warriors wildly growled as they charged forward, unleashing all of their might as they attacked. As fire rained from the sky, the cold, hard glint of steel axes could be seen everywhere on the ground.

    These axes, which shone brightly as they reflected the fiery glow, flew into the sky. They sliced through the sky, the mes, the wind, and even all the invisible substances in the air. The mes dissipated wherever the axes flew, and this sea of mes that seemed to stretch from horizon to horizon was actually put out by the endless stream of axes flying through the air.

    The power of an Emperor was enough to tten a mountain or create a river. Obviously, the power of this elite group of soldiers was enough to achieve a simr effect.

    This was a battle of quality versus quantity. If the Scarlet Heart hadn¡¯t been injured, perhaps he could have won, but now, given how many opponents he was facing and the fact that they were beingmanded bypetent generals, there was no way that the Scarlet Heart could win.

    The sea of mes disappearedpletely, and the Scarlet Heart tilted his head back as he spat out a mouthful of blood.

    Actually, this mouthful of blood was not actually blood - it came from his soul, a main reason why he was normally so strong that it was impossible to resist his attacks.

    The enormous pain reminded the Scarlet Heart that he had already received wounds that would be impossible for him to ever fully recover from. If he were to continue like this, his life would be in danger.

    But when he saw Su Chen, who was so close to him, the Scarlet Heart was unwilling to just let go.

    He was unwilling to be defeated like this, unwilling to let the person who had stolen his treasures walk away like this.

    Even if it meant breathing hisst breath, he still needed to try!

    People die for wealth just as a bird dies for food.

    He attacked again.

    A profound, vigorous energy began to fill the entire battlefield, carrying with it an aura of darkness that seemed to prate every corner and gap.

    Forbidden Technique!

    Another Forbidden Technique!

    The Scarlet Heart was really going all-out.

    This massive wave of darkness was unleashed with his lifeforce as the price. This darkness was incredibly corrosive, and it was not something that could be dissolved just with brute force.

    ¡°I am going to take back my treasure. Anyone who stops me will die!¡± the Scarlet Heart screamed.

    After unleashing this attack, he could sense that his lifeforce was rapidly draining out of his body as it began to corrode.

    If his strength had temporarily dropped down to the level of a Demonic King after his big fight with Goncourt, at this point his strength was more like that of a Demonic Lord given the cost to his body.

    However, he believed that this would be more than enough to kill Su Chen.

    An instantter, however, the situation developed in a way that made him speechless.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 217: Tracking

    ¡°Is that the power of darkness? What a familiar feeling. This seems to be a darkness domain,¡± Su Chen began tough after recovering from his momentary shock.

    So the Scarlet Heart¡¯s darkness-type Origin Skill actually primarily utilized Darkness Origin Substance.

    No one understood this kind of energy more than Su Chen.

    Even the Scarlet Heart¡¯s understanding of Darkness Origin Substance

    ¡°You really aren¡¯t lucky today, are you?¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    The glove on his left hand glowed imperceptibly with a dark luster. As this dark light flickered, Su Chen¡¯s figure disappeared without a trace.

    Darkness Concealment.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t have any hope that this concealment would allow him to escape the lock-on that the Scarlet Heart had on him, but no other individual would be able to attack him apart from the Scarlet Heart himself. The effectiveness of activating this concealment while his entire being was immersed in a realm of darkness made the effect much greater.

    And while he was within this realm, he began to absorb Darkness Origin Substance.

    At this point, he had already managed to sense the source of the Darkness Origin Substance - it wasing from the Scarlet Heart himself. Obviously, however, the Scarlet Heart was not the original possessor of that Origin Substance; most likely, he had probably opened some pathway to a ce where Darkness Origin Substance was extremely abundant, then drawing outrge quantities of that substance and storing it in his own body. As such, he was essentially using his physical body as a conduit for this Darkness Origin Substance.

    In other words, using this Origin Skill required him to pay a tremendous price. Su Chen very quickly realized this point.

    ¡°He can actually use his physical body as a conduit to a different dimension? He really is very strong,¡± Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but mutter to himself. However, this realization also gave him a further direction to explore: ¡°These Demonic Emperors are all like this. They are all aware of what is happening but are unaware of why it is happening. Their physical bodies are all treasures in and of themselves, and possess an incredible affinity for using the power contained in the environment. If I can get my hands on its body......¡±

    The mes of desire burned ever more brightly in Su Chen¡¯s eyes.

    Under normal circumstances, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t have dared to pick a fight against a Demonic Emperor even if someone had multiplied his courage tenfold. After all, he was three cultivation realms lower than a Demonic Emperor. However, the Scarlet Heart before his eyes was obviously very different.

    He had been wounded, wounded badly.

    This meant that he had an opportunity.

    Su Chen stared intently at the Scarlet Heart as he carefully began to move.

    The instant the Scarlet Heart saw Su Chen¡¯s figure fade into the darkness, he knew that he had lost his opportunity.

    In the end, he still valued his life more. After failing yet again, the Scarlet Heart could only stare angrily at Su Chen, as if he was trying to imprint Su Chen¡¯s face in his memory, then flew off into the distance.

    He went back to escaping.

    At that moment, Su Chen suddenly pounced.

    He pounced in the direction of the Scarlet Heart, cleaving his Mountain-Beheading de right at the Scarlet Heart.

    The Scarlet Heart actually felt excitement rather than anger as he unleashed a w behind him.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t wait for this attack to connect before causing his figure to disappear.

    He had suddenly leapt away from the battlefield again with a Whitetower Teleportation.

    He never had any intention of killing the Scarlet Heart in the first ce.

    He just wanted to use the Scarlet Heart¡¯s hesitation and unwillingness to dy him for just a moment.

    Indeed, as soon as the Scarlet Heart paused, another round of Ravager attacks began to rain down fiercely on him.

    ¡°ROAR!¡±

    The Scarlet Heart howled with rage. Torrents of energy rolled off its body, blocking all of these attacks, but his face also turned much paler. His figure swayed slightly, as if it was getting harder and harder for him to remain standing.

    ¡°Bastard, I¡¯ll remember you! After today, I swear I will kill you even if I have to chase you all the way to the horizon!¡± the Scarlet Heart howled with rage as he resumed his escape.

    This time, Su Chen didn¡¯t chase after him.

    He watched the Scarlet Heart fly away as he said slowly, ¡°No worries. I will remember you too.¡±

    The darkness realm disappeared, and Su Chen reappeared from the midst of the darkness.

    At this moment, he had assumed the appearance of a Ravager yet again, allowing him to wander through the tens of thousands of Ravager soldiers easily.

    This time, no other incidents urred, and Su Chen easily walked out of the battlefield.

    He continued to advance. Finally, after walking through a forest, he arrived at a mountain slope near the River Gazing ins. Here, it was possible to see therge river flowing powerfully downstream. This ce was the rendezvous point that Su Chen had set with everyone else.

    By the time Su Chen arrived, Le Feng and the others had been waiting for him for a long time.

    When they saw Su Chen¡¯s arrival, everyone was extremely excited and said, ¡°Commander is fine!¡±

    Yan Kai and the others immediately knelt. ¡°Many thanks for Commander¡¯s saving us!¡±

    ¡°Alright, you can get up. This isn¡¯t the first time I¡¯ve saved you all anyways; you should be used to it by now,¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    Everyone else began tough when he said that.

    ¡°Since Commander is here, we can leave now,¡± Jiang Liu said.

    Su Chen said, ¡°You guys go first. I have already told you all which path to take, so I don¡¯t necessarily need toe along with you.¡±

    Everyone was stunned. ¡°You¡¯re not going to leave?¡±

    ¡°Yes, there¡¯s still something I need to take care of. Don¡¯t worry about it. The Ravagers have no way of catching me here,¡± Su Chen said.

    This statement of Su Chen¡¯s was quite true. With his current camouge ability, even the Ravager irvoyants wouldn¡¯t be able to spot him. As such, he could wander around Ravager territory as he pleased. Inparison, Le Feng, Jiang Liu, and the others could only trick a few of the lower-status Ravagers. They would be immediately exposed as soon as they encountered any irvoyants, so it was better for them to leave as soon as possible.

    Once they realized that Su Chen had made his decision, they could only return the Silver Moon Shuttle and Raging Sun Shuttle to Su Chen and bid their goodbyes.

    Su Chen turned around to leave, but he hadn¡¯t gotten far when he suddenly heard someone say, ¡°Commander Su, remember to find us when you return to Long Sang Country. We will always be your subordinates!¡±

    Su Chen turned around to find arge group of soldiers staring at him fervently, down on one knee.

    Su Chen smiled slightly and said, ¡°Fine by me!¡±

    After leaving Le Feng and the others, Su Chen continued to walk forwards.

    He seemed to be meandering quite casually, not in a hurry to get anywhere anytime soon.

    From time to time, he would run into some Ravager deserters. As long as those deserters didn¡¯t bother him, he let them be.

    A dayter, Su Chen encountered a Ravager captain. Thetter was trying to gather defeated soldiers, but Su Chen easily took care of him.

    Su Chen managed to gather from that captain¡¯s mouth that the Beasts had still lost that giant battle from yesterday.

    Nearly a hundred thousand Beasts had died in battle, but the Inferno Tribe wasn¡¯t much better off. Thirty thousand or so of the two hundred thousand soldiers had died in the battle. Most of the ones who had died were Ancestors. Gucha had been killed, and Goncourt was badly injured from expending far too much life force. He probably wouldn¡¯t survive for much longer. It was quite clear that they had paid a significant price to obtain this victory, and they had actually still lost in the end.

    Finally, the Origin Bone Scepter and the Vitality Totem had both been lost.

    A greater danger was probably waiting for Anubi once he returned to Gun Castle.

    However, this no longer had anything to do with Su Chen.

    Having taken care of the captain, Su Chen continued to head west. Two dayster, he arrived at a small forest.

    He whistled, and the white paper doll floated out.

    ¡°Master!¡±

    Origin Rings could not store living creatures, so Su Chen had instructed the white paper doll to wait here before he went to Gun Castle. He had left behind a transmission method as well, so they were able tomunicate after Su Chen had left Gun Castle.

    ¡°How¡¯s the Heavenly Might Battalion doing?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Master, they have already safely crossed the Heavenly River Ancient Road. Iron Cliff did everything well.¡±

    ¡°So you met with Iron Cliff already?¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±

    ¡°How is he doing?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s already be the leader of the Hurricane Golems and helped open a way for the Heavenly Might Battalion. However, the Hurricane Golems paid quite a price for this to happen; twelve of them were sacrificed, and thirty of them were wounded. He hopes that Master can reward them for their contributions.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not a problem. What does he want?¡±

    ¡°A piece ofnd suitable for them to live on.¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°He will get that.¡±

    Iron Cliff¡¯s thought process had obviously matured after he had be a chieftain.

    Hurricane Canyon was not a ce that could support lots of life. Iron Cliff¡¯s request was not excessive, so Su Chen was obviously going to agree to it. And finding a ce suitable for them to live was not a problem either, because Golems could live anywhere. The main issue was that they needed to protect them. Wherever someone protected them, that was their safe haven. Otherwise, they could only live in a ce like the Hurricane Canyon.

    In addition, Golems were incredibly resilient. With Iron Cliff there, Su Chen was more than happy to take them in.

    ¡°So are we going back now?¡± The white paper doll nced at Su Chen.

    ¡°No, I need to do something before that,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t bother replying. He stared up at the sky and said, ¡°I¡¯m not in a hurry.¡±

    As he spoke, he walked off. When the white paper doll saw this, he only felt that the situation was slightly strange, but he didn¡¯t think about it too much and followed after Su Chen.

    They traveled for another two days.

    Two dayster, Su Chen arrived at a small mountain.

    This mountain was covered in lush green vegetation.

    When he saw this mountain, Su Chen muttered, ¡°It should be here. Seems like it¡¯s about the right time anyways.¡±

    As he spoke, he stepped inside the mountainous forest.

    As they walked forwards, they very quickly came to an open clearing.

    This clearing was extremely strange. There should have been plenty of vegetation there, but for some reason all of therge trees there had all withered and died, leaving behind an extremely round circle.

    At the center of this circle was a depression. Because it was covered in dust, it was impossible to see what was in the depression.

    Su Chen smiled slightly as he stood off to the side.

    ¡°Death Shadow of a Youth, you go and take a look.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Master.¡± The white paper doll walked forwards. He couldn¡¯t sense an aura, so he walked over to the depression and began to absorb some of the dust there.

    At the very same instant, however, a lofty aura sted past him.

    ¡°Who is it? Who dares interrupt this sovereign¡¯s sleep?¡±

    This aura!

    :The white paper doll was shocked.

    It was the might of an emperor.

    The white paper doll shrieked and attempted to hurriedly retreat, but Su Chen grabbed him firmly. ¡°Did I say you could go?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s an Emperor..... an Emperor......¡± The white paper doll was so scared that it couldn¡¯t even form a coherent thought.

    ¡°I know,¡± Su Chen replied coolly as he tossed the white paper doll out.

    ¡°AHH!¡± the white paper doll shrieked shrilly.

    Boom!

    A violent wave of energy washed over the white paper doll, sending him flying into midair. He flew quite a distance before mming into the ground violently.

    The white paper doll wanted to run as soon as he hit the ground, but Su Chen called him back. The consciousness restrictions ced on him forced the white paper doll to return to Su Chen¡¯s side.

    ¡°Master, that¡¯s an...... Emperor!¡± the white paper doll said with great difficulty.

    ¡°I know that. But do you not feel that this emperor is a bit weak?¡± Su Chen asked with a slight smile.

    The white paper doll was stunned. He finally realized that, given the normal strength of an emperor, he should have died instantly.

    What was happening?

    ¡°It seems like there is no way around it now, Your Majesty,¡± Su Chen said calmly.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 218: Fight To The Death

    ¡°Su...... Chen......¡±

    The Scarlet Heart¡¯s figure slowly rose as he spoke with a bone-chilling hatred.

    He floated in midair, his face a bit pale. Despite that, his eyes burned with hatred, and a powerful wave of pressure began to emanate from his body, causing the white paper doll to tremble in fear.

    "How did you manage to find me?"

    Su Chen motioned, and a ck luster flickered across his hand.

    "The darkness realm? You possess the ability to control darkness as well?" the Scarlet Heart asked with some shock.

    "I prefer to call it Darkness Origin Substance," Su Chen replied.

    Traces of Darkness Origin Substance had lingered on the Scarlet Heart¡¯s body after he used the darkness power, and they would leave behind a trail no matter where he went. Normally, no person would be able to detect these notes of Origin Substance, but Su Chen could.

    As such, he had easily followed the Darkness Origin Substance all the way to its source.

    To him, this matter was exceptionally simple.

    "So that¡¯s how it is. Well, that¡¯s fine; I¡¯ve been wanting to look for you too, but now you¡¯re here at my front door," the Scarlet Heart said. "Where are my treasures? You still have them on you, right?"

    "That¡¯s right," Su Chen nodded. "The Demonic Emperor¡¯s Origin Crystal, the Sands of Time, the Thunder Spirit Totem, the River Source Grass, the Deste Beast Blood, and the Heavenly Truth Songstone are all either me. But I would imagine that you need the Demonic Emperor¡¯s Origin Crystal the most right now, correct? With it, you will be able to recover your strength much more rapidly.

    The Scarlet Heart began to chuckle darkly. "Is this why you dare attack me now? You think that you can take control of the situation because I am injured? Unfortunately, you were a bit too slow and gave me a few days to recover. If you were to have found me earlier, you might have had a chance, but now......"

    "If I had found you, I probably would have been the one to die," Su Che interrupted him. "Sometimes, problems require some time to manifest themselves. The reason why I showed up a few dayste is because I was waiting for the moment that your wounds would burst open. You probably did your best to forcefullypress your wounds while you ran because you were afraid someone was pursuing you. However, after a few days, you probably felt that no one was chasing after you anymore and finally began to actually treat your wounds. This is why you are currently in your weakest state. Am I right?"

    The Scarlet Heart¡¯s expression finally changed.

    It seemed to darken slightly as killing intent surfaced on his face. "You are quite conniving, but I am still an emperor! A mighty Demonic Emperor is not someone a puny human like you can ignore, even if I am slightly wounded."

    Su Chen nodded. "You would be right if it weren¡¯t for two factors. First of all, you haven¡¯t just been slightly wounded; you¡¯ve been seriously wounded. Actually, it wouldn¡¯t be wrong to say that you are on yourst legs. Second of all, I¡¯m not just a puny human."

    He calmly pulled out his Mountaing Beheading de and activated his Primordial Blood Incarnation.

    The Scarlet Heart¡¯s expression continued to darken. "Yes, I am seriously wounded, but if I go all out, don¡¯t think that you will be able to survive!"

    "If that¡¯s the case, then why are you still talking so much?" Su Chen countered.

    The Scarlet Heart froze.

    Actually, the fact that he had even attempted to use his words to scare Su Chen away had revealed his cowardice.

    He wanted to dy, and Su Chen had no problems with that. After all, given the Scarlet Heart¡¯s current condition and the fact that Su Chen probably had to maintain flight meant that he would probably expend quite a bit of energy.

    When he realized this point, the Scarlet Heart knew that continuing to dy was pointless - if he couldn¡¯t find a way to really start recovering, Su Chen could just wear him down!

    As soon as he realized this, he howled, "Die!"

    A wave of energy roared violently at Su Chen.

    "That¡¯s more like it!" Su Chen¡¯s figure flickered.

    This de strike was just a pretense. The phrase ¡°old institutions die hard¡± applied here, and he had no intentions of fighting with the Scarlet Heart.

    When facing this kind of an existence, the best thing to do was to dy for as long as possible.

    Boom!

    ¡°AH!¡± A howl of despair sounded out.

    It was the white paper doll.

    The Scarlet Heart¡¯s attack didn¡¯t hit Su Chen, but it hit the white paper doll instead, sending him flying like a piece of paper.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so worried. You won¡¯t die that easily,¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    He was very clear about how strong the white paper doll was. This guy¡¯s unique appearance allowed him to handle Origin Energy attacks quite well, making him very hard to kill. Of course, it wasn¡¯t a big problem if he was killed anyways. Su Chen had brought him along in the first ce to test the Scarlet Heart¡¯s current strength.

    If the Scarlet Heart could manage to kill the white paper doll with a single attack, then Su Chen would have immediately turned around and ran as far as he could with Whitetower Teleportation.

    But if the Scarlet Heart wasn¡¯t able to, then that was a big indicator he was near the end.

    The reasoning behind this assumption was actually quite simple. At this point, the Scarlet Heart had no option but to go all out.

    With a shrill shriek, the white paper doll floated down to the ground.

    The glow of his consciousness had decreased significantly, and a lot of the white paper that surrounded its smoke-like body had been consumed.

    However, he was still alive. Actually, he hadn¡¯t even been seriously injured.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Didn¡¯t I call it? You¡¯re finished!¡±

    The Mountain-Beheading de cleaved forwards.

    This time, he was really attacking.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± The Scarlet Heart snarled angrily as he turned around, a powerful wave of pressure emanating from its body.

    No matter how weak he was, he was still a Demonic Emperor.

    The prestige belonging to an emperor was present, thick enough to feel tangible. There was a frightening amount of power contained in this pressure. At the same time, the Scarlet Heart turned and shot a nce at Su Chen.

    This nce connected, causing Su Chen to suddenly feel a bout of dizziness.

    What a powerful consciousness!

    Even with Su Chen¡¯s two thousand units of consciousness power, he still felt his vision darken, evidence of the Scarlet Heart¡¯s powerful consciousness.

    He was stunned, but so was the Scarlet Heart.

    He was a Demonic Emperor, yet his consciousness attack had not affected Su Chen very much. Even if the Guardian Spirit had shattered his consciousness and drastically decreased his consciousness¡¯s strength, this kind of a situation was still inconceivable.

    Even Spirit Burning Realm cultivators would likely experience an instantaneous consciousness shattering, but the human in front of him seemed totally fine.

    Not only so, but the Mountain-Beheading de was still continuing to descend.

    Under normal circumstances, the Scarlet Heart could have easily dealt with this de.

    Now, however, he did not dare to try and block it.

    He could only dodge.

    A blue light began to glow around the Scarlet Heart¡¯s body as he scrambled backwards. At this moment, he couldn¡¯t even teleport anywhere. His entire body was wracked with pain every time he tried to utilize Origin Energy. The power of his opponent was eroding away his strength, and even every cell of his felt sluggish and lethargic. He waspletely relying on his powerful life force to stay alive. Su Chen¡¯s formation made it impossible for him to not use some of his power to resist.

    As he resisted Su Chen¡¯s attacks, the turmoil inside of his body only grew more intense, further affecting his condition. The severe pain made him feel like he was going to be torn apart.

    Su Chen seemed to recognize this and chuckled. ¡°It hurts a lot, doesn¡¯t it? Why not just let me kill you? That¡¯ll simplify things greatly.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s words seemed to be baiting the Scarlet Heart a little as they prated deep into the Scarlet Heart¡¯s throne.

    Yes, what was the point in resisting if it only brought immense pain? Wasn¡¯t it much better just to die and let everything end just like that?

    The Scarlet Heart raised his hand in the air and slowly pressed it on his forehead.

    Su Chen¡¯s words were still calmly spreading. ¡°Yes, just like that. Unleash a st from your palm and end this suffering.

    ¡°End this suffering......¡± the Scarlet Heart muttered. Just as he was about to follow through, however, a trace of rity broke him out of his stupor.

    He stopped his motion and stared intently at Su Chen. ¡°An illusion technique? You actually dared to use an illusion technique on me?¡±

    ¡°What a pity,¡± Su Chen sighed.

    When faced with an existence as powerful as the Scarlet Heart, Su Chen had to n things incredibly meticulously even if they seemed easy on the surface. His consciousness power was probably the most outrageous attribute he possessed, but unfortunately his skill in Illusion Techniques was still a bit weak. In the end, he was unable to bewitch the Scarlet Heart; he was only able to force him to sway slightly before regaining his sobriety.

    Since his first attempt had failed, Su Chen didn¡¯t even try it again. He immediately retreated as he gestured simultaneously. ¡°It¡¯s your turn.¡±

    ¡°Howe it¡¯s me again?¡± the white paper doll howled in anger.

    Even so, he was Su Chen¡¯s servant, and his duty was to protect Su Chen.

    Since Su Chen had issued amand, he had no choice but to follow.

    An instantter, he turned into a streak of white light and shot towards the Scarlet Heart.

    ¡°Get out of my way!¡± the Scarlet Heart roared. A powerful will seemed to coagte and rush at the white paper doll, who trembled and shrieked as if he had just been struck by lightning, the strips of white paper covering him turning into ashes as they burned away, revealing the cloud of smoke inside.

    ¡°I can¡¯t hold on any longer, Master!¡± the white paper doll howled madly.

    ¡°Then retreat.¡± Su Chen could see that the white paper doll really was at his limits.

    He stared intently at the Scarlet Heart. ¡°You¡¯ve attacked me twice but haven¡¯t managed to kill me yet. That indicates that your strength will no longer pose a problem to me.

    Thunder de.

    The profound de energy seemed to gather and swirl around his arm.

    Even the Scarlet Heart¡¯s expression grew a bit strange. ¡°Beautiful de technique!¡±

    Then, heughed.

    He said, ¡°However, you are far too naive if you think that you can easily kill me just because of that! I am a Demonic Emperor, a sovereign ruler! Even if a dragon is stranded on the beach, a puny little shrimp like you has no way of doing anything to me. You may die now!¡±

    He howled loudly asrge quantities of light began to gather around his body. In that moment, his majestic aura suddenly surged wildly, and the energy in the Scarlet Heart¡¯s body began to rapidly rise.

    ¡°Not good!¡± Su Chen realized the direness of the situation. The Scarlet Heart was really nning on going all-out and had given up on applying any defensive barriers to his body.

    He was not nning on holding back anymore!

    Su Chen hurriedly activated Whitetower Teleportation.

    ¡°It¡¯s pointless!¡± the Scarlet Heart howled fiercely.

    To his surprise, Su Chen discovered that he had no way of using Whitetower Teleportation again.

    Spatial Lockdown!

    The Scarlet Heart had actually used his strength to forcefully lock down the surrounding space!

    He really was not holding anything back.

    All of the energy within his body continued to flow out, bubbling over. At the same time, his body began to slowly decay, turning into small ashes that floated away on the wind.

    A violent storm was brewing, containing all of the Scarlet Heart¡¯s strength. He was unleashing all of the energy in his body in the most reckless, primal, uncontroble manner possible.

    As such, Su Chen watched as countless multicolored lights appeared, weaving together to form a brilliant disy of colors. However, theybined at the very end to form a streak of white light.

    This white color was abination of all colors, representing both the beginning and the end.

    ¡°Die now!¡± the Scarlet Heart boomed.

    The wave of energy surged relentless towards Su Chen.

    At this moment, Su Chen had no way of ying tricks any longer.

    All he could do was forcefully endure.

    Su Chen gritted his teeth, gathered all of the energy in his body, then charged forwards to meet the attack.

    Boom!

    With a low-pitched st of sound, the Lotus tform appeared above his head, shining brilliantly as Origin Energy began to undte from it.

    This golden light was much weaker than the waves of energy unleashed by the Scarlet Heart, but they were like a candle flickering in the wind, resolutely clinging on for dear life.

    The wind blew madly and wantonly, attempting to extinguish that flickering lifeforce. If his Lotus tform were to shatter and the me of life were to go out, Su Chen would have reached the end. At the same time, the Scarlet Heart¡¯s body was rapidly dissolving.

    They really were putting their lives on the line. Whoever could hold on longer would win.

    The Scarlet Heart¡¯s expression was contorted. ¡°I swear on my status as a Demonic Emperor, as a sovereign ruler of this world, that you will die today no matter what!¡±

    As he howled fiercely, the violent winds blew with even more gusto, and the light from the Lotus tform further dimmed.

    At that moment, a column of light shot into the air, protecting Su Chen and firmly blocking the Scarlet Heart¡¯s attack outside.

    This light was emanating from Su Chen¡¯s chest.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 219: Pe

    t

    "What¡¯s going on?"

    The Scarlet Heart stared at this column of light in shock.

    Under the effect of this column of light, Su Chen¡¯s body, which had been rapidly deteriorating, suddenly began to expand. His muscles bulged, seemingly filled with boundless energy.

    "ROAR!" Su Chen actually tilted his head back and howled like a primal beast, the aura even causing the Scarlet Heart to tremble ever so slightly.

    "This is...... totemic light?" He stared nkly.

    A familiar sight appeared in his eyes. Su Chen¡¯s body began to glow brightly as totemic inscriptions surfaced on his skin.

    However, this light was so blindingly bright that it far exceeded the level of anything the Scarlet had ever seen before. As far as he could remember, there were only a few Ravagers who had ever reach this level of blinding brilliance.

    This was...... the Greater Perfection Realm!

    A Greater Perfection Totem.

    The Scarlet Heart didn¡¯t understand how this was possible.

    How could a human possess a Greater Perfection Totem belonging to the Ravagers?

    At this moment, Su Chen seemed to have turned into a violent, barbaric Ravager. The muscles on his body were brimming with energy as they expanded, and he had even suddenly grown a fair bit taller.

    The Lotus tform retracted into Su Chen¡¯s body again. He relied merely on his physical body to resist the wave of energy that the Scarlet Heart had unleashed.

    He was like an immovable mountain that a big sea crashed against. No matter how the wind howled or the rain beat down on him, he remained stationary.

    "So you¡¯ve finallye out to y, Vitality Totem," Su Chen chuckled with satisfaction as he inspected himself.

    Ever since he had assimted the Hemolytic Totem into his body, Su Chen had been waiting for the moment when its use would manifest itself. Unfortunately, he had tried to draw it out a number of times but to no avail.

    He had theorized in the past that it would only activate in a moment of extreme danger, but he had always beencking a means to verify that theory.

    His pursuit of the Scarlet Heart was actually for many reasons. One was to try and throw off any pursuers, and another was to see if he could get this Vitality Totem to activate.

    Of course, he wouldn¡¯t put his life at risk just to try and activate this Vitality Totem, so it was still important for him to be careful. Even so, having this trace of hope gave him a good reason to take some more risks.

    As such, he had chosen toe despite knowing that the Scarlet Heart might have a technique for taking them both to the grave.

    It was impossible to go through life without taking any risks. As long as the reason for taking a risk was important enough, that was sufficient.

    It seemed like his luck was pretty good today.

    Once his life force had been pushed to its limit, the Vitality Totem finally activated. No one could have anticipated the effects this activation would bring.

    He was actually brought to the Greater Perfection Realm, a state that gave him a legendarily powerful battle body.

    Even the Scarlet Heart¡¯s imposing pressure couldn¡¯t do anything to him.

    Of course, the Scarlet Heart¡¯s heavy wounds yed a critical role in this, but the resilience a Greater Perfection Realm totem conferred on a person¡¯s body was truly worthy of praise.

    Obviously, however, the might of this totem was not unlimited. Su Chen could sense the power of his totemic inscriptions decreasing. He probably wouldn¡¯t be able to maintain it for much longer. Even so, it was pretty apparent that he was going to be able to oust the Scarlet Heart.

    "NO!" The Scarlet Heart howled when he saw this scene.

    His body continued to decay rapidly, turning into dust.

    His current strength was no longer sufficient to break through Su Chen¡¯s iron-like body, so he could only sumb to his fate of defeat.

    The wave of energy and wind began to gradually lessen, turning from a hurricane into a gale, then into a heavy wind, then into a light breeze.

    By the time the wind blew past, the Scarlet Heart hadpletely turned into ash, disappearing without a trace.

    Su Chen sighed, and the Vitality Totem went back into hibernation. A sensation of extreme hunger surfaced yet again.

    However, this hunger was very quickly sated.

    ¡°Burp!¡±

    Su Chen belched with satisfaction, as if he had just eaten arge meal.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Su Chen immediately understood. ¡°If you kill your enemy, you can directly absorb their life force and store it in the Vitality Totem. At a critical moment, it will activate and increase my life force.¡±

    Then, he spread his perception over his own body. ¡°Not only so, but after this Vitality Totem activates, some of the remaining energy will directly enter my body and silently resculpt it.¡±

    Su Chen had developed a preliminary understanding of how the Vitality Totem worked.

    There were two primary uses for the Vitality Totem: one was to sculpt and improve a user¡¯s body, increasing their strength, while the other was that it would activate in a critical moment, increasing a person¡¯s life force drastically.

    Now, it seemed like Su Chen¡¯s limit was equivalent to that of a Greater Perfection Realm Ravager.

    But what would happen if Su Chen¡¯s physique continued to improve?

    Even Su Chen himself was unclear what that might cause.

    Well, he didn¡¯t need to worry about something so far off in the future anyways. The most important task at hand was to deal with the Scarlet Heart.

    The Scarlet Heart had disintegrated in battle, so no corpse was left behind. No resources from his body were left behind, not even a Demonic Emperor Origin Crystal.

    On the other hand, the Scarlet Heart had left behind quite a few good things.

    One was an Origin Ring.

    Given the Scarlet Heart¡¯s status, it was impossible for him not to have possessed an Origin Ring.

    He might have caused his own body to be consumed, but the Origin Ring was not part of his body and was not consumed.

    Su Chen picked up the Origin Ring and nced it over. It was exceptionallyrge for an Origin Ring. The one Su Chen possessed could store a lot of items, but this one was equivalent to a few hundred lower-tier Origin Rings in terms of storage. It was obvious how much storage space it possessed.

    Naturally, there would be many items kept within such a spacious Origin Ring. Most importantly, the Scarlet Heart had only just swept across the Iron and Blood Country, so anything of value would have naturally been kept inside this Origin Ring.

    Su Chen almost fainted when he opened the Origin Ring and saw what was inside.

    "Are you serious? You even collect Seven Shadows Grass and hundred-year-old Fire Cicadas? You can¡¯t possibly have been that poor, right?" Rather than being ecstatic that the Scarlet Hesrt had collected such a wide breadth of resources, Su Chen actually began toin.

    In his view, what the Scarlet Heart owned was truly not worth even mentioning.

    It wasn¡¯t that none of the resources would fetch a fair price - it was that Su Chen already possessed all these things.

    Collecting any treasures heid his eyes on was denigrating of his status as a Demonic Emperor.

    However, that was not actually too surprising. After all, the Ravager territory was quite poor, and many of the locations had been plundered by the Heavenly Might Battalion already. As such, the treasures remaining were quite limites.

    However, the most important factor was still Su Chen¡¯s provocation.

    Su Chen had dealt a serious blow to the Scarlet Heart¡¯s state of mind andposure, so the Scarlet Heart had tried to reim what he had lost as quickly as possible. As a result, his appetite had greatly increased, making it so that he even began to harvestmon materials.

    "You really were so hungry that you didn¡¯t care what you ate," Su Chen muttered to himself.

    Of course, there was a decent amount of good items there as well.

    There was a Demonic King Origin Crystal, some rare cultivation resources, and some unique Ravager materials.

    However, the most valuable item was still a wooden box.

    The moment he contacted the box, he could sense a powerful strand of will emanating from it.

    Su Chen immediately realized what this was.

    "The soul of a God of War...... this must be Sachar¡¯s soul!" Su Chen muttered.

    Just like how the Beasts¡¯ cores were very useful to the Intelligent Races, the souls of deceased Intelligent Race individuals were exceptionally useful to the Beasts. Apparently, they could increase a Beast¡¯sbat intelligence, converting the umted battle experience into actual strength. However, the Scarlet Heart¡¯s intelligence had reached the peak a long time ago, and it didn¡¯t actually have much use to him. But for a King-level existence, it was a treasure that would allow them to break into the Emperor realm, because contained within this soul was profoundprehension and experience.

    However, these things were only useful to Beasts, not really to those of the Intelligent Races, just as the opposite was true for Beast Cores.

    The Origin Races and the Intelligent Races supplemented each other in the first ce.

    ¡°What a pity. I have no pet to use this on,¡± Su Chen sighed with some regret.

    ¡°Ma- Master......¡± the white paper doll suddenly spoke up.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Su Chen turned to look at him.

    The white paper doll said, ¡°I am your pet.¡±

    Su Chen was speechless.

    He was not used to seeing the white paper doll as a pet yet.

    Even so, the reality was that, while the white paper doll appeared to be human, it was still a member of the Origin Race. Its basic life essence was a gaseous cloud of air. Of course, it was not a Beast, but it absolutely could be considered a pet; after all, the word was only really used figuratively. Of course, whether or not it looked and acted like a pet was a totally different matter.

    The soul of the God of War wasn¡¯t really all that useful to Su Chen, but it was tremendously useful to the white paper doll.

    It could greatly increase the white paper doll¡¯s strength.

    Su Chen thought for a moment before saying, ¡°I¡¯m not too used to having a human-shaped pet.¡±

    The white paper doll immediately replied, ¡°That¡¯s only because I met you and purposefully took on this form. Paper is just my outer shell; if you want, I can take on any appearance.¡±

    As the white paper doll spoke, the cloud of fog changed shapes, assuming the figure of a cute little beast. However, the paper shell on the outside had yet to fully grow out.

    He had truly put in quite a bit of effort to obtain this soul of the God of War.

    When he saw the paper doll acting like this, Su Chen chuckled. ¡°It seems like you aren¡¯t mad at me for using you.¡±

    The white paper doll hurriedly said, ¡°I am my Master¡¯s ve. As long as my Master wants to, he can do anything he pleases.¡±

    ¡°Well, you did put in quite a bit of effort to obtain this.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the soul of a God of War. If I obtain it, my strength will greatly increase along with myprehension, and it will make advancing in the future much easier,¡± the white paper doll said excitedly.

    ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, then this belongs to you.¡± Su Chen handed over the soul.

    The white paper doll caught it with the cloud of smoke and began to absorb the energy inside. The powerful strands of consciousness energy were absorbed into his body. As this energy was absorbed, the white paper doll¡¯s strength began to increase rapidly.

    Suddenly, the cloud of smoke began to expand and contract as a wave of shocking energy surged wildly. The white paper doll¡¯s paper shell began to regenerate and very quickly recovered fully. However, he was no longer in the shape of a human but of a paper crane, and he flew around a few times in midair as he howled withughter, ¡°I seeded in ascending! I¡¯ve finally ascended!¡±

    ¡°Oh? So you¡¯ve be a Lord-ss existence now?¡± Su Chen muttered as he sensed the auraing from the white paper doll.

    The God of War¡¯s soul had not only helped the white paper dollpletely recover from his wounds but also breakthrough into a higher realm. In addition, he had obtained all of Sachar¡¯s insights and experience, making his future cultivation path much easier.

    ¡°Hahahaha, you damned human! I want to see how you will control me now!¡± the white paper doll - no, the paper craneughed madly.

    ¡°So you¡¯re trying to turn on me as soon as you ascended?¡± Su Chen was not the least bit surprised.

    He tried to control the Death Shadow of a Youth¡¯s life force, but he quickly discovered that the Death Shadow of a Youth was now able to resist his control.

    ¡°It won¡¯t work! I, the Death¡¯s Shadow of a Youth, am no ordinary Origin Race individual. Every time I ascend, my lifeforce will drastically change. You didn¡¯t know that, did you? Hahahaha!¡± the paper crane continued to cackle with derangedughter.

    ¡°Oh, no wonder. So unique lifeforms do have some tricks up their sleeves. Not bad, not bad.¡± Su Chen nodded with satisfaction.

    ¡°You¡¯re not afraid?¡± Upon seeing him like this, the white crane was obviously taken aback.

    ¡°Afraid? Why would I be afraid?¡± Su Chen chuckled coldly. ¡°Actually, I¡¯ve been wanting to test how big the gap is between me and a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator for a long time. I shouldn¡¯t be able to take on an old Spirit Burning Realm expert quite yet, but as for a newly ascended Lord-ss existence...... I still have some confidence in my ability to defeat you.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he raised the Mountain-Beheading de. ¡°Since you insist on being unruly, then I¡¯ll teach you another lesson and absorb some more of your life source.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 220: Return

    A short whileter.

    The sounds of piteous wails could be heard echoing throughout the forest.

    ¡°Why? Why did this happen? I already ascended to Lord-ss, but why am I still unable to defeat him? I refuse to admit...... AH!¡±

    Su Chen interrupted hisints by cutting off arge chunk of his life source and taking it for himself.

    ¡°You should consider yourself lucky. Not everyone who betrays me gets a second chance,¡± Su Chen said faintly. ¡°If you even think about doing it again, remember the price that you will pay.¡±

    ¡°I...... acknowledge my wrongdoing...... Master!¡± the paper crane whimpered at Su Chen¡¯s feet.

    ¡°If you acknowledge your wrongdoing, then let¡¯s go.¡± Su Chen stepped onto the paper crane.

    Su Chen himself could obviously fly, and he also had the Cloud Piercing Shuttles on him. At this moment, however, he preferred to fly around on a paper crane.

    The paper crane took Su Chen and flew back along the return path.

    Seven dayster, the paper crane arrived at the Harvey ins, where the Gravel Lizard Tribe was situated. At this point in time, the Gravel Lizard Tribe was already the most powerful tribe in the southern area of Ravager territory. Danba had gone on a rampage, subjugating ten or so tribes in a single sweep.

    Su Chen was very warmly received by Danba.

    Three dayster, Su Chen left, and the paper crane continued to fly south.

    This time, Su Chen was really nning on going home.

    Unlike the Heavenly Might Battalion, however, Su Chen was nning on taking the route through the Flowing Gold Fort.

    He was going to return to the country in a confident manner.

    In the Flowing Gold Fort.

    The soldiers were standing on the city walls, chatting with each other aimlessly.¡±

    ¡°This is really boring. Brother Bo, tell us some more stories about the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s exploits in Ravager territory,¡± a young soldier said to another soldier who was sitting there with a resolute expression.

    His words drew the attention and support of the nearby soldiers.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah! Tell us some more!¡±

    That soldier¡¯s name was Kong Bo. When he heard the young soldiers¡¯ words, he chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ve already told you all the stories that I can these past couple of days. Anything else that I haven¡¯t told you are all things I¡¯m not allowed to talk about; what else is there to say?¡±

    The other soldiers felt their moods sink again when they heard this.

    One of the soldiers said, ¡°What is there that you cannot say? Is it not just about those people and those things? You might not be allowed to talk about it, but no one knows what the heck is going on. Someone¡¯s just trying to pull the wool over our eyes.¡±

    ¡°Shut your mouth. A loose tongue brings no end of troubles,¡± a nearby person said.

    The soldier who had spoken earlier said angrily, ¡°Like hell I¡¯m afraid of him......¡±

    He wanted to say something more, but someone else stopped him from saying anything more.

    The soldier who shut him up nced at Kong Bo. ¡°Brother Bo, sorry about that.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I understand.¡± Kong Bo didn¡¯t mind.

    The topic of the Heavenly Might Battalion was brought up and quashed almost within the same breath.

    Even so, suppressing matters forcefully like this would always leave some people dissatisfied.

    There was simply too much to talk about, so it was no surprise really that someone couldn¡¯t stay quiet.

    After a brief moment, another soldier couldn¡¯t resist saying, ¡°I don¡¯t understand, Brother Bo.¡±

    ¡°What don¡¯t you understand?¡± Kong Bo stood attentively at the walls of the city, staring off into the distance. It appeared as if there was something flying in this direction.

    Kong Bo instinctively focused his attention in that direction.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand why they are treating you like this, or why you all are just epting it,¡± the soldier continued toin.

    Kong Bo continued to focus on the advancing object as he replied casually, ¡°Do you think our attitude is really that strange? Then what would you have us do? Stand up for ourselves? Or start a mutiny?¡±

    ¡°......That¡¯s not what we mean.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± Kong Bo said. ¡°But if you experienced the same things that we experienced in Ravager territory, you wouldn¡¯t ce so much importance on what we are going through right now...... If we were able to make it through that kind of a desperate situation, of what importance is this little valley? In any case, we had some expectations that this would happen before we even returned.¡±

    ¡°You expected this would happen before you returned?¡± Everyone was stunned. ¡°Then you still......¡±

    Kong Bu chuckled. ¡°There will be something to say. It just isn¡¯t the right time either.¡±

    The dot on the horizon was slowly bingrger andrger. Kong Bo could finally see the outline of a human riding on the back of some kind of strange beast.

    Kong Bo motioned for them to remain alert and stand on guard.

    ¡°When?¡± There were a few soldiers who didn¡¯t understand what he was talking about.

    ¡°When the person who can decide what the right time is,¡± Kong Bo replied calmly.

    He had only casually said something like that, but that was actually the crux of the matter.

    After those days and nights they had spent in Ravager territory, the leader in the hearts of the soldiers had gradually changed.

    The reason everyone could endure until this point was because they knew there was one person who was willing to stick his neck out for them. That person, who had the right to decide what the right time was, had not yet returned.

    So they could only wait.

    This was something the soldiers had decided on their own, and something the higher-ups of the Heavenly Might Battalion had unanimously concluded.

    However, these things could not be spoken to anyone else. There were some things that were invisibly hidden within peoples¡¯ hearts that could not be revealed, but everyone was extremely clear about.

    The person who can decide? Who was that?

    Just as everyone was making their guesses, Kong Bo¡¯s eyes suddenly dted as his body trembled ever so slightly.

    ¡°It¡¯s him! He¡¯s back! He¡¯s back!¡± Kong Bo suddenly began to yell with excitement.

    ¡°Who is it?¡± the others asked as they watched a person flying in their direction from afar.

    A slight smile danced around Kong Bo¡¯s lips. ¡°Naturally, the person we cannot talk about.¡±

    The paper crane flew through the air as the walls of the Flowing Gold Fort gradually faded into view. Even Su Chen felt a bit of excitement in his heart.

    He had finally returned.

    Su Chen did not instruct the paper crane tond directly on the walls of the city. Because he hade from Ravager territory, he still needed to be inspected. As such, Su Chen told the paper crane to slow down so that the guards of the fort would have enough time to react.

    Very quickly, the walls of the city began to light up.

    These lights were for direction, instructing Su Chen tond in a certain location. It was also a warning, informing the nearby soldiers to be prepared and alert.

    Su Chen instructed the paper crane to head in the direction of the lights.

    He had just stepped off the crane when he saw a soldier suddenly kneel in front of him. ¡°Kong Bo greets Prince Su!¡±

    ¡°Kong Bo? You were from the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s Sea Mountain Garrison, am I right?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Kong Bo was ecstatic. ¡°Prince Su, so you still remember me!¡±

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°You were on my left nk when we attacked Chag Castle. I remember you leading the charge bravely and without fear. I also remember that you were one of the fastest individuals to grasp my Immacte Cultivation Technique. Howe now......¡±

    Su Chen had noticed that he didn¡¯t recognize any of the soldiers next to Kong Bo.

    Of course, it was impossible for him to remember all of the soldiers. However, only Kong Bo was kneeling before him. All the other soldiers were quizzically sizing him up, which allowed him to quickly confirm that they were not members of the Heavenly Might Battalion.

    The main problem was that Kong Bo was in fact a member of the Heavenly Might Battalion, so how did......

    A certain bad premonition surfaced in Su Chen¡¯s heart.

    Indeed, Kong Bo replied, ¡°After the Heavenly Might Battalion returned, we were disbanded. There is no such thing as the Heavenly Might Battalion anymore.¡±

    ¡°The Heavenly Might Battalion was disbanded?¡± Su Chen asked with some surprise.

    No wonder Kong Bo had called him Prince Su. After all, he was still the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s Deputy Garrison Commander. Even if he had not been actively involved in his duties for the past few days, his official position was still there. As such, Kong Bo should have referred to him as such, and those who knew how to tter him might even have dropped the ¡°deputy¡± title. Now, however, he understood - since the Heavenly Might Battalion itself was gone, then it followed that his rank had disappeared as well. Kong Bo could only refer to him as Prince Su.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Kong Bo lowered his head. ¡°Not long after the Heavenly Might Battalion returned, the higher-ups decreed that our battalion ignored a directmand and invaded enemy territory,mitting a great crime. As such, we were seriously punished.¡±

    ¡°So that is how it ended up, huh?¡± Su Chen muttered, not all that caught off-guard.

    Everyone had realized that this was a possibility before the Heavenly Might Battalion had even returned.

    Anyone who had managed to survive until this point couldn¡¯t be an idiot. The matter of the Heavenly Might Battalion was a stain to certain powerful individuals.

    If that stain disappeared, then everything would have resolved itself over time. But if the stain managed to return alive...... it would not be removed for at least a lifetime.

    That Crown Prince would definitely not be able to ept an oue like that.

    However, pping the Heavenly Might Battalion with treason was too far-fetched, and no one would believe it. As such, he could only choose to transfer the responsibility of his mistake to the Heavenly Might Battalion itself.

    Even though they had guessed that this might happen, guesses were guesses, and possibilities were possibilities. Su Chen¡¯s expression still sank when he heard the terrible news. ¡°So that¡¯s the reason why they disbanded the Heavenly Might Battalion?¡±

    This was a battalion with incredible amounts ofbat experience. The fact that they survived an expedition into Ravager territory was more than enough to badly surprise countless people.

    How to deal with this kind of a battalion was a big problem.

    It was impossible to kill them, but neither did he want to reward them.

    After thinking it over a number of times, the easiest method was to dissolve and reorganize them. They would be able to destroy the battalion¡¯s cohesiveness. In order to ensure this, they forbid the soldiers from ever discussing what had happened in the Iron and Blood Country.

    Objectively, if they maintained this stance and time went on, their contact would grow limited and their unified consciousness would slowly dissipate. This really was quite an effective way to deal with the problem.

    However, even though this helped them deal with the problem, the education this battalion had received inrge-scale battles and the power and influence this battalion had possessed also disappeared.

    ¡°So the Heavenly Might Battalion was not destroyed after a year in the Iron and Blood Country, but someone managed to wipe them out just a few days after they returned?¡± Su Chen muttered.

    Kong Bo replied with agitation, ¡°Prince Su, the Heavenly Might Battalion can be disbanded, but our consciousness still exists! We have been waiting for you the whole time to fight for justice on our behalf.¡±

    ¡°Waiting for me? What about General Li? What about my Instructor?¡±

    ¡°General Li was charged with mishandling his authority and was stripped of his rank. Vice Commander Shi...... was ced under house arrest.¡±

    ¡°Under house arrest? How dare they!¡± Su Chen¡¯s expression sank.

    At this moment, a deep voice boomed out, ¡°Who dares trespass in the Flowing Gold Fort? Arrest him!¡±

    As these words rang out, arge horde of soldiers charged to the top of the fort¡¯s walls, pointing their heavy crossbows and spears at Su Chen.

    A schrly-looking man stepped forwards, facing off against Su Chen.

    Kong Bo hurriedly said, ¡°This person is Su Chen, the benefactor who saved the Heavenly Might Battalion!¡±

    ¡°Su Chen?¡± The schr¡¯s eyes glowed with intensity. ¡°So you¡¯re Su Chen.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I am he,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°But even Prince Su himself doesn¡¯t have the authority to charge into the Flowing Gold Fort like this, does he?¡± the schr asked.

    Su Chen nced around. ¡°I just came back from Ravager territory. If I didn¡¯t go by way of the Flowing Gold Fort, how else would I have returned?¡±

    ¡°Then the problem is even bigger. Prince Su is only a inclothes civilian, so how were you able to return from Ravager territory safe and sound? Perhaps Prince Su sold out human secrets to be a Ravager spy? Men,e and seize him. We will make a decision after interrogating him.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 221: Public Hearing 1

    Chapter 221: Public Hearing (1)

    Arge group of generals sat in arge hall.

    These generals were all on the same level as Li Chongshan. Almost all of the generals and garrisonmanders stationed in the Flowing Gold Fort were present.

    Su Chen stood at the very bottom of the hall.

    The individual presiding over the hall was a white-haired old man.

    Su Chen knew that this man was the Commander-In-Chief of the Ravager Extermination Army, Hong Qianzhu.

    Hong Qianzhu was of the Brighke Hong n. He possessed the Killer Overlord Beast Bloodline, a Demonic Emperor¡¯s bloodline, giving him tremendous strength. During his peak, he had single-handedly charged into a formation of Ravager soldiers and emerged totally unscathed. Shortly thereafter, he was crowned with the title of ¡°God of War¡± and the number one individual in terms of status below the imperial family.

    However, the Killer Overlord Beast¡¯s peerless strength came at the cost of vitality. When you factored in the old man¡¯s dauntless style of battle and the many wounds he had sustained, his lifespan had been severely impacted, and he had gradually drifted past his prime. His current state was actually quite simr to how Sachar had been before his untimely death.

    As he had gotten older, his Qi and blood had thinned out, causing him to lose some of the majestic aura he once had. Currently, his cultivation was primarily for maintenance, and his primary duty was to support the many direct subordinates he had at the Flowing Gold Fort.

    The young man next to him was his new subordinatemander, His Highness Lin Wenjun, the Crown Prince.

    As his name indicated, this Crown Prince was quite handsome.

    However, this handsome Crown Prince always seemed to have a moody expression hanging on his face, making it impossible for those around him to be happy either.

    This Lin Wenjun¡¯s expression was incredibly dissatisfied when he saw Su Chen.

    So this person was the one who had saved the Heavenly Might Battalion and caused him to lose a great deal of face?

    After all, he was the one who had strongly advocated for the Heavenly Might Battalion to attack, and he was the one who had even more strongly advocated to give up on the Heavenly Might Battalion

    While he was figuratively cutting off his own arm, Su Chen had gone and rescued the entire battalion.

    A single man had aplished all of this.

    This was the same as pping his face directly!

    This bastard, how could he ignore the prestige of a Crown Prince just like that?

    Lin Wenjun¡¯s mood only grew worse the more he thought about the situation.

    He nced below him from his seat high up in the hall. The schr, Qiu Qingzhi, understood his intentions and barked at Su Chen, ¡°Su Chen, we have already made clear investigations. During your return, the Ravagers didn¡¯t make any attempt to try and stop you, not even sending out a single soldier. Answer me honestly - did you make some kind of an agreement with the Ravagers?¡±

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°You made such a bigmotion just to ask me this? If I say I didn¡¯t, would you believe me?¡±

    Qiu Qingzhi smacked the table and said, ¡°Whatever the hall asks you, answer the question. Don¡¯t waste our time with so much irrelevant nonsense.¡±

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°I know how to use illusion techniques, and I had a mount to ride. Because I was traveling alone, it was very difficult for the Ravagers to spot me. That¡¯s how I managed to make it out unscathed.¡±

    Qiu Qingzhiughed coldly as he said, ¡°You make it sound so easy.¡±

    Su Chen immediately replied, ¡°It wasn¡¯t that hard in the first ce. As long as you are strong enough, you can easily travel through Ravager territory. Their defenses really aren¡¯t anything to write home about.¡±

    ¡°Your tone is quite arrogant.¡±

    Su Chen said with a slight smile. ¡°I¡¯m telling the truth. If you don¡¯t trust me, feel free to try it out. If you don¡¯t manage to make it out...... well, sorry about that.¡±

    Qiu Qingzhi froze as the generals in the hall began to chuckle quietly amongst themselves.

    Qiu Qingzhi¡¯s expression was extremely ugly. Of course he did not dare to directly answer Su Chen¡¯s challenge. He might have the guts to provoke Su Chen here in this hall, but he did not have the guts to take a walk through Ravager territory.

    He stared intently at Su Chen and wanted to rebut in some way when one of the generals nearby spoke up.

    ¡°Su Chen, please don¡¯t misunderstand. We are not interrogating you because we are worried that you sold out the humans. No matter what, we must first thank you for saving the Heavenly Might Battalion. The only reason we are investigating you is to make sure that you didn¡¯t reveal any of the army¡¯s secrets while saving them.¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Of course. That¡¯s quite a good excuse...... Even the most absurd actions need a logical reason that can see the light of day supporting them. That¡¯s a pretty good one.¡±

    The general didn¡¯t grow angry. Instead, he chuckled, ¡°As the hero who saved eight thousand individuals who were part of the Heavenly Might Battalion, I don¡¯t me you for considering your situation absurd. However, I can promise you that as long as you can prove that you didn¡¯t sell out any of our secrets, you will be totally fine.¡±

    Su Chen asked, ¡°May I know your name?¡±

    The general replied, ¡°My name is Wei Feng.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re in charge of the Earthly Ferocious Battalion,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°So my reward for saving an entire battalion is that I am guaranteed that nothing bad will happen to me?¡±

    Hong Qianzhu, who was sitting in the middle, said, ¡°Of course not. You saved the Heavenly Might Battalion, and you will be rewarded for your contributions. As long as we can find the evidence, we will naturally repay you in kind. This grievance will only be temporary, but unfortunately it is still necessary.¡±

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡±

    He turned to face Qiu Qingzhi and said, ¡°Did you hear that?¡±

    Qiu Qingzhi¡¯s expression was a bit ugly. ¡°Hear what?¡±

    Su Chen said calmly, ¡°You seem like you don¡¯t fear me at all, but I think you should be afraid.¡±

    Qiu Qingzhi¡¯s figure trembled slightly, while Lin Wenjun¡¯s expression hardened.

    How arrogant!

    Even so, Su Chen had the right to be arrogant.

    If someone who hadn¡¯t made a single contribution could strut around in front of him by relying on this stand, why couldn¡¯t he act a bit arrogantly?

    Su Chen ignored Qiu Qingzhi and turned to face Hong Qianzhu as he spoke. ¡°Since that¡¯s how it is, then if Commander-In-Chief and everyone else present have any questions, please, ask away.¡±

    He didn¡¯t mention the deputymander, causing Lin Wenjun¡¯s expression to darken even further.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you tell us about how you rescued the Heavenly Might Battalion.¡± The asker was Xiao Feinan this time.

    He was purposefully creating an opportunity for Su Chen here - the Heavenly Might Battalion had already returned, so it was impossible for everyone to know exactly what Su Chen had done. As such, asking him this question was equivalent to giving him an opportunity to show off.

    Indeed, Su Chen didn¡¯t let him down. He began to, in great detail, describe what he had done in Ravager territory, starting from how he had convinced the Heavenly Might Battalion to take a different route, continuing to how he had brought themrge quantities of resources, then to how they infiltrated the Beasts¡¯ territory and stimted a Beast Wave. Everything he did affected the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s chances at survival greatly, and it all culminated finally in how he had instructed Iron Cliff to create a path for them to sessfully retreat.

    Even if those present already knew what had happened, they were still just as stunned now hearing it recounted in their presence. They all felt as if their blood was boiling with excitement.

    Even though Su Chen¡¯s words were calm and peaceful, he couldn¡¯t suppress the current of emotion that was roiling in the hearts of anyone who was listening to his words.

    After he finished talking, the hall waspletely silent.

    After a long time, Hong Qianzhu suddenly raised his hands.

    He began to p.

    One general after another began to join in with this pping until the hall was filled with the sound of apuse.

    Even Lin Wenjun began to p his hands.

    He might not have been a qualified general, but at least he was a qualified actor.

    Su Chen quietly stood there, appreciating the apuse enveloping him.

    This was an affirmation by the generals, by the military, and even by the whole human race of what he had done. Even a person who possessed an immense amount of authority might not be able to receive this kind of affirmation, because it was the instinctual respect that people had for heroes.

    As he quietly soaked up the apuse, he felt no difort or uneasiness. He disyed quite a bit of self-confidence, as any sessful general should.

    Once the apuse subsided, the main hall quieted down again.

    Hong Qianzhu spoke. ¡°We¡¯ve already asked what we needed to confirm. Do you all have any more questions?¡±

    Lin Wenjun said, ¡°I have a question.¡±

    Hong Qianzhu made a motion indicating that he could do as he pleased.

    Lin Wenjun stared intently at Su Chen as he spoke with clear enunciation, ¡°I do not wish to dampen what Prince Su has aplished by infiltrating Ravager territory and saving the Heavenly Might Battalion. However, I do want to know how you were so clear about the situation of the Ravagers?¡±

    Before waiting for Su Chen to reply, he continued, ¡°Let me put this another way. You would at least need a map in addition to your camouge ability in order to traverse the Iron and Blood Country like a fish in water, right? Maps are important treasures to a country and are hard toe by. So how did you manage to get one?¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t immediately respond.

    Lin Wenjun¡¯s words had managed to strike Su Chen at one of his weak spots.

    His rtionship with the Immortal Temple was his greatest weakness. If this secret was ever revealed, Su Chen might immediately be considered as a human traitor. On the other hand, he had been doing business with the Immortal Temple for so long, and it was possible that this secret had spread. As a result, it was indeed the easiest secret that could be revealed.

    Just selling the Three Yangs Medicine alone had cast quite a bit of suspicion onto him.

    The effects of this matter were far too great, to the point that even the Immortal Temple weren¡¯t able to trick everyone. Someone was bound to discover that the original sellers of the Three Yangs Medicine were linked to the Immortal Temple.

    The worst part was that, after creating the Hemolytic Totem, the fact that Su Chen was Cloud Bat was spread far and wide to all seven human countries. Basically anyone and everyone was aware of Su Chen¡¯s true identity.

    When youbined these two lines of reasoning, even an idiot would be able to tell that Su Chen had dealings with the Immortal Temple.

    Of course, that didn¡¯t necessarily mean that they would be able to do anything to him.

    Su Chen had contributed the techniques for reaching the Blood Boiling Realm and the Yang Opening Realm without bloodlines, the Hemolytic Totem, and a bunch of other rted techniques. His contributions to the human race were quite staggering. Under these kinds of circumstances, no one would probably make too much of a fuss even if Su Chen had coborated with the Ravagers, let alone the Immortal Temple. Many people had sold human secrets before without consequences entirely because of their status or their contributions.

    However, all of this depended on whether or not they would ept it.

    If they were willing to ept it, then they would be able to spin it as he had done everything for his country and for his people. Even though he had made some small mistakes here or there, they were all forgivable, and his contributions more than made up for it.

    If they were unwilling, then it could easily be turned into a matter of him growing arrogant because of his aplishments and selling out his country for some personal gain. Even though he had helped his country, his actions had also affected themoners. He should be rewarded for his contributions and punished for his crimes. His rewards would be a number of precious stones and resources, while the punishment was even simple - a single de would suffice.

    No matter how they chose to spin it, reason was on their side.

    This was Su Chen¡¯s situation. If the higher-ups were happy with him, everything was trivial; if they weren¡¯t happy with him, they could absolutely take his life with just those charges alone.

    Did Lin Wenjun like him?

    Of course not.

    But there was not really a reason for Lin Wenjun to want him dead.

    Lin Wenjun obviously had his own thoughts on the matter, but before they were manifested, he thought it best to first try and suppress Su Chen¡¯s influence first so that public opinion wouldn¡¯t sway too far against him.¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know what Lin Wenjun was nning, but he was very clear that nothing good woulde from admitting his rtionship with the Immortal Temple.

    As such, he cleanly responded, ¡°I didn¡¯t have a map.¡±

    Lin Wenjun pressed, ¡°So how did you find the Heavenly Might Battalion and grasp what was going on in Ravager territory so clearly?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I asked around as I walked. After all, I can speak the Ravager tongue. Anything I learned I would put onto a map. Before leaving, I didn¡¯t have a map, but when it came time to go, I had already developed a map that I could use for leaving the Iron and Blood Country. Your Highness, did you not say that maps are important country treasures? So if I hand this map over to you all, how much will I benefit?¡±

    Previous Chapter

    Next Chapter

 Book 4: Near Blood - 222: Public Hearing 2 â€œHahahaha.â€

    Chapter 222: Public Hearing (2)

    ¡°Hahahaha.¡±

    Delightedughter rang out through the hall. The generals were quite pleased with the way Su Chen reacted.

    No matter how much influence the Crown Prince had, their respect for heroes wouldn¡¯t decrease in the slightest.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Lin Wenjunughed coldly, as if he had anticipated this response from Su Chen a long time ago. ¡°But the people from the Immortal Temple don¡¯t seem to say the same thing.¡±

    ¡°Oh? What do they say, then?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°You want to know?¡± Lin Wenjun pped his hands and said, ¡°Bring the man up!¡±

    As Lin Wenjun yelled, a man was brought onto the stage.

    When he walked past Su Chen, he shot him a nce.

    Su Chen frowned slightly.

    The man before him did seem somewhat familiar, but he couldn¡¯t remember exactly why.

    Su Chen was very clear that this man was not one of Shi Mingfeng¡¯s people. As Su Chen had gotten closer with the Immortal Temple, his usefulness had increased, so the Immortal Temple had done their best to protect him. Apart from the people that had gotten to know Su Chen very early on, no one else was permitted to contact him.

    However, this sense of familiarity only told Su Chen that it really was possible that they had met before.

    The man stood before the assembly and said, ¡°Sun Mo greets His Majesty the Crown Prince and the Commander-In-Chief.¡±

    Lin Wenjun said pretentiously, ¡°There is no Crown Prince here, only the Deputy Commander.¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course. Greetings to the Deputy Commander.

    ¡°Tell us when you got to know Su Chen.¡±

    ¡°It was when we were at Northface City......¡± As Sun Mo borated, a portion of Su Chen¡¯s memories that he thought he had forgotten actually began to surface in his mind.

    So this Sun Mo was one of Sang Zhen¡¯s underlings.

    Back when he was in Northface, Su Chen had been brought over to Sang Zhen¡¯s side. At the time, he had a ton of subordinates under his control, and this person was one of them.

    He had been incredibly unassuming at the time, and twenty years had already passed since then. As a result, Su Chen basically had no recollection of who he was.

    He might have forgotten his opponent, but that person who had met Su Chen found it impossible to erase the impression Su Chen had made on him.

    And just as the Immortal Temple was doing their best to infiltrate the higher ranks of Long Sang Country, so also Long Sang Country was quite active in trying to stamp out the Immortal Temple. They did their best to try and rope people in and buy out people belonging to the Immortal Temple.

    Sun Mo¡¯s being bought out was many years after he had first met Su Chen. He didn¡¯t know exactly what exchanges Su Chen had made with the Immortal Temple, but that didn¡¯t prevent him from knowing about the connection between Su Chen and the Immortal Temple, as well as about the matter of the Spirit Burying Terrace.

    And to people who had the heart to pursue the matter, knowing about this initial interaction was more than enough to allow them to interpret what had urred afterwards.

    Sun Mo¡¯s description began to open up the secrets that had been kept under the surface, allowing the generals to get to know a Su Chen from a different time.

    The Su Chen at the time was weak and powerless, but he was able to wrangle his way into a cooperation despite the fact that they had tried to assassinate him before this. Everyone who heard this story couldn¡¯t help but sigh in amazement.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that the Crown Prince was present, this would have made for quite a legendary story. If the Immortal Temple was not a threat, this story might even have been passed on for some time. However, because of the aforementioned conditions, the brilliance of these feats was dimmed. The people listening sighed in their hearts, wondering how Su Chen would deal with this usation.

    Su Chen remained silent and calm.

    He quietly listened to Sun Mo tell stories about his past exploits as his mind flew at breakneck pace. The powerful calction ability his consciousness crystal conferred to him allowed him to simultaneously explore multiple possibilities as he searched for holes in Sun Mo¡¯s words.

    Yes, holes.

    Even if Sun Mo was present and the words he spoke were the truth, there were still holes present.

    Did that sound strange? What holes could there possibly be in the truth?

    But if the truth was even more bizarre than a story, then why could there not be any holes?

    Of course there could be!

    Sun Mo¡¯s exposition had concluded at this point.

    Unsurprisingly, once he had gotten to the point where Su Chen had held up his end of the deal, the remainder of his exnation was all guesswork. This was because, after Northface City, he had nevere into contact with Su Chen again. However, this did not stop him from analyzing what Su Chen¡¯s further work with the Immortal Temple might have looked like.

    In particr, the Three Yangs Medicine.

    This was a problem Su Chen wouldn¡¯t be able to tiptoe around.

    ¡°......That¡¯s everything that I know. I can guarantee that ever sentence I have said up until this point is the truth,¡± Sun Mo said.

    ¡°You¡¯ve heard what he has to say, Su Chen?¡± Lin Wenjun asked.

    ¡°I heard,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°What do you think?¡± Lin Wenjun asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s all a bunch of nonsense,¡± Su Chen immediately refuted.

    ¡°Oh? You refuse to admit it?¡±

    It¡¯d be weird if I did admit it, you idiot! Su Chen rolled his eyes in his heart.

    He ignored Lin Wenjun and turned to look at Sun Mo.

    ¡°Sun Mo, what position did you have while you were at the Immortal Temple?¡±

    Sun Mo replied, ¡°An executant.¡±

    Executants had the lowest amongst the Immortal Temple. They had no status and were pretty much consideredmoners. Night Demon had been just an ordinary executant when she had been sent to assassinate him.

    Su Chen immediately asked, ¡°As far as I am aware, the Immortal Temple has a rule where executants only have the right to carry outmands, not participate in the nning stages, right? How could you have the authority to know about something as important as the Spirit Burying Terrace?¡±

    This was the first ¡°hole¡± in Sun Mo¡¯s exnation.

    An organization like the Immortal Temple usually had a set of rules in ce designed to preserve secrecy. Executants had no right to know about any higher-level ns or targets. Basically, executants were the same as minions.

    When carrying these things out in real life, however, it was rare for these rules to be so strictly adhered to.

    Very rarely were executants so carefully policed. Most of the time, people just did things as they pleased.

    Back when Su Chen¡¯s rtionship with the Immortal Temple was developing, no one could have possibly anticipated that the situation would reach this point, so Sang Zhen naturally didn¡¯t attempt to restrict his subordinates too much.

    This was how the first hole was revealed.

    Su Chen¡¯s reasoning was a refutation of reality. Even Sun Mo was taken aback, and he momentarily had no idea of how to exin this seeming contradiction.

    After thinking about it for a moment, he could only say, ¡°That¡¯s because they didn¡¯t see you as important at the time!¡±

    ¡°You say they didn¡¯t see me as important?¡± Su Chen chuckled coldly. ¡°Then I have more questions for you. You say that I killed Master Feng and forced Sang Zhen into agreeing to my terms. Is that a joke? That man was a Master Alchemist! He had an extremely high status, an exalted identity! Would it really have been possible for me to suffer no consequences at all after killing him? What kind of existence is the Immortal Temple? Could I possibly have threatened them at the time? And they even trained me to refine medicines for them? Do you not think that this is absurd? Who would be stupid enough to do something like this? Would you train an individual who killed a Master Alchemist that you spent a lot of money to invite to your ce into an alchemist in their stead?¡±

    He spoke thatst sentence to everyone present. The assembled generals all shook their heads.

    There were all kinds of impossibilities and impracticalities that would ur throughout the course of human life. People often referred to these events as miracles.

    Miracles were urrences that defied logic.

    Even so, these miracles could not defeat logic in a debate.

    Su Chen¡¯s deal with Sang Zhen only came about because of a host of different reasons. Su Chen had done what he did because he had no choice, and the same went for Sang Zhen. Their environment, each individual¡¯s personality, and their respect and trust for the other party all yed a role in bringing this kind of a logic-defying situation about.

    However, this exact same logic could be used to dismiss the urrence of such a situation, even if it actually had happened - in a debate, what actually happened usually was not as important as what logically should have happened.

    This was the second ¡°hole¡± in Sun Mo¡¯s testimony.

    Sun Mo was rendered totally speechless by Su Chen¡¯s verbal barrage. He had been able to exin away this first hole, but there was no way that he could possibly exin this second one. Actually, even Sang Zhen himself would have had a hard time exining exactly what his thought process was back then.

    Not everything needed to be clearly exined. Since it had been done, it had been done. Even if Su Chen had killed a Master Alchemist, if Sang Zhen still viewed him favorably, he would use him. But so what?

    After all, Zhu Xianyao had almost gotten Su Chen killed just because she was unhappy not too long ago.

    There were too many unreasonable things that happened in this world.

    In a debate, however, you had to be reasonable.

    Sun Mo discovered that he was being portrayed as the person who was being unreasonable, which immediately sent him into a panic.

    He began to yell, ¡°That¡¯s because he viewed you as important.¡±

    Su Chen immediately countered, ¡°But you just said earlier that you guys didn¡¯t view me as important, so howe they started viewing me as important all of a sudden?¡±

    ¡°I......¡± Sun Mo was immediately rendered speechless.

    The assembly began to chuckle withughter.

    Sun Mo grew agitated as he began to yell, ¡°How would I know the contents of your discussion? No matter what, this is exactly how the situation urred!¡±

    Su Chen chuckled coldly. ¡°I have another question for you. How long ago did you renounce your evil ways?¡±

    Sun Mo replied, ¡°Ten years ago.¡±

    ¡°Ten years? You¡¯re telling me that you have not been with the Immortal Temple for ten years, but the Immortal Temple never tried to kill you or warn me about you?¡± Su Chen asked again.

    This was yet another ¡°hole¡± in his testimony.

    Given Su Chen¡¯s current status and his purported importance to the Immortal Temple, the departure of anyone who could possibly have revealed his identity should have been dealt with by the Immortal Temple. This was simply too illogical.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know why this was the case, but the reason for this was not important at the moment. The only important thing was that this matter became yet another illogical aspect of Sun Mo¡¯s testimony.

    If it was illogical, that was good enough!

    As long as it was illogical, he could overturn his opponent¡¯s reasoning, and he could deny all these allegations all the way to the end.

    Su Chen¡¯s rtionship with the Immortal Temple was based on a bunch of seemingly illogical coincidences. When these were picked apart with logic, it was very hard to imagine that their rtionship had continued to this point.

    If you were to ask Su Chen, he would have told you that it was because of his ability.

    Yes, people with ability and talent could use it to create illogical urrences. Only mediocre individuals wouldin about things being impossible or illogical. This was why mediocre individuals remained mediocre, while those with true talent turned impossibilities into possibilities.

    On the other hand, most people in this world were mediocre, so pointing out "illogical" aspects paradoxically became quite logical.

    Su Chen pointed out all these inconsistencies with incredible elegance and rationality. For just a moment, even Lin Wenjun couldn¡¯t help but wonder if he had managed to find a fake surrenderer.

    This really didn¡¯t make any sense!

    Since Sun Mo¡¯s exnation of Su Chen¡¯s initial rtionship with the Immortal Temple was filled with problems, then Sun Mo had even less of a right to analyze what had happened between Su Chen and the Immortal Temple after he had left Northface City...... If what he had personally seen was not trustworthy, then his analysis was totally meaningless.

    In other words, this witness was totally worthless.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 223: Coercion

    The public hearing ended.

    As soon as Su Chen refuted Sun Mo to the point that he was speechless, Lin Wenjun knew that he wouldn¡¯t be able to overturn Su Chen anymore. Even though he could continue to push Su Chen about the Three Yangs Medicine, he also knew that Su Chen would be able to easily find a way out of the situation.

    He had somehow managed to cleanly deal with an actual witness, so how would he possibly pin something that no one had witnessed on him?

    Actually, the most important factor was not how agile Su Chen¡¯s tongue was - it was how many people from the Flowing Gold Fort supported him.

    In the system of authority for the real world, the truth was not actually so important. What was more important was having the right backers and sufficient influence.

    As the hero who had saved the Heavenly Might Battalion, Su Chen had the deep gratitude of many of the generals within the Flowing Gold Fort. This gratitude and support would ensure that they would have done their best to protect him even if Su Chen was easily defeated by Sun Mo. On the other hand, without this kind of support, whether or not Sun Mo was here didn¡¯t really matter. If they all wanted him dead, they could just find any old reason to finish him off.

    Here, principles, justification, truth, and glib tongues weren¡¯t useless, but their usefulness depended on how much the audience favored the user and how many contributions they had made, and these things were consumable.

    If Su Chen had been rendered speechless by Sun Mo, he would still be able to find a way to escape. However, this would have depended on the generals banding together to protect him, which would be the same as using his contribution of saving the Heavenly Might Battalion to wipe away the punishment he should have received for allying with the Immortal Temple. As such, this would decrease their indebtedness towards him.

    In any case, Sun Mo had been soundly refuted, and Su Chen imed innocence. His contributions would not be canceled out, and his rtions with everyone wouldn¡¯t be very much affected. All he needed to do was probably thank everyone who hade for upholding thew.

    Because of this, justice determined the cost, not the oue - theter was determined by individual strength.

    This was perhaps the tragic limitation of a trial byw of this time period - and perhaps not merely this time period alone.

    However, this was not really all that important to Lin Wenjun.

    He had never expected to be able to punish Su Chen in the first ce.

    Even though Su Chen had managed to save the Heavenly Might Battalion, invisibly pping Lin Wenjun in the face in the process, everything he had done today was for a more important reason - despite his personal dissatisfaction with the situation.

    Deep into the night.

    At the Deputy Commander¡¯s residence, Lin Wenjun paced around in his courtyard, staring up into the sky as if he was thinking about something.

    Qiu Qingzhi walked over and said, ¡°Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°Mm. Did you get a chance to see clearly what happened today?¡± Lin Wenjun asked.

    Qiu Qingzhi replied, ¡°Yes, Qingzhi saw the situation clearly. Two generals felt that Su Chen hadmitted a crime, three were neutral, and five felt that he was meless. More than half of the other officials also supported Su Chen. Your Highness¡¯s support in the Flowing Gold Fort is not nearly enough yet.¡±

    Lin Wenjun harrumphed. ¡°He has his self-purported justice but no status. No matter how righteous he thinks he is or how much talent he has, does he really think he can do anything to me?¡±

    Qiu Qingzhi immediately said, ¡°Your Majesty, don¡¯t be so agitated. You have not been managing the Flowing Gold Fort for very long. It will take a few more days for you to develop a solid foundation.¡±

    ¡°I am the Crown Prince. They should inherently be loyal to me, but I actually need to spend time and energy to rope them in?¡± Lin Wenjun said darkly.

    Qiu Qingzhi sighed.

    Lin Wenjun wasn¡¯t an idiot, but just like most Crown Princes, he believed himself to be infallible, as if everything under the Heavens was destined to belong to him or something along those lines.

    His questioning of Su Chen was in part to determine how many people supported him in the Flowing Gold Fort.

    Truly reliable and staunch supporters wouldn¡¯t care about things like right or wrong - they would only look at status!

    And in Lin Wenjun¡¯s eyes, the generals in the Flowing Gold Fort should have supported him by default.

    Of course, that was not the reality of the situation.

    The matter with Su Chen made it obvious that at least half of the generals didn¡¯t care to show him respect, another fourth couldn¡¯t make up their minds, and the less-than-a-fourth remainder stood on his side.

    And even so, how much he could trust these people was yet another problem.

    Lin Wenjun was naturally very displeased with this kind of a result.

    Thankfully, he was still somewhat sober in his thinking. Afterining for a bit, he continued, ¡°Of course, I also recognize that my actions were a bit too rash these past few days.¡±

    This was somewhat of a confession regarding the matter of the Heavenly Might Battalion and was equivalent to a disguised acknowledgement of his mistake.

    Unfortunately, this acknowledgementcked sincerity and had only been spoken to Qiu Qingzhi alone, so it was totally pointless.

    Qiu Qingzhi lowered his head and pretended as if he had not heard. He said, ¡°Your Majesty is just extremely ambitious. You did nothing wrong.¡±

    He sighed in his heart. No wonder this Crown Prince thought he was all that - he was surrounded by people like Qiu Qingzhi who only sang his praises. Even if the Crown Prince said himself that he was wrong, Qiu Qingzhi had to say that the Crown Prince was in fact right. It would have been a miracle if he had no arrogance in that case. On the other hand, he did not have the guts to tell the Crown Prince that he had in fact made a mistake. The people who had thought that they could instruct this Crown Prince and teach him how to be a decent human being had all eventually gone the way of the graveyard.

    Lin Wenjun was very happy with the way Qiu Qingzhi phrased things. When he ¡°modestly¡± imed that he had made a mistake, what he wanted to hear was not ¡°yes, you were wrong¡±, but ¡°no, you did nothing wrong - you were only pursuing a greater goal......¡±

    Qiu Qingzhi did this very well, which was why he had managed to apany the Crown Prince for so long.

    Lin Wenjun said, ¡°What are your thoughts about Su Chen?¡±

    Qiu Qingzhi thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°If he could save the Heavenly Might Battalion, he cannot be a simple character.¡±

    He knew that Lin Wenjun didn¡¯t like Su Chen, but he also knew that he could not call Su Chen a weak chicken, so he was forced to use the Heavenly Might Battalion as evidence supporting his im.

    Following this boss of his was not easy. He had to be careful about every word he uttered.

    Lin Wenjun sighed again. ¡°He really is quite a powerful individual. He¡¯s a problem, just like that instructor of his. I¡¯m the one that needs to deal with this bother in order to appease those guys who just sit inside the kingdom all day.¡±

    Lin Wenjun felt that his life was full of hardships.

    He was the Crown Prince, but he was forced to try and get on peoples¡¯ good sides and appease a bunch of nobles in order to obtain their support. This was why he had tried to deal with Shi Kaihuang, but this had resulted in him offending a bunch of generals in the Flowing Gold Fort. Then, Shi Kaihuang didn¡¯t die, and the Heavenly Might Battalion returned alive, which was a p in the face to him. Not only was he made out to be the bad guy, but the nobles back at home would also probably begin toin.

    How could Lin Wenjun possibly not feel ufortable?

    Now that both Shi Kaihuang and Su Chen had returned, the pressure on Lin Wenjun was greater than it had ever been before.

    He not only had to deal with Shi Kaihuang now but also with Su Chen.

    News had reached him from the maind that the Hemolytic Totem had been created by Su Chen. In the future, the technique for breaking into the Light Shaking Realm might end up passing through Su Chen¡¯s hands as well.

    The nobles did not wish for this to happen, so they could only continue bothering Lin Wenjun to deal with it.

    Damn, if it weren¡¯t for the fact that that damned third brother of his was starting to be a headache to deal with, how could he possibly be working for those nobles as the Crown Prince?

    Countless thoughts shed through Lin Wenjun¡¯s head, and he wanted to die of frustration. His expression also became incredibly unsightly.

    Qiu Qingzhi could tell that Lin Wenjun was not in a good mood. He hurriedly said, ¡°Should we try to rope him in?¡±

    Lin Wenjun shook his head. ¡°Do you know how much money he made while selling the techniques for reaching the Blood Boiling Realm and Yang Opening Realm? Hundreds of millions of Origin Stones! The reason he could save the Heavenly Might Battalion was inrge part due to the incredible amount of resources he possesses. You want me to tell him,

    Hey, kiddo, if you don¡¯t distribute the technique for reaching the Light Shaking Realm, I can promise you great benefits¡¯? What can I give him? How much can I give him?¡±

    Qiu Qingzhi was dumbstruck.

    Shi Kaihuang didn¡¯t want money at all. This was obvious based on the fact that he had handed his invention entirely over to his disciple to manage. On the other hand, Su Chen had too much money.

    Not wanting money and having too much money both resulted in the same oue: they were impossible to buy out.

    At the very least, they could not be bought out with money.

    This was precisely why Lin Wenjun wanted to directly bring harm to Shi Kaihuang at the very beginning.

    It wasn¡¯t that he hadn¡¯t thought of using underhanded tactics before; it was that they were totally useless against Shi Kaihuang.

    If money was insufficient, then he could only use orders.

    As such, he would need to resort to some kind of forceful coercion.

    The only problem was, how was he supposed to coerce?

    With martial strength?

    With his authority?

    Lin Wenjun paced back and forth in deep thought for quite some time. Finally, he said, ¡°Su Chen has made too many contributions. Forcefully suppressing him will only upset other people. There¡¯s nothing we can do openly, so I think we can only rely on underhanded tactics from here on out.¡±

    Qiu Qingzhi carefully said, ¡°By underhanded tactics, Your Majesty means......¡±

    If assassination techniques were enough to deal with Su Chen, there was no need for the Crown Prince to have even been involved. Therge nobility ns would have been able to resolve the issue on their own.

    Lin Wenjun could choose to take this route, but this was a clear sign that his authority and status meant nothing. For someone with as much authority as him to use a tactic like assassination was in and of itself a kind of defeat.

    As such, even if Lin Wenjun managed to sessfully assassinate Su Chen, that would be a kind of defeat as well.

    A political defeat.

    When he heard Qiu Qingzhi¡¯s subtle reminder, Lin Wenjun felt his head begin to hurt.

    He said, ¡°This Su Chen is really not an easy opponent to deal with.¡±

    Qiu Qingzhi replied, ¡°Actually, there are more ways to get someone to acquiesce to us than just with money or with a direct order. There are some things that might not seem important to us that are very important to him.¡±

    ¡°Oh? What exactly could you be referring to?¡± Lin Wenjun asked.

    Qiu Qingzhi said, ¡°Has Your Majesty ever thought of utilizing the people around him?¡±

    Lin Wenjun immediately shook his head. ¡°The people around him? That won¡¯t be of any use. He split with the Northface Su n a long time ago, and they are strangers now. The only person he cares about is his mother, who he secretly took with him a long time ago, and no one knows where she is these days...... This guy has been prepared for a long time.¡±

    Qiu Qingzhi immediately said, ¡°I wasn¡¯t referring to these people.¡±

    ¡°You weren¡¯t referring to them?¡± Lin Wenjun was taken aback. ¡°Then who are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°The Heavenly Might Battalion.¡±

    ¡°The Heavenly Might Battalion?¡± Lin Wenjun was stunned.

    The Heavenly Might Battalion had already been dissolved by Lin Wenjun. The newly formed Heavenly Might Battalion did not have many of the old guard present, so it took Lin Wenjun a few moments to realize that Qiu Qingzhi was referring to the old Heavenly Might Battalion.

    Qiu Qingzhi said, ¡°Yes, I¡¯m talking about them. Su Chen was the one who saved the Heavenly Might Battalion. They have a deep appreciation for Su Chen, which is obvious just based on the way that they talk to each other. And this kind of a rtionship is a two-way street; the Heavenly Might Army¡¯s soldiers revere Su Chen, and Su Chen probably values their camaraderie. If they are put in danger......¡±

    Lin Wenjun understood. ¡°But when these people are together, it¡¯s hard to deal with them.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why I rmended early on to you to split them up. Dealing with a split up Heavenly Might Battalion is not nearly as difficult. We don¡¯t need to do something to all of the Heavenly Might Battalion soldiers, just a group of them, and that will be more than enough to force Su Chen to bow his head to us.¡±

    Previous Chapter

    Next Chapter

 Book 4: Near Blood - 224: Banque

    t

    The public hearing had just ended when Xiao Feinan came looking for him.

    ¡°Well done,¡± Xiao Feinan said as he patted Su Chen on the back. Was he praising him for doing a good job at the public hearing or for what he had done in Ravager territory? No one knew.

    Su Chen faintly said, ¡°How are Instructor and General?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about them. Even though the Crown Prince wants to make trouble for them, he has no actual evidence that they colluded with the Ravagers, so he can only do a little bit here or there. They wille back sooner orter, and they will be rewarded.¡±

    ¡°But why does he want to do this?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Xiao Feinan sighed, ¡°You already know the answer, don¡¯t you?¡±

    Su Chen squinted his eyes.

    So it was rted to Instructor, huh?

    That didn¡¯t surprise him in the slightest.

    Shi Kaihuang had said before that something like this would happen, but neither of them had expected that tens of thousands of innocents would be involved when it did happen.

    Even so, these were nobles. In order to meet their needs, any number of innocent lives was an eptable number to sacrifice.

    Su Chen¡¯s mood was still hazy, but Xiao Feinan chuckled. ¡°Let¡¯s not think too much about it. Since you guys made it back, then we should get together again. My ce tonight. Bring some people that you know. Jiangshan and the others want to see you as well.¡±

    This was basically a celebratory party for Su Chen, and Su Chen epted it.

    That evening, at Xiao Feinan¡¯s residence, arge group of Flowing Gold Fort officials slowly began to gather. They hade under the guise of attending Xiao Feinan¡¯s banquet, but in actuality they hade to get to know Su Chen. The current Su Chen was very different to the Su Chen of the past; anyone who could bring the Heavenly Might Battalion alive was worth getting to know.

    At the same time, it was time to take sides. The people who hade were basically making it obvious that they supported Su Chen.

    ¡°Su Chen, this is the Earthly Fire Battalion¡¯s general, Burning Red.¡±

    Xiao Feinan sat in the main hall, a cup of wine in his hands as he motioned at a bald-headed man by means of introduction.

    Su Chen felt as if he was looking at a living me, just as Burning Red¡¯s name implied. This zing, brilliant me burned intensely right in front of him, causing a wave of heat to emerge from the depths of Su Chen¡¯s heart in response.

    Burning Red strode towards Su Chen and guffawed. ¡°Well done, kid, well done indeed. You saved the Heavenly Might Battalion and shut that little girl Lin Wenjun up. Really well done!¡±

    This general obviously didn¡¯t care for Lin Wenjun¡¯s status as the Crown Prince.

    Most of the generals had been raised on the battlefield and had undergone tempering by blood and fire, turning them into men with real guts. Many times, they allied with people based on whether they liked them or not, not based on a consideration of the advantages and the disadvantages.

    However, this man was the first person to directly call the Crown Prince a sissy.

    Xiao Feinan frowned. ¡°Be a little more careful when you speak. This ce might not bepletely free of the Crown Prince¡¯s men.¡±

    ¡°Who cares about him?¡± Burning Red said with a fierce re. ¡°He¡¯s a brat with no balls. We can talk once he¡¯s beaten the Ravagers senseless. All he does is hole up in his room and try to scheme against people who are on his side. What kind of hero is that?¡±

    ¡°Well said.¡± Someone began to p.

    It was the Earthly Peaceful Battalion¡¯s general, Chang Zixin.

    This man appeared weak and fragile. His arms were slender and long, but his grip on the cup of wine was firm and stable.

    Chang Zixin stood next to Su Chen and said, ¡°Su Chen, don¡¯t worry. With us supporting you, no one will be able to eliminate the contributions you have made. They won¡¯t even be able to think about harming you.¡±

    Su Chen said with a slight smile, ¡°Many thanks, General Chang.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, I noticed that you seem exceptionallyposed. Even the military court today didn¡¯t seem to shake you at all. Have you...... reached the Light Shaking Realm?¡± Chang Zixin asked.

    The people around him shivered when they heard this question.

    Even though Su Chen had exercised restraint, and his consciousness energy was at a level that was difficult for even irvoyants or Spirit Burning Realm cultivators to see through, but Light Shaking Realm cultivators were just different from most people. No matter how hard Su Chen tried to conceal his strength, it would leak out eventually......

    His gaze, which contained no hesitation nor impurity, along with his clearly restrained aura, had caught the attention of quite a few people.

    However, they had no way of confirming this point, so everyone could only wonder and guess.

    At this point in time, it was obvious what the benefit of siding with Su Chen was.

    The Crown Prince¡¯s men were unwilling to believe that Su Chen was already at the Light Shaking Realm, so they ignored this sign, just like people who refused to ept an answer that they didn¡¯t like.

    On the other hand, the people who did like Su Chen tried to find out the answer, because their mood would not be affected regardless of what the answer was. And even if their mood was affected, it could only get better, not worse.

    This was the reason why Chang Zixin was able to ask so openly.

    Su Chen nced around him to confirm that none of the Crown Prince¡¯s people were standing next to him before nodding. ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°How did you ascend?¡± Xiao Feinan asked as he grabbed Su Chen by the arm.

    This answer was too important. After all, it affected the future of the whole human race!

    Su Chen said, ¡°I ascended without a bloodline, but unfortunately I have yet to develop a way to replicate this on arger scale.

    Because of Danba, Su Chen could not possibly exin what had happened at Gun Castle. He could not possibly say that he had ascended because of the Origin Energy Temple, so he could only mention that he had yet to develop a way of replicating it on arger scale.

    Upon hearing this answer, everyone was a bit disappointed.

    ¡°But since you can seed, perhaps not too long from now you will be able to find a way to ascend, right?¡± Hong Qianzhu said as he walked over from afar.

    This old Commander-In-Chief was not mixed with the crowd of people talking, but his ears were sharp enough that not a single sentence escaped his notice.

    Given that his cultivation base was at the Thought Manifestation Realm, second only to the Ultimate Emperor Realm, there were not many humans stronger than him.

    At this moment, Hong Qianzhi¡¯s voice could be heard, but his figure couldn¡¯t be seen. Su Chen respectfully replies, "Yes. Su Chen will do his best toplete it."

    Burning Red, however, had no trace of happiness on his face. "If word reaches those guys, I¡¯m afraid you won¡¯t have the opportunity to do your best in the first ce."

    Xiao Feinan sighed, "Unfortunately, we won¡¯t be able to keep this a secret forever."

    Lin Wenjun could only deceive himself for so long. Even if he refused to see the truth, his subordinates would spot the issue sooner orter. The matter of Su Chen reaching the Light Shaking Realm wouldn¡¯t be able to concealed for long.

    Su Chen chuckled slightly. "It doesn¡¯t matter anymore. There were people who wanted to stop me from spreading the technique for reaching the Blood Boiling Realm in the past. I already have some measure of preparation for this."

    "The people who tried to suppress you back then were justmon nobles from a different country. Now, however, you are going to be up against countless nobles and the Crown Prince himself," Chang Zixin said.

    Su Chen shrugged. "I¡¯m not the same person as I was back then either."

    All of the generals nced at each other, then began tough.

    Yes, the current Su Chen was not the same as the former Su Chen. Since he was no longer a Qi Drawing Realm kid and could even deal with a Demonic Emperor, would the current Light Shaking Realm Su Chen really need to be afraid of them? In addition, the current Su Chen had many more people supporting him.

    "Alright, let¡¯s not talk about this for now," Chang Ziyin said with a meaningful nce.

    This topic was still a bit sensitive, so the more they talked about it, the more rapidly it would spread.

    Everyone understood and dissipated.

    Su Chen was once again alone, so he began to wander around. Soon, Duan Jiangshan came walking in his direction.

    ¡°Jiangshan, how are you doing?¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    ¡°Same as always.¡± Duan Jiangshan stopped in front of him. ¡°Not like you - in the span of a year, your reputation has spread far outside of this fort.¡±

    ¡°You could do the same,¡± Su Chen replied casually.

    This was originally a thoughtless sentence, but unexpectedly it seemed to strike a nerve with Duan Jiangshan.

    Duan Jiangshan said, ¡°Me? I don¡¯t think I have the ability. Su Chen, do you know how much I envy you?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Su Chen stared at Duan Jiangshan, perplexed.

    Duan Jiangshan said, ¡°You were a nobody during our time in the Hidden Dragon Institute. You never appeared on the rankings, so you never had to worry about the price of fame. Every day, we fought each other in the Institute for higher rankings, for women, for anything we could fight over. You, on the other hand, stayed holed up in that Origin Energy Temple of yours and never walked out the front door. No one took you seriously back then...... until we reached the Flowing Gold Fort.¡±

    Duan Jiangshan sighed, ¡°You endured for ten years, then made a name for yourself all at once. At the time, I thought that was your peak. But I never would have expected that this was only the beginning of your glory days. While we were in the Institute, we were far ahead of you; at graduation, we stood side by side; and now, you are far ahead of me. I have been in the army for more than ten years but have never been anything more than a squadmander. I am also only at the peak of the Yang Opening Realm. But you? You already have the authority to joke around with the other generals, and your strength has advanced to the Light Shaking Realm...... You know, it was really difficult for me to just watch you talking with them so casually.¡±

    His ability to give voice to his envy was more than enough to demonstrate his straightforward and honest nature.

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°You¡¯re wrong about one thing.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°I never had to endure a single day during my ten years at the Hidden Dragon Institute. I never had any intention of soaring to the skies in a single moment or surprising people with my meteoric rise. There was no need for me to stay hidden, and I had no heart to do so. My ten years at the Institute were the most enjoyable years of my life. As such, there was no enduring - there was only enjoyment. It¡¯s just that most people won¡¯t understand this kind of enjoyment.¡±

    ¡°Is that how it is?¡± Duan Jiangshan mumbled.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°Every person has different things that they are after. Perhaps you might enjoy being worshipped by millions of people or being looked up to by them, but honestly, that¡¯s not what I¡¯m after at all. I admit that there are lots of people I have left behind, and there are lots of people who look favorably on me, but I have never once sought for either of these things. I only seek the truth, the truth hidden in this world. I want to know what Origin Energy is. I want to know how to better use Origin Energy. I want to know where the future of the human race lies. I want to know what our real history is. I even want to know...... who the person who blinded me is.¡±

    As he spoke, Su Chen¡¯s voice began to dip.

    His words were down-to-earth and simple, but the feeling behind them was extremely sincere.

    To Su Chen, he had never desired to be put on a pedestal and admired by those around him. Neither was it to find a way to live forever or to be invincible.

    He only wanted one thing: to figure out the fundamental truths of this world!

    That was what he was really after. As for everything else, they just so happened to be side effects of what he was looking for.

    Even Duan Jiangshan was stunned by what he heard.

    He had never expected that Su Chen looked down so much on the very thing that he had desired for so long.

    After a long time, he finally said, ¡°See? I¡¯ve been left behind by you even in terms of my ideals.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Don¡¯tpete with others so much. Your life will be much happier because of it.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 225: Sect Initiation

    That night was filled withughter and happiness for those present.

    After the event, Su Chen returned to his guest residence.

    At this point, it was already deep into the night, and thenterns were dim orpletely out.

    Su Chen walked alone through the dark alleyway, which was empty and deste.

    He walked for some time before stopping. ¡°Com out.¡±

    Arge group of figures spilled out into the alleyway, surrounding Su Chen.

    However, when they came in front of Su Chen, they all knelt in and orderly fashion and said, ¡°Greetings to Commander!¡±

    It was Le Feng and the others.

    However, the person kneeling at the very front was not Le Feng, but an exceptionally tall man.

    Iron Cliff!

    He had finally returned, and was standing amongst the seventy-three human soldiers at this moment.

    ¡°Master!¡± Iron Cliff stared at Su Chen as he said with excitement.

    Su Chen ran over and gave Iron Cliff a big hug. ¡°Howe you¡¯re here? Aren¡¯t you taking care of the Hurricane Stoneskins right now?¡±

    Iron Cliff revealed a sheepish smile. ¡°The Hurricane Stoneskins can survive without Iron Cliff, but I cannot live without Master.¡±

    Su Chen stared at Iron Cliff before nodding firmly. ¡°Good, very good, exceptionally good!¡±

    His simple words gave Su Chen quite a bit of gratification.

    After looking at everyone, Su Chen said, ¡°Alright, you all can stand up now.¡±

    The group of soldiers all stood up.

    Su Chen asked Le Feng, ¡°Howe you guys didn¡¯t return to your stations?¡±

    Le Feng chuckled bitterly, ¡°Return to what stations? We hadn¡¯t even reached the fort when we heard about the dissolution of the Heavenly Might Battalion. Where would we go back to? We brothers have no home to return to!¡±

    Su Chen was stunned as he stared at everyone.

    The seventy-three soldiers stood silently in the night.

    They didn¡¯t say anything, but their silence was representative of their grieving, sorrow, and dissatisfaction.

    As such, Su Chen understood their frame of mind.

    He gently nodded. ¡°So what are your ns after this?¡±

    Le Feng said, ¡°Prince Su, our lives have belonged to Long Sang Country ever since we enlisted. Now, we don¡¯t owe Long Sang Country anything any longer. You were the one who saved us, so we would prefer to continue to follow you.¡±

    This answer was within Su Chen¡¯s expectations. He had guessed that this might happen when he found out that Le Feng and the others had returned but had not returned to their stations. This was merely a confirmation at this point.

    After thinking for a moment, he replied, ¡°The path that I take is extremely dangerous and risky, and the future oues are impossible to predict. Are you sure you......¡±

    Le Feng chuckled, ¡°No matter how dangerous it gets, could it be more dangerous than being in Ravager territory? Could it be more dangerous than being imprisoned by the Ravagers?¡±

    When he heard this, Su Chen nodded slightly. ¡°Fine. Since you all think this way, then I agree to take you in.¡±

    ¡°Wonderful!¡± The seventy-three soldiers were ecstatic.

    ¡°However, you need to keep this a secret. You absolutely cannot let the military catch wind of this,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Master, don¡¯t worry. We understand. We will leave the fort tomorrow and wait for your orders outside of the city,¡± Le Feng said with some excitement.

    ¡°Master?¡± Su Chen froze slightly.

    ¡°Yes. From this day forwards, Prince Su, you are our Master. Is there something wrong with that?¡± Le Feng said with some curiosity.

    Su Chen chuckled and shook his head. ¡°No, no. I never intended on being your Master. You should be independent and free.¡±

    When they heard this, everyone was stunned.

    If they didn¡¯t call him Master, what was their rtionship with him?

    They couldn¡¯t call him general, could they? That would be the same asmitting a crime on his behalf.

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then said, ¡°I had a certain thought, which was to distribute the Immacte Cultivation Technique so that the human race can begin to cultivate it. This time, however, I¡¯m not nning on using the Dreamrealm to sell it.¡±

    The others didn¡¯t understand why he would suddenly say something like that, so they remained silent and listened intently.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Any knowledge that gets distributed through the Dreamrealm will be able to increase the strength of the human race more rapidly as well as fill my coffers incredibly quickly, but if experience has taught me anything, doing so will only cause gratitude to turn into hatred. My Instructor¡¯s warning from many years ago still holds true today - the very humans I am trying to help grow stronger are my biggest obstacle when ites to fulfilling this dream of mine. Under these kinds of circumstances, perhaps it would be best for me to be a bit more selfish.¡±

    As he spoke, he turned to look at Le Feng and the others. ¡°I am nning on creating a sect. Any cultivation techniques or battle techniques will not be distributed through the Dreamrealm any longer but by this sect. Secret techniques will be restricted ess only and be forbidden from spreading. From now on, anyone who wants to reach a higher realm will need to join my sect before they are allowed to inherit these methods. As for you all, I suppose you can be my first group of disciples.¡±

    Le Feng and the others were extremely happy. They asked, ¡°What will the sect be called?¡±

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then said, ¡°In today¡¯s world, bloodlines are everywhere and are highly exalted. Only the sect I create will rely on the strength of humans alone to reach unknown heights. Let¡¯s call it the Unbounded Sect. And you all will be the Unbounded Sect¡¯s Seventy-Three Disciples.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Le Feng and the others responded in unison.

    From that day onwards, the Unbounded Sect hade into being.

    The Unbounded Sect¡¯s establishment was very rushed, with no real rules or guiding principles to speak of, nor a piece of territory where the sect could be started. The core of the sect was an ambitious ideal and Su Chen himself.

    From Su Chen¡¯s ideals alone, it sounded as if he was just a big con man.

    However, this was often the case - if you hadn¡¯t seeded yet, you were a con man, but once you did seed you would beuded for your exceptional foresight.

    Su Chen did not merely possess exceptional foresight; he had the ability to bring all of this into being.

    The Immacte Cultivation Technique would serve as the beginning for everything.

    Su Chen had faith that he would create other cultivation techniques andbat techniques in the future. Both of these would only be allowed to be passed on in the Boundless Sect itself.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know how this would affect his ability to break through the restrictions of bloodlines, but he was very clear that there would be an effect.

    The butterfly had begun to p its wings.

    The storm began to brew.

    Le Feng and the others hurriedly left that night. From that day onwards, they permanently disappeared from the Flowing Gold Fort, cutting off all rtions with the past.

    Iron Cliff remained. As an important participant in clearing a path out for the Heavenly Might Battalion, he absolutely had the right to remain.

    The next morning, Su Chen received an invitation.

    It was from the Crown Prince.

    Su Chen said to Iron Cliff as he inspected the Crown Prince¡¯s invitation, ¡°Iron Cliff, why do you think this Crown Prince wants to see me at this moment?¡±

    ¡°Probably because he wants to discuss the matter of charging into higher cultivation realms without a bloodline.¡±

    ¡°He most likely is unaware that I am already at the Light Shaking Realm.¡±

    ¡°But he will find out sooner orter.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s correct,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself. He tore up the invitation and tossed it.

    ¡°You aren¡¯t going to go?¡± Iron Cliff was a bit surprised.

    ¡°Why should I go? Since I already know what he wants to talk to me about, and I already know what my answer will be, then the oue is obvious...... neither of us will part on good terms,¡± Su Chen said with a chuckle. ¡°See, since I will have a falling out with him no matter if I go or not, then I¡¯d rather not go and save myself the trouble. right?¡±

    ¡°......¡± Iron Cliff felt like his reasoning was quite sound.

    ¡°So rather than wasting time on that Crown Prince, I¡¯m going to go pay a visit to my Instructor.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he stepped out the front door and went to go see Shi Kaihuang.

    Shi Kaihuang was being confined within a small courtyard located in the Flowing Gold Fort. The courtyard had mountain-shaped rocks and flowing water, as well as plenty of beautiful maidservants. Actually, Shi Kaihuang¡¯s life was pretty easy.

    Since he was under house arrest, there was not really any crimemitted to speak of. In name, it was to give Shi Kaihuang some time to rest and recover and to keep him from wandering around if there was no particr urgent need. A few personal guards had been stationed here as well to keep an eye on him.

    In other words, Shi Kaihuang was free to do as he pleased so long as he didn¡¯t do research.

    The main goal of this house arrest was to prevent Shi Kaihuang from making any progress in his research of how to reach the next cultivation realm without a bloodline.

    When Su Chen arrived, Shi Kaihuang waszing around next to theke and catching fish with a hookless rod. Beside him, Chu Yingwan was pouring him tea.

    Su Chen walked over to Shi Kaihuang and said respectfully, ¡°Instructor, General Chu.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re back.¡± Shi Kaihuang smiled. ¡°Tell me what really happened with the Ravagers. Don¡¯t try to pull the wool over my eyes like you did with those guys yesterday. I want to hear the most interesting part.¡±

    ¡°The most interesting part...... I¡¯m afraid you¡¯ll smack me on the ears if you hear it,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Oh? Why is that?¡± Shi Kaihuang was stunned.

    Su Chen shrugged. ¡°Because I handed over a few things.¡±

    ¡°What did you give?¡±

    ¡°I made an exchange with Danba......¡± Su Chen began to recount his transaction with Danba. Chu Yingwan was stunned when she heard it.

    ¡°No matter what, helping the Ravagers control Origin Energy was truly a bit much,¡± Chu Yingwan said with a frown.

    Shi Kaihuang, however, didn¡¯t address the topic directly. Instead, he said in a low voice, ¡°It¡¯s good that you¡¯re ambitious. I¡¯m just worried that your view is far too long-term and that you might trip yourself up before you get there because you aren¡¯t looking at your feet.¡±

    ¡°Actually, things are fine before my feet. This is part of the reason I was able to sessfully break into the Light Shaking Realm.¡±

    ¡°Oh? How so?¡±

    Su Chen exined everything that he had aplished in Gun Castle.

    As Su Chen exined how he had broken into the Light Shaking Realm with the aid of the Origin Energy Temple, became Anubi¡¯s close subject, saved the seventy-three soldiers, instigated Anubi into personally leading his army into battle, and killing the Scarlet Heart, Shi Kaihuang and Chu Yingwan¡¯s eyes began to dazzle.

    Because of how quickly Su Chen had returned, most of this news had yet to reach the Flowing Gold Fort. As such, Shi Kaihuang and Chu Yingwan were extremely stunned by Su Chen¡¯s recounting of his exploits.

    ¡°Well done, kid! You really had it in you!¡± Shi Kaihuang said as he began to stroke his beard in excitement. ¡°So you managed to dump hundreds of thousands of Ravagers into a pit just like that?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not all. The Inferno Tribe¡¯s source of power has been greatly diminished, while the Gravel Lizard Tribe, which now possesses the ability to use Origin Energy, has only increased in influence and strength. Danba took advantage of the situation to unify the south and will primarily focus his attention on the north for now. They are currently at odds, and the Iron and Blood Country will probably fragment very soon.¡±

    Once this civil war broke out, it might take more than a hundred years to determine the victor.

    During this period of time, Long Sang Country could begin to grow more and more powerful without hindrance. Regardless of who won the civil war, neither of them would be able to pose much of a threat to Long Sang Country.

    This was the contribution Su Chen had made for Long Sang Country.

    Unfortunately, these contributions had no way ofing to light because of Su Chen¡¯s transaction with Danba. Otherwise, that crime of colluding with the enemy might actually begin to have some substance to it. It was highly probable that the nobles who didn¡¯t see eye-to-eye with Su Chen wouldn¡¯t care about what his motive was for such a collusion.

    ¡°Forget about it. In any case, this contribution of saving the Heavenly Might Army is already quite impressive. Soon, you will return to Long Coiling City to be rewarded. Kid, have you thought about what rewards you want? I know you don¡¯t particrly care for those material things, but sometimes you shouldn¡¯t look a gift horse in the mouth,¡± Shi Kaihuang said.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°As Instructor has said, your student does in fact have a small need that the imperial family can satisfy. I trust that it won¡¯t be much of a problem for Long Sang Country.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the need?¡±

    Su Chen was just about to reply when Chu Yingwan suddenly eximed with surprise. She pulled out an Origin Formation Disk - a transmission-type disk, to be precise.

    Chu Yingwan¡¯s expression changed drastically as soon as she looked at the transmission disk. ¡°Not good - they¡¯ve made a move on Xiang Rui!¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 226: Entering the Capital

    Xiang Rui was the deputymander of the Blue Mountain Company, Chu Yingwan¡¯s trusted aide and longtime friend.

    After the Heavenly Might Battalion had been disbanded, he was sent to the Heavenly Enlightenment Battalion.

    He was still apany deputymander, but not of an elitepany anymore.

    That wasn¡¯t really a big deal. However, the Heavenly Enlightenment Battalion¡¯smander, Long Ke, had received his position by dering his loyalty to the Crown Prince.

    He was one of the two generals who openly supported the Crown Prince.

    And because of that, Xiang Rui¡¯s life was not easy.

    But ¡®not easy¡¯ was not the same as being arrested.

    Upon hearing Chu Yingwan¡¯s words, Shi Kaihuang asked, ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°They said that he tried to murder someone.¡±

    ¡°Tried to murder someone?¡± Su Chen and Shi Kaihuang yelled simultaneously.

    Xiang Rui didn¡¯t actually believe that the person he had killed with his palm strike didn¡¯t deserve to die. Actually, that person¡¯s actions of forcing himself onto femalemoners, beating the elderly, and doing as he pleased more than justified his fate.

    But the problem was that Xiang Rui was not actually guilty of killing the man!

    Xiang Rui knew exactly how much power had gone into the palm strike of his. It was enough to force the bully to spit out a mouthful of blood and suffer some injuries, or even be bedridden for half a month. However, there was no way that his palm strike could have killed him!

    He was a veteran of the battlefield and had painstakingly earned his position through his own efforts. He had butchered hundreds of bodies before, and he was so experienced that he knew the exact amount of power necessary to achieve a certain result, down to the finest details. Even if he had somehow lost control for a moment, the damage shouldn¡¯t have been that great.

    However, he had somehow made such a miscalction right in front of everyone present.

    ¡°So there are multiple people that can testify that you killed him?¡± Su Chen asked through the bars of the jail cell.

    Beside Su Chen stood Li Chongshan, Chu Yingwan, Jun Moxie, Lin Shaoxuan, and many other high-ranking Heavenly Might Battalion officers. Shi Kaihuang was still under house arrest, so he had no way ofing.

    Xiang Rui sighed as he admitted, ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°Did anyone touch him in the time period between the first moment your palm strikended and the moment someone determined that he was dead?¡± Su Chen continued to inquire.

    ¡°Yes, lots of people. It was very chaotic at the time,¡± Xiang Rui replied.

    Su Chen¡¯s expression sank.

    The scariest situation was not if no one had touched the victim but rather if too many people had touched the victim.

    The chaos meant that not only would it be difficult to uncover the true culprit, but that the scene of the crime could have also been tampered with.

    This tampering of the crime scene was an easy opportunity for the individuals in power.

    Even if Su Chen managed to find the real culprit, any person with authority could use this chaos to deflect his findings or even deny it.

    Yes, everyone knew this would be the case from the very beginning.

    Xiang Rui¡¯s arrest had nothing to do with the Heavenly Might Battalion. That matter had already been permanently settled, but theck of a charge for that action didn¡¯t mean that another charge could not be manufactured for another one.

    A simple framing ploy was enough to achieve this.

    The main problem did not lie in the ploy¡¯s simplicity but in its effectiveness.

    Even if everyone present knew what had happened, they could only start nning their response after the opponent¡¯s n had already been pulled off.

    Right now, Xiang Rui had already been imprisoned. Lin Wenjun was subtly signaling to Su Chen via this method that, though he might not be able to do anything to Su Chen himself, there was plenty he could do to the Heavenly Might Battalion.

    Xiang Rui would only be the beginning. As long as Lin Wenjun desired it, he could falsify even more charges and harm even more ex-members of the Heavenly Might Battalion.

    Su Chen quickly reached this conclusion, as did everyone else present.

    After asking Xiang Rui a few more questions, Su Chen said, ¡°Wait in prison for now. I¡¯ve already taken care of the people here, so you won¡¯t be bothered here at least. Don¡¯t worry about it. Leave the rest to me.¡±

    Xiang Rui said, ¡°Prince Su, if you can¡¯t do it, then don¡¯t force yourself. After all, this time......¡±

    He didn¡¯t finish that sentence, but everyone knew that his next words would have been that the one making things hard for them was Lin Wenjun. He hoped that Su Chen would be careful and assess his capabilities before acting.

    Upon hearing his words, Su Chen chuckled. ¡°I don¡¯t think that they will be harder to deal with than the Ravagers.¡±

    Xiang Rui¡¯s expression was filled with worry. ¡°No matter how you look at it, he is an extremely high-ranking official.¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°That¡¯s the most interesting part. Should the good men who fight on the battlefield,pletely unafraid of enemies or even death itself, be afraid of a high-ranking official?¡±

    When he said this, everyone fell silent. Their eyes, however, glowed with a strong light.

    Why were soldiers usually the first to cause trouble?

    Because they lived on the battlefield and were intimately acquainted with death.

    If they didn¡¯t even fear death, then why would they possibly fear a high-ranking official? Su Chen¡¯s words were the greatest stimtion for a soldier¡¯s arrogance and resoluteness.

    Otherwise, the Flowing Gold Fort would not have had so many generals that were unwilling to lower their heads to Lin Wenjun.

    Currently, one of the old Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s officers had been captured merely because they hadn¡¯t been pushed to desperate straits yet. But if Lin Wenjun were to push things too far...... then he wouldn¡¯t be very happy with that oue.

    Su Chen¡¯s words activated the mes concealed within the veterans¡¯ hearts.

    Li Chongshan then said, ¡°Su Chen, go do what you need to do. No matter what the consequences are, I, Li Chongshan, and my brothers will bear the consequences on your behalf.¡±

    This was a vow from one soldier to another.

    He would rather see himself lose his position than watch one of hisrades be harmed or schemed against.

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°If General says as much, then I can be at ease.¡±

    On the way back, Chu Yingwan asked Su Chen, ¡°Su Chen, what are you nning on doing?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°If Lin Wenjun can imprison Xiang Rui, then he can imprison other people as well. There are eight thousand brothers in the Heavenly Might Battalion in total, meaning that Lin Wenjun has eight thousand targets. There are too many targets within his range of influence, so he basically has eight thousand people he is holding hostage against us. As such, we cannot only focus on saving our friends.¡±

    Jun Moxie said, ¡°That¡¯s right. Even if we can save one, he will still be able to harm ten. He can randomly pick from eight thousand targets, meaning we will always be on the back foot, defensively speaking.¡±

    Su Chen continued, saying, ¡°That¡¯s why we need to take our time when addressing the root of this problem. Saving the people who have been imprisoned is merely a defensive tactic; we also need to attack at the same time. Unfortunately, before then, you all may suffer some oppression.¡±

    Only Xiang Rui had been locked up at this point, but Su Chen had referred to them all collectively.

    The meaning behind his choice of words was quite deep.

    Jun Moxie, Lin Shaoxuan, and the others all turned to look at each other before saying, ¡°We will do our best to stabilize the situation.¡±

    Li Chongshan had been stripped of his rank, but Jun Moxie and Lin Shaoxuan still had theirs. More importantly, their sphere of influence amongst the soldiers stationed at the Flowing Gold Fort was quiterge, so their actions would have a significant impact.

    And Lin Wenjun had not yet resorted to killing people, so everyone was confident that they would at least be able to ensure that these targets could keep their lives.

    ¡°Fine. If that¡¯s the case, then I can go to the capital in peace.¡±

    ¡°The capital?¡± Upon hearing this, everyone immediately understood what Su Chen was nning on doing.

    He was going to counterattack!

    Two dayster, an imperial decree arrived.

    Su Chen was being summoned to the capital.

    Lin Wenjun could push the responsibility of the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s actions onto Li Chongshan¡¯s shoulders by saying that he had refused to listen to orders and taken the initiative to act, bungling military procedure and resulting in them being stranded in Ravager territory. However, Su Chen¡¯s act of saving them was impossible to twist into any sort of crime, so Lin Wenjun could only recognize his aplishments after trying and failing to link him to the Immortal Temple.

    This contribution was not a small one!

    And since he had made arge contribution, he needed to be rewarded appropriately.

    This imperial summons was precisely for this purpose.

    When the imperial edict arrived, Lin Wenjun was so angry that his expression was more ashen than ever before.

    Because in these past two days, Su Chen had never tried to look for him or for anyone else on his side. This was the case not only for Su Chen but also for Li Chongshan and the others.

    Apart from visiting Xiang Rui at the prison, none of them had seemingly made any moves afterwards.

    The problem was that Lin Wenjun¡¯s goal in framing Xiang Rui was all to bait Su Chen into looking for him in the first ce. His opponent, however, had ignored this path and never once sought an audience with him, catching him off guard.

    What kind of situation was this? Aren¡¯t yourades who suffered through countless life-and-death situations together? Yet you are willing to let such arade sit in jail for such a long time without even asking me about him?

    Yes, that was exactly what Su Chen had chosen to do.

    Earlier, Su Chen had managed to identify the crux of the matter with a single sentence.

    Having these eight thousand brothers was equivalent to having eight thousand targets.

    There were too many to try and save them all.

    No matter how much effort they put into saving one, the opponent could simply turn around and send another group to prison without much more effort.

    As such, they could not afford to fight a battle on their opponent¡¯s terms.

    This was why Su Chen had chosen to directly leave for the capital.

    Lin Wenjun didn¡¯t know what Su Chen was thinking, but he instinctively felt anxious over the situation.

    ¡°If he reaches the capital, the situation will be much more difficult to control,¡± Lin Wenjun said.

    Qiu Qingzhi thought the same. ¡°I went to seek an audience with him yesterday, but he rejected me again. It seems as if he has made up his mind to oppose Your Majesty.¡±

    Lin Wenjun clenched his fist in agitation. ¡°I gave him an opportunity, but he still refuses it!¡±

    The olive branch he had extended had been batted aside, and the pit he had dug waspletely sidestepped. Lin Wenjun knew that he had lost his chance.

    He then said, ¡°Send news to those guys that I sessfully taught Su Chen a lesson, but that he was stubborn and refused to back down, continuing to make mistake after mistake. Now that he is nning on returning to Long Coiling City, he is basically walking right into a trap. Feel free to rough him up a bit.¡±

    As the Crown Prince, he did not have much talent; however, his ability to delegate responsibility was unparalleled.

    Didn¡¯t you guys want to deal with Su Chen and stop him and his Instructor from developing their bloodline-less techniques even further? I already did my best to teach him a lesson, and now I have even sent him over to you.

    So go ahead and do something about it!

    Even though this action was a bit shameless, it was still very effective.

    If even the great nobility ns within the country couldn¡¯t handle Su Chen, then it was pointless for anyone to point fingers at anyone else.

    If they were able to handle him...... then would there still be a need to waste their breathining about him? Would they only be satisfied if they managed to get the Crown Prince to work for them?¡±

    Qiu Qingzhi understood his intentions and nodded in affirmation. Then, he asked, ¡°Then about Xiang Rui......¡±

    Lin Wenjun thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°Let¡¯s throw a few more soldiers in jail. The Heavenly Might Battalion has been too arrogant these past few days. Even now, none of them havee to seek an audience with me. Since that¡¯s the case, then let¡¯s send some more of them to the prison!¡±

    So their not seeking an audience with him was now considered arrogance.

    Yet this was just how the Crown Prince thought.

    Anything that did not go ording to his preference was against him!

    But even if he sentenced all of them to death and to be executed, it would not be of any use.

    Because they needed to be executed after autumn[1].

    In other words, no matter how much you tried to speed things along, you would still have to wait until the end of autumn to kill them.

    And right now, it was spring ¡ª there was still half a year to go until autumn.

    In this half-year¡¯s time, no one would dare kill them. This was a restriction of thews of nature that even the Crown Prince could not willfully vite.

    In other words, Su Chen didn¡¯t have to worry as long as he could sessfully pull off his counterattack before then.

    Pushing back against a Crown Prince was not going to be an easy matter.

    However, Li Chongshan, Chu Yingwan, and the others were all filled with trust in Su Chen.

    They believed that he would definitely win.

    The next morning, Su Chen and the official who had delivered the imperial edict left for Long Coiling City.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 227: Reward

    The sky above Long Coiling City was always clear and sunny.

    Countless powerful individuals were gathered here. If they wanted the sky to be clear, the sky did not dare be cloudy at all.

    If there was rain, that was because these powerful individuals wanted the rain toe and beckoned it.

    The most powerful individual in Long Sang Country was Lin Mengze.

    Long Sang Country¡¯s emperor.

    Unlike that trash Anubi, Lin Mengze not only had the highest status, but he was also one of the most powerful individuals in all of Long Sang Country.

    He possessed the bloodline of the Dragon Centipede, a Deste Beast, and his cultivation base was at the Ultimate Emperor Realm.

    He relied on the strength of a primal emperor to be Emperor of Long Sang Country.

    This was the path every human had taken up until this point. In that sense, humans were actually even more violent than the Ravagers.

    Lin Mengze, who was nearly eight hundred years old, had a total of three sons and two daughters.

    Perhaps this was the fate of everyone who possessed a powerful bloodline, as well as the oue considered natural by most people. The more powerful a bloodline was, the longer a person could live. If they could live long enough, a single person could even live to see the start of an entire n.

    The equilibrium of nature made powerful bloodlines difficult to pass on due to fertility issues. Even with hundreds of years of hard work sowing seeds, Lin Mengze only had five children. That was already a high number rtively speaking.

    Lin Wenjun was Lin Mengze¡¯s second child and his first son. He seemed young, but he was actually already four hundred years old.

    If you were to ask Lin Wenjun what his experience of being the Crown Prince for four hundred years was like, then Lin Wenjun would definitely respond with ¡°suffering¡±.

    Yes, suffering.

    On the one hand, he had to constantly wait for his father to someday step down from his position, and on the other hand he needed to deal with thepetition from his younger brothers.

    Lin Wenjun only had two younger brothers - the third child, Lin Chenyuan, and the fourth child, Lin Anguo.

    Only Lin Chenyuan made him anxious.

    Lin Chenyuan was only three years younger than Lin Wenjun.

    If there was any regret that Lin Chenyuan had, it was probably that he was born three years after his older brother.

    Considering the thousand-year lifespans of those with the Imperial Family¡¯s bloodline, these three years were like thirty days.

    Apart from the fact that he was younger, Lin Chenyuan could say that he was more outstanding than his older brother in every aspect.

    Lin Wenjun was still at the Spirit Burning Realm, while Lin Chenyuan was already halfway into the Thought Manifestation Realm.

    Lin Wenjun¡¯s attitude was unruly and obstinate, while Lin Chenyuan was well-educated and polite.

    Lin Wenjun had great ambitions but limited talent, while Lin Chenyuan was erudite and could see the big picture.

    He really was more outstanding than his older brother in all aspects except age.

    Perhaps this was the basic quality that every ¡°dangerous younger brother¡± should have. If they couldn¡¯t even achieve something like that, did they even have the right to lust after the title of Crown Prince?

    There was one more thing, however, in which Lin Chenyuan was superior to his older brother.

    He had much more respect for the wise than his older brother.

    Su Chen had experienced this firsthand.

    Because he had already met Lin Chenyuan.

    Lin Chenyuan was standing at the gates of Long Coiling City, smiling slightly as he said to Su Chen, ¡°Sir Su, you must be tired from your journey.¡±

    Su Chen hurriedly said, ¡°How could I possibly be worthy of Prince personallying to greet me?¡±

    The schr besides Lin Chenyuan said, ¡°He not only personally came to greet you; ever since he received your letter, he has been unable to control his excitement. As soon as the sky began to brighten, he came out here to wait for you. At this point, it¡¯s already been two hours!¡±

    Every important individual needed to have a suitable sidekick who would say the right thing at the right time.

    Lin Wenjun had Qiu Qingzhi, while Lin Chenyuan had this sidekick, whose name was Jin Shuwen.

    At this moment, Jin Shuwen¡¯s words were timed perfectly. They demonstrated Lin Chenyuan¡¯s respect for the wise, and Su Chen was able to take advantage of the opportunity to say that he was beyond honored to receive such a reception. In this manner, both sides were able to create a positive first impression in each others¡¯ hearts.

    Yes, Su Chen had voluntarily sought out Lin Chenyuan first.

    The Crown Prince¡¯s conflict with the Wise Prince was not a secret.

    Since the Crown Prince was out for his head, Su Chen might as well find another person to hide himself under.

    No one was a better choice than the Wise Prince in that regard.

    To the Wise Prince, Su Chen was also a figure worthy of trying to rope in. After all, word of how he had single-handedly saved the entire Heavenly Might Battalion had spread all over Long Sang Country, no, throughout all the human territory.

    The Dreamrealm made it extremely easy for information to spread. As long as the information had some value, it would spread like wildfire.

    In this era, reputation was an incredibly valuable resource to possess.

    He was quite a famous schr!

    As a famous schr, he himself was an important resource. In addition, his personal strength made him quite a valuable individual to ally with.

    As such, as soon as Su Chen proposed an alliance, Lin Chenyuan had immediatelye and even made an obvious show of his sincerity.

    Whether he was simply being shrewd or if he actually respected Su Chen, he at least had gone to proper lengths to make a good first impression.

    The first stop Su Chen made in Long Coiling City was not the Long Sang Conste but the Wise Prince¡¯s pce.

    Within the Wise Prince¡¯s residence.

    Lin Chenyuan chuckled as he poured some wine into Su Chen¡¯s cup.

    ¡°Sir Su¡¯s act of charging into the Iron and Blood Country alone and saving the Heavenly Might Battalion has already spread far and wide. But you were arrested and interrogated immediately upon returning from aplishing such a great feat? That sends chills down my spine. When I got wind of this, I personally almost set out for the Flowing Gold Fort to ask those generals what the hell they were thinking.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled, ¡°Actually, what those generals think is not so important. The Crown Prince is more important, right?¡±

    Lin Chenyuan shook his head. ¡°If he didn¡¯t have the support of the generals, the Crown Prince might not have had the boldness to do so.¡±

    Su Chen understood his meaning. ¡°There aren¡¯t many that support him anyways. One is the Heavenly Enlightenment Battalion¡¯s Long Ke and the other is the New Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s Hao Jiantang.¡±

    Lin Chenyuan harrumphed. ¡°Hao Jiantang is totally under themand of the Crown Prince. Lin Wenjun¡¯s tant nepotism seems to indicate that he doesn¡¯t even care about maintaining face anymore.¡±

    Another reason for dissolving the Heavenly Might Battalion was so that he could ce one of his trusted subordinates in charge of the new battalion. After all, roping in people required there to be enough of a foundation to support these actions in the first ce.

    Jin Shuwen, who was standing off to the side, said, ¡°Lin Wenjun also must be agitated. He has been in the Flowing Gold Fort for some time now but has yet to make much headway. Hong Qianzhu seems old and unassuming, but he is actually extremely tricky. Those generals are war veterans and have lived through countless bloody battles; they could not possibly have survived just based on status alone. Only a talented individual like you could obtain their support.¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°So the Crown Prince doesn¡¯t see eye-to-eye with me.¡±

    Lin Chenyuan said, ¡°That¡¯s not the only reason why. He¡¯s getting quite a bit of pressure from the back lines as well.¡±

    Su Chen understood. ¡°The nobles don¡¯t like the research that I and my Instructor are performing. I would like to know what the Wise Prince thinks about......¡±

    Lin Chenyuan chuckled. ¡°A thousand years is too long. I just focus on making the best use of the time that is in front of me.¡±

    The changes that Su Chen could bring about would only manifest themselves after long periods of time.

    How the nobles thought was not important to Lin Chenyuan. The most important thing to him was the present.

    As such, Su Chen¡¯s research did not pose a problem to him.

    However, that didn¡¯t mean that he would definitely support Su Chen¡¯s research.

    Lin Chenyuan said, ¡°Of course, if Sir Su can show some leniency to me, I would be extremely grateful.¡±

    Lin Chenyuan also needed the support of the Bloodline Nobility ns.

    And any Bloodline Nobility n was almost guaranteed to not want Su Chen¡¯s research to continue.

    To Lin Chenyuan, if he could aplish something that Lin Wenjun could not do, then what would the general popce think?

    Many would probably think that Lin Wenjun was not as worthy as Lin Chenyuan.

    Yes. This was the true reason that Lin Chenyuan ced so much value on Su Chen.

    In that sense, Lin Chenyuan was actually simr to Lin Wenjun. However, his goal was different, and the methods he would use to achieve that goal were also different. Lin Wenjun didn¡¯t want to pay too much of a price; either his opponent would acquiesce to him, or he would die. There was no need to consider anything more than that. However, Lin Chenyuan viewed Su Chen and his Instructor as a piece that would allow him to obtain the support of the nobles and knock Lin Wenjun down a peg at the same time. As such, keeping Su Chen alive was of utmost importance to him. And the letter that Su Chen had written to Lin Chenyuan made it clear that this point was not non-negotiable, which was what had caused Lin Chenyuan to be so excited. This was also the reason why he was willing to pay such an exceptionally high price.

    After Lin Chenyuan had spoken, he waved his hand. His subordinates pulled out a trunk filled with Origin Stones and precious raw ingredients.

    Su Chen, however, didn¡¯t even nce at it once.

    No matter how much money you have, could you possibly have more than me?

    Su Chen, who had just finished plundering the Ravagers and the Beasts, didn¡¯t have eyes for these resources. Perhaps not even the imperial storehouses possessed as much wealth as he.

    Someone who possessed hundreds of millions of Origin Stones could not possibly take a gift of a few tens of thousands of Origin Stones seriously.

    As such, Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Many thanks, Wise Prince, for your good intentions, but I have no need of these things.¡±

    Lin Chenyuan was taken aback. ¡°But Sir Su, you mentioned in your letter that......¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry - I have no intention of going back on my word. However, I really have no need of these gifts.¡±

    Lin Chenyuan somewhat understood. ¡°Yes, Sir Su¡¯s cultivation techniques have spread far and wide, so this present must not even be worth mentioning. However, this is a disy of my sincerity, so I still hope that you would ept it. As for any requests you may have, please state them. As long it is within my power to do so, I will do my best to achieve it for you.¡±

    Since Lin Chenyuan had said as much, Su Chen would seem inconsiderate if he didn¡¯t ept the gifts, so he stowed them away in his Origin Ring before saying, ¡°I do have something that I would like to ask the Wise Prince for his help with. If the Wise Prince agrees, I, Su Chen, am willing to swear a vow that any bloodline-less cultivation techniques I develop in the future will never be publicly distributed on the Dreamrealm or sold for a low price. Instead, they will be prudently and carefully passed along from one individual to another.¡±

    Su Chen could not possibly agree to stop his research.

    However, he did agree not to disseminate his research for such a low price like he had done before.

    The Bloodline Nobility ns might not be totally satisfied with this oue, but it was much easier for them to ept it than what the situation was like before.

    The Bloodline Nobility ns opposed Su Chen not merely because of his research but because he was spreading it far and wide, allowing anyone and everyone to cultivate them. This caused the value of a bloodline to decrease, and the Bloodline Nobility ns¡¯ noble status grew less and less important. If a person were to closely guard such a technique that they had researched, then it would merely be as if a new Bloodline Nobility n had sprung up. It wouldn¡¯t affect nearly as many people, nor would it damage the status of the Bloodline Nobility ns. As such, this kind of a situation was much easier to ept.

    After all, there had been people before Su Chen who had managed to develop cultivation methods that allowed them to reach the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline. However, their use was extremely restricted and never really spread, so the Bloodline Nobility ns never felt threatened by them.

    Of course, if they knew how Su Chen was nning on carrying out such an inheritance, they probably would think twice about it.

    But at the moment, Su Chen¡¯s promise was like a powerful drug, influencing Lin Chenyuan¡¯s thoughts and emotions.

    When he heard what Su Chen had said, Lin Chenyuanughed loudly. ¡°Good, good! As long as Sir Su is willing to make such a promise, I will answer any request you make of me.¡±

    He had changed his end of the agreement to ¡°answering any request Su Chen made of him¡±, an obvious indication of how important Su Chen¡¯s promise was to him.

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°Actually, what I want is very simple...... I want the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain.¡±

 Book 4: Near Blood - 228: Prideful Bones

    The Ten Thousand Swords Mountain was located near the south of Long Sang Country, where Liaoye Country and Empty Mountain intersected.

    The Ten Thousand Swords Mountain was quite vast. Most of it was within the borders of Long Sang Country, but there was a small bit of it that extended into Liaoye Country and Empty Mountain. It was a natural wall separating the three countries. Because the mountain contained many peaks, each of them tall and pointy like the tips of swords, it had been named the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain.

    Lin Chenyuan never could have expected that Su Chen would actually ask for the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain.

    Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s request, Lin Chenyuan was dazed.

    Was the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain valuable?

    Of course it was valuable. It was quite a vast region.

    Was the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain not valuable? It really wasn¡¯t that valuable.

    Even though the territory wasrge, the resources there were only average, and even fewer citizens lived there. Most of the lifeforms present were Demonic Beasts. If you were to round up all these Demonic Beasts, they would be somewhat valuable, but the amount of energy that would be necessary to do so was absolutely not worth it from a business standpoint!

    However, Su Chen had somehow set his sights on this piece ofnd.

    What did he want this piece ofnd for?

    Lin Chenyuan couldn¡¯t figure it out.

    The problem with the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain was not one of how much it was worth but of authority.

    Su Chen wanted this mountain range basically to turn it into his own territory, his own ce!

    A personal territory!

    This was a much more serious problem.

    After all, this mountainous region was veryrge. No matter how barren it was, it was still thousands of square kilometers in size. No matter how difficult it was to develop that region, it was still Long Sang Country territory. No Bloodline Nobility n possessed such a vast amount of territory.

    If a person was ambitious enough, this mountainous region would have been more than enough to start a small country with.

    Why would Su Chen want a ce like that?

    Su Chen answered directly, ¡°I want to start and establish my sect so that I can start passing down my cultivation techniques!¡±

    Lin Chenyuan immediately remembered the words Su Chen had just spoken. He somewhat understood and said, ¡°You want to establish a sect there so that you can begin epting disciples?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right!¡±

    Lin Chenyuan let out a sigh upon understanding Su Chen¡¯s intentions.

    You couldn¡¯t me Lin Chenyuan for being simple in his thought process.

    The Seven Kingdoms had various sects scattered throughout, but under the current bloodline system, these sects had very little to inherit. Most sects just hung around the marketce like gangs. asionally, there would be a few that were established in the wilderness, but no one ever seemed to show any interest in them.

    Under such circumstances, it was no surprise that everyone looked down on the importance of sects.

    This was like starting a new business. The well-established businesses would not believe that this new business would have any effect on the market. Beforerge beasts had gotten to their current size, no one would have paid them any attention before they bared their fangs.

    Su Chen wanted to start a sect in the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain Range?

    That was eptable.

    It was just that he had asked for a bit too much space. However, given the contributions Su Chen had made so far, and with Lin Chenyuan¡¯s support, the Emperor would definitely agree to such a request.

    The most important factor was that this was directly rted to the ¡°method of inheritance¡± that he had just gotten Su Chen to agree to. Even thoserge Bloodline Nobility ns probably would have agreed. Otherwise, if they didn¡¯t agree, wouldn¡¯t they be basically forcing Su Chen to continue to publish any future breakthroughs he made on the Dreamrealm?

    Since Su Chen had already built the stairs for them, they had no option but to go down those stairs. At the very least, Lin Chenyuan understood this principle.

    ¡°I will definitely give you my full support in this matter, but the problem is that the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain is partly located in between Liaoye Country and Empty Mountain......¡±

    ¡°I want all of it!¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t hesitate.

    If he didn¡¯t make it a bit difficult for them, they might believe that he was easy to dismiss.

    Because of the presence of external enemies, the Seven Kingdoms were on somewhat peaceful terms. It wasn¡¯t impossible for them to discuss the matter of the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain. After all, there was no concept of ¡°not backing down an inch¡± yet. Exchanging a piece of deste territory for the support of powerful Bloodline Nobility ns was quite amon urrence. Otherwise, where could the feudal system havee from? This world did not yet have an official process for dividingnd for nobles, but under circumstances where they didn¡¯t haveplete control, handing out some unimportant territory to the nobles for them to use was not a problem.

    Of course, this was not a problem for the country. However, Su Chen¡¯s decision to do it on his own made it a much bigger problem.

    Regardless, the difficult problem had already been posed. All that remained was to see how Lin Chenyuan would resolve it.

    That evening, Lin Chenyuan prepared an abundant feast for Su Chen. Of course, a few important individuals had also been invited.

    ¡°Sir Su, this is the Head Minister of Public Works, Guo Siyang.¡±

    An ancient, grizzled man walked over as Lin Chenyuan introduced him.

    Lin Chenyuan was the host, and Su Chen was the main guest. As such, Lin Chenyuan personally apanied Su Chen and introduced him to everyone one by one.

    ¡°Greetings, Minister of Public Works Guo,¡± Su Chen politely bowed and said.

    The old man in front of him was one of the nobles that had formerly advocated strongly for dealing with Su Chen, and he had been responsible for putting pressure on Lin Wenjun. Now, however, he had appeared here.

    Indeed, Su Chen¡¯s obvious alliance had caused some shifts in the domestic situation at home. Some of the people who had lost hope in Lin Wenjun had begun to shift their allegiances.

    Of course, it was still too early to say that they supported Lin Wenjun at this moment. That would depend on what happened next.

    Guo Siyang wore a benevolent expression. ¡°Prince Su is quite a young hero. You intelligently saved the Heavenly Might Battalion, and you also developed the Hemolytic Totem and a bunch of other remarkable cultivation techniques. I am very impressed with your talent.¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°I am unaware of how high the heavens are or how deep the earth is. I just tinkered with them as I pleased, incurring your ridicule.¡±

    Guo Siyang squinted his eyes and said, ¡°If you were able to develop these things just by tinkering with them, then your talent is worthy of respect even if you are a bit inexperienced. However, you are still young, socking a bit of foresight in this regard is to be expected.¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°Please, Head Minister of Works, I am willing to listen to your instruction.¡±

    Guo Siyang said, ¡°You can¡¯t really call this instruction. However, having served society for so many years, I have some experience with these things. Do you know what the most important thing is in this world?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s social order!¡± Guo Siyang said. ¡°Nature worships order. The reason we humans are human is because we have social rules that we follow andws that we rely on to maintain this order.¡±

    Su Chen listened very intently.

    Guo Siyang continued, ¡°However, there is so much going on that there will always be disputes. How do you preserve order? This necessitates social ss. One group must rule, one group must execute these orders, and one group must ept this rule. Only this kind of a distribution and level can preserve this natural order.¡±

    Su Chen somewhat understood. ¡°So how do you divide these groups? Of course it¡¯s with bloodline restrictions.¡±

    Guo Siyang chuckled. ¡°See? You understand. A bloodline-less cultivation techniques allows anyone to cultivate. It seems very generous, but it actually turns things topsy-turvy. People lose respect for status, causing chaos between the social tiers and making it so that people can offend their superiors at any point in time. Without this order, our country will in fact not be a country.¡±

    Guo Siyang¡¯s thought process was actually very simple and traditional. He believed that, if these cultivation techniques were to be universal, it would definitely disrupt the social order. However, he was not talking specifically about the Bloodline Nobility ns but the country as a whole. He viewed it from the perspective of someone in power, and believed that this would create chaos within the country and damage the solidity of their rule.

    In that sense, he wasn¡¯t wrong.

    For instance, now that Danba had obtained the Ravager cultivation technique, he possessed the ability to challenge the Inferno Tribe. In the same way, humans who were once considered low status would gain the right to challenge the current rulers via the use of this cultivation techniques. It was impossible to avoid a period of chaos. Apparently, there were already many disruptions that had urred throughout human territory, a few of them started by people who had studied Su Chen¡¯s cultivation techniques. Thankfully, up until this point he had only managed to develop a technique that could bring others to the Yang Opening Realm, which was still rtively low in status. It didn¡¯t really affect the big Bloodline Nobility ns much, but the signs of a rebellion were already present.

    There at least needed to be a somewhat reasonable excuse for attempting to stop this new development.

    Just as automation would cause some workers to lose their jobs, new cultivation techniques would disrupt the current social order. It wasn¡¯t all good; obviously, even excellent inventions could create some negative oues.

    The bloodline-less cultivation techniques were no exception.

    Everything Guo Siyang had mentioned were all side effects that would really happen.

    You could say that the Bloodline Nobility ns were merely trying to find an excuse or that he reallycked a long-term view, but at this moment his words were filled with a conviction that his words were righteous and just.

    This was the quality that every important individual should possess - regardless of whether you actually were concerned for the fate of the country¡¯smoners, you at least needed to act like you were.

    If Su Chen was still the impulsive kid from twenty years ago, he probably would have tried to argue with Guo Siyang a bit, exining that developing these bloodline-less techniques would be incredibly important for the future of humanity.

    However, he was not.

    He was very clear that there was nothing to be gained from arguing with people like this.

    Whether they really understood or not, it was impossible to convince people like this with reason alone.

    You can never wake up a person who is pretending to be asleep.

    As such, Su Chen made no attempt to exin himself. He just nodded and pretended to agree.

    Guo Siyang chuckled as he stroked his beard when he saw Su Chen act like this. He was very pleased with Su Chen¡¯s ¡°teachableness¡±.

    Others also wandered over and offered their ttery and congrattions.

    Su Chen discovered that building up rtionships with important individuals was actually very simple.

    You just had to nod your head and say, ¡°Yes, I agree¡± no matter what it was that they said.

    Su Chen was a good listener and was incredibly patient. As such, he was able to behave himself appropriately while still achieving what he was after.

    As long as he wasn¡¯t impulsive, it was very easy for him to mingle with them.

    Of course, this only seemed very easy to Su Chen. To other people, possessing this much self control, being self confident without being conceited, or possessing talent without feeling the need to show off, was incredibly difficult, not to mention the other rare qualities that Su Chen possessed.

    In any case, this was a very sessful banquet. Su Chen was able to very easily mingle with this group of nobles.

    It could only be said that, when he opened a window to the world, the world opened a door up to him.

    That evening, news of this banquet had spread to the Flowing Gold Fort.

    Lin Wenjun trembled with rage as he stared at the report.

    ¡°Bastard! How could this be? Su Chen agreed to, he agreed to not distribute any techniques through the Dreamrealm, instead relying on inheritance to pass them down. Why? Why would he refuse to open a dialogue with me? I went to such great lengths to put pressure on him, but he actually......¡±

    Qiu Qingzhi sighed. ¡°This person is far more stubborn than we anticipated. Even though he has no arrogance, his pride runs as deep as his bones!¡±

    Su Chen did not try to arrogantly dispute Guo Siyang¡¯s nonsense. However, he refused to back down even an inch despite Lin Wenjun¡¯s attempts to put pressure on him every step of the way.

    He had the ability to maintain his silence, but there was no way he would ever bow his head to his enemies or let someone harm his Instructor or the thousands of soldiers that were part of the Heavenly Might Battalion.

    Such were his prideful bones.

    Lin Wenjun¡¯s mistake was that he had treated Su Chen as an enemy from the very beginning. If he had changed tactics earlier, the situation might not have turned out the way it did.

    Unfortunately, it was toote for him to do anything about it now.

 Book 4: Near Blood - 229: The Dust Settles

    In the Thousand Hands Hall.

    This was Long Sang Country¡¯s main political hall.

    It was named Thousand Hands Hall partly because the Dragon Centipede Beast had what seemed like a thousand legs and partly because anyone who worked in this hall needed to deal with so many matters that they needed to have a thousand hands to effectively resolve everything. This also indicated that being the ruler of a country was not necessarily an enjoyment but more of an inconvenience.

    Lin Mengze was quite a diligent ruler. Apparently, he would wake up extremely early and would take care of business until thete hours of the evening.

    How much of this was an exaggeration was unknown, but at the very least he was diligent in handling the affairs of his country.

    Today was the date of Su Chen¡¯s audience with the emperor.

    Su Chen had been dragged to the imperial pce before the sun even rose to wait for the emperor to summon him.

    This waitsted a few hours.

    It wasn¡¯t until around noontime when the guard at the door stepped forwards and summoned Su Chen into the hall.

    Upon entering the hall, Su Chen walked forwards until he came to a stop in the hall¡¯s center. Finally, he hade face to face with Lin Mengze, the ruler of Long Sang Country.

    Even though Lin Mengze was old, his appearance was that of a middle-aged man. A Deste Beast Bloodline was truly powerful. Su Chen could sense the prestige and might emanating from him with just a single nce from afar. This pressure was no weaker than the pressure the Scarlet Heart exuded; actually, it was even greater. Instantly, Su Chen recognized that Lin Mengze was actually above the Scarlet Heart in terms of strength.

    ¡°Su Chen greets Your Majesty!¡±

    At that moment, Su Chen respectfully greeted Lin Mingze.

    ¡°Please, no need to stand on ceremony,¡± Lin Mengze said with a slight smile. ¡°You¡¯re quite the intelligent youngster, aren¡¯t you? Who would have thought that a youth was the one responsible for aplishing such an impressive feat?¡±

    Lin Mengze spoke in a rtively carefree manner. He did not go to great pains to speak in a majestic, solemn manner.

    He continued, ¡°However, I am more impressed with your development of the bloodline-less cultivation techniques and the fact that you did not try to keep it for yourself. It is obvious that you harbor an ambition that is sufficient to span the entire continent.¡±

    Strictly speaking, the imperial family was also a Bloodline Nobility n. Su Chen¡¯s path of cultivation would simrly threaten their status, but Lin Mengze seemed to bepletely supportive of Su Chen¡¯s path. Su Chen didn¡¯t know if he was doing this on purpose or if he shared a simr ambition, or if he felt that a Deste Beast Bloodline was unshakable. Since he had said as much, however, Su Chen could only respond appropriately. ¡°Your praise is enough to make your subject blush. Actually, your subject does have some selfish motives - I want to try and save up some money. To your subject, being able to happily perform my research is good enough for me. As for what I will aplish in the future, that is not particrly important to me.¡±

    ¡°Is this why you want the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain for yourself?¡± Lin Mengze asked.

    ¡°Yes! As long as I have a piece of territory belonging to myself, which I can use to perform my research in peace and pass it along to a few disciples, so that future generations might know who I am,¡± Su Chen replied.

    This kind of a dream seemed simple, but the implications were quite deep and longsting. Even so, this was not something that crossed the Emperor¡¯s bottom line.

    Lin Mengze nodded repeatedly when he heard this. ¡°Very well. Since that is the case, I can agree to give the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain to you. However, the portion within Empty Mountain and Liaoye Country is not something I have the final say over. Either both those countries agree to hand over the territory, or we would be going to war. And a matter like this that involves multiple kingdoms might take a long time to decide on. It will at least take a few years, if not decades, and we won¡¯t even know if negotiations will seed or not until the very end.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is,¡± Su Chen said, a crestfallen expression on his face.

    When Lin Mengze saw him like this, he said, ¡°Do you really need the entire Ten Thousand Swords Mountain?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I am nning on making changes to the mountain in order to suit my research needs. If I don¡¯t have the entire mountain, there might be disputes in the future at the borders, creating more trouble.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s suggestion was not without merit. In the past, the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain was unimed territory, so even after the borders had been decided, no one paid too much attention if someone were to trespass these boundaries from time to time.

    Now that the territory was going to belong to Su Chen, it was impossible for him to allow people toe and go as they pleased into his territory. As such, if they didn¡¯t figure out who had the rights to do what early on, it would definitely result in problems.

    Lin Mingze said, ¡°I can send people......¡±

    However, Lin Mingze stopped himself before he had even finished that thought.

    Since Su Chen had made it clear that he wanted the territory for his own purposes, stationing troops there would make it seem like Long Sang Country was being duplicitous.

    Indeed, Su Chen said, ¡°Your subject would prefer to defend it himself.¡±

    As he spoke, he nced at Lin Chenyuan.

    Indeed, Lin Chenyuan stepped out and said, ¡°Father, your son has an idea.¡±

    Lin Mengze said, ¡°Speak.¡±

    Lin Chen said, ¡°Su Chen performed an incredible feat by saving the Heavenly Might Battalion. Unfortunately, the Heavenly Might Battalion was dissolved as soon as they returned by my eldest brother.¡±

    A trace of light flickered across Lin Mengze¡¯s eyes. ¡°Something like that happened?¡±

    He was actually totally unaware of that situation.

    Lin Chenyuan said, ¡°Yes, the old Heavenly Might Battalion was dissolved and split up into different battalions. The new Heavenly Might Battalion was given to Hao Jiantang tomand.¡±

    Lin Mengze smacked his armrest. ¡°Ridiculous!¡±

    Lin Chenyuan was actually relying on this matter with Su Chen to publicly lodge aint. The timing was exceptional and theint was logical, and Su Chen was present as a firsthand witness. There was nothing anyone could say in rebuttal.

    Lin Mengze cursed, ¡°Hong Qianzhu just sat and watched him rece the formermander with his own personal assistant?¡±

    It was obvious from his phrasing that he was incensed.

    Lin Chenyuan said, ¡°The old Heavenly Might Battalion was able to survive in Ravager territory for more than a year. All of those soldiers are experienced elites at this point, and wasting them like that would be a shame. Since my eldest brother doesn¡¯t want them, I think that you should give them to Sir Su instead.¡±

    Lin Mengze nced at his son. ¡°You¡¯re asking me to give the old Heavenly Might Battalion to Su Chen?¡±

    His gaze was gloomy, indicating that he didn¡¯t like that suggestion at all.

    An eight-thousand-man army was not a small force. Those were enough numbers to threaten a Demonic Emperor. It was fine to give Su Chen the territory, but if he gave Su Chen the manpower along with it, he would basically be allowing Su Chen to establish his own kingdom.

    Lin Chenyuan calmly continued, ¡°Like that, you can put him in charge of handling those locusts.¡±

    Lin Mengze¡¯s gaze immediately grew less harsh. ¡°Those locusts? Oh, that is not a bad idea.¡±

    The locusts were the Harpies invading from Liaoye Country.

    Even though all the big countries had their main enemies, they still had to deal with some secondary enemies as well. Theplicated borders made it impossible for them to avoid having to deal with a wide range of enemies.

    Long Sang¡¯s greatest enemies were first the Ravagers, then the Beasts. However, they also had a small problem of dealing with the Harpies that had infiltrated human territory via Liaoye Country¡¯s borders to the southwest.

    The Harpies weren¡¯t very strong, but because they had wings, even the lowest-tier Harpies could fly. They had great mobility and were hard to kill, which was why the humans living in Long Sang Country called them locusts.

    Even though they were weak locusts, a certain amount of manpower and resources were still necessary to deal with them, which was extremely vexing and annoying.

    Having someone help stop up that gap was not a bad idea.

    Lin Mengze nced at Su Chen. ¡°Su Chen, the Heavenly Might Battalion has a bond with you that was forged through a life or death situation. I will hand them over to you......¡±

    Su Chen immediately said loudly, ¡°Many thanks for Your Majesty¡¯s favor. Your subject is willing to ept this condition!¡±

    ¡°But you must guard the airspace to the southwest tightly. I do not want to hear about any more locusts infiltrating our country and stirring up trouble.¡±

    ¡°I will absolutely clear up the southwestern skies for Your Majesty!¡± Su Chen replied with conviction.

    Finally, the dust had settled. Both Su Chen and Lin Chenyuan felt their hearts ease up.

    Yes, this was Su Chen¡¯s real goal.

    He chose to retreat by advancing. Using the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, which wasn¡¯t really even in Long Sang proper, to bargain for the Heavenly Might Battalion was an incredibly favorable exchange. As for Lin Chenyuan, he was not only able to gain favor with many of the Bloodline Nobility ns but had also found an opportunity to tattle on Lin Wenjun and stop his momentum. He had as much reason as Su Chen to celebrate.

    The battle for the throne was incredibly vicious. Anyone who lost could only resign themselves to their tragic fate.

    Lin Chenyuan was acutely aware of this. He knew that he had lost the ability to back down a long time ago. All he could do was try to turn every situation possible in his favor.

    This time, his victory had tipped the scales in his favor.

    And quite significantly at that.

    This was because he heard Lin Mengze say, ¡°It seems as if the Crown Prince is still a bit young and impulsive, and hecks the ability to do things smoothly. Well, I should probably transfer him from his position as the deputymander of the Ravager Extermination Army and make him a general of the twave Army to the northwest.¡±

    Going from the deputymander of the main military force to a general of amon militia was quite a fall. Lin Mengze was clearly demonstrating his dissatisfaction with Lin Wenjun¡¯s actions.

    This dissatisfaction stemmed not just from this one incident. After hundreds of years of constant conflict and squabbling, the Crown Prince had be an eyesore to Lin Mengze.

    This was the inevitable oue of a battle for the throne. Even Lin Mengze knew that his sons were fighting with each other.

    But what of it?

    This was the normal condition of every imperial household, after all!

    In order for the emperor to maintain control of his throne and fairly administrate the country, he needed experience in political disputes, administrative abilities, and the foresight to be on guard against enemies. If you couldn¡¯t do that, what right did you have to contend for the throne?

    If you were wrong, you were wrong, and if you were defeated, you were defeated. There was no room for excuses.

    In this instance, Lin Chenyuan was taking advantage of the opportunity to nder his older brother. Lin Mingze was very aware of this fact.

    But so what?

    The fact of the matter was that Lin Wenjun had made a mistake, and Lin Chenyuan had managed to effectively deal with the situation, rope in Su Chen, stabilize the country, and appease the armies. Would Lin Mengze punish Lin Chenyuan over Lin Wenjun?

    Lin Mengze was very sober, but he wouldn¡¯t change his decision because of this.

    If Lin Wenjun wanted to me someone, he could only me himself for being defeated by his opponent.

    Not taking the Crown Prince title from him was already giving him a significant opportunity.

    After he received the reward, Su Chen retreated.

    Lin Mengze had too many matters to take care of throughout the day. He didn¡¯t have the free time to idly chat with Su Chen.

    Su Chen walked down the steps of the main hall and followed the guards standing at the entrance to receive the sealed ribbon, stationary, and imperial seal. From this moment on, he was the owner of the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain. In addition, he had been given the responsibility to defend the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, which was in some sense equivalent to an official title. However, he had no real authority. In addition, because the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain was in the wilderness, very few humans lived there, and there weren¡¯t even any other officials responsible for overseeing the territory.

    That would be hard to say in the future.

    After taking care of this matter, Su Chen waited in Long Coiling City for more news toe his way.

    Waiting for news about Lin Wenjun and the Heavenly Might Battalion.

    Three dayster, Su Chen received word that Lin Wenjun was stripped of his position and left the Flowing Gold Fort. Xiang Rui was released that very same day, and Shi Kaihuang was released from house arrest.

    Seven dayster, a group of eight thousand soldiers appeared in a small city seventy kilometers out from Long Coiling City.

    Su Chen said as he looked at them with a slight smile, ¡°Wee back, Heavenly Might Battalion!¡±

 Book 5: Sect - 1: Flat Mountain Garrison

    t Mountain Garrison was the busiest in the springtime.

    At this point in time, the Vicious Beasts became more active, making it a great time to go hunting. The nearby hunters would form groups and set out into the mountains, beginning hunting expeditions that would oftenst months.

    t Mountain Garrison was a township that was made to provide hunters with what they needed. The shops sold basic living necessities and bought the Beast hides, bones, and meat that the hunters brought back from their expeditions.

    If they were lucky enough, they might be able to kill a high-tier Vicious Beast, in which case they wouldn¡¯t need to worry about surviving for the rest of the year. Of course, for safety reasons, the hunter groups that entered the mountains needed to be at least capable of killing a high-tier Vicious Beast. That was the standard that had been set.

    If they were unlucky and ran into a Demonic Beast, then they could only run and pray that their luck was good.

    Every year, not all of the hunters who entered the mountain would return.

    They would forever remain in those hunting grounds, their bodies bing the food that supported those Beasts. Either they hunted the Beasts, or they were hunted.

    Such was life.

    As per usual, Little Sweet arrived at the wine tavern a little past noon.

    The tavern was filled with people already.

    Upon seeing Little Sweet enter, a man holding a cup of wine in his hands yelled, ¡°You¡¯rete again, Little Sweet! It¡¯s already the afternoon! You¡¯re alwayste!¡±

    ¡°So what? This ce is owned by my grandfather,¡± Little Sweet replied brusquely as she walked through the crowd of patrons.

    A pair of ck, furry hands reached out for Little Sweet¡¯s butt. Just as they were about to make contact, Little Sweet suddenly danced to the side as she slung the wine jug she was holding into the face of the owner of those hands.

    ¡°You never pick up good manners, He Lang,¡± Little Sweet harrumphed. ¡°The wine is going on your tab.¡±

    ¡°Hahahaha!¡± The tavern¡¯s patrons began to guffaw and cheer raucously.

    ¡°I told you you wouldn¡¯t be able to touch her.¡±

    ¡°He Lang, you¡¯ve lost!¡±

    ¡°Hand over my ten copper coins!¡±

    The crowd began to talk over each other.

    ¡°How boring.¡± Little Sweet walked away, her hips swaying. The hunters all lived in the present and liked to pull stunts like this. Little Sweet basically experienced something like this every day, so she was not caught off-guard by it in the slightest.

    ¡°I¡¯ll get you to bed one day or another,¡± the man called He Lang said as he licked his lips, leering at Little Sweet¡¯s slender waist and ample behind.

    ¡°In your dreams! My body goes for a high price. You wouldn¡¯t be able to afford me, you bastard.¡± Little Sweet¡¯s reply wasn¡¯t sweet in the slightest. Actually, it was quite spicy.

    It was impossible to survive in this kind of ce without some cruelty.

    The crowd once again burst out intoughter and jeering.

    Suddenly, the mor died down, and the atmosphere became eerily peaceful.

    Little Sweet, who had reached the front counter, turned around to see what had happened.

    She found a young man standing at the doorway.

    This young man was obviously different from everyone else present. He was dressed in a long azure robe which was obviously made from high-quality fabric. The robe was spotless and without dirt, and every strand was exquisitely woven. His face was pale and clean, quite handsome in fact, and possessed no trace of crudeness. Inparison, the men in the tavern seemed like they had gotten here by rolling through the mud. It was obvious that this young man was far more refined than them.

    It was this different aura that caused everyone to notice him immediately, and what had caused the mor to die down momentarily.

    Of course, the background chatter very quickly resumed.

    The young man ignored the gazes of the crowd as he walked towards the front desk and nced at Little Sweet.

    ¡°May I ask, how much wine does this ce have?¡±

    His voice was quite pleasant to listen to.

    ¡°Oh.¡± Little Sweet froze for a moment. ¡°Uh, a jug is fifty coins. How much do you want?¡±

    Little Sweet realized at that moment that the other party had not asked about the price but the quantity.

    ¡°Yes, how much wine do you have here?¡± the young man repeated again.

    An old man walked over from nearby. He was Little Sweet¡¯s grandfather.

    ¡°Esteemed guest, are you nning on buying all of the wine that I have here?¡± the old man asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s correct.¡±

    ¡°One jug for one tael of gold.¡±

    ¡°How many jugs do you have?¡±

    ¡°Ten.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take them all.¡±

    The young man pulled out ten taels of gold.

    The old man¡¯s eyes lit up when he saw the gold. ¡°My apologies, dear guest. I suddenly remembered that we have a total of thirty jugs.¡±

    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll take those as well.¡± The young man pulled out another twenty taels of gold.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go and fetch the wine for you right now.¡± The old man took the gold with excitement.

    ¡°Hey, old man, you can¡¯t sell all the wine to him. What will we drink?¡± one of the hunters yelled as he stood.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter to me. If you don¡¯t have wine to drink, you can drink your own piss,¡± the old man replied bluntly.

    ¡°Damn!¡± A few of the hunters stood up.

    Little Sweet frowned, and she leaned in to the young man and said, ¡°You¡¯d better leave here quickly from the back door. Otherwise, there might be trouble.¡±

    The young man nced around at the tavern, noticing the hostile gazes directed at him, and said with a slight smile, ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡±

    Little Sweet sighed. ¡°I know you have some skill, but there are a lot of them here.¡±

    No one who participated in this hunting expeditions was weak. Once the bloodline-less cultivation techniques had spread, the hunters here had also gotten much stronger. All theycked was time, which they needed to use for cultivation in order to fully demonstrate this benefit. Even so, the hunters had already managed to sessfully escape a Demonic Beast¡¯s pursuit a number of times.

    Given how many hunters were gathered here, even a Yang Opening Realm Origin Qi Schr would need to be careful. This was why Little Sweet had cautioned the young man.

    In her view, this young man was just a young man from a wealthy n who wanted to see the world around him.

    ¡°A lot of them here?¡± The young man¡¯s eyebrows jumped humorously. ¡°Then they¡¯d better go take a look outside.¡±

    As he spoke, he walked out the door.

    Outside?

    The hunters then realized that thirty jugs of wine was in fact too much for one or two people to finish off all by themselves.

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe this sly bastard.¡± One of the hunters strode forwards upon seeing Su Chen walk out the door. As he reached out to grab Su Chen by the neck, he walked out the front door.

    All of a sudden, he stood frozen in ce like a statue.

    ¡°Hey, what¡¯s wrong?¡± the other hunters asked. They saw the hunter standing at the doorway trembling slightly.

    The hunters nced at each other before all standing up and walking out the door. They pushed aside the hunter, who was still frozen there in fear. When they saw what was waiting for them on the other side, all of them were totally dumbfounded.

    At some point, t Mountain Garrison had been upied by arge group of people.

    They were standing there in neat formation on the street, not uttering a single word. There were so many of them that the lines actually extended all the way to the garrison¡¯s front gates.

    Everyone present was badly startled.

    Most importantly, despite the fact that so many people had entered the garrison, none of them had made any noise. No one in the tavern had any clue that such arge procession was headed their way.

    Were these guys ghosts?

    No, they weren¡¯t ghosts, but their discipline and formation were both incredibly strict!

    Elite soldiers!

    This thought shed through all of their heads.

    The hunters weren¡¯tplete bumpkins. None of the annoying soldiers stationed here to keep the peace gave off such a terrifying aura. These men were definitely elite soldiers. And given that they were able to get so close with thousands of people without making a sound not only indicated that they were incredibly disciplined but also was a clear demonstration of their personal strength.

    Why would this kind of a battalion suddenly appear near t Mountain Garrison? And why were none of them wearing military uniform?

    No one understood what was going on.

    At this moment, the old man had already begun to bring out the wine from the back. When he saw so many people standing before them, he was also badly startled.

    The young man waved his hand, and the jugs of wine disappeared.

    After stowing away the wine, the young man said, ¡°Right, senior, do you know how far we are from Heaven-Upholding Peak?¡±

    The old man replied, ¡°You guys are heading to the Heaven-Upholding Peak? The mountain pass is hard going, so it will probably take you two days. The path is also quite confusing, so it would be best for you to find a guide.¡±

    ¡°Guide?¡± The young man nced around.

    All of the hunters simultaneously took a step back. None of them seemed willing to lead the way for thisrge group of soldiers.

    No one knew what would happen after they entered the mountain. If they happened to be exposed to some top-secret military information, then they might......

    The young man understood what they all were thinking. After a moment of thought, he was about to speak when Little Sweet suddenly said, ¡°I¡¯ll go!¡±

    ¡°Little Sweet!¡± The old man was badly startled.

    Little Sweet said, ¡°Grandpa, if these men were up to something, they would be able to destroy the t Mountain Garrison ten times over. I have faith that these people won¡¯t do anything to me.¡±

    The young man said, ¡°Are you familiar with this mountain path?¡±

    Little Sweet puffed her chest out and said, ¡°I grew up here ever since I was young. No one is more familiar with the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain region than I.¡±

    The young man smiled. ¡°Your name is Little Sweet?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. What¡¯s yours?¡±

    ¡°Su Chen,¡± the young man replied as he tossed over a handful of Origin Stones. ¡°This is the fee for guiding us.

    This handful of Origin Stones was tossed out so carelessly, but there were at least dozens of them. Everyone who saw this was dazed.

    Little Sweet giggled as she caught the stones. ¡°Thanks.¡±

    ¡°Little Sweet, give Grandpa the Origin Stones!¡± the old man said. He wasn¡¯t after her riches; he was just worried that the little girl would bring trouble on herself. What if these guys were just pretending to be generous and wanted to kill his granddaughter in the mountains, then take back the Origin Stones? If she didn¡¯t have money on her, she might actually be safer.

    Of course, this kind of thinking was totally unreasonable. After all, if Su Chen and his group were people like that, they could have chosen to immediately start ughtering them. However, prudence and apprehension usually did not follow the rules ofmon sense.

    Little Sweet seemed to not care in the slightest as she stowed the Origin Stones away. ¡°It will take two days to reach the Heaven-Upholding Peak. Do you want to prepare some rations before we set out?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°We already have prepared our own rations. In any case, it won¡¯t take us two days to get there.

    Su Chen motioned as he said, ¡°Death¡¯s Shadow of a Youth!¡±

    The white paper beast floated out into midair and said, ¡°Master!¡±

    Upon seeing this strange creature, which seemed to bepletely made out of paper, everyone was stunned.

    Su Chen said, ¡°You¡¯ll be responsible for her.¡±

    White strips of paper weaved together to form a small white boat that floated in midair.

    A momentter, the paper boat shot downwards, crashing into Little Sweet and sending her tumbling into the boat.

    ¡°Little Sweet!¡± everyone yelled.

    Little Sweet sat up from inside the boat. ¡°Ha, this paper boat is too interesting!¡±

    Upon seeing that she was fine, the others sighed with relief. However, their apprehension towards Su Chen and his strange techniques only grew.

    Only the Death¡¯s Shadow of a Youth felt incredibly wronged. He was a Demonic Lord, but now he was being forced to carry amoner girl. He felt like it was such a waste of his talents.

    ¡°If there¡¯s nothing else, then let¡¯s go,¡± Su Chen said faintly.

    The boat began to rise as it flew forwards.

    Su Chen and the others followed the boat into the mountain. It seemed as if they weren¡¯t moving particrly fast, but they soon disappeared from view, not leaving behind even a speck of unsettled dust.

 Book 5: Sect - 2: Construction

    The paper boat floated through the air as the battalion followed closely behind. They advanced rapidly, and despite the fact that the boat was not traveling slowly at all, everyone was somehow able to keep up. Little Sweet discovered to her surprise that they had arrived at the Heaven-Upholding Peak before it was even dusk.

    ¡°Arr..... Arrived......¡± Little Sweet stammered. ¡°How were we that fast?¡±

    Thatst question was a rhetorical one she was asking herself.

    ¡°Is this the Heaven-Upholding Peak? The scenery here is quite nice,¡± Su Chen said from his vantage point at the top of the peak.

    The Heaven-Upholding Peak was the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain¡¯s most majestic peak. Countless ridges and peaks could be seen rising and falling in all directions. It really felt like he was standing on the tip of a sword that had been stuck into the mountain. White, fluffy clouds circled the peaks, somewhat obscuring them from view. The sight really was quite mesmerizing.

    After looking around for some time, Su Chen descended and said, ¡°From today onwards, this will be our home.¡±

    ¡°Oo-rah!¡± everyone responded in unison. This cheer was for their new home.

    ¡°However, you all must endure for a little while longer. There isn¡¯t anything here yet, so we must start from scratch.¡± Su Chen said. ¡°Now, the first step of the n - cut into the mountain!¡±

    Cheng Tianhai, Jun Moxie, Lin Shaoxuan, Chu Yingwan, and the others began to summon their underlings.

    ¡°Sea Mountain Company,e with me!¡±

    ¡°Dragon Mountain Company, over here!¡±

    ¡°Hidden Mountain Company, stay here on guard!¡±

    ¡°Blue Mountain Company, follow me!¡±

    As themanders began to cry out, the soldiers began to separate in an orderly fashion and spread out.

    They had agreed on a n long before arriving at this ce. After dividing up the tasks, everyone was clear on what they needed to do, so their movements were increibly fluid. Even though there were many people present, they moved in an orderly fashion, and no one was confused about where they were supposed to be.

    Little Sweet stared at this scene in shock. Su Chen walked over and said, ¡°Little Sweet, thanks for your guidance. Your job is finished, so I¡¯ll have the Death Shadow of a Youth send you back.¡±

    The white paper boat began to turn around to head back down the mountain.

    ¡°Hey, hey, don¡¯t be in such a hurry!¡± Little Sweet yelled. ¡°There are so many of you here on this mountain. It probably won¡¯t be too easy for you all to get by, right? Do you need anything? Rations? Water?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°They¡¯ve already been prepared.¡±

    ¡°Then what about clothes?¡± Little Sweet continued to scramble. ¡°It gets cold when you are up so high, so you should at least be wearing a few.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. We won¡¯t freeze.¡±

    He waved his hand, causing the paper boat to continue to fly down the mountain.

    Little Sweet stomped her feet in agitation. ¡°Just let me see.¡±

    Su Chen ignored her.

    Even so, Little Sweet watched as those soldierspletely surrounded the mountain peak before suddenly striking at the ground.

    What were they doing?

    Little Sweet didn¡¯t understand. Sword light filled the sky, but they were headed straight for the ground and left behind deep scars on the mountain peak.

    When eight thousand soldiers did this simultaneously, the de strikes were enough to cause the ground to shake.

    Suddenly, Little Sweet understood. Her heart trembled as she muttered, ¡°It can¡¯t be?¡±

    The Death Shadow of a Youth chuckled when he sensed Little Sweet¡¯s shock. ¡°Yes, it can. Even though this mountain peak is high, it is a bit too narrow, and it cannot support eight thousand people living here. But if you manage to demolish the peak, you will be able to build a massive residence here.

    As the Death Shadow of a Youth spoke, the countless streaks of sword light continued to erode away at the base of the peak.

    A momentter, Su Chen, Li Chongshan, Shi Kaihuang, and a few of the more powerful experts flew into the air and unleashed sts of palm energy at the mountain. The Heaven-Supporting Peak, which was already beginning to show signs of copsing, finally toppled over with a loud ¡°crack¡± and began to roll down the mountainside.

    Boom!

    When itnded in the valley, it sted up arge swath of dust, and the ground trembled violently for a moment.

    The t Mountain Garrison people felt these strong fluctuations and charged out of their houses to figure out what all themotion was.

    Only Little Sweet could see that this peak of the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain had grown shorter by a significant amount.

    It was still the tallest peak in the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, but the sharp tip had been ttened out, leaving behind an even surface at the top of the peak.

    The next step after clearing out the territory was toy the foundation for the residence.

    Little Sweet was lucky and got her first look into how Origin Qi Schrs built houses.

    First, Su Chen personally moved. He hefted the Mountain-Beheading de in his hand and circled around once beforending on the ground, deftly cutting some lines into the ground. These lines were for the construction workers to follow. Su Chen¡¯s consciousness crystal allowed him to easily remember the build ns and replicate them with exceptional uracy.

    Next, a toon of heavy weapons specialists began to break in the foundation ording to the lines drawn out. Cheng Tianhai¡¯s soldiers were the most suited for this kind of violent work.

    At the same time, the other soldiers began to pull out the stone materials they had prepared in advance from their Origin Rings and began toy them down.

    Little Sweet saw another sight that gave her the greatest shock she had ever received in her life - all of the eight thousand disciples had Origin Rings!

    Su Chen¡¯s wealth had only increased after buying all those Origin Rings to save the Heavenly Might Battalion. As such, he decided to buy some more so that every one of the soldiers would have one. Each soldier was thus able to carryrge quantities of resources necessary for building the pce.

    The other soldiers who weren¡¯t busy creating the foundation orying down stones weren¡¯t idle, either. They flew down the mountain in waves, sword Qi flying everywhere as they cut down the trees, storing them in their Origin Rings before returning to the top of the mountain.

    That was thest thing that Little Sweet saw before the Death Shadow of a Youth took her out of range. The white clouds obscured her vision, causing the scene of thousands of people happily at work to disappear from view. This glimpse, however, was more than enough to leave behind a deep impression on Little Sweet.

    Without the soldiers slowing him down, the Death Shadow of a Youth began to fly even more rapidly. In the blink of an eye, he returned to t Mountain Garrison.

    The old man originally thought that his granddaughter would need two days to return, but she was unexpectedly back before the sky had even turned dark.

    However, Little Sweet sat in the paper boat in a daze,pletely motionless, as if she had lost her soul.

    The old tavern owner was badly frightened. He hugged his granddaughter and said, ¡°Little Sweet, they didn¡¯t do anything to you, did they?¡±

    Little Sweet blushed as she pushed her grandfather aside and continued to stare off in the direction of the mountain.

    The Death Shadow of a Youth floated off into the distance.

    As she stared at the clouds covering the mountain from view, Little Sweet said, ¡°I¡¯ve decided, grandpa.¡±

    ¡°Decided what?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going into the mountains to find them.¡±

    ¡°What? Don¡¯t be ridiculous. You don¡¯t even know what kind of people they are.¡± The old tavern owner was badly startled.

    ¡°I already know. I asked on the way there. They are nning on living there. They said that they were going to establish a sect!

    ¡°Establish a sect?¡± Those words sounded quite foreign to the old tavern keeper.

    ¡°Yes, establish a sect!¡± Little Sweet replied as she nodded diligently. ¡°I¡¯m going to go ask him to be my master!¡±

    She said as she gazed in the direction of the mountain, ¡°I am going to learn Origin Skills and be an Origin Qi Schr!¡±

    ¡°They won¡¯t ept you.¡±

    ¡°No, they will ept me. That handsome brother said that anyone and everyone was qualified to receive an education. As long as they are fated to do so, they can join!¡±

    The construction was still ongoing back over at the Heaven-Upholding Mountain.

    Any onlookers from afar would see countless people surrounding this tall peak, carrying out an unprecedented construction work. They flew around on Soul Armaments, used Origin Rings to transport construction materials, and used a variety of Origin Skills to cut, align, and glue together these materials. Their outstanding organization made them incredibly efficient, and Su Chen, who possessed the consciousness crystal, was the best foreman.

    His brain spun rapidly as he took into ount every detail of the n, sending different individuals to take care of different problems.

    Command aftermand was issued from his mouth, which were efficiently carried out by the appropriate recipients. They constantly reported information back to Su Chen as well for him to consider and deal with.

    The result of this back-and-forth dialogue was that this massive pce began to take shape at a speed that was possible to observe with the naked eye.

    In but a day, the Heaven-Upholding Peak waspletely ttened, and the foundation had beenid. On the second day, an outline of the pce began to form. All of the cornerstones, supporting columns, floorboards, etc. were methodically arranged by the Origin Qi Schrs, who flow through the air to the appropriate destination,id them down, and then nailed them in ce. The wooden bs interlocked autonomously and then were covered in a special mix of adhesive mud. These bs were then cooked over a well-controlled fire until they dried.

    The crossbeams were put together like toy building blocks one after another, followed by countless tiles that flew through the air like they had wings, ttering into ce above the crossbeams.

    If anyone was about to run out of Origin Energy, someone would take their ce, and the person whose energy was exhausted would go into the nearby temporary worker¡¯s tent to rest and cultivate.

    By the third day, the main pce itself waspleted. This pce was at least three hundred feet tall, but there were only five floors. The interior was extremely empty, but the height of the pce made up for the amount of mountain rock that had been hewn off. Afterpleting the body of the pce, however, there was more to do. They began to construct various smaller residences, with the main pce as the center.

    The construction workers began to build around the mountain peak, with the Boundless Pce at the very center.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, we should be done in seven days,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    ¡°It really is a miracle,¡± Li Chongshan sighed with praise.

    Such a massive undertaking was truly miraculous, even in a world where humans possessed supernatural abilities.

    Su Chen was still the person primarily responsible for bringing about such a miracle.

    Only he had enough wealth to provide every one of the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s soldiers with an Origin Ring. Most importantly, only he could perform suchplex calctions so rapidly, ensuring that each person could carry out their responsibility without falling into chaos.

    There was no one else that the human race could rely on quite like Su Chen.

    While everyone was expressing their amazement, a disciple came to report to Su Chen.

    ¡°Sect Master, there is a girl who requests an audience with you.¡±

    As soon as they had arrived at this peak, Su Chen was no longer Su Chen but the Boundless Sect¡¯s Sect Master, and themander of everyone present. The eight-thousand-strong Heavenly Might Battalion had also be disciples of the Boundless Sect. Li Chongshan and the others naturally became the sect¡¯s elders.

    Upon hearing this disciple¡¯s report, even Su Chen was stunned. ¡°A girl?¡±

    ¡°Yes! It¡¯s the girl who gave us directions a few days ago.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s her? What is she doing here?¡± Su Chen was taken aback.

    The disciple replied, ¡°She said she wants to take you as her master and enter the sect.¡±

    ¡°Enter my sect?¡± Su Chen was momentarily taken aback before he burst outughing. ¡°We haven¡¯t even officially opened our doors yet, but there are already people trying to get in, huh?¡±

    Upon hearing this, everyone present began tough.

    ¡°Then¡­¡­ Sect Master, are we going to ept this disciple?¡±

    ¡°Of course we will! Why wouldn¡¯t we?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t we need to test her aptitude first?¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s eyebrows jumped. ¡°Anyone who wants to enter my sect must be fated to do so. Everyone can be educated regardless of their background. There is no need to test aptitude.¡±

 Book 5: Sect - 3: Developmen

    t

    Seven dayster, theplex of buildings surrounding the Boundless Pce were finally finished. All that remained was to furnish the interior.

    Furnishing the interior was quite a delicate responsibility. It was impossible to use Origin Skills to speed up the process, so it would take quite a bit of time.

    However, that was not so important. In any case, the construction waspleted, so they would have no problem in their daily living.

    Afterpleting the base of the construction, there was much more for the Boundless Sect to do.

    The first was to develop a hierarchy of order.

    The structure of the original Heavenly Might Battalion would obviously not be kept. After some discussion, the Boundless Sect was split into three branches: the Flowing Fire Division, the Constant Prosperity Division, and the Clear Mirror Division.

    The three divisions were responsible forbat, resources, and human affairs, respectively.

    The Flowing Fire Division was further split into six halls. They were responsible forbat, intelligence gathering, sect defense, and other rted duties.

    The Constant Prosperity Division was responsible for handling resources. It was also split into six halls, responsible primarily for agriculture, construction, livestock breeding, household affairs, markets and stores, and other rted duties.

    The Clear Mirror Division was responsible for human affairs and was also split into six halls, responsible primarily for upholding thew, training, supervision, distribution of missions, and other rted duties.

    The Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s members were all soldiers and were proficient inbat, so the Flowing Fire Division was notcking in manpower. However, the Constant Prosperity and Clear Mirror divisions were responsible for resources and human affairs, so they were much morecking in manpower inparison.

    Thankfully, the sect was only newly established, and all the sect members had beenrades on the battlefield. They were rtively unified, so there weren¡¯t many issues in day-to-day life. As a result, even though these two divisions were undermanned, this wouldn¡¯t be a problem for the time being, and they would receive more support as the sect gradually began to growrger.

    Li Chongshan was responsible for the Flowing Fire Division, and Lin Shaoxuan was his aide. Chu Yingwan was responsible for the Constant Prosperity Division, and Shi Kaihuang was her aide. Even though Shi Kaihuang had quite a high position in the former battalion, he was only focused on his research and his organizational capacity was far below Chu Yingwan¡¯s. As such, he didn¡¯t mind this downgrade; actually, he was very happy that he could finally continue his research. Guo Wenchang was responsible for the Clear Mirror Division. He was the weakest amongst the seven Heavenly Might Battalion generals, but his mind was incredibly clear. As the battalion¡¯s think tank, no one was more suited than him to manage the sect¡¯s human affairs regardless of which division they originated in. Tang Jie was originally nning on having him manage the Constant Prosperity Division because he was also very proficient in handling money, but since political matters were usually moreplex, Guo Wenchang was eventually ced in charge of the Clear Mirror Division, with Jun Moxie as his aide.

    Cheng Tianhai, who was left out, had a bold and outspoken personality and didn¡¯t think too much, which meant that he was not particrly suitable for managing arge division. As such, he was insteadmissioned as the head of the Battle Hall. Thankfully, Cheng Tianhai was quite carefree and didn¡¯t mind at all.

    The seventy-three soldiers that had followed Su Chen were organized into a sword-wielding group. Le Feng was in charge of the group, which Su Chen had direct oversight of.

    After setting up this organizational hierarchy, the rules for each division were also slowly ironed out. The Boundless Sect still belonged to Long Sang Country in name, but because it was Su Chen¡¯s personal territory, he possessed absolute authority. As such, he could set the rules for this ce, including the tax rate. As long as he didn¡¯t try to rebel or reject the Lin n¡¯s control, no one would pay him any mind.

    However, the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain was uninhabited. The t Mountain Garrison, strictly speaking, did not fall in the range of the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, so Su Chen had no way of taxing them.

    If he wanted to tax them, he could only start with these eight thousand disciples of his.

    Thankfully, Su Chen didn¡¯t really care about these things. Of course, this matter of his sect¡¯s revenue still needed to be taken care of. However, Su Chen was not in any particr hurry to set it up.

    Next, it was time for them to officially begin expanding.

    An organization did not expand by epting disciples and broadening their entrance. They first needed to develop the proper ecosystem and environment for the sect.

    As such, not long after the construction of theplex waspleted, the Constant Prosperity Division was immediately put to work. They first focused on developing the agriculture.

    If the Farming Hall had no one, that was fine. They could always draft people from the Flowing Fire Division!

    There were many things waiting to be done, and the sect¡¯s disciples all had a unified will. The Boundless Sect was at its most powerful at this moment. The disciples all viewed themselves as tools that could be used in any capacity at any moment in time.

    The Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s soldiers were all quite exceptional. Today, they might be construction workers, but tomorrow they might turn into farmers.

    They first used their swords to clear out arge swath of territory, then used their swords to create ruts in the ground. Finally, they used their Origin Skills to bring down rain, which sculpted the soil as it fell on the ground, creating soil suitable for growing Origin Energy-containing nts. Finally, seeds could be sown.

    Su Chen had harvested all kinds of unique nts during his journey near the Ravager and Beast borders. There were a few that could grow again and a few that couldn¡¯t, but Su Chen nted them regardless of whether they could grow again or not.

    This was because he possessed the River Source Grass.

    The River Source Grass could greatly improve the fertility of the surroundings, imbuing the soil with spiritual attributes and abundant nourishment. It could also adjust the seasons, giving each type of nt the environment it needed to grow. Most of the nts that Su Chen had nted could grow in this ce because of the River Source Grass¡¯s effects.

    Even though this grass couldn¡¯t increase Su Chen¡¯sbat strength due to it being a strategic resource, it served as the foundation for providing the Boundless Sect with an abundance of resources.

    The River Source Rass belonged to the Farming Hall. The other important treasure, the Heavenly Truth Songstone, was given to the Instruction Hall of the Clear Mirror Division - more urately, to the Boundless Institute.

    Su Chen did not selfishly keep this item to himself. Instead, he decided to allow others to use it as well.

    The Boundless Institute was a ce for the sect¡¯s disciples to receive instruction. Everyone present, including the former Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s officials, were required to be trained here.

    The person responsible for training them was Jiang Liu.

    Even though he was only in the Yang Opening Realm, Jiang Liu was the person who had the best understanding of the Immacte Cultivation Technique. Otherwise, he would not have been the person to grasp it the most quickly, nor could he have gone up two entire realms in merely fifty days, nor could he have been the first to properly control a Soul Armament.

    The Boundless Institute taught nothing but the Immacte Cultivation Technique, the only cultivation technique that had been 100% developed by Su Chen.

    Jiang Liu had the best control over the Immacte Cultivation Technique, which was why he was the instructor. He was also the first Deputy Headmaster of the Boundless Institute - the Headmaster position was upied by Su Chen, of course.

    Unfortunately, the soldiers of the Heavenly Might Battalion all had things to do, so they were only disciples in name. There was only one full-time disciple at this point - Little Sweet.

    Little Sweet¡¯s actual name was Li Tian[1. Tian (Ìð) being the character for sweet.]. Over time, people had begun to refer to her as Little Sweet.

    After arriving at the Boundless Sect however, Little Sweet felt that her name was no longer befitting of her status as a future Origin Qi Schr, so she reverted to her given name, Li Tian.

    In theory, this girl was already an adult, and she had missed the prime window for cultivation. Her aptitude was not outstanding either, meaning that she was not actually a great disciple.

    However, Su Chen believed in education without prior qualifications. He didn¡¯t even care if his disciples were human or not, so why care about aptitude?

    In his eyes, any person could cultivate.

    Sess in cultivation was not determined by whether or not you reached the end. As long as you embarked on this road, you would not fail no matter where you reached in the end.

    If you have the ability, you can walk down this path all the way and live a carefree life. I might have a poor aptitude, and I might never go further than the Blood Boiling Realm, but I can still extend my lifespan and enjoy my long life to the fullest. Is there anything uneptable about that?

    If only dragons amongst men were allowed to cultivate, how many people would ever be an Origin Qi Schr?

    This was not Su Chen¡¯s way of thinking.

    Su Chen wanted every human to be able to cultivate. That was the only way that the human race¡¯s strength would increase as a whole.

    As such, he did not particrly care about how far Li Tian would go. As long as she continued walking until the very end, creating her own beautiful and storied life, that was enough.

    Perhaps she would never go further than the Yang Opening Realm, but why did that matter?

    As long as she was happy and advancing, that was good enough. There was no limit to how much you could learn. As long as you continued to press on, you would have no regrets if you fell on the way there.

    That was Su Chen¡¯s mindset. He had even inscribed this sentiment on the walls for every one of his disciples, both current and future, to see.

    Miss Li didn¡¯t know about Su Chen¡¯s ambition, but she knew that Su Chen had given her an opportunity.

    That was enough.

    She was a girl who had grown up in a ruralmunity and had never had an opportunity to cultivate. Her return was not due to a moment of impulsiveness or obsession.

    Even she hadn¡¯t expected to seed.

    Her sess came so suddenly, yet it was also so simple.

    The reason she had seeded was because she had tried.

    Deep down in her heart, she was extremely grateful to Su Chen, and this gratitude became her motivation to study diligently.

    Of course, Su Chen had no idea that this was going on.

    He had too many matters to take care of and couldn¡¯t be bothered to take into consideration the thoughts of a little maiden.

    He needed to expand his sect, deal with sect affairs, and continue his research.

    Yes, his research!

    After entering Ravager territory, most of his time was taken up by fighting and moving. For the most part, he really did not have much time to do research.

    Now that he had found a ce for himself, Su Chen could finally resume his experiments.

    The first thing Su Chen began to analyze was the Origin Bone Scepter.

    The main reason Su Chen had spent so much time and energy to think up a n to get the Ravagers to fight the Beasts was so that he could obtain this Origin Bone Scepter.

    ording to Su Chen¡¯s thought, the Origin Bone Scepter¡¯s ability to divine the future was the next major research target after his microscopic eye and consciousness crystal.

    With its help, he would hopefully be able to take less detours in his research.

    However, these guesses were only guesses. The exact details still remained to be seen.

    From the moment he obtained the Origin Bone Scepter until now, Su Chen had been busy taking care of all kinds of issues and never had much of an opportunity to use it. Now that things had calmed down a little, he finally had an opportunity to figure out how to use it.

    Su Chen already knew from the Ravagers that he would need to make a sacrifice every time he wanted to use the Origin Bone Scepter to divine the future.

    Different sacrifices would result in different answers.

    The Origin Bone Scepter preferred sacrifices that contained Origin Energy. If those items also contained the power of time, the effect would be even better.

    The stronger the future divined by the Origin Bone Scepter was, the more serious the oue, and the stronger the repercussions, the more difficult it would be to see into the future, and the sacrifice would need to be even greater.

    This was why the Origin Bone Scepter was unable to divine the oue of the Three Mountains battle. It affected too many people and had too many consequences. The Origin Bone Scepter performed best under peaceful, stable conditions without too many external influences.

    The scepter also had no way of divining answers too far in the future. If the Origin Bone Scepter could only see around ten years in the future, for instance, and it would take Su Chen a hundred years to achieve something from a certain path of research, then it was impossible for Su Chen to know the answer. However, if he wanted to figure out what would happen in a year, the answer woulde to him quite easily. As for how far in the future the scepter could see, that simrly depended on two conditions: the target of foresight and the items being sacrificed.

    Finally, the sacrificed item would be consumed regardless of whether the divination seeded.

    For instance, suppose you asked the Origin Bone Scepter a question and gave it a sacrifice. If the sacrifice was insufficient to obtain an answer, then you would receive no answer, and the sacrifice would not be returned.

    On the other hand, if you offered a sacrifice that was worth far more than the simple question asked, the ¡°leftovers¡± of the sacrifice would not be returned.

    This was perhaps the greatest danger of sacrificing things to the Origin Bone Scepter.

    You would never know if you had won or lost until the dice cover was removed.

 Book 5: Sect - 4: Sacrifice 1

    Chapter 4: Sacrifice (1)

    Within the Origin Bone Hall.

    This was a hall that Su Chen had ordered to be constructed for the express purpose of housing the Origin Bone Scepter.

    This hall was constructed from the bones of all kinds of different Demonic Beasts. There was a certain primal aura about it, which was somewhat ipatible with the Boundless Sect¡¯s grand atmosphere.

    Even so, this was the environment that the Origin Bone Scepter liked to be in. Only in such a primal atmosphere would the Origin Bone Scepter be able to unleash its greatest effect. This was another thing Su Chen had learned from the Ravagers.

    The Origin Bone Scepter was ced on a specially constructed altar. Apart from the scepter, there was nothing else in the room. However, the ancient and imposing aura emanating from the Origin Bone obviously manifested the frightening power that the Shining Dragon, an Origin Beast, possessed.

    Su Chen first pulled out an Origin Stone and ced it on the altar before asking his first question.

    ¡°I want to know what we are having for lunch.¡±

    As the most basic containers of Origin Energy, Origin Stones were more than suitable for use as a sacrifice.

    The Origin Stone on the altar disappeared, but Su Chen received no reaction.

    Su Chen knew that this sacrifice had failed.

    What they would have for lunch tomorrow was a very simple question, but he had still failed.

    This seemed to indicate that, though the Origin Bone Scepter liked to consume objects with Origin Energy, they could not only contain Origin Energy. It was a bit picky with what it ate.

    As such, Su Chen was not so much asking about what was for lunch tomorrow but what the Origin Bone Scepter preferred to eat.

    Based on the fact that he had not received any answer, it seemed that items like Origin Stones were simply too in.

    Next, he ced a sprig of Clear Heart Grass on the altar. This grass was a cultivation resource, making it a bit more valuable than just an Origin Stone.

    Then, Su Chen asked again what was for lunch tomorrow.

    The answer came to him this time.

    An image appeared above the altar of countless people sitting around a bonfire barbecuing.

    ¡°Roast meat...... Roast meat again! Is there nothing else to eat here?¡± Su Chen was a bit depressed. But when he remembered that the construction work on top of the mountain had just been finished and that many facilities had yet to bepleted, including even a water reservoir, it was really quite difficult for them to eat anything but roast meat.

    ¡°So what am I eating tomorrow evening?¡± Su Chen asked as he ced another sprig of Clear Heart Grass on the altar.

    This time, there was no answer.

    Su Chen repeated a question, cing a Cloud Fruit on the altar instead.

    Cloud Fruit¡¯s value was somewhat lower than Clear Heart Grass, but what was for dinner tomorrow evening was obviously a bit more of aplicated question than what was for lunch.

    The answer appeared again.

    This clearly demonstrated that the Origin Bone Scepter¡¯s answers weren¡¯t dependent on the market value of the sacrifice.

    That was a good thing!

    Unlike those dumb Ravagers, Su Chen was not so eager to get an answer from the very beginning.

    The first thing he wanted to figure out were the principles the Origin Bone Scepter operated by, and what it liked and didn¡¯t like. The variable market prices meant that there were many loopholes to exploit; there would always be some things that weren¡¯t very expensive but the Origin Bone Scepter would like more.

    Next, Su Chen continued to test the items in his inventory.

    After determining what was for dinner the following evening, he asked who he would see first the next morning, then who he would see second, then who he would see third, then what clothes he would wear, and finally what clothes other people would wear. Then, he continued to ask about the day after tomorrow, and then the day after that.

    Su Chen did his best to try and string his questions together. Regardless of whether the Origin Bone Scepter gave him an answer, he would obtain some useful data, which he would record in the consciousness crystal in his mind.

    However, after his twentieth question, the Origin Bone Scepter suddenly let out a low hum. The primal aura in the air perceptibly decreased, and no matter how many more questions Su Chen asked, he received no more answers.

    ¡°So you have a temper, do you?¡± Su Chen was taken aback.

    He recorded in his consciousness crystal that he could at most ask twenty questions in a day.

    Twenty was not a big number, but it wasn¡¯t a small one either.

    For the more important answers, that was more than sufficient.

    For experimental questions, however, the price-to-performance ratio was not nearly as high.

    No matter what, however, Su Chen could only ept this oue.

    In theing days, Su Chen continued to test the Origin Bone Scepter repeatedly, figuring out the cheapest sacrifices that the scepter liked.

    Through this constant process of testing out different sacrifices, Su Chen developed a few new rules for the scepter.

    First, the Origin Bone Scepter liked to eat Beast flesh more than it liked to eat nts, and it liked elemental items more than Demonic Beasts. Finally, it liked items that contained time essence more than anything else.

    Second, additional quantities of a sacrifice would result in diminishing returns. For instance, a Demonic Essence Fruit might allow you to determine something three days in the future, but offering one hundred fruits would not allow you to see an answer three hundred days in the future.

    Third, different sacrifices could be superimposed on each other. The Origin Bone Scepter epted this kind of sacrifice, andpatible sacrifices would even increase the effectiveness of the sacrifice.

    Fourth, the Origin Bone Scepter also liked items with many beautiful inscriptions on their surface. If you offered up a sacrifice that you had spent some time to beautify and refine after obtaining that item, it was possible to achieve a better result. However, this was only a possibility; there was also a risk that engraving it would actually decrease its value in the scepter¡¯s eyes.

    Fifth, different predictions necessitated different sacrifices for the Origin Bone Scepter. In particr, the biggest factor was how willing the user was to ept a certain oue.

    In simple terms, if the Origin Bone Scepter was going to give a certain prediction that the user was able to ept, the cost of the sacrifice would decrease.

    If the Origin Bone Scepter was going to make a prediction that the user resisted, the value of the sacrifice would need to increase, and it was very likely that no answer would be given.

    This was because the future was filled with uncertainties. Any prediction that was offered had the possibility of altering it.

    The Origin Bone Scepter prediction ability caused it to incline towards the ¡°truth¡±, oues that were unlikely to change.

    If the oue was a good one to the user, then the user¡¯s ability to ept the prediction would not change the oue of the prediction. Of course, the cost of the sacrifice would be far lower, since it was much more likely to happen.

    If the prediction was something that the user could not ept, then the user would attempt to change that oue as soon as the prediction was offered. As such, the prediction was unlikely to be urate, which was totally against the predictive nature of this scepter. It was unsurprising that the Origin Bone Scepter preferred not to offer an inurate prediction. If the user insisted on knowing, they would need to give the scepter enough of an excuse to do so, which of course meant providing a sacrifice with enough value.

    In that sense, the Origin Bone Scepter preferred to only report the good news, not the bad news. The only exception was if this bad news could not be changed by the user.

    As such, the main reasons for an unsessful divination was either that the duration was too far in the future, that the target of prediction was too powerful, that the prediction had the possibility of being incredibly inurate, or that the oue was disastrous to the user. All of these, however, were basically down to the inadequacy of the sacrifice.

    The sacrifice was the base for everything.

    After a number of repeated experiments, Su Chen gradually came to know the Origin Bone Scepter¡¯s ¡°temper¡±.

    The best sacrifice was probably the Sands of Time.

    After this were items containing elemental essence.

    The third best were the most precious parts of the Demonic Beasts, such as their Origin Crystals or their cores.

    The fourth best was nts imbued with Origin Energy.

    The worst sacrifice was Origin Stones.

    Su Chen had taken more than half a year to develop this generalized list of rules and performed at least three thousand experiments. He had tested all kinds ofmon and precious resources, including a Demonic King Origin Crystal, all to find out what he would be eating eleven years from now.

    Using a Demonic King¡¯s Origin Crystal as a sacrifice was not strange. What was strange was asking such a pointless question.

    However, if he didn¡¯t ask such simple questions, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to develop such precise rules.

    His experiments were only experiments because he was willing to sacrifice.

    Su Chen was able to confirm that ten years was not the Origin Bone Scepter¡¯s limit. However, past ten years, the required value of the sacrifice would only increase.

    The Ravagers had developed far less experience in tens of thousands of years than Su Chen had in half a year not only because they were dumb but also because they werecking in resources, were unwilling to make sacrifices, and ced too mch emphasis on short-term benefits.

    After obtaining such a wealth of experience, Su Chen began to try asking questions with more valuable answers.

    Within the Origin Bone Hall, Su Chen first ced an assortment of twenty Demonic Lord bones withplicated engravings onto the altar, then covered them with the down of a Deepwater Midnight Goose. Finally, he pulled out a Demonic Lord¡¯s Origin Crystal and ced it at the very top.

    This was the bestbination Su Chen had discovered during his many attempts, as it counted as abination sacrifice.

    Even so, Su Chen did not haveplete confidence that he could obtain an answer to the question that he was about to ask.

    ¡°I want to know how to resolve this issue of reaching the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline.¡±

    Yes. Without question, this was the answer Su Chen cared about the most.

    As long as he was able to resolve this problem, Su Chen would be able to give the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples a way to reach the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline.

    However, the only way he could get an answer was if there was an answer to be given. In other words, only if the future Su Chen or someone else could obtain an answer by themselves without the aid of the Origin Bone Scepter would the Origin Bone Scepter be able to provide an answer.

    In addition, this answer could not be too far off in the future.

    If it was too far off in the future - for instance, if Su Chen or someone else would only find the answer after decades, then sorry, the Origin Bone Scepter wouldn¡¯t be able to provide an answer.

    Most importantly, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t even know if the issue was that there was no answer or that the answer was too far off in the future for the Origin Bone Scepter to ess.

    Because of that, Su Chen didn¡¯t ask the question directly for safety reasons. Instead, he asked what the process of reaching the answer should be.

    By finding the correct process, he could resolve a majority of the problems.

    Once Su Chen asked the question, the altar began to glow with light. Unlike the formermon sacrifices, a ray of light shot forth from the Origin Bone Scepter onto the sacrifices, causing them to gradually disappear.

    As the sacrifices disappeared, images began to appear on the surface of the altar.

    A young man was walking along a mountain path towards a stone house. That youth was Su Chen himself.

    The sacrifices disappeared very slowly, so the images continued to y out.

    The illusory Su Chen pushed open the door to the stone house and walked inside. It was Shi Kaihuang sitting inside.

    Su Chen sat down right in front of Shi Kaihuang and said, ¡°Instructor, is there a reason you were looking for me?¡±

    Shi Kaihuang replied, ¡°I have discovered a way to allow people to ascend into the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline.¡±

    ¡°Instructor has found a way?¡± the illusory Su Chen asked with great excitement. The real Su Chen was quite surprised.

    So the method was going to be discovered by his Instructor.

    However, Su Chen realized upon further consideration that this oue was not that strange. Shi Kaihuang was much more rxed now that they had returned to human territory, and he had reverted to his old manner of living when he was at the Hidden Dragon Institute. He immersed himself in his research every day.

    He was the person who had developed a way to reach the Blood Boiling and Yang Opening Realms without a bloodline, so it wasn¡¯t really that strange that he would be the one to discover the way to reach the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline.

 Book 5: Sect - 5: Sacrifice 2

    Chapter 5: Sacrifice (2)

    ¡°I just have some ideas,¡± the illusory Shi Kaihuang said. ¡°Earlier, you relied on the power from the Origin Energy Temple to create enough external pressure topress your Lotus tform and achieve the Light Shaking Realm. Even though your method is not repeatable, we can use it as a reference. Most importantly, you managed to bring back the Origin Energy Temple¡¯s secret Origin Formations. I think that this is the way for us to continue advancing.¡±

    ¡°But the Origin Energy Temple is too expensive to use and would be hard to aplish unless we had the support of the entire country. In addition, some of the necessary resources have gone extinct already. It is basically impossible for us to create a second Origin Energy Temple,¡± the illusory Su Chen said.

    Shi Kaihuang chuckled. ¡°You misunderstand me. I¡¯m not saying that we should construct another Origin Energy Temple. Did you forget that the Origin Energy Temple is meant to give people who don¡¯t have the ability to control Origin Energy to control it? What we are doing is to solidify Origin Energy for people who already know how to use it. The difference in the difficulty of the two cannot bepared.

    Su Chen understood Shi Kaihuang¡¯s meaning. ¡°Instructor means to say......¡±

    ¡°Why not develop a kind of formation that is specifically used to break into the Light Shaking Realm?¡± Shi Kaihuang asked.

    Upon hearing this, both the illusory Su Chen and the real Su Chen felt enlightened.

    This time, Shi Kaihuang¡¯s thought process had triumphed over the youth¡¯s.

    Su Chen had used the Arcanist thought process to resolve the problem of reaching the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline in the past, and had relied on the Three Yangs Medicine to break into the Yang Opening Realm. But it seemed like his brain had suddenly be rigid as soon as it came to researching a method for breaking into the Light Shaking Realm. He had been running in circles trying to figure out how to resolve this issue, but he had totally ignored the possibility of taking a simr path to the Three Yangs Medicine.

    Yes, why not develop a special kind of formation for this purpose?

    Since he had no way to aplish this himself, he might as well develop a supplementary method to help him do so. He had done it in the past, so it was surprising to him now that he had suddenly be so rigid in his thinking.

    But after thinking about it for a moment, he understood.

    The reason he had be so rigid was because he was not proficient in handling Origin Formations.

    He was able to develop the Three Yangs Medicine because he was a proficient alchemist, and he had managed to use Ancient Arcana Techniques to break through because he was proficient in those as well. However, his understanding of Origin Formations was limited, which was why he had subconsciously resisted exploring this potential path.

    Perhaps this was human nature. People always refused to participate in things that they didn¡¯t quite understand, so they would ignore paths that would clearly allow them to advance.

    Inparison, as the person who had created the Origin Talisman Light Formation, which contained tens of thousands of Origin Energy Talismans, Shi Kaihuang understood Origin Formations quite well.

    Not only so, but he was exceptionally proficient.

    The picture disappeared. Su Chen knew that he had found his answer forward. However, a majority of the sacrifice was still left and continued to decay noticeably.

    This meant that the remaining portion of the sacrifice was unnecessary.

    ¡°Dammit, I lost big time on this one,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    Even so, that was the Origin Bone Scepter. You could neverpletely optimize its use. Every time you used the scepter to divine the truth, you were basically guaranteed to lose money.

    This also meant that you would have a sense of loss regardless of whether you obtained the result you were looking for or not. No matter what you used it for, you would never feel satisfied afterwards.

    It really was a miraculous tool, but it always made its own user sorrowful. What a unique and one-of-a-kind item.

    Once he figured out the right path, Su Chen informed Shi Kaihuang and handed matters over to him to continue researching. Then, Su Chen proceeded with his second formal prophecy.

    This time, he chose the Thunder Spirit Totem.

    During the Three Mountains battle, Su Chen had identally absorbed the Vitality Totem, which directly improved his physical attributes. It also caused him to be deeply aware of just how profound these ancient totems were.

    After that, however, he had been unable to absorb the Thunder Spirit Totem no matter how much he yed around with it.

    Was it because he wascking in the appropriate conditions to activate it?

    Or was it impossible for him to absorb a second totem after absorbing the Vitality Totem?

    Or was there another reason altogether?

    Su Chen had no idea.

    After countless useless experiments, Su Chen decided to give the Origin Bone Scepter a try.

    In order to avoid too many losses, he greatly decreased the value of the sacrifice. This time, he only offered a high-tier Demonic Beast¡¯s Origin Crystal, along with a few other sacrificial objects.

    Last time, the sacrifice had been consumed slowly. This time, however, a cloud of smoke was sent up into the air with a bang, and all of the sacrificial items on the altar disappeared entirely, leaving behind nothing.

    ¡°Damn. It didn¡¯t give me prophecy, but it sure took the sacrificial items quite quickly,¡± Su chen grimaced.

    Of course, he knew that this was because the Origin Bone Scepter had been unable to find the answer with the sacrifices provided, which was why it would consume the sacrifices more rapidly if it failed. Even so, Su Chen couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that he had just been robbed.

    Since he had failed this time, Su Chen tried to restore the former sacrifice again, which had seeded.

    The result, however, left him quite stunned.

    The Origin Bone Scepter still wasn¡¯t able to give him an answer?

    Why was that?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know.

    There would only be one reason for sess, but there were many things that could cause the divination to fail.

    But before he seeded, Su Chen would never know why he had failed.

    Well, you might be aware that the sacrifice was insufficient, but you would never know exactly how short you were.

    Should he try again with a Demonic King¡¯s Origin Crystal?

    Su Chen ebgan to hesitate.

    The Origin Bone Scepter was like a huge gambling machine that drew Su Chen in deeply.

    Su Chen forcefully attempted to resist this attraction as he pondered over things carefully.

    The value of the Thunder Spirit Totem wouldn¡¯t be greater than the bloodline-less technique for reaching the Light Shaking Realm, but the Origin Bone Scepter didn¡¯t consider future value, only current circumstances. This meant that either Su Chen wouldn¡¯t be able to find the answer for a while, or that the process of finding the answer involved some difficulties. Because the Origin Bone Scepter only gave predictions, not answers, it could only give an answer if the prophecy contained one. Otherwise, there would be no answer to be had.

    Su Chen realized that this was probably very closely rted to how he would find the answer in the future.

    In other words, if he were to crack the Thunder Spirit Totem in the future, it would not be through making a breakthrough in theb, but......

    In the same manner that he had obtained the Vitality Totem?

    On the battlefield?

    Or was it some other special environment?

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but start thinking about these things.

    If that was the case, continuing to make sacrifices was pointless, because the cost to obtain an answer would probably be insurmountablyrge.

    When he thought to this point, Su Chen decisively gave up on continuing to predict the situation. He put his research of the Thunder Spirit Totem on hold, instead deciding to carry it along with him for a while. This was because he believed that he would probably find an answer about this Thunder Spirit Totem outside of his researchb.

    As such, a failed prediction by the Origin Bone Scepter wasn¡¯t without its benefits. If Su Chen could use this failure to its greatest potential, he could greatly mitigate the losses he had experienced.

    Actually, he could use this failure to obtain an answer.

    In any case, the Origin Bone Scepter was a good item, but the user¡¯s talent affected how much value they would get out of it.

    After failing with the Thunder Spirit Totem, Su Chen turned his attention to researching another item.

    This time, he was able toe to an answer very quickly.

    Sun-Escaping Peak.

    This peak was behind the Heaven-Upholding Peak. It wasn¡¯t very tall, but it waspletely made out of one solid chunk of rock.

    At this moment, Li Chongshan, Shi Kaihuang, and a bunch of other Boundless Sect elders stood atop this peak.

    A fewrge boulders had been ced around them, the boulderspletely covered in mystical inscriptions. They weaved andbined with each other to form a massive Origin Formation.

    Su Chen stood at the center of this formation, finishing up his final inscriptions.

    ¡°Are you sure this will work?¡± Chu Yingwan asked with some curiosity.

    Su Chen replied without raising his head, ¡°This was something that I saw from the future. It cannot be wrong.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not saying that you might have remembered the formation. I¡¯m saying that the consequences could be disastrous. What if we lose control of the situation?¡± Chu Yingwan asked.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°The Origin Bone Scepter only reports good news and not bad news, so that kind of scenario is impossible.¡±

    ¡°But this good news is only as perceived by you before the actual situation urs, right?¡± Chu Yingwan immediately said. ¡°The reason the Origin Bone Scepter only reports good news is because it instinctively attempts to uphold the uracy of its predictions, so what is considered good or bad depends not on what will really happen but on the user¡¯s perception at that moment in time. For instance, if you think a certain oue is good, you won¡¯t try to change it, and the Origin Bone Scepter will be able to offer a prediction. But what if your judgment is wrong? What if you think you can control the situation, but the fact is that you can¡¯t? If the Origin Bone Scepter doesn¡¯t tell you that, you won¡¯t know. So because you think you have control over the situation, you won¡¯t attempt to change the oue, and the Origin Bone Scepter also gave you an answer......¡±

    Chu Yingwan had approached the topic in a somewhat roundabout way, but Su Chen still understood what she meant.

    The Origin Bone Scepter could only ever provide fragments of insight, but life was one long continuum. You never knew what might happen at what point in time.

    Perhaps the Origin Bone Scepter showed you a scene were you seeded, but the consequences that would result from that sess would not be seen. As such, even a terrible event might seem like good news to the user before then.

    This was the true situation of the scepter.

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then nodded and said, ¡°Interesting. That is possible. Do you think we will fail?¡±

    Chu Yingwan replied, ¡°No, I just think that we should consider our use of the Origin Bone Scepter a little more. What I mentioned is just one possibility; I don¡¯t actually think it will happen today. But since it is a possibility, it will rear its ugly head sooner orter, right?¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°You¡¯re absolutely correct. I was too hasty.¡±

    Li Chongshan said, ¡°Time is the most intangible, unfathomable existence. It is hard to predict. All unknowns are, in the end, still unknown; we can probe into the future, but we cannot rely on the answers given to us. Yingwan is telling you this not because she doesn¡¯t want you to believe it but because she doesn¡¯t want you to rely on it.¡±

    Su Chen nodded once again. ¡°I understand. We can believe it without following blindly, and we can need it without relying on itpletely. This is the attitude we should have towards the Origin Bone Scepter.¡±

    Li Chongshan and the others chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s more like it.¡±

    This verbal exchange was just a small detour. Next, Su Chen finished thest section of the Origin Formation and then activated it.

    The inscriptions carved into the stone began to glow intensely, weaving together and shifting constantly through the air, eventually forming arge ck vortex.

    Next, this vortex slowly expanded and morphed, taking on the shape of a ck door.

    A wave of dense darkness began to spread out from behind the door. The darkness gradually began to coalesce, taking on the form of the Darkness Demon that Su Chen had encountered before in West Laina Castle.

    ¡°ROAR! I am here, I will conquer!¡±

    The Darkness Demon howled arrogantly.

    However, when the Darkness Demon discovered that it was standing next to a group of humans, it was immediately dumbfounded.

 Book 5: Sect - 6: Breakthrough

    The Darkness Demon, which had been howling just moments before, was suddenly dazed by the group of people he had suddenly appeared in the midst of.

    As a creature made of pure darkness, the Darkness Demon could estimate the strength of its opponents.

    The strengths of his opponents were like mes that lit up the night sky in its eyes.

    Currently, the humans it was surrounded by possessed strengths that burned like towering pyres - no, like mountains made of mes.

    Damn! How had it run into such arge group of powerful individuals?

    He had fallen right into a trap!

    The Darkness Demon immediately realized that there was a massive problem.

    It turned around, wanting to leave, but it was already toote.

    The ensuing battle waspletely one-sided.

    In but an instant, the Darkness Demon was torn to shreds, and its body was absorbed away by Su Chen as Origin Substance.

    ¡°Sess!¡± Su Chenughed as he tossed the Origin Substance he had gathered in his hands at Jun Moxie. ¡°From today onwards, this Darkness Door will begin to gather Darkness Origin Substance. I have already taught you how to create Origin Conducting Tools, so the rest is all up to you.¡±

    This was yet another method that Su Chen had obtained from the Origin Bone Scepter.

    Since he had managed to establish the Boundless Sect, Su Chen needed to figure out a way to increase the power of his sect. Apart from cultivation resources, the most important thing to obtain was a cultivation technique.

    Even though the Immacte Cultivation Technique was great, it alone was far from enough.

    The Hemolytic Totem was only useful on individuals with low cultivation bases, so Su Chen had instead chosen to bring out the Origin Conducting Tools.

    Unfortunately, Su Chen only really had a single sessful Origin Conducting Tool - the Shadow me Glove. Shadow Origin Substance was hard toe by, so Su Chen basically chose to use the Origin Bone Scepter to find an answer to the problem. Then, he directly deployed the Origin Formation that summoned the Darkness Door, bringing the Darkness Demon calling before ughtering it.

    Only he, who possessed the consciousness crystal, could have remembered this Origin Formation with a single nce. Anyone else might not have been able to remember the Origin Formation even if they were allowed to see it a hundred times.

    The Darkness Door Origin Formation already existed, so Su Chen could obtain it with a simple prediction, and the cost he had to pay was rtively low.

    This had also confirmed yet another spection he had concerning the Origin Bone Scepter¡¯s use.

    In the right hands, it was a miraculous tool, but in the wrong hands it was totally useless.

    After releasing the method for creating an Origin Conducting Tool, Su Chen then proceeded to inscribe the ming Phoenix Theurgy Art on the walls of one of the caves in the Boundless Sect¡¯s territory.

    The Immacte Cultivation Technique was something that every disciple who entered the sect obtained.

    The Origin Conducting Tools would be rewarded after those disciples performed a meritorious service that helped to build up the sect.

    The ming Phoenix Theurgy Art was something that only highyer cultivators could cultivate.

    This was a crucial step for every sect to take if they wanted to get stronger. If you were too generous and gifted things away to anyone and everyone that showed up on your doorstep, you would quickly foster a termite infestation.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t have many cultivation techniques he could hand over at this point, but as the Origin Bone Scepter and his consciousness crystal would continue to demonstrate their usefulness in the future, Su Chen would be able to develop many more secret techniques, which he could then pass along through the Boundless Sect. Others who also developed or possessed good cultivation techniques could also offer them up to the sect for an appropriate reward.

    Due to the initial excitement of starting a sect and the fact that they had all gone through difficult military situations together, their will was united, and selfish ambition was not high. Because of this, now was the perfect time for the sect to develop and expand at a shocking rate.

    After connecting with the Darkness Door, the Boundless Sect obtained its first steady supply of resources.

    Next, Su Chen was nning on using the Origin Bone Scepter to make yet another prediction.

    This time, he wanted to ask about how to properly upgrade the Primordial Blood Incarnation.

    The Primordial Blood Incarnation was currently the core of Su Chen¡¯s strength, but how to upgrade it and improve its general usability was still something that gave Su Chen a hard time.

    Formerly, Su Chen had used the Deste Beast Bloodline Jiang Xishui had provided him with to develop the Primordial Blood Incarnation, and this technique resulted in different effects for Su Chenpared to Iron Cliff.

    Because Su Chen was not proficient in the use of water, he could only rely on absorbing Luo You¡¯s incredibly powerful strength and magnifying it repeatedly in order to convert it to his own personal strength.

    Iron Cliff had no way of drawing out the essence like Su Chen could and using it, so he basically became a partial vessel for Luo You - a single eye was the most intimidating result he could produce.

    The same kind of bloodline resulted in twopletely different results. Even Su Chen couldn¡¯t figure out why this was the case.

    After all, the Primordial Blood Incarnation was the simplest source of strength that he had obtained up until this point. Su Chen felt like he understood it yet did not at the same time.

    As such, he wanted to make up for his understanding of the Primordial Blood Incarnation.

    Yes - make up for gaps in his understanding, not to find an answer.

    After making countless sacrifices, Su Chen was bing clearer and clearer that asking for the right direction was better than directly asking for an answer when it came to inquiring of the Origin Bone Scepter.

    After presenting his sacrifice, Su Chen said, ¡°I need to know what the soonest breakthrough I am going to make in myprehension of the Primordial Blood Incarnation is.¡±

    The sacrifice began to slowly disappear, and a scene began to unfold that would detail how Su Chen was going to make a breakthrough in hisprehension of the Primordial Blood Incarnation.

    In three years, Su Chen would finally make a breakthrough in his understanding of the Primordial Blood Incarnation. As he watched the scene unfold, Su Chen was enlightened.

    However, he did not stop there. After a moment of contemtion, he continued to add sacrifices and asked again, ¡°I need to know what the soonest breakthrough I am going to make in myprehension of the Primordial Blood Incarnation is.¡±

    It was still the same question.

    This time, however, the scene unfolding on the altar was different, as was the content.

    This was because, after the prediction was made, Su Chen had obtained an answer from the future. In other words, his understanding of the Primordial Blood Incarnation had advanced to what it would be three years in the future. As such, the answer it gave him now was something he would have only been able to find out even further in the future.

    The answer it gave was something that might have taken Su Chen seven or eight years to figure out. This time, however, the answer appeared to be three years away yet again.

    From this urrence, it was obvious that the future was constantly changing.

    Every time the Origin Bone Scepter gave Su Chen an answer, it would have changed the future.

    However, this kind of changing of the future was also not really a change. After all, even if Su Chen received an answer, he would only be tracing the path that the Origin Bone Scepterid out for him, resulting in the same eventual oue. The only difference was the timing.

    At the same time, the unchanging nature of the future would also bring about more change.

    For instance, Su Chen¡¯s repeated inquiries concerning the Primordial Blood Incarnation greatly improved hisprehension of the Primordial Blood Incarnation and how he would improve it. As a result, his entire research path changed.

    This kind of change was an inevitability.

    If Su Chen were to ask a question he did not know the answer to, such as about the Vitality Totem, it was still possible for him to receive an answer.

    After all, Su Chen could choose to ce more attention on the Thunder Spirit Totem, which would directly affect the future.

    Of course, the current Su Chen wouldn¡¯t ask that yet because he was pretty sure that his breakthroughs in the Primordial Blood Incarnation would not yet affect whether or not he would receive an answer concerning the Thunder Spirit Totem. ording to his current analysis, Su Chen believed that he would most likely not make a breakthrough in theb but on the battlefield, which was a much moreplicated situation.

    After inquiring about the Primordial Blood Incarnation three times in a row, Su Chen stopped this line of questioning.

    He needed some time to digest the information that he had just ¡°learned¡±. After all, the things he observed in the future required time to process and understand.

    Su Chenpletely threw himself into his research.

    He hadn¡¯t lied to Duan Jiangshan. To him, the days of research were incredibly satisfying and gratifying. Every discovery he made and every invention he created gave him a deep sense of satisfaction.

    This was also the pleasure of doing research. Exploring the inexhaustible mysteries of this world, peering into the unknown, and controlling the principles behind these inner workings for his own use.

    What could make a person feel more proud than that?

    After half a month, Su Chen finally managed to fully digest everything he had learned about the Primordial Blood Incarnation.

    He walked out of his researchb.

    ¡°Death¡¯s Shadow.¡±

    ¡°Right here.¡± The Death¡¯s Shadow of a Youth appeared at the front door of the research station.

    Iron Cliff had gone to the Hurricane Mountain Range and was in the process of leading his kinsmen back here, so Su Chen¡¯s current servant was the Death¡¯s Shadow. Even though this guy was quite the schemer, he was still a proficient assistant.

    ¡°Go and find me some Demonic Beasts. I want them alive.¡±

    ¡°What kind of Demonic Beasts?¡±

    ¡°Any kind. I want some of each kind, but one of each will be enough. Right, you may also inform the other disciples that they should try and capture any Demonic Beasts I have not recorded down in this book and give them to me.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    Su Chen¡¯smand basically doomed all of the Demonic Beasts on the mountain.

    In theing days, all kinds of Demonic Beasts were sent to Su Chen¡¯s research station to await their fate of bing an experimental subject.

    As he constantly churned out experimental data, he would also refer to the Origin Bone Scepter, constantly adjusting his direction of research so that he would not go down the wrong path. As a result, Su Chen continued to make leaps and bounds in his understanding and mastery of the Primordial Blood Incarnation.

    Very quickly, a cultivation technique with detailed diagrams of many Demonic Beasts appeared on the desks of the Boundless Sect¡¯s elders.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Li Chongshan asked with curiosity.

    ¡°One of my newest creations. I stripped Demonic Beasts of their Bloodline Abilities and converted them into a kind of cultivation techniques,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Does this have any differences from our current system of passing down and inheriting bloodlines?¡± Chu Yingwan asked.

    ¡°Of course there is a difference. As the name implies, thetter is inherited, meaning that it can only be passed on by birth. The technique I researched does not require any blood rtions, yet still allows the user to obtain the power of a Demonic Beast. If you are thinking that Blood Spirit Medicines do the same thing, the main difference is that is still intrinsically a kind of inherited bloodline. Any power obtained via this cultivation technique cannot be passed on.¡±

    ¡°That makes it seem inferior to bloodline inheritance,¡± Jun Moxie chuckled.

    Su Chen replied straightforwardly, ¡°That¡¯s because this is not an inheritance method but a cultivation technique. You can only inherit one kind of bloodline, but this cultivation technique details how to obtain many different bloodline abilities.¡±

    Everyone was stunned when they heard this and sat up straight. ¡°You mean......¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right - this kind of technique will ideally allow us to possess multiple bloodline abilities at the same time.¡±

    ¡°Won¡¯t they sh?¡± Lin Shaoxuan said with some agitation.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s a cultivation technique, not a bloodline, so there shouldn¡¯t be any conflict between them. And even if there is, you will notice it very quickly, so as long as you stop in time, there shouldn¡¯t be any problems.

    Everyone was ecstatic.

    Le Feng said, ¡°So in other words, as long as we cultivate this kind of technique, we will possess many different bloodlines?¡±

    ¡°In theory, yes. However, because it¡¯s not an inherited power, continuing to refer to it as a bloodline is a bit improper. Perhaps we shoulde up with a different name to delineate it.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang asked, ¡°What are you nning on calling it?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°What about Aspects?¡±

 Book 5: Sect - 7: Puppe

    t

    Boom!

    A massive ze Condor appeared behind Jiang Liu¡¯s back and unfurled its wings, the mes on its body towering into the sky. The condor practically radiated a majestic, imposing presence.

    ¡°Go!¡±

    As Jiang Liu yelled, the ze Condor behind him pped its ming wings and shot forwards. A massive rhinoceros lowered its head as it charged directly at the condor. Its powerful feet pushed through the air like they were pushing off of solid ground, generating an ominous hum. The entire mountain seemed to wobble slightly.

    The ze Condor was far weaker than the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros. It immediately disintegrated upon contact. As the rhinoceros continued to charge in his direction, Jiang Liu calmly stretched his hands out. Another ming condor appeared, grabbed onto his hands, and pulled him into the air.

    As a Yang Opening Realm cultivator, he did not possess the ability to fly by himself. However, with the ze Condor carrying him around, he was able to fly as he pleased.

    As he flew through the air, Jiang Liu unleashed waves of mes at his opponent, causing his opponent to cry out, ¡°This is cheating!¡±

    Jiang Liuughed loudly. ¡°My ze Condor is far weaker than your Iron-Armored Rhinoceros in terms of pure strength. Of course I would use my ability to fly to my advantage.¡±

    ¡°Psh. If we were allowed to use Soul Armaments, I would have been the first one to knock you out of the sky,¡± his opponent yelled, unwilling to show weakness.

    Jiang Liu¡¯s opponent was called Wang Yuankun. He was also one of the seventy-three soldiers from before who had be Su Chen¡¯s Sword Servants.

    ¡°We¡¯reparing Aspects right now, not Soul Armaments,¡± Jiang Liu cackled with delight.

    ¡°Once I reach the Light Shaking Realm and learn to fly on my own, this ze Condor of yours will be useless.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps I will have learned a second Aspect by then, or even more,¡± Jiang Liuughed.

    The two of them bickered without end, full of appreciation and happiness towards their newfound abilities.

    Because Aspects had a certain degree ofpatibility, each person possessed a different Aspect. Jiang Liu¡¯s body was more suited towards the use of fire-type Aspects, so he had chosen the ze Condor toplement his Wildfire Sword Technique. Actually, it was quite powerful, and it¡¯s close-quarters strength was not actually that weak. It was just that the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros¡¯s defenses were simply too high and suppressed its power. Even so, if Jiang Liu were to continue advancing in this direction, it was possible that he would be able to rely solely on the Wildfire Sword Technique¡¯s mes to suppress the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros.

    Thepatibility of the Aspects depended on many variable factors. This was apletely new problem for Su Chen; if it wasn¡¯t for the aide of the Origin Bone Scepter, he might have had to perform research for a long time and explore many different paths. This time, however, he had basically stepped onto the right path immediately.

    Even so, however, improving the Aspects was going to be a long andborious path. It was impossible for him to ever perfect it in a short period of time. Thebination of the various Aspects alone could produce countless possibilities to explore; if he was to use the Origin Bone Scepter to search for answers repeatedly, perhaps even Su Chen would go broke.

    Thankfully, Su Chen didn¡¯t feel the need to do so.

    He chose an even simpler method: constructing the Aspect Hall.

    To the left of the Heaven-Upholding Peak was the Flying Wings Peak due to the fact that there were tworge rocky outcrops protruding from the peak, one on each side, which looked kind of like wings.

    The Aspect Hall was ced at the top of the peak.

    This hall was specifically used to store records of the Demonic Beast Bloodlines that had been stripped from the beasts.

    Upon walking into therge hall, anyone would feel like they were being pounced on by thousands of beasts at once, as the walls of the hall were covered in the images of all kinds of different Demonic Beasts, some howling at the sky, some flying through the sky, some swallowing clouds and blowing out fog, some causing rain to descend, some locked in a fierce battle, and some fleeing from battle. Their expression ranged from anger to panic to fear to shock to many others. There was nock of variety amongst these beasts.

    These drawings were not just drawings, but real Demonic Beast Aspects.

    These Aspects were formed from mixing the Beast¡¯s soul with the bloodline that had been stripped from them, before finally imprinting them on a wall primarily constructed out of Origin Crystal to create such a mural or a portrait. Any disciple that came to the Aspect Hall could choose one Aspect to study and obtain power from.

    The Aspect that was chosen would be absorbed and disappear, but others could be caught to take its ce.

    The Aspect Hall became yet another possible reward after the Immacte Cultivation Technique, the Origin Conducting Tools, and the ming Phoenix Theurgy Art. Its value was simr to that of an Origin Conducting Tool, but was slightly less valuable than the ming Phoenix Theurgy Art.

    From this day onwards, any disciple could obtain an Aspect by making an appropriate contribution, selecting apatible Aspect for themselves.

    The disciples, through their personal experiments, would gradually refine and perfect these Aspects, saving Su Chen from a lot of work.

    This was a key point to the development of this cultivation technique, and also one of the reasons for developing an organized system.

    For this reason, Su Chen didn¡¯t didn¡¯t choose any Aspect yet. He felt that his understanding of Aspects was not deep enough yet, and he wanted to wait until he felt morefortable with them to make a choice. At that point in time, the vial of Deste Beast blood he still possessed would be useful.

    In the meanwhile, Su Chen continued his research as per usual.

    This time, he was researching the Origin Substances contained in the small ck stones.

    Those ck stones contained a huge mix of Origin Substances. Su Chen had already managed to iste Shadow, Dragonfish, and Bewitching Origin Substances from them. Each had their own unique kind of effect, but they also had their own drawbacks. The Dragonfish and Bewitching didn¡¯t need to be mentioned; one could only be used in water, while the other was used for stirring up affection. Even though the Darkness Origin Substance was powerful, it was quite rare in this world, making it impossible to incorporate into a conventional Origin Skill. This problem hadn¡¯t been resolved until Su Chen had managed to open up a connection with the Darkness Door.

    Su Chen hoped to obtain a more conventional source of power to further improve his own strength.

    Su Chen once again relied on the Origin Bone Scepter to obtain his answer.

    ¡°So it¡¯s actually something like that.¡± A strange expression appeared on Su Chen¡¯s face.

    However strange the answer was, Su Chen still began to follow the method provided in the prediction.

    First, he created a certain unique kind of solvent and poured it on the ck stone. The ck stone¡¯s Origin Substances began to peel off due to the effects of the solvent, falling into the water.

    Su Chen pulled out the ck stone and ced it to the side, then began tobine the new solution with the old one.

    Under the perceptive gaze of his microscopic eye, the new Origin Substance¡¯s transformation waspletely seen by Su Chen. Once he could confirm that the opportune moment had arrived, Su Chen suddenly cut open his wrist and squeezed a few drops of fresh blood in.

    Immediately, the solution began to bubble and expand within the vial, shattering it and continuing to expand until it was roughly the same size of Su Chen. It wiggled incessantly like a chunk of meat as four limbs began to slowly take shape, along with a head. Finally, a human-like figure emerged.

    Next, eyes, ears, a nose, and a mouth began to form as well until a clone of Su Chen appeared.

    However, this Su Chen¡¯s expression was dazed and motionless. It looked just like a wooden puppet.

    Su Chen knew that this was because the puppet Su Chen had no soul or consciousness.

    This thing was basically an empty puppet that looked just like him. It had no consciousness nor intelligence, and even moving was incredibly difficult for it.

    Even so, this was already quite the impressive invention.

    There were all kinds of strange Origin Skills scattered across the Primordial Continent, but camouge and cloning Origin Skills were quite rare. Those techniques usually involved the principles that governed the rotation of the earth, making it impossible to use them so casually.

    Most Origin Skills on this were primarily focused on strength and power, while utility Origin Skills were rare. Otherwise, Su Chen couldn¡¯t possibly have relied on just his camouge Origin Skill to traverse Ravager territory as he pleased.

    The clone in front of Su Chen was something he had developed by mixing his blood with that unique Origin Substance. The principle behind it was that this Origin Substance, with the support of an adequate amount of Origin Energy, could extract the biological information hidden in the cells in the user¡¯s blood, then turn into a replica of that target based on that extracted information.

    In other words, by relying on such a technique, Su Chen could not only clone himself; as long as he had fresh blood on hand, he could clone other people as well.

    In actuality, this was not a cloning skill but a puppet skill.

    These kinds of humanoid puppets could be imprinted with a consciousness, giving them the ability to think and move, as well as ess to all the user¡¯s abilities.

    Yes, all of their abilities; however, these abilities were generally weaker.

    For instance, this human puppet had been created by duplicating the cells in a few drops of Su Chen¡¯s blood many times over, using the information in those cells to differentiate in a well-established pattern. However, it could not duplicate the energy contained in that blood, so this puppet¡¯s actual strength was roughly one ten-thousandth that of Su Chen¡¯s.

    Su Chen gently tapped his finger on the human puppet, immediately tearing a hole in the puppet. Fresh blood actually began to flow out of that hole, but the color of the blood was incredibly faint because it was highly diluted.

    Su Chen carefully separated a strand of his own consciousness and infused it into the body of the puppet. Even though it was just a strand, this action brought Su Chen quite a bit of pain.

    The puppet¡¯s eyes shed a few times, and its entire demeanor suddenly changed as it became incredibly mobile.

    Intelligence didn¡¯t decrease even if the consciousness was smaller, which was why this puppet was not dumb. However, its consciousness power was much lower. Su Chen¡¯s baseline consciousness power was around a thousand units, while this human puppet¡¯s consciousness power was only around five units. It could be said that any consciousness-type attack would be extremely effective against it.

    If someone were to use a bewitching technique on it, it was even possible for this puppet to turn on Su Chen.

    In addition, thinking for so long had exhausted quite a bit of Su Chen¡¯s mental energy, which was also a reason why the clone possessed such low consciousness power.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Let me see you unleash a fireball.¡±

    Actually, even if he didn¡¯t speak, the other Su Chen could understand his thoughts. After all, their souls were connected. However, Su Chen still preferred to speak; a puppet was still a puppet, not even a clone of himself, let alone his duplication. Because of this, the puppet Su Chen chose not to talk because there was no point in doing so.

    The puppet raised its hand and began to gather energy. A wisp of me sparked into being above his hand before fading without a trace.

    This was the strength that this puppet could unleash.

    If Su Chen were to tell the puppet to unleash the ming Phoenix, it would have been impressive if it was even able to produce a ming Sparrow.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t disappointed. He continued, ¡°Take a few steps.¡±

    The puppet walked back and forth a few times. Its stride was identical to Su Chen¡¯s.

    Su Chen smiled slightly. Regardless of how strong it was, at the very least it looked exactly like Su Chen from an outward standpoint.

    In other words, he could at least use this to trick someone else, even if it was practically useless in battle.

    In addition, there was no saying that it waspletely useless in battle, since all he needed was to use a bit more of his blood.

    If that was the case, would a puppet created from some of the blood that he had stockpiled possess even more power?

    As soon as this thought shed into his mind, Su Chen immediately thought of a bunch of different possibilities, all of which he needed to do some more research on.

    Bang!

    Just as he was lost in thought, the puppet suddenly shattered, turning into a cloud of smoke before disappearing.

    When the smoke hadpletely disappeared, all that remained were a few drops of blood on the ground and the leftover solvent.

 Book 5: Sect - 8: Visitor

    Li Jiang was one of the seventy-three Sword Servants. Every day, he was responsible for handling Su Chen¡¯s daily meals.

    As per usual, Li Jiang awoke and began to prepare Su Chen¡¯s breakfast, cing it on the breakfast table.

    He was just about to carry it over when he found that Su Chen was already walking towards him, having left his room from the side door.

    ¡°Sect Master,¡± Li Jiang said respectfully.

    ¡°Mm,¡± Su Chen murmured in response. He sat at the table, picked up the bowl of porridge, and began to drink it down. Then, he said something strange: ¡°So eating food will also increase how long itsts, hm?¡±

    Li jiang was totally caught off-guard by this sudden rhetorical question. He had no idea what Su Chen was saying and was just about to retreat when Su Chen said, ¡°Go and call the others. I want to hear about the internal situation of the sect today.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡± Li Jiang left with his orders.

    A momentter, Li Chongshan and the others arrived. They reported to him everything that had urred since the sect was established.

    Even though Su Chen spent most of his time in his room focused on his research, he would still try to catch up on the present situation of the sect, as well as mention a few needs. This was quite normal.

    This time, however, for some reason, Li Jiang felt that Su Chen was a bit tamer than usual.

    After everyone had chatted for a bit, Chu Yingwan finally could endure it no longer and said, ¡°Sect Master, are you alright?¡±

    ¡°Oh? Why would I not be alright?¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    ¡°Sect Master doesn¡¯t seem that energetic today,¡± Li Chongshan said.

    Su Chen continued tough. ¡°Is it just my energy levels that are different?¡±

    ¡°It seems......¡± Cheng Tianhai stared at Su Chen suspiciously. ¡°Howe it seems like you got weaker all of a sudden?¡±

    Perhaps only Cheng Tianhai would utter something like that directly.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t mind. He asked with some curiosity, ¡°So you can sense it too?¡±

    Anyone else probably would have understood what Su Chen was hinting at, but Cheng Tianhai nodded his head with great sincerity. ¡°Yes, your aura seems a bit weaker.¡±

    Su Chen agreed. He rubbed his chin and said, ¡°Yes, the aura is indeed a bit weaker. If there was some way to make up for this deficit, even if didn¡¯t actually have any real effect, that would be fine.¡±

    Li Chongshan and the others were stunned when they heard what he was saying. ¡°Sect Master, what is going on?¡±

    ¡°Aiya, my energy levels are really quite low. I feel exhausted just from talking with you all,¡± Su Chen sighed as he looked down at his body. ¡°I still extracted a bit too little blood and so I have no way of maintaining it for very long. Oh well; I might as well dissipate it for now.¡±

    As he spoke, he stood up and waved his sleeves, disappearing immediately. All that remained was a long robe, which fluttered to the ground.

    Everyone present was stunned. Shi Kaihuang quickly walked over and picked up the robe, finding drops of blood sprinkled on it.

    He was the first one to react, and he chuckled, ¡°It seems like this brat has created yet another fun invention.¡±

    The rest seemed toe to their senses, as another Su Chen walked out from the same side door, this time with a much more imposing appearance. No traces of the earlier weakness could be seen.

    ¡°You developed a body-splitting technique?¡± Everyone was pleasantly surprised.

    ¡°It¡¯s not really a body split. I just created a small human puppet, is all.¡± Su Chen walked over and sat down, exining how he had created the puppet to everyone.

    Upon hearing that Su Chen had developed something like that, everyone was both excited and mystified.

    Cheng Tianhai said, ¡°In other words, if I were to gather all the blood in my body and ce it on that...... what was it called again? Origin Substance? Origin Substance, then you could create another one of me?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°It won¡¯t have your full strength - probably closer to half. However, though the body will be yours, the consciousness will belong to whoever created the puppet.¡±

    ¡°Oh......¡± Cheng Tianhai fell silent. This was a bit difficult for him to ept.

    Chu Yingwan picked up the robe and asked, ¡°Is it impossible to use Origin Energy to create these illusory clothes?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°You can, and it won¡¯t consume any additional energy from the puppet. The power of the puppetes from the individual¡¯s blood, which is very difficult to recover once it is consumed.

    Once the human puppet ran out of power, it would disappear.

    Su Chen had tried many different methods to deal with this problem, including using Origin Stones or even personally infusing it with Origin Energy, but the effects weren¡¯t that great. The absorption of energy was proportional to the strength of the main body. In other words, if the puppet only had a tenth of the strength of the main body, it could only absorb up to one-tenth of the Origin Energy the main body could absorb.

    On the other hand, the puppets were able to absorb 100% of the energy in foods with Origin Energy attributes.

    The bowl of porridge from earlier had greatly increased the duration which Su Chen could maintain his shape for.

    However, Su Chen could not possibly feed the human puppet with actually precious medicinal ingredients. It was much more worth it to give the human puppet a few more drops of his blood instead.

    If the human puppet were to carry out some missions on the outside, however, and it had no way of replenishing its energy due to special conditions, it was possible to use such methods to prolong its existence.

    What Su Chen had confirmed, however, was that no matter how much energy was replenished, it was impossible for the puppet to remain forever.

    A puppet was a puppet and could not take the ce of the main body. Its sole purpose for existence was to be used as a tool, not to be the same as the main body.

    Even so, human puppets were extremely valuable.

    ¡°So what you mean is, as long as we store up some vials of blood and bring some of this Origin Substance with us, we will be able to use it if we run into danger to create a substitute which can not only fight for us but also assist in our escape and create confusion?¡± Li Chongshan quickly grasped the situation.

    ¡°That¡¯s precisely the case,¡± Su Chen said.

    The human puppet was useful either as an aide in battle or in escape.

    Even though creating a puppet that possessed significantbat abilities and couldst for a long time required lots of blood, these ingredients could be prepared ahead of time.

    As long as they extracted some blood when nothing was really happening and built up a stockpile, they could even create an army of puppets if they had enough Origin Substance.

    However, Su Chen did not agree with this kind of tactic.

    Origin Qi Schrs¡¯ blood contained Origin Energy, and each drop was filled to the brim. Any losses would take time to cultivate back.

    Constantly extracting blood could greatly increase their ability to prepare a powerful clone, but it would also mean that their main bodies would suffer from chronic weakness and fail to advance, resulting in their strength stagnating and not advancing.

    In addition, this Duplication substance was like the Shadow Origin Substance - it was incredibly difficult toe by in this world.

    Su Chen did not have a way of making this techniquemon. He could only create an Origin Conducting Tool and use it to slowly build up a stockpile.

    Using these things as lifesaving tactics in dire straights was fine, but it was not actually worth trying to create an entire army of puppets.

    The Duplication Conducting Tool became the Boundles Sect¡¯s fifth reward. These rewards gradually began to umte, and as time would go on, Su Chen would invent even more creations, and the members of the sect would continue to make contributions. Eventually, these rewards would be the Boundless Sect¡¯s abundant treasures.

    As per usual, Su Chen sat in his room, performing his research.

    The Death¡¯s Shadow of a Youth walked in from outside.

    ¡°Master!¡± the Death¡¯s Shadow knelt as he spoke.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Su Chen continued to stare intently at the Thunder Spirit Totem, not even turning around.

    ¡°We have a guest.¡±

    ¡°Who is it?¡±

    ¡°Shi Mingfeng.

    Upon hearing Shi Mingfeng¡¯s name, Su Chen frowned, but he eventually raised his head.

    Su Chen chuckled, ¡°This guy is really quite fast at following a scent. Bring him to the guest entertainment area; I will meet him there.¡±

    A brief momentter, Su Chen appeared at the guest entertainment area. Shi Mingfeng chuckled, ¡°Congrattions, Sect Master Su! You are sure to raise a generation of outstanding talent!¡±

    ¡°Old Shi, why are you being so polite with me?¡±

    Su Chen and Shi Mingfeng could be considered old friends. Even though this guy¡¯s indecisiveness during the raid of the Demonic Emperor¡¯s castle was a clear indication that he was very unreliable, at the very least he had not betrayed Su Chen. Su Chen was not the most ethical individual either, so he did not take it much to heart.

    Shi Mingfeng sighed with relief in his heart upon seeing that Su Chen didn¡¯t seem offended. He said, ¡°I cannot becking in courtesy. After all, I came this time to make amends.¡±

    ¡°Make amends?¡± Su Chen was momentarily taken aback. ¡°You mean......¡±

    ¡°Sun Mo,¡± Shi Mingfeng replied.

    Upon hearing Sun Mo¡¯s name, Su Chen understood a bit more.

    After falling silent for a moment, Su Chen said, ¡°I do in fact need an exnation about Sun Mo.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng said, ¡°It¡¯s nothing, really. You know that since the Immortal Temple is arge organization, the rtionships between individuals be quiteplex. With so many people, some infighting and scheming ismon. We see this on a country level, and the same is true for anyrge organization. The matter with Sun Mo is the most obvious evidence of this fact.¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°I guessed as much.¡±

    The matter with Sun Mo was basically a problem stemming from the Immortal Temple¡¯s internal fighting. Su Chen might have been unclear about the reason, but he definitely knew what the source was.

    The same went for his rtionship with Ma Renze, Sang Zhen, and the others.

    There really was no novelty under the sun, and having this matter be thoroughly exined was not that interesting anyways.

    However, it was hard for Su Chen not to be a bit frustrated considering that these internal conflicts had managed to reach Su Chen.

    As such, he said, ¡°No matter what you say, this situation has made things very troublesome for me. Even though I managed to trip up Sun Mo and destroy his credibility, it wasn¡¯t because of my evidence but because of my meritorious deeds. There are quite a few people who are probably guessing at the rtionship I have with you, so it seems that our cooperation must end here.¡±

    Su Chen mentioned cutting off their cooperation to avoid any rumors and further stimting Long Sang Country, as well as because he now had his own members. There were many things that he would not need the Immortal Temple¡¯s support for in the future.

    As such, now was a perfect time to end their cooperation.

    Shi Mingfeng hurriedly said, ¡°Brother Su, don¡¯t be in such a hurry and please listen to me. An Sili was the one who arranged all of this, and the Immortal Temple is very unhappy with his actions. We are already moving to deal with him.¡±

    The Scarlet Hand An Sili was originally Ma Renze¡¯s superior and an old enemy of Shi Mingfeng¡¯s. Since Su Chen clearly stood on Shi Mingfeng¡¯s side, he was naturally in opposition to An Sili. With him making trouble behind the scenes, Sun Mo¡¯s reason for involvement became apparent.

    Shi Mingfeng came all this way to find Su Chen in order to seek help in dealing with An Sili.

    The Immortal Temple¡¯s higher-ups were structured as such: the highest level of authority was the Council, made up of seven Godfathers. They were distributed evenly across the seven human countries, and each country¡¯s Godfather had three Chairmen under him.

    Scarlet Hand An Sili was one of those Chairmen. He was quite a high-status individual amongst the Immortal Temple.

    It was very difficult to take any action against a person like this even if they made some kind of mistake.

    This time, however, An Sili¡¯s sending Sun Mo to make trouble for Su Chen had broken an unspoken rule.

    After all, Su Chen¡¯s current status and identity were not low, he had brought countless benefits to the Immortal Temple, and he could bring even more in the future.

    Under these circumstances, An Sili was basically cutting down the organization¡¯s own money tree, offending arge group of people - destroying a person¡¯s path to wealth was almost as bad as killing their parents.

    As such, many members of the Immortal Temple began to think of how to get rid of him.

    However, An Sili had very deep roots in the Immortal Temple, and he had many friends and diehard followers. Dealing with him was not going to be easy. The most important issue was that, as soon as infighting broke out, the killing could grow more intense and the conflict could be arge-scale one. This was something none of the Immortal Temple¡¯s higher-ups wanted to see.

 Book 5: Sect - 9: Thick and Fas

    t

    ¡°So that¡¯s why you came looking for me? You want to use my hand to deal with him?¡± Su Chen poured himself a cup of tea as heughed coldly. ¡°That¡¯s a pretty nice way of saying that you want me to do your dirty work.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng said, ¡°Sun Mo was sent by An Sili to harm you. Are you not nning on trying to get revenge?¡±

    Su Chen saidzily, ¡°But he didn¡¯t seed, did he?¡±

    Shi Mingfeng said with some agitation, ¡°But some have begun to suspect you. If you can kill An Sili, you will be able to demonstrate your loyalty to the imperial family......¡±

    ¡°But I will also incur the wrath of many people within the Immortal Temple, right?¡± Su Chen countered. ¡°I help you deal with an opposing faction, causing all their hatred to fall on me in the process, and you don¡¯t even have to move a pinky. That¡¯s quite the n.¡±

    Shi Mingfeng chuckled, ¡°Isn¡¯t this a win-win situation for us?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Not to me. I don¡¯t care how the imperial family sees me.¡±

    Su Chen really did not care.

    Demonstrate his loyalty to the imperial family?

    Forget about it! He had not needed the support of the imperial family to reach where he was now.

    He didn¡¯t need to rely on killing An Sili to demonstrate his loyalty, because he wasn¡¯t loyal at all in the first ce.

    Shi Mingfeng, however, felt a bit stifled.

    Even though he knew that Su Chen wasn¡¯t that easy to goad into action, Shi Mingfeng was still quite disappointed when he received such an answer.

    He helplessly said, ¡°If you don¡¯t care about the imperial family, how could you care about the power of the forces on An Sili¡¯s side? Go ahead, state your conditions.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°See? That¡¯s more like it.¡±

    Since they had known each other for quite some time, they were all familiar with each others¡¯ tendencies and personalities.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t easy to goad into action, but he could be bought.

    Want him to kill An Sili? Easy. Just offer him the right reward.

    Shi Mingfeng was extremely clear about this point. Basically, the only reason he had said all of those things was so that he could afford to offer Su Chen less benefitster on.

    Whether or not those words had any effect was hard to say.

    Su Chen directly said, ¡°An Sili should have lots of businesses under his control, right?¡±

    Upon hearing this, Shi Mingfeng was stunned. ¡°You want those things? But you don¡¯tck money.¡±

    In Shi Mingfeng¡¯s eyes, Su Chen was only ever interested in knowledge, followed by resources, and these businesses were only money-making tools. As such, Su Chen normally should not have ced so much importance on these things. Unexpectedly, however, it was precisely these businesses that he was interested in.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I¡¯m notcking in money, but I amcking in properties.¡±

    ¡°Is there a difference?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    Properties were like chickens, while money was like eggs.

    People needed to be assigned to work at businesses, and they gave everyone something to do.

    A healthy organization was not an organization that Su Chen alone poured his blood, sweat, and tears into raising. Instead, it was sessful because it had the ability to sustain itself long-term since it was profitable.

    As the Sect Master of the Boundless Sect, Su Chen naturally needed some properties to which he could assign the vast numbers of disciples that woulde his way. Not only would this give them all things to do and benefits to obtain, but it was also a way for the Boundless Sect to obtain information from the outside world.

    This was why Su Chen was paying so much attention to the businesses, which he normally would not have cared much about.

    He not only wanted An Sili¡¯s businesses, but he even wanted to reestablish rtions with Swallow River City. The Flight Network, which he had single-handedly created and then handed over to the Gu n, was something he was nning on getting involved with again. His old subordinates, Li Shu and the others, had all been summoned in order to begin making the appropriate connections.

    The Boundless Sect was deep in the heart of the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, but its influence was fated to spread throughout the entire country - no, throughout the entire human territory.

    He had identally exined too much to Shi Mingfeng, but his requests were not too extreme.

    Su Chen opened his mouth to make the request, and Shi Mingfeng agreed.

    The Scarlet Hand An Sili was a true Arcanist Remnant. He was a Sixth-Ring Master Arcanist, and his strength was equivalent to that of a Light Shaking Realm cultivator with seven Lotus tforms, or even a lowyer Spirit Burning Realm cultivator. He was a wanted criminal amongst Long Sang Country and had a wealth ofbat experience, so it was not wrong to consider him equal in strength to a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator. His truebat ability was above that of the Death¡¯s Shadow of a Youth when it had just broken into the Spirit Burning Realm.

    Even so, that was the extent of his strength.

    No matter how powerful he was, it was impossible for him to be more powerful than Li Chongshan.

    Yes, Su Chen had never nned on making a move personally from the very beginning.

    After determining An Sili¡¯s location from Shi Mingfeng, Su Chen sent Li Chongshan, along with the Death¡¯s Shadow, Chu Yingwan, Jun Moxie, and a hundred soldiers from the Hall of Battle on this journey.

    The result was obvious, given that two Spirit Burning Realm cultivators, two Light Shaking Realm cultivators, and a hundred Yang Opening Realm cultivators had participated.

    Half a monthter, Li Chongshan and the others returned, along with a huge stack of records they had obtained from An Sili¡¯s businesses.

    Su Chen nced them over before putting them aside. To him, the most important thing to focus his attention on was his research and cultivation.

    During this period of time, more and more outsiders began to show up.

    First, Iron Cliff brought the Hurricane Stoneskins back with him.

    Su Chen had promised Iron Cliff earlier to find a safe ce for the Hurricane Stoneskins to live. He had fulfilled this promise, as the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain was vast and could house these Stoneskins anywhere. Su Chen allowed Iron Cliff to personally pick out a peak that the Hurricane Stoneskins could live in. There, the Stoneskins would receive equal treatment as the other humans.

    Not long afterwards, Li Shu arrived with Mingxin and Zhou Hong. Their arrival resolved a big problem that Su Chen had to deal with, which was a deficit in businessmen.

    As long-time followers of Su Chen, Li Shu and Zhou Hong had worked hard to manage all of Su Chen¡¯s businesses. Even though Su Chen had never taken these businesses seriously, Li Shu¡¯s business acumen was quite astounding.

    Now, they were demonstrating their worth to Su Chen.

    In truth, Su Chen did not need properties so much as he needed the talent that hade from managing so many businesses for all these years.

    The Boundless Sect had many soldiers but few administrative individuals, so Li Shu¡¯s arrival was extremely timely and helped to mitigate this deficit.

    As such, Su Chen didn¡¯t hesitate to promote Li Shu, Mingxin, and Zhou Hong to the Hall of Business to handle those matters. Even Li Shu¡¯s old subordinates were put to good use. These people had been around for many years, and such a position was quite a good one.

    Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, a year had passed.

    In this single year, the Boundless Sect had managed to steadily build up some kind of a foundation.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t make any incredible breakthroughs during this point in time. Instead, he ced most of his attention on reorganizing and centralizing his own strength.

    Su Chen¡¯s main style of fighting had be somewhat set at this point. He possessed the Primordial Blood Aspect for close-quartersbat; it didn¡¯t give Su Chen a skill with incredibly destructive capabilities, but it could greatly increase his strength simr to an attribute enhancer. For long-range attacks, Su Chen possessed the ming Phoenix Theurgy Art, which was the most powerful tactic Su Chen had at his disposal. The might of the raging mes it unleashed was unrivaled.

    His physical body was simr to that of the Ravagers as well. His vitality was vigorous, growing and multiplying endlessly, and he also possessed the Fata Morgana to confuse his opponents and Whitetower Teleportation to agilely move across the battlefield.

    The only main regret Su Chen had was that his ability to use thunder had not progressed much. The Thunder de could not keep up with his steady rate of advancement, so Su Chen could only rely on the Primordial Blood Aspect for normal attacks andcked the support ofmon Origin Skills.

    Su Chen could only take things slowly in this regard.

    Today, Su Chen continued his research of the Thunder Spirit Totem.

    He carefully copied down the inscriptions on its surface, sensing the profoundly thick energy contained within. His microscopic eye carefully took in everything as he did his best to see through its secrets.

    Unfortunately, it didn¡¯t matter how hard he tried - there seemed to be a unique kind of energy barrier covering the surface of the Thunder Spirit Totem, obscuring his vision like an imprable cloud of fog.

    Just as he was growing impatient, Iron Cliff appeared. ¡°Master, Cloud Leopard has arrived.¡±

    ¡°Cloud Leopard?¡±

    Su Chen was surprised to hear about Cloud Leopard. He tossed the Thunder Spirit Totem aside and rushed out.

    Cloud Leopard was standing like a wooden pole in the main hall.

    Su Chen rushed in like the wind, then leapt at Cloud Leopard when he saw him.

    ¡°Haha, Leopard, long time no see! I¡¯ve missed you terribly.¡±

    Cloud Leopard¡¯s expression was dark. ¡°Hmph, like hell you missed me.¡±

    Su Chen was surprised. ¡°Hm? What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°If you missed me, you wouldn¡¯t have run into Ravager territory on your own,¡± Cloud Leopardined.

    ¡°Hey, are you still mad at me about that? Didn¡¯t I tell you already? I did it for your benefit, since entering Ravager territory was incredibly risky. I didn¡¯t want anything to happen to you all. In any case, didn¡¯t the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s sessful return depend on your efforts?¡±

    ¡°So howe you only told me about all this only recently?¡±

    ¡°Ai, you¡¯re wrongly using me here. I told someone to let you know as soon as I left Flowing Gold Fort, but you just didn¡¯t stop running around. It was impossible for him to find you!¡± Su Chen cried out.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Cloud Leopard stared at Su Chen suspiciously.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure!¡± Su Chen said confidently, but he felt a pang of guilt in his heart.

    Actually, he had been so busy establishing the sect, researching the Origin Bone Scepter, increasing his own strength, and a whole host of other responsibilities that he had forgotten about letting his brothers know. He had suddenly thought of it not long ago - crap! I forgot to let my brothers know that I moved to the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain - and hurriedly sent people to inform Cloud Leopard and the others.

    However, Cloud Leopard was easy to console. Even though he wasn¡¯t young in age anymore, he was still somewhat like a little child, and a fewforting sentences from Su Chen were enough to get him to calm down.

    After calming Cloud Leopard down, Su Chen realized that he had been so focused on making a breakthrough in his research that he had in fact forgotten quite a few things.

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s side of things was one of these problems.

    He had said a long time ago that he would go to find Gu Qingluo as soon as he saved the Heavenly Might Battalion, but because of the matter of setting up the sect, he had not yet been able to go and see her. Thankfully, he hadn¡¯tpletely forgotten about this promise, which was one of the reasons why he had chosen the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain to establish his sect.

    The Ten Thousand Swords Mountain bordered Empty Mountain, and part of it actuallyy in Empty Mountain territory.

    Perhaps it was time for him to go and see Gu Qingluo, Su Chen thought to himself.

    However, Su Chen was able to suppress this idea in the end.

    This was because news had begun to spread, and many of Su Chen¡¯s friends began toe by to pay him a visit, including He Yuandong, Qi Weiyan, Pi Yuanhong, Tang Ming, and may more.

    There were even some who chose to join the Boundless Sect.

    Jiang Hanfeng, the incredibly lively fellow, had somehow managed to maintain some of his spontaneous and illogical personality. Afterpleting his ten years of service to the imperial family, he returned to his n to work for them.

    However, his free-spirited nature was at odds with being shut inside his n all the time, especially once his n began to press him concerning marriage.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know the half of it, Senior Brother Su! That girl was both mean and ugly. No one wanted her. My family only wanted to force me to marry her because of her Demonic King Bloodline and said that it was a great undertaking for the n. Why should I sacrifice my future for theirs? That¡¯s why I ran away. As long as you are willing to take me in, I will stay here and never leave!¡± Jiang Hanfeng said.

    ¡°Very good! I just so happen to becking in formations. The Boundless Sect is so big, so there should definitely be arge formation here ced to defend the mountain,¡± Su Chen said as he patted Jiang Hanfeng on the shoulders.

    When he saw Su Chen¡¯s expression, Jiang Hanfeng immediately felt like he had jumped out of the frying pan into the fire.

 Book 5: Sect - 10: Obstruction

    Two monthster, the ones who coulde visit him hade. Yue Longsha had also came.

    Since Su Chen didn¡¯t believe that there would be any visitors in the near future, he could finally go on a trip to Empty Mountain.

    This time, Su Chen did not go alone. Apart from Iron Cliff, he also brought the Death¡¯s Shadow, Cloud Leopard, and twelve Sword Servants. After all, he was now the Sect Master of the Boundless Sect, and he would seem poor if he didn¡¯t even have any subordinates with him.

    After leaving the Boundless Sect, Su Chen and the others headed straight for New Rain City.

    New Rain City was the capital of Empty Mountain. It had been built by the Chu n¡¯s Chu Yuankong, whose bloodline was that of the Deste Beast, White Fang. The current Chu n¡¯s ruler was Chu Yuan, the fifth-generation ruler of the Chu n.

    As the targets of intense scrutiny, the Gu n had been sent to New Rain City.

    Not only so, but they were also thergest n there apart from the Chu n.

    After flying on the Raging Sun Shuttle for many days, Su Chen and the others finally arrived at New Rain City.

    They firstnded outside the city walls, then walked towards the city.

    Unlike Long Coiling City¡¯s tall, sturdy walls, New Rain City¡¯s walls were very short. There wasn¡¯t much in the way of security either. Even though it was the country¡¯s capital, it seemed just like an average city.

    Perhaps this was because Empty Mountain¡¯s purpose was not to deal with external enemies but internal threats.

    Apparently, the Chu n¡¯s bloodline possessed a kind of Origin Skill that could repress the Gu n¡¯s bloodline, which was why they had been given such high status.

    Su Chen had a hard time imagining what kind of Bloodline Origin Skill could allow a Deste Beast Bloodline to suppress an Origin Beast Bloodline, but since the Chu n had somehow managed to keep an eye on the Gu n¡¯s members for thousands of years without falling, they probably had some kind of unique attribute allowing them to do so.

    The Gu n¡¯s residence was not hard to find. Su Chen and the others just had to ask around a bit to find out.

    West Willow Alley, near the main Northforest Street, belonged entirely to the Gu n, which was why it was also known as the Gu n Alley.

    Two guards stood at the front door of the Gu n.

    Shockingly, these guards were both at the Yang Opening Realm. It seemed like they were only a single step away from reaching the Light Shaking Realm.

    If the guards at the front door possessed such high cultivation bases, it was quite obvious how powerful the Gu n was.

    Su Chen stepped forwards and said, ¡°My name is Su Chen. I am here to see Miss Gu Qingluo.¡±

    Unexpectedly, the two guards were taken aback when they heard this name. ¡°Su Chen?¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°Yes.¡±

    The two guards nced at each other. One of them said, ¡°Please, sir, wait out here for a moment. We will go and notify them immediately.¡±

    As he spoke, that person turned around and walked into the Gu n¡¯s residence.

    Su Chen nced at the guard¡¯s disappearing figure as he calmly said, ¡°It seems from your tone earlier that you have heard of my name before?¡±

    The remaining guard avoided making eye contact with Su Chen. ¡°We have not.¡±

    ¡°You haven¡¯t?¡± Su Chen stared at the guard. ¡°Then why are you so nervous? Your breathing is bingbored, you are gathering your Origin Energy, and your strength is subconsciously building up......¡±

    The guard harrumphed, ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. Just sit here and wait obediently.¡±

    Su Chen took one step back. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, I¡¯lle back and visit another day.¡±

    As he spoke, he turned around as if he was going to leave.

    When the guard saw that he was about to leave, he became extremely agitated and cried out, ¡°Don¡¯t go!¡±

    He actually reached out to grab Su Chen.

    Before he his hand even made contact with Su Chen, Su Chen barked, ¡°Grab him!¡±

    Iron Cliff reached out his massive hand, cing it on that guard¡¯s shoulder and rendering him immobile. At the same time, the Death¡¯s Shadow unleashed itsrge strips of white paper, wrapping up the guard and mummifying him.

    Su Chen continued to walk away without even looking. The others took the guard and left quickly, rapidly disappearing from the alleyway.

    A brief momentter, arge group of people came charging out of the alleyway, a handsome young man with a lofty aura at the very front. He nced around and didn¡¯t see the other guard, then cursed with a dark expression on his face, ¡°Damn! He got away!¡±

    A man with a cloudy expression said immediately, ¡°Search. He can¡¯t have gotten far.¡±

    Everyone dispersed.

    No one noticed a person silently standing in a shadowy corner of the alleyway watching them.

    It was Su Chen.

    After watching them for a bit, he turned around and left.

    This time, he was really leaving.

    The guard gradually awoke in a forest outside of New Rain City.

    A vicious face was pressed up right against his as soon as he opened his eyes.

    The guard was badly startled, and Iron Cliff grabbed him by the throat as he howled, ¡°We will ask, you will answer. Don¡¯t waste our time with anything unimportant. Understand?¡±

    The guard nodded with fright.

    Iron Cliff released his grip and stepped aside, allowing Su Chen to take center stage. ¡°Who was the one who gave you the order to deal with me?¡±

    ¡°Young Master Gu Feihong.¡±

    ¡°What status does he have amongst the Gu n?¡±

    ¡°Elder Gu Mingwei¡¯s youngest son.¡±

    ¡°Why does he want to deal with me?¡±

    ¡°Young Master Gu likes Gu Qingluo.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re both from the Gu n. Why is he so eager to eat his neighbor¡¯s grass?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ve been apart from the main n for so long, so their blood rtion has grown thin a long time ago. In addition, for the sake of bloodline purity, the various nobility ns all support this kind of behavior. Is that really so strange?¡±

    ¡°Bang!¡±

    ¡°Ah!¡±

    The guard cried out in pain as one of his fingers was broken.

    Su Chen coolly said, ¡°I reminded you before that you shouldn¡¯t waste my time with anything unimportant, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes...... Yes......¡± The guard nodded frantically.

    ¡°What is your name?¡±

    ¡°Gu...... Gu Lian.¡±

    ¡°Your bloodline hasn¡¯t awakened?¡±

    ¡°If my bloodline was awakened, how could I be chosen to guard the front door to the n?¡±

    ¡°Good point. So how many members of the Gu n have had their bloodlines awakened?¡± Su Chen continued to ask.

    ¡°A total of 542 people.¡±

    ¡°What are their cultivation bases like?¡± ¡°Who are they?¡± ¡°Where are they located?¡± ¡°Where is Gu Qingluo?¡± ¡°How is she doing at the moment?¡±......

    Su Chen asked question after question.

    As the guard answered all Su Chen¡¯s questions, a rough sketch of the strength of the Gu n slowly began to appear before their eyes.

    There were twelve Emperor-level existences amongst the Gu n, known as the twelve human emperors. They were the Gu n¡¯s main source of power.

    There were forty-two Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators below them, known as the forty-two Sky Columns due to the fact that they upheld the Heavens for the Gu n.

    There were around a hundred Spirit Burning Realm cultivators below that.

    Three hundred Light Shaking Realm cultivators were below that, making up thergest numbers. Actually, there were no more than a hundred or so Yang Opening Realm cultivators.

    This was because, as soon as the Origin Beast Bloodline awakened, breaking into the Light Shaking Realm was exceptionally easy. What others considered to be a tremendous obstacle was like a highway in the eyes of the Gu n.

    As for Blood Boiling Realm and below, there were basically none, because it was too hard to awaken the Origin Beast bloodline at that cultivation level. It was extremely hard to do it without possessing a certain degree of strength.

    No n in the entire continent could dere that they had more might and strength than the Gu n.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that the Chu n possessed a secret technique that could suppress the Gu n, the Gu n¡¯s power probably would have allowed them to create a period of prosperity for themselves.

    Even though they were aware that the Gu n was powerful, everyone was still shocked when they found out just how powerful the Gu n really was.

    No wonder the guard was so easily willing to spill all the information; everything Su Chen was asking were questions that most of the people in Empty Mountain already knew the answers to.

    The Gu n had never attempted to conceal their strength, and the Chu n didn¡¯t allow them to do so anyways.

    At this moment, the guard finished his exnation and said, ¡°Now do you know how frightening the Gu n really is? I will give you some advice: your best move right now is to leave and never reappear. In any case, if you dare offend the Gu n, you will most certainly die a tragic death.¡±

    ¡°Your tone is quite arrogant. Are you not worried I am going to kill you?¡± Su Chen asked.

    The guard harrumphed, ¡°I was only cooperating earlier because I was worried you would be too impulsive. Now that you know the Gu n¡¯s might, however, you should think a little bit before acting. If you dare kill me, the Gu n will not spare you.¡±

    ¡°The Gu n cannot leave Empty Mountain. Why should I be afraid of them?¡±

    ¡°They cannot leave Empty Mountain, but that depends on the circumstances. If someone kills a Gu n disciple, they have the right to send someone to get revenge. In times of need, they can seek approval to leave the country under certain circumstances!¡±

    ¡°But those circumstances do not include you, right?¡± Su Chen said.

    The guard¡¯s expression changed drastically. Obviously, Su Chen had managed to pinpoint his weak spot.

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°I warned you not to waste my time with unnecessary chatter, but you refused to listen. You have already spoken way too many unnecessary words, so I will not break your fingers anymore. Instead, I will break another one of your members.¡±

    Just as the guard sighed with relief, he heard Su Chen say, ¡°Neck.¡±

    The guard was badly stunned. ¡°No......¡±

    Crack! Su Chen snapped the guard¡¯s neck.

    ¡°If you weren¡¯t so arrogant, you could have lived,¡± Su Chen said as he tossed the guard¡¯s corpse aside, then fell into deep thought.

    After some time, Su Chen said, ¡°No matter what, we must get an audience with Gu Qingluo.¡±

    Iron Cliff was startled. ¡°Master, please think thrice about this!¡±

    Twelve Human Emperors was simply too frightening. Even the badly wounded Demonic Emperor, the Scarlet Heart, had almost killed Su Chen. These twelve Human Emperors were existences that stood at the peak of humanity.

    The current Su Chen had no right to challenge them. He could only gaze up at them in awe.

    Even one of the forty-two Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators below them could most likely wipe out a majority of the Boundless Sect with a single move.

    But no matter how dangerous it was, Su Chen still wanted to advance without fear.

    Su Chen said indifferently, ¡°The Gu n is strong, and we cannot force our way in. But just because force won¡¯t work doesn¡¯t mean that more refined approaches won¡¯t. Some things can always be done as long as you are willing to think about them for a bit."

    Su Chen had managed to rope in the Gu n in Swallow River City by throwing a few million at the problem, so it wasn¡¯t an impossibility for him to gain the same influence here as well. However, the main Gu n, which had the twelve Human Emperors, was much more powerful than the branch at Longxi. Wanting to buy then all out was probably something that would take something on the order of hundreds of billions, not tens of millions.

    Su Chen wouldn¡¯t have put down so much money even if he had it.

    As such, it was most likely that he wouldn¡¯t be able to use money to resolve the situation.

    But not being able to use money didn¡¯t mean that there was no other alternative.

    After thinking about it for some time, Su Chen said, ¡°First, I must let Gu Qingluo know that I¡¯m here.¡±

    Gu Feihong was obviously in such a hurry to deal with him because Gu Qingluo was still waiting for him.

    But with Gu Feihong still in the Gu Residence, it was incredibly difficult for Su Chen to find Gu Qinluo. Every day that Su Chen didn¡¯t manage to see Gu Qingluo was an extra day that Gu Feihong would be able to use to make arrangements for Su Chen. It was possible that Gu Qingluo might think that Su Chen had fallen in love with someone else someday, and then Gu Feihong could seize the opportunity to insert himself into the situation. Even the strongest woman might have problems resisting.

    As such, the most important thing to take care of was that he needed to get word to Gu Qingluo that he hade for her.

    Iron Cliff said with anxiety, ¡°But if we can¡¯t meet with Young Miss Gu, how will we send news to her?¡±

    ¡°This......¡± Su Chen paced back and forth a few times. ¡°It¡¯s not necessarily impossible.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s your n?¡± everyone asked.

    Su Chen said calmly, ¡°Think a bit more outside of the box. We might not necessarily need to get into the residence in order to get word to her...... No matter how Gu Feihong tries to prevent word from reaching her, she must leave the residence at some point, right?¡±

    ¡°So then we wait. We can be a thief for a thousand days, but they will not be on guard against a thief for a thousand days. She wille out sooner orter.¡±

    Patience was often the simplest and most effective tactic that guaranteed the most sess.

 Book 5: Sect - 11: Meeting Her Again

    Every morning, Gu Qingluo liked to go to the Old Desire Building to eat the vegetarian steamed buns there and drink a bowl of their heavily-scented Old Desire Snake Porridge. That gave her quite a bit of satisfaction.

    However, just as she was about to leave, Gu Qingluo was stopped.

    ¡°Miss Qingluo, Young Master Hong asked Miss to not go out for a few days,¡± a servant said as he blocked Gu Qingluo¡¯s path.

    ¡°What? Do I need your permission to go out?¡± Gu Qingluo asked, her eyebrows sharply angled.

    Even though she had been sent to the main branch of the Gu n, Gu Qingluo was still quite free, as the Gu n could not control her movements like the disciples directly from their n. After all, Gu Qingluo was not a disciple of the main branch; instead, she had been brought in from the outside after awakening her bloodline, so her desire for independence was very strong.

    The guard chuckled. ¡°Miss Qingluo, you¡¯ve misunderstood me. The situation outside is a bit chaotic right now; a few bandits who infiltrated the border have arrived in New Rain City, attacking everyone wantonly. Quite a few important people have already been wounded by them. Young Master Hong is just thinking of Miss Qingluo¡¯s safety, which is why he is asking you not to go out for a few days.¡±

    Gu Qingluo said, ¡°Is the Gu n not strong enough to deal with these bandits?¡±

    The servant said, ¡°Of course we can deal with them easily. These bandits are just like mice, and they are extremely slippery and don¡¯t appear easily. We are just worried that an ident will befall Miss Qingluo, which is why we are taking such drastic measures.¡±

    ¡°But I want to go to the Old Desire Building......¡±

    ¡°The Old Desire Building¡¯s chef has already been invited here. Miss¡¯s breakfast will be brought over shortly.¡±

    ¡°I also had an appointment with the Lin n¡¯s Fourth Young Miss to go out on a stroll.¡±

    ¡°Young Master Hong has already sent someone to invite Fourth Young Miss Lin. She wille very soon to chat with Miss Qingluo.¡±

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Gu Feihong really seems to know a lot about my habits.¡±

    ¡°He just cares about you, is all.¡± The servant naturally neither denied nor confirmed what she said.

    ¡°So how many days must I wait?¡±

    ¡°Not very long. Three to five days should be enough.¡±

    Upon hearing this, Gu Qingluo thought for a moment, then shot that servant a nce. ¡°Yang Chunyan, your eloquence is quite impressive.¡±

    The servant named Yang Chunyan bowed. ¡°Many thanks to Young Miss for her praise.¡±

    Gu Qingluo turned around and returned to her room, shutting the door forcefully behind her.

    Upon entering the room, Gu Qingluo said, ¡°Qiu Tang.¡±

    ¡°Your maidservant is here.¡± One of the maidservants hurried over to Gu Qingluo and bowed.

    Gu Qingluo said, ¡°Go out and investigate a bit for me. See if you can find out exactly what happened.¡±

    Since the Gu n was refusing to allow her out of her residence under the name of safety, sending out a maidservant wasn¡¯t something they could object to, right?

    ¡°Yes.¡± The maidservant retreated.

    Indeed, Yang Chunyan did not attempt to stop her.

    After wandering around for a day, the maidservant returned, shaking her head. ¡°Your maidservant wandered the streets for a day and didn¡¯t see anything out of the ordinary. I did hear, however, that a few Spirit Burning Realm experts wandered into New Rain City and were causing mayhem. Young Master Gu should have acted out of consideration for Miss Qingluo, which is why he has asked you not to leave.¡±

    Gu Qingluo shot her a stare. ¡°You aren¡¯t trying to cate me because they paid you off, right?¡±

    The maidservant was stunned. She knelt on the ground and swore, ¡°Your maidservant would never dare lie to Young Miss. There really wasn¡¯t anything strange going on outside.¡±

    Gu Qingluo knew that this maidservant of hers was rtively trustworthy, but she didn¡¯t believe for a second that there wasn¡¯t anything strange going on outside.

    She had been with Su Chen for so long that he had left quite an impression on her. She understood the wiles of the human heart quite well at this point. This was especially true after she was set up in the past, which caused her to be aware of how difficult it was to grasp a person¡¯s true intentions. Anything could happen at anytime, and she did not believe Gu Feihong at all.

    The maidservant¡¯s report either indicated that she had been bought out or that she had not discovered anything.

    Given that Gu Feihong didn¡¯t stop the maidservant from leaving, it was possible that he knew she would not have found anything from the very beginning.

    So what was it that the maidservant could not discover that she could if she were to leave? Gu Qingluo spent a long time thinking about this matter.

    Her eyes suddenly lit up. ¡°Could it be......¡±

    Neither Su Chen nor Gu Feihong could have anticipated that merely stopping Gu Qingluo at the door would give her the answers she needed to figure out the truth.

    Having been in a foreignnd for some time now, Gu Qingluo¡¯s intelligence had greatly increased. Usually, their intelligence was closely rted to her environment; when a husband who would stop at nothing for his wife was present, their intelligence would decrease, and the opposite was true as well.

    During the days that Su Chen was not there, Gu Qingluo very rapidly began to mature.

    Of course, Gu Qingluo did not know that Su Chen was sitting near the window of a wine tavern right next to her residence. He had been sitting there for the entire day.

    Gu Qingluo didn¡¯t appear, but the Gu n¡¯s members had searched the wine tavern already. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Su Chen had quickly assumed a different appearance, he would have been caught a long time ago.

    All that separated the two of them were some walls. They were only a few meters apart, yet that distance seemed as far as the horizon, and they could not meet with each other.

    Unlike most couples in such a wretched situation, however, this pair did not feel any self-pity or grief. All they felt was self-confidence, unwavering determination, and a refusal to look back.

    Su Chen had chosen to fight the long battle. Patience was his tactic for victory. He believed that, as long as he was willing to wait, he could eventually wait long enough for Gu Qingluo to leave. This was because he was in a foreignnd, and the Origin Beast Gu n possessed so many powerful individuals that being careful was for the best.

    As for Gu Qingluo, this was the ce of her residence, so she could afford to take much more initiative......

    In the blink of an eye, three days went by.

    These three days, Gu Qingluo quietly remained in the Gu Residence, never taking a step out. Everything seemed quiet and peaceful.

    Yang Chunyan sighed with relief. However, every day that Gu Feihong couldn¡¯t find Su Chen was a day that he needed to remain vignt and watch Gu Qingluo. If time went on for too long, it was impossible for Gu Qingluo to sit still, so he could only hope that his Young Master would seed sooner rather thanter.

    Just as he was thinking in this manner, he suddenly heard a cry of ¡°Aiya!¡±e from the room, then heard a yell from behind him, ¡°Young Miss!¡±

    Gu Qingluo?

    Yang Chunyan was stunned. He had been ordered to keep an eye on Gu Qingluo, and this was what he wanted to hear the least. He instinctively charged into the room.

    He was greeted by a hazy scene as soon as he charged into the room. His vision was clouded with fog, and he couldn¡¯t see anything clearly.

    ¡°Miss Qingluo!¡± Yang Chunyan yelled as he walked forwards. Suddenly, his foot hit something.

    He hurriedly reached down, only to find a soft body beneath him. The skin he touched was smooth and silky, clearly indicating it was a girl¡¯s. He hurriedly picked up the girl and yelled, ¡°Miss Qingluo?¡±

    It was impossible to see her face clearly in the fog, but he could sense that the maiden was leaning into him, tightly embracing him.

    Yang Chenyan¡¯s mind shifted into overdrive, but since he was Gu Feihong¡¯s trusted subordinate, he stabilized his will and suppressed his animalistic instincts. He didn¡¯t care who the other party was and said, ¡°Miss, please, act with dignity!¡±

    Upon hearing these words, the other party seemed even more reluctant to let go, but they began to yell, ¡°Ah! Help! Rape!¡±

    ¡°Not good!¡± Yang Chunyan immediately knew there was a problem as soon as he heard this cry and shoved the woman aside.

    At that very moment, however, a sharp jab hit him in the small of the back, temporarily paralyzing him.

    It was Gu Qingluo!

    Yang Chunyan was both stunned and enraged. Gu Qingluo had actually chosen to use such a tactic to attack him directly, which he felt was a bit unscrupulous and dishonorable.

    Even so, it was such an unscrupulous act that was the most effective. A brief momentter, people began pouring into the room from all directions.

    A purple-robed elder charged right into the room. At this point in time, the fog had dissipated, and he saw Yang Chunyan entertwined with a maidservant.

    When he saw this, the purple-robed elder was infuriated. ¡°Yang Chunyan, look what you¡¯ve done!¡±

    He unleashed a palm strike right at Yang Chunyan.

    Yang Chunyan endured the blow as he cried out, ¡°Seventh Elder, I am innocent! If you don¡¯t believe me, you can use the Clearheart Verification Technique on me to make sure!¡±

    The Gu n was an old n that had been around for a long time and had countless secret techniques. The Clearheart Verification Technique was a secret lie-detection technique they possessed. As such, sessfully framing someone like this was actually really difficult to do.

    Upon hearing these words, everyone trusted Yang Chunyan¡¯s words a bit more.

    Only the purple-robed elder remained angry. ¡°You still dare quibble? The evidence is iron-d and we all see the facts before us. Why would Gu Qingluo harm you for no particr reason?¡±

    Yang Chunyan helplessly said, ¡°Perhaps there was some misunderstanding between me and Miss Gu.¡±

    Of course, he would not admit that Gu Feihong had instructed him to keep a close eye on Gu Qingluo, so he could only say this much.

    As soon as he thought of Gu Qingluo, however, his heart trembled as he blurted out, ¡°Not good! Gu Qingluo!¡±

    He whirled around, but no sign of Gu Qingluo could be found. He immediately knew that Gu Qingluo had used this opportunity to run.

    Everyone else was drawn over to this ce by themotion, and Gu Qingluo took advantage of the opportunity to slip away. There was no way anyone else would have noticed her.

    When he thought of themission Gu Feihong had given him, Yang Chunyan immediately grew agitated. But even if he wanted to leave, how could the others be willing to let him leave?

    Framing someone in the Gu Residence was basically impossible given how many secret techniques the Gu n possessed, which gave them a certain amount of omniscience. However, if thy were to let Yang Chunyan leave without even interrogating him, that would have been far too childish of them.

    That was exactly what Gu Qingluo wanted.

    Yang Chunyan sighed when he realized that he had failed to keep Gu Qingluo from leaving the pce. He had not only failed his Young Master¡¯smission, but he now also had to exin his way out of his current situation.

    On the other side of the n¡¯s residence, Gu Qingluo had already managed to slip out.

    The outside of the residence was bustling with activity. Everything appeared very normal.

    Unfortunately, she could not see Su Chen¡¯s figure.

    This was not that much of a surprise. After all, he could not possibly appear in such a public forum.

    Gu Qingluo didn¡¯t know where Su Chen was, but she did not have too much time to go looking for him. Gu Feihong and his men could appear at any time.

    As such, Gu Qingluo made a very simple decision.

    She flew onto the roof and yelled loudly, ¡°I¡¯m here! Su Chen, where are you?¡±

    ¡°Su Chen, where are you......¡±

    ¡°Where are you......¡±

    ¡°Where are......¡±

    ¡°Where......¡±

    ¡°......ere......¡±

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s voice echoed through the sky in all directions.

    She didn¡¯t know where Su Chen was, but she believed that Su Chen was definitely here. He was definitely nearby.

    As long he could hear her own voice, he would definitelye.

    However, as this yell echoed through the streets, Gu Qingluo didn¡¯t see Su Chen¡¯s figure appear anywhere. All that she could see were the people around staring at her in shock and confusion.

    Was she wrong?

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s heart sank.

    Had she made a mistake in her analysis? Was Su Chen not here?

    Su Chen, when will youe looking for me?

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s heart ached as sorrow filled her chest due to theck of a response.

    Suddenly, a voice spoke right next to her ear.

    ¡°Hey, what are you doing standing here in a daze?¡±

    Gu Qingluo trembled.

    She turned around and found Su Chen standing behind her, smiling broadly at her.

    In that instant, Gu Qingluo could no longer control herself and threw herself into Su Chen¡¯s arms.

 Book 5: Sect - 12: Threa

    t

    Gu Qingluo embraced Su Chen.

    She hugged him tight and with incredible force, as if she was worried he would leave again.

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but push her back a little so he could breathe.

    Gu Qingluo was just about to speak when Su Chen grabbed her by the hand and said, ¡°Come with me.¡±

    He ran, dragging Gu Qingluo along with him.

    The two of them ran extremely quickly. At the same time, arge group of people charged out of the Gu n¡¯s residence. When they saw Gu Qingluo with Su Chen, they yelled, ¡°Over there!¡±

    They began to chase after the couple.

    Because New Rain City had restrictions in ce that forbade the use of flight, the two of them could only sprint as quickly as they could along the streets.

    Su Chen sprinted away with Gu Qingluo, darting in and out of the alleyways. In the blink of an eye, they had taken many twists and turns. Su Chen finally stopped when he saw that there was no one behind them.

    He turned around to gaze at Gu Qingluo, and Gu Qingluo stared at him as well.

    The two of them stared at each other wordlessly.

    Before they met, Su Chen felt like he had so many things that he wanted to say, but now that she was in front of him, he didn¡¯t know what to say. The two of them just stared at each other in silence.

    Then, Su Chen leaned in fiercely, and the two of them began to kiss passionately in public right at the street corner.

    This kiss was long and sweet, deep and passionate. Neither of them knew how much time had passed before they separated, but when they did, they found that they were surrounded by quite the crowd.

    Some of them were full of admiration, some were just there to see what themotion was about, and some were watching with starry-eyed, innocent expressions - a few small girls were watching intently, iparably excited.

    When the two of them separated, the audience actually began to p, cheering them on.

    Of course, there were a few traditionally-minded people who shook their heads and sighed, ¡°Public morals degenerate every day, and peoples¡¯ consciences grow duller and duller. Such public flirtatious activity erodes morality,¡± before leaving.

    Su Chen and Gu Qingluo burst out intoughter and hugged each other again.

    Just as they were about to say something, they suddenly saw a group of their pursuers appear off in the distance.

    Su Chen said, ¡°It seems as if there are still some ghosts who insist on hanging around.¡±

    Gu Qingluo frowned. ¡°I¡¯ll go deal with them.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t.¡± Su Chen grabbed her. ¡°I know you are a member of the Gu n, but Gu Feihong¡¯s actions clearly indicate that he¡¯s intent on burning bridges. Getting together with everyone else is more important. We will have plenty of time to exact revenge in the future.¡±

    As he spoke, he dragged Gu Qingluo away yet again.

    Gu Qingluo knew that Su Chen¡¯s words were urate. Now that the situation had devolved to this point, it was unlikely that Gu Feihong would let things remain this way, and it was equally unlikely that he would care much for his status at this point.

    As she allowed Su Chen to drag her away, Gu Qingluo said, ¡°New Rain City belongs to the Gu n. Wanting to shake them off won¡¯t be easy.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Su Chen turned around and smiled. ¡°I thought that New Rain City belonged to the Chu n.¡±

    ¡°......¡± Gu Qingluo paused for a moment. ¡°You don¡¯t need to say something like that. In terms of pure strength, no one is equal to the members of the Gu n. You should be aware of that, given your personality.¡±

    ¡°I know. Isn¡¯t it just twelve old Emperor-level ancestors?¡± Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Unfortunately, most of them are asleep under the ground.¡±

    Gu Qingluo shot him a stare. ¡°So you know about that as well.¡±

    Even though the Gu n possessed twelve Emperor-level ancestors, most of them were asleep in the Ancestor Hall and would only awaken every three thousand years. There were only three people awake at one time, and they would be awake for one thousand years at a time before going back to sleep.

    Only under these kinds of circumstances would the Gu n¡¯s ancestors be able to break through the restrictions on lifespan and stay alive until now.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s not really much of a secret. Over this way......¡±

    Su Chen pulled Gu Qingluo into a nearby alleyway, then said, ¡°Give me a bit of your blood.¡±

    Gu Qingluo didn¡¯t know why Su Chen wanted her blood, but since he wanted it, Gu Qingluo cut open her finger and squeezed out a few droplets of blood for him.

    An instantter, Gu Qingluo saw a shocking scene emerge before her eyes - a brand new Su Chen and Gu Qingluo appeared right in front of her.

    Next, Su Chen gestured at the two puppets, bestowing upon them a small sliver of his consciousness. They seemed to spring to life, suddenly charging out of the alleyway onto therger streets. At the same time, Su Chen dragged Gu Qingluo deeper into the shadows.

    Their pursuers just so happened to have caught up slightly. When they saw the human puppets, they yelled, ¡°Over here.¡±

    Gu Qingluo watched the people running past the dark alley, shocked. ¡°Your arsenal has grown yet again.¡±

    ¡°Shh!¡± Su Chen motioned for her to be quiet.

    Two more shadows came running in their direction. They were exceptionally fast; even though they were not flying, they moved as swiftly as the wind. They were obviously at the Light Shaking Realm.

    ¡°It¡¯s the Ling n Brothers! That damned Gu Feihong!¡± Gu Qingluo cursed.

    Su Chen gently ced a hand over her mouth. After all, there were still pursuers running by.

    Gu Qingluo gazed at the close Su Chen. Darkness Origin Substance concealed the two of them, making it so that Gu Qingluo could sense Su Chen¡¯s presence clearly even though she could not see his face. She could feel the heat radiating from him, and his calm and steady breathing.

    She pulled Su Chen¡¯s hand aside, then caressed Su Chen¡¯s face as she leaned in.

    Su Chen could sense Gu Qingluo¡¯s passion, and he couldn¡¯t help but rx ever so slightly.

    He lowered his head as he leaned in as well. Their lips touched ever so slightly, allowing them to feel the tenderness and dampness of each others lips, as well as the undeniable me of passion.

    The two of them remained in such an embrace, kissing each other fiercely.

    This time, no one else was around to see them.

    Their kisses were even deeper, hotter, and more fervent than before.

    Wave after wave of pursuers ran past the alleyway.

    Suddenly, a voice spoke. ¡°A bunch of worthless trash, everyst one of them! They can¡¯t even catch a single Su Chen. What a loss of face for the Gu n!¡±

    It was Gu Feihong¡¯s voice.

    Both Su Chen and Gu Qingluo froze slightly.

    ¡°Young Master, don¡¯t worry. We will definitely catch Su Chen. It¡¯s just that Young Miss Qingluo is with him right now. If she fights back against us with full force, what should we do?¡± an old voice asked.

    Gu Qingluo seemed to grow a bit more agitated when she heard this voice, and her passion also decreased correspondingly.

    Su Chen knew that this person was definitely a powerful expert.

    Su Chen could sense Gu Feihong¡¯s footsteps, but not the footsteps of the elder who was speaking. This was a clear indication that the old man was at least at the Spirit Burning Realm. Even though Su Chen might not need to be afraid of this person if they did start to fight, that kind of person was not someone Su Chen could perceive so easily.

    Gu Feihong¡¯s figure appeared in the alleyway. ¡°I have been extremely sincere with Gu Qingluo, but she seems to view my affection as dung and has trampled it underfoot. Since she is so unwilling, then she cannot me me for not being a gentleman. After you catch her, send her to my room.¡±

    Gu Qingluo was infuriated when she heard this. Thankfully, Su Chen was there to firmly keep her in ce, allowing her to forcefully ovee her emotional urges.

    The old man nearby said, ¡°Miss Qingluo seems soft on the outside but is incredibly stubborn on the inside, and her will is like iron. You might not be able to subdue her even if you force things.¡±

    Gu Feihong sighed, ¡°If I can¡¯t subdue her, then so be it. If I cannot ask for this to be eternal, then I can only enjoy it in the moment.¡±

    ¡°Then, what about the Ancestor¡¯s side of things......?¡±

    Gu Feihong impatiently said, ¡°Fourth Grandmother will at most lecture me a little and order some punishment. Will she kill me? Gu Qingluo is still a member of another branch, and I am from the main branch. No matter how much the Ancestor likes Gu Qingluo, he cannot possibly fail to distinguish between an insider and an outsider, right? There will always be close and distant rtives. Don¡¯t worry, I will bear the consequences.¡±

    ¡°I understand!¡± the old voie said.

    As they spoke, they walked away, and Gu Qingluo began to stop trembling with rage. She breathed a long breath, then began tough. ¡°Even though I could never see eye-to-eye with Gu Feihong, I was never able to figure out where the problemy. If it weren¡¯t for you creating such a ruckus, I probably never would have seen his true self.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled, ¡°You would not have followed him no matter whether or not you saw his true self.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re quite confident of that, aren¡¯t you? It¡¯s been two years since youst came to see me.¡± Gu Qingluo began to pull Su Chen¡¯s ear. ¡°And you aren¡¯t that great yourself! You forced yourself onto me before as well, so that doesn¡¯t set you much apart from Gu Feihong, now does it?¡±

    ¡°Hey, didn¡¯t we leave that behind already?¡±

    ¡°I was suddenly reminded of it.¡±

    Because of the stimtion from Gu Feihong, Gu Qingluo was reminded of the various things that had happened in the past. The anger in her heart had yet to subside, so she instead decided to take it out on Su Chen.

    Su Chen became a target for her to vent her anger on. His ear was being pulled so hard that the pain was radiating throughout his body, but he didn¡¯t dare resist. He could only chuckle, ¡°I know I was wrong. Aren¡¯t I here to see you now?¡±

    ¡°Hmph, it¡¯s toote now! Tell me, did you start another illicit rtionship when I wasn¡¯t around?¡±

    ¡°Absolutely not!¡± Su Chen swore as he gestured at the sky.

    ¡°Really?¡± Gu Qingluo stared at him intently.

    ¡°I swear on it. Think about it - Ravager territory is so dangerous that I never had the time to even think about these things. Also, the Ravager women are really quite ugly. How could I take any interest in them?¡±

    ¡°So you mean that it wasn¡¯t that you didn¡¯t want to, but that you just simply didn¡¯t have the time or energy to focus on those things and that there were no suitable targets for you?¡±

    ¡°Come on, that¡¯s not it either. Isn¡¯t it because I had you already?¡± Su Chen carefully coaxed as he continued to hug Gu Qingluo.

    Even though he wasn¡¯t a professional yer, he understood that women needed to be coaxed and yed along with, and that the right words needed to be said at the right time. He continued to y along with Gu Qingluo until her anger began to subside.

    Once he saw that Gu Qingluo wasn¡¯t angry with him anymore, Su Chen said, ¡°This is not the ce for us to talk. Let¡¯s get out of here for now and find somewhere else where we can talk.¡±

    ¡°Ok!¡± Gu Qingluo nodded.

    Su Chen brought Gu Qingluo out of the alley. ¡°It¡¯s not convenient to talk in the city. Let¡¯s leave for now. Right, it should be fine for you to leave the city, right?¡±

    Gu Qingluo replied, ¡°As long as the Origin Beast Gu n doesn¡¯t leave Empty Mountain Country, we can go wherever we want.¡±

    ¡°So will they know if you temporarily leave the country?¡±

    ¡°The Chu n has ced a special kind of imprint on every member of the Gu n, allowing them to pinpoint our location. No matter where the Gu n¡¯s members are, the Gu n will be able to find out their position.¡±

    ¡°So if Gu Feihong wants to try and find you, he will need to go through the Chu n first?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. However, Gu Feihong does not have that much face. As long as the Gu n¡¯s members don¡¯t leave Empty Mountain, the Chu n won¡¯te looking for me so easily."

    "Then does the Gu n¡¯s Ancestor have that kind of face?"

    Gu Qingluo fell silent.

    Even though the Gu n was technically being imprisoned in Empty Mountain, because of how powerful they were, the Chu n gave the Gu n a certain amount of face as long as they didn¡¯t vite the initial terms of their agreement.

    Upon seeing Gu Qingluo¡¯s expression, Su Chen understood. "So if they want to, they will be able to find you. Right?"

    Gu Qingluo silently nodded.

    "Then we had better hurry," Su Chen said.

    "Hurry? For what?" Gu Qingluo asked in shock.

    "Naturally, to deal with that bastard Gu Feihong."

    Since Gu Qingluo couldn¡¯t leave Empty Mountain, and Gu Feihong was eyeing Gu Qingluo closely, he would find a way to entreat the Chu n for Gu Qingluo¡¯s location. As such, Gu Feihong¡¯s existence was a threat.

    If it was a threat, then it needed to be dealt with!

 Book 5: Sect - 13: Burning

    "Greetings, Sect Master¡¯s Wife!"

    In a forest outside of New Rain City, Iron Cliff, the Death¡¯s Shadow of a Youth, and the twelve Sword Servants simultaneously bowed in greeting.

    "Sect Master¡¯s Wife?" Gu Qingluo stared at Su Chen in shock.

    "What? You didn¡¯t know?" Cloud Leopard chuckled.

    "We were in a hurry on the way over, so there were lots of things I didn¡¯t manage to say," Su Chen replied.

    Gu Qingluo stared intently at Su Chen. "It seems that you have been up to a lot recently."

    "Yes, I have been," Su Chen replied calmly.

    Two hourster.

    Su Chen and Gu Qingluo sat around a campfire, deep in conversation with one another.

    Gu Qingluo held a roastedmb leg in her hand that she ate as she listened to Su Chen exin his exploits in the Iron and Blood Country. Sometimes, she trembled in fear and agitation and would lean into Su Chen¡¯s bosom with great emotion. Other times, she was extremely excited and energetic, demonstrating her girlish side once again.

    Perhaps this was a characteristicmon to every woman. When their man was beside them, they were willing to allow their intelligence to decrease, enjoying the care of the person that they loved.

    Listening to a good tale while eating roast meat was extremely satisfying. Oil was smeared all over Gu Qingluo¡¯s face, so that she didn¡¯t appear womanly at all. However, it did make her seem much more youthful and lively.

    Finally, Su Chen finished telling his tale, and Gu Qingluo said, ¡°So you arrived at Ten Thousand Swords Mountain a year ago but never came to find me until now?¡±

    Su Chen knew that she was going to make things difficult for him, so heughed bitterly, ¡°The sect was just established, and there were an incredible number of things for me to do and take care of. I really had no choice but to dy until now. Besides, aren¡¯t I with you now?¡±

    Gu Qingluo pouted. ¡°You always put me second. Do you know...... how much I¡¯ve thought about you?¡±

    As she spoke, her voice grew dim, and shey in Su Chen¡¯s embrace, unwilling to reemerge.

    Upon seeing her like this, Su Chen felt his heart ache. He rubbed Gu Qingluo¡¯s back as he said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. It was my fault.¡±

    Gu Qingluo said quietly, ¡°As long as you know. Do you know how difficult it was for me here without you by my side? I didn¡¯t have any parents or rtives with me. Even though we share the surname Gu, what do they have to do with me? I never once saw them while I was growing up, but now I must participate in their arrangements simply because my bloodline awakened. The n registry does not contain my name, and no one even really knows which branch I am from, but they still force me into taking on their name and honoring a single Ancestor. I was quite lucky, as the Ancestor likes me somewhat. Those who he doesn¡¯t like are tossed into a corner that no one cares enough to ask about. So what if I awakened my bloodline? I am still a prisoner who has the freedom to walk around, is all.¡±

    Su Chen was taken aback. ¡°I thought you all were living quitefortably here.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just a part of it,¡± Gu Qingluo replied.

    The status the Gu n possessed in Empty Mountain was very strange.

    On the one hand, they were prisoners that were constantly under surveince, and on the other hand they were the most powerful n amongst the entire human race. Their incredible strength was basically unrivalled.

    These two conflicting statuses merged, producing the Gu n¡¯s unique situation.

    Here, the Gu n¡¯s important disciples received extraordinary treatment. However, those viewed as unimportant were ced in an incredibly awkward situation. Actually, it wasn¡¯t unheard of for those disciples to be picked on.

    Just like the human race, the Gu n had many different tiers of statuses amongst their ranks. They were truly like a miniature society. What Su Chen had witnessed was just the ¡°tip of the iceberg¡± of this strange society.

    Luckily, even though Gu Qingluo had entered the Gu n with the status of a branch member, she had managed to preserve some of her status because she was a recipient of the favor of one of the three old Human Emperors that were awake.

    Even so, Gu Qingluo had a hard time getting used to such a foreign environment.

    Here, everyone around her was basically unfamiliar to her. Many people envied her status and her being doted on, and there were even a few people who wanted to marry her.

    In some sense, this was very simr to how concubines wouldpete for power behind the scenes. However, what these disciples were vying for was the favor of an Ancestor instead.

    Gu Qingluo didn¡¯t know how important that was, so she had suffered some losses at the very beginning. However, she was quite smart - it was just that she hadn¡¯t experienced that kind of scheming before. After figuring out just how wily the human heart could be, she began to grow much more cautious, and she even managed to teach some of the people bothering her a lesson, gradually solidifying her position.

    It was under these circumstances that her wits continued to grow, why she was able to determine that Su Chen hade solely based on Yang Chunyan¡¯s actions, as well as decisively take action.

    Not many people would dare take such decisive action without being able to confirm that Su Chen was here, let alone make some investigations.

    However, it was because she hadn¡¯t made these investigations that Yang Chunyan was tricked by her. Otherwise, Gu Qingluo¡¯s n probably would have failed if Yang Chunyan had even the slightest suspicion.

    Gu Qingluo had indeed changed after living in the Gu n for two years.

    The two of them continued to tell stories of what had happened after their separation.

    The night sky was already growing very dark, and everyone had already retired from the campfire some time ago. The glow from the campfire was also dimming, and only Su Chen and Gu Qingluo were left huddled around it.

    Su Chen held Gu Qingluo in his arms as he said, ¡°It¡¯s nighttime now. We should get some rest.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Gu Qingluo replied without moving, curling up in Su Chen¡¯s embrace.

    ¡°There¡¯s a cave over there,¡± su Chen said in a low voice.

    Gu Qingluo curled up even more fiercely.

    When he saw her like this, Su Chen smoothly picked her up in his arms and walked into the cave. Once he entered, an Origin Energy barrier suddenly sprang to life with a boom, separating the inside of the cave from the outside world.

    Iron Cliff, Cloud Leopard, and the twelve Sword Servants, who were secretly observing all of this, chuckled and went back to their business.

    The cave was pleasant, like a warm spring wind.

    A Beast hide was spread across the ground, and antern hung on the wall.

    Su Chen carefully ced Gu Qingluo on the Beast hide. Under the illuminating light of thenter¡¯s mes, Gu Qingluo¡¯s face was flushed red.

    Unlike when they had argued before parting, the feelings that Gu Qingluo had kept in check for two years to the point that her heart ached became the most natural kind of motivation. When this moment arrived, everything was incredibly natural. Even though she was a bit embarrassed, she felt anticipation even more.

    Gu Qingluo gazed at her lover, her eyes filled with tenderness. Su Chen¡¯s eyes simrly glimmered with intoxication.

    At this moment, all of Su Chen¡¯s thoughts regarding his research would need to step aside. Only being with the person in front of him was important.

 Book 5: Sect - 14: Curse

    ¡°Bang!¡±

    The ornate, porcin cup mmed against thepis ground, shattering into a fine powder.

    ¡°A bunch of worthless trash! You actually let them get away?¡± Gu Feihong said as he stared at his subordinates with an ashen expression.

    One of the subordinates replied, ¡°Young Master, the situation was too strange. That Su Chen seemed to use some secret technique - we had caught up to them, but then they jumped into the water and disappeared without a trace. It seems like they possessed some kind of water concealment technique.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know whether Su Chen has a water concealment technique, but would I not know if Gu Qingluo did? When did she learn this water concealment technique? I¡¯d be more likely to believe that you didn¡¯t do your due diligence and are justing up with excuses to cover your ass!¡± Gu Feihong said as he unleashed a punch, immediately sending that man flying. It was obvious that he was no longer alive.

    It wasn¡¯t that Gu Feihong was being too self-confident or opinionated. It was that the technique Su Chen had managed to develop was a kind that had never really been seen before across the entire Primordial Continent.

    It wasn¡¯t that cloning and body-splitting techniques didn¡¯t exist. A few unique bloodlines allowed a person to achieve this result, but most of them could only exist for a limited amount of time, and couldn¡¯t leave the main body.

    The cloning technique Su Chen had developed was the most outstanding one the Primordial Continent had seen. It might not be the most powerful inbat, but the clones¡¯ ability to survive apart from the main host were unrivalled. This was because of Su Chen¡¯s deep understanding andmand of Origin Substances. At the same time, he also possessed a powerful enough consciousness that he didn¡¯t need to worry about expending a small sliver of it to give him control over these clones.

    Because this kind of technique was still unheard of at that point in time, it wasn¡¯t really surprising that Gu Feihong had made a mistake in his analysis of the situation.

    Even so, after a period of interrogation, Gu Feihong discovered that the two of them had truly disappeared after jumping into a well. Whether or not it was actually a kind of water concealment, it was obvious that Su Chen possessed some kind of secret escape technique.

    ¡°Dammit!¡± Gu Feihong clenched his fist in anger.

    He paced back and forth a few times before saying, ¡°They probably aren¡¯t in the city anymore. Since they have an escape technique, we probably won¡¯t be able to find them even if we send more people to look for them. It seems like we can only ask the imperial family for help.

    ¡°Young Master, for Gu Qingluo......¡± Yang Chunyan was stunned and wanted to entreat Gu Feihong.

    ¡°Shut your mouth!¡± Gu Feihong pped Yang Chunyan. ¡°If it weren¡¯t for you, could Gu Qingluo have gotten away?¡±

    Yang Chunyan lowered his head and didn¡¯t say anything.

    Gu Feihong said loudly, ¡°Prepare the carriage. I¡¯m going to go see the Crown Prince!¡±

    After an hour.

    At the Crown Prince¡¯s residence.

    Chu Jiangyu sat on his seat of honor, calmly drinking his tea. ¡°Brother Gu, it¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to help you, but this goes against the agreement between our two ns. When our ancestors made the agreement, theyid down three rules, one of them being that the Swan-Catching Demon Seal can only be used to catch those breaking thew, not for any personal moves. Your current request puts me in a very difficult position.¡±

    Gu Feihong chuckled. ¡°I know. However, I am the one making this request of my own initiative. The imperial family is not defaulting on their promise that way.¡±

    ¡°The question is, can you say that you represent the Gu n?¡±

    ¡°This......¡± Gu Feihong hesitated.

    The Gu n had twelve Human Emperors, twenty-seven different families in the main branch alone, and one hundred and eight elders in the Elders Council. All of these individuals were important members of the Gu n, each of them with their own unique thoughts on the matter.

    Gu Feihong did have a respected position amongst the Gu n, but he was not the only one with such a position.

    He could indeed influence the Gu n, but he was far from the point where he could make decisions on behalf of the Gu n.

    Upon seeing him like this, Chu Jiangyu chuckled slightly. ¡°See? It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to help you; it¡¯s that you are unable to give me the guarantee I need. If I were to go to my father just because you asked me to, then I most likely wouldn¡¯t be able to see my position as the Crown Prince all the way to the end.¡±

    Gu Feihong grew agitated. ¡°Please, Crown Prince, you must help me! No matter what, I cannot watch that illicit couple act outside of thew.¡±

    Chu Jiangyu¡¯s expression sank slightly. ¡°You mean, act outside of your Gu n, right? Thews of Empty Mountain are dictated by the Chu n, not the Gu n.¡±

    Gu Feihong realized that he had made a mistake. ¡°Yes, I misspoke. Please, Crown Prince, forgive me. If Crown Prince is willing to help me, I am willing to offer a Thousand-Year Azurite in exchange!¡±

    ¡°Thousand-Year Azurite?¡± Chu Jiangyu muttered, seemingly a bit moved.

    After thinking about it for a moment, he said, ¡°It¡¯s not impossible for me to help you, but you must give me an official request in writing and imprint it with the Shining Dragon¡¯s Origin Bloodline as a seal.¡±

    ¡°This......¡± Gu Feihong hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, ¡°Fine!¡±

    After sending Gu Feihong away, Chu Jiangyu smiled wickedly.

    A middle-aged man emerged from the darkness and said, ¡°Crown Prince, are you really going to ask His Majesty to activate the Swan-Catching Mirror just for a piece of Thousand-Year Azurite?¡±

    Chu Jiangyu¡¯s eyebrows jumped. ¡°Is that possible? Even though the Thousand-Year Azurite is valuable, would I treasure it? I am the Crown Prince here, and we have any treasure you could possibly imagine. Why would I care about the Gu n¡¯s treasures?¡±

    ¡°Then you......¡±

    Chu Jiangyu chuckled darkly, ¡°If I didn¡¯t take some of his benefits, how would I show that I was entreated by someone? That idiot Gu Feihong, he is basically offering up the Gu n on a tter! Even if I didn¡¯t give him any benefits, I would have been willing to agree. Hahahaha!¡±

    The Gu n agreed to be supervised by the Chu n, but as long as the Gu n was not rebelling, attempting to flee the country, or secretly passing down their bloodline, the Chu n was not allowed to carelessly observe them.

    The Chu n had abided by this agreement for many years and would not carelessly activate the Swan-Catching Mirror.

    However, as descendants possessing an Origin Beast Bloodline, who could say whether or not they were up to no good?

    In the past few years, the Chu n had activated the Swan-Catching Mirror a few times after certain incidents had urred in the Gu n¡¯s territory. However, the Gu n was always aware that it was going to happen.

    Since they were aware it was going to happen, they would naturally make the appropriate preparations. It could be said that using the Swan-Catching Mirror under these kinds of circumstances didn¡¯t allow them to monitor the Gu n at all.

    However, today was different.

    Gu Feihong had made a request without informing anyone from the Gu n, and was even going to imprint the Shining Dragon seal as well as an Origin Bloodline seal on a written request. This way, the Chu n wouldn¡¯t be viting the agreement between the two ns, yet they could still use this opportunity to observe the Gu n.

    Gu Feihong was basically handing over a sword by the hilt to his opponent just to find Gu Qingluo. How could Chu Jiangyu not be ecstatic?

    Most importantly, as the Crown Prince, performing a meritorious service of such degree would definitely make his father happy.

    The sky was bright again.

    When Gu Qingluo awoke, she discovered that Su Chen was not by her side.

    She put on her clothes and walked out of the cave, finding Iron Cliff and the twelve Sword Servants standing guard at the entrance to the cave.

    ¡°Greetings, Madame!¡±

    Iron Cliff and the others greeted Gu Qingluo when they saw her emerge.

    Gu Qingluo epted this greeting magnanimously and asked, ¡°Where is Su Chen?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s over there with Young Master Cloud researching something,¡± Iron Cliff replied as he pointed off at the nearby forest.

    ¡°Back to his research as soon as the sunes up......¡± Gu Qingluo muttered. Even the strongest woman would feel that a man who only focused on his ¡°work¡± was insensitive. And even though Gu Qingluo had matured significantly, she was not yet fully logical, and in her youthfulness she naturally had her own thoughts and dreams about her romance.

    However, she very quickly realized that she had misunderstood Su Chen.

    Su Chen was closely inspecting a vial of medicine within the stone room in the forest.

    There was very little blood in the vial - just a single drop. Yet it was this single drop of blood that was bubbling with a shocking amount of Origin Energy, unleashing a powerful aura.

    Su Chen poured in three medicines one after another into the vial in order to suppress this boiling energy.

    Even so, the rare droplet of blood continued to bubble quietly, as if some ancient beast wanted to cry out. This kind of sensation was powerful enough that it prated deep into the heart of anyone close enough to feel it.

    ¡°This is......¡± Gu Qingluo happened to see this, and she couldn¡¯t help but ask inquisitively.

    ¡°It¡¯s your blood,¡± Su Chen replied without looking up.

    While they were cuddling yesterday, Su Chen had asked Gu Qingluo for some drops of her blood.

    ¡°What are you researching?¡± Gu Qingluo asked.

    ¡°The Swan-Catching Demon Seal,¡± Su Chen replied.

    As he spoke, a column of smoke began to rise from the surface of the medicine. The smoke assumed the form of a demon and began to howl angrily at Su Chen.

    Su Chen tapped it with his finger. The image of the demon dissipated, howling as it disappeared.

    ¡°You managed to nullify it?¡± Gu Qingluo asked.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s just gone into hibernation.¡± Su Chen shook his head. ¡°It really is quite a frightening curse. The curse imprints itself on every cell in a person¡¯s body like a parasite, and there is not really a way to drive it out. Even if you destroy it, it regenerates itself rapidly, and there are actually three curses like that.¡±

    ¡°This is a secret technique utilized by the seven great Deste Beast ns to deal with the Origin Beast Bloodline. If it was so easy to neutralize, the old ancestors of my n would probably have dealt with it by now,¡± Gu Qingluo sighed.

    The Gu n¡¯s bloodline was being suppressed by three distinct curses.

    These were the Swan-Catching Demon Seal, the Capricorn Curse, and the Origin Dream Killer, which were used to locate, control, and kill if necessary. The Chu n was able to use the Swan-Catching Mirror, Capricorn Staff, and Origin Dream Jade to control these three curses.

    The demonic image that had appeared earlier was the Swan-Catching Demon Seal.

    The Swan-Catching Demon Seal was the supreme technique for pinpointing an individual¡¯s location. It could be nted in a person, with the Deste Beast Bloodline as the price, after which it would extend deep roots into the bloodline of a Gu n individual. This was how the Seven Kingdoms were able to maintain control, and no one was able to evade the seal¡¯s effect.

    As long as the Chu n wanted to, they could use this seal to observe the target¡¯s movements.

    By the same token, however, when the Swan-Catching Mirror was activated, the target of observation would also sense it.

    Because of this, the two ns had made an agreement that, unless one of the Gu n¡¯s members had broken the agreement first, the Chu n wouldn¡¯t casually use the Swan-Catching Mirror for a personal investigation.

    Even though Gu Qingluo had fled from the Gu n, she hadn¡¯t yet left Empty Mountain, nor had she rebelled against the Chu n. This matter was merely a n issue, so the Chu n¡¯s had no right to spy on her. Gu Feihong asking Chu Jiangyu to make a move in order to find Gu Qingluo was equivalent to asking a woman to sell her entire n. Even Su Chen had not expected Gu Feihong to do so. In that sense, Su Chen was actually a step behind Gu Feihong, and his prediction was not entirely urate.

    Usually, smart people didn¡¯t lose to smart people; they lost to people who behaved with no sense of rationality.

    Of course, this oversight was not a decisive one. The final oue would still be difficult to determine.

    At this moment, Su Chen was still researching the curse.

    He was doing so not just for Gu Qingluo¡¯s sake but also because it was a habit of his.

    Under the activation of his microscopic eye, he very quickly discovered some things that most normal people would not be able to discover.

    Su Chen began to smile. ¡°I won¡¯t be able to neutralize these curses for the time being, but I might be able to extract them.¡±

    ¡°Extract them?¡± Gu Qingluo didn¡¯t understand. ¡°Are you saying that you want to attempt to control these three kinds of curses?¡±

    As he gently swirled the vial in his hands, Su Chen calmly replied, ¡°Perhaps even more than that......¡±

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°How long will it take for you to research this?¡±

    ¡°If I¡¯m willing to pay the price...... very quickly!¡±

 Book 5: Sect - 15: Peeping

    Within the Empty Mountain Imperial Pce.

    At the Swan-Catching Hall.

    This hall was veryrge and empty. Only a single item was ced in the center of the hall.

    This item was a seventy-foot-tall mirror.

    Within the mirror, the scene of a mountain and a stream was reflected. The scenery was really quite beautiful.

    This was the Swan-Catching Mirror.

    The Swan-Catching Mirror was not merely useful for peeking in; it was an important investigative tool, and whenbined with the Swan-Catching Demon Seal, it could disy the surroundings of any individual who had been imprinted by that seal.

    The red dots of light began to appear in the Swan-Catching Mirror, the intensity at which they glowed indicative of how powerful the Gu n member was.

    It was possible to see the surroundings of every one of those red dots.

    Chu Jiangyu chuckled as he stood in front of the Swan-Catching Mirror. "Only by activating the seal can we determine whether or not the person is the person you are looking for. If there are any problems that result because of this, I must ask Brother Gu to forgive me."

    As he spoke, he tapped one of the dots on the mirror.

    An image appeared on the surface of the Swan-Catching Mirror of a man currently entertained with a woman in his room.

    As this image appeared, the male raised his head, staring at the sky in surprise. "This feeling of being watched...... could it be?"

    "Aiyaya, I made a mistake," Chu Jiangyu chuckled. He waved his arm, and the image disappeared. He motioned to tap a different dot.

    Gu Feihong had seen everything very clearly. The person in the mirror was one of the Gu n¡¯s elders, but the woman beneath him wasn¡¯t his wife - it was the wife of another elder.

    The worst part was that this elder was at the Spirit Burning Realm, while Gu Qingluo had only just reached the Light Shaking Realm. Their strengths werepletely impossible to mix up.

    Chu Jiangyu¡¯s tap was obviously intentional.

    ¡°Crown Prince!¡± Gu Feihong yelled.

    ¡°Oh, I made a mistake. I¡¯m sorry,¡± Chu Jiangyu chuckled. He tapped again, this time on someone who was clearly at the Light Shaking Realm and also was outside of the city.

    There weren¡¯t many people of the Gu n wandering outside the city. The first red dot did not turn out to be Su Chen.

    However, when the second dot was pressed, Gu Qingluo¡¯s figure appeared in the mirror.

    She was in a stone room with Su Chen, whispering something into his ear.

    A strong sense that she was being watched surfaced in her heart. Gu Qingluo¡¯s expression changed as she said, ¡°Gu Feihong found me!¡±

    Su Chen motioned with his hand. Smoke suddenly bloomed, enveloping the two of them so that the watchers couldn¡¯t see clearly what was happening between the two of them.

    Even so, the dot that represented Gu Qingluo in the Swan-Catching Mirror was impossible to obscure.

    ¡°Found her.¡± Chu Jiangyu chuckled.

    ¡°Those damned illicit lovers! I¡¯m going to kill them right here and right now!¡± Gu Feihong yelled.

    Chu Jiangyu tossed Gu Feihong a transmission talisman. ¡°You go and kill them. I will remain here and watch. No matter where they run, they will not be able to escape my sight.¡±

    ¡°Many thanks, Crown Prince!¡± Gu Feihong strode out of the Swan-Catching Hall.

    As he watched Gu Feihong leave, Chu Jiangyu chuckled darkly and turned back around to gaze at the Swan-Catching Mirror.

    He tapped again, this time on three dark, scarlet-colored dots.

    An image appeared once again. This time, it was of three elders, two male and one female, sitting in a triangle around 161 candles arranged in a strange formation. The candles glowed with a strange light.

    ¡°Not good!¡± the white-haired woman immediately sensed that they were being watched and cried out as she quickly extinguished the mes.

    Chu Jiangyu¡¯s eyes glittered. ¡°They actually gathered that many Lifesource Candles? And they almost got away with it, too. But since I managed to discover them, then sorry - you¡¯d better hand them over to the Chu n!

    Chu Jiangyu tilted his head back and howled withughter.

    Lifesource Candles were candles made from the power of the Gu n¡¯s Origin Beast Bloodline. They were incredibly powerful. By relying on these candles, it was possible to unleash incredibly powerful Origin Skills.

    Creating these candles expended a ton of energy from those who possessed an Origin Beast bloodline.

    Every year, the Gu n needed to contribute a set number of Lifesource Candles to the Chu n, which the Chu n would then distribute amongst the seven Deste Beast Bloodline ns.

    This was their purpose for existing - the whole reason that the Seven Kingdoms had not yet wiped them off of the face of the earth.

    It could be said that the Gu n was like a strategic weapons manufacturer. The Seven Kingdoms relied on them to ensure that the human race would not fall.

    The Gu n, however, was obviously unwilling to allow themselves to be harvested year after year.

    As a result, they were also secretly producing Lifesource Candles for themselves.

    When they were able to gather enough Lifesource Candles, they could use them as a medium for unleashing a secret technique that would allow them to turn back time and wash off the curse, turning them into free individuals.

    As such, the Gu n had been constantly gathering Lifesource Candles to try and escape, and the Chu n did their best to frustrate the Gu n in their endeavors without fully turning on them. This way, they would get as many Lifesource Candles as possible.

    This kind of a fight had been urring for a long time, and there seemed to be no end in sight.

    In the past few thousands of years, the Gu n had seeded a few times, but they had also failed.

    When they seeded, someone from the Gu n would obtain their freedom. When they failed, however, therge number of Lifesource Candles that they had spent so much effort creating would be taken away by the Chu n.

    Most importantly, these Lifesource Candles could be used by people for their own personal motives.

    The Gu n was already nearing the number of Lifesource Candles they would need to perform this forbidden technique, but because of Gu Feihong¡¯s idiotic impulsiveness, they had failed at the very end.

    The Gu n really was too unlucky. Lifesource Candles were not possible to make at all times, yet it was at this moment that they were discovered by Chu Jiangyu.

    This was the first time Gu Qingluo had seen the Origin Bone Scepter.

    The Origin Bone Scepter floated above the altar, glowing with a faint light.

    The Demonic Lord Origin Crystal was consumed slowly as a hazy, illusory image appeared on the surface of the altar, showing Su Chen in the process of performing a series of adept motions.

    ¡°This is the you in the future?¡± Gu Qingluo muttered.

    ¡°Yes. At some point in the future, I am performing some research that I have wanted toplete for a long time,¡± Su Chen chuckled with satisfaction as he stared at the image.

    ¡°I don¡¯t quite understand. You said before that the Origin Bone Scepter only makes predictions that the user wants to see, and any predictions that can change in the future will require a much higher price. But after it shows you a prediction of your future experiment, you will remember it, so won¡¯t it be impossible for this future to be realized? You still changed the future, didn¡¯t you?¡± Gu Qingluo asked.

    ¡°There is a difference,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°The Origin Bone Staff takes two factors as the basis for its predictions: the first is the length of time, and the second is the actual fact of what happens. Unless I specifically ask when something will happen, the Origin Bone Scepter will not tell me an exact time. My earlier prediction was made because I wanted to see how I would sessfully make a breakthrough in my research of the three curses at some unknown point in time, so the Origin Bone Scepter gave me the answer. This answer only contains the urrence itself, not when it will happen. As such, as long as I don¡¯t try to change time itself, then when this breakthrough happens does not impact the uracy of its prediction. In a sense, the future was not changed at all; it was just moved up ahead of schedule. For instance, moved up to now.¡±

    The scene disappeared. Su Chen raised his hands, moving in a flurry of incredibly confusing and hard-to-follow movements.

    The consciousness crystal allowed him to remember the prediction incredibly clearly without any mistakes, so performing repeated experiments was no longer necessary. With a single try, he was able to extract some dark substance from Gu Qingluo¡¯s blood.

    This substance was incredibly rare, so much so that it was impossible to see it with the naked eye.

    This was because there were simply too few particles, as they had merely been extracted from a single drop of Gu Qingluo¡¯s blood. Under the activation of Su Chen¡¯s microscopic eye, however, this substance was incredibly transparent.

    This was the special Origin Substance that caused the Gu n¡¯s members to be under the control of the Capricorn Curse. As such, Su Chen decided to call it the Capricorn Origin Substance.

    Capricorn Origin Substance was simr to Darkness Origin Substance and Duplication Origin Substance. They were all incredibly rare, so the next step Su Chen took was to find a way to foster this Origin Substance.

    Instead of gathering Capricorn Origin Substance slowly by creating an Origin Conducting Tool, the Capricorn Origin Substance could be directly nourished by a certain kind of growth media.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know why, but since this Origin Bone Scepter had given him such an answer, this implied that his method of creating Origin Conducting Tools was probably not going to be effective on this kind of Origin Substance. As for why this was the case, Su Chen could only continue experimenting.

    After preparing the growth media, Su Chen sealed the vial.

    ¡°Next, we are going to cultivate this Origin Substance. After a day or so, we should get enough Capricorn Origin Substance to use.¡±

    ¡°So the Capricorn Curse, which the Chu n uses to keep the Gu n under their control, has been grasped by you? I can¡¯t believe it.¡± Gu Qingluo stared at Su Chen, stunned.

    This was one of the Chu n¡¯s greatest treasures in dealing with the Gu n, but now Su Chen had somehow managed to control it. Wasn¡¯t that the same as saying that the Gu n would, in the future, be under the control of the Su n?¡±

    ¡°Well, you could say so.¡± Su Chenughed.

    ¡°But without the Capricorn Staff, how will you control it?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need it,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°I¡¯m the inventor, not the inheritor.¡±

    The biggest difference between them and Su Chen was that Su Chen had truly managed to discover a way to utilize the Capricorn Origin Substance.

    Even though inheritors could control the three curses to some extent, they didn¡¯t know why they could control it. Converting this control technique into a more basic form was impossible, so the Chu n couldn¡¯t get around using the Capricorn Staff to control the Capricorn Curse.

    Su Chen, however, had cultivated this Capricorn Origin Substance from the very beginning, so he could directly use it. By infusing the Origin Substance with his consciousness, he could directly control it, which he had developed techniques for. He didn¡¯t need the assistance of the Capricorn Staff in the first ce.

    On the other hand, however, Su Chen had no way of canceling out the Capricorn Staff¡¯s control. In other words, both he and the Capricorn STaff could control this Origin Substance, so the Gu n now suddenly had a new master.

    No one could have possibly expected Su Chen to reach this point. Even Gu Qingluo waspletely stunned. ¡°So in other words, the Gu n must listen to yourmands from now on?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that simple. I have only mastered one curse out of three, and there are two more curses that haven¡¯t been figured out yet. And my control over this kind of Origin Substance is still a bit shallow. I will need some more time to grow stronger,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°But with the Origin Bone Scepter, you will be able to save lots of time.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    The Origin Bone Scepter might not give him an answer he wouldn¡¯t ever find out, but it could give him answers that would normally take him years to discover.

    Time was the greatest benefit that the Origin Bone Scepter brought to Su Chen.

    Now that he had discovered the way to control the Capricorn Origin Substance, Su Chen made two more predictions, allowing him to also extract the Swan-Catching Demon Seal¡¯s core Origin Substance. He failed to do so for the Origin Dream Killer, so it was obvious that this final curse was also the most important andplicated one. Perhaps he would be unable to nullify it in the near future.

    Su Chen knew that this was because his understanding of the other two curses was still shallow. The Origin Bone Scepter had given him the answer, but it couldn¡¯t give him the research process, so Su Chen needed to find a way to make up for that. Once Su Chen was able to fill in the missing basic knowledge regarding the two curses, perhaps it would be much easier to determine how to deconstruct the Origin Dream Killer curse.

    Since he was using Gu Qingluo¡¯s blood to research the three curses, Su Chen didn¡¯t hold back and began to trace the Origin Beast Bloodline all the way to its source to see if there was anything that he could use.

    As he traced this path, an astonishing result appeared before his very eyes.

    This result was not rted to how he would use the Origin Beast Bloodline, but how he would use the Origin Bone Scepter.

    Within the image, Su Chen was cing sacrifices on the altar. It was unclear what kind of answer he was trying to divine, but the sacrifice itself was what drew Su Chen¡¯s attention.

    It was a person!

    ¡°Gu Liu¡¯an?¡± Gu Qingluo began to yell. ¡°Why would you ce one of the Gu n¡¯s members on the altar?¡±

    One of the Gu n¡¯s members? Su Chen stared at the image in shock.

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t see if the altar had given him an answer or not, but as he stared at the Gu n member on the altar, Su Chen suddenly realized something. ¡°So that¡¯s how it is! I get it now!¡±

    ¡°What do you get?¡± Gu Qingluo didn¡¯t understand.

    Su Chen said, ¡°The Origin Bone Scepter is made from a bone belonging to the Shining Dragon! And the Gu n¡¯s bloodline is the Shining Dragon Bloodline! Do you not understand, Qingluo? To the Origin Bone Scepter, the best sacrifice is the Gu n¡¯s members! If the blood of the members of the Gu n were to return to the Origin Bone Scepter, it¡¯s possible that the damage it has sustained will be healed and that its quality will increase!¡±

    When she heard this, Gu Qingluo felt as if she had been dealt a heavy blow.

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t do that, would you?¡± she asked, stunned.

    Su Chen stared at the image. ¡°Obviously, I did.¡±

 Book 5: Sect - 16: Control

    Upon leaving the city, Gu Feihong pulled out his jade transmission pendant. ¡°Your Highness, I am outside the city. Where is Su Chen?¡±

    Chu Jiangyu replied, ¡°They¡¯re still there. They haven¡¯t moved at all.¡±

    Haven¡¯t moved?

    Gu Feihong was stunned.

    Since Gu Qingluo had discovered that she was under the Swan-Catching Demon Seal¡¯s surveince, why hadn¡¯t she tried to escape?

    However, it was better if they didn¡¯t try to escape. That way, he wouldn¡¯t have to chase them forever in a long, drawn-out chase.

    He turned around and said, ¡°After them!¡±

    Arge group of subordinates flew forward with Gu Feihong.

    Very soon, they arrived at the mountain that Su Chen was supposedly at.

    ¡°Are they still there, Your Highness?¡± Gu Feihong asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Chu Jiangyu replied as he continued to examine the other members of the Gu n. After pointing out the location to Gu Feihong, Chu Jiangyu had no interest in continuing to observe Gu Qingluo¡¯s movements. Instead, he ced his focus on observing the other members of the Gu n.

    Since the dot representing Gu Qingluo was still there, then that meant that he hadn¡¯t escaped yet.

    ¡°It seems like they aren¡¯t afraid of you,¡± Chu Jiangyu added on after a moment of thought.

    ¡°They will regret this!¡± Gu Feihong said, his expression contorted.

    They dared looked down on him? Then they would definitely pay the price for it.

    Upon arriving at the designated site, Gu Feihong found Su Chen and Gu Qingluo standing side by side, with Iron Cliff and the others close behind.

    ¡°Su Chen?¡± Gu Feihong squeezed out these two words.

    ¡°Gu Feihong?¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    ¡°You dare directly refer to my Young Master by name?¡± a guard by Gu Feihong¡¯s side barked.

    Su Chen was very familiar with this person.

    ¡°Gu Liu¡¯an,¡± Su Chen muttered.

    ¡°You recognize me?¡± Gu Liu¡¯an was stunned. He had never met Su Chen before this.

    ¡°Of course.¡± The corners of Su Chen¡¯s lips danced in a smile.

    Even though he didn¡¯t know what Su Chen meant with these words, Gu Liu¡¯an still understood that he was being mocked.

    ¡°Courting death!¡± Gu Liu¡¯an barked as he wed out at Su Chen.

    Even though Gu Liu¡¯an was Gu Feihong¡¯s subordinate, he had started as someone whose bloodline had just awakened and was transferred into the main branch. Later on, he had served Gu Mingwei for some time before finally being given the task of protecting Gu Feihong.

    He possessed a cultivation base at the Spirit Burning Realm. With the support of his Shining Dragon Bloodline, his strength was quite impressive, and he was strong enough to pick a fight with a lowyer Thought-Manifestation Realm cultivator.

    Su Chen was merely at the Light Shaking Realm. What right did he have to pick a fight with Gu Liu¡¯an?

    He was absolutely sure that he would be able to take his opponent¡¯s life with a single strike.

    But just as he was about to attack, Su Chen suddenly began to utter a strange chant.

    This chant was low and mncholy, and it possessed a strange rhythm. As it entered Gu Liu¡¯an¡¯s ears, he felt his heart palpitate. A mysterious power began to surface from within his body,pletely enveloping him in moments.

    ¡°This is......¡± Gu Liu¡¯an opened his eyes wide in shock

    He wanted to yell, but he discovered that he couldn¡¯t utter a single word, and his body twisted to the side,pletely against his control.

    This w was not aimed at Su Chen but at Gu Feihong, who was standing off to the side.

    Gu Feihong never would have expected Gu Liu¡¯an to attack himself. He was so caught off-guard that the w strike actuallynded on him, and he said with shock, ¡°Gu Liu¡¯an, what are you doing?¡±

    He saw Gu Liu¡¯an staring wide-eyed at him, making guttural noises as if he wanted to speak but couldn¡¯t.

    Gu Liu¡¯an¡¯s hand continued to wrap tighter and tighter around Gu Feihong¡¯s neck.

    ¡°Release the Young Master!¡±

    Thankfully, Gu Feihong had brought more than a single Gu Liu¡¯an with him. The other soldiers from the residence charged forwards and pulled Gu Liu¡¯an off of him.

    ¡°Old Liu, Old Liu, what¡¯s wrong with you?¡± A middle-aged man yelled as he pinned Gu Liu¡¯an down. This person was called Gu Baiye. He was also at the Spirit Burning Realm, and his strength was not weaker than Gu Liu¡¯an¡¯s in the slightest.

    ¡°Ah! Ah......!¡± Gu Liu¡¯an frothed at the mouth as his body trembled uncontrobly.

    Contorted lines appeared across his face, weaving into a strange emblem.

    Gu Baiye trembled when he saw this.

    ¡°Capricorn Curse? How is this possible?¡±

    ¡°Capricorn Curse?¡± Gu Feihong was badly frightened when he heard that.

    The contorted lines on Gu Liu¡¯an¡¯s face were obviously an indication that the Capricorn Curse was in effect.

    ¡°How could this be?¡± Gu Feihong was stunned.

    Who was it?

    Who in the Chu n had suddenly made a move at that moment, activating the Capricorn Cursetent in Gu Liu¡¯an¡¯s body?

    While Gu Liu¡¯an was spinning around, looking for a culprit, Su Chen¡¯s lips quirked in a smile as he began to chant even more rapidly.

    Gu Liu¡¯an tilted his head back and groaned before suddenly leaping at Gu Feihong again.

    ¡°Young Master, out of the way!¡± Gu Baiye hurriedly moved, stoppin Gu Liu¡¯an in his tracks.

    In terms of pure strength, the two of them were roughly equal. However, Gu Liu¡¯an was obviously not beingpletely controlled, as he was still doing as much as he could to resist the effects of the Capricorn Curse. As such, his attacks were much weaker, and he was quickly subdued by Gu Baiye.

    ¡°See? Your control of the Capricorn Curse is still a bit insufficient,¡± Gu Qingluo sighed.

    The true Capricorn Curse could perfectly control someone. Gu Liu¡¯an would never be able to resist its influences like ithe was right now.

    Even though Su Chen had managed to control the Capricorn Curse, it was still less effective than using the Capricorn Staff in terms of control over them.

    Su Chen, however, chuckled slightly and didn¡¯t say anything. However, his chant lowered some in pitch, and Gu Qingluo watched in shock as Gu Baiye¡¯s body trembled. He also began to lose control of his body, and the Capricorn Curse¡¯s signature emblem also began to appear on his face.

    "How is this possible?" Gu Qingluo was stunned.

    The Capricorn Curse could directly control the target¡¯s movements, making it an extraordinary curse.

    This curse had one weakness, however - it could only be used on one person at a time.

    The Swan-Catching Demon Seal could be used without restriction, as all of the Gu n¡¯s members had appeared in the mirror once it was activated.

    As for the Origin Dream Killer Curse, the user needed to physically see the target in order to bring them under the influence of the curse. The curse would then slowly erode away their life force until they died.

    However, the Capricorn Curse Su Chen was using had broken through these limitations, and he was now controlling two Gu n members......

    No, even more!

    Su Chen continued to chant. Another Gu n member also joined the fray, having lost control of His own body.

    "How is this possible? How is this possible?" Gu Feihong was stunned when he saw this, and he cried out with shock.

    At this moment, his subordinates had begun to revolt one after another and attacked their ownrades.

    The controlled members attacked the members who weren¡¯t controlled, forcing the uncontrolled members to fight back and defend themselves.

    "So that¡¯s how it is! Even though your use of the Capricorn Curse can¡¯t control the targets as well as the Capricorn Staff, it can affect more targets." Gu Qingluo had already realized what was different about Su Chen¡¯s implementation.

    The Capricorn Staff was using a tool to control the target, while Su Chen Chen relied on his chants. In terms of depth of control, the staff was more powerful, while in terms of breadth of control, Su Chen¡¯s chanting was superior.

    Gu Qingluo was half-right.

    The Capricorn Curse was more effective when controlled by the Capricorn Curse, but the other aspect of it was the strength of the user¡¯s consciousness.

    This was because the Capricorn Curse was in and of itself a method for controlling an opponent¡¯s consciousness. The Capricorn Origin Substance affected a person¡¯s consciousness, forcefully wresting control away from the target.

    Chanting the Capricorn Curse could control more targets depending on how powerful thebined consciousness of the targets were. In other words, the collective consciousness power of the targets could not exceed the consciousness power of the user of the curse.

    The closer in level the two parties¡¯ consciousness energy was, the greater the burden on Su Chen would be, and the duration he could control them for would also decrease.

    Thankfully, Su Chen¡¯s consciousness was powerful enough, which allowed him to control multiple targets at one. If his consciousness was normal for his cultivation stage, then he wouldn¡¯t have been able to control even a single Spirit Burning Realm cultivator.

    In that sense, the Capricorn Chant was indeed inferior to the Capricorn Staff.

    However, the strength of the inventor greatly mitigated this w, allowing him to demonstrate the ability of the curse to control multiple targets to the greatest extent.

    At this moment, the entire entourage was locked in battle - Su Chen had taken control of more than ten people in but an instant, including two Spirit Burning Realm cultivators and three Light Shaking Realm cultivators.

    The reason he didn¡¯t control Gu Feihong was because he wanted to relish the expression of defeat on Gu Feihong¡¯s face.

    "How is this possible? How are so many of them being controlled?" Gu Feihong couldn¡¯t believe what was happening.

    He turned to look at Su Chen again, listening to the strange wordsing out of Su Chen¡¯s mouth. As the chant entered his ears, a strange sensation surfaced in his heart, as if the chant was demonic in nature. He felt an uncontroble desire to submit in that moment.

    He finally realized what was happening.

    "It¡¯s you? You were the one controlling them? How is that possible?" Gu Feihong was so badly surprised that he felt like his soul was about to leave his body.

    Why would Su Chen possess the secret technique used to control the Gu n¡¯s bloodline?

    However, there was no time for him to try and figure out the answer, because the moment of danger was already upon him.

    The Capricorn Curse was still being activated, and Gu n member after Gu n member fell into a state of confusion.

    Su Chen had no intentions of showing mercy. Since his opponents wanted him dead, there was no need for him to be polite to them either.

    He activated the Capricorn Curse to its greatest extent, controlling Gu Liu¡¯an, Gu Baiye, and others into attacking theirrades. Even if they were killed, it was of no consequence, as he could just control another one.

    And despite the fact that so many people were being controlled, theirbined consciousness power was still lower than Su Chen¡¯s, so Su Chen was entirely capable of ying around like this for a long time.

    Gu Feihong, however, was already running out of strength.

    ¡°No. No!¡± he cried out as he attempted to escape.

    But how could Su Chen allow him to get away?

    A monotonic hum began to sound out from an unknown source.

    Gu Liu¡¯an changed directions and turned to charge at Gu Feihong, unleashing a shocking wave of energy with his hands.

    Su Chen had increased his control this time, and Gu Liu¡¯an¡¯s attack was significantly more powerful than before. A wave of seemingly boundless energy scattered in all directions.

    When faced with such tremendous power, Su Chen actually felt a formless weight press down on his body, and even breathing became difficult.

    This was the power an Origin Beast Bloodline individual should have possessed, and Gu Liu¡¯an obviously hadn¡¯t fully activated it to its full potential.

    Gu Feihong knew that the situation wasn¡¯t good. He activated his bloodline to its fullest extent, simultaneously unleashing a simr wave of energy.

    Unfortunately, he was only at the Light Shaking Realm, and it was impossible for him to be stronger than Gu Liu¡¯an. As a primal aura continued to spread from Gu Liu¡¯an, the wave of energy emanating from Gu Feihong was gradually suppressed.

    This suppression came purely from cultivation base. When the bloodlines were identical, the person with the higher cultivation base would have the advantage.

    Gu Feihong¡¯s bloodline activation was rendered of no use, and Gu Liu¡¯an¡¯s w descended.

    Just as it was about to m into Gu Feihong, Gu Feihong¡¯s body suddenly began to glow intensel, blocking this palm strike from Gu Liu¡¯an as he simultaneously turned into a streak of light and shot off into the distance.

 Book 5: Sect - 17: Anger

    ¡°He ran?¡± Upon watching Gu Feihong fly away while yelling out his name, Su Chen was taken aback and couldn¡¯t help but mutter these two words to himself. This interrupted his chanting of the Capricorn Curse.

    Thankfully, he quickly resumed. This was one of the drawbacks of the Capricorn Chant: the user couldn¡¯t speak while using the chant.

    ¡°He probably used some secret technique that Gu Mingwei gave him to protect himself,¡± Gu Qingluo said.

    ¡°What a pity,¡± Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but mutter.

    The Capricorn Curse was broken again, and Gu Liu¡¯an returned to normal, but a momentter he was under Su Chen¡¯s control again.

    Cloud Leopard couldn¡¯t watch any longer. ¡°Don¡¯t have them kill each other any more. These guys have been trying to resist your control the whole time. Let us take a turn.¡±

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t say anything. He could only nod - he had originally wanted to feel out the power of the Capricorn Curse for just a bit longer, but unfortunately Gu Feihong ran before he could do much.

    Since Gu Feihong had ran, then new problems would very quickly arise.

    It wasn¡¯t right for them to stay here for much longer.

    When Su Chen nodded, Cloud Leopard charged forward to attack.

    He was still at the Yang Opening Realm and hadn¡¯t broken into the Light Shaking Realm, but the first target he attempted to attack was at the Light Shaking Realm. In terms of courage, Cloud Leopard really wasn¡¯t inferior to anyone.

    Next, Iron Cliff, the Death¡¯s Shadow, and the twelve Sword Servants began to attack.

    With these people joining the fray, Gu Feihong¡¯s underlings had no chance to turn the tables, and they were all mercilessly wiped out.

    Su Chen nced at Gu Qingluo. ¡°You might not want to see what will happen next.¡±

    ¡°Do you have to do this?¡± Gu Qingluo asked. ¡°No matter what, they are still part of the Gu n.¡±

    ¡°They didn¡¯t treat you as a member of the Gu n in the first ce, so you don¡¯t need to value them so much. Most importantly, we will probably have troubleing for us in the very near future......¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t finish his sentence, but Gu Qingluo understood what he meant.

    She gently nodded.

    Upon obtaining Gu Qingluo¡¯s permission, Su Chen didn¡¯t stand on courtesy and walked into the forest, setting up the altar and cing Gu Liu¡¯an¡¯s corpse on it.

    ¡°I want to know what kind of problems I might encounter in the future,¡± Su Chen said.

    This was his first time not inquiring about something research-rted.

    The Origin Bone didn¡¯t like to report bad news, while Su Chen was inquiring about what troubles he would run into. This implied that the future would almost certainly be changing, and that a bigger sacrifice would be required.

    Under normal circumstances, the cost of the sacrifice should have been very high, but Su Chen was able to find an answer as soon as he ced Gu Liu¡¯an¡¯s corpse onto the research workbench.

    ¡°Indeed, the Origin Bone Scepter liked that.¡± Su Chen revealed an excited expression.

    This was basically the same as saying that Su Chen had suddenly found a rich vein of our. Therge numbers of Origin Beast Bloodlines at his disposal meant that he would be able to divine countless answers.

    However, Su Chen very quickly came to his senses.

    Using humans as sacrifices was the same as experimenting on human subjects. Both were a bit taboo and merciless.

    As such, it was important for him to restrict himself so that he wouldn¡¯t go down the wrong path.

    The current Su Chen had matured as time had gone on.

    He had passed his shortsighted years and had be much more stable in his thoughts and considerations.

    The Gu n¡¯s members were indeed a treasure for the Origin Bone Staff, but Su Chen needed to act with discretion. It was better to be a bit more reserved as long as his bottom line was not being pushed.

    Of course, the people in front of him had alle to kill him, so there was no need for him to show them any mercy.

    Su Chen was able to clearly capture the scene that appeared on the altar even as he pondered all these things in his mind.

    As he gazed at his would-be pursuers, Su Chen was a bit surprised. ¡°It¡¯s them?¡±

    After thinking about it for a moment, Su Chen tossed Gu Baiye onto the altar as well. ¡°I want to know......¡±

    Before Su Chen and Gu Feihong¡¯s battle broke out, a storm of chaos had erupted across the entire Gu n residence.

    Chu Jiangyu¡¯s snooping was like a match, lighting everyone¡¯s hearts on fire and causing a great tumult.

    This was especially true of Gu Xinrong.

    As one of the Gu n¡¯s twelve Human Emperors, the Gu n¡¯s Fourth Ancestor possessed an incredibly high cultivation base. However, her temper was still as fiery as it was in her youth.

    ¡°How bold! They dare renege on our agreement and publicly expose the Gu n¡¯s secrets!¡±

    The instant she discovered that they were being surveilled, she exploded with rage.

    She was angry not just because the 161 Lifesource Candles had been exposed - after all, it had happened in the past before, and victory was never a sure thing. However, the method by which it had been exposed was improper, as the Swan-Catching Mirror had been used under inappropriate circumstances.

    This totally flew in the face of the agreement they had made!

    This was what Gu Xinrong found impossible to ept.

    As such, as soon as she sensed this, Gu Xinrong stopped the process of forming Lifesource Candles and left the secret room immediately.

    She was going to find the Chu n to settle ounts.

    Yes, settle ounts!

    Even though the Gu n was under heavy supervision and were supposedly under restriction, the Gu n¡¯s Fourth Grandmother just had this kind of temper. She felt no shame that their secret had been exposed; all she felt was anger that the other party had vited their promise.

    Inparison, the other two Ancestors, Gu Qingsong and Gu Qingyang, nced at each other and shook their heads simultaneously as they sighed.

    They were very clear that the Chu n wouldn¡¯t vite the agreement for no reason, so something must have happened. And this something would definitely not be beneficial to the Gu n.

    After thinking about it for a moment, Gu Qingsong said, ¡°No matter what¡¯s happened, let¡¯s find out what is going on first.¡±

    ¡°Fine!¡± Gu Qingyang nodded. He turned around to nce at the Lifesource Candles scattered on the ground and sighed before motioning with his sleeves and gathering them all up. Since the Lifesource Candles had been discovered, he could only bring them along with him.

    Upon leaving the secret room, they discovered that countless people amongst the Gu n were eximing in surprise. Obviously, many people had felt the spying presence. Gu Xinrong harrumphed and ignored them. She flew directly in the air towards the Chu n¡¯s pce.

    With her speed, she managed to reach the imperial pce in but a brief moment.

    She was not only fast, but she was moving with incredible momentum.

    Bang!

    A massive wave of energy exploded in the sky right above the pce, gathering together and filling the sky above the imperial pce. Commoners would feel as if the sky had suddenly darkened, while Origin Qi Schrs would suddenly sense that the Origin Energy around them had suddenly grown much denser, as if it was about to precipitate down from the sky.

    However, the Origin Energy would not precipitate because the might of an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator was controlling them. They would not fall for anyone, and would only change in response to the beck and call of an Emperor-realm existence.

    And this was just the environment¡¯s instinctive reaction to Gu Xinrong¡¯s rage. If she really wanted to fight, her scope of influence could probably expand to ten times the size it was at currently.

    Even with this amount of pressure, however, the soldiers and guards below could all sense the massive weight bearing down on them.

    The threat had arrived so quickly that even the imperial pce¡¯s defensive Origin Formations weren¡¯t activated in time.

    An instantter, however, a brilliant, dazzling light began to shine from the Chu n¡¯s pce, spreading in all directions and neutralizing the pressure without making much of amotion. Everyone else below felt the weight suddenly lift off their shoulders.

    ¡°His Majesty, His Majesty took action.¡± The soldiers and guards below immediately realized that their Emperor, Chu Yuan, had personally made a move.

    Chu Yuan was also at the Ultimate Emperor Realm, just like Gu Xinrong.

    They possessed the same cultivation base, but his bloodline was a tier weaker. If they were topete in terms of strength, Chu Yuan would definitely be a bit weaker than Gu Xinrong.

    Thankfully, he didn¡¯t need topete with strength.

    Controlling the three curses allowed Chu Yuan to inherently suppress the Gu n.

    Even so, when faced with the blustering Gu Xinrong, Chu Yuan asked cordially, ¡°So it¡¯s Fourth Aunt. I was not prepared for Fourth Aunt¡¯s arrival, but is there a reason why you havee in such imposing manner?¡±

    Gu Xinrong¡¯s seniority was higher than Chu Yuan¡¯s, so Chu Yuan had to refer to her as Fourth Aunt.

    ¡°Chu Yuan!¡± Gu Xinrong barked. ¡°You dare renege on our agreement and use the Swan-Catching Mirror to try and spy on the Gu n? Do you think that just because you have the curses, it means that you can do as you please and ignore the Gu n? Do you believe that I, Gu Xinrong......¡±

    ¡°Better broken jade than intact porcin, you¡¯ll challenge the strength of my whole n...... I know, I know,¡± Chu Yuan chuckled. ¡°I believe in Fourth Aunt¡¯s temper and determination, and I know you are not easy to push around. If the Gu n¡¯s twelve Human Emperors were to attack me, even the Origin Dream Killer technique wouldn¡¯t be able to save me. If the Chu n and Gu n are to really dere war on each other, both sides will definitely suffer tragic losses. I believe it all, which is why I have always treated the Gu n with the utmost respect.¡±

    ¡°Does respecting the Gu n include inappropriately using the Swan-Catching Mirror to spy on us?¡± Gu Xinrong asked fiercely.

    Chu Yuan said helplessly, ¡°Can youe down so we can talk?¡±

    Gu Xinrong still wanted to say something, but Gu Qingsong had arrived and said to her, ¡°We¡¯d better go down to talk. Arguing like this in the sky is a bit crude.¡±

    Gu Xinrong could only helplessly smother the mes of rage in her heart for the time being and descend into the Chu n¡¯s imperial pce.

    Chu Yuan was sitting in his governmental hall. No officials were at his side. It was quite obvious that he had been waiting for this to happen.

    Gu Xinrong immediately teleported to Chu Yuan¡¯s side. ¡°Chu Yuan, you dared to use the Swan-Catching Mirror without the proper authorization. What is there to exin?¡±

    Chu Yuan chuckled, ¡°Fourth Aunt, you¡¯re wrongly using me. We never took the initiative to do any of this. The Gu n were the ones whomissioned me to use it.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Gu Xinrong was stunned.

    Commissioned by the Gu n?

    It wasn¡¯t that the Gu n had nevermissioned the Chu n to use the Swan-Catching Mirror before, but everyone in the Gu n would have been notified so that they could prepare appropriately. If they were engaged in anything they should not have been doing, then they would be able to stop in time.

    But no one had been notified about it today, so what was going on?

    ¡°Who was it?¡± Gu Xinrong asked.

    ¡°Gu Feihong.¡±

    ¡°Feihong?¡± The three Gu n elders were all stunned.

    Gu Qingyang said, ¡°Why would Feihong do something like that?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t believe me? Please, take a look for yourselves.¡± Chu Yuan brought out themission with a flourish, and it flew into Gu Xinrong¡¯s hand.

    Gu Xinrong saw that it was indeed Gu Feihong¡¯smission, and it had even been stamped with the Shining Dragon Seal of the Gu n elder Gu Mingwei.

    ¡°How could this be? How could this happen?¡± Gu Xinrong began to tremble.

    Gu Qingsong and Gu Qingyang were also dumbstruck by this development.

    Gu Qingsong said, ¡°How could Feihong do something like this? Why didn¡¯t he say anything about it?¡±

    ¡°Because he was worried you would reject his proposal,¡± Chu Jiangyu chuckled as he stepped forwards, beginning to recount how Gu Feihong had asked him to search for Gu Qingluo.

    Upon hearing that Gu Feihong had done all this just to find out where Gu Qingluo was, Gu Xinrong felt like she was going to ck out. ¡°For a woman...... Just for a woman...... That bastard!¡±

    Gu Xinrong was so angry that it seemed like her heart was about to give out at any point in time.

    The old woman asked, enraged, ¡°Where is he right now?¡±

    Chu Yuan stood and replied. ¡°He should probably still be outside of the city. If you want to know exactly where he is, please, follow me to the Swan-Catching Hall with me.¡±

    Upon hearing this, the three of them decided to follow Chu Yuan and Chu Jiangyu over to the Swan-Catching Hall.

    Upon arriving, Chu Jiangyu nced at the Swan-Catching Mirror and said, ¡°Hm? He¡¯s not there. Actually, his streak of light has already returned to Gu Pce. Strange......¡±

    Chu Jiangyu had yet to say what was so strange when Gu Xinrong swung her left arm, which left her body and turned into a dragon, flying into the air.

    Gu Feihong copsed on the ground as soon as he returned, letting out a long sigh of relief.

    His expression was filled with fear.

 Sect - 21: Miner

    Su Chen and Gu Qingluo walked through the Chu imperial pce¡¯s flower garden side by side. Chu Jiangyu followed behind them as if he were an attendant or footman.

    ¡°Right, when are you nning on leaving?¡± Gu Qingluo asked.

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°I originally wanted to stay a few more days, but now it seems like if I stay for too long, our good friend the Crown Prince will die of exhaustion.¡±

    Chu Jiangyu wore a passive expression that seemed to indicate that he had heard nothing.

    Gu Qingluo nodded. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, then I suppose you should head back.¡±

    Su Chen gazed at Gu Qingluo unwillingly.

    He really didn¡¯t want to leave so soon.

    But just as he had said, if he were to stay here for a few more days then Chu Jiangyu would probably go insane.

    Right now, the Chu n wanted nothing more than for Su Chen to leave Empty Mountain as soon as possible, so that he would take down the notice. Actually, the best oue was him dying somewhere else, bringing all of this to an end.

    Of course, Su Chen did not care about Chu Jiangyu, but there was another reason why he had to leave very soon.

    ¡°You must be careful once you leave Empty Mountain. Don¡¯t think that they are being polite now; once they no longer feel threatened by the notice, they are willing to resort to any tactic,¡± Gu Qingluo reminded Su Chen.

    ¡°I understand. This is also why I need to leave as soon as possible. The longer I stay, the more thorough their preparations will be,¡± Su Chen said as he held onto Gu Qingluo¡¯s hand.

    Chu Jiangyu felt his ears burn.

    I¡¯m right here! Do you really have such little faith in us?

    Even though we have indeed already sent people outside in preparation to kill Su Chen, you should not be so faithless!

    Where was the trust between one party and another?

    Chu Jiangyu was very unhappy.

    The couple was still whispering sweet nothings into each others¡¯ ears.

    They had only been together for a very short period of time, but it was already time to part yet again. Neither of them were willing to do so, so they continued to drag out their departure and basically ignored Chu Jiangyu.

    Chu Jiangyu felt like he had been force-fed a handful of dog food. He was incredibly unhappy in his heart, but at the same time there was nothing he could do about it.

    After a moment of reluctance, Su Chen still left in the end.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I will return soon. I promise that at that point, no one will be following us around, and I will be able to take you to the ends of the earth!¡± Su Chen said to Gu Qingluo just before parting.

    As she stroked Su Chen¡¯s face lovingly, Gu Qingluo began to giggle like she had gone mad.

    At that point in time, she felt a surprising sense of faith.

    This was because Su Chen had said it.

    Anything Su Chen said, he would definitely aplish!

    Later, the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle shot through the air, taking Su Chen away along with Gu Qingluo¡¯s heart.

    Su Chen sat in the Raging Sun Shuttle, staring down at the ground until he could no longer see any sign of Gu Qingluo. Then, he directed, ¡°Turn and head northwest.¡±

    Cloud Leopard was taken aback. ¡°Are we not going back to Ten Thousand Swords Mountain?¡±

    ¡°The Chu n¡¯s people are already there waiting. As soon as we leave the Chu n¡¯snd and take down the notice, pursuers will immediately show up. We¡¯re going to go through Liaoye Country, wrap around Long Sang Country, and return to Ten Thousand Swords Mountain that way.¡±

    Iron Cliff asked, ¡°Master, will the Chu n try to attack Ten Thousand Swords Mountain?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°As long as I am fine, Ten Thousand Swords Mountain will not have any trouble.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± Iron Cliff turned the Raging Sun Shuttle to the northwest per Su Chen¡¯s directions.

    After a few days of flying, the Raging Sun Shuttle arrived at the border of Liaoye Country.

    Borders were typically set up to defend against weaker opponents, since it was rtively easy to stop weaker individuals, while powerful individuals wouldn¡¯t be stopped regardless of their actions. In addition, the Seven Countries were in a temporary alliance, and they were still rtively unified.

    The Raging Sun Shuttle very easily slipped through the border. Once he was through, Su Chen entered the Dreamrealm and removed the notice.

    From that moment on, he no longer possessed a protective bargaining chip.

    ¡°We will head east from here. Past Thousand-Edged Mountain is Horizontal Mountain, and then after crossing White Sand River, ck Mountain, and Will of Heaven Spring, we will have entered Long Sang Country,¡± Cloud Leopard said as he traced a path on the map.

    ¡°Horizontal Mountain?¡± The familiar name echoed through Su Chen¡¯s mind as he sank into thought.

    Wasn¡¯t that where the Zhu n was located?

    Horizontal Mountain Zhu n!

    Zhu Xianyao!

    When he thought of Zhu Xianyao, Su Chen found that his heart had suddenly warmed up.

    Logically, he shouldn¡¯t have gone to see another woman so soon after leaving Gu Qingluo, but Zhu Xianyao¡¯s bewitching appearance, slender body, and delicate aura was hard to forget.

    These qualities had made a deep impression on his heart, making it impossible for him to ignore them.

    How is she right now? Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but wonder.

    Iron Cliff understood Su Chen the best. When he saw Su Chen like this, and he thought about how they had been talking about Horizontal Mountain, he realized what the struggle in Su Chen¡¯s heart was about, and suggested, ¡°Just go if you want to.¡±

    ¡°Is it appropriate?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s appropriate!¡± Iron Cliff nodded with conviction.

    ¡°Why is it appropriate?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Iron Cliff cracked a smile. ¡°Because if I said that it wasn¡¯t appropriate, you would beat me up.¡±

    Su Chen was speechless.

    Then, he began to guffaw.

    He understood Iron Cliff¡¯s meaning. He had asked Iron Cliff a question, but he had already determined an answer in his heart.

    The only reason he had asked Iron Cliff wasn¡¯t because he didn¡¯t know what to do but because he wanted some support.

    Ironically, Iron Cliff had supported him in one sentence and exposed him in the next.

    This feeling of trying to find an excuse for himself and then being seen through was not easy to stomach.

    But just as Iron Cliff had said, he had already settled on the answer a long time ago. All he needed was a passable excuse.

    ¡°It seems like I¡¯m really not a faithful person,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    ¡°Even the strongest hero can be seduced by a beautiful woman, and talented geniuses often haveplex and intricate romantic lives,¡± Cloud Leopard said calmly.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyebrows jumped. ¡°Who knew that you could speak so elegantly.¡±

    Cloud Leopard chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ve been reading more often recently.¡±

    ¡°But it seems that you¡¯ve been reading the wrong things,¡± Iron Cliff replied.

    Cloud Leopard shot him a re. ¡°Like you¡¯re the boss of me!¡±

    Iron Cliff chuckled and didn¡¯t respond.

    Su Chen alsoughed. ¡°Fine. Since that¡¯s the case, then let¡¯s go and take a look around Horizontal Mountain and see an old friend.¡±

    Cloud Leopard profoundly said, ¡°I¡¯m afraid that your definition of ¡®seeing¡¯ doesn¡¯t quite match mine.¡±

    Bang!

    Su Chen smacked him hard on the back of the head.

    Horizontal Mountain was at the center of Liaoye Country. Because of its high prominence, it was like a wall dividing the eastern and western regions of Liaoye Country. Hence, it had eventually been named Horizontal Mountain.

    Politically, Horizontal Mountain belonged to Liaoye Country¡¯s Jian Province, and the province¡¯s capital was known as t Sky City.

    The Zhu n was one of thergest ns in t Sky City.

    t Sky City was located in the center of Horizontal Mountain and was surrounded on all sides by tall peaks. Horizontal Mountain was mostly made of rock ¡ª which meant that the surface soilyer was quite thin, and immediately below that was hard mountainous rock, which prevented any substantial vegetation from growing. However, this mountain also contained the best mine in all of Liaoye. Thirteenrge veins of ore had been discovered here one after the other, including veins of the extremely rare Starcloud Gold and Moonlight Stones.

    The Zhu n owned the Moonlight Stone mine.

    The Raging Sun Shuttle descended andnded on a patch of empty ground outside of t Sky City. Su Chen, Cloud Leopard, Iron Cliff, and the others all disembarked from the shuttle. Death¡¯s Shadow of a Youth was still a Demonic Beast, so to avoidplications he activated his void concealment and hid himself in Su Chen¡¯s shadow.

    As they walked along the road, they passed by arge number of miners hard at work.

    Mining was the mainstay profession here, so miners could be found everywhere.

    Su Chen¡¯s group walked past a small mining entrance. Arge group of miners was gathered there, drinking wine, gambling, and cursing profusely. Truth be told, they lived quite satisfying lives.

    ¡°Ask them how we can get to the Zhu n,¡± Su Chen said.

    A Sword Servant named Lin Xiao walked over. ¡°Greetings. May I ask, how can we get to Horizontal Mountain¡¯s Zhu n?¡±

    One of therge men nced at Lin Xiao. ¡°Out-of-towners?¡±

    Lin Xiao nodded. ¡°Yes. Is there a problem with that?¡±

    Therge man began to guffaw before turning around to yell, ¡°There are outsiders here asking for directions to the Zhu n!¡±

    Upon hearing these words, the drinkers, gamblers, and cursers all stopped what they were doing and walked over, staring down Lin Xiao and Su Chen¡¯s group.

    Lin Xiao took a few steps back as he stealthily ced his hand on the hilt of his sword. ¡°What are you thinking of doing?¡±

    ¡°Why have youe to the Zhu n?¡± a voice drawled outzily.

    The crowd parted. A half-nakedrge man walked forwards, a tiger-face demon tattooed on his chest. He was carrying arge hammer on his back.

    That hammer was obviously very heavy. Whenever therge man¡¯s feet touched the ground, it would tremble slightly.

    Lin Xiao replied, ¡°It has nothing to do with you.¡±

    ¡°He said that it has nothing to do with us!¡± therge man yelled as he turned around. The miners watching began to chuckle.

    Therge man said, ¡°It seems like you guys aren¡¯t enemies of the Zhu n, huh?¡±

    Lin Xiao replied, ¡°We¡¯re not.¡±

    Therge man pulled the hammer off of his back. ¡°Since you aren¡¯t an enemy of the Zhu n...... Then you are our enemy!¡±

    Whoosh!

    The massive hammer crashed down towards Lin Xiao.

    This attack was both quick and savage. It hade so suddenly that any normal person would have probably been struck. Thisrge man was obviously very powerful, and yet he had still chosen to use such a despicable means of attack.

    The hammer seemed like it was about to crash into Lin Xiao¡¯s face, shattering it. However, at that exact moment, Lin Xiao ced his hand on the hammer and moved along with its momentum, borrowing it to fly into the air like a willow branch being carried by the wind. His entire body had be lightweight.

    Even though the massive hammer strike had been quite vicious, it waspletely ineffective against its target, who was able to easily nullify the attack of the hammer.

    An instantter, Lin Xiao floated back to the ground.

    He stared angrily at the big man. ¡°Despicable!¡±

    The big man chuckled. ¡°You have some skill afterall, huh? Brothers, attack!¡±

    As he yelled, countless miners waved their tools in the air as they charged at Lin Xiao and Su Chen¡¯s group behind him.

    Mining was extremely physically demanding, so anyone who could mine had most likely cultivated before. Even if they weren¡¯t Origin Qi Schrs, they were at least highyered martial artists.

    When dozens of martial artists charged at them, most normal people would have been scared off. Unfortunately, they had picked a fight with the wrong opponent. There was no way that their oue would be good.

    The twelve Sword Servants that Su Chen had brought along this time were all at the Yang Opening Realm, and the peak at that. Every one of them was extremely close to breaking through. Actually, one reason why Su Chen had brought them along with him was to help them break through this bottleneck ¡ª Shi Kaihuang¡¯s formation hadn¡¯t beenpleted yet, but Su Chen himself was already able to form a simple prototypical structure. And with this prototype as the foundation, if he were to find another way to increase the outside pressure, it logically followed that he would be able to help them break through into a higher cultivation realm. Su Chen wanted to help them aplish this so that he could further analyze and understand the process of breaking through.

    A peakyer Yang Opening Realm cultivator could easily steamroll a horde ofmon martial artists.

    All Lin Xiao needed to do was silently unleash his aura. A massive wave of energy subsequently pulsed through the miners, causing them to immediately go weak in their legs like a doe that had run into a fierce tiger. They all fell to their knees.

 Sect - 22: Passing Through 1

    Chapter 22: Passing Through (1)

    As he stared at the individuals lying on the ground, Lin Xiao walked over to therge man and stepped on his hand. ¡°Will you talk now? How do we get to the Zhu n?¡±

    Even though therge man¡¯s attack had been reprehensible, he seemed to possess some courage, as he gritted his teeth and said, ¡°If you have the ability, then kill me!¡±

    Lin Xiao¡¯s eyebrows jumped. He lifted a single finger and aimed it at therge man¡¯s forehead.

    Therge man felt a cold chill run down his spine.

    The fear of death overwhelmed his bravery, and therge man began to yell, ¡°I¡¯ll talk! I¡¯ll talk!¡±

    Lin Xiao¡¯s lips curled up into a cold smile. ¡°So all of your courage was faked, huh?¡±

    Ridiculous. Aren¡¯t you just asking for directions? Why would I resist to the bitter end? therge man thought to himself. After his attempt at being a hero was foiled, he could only obediently answer, ¡°Once you enter the city, walk along the main western avenue until youe across Afternoon Alley. They are in the third residence along that street.¡±

    ¡°Why did you attack us?¡± Lin Xiao asked next.

    Even though Su Chen hadn¡¯t told him to ask that question, a skilled subordinate would know how to thoroughly take care of business.

    The hammer-wieldingrge man frowned. ¡°You guys came here to help the Zhu n start a war. How could you not know why?¡±

    ¡°Help the Zhu n start a war?¡± Lin Xiao was stunned and turned to nce at Su Chen.

    Su Chen walked over. ¡°Who is the Zhu n fighting against?¡±

    The hammer-wielding man was taken aback. ¡°You really don¡¯t know? You aren¡¯t the reinforcements they requested?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not, for now at least,¡± Su Chen replied.

    The fact that they weren¡¯t right now didn¡¯t mean that they couldn¡¯t be in the future, but that would depend on the Zhu n¡¯s circumstances. Su Chen always phrased his answers with a bit of wiggle room, even if he was talking to an enemy.

    The hammer-wielding man sighed. ¡°So I was just making trouble for myself. Well, not really, I suppose ¡ª since you are clearly their friends, you will definitely help them.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t waste my time. Who is starting a war with the Zhu n? And why?¡±

    The hammer-wielding man began to exin the entire situation.

    One of the otherrge ns in t Sky City was responsible for this.

    Bloodline Nobility ns didn¡¯t always see eye-to-eye. Fighting between ns for the sake of profits was quite themon urrence.

    The Bloodline Nobility ns in t Sky City were no exception.

    In order to seize control of Horizontal Mountain¡¯s plentiful mines, the various ns fought quite fiercely against each other.

    There were two Demonic Emperor ns in t Sky City. One of them was the Slyheart Fox Zhu n, while the other was the Darkness Snake Rong n.

    The Darkness Snake was a Demonic Beast that possessed powerful darkness-type abilities. It lived in the darkness, and not only did it possess the ability to conceal itself, but it also had powerful assassination abilities. The bloodline was exceptionally useful for assassins.

    As a result, these two ns had divided up most of the influence in t Sky City. The hammer-wielding man belonged to one of the smaller ns in t Sky City that supported the Rong n.

    The two sides had been on bad terms for many years and had shed many times during the history of t Sky City.

    This time, Su Chen had just happened to arrive right before the two ns were about to fight again, and the mes of battle were being stoked higher and higher. It seemed like a massive conflict was unavoidable, and both sides were at the ready, preparing to spring into action.

    No wonder these people had chosen to attack as soon as they saw Su Chen.

    ¡°So you guys don¡¯t even know why they¡¯re fighting?¡±

    The hammer-wielding man cracked a smile. ¡°The two ns will fight every ten or twenty years over profits, women, or even some random remark made in a brothel. The reason...... hasn¡¯t been important for a long time.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Su Chen understood.

    Since they were just a bunch of miners, Su Chen had no heart to make things difficult for them, so he simply released them and left.

    As the hammer-wielding man watched Su Chen leave, he slowly stood up as his expression darkened. ¡°Send word that the Zhu n has received powerful reinforcements. The situation is very likely to change.¡±

    ¡°How strong are they?¡± a skinny, small miner asked.

    The hammer-wielding man thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°At least twelve Yang Opening Realm cultivators. It was impossible to determine the strength of the three individuals at the front, but I suspect that one of them is at least at the Light Shaking Realm. Whether or not they have any other hidden strength is currently unknown.¡±

    ¡°There was something wrong with that hammer-wielding miner,¡± Cloud Leopard suddenly said as they walked away.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Su Chen nced at Cloud Leopard. ¡°What was the problem?¡±

    Cloud Leopard shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I just can¡¯t quite shake the feeling that something was off about him.¡±

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then said, ¡°The hammer user was at the Qi Drawing Realm, making him an official Origin Qi Schr already. His biggest problem was that his attacks were too reckless, and not well-structured like an Origin Qi Schrs¡¯ attacks should have been. Even though we restrained our aura, making it impossible to determine our exact cultivation base, Iron Cliff¡¯s presence alone should have been enough to tell him that we weren¡¯t your average group of people.¡±

    Not everyone could have a Stoneskin servant. The twelve Sword Servants had restrained their auras, but their movements were all closely coordinated, so it was obvious that they were well-trained.

    A group of people like this was obviously exceptional.

    It was worth considering whether any Qi Drawing Realm cultivator who attacked a group like this was legitimately trying to kill themselves.

    Cloud Leopard asked, ¡°Then why would he still attack?¡±

    His instincts could give him the answer, but not the reason for the answer. This was the biggest difference between instinct and logic.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Because only by attacking would he be able to determine our actual strength.¡±

    Lin Xiao¡¯s unleashing of his aura had revealed his Yang Opening Realm cultivation base. Those martial artists couldn¡¯t sense it, but a Qi Drawing Realm cultivator could definitely sense the difference. The twelve Sword Servants were obviously ying the role of bodyguard, so if one of them was at the Yang Opening Realm, then it followed that the rest of them would be as well.

    And if the bodyguards were at the Yang Opening Realm, then logically the person leading them would be even stronger. Even though it was impossible to determine Su Chen¡¯s exact strength, the hammer-wielding man had been able to make a rough estimate.

    ¡°That guy is really quite bold!¡± Lin Xiao criticized harshly.

    Even though there were many reasons that could exin their behavior, the massive amount of danger their actions could have brought upon their heads was an indisputable fact.

    Iron Cliff said, ¡°This is probably what they mean when they say that people die for wealth just like how birds die for food.¡±

    As they spoke, they had quickly arrived at t Sky City.

    Upon entering the city, they saw martial artists wandering about everywhere. des hung from their waists, and their gazes were sharp. Obviously, everyone was extremely on edge.

    It seemed that the brewing battle between the two Bloodline Nobility ns had taken over the ambiance of the entire city.

    The Zhu and Rong ns each controlled half of t Sky City.

    Su Chen had entered from the west door right into the Rong n¡¯s territory, so the people all around them were the Rong n¡¯s subordinates. People from the Zhu n didn¡¯t dare enter this ce casually.

    If Su Chen¡¯s group were to yell that they were the Zhu n¡¯s friends here, then they would have probably been assaulted by much more than a simple group of miners.

    As they walked through enemy territory, even the always fearless Cloud Leopard seemed to feel a bit skittish as he muttered, ¡°If we had known earlier, we probably would have entered from the other direction.¡±

    With the Raging Sun Shuttle, looping around t Sky City to the other entrance wouldn¡¯t have been difficult. However, it was already a bit toote to do something like that.

    As they walked along, countless individuals stared at them intently, their eyes filled with inquisitive expressions.

    Su Chen continued to walk forwards as if nothing was wrong ¡ª he had seen great winds and high waves before, so this small t Sky City was not particrly noteworthy in his eyes.

    The main road going down the middle of t Sky City was known as the Scarlet Road.

    The Zhu and Rong ns¡¯ territories were split by this road.

    Su Chen and his group slowly walked towards this main road, drawing more and more attention in their direction.

    Just as they were about to reach the Scarlet Road, a man stopped them.

    ¡°Where are you going?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s none of your business,¡± Iron Cliff replied boomingly. ¡°You¡¯d best get out of the way.¡±

    ¡°What if I don¡¯t?¡± the man chuckled in response.

    As he spoke, arge crowd of people gathered around them.

    A man with a shady-looking face savagely said, ¡°It seems like we have some guests here that have gone the wrong way.¡±

    Iron Cliff turned around to nce at Su Chen. When he saw that Su Chen wasn¡¯t about to say anything in response, he had a rough grasp of the situation. ¡°Then I can only apologize in advance.¡±

    He lowered his head and charged at his opponent.

    His movements weren¡¯t very fast, and he held no weapon. All he did was charge at his opponent like a rhinoceros.

    The man who had first stopped them didn¡¯t take Iron Cliff seriously at first and merely raised his hand. Arge amount of Origin Energy began to gather in his palm. He was obviously a Yang Opening Realm cultivator, which helped exin why he had walked into their path forwards so self-confidently.

    An instantter, however, as Iron Cliff was charging at him, the man¡¯s expression changed slightly when he sensed the immense wave of pressure washing over him. ¡°Not good!¡±

    With a boom, the man standing in Su Chen¡¯s group¡¯s way was sent flying. He arced through the air beforending heavily on the ground. The bystanders all tracked him with their gazes.

    ¡°Damn! Get him!¡±

    It was unclear who yelled thatmand, but it kicked off a flurry ofmotion as the surrounding individuals all charged at Iron Cliff.

    Iron Cliff stomped his feet on the ground. A massive shockwave rippled in all directions, with his foot as the epicenter. People were sent flying into the air before they plopped down on the ground like spilled dumplings.

    However, there were also some people who weren¡¯t affected.

    A few men stood there stably as if they were rooted to the ground, coldly smiling at Iron Cliff.

    Iron Cliff wasn¡¯t particrly surprised. This stomp of his was merely meant to clear out all the weaker individuals, as it wouldn¡¯t do much against actually powerful individuals.

    But that was not important, as it had achieved the desired effect.

    The youth that had been sent flying by Iron Cliff had returned. He joined in with the other three remaining individuals facing off against Iron Cliff.

    Iron Cliff cracked a smile. ¡°Now that the trash has been taken out, we can get started with the main event.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re courting death!¡± The youth that had been sent flying rapidly closed in on Iron Cliff, jabbing his finger at Iron Cliff. This finger strike tore through the air, leaving a vacuum trail in its wake as it imposingly pressed down on Iron Cliff.

    Another individual charged forwards, wielding a spear. Behind him, arge blue-green python image appeared. Obviously, this individual possessed a python¡¯s bloodline. The python wrapped itself around this spear, jabbing relentlessly forward like a snake strike.

    The third individual wielded a de. The de¡¯s energy was incredibly concentrated, and every time he swung it, it would boom out thunderously. Actually, it had taken a different approachpared to Su Chen¡¯s Thunder de, but it achieved the same results. However, the thunderps unleashed by this de had a much greater prative ability, giving the de a much more imposing appearance.

    The fourth person wielded no weapon. He shapeshifted into a minotaur, and his body also expanded in size until he was around thirty feet tall. The sight was truly astounding. This was the manifestation of a person whose bloodline had been concentrated to the furthest extent. They would be able to give the normally illusory bloodline image physical substance. This person¡¯s bloodline was not of a very high-level ¡ª only that of a high-tier Demonic Beast ¡ª but he had already awakened it eight times, and its density had already reached forty percent. He could assume the form of that Demonic Beast at any time. Even though he was simrly at the Yang Opening Realm, he was without question the strongest out of the four. However, given the fact that he was already able to morph into this beast form at the Yang Opening Realm, it was quite apparent that this individual didn¡¯t have much of a future.

    The four Yang Opening Realm cultivators simultaneously attacked Iron Cliff.

    Cloud Leopard frowned and was about to jump into the fray when Su Chen reached out and stopped him. He said, ¡°Let Iron Cliff fight.¡±

 Sect - 23: Passing Through 2

    Chapter 23: Passing Through (2)

    Under normal circumstances, it was possible for a Yang Opening Realm Stoneskin to defeat a single Yang Opening Realm human cultivator, but that was it.

    Their strength was their powerful physique, while their weakness was their deficiency in sense and use Origin Energy.

    Four Yang Opening Realm cultivators greatly exceeded the limits a normal Yang Opening Realm Stoneskin could challenge. In addition, one of them could assume beast form, making him exceptionally powerful. There was almost no chance of victory.

    However, Iron Cliff was obviously different.

    These past few years, Iron Cliff had followed Su Chen faithfully. He was the person who understood Su Chen the most, and the person whom Su Chen had given the most pointers to.

    Su Chen had basically taught everything teachable to Iron Cliff, regardless of whether it was the Immacte Cultivation Technique or the Primordial Blood cultivation path. What others had, Iron Cliff had as well, and what others did not have, Iron Cliff still had.

    This battle was a test for Iron Cliff.

    A fist, a finger jab, a de, and a spear simultaneously attacked Iron Cliff, surrounding him with a violent killing intent.

    When faced with these attacks, Iron Cliff¡¯s response was to howl loudly.

    ¡°ROAR!¡±

    With a loud howl, Iron Cliff¡¯s body began to rapidly expand as his muscles bulged.

    Iron Cliff, who was already quiterge, began to grow once again in size as his body lit up with a faint golden luster.

    Adamantine Battle Body.

    This was an Origin Skill Su Chen had developed while he was still in the Qi Drawing Realm. At this point, Su Chen had long since given up on it and no longer used it in battle, but Iron Cliff was still using it.

    And because he used it the most, he was also the most familiar with it.

    Boom!

    An iron-like fist mmed into the spear tip, which had been imbued with the might of the massive python. This sharp, incisive spear jab was actually stopped in ce by the fist. Not only so, but the body of the spear bent violently. Thankfully, the spear was an Origin Tool, so it wasn¡¯t destroyed by the violent surge of energy. However, in the next instant, the stic energy contained in the spear rebounded as the spear straightened again. The wielder of the spear was unable to maintain his grip on the spear, which bucked and mmed him in the chin, sending him flying.

    At the same time, the fists and dended on Iron Cliff¡¯s body, but it was like they had mmed into metal as they nged off.

    Iron Cliff acted as if he hadn¡¯t felt anything and turned around, this time mming his hand down on the wrist of the individual who had jabbed at him.

    The person¡¯s Yang Tracing Finger mmed into Iron Cliff was totally ineffective and didn¡¯t break through Iron Cliff¡¯s defenses in the slightest. He was still recovering from his shock when Iron Cliff¡¯s heavy fist mmed into his wrist. With a loud ¡°crack¡±, his wrist was immediately shattered. He tilted his head back and howled in pain, but an instantter, Iron Cliff¡¯s fist crashed into his chest. This unfortunate fellow was sent flying yet again.

    Two bangs rang out in rapid session.

    The bull-headed demon had lowered his head, stabbing his two horns into Iron Cliff¡¯s chest.

    This time, the horns were finally able to prate, but they were only able to travel about three centimeters before getting stuck. Iron Cliff materialized a massive shield and brought it crashing down on that person¡¯s head.

    With a loud ng, the bull-headed demon was mmed t onto the ground. Iron Cliff staggered back a few steps, blood spurting from his chest for just a brief moment before dying down as the holes were plugged up and regenerated.

    Devouring the Heavens.

    At the same time, the blood that had spurted out turned into a protectiveyer that covered his entire body. Luo You¡¯s Blood Fiend Constetion was activated.

    As the Blood Fiend Constetionbined with the Adamantine Battle Body, Iron Cliff¡¯s defensive abilities greatly increased.

    Iron Cliff attacked again, his fists colliding with the de. At this point in time, the other two assants whom he had sent flying had also returned, pincering Iron Cliff along with the de-wielding assant. The two sides became entangled in a fierce battle.

    Iron Cliff¡¯s style ofbat was not particrlyplicated, as he usually just used his fists. His Origin Skill repertoire was even simpler - ever since the Qi Drawing Realm, he had only ever used the Adamantine Battle Body and Iron Mountain Shield.

    This wasn¡¯t because he didn¡¯t have ess to better Origin Skills, but because he didn¡¯t need to use them.

    Iron Cliff was clear from the beginning that he wasn¡¯t Su Chen. He wasn¡¯t as quick-witted or intelligent, and didn¡¯t have the ability to y many tricks. And since he had followed Su Chen for all these years, he didn¡¯t really need to possess such skills anyways - quick adaptation was up to his master, while his job was to be simple.

    This was why he had chosen such a simple path, relying on a constant barrage of attacks to wear down his opponents and using his powerful physical body to its greatest extent. If he couldn¡¯t be the sharpest spear in his master¡¯s hands, then he would be the sturdiest shield.

    This was a path that required lots of endurance and resilience. It required patience and the ability to suffer. Even so, as long as he continued down this path, then he would be able to use even the simplest Origin Skills to brilliant effect.

    This was the case for the Adamantine Battle Body, Iron Mountain Shield, and Devouring the Heavens.

    Via constant tempering, these Origin Skills had long be ingrained in Iron Cliff¡¯s body, allowing them to far surpass the might of other Origin Skills in the same category.

    Even Su Chen, the inventor, was not as proficient in these Origin Skills as Iron Cliff. Likewise, even though Su Chen had been tempered like a Ravager and possessed a powerful physique, his sturdiness was still inferior to Iron Cliff¡¯s.

    In terms of physical condition, Iron Cliff was far superior to everyone else. Actually, he was even more powerful than a Ravager!

    As he swung his fists through the air maniacally, all of the Origin Energy in his body being converted into physical power, he was really fighting like a Ravager.

    However, there were some differences.

    ¡°Hiss!¡± The four Yang Opening Realm cultivators simultaneously sucked in a mouthful of air, building up a vast wave of Origin Energy.

    In this moment, the four of them were attacking with all their might and were using all of the power at their disposal.

    Arge face gradually appeared behind Iron Cliff.

    Luo You¡¯s face!

    Despite the fact that both Iron Cliff and Su Chen had used the Primordial Blood Medicine and the Primordial Blood Aspect, the two of them hadpletely different manifestations.

    Su Chen¡¯s manifestation was of a massive human-shaped figure, an erged version of himself, because his heart was for the future of humanity. He wanted to develop a powerful human bloodline, so Luo You¡¯s bloodline was merely the beginning, serving as a source of strength. It provided insight and power, but it was not a finished product. Su Chen was the one producing the finished product, which was filled withtent potential and could take on many different final forms.

    Iron Cliff, on the other hand, didn¡¯t have nearly as much imagination as Su Chen. The only thing he could imagine was bing very strong and protecting his master. Luo You was a Prehistoric Beast with incredible power. Iron Cliff was satisfied to even possess one-thousandth of the strength the original Luo You possessed, so he was really trying to inherit Luo You¡¯s power in some sense.

    Because of this, his Primordial Blood Aspect was part of Luo You.

    At first, he could only generate Luo You¡¯s mouth, but at this point he was already able to manifest Luo You¡¯s entire face.

    This face was incredibly massive. It seemed to cover the entire earth, and was sorge that it was impossible for the onlookers to determine exactly what it was. All they knew was that this aspect was exuding a tremendous aura of power.

    Under the influence of this tremendous amount of power, Iron Cliff¡¯s body began to growrger andrger. Every fist strike was filled with enough energy to split a mountain down the middle. All of the blood spilled from the wounds he inflicted were then utilized by the Blood Fiend Constetion, both increasing his defensive prowess as well as giving him an endless supply of energy.

    Luo You¡¯s bloodline could normally produce arge number of variations. Just the ability to control water alone allowed a user to develop a myriad of Origin Skills.

    However, Iron Cliff didn¡¯t want any of that.

    He only wanted the Blood Fiend Constetion. By repeated tempering, he couldbine it with the Adamantine Battle Body, Iron Mountain Shield, and Devouring the Heavens to produce his own style ofbat.

    This style was simple and one-dimensional, but very effective!

    Bang!

    His heavy fists mmed down on the de-wielding assant. Numerous hairline fractures immediately appeared on the surface of the de before it slowly crumbled.

    An Origin Tool had been smashed to pieces with bare hands. Everyone who saw that scene was stunned.

    The fist¡¯s momentum didn¡¯t decrease in the slightest and continued pressing on towards its target. The spear-wielding individual moved to save him, and the iron fist nced off of the spear¡¯s body. However, Iron Cliff had already formed a shield in his left hand, which he brought crashing down once again.

    Just as the opponent¡¯s head was about to be smashed into pieces, a sharp streak of sword light suddenly shot forth, mming into the Iron Mountain Shield and shattering it. Next, it prated through Iron Cliff¡¯s body, sending him flying, and a bloody hole appeared in the center of his chest.

    Breaking through the shield, the constetion, the Adamantine Battle Body, and Iron Cliff¡¯s powerful physique with a single blow was quite a shocking feat.

    Even so, because of how powerful Iron Cliff¡¯s defenses were, the attack didn¡¯t do much damage.

    Iron Cliff leapt back to his feet, and the wounds he had just received also began to rapidly recover.

    When he looked in the direction the attack hade from, he found another individual had joined the battlefield. This man was tall and skinny, and he was staring coldly at Iron Cliff.

    When the nearby individuals saw, they began to yell, ¡°Mister Twelve!¡±

    ¡°You do have some ability if you were able to take one of my Mountain-Sundering Fingers and only suffer a flesh wound,¡± the man named Mister Twelve said coldly.

    Iron Cliff harrumphed angrily. ¡°You already had the numbers advantage, and your cultivation base is higher than mine, yet you still tried to ambush me? You really are shameless!¡±

    Mister Twelve was a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, yet he had still chosen to ambush Iron Cliff. This was quite shameless, and most importantly, it seemed that this ambush wasn¡¯t particrly effective.

    Mister Twelve¡¯s face flushed a little as he said, ¡°This wasn¡¯t ever meant to be a fair fight, so there are no rules to speak of! Since you dare intrude upon my Rong n¡¯s territory, then......¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when a sudden sense of rm surged in his heart. He quickly dodged and turned around to see a streak of light shoot past just where he had been standing. It gave him quite a bad fright, causing him to yell angrily, ¡°Who dares ambush me?¡±

    ¡°It was me,¡± Cloud Leopard saidzily. ¡°You seem to like ambushing people, so I¡¯ll y around with you for a bit.¡±

    ¡°You? A Yang Opening Realm cultivator?¡± Mister Twelve sneered. ¡°You¡¯d better......¡±

    Whoosh!

    Another streak of light shot in his direction. Mister Twelve could only dodge, disappearing once again and reappearing elsewhere.

    His ability seemed simr to Su Chen¡¯s Whitetower Teleportation, and he was simrly able to use it multiple times in rapid session. Cloud Leopard had attempted to ambush him twice, and Mister Twelve had dodged twice. It seemed like he had also made that skill his Innate Origin Skill.

    The Rong n specialized in assassination, so most of their Innate Origin Skills were either used to hide, dodge, or unleash powerful one-off skills. Obviously, this person specialized in dodging.

    Even so, he was quite badly angered by Cloud Leopard, because Cloud Leopard had charged at him without considering the gap in their cultivation bases in the slightest.

    This was a huge challenge to his self-respect.

    Brat, how self-confident are you to believe that you can actually challenge someone an entire realm higher than you?

    ¡°Courting Death!¡± Mister Twelve flipped his hand. Two fingers on his right hand had been covered in poisonous liquid, which he jabbed at Cloud Leopard.

    He was going to skin this bastard alive.

    At the same time, Iron Cliff charged at the four people yet again, continuing his unfinished battle. ¡°I want to see who will save you this time!¡±

    Iron Cliff smiled viciously. The shadow cast across his face made his expression extremely eerie, and it was deeply imprinted on the hearts of everyone present.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - 24: Passing Through 3

    Chapter 24: Passing Through (3)

    At the start, Rong Zixing was still a bit angry. After all, being challenged by a Yang Opening Realm cultivator was simply too embarrassing.

    However, once they began to exchange blows, Rong Zixing¡¯s attitude totally changed.

    If Iron Cliff was like a mountain, like a giant, like a metal statue, then Cloud Leopard was like a fish, a chicken, a monkey.

    A monkey that had been thered in oil.

    Difficult to catch and hard to grab.

    When he unleashed a finger jab at Cloud Leopard, Cloud Leopard didn¡¯t move much. He just simply twisted to the side and shot past Rong Zixing¡¯s Twin Dragon Finger, closing in on Rong Zixing at an incredible speed. In his hand he held a dagger.

    Rong Zixing recognized this de.

    Grade Four assassination Origin Tool, Hidden Needle. It possessed the ability to pierce through all kinds of barriers and shields.

    The Rong n was a n of assassins, so they were very proficient in using weapons like that.

    Now, however, his opponent was using this kind of a dagger to fight him. Not only so, but the dagger glowed with a dark green color, obviously indicating that the dagger had been covered in extremely corrosive poison.

    This kid¡¯s heart was like his hands - they were both ck.

    Even Rong Zixing didn¡¯t dare face this dagger strike head-on.

    If he were to even be grazed by the dagger, who knew what kind of fate would befall him?

    As such, he could only dodge.

    His figure shed as he disappeared, then reappeared in another location.

    Darkness Snake Bloodline Origin Skill, Shadow Leap!

    The skill allowed him to teleport anywhere there was a shadow. After Rong Zixing had made it his Natural Origin Skill, even the cooldown time was removed.

    Even so, just as he was about to teleport to another location, Cloud Leopard tossed out a dart which flew right towards Rong Zixing¡¯s face.

    The tip of the dart was also covered with poison.

    This sudden change gave Rong Zixing quite a bad scare. Even if the refractory period between his use of the Natural Origin Skill was very small, it was still impossible for him to actually use it repeatedly without any gaps at all. He had justpleted one jump and couldn¡¯t immediately jump again, so he could only tilt his head to the side in an attempt to dodge the dart. Even so, the dart still narrowly scraped past his face, leaving behind a thin wound.

    Rong Zixing was badly startled. He hurriedly rotated the Qi in his body to the wound in order to stop the poison from getting too deep, but soon discovered that there was actually no poison on the wound.

    There was no poison?

    How was that possible?

    This guy had actually purposefully painted the tips of his weapons with color to pretend that they were poisoned?

    Damn, what a cunning bastard!

    Rong Zixing cursed in his heart. At that moment, Cloud Leopard once again charged forwards, shing his de at Rong Zixing.

    Cloud Leopard¡¯s movements were both quick and vicious.

    Rong Zixing could only activate Shadow Leap yet again, at the same time applying a barrier to himself. The battle was so quick that he hadn¡¯t even had time yet to activate a barrier.

    Indeed, as soon as he reappeared, he heard the ng of another dart bouncing off of his barrier.

    This brat actually knew where he was going tond!

    What powerful perception!

    Rong Zixing harrumphed. He raised his palms and shoved out forcefully, and a powerful wave of Origin Energy came surging out.

    He had discovered that this brat was astoundingly quick. Even though Cloud Leopard didn¡¯t have any teleportation Origin Skills, his speed made up for it. When factoring in that Cloud Leopard could perceive where he was going tond, Rong Zixing knew thatpeting with Cloud Leopard in agility wasn¡¯t going to do much for him.

    Even so, if they were to really go at it, Rong Zixing wasn¡¯t afraid. After all, he was still a Light Shaking Realm cultivator. What kind of message would it send if he were to take half a day to defeat a Yang Opening Realm kid?

    As such, it was better to finish off this battle as soon as possible by using his powerful cultivation base to suppress his opponent.

    Naturally, the best course of action was to unleash his Origin Energy without restraint.

    The powerful wave of Origin Energy surged like a torrent towards Cloud Leopard.

    This Origin Energy was wild and violent, affecting the space around it. Even though it wasn¡¯tparable with Su Chen¡¯s Sumeru Void, it was still able to whip up a forceful wind. Under the torrent of Origin Energy, Cloud Leopard¡¯s speed was obviously affected, and he began to slow down.

    Rong Zixing smiled viciously. ¡°Even the most agile monkey is still a monkey!¡±

    As he spoke, he wed out at Cloud Leopard.

    Cloud Leopard countered with a de strike of his own, seemingly motioning that he was going to resist with brute force.

    How could Rong Zixing, who was unleashing his full strength, be afraid of the de strike? His hands raked towards Cloud Leopard like iron talons. With a bang, the Hidden Needle tore through Rong Zixing¡¯s barrier and sliced into his hand.

    Rong Zixing, however, paid it no mind and continued to force his w downwards, his fingers mping onto Cloud Leopard¡¯s wrist and sinking into his flesh.

    Just as he was about to unleash a burst of energy and destroy Cloud Leopard¡¯s arms, however, Rong Zixing¡¯s expression suddenly changed as he withdrew his arm hurriedly and retreated.

    His right hand was already beginning to swell, turning an ugly purplish-ck.

    ¡°It¡¯s poisoned?¡± Rong Zixing stared grimly at Cloud Leopard.

    So the poison on the dart tip was fake, but the poison on the dagger was real.

    Rong Zixing had made a judgment error. He had assumed that since the poison on the dart was fake, that the poison on the Hidden Needle would also be fake. This was the reason why he had decided to go all-out against Cloud Leopard in the first ce, and he was willing to ept some light wounds in order to quickly finish Cloud Leopard off. However, it was this error in judgment that caused him to fall into Cloud Leopard¡¯s trap.

    It would have been fine if he had merely been poisoned. Most poisons could be expelled or suppressed by Origin Energy over time and weren¡¯t too harmful. However, Rong Zixing had been in the process ofunching an all-out offensive and hadn¡¯t locked down the affected area in time. By the time he discovered that he had been poisoned, it was already toote. His entire arm had been poisoned, and the Origin Energy was cut off at his wrist.

    Cloud Leopard had used an extremely powerful paralysis poison. A person afflicted by this poison wouldn¡¯t die, but the poison was incredibly difficult to expel and would also temporarily paralyze the affected area.

    Rong Zixing¡¯s arm was basically temporarily crippled.

    Not being able to use a hand had a pretty big effect even on a Light Shaking Realm cultivator. In addition, his opponent was Cloud Leopard, well-known for his vicious tactics and fearless style ofbat.

    His attacking style was somewhat simr to Iron Cliff¡¯s in that they both relied on close-quartersbat and not on fancy Origin Skills, utilizing their physical explosiveness. However, Iron Cliff possessed extraordinary defensive and offensive capabilities, while Cloud Leopard possessed extraordinary speed. One relied on strength and the other relied on agility.

    Cloud Leopard didn¡¯t possess a powerful physique like Iron Cliff, but his ability to grasp timings and hisbat efficiency were both far above Iron Cliff¡¯s ability.

    Every strike he unleashed was carefully aimed, vicious, and threatening.

    Even though Rong Zixing was a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, he realized that he needed to ce all his attention on dealing with Cloud Leopard.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± Killing intent surged in his heart. Not only was he unable to defeat a brat who was an entire cultivation realm lower than him, but his arm had also been crippled. This was a great loss of face. He barked, ¡°You¡¯re courting death!¡±

    As he spoke, Rong Zixing¡¯s body began to glow darkly.

    This dark glow was not very bright, but the depth of color was intense. Any light that passed through it seemed to be absorbed then and there.

    This was the power of the Darkness Snake Bloodline.

    Rong Zixing¡¯s Darkness Snake Bloodline had already been awakened five times, and his bloodline density was at twenty-five percent. He was only a step away from being able to assume a demonic form, so the illusory image of the Darkness Snake was incredibly dense. It was as if a real Darkness Snake was present, creating a tremendous amount of pressure on everyone present.

    As the illusory darkness image appeared, the nearby Origin Energy began to gather. Simultaneously, a dot of ck light began to gather at Rong Zixing¡¯s fingertips.

    The ck light was incredibly dense. Rong Zixing finally unleashed it, and a ck snake-shaped arrow shot out from Rong Zixing¡¯s finger towards Cloud Leopard.

    The Darkness Snake Arrow was the Darkness Snake Rong n¡¯s most powerful Bloodline Origin Skill. It possessed frighteningly powerful corrosive attributes.

    The Darkness Snake Demonic Emperor had relied on this skill to trample over the Seven Kingdoms, bing an infamous legendary creature.

    The Darkness Snake Arrow whistled through the air.

    Cloud Leopard hurriedly evaded, but the snake arrow actually adjusted its flight path and continued to chase after Iron Cliff as if it was an actual snake. The arrow possessed the ability to autonomously chase after its target.

    Cloud Leopard retreated rapidly but found that he could not escape pursuit. The snake arrow advanced relentlessly. Just as it was about to strike Cloud Leopard, Cloud Leopard¡¯s figure shimmered as an illusory replica of his body split off from him.

    Throughout his journeys, Cloud Leopard had encountered many opponents and had obtained his own good fortune. The illusory image he had produced was something he had picked up during one of his thousands of battles, and it appeared extremely lifelike. If it were merely an illusory image, however, the Darkness Snake Arrow wouldn¡¯t have been attracted by it but would continue pursuing the true body. Cloud Leopard¡¯s illusory image, however, seemed to possess physical substance, so it was able to trick even the Darkness Snake Arrow.

    With a bang, the snake arrow collided with the illusory image, which shattered. Cloud Leopard didn¡¯t even have enough time to sigh with relief before the Darkness Snake Arrow once again pounced towards him.

    Cloud Leopard was badly startled. He attempted to dodge yet again, leaving behind even more

    Illusory images. Cloud Leopard had created nine in a single breath¡¯s time, and the Darkness Snake Arrow mmed through all of them in a single breath¡¯s time.

    Thankfully, once the Darkness Snake Arrow passed through the ninth illusory image, it ran out of energy and destroyed itself. Cloud Leopard sighed with relief.

    Even though he had somehow managed to withstand the attack, it had taken him nine moves to deal with the opponent¡¯s single attack. The might of a Light Shaking Realm cultivator was quite apparent in this exchange.

    Even so, Cloud Leopard was fearless. In fact, his desire to do battle grew even stronger.

    The more pressure he felt, the braver he got, and the stronger his opponent, the stronger his desire to do battle. This even extended to hisbat prowess, to some extent.

    Since his opponent was that strong, his desire to do battle grew even stronger. He shot Rong Zixin a nce and charged forward to attack once again.

    Rong Zixing countered with a palm strike. The waves of Origin Energy surged ceaselessly, rippling through the air and affecting Cloud Leopard¡¯s speed. At the same time, he unleashed another Darkness Snake Arrow followed by a Mountain Sundering Finger. He only had one hand, but managed to unleash three attacks at once. His movements were as fluid as water, as if he waspletely unaffected by the poison. He didn¡¯t even try to use the Shadow Leap. Obviously, his n was to use strength to forcefully repress Cloud Leopard.

    Cloud Leopard unleashed illusory image after illusory image, forcefully resisting these attacks. The simple Thunder de technique became much more powerful in Cloud Leopard¡¯s hands. Streaks of Origin Energy flew everywhere amidst the massive flood of Origin Energy, and even the bystanders were swept up by it. A Light Shaking-level battle normally shouldn¡¯t have taken ce inside a city in the first ce, and both parties were getting into it. As a result, the bystanders being harmed were also wrapped up into it.

    Even so, Rong Zixing couldn¡¯t do anything to Cloud Leopard.

    Even though this kid wasn¡¯t as strong as Iron Cliff, he wasn¡¯tcking in tenacity. Even though Cloud Leopard was clearly at a disadvantage as they traded dozens of blows, Rong Zixing discovered that he simply could not turn his advantage into a victory. The brat was also growing more and more courageous as he fought, and every attack seemed designed to take them both to the grave. Rong Zixing could only tighten his guard to avoid flipping the boat and taking himself under.

    The Shadow Leap that he had refrained from using earlier was brought out again. Even though Cloud Leopard could still pinpoint where he wouldnd, it was better than not using it at all.

    The battle here was quite bitter, but on Iron Cliff¡¯s side of things they had more or less managed to determine a winner. He had managed to easily dispatch two more opponents, so only the Origin Qi Schr that could morph into a demon was left facing off against him.

    The battle had yet to conclude, but all of the spectators were totally dumbfounded.

 Sect - 25: Intimidation

    Mister Twelve was not a small figure amongst the Rong n.

    He was a Light Shaking Realm cultivator from a Demonic Emperor Bloodline n,manding respect everywhere he went, but now a youth without a bloodline was forcing him to this extent. Even though he had the advantage, he was never able to quite defeat his opponent. Every leap Cloud Leopard made was like a p resounding across his face.

    Rong Zixing was growing angry.

    He had managed to control the poison in his right arm and was slowly forcing it out, and the Origin Energy in his body was bubbling violently as he activated his Darkness Snake Bloodline to its greatest extent.

    The Rong n¡¯s Mister Twelve was about to attack with his full strength.

    At that moment, a voice spoke. ¡°The fight has gone on long enough. It¡¯s time to stop.¡±

    The surroundings suddenly seemed to congeal.

    Unlike Rong Zixing, who used the vast amount of Origin Energy contained in his body to control the surroundings, this change had a real tangible substance to it.

    Rong Zixing could sense that the pressure he was creating was beginning to disintegrate, and a new wave of pressure was beginning to envelop him.

    Who was it? Who was able to defeat him in an open contest of strength?

    Rong Zixing was stunned.

    With the pressure on Cloud Leopard alleviated, Cloud Leopard was suddenly free to pounce at Rong Zixing.

    ¡°Courting death!¡± Rong Zixing wed out, his fingers seemingly raking open a void in the air as they glowed with intense ck color.

    When faced with such a w strike, Cloud Leopard actually felt somewhat like thews of Heaven and earth were being reversed.

    Just as this w strike was about to m into Cloud Leopard, a hand suddenly appeared.

    It appeared seemingly out of nowhere. The person who had blocked Rong Zixing¡¯s w was Su Chen. As he calmly received the w strike, Su Chen said, ¡°Leopard, stop.¡±

    Cloud Leopard retreated unhappily.

    Rong Zixing saw that there was an opportunity, and he clenched his fist rapidly. ¡°Go!¡±

    The Darkness Snake Arrow appeared again and mmed into Su Chen. Rong Zixing was delighted. ¡°Let¡¯s see if you die this time!¡±

    The Darkness Snake Arrow was extremely poisonous. Even Iron Cliff, with his powerful physical body, might not be able to endure it. Rong Zixing¡¯s attack was quite vicious. Since he was an opponent, then they needed to die. There was no hesitation on his part whatsoever.

    However, when the Darkness Snake Arrownded on Su Chen, none of the expected corrosion or death urred. Su Chen turned around nonchntly, even smiling at him a little.

    He actually smiled!

    Smiled at him!

    Smiled!

    Rong Zixin was stunned.

    What was going on?

    Howe it was like this?

    He didn¡¯t understand, and he didn¡¯t have time to understand.

    Su Chen grabbed his hand and said, ¡°Not bad. How about another one?¡±

    Rong Zixing stared at Su Chen in disbelief.

    Su Chen¡¯s expression was very sincere.

    Upon seeing that Rong Zixing was frozen in ce, Su Chen frowned. ¡°If you won¡¯t hit me, then I can only take my turn. You hit me once, and I¡¯ll hit you back once. That should be very fair. Look closely - here Ie!¡±

    As he spoke, he shoved his palm right at Rong Zixing.

    Su Chen¡¯s palm glowed with a dark me.

    Shadow me w!

    The attack was simrly suffused with Shadow Origin Substance. Rong Zixing instinctively tried to defend himself. When their arms collided, Rong Zixing cried out as a swath of ck mes ran across his hand. Shockingly, Rong Zixing was unable to put the mes out.

    The mes burned more and more intensely, gradually spreading across his arm and eventually his entire body.

    ¡°How can this be?¡± Cloud Leopard stared at Rong Zixing in shock.

    ¡°The Shadow me is abination of Fire Origin Substance and Dark Origin Substance. His body contains a lot of Darkness Origin Substance, so it serves as fuel for this strange fire. As a result, it can burn ceaselessly,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Yes, the Darkness Snake¡¯s energy source was Darkness Origin Substance. Given how familiar Su Chen was with Darkness Origin Substance, he was able to recognize it immediately.

    The reason why Rong Zixing¡¯s attack had been nullified was because Su Chen had directly activated his Origin Conducting Tool and sucked away all of the Darkness Origin Substance. As a result, it did not harm Su Chen and even gave Su Chen arge amount of Darkness Origin Substance, supplementing what was already in the Shadow me Glove. On the other hand, when Su Chen used a darkness-type Origin Skill, Rong Zixing waspletely unable to defend himself.

    This was the difference between control andprehension. Even though the Rong n¡¯s bloodline gave them the ability to control Darkness Origin Substance, their understanding andprehension of its attributes were far inferior to Su Chen.

    Of course, this didn¡¯t necessarily mean that Su Chen was invincible against the Rong n. The Shadow me Glove could only absorb so much energy. In addition, Rong Zixing was also at the Light Shaking Realm and had no cultivation base advantage over Su Chen, allowing Su Chen to convert his Origin Energy into his own. If Su Chen were to run into someone with a stronger cultivation base than him, merely relying on a Shadow me Glove was pointless.

    By the same token, the Shadow mes were not invincible. As long as the darkness-type Origin Energy was restrained at the right moment, the Shadow mes would lose their fuel source and disappear.

    Rong Zixing was quite dumb and didn¡¯t realize that.

    He howled in pain, instinctively activating the energy in his body to its limit. The only result, however, was that the Shadow mes burned ever brighter as they covered him from head to toe.

    ¡°Are you not nning on saving him?¡± Cloud Leopard felt a chill run down his spine as he watched Rong Zixing il around in the mes.

    Light Shaking Realm cultivators possessed powerful vitality and didn¡¯t die easily. It was for this reason that the torment of being burned alive was particrly painful for them.

    The sight of Rong Zixing covered in dark mes and howling was incredibly terrifying.

    Su Chen stared at him coldly. ¡°He wanted to kill my brother. Why would I let him off?¡±

    Cloud Leopard sighed with a smile, ¡°Unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t able to copy you and challenge those more powerful than me. I still prefer to take care of my opponents all by myself.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s already quite impressive that you were able to achieve such a result,¡± Su Chen said as he patted Cloud Leopard on the back. ¡°He¡¯s still someone with a Demonic Emperor Bloodline. How could it be so easy to jump realms against someone like him? Don¡¯t worry, you will be able to do so in the future.

    As they spoke, Rong Zixing¡¯s cries began to subside. The ck mes had consumed his entire body and all his energy, turning him to ash. No matter how powerful his vitality was or how extraordinary his skills were, it was impossible for him to survive once he had been turned into ashes.

    Su Chen nced left and right. ¡°Is there anyone else who still wants to try and stop us?¡±

    Everyone simultaneously took a step backwards.

    Su Chen had managed to kill a Light Shaking Realm cultivator with a single blow. Everyone watching felt a shiver run down their spines. How could anyone dare get in his way?

    When he saw that no one stepped forwards, Su Chen began to continue walking forwards.

    Cloud Leopard, Iron Cliff, and the twelve Sword Servants followed closely behind.

    As the bystanders watched them leave, they began to mutter to one another in fear.

    ¡°They killed Mister Twelve. We cannot let them get away, otherwise the Rong n will definitely not spare us.¡±

    ¡°You do it if you have the ability.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. If Mister Twelve died with a single blow, then wouldn¡¯t we just die even faster?¡±

    ¡°But we cannot not take action.¡±

    ¡°If we act, we die, and if we don¡¯t act, then we also die!¡±

    ¡°Dammit, I¡¯m going to risk it all!¡±

    No one knew who was the person who had cried out.

    However, no one responded to this cry. Everyone else was hoping that someone else was going to risk it all, and no one wanted to do so themselves. As a result, no one moved.

    As Su Chen advanced, the crowd parted as if they were walls lining the streets, staring at Su Chen silently.

    The somewhat more courageous individuals, upon seeing Su Chen¡¯s group departing, suddenly realized that they could ambush them from behind. In his mind, as long as he attacked and wounded one of them, he would have an excuse for the Rong n. As a result, he chose to target the weakest opponent he could find - the Sword Servants.

    Whoosh!

    A streak of cold light shot at one of the Sword Servants.

    The cold light had just formed when the Sword Servant spun around and shed out with his sword.

    The sword strike was peerlessly sharp and cut right through the cold light. The momentum from the strike continued until it mmed into the assant.

    The assant took out a copper mirror and ced it in front of his body.

    Unexpectedly, the sword Qi actually curved, arcing past the copper mirror and slicing through the assant. The assant¡¯s elbow was immediately separated from his body.

    The assant wailed piteously and attempted to fly away, but frost actually began to form on his body before he was able to get far,pletely encasing him ice.

    Once encased in ice, he began to fall from the sky like a giant ice cube, shattering into many tiny pieces upon hitting the ground. Not even a drop of his blood was spilled.

    Everyone was badly shocked when they saw this.

    The ambusher had also been at the Yang Opening Realm, but had been killed in a single blow by his opponent. What did that mean?

    These guys were all incredibly powerful. The fact that they were all at least at the Yang Opening Realm was quite impressive already, but their ability to kill those at the same realm as them like they were ughtering chickens or dogs was unbelievable. They even dared challenge a Light Shaking Realm cultivator with a Demonic Emperor Bloodline, and even kill him with a single blow.

    And there were more than ten such people all in this group!

    What did that mean?

    Everyone was scared so badly that they began to tremble.

    However, one of the other Sword Servants said when he saw that de strike, ¡°Your use of the ice power was still a bit too slow. If you were to run into someone with faster reactions, they might have been able to block it.¡±

    ¡°Mm,¡± the Sword Servant who had attacked said. ¡°My Ice Swallow Aspect is not as well-practiced as my Fire Monkey Aspect.¡±

    Not as well-practiced as his Fire Monkey?

    Everyone felt dizzy.

    And what was a Ice Swallow Aspect?

    No one understood.

    Actually, this Ice Swallow Aspect was derived from Ji Hanyan¡¯s Frostbird Bloodline, which Su Chen had supplied to the Aspect Hall and given the name Ice Swallow. This Sword Servant had inherited this particr aspect, imbuing every one of his sword strikes with arge quantity of ice-type Origin Energy. Even though he was not as dominant nor overbearing as Ji Hanyan, the ice power he could unleash was still staggering.

    The ambusher didn¡¯t know the subtle details. Actually, his running had only elerated his death.

    It wasn¡¯t that Su Chen and his subordinates were now untouchable. However, because many of Su Chen¡¯s techniques were self-created, no one in the outside world had ever seen them before, and theycked ways to deal with them ordingly.

    Rong Zixing suffered from this, as did the ambusher. That was the reason why they had died so quickly.

    Even so, that was how battles went. Even though being much more powerful felt great, targeting the opponent¡¯s weak points was much more efficient.

    Once the ambusher died, everyone gave up on any thoughts of trying to block the road.

    Before the other members of the Rong n arrived, no one else woulde to stop their advance.

    As such, Su Chen and the others very quickly arrived at the Scarlet Road.

    The sides of the road were lined with countless people.

    The Scarlet Road was an important division that delineated whose territory you were in.

    And now, Su Chen was going to cross the line.

    If Su Chen was to cross the line, then the Rong n would have to give up on killing Su Chen unless they were prepared to go to war.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t immediately step over the line when he got there. Instead, he turned around to nce behind him.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to cross,¡± he said. ¡°Is anyone thinking of stopping me?¡±

    No one responded.

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°Since no one is willing to stop me, then I will see you allter.¡±

    He turned back around and prepared to cross the line.

    At that very moment, however, a figure came streaking in his direction through the sky.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so arrogant!¡±

    A massive spiritual hand came descending down on Su Chen, enveloping him and his subordinates instantly.

 Sect - 26: Darkness Binding Realm

    Chapter 26: Darkness Realm

    As soon as this person appeared, he unleashed a boundless, all-powerful aura. Obviously, he was an expert in no way weaker than Rong Zixing.

    When Su Chen saw him arrive, he said, ¡°You guys cross first!¡±

    Everyone simultaneously charged over the line.

    The line was like a watershed separating the two parties.

    At the same time, the Origin Energy within Su Chen¡¯s body began to brim with Origin Energy as heunched his fist at his opponent.

    Because he didn¡¯t know the details of his opponent, Su Chen didn¡¯t dare hold back. This punch contained all of Su Chen¡¯s strength, and it collided with the palm strike. The ensuing collision produced a nging noise, like that of a massive bell.

    Su Chen felt like he was punching water. Even though the might contained in the punch was enough to send massive waves everywhere, he was still unable to destroy his opponent. Instead, it felt as if his attack was being absorbed and nullified by his opponent.

    At this point, Su Chen had been baptized by the Origin Energy Temple, so his physique was up to par with a typical Ravager¡¯s. A single punch of his was strong enough to rock the foundation of a mountain, but his opponent was still able to easily nullify the momentum behind the attack. Clearly, this opponent of his was quite strong.

    At the same time, the individual who had attacked Su Chen¡¯s group descended, a simr expression of shock on his face as he gazed at Su Chen.

    Su Chen¡¯s attack had been rendered useless, which had surprised him. How could his opponent not feel the same way?

    He stared at Su Chen. ¡°Light Shaking Realm? Three Lotus tforms?¡±

    If Su Chen had wanted to, he could have immediately reached the level of seven Lotus tforms in a year. After all, since he could directly absorb Origin Energy, his ability to ¡°umte experience¡± was basically unlimited. However, considering that he was far from being able to solve the problem of how to break into the Spirit Burning Realm, Su Chen wasn¡¯t in a hurry to ascend.

    The opponent¡¯s perceptive abilities were obviously quite high given that he was able to discover how many Lotus tforms Su Chen possessed without him even putting them on disy.

    ¡°Seven?¡± Su Chen countered.

    Su Chen was simrly able to observe the Origin Energy fluctuationsing from the other party¡¯s body given that he possessed the microscopic eye.

    This opponent, who had easily nullified his fist strike, was not at the Spirit Burning Realm. He was at the Light Shaking Realm, but his strength was obviously not to be ignored. Even the Death¡¯s Shadow of a Youth, who had be a Demonic Lord over a year ago, wasn¡¯t fit to be his opponent.

    The neer was also equally startled by Su Chen¡¯s perceptiveness. ¡°Indeed. Even though I feel a bit despicable for attacking someone weaker than me, I, Rong Xiu......¡±

    Before he had finished speaking, Su Chen chuckled, ¡°You¡¯re quite strong. Thankfully, it¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve encountered a decent opponent, so let¡¯s just get into it.¡±

    As he spoke, he leapt into the air. Origin Energy burst forth from his body as he punched at his opponent.

    Rong Xiu hadn¡¯t expected Su Chen to attack so suddenly. After recovering from his shock, he said angrily, ¡°What a savage brat!¡±

    As he spoke, his figure swayed slightly. ck smoke began to surge out from his body, turning into ck cables that attempted to wrap around Su Chen.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t seem to mind. He continued to unleash punch after punch, each one containing extraordinary power. Shockwaves of air were visibly surging from his fists.

    His style of battle was typically not so wild and unrestrained. He was more proficient with Ancient Arcana Techniques and using a wide variety of Origin Skills to dance in circles around his opponents. However, he hadn¡¯t fought for over a year after returning from Ravager territory, so he was feeling a bit antsy. Now that he was finally able to face off against a powerful individual, it was only natural that he would want to fight until he was satisfied. His excessive consciousness power began to spread in all directions, funneling through his body and turning into a torrent of energy that washed over his opponent.

    Even Rong Xiu felt somewhat suppressed by this hailstorm of fists. The ck cables were sted into smithereens by Su Chen. Of course, the corrosive properties of the Darkness Origin Substance werepletely useless against Su Chen.

    Xiu Rong harrumphed when he saw that his opponent was acting so violently. ck fog once again roiled, threatening to engulf Su Chen like a tsunami. No light could pass through this wave of fog, making it impossible to determine where the target was. Rong Xiu¡¯s figurepletely disappeared.

    Darkness Concealment!

    However, even though the Rong n¡¯s Darkness Concealment was extremely effective, allowing the user not only to hide themselves but also generate darkness. No matter how many opponents were swallowed up by this dark fog, they would lose the ability to see clearly and would also have to endure the powerful corrosive attributes of the fog.

    Unfortunately, this corrosion had no effect on Su Chen. After all, he possessed a way to control Darkness Origin Substance. Having his vision impaired had no real effect on Su Chen either.

    The microscopic eye¡¯s investigative abilities had improved greatly under Su Chen¡¯s repeated use. Even an illusory void wouldn¡¯t have been able to deceive Su Chen¡¯s eyes, let alone this dark fog.

    With but a single nce, Su Chen was able to pinpoint Rong Xiu¡¯s location.

    This guy had managed to move to his side and was preparing to attack.

    Under normal circumstances, Su Chen would have pretended not to be aware, waiting for the opponent to get closer before suddenly unleashing a vicious barrage of attacks. This time, however, he just wanted to have a good fight, so he immediately unleashed yet another punch in Rong Xiu¡¯s direction. Obviously, he had no intentions of ambushing Rong Xiu despite the fact that the opportunity to do so had presented itself.

    Rong Xiu was badly startled. He raised his hand in the air and gestured, causing some of the fog to swirl around and gather into a shield of darkness.

    Rong Xiu¡¯s Darkness Realm not only restricted vision and corroded any opponents in the fog, but it also served as a constant source of darkness Origin Energy, allowing the user to activate Origin Skills more quickly.

    With the support of the Darkness Realm, Rong Xiu was able to unleash many darkness-type Origin Skills in rapid session.

    After blocking Su Chen¡¯s punch, Rong Xiu flicked his wrist. A Darkness Arrow came shooting forth.

    Su Chenughed loudly and jumped into the air. The Primordial Blood Incarnation appeared behind him. Unlike before, however, the incarnation did not grow in size. This time, it was much more condensed, making it seem much less ethereal than before. Immediately upon appearing, it melded with Su Chen¡¯s physical body.

    As such, Su Chen¡¯s body began to expand in size as his muscles bulged, energy pouring through his body and expanding outwards.

    Su Chen had formerly been relying on only his physical body to defeat his opponent, but now he was beginning to use Origin Energy. However, he was merely melding it with his physical body, which manifested in a drastic increase in physical strength. The end result was that Su Chen¡¯s punches became even more vicious, making it seem as if the very earth itself was going to split in two.

    Unfortunately, all of this was urring within the Darkness Realm, and none of the bystanders could clearly see what was happening. All they heard was the sound of repeated bangs ringing out from a dark cloud.

    Thankfully, this Darkness Realm was able to suppress Origin Energy to some degree. Otherwise, a fight between two Light Shaking Realm experts might have torn down half the city.

    Even so, the onlookers were incredibly shocked by the explosions of sounding out of the darkness. They all nced at each other and took a few steps back, retreating further from the battlefield.

    Within the Darkness Realm, Rong Xiu¡¯s shock was only growing as they continued to fight.

    He could be considered one of the backbone pirs of the Rong n. He possessed a Demonic Emperor Bloodline and tyrannical strength. Even a normal Spirit Burning Realm cultivator couldn¡¯t match up against him because of his ability to jump realms, so it was nearly impossible for someone to one-up him. He had never expected to be challenged by someone with a lower cultivation base than him today.

    Most shockingly, the opponent¡¯s strength only seemed to increase as if he did not have an upper limit.

    Where did that dense Origin Energye from?

    He cultivated the Heavenly Sea Scripture, which greatly expanded his Origin Sea. His Origin Energy was three times denser than a normal individual¡¯s. As a result, he was able to unleash Origin Skill after Origin Skill, relying on this ability to st his opponent to death. He was actually quite well-known amongst the Rong n for his extraordinary offensive capabilities. However, the kid in front of him was matching him step for step - in fact, his Origin Energy seemed to be even denser,pletely mystifying him.

    Su Chen was simrly shocked.

    He cultivated the Immacte Cultivation Technique, making his Origin Energy seven times denser than a normal individual¡¯s. Unexpectedly, his opponent¡¯s Origin Energy was also extremely abundant, allowing him to unleash powerful Origin Skill after powerful Origin Skill in rapid session - Darkness Shield, Darkness Arrow, Darkness Snake, Unadorned Palms, Heavenly Light Fist, Mountain Sundering Finger, Darkness w, etc.

    The two of them sted Origin Skills at each other like they were artillery cannons, shelling each other with Origin Energy.

    It can¡¯t keep going like this.

    Both of them realized this after some time.

    Su Chen felt this way because he was still standing on territory belonging to the Rong n, and the longer he waited, the more likely new

    Rong Xiu, on the other hand, felt that continuing to fight for too long would cause him to lose face.

    The two of them simultaneously decided to end it here and now.

    A momentter, the boundless darkness began to gather in Rong Xiu¡¯s hand, forming something akin to a ck hole. At the same time, sparks flew off of Su Chen¡¯s hands as a massive ming phoenix took shape and soared into the skies.

    Darkness Dungeon.

    ming Phoenix Theurgy Art.

    The two of them unleashed their most powerful attacks simultaneously at their opponents.

    The darkness and the mes collided, turning into a pyre of ck mes that mixed and coiled together, creating quite the strange scene.

    As the ck light began to infuse the ming phoenix, the phoenix¡¯s ze began to take on a darker quality. Yet as more and more energy entered its body, it began to glow brighter and brighter.

    ¡°Not good!¡± the two of them cried out at the same time as they punched yet again, this time not at each other but at the ming phoenix in the sky.

    The dark ming phoenix flew high into the sky. At this point in time, the phoenix¡¯s energy capacity had reached its limit, and it exploded, scattering chunks of ck me everywhere

    ¡°Get out of the way! Don¡¯t let those things touch you!¡± Rong Xiu and Su Chen simultaneously yelled.

    These sparks were like boulders raining down from the sky. When theynded on the houses, they burned them down to the ground due to the corrosive nature of the mes. Even metallic objects were destroyed as a result.

    A few unlucky individuals who weren¡¯t able to avoid the ck fire began to burn just like Rong Zixing had.

    Most frighteningly, these ck mes refused to be extinguished until they had burned their target to ashes.

    In but a brief moment¡¯s time, dozens of people had died to these ck sparks.

    And these were just the sparks - even Rong Xiu shuddered to think about what might have happened if he had been hit by it directly.

    Thankfully, even though these dark mes were extremely powerful, they weren¡¯t fueled by normal objects, so they quickly disappeared once their fuel source ran out. A cmity was avoided, but even so, the area near the fight had almost been burned to the ground.

    Rong Xiu seemed to be thinking something when he saw this scene.

    Su Chen knew that he had lost the opportunity to use his Shadow mes to kill the opponent in one strike.

    However, that didn¡¯t bother him much. That loss had brought him a significant gain, and had helped answer a question he had been turning over in his mind for a long time. As he stared at the ck mes spreading everywhere, Su Chen¡¯s eyes glowed with an intense fervor.

    These ck mes were far more powerful than his original Shadow mes!

    Rong Xing stared at Su Chen in shock. ¡°Who exactly are you?¡±

    Before Su Chen could reply, a clear voice spoke.

    ¡°He is my man!¡±

 Sect - 27: Pursued

    The clear voice was resonant and piercing, so everyone present heard it.

    When they turned around, they found Zhu Xianyao striding boldly towards them. She wore a long, fiery-red dress, so that she looked like a red lotus that was blooming when she walked. In her hand was a small whip, and two people walked beside her. One of them was a Light Shaking Realm Sand Elemental that had been subjugated while they were at Mountain Overlook City. The other person was also at the Light Shaking Realm, but Su Chen didn¡¯t recognize them. Obviously, however, that person was also under Zhu Xianyao¡¯s control.

    In other words, Zhu Xianyao had lived a pretty good life these past few years. Controlling a target forever came at the cost of three years of cultivation, but now Zhu Xianyao had two under hermand and her cultivation base had increased. There was only one exnation - the Zhu n had given her many resources to make up for the amount that she expended.

    That wasn¡¯t very strange. Zhu Xianyao was a person who could increase the might of her entire n, so it would have been stranger if she wasn¡¯t receiving such care.

    Even though Zhu Xianyao hadn¡¯t reached the Light Shaking Realm yet, she controlled two Light Shaking Realm servants, making her own personal strength equal to a Light Shaking Realm cultivator.

    Her appearance created a greatmotion.

    Thu Zhu n¡¯s eldest Young Miss was someone that countless people dreamed about night after night.

    And now, she was actually saying that she had a man already!

    This was big news!

    Under normal circumstances, there might have been a few people who would angrily ¡°defend¡± their Young Miss, but Su Chen had only just shown of his strength. If even Rong Xiu couldn¡¯t do anything to him, what could the others hope to aplish?

    Su Chen nced around and found that no one dared to meet his gaze.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°It seems like the problem has been resolved.¡±

    As he spoke, he turned around and began to walk towards Zhu Xianyao.

    Rong Xiu¡¯s hands trembled slightly as he watched Su Chen¡¯s departing figure.

    He really wanted to attack, but he had no confidence that he could take on both Su Chen and Zhu Xianyao at the same time. As such, he could only watch them cross the dividing line out of the Rong n¡¯s territory and into the Zhu n¡¯s territory.

    Su Chen smiled slightly as he stood in front of Zhu Xianyao.

    Zhu Xianyao gently bit her full lip. ¡°So you still remembered toe look for me, you heartless bastard.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled and didn¡¯t say anything. He suddenly embraced Zhu Xianyao, leaning in to kiss her.

    This scenepletely stunned everyone present.

    The goddess had been kissed!

    Even though they had just heard Zhu Xianyao say that Su Chen was her man, watching it unfold before their eyes was another matter entirely. Countless envious gazes were shot at Su Chen and Zhu Xianyao like fiery darts.

    Unfortunately, these darts could do no damage. Su Chen continued to passionately kiss Zhu Xianyao.

    This kiss was extremely deep, and it took a long time before the pair finally parted.

    Zhu Xianyao regained her bnce, her face beet red. However, her eyes were filled with intoxication as she gazed at Su Chen and gently said, ¡°Have you had enough?¡±

    ¡°Not yet, but what happens next is not appropriate to continue here,¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    He picked up Zhu Xianyao and began to walk away. Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t even attempt to refuse and hung her arms around Su Chen¡¯s neck, leaning into his bosom.

    The Rong n¡¯s subordinates could only watch as Su Chen left.

    Before they werepletely gone, a voice suddenly yelled out from behind them, ¡°Young man, may I know your name?¡±

    Su Chen turned around and saw that an old man had appeared on the Rong n¡¯s territory.

    Su Chen was actually unable to detect when he had appeared on the scene.

    He squinted slightly. ¡°My name is Su Chen.¡±

    ¡°Su Chen?¡± The elder turned the unfamiliar name over once, then chuckled, ¡°I¡¯ll remember that name. You were lucky today, and I got here just a bit toote. But I believe that we will see each other very soon. Remember my name - I am called......¡±

    Su Chen interrupted him. ¡°I¡¯m not interested in knowing your name. Knowing a dead person¡¯s name is totally pointless.¡±

    As he spoke, he turned and left.

    The old man had never experienced someone acting so rudely and arrogantly to him, and he was so enraged that he actually didn¡¯t know what to do.

    Zhu Xianyao was totally infatuated with Su Chen at this point. She said in a low voice, ¡°His name is Rong Ruohai, one of the Rong n¡¯s elders, and Patriarch Rong Ruoshan¡¯s older brother.¡±

    Su Chen muttered, ¡°Spirit Burning Realm?¡±

    ¡°Mhm.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s still a dead man,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°You think you can beat a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator with a Demonic Emperor Bloodline?¡±

    ¡°I might not be able to beat him, but I can kill him,¡± Su Chen replied indifferently.

    His words were simple, yet they conveyed a boundless overbearing attitude.

    Zhu Xianyao continued to lean against Su Chen¡¯s chest, content and satisfied.

    She unconditionally trusted Su Chen.

    Since Su Chen had said he would kill him, then he would kill him.

    It wasn¡¯t far from here to the Zhu n, but the streets leading there were extremely lively and bustling.

    One simrity between the Zhu n¡¯s territory and the Rong n¡¯s territory was that Su Chen was still being watched by everyone.

    Countless individuals gazed at this purported son-inw, and news spread extremely quickly. The whole Zhu n residence became aware of this before Su Chen even made it to the main hall.

    With Zhu Xianyao present, there was no need for him to go searching the various alleyways for the right path. After a brief moment, Su Chen had arrived in front of the Zhu n¡¯s main door.

    Arge group of people were already waiting outside in an orderly fashion. At the very front was a beautiful, middle-aged woman. From her appearance, it was obvious that she was Zhu Xianyao¡¯s mother, Zhu Yunyan. Even though she was quite old, she still possessed her beauty. After all, the Slyheart Fox Bloodline relied primarily on charming opponents, so the women of the Zhu n were all beautiful. It was mostly a problem of rtivity.

    When Zhu Yunyan saw Su Chen, she smiled slightly before her expression sank a little bit. ¡°Little Yao,e down! Hugging and embracing in the streets? What next?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao reluctantly let go of Su Chen and stood off to the side.

    Zhu Yunyan said to Su Chen, ¡°We tried to get you toe so many times, but now you are finally willing to be a guest of the Zhu n?¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s not that I didn¡¯t want to. The timing just wasn¡¯t right before this.¡±

    ¡°Young Master Su must mean when the Zhu n has their hands full? Or you must have meant after you made a move on my older sister,¡± a lithe voice said.

    The speaker was a young maiden standing next to Zhu Yunyan. She wore a green dress, and her appearance was quite dainty and petite. A small red mole was at the corner of her eye, which stood out and differentiated her quite markedly from Zhu Xianyao.

    When the young maiden saw Su Chen gazing at her, she curtsied gracefully. ¡°Zhu Xianling greets Young Master Su...... or should I say, brother-inw.¡±

    ¡°Zhu Xianling......¡± Su Chen murmured with a twinkle in his eyes. ¡°You seem much younger than I thought you were.¡±

    Zhu Xianling was slightly startled before she realized that Su Chen was mocking her for her scheming tendencies andplicated mind.

    Her slim face immediately sank.

    Then, Su Chen asked Zhu Yunyan, ¡°Would Matriarch also like to know what the timing I am referring to is?¡±

    When she heard Su Chen refer to her as Matriarch, Zhu Yunyan¡¯s eyebrows jumped. ¡°As long as Young Master Su is willing toe, any timing is good timing.¡±

    As they conversed, Su Chen and Zhu Yunyan walked side-by-side into the main hall.

    The other members of the Zhu n frowned silently when they saw this.

    If Su Chen hade to take Zhu Xianyao as his wife, then he would have been a junior here. The fact that he had not treated Zhu Yunyan as a mother clearly indicated that he was not nning on assuming the identity of a son or a nephew.

    He actually seemed to want to stand on equal footing with Zhu Yunyan.

    Zhu Yunyan kept her temper in check quite well, but the nearby Zhu n elders were all somewhat unhappy, and some of the more easily-irritated elders even harrumphed right then and their.ere.

    Upon entering the room, the group of people sat down. Zhu Yunyan sat high up on the seat of honor. Su Chen sat to her right, and another elder sat to the left. His name was Zhu Yunfeng, Zhu Yunyan¡¯s older brother. Further down on the left side were Zhu Yunfan, Zhu Yunyu and Zhu Yunyue. Along with Zhu Yunyan, these five made up the cornerstones of the Zhu n. Below them was a row of elders.

    Zhu Xianyao, Zhu Xianling, and the other third-generation Zhu n disciples sat on Su Chen¡¯s side.

    As for the people who actually controlled the Zhu n, they would not appear here.

    Put inly, they simply did not ce much importance on Su Chen.

    This was a world where strength was supreme. Even though Su Chen was always bringing new ideas to fruition, what determined his status was still mostly his cultivation realm, his strength.

    After the proper introductions, Zhu Yunyan said, ¡°Young Master Su has managed to deal with a powerful enemy for the Zhu n in such a short period of time. I must thank you for that.¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°Matriarch is too courteous. I came from Empty Mountain and was just passing by, but when I considered that Xianyao was here, I decided toe pay her a visit. I didn¡¯t expect to run into this situation between the two ns.¡±

    He specifically brought up that he hade from Empty Mountain, making it quite abundant that he just so happened to pass by. Zhu Yunyan understood his intentions.

    She asked, ¡°Empty Mountain...... Did you go to see Miss Gu Qingluo?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Su Chen nodded.

    Zhu Yunyan nodded as well. ¡°No wonder. The power of an Origin Beast Bloodline is indeed

    ¡°It has nothing to do with a bloodline. My feelingse first,¡± Su Chen corrected.

    Zhu Yunyan finally understood exactly what Su Chen was trying to get at.

    She muttered to herself, ¡°Feelingse first...... So feelingse first, huh. I understand.¡±

    Zhu Yunyan nodded and didn¡¯t say much else. Instead, she brought up another topic of conversation.

    The two parties continued to converse in a friendly, easygoing manner.

    After some conversation, a subordinate whispered something in Zhu Yunyan¡¯s ears, and Zhu Yunyan said, ¡°Apologies, there are some things I need to take care of. Young Master Su must have been quite tired on his journey over. Why not take a rest? Little Yao, can you help me take care of our esteemed guest?¡±

    ¡°Yes, mother!¡± Zhu Xianyao respectfully replied, then took Su Chen and left.

    Zhu Yunyan said calmly as she watched Su Chen leave, ¡°You all could tell, right?¡±

    Zhu Yunfeng harrumphed from the side, ¡°How could we not tell? This Su Chen wants Little Yao to be a concubine!¡±

    Everyone revealed unhappy expressions.

    The Slyheart Fox n valued women. They were only pursued, not married out.

    How could a n who didn¡¯t even marry out their daughters possibly ept their eldest daughter bing a concubine?

    To the Zhu n, this not only broke the rules but also counted as a tremendous loss of face. If people were to say that they had given the Zhu n¡¯s eldest daughter to someone to be their concubine, how could she rule the lcan in the future?

    Actually, if Su Chen had proposed this while they were at Mountain Overlook City, the Zhu n might have actually agreed. After all, Su Chen had created a medicine that could increase the strength of their bloodline at that point in time. Now, however, the medicine had beenpleted, and they were in a different time now. Their attitude had clearly changed.

    On the other hand, Zhu Yunyan hadn¡¯t outright refused. She possessed quite a bit of insight and believed in Su Chen¡¯s talent. In the future, he would definitely achieve great things.

    But it was precisely for this reason that she wanted to bring Su Chen under her wing and turn himpletely into a member of the Zhu n.

    So whether or not they looked at him favorably, they would always want to pull Su Chen into the Zhu n, not marry Zhu Xianyao away.

 Sect - 28: Affectionate Thoughts

    After leaving the main hall, Su Chen walked with Zhu Xianyao, with Iron Cliff following closely behind.

    Zhu Xianyao leaned on Su Chen¡¯s shoulder, her heart full of sweetness.

    Unlike Zhu Yunyan, Zhu Xianyao had noints about Su Chen¡¯s needs. To her, getting married with Su Chen was the most important thing.

    Zhu Yunyan needed to consider the face of her n, while all Zhu Xianyao wanted was love.

    While the nobles were bitterly fighting to maintain the front, themoners had parted ways for the sake of adequate food and housing. Zhu Xianyao¡¯s situation was somewhat analogous to this.

    Ever since she had confirmed her own feelings in Mountain Overlook City, Zhu Xianyao realized this, so she was staunchly determined to be Su Chen¡¯s wife. Before she aplished this goal, she had no interest in considering other problems.

    ¡°I came this time both to see how you are and to see if I can take you back to the Boundless Sect with me,¡± Su Chen said as he began to exin how he had established his own sect.

    In this world, sects were not that rare, but they had very little influence and weren¡¯t all that important. The Boundless Sect alone was not much, but the territory of the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain was worth paying attention to.

    ¡°So you¡¯re right on the border of Liaoye! Yet you didn¡¯t tell me earlier or call me over,¡± Zhu Xianyao said to Su Chen with a hint of unhappiness and anger.

    ¡°Would you have been able toe if I had told you?¡± Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Look at the situation today. They almost used force to get me to stay with the Zhu n.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao pursed her lips. ¡°That¡¯s because they see you as important.¡±

    ¡°If she saw me as important, she wouldn¡¯t have let that Zhu Xianling get away with trying to assassinate you. Given how healthy and vibrant your sister looks, I very much question how much your mother really loves you,¡± Su Chen said calmly.

    Zhu Xianling had sent people to assassinate Zhu Xianyao while she was at West Laina Castle. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Su Chen had made a move to save her while disguised as You Tianyang, Zhu Xianyao would have died. That was what Su Chen was referring to.

    Zhu Xianyao sighed. ¡°My younger sister has always done things with caution. There¡¯s no evidence to say that those assassins were sent by her.¡±

    ¡°So have you needed evidence to reach the point you are at now?¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    Zhu Xianyao had brought a secret back with her that could increase the might of the Zhu n¡¯s bloodline, bringing her status up along with it. This was the reason she lived in such a carefree manner.

    This was the reason why Su Chen was surprised that Zhu Xianling was still out and about. It was not so much that ¡°evidence was found to punish Zhu Xianling for sending those assassins¡±, but more so that ¡°Zhu Xianyao¡¯s authority had greatly increased, and she had returned to get revenge.¡±

    The matter of the assassination was just the justification, not the method.

    When Zhu Xianyao heard this, she sighed. ¡°No matter what you say, she is still my mother¡¯s daughter. Even though I informed her that what happened at West Laina Castle was very likely rted to Zhu Xianling, my mother wasn¡¯t willing to believe it. All that happened was that she took away some of her authority and stripped her of some power.¡±

    ¡°Took away some of her authority and weakened her control a bit? But she seems very carefree next to your mother?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao replied, ¡°If your connections with the outside were severed, what would you do?¡±

    Su Chen instantly understood. ¡°I would grasp the internal situation firmly.¡±

    The less matters a person needed to oversee, the more spare energy they would have. People with ambition would never let this spare energy go to waste; instead, they would firmly grasp it and direct it somewhere else.

    As such, after Zhu Xianyao gained an advantage, Zhu Xianling didn¡¯t grow depressed because of it. Instead, she did her best to show ¡°respect¡± to her mother and rope in other n members. As a result, her actions became much more modest and respectful.

    While Zhu Xianyao was out annexing territory, Zhu Xianling was stirring up trouble on the inside. It seemed as if Zhu Xianyao possessed extraordinary influence and authority, but she was unaware that her rapport with the other n members was declining. It was unsurprising that she had overlooked her rtionships with others.

    The more brilliantly she dealt with matters, the more people she would offend!

    This was something that she couldn¡¯t do anything about.

    Most importantly, Zhu Xianyao had no grounds to criticize her younger sister even a little bit.

    ¡°So......¡± Zhu Xianyao shrugged helplessly, indicating that there was nothing she could do.

    Su Chen chuckled and didn¡¯t dwell on the topic. Instead, he said, ¡°Right, so what¡¯s going on between you and the Rong n? It seems like a big battle is about to take ce.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao seemed startled by this question.

    She gazed off in the distance, as if she was searching for something.

    After some time, she finally helplessly said, ¡°I have no idea.¡±

    ¡°No idea?¡± Su Chen was taken aback.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t expecting that response.

    Zhu Xianyao said, ¡°The Zhu n has been fighting with the Rong n for many years, and our roots go very deep. Sometimes we fight for no particr reason, and the only difference is howrge the conflict gets. This time, for some unknown reason, the Rong n has started to viciously provoke us. They ttened a number of the Zhu n¡¯s stores and even sent some people to take over some of them. These past few days, they have begun to attack our mines. The Zhu n could bear it no longer and finally retaliated......

    ¡°The Zhu n needed to bear it?¡± Su Chen chuckled. He didn¡¯t believe Zhu Xianyao one bit. He was not so naive as to think that this person by his side was definitely the good guy.

    Unexpectedly, Zhu Xianyao replied, ¡°The Zhu n really did endure this time.¡±

    This was the truth, but not because they were pacifists, but because of their bloodlines.

    Even though Zhu Xianyao had brought back medicines which would increase the might of the Zhu n¡¯s bloodlines, it would take some time for them to be truly effective.

    As such, the Zhu n didn¡¯t actually want to start a fight at this moment.

    However, just because they didn¡¯t want to fight didn¡¯t mean that they wouldn¡¯t need to. As long as one party wanted to fight, that was enough.

    This was the reason the situation had devolved to that point by the time Su Chen came.

    ¡°If a big battle like this breaks out, I¡¯m afraid your ns will be irreconcble, right?¡± su Chen asked.

    ¡°Of course. Even though the Zhu n and the Rong n have never seen eye to eye, and we have fought many times, there has never been such arge scale war because people have had misgivings precisely about that.¡±

    ¡°The Rong n wouldn¡¯t go crazy for no reason,¡± Su Chen said faintly.

    Zhu Xianyao was taken aback. ¡°You mean?¡±

    There must be some reason that gives them no other choice. For instance, if they don¡¯t fight now, they might never get the chance in the future...... or perhaps some other reason.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao understood what he meant. ¡°You mean that news of our bloodlines growing stronger leaked out?¡±

    ¡°I just brought it up on a whim. After all, I have only been here for a very short period of time.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao nodded. ¡°I thought of that possibility as well, but not many people know, and those people are all extremely trustworthy.¡±

    ¡°Does Zhu Xianling know?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao was startled for a moment before she began tough. ¡°You¡¯re trying to tie these two together? Unfortunately, I can only disappoint you. First of all, Zhu Xianling doesn¡¯t know about it, since I never gave it to her to use when I came back. Even though I couldn¡¯t officially retaliate for the assassination attempt, I am not so soft as to hand over what I worked hard to obtain so easily. Second of all, what Zhu Xianling wants is my position. Selling out her n doesn¡¯t really align with that goal.¡±

    ¡°Just because you didn¡¯t tell her doesn¡¯t mean she doesn¡¯t know. Actually, your refusal to give it to her only ostracized her more. Don¡¯t you feel that this would give her even more of a reason to sell out the n?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao was stunned.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Of course, I cannot say for sure whether she was involved, only that this is a possibility, and your reasons for refuting that possibility at this point are insufficient.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao said, ¡°I understand. I will keep a close eye on her.¡±

    Su Chen lowered his head once again in thought. ¡°However, even if news of the Zhu n increasing the strength of their bloodline was to spread, it still wouldn¡¯t be enough to provoke the Rong n to attack so recklessly. Since they possess a Demonic Emperor Bloodline, they could just migrate to a smaller city and continue to develop if they failed to gain control. Even though leaving their ce of origin might be emotionally painful, it¡¯s much better than being wiped out in an all-out conflict. I believe that they have many more reasons.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll only know once we do some investigation,¡± Su Chen replied.

    After thinking about it for some time, he said, ¡°This isn¡¯t that urgent, though. Since I am here, I cannot possibly stand idly by and watch while people bully my woman.¡±

    When she heard this, Zhu Xianyao felt happiness in her heart as she demurely lowered her head.

    She gently bit her lip. ¡°So you knew......¡±

    Su Chen said meaningfully, ¡°How could I not know?¡±

    As they spoke, they soon arrived at the residence prepared for Su Chen.

    Su Chen brought Zhu Xianyao inside, then turned around and said, ¡°You all are dismissed.¡±

    Iron Cliff and the others tactfully retreated.

    Su Chen stretched out his arms and brought Zhu Xianyao into his embrace.

    Zhu Xianyao gazed at Su Chen, her furious blushing telling Su Chen everything he needed to know.

    Su Chen parted his lips, but Zhu Xianyao ced a hand on his chest and said, ¡°Wait a moment.¡±

    How could Su Chen possibly wait? He wrapped himself around Zhu Xianyao tightly and began to kiss her passionately.

    Zhu Xianyao was being kissed so hard that she was gasping for air. She barely squeezed out, ¡°Don¡¯t...... Don¡¯t be in such a hurry. I haven¡¯t washed it yet.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t wait any longer. It¡¯s better if there¡¯s a little taste,¡± Su Chen smiled perversely at Zhu Xianyao as he picked her up and put her on the bed.

    Zhu Xianyao feltpletely sapped of energy and could only watch as Su Chen carried her onto the bed and began to pull off item after item of her clothing.

    Suddenly, a wave of sorrow surged in her heart, and she began to cry.

    Su Chen was totally caught off-guard by her tears and could only stop his movements. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao continued to cry.

    When Su Chen saw her like this, the mes of passion in his heart were put out, and he understood somewhat. ¡°I was in too much of a rush and didn¡¯t consider your feelings. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    As he spoke, he stood, preparing to make a tactful departure.

    Zhu Xianyao, however, pulled him in and leaned against his chest as she said quietly, ¡°I just..... I just was a bit unwilling.¡±

    Yes, a bit unwilling.

    She was unwilling to just be conquered like that, unwilling to ept Su Chen¡¯s favoring of Gu Qingluo, unwilling to ept that the lover she had missed so bitterly for so long could be so inconsiderate.

    She was unwilling about a lot of these things, causing her to resist it naturally.

    It wasn¡¯t because she didn¡¯t love Su Chen, but because she loved him too much. She was willing to be wronged for him, but she was also unwilling to be wronged like that. This was the reason she felt such sorrow.

    This kind of internal conflict wasn¡¯t easy to describe, but Su Chen was able to understand how she felt.

    He gently caressed Zhu Xianyao¡¯s hair. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I was too promiscuous.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao, however, shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s not strange for a talented man to have many wives and concubines. You aren¡¯t the one being promiscuous; I was just too proud to ept it, is all.¡±

    Perhaps future generations would feel that Zhu Xianyao was valuing herself too cheaply, but in this world, this kind of a system of values was seen as urate.

    To Zhu Xianyao, this was her feelings bowing to her rationality. After struggling with her aego for some time, she had managed to defeat it and had made what she deemed to be the correct decision.

    After realizing this point, Zhu Xianyao made up her mind and gently began to take off Su Chen¡¯s clothes, easing herself down......

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - 29: Variables

    When the sun came up and Zhu Xianyao awoke, she discovered that Su Chen was no longer by her side.

    She got out of bed and washed up, just so happening to run into Su Chen on his way back.

    He seemed as if he was quite travel-worn, but in his hand he held an oiled parchment pouch.

    When he saw Zhu Xianyao, Su Chen said, ¡°You woke up a bit earlier than I expected, but thankfully I managed to make it back in time. Here, for you.¡±

    He handed over the oiled parchment pouch in his hand to Zhu Xianyao.

    Zhu Xianyao opened it and nced inside, then cried out in surprise, ¡°Falling Horse Alley¡¯s Thousand-Layer Pastry and egg pancakes? How did you know I like to eat those things?¡±

    ¡°Of course I asked your subordinates. What would be the point in having a mouth otherwise?¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s face sank slightly. ¡°The Falling Horse Alley is under the Rong n¡¯s control. You went there again?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao appeared to be unhappy, but her words were filled with concern and care.

    ¡°Oh, I just happened to be passing by,¡± Su Chen carelessly replied.

    ¡°Passing by?¡± Zhu Xianyao was stunned. ¡°So then where did you go exactly?¡±

    ¡°Of course to the Rong n,¡± Su Chen replied matter-of-factly.

    ¡°What!?¡± Zhu Xianyao was badly startled.

    Are you crazy?

    She instinctively asked, ¡°What were you doing at the Rong n?¡±

    ¡°I went to go investigate why exactly they would pick a fight with you.¡±

    Su Chen walked over and embraced Zhu Xianyao. ¡°You know that I have the ability to camouge myself, so I can slip in.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao gulped. ¡°But you cannot deceive a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator.¡±

    Once a person¡¯s cultivation base reached the Spirit Burning Realm and opened Divine Pces within their bodies, their consciousness power would surge, and their perception would increase as a result. As long as they possessed any detection skills, it was very hard to pull the wool over their eyes. After all, humans were not as easy to trick as Ravagers.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I went a bit early, right before sunrise. That¡¯s when Yin and Yang are exchanging ces. Spirit Burning Realm cultivators must cultivate their Yin and Yang, while Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators must receive the Heavenly Temple, so they all must cultivate during this time and cannot care about anything else,¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    ¡°It¡¯s still very dangerous!¡± Zhu Xianyao said as she clenched her fists anxiously.

    This was the difference between the way Zhu Xianyao and Su Chen saw things. To Zhu Xianyao, infiltrating the Rong n was incredibly risky, and Su Chen could have died if even the slightest detail went wrong. To Su Chen, however, this kind of risk was nothing. After all, he had gone through so many tumultuous experiences at this point. The Rong n was really nothing to write home about.

    However, the reality was that the Rong n was strong enough to easily destroy five Su Chen¡¯s at once - at least, at this point in time.

    Many people would much more highly evaluate their ability to handle risk and danger after obtaining good benefits following a high-pressure situation. The benefit of this attitude was that the person became harder to fluster in these high-pressure situations, but the drawback was that they would begin to underestimate the risk involved in performing certain actions. This was exactly how most people eventually ended up capsizing their boat in a narrow strait.

    However, this was a necessary attitude to have. Otherwise, how could you aplish anything great?

    Even if I flip my boat, you are still merely a narrow strait, and I still despise you.

    However, Su Chen very much enjoyed Zhu Xianyao¡¯s concern and worry for him.

    He grabbed Zhu Xianyao¡¯s hand. ¡°The Moonstones have almost beenpletely mined out.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao wanted to say something more, but Su Chen¡¯s wordspletely erased whatever she had been thinking of. ¡°What?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°The Rong n¡¯s Moonstone Mine has almost been depleted. They must find a new mine, or else it will be very difficult for them to sustain themselves.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao said, ¡°But there haven¡¯t been any new veins of ore discovered recently.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why they must seize them by force. Since they are going to have to fight you one way or another, and your bloodlines are growing stronger, they would rather not dy.¡±

    ¡°But didn¡¯t you say that they could still survive if they moved locations, and that they didn¡¯t necessarily need to start arge-scale war?¡±

    ¡°It seems my analysis was wrong,¡± Su Chen sighed.

    Zhu Xianyao covered her mouth and giggled when she saw him sighing like this.

    She enjoyed seeing Su Chen like this. As a woman who was used to being in control, she particrly enjoyed seeing men frown and sigh - even if that man was her lover.

    Perhaps this was also because the impression Su Chen had left on her was too deep. Whenever she saw Su Chen frowning like this, she felt a mysterious sense of victory.

    ¡°You silly girl.¡± Su Chen pinched her cheeks. ¡°If you don¡¯t eat, the food is going to get cold.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao happily sat down and began to eat.

    ¡°Right, the Rong n should have kept this information extremely secret. How did you manage to find out about it?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I disguised myself as one of the Rong n¡¯s ountants and read through their most recent logs.

    ¡°Reading ounting logs in the morning?¡± Zhu Xianyao was startled.

    ¡°I read pretty fast,¡± Su Chenughed.

    His consciousness power was higher than two thousand units, and he possessed the consciousness crystal. As such, his ability to read and retain information was extraordinary.

    ¡°What else is there?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°They invited the Qian n.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s expression changed drastically. ¡°The White Deer Qian n?¡±

    Like the Zhu and Rong ns, the White Deer Qian n also possessed a Demonic Emperor Bloodline. They were based in Yunnan City and weren¡¯t weaker than the Zhu n in the slightest.

    If the Qian n were to ally with the Rong n to deal with the Zhu n, the Zhu n was doomed. This was perhaps the main reason why they hadn¡¯t unleashed an all-out attack yet.

    They were waiting for the Qian n to arrive.

    The Zhu n had considered the possibility that the Rong n might ask for help, but in the ended they had deemed it improbable.

    Zhu Xianyao said, ¡°Demonic Emperor Bloodline ns have existed for a long time, so each of them have trump cards unique to their n. Even if we are at a disadvantage, the Zhu n has ways of making them pay a heavy price if they push us too far. This price is definitely high enough that they cannot ept it, so outsiders normally wouldn¡¯t get involved in a battle between two long-standing ns. At the very least, I am aware of trump cards the n possesses that would even threaten a Thought Manifestation expert. The Qian n...... Why would they do something like that?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s only one possible exnation, which is that the rewards they have been promised vastly outweigh the price, making it worth their time to take such a risk.¡±

    ¡°What kind of rewards?¡±

    ¡°What about everything belonging to the Zhu n?¡± Su Chen calmly said. ¡°As long as the Qian n is willing to lend their support, they can take everything belonging to the Zhu n.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao was taken aback.

    How could that be the case? If the Rong n was so willing to let go of everything, then why even fight with the Zhu n in the first ce? It was totally pointless. Why wouldn¡¯t they just maintain the current status quo?

    There was a difference. The Rong n would definitely lose many lives, many experts they had spent lots of resources on training, and perhaps even some of their elders or leadership. However, the Rong n would not reap any of the benefits.

    The Rong n was clearly intent on harming others without any benefit to themselves!

    No wonder the Qian n had agreed to step in. They would fight with the Rong n but got to keep all of the profits. Who wouldn¡¯t be willing to do something like that?

    Zhu Xianyao seemed to realize something and said resolutely, ¡°There must be a problem with the Rong n! There¡¯s no way this situation is that simple!¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Su Chen sighed. ¡°Unfortunately, even I have no idea what that problem is.¡±

    The information he was able to glean from the ounts was limited. Even Su Chen didn¡¯t know what motivation the Rong n had for doing what they were doing, but he was very clear that the Rong n was not insane.

    ¡°We must immediately tell my mother!¡± Zhu Xianyao said as she stood up.

    This information was too important. It was impossible for her to remain seated any longer.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be in such a hurry.¡± Su Chen pushed her back down. ¡°The Qian n won¡¯t get here for a few more days, so we have some time. If you tell your mother now, the Rong n might detect it.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s heart trembled. ¡°You mean someone from the Zhu n is looking to sell us out?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s merely a possibility,¡± Su Chen said indifferently. ¡°Before we figure out how news of the Zhu n¡¯s bloodline bing stronger reached the Rong n, everything is still on the table.¡±

    ¡°My mother will not sell out the Zhu n!¡±

    ¡°I trust that she would not, but who can say whether or not she will tell someone else? Even if you instruct her very strictly, how can you be confident that she will not leak the information? There are all kinds of strange Origin Skills around. For instance, it¡¯s entirely possible that someone has a skill that allows them to listen in on other peoples¡¯ conversations,¡± Su Chen calmly said.

    Zhu Xianyao froze, unable to think of anything to say for some time.

    After a long while, she said with some resentment, ¡°So what should we do?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Find the person who is leaking information first.¡±

    ¡°How will we look for them?¡±

    Su Chen fell silent.

    He lowered his head in thought for some time before saying, ¡°I do have a method that will help us figure out who is selling out the Zhu n, and it can also help us determine the real reason that the Rong n is doing all of this. However, this n involves many experts, and will be extremely expensive.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao was a bit confused. Why would it be expensive if it involved lots of experts? And how expensive was expensive?

    Zhu Xianyao said, ¡°How many Origin Stones do you need? I will ask Mother for you.¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not referring to Origin Stones.¡±

    He was obviously nning on using the Origin Bone Scepter. With this item, finding the answer was obviously incredibly easy.

    However, the cost of using the Origin Bone Scepter to investigate a situation was much more costly than searching for the truth. The more people the prediction affected, the more variable the oue, and the more variable the oue, the more costly the prediction.

    The Zhu n needed to know two answers: who was selling out the Zhu n, and what the Rong n¡¯s motivation for their actions were.

    The number of people implicated in these answers and their strength was unknown, making it impossible to determine how high the cost would be.

    Su Chen was likely wealthy enough to afford this kind of expenditure, but he preferred to lower the cost if possible.

    He didn¡¯t intend for the Zhu n to pull out their wallets on his behalf. Rather, Su Chen had discovered that finding clues and eliminating certain oues lowered the cost of the prediction.

    For instance, if you knew that one person had just murdered another person, you would be able to infer that the murderer would likely be targeted for revenge on the same day.

    This was quite a simple and logical inference.

    In this inference, the murder was a known fact, and the possibility of revenge was an oue.

    When the facts and oues lined up logically, and both partiescked a reason to change the oue, the situation would develop normally.

    If, during this process, some powerful individual were to appear and force the person seeking revenge to stop, then the oue would change. This powerful individual was thus a variable.

    The Origin Bone Scepter required a big sacrifice to predict how humans would behave because humans were inherent variables.

    The more people involved, the greater the variability of the oues.

    When countless individuals were introducing variability, future oues would be incredibly variable. Under these kinds of circumstances, it would take a tremendous sacrifice to force the Origin Bone Scepter into giving an answer.

    But what if variables were removed?

    Using the example above, if someone knew that the murderer was definitely going to run into the powerful individual and had made adequate preparations, then the variables would be constants, and a prediction would be much easier to make.

    If the people from the n seeking revenge were to find out about that, that was a constant that also needed to be factored into predicting possible oues.

    Actually, what changes would take ce in the future depended on the reasoning and spection of the parties involved.

    In other words, even if the party seeking revenge did not possess the Origin Bone Scepter, they could still make a prediction. Under these circumstances, if someone who did possess the Origin Bone Scepter were to use it, the cost would be much lower. This was because the Origin Bone Scepter was not being used to brute-force analyze the possible oues but instead following a person¡¯s own logical reasoning.

    Simply put, future oues were determined by countless variables. Every variable you removed would decrease the difficulty of making the prediction and thus the cost.

    As such, Su Chen hoped to be able to get rid of a few variables first and then inquire so that the cost would decrease greatly, and the chances of sess would increase as a result.

    [1] Means to make an absurd error.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - 30: Bai

    t

    Both eliminating people from a pool of suspects and picking out a few suspicious individuals from arge group eliminated variables, but the different methods brought about different results.

    Without question, thetter was far more effective.

    As a result, Su Chen intended to first find a few suspicious targets and use them as the foundation for his further predictions, decreasing the cost required by the Origin Bone Scepter.

    However, he couldn¡¯t just blindly search for suspicious individuals. There needed to be an appropriate foundation; otherwise, he was basically trying to win the lottery.

    This required everyone to think of possible methods.

    Zhu Xianyao pondered for some time but couldn¡¯te up with anything. In the end, she pursed her lips and grabbed Su Chen¡¯s arm as she said, ¡°Youe up with sneaky ideas all the time. Tell me what you think we should do.¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°I only just got here, so I¡¯m not familiar with the people here.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care. You still need to help me think of a way.¡±

    Women were unbeatable when they threw tantrums.

    Su Chen waspletely helpless and could only nod. ¡°I do have an idea. It¡¯s a bit silly, but it should be quite effective......¡±

    Within the Rong n.

    Rong Xiangsheng sat on high, his expression deathly calm. ¡°None of you noticed someone sneak into the ounting office?¡±

    A person kneeling on the ground replied, trembling with fear, ¡°That person came under the identity of Steward Liu. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Steward Liu staunchly rejected the notion that he hade in the morning, we wouldn¡¯t have discovered it at all. This person should possess some kind of disguise technique.¡±

    ¡°It was Su Chen!¡± someone standing to the side said. ¡°We received word from the Tranquility Hall that Su Chen was able to emerge from Ravager territory unscathed because of this camouge technique.¡±

    This person¡¯s name was Rong Zibai, one of the Rong n¡¯s mid-ranking elders.

    Rong Xiangsheng harrumphed. ¡°Those Ravagers are all half-blind anyways. Are you trying to say that the Rong n is as well?¡±

    Rong Zibai was a bit embarrassed. ¡°When Su Chen came, it was right before dawn, when Yin was transitioning to Yang...... The others possessed insufficient cultivation bases, so it was impossible for them to see through his disguise.¡±

    ¡°Not even Light Shaking Realm cultivators could see through his disguise?" A voice suddenly floated in their direction from behind them. Surprisingly, this voit sounded very clear and sweet.

    Upon hearing this voice, Rong Zixing hurriedly said, "There were a few Light Shaking Realm cultivators present when Su Chen came, but no one washable to detect that he was fake. Perhaps only someone at a higher cultivation realm would be able to see through his disguise."

    The voice spoke after remaining silent for some time. "If it¡¯s not that this person¡¯s illusion techniques are incredibly powerful, then it¡¯s that his consciousness energy is incredibly powerful. But regardless of which is true, this means that this person possesses incredible potential and can be a huge thorn in our side. If this person is also smart....."

    ince

    The voice did not continue to speak, but Rong Xiangsheng¡¯s expression paled somewhat.

    Su Chen¡¯s identity had gradually begun to spread, and his status as the Worldly Sage was gradually taking on real substance.

    This person¡¯s strength and intelligence were both more than sufficient.

    As for his courage and boldness, they naturally didn¡¯t even need to be mentioned.

    Even Rong Xiangsheng couldn¡¯t help but grow anxious when he considered that Su Chen had somehow slipped into the Rong n without anyone noticing and had looked over their ounting logs.

    He said to the voice, ¡°This Su Chen won¡¯t be able to run around as he pleases for long. Once the Qian n¡¯s soldiers arrive, we will definitely wipe him out.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid our opponent won¡¯t give us that much time,¡± the voice sighed gently.

    Just at that moment, a Rong n subordinate walked in from outside and knelt in front of Rong Xiangsheng, saying, ¡°We just received word that Su Chen left the Zhu n.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Rong Xiangsheng immediately stood. ¡°Where is he going?¡±

    ¡°He went out the east door and headed for Behind Heaven Mountain.¡±

    ¡°Who notified us?¡±

    ¡°The person stationed in their residence. Su Chen camouged himself, but just so happened to be spotted by them, and they already ced some incense on him as a tracker. As long as we use the Incense-Finding Beast, we will be able to find him.¡±

    ¡°Was that person the only one that saw?¡±

    ¡°No, they were with a few of the Zhu n¡¯s Young Masters at that point in time.¡±

    Rong Xiangsheng sighed in relief. ¡°That¡¯s good then.¡±

    Rong Zibai said, ¡°Patriarch, I¡¯ll take some men with me right now to take him out.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be in such a hurry.¡± Rong Xiangsheng took a few steps back, falling into contemtion.

    The voice from behind said, ¡°Are you worried about something?¡±

    Rong Xiangsheng sighed. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m worried that the opponent is just baiting us.¡±

    The voice said, ¡°Can you confirm whether or not he is?¡±

    Rong Xiangsheng shook his head. ¡°I can¡¯t. This might be an opportunity, or it might be a trap, but until all the cards areid out on the table it¡¯s impossible to know which one it is. That¡¯s why I wanted to ask you for your opinion.¡±

    The voice said, ¡°Since you cannot conclude anything from the source, then you can only make a decision by weighing the costs and the benefits. Su Chen is indeed a big problem, and once the Qian nes to support you, you will be able to use force to resolve any problems that might arise. As such, his existence won¡¯t really matter that much anymore.¡±

    Rong Xiangsheng understood what that person meant and nodded. ¡°That makes sense. Since that¡¯s the case, I¡¯ll send Old Third to take care of him.¡±

    The Rong n¡¯s Old Third was named Rong Xiangzhan, a Spirit Burning Realm expert, and a highyer one at that.

    Rong Xiangzhan was obviously very unhappy at being sent to kill a Light Shaking Realm junior.

    In his eyes, killing a chicken like Su Chen was equivalent to using an elephant to kill an ant.

    But since the patriarch had made an order, he couldn¡¯t refuse outright, so he could only grumble and reluctantly set out.

    Under the leading of the Incense-Finding Beast, Rong Xiangzhan very quickly arrived at Behind Heaven Mountain and found a lonely figure standing there.

    The figure stood there with a cloak on,pletely motionless.

    As if the figure sensed the motion in the air, it raised its head to look at Rong Xiangzhan, revealing a young, tender face.

    Rong Xiangzhan barked, ¡°Su Chen! I¡¯m here to take your life!¡±

    Heunched a fist at the figure.

    The fist descended on that person like a mountain, scattering brilliant light in all directions. The boundless energy from the punch continued through the figure and carved a deep gash in the ground that stretched for hundreds of meters.

    However, after the residual energy from the punch had cleared, no chunks of flesh or blood could be seen anywhere.

    Rong Xiangzhan felt no resistance to his blow, and the person who was just standing in front of him had disappeared without a trace.

    What was going on?

    Su Chen just disappeared?

    Rong Xiangzhan was stunned. He whirled around, searching his surroundings, but found nothing out of the ordinary.

    Suddenly, he heard the sounds of people descending rapidly behind him. It was Rong Xiangsheng and his group of subordinates.

    ¡°Patriarch? Howe you¡¯re here?¡± Rong Xiangzhan was stunned.

    Rong Xiangsheng stared at the surroundings with a steely expression.

    He hade naturally to prevent the Zhu n from catching them in a trap. He had allowed Rong Xiangzhan to be the bait, and if the Zhu n had ced an ambush here, he would have taken advantage of the opportunity to ughter them.

    Even so, the oue of the situation exceeded his expectations.

    That Su Chen was indeed not Su Chen, but the ambush he had been expecting didn¡¯te either.

    Everything had disappeared and returned to normal, as if it was all just a small prank.

    As Rong Xiangsheng nced around at the deste surroundings, he muttered, ¡°Su Chen, what exactly are you up to?¡±

    Within the Zhu Residence.

    Su Chen calmly said, ¡°The clone at Behind Heaven Mountain died. Rong Xiangzhan was the one who killed him.¡±

    ¡°Behind Heaven Mountain?¡± Zhu Xianyao trembled. ¡°You mean to say...... it was my younger sister¡¯s doing?¡±

    Su Chen had used a very simple method to find a group of suspects. He had purposefully caused his clones to appear in front of the appropriate group of individuals, then sent his clones to different locations.

    As long as one of the clones was attacked, Su Chen would be able to more easily determine who might have revealed his movements.

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t possibly assign a clone to every member of the Zhu n because of how many there were, so this method was only able to deal with groups. Even though it wouldn¡¯t allow him to precisely determine who was the person selling out the Zhu n, he could at least get a general sense of that person¡¯s identity.

    The clone that had gone to Behind Heaven Mountain had appeared in front of Zhu Xianling, Zhu Shaojie, and a bunch of other Zhu n juniors.

    ¡°I can¡¯t confirm that yet. Also, didn¡¯t you say that Zhu Xianling didn¡¯t know about the matter of the Zhu n¡¯s bloodline getting stronger?¡± Su Chen replied.

    Zhu Xianyao replied angrily, ¡°Who else could it have been? She must have found out from someone who just couldn¡¯t keep quiet and then used it to sell out the n.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll know whether or not it was her if we give it a try,¡± Su Chen said as he pulled out the Origin Bone Scepter and the sacrificial altar, cing a sacrifice on it.

    This was the first time that Zhu Xianyao was witnessing Su Chen harness the power of time. When she sensed the incredibly vast power emanating from the scepter, she couldn¡¯t help but feel slightly weak. ¡°Is this the power of an Origin Beast? Even though it¡¯s already been dead for tens of thousands of years, the bone still possesses such extraordinary power.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but not every one of its bones is like this. This one happens to be the essence bone,¡± Su Chen corrected. He was still somewhat unwilling to acknowledge that a powerful existence could continue to influence the world long after their death, so even though that kind of a notion seemed pretty awe-inspiring, it was totally useless to Su Chen. After all, his goal was to increase the strength of the human race and surpass the Beast Race¡¯s might one day. If any single bone from an Origin Beast could be this powerful, then the human race really would be out of luck.

    Even though this Origin Bone Scepter was very powerful, it wasn¡¯t just because it was a bone from an Origin Beast, but also because it had obtained lots of resources and nourishment from the sacrifices offered to it throughout the years. Otherwise, why wouldn¡¯t those from the Gu n who had awakened their Origin Bloodlines aplish simr feats?

    In any case, even this broken power was of limited in use in Su Chen¡¯s eyes and needed to be surpassed at some point. Otherwise, he would lose his purpose for living.

    Su Chen had the mindset of an experimenter and wanted to see how much he could save by cutting down on some variables, so he started with a very cheap sacrifice and prepared to make multiple sacrifices.

    Unexpectedly, an illusory image appeared as soon as he ced the sacrifice on the altar.

    He had seeded in one try?

    The two of them watched as, in the hazy image, Zhu Xianling was kneeling on the ground, being interrogated by the Zhu n.

    There were no voices, and the image was a bit blurry. Zhu Xianyao had no way of confirming what they were saying, but she still began to yell with excitement, ¡°So it was her! This damned woman was selling out our n! I¡¯m going to go tell my mother right now.¡±

    As she spoke, Zhu Xianyao hurried over to the n¡¯s main hall.

    Su Chen wanted to call her back, but as he watched the scene continue to y out, his heart trembled slightly. In the end, he kept his silence and watched Zhu Xianyao walk away.

    After some time, the sacrifice on the altar had disappeared, and the illusory image faded away.

    Su Chen lowered his head in thought for some time before heading over to the Zhu n¡¯s main hall.

    In that short period of time, the Zhu n¡¯s main hall had exploded with activity.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - 31: Framed

    Zhu Xianling was already kneeling on the ground and being interrogated by the Zhu n by the time Su Chen arrived.

    It was impossible for her not to kneel. The crime of selling out a n was incredibly serious.

    However, to Su Chen, the scene before his very eyes was what was noteworthy - it was identical to the scene he had seen on the altar.

    So the cost was low because the oue had not been changed?

    Su Chen had considered stopping Zhu Xianyao when she was heading for the main hall, because he still had some suspicions in his heart.

    However, a question about the cost of the sacrifice surfaced in his heart at that moment.

    He had made a prediction within the rules, so he didn¡¯t attempt to stop Zhu Xianyao, causing the situation to unfold exactly as the Origin Bone Scepter had predicted.

    The prediction was unchanged and became reality, which was the reason why the cost was so low.

    What if he had tried to stop her?

    If he had stopped Zhu Xianyao, the prediction would have changed.

    But the prediction had already been made at that point, and the resources had been taken, so the cost would have been low either way. If he had forcibly tried to change the oue, then it would be at odds with the sacrifice he had been required to make in order to obtain this prediction.

    The cost of the prediction was made under the assumption that it would not be changed. What would have happened if he had tried to change the prediction on a whim?

    In other words, did the Origin Bone Scepter know from the beginning that he wouldn¡¯t try to change the oue? And was that why it had chosen a low cost?

    Or was it secretly influencing him?

    Was it fated to be by some higher power? Or were the powers of time meddling with the situation?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know. After all, his previous experiments with the Origin Bone Scepters were all quite meticulously performed. This was his first timeing into contact with this aspect of the scepter.

    The interrogation of Zhu Xianling was continuing within the main hall.

    Zhu Xianyao had finished exining the situation, and Zhu Yunyan was totally stunned when she heard.

    Zhu Yunyan asked, ¡°Little Yao, are you sure that¡¯s the truth?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao replied, ¡°Mother, Xianyao¡¯s every word is true.¡±

    ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, would you be able to tell me what secret technique Su Chen used?¡±

    ¡°This......¡± Zhu Xianyao turned around to nce at Su Chen. Without his permission, she would not divulge that information.

    ¡°A kind of time technique which requires Sands of Time to use,¡± Su Chen said as he pulled out a handful of sand.

    The Origin Bone Scepter was an incredibly important item. There was no way that he would reveal its existence. Otherwise, the person being interrogated wouldn¡¯t be Zhu Xianling but himself.

    Inparison, even though the Sands of Time were a precious treasure, their value was far lower than the Origin Bone Scepter because of the fact that they were consumable. As such, they served as a perfect cover-up for the Origin Bone Scepter.

    The principles behind the Dao of Time were incredibly profound, and no one really knew whether or not the Sands of Time could be used in this way. Since Su Chen said that he could, then they epted it.

    Zhu Xianling harrumphed. ¡°So you don¡¯t have any evidence at all? You used an imaginary prediction to try and pin this crime on me?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao said angrily, ¡°Who else could it be if it wasn¡¯t you? Back then......¡±

    ¡°Xianyao!¡± Su Chen interrupted her.

    He knew that Zhu Xianyao wanted to punish Zhu Xianling for trying to kill her, but now was not the right time to bring up that matter. Bringing it up now would only make it seem like Zhu Xianyao was trying to get revenge. Even though Zhu Xianling¡¯s crime of attempting to assassinate her older sister was despicable, the crime of selling out the n was an entirely different matter.

    Zhu Xianyao also realized this, so she quickly closed her mouth upon Su Chen¡¯s reminder. However, she continued to re at Zhu Xianling, breathing hard with anger.

    Zhu Xianling said, ¡°Mother, are you really going to allow an outsider to humiliate your daughter like this?¡±

    Zhu Yunyan¡¯s eyebrows were firmly knit together in a frown. ¡°Su Chen, do you have any evidence to suggest that Zhu Xianling sold out the Zhu n?¡±

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen replied, ¡°I never believed that Second Young Miss sold out the Zhu n.¡±

    What?

    Everyone stared at Su Chen.

    Su Chen said, ¡°I only saw from the prediction that Second Young Miss was going to be interrogated.¡±

    ¡°Is there a difference?¡±

    ¡°Of course. Predictions are not omniscient, and they cannot be used as question-answer machines. All it can do is present me with some representation of a certain situation that urs in time. As for whether or not this representation is true or not, or what the importance of the representation is, neither of those things are what they need to be concerned about.¡±

    Everyone understood what Su Chen meant now.

    The prediction was that Zhu Xianling was going to be interrogated, but it did not predict what the oue of the interrogation was going to be.

    In other words, it was quite likely that Zhu Xianling was being wronged, and that the oue of this investigation would find that she was meless. However, none of this was presented in the prediction, so no one was able to know which was true.

    Believing that Zhu Xianling had sold out the n simply because she was being interrogated would be totally wrong.

    Zhu Xianyao was equally surprised. ¡°Su Chen, you......¡±

    ¡°Xianyao, I understand how you feel, but I must tell the truth,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°I came here to marry you, not to harm anyone else. Whether or not Second Young Miss has sold out the n, I cannot say, as the prediction hsa not told me. As such, I must rify the situation.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao felt her heart tremble when he said this. Even though she was upset that Su Chen wasn¡¯t speaking on her behalf, she had to admit that his words were logical. The frustration in her heart had no outlet, so she could only re at Zhu Xianling. In her heart, Zhu Xianling was without question the individual who had sold out the n.

    Zhu Xianling, on the other hand, chuckled coldly. ¡°Oh, I never would have expected Prince Su to be such a righteous man. If that¡¯s the case, then would Prince Su also agree that I am innocent?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°All I¡¯m saying is that the prediction alone was not enough to determine whether or not you are guilty. I did not, however, say that there were no problems on your end.¡±

    Zhu Xianling¡¯s expression changed. ¡°What are you trying to say?¡±

    Su Chen indifferently said, ¡°Xianyao was in too much of a hurry to tell on you, so she missed the second half of the prediction.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Zhu Xianyao was stunned.

    Su Chen said to Zhu Xianling. ¡°There should be an emergency transmission talisman on you that will immediately send word to the Rong n as soon as it is burned. That was probably what you used to send word to the Rong n that I had gone to Behind Heaven Mountain, right?¡±

    Zhu Xianling immediately stood. ¡°What nonsense are you spouting now?¡±

    Zhu Yunyan jabbed her finger out at Zhu Xianling, forcing her to kneel yet again.

    Next, Zhu Yunyan waved her arms. Zhu Xianling¡¯s Origin Ring flew over to Zhu Yunyan¡¯s hand. Zhu Yunyan nced inside and found nothing, so she then proceeded to search Zhu Xianling herself. Suddenly, a talisman came floating out from Zhu Xianling¡¯s clothes andnded in Zhu Yunyan¡¯s hands. It was indeed an emergency transmission talisman.

    Zhu Yunyan merely infused a small strand of perception inside before immediately saying, ¡°It¡¯s one of the Rong n¡¯s emergency transmission talismans! Xianling, you really have guts!¡±

    She was so infuriated that her entire body was trembling violently.

    Zhu Xianling was shocked. ¡°Mother, I didn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Still trying to quibble?¡± Zhu Yunyan gestured. An invisible hand grabbed Zhu Xianling by the throat, picking her up into the air.

    Even so, Zhu Xianling continued to shriek, ¡°I...... really didn¡¯t...... this is...... they are...... framing...... me......¡±

    ¡°Shut your mouth! Xianyao and Su Chen have never even touched you once, so how could they frame you? Do they have the ability to pull something off right under my nose? You just couldn¡¯t get over your jealousy of your sister and even sold out the n. You have really disappointed me this time!¡±

    Zhu Yunyan continued to tighten her grip, causing Zhu Xianling¡¯s eyes to roll into the back of her head.

    It seemed as if she was nning on choking Zhu Xianling to death right then and there.

    At that moment, Su Chen suddenly said, ¡°Please, wait just a moment.¡±

    Zhu Yunyan released her grip, causing Zhu Xianling to copse onto the floor.

    Zhu Yunyan stared at Su Chen intently. ¡°Is there something else?¡±

    ¡°Can I take a look at that talisman?¡± Su Chen asked as he walked over.

    Zhu Yunyan tossed the talisman over to Su Chen. Su Chen picked it up and inspected it a few times, then sniffed it and stared intently at Zhu Xianling.

    Zhu Xianyao was totally mystified by his actions. She asked him quietly, ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that I am going to say something you¡¯re not going to like.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao was stunned. ¡°You......¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°It seems to me that Second Young Miss was really framed.¡±

    Everyone waspletely caught off-guard yet again.

    Zhu Yunyan asked, ¡°Su Chen, what do you mean?¡±

    Su Chen pointed at the talisman and said, ¡°Even though I haven¡¯t known Second Young Miss for a long time, I can smell the unique perfume that she uses. This fragrant perfume smells quite nice, but it is also incredibly sticky and gets everywhere. The talisman in my hand, however, has no such smell. Obviously, Second Young Miss has not been carrying it around for a long time.¡±

    Everyone nced at each other when they heard Su Chen¡¯s words.

    Zhu Xianyao was dissatisfied with that answer. ¡°Perhaps she just changed her clothes?¡±

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°That¡¯s another problem. Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s strange? Second Young Miss obviously has an Origin Ring, but instead of keeping it in the Origin Ring, she kept it in her clothes instead. What does that mean?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao was taken aback and couldn¡¯te up with an answer.

    If she had an Origin Ring, yet insisted on keeping the talisman on her, was she not afraid of identally dropping it and exposing herself?

    The Zhu n¡¯s members turned to look at each other yet again.

    Zhu Yunyan said, ¡°Prince Su means......¡±

    ¡°Someone secretly nted this talisman on Second Young Miss. Only this can exin why the talisman was not found in Second Young Miss¡¯s Origin Ring, and why the talisman does not smell of the same perfume that Second Young Miss normally wears,¡± Su Chen said.

    Upon hearing these words, Zhu Yunyan sighed with relief. Obviously, she was also unwilling to ept that her daughter was selling out the n.

    ¡°Who would dare frame my daughter like that?¡± Zhu Yunyan¡¯s expression was filled with anger.

    ¡°We must ask Second Young Miss that question. Before you came, did youe in contact with anyone? I mean the physical kind,¡± Su Chen asked.

    Zhu Xianling was obviously quite badly shaken by the rollercoaster ride that had just taken ce.

    She thought for a moment, then shook her head resolutely and said, ¡°No one.¡±

    What?

    Everyone was taken aback.

    Zhu Xianling replied very confidently, ¡°Before I came, I was chatting with Fourth Junior Sister and Sixth Junior Brother, but I never came in physical contact with them.¡±

    Zhu Yunyan stood. ¡°Are you sure? Xianling, this is rted to your innocence.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s precisely because this is rted to my innocence that I cannot speak carelessly. Otherwise, wouldn¡¯t I be harming my own brothers and sisters?¡± Zhu Xianling didn¡¯t forget to jab at Zhu Xianyao as she shot Zhu Xianyao a re.

    Everyone was totally dumbfounded by Zhu Xianling¡¯s answer. How were they to investigate the situation now?

    Su Chen suddenly said, ¡°No, there is someone who came in contact with you. I saw it firsthand when I used the clones to trick you guys.¡±

    Zhu Xianling was stunned. ¡°How is that possible? How would I not have known if someone did that to me?¡±

    ¡°Because you never saw them as a person in the first ce.¡±

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 32: Trap

    Chapter 32: Trap

    Qin Wu stood quietly in the yard,pletely motionless.

    As a puppet under the Zhu n¡¯s control, he did not need to move unless his master gave him a n.

    In some sense, a person who had lost control over their own body was not really a person anymore.

    However, in this moment, he suddenly sprang into action.

    He walked towards Zhu Xianling¡¯s room, picked up a few items, then left.

    Because he was a puppet controlled by Zhu Xianling, no one paid him any attention, believing his movements to be of Zhu Xianling¡¯smand. After all, there was a consciousness connection between the master and the servant, so as long as the distance between them wasn¡¯t too far, the person in control could make direct orders for the person being controlled to carry out. This was exactly what it looked like to any bystanders.

    Qin Wu walked out of the Zhu n just like that.

    No one tried to stop him.

    A brief momentter, Zhu Yunyan and the others arrived in Zhu Xianling¡¯s yard. When they saw that it was totally empty, Zhu Xianling¡¯s expression turned a bit ugly. ¡°Without mymand, he will not move on his own.¡±

    Su Chen nced at the open side door. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that the situation isn¡¯t as simple as just him leaving without yourmand.¡±

    Zhu Xianling was stunned. She hurried into her room, then plopped down onto the ground when she saw it. ¡°He even stole my Opportunity Leading Stone and my ughter Spirit Dagger. How...... how could this be?¡±

    Zhu Xianling was quite shaken by the fact that her servant had somehow managed to turn the tables on her.

    Su Chen said, ¡°You should be happy. At the very least, this proves your innocence.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he turned to face Zhu Yunyan. ¡°Does Matriarch know of any techniques that can break the control the Zhu n¡¯s consciousness control over certain targets?¡±

    Zhu Yunyan¡¯s expression was ugly. ¡°The Zhu n¡¯s consciousness control technique is not invincible, but it¡¯s not easy to do so. Most importantly, there is no way that someone¡¯s control can be broken without them knowing. Xianling, how could you not know that your control over your puppet was broken?¡±

    Zhu Xianling replied, dumbfounded, ¡°I really don¡¯t know. I can still sense my connection with him, which hasn¡¯t been broken yet. I have no clue why I cannot control him.¡±

    ¡°Can you try to call him over now?¡±

    Zhu Xianling gave it a shot, then replied with a pale expression, ¡°I can sense his existence, but he is ignoring me.¡±

    ¡°So you can still sense him?¡± Su Chen asked quickly.

    The Zhu n¡¯s members all understood what he was getting at.

    Qin Wu¡¯s control had obviously been broken by some expert, who had even preserved the connection between the original master and Qin Wu so that the original master wouldn¡¯t be able to detect that there was something wrong with their servant. Now, however, this advantage turned into a deathblow for the opponent. As long as she pursued this sense, she would be able to find the culprit.

    Zhu Yunyan said agitatedly, ¡°Where is he right now?¡±

    Zhu Xianling replied, ¡°He left the city.¡±

    ¡°After him!¡± Zhu Yunyan yelled loudly.

    The Zhu n¡¯s elders all simultaneously flew into the air, bringing Zhu Xianling with them as they departed.

    Su Chen remained in the courtyardpletely motionless, as if he was thinking about something.

    Zhu Xianyao tried to snap him out of it. ¡°Su Chen!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be in such a hurry,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°There¡¯s still one item of business to take care of.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t understand.

    Su Chen pulled out the altar and the scepter.

    He said, ¡°You made your report too hastily earlier. Did you forget that I was nning on making two predictions?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao finally remembered that Su Chen was nning on predicting one more item, which was why the Rong n was so eager to deal with the Zhu n even if they had to give up all the potential profits they could obtain.

    But why was he trying to make the sacrifice now?

    Zhu Xianyao watched closely as Su Chen began to ce items upon the altar.

    Unlike before, the sacrifice Su Chen had ced on the altar was much more expensive, indicating how much more important this prediction was.

    At the same time, Su Chen said, ¡°The fact that Zhu Xianling¡¯s servant was controlled by someone else and using a method that prevented her from discovering this fact definitely indicates that our opponent is not someone simple. This should have eliminated yet another set of variables from the equation. Hopefully, this decrease in cost will help us find the answer. Well then...... let¡¯s get started. I want to know about the secret that the Rong n is hiding.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, the sacrifices began to disappear into thin air, as if they had never existed.

    However, the prediction that Su Chen was waiting for never appeared.

    The sky waspletely empty, as if there was nothing at all.

    Zhu Xianyao was stunned. ¡°This is......¡±

    ¡°It failed,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Failed?

    Zhu Xianyao felt dizzy.

    A Demonic Lord Origin Crystal and arge quantity of supplementary resources had disappeared for seemingly no rhyme or reason, all just for Su Chen to say that it had failed?

    Zhu Xianyao stared at Su Chen in shock.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s the Origin Bone Scepter for you. It¡¯s just that temperamental. You¡¯ll get used to it when you use it more.¡±

    It seemed like he didn¡¯t care in the slightest.

    ¡°Then...... Do you want to try again?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked with some hesitation.

    ¡°Try again?¡± Su Chen tilted his head in thought for a moment before shaking his head. ¡°There¡¯s no need. Did you know? Failure is also a kind of answer. Even though it doesn¡¯t tell you the truth, it at least tells you what kind of opponent you are facing off against. It seems that you guys are in for some trouble this time.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s expression shifted drastically. ¡°Not good. Mother!¡±

    She finally understood why Su Chen had chosen to make a prediction at this specific point in time.

    Many figures shot through the air at high speed, leaving behind long white streaks of air in their wake. They stopped and descended once they were thirty kilometers outside of the city.

    From there, they were able to observe the surroundings from on high, and they happened to see a person running quickly across the ground.

    ¡°It¡¯s Qin Wu!¡± Zhu Yunfeng said.

    ¡°Then what are we waiting for?¡± Zhu Yunfan, who was standing to the side, reached out and wed at the person running below.

    As a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator, his attacks were exceptionally powerful. This w seemed to blot out the sun, enveloping an area many square kilometers in side. No matter how his target tried to dodge, it was impossible for him to escape.

    Qin Wu, however, seemed to have no intention of trying to escape. He nced up at the sky before stopping in ce, allowing the w to descend on him.

    Just as the w was about to m into Qin Wu, Zhu Yunyan finally discovered that something wasn¡¯t right. The color drained from her face as she said, ¡°Yunfan, be careful!¡±

    An instantter, a pitch-ck light began to shine.

    This light really waspletely without color. It surged through the air like a shadow, but it carried the powerful aura of death.

    This sensation came from the power of darkness, but extremely concentrated and intensified.

    Zhu Yunfan hurriedly withdrew his hand as he cried out in pain. A deep gash had opened up on his hand at an unknown time, the blood in the wound stained ck as his arm began to corrode away. It quickly traveled up his palm into his arm.

    Zhu Yunfan hurriedly lifted up his de and decisively chopped his left arm off. The severed limb very quickly began to regenerate.

    However, it was of no use. The wound was still there, and it continued to expand.

    This kind of darkness poison was capable of prating deep into the bone, making it nearly impossible to force out.

    Zhu Yunfan¡¯s body began to emit a strange hum as one Divine Pce after another began to appear. As the hum began to grow stronger, it seemed that the Heavens and the earth were resonating at the same frequency, and the ck corrosive poison stopped its advance.

    ¡°Oh my! A mere shadow puppet is enough to force three elders to activate their Divine Pces? Isn¡¯t creating such amotion a bit overkill?¡±

    A figure appeared following this coquettish mocking. It was a woman dressed in royal attire.

    She was standing right in Qin Wu¡¯s shadow, but no one had noticed her until she attacked. Even a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator had been unable to sense her presence.

    This was the Rong n¡¯s Darkness Concealment. As long as a small amount of darkness was present, they were able to use it to disappearpletely.

    As such, not everyone who possessed the same ability was equal - there were also differences in depth of mastery.

    Inparison, Su Chen¡¯s depth of mastery over Darkness Concealment was obviously a level inferior, and there was lots of room for him to improve.

    ¡°Rong Xiangcai, you slut! It¡¯s you?¡± Zhu Yunfan cursed angrily.

    The woman didn¡¯t seem to be angry at being cursed at. She giggled, ¡°Oh, it¡¯s not just me!¡±

    ¡°Careful!¡± Zhu Yunfan yelled loudly as he unleashed a palm strike right behind Zhu Yunfan. Originally, there was no one behind him, but a contorted figure twisted out of the shadows, assuming human shape and withstanding the blow.

    Since they were in the air, there was no shadow to be seen, so they had no idea how this person had managed to conceal themselves.

    At the same time, countless figures suddenly appeared out of seemingly nowhere, sending a massive, overwhelming wave of Origin Energy in all directions.

    When the wind had finally subsided, even more people had appeared in the air.

    ¡°Rong Xiangsheng, Rong Xiangyue, Rong Xiangli, Rong Xiangzhan, and Rong Xianghua? So you guys are the gophers hiding in the tunnels underground!¡± Zhu Yunyan yelled.

    The Rong n possessed a bloodline that controlled the power of darkness, and they loved tounch ambushes, which was why the Zhu n referred to them as gophers.

    Rong Xiangsheng chuckled. ¡°A mere puppet is enough to get all of you to mobilize? Isn¡¯t the Zhu n making a mountain out of a molehill?¡±

    Zhu Yunyue, who was standing off to the side, said, ¡°Did you really think you could pull the wool over our eyes?¡±

    A small Qin Wu was not worth the Zhu n¡¯s five elders time, but if that puppet was being used as bait, then the matter was entirely different.

    The Zhu n wasn¡¯t stupid, so they had chosen to embark at the same time. Unsurprisingly, the Rong n¡¯s six elders were also on the scene.

    Zhu Yunyan said, ¡°It seems as if the battle between our two ns must be shifted ahead of schedule somewhat.¡±

    As she spoke, eight figures appeared in the air.

    Four of them were at the Spirit Burning Realm and four of them were at the peak of the Light Shaking Realm. However, their expressions were extremely dull and wooden. One of them in particr looked quite like Rong Xiangsheng and the others.

    ¡°Xiangqian!¡± Rong Xiangsheng stared at Zhu Xianyao with fury when he saw the person standing behind Zhu Yunyan.

    The hatred between the Zhu and Rong ns was not merely rted to profits but also because of their many conflicts in the past.

    Yes, this person had be one of the captives that Zhu Yunyan was able to control.

    There were originally seven elders in the Rong n, but because one of them had fallen under the control of Zhu Yunyan in a freak ident, theirbat power had greatly declined, and Zhu Yunyan was promoted to the position of n Matriarch.

    At this point, Zhu Yunyan had grown even more powerful. Rong Xiangqian, who was stuck at the Light Shaking Realm, had long since grown outdated.

    The reason Zhu Yunyan had kept him around as a puppet was because he could be used to discipline and provoke the Rong n.

    To the Rong n, this was an eternal suffering that they were forced to bear.

    Unfortunately, because Rong Xiangqian was in Zhu Yunyan¡¯s hand, the same technique that had been used to break Qin Wu free could not be used against Rong Xiangqian.

    However, that didn¡¯t matter too much. As long as they were able to kill their opponents, then the six brothers¡¯ suffering would be ended.

    Rong Xiangsheng red savagely at Zhu Yunyan as he said, ¡°This is the punishment for your sins! You must pay the price of death! Brothers, attack!¡±

    An instantter, the Rong n¡¯s six elders charged at the Zhu n¡¯s five main pirs.

 Sect - Book 5, 33: Answer

    Chapter 33: Answer

    In terms of one-on-one strength, the Rong n, who were more proficient inbat, were stronger than the Zhu n.

    Luckily, the Zhu n never relied on theirbat prowess to win fights.

    They relied on numbers!

    Their powerful ability to control ves was an unimaginable trump card. The four Spirit Burning Realm puppets alone made up for the discrepancy in numbers, not to mention that they were roughly equivalent in strength to three of their opponents.

    Even the four Light Shaking Realm cultivators weren¡¯t just cannon fodder. Each one of them had a specific use.

    One of these was Rong Xiangqian. He could not only be used to infuriate the Rong n but also as a shield. Given his status, Zhu Yunyan could use him to block any powerful attacksing from her opponents. Rong Xiangsheng and the others didn¡¯t want to spill their brother¡¯s blood, so they could only stop their attacks mid-motion, cursing vehemently all the while.

    The other three Light Shaking Realm cultivators also served unique purposes. One possessed the Refraction Beast Bloodline, which was a Demonic Beast that could emit an intense, brilliant light that burned away most shadows. This made it a perfect counter to most of the Rong n¡¯s darkness-type Origin SKills. One possessed an Azure Waterbeetle Bloodline, which gave it regenerative abilities and allowed it to survive even if it was badly injured. The final one possessed the Rainbow Demon bloodline. The Rainbow Demon was a Demonic King that served the Slyheart Demonic Emperor in the past. As a result, the innate Origin Skills the bloodline conferred all primarily raised the effectiveness of bewitching techniques.

    Before Su Chen had discovered the form to increase the strength of their bloodline, the Zhu n had relied on the Rainbow Demon to strengthen their charming abilities.

    Unfortunately, the Rainbow Demon was hard to find. Up until now, Zhu Yunyan had only managed to find one person.

    The battle was fully underway at this point. Of the four Light Shaking Realm cultivators, Rong Xiangqian was the only one to advance, while the other three remained behind. Nine Spirit Burning Realm cultivators plus one Light Shaking Realm cultivator shed with the Rong n¡¯s six elders, resulting in quite a bloody fight. Even though the Rong n only possessed six people, they weren¡¯t weak in the slightest. ck fog began to roil out from under their feet.

    ck and red mixed chaotically, going at each others¡¯ throats and filling the sky with shes of red and ck light.

    Even people dozens of kilometers away could see the vast amounts of turbulent energy this conflict was whipping up.

    Ten Spirit Burning Realm cultivators fighting was already a truly earth-shaking number. Violent waves of energy crashed against each other like a stormy sea. Even the mountains nearby trembled asrge chunks of rock were cleaved off of the peak. This was even given that they were fighting in the air out of consideration for this very fact, and protective Origin Formations had been activated on the ground below. Otherwise, the shockwaves from the battle might have ttened t Sky City.

    The most powerful individual present was Rong Xiangsheng, without question. The Rong n¡¯s patriarch was already at the peak of the Spirit Burning Realm and had formed a full eight Divine Pces.

    He wielded an incredibly unique Origin Tool known as Umbral Sands. Umbral Sands had been refined from pure darkness energy melded with a special kind of metal, allowing it to assume many different forms - dagger, sword, spear, whip, or even shield or armor were all possible. Under Rong Xiangsheng¡¯s control, it was able to rapidly morphed between forms. At this moment, it had morphed into a series of chains that shot forwards like snakes, each link honed to razor-like sharpness.

    Even so, the Zhu n still possessed the advantage.

    By relying on numbers, the Zhu n already possessed an advantage in a head-on fight. If the Rong n were of the assassin ss, then the Zhu n were of the summoner ss. The Zhu n naturally countered the Rong n.

    In addition, after Su Chen had improved the Zhu n¡¯s bloodline, theirbat prowess had only increased. They had purposely kept it a secret for the past two years, and only now did they fully put it on disy.

    The Rong n was obviously being suppressed by the Zhu n¡¯s disy of power.

    Zhu Yunyan unleashed an overbearing wave of energy as she barked, ¡°Rong Xiangsheng, you are dead for sure!¡±

    The violent aura threatened to swallow up everything.

    Rong Xiangsheng, however, continued tough.

    The Umbral Sands formed a shield that defended them from the Rong n¡¯s attack as Rong Xiangsheng said, ¡°I know you are very powerful, but did you really think that I would ambush you just to fight a losing battle? Attack!¡±

    Three streaks of white light flew over from the horizon, mming into Zhu Yunyan, Zhu Yunfan, and Zhu Yunyu.

    The white light was as fast as lightning, and white fog began to emerge, mixing with the ck light. The ck and white light formed a stark contrast, and there was something about that mixture that seemed to exude a sharp killing threat.

    ¡°Qian Shuzhong, Qian Shuyong, Qian Shuwen!¡± Zhu Yunfeng yelled in shock.

    The White Deer Qian n¡¯s men had appeared.

    But weren¡¯t the Qian n supposed to be a few days away?

    The white-clothed schr standing at the front was the Qian n¡¯s Qian Shuzhong. He chuckled softly, ¡°Fairy Zhu, long time no see. I hope you have been well since west met.¡±

    Zhu Yunyan said, ¡°Qian Shuzhong, are you the only three from the Qian n here?¡±

    Qian Shuzhong said, ¡°The fact that you aren¡¯t surprised to see us here indicates that news has already indeed spread. The Rong n Patriarch¡¯s decision to quickly set up a counterattack was indeed correct. A pity, a pity.¡±

    Even as he imed that it was a pity with his mouth, he began to weave arge cloud of white light with his hands.

    The Cloud-Galloping White Deer was best at controlling fog and clouds and fighting in midair. The innate Origin Skills conferred by the bloodline allowed the Qian n to soar through the air without expending much excess energy, being born about by the wind. This made them incredibly agile and hard to predict.

    As Qian Shuzhong prepared his attack, the howls of countless fierce animals could be hearding from the cloud of light. Even though they were formed from clouds, each one of them was actually able to manifest a genuine aspect, making them all incredibly powerful.

    Zhu Yunyan could only helplessly pull out a golden arrow and fire it off into the air. The boundless cloud of light was actually split open by that arrow, and the animals forming within the clouds disappeared into nothingness.

    An instantter, however, the clouds reassembled into the shapes ofrge eagles and continued to attack.

    The Qian n¡¯s Thousand Illusions Fog was as powerful as the actual strength of the target it assumed. The more powerful the lifeform was, the stronger the fog would be.

    After the Gold-Winged Eagles came Greyme Tigers, Armor-Piercing Beasts, and all kinds of other vicious Demonic Beasts. They started as low-tier Demonic Beasts, then mid-tier, then high-tier, and eventually even Demonic Lord beasts began to appear, and the golden arrows Zhu Yunyan was firing off became less and less effective.

    Once the three experts from the White Deer Qian n had appeared, the situation immediately changed. The one-sided battle from earlier once again began to stabilize, and the Rong n even gradually began to eke out an advantage.

    Zhu Yunyan finally understood what had happened.

    Most of the Qian n¡¯s forces had yet to arrive, but this didn¡¯t necessarily mean that no one from the Qian n was here yet.

    The Qian n¡¯s three brothers had obviously arrived early, but because they didn¡¯t have the confidence that they could deal with the Zhu n even if theybined forces with the Rong n, the original n was to wait for the rest of the Qian n¡¯s forces to arrive.

    However, Su Chen¡¯s appearance had moved everything ahead of schedule. Rong Xiangsheng was a sly old fox. Since his ounting records had beenpromised, he immediately knew that news of this might have leaked. Because Qin Wu was connected to Zhu Xianling¡¯s consciousness, he had sent Qin Wu away as soon as he was able to confirm that news had indeed been leaked. This was to draw his opponents into attacking, as well as to set up a trap that could turn their disadvantage into an advantage, allowing them to strike at their opponents before they had a chance to respond.

    Unfortunately, they hadn¡¯t had enough time to prepare, so this trap was somewhatckluster. The only person who had been harmed was Zhu Yunfan.

    However, the most important goal was to draw the Zhu n¡¯s elders away from the Zhu residence itself, making it impossible for them to use the Zhu n¡¯s trump cards. Even if they weren¡¯t able to wipe out the Zhu n, they would still deal a heavy blow to them under such circumstances.

    This was a tactic they hade up with precisely because there was nothing else they could do.

    Even as the two sides fought bitterly, the situation reached a stalemate. Zhu Yunyan was incredibly anxious.

    Even though the Zhu n did possess trump cards, they were all located around the Zhu residence and were primarily defensive in nature. Given that they had chased all the way out here, it was impossible for them to activate these trump cards, and the Zhu n was slowly being worn down by the two ns simultaneously.

    Even though the Zhu n¡¯s Ancestor hadn¡¯t made a move yet, the Rong n still had some tactics up their sleeves as well. The current situation was in aplete deadlock. Wanting to break the bnce was going to be quite difficult.

    The Rong n didn¡¯t like doing this much either. If possible, they would rather have waited for the Qian n to fully arrive before attacking. However, since the information had been leaked, they needed to grasp the opportunity. If they allowed the Zhu n to prepare appropriately, it would likely have been toote.

    Such was the case with most wars. Things would escte until both parties had no alternative but to fight, losing control of theirposure.

    The fight between the two sides grew fiercer and fiercer.

    Zhu Xianyao and Su Chen hurried onto the scene at this moment.

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s expression was quite ugly when she witnessed all these Spirit Burning Realm cultivators locked in a vicious struggle.

    There was no way she could participate in a fight at this level. She could only watch from afar; even attempting to get closer was incredibly difficult.

    However, Su Chen was still watching the battle with great interest. His eyes darted back and forth as he closely observed the Origin Energy changes taking ce at the interface between the air and the fighters¡¯ palms.

    Opportunities to watch powerful experts fight were few and far between, especially battles where more than ten Spirit Burning Realm cultivators were entangled with one another.

    Su Chen¡¯s microscopic eye had also grown stronger due to his repeated use of it throughout the years, and observing Origin Energy movements and state changes was a simple feat. The whole world wasid bare before his eyes, and he was delighted to have the opportunity to witness such a spectacle.

    Zhu Xianyao pulled at him when she saw him watching so intently and said, ¡°Su Chen, can you go and help my mother?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°In a fight of this level, I could probably only take the pressure off of her for a moment.¡±

    If the opponent were a normal Spirit Burning Realm cultivator, Su Chen would probably have been able to at least defend himself.

    However, the group of cultivators before him were all Demonic Emperor Bloodline-possessing Spirit Burning Realm cultivators, making them far stronger than your average Spirit Burning Realm cultivator.

    Back in the day, Uncle Eleven had managed to sweep the Six Great ns single-handedly. That alone was proof of the might of a Demonic Emperor Bloodline cultivator.

    Even Su Chen had no way of jumping realms like that.

    Zhu Xianyao was greatly disappointed when she heard that.

    ¡°However, I might not need to make a move myself in order to end this battle...... If possible, I would like to win without fighting at all,¡± Su Chen said as he rubbed his chin.

    Zhu Xianyao was stunned. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    Light flickered across his eyes as Su Chen continued to observe the ongoing battle. ¡°Based on their use of Origin Energy, it seems that the Rong n could not possibly have broken the Zhu n¡¯s control over Qin Wu. The three Qian n neers also don¡¯t appear to have a bloodline that gives them a powerful consciousness. So who was the one to nullify Zhu Xianling¡¯s control over Qin Wu? And how were they able to do it without the master, Zhu Xianling, noticing? There¡¯s no way the technique involved was simple. Also, if there is another expert helping the Rong n, why has he not shown his face yet? Is he not present? Or is it not appropriate for him to show his face...... not appropriate to show his face...... an answer that not even a Demonic Lord-level sacrifice could procure...... could it be......?¡±

    As Su Chen pondered the situation, his eyes began to glow.

    Zhu Xianyao knew that he had probably discovered something. ¡°What have youe up with?¡±

    Su Chen, however, replied, ¡°I cannot say for sure yet, but I want to try and make another sacrifice.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he pulled out the Origin Bone Scepter yet again.

    He put on the exact same sacrifice as before, only this time one big variable had been taken out of the equation. As such, the pool of possible oues had shrunk considerably.

    An image appeared above the altar.

    Su Chen visibly tensed when he saw what was in the image. He began to howl loudly, ¡°How audacious, Rong n! You dare collude with a foreign race and betray humanity!?¡±

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 34: Intercep

    Chapter 34: Intercept

    Su Chen¡¯s roar was like a thunderp, booming through the battlefield. Even though he could not possibly stun arge group of Spirit Burning Realm cultivators into silence, the implied meaning was more than enough to immediately grab everyone¡¯s attention.

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Rong Xiangsheng stared viciously at Su Chen. Even though he was quite a ways away, this re was sharp and piercing, causing even Su Chen to shudder involuntarily.

    Su Chen had put away the scepter a long time ago. At this moment, he firmly stood his ground and said, ¡°You know exactly what I¡¯m talking about. There¡¯s no point for you to deny it. Rong Xiangsheng, you¡¯ve really got some guts to ally yourselves with the Harpies for the sake of your own personal benefit.¡±

    Rong Xiangsheng trembled with anger. ¡°You dare nder me so casually? I¡¯ll kill you!¡±

    ¡°You know exactly whether I¡¯m casually ndering you,¡± Su Chen said as he said mockingly to Rong Xiangsheng. ¡°Did you really think I wouldn¡¯t be able to find out? Get out here, now!¡±

    As he spoke, he unleashed a punch.

    This punch seemed simple, but it contained all of his strength, will, and consciousness power. His entire cultivation base had been reduced down to this one punch, which surprisingly surged towards an empty piece of sky off in the distance, far from the battlefield.

    That area waspletely empty, and no motion was ever seen there from start to finish. There wasn¡¯t even any wind blowing.

    However, Su Chen¡¯s fist caused the seemingly empty air to suddenly undergo vast changes.

    A brilliant ray of light shot forth as cracks began to appear in midair like a ss mirror. Eventually, the entire thing shattered, and countless crystalline shards flew forth in all directions.

    Three figures appeared in the air.

    They appeared somewhat human, but there were some major differences, the primary one being the pairs of wings sprouting from their backs.

    Their outstretched wings pped from time to time, keeping them in the air.

    They were a bit shorter than an average human, but their faces were extremely delicate-looking.

    The one female was extremely beautiful, while the two males were incredibly handsome.

    When everyone present saw these three individuals, they all revealed expressions of disbelief.

    ¡°Harpies!¡± Zhu Yunyan, Qian Shuzhong and the others cried out at the same time.

    Those three Harpies were simrly stunned. They all stared intently at Su Chen. ¡°How is this possible? No one is capable of seeing through the Mystery-Piercing Clear Jade Mirror!¡±

    Su Chen smirked. ¡°I didn¡¯t see through it.¡±

    He really had not seen through the concealment of the Mystery-Piercing Clear Jade Mirror. All he had seen was the spot where the Harpies were hiding in the illusory prediction image, as well as how he had managed to push them out of hiding.

    He did the exact same.

    And he seeded.

    He had made yet another prediction to confirm the truth, but he probably could have done it at a lower cost.

    This damned Origin Bone Scepter somehow managed to make you feel regretful no matter what the oue was.

    Zhu Yunyan also cried out, ¡°Rong Xiangsheng, how dare you betray humanity!¡±

    At this point, all of the confusion had been cleared up.

    The Rong n had somehow been bought out by the Harpies a long time ago, who were attempting to use the Rong n to provoke two Demonic Emperor ns into fighting each other.

    There was no need to determine whether or not the Rong n had prepared any more schemes. The fact that they had colluded with the Harpies alone was more than enough to sentence the Rong n to death.

    Even Qian Shuzhong¡¯s expression changed drastically. ¡°Rong Xiangsheng, you lied to us?¡±

    The Qian n had indeed allied with the Rong n, but it was obvious they were unaware of the Rong n¡¯s collusion with the Harpies as well. They were merely enticed by the Rong n¡¯s promise of profits. In Rong Xiangsheng¡¯s words, the Rong n and the Zhu n were fated to be enemies until the end of time, and the Rong n was willing to give up on any benefits in order to wipe out one of their greatest enemies.

    Greed had clouded the Qian n¡¯s eyes, causing them to actually fall for such a lie. They had already sent out their n¡¯s forces, but they had never expected the truth to be so damning.

    The Qian n panicked when they saw the Harpies - the crime of colluding with Harpies was far more than the Qian n could afford to bear.

    Qian Shuyong yelled, ¡°The Qian n is definitely not colluding with the Harpies! From this moment onwards, our alliance is no longer in effect.¡±

    Zhu Yunyan struck while the iron was hot. ¡°That¡¯s not enough! You must help us to arrest them in order to prove your innocence!¡±

    ¡°Fine!¡± the Qian n¡¯s three brothers replied.

    The Rong n couldn¡¯t hesitate in the slightest now that their righteousness was at stake. Otherwise, their entire n was going to be annihted.

    The situation had changed in the blink of an eye, and the Qian n¡¯s three brothers, who were had teamed up with the Rong n to deal with the Zhu n just a moment ago, now joined forces with the Zhu n to attack Rong Xiangsheng and the others.

    Rong Xiangsheng and the others scrambled to mount a response to the sudden change in the situation.

    The three Harpies also hurriedly attempted to fly away when they saw that the situation no longer favored them.

    ¡°Trying to run?¡± Su Chen harrumphed. ¡°Death¡¯s Shadow!¡±

    A streak of white paper shot through the air.

    This white streak was not hazy like the White Deer Qian n¡¯s fog techniques. Instead, countless ribbons of paper descended from the sky, each ribbon pulsating with a strange kind of energy as they chased after their targets relentlessly. They all seemed to carry a faint aura of death.

    Two of the Harpies responded to the sudden change in circumstances by turning around and drawing their bows, unleashing a rainstorm of golden arrows.

    Harpies specialized in long-rangebat, and bows were basically tailor-made for them to use. The arrows exploded with energy as they collided with their targets. Obviously, the Harpies were using some kind of technique to boost the power of their arrows.

    However, the white paper ribbons began to exude corrosive wisps of smoke, causing the golden arrows to melt in the air.

    The female Harpy unfurled her wings fully and shot high into the sky at extremely high speeds.

    However, Su Chen was faster.

    He pulled out the Silver Moon Shuttle and caught up to the female in the blink of an eye. He smiled and said, ¡°Would you like me to take you on a ride?¡±

    He received an explosion of thunder as a response.

    Harpies possessed better perception of Origin Energy than humans, so their cultivation system was more simr to the Arcanists, and their attacks were quite simr to Ancient Arcana Techniques. Su Chen was badly startled by the might and suddenness of this thunderous barrage upon the Silver Moon Shuttle.

    Thankfully, the Silver Moon Shuttle defended him. He decided to put away the shuttle and appeared in midair, immediately pulling out the Mountain-Beheading de and shing at the Harpy female. Even though she was a woman, Su Chen had no intentions of sparing her with this de strike.

    The Harpy tilted her head back and cried out with great rity as if she were a bird. The resonant sound waves mmed into Su Chen¡¯s de, stopping it in ce and preventing him from following through with his attack.

    ¡°You seem to have some skill!¡± Su Chen¡¯s eyes glittered as a massive illusory image appeared behind him - he had activated the Primordial Blood Incarnation. The image howled at the sky as the Mountain-Beheading de multiplied in size, shing down fiercely yet again.

    The Harpy female recognized the dire situation she was in and responded by spitting out a pearl.

    The pearl began to expand in the air, radiating with brilliant light and once again stopping Su Chen¡¯s de in its tracks.

    The Harpy female attempted to use the opportunity to escape.

    However, Zhu Xianyao appeared at that moment and threw out some kind of drawing.

    Su Chen had never seen this drawing before. It was probably an Origin Tool the Zhu n had awarded her afterwards. Thousands of streaks of light began to emanate from the painting, enveloping the Harpy female and preventing her from moving.

    The two Light Shaking Realm servants behind Zhu Xianyao charged at this moment as well.

    Even though these two Light Shaking Realm cultivators were quite average, they were still at the Light Shaking Realm, and there was no way the Harpy female would be able to easily escape from their joint attack.

    The Harpy female gritted her teeth and threw out a mirror. The mirror shined in midair onto her body. An identical Harpy female then walked out of that mirror and shot off in another direction as the mirror shattered.

    Even though the Harpy female that had walked out of the mirror appeared to be a constructed clone, Su Chen didn¡¯t dare act carelessly and stepped forwards to stop her.

    The Harpy female from the mirror gestured, forming countless fireballs that she then hurled at Su Chen.

    ¡°Trying to y with fire?¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    He gave up on using his de, instead shoving his left palm outwards. The fireballs hurtling in his direction suddenly stopped in their tracks.

    His fingers began to dance agilely, and the fireballs rapidly disassembled before regathering into the shape of a massive ming phoenix, which began to p its wings.

    ¡°How is this possible?¡± The Harpy female was stunned.

    Su Chen had not dissected physical mes but mes formed from Origin Energy!

    What kind of understanding of fire-type Origin Energy was necessary to aplish a feat like that?

    This was a feat that made Su Chen unique.

    Others focused on raising their strength by relying on their bloodlines and tempering themselves, while Su Chen did so by improving his understanding andprehension.

    No one was more familiar with the methods of application of Origin Energy than he, given his ability to clearly see the microscopic secrets of the world. His grasp of the use of Origin Energy far exceeded that of any of his peers.

    However, this kind of understanding would take a long time to turn into strength.

    Brute force would increase a person¡¯s strength in the early stages, while intelligence would increase a person¡¯s strength more towards theter stages.

    As such, brute force was much more favored for the majority of human history.

    However, as time had passed, the advantages of intelligence began to manifest themselves, and would eventually get thestugh.

    This was the case for agricultural versus nomadic societies, as well as for the human race against the Ravagers and the Beasts.

    This kind of resilience and patience was something that uniquely belonged to the intelligence side of things.

    After countless years of tempering and experience, Su Chen¡¯s deep understanding of Origin Energy finally began to manifest itself in hisbat strength.

    Even though he was merely in the early stages, he already possessed powers that belonged to him and him alone.

    After converting the fireballs targeted at him into his own Theurgy Art, the ming phoenix shrieked as it soared at the Harpy female.

    Just as the Harpy female was about to be struck by the ming phoenix, a voice suddenly sighed.

    This sigh seemed to havee from right next to Su Chen¡¯s ear. Su Chen physically trembled as a sense of intense fear overtook him, as if something had appeared that posed an incredible threat to him.

    Not good!

    Su Chen immediately sensed that a Thought Manifestation Realm expert had entered the fray.

    Once a person¡¯s cultivation base reached the Thought Manifestation Realm, their consciousness would expand to the size of a massive sea. With but a thought, they could activate their consciousness and use it to suppress their opponents. Anyone else probably would have lost the ability to move, or even have died on the spot.

    However, Su Chen was obviously not an average person. His consciousness power was greater than two thousand units. In terms of pure consciousness power, he was not inferior to any human, but since he hadn¡¯t formed any Divine Pces yet nor opened his Yin-Yang, hecked the ability to fully unleash his consciousness power. Even so, he was more than capable of defending himself even if he couldn¡¯t attack at full strength. As a result, this sigh merely threatened Su Chen, but it was not actually able to freeze him in ce.

    An instantter, the ming phoenix mmed into the Harpy female, sending her flying as she shrieked.

    ¡°Stay your hand!¡±

    Following this low growl, a massive hand came crashing down like a bolt of lightning, grabbing at Su Chen.

 Sect - Book 5, 35: Wide Open Vista

    Chapter 35: Wide Open Vista

    Su Chen totally ignored the massive hand pressing down on him and focused all of his attention on controlling the ming phoenix and maintaining its furious offensive.

    The Harpy female knew the situation wasn¡¯t good. A subtle light flickered across her eyes as she suddenly froze in ce, standing motionless.

    An instantter, the ming phoenix¡¯s blustering mes consumed the Harpy female¡¯s figure, burning it to ashes.

    Su Chen, however, didn¡¯t care. He chuckled, ¡°So that was indeed the real one.¡±

    With his microscopic eye, he was able to see the situation extremely clearly.

    Even though the female he was chasing after hade out of the mirror, it was the real body. The Harpy female Zhu Xianyao had caught was actually a fake. However, she had been backed into a corner by the ming Phoenix Theurgy Art and had been forced to activate her substitution technique, returning to her original body. As such, the Harpy female that had burned to a crisp was the fake that Zhu Xianyao had seized. Of course, this meant that the Harpy female was once again under Zhu Xianyao¡¯s control.

    The massive hand arrived at this point in time. Just as it was about to crush Su Chen like he was a fly, arge finger appeared on the other side, stabbing at the descending palm and stopping it in ce.

    The Zhu n¡¯s Ancestor had actually made a move in this moment, blocking the opponent¡¯s attack.

    He even began tough madly, ¡°Rong Guluo, do you really think you can turn back time now that things have reached this point? Regardless of whether this female Harpy manages to escape, the fact that the Rong n has betrayed the human race still exists. There¡¯s no point in quibbling any longer. The only thing you can do now is run! If you continue to try and resist, the only possible oue will be death.¡±

    These words pierced right into the heart of the person who had ambushed Su Chen, and he sighed and withdrew his palm.

    This sigh was a real sigh.

    Since the Rong n¡¯s Ancestor was nning on running, the Zhu n¡¯s Ancestor had no ns to forcibly keep him here - after all, a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator was still able to easily wipe out the entire t Sky City if they were backed into a corner.

    He could escape, but the remaining Rong n juniors would need to remain.

    This was the price that needed to be paid.

    The battle was still raging on in the sky, but there was no longer any suspense. The Qian n¡¯s realignment obviously spelled out the Rong n¡¯s defeat, and the Zhu n¡¯s Ancestor didn¡¯t even need to get involved.

    Even so, the Qian n¡¯s three brothers were still incredibly apprehensive.

    They not only needed to fear the presence of the Zhu n¡¯s Ancestor, but they also needed to find a way to extricate themselves from this mess with the Rong n. Otherwise, the Liaoye imperial family would deal with them before the Zhu n even had a chance. They would need to bow their heads to the Zhu n without question and ask the Zhu n for their help. Of course, the necessary benefits had to be handed over as well.

    The Qian n hade all this way, but instead of obtaining any profits, they would now need to pay arge sum of money over. They really were quite unlucky. However, the fact that they had managed to distance themselves from the crime of colluding with the Harpies was quite a big silver lining.

    But none of this had anything to do with Su Chen anymore.

    Within the Zhu n¡¯s main hall, Zhu Yunyan gazed at Su Chen, full of smiles.

    ¡°Su Chen, this time everything is all thanks to you. I won¡¯t waste your time; whatever you want, I will give as long as it is within my abilities to do so,¡± Zhu Yunyan said happily to Su Chen.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I thank Matriarch for her generosity. If that¡¯s the case, then I won¡¯t stand on courtesy.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to stand on courtesy.¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Fine. I want the Rong n¡¯s six elders.¡±

    What?

    The members of the Zhu n present were all stunned. Only Zhu Xianyao wasn¡¯t surprised and muttered, ¡°As expected.¡±

    To Su Chen, no spoils of battle were as valuable as these Spirit Burning Realm cultivators.

    After the Light Shaking Realm came the Spirit Burning Realm. He would need to do some research first before finding a way to break through the restrictions. Some Spirit Burning Realm experimental subjects were absolutely necessary.

    However, unlike Light Shaking Realm cultivators, it was almost impossible to capture a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator, so Su Chen had never found an appropriate target for his research. He had thought of using the Death¡¯s Shadow a few times, giving the Death¡¯s Shadow quite a bad scare. However, Su Chen had refrained in the end because Demonic Beasts were way too different from humans, and there was no point to really dissect him.

    Now, however, it was impossible for Su Chen to willingly pass up on these six targets.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know if he would ever find a way to obtain six Spirit Burning Realm captives in the future.

    Zhu Yunyan was dumbfounded by Su Chen¡¯s request. It took her some time to recover and say, ¡°The Rong nmitted a grievous crime by betraying the human race. They must be handed over to the imperial family.¡±

    That was absolutely true. The Zhu n wasn¡¯t being selfish; Spirit Burning Realm traitors were a huge problem, and there was no way the Zhu n would be allowed to deal with them personally.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t surprised and nodded. ¡°I know, but you don¡¯t have to hand them over right away, right? The capital is a ways away from t Sky City, so it would take time for an envoy to reach them. As long as I can use them for this period of time, that is good enough for me.¡±

    Zhu Yunyan understood what he meant. She frowned slightly and said, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, it should be fine. I can even try to buy more time for you. However, you cannot kill them.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Matriarch, please rest assured. Spirit Burning Realm experts are quite hard to kill. I promise that these people will be alive when the capital¡¯s officials arrive.¡±

    Of course, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t promise what kind of condition they would be in.

    In the following days, Su Chen began his research.

    Because there wasn¡¯t much time, Su Chen chose the simplest yet most effective method of research - he performed some basic experiments, then used the Origin Bone Scepter to make predictions. After reaching a conclusion, he would immediately proceed with the next step.

    Any systematic research took lots of time, but the Origin Bone Scepter greatly decreased this necessary time.

    With the Origin Bone Scepter, Su Chen was able to quickly find an answer for virtually every question.

    Either the answer was yes or no.

    The actual answer wasn¡¯t that important. The most important fact was that Su Chen had managed to reach that answer in a much shorter period of time, allowing him to progress to the next step of his research much sooner than he would have been able to otherwise.

    An experiment that might have taken weeks or even months toplete might be resolved by Su Chen in a matter of minutes. This rate of experimental efficiency was truly shocking. Of course, Su Chen was also pouring in an incredible amount of resources at the same time.

    Even though the unchanging nature of Su Chen¡¯s predictions decreased the cost of the necessary sacrifices greatly, repeating such predictions hundreds or even thousands of times would still result in a shocking amount of resources being expended.

    In the blink of an eye, Su Chen had consumed countless resources, obtaining in exchange an incredible amount of information about the Spirit Burning Realm.

    Su Chen also finally understood exactly why this realm was referred to as the Spirit Burning Realm.

    The Spirit Burning Realm was an incredibly meaningful breakthrough to make on the path of cultivation. Before the appearance of the Shining Dragon Bloodline, the human race¡¯s cultivation path ended at the Light Shaking Realm.

    It was for this reason that there was a massive gap between the Light Shaking Realm and the Spirit Burning Realm.

    This gap was due to a transition from visible manifestation to invisible manifestation. There was a transition from pursuing greater control of Origin Energy to a baptism and elevation of the ego.

    The result of this shift in focus was a massive increase in the power of a person¡¯s consciousness.

    There were a total of eight Divine Pces at the Spirit Burning Realm, known as the Abundant Revolution, Divine Pivot, Heaven Charging, Primary Guard, Vast Ocean, Intense Dawn, Misty Air, and Wisdom Pces.

    Every Divine Pce was formed from the coagtion of an Origin Qi Schr¡¯s will and consciousness, storingrge quantities of intelligence and powerful Origin Skills within. The possessor of a Divine Pce could shake the earth with but a thought. Spirit Burning Realm cultivators were really quite powerful.

    The implications of such a substantial transition were far-reaching.

    Forming eight Divine Shrines and tempering one¡¯s ego was no simple feat. The first barrier was an incredibly powerful consciousness.

    Without enough consciousness energy, it was impossible to form eight Divine Pces.

    This was not difficult for Su Chen, obviously.

    Without the support of any equipment, Su Chen¡¯s consciousness power had reached a thousand two hundred units by relying on his microscopic eye and the True Spirit Scripture.

    No one couldpare with him in terms of consciousness power in the whole human race.

    Most normal humans breaking into the Spirit Burning Realm possessed consciousnesses a few hundred units strong. After reaching the Spirit Burning Realm, their consciousness power would reach around five hundred, then eight hundred at the Thought Manifestation Realm and a thousand at the Ultimate Emperor Realm.

    Purely in terms of consciousness power, Su Chen had already met the requirements for reaching the Ultimate Emperor Realm. The only thing hecked was a corresponding way to utilize this power of his.

    However, he had more than enough consciousness energy to spare for breaking into the Spirit Burning Realm and forming his Divine Pces.

    Su Chen discovered, to his great surprise, that the first big barrier between him and the Spirit Burning Realm was already taken care of.

    Yes, possessing an incredibly powerful consciousness was the first barrier to breaking into the Spirit Burning Realm. The stronger a person¡¯s consciousness was, the more likely they would sessfully ascend.

    To Su Chen, this big barrier was more like a highway.

    Of course, only possessing a powerful consciousness was not enough. Next, he would need to concentrate his consciousness into forming Divine Shrines.

    Of the eight Divine Shrines, the first to be formed was the Abundant Revolution Pce.

    The Abundant Revolution Pce was primarily responsible for controlling Origin Energy.

    Breaking into the Spirit Burning Realm not only required consciousness power but also an abundance of Origin Energy. In the end, Origin Energy still served as the foundation of this universe.

    As such, the requirements on Origin Energy were also quite high.

    Su Chen quickly discovered, however, that he had already reached the requirement.

    Since he cultivated the Immacte Cultivation Technique, his Origin Energy was already much denser than the average human¡¯s - seven times denser, to be exact. Who would dare say that Su Chen wascking in Origin Energy?

    This seven-fold increase was more than enough to allow Su Chen to flood his opponents with Origin Energy. Otherwise, how could he possibly jump realms and fight Spirit Burning Realm cultivators?

    After all, even an average Spirit Burning Realm cultivator was not easy to jump realms on.

    Once the second condition was met, the next step was to actually carry out the formation of the Divine Pces.

    The third step required a person to form their pce by carrying out a unique sequence of actions. This sequence was not really a secret, and each major n had their own set of methods. This step was really more question of skill; in other words, mastery and familiarity could serve as an appropriate substitute.

    The final step was to excite one¡¯s consciousness, ignite one¡¯s spirit, and cast one¡¯s Divine Pce. This allowed the Origin Qi Schr to form defensive walls around their spirit and protect themselves from consciousness attacks, as well as unleash powerful consciousness Origin Skills. Thisst step was the most important and the mostplicated, and was also where the name ¡°Spirit Burning¡± came from.

    However, this most crucial step was actually not too difficult either. As long as the cultivator had made adequate preparations and the circumstances were right, time would take care of the rest.

    Su Chen discovered that breaking into the Spirit Burning Realm was much simpler than he had originally anticipated.

    The situation had suddenly be so much more simple at this point in time, and the path forward for Su Chen had be a wide-open vista.

 Sect - Book 5, 36: Research 1

    Chapter 36: Research (1)

    Su Chen found it inconceivable that breaking into the Spirit Burning Realm was actually so simple.

    However, upon further reflection he realized that his foundation was far more solid than an average person¡¯s. His ample preparations had finally paid off, so this oue was actually not too surprising.

    Who could even reach a thousand units of consciousness power anyways?

    And without the Immacte Cultivation Technique, who was able to possess Origin Energy sevenfold denser than the Origin Energy of an average cultivator?

    Because of these foundations, Su Chen¡¯s path towards the Spirit Burning Realm was also much less eventful than it would have been for anyone else.

    ¡°So as long as I distribute the True Heart Scripture and the Immacte Cultivation Technique, a majority of the issues rted to breaking into the Spirit Burning Realm without a bloodline will have been resolved?¡± Su Chen muttered to himself as he smiled with delight.

    That was indeed good news.

    However, this matter obviously was not finished just yet.

    After all, thetter two steps had yet to be resolved.

    The first two steps were merely the foundation, while thest two steps required more finesse and technique. This was also the reason why Spirit Burning Realm cultivators could unleash skills impossible for anyone below that cultivation realm.

    Su Chen had already obtained the Zhu n¡¯s secret technique for ascending, and he had also snagged Li Chongshan¡¯s technique as well. Finally, he had also managed to purchase three of the Rong n¡¯smon methods for ascending.

    All of theseplicated methods required the support of a bloodline, and they possessed varying sess rates as well. The Rong n¡¯s and the Zhu n¡¯s techniques were the most marvelous. Unfortunately, for bloodline reasons, it was extremely difficult to use these techniques even if a person obtained them.

    Su Chen wondered if he could possiblybine the techniques together to get rid of the bloodline requirements and greatly improve the techniques.

    He was someone who just naturally enjoyed breaking through restrictions and zing a new path. Even though a way forward to the Spirit Burning Realm was already opened, Su Chen wasn¡¯t satisfied. Since his current situation had dealt with some of the problems he was facing, he had lots of free time on his hands, so he decided to take care of the remaining outstanding issues.

    Su Chen once again immersed himself in his research.

    This time, the Rong n¡¯s six elders were extremely unlucky.

    The first thing Su Chen changed was that he began to reduce his use of the Origin Bone Scepter.

    The Origin Bone Scepter only predicted oues, not processes.

    Su Chen only needed results in the past, which the Origin Bone Scepter would give him when he asked a question.

    However, the Origin Bone Scepter would have a hard time giving him the process, and even if it could, there wasn¡¯t much point because Su Chen was trying to find the optimal oue. This meant that he would need all the answers, both good and bad, which was something the Origin Bone Scepter couldn¡¯t give to him. As such, Su Chen would need to gradually research these things one after another.

    The Rong n¡¯s six elders thus became the perfect research subjects for Su Chen to use.

    When he realized that the envoy sent to the capital would likely return soon, Su Chen didn¡¯t hesitate to use the six elders unsparingly. Everything was done with maximum efficiency..

    Perhaps human experiments were evil, but the oues would benefit themon people. This was generally the case; many beautiful things in life were built on the foundation of something ugly. Without rotting meat dposing into nutrient-rich mud, no tall trees would be able to grow.

    The only thing Su Chen could do was only use these dark, underhanded methods on his enemies - the six Rong n elders had attempted to sell out the human race, so Su Chen felt no reluctance in experimenting on them.

    A series of unimaginably grotesque experiments began to unfold.

    Su Chen tested out medicines, physical regeneration, different Origin Substances, and their effects on how Origin Energy moved in the body. He had long since moved past studying their Divine Pce¡¯s, and he was now investigating how to develop a poison that could kill Spirit Burning Realm cultivators, how to conceal oneself from their consciousness, how to defend oneself from their consciousness attacks, how to see through the way a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator utilized Origin Energy, how to further stimte the Darkness Snake Bloodline, etc.

    As his strength and experience had increased, Su Chen¡¯s goals became higher and higher, and his movements were also incredibly smooth and efficient.

    As per usual, Su Chen was engrossed in his experiments when Iron Cliff suddenly walked in from outside.

    ¡°Master, the envoy from the capital is here.¡±

    ¡°So they¡¯ve finally arrived, have they?¡± Su Chen sighed.

    About ten days had passed since the Rong n was captured, and this was even given that the Zhu n had done their best to try and dy. But to Su Chen, this time still seemed so short, even though he had not slept a wink these past ten days.

    There were too many things he wanted to try out and too many ideas he wanted to confirm.

    Each cultivation realm was like a new world ready for him to explore, and the scenery before his eyes had intoxicated him.

    Unfortunately, before Su Chen was able to take it all in, the door was shut on him.

    Even though he had already done his best to gather as much data as he possibly could, he still felt extremely regretful.

    The Rong n¡¯s elders absolutely needed to be handed over to the imperial family because of their crimes, and there was no negotiating that. That afternoon, the six Rong n elders were given to the imperial envoy.

    The envoy had originally expected the Rong n¡¯s six elders to be scared or even to try and escape, but they actually confessed to their crimes incredibly quickly, all of them seemingly unwilling to stay even a moment longer.

    This shocked the imperial envoy greatly.

    Zhu Yunyan nced at Su Chen. ¡°It seems that you tormented them quite badly.¡±

    Su Chen shrugged. ¡°Not really. I promised that I would hand them over in one piece. See, aren¡¯t their arms and legs all still attached?¡±

    Zhu Yunyan chuckled coldly.

    Spirit Burning Realm cultivators possessed the ability to regenerate their limbs, so it was unclear which arm and which leg they were on at this point.

    Zhu Yunyan surmised that Su Chen had probably gone through the equivalent of twelve elders at this point.

    However, there was no need for Zhu Yunyan to bring those up now.

    Su Chen, who had been incredibly busy, suddenly had a lot of free time now that the six Rong n elders weren¡¯t in his hands anymore.

    Since he had a lot of free time, he was naturally going to spend some time with Zhu Xianyao.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t really explored t Sky City yet, and had only really walked around the city on his first day. Of course, he hadn¡¯t had the time to observe his surroundings because he was being chased.

    As such, in the following days, Zhu Xianyao brought him all around the city, and they also engaged in some behind-closed-doors activity - the Zhu n waspletely agreeable with Su Chen now.

    Zhu Xianyao was extremely happy, as if she was a little bird that had been released from a cage.

    The two of them were going at it yet again today.

    After they had indulged themselves and the passion had somewhat subsided, Zhu Xianyaoid down on Su Chen¡¯s chest, nting little kisses on his chest as she stroked his chest gently with her fingers.

    Zhu Xianyao gazed at Su Chen as Su Chen rubbed his head with his hands, staring in a daze at the ceiling.

    ¡°What are you thinking about now?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked tenderly and softly.

    Su Chen thoughtlessly replied, ¡°Origin Energy goes through the Leak Valley into the Lower Huge Passage...... What would happen if I use the Thousand Flowers Seal?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s expression changed as she grabbed Su Chen¡¯sher regions. ¡°You¡¯re still thinking about cultivation when you¡¯re with me?¡±

    As she twisted hard with her right hand, Su Chen¡¯s expression became strained.

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but say as he realized his mistake, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, that¡¯s my fault. You know that the Origin Bone Scepter only gives oues, not the process, so my knowledge in some areas is stillcking. I need to summarize and reflect on my findings so far so that I can fill in the necessary gaps.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao stared wide-eyed at him. ¡°So that¡¯s why you¡¯re thinking about this stuff now?¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°I¡¯ve been with you for so long already. I thought that we already didn¡¯t need tomunicate with words anymore.¡±

    As he spoke, he leaned in to kiss Zhu Xianyao.

    Su Chen was actually pretty good at cating women.

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s unhappiness was quelled by Su Chen¡¯s kiss, and as the two of them lost themselves in their passion, they began another round of battle.

    Finally, once the clouds had cleared, Zhu Xianyao waspletely satisfied, and shey in Su Chen¡¯s arms. ¡°Since you worked so hard, then I¡¯ll forgive you.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled, ¡°I risked my life just to be forgiven?¡±

    ¡°Then what else do you want?¡±

    ¡°How about the corpses of those two harpies?¡± Su Chen said.

    Zhu Xianyao panicked. ¡°How did you know......¡±

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°How could I not know?¡±

    The Harpy female that had been captured was sent off along with the Rong n to the capital, but the two Harpy males that had been fighting with Zhu Xianyao were killed by her. Of course, they didn¡¯t need to be sent over to the imperial family, so Zhu Xianyao had kept them all this time.

    However, Zhu Xianyao had never mentioned it, and Su Chen had never asked.

    Until today.

    Su Chen calmly said, ¡°You are my woman. How could I not understand your thoughts?¡±

    No one was clearer than Zhu Xianyao about Su Chen¡¯s hobbies. Zhu Xianyao might have been able to capture the two of them alive during her battle with them, but she had killed them on purpose so that he could have two more targets to research.

    However, after killing the Harpies, Zhu Xianyao changed her mind and decided not to hand them over to Su Chen. The reason for this was very simple - she wanted Su Chen to spend more time with him.

    Women often thought this way. The motivation was very simr, but the result was that she had made two decisions that totally contradicted each other.

    She had kept the corpses but then hid them. The reason she had made such conflicting decisions was because of her unchanging love.

    Su Chen also knew this, which was why he had waited.

    He couldn¡¯t have afforded to wait for the Rong n¡¯s six elders, so he could only research them first.

    After handing over the six elders, Su Chen had suppressed his curiosity and spent all of his time with Zhu Xianyao before bringing it up now.

    Zhu Xianyao flushed slightly upon being exposed by Su Chen. She was unwilling to relent, however, and said stubbornly, ¡°What Harpy corpses? I burned them already. Who would want to keep those things around?¡±

    Su Chen could only apologize and promise her that he wouldn¡¯t neglect her for these Harpy corpses, and that he would spend at least four hours with Zhu Xianyao every day.

    Even so, Zhu Xianyao jabbed Su Chen fiercely one more time and harrumphed, ¡°It seems that even corpses are more attractive than me. You should take them as your concubines instead.¡±

    She stood and said angrily, ¡°Follow me.¡±

    Su Chen followed Zhu Xianyao meekly. No trace of the prestige of a Sect Master could be found.

 Sect - Book 5, 37: Research 2

    Chapter 37: Research (2)

    The two Harpy corpses were neatly ced on his long research workbench.

    The Harpies had quite simr physical appearances to humans, apart from the fact that they were slightly smaller in stature and possessedrge wings sprouting from their backs. Their internal makeup, however, was very different.

    Su Chen discovered a small air sac inside the first Harpy¡¯s body when he cut him open in addition to the normal internal organs. This air sac belonged uniquely to the Harpies. Originally, it was used to store air to help them fly, butter on it was converted into an Origin Energy storage pouch.

    The bone structure of the Harpies was also different. The space around their arms was hollow to better direct airflow, which was necessary for the Harpies to be able to fly from birth. Later on, however, it was adapted to better serve their use of Origin Energy.

    Because of this, Harpies were the best of the Intelligent Races at using Origin Energy. They were actually not inferior to the Arcanists, but theycked the same kind of powerful eyesight and the ability to apply their knowledge effectively.

    Their greatest weakness was their physical bodies.

    Their unique bone structure made them very ineffective at bearing loads, causing their vitality to be greatly reduced as well. No matter how much they cultivated, theirtent talent was incredibly low. Very rarely did Harpies act as warriors. Most of the time, they were either archers or mages. This was on the opposite end of the spectrum as the Ravagers, and humans were roughly in the middle.

    For this reason, the Harpies adopted the Arcanist system of cultivation, from one ring to ten serving as the ten tiers. Unlike humans, the Arcanists measured cultivation tier by the standard of the Ancient Arcana Technique an individual could unleash. In other words, whatever ring the Arcana Techniques you could use were at defined what tier Arcana Master you were. This was because each Ancient Arcana Technique was a kind of cultivation method in and of itself. The more advanced an Ancient Arcana Technique you mastered was, the higher the tier it would be ced in.

    This was the biggest difference between Ancient Arcana Techniques and contemporary Origin Skills.

    In terms of pure offensive capabilities, Ancient Arcana Techniques were the most powerful since they utilized Origin Energy to its greatest extent. It was probably not an exaggeration to say that Ten-Ring Ancient Arcana Techniques could wipe out Heaven and earth, which was why they were known as Forbidden Arcana Techniques.

    Something to note was that Su Chen was technically an Arcana Master as well, but quite a low-ringed one.

    He controlled quite a few high-ring Ancient Arcana Techniques, such as Whitetower Teleportation, which was actually at the ninth ring. The greatest characteristic of this Arcana Technique was that it could ascend tiers as the user gained a betterprehension of it. As Su Chen had improved his understanding of it, he had already turned it into a Ninth-Ring Ancient Arcana Technique.

    However, this kind of an improvement was too much of a pain and expended quite a bit of consciousness energy as well. Given how practically useful it was, Su Chen decided to brand it onto his Lotus tform, which was akin to cheating. As such, even though he had increased the tier of Whitetower Teleportation, it wasn¡¯t by relying on his own abilities.

    As for the Erupting Firehawk skill, it was about equivalent to a Third-Ring Arcana Technique. A whole flock of them was roughly equivalent to a Fourth-Ring Arcana Technique. However, these two techniques had been mixed with human elements, and weren¡¯t pure Ancient Arcana Techniques. Even though these improved Arcana Techniques weren¡¯t negatively affected in terms of power, they broke the boundaries of the tiers. In addition, just because you were able to master that technique didn¡¯t necessarily mean that you would be able to master a technique at a simr tier. As such, it was not sufficient to estimate an individual¡¯s cultivation tier just based on the might of the skills they could unleash alone.

    The same went for the ming Phoenix Theurgy Art. Its might was equivalent to a Sixth-Ring Ancient Arcana Technique, but because it incorporated elements from many different sources of inspiration and ced high demands on the user¡¯s consciousness, it was impossible to include that skill in the rating system either.

    As such, Su Chen was only a Third-Ring Arcana Master if you went purely by the Ancient Arcana Technique tiers.

    The two Harpies before him were Fourth-Ring Arcana Masters. He was able to figure that out just by investigating their Origin Energy Patterns.

    The Origin Energy Patterns were also known as Arcana Technique Patterns, the foundation for which Ancient Arcana Techniques took shape. Su Chen had spent quite a bit of energy in the past studying these things. Arcana Technique Patterns also belonged to this ten-ring system, which was why Su Chen was easily able to discern the mastery of these two Harpies so easily.

    When Su Chen cut open one of the Harpies¡¯ chests and opened their Origin Sea, he found a number of glittering items floating inside.

    These were the Arcana Technique Patterns.

    These Arcana Technique Patterns were formed from pure Origin Energy and looked like a miniature Origin Energy building covered in profound, arcane inscriptions. They sat half-merged in the Origin Sea.

    After opening the Origin Sea, the Arcana Technique Patterns lost their protection and began to glow as they disappeared into thin air.

    Su Chen watched as they disappeared, the glow from the Origin Energy fading.

    ¡°What a pity!¡± Su Chen sighed.

    ¡°What¡¯s the pity?¡± Iron Cliff asked.

    ¡°If only I could have preserved those Arcana Technique fragments. Those are the crystallizations of the Harpies understanding of Ancient Arcana Techniques,¡± Su Chen carelessly replied.

    ¡°Why couldn¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Because those are made of pure Origin Energy. Without the appropriate realm, it¡¯s impossible to preserve them,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°So create one for them,¡± Iron Cliff said.

    Su Chen was just about to shake his head when his heart jolted.

    Right!

    Why wasn¡¯t it possible?

    ¡°Actually, I think that this idea of yours is very logical...... and it might not actually be that hard to bring to fruition,¡± Su Chen said with excitement.

    Indeed, it was quite simple to achieve it in the end.

    Su Chen was able to find the answer just by using the Origin Bone Scepter twice.

    ¡°Flowerless Grass, Three Yangs Fruit, Flying Squirrel Heart, and Dried Bell Seeds......¡± Su Chen quickly listed these items down, then handed them to Iron Cliff. ¡°Ask Xianling to prepare these for me, the sooner the better!¡±

    Given the Zhu n¡¯s might, gathering these items was very quick and easy.

    That afternoon, a mixture containing all those ingredients appeared on Su Chen¡¯s workbench.

    Su Chen carefully cut open the second Harpy corpse and extracted the Arcana Technique Patterns. The Arcana Technique Patterns began to dissolve as soon as they encountered the air. Su Chen hurriedly pulled them out and ced them in the liquid mixture. Indeed, those Arcana Technique Patterns stopped dissipating, and they reverted to their formerly stable condition.

    ¡°Sess!¡± Iron Cliff chuckled happily.

    Inparison, Su Chen¡¯s expression was incredibly emotional. He stared at those floating Origin Energy Patterns, in a daze, as he muttered, ¡°How beautiful.¡±

    Beautiful?

    Iron Cliff stared at those Origin Energy Patterns and said, ¡°If I might speak my mind, Master, I cannot tell why you think those are beautiful.¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°Do you know what the biggest difference between contemporary Origin Skills and Ancient Arcana Techniques is?¡±

    ¡°You can increase your cultivation tier just by mastering the corresponding Ancient Arcana Technique?¡±

    ¡°No, no, you¡¯re referring to the outward manifestations. I¡¯m talking about the fundamental difference.¡±

    Iron Cliff shook his head.

    Su Chen said, ¡°The core of Ancient Arcana Techniques is knowledge. They are the best methods we have of using Origin Energy.¡±

    In the human cultivation system, cultivators sought to improve themselves, and a person¡¯s cultivation increased by that person increasing their foundation. Origin Skills were merely abat manifestation of that foundation. This system was a result of the human desire to achieve immortality.

    On the other hand, Ancient Arcana Techniques were designed purely with efficient application of Origin Energy in mind and wouldn¡¯t result in much change to a person¡¯s lifespan. Even though a few Arcanists relied on high-ring Arcana Techniques to increase their lifespan, this was not an intrinsic increase but an increase resulting from borrowing Origin Energy as a surrogate.

    This was simr to how humans would rely on medicine and other methods to increase their lifespans, while other animals simply lived long lives.

    One was intrinsic, while the other was extrinsic.

    ¡°Knowledge can be reproduced,¡± Su Chen said quietly as he gazed at the Origin Energy Patterns floating in the mixture.

    Iron Cliff was still confused.

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°Fine. What if I told you that I could imnt these Arcana Technique Patterns into your body, which would give you the ability to use Ancient Arcana Techniques?¡±

    ¡°Me? Use Ancient Arcana Techniques?¡± Iron Cliff opened his eyes wide with shock. ¡°Is that really possible?¡±

    ¡°Of course not.¡± Su Chen dumped a bucket of cold water on his head. ¡°How on earth could something that good happen? Every person¡¯s Origin Energy Pattern has a unique imprint on it. Even if I could find a way to imnt them in you, it would probably be very hard for you to use them.¡±

    ¡°So why even say something like that?¡± Iron Cliff was disappointed.

    ¡°I already told you that they can be duplicated,¡± Su Chen said meaningfully as he activated his microscopic eye, the consciousness crystal in his mind firing on all cylinders.

    An instantter, Su Chen ced his left hand on the Origin Energy Patterns, at the same time cing his right hand on Iron Cliff¡¯s head.

    Iron Cliff felt his vision tremble for a moment as countless dots of light flickered around the corners of his vision. He felt as if he had suddenly entered a secret realm, and arcane inscriptions floated through the air around him.

    Then, a hand suddenly appeared in the air. Iron Cliff instinctively went to push the hand aside.

    Just as he was about to do so, however, he heard Su Chen say, ¡°Don¡¯t resist!¡±

    The years of following after Su Chen had made Iron Cliff totally obedient to Su Chen.

    Since Su Chen had said as much, he suppressed his instincts.

    Next, he watched as the hand forcefully entering his consciousness began to fly around in his mind, flickering with light.

    Origin Energy Pattern after Origin Energy Pattern was grasped by the hand andbined together, and Iron Cliff¡¯s consciousness began to follow along.

    ¡°Use your Origin Energy to trace these patterns!¡± Su Chen¡¯s voice continued to speak.

    Iron Cliff followed his instructions.

    The patterns danced more and more quickly, constantly reorganizing and joining together.

    Iron Cliff did his best to keep up, following Su Chen¡¯s directions as he revolved the Origin Energy in his body.

    Slowly but surely, the Arcana Technique Patterns began to form in Iron Cliff¡¯s consciousness.

    As the hand pressed down, Iron Cliff felt the Origin Energy Patterns sink into his Origin Sea. In that moment, his Origin Energy was revolving to its greatest extent.

    Once the Arcana Technique Patterns were fully submerged in his Origin Sea, a resounding thunderp boomed right next to his ear.

    Iron Cliff felt his vision fade momentarily as a wave of dizziness overtook him.

    What happened?

    While he was still recovering from his confusion, he heard Su Chen¡¯s voice say, ¡°Congrattions.¡±

    Congrattions?

    For what? Iron Cliff didn¡¯t really understand.

    ¡°Try it out for yourself,¡± Su Chen said.

    Iron Cliff carefully sensed his own condition. Suddenly, a profound and mysterious sensation surfaced in his heart.

    Iron Cliff stared in shock. ¡°How is this possible?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll know when you try it,¡± Su Chen said as he pped him on the arm.

    Iron Cliff raised his hand, and a wave of intense Origin Energy shot forth from his hand, turning into mes as they left his palm. The mes quickly formed a shield that enveloped Iron Cliff.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Iron Cliff¡¯s jaw dropped.

    ¡°me Shield, a Fourth-Ring Arcana Technique. Congrattions, you¡¯re now a Fourth-Ring Arcana Master.¡±

    TL: Author¡¯s note that I felt was worth tranting for the more astute among you.

    PS: I went back to look at what I had written before. Damn, I remembered it incorrectly - Su Chen¡¯s consciousness energy should be around two thousand and two units without any equipment. My apologies.

    However, even if Su Chen¡¯s consciousness is powerful enough, he still cannot fight a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator before casting his Divine Pces. This is a problem of not being able to utilize his consciousness energy properly. He is still unable to use his full consciousness power when attacking. Of course, he can stillpletely suppress someone at the same cultivation realm.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 38: Duplication 1

    Chapter 38: Duplication (1)

    Possessing a Fourth-Ring Arcana Technique was simple too inconceivable and hard to believe.

    Even so, research was designed to create such miracles.

    Unlike before, however, Iron Cliff¡¯s Fourth-Ring Arcana Technique was obtained by cheating the system, so he would not be able to grasp other simr-tier Arcana Techniques any easier. In that sense, Iron Cliff¡¯s status as a Fourth-Ring Arcana Master was in name only. Since Ancient Arcana Techniques relied on knowledge as the foundation, then as you constructed these Fourth-Ring Origin Energy Patterns, the difficulty in constructing other simr-tier patterns would greatly decrease.

    But what did that matter?

    Hadn¡¯t he gotten them for free?

    Most importantly, with these Fourth-Ring Arcana Technique Patterns, Iron Cliff would be able to study Ancient Arcana Techniques much more efficiently in the future.

    Yes, he might not be able to study other Fourth-Ring Patterns, but studying patterns below that tier would be much easier.

    This was simr to Su Chen¡¯s use of the Origin Bone Scepter. First, he would obtain a high-level answer; once that was aplished, he would then try to reverse-engineer the oue. Once the foundation was set, learning simr-ring Ancient Arcana Techniques wouldn¡¯t be a problem any longer.

    This would greatly increase Iron Cliff¡¯s studying efficiency, and he wouldn¡¯t go down any wrong paths.

    No one amongst the Stoneskins had ever be an Arcana Master before. This was quite a momentous asion for Iron Cliff.

    So he had be an Arcana Master just like that?

    That was when he noticed that Su Chen¡¯s expression was a bit pale.

    Utilizing the microscopic eye and the consciousness crystal at the same time ced quite a bit of strain on Su Chen.

    ¡°Master, are you okay?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m fine. It¡¯s a pity about this Arcana Technique Pattern.¡±

    Su Chen nced regretfully at the contents of the vial. The Arcana Technique Pattern hadpletely disappeared.

    This Arcana Technique Pattern had contained all of that Harpy¡¯s knowledge of Ancient Arcana Techniques. There was more there than just the me Shield, but unfortunately Su Chen¡¯s forced duplication had destroyed the Arcana Technique Pattern. At the same time that the me Shield was sessfully duplicated, the Arcana Technique Pattern had shattered.

    In other words, he was only able to duplicate a single Ancient Arcana Technique.

    Well, that was enough to be satisfied with.

    Su Chen patted Iron Cliff on the shoulder and said, ¡°From this day onwards, you¡¯re going to need to study those Ancient Arcana Techniques a bit more. I¡¯m going to have Patelocke teach you.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he tossed the Mountain-Beheading de over to Iron Cliff.

    ¡°Study?¡± Iron Cliff frowned. ¡°That¡¯s a bit difficult for us Stoneskins.¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s only difficult, right? Difficulties are made for oveing. I believe that you can do it,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°I¡¯m still more used to my original style of fighting,¡± Iron Cliff said as he rubbed his head.

    ¡°I¡¯m not telling you to change your normal style of battle, but if you can obtain even more strength for a rtively small price, there is no reason to refuse it. There are many Ancient Arcana Techniques that can increase your physical strength, which will be useful to you once you learn them. For instance, Dragon¡¯s Might will cause your current strength to multiply. Iron Skin doesn¡¯t sh with your Adamantine Battle Body and can be used simultaneously despite the fact that its defensive capabilities are limited. By the same token, me Shield can be used along with your Iron Mountain Shield. Furthermore, Wind Scamper will increase your speed and can be used along with the Cloud Body Technique. The Blood Boiling Technique can be used in conjunction with the Blood Fiend Constetion, and Devouring the Heavens is extremelypatible with Lifesuck. If you reach higher rings, you will obtain many more powerful abilities. I¡¯m not telling you to give up on your original path, but to increase your supplementary powers so that you will be able to reach further heights with your current path.¡±

    Iron Cliff¡¯s eyes lit up when he heard Su Chen¡¯s description of the future.

    He liked the feeling of his fists mming into meat, sounching fireballs off from a distance didn¡¯t really suit him. However, Su Chen¡¯s words told Iron Cliff that there were aspects of Ancient Arcana Techniques that suited him greatly.

    To those Arcana Masters, these Arcana Techniques may have been slightly off-target, but they were perfect for Iron Cliff.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Iron Cliff nodded excitedly.

    ¡°Unfortunately, we only have two Harpy corpses here. If we had more, I could probably turn Cloud Leopard and the others into Arcana Masters as well,¡± Su Chen sighed regretfully.

    ¡°So why not capture a few more? There are plenty of Harpies flying around anyways,¡± Iron Cliff replied carelessly.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Like you could just go around capturing......¡±

    He suddenly froze as his eyes began to glow. ¡°Right, why couldn¡¯t I get some more Harpies for myself?¡±

    Su Chen fell into deep thought as he stared at the Harpies on the altar.

    ¡°What? You want to buy more Harpy captives?¡±

    Zhu Yunyan stared at Su Chen in shock.

    ¡°Yes. Matriarch, will you please offer your assistance?¡± Su Chen asked. ¡°Liaoye Country has been at war with the Harpies for a long time. There should be many Harpy captives avable, right?¡±

    Yes, Su Chen wasn¡¯t thinking of capturing them himself, but to buy them instead.

    Since he had so much money, why would he risk his own life?

    ¡°For research?¡± Zhu Yunyan asked.

    Su Chen nodded.

    ¡°How many do you need?¡±

    ¡°The quantity is not important. What matters is their quality...... I want the highest-quality ones.¡±

    Since he was going to be duplicating Arcana Techniques one way or another, the stronger they were the better. Because the individual would be able to more easily grasp lower-ring principles, the higher-ring the Arcana Technique Patterns were, the faster the individual receiving the duplicated techniques would be able to advance.

    This was why Su Chen needed the highest-quality Harpies, not necessarily the most.

    Zhu Yunyan frowned slightly. ¡°High-ranking Harpy captives are not easy toe by.¡±

    ¡°But the Zhu n should be able to buy them, right?¡± Su Chen said.

    Of course it was possible for the Zhu n to buy these Harpy captives. After all, they were a Demonic Emperor Bloodline n in the first ce, giving them significant status amongst Liaoye Country. In addition, they had just exposed the Rong n¡¯s collusion, which was a service for the country. Buying some high-ranking Harpy Captives wasn¡¯t a problem as long as they had a good reason.

    Su Chen¡¯s name as the Worldly Sage had spread throughout the Seven Kingdoms. There was still some resistance to his developing the bloodline-less cultivation techniques, but if he wanted to do research on foreign races, that was something they were willing to openly discuss.

    Zhu Yunyan very quickly agreed. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll send some people to the capital right away.¡±

    With the Zhu n handling the matter, everything proceeded extremely smoothly.

    Today, Su Chen was doing research in his workstation as usual when Cloud Leopard appeared. ¡°The people who went to the capital have returned.¡±

    ¡°Oh? How¡¯d it go?¡±

    ¡°They brought back twenty.¡±

    ¡°Excellent!¡± Su Chen pped his hands together in excitement. ¡°Let¡¯s go and have a look.¡±

    They walked to the Zhu n¡¯s prison. There, Su Chen found twenty Harpy captives shut in the prison, each one wearing restrictive shackles made of Origin Stones and Stargold.

    Zhu Bailou was the warden of the prison, and a distant uncle of Zhu Xianyao¡¯s. He was known as Uncle Thirteen because of his seniority. As he showed Su Chen around, he said with a smile, ¡°The twenty captives are all here. Twelve of them are Fourth-Ring Arcana Masters, seven are Fifth-Ring, and one is Sixth-Ring.¡±

    ¡°Only one Sixth-Ring?¡± Su Chen was a bit unsatisfied.

    Zhu Bailou smiled bitterly. ¡°Young Master Su, high-ranking Harpies are not like cabbages. There aren¡¯t many of them, and they are quite hard to capture alive. We had to negotiate a long time to get them to give us this Sixth-Ring Harpy. And even then, they strictly ordered us to not allow him to leave Liaoye Country alive; otherwise, we will have to answer for it.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± Su Chen could only ept the situation. It seemed like capturing a Tenth-Ring Arcana Master and soaring to the Heavens in a single step was going to be impossible.

    Sixth-Ring was fine too; he could think about more after dealing with that one first.

    As he inspected the captives, Su Chen suddenly saw a familiar face.

    That was the Harpy female who had instigated the Rong n¡¯s betrayal.

    She had been sent to the capital along with the Rong n¡¯s six elders, but after a short journey she had been sent back to him.

    When he saw that Harpy female, Su Chen smiled slightly.

    The Harpy Female¡¯s eyes were filled with hatred.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t mind. He said to Zhu Bailou, ¡°I¡¯ll ept these Harpies. Please, give my thanks to the MAtriarch.¡±

    Zhu Bailou hurriedly patted his chest, indicating that there was no need to thank him, and even personally escorted the Harpies out of the prison. Su Chen was the Zhu n¡¯s important guest and Zhu Xianyao¡¯s future husband, regardless of whether he was going to be brought into the fold or he was going to take Zhu Xianyao with him. At the very least, that reality would not change, so Zhu Bailou took advantage of the opportunity to curry some favor with Su Chen.

    For the first wave, Su Chen took the twelve Fourth-Ring Harpies and the two Fifth-Ring Harpies with him.

    The Fourth-Ring Harpies were prepared for the twelve Sword Servants, while the Fifth-Ring Harpies were prepared for Cloud Leopard and Zhu Xianyao.

    Su Chen took the captives with him back to his researchb and began to extract their Arcana Technique Patterns, then duplicating the right Arcana Techniques.

    Because he could only duplicate one technique per Arcana Technique Pattern, he needed to choose the right Arcana Technique to duplicate. This was why he had given Iron Cliff the me Shield. Harpies mostly used long-range and speed-boosting techniques, and fighting from a distance was their specialty, whereas close-quartersbat was not. The me Shield was not necessarily the strongest Arcana Technique that the male Harpy had known. However, because it was extremelypatible with Iron Cliff¡¯s existing style ofbat, Su Chen had chosen to give him this not-so-powerful technique.

    The same went for the others.

    The twelve Sword Servants came from a military background and had cultivated Su Chen¡¯s Immacte Cultivation Technique. They were extremely well-suited for fighting group battles, and their strength would multiply when grouped together.

    As such, Su Chen expressly chose Arcana Techniques that could boost the effectiveness of their group skills, rather than purely selecting techniques based on strength.

    After browsing the avable skills for some time, Su Chen chose the ¡°Icebound Technique¡±.

    The Icebound Technique, as its name suggested, was used to freeze opponents.

    The killing power of such a technique was only average. Most of the time, it was used to slow an opponent¡¯s movements, sealing their limbs with ice and making it hard for them to move.

    Su Chen had chosen it because it was an incredibly effective crowd-control Arcana Technique.

    This was a difference between contemporary Origin Skills and Ancient Arcana Techniques that was worthmenting on. Contemporary Origin Skills focused on increasing one¡¯s own lifeforce and strength, but techniques that weakened the enemy were rare. Even though there were control-type and curse-type Origin Skills around, they were not that effective, and there weren¡¯t many of them. After all, since contemporary Origin Skills relied on self-improvement, the notion that strength was personal made it so that techniques trying to drag someone else down was frowned upon.

    Arcana Techniques, however, were different. Both the Arcanists and the Harpies possessed weak lifeforces. They weren¡¯t good at close-quartersbat, and could only attack from afar. To ensure their own safety, using Origin Energy to weaken and control their opponents was almost a necessity. Because of this, curses, impairment techniques, and control techniques were allmonce amongst the Arcanist system.

 Sect - Book 5, 39: Duplication 2

    Chapter 39: Duplication (2)

    Icebound Technique was such a control-type Arcana Technique.

    As a Third-Ring Arcana Technique, its control strength was not that great. However, this Arcana Technique had two great benefits: the first was that it could decrease a strong opponent¡¯s speed even if it couldn¡¯t freeze them entirely, giving the user an opportunity to retaliate; the second was that the effects were stackable. If one use was not achieving the desired results, then applying more on top would increase its effectiveness. Of course, the more Icebound Techniques that wereyered on each other, the worse the effect would be. Even so, when enough people used this technique in tandem, they would still be able to seal a powerful opponent.

    Throughout Harpy history, urrences like this had happened more than once. When faced with a powerful opponent, multiple Harpies had activated this Icebound Technique against a single target, sealing them and making it impossible for them to move. Then, a hail of arrows so thick that it blotted out the sky would m into the now-frozen target, causing them to shatter.

    The twelve Sword Servants would be incredibly useful regardless of whether they were fighting alongside each other or supporting others.

    It was for this reason that Su Chen had chosen a Third-Ring Arcana Technique despite the fact that he had twelve Fourth-Ring Arcana Masters at his disposal.

    On the other hand, it was because they were Fourth-Ring Arcana Masters that their Third-Ring Patterns were exceptionally solid, and why Su Chen was able to find a technique that they could all possess. The unique aspects of their same-ring Arcana Techniques meant that Su Chen would need to try and find twelve Arcana Masters who had mastered the same Arcana Technique. This was no easy feat.

    After ¡°applying the mold¡± to the twelve Sword Servants, Cloud Leopard and Zhu Xianyao were next.

    Cloud Leopard was a genius when it came to fighting. His perception had been honed over the course of many years, but it was for this reason that most Arcana Techniques actually didn¡¯t fit in with his style of battle very well. One party was a mage,unching attacks from afar, while the other party was a close-range assassin. It was very difficult to reconcile the two.

    Su Chen found it quite amusing to imagine Cloud Leopard suddenly stopping in the middle of a fight to use an Arcana Technique, but it was quite impractical.

    For this reason, Su Chen searched the Fifth-Ring Arcana Technique Patterns for a long time but was unable to find a suitable technique.

    There was nothing he could do about it, so he decided to kill another two Fifth-Ring Harpies and harvest their patterns.

    This time, he was able to find a suitable technique, and two of them at that.

    The Fifth-Ring Arcana Technique, ¡°Arcana Technique Reversal.¡±

    The Fourth-Ring Arcana Technique, ¡°Elemental Resistance.¡±

    Arcana Technique Reversal was a unique Arcana Technique, but it was more urate to call it Origin Energy Reversal. Its use was very simple: it would allow an individual to locally reverse the flow of Origin Energy so that they would be able to push through a wave of Origin Energy.

    It sounded quiteplicated, but it was actually very simple. Origin Energy attacks wouldn¡¯t be able to send him flying; on the contrary, he would be able to utilize this reverse flow of Origin Energy to unleash attacks himself.

    This Arcana Technique was quite strange, because it didn¡¯t allow the user to avoid injury, nor would it increase the strength of his attacks. However, the user could determine what direction they wanted to fly in - where a fireball would have sent the user flying backwards, Arcana Technique Reversal would allow the user to fly forwards, or to the left or right. In that sense, ¡°reversal¡± was inurate as well; the user could choose whichever direction they wanted to the flow to be in.

    This technique was a bit weak for a Fifth-Ring Arcana Technique, so most people didn¡¯t really find much of a use for it. The only reason this technique was considered a Fifth-Ring technique was because it involved control of Origin Energy, which was quite aplicated process. In other words, the effect was quite poor, and the cost of learning it was quite high, so the return on investment was pretty bad.

    To Cloud Leopard, however, this Arcana Technique was extremely useful.

    His style of battle was inherently variable and mobile, and his ability to attack from any direction was very annoying to deal with for any opponent. With Arcana Technique Reversal, Cloud Leopard¡¯s slipperiness would increase even further. He would be able to close in on an opponent when he should have been sent flying, and opponents caught off-guard might die immediately because of this.

    In addition, Arcana Technique Reversal didn¡¯t need to be specifically activated once it was learned; rather, it would be a kind of passive skill that the user could use as they pleased when attacked. They wouldn¡¯t be able to decide whether they went airborne or not, but they could decide the direction of their flight. If truly mastered, you could even change directions in the air, or even draw a symbol in the air as long as the attack was powerful enough and your body was strong enough to withstand it.

    In addition, while Arcana Technique Reversal was active, the user was basically immune from all attacks. This was because the Origin Energy around the user was changing directions, and most attacks aimed at the user would be affected as a result. However, idents could still happen, and attacks aimed in a different direction could identally be redirected and still hit the user.

    Because the activation period for Arcana Technique Reversal was so short, this period of ¡°invincibility¡± wasn¡¯t particrly important. To Cloud Leopard, however, that was already enough.

    For the most part, Arcana Technique Reversal was a pretty weak technique, but it was selected because of howpatible it was with Cloud Leopard¡¯s style ofbat.

    The Fourth-Ring Arcana Technique, Elemental Resistance, was very simple. It increased the user¡¯s resistance to elemental attacks, but it would also decrease the user¡¯s sensitivity to the elements, thereby decreasing the power of most Arcana Techniques.

    Most Arcana techniques were elemental in nature. Skills such as fireballs, the Icebound Technique, lightning skills, and Wind de all were elemental Arcana Techniques, so Elemental Resistance was not very useful to most Arcana Masters. It was simrly considered a weak Arcana Technique.

    These two weak Arcana Techniques, however, became Cloud Leopard¡¯s greatest allies.

    Cloud Leopard relied on physical attacks, so he didn¡¯t care about how effective his Arcana Techniques were. On the other hand, the increase in elemental resistance that he gained was incredibly useful for him.

    Zhu Xianyao also obtained two Arcana Techniques.

    The Fifth-Ring Arcana Technique, ¡°Holy Light Blessing.¡±

    The Fifth-Ring Arcana Technique, ¡°Holy Light Recovery.¡±

    Two archetypal Holy Light Arcana Techniques.

    Holy Light Arcana Techniques were true Ancient Arcana Techniques, somewhat different from most Arcana Techniques that the Harpies practiced. After tens of thousands of years of development, the Harpies had managed to develop a cultivation system that better suited their needs, and some of these ¡°Arcana Techniques¡± were possessed by the Harpies alone. The Holy Light set of Arcana Techniques, however, were true Ancient Arcana Techniques, passed down from the Arcanists themselves.

    The Holy Light Arcana Techniques were basically like buffs.

    Holy Light Blessing would create an area blessed by holy light. All selected targets in that area would be buffed and have their strength increased significantly.

    Strictly speaking, Holy Light Blessing was also a bit weak. It was an area-of-effect skill, but the area it affected was quite small - only about 100 feet or so.

    Once a person¡¯s cultivation base reached a certain point, a hundred feet was a bit small. Moving in any direction would bring them outside of that range. In addition, who could ensure that everyone would remain in the same ce on the battlefield? For most people, this Arcana Technique wasn¡¯t even as useful as a single-target buffing skill.

    The situation, however, was obviously different for Zhu Xianyao.

    She was used to control techniques anyways. Others might not always be around her, but her ves couldn¡¯t ever go far from where she stood. Buffing her ves alone already made this technique worth it.

    The strength increases provided by Holy Light Blessing were pretty good for an area-of-effect buff technique as well.

    As such, Holy Light Blessing was a pretty suitable technique for Zhu Xianyao.

    The Holy Light Recovery was even simpler. It recovered the user¡¯s wounds and nullified any curse-type Arcana Techniques, with the recovery effects dependent on the user¡¯s strength. As a Fifth-Ring Arcana Technique, Holy Light Recovery was quite useful for a Light Shaking Realm cultivator. Even though it couldn¡¯t bring someone back from the brink of death, it was still powerful enough to regenerate limbs. Of course, Light Shaking Realm cultivators possessed the ability to regenerate limbs as well, but Holy Light Recovery was effective even if the user had suffered from an attack that prevented the regeneration of limbs. In addition, its recovery ability was much greater than what Light Shaking Realm cultivators innately possessed. On Spirit Burning Realm cultivators, however, the recovery effects were somewhat limited.

    Since this Arcana Technique was effective in many circumstances regardless of whether the user controlled ves or not, Su Chen decided to give it to Zhu Xianyao as well.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t hesitate to use the remaining three Fifth-Ring Harpies and single Sixth-Ring Harpy on himself.

    The Sixth-Ring Arcana Technique, ¡°Energy Well.¡±

    The Fifth-Ring Arcana Technique, ¡°Darkness Spring.¡±

    The Fifth-Ring Arcana Technique, ¡°Arcana Technique Modeling.¡±

    Energy Well allowed the user to create a special energy core outside of their body and store up even more Origin Energy. Basically, it gave him the ability to build up extra reserves of Origin Energy.

    Of course, if it was only used to store Origin Energy, then Origin Stones would have sufficed. There would have been no need to learn apletely new Arcana Technique.

    The selling point of Energy Well was that using it as the foundation for an Origin Skill or an Arcana Technique would increase the effects of that skill or technique. The exact increase in power was directly linked to the amount of Origin Energy in the Energy Well. The more Origin Energy stored inside, the more powerful the unleashed technique would be.

    Put simply, the Energy Well wasn¡¯t only used to stockpile Origin Energy but also as a destructive force amplifier.

    Its purpose for existence was to provide its master an extremely powerful Arcana Technique. What type of Arcana Technique was up to the user to decide.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t need to really decide, as he possessed the ming Phoenix Theurgy Art.

    He wanted to see how the Energy Well and the ming Phoenix Theurgy Art would interact.

    The Darkness Spring was obviously closely tied to Darkness Origin Energy.

    Su Chen had managed to obtain a number of powerful Darkness-type Origin Skills from the Rong n, but his supply of Darkness Origin Substance had be a problem. The Darkness Door at Ten Thousand Swords Mountain was a source of Darkness Origin Substance, but that was only at the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, not around Su Chen himself. When Su Chen wasn¡¯t at the mountain, the problem resurfaced.

    Darkness Spring was a way topletely avoid this problem. It directly opened a tunnel to the realm of darkness and caused darkness to flow out. Not only so, but it could also increase the might of darkness-type Origin Skills and Arcana Techniques. This Arcana Technique was used to supplement darkness-type Arcana Techniques in the first ce and was the foundation for those techniques, so it was really no surprise that Su Chen had chosen it as well.

    Arcana Technique Modeling was used to strengthen manifestation Arcana Techniques, greatly increasing the effective duration of said techniques.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t possess any manifestation Arcana Techniques, but he did possess a cloning Origin Skill that allowed him to clone himself. Clones were also made of aggregated Origin Energy, so Arcana Technique Modeling was effective on them.

    Whereas Cloud Leopard¡¯s choices were a bit more exotic, these three Arcana Techniques were quite mainstream, and only someone like Su Chen, whobined the strengths of many different schools of thought into one, was suited to learn them. With these three Arcana Techniques, Su Chen was able to officially build a framework linking the contemporary Origin Skills with Arcana Techniques. The two systems were now linked by this bridge, with massive implications for the future.

    And the reason he had been able to learn these three techniques was because he had spared that female Harpy back then.

 Sect - Book 5, 40: An Unspeakable Secret 1

    Chapter 40: An Unspeakable Secret (1)

    ¡°Your name,¡± Su Chen demanded from the female Harpy.

    ¡°Flowing me Oriole,¡± the female Harpy replied obediently, her eyes filled with fear.

    It was impossible for her not to be afraid. She was filled with hatred for Su Chen in the beginning, but after all of the experiments that had taken ce, all of the Harpy female¡¯s anger, hatred, and arrogance had turned into fear.

    Even the most severe punishment probably wouldn¡¯t have caused her to feel such fear, but Su Chen¡¯s repeated experimentation had managed to do so.

    It wasn¡¯t because of the suffering itself, but because of Su Chen¡¯s attitude towards life.

    In the eyes of a researcher, all of this served as motivation for progress, but in the eyes of Flowing me Oriole, this dissection of life down to the bone was even more frightening than the cruelest torture. In Su Chen¡¯s hands, life lost its meaning. The Harpies were like useless sacks of meat that werebeled and divided by functionality.

    Life was no longer life. It had be just anotherponent of functionality.

    Most shockingly, this kind of research had actually managed to produce results.

    Flowing me Oriole had personally witnessed Su Chen extract those Arcana Technique Fragments from the other Harpies¡¯ bodies, preserve them, and even...... duplicated the Arcana Techniques contained within.

    Thispletely overturned Flowing me Oriole¡¯s understanding and made it seem as if her world was going to copse around her.

    That was why she gazed fearfully at Su Chen now like he was some kind of nightmarish demon. How could she possibly still have the guts to resist?

    "Flowing me Oriole? Not a bad name......" Su Chen muttered.

    This wasn¡¯t mere ttery. Most Harpies had very pleasant-sounding names. They had a certain kind of religious pursuit of beauty. Many people viewed them as being synonymous with the loftiness and elegance.

    However, in Su Chen¡¯s eyes, they might be lofty, but they certainly weren¡¯t elegant - Harpies were just as vicious when it came to killing humans.

    "As you can see, I am a schr, a human who likes to analyze things. Under normal circumstances, you would have suffered the same fate as yourpatriots. After you passed along everything that you have learned to me, I would have killed you. Can you guess why I haven¡¯t done so yet?" Su Chen asked with a smile.

    Even though he was smiling genially, Flowing me Oriole still found it incredibly frightening.

    She trembled and refused to utter a single word.

    Su Chen frowned. "Knowing how to fear is a good thing, but losing the ability to respond to the situation is quite disastrous. Your acting has gone a bit overboard, Miss Harpy. This is not the way you should look. You cannot deceive me. I know you are fearful, but not to the point that you are showing now. If you try to lie to me again, I will put you back on the research workbench."

    Flowing me Oriole froze. After some time, she said, "I don¡¯t know why you haven¡¯t killed me. Perhaps it¡¯s because of...... you did it for...... that......"

    She nced down at her own body.

    Su Chen understood what she meant.

    Apart from theirrge wings, Harpies appeared the same as humans, and they were generally quite attractive as well. As such, many humans would be attracted to them, and acts of rape were not umon.

    Flowing me Oriole obviously viewed Su Chen as such a person as well.

    This made him a bit unhappy.

    He said, "I¡¯m not that lowly. The only reason I haven¡¯t killed you is because there is one thing I am very curious about. How were you able to convince the Rong n to betray us?"

    As a Demonic Emperor n, their status amongst the human race was quite special. Even if they were the Zhu n¡¯s enemies, they wouldn¡¯t have been wiped out if they hadn¡¯t been so reckless. So what if their mines were emptied out? Couldn¡¯t they just find a new location and set up again? The Zhu n had no interest in wiping them outpletely, and there was no way that Liaoye Country would allow it to happen anyways.

    So why had the Rong n agreed to betray humanity?

    The differences between the races were far more than physical. There was no way that you would live a good life even if youpletely switched allegiances over to a different race.

    Throughout the tens of thousands of years of fighting amongst the five races, armed rebellions were few and far between. No one would lightly betray the human race unless they were pushed to dire straits, especially for a race that was so fundamentally different from them. They would be thrust into apletely different kind of society that would make it very hard for them to live.

    Not to mention that the Rong n had decided to ally with the extremely xenophobic Harpies.

    Even though the Harpies possessed weak physiques, they were incredibly proud, and all of them looked down on the other races.

    This was due to Harpy history.

    Even in the darkest period of time in their history, when the Origin Beasts ran rampant, the Harpies had always possessed higher status than others. While the humans and the Oceanids were being eaten as food, and the Ravagers were serving as the Beasts¡¯ shepherds, the Harpies were of no food interest to the Origin Beasts due to their thin body sizes and flight agility. As such, they were given the task of cleaning the Origin Beasts; even though the Origin Beasts had the ability to clean themselves, they enjoyed this kind of special treatment.

    This was what Wang Doushan had meant when he said that ¡°those Harpy birds are like flies around food, and they exploited the Beasts¡¯ might for their own benefit, pretending as if it was their own.¡±

    Even so, it was true that they possessed the highest status amongst all the Intelligent Races during this period of time. It was from that very early point in time that they began to develop this prideful, arrogant attitude of theirs.

    The strong xenophobia expressed by most Harpies made them the least likely to want to rope humans into their side. Not even mostmon ns would have done something like this, let alone a proud Demonic Emperor Bloodline n, so the Rong n¡¯s actions were truly a mystery.

    Zhu Yunyan had interrogated Rong Xiangsheng and the others as well, but the only answer she could get out of them was that this decision was made by the Rong n¡¯s ancestor, Rong Guluo.

    As for why he, a Thought Manifestation Realm expert half a step into the Ultimate Emperor Realm, would do something like this, no one knew.

    Usually, ns only existed to serve the person at the very top. The Ancestor was the person supporting the entire n, so their will became the will of the n as well.

    Even though Rong Xiangsheng and the others disagreed with Rong Guluo¡¯s decision, there was no point in voicing their disagreement, so they could only obey.

    Now that Rong Guluo had run away, this question would perhaps forever remain unanswered.

    After Flowing me Oriole was sent back to the capital, the Emperor Li Wuyi had sent people to the Rong n¡¯s former territory in order to figure out why they had chosen to betray everyone. However, they were unable to obtain any answers - Flowing me¡¯s Oriole mind had been affected by secret technique that would automatically activate when she was captured, wiping out some of her memories in the process.

    Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s question, Flowing me Oriole replied, ¡°I don¡¯t really know the answer either.¡±

    ¡°I know that. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have returned you to me. But just because your memories have been wiped doesn¡¯t mean that I can¡¯t find the truth. After all, the only memories that have been wiped out are the memories directly rted to this incident, not any other memories. Am I correct?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Flowing me Oriole was stunned. ¡°So what?¡±

    ¡°Tell me about your identity first.¡±

    Flowing me Oriole remained in a daze for some time before replying, somewhat unwillingly, ¡°I am a Sanskrit Chanter from the Gentle Voice Nest.¡±

    Nests were the internal dividers of Harpy society, akin to Ravager tribes or human countries. Sanskrit Chanters possessed a unique status, just like the Soulless or the Bone Diviners did in Ravager culture, and unique abilities. Sanskrit Chanters could sing songs that purified a person¡¯s consciousness, sharpening their mind and simultaneously increasing their consciousness power. These songs were specifically used to deal with consciousness attacks. They were somewhat like priests, and they belonged to one of the Harpies¡¯ three main special professions.

    The fact that Flowing me Oriole was a Sanskrit Chanter exined how she was able to nullify Zhu Xianling¡¯s control over her puppet. After all, Harpies surpassed humans both in their application of Origin Energy and understanding of the consciousness, not to mention that Sanskrit Chanters usually possessed great talent in those aspects.

    But why would the Harpies send a Sanskrit Chanter all the way into human territory?

    Just to free an insignificant human ve?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t believe it.

    After thinking for a moment, he said, ¡°So your memories were wiped out by a secret technique?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Flowing me Oriole replied obediently.

    Sanskrit Chanters weren¡¯t warriors in the first ce, and the Harpies did not rely on an iron will to sustain their society. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have needed to create such a secret technique in the first ce.¡±

    ¡°Does this secret technique deal with a certain period of time or with a certain matter? What I mean is, even if the technique can wipe your memories, it should do so systematically and by a certain set of rules.¡±

    ¡°...... It¡¯s by a specific set of words. I cannot remember what those specifically designated words are nor how they are rted. My head hurts as soon as I try to think about it, so it¡¯s impossible for me. My brain doesn¡¯t allow me to think about the contents of these memories in order to preserve myself,¡± Flowing me Oriole replied helplessly.

    ¡°Is that so.¡± Su Chen rubbed his chin. ¡°Then you should at least know where these words and their content came from in the first ce, right?¡±

    Flowing me Oriole nodded. ¡°My leader, Matriarch Glimmering Clear Mist.¡±

    ¡°So was she the one who sent you to the human country to look for the Rong n? Or you came on your own?¡±

    Flowing me Oriole replied after some thought, ¡°No, she gave me a mission and I went to execute it. That is what led me all the way here.¡±

    ¡°So it wasn¡¯t your Matriarch who instructed you toe to the Rong n?¡±

    Flowing me Oriole shook her head.

    ¡°So the target of this mission is not the Rong n, but somehow they were involved. You just happened toe into contact with the Rong n while carrying out your mission, am I right?¡±

    Flowing me Oriole said with some agitation, ¡°I suppose so.¡±

    Su Chen asked, ¡°Then how were you able to find this ce?¡±

    ¡°That is part of the memories that I cannot ess.¡±

    ¡°Is that so......¡± Su Chen rubbed his chin and paced back and forth a few times, then asked, ¡°When did you receive themission?¡±

    ¡°Three months prior.¡±

    ¡°And when did you arrive at t Sky City?¡±

    ¡°About a month ago.¡±

    ¡°When did the Rong n and the Zhu n begin to show hostility towards one another?¡±

    ¡°Half a month ago?¡±

    ¡°So it only took you half a month to buy out the Rong n and convince them to fight against the Zhu n. Did you need to wipe out the Zhu n in order toplete your mission?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Did the price you paid to buy out the Rong n have anything to do with your mission?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°What kind of price or treasure is enough to convince a Thought Manifestation Realm expert from a Demonic Emperor Bloodline Nobility n to hand over their n?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know?¡±

    ¡°How many of you were sent from the nest for this mission?¡±

    ¡°Just the three of us.¡±

    ¡°Before you left, what items did you take with you?¡±

    ¡°A few of our own things, and some......¡±

    Flowing me Oriole began to shriek as she cradled her head, falling into torment.

    ¡°Some things that you cannot say?¡±

    ¡°Ye- yes.¡±

    ¡°Do you know where they are?¡±

    ¡°No...... I cannot ess the rted memories.¡±

    ¡°But you at least should know that, at the time you were captured, these treasures were not on you. Right?¡±

    Flowing me Oriole¡¯s expression changed.

 Sect - Book 5, 41: An Unspeakable Secret 2

    Chapter 41: An Unspeakable Secret (2)

    The items were definitely not on Flowing me Oriole¡¯s body. After she was captured, she had been thoroughly searched, but no special items had been found.

    It was possible that those treasures were still hidden in the Rong n!

    Su Chen immediately came to that conclusion.

    He hurriedly left the research workstation and went looking for Zhu Xianyao. ¡°Did you guys find anything special when you searched the Rong n?¡±

    Now that the Rong n was finished, the Zhu n had taken over their businesses, and all of the Rong n¡¯s treasures belonged to them as well.

    ¡°Are you referring to treasures? Or resources?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked.

    ¡°Neither. I¡¯m talking about items that might not have belonged to a human, that may have been rted to the Rong n¡¯s betrayal,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Upon hearing that it might have been rted to the Harpies, Zhu Xianyao¡¯s expression became serious. ¡°Let me go take a look.¡±

    Very quickly, Zhu Xianyao returned. ¡°No one discovered anything particrly unique.¡±

    ¡°No hidden stashes either?¡±

    ¡°Definitely not,¡± Zhu Xianyao replied with conviction.

    As she gazed at her lover¡¯s thoughtful expression, Zhu Xianyao asked, ¡°Could Rong Guluo have taken it away?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°There is that possibility, but we cannot let any clues get away. I feel like there is something big hiding behind their actions.

    Zhu Xianyao nodded. ¡°I feel the same way, but we have already searched the entire Rong n. Though we did find many treasures, none of them came from the Harpies.

    Su Chen could only sigh when he heard that. Just as he was about to concede that Rong Guluo had indeed taken them with him, he suddenly heard Zhu Xianyao say, ¡°In addition to the Rong n itself, all of their associated businesses have also been searched with the exception of the Moonstone Mine. We really didn¡¯t find anything.¡±

    ¡°Moonstone Mine?¡± Su Chen felt his heart jolt for a moment. ¡°Why didn¡¯t we search there?¡±

    ¡°Because it¡¯spletely empty,¡± Zhu Xianyao replied. ¡°The mine is depleted, so no one paid any attention to it. Weren¡¯t you the one who discovered that in the first ce?¡±

    Su Chen seemed to have received a serious shock. He fell into deep thought.

    Zhu Xianyao waved her hand in front of Su Chen¡¯s face. ¡°Hey, what are you thinking about?¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s gaze, however, was extremely serious. ¡°I was indeed the one who found out about this. I also remember that the Moonstone Mine was depleted just about half a month ago.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Zhu Xianyao was also stunned.

    Zhu Xianyao also realized that there were far too many coincidences at y. ¡°Is there some kind of problem here?¡±

    ¡°A big one,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Do you remember what I told you? The Rong n invited the Qian n over to help deal with the Zhu n, agreeing to hand everything over. Of course, in actuality there was one thing that they had reserved for themselves.¡±

    ¡°What was it?¡±

    ¡°The Stargold Mine!¡± su Chen replied.

    Stargold Mine was a mine under the control of the Zhu n. It was incredibly vital, just like the Moonstone Mine was to the Rong n.

    Even though the Rong n had promised to hand over all of the benefits from the Zhu n over to the Qian n, they had kept this mine for themselves. However, they had agreed to pay the Qian n arge sum of money in exchange.

    Because it was just a single mine, and the additional price the Rong n had offered to pay, Su Chen had ignored it at that time. However, he suddenly understood what was happening.

    Zhu Xianyao also realized something. She stared at Su Chen in shock. ¡°Could they have really been after the mine itself?¡±

    Su Chen and Zhu Xianyao had always believed that the mine alone wasn¡¯t enough to bring the two ns to blows, but now it seemed like the mine was incredibly valuable to the Rong n, valuable enough that they would pick a fight with another Demonic Emperor Bloodline n and even invite another Demonic Emperor Bloodline n to participate.

    Both Su Chen and Zhu Xianyao felt their hearts jolt.

    They knew that they had finally managed to figure out part of what the Harpies had been after.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go and take a look at the mine!¡± Su Chen and Zhu Xianyao said simultaneously.

    The Moonstone Mine was located in the southwestern region of t Sky City, not far from where Su Chen and his entourage hadnded back then.

    Because this had been the Rong n¡¯s main mine, tens of thousands of workers had once worked this ce over. Even if the mine was depleted, the workers hadn¡¯t dispersed. They had all continued to stay in the area in order to conceal the fact that the mine waspletely empty.

    After the Rong n was toppled, this ce finally quieted down, and the ce was rapidly deserted. The mining crews that had covered the ce had disappeared without a trace, only leaving behind many holes in the mountain - relics of a bygone era.

    Su Chen and the others found an old man standing guard when they arrived. He was responsible for watching over all of the abandoned tools and equipment kept here.

    Zhu Xianyao pointed up as she stood in front of the pockmarked mountain. ¡°This is where the Moonstone Mine is. The biggest hole up there is Hole Number One, which once produced enough ore to sustain hundreds of miners at once.

    Su Chen nced up at the pitch-ck entrance and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go in and take a look.¡±

    The cave was extremely dark. Due to many years of excavation, the tunnels were incredibly long andplicated. The further they went, the more paths there were to take.

    The difficulty of finding something in this kind of a ce when they didn¡¯t even really know what they were looking for was quite apparent.

    Thankfully, they were just fishing around carelessly, so everyone was extremely rxed.

    The whole way, no one was able to find anything. For the most part, it felt as though they were merely taking a leisurely stroll through the mineshaft.

    A Sword Servant named Li Xi walked around, tapping on the walls. The knocking sounds echoed clearly through the dark passageways.

    ¡°What are you hitting the walls for?¡± Lin Xiao asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m searching for some kind of secret passageway. Isn¡¯t that what Sect Master was asking us to do?¡± Li Xi replied.

    ¡°You idiot,¡± another Sword Servant named Liu Siye chuckled. ¡°This ce is a mine, where miners work. What kind of secret mechanisms could there possibly be?¡±

    Li Xi shrugged. ¡°Since we aren¡¯t really doing much, why not knock it around a bit?¡±

    ¡°I think knocking your head is a bit more interesting.¡± Liu Siye smacked Li Xi on the back of the head.

    ¡°Get out of here!¡± Li Xi retaliated, but Liu Siye managed to dodge.

    Li Xi wasn¡¯t willing to stop there, and he continued to give chase. The two of them began to fight, one attacking and one dodging, right then and there.

    The Sword Servants had followed Su Chen for a long time, so their rtionship was quite deep. Su Chen had never viewed them as servants, so Su Chen didn¡¯t mind if they messed around from time to time as long as no one else was present.

    As Li Xi attacked, Liu Siye dodged, and the fist mmed into the walls of the tunnel, the sound of the collision rumbling through the tunnel.

    Su Chen suddenly frowned. ¡°What was that noise? Did you hear it?¡±

    Everyone was taken aback. Li Xi stammered, ¡°It was...... I hit the wall......¡±

    ¡°Not that. It sounded like a shriek,¡± Su Chen said.

    He tilted his head to listen more intently, but the noise that he had heard seemed to have disappeared.

    After thinking for a moment, Su Chen began to walk forwards quickly.

    Everyone hurried to catch up.

    Along the way, everyone did their best to listen intently, but none of them heard anything strange.

    Zhu Xianyao gazed at Su Chen quizzically. ¡°Su Chen, did you really hear a strange noise?¡±

    ¡°Hm? I can still sense it right now. It¡¯s like some kind of shrill whine constantly buzzing next to my ear. The deeper we go, the clearer this sound is,¡± Su Chen replied calmly.

    ¡°But I can¡¯t hear anything. Death¡¯s Shadow, can you hear anything?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked.

    ¡°Apologies, my female master, I cannot hear anything either,¡± Death¡¯s Shadow of a Youth responded from the air.

    ¡°Then it¡¯s not a normal sound. It¡¯s probably some kind of consciousness transmission or rm,¡± Su Chen muttered. ¡°It sounds like thementing of a vengeful spirit.¡±

    Everyone¡¯s expressions changed when they heard that.

    Was there an Astral around here?

    Su Chen, however, fell silent and continued to walk forwards.

    After walking past another long hallway, Su Chen stood still.

    He waved his hand behind him, motioning for the people behind him to retreat.

    He didn¡¯t say anything about being careful, but apprehension was clearly written on everyone¡¯s faces.

    Su Chen stood there silently, tilting his ear to get a better feel for where the sound wasing from. Even though the others could hear nothing, Su Chen¡¯s consciousness power was at three thousand units with all the equipment, and this shrill screech was incredibly clear to him.

    He turned to look at the wall next to him.

    The wall waspletely empty, with nothing on it.

    At that moment, however, Su Chen suddenly clenched his fist and unleashed a punch at the wall.

    Bang!

    The stone wall crumbled as Su Chen¡¯s hand pushed right into the mountain.

    HISSS!!!

    The sharp hiss prated into everyone¡¯s consciousness, stimting it.

    Yes, this hiss was effective on the consciousness level, but this time everyone was able to sense it.

    At the same time, Su Chen pulled back his arm. Everyone saw that he was holding a strange bug in his hand.

    This bug had no eyes, but it did have a massive mouth which was lined with razor-sharp teeth. Since it was being threatened, it had opened its mouth wider than its entire head, causing its head to basically turn into its mouth. Unfortunately, it couldn¡¯t bite Su Chen no matter how had it tried because Su Chen had already grabbed it by its neck. Its eighteen equally sharp legs thrashed through the air like little knives as it tried its best to escape, causing sparks to fly off of Su Chen¡¯s skin.

    Even though it couldn¡¯t bite Su Chen, the strange shriek continued toe from its massive mouth, and those nearby felt like their consciousnesses were about to be torn apart. It was an incredibly difficult feeling to endure.

    ¡°What a strange bug.¡± Su Chen clenched his hand with some force, and the bug immediately froze in ce, unable to move. However, its shrieking only grew stronger because of this.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes glittered. ¡°I have never seen such a strange bug before. It has lots of research value.¡±

    As he spoke, a consciousness wave surged from him right at the strange bug.

    Even though he had never officially learned any offensive consciousness-type Origin Skills, his boundless consciousness power was more than enough to let him suppress most of his enemies. This was just like how a strong individual could rely on pure strength alone to defeat most of his opponents.

    Even though the strange bug had a powerful consciousness, it waspletely unable to withstand Su Chen¡¯s attack. With one final shriek, it seized and froze, dying on the spot.

    ¡°Oh...... I used to much force.¡± Su Chen was speechless.

    Three thousand units of consciousness power wasn¡¯t something this bug could withstand no matter how simple Su Chen¡¯s means of attack was.

    Su Chen stowed the bug¡¯s corpse away.

    ¡°You even want that thing?¡± Zhu Xianyao rolled her eyes.

    Girls possessed an innate hatred of bugs.

    ¡°These bugs could be extremely rare. Perhaps there is only one of them, in which case this single bug would be very valuable,¡± Su Chen replied seriously.

    Most of the time, Su Chen¡¯s words were very logical and could be predicted.

    But asionally, even the main character would have their face pped.

    He had only just finished speaking when a shrill hiss began to echo throughout the hallways.

    This time, everyone heard it.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    While everyone was still confused, however, Su Chen¡¯s expression had already changed.

    He yelled, ¡°Not good! There¡¯s a horde of bugs running towards us right now!¡±

 Sect - Book 5, 42: Heart Walls

    Chapter 42: Heart Walls

    HISSS!!!

    The furious wave of consciousness shrieking washed over the entire group, forming quite a soul-shaking attack.

    ¡°Get out of here!¡± Su Chen yelled.

    If it were some other Demonic Beasts, then Su Chen and the others might have been able to take them on given their current strength.

    However, they were currently facing arge wave of these consciousness bugs.

    Even though this shrieking was a simple consciousness attack, it was unknown how many bugs they were facing, and whether or not these consciousness attacks were multiplicative in effect.

    Su Chen¡¯s consciousness was much more powerful than everyone else present, so he was the first to realize that thousands of bugs were currently shrieking at them, with potentially more on the way.

    If they were to remain here, he himself might end up alright, but most of the others would probably die.

    Su Chen made his decision.

    Run!

    Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯smand, everyone else also realized the crisis they were in and immediately turned around to run.

    However, those bugs weren¡¯t slow either.

    They continued to close in the distance between them and the group. Su Chen didn¡¯t even need to inform the group - everyone was able to tell just based on the intensification of the consciousness shrieksing from behind them.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? Howe those bugs are even faster than us?¡± Li Xi said, stunned.

    ¡°Because they areing straight out of the walls!¡± Su Chen replied.

    These bugs were able to travel through the tunnel walls as they pleased, but they could only travel around through these tunnels. They weren¡¯t actually faster than humans, but they were much closer.

    The result was that the bugs got closer and closer.

    This wasn¡¯t even the biggest issue.

    Everyone very quickly discovered that they were lost.

    They had been quite rxed on their way over, and no one had paid much attention to the route they were taking. Now that they were on the run, none of them had any mind to notice where they were going, and they had identally gone down a wrong path. Their sense of direction was totally turned around now. Su Chen dimly remembered the way they hade, but he had been at the very front. Now, he was at the very back, and one of the twelve Sword Servants had made a mistake, bringing the rest of them with him. Su Chen seemed content just to follow along.

    By the time he figured out that something was wrong, he wanted to turn around but discovered that it was toote. The bugs had sealed off the path behind him, so he could only continue to go down this wrong path.

    Then again, if mistakes were that easy to fix, then they wouldn¡¯t really be mistakes.

    The more they ran, the more they felt like things were off, until they finally had to admit that they were totally lost.

    ¡°Dammit, where are we?¡± Cloud Leopard cursed.

    His perception was being greatly suppressed by the constant shrieking of those bugs, and he hadn¡¯t discovered the problem in time.

    ¡°Feng Hai was the one leading the way.¡± Someone very quickly began to shift responsibility.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t leading any way. I was just running around blindly,¡± Feng Hai huffed.

    ¡°You were still leading the way.¡±

    ¡°So you should have reminded me, then. You didn¡¯t notice either, did you?¡±

    ¡°Enough! Why are you fighting now?¡± Su Chen yelled as he charged to the front.

    Everyone simultaneously shut their mouths.

    They might make a scene normally, but at this moment their military discipline returned.

    Su Chen nced around. They were at a three-way fork, and even Su Chen had no idea which path was the right one to take.

    Su Chen said after taking a moment to calm down, ¡°Leopard, you take the others and leave. I¡¯ll handle these bugs.¡±

    ¡°Are you crazy?¡± Cloud Leopard was startled. ¡°Those bugs know how to use consciousness attacks. You won¡¯t be able to withstand them.¡±

    ¡°If I can¡¯t handle it with my three thousand units of consciousness power, then no one can. Take them and run. Use your perception to lead them out of here.¡±

    ¡°The consciousness attacks of those bugs is affecting me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take them away from here,¡± Su Chen said.

    As he spoke, he turned around and took flight.

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± Zhu Xianyao yelled.

    Su Chen stopped and turned around.

    Zhu Xianyao said with a worried expression, ¡°Be careful, okay?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Su Chen smiled gently. ¡°I won¡¯t die that easily.¡±

    As he spoke, he led the swarm of bugs off in the other direction.

    Even though he couldn¡¯t see any bugs given how dark it was, Su Chen could perceive that the sea of bugs was quickly closing in on him.

    They constantly shot out of the rock-hard walls as if they were part of a wave, rapidly swarming towards Su Chen.

    ¡°Come. Let¡¯s see who¡¯s stronger,¡± Su Chen muttered as he stared at the walls in front of him.

    His consciousness perception was telling him that the bugs charging at the very front were located there.

    He stood still, waiting and gathering all his consciousness power.

    ¡°HISS!¡±

    A strange bug suddenly shot out of the wall, opening its maw wide as it bit down at Su Chen.

    However, the frightening maw was only for outward show. The real danger still came from the consciousness-level attack.

    To Su Chen, however, this attack was still a bit too weak.

    He raised his hand, and the de fell, cutting that bug in two.

    Very quickly, however, even more bugs surged out of the wall to attack Su Chen, their consciousness shrieks superimposing on each other.

    The more bugs there were and the closer they got, the greater the effect of their attacks.

    If each bug possessed a consciousness power of around 100 units, then ten bugs was equivalent to a thousand units, more than enough to pose a certain degree of threat to Su Chen. Of course, the bugs¡¯ consciousness power didn¡¯t necessarily add up one to one. The more bugs were present, the less each individual bug would contribute to the total power.

    Even so, the mounting numbers of bugs were still sufficient to give Su Chen significant trouble.

    Su Chen could sense that hundreds of bugs were encroaching on his position, shrieking at him simultaneously. Theirbined consciousness power had already surpassed two thousand units, and the sea of wailing that washed over him put quite a bit of pressure on Su Chen.

    ¡°Damn! Now things are really getting difficult.¡±

    Even Su Chen felt a headacheing on when faced with such arge wave of consciousness energy heading in his direction.

    Three thousand units of consciousness power was quite high, but the problem was that the wave of enemies never seemed to end!

    If this were to continue, there was no way that Su Chen would be able to hold on.

    However, he had very few consciousness-type Origin Skills, and even though Fata Morgana was quite powerful, it was totally useless against these bugs.

    Thankfully, he still had medicine.

    The Spirit Sobering Medicine allowed him to resist the consciousness attacks assaulting him to some degree.

    However, Spirit Sobering Medicine alone wouldn¡¯t be enough to deal with the oing attacks.

    The bugs surged wave after wave, causing Su Chen¡¯s expenditure of consciousness energy to surge immensely.

    ¡°We can¡¯t continue like this. You¡¯re just burning consciousness energy right now. They¡¯re going to stall you to death!¡±

    Patelocke¡¯s voice came floating from the surface of the Mountain-Beheading de.

    ¡°I know, but what can I do? There¡¯s too many of these bugs. Damn!¡± Su Chen cursed.

    ¡°Consider yourself lucky. I recently developed a new consciousness technique,¡± Patelocke said.

    ¡°Your consciousness techniques are not suitable for me. Otherwise, I would have learned them a long time ago,¡± Su Chen replied bluntly.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I said I newly researched it. I designed it specifically for you,¡± Patelocke said.

    ¡°You¡¯re being that good to me?¡± Su Chen was stunned.

    ¡°I have some conditions.¡±

    ¡°I knew it. Tell me what they are.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve spent too much time in this de. I want toe out, I want a body of my own. You promised me this before.¡±

    ¡°I did promise you that, but you should also be aware that every body has its own soul and possesses an innate advantage. If you try and force your way in, you¡¯re going to die. We still need to prepare!¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that all because you ruined my researchb anyways?¡± Patelocke said resentfully.

    Patelocke possessed some equipment in the Goldwater Ruins that allowed him to transfer consciousnesses, but as the Goldwater Ruins decayed, these equipment followed suit. Once Patelocke had lost the equipment, he had no way of easily taking over another creature¡¯s body. This was one of the reasons why he had been willing to remain inside the de for so long.

    ¡°There was nothing I could do. I only had a limited amount of storage in my Origin Ring,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Answer me honestly. Even if you had enough space in your Origin Ring, would you have taken this equipment with you?¡± Patelocke asked.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Why ask questions that will only harm our rtionship?¡±

    Patelocke was speechless.

    Yes, Su Chen would not have taken the equipment out with him even if he had enough space in his Origin Ring. At the time, Patelocke simply could not be trusted. If Su Chen took the equipment with him, Patelocke would definitely try to think of a way to trick Su Chen. Patelocke would only fully serve Su Chen if he didn¡¯t have a loophole like that to exploit.¡±

    ¡°So what about now?¡± Patelocke asked.

    ¡°Of course I can, but you should know that I don¡¯t have that kind of skill right now. Also, you have no way of reconstructing that equipment,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Just because Patelocke was an Arcana Master didn¡¯t mean that he was omniscient. Other Arcana Masters had built his equipment for him, and he was only the user.

    ¡°I know,¡± Patelocke said. ¡°I never asked you to find me someone who was still alive. I can carefully research the way to move out, but I need you to help me find a puppet. Even having a fake body is better than being a de. In any case, you have the Soul Armaments technique, so you could just rece me with any Demonic Beast¡¯s soul.¡±

    ¡°But it won¡¯t be as easy to use as with you there.¡±

    ¡°I can help you just as much if I¡¯m a puppet. Also, don¡¯t you think you should be swapping out this Mountain-Beheading de at some point?¡±

    ¡°I feel that it suits me quite well.¡±

    ¡°But it can only demonstrate the might of your physical body. Even though you control three Arcana techniques, one of them being the incredibly powerful ming Phoenix Theurgy Art, you must admit that activating the Primordial Blood Incarnation doesn¡¯t increase the strength of your Arcana Techniques in the slightest. You aren¡¯t able to master any of these paths because you have too many research targets to focus on.¡±

    ¡°What exactly are you trying to say?¡± Su Chen began to grow impatient.

    More and more bugs began to pour out of the wall.

    ¡°You need new weapons, while I need a new body. I just so happen to sense a new weapon nearby that is suitable for you.¡±

    ¡°Oh? What is it?¡± Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I can sense that it is an Origin Tool that possesses an immense amount of Origin Energy. It might not be as outstanding as your Mountain-Beheading de in terms of unleashing your physical might, but it will be able tobine the strength of your ming Phoenix Theurgy Art and your Primordial Blood Incarnation as long as it is sturdy enough.¡±

    ¡°It has strong Origin Energy?¡± Su Chen waspletely entranced.

    With so many bugs unleashing consciousness attacks, shouldn¡¯t the item have possessed powerful consciousness energy instead?

    However, Patelocke¡¯s perception wouldn¡¯t be wrong. Since he said there was an item that possessed strong Origin Energy qualities, then it possessed strong Origin Energy qualities.

    ¡°Fine. I do have one question, though - how am I going to learn your consciousness technique? It¡¯s not going to be easy for me to learn it and use it here and now.¡±

    Origin Skills needed to be practiced over and over. There was no such thing as learning a skill in a single go on the Primordial Continent. Su Chen¡¯s innate talent didn¡¯t allow him to do so, and neither did his consciousness crystal. He might be able to learn faster because of it, but the learning process could not be omitted.

    The bugs obviously wouldn¡¯t give him the opportunity to do so.

 Sect - Book 5, 43: Transmission Puppe

    Chapter 43: Transmission Puppet

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Patelocke said. ¡°Leave that problem to me. First help me keep those guys at bay for a bit.¡±

    ¡°No problem!¡± Su Chen replied.

    He lifted his left hand, and sparks began to fly as a massive ming phoenix began to take shape. It crashed into the tunnel walls, the explosion of energy converting into waves of mes that enveloped the swarms of bugs.

    At the same time, Patelocke¡¯s spectral image surfaced from the de, pointing his illusory finger at Su Chen. ¡°Focus all of your consciousness power and follow my instructions!¡±

    A strand of will entered Su Chen¡¯s body from Patelocke.

    An instantter, Su Chen¡¯s consciousness power began to move along with Patelocke¡¯s will,bining and rapidly taking on a specific shape.

    Very quickly, a brand new consciousness-type Origin Skill came under Su Chen¡¯s control.

    Su Chen very quickly figured out what kind of Origin Skill it was.

    Heart Walls!

    Heart Walls relied on consciousness energy to form a consciousness barrier that defended a person¡¯s heart.

    Su Chen had relied on pure consciousness energy to fight his opponents in the past, basically relying on his ability to oust his opponent. As such, it ced quite a burden on his consciousness.

    The Heart Walls were different, however. The defensive capabilities of his consciousness had greatly increased, meaning that he would have to expend far less consciousness energy.

    Su Chen quickly drank another vial of Spirit Sobering Medicine, replenishing his consciousness energy, and found that it was now much easier for him to defend himself against the swarms of bugs.

    Finally, Su Chen could afford to ce all his attention on attacking. ming Phoenix after ming Phoenix took flight and mmed into the tunnel walls, burning the bugs to a crisp as they shrieked bitterly.

    After the fire had burned for an unknown period of time, Su Chen finally found that his hearing had calmed down. The piercing, shrill shrieks had disappeared, and no bugs could be seen crawling out of the walls. Therge wave of bugs had all been burned to a crisp.

    The tunnel was lined with charred bug corpses that smelled something fierce, making people instinctively want to vomit.

    Su Chen forcefully repressed the desire to throw up and picked up a few intact corpses and put them into his Origin Ring.

    ¡°Thanks, Patelocke. I was lucky to have you with me this time,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°You¡¯re wee. Actually, this was an opportunity I had been waiting for for a long time. Without the current situation, you wouldn¡¯t have allowed me to control your body, right?¡± Patelocke asked.

    ¡°Is this the reason you never told me about such an Origin Skill even long after you had invented it? You were waiting for an opportunity the entire time? What exactly were you after?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°You know what I want - aplete body. However, I need to make adequate preparations for that to happen. For instance, I need to get a feel for what it¡¯s like to take over someone¡¯s body.¡±

    Su Chen understood. ¡°So you wanted to use the opportunity to sense what changes might ur once you took control of my body?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯d be more urate to say that I wanted to sense how your body would try and defend itself. Even though you voluntarily handed over your body for me to control, it still rejected me, and quite strongly at that. I have no way of determining whether that¡¯s unique to you or not, but if you give me a puppet that has its own freedom, I can begin to perform some research on this matter,¡± Patelocke replied.

    ¡°Oh, I understand what you mean. So you¡¯re tired of being a spectator and a teacher, and now you want your own researchb?¡±

    ¡°I am the best assistant you could choose, better than Iron Cliff and Death¡¯s Shadow.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t argue with that.¡± Su Chen nodded. ¡°Fine, then I will agree to search for a puppet for you in the future.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to search. There¡¯s one just nearby,¡± Patelocke said.

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Su Chen was stunned. ¡°What did you discover?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Patelocke replied. ¡°Don¡¯t think that I was trying to keep you in the dark. I only just noticed what kind of ce we are in.¡±

    Upon hearing Patelocke¡¯s words, Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°So you¡¯re saying that this ce is linked to the ancient Arcanists?¡±

    ¡°No, even further back than that,¡± Patelocke replied. ¡°It¡¯s rted to the Origin Beasts.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Su Chen was stunned.

    ¡°This is the burial grounds of an Origin Beast.¡±

    Patelocke and Su Chen slowly walked through the mysterious, abstruse tunnels.

    As he talked with Patelocke, Su Chen slowly began to understand that an Origin Beast had been buried right underneath t Sky City.

    This Origin Beast was called the Gold-Devouring Ape.

    As its name implied, the Gold-Devouring Ape survived by eating metals. The metallic content of its body was very high, and its skin in particr was actuallypletely made out of sturdy, hard metal.

    If that Origin Beast were still alive, there was probably no human who would be able to break through its defenses even if it just stood there and allowed them to attack.

    The Gold-Devouring Ape¡¯s death was quite dramatic.

    After the environment began to change, it entered into deep hibernation and burrowed under the ground as if it had died. Over time, people began to forget about its existence.

    As the months and years flew by, the Arcana Kingdom surged to power.

    They mounted offensives all over the continent, expanding their territory, seizing loot, and increasing their own strength.

    From time to time, however, they would wind up kicking an iron block.

    1500 years before Patelocke¡¯s death, something like that had happened.

    Anrge group of esteemed Arcana Masters came to the southern reaches of the continent and discovered a special kind of metal at a ce called Hurricane teau.

    These Arcana Masters were primarily involved in the research of puppets, and this kind of metal was perfect for helping them develop extremely strong puppets. As such, they made the decision to settle here and began to set up mines.

    They were extremely happy to mine away.

    However, this ecstasy soon gave way to great sorrow.

    ¡°I assume that the mine they were digging at was actually the Gold-Devouring Ape¡¯s outer skinyer,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Yes. Not only was that mine the Gold-Devouring Ape¡¯s skin, but if my guess is right, the Starsilver Gold and Moonstone veins most likely came from the Gold-Devouring Ape¡¯s flesh and bones. All of the ore veins in this area are actually the Gold-Devouring Ape itself,¡± Patelocke sighed. ¡°Those ignorant homologs of mine only thought about mining but not what kind of beast they were provoking. Eventually, as they dug deeper and deeper, the Gold-Devouring Ape finally awoke. You should be able to imagine the oue......¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Yes, I can imagine it. I was just curious, but since that¡¯s the case, why has news not spread yet? And how did the Gold-Devouring Ape die anyways?¡±

    ¡°Because of puppets,¡± Patelocke said. ¡°Even though the Arcana Masters were ughtered by the Gold-Devouring Ape, the puppets they left behind became extremely useful.¡±

    ¡°The puppets killed the Gold-Devouring Ape?¡±

    ¡°No, don¡¯t misunderstand. No one can really kill an Origin Beast but themselves. The puppets merely survived......¡±

    The Arcana Kingdom had produced countless incredible inventions throughout the years, and puppets were one of them.

    In that period of time, Arcana Technique Puppets became the main focus of some of the Arcana Masters, and all kinds of different puppets began to emerge. There was quite a healthy variety avable.

    The puppets left behind by the Arcana Masters ughtered by the Gold-Devouring Ape possessed a very unique attribute.

    Unique did not necessarily mean powerful.

    ¡°Transmission puppets? You¡¯re telling me that a transmission puppet was able to survive under these kinds of circumstances?¡± Su Chen said with shock.

    If some other kind of puppet had survived, Su Chen probably wouldn¡¯t have been so surprised. However, Patelocke had specifically mentioned that they were transmission puppets!

    Patelocke chuckled, ¡°Don¡¯t look down on transmission puppets. During the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s reign, transmission puppets were some of the most well-researched puppets avable. At the height of the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s rule, we believed that we could invent anything to meet our needs. We wanted to be able to fly into the sky and dig deep into the ground, ignore all spatial barriers, andmunicate and deliver without restrictions. Before we could deliver over long distances, we first needed to be able tomunicate so that the world would be at our fingertips, not so far away as before.¡±

    ¡°Alright, stop being so sentimental. Just tell me what exactly happened, okay?¡±

    ¡°The Arcana Race created powerful transmission techniques so that themunication distances of these puppets far outstretched anything you have avable to you today. This made it so that the Arcana Kingdom possessed incredible investigation abilities. If they wanted to better understand this world without taking too many risks, then they could just send these transmission puppets to do everything for them.¡±

    Su Chen understood. ¡°There are many extremely dangerous ces in this world.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. This is when we need the powerful survivability of the puppets and their ability to adapt. Those Arcana Masters possessed such a transmission puppet,¡± Patelocke said. ¡°This puppet survived and spread the news far and wide, which was how we found out.¡±

    ¡°A transmission puppet managed to survive? How did it survive?¡±

    There was no way the puppet¡¯s survivability was greater than the Origin Beast¡¯s.

    Then how had it managed to survive?

    ¡°It took off all of the metalponents it had. The Gold-Devouring Ape only eats metal and only attacks what harms it. After the transmission puppet took off the metalponents, it was no longer a target of the Gold-Devouring Ape, and it allowed the puppet to survive. The Gold-Devouring Ape fell back into hibernation once the Arcana Masters who had awoken him had been dealt with. The puppet was thus also brought into the ground as a result, and began to send information from below ground.¡±

    So it would even operate like that? Su Chen was stunned.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably because of amand left behind by one of the Arcana Masters,¡± Patelocke surmised.

    ¡°So how did the Gold-Devouring Ape die?¡±

    ¡°It did of old age, perhaps because of its awakening this time. There are a few Origin Beasts that never wake up again after falling into hibernation. Of course, we found out about this because of the transmission puppet.¡±

    ¡°So that transmission puppet was in use that entire time?¡± Su Chen asked in shock.

    ¡°Yes, that puppet managed to survive for 182 years. After losing its metallicponents, it was unable to move, which greatly decreased its energy consumption. Its only responsibility was to send out information about its surroundings from time to time, until finally it sent some information that the Gold-Devouring Ape was in the process of dying and would pass on at most three thousand yearster. That was also thest piece of information it sent us,¡± Patelocke said.

    ¡°So how did it know that the Gold-Devouring Ape was in the process of dying?¡± Su Chen asked with some curiosity.

    If the Arcana Masters hadn¡¯t discovered the Gold-Devouring Ape¡¯s existence when they were mining, how could a transmission puppet have found out?

    ¡°Who knows?¡± Patelocke shrugged. ¡°There are always a few secrets that only those who were present and witnessed it happen would know. I do know, however, that there is a puppet that has remained intact next to the corpse of an Origin Beast all these years. It¡¯s a genuine Ancient Arcana Technique Puppet.¡±

 Sect - Book 5, 44: Su Chenâ€™s Death

    Chapter 44: Su Chen¡¯s Death

    Upon hearing Patelocke¡¯s exnation, Su Chen finally understood what legendary creature was buried in this territory.

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t suppress his excitement when he considered that he was stepping on the bones of an Origin Beast. ¡°So do you know where the Origin Tool that suits me is?¡±

    ¡°The Arcana Masters who died possessed an extremely outstandingbat puppet. It wielded a weapon that was considered legendary even by the standards of that time period - the Lightless Ring. That weapon is extremelypatible with Arcana Techniques. If we are lucky enough, we might be able to rediscover it.¡±

    ¡°Might?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s only a possibility. After all, tens of thousands of years have gone by, and no one knows what has transpired during that time. Perhaps the Origin Tool decayed, perhaps it was taken away by someone else, or perhaps something else entirely happened. The same goes for the puppet - tens of thousands of years gives room for simply too many possibilities. I only know about what happened in the past and what could happen in the future, but I cannot give you a definite answer,¡± Patelocke replied very seriously.

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± Su Chen acknowledged what Patelocke had said, but no matter what it was a good thing as long as he had hope.

    ¡°Right, where are we right now?¡± Su Chen nced around.

    They werepletely lost. Different paths leading to potentially different locations were all around them.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. The terrain here is simply tooplicated.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps I should give this a try.¡± Su Chen pulled out a vial of medicine and ced a few drops of his own blood inside. Very quickly, seventeen or so Su Chens took form.

    These clones were not being used for battle but to determine which path was correct, so they were bestowed with the least amount of energy, and their consumption was not very high either.

    The clones each picked a path and began to walk through it.

    Because they were all linked to Su Chen¡¯s consciousness, Su Chen was able to see what was in each path. He switched through the images one after another like he was flipping through camera feeds. Other people might have found this difficult, but it was no problem to Su Chen, who possessed the consciousness crystal. He could even use the consciousness crystal to observe multiple clones at the same time.

    Very quickly, one of the clones came to a strange area ofnd.

    This area waspletely dark and extremely spacious. There were even stone columns erected here off in the distance.

    Because of Patelocke¡¯s reminder, Su Chen immediately realized something. He said, ¡°I see a bunch of ancient-looking columns here. They were probably built during the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s time period...... does that sound familiar?¡±

    ¡°Yes, earth-type Arcana Techniques allowed Arcana Masters to quickly build shelter. Even though these buildings aren¡¯t very sturdy, they are much cheaper than constructs made of iron, and another one can be raised in their ce if they are destroyed. Many Arcana Masters rely on such techniques while they are on the move,¡± Patelocke replied.

    ¡°Yes, I have some experience of this as well,¡± Su Chen chuckled. His Boundless Sect had relied on these stone constructs as well.

    ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, let¡¯s go and take a look. There might be some clues around there,¡± Patelocke said.

    His venture into the Moonstone Mine had already taken a bizarre twist. Where this twist would lead him was unknown, but regardless, such a twist was beneficial.

    Whether or not this twist was rted to the Harpies, Su Chen was determined to find the truth.

    As that clone walked forward, Su Chen took Patelocke along with him as they quickly came to one of the copsed stone rooms.

    The stone room had been copsed for a long time, and the Rong n¡¯s miners had unearthed it many yearster. Traces of this mining could be seen everywhere.

    ¡°The miners have already been here. You probably won¡¯t find much,¡± Patelocke said somewhat regretfully.

    ¡°That might not be true.¡± Su chen nced around. ¡°Something interesting happened just a moment ago.¡±

    ¡°What? Howe I didn¡¯t notice that interesting urrence?¡± Patelocke said with some surprise.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Because it was on the consciousness level. On my way here, I freed one of the clones from my control. But do you know what happened?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°That fragment of my consciousness disappeared, and now my consciousness power is slightly lower than before.¡±

    ¡°Something like that can happen?¡± Patelocke immediately grew excited.

    Losing a small fragment of consciousness was no big deal. But how had that consciousness fragment just disappeared like that?

    He was reminded of the bugs.

    ¡°Was it those bugs?¡± he asked.

    ¡°No.¡± Su Chen shook his head. ¡°It felt like some kind of special environment, just like......¡±

    Su Chen fell into thought, then said, ¡°West Laina Castle.¡±

    While in West Laina Castle, Kapius had concealed his treasures in a strange realm that only the Astrals, with their astoundingly powerful consciousnesses, would be able to discover. However, Su Chen had managed to open it as well by drastically boosting his own consciousness power, allowing him to grasp the secrets of the physical illusion realms and thereby increasing the effectiveness of Fata Morgana.

    Su Chen felt a simr sensation at this moment in time.

    ¡°There is some kind of strange realm here that is probably very much rted to consciousness power,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°So what are we waiting for? We just need to find it and open it, and all the secrets it contains will beid bare before our eyes!¡± Patelocke said with excitement.

    ¡°Wait just a moment. I want to see what the oue will be.¡± Su Chen pulled out the Origin Bone Scepter.

    This strange realm was aplete enigma at this point. No one would know what was going to happen inside.

    He would have gone in even without the Origin Bone Scepter, but since he had it, Su Chen naturally wanted to see what the oue of going in would be.

    This was a necessary precaution to take.

    Patelocke seemed to think differently. ¡°I don¡¯t think there can be anything dangerous about a corpse that has been lying here for tens of thousands of years.¡±

    ¡°Whether or not there¡¯s danger is something we will only know once we try it out. Origin Bone Scepter, please show me what will happen once I enter this void,¡± Su Chen said as he ced a high-tier Demonic Beast Origin crystal on the altar.

    He was only making a small test, but unexpectedly the anticipated oue failed to appear.

    Su Chen was momentarily dazed before he took out a Demonic Lord Origin Crystal.

    However, he failed yet again.

    ¡°What is going on?¡± Even Patelocke was stunned.

    Apprehension was written all over Su Chen¡¯s face.

    Based on his prior tests, if the prediction didn¡¯t involve any other parties, then the cost of making the prediction should have been quite low.

    Failure at this juncture could only indicate one thing: that there was some kind of shockingly powerful power hidden nearby.

    He took a few steps back. ¡°Then I would like to predict whether I am going to survive entering that space.¡±

    An image appeared. Su Chen¡¯s vision was filled with a blood-red sea.

    A corpse was floating in the middle of that sea.

    Su Chen!

    This scenepletely stunned Patelocke and Su Chen.

    ¡°Died? You actually died?¡± Patelocke began to yell in shock. ¡°What¡¯s going on? How is that possible?¡±

    ¡°Do you think my actions are still excessive?¡± Su Chen said through gritted teeth as he stared intently at the image before him.

    No wonder he had failed toplete the prediction even with a Demonic Lord Origin Crystal.

    He had actually died! And from what he could tell based on that image, his death was incredibly tragic, and there was no sign that he had even been able to fight back.

    What exactly was in that space?

    Unfortunately, the Origin Bone Scepter would not tell him who the killer was, not even with a Demonic Lord¡¯s Origin Crystal as the sacrifice.

    He could try again with a Demonic King-level sacrifice.

    ¡°No, no, it won¡¯t make a difference even if I manage to predict it. It¡¯s enough as long as I know there is some kind of powerful existence hidden in that realm. I don¡¯t really need to know who it is. However, I do need to find some more information to guide my next steps,¡± Su Chen muttered.

    He nced cautiously at his surroundings.

    Su Chen allowed his consciousness to wander and explore the surroundings but couldn¡¯t discover any other presence nearby.

    The Origin Bone Scepter¡¯s prediction gave him goosebumps, however, as if there was something hiding in the shadows and watching them.

    Patelocke also seemed to realize this. ¡°I think we¡¯d best leave soon.¡±

    ¡°No, the prediction only said that I would die if I went into that strange space, not if I stayed in this ce. Perhaps we should test that out first. Great Shining Dragon Bone, if I were to stay here, would I survive?¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he ced a low-tier Demonic Beast Origin Crystal on the altar.

    Indeed, as he had expected, the result was that he would survive.

    Because he would survive, Su Chen didn¡¯t need to leave, which went along with the prediction and decreased the cost.

    ¡°But why does that matter?¡± Patelocke asked.

    ¡°It means that whatever is hiding in that strange realm won¡¯t attack us of its own initiative. That makes things simple for us. As long as it doesn¡¯t try toe out, I won¡¯t need to fear it,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°So now you¡¯re just going to carefully investigate the situation?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Su Chen made another prediction.

    He wanted to know what would happen if he found the strange realm but didn¡¯t try to enter.

    The result was that there was no danger to him.

    In other words, finding the strange realm wouldn¡¯t cause the terrifying creature inside toe out either.

    Next, Su Chen tried to predict what would happen if he sent a clone into the strange realm.

    The end result was that the clone died, but the terrifying creature inside the realm wouldn¡¯t spread into the outside world because of it.

    He had only used three low-tier Demonic Beast Origin Crystals to obtain these three answers, but he was able to use these answers to confirm one important fact: the terrifying creature inside the strange realm wouldn¡¯te out.

    Not in the near future, anyways.

    Su Chen began to create clones from his blood.

    He created seven all at once, three of them stronger than the other four.

    Then, Su Chen began to lead them around in a search for the strange realm.

    Once he heightened his consciousness perception to its greatest extent, he discovered energy fluctuationsing from an entrance to the strange realm.

    ¡°Unfortunately, Little Forty¡¯s not around. Otherwise, he definitely would have been able to help me stabilize this spatial realm,¡± Su Chen sighed. ¡°That¡¯s not too big of a deal, though. After all, I still have his blood.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he pulled out a vial of blood.

    Su Chen had gathered countless vials of blood from the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s students for his research. Even though most of his findings were meaningless, he was still able to find some temporary uses for their blood.

    Ji Ruoyu¡¯s bloodline wouldn¡¯t give Su Chen any spatial powers forever, but it was at least effective for a short period of time.

    Su Chen tilted his head back and downed the mixture containing Ji Ruoyu¡¯s blood. Very quickly, a profound sensation began to spread throughout his body.

    ¡°That¡¯s more like it!¡± Su Chen muttered as he gazed at his surroundings with excitement. His microscopic eye was able to break down all of the energy flowing around him, and the spatial powers this bloodline medicine had temporarily given Su Chen allowed him to temporarily control the spatial fluctuations. He gestured, and a spatial vortex began to slowly open up under his careful control.

    Even though it was merely a small hole that had been opened, Su Chen and Patelocke still felt the hair on the backs of their necks stand straight.

    ¡°Go in, right now!¡±

    As Su Chen barked out themand, the seven clones simultaneously jumped into the void.

 Sect - Book 5, 45: Orphan

    Chapter 45: Orphan

    When the seven clones jumped in through the spatial vortex, Su Chen felt his consciousness lurch mightily.

    Seven points-of-view appeared before his consciousness perception.

    They were in a boundless region of pitch-ck space that seemed to bepletely empty. At the center of the void was a lonely patch ofnd surrounded by chaotic torrents of wind.

    That was Origin Energy.

    The wild, violent Origin Energy surged uncontrobly like a gale of wind.

    Four of his clones disappeared on the spot.

    By relying on the vision of the three remaining clones, which were slightly stronger, Su Chen saw an even more frightening scene unfold......

    ¡°AHH!¡±

    Su Chen cried out as he clutched at his head.

    ¡°Su Chen, are you alright?¡± Patelocke hurriedly asked.

    ¡°All of my clones were killed by that thing, but I didn¡¯t expect that it could not only swallow my consciousness fragments but also attack me by tracing the consciousness strands connecting me with the clones. Dammit, the Origin Bone Scepter didn¡¯t say anything about this!¡± Su Chen said as he remained kneeling on the ground, pain still shooting through his head.

    ¡°The scepter is not omniscient.¡±

    ¡°Of course I am aware of that.¡± Su Chen slowly stood up. Blood was slowly dripping from his nose, and he looked like he was in quite the sorry state. ¡°This guy made me lose fifty units of consciousness power just like that. Fifty units! Do you understand? Its consciousness winds are simply too frightening.¡±

    ¡°What is that thing anyways?¡± Patelocke was stunned.

    An existence that could even wound someone like Su Chen, who possessed an astounding three thousand units of consciousness power, was simply too frightening. Only Astral Elders probably would have been able to achieve a simr effect.

    ¡°It¡¯s air, air that is constantly producing those bugs. Now I know where those bugs areing from,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°No wonder the danger is contained within that strange realm. Inside is a wasp hive that cannot move, and most of the wasps it produced have been finished off by me.¡±

    ¡°How could that be?¡± Patelocke asked, stunned. ¡°Howe the realm which the Gold-Devouring Ape died in is suddenly popted with such frighteningly powerful bugs?¡±

    ¡°It must be the work of the Harpies,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°How do you know?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Because that bug hive exists in the center of an elemental windstorm. It lives totally alone and isted from everything else. What kind of insect have you heard of that can survive in the midst of an elemental tempest on its own for tens of thousands of years? That¡¯s not a naturally-urring situation at all.¡±

    Patelocke immediately understood.

    Tens of thousands of years was more than enough time to wipe out many lifeforms. Apart from the legendary World Tree, no organism could live for that long under normal circumstances, let alone in that kind of a harsh environment.

    There was only one possible exnation, which was that the hive had only appeared recently! This made it incredibly likely that the Harpies were somehow involved.

    ¡°So the Harpies came all this way just to take care of a hive of bugs?¡± Patelocke asked, surprised.

    ¡°That depends on what they were nning on using these bugs for,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Right, have you ever wondered why the Harpies¡¯ Moonstones would suddenly run out so soon?¡±

    Patelocke replied, ¡°It should be because of these bugs. Since they can burrow through the walls of the tunnel, they should also be able to excavate and extract ore from the walls as well.¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right. However, I didn¡¯t see any metallic substances in that strange realm.

    ¡°This is really too strange!¡± Patelocke simply couldn¡¯t wrap his head around what was happening.

    ¡°The Harpies wouldn¡¯te here to raise a bug nest for no reason. There must be something else hidden in the strange realm, not just elemental winds. I must think of a way to go inside and have a look in order to rify the situation for myself.¡±

    Patelocke was badly startled. ¡°Are you crazy? The prediction already told you that you would die if you went in. That thing can even use your clones as a bridge to attack you!¡±

    ¡°I know, but that¡¯s only given the current circumstances. Since it cannote out, I have more than enough time to experiment.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps you should inform the Zhu n. Thought-Manifestation Realm experts might be able to resist the consciousness attacks from those bugs.¡±

    Su Chen immediately shook his head. ¡°No, there¡¯s no way he will be able to withstand the attack either. I am very clear just how powerful those waves of consciousness attacks are. This existence is on the same ne as the Lord of the Dreamrealm and Menus the Wise. Even Emperor-Realm cultivators would probably have a hard time withstanding the attack.¡±

    Patelocke was stunned.

    On the entire Primordial Continent, those two individuals possessed the most powerful consciousnesses. Now, a bug hive had appeared that could actually stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them. This was truly a bit inconceivable.

    ¡°All the more reason for you to be even more cautious. There is no way you will be able to withstand those bugs.¡±

    ¡°That might not be true,¡± Su Chen said with a mysterious smile. ¡°Even if strength cannot solve the problem, my wits might be able to. Have you ever wondered? If the bug hives were ced here by the Harpies, then there¡¯s no way they just abandoned it, right?¡±

    Patelocke understood what Su Chen was saying. ¡°That¡¯s right! It¡¯s impossible that they set this thing up just for their own amusement. They must be using that environment to foster something, which means that there is something they would take away...... But how could they possibly withstand such shockingly powerful consciousness attacks?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I don¡¯t believe that they can do it by brute endurance alone.¡±

    The Harpies had merely sent an average Sanskrit Chanter. If she hadn¡¯t brought any special treasures with her, then that definitely meant that there was some kind of special technique to it.

    The Zhu n had already scoured the Rong n from top to bottom, and Su Chen had also examined the names list himself. He had carefully memorized all of the treasures possessed within his consciousness crystal. None of them, however, were capable of handling the situation before him.

    That meant that there had to be some kind of special technique at y.

    After thinking for a moment, Su Chen said, ¡°Death¡¯s Shadow, bring me Flowing me Oriole.¡±

    ¡°Your wish is mymand, my master!¡± Death¡¯s Shadow poked his head out of the darkness.

    He was the first one to find Su Chen because of the consciousness tie that existed between him and Su Chen.

    Upon receiving Su Chen¡¯s instructions, he hurried back to the Zhu n in order to bring the Harpy female with him.

    Su Chen continued to gaze closely at the spatial vortex. ¡°Well, let¡¯s have a look at what kind of skills you¡¯ve got.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he began to pull items left and right out of his Origin Ring.

    Su Chen had been performing all kinds of research these past few years.

    Even though his main focus had always been the bloodline-less techniques, his day-to-day research involved all kinds of ideas and concepts, including Ancient Arcana Techniques, his bloodline research, alchemy research, Origin Substance research, consciousness power research, etc.

    Only a small fraction of those seeded. Those sess conferred powerful skills and techniques upon him, but more often than not the oue was failure.

    However, even the experience of failure was valuable.

    Most of the time, these failures were useless, but there were asions in which Su Chen¡¯s side pursuits came into y.

    Ji Ruoyu¡¯s void-type bloodline was one such example.

    Su Chen pulled out arge group of vials and selected one of them.

    This vial contained a ck liquid. A strangely-shaped bug was suspended inside. This bug had a long tail and a tadpole-like body.

    Patelocke was taken aback. ¡°What is that?¡±

    He had been in the Mountain-Beheading de for quite some time recently, and there were some research products he had never seen yet.

    ¡°A kind of modified lifeform. I created it bybining a bloodline from one of the Hidden Dragon Institute¡¯s students and a Demonic Beast bug living in the Darkness Forest. It has powerful regenerative properties. I tried to create useful fusion creatures in the past, and this lifeform is one of the results. Unfortunately, it¡¯s a failure.¡±

    ¡°How is it a failure?¡±

    ¡°This creature has no consciousness of its own. It is able to regenerate itself rapidly, but it only operates on instinct and is impossible to control. Its lifespan is also incredibly short. It relies on constantly swallowing food to survive. As soon as it stops doing so, it will quickly die, so there is no value in trying to nurture it.¡±

    ¡°But you still kept it around.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s useful in certain situations. As long as you use them in the right ce, even failed products can be sesses,¡± Su Chen replied with a smile. ¡°This thing has no consciousness, which means that it does not fear consciousness attacks. Let¡¯s use it to test and see if there is some way for us to handle this nest.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he pulled out the bug and tossed it into the void as he opened the spatial vortex wider. Since the bug hive couldn¡¯t leave the strange realm, Su Chen had nothing to fear and decided to observe by opening the front door.

    This was actually still a bit risky. If the bug hive¡¯s consciousness winds happened to rush at Su Chen at the wrong time, it was possible for him to die.

    However, Su Chen believed that he could close the vortex before he died, and he also activated Heart Walls in advance.

    The bug instinctively sought out blood to suck, so it began to attack the bug hive as soon as it entered the strange realm.

    The bug hive¡¯s frightening consciousness attacks were totally useless against it because it had no consciousness. In some sense, this creature was like a puppet made of blood and flesh with high regenerative abilities and an extremely short lifespan.

    It had to be said that this bug was extremely useful in this kind of situation as it continued to unleash attack after attack.

    Even so, the scene that unfolded rendered both Patelocke and Su Chen speechless.

    The bug hive actually began to make crying noises.

    Not only so, but the bug hive actually began to dodge left and right in an attempt to avoid the bug¡¯s attacks.

    Based on Su Chen¡¯s thought process, the bug hive should have possessed some kind of powerful technique that would be able to easily crush the bug that he had just tossed in.

    He had never expected such a response from the bug hive.

    What was going on?

    Su Chen and Patelocke nced at each other.

    The modified bug continued to advance, and the bug hive continued to wail.

    Not only so, but a clear strand of will actually floated through the air.

    It was a plea, a request, like a child begging an adult to spare them.

    Su Chen immediately understood what was happening when he sensed that strand of will.

    This bug hive was still in the process of growing. It was far from having reached full maturity. Even though its consciousness power was incredibly powerful, its mind was not yet fully developed.

    ¡°I think I understand what¡¯s going on?¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    ¡°I understand as well...... An orphan, still in the early stages of development. There¡¯s no doubt that it will be incredibly powerful once it reaches maturity,¡± Patelocke murmured. ¡°Heavens, what kind of frightening existence were the Harpies trying to raise?¡±

    ¡°No matter what kind of existence it is, it¡¯s mine now!¡± Su Chen replied.

 Sect - Book 4, 46: Harpy History

    Chapter 46: Harpy History

    The bug hive continued to shriek painfully.

    Su Chen watched on coldly.

    ¡°Are you not nning on doing anything?¡± Patelocke asked.

    ¡°I will eventually, but not now,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°This bug hive doesn¡¯t just possess a powerful consciousness. There are also other unique properties about it, but most importantly, it can be subdued. Also, the secrets around those metal ores have not yet been fully unraveled. I need to wait until I understand more before I can make a move. Death¡¯s Shadow, stop wasting time and bring Flowing me Oriole to me now!¡±

    ¡°Yes, Master!¡± Death¡¯s Shadow replied from within Su Chen¡¯s consciousness. In a few moments, he had reappeared next to Su Chen, with Flowing me Oriole wrapped up tightly in his white paper ribbons.

    Su Chen grabbed Flowing me Oriole and shoved her head towards the spatial vortex.

    When Flowing me Oriole saw what was in the vortex, she shrieked, ¡°No! I cannot look at that! That belongs to the portion of my memories I am not allowed to remember!!!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not asking you to remember, just to look!¡± Su Chen held her head firmly in ce.

    The secrets she was not allowed to remember were forcibly torn open, and Flowing me Oriole trembled as the secret technique installed in her body was assaulted.

    That secret technique began to exert an immense pressure on her as punishment.

    She was not allowed to remember, nor was she allowed toe into contact with it!

    The pain shot through the Harpy female¡¯s body like lightning. She frothed at the mouth, appearing as if she was going to copse at any moment.

    ¡°Open your consciousness and follow my instructions!¡± Patelocke said.

    ¡°If you want to escape the pain, then listen to him!¡± Su Chen said at the same time.

    He didn¡¯t say, ¡°If you want to survive¡±, but ¡°If you want to escape the pain¡±. To Flowing me Oriole, the pain of the punishment was even greater than the fear of death. If Su Chen allowed her to move, she probably would have tried to kill herself immediately.

    Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s words, she immediately dropped the defenses raised around her consciousness and rxed her thoughts as much as she could.

    Patelocke directed her consciousness energy, helping her erect Heart Walls.

    Heart Walls wasn¡¯t the best choice of Origin Skill to resist the effects of the secret technique, but it did mitigate the pain Flowing me Oriole had to endure.

    At the same time, Su Chen¡¯s hand forced her to continue staring into the spatial vortex. He said, ¡°Your secret technique prevents you from essing those memories, but I have now broken the technique¡¯s restrictions. All you must endure now is the inevitable bacsh. As long as you can hold on through this process, the secret technique¡¯s chains will be broken.¡±

    ¡°But it could also greatly damage my consciousness as well!¡± Flowing me Oriole yelled.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care about that,¡± Su Chen replied coolly. ¡°If you want to survive, you and I must both take some risks, understood?¡±

    ¡°AH!!!¡± Flowing me Oriole cried out bitterly.

    After an unknown period of time, the bitter pain began to gradually subside. Flowing me Oriole knelt on the ground, gasping for air as sweat dripped from her forehead, as if she had journeyed through a number of worlds and back.

    ¡°Seems like you finally managed to withstand the pain. How do you feel?¡± Su Chen said as he helped her to her feet.

    ¡°Like I was just sliced open by a thousand des!¡± Flowing me Oriole said hoarsely. She stared at Su Chen angrily. ¡°I will remember everything that you have done to me!¡±

    ¡°I hope you are also able to remember what your mission was. Can you tell me now?¡±

    Flowing me Oriole¡¯s expression becameplicated. ¡°That bug hive is the future Floating Point Six.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Su Chen was stunned.

    Floating Points was the name given to one of the Harpies¡¯ ns.

    Simr to Kapius¡¯s Radiation n, Gu Youhuang¡¯s Shining Dragon n, and the Arcanists¡¯ Resurrection n - it was a majestic n that involved the entire race. The implications of its sess were widespread and immense.

    In order to fully appreciate the significance of the Floating Points n, it was important to first understand some of the Harpies¡¯ history.

    That history went all the way back to the time period of the Arcana Kingdom.

    After the Arcana Kingdom fell, the five races divided the Arcanists¡¯ treasures. The humans obtained the Bloodline Extraction Instrument, the Astrals obtained the Consciousness Converter, the Ravagers obtained the Origin Energy Temple, and the Oceanids obtained the Freedom Wind, each of these treasures extremely valuable to that race. The Harpies obtained the most valuable item from the lot - Sark¡¯s Energy Nuclei, the only city-grade source of energy amongst all of these items.

    The Harpies had chosen that item mostly due to their surroundings. Just as humans required the Bloodline Extraction Instrument to grow stronger and the Ravagers needed the Origin Energy Temple to control Origin Energy, the Harpies had their own unique needs.

    The Harpies possessed the strongest perception amongst all of the Intelligent Races, not even inferior to the Arcanists. The only thing theycked was creativity. However, they were quite physically weak and had low fertility rates, so there were not many of them. Their greatest weakness, however, was their arrogance.

    Their arrogance made it so that the Harpies refused to advance or adapt.

    The humans, Ravagers, and Oceanids all didn¡¯t hesitate to improve themselves for the sake of their race¡¯s survival. The Astrals even went so far as to give up on their physical bodies.

    The Harpies, however, were unwilling to change.

    They didn¡¯t want to change even a little bit.

    They stubbornly believed that a change in culture was just a kind of extinction - if the Harpies lost their purity, what difference was there between that and extinction?

    This was the way the Harpies viewed their own culture.

    With this kind of thinking, there was no way that the Harpies would ever attempt to improve their physical bodies.

    As such, they chose to rely on external aids.

    In the 46000th year of the Chaos Era, the Harpies convinced the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s great master, Isador Sark, to start a n to create a series of floating cities. At the core of the floating cities n was a need for a source of energy, one that could constantly extract energy from the surroundings.

    At the end of the Chaos Era, the Arcana Kingdom fell into ruins.

    The Harpies took advantage of the chaos to seize the iplete source of energy for the floating cities.

    The Harpies then invited some Craftsmen and Metalskins to design and construct the floating cities.

    In the 946th year of the New Star Era, Sky City¡¯s construction waspleted, and the Harpies sessfully established the Sky Country. Withered Edge became the emperor, primarily responsible for managing governmental affairs. He also established a separate religious system that worshipped a mother goddess and epted divine edicts from her. Scarlet Dream was made the leader of the organization.

    The Harpies, Craftsmen, and Metalskins took nearly a thousand years and an ocean¡¯s worth of resources in order toplete this floating city, which became the most powerful existence amongst the whole Primordial Continent.

    This city was built with incredibly powerful defensive and offensive capabilities. Its defensive Origin Energy formation alone could withstand the attacks of hundreds of Ultimate-Emperor Realm cultivators attacking it at the same time.

    The powerful amount of energy contained within the Sark¡¯s Nucleus gave Sky City a seemingly endless supply of energy. As a result, the city was also a location that even the most powerful experts considered impossible to conquer.

    The Harpies became overlords very quickly because of this. Anywhere Sky City went, all enemies it encountered were easily defeated!

    Yes, overlords. At their height, they were even able to use their city to single-handedly suppress a Primordial Beast.

    However, this situation didn¡¯tst for very long.

    The Harpies¡¯ arrogance and the might of Sky City quickly made it so that the Harpies offended everyone they could possibly have offended. These included the Craftsmen and Metalskins that had helped them build this floating city.

    The Harpies reneged on their original promise once the city waspleted, chasing the two subordinate races out of Sky City and taking control of the city. Then, they began to oppress all the other races without discrimination.

    Because of this, the four races formed a rare alliance to fight back against the Harpies.

    However, Sky City was too powerful. The floating fort had an endless supply of energy and imprable defenses. No matter what kind of attacks theyunched at it, they were all rendered of no effect.

    Even with the four races allying together, they had no way of defeating the Harpies.

    For this, they were forced to think of any possible methods.

    In the end, the Craftsmen were the ones who proposed a possible solution.

    One of the greatest urrences of sowing discord throughout the continent¡¯s history took ce.

    A powerful Astral sacrificed his own spiritual body to control a Harpy Arcana Master.

    The battle continued, and to raise the status of that Arcana Master, the humans, Oceanids, Ravagers, and Astrals all devoted lots of time and energy to help him produce countless achievements, as well as to help him find resources to increase his personal strength.

    By relying on this method, the Arcana Master very quickly became known as a hero throughout the city, as well as a genius general.

    At this point, the four races¡¯ n began to bare its fangs.

    This genius general proposed a n during a military strategy meeting: Operation Deep Sea Anchor.

    Operation Deep Sea Anchor was based on some of the ws that Sky City had.

    Even though Sky City was iparably powerful, and Sark¡¯s Nuclei provided the city with an endless supply of energy, there was still certain drawbacks and bottlenecks experienced by the people living in the city.

    The many years of fighting had made one thing clear: when defending against incredibly powerful attacks, Sky City¡¯s consumption of energy far outstripped how much it absorbed.

    This was inevitable.

    Killing was always easier than giving birth, and spending money was always easier than saving up.

    The only reason Sky City was still able to hold on was because the Harpies were going all-out as well - when faced with the pressure from the four racesbined, the Harpies were still forced to pay quite a significant price.

    It was in this moment that the general proposed Operation Deep Sea Anchor.

    The n was to convert Sark¡¯s Nuclei¡¯s somewhat ethereal connections with the outside world into a more solid, weighty anchor, allowing the nuclei to extract nearly ten times as much energy as before and making Sky City truly invulnerable.

    The Harpies were incredibly moved by this n, but they weren¡¯t very skilled at remodeling.

    That was when the general made yet another contribution - he volunteered to go to Craftsman and Metalskin territory to convince the two races to help based on his ¡°majestic presence¡± to help them create the Origin Energy anchor.

    The two races returned to Sky City, letting ¡°bygones be bygones¡±, and began to work on creating this Origin Energy anchor.

    During this period of time, the Harpies watched them closely to ensure that they weren¡¯t trying to sabotage the city,

    However, reality demonstrated that the two races didn¡¯t make any attempts at all to sabotage the city.

    They diligentlypleted the work that the Harpies hadmissioned them to do, even doing a better job than the Harpies had anticipated - the Origin Energy chain of the Sark¡¯s Nucleus was imbued with spatial powers that prated deep into the sea of Origin Energy, making it so that the rate at which it umted energy was twenty times what it was before.

    The Harpies were incredibly excited by this prospect.

    However, not long afterwards, they discovered a shocking situation.

    Sky City couldn¡¯t move anymore.

    It was firmly locked in the southern regions of the Primordial Continent and could not fly to any other corner of the continent.

    They even had no way of cutting the anchor chain because of how intimately connected it was with Sark¡¯s Nucleus. Once the chain was cut, the nucleus would copse on itself, and Sky City woulde tumbling out of the sky.

    While Sky City became invincible, it also lost its ability to move as a result.

    In the end, the Harpies¡¯ dominance shrunk from more than half of the continent to a small region towards the south.

    Just like that, the Harpies¡¯ reign of a hundred years crumbled away into nothingness.

 Sect - Book 5, 47: Floating Point Plan

    Chapter 47: Floating Point n

    After Sky City was locked in ce, the Harpies¡¯ had no way of continuing their dominance.

    While inside the city, the Harpies were naturally invincible, but as soon as they left the city, they were easily smacked around.

    As such, the Harpies¡¯ offensive capabilities were far inferior to their defensive capabilities, causing them to be incredibly isted.

    This gradually became more and more unfavorable for the Harpies as the environment began to deteriorate.

    First of all, the territory in which the Harpies reigned supreme was simply too small.

    Even though Sky City was powerful, it was only a city. How much ground could it possibly cover?

    Other races had thousands of cities in their territory, while Sky City¡¯s cannons had a reach of only a few thousand kilometers. Outside of this range, no one feared them, and would even beat them up.

    No matter how few the Harpies were in numbers, they were still an entire race. With no one left to keep thempany, their numbers began to grow while their territory remained stagnant. Their lives became more and more difficult as a result - even though the sky was vast, it couldn¡¯t produce anything!

    The Harpies were forced to rack their brains for an idea.

    In the 5800th year of the New Star Era, the Harpies mobilized their armies for the sake of obtaining new territory.

    This time, they chose to fight the humans - the leader of the Harpies¡¯ religious organization decided to attack the humans and the Craftsmen to inflict divine punishment on them.

    However, after five thousand years, these humans were not the same as the humans who had set up the Freedom Alliance all those years ago.

    Under the leadership of Gu Changzhi, the emperor of the Illustrious Divine Dynasty, the human race was at their strongest.

    Through the course of the intense battle, the Harpies suffered immense casualties, and their ruler, Withered Edge, was gravely wounded. Scarlet Dreammitted suicide after returning to Sky City.

    In the 6200th year of the New Star Era, Withered Edge¡¯s old wounds broke open again, killing him. Skymist Eagle inherited the throne.

    When Skymist Eagle took the throne, most Harpies had resigned themselves to a fate of istion. However, Skymist Eagle proposed that Sky City alone was not enough to increase the strength of the Harpies on its own. The Harpies needed more territory and more strength.

    This was when the Floating Points n was proposed.

    The Floating Points n required the Harpies to develop their building abilities to create small floating cities with powerful offensive capabilities. This way, they would be able to ensure the safety of both Sky City and the Harpy Race as a whole.

    These Floating Points were just miniature replicas, satellite versions of Sky City.

    The Harpiesmissioned lots of manpower to try and find items that could store kic energy, as well as putting aside their arrogance to try and reach apromise with the Metalskins and Craftsmen. Those two races were not very happy with the other Intelligent Races either. After making a vow to the Harpy¡¯s mother goddess, some of the Craftsmen and Metalskins shifted alliance and once again came under the Harpies¡¯ wing.

    The Harpies did their utmost to meet the needs of these two races, and even in the present day, these two races possessed immense sway amongst the Harpies.

    In the 7400th year of the New Star Era, the Harpies managed to kill the emperor of the second Arcana Kingdom, obtaining a piece of equipment that could secondarily store energy. This was a byproduct formed when creating Sark¡¯s Nuclei. With it as the motor, the Craftsmen and Metalsking were able to create a small-scale floating city, the ¡°Origin Light Castle.¡±

    In the 8700th year of the New Star Era, the Harpies relied on the power of their religious organization and the mother goddess¡¯s Origin Energy Pool to create a second floating city, the ¡°Harpy Star.¡±

    In the 9600th year of the New Star Era, the Harpies obtained arge quantity of Flying Spirit Stones, which they used to create the third floating city, the ¡°Flying Spirit City.¡±

    In the 11200th year of the New Star Era, the Harpies and Ravagers fought once again. By relying on the three floating cities, the Harpies emerged victorious.

    In the 13000th year of the New Star Era, the Harpies used the bone of an Origin Beast they had taken from the Ravagers to create a fourth floating city, the ¡°Origin Energy Demonic City.¡±

    In the 14800th year of the New Star Era, the Harpies found a confused Prehistoric Beast. They first lured it to Sky City before attacking and suppressing it. By sacrificing hordes of heroic spirits and religious disciples, they were able to sessfully tame it. They erected a fifth floating city on its back, known as the ¡°Chaos Tower.¡±

    The creation of the fifth floating city multiplied the Harpies¡¯ strength, and their influence began to grow.

    By that point, the Harpies had already burned through all of their resources on hand. It was basically impossible for them to think of another unique way of creating a floating city.

    As a result, they decided to duplicate the fourth floating city by focusing their attention on the skeletal remains of the Origin Beast.

    Origin Beasts possessed incredible might. Often times, their remains would still possess unique attributes and powers. The Origin Bone Scepter was a prime example of this.

    The ¡°Origin Energy Demonic City¡± was constructed from the bones of a bird-type Origin Beast. It had left behind a backbone filled to the brim with energy. This backbone could fly through the air autonomously, so it was basically carrying the entire city. Of course, the Harpies had used other techniques as well to further strengthen this floating city, but the fact that this Origin Bone was the core of the floating city was indisputable.

    All of the Harpies hoped to find yet another Origin Beast¡¯s remains to create a new floating city.

    In the 17200th year of the New Star Era, the Harpies found yet another corpse of an Origin Beast that had passed away in its sleep.

    However, this corpse was located in human territory.

    In order to obtain the Origin Beast bones within human territory, the Harpies purposefully sowed discord and enraged the Prosperous Emperor. As a result, the Prosperous Emperor annulled the Western Mountain Treaty that had existed for ten thousand years.

    The Harpies went to war with the humans.

    The Harpies, who possessed five floating cities, felt that victory was within reach, but they were quickly sent reeling back into reality.

    Even though the Illustrious Divine Dynasty had begun to decline in power, the Harpies still could mount no resistance. The Commander-In-Chief, Lin Zhonghui, led his troops to amanding victory against the Harpies, sinking the ¡°Flying Spirit City¡± and inflicting serious damage on the ¡°Harpy¡¯s Star¡±, in addition to ughtering over five hundred thousand Harpy soldiers.

    The Harpies¡¯ ruler at the time fled back to Sky City, then killed himself, following in Scarlet Dream¡¯s footsteps.

    Harpy leadership exchanged hands a few more times as they began to adopt their former policy of istion. Their satisfaction with what they had made it so that they closely guarded the four floating cities. This equilibrium remained until Eternal Night assumed the throne.

    Eternal Night was an incredibly young ruler. Unlike his predecessors, however, Eternal Night had ughtered his way onto the throne.

    This young, ambitious Harpy emperor believed that, if the Harpies were to grow stronger, they would need to cast aside thiscent mentality and seize what they were after.

    He decided to follow in the footsteps of Skymist Eagle.

    Following a period of internal ughter, by which Eternal Night cemented his authority, he began to follow Skymist Eagle¡¯s path closely. Unfortunately, the Origin Beast remains from back then had been destroyed in therge-scale conflict many years prior, so Eternal Night could only wait until he was able to find the remains of another Origin Beast.

    He had waited until very recently.

    Su Chen and Patelocke immediately realized what the Harpies were after as soon as they connected the words ¡°Floating Point Six¡± with the fact that the corpse of an Origin Beast was right beneath their feet.

    ¡°I¡¯m such an idiot. I should have thought of that possibility as soon as you told me that there was a dead Origin Beast here,¡± Su Chen muttered.

    ¡°So that¡¯s what your n was.¡± Death¡¯s Shadow was also stunned.

    Only Patelocke, who hadin dormant for tens of thousands of years, was unaware of this segment of Harpy history.

    As such, Su Chen was forced to exin it to him.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is,¡± Patelocke sighed. ¡°So Isador was in fact able to fulfill his dream and create a source of endless energy.¡±

    ¡°You know the inventor of Sark¡¯s Nuclei?¡± Su Chen was a bit surprised.

    Patelocke replied, ¡°Yes, he was once a student of my institute, a student of my student. He left an impression on me - he was incredibly talented genius fixated on creating some kind of limitless energy source. I had encouraged him in the past and expressed my faith in him, but unfortunately I died before I witnessed him grow to maturity. So he really seeded, huh?¡±

    The Arcana Kingdom¡¯s history was incredibly deep. So many important characters had risen and fallen throughout the tens of thousands of years that had passed. For Patelocke to actually have met one of these individuals in person was undoubtedly the whims of fate.

    Flowing me Oriole couldn¡¯t resist saying, ¡°Isador Sark created this unlimited source of energy under the direction of the Harpies!¡±

    Even as a captive, the Harpies¡¯ unique arrogance made her unwilling to give up on the glory and prestige she felt like she deserved.

    ¡°Oh? Is that how you understand history?¡± Patelocke chuckled. ¡°It does make your aplishment seem much more glorious, but unfortunately the Isador Sark I knew had this dream from the very beginning. The Harpies were once our servants. Your arrogance is not even worth bringing up before me. Do you really think you are worthy of directing a genius Arcana Master? In my opinion, it seems much more likely that he was the one using you, right? However, the Arcana Kingdom was unable to sustain itself in the end, giving you the opportunity to rise to power. It must be said, though - the Harpies must be quite clever if they were able to turn the immensely powerful Sky City into a turtle shell. Hahahaha.¡±

    As Patelocke spoke, he began to chuckle derisively.

    The Harpies¡¯ greatest shame was brought to light just like that. Flowing me Oriole flushed with embarrassment and anger.

    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s get onto the main topic. Since that was your n, what¡¯s with this bug hive?¡±

    ¡°That hive will be the carrier of Floating Point Six. Throughout the past tens of thousands of years, we have never given up on our quest of creating a sixth floating city. This hive is a carrier that we found off in a distant, faraway realm. It possesses an incredibly powerful consciousness, and it can also produce an endless supply of these unique bugs, which make for the most natural soldiers. The mobility of these floating cities has always been a big problem, but using the hive as a carrier resolves that issue. Because it is alive, it has the ability to fly on its own. In that faraway realm, we observed a massive brood mother flying through the air, bearing the weight of countless bugs attached to her body. We believe that, if we can cultivate it into our next floating city, this next floating city will far surpass any we have created before. Its strength power even beparable to the might of Sky City itself.¡±

    ¡°So why put it here?¡±

    ¡°Because it still has weaknesses. Even though its consciousness is powerful, its physical body is very weak. This is actually a big problem for this creature. It is not nearly strong enough yet, so we must think of a way to make it truly powerful.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s why you brought it here? To extract the remains of the Gold-Devouring Ape? But this time, you weren¡¯t nning on using it as the main backbone of the floating cities but as fodder!¡± Patelocke was stunned. ¡°Heavens, what extravagance!¡±

    ¡°So how exactly did you find this ce? And how did youe into contact with the Rong n in the first ce?¡±

    ¡°Everything is as the mother goddess has foretold,¡± Flowing me Oriole replied.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 48: Blasphemy

    Chapter 48: sphemy

    The Primordial Continent was not a world with a strong religious following.

    Even though the Humans, Ravagers, and other races had religious organizations and sects within their culture, none of them were an integral part of society.

    Only one race was an exception to this rule: the Harpies.

    The Harpies possessed strong faith. They all believed in a single Mother Goddess, the ancestor of all of the Harpies. She was called the Mother of the Boundless Sky, which was why her followers referred to her as the Mother Goddess.

    The Harpies also possessed a distinct separation between church and state ¡ª the Sky Country and the Feathered Goddess Sect were entirely distinct.

    The emperor possessed absolute political power, while the religious leader possessed absolute religious power. The religious leader¡¯s influence was in no way weaker than that of the emperor; in some aspects, in fact, he possessed even greater sway. The Feathered Goddess Sect even had their own army and tax system.

    The Harpies revered the Mother Goddess and zealously believed in her. Su Chen knew about all this.

    However, he didn¡¯t know that the Harpies would receive divine inspiration from the Mother Goddess.

    She wasn¡¯t just a symbolic figure to them?

    He sneered disdainfully, ¡°Do you really believe that there is a god in this world?¡±

    Flowing me Oriole replied, ¡°Of course the Mother Goddess exists! You unbelievers just have no way of understanding because you have never been cared for by her. However, we Harpies are different. We are cared for by the Mother Goddess, and she guides us onto the right path!¡±

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t expected Flowing me Oriole to respond with such aggressive fanaticism and was taken aback.

    It was Patelocke who responded, ¡°Don¡¯t spheme the Mother Goddess of the Harpies. She is the source of their faith and the root of their pride.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re telling me that their pridees from their Goddess?¡± Su Chen asked in shock.

    Patelocke replied, ¡°Well, it¡¯s definitely not just because they know how to fly.¡±

    Su Chen shrugged helplessly. He had in fact believed that that was the case until now.

    The reality, however, was that the Harpies¡¯ arrogance stemmed from the fact that they truly believed that they were the only race that received guidance from the Mother Goddess.

    For this reason alone, all suffering was merely temporary.

    Faith allowed them to ignore the truth, the reality before their eyes. They didn¡¯t know how to analyze or dissect anything. Rather, they merely chased after their Goddess blindly.

    If the Goddess wanted them to be kind, they were kind.

    If the Goddess wanted them to be cruel, they were cruel.

    Faith made them loyal, and it also made them crazy.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t understand any of that.

    At the very least, he didn¡¯t at this moment.

    As such, he made a critical mistake.

    He chuckled scornfully, ¡°A bunch of idiots.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t believe that their Mother Goddess really exists?¡± Patelocke asked.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°It¡¯s just that I don¡¯t think it matters whether their Mother Goddess exists or not. If she doesn¡¯t exist, then they are just a bunch of idiots who believe in something fake; if she does exist, then they are a bunch of idiots who have blindly handed themselves over to her and relinquished their free will. No matter which case it is, the fact remains that they are still idiots. I would rather change my bloodline and my cultural traditions rather than ce my hopes and dreams in a divine being and give up on my own free will.¡±

    ¡°Silence! You will not spheme our Mother Goddess!¡± Flowing me Oriole yelled maniacally.

    Su Chen coolly replied, ¡°You shouldn¡¯t yell at me like that. Tell me how you are nning on controlling this guy.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t tell you anything anymore!¡± Unexpectedly, Flowing me Oriole continued to defy him.

    ¡°What?¡± Su Chen was stunned.

    Flowing me Oriole actually stood up, her body brimming with energy.

    Su Chen discovered to his surprise that she had actually managed to shatter his control over her in that moment.

    As she floated into the sky, she began to yell, ¡°No one can spheme the Mother Goddess! Don¡¯t even think about getting anything else out of me. The n may have failed, but the bug hive¡¯s queen will not belong to anyone besides the Harpies! I won¡¯t allow you to use it to attack the other members of my race! I will use my own life to preserve her honor!¡±

    As she spoke, her body began to glow with a brilliant light.

    Then, she exploded.

    BANG!

    With a violent burst of energy, Flowing me Oriole exploded into gory pieces, blood and flesh sttering all over the stone room.

    Blood flew everywhere.

    At the same instant that she exploded, however, Su Chen reached out to grab Flowing me Oriole¡¯s body. A hand made ofpressed Origin Energy quickly snagged Flowing me Oriole¡¯s Arcana Technique Pattern, immediately throwing it inside a pre-prepared vial of medicine.

    His actions were so quick that it seemed like he had been prepared for this to happen, but the reality was that Flowing me Oriole¡¯s actions had surprised him as well. It was just that the consciousness crystal¡¯s high-speed analysis had allowed him to react appropriately in time.

    ¡°So she was a fanatic,¡± Patelocke muttered to himself in shock.

    He then turned to Su Chen and said, ¡°Now do you know why you shouldn¡¯t spheme the Harpies¡¯ Mother Goddess?¡±

    Su Chen remained silent for a moment as he stared at the Origin Energy Pattern in the vial and the blood stters on the ground before he sighed and admitted, ¡°I made a mistake. I¡¯ll learn from this lesson.¡±

    ¡°Yes, remember this lesson. Don¡¯t provoke another religious zealot that recklessly. You never know what might happen if you rub them the wrong way,¡± Patelocke advised.

    Su Chen calmly replied, ¡°That¡¯s not what I was referring to.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°The powerful consciousness assault not only helped her break through the secret memory-restriction technique, but also somewhat damaged her sea of knowledge. What I didn¡¯t expect was that she would use that opportunity to destroy the control seal I had imprinted in her mind...... Damn! If I run into a simr situation in the future, I will definitely be more careful,¡± Su Chen said through gritted teeth.

    Patelocke never would have expected Su Chen to say that that was the lesson he had learned and was caught a bit off-guard. ¡°But their faith......¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t give a damn about their faith!¡± Su Chen eximed bluntly. ¡°Whether or not those guys act crazy, I don¡¯t really care. All I care about is whether or not I can control them!¡±

    Patelocke was renderedpletely speechless.

    After thinking for a moment, he then said, ¡°Regardless, you have now lost your opportunity to uncover the secrets of this bug hive.¡±

    Flowing me Oriole had simply died too abruptly, and there were now many questions that Su Chen found he had no answers for. For instance, why exactly had Rong Guluo betrayed humanity? How would he control the bug hive in front of him?

    Su Chen, however, was totally nonchnt. ¡°That might not be the case. There are certain puzzles that you can figure out just by thinking about it a little. For instance, the exact reason why Rong Guluo had betrayed humanity is not really that important. Almost certainly, he was offered some kind of vast reward! The Harpies were likely willing to pay an astronomical sum in order to realize their n of creating Floating Point Six. As such, the Harpies would have given Rong Guluo anything he wanted, because no matter howrge his appetite was, his demands would never exceed the importance of Floating Point Six!¡±

    The Harpies possessed five floating cities in total, which were their main source of strength when battling other races. It was no exaggeration to say that each of these floating cities was as important as an entire country. Of course, actually creating them was a different matter.

    Given the importance of these cities, it was easy to imagine what kind of price the Harpies were willing to pay.

    The reason why he had initially had a hard time figuring out why Rong Guluo would betray humanity was because the Rong n was a Demonic Emperor n. Su Chen didn¡¯t believe that the Harpies would have been willing to pay that astronomical of a sum to persuade him.

    However, this whole situation was turned around on its head if he reconsidered it from the vantage point of creating the Floating Points.

    The Harpies probably would have been willing to buy out the entire n ten times over just to obtain this sixth Floating Point.

    The exact value was obviously not important, as it was just a number, so Su Chen was not particrly anxious to know.

    ¡°Then this bug hive......¡± Patelocke continued.

    The bug hive was still attempting to endure Su Chen¡¯s attacks as it shrieked repeatedly in pain.

    Its condition appeared very dismal.

    ¡°That¡¯s easy.¡± Su Chen gestured, and a pattern appeared in his hand. ¡°Why do you think I wanted to take her Arcana Technique Pattern? Just to obtain an average Arcana Technique? No. Flowing me Oriole didn¡¯te with a special treasure designed to control the bug hive; rather, she came with a special technique, which will solve all the problems we are currently facing. I¡¯m pretty sure that I know exactly what kind of technique it is...... as long as I am able to determine the correct Arcana Technique from inside this pattern, anyways.¡±

    As he spoke, he activated his microscopic eye and began to closely inspect the pattern.

    Very quickly, a smile surfaced on Su Chen¡¯s face. ¡°Just as I expected.¡±

    As his finger delicately touched the pattern, the corresponding portion of the Arcana Technique Pattern began to morph and shine in his hands, allowing Su Chen to determine how they were organized. A momentter, Su Chen began to assimte the selected glowing pattern.

    Strangely, however, he found that the pattern simply would not enter his body no matter how hard he tried to absorb it.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Patelocke was stunned.

    Too many shocking things had happened today.

    Su Chen, however, was not that surprised. ¡°It¡¯s an Esoteric Arcana Technique, probably the Soul Stamp technique.¡±

    Esoteric Arcana Techniques were a type of unique Arcana Technique only learnable and usable by those of a specific profession.

    Soul Stamp was such a technique. Only Sanskrit Chanters could use it, and it was even unique to the Gentle Voice Nest. In other words, even Sanskrit Chanters from other nests wouldn¡¯t be able to use such a technique.

    There were two unique characteristics to this Arcana Technique. The first was that, once the Soul Stamp was applied to a target, that target was forced to obey the user¡¯s everymand. The second was that the target and the user couldmunicate without the use of words by sensing each other¡¯s will.

    The Soul Stamp technique was somewhat simr to the Zhu n¡¯s consciousness envement techniques, but consciousness envement was only effective when the target¡¯s consciousness was weaker than the user. It was very difficult to execute the technique when the order of strength was reversed. The Zhu n¡¯s control techniques were better than the Bewitching Butterfly Jin n¡¯s, but both ns would still have a hard time controlling individuals with stronger consciousnesses. At most, the Zhu n¡¯s extent of control was greater than the Jin n¡¯s, but that extent was still finite.

    The Soul Stamp technique, however,pletely ignored the gap between the user and the target¡¯s consciousness power. The only factor determining its sess was how much resistance the target offered.

    In other words, if the target wanted to resist, they would be able to do so, but if they didn¡¯t want to, they would be controlled no matter what.

    In some sense, this technique actually seemed inferior to the Zhu n¡¯s techniques.

    One important factor regarding the Soul Stamp technique, however, was that the resulting connection it created was incredibly stable. Once an individual was Soul Stamped, no control technique would ever be able to erase that stamp.

    The user of the stamp might not necessarily be powerful, but once the stamp was brought into existence, it could not be destroyed.

    What had happened to Zhu Xianling would never happen to a target who had been Soul Stamped.

    Also, the reason why Zhu Xianling¡¯s ve had betrayed her was rted to the Soul Stamp technique as well.

    It was only effective against targets who had no will to resist.

    ves were one such target ¡ª since they had lost all sense of self, where would they find the willpower to resist?

    As a result, the Soul Stamp technique was the kryptonite to all Bloodline Nobility ns that specialized in controlling others ¡ª they might be able to bring others under their control, but Soul Stamp users could easily then take control of those people.

    There was one other type of target that Soul Stamp was exceptionally useful against.

    Children.

    Very young children simrlycked the will to resist.

    As such, Su Chen immediately determined that this was the technique the Harpies had used to take control of the bug hive.

 Sect - Book 5, 49: Soul Stamp

    Chapter 49: Soul Stamp

    When he heard Su Chen¡¯s exnation of the Soul Stamp technique, Patelocke also realized the Harpies¡¯ intentions. Obviously, they had nned on Soul Stamping this bug hive as they raised it so that they could permanently turn it into a part of the Harpies¡¯ arsenal.

    ¡°So has it been Soul Stamped yet?¡± Patelocke asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s where we got lucky,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°The Soul Stamp technique can¡¯t be carelessly used, and even Sanskrit Chanters need to wait a certain length of time for the target to mature before using it. If I had to guess, this bug hive cannot be stamped before it reaches a certain age, and Flowing me Oriole had helped the Rong n by using Soul Stamp on Zhu Xianling¡¯s ve in the meantime, making it impossible for her to use Soul Stamp again for some time. Later on, she fell into my hands, meaning that she hadpletely lost her chance to Soul Stamp the hive. Now, this bug hive has reached its fledgling stage and can be stamped. However, it will not be obedient to them, but rather to me.¡±

    ¡°But you are not a Sanskrit Chanter and cannot use the technique,¡± Patelocke sighed.

    ¡°I cannot possess the technique, but that doesn¡¯t mean that I can¡¯t use it.¡± Su Chen smiled as he exined, ¡°This Arcana Technique Pattern itself originated from a Sanskrit Chanter and thus contains all of her attributes. And besides, I only need to use this kind of power once.¡±

    As he spoke, he raised the Arcana Technique Pattern in his hand and began to infuse it with Origin Energy.

    The Pattern began to glow brightly before it gradually dissipated after reaching its peak intensity.

    As it dissipated, however, a consciousness tunnel was opened up.

    A momentter, Su Chen could clearly sense the bug hive¡¯s consciousness.

    It was crying out for help.

    Since it was small, its will was not fully developed and could not actuallymunicate through words. It didn¡¯t even know what the word ¡°help¡± meant.

    At the very least, however, it could ept Su Chen¡¯s intentions.

    This consciousness was the only one that approached it, so the bug hive¡¯s consciousness naturally drifted towards it, seeking affection.

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°I am your father, your closest family member. Remember this forever.¡±

    The bug hive had no way of understanding Su Chen¡¯s words, but the consciousness connection made it possible for it to understand Su Chen¡¯s meaning.

    ¡°No!¡±

    Perhaps because he was a bitte in using the Soul Stamp, the bug hive actually attempted to resist.

    ¡°I can help you take care of those bugs,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Father!¡± the bug hive immediately responded.

    Such a young organism had no concept of any kind of pride. A single sentence was enough to get it to lower its resistance.

    ¡°Then...... ept my will and bear my seal. Always obey me and submit to me. That is my order to you,¡± Su Chen continued as he followed the Soul Stamp technique¡¯s instructions and imprinted the brand inside the bug hive.

    ¡°I am father¡¯s son. I will obey father¡¯s will!¡± the bug hive replied.

    Su Chen could sense that the brand had been sessfully cast.

    Yes, it was indeed that simple.

    The Arcana Technique Pattern disappeared afterwards, but the consciousness connection remained. Su Chen could sense that his Soul Stamp could actually be refined one step further.

    At that point in time, a sudden thought surfaced in his head. He said, ¡°Thismand will bury itself in the depths of its consciousness and will be very well hidden. It will not manifest itself to someone else until I need it to activate. As for the activation method......¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s voice began to trail off.

    ¡°A hiddenmand that will only activate when I receive a specific order!¡± the bug hive repeated.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Patelocke asked in surprise.

    Su Chen shushed him and issued a thirdmand.

    ¡°From now on, you will be the Harpies¡¯ Floating Point Six. As long as the ¡®awaken¡¯mand is not given, you will obey the Harpies.¡±

    ¡°I will obey the Harpies as long as themand is not given!¡± the bug hive repeated.

    ¡°Very good.¡± Su Chen smiled slightly.

    His work here was done.

    Patelocke stared at him, dazed. ¡°You want to......¡±

    ¡°As you have guessed. I will return it to the Harpies.¡±

    Return it to the Harpies!

    Su Chen¡¯s words echoed through Patelocke¡¯s ears like a thunderp, sending him reeling.

    ¡°How despicable and shameless!¡± Patelocke yelled repeatedly, though he grew more and more excited each time he said it. ¡°But I like that n a lot!¡±

    The bug hive would serve as a carrier for Floating Point Six and would definitely be pampered and improved thoroughly during that period of time. This improvement would obviously require a colossal amount of resources, much more than any single person could afford. Only an entire race would be able to feed and nourish it.

    It was only natural that Su Chen had chosen to temporarily relinquish his control under these kinds of circumstances.

    Thus, he was going to return it to the Harpies.

    It could be easily imagined that, after the Harpies had shed their blood, sweat, and tears in order to produce the floating city, Su Chen would casually swing by and harvest all their hard work. That would absolutely be a heavy blow to the Harpies, no less than the Ravagers¡¯ loss of the Origin Bone Scepter and Vitality Totem or their internal conflict that would likelyst more than a hundred years.

    ¡°Before then, however, I need to gain a better understanding of this thing first.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he began to widen the spatial vortex so that he could enter the strange realm.

    This time, the bug hive did not attempt to attack him.

    After entering the strange realm, Su Chen first dealt with the hybrid bugs he had unleashed to attack the bug hive before closely inspecting the bug hive.

    The bug hive was a hundred feet tall. Even though it was already quiterge, the bug hive was still very young. A fully mature bug hive could be asrge as a small mountain, and hold as many as millions of distinct lifeforms. That made the bug hive without any modifications roughly equivalent to a floating city.

    No wonder the Harpies were nning on using it as a carrier.

    An ocean of Moonstones was piled beneath the bug hive, which had been harvested by those bugs and amassed here to support the bug hive¡¯s appetite. Moonstones were quite rare, and it was exceptionally difficult to find high-purity Moonstones anywhere on the continent. A metric ton of Moonstone ore would usually only yield half a kilogram or so of pure material once refined.

    The small mountain of purified Moonstone piled up beneath the bug hive obviously exined how the Moonstone Mine had been depleted.

    Su Chen ced his hand on the young bug hive as he stood in front of it, carefully probing and analyzing the bug hive¡¯s internal makeup.

    After applying the Soul Stamp, a mysterious connection had emerged between Su Chen and the bug hive.

    It was through this connection that Su Chen truly came to understand how the bug hive hade into existence.

    Actually, calling it a bug hive was a bit inurate. It was actually a very extraordinary broodmother, and merely seemed like a bug hive in appearance as it also constantly produced young bugs. Even though it was young, it could still birth bugs all the same ¡ª the very same bugs that Su Chen had massacred earlier. They were not fighter bugs but rather worker bugs, specifically meant to harvest resources. Because of that, they didn¡¯t have a high fighting capability. The threat they had posed earlier was merely because of theirrge numbers and theirbined consciousness attack. If they were in an open area, without constricted and confusing terrain, there were countless ways of finishing them all off

    The broodmother lived in a unique environment. Bugs skittered inside it left and right, and the broodmother was at the top of the food chain, the ruler of the tens of thousands of bugs.

    Broodmothers were exceptionally rare in this world as a single broodmother represented an entire bugmunity.

    Even though the broodmother had a strong consciousness, it was nowhere near as powerful as Su Chen had initially thought.

    The broodmother wasn¡¯t actually that proficient in using its consciousness energy. The reason this broodmother possessed such a powerful consciousness was because Su Chen had killed almost all of its worker bugs. After the worker bugs died, their consciousness power would flow back to the broodmother. For the sake of its own safety, the broodmother had unleashed the consciousness energy it had no way of storing, subsequently generating that storm of wind from before. It hadn¡¯t actually been trying to kill Su Chen.

    The broodmother¡¯s consciousness power was still steadily decreasing.

    This consciousness power was how the broodmother controlled her offspring, and it also gave the bugs a way tomunicate with the broodmother regardless of how great the distance between them was. Apart from that, however, the broodmother didn¡¯t really have any other consciousness techniques it could use.

    In substance, it was still just a bug, so it relied on its physical strength, not its consciousness power.

    At this moment, the broodmother was still absorbing the Origin Energy around it to grow. At the same time, it was also using the resources brought by the countless worker bugs around it to further strengthen and perfect its physical body.

    Broodmothers weren¡¯t normally capable of eating metal, so even though they were powerful, their bodies were still made of flesh. They typically relied on a hard outer carapace to protect them andrge waves of minion-bugs to attack. But because their physical bodies were ordinary, they did not cultivate, so neither they nor the bugs they produced could really be considered powerful.

    This was another reason why the Harpies¡¯ believed they could capture this bug ¡ª it was not some kind of invincible creature.

    But once it had fallen into the Harpies¡¯ clutches, the Harpies would definitely find a way to massively boost its power so that it could be Floating Point Six.

    Coincidentally, they had found the Gold-Devouring Ape¡¯s corpse.

    The Gold-Devouring Ape possessed the ability to convert the metal it ate into its own flesh and blood, which was a big reason why it was so powerful. The Shining Dragon¡¯s source of power was time, so the bone it left behind possessed the powers of time; the Gold-Devouring Ape¡¯s bones naturally contained fragments of its powers as well. As long as they could find the ape¡¯s Origin Bone and fuse it with the broodmother, the broodmother would be able to digest metal and subsequently sharply increase its own defensive capabilities. It would even be able to pass on this ability to the bugs that it produced.

    This was the reason Flowing me Oriole had brought this young broodmother here.

    The current broodmother had alreadypletely assimted the Gold-Devouring Ape¡¯s Origin Bone and was relying on its children to bring it more ore to eat. This ore was the Gold-Devouring Ape¡¯s former body, making it the best form of nourishment for the broodmother.

    This was the case for both the Moonstone and the Stargold Veins!

    This battle between the three Demonic Emperor ns had indeed been over these veins of ore.

    However, no one was aware that an even greater secret was hidden behind that desire.

    ¡°It seems like we really are going to have to ask the Zhu n to relinquish control of the Stargold Mine,¡± Su Chen sighed.

    Since the broodmother now belonged to him, he would naturally do his best to meet its demands. Now the ¡°little guy¡± was in its growing stage. How could Su Chen ignore its requests? The Moonstones hadn¡¯t been consumed yet, so the broodmother wasn¡¯t too agitated yet. However, it was bound to finish off this pile of Moonstones sooner orter.

    On the other hand, Su Chen wasn¡¯t particrly concerned about how he would get the Zhu n to agree to his demands.

    He had simply too many things that the Zhu n would be interested in.

    ¡°Unfortunately, we weren¡¯t able to find that puppet or the Lightless Ring,¡± Patelocke sighed with regret.

    He could sense the fluctuationsing from the Lightless Ring, but had no way of pinpointing its exact location.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Well, that might not necessarily be true. Don¡¯t forget that this little guy here assimted the Gold-Devouring Ape¡¯s Origin Bone and devoured most of the metal veins here. It is more familiar than anyone else about the secrets hidden deep below the ground.¡±

    Patelocke excitedly eximed, ¡°So......¡±

    ¡°We can have it use some of its bugs to help us scout around. As long as those two items are still around, we will definitely find them eventually. The only problem is that this will take some time...... I killed almost all of its worker bugs, and it¡¯sining about that to me right now. This will take a lot of time and energy on its part to aplish.¡±

    ¡°Then I only have one more question,¡± Patelocke said.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°How are you nning on returning the broodmother to the Harpies?¡±

 Sect - Book 5, 50: Alliance 1

    Chapter 50: Alliance (1)

    The matter of returning the hive to the Harpies was indeed quite an annoying problem.

    The Rong n¡¯s betrayal was a big issue, and no one had tried to keep it a secret. As a result, since enough time had passed, news of it had probably spread to all corners of the Seven Kingdoms by this point.

    It was impossible for the Harpies not to know what had happened.

    ¡°We must think of something,¡± Su Chen muttered. ¡°What do you think of this?¡±

    As he spoke, his figure morphed into Flowing me Oriole¡¯s appearance.

    ¡°You want to try and do what you did to the Ravagers?¡± Patelocke was stunned.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Do you think it¡¯s possible?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Su Chen, you¡¯d better think this through properly. The Harpies aren¡¯t the Ravagers, and there¡¯s no way they¡¯re as easy to trick. Your transformation technique won¡¯t be able to fool them,¡± Patelocke analyzed straightforwardly.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°You¡¯re right that they aren¡¯t as easy to trick, but I am also not the same person as I was back in Ravager territory.¡±

    Even though it had only been a few years since he had returned from Ravager territory, Su Chen¡¯s strength had been steadily increasing, and he had far surpassed his strength from a few years prior.

    ¡°That won¡¯t work either. The most important skill to have when living undercover in a foreign race¡¯s territory is notbat prowess but rather the ability to deceive others. Even the Ravagers wouldn¡¯t have fallen for your disguise if it weren¡¯t for the fact that your physical body had been baptized by the Origin Energy Temple, so how can you possibly trick the Harpies, who have countless Arcana Masters amongst their ranks? They have too many tactics they can use to see through your disguise.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why I need to spend some time understanding what tools and methods the Harpies have at their disposal. Don¡¯t worry, Patelocke, I¡¯m not saying that I will definitely infiltrate the Harpies. We still have plenty of time to n things out carefully. Before then, we first need to better understand the Harpies. What could blow my cover is not only my camouging ability, but also the way I speak or act. As you said, the Harpies are not stupid, so even a civilian could see through me.¡±

    Patelocke was speechless when he heard Su Chen¡¯s view of the situation.

    Su Chen¡¯s considerations were even more practical and detailed than his own.

    After some time, he relented and said, ¡°It seems that we must go and buy anotherrge group of criminals.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± Su Chen smiled as well.

    After cating the broodmother, Su Chen left the strange void realm.

    At that moment, Zhu Xianyao and the others arrived on the scene. Upon seeing that Su Chen was fine, Zhu Xianyao sighed with relief andpletely tossed away her pride. She ran to Su Chen frantically and kissed him deeply, causing everyone else to avert their gaze.

    In terms of audacity, Zhu Xianyao was probably number one.

    ¡°So? How was it? What did you discover?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked.

    Zhu Xianyao understood Su Chen¡¯s personality to some degree and was immediately able to discern that Su Chen had discovered something interesting.

    ¡°I did find some things. I¡¯ll tell you when we get back,¡± Su Chen said.

    Even though he knew that he could trust Cloud Leopard, the twelve Sword Servants, and Iron Cliff, the broodmother was so important that the fewer people that knew about it, the better.

    Upon returning to the Zhu n, Su Chen exined everything that he had witnessed.

    Zhu Xianyao was gobsmacked when she found out about the Harpies¡¯ n, and when she heard that Su Chen had managed to Soul Stamp the broodmother, she almost flew into the air with excitement.

    A floating pce!

    A real floating pce!

    The most important thing was that Su Chen hadn¡¯t even told Iron Cliff or Cloud Leopard about such an important matter, but he had told her. This meant that her status in Su Chen¡¯s eyes had gone up.

    When Zhu Xianyao realized this, she couldn¡¯t stop herself from bursting into tears.

    Su Chen was totally caught off-guard by her tears. All he had done was tell her his ns, but she had actually started to cry? What was happening?

    Even the smartest man couldn¡¯t fully understand the thoughts of a woman. He was rendered speechless after Zhu Xianyao finally exined to him why she had started crying.

    After indulging in her emotions for some time, she finally looked up from her position in Su Chen¡¯s embrace and asked, ¡°Should we tell my mother and the Ancestors?¡±

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then said, ¡°I want to know what you think.¡±

    He didn¡¯t agree or disagree. Instead, he sincerely asked for Zhu Xianyao¡¯s opinion.

    Zhu Xianyao really liked Su Chen¡¯s answer. She rubbed her eyes and said, ¡°Su Chen, you¡¯ve finally epted me and you sincerely love me. I am very happy. This means more to me than any kind of grand vow. Since that¡¯s the case, then I will tell you my true opinion. Don¡¯t me me for being biased towards my own mother, but I really do think that you must clearly exin this whole situation to my mother and the Ancestors. This is because this matter is so great that you might not be able to handle it on your own, and you will need people to help you. I know that the Boundless Sect has lots of subordinates, but you must admit that the depth of its roots is far inferior to that of the Zhu n¡¯s.¡±

    Su Chen nodded.

    The biggest problem the Boundless Sect faced right now was its shallow foundation and shallow pockets. Right now, it was like a sapling with unlimited possibilities. It might be a towering tree someday, but at least at this moment, it was far weaker than a Demonic Emperor n.

    A single Thought Manifestation cultivator was already a huge problem for them to take on.

    ¡°I understand what you¡¯re saying. Keep going,¡± Su Chen encouraged.

    Zhu Xianyao continued, ¡°You will need to prepare quite a bit of resources in order to carry out this n. For instance, just securing the Stargold Mine and additional Harpy captives will definitely require the cooperation of the Zhu n. If you don¡¯t exin things fully, it will be very difficult to get support for your ventures. In addition, there is one more important reason, which is that your transformation technique cannot trick the Harpies¡¯ Arcana Masters, so you will die if you go alone. But with the Ancestor¡¯s support, we might be able to think of something.¡±

    Su Chen was stunned. ¡°The Ancestor has that kind of ability?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao replied, ¡°He himself might not have that ability, but he probably has some friends who do.¡±

    Everybody had their own circle of influence.

    And Thought Manifestation cultivators naturally befriended other Thought Manifestation cultivators.

    The Zhu n¡¯s Ancestor had traveled far and wide and gotten to know countless people. There really was a possibility that he knew someone who could take care of this problem for him.

    And it was going to be impossible for him to get the Zhu n¡¯s full support without fully exining the situation to them.

    ¡°Fine, then we¡¯ll do it just as you have said!¡± Su Chen agreed decisively.

    With Su Chen¡¯s agreement, everything began to unfold quite smoothly.

    That evening, Su Chen met with the Zhu n¡¯s Ancestor, Zhu Chenhuan.

    Zhu Chenhuan was already four hundred years old, but his appearance was still like that of a handsome youth, full of vigor and vitality. He would have caught the eyes of many maidens if he were to walk along the street.

    Zhu Chenhuan sat in the most elevated seat. Zhu Yunyan sat beside him, and Zhu Xianyao obediently massaged him from behind. They looked less like grandfather and granddaughter and more like brother and sister.

    When he saw Su Chen, Zhu Chenhuan smiled and graciously said, ¡°Have a seat. I should havee to see you after the battle with the Rong n, but since Rong Guluo managed to escape, I had to take care of him and make sure that he wouldn¡¯t harm anyone else. That¡¯s why it¡¯s taken me until now to have an audience with you.¡±

    Zhu Chenhuan hadn¡¯t immediately chased after Rong Guluo in order to prevent t Sky City from being destroyed. Once Rong Guluo was outside of t Sky City¡¯s territory, however, Zhu Chenhuan didn¡¯t hold back and notified all of the nearby Demonic Emperor n Ancestors to jointly chase after Rong Guluo.

    However, Rong Guluo was quite talented, and he had somehow managed to escape from the encirclement through an unknown path. Apparently, he had relied on a session of forbidden techniques to do so, resulting in him paying quite a high price. As a result, he had been quite badly wounded, so he wouldn¡¯t be able to make trouble for anyone for quite some time.

    But it also wasn¡¯t exactly true that he had no time toe see Su Chen just because of that. In addition to pursuing Rong Guluo, he also needed to manage the integration of the Rong n¡¯s assets. He was also waiting for Su Chen to request an audience with him. However, Su Chen had also been incredibly busy with experimenting on the Rong n¡¯s six elders who were to be sent off to the capital, so he had never even thought of going to see Zhu Chenhuan. This made it seem like Su Chen wasn¡¯t cing the old Ancestor in his eyes, and Zhu Chenhuan was right to be somewhat irritated. As a result, he had be even more opposed to voluntarily seeking Su Chen out, so the two had somehow entered an awkward stalemate until now.

    Thankfully, this matter was a small one whenpared to the matter of the broodmother. The small grudge wasid aside, and any irritation dissipated after a few sentences of casual conversation.

    Su Chen then said to Zhu Chenhuan, ¡°It¡¯s all because Ancestor shielded me against the storm that I was able to act out a little bit.¡±

    Zhu Chenhuan chuckled and replied, ¡°You didn¡¯t just act out a little this time. Your n to stop the Harpies from making a floating fort ismendable. I can see that you are a young man with ambition and style, and it does not surprise me at all that you are the head of a sect even at such a tender age. However, Su Chen, the Moonstone Mine still belongs to the Zhu n one way or another. Since you found a treasure on Zhu n property, just taking it away like this is a bit inappropriate, no?¡±

    This was the part where he asked for benefits.

    The Arcana Technique Pattern had been consumed and the broodmother had already imprinted a master onto its consciousness, so it was impossible for forcibly seize it from him. However, the necessary benefits still needed to be offered. Before, the broodmother technically should have belonged to the Zhu n. However, they were merely using it as a bargaining chip. If necessary, they were even willing to include the Gold-Devouring Ape into their calctions and say that it had belonged to them since ancient times.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t surprised by their actions. Since he had decided to openly discuss this matter with the Zhu n, it was only natural that he was willing to part with some of the profits.

    Of course, how he divvied up those profits was an entirely separate matter. That still needed to be determined through negotiation.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Ancestor, that might not be quite right. The Moonstone Mine belongs to the Rong n, and I was the one who discovered their secret betrayal. I was also the one who discovered the secrets of the mine from the Harpy captive, who was also mine. Strictly speaking, I didn¡¯t take anything belonging to the Zhu n at all...... You wouldn¡¯t say that a person who happened to pass through t Sky City belongs to the Zhu n as well, would you?¡±

    Su Chen was definitely going to fight over who had the right to possess the broodmother. Even if you were the Su n¡¯s Ancestor, you should give up on trying to take this from me.

    ¡°But no matter how you look at it, the Moonstone Mine fell into the Zhu n¡¯s hands after the Rong n was disbanded. The Rong n¡¯s mine became ownerless, so saying that it belongs to the Zhu n is not excessive,¡± Zhu Yunyan said with a chuckle. ¡°But if Young Master Su is willing to marry into our n, everything bes much easier to discuss. The Moonstone Mine can be the Zhu n¡¯s betrothal gift.¡±

    She still wanted to him to marry in.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Is it worth negotiating so much just for a depleted mine? The Zhu n is really undervaluing their eldest daughter. I think it would be much more fitting for the dowry to be the Stargold Mine.¡±

    Zhu Yunyanughed lightly with a hand over her mouth. ¡°You have quite the ravenous appetite.¡±

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°It¡¯s not me that has an appetite, but rather the broodmother. It won¡¯t be easy for either the Zhu n or the Boundless Sect to raise it, but once we do, we will have our own fort.¡±

    ¡°We......¡± Zhu Chenhuan emphasized that word. ¡°Is it you? Or me?¡±

    ¡°The Boundless Sect and the Zhu n,¡± Su Chen replied.

 Sect - Book 5, 51: Alliance 2

    Chapter 51: Alliance (2)

    Su Chen had thought out the problem of how to assign benefits a long time ago. He was nning on using the broodmother fort¡¯s future distribution ofnd as a bargaining chip.

    This was a very good decision.

    The broodmother would eventually develop into a fort, allowing it to carryrge numbers of people at once. It would easily fit hundreds of Boundless Sects all at once, let alone one.

    Dividing out a portion for the Zhu n would not only satisfy the Zhu n¡¯s need for appropriatepensation but would also drag them onto the same boat.

    Actually, the Zhu n¡¯s thought process was quite simr. Under Su Chen¡¯s conditions, the Zhu n would not only need to hand over the Stargold Mine but would also need to find even more Harpy captives for Su Chen and solve a problem for him that he had now ay of solving himself. Why would they pay such arge price? It was because of the immense value the broodmother fort would possess. If Su Chen had tried to hand them some of his research oues as a reward, they probably wouldn¡¯t have epted his deal.

    In other words, the broodmother fort was like a business. The Zhu n was taking a risk by investing in it in the hopes of obtaining rpensation in the future.

    Since the direction of the investment had been settled on, what remained was to discuss the exact valuation of what both parties were bringing to the table.

    This was the major point of contention for the two parties.

    The Zhu n reckoned that they should have possessed a portion of the broodmother¡¯s territory in the first ce. Su Chen was merely the early bird catching the worm. Since the Zhu n would be making them pay an even higher price at this point, the Zhu n wanted half of the broodmother fort all to themselves.

    Su Chen naturally reckoned that the broodmother bug belonged to himself. The n was proposed by him, and he was the one to carry it out as well, so the Zhu n would at most receive two-tenths of the territory.

    This even included the gift he would need to pay to take Zhu Xianyao as his wife.

    The two parties bickered ceaselessly.

    Neither the old man nor the youth were easy to deal with. They argued for so long that both of them were beginning to be angry. Zhu Chenhuan ignored his status and smacked the table as he yelled, ¡°The Zhu n already controls the secret of the broodmother, and no one will benefit if we keep fighting like this since we will just notify the Harpies.¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t back down and replied loudly, ¡°Leak it if you want. In any case the broodmother is mine, and I¡¯ll just give up on that fort. The broodmother is at least at the Demonic Lord level anyways, and obtaining a Demonic Emperor level pet is not bad either.¡±

    The two of them yelled and red at each other, neither of them backing down a step. If it weren¡¯t for Zhu Yunyan and Zhu Xianyao holding them back, they might have started brawling. Even though the old man was a Thought Manifestation cultivator, Su Chen didn¡¯t seem to be losing to him in terms of imposing presence in the slightest.

    ¡°You...... you brat! You¡¯re pissing me off!¡± Zhu Chenhuan yelled as he pointed at Su Chen. ¡°If it weren¡¯t for Little Yao, I¡¯d st you to shreds with my palm right now.¡±

    Su Chen harrumphed. ¡°How can you act so uncivilized if you¡¯re so great? All I did was rebut a few times and you get so angry with me? This cultivation path of yours is too far off. I¡¯ll give you a cultivation techniqueter for you to study. I promise you that you will be able to remain calm even if others curse at you.¡±

    ¡°Do you hear this?¡± Zhu Chenhuan yelled at Zhu Xianyao as he pointed at Su Chen. ¡°This is the kind of man you find for yourself?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao pouted and didn¡¯t say anything

    Zhu Yunyan chuckled as she attempted to ease the situation. ¡°Alright, alright. You can talk things over nicely. What¡¯s the point in yelling at each other like this? If any outsiders were to catch wind of this, we would be aughingstock.¡±

    This matter was so secretive that no outsiders would even be able to get close enough to listen in. Zhu Yunyan¡¯s words were merely meant to give Zhu Chenhuan a way to back down.

    Zhu Chenhuan borrowed the opportunity to reign in his temper as he said, still seething, ¡°This is myst offer. Forty percent, and no lower."

    "I already said that I won¡¯t go any higher than thirty percent," Su Chen replied.

    "Aiya, can¡¯t you both justpromise a bit? Why won¡¯t thirty-five percent work?" Zhu Yunyan tried to smooth things over.

    ¡°Absolutely not!¡± the two of them simultaneously yelled.

    The broodmother fort was incredibly important. Ten percent was roughly equivalent to billions of Origin Stones in terms of resources. How could either side be willing to back down?

    Su Chen said, "Most of the investment that will go into the broodmother fort depends on the Harpies. The Zhu n is being too greedy if they think they can im forty percent just because they are investing a single Stargold Mine."

    "Nonsense! Do you think you have the ability to deceive the Harpies? Without my help, you will only die if you go. I know that you were able to do as you pleased on Ravager territory because of your camouge technique, but let me tell you that this trick won¡¯t work on the Harpies!"

    "That¡¯s precisely the reason I was willing to give up thirty percent. That¡¯s already a lot!"

    "And what about those Harpy captives?"

    "How little are they worth? Can¡¯t I just buy them with my own money?"

    "Hmph, if it was that easy, then why would you need the Zhu n at all? Also, do you really think you¡¯re home free if we handle these two problems for you? This is not a small matter, and you will need a foolproof n. That¡¯s not something that you can do on your own. You need the cooperation of arge group of people."

    "The Boundless Sect has people too."

    "They won¡¯t be better than the Zhu n¡¯s subordinates."

    "That might not be true. After all, deception doesn¡¯t depend on strength necessarily."

    "It sounds like you have alreadye up with a n?"

    ¡°And why wouldn¡¯t I have one, Ancestor?¡±

    The two of them nced at each other before suddenly bursting intoughter at the same time.

    The two of them had seemingly just been at each other¡¯s throats, but now they actually began tough with each other in but the blink of an eye.

    Zhu Chenhuan guffawed, "Good! Well done, kid. You have both courage and wits. No wonder our Little Yao has fallen for you. Since that¡¯s the case, then let¡¯s settle for thirty percent."

    They had fought each other so fiercely, but now Zhu Chenhuan was backing down so easily.

    Su Chen chuckled. "That¡¯s more like it. Old man, if you had done this earlier, you would have saved us all a lot of trouble."

    He called Zhu Chenyuan "old man", but Zhu Chenyuan actually didn¡¯t grow angry. The two of them actually appeared to be on good terms all of a sudden.

    Both Zhu Yunyan and Zhu Xianyao were rendered speechless by their exchange.

    Zhu Chenhuan possessed an exalted status amongst the Zhu n. No one dared to talk to him like this most of the time.

    If anyone did in fact piss him off, they would quickly find themselves staring down a powerful palm strike.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t fear him, and not only did Zhu Chenhuan not seem angry, he even seemed quite happy. Zhu Yunyan felt like the sun was rising from the west.

    Next, Zhu Chenhuan said, ¡°You really are quite impressive. I like that a lot. Right, kid, do you know how to y chess?¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°I know a little, but I¡¯m not an expert.¡±

    ¡°Hey, if you¡¯re going to be the master of a fort, you need to be an experienced chess yer. Come, Yunyan, set the chessboard for us. I will be giving him pointers!¡±

    Zhu Yunyan froze.

    Zhu Chenhuan red at her. ¡°What are you still standing around for?¡±

    ¡°Oh, of course!¡± Zhu Yunyan seemed to have been awakened from a dream and hurried to set the ce for the two of them.

    Zhu Chenhuan waved his hands. ¡°Alright, you all may leave. Little Chen and I are going to y a few games of chess.

    Zhu Yunyan could only helplessly lead Zhu Xianyao away.

    Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t understand. ¡°Mother, what is going on? Howe the Ancestor suddenly agreed to Su Chen¡¯s conditions?¡±

    Zhu Yunyan chuckled and affectionately rubbed Zhu Xianyao¡¯s nose. ¡°You¡¯re just too pure. Did you really think the Ancestor and Su Chen were fighting over profits?¡±

    ¡°Are they not?¡± Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°They are, but they also are not,¡± Zhu Yunyan sighed.

    Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t understand what that meant.

    Zhu Yunyan said, ¡°That¡¯s why I said you were still a bit too naive. Have you ever wondered why Su Chen has the confidence to return the broodmother to the Harpies?¡±

    ¡°Because he¡¯s put a Soul Stamp on the broodmother, so it will only listen to him.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! Since the broodmother is the core of the fort, its will is the most important. As such, ever since Su Chen branded the broodmother, the floating fort could only ever belong to him, not to anyone else. Do you think there¡¯s any point in negotiating with Su Chen over how to split up the broodmother fort?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao was taken aback.

    Of course!

    The entire broodmother fort belonged to Su Chen because the broodmother itself belonged to Su Chen.

    Even though Su Chen had agreed to give the Zhu n thirty percent of the territory, since the Zhu n couldn¡¯t control the broodmother¡¯s will, this thirty percent wasn¡¯t really much. So what if Su Chen gave them all of the territory?

    Su Chen could chase them out and reim the territory with a single sentence.

    Wasn¡¯t that what was going to happen to the Harpies anyways?

    Zhu Xianyao hadn¡¯t thought of this point, but how could Zhu Chenhuan, who had been alive for hundreds of years, possibly overlook this point?

    ¡°But the Ancestor still insisted on fighting with him?¡± Zhu Xianyao couldn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°Of course they needed to fight! Otherwise, who could say how sincere Su Chen¡¯s intentions were?¡± Zhu Yunyan said.

    The more fake a promise was, the better it sounded.

    Zhu Chenhuan argued with Su Chen because he wanted to see if Su Chen had any intention of following through with his promise.

    Only someone who was intent on fulfilling their promise would fight so hard and with such great difficulty.

    If Su Chen wasn¡¯t willing to uphold his end of the bargain, then it didn¡¯t matter what he was promising to give to the Zhu n.

    In addition, even though thirty percent of the territory was merely for them to live on and wasn¡¯t too valuable, the benefits they could obtain from the fort itself were much greater.

    Floating forts were tools of war and would always be used on a battlefield. As such, spoils from battle would naturally be split based on how much territory they owned. It was only natural that Zhu Chenhuan would fight hard for that portion.

    As such, his argument with Su Chen was both to probe him out and also to obtain more benefits for his n.

    Only by determining what the other party¡¯s bottom line was would Zhu Chenyuan feelfortable making such arge investment.

    Behind this conflict and conversation hid a mutual sizing up of the other party¡¯s courage, wits, personality, and many other important factors.

    Zhu Chenyuan¡¯s appraisal of Su Chen was that he was fearless and argued strongly for what was right. He had both courage and wisdom in equal measure.

    Since that was his impression of Su Chen, he was able tough and acquiesce, satisfied with what he had obtained.

    He had already reached his goal.

    This probing and dispute finally reached its conclusion.

    Of course, there were always one or two things that wouldn¡¯t necessarily go ording to n.

    That was the case now with this game of chess.

    The old man¡¯s expression grew more and more sour.

    He had lost!

    The old Ancestor had been one of Liaoye Country¡¯s most prominent generals in the past, with many soldiers under hismand. Later on, he picked up the hobby of ying chess in addition to his cultivation, so he considered himself to be quite a skilled chess yer. If chess skill was also split into tiers, he was probably equivalent to a Thought Manifestation cultivator. There were very few people who could match him in skill when it came to the game of chess.

    However, after from the two games he had won against Su Chen at the beginning, Zhu Chenyuan had lost three games in a row.

    He had lost to someone who imed they didn¡¯t y much chess and had even forgotten how to y. Zhu Chenyuan had been forced to teach him the rules again before they started to y.

    You brat, you weren¡¯t purposefully pretending to not know anything so you could make fun of me, were you?

    You might be even more skilled than an Ultimate Emperor Realm chess yer! We should create a new realm for you and call it the Omniscient Realm!

    Su Chen was being falsely used.

    He had indeed forgotten how to y. The only reason he could beat the old man was because his consciousness crystal was much quicker than the Ancestor¡¯s brain. There was no way the two of them couldpete.

    A massacre of a Thought Manifestation Realm expert!

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 52: In Name

    Chapter 52: In Name

    Zhu Chenhuan eventually gave up on ying chess against Su Chen.

    Actually, the primary reason he had even suggested ying chess was to further evaluate Su Chen¡¯s character. After all, the way a person yed chess spoke volumes about their personality. If this Su Chen tried to cheat in just a chess game, that meant that there was an issue with his sincerity.

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen had stomped him straightforwardly. He didn¡¯t cheat at all, though the old Ancestor had a number of times.

    Thankfully, Su Chen didn¡¯t believe that a person¡¯s way of ying chess spoke volumes about their character. In any case, he had taken control of the momentum in his dealings with the Zhu n, so he wasn¡¯t worried that they might try to pull something over him.

    Zhu Chenhuan gave up on ying chess when he realized that he couldn¡¯t beat Su Chen, and they resumed discussing their n.

    Since their cooperation was now set in stone, all that remained was to settle on a concrete n.

    This n was not like when Su Chen took a risk and entered Ravager territory alone. Now that a n that had invested an ocean of resources into this venture was involved, they would be much less tolerant of such risky behavior. Zhu Chenhuan wouldn¡¯t ept Su Chen¡¯s gambling tendencies. A practical, reliable n was the only way to go.

    As such, the old man immediately shot down Su Chen¡¯s n of disguising himself as Flowing me Oriole.

    ¡°It¡¯s too risky, and you¡¯d be turning yourself into a Harpy female. There is too big of a difference between a man and a woman, and Flowing me Oriole is also the Gentle Voice Nest¡¯s Sanskrit Chanter. Who knows what other screening processes are at their disposal for the Sanskrit Chanters? If they ask you to use the Soul Stamp technique again, what will you do?¡±

    It had to be said that the old man¡¯s analysis was extremely logical.

    Su Chen was too radically different from Flowing me Oriole in terms of actions, habits, and abilities. Assuming her identity would bring no shortage of trouble.

    ¡°Let¡¯s forget about trying to trick those Arcana Masters for now. After all, even the Harpies can¡¯t produce Arcana Masters like cabbages. And even if you do sessfully trick them, you would still need to be wary of sabotaging yourself somewhere down the line. So for safety¡¯s sake, you would need to disguise yourself as a Harpy that the Gentle Voice Nest doesn¡¯t recognize ¡ª that is, if you did decide to disguise yourself. Only in this manner would they not be able to detect any problems with your actions or speaking mannerisms.¡±

    ¡°You say that, but then how would we get around the issue of a random Harpy returning the broodmother?¡±

    ¡°Could you return the broodmother even if you assumed Flowing me Oriole¡¯s identity? News of her being captured has already spread.¡± Zhu Chenhuan wouldn¡¯t stop talking once he started.

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly what¡¯s giving me a headache.¡±

    ¡°You have a headache because you¡¯re only considering your own feelings on the matter. Have you ever considered what the Harpies are feeling right now?¡±

    ¡°How the Harpies feel?¡± Su Chen was taken aback by this train of thought.

    ¡°That¡¯s right! You don¡¯t really think that the Harpies would just give up on the broodmother like that after spending so much time and effort devising a n and raising it, right?¡±

    Su Chen fell into deep thought when he heard Zhu Chenhuan¡¯s words.

    He realized that he had made a big mistake in his view of the situation.

    While he had been fretting over a way to return the broodmother, he hadn¡¯t realized that the Harpies were almost certainly thinking of a way to recover the broodmother as well.

    When he realized this, Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Have the Harpies made any strange movements recently?

    Zhu Chenhuan chuckled. ¡°We heard a few days ago that the Harpies sent a diplomatic party over to discuss a truce. I was wondering why those arrogant pricks would suddenly want to talk to us, but now I understand.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°I¡¯d imagine they¡¯ll make a trip to t Sky City as well.¡±

    ¡°So you can see that this matter is actually very simple. An opportunity might present itself without us even needing to do anything. On the other hand, if we did try something, we would inadvertently be alerting them.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re absolutely right!¡± Su Chen sighed with sincere admiration.

    Old people really were quite shrewd. With but a few sentences, he had managed to exin the heart of the matter.

    With regards to the problem of returning the broodmother, it was better to be still than to be in motion. All they needed to do was wait for the right opportunity to present itself.

    Of course, there were still many other problems that needed to be addressed.

    A big n slowly began toe together piece by piece.

    Purple Forest Stream was in a terrible mood.

    The Harpies didn¡¯t actually have much of an enmity with humans. Most of their conflicts stemmed from geopolitical disputes and disagreements over the division of natural resources. These were quitemon urrences for two neighboring countries. If there wasn¡¯t some friction from time to time, then it was quite clear that one country was neglecting their national interest. On the other hand, the close proximity of the two countries made it so that if one party was involved in a conflict, the other would typically be dragged in as well.

    For this reason, the Harpies and Liaoye Country would sometimes cooperate, such as when they needed to deal with the Beasts.

    When to fight and when to hold back depended on each country¡¯s situation, and Purple Forest Stream was the person primarily responsible for making this decision.

    Of course, the situation he was facing now was slightly moreplicated.

    Even though he was the leader of this diplomatic envoy in name, he was not actually the one making the decisions.

    That was not umon either. Those responsible for foreign affairs almost always took the me. The higher-ups came up with the ideas and decided which rtionships to make, while the onus fell onto the person actually carrying these orders out to fruition.

    The chief ambassador¡¯s job was probably half business, and half being chewed out.

    But the main issue was that he didn¡¯t even know what his real mission was this time. He had no idea why he was being forced to carry this ck pot for someone else[1. burden].

    Yes, he didn¡¯t know!

    The individual tagging along in this diplomatic group was extremely secretive about the actual goal of this mission and had only told him to quietly follow instructions.

    But look at the mission you gave me!

    ¡°You must secure the diplomatic envoy freedom to do as they please in t Sky City. The best would be for you to somehow seize some authority within t Sky City!¡±

    Was the Harpy who had given him the order crazy?

    t Sky City was at the center of Liaoye Country, and not near the border. When had it ever been possible to take over a city that belonged to another country through purely political means?

    If it didn¡¯t have any geopolitical merit, then on what basis were they trying to insert themselves into the situation?

    The political tactics of this era were quite simple. There was no such thing as human rights, secession, or any kind of historical framework, so there was no point in bringing any of these things up.

    The higher-ups had said that they were willing to make manypromises with Liaoye Country as long as this condition of theirs was met, even going so far as to be willing to push the Origin Light Castle back a few hundred kilometers.

    This was indeed quite a great concession. The Origin Light Castle guarded a very important source of natural resources, and moving it back was equivalent to handing it all over. But wasn¡¯t this kind of a concession basically telling the other party that there was a hugely valuable secret hidden in t Sky City? Wasn¡¯t it basically saying that t Sky City has something even more valuable than that mountain of natural resources?

    That¡¯s not how negotiations are supposed to be made!

    Yet the higher-ups refused to tell him what kind of secret was hidden in t Sky City. Purple Forest Stream had a hard time even imagining what the actual scope could be.

    This frustrated him immensely.

    ¡°If there¡¯s no other way to go about it, why not at least try to have the diplomatic party go and visit t Sky City?¡± Scattered Moon Mist said amiably upon realizing that she was most likely responsible for the headache this head ambassador was feeling. The next best thing would be to pay t Sky City a visit.

    ¡°Miss Scattered Moon Mist, even though you cannot tell me what we are looking for, everyone knows about the Rong n¡¯s recent betrayal. They will definitely smell something fishy if we go to t Sky City right now,¡± Purple Forest Stream pushed out through gritted teeth.

    ¡°We can¡¯t help it even if they know. No matter what, our investment there must be recovered.¡±

    ¡°What kind of investment is it exactly!?¡± Purple Forest Stream stared intently at Scattered Moon Mist as he burst out in frustration.

    ¡°I cannot tell you,¡± insisted Scattered Moon Mist.

    Purple Forest Stream helplessly said, ¡°Then can you at least tell me whether or not it is rted to the Rong n¡¯s betrayal?¡±

    Scattered Moon Mist murmured to herself, deep in thought, before nodding.

    When he saw her confirm his spection, Purple Forest Stream felt like he now had a better handle on the situation.

    He paced back and forth a few times before saying, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, then I can only think of one way forward.¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    ¡°My informant told me that the Zhu n bought arge group of Harpy prisoners of war some time ago.¡±

    ¡°Why would they want prisoners of war?¡±

    ¡°Apparently, Su Chen, the one who ruined all our ns, asked for them...... He wanted to perform experiments on us and turn us into experimental subjects.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Scattered Moon Mist yelled indignantly. ¡°That bastard!¡±

    ¡°He is indeed a bastard, but he¡¯s also a very scary one,¡± Purple Forest Stream sighed.

    As the head ambassador, he constantly kept close tabs on the situation in the human kingdoms. Su Chen¡¯s name only became more popr as time passed, so if he didn¡¯t know of Su Chen¡¯s reputation, that would have been a blemish on his track record.

    Su Chen¡¯s exploits in Ravager territory alone were enough to cause him to tremble in fear.

    Who could have imagined that a single person was not only able to save the Heavenly Might Battalion but also flip the Ravagers¡¯ situation upside down?

    He was also the one who had disrupted the situation in t Sky City, leading to the current state of affairs.

    He could only pray now that this Su Chen wouldn¡¯t make any more trouble for him.

    Purple Forest Stream then said, ¡°Even though he is a bastard, he has given us an opportunity this time. We need to give the capital a reason for going to t Sky City. This reason will definitely not be real, so we can only use the captives as a screen.

    Scattered Moon Mist understood what he meant. ¡°You want them to think that our negotiations this time around are for the sake of someone amongst those captives?¡±

    Purple Forest Stream nodded. ¡°Yes. For instance, Flowing me Oriole is a good choice. She is a Sanskrit Chanter, so in terms of status this would not be an unreasonable request, and she is also still in t Sky City. Going to t Sky City for the sake of buying back Flowing me Oriole ispletely logical, and we probably won¡¯t need to pay nearly as high of a price.¡±

    Diplomacy was just an artful form of lying. Telling a good lie and deceiving the opponent required flexibility and lots of preparation.

    Purple Forest Stream¡¯s abilities in this regard were quite decent.

    Unexpectedly, Scattered Moon Mist sighed as she replied, ¡°That is a good proposal, but unfortunately it¡¯s impossible.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Purple Forest Stream was stunned.

    ¡°Yesterday, Flowing me Oriole¡¯s divine seal disappeared. She has returned to the Mother Goddess.¡±

    ¡°She died?¡± Purple Forest Stream was taken aback by this turn of events.

    Neither Su Chen nor Zhu Chenhuan were aware that Flowing me Oriole had a linkedntern in the Harpies¡¯ religious hall. The Harpies had known of her demise as soon as she had died.

    Thankfully, Su Chen had given up on turning into Flowing me Oriole. Otherwise, he would have been seen through immediately.

    Flowing me Oriole¡¯s death left Purple Forest Stream in an awkward predicament yet again.

    Purple Forest Stream paced back and forth a few more times as he thought aloud. ¡°If we can¡¯t use Flowing me Oriole as an excuse, then we need to find a new one. I just don¡¯t know if there are any more important survivors there......¡±

    At that moment, a Harpy reported in from outside. ¡°Head Ambassador?¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°More news hase from t Sky City.¡±

    ¡°What news?¡±

    ¡°They want to buy more Harpy captives to experiment upon. Should we stop them from doing so?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± both Purple Forest Stream and Scattered Moon Mist yelled simultaneously.

    In the face of a political necessity, allmoners became expendable fodder!

 Sect - Book 5, 53: Raven King

    Chapter 53: Raven King

    The process of procuring the captives went extremely smoothly. They got arge number of captives for quite cheap, and there were even quite a few high-tier Arcana Masters.

    This time, they were good both in terms of quality and quantity.

    Both Su Chen and Zhu Chenhuan were delighted by this oue.

    It wasn¡¯t because they managed to save some money, but because they knew that the Harpies had made a move.

    Since they had managed to predict the Harpies¡¯ movements, then they had control of the tempo. This was like two yers facing off in mahjong, with one yer believing that they were doing a good job of hiding their tiles without realizing that there was a mirror right behind him.

    ¡°We got sixty captives this time, including three Harpy nobles. It¡¯s quite apparent that the Harpies are going for broke for the sake of this broodmother and have added fuel to the mes of their own volition. The benefit of buying such arge group of captives for such a cheap price is that we can also interrogate them and find any human spies who have sold themselves over to the Harpies,¡± Zhu Chenhuan said.

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°This is indeed a very good thing, but we can¡¯t deal with those spies yet in case they go on alert.¡±

    ¡°Of course. These people are now under the Zhu n¡¯s control,¡± Zhu Chenhuan said with a smile.

    ¡°Then good. Once the captives arrive, notify me.¡±

    ¡°Of course. However, Su Chen, I would still prefer for you to leave the transmission of information to those Harpy prisoners.¡±

    ¡°I understand what you are thinking, but it¡¯s better to be too prepared, right?¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    Even if the diplomatic party was able to make it to t Sky City, they might not be able to find the location of the broodmother. After all, the matter had been decided with Flowing me Oriole on the spot. The Harpies had not decided in advance where to hide the broodmother, after all.

    Now, Flowing me Oriole was dead, and no one knew exactly where the broodmother was being kept. The diplomatic party at most knew that the broodmother was below t Sky City near the Moonstone Mine, but what part of the mine or what realm it was in was totally unknown.

    If they found it, then everything was fine, but if they couldn¡¯t, someone would need to point out the right direction to them.

    That was what these Harpy captives were for.

    What kind of reminders or pointers would they give? That depended on Su Chen.

    There were probably many Harpies who would be easily able to identify Su Chen, but Harpy captives wouldn¡¯t have that ability. Even if they did have the ability to do so, their treatment as prisoners would make it impossible for them to identify him.

    Zhu Chenhuan¡¯s n posed the least amount of risk to Su Chen. If everything went as nned, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t even need to go to the Sky Country to resolve the situation.

    However, Zhu Chenhuan had managed to anticipate the Harpies¡¯ moves, but not Su Chen¡¯s.

    Yes, this n was very safe, but it also greatly decreased the need to improve Su Chen¡¯s camouge ability.

    Please, this is to improve my strength, okay?

    You might be able to settle everything with a good n and even avoid having to improve my disguise abilities, saving yourself from money. But what you are trying to save on is exactly what I want!

    The side making the investment would always do everything in their power to lower the cost of their investment, while they side being invested in would always do everything in their power to raise it, regardless of whether it was necessary or not.

    This was always the case, no matter how good the rtions were between the two parties.

    This was called selfishness.

    In a broader sense, Su Chen did have the need to participate on his own.

    It had to be said that arming and housing an individual differed from race to race. What was suitable for the Harpies was not always suitable for humans.

    For instance, Harpies had wings, so they could all fly. As a result, even though the Harpies possessed the floating pces, they basically had no small-scale flight objects. Cloud-Piercing Shuttles were incredibly rare amongst the Harpies because there was no need for them. The floating forts were entirely built to live in and to serve as weapons. There was no need for them to have small flying weapons either. As a result, there was no ce to dock a Cloud-Piercing Shuttle, and many other amenities would becking as well. On the other hand, a Cloud-Piercing Shuttle dock was an absolute necessity for anyrger human fort.

    In addition, because Harpies were the inheritors of Ancient Arcana Techniques, their weapons and equipment were often activated through the use of these Arcana Techniques.

    Once the floating fort reached the specifications required by the Harpies, even if Su Chen was able to take control of it and use it, it would likely feel quite foreign to him. If he was able to utilize even eighty percent of its strength, that would already be quite impressive.

    For this reason, Su Chen hoped to be able to redirect the development of the floating fort to some degree, at least so that he could make it easier to renovate in the future.

    Zhu Chenhuan preferred for the captives to be the ones to deliver news of the broodmother, but Su Chen insisted on making the decision himself.

    If the circumstances allowed it, he would do his best to assimte with the Harpies.

    Zhu Chenhuan could only say, ¡°My good friend has already agreed to my request and is on his way. Actually, I am not unwilling to promise him some benefits, but Su Chen, you should understand how humans are. The more ability they have, the more they want to unt it and show it off, especially if it is extremely powerful. He can indeed improve your camouge abilities so that you can trick even the eyes of the Harpies¡¯ Arcana Masters, but that doesn¡¯t mean you will never be discovered. There will always be some methods that surpass your predictions, and there will always be some mishaps that you cannot anticipate. If you are eager to give your new abilities a try, you will be more inclined to take risks and put yourself in danger. That¡¯s what I¡¯m the most worried about.¡±

    The old man¡¯s thought process was obviously more mature than Su Chen¡¯s.

    He really cared for Su Chen¡¯s safety, not the small benefits he would need to pay.

    And his words did carry some truth to them.

    If a person obtained some ability, getting him to keep it a secret was indeed quite difficult. As soon as Su Chen disguised himself, he would be entering a world full of hidden danger.

    That was exactly what Zhu Chenhuan feared.

    Su Chen understood what he was saying and nodded. ¡°I understand. I will do my best to be careful.¡±

    ¡°I hope so,¡± Zhu Chenhuan sighed.

    He knew that Su Chen was only responding perfunctorily, but there was nothing he could do about it.

    A young man¡¯s desire to take risks always made older people worried. Zhu Chenhuan thought to himself that he was probably like this when he was younger as well.

    The Harpies¡¯ diplomatic party arrived at t Sky City seven dayster.

    Their first day there, they immediately sent the Zhu n a greeting.

    Neither Zhu Chenhuan nor Su Chen appeared. Zhu Yunyan was the one sent to greet them.

    After sending away the guests, Zhu Yunyan came back to see Zhu Chenhuan and found Su Chen sitting there, talking with the old Ancestor.

    Zhu Yunyan chuckled, ¡°You two seem pretty rxed. I had to pretend to take them seriously out there.¡±

    ¡°How did it go?¡± Zhu Chenhuan asked.

    ¡°As expected. They came supposedly to apologize for what happened before and imed that Flowing me Oriole was acting on her own. At the same time, they hoped that we would be generous enough to spare some of the Harpy captives...... but they¡¯re actually looking for the broodmother.¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°I¡¯d imagine they didn¡¯t offer much of a price.¡±

    Zhu Yunyan chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re right.¡±

    Saving the captives was just a pretense, an excuse they hade prepared with. Before they found the broodmother, negotiations would definitely continue. As such, there was no way Purple Forest Stream would start with a high price. Otherwise, once the Zhu n agreed, what reason would they have to remain? Then they would just take a shower and go home to sleep.

    Strictly speaking, there wasn¡¯t actually a w with the Harpies¡¯ n. Their only mistake was that the broodmother¡¯s existence had already been revealed, so no matter how secretive they tried to make their movements, it was impossible for them to trick the other party.

    Sometimes, even the best n couldn¡¯t beat something already being leaked. The situation wasn¡¯t fair in the beginning, and the Harpies¡¯ failure was, in some sense, inevitable.

    To Su Chen and Zhu Chenhuan, the real battle came after.

    But before then, the moment Su Chen had been waiting for for a long time had arrived.

    Zhu Chenhuan had sent Zhu Xianyao to call him.

    As soon as he came to Zhu Chenhuan¡¯s room, he saw a bald old man sitting inside the room with Zhu Chenhuan. That old man was quite short, and his beard was exceptionally long. Surprisingly, his left hand was extremely small despite the fact that his left arm was normal-sized. The hand looked like that of a child¡¯s, tender and delicate.

    Su Chen was stunned when he saw this hand.

    Once a person reached the Light Shaking Realm, almost every kind of deformity could be cured. As a result, for such a strong individual to possess this kind of deformity meant that there was some kind of inconceivable strength hidden behind it.

    This was not a possibility - it was a certainty!

    When he saw Su Chen appear, Zhu Chenhuan didn¡¯t waste time talking. He said, ¡°This is Old Feng, the person I invited. You still haven¡¯t greeted him yet?¡±

    Su Chen hurriedly bowed in greeting. ¡°Su Chen greets Old Feng!¡±

    Then, as he nced at Feng Anya, he said, ¡°Your surname is Feng. Do you have a rtionship with Box Canyon City?¡±

    Feng Anya replied calmly, ¡°Feng Zhuying is my nephew, if he still considers me his Second Uncle.¡±

    Su Chen immediately understood.

    Feng Zhuying was the current emperor of Great Wind Country.

    Su Chen had heard before that a coup had taken ce in Great Wind Country. The Feng n¡¯s Second Elder tried to seize the crown but failed. However, he did not die and escaped to some other country. It seemed that this was the Feng Anya before him.

    When he realized this, Su Chen hurriedly said, ¡°Greetings, Raven King!¡±

    Feng Anya was named Raven King not merely because there was a character for ¡°Raven¡± in his name but also because of his innate skill. His bloodline was the Violent Raven, after all.

    The Deste Beast Bloodline of Great Wind Country was Windbite. Like Luo You and its control of water, Windbite possessed an innate control of wind. Once a person cultivated the bloodline to its fullest extent, they could form an image of the Deste Beast, which possessed incredible might and power.

    Su Chen had specifically brought up this name in order to tter Feng Anya a bit.

    Unexpectedly, Feng Anya shook his head and said, ¡°You don¡¯t need to mention the name Raven King. Once I managed to cultivate to the point where I could form the Violent Raven, I thought I was invincible and challenged Feng Zhuying. I never expected that he had managed to form the Violent Giant and smashed my Violent Raven to pieces. He didn¡¯t kill me, but only chased me out of the country. From that point onwards, the name ¡®Raven King¡¯ would no longer apply to me.¡±

    Su Chen was stunned. ¡°Could it be.....¡±

    ¡°Yes. Up until now, I have never been able to reform my Violent Raven. Feng Zhuying ced a bloodline seal in my body so that I will never be able to reawaken the power hidden in my bloodline. This is also the reason I havee all this way...... Su Chen, you are the Worldly Sage and the person responsible for developing the bloodline-less cultivation techniques. You are very proficient in medicines and curses. If you can help me nullify this seal, I will solve your problem for you to the full extent of my ability.¡±

    When he heard this, Su Chen¡¯s initial thought was, Damn, seems like I¡¯m going to have to foot the bill for this one.

    Zhu Chenhuan seemed simrly surprised.

    Obviously, he was unaware of Feng Anya¡¯s thoughts as well.

    No wonder the brat had agreed so readily and hadn¡¯t even asked for a price. He had been waiting to make a request of Su Chen all along!

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 54: Violent Wing

    Chapter 54: Violent Wing

    Feng Anyay on a bed in the research workstation as Su Chen carefully inspected his body.

    With the help of the microscopic eye, the secrets of Feng Anya¡¯s body wereid bare. Because he waspletely cooperating, the profound secrets of the Thought Manifestation Realm were also subject to Su Chen¡¯s scrutinization.

    This was a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator!

    Su Chen was still in the Light Shaking Realm, and because he had been so busy doing research that he had no time to cultivate, at this point he still only had three Lotus tforms. Of course, he could directly absorb Origin Energy with the help of his microscopic eye, so his cultivation speed was quite fast if he wanted it to be. However, he was still miles away from even considering reaching the Thought Manifestation Realm.

    Now, a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator had voluntarily ced himself in front of Su Chen. This was an incredible opportunity for Su Chen.

    In that moment, a thought suddenly surfaced in his head. As his reputation be more and more widespread, there would probably be more and more people who would seek him out, even though the troubles would also increase. Perhaps in the future, he would no longer need to use captives as research subjects, as there would be countless people willing to volunteer themselves to do research on them.

    This was the case with Feng Anya.

    Obviously, this was the best kind of arrangement.

    Feng Anya was a bit anxious when he saw Su Chen looking at him silently. ¡°How is it?¡±

    Su Chen was the best authority on medicines and bloodlines that he could find. If even Su Chen said that it was impossible, then Feng Anya waspletely without hope.

    He saw Su Chen shake his head and sigh.

    Feng Anya felt his heart grow cold.

    So it was impossible for the Worldly Sage?

    Su Chen said, ¡°Truly the work of an Ultimate Emperor Realm expert. Even though this seal is only one stroke, it is better than a seal made with ten thousand strokes. There are an incredible number of profound truths contained inside. I feel as if my horizons have been greatly broadened.¡±

    Feng Anya was taken aback. ¡°That¡¯s why you shook your head?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Su Chen continued to sigh as he shook his head. ¡°It really is too beautiful.¡±

    Feng Anya almost spat out a mouthful of blood. ¡°So can you cure it or not?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I should be able to. It will probably take some time, though.¡±

    Feng Anya was exuberant. ¡°I¡¯ve waited for this day for sixty years. So what if I have to wait a few more?¡±

    ¡°A few more years?¡± a strange expression appeared on Su Chen¡¯s face. ¡°I was thinking more like three days.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Feng Anya froze as he stared at Su Chen in disbelief.

    Three days!?

    I have been searching for a solution to this problem for a few decades, but you can resolve it in three days?

    Su Chen could tell what he was thinking and said indifferently, ¡°If you have the right skills, the process bes very fast.¡±

    Feng Zhuying¡¯s seal was indeed incredibly exquisite, but its intricacy was not enough to confuse Su Chen¡¯s microscopic eyes. Su Chen¡¯s greatest advantage was that he could clearly see the makeup of this seal. Most people would need to approach this problem on a macroscopic level, like a blind person trying to navigate a maze. It would be difficult for them to make even a little progress, let alone see the whole picture.

    Su Chen, however, was looking down from a high vantage point. He could see the entire maze, and even the mostplicated twists and turns wouldn¡¯t deceive him. When paired with the powerful calction abilities of the consciousness crystal, this seal was really something that Su Chen could easily deal with.

    In fact, Su Chen probably would have only needed an hour to fully resolve it.

    He had said three days, but that was just because he wanted to inspect the old man for free - even though he wasn¡¯t at the Spirit Burning Realm, he had already managed to resolve most of the big problems preventing him from reaching the Spirit Burning Realm. Making a breakthrough would happen sooner orter, so there was nothing wrong with him wanting to take a look at the Thought Manifestation Realm.

    Three days flew by. Su Chen was able to gain a full understanding of Feng Anya¡¯s body, both inside and out. He had obviously spent much time analyzing Feng Anya¡¯s bloodline and had drawn many vials of blood as well before he finally helped Feng Anya take care of the seal.

    When the seal was nullified, Feng Anya couldn¡¯t contain the excitement in his heart. He tilted his head back and howled joyfully as a violent aura suddenly began to emanate from his body.

    Then, Su Chen watched as a massive ck raven appeared behind Feng Anya¡¯s back. It charged into the air and right through the roof, not damaging it in the slightest. Once it had appeared in the sky, it took on physical substance. At the same time that the ck raven came into existence, Feng Anya¡¯s body began to fade into nothingness.

    Once he hadpletely disappeared, the massive raven took flight in the air as it howled, ¡°I, Feng Anya, have returned! Hahahaha!¡±

    The raven¡¯s voice boomed and resounded in all directions so that everyone in the city could hear.

    An instantter, however, a blood-colored fox paw mmed into the raven¡¯s head as it said, ¡°Stop yelling, you idiot! Are you trying to scare everyone in the city to death? Go back to your actual body!¡±

    Feng Anya also knew that he had forgotten himself somewhat amidst his excitement. He called out one more time to the sky before turning illusory again and reappearing in Su Chen¡¯s room. He bowed deeply to Su Chen and said, ¡°Many thanks, Prince Su, for your assistance!¡±

    Given his status as a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator, this bow to Su Chen was an indication of just how moved with gratitude he was.

    Zhu Chenhuan had already appeared in Su Chen¡¯s researchb and smacked Feng Anya on the head. ¡°You old rascal, I already told you we were on a secret mission this time. Now that you¡¯ve made such amotion, everyone else will know you are here. How are we supposed to carry out our mission now?¡±

    Feng Anya¡¯s movements had definitely put the Harpies on notice that a Thought Manifestation Realm expert hade to t Sky City.

    Even though they wouldn¡¯t know what he hade for, it was impossible for them to not be suspicious given the circumstances. Having lessplications was always better than having more, but Feng Anya had suddenly stirred up such amotion. How could Zhu Chenhuan not be mad?

    Su Chen was also a bit worried. ¡°How many people know about Old Feng¡¯s tactics?¡±

    Feng Anya scratched his head. ¡°The Deste Beast Windbite has no innate form and can transform as it pleases. So for people to not know about my form-changing abilities is not really a possibility......¡±

    Su Chen and Zhu Chenyuan¡¯s expressions sank simultaneously.

    Dammit! We invited you over to help me fix this problem of my disguise technique, but you managed to expose yourself before you even solved my problem. If the Harpies were to take precaution against the Windbite bloodline¡¯s skills, then Su Chen would have a very hard time deceiving them with his disguises.

    There was no such thing as an invincible technique.

    He Xu¡¯s Thousand Faces Beast Bloodline and the Feng n¡¯s Windbite Bloodline all had their own unique characteristics and unique ways that they could be seen through. Zhu Chenhuan was originally nning on oveying the Windbite Bloodline and Thousand Faces Beast Bloodline together in order to cheat the Harpies, but now it was likely that this n was no longer possible.

    Feng Anya was also stunned. He hadn¡¯t expected the situation to be so serious.

    After thinking for some time, he asked, ¡°Who...... Who exactly are you trying to deceive?¡±

    Zhu Chenhuan had only told him to increase the power of Su Chen¡¯s disguise technique, but had never told him why.

    Zhu Chenhuan rolled his eyes. ¡°Is there still even a point in asking this question?¡±

    Feng Anya rubbed the back of his head. ¡°If I know who the target of your deception is, I still might be able toe up with a solution.¡±

    Su Chen and Zhu Chenhuan nced at each other.

    In the end, it was Su Chen who spoke. ¡°Harpies.¡±

    ¡°Harpies? You want to be a Harpy?¡± Feng Anya was startled.

    ¡°I need to go to Harpy territory to take care of some business, so I will need to assume the status of a Harpy as well.¡±

    Feng Anya stared at Su Chen in disbelief, startled by the youth¡¯s courage. ¡°The Harpies are in t Sky City right now?¡±

    ¡°Yes, they are, and they should know by now that you are here.¡±

    Feng Anya sighed heavily.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, he gritted his teeth and said resolutely, ¡°Fine, consider me unlucky. It¡¯s my fault for losing my self-control anyways. This is for you!¡±

    The image of the massive raven appeared behind him again, but this time it was much smaller, roughly the same size as an average human.

    The Violent Raven gradually took on physical substance, but Feng Anya didn¡¯t disappearpletely this time. His figure, however, had gotten much smaller. Then, he reached behind and pulled hard, ripping the Violeng Raven¡¯s wings off of its back. The Violent Raven arched its back in pain, and even Feng Anya buckled to the ground because of the pain. This Violent Raven was formed from his bloodline and was a part of him, so he would be wounded if it was wounded. The pain from taking off the wings was not light, as it harmed his body, his consciousness, and his Origin Energy source all at the same time.

    ¡°Raven King, what are you doing?¡± Su Chen was stunned by his actions.

    Feng Anya trembled as he handed over the pair of ck wings. ¡°Take them. With these wings, you will be able to assume the identity of a Harpy without fear.¡±

    Zhu Chenhuan was also stunned. ¡°Old Feng, what do you mean? What kind of a skill is this?¡±

    ¡°This is not a skill!¡± Feng Anya growled. ¡°These wings were refined from my bloodline essence. After my bloodline reached the stage of Great Sess and I gained the ability to convert my illusory image into real physical form, these wings became real! The biggest difference between us and the Harpies are these wings. With the wings, no Harpy will be able to tell you are fake because these wings genuinely exist. Even though there are some differences in our internal organs, these differences are small, and they won¡¯t cut open your body to take a look. As long as you take good care of yourself, you can be a genuine Harpy.¡±

    Both Su Chen and Zhu Chenhuan were shocked.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Old Feng......¡±

    Even he was moved by Feng Anya¡¯s actions.

    ¡°Hurry up and take it!¡± Feng Anya growled. ¡°Why are you so emotional? This Violent Ravenes from my bloodline, so I will just create another er. There¡¯s nothing to feel bad about.¡±

    Even though he said as much, everyone knew that forming an illusory image was vastly different from real bloodline morphing.

    Forming illusory images only consumed Origin Energy and bloodline power, while bloodline morphing consumed the bloodline itself. Feng Anya¡¯s actions had decreased the upper limit of his strength, and it would probably take him at least a decade to recover it fully.

    As if he knew that he couldn¡¯t gloss over the situation so easily, Feng Anya ced his Violent Wings into Su Chen¡¯s hand as he said, ¡°I must warn you that only your wings will be real, so they cannot help you fix the problem of appearance. So even if you assume a different appearance, they might still be able to see through your disguise. But as long as those Harpies have never seen your real face before, then they will only think that you are a Harpy from a different nest, not that you are a human.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s already more than enough,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Because he had made adequate preparations beforehand, Su Chen had specifically avoided going to meet the diplomatic envoy so that they would never see Su Chen¡¯s real face. The next step was to figure out a way to sneak in.

 Sect - Book 5, 55: Finished Method

    Chapter 55: Finished Method

    The wings that had just been taken off needed to be immediately attached in order to be effective.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t waste any more time being sentimental. He took off his clothes and wrapped his arms around his back, cutting two holes in his own flesh. Doing surgery on oneself was difficult for most people, but to Origin Qi Schrs it was extremely easy.

    After the Violent Wings were grafted into Su Chen¡¯s back, Su Chen could immediately sense the foreign bloodline power invading his body.

    This was the Deste Beast Windbite¡¯s bloodline power permeating Su Chen.

    Other people may have desperately sought after a Deste Beast Bloodline, forever frustrated knowing that this immense power would never be theirs to possess. However, Su Chen seemed totally ambivalent. The path he walked was one where humans would triumph over every other obstacle by relying on the human bloodline alone. As such, it made sense that he was unwilling to possess a beast¡¯s bloodline. However, he did not refuse either. After all, the Boundless Sect had begun to utilize Aspects almost as soon as it was established.

    Su Chen revolved the Origin Energy in his body to absorb and refine the bloodline power.

    Even though Deste Beast Bloodlines were powerful, they were hard to assimte. Su Chen would have had a hard time doing so under normal circumstances, but Feng Anya, the owner of the bloodline, was providing him assistance.

    When Feng Anya saw Su Chen imnting the Deste Beast Bloodline and tremble, he thought that Su Chen was trying to absorb the power in the bloodline. He knew that it was incredibly difficult for Su Chen, a bloodline-less Light Shaking Realm cultivator, to absorb the Deste Beast Bloodline of a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator. As a result, he took the initiative to help Su Chen suppress the bloodline power and make it easier for Su Chen to absorb it.

    Since he was the source of the Deste Beast Bloodline, it naturally obeyed his will. The overflowing amount of energy surging into Su Chen¡¯s body grew dormant, and Su Chen began to slowly bring it under his own control.

    His Primordial Blood Incarnation hade from him as the source and had never really changed much. Now, however, something was finally different.

    First, Su Chen¡¯s Primordial Blood Aspect surfaced. The thirty-foot-tall figure was overflowing with energy, surprising even Zhu Chenhuan, who was observing off to the side. Even though he knew that Su Chen was an impressive youth, he had only assumed that Su Chen¡¯s brain was powerful and didn¡¯t actually know much about Su Chen¡¯s personal strength. When Su Chen¡¯s Aspect appeared, however, Zhu Chenhuan finally realized that his early analysis was off.

    ¡°What is that? It looks like a bloodline incarnation, but not exactly, and it is hard to make out precisely what it is. I have never seen something like this before,¡± Zhu Chenhuan said in shock.

    A momentter, he watched as a strange vortex of wind began to form next to the incarnation.

    This wind vortex appeared in midair, hiding four peculiar faces that pointed in four different direction. One face was quite simr to that of a human but with exceptionallyrge eyes; one had a nose like that of an elephant and four inverted teeth; one had massive, billowing ears that waved in the air like palm leaves; and one looked like a bloody maw opened wide enough to swallow up the Heaven and earth.

    These four faces made up Windbite¡¯s original appearance. Deste Beast Windbite mainly existed in the form of this vortex surrounding the four faces. Because the four faces were facing in all directions, Windbite possessed the innate ability to detect an attacking from any direction. The four faces emphasized the mouth, the eyes, the nose, and ears separately, allowing it to distinguish taste, sight, smell, and sound with outstanding rity.

    The Windbite Bloodline produced many geniuses with hypersensory abilities as a result.

    However, there weren¡¯t many people who could fully manifest Windbite¡¯s true appearance. Most could only show off Windbite¡¯s multiple forms, turning into all kinds of Violent creatures.

    Unexpectedly, the moment Su Chen obtained Feng Anya¡¯s bloodline, he was immediately able to manifest Windbite¡¯s true form. This surprised both Zhu Chenhuan and Feng Anya greatly.

    However, they could also tell that Su Chen was obviously not mingling his bloodline with Windbite¡¯s bloodline, but rather gathering it into another location in his body. It was because there was no mixture urring that the bloodline image appeared iparably pure. However, whether or not this bloodline would actually be useful was hard to say.

    The Windbite Aspect slowly began to take form as the bloodline power from the Violent Raven¡¯s wings began to take effect. This bloodline essence, which would take Feng Anya at least a decade to recover, was not something that could be substituted with merely a few vials of blood.

    Finally, the Windbite Aspect became fully formed and assumed its ce quietly next to Su Chen¡¯s Primordial Blood Aspect.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Su Chen controlled the Windbite Aspect with his mind and gently pushed it towards his Primordial Blood Aspect.

    In terms of power, the Windbite Aspect was much stronger than Su Chen¡¯s Primordial Blood Aspect, but Su Chen instinctively refused to let a foreign beast¡¯s Aspect take over his body. As such, Su Chen chose the Primordial Blood Aspect to be the main body when he fused the two aspects together.

    Under Su Chen¡¯s direction, the Windbite Aspect merged with the Primordial Blood Aspect. The sinister-looking Windbite Aspect disappeared without a trace, reced by a storm of wind that billowed around the figure of the Primordial Blood Incarnation.

    At this moment, the human-shaped Primordial Blood Incarnation had be the host body, which was now surrounded by violent wind. Even when it wasn¡¯t attacking, Zhu Chenhuan and Feng Anya could sense the power of the violent winds gathered around its figure.

    When Su Chen activated the Primordial Blood Incarnation to its fullest extent, three additional faces would appear on the incarnation¡¯s head. Along with the original head, the four heads could face in all directions, multiplying each others¡¯ strength.

    However, unlike Windbite¡¯s fierce appearance, these faces bore the appearance of a human.

    Once he hadpleted this Aspect, the Violent Wings had been fully assimted into his body. Su Chen could sense the bloodline connection with the wings, as if they were an extension of his arms. With but a thought, the wings on his back disappeared and reappeared extremely naturally. The Primordial Blood Aspect actually furled and unfurled its wings at the same time. This was because this aspect was directly linked to Su Chen himself and developed as he developed. As a result, unless Su Chen intentionally restricted the Primordial Blood Incarnation¡¯s movements, the incarnation would copy him.

    With the wings assimted, Su Chen¡¯s strength soared as well.

    Feng Anya sighed regretfully, ¡°Kid, even though I don¡¯t know what skill you are using, I can sense that the strength decreased when you merged the two together. If you had made Windbite the host body, you probably would have been even stronger.¡±

    Su Chen replied calmly, ¡°Raven King is correct. This is a technique I created called the Life Aspect. It can extract the power of a bloodline tobine the power of a variety of Aspects. It¡¯s not exactly mixing a human bloodline; rather, it is a standalone existence that can break away from the use of a bloodline. However, this human-shaped aspect stems from me. It might not be as powerful as Windbite, but I believe that the human bloodline also possesses unique powers. As a human, only by maintaining the purity of my bloodline will I be able to truly find a way for humans to grow stronger. Windbite...... It might be very powerful, but I can only ept using it to strengthen the human bloodline, not to substitute for it. Not even the Shining Dragon Bloodline would be eptable.¡±

    Feng Anya didn¡¯t know that Su Chen actually did possess the Shining Dragon Bloodline as well, but Feng Anya was quite impressed with Su Chen¡¯s decisiveness in making the Windbite Bloodline subservient to the human bloodline.

    Feng Anya praised, ¡°No wonder you could be the Worldly Sage at such a tender age. You are incredibly intelligent and possess great ambitions. Perhaps you will truly be the one to open the way for the rest of the human race to follow.¡±

    Zhu Chenhuan said, ¡°What do you mean, perhaps? He¡¯s already done it.¡±

    Because of Su Chen¡¯s efforts, more and more up-anding experts had begun to appear amongst the ranks of the human race, and more and more people were bing Origin Qi Schrs.

    This was all naturally because of Su Chen¡¯s bloodline-less cultivation technique, which gave everyone an opportunity.

    Once themoners who had no bloodline obtained the cultivation technique, they would be able to cultivate. Perhaps they would not be as powerful as those from Bloodline Nobility ns, but they were no longermoners regardless and now possessed superhuman abilities. And as more excellent cultivation techniques appeared in the future, it was entirely possible that the system of bloodline inheritance would be phased out in favor of a system where one¡¯s strength was determined by one¡¯s cultivation technique.

    Zhu Chenhuan and the others had merely realized that this was happening in advance. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have tried to seize Su Chen¡¯s technique by force like that either.

    Now, their former enemy had be a family member. Zhu Chenhuan¡¯s opinion on Su Chen¡¯s aplishments had obviously changed.

    That came from the happiness of being a participant, the excitement of being a pioneer.

    Yes, since he couldn¡¯t beat Su Chen, then it was better to join him.

    Once they had decided on the n for the broodmother, the Zhu n had already stepped into Su Chen¡¯s boat. In the future, they would either vanquish foes with Su Chen and aplish something great or be vanquished alongside him.

    But no matter what the oue was, it was a given that the future was full of unknown changes.

    Just when everyone felt that the situation wasn¡¯t exciting enough, information from Cloud Leopard arrived.

    Su Chen smiled when he read the notice.

    He said, ¡°My Instructor haspleted the supplementary Origin Formation necessary for breaking into the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline. The technique has beenpleted.¡±

    Both Zhu Chenhuan and Feng Anya were stunned by this discovery.

    Since the Origin Formation was finished, the barrier to reaching the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline was gone. In other words, anyone could reach the Light Shaking Realm now.

    Zhu Chenhuan said, somewhat trembling, ¡°You aren¡¯t nning on selling this technique basically for free again, right?¡±

    Actually, Su Chen had always charged a modest fee for his techniques, but in Zhu Chenhuan¡¯s eyes this fee was basically nothing.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Not this time.¡±

    If the bloodline-less technique for the Light Shaking Realm were to spread, human society - no, the whole Primordial Continent would be instantly upended.

    Thankfully, Su Chen had no ns to do so this time.

    His agreement with Long Sang Country included a use that he would no longer spread any future bloodline-less techniques carelessly to avoid creating chaos.

    Light Shaking Realm cultivators were the backbone of the human race. If this realm could be reached without a bloodline, the implications would be massive. Countless nobility ns would most likely try to hunt him down if he did so. Even if Su Chen was ambitious, he still needed to take his personal safety into ount. As such, before he became strong enough to be virtually invincible under the heavens, he would honor this promise and wouldn¡¯t spread the technique around carelessly.

    However, not distributing it carelessly didn¡¯t mean he wouldn¡¯t distribute it at all. He wouldn¡¯t publish it publicly, but there was no problem with giving it to the disciples of his own n.

    And the Boundless Sect could use this technique as a great opportunity to expand and increase their strength.

    As such, Su Chen¡¯s first thought was to give it to the Boundless Sect disciples to use.

    Cloud Leopard, Iron Cliff, and the twelve Sword Servants had already reached the peak of the Yang Opening Realm and were waiting on this technique to be finished so that they could begin the ascension process as well.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 56: Iron Cliffâ€™s Breakthrough

    Chapter 56: Iron Cliff¡¯s Breakthrough

    In a secluded piece of wilderness.

    Cloud Leopard was sitting at the bottom of a valley, profound inscriptions surrounding him and glowing as they formed aplicated Origin Formation.

    In the middle of this Origin Formation, Cloud Leopard¡¯s body was glowing with an intense light like arge lightbulb. He was revolving the Origin Energy in his body.

    Behind him stood Su Chen, Zhu Chenhuan, Feng Anya, and the twelve Sword Servants, who were watching on anxiously.

    This was the first time the Origin Formation was officially being tested, which was why Su Chen were anxious. Zhu Chenyuan and Feng Anya were witnessing a miracle take ce before their very eyes.

    They would be the first ones to witness someone without a bloodline break into the Light Shaking Realm.

    Of course, the first person in human history to reach the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline was Su Chen, but the path he had taken was not universally applicable. Cloud Leopard was the first person to officially pass through this process.

    As the formation flickered with light, Cloud Leopard¡¯s Origin Energy surged to its peak. Su Chenmanded, ¡°Start!¡±, and the Origin Formation began to glow intensely.

    Under the pressure of the Origin Formation, Cloud Leopard followed the technique and gathered his Origin Energy, and extremely profound engravings began to appear, slowly assuming the form of a Lotus tform.

    Forming a Lotus tform was the basic manifestation of a Light Shaking Realm cultivator. Once it was finished, the technique would bepleted. As a result, even though Cloud Leopard¡¯s Lotus tform wasn¡¯tpletely finished, Zhu Chenhuan and Feng Anya knew that the technique was truly valid.

    ¡°I never expected that you actually managed to do it,¡± Zhu Chenhuan sighed. ¡°You have managed to create a path that belongs to us humans alone.¡±

    ¡°This is only the beginning,¡± Su Chen said calmly.

    Yes, this was truly only the beginning. The future path was incredibly long, and no one knew what would happen. However, Su Chen believed that this would not be the end of their discoveries.

    At the very least, the Spirit Burning Realm was already within reach.

    As Cloud Leopard¡¯s Lotus tform continued to solidify, Cloud Leopard put the finishing touches on the Lotus tform and epted it into his being. A streak of light burst forth from his body, indicating that Cloud Leopard had officially reached the Light Shaking Realm.

    Cloud Leopard¡¯s sess opened up a new path for everyone present.

    The twelve Sword Servants were next.

    To elerate the process, Su Chen created three more Origin Formations so that the Sword Servants could pass through in three rounds. A total of thirteen Light Shaking Realm cultivators appeared just like that in front of Zhu Chenhuan and Feng Anya, badly surprising them.

    Countless individuals dreamed of reaching the Light Shaking Realm but would never be able to achieve it, yet Su Chen had managed to bestow that realm upon all of his subordinates.

    If this were to continue, the Light Shaking Realm¡¯s value would decrease greatly.

    Thankfully, Su Chen understood their thoughts and said, ¡°My twelve Sword Servants always follow me. You both should know that I am notcking money and give them lots of resources and guide their cultivation. As such, I have a better understanding of them and their cultivation path, which is why I was able to help them seed. There is still a certain chance of failure for most other people.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s Light Shaking Realm technique was not guaranteed to seed. It was more like fifty percent, but because Su Chen understood his subordinates well, he was able to provide them with the proper support to help them seed.

    It would have been fine even if they had seeded. They could just try again after taking some time to recover, but every failure would decrease the chance of sess slightly. It was possible for someone to never reach the Light Shaking Realm if they were unlucky enough.

    ¡°That is already frightening enough,¡± Zhu Chenhuan sighed when he heard Su Chen¡¯s exnation.

    Even those with bloodlines couldn¡¯t guarantee sess when breaking into the Light Shakin Realm. Zhu Chenhuan himself had failed twice when he was trying to ascend.

    In terms of likelihood of sess, Su Chen¡¯s method was not inferior to the bloodlines in the slightest, and there might even be more room for improvement in the future.

    Zhu Chenhuan could easily imagine that the future of humanity would change drastically.

    ¡°It¡¯s not over yet,¡± Su Chen chuckled as he nced at Iron Cliff. ¡°I want to see how well this technique will work on the Stoneskins.¡±

    Iron Cliff sat down in the middle of the formation.

    No Stoneskin had ever reached the Light Shaking Realm before, regardless of whether they possessed a bloodline or not.

    This time, however, Su Chen wanted to turn a Stoneskin into a Light Shaking Realm cultivator. Not only so, but he even wanted to turn Iron Cliff into the first Spirit Burning Realm Stoneskin, the first Thought Manifestation Realm Stoneskin, and even the first Ultimate Emperor Realm Stoneskin.

    This wasn¡¯t a condition Su Chen had agreed to meet for Iron Cliff, but the best reward he could give to the Stoneskin who had followed him loyally for so many years.

    At that moment,rge quantities of Origin Energy began to surge into Iron Cliff¡¯s body. Iron Cliff revolved the Origin Energy entering his body as fast as he could, beginning the process of filling the Lotus tform mold. However, the density of the Origin Energy in Iron Cliff¡¯s body had not reached the level necessary to form the Lotus tform. The light on Iron Cliff¡¯s body seemed to dim and glow, flickering incessantly as if the source of energy was insufficient, while the others were able to maintain a stable light. Even the bystanders could tell that there was a problem with Iron Cliff¡¯s ascension.

    Su Chen had the clearest idea of what was happening due to his microscopic eye. He could tell immediately that Iron Cliff¡¯s Origin Energy was insufficient. He was at the right realm, so there was no problem with his Origin Energy levels; he justcked the ability to fully control it.

    This was one of the deficiencies unique to the Stoneskins. Their crude perception of Origin Energy and their inability to control it effectively made it incredibly difficult for them to advance.

    Even so, Iron Cliff was unwilling to ept it.

    He had always dreamed of breaking through the restrictions inherent to the Stoneskins and create a new path of cultivation.

    Why couldn¡¯t the Stoneskins be more powerful and earn a higher status?

    The Stoneskins should be able to pursue the things that the five Intelligent Races pursue, even if he had to pay his own life as a price.

    When Iron Cliff saw that he had no way of forming his Lotus tform, Iron Cliff yelled, ¡°Master, increase the power of the Origin Formation.¡±

    ¡°Increase the power of the Origin Formation? That might increase the risk and suffering you need to endure,¡± Su Chen said.

    Su Chen knew what it felt like to have a deluge of Origin Energy surge into his body, since he had been baptized at the Origin Energy Temple before. The Ravagers were willing to sacrifice their lives in order to obtain the ability to use Origin Energy, causing their lifespan to decrease as a result.

    Even so, this was indeed the simplest method for races who did not possess as great of an innate control over

    If I cannot control the direction of the stream, then add more water!

    Iron Cliff gritted his teeth and said, ¡°Do it!¡±

    When he heard this, Su Chen nodded. ¡°Good!¡±

    He activated another Origin Formation on the spot.

    The two Origin Formationsbined to double the amount of Origin Energy rushing into Iron Cliff¡¯s body.

    The light on Iron Cliff¡¯s body became noticeably brighter, indicating that this was effective. However, the light was still flickering and unstable.

    Iron Cliff¡¯s expression was beginning to pale. ¡°Master, I remember you said before that Stoneskins have only one-fourth the perception of humans, right? So we need to cultivate four times as long as a human would, and the Light Shaking Realm is a ce that we can never reach.¡±

    Su Chen froze. He had indeed said that before.

    Did Iron Cliff mean to......

    Iron Cliff said with determination, ¡°Open two more Origin Formations!¡±

    Su Chen frowned, ¡°Four times the Origin Energy is too much. If you can¡¯tplete the Lotus tform by then, you might explode from the violent Origin Energy.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll die! I will have died for a good cause anyways, but I hope that Master will give me this opportunity! I don¡¯t want the Stoneskins to never see the dawn of a new era, and I don¡¯t want to be unworthy of following you in the future. If that is my fate, I would rather die here and now,¡± Iron Cliff said without hesitation.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Su Chen stared at Iron Cliff as he realized how determined Iron Cliff was.

    Finally, Su Chen nodded. ¡°Fine. Since that¡¯s the case, I will give you this opportunity.¡±

    As he spoke, he activated the other two Origin Formations as well.

    With the four Origin Formations open simultaneously, a sea of Origin Energy surged into Iron Cliff¡¯s body. He endured the violent, turbulent energy rampaging through his body and hardened his body like iron to wrangle it under his control, crying out in pain in the process.

    You must endure! Calm your mind and form your Lotus tform, quickly!¡± Su Chen¡¯s words pierced through Iron Cliff¡¯s state of mind, reawakening his will. He used all the strength in his body to resist the onught of energy as he directed it towards forming his Lotus tform.

    At this moment, iron Cliff¡¯s body was glowing with a blinding light as a massive, dense Lotus tform began to form on Iron Cliff¡¯s forehead.

    ¡°That big?¡± Cloud Leopard and the others were stunned when they saw this.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that strange. The flow of Origin Energy entering his body right now is four times that of what we needed. In any case, the Stoneskins aren¡¯t suited for precise work, so it¡¯s easier to engrave the Lotus tform if it¡¯s bigger,¡± one of the Sword Servants said.

    ¡°So doesn¡¯t that mean that his cultivation base will be muchrger once he reaches the Light Shaking Realm? He¡¯ll be much more powerful than us even though we are at the same cultivation realm.¡±

    ¡°That is normal. He paid a high price to gain such a solid foundation, so the returns will also be great as well.¡±

    ¡°He needs to pass this test first,¡± someone said anxiously.

    ¡°He will. He definitely will!¡± Cloud Leopard said sincerely.

    ¡°Is that your premonition?¡± someone asked.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s my belief in them,¡± Cloud Leopard replied.

    He believed in Iron Cliff, and he also believed in Su Chen.

    He believed that Su Chen would not stand by and watch his most beloved servant just die like that, even if Iron Cliff¡¯s situation was still extremely dangerous......

    The Lotus tform was slowly taking shape, indicating that Iron Cliff wasn¡¯t having any more trouble exerting enough control over the Origin Energy.

    However, his body was being forced to withstand the brunt of the attack, and his ability to physically endure began to decline.

    His rock-like appearance began to crumble, and his internal organs began to sustain heavy damage under the onught of energy.

    These wounds were not superficial and resulted from the Origin Energy rampaging throughout his body. These wounds could not be recovered by cultivation alone, or at the very least not yet - you could not use the energy that was harming you to heal your wounds at the same time.

    Only when the torrent of Origin Energy had ceased would Iron Cliff be able to use the Origin Energy again. Until then, he would need to silently endure.

    The Lotus tform began to slowly take shape. There were some differences from that of a human¡¯s. It was muchrger and simpler. Iron Cliff¡¯s Stoneskin background put him at an inherent disadvantage when it came to delicate craftsmanship, and his Lotus tform¡¯s simpleness reflected that characteristic.

    However, the copse of his physical body was beginning to elerate.

    It seemed like he was going to give in before the Lotus tform waspleted.

    At that moment, Su Chen suddenly said, ¡°You will not die.¡±

    As he spoke, he sliced open his wrist. Fresh blood sprayed onto Iron Cliff as a strong aura of vitality suddenly burst forth.

    Su Chen had absorbed the power of the Vitality Totem, which had made his lifeforce incredibly powerful. A single drop of his blood contained a nontrivial amount of life energy. When this fresh blood sshed onto iron Cliff, Iron Cliff¡¯s condition immediately stopped degrading as his wounds began to recover.

    With the support of Su Chen¡¯s vitality, Iron Cliff eventually finished forming his Lotus tform.

    ¡°Sess!¡± everyone yelled excitedly at the same time.

    Only Iron Cliff wore an ashen expression, seemingly not happy in the slightest.

    ¡°What is it, Iron Cliff?¡± Su Chen asked him.

    Iron Cliff sighed, ¡°I still failed. Without Master¡¯s support, I would have died already. My sess will not benefit the Stoneskins.¡±

    Su Chen arched an eyebrow. ¡°Who said it won¡¯t benefit the Stoneskins? As long as we concoct a medicine that can increase the lifeforce of a Stoneskin, this technique will be useable by them as well, won¡¯t it?¡±

    Iron Cliff¡¯s eyes lit up.

    ¡°Also, the path of cultivation is constantly advancing and improving. With this sess, I believe that we will also be able to create an Origin Formation suitable for the Stoneskins to use as well. At that point in time, seeding will be easier. In any case, the path of cultivation for the Stoneskins has been opened!¡±

 Sect - Book 5, 57: Finding the Puppe

    Chapter 57: Finding the Puppet

    This day became the day of the Boundless Sect.

    The Boundless Sect obtained twenty-nine Light Shaking Realm cultivators in a single day.

    Yes, not fourteen, because fifteen more people seeded in breaking through back at Ten Thousand Swords Mountain. Because Su Chen wasn¡¯t there to guide them, eight people failed, but they would also soon get another chance to attempt the breakthrough in the future.

    In the following days and months, even more people would break into the Light Shaking Realm.

    Just as Zhu Chenhuan and the others witnessed, once the bloodline-less techniques became widely distributed, the higher cultivation realms became much moremon, thus lowering the overall value of a Light shaking realm cultivator.

    Su Chen¡¯s actions, in some sense, were akin to trying to pull down the lofty existences in the sky back down to the ground. Everything considered noble and untouchable bymoners would suddenly be worth about as much as a cabbage. Anyone in the entire world was now able to walk in the same footsteps.

    It was understandable that some people viewed him with enmity because of this.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t care in the slightest. No matter how much those who were profiting from the current system resisted, they would not be able to deny that Su Chen¡¯s contributions benefited the public. There was no way that he would stop just because of a few short-sighted individuals who bore the brunt of the ¡°birth pangs¡±, so to speak.

    Unfortunately, news that the Boundless Sect had suddenly gained twenty-nine Light Shaking Realm cultivators wouldn¡¯t spread - the Boundless Sect still needed time to build up their strength.

    At the same time, Su Chen received another piece of good news.

    The good news hade from the broodmother. Su Chen had ced one of his bloodline clones there and learned from it that the broodmother had found something that seemed like a puppet.

    The puppet was stashed below the Zhu n¡¯s Stargold Mine.

    Unfortunately, the Harpy diplomatic envoy had no clue where to start looking for the broodmother, and it seemed that they were unaware of the strange realm the broodmother was being kept in. As such, they were merely bumbling around like a fly without a head.

    Even though the Harpies had used all kinds of tactics to conceal their true motive foring to t Sky City, they were fighting an unfair battle. The Zhu n had known from the beginning what the Harpies were looking for, so the Harpies would never be able to deceive their opponents no matter what they did. All of their tactics and posturing looked like child¡¯s y from the Zhu n¡¯s point of view.

    If possible, the Zhu n would have allowed the Harpies to do as they pleased, but they probably would have grown more suspicious. They needed to y along with the Harpies and avoid giving any unnecessary details.

    Scattered Moon Mist was fretting over their inability to find the broodmother, but the Zhu n was worried for them as well. Thankfully, the broodmother wouldn¡¯t finishing devouring the Stargold Mine for some time. Both sides continued to dy.

    This matter was not particrly urgent, and even taking a few months was not an impossibility.

    Zhu Chenhuan began apletely pointless negotiation with Purple Forest Stream, while Su Chen and Patelocke waited for the good news toe their way. In the meantime, they decided to pay the Stargold Mine a visit.

    A worker bee led Su Chen and Patelocke through the tunnel system.

    Once Su Chen realized that these bugs were harvesting resources for the broodmother, he decided to call them worker bees.

    Zhu Chenhuan had directed for the mining going on at the Stargold Mine to stop, so the mineshafts and tunnels were all abandoned. No workers could be seen anywhere. asionally, a golden glitter could be seen in the walls.

    The ores here hadn¡¯t beenpletely mined away yet, and the broodmother was producing new worker bees to excavate all of the Stargold ore.

    ¡°I suddenly thought of something,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°Moonstone ore¡¯s purity isn¡¯t high enough, so it is very hard to refine it. Moonstones are very high quality but few in number, which was why the broodmother relied on the worker bee swarm to mine all of the Moonstone away. However, it wasn¡¯t able to eat all of the Moonstones at once and instead stored them in the strange realm in a pile beneath it. There is much more Stargold Ore inparison, so the broodmother should be able to survive a few years. But we cannot stall out the discussions for a few years, right?¡±

    ¡°That is indeed a problem.¡± Patelocke understood what Su Chen was getting at. ¡°Is there a way to resolve the issue?¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Why do I need to resolve the issue? Our cooperation with the Zhu n has taught me some things. So what if the Stargold ore isn¡¯tpletely being consumed? It doesn¡¯t matter, because it¡¯s not a problem we need to consider. It has nothing to do with us.¡±

    Patelocke was momentarily taken aback before he began tough loudly. ¡°That does make sense. A person with real ability not only knows how to resolve a situation but also knows how to delegate responsibility. Zhu Chenhuan truly is a sly old fox.¡±

    Leave the Harpies¡¯ problems to the Harpies to deal with. Being too careful would often give oneself a pretty unpleasant feeling.

    After working through his thoughts, Su Chen continued to walk through the tunnel system.

    Finally, the worker bee reached the deepest parts of the mine.

    Arge pit had been dug out, and a faint hole could be seen at the very bottom of the pit.

    Su Chen jumped down into the hole and realized that he couldn¡¯t see anything around him.

    He gestured, and a me burst forth from his hand, illuminating his surroundings. He found that he was now in arge void, which was covered in profound, arcane inscriptions.

    The puppet the broodmother had found was supposedly at the end of this cave.

    There was a destroyed throne at the front of the cave with a human-like figure sitting on it.

    The reason Su Chen thought it was a human-like figure and not the puppet was because it was hard to determine exactly what was sitting on the dpidated throne. The puppet sat within a white veil of light, which starkly contrasted with the pitch-ck background. Despite that, however, it continued to shine. The creature behind the barrier looked both human and nonhuman. Its head wasrge and round, and its ears were long and pointy. Its facial features werepletely at odds with each other. In addition, its limbs were incredibly thin and small, making it look exactly like an Arcanist. However, it had four arms, and a sphere was ced right in the center of its chest.

    The light wasing from this sphere, and it was protecting the throne and everything around it.

    Su Chen could sense that the light surrounding the throne was extremely unconventional, forever sealing the figure inside so that time would not cause it to decay.

    It was hard to imagine what kind of power was enough to prevent the passage of time from eroding whatever was behind that veil of light.

    However, perhaps because the entrance to the cave had been opened, the light was rapidly degrading. It seemed like it was going to dissipate soon after.

    Before that, however......

    Su Chen tried to attack the veil of light, but nothing happened. Actually, Su Chen¡¯s attack strengthened the veil of light, causing it to glow brighter.

    ¡°Is that it?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Yes, without a doubt! That¡¯s the transmission puppet!¡± Patelocke said with excitement. ¡°This is one of the most remarkable inventions of the Arcana Kingdom. The unique materials it¡¯s constructed out of allow it to survive in all different kinds of environments. It is able to transmit and receive messages up to ten times as far as current methods allow, and it even possess the ability to defend itself.¡±

    ¡°Its defenses havested for tens of thousands of years without degrading,¡± Su Chen muttered. ¡°Did the Arcana Kingdom develop their skills to that kind of a degree? To the point where they could even convert attacks into energy for the defensive barrier to use?¡±

    Anything that couldst for tens of thousands of years without being destroyed was definitely an incredibly umon existence. What was even rarer was that it was still functioning even now.

    Su Chen had a hard time imagining what kind of skill was necessary to aplish something like this. Even though the Arcana Techniques he was aware of were all brilliant, none of them were exceptional to this degree. It seemed simple, but in reality it was far more extraordinary than anything anyone currently alive could produce. If the Arcana Kingdom was really able to manufacture even their transmission puppets to this kind of standard, Su Chen felt like the Arcana Kingdom should have been able to fight back against even an Origin Beast.

    Patelocke was also taken aback as he realized what kind of talent he was bearing witness to. ¡°This is impossible. No one would ever make a transmission puppet like this because no one has the ability to. How is this possible? How can it exist like this? What is it exactly?¡±

    He stared in shock at the puppet.

    ¡°I feel a lot more at ease hearing you say that, even though I feel a bit regretful.¡± Su Chen gazed at the degrading light screen. He made some quick calctions and said, ¡°It will take roughly half a day before itpletely disappears.¡±

    ¡°What exactly is this thing? Why does it have this behavior?¡± Patelocke asked with great curiosity.

    Unfortunately, the barrier of light couldn¡¯t be destroyed, and it prevented any outside objects from entering. If they tried to force their way in, the barrier would only grow stronger.

    A mountain of treasure was before them but they couldn¡¯t touch it. Patelocke and Su Chen were agitated but could only resign themselves to wait.

    At that moment, Su Chen saw a strange carving at the foot of the throne. It looked like some kind of script, lying right next to the puppet¡¯s dangling hand. If Su Chen hadn¡¯t been paying close attention, he wouldn¡¯t have spotted it.

    ¡°Patelocke, do you know what this is?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s a really ancient form of Arcana script. Even by the time I was born, very few people knew how to read this writtennguage. I only recognize some words,¡± Patelocke said.

    ¡°That¡¯s more than enough. Just tell me what you do recognize, and leave the rest to me.¡±

    Eachnguage had a set of systematic rules it abided by. As long as Su Chen was able to determine those rules, he would be able to decipher the meaning behind the abstruse writings. Of course, this was not an easy task to aplish for most people, as it required incredible mental capacity and analysis to reverse-engineer the fundamental principles of thenguage.

    The consciousness crystal gave Su Chen an exceptional calctive ability. With Patelocke providing the initial groundwork, he provided Su Chen with some clues which he could start with.

    In theory, this kind of calction could be made just by analyzing a single character, but that required too much processing power. Even Su Chen, with his consciousness crystal, wasn¡¯t able to perform that kind ofputation. Luckily, Patelocke recognized more than one character - he actually knew thirty or forty of them.

    These thirty or forty characters served as a great stepping stone for Su Chen, who used these preliminary connections to quickly formte a series of rules for thenguage.

    Very soon, Su Chen was able to decipher the meaning of the words.

    ¡°This is...... the ount of Sbasser...... a transmission puppet. If you evere across it, please pass on my story......¡± Su Chen muttered. ¡°Sbasser? So he has a name.¡±

    Patelocke was also surprised. ¡°And a story? What kind of story could a transmission puppet possibly have?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the interesting part. Do you remember the story you told me before about this transmission puppet?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°The situation seems moreplicated and more interesting than we realized,¡± Su Chen sighed as he scanned the writings on the ground. ¡°This is a sad and tragic tale......¡±

 Sect - Book 5, 58 A Puppetâ€™s Story 1

    Chapter 58 :A Puppet¡¯s Story (1)

    My name is Sbasser. Miss Donna was the one who gave me that name, even though my master didn¡¯t really like it.

    He felt that a puppet didn¡¯t need to have a name.

    Master said that once a puppet was given a name, it would develop an ego, and puppets were not supposed to have egos.

    Oh, right. My master¡¯s name was Christobel Lanceford Easenbrook Hamilton Roger. I called him Master Roger, and Miss Donna was his daughter.

    Master Roger was a businessman specializing in the business of puppets. At the same time, he was a talented puppet inventor.

    Yes, a puppet inventor, not an Arcana Master.

    People had referred to him as a Puppet Arcana Master in the past, but he had angrily refused that title. He said that Arcana Masters sought a deep understanding of the truth, the profound secrets contained in nature, and valued knowledge more than money. Businessmen sought after riches, and knowledge was merely acquired for the sake of making money. Calling him an Arcana Master was equivalent to telling him to give up on money, which was a humiliation to his status as a businessman. Because he, the great Christobel Lanceford Easenbrook Hamilton Roger, had made his goal to be one of the most sessful businessmen across all of the Arcana Kingdom.

    So Master Roger was a businessman before he was an Arcana Master, and thetter was merely a tool he used to aplish this grand goal of his.

    Master Roger¡¯s grand goal brought him no end of troubles, and many Arcana Masters didn¡¯t like him. However, Master Roger¡¯s puppet-creating talent was very impressive, and Arcana Masters were forced to buy from him.

    I was created to be sold, but became a receiver of Miss Donna¡¯s kindness by ident.

    At that point in time, Master Roger was already the most talented puppet businessman in all of Eternal City, making him quite rich. One day, a customermissioned him to make some defensive puppets. The requirements for these puppets were very high, and Master Roger needed to spend all his time and energy on building them. Just as he was finishing up thest defensive puppet, a disaster befell his workshop. A Spirit-Devouring Demon had appeared from out of nowhere and made trouble in Master¡¯s workshop.

    Even though the Spirit-Devouring Demon had been wiped out, Master¡¯s workshop was badly damaged. Twelve of the fifty puppets had been damaged, causing Master no shortage of heartache. I was also destroyed during that process - the Spirit-Devouring Demon had attempted to take refuge inside my metal shell. I was sted to pieces in order to kill it.

    I should have been tossed in the trash after that, but Miss Donna gave me new life. Miss Donna was learning how to construct puppets, and she felt that I was a good opportunity for her to get some practice. As such, she pulled me out of the garbage heap and began to rebuild me. Master Roger scorned her for this, believing that her efforts woulde to naught. Yes, he was always that caustic, even to his own daughter. However, Miss Donna seeded in resurrecting me. Master Roger stole me away from her with delight, believing that he could use me to make back some of the losses he had sustained.

    I could sense the pain in Miss Donna¡¯s heart when he took me away.

    Yes, I became aware at that point. It wasn¡¯t something Miss Donna had told me afterwards, but something that I was able to perceive then. Even though I didn¡¯t know what I meant, I remembered all of it, even if I was just a pile of scrap at that point.

    These were memories, not records.

    Ever since that Spirit-Devouring Demon snuck into my body, I could feel that something new had entered my life.

    Even if I wouldn¡¯t know what that new thing was until muchter.

    Not long after I was taken away by Master Roger, I was sold to the person who hadmissioned the defensive puppets from my Master back then. Then, after transferring owners a few times, I eventually fell in the hands of an Arcana Master known as Inigo and became his bodyguard.

    Inigo was an explorer. He liked to look for hidden treasure. I was brought all over the continent with him as he thoroughly scoured any and all opportunities so that I could protect him.

    I have visited many different ces in my lifetime because of this. I have been through vast, endless deserts; frothing, stormy seas; and frozen wastnds that turned my metallic skin brittle. I was destroyed twice but recovered both times. One day, my master sent me to a chaotic ce in order to investigate the situation there. Once I arrived, I discovered that a Snow Demon was fighting with an extremely violent spirit in order to protect its child.

    The Snow Demon was unable to defeat the violent spirit, but its ferocious counterattack badly wounded the violent spirit and forced it away.

    My master, who had hidden himself away long before this, immediately ordered me to kill the Snow Demon and take away its child when he saw this. He said that the child would be worth lots of money. However, I saw the pleading expression in the Snow Demon¡¯s eyes. I could sense that it was not pleading for itself but for its child.

    I refused the order.

    I don¡¯t know why I did. As a puppet, I should have beenpletely loyal to my master¡¯s orders, but in that moment I suddenly chose to ignore the order.

    I didn¡¯t kill it. Instead, I turned around and left.

    My master was infuriated.

    I was sent back to Master Roger because my ¡°core controller had been damaged, making it impossible for it to obey its master¡¯s orders.¡±

    Yes, I was sent back to Master Roer as a defective product.

    Master Roger opened up my head and rearranged someponents before selling me again.

    This time, I was sold to a ver named Ison. Master Ison had over thirty thousand ves, including humans, Ravagers, Oceanids, Harpies, Craftsmen, Metalskins, Stoneskins, Moonkin, etc. His job was to organize these ves, train them how to work, and then sell them to different Arcana Masters.

    Three monthster, I was returned again because my core controller was defective yet again. I had set free 1,200 captives without a direct order, including one Gu Shuangshan. I heard that hetermandeered Death¡¯s Mountain and became the leader of the human resistance.

    I went back and forth from Master Roger to other clients four times. Each time, it was because my core controller was defective and I had done something that wasn¡¯t beneficial to my masters.

    After the fourth time I was returned, Master Roger lost his faith in me.

    He cursed at me angrily, believing that I would never be fixed, and decided to have me disassembled.

    Miss Donna appeared yet again and took me away. I still remember what she said to me. ¡°I don¡¯t care that it ignores its owner¡¯smands. I like it. It is my first creation, and I like what it did. I think what it did was right.¡±

    Like that, I was returned to Miss Donna¡¯s side.

    Those days were the happiest days of my life.

    I think the emotion I felt then was ¡°joy.¡±

    I stayed by Miss Donna¡¯s side for four years.

    What a wonderful four years.

    I never disobeyed my Master¡¯smands even once.

    Miss Donna was a kind Arcanist. Her heart was always good, and she was willing to take care of others. When she saw tragic things happen, she would cry.

    I would feel sad when Miss Donna cried as well.

    If that feeling can even be described as sadness.

    I wished for Miss Donna to be happy, but most of the time she seemed unhappy.

    She would often hide in a dark corner and cry. Sometimes, she would hug me as she talked to me about what was on her heart.

    Her sorrow was because she was always being ignored, and she was being ignored because she wasn¡¯t pretty enough.

    Yes, she wasn¡¯t pretty enough. To this day I still do not understand what the word ¡°pretty¡± means.

    I have no way of understanding this word. I am an inanimate object. This is something I realized onlyter on, and my inanimate tendencies made it very difficult for me to understand the actions of the Intelligent Races.

    Miss Donna told me that ¡°pretty¡± was a beautiful word. Pretty Intelligent Race individuals would receive the care and affection of other Intelligent Race Individuals.

    I thought that Miss Donna was the prettiest of all. I liked her the most.

    However, Miss Donna never cared for my love.

    She loved Major.

    Major was a young Arcanist with a slender figure and very pale skin. He spoke softly and gracefully. Yes, these were the words Miss Donna used to describe hi.

    She used every beautiful word she knew to try and describe Major¡¯s appearance, but it seemed that Major didn¡¯t really like Miss Donna. He never paid attention to Miss Donna, greatly disappointing her.

    To this day, I still remember when she came back one evening from the Institute all alone.

    She sat in the corner and cried bitterly.

    She hugged me tightly and told me everything she was sad about. That was when I found out that Miss Donna had dressed herself up beautifully and asked Major to dance, but he had rejected her.

    He had done it in front of all her ssmates. He had mocked her and ridiculed her for her delusional thinking.

    This deeply wounded Miss Donna.

    She talked with me for a long time. Even though I was not a recording puppet, I still remember everything that Miss Donna told me that evening.

    She drank a lot of wine that night until she passed out.

    I watched over her the whole night.

    Finally, dawn came.

    A long time after that, Miss Donna awoke with a mncholic expression. From that day onwards, I never saw her smile.

    Thissted for about a year until one day, that smile suddenly reappeared on Miss Donna¡¯s face.

    A smile I had not seen for a long time.

    She hummed to herself happily as she skipped along, her face shining like the sun.

    I hadn¡¯t seen that smile for a long time. As soon as I aw it, I immediately knew that something had happened.

    Soon, I found my answer - Miss Donna never hid anything from me.

    Miss Donna was in love.

    Yes, in love.

    She was in love with Major, the man who had brought her such humiliation and sorrow in the past.

    He had suddenly epted her, causing her life to be filled with happiness.

    I was happy for Miss Donna, even though I felt strangely ufortable about the whole situation. But as long as Miss Donna was happy, I was happy.

    I never imagined that that would be the start of the nightmare.

    She had fallen in love with the devil!

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 59: A Puppetâ€™s Story 2

    Chapter 59: A Puppet¡¯s Story (2)

    Major was a poor Arcanist.

    At the very least, he believed that to be the case. Even though the Arcanists stood atop every other race, even though the poorest Arcanists had ves and were served, Major was not satisfied.

    He wanted more.

    His household could not support his ambitions of bing a powerful Arcana Master. To pursue his dreams, he ced his target on Miss Donna.

    Ever since he got together with Miss Donna, he would constantly request resources from her to support his research.

    Miss Donna satisfied his needs every time out of love, but her reward was only his ever-increasing greed.

    His appetite grew greater and greater, and Miss Donna found it harder and harder to

    Because of this, she was treated terribly.

    At first, he was only verbally abusing her, but eventually he began hitting her.

    The first time I saw the wound on Miss Donna¡¯s face, Mis Donna told me that she had gotten them from falling over.

    Then, I saw as she fell more and more.

    Every time Miss Donna couldn¡¯t satisfy his requirements, he would beat her.

    I really wanted to help Miss Donna, but I was just a puppet. Without my master¡¯smand, I could not do anything. Perhaps I was the only puppet who knew how to disobey orders, but I didn¡¯t want to disobey Miss Donna¡¯s orders.

    As such, I could only quietly watch. As the situation got worse, Major cared less and less. He even began to hit Miss Donna right in her own room.

    Right in front of my face.

    Miss Donna¡¯s father, Sir Roger, didn¡¯t notice this at all.

    He only cared about his business, not his daughter.

    Miss Donna capitted to Major again and again. When she ran out of money, she began to steal her father¡¯s.

    One day, her theft was discovered by her father.

    Her father beat her viciously, then locked her in her room.

    On that day, Major came again.

    Major was incredibly unhappy that his demands were not being met yet again. He cursed loudly at Miss Donna, saying that he was only with an ugly woman like her for the sake of his research on Arcana Techniques and that he had lost so much reputation and so many opportunities, yet she wasn¡¯t helping him at all, what a useless woman - things like that.

    He began to beat and whip her again.

    She begged for mercy, but it was of no use.

    Terrible cuts andcerations covered her body. Perhaps because she could no longer endure it, she called out for me.

    She said, ¡°Sbasse, help me stop him!¡±

    The heavens can vouch for me that I was waiting for this moment.

    I charged forwards and grabbed him, then began to beat him savagely. As a protective puppet, my strength was not something an upstart Arcana Master could handle.

    Even though he tried to fight against me, I managed to destroy his barrier with two punches. My third punch knocked him to the ground.

    Then, I pulled out my sword.

    Yes, at that moment, I wanted to kill him!

    I swear that it was my thought and my thought alone, if puppets have the ability to swear on something.

    However, Miss Donna realized that something was wrong. She yelled, ¡°Stop! Don¡¯t kill him!¡±

    I heard those words.

    I didn¡¯t want to obey.

    But I didn¡¯t want to ignore Miss Donna¡¯smand either, so I chose to slow down my reactions.

    Before themand took effect on me, I pierced my sword into his throat

    Then, I stopped.

    At that moment, I felt incredibly satisfied in my heart.

    I discovered, to my surprise, that this kind of feeling was really nice!

    However, I could not have foreseen the disaster that would befall Miss Donna......

    Miss Donna was arrested.

    An Arcanist had died, and as the master of the puppet that hadmitted the crime, Miss Donna was charged as the chief culprit.

    The crime of murder with intent was pinned on her.

    I wanted very much to tell the court that I had acted on my own, and that my actions had nothing to do with Miss Donna, but I could not speak. I had no way of exining my actions, andter on my ability to move was taken away. I could only sit there silently and watch this all unfold, watch Miss Donna suffer through their merciless interrogation.

    However, this was not what caused me to feel despair.

    I was present in the courtroom because I was being considered the murder weapon. As such, I watched as Master Roger exploded with rage upon discovering that his losses had far exceeded what he had anticipated.

    He could have saved his own daughter, but he was so enraged by her actions that he gave up on spending more money to clear her name. In the end, Miss Donna was sentenced to life imprisonment, and I was tossed in the garbage.

    I don¡¯t know how long Iy in the garbage pile for. All I know is that my body slowly began to corrode. Even so, my mind remained intact. Iy there, staring at the sky and the earth, no longer sure of what my purpose in life was.

    More than one homeless person had picked me up and then thrown me back in.

    They thought that I was not worth fixing, so I could only sit there waiting.

    Waiting for more news toe my way.

    Finally, a Craftsman was the one who gave me a second life.

    His name was Gold.

    I can still clearly hear his shocked cries when he found me. ¡°Look, I found a puppet¡¯s head! Even though it has been destroyed beyond recognition, its internalponents are still operational. I can tell this is a high-quality puppet for sure. If I give it a new body, it will definitely be able to move again. I will make it my most outstanding creation!¡±

    Just like that, Gold became my new owner.

    I obtained new life at his hands.

    Gold was a young Craftsman with lots of creativity. Because hecked rare ingredients, he could only usemon materials to construct a makeshift body for me. I was stuffed with all kinds of junk that he had managed to procure from many different ces, and I looked like I had just been cobbled together. However, Gold also gave me a new ability at that point in time - he gave me the ability to speak.

    Speech was an entirely new challenge for me to face. It took me lots of effort to even speak a single word. However, learning to speak wasn¡¯t the most difficult part for me. I just didn¡¯t know what to say.

    My intelligence was still quite shallow, and my will was very faint.

    Most of the time, I sat there quietly.

    Gold would sit next to me and talk when he wasn¡¯t doing much. He talked much more than Miss Donna did.

    However, I never replied, which greatly disappointed Gold.

    I would often think of Miss Donna when I had nothing else to do.

    I sat on the pile of trash and stared off into the distance, wondering how Miss Donna was doing.

    I had killed Major, and had also destroyed Miss Donna in the process.

    I felt that I needed to take responsibility.

    Now that I had a body and could speak, I felt that I should go and find Miss Donna and tell her everything.

    As such, I decided to leave.

    That evening, I left on my own.

    I went to go look for Miss Donna.

    When I arrived at the prison, I told the guards there that I was the puppet who had killed Major. I wanted them to capture me in return for Miss Donna. The guards howled withughter and said that they didn¡¯t know who had cobbled together a puppet to assume someone else¡¯s sentence. This was the most creative yet most stupid way of trying to save someone that they had ever seen. It would never have seeded, and Miss Donna no longer needed to be saved anyways - she had contracted a serious illness not long before and was close to death.

    She wouldn¡¯t live for much longer, so she was allowed to leave the prison to die at home.

    I didn¡¯t know how I left that ce. I can still remember their cold, unfeelingughter as I departed.

    I felt incredible sorrow and despair.

    When I came to Master Roger¡¯s home, I wanted to go in and see Miss Donna, but I found that Master Roger had married a new wife.

    I snuck into the backyard into Miss Donna¡¯s room. I found her lying on her bed. She was still alive, but death was knocking at her front door.

    I picker her up. She gazed at me, her eyes glittering.

    She said to me, ¡°Is that Sbasse? It must be you. I always knew that you woulde back to find me.¡±

    Even though my appearance had changed greatly, she was still able to identify me in an instant.

    As I embraced her, she said everything that she wanted to say, then died in my arms.

    In that moment, I could sense a beautiful soul flying into the air.

    The ability of the Spirit-Devouring Beast had awakened in that moment.

    That was when I knew that it was the beast that had given me my intellect and my unique set of abilities.

    I put Miss Donna¡¯s soul away so that she would be with me forever. Then, I picked up her corpse and left.

    I didn¡¯t know what I was going to do, but I felt that Miss Donna should not remain in that house any longer.

    I buried her underneath a tree near her house. There was a beautiful view there, and Miss Donna had loved to go there when she was young. As Iid her to rest beside the stream, I could sense the joy in Donna¡¯s soul, which was now in my body.

    Perhaps because of Donna¡¯s soul, my intelligence began to advance at a staggering rate.

    I suddenly wondered why I couldn¡¯t just kill all of those Arcanists who had murdered Donna?

    I didn¡¯t need to fear anything. I was not alive, after all. I was merely a puppet. No matter what I did, they would only believe that there was someone controlling me behind the scenes.

    That was why Donna had died.

    Since that was the case, why not use my actions to demonstrate their error?

    I sprang into motion as soon as the idea surfaced in my head.

    I returned to Master Roger¡¯s house and murdered him and his new wife.

    Even though Master Roger was a powerful Arcana Master, and I was a puppet cobbled together from spare parts, it was for this reason that he was not on guard against me.

    After I killed him, I went to the prison and ughtered the guards there. They were the ones who had allowed Donna to get sick.

    I unleashed a massacre. Because I was a puppet, almost no Arcanists were on guard against me at the beginning. Onlyter did they discover that it was a puppet who was doing all of these things, and they began to rack their brains to try and think of a way to find me and the person controlling me.

    However, I had gotten smarter. I used Master Roger¡¯s equipment to improve myself and alter my appearance.

    Now, I only had one more target to kill.

    The judge presiding over the court had known that Major had abused Miss Donna yet still dered her guilty. He could have spared her, but he insisted on Master Roger paying arge sum of money to do so. When Master Roger refused, he intentionally sentenced her to the prison reserved for ves. It was because that prison was for ves that Miss Donna had been subjected to such cruel, inhumane treatment.

    This bastard must die!

    This time, however, I failed.

 Sect - Book 5, 60: A Puppets Story 3

    Chapter 60: A Puppet¡¯s Story (3)

    The judge¡¯s name was Brazer, a young Arcanist.

    He had a handsome appearance, just like Major, but he was for more poisonous and vicious at heart.

    Rogers¡¯s and the prison guards¡¯ deaths alerted him that these murders might have been rted to Miss Donna, so I basically ran right into a trap.

    I was captured yet again.

    Luckily, I was not seen as an individual acting on it¡¯s own. They thought I was just a murder weapon being wielded by someone else.

    Unfortunately, they were able to find Gold through me.

    I watched as they took Gold away and tormented him.

    That was when I knew that I had harmed yet another master of mine.

    A master who had treated me well died yet again because of my actions. I tried to tell them that I had acted on my own, not under the control of any master, but they didn¡¯t listen to me at all.

    It wasn¡¯t until muchter that I realized that this wasn¡¯t just because they didn¡¯t believe that a puppet could act without instructions. Rather, they would never try a puppet in court as a murderer.

    Puppets were puppets. They needed to be controlled by someone!

    Even if that wasn¡¯t actually the case.

    In their eyes, I was merely a weapon.

    As the murder weapon, it was only natural that I was ted to be destroyed.

    This time, however, I waspletely destroyed, body and head included.

    However, I still did not die.

    I felt like I was floating into the sky, along with Donna¡¯s soul.

    No one could see us.

    I flew and flew for an unknown period of time until I found a puppet.

    That puppet was a transmission puppet. It had four arms and a bunch ofponents with functions foreign to me. It looked very ugly.

    Yes, ugly. At this point in time, I knew what the word ugly meant.

    I understood what it meant to be ugly on the outside and what it meant to be ugly on the inside.

    After going through all of these experiences, I began to understand what being intelligent meant.

    Being intelligent meant be selfish!

    Being intelligent meant being ambitious!

    Being intelligent meant being greedy!

    Intelligence was thebination of every kind of mood!

    My current mood was madness.

    I wanted revenge.

    I wanted to kill those bastards who had killed my masters.

    But I wasn¡¯t strong enough, so I needed to give myself a new body, a body that made it easy to kill.

    I began to learn Arcana Techniques from my new master.

    My new master was also an Arcana Master, but he was not as nice as Donna nor as sincere as Gold. He was full of ambition, and all he thought about was how to find better raw materials. He and Roger were both puppet sellers, but he was more focused on finding rare ingredients to construct new puppets. I followed him all over the continent and grew used to seeing all kinds of evil deeds.

    It was for this reason that I felt no pity.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that I was afraid it would jeopardize my n, I could have used the former methods to harm my new master.

    At the time, however, I needed a stronger body in order to carry out my n.

    I devoted my time to my studies, searching for all kinds of materials I could use to aplish my n. My new master never would have dreamed that I would steal from him.

    One day, my new master brought me to search a new, unknown territory along with a bunch of other Arcana Masters.

    As a transmission puppet, my main responsibility was to detect any dangers that might exist and then notify my master. Perhaps because I had an extraordinary consciousness, my detection abilities far exceeded that of any of my contemporaries.

    For this reason, I discovered an incredibly powerful existence in this area.

    An Origin Beast!

    An Origin Beast that was in hiding.

    I suddenly discovered that my original n didn¡¯t need to be used because I had an even better one.

    I didn¡¯t warn them at all. Instead, I told my new master that there were no dangers here.

    In fact, I even sent that message to Brazer.

    Yes, I informed him that we had discovered an abundant mine filled with boundless riches.

    I knew that he woulde.

    He was greedy, just like all of them.

    They would go crazy over unimed riches like flies buzzing around a piece of rotten meat.

    All I needed to do was quietly watch as they died.

    The n was very sessful. Large numbers of Arcana Masters began to pour in, finding the ores and beginning to mine them relentlessly.

    Unexpectedly, however, the Origin Beast wasn¡¯t awakened.

    It was toorge, sorge that the Arcana Masters were merely like ants crawling across its skin. There was no way that they would be able to awaken it.

    I felt very agitated. If that was the case, then not only would it be impossible for me to aplish my revenge, but I would have benefitted these bastards and made them rich.

    In addition, some of them had also brought along their own investigation puppets as well. Sooner orter, they would also discover the frightening existence asleep beneath them. At that point in time, they would retreat, and my n would have failed.

    If they continued to go deeper, the other detection puppets would also discover the Origin Beast¡¯s existence. I became frantic and decided to go deeper on my own to try and awaken the Origin Beast.

    I arrived at the depths of the mining tunnels. By relying on my powerful perception, I came to the Origin Beast¡¯s head. But no matter how I attacked it, the Origin Beast refused to awaken. This drove me insane.

    I decided to take an even greater risk and began to use my consciousness power to attack the Origin Beast.

    Yes, this was the only method I had at my disposal.

    This Origin Beast was simply too powerful. My physical attacks might not have any effect on it, but the consciousness power attacks might do something. In any case, that was all I could do.

    It was then, however, that Donna suddenly appeared.

    She had always been with me. I had once thought that our consciousnesses had merged, but it was at this moment that I discovered that was not the case.

    She begged me not to go, because that was a path that I could never return from.

    However, I had made up my mind to go down that path. The desire for revenge had burned away all my rationality, and I would pay any price if it meant aplishing my mission.

    Before then, however, I needed to protect Donna.

    I divided a portion of my consciousness and ced her in my body, then activated my consciousness power to its fullest extent as I charged at the Origin Beast.

    The Gold-Devouring Ape.

    How fascinating. It devoured metals, and I devoured spirits. Perhaps this was some kind of fate.

    Shockingly, I seeded.

    I charged right into its consciousness, only to discover that it had already died.

    Yes, it had died a long time ago in its sleep.

    Even though its physical body was incredibly powerful, its consciousness power was quite week. During its long period of sleep, its consciousness had begun to slowly erode away. Finally, it died in its sleep. Incredibly, its body was still alive.

    And I, a body for the Spirit-Devouring Beast, just so happened to be an expert at taking over another creature¡¯s body, even if it was a terrifying Origin Beast. Without its original consciousness, I was still able to live in it.

    The Gold-Devouring Ape was resurrected!

    I emerged from the ground, unleashing the most powerful howl I had ever been able to produce ever since my creation.

    Then, I saw.

    I saw these bastards trembling beneath my feet, saw their terrified expressions.

    Iughed loudly. Myughter boomed like thunder.

    I gazed at their despairing expressions, watching as a small number of Arcana Masters expressed their unwillingness to ept the situation by attacking me. I easily ignored their attacks and swallowed them up, turning them into part of the mountainous rock that made up my body.

    Brazer died. My new master died. All of those greedy Arcana Masters died.

    However, I was still not satisfied.

    I wanted to charge into the Arcana Kingdom and ughter them all until blood flowed like a river to wipe this evil species from the face of the continent.

    I would have done it, too, if it wasn¡¯t for Donna¡¯s words.

    Donna was still alive.

    Of course she was alive. No matter who I killed, I could not possibly kill her.

    She was still in my original body, watching me, pleading with me to spare them.

    She was so kind that, even after everything she had gone through, she was still trying to protect them.

    However, I refused.

    The mes of rage had burned away my rationality. The shreds of intelligence I had remaining were only enough to keep me from harming Donna, not to obey her.

    However, I was unable toplete my journey.

    Because of this continent.

    After I became an Origin Beast, I finally understood why Origin Beasts needed to hibernate.

    Origin Beasts relied on Origin Energy to survive, and the Origin Energy in this world had grown rarer and rarer.

    At this point, it was so thin that it had no way of supporting a massive creature like me. Even standing still, I found it hard to breathe.

    My lungs burned as I gasped for air. My sea of Origin Energy was in turmoil, churning up inside me - a natural reaction to ack of Origin Energy.

    Only by hibernating would I decrease my expenditure of Origin Energy, allowing me to continue living.

    I could sense that, if I continued to try and ughter the Arcanists, I would probably be dragged down by my powerful body.

    What a pity. If I was a bit weaker, I might have been able to hold on for a bit longer, but I was the powerful Gold-Devouring Beast. Ironically, that was what made it impossible for me to hold on in the end.

    Even this single reawakening was a huge blow to my lifespan.

    Even if I went back to sleep, I wouldn¡¯t be able to hold on for much longer.

    Well, since that was the case, then all I could do was sleep.

    That way I would be with Donna.

    I promised Donna that I would not attack the Arcanists, but Donna needed to remain with me. At the same time, even though I wouldn¡¯t kill those Arcanists on my own, I would reawaken to ughter them as soon as they stepped foot in the area.

    My hatred for the Arcanists made it so that I was willing to sacrifice my own life to destroy them!

    Donna agreed.

    However, she was very smart. Even though she agreed, she also sent word to the Arcana Kingdom that there was an Origin Beast buried here, warning them to note. Of course, she didn¡¯t say what had happened in great detail, but made up an borate excuse instead.

    That was also fine.

    This way, no one woulde to disturb me and Donna anymore.

    This way, I could be with Donna.

    Donna would send out a warning from time to time in order to prevent any Arcanists from disturbing us. I imagine that Donna didn¡¯t actually want to protect them, but me. However, Donna never admitted it.

    That didn¡¯t matter. I knew that she loved me, and that was good enough.

    Unfortunately, even so, my body only continued to decline. It wasn¡¯t only because of my reawakening. For Donna¡¯s sake, I never fully went into hibernation. Part of my consciousness was always awake, and I would often talk with her because I didn¡¯t want her to be lonely. This came at the detriment of my physical body and only increased my consumption of energy.

    It was impossible for me to survive for much longer.

    One day, the Gold-Devouring Ape¡¯s Origin Energy stores ran out.

    I knew that this body was about to die.

    I had no fear of death, but I didn¡¯t want to watch Donna die just like that.

    I wanted to do onest thing for her.

    I gathered what strength I had left and sent it into the core of the puppet that Donna was living in to create a protective barrier. Using the power of an Origin Beast to protect a puppet was probably enough tost tens of thousands of years.

    However, I was mistaken yet again. Donna did not want to live a lonely, isted life like this.

    When she saw me give up, she also chose to give up.

    Our consciousnesses merged at thest second.

    I suppose this is a fitting end after all.

 Sect - Book 5, 61: Essence

    Chapter 61: Essence

    ¡°Whew!¡± Su Chen let out a long sigh. ¡°This is their story.¡±

    ¡°I never would have expected the situation to be like this. How unimaginable, how unimaginable!¡± Patelocke said, deeply moved.

    Messages were only messages, after all. No one could have anticipated that such a story was hidden behind the awakening of an Origin Beast.

    The first artificial intelligence had actually been created under these kinds of circumstances, but had also disappeared without a trace. Su Chen and Patelocke were both rendered speechless.

    The secret of how the puppet had managed to preserve itself until now had also been resolved. So it wasn¡¯t some kind of incredible invention, but the dregs of an Origin Beast¡¯s power.

    This Origin Beast had been so powerful that even its dying breath was enough to protect this puppet for tens of thousands of years, ensuring that time would not corrode it for tens of thousands of years.

    It was obvious that the puppet was trying to ensure that its story would be passed on to future generations. Su Chen¡¯s discovery had made it so that Sbasse¡¯s actions had not been in vain.

    The defensive barrier was gradually weakening, and eventually the screen of light had disappearedpletely, leaving behind the transmission puppet.

    Because time had not eroded away the puppet, it still appeared brand new. Of course, the Origin Beast had not awakened because of its skin being mined away. That was merely a lie Donna had made up.

    ¡°It seems to suit you quite well,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°That it does!¡± Patelocke was extremely excited.

    How could it not suit him?

    This puppet was able to be controlled by two consciousnesses at the same time. Its body had already been altered for this purpose, making it a perfect dwelling ce for Patelocke. The transfer process might not have been as smooth even for an ancient puppeting from Patelocke¡¯s era.

    A momentter, Patelocke had immersed himself in the puppet. The puppet began to stand as its joints ttered mechanically. The entire process was extremely simple.

    ¡°Haha, I finally have my own body!¡± Patelocke yelled loudly. ¡°How interesting! I can actually feel some lifeforce in this body.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps that¡¯s a misperception, or perhaps it¡¯s the final gift Sbasse left behind for this body. Who knows,¡± Su Chen said as he shrugged.

    ¡°You¡¯re not nning on researching it?¡± Patelocke was stunned.

    With Su Chen¡¯s personality, it wouldn¡¯t have been surprising if he had suggested cutting up Patelocke into pieces to get a better look at him.

    ¡°It¡¯s your body now. I will never do anything to any of my subordinates. Of course, if you are willing to volunteer yourself, that¡¯s a different matter entirely,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°I like your principles.¡± Patelocke rubbed his chin in thought for a moment. ¡°If you don¡¯t harm my body, I can let you use it, with certain limitations. As long as I am given the right kind ofpensation, I can give you more control over my body as well.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Thatst sentence is the most important, isn¡¯t it? What kind ofpensation do you want?¡±

    ¡°A lot of different things. I am still an Arcana Master, after all, and I have my own research interests. Your research interests don¡¯t necessarily ovep with mine,¡± Patelocke said.

    With a physical body, Patelocke was free to do as he pleased.

    Su Chen could do research, and Patelocke could as well.

    Su Chen weed this idea.

    The path of research was not something a single person could do. The bloodline-less techniques were the result of Shi Kaihuang and Su Chen¡¯s joint efforts. It was just that su Chen was the one who had received all the glory. Having an extra Patelocke was naturally a good thing.

    ¡°Unfortunately, the story doesn¡¯t tell us where the Lightless Ring is,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s not a problem,¡± Patelocke said. ¡°Actually, I know where it is.¡±

    As he spoke, he raised his hand and smashed the throne behind him into pieces. A in-looking ring appeared before Su Chen¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°This is the Lightless Ring?¡± Su Chen was stunned.

    The ring seemed quite unremarkable and in. The name of Lightless Ring, in that sense, was quite fitting.

    There were a number of other items behind the throne as well that Su Chen couldn¡¯t identify. Patelocke, on the other hand, was able to do so at a single nce. ¡°Kambada¡¯s Mechanical Shell, Lunbng¡¯s Gtinous Organism Essence, Fidel¡¯s gear, Fiyana¡¯s Consciousness Core, and Biha¡¯s Water Crystal and Energy Hub. There¡¯s quite a few valuable items here, but they are all used to construct puppets. Including the Lightless Ring that belonged to the Puppet in the first ce, it appears that these were the items it had gathered to create its new body.

    Sbasse had wanted to create a new body for himself, but the discovery of the Origin Beast had caused him to give up on this n.

    The items stored inside the throne were probably all the materials he had managed to gather.

    Even though Sbasse didn¡¯t belong to the Intelligent Race, he had be selfish once he gained intelligence. As a result, Sbasse hadn¡¯t tossed out these items. Instead, he had ced them inside a throne along with the Lightless Ring as a kind of memorial.

    This was to Su Chen¡¯s benefit. Because of the light barrier, these items had been untouched by time as well and could absolutely be used.

    However, the truly shocking discovery was yet toe.

    ¡°Heavens! This is the essence of an Origin Beast!¡± Patelocke suddenly began to yell.

    He lifted up a fist-sized golden crystal. It glowed in Patelocke¡¯s hand, its form simr to that of a water droplet.

    The essence of an Origin Beast was actually a fragment of its Origin Crystal. An Origin Beast¡¯s Origin Crystal was too powerful, so it usually could not remain in existence for too long. Most of it would dissipate back into nature, but a small fragment could be left behind. That fragment made up the essence of an Origin Beast.

    Gu Youhuang¡¯s extraction of the Shining Dragon Bloodline was actually due to the Origin Beast¡¯s blood essence that was mixed inside this crystal fragment. Otherwise, the Shining Dragon bloodline wouldn¡¯t have been nearly as powerful as it was.

    However, the essence took priority. The bloodline was secondary.

    The fragment before them was actually quiterge. It was very likely something that Sbasse had left behind before he died. This essence had been buried beneath the throne just like all the other items, causing it to be protected from the passage of time.

    Sbasse never mentioned that he was going to leave behind these items and his own essence in this ce. It wasn¡¯t clear what his state of mind at that point in time was, but regardless, this benefitted Su Chen and Patelocke.

    ¡°We¡¯ve struck it rich this time!¡± Patelocke guffawed loudly.

    ¡°Yes, but it seems like we cannot use it for now,¡± Su Chen muttered.

    When an item was too precious, it often seemed far out of reach.

    Of the six treasures that Su Chen had stolen from the Demonic Emperor¡¯s pce, he had never used the Demonic Emperor Origin Crystal, Deste Beast blood, and Thunder Totem, while the Hourss of Time, River Source Grass, and Heavenly Truth Songstone were easily put to use. The Hourss of Time produced Sands of Time, making them useful both as sacrificial items and inbat. The River Source Grass turned the Boundless Sect¡¯s territory into a ce of abundant resources. The Heavenly Truth Songstone was incredibly useful forprehension.

    The Origin Beast Essence was even more valuable than the Deste Beast blood. It would probably take many years before Su Chen could bring himself to use it.

    Patelocke chuckled. ¡°Are you worried that you won¡¯t ever be able to use these good items? You just haven¡¯t ever tried to research them is all.

    That was true. Su Chen had been focused on researching the bloodline-less cultivation techniques, and on the side he would developbat Origin Skills that could be used without a bloodline. Both of these things could be transmitted. Su Chen had done these things because distributing these techniques would him an incrediblyrge sum of money that he could use to continue his research, and also because of his ambition to bring the human race to preeminence.

    The situation he was facing now waspletely different.

    First of all, his research on breaking into the Spirit Burning Realm had gone surprisingly smoothly. Reaching the Spirit Burning Realm was more rted to the consciousness anyways, and Su Chen¡¯s consciousness power was more than sufficient to form the necessary foundation. The task of breaking through wouldn¡¯t be hard for him to aplish as a result, and it was only a matter of time. As long as he released a technique that focused on cultivating consciousness power, like the True Spirit Scripture, and offered a few additional pointers on how to cultivate, someone would have developed a bloodline-less technique for the Spirit Burning Realm without Su Chen even doing anything. This meant that he suddenly had a lot of free time on his hands.

    Even the circumstances surrounding his research were different now. In the past, no one knew who Cloud Bat was, and Su Chen was able to hide behind a mask of anonymity so that trouble had a hard time finding him.

    Now that his identity wasmon knowledge, there were probably many people who would jump at the opportunity to kill him or stop him from doing research. Su Chen desperately needed to increase his own strength. Even though he was already quite powerful, his opponents were stronger than he was. At this point, stockpiling resources was no longer as important as converting the resources he did have into personal strength.

    Also, he was not alone anymore.

    The Boundless Sect stood behind him.

    The Boundless Sect had a vast future ahead of it, but before it reached that point, there were many challenges and hurdle it would need to ovee.

    If Su Chen didn¡¯t want it toe to a premature end, then he needed to quickly increase his personal strength so that he could handle the responsibilities of being the Boundless Sect¡¯s Sect Master.

    With this understanding, it became clear to Su Chen what he needed to do.

    ¡°Well, that is true. All I¡¯m doing right now is waiting for the Harpies, so why not spend some time investigating how to convert these resources into strength while I wait? I won¡¯t repeat the Scarlet Heart¡¯s mistake and leave my treasures somewhere for other people to take,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°That¡¯s more like it,¡± Patelockeughed as he pped. ¡°Some things only depend on whether we want to or not. Obtaining resources is much harder than using them. How can you not know how to use a treasure once you have it? You just aren¡¯t quite willing to part with it is all.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right. Who doesn¡¯t know how to spend money? The important thing is knowing how to spend money. These resources need to be used to sharpen my de,¡± Su Chen said meaningfully.

    ¡°I imagine that you will be able to fight against a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator by the time you burn through all of these resources,¡± Patelocke said.

    Fighting a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator at the Light Shaking Realm was a tremendous feat.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t seem to ce much importance on that.

    His gaze was never fixed on something like this. Su Chen didn¡¯t even put Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators in his eyes, let alone Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators.

    Human life is limited, but knowledge is unlimited.

    Pursuing an unlimited goal with a limited body was quite a fascinating endeavor.

    The beginning was approaching!

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 62: The Chu Clanâ€™s Arrival

    Chapter 62: The Chu n¡¯s Arrival

    After returning to the Zhu n, Su Chen began to thoroughly research the items he had in his possession.

    Just as Patelocke had said, the Lightless Ring was indeed an extremely exceptional Origin Tool. It possessed an incredible affinity for directing Origin Energy, and as a result worked very well with Ancient Arcana Techniques, allowing its user to unleash amplified versions of their techniques.

    Su Chen¡¯s Mountain-Beheading de wasn¡¯t able to amplify the ming Phoenix Theurgy Art much, since weapon skills and magic skills were two wholly separate systems that did not intermix.

    Now, however, when Su Chen used the Lightless Ring to unleash the ming Phoenix, the attack¡¯s power would be boosted significantly. When you factored in the Energy Well technique, the ming Phoenix Theurgy Art¡¯s might basically doubled.

    That was quite an impressive increase in strength. Once a person¡¯s cultivation reached Su Chen¡¯s level, doubling the power of a technique was a monumental task.

    If two people possessed the same offensive, defensive, and agility capabilities, then doubling a person¡¯s offensive capabilities would allow them to finish off their opponent by attacking with merely a little more than half of their full strength. In theory, that doubling made them twice as strong as their opponent.

    If a person¡¯s defensive capabilities, vitality, attack rage, and other attributes also doubled, they would be far more than twice as powerful ¡ª the opponent would be mercilessly steamrolled.

    If the might of his attacks were tripled or even quadrupled, Su Chen would be able to easily sweep the floor with any opponent that had the same cultivation base as him.

    In addition, the other equipment and skills Su Chen possessed already made him many times more powerful than those at the same cultivation realm as him. As for exactly how many times more powerful he was, even Su Chen had a hard time saying. Different Light Shaking Realm cultivators had vastly differing levels of power. The gap between an Origin Beast Bloodline and a Demonic Beast Bloodline was like the difference between Heaven and earth, after all.

    At the very least, Su Chen didn¡¯t think that he needed to fear even an opponent from the Gu n with an awakened Origin Beast Bloodline.

    Unfortunately, no expert was present to spar with him. He felt that it was quite a pity.

    At that moment, however, Su Chen suddenly felt a prickling sensation in his mind. He nced at the sky and chuckled coldly, ¡°I was just wishing for a practice partner to test my skills on, but it seems like one is about to volunteer himself for that role.¡±

    As he spoke, he flew into the sky, leaving the Zhu n behind and quickly approaching a stretch of mountainous wilderness.

    He flew all the way out of t Sky City¡¯s boundaries. Even after reaching the deste mountains, Su Chen continued to fly for an undecided distance before he called out, ¡°Alright, there¡¯s no one around us anymore. We don¡¯t need to worry about someone else interrupting our fight. You don¡¯t need to slink around anymore, right?¡±

    A voice sinisterlyughed in response, ¡°You are very bold, Su Chen. Don¡¯t think that you can do as you please just because you have some Lifesource Candles.¡±

    A figure appeared in front of him.

    This figure was that of a middle-aged man with three long trails of facial hair, giving him the image of an immortal.

    Su Chen frowned when he heard him reference the Lifesource Candles. ¡°So you are from the Chu n!¡±

    Even though he had made an agreement with the Chu n, Su Chen had never believed that they would let him go that easily. However, that agreement had been the only way he would have taken down the notice from the Dreamrealm after leaving Empty Mountain.

    Even though it was still possible that Su Chen had hidden the secret method to controlling the three curses elsewhere, the Chu n had verified that Su Chen had indeed taken down his notice, so the possibility that he had fully upheld his end of the bargain was highly likely. At that point, they wouldn¡¯t have been the Chu n if they didn¡¯t send someone to try and kill Su Chen.

    This had nothing to do with personal enmity; it was all about maintaining control of the situation.

    It was for this reason that the Chu n had sentrge numbers of powerful experts to scour thend for Su Chen¡¯s location.

    The current person before Su Chen¡¯s eyes was definitely one of these individuals sent out by the Chu n.

    Unfortunately, he had been discovered as soon as he found Su Chen. It would have been out of character for Su Chen to not be prepared for this kind of thing.

    As a result, Su Chen immediately gave chase. His target was also quite vignt and had immediately chosen to leave, knowing very well that t Sky City was Su Chen¡¯s territory. It wasn¡¯t until he had flown quite a ways away before he finally stopped to answer Su Chen¡¯s call.

    The attacker replied, ¡°My name is Chu Huailiang. Remember this name, for it will be thest name you hear.¡±

    He was quite decisive and attacked as soon as he finished speaking.

    Since he was here to kill a target, what was the point to talking? He hade up with a n a long time ago. No matter how Su Chen tried to dissuade him, he would not be shaken.

    However, Su Chen¡¯s response surprised him.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t say anything about having backup ns or that he had hidden the solution to the Three Curses somewhere else. Instead, he merely nced deeply at his opponent before disappointedly chastising, ¡°You¡¯re only a Light Shaking Realm cultivator with seven Lotus tforms? Tch, not even at the Spirit Burning Realm.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Chu Huailiang was infuriated.

    His opponent was iming that he was too weak!

    What a humiliating insult!

    Just the fact that he had a Deste Beast Bloodline alone was already enough to put him miles ahead of hispetition, let alone the fact that he was four subrealms more powerful than his opponent.

    He had been able to challenge Spirit Burning Realm cultivators as soon as he had reached three Lotus tforms and had defeated twelve Spirit Burning Realm experts after reaching six Lotus tforms. At seven Lotus tforms, he had managed to defeat three Spirit Burning Realm cultivators who had both opened two Divine Pces. If it were a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator with one Divine Pce, then only those with a Demonic Emperor Bloodline had a chance at defeating him.

    Even so, he had managed to put up a good fight for three days.

    This had all taken ce three years ago. Now, Chu Huailiang had advanced to the peak of the Light Shaking Realm. If he were to meet that Demonic Emperor Bloodline cultivator again, it was hard to say who would emerge victorious.

    Yet Su Chen still dared to scorn him for having too weak of a cultivation base?

    That was simply intolerable to the extreme.

    ¡°Courting death!¡± Chu Huailiang¡¯s expression immediately sank.

    As he spoke, the clouds nearby began to twist and morph as the Origin Energy around them began to gather around Chu Huailiang, making for quite the imposing scene.

    Su Chen felt like he had suddenly been transported into the primordial era as massive waves of pressure bore down on him.

    This dense wave of pressure came from his opponent¡¯s bloodline. Chu Huailian was incensed by Su Chen¡¯s disdain and had fully activated his bloodline immediately. The boundless torrent of energy from this action alone was usually more than enough to tten most Light Shaking Realm cultivators.

    Even so, ¡®most Light Shaking Realm cultivators¡¯ didn¡¯t include Su Chen.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up when he sensed this power.

    ¡°A Deste Beast Bloodline? I¡¯ve finally encountered one. Truly, I have yet to experience the might of an imperial family!¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    Even though he had sparred with Jiang Xishui in the past, that had not been a life-or-death battle, and there were many techniques he had not been able to test.

    Most importantly, both sides had been weak at that time.

    But now, Su Chen was finally able to fully get a feel for the primordial might of a Deste Beast bloodline.

    This was a Deste Beast after all!

    Even though they were weaker than Origin Beasts, they were still powerful enough that the thinning of atmospheric Origin Energy was enough to force them into hibernation. Unlike Origin Beasts, however, which often died in their sleep, many of the ancient Deste Beasts were still alive. This was why the human race was still able to obtain multiple new sources of Deste Beast bloodlines one after the other.

    Finally, Su Chen was about to face off against one such bloodline.

    When he sensed his opponent¡¯s imposing might, Su Chen instinctively replied back by unleashing his own aura as well.

    Unlike Chu Huailiang¡¯s Deste Beast bloodline, Su Chen¡¯s foundational strength was much purer and vaster. It was an ineffable aura that would leave any bystander at a loss for words. It was as if Su Chen were constantly growing in size, but without actually physically changing; this stemmed from the fact that his aura and will were tangibly bing stronger. His rapidly surging vitality further countered Chu Huailiang¡¯s pressure, even overpowering it to some degree.

    ¡°How is this possible?¡± Chu Huailiang was stunned by their initial sh.

    This kind of confrontation didn¡¯t depend merely on their cultivation realm, but also on their vitality. As someone who possessed a Deste Beast Bloodline, Chu Huailiang didn¡¯t believe that anyone couldpete with him with the exception of Gu n members. Even the Demonic Emperor Spirit Burning Realm cultivator that had barely defeated him previously had had an inferior vitality, and had only broken even with him due to his consciousness power being greatly improved by his Divine Pce. It was only by relying on that and a number of secret techniques that his opponent had defeated him.

    Now, however, Su Chen¡¯s vitality seemed to surpass even his. What was going on?

    Could someone without a bloodline really be stronger than someone with one?

    Of course not.

    But after Su Chen absorbed the Vitality Totem, his life force had increased by an unknown amount. In addition, as his cultivation base grew, his lifeforce also continued to grow unceasingly, drawing out the Vitality Totem¡¯s full potential. Chu Huailiang had no idea this was the case, which was why he was so badly startled.

    Su Chen had no intention of exining it to him. He gestured with his right hand, and the Mountain-Beheading de had already begun to surge forwards.

    Even though he possessed the Lightless Ring, Su Chen had not yet discarded the Mountain-Beheading de.

    The de expanded as it swung through the air, descending domineeringly towards Chu Huailiang.

    As it sliced through the air, the de churned up a fierce gust of wind with a dim hum. Chu Huailiang immediately realized that allowing the destrike tond would be disastrous.

    He had no time to be shocked anymore. As he wed out, a short ck de appeared in his hand. As he swung it, a streak of light shot forth from the tip of the de and stopped the Mountain-Beheading de in its tracks. Not only that, but it also knocked the de aside, and then continued to charge at Su Chen with a razor-sharp aura.

    This stab was vicious and unrelenting, sharp enough to tear a hole in space itself as if it were a sheet of fragile silk.

    Su Chen grunted as he watched the stab fly at him. His figure instantly blinked away, disappearing. Whitetower Teleportation had sent him behind Chu Huailiang, giving Su Chen the opportunity to unleash a de sh at him.

    Chu Huailiang, however, seemed to have anticipated this move. A Lotus tform appeared behind him and expanded, stopping Su Chen¡¯s de in its tracks as a bright light began to shine and wash over Su Chen¡¯s head.

    It wasn¡¯t until Su Chen instantly disappeared and reappeared for the second time that Chu Huailiang finally hissed in shock, obviously surprised that Su Chen could teleport in such rapid session.

    The torrent of white light shot past Su Chen, transforming into a long silver river that then turned around and began to chase after Su Chen. Chu Huailiang said, ¡°I knew about your abilities a long time ago, but they¡¯re of no use against someone like me.¡±

    Even though Su Chen¡¯s Whitetower Teleportation was strange and unorthodox, someone at Chu Huailiang¡¯s level could easily sense Su Chen¡¯s movements. Launching an ambush through this method was next to useless.

    Thankfully, Su Chen hadn¡¯t been counting on that. He chuckled and replied, ¡°I just want to see if my former tactics still had any use. Don¡¯t be in such a hurry. I have this move as well.¡±

    He shot a nce at Chu Huailiang.

    In that moment, he used Fata Morgana.

    Chu Huailiang felt his mind suddenly jolt as the clouds around him suddenly began to shift in a mesmerizing pattern. He immediately knew that he had fallen under the influence of an illusion technique. Even though Su Chen¡¯s illusion techniques were also powerful, wanting to trap an expert like Chu Huailiang without them realizing it was exceptionally difficult. Chu Huailiang immediately applied a barrier to himself when he realized what had happened.

    Su Chen¡¯s attack came crashing into him an instantter. However, he had managed to erect the barrier in time. Not only was he not wounded, but the shockwaves from the attack actually released him from Fata Morgana.

    Chu Huailiang chuckled. ¡°Even though your consciousness technique is quite powerful, you cannot take advantage of the target¡¯s immobilization. It¡¯s only good for slightly wearing down your opponent. Its quality is pretty mediocre.¡±

    Su Chen indifferently replied, ¡°I developed this consciousness skill while I was in the Blood Boiling Realm. I¡¯m already happy that it even has an effect on you. Don¡¯t worry; I¡¯ll develop more powerful skills in the future.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t have a future to speak of!¡± Chu Huailiang yelled viciously as he savagely wed at Su Chen.

 Sect - Book 5, 63: Desolate Beast White Fang 1

    Chapter 63: Deste Beast White Fang (1)

    As Chu Hang wed out, an illusory beast image appeared behind Chu Huailiang.

    This beast was covered entirely in pitch-ck fur. A single horn sat square in the middle of its forehead, and its back was covered in sharp spikes. Just the illusory image alone seemed to fill the entire sky, unleashing pressure that hadn¡¯t appeared in this battle until this very moment.

    Deste Beast White Fang!

    As soon as this illusory image appeared, Chu Huailiang seemed to turn into a Deste Beast himself. He begin to howl fiercely, his heart filling with boundless pride and arrogance.

    This w strike easily shattered a nearby mountain. Even a flowing river would be stopped in its tracks when he grabbed at it.

    There was nowhere Su Chen could teleport to avoid the ferocious w, and illusion techniques also wouldn¡¯t help him stop it. Trying to withstand the blow with his physical body waspletely out of the question.

    Su Chen¡¯s lips quirked into a smile. ¡°So you¡¯ve finally brought out the big guns? I don¡¯t think that this is yourst one, though.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s more than enough to kill you!¡±

    The w blotted out the sun as it descended.

    Su Chen held the Lightless Ring in one hand, waving it through air. The piercing cry of a phoenix pierced through the air as a massive ming phoenix took shape almost immediately.

    This phoenix almost seemed like a zing sun. As it soared into the skies, a torrent of mes came pouring out of its beak.

    Chu Huailiang¡¯s w strike was easily nullified by the might of the ming phoenix¡¯s fiery barrage.

    Su Chen¡¯s ming Phoenix had been greatly upgraded after he had absorbed the Demonic Lord¡¯s fire-type Origin Crystal. Now, with the further support of the Lightless Ring, its effects were amplified to even more staggering heights.

    This was Chu Huailiang¡¯s first time witnessing such a shockingly powerful Origin Skill. Most importantly, this Origin Skill was not a bloodline Origin Skill. The appearance of this ming phoenix startled him quite badly. ¡°How is this possible? How can amon Origin Skill possess such power?¡±

    ¡°The hidden potential of humanity is unlimited, but you all rely on foreign bloodlines to vie for glory. That is a path that ultimately leads to destruction. Today, I will show you the true intrinsic power of humanity!¡± As Su Chen yelled, he jabbed forward with a finger, and the ming Phoenix crowed harshly as it blitzed towards Chu Huailiang.

    At the same time, Su Chen shed forth with his Mountain-Beheading de yet again.

    Chu Huailiang had always known that Su Chen was very powerful, but never had he imagined that it was to such an extent. The ming Phoenix and Mountain-Beheading de were both incredibly imposing attacks despite the fact that they were ordinary, non-bloodline techniques. Chu Huailiang would have easily believed it if someone told him that Su Chen also possessed a Deste Beast Bloodline.

    However, Su Chen had no foreign bloodline at all. He was a bona-fide human, and his power came entirely from his human body.

    The power of the human body!

    How had he managed to raise himself to this kind of level?

    Chu Huailiang didn¡¯t dare believe his eyes.

    Bloodline Nobility ns could reach higher cultivation realms due to their bloodlines and also possessed much greaterbat prowess whenpared to bloodline-less cultivators.

    Both the former and thetter notions were gradually being broken down by Su Chen and Shi Kaihuang¡¯s incessant research.

    At this point in time, Chu Huailiang seemed to realize that the waves Su Chen was making would be far more impactful than he had initially believed ?¡ª since Su Chen possessed this kind of strength, it followed that others could as well.

    The Bloodline Nobility ns would soon hold no advantage over those without bloodlines at this rate.

    As soon as he realized this, a vicious killing intent surfaced in Chu Huailiang¡¯s heart.

    Even though he hade to kill Su Chen in the first ce, he had not been afraid of failing. Now, however, his killing intent was further motivated by his recognition that Su Chen had the ability to change the entire world to the detriment of his n.

    He could not ept that kind of oue no matter what.

    This person must die!

    As his killing intent towered, Chu Huailiang yelled angrily, ¡°Only one of us will walk away alive today!¡±

    As he spoke, he activated his bloodline to the limit. Powerful waves of energy began to undte from his figure as the Deste Beast image behind him grew more and more tangible. It even tilted its head back and howled madly at the sky.

    In the past, the White Fang had been able to steamroll over any kind of fortification and freely ran wild. Nothing could stand in its way. The Illustrious Divine Dynasty had allied with other races to exterminate this beast, but they had suffered the most casualties in the process. The beast¡¯s offensive capabilities were staggering, and even thebined efforts of many Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators could only partially nullify its attacks. The way they had managed to defeat White Fang was through counterattacking.

    And now, the Chu n possessed the White Fang Bloodline in this day and age. Even though they were not nearly as powerful as the original Deste Beast, the appearance of the illusory image alone seemed to bring the boundless power of nature to a boiling point. Chu Huailiang had personally activated one of the Chu n¡¯s core Bloodline Origin Skills: Sky-Rending de.

    Core Bloodline Origin Skills were skills that were innately contained in a bloodline, and were considered to be foundational skills for that bloodline. On top of this foundation, those with awakened bloodlines could apply the power of their bloodline in different fashions, resulting in unique derivative Origin Skills.

    However, Chu Huailiang¡¯s Sky-Rending de was a core Bloodline Origin Skill, meaning that anyone from the Chu n who had awakened their bloodline could technically use it. However, not many people could im to be more proficient with this skill than Chu Huailiang.

    Ever since his bloodline had awoken, he had chosen to hone this skill endlessly. As such, his attacks were simple, incisive, and extremely difficult to defend against.

    He used his hand as a de to sh through the air. A white streak of light mmed into the ming phoenix.

    If the de could even rend the sky, then what was a small phoenix to it?

    The cries of the ming phoenix in the sky were cut short as it was sliced into two. Under the power of the strike, the Theurgy Art could not be maintained and it dissipated as a result.

    ¡°Sky-Rending de!¡± Su Chen was actually aware of this skill as well.

    The Chu n¡¯s Sky-Rending de was quite well-known. Apparently, it could break through any material, and Su Chen had discovered firsthand that that definition included his Theurgy Arts as well. He couldn¡¯t help but sigh with praise.

    Yes, praise!

    Only powerful opponents were worth fighting. How could a weak opponent draw out his full potential?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t seem to mind that Chu Huailiang had destroyed his ming Phoenix Theurgy Art. Instead, heplimented, ¡°Not bad! That is truly a formidable skill. How can I resign myself to only seeing it once? You¡¯ll need to show that to me a few more times before I¡¯m satisfied!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Chu Huailiang was taken aback by Su Chen¡¯s presumptuous words.

    Su Chen waved the Lightless Ring yet again, and another ming Phoenix Theurgy Art quickly took flight.

    You can rend, but I can create. As Su Chen¡¯s cultivation had progressed, his ming Phoenix Theurgy Art had be a central part of hisbat repertoire, so it was no surprise that he could unleash them in rapid session. Even if Chu Huailiang could destroy them with a single de strike, Su Chen could just keep forming more.

    Another ming phoenix soared through the sky yet again, zing intensely as the mes on its body seemed to leap into the sky.

    Chu Huailiang was yet again taken aback by how casual Su Chen appeared. He knew that he had run into a tough opponent this time. Sky-Rending de after Sky-Rending de flew forth from his fingertips, but Su Chen was able to keep up and form ming Phoenix after ming Phoenix in response.

    Anyone watching the battle would see mes rhythmically surging and extinguishing, dispersed by razor-sharp de strikes.

    When the de struck, the mes receded. When the de¡¯s momentum dissipated, the mes raged back.

    This cycle continued for some time.

    The two of them fought like this, a constant back and forth. Su Chen¡¯s eyes began to glow with a faint luster as he activated his microscopic eye, observing how Chu Huailiang channeled his energy through his body as he unleashed attack after attack. After that huge battle at Three Mountain in Ravager Territory, his ability to observe Origin Energy had greatly increased. As long as he willed it, even the indiscernible flow of Origin Energy in the environment couldn¡¯t escape his notice. However, Su Chen had never been able to find a suitable opponent that was worth observing in that much detail.

    Chu Huailiang was strong enough to merit observation, but not so strong that he could force Su Chen to scramble in defense. Chu Huailiang also had a Deste Beast Bloodline, more than qualifying him to be inspected by Su Chen. As such, he began to focus on observing and studying Chu Huailiang, actually somewhat holding back in the battle.

    Chu Huailiang didn¡¯t know about Su Chen¡¯s special eyes, but he could still tell that Su Chen was distracted.

    He was distracted!

    He actually had the gall to focus on something else in the middle of a heated battle?

    What an extreme humiliation!

    Chu Huailiang was infuriated. He suddenly ramped up the pace of his attacks, unleashing twelve Sky-Rending des in the blink of an eye. The sky was suddenly filled with bright white light, as if multiple rifts were forming all across the sky.

    Even though Su Chen¡¯s ming Phoenix was incredibly fast, it was not as fast as Chu Huailiang¡¯s attacks.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t grow flustered, however; he prepared to evade by activating Whitetower Teleportation .

    Chu Huailiang, however, was prepared and shoved his palm out. ¡°You¡¯re not going anywhere!¡±

    Su Chen suddenly felt the surrounding spatial energy freeze, and he noticed that he had no way of activating Whitetower Teleportation.

    No, he had managed to activate it, but the distance he could jump had decreased drastically. He had traveled a short distance, but not nearly enough to escape from the Sky-Rending des¡¯ area of influence.

    As he watched the des descend on Su Chen, Chu Huailiang fiercely snarled, ¡°Die!¡±

    ¡°Ai!¡± Su Chen sighed. ¡°Why do you insist on going all-out? I haven¡¯t seen nearly enough yet.¡±

    As he sighed regretfully, the Primordial Blood Aspect appeared behind his back.

    At this point, his Primordial Blood Aspect had changed drastically. It was still human-shaped, but it was surrounded by a vortex of violent wind that began to expand its domain in all directions.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Chu Huailiang was taken aback.

    Was that a bloodline?

    But if it was a bloodline, then where was the beastly aura? And given Su Chen¡¯s actions and motivation, it was impossible for him to infuse himself with a bloodline.

    This made no sense!

    Before he had time to thoroughly evaluate Su Chen¡¯s move, the Primordial Blood Aspect¡¯s face in front of Su Chen suddenly opened its eyes.

    The moment it opened its eyes, a blinding sh lit up its surroundings as the nearby space began to congeal.

    Yes, Chu Huailiang could control the surrounding space, so why couldn¡¯t Su Chen?

    The Sumeru Void was Shi Kaihuang¡¯s bread and butter technique. It shackled space-time, and it was also not much weaker than Chu Huailiang¡¯s technique. It was only a bit weaker because itcked the support of a bloodline.

    However, once Su Chen activated the Primordial Blood Aspect, it essentially acted like a human bloodline, and the Sumeru Void correspondingly received a significant amount of support.

    The Sumeru Void had been activated at the same time that the first of the four faces had opened its eyes.

    Chu Huailiang suddenly felt that slicing down with his de had be incredibly difficult, and the resistance only continued to mount the lower his des went.

    His Sky-Rending des could even tear holes in the sky, but it couldn¡¯t rend the Sumeru Void. In the end, the name was only a name. Most of the time, a technique was barely as powerful as one percent of its description.

    The speed of the Sky-Rending des drastically decreased due to the hindrance of the Sumeru Void technique. Even though they didn¡¯tpletely freeze in ce, Su Chen had bought himself more than enough time to react.

    He nimbly retreated, casually dodging the razor-sharp des as he said, ¡°If you want to fight seriously, then I suppose I should y along, shouldn¡¯t I?¡±

    As he spoke, a pair of wings suddenly unfurled from behind his back.

    Chu Huailiang was taken aback. Su Chen was a human. Where had those wingse from?

    As Su Chen unfurled his wings, the nearby clouds suddenly twisted violently as a blistering gale appeared out of nowhere. This gale was not one of Su Chen¡¯s attacks; it was merely a manifestation of the power inherent in those wings.

    Su Chen¡¯s four-faced aspect hade from absorbing the Windbite Bloodline, so when he unfurled his wings, the aspect¡¯s true power was finally channeled to its limits.

    As he unleashed his full strength in that moment, Su Chen¡¯s figure shot forwards with a powerful p of his wings.

    Yet another ming phoenix had appeared, but this time the mes were ck as they surged at Chu Huailiang.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 64: Desolate Beast White Fang 2

    Chapter 64: Deste Beast White Fang (2)

    The ming phoenix was still a phoenix, but this time Su Chen had infused his mes with darkness and unleashed the full power of the Shadow mes, causing the ming Phoenix¡¯s might to increase even further.

    The ck mes surged through the sky, carrying a paradoxical chilling intent. Before the mes even came close to him, Chu Huailiang couldn¡¯t help but shiver.

    He immediately realized that this dark ming Phoenix was not something his Sky-Rending de could defend against. As such, he tilted his head back and howled maniacally as the Deste Beast image behind him charged forwards into Chu Huailiang¡¯s body and disappeared. At the same time, Chu Huailiang¡¯s body began to growrger andrger, and his figure began to morph as he turned into a massive human-shaped beast with arge horn in the middle of his forehead. He had morphed into the shape of Deste Beast White Fang.

    Giving an illusory image actual substance was the final manifestation of a bloodline.

    Chu Huailiang¡¯s vigor and essence was actually weaker in this tangible form, but though the aura belonged to the Deste Beast, the strength was his now his own.

    Even as the illusory Deste Beast image disappeared and its pressure receded, Chu Huailiang could sense his physical body growing stronger and stronger.

    In that moment, he was a Deste Beast!

    Even if he was only disying one ten-thousandth of the power of a Deste Beast, that was already vastly stronger than most cultivators could handle.

    Chu Huailiang howled as he faced off against the dark ming Phoenix as he spoke using his beast-shaped mouth, ¡°You should be honored that you were able to push me to this point. But all your ability can only amount to so much!¡±

    As he spoke, he stretched out his w, grabbing the dark ming Phoenix and snapping its neck like it was merely a chicken. He snarled withughter, ¡°What nonsense! A human bloodline? Everything is worthless before my Deste Beast!¡±

    As he clenched his fist, the ming Phoenix shattered and dissipated in a shower of sparks. However, when the sparksnded on Chu Huailiang¡¯s body, they actually sizzled and left behind dark pockmarks in his skin.

    ¡°Shadow mes.¡± Chu Huailiang had quite an extensive breadth of experience given that he was able to recognize the true essence of these mes. ¡°Shadow mes are quite corrosive. No wonder these sparks were able topletely ignore my barrier, and even wounded me after I turned into a beast. Su Chen, you should be proud of what you have aplished. But your path ends here. Now you should be out of skills to use, right?¡±

    ¡°How do you figure?¡± Su Chen sneered.

    Chu Huailiang was taken aback. ¡°You still have more? That¡¯s impossible! I can clearly tell that you just used all of your strength!¡±

    ¡°That might not be the case,¡± Su Chenughed. ¡°Sometimes you can rely on outward items for strength as well.¡±

    Chu Huailiang was startled. All of a sudden, he seemed to recall something and began to yell loudly, ¡°Lifesource Candles? You¡¯re going to use Lifesource Candles!¡±

    Chu Huailiang immediately regretted the fact that he had forgotten Su Chen possessed such powerful tools.

    Actually, it wasn¡¯t so much that he had forgotten. Chu Huailiang had just been too overconfident in his strength, believing that Su Chen might not be his opponent even with the Lifesource Candles. After all, Lifesource Candles were primarily used to save people and break restrictive techniques. As such, unless his opponent did not possess a powerful restrictive technique, the Lifesource Candles wouldn¡¯t provide too much support. Most importantly, if he attacked decisively enough, Su Chen might not even have had time to use the Lifesource Candles.

    He had not expected for Su Chen to be so much stronger to the point where he was actually being forced to morph into beast form.

    Chu Huailiang would bepletely doomed if Su Chen were to tack on a Lifesource Candle under these kinds of circumstances.

    Also, Su Chen had not just one but 161 of them!

    Chu Huailiang was filled with regret when he thought of this fact.

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen replied, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I didn¡¯t bring those things out to y anyways. I don¡¯t need to use them to finish you off.¡±

    What? You didn¡¯t bring them with you?

    Chu Huailiang was immediately delighted. That was too good.

    But how could Su Chen not have possibly carried such important items with him?

    But if he were to say that he wasn¡¯t nning on using it, Chu Huailiang wouldn¡¯t have believed him. At most, he would have believed that Su Chen was just pretending to be generous but would use it in a moment of danger. As long as this thought was in Chu Huailiang¡¯s head, it was impossible for him to go all out, and he would probably have constantly been thinking about how to escape or retreat.

    If someone like Chu Huailiang wanted to run, Su Chen didn¡¯t really have the confidence that he could stop him.

    As such, he purposefully said that he hadn¡¯t brought the Lifesource Candles with him so that Chu Huailiang would feel more at ease.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t used one of those candles up to this point anyways.

    In his view, even though Lifesource Candles were powerful, this power did not actually belong to him. Even if he was to use external support, that support would still be from his power.

    ¡°But now that you mention it, as long as I am the one producing the external supports, it shouldn¡¯t be cheating......¡± As he spoke, Su Chen pulled out a vial of medicine and shattered it. Seven or eight Su Chen¡¯s immediately appeared in the sky.

    Chu Huailiang was momentarily taken aback before he chuckled coldly, ¡°Just a clone technique? That¡¯s not enough to let you do as you please! Break for me!¡±

    He waved his hand, and a wave of white light surged forwards. Fierce,rge gnats were hidden in the light, and they charged at Su Chen in that moment.

    Based on ssical ounts, White Fang was able to birth and sustain these strange gnats. The gnats were bloodthirsty and fierce, gathering readily inrge groups as they flew back and forth.

    Chu Huailiang had a horde of these gnats due to his White Fang Bloodline. Even though these gnats weren¡¯t as powerful as the White Fang¡¯s, Chu Huailiang had spent some time to raise them on his own blood, so they still had quite powerful defenses and were hard to kill. They were a fantastic asset inrger-scale battles.

    Chu Huailiang never used this technique lightly. When he saw Su Chen¡¯s clone technique, however, he decided to pull out these gnats to deal with the clones.

    Su Chen harrumphed when he saw this swarm of gnats flying in his direction. The seven or eight Su Chens raised their hands simultaneously, forming seven ming Phoenixes all at once.

    Even though only Su Chen¡¯s main body could produce the dark ming Phoenix, the sudden appearance of seven normal ones was still quite shocking.

    Chu Huailiang was badly startled. He instinctively said, ¡°This must be an illusion, right?¡±

    An instantter, the eight ming Phoenixes in the sky swooped down, unleashing a barrage of mes on the swarm of gnats.

    The swarm of gnats had been raised on Chu Huailiang¡¯s blood essence and were incredibly fierce, but even they had a hard time withstanding the blustering wave of energy washing over them. They whined and whinged, clearly in great pain.

    The gnats were quite brave and didn¡¯t retreat, but the mes hade from eight ming Phoenixes and covered a vast area, raising the temperature to an almost unwithstandable temperature. They were burned to a crisp before they even managed to reach Su Chen.

    ¡°My babies!¡± Chu Huailiang yelled as his heart panged with sorrow.

    Unfortunately, these gnats, which he had spent countless days raising and which had served him very well in the past, all died in this battle, not even leaving behind a seed. How could he not feel sorrowful?

    He didn¡¯t even have an opportunity to vent his rage on Su Chen as a wave of raging mes came surging in his direction.

    Thebined might of seven or eight ming Phoenixes could not easily be ignored, not to mention that his phoenixes were now imbued with the power of darkness. Chu Huailiang was forced to go all-out in order to deal with such an imposing attack. The Lotus tforms behind his back began to glow intensely as all seven appeared at once, infusing his body with protective power. His beast bloodline activated to its greatest extent, and streaks of de light began to gather in the sky, forming one Sky-Rending de after another which shot forth, creating a storm of lightning.

    ¡°White Fang¡¯s Bite!¡± Chu Huailiang howled ferociously.

    This was his first time using one of his trump cards. White Fang¡¯s Bite was put on full disy, and the de light descended on the mountain below, continuing to slice through the dense mountainous rock and causing it to fall away in sheets from the face of the cliff.

    The Su Chen¡¯s in midair began to disappear one by one, reduced to nothing by the powerful attack.

    Su Chen¡¯s main body was still present, however, and yet another dark ming Phoenix took flight. Not only so, but the four faces behind Su Chen began to whirl around, causing a fierce wind to blow at the fire and causing it to burn even more fiercely. The sea of mes once again swallowed up Chu Huailiang¡¯s attack.

    ¡°How is this even possible?¡± At this point, Chu Huailiang was so surprised that his eyes were almost about to pop out of their sockets.

    Now that the battle had reached this point, both sides had put their full strength on disy. Now, they wereparing not only technique power but also residual energy stores. Chu Huailiang hadn¡¯t expected that Su Chen¡¯s Origin Energy would be so abundant as well. Even though Origin Stones allowed a person to recover their Origin Energy, they were burning through much more energy than mere Origin Stones could restore. There was no way either one of them would give their opponent the opportunity to replenish their Origin Energy stores. At their level, the victor was still going to be determined by personal strength.

    Chu Huailiang had seven Lotus tforms and had burned through arge quantity of energy contained in those tforms. By now, Su Chen should have run out of strength, but it seemed like Su Chen was still full of vigor. Chu Huailiang had an extremely hard time understanding how this was even possible.

    He didn¡¯t know that Su Chen had invented the Immacte Cultivation Technique and that Su Chen¡¯s Origin Energy was seven times denser than that of a normal person. Currently, Su Chen actually possessed more total Origin Energy than Chu Huailiang.

    This was the reason he could unleash his Theurgy Arts with reckless abandon. Otherwise, it would have been very hard for him to pose a threat to someone with a Deste Beast Bloodline.

    At this point, both parties were still locked in fiercebat. Chu Huailiang poured all of his energy into maintaining White Fang¡¯s Bite, while Su Chen did the same with his dark ming Phoenix. Even though White Fang¡¯s offensive capabilities were quite impressive, the corrosive properties of the dark mes were a force to be reckoned with. Both of them were constantly being wounded, so all that remained was to see who couldst longer.

    In terms of pure vitality, Chu Huailiang was obviously far inferior to Su Chen.

    However, Chu Huailiang was not amon person, and he naturally had more cards up his sleeve. When he saw how stubborn Su Chen was being, Chu Huailiang gnashed his teeth and said, ¡°Fine, I must admit that you are very impressive. Very few people can reach the level you have reached by their own strength alone. I have punched above my weight ss a number of times, but now it is actually happening to me. But this all ends now!¡±

    As he spoke, he pulled out an item - a golden pearl.

    As soon as this pearl appeared, it whirled around nimbly as it drew away the dark ming Phoenix¡¯s power, instantly dramatically reducing its might.

    ¡°me-Dispelling Pearl?¡± Su Chen was also stunned. He had never expected Chu Huailiang to take out an item like that.

    me-Dispelling Pearls were not rare, but that depended on what level of mes they were able to dispel. Normal me-Dispelling Pearls would find it impossible to dispel Su Chen¡¯s ming Phoenixes.

    Since the one Chu Huailiang was holding could divert Su Chen¡¯s mes, its quality must have been incredibly high.

    Chu Huailiang had avoided using it because he believed that he could deal with his opponent by his own strength. Now, however, when he saw his opponent seemingly bing stronger and stronger without showing any signs of exhaustion, he could only take it out and use it - especially because he himself was about to copse.

    Even this pearl didn¡¯t seem to be able tost for very long under the deluge of mes, and it was already beginning to crack.

    This was yet another reason Chu Huailiang hadn¡¯t been willing to use the pearl at the very beginning.

    Chu Huailiang would never let Su Chen get away with destroying one of his treasures. He snarled, ¡°Now let¡¯s see how you defend yourself!¡±

    Countless streaks of white light shot towards Su Chen.

 Sect - Book 5, 65: Odds and Ends

    Chapter 65: Odds and Ends

    The moment that Chu Huailiang pulled out the me-Dispelling Pearl, Su Chen sighed.

    He sighed not because he couldn¡¯t defeat his opponent, but rather because he realized that he had yet to fully organize and merge his strengths and abilitiesdiscovered that his strength had yet to be fully organized and integrated.

    This whole time, he had been constantly creating new skills, but these skills all stood alone, and Su Chen couldn¡¯t effectively chain them into a series of attacksmaking it hard for Su Chen to use them well in tandem.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t discovered this earlier because his opponents had been were either too powerful or not powerful enough. Now, however, this ring problem had been exposed by an opponent of roughly equal who was a good match for him in terms of strength.

    Su Chen supposed that he should probably follow Patelocke¡¯s advice and reorganize himself so that he could apply his strength to the fullest extent. He was going to use everything he could use, including the Demonic Emperor¡¯s treasures, the transmission puppet, the Shining Dragon Bloodline, and Lifesource Candles, as long as time permitted.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t waste time even as he pondered all these things.

    A strange vortex suddenly appeared behind Su Chen¡¯s back in response to Chu Huailiang¡¯s attack.

    The vortex, which glowed like the sun, began to spew forth a deluge of energy, which rushed into Su Chen¡¯s body.

    ¡°How is that...... possible?¡± Chu Huailiang stared at Su Chen in shock.

    ¡°It¡¯s called Energy Well,¡± Su Chen replied indifferently.

    Su Chen had managed to obtain three Arcana Techniques in total from the Harpies. Darkness Spring allowed him to better use Darkness Origin Substance; Arcana Modeling Technique greatly increased the power of his clones, allowing them to unleash ming Phoenixes; and Energy Well, the final technique, was his trump card. It not only supplied him with a wealth of Origin Energy, but it would also upgrade his Origin Skills.

    This was also the most practical Arcana Technique Su Chen possessed for battle. Su Chen¡¯s use of the technique at that moment was the same as him using his final trump card. If he wasn¡¯t able to defeat his opponent even with the help of this skill, then he would have to cheat to win - such as by using the Lifesource Candles, etc.

    If possible, Su Chen would rather not.

    He wanted to rely on his own strength to suppress his opponent!

    Boom!

    The massive dark ming Phoenix doubled in size yet again.

    This increase was not only in size, but also in aura. Chu Huailiang¡¯s aura had decreased when he assumed beast form, so now Su Chen¡¯s aura actually had surpassed that of Chu Huailiang with his Deste Beast Bloodline at this point.

    The dark ming Phoenix pped its wings, sending a ck wave of mes surging towards Chu Huailiang.

    Chu Huailiang¡¯s me-Dispelling Pearl could no longer withstand the ck mes and shattered, disappearing into small fragments.

    ¡°What?¡± Chu Huailiang was stunned badly.

    Without the me-Dispelling Pearl, the ck mes were no longer being diverted, and the mes opened up their maw to swallow Chu Huailiang whole.

    ¡°NO!¡± Chu Huailiang howled in despair as he forced his bloodline to its greatest extent in ast-ditch effort to protect himself.

    However, the White Fang Bloodline had powerful attack, not defense. Given the corrosive properties of the ck mes, even the ck Tortoise Bloodline would probably have had a hard time resisting them, let alone the White Fang.

    Chu Huailiang¡¯s bloodline shield onlysted for a brief moment before shattering.

    Battles between Origin Qi Schrs were usually ended in a simr fashion. Once victory and defeat had been determined, death would happen in an instant.

    Once the barrier had disappeared, Chu Huailiang had reached the end of his life.

    ¡°Su Chen, spare me......¡± Chu Huailiang howled.

    Unfortunately for him, Su Chen was not interested in hearing what he had to say. He reached out and deftly drew some blood from Chu Huailiang before allowing the ck mes topletely devour him, turning him to ash.

    Of course, he made sure to specifically hold back so that he could take Chu Huailiang¡¯s Origin Ring.

    Unfortunately, Chu Huailiang had nothing particrly valuable on him.

    ¡°He¡¯s from a Deste Beast Bloodline Nobility n, but he¡¯s still so poor.¡± Su Chen was stunned.

    Chu Huailiang did have some valuable items on him, including some Origin Stones, medicines, and Origin Tools. However, Su Chen wasn¡¯tcking Origin Stones, he could create his own medicines, and Su Chen only had two hands to wield all these Origin Tools, so most of them couldn¡¯t catch his eye anyways.

    At this point, Su Chen¡¯s scale of reference had changed dramatically. What he wanted was not necessarily the most valuable item, but the items that were the hardest to find. If they were items obtainable in this realm, then he wouldn¡¯t value them even if they were worth quite a bit.

    Once a person got rich enough, they really could lose interest in earning more money.

    This was not Su Chen trying to put on a show, but rather a reflection of human nature. Humans did not care about anything that they had an infinite amount of, unless thepensation was roughly equivalent to what they already owned.

    Su Chen still had over a billion Origin Stones left on him, and only transactions worth more than a hundred million Origin Stones would catch his eye. Otherwise, his attitude was that money didn¡¯t matter.

    Chu Huailiang was only worth a few tens of millions of Origin Stones, so it was only natural that Su Chen looked down on what he had owned, considering Chu Huailiang to be poor. If Chu Huailiang were to hear from theherworld that Su Chen considered him poor, he probably would have died another time out of anger.

    In any case, Su Chenpletely disregarded Chu Huailiang¡¯s contribution. Even though he had still made a profit, those profits hardly made a dent in his existing worth, so he considered them not even worth mentioning. The only thing worth something to him was the ck dagger, which was a high-tier Grade Three Origin Tool. Even then, he couldn¡¯t use it himself and could only hand it to Cloud Leopard to use instead.

    After finishing off his opponent, Su Chen returned to t Sky City.

    Because the battle had been fought in a faraway location, no one in t Sky City knew that an expert with a Deste Beast Bloodline had just perished. Everything continued just as it had before.

    The Harpies were still searching everywhere for the broodmother.

    Flowing me Oriole had done a better job hiding the broodmother than they had expected. Even though the Zhu n had opened their doors and allowed them to search the Rong n¡¯s mines as they pleased, they were still unable to find its whereabouts.

    Even the Zhu n was starting to get worried for the Harpies.

    At this rate, it would take them years to find where the broodmother had been stowed away.

    This was why, as soon as Su Chen returned, Zhu Chenhuan called him over to discuss the matter.

    ¡°These Harpies really are useless. They¡¯re still fumbling around blindly, looking for that broodmother. A few days ago, the Harpies even visited our Stargold Mine. How could they not even consider how the Rong n had managed to help Flowing me Oriole hide the broodmother in territory that didn¡¯t even belong to them?¡± Zhu Chenhuan sighed as he spoke, amenting expression on his face.

    ¡°That is indeed a problem. It seems like we will need to prepare to execute the second step of the n,¡± Su Chen said after a moment of thought.

    ¡°Are you really nning on trying to sneak into Harpy territory?¡± Zhu Chenhuan asked with some suspicion.

    ¡°Sky City...... I do want to see it for myself,¡± Su Chen calmly replied.

    Within the Zhu n¡¯s prison.

    Nearly sixty Harpy captives were being kept there.

    An old Harpy and a young Harpy had been ced into a single jail cell.

    The older Harpy was sitting there, cross-legged, while the younger Harpy stared out the window, thinking about something.

    After being in a daze for some time, the younger Harpy said, ¡°Teacher, I heard a few days ago that the Harpies sent a diplomatic envoy here to exchange some captives......¡±

    The older Harpy remained motionless and only replied after some time, ¡°What? Are you going restless?¡±

    The younger Harpy said, ¡°Your disciple¡¯s heart cannot be still. I can¡¯t help but feel uneasy about our situation.¡±

    The older Harpy sighed as he opened his eyes slowly to look at his beloved disciple. ¡°That¡¯s not your fault. It would be difficult for anyone to maintain theirposure after being brought into such a strange prison.¡±

    The younger Harpy lowered his head silently.

    The older Harpy nced at his disciple and said, ¡°I did hear of that, but don¡¯t you think it¡¯s strange? The humans and the Harpies have fought many times, and taking prisoners of war is quite amon urrence. But how often do we exchange captives?¡±

    The younger Harpy fell silent.

    There had been exchanges in the past, but they had always been proposed by the humans.

    The Harpies were naturally arrogant, so they had humbled themselves in attempting to bargain for peace with other races in the past.

    This was why the humans were usually the ones sending diplomatic envoys to Sky City.

    This was the first time the Harpies had ever sent out a diplomatic envoy.

    The old Harpy understood the ways of thinking of the members of his own race, so he said, ¡°There are not many things which can cause my people to humble themselves.¡±

    The younger Harpy was taken aback. He wanted to ask more, but the older Harpy shook his head and pointed above him. The younger Harpy realized what he meant and kept silent as well.

    They were currently captives in a human prison. Who knew whether or not their conversation was being listened in on.

    The older Harpy had some idea of what was going on but didn¡¯t dare voice it out loud. Even though the younger Harpy wasn¡¯t fully mature, he was quite smart and didn¡¯t ask any more questions.

    Their caution was not misguided. In actuality, there was someone watching them at the moment.

    Within the Zhu n¡¯s residence, above the prison.

    Su Chen sat next to a monitoring crystal, which showed ten or so different screens that disyed all of the Harpies present.

    Only someone like Su Chen could watch all these people at the same time without bing confused.

    As he watched the older and younger Harpy converse with each other, he chuckled, ¡°These two people seem quite interesting.¡±

    The person in charge of the dungeons was called Zhu Tianchi, a branch disciple of the Zhu n. When he heard Su Chen¡¯s words, he hurriedly added on, ¡°The older of the two Harpies is called Moonless Face, and the younger of the two is called Halcyon Wing Streak.¡±

    ¡°Halcyon Wing Streak? Of the Halcyon n?¡± Su Chen was taken aback.

    ¡°Yes, that very same Halcyon n,¡± Zhu Tianchi responded definitely.

    Each Harpy nest had a fewrge ns as the center. The Halcyon n was one of the threerge ns thatposed the Nightfrost Nest.

    Unlike human ns, however, Harpy ns were much, muchrger.

    That was because the Harpies didn¡¯t Harpies didn¡¯t divide their ns into smaller subunits.

    As such, ns easily had hundreds if not thousands of disciples. Even the Harpies couldn¡¯t usually figure out which where their ns started and ended, let alone the humans.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, which n they were part of was actually not so important unless they were higher up on the n¡¯s hierarchy.

    Halcyon Wing Streak was no exception. Even though he was technically a noble, his ranking was around 342nd, and his parents¡¯ status amongst the n was merely average at best, which transferred over to him as well. However, his instructor, Moonless Face, was quite a character.

    He was one of the five main bishops of the Nightfrost Nest¡¯s Mother Goddess Sect, giving him status and authority alike. This had raised Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s status amongst the n to a decent level.

    However, during a border raid, Halcyon Wing Streak and his teacher were unfortunate enough to have been captured by the humans. They had been prisoners of war for at least three years now.

    Because of Moonless Face¡¯s status as a bishop, Liaoye Country had taken quite good care of them all things considered. This was also the reason that the imperial family had hesitated to sell them to the Zhu n at first.

    This time, the Zhu n had used all of the connections at their disposal in order to get this master-disciple pair.

    Purple Forest Stream¡¯s list of individuals that they wanted to negotiate release for contained these two Harpies as well.

    ¡°What? Have they caught your eye?¡± Zhu Chenhuan frowned. ¡°I would rmend against choosing them.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡±

    ¡°The old man is brilliant. It will be very hard for you to not be exposed if you stand by his side.¡±

    ¡°But his status is very high. He¡¯s one of the Nightfrost Nest¡¯s bishops. With a teacher like that, I will be able toe into contact with even higher levels of Harpy society.¡±

    ¡°Your goal is not to infiltrate the upper ranks of the opponent!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll just do it on the side. I¡¯ll have to make a trip one way or another, so I should arrange it so that I can profits the most.¡±

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 66: Bottom Line

    Chapter 66: Bottom Line

    Halcyon Wing Streak and Moonless Face were still talking with each other in the jail.

    At that moment, one of the Zhu n¡¯s wardens descended with two subordinates.

    The warden¡¯s appearance was quite tyrannical. His face was quite fat, and he wielded a thick baton in his right hand. He opened the door to the cell and said brusquely, ¡°You, out!¡±

    He was referring to Halcyon Wing Streak.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Halcyon Wing Streak coldly red at the warden.

    Even though he was a prisoner, Halcyon Wing Streak maintained his elegant and lofty demeanor.

    The warden chuckled. ¡°If I tell you toe out, then youe out obediently. Do you want me to ask you out on a date?¡±

    As he spoke, he and his subordinates charged in, beating Halcyon Wing Streak with their batons.

    Halcyon Wing Streak had been imprinted with a seal preventing him from using Origin Energy. His physical body was obviously much weaker, and in the blink of an eye he had been beaten ck and blue.

    Moonless Face could only shut his eyes tightly, not daring to even say a single word.

    He was quite savvy when teaching his disciple, but when faced with this kind of a situation, he could only tactfully remain silent. Otherwise, all that would happen was that he would be beaten along with his disciple.

    ¡°Do you know to be obedient now?¡± the warden chuckled after finishing his beating. ¡°Next time, be a bit smarter. Otherwise, we¡¯ll beat you again!¡±

    Halcyon Wing Streak forcefully repressed the mes of rage in his heart and lowered his head as he said, ¡°Yes, sir.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s more like it! Follow me.¡± The warden shoved Halcyon Wing Streak out of the cell.

    Halcyon Wing Streak was brought out of the jail cell into a different room, after which the warden left.

    Halcyon Wing Streak saw a young man sitting inside the room. Upon seeing him, the young man smiled and said, ¡°Have a seat.¡±

    Halcyon Wing Streak nced around, only sitting after he determined that there was no one else around

    This young man was naturally Su Chen.

    As soon as Halcyon Wing Streak sat down, Su Chen¡¯s expression suddenly sank as he said, ¡°You are not Halcyon Wing Streak. Tell me, who are you? Why are you trying to imitate him? Are you trying to get yourself killed?¡±

    Halcyon Wing Streak was badly startled. He instinctively replied, ¡°What are you saying?¡±

    Su Chen squinted. ¡°Are you trying to pretend like you are deaf and dumb? Did you not hear what I said?¡±

    Halcyon Wing Streak was stunned. After some time, he finally recovered from his shock. ¡°I heard you, but I don¡¯t understand why you would say that.¡±

    Why Su Chen would say that?

    Of course it was to determine what his opponent¡¯s reactions would be.

    He wanted to see what kind of reaction a person would have if someone suddenly came up to them and randomly used them of not being themselves.

    Now, it seemed that Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s response would be to wonder if he had heard the question correctly.

    If his ears were working properly, then his second reaction was to wonder if the person asking him had a mental illness. Why would they ask something like that?

    Most people who assumed another person¡¯s identity would try to justify themselves if they were exposed: why are you calling me fake? I am the real person.

    This was their instinctive reaction because they knew they were fake and were afraid of being exposed by someone else.

    However, the response of the actual person when asked this kind of question would be: are you crazy? Where did that question evene from?

    There was no attempt to justify or vindicate himself at all.

    This was because he was the real one, and there was no need for him to vindicate himself.

    If anything did need to be proved, it would be on the user to prove that he was fake, not on him to prove that he was real.

    His interrogation of Halcyon Wing Streak made this extremely obvious.

    This was exactly why Su Chen needed to study and pay attention.

    Su Chen chuckled when he heard Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s response. ¡°Nothing, really. I just feel like you don¡¯t really look like you¡¯re from the Halcyon Wing n. You don¡¯t seem like a noble to me.¡±

    Upon hearing these words, Halcyon Wing Streak said disdainfully, ¡°What would you know about nobility? And what would you understand about my n?¡±

    From beginning to end, Halcyon Wing Streak never tried to justify himself, instead disdainfully answering Su Chen¡¯s question. Once again, he demonstrated the attitude that the genuine person should have.

    ¡°Is that so? Then tell me some more about your n,¡± Su Chen said calmly.

    ¡°Why do you want to know that?¡± Halcyon Wing Streak asked.

    ¡°I want to understand better understand my opponents to better open a price tag,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°All the more reason I cannot say anything.¡±

    ¡°So you aren¡¯t going to cooperate?¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t seem to mind and stood. ¡°Then forget about it.¡±

    What?

    Halcyon Wing Streak was taken aback.

    Forget about it?

    What did that mean?

    Su Chen walked out of the room.

    As he walked out, a group of four brawny men walked in behind him.

    They leered at Halcyon Wing Streak.

    [insert warning here]:

    ¡°You guys...... what are you nning on doing?¡± Halcyon Wing Streak said, beginning to panic.

    The four menughed coldly as they walked forwards, forcing Halcyon Wing Streak into a corner before beginning to pull off his clothes.

    ¡°Hey! What are you guys doing?¡± Halcyon Wing Streak was stunned. He originally thought that he was going to be beaten up, but why were they taking off his clothes?

    The possibility of what was about to happen scared him even more than the possibility of being beaten up.

    Their answer caused him to feel despair.

    One of therge men chuckled. ¡°Of course we¡¯re going to be doing you!¡±

    ¡°But I¡¯m male!¡± Halcyon Wing Streak yelled loudly.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, we like men in the first ce......¡± The four men began tough together.

    Halcyon Wing Streak was like a little white rabbit facing against fourrge wolves. The four men took advantage of the opportunity and pounced......

    ¡°Only you could think of something like that.¡±

    Zhu Chenhuan sighed helplessly as he observed what was happening inside the room with the monitoring crystal.

    A person was incredibly hard to understand and emte. If Su Chen wanted to assume his position, he would first need to gain a deeper understanding of his target.

    This involved the target¡¯s education, background, way of thinking, personality, habits, etc.

    No one could fully mimic a personpletely, only to get as close to the reference individual as possible and avoid the likelihood of being exposed. The same had gone for while Su Chen had been in Ravager territory. When he wasn¡¯t being suspected, everything was easy to smooth over, but once he was suspected, everything would be a problem for him.

    Unlike his journey through Ravager territory, however, pretending to be a Harpy was going to be much more difficult.

    One reason was because he was now going to assume the identity of someone with real status, and the other reason was because the people he was trying to deceive were much smarter.

    This was where having a team came in handy.

    The Zhu n¡¯s elite investigators had already begun to gather information on the background of these sixty captives.

    By interrogating, threatening, and bribing the captives,bined with cross-examination and careful investigation of their own, they were able to produce a thick book of material for each Harpy. Cloud Leopard, Iron Cliff, and the twelve Sword Servants would never have been able toplete this mission, and they might have actually done more damage than benefit. They were good at fighting, butpletely inept when it came to matters like this.

    Gathering information was only the beginning. There was still a lot to do when it came toing up with a n.

    Even though Su Chen was smart, two heads were always better than one, even if one of them had a consciousness crystal in his head. The consciousness crystal was good at making calctions, not so much predictive analysis. Su Chen could use the consciousness crystal to memorize the vast sea of information and material presented, but it was much more efficient toe up with a n as a group.

    Of course, the secret still needed to be kept. Zhu Chenhuan and Su Chen had purposefully proposed a bunch of hypothetical scenarios to the underlings for them to solve, including how to best assume another person¡¯s identity. Lots of good ideas were provided to aplish this.

    One of the ideas in particr caught Su Chen¡¯s eye.

    One of the Zhu n¡¯s stewards was the one to propose the idea. In his view, it was impossible to fully assume a person¡¯s identity.

    Different people grew up in different environments, which would shape how their personality developed. Their intrinsic nature was hard to fake for more than a short period of time without being exposed. Even if your intrinsic nature was close to that of the target, there would still be gaps in lifestyle, habits, and knowledge.

    The allowable discrepancy in these matters was inversely proportional to the intelligence of the people you were trying to trick. The dumber the people being deceived were, the greater the allowable discrepancy. Unfortunately, Su Chen¡¯s task was to trick the Harpies, which was incredibly difficult, so it was safe to assume that tricking the Harpies was at the maximum difficulty level. In other words, the allowable discrepancy was very, very small.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, the steward believed that trying to assume another person¡¯s identity was basically impossible. Short-term deception was doable, but it was not going to be possible to trick the opponent for long.

    Since it was impossible topletely assume another person¡¯s identity, then what if that person was changed? If they went through some traumatic experience, then their personality would change as well.

    Su Chen felt that this was not a bad choice.

    That was how the n against Halcyon Wing Streak had been put into motion.

    There was nothing more traumatic than rape. That would definitely deal a serious blow to his consciousness.

    At that moment, Halcyon Wing Streak had beenpletely stripped, and it was impossible for him to move against their restriction.

    When he saw this, Su Chen said, "That¡¯s about enough."

    As he spoke, he shoved the door open, appearing in front of Halcyon Wing Streak and staring intently at him. "Look at me!"

    Halcyon Wing Streak immediately slipped into an unconscious state when he met Su Chen¡¯s gaze.

    Everything that would happen next would take ce in an illusion realm. The four brawny men took their leave.

    After a long time, Su Chen withdrew the illusion realm. Halcyon Wing Streaky on the ground, devoid of all strength.

    Su Chen nced at him, then took some white liquid and scattered it carelessly on the ground before leaving the room.

    Zhu Chenhuan was waiting for him outside.

    He said, "I don¡¯t understand why you didn¡¯t just let them loose on him. Why did you insist on using an illusion realm? It won¡¯t make a difference to him anyways. After all, a majority of the wounds inflicted because of rape are due to the consciousness. The body¡¯s wounds are not nearly as serious."

    ¡°It might not make a difference to him, but it does to me. No matter what, I do not want to break my bottom line,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Bottom line? I didn¡¯t know those words were part of your vocabry,¡± Zhu Chenhuan chuckled.

    ¡°Even if my bottom line is very low, I still have one,¡± Su Chen calmly replied.

    His reply was quite modest.

    Perhaps Su Chen would have used any method to reach his goals in the past, but as he had grown and matured, his horizons had been broadened and he began to see things from a different perspective. Naturally, it followed that his thought process would change as well.

    He no longer only considered the results when doing things now. If possible, he would rather do things more ethically.

    As his microscopic eye¡¯s ability had improved, he no longer needed to dissect his targets. If possible, he would still do his best to preserve them physically.

    This was a kind of maturity that had automatically developed as Su Chen grew older.

    His inventions were meant to create a better future, not to destroy everything.

    Su Chen¡¯s actions began to change when he realized this. He no longer insisted on tormenting his research subjects if he could still achieve results without it.

    As a person grew stronger, their emotional maturity would need to grow as well, which would allow them to better control their strength. This was a lesson that Su Chen had learned throughout the years.

    This was why he did not allow Halcyon Wing Streak to actually suffer this cmity. However, it was quite apparent that it wouldn¡¯t make much of a difference to Halcyon Wing Streak.

    After being sent back to the jail, his entire consciousness seemed to have copsed.

 Sect - Book 5, 67: Interrogation

    Chapter 67: Interrogation

    Halcyon Wing Streak didn¡¯t know how or when he had been returned to the jail cell.

    Hey motionless in a corner of the cell, staring sorrowfully at the sky. No matter how Moonless Face tried to get him to talk, it was pointless.

    Upon seeing this, Moonless Face roughly guessed what had happened. Even though he felt incredibly sorrowful in his heart, he could only sigh helplessly when faced with the situation.

    Su Chen and the others silently watched this take ce.

    This allowed Su Chen to better understand the rtionship between master and disciple.

    To Halcyon Wing Streak, however, this was only the beginning.

    The next morning, Halcyon Wing Streak was brought into the room yet again.

    Su Chen was still the one sitting there.

    ¡°Have a seat,¡± he said.

    Halcyon Wing Streak stared at Su Chen with intense hatred,pletely motionless.

    ¡°Oh? You still have energy to hate me?¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    Halcyon Wing Streak remained silent.

    ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, how about we have another go?¡±

    Su Chen stood and left, and the four men walked in yet again.

    What?

    Halcyon Wing Streak was stunned.

    What was more frightening than being raped once?

    Being raped twice!

    Halcyon Wing Streak was totally stunned at how cruel Su Chen was being at the slightest disy of uncooperativity.

    Yesterday¡¯s scene repeated itself once again.

    He was stripped, then Su Chen cast him into an illusion realm. After he underwent the experience, Su Chen tossed him back into the jail cell so that he could stew in his suffering longer.

    On the third day, when Halcyon Wing Streak was brought back into the room, he was much more obedient.

    Before Su Chen even told him to sit down, he sat down on his own.

    However, Su Chen still shook his head. ¡°I didn¡¯t tell you to sit yet. It seems like you still aren¡¯t that good at taking orders, but you will learn.¡±

    As he spoke, he left the room again.

    Halcyon Wing Streak felt like he was going to go crazy.

    That bastard was just trying toe up with ways to torment him!

    The three-fold assault to his consciousness had basically eradicated all of Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s pride and will. Because this torment was on a consciousness level, Halcyon Wing Streak was never going to be able to fully get used to it. In other words, even if it were to happen to him a hundred more times, he would still have a hard time limating.

    The next time Su Chen brought him out, he did not dare contradict Su Chen even the slightest bit.

    Halcyon Wing Streak was brought back into Su Chen¡¯s small room.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Sit.¡±

    Halcyon Wing Streak obediently sat down.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Tell me about your Arcana Techniques.¡±

    Halcyon Wing Streak was prepared to talk about matters rted to his n and hadn¡¯t expected Su Chen to ask him about his Arcana Techniques. After a moment of surprise, he asked, ¡°What do you want to know?¡±

    ¡°What kinds of Arcana techniques do you know?¡±

    There was always some information that was impossible to gather, so he needed to get that information straight from Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s mouth.

    Halcyon Wing Streak paused momentarily.

    He knew that he didn¡¯t have much time to hesitate, so he replied after but a moment of thought.

    Just as he was about to speak, Su Chen said, ¡°Before you say anything, I need to remind you of one thing. I have special methods that allow me to determine whether you are lying or not. Don¡¯t try to deceive me, because you will pay a price. Telling me the truth and answering the questions I ask you will only benefit you, and it will also save me time. Of course, you can choose to not believe me and give it a try. But believe me, I will know.¡±

    Halcyon Wing Streak stared at Su Chen for a long time before finally nodding and obediently describing all of the Arcana Techniques that he had mastered.

    As a Fifth-Ring Arcana Master, Halcyon Wing Streak had mastered a decent number of Arcana Techniques. All told, he knew how to use roughly a hundred Arcana Techniques, but in practice he only really used t en or so. Su Chen had no choice, however, but to master all of them. Thankfully, the consciousness crystal allowed Su Chen to quickly memorize the Arcana Techniques. After all, the consciousness technique was peerless in tasks of memorization and calction, making it so that Su Chen had an innate advantage when it came to mastering Arcana Techniques.

    Su Chen had Halcyon Wing Streak write down all of the Arcana Techniques he had used.

    Halcyon Wing Streak could tell that the opponent wanted to learn the Arcana Techniques he knew, but that wasn¡¯t a problem in his eyes. The Arcana Techniques he had mastered weren¡¯t particrly precious or rare, and even if they were, they were not worth suffering such torment to protect.

    As such, he obediently wrote out all of the Arcana Techniques he knew.

    In his mind, Su Chen was merely trying to test him. He didn¡¯t know that Su Chen really wanted to learn all of the Arcana Techniques that he had mastered.

    Once he had finished that task, Su Chen continued to give him orders. ¡°Write down the names of all of your n members and the members of your religious organization.¡±

    Even though the Zhu n had gathered some information for him, the information from Halcyon Wing Streak himself would be moreplete and urate. Su Chen wanted to dig out everything that Halcyon Wing Streak knew.

    This time, Halcyon Wing Streak finally felt that something wasn¡¯t right.

    When faced with his hesitation, Su Chen didn¡¯t say anything. He stood up and motioned as if to leave.

    Halcyon Wing Streak immediately realized what was going to happen and yelled anxiously. ¡°I¡¯ll write, I¡¯ll write!¡±

    Su Chen sat back down.

    After going through this series of frightening experiences, Halcyon Wing Streak learned one more thing - not only did he need to obey, but he also needed to obey without hesitation.

    This was naturally because Su Chen didn¡¯t want to give him any time to think.

    Halcyon Wing Streak wasn¡¯t an idiot. If Su Chen gave him enough time, he would quickly realize what the root of the problem was. As such, Su Chen demanded that Halcyon Wing Streak follow his orders as soon as he gave them, turning Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s fear into the necessary motivation for him to act immediately.

    Only when he had learned to give up on thinking and instinctively followed Su Chen¡¯smands would Su Chen ask him stranger questions.

    Such as:

    ¡°Apart from the members of your n and your religious organization, what friends do you have?¡±

    ¡°What mischievous acts did you perform when you were a child?¡±

    ¡°What urrences left a deep impression on you?¡±

    ¡°Who do you have a hard time forgetting?¡±

    ¡°Who have you liked?¡±

    ¡°Who has liked you?¡±

    ¡°Who annoys you?¡±

    ¡°Who have you annoyed?¡±

    ¡°Have you ever done something that let someone down? How about vice versa?¡±

    ¡°What ambitions have you had? Have you ever wanted to be the leader of your n? Or one of the bishops of the Mother Goddess Sect?¡±

    ¡°What is your view on the current political situation of your country? What does your master think about those things? What do you think about him? What does he think about you?¡±

    ¡°Do you control anyone¡¯s secrets? Does anyone control your secrets?¡±

    The questions came in an unending deluge, assaulting Halcyon Wing Streak from every direction.

    Halcyon Wing Streak had no time to think, so he could only answer obediently.

    Even so, he gradually began to realize something.

    He stared at Su Chen in fright.

    As if he was looking at a monster.

    ¡°You...... you want to rece me?¡±

    Even though disguise techniques were not particrlymon, they weren¡¯t so rare as to bepletely unheard of. If Halcyon Wing Streak was still unable to figure out what was happening, he was truly an idiot.

    ¡°Well, perhaps.¡±

    This was the first time that Su Chen had answered one of his questions.

    At this point, there was no meaning in continuing to try and hide it.

    ¡°You will not seed! We have special screening techniques that won¡¯t allow any foreigners to easily sneak in!¡± Halcyon Wing Streak said seriously.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m making my preparations now. We will seed,¡± Su Chen chuckled, offering Halcyon Wing Streak a rare exnation.

    Halcyon Wing Streak stared at Su Chen in shock for a long time before he said, ¡°Since you have admitted to it, you are going to kill me now, right?¡±

    ¡°No, I won¡¯t kill you.¡± Unexpectedly, Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Even though you havepletely answered all of my questions up until this point, no one knows what gaps still exist in my knowledge. I might have forgotten to ask a question, or you forgot to provide aplete answer. No one knows which is the case. I can tell whether or not you are lying, but it would only be normal for you to have forgotten something. That¡¯s why I won¡¯t kill you. I will keep you alive; otherwise, I won¡¯t even have an opportunity to find out the answer in the future. And just as you said, the Harpies are cautious. No one can sneak in easily, which is why I must keep you alive.¡±

    ¡°Keep me alive? Are you nning on......¡± Halcyon Wing Streak stared intently at him.

    ¡°Yes, I will bring you back to the Harpies alive. Well, more specifically, you will be the one bringing me back to the Harpies,¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    He stood and said, ¡°Fine. Now that you have answered my questions, you will follow my instructions to the letter if you want to stay alive.¡±

    He ced his hand on Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s head.

    ¡°What are you trying to do?¡± Halcyon Wing Streak yelled, panicked.

    ¡°I¡¯m wiping out your memories of today. I managed to research this technique recently, so I¡¯m not too familiar with how to use it quite yet. If you don¡¯t want to die, you will need to cooperate with me. If I can¡¯t wipe out your memories, I can only wipe you out.¡±

    Halcyon Wing Streak felt incredibly stifled, but there was nothing he could do.

    No wonder Su Chen had answered his suspicions so readily. He had this technique prepared in advance.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯ll only be today¡¯s memories,¡± Su Chen continued to say.

    Selectively wiping out a person¡¯s memories was not an easy feat. The target¡¯s resistance was the biggest hindrance to sessfully aplishing this.

    Halcyon Wing Streak could only agree to cooperate with him.

    Halcyon Wing Streak might have instinctively resisted Su Chen wanting to erase all of his memories, but there would likely be very little resistance towards wiping out a day¡¯s memories. Given that there was an opportunity for him to survive and even return home, his instinctive defenses would be lowered to their lowest point. Halcyon Wing Streak would be able to easily direct Su Chen, at the same time lowering his own defenses and giving Su Chen an easy path through his mind.

    Unfortunately, Su Chen couldn¡¯t yet fully grasp Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s memories, but even so, Su Chen had quite a good understanding of the profound secrets of the consciousness.

    As he was interrogating his opponent, he also performed a consciousness experiment at the same time.

    How wonderful!

    When Su Chen ced his hand on Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s forehead, Halcyon Wing Streak suddenly felt a sense of familiarity.

    He seemed to have thought of something and stared at Su Chen in shock.

    He asked, ¡°If I forget my memories from today, then will you interrogate me another time?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Su Chen smiled slightly.

    ¡°Is this the special technique you mentioned that would help you determine if I was lying or not?¡±

    Halcyon Wing Streak could not possibly remember the lies he had told in the past if his memories were wiped, which gave Su Chen a good way of determining whether or not he was lying.

    If there were any answers that didn¡¯t line up in his second interrogation, Su Chen would immediately know.

    No wonder Su Chen had been so confident that he would know when Halcyon Wing Streak was lying.

    When he heard Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s question, Su Chenughed.

    ¡°How do you think I knew today that you weren¡¯t lying?¡±

    Halcyon Wing Streak was taken aback.

    Could it be......

    ¡°This is your twelfth time being interrogated. But I can promise you that it won¡¯t be thest.¡± Su Chen¡¯s voice echoed through Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s ears like the voice of a demon.

 Sect - Book 5, 68: Visit 1

    Chapter 68: Visit (1)

    The sixty Harpy captives had been split up into pairs and put into thirty different cells. The Zhu n didn¡¯t have that many jail cells, and they had repurposed a few other locations in order to get enough space.

    Jade Brilliance¡¯s cellmate was an older Harpy.

    The older Harpy was quite ancient. He stammered when he spoke, and his mind was muddled, so Jade Brilliance didn¡¯t like him very much. From time to time, he would even start giving voice to the delusions that he believed in.

    He always talked about how he was a famous Harpy with great status and that he had run into some kind of fortuitous encounter. The only reason he had been captured by the humans was because he had identally run into them while trying to excavate this treasures, which was how he had gotten locked up.

    Jade Brilliance felt like he was going to go crazy if he paid any attention to the old man, so most of the time he ignored the old Harpy.

    However, the jail cell was only so big. There was only so much he could do to try and hide.

    ¡°Young man, why do you not believe me? I¡¯m telling the truth. It¡¯s right near ck River Valley. An Astral left behind a precious treasure there. That ce is full of riches and resources, as well as precious Arcana Techniques. I am only telling you this because you have taken care of me a few times. Remember, find the three-headed Medusa in that broken-down shrine and choose the head on the right side, and you will be able to open the pathway to those riches......¡± the old man muttered.

    ¡°Medusas don¡¯t have three heads,¡± Jade Brilliance said

    ¡°That¡¯s why it works well as a secret mechanism.¡±

    ¡°I only hope that you can stop being delusional,¡± Jade Brilliance sighed.

    The old man was a bit dissatisfied, but in the end all he did was mutter a few incoherent sentences before falling silent.

    A few momentster, some guards arrived on the scene.

    The same warden with jowls of fat was in the lead again, but this time he took away the old man.

    He charged in the jail cell and brusquely grabbed the old man, shoving him out of the cell.

    ¡°What are you guys doing?¡± Even though Jade Brilliance didn¡¯t really like the delusional old man, he still couldn¡¯t help but cry out.

    ¡°Get the hell out of my way!¡± The warden shoved Jade Brilliance aside and left with the old Harpy in tow.

    Jade Brilliance had watched Halcyon Wing Streak return to his jail cell before, and he knew that the oue of this old man was not likely to be good. But all he could do was watch the old man be taken away. There was nothing he could do.

    After roughly an hour, the old man returned.

    He was clearly on hisst breath, having been beaten to within an inch of his life.

    ¡°Those humans are really a bunch of barbarians!¡± Jade Brilliance said angrily.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not really strange,¡± the old man replied. ¡°The humans imprisoned in our jails are probably also being treated like this, right? In the end, it¡¯s all fair.¡±

    ¡°You still have the heart to speak on their behalf?¡± Jade Brilliance didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°Heh. I¡¯m just pointing out the truth,¡± the old man replied in a strange tone of voice.

    The way he spoke was a bit unfamiliar to Jade Brilliance. Jade Brilliance stared at him strangely. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you?¡±

    The old man sighed, ¡°Not much. I¡¯m about to die, so I guess my sight is bing more and more lucid.¡±

    About to die?

    Jade Brilliance was stunned. ¡°You...... are you serious?¡±

    The old man grabbed Jade Brilliance¡¯s hand. ¡°I am the clearest about my own condition. I am already old, and my bones are rickety. Those guys beat me until my inner organs ruptured, and since I have no way of using Origin Energy, I will slowly die. Perhaps it won¡¯t be long until that happens.¡±

    Jade Brilliance was obviously startled when he heard these words.

    He began to howl to anyone outside the prison. ¡°Hey, is there anyone there? He¡¯s about to die! Someone, send a doctor to save him? Or at least let him use a bit of Origin Energy!¡±

    No one answered.

    The other Harpy captives nced in his direction, their eyes filled withpassion and sorrow.

    ¡°Don¡¯t waste your time,¡± the old man murmured. ¡°Come here, young man. Before I die, I have a secret I want to tell you.¡±

    Jade Brilliance shook his head. ¡°Don¡¯t say anymore about that treasure stash.¡±

    ¡°No, it has nothing to do with the treasure stash,¡± the old man replied. ¡°It¡¯s another secret about something here in t Sky City.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Jade Brilliance was obviously stunned.

    The old man waved his hand, motioning for Jade Brilliance to lean in.

    Then, he gently whispered in Jade Brilliance¡¯s ear, ¡°Listen to me carefully. There is a strange realm beneath the very ground we stand on.¡±

    As he gently muttered words into Jade Brilliance¡¯s ears, Jade Brilliance¡¯s eyes grewrger andrger.

    ¡°Are you...... telling the truth?¡±

    ¡°Absolutely!¡±

    ¡°Then how did you find out about this?¡±

    ¡°Do you remember Flowing me Oriole, from the capital?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I do.¡± Jade Brilliance¡¯s face reddened slightly.

    Of course he remembered the Sanskrit Chanter of the Gentle Voice Nest. He had even had some feelings for her at one point.

    Unfortunately, she was taken away not long after she arrived. Where she was now, no one knew.

    The old man said, ¡°She was the one who told me.¡±

    ¡°Are you saying that this was all because of her?¡± Jade Brilliance was stunned.

    The old man nodded. ¡°Yes, but unfortunately she failed. However, she didn¡¯tpletely fail. The humans are still unaware of the existence of this secret.¡±

    ¡°But I don¡¯t remember you evering into contact with her,¡± Jade Brilliance said.

    ¡°This happened when I was still outside. She told me this when I ran into her.¡±

    ¡°Why did she tell you of all people?¡±

    ¡°She had no choice,¡± the old Harpy replied. ¡°She knew that she was about to die, but the secret of the n for the great resurrection of the Harpies could not die with her. She needed to pass it on to someone else so that they could take the secret with them. Now, I am about to die, so I have no other choice. I can only tell you and pray that you will have an opportunity to speak with them.¡±

    ¡°With who?¡±

    ¡°Purple Forest Stream...... the diplomatic party that was sent this time.¡±

    Jade Brilliance immediately understood. ¡°So they aren¡¯t after the captives, but that thing.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, but only by finding you will they be able to determine the location of that treasure,¡± the old man said.

    ¡°So what?¡± Jade Brilliance shook his head. ¡°They aren¡¯t here to try and save us, and we won¡¯t be able to get in contact with them.¡±

    ¡°I will create an opportunity for you,¡± the old man said as he gripped Jade Brilliance¡¯s hand firmly. ¡°As long as you promise me to notify them of this secret, no matter what the cost may be!¡±

    As the old man spoke with burning passion, Jade Brilliance felt like a heavy burden had suddenly fallen on his shoulders.

    This matter was rted to the Harpies¡¯ future expansion and the sessful formation of the sixth Floating Point. He would aplish this mission, even if he had to pay the price of his own life in the process.

    In that moment, Jade Brilliance felt like he had beenmissioned to create Harpy history.

    He nodded his head diligently. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, old man. As long as I can get in contact with them, I will definitely notify them. But...... how will we get in contact with them in the first ce?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, child. The diplomatic party came here in name for the sake of the captives, but they haven¡¯t taken any concrete steps to aplish that goal yet. They haven¡¯t even met with the captives yet, so the Zhu n is beginning to grow suspicious. They beat and interrogated me to try and figure out the true intentions of the diplomatic party. The diplomatic party shoulde shortly to see us, and that will be our opportunity...... ¡± the old man replied.

    A dayter.

    Within the Zhu n¡¯s main hall.

    Purple Forest Stream sat in the guest¡¯s seat as he chuckled along with Zhu Yunyan, ¡°Matriarch Zhu, I am merely the head of this lowly diplomatic group carrying out the orders of my superiors. I don¡¯t have the authority to make many decisions. These negotiations are not something that I can decide on my own. In this period of time, we haven¡¯t made much progress, but part of that reason is because I am waiting for my country to respond. They are the ones who need to make up their mind before our negotiations can proceed smoothly. This is the only reason our negotiations are dragging on like this. I hope you can forgive us for this.¡±

    Zhu Yunyan replied calmly, ¡°You say that, but I still feel like your focus is not on those captives. You have been in t Sky City for a number of days now, right? Yet you haven¡¯t even asked about how the people you are here to exchange for are doing. Are you not worried that we might mistreat one of the captives and they die identally?¡±

    Purple Forest Stream said hurriedly, ¡°Of course, we have faith in Matriarch Zhu.¡±

    Zhu Yunyan said immediately, ¡°That¡¯s hard to say. Yesterday, one of the Zhu n¡¯s subordinates drank too much wine and beat up one of the Harpy captives. He used a bit too much force, and it seems like that captive won¡¯t be able to live for very long. Even though I have already punished him, the matter has already taken ce. Ai, it¡¯s all my fault for not disciplining my subordinates enough. But this n is just too big. The more people there are, the more likely it is that these kinds of loopholes will be present. Who knows when the next victim will emerge?¡±

    Purple Forest Stream immediately jumped to his feet.

    He naturally wouldn¡¯t care too much about the death of a single Harpy, but since he hade to exchange for the captives, he needed to put on the right kind of show. ¡°Matriarch Zhu, how could you do something like that?¡±

    Zhu Yunyan rolled her eyes at him. ¡°I already told you that I wasn¡¯t the one who did that. In any case, if you don¡¯t care about them, why should I?¡±

    ¡°This......¡± Purple Forest Stream knew that they hadn¡¯t handled the matter of the captives very well, which was why they had incurred the suspicion of the other party.

    After a moment of thought, Purple Forest Stream said, ¡°It was because I believed in Matriarch Zhu¡¯s character that I was so rxed. Now, it seems that we must investigate how the Zhu n has been taking care of the captives before weplete the exchange.¡±

    ¡°Oh? How are you nning on investigating?¡± Zhu Yunyan¡¯s eyebrows jumped.

    ¡°I want to go and take a look at mypatriots and investigate their physical condition. You must immediately heal the one who was wounded and promise me that nothing like this will happen again!¡± Purple Forest Stream pretended to act angry.

    This act was quiteical in the eyes of those who knew that their opponents were slippery up to no good..

    Zhu Yunyan forcefully tried to repress her desire tough but failed, resulting in a cold chuckle spilling out of her mouth. ¡°You say it like it¡¯s incredibly easy. Do you think you can just go and see them whenever you want?¡±

    Purple Forest Stream let out a long sigh. He knew that if he retreated now, the opponent would only grow more suspicious. After all, some of the Zhu n¡¯s members had begun to tail them two days ago.

    When he thought to this point, Purple Forest Stream said, ¡°We also brought some presents with us this time. Please, Matriarch Zhu, ept our goodwill.¡±

    As he spoke, he pped his hands. A Harpy subordinate stepped forwards, an Origin Ring in his hands.

    Zhu Yunyan took a look inside the Origin Ring and immediately smiled. ¡°Oh, now you¡¯re showing sincerity. Since that¡¯s the case...... Xianyao, go and show them around the jail.¡±

 Sect - Book 5, 69: Visit 2

    Chapter 69: Visit (2)

    To Purple Forest Stream, going to the Zhu n¡¯s prison to inspect the prisoners was merely a duty that he needed to fulfill. Even though he cared for the fate of these Harpies as a Harpy himself, these Harpies were not his goal in the end, so he could only apologize to them in his heart.

    Of course, he still put on a caring act, as if the lives of these Harpies still mattered to him.

    After entering the prison, he began to carefully inspect and note down the circumstances the Harpies were living in, saying things like ¡°This ce is too dim,¡± ¡°This room is too small,¡¯¡¯ ¡°Why do you need to put them in restraints if their ability to use Origin Energy has been sealed?¡±, ¡°They are all Harpies that will be freed soon, so they should not be beaten and interrogated,¡± etc.

    Zhu Yunyan chuckled, ¡°I can understand your desire to protect your fellowpatriots. But even though these Harpies seem quite dispirited, I can assure you that their condition is quite good. See? Aren¡¯t they all alive and well?¡±

    She pointed around herself. The countless Harpy prisoners gazed at Purple Forest Stream like they were looking at a lifeline.

    Purple Forest Stream knew that he was about to let down hispatriots and sighed in his heart as he said, ¡°Can I spend some time alone with them?¡±

    Zhu Yunyanughed drily. ¡°You¡¯re making things hard for me. You should know that¡¯s not possible.¡±

    Purple Forest Stream had said this on purpose, so when Zhu Yunyan refused him, he was able to use it as an excuse to leave. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, then forget about it. I only hope that Patriarch Zhu can......¡±

    ¡±AH!¡±

    A sudden cry from one of the jail cells interrupted their conversation.

    As they turned around to nce at the source of the sound, they found a young Harpy standing in front of the door to the cell and yelling, ¡°He¡¯s not going to live for much longer! Please, save him, save him!¡±

    Zhu Yunyan had just said that everyone was alive and well. This was equivalent to a big, public p in the face.

    Her expression sank as she walked over and barked, ¡°What are you yelling about?¡±

    The young Harpy said, ¡°Please, Madame, look at him. He¡¯s really about to die!¡±

    Purple Forest Stream also walked over quickly

    He saw an old Harpy lying inside the jail cell, his aura extremely weak.

    He could not afford to pretend like he had seen nothing just out of principle.

    Purple Forest Stream¡¯s expression also sank. ¡°Matriarch Zhu, you promised me before that these captives would be fine.¡±

    ¡°I already told you that one of the Zhu n¡¯s members went crazy after drinking too much wine and wounded one of the Harpies. It seems like it was this one. Calm down, okay?¡± After confirming that it wasn¡¯t a new Harpy captive who had been injured, Zhu Yunyan¡¯s expression rxed as she turned around and said, ¡°Open the door to this cell and bring this old man out.¡±

    A guard opened the prison door and brought the old Harpy out.

    Zhu Yunyan took his pulse quickly and said, ¡°He won¡¯t be able tost past noon.¡±

    When the young Harpy heard this, he knelt on the ground and began to bawl.

    The old Harpyy on the ground, staring at Purple Forest Stream weakly. He said in a low voice, ¡°Is this...... Harpy...... here...... to save us?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but it seems like you won¡¯tst until then,¡± Zhu Yunyan said.

    The old Harpy lifted his arm, trembling as he pointed at the young Harpy behind him. ¡°His name is...... Jade Brilliance...... Please...... Take him away......¡±

    Purple Forest Stream frowned. ¡°This......¡±

    He had no heart to continue lying. In that moment, he had an impulse to tell those Harpies not to hold onto hope because he wasn¡¯t even there for them at all. They were merely a cover so that he could carry out his mission.

    Thankfully, he managed to wrangle his emotions under control, but he was going to have a hard time continuing to lie to this old Harpy who was about to die.

    The old Harpy suddenly stood and charged forwards, as if the sudden surge of energy right before his death had spurred him into action. He shoved aside the guard next to him and leapt at Purple Forest Stream.

    The wings on his back unfurled, blocking the pursuers in their tracks as he pressed in close to Purple Forest Stream.

    ¡°You?¡± Purple Forest Stream stared at the other party in shock.

    The old Harpy¡¯s eyes seemed to be glowing with fire as he grabbed Purple Forest Stream by the throat. He spoke in a low voice, ¡°Save him...... He knows about Flowing me Oriole¡¯s secret......¡±

    Boom!

    A bolt of lightning seemed to have mmed into Purple Forest Stream¡¯s head, totally stunning him.

    An instantter, the old man¡¯s wings retracted. The guards charged forwards and pulled the old Harpy aside, only to find that the old Harpy was motionless. He had already died.

    So that lunge and grasp had expended thest bit of energy in his body.

    At this point in time, his final wish had been fulfilled, so he died cleanly inside of slowly passing away.

    ¡°Matriarch, he has died. Forgive me for my inability, which allowed him to......¡± the guard said, trembling with fear.

    ¡°Forget about it. It¡¯s not a big deal anyways,¡± Zhu Yunyan waved her hand casually, then stared at Purple Forest Stream suspiciously. ¡°That old man...... did he say anything to you?¡±

    Purple Forest Stream forcefully calmed himself down, then sucked in a breath of cold air. ¡°No, he just hoped that I would be able to lead everyone out of here. He wanted to use his own life to exhort me. That old Harpy...... I feel sorry for him. No matter what, I will fulfill hisst wishes.¡±

    Purple Forest Stream knew that he couldn¡¯t just try and save one person. It seemed like the only option avable to him now was to save all of the Harpies.

    All he could do now was hope that the young Harpy did in fact have the secret he needed.

    Upon hearing Purple Forest Stream¡¯s words, Zhu Yunyan chuckled. ¡°Naturally. The Zhu n is also hoping toplete this transaction.¡±

    Now that he had received such shocking news, Purple Forest Stream had no heart in remaining here any longer. After making a quick round, he left in a hurry. Zhu Yunyan chuckled as he watched his departing figure.

    The old Harpy was naturally Su Chen in disguise.

    The diplomacy group was incapable and couldn¡¯t find the location of the brood mother. As such, Su Chen had been forced to think of a way to notify them himself.

    How to notify them was a big problem.

    The simplest method was to take on Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s identity and notify the diplomacy party of his own ord.

    However, the Zhu n¡¯s advisors rejected that n.

    Even though they were unclear what Su Chen and Zhu Chenhuan were trying to do, they had managed to guess some of the content based on the proposed scenario. As such, they pointed out that linking the person who had provided the information with the person who was infiltrating the higher ranks of the Harpy echelon was just beingzy. Clearly, they were just trying to avoid thinking too much.

    The reality was that these two people didn¡¯t need to be identical.

    The person leaking the information could be one person, while the person infiltrating the higher ranks could be another.

    There was no reason why these couldn¡¯t be carried out separately.

    Even if the person acting out both of these roles was the same person.

    This made everything much easier to take care ofter on.

    The simplest exnation was that, even if Su Chen was exposed while assuming Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s identity, no suspicion would be brought onto the broodmother. On the other hand, if suspicion arose about the broodmother, Halcyon Wing Streak wouldn¡¯t be implicated. Since the two were not linked, the safety of either side was much higher.

    For this reason, the person to divulge the information about the broodmother needed to be another Harpy.

    Jade Brilliance and the old Harpy had been chosen under these kinds of circumstances.

    The old Harpy had indeed encountered Flowing me Oriole in the capital, but they had only just happened to bump into each other. There was no way that Flowing me Oriole could have told her secret to a stranger that she basically didn¡¯t know at all.

    But that didn¡¯t matter. Using that encounter as a pretext was more than sufficient.

    The group of advisors also came up with a n to use two people to divulge the information. One would obtain the information from Flowing me Oriole, while the other would pass on the information to Purple Forest Stream. This would further ensure the istedness of the information. Flowing me Oriole had died, as had the old Harpy. The only person alive who still knew about the secret was Jade Brilliance. However, Jade Brilliance didn¡¯t know Flowing me Oriole, which covered up most of any holes which existed.

    Purple Forest Stream and his entourage could suspect all they wanted, but they would discover in the end that there was no way for them to verify their suspicions.

    Not to mention that they had no suspicions about this in the first ce.

    They wanted the broodmother too much!

    Under these kinds of circumstances, everything would be reasonable.

    Purple Forest Stream met with Scattered Moon Mist again, and the negotiations the day after proceeded much more rapidly.

    The diplomatic party agreed to the Zhu n¡¯s requests. First, the Zhu n¡¯s merchants were given express permission to do business in Harpy territory. This authority was limited to the Zhu n. Once every year, they could send no more than fifty people to do business, and at the same time t Sky City needed to allow a designated n free passage through their territory as well. Second, they were given franchising rights over a number of resources, including twelve items of contraband, with restrictions in quantity. Third, forty humans with simr levels of strength would be released, with the exact individuals being determinedter.

    Special passage was an incredibly important privilege. Even now, very few individuals amongst the two races possessed this kind of authority. The granting of these special privileges often was the result of lots of political maneuvering and promises of financial gain. With this special passage, they would be able to travel between the borders of the two kingdoms as they pleased to do business.

    Anyone who could obtain this privilege controlled the all-important flow of resources. Since very few people had the authority to do so, anyone who did could stand to make an incredible sum of money.

    The management rights were for specific resources. The two races would asionally need to exchange resources necessary for cultivation or battle, but this process was illegal without prior approval. Only people with the appropriate franchising rights were allowed to buy and sell these special resources.

    The Zhu n and the diplomatic party had fought long and hard over this second condition.

    There was not much to discuss regarding the first condition, since it was just a matter of whether the Harpies were willing to give it or not. Since there were already humans who possessed special passage rights, it wasn¡¯t a problem to grant this privilege to a few more humans as well.

    There were many details to be hashed out concerning the second condition, however, since both the quantity that could be sold and the different resources that could be sold were both negotiable.

    The Zhu n had opened their mouth wide, demanding to be allowed to openly trade all contraband. The Harpies naturally disagreed, and the two parties had fought over this for some time. Since the Harpies had not originally nned onpleting these negotiations, they had purposefully dragged their feet in amodating the Zhu n¡¯s requests. Now that they knew one of the prisoners possessed the secret of the broodmother, Scattered Moon Mist agreed to lift bans on twelve of the resources, which was quite generous. This was very amodating.

    As for the forty human captives, this was mostly done to save the Harpies some face.

    Even though they framed it like it was an exchange of hostages, if they did a one-to-one trade, then why would the Harpies still give the Zhu n so many benefits? Even though technically the Zhu n had given the Harpies free reign as well, the Zhu n could only promise passage through t Sky City, while the Harpies had promised them passage through the whole Sky City. Were the twoparable?

    The same went for the special business permissions. t Sky City had given the Harpies permission to buy and sell any local resources avable, but how many contraband resources did t Sky City have in the first ce? Could itpare to the resources that the massive Sky City would have?

    This deficit of twenty humans was meant to make up for the other unequal exchanges.

    This way, it would seem like the Harpies loved theirpatriots more and were willing to give up more privileges just to save an additional person.

    As for whether saving twenty extra Harpies was worth this kind of price - who dared say to their face that the Harpies weren¡¯t worth it?

    What was the value of an individual life? That was hard to determine.

    In theory, the value of a life was very high, but in practice the opposite was usually true.

    Throughout their negotiations, neither party had taken the captives seriously. Instead, they had used them as bargaining chips to probe the other party.

    The Harpies waved the banner of righteousness as they happily signed an agreement with the Zhu n to purchase back these sixty...... no, fifty-nine captives. The Zhu n felt a bit embarrassed and offered to bring one more from the capital to return to them, but Purple Forest Stream waved his hand magnanimously and waived it.

 Sect - Book 5, 70: Abroad 1

    Chapter 70: Abroad (1)

    The notice was finally sent, and Su Chen sighed in relief.

    Yes, he was still at the Zhu n.

    It was still not the right time for him to go with them.

    After the Harpies took away those captives, they would definitely investigate all of the Harpy captives thoroughly to ensure that the Zhu n wasn¡¯t up to any tricks.

    Of course, they wouldn¡¯t discover anything, and even if they did, the Zhu n would have left it behind on purpose in order to satisfy their vain pride.

    As for Halcyon Wing Streak, he was merely a former noble whose mind had copsed after being raped. He was not worth mentioning, and perhaps they would even be able to use his case to protest and obtain some more benefits.

    That was exactly what happened.

    With Jade Brilliance¡¯s assistance, Scattered Moon Mist and the others very quickly discovered the broodmother¡¯s whereabouts.

    When Jade Brilliance saw the broodmother, which had grown quite significantly in size, she let out a long sigh. "We¡¯ve finally found it."

    "This is the thing that we¡¯ve been looking for?" Purple Forest Stream was taken aback.

    "That¡¯s right." Scattered Moon Mist walked over and ced her hand on the broodmother.

    The broodmother made no signs of retaliating.

    Even so, Scattered Moon Mist still probed it momentarily before she nodded. ¡°It has indeed been Soul Stamped...... Tell me, who are you loyal to?¡±

    ¡°My first loyalty is to the Harpies, my second loyalty to the Gentle Voice Nest, and my third loyalty to Flowing me Oriole,¡± the broodmother replied.

    Upon hearing these words, Scattered Moon Mist frowned. ¡°How bold of Flowing me Oriole, to tamper with the Soul Seal and include herself.¡±

    Soul Stamp¡¯s loyalty content had extremely strict requirements, but Flowing me Oriole had never told Su Chen, so Su Chen never knew.

    But even if he didn¡¯t know, he could still make things up.

    Everyone had some selfishness in them, including Flowing me Oriole. Since she was here to carry out the Harpies¡¯ orders, it was difficult for her not to have any selfish desires. As such, the current situation was not actually that strange.

    The three loyalty targets Su Chen had provided demonstrated that Flowing me Oriole was both aware of the situation as a whole and had some selfish intentions. This was incredibly realistic, so even though Scattered Moon Mist was unhappy, she believed it immediately.

    Thankfully, now that Flowing me Oriole was dead, Scattered Moon Mist was given an opportunity. She immediately said, ¡°I need to adjust the target of your loyalty. You will be loyal to Eternal Night and the head of the Mother Goddess Sect, Serene Dream Lotus Crown. Only they and their deputies may control you."

    The broodmother replied dully, "You are not the owner of this Soul Stamp, so you cannot change my loyalty."

    Scattered Moon Mist said, "Flowing me Oriole has died, so the chain ofmand is problematic and needs to be fixed."

    "There is nothing to fix. Order rejected."

    Scattered Moon Mist¡¯s expression changed slightly. "Your first loyalty is to the Harpies. Eternal Night and Serene Dream Lotus Crown are the representatives of the Harpies."

    "Order understood and epted," the broodmother replied woodenly like a puppet.

    Scattered Moon Mist sighed with relief.

    The remaining issues would be much easier to resolve. Scattered Moon Mist was the Harpy delegate sent here and had been given a tool to control the broodmother temporarily. After a brief conversation with the broodmother, Scattered Moon Mist was able to get a rough understanding of the situation.

    "So the Stargold Mine is very important to you?"

    The broodmother replied, "More precisely, all of the mines here are important to me. They were formed from the corpse of the Gold-Devouring Ape ande from the same source. Absorbing them will be exceptionally helpful for my growth."

    "How do you know?"

    "Flowing me Oriole told me. She hoped that I could stay here longer, but after she left thest time, she didn¡¯t return."

    "At least she didn¡¯t betray our expectations and managed to send word back to us," Scattered Moon Mist sighed.

    "So what should we do? There are many veins of Stargold here, and we won¡¯t have any way of extracting them all, not to mention that time doesn¡¯t allow for it," Purple Forest Stream asked.

    Scattered Moon Mist replied after some thought, "Since the broodmother wants Stargold, we should do our best to satisfy its wants. Haven¡¯t we alreadypleted our preliminary negotiations with them? They have given us permission to gather resources from t Sky City as we please. Originally, this was just a facade, but now it seems like it is actually very necessary for us. Tell the Zhu n that we want all of their Stargold Mines."

    "If that¡¯s the case, our opponents will probably increase their asking price," Purple Forest Stream said anxiously.

    "Then so be it. Any price we have to pay is small in the face of the Floating Point n."

    News very quickly reached the Zhu n. Everything unfolded just as expected.

    The Zhu n ended up agreeing. Even though they did end up asking for morepensation, their demands were not unreasonable.

    The Harpies, the Zhu n, and Su Chen were all very satisfied.

    Scattered Moon Mist was content because she had managed toplete her mission, while Zhu Chenhuan and Su Chen were happy because someone had finally bought the Stargold Mines from them. In theory, this lump sum should have belonged to Su Chen alone, but Su Chen decided to split it evenly with the Zhu n as a dowry for Zhu Xianyao.

    Not long afterwards, the Harpies prepared to return. Since they had the broodmother in hand, they were worried about any further difficulties if they didn¡¯t leave soon. As for the Stargold, it was enough for the Zhu n would just send what they had mined to Sky City once a year.

    A few dayster, the Harpies officially left.

    The diplomatic party departed from t Sky City back to Sky Country territory. However, they didn¡¯t leave alone; the Zhu n¡¯s diplomatic envoy also went with them.

    Yes, this time it was the Zhu n¡¯s turn to send a diplomatic group over.

    The Zhu n¡¯s diplomatic envoy was sent to protect the Stargold shipment, ording to their agreement. The Zhu n borrowed the opportunity to more fully open up the trade routes between the two countries, helping Scattered Moon Mist and the others render an ount to the empire showing that the Harpies had also profited from the exchange. Therge amount of Stargold was evidence of this. On the other hand, Liaoye Country¡¯s nobles had made many requests of the Zhu n when they were selecting the list of captives to be exchanged for, so this was an opportunity to indebt them. Since the Zhu n was part of Liaoye Country, their business with the Sky City needed to be approved by Liaoye Country¡¯s emperor. Those Bloodline Nobility ns would be able to help the Zhu n in this endeavor so that the Zhu n wouldn¡¯t need to pay a high price to aplish this. In any case, political negotiations were always a bncing act. No side could swallow all the benefits. The Zhu n still needed to portion out the appropriate benefits.

    However, this was merely a superficial reason. The true reason they were being sent was to help deal with some of the barriers Su Chen might face in the future.

    This was also an idea that the Zhu n¡¯s advisors had proposed.

    The Zhu n clearly ced an incredible amount of importance on Su Chen. After all, his sess or failure was rted to obtaining an entire fort.

    To ensure that Su Chen would be unhindered, they had thought up all kinds of different tactics. One of these ideas was to simrly send a diplomatic envoy to Sky City. This diplomatic envoy could escort Su Chen; though they wouldn¡¯t be able to guarantee his safety, they would at least be able to support him, unlike how Su Chen had been forced to infiltrate Ravager territory on his own.

    Entering Harpy territory as a human was actually much safer than entering while pretending to be a Harpy. Su Chen would be able to use this opportunity to determine whether or not it was still feasible for him to try and impersonate a Harpy.

    The matter with Halcyon Wing Streak was merely preparatory.

    Zhu Chenhuan hoped that this preparation would never need to be used, while Su Chen was quite eager to give it a try.

    The two massive Cloud-Piercing Shuttles flew slowly through the sky.

    These shuttles were also powered by Origin Stones and moved by manipting the air around them. They looked just like dragons slowly meandering across the sky. The increased carrying capacity of these gigantic shuttles came at the cost of movement speed.

    Su Chen stood at the head of the boat and watched the scenery pass by below him as he said, ¡°Based on this speed, it will take us at least six or seven days to reach Sky City.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s actually ten days,¡± Zhu Yunyan said. ¡°Once we reach Harpy territory, we will first need to pass through the Origin Light Castle and the Chaos Tower before we reach Sky City. They will probably thoroughly search and interrogate us before letting us through, so our progress will probably be quite slow.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. But now that you mention Chaos Tower, there¡¯s one thing I don¡¯t quite understand,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°Apparently Chaos Tower was constructed on top of a muddled Deste Beast. But aren¡¯t most Deste Beasts in hibernation? Why can this Deste Beast still survive in the outside world?¡±

    Zhu Yunyan replied, ¡°This is indeed an interesting question, one that many people are fascinated by. Unfortunately, this has been kept a secret amongst the Harpies this whole time. Even unto this day, no one really knows.¡±

    ¡°I guess I shouldn¡¯t be surprised you don¡¯t know the answer either,¡± Su Chen sighed.

    The Harpies had five floating forts in total, but Chaos Tower was the one Su Chen was the most interested in.

    A fort established on the back of a Deste Beast was interesting because, in some sense, a Deste Beast was even more valuable. Su Chen didn¡¯t know how the Harpies were sustaining that Deste Beast in this kind of environment, but the answer definitely wouldn¡¯t be simple. He had scoured ancient records before but had not found any information on the Chaos Tower, so his asking Zhu Chenhuan was merely a spur of the moment question. He was not that surprised by Zhu Chenhuan¡¯s reply.

    At that moment, a voice spoke from behind him. ¡°So one of your goals ining to Harpy territory is to investigate the secrets behind powering this Demonic Beast?¡±

    Su Chen turned around in surprise when he heard the voice. Zhu Xianyao was standing right behind him.

    ¡°Xianyao? Why are you here?¡± Zhu Chenhuan was taken aback.

    This expedition to Sky Country was incredibly important. Neither Zhu Yunyan nor Su Chen wanted Zhu Xianyao to participate. The original n was to keep her at home, but somehow she had appeared on this boat.

    Zhu Xianyao giggled as she gazed at Su Chen. ¡°If I want toe along, who can stop me?¡±

    Zhu Yunyan stared at the driver of the shuttle, who was standing to the side with a wooden face. Zhu Yunyan and Su Chen both realized that Zhu Xianyao had probably used a bewitching technique to control the shuttle¡¯s driver. That was why he had dared to disobey Zhu Yunyan¡¯smands and let Zhu Xianyao onto the boat.

    Zhu Yunyan¡¯s expression sank. ¡°How bold! You actually dared to use a bewitching technique on a n member? Get rid of it this instant!¡±

    Zhu Xianyao stuck out her tongue and touched the driver¡¯s head, releasing him from the technique.

    The driver immediately fell to his knees after regaining consciousness, pleading for forgiveness.

    Zhu Yunyan didn¡¯t me him and sent him away.

    Su Chen was helpless. ¡°Why would you go to such great lengths?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao harrumphed. ¡°I can¡¯t stop you from getting yourself into danger, but don¡¯t even think about leaving me behind. I will go wherever you go. That way, when you are in a dangerous situation, I can be by your side andfort you.¡±

    Su Chen was rendered speechless for some time.

    In that instant, he suddenly thought of Gu Qingluo.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that her bloodline restricted her, she would probably do the same thing, right?

 Sect - Book 5, 71: Abroad 2

    Chapter 71: Abroad (2)

    Su Chen sat on the top floor of the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle, all kinds of strange patterns taking shape between his hands.

    As the patterns between his hands mutated and morphed, Origin Energy obeying his every beck and call, all kinds of strange urrences appeared in the surroundings.

    First, flower petals appeared out of midair, floating to the ground but disappearing before they fell all the way. Then, shadowy winds began to blow, carrying the sounds of strange, eerieughter with them. Then, brilliant mes appeared, lighting up the entire room without actually burning anything in the room. Next, thunder and lightning began to peal through the room as if a thunderstorm was passing through.

    Around Su Chen¡¯s neck hung a raven-ck ring. It gave off a luster like that of a dark moon, faint and ordinary. This was the Lightless Ring.

    Under the influence of Su Chen¡¯s constantly shifting hand seals, this ordinary, uninspiring Lightless Ring was actually beginning to glow slightly.

    After some time, Su Chen stopped and sighed, ¡°I still have no way of mastering all of these techniques, but I can at least confirm that the path I am taking is correct. Arcana Techniques have a great deal of simrity with human Origin Skills, and they can absolutely mutually absorb one another to help us unleash even more powerful attacks.¡±

    Patelocke sat next to Su Chen.

    At this point, he was a puppet.

    The ancient transmission puppet that had been preserved until now.

    As an ancient transmission puppet, Su Chen discovered that its greatest value wasn¡¯t in bing Patelocke¡¯s vessel but as a door that opened the path towards Ancient Arcana Techniques wide. By using this ancient puppet, Su Chen could understand the thought processes of the ancient Arcana Masters more clearly, which served as a great help for his understanding of Arcana Techniques.

    This kind of understanding would manifest itself as strength. This was because Su Chen had a deeper understanding of how to meld human Origin Skills with Ancient Arcana Techniques.

    Even though he still couldn¡¯t merge the twopletely yet, Su Chen had managed to break through the barriers separating Arcana Techniques from Origin Skills a long time ago in the eyes of others, allowing a person to sessfully use both at the same time.

    However, Su Chen was not satisfied. He was after an even more advancedbination.

    Abination that would be more powerful than any existing cultivation system that currently existed in this time period.

    When Patelocke heard Su Chen¡¯s words, he said, ¡°I like your meticulousness and your drive. I was like that in the past too. But the path you are currently walking along is incredibly long, and you will not have any important breakthroughs anytime soon. This path is like that of your bloodline-less cultivation techniques. It will take many days and months of careful nurturing. If you want to improve the most in the shortest period of time, you should focus on other things.¡±

    ¡°I understand what you mean. I¡¯ve been thinking about the rewards I¡¯ve gotten too,¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    Converting the spoils of battle he had obtained in the past few years into personal strength was Su Chen¡¯s main priority at this moment. However, he had umted too much wealth all at once, and his ability to spend all of it was not fast enough to keep up. If any nobles were to hear him speak like this, they would probably cry.

    Regardless, converting those spoils into strength so that he could deal with any troubles in the future was Su Chen¡¯s most pressing issue.

    ¡°Do you have any rmendations?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°There is one thing that I was able to help you find out how to use it.¡±

    ¡°Oh? What item are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°That Demonic Emperor Origin Crystal.¡±

    Patelocke was referring to the Demonic Emperor Origin Crystal that Su Chen had obtained from the Scarlet Heart. These items were so rare and precious that, before Su Chen could find a way to use them effectively, he could only store them away.

    When he heard Patelocke say that he had discovered a way to use it, Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Oh? Tell me more.¡±

    ¡°I took a look at the Origin Crystal you obtained. It most likely belonged to some kind of rare metal-armored beast, since it has high metal essence properties.¡±

    ¡°I know, but I¡¯m not good at that,¡± Su Chen sighed regretfully. ¡°It would have been much better if the crystal was the Scarlet Heart¡¯s instead.¡±

    Scarlet Heart cultivated in three distinct resources, and Su Chen was proficient in two of those elements: fire and darkness. If the Scarlet Heart had left behind an Origin Crystal, that crystal would have been incredibly useful to him. Unfortunately, he had sacrificed himself to try and kill Su Chen, so he had left nothing behind. All that remained was the Origin Crystal that belonged to the Demonic Emperor that the Scarlet Heart had killed all those years ago. However, it didn¡¯t match up with Su Chen¡¯s strength, which was why Su Chen had stowed it away until now.

    Patelocke said, ¡°You normally wouldn¡¯t have had a good way of efficiently utilizing it, but you do now.¡±

    ¡°Oh? How so?¡±

    ¡°The Lightless Ring,¡± Patelocke replied.

    ¡°Lightless Ring?¡± Su Chen was taken aback.

    ¡°Yes! That¡¯s it,¡± Patelocke said confidently.

    Lightless Ring was an Origin Tool that could assimte the power of Arcana Techniques. Su Chen had managed to confirm this truth when fighting with Chu Huailiang. He had used it to unleash a much more powerful dark ming Phoenix.

    Patelocke said, ¡°The Lightless Ring can incorporate the power of different Arcana Techniques, but since it is an incorporation, it should be able to hold both Arcana Techniques andbat Origin Skills. It¡¯s only because of your own personal limitations that the power of this ring has not yet been fully demonstrated.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    The Lightless Ring was an incredibly powerful tool, but Su Chen was only using it as an Arcana Technique amplified. He had not yet brought out the full potential of the weapon because his ability to meld Arcana Techniques and Origin Skills was not yet good enough.

    ¡°This Demonic Emperor Origin Crystal can help you solve this problem,¡± Patelocke said.

    ¡°The Demonic Emperor Origin Crystal? It can help me solve this problem?¡± Su Chen was taken aback, and he fell silent.

    ¡°The power of metal...... Lightless Ring......¡± Su Chen pondered for a moment before his eyes began to glow.

    Suddenly, he leapt to his feet and grabbed Patelocke excitedly. ¡°Thanks for reminding me! I know how to use it now!¡±

    Patelocke calmly said, ¡°No need to thank me.¡±

    ......

    ¡°Stargold Ore? What do you want that for?¡±

    Zhu Yunyan was a bit surprised by Su Chen¡¯s request.

    ¡°I¡¯m currently researching some new toys and need to use some precious metals.¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t try to deceive his mother-inw.

    ¡°Oh? What is it?¡± Zhu Yunyan was very interested when she heard that Su Chen had some new research.

    ¡°Before Iplete it, I think I should keep it a secret so that I don¡¯t lose face if I¡¯m not able toplete it,¡± Su Chen said with a sheepish smile.

    Zhu Yunyan rolled her eyes charmingly. ¡°How much do you want?¡±

    ¡°The more, the better.¡±

    ¡°Hey, you¡¯re taking food from that broodmother of yours.¡±

    ¡°Mhm.¡± Su Chen nodded. ¡°I have also considered this problem before. Stargold and Moonstonese from the same source, so they are both important to the broodmother. I won¡¯t want too much; if I have some sess, please see if you can find any other precious metals in Sky City and gather them for me.¡±

    Zhu Yunyan was taken aback by his request and shot him a suspicious nce but still agreed in the end.

    Two dayster.

    The Cloud-Piercing Shuttles arrived at the Origin Light Castle.

    The Harpies split up their territory into five regions, namely Sky City, Origin Light, Chaos, Harpy Star, and Demonic City. It was obvious that these five regions were split up with the five floating cities as the center. Actually, they used to have six regions, but after the Flying Spirit City was toppled, the Flying Spirit region disappeared, most of the territory being assimted by Liaoye Country and the rest being portioned to the Origin Light Region.

    This made it clear how much the Harpies valued the Floating Points.

    One fort per region!

    Even the Harpies, who could fly, had certain territorial needs.

    If they were really able to seed in producing the sixth Floating Point, they would probably start by cutting open Liaoye Country.

    The Zhu n absolutely could not allow the Harpies to seed in such a n. Thankfully, Su Chen¡¯s arrival had brought this n to light.

    After arriving in Origin Light Region, a massive floating castle could be seen off in the distance - obviously, the Origin Light Castle.

    Because it was a one-time castle created from a special Sark¡¯s Nucleus engineered by a great Arcana Master, and the fact that it was the Harpies¡¯ first flying castle, the castle¡¯s decorations and aesthetic was very ancient.

    It looked just like a floating castle, its tall outermost walls made out of stone, behind which stood numerous tall castle turrets. The tallest tower was naturally at the center of the castle. Large floating statues were dispersed through the city in the shapes of all kinds of different fierce beasts.

    These statues were not only built for aesthetics; they were also a kind of mechanical puppet that served to defend the castle. Once they were activated, the statues woulde to life and charge out of the castle. The sheer number of them would definitely shock anyone who saw this scene.

    During a prior confrontation with humans, the humans had suffered great losses due to the work of these puppets and paid quite a price in order to destroy some of them. But the Harpies could always make more, so at this point the castle was filled with these stone mechanical puppets, whichposed quite a powerful defensive system.

    ¡°Oh? So these are the real ancient puppets.¡± Patelocke clucked his tongue in amazement when he saw these puppets with his own eyes.

    ¡°Yes. Apparently, the Harpies are the Intelligent Race that preserved the most ancient relics from the Arcanists, including Arcana Techniques and puppet manufacturing techniques. This made the other races envious at the time,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°At the time?¡± Patelocke noticed Su Chen¡¯s specific use of words.

    ¡°Yes, at the time. Not so much anymore,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Why is that?¡±

    ¡°Because we have our own path now. Inheriting an abundance of legacies can make others envious, but that strength never fully belongs to you. Look at how the Harpies try to take over the continent now. They have already lost the will to conquer the continent on their own and turtle up in their forts all day, not daring to take a single step outside. Their only lofty goals and ambitions are to create more forts, not to increase the strength of their race as a whole. This is the sad, inevitable fate of anyone who rises to power by the creations of another. Because they have no experience of change, they do not have the courage to improve themselves. Even their daring monarch, Eternal Night, can only do so much,¡± Su Chen said disdainfully.

    His path was the path of elevating the self. He had no interest in carrying on someone else¡¯s legacy.

    No matter how many treasures he had, they would only be useful for so long, and he could not give them to others or pass them on to entire generations.

    He didn¡¯t care about anything like eternal glory for himself. As a person with grand ambitions, he needed to have the right kind of spirit and attitude, even if he was not yet standing at the pinnacle of human ability.

    Su Chen¡¯s view had long far exceeded his actual strength. Some people thought that he was aiming too high, but others believed that he was very far-sighted.

    Whether he was aiming too high or extremely far-sighted depended on his achievements in the future.

    If he could not aplish it, then he was the former - a cheat, in some sense.

    If he did aplish it, then he was thetter - a seer.

    Whether he was a cheat or seer, Su Chen would still continue to pursue his dreams and ideals.

    As such, this grand, majestic, imposing Origin Light Castle was not even worth esteeming in his eyes.

    He believed that it was this powerful floating fort that had clipped the Harpies¡¯ wings. Though they had wings, they would never fly.

    Whereas he, who was born with no wings, was destined to soar to the ninth heaven.

    That was the reason he hade to the world of the Harpies.

    He was going to fly!

 Sect - Book 5, 72: Imperial Family

    Chapter 72: Imperial Family

    The Cloud-Piercing Shuttles stopped and parked in ce once they reached Origin Light Castle. All of the humans and the Harpy diplomatic envoys were carefully inspected as they disembarked. Su Chen¡¯s identity was that of a member of the diplomatic envoy, so he was no exception to these procedures.

    This was a rare opportunity for Su Chen to investigate the secrets the Origin Energy Castle, so he didn¡¯t want to waste any time idling around here. He immediately asked Zhu Yunyan if he could go out for a stroll.

    Zhu Yunyan easily understood his intentions. After thinking it over for a moment, he said, ¡°As long as you promise not to stir up trouble.¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Su Chen answered confidently.

    Zhu Yunyan nodded in agreement.

    Origin Light Castle was both a fort and a city. During their visit, the Zhu n had the right to walk around the castle as they pleased as well as buy and sell resources due to the agreement that they had signed with the diplomatic envoy.

    Of course, Origin Light Castle was split up into different regions between residences, military affairs,merce, etc. The Zhu n only had permission to wander freely around in the residential andmercial areas, and they also had to be supervised by Harpy guards at all times.

    The Zhu n¡¯s diplomatic envoy walked out of the conste, followed by two Harpies, and arrived at themerce district.

    This was everyone¡¯s first time visiting a different race¡¯s market, so they were all incredibly curious about what it would hold.

    Zhu Xianyao, in particr, was dragging Su Chen along by the hand animatedly. It reached the point where Su Chen was forced to shove her hand away over and over again as he whispered in a low tone, ¡°Please, my name right now is Chen Shu, one of the Zhu n¡¯s subordinates. In what kind of world would I hold hands with you?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao red at Su Chen before loudly saying, ¡°Chen Shu, I want to buy some things. You will carry my bags for me.¡±

    ¡°......Yes, Young Miss.¡± Su Chen helplessly lowered his head.

    ¡°I like it when you listen to me.¡± Zhu Xianyao arched an eyebrow in delight and flicked Su Chen¡¯s forehead yfully before skipping away, giggling. Su Chen could only follow behind, his hands tied.

    The Harpies¡¯mercial district was quite unique. As a race that held elegance and grace in high esteem, most of their items were exquisitely constructed. Even the simplest bowls and tes were covered in ornate engravings.

    The Harpies themselves also had quite a few rare products avable for sale.

    For instance, there was something called a ¡°Celestial Knitting Cloud¡± that was sold here. It looked exactly like a normal cloud and likewise floated in the sky. Any clothing knit from it would be incredibly soft and even buoyant to some degree. If a human were to wear clothing knit from this material, their weight would change. With it, a normal person would be able to jump around three hundred feet high, while Light Shaking Realm cultivators would be able to use much less Origin Energy to fly. Humans viewed this item as a unique clothing material, while Harpies viewed it as a cloud that was only produced in special airspaces. Specifically,rge numbers of female Harpies needed to fly to high altitudes in order to harvest these clouds. Because harvesting it was an extremely delicate and fine process, it required the effort of manymonborers, and even powerful individuals couldn¡¯t skip any steps. Only the Harpies, who could all fly, were suited to harvest this material.

    There was also a special floating cactus that grew in the air. It needed neither soil nor water to grow, but it could only grow at extremely high altitudes, making it an incredibly rare nt. Again, only the Harpies were suited to harvesting these nts. These special cacti could be used as ingredients in all kinds of high-tier medicines, so they were worth quite a lot, especially in human territory. Here, however, they were being sold in amon marketce, and the price was at least twenty times lower.

    Zhu Xianyao and Su Chen browsed the Harpy products one by one, amazed at the selection of products avable. They sighed and gasped in admiration at the products that they had never even seen before, and were giddy with excitement at the high quantities and low prices of the items that they had seen before.

    Zhu Xianyao began to go on a crazy shopping spree.

    Sorry, Su Chen ?¡ª oh, your name is now Chen Shu, so your fate is to carry bags for the Young Miss.

    Zhu Xianyao would point at anything that she liked, and another servant behind her paid for everything. At this point, Su Chen was basicallypletely buried underneath a mountain of bags.

    He was the Boundless Sect¡¯s Sect Master, humanity¡¯s Worldly Sage. But now, he was responsible for carrying his woman¡¯s bags. He could only sigh to himself in self-pity.

    Thankfully, he was not the only one doomed to such a fate. Patelocke¡¯s puppet, which was walking beside him, was alsomissioned into carrying Zhu Xianyao¡¯s bags.

    Just as they were about to leave the marketce, they saw another group of people walking in their direction, all human.

    The person at the very front was a young prince. He appeared quite stately, and when he saw Zhu Xianyao, his eyes lit up, and he walked over.

    When Zhu Xianyao saw the other party, she frowned and turned around to leave, but the other person had already caught up to them. ¡°Xianyao? Why are you here?¡±

    He actually recognized Zhu Xianyao.

    Zhu Xianyao unhappily replied, ¡°Li Daohong, what does it matter to you where I go?¡±

    His surname was Li?

    Su Chen immediately understood

    Throughout Liaoye Country, the number of people surnamed Li who could travel into Harpy territory and were this familiar with Zhu Xianyao was probably very few in number. More specifically, this person was most likely from the imperial family.

    However, it seemed like this prince¡¯s rtionship with Zhu Xianyao was not as simple as one of friends. His gaze wasscivious, and even though it was Su Chen¡¯s first time meeting this person, he immediately recognized the licentious tendency deep in this person¡¯s bones.

    Su Chen had met quite a few imperial princes by now, such as Jiang Xishui and Chu Jiangyu. These princes kept their emotions in check and were capable of acting quite sophisticatedly, and they carried themselves with proper decorum in daily circumstances because of the upbringing they had received. Li Daohong, however, was an exception to this rule. His gaze at Zhu Xianyao showed an unrestrained desire to gobble her up, and even the way he spoke was extremely frank and brusque . Hecked the attitude and aura of someone from a family of that status.

    At this moment, Li Daohong said, ¡°I understand now. A few days ago, the imperial pce received word that t Sky City obtained a license of passage and was asking for my father¡¯s permission. There were even a few high-ranking officials who interceded on its behalf. Originally, my father felt that this deal had been negotiated apart from the imperial family¡¯s authority and wanted to sit on it for a few days. However, I spoke up and said that the rtionship between the Harpies and us humans does not belong to the imperial family alone. Since the Zhu n had the ability to reach such an agreement, and the imperial family had been saved the trouble of needing to mediate, my father decided to allow it.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao harrumphed. ¡°So what, are you saying that the Zhu n needs to thank you? Is that right?¡±

    Li Daohong patted his chest and said, ¡°Xianyao, there¡¯s no need to be courteous. After all, we already know each other so well.¡±

    Su Chenughed condescendingly in his heart.

    The Zhu n¡¯s business agreement with Sky City had received Li Wuyi¡¯s blessings a long time ago, and they had also bribed quite a few officials to get their support, or at the very least, to convince them not to spoil the Zhu n¡¯s ns. To secure these proceedings, the Zhu n would also give up three-tenths of any profits they made from these trade rtions. Otherwise, how else would they be allowed to directly do business with the Harpies?

    Now, however, Li Daohong was basically iming that the price the Zhu n had paid was actually a result of his contributions. That was really quite shameless.

    Li Daohong was quite pleased with himself. He grabbed Zhu Xianyao and refused to let go, bbering on all the while.

    Su Chen understood Zhu Xianyao quite well. He fully expected Zhu Xianyao to p him across the face at any moment.

    Strangely, even though Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t like Li Daohong, she didn¡¯t do anything aggressive either. Instead, she suppressed her emotions and coldly shut down all of his advances.

    Li Daohong didn¡¯t mind Zhu Xianyao¡¯s frigidness at all. He continued to converse animatedly with her. Zhu Xianyao was obviously bing impatient, but she forcefully suppressed her anger and didn¡¯t act on it at all.

    That was quite a rare urrence.

    At this moment, Li Daohong was still spouting out a steady stream of words. After thinking for a moment, Su Chen spoke up and said, ¡°Young Miss, we¡¯re running out of time. We should leave.¡±

    When Zhu Xianyao heard this, she treated it like an imperial edict. ¡°Yes, I suppose that we are out of time. It appears that I cannot keep youpany for any longer, Your Highness. Please, continue to enjoy yourself. I will take my leave first.¡±

    Li Daohong¡¯s expression sank.

    His expression when he had been gazing at Zhu Xianyao was one way, while his expression when he looked at Su Chen was theplete opposite. His change in expression was so sudden yet natural that even Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but sigh in amazement.

    Li Daohong said, ¡°A mere house servant dares to interrupt our conversation? How impetuous!¡±

    Zhu Xianyao red at him. ¡°Are you nning on teaching my house servant a lesson?¡±

    Li Daohong immediately chuckled amiably and responded, ¡°You¡¯re right, Xianyao. Since you are nning on personally instructing your servant, I will not be impolite.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t want to talk with him any longer, so she bid him goodbye and left.

    Li Daohong had failed to get her to stay, so he could only watch her leave. His gaze grew cold as he said, ¡°Sili!¡±

    ¡°Here!¡± a warrior standing next to Li Daohong saluted.

    ¡°Kill that servant who interrupted our conversation.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    Li Daohong turned to leave.

    To him, this was an insignificant matter, not worth another thought from him.

    On his way back, Su Chen talked quietly with Zhu Xianyao.

    Zhu Xianyao said, ¡°Don¡¯t you think that it¡¯s strange that I didn¡¯t give in and vent my emotions?¡±

    Su Chen faintly replied, ¡°You always need to be courteous to disciples of the imperial family.¡±

    Zhu Xianyaoughed bitterly. ¡°You¡¯re right, but also wrong at the same time. I wouldn¡¯t care about offending a normal disciple of an imperial family, but I do need to be careful around him.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Su Chen was interested. ¡°I don¡¯t think he¡¯s Liaoye¡¯s Crown Prince, right?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao harrumphed. ¡°If the Crown Prince acted like he did, the country¡¯s subjects probably would have reported him and stripped him of his rank by now. How could he possibly be allowed to act so arrogantly for so long?¡±

    These words seemed overbearing, but they rightly represented how most people viewed the imperial family. The nobles had quite a bit of authority themselves ?¡ª the imperial family did not have absolute authority. This was why Zhu Xianyao could say that she could indeed ignore most imperial disciples.

    However, that only applied to most normal disciples. Of course, the Crown Prince was not included in this list of disciples, and neither was Li Daohong.

    When he heard Zhu Xianyao put it like that, Su Chen fell into deep thought.

    He realized that he seemed to have made a mistake.

    He then asked, ¡°Anyone who can appear in Harpy territory and be a member of the imperial family¡¯smerce group, even if they have a greedy,scivious temperament, must be quite an extraordinary individual, even this Li Daohong.¡±

    ¡°Now you understand,¡± Zhu Xianyao confirmed.

    Su Chen was naturally not an idiot, but he had instinctively overlooked Li Daohong¡¯s abilities. It wasn¡¯t until Zhu Xianyao reminded him that he realized something about his analysis had been off.

    If he was a part of the imperial family¡¯smerce group, then that meant that his status within the country wasn¡¯t low either. It seemed from Li Daohong¡¯s earlier demeanor that even his status amongst themerce group was not low.

    ¡°Does this guy have some powerful backer?¡± Su Chen still didn¡¯t understand.

    Zhu Xianyao sighed. ¡°He does have a powerful backer. His father, Li Wuyi, is the current emperor. Is that powerful enough for you?¡±

    It went without saying that he had a powerful backer, but his status was not only due to his powerful backer.

    That meant there was only one other exnation.

    Zhu Xianyao finally explicitly spelled it out. ¡°He relied on his own abilities...... Whether you want to admit it or not, whether you like it or not, Li Daohong is a genius. A true genius that the Li n only sees perhaps once every few thousand years!¡±

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 73: Genius

    Chapter 73: Genius

    Humans often wondered how greedy,scivious people could possibly aplish great things or reach a high status.

    But this way of thinking was equating ethics with ability, a totally wrong way of looking at the world. There were too many rich and hical people under the heavens to count.

    Often, the richer these people were, the more hical their morals were.

    Li Daohong was a perfect example of this general rule.

    His story was actually quite an interesting one.

    Ever since his youth, he had been a genius. He had learned to read at the age of three, and wrote the ¡°Wastrel¡¯s Poem¡± and the ¡°River-Crossing Poem¡± at the age of seven, creating a storm throughout the entire country. The imperial doctor then diagnosed him with an incredibly powerful bloodline, making him a genius amongst geniuses, even for the Li n.

    Even so, there was nothing strange about this kind of story ?¡ª there were always one or two individuals amongst the human race who had a simr life.

    However, Li Daohong¡¯s story deviated from the norm at this moment.

    ¡°Even though Li Daohong was in fact a genius at the time, his true ability is his wit. He had learned to read and speak early, and given the density of his bloodline, people began to praise him because he was of the imperial family. That was where his reputation initially came from, but he didn¡¯t actually aplish much with that. What really turned him into a genius was the miracle that happened afterwards.¡±

    Su Chen and Zhu Xianyao talked about Li Daohong as they walked.

    ¡°A miracle? Did he find some kind of secret treasure?¡± Su Chen asked, chuckling.

    Zhu Xianyao shook her head. ¡°Quite the opposite. Actually, his backstory is somewhat simr to yours.¡±

    ¡°Simr to mine?¡± Su Chen was taken aback. ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°Nothing, really. He encountered an old beggar on the street but was beaten until he became an idiot,¡± Zhu Xianyao said indifferently.

    Encountered an old beggar?

    Su Chen felt his heart tremble.

    The disastrous situation that had befallen him when he was twelve surfaced in his mind yet again.

    Even though it had happened decades ago, and even though he had already forgotten most of his childhood, he would never forget a single detail of that experience.

    ¡°An old beggar......¡± Su Chen muttered.

    ¡°Yes. The beggar seemingly appeared out of nowhere and began to attack the Li n¡¯s prince, beating him senseless almost immediately. Li Wuyi invited a great number of experts to treat him afterwards, but no doctor was able to treat his condition,¡± Zhu Xianyao said seriously.

    ¡°Then what happened after?¡±

    ¡°Three yearster, he began to recover on his own.¡±

    Three years!

    Three years yet again!

    He had probably taken around three years to recover back then as well, right?

    ¡°And then he became an incredible genius?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Zhu Xianyao nodded and exined, ¡°Once he was no longer an idiot, he immediately became a well-known genius in Liaoye Country. Apparently, he had gained an eidetic memory, and he spoke with incredible eloquence. His cultivation also advanced at a breakneck pace. Not only did he awaken an imperial bloodline, but his maternal bloodline, Night God, also awakened. Having two awakened bloodlines before reaching the higher cultivation realms is quite rare. This made his cultivation rate progress incredibly fast. Apparently, it only took him half a year to break into the Light Shaking Realm from the Yang Opening Realm.¡±

    Half a year to advance from Yang Opening to Light Shaking.

    If Su Chen focused all his attention on cultivation, he probably could have done it as well.

    However, this was Su Chen with his microscopic eye.

    And now, another supergenius had appeared.

    More interestingly, this person¡¯s circumstances were actually quite simr to his!!!

    Su Chen¡¯s heart began to beat wildly.

    He was almost certain that this wasn¡¯t a coincidence.

    Even though he didn¡¯t know why, Su Chen could at least ensure that this instinct of his was true.

    Who had ever said that he was the only one who could be cursed or blessed by the Heavens?

    Other people could be blessed as well!

    Now, it seemed like this was actually the case!

    But if Su Chen had obtained a pair of eyes that could see through reality, down to the microscopic level, then what about Li Daohong?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know, but it was obviously somewhat different from Su Chen¡¯s ability.

    Even though great waves were surging in his heart, Su Chen maintained his calm demeanor and asked, ¡°So what happened afterwards? This guy began to lead a life of debauchery?¡±

    ¡°Yes. You should know that a person who has fallen far and risen just as quickly will be somewhat extreme in terms of personality. Even though Li Daohong was an idiot for three years, those memories were still present after he regained his intelligence. And his luck when he was an idiot for three years......¡±

    Su Chen understood where Zhu Xianyao was going with this and finished her sentence for her. ¡°Was very terrible.¡±

    Even a prince would be bullied by others if they became an idiot.

    The servants around him could bully him, and his elders would forget him.

    In some sense, an idiot would suffer an even worse fate than a blind person. A blind person might have dull eyes, but their mind would still be clear. However, an idiot¡¯s mind was blind, which meant that others wouldn¡¯t even bother to care for them.

    For this reason, even Li Wuyi had given up on this son of his.

    The way his worldview would change when he reawakened would probably be quite drastic.

    Some people would mature and grow past their suffering, quickly separating themselves from anything that they viewed as unfair in the past. This was the process that Su Chen had gone through. Others, however, would choose to retaliate, as Li Daohong had done.

    The moment Li Daohong regained his rity and became an incredible genius, the first thing he did was not to further improve his own strength, but rather to uproot society.

    He grewcent, only caring about pleasure and indulging in his lusts. He bullied men and forced himself upon women. He stirred up no small amount of trouble.

    Anyone else would have probably disciplined this kind of son quite harshly. Even the emperor of a country would not normally allow this kind of behavior to persist.

    However, Li Wuyi felt guilty about having given up on his son earlier, so his disciplining was very light.

    Those imperial subjects and officials weren¡¯t much better off.

    Who do you think were the ones that mistreated me when I was an idiot? The beggar by the side of the road? Even if I was an idiot, I was still royalty. Not just anyone can push me around! Apart from a few bold servants, most of my bullies were you all, the other nobles!

    Prime Minister Wang, your son pissed on my head three times. It¡¯s not too much if I break his arm, is it?

    Not at all, not at all.

    General Liu, two princes of your family once shoved me into a dung pile, and on another separate asion, stripped me of my clothes and threw me into the streets naked. That did happen, right? It¡¯s not too much if I break their legs, is it?

    Not at all, not at all.

    Minister Zheng, your unmarried daughter didn¡¯t do anything to me because she disdained dirtying her own hands. However, she incited her pursuers to bully me at least ten times, and you pretended to turn a blind eye. But I remember everything that happened to this broken mind of mine. All I did was take some liberties with her. I didn¡¯t even force myself upon her! Is that too much?

    Not at all, not at all.

    Assistant Minister Zhong, your unmarried daughter didn¡¯t do anything to me, but who told you to have such a pretty daughter? I did force myself upon her, but you can always report me if you have the ability to. However, I want to remind you of one thing ?¡ª everything you did during the Northern Sickle Incident was done right in front of my eyes. Yes, I was an idiot back then, so you didn¡¯t bother hiding it from me. But now I am sober-minded, and I remember everything. If you want, we can go and report each other¡¯s crime at the same time. I am an imperial prince. Even if I raped an imperial official¡¯s daughter, I would at most be sentenced to some jail time, but I won¡¯t die. You, on the other hand, with your crime of executing an entire family unto the third generation...... Do you still think that my actions were too much?

    Not at all, not at all.

    Li Daohong¡¯s rampage across the capital raged on in this manner. He threatened and swindled anyone he wanted to, but no one dared to discipline him, or to be precise, no one could discipline him.

    He had abused a number of sons and daughters of the country¡¯s imperial subjects either out of retaliation or because he had somehow found ckmail to keep them under his thumb. Su Chen had used his blindness to his advantage, and Li Daohong had simrly used the period where he had lost his intelligence to benefit himself.

    However, he was much more unscrupulous and wanton in his usage of it.

    The imperial subjects couldn¡¯t give voice to their own grievances, and the few subjects who weren¡¯t afraid of Li Daohong tried to resist all on their own. But if the imperial subjects wanted to confront a member of the imperial family, they all needed to band together. If they could take him on one-by-one, then what power would the imperial family actually have? And since Li Wuyi felt guilty towards his son, and Li Daohong was now an exceptional genius, Li Wuyi naturally spoiled him to the utmost extent, and none of theints that the imperial subjects brought up were useful anymore.

    The result was a prince who was degenerate to an extreme.

    Li Wuyi had scolded Li Daohong a number of times, even trying to use the title of Crown Prince to bait him into acting better. However, Li Daohong just so happened to harbor no ambitions and had no interest in bing the Crown Prince. He proimed himself selfless, as he didn¡¯t care about the imperial subjects¡¯ views of him.

    Li Wuyi almost died of anger when Li Daohong imed that he was ¡°selfless¡±, but all he did was beat Li Daohong. Nothing else really happened to him.

    This was the kind of situation Li Daohong grew up in. At the end of the day, he was still a genius, and as he got stronger and stronger, the problems he stirred up grew bigger and bigger as well.

    However, he was also quite sly and always carefully controlled himself. Though he would always anger others, it never reached the point where the other party wouldpletely throw away their facade of respect and veneration.

    He was a prince, so everyone else needed to have much broader tolerances for his actions. Yet, the evils hemitted every year were enough to cause others to shake with anger. And no matter how wise Li Wuyi was, he didn¡¯t seem able to do anything about this son of his. The only other person who could stand side-by-side with Li Daohong in the entire Seven Kingdoms was probably the Water Sheen¡¯s Jiang Bayuan. Outside of human territory, only the Ravagers¡¯ ipetent ruler Anubi had a che of beating Li Daohong in terms of tyranny. However, Anubi¡¯s life was currently in danger, and he was under attack from all sides, so his abdication of the throne was imminent. Li Daohong, however, still possessed quite a bit of status.

    Yes. Even though he hadmitted many evil and atrocious acts, his status did not decrease, but rather increased.

    For instance, he was the head of the current merchant group.

    Yes, he was the head! And unlike most merchant groups, where the useless son would be ranked second and the actually capable individual would be ced in charge of the group, Li Daohong was truly the head!

    Even though he was greedy,scivious, and unruly, he was not incapable.

    To Li Daohong, there were only things that he wanted to do and things that he did not want to do, not things that he could not do.

    When he wanted to do something good, he would do something good; when he wanted to do something bad, he would do something bad.

    Most of the time, however, Li Daohong only wanted to do thetter, and not the former.

    However, Li Daohong always took care of his responsibilities as the head of this merchant group.

    This was partly because of how lucrative being the head of a merchant group was.

    For the sake of making a lot of money, Li Daohong had decided to perform this task well.

    How good was he at it? This merchant group, which used to earn hundreds of millions of Origin Stones every year, now lost money under Li Daohong¡¯smand.

    This wasn¡¯t because Li Daohong was incapable, but rather because he took all the profits for himself.

    The capital epted his actions.

    Because he didn¡¯t ruin their rtions with the Harpies, and because he beautifully dealt with all of these matters involving foreigners, he was given free reign. People who knew how to enjoy themselves could always make lots of friends if they wanted to.

    Since this prince always caused trouble back at home but did a wonderful job abroad, then why not have him stay abroad? Why would you let him continue to stir the pot at home?

    Of course he would be allowed to continue travelling!

    The losses of a few hundreds of millions of Origin Stones was nothing inparison.

 Sect - Book 5, 74: Attendants

    Chapter 74: Attendants

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡±

    Su Chen finally realized the reason why Zhu Xianyao was so cautious around Li Daohong.

    Bastards like this, who dared to stir up trouble and also had the strength to back it up, did need to be dealt with carefully. You never knew when a person like that would suddenly turn on you and retaliate with full force.

    Even though Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t like him, there was not much she could do about him either. She could reject his advances and make it clear that she had no intentions of reciprocating, but she couldn¡¯t much more for fear of further antagonizing him.

    ¡°Thus, your interruption today was not wise at all. He might look to make trouble for you as a result,¡± Zhu Xianyao warned anxiously.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°This prince might be able to do as he pleases in Liaoye Country, but he cannot threaten me here.¡±

    ¡°I know that you aren¡¯t afraid of him, but don¡¯t forget about the mission this time. You should not publicly reveal your identity; otherwise, the entire mission might be canceled,¡± Zhu Xianyao said straightforwardly.

    Su Chen absolutely needed to keep his identity concealed during this trip. Otherwise, the Harpies wouldn¡¯t let him leave their city alive.

    Just the fact that he was the Worldly Sage, the inventor of the bloodline-less Light Shaking Realm cultivation technique, was more than enough reason for any of the various foreign races to kill him at any cost. His research was destined to increase the strength of the human race and destroy the world¡¯s current equilibrium. Actually, the various races had already put up bounties for Su Chen. These bounties were mostly secret and only essible by the higher-ups of their respective societies, so most foreignmoners didn¡¯t know about them. Regardless, if Su Chen was able to develop a technique for reaching the Spirit Burning Realm without a bloodline, the foreign races probably wouldn¡¯t hesitate to cast away any semnce of cordiality to destroy him.

    What they didn¡¯t know was that Su Chen had already developed a method for reaching the Spirit Burning Realm without a bloodline. All he had to do now was improve it.

    Thus, Su Chen could not reveal his identity no matter what. This put him at a clear disadvantage when it came to dealing with Li Daohong.

    Su Chen sighed when he heard Zhu Xianyao¡¯s words. ¡°Unfortunately, even if I didn¡¯t try to anger him, he will provoke me of his own ord. If everything is as you have said, then this Li Daohong is definitely a guy with a quick temper and a vengeful personality. If I, a servant, interrupted him, then he will almost definitely send someone to kill me.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why you cannot leave my side!¡± Zhu Xianyao said. ¡°I know that he cannot kill you in a battle, but if he even forces you into attacking, you will lose!¡±

    ¡°If he forces me into attacking, I will lose? So in other words, we areparing the strengths of our subordinates now?¡± Su Chen¡¯s eyebrows jumped up in interest.

    Zhu Xianyao grew a bit agitated. ¡°Su Chen, this is not the time for you to let your emotions affect your decisions. You cannot choose to fight against him!¡±

    "I¡¯m not letting my emotions affect my decisions," Su Chen said faintly. "If he were just a wastrel, I might have been fine with enduring his actions. But Li Daohong is different. Our linked fate is more than enough reason for me to necesitate capturing capture him!"

    "What?" Zhu Xianyao was taken aback by Su Chen¡¯s deration.

    Su Chen said, "There are some things that you just don¡¯t understand, Xianyao. But I can at least tell you that what happened to Li Daohong and me is not a coincidence. I believe that Li Daohong would recognize this if he knew about it as well. If he were to hear about my experience and learn that I am here as well, he will definitely do everything in his power to capture me...... That old beggar......"

    Su Chen¡¯s voice began to dwindle.

    Zhu Xianyao understood somewhat. "So that period of blindness affected you greatly, right?"

    Su Chen didn¡¯t reply. Patelocke, on the other hand, spoke up. "After he recovered from his three-year period of blindness, he obtained a set of eyes like those that the Arcanists possess."

    Su Chen stared at Patelocke in surprise.

    Patelocke dryly replied, "Even though you never told me this, Su Chen, I would be an idiot to not notice this given how long I have been following you for. I also want to know what kind of person that beggar was and why he would bestow upon you the Microscopic Eye and Li Daohong the Attendant¡¯s Brain."

    "Attendant¡¯s Brain?" Su Chen and Zhu Xianyao both eximed.

    "Yes!" Patelocke confidently replied. "If my analysis is correct, then Li Daohong should have been given the Attendant¡¯s Brain."

    "What is the Attendant¡¯s Brain, anyways?" Zhu Xianyao asked.

    Su Chen was the one to reply this time. "You should have heard of the Attendants before, right?"

    "The Attendants?" Zhu Xianyao was taken back before understanding suddenly dawned on her. "So it¡¯s them."

    The Attendants were once one of the Intelligent Races, and the brightest one at that.

    Apparently, they possessed an eidetic memory and powerful calctory abilities akin to Su Chen¡¯s consciousness crystal. However, Su Chen had acquired that ability after his birth, while the Attendants were born with it.

    However, the Attendants suffered quite a tragic fate. Just because they were incredibly smart didn¡¯t make them invincible.

    Usually, in a sh between brain and brawn, brawn held the advantage.

    This was because intelligence needed time to reach its full potential, while raw strength didn¡¯t.

    Brawn was more powerful in the earlier stages, while the brain was more powerful inter stages.

    This was the case for the Attendants. The Heavens had blessed them with extremely powerful minds, but severed their opportunity to be physically stronger. Their physique was about as powerful as that of the Harpies, but they weren¡¯t nearly as proficient at using Origin Energy, and their cultivation strength was roughly equivalent to that of the Ravagers (but without their powerful physiques). As such, they could only use their intelligence to serve as vassals of the other races, which was part of the reason why they hadter been named the Attendants.

    This name was also linked to another trait of theirs: their pride and arrogance.

    In their eyes, the other races were all idiots, only possessing brawn but not brains. They were not worthy of ruling at all; for this reason, they constantly tried to pull off small ndestine schemes even though they were servants in name.

    Most of the time, they seeded.

    But even the smartest person would make mistakes from time to time, let alone an entire race over a period of time that spanned thousands of years.

    Every time they made a miscalction, they would bring ruin upon their race, forcing them to change backers.

    For this reason, the Attendants jumped from the Arcanists to the Ravagers, then the Harpies, the humans, and even the formerly powerful Nocturnals, Demons, and Metalskins at one point. They switched backers so quickly that one could only cluck their tongue in amazement.

    They were smart, deceitful, and disloyal, making their characteristics extremely fitting for their name. This extremely smart race eventually reached a point, however, where there was no one left for them to turn to.

    This was because no race favored them anymore.

    Every race wanted to destroy them.

    The end result could be easily imagined. They were swallowed up by the sands of time, bing a part of history, just like the Arcanists.

    Su Chen and Zhu Xianyao both understood what Patelocke was trying to say when he mentioned the Attendants.

    Li Daohong had an eidetic memory, and he was incredibly smart. In addition to that, his personality was wicked, but he also knew how to respect someone¡¯s bottom line, and he didn¡¯t forget to make sure to reap the rewards along the way. He could choose to do something well, but he always chose the riskier path...... Didn¡¯t this fit the Attendants¡¯ personality traits to a tee?

    This Li Daohong had definitely received the Attendant¡¯s Brain.

    Zhu Xianyao also finally found out that Su Chen had been given a pair of Arcanists¡¯ eyes from Patelocke¡¯s interjection, and that he could even observe the microscopic world. No wonder he hade up with so many inventions.

    But why would the old beggar give Su Chen and Li Daohong these powers? This was a question that no one really had the answer to. In addition, the old man¡¯s powers were definitely mysterious given that he was able to directly rece a person¡¯s eyes and mind. In Su Chen¡¯s words, this ¡°was definitely not possible for a mortal to aplish.¡±

    ¡°It almost feels like there are eyes in the sky watching my every move right now,¡± Su Chen said as he looked up at the sky.

    ¡°Do you think that someone is manipting the situation under the surface?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked curiously.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. But I do know that my fate belongs solely to me, not to the Heavens!¡± Su Chen vowed as he clenched his fist.

    He didn¡¯t know who the old beggar was, but he wouldn¡¯t thank him, and nor would he ept being manipted. No matter who that old beggar was, Su Chen was Su Chen, and he would walk down his own path.

    Of course, he was also incredibly curious about Li Daohong¡¯s situation.

    Perhaps he could find more answers about his situation from Li Daohong.

    Since that was the case, he was even somewhat hoping that Li Daohong would make trouble for him so that he would be justified in making a move on Li Daohong.

    Even if Su Chen couldn¡¯t find an opportunity, he was going to try and make one for Li Daohong now that this idea had crossed his mind.

    He said to Zhu Xianyao, ¡°You guys should go back first. Patelocke and I will keep looking around.¡±

    Patelocke was a transmission puppet, so he innately possessed recording capabilities. If Su Chen wanted to deal with a prince of Liaoye Country, he first needed a way to take the initiative, so these recording capabilities were absolutely essential to any n.

    Zhu Xianyao knew how important this was to Su Chen, so she didn¡¯t try to stop him. All she said was, ¡°Please, try not to kill him.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡± Su Chen nodded.

    There weren¡¯t many humans in Harpy territory. If Su Chen were to murder Li Daohong straightforwardly, it would be very easy for them to pinpoint him as the culprit.

    But just because he couldn¡¯t kill Li Daohong didn¡¯t mean that he couldn¡¯t capture him. No matter what, Su Chen was going to dig up the information that he was after.

    Su Chen bid his goodbyes to Zhu Xianyao, then began to wander around the marketce with the transmission puppet. He looked just like someone searching for more precious materials on behalf of his master.

    As he was browsing around, a Harpy walked over and said, ¡°Human, your puppet is very interesting. It seems to have been constructed in ancient times. I never would have expected to see such an ancient puppet still walking around. Coincidentally, I am currently researching puppets, so would you consider selling it to me for me to take a look at it?¡±

    ¡°Sorry, it¡¯s not for sale,¡± Su Chen said, shaking his head.

    The Harpy¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Human, this is Harpy territory. You¡¯d better think carefully before answering again.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Su Chen nced at the Harpy, then walked over, and said straight to his face, ¡°Did you not hear me clearly? I¡¯ll tell you again then. He¡¯s not for sale!¡±

    The Harpy didn¡¯t expect Su Chen to be so aggressive. He was so angry that his face turned pale. ¡°How arrogant! Whichmerce group are you a part of? I will definitely prevent you from conducting any more business here!¡±

    ¡°That depends on whether you have the ability to do so,¡± Su Chen chuckled coldly.

    The Harpies had indeed brought back the broodmother with them, but unfortunately, the broodmother still needed to be fed Stargold, which was only mined in t Sky City.

    Even Eternal Night himself probably wouldn¡¯t stop this kind of trade.

    The lower a person¡¯s status was, the more they liked to brag. Su Chenpletely ignored the other party and turned around to leave.

    ¡°Courting death!¡± When the Harpy saw that Su Chen was ignoring him, he was instantly enraged, and he charged right at Su Chen without a second thought.

 Sect - Book 5, 75: Sacrificial Warrior

    Chapter 75: Sacrificial Warrior

    Su Chen had made a mistake.

    He had overestimated the Harpy¡¯s patience.

    In his view, attacking a human in a public setting like this was very likely to cause a dispute between the Harpies and humans. This was basically asking for trouble, and it was definitely not a good idea.

    Even so, just as the Ravagers had smart people, the Harpies also had some idiots.

    Su Chen was not expecting for the Harpy before him to suddenly attack.

    It wasn¡¯t that Su Chen wasn¡¯t capable of dodging this attack, but he hadn¡¯t dealt with Li Daohong yet. If he was to take care of this opponent, Li Daohong and the others would immediately be alerted.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t dodge, instead allowing the w to reach towards him.

    Just as he was about to be grabbed, countless possibilities shed through Su Chen¡¯s mind before he finally made a decision.

    He said, ¡°It¡¯s not for sale, but if you want it, you can take it.¡±

    ¡°Oh? What do you mean? It¡¯s not for sale, but you¡¯re willing to give it to me?¡± the Harpy was stunned.

    ¡°Exactly as you have heard,¡± Su Chen replied.

    The Harpy¡¯s mes of anger immediately were extinguished, and the w turned into a hand that patted Su Chen a couple times on the shoulder. The Harpyughed, ¡°Haha, not bad, not bad! You seem quite smart!¡±

    In some peoples¡¯ eyes, it looked like the Harpy was encouraging and appreciating Su Chen¡¯s actions.

    Su Chen said to Patelocke, ¡°You, go with him. Leave the recording disk with me.¡±

    Patelocke understood. He took the recording disk out and handed it over before leaving.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t worried about where Patelocke would go. They had a direct connection, so he could always find Patelocke¡¯s location. Unexpectedly, the Harpy didn¡¯t make Su Chen rely on that ability. He tossed Su Chen a jade medallion and said, ¡°My address is written on there. If you need anything,e and find me there.¡±

    What?

    What was happening?

    Su Chen nced at the jade medallion in his hand, feeling its warmth and running his hands across its intricate designs. It was obviously quite high-quality, and the characters for ¡°Holly¡± were inscribed on it.

    ¡°Holly n?¡± Su Chen¡¯s eyebrows jumped.

    He had heard of this n before. They were indeed arge n amongst the Harpies, but as had been mentioned previously, Harpy nobles themselves were not worth that much. Only the individual¡¯s ranking within the n mattered, so Su Chen paid very little attention to it.

    Since Patelocke had left, Su Chen was now on his own. He walked into a small alleyway with no one present.

    When Si Li saw Su Chen walk into the alleyway, he sighed with relief.

    Yes, sighed with relief.

    He understood his own master¡¯s personality the most.

    Since his master had told him to deal with Su Chen personally, no one else could interfere. Otherwise, it would still be counted against him as a failure due to his ineptitude.

    You could say that Li Daohong was greedy, selfish,scivious, reckless, and even arrogant, but you could not say that he was incapable. Li Daohong could ept any kind of person but an incapable one - anything he demanded to be done needed to be done well.

    When Si Li had seen that Su Chen was provoking a Harpy noble, he was given quite a scare. Unlike Su Chen, he understood that Harpy noble¡¯s temperament quite well.

    That individual was a fearless, rash fellow who couldn¡¯t care less about the consequences of his actions.

    Thankfully, Su Chen was quite tactful. He handed over the puppet, making things much easier for Si Li.

    Si Li hurriedly followed Su Chen into the small alleyway.

    There could be no more mistakes. He needed to quickly finish off his opponent.

    Upon entering the alleyway, however, he saw Su Chen standing there staring right at him.

    Si Li was momentarily taken aback. ¡°So you were ready for this a long time ago. I suppose that anyone who can stand by Young Miss Zhu¡¯s side and even insert themselves in her conversation must be quite an umon individual.¡±

    Su Chen said disdainfully, ¡°So what if I inserted myself in the conversation? I inserted myself into her as well.¡±

    Si Li didn¡¯t understand what he meant entirely, but his expression sank nheless. ¡°You dare profane your Young Miss¡¯s name? How bold.¡±

    As he spoke, he suddenly shot towards Su Chen with incredible speed.

    It was only natural that he possessed some talent, given that Li Daohong had selected him to follow by his side. When he shot forth at top speed, it seemed as if he was as fast as a bolt of lightning.

    Unfortunately, his opponent wasn¡¯t worthy of fully grasping how fast he truly was.

    He wouldn¡¯t have the time to think about things like that.

    He appeared right in front of Su Chen and was just about to unleash a vicious strike at Su Chen¡¯s neck when he suddenly saw Su Chen move slightly.

    Su Chen shot a nce at him.

    Given the speed at which he was traveling, everything around him was in slow motion. Only he stood alone in this kind of a world.

    Even so, he saw Su Chen turn his head at normal speed and shoot him a nce.

    That nce gave Si Li quite a shock.

    Not good!

    Bang!

    An instantter, Si Li was sent flying. He spun a number of times in the air before falling on the ground.

    ¡°Interesting. So your power is simr to that of the Lightning Gale Mink Bloodline?¡± Su Chen muttered. ¡°That¡¯s worth looking into.¡±

    Si Li knew that he had run into a brick wall.

    He ignored the dizziness he felt from flipping so many times in the air and jumped to his feet, trying to run out into the alleyway. This was the benefit of being incredibly fast. He had the speed to run away, and no one would be able to catch up to him.

    However, Su Chen merely grunted quietly.

    Si Li immediately felt like his body had suddenly be extremely heavy, making it difficult for him to move. Shockingly, the air around him had turned into the consistency of mucus, and he found it hard to extricate himself.

    As someone who relied on speed, Si Li hated air the most. Most of the time, this formless air resistance was their greatest opponent. Those with speed-rted bloodlines would often have unique sets of techniques to deal with this wind resistance, but now those techniques were no longer useful.

    With Su Chen as the center, the surrounding air began to pressurize. In this environment, air would be much denser and more viscous, making it so that air would flow in from the outside. However, there was no endpoint of this flow; this air seemed to disappearpletely once it reached the end of its path, bing part of the high-pressure environment. If one looked down from on high, one would find that a vortex of air had formed out of nowhere.

    However, because these changes were only happening to the air, it was hard to see what was happening with the naked eye.

    The opponent would feel a violent gale outside of the skill¡¯s area of effect and a massive increase in air pressure within, which made it hard to move.

    This was Shi Kaihuang¡¯s Sumeru Void.

    A technique like this that ¡°locked down¡± the surrounding space was a natural enemy of those who relied on extreme speed. Si Li¡¯s most powerful skills were immediately nullified, and the faster a person was, the greater the pressure they would experience. Every step he took felt like he was running into a brick wall.

    Si Li had only taken a few steps, yet his face was already covered in blood.

    ¡°Sumeru Void! This is Sumeru Void...... You...... ¡° Si Li yelled, stunned. ¡°You¡¯re Su Chen!¡±

    ¡°Oh? It seems that your master has looked into me quite a bit,¡± Su Chen said, his eyebrows jumping.

    Even though Sumeru Void was powerful, it was not the only Origin Skill that could lock down an area of space.

    Si Li definitely wasn¡¯t uninformed about Su Chen given that he was able to determine Su Chen¡¯s identity just based on a few techniques. Given Li Daohong¡¯s unique fate, it was entirely possible that his thought process was identical to Su Chen¡¯s.

    It was unsurprising that Li Daohong would gather some information about him.

    Actually, Li Daohong¡¯s pursuit of Zhu Xianyao was probably very much rted to Su Chen.

    Si Li hadn¡¯t expected to run into Su Chen immediately, though.

    It was because he understood Su Chen so well that he knew how big the gap was between him and Su Chen in strength.

    Yes, he was at the Light Shaking Realm as well, but they were on apletely different level!

    At this point, he hadpletely given up on wanting to fight. He just wanted to escape and notify his master. As long as he could inform his master of the situation, then he would have performed a great service!

    They were currently in the alleyway, and the Harpies were walking around just outside. If they started to fight and startled the Harpies, Su Chen would probably hesitate to attack, which would give him the opportunity to leave. He could even use the opportunity to expose Su Chen¡¯s identity and get them to kill Su Chen.

    He knew how much his master feared and hated Su Chen¡¯s existence.

    As such, he charged forwards as hard as he could, even if he began to bleed profusely from his head. He activated his Origin Energy to its fullest extent, not hoping to be stronger than Su Chen, but just to suppress Su Chen for even a moment.

    Kryptonite was still rtive. If the ¡°weak¡± target was too strong, they would still be able to escape from the user¡¯s control.

    Even a fish caught in a could escape from the and return to the sea.

    For this reason, when Su Chen saw that Si Li was attempting to force his way out of Sumeru Void, he realized that the battle had already reached its climax despite the fact that they had only exchanged a few blows!

    Si Li frantically attempted to break free of Sumeru Void¡¯s influence. His Lotus tform began to glow brilliantly, pushing against the space¡¯s restrictions. Su Chen¡¯s Sumeru Void actually began to distort under Si Li¡¯s furious assault as it encountered resistance it had never encountered before. The vortex of wind began to gradually slow down.

    ¡°He¡¯s actually......¡± Su Chen was taken aback by his opponent¡¯s sudden surge of effort.

    However, he was only surprised momentarily.

    Then, he coldly chuckled as he drew his hand in. The Sumeru Void began to contract.

    Even though Shi Kaihuang was the one who had invented Sumeru Void, Su Chen had surpassed Shi Kaihuang in proficiency of use. Shi Kaihuang¡¯s Sumeru Void was mostly supplementary in nature, not meant to harm or injure anyone. However, under Su Chen¡¯s control, theyers of superimposed restrictions became more and more powerful until they actually posed a real threat. This turned Sumeru Void from a supplementary Origin Skill into one that could be used to do real damage.

    As he tightened the radius of Sumeru Void, the restrictions turned into iron walls. Si Li really felt like he was running into metal walls now. Layers uponyers of restrictions blocked his path, and the further he ran, the harder it got to advance.

    But Si Li still continued to charge forwards!

    Because he was called Si Li!

    It wasn¡¯t because the character of his surname meant Death, but because he was Li Daohong¡¯s sacrificial warrior.

    As such, he could never retreat, and could only die on the battlefield.

    He charged forwards at top speed, his gaze burning with the desire to do battle. At this point, he was no longer expecting to make it out from this situation alive. He knew that he couldn¡¯t escape, but he still needed to try, if at most to startle the Harpies standing right outside the alley.

    No matter what, he could not allow himself to die here, along with the information he had discovered.

    He desperately needed to pass on this information to his master!

    That was his final thought.

    It was with this thought that he continued to press onwards!

    Even Su Chen was surprised by his fighting spirit.

    ¡°What a loyal dog. It would be a pity if I didn¡¯t allow you toplete your mission.¡± Out of respect for Si Li, Su Chen even thought about letting him go, just for an instant.

    Just as he was about to kill Si Li, however, he suddenly discovered something that made him whistle in surprise.

 Sect - Book 5, 76: Spatial Perception

    Chapter 76: Spatial Perception

    Su Chen¡¯s surprise was because he discovered a distortion at the corner of his vision.

    This distortion was hard to describe with words alone.

    Strange fluctuations were bouncing off of Sumeru Void as a result of Si Li¡¯s frantic attempts to escape. A strange expression began to surface on Su Chen¡¯s face.

    He had never seen these fluctuations before. They twisted and warped just like a strange luster, as if they were telling Su Chen that apletely new world was before his eyes.

    This was an important discovery without question, even though Su Chen had no idea what it was yet. He could sense, though, that these fluctuations were important to uncovering the secrets behind space itself.

    While others¡¯sbat prowess would advance during battle, Su Chen¡¯s eyesight would advance during battle.

    He had discovered the Origin Energy flows on the battlefield in Ravager territory, which had allowed him to ignore the chaotic effects of the turbulent Origin Energy there. Now, he had managed to glean some insights into the secrets of a spatial realm.

    This discovery made him incredibly excited, and his interest in killing Si Li drastically decreased. If at all possible, he would rather allow Si Li to continue trying to escape. That way, he would be better able to observe the situation.

    As he activated his microscopic eye to its greatest extent, hemitted everything he was seeing to memory so that he could analyze it properlyter.

    He also began to control Sumeru Void with intent, giving Si Li opportunities without actually allowing him to escape.

    Si Li didn¡¯t notice Su Chen¡¯s change in attitude. All he noticed was that it suddenly seemed possible for him to escape, and it had be easier for him to move around in the void. Perhaps he would be able to get out if he just put in a bit more effort. Su Chen, on the other hand, seemed to be distracted by something. This situation seemed very good for him, so he threw himself into trying to escape with renewed vigor.

    As Si Li charged forwards relentlessly, breaking through the restrictions at the cost of his own lifeforce, the fluctuations only grew stronger.

    Of course, only Su Chen could see these fluctuations, so they only had meaning in his eyes.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is...... So that¡¯s how it is!¡± Su Chen¡¯s eyes glowed with intrigue.

    He was observing, and also understanding and analyzing.

    Many things which Su Chen hadn¡¯t understood in the past suddenly became clear to him as he mentally dissected these fluctuations.

    When you could see what others could not, your vantage point would be superior to the vantage points of others.

    Yes, this was precisely the case.

    Su Chen wanted to shout with excitement.

    Si Li was still valiantly attempting to escape, but his renewed vigor was already beginning to die down.

    Why? Why could he still not escape?

    No matter how hard he tried, it always seemed like there was a thin film preventing him from fully escaping. It clearly seemed as if one final push would be enough to break through, but nothing he did seemed to have any effect.

    This caused him to fall into despair.

    When a person fell into despair, their Qi would begin to leak, their battle intent would falter, and they would grow weak.

    The Lotus tforms that had been glimmering brightly only moments ago began to dim, and Si Li¡¯s surging energy began to disappear. Sumeru Void once again returned to its formerly cold state, but didn¡¯t suppress Si Li any further. The void was stic in the sense that it only pushed back as much as you pushed against it, so if you didn¡¯t fight against it, you wouldn¡¯t be wounded much. Unfortunately, Si Li would not have done this even if he knew.

    Once everything had calmed back down, Si Li¡¯s face had taken on a greyish pallor.

    This kind of coloration came from when a person had exhausted theirst reserves of lifeforce.

    ¡°So your strength is only enough to reach this point, huh?¡± Su Chen sighed.

    He wasn¡¯t sighing that his opponent was too strong, but that he was too weak.

    Anyone at the same cultivation realm as him, unless they possessed a Deste Beast Bloodline like the Chu n, would most likely be killed in a single blow.

    Perhaps soon, even those with Deste Beast or Origin Beast bloodlines would no longer be able topete with him in terms of strength.

    However, Su Chen was not excited about defeating his opponent at this moment. He was still basking in the joy from making a new discovery.

    Si Li stared at him in disbelief. ¡°You......¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°Did you know? The word ¡®space¡¯ is not necessarily abstract.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Si Li didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°It actually has physical substance,¡± Su Chen said seriously.

    Si Li red at Su Chen. He didn¡¯t understand what Su Chen was even talking about. ¡°Are...... you...... kidding me?¡±

    He barely eked out thesest words before his legs buckled and he died.

    ¡°I¡¯m being very serious,¡± Su Chen said very sincerely.

    Yes, he was indeed talking about this matter seriously.

    Space actually had physical qualities. It was not just a word used to describe abstract, intangible concepts; space actually existed. However, it was incredibly hard to grasp, just like wind was for mostmon humans. Even so, it was because it had tangible qualities that it could be ripped open, that it could be pierced, that all kinds of inconceivable urrences would take ce. Though people who knew how to use spatial powers did exist, they might not have fully understood the principles behind their abilities. For this reason, people had proposed theories like this in the past, but no one had any way of proving that this was indeed the case.

    Until today.

    Such a miraculous discovery even exceeded the importance of the bloodline-less cultivation techniques, in a fundamental sense. However, the only response Su Chen received to his miraculous promation was, ¡°Are you kidding me?¡±

    Perhaps this was a difference in level ofprehension.

    He wasn¡¯t qualified to listen in on the fundamental truths of the world they lived in. Even if he did hear them spoken to him, they would have no impact.

    Si Li wasn¡¯t the first, and he wouldn¡¯t be thest.

    ¡°You are the one who helped me reach this understanding. Out of thanks to you, I will leave your corpse intact,¡± Su Chen said as he gestured, picking up Si Li¡¯s body and preparing to bury him.

    This time, he had given up his interest in Si Li¡¯s bloodline.

    After all, could a speed-type bloodline possiblypare with controlling the very fabric of space itself?

    Of course, just because Su Chen could see the spatial fluctuations didn¡¯t mean that he understood them, and just because he understood them didn¡¯t mean that he could use them.

    As long as he focused on his research, however, Su Chen was confident that he would make a breakthrough eventually. In ancient times, people were able toe up with all different kinds of Origin Skills based on hypotheticals and thought experiments. Could Su Chen, who had moreplete information and resources, not aplish even greater creations?

    Su Chen was very confident about his ability to do so.

    A Light Shaking Realm cultivator had died in this short battle, but it had happened without a sound. It wasn¡¯t because the Origin Light Castle¡¯s guards were ipetent, but because it had been too easy for Su Chen. The battle didn¡¯t even stir up a gentle breeze.

    After taking care of this issue, Su Chen was about to go find Patelocke when a sudden burst of inspiration came to him. He began to nce around him.

    He still had some lingering perceptions remaining in his mind, as he had only just begun toprehend some of the truths regarding the fundamental attributes of space. This had resulted in some small physical changes to his body, and even his use of the microscopic eye had improved. He could sense the vestigial traces of some spatial energy in his surroundings.

    Su Chen began to unfurl his consciousness, allowing it to expand through its surroundings before he quickly discovered a familiar strand of will floating around.

    ¡°Patelocke!¡±

    ¡°Su Chen? How is it you?¡± Patelocke¡¯s surprised voice could be heard resonating through his mind. ¡°Even though your consciousness is powerful enough to reach this far, you shouldn¡¯t have been able to confirm my location to contact me!¡±

    Even though Su Chen could find where Patelocke had gone, this sense of location was still quite general and only gave him a rough idea where Patelocke was. It could tell him what street and what house Patelocke was at, but not what chair he was sitting in or what floor tile he was stepping on. And this was even given that Su Chen and Patelocke were in the same city; otherwise, this sense of location could only give him a rough direction, which would be clearer and more precise as Su Chen closed the distance between them.

    Under these circumstances, it would have been normally impossible for Su Chen to directly link his consciousness with Patelocke¡¯s.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ve made a small breakthrough, but I didn¡¯t expect to be rewarded so quickly.¡±

    ¡°What is it rted to?¡±

    ¡°Space.¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t try to hide it from him and exined everything that had just happened with Si Li.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is!¡± Patelocke felt his consciousness tremble slightly. ¡°So our former spections have been confirmed now? Space indeed is not abstract, but real and tangible. I can¡¯t believe you were actually able to see it with your eyes! Even we Arcanists were never able to figure out how to see it!¡±

    ¡°It was a lucky coincidence, I suppose,¡± Su Chen said faintly.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Si Li had tried to desperately break free of Sumeru Void¡¯s influence, he wouldn¡¯t have seen those fluctuations, and anyone else wouldn¡¯t even have noticed them in the first ce.

    Perhaps there were all kinds of profound happenings urring all around every day that went unnoticed by the general public.

    Su Chen had only happened upon this discovery by chance. For most people, this kind of urrence was incredibly rare and hard toe by.

    Because he understood some of the fundamental principles behind space now, he saw things in a different light than many other people. In his eyes, space was like arge, and within this, all lifeforms and objects were like bugs flying around in the. Everything they did was epassed by this. As a result, there was a boundary to the world, but this boundary was everywhere because space was everywhere.

    Once he perceived this principle, Su Chen found it much easier to trace Patelocke¡¯s movements.

    Of course, this was because he already had the ability to locate Patelocke. Su Chen¡¯s spatial sensation would allow this sense of location to be even more refined and detailed. If his target were another person, Su Chen would probably have been able to do it, but he needed to get a bit closer in order for it to work.

    Even though it didn¡¯t seem particrly useful at the moment, who could say what kind of Origin Skill it would blossom into in the future?

    ¡°Perfect timing. I¡¯ve got some discoveries on my end as well.¡±

    ¡°Oh? What have you discovered?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°The guy who took me away is called Holly Keen, a true noble. He¡¯s ranked in the top twenty amongst his tribe.¡±

    ¡°Ranked amongst the top twenty?¡± Su Chen¡¯s eyebrows jumped. ¡°So his status isn¡¯t low then! But his overbearing attitude isn¡¯t befitting his status and rank. How does he have such a high ranking?¡±

    ¡°He probably would have had an even higher ranking if it weren¡¯t for this attitude of his. He is still the son of the current Holly n¡¯s patriarch,¡± Patelocke chuckled.

    ¡°Ah, I guessed as much,¡± Su Chen said with a smile.

    There was only one possibility given the situation. For the patriarch¡¯s only son to be ranked at the bottom of the top twenty indicated just how unreliable this guy was.

    But he was still at the very least within the top twenty, indicating that he had quite a bit of authority.

    ¡°That¡¯s not that important of a discovery, though.¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Of course. The important discovery is that...... the Origin Light Castle is about to be finished."

 Sect - Book 5, 77: Alienation

    Chapter 77: Alienation

    ¡°What?¡± Patelocke¡¯s words surprised Su Chen.

    ¡°Yes, your ears are not deceiving you. The Origin Light Castle is about to copse,¡± Patelocke repeated.

    ¡°How did thate about?¡±

    ¡°Nothing in particr. Actually, this situation is quite normal. Its time limit is up...... the floating castle has been around for too long.¡±

    The Origin Light Castle was the Harpies¡¯ first castle. It was constructed in the 7400th year of the Chaos Era, and it was now already the 27th millennium of the Chaos Era.

    That was almost twenty thousand years.

    Earth-shattering changes could ur in such a long period of time. Time could turn an immortal into a pile of rot, it could bring a person who could not die into eternal rest, and it could certainly bring a floating castle crrashing to the ground.

    Su Chen understood what was happening once Patelocke exined it roughly to him.

    Unfortunately, the Origin Light Castle had reached the end of its lifespan. On the other hand, Sky City, which had been around for even longer, was a long ways off from reaching the end of its lifespan. It was so powerful that its lifespan was definitely many times longer than most of the other floating castles. Perhaps some day all the other floating castles would be grounded, but this one would remain afloat.

    ¡°No wonder Eternal Night is so frantic to find the broodmother. They not only want to create a new floating castle, but they also need to exchange the old for the new,¡± Su Chen sighed.

    ¡°That is indeed the case.¡±

    ¡°But how did you find out about this?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s this Holly Keen guy. The reason he¡¯s here is because his n already knows that the Origin Light Castle is going to be destroyed. They want to sell off all of their businesses here before that happens, but they were afraid of being discovered by the other Harpies and letting the matter leak out, so they basically decided to send this Holly Keen guy over. With him here, the decline of the Holly n¡¯s businesses is a great excuse. Surprisingly, holly Keen isn¡¯t dumb and managed to find out about this matter as well. This is why he insists on making amotion like the end of the world ising. So you want me to be your shield? Then I¡¯ll stir up as much trouble as I can for you. We¡¯ll see who gets thestugh.¡±

    ¡°......¡± Su Chen was taken aback.

    No wonder this guy had so aggressively insisted on taking his puppet. It seemed that there was another reason behind his actions.

    If he had chosen to retaliate that day, Holly Keen probably would have made an even bigger stink.

    ¡°Interesting,¡± Su Chen couldn¡¯t help butugh.

    ¡°Do you not have any thoughts on the matter?¡± Patelocke asked.

    ¡°Thoughts?¡± Su Chen chuckled. ¡°All I¡¯m thinking about is how to ensure that the broodmother stays safe. Anything else is secondary. Since the Origin Light Castle is about to copse, they can do as they please. We don¡¯t need to do anything.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a good point.¡± Patelocke could only give up on his idea when he saw that Su Chen wasn¡¯t particrly interested.

    ¡°So how are you nning on getting me out of here?¡±

    ¡°Well......¡± Su Chen tilted his head and thought for a moment. ¡°Since he likes to start trouble, then why not find him an even bigger target?¡±

    As he spoke, he began to head in the Holly n¡¯s direction. With Patelocke there, Su Chen was easily able to make his way over.

    Upon entering the Holly n, Su Chen directly assumed Si Li¡¯s appearance and snuck in.

    The Holly n had withdrawn most of their powerful experts, so sneaking in was a piece of cake for Su Chen given his strength. He followed a twisting and winding path until he came to where Patelocke was being kept. It was only then that he noticed quite the collection of valuables there.

    ¡°It seems like this guy was nning on keeping you here as a collector¡¯s item,¡± Su Chenughed when he saw Patelocke.

    ¡°I would have left on my own if you hadn¡¯te here. Kicking it with a bunch of collectibles is boring,¡± Patelocke replied.

    ¡°Well, you might have to keep thempany for a bit longer. Since we are here, we cannot possibly leave a treasure mountain empty-handed, can we?¡± Su Chen began to gather all of the items in the storehouse as he spoke. Harpies had a lot of appreciation for the fine arts, and their collections were usually quite tastefully put together.

    ¡°I knew you wouldn¡¯t spare them,¡± Patelocke, who understood Su Chen quite well, said. Even though Su Chen had almost a billion Origin Stones, this kind of habit was how he would maintain this stash of riches.

    As for whether or not this kind of habit was a good one, people had differing opinions on the matter.

    In any case, Su Chen swept up all of the collectibles at once before leading Patelocke out the door.

    ¡°How are we going to leave?¡± Patelocke asked.

    ¡°By charging out the front door,¡± Su Chen replied. He rubbed his hand over his face, assuming Si Li¡¯s appearance before turning and charging out the door.

    ¡°Okay, I didn¡¯t expect that one,¡± Patelocke said as he shrugged his four arms.

    He could guess what kind of person Su Chen had turned into.

    Patelocke walked out calmly behind him. Outside, the sounds of angry yells and curses could already be heard.

    Very quickly, Su Chen¡¯s figure flew back. He grabbed Patelocke and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± This time, they really did leave in a hurry, breaking through the lock on the Holly n¡¯s front door and leaving their territory.

    After making a few turns here and there, Su Chen pulled out Si Li¡¯s corpse and tossed him to the side, saying, ¡°Sorry, I originally wanted to bury you, but it seems that I have another use for you now.¡±

    As he spoke, he dragged Patelocke away.

    ¡°Are you not nning on staying here to watch the situation unfold?¡± Patelocke asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t need to stay here to do that,¡± Su Chen said meaningfully.

    ¡°What? Si Li died?¡± Li Daohong was taken aback.

    He had sensed Si Li¡¯s death as soon as it happened. After all, he was the one who had turned Si Li into a Sacrificial Warrior.

    Even though Sacrificial Warriors were meant to die, they needed to die in a worthy way.

    How had he lost his life fighting a lowly servant?

    Even Li Daohong, with his incredibly smart mind, couldn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°Go and try to find out what happened!¡± Li Daohong immediatelymanded.

    Yet another Sacrificial Warrior was sent out.

    After only half an hour, Li Daohong discovered that his second Sacrificial Warrior had died.

    There was something wrong with the situation.

    Li Daohong recognized that something wasn¡¯t right. Just as he was about to go and take a look personally, the Holly n had alreadye knocking on his front door.

    Boom!

    With a loud explosion, the front door shattered open, and arge group of Harpies charged in angrily.

    What was going on?

    Everyone was taken aback.

    A Harpy tossed out two corpses onto the ground. ¡°Are these your people?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± someone replied in a daze.

    That was exactly what the Harpies were waiting for.

    What need was there to dy any longer?

    ¡°Attack!¡± one of the Harpies yelled.

    Thankfully, they were still a bit restrained in their actions given that they had said they would attack, not kill. Even so, the scene of a massive wave of Harpies attacking a group of human merchants was still quite shocking.

    Li Daohong was infuriated.

    He knew that Si Li¡¯s death indicated something was wrong. How could he not know, given his intelligence, that there was possibly a misunderstanding or something else taking ce. The best course of action would have been to quickly defuse the situation and rify everything.

    But what kind of a person was Li Daohong?

    He was a prince of Liaoye Country, the nightmare of the capital! There wasn¡¯t a single person amongst the nobility in Liaoye Country that didn¡¯t feel a headacheing on when they looked at him.

    Ever since the day that he regained his soberness, he had vowed that only he could bully others. No one could bully him!

    Now, a group of Harpies actually dared to use force to bully him? Did they think he, Li Daohong, was easy to push around?

    So what if someone was setting them up or it was just a misunderstanding? These Harpies were wrong to juste knocking on his door without even asking, so he was totally unafraid of killing them all first.

    So......

    He might as well enjoy himself first!

    As soon as this idea surfaced in his heart, he sprang into action.

    As one of the princess of Liaoye Country, he possessed a Deste Beast bloodline, so he was not weak. He also had quite a few experts by his side. When they retaliated, the intensity of the battle was clearly taken up a notch. Those Harpies with cultivation bases at the Third-Ring or lower died immediately, and even Fourth-Ring Harpies were forced to band together in order to defend against his attacks. Li Daohong also had many subordinates with them, quite a few of them extremely powerful.

    These Harpies, who hade knocking on Li Daohong¡¯s front door, were beaten into a state of disarray.

    The problem had massively escted now.

    After discovering that the person who had taken away his puppet was a human, Holly Keen had considered the possibility that the thief was the same person that he had extorted the puppet from in the first ce. Upon finding that the corpse was not the same person, he had sent his subordinates to ask around. He had thought that something was fishy, as he hadn¡¯t noticed that Li Daohong had a subordinate like that around him at the time. This was why he decided to send his men over to rify with Li Daohong what exactly had happened.

    However, he was always incredibly casual,cking the refined attitude most Harpies had, so his instructions to his subordinates had been unclear. His subordinates had simr personalities to him, so since their master had given them an order, they were obviously there to teach someone a lesson. This was why they had barged in so arrogantly.

    They never expected the tables to turn on them like that.

    In any case, Li Daohong had held back slightly. More than thirty Harpies hade, but only six or seven were killed, seventeen or so were badly injured, and the remaining were able to escape.

    This time, Holly Keen was infuriated.

    After all, he had the power to do as he pleased within the Holly n, but now he had run into someone who was even more harsh and unreasonable than he was. Yes, your status as a prince of Liaoye Country is impressive and outranks me slightly, but you are still in Harpy territory! You dare treat me this way in the Origin Light Castle?

    In an instant, Holly Keen began to make trouble for the Harpies - even the most shameful second generation would have their fair share of scoundrel friends.

    Arge group of Harpies began to fly through the air, heading right for the humanmerce group.

    The rtionship between the Harpies and the humans was bad in the first ce. Just because a few different trade groups were allowed passage didn¡¯t mean that the two races were on friendly terms. All it meant was that both parties needed something that only the other party had, so they would make allowances in order to trade these necessities.

    Everyone who saw this group of Harpies was immediately interested and followed.

    Actually, the Harpies were incredibly talented at following the crowd.

    Because they could fly!

    They could soar into their skies with a p of their wings. Who would be able to hide from them?

    The ability to pursue someone in three dimensions gave them an innate advantage, even if there was a gap in cultivation base.

    In the blink of an eye, Li Daohong and his merchant group were surrounded by thousands of Harpies.

    Most of them weren¡¯t nning on doing anything. They just wanted to see if the Li n¡¯s chaos-causing fiend or the Holly n¡¯s idiot would be more overbearing.

    However, with an audience surrounding them, Holly Keen and Li Daohong found themselves in an awkward situation.

    When faced with the massive spectator pressure due to the audience surrounding them, Holly Keen originally wanted to say something like, ¡°Were you the one who stole my puppet?¡± However, that sounded too weak to him, so he changed his words to, ¡°You dare kill my men? How bold. Men, charge!¡±

    Yes, they started fighting almost immediately.

 Sect - Book 5, 78: Dream Beauty Bloodline

    Chapter 78: Dream Beauty Bloodline

    Even Su Chen didn¡¯t expect for a n he had thought up on the spot to have such great effect. He watched the situation develop with his spatial sense, quite surprised.

    ¡°Wow, they¡¯re really going at it.¡± Su Chen casually reached out a hand and swiped through the air. A screen appeared in midair, showing the ongoing battle between the humanmerce group and the Harpies. That way, Zhu Xianyao would be able to see the situation develop as well.

    ¡°Oh? This ability is pretty cool. How did you get your hands on it?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked.

    ¡°Once you understand the principles and apply them as part of a skill, you will be able to do it too,¡± Su Chen replied casually.

    ¡°I know about the principles. You mentioned that you were enlightened while fighting that sacrificial warrior. But you can¡¯t possibly havee up with a technique in such a short period of time, right?¡± Zhu Xianyao said, not understanding as she stared at the battle ongoing in the sky.

    ¡°That¡¯s where you don¡¯t understand. One technique gives birth to ten thousand. I am actually using Void Projection, but with my new understanding of spatial principles, I am able to reach out across space and visualize what is happening there. Well, you wouldn¡¯t understand even if I exined it to you. In any case, all you need to know is that these past few decades of research I have been doing has not necessarily yielded me powers that are alreadyplete, but iplete."

    It was true that Zhu Xianyao was a bit confused by Su Chen¡¯s words, but he wasn¡¯t wrong.

    What Su Chen cared about was never the power be had already obtained, but the progressive umtion of power that he gained in the process.

    Good preparation was the key to sess. The current Su Chen was still in the process of preparation, so the fruits of hisbor were still few and far between. However, as he continued his research, he would seed more and more often. For instance, it had taken him a ton of effort to try and break into the Light Shaking Realm, but he had managed to figure out the way into the Spirit Burning Realm quite easily. This was because he had developed the Immacte Cultivation Technique and the True Sporit Scripture a long time ago. As such, his consciousness power of 2000 units was a more than sufficient foundation.

    For the same reason, he was able to improve Sumeru Void because of his powerful consciousness and his microscopic eye, as well as perceive some of the secrets regarding space itself.

    To Su Chen, the knowledge he had umted over many years would only begin to manifest itself as strength after marinating for a number of years.

    His ability to suddenly use this kind of technique was based off of this kind of broad foundation.

    The vantage point of the image was above the group of merchants. In it, Li Daohong and Holly Keen could be seen fighting one another with incredible vigor.

    Li Daohong was at the peak of the Light Shaking Realm, only one step from reaching the Sporit Burning Realm. He was only held back by his deficient consciousness power, not Origin Energy; otherwise, he would have made his breakthrough a long time ago. This was even ounting for the fact that his bloodline made it incredibly easy for him to strengthen his consciousness. It would likely take him no more than three years to fully ascend.

    Holly Keen, on the other hand, was a Fifth-Ring Arcana Master. In terms of strength, he was far inferior to Li Daohong, but he also had many men on his side.

    Three Sixth-Ring Arcana Masters surrounding Holly Keen, at the same time defending him from Li Daohong¡¯s attacks. Even so, they were being forced back by Li Daohong and found it hard to withstand his blows.

    Li Daohong didn¡¯t hesitate to scorn his opponent. "Holly Keen, you are not my opponent. It is only because you are Harpy nobility that I am taking it easy on you. Otherwise......"

    He had gotten so used to being a fiend incarnate that he didn¡¯t bother trying to resolve the problem any longer, instead choosing to publicly deride his opponent. Even if what he said was technically correct, Holly Keen had no interest in listening. He began to roar, "Are you all just going to watch him attack me like this?"

    The crowd of Harpy onlookers nced at each other.

    For a moment, there were some people who couldn¡¯t sit still any longer and were going to join the fight, but a voice suddenly spoke. "No one make a move. This conflict is between their ns. It has nothing to do with us Harpies."

    As this voice spoke, a Harpy descended from the sky. He was clearly umon just by looking at him. He wore a sky-bluebat uniform and floated in midair, his blue hair rippling in the air like water. His appearance was quite handsome, and a number of Harpy females shrieked when he appeared.

    "General Jasper Sea! It¡¯s General Jasper Sea!"

    "One of the Origin Light Castle¡¯s three great generals, Jasper Sea Horizon? I didn¡¯t expect him to be so handsome,¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    Jasper Sea Horizon was a well-known general amongst the Harpies. This Eighth-Ring Arcana Master was also a seventh-tier Harpy General.

    These tiers were used by the Harpies to judge an individual¡¯s martial strength in order to make up for the deficit in physical strength. However, even a seventh-tier Harpy General wasn¡¯t much stronger than a human Blood Boiling Realm cultivator in terms of physical strength.

    To the Harpies, on the other hand, that was quite an eptable physique. At the very least, they might not be killed in one shot on the battlefield.

    As soon as Jasper Sea Horizon appeared, the entire crowd began to cry out. Not many people were focused on the battle anymore.

    On the other hand, the people currently involved in the battle immediately tensed up. Since a person with real authority had appeared, should they continue fighting or not?

    Without amand otherwise, they could only harden their foreheads and continue to fight.

    When Holly Keen saw that it was Jasper Sea Horizon who had arrived, he cursed angrily, ¡°Damned Horizon, I knew it was you! You¡¯re always the one making trouble for me!¡±

    Jasper Sea Horizon harrumphed. ¡°You charged into the humanmercial group¡¯s territory without permission. That is already a serious crime. But now you ask the other Harpies to help you? Since I have forbidden others from interfering, your battle with Sixth Prince is a private matter and doesn¡¯t involve our two kingdoms. This way, you won¡¯t be pped with the crime of ruining diplomatic rtions between our two countries. Is that not helping you?¡±

    When he voiced his thought process aloud, everyone else around was speechless and couldn¡¯t say anything against him.

    Even Li Daohong said, ¡°General Jasper Sea is right. This is a personal grudge between me and Holly Keen. It has nothing to do with either of our countries!¡±

    In any case, he was the one with an advantage, so he had no problem turning the situation in that direction. That way, he wouldn¡¯t be in trouble for damaging diplomatic rtions either, allowing him to make easy money.

    Holly Keen frowned. ¡°Do you think you¡¯ve won? I also have......¡±

    Before he even finished speaking, Li Daohong said, ¡°Of course I won¡¯t win. Why not consider this battle a tie?¡±

    Everyone was taken aback by his words.

    Only Su Chen understood what he was trying to do and chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s interesting.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao asked, ¡°How so?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Li Daohong does indeed have some talent. He knows that defeating Holly Keen here has no point. On the other hand, if he does win, he will have offended arge number of Harpies. Even though this person is arrogant and despotic, he is able to approach most situations with a very clear head.¡±

    ¡°But wasn¡¯t he the one who was so quick to fight back in the first ce?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because someone broke into his ce and basically pped him upside the head, causing him to lose face. Now that he has suppressed Holly Keen with his strength, he has regained that face. Proposing a draw is giving the opponent a way out as well. Unfortunately......¡±

    Li Daohong¡¯s calctions were quite good, but unfortunately he didn¡¯t understand Holly Keen well enough.

    Li Daohong asking for a draw while suppressing Holly Keen had won him quite a bit of face, but to Holly Keen this was no different than losing. All of his face was now gone.

    Holly Keen couldn¡¯t ept that kind of feeling either.

    As such, Holly Keen rejected Li Daohong¡¯s olive branch. ¡°Get the hell out of here. Do I need you throw a game for me? Even if we do agree to a draw, it can only be after I gain the advantage. Giant Demon,e out!¡±

    As he cried out, a massive metal puppet appeared out of nowhere.

    This puppet was nearly a hundred twenty feet tall. It was equipped with metal wings on its back, but what supported it was still the Origin Formation installed inside. The wings weren¡¯t used for flight but for attacking.

    As soon as the puppet appeared, it charged at Li Daohong, unleashing a fist and sending shockwaves everywhere. The bystanders only felt a majestic pressure wash over them. Su Chen was able to perceive that this fist strike was powerful enough to cause the fabric of space to ripple slightly.

    Of course, this ripple was very faint.

    At this point, he still was unclear what kind of strength could influence the fabric of space, but the amount of strength needed was absolutely notmon. Even though this puppet was merely causing faint ripples, its might was already incredible.

    As he watched what was happening on the battlefield closely, the fist shattered Li Daohong¡¯s Distant Heaven Shield and mmed into Li Daohong himself.

    Fortunately, Li Daohong also had a number of precious treasures on him. At the same time that the fist crashed into him, his body began to glow a faint golden color, stopping the fist in its tracks.

    Even so, Li Daohong¡¯s expression grew slightly uglier. ¡°A battalion-tier puppet?¡±

    Battalion-tier puppets were strong enough to deal with an entire battalion of soldiers. They were usually roughly equivalent in strength to a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator.

    ¡°Hmph! Now do you know how strong I am?¡± Holly Keen chuckled.

    He could do as he pleased not just because he was the only son of his n¡¯s leader, but also because he was a genius in the use of puppets.

    He had liked studying them ever since he was a child, and enjoyed designing and constructing them. Sometimes, interests became innate gifts, so he had quite a bit of skill when it came to building these puppets. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have tried to buy Patelocke for no reason.

    Li Daohong was trying to think of how to deal with the sudden appearance of this puppet, which had startled him quite badly, but he discovered that the glow on the puppet¡¯s body had be significantly fainter. Its next attack was not nearly as scary as before.

    ¡°So not every one of it¡¯s attacks is that powerful. This puppet is not actually at the garrison tier,¡± Li Daohong was able to confirm to himself.

    Holly Keen said angrily, ¡°Hey, I haven¡¯t managed toplete this treasure yet. Every one of its attacks consumes arge amount of Origin Energy, and it takes a long time before it can fully recover. Otherwise, it would really be at the garrison tier.

    He actually readily admitted the ws of this puppet as his.

    ¡°So what gives you the confidence to act so boldly?¡± Li Daohong was also growing angry, and streaks of light began to shoot forth from his palm like rain.

    The Dream Beauty Bloodline specialized in consciousness control, attacks, and illusions. However, its consciousness control techniques were not useful in a battlefield and could only be used in a nonbat situation. Usually, in a fight they would resort to unleashing a storm of consciousness energy at their opponents.

    These streaks of light were filled with boundless killing intent, each one harboring immense power. Even if he wasn¡¯t nning on actually killing his opponent, it was clear that he was not holding back or showing mercy.

    Holly Keen, however, chuckled. ¡°Because I have more of them!¡±

    He waved his hand and arge horde of puppets stormed out.

    He really did have quite arge number of puppets of all different shapes, sizes, and types. They were all his creations. As for any puppets that were manufactured by someone else, Holly Keen only ever used them for research and never took them with him anywhere.

    Su Chen¡¯s first reaction to seeing this was, ¡°This guy definitely has a massive Origin Ring! I really want to take it for myself!¡±

 Sect - Book 5, 79: Progress

    Chapter 79: Progress

    Holly Keen sent out wave after wave of puppets, and Li Daohong did everything in his power to force them back. Given his status and intelligence, he had managed to learn quite a few Origin Skills. In addition, the Dream Beauty Bloodline was the most malleable out of the seven imperial family bloodlines. Even though itsbat power was not particrly high, itspatibility was very high. Otherwise, Li Daohong wouldn¡¯t have been able to awaken two bloodlines that easily.

    As a result, he had a surprising number of skills up his sleeve.

    In one moment, he was unleashing streaks filled with consciousness power - his Deste Beast Bloodline ability - then filling the skies with grey clouds a momentter, a manifestation of the Night God Bloodline. Then, thousands of streaks of sword Qi surged valiantly through the sky, followed by him transforming into a statue made of metal to withstand the attacks of the giant puppets. These two were skills that he had picked up along the way.

    This guy actually controlled around eighteen powerful Origin Skills, each one considered top-tier. Normally, he kept them well-hidden, but now Holly Keen¡¯s puppets had forced his hand. Su Chen clucked his tongue in amazement. ¡°He really is an imperial disciple and was given the Attendant¡¯s Brain. I have nothing I can say about his studies.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao said disdainfully, ¡°This guy should have been very smart. Howe you were able to plot against him so easily? And he is just showing off his trump cards like it¡¯s nobody¡¯s business right now.¡±

    Su Chen countered, ¡°He might be smart, but hecks wisdom.¡±

    ¡°Oh? What difference is there between the two?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Smart people can think quickly, but that doesn¡¯t mean they are wise. Wisdom is abination of intelligence, experience, knowledge, and personality. If intelligence is like a flower, then being smart is like that flower¡¯s stem.

    ¡°Intelligence is the root. That is why we say that smart people have clear eyesight. If a person is smart enough, they will be able to learn quickly, and their stem will be thick. This allows them to absorb much more nutrients, but the root is still a root, not a flower.¡±

    ¡°Experience is like the leaves of a flower. A person will learn many lessons throughout life, and these experiences teach a person how to protect themselves and improve themselves. The thorns on the flower¡¯s stems and leaves serve a simr protective purpose.¡±

    ¡°Knowledge is like the soil. The roots absorb nutrients from it in order to grow healthily. The human race starts from knowledge when ites to seeing the world in order to improve ourselves by the same principle. Without enough knowledge, even the smartest brain will have a hard time reaching its full potential. This is like people who just loiter around all day and spend all their time trying to figure out how to make a small profit. Knowledge determines theyout. If theyout is small, it doesn¡¯t make a difference how smart you are.¡±

    ¡°Personality is the seed. There are many kinds of different flowers. Some appear quitemon early on but be breathtakingly beautiful when they grow. Some appear to be growing quite well but turn out crooked in the end. In the same way, the growth of intelligence is guided by personality. Those with wicked personalities will never be anything more than a poisonous flower no matter what kind of heaven-defying intellect they have. On the other hand, those with pure personalities will be able to be herbs that can heal others no matter how idiotic they are.¡±

    ¡°Those Attendants are a perfect example. What could they do with their momentary brilliance? Eventually, they were all wiped out. Then, you look at the Ravagers, who are living quite well nowadays despite the fact that most of them are idiots. The former is like a flower that shows off its beauty for some time but is eventually uprooted by the wind. On the other hand, thetter is like a weed. Even though its status is lowly and its appearance unrefined, it can survive in harsh environments without dying out, forcefully iming territory for itself.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao was taken aback. Even her mother, Zhu Yunyan, and Patelocke, who were listening, were also surprised.

    Zhu Yunyan said, ¡°Did you think of this yourself?¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve thought about this a lot in my spare time and have reached some conclusions. I feel a bit embarrassed to talk about them now, though.¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯re exactly right!¡± Patelocke sighed. ¡°Truly intelligent people need to consider all of these aspects together. Personality is probably the most important, and of the remaining four factors, supposed ¡®intelligence¡¯ is probably the least. That doesn¡¯t mean that it isn¡¯t important, but intelligence alone is not worth apuding. I don¡¯t think that Li Daohong is so dumb that he can¡¯t figure out what might have happened between the two of them, but just because he has figured it out doesn¡¯t mean that he is willing to do so.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Li Daohong has an innately arrogant personality, which makes him very stubborn. Holly Keen¡¯s attack was not something he could ept, so he insisted on confronting Holly Keen despite knowing what had actually taken ce.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao pped her hands. ¡°I originally thought that Li Daohong would be a big obstacle in our path, but he seems distinctly average now. I feel a lot more at ease.¡±

    Su Chen, however, shook his head. ¡°Generally speaking, even though Li Daohong has his fair share of problems, this poisonous flower was born into an imperial family and has studied under great teachers. In addition, he has experienced rises and falls, which means that he can still control his emotion. Of the five characteristics of a wise person, he has intelligence, knowledge, and experience in spades. It¡¯s just his personality that leaves much to be desired. However, poisonous flowers can be extremely tricky to deal with. He might not grow to be an important person, but he is still a powerful opponent that we cannot afford to underestimate!¡±

    He wasn¡¯t so naive as to believe that he had defeated Li Daohong just because he had managed to trick Li Daohong once. After all, he was acting from the shadows, while his opponent had been thrust into the limelight. Once his opponent had an opportunity to recollect himself, the situation would be very different.

    Poisonous flowers were hard to deal with because no tactic was off-limits for them.

    ¡°Hopefully he gets quashed to death by Holly Keen¡¯s puppets,¡± Zhu Xianyao muttered.

    ¡°I think that will be hard,¡± Patelocke sighed. ¡°Given how long the battle has been going on for, it¡¯s likely that it will end soon.¡±

    Yes, the conclusion was indeed near.

    It finally appeared that the battle was reaching its conclusion.

    Even though Holly Keen had many puppets, Li Daohong had mastered many techniques. If they were to continue fighting, all that would happen was that more of their subordinates would die. If they had only suffered a few casualties, they might not have cared much, but they would definitely feel the effects of losing arge number of subordinates.

    In particr, even though Li Daohong¡¯s Dream Beauty Bloodline was proficient in controlling others, he still felt a pang of sorrow when he realized how many sacrificial warriors he had lost during the course of this battle.

    Those sacrificial warriors could be considered part of his wealth.

    Li Daohong was also feeling pangs of sorrow over the destruction of his puppets. Li Daohong could recover Origin Energy just by resting for a little bit, but all of his losses needed to be paid for with real money. How could he not feel sad when watching them get destroyed like that?

    Finally, both parties settled the matter by leaving it unsettled.

    A grudge had formed now between Li Daohong and Holly Keen.

    Secretly, however, Li Daohong was quite aware of the possibility that Zhu Xianyao had set him up. He still didn¡¯t know that Su Chen had arrived yet, only believing that Zhu Xianyao was scheming against him. Holly Keen once again thought of the kid that had ¡°sent¡± him the puppet. No wonder he hadn¡¯t asked for money - he had been nning on taking it back in the first ce. This matter wasn¡¯t over yet - after all, there were only a few human groups in the Origin Light Castle, making them easy to find.

    Su Chen calmly put away the ¡®screen¡¯. ¡°Alright, the show¡¯s over. Everyone should get some rest; we have a long journey ahead of us tomorrow anyways.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s the end of things?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked.

    ¡°Of course not,¡± Su Chen coldly chuckled. ¡°The days are still long. No need to be in such a hurry.¡±

    The next morning, the trade group set out for Sky City.

    Not long after they left, Li Daohong left for Sky City as well.

    Shortly after that, Holly Keen left as well.

    He had managed to discover that the brat who had given him the puppet was part of the Zhu n¡¯s trade group.

    Most frustratingly, that transmission puppet had reappeared amongst the Zhu n¡¯s ranks. No one had even made an effort to try and hide it - brat, you really are quite arrogant!

    Holly Keen wouldn¡¯t have been Holly Keen if he didn¡¯t follow along. After all, he was nning on finishing off both Li Daohong and the Zhu n¡¯s servant anyways.

    The Cloud-Piercing Shuttles flew for another three days.

    After three days, they touched down in the Farsighted ins.

    The Farsighted ins used to be incredibly hilly. One of the peaks was especially famous for being over a million feet tall. In ancient times, one could see very far from the top of this mountain, which was where the name ¡°Farsighted¡± came from. However, drastic changes in terrain over time were not umon. At some point in time, a few powerful experts had fought fiercely here, turning it into a patch of nds.

    However, the sight that people admired the most here were the Immortal-Tread Clouds.

    The Immortal-Tread Clouds were very unique clouds. They were not formed from condensed water vapor but from a special substance floating through the air. The material was extremely gentle but didn¡¯t tear easily. Apparently, it was possible to walk on top of them.

    These clouds were produced in Harpy territory. The Harpies grew their unique Windbells, Snow Pears, Shadowless Flowers, and other nts on these clouds.

    The Harpies were mostly vegetarian, and their aesthetic preferences made it so that these dainty flowers and nts were their main source of sustenance.

    Iron Cliff said that it would have been strange if they were able to be physically powerful by eating this kind of food all day. The Harpies weren¡¯t physically weak for no reason.

    Su Chen could understand somewhat. The early Intelligent Races didn¡¯t have cultivation techniques, so how would the Harpies fly if they ate too much? Being lightweight was foundational for being able to fly, so it was natural that the Harpies had sacrificed physical prowess for this ability.

    This was also why the Harpies had gradually be more and more disadvantaged in battle - at a certain cultivation point, everyone learned to fly, and the Harpies¡¯ flight advantage greatly decreased. In the end, they were forced to rely on the floating castles.

    But that was a digression.

    Immortal-Tread Clouds were how the Harpies sustained themselves. The Origin Light Castle was considered to be at the front lines, so nothing was grown there. Here, however,rge swathes of these Immortal-Tread Clouds could be seen everywhere, and normal Harpies were harvesting, watering, nourishing, and nting all kinds of vegetation on these clouds.

    In some sense, they were like humans. They relied on hard manualbor to eke out a living. The only difference was that their food source was different. Even so, these two struggling races just couldn¡¯t seem to get along. This was probably because of xenophobia.

    They flew past this agricultural region and continued to advance. After the majority of the day had passed, they suddenly heard a mysterious vibrating noise.

    It was as if the earth itself was trembling.

    Was it an earthquake?

    They were all initially worried before they saw that the Harpies seemed totally nonchnt, so they could only suppress the anxiety in their hearts.

    As they continued to advance, the vibrations grew louder and louder, as if there was a sheet of metal ringing right next to their ears.

    Those Harpies all began to pull out earplugs. It seemed that they had been prepared a long time ago.

    One item that the Harpies had sold ubiquitously were earplugs. Su Chen hadn¡¯t understood at the time why the Harpies needed these items in such great supply. Now, he finally understood.

    As the vibrations grew closer and closer, the people on the Cloud-Piercing Shuttles finally figured out what the source of the rumblings came from.

    The people on the shuttles had some guesses about what the source of the rumblings were, but they couldn¡¯t help but sigh and exim in amazement when they saw.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 80: Chaos Tower

    Chapter 80: Chaos Tower

    A massive tower appeared before their eyes.

    The Cloud-Piercing Shuttle just so happened to be flying at a height roughly equal to that of the middle of the tower. The tower seemed to pierce the sky like a giant sword, and anyone who was flying through the air needed to look up to see the top of the sky. People standing on the ground probably wouldn¡¯t even be able to see the very top of the tower even if there were no clouds obscuring it from view.

    Su Chen and his group discovered from the Harpies that the tower had twenty-eight faces in total, each roughly a thousand feet in size. The tower itself was roughly 32,000 feet tall, with 160 levels in total. The higher up the tower, the taller the ceiling. Most of the Harpies in the entire Chaos Region lived in this tower.

    Origin Qi Schrs could see through clouds. As such, the party saw a massive Prehistoric Beast walking along the ground, carrying the tower on its back.

    This fierce turtle was roughly seventy thousand feet long, and the tower was stuck right onto its back. The two were physically connected. Every step that the turtle took caused the ground beneath it to tremble violently.

    So the massive rumblings they had started to hear earlier wereing from this beast¡¯s footsteps.

    This was the Chaos Tower.

    Inparison to the Origin Light Castle, the Chaos Tower was even more striking and majestic. After all, it was being carried on the back of a Prehistoric Beast that was somehow still alive.

    The humans had been able to seize some territory for themselves after obtaining the power of a bloodline. The Harpies, on the other hand, had managed to control a living Prehistoric Beast!

    Thankfully, this Prehistoric Beast was an addled one. Its brain was not in good condition, so all it did was walk around in arge circle. As a result, it would always remain in roughly the same ce.

    Over long periods of time, the ground had beenpacted to be incredibly hard. Even if Su Chen were to strike the ground as hard as he could with his Mountain-Beheading de, he would probably leave behind no mark.

    If a fight were to break out here, no one would need to worry about damaging anything.

    Instead ofnding, the shuttles directly docked on the 78th floor of the Chaos Tower.

    Based on the way the Harpies had set up the tower, the 70th to 90th floors were all used for arrivals and departures ofrge-scale Cloud-Piercing Shuttles. As a result, these floors were exceptionally spacious, each floor roughly 380 feet tall.

    The Cloud-Piercing Shuttles entered the tower and touched down on an elevated tform. Because the Prehistoric Beast was constantly trundling around, pilots needed to be careful whennding the shuttles. This was, in some sense, a test of their skills. Perhaps because the Zhu n¡¯s pilot was skilled, they were able to sessfullynd the first time.

    ¡°Wow! How exciting!¡± Zhu Xianyao said as she jumped off of the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle.

    As she stood on the edge of the tform and gazed down, she could see the massive turtle¡¯s head. Its eyes were closed, and it waggled its head incessantly. Even though they were thousands of feet away, the sight was still incredibly clear. It was even possible to identify the sharp rows of spikes on the back of its head from here.

    ¡°How spectacr!¡± Zhu Xianyao sighed.

    ¡°It is truly spectacr. I never would have expected to see a Prehistoric Beast in my lifetime,¡± Zhu Xianyao said as well.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t say anything to that effect, instead ncing towards Patelocke. ¡°What do you think? Patelocke.¡±

    Patelocke shook his mechanical head. ¡°It¡¯s hard to imagine and even harder to understand. Prehistoric Beasts had mostly gone into hibernation even when the Arcanists were still in power. Why is it still able to remain alive even though so much time has gone by? I can¡¯t imagine why.¡±

    It was obvious by his repetition how big of a shock this was to him.

    Zhu Xianyao suddenly thought of something and whispered to Su Chen, ¡°Do you want to go down there and take a look at this Prehistoric Beast¡¯s secrets?¡±

    Unfortunately, Zhu Yunyan heard her and almost jumped out of fright. She hurriedly covered Zhu Xianyao¡¯s mouth and said, ¡°Don¡¯t spout such nonsense.¡±

    She red at Su Chen. ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to answer either.¡±

    Su Chen could only nod.

    Zhu Xianyao felt stifled, but when she snuck a furtive nce at Su Chen and saw the lingering smile on his face, she knew what he was thinking.

    Both of them were extremely courageous individuals who dared to do anything. They both were interested in taking a look at the secrets of this Prehistoric Beast.

    The Chaos Tower¡¯s 160 floors were split into five major regions. The center area was the visitor¡¯s area, responsible for handling admissions into and departures from the Chaos Tower. Some small shops and free horse posts were also ced here.

    Above the visitor¡¯s area was the living areas. Most of the Harpies lived in this ce. Above them lived the nobles and the Harpies with high status and cultivation bases. Below the visitor¡¯s area was where the Harpies¡¯ living necessities were produced, and below that was the shipping and receiving center. All of the Chaos Tower¡¯s import and export took ce there. As a result, the Chaos Tower¡¯s defenses were primarily at either end of the tower and not at the center. Outsiders, especially foreigners, were only allowed to live near the visitor¡¯s area. They were neither allowed to go up nor down. If Su Chen and Zhu Xianyao wanted to better understand the secrets of the Chaos Tower, they would first need to reach the shipping and receiving area, and get through the living necessity production area as well.

    It was basically impossible for anyone to cross these dozens of barriers without getting caught.

    Even the current information they possessed had probablye at the cost of countless lives.

    This was why Zhu Yunyan was forbidding them from taking this risk.

    However, Zhu Xianyao and Su Chen obviously had their own thoughts on the matter.

    After reaching the public stables, Zhu Xianyao found an opportunity to talk to Su Chen when no one else was around. ¡°How are you nning on getting in? Disguising yourself?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°No way. This ce is not like other ces - the Chaos Tower is the most closely guarded secret of the Harpies. I don¡¯t believe for a moment that no one here has techniques that let them see through illusion techniques. I imagine that Origin Formations, Origin Tools, or Origin Qi Schrs that can nullify disguises are probably stationed at the entrance of each floor. Even if you manage to get past one, there are still hundreds of other mechanisms in ce behind that. The further you go, the harder it will be to advance.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao felt stifled yet again. ¡°Doesn¡¯t that basically mean it¡¯s impossible?¡±

    ¡°It is impossible!¡± Su Chen replied straightforwardly.

    ¡°But you just said you wanted to go take a look.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°I did say that, but that doesn¡¯t mean that we need to go in from the outside.¡±

    ¡°What else can we do?¡± Zhu Xianyao stared wide-eyed at him, her limpid gaze quite bewitching.

    Su Chen was moved by her curious expression and embraced her as he whispered, ¡°Simple. We¡¯ll just go take a look from outside.¡±

    From outside!?

    The method Su Chen had chosen was both the simplest and most direct.

    The Harpies could guard the inside, but could they guard the outside?

    Zhu Xianyao was badly startled by Su Chen¡¯s train of thought, and she actually trembled slightly. ¡°Go...... go...... out...... outside? You...... you...... are you crazy? Face to face...... with a Prehistoric Beast?¡±

    Going outside was indeed very simple. They would be able tond on top of the Deste Beast just by jumping down.

    But that was a Deste Beast! In the face of a Deste Beast, all humans were just ants!

    Su Chen wanted toe into direct contact with it? Did he know what the oue would be?

    ¡°I know, but it¡¯s already lost it¡¯s intellect,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Even if it¡¯s muddled, it¡¯s still alive. It could probably kill you with a careless sneeze, alright?¡± Zhu Xianyao said.

    ¡°The prerequisite is that it knows how to sneeze.¡±

    ¡°How would you know if it could sneeze or not?¡±

    ¡°Because I saw some Harpies down there standing guard,¡± Su Chen replied.

    There were Harpies down there!

    Su Chen had saw seen them with his own eyes.

    There weren¡¯t many, but there were some.

    Some was good enough for him!

    This meant that he could get close to this Deste Beast without too many dangers around him.

    ¡°Since there are Harpies there, then you will be discovered as soon as you go down.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Those Harpies might not care if I get too close. If they only look at my external appearance, my secrets should stay safe with me...... Of course, they will not know I am an exception,¡± Su Chen said with a slight smile.

    At this point, his microscopic eye had be a great deal more powerful. Even the Arcanists themselves might not have been able to achieve such sess as he had. When you factored in his ability to perceive space, he would be able to see much more than the Harpies could just by getting close.

    ¡°What if they don¡¯t agree?¡±

    ¡°There will most likely be some problems that we need to deal with, but it will be much easier than breaking through the restrictions on each floor that await us.¡±

    ¡°...... Fine. But I want to go too.¡± Zhu Xianyao finally relented.

    ¡°You? Maybe not this time.¡±

    ¡°So you still dare say everything will be fine?¡± Zhu Xianyao said as she pinched Su Chen¡¯s nose.

    Su Chen smiled bitterly. ¡°I can use Whitetower Teleportation.¡±

    ¡°Hmph. Even though Whitetower Teleportation is good, it is mostly useful in sessive uses. You can¡¯t actually jump that far in a single leap,¡± Zhu Xianyao snorted as she crossed her arms.

    That was true. Whitetower Teleportation was still limited in its teleportation distance, even when it was cultivated to its peak. This was why Su Chen often used it in rapid session. Even though the effect was quite good, it also proved to be quite a physical burden. As such, Whitetower Teleportation¡¯s true usefulness was still in battle and not for long-distance travel.

    Deste Beasts had a very wide attack range. It wasn¡¯t very likely that Su Chen would be able to use Whitetower Teleportation to escape from it.

    ¡°That was before,¡± Su Chen said with a smile.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Zhu Xianyao was taken aback.

    Su Chen¡¯s figure suddenly shed as he reappeared roughly a kilometer away.

    Zhu Xianyao was taken aback when she saw him suddenly leap nearly three thousand feet away.

    An instantter, Su Chen had teleported back. His face flushed for a moment before it passed.

    Indeed, even though the teleportation distance had greatly increased, Su Chen could still use it repeatedly. However, the physical burden was still quite high.

    Su Chen said, ¡°This is the benefit ofprehending some of the truths behind space.¡±

    After discovering some of the truths around space, Su Chen began to develop a deeper understanding of the framework of space. Now, when he used Whitetower Teleportation, he felt like a fish in water, and his efficiency had almost doubled. Even though the burden ced on his body had also increased somewhat, it was only one-tenth the increase in teleportation distance. That was an incredibly worthwhile tradeoff. Also, when it came to life-saving potential, the savings were even more drastic.

    Su Chen¡¯s jumping a kilometer was only the beginning. He had the feeling that, as time went on and his understanding of the fabric of space improved, his use of Whitetower Teleportation would also improve.

    This was currently his biggest source of confidence.

    ¡°I can jump at most 5000 feet, but with you I will only be able to travel 1000 feet. That is too much of a decrease, so you tell me whether or not I should bring you along.¡±

    When Zhu Xianyao heard this, she had no way of offering a rebuttal.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. With Patelocke here, you will see everything I see as well,¡± Su Chen chuckled. ¡°He is one of the most well-kept ancient transmission puppet. That¡¯s exactly what he was built for.¡±

 Sect - 81: Stealth

    After eating dinner, Su Chen went down.

    He calmly floated down in in view like a wisp of smoke.

    The Prehistoric Beast was still running around in circles. Even though its movements were not very fast, every step it took moved it tens of thousands of feet.

    This was a big problem for the Harpies standing guard below because they couldn¡¯t keep up with the Prehistoric Beast¡¯s speed.

    Actually, the solution to this problem was very simple.

    The Harpies didn¡¯t actually follow it around; instead, they just stationed a number of soldiers in every region. After all, their goal wasn¡¯t to defend against a Prehistoric Beast, but against the attacks of other foreign races.

    They weren¡¯t worried that the Prehistoric Beast would identally run into them. It traveled in a very orderly fashion around a set path, each step ced with extreme uracy. It would slightly adjust its trajectory with every step that it took. For this reason, it had already left behind a well-defined circle in the ground.

    These footsteps were not chaotic or jumbled in the slightest.

    The Prehistoric Beast was probably only able to maintain such an orderly path even though it was muddled because it was still under the Harpies¡¯ control.

    For some reason, the Harpies never controlled it into stopping.

    Was it because they couldn¡¯t? Or because they didn¡¯t want to?

    Su Chen had no idea.

    Right now, his current goal was to get close to the Prehistoric Beast.

    He was nning on just giving it a try.

    Yes, he wanted to walk right up and see how the Harpies would react to him.

    He very quickly came down to the level of the beast. Indeed, two Harpies came up and stopped him. ¡°This area is forbidden, human. Go back to where you should be.¡±

    Su Chen nced at the Prehistoric Beast below him.

    He was already quite close to the beast, making it hard for him to make out the beast¡¯s face. All he could see was small hills covering the turtle¡¯s skin. Even though these were just the divots in its skin, they were sorge that they looked just like spikes or like peaks of a mountain range.

    ¡°I just wanted to see the majesty of a Prehistoric Beast for myself. You all wouldn¡¯t believe me if I said that I could harm it, right?¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    When they heard this, the Harpy soldiers began tough coldly.

    Of course they didn¡¯t believe that Su Chen would be able to do anything like that.

    When the humans had killed nine of these Deste Beasts, when had they not needed the help of the other races and hundreds of Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators, thousands of Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators, and tens of thousands of Spirit Burning Realm cultivators?

    It was impossible for a little Light Shaking Realm cultivator to pose any kind of threat to a Prehistoric Beast.

    For this reason, the massive turtle¡¯s defenses were quite weak. In some sense, this duty was more ceremonial than practical.

    Even so, unfortunately, the Harpies weren¡¯t willing to let Su Chen get any closer.

    One of the Harpy soldiers said, ¡°Outsider, you are not a Harpy, so you are not allowed any closer. If you want to look, you may stand here and look. That is the most we can agree to.¡±

    ¡°Is that how it is......¡± Su Chen murmured before nodding. ¡°That¡¯s fine with me!¡±

    He didn¡¯t try to argue, instead remaining floating in the air as he gazed at the lumbering beast below him.

    Secretly, however, Su Chen pulled out a vial of medicine and began to furtively drip some blood down onto the turtle¡¯s head. Those Harpies didn¡¯t notice what he was doing, and the Prehistoric Beast was even more unaware.

    Very quickly, one of Su Chen¡¯s blood clones formed near the Prehistoric Beast.

    Because the Prehistoric Beast¡¯s head was like a mountain, with the ridges on its skin as dense as mountain peaks. This clone had basically appeared in the midst of a densely-packed mountain range, so none of the Harpy soldiers were able to spot it.

    But before the clone was able to do anything, Su Chen felt a wave of pressure roll in his direction.

    A momentter, Su Chen¡¯s clone was sted to pieces and disappeared.

    How powerful!

    Su Chen was secretly stunned.

    He knew that the Prehistoric Beast hadn¡¯t tried to destroy it intentionally, but it was just too powerful. Even one of its breaths or some pressure it unintentionally leaked was more than the clone could handle, which was why it was destroyed on the spot.

    No wonder these Harpies only dared to watch on from afar. Unless they were at the equivalent of the Light Shaking Realm or above, they didn¡¯t even have the right to stand on its body.

    Su Chen¡¯s main body was probably strong enough to barely withstand this pressure.

    It seemed that he would really need to use his main body for this.

    Su Chen let loose another droplet of blood when he thought of this. Instead of immediately creating another clone, however, he pointed off in the distance. ¡°Look, over there!¡±

    The two Harpies simultaneously nced in the direction that Su Chen had pointed in but found nothing. When they turned back around to look, they found Su Chen still standing there harmlessly. They asked him suspiciously, ¡°What were you looking at?¡±

    Su Chen shrugged. ¡°Nothing, really - I just think that the scenery here is quite beautiful.¡±

    The two Harpies red at him, but neither of them realized that the person standing in front of them was no longer the real Su Chen anymore.

    On the Prehistoric Beast¡¯s head.

    Su Chen had reappeared on the beast¡¯s head.

    He felt like a mountain of pressure was smashing down on him.

    This made it hard for him to even stand and walk around, let alone fight.

    Even so, the more the situation was like this, the more his interest grew.

    A Deste Beast!

    He was on the head of a Deste Beast!

    Standing on the head of a Deste Beast was something that would make anyone giddy.

    To Su Chen, however, this was merely the beginning.

    Su Chen nced behind him and found where the Chaos Tower was connected to the beast. The massive tower prated deep into the turtle¡¯s body, and countless soldiers were stood guard around it. Most of them were probably incredibly powerful Arcana Masters.

    Even so, Su Chen still wanted to try getting into the tower.

    Because of Halcyon Wing Streak, Su Chen didn¡¯t want to reveal the fact that he had an illusion technique just yet, so he decided to conceal himself instead.

    His figure slipped into the darkness as he began to advance towards the base of the tower.

    Each face of the Chaos Tower had a copper mirror suspended on it. The copper mirrors revolved under the power of an Origin Formation, shining beams of light back and forth.

    Su Chen knew that this was likely what the Harpies used to scan their surroundings. If he let these beams of light touch him, the concealment technique he was using would likely be exposed.

    But as long as he could avoid this light, everything would be fine.

    But when he thought about it more, he realized that the lighting from the copper mirrors was a bit too obvious and would be very easily discovered and dealt with. The Harpies were smart, so how could they have possibly been sozy in setting up their defenses? There was most likely some other kind of mechanism in hiding. If someone tried to sneak in by avoiding the light, they would probably fall right into the real trap.

    Su Chen stopped advancing when he thought of this, instead creating another clone that he then concealed and directed around the beams of light.

    The clone was able to nimbly advance without any issues. As it got closer and closer, however, a sudden streak of light shot out, bisecting the clone even when it hadn¡¯t really been doing much.

    Su Chen¡¯s gaze shrunk.

    Ninth-Ring Arcana Technique, Spatial Edge.

    This Arcana Technique was impossible to defend against, as it attacked out of nowhere and could ignore any kind of concealment.

    So the Harpies did have other preparations hidden away.

    Two Harpies came charging out of the tower but found nothing nearby and said, ¡°That might be another mistake. The formation has been a bit unstable recently.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing we can do about it. The chaotic energy around here is too much for most Origin Formations to behave reliably.¡±

    As the two Harpies spoke, they flew back to their stations.

    Su Chen fell deep into thought as he watched them leave.

    It was about six thousand feet from here into the tower. In other words, as long as Su Chen could get a thousand feet closer, he would be able to teleport right into the tower.

    However, the Harpies¡¯ defenses had quite a bit of range, and how to cross the final thousand feet was indeed a problem. Ninth-Ring Arcana Techniques weren¡¯t easy to deal with. Even if Su Chen wasn¡¯t killed on the spot by one of those attacks, he would probably be seriously injured.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Su Chen pulled out a vial of medicine from his Origin Ring and drank it.

    This was the Spirit-Sobering Medicine. It would allow Su Chen¡¯s consciousness to be much stronger. At that moment, Su Chen could only rely on his incredible consciousness power to sense out the dangers around him.

    After drinking the medicine, Su Chen¡¯s consciousness power surged. He unleashed it to its fullest extent as it spread into every corner of his surroundings. He had no consciousness perception Origin Skills, so he could only use his consciousness itself to probe his surroundings and develop a n of attack.

    As Su Chen closed in and was about to teleport, he suddenly felt his heart tense up. His consciousness perception was warning him about something.

    Su Chen forcefully prevented himself from taking that step and diverted it in another direction.

    Even though that step seemed like it would have totally been fine, Su Chen knew that he had narrowly avoided being attacked by a Spatial Edge. His heart pounded violently as adrenaline coursed through his body.

    After recovering, he continued to carefully advance. The Harpies had set up a number of different mechanisms in ce, and traps were everywhere. However, Su Chen¡¯s extremely high consciousness power finally came into use, and he was able to detect danger moments before it affected him. Even though hecked consciousness perception Origin Skills, a thought surfaced in Su Chen¡¯s mind as he began to feel like he was beginning to grasp at the fringes of the principles behind consciousness perception.

    So he had learned it just like that?

    Su Chen was quite surprised.

    Consciousness perception Origin Skills were hard to master, and humans could only learn a few of them. On the other hand, the Astrals had quite a few at their disposal. This was why Su Chen had never been able to use this ability despite having an incredibly powerful consciousness.

    Now, however, Su Chen found that, under extreme duress, he was beginning to develop the ability to perceive his surroundings with his consciousness alone.

    Of course, he was still a far cry from actually figuring out how the traps and mechanisms around him were set up or where they were located. Even so, the little bit he was able to perceive was already helping him immensely.

    As he cautiously advanced step by step, Su Chen finally passed the thousand-foot threshold. At this point, he could easily teleport into Chaos Tower.

    However, this rare sensation made it so that Su Chen couldn¡¯t bear just teleporting like that.

    As such, he decided to continue walking.

    He continued to unleash consciousness power, sensing everything around him as he carefully dodged the traps and mechanisms around him.

    If an Astral was really present, they probably would have cursed him out for his poor perception and its limited distance. He could only sense dangers that were within a one-step radius of where he was standing, yet he was expending almost all of his consciousness power to do so. At the same time, his perception could only warn him of static dangers.

    On the other hand, however, if they were to find out that Su Chen had managed to reach this state without a teacher, their jaw probably would have hit the floor.

    In this manner, Su Chen carefully embarked down this treacherous path, miraculously not triggering any traps as he walked towards the entrance to the tower.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 82: Core 1

    Chapter 82: Core (1)

    Su Chen teleported past the tower base¡¯s defenses, appearing within the tower and almost mming right into another Harpy.

    He was still concealed, so the Harpy didn¡¯t spot him. The Harpy did, however, feel a gust of wind suddenlye his way. He instinctively waved his hand in front of him, almost swiping Su Chen in the face. Su Chen immediately squatted to avoid this swipe. The Harpy then took a step forward, and there was nothing Su Chen could do but retreat and roll to the side, barely avoiding the Harpy¡¯s foot.

    Su Chen broke out in a cold sweat.

    Su Chen only slowly stood back up after seeing that the Harpy had walked past him into the inner room.

    On the lowest floor of the Chaos Tower was a massive Origin Formation. Every room served as a node for the Origin Formation, conducting Origin Energy throughout the formation.

    To Su Chen¡¯s amazement, most of the people here weren¡¯t Harpies but actually the Craftsmen, a long-necked Intelligent Race with three arms.

    The Craftsmen were extremely good at their jobs. Their third arm protruded from their back and could reach above them, cooperating with their other two arms.

    Their hands were incredibly agile, and their fingers could bend at all kinds of odd angles, making them extremely suited for delicate work. Their innate intelligence and love for creating things made them the best smiths and artisans.

    When the Arcanists were at their peak power, the Craftsmen had higher status than the other five Intelligent Races. However, their independent personalities and tendencies to drift made it impossible for them to grow strong. They lived quitefortably when the Arcanists were in power, because they were able to perform their duties as a subordinate race very well. Once the Arcanists fell, however, the Craftsmen fell far, eventually finding a home with the Harpies, who needed the skills of the Craftsmen quite badly. They had been betrayed and sold out a number of times at this point.

    The Craftsmen had no territory belonging to themselves. They relied on a greater power to survive, including the Harpies, the Astrals, and the Oceanids.

    Humans were quite good artisans as well, so they didn¡¯t have much of a need for Craftsmen. The Ravagers didn¡¯t respect construction skills, so even though they had a great need of the Craftsmen, their emphasis of military force made them look down on the Craftsmen instead.

    There were currently arge number of Craftsmen living within the Chaos Tower.

    They stood guard over a bunch of strangely-shaped objects, vessels, stoves, and Origin Formations, constantly tuning them, recording down their observations, and making strange cries from time to time.

    A few Harpies supervised, recording down when the Craftsmen made these strange cries.

    It seemed apparent that these Craftsmen were incredibly important to powering the massive Chaos Tower.

    The Origin Formation inside the tower was incrediblyrge, but it was basically being maintained by these ¡°specialists¡±. It didn¡¯t seem like there were any important individuals otherwise down here.

    Su Chen was able to proceed without hindrance. Apart from when he was just entering the tower, he basically didn¡¯t run into any more danger.

    As he walked along, Su Chen saw a massive room in front of him. Countless Craftsmen and Harpies were walking in and out of the room, so he immediately knew that there was something special about that room.

    Su Chen walked over and saw a massive column stuck straight into the ground. The column glowed brightly with a blood-red luster, and countless Craftsmen circled the pir, all hard at work.

    At the very top of thisrge room, it was possible to see an amethyst-like crystal hanging from the ceiling.

    This crystal, the Sparkling Sky Amethyst, was an incredibly rare consciousness-type crystal object. Su Chen had seen one before; a chunk the size of his pinky was already worth millions of Origin Stones. The one suspended in the sky, however, was the size of a person¡¯s head. This Sparkling Sky Amethyst alone was probably worth a few hundred million Origin Stones. Most importantly, this item was incredibly hard to buy. Su Chen had no idea how the Harpies had managed to get a hold of one of those.

    The Sparkling Sky Amethyst would unleash puffs of purple smoke from time to time. It seemed as if there was howling soundsing from the amethyst that instinctively caused Su Chen¡¯s hair to stand on end, as if something was threatening him. These cries were incredibly frightening, and Su Chen could sense his state of mind shaking slightly. This fear made him want to cry out loudly. Thankfully, he immediately activated his Heart Walls, allowing him to ignore the fear-inducing abilities of these cries. Even so, he broke out into a sweat yet again.

    His journey had been mostly uneventful, but now that he was at the core area, he had suddenly received a shock like that. It was impossible for him not to be surprised.

    This was probably an attack purely on the consciousness level, but it wasn¡¯t an attack with intent. The amethyst was just that frighteningly powerful.

    What kind of lifeform could possess such a shocking aura? Probably only a Deste Beast.

    But hadn¡¯t this Deste Beast be confused?

    Where were these fierce howlsing from?

    Su Chen felt like he had stumbled across one of the Chaos Tower¡¯s important secrets.

    However, he noticed one thing, which was that he found it very difficult to endure the pressure of these howls, while the surrounding Harpies and Craftsmen seemed totally fine. How were they able to remain unaffected?

    Su Chen closely inspected those Craftsmen and found that they were all wearing a strange essory with them that would fluctuate faintly when activated. Those fluctuations seemed to be keeping the aura of the amethyst at bay.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Su Chen understood somewhat.

    It seemed that these essories were not only status symbols but also served to screen outsiders. If an unknown individual somehow managed to sneak in, they would probably lose control of their bowel movements in shock when they encountered the Deste Beast¡¯s aura. Only Su Chen, who had the Heart Walls, could probably ignore its effects.

    However, it seemed that once he was able to clear this test, there was nothing left in his way that would give him a hard time.

    When he thought to this point, he decided to walk boldly into the room.

    However, he had just stepped into the room when he saw a light shine on him from above, causing his figure to reappear immediately.

    It was impossible for a person to appear out of thin air in this kind of a busy ce without attracting any kind of attention.

    In the blink of an eye, countless gazes of shock and surprise fell on Su Chen.

    Su Chen was also taken aback. He had not expected that there would even be this exposing light in the room as well. Any kind of disguise or concealment was basically rendered useless by this light.

    Since he had been discovered, did he need to kill them all?

    Just as Su Chen was thinking this, however, a Craftsmen bowed to him in greeting. ¡°You must be Sir River Sun?¡±

    Hm?

    Su Chen was taken aback. It was then that he noticed that the light had not only exposed his concealment, but also revealed the actual Violent Wings on his back.

    In those Craftsmen¡¯s eyes, a real Harpy had appeared in front of them.

    The Harpies possessed a high amount of internal solidarity. The Chaos Tower¡¯s defenses were primarily aimed outside, not inside. There was probably also some important Harpy who was going to stop by at some point, which had resulted in the Craftsmen misidentifying Su Chen with some high-status Harpy. As for the sudden manner in which Su Chen had appeared, the Craftsmen chalked it up to Su Chen¡¯s entricity, believing that he had only been testing out the tower¡¯s defenses.

    After a brief pause, Su Chen coughed gently and said, ¡°Yes. Is everything going alright?¡±

    The Craftsman replied respectfully, ¡°Sir River Sun, the Shallow Sea Chain have been exchanged, and we have gathered thirty-one Depth Crystals. Do you want us to hand them over?¡±

    Su Chen was taken aback.

    He had no idea what the Shallow Sea Chain was, but he did know what Depth Crystals were. These crystal had incredibly unique attributes.

    Unlike Origin Crystals, which were merely a repository for Origin Energy and could only be used for replenishing energy expenditure, not cultivating, Depth Crystals were pure Origin Energy bodies that could in fact be used for cultivation.

    Of course, using them to cultivate was a bit wasteful. They were actually incredibly useful supplements for the cultivation of many Origin Skills or Arcana Techniques. They were also special ingredients which could be used in making Origin Formations, puppets, Origin Tools, and a bunch of other Origin Energy-rted items.

    If an Origin Tool was imbued with a treasure like a Depth Crystal, its power would increase by a nontrivial amount.

    The Harpies maintained a monopoly on Depth Crystals and never handed them out. The only way to get them was to kill a powerful Harpy and take it from their Origin Ring.

    For this reason, Depth Crystals went for an incredibly high price in human territory, and no human could ever ce an order for one.

    Upon hearing that the Craftsman was asking about giving him thirty-one Depth Crystals, Su Chen was ted.

    What was this situation?

    He was just about to nod and ask for them, when he realized that he had many treasures on hand already, like the Deste Beast blood, which he hadn¡¯t researched yet. He wasn¡¯tcking these Depth Crystals, so he said, ¡°There¡¯s no hurry. Let¡¯s take a look around first.¡±

    He wanted to look at the internal operations of the tower.

    The Craftsman was taken aback before he asked, ¡°What would you like to see, sir?¡±

    Su Chen felt a strange feeling surface in his heart when he saw the Craftsman¡¯s reaction.

    After a moment of thought, he said, ¡°Can you show me around so that I can see how the tower works? Right, and what is your name?¡±

    The Craftsmen lowered his head, replying, ¡°This Craftsman¡¯s name is Cloud Worker.¡±

    ¡°Cloud Worker, is it? Can you show me around here? This is my first time here, so I want to see how everything works.

    ¡°......Yes, sir!¡± the Craftsman agreed after a moment of hesitation, bringing Su Chen around to tour the premises.

    They were currently in the core operation room for the Chaos Tower, so Su Chen was privy to all of the secret mechanisms involved in the operation of the tower. However, just because he could see them didn¡¯t mean that he could understand them. As such, Su Chen would constantly ask the Harpy questions as they walked, trying to surreptitiously obtain and acquire useful information.

    This Craftman was quite smart. Whatever Su Chen asked of him, he would answer.

    This very quickly confirmed something that he had suspected for a long time, or rather something that the Intelligent Races had never been quite able to figure out - how was this Deste Beast being kept alive?

    Su Chen had made many guesses before in the past, and the truth this time revealed to him that his guess had been right.

    The answersy in these Shallow Sea Chain, as well as in the Boundless Origin Sea.

    The Boundless Origin Sea was the source of Origin Energy across the entire Primordial Continent. It was located in an isted void, but it constantly infused the continent with an endless supply of Origin Energy via unique spatial fissures.

    Some imed that the only reason that the Origin Energy in the Primordial Continent was decreasing was because the sea of Origin Energy was still moving around, growing further and further away from the Primordial Continent and decreasing the amount of Origin Energy flowing in.

    Many people attempted to search for the Boundless Origin Sea because of this.

    However, matters involving spatial realms were never easy to deal with. Even if a person made some small gains, these gains would not be generalizable. Any creature that could use an unlimited amount of Origin Energy would be incredibly powerful.

    Sky City was able to receive a constant, never-ending supply of Origin Energy from the Boundless Origin Sea by fixing themselves in ce to it.

    Even though it was a failed experiment, in some sense, the Harpies were still able to learn a lot from that situation.

    Given that Sky City couldn¡¯t move, some Harpies proposed that, given that they already knew how to extract Origin Energy from the Boundless Origin Sea, why couldn¡¯t they use this knowledge to create yet another Sky City?

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 83: Core 2

    Chapter 83: Core (2)

    Of course, at the time that hypothesis was merely that - a hypothesis.

    Now, however, this hypothesis had be real.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know how the Harpies had managed to aplish this, but without question, the fact that a Deste Beast was able to survive until this point had a lot to do with the Boundless Origin Sea.

    Sbasse¡¯s story had mentioned that Origin Beasts relied on Origin Energy to survive, and that they had gone into hibernation due to the gradual thinning of Origin Energy in their surroundings.

    But what if a person was able to supply them with a powerful supply of Origin Energy?

    The answer was that, of course they would be able to continue surviving.

    The Origin Energy obtained from the Boundless Origin Sea would constantly infuse the Deste Beast¡¯s body, turning it into a living spring for Origin Energy. What connected the two was this Shallow Sea Chain.

    Perhaps this was what they had learned from using the Deep Sea Anchor. The Deep Sea Anchor had locked Sky City in ce, but the Shallow Sea Chain wouldn¡¯t lock the Deste Beast in ce. This was why the muddled Deste Beast was still able to move while it was being kept alive. The Shallow Sea Chain didn¡¯t lock down the strange spatial realm, but it couldn¡¯t be used for too long at once either and needed to be changed out every so often.

    By the time Su Chen came, it just so happened that the Shallow Sea Chain needed to be swapped out.

    The Depth Crystals were hauled out from the Boundless Origin Sea. The Boundless Origin Sea contained all kinds of crystal-like objects. However, due to the violent nature of the energy contained there, it was impossible to go into the sea to harvest them.

    After the Harpies invented the Shallow Sea Chains, they inadvertently discovered that, at the same time that this item absorbed Origin Energy, it would also bring out some of these crystalline objects, which were the Depth Crystals.

    For this reason, every time the Shallow Sea Chain was exchanged, the Harpies would also im the Depth Crystals. To Harpy Nobility, this was also a day of harvest. The Harpy nobles would fight over the right to im these Depth Crystals for themselves.

    River Sun was probably the victor of thispetition that Cloud Worker was referring to.

    Unfortunately for him, Su Chen had managed to step in before he could im them.

    As the Craftsman continued to show him around the Chaos Tower, he said to Su Chen, "What does Sir River Sun think?"

    "Oh, it¡¯s pretty good," Su Chen said

    ¡°You¡¯ve seen most of the Chaos Tower¡¯s internal workings now. Will youe with me to retrieve the Depth Crystals now? Or do you want to wait a bit for Miss Young Beauty to return so that you can congratte her for reaching the Eighth-Ring?¡±

    An Eighth-Ring Arcana Master was about to show up?

    Su Chen was badly startled. He was just about to suggest taking the Depth Crystals now, but he saw that Cloud Worker¡¯s body was trembling slightly.

    When he thought of how Cloud Worker had frozen momentarily before showing him around, he squinted his eyes.

    Then, he said, ¡°No, I¡¯m not in a hurry. I want to go take a closer look at the Sparkling Sky Amethyst, if possible.¡±

    Cloud Worker hurriedly said, ¡°Sir, Miss Young Beauty is really about toe back soon!¡±

    Su Chen chuckled.

    He finally understood.

    This Cloud Worker guy hadn¡¯t misidentified him - he knew that Su Chen wasn¡¯t River Sun, but had pretended not to notice!

    As for why, it was probably because he was worried that Su Chen would kill them all to buy their silence.

    This Cloud Worker¡¯s reactions were pretty fast. It was obvious that a Harpy who had appeared out of nowhere due to the effects of the exposing light had snuck their way in. And anyone who was able to sneak into the tower so silently was definitely incredibly strong.

    The Craftsmen at the core of the Chaos Tower all loved to perform research, so theirbat prowess was definitely terrible. If they were to agitate Su Chen, there was nothing they could do if he decided to kill them all.

    His quick reactions were evident in how quickly he mentioned River Sun¡¯s name.

    River Sun was probably a real Harpy; otherwise, the other Craftsmen wouldn¡¯t have been able to act so calmly. Cloud Worker had given Su Chen a way out, and Su Chen was able to take it. This would allow the Craftsmen to survive.

    Cloud Worker had purposefully mentioned the Depth Crystals, basically telling him to hurry up and take the treasures before leaving.

    Even though losing the Depth Crystals would infuriate the other Harpies, and they would definitely be punished for it, that was definitely better than being killed right away.

    Cloud Worker¡¯s status amongst the rest of the Craftsmen wasn¡¯t low either, so the Harpies probably wouldn¡¯t kill him. At most, they would discipline him a little.

    Everything had been calcted quite carefully. Unexpectedly, however, Su Chen hadn¡¯t been moved by the Depth Crystals. Instead, he had be interested in the Chaos Tower¡¯s operation. In Su Chen¡¯s eyes, the principles behind the tower¡¯s operations containedrge quantities of knowledge, which were much more valuable than Depth Crystals.

    Cloud Worker was quite agitated. He had even namedropped some Young Beauty, who was apparently an Eight-Ring Arcana Master.

    Su Chen had no idea if she was a real person or not, but based on the current circumstances, if Young Beauty was actually going to return soon, then Cloud Worker probably wouldn¡¯t have nicely reminded him in the first ce.

    As such, it was unlikely that a powerful Harpy would return anytime soon.

    Since that was the case, what need was there for him to be in such a hurry to leave?

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m not in a hurry. If Miss Young Beauty does return, I will need to have a good talk with her. After all, it has been a while since I havest seen her. How about this? You can go send someone to bring over the Depth Crystals, and we can continue to tour this ce.¡±

    Cloud Worker waspletely stunned by Su Chen¡¯s shamelessness.

    Did he not care about his face at all?

    He had already been found out, but he was hanging around instead of hurrying to leave? Was he really not afraid that a stronger Harpy woulde back and arrest him?

    But Cloud Worker¡¯s life was in Su Chen¡¯s hands, so he could only do as Su Chen asked. He sent off another Craftsman to retrieve the Depth Crystals and continued to follow Su Chen around.

    Since Su Chen¡¯s identity had been discovered, he began to ask all kinds of questions, not even trying to mask the truth anymore.

    ¡°What is this? What it is used for?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the idea behind the operation of thisponent?¡±

    ¡°The Deste Beast¡¯s muddled consciousness lives in the Sparkling Sky Amethyst, right? Why do you have to use that kind of method to control the Deste Beast?¡±

    ¡°How is this Origin Formation linked to the Shallow Sea Chain? What is it used for?¡±

    ¡°Do you have blueprints for the Chaos Tower? What about the Origin Formations? Are there any records of sudden inspiration or discoveries?¡±

    Su Chen continued to ask question after question, and Cloud Worker could only answer them one after another. The more questions Su Chen asked, the less he tried to hide his intentions. Eventually, he was even asking questions that even the Harpies would know the answers to, a shameless expression written all over his face.

    However, Cloud Worker found himself more and more surprised as he answered Su Chen¡¯s questions.

    At first, Su Chen¡¯s questions were very shallow, mostly asking about the various equipment and mechanisms used in the operation of the Chaos Tower. Cloud Worker looked down on him for not understanding, but still answered Su Chen¡¯s questions quite diligently. After all, even if he told Su Chen, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t understand.

    He hadn¡¯t expected for Su Chen to have so much experience or that he possessed a consciousness crystal.

    Su Chen was able to understand 80% of what Cloud Worker said, and the remaining 20% he stored away in his consciousness crystal for further analysis in the background, which would usually allow him toprehend an additional 10%. The remaining 10% was covered by asking some follow-up questions.

    At first, Su Chen would need to think a bit after each question he asked Cloud Worker, but as his understanding began to deepen, he began to understand Cloud Worker¡¯s answers almost immediately.

    Later on, he was able to even fill in the nks of what Cloud Worker had taught him. His rate ofprehension really was staggering.

    Cloud Worker was stunned.

    He had no idea who the infiltrator was, but the infiltrator¡¯s schrly naturepletely shocked him.

    He had originally believed that Su Chen was here only for treasure, but as Su Chen continued to ask question after question, Cloud Worker realized that Su Chen hade not for treasure but to understand the principles behind the Chaos Tower¡¯s operation.

    He was no longer surprised by the time Su Chen began asking him about how the Chaos Tower was constructed.

    If he was surprised, he was surprised that the Harpies had produced such a talented schr.

    A schr like this should have been sent by the Harpies to work their magic at the heart of a fort like this a long time ago. Why was he here acting like a thief?

    Cloud Worker didn¡¯t understand. The thought that Su Chen might be a human didn¡¯t even cross his mind, as Su Chen¡¯s wings were very real. As such, all of his considerations were of Su Chen as a Harpy, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn¡¯t think of a Harpy that was quite like the one before him.

    Su Chen was reaping quite a few benefits from his conversation with Cloud Worker.

    The current Chaos Tower seemed like it was just a fort constructed on the back of a Deste Beast, but the amount of knowledge that was needed to build a tower like this was quite amazing. It involved spatial principles, Origin Energy, consciousness power, Origin Formations, lifeform alteration, and a number of other facets. Every bit of knowledge that Su Chen received opened his eyes quite greatly, causing his already abundant knowledge to reach new heights.

    Most importantly, he was able to remember everything he heard because he had his consciousness power - others might not have been able to remember the deluge of information. And since he remembered it, he would be able to learn it.

    Learning things on the spot and even being able to apply them immediately was very rare.

    As Su Chen listened to what Cloud Worker was saying, deducing different things from his words, he was even able to directly point out some problems with the way that Cloud Worker and the others were thinking about things, resolving some of the problems that they were facing.

    Cloud Worker was also a schr and possessed incredible passion for learning things. At the beginning, he had only answered Su Chen out of obligation. Later on, he began to answer Su Chen earnestly, and shortly after that he began to discuss and converse with Su Chen over theoretical questions.

    At the very end, when Su Chen began to point out deficiencies in his train of thought, Cloud Worker began to stare at Su Chen like he was staring at a demon.

    This guy was too frightening!

    How had he gone from the elementary level to the level of a professor?

    Most importantly, the solutions Su Chen was offering could actually be practically implemented!

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that he was supposedly talking to an enemy, Cloud Worker would have tried out Su Chen¡¯s suggestions then and there.

    He found the person in front of him bing more and more enigmatic.

    Was he not here to steal treasures?

    When had he be an instructor?

    What kind of Harpy was he? How could he be this much of a genius?

    Cloud Worker felt like he was about to scream.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that he still feared for his life, Cloud Worker probably would have yelled at him to give up being a thief and do research with him instead!

    Unfortunately, the Craftsman bringing over the Depth Crystals interrupted their mutual understanding.

    When they looked at the Depth Crystals, both of them understood something.

    The time for them to separate hade.

    They would need to part sooner orter, no matter how happy they were talking to each other. The thief Su Chen needed to go.

    Cloud Worker understood this. He stared at Su Chen for a moment with a bit of an unwilling expression.

    After a moment of thought, he suddenly said, ¡°Can you wait a moment?¡±

    He hurried off.

    Su Chen stood there waiting, unconcerned that the other party would try to use the opportunity to harm him.

    After a moment, Cloud Worker returned, holding arge scroll in his hands.

    He gave the scroll over to Su Chen and said, ¡°These are records of the construction of the Chaos Tower and how to use it. They are my private notes, not inferior in the slightest to the official records. You can have them!¡±

    Su Chen was stunned.

    He was really going to give it to him?

    He stared at Cloud Worker intently. ¡°You......¡±

    Cloud Worker stopped him. ¡°I am only telling a good friend everything that I have learned. I will be happy if he remembers me andes to visit me from time to time.¡±

    ¡°After I go, you......¡±

    Cloud Worker chuckled. ¡°I am a Craftsman schr. These small matters aren¡¯t worth mentioning.¡±

 Sect - Book 5, 84: Hunting Wind Bandits 1

    Chapter 84: Hunting Wind Bandits (1)

    After his tour through the Chaos Tower, Su Chen took Cloud Worker¡¯s present of knowledge with him and left.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know how Cloud Worker would handle the matter afterwards, but Cloud Worker was unlikely to make too much trouble for him.

    The next morning, Su Chen felt as if the Chaos Tower¡¯s defenses had been upgraded considerably. The Harpy soldiers seemed to be patrolling back and forth, as if they were searching for something.

    Su Chen knew that what had transpired yesterday hade to light.

    However, the Harpies believed that their target was another Harpy. They didn¡¯t imagine for a second that it was another human.

    This was not actually that surprising. After all, the person who had broken into the Chaos Tower in the first ce was a Harpy.

    Because Su Chen didn¡¯t damage the Chaos Tower¡¯s core at all, the Harpies also didn¡¯t believe that it was a traitor who had allied themselves with an outside force. Otherwise, that Harpy wouldn¡¯t have left the Chaos Tower intact.

    The Harpies viewed this situation as a fellow Harpy sneaking in and robbing them.

    The robber¡¯s goal was naturally the Depth Crystals, and perhaps the Sparkling Sky Amethyst as well. However, the ¡°resistance¡± of the Craftsmen had managed to ensure that that did not happen.

    Cloud Worker and the other Craftsmen were punished a bit for this, but not too seriously. After all, the Craftsmen were technically guests, and they controlled the core strength of the Harpies. The Harpies had learned from before and treated the Craftsmen with a decent amount of courtesy. From the Craftsmen¡¯s point of view, it was the Harpies¡¯ defenses that were inadequate. The Craftsmen were only responsible for constructing things. They were already quite lucky to even have survived!

    Su Chen only found out about this after the fact. All he saw at the time was the Harpies searching for a mysterious ¡°River Sun¡± person, but it was obvious that their search would be fruitless.

    Themerce group spent two days here before continuing on their journey to Sky City. They would probably get there in ten or so days.

    That was not a concern for Su Chen.

    He was still reveling in all of the new information that he had picked up.

    The thirty-one Depth Crystals were put aside like trash. He didn¡¯t even take another nce at them. Instead, he pored over Cloud Worker¡¯s notes on what he had learned. They were like peerless treasures in Su Chen¡¯s eyes, worth reading over and studying repeatedly.

    There was a vast amount of knowledge that had gone into constructing the Chaos Tower. Spatial principles were used to connect the tower to the realm that stored the Boundless Origin Sea, meeting the Origin Energy needs of the Deste Beast. Consciousness power was needed to control the beast, and lifeform alteration was needed to meld the Chaos Tower with the Deste Beast. Evidently, a high level of mastery was necessary for each one of these aspects.

    Most importantly, this knowledge came from the Harpies, so there were many concepts that Su Chen had never been exposed to before. Viewing things from the Harpy angle and attempting to discover and understand things from their point of view yielded many new perspectives, instantly broadening Su Chen¡¯s field of view.

    He floated through this sea of knowledge as his understanding of this world advanced at breakneck pace.

    As his sea of knowledge expanded, Su Chen¡¯s strength also began to increase.

    This kind of increase was not rted to actual power. Power could onlye from cultivation and tempering, not understanding.

    But understanding could allow a person to use power in a more urate, effective way. Common power could be made umon, and umon power could be made legendary.

    The spatial knowledge from the Chaos Tower was quite plentiful. Even though they weren¡¯t able to see things as deeply as Su Chen could, they had their own process of discovery and discussion. Whenbined with what Su Chen had already grasped, it allowed him to view these principles from a totally new angle and vastly increased his knowledge and understanding of how space worked.

    These observations naturally improved his use of Whitetower Teleportation.

    Whereas it took quite a bit of effort to leap five thousand feet in the past, he could now reach distances of up to seven thousand feet.

    Most importantly, with his ability to perceive location, he was even able to pass right through all barriers and directly appear in front of a target. The previous version of Whitetower Teleportation did not give him this ability.

    This was no longer Whitetower Teleportation but spatial jumping.

    Su Chen¡¯s understanding of consciousness power didn¡¯t increase much, mostly due to limitations imposed by his cultivation realm. Unless he reached the Spirit Burning Realm, it was very hard for his consciousness power to increase any further.

    However, there was another aspect that Su Chen was able to learn quite a bit from.

    That advance came from studying lifeform alteration.

    Because of his research on the bloodline-less cultivation techniques, Su Chen¡¯s primary research focus had always been on biological life.

    It could be said that no one understood life quite as well as he did.

    His study of alchemy was also included in this aspect.

    Lifeform alteration shared some simrities with the bloodline-less cultivation techniques. They were all the result of exploring how to advance and upgrade life. However, one worked from the outside-in, while the other worked from the inside-out.

    Lifeform alteration was a perfect example of an outside-in improvement. The organism¡¯s strength would be greatly improved by making external changes to the lifeform.

    Su Chen was always quite interested in this, but people who were qualified to discuss this matter with him were very rare.

    Unexpectedly, the Harpies were able to provide him with lots of information regarding lifeform alteration.

    The merging of outside-in and inside-out approaches resulted in a mysterious chemical reaction. Su Chen suddenly felt as if he was being swallowed by a wave of possibilities.

    Su Chen spent most of his time on the Cloud-Piercing Shuttles researching these things.

    Today, Su Chen was still performing his research when Patelocke suddenly charged in.

    ¡°Patelocke, you usually don¡¯t charge in like this,¡± Su Chen said without even raising his head.

    He was manipting a strange substance.

    It looked a bit like a chunk of well-marbled meat, but this chunk of meat actually had a face.

    A contorted, strange, freakish face.

    It was even smiling at Su Chen.

    Su Chen ignored this smile and began to cut into the face.

    The face began to yell angrily, ¡°Don¡¯t cut me! Don¡¯t cut me!¡±

    Patelocke acted as if he hadn¡¯t noticed a thing. ¡°Something¡¯s happened.¡±

    Su Chen shed with the knife, cutting off the meat face¡¯s nose. The meat face began to twist and thrash even more wildly.

    ¡°Speak,¡± Su Chen said indifferently.

    ¡°The Hunting Wind Bandits have arrived.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s hand paused in midair.

    The Hunting Wind Bandits were a group of famous bandits that roamed Harpy territory.

    They were also Harpies, but they were a branch of powerful Harpies who had separated from the main groups. They traveled through Harpy territory, hunting for targets to rob. Because they came and went like the wind, they were known as the Hunting Wind Bandits.

    Groups like the Hunting Wind Bandits were hard to find amongst the otherwise unified Harpies. They were like a blemish on the face of an otherwise handsome man - obvious and eye-catching. For this reason, people wondered whether the Hunting Wind Bandits were actually a group of specially trained Harpies used to carry out orders that could not be made openly.

    For instance, using them to deal with a merchant group, to carry out an assassination, or to crudely rob someone...... There were always people who were willing to do such dirty deeds.

    The Hunting Wind Bandits were no exception. Otherwise, it was hard to exin why this group still existed.

    Actually, there were simr groups amongst the humans and Astrals as well. The humans primarily used the Sand Elementals and would also asionally raise up some other powerful forces to do their dirty work. The Astrals relied on the Androgynes and their undergroundpatriots for the same purposes. Actually, you didn¡¯t even need to look hard to find these groups. The only Intelligent Races that didn¡¯t raise scapegoats were the Oceanids and the Ravagers. The Ravagers believed that they were the strongest and didn¡¯t need the assistance of such groups of people. The Oceanids, on the other hand, were barely struggling to survive. Their greatest threats were the fierce beasts roaming the ocean waters, so they had no need for scapegoats either.

    In any case, the Hunting Wind Bandits always moved with intention throughout Harpy territory, but not always under the direction of the Harpy race¡¯s leaders. They were still rtively independent and had their own ways of looking at and thinking about things.

    When Su Chen heard that it was the Hunting Wind Bandits knocking at their door, he was slightly taken aback. ¡°The Hunting Wind Bandits are trying to seize our boat? Seize the broodmother? Are they crazy?¡±

    The broodmother was the top priority for the Harpies. If the Hunting Wind Bandits had any sense, they should have been extremely afraid of even touching their boat.

    Patelocke shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t really know what¡¯s happening either. The Harpies should be protecting our envoy in order to make sure that nothing happens to us, but it seems like there¡¯s something going on here that we don¡¯t know about.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go and take a look.¡± Su Chen threw the small de onto the ground and stepped outside.

    The Cloud-Piercing Shuttles had already stopped.

    Arge horde of Harpies was floating in front of the two Cloud-Piercing Shuttles.

    They wore an all-ckbat outfit, which was different from the typically silver outfit that Harpy soldiers wore. Most of them were also wielding spears made from Amethyst Wood.

    Most Harpies fought at a distance, relying on archery and Arcana Techniques. However, these Hunting Wind Harpies obviously walked down a different path. Most of them carried close-range weapons, which indicated their preferred manner of fighting.

    One of the reasons for this was because their targets were usually other Harpies, not foreigners. By relying on their ability to fly and their speed, they could quickly close in on their targets, which was much more effective thanunching an attack from afar. In addition, because they were bandits, they needed to get close to their targets if they wanted to reap any spoils from battle.

    At this moment, Purple Forest Stream and Scattered Moon Mist were negotiating with the bandits, but it was evident that their negotiations were totally useless. Arge battle was about to break out.

    A fierce bandit with fiery-red hair said, ¡°I have already given you enough time. Since you won¡¯t agree, then I can onlye and take it for myself!¡±

    Scattered Moon Mist yelled angrily, ¡°Red Raven, you don¡¯t know who you are offending!¡±

    The bandit named Red Raven chortled, ¡°I don¡¯t need to know who I am offending! Bandits fear nothing!¡±

    As he spoke, he raised the spear in his hand, and countless Hunting Wind Bandits yelled as they charged forwards.

    When he saw this, Su Chen chuckled slightly. ¡°This is quite a rare sight......¡±

    ¡°A rare sight?¡± Patelocke didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°In my memory, the Harpies were always a graceful, courteous race that prized aesthetics and beauty. I never expected them to have...... such a ¡®rabid dog¡¯ demeanor,¡± Su Chen said, pausing in thought for a moment before calling them ¡°rabid dogs.¡±

    It was true. The Harpies in front of them were vicious and barbaric, totallycking in the elegant demeanor that most Harpies boasted in. They were no different from the other races¡¯ bandits that they scorned so.

    Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s words, Patelocke replied quite perceptively, ¡°Cultures may be different, but the one thing we all have inmon is barbarism.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s eyebrows began to jump. ¡°I like the way you think, Patelocke.¡±

 Sect - Book 5, 85: Hunting Wind Bandits 2

    Chapter 85: Hunting Wind Bandits (2)

    Arge battle broke out in the sky.

    As soon as the battlemenced, there was no room to hold back. A storm whipped up right then and there as waves of rapid energy began to fly everywhere.

    The Harpies were still students of Arcana Techniques, even if they were the Hunting Wind Bandits.

    Dozens of Harpies unleashed their Arcana Techniques at the same time. Thebined currents of Origin Energy from the Arcana Techniques caused the weather to change, producing all kinds of dazzling disys of light and strange scenes.

    The lower-level techniques included Origin Energy Bullets, Explosive Fireball, and Corrosive Ssh; the mid-level techniques included Ice Storm and Jade mes; the high-level techniques included Darkness Pyrolysis and Light Shattering. All kinds of techniques were being tossed out left and right, unleashing shocking destructive potential.

    The two shuttles also began to counterattack forcefully.

    The diplomatic envoy began to unleash their powerful Arcana Techniques in response, andyers of defensive barriers began to appear as well. The Zhu n¡¯s guards were also unleashing their bloodline abilities, causing many different kinds of strange images to fill the sky as the beasts howled viciously, unleashing incredible power.

    The Harpies were better at utilizing the power of nature, while humans were better at unleashing power from their own bodies. As a result, the two sides had vastly different styles ofbat, but these different sides mixed quite well.

    Under their alliance, the two Cloud-Piercing Shuttles were able to withstand the attacks of the Hunting Wind Bandits.

    ¡°Blocked it! We blocked it,¡± someone yelled excitedly.

    Su Chen, however, frowned disdainfully.

    Since the Hunting Wind Bandits had chosen them as their targets, it would beughable if they were able to block those attacks so easily.

    That salvo had merely been the appetizer. The main course was still yet toe.

    As expected, the Hunting Wind Bandits soon began to change up their battle style.

    It became apparent that the Hunting Wind Bandits were primarily trying to target not the people on the shuttles but the shuttles themselves.

    Arcana Technique after Arcana Technique mmed into the Cloud-Piercing shuttles. It looked like the Cloud-Piercing shuttles were about to be mmed into pieces.

    Even though the Cloud-Piercing Shuttles were durable and also had defensive barriers protecting them, they were still unable to withstand the ferocious attacks of all these bandits.

    Hundreds of fireballs mmed into the shuttles¡¯ defensive barriers, causing them to flicker violently. Scattered Moon Mist felt her heart pang every time as the barriers grew weaker and weaker. It seemed as if they were soon to fail, and once that happened, the shuttles would definitely be sunk. She could die, but the broodmother could not fall into the wrong hands. If the broodmother was seized or some kind of ident befell it, that would be a tragedy that words could not describe.

    To protect the shuttles, Scattered Moon Mist was forced tomand her personal subordinates into action.

    This was like using them as meat shields, but it gave the Hunting Wind Bandits an incredible opportunity. These Harpy bandits floated in the sky, cackling with delight as they furiously attacked the shuttles. Brilliant light shed everywhere, and Harpy soldiers would plummet out of the sky from time to time.

    ¡°Despicable! Shameless!¡± Scattered Moon Mist yelled angrily.

    Her anger only incited more mocking and ridicule.

    ¡°Do you still refuse to act even though the situation has reached this point?¡± Zhu Xianyao said as she retreated, some anxiety on her face.

    ¡°What point has the situation reached?¡± Su Chen countered. ¡°Is it very dangerous?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Zhu Xianyao was taken aback. She didn¡¯t understand what Su Chen said.

    Su Chen, however, chuckled and looked up at the sky as he said, ¡°Look......¡±

    In the sky, Zhu Yunyan was currently fighting with one of the Hunting Wind Bandits¡¯ leaders, Red Raven.

    The Seventh-Ring Arcana Master was quite powerful. He was an expert in wind techniques - most Harpies were, so a lot of their attacks involved generating a storm of wind and sending it at someone. He was a bit like Feng Anya. While the Raven King was able to innately control the wind, Red Raven had created a simrly powerful technique to control windstorms. There were also some differences; Feng Anya¡¯s windstorms were made purely from wind, while Red Raven had imbued his windstorms with mes.

    The mes and wind mixed together quite well, eventually forming are ming bird that spat out a steady stream of mes and wind at Zhu Yunyan.

    Zhu Yunyan was forced to focus all of her attention on defending herself when faced with the powerful wind and fire Arcana Techniques that this expert was shooting at her.

    As someone with the Slyheart Fox Bloodline, Zhu Yunyan was not alone. Her servants were also fighting by her side.

    Zhu Yunyan had three permanent servants, one at the Spirit Burning Realm and two of them at the Light Shaking Realm. Of the two Light Shaking Realm cultivators, one possessed a Rainbow Demon Bloodline, which primarily served as a utility puppet and was not so suited for battle. The other was Rong Xiangqian.

    When Zhu Yunyan took to the battlefield, so did these three servants, but unfortunately they were not fighting with Zhu Yunyan at the moment. Instead, they were fighting a few other pirates. Another Seventh-Ring Arcana Master was handling the Spirit Burning Realm puppet, while two Fifth-Ring Arcana Masters were dealing with the two Light Shaking Realm puppets.

    The Zhu n had another Spirit Burning Realm cultivator and three Light Shaking Realm cultivators traveling with them, but they were also being bogged down by other bandits.

    The same went for Scattered Moon Mist¡¯s side - all the powerful individuals were simrly being tied up.

    It appeared on closer examination that this was a very interesting setup - the stronger experts had all been matched up against, and each one of them had an opponent to fight.

    A battle was intrinsically chaotic, fierce, and disordered. The side with the military advantage was usually the one attacking.

    One-on-one close-quartersbat was not that rare of an urrence in this world, but it was almost unheard of in battle. Most people would only think of ways to weaken their opponents and increase their own strength. If using two soldiers to suppress a more powerful soldier was possible, then they would do so. Sometimes, gathering multiple powerful experts would be enough to kill a really powerful opponent.

    The current situation, however, was quite strange, as if someone had carefully orchestrated it. Almost all of the powerful individuals were matched up against an opponent of even strength, making it hard to say who would win and who would lose. Only the bottom-rung soldiers, who died in droves without anyone mourning their deaths, were being killed.

    Even so, the battle was still fierce and dangerous. Perceiving something like this in the midst of all the yelling and ughtering was not an easy thing to do.

    Zhu Xianyao finally realized the problem when Su Chen pointed it out to her.

    She opened her eyes wide. ¡°How is this possible? Could it be......¡±

    ¡°They came prepared,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°They probably knew who their opponent was going to be before they even showed up.¡±

    ¡°Yet they still dared to show up?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps this is the reason they decided toe,¡± Su Chen calmly said. ¡°There might be someone who doesn¡¯t trust us entirely and wants to test us, or they might have some other motivation.¡±

    The broodmother was incredibly important, but while it was being raised, it had been lost and found again.

    During this period of time, no one knew what had happened to it.

    Perhaps nothing had happened to it, but there would always be people who were curious.

    Let alone the fact that the Zhu n had apanied them this time.

    Who knew what the Zhu n¡¯s intentions were ining along this time?

    Was it just to do business? Or was there some other reason hidden behind the scenes?

    Had they discovered the broodmother or not? Was there some kind of hidden scheme taking ce?

    The answers to these questions were all unknown, which made some people uneasy.

    Since they were uneasy, it was only natural that they would want to test their suspicions so that they could be at ease.

    It would have been strange if someone hadn¡¯t tried to hire some thugs to suss out anything strange that might be going on.

    However, Scattered Moon Mist was obviously unaware of this. She was still infuriated by this sudden attack and worried about the broodmother¡¯s safety. Her hair was flying everywhere, and her aura was incredibly chaotic. She was in quite a terrible condition. If something else were to happen to the broodmother when it was under her control, that would be a great shame to her.

    With Su Chen¡¯s reminder, Zhu Xianyao also realized the problem with the situation and chuckled. ¡°So that¡¯s how it is! Then we don¡¯t need to pay it any mind.¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°That won¡¯t work. Given how important the situation is, if we don¡¯t respond appropriately, they will definitely realize that their n was seen through.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao was stunned. ¡°So what should we do, then?¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Don¡¯t they want to test us? Fine, then since they want to see our bottom line, we will need to toss some trump cards out for them to see.¡±

    ¡°Trump cards?¡± Zhu Xianyao was shocked.

    The Zhu n was sincerely trying to deliver the broodmother and hadn¡¯t prepared any particr backups. Where would these trump cardse from?

    Su Chen said, ¡°Cloud Leopard, Lin Xiao, and the others have probably been feeling pent uptely. Since they would only be sitting around otherwise, it should be fine to let them loosen up.¡±

    Since Su Chen hade, Cloud Leopard, Iron Cliff, and the twelve Sword Servants had alsoe along.

    Unlike Su Chen, however, they had snuck in under the identity ofborers and were located in the lowest level of the shuttles. Even though Su Chen had entered the boat as a servant, he still lived on the top floor of the shuttle. As such, he normally didn¡¯t have an opportunity to interact much with them. For this reason, Su Chen only had the transmission puppet by his side at this moment. His official business was to manage and maintain the Zhu n¡¯s puppets.

    When Zhu Xianyao heard what Su Chen heard, her eyes lit up. ¡°I think that will work. If they want some trump cards, we¡¯ll show them some trump cards.¡±

    She flew off to the bottom level of the boat.

    Within Cabin Four of the shuttle.

    Arge group ofborers sat there, trembling as they stared at the situation outside.

    Cloud Leopard, Iron Cliff, and the Sword Servants were sitting there ying cards.

    ¡°Brother Leopard, Brother Cliff, how do you have the heart to y cards right now?¡± Old Hu, the head of theborers in Cabin Four, stammered.

    When Cloud Leopard and the others had first shown up, Old Hu had tried to assert his dominance, but after being taught a lesson, hepletely realized who the actual bosses of this cabin were. Thankfully, Cloud Leopard and the others had no thoughts of taking his status, and Old Hu discovered that his position was still secure. He eventually was able to rx.

    As time went on, Cloud Leopard and the others performed their tasks dutifully and never stirred up trouble. They seemed totally carefree.

    In that sense, their disguises were a failure, but this was already pretty good for them, so there was no need to ask for much more.

    Cloud Leopard didn¡¯t even raise his head. ¡°What are you panicking about? We have a roof above our head if the sky copses. Lin Xiao, flip the cards.¡±

    Lin Xiao chuckled as he showed his hand. ¡°Sorry, Brother Leopard, I¡¯ve won yet again.¡±

    ¡°Damn!¡± Cloud Leopard angrily mmed the table.

    At that moment, a massive fireball mmed into the shuttle near Cabin Four. Even though the shuttle¡¯s defensive barriers were able to keep the attack at bay, the violent wave of energy still caused the boat to shake, and all of its upants cried out in rm.

    Cloud Leopard and the others, however, continued to y cards. Cloud Leopard began to pull out the gold, his expression incredibly wretched.

    ¡°The enemies are knocking on our front door!¡± Old Hu yelled loudly.

    ¡°I know.¡± Cloud Leopard was staring at his money pouch sadly.

    His luck was no good, and he didn¡¯t have much money left on him.

    This made Cloud Leopard feel quite sorrowful.

    Old Hu and the otherborers were also quite sorrowful. They were about to die of fright from the explosions happening right outside.

 Sect - Book 5, 86: Hunting Wind Bandits 3

    Chapter 86: Hunting Wind Bandits (3)

    Boom!

    Another powerful explosion rocked the shuttle.

    The shuttle¡¯s defenses were destroyed, and the massive wave of energy sted through the shuttle, burning a big hole in the side of the shuttle.

    Under the furious assault, both Cloud-Piercing Shuttles began to smoke as they were lit on fire.

    Most of the shuttles¡¯ defenses had been destroyed. To ensure that the shuttles didn¡¯t sink, they were forced to shrink their defenses, protecting the most vital areas. As a result, arge section of the shuttles was exposed to open air.

    The violent waves of Origin Energy were seriously testing the durability of the shuttles.

    Even though the shuttles were constructed from the incredibly sturdy Tungsten Wood which had been reinforced with some kind of medicine and were protected by an Origin Formation, the torrential energy still badly damaged the shuttles. Some of the unluckierborers fell out of the boat on the spot. There was no one who could save them, either, as everyone was focused on fighting and preserving the shuttles¡¯ vitals. They could only ignore the lowest-level workers.

    Perhaps this was the unfortunate part of living on the lowest story. You would always be the first person to be abandoned.

    When faced with this disaster, even Cloud Leopard, Lin Xiao, and the others stopped ying their cards and nced outside the boats, their expressions growing serious.

    ¡°Finally you guys are starting to take this seriously!¡± Old Hu was so agitated that he was beginning to cry.

    Actually, whether or not Cloud Leopard and the others were excited didn¡¯t really have much to do with him. However, Old Hu simply could not ept their inhuman indifference even during such a critical juncture.

    Until Zhu Xianyao appeared.

    Zhu Xianyao came wearing a white robe, making her look almost like a fairy.

    Theborers obviously all recognized the Young Miss of their own n. When they saw her arrive, they all knelt on the ground.

    Zhu Xianyaopletely ignored them and walked over to Cloud Leopard and the others. ¡°Thanks for all your hard work during this time.¡±

    Cloud Leopard repliedzily, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I feel like my life has been pretty goodtely. I am very satisfied.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao chuckled. ¡°The taste of a white dragon bing a fish is quite interesting, but you can only eat it every so often.¡±

    Cloud Leopard shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t read many books. You¡¯re better off telling me straight.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao said, ¡°You can go now.¡±

    Cloud Leopard¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°He said it?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao nodded gently.

    Lin Xiao and the others began tough. ¡°Finally, we can get some exercise! I¡¯ve been waiting for someone to say that.¡±

    ¡°So what are we still waiting for?¡± Iron Cliff also stood.

    ¡°You cannot,¡± Zhu Xianyao said.

    ¡°What?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao said quietly, ¡°Your figure stands out too much and will be easily recognized. That is why you cannot go. Stay here and make sure everyone stays safe.¡±

    ¡°......¡± Iron Cliff felt incredibly stifled.

    However, he also knew that Zhu Xianyao¡¯s words were right. The fact that Su Chen had a Stoneskin servant was not some kind of great secret. If he was the cause for the Harpies to suspect that Su Chen was on this boat, if they considered what Su Chen had done amongst the Ravagers, he would have a hard time doing anything else in the future.

    As such, Iron Cliff could only continue to hole himself up.

    ¡°Haha! Just wait here and watch us show off a little!¡± Lin Xiao pped Iron Cliff on the shoulder as he charged out. ¡°Brothers, let¡¯s go!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± the twelve Sword Servants chorused, flying out through the hole in the boat.

    Cloud Leopard had disappeared a long time ago. No one knew when he had chosen to leave.

    Old Hu and the others watched Lin Xiao and the others fly away,pletely stunned.

    ¡°See? See? I told you they weren¡¯t normal! They weren¡¯t normal!¡± someone yelled.

    ¡°Idiot, why say that now?¡± Old Hu smacked the person who had spoken. When he looked back up at the sky, the tides of battle had already shifted.

    The twelve Sword Servants had charged into the sky, but they had done so in an incredibly devious manner, and floating disks were under their feet.

    These floating disks were simple flying tools that could be used by Origin Qi Schrs who weren¡¯t strong enough to fly.

    The twelve Sword Servants were all at the Light Shaking Realm, so they could fly and didn¡¯t ned these flying tools. However, they used it so that their opponents would instinctively believe that these twelve people weren¡¯t at the Light Shaking Realm yet. They were merely Yang Opening Realm cultivators relying on these flying disks to move around.

    They would mistakenly believe that their opponents were not very powerful as a result.

    A group of Hunting Wind Bandits charged over, but the most powerful one amongst the group was just a Fourth-Ring Arcana Master.

    Lin Xiao and the others nced at each other before chuckling.

    Lin Xiao said, ¡°Who is going to attack first?¡±

    A Sword Servant named Chang Sheng said, ¡°Let me try.¡±

    He unsheathed his sword and shed violently through the air, unleashing a boundless wave of light through the sky.

    The three Hunting Wind Bandits at the very front were immediately cut in half. The powerful wave of Qi extinguished their me of life, killing them on the spot.

    ¡°One of them is a Light Shaking Realm cultivator!¡± one of the Hunting Wind Bandits began to yell.

    He had revealed his strength with this sword strike. After all, only a Light Shaking Realm cultivator could be so vicious with their attacks and kill a Fourth-Ring and two Third-Ring Arcana Masters with one blow.

    A Fifth-Ring Harpy hurried over, opening fire with a Void Demon Wolf. Void Demon Wolves were a kind of lifeform that lived in void realms. Their physical bodies were incredibly powerful. However, this Arcana Technique was only summoning a projection of one, so the wolf¡¯s strength would still vary from person to person. This Arcana Master was not weak, and the Void Demon Wolf he unleashed was quite powerful. It charged at the Sword Servants as soon as it appeared. The Arcana Master then applied a barrier to himself, followed by a fire arrow that shot at Chang Sheng.

    Three Fifth-Ring Arcana Techniques were used in rapid session. Obviously, their opponent was an old hand who was incredibly experienced.

    Unfortunately, that was still not enough.

    He was only prepared to take on a single Light Shaking Realm cultivator.

    Actually, he was facing twelve Light Shaking Realm cultivators, not one.

    When faced with these three techniques in rapid session, Chang Sheng only did one thing.

    He tilted his head and said, ¡°Should we team up?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s,¡± two other Sword Servants chuckled in response.

    A momentter, the two of them attacked together with Chang Sheng.

    A streak of sword Qi surged towards the Void Demon Wolf. Before it could even close in on Chang Sheng, the sharp sword Qi punctured it multiple times, causing the projection to revert back into light that rapidly dissipated. The sword Qi didn¡¯t seem to slow down in the slightest and continued to charge forwards, even stopping the ming arrow in its tracks.

    The second Sword Servant also stabbed out with his sword. This sword strike was incredibly sharp and incisive, and it immediately shattered the Harpy¡¯s barrier upon impact. This move was the Armor-Burying Strike. It could destroy almost all barriers in one hit, but it was only useful against barriers, not against actual people. However, this attack didn¡¯t need to do any actual damage, because there was still one more person waiting to attack.

    Chang Sheng swung his sword.

    His sword strike was different from the other two sword strikes as well. The first was incredibly broad and vast, intended to repel an attack; the second was wild and tyrannical, intended to destroy a barrier; Chang Sheng¡¯s sword, however, appeared in and unremarkable. He had concentrated all of his killing power at the tip of his sword, intending to ughter his opponent.

    The Harpy responded quite quickly, dodging as soon as his barrier shattered. He had jumped out of the area of attack and reappeared a thousand feet away.

    He lowered his head to look at his chest.

    A slight scar slowly appeared on his chest.

    That was Chang Sheng¡¯s Sword Qi.

    He had dodged incredibly quickly, but Chang Sheng¡¯s sword was still able to touch him.

    It had merely grazed him.

    An instantter, however, a shocked expression appeared on that Harpy¡¯s face.

    His body began to corrode as sheets of skin fell to the ground, turning into ashes. In the blink of an eye, he had turned into a pile of ash.

    This sword strike ate away at him from the inside, destroying all of his internal organs and any chance he might have had at surviving.

    Death in a single blow!

    ¡°He must be a harpy because his reactions were incredibly fast, but unfortunately that wasn¡¯t enough,¡± Chang Sheng said indifferently.

    ¡°How can we allow them to hold all the advantages?¡± another Sword Servant said.

    The Hunting Wind Bandits were stunned.

    ¡°Three Light Shaking Realm cultivators! Three Light Shaking Realm cultivators! Sir Frost Wing was killed by them!¡± one of the bandits yelled.

    Even more Arcana Masters came flying towards them.

    This time, there were five Fifth-Ring Arcana Masters. It seemed that they had learned their lesson.

    Most interestingly, these five Harpies hadn¡¯t been participating in the earlier battle and had only appeared once the twelve Sword Servants took the stage.

    Just as Su Chen had anticipated, the Hunting Wind Bandits were probing the situation. When the people on the shuttles began using their trump cards, the Hunting Wind Bandits began to do the same.

    Five Fifth-Ring Harpies was already a force to be reckoned with. Obviously, they were taking the twelve Sword Servants quite seriously, but unfortunately for them they had still ended up underestimating their opponents.

    A master often had subordinates like him. When Lin Xiao saw the five Fifth-Ring Arcana Masters heading in their direction, he chuckled, ¡°It seems that we have onest chance to surprise them. Chang Sheng, Fei Dan, you two take on one each. Everyone else, with me. We¡¯re going to take out three more!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± the twelve Sword Servants answered as they attacked simultaneously.

    The same situation unfolded yet again, but this time the fight was a ten-on-three battle.

    Those Harpies never expected for all twelve of them to be at the Light Shaking Realm. The most shameless part was that these twelve humans were all very powerful but had pretended to be weaker than they actually were.

    The five Harpies were totally caught off-guard. Before they could even react to what was happening, three of them had died, and the other two retreated at top speed before the ten Sword Servants could turn on them.

    The twelve Sword Servants made no efforts to chase after them, insteadughing and joking around with each other.

    Four Fifth-Ring Harpies had died just like that. Those involved in the battle were incredibly satisfied.

    Since their strength had been revealed, the twelve Sword Servants gave up on trying to conceal their strength and discarded the flying disks. They floated in the air,ughing and joking with each other.

    Thisughter seemed to contain a kind of demonic quality. The morale of the soldiers on the shuttles greatly increased, and the Hunting Wind Bandits¡¯ morale dropped.

    Anyone would feel pain after losing four Fifth-Ring Arcana Masters in a single blow.

    Old Hu yelled happily, ¡°See! See! They¡¯re at the Light Shaking Realm! The Light Shaking Realm!¡±

    Everyone turned back to look at Iron Cliff, who curled his lip disdainfully. ¡°You guys haven¡¯t seen anything yet.¡±

    His heart, however, was filled with regret.

    Damn, how could he not be allowed to participate when glory was on the line?

    He had been following Su Chen for a long time and had learned to think for himself. Since he had learned how to act and how to trick others, it was only natural that he had also learned how to want glory for himself.

    As he watched the battle unfolding intently, he wished with all his might that he was the one unleashing the ughter, not anyone else.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 87: The Strength of the Sword Servants

    Chapter 87: The Strength of the Sword Servants

    The twelve Sword Servants were happily weing challenges in the sky.

    After all, they had managed to kill four Fifth-Ring Harpies in rapid session just by putting on a little act.

    Who said you needed to fight a bitter battle in order to taste the sweetness of victory? That feeling was very good, but wasn¡¯t it even better to easily kill the opponent?

    If possible, anyone would want to be able to turn their enemies into ashes with just a wave of their hands.

    The twelve Sword Servants hadn¡¯t even used much Origin Energy to deal with the Fifth-Ring Harpies, so their deaths had been totally worthless. The more worthless these deaths were, the happier the Sword Servants felt.

    However, this happiness was bound to notst too long.

    An instantter, more reinforcements came their way.

    Their opponents were still few in number.

    There was only three of them.

    Three Sixth-Ring Harpies.

    Sixth-Ring Harpies were already at the border between Light Shaking and Spirit Burning. The stronger ones could really be considered to be at the Spirit Burning Realm.

    If these three Sixth-Ring Arcana Masters had taken to the stage earlier, the shuttles would have copsed already. It was obvious that the Hunting Wind Bandits had some ulterior motives.

    However, though their mission was to probe the enemy¡¯s strength, they had not expected to suffer such serious losses. The humans did have trump cards, but these trump cards were twelve nameless Light Shaking Realm cultivators. No one had matched up against them, and they were also incredibly shameless, relying on underhanded tactics to kill four Fifth-Ring Harpies. They had really died for no reason, so the anger these bandits felt was understandable.

    The appearance of these three Sixth-Ring Harpies clearly indicated their intention to destroy the twelve-man squad.

    ¡°Hey, another group,¡± Lin Xiao and the other chuckled.

    ¡°Shameless humans!¡± one of the Sixth-Ring Harpies yelled angrily as he began to utter some archaic chant.

    The chant generated strange fluctuations around him. A wave of red light appeared from out of thin air, carrying an aura of extermination with

    Fire Halo!

    This was a technique that Astin had used a few years ago.

    An area-of-effect Sixth-Ring Origin Skill appeared, threatening to swallow up the twelve Sword Servants into a cage of violent energy.

    A Fire Halo alone was far from enough to finish off the Sword Servants, but their opponents¡¯ were mostly nning on suppressing them momentarily. At the same time, the other two Sixth-Ring Arcana Masters also attacked. One unleashed a violent thunderstorm, and columns of thick lightning began to peal down from the sky. The other unleashed a wave of deathly light, the strange darkness silently and stealthily encroaching on the sword servants, masked by the brilliant shes of lightning.

    The three Harpies had used three different area-of-effect skills, but their cohesiveness waspatible.

    Often, group battles would be incredibly chaotic. Since everyone was drawing power from the environment, and the energy within a certain area was limited, the attacks of the people involved would begin to affect one another.

    However, these three attacks didn¡¯t sh with each other in the slightest. This indicated that the three Harpies had great teamwork.

    This was real teamwork amongst Origin Qi Schrs. It wasn¡¯t just about following up with an attack at the right moment - there needed to bepatibility even on an energy level so that simultaneously unleashed Origin Skills wouldn¡¯t create chaos. Instead, their effects should be amplified to be more than the sum of its parts.

    These three Sixth-Ring Harpies had been fighting together for a long time and possessed a deep understanding of each others¡¯ style ofbat, so they only used as much strength as was necessary. They did not disrupt or weaken each others¡¯ attacks in the slightest.

    Lin Xiao and the others smiled when they saw thebined attack of these three Sixth-Ring Arcana Masters.

    ¡°That¡¯s pretty good teamwork. Brothers, let¡¯s show them our teamwork as well!¡± Lin Xiao yelled loudly.

    As he spoke, the twelve Sword Servants sprang into action.

    Their attacks were markedly different from those of the three Harpies.

    They swung their swords through the air simultaneously.

    Their swinging motions were identical, and they demonstrated an even more shocking unity than their opponents. The three Harpies immediately knew that they were in trouble when they saw this.

    Indeed, streaks of ice began to swirl around the twelve Sword Servants¡¯ hands.

    Third-Ring Arcana Technique, Icebound Technique!

    This was one of the techniques that Su Chen had managed to extract from the Harpy captives and had taught the twelve Sword Servants.

    The Icebound Technique could beyered an unlimited number of times. If enough of them were used at the same time, they would even be able to jump tiers.

    The twelve Icebound Techniques were simultaneously unleashed at a single target - the Harpy who had unleashed the wave of deathly light.

    Even though the wave of deathly light appeared harmless, it was the most dangerous technique out of all three.

    As such, the twelve Sword Servants decided to deal with him first.

    As the Icebound Techniques collided with their intended target, the Harpy felt the ice energy surround him as even his ability to use Origin Energy became sluggish.

    This wasn¡¯t just a feeling, but reality. Icebound Technique could affect a person¡¯s use of Origin Energy. The effect was quite weak normally, but with enough of them used at the same time, the technique was more than enough to affect a Sixth-Ring Arcana Master.

    They were not powerful enough to actually freeze a Sixth-Ring Arcana Master, but they could absolutely slow him down, including his reaction time and ability to direct Origin Energy.

    That was enough.

    A battle between powerful individuals was decided by millimeters.

    At the same time that the Icebound Harpy was able to escape, the twelve Sword Servants¡¯ swords descended.

    Unlike Icebound Technique, however, the streaks of sword light actually began to merge to form a massive sword!

    The sword radiated a piercing aura, as if it could tear a hole in the sky. It arced towards the Harpy who was controlling the thunderstorm.

    The three Harpies were extremely shocked.

    They discovered that the twelve Sword Servants had even better cooperation than them.

    People whocked proper cooperation would often affect each others¡¯ attacks, diminishing their effectiveness. On the other hand, people with some degree of teamwork would be able toyer their strength without any negative effects.

    Truly talented groups of warriors, however, could amplify the effectiveness of their attacks because they were actually melding their attacks together. All of the power would converge on a single person, as if that person had suddenly absorbed the strength of all of his teammates, causing their strength to surge wildly. This kind of abination was incredibly effective.

    Reaching this point was not easy. That not only required long periods of limation periods but also demanded simr cultivation paths. In the past, this was only really possible for members from a n who possessed the same bloodline.

    However, the twelve Sword Servants had shattered this rule.

    Even though they were not members of a Bloodline Nobility n, their cultivation paths were very simr.

    They had used Su Chen¡¯s bloodline-less techniques to ascend, they cultivated Su Chen¡¯s Immacte Cultivation Technique, and they were supported by Su Chen¡¯s Aspects. Their sword technique had been picked out by Su Chen, Li Chongshan, and Shi Kaihuang, and they studied the same techniques. When factoring in the long periods of time they had spent training together, it was only natural that their teamwork had reached such a point.

    Even Su Chen wouldn¡¯t have been able to handle thisbined sword strike head-on, let alone the three Harpies.

    The sword strike cleaved through the air, causing the very ground to tremble. This strike was already on the level of a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator¡¯s attacks.

    The Sixth-Ring Arcana Master had no way of resisting this attack. As he watched the sword descend on him, shock and terror filled his eyes.

    Even though the thunderstorm and Fire Halo were still damaging his opponents, their human physique and Light Shaking Realm cultivation base allowed them to easily withstand the attacks for some time. The Arcana Master was going to die no matter what.

    Just as he was about to die, however, another figure suddenly appeared in the air, unleashing a wave of light towards the towering sword Qi.

    Seventh-Ring!

    The Hunting Wind Bandits continued to reveal trump cards. A concealed Seventh-Ring Arcana Master had suddenly appeared to try and save that Arcana Master.

    But at the same time that he made his move, a contorted figure suddenly appeared and shot at the Seventh-Ring Arcana Master like a sh of lightning.

    Cloud Leopard!

    He had concealed himself somewhere and didn¡¯t attack until this critical moment. One could only say that he had learned well from Su Chen.

    The Seventh-Ring Harpy seemed to have been prepared for this. He sent a vicious wave of Origin Energy careening towards Cloud Leopard, wanting to kill him along with the sword Qi. The best oue would be trapping Cloud Leopard in this wave of Origin Energy and killing him with its explosive power.

    Unexpectedly, however, Cloud Leopard seemed to charge right through his Arcana Technique without being affected at all.

    No, he had been affected - the Seventh-Ring Harpy could see that Cloud Leopard was bleeding internally. This attack had wounded him quite seriously.

    However, Cloud Leopard was not sent flying; instead, his speed only increased as he closed in on the Seventh-Ring Harpy, aiming a short ck dagger at his throat.

    Arcana Technique Reversal!

    This name suddenly popped up in the Arcana Master¡¯s mind.

    He had no time to consider how Cloud Leopard had learned an Arcana Technique because his opponent was much faster than he had anticipated. The ck dagger was already glowing with a life-threatening aura. His quick wits told him that, if this ck dagger were to slice him, he would most likely die.

    The Seventh-Ring Arcana Master¡¯s figure disappeared. He no longer had any attention to spare on other things.

    The light resisting the sword disappeared, allowing it to continue sweeping through the air unchallenged as it pursued its target relentlessly.

    The Harpy unleashing the thunderstorm had managed to apply a barrier to himself by using the time bought by the Seventh-Ring Harpy and was in the process of furiously retreating. It had to be said that his reactions were quite sharp. However, the sword light continued to pursue him and still ended up colliding into him, instantly shattering his barrier and then proceeding to rip him to shreds.

    ¡°Pu!¡±

    The twelve Sword Servants simultaneously spat out a mouthful of blood.

    This was the price they had to pay for forcefully enduring the thunderstorm and Fire Halo with their physical bodies.

    However, paying such a price to kill a Sixth-Ring Arcana Master was absolutely worth it.

    A momentter, the twelve Sword Servants unleashed another sword strike.

    How could the two remaining Harpies dare to try and face the attacks head-on? They immediately retreated, but they watched as the sword strike suddenly faded - it was actually an illusion.

    This kind of a cooperative ability was not actually easy to pull off. The twelve Sword Servants couldn¡¯t just use it as they pleased.

    However, using this technique to scare the two Harpies was more than enough to give the twelve Sword Servants some time to recover. Then, they shamelessly pulled out a vial of medicine and quickly gulped them down - this was the benefit of having a master who was an alchemist.

    The wounds they had only just sustained began to rapidly recover.

    The two Harpies greatly regretted missing such a critical opportunity.

    On the other side of the battle, Cloud Leopard had already begun fighting with the Seventh-Ring Arcana Master.

    The ck de he had taken from Chu Huailiang shed through the air repeatedly, unleashing streaks of ck light in all directions.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 88: Blade

    Chapter 88: de

    When Chu Huailiang was alive, he had a nickname ¡ª White and ck.

    ¡°White¡± referred to his white Sky-Rending de, while ¡°ck¡± referred to the de that Cloud Leopard was wielding at the moment.

    This de¡¯s name was Darkness Extermination. It had been forged with the metatarsal bone of the Southern Sea Dark Shark King as a base and was supplemented with Chaos Gold mined from the Northern Sky Mountain. As a result, it contained the boundless hatred of the Dark Shark King within it.

    If a person was struck by this de, the Dark Shark King¡¯s killing intent would surface and begin devouring the victim¡¯s life force. Because this intent was invisible and difficult to detect, the de had been aptly named Darkness Extermination. The de¡¯s corrosive properties were almost impossible to defend against, even if one possessed Heart Walls.

    However, there was one critical w with the de ¡ª because the hatred within it was too great, anybody with a powerful consciousness could easily sense it. Su Chen could clearly sense it, and that Seventh-Ring Arcana Master could sense it as well. The obvious response, then, was to not let the opponent touch you no matter what.

    But Cloud Leopard was incredibly swift. His de flowed like the wind as it shed towards his opponent repeatedly, its motions incredibly simple and direct.

    He had grown up on the street, where a person¡¯s status was determined by their fighting ability. He had never learned any orthodoxbat methods, so his fighting style was naturally very much influenced by street brawlers. Even though he was flying through the sky and controlling his movements with Origin Energy, his movements were just as annoying to deal with as always.

    Inparison, this Seventh-Ring Arcana Master was obviously raised differently.

    There was no way he was a real Hunting Wind Bandit; rather, he was most likely some noble of high status. Even inbat, he appeared to be trying his best to remain graceful.

    He wielded a jade green staff iid with rubies. With each wave of his staff, a simrly-colored jade green light would envelop his body. Shortly afterwards, countless vines would snake out from his body, blossom, and cause flower petals to rain down from the sky. The scene was incredibly beautiful and enchanting; even if each petal was infused with a dense killing intent, anyone who saw them would feel no threat.

    Cloud Leopard, however, was like a wild boar that was tearing up this flower garden. He rampaged brutishly through these flowers, killing many of them. However, there were so many flowers that, when coupled with the fact that they regenerated after being destroyed, the wild boar couldn¡¯t eliminate all of them no matter how hard it thrashed about.

    Even so, Cloud Leopard continued to dart around violently, Darkness Extermination unleashing streak after streak of ck light.

    In response, the Seventh-Ring Harpy continued to summon petal storm after petal storm, the cyan energy carrying a strange quality with it. Under normal circumstances, this storm of petals would drastically reduce an opponent¡¯s speed, but Cloud Leopard¡¯s Arcana Reversal Technique allowed him to push through the storm without losing any speed. As he continued to agilely leap through the air, the Seventh-Ring Arcana Master was forced to divert more and more attention to his retreat.

    In that sense, Arcana Masters were quite skilled. Their teleportation skills and evasion techniques were quite incredible. Any Fifth-Ring Arcana Master or above would have one or two such teleportation techniques in their arsenal, which was very different from most humans. Su Chen¡¯s Whitetower Teleportation would definitely be considered a rare skill amongst the human race. But to the Arcanists and their heirs, these kinds of escaping Arcana Techniques were rtivelymon.

    However, merely escaping was not enough. Taking advantage of the space created by evading attacks and then counterattacking was their key to victory.

    Arcanists were used to fighting on the move. The Seventh-Ring Harpy unleashed a constant barrage of petals, and his staff continued to call down illusory beasts that snarled and snapped at Cloud Leopard. These beasts were mostly projections of real beasts that had been repeatedly summoned via an Arcana Technique. They rushed through the storm of petals, howling ferociously.

    The Seventh-Ring Arcana Master¡¯s use of the storm of petals to obstruct Cloud Leopard¡¯s movements while simultaneously attacking him with the beast projections was quite beautiful, but thebination was also filled with an incredibly potent killing intent.

    However, Cloud Leopard still continued to charge forward!

    Charge!

    Charge!

    Charge!

    No matter what technique his opponent threw at him, Cloud Leopard¡¯s response was to charge ahead, shing through everything in his path. His movements were incredibly simple, sharp, and effective.

    The petals were ripped to shreds, and beast blood spilled everywhere.

    Even as the flowers in the sky bloomed and withered, Cloud Leopard continued to advance relentlessly.

    The Seventh-Ring Arcana Master soon realized that, no matter what kind of technique he used, he waspletely unable to obstruct this youth¡¯s advance in the slightest.

    He constantly advanced, the gap between him and his opponent shortening with each passing moment.

    This was because the Harpy needed to do too many things ¡ª he needed to attack, defend, dy, and retreat all at the same time. On the other hand, Cloud Leopard only needed to attack. Even if the opponent was a Seventh-Ring Harpy who was incredibly agile and could deftly activate all his skills, such an opponent could notpare to someone whose only thought was to advance.

    The Harpy was thus forced to change tactics and give up on attacking.

    The shooting stars flying through the air were the first to disappear.

    However, he quickly discovered that that was not enough. His speed was still inferior to that of his opponent, so the next thing he gave up on was obstructing Cloud Leopard¡¯s movements. After all, his opponent had the Arcana Reversal Technique anyways, so no amount of obstruction would be effective.

    The storm of petals gradually began to grind to a stop as well.

    This allowed him to ce even more attention on teleporting away, so the distance between him and Cloud Leopard should have started closing much more slowly.

    However, he soon discovered that that was still not enough. Cloud Leopard¡¯s attacks only grew fiercer once the storm of petals stopped. Even though his opponent¡¯s speed had gone up, Cloud Leopard seemed to also get faster, and the gap between the two of them continued to slowly close ¡ª just not as quickly as before.

    Finally, the Harpy was forced to give up on even the beast projections.

    This was finally enough to stop the gap between them from closing any further, but then he discovered that, because he hadpletely given up on counterattacking, the situation had devolved into Cloud Leopard chasing after and hacking at him while he continually tried to escape. It basically looked like a Light Shaking Realm human was forcing him to run around like a little squirrel.

    This was simply too ugly!

    What kind of Harpy was he?

    A Seventh-Ring Arcana Master!

    That was already superior to a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, and close in strength to a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator. How could he possibly stand being chased around like this by a Light Shaking Realm cultivator?

    Cloud Leopard hadn¡¯t managed to wound him yet, and had actually been quite badly wounded by the attacks he had suffered while trying to close the gap. Strictly speaking, he was at a disadvantage. However, outsiders would only see the great Seventh-Ring Harpy, Thousand Heavens, being one-sidedly chased around by a human Light Shaking Realm cultivator. The shame he felt was tant for anyone to see.

    Harpies were arrogant by nature, and Harpy nobility even more so.

    Thousand Heavens was no exception. It was impossible for him to ept this kind of oue.

    As the anger in his heart surged, his body began to glow ambent green color.

    Under the luminescence of the green light, all the living organisms around him began to rapidly wither and decay.

    Withered World!

    That was the name of Thousand Heaven¡¯s Arcana Technique.

    Calling it a ¡°world¡± was a bit of an exaggeration, especially since its area of influence was only a thousand feet. However, it was more than enough to deal with any opponent who was foolish enough to try and engage in close-quartersbat with him.

    Harpies hated close-quartersbat, and they had many different and useful techniques for protecting themselves.

    He believed that, in the end, that the best defense was a good offense.

    His real defense was this Withered World. Any living organism that drew close to him would begin to wither due to the mystical effects of this skill.

    The Withered World essentially created a sphere of death around him. It was so powerful that its power greatly exceeded what a Seventh-Ring Arcana Master should have been able to unleash. In this sphere, even inanimate objects could die, including rock, metal, clouds, and even the air itself. Everything would seemingly dissolve into nothingness, let alone most humans.

    If there was any w to this skill, it was that it couldn¡¯t discern between friend or foe.

    Even its user would be affected by it.

    But that didn¡¯t matter.

    Withered World was not invincible. Even though its corrosive power was impressive, it could still be resisted, with the efficacy of one¡¯s resistance being determined by the technique one used.

    Thousand Heavens had learned and used Withering World for many years, and he was very clear about its corrosive properties. He began to apply barrier after barrier to himself.

    No one was better than him at this. After all, this was a technique that he had personally created.

    By relying on this technique, he had managed to defeat expert after expert.

    This battle would not be an exception either.

    ¡°Be proud that you were fortunate enough to die to my Withered World!¡± Thousand Heavens proimed darkly as he unleashed the might of the Withered World to its greatest extent.

    The withering energy began to spread, fully enveloping Cloud Leopard. A momentter, smoke began to rise from his skin, indicating that the withering energy had started corroding his skin and would soon slowly spread into his body.

    Even so, Cloud Leopardpletely ignored its effects on him and continued to advance.

    Up until this point, he had never managed to even touch Thousand Heavens. However, he was still continuing to madly pursue no matter what Thousand Heavens did. Thousand Heavens couldn¡¯t slow him down by even a half step.

    The withering powers could corrode Cloud Leopard¡¯s body but not his will. The more he fought, the higher his killing intent surged. It was as if he didn¡¯t know what the words ¡°fear¡± or ¡°retreat¡± meant. His speed and lethality continued to increase even now.

    Thousand Heavens discovered to his shock that his opponent was still getting faster and faster.

    Grey smoke continued to pour out from his body, elongating and stretching out behind him like a long tail made of smoke.

    Darkness Extermination arced through the air repeatedly, constantly pushing Thousand Heavens back.

    ¡°No!¡± Thousand Heavens stared at his opponent in shock as he pushed Withered World to its utmost limits.

    Since he was focusing most of his attention on activating and fueling Withered World, his speed had obviously decreased, and Cloud Leopard was able to close the distance even more rapidly.

    However, he judged that Cloud Leopard would definitely die before even getting close to him!

    He would definitely die!

    At least, that was what Thousand Heavens thought.

    As he watched Cloud Leopard continually close in with a determined expression on his face, Thousand Heavens felt his heart tremble.

    His confidence began to wither as well.

    Perhaps he shouldn¡¯t have tried to decide the fight in a direct confrontation with his opponent!

    After all, noble Harpies weren¡¯t suited for direct fights anyways.

    He hesitated, unsure of what to do in that moment. As a result, the withering energy actually weakened, allowing Cloud Leopard to close in even more quickly.

    Thousand Heavens knew that the situation wasn¡¯t looking good for him. However, he no longer had any time to escape. He could only redouble his efforts and try to disintegrate his opponent before his opponent reached him.

    Cloud Leopard finally slowed down yet again. The corrosive power of Withered World was wounding him quite seriously, and even his strength was beginning to decline.

    However, he continued to resolutely sh out with his dagger.

    Slowly but surely, he began to close the final stretch separating him and Thousand Heavens.

    Thousand Heavens watched as the dagger drew ever nearer to him, the threat of death imminent.

    He couldn¡¯t stop himself from raising his magic staff and unleashing a green barrier to cover himself.

    In that moment, he couldn¡¯t control his instinctive reaction of switching from offense to defense in order to try and save himself.

    Pu!

    Darkness Extermination shed through the sky, mming into his barrier.

    This single attack was equivalent to thousands of attacks.

    His barrier shattered as Darkness Extermination plunged into Thousand Heavens¡¯ midsection.

    A single de strike!

    A single de strike was all it took.

    Cloud Leopard had been struck by him thousands of times and had only managed tond this lone dagger strike at the very end.

    Thousand Heavens, however, trembled as the flow of life in his body came to a sudden halt because of the de¡¯s effects.

    ¡°No!¡± Thousand Heavens howled in despair.

    He could sense his own life force rapidly leaving his body.

    ¡°Too much hesitation and indecisiveness. I admit that you are very strong, but your will is simply too weak. You lost because youcked resolve!¡± Cloud Leopard dered faintly.

    He pulled out the dagger.

    As he unsheathed the dagger from Thousand Heavens, Thousand Heavens¡¯ body began to rapidly corrode, eventually turning into a nondescript ash that floated away with the wind.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 89: Arrival

    Chapter 89: Arrival

    Old Hu and the others were watching everything in the sky intently. When Thousand Heavens was killed, everyone yelled with happiness.

    Given their strength, it was only natural that they couldn¡¯t tell who was stronger and who was weaker.

    But they were still able to see the fighters¡¯ auras.

    They could see that the Harpy Cloud Leopard was fighting was unleashing techniques that were much more resplendent than what most other Harpies could unleash, and that he was also using offensive techniques even as he teleported repeatedly. The waves of fearsome beast projections were more than enough to inform them that this individual was incredibly powerful.

    However, this fearsome individual had been stabbed to death by Cloud Leopard. Given how respectful Lin Xiao and the others were to him, it was only natural that they were able to get somewhat of a feeling for the situation.

    ¡°Big shot! Cloud Leopard is definitely a big shot!¡±

    ¡°Truly skilled people never show off!¡±

    ¡°Well fought, Cloud Leopard!¡±

    ¡°Cloud Leopard is really something!¡±

    ¡°Be quiet, you fools. The one who doesn¡¯t participate in the fight is the real boss. See, Iron Cliff is still here with us. This means that Iron Cliff is the best!¡±

    One of the smarter individuals instead turned his attention to Iron Cliff ¡ª rather than singing the praises of people who were far off, it was better totch onto this sturdy support sitting right next to them.

    Arge group ofborers surrounded Iron Cliff to try and tter him. Because he was a Stoneskin, he was used to being looked down upon by others. It was rare for people to ingratiate themselves toward him like this, so he didn¡¯t know what to say. After some time, he finally said, ¡°I¡¯m not anyone¡¯s boss. I¡¯m just a servant. There¡¯s no need to praise me like this.¡±

    ¡°If Iron Cliff is this powerful, then your master must be even more amazing.¡±

    Iron Cliff thought for a moment before nodding in affirmation. ¡°Mhm, that¡¯s about right.¡±

    Someone asked, ¡°Where is your master? Could we have the honor of meeting him?¡±

    Iron Cliff obediently replied, ¡°He is not here right now.¡±

    Everyone was disappointed. Their dreams of finding a sturdy support also disappeared.

    However, that also made sense. If Cloud Leopard and Iron Cliff were a person¡¯s subordinates, then their superior must be incredibly talented. How could he possibly spare them even a nce?

    That leg was actually too sturdy. The workers¡¯ arms weren¡¯t long enough to wrap around it.

    But unexpectedly, Iron Cliff then said, ¡°You probably won¡¯t be able to serve my master, but it shouldn¡¯t be a problem for you to learn what he¡¯s developed.¡±

    Hm?

    What did that mean?

    No one understood what Iron Cliff was trying to say.

    In this kind of world, how could these lowly workers learn anything valuable without paying a colossal price?

    They had been ves for decades, so they had only managed to learn bits and pieces about cultivation. They were already quite fortunate. They only wanted to find a powerful person in order to be treated better and find a stronger backer. None of them dared to even dream of actually learning something.

    However, Iron Cliff seemed to be implying that bing a servant was even more difficult than bing a student?

    ¡°Iron Cliff...... Sir, are you sure that you aren¡¯t miswording something?¡± one of the more courageous workers asked.

    ¡°Yes, absolutely. If you want to learn about cultivation, then go to the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain¡¯s Boundless Sect.¡±

    Most Origin Qi Schrs would have known who Iron Cliff was referring to as soon as he mentioned the Boundless Sect. However, it was impossible for these workers to know about these high-leveled affairs. Most of them lost interest when they heard that they needed to run somewhere to even learn something.

    When Iron Cliff saw them lose interest, he then said very seriously, ¡°My master is the master of the Boundless Sect. He has opened his door to anyone who wants to cultivate. None of you have very good talent, but the Boundless Sect is currently looking for more members, so our standards are very low. You will have more opportunities if you go there right away. If you miss out now, it will probably not be that easy to enter the sect in the future.¡±

    Because they lived in a time of aristocrats, most people still viewed sects as a muddled mess, not worthy of any attention.

    And since Iron Cliff was trying to entice them into joining by saying that the selection criteria was very low, they were even less likely to think highly of it. There were even some people who believed that Iron Cliff and the others were up to no good. Because they weren¡¯t sure about the situation, it was only natural that most of them were unwilling to take Iron Cliff up on his offer.

    Even so, there were always a few people who thought differently.

    Perhaps it wasn¡¯t that they had a great expectation for the Boundless Sect, but rather that they had no other option. Either way, some of them were willing to give it a shot. Even if they lost their lives as a result, they didn¡¯t want to pass up an opportunity to embark on this journey.

    A few people were moved by Iron Cliff¡¯s words and would eventually head for Thousand Swords Mountain.

    Of course, this would all happen in the future.

    The situation of the midair battle was gradually bing clearer after Cloud Leopard¡¯s and the twelve Sword Servants¡¯ victories.

    The death of a Seventh-Ring Harpy hadpletely shattered the spirit of the Hunting Wind Bandits.

    Red Raven pped his wings, unleashing a gust of wind that blew Zhu Yunyan back as he howled, ¡°Retreat!¡±

    All of the Hunting Wind Bandits began to retreat at the same time.

    Most of the raiding Harpies disappeared with a few ps of their wings. They were obviously much faster than the Cloud-Piercing Shuttles.

    This was amon war tactic for the Harpies. Not many races couldpete with them in terms of gueri warfare. By the same measure, however, the Harpies were also not very good in a straight-up battle.

    As they watched the Harpies retreat, the members of the Cloud-Piercing Shuttles burst out with the cheers of victory.

    To the low-level human warriors, this was a hard-fought victory, but the situation was obviously different for the higher-ups.

    Scattered Moon Mist had obviously also noticed what the purpose of these attacks were. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for her to exin the appearance of thoseter Harpies. And it was obvious that this probe had been effective ¡ª the Zhu n had been forced to reveal a bunch of hidden experts on board.

    There was a total of thirteen Light Shaking Realm cultivators. One of them was incredibly courageous and had managed to ughter a Seventh-Ring Harpy, while the other twelve possessed extraordinary teamwork.

    But if they had so many strong Light Shaking Realm cultivators avable, why wasn¡¯t there a single Spirit Burning Realm cultivator?

    This was because the Harpies recognized most of the Spirit Burning Realm cultivators amongst the humans. If they were afraid of the hidden experts being spotted, Light Shaking Realm cultivators were much easier to hide. At the very least, the Harpies had never heard of any one of these thirteen cultivators. After all, the Harpies could not possibly keep track of all of the humans given how many there were.

    Scattered Moon Mist had automaticallye up with the perfect excuse for the Zhu n.

    She could absolutely understand why the Zhu n would bring along these hidden troops. Obviously, they were well-prepared, but it seemed that it had nothing to do with the broodmother. They had only been brought along enough of a force to prevent any idents from urring.

    The Hunting Wind Bandits departed, as did the Cloud-Piercing Shuttles.

    No one knew whether the Hunting Wind Bandits had been instigated into attacking them by someone, and no one was interested in finding out the answer. Both parties believed that, as long as they ultimately reached their destination, their mission would bepleted, and that was good enough for them.

    The shuttles finally reached Sky City after seven more days of travel.

    As Sky City loomed into view, all of the humans were assaulted by a fresh wave of awe.

    This city was almost asrge as a mountain ¡ª no, actually, even a mountain wasn¡¯t as big as the city. Because this city was floating, it towered over most mountains.

    And not only was it a city, but it was also a sustained ecosystem in and of itself. There were forests, mountain peaks, ins, fields, and rivers distributed throughout its area.

    The city sat high in the ninth heavens, as if it had been there since time immemorial. Because it was sorge, it was impossible to clearly see its original form. In terms of pure shock and awe, Sky City was actually inferior to the Chaos Tower.

    But as they drew closer and closer and the full vastness of the city came into view, it felt like they had suddenly returned to the ground.

    As they gazed at the wild ins, the verdant foliage, and the countless Harpies flying up and down all over the ce, the awe in their hearts reached its climax.

    The Hidden Dragon Institute possessed some records of how Sky City hade about.

    ording to those records, Sky City had not originally been thisrge in the beginning.

    But after Sky City was locked in ce, many of the Harpies had discovered that, because they were anchored to the Boundless Origin Sea, Sky City¡¯s carrying capacity had greatly increased.

    Since there was no hope for them to continue moving Sky City around, they began to furiously expand Sky City¡¯snd.

    This was how Sky City had gone from arge, isted city to a massive floating ecosystem.

    There were now three cities in total on this floating ind.

    Sky City itself was obviously at the very core, and to its sides were two smaller neighboring cities. They were like two wings nking Sky City, or defensive citadels meant to protect the capital. Of course, given Sky City¡¯s incredibly powerful defensive capabilities, adding on moreyers of defense didn¡¯t have much meaning. The two cities were actually meant to house the expanding Harpy poption and to develop thend a bit more.

    In some sense, the Harpies had managed to create a self-sufficient territory for themselves in the sky. However, they still had ambitions for the ground.

    The shuttlesnded near the outskirts of Sky City.

    They went through another round of inspections.

    From t Sky City to here, the merchant group had been thoroughly inspected three times, with countless other small inspections here and there. They had even been secretly inspected once via the Hunting Wind Bandits¡¯ raid. It was obvious how important the broodmother was to the Harpies.

    Only now were the Harpies able to rest easy.

    That night, the merchant group arrived at the inn that had been prepared for them in Sky City.

    ¡°We¡¯re finally here!¡± Zhu Xianyao let out a long sigh.

    She nced at Su Chen and asked, ¡°Hey, everything went smoothly. You can finally take it easy now, right?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps,¡± Su Chen replied with a nod.

    Even though they had run into some small bumps in the road on their way here, they were still pretty sessful, all things considered.

    ¡°So do you still want to......¡± Su Chen understood what Zhu Xianyao was hinting at even though she hadn¡¯t explicitly stated it outright. She was asking him if he still wanted to assume a Harpy¡¯s identity.

    Halcyon Wing Streak was still present. He was amongst the diplomatic envoy. As one of the war prisoners, he had been inspected a number of times, and he had still not yet been released. As for Jade Brilliance, he had performed a great meritorious service and was being treated extremely well by the Harpies. However, for the same exact reasons, he had not been released either.

    This point in time was incredibly sensitive right now. Zhu Xianyao was making it quite clear that she hoped that Su Chen would stop things here. All they needed to do next was buy a list of items and return to Liaoye Country. Then, she would be able to enjoy Su Chen¡¯spany for as long as she desired.

    But this was obviously not what Su Chen was after.

    He shook his head and replied, ¡°Sorry. There are too many things the Harpies have that I need to pursue.¡±

    ¡°We have any resources that you could possibly want......¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not talking about material items,¡± Su Chen interjected. ¡°You know that I am notcking in money. What I am after is knowledge.¡±

    Knowledge!

    This was probably the only thing that Su Chen couldn¡¯t necessarily buy outright with money.

    And the Harpies, who were very intelligent, possessed a vast wealth of knowledge. Su Chen didn¡¯t want to miss out on this no matter what.

    ¡°So...... You will still continue down this path,¡± Zhu Xianyao said helplessly.

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry ¡ª I just want to learn a few things. I promise to not to stir up trouble unless I absolutely have to. I will be an obedient student this time.¡±

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 90: Substitution

    Chapter 90: Substitution

    ¡°Sorry for troubling you these past few days. Thank you for your cooperation,¡± one of the inspectors respectfully said to Halcyon Wing Streak with a smile.

    ¡°I understand. May I go now?¡± Halcyon Wing Streak replied as calmly as he could.

    ¡°Of course.¡± The inspector then very politely escorted Halcyon Wing Streak out of the interrogation room.

    Halcyon Wing Streak couldn¡¯t help but let out a long sigh of relief as he finally left that room.

    This feeling of freedom was really great!

    However, when he recalled what he had gone through, Halcyon Wing Streak couldn¡¯t repress the hatred and anger in his heart.

    Human, I will kill you if it¡¯s thest thing I do!

    Halcyon Wing Streak embarked on the path back to his n as he stoked the hatred in his heart.

    His n was already aware that he was returning, but no one hade to receive him. It seemed that his stint as a captive had already degraded his status in his family.

    When he thought of this, Halcyon Wing Streak sighed regretfully.

    Regardless, obtaining his freedom was the most important first step. As for what he had lost, he would find a way to recover it all one day.

    Unfortunately, his dreams were stopped in their tracks when he reached an empty alleyway.

    Su Chen was standing there quietly, smiling eerily at him.

    ¡°It¡¯s you?¡± Halcyon Wing Streak was stunned.

    His past nightmare resurfaced in his mind.

    This bastard actually dared to appear in Sky City? He had to get his revenge!

    Unfortunately, before he was able to exact anything, Su Chen appeared right in front of him and smacked his forehead.

    Bang!

    Halcyon Wing Streak toppled over, an expression of disbelief on his face.

    He couldn¡¯t understand why Su Chen had waited up until this moment to kill him.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t even spare his opponent another nce. He callously pulled out a vial of medicine and poured it onto Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s corpse, causing it to quickly dissolve into nothingness. At the same time, he transformed and assumed Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s identity.

    Once he aplished all these tasks, Su Chen calmly walked out of the alleyway and headed for Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s n.

    Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s n was located in western Sky City. Their celebrated status meant that they owned an independent residence all to themselves.

    One thing that the real Halcyon Wing Streak hadn¡¯t known was that the Halcyon Wing n had in fact sent people out to greet him, but Su Chen had yed some tricks to dy their arrival.

    As such, when Su Chen was just about to arrive at the Halcyon Wing n¡¯s residence, he noticed arge carriage being pulled by four silver flying horses heading in his direction. The carriage eventually came to a stop in front of him.

    A Harpy servant then jumped off the carriage and knelt in front of Su Chen. ¡°Young Master Streak, you have finally returned! This old servant is overjoyed to once again see you alive!¡±

    Su Chen harrumphed. ¡°Is that so? I¡¯m afraid that there are others who will be disappointed.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± The old servant was taken aback. ¡°Young Master, you?¡±

    But Su Chen said nothing more and stepped onto the carriage.

    His current job was to act like a Harpy who had suffered tremendously under human mistreatment. Only by acting in this way would he be able to force other Harpies to keep their distance, thus convincing them that he was actually Halcyon Wing Streak.

    Before then, however, it would take some time for the Halcyon Wing n to adjust.

    The old servant had served Halcyon Wing in the past, and he was caught off-guard by Su Chen¡¯s reply. However, he also seemed to quicklye to an understanding. ¡°This old servant knows that Young Master has suffered greatly these past few days. I apologize for my inability to rescue you.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about that for now and just go home,¡± Su Chen said indifferently, his expression downcast.

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± the old servant replied obediently as he drove the carriage back to the Halcyon Wing n.

    A middle-aged Harpy was flying back and forth in front of the n¡¯s doors when they arrived.

    As soon as Su Chen stepped off of the carriage, the woman grabbed Su Chen¡¯s hand frantically. ¡°Little Streak, you¡¯re finally back. I thought that I would never see you again.¡±

    Su Chen knew that she was Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s mother, Clear Bell Reflection.

    Clear Bell Reflection was born to a small n. After her marriage to Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s father, Halcyon Wing Mourning, she had born him a child. Because Halcyon Wing Streak was her only child, she adored him and ced all of her hopes on him.

    After Halcyon Wing Streak was captured, Clear Bell Reflection had cried so much that she had almost gone blind. Her jubnt mood upon seeing her son again was quite obvious.

    When faced with such a mother, Su Chen couldn¡¯t spurn herforting. He could only allow his ¡°mother¡± to hold him close and weep.

    Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s father, Halcyon Wing Mourning, was also present, along with his close friends; even those who had merely a good rtion with Halcyon Wing Mourning hade. With so many people present, it was difficult for Su Chen to identify them all despite his incredible memory and his store of information from interrogating Halcyon Wing Streak to the best of his ability. Thankfully, he was able to fall back on his n of pretending to still be in terrible condition. His face was deathly pale, clearly indicating the toll that his physical body had gone through.

    Clear Bell Reflection hurriedly called for people to take Su Chen back to his room when she saw this.

    Even as she did so, Clear Bell Reflection felt her heart ache as she watched him ¡°totter¡± around. ¡°My Little Streak must have suffered greatly.¡±

    The old servant beside them said, ¡°I¡¯m afraid that Young Master Streak¡¯s sufferings were even greater than we could have possibly imagined.¡±

    Halcyon Wing Mourning was taken aback. ¡°Decaying Wood, what are you saying?¡±

    The old servant exined Su Chen¡¯s earlier attitude, and Halcyon Wing Mourning felt his heart jolt. ¡°Could it be that the rumor was actually......¡±

    His heart trembled, but he didn¡¯t dare continue down that train of thought.

    Su Chen was led by a beautiful Harpy maidservant back to his own room. He first took a bath and then prepared to go meet his ¡°parents¡± again when news suddenly arrived that he was being summoned to Clear Sky Courtyard. The n¡¯s head wanted to see him.

    Clear Sky Courtyard was where the Harpies handled their business affairs. Halcyon Wing Mourning¡¯s status amongst the Halcyon Wing n was not actually that high, so most of the time, Halcyon Wing Streak had no right to go there.

    This was probably a special asion because he had safely returned from captivity, and so the n head was inviting him over.

    Thankfully, Su Chen was prepared for something like this to happen. He first drank a Figure-Setting Medicine, which would temporarily enhance the drinker¡¯s disguise. Unless the user was exposed to something like True Light, most disguise-uncovering techniques wouldn¡¯t have any effect. However, the medicine would also weaken the user for a day, and taking multiple medicines in a row would result in diminishing effects. This was why Su Chen didn¡¯t want to use the medicine carelessly.

    However, he had no choice but to use one now given that he was going to be meeting with the n head.

    This was one of the backup ns that Su Chen had developed with Zhu Chenhuan.

    Indeed, immediately after he arrived at Clear Sky Courtyard, Halcyon Wing Sky River greeted him personally and asked him about his welfare. Even though Halcyon Wing Sky River appeared to care on the surface, Su Chen could still sense the internal alienation between them. Perhaps this kind of meeting was hard for him to be genuinely interested in.

    After being asking about his well being, Su Chen was allowed to enter without incident. This Figure-Setting Medicine seemed to have been used pointlessly.

    However, Su Chen knew that he could spare no expense in this kind of a situation. Even if it would only happen one time out of a hundred, that one risk was more than enough to get him killed.

    After he greeted the n head, Su Chen then met up with some of his close friends, meaning that he was quite busy for some time. This reprieve allowed him to get to know the members of the Halcyon Wing n a little better. Even though he had never seen these people before, he was able to recall most of them based on Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s descriptions. And with his consciousness crystal, he would be able to remember them just after seeing them once.

    After a full day, Su Chen was able to get a good grip on the Halcyon Wing n¡¯s situation, with the help of Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s information.

    The Halcyon Wing n was quiteplicated as it wasprised of almost thirty different branches. Because there were so many different branches, each branch had their own leader, managing the Halcyon Wing n together with the n head.

    Halcyon Wing Sky River was one of the branch leaders, not the head of the n as a whole.

    The true n head¡¯s status was so great that even Halcyon Wing Mourning would have a hard time scheduling an audience with him.

    However, because Halcyon Wing Streak was rtively talented, cing within the top ten members of his branch, he was still treated with respect.

    A few of the Harpies who were on good terms with Halcyon Wing Mourning were quite happy to see Halcyon Wing Streak return.

    Of course, if there were those who were happy, then there would be those who were not.

    That morning, Su Chen was strolling through the Halcyon Wing n¡¯s residence, observing the n¡¯s circumstances. Everything he saw was imprinted into his head.

    Just as he was in the middle of his walk, a voice rang out and interrupted him. ¡°I was just wondering who was here! It must be the branch¡¯s genius, Brother Halcyon Wing Streak, who has returned from his period of captivity!¡±

    Su Chen turned towards the direction of the voice and found a young Harpy walking in his direction, followed by some minions.

    Su Chen had never seen this young Harpy before, meaning that he had probably not attendedst night¡¯s celebration. And given his tone, it was obvious that this guy was not on good terms with Halcyon Wing Streak.

    But when Su Chen had asked Halcyon Wing Streak who he was not on good terms with, Halcyon Wing Streak had replied that there was no one in particr.

    So where had this guye from?

    Su Chen waspletely taken aback, but his expression remained stony as he stared back at the other party wordlessly.

    When that Harpy saw that Su Chen refused to reply, his expression fell. ¡°Halcyon Wing Streak, what do you insinuating by looking at me like that?¡±

    Su Chen thought for a moment before replying, ¡°Sorry, I can¡¯t remember who you are.¡±

    He was telling the truth, but the other party felt that Su Chen¡¯s words were purposefully filled with scorn, as if Halcyon Wing Streak hadn¡¯t even deemed him worthy of notice.

    The young Harpy¡¯s expression shifted. ¡°How arrogant of you. Your pride seems to have only increased during your time spent in captivity in human territory. You can¡¯t remember who I am...... Yes, Halcyon Wing Streak, you probably thought that I was a little ant not even worth mentioning back then, right? But that was then, and this is now! You are not the same person you once were, and I am not the same person I once was either!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve said all this, but you still haven¡¯t told me who you are,¡± Su Chen said indifferently.

    He used his cold attitude to conceal the fact that he didn¡¯t know who his opponent was. That Harpy was infuriated when he heard Su Chen¡¯s provocative statement.

    He chuckled coldly, and with some agitation, said, ¡°Halcyon Wing Streak, you¡¯re doing a pretty good job pretending, but you cannot cover up the humiliation you endured at the hands of those humans. You still dare y dumb in front of me after they nearly raped you to death? Where did you even find the face toe back?¡±

    When he heard this, Su Chen wasn¡¯t surprised. Instead, he was inwardly delighted.

    So this moment had finallye?

    He had been waiting for this moment the entire time.

    It wasn¡¯t strange that his opponent knew about what had happened to Halcyon Wing Streak. After all, Su Chen was the one who had sent the notice about it in the first ce. Otherwise, what would be the point of everything he had done in the past if no one knew about it? Halcyon Wing Streak naturally wouldn¡¯t tell anyone, so Su Chen could only secretly utilize other channels.

    The Zhu n had obviously not done a great job disseminating the information, however. It had been over a whole day, and Su Chen hadn¡¯t heard any rumors about himself.

    Until now, that is.

    Finally, it¡¯s happening! Su Chen thought to himself even as his outward expression sank.

 Sect - Book 5, 91: Study

    <h4>Book 5, Chapter 91: Study</h4>

    Su Chen¡¯s expression sank. He unfurled his wings and shed forwards like lightning, flickering briefly before reappearing in front of the youth. The youth hadn¡¯t expected his opponent¡¯s speed to be that quick and was totally caught off-guard. Su Chen¡¯s fist mmed into his face, sending him flying.

    An instantter, Su Chen pounced and straddled him, unleashing a violent beating upon the young Harpy.

    The youth was totally stunned by the vicious beating.

    What was happening?

    How was I hit by him?

    He was not surprised that the other party had tried to attack him after he had pointed out their most humiliating experience.

    Instead, he was surprised that he hadn¡¯t actually been able to react, that he waspletely unable to mount a defense, that his opponent was currently straddling him, and that he was being beaten to the point where he had no strength to retaliate.

    He could only watch on as fist after fist came raining down on him, causing flowers of blood to bloom. However, he had no strength to retaliate, and he could only yell in shock and anger, ¡°Let go! Let go! What are you guys still standing around and watching for!?¡±

    Thatst sentence was directed at theckeys he had brought with him.

    Those minions of him seemed to awaken from their reverie and charged forwards, attempting to pull Su Chen off of their leader.

    Su Chen harrumphed and didn¡¯t try to resist. Instead, he bit down onto the fallen youth¡¯s ear.

    His bite was quite heavy, and the young Harpy howled with pain in response.

    The seven or eight Harpy subordinates surrounded Su Chen, but Su Chen refused to let go. As he was pulled off of the youth, the youth¡¯s ear was also stretched longer and longer until it finally snapped off.

    ¡°AHHH!¡± The youth¡¯s piercing howl rang out through the sky.

    Harpies began to charge over from all directions when they heard this howl.

    The first one to arrive was a middle-aged Harpy. When he saw the bloody scene before him, he was shocked. He barked, ¡°Halcyon Wing Streak, what are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Second Junior Uncle, make a judgment on my behalf! That bastard bit¡­¡­ bit off my ear,¡± the youth howled as he clutched at his mangled ear.

    Su Chen recognized this Second Uncle. His name was Halcyon Wing Wind, Halcyon Wing Mourning¡¯s older brother, so he should have normally called Halcyon Wing Wind Second Elder Uncle.

    Su Chen was able to determine based on the youth¡¯s cry that he was the son of the eldest uncle, Halcyon Wing Plume.

    Su Chen finally realized who the youth in front of him was.

    Halcyon Wing Whisper.

    The reason Su Chen hadn¡¯t recognized him was because Halcyon Wing Streak hadn''t listed him as an enemy, but rather as a follower.

    Yes, Halcyon Wing Whisper had actually once been Halcyon Wing Streak''s follower.

    Even though Halcyon Wing Whisper''s father was Halcyon Wing Mourning''s older brother, Halcyon Wing Whisper was younger than Halcyon Wing Streak, and his talent was also inferior. As a result, he had been relegated to the status of a follower and minion. This was why Halcyon Wing Streak hadn''t referred to Halcyon Wing Whisper as an enemy when Su Chen had been interrogating him, and why Su Chen hadn''t been able to recognize him.

    Unexpectedly, this former follower had started a fight with him, even going so far as to intentionally provoke him on sight. If Halcyon Wing Streak wasn¡¯t lying, then that meant this youth had gotten stronger in recent years and wanted to turn his former pir into a stepping stone.

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t determine whether this was actually the case ?¡ª these opponents were all people he could suppress easily anyways. In his eyes, a strong ant and a weak ant were both at the same level, and it was hard for him to notice any difference in the two.

    When Halcyon Wing Wind saw Halcyon Wing Whisper¡¯s torn ear, the shock in his heart was palpable. ¡°Streak, what are you doing?¡±

    Su Chen remained silent, continuing to re intently at Halcyon Wing Whisper, his gaze filled with rage and boundless hatred.

    His acting skills weren¡¯t half bad.

    Unexpectedly, he had learned this expression from Cloud Leopard. After all, no one couldpare with Cloud Leopard when it came to trying to kill an opponent with a re. Su Chen had copied Cloud Leopard¡¯s stolid woodenness, savagery, and tenacity ?¡ª it could be almost said that he was method acting.

    Halcyon Wing Wind was surprised when he saw Su Chen¡¯s expression. He knew that the situation was most likely not that simple, so he turned and asked Halcyon Wing Whisper, ¡°What exactly happened?¡±

    Halcyon Wing Whisper rubbed his neck as he exined, ¡°All I did was say something about him, and then he went crazy and tried to bite me.¡±

    "What did you say about him?"

    Halcyon Wing Whisper lowered his head and awkwardly said, "I said...... I said that he had been raped......"

    Hiss!

    Halcyon Wing Wind sucked in a mouthful of cold air.

    All of the Harpies who had shown up on the scene by now had heard exactly what he said, including Halcyon Wing Mourning.

    "What did you say?" Halcyon Wing Mourning stared at Halcyon Wing Whisper, aghast, before turning to look at his "son." Su Chen''s expression seemed to make it clear even without words that Halcyon Wing Whisper was probably telling the truth.

    He grabbed Halcyon Wing Whisper by the neck. "Who told you this?"

    Halcyon Wing Whisper choked out with great difficulty as he strained his neck, "The other fifty-eight Harpies that came back with him...... They...... They all know...... I have a subordinate who is friends with one of those captives, and he was the one who told me."

    Halcyon Wing Mourning began to tremble. He turned to gaze at his son, finally understanding the source of his son''s anger.

    Anyone who went through something traumatic like that would probably go crazy upon having their wounds ripped open, right?

    No wonder his son had suddenly be so aloof after returning.

    He had actually experienced something as horrific as that.

    "Bastard!" Halcyon Wing Plume pped his son in the face. "How dare you even say something like that?"

    Halcyon Wing Streak knew that he hadmitted a grave sin, but he still couldn''t resistining. "He bit off my ear!"

    "You reap what you sow!" Halcyon Wing Plume red at him as he sternly ordered, "Go back and spend three days in confinement! Mourning, take your son with you and let him rest."

    "Yes!" Halcyon Wing Mourning obeyed and led Su Chen back to his room.

    As he watched the father-son pair depart, Halcyon Wing Plume sighed regretfully.

    He knew that this incident had probably dealt a serious blow to Halcyon Wing Streak. It was entirely possible that this would ruin him.

    That being said, how had this kid managed to get on top of Halcyon Wing Whisper and beat him up so badly?

    Halcyon Wing Streak had been in captivity for a long time, so it was impossible for him to have increased his strength by much, but he was still able to defeat Halcyon Wing Whisper easily. There was only one possible exnation, which was that Halcyon Wing Whisper had been cking in his cultivationtely.

    Halcyon Wing Plume decided that he needed to whip this son of his into shape.

    As Halcyon Wing Whisper¡¯s fate was being decided, he was still mourning the loss of his ear. He had no idea that this was only the beginning of a long nightmare for him.

    That day became a day of silence for the Halcyon Wing n.

    Many Harpies soon found out about Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s ¡°experiences¡±, which helped them understand his behavior. They ordered their subordinates to not provoke Halcyon Wing Streak at any cost and did their best to prevent news from spreading. At the same time, they gave Su Chen as much freedom and space as possible, hoping that he would be able to recover from his haze.

    This was exactly what Su Chen wanted.

    All of his earlier preparations were now bearing fruit. Su Chen was totally justified in his wildly different demeanor, so he was allowed to be extreme, violent, irritable, and aloof. Even though he might be mocked and ridiculed for this, he didn¡¯t care. After all, he wasn¡¯t Halcyon Wing Streak, and even if he were, he wouldn¡¯t care either.

    He was only after knowledge!

    In the following days, Su Chen ced all of his focus into studying the Harpies¡¯ system of knowledge.

    The Halcyon Wing n had their own library.

    This was where Su Chen liked to go the most.

    He spent his time here reading up on Harpy history and studying their social structure. At the same time, he came to understand the Halcyon Wing n¡¯s structure even more clearly.

    Because he had the consciousness crystal, he could basically remember everything he read, so his rate of readingprehension was also exceptionally quick. He merely had to flip through the pages rapidly before putting them down. In just half a month, he had read through most of the library¡¯s books. Of course, Su Chen¡¯s actions were just a form of venting in the eyes of the other Harpies.

    Somehow, he was relieving stress by flipping through these books chaotically.

    The rumors about him only began to increase as a result, but Su Chen didn¡¯t mind.

    He was very satisfied, as the Halcyon Wing n¡¯s books were able to help him deepen his understanding of Arcana Techniques.

    Su Chen had known for quite some time that Arcana Techniques were unleashed via Arcana Technique Patterns, with each technique corresponding to a specific pattern. These patterns were in turn made up of countless fragments. Because there was a general, foundational structure to these patterns, their derivative fragments shared somemon attributes. For this reason,bining Arcana Technique Pattern Fragments was almost like ying with toy building blocks. Thus, Arcana Masters typically tried to master as many fragments as possible in order to be able to quicklybine them into usable techniques.

    To increase the rate at which they mastered these fragments, some Arcana Masters branded these patterns and fragments into their bodies.

    This was simr to a molding process. They essentially cast a specific Arcana Technique through a mold, allowing them to then construct the Arcana Technique Patterns much more rapidly. This was the reason why certain Arcana Techniques were even usable in the first ce.

    Because each individual possessed different physical attributes, the strength of the brands differed wildly, as did the improvement in strength that these Arcana Masters received from the branding.

    Normally, an Arcana Master could brand an additional fragment every time they advanced a tier. These techniques were known as innate Arcana Techniques.

    This was quite simr to the Humans¡¯ Lotus tform engraving, which relied on simr principles to allow the user to rapidly unleash Origin Skills. However, the Lotus tform¡¯s branding was that of Origin Energy Talismans, not Origin Energy Patterns, even though the overall principles were quite simr. After all, this was something that the humans had learned from the Arcanists in the first ce.

    Even though there were innumerable cultivation systems under the heavens, they all shared certain simrities, especially because the descendants were usually heavily influenced by their ancestors.

    However, Arcana Masters could sometimes brand more than one pattern per tier. Some of the more talented ones could even brand two innate Arcana Techniques every tier; the level of branding was also incidentally the measure that they used to define true talent.

    Different talents resulted in different results. Some people specialized in quantity, allowing them to barrage enemies with a wide variety of Arcana Techniques. Some people specialized inplexity, allowing them to unleash a few incredibly powerful Arcana Techniques. In any case, the world of Arcana Techniques was quiteplicated, much more so than the human system of Origin Skills.

    The only reason these techniques had been abandoned by humans was because they were not very well suited for them due to theirck of processing power.

    However, whereas most humanscked inputing ability, Su Chen did not. His memory and predictive abilities were extraordinary, even to the point that he was superior to some Arcanists. As a result, his studies of Arcana Techniques were extremely sessful. Before, he had been somewhatcking in knowledge; all he had to work with was the knowledge from some ancient dead Arcanists. This had not nearly been enough to support his needs, but now that he was in Harpy territory, his eyes were finally being opened.

    Su Chen began to ravenously devour all this information. He firmly believed that he could turn these mountains of knowledge into jade, and that not only would theplicated Arcana Techniques boost his strength, they would also be incredibly useful to his research.

    Su Chen immersed himself in this kind of study.

    After half a month, Su Chen received a notice.

    The human merchant group that hade to t Sky City had departed.

    On that day, Su Chen knew that, from this moment onwards, he was going to be fighting this battle alone.

 Sect - Book 5, 92: Travel

    Chapter 92: Travel

    In the blink of an eye, Su Chen had spent nearly a month amongst the Halcyon Wing n.

    During this period of time, he read through all of the Halcyon Wing n¡¯s books in their library.

    The rate at which he was consuming all of their literature was nothing short of astounding.

    Even though almost all of the publicly avable Arcana Techniques were at the Fourth Ring and below, at this point Su Chen could genuinely be considered a Fifth-Ring Arcana Master despite the fact that most of the Arcana Techniques he had mastered were below Fifth-Ring Arcana Techniques.

    This was much better than being merely a dabbler in Arcana Techniques like before.

    The Halcyon Wing n had missed their best opportunity to snuff out Su Chen. At this point, Su Chen probably had mastered more Arcana Techniques than Halcyon Wing Streak had known, and he was most likely more proficient with them as well.

    There was nothing Halcyon Wing Streak could have done about it. The consciousness crystal was simply too powerful - after all, Su Chen was able to control it as soon as he learned it, and he was able to master it as soon as he could control it.

    Su Chen¡¯s only regret was that his Arcana Technique talent was only so-so, meaning that he could only brand one innate Arcana Technique per tier.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t mind. His talent was on the learning side, and being able to learn things quickly was also a skill.

    And even though he could only brand a single Arcana Technique per tier, that Arcana Technique didn¡¯t necessarily need to be in the same tier that he had just achieved. As a result, Su Chen hadn¡¯t branded any Arcana Techniques yet. He was waiting until he could master even more profound and powerful techniques. Quite a few Harpies chose to go this route as well, but their rate of learning simply couldn¡¯tpare with Su Chen¡¯s. The problem with emphasizing talent too much was that it led to early periods of weakness. Some Harpies might find their cultivation path obstructed before they managed to get very far.

    Today, Su Chen was analyzing one of the Halcyon Wing n¡¯s inherited techniques.

    These inherited techniques were Arcana Techniques belonging to a specific n, which served as the foundation for that n. Even though Harpy ns were not as clearly delineated as human ns, who ced extreme importance on bloodline, they did still have some secret techniques that they kept for themselves.

    One of these inherited techniques belonging to the Halcyon Wing n was known as Light Forcefield.

    It had to be said that Arcana Techniques were usually more effective than Origin Skills.

    Origin Skills were primarily used in battle. Because their offensive capabilities were limited, usually battles were fought by hurling Origin Skills at the opponent until they died. Arcana Techniques, on the other hand, allowed for more variation.

    This was the case with the Light Forcefield. The user could create a gravitational field and control the strength of the gravity, allowing the user to suppress the movements of their opponents.

    This Arcana Technique was a pretty powerful and was quite practical to boot. It restricted even strong opponents, since it was basically equivalent to cing heavy weights on the opponent¡¯s limbs. Weaker opponents could bepletely subjugated.

    Light Forcefield was a Fifth-Ring Arcana Technique, but it was effective against any target. The only thing that changed was its effectiveness.

    Because he was a Fifth-Ring Arcana Master, Su Chen only needed one day to master it. What Su Chen was more interested in, however, was the knowledge that had gone into creating this technique.

    Yes, he was still focused on knowledge.

    Arcana Techniques were, in some sense, crystallized knowledge. Through Su Chen¡¯s study of these techniques, he was better understanding the discoveries that the Arcana Masters who had created these techniques had made.

    Every Arcana Technique contained some of the principles behind what made the world work.

    Su Chen¡¯s mood was hard to describe.

    As Su Chen continued to study and study, he suddenly had a feeling that this Light Forcefield could actually be improved.

    He immediately went to work, activating his consciousness crystal rapidly as he tried to improve its effect.

    Once he had achieved some results, Su Chen began to attempt to test the modifications he had made. The improved Light Forcefield appeared.

    A ring of light began to orbit around Su Chen, the light appearing as if it had physical substance. Anything within its range of effect would immediately experience an increase in weight.

    Inanimate objects could not exin how they felt to Su Chen, however. At that moment, Halcyon Wing Mourning walked in.

    As soon as he walked in, he felt his body weight suddenly increase.

    Given his experience, it was only natural that he was aware of what had transpired.

    He was not actually that surprised by his son mastering Light Forcefield. After all, Halcyon Wing Streak had managed to learn it a long time ago. However, he very quickly discovered that the power of this Light Forcefield was greater than he had anticipated. When he tried to revolve his Origin Energy to resist its effects, he discovered that he was actually unable topletely extricate himself from its pull even with his current strength.

    Two Light Forcefields should have canceled each other out because the power of the technique was fixed. What determined the effects of the technique was the strength of the person the gravity field was being used on, not the strength of the user. However, Halcyon Wing Mourning was only able to partially nullify the effects of the field, and he still felt like he was four times heavier than normal, making it difficult for him to even move.

    ¡°Streak?¡± He stared at Su Chen, surprised.

    Su Chen waved his hand, gathering in the wave of light again.

    He didn¡¯t want to call the other person his father, so he maintained his silence.

    Halcyon Wing Mourning was used to this attitude, and his attention was currently fixed on something else. He walked over and asked, "How are you able to use the Light Forcefield like this?"

    "I¡¯m not too sure either. All I know is that when I was practicing the technique, I suddenly had the mysterious feeling that I could improve the effects of the Light Forcefield."

    Halcyon Wing Mourning was delighted. "Talent? Could it be that your unique talent has awakened? Does your talent allow you to improve Arcana Techniques?"

    Su Chen shrugged. "I don¡¯t know."

    Of course he had no such talent. If he did, then his talent was to study, invent, and create.

    The increase in power of Light Forcefield was due to the improvements he had made, which could be passed down, but there was no way Su Chen would say so. This was why Halcyon Wing Mourning had interpreted it as his talent, which was a pretty passable excuse.

    However, Su Chen wasn¡¯t very fond of the idea having that kind of talent, because if he did, then he should have been able to improve many different Arcana Techniques as a result.

    In actuality, unless he had made specific modifications to the Arcana Technique or the technique got stronger as his cultivation base increased, most Arcana Techniques wouldn¡¯t disy any extraordinary effects in his hands.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, it was only natural that he couldn¡¯t admit to it, so he could only say that he didn¡¯t know.

    ¡°Streak, try something else!¡± Halcyon Wing Mourning said with great excitement.

    This kind of improvement talent was extremely rare and valuable. Anyone who had this kind of talent was destined to be someone important. Even though Halcyon Wing Streak had demonstrated some talent in the past, it was not to this kind of degree.

    However, Su Chen¡¯s performance afterwards disappointed him, as the next few Arcana Techniques hadn¡¯t gotten stronger at all.

    ¡°How could this be?¡± Halcyon Wing Mourning didn¡¯t understand.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Even though I don¡¯t know why I cannot improve other Arcana Techniques, you cannot question that I have improved Light Forcefield. I think that my improvement talent is probably only applicable to a certain subset of Arcana Techniques.¡±

    ¡°What kind of subset?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. "I don¡¯t really know. Perhaps I will only be able to confirm it with repeated experimentation. In any case, it would be best for me to learn more Arcana Techniques."

    ¡°Is that so,¡± Halcyon Wing Mourning sighed, his tone filled with regret.

    Su Chen was taken aback. One way or another, he now possessed a ¡°talent¡±, but why didn¡¯t Halcyon Wing Mourning seem happy at all?

    It was probably more urate to say that he wasn¡¯t satisfied.

    Halcyon Wing Mourning gazed at Su Chen, his eyes filled with affection. ¡°A pity. If you had really awakened a Pattern Strengthening talent, that would have been good.¡±

    ¡°Has something happened?¡± Su Chen could sense the regret in Halcyon Wing Mourning¡¯s voice, as if there was something he was going to say.

    ¡°This......¡±

    ¡°You can say it. I can handle it,¡± Su Chen said indifferently.

    Even though he normally put on an aloof appearance, Su Chen could act calmly when he needed to.

    When Halcyon Wing Mourning saw him like this, he focused himself and said, ¡°Streak, have you ever thought about going somewhere else for a little?¡±

    ¡°Go somewhere else?¡± Su Chen was taken aback.

    He had in fact thought about going out for a trip now that he had read all the books in the library. But Halcyon Wing Mourning seemed to have a specific reason for asking him to leave.

    ¡°Did something happen?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°This...... I just want you to be able to go take a walk and clear your head.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine right now. My head doesn¡¯t need any clearing.¡±

    Of course Su Chen wanted to go, but since Halcyon Wing Mourning wanted him to leave, Su Chen pretended like he didn¡¯t want to to find out why.

    Halcyon Wing Mourning could only helplessly say, ¡°That way you can avoid some...... unscrupulous rumors.¡±

    Su Chen understood when he heard this.

    It seemed like it was still rted to the preparations he had made beforehand.

    News of what had happened to Halcyon Wing Streak had still ended up spreading.

    At this point, many ns had heard about what had happened to Halcyon Wing Streak.

    These rumors were not good for the Halcyon Wing n, and if they reached his son, there was a possibility that they would trigger him. This was why Halcyon Wing Mourning wanted his son to leave for some time.

    If Su Chen¡¯s talent was Pattern Improvement, then Halcyon Wing Mourning would have done everything in his power to get Su Chen to stay. But since that wasn¡¯t the case, and Su Chen had only managed to improve a mere Light Forcefield, there was no need to go to such lengths.

    Even if Su Chen was his own son, there were still benefits to consider.

    Su Chen had experienced this firsthand a long time ago, so he wasn¡¯t surprised.

    In any case, since he was nning on leaving anyways, this was the perfect cover for him to do so.

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Where are you nning on sending me?¡±

    Halcyon Wing Mourning hurriedly said, ¡°Your younger sister-inw¡¯s ce near the Prosperous Swelling River. What do you think?¡±

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t figure out who this younger sister-inw was or where he was being asked to go. However, he didn¡¯t mind and nodded. ¡°Fine.¡±

    Halcyon Wing Mourning was ecstatic when he saw that Su Chen was so easily swayed. ¡°So when are you nning on going?¡±

    ¡°Why not tomorrow?¡± Su Chen replied.

    Since he had decided to leave, it was better to leave sooner rather thanter.

    Halcyon Wing Mourning hadn¡¯t expected Su Chen to be so straightforward, and he realized that his son was probably thinking of going in the first ce. As such, he hurriedly said, ¡°I¡¯ll go and tell the servants to help you pack. You should go see your mother and tell her goodbye.¡±

    The next morning, Su Chen left Halcyon Wing n on a carriage pulled by a silver flying horse, heading outside of Sky City.

    Even though Sky City was the center of Sky Country, there were a number of smaller cities nearby as well.

    The silver-horse-drawn carriage galloped on the clouds, very quickly leaving Sky City behind. Su Chen didn¡¯t bother chasing the horse along, allowing it to pull him in the right direction. He seemed quite carefree as a result. By relying on Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s identity, Su Chen didn¡¯t run into any problems as he progressed at a leisurely pace. However, Su Chen didn¡¯t go to Prosperous Swelling River, making that sister-inw of his wait anxiously, which was something he didn¡¯t particrly care about.

    As he continued to advance, he suddenly saw two streaks flying rapidly in his direction.

    One figure was behind the other, as if they were giving chase.

    When the two figures saw the carriage, they suddenly changed direction, flying towards Su Chen instead.

    Su Chen frowned and prepared to get out of the way.

    He didn¡¯t want to get involved, but he suddenly heard a young woman¡¯s voice say, ¡°Prince, please save me!¡±

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 93: Youthful Abundance

    Chapter 93: Youthful Abundance

    ¡°Prince, please save me!¡±

    The young maiden shot towards Su Chen.

    Su Chen was nning on dodging, but that young maiden had leapt into his carriage before he could even react.

    Once an Arcana Master¡¯s skill reached a certain level, they would undoubtedly possess at least one or two teleportation Arcana Techniques. Using one here was basically her way of saying that she wanted to implicate Su Chen no matter what.

    Su Chen was displeased with the woman¡¯s actions and was just about to chase her out of his carriage when he saw the pursuing Harpy unleash a streak of blue light from his hands at the carriage.

    ¡°Courting death!¡± Su Chen growled.

    The blue light seemed to abruptly m into something, freezing in midair.

    Unexpectedly, this blue light then suddenly turned around and shot back at the Harpy who had unleashed it.

    Both the woman and her pursuer were taken aback.

    This blue light was an Arcana Technique that the assant was very proficient in using. If Su Chen had managed to resist it with force, then that wouldn¡¯t have been so surprising. But the fact that it had suddenly rebounded was incredibly shocking. If you tried to pour water on someone, you wouldn¡¯t be surprised if they dodged or just let the water ssh on them. But it would definitely take incredible talent to deflect that water back onto you.

    The assant knew that he was in a dire situation. He desperately yelled, ¡°I......¡±

    But before he could finish his sentence, the blue light mmed into him, leaving behind a hole in his body. The assant was quite tenacious as well; not only did he not die, but he immediately turned around and fled without a moment¡¯s hesitation.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t bother chasing after him, instead passively allowing his carriage to continue advancing.

    The woman was stunned as she stared at Su Chen, dumbfounded.

    Her original goal was to implicate Su Chen into a brawl and then use the opportunity to run away. Unexpectedly, he was so powerful that he had managed to send her assant packing with just a single strike.

    A Fifth-Ring Arcana Master had been defeated just like that.

    The woman stared at Su Chen intently, but Su Chen was wearing a wide-brimmed bamboo hat and his head was lowered, making it impossible for her to see his face.

    The woman¡¯s eyes darted around rapidly a few times before sheughed and praised, ¡°Prince, you seem to be quite skilled.¡±

    Su Chen coldly replied, ¡°If I weren¡¯t so skilled, I probably would¡¯ve been killed by your actions.¡±

    The woman hurriedly tried to mollify him by saying, ¡°Prince, what are you saying? I just noticed that you carry yourself with a certain nobility, which is why......¡±

    ¡°The way I carry myself?¡± Su Chen chuckled. ¡°You can¡¯t even see my face. How can you know how I carry myself?¡±

    ¡°This......¡± The woman froze momentarily before retreating. ¡°I apologize, Prince, for disturbing you. If this is the case, then I will take my leave first.¡±

    As she spoke, she turned to leave.

    Su Chen suddenly called out, ¡°Did I say that you could leave? You seem to think that you cane and go as you please ¡ª do you really think that I¡¯m that easy to push around?

    The woman was badly startled. Her figure flickered as she unhesitatingly jumped out of the carriage.

    However, the instant she reappeared, a hand formed from crystallized Origin Energy appeared behind her and grabbed her, pulling her back in the carriage.

    How could this be possible?

    How had the driver of this carriage managed to predict where she would reappear?

    She thought that this had to be a coincidence, so even as Su Chen pulled her back, she gritted her teeth and teleported away again. Her teleportation technique was somewhat simr to Su Chen¡¯s Whitetower Teleportation in that she could activate it repeatedly; however, the more she used it sessively, the more energy it cost to activate.

    She once again reappeared a hundred feet away from her original position, but before she could even move, Su Chen¡¯s crystalline hand had captured her again.

    The woman was stunned. She knew that she had provoked an opponent she shouldn¡¯t have. As such, she was resolved to escape no matter how much effort it took.

    But every time she tried to escape, Su Chen was able to pinpoint exactly where she would reappear ¡ª given Su Chen¡¯s ability to perceive spatial fluctuations, there was no way that this woman would ever be able to escape from him.

    She tried to escape seven or eight times, but each attempt ended the same. Su Chen easily recaptured her and sat her back down.

    Finally, she began to run out of energy, and she involuntarily copsed on the floor of the carriage,pletely out of breath. She had used up almost all of her Origin Energy. She incessantlyined in her heart ¡ª he had managed to back her into a corner without even properly attacking her once.

    But if her assant had been driven off with a single attack, it wouldn¡¯t have made a difference even if she had tons of Origin Energy at her disposal. Him attacking would probably result in the same oue ¡ª death in a single blow.

    As such, she came to terms with her situation and gave up on trying to escape. She plopped down on the carriage, as if waiting for Su Chen to give her amand.

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to try and run anymore?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°I can¡¯t get away anyways, so I¡¯m not going to bother,¡± the woman huffed exasperatedly.

    Su Chen harrumphed back. ¡°Oh, so now you¡¯ve decided to behave? Why couldn¡¯t you have done that from the start?¡±

    The woman rolled her eyes. ¡°If I hadn¡¯t gotten you involved, he probably would have killed me eventually. If I was definitely going to die anyways, I figured it was at least worth a shot.¡±

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t expected her to reply in such a logical way and was momentarily taken aback. She did have a good point. He couldn¡¯t help but chuckle, ¡°That¡¯s true. It was my miscalction.¡±

    The woman didn¡¯t expect that a simple sentence from her would get Su Chen to agree. She was simrly taken aback.

    Su Chen finally lifted his head. The Harpy woman discovered, to her surprise, that underneath the hat was a mask. She still didn¡¯t know what he actually looked like, greatly disappointing her.

    When she heard Su Chen say this, all she said in reply was, ¡°Well, one way or another, I did it. You can do whatever you want to me now.¡±

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then said, ¡°I originally thought that you were an evil woman since you tried to drag me into your mess, but you make a good point. No one would spare any expense to preserve their own life. I cannotpletely me you for your actions.¡±

    The woman was delighted when she heard this. ¡°So you¡¯re willing to forgive me?¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°I can forgive you for making trouble for me. But since I have saved your life, it therefore belongs to me now.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± The woman was stunned. Was there ever a rule as unreasonable as that? He had saved her life, but now her life belonged to him?

    Su Chenmandingly ordered, ¡°Tell me your name.¡±

    ¡°I......¡± The woman hesitated momentarily before obediently replying. ¡°My name is Ying Ying[1. Her name can be roughly tranted to Youthful Abundance, which is what I will use from here on out. Because of Su Chen¡¯s confusion in the following sentence, I chose to present it in its phic form first.].¡±

    ¡°Ying Ying?¡±

    ¡°Ying as in youthful......¡± Youthful Abundance said nonchntly as she waved her hand. ¡°What about you?¡±

    ¡°You can call me Master Azure Mark.¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t use Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s actual name.

    The reason for this was because if he used Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s identity too often, then he would eventually be exposed sooner orter.

    The one thing he had going for him at the moment was the physically real pair of wings on his back, but there were many ways for his disguise to be seen through. As such, Su Chen had decided to wear a mask and assume a fake name. He gave off the appearance of a person who didn¡¯t want to reveal their true identity.

    This was alsopatible with what had happened to Halcyon Wing Streak ¡ª after everything he had gone through, it was only natural that he would try and cover things up so that his reputation wouldn¡¯t be damaged by his past.

    In this way, he could use Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s identity when he needed it and avoid using it when he didn¡¯t need to. As a result, he would be able to advance and retreat as he needed.

    The mask only served to entuate his disguise.

    This mask of his was actually an Origin Tool that Zhu Chenhuan had found for him. It could conceal his presence from consciousness probes. Besides the mask, everything Su Chen was doing at this point originated from ideas that the Zhu n¡¯s advisors had strategized for him. They all ensured that he would be able to travel as he pleased in Harpy territory.

    ¡°Master?¡± Youthful Abundance was very unhappy with Su Chen¡¯s demand. ¡°Who wants you to be their master?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not up to you.¡± Su Chen reached out his hand and smacked Youthful Abundance on her back, shoving her out of the carriage interior. ¡°From today onwards, you will drive the carriage for me, as well as serve me water and tea. All of these affairs will be your responsibility.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t......¡±

    Before she could even finish her sentence, Su Chen jabbed his finger in her direction.

    Youthful Abundance felt a strange energy permeate her body. A sudden chill spread from the center of her being. She immediately realized that she had fallen under a controlling technique.

    No one was more proficient in controlling others than Su Chen.

    He hadn¡¯t even developed a particr technique for this purpose. But because he understood theposition of Harpy anatomy so well, he could takemand of their bodies with but a strand of Origin Energy. He was confident that there were probably no more than ten Harpies in total who could remove this control technique of his.

    Youthful Abundance knew that she had been taken control of and plopped to the ground in despair. ¡°It¡¯s all over. I still needed to notify my n that Fate¡¯s Hands is nning on taking action against them.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Upon hearing this name, Su Chen abruptly lifted up his head. ¡°Did you say Fate¡¯s Hands?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Youthful Abundance hugged Su Chen¡¯sg. ¡°I beg you, let me return and notify them. Fate¡¯s Hands is going to ughter them!¡±

    Su Chen fell silent.

    It was no surprise that he knew about Fate¡¯s Hands. After all, they were another group of Arcanist Remnants, just like the Immortal Temple and Resurrection Door.

    The Arcanist Remnants were spread throughout thends of the Intelligent Races. Because they couldn¡¯t see eye-to-eye with any of the other Intelligent Races, and because their ambition was not yet fully snuffed out, they were always thinking of ways to stir up trouble.

    Just like the Immortal Temple, Fate¡¯s Hands was considered a terrorist organization amongst the Harpies. All they did was kill and steal.

    Whatever the humans suffered from, so too did the Harpies. Their situations were actually fairly simr.

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but fall into deep thought when he heard Youthful Abundance¡¯s words.

    The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Given his rtionship with the Immortal Temple, it was entirely possible for him to contact with Fate¡¯s Hands amiably as well.

    However, after a moment of thought, Su Chen gave up on this idea.

    He was currently carrying out a n and had no time to focus on such trivial side issues. Fate¡¯s Hands could only help him a little, and they could potentially turn on him at any point in time. Since everything was already going smoothly, there was no need for him toplicate the situation.

    Su Chen quickly decided to not interfere.

    Youthful Abundance thought that by mentioning Fate¡¯s Hands, she could move Su Chen, but Su Chenpletely rejected her suggestion after a moment¡¯s thought. ¡°It has nothing to do with me. Send the carriage on its way.¡±

    Youthful Abundance grew incredibly agitated, but Su Chenpletely ignored her, callously motioning for her to start driving the carriage. No matter how she pleaded, it was useless.

    This guy really has no heart, Youthful Abundance thought to herself bitterly.

    But there was nothing she could do. After thinking for a moment, all she could say was, ¡°Are you not concerned about Fate¡¯s Hands attacking my n?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re just interested in your n¡¯s wealth. I am not interested.¡± Su Chen immediately stopped her attempt in its tracks.

    In terms of wealth, how many people couldpare with him?

    Su Chen was only ever interested in knowledge.

    Boundless knowledge.

    As he spoke, he returned to the carriage, opened another book of Harpy Arcana Techniques, and began to peruse it.

    Youthful Abundance was disappointed by his tone, but when she saw the book he was holding, an idea sparked in her head. She yelled, ¡°Then what about Jade Clearmist¡¯s treasure stores? Are you interested in that?¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Su Chen nced up from his book.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 94: Hidden Treasure

    Chapter 94: Hidden Treasure

    ¡°Are you referring to the treasure stores of the legendary Harpy Arcana Master Jade Clearmist?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Who else but him?¡± Youthful Abundance replied proudly.

    The Tenth-Ring was not actually the highest achievable tier for Arcana Masters. Talented individuals could go higher and step into the realm of legendary Arcana Masters.

    There were quite a few legendary Arcana Masters during the height of the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s power. Patelocke had been one such legendary Arcana Master who had specialized in a particr profession.

    The Harpies, however, were unable to replicate the same sess rate of the Arcanists¡¯.

    On the other hand, because the Harpies possessed quite a bit of talent, their legendary Arcana Masters were typically more powerful than the original legendary Arcanist Arcana Masters. Or at least, that was what the Harpies said about themselves as there was no way to verify whether their im was true or not. After all, when the Arcanists had dominated the continent, the Harpies didn¡¯t even have a single Tenth-Ring Arcana Master, let alone a legendary one.

    Regardless, legendary was legendary. Any Harpy that could reach this point was definitely at the peak of their race.

    Apparently, legendary Harpy Arcana Masters could face off evenly against human Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators with Origin Beast Bloodlines.

    However, the Gu n only needed to pass down their bloodline, while legendary Arcana Masters could onlye about after years of bitter tempering and cultivation, so they were far fewer in number. The Harpies thus had no way ofpeting with humans; without Sky City and the other floating forts, they would have been wiped out a long time ago.

    Jade Clearmist was one of the rtively more well-known legendary Arcana Masters. He had aplished countless amazing feats in the past, and had liked to travel a lot, so he had apparently managed to store up countless rare treasures. Eventually, he had disappeared while on one of his journeys.

    No one knew where he had ended up.

    But now, a woman called Youthful Abundance was telling him that she had information on Jade Clearmist¡¯s treasure stores.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t actually that interested in the treasures themselves.

    He had seen all kinds of unique treasures at this point, and his standards were much higher than the average adventurer¡¯s.

    However, he knew that this Jade Clearmist was a talented schr ¡ª in fact, all Arcana Masters were.

    Thus his treasure stores would logically contain mountains of knowledge.

    It was fine as long as there was knowledge!

    Su Chen¡¯s interest was piqued.

    ¡°Tell me more,¡± he said.

    So now you¡¯re interested? Youthful Abundance thought to herself as she dly obeyed.

    Youthful Abundance was from a city located next to the nearby Dragon Mountain. There was a small n there known as the Wind-Gathering n, which Youthful Abundance belonged to.

    As for Jade Clearmist¡¯s treasure stores, it was aplicated story.

    A small n had randomly stumbled across a crystal nearly a hundred years ago. A wounded spirit was trapped inside of that crystal.

    The wounded spirit had slept in that crystal for a long time, until one day when it suddenly awakened, told the n that it was a fragment of Jade Clearmist¡¯s soul, and said that he had suffered an ident while traveling through a secret realm. He had only managed to survive by hibernating in this mysterious crystal.

    He hoped that the n would help him find his corpse so that he could revive himself. In exchange, he was willing to hand over all of his treasures to the n.

    This small n was incredibly happy and began to immediately search for the treasures that Jade Clearmist had mentioned.

    ¡°An undeserved fortune may not be as auspicious as they think,¡± Su Chen coldlymented.

    Youthful Abundance said with some admiration, ¡°Prince Azure Mark is absolutely right. The wounded spirit was lying to them.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not surprised.¡±

    Patelocke had once done the same in order to try and forcefully seize a host body.

    The damaged spirit that this small n was talking to, on the other hand, didn¡¯t have any hopes of seizing control of a host body. But the spirit did still have an opportunity toe back to life.

    That was, through reincarnation.

    This was a skill that belonged to the Astrals.

    That damaged spirit was actually an Astral.

    However, the little n was unaware of this. After they found the supposed hidden treasure realm by following the damaged spirit¡¯s instructions, they discovered that it was a trap. They had activated a mechanism within the realm, causing them to all be ughtered. The damaged spirit then relied on this trap to perform a blood sacrifice andplete the reincarnation ritual.

    Unexpectedly, the power of the blood sacrifice didn¡¯t actually end up going to the spirit. Instead, all of the power was absorbed and stirred up the secret realm.

    This realm had been discovered by this Astral while he was still alive. Before he had died within the realm, he had set up all kinds of failsafes in order to ensure a sessful reincarnation. Unexpectedly, just as he was about to seed, the power of the blood sacrifice was sucked away. His reincarnation failed, and so he turned into ashes, fading away into the wind.

    But despite all this, there was a lone survivor from the n who was able to make it out.

    He escaped from the secret realm and watched it disappear, but he could sense that the secret realm¡¯s entrance was still somewhere there in the nearby space.

    He memorized the general location of this secret realm so that he could open it in the future. Based on what that Astral had said, this ruin did in fact contain Jade Clearmist¡¯s fortune. He had indeed died in the process of scouting out the ruin.

    After making it out of the secret realm, this lone survivor didn¡¯t trust anyone else. He silently nursed his wounds, hoping to bolster his strength before going back in.

    Unexpectedly, the wounds he had sustained within the secret realm became a constant source of torment for him, and he found that his overall strength was declining rather than increasing.

    This forced him into an incredibly desperate situation.

    He tried to inform other Harpies of this, hoping that the other Harpies would be able to help him open the secret realm and regain his strength. Each time, however, he was deceived. Luckily, he had prepared many backup ns, allowing him to escape each time.

    After hisst escape, he had passed out near Dragon Mountain City. It was the Wind-Gathering n that saved him.

    Having learned his lesson well, he never said a word about the secret realm, instead choosing to act as a quiet servant.

    After many years, his health began to decline due to old age.

    He was grateful to the Wind-Gathering n for their kindness, which was why he had told them about the secret and handed them a map that he had created on his deathbed.

    The Wind-Gathering n was incredibly moved, and they immediately beganing up with a n to explore the secret realm.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then how did Fate¡¯s Hands find out about the secret realm?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°It was that survivor¡¯s earlier actions that caused word about this secret realm to leak out. Fate¡¯s Hands knew about this secret realm long before we did, and though they didn¡¯t have a map, through their interactions with him, they had realized that there were some key preparatory materials. These materials are needed to enter the realm, and among them is a nt known as Icy me Grass. There aren¡¯t many other uses for this nt, but it is an absolute necessity if we want to get inside the secret realm. As such, Fate¡¯s Hands secretly monitored the sales of any and all Icy me Grass very closely, searching for Harpies who knew the way to unlock the realm¡¯s secrets. I came here to harvest Icy me Grass, but I didn¡¯t expect to fall into their hands. Thankfully, I was able to make it out...... but there¡¯s no way that they will spare me. I was actually unaware of what was lying in wait for me here, so I identally revealed what n I am from. There is no way that they will spare my n, so Prince, please help me! I am willing to ask the n to share anything we find in the secret realm with you!¡± Youthful Abundance pleaded desperately.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Su Chen understood.

    He lowered his head in thought for some time before he chuckled and replied, ¡°Fine. If that¡¯s the case, then I¡¯m willing to help you out this time.¡±

    ¡°Great!¡± Youthful Abundance prepared to leave.

    Su Chen pushed her back onto the carriage as he dryly stated, ¡°I didn¡¯t say that you could go.¡±

    ¡°But......¡±

    ¡°I said that I would help you, not that you could go. Also, so what even if you notified your n? Their roots arein in Dragon Mountain; would they really be able to leave just like that? And even if they ran, wouldn¡¯t Fate¡¯s Hands just chase after them? As long as your n still has a way to ess Jade Clearmist¡¯s hidden treasures, Fate¡¯s Hands won¡¯t let them get away.¡±

    ¡°So what should we do?¡± Youthful Abundance was stunned by Su Chen¡¯s words.

    Su Chen smiled slyly. ¡°Easy. The threat won¡¯t exist once we take that secret away from them all. Let¡¯s set out for Dragon Mountain.¡±

    What?

    Youthful Abundance was stunned.

    It sounded like Su Chen was nning on taking the map of Jade Clearmist¡¯s secret treasures stores for himself.

    ¡°You bastard! Shameless! Despicable!¡± she howled angrily.

    ¡°Well, the curses of my enemies is glory to me,¡± Su Chen said indifferently.

    He was a human, not a Harpy.

    As a result, he had no misgivings about what he was about to do.

    He wasn¡¯t morally disturbed by robbing or ughtering ¡ª the only question was whether he wanted to do it or not.

    Jade Clearmist was a legendary Harpy. His treasure store was truly worth spilling blood over.

    In any case, the ones dying would all be Harpies, so he had no problems with it.

    This was how Su Chen had made up his mind to turn the carriage around and fly towards Dragon Mountain City.

    Dragon Mountain was, as its name implied, a mountain shaped like a dragon.

    Dragon Mountain City was near the ¡°head¡± region. It sat between two tall horn-like peaks mounted on the figurative dragon¡¯s head.

    This was amon habit of the Harpies. Because they could fly, they enjoyed building their cities at high elevations.

    Apart from Sky City and the other floating castles, the Harpies had basically built all of their cities on top of mountain peaks, so they often had the words ¡°Mountain City¡± in their name. To them, it didn¡¯t matter how high up the cities were since they could fly.

    Su Chen¡¯s flying carriage arrived at Dragon Mountain City without any trouble,nding in front of the Wind-Gathering n.

    Two of the Harpies standing guard rushed forwards to greet Youthful Abundance.

    One of the Harpies asked, ¡°Youthful Abundance, what¡¯s going on? Are you alright?¡±

    As he spoke, he stared at Su Chen.

    The Wind-Gathering n had kept the matter of Jade Clearmist¡¯s hidden treasure a secret. Most of the n¡¯s disciples didn¡¯t know about it. However, these two and Youthful Abundance were all core disciples and knew about the secret n. This was why their gazes at Su Chen weren¡¯t very kind. One of them in particr was exuding a strong killing intent. Obviously, he intended on killing Su Chen right then and there.

    Su Chen¡¯s consciousness power was more than sufficient to immediately sense his opponent¡¯s killing intent. Heughed and overbearingly said, ¡°Not bad, not bad! I like opponents like this. That way I feel even more gratified when I kill them.¡±

    As he spoke, he boldly strode forwards through the front gate of the Wind-Gathering n.

    ¡°How arrogant!¡± The Harpy that was boiling over with killing intent immediately unleashed a fireball and hurled it at Su Chen quite decisively.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyebrows jumped up as he remarked, ¡°You are quite decisive, aren¡¯t you? But since you don¡¯t know the difference between life and death, I¡¯m more than willing to send you along the way.¡±

    The fireball was traveling incredibly quickly, but Su Chen¡¯s words were spoken even more calmly. The contrast was quite stark. Su Chen had started talking as soon as the fireball left the opponent¡¯s hand, but when Su Chen was finished, the fireball still hadn¡¯t reached him. It was as if the fireball were traveling across a distance of tens of thousands of kilometers.

    This was a demonstration of Su Chen¡¯s spatial powers. Though they might not necessarily be enough to influence very powerful Arcana Techniques, they were more than sufficient to slow down some fireballs.

    The fireball seemed like it was very close to Su Chen, but by that point, it had basically run out of steam. At the very end, it went up in a puff of smoke.

    The two Harpies were taken aback. A momentter, they watched on in horror as Su Chen murmured, ¡°Rise,¡± causing the fireball that had just gone out to suddenly reappear and fly out yet again.

    The fireball mmed right into the original attacker¡¯s face.

 Sect - Book 5, 95: Attack

    Chapter 95: Attack

    Bang!

    The Harpy who had just attacked had his head sted backwards as a wave of mes engulfed his face.

    His head hadn¡¯t exploded, but his skin was badly burnt. Even if he wasn¡¯t going to die, his condition looked quite severe.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± the other Harpy yelled with anger.

    ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± Youthful Abundance yelled.

    Unfortunately, it was toote.

    Su Chen gestured with his palm, and that Harpy was immediately mmed against the wall.

    Arcanist¡¯s Hand was an incredibly simple Arcana Technique, but it seemed to gain extraordinary powers under Su Chen¡¯s control.

    That Harpy was a Third-Ring Arcana Master, but Su Chen was able to manhandle him with a First-Ring Arcana Technique. No matter how the Harpy struggled, he was unable to extricate himself.

    Su Chen casually waved his hand, and the Harpy was sent flying.

    Su Chen walked in through the front door of the n withrge strides.

    The Wind-Gathering n¡¯s rms immediately began to sound as hundreds of guards charged out, surrounding Su Chen.

    Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

    Waves of razor-sharp arrows flew through the air at Su Chen.

    Given Su Chen¡¯s speed, he couldpletely ignore those arrows.

    But since he was assuming the identity of a powerful Arcana Master, he was going to use Arcana Techniques to resolve the problem.

    Su Chen applied a projectile barrier to himself, a Second-Ring Arcana Technique. This barrier was especially useful against projectiles.

    The arrows rained down from the sky, uselessly ttering off of an invisible wall.

    A momentter, Su Chen grunted as the nearby air suddenly seemed to congeal. Arge wave of frosty air surged forwards at the nearby Harpies.

    However, this was not Su Chen¡¯s true goal. The frosty air began to gather into the forms of multiple sharp des.

    Third-Ring Arcana Technique, Frost Razor.

    However, while most Arcana Masters could only form seven or eight at a time, Su Chen was able to create seventy or eighty instantly.

    He was able to extract the full power out of many of these Arcana Techniques unless there was no distinction for them in terms of cultivation base.

    When Youthful Abundance saw these Frost Razors appear, her expression drastically changed. ¡°Prince Azure Mark, please don¡¯t!¡±

    Unfortunately, her plea had been a step toote. Su Chen waved his arm, and the Frost Razors pierced in the direction of those Harpies.

    The sounds of twanging strings could be heard everywhere. Su Chen had managed to cut all of these Harpies¡¯ bows at once.

    A few of the Harpies still wanted to try and fight back. Su Chen harrumphed.

    A formless wave of pressure crashed down on them.

    His consciousness was powerful enough to force all of the Harpies present to their knees, but Su Chen didn¡¯t want to reveal his full strength just yet. As such, he only used one-tenth of his full strength. This caused fear to spread into the heart of that Fourth-Ring Arcana Master, causing a chill to run up his spine. Su Chen didn¡¯t try to forcefully suppress them, but they all strongly felt that fear seep into their hearts. Some of the weaker-willed Harpies immediately threw down their bows and ran.

    Thankfully, there were some Arcana Masters on the other side who could handle this. A clear, radiant hum began to sound out as Su Chen¡¯s fear-inducing pressure was nullified.

    Even so, the faces of these Harpies were quite pale. The nullifying effect was notplete, and traces of fear still remained in the hearts of these Harpies. In this exchange of blows, it was quite clear that Su Chen was the victor.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± one of the Wind-Gathering n¡¯s elders barked at him.

    ¡°The savior of your n. But before then, you must demonstrate to me that you have value saving,¡± Su Chen replied brusquely. As he spoke, he turned to nce at Youthful Abundance, who hurriedly stepped forwards. She first sent the uninvolved Harpies away before exining to the rest what had happened to her.

    This was how everyone realized how the secret of Jade Clearmist¡¯s hidden treasure spread. Everyone panicked when they realized that Fate¡¯s Hands was now targeting them.

    One of the elders said, ¡°Since Fate¡¯s Hands has their sights fixed on us, how will you, a person who doesn¡¯t even dare show his real face, save us?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I already say? Hand over Jade Clearmist¡¯s map. This way, Fate¡¯s Hand wille after me, not you, and the danger to you will be greatly mitigated.¡±

    ¡°So you are the same as those Fate¡¯s Hands bastards! You want to forcefully seize our treasures!¡± the old Harpy yelled angrily.

    ¡°No, there is an important difference. Fate¡¯s Hands will kill people to take their treasures, but I can promise you that, as long as you are willing to give me the map, I will give you all of the treasures inside the secret realm. All I want is the corresponding knowledge.¡±

    Hm?

    Everyone was taken aback when they heard this.

    He only wanted knowledge?

    Everyone nced at each other, clearly not fully convinced.

    One of the Harpy elders said, ¡°You? On what basis can you im to handle Fate¡¯s Hands? I don¡¯t think you can even deal with me.¡±

    As he spoke, an arcane light began to shine as he unleashed an attack at Su Chen.

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°So there¡¯s no way around fighting? But since you have decided to attack me, then I will ask for more than that.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s figure flickered as he disappeared, reappearing in another location - Whitetower teleportation. At the same time that he appeared, he unleashed Killing Blow at the Wind-Gathering n¡¯s elder.

    Even though Fifth-Ring Arcana Masters could all use teleportation techniques, the amount of control they had varied wildly.

    Most Arcana Masters weren¡¯t able to unleash any techniques when teleporting. As a result, they would only teleport to defend themselves, not really to counterattack

    .

    Su Chen¡¯s Whitetower Teleportation, however, was engraved on his Lotus tform, simr to an Innate Origin Skill. Given that his understanding of spatial powers had also increased, it was only natural that his teleportation abilities were superior to those of many others. Su Chen had prepared an offensive Arcana Technique during the process of teleportation. The streak of light mmed into the Wind-Gathering n¡¯s elder¡¯s back, sending him flying.

    Killing Blow was meant to be a direct-attack skill, but in Su Chen¡¯s hands it became a tool useful forunching ambushes. His attacks were so fast and his movements so agile that they greatly exceeded what any of the Harpies had expected.

    This single sequence of moves was more than enough to stun all of the Harpies present.

    There were still some Harpies who weren¡¯t satisfied, however. Three more of the n elders attacked, sending three Arcana Techniques flying in Su Chen¡¯s direction at the same time.

    Su Chen dodged with ease, at the same time forming an Absolute Zero Icicle. This was an upgraded version of Frost Razor. Not only was it more powerful, but he actually was able to form twelve of them at the same time, which he then hurled at the three elders.

    ¡°NO!¡± Youthful Abundance and the other members of the Wind-Gathering n yelled.

    Just as the three elders were about to be shed to pieces, the Absolute Zero Icicles shattered automatically, only leaving behind a chilling impression in the onlookers¡¯ hearts.

    ¡°Have you had enough now?¡± Su Chen asked calmly.

    The male Harpy standing at the very center of the group, who was likely the n head, nodded. ¡°Enough...... Enough. The Wind-Gathering n is willing to cooperate with you.¡±

    Su Chen had managed to defeat three elders in the blink of an eye, and they would¡¯ve been badly injured or even killed if Su Chen hadn¡¯t shown them mercy at thest moment. Even the n head wasn¡¯t that powerful. And given how Su Chen¡¯s consciousness alone had been strong enough to suppress the remaining n members, it was entirely likely that they would lose even if they were to attack him all at once.

    Since they weren¡¯t strong enough, it was no surprise that the Wind-Gathering n gave up on trying to force things.

    Su Chen said, ¡°But this time, the terms of our agreement have changed. In addition to all of the knowledge, I want to choose three of the treasures inside before anyone else. The rest will belong to you.¡±

    ¡°What? Don¡¯t be too excessive!¡± Everyone was infuriated.

    ¡°If you aren¡¯t satisfied, then I am willing to fight you all at once. But if you fail again, then I will be the one choosing three items to give to you, and everything else will belong to me. Think carefully.¡±

    The Wind-Gathering n was very small and didn¡¯t have many powerful experts to speak of. Given Su Chen¡¯s shady appearance and how effortlessly he had been able to suppress some of the strongest members of the n, they were all aware that trying to take Su Chen on by force wouldn¡¯t benefit them in the slightest.

    ¡°Then what about Fate¡¯s Hands?¡± the n head asked.

    ¡°Leave them to me,¡± Su Chen replied.

    The matter was settled easily.

    Su Chen ended up living with the Wind-Gathering n for a period of time.

    The Harpies treated him, who was powerful enough to suppress their entire n single-handedly, with immense respect.

    This was not that strange. After all, strength reigned supreme in this world.

    Su Chen resumed his old habits - reading.

    Even though the Wind-Gathering n was a small n, and their library was quite small, they did still have some unique information on hand.

    Su Chen was interested in all kinds of knowledge. The more knowledge he had, the easier it would be to apply it in the future.

    The rate at which he was able to pick up Arcana Techniques was proof of this. Even though the consciousness crystal contributed significantly, the breadth of knowledge that he already possessed was equally important.

    Youthful Abundance followed him dutifully - since the n had agreed for her life to belong to him, there was nothing she could do about it even if she didn¡¯t agree.

    Su Chen was still in the library reading. Youthful Abundance carried over a cup of tea, respectfully cing it in front of Su Chen before leaning closer to him. ¡°What are you reading now?¡±

    Her movements were slightly intimate by this point, and the natural fragrance of her body wafted transiently towards Su Chen.

    Su Chen, however, waspletely oblivious and continued to read his book. ¡°I¡¯m reading about the elemental distributions of Origin Energy.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s very basic knowledge,¡± Youthful Abundance said.

    ¡°The more basic it is, the more important it is. This book has some unique exnations that I can¡¯t find anywhere else. It¡¯s very interesting,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Well, I can¡¯t understand it one way or another. My only job is to give you tea.¡± Youthful Abundance gently ced a cup in Su Chen¡¯s hand. ¡°Will you really not take off your mask?¡±

    ¡°This is for your good,¡± Su Chen replied. He brought the cup to his lips and took a gentle sip. ¡°This tea tastes pretty good. It seems that you¡¯ve added Serene Moonlight Orchids?¡±

    ¡°You have quite a sensitive tongue. I added one other thing. Can you tell what it was?¡± Youthful Abundance chuckled.

    ¡°It¡¯s not one - it¡¯s three. Jade Root Grass, Demon Branch, and Soaring Serpent Fluid. Am I right?¡±

    Youthful Abundance¡¯s expression drastically changed as she began to tremble.

    Su Chen¡¯s hand holding the cup was incredibly stable. ¡°Using Jade Root Grass and Soaring Serpent Fluid together would make it hard for me to use Origin Energy, and Demon Branch would affect my consciousness, allowing you to control me. The most shocking part is that the Seven Nights Flower you added, when paired with Serene Moonlight Orchids, can suppress strange tastes. That way, the poison would enter my cirction without me even noticing it. Am I correct?¡±

    Youthful Abundance trembled. ¡°You...... How did you know?¡±

    ¡°Sorry, I forgot to tell you...... I am not only an Arcana Master but also a pretty good alchemist. I do have some understanding of the Dao of Alchemy,¡± Su Chen said with a slight smile.

    ¡°Yet you still drank it?¡±

    Su Chen picked up the cup and downed it. ¡°If I didn¡¯t drink it, would you fully give up? This is thest chance I will give you. Since you have failed, then ording to our agreement, you are only allowed to take three items out of the treasure realm. If you try to do anything else to me...... I will kill you all.¡±

 Sect - Book 5, 96: Fateâ€™s Hands 1

    Chapter 96: Fate¡¯s Hands (1)

    Once the poison failed, the Wind-Gathering n finally gave up on trying to do anything to Su Chen.

    Actually, they were never nning on trying to kill Su Chen anyways. This was obvious based on the medicines they had used on him - their goal was to use him to deal with the impending threat of Fate¡¯s Hands.

    But since they had failed, they could only ept the consequences of defeat.

    News that a mysterious Arcana Master had suddenly appeared in Dragon Mountain City began to spread - Su Chen had no intentions of stopping it anyways. He didn¡¯t care if Fate¡¯s Hands was aware of his presence and were prepared to take him on.

    As per usual, today Su Chen was immersed in studying his Arcana Techniques.

    Therge amount of studying he was doing allowed him to better understand and control the principles of this world. From time to time, he would converse with Patelocke across long-distances. Even though the Zhu n had departed, Patelocke was now in the body of a transmission puppet, enabling him to contact Su Chen and preserve a link to the Zhu n.

    He was still in the library, but this time he was not reading books - he was writing one.

    He was organizing everything that he had learned up until now.

    ¡°Sir Azure Mark,¡± someone called from outside.

    That someone was Wind-Gathering Ascension, a Fifth-Ring Arcana Master.

    ¡°Come in,¡± Su Chen said without even raising his head.

    Wind-Gathering Ascension walked in and handed a bowl of porridge to Su Chen as he said, ¡°Sir, we¡¯ve prepared the materials you requested.¡±

    ¡°Mm, bring them over,¡± Su Chen said.

    Wind-Gathering Ascension pulled out some materials from his Origin Ring and ced them in front of Su Chen.

    Su Chen had requested for them to bring him these materials, but no one except Su Chen himself knew what they were going to be used for.

    Su Chen put away the materials and tossed the book in his hand to Wind-Gathering Ascension. ¡°This is something I wrote up that includes the Arcana Techniques the Wind-Gathering n passes down from generation to generation. Since you guys have been pretty well-behaved for the past few days, I will give them to you.¡±

    Wind-Gathering Ascension wasn¡¯t too interested when he realized that these were merely his n¡¯s own techniques.

    But when he flipped through the pages, his eyes widened. ¡°This...... this is......¡±

    ¡°Oh, I improved some of the Arcana Techniques. They should be about twenty to forty percent stronger. It¡¯s not really a big deal,¡± Su Chen replied calmly.

    Not really a big deal?

    Then what was a big deal?

    Any ¡°matured¡± Arcana Technique had been carefully crafted and honed over hundreds or even thousands of years. The reason they hadsted all this time was because they had passed the test of time. Under these circumstances, any improvements could ruin their construction and decrease their effectiveness.

    For this reason, improving Arcana Techniques was incredibly difficult to do because of how much they had been honed throughout the years.

    Any Arcana Master who could improve an Arcana Technique was worthy of praise and could be considered a true schr. The Harpies would view such a person very highly.

    And now, this Azure Mark guy had managed to improve a few Arcana Techniques in but a few days, increasing their strength by twenty to forty percent. This was not a small increase; how could Wind-Gathering Ascension not be stunned?

    And he could basically confirm after reading these records that Su Chen wasn¡¯t lying. The contents of this book were quite miraculous, and thepositions of the techniques were very intricate. Anyone would be able to tell that these techniques were extraordinary just by a quick nce. How could he not be excited and shocked?

    Su Chen, however, didn¡¯t care at all. After all, this really wasn¡¯t a big deal to him.

    ¡°Fine, this is just to make up for the losses you might sustain when entering Jade Clearmist¡¯s secret treasure realm. This is only fair, right?¡± Su Chen could sense the shock in Wind-Gathering Ascension¡¯s head.

    ¡°This...... Oh...... Perhaps......¡± Wind-Gathering Ascension wanted to say yes, but felt like it might not be appropriate, but at the same time he didn¡¯t dare say no. He didn¡¯t know what to say.

    When Su Chen saw this, he chuckled and didn¡¯t take it to heart.

    At that moment, amotion could suddenly be hearding from outside.

    Youthful Abundance¡¯s footsteps could be heard, along with her shocked voice, ¡°Sir, Fate¡¯s Hands is here!¡±

    ¡°Oh? So they¡¯ve finally arrived.¡±

    Su Chen had been waiting these past few days for Fate¡¯s Hands. Now, he could finally resolve the issue.

    He stood up and left the library.

    There were three Harpies standing in the middle of the Wind-Gathering n¡¯s main courtyard.

    Standing at the front was a female Harpy with fiery-red wings and long red hair, wearing a red robe. She looked just like a fiercely burning fire. The other two Harpies were a pair of brothers who looked identical. However, one had ck skin, while the other had white skin. Their wings happened to be flipped - the ck-skinned Harpy had a pair of silver wings, while the white-skinned Harpy had a pair of ck wings.

    Wind-Gathering Ascension¡¯s expression shifted drastically when he saw these three Harpies. ¡°ming Femme and Chaotic Wind?¡±

    ¡°Oh? So you know our name?¡± the red-hot Harpy in the middle chuckled.

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but shoot ming Femme another nce when he heard what her name was.

    The woman noticed that simple nce and turned to look at Su Chen. ¡°I heard that the Wind-Gathering n found an impressive backer. It seems like that person is you. So are you nning on supporting the Wind-Gathering n?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I am,¡± Su Chen chuckled in response.

    Wind-Gathering Ascension said, ¡°Sir, be careful. One of them is a Seventh-Ring Arcana Master, while the other two are Sixth-Ring.¡±

    Seventh-Ring Arcana Masters were considered high-tier Arcana Masters amongst Sky Country, and ming Femme was quite well known amongst her tier. Her talent was extraordinary, and challenging her was quite difficult. As for the Chaotic Wind Brothers, their cooperative abilities allowed them to match up against a Seventh-Ring Arcana Master even though they were both only at the Sixth-Ring.

    These three important individuals had most likelye because of this ¡°Azure Mark¡± guy.

    Amongst the Seven Kingdoms, these kinds of people would have very high status, and the same went for the Harpies.

    For this reason, even Wind-Gathering Ascension didn¡¯t have much faith in Su Chen.

    However, it was toote for him to regret. He could only hope that Fate¡¯s Hands wouldn¡¯t ughter them all after taking their map.

    However, Su Chen said carelessly, ¡°Seventh Ring? That¡¯s pretty good. You should make a good opponent.¡±

    ¡°What? Do you think you have a chance of winning?¡± ming Femme said scornfully.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°We¡¯ll know once we fight.¡±

    ¡°Courting death!¡± ming Femme¡¯s expression sank as a violent wave of mes surged towards Su Chen from her body.

    As her name implied, her control over fire-type techniques was outstanding. The intensity of these mes was clearly on apletely different level. All of the nearby Fire Origin Susbtance in the air came under her control and began to burn brightly, unleashing a sweltering wave of heat.

    However, this was only the beginning. Under her control, the streaks of me seemed to turn into needles in her hand, allowing her to stitch together a beautiful painting of mes.

    The mes first formed a massive lotus, which revolved in the air as it ascended.

    ¡°Raging ming Lotus!¡±

    This ming Lotus threatened to consume the entire n. Obviously, ming Femme had no shortage of killing intent.

    When faced with ming Femme¡¯s powerful attack, Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Strength alone will not get you very far, and you are not the only person who can control Origin Energy.¡±

    As he spoke, ming Femme suddenly discovered that her supply of Origin Energy had suddenly been snuffed out.

    A powerful will was beginning to forcefully seize control of Origin Energy from her.

    Competing for control over Origin Energy was not a rare urrence. After all, chaotic flows of Origin Energy originated as a result of these struggles. Everyone wanted to control the Origin Energy contained in the environment, but there was a limited supply. As a result, there was no option but topete for this limited supply of Origin Energy.

    This was one of the limitations of people who utilized energy in the environment to fight. People who cultivated by increasing the strength of their own body were able to somewhat alleviate these limitations.

    This was one of the reasons why humans eventually began to give up on Arcana Techniques.

    But this was ming Femme¡¯s first time seeing someone physically cut off another person¡¯s supply of Origin Energy.

    Fighting for Origin Energy was like trying to eat food out of the same bowl. You might be able to eat more than your opponent, but it was very difficult for you to prevent your opponent from eating at all.

    Even Tenth-Ring Arcana Masters had a hard time aplishing this feat, so how had this Azure Mark guy managed to do it?

    Was he a legendary Arcana Master?

    As soon as this idea surfaced in her head, ming Femme began to tremble uncontrobly.

    Of course, Su Chen was not a legendary Arcana Master. There were four main reasons he was able to do something like this. First of all, his control over Origin Energy was impable; his experience on the chaotic battlefield when in Ravager territory allowed him to perceive and manipte the turbulent flow of Origin Energy. As his cultivation base advanced, his understanding of these principles had also deepened. Second of all, because space was everywhere, his mastery of spatial principles had enhanced his control in general, which allowed him to cut off ming Femme¡¯s supply of Origin Energy. Third of all, he was already quite proficient in using mes because his most powerful technique was the ming Phoenix Theurgy Art. Finally, his own physical strength was actually suppressing ming Femme somewhat.

    Whenbining these four aspects, it was no surprise that Su Chen could cut off her supply of Origin Energy. If it were any other opponent, or if ming Femme used some other kind of Arcana Technique, Su Chen would have found it quite difficult to achieve a simr effect.

    ming Femme didn¡¯t know this, however, and was quite badly startled.

    ¡°You...... You...... How is this possible?¡± she yelled shrilly.

    Su Chen chuckled coldly, ¡°You were the one who got yourself into this mess.¡±

    As he spoke, the ming lotus copsed into a ferocious wave of mes that swept towards ming Femme.

    To keep his identity a secret, Su Chen didn¡¯t turn the ming Lotus into a ming Phoenix. Instead, he relied on a primitive form to attack his opponent, causing the attack to be slightly weakened. Even so, the bystanders were stunned.

    What kind of tactic was this? How was he able to use it on an opponent¡¯s Arcana Technique?

    This totally went against conventional Arcana Technique theory!

    ming Femme was panicking, but at the very least she was still able to move. She immediately retreated.

    At the same time, the Chaotic Wind brothers attacked.

    They didn¡¯t know why ming Femme had suddenly retreated, which was why they were bold enough to still attack.

    They immediately unleashed two powerful Sixth-Ring Arcana Techniques.

    Ghost Weeping!

    Starlight Luster!

    A ck streak of light mixed with a white streak of light, the resulting attack shining radiantly even as it exuded a strong, dark aura of death.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 97: Fates Hands 2

    Chapter 97: Fate¡¯s Hands (2)

    The name Chaotic Wind was a good description of these brothers¡¯ personalities.

    They loved to create chaos!

    They controlled a unique ability that allowed them to create chaos, obviously shown by the chaotic mixture of light that the brothers had just unleashed.

    Ghost¡¯s Weeping was already an incredibly demonic Arcana Technique. When it was activated, it could cause a simr sentiment to resonate in the opponent¡¯s being. Their will would begin to decay, and they would lose the desire to keep fighting. Its outward manifestation was typically just as dark and evil. However, this version of Ghost Weeping unleashed by the ck-skinned white-winged Harpy had actually taken on the appearance of saintly light.

    Yes, saintly light, as if the technique was pure and holy.

    However, Su Chen could clearly sense the evilness and killing intent lurking behind this thin veil of apparent purity.

    It was still Ghost¡¯s Weeping, with all of its corrosive powers intact. However, its external appearance seemed to suggest otherwise.

    The same went for Starlight Luster.

    This Arcana Technique¡¯s outward manifestation should have been full of light, each streak of starlight dazzling beautifully so as to take the target¡¯s life while they were still awestruck. However, the white-skinned dark-winged¡¯s version of the skill was much dimmer inparison and hard to spot. The light was suffused with killing intent. If you treated it as a permeable Arcana Technique, you would be gravely mistaken, because its nature was still that of a powerful offensive skill.

    The two Arcana Techniques still served the same purposes as before, but their outward appearances didn¡¯t match up at all. Most opponents would probably make an error in judgment as a result.

    Thankfully, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t.

    His powerful consciousness allowed him to immediately discern the fundamental attributes of these two Arcana Techniques and respond appropriately.

    Lightning began to flicker across Su Chen¡¯s body.

    Lightning Wave was a Fourth-Ring Arcana Technique, but the powerful lightning bolts happened to be a perfect counter to an evil demonic technique like Ghost¡¯s Weeping. Even though a Fourth-Ring technique was limited inparison to a Sixth-Ring technique, Su Chen was still the one unleashing it!

    The Arcana Techniques he was able to unleash all had unique attributes. Even though this attack was only at the Fourth-Ring level, he was able to draw out its maximum potential due to the fact that it directly countered the other Sixth-Ring Arcana Technique.

    The result was that the powerful tendrils of lightning sted Ghost¡¯s Weeping into smithereens.

    As for Starlight Luster, Su Chen used his powerful physical body to endure the attack.

    This was a bit risky, not because his body wasn¡¯t strong enough to handle it but because he was currently assuming the disguise of a Harpy. Harpies were rarely able to reach this level of physical strength. However, this was only slightly risky because there were still Arcana Techniques that could temporarily increase a person¡¯s resilience. No one would know whether Su Chen had used one of these skills or not.

    More importantly, Su Chen needed to defeat these two powerful opponents.

    A second after he unleashed Lightning Wave, Su Chen activated another Arcana Technique.

    Dazzling re.

    This was a Fifth-Ring Arcana Technique that he was able to unleash by building off of the efforts of ming Femme. The radiant, piercing re shone everywhere after forming.

    But at the same time that he attacked, so too did the Chaotic Wind Brothers. A mix of ck-and-white light appeared yet again, intertwining in the air as it raced towards Su Chen.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t hesitate to try and defend himself. He recognized this light as the Arcana Technique Silent ughter. This Arcana Technique possessed incredibly powerful killing ability. Normally, it was invisible, but it took on a ck-and-white appearance via the hands of the Chaotic Wind Brothers.

    Unexpectedly, just as Su Chen was about to react, the ck and white light suddenly shot off at an angle. The strange flight path was incredibly hard to predict, making it very difficult for Su Chen to determine the direction it would head in.

    The Chaotic Wind Brothers not only created chaos by swapping external appearances but also by causing their techniques to move in unpredictable ways.

    The ck and white streak of light was imbued with the essence of the Chaotic Wind Brothers, making it impossible for Su Chen to get a read on the attack and respond ordingly.

    Even Su Chen was forced to admit that these two brothers were incredibly difficult to handle.

    Of course, Su Chen would have been able to handle them if it was just the two of them.

    The problem was that ming Femme was still present.

    Su Chen was originally able to lock down ming Femme¡¯s use of fire-type Origin Energy, but the interference of the Chaotic Brothers forced him to divert his attention. ming Femme was thus able to regain control of her fire-type Origin Energy.

    The first thing that ming Femme did upon regaining control of her Origin Energy was to apply an Arcana Technique strengthener to herself.

    This item was used to increase the power of her fire-type Arcana Techniques and would help her avoid what had happened earlier.

    This was quite an effective tactic.

    Next, ming Femme unleashed an Arcana Technique.

    Sunstrike!

    This Seventh-Ring Arcana Technique made it seem that a miniature sun had appeared in the sky, spitting out torrents of mes onto Su Chen.

    These me torrents were incredibly hot. Even steel would melt rapidly if it came into contact with those mes.

    Most shockingly, these spurts of mes were all targeted at Su Chen, and no matter where he dodged, they would follow, leaving behind long scorch marks in the ground. As Su Chen leapt back and forth, the streaks of fire were like des cutting up the Wind-Gathering n.

    This was one of the unique strengths of ming Femme. Her mastery of mes was so precise that even the most violent mes would follow hermand.

    Sunstrike, Silent ughter - powerful Arcana Technique after powerful Arcana Technique came chasing after Su Chen, giving him quite a headache. He was forced to use Whitetower Teleportation repeatedly in order to escape, and the advantage he had possessed earlier began to disappear.

    The two sides were deadlocked yet again.

    Su Chen was also forced to get serious.

    He pulled out the Lightless Ring.

    Anyone who was familiar with Su Chen would have immediately realized that the form of the Lightless Ring had undergone a massive change.

    The original Lightless Ring was merely a dull-looking ring-shaped weapon.

    Its simple, unadorned appearance was its unique selling point.

    Now, however, the Lightless Ring seemed to have been oveid with glittering gold.

    Its shape had also been drastically altered.

    Whereas it was ring-shaped before, with razor-sharp edges, it was now much shorter than before and a sharp de now protruded out of its center. Now, it was no longer a curved de, but arge sword with a strange circr protective hilt.

    Yes, arge sword.

    Even though the sword protruding from the middle had yet to be fully formed, the foundations for arge sword had beenid. Arge crystal had been embedded at the center of the hilt, glittering brilliantly.

    ¡°A weapon that hasn¡¯t even beenpleted? Is that what you are relying on?¡± ming Femme chuckled coldly when she saw this.

    After she had regained control of her fire-type Origin Skills, ming Femme knew that her opponent was definitely not a legendary Arcana Master. Otherwise, he would have killed her with a single p. She just didn¡¯t know how to break out of his stranglehold. But with the help of the Chaotic Brothers¡¯, he couldn¡¯t maintain his advantage, and ming Femme had regained her bravery.

    Not only so, but she was even more determined to kill her opponent - since he could stifle her control of Origin Energy, he was basically a natural enemy to her. No matter what, she could not allow him to leave this ce alive!

    As her killing intent surged, so did her once waning self-confidence. She even felt bold enough to scorn him.

    Su Chen smiled slightly in response. ¡°No, this is a fully-formed Origin Tool.¡±

    As he spoke, he shed through the air with his sword.

    ming Femme and the Chaotic Wind Brothers all sneered. Even the members of the Wind-Gathering n didn¡¯t understand.

    An Arcana Master had suddenly decided to fight with a sword, and with a half-finished one at that? What was he thinking?

    However, they very quickly discovered that something was off.

    As Su Chen swung the de, the half-finished sword was gradually elongating.

    At this point, the metal edge of the sword was expanding continuously, eventually forming apleted greatsword.

    However, this was not the end.

    The sword was still expanding, and mes suddenly flickered to life on its surface, intense waves of heat radiating out in all directions.

    In that moment, ming Femme felt like she had run into a volcano!

    ¡°What is this?¡±

    She couldn¡¯t believe her eyes.

    Su Chen¡¯s de strike seemed like an Arcana Technique but not at the same time. Regardless of what it was, the attack exuded a boundless aura as it mmed down on their heads.

    ¡°Get out of the way!¡± ming Femme yelled.

    The three Harpies simultaneously decided to dodge instead of facing this attack head-on. They unfurled their wings, using their incredible speed to avoid his attack.

    Su Chen¡¯s sword strike was continuing to advance.

    The power of the mes spread along the length of the de as it expanded, chasing after the three Harpies. It was so fast that it was almost was beginning to cover the entire territory belonging to the Wind-Gathering n.

    Eventually, it began to swallow up all of the territory belonging to Dragon Mountain City as well.

    How shocking!

    All of the Harpies were forced into the air by this de to avoid getting caught by the de¡¯s searing momentum. Thankfully, Su Chen was only chasing after ming Femme and the Chaotic Wind brothers. Otherwise, the Harpies probably would have suffered great losses.

    The three Harpies were forced apart by Su Chen¡¯s sword, its massive momentum scattering them mercilessly.

    The Chaotic Wind Brothers were under immense pressure. Eventually, they nced at each other, seeminglying to a mutual decision.

    In their view, even though Su Chen¡¯s sword was very powerful, there was a possibility that it was just a show. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have been suppressed by them like that earlier.

    They would only know if it was real or fake by testing their suspicions.

    The two of them teamed up, and a vicious ice storm began to brew.

    Massive ice crystals began to swirl in the air, a violent gust of bone-piercing wind charging forwards to greet the ming sword.

    They were nning on facing off against Su Chen¡¯s sword head-on.

    When she saw this, ming Femme was startled. ¡°No!¡±

    The Chaotic Brothers thought that Su Chen¡¯s sword was merely a bluff, but the experienced ming Femme knew that it was not.

    She was very clear how much strength this sword strike contained.

    Regardless, the icy wind still surged forwards, mming into the massive ming sword descending from the sky.

 Sect - Book 5, 98: Flowing Gold Blade

    Chapter 98: Flowing Gold de

    Hiss!

    The ice sizzled and turned into steam uponing into contact with the mes, forming arge white cloud that hung over Dragon Mountain City.

    Two figures were sent flying through this cloud with tragic howls.

    The Chaotic Wind Brothers.

    Even though they had beenpeting in terms of Arcana Techniques, the result was reflected on their physical body. The powerful waves of Origin Energy unleashed in the Arcana Technique had washed back over them, immediately destroying their barriers and gravely wounding both of them.

    ¡°How is this possible?¡± ming Femme was stunned as she watched the situation unfold.

    Their opponent¡¯s ming sword was powerful, but it shouldn¡¯t have been that powerful.

    S Chen hadpletely steamrolled them, indicating that their Arcana Technique was at least two rings inferior.

    In other words, only an Eighth-Ring Arcana Master should have been able to do this, and given how strong the Chaotic Wind Brothers were, the technique also needed to be a stronger Eighth-Ring Arcana Technique to aplish this.

    However, ming Femme could sense that their opponent wasn¡¯t using any Arcana Technique stronger than five rings.

    How could a Fifth-Ring Arcana Technique be that powerful?

    As the clouds of steam dissipated, Su Chen¡¯s figure reappeared.

    He stood indifferently in the center, wielding a massive ming de.

    The ming de in his hand had morphed slightly as well. The de was no longer expanding, and the mes appeared to be receding. However, glowing streaks of flowing liquid that looked likeva were now covering the sword.

    Lava?

    ming Femme felt her heart jolt as understanding dawned on her. ¡°Flowing Gold de!?¡±

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s the Flowing Gold de.¡±

    Flowing Gold de was a Fourth-Ring Arcana Technique.

    Yes, it wasn¡¯t even a Fifth-Ring Arana Technique.

    This Arcana Technique would create a temporary weapon from some metal. It was used for close-quartersbat, which was why the Arcana Technique was very rarely seen. However, this was not that surprising, as metal-type Arcana Techniques were primarily used by close-quartersbat specialists anyways. This was why they were a branch of rarely-used arcana Techniques.

    Because Flowing Gold de required metal as a raw ingredient, Su Chen had gatheredrge quantities of metal early on.

    There were a few benefits to the Flowing Gold de over conventional weapons. Because it was an Arcana Technique, it wasn¡¯t affected by using it to unleash other Arcana Techniques, and certain Arcana Techniques would even have their strength boosted as a result. In addition, it had the ability to change shape based on the user¡¯s needs, and it also contained destructive capacities.

    This ability was quite a unique one, allowing the de to destroy everything it came into contact with, including defensive barriers, Origin Tools, and even Arcana Techniques.

    However, it needed to physically contact the target to destroy it, and it needed to be physically attached to an object. It would also exact the same destruction on the original object when used. Not only so, but even though destructive Arcana Techniques were extremely powerful, its practical use wasn¡¯t very high because it was only a Third-Ring Arcana Technique.

    The Flowing Gold de had this kind of a destructive Arcana Technique imbued inside.

    It could be said that the Flowing Gold de was originally intended for the destruction of a target. The other two benefits were merely side effects.

    This was why, even though the body of the Flowing Gold de would suffer the same amount of destruction as its target, it was only a Fourth-Ring Arcana Technique, so it could be reformed easily even if it was destroyed. Su Chen had no need to fear using the Flowing Gold de in a close-quarters confrontation, allowing him to use its destructive capabilities to their greatest extent.

    Unfortunately, despite these properties, it was never valued highly because it could only be used in close-quartersbat. Very few Harpies would choose to cultivate this kind of Arcana Technique, and they were usually belonging to a Harpy suicide squad, the Fearless Shield.

    Even so, it was this Fourth-Ring Arcana Technique that Su Chen was putting on full disy at this moment.

    One more thing needed to be mentioned about the Flowing Gold de¡¯s unique properties.

    First of all, the Flowing Gold de wasn¡¯t an Arcana Technique with a set power. Its attack power was directly proportional to howrge its main body was. The size of the de¡¯s body, in turn, depended on the amount of raw materials avable.

    In theory, with enough high-quality metal, the Flowing Gold de¡¯s power could absolutely exceed that of a Fourth-Ring technique, reaching the Fifth Ring or even higher.

    The Harpies had a powerful warrior unleash a Sixth-Ring variant of the attack.

    However, Sixth Ring was its upper limit.

    As a Fourth-Ring Arcana Technique, it took an incredible amount of high-quality metal in order to unleash this Sixth-Ring potential. There was basically no way to enhance it further.

    That was where the metal-type Demonic Emperor Origin Crystal hade into use.

    The Origin Crystal not only directly elevated the power of the Flowing Gold de, but it also opened up its upper limit. As long as Su Chen had enough metal, its power could reach that of a legendary Arcana Technique.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t have enough metal to reach that point, but he had more than enough to unleash a Seventh-Ring Arcana Technique. Since this was still not enough, Su Chen ended up imbuing the Flowing Gold de with the power of fire.

    He was very talented at improving Arcana Techniques, and fire-type skills were his specialty.

    As a result, the Flowing Gold de had also been imbued with traces of his ming Phoenix, elevating it to the level of an Eighth-Ring Arcana Technique.

    Given how powerful this de was now, it would have been surprising if their ice storm hadn¡¯t been sted away by Su Chen.

    Most shockingly, the Flowing Gold de had also manifested the physical strength of Su Chen¡¯s human body as well as the explosive energy of an Arcana Technique. This could be considered a truebination of human Origin Skills and Arcana Techniques.

    Even though they had watched Su Chen blow away the Chaotic Wind brothers with a sword, they couldn¡¯t deny that he had used an Arcana Technique to do so, so none of them suspected for a moment that Su Chen wasn¡¯t a Harpy. They just hadn¡¯t expected Su Chen¡¯s trump card to be a close-quartersbat skill.

    Even ming Femme was stunned.

    This Eighth-Ring Flowing Gold de hadpletely blown her away.

    She instinctively asked, ¡°How did you do that?¡±

    She hadn¡¯t expected an answer, but Su Chen ended up giving her one.

    ¡°With this thing,¡± he said.

    With a simple flick of his wrist, he dislodged the glittering crystal from the hilt of the de.

    A metal-type Demonic Emperor Origin Crystal.

    ming Femme felt like she was about to faint.

    A Demonic Emperor¡¯s Origin Crystal!?

    This guy actually had a Demonic Emperor¡¯s Origin Crystal!

    And he had embedded it into a tool so that he could improve an Arcana Technique.

    Was this guy unaware of the implications of having a Demonic Emperor Origin Crystal?

    That was an essential ingredient in making a legendary-tier Arcana Staff!

    Even though a legendary Arcana Staff couldn¡¯t increase the power of a Fourth-Ring Arcana Technique to that of an Eighth-Ring Arcana Technique, it could absolutely raise the power of any Arcana Technique by one ring.

    Which was more important - raising the power of all Arcana Techniques by one ring, or taking a Fourth-Ring Arcana Technique to the Eighth Ring?

    Sorry, thetter was still better.

    At least, that was what Su Chen believed.

    This was because he was not an official Arcana Master!

    As a human, he would never give up on the path of increasing his own personal strength. Arcana Techniques were only used to supplement him on this path, not the goal that he pursued.

    A legendary Arcana Staff was indeed very powerful, but could it be used to chop a person in half?

    No, it couldn¡¯t!

    If it couldn¡¯t, then it was worthless!

    If he couldn¡¯t use it to express his own style, then it was a waste no matter how powerful the Arcana Techniques would be.

    What Su Chen wanted was to enhance the power of his own Arcana Techniques, allowing him to ignore the current system of rating the strength of Arcana Techniques.

    Flowing Gold de was a perfect example of this.

    His goal was to be able to bring a Fourth-Ring Arcana Technique to an Eighth-Ring Arcana Technique, or eventually even a legendary Arcana Technique.

    As he mastered more and more powerful Arcana Techniques, he would have better ones to choose from.

    Su Chen wanted to continuously elevate himself.

    ming Femme didn¡¯t understand this side of Su Chen. All she knew was that Su Chen had wasted a Demonic Emperor Origin Crystal, causing her heart to ache. Shepletely scorned Su Chen¡¯s actions.

    But whether she liked it or not, Su Chen had chosen to do so.

    The Flowing Gold de was currently his most lethal tactic. Not only was it incredibly powerful, but no one had seen it before, so no one could link it with the human Su Chen. All his opponents realized was that this Harpy Azure Mark had done a good job of concealing his identity while dealing a serious blow to his opponents.

    As the Flowing Gold de shed through the air, ming Femme and the Chaotic Wind Brothers found it hard to bear the frighteningly intense heat from the de.

    ming Femme knew that they were in a bad spot. She gritted her teeth and forcefully willed another wave of mes to spring up from thin air before molding them into a particr form.

    As soon as Su Chen saw the form the mes had assumed, he was delighted.

    It had taken on the shape of a ming phoenix.

    Even though it was a ming Phoenix, its appearance was slightly different from Su Chen¡¯s. ming Femme¡¯s phoenix was prettier and more elegant, and it had three long feathers on the top of its head. Its tail was also much longer and fuller. In general, its appearance was designed to be more noble.

    Su Chen¡¯s phoenix appeared much more normal. It had no crown, and its tail was quite crude.

    Su Chen¡¯s phoenix looked like it had been modeled by an elementary schooler.

    This was because the Nirvana Phoenix had been passed down from generation to generation, resulting in it being improved time and time again. When you factored in the Harpies¡¯ pursuit of beauty, it was only natural that they tried to make the phoenix as elegant as possible. Inparison, Su Chen was the inventor and only cared about practicality, not aesthetics. His phoenix¡¯s form was indicative of this, and he was only after the core principles. In terms of appearance, it was only natural that his phoenix was inferior to that of a Harpy Arcana Master.

    However, the Nirvana Phoenix could still not be ignored. It was ming Femme¡¯s trump card, and even though it was only a Seventh-Ring Arcana Technique, it was on par with an Eighth-Ring Arcana Technique. It drained a lot of her energy every time she used it. One time, a person had passed out while channeling the technique, which was why it eventually came to be known as the Nirvana Phoenix.

    Su Chen¡¯s Eighth-Ring Arcana Technique shed with ming Femme¡¯s Eighth-Ring Arcana Technique. Since they were both fire-type Arcana Techniques, all they saw was two waves of mes crashing violently into each other.

    In that moment, the mes surged high into the sky above Dragon Mountain City, turning it orange.

    The world around seemed to have been set on fire, as if the end of the world hade!

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 99: Surrender

    Chapter 99: Surrender

    Dragon Mountain City was in trouble.

    mes spilled down from the sky, and chunks of moltenva rained down on the city.

    Even though the city was built very high in the air, the residents of the city could not possibly avoid destruction that rained down from the sky itself.

    mes raged incessantly all around them, the frighteningly powerful waves of energy destroying everything in their reckless path. Anything that could be burned was burned to ashes.

    The yells and cries of Harpies could be heard throughout the city as they all tried to flee. The ones who were slower were incinerated into nothingness.

    The ones who were lucky enough to escape turned around only to find that the entire city had been consumed by a sea of mes.

    Yes, the entire city had been destroyed.

    This was what happened when two powerful experts exchanged blows. Even the residual fluctuations from the battle were more than enough to destroy the entire city. And in the first ce, Dragon Mountain City was only a small city, so it couldn¡¯t possibly withstand a battle of this scale.

    The collision between two Eighth-Ring Arcana Techniques could essentially be equated to a sh between two massive armies; the potential destruction was astronomical. It was not particrly surprising that this oue had urred.

    For this reason, the various races had agreed to not have fights near cities when thebatants reached a certain power level.

    Unfortunately, there were always people who refused to follow the rules.

    Su Chen was a human. To him, all other races were foreign, and therefore, he didn¡¯t need to worry about them. They could die for all he cared, so he was never particrly scrupulous with his actions.

    ming Femme was a Harpy, but she was also a member of Fate¡¯s Hands, a terrorist organization. It was only natural that she didn¡¯t have any apprehension or fear for mass destruction.

    When neither side had any reason to be cautious, it was only natural that this catastrophe would happen.

    Dragon Mountain City was doomed to a terrible fate. Of course, this naturally included the Wind-Gathering n.

    They had watched the situation unfold from the beginning right in front of their very own eyes, but all they could do was run!

    As they fled the city and watched it burn from a distance, they could only mourn and sigh in their hearts.

    Their whole n had gone up in mes, just like that.

    Even so, the battle continued to rage on, showing no signs of stopping.

    Four figures danced through the sky, unleashing attacks at a furious rate.

    The mes of battle were burning brighter than ever before. Neither side wanted to back down.

    Both sides unleashed powerful Arcana Technique after powerful Arcana Technique in rapid session, each of them with their own unique shape and form. Su Chen relied on his mes as per usual, asionally deftly throwing other Arcana Techniques into the mist, including Whitetower Teleportation, Flowing Light Forcefield, etc. His strength was a great surprise to ming Femme and the Chaotic Wind Brothers.

    More importantly, as the battle progressed, ming Femme found that her strength was beginning to run out.

    Yes, she was running out of energy.

    Even though her Nirvana Phoenix was powerful, its energy toll was quite high. As she used it repeatedly, ming Femme found that her rate of expenditure was reaching an unsustainable point.

    Su Chen, however, continued to swing his sword as if he was oblivious to any such issue. His Flowing Gold de¡¯s expenditure was naturally lower than ming Femme¡¯s phoenix, and even if it were the same, Su Chen¡¯s physical strength was more than enough to fuel his moves.

    This battle of attrition was one that ming Femme was fated to lose.

    She knew that she was in a dire situation. After unleashing one final Nirvana Phoenix, she flew backwards at full speed in an attempt to retreat.

    When Su Chen saw this, he grinned and yelled, ¡°Trying to run now? Do you not think that it¡¯s toote?¡±

    As he spoke, he shed his sword at ming Femme.

    ming Femme¡¯s eyes glowed mysteriously as her body erupted into mes. Her body turned into a pyre of mes that shot through the air, desperately attempting to escape from the battlefield.

    Su Chen scoffed disdainfully when he saw this. ¡°You can¡¯tpete with me in a war of attrition, and in terms of maneuverability...... the gap is evenrger.¡±

    The Flowing Gold de shed through the air at his opponent.

    Even though it seemed like his attack had shed through empty air, ming Femme suddenly cried out in pain as her mes mmed into the Flowing Gold de seemingly of their own volition. It was obvious how seriously ming Femme had been wounded just based on the fact that this was an Eighth-Ring Arcana Technique.

    The mes rapidly reformed into her body. She spat out arge mouthful of blood as her face paled significantly.

    When the Chaotic Wind Brothers saw this, they nced at each other before suddenly turning into two streaks of ck and white wind which mingled together like usual. The two streaks of wind had braided themselves together into a tornado as they flew off into the distance. Su Chen shed at them with the Flowing Gold de, but his attack passed right through the wind. He was actually unable to hit them.

    ¡°They can ignore physical attacks?¡± Su Chen squinted his eyes in surprise.

    These two brothers were indeed tricky to handle.

    The specific Arcana Technique they were using was called Chaotic Wind ?¡ª the namesake of these two brothers, and their unique innate Arcana Technique. They could turn themselves into wind and ignore any physical attacks, allowing them usually escape with ease. They could even teleport through the air while flying, to some extent. This skill was obviously one that excelled at escaping.

    ¡°Save me!¡± ming Femme yelled.

    The two brothers, however,pletely ignored her cries and continued to run away. They were terrorists, after all. When faced with a life-or-death situation, there was no loyalty to speak of.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. They won¡¯t be able to get very far.¡±

    As he spoke, he pushed his hand towards the sky, causing the air around him to congeal.

    Sumeru Void.

    Truthfully speaking, this was another risk he was taking. Sumeru Void wasn¡¯t a particrly well-kept secret. If a person who knew Su Chen well was present, they would have easily been able to guess Su Chen¡¯s true identity.

    However, ming Femme and the Chaotic Wind Brothers obviously did not know the real Su Chen well, and he was not nning on letting them live to tell the tale anyways. The bystanders could only watch the battle unfold from afar. And since it was totally impossible for them to get any closer, they wouldn¡¯t be able to determine exactly what technique Su Chen was using. In addition, Sumeru Void¡¯s effects were quite potent against this kind of a wind technique.

    As soon as Su Chen activated Sumeru Void, the Chaotic Wind Brothers immediately felt that it had be much more difficult to move.

    Not only that, but when Su Chen clenched his fist, the space around him contracted, pulling the tornado back in his direction.

    The Chaotic Wind Brothers struggled valiantly in their attempt to escape, but Su Chen was able to slowly and steadily pull them back. Sumeru Void not only stopped their advance but even prevented them from teleporting.

    This was an example of where the student had surpassed the master. Shi Kaihuang probably would not have been able to suppress these two Sixth-Ring Arcana Masters like how Su Chen was.

    But Su Chen could.

    Su Chen forcefully dragged the Chaotic Wind Brothers all the way back to his side as he yfully mused, ¡°The Flowing Gold de might not have been able to damage you, so why don¡¯t we try this one on for size?¡±

    As he pressed down with his left hand, a pitch-ck ming phoenix appeared in the sky. This ck phoenix was much smaller than the ones he had previously unleashed, and the mes from the Flowing Gold depletely covered it, making it so that no one else could see it. The Chaotic Wind Brothers, however, could sense the raw power emanating from the phoenix. The corrosive mes spilled through the sky, making it clear that this kind of attack was nothing like the Flowing Gold de and could not be ignored, even by the Chaotic Wind Brothers.

    The Chaotic Wind Brothers yelled in fright, ¡°NO!¡±

    Even though they could turn into wind, they had no way of escaping from their opponent¡¯s grasp. There was nothing they could do to defend themselves against the corrosive mes.

    The Chaotic Wind Brothers then discovered that they weren¡¯t even able to revert back to their physical bodies. Su Chen¡¯s Sumeru Void was forcefullypressing them, holding them together to the point that it was impossible for them to separate. As such, they could only endure the intense roasting of the ck mes.

    ¡°AHH!¡± The ball of wind shrieked with pain, causing ming Femme¡¯s heart to tremble violently.

    ¡°Spare us! We are willing to serve you!¡± the Chaotic Wind Brothers howled fiercely.

    ¡°I don¡¯t need you,¡± Su Chen replied coolly.

    Su Chen had no desire to take on subordinates who would sacrifice their own allies at a moment¡¯s notice.

    As the ck mes continued to burn, the Chaotic Wind Brothers¡¯ howls began to die down, eventually disappearingpletely along with the ck and white streak of wind.

    They had been destroyed just like that.

    When ming Femme saw the fate of the brothers, she felt incredibly stunned, as did the members of the Wind-Gathering n who had managed to escape.

    How could they not feel shock and fear prate deep into their hearts after witnessing such a powerful demonstration with their very own eyes?

    This kind of character was more than powerful enough to ughter them all with a single gesture.

    It was precisely for this reason that they didn¡¯t even try to escape.

    Since Azure Mark hadn¡¯t given his permission for them to flee, it was possible that they would anger him if they tried to do so, bringing disaster upon their collective heads.

    The smartest thing to do was to immediately acquiesce.

    Once the Chaotic Wind Brothers had died, all of the Harpies floating in the sky all knelt down fearfully.

    They knelt on the clouds, none of them even daring to nce up at Su Chen.

    Su Chen ignored them, continuing to focus his attention on ming Femme.

    ¡°You¡¯re next.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± ming Femme began to plead.

    She knew that disaster was about to befall her. There was no way she could defeat Su Chen, and it was equally impossible for her to escape.

    ming Femme suddenly made a pivotal decision as she watched the Flowing Gold de sh through the air. She knelt on the ground and yelled out, ¡°I am willing to surrender!¡±

    ¡°Sorry, not interested,¡± Su Chen said as the Flowing Gold de continued to descend.

    ¡°I can hand over all of my possessions.¡±

    ¡°I have no need for them.¡± The Flowing Gold de continued to descend, now only a few feet from ming Femme¡¯s scalp.

    ¡°I can give you everything I have ?¡ª my knowledge, my strength, my wealth, and even my soul!¡±

    The Flowing Gold de suddenly came to a halt, just barely an inch from ming Femme¡¯s head.

    ming Femme was sweating profusely.

    However, Su Chen still seemed to have no intention of withdrawing his de.

    He insipidly stated, ¡°Your offer is still somewhatcking.¡±

    ming Femme¡¯s willingness to hand over her soul was essentially giving Su Chen a way to ensure her loyalty and give himplete control over her.

    Even so, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t agree to ept her so easily.

    Controlling another individual¡¯s soul didn¡¯te without a price. There were certain burdens that would also be ced on Su Chen as a result.

    As such, Su Chen needed ming Femme to demonstrate her worth.

    Yes. Even if you want to be my ve, you need to prove that you have the right to be my ve.

    That was Su Chen¡¯s attitude.

    That was his unique pride and arrogance.

    ming Femme felt a surge of bitterness in her heart.

    When had she reached the point where she had to beg just to be someone¡¯s servant?

    However, she didn¡¯t want to die. It was because she had tasted too good of a life before that she was unwilling to leave this world that uneventfully.

    Only by continuing to live would she still have a chance.

    As such, ming Femme said, ¡°I can help you deal with the issue of Fate¡¯s Hands.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Su Chen squinted his eyes.

    ming Femme said, ¡°I admit that you are incredibly strong, but at the same time you are not a legendary Arcana Master. And Fate¡¯s Hands does have some legendary Arcana Masters amongst their ranks. You may have won today, but what if Fate¡¯s Hands sends even more powerful experts after you?¡±

    That was a good point.

    Su Chen asked, ¡°So how are you nning on dealing with Fate¡¯s Hands, then?¡±

    ¡°That will be simple. I will write a letter to Fate¡¯s Hands, telling them that I defeated you and captured you. The matter will be resolved that way.¡±

    ¡°But they will eventually uncover the truth, especially since there are so many people here.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why our movements need to be quick...... Won¡¯t it be fine if we open Jade Clearmist¡¯s secret realm before they discover that anything is wrong? Of course, if you don¡¯t want things to be thatplicated, there¡¯s one other method...... Kill all witnesses,¡± ming Femme chuckled.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 100: On the Verge

    Chapter 100: On the Verge

    Kill them all!

    When they heard this, all of the Harpies living in Dragon Mountain City were stunned.

    They were going to pay a price to watch the situation unfold.

    In order to survive, ming Femme was willing to use any technique.

    However, those Harpies also knew that they could not afford to try and flee.

    Anyone who did would die!

    They all turned to stare at Su Chen, their gazes filled with fear. Quite a few of them began to cry out, asking him to spare them.

    Su Chen nced at all of the Harpies prostrating themselves to him.

    Dragon Mountian City was a small city, and there weren¡¯t many Harpies living there, but there were at least tens of thousands of them present.

    There had been at least ten thousand Harpies who hadn¡¯t been able to escape from the city in time, but there was still seventy or eighty thousand of them in the sky.

    Most of these Harpies were merelymoners. Only a few were Arcana Masters, and none of them were particrly high-tier to boot, so it was totally impossible for them to fight back against him based on numbers alone. After all, quality still did matter even in measures of quantity. Seventy thousand Third or Fourth-Ring Arcana Masters would have been enough to kill Su Chen, but thesemoners would be asking to die if they tried to attack Su Chen.

    In other words, it would have been incredibly easy for Su Chen to kill them all, not to mention if he had the help of the Seventh-Ring ming Femme¡¯s help.

    But was it really necessary to do so?

    Even though he was human and didn¡¯t particrly care about the lives of these Harpies, he still needed to have a bottom line when he did things, didn¡¯t he?

    Well, this thought did seem a bitughable given that he had only just destroyed an entire city and taken the lives of tens of thousands ofmoners already.

    But no matter how low this bottom line was, he still needed to have one.

    There was still a difference between causing deaths as a result of coteral damage and massacring innocents intentionally.

    At least, there was a difference to Su Chen.

    At this moment, a single sentence of Su Chen¡¯s was enough to decide the fates of the seventy or eighty thousand Harpies kneeling before him.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Su Chen said, ¡°Forget about it. I¡¯ll spare them.¡±

    When they heard this, all of the Harpies couldn¡¯t help but sigh with relief.

    Even ming Femme did the same.

    She had sighed with relief not for the sake of those Harpies but for her own sake.

    Su Chen¡¯s words clearly indicated that he had epted her proposal.

    And it was easier for her to ept a master who wasn¡¯t willing tomit wanton ughter so easily.

    After epting ming Femme¡¯s offering of her soul, Su Chen had gained yet another subordinate.

    ming Femme first sent word back to Fate¡¯s Hands by their unique method ofmunication in an attempt to dy for time. Then, she said to Su Chen and Wind-Gathering Ascension, ¡°You¡¯ve seen everything you needed to see, so you should know what to do at this point.¡±

    Wind-Gathering Ascension sighed sorrowfully.

    His entire n was gone at this point, so he no longer had any choice but toply with Su Chen¡¯s demands. He lowered his head and said, ¡°I will tell the others to prepare to head out.

    Jade Clearmist¡¯s secret realm was located near the southern regions of Sky City in a ce known as Squall Ramparts.

    Squall Ramparts was constantly being beaten by powerful, bone-piercing winds. Even high-tier Arcana Masters would have a hard time enduring this kind of a beating for long periods of time.

    Squall Ramparts actually covered quite arge range of territory with a variety of terrain, including deserts, hills, and wildernesses, along with some other unique features. The Harpies preferred to stay on higher terrain, so this location was rtively untouched. All kinds of strange and rare Demonic Beasts could be found roaming this territory.

    Arge group of flying Harpies flew over the vast territory of the Squall Ramparts, eventuallying to a stop near the ck Mountain Range.

    Wind-Gathering Ascension pointed ahead and said, ¡°Past the Ancient Gazing River is the Fairy River. The map says that the treasure realm is there.¡±

    ¡°Are there Harpies living there?¡± Su Chen nced at the direction Wind-Gathering Ascension was pointing in.

    ¡°There¡¯s a small town with a few Harpymoners living there,¡± Wind-Gathering Ascension said. The Wind-Gathering n had designs on this secret treasure realm for a long time, so it was only natural that they had a deep understanding of the situation surrounding the treasure realm.

    ¡°But......¡± Wind-Gathering Ascension hesitated.

    ¡°But what?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°But there have been some bandits in the area recently.¡±

    ¡°Bandits?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the Hunting Wind Bandits.¡±

    Hunting Wind Bandits?

    Su Chen squinted his eyes when he heard this name.

    He had yet to forget the run-in he had with them earlier.

    At that point in time, the Hunting Wind Bandits hade on the orders of someone to probe the strength of the diplomatic party.

    However, the Hunting Wind Bandits did more than doing dirty work for their superiors. They also had their own goals and missions. Actually, the main reason they did anything for their superiors was to make carrying out their own missions easier.

    That was what they were doing here.

    Based on what Wind-Gathering Ascension had said, there was a small bandit stronghold here, primarily responsible for hunting the Ill-Fated Gophers that lived here.

    Ill-Fated Gophers were a rare kind of Demonic Beast that lived here. They weren¡¯t very powerful, but their perceptive and tunneling abilities were quite impressive. The Harpies could fly as they pleased in the air, but it was hard for them to do anything about lifeforms that lived in the ground.

    The Ill-Fated Gophers had a pouch that was a rare ingredient. The Hunting Wind Bandits relied on harvesting these pouches to support their lifestyle.

    Of course, they would also perform some unscrupulous acts from time to time.

    In any case, this ce was a private plot ofnd belonging to the Hunting Wind Bandits.

    Wind-Gathering Ascension only mentioned this to be cautious.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t seem to care at all. He waved his hand and said, ¡°Got it. Let¡¯s continue advancing. This problem isn¡¯t actually a problem at all.¡±

    Wind-Gathering Ascension cursed in his heart when he saw Su Chen¡¯s careless expression, You said that you would be able to keep the Wind-Gathering n safe, but we lost our home anyways.

    Of course, he knew that this wasn¡¯t entirely Su Chen¡¯s fault. After all, he had resisted handing over the map to Su Chen in the first ce as well. If he had done it sooner, there wouldn¡¯t have been any issues. Yet he had insisted on holding onto his n¡¯s profits a bit longer in order to test out Su Chen¡¯s strength.

    He had gotten what he had asked for, and his n had also been ruined.

    He was already lucky that most of his n members were able to make it out alive.

    The procession headed for the small town, arriving very soon after.

    The small town was known as Cloudy City. Even though it was a Harpy city, it was actually built on the ground, since there were no mountains nearby.

    There weren¡¯t many Harpies in the small town, so it was very quiet and peaceful. Even though the Hunting Wind Bandits were vicious, they left their neighbors alone and never did anything to terrorize the town. After all, they needed to survive themselves; if all of themoner Harpies around them were chased away, how would they survive in the future?

    The procession stopped automatically above the small town. They needed to stop there and buy some living necessities before moving on.

    Su Chen wandered around the city, as was his habit, trying to see if there was anything interesting he could find in the city. Youthful Abundance and ming Femme followed him around, clever like a maidservant.

    Even though there wasn¡¯t much of interest within the town, there were some unique products that Su Chen was able to find.

    Some of them were useful for his experiments, and some of them could be used to concoct medicines. Most importantly, these ingredients were very cheap, so Su Chen bought some.

    Just as he was feeling extremely happy with himself, he suddenly saw a group of merchants heading in his direction.

    Upon closer inspection, Su Chen was taken aback.

    It was Li Daohong.

    Why was this guy here?

    Li Daohong was a human, so his appearance was incredibly eye-catching in this kind of a location.

    He didn¡¯t seem to mind at all. Actually, it seemed that he was enjoying the gazes of everyone around him.

    Li Daohong was currently marching through the street imposingly with his procession. After a moment¡¯s thought, Su Chen decided to step to the side and make space.

    Even though he wanted to understand this Li Daohong better, Jade Clearmist¡¯s treasure store was much more important. It was better to have one less matter to worry about. In any case, since he was wearing a mask, Li Daohong wouldn¡¯t be able to identify his face, and he wouldn¡¯t be able to find out who he was.

    ¡°Master, it seems that you are paying this Harpy particr attention,¡± ming Femme suddenly said.

    As a Seventh-Ring Arcana Master, her observational skills were quite powerful.

    She immediately noticed Su Chen¡¯s particr attention to Li Daohong.

    Su Chen said indifferently, ¡°This ce is pretty remote. It would be strange if I didn¡¯t pay him particr attention. Also, any human

    ¡°It¡¯s better not to make trouble,¡± Su Chen said as he turned around to leave.

    ming Femme was a bit disappointed when she saw Su Chen¡¯s response.

    At this moment, Li Daohong happened to pass by. He couldn¡¯t help but leave his nce on Youthful Abundance and ming Femme for a bit longer.

    When ming Femme saw that this Li Daohong was soscivious, an idea surfaced in her mind. Since her master had forbidden her from making trouble, then she was going to let this guy make some trouble instead. She shot Li Daohong an innocent nce, licking her lips slightly. Her actions were clearly flirtatious.

    Even though she hadn¡¯t directly activated her charming abilities, her natural beauty was enough to arouse his lust.

    When Li Daohong saw this, he chuckled. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect for such a refineddy such as yourself to be here.¡±

    As he spoke, he reached his hand out to stroke ming Femme¡¯s face.

    In his view, ming Femme was enticing him of her own ord, so his actions weren¡¯t over-the-top in the slightest.

    Unexpectedly, ming Femme twisted her head slightly to the side in order to avoid this stroke as she clung to Su Chen, grabbing his hand. ¡°Master, there¡¯s a person here taking liberties with me.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Su Chen turned to nce at ming Femme.

    ming Femme¡¯s expression was one of total innocence.

    Li Daohong was also taken aback. He was immediately incensed. ¡°You were messing with me?¡±

    ming Femme harrumphed coldly at him, turning her head around and ignoring him.

    Su Chen had some idea of what was happening when he nced at Li Daohong and at ming Femme.

    He wanted to overlook the matter, but unexpectedly Li Daohong had no intention of agreeing.

    He was already quite an arrogant individual, and he was used to having his way with others. When had anyone managed to toy with him and gotten away with it? He was forced to rein himself in when under the watchful eye of the Harpies, but he was currently in a small, remote town, and there was nothing for him to fear. As such, he immediately turned on Su Chen and said, ¡°Brat, your woman was teasing me. I demand that you hand her over to me!¡±

    Su Chen turned to nce at him, his gaze incredibly cool and emotionless.

    He didn¡¯t say anything as he stared intently at Li Daohong.

    Li Daohong asked angrily, ¡°What are you looking at?¡±

    Su Chen said in a low, raspy voice, ¡°Please, I hope that you will be willing to overlook this incident.¡±

    He and Li Daohong had only met once, and hadn¡¯t spoken to each other much either. Li Daohong shouldn¡¯t have been able to recognize his voice. But when Su Chen considered that Li Daohong had the Attendant¡¯s Brain, Su Chen decided to lower his voice so that Li Daohong wouldn¡¯t be able to recognize him.

    ming Femme nced suspiciously at him, seemingly considering something.

    Li Daohong couldn¡¯t tell it was Su Chen. Heughed fiercely, ¡°What if I refuse to overlook the situation?¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s gaze grew firm. The two of them faced off against each other, neither side willing to back down. They first engaged in a battle of consciousness power.

    Shockingly, Li Daohong¡¯s consciousness power was very high. Even though Su Chen hadn¡¯t used his full consciousness power in this confrontation, most people should have been easily defeated. Li Daohong, however, was not only able to easily handle the attack, but he even had enough spare consciousness energy to counterattack.

    A Deste Beast Bloodline was truly extraordinary.

    Li Daohong simrly revealed a surprised expression. ¡°Hey, it seems that you have some skill.¡±

    As he spoke, his aura began to surge. Su Chen¡¯s fighting intent also skyrocketed from Li Daohong¡¯s provocation. The two of them immediately faced off against each other as a formless pressure began to envelop their surroundings.

    A fierce battle was only moments from unfolding.

 Sect - Book 5, 101: Dark Undercurren

    Chapter 101: Dark Undercurrent

    Just as the two of them were about to fully draw their swords, a voice suddenly spoke.

    ¡°Your Highness, why are you here?¡±

    When he heard this voice, Li Daohong suddenly froze.

    He turned around with a slight smile to find a middle-aged Harpy walking in his direction.

    The Harpy grabbed Li Daohong¡¯s hand and said, ¡°Your Highness, it took me forever to find you.¡±

    Li Daohong chuckled, ¡°I rarely get a chance toe here. It¡¯s only natural that I would want to wander around for a little and observe the scenery.¡±

    This ce was so remote that there was no scenery to speak of. Li Daohong was obviously talking nonsense, but the other Harpy¡¯s expression was totally understanding. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then I will show Your Highness around.¡±

    As he spoke, he dragged Li Daohong away.

    It wasn¡¯t until they were much further away that the Harpy said in a low voice, ¡°You promised me not to stir up trouble.¡±

    Li Daohong replied, ¡°I wasn¡¯t nning on starting anything. He was the one who came at me first.¡±

    ¡°Whatever. Is it worth making such a big deal out of something so trivial? Don¡¯t ruin our grand enterprise over something so small!¡± the Harpy said as he lectured Li Daohong sternly.

    Li Daohong, shockingly, didn¡¯t talk back. All he did was harrumph, ¡°Fine, I got it.¡±

    He had epted the other party¡¯s lecturing even given his personality.

    On the other side, Su Chen led his entourage away, clearly deep in thought.

    Youthful Abundance carefully said, ¡°Master.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Youthful Abundance lowered her head and said, ¡°I might know who that Harpy was.¡±

    Just as Youthful Abundance was about to speak, ming Femmeughed. ¡°Might? Could you have taken that individual for someone else?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Su Chen turned to stare at ming Femme.

    ming Femme felt a chill run down her spine. Immediately afterwards, she felt like her skull was about to split, as if an awl was being driven through it.

    ming Femme¡¯s entire body trembled as she copsed to her knees. ¡°Ma- Master......¡±

    ¡°If you dare try that again, you will die.¡±

    ming Femme trembled violently. ¡°Yes...... Yes...... Master, I acknowledge my wrongdoing.¡±

    Only then did Su Chen withdraw his consciousness punishment. ming Femme sighed and almost copsed. Thankfully, Youthful Abundance helped her up.

    ¡°Speak. Who was that person?¡± Su Chen asked Youthful Abundance.

    Youthful Abundance hurriedly replied, ¡°I think it was Night God Sun.¡±

    ¡°Night God Sun?¡± Su Chen thought for a moment before he said, ¡°He¡¯s from the Night God n?¡±

    The Night God n was arge n located in Sky City. They were even above the Halcyon Wing n in terms of influence. Actually, their n head was the leader of the Thunderous Cry religious branch as well, giving him an incredibly high status amongst Sky City.

    ¡°What kind of status does this Night God Sun have amongst the Night God n?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Youthful Abundance replied, ¡°He is the n head¡¯s son, but he is not an heir.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Why is that?¡±

    Holly Keen was still ranked twentieth amongst his n despite hispletely worthless personality. On the other hand, this Night God Sun was incredibly graceful and noble. It was obvious from his demeanor that he wasn¡¯t ofmon origins, so howe he didn¡¯t have the status of an heir?

    ¡°Because he has entered the Mother Goddess Sect and has be one of the Thunderous Cry branch¡¯s bishops.¡±

    ¡°A bishop? At such a young age?¡± Su Chen was taken aback.

    No wonder Night God Sun wasn¡¯t an heir - he was already a bishop of the most powerful organization amongst Harpy society. Religion was held in high esteem amongst the Harpies, but at the same time they would need to give up on any worldly inheritance they might receive. This inheritance was being exchanged for an incredible amount of power. Actually, the head of the Night God n was only a bit higher in status than a head bishop, but the head had already gone as far as he could go, while staying a bishop was clearly not Night God Sun¡¯s final destination.

    Why would Li Daohong and Night God Sun appear in a ce like this?

    Was their arrival linked to Jade Clearmist¡¯s treasure stores? Would this negatively impact their ns? Did this have any rtion with any other potential targets?

    Su Chen had no idea what the answers to any of these questions would be.

    Other people might have given up on trying to find an answer.

    Su Chen, however, was obviously different.

    Because he had the Origin Bone Scepter.

    With these questions consuming him, Su Chen had no heart to buy anything else. He handed those responsibilities to Wind-Gathering ascension and the others and returned to the inn.

    Su Chen went into his chambers and instructed everyone else to back down before he pulled out the Origin Bone Staff.

    Since Li Daohong was powerful, and Bishop Night God Sun was not a character to be trifled with either, Su Chen decided to use a Demonic King¡¯s Origin Crystal as the basis of a sacrifice. He asked which powerful experts he would run into inside of this secret realm.

    Even so, the sacrifice failed, and the Origin Bone Staff gave him no answer.

    A Demonic King Origin Crystal had been consumed just like that, but Su Chen wasn¡¯t discouraged.

    Even if the sacrifice failed, he had still managed to glean some useful information from this attempt.

    If even a Demonic King¡¯s Origin Crystal wasn¡¯t able to provide him with an answer, it was obvious that he was very likely to run into quite a few experts within the treasure realm.

    And since some of these powerful experts had shown up in such a remote town, it was pretty likely that he would run into Night God Sun and Li Daohong in the future.

    Su Chen decided to change up his tactics when he obtained this result.

    He didn¡¯t increase the sacrifice, instead choosing to use a high-tier Demonic Beast¡¯s Origin Crystal and changing the question.

    ¡°I want to know if I will be ambushed if I decide to leave now.¡±

    Su Chen asked a very interesting question.

    There were limits to how the Origin Bone Scepter could be used. It actually didn¡¯t give any answers, instead providing the user with a prediction of what might happen in the future. This prediction was in turn influenced by the asker¡¯s actions.

    In that sense, the asker¡¯s choosing different possible actions would result in different predictions. This would allow Su Chen to obtain different answers, using them to deduce the actual answer he was looking for.

    This was another skill Su Chen had managed to pick up after using the Origin Bone Scepter so many times.

    Su Chen had also only asked whether or not he would be ambushed, not who was going to ambush him. This would greatly decrease the cost of the prediction, making him much more likely to seed.

    Indeed, an answer was very quickly given.

    When Su Chen saw a familiar scene appear before him, Su Chen smiled. ¡°As I expected.¡±

    He then ced another high-tier Origin Crystal on the altar and said, ¡°Now I have a new choice to make......¡±

    As he constantly refined his questions in this manner, the Origin Bone Scepter continued to give him answer after answer.

    These answers mostly came from Su Chen constantly changing up his questions, and he did his best to avoid questions about Li Daohong. This made the cost much lower, and his rate of sess also went up as a result.

    Even though the Origin Bone Scepter refused to answer any of his questions about Li Daohon and the others, Su Chen was able to get a rough picture of the situation by constantly asking these roundabout questions.

    Eventually, Su Chen stopped and fell into a long period of thought.

    Suddenly, he pulled out a Demonic King Origin Crystal.

    Even though Su Chen was quite wealthy, he still had a limited supply of Demonic King Origin Crystals. This Demonic King Origin Crystal he was holding was hisst one.

    Even still, Su Chen felt that this might not be enough. After a moment¡¯s thought, he pulled out a handful of Sands of Time.

    The Sands of Time were a rare treasure. Even with the Hourss of Time, only a fixed number of grains of Sands of Time would be produced every year. Su Chen was definitely using up more than he was producing at this point. Since Su Chen had only had the Hourss of Time for three years, he had only stored up three handfuls of Sands of Time. It was obvious that Su Chen was willing to pay an incredibly high price to get his answer this time.

    After adding on a bunch of other supplementary materials, Su Chen finally asked, ¡°I want to know how to use the Deste Beast¡¯s Blood and the Origin Beast¡¯s Essence.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s heart began to beat wildly as he asked the question.

    This was his greatest investment to date. If he failed here, the losses he had sustained were easily imaginable.

    Thankfully, a scene eventually appeared before his eyes.

    When he saw this scene, Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but suck in air.

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t suppress his surprise. ¡°So that¡¯s how it is...... That¡¯s how it is...... Yes, that¡¯s perfect!¡±

    Upon obtaining his answer, Su Chen put the staff away and pulled out a transmission medallion. He opened it and said, ¡°Patelocke.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m here.¡±

    Su Chen normally wouldn¡¯t have been able to contact Patelocke from such a far distance, but given that Patelocke had assumed the body of an ancient transmission puppet, he was able to ignore this distance restriction.

    ¡°There¡¯s something I need you to do......¡± As Su Chen spoke, he began to lower his volume.

    After a moment, Patelocke replied, ¡°Got it. I¡¯ll go and make preparations right now.¡±

    Su Chen stowed away the transmission medallion and called out, ¡°Youthful Abundance? ming Femme?¡±

    Youthful Abundance and ming Femme entered the room. ¡°We are here.¡±

    ¡°I suddenly had some insight while practicing my breathing earlier, so I am going to spend some time cultivating. Perhaps I will make a breakthrough soon. Go and let Wind-Gathering Ascension and the others know that I want them to wait a while before opening the secret realm.¡±

    Youthful Abundance was startled. ¡°Master, now is not the time to dy. Fate¡¯s Hands could find out about what happened at Dragon Mountain City at any point in time. If they manage to catch up with us......¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right, they can find out at any point in time. But they won¡¯t know where we have gone, right?¡± Su Chen countered.

    ¡°This......¡± Youthful Abundance was momentarily stunned.

    It was true that Fate¡¯s Hands might know what had happened in Dragon Mountain City, but no one would be able to tell Fate¡¯s Hands where Su Chen had gone.

    ming Femme said, ¡°There are lots of powerful people amongst Fate¡¯s Hands, and they have some tracking Arcana Techniques. As long as not too much time passes, it¡¯s possible that they will be able to catch up with us. Why does Master not seem more agitated?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that,¡± Su Chen said as he waved his hand. ¡°I made some arrangements before leaving. Fate¡¯s Hands won¡¯t be able to catch up with us that easily. Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t be behind closed doors for that long. I should be able to work through the situation in at most ten days.¡±

    Ten days wasn¡¯t a long time?

    They had finally arrived at the front step of the secret realm, but now they were going to just sit here and wait? Su Chen¡¯s two attendants had no idea what he was thinking.

    However, since Su Chen had made his decision, they could only acquiesce.

    They stepped out and informed Wind-Gathering Ascension and the others, who were equally shocked. None of them could figure out why Su Chen would do something like this.

    Su Chen, for his part,pletely ignored them. In theing days, he locked himself in his room and would onlye out every so often, instructing Youthful Abundance and ming Femme to go and procure ingredients for him. Most of them were ingredients required by alchemists. No matter how you looked at it, it seemed impossible for Su Chen to be cultivating.

    He sat motionlessly in his room, but Wind-Gathering Ascension and the other Harpies were beginning to grow agitated like ants, fearing that Fate¡¯s Hands would find them and unleash vengeance on them.

    It seemed that Su Chen¡¯s arrangements were quite effective, however, as nothing particrly of note happened in the next ten days.

 Sect - Book 5, 102: Massive Tree

    Chapter 102: Massive Tree

    Time flew by. Finally, after ten long days, Su Chen walked out of his room.

    When they saw him emerge, everyone sighed with relief.

    ¡°Thanks for your hard work,¡± Su Chen said with a smile.

    Wind-Gathering Ascension said, ¡°We didn¡¯t really work that hard. We were just worried about Fate¡¯s Hands is all.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to worry about Fate¡¯s Hands. If theye, I will deal with them. Actually, I wasn¡¯t spending all my time on cultivation - most importantly, I was performing some research. Look......¡±

    Su Chen pulled out a few vials of medicine.

    ¡°This is.......¡±

    ¡°This is Blue Sea Heart, this is Jade Voice Orchid, this is Thousand Returns Powder, this is Golden Bell Medicine, this is Forged Medicine......¡± Su Chen listed off medicine after medicine. Everyone was both excited and happy.

    Blue Sea Heart was a high-tier Arcana Technique improving medicine. Any Fifth-Ring Arcana Technique or below would be strengthened by one ring, while the effect would be halved at a higher level. Even so, its power was undeniable.

    Jade Voice Orchid was a kind of medicine that decreased the cooldowns of most Arcana Techniques. Certain Arcana Techniques would be able to be used in much rapider session.

    Most Arcana Techniques all had a certain cast time. Throughout thousands of years, Arcana Masters had done their best to try and shorten this duration. Innate Arcana Techniques were one example of such improvements. The Jade Voice Orchid was intended for the same purpose.

    Su Chen¡¯s Jade Voice Orchid was simrly a high-tier one, making it effective on most Arcana Techniques below Six Rings. This made it quite a rare medicine.

    Thousand Returns Powder was useful for dealing with summoning Arcana Techniques, especially for the beast projections that would typically be summoned to protect a void realm.

    The Golden Bell Medicine, as its name indicated, was a kind of protective medicine. It was not ingested, but instead applied to the body via a secret technique. It would automatically burst forth in response to a fatal attack, forming a powerful barrier and defending against the attack. It was really a miraculous life-saving medicine.

    Forged Medicine, on the other hand, was used to imbue Arcana Techniques with the mes of a forge. It was mostly useful for attacks that would make physical contact, meaning archers were usually the ones using this medicine.

    Apart from Arcana Masters, a majority of Harpy warriors were archers. The Wind-Gathering Technique was no exception. The Forged Medicines were prepared for them in particr.

    These medicines were rare even in Sky Country. Only Master Alchemists could concoct them. Normally, it would be hard to obtain even a single vial, but now Su Chen was doling them out by the handful.

    ¡°So you are actually an alchemist!¡± Wind-Gathering Ascension said in surprised happiness.

    ¡°Since you are all following me now, it would only be right for me to give you all some benefits as well,¡± Su Chen said casually as he pulled out a few more vials. ¡°Each one of you gets one of these.¡±

    ¡°What kind of medicine is this?¡± Youthful Abundance asked in wonder.

    ¡°A kind of medicine that can supplement your cultivation base. Once you drink it, your ability to sense Origin Energy will increase, greatly increasing the efficiency of your meditation. It does have one w, which is that this medicine cannot be stored for very long. So you should drink it now.¡±

    Upon hearing that this medicine could improve the efficiency of their cultivation, they were all extremely excited. Some of the more impulsive ones drank it down immediately.

    Of course, there were some who were very careful as well.

    Wind-Gathering Ascension nced at the medicine in his hands. ¡°Sir, can we wait to use this?¡±

    ¡°What? You don¡¯t trust me?¡± Su Chen shot him a nce.

    Wind-Gathering Ascension¡¯s heart jumped as he said hurriedly, ¡°I don¡¯t dare.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn¡¯t need to use poison to do it,¡± Su Chen said calmly.

    Wind-Gathering Ascension realized that Su Chen was right. He steeled himself and tilted his head back, throwing down the medicine.

    Youthful Abundance and ming Femme nced at each other. When they saw Su Chen ncing at them, they also could only steel themselves and take a drink.

    ¡°Alright, now that we¡¯ve taken care of this matter, let¡¯s head out.¡±

    Jade Clearmist¡¯s secret realm was just to the north of Fairy River, only half a day from Cloudy City. If it weren¡¯t for Su Chen¡¯s dys, they would have arrived a long time ago.

    After half a day¡¯s time, Su Chen and the others finally arrived.

    ¡°Based on what the map tells us, it should be just around here,¡± Youthful Abundance said.

    ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, then let¡¯s get started,¡± Su Chenmanded.

    A few of the Wind-Gathering n¡¯s members began to set up the Origin Formation.

    Jade Clearmist¡¯s treasures store wouldn¡¯t just appear. The right Origin Formation needed to be used to activate it and open a door to the secret realm.

    As a result, the real value of the map wasn¡¯t that it pinpointed the location of the realm but that it contained information on how to activate the Origin Formation. Only a person who possessed the map would know what to do with it.

    The Wind-Gathering n took out the materials that they had prepared long in advance and began to set up the formation.

    Very quickly, a formation with glowing inscriptions waspleted.

    As the formation was activated, waves of strange fluctuations began to spread rapidly as the ground began to hum.

    It was as if there was something off in the distance crying out in response.

    This hum didn¡¯tst very long. Very quickly, the ground began to rumble and fluctuate.

    It was as if an earthquake was taking ce, but there were also some differences. It appeared as if something was about to stick out from the ground.

    ¡°Over there!¡± Youthful Abundance pointed at the center of the earthquake.

    At a ce roughly ten thousand feet away from them, it was possible to see arge chunk of the ground rupturing.

    ¡°It must be the secret realm! The secret realm is emerging!¡± Wind-Gathering Ascension said excitedly.

    The Wind-Gathering n had lost their home for the sake of Jade Clearmist¡¯s secret realm. It could be said that all of their hopes were on this secret realm. He had already forgotten what Su Chen had said about only giving them three treasures.

    But when they saw what wasing out of the ground, everyone was stunned.

    It was actually a tree!

    At first, it was only a small sapling.

    However, because of how small it was, no one noticed it at first.

    As it sprouted from the ground, it began to grow at an incredibly fast rate. The rumblings from the ground wereing from the tree extending its roots underground. The small tree grew into arge tree, then into a gigantic tree, then into a legendary tree.

    By the time everyone discovered its existence, the tree was almost asrge as a mountain.

    It extended its branches in all directions, forming a majestic canopy. The tree constantly expanded and grew, filling everyone¡¯s vision.

    Even Su Chen was totally stunned. ¡°I...... Holy hell!¡±

    It was rare for Su Chen to curse like this.

    He had originally thought that the entrance to the secret realm would have been a spatial opening, like had been the case for the Goldwater Ruins. He hadn¡¯t expected to cause such a greatmotion.

    Anyone nearby would probably know that the realm had been opened, right?

    Well, that was fine.

    After all, he had made preparations for this from the very beginning.

    Outwardly, he maintained a steely expression.

    ¡°Sir Azure Mark, what should we do now?¡± Wind-Gathering Mountain also realized the issue.

    ¡°What else can we do? Since we¡¯ve already reached this point, all we can do is keep going,¡± ming Femme said.

    As she spoke, she charged forwards to the massive tree.

    It seemed that she was quite excited.

    The massive tree was still growing, as if turning into a mountain wasn¡¯t enough to satisfy its appetite.

    The tree continued to grow taller and taller.

    Very quickly, everyone discovered that there was no need for them to fly towards the tree.

    Because the tree was heading in their direction.

    As the tree grew, it stretched out in their direction.

    Everyonended on the branches of the tree, turning into little ants that clung to the bark of the tree as it continued to grow wildly.

    They also began to search the tree to try and find out where the doors would be - after all, since the secret realm had appeared, there needed to be a door, didn¡¯t there?

    Unfortunately, none of them were able to find a way in.

    The massive tree continued to expand, not stopping until its canopy stretched high in the sky.

    The tree had formed a natural tower above the ground.

    Su Chen stood on the tree staring downwards. ¡°Wind-Gathering Ascension, the servant who handed you the map didn¡¯t mention this, did he?¡±

    Wind-Gathering Ascension shook his head. ¡°He never did. I never expected this to make such a bigmotion.¡±

    ¡°So do you think it¡¯s strange? After all, they had opened the secret realm once before. People should have known about the existence of this realm a long time ago if such amotion was made every time it was opened,¡± Su Chen said.

    Wind-Gathering Ascension was also a bit surprised. ¡°Could it be that the servant had treacherous intent and gave us a fake map?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°If he wanted to harm you, he wouldn¡¯t have needed to do that. It seems that there are some profound Arcana Techniques hidden here based on how much of amotion opening this secret realm made. I believe that the servant hadn¡¯t seen such a bigmotion, so he didn¡¯t know about it either.¡±

    ¡°Why would there be such a big change this time, then?¡± Youthful Abundance asked, still stunned.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Perhaps the only way to find out is to go inside first.¡±

    Go inside?

    Everyone simultaneously looked down at the tree branches they were standing on.

    ¡°Mm.¡± Su Chen said calmly. ¡°If my guess is correct, the secret realm should be within this tree. It¡¯s just that the tree was kept underground thest time the realm was opened. I¡¯m not too sure why the entire realm emerged from the ground this time.¡±

    Secretly hiding a spatial realm wasn¡¯t that strange. After all, that was what had happened at the Goldwater Ruins.

    This time, however, the Origin Formation had brought the entire hidden realm out of the ground.

    Given that the realm had appeared in its entirety, this was probably part of Jade Clearmist¡¯s n in the first ce, not a result of the spatial realm breaking down. Otherwise, this tree probably would have been split into countless fragments.

    ¡°No matter whether that is the case or not, we¡¯ll know once we go inside,¡± ming Femme said.

    ¡°But there is no door on the tree. How will we be able to get inside?¡± Youthful Abundance didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°The door has been right in front of our very eyes this entire time. It¡¯s just that none of you have paid it any attention,¡± Su Chen said with deep meaning.

    Everyone was taken aback.

    They turned to follow what Su Chen was looking at and found a massive silver disk rising up from the base of the tree before rapidly turning into a of branches. It looked just like arge mouth wagging its tongue back and forth slowly.

    ¡°Could it be......¡± Youthful Abundance was stunned.

    ¡°Yes, this is the mouth into the cave.¡±

    ¡°It really is a mouth......¡± Everyone stared at the giant maw below them, stunned.

    Su Chenpletely ignored them and jumped in.

    The massive maw opened up, swallowing Su Chen and obscuring him from view.

    For just a moment, ming Femme even wondered if Su Chen had been eaten just like that.

    The other Harpies nced at each other, unsure of what to do.

    In the end, it was still ming Femme who gritted her teeth and said, ¡°What is there to fear? Whether I die or stay alive, my situation will still be terrible!¡±

    As she spoke, she jumped in through the mouth of the realm as well.

 Sect - Book 5, 103: Void Nightmare

    Chapter 103: Void Nightmare

    Su Chen was immediately entangled by countless vines as soon as he jumped into the mouth, which wrapped around him and sent him deeper and deeper into the tree. Even with his strength, he felt quite disoriented being pulled around so violently - the secret realm wasn¡¯t being particrly gentle with him.

    But after passing through the long entrance and reaching the heart of the tree, Su Chen opened his eyes and found a wide-open expanse in front of his eyes.

    Before him stood an entire forest of Nest Trees.

    Nest Trees were a special kind of tree belonging to the Harpies in particr. Their surface was incredibly hard to the touch, and they were very flexible during their growth process, making them very responsive to their environment. The environment would direct the growth of the trees, beautifully blending these two attributes of flexibility and sturdiness. This was why the Harpies used these trees to build rooms. As long as they adjusted the branches of the Nest Tree in a certain direction, the branches would grow ording to the predetermined path, eventually forming a natural house. They wouldn¡¯t even need to use axes to sculpt it.

    The Harpies had a preference for naturally-urring things, which was why they also particrly liked to use these Nest Trees to sculpt their homes.

    The rooms in the clouds might have been prepared for the Harpy nobles to use, but these Nest Trees were where the Harpymoners lived.

    Each one of these Nest Trees in the vast forest before him had been carefully sculpted into a livable environment.

    ¡°Heavens! What arge forest of Nest Trees! This is basically a naturally-urring city!¡± Youthful Abundance, who had followed him in, yelled.

    To the Harpies, this was indeed something to be very excited about.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. I understand now!¡± ming Femme muttered to herself.

    ¡°What do you understand?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ming Femme answered, ¡°I understand what happened to this secret realm now.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± everyone asked.

    ming Femme said, ¡°This should be a battle fortress left behind for us by the legendary Jade Clearmist.¡±

    ¡°Battle fortress!¡± everyone yelled in shock.

    The Floating Point battle fortresses were all castles that the Harpies took great pride in. Those battle fortresses were what they had relied on to stake a im for themselves on this continent.

    It could be said that each battle fortress was the pride of the Harpies.

    And now, ming Femme was telling them that here was yet another battle fortress?

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Yes, this is a battle fortress, but it wasn¡¯t exactly sessful.¡±

    Jade Clearmist was a legendary Arcana Master, so he naturally had some legendary pursuits. Otherwise, that would have been a shame to his title as a legendary Arcana Master. This legendary Arcana Master had therefore fittingly decided to construct a battle fortress all on his own.

    Su Chen, on the other hand, could only chuckled at that idea.

    Without even looking at what Jade Clearmist had left behind, Su Chen knew that he had failed. Otherwise, this battle fortress wouldn¡¯t have remained hidden for all this time.

    Based on the tree¡¯syout, it appeared that Jade Clearmist¡¯s n was to create a battle fortress by using a kind of nt that could morph and change shape. He had even fostered arge number of Nest Trees within the tree in order to meet everyone¡¯s living needs.

    Apart from the small city of Nest Trees,rge numbers of utility facilities lined the walls of the tree. However, it was immediately apparent from first nce that these facilities had not beenpleted.

    Since the main idea was a failure, there was no point in trying to finish up the interior.

    It was obvious that Jade Clearmist had spent a lot of time building the tree, perhaps spending his blood, sweat, and tears all on this tree.

    Perhaps this was also why the tree hadn¡¯t fully manifested itself thest time the small n hade.

    Because they had brought the damaged soul of an Astral with them.

    Since this battle fortress was specifically meant for the Harpies to use, it was only natural that it wouldn¡¯t emerge if the aura of a foreign race was nearby.

    Since Su Chen had his real wings, no one could tell that he was not a Harpy.

    This was probably the greatest treasure that Jade Clearmist had ever left behind for the Harpies. On the other hand, the Wind-Gathering n felt incredibly regretful as well - what would they do with this tree, which they had no way of bringing with them?

    They were after treasures that could be taken with them.

    But perhaps there were still treasures stored within the Nest Tree city, right?

    ¡°Let¡¯s go and see. We won¡¯t know if there are any treasures unless we check it out for ourselves,¡± Su Chen said as he waved his sleeves, taking the lead to walk into the town.

    The Nest Tree city waspletely silent. No motion could be seen anywhere.

    But as they got closer and closer, they began to hear the faint sound of skittering.

    ¡°Hm? What noise is that?¡± Everyone nced at each other.

    ¡°Everyone, be careful. There might be something bading our way,¡± Su Chen said in a low voice.

    ¡°Since Jade Clearmist left behind this castle for us, there shouldn¡¯t be any traps, right?¡± one of the Wind-Gathering n¡¯s Harpies said.

    Su Chen chuckled coldly. ¡°If that was the case, how was the earlier Astral killed? And why would this fortress need to be hidden in the first ce?¡±

    ¡°This......¡± Everyone was rendered speechless.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m telling you to be careful. Just because Jade Clearmist left behind this secret realm for the Harpies doesn¡¯t mean that there is no danger here,¡± Su Chen said.

    As he spoke, a ck fog suddenly began to build up in the Nest Tree city, as if under Su Chen¡¯smand.

    No one believed for a second that this ck fog wasn¡¯t dangerous.

    A momentter, the fog began to roil out of the city in their direction, immediately enveloping them and restricting their eyesight. It was impossible for them to even make out their fingers in front of their face. Even those with exceptional perception wouldn¡¯t be able to figure out exactly what was happening.

    Most shockingly, once the ck fog enveloped them, they immediately found that it was impossible for them to hear anyone around them anymore.

    Su Chen knew that they hadn¡¯t died - this ck fog was able to strongly suppress an individual¡¯s senses, bringing them to their lowest state.

    This also meant that anyone wrapped up in the fog was truly blind and deaf.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t seem to mind. He stood there motionless, able to perceive that some malicious entity was closing in on him.

    This was only possible because of his strong consciousness power. The others were probablypletely unaware of what was going on around them.

    Su Chen suddenly opened his eyes wide as a strange light began to flicker across his eyes, activating his microscopic eyes.

    Su Chen¡¯s microscopic eyes were able to perceive even the smallest details, down to the very principles governing the inner workings of nature. They were not so useful at seeing through fabricated realities, but if he used them to cultivate investigative techniques, the effects would be enhanced significantly. After all, the Arcanists had relied on such eyes to power their investigations.

    Once Su Chen activated his detection skill, he found white shadows floating back and forth through the white fog.

    ¡°Oh? These are Nihility Shadows?¡± Su Chen said with some shock.

    Nihility Shadows were a rare kind of demonic creature. Su Chen could recognize them because of how many books he had read.

    These kinds of creatures were incredibly strange. They had no physical bodies, so they could only exist in this kind of strange fog. Despite that, they were still able to absorb lifeforce.

    These Nihility Shadows floated forwards, obviously intending on turning Su Chen into their food. They began to suck away intensely at Su Chen¡¯s lifeforce.

    They were exactly like spectres in the darkness. Because they were formless, it was difficult to detect them, and their attacks caused no pain. Many people would eventually have all of their lifeforce drained and never even realize what had happened to them.

    But once their presence was revealed, the threats these shadows posed became much more limited.

    When Su Chen saw that a bunch of Nihility Shadows wanted to swallow him up, he coldly chuckled, ¡°You damn ghosts. Die!¡±

    A powerful aura began to surge from his body.

    At this point, the benefit of the human cultivation system was beginning to manifest itself.

    When dealing with ghost-like apparitions, the strength innatelying from the human body was far superior to relying on Origin Energy absorbed from the environment via cultivation techniques.

    The Nihility Shadows retreated as if they had been exposed to brilliant sunlight when Su Chen unleashed the full power of his human body in all directions, shrieking and hissing with fear. Even their shrieks and hisses were silent; however, Su Chen¡¯s consciousness power was strong enough to allow him to sense them.

    This also helped him realize that there seemed to beyers even to sounds. Perhaps there were some kinds of sound that could only be discovered under certain circumstances?

    Perhaps this was worth a shot.

    Even though he appeared lost in thought, his movements weren¡¯t slow in the slightest. Since the ck fog was dulling everyone¡¯s senses anyways, no one would know what kind of skill he had used. As he revolved the Immacte Cultivation Technique to its greatest extent, spreading its influence as far as he could, he was able to ughter all of the Nihility Shadows trying to get close to him very quickly.

    His attack radius was so great that the other Harpies also came under his protection. Otherwise, these Nihility Shadows probably would have killed off most of the Wind-Gathering n¡¯s disciples.

    At that point, however, a strange hiss suddenly became audible.

    Within the dark fog, a ck shadow shot forwards right at Su Chen.

    This time, the shadow was not so formless. It was both incredibly quick and viciously powerful.

    Su Chen only had time to raise his arm and block the attack, which actually sent him flying as it mmed into his arm.

    Thankfully, since his physical body was stronger than most, he was not particrly wounded by this sudden attack. The speed of that dark shadow, however, left him speechless.

    Su Chen had only just regained his bnce when three more streaks suddenly shot at the dark shadow.

    Su Chen knew that these shadows had targeted him. He unsheathed the Flowing Gold de, at the same time activating his four-faced Primordial Blood Incarnation. The Flowing Gold de, which was originally at the Eighth-Ring level, was suddenly elevated to the Ninth-Ring level with the added power of the Primordial Blood Incarnation. This was Su Chen¡¯s strongest killing blow. He had no opportunity to use it in the past, but by borrowing the concealment of the dark fog, he was finally able to go all-out just once.

    This single attack wiped out the three attacking shadows.

    ¡°Hiss!¡± the shadows shrieked tragically.

    Three spurts of ck blood shot through the air as threerge chunks of meat fell to the ground.

    Su Chen was able to clearly see that he had just cut off three tentacles.

    ¡°So it is the Void Nightmare Seal.¡± Su Chen wasn¡¯t surprised at all.

    The Void Nightmare Seal was a void organism, and it naturally existed in symbiosis with the Nihility Shadows. Even though the Void Nightmare Seal was very powerful, its main body could not move. The Nihility Shadows served as carriers, moving the Void Nightmare Seal around. asionally, they would even hunt for it. In return, they received the protection of this powerful void lifeform. When they ran into an opponent that they couldn¡¯t defeat, the Void Nightmare Seal would attack.

    As such, Su Chen immediately attacked with his strongest killing blow, because he was extremely clear what he was facing.

    Indeed, following that shrill cry, countless tentacles began to surge forwards, coiling in Su Chen¡¯s direction.

    A huge battle began to take ce under the cover of the dark fog.

 Sect - Book 5, 104: Entrance

    Chapter 104: Entrance

    Bang!

    The massive Void Nightmare Seal finally had all of its tentacles cut off. It howled in pain and shock as it toppled over to the ground.

    Its massive body gradually began to dissipate, returning to nothingness.

    Su Chen wiped the sweat from his forehead.

    This Void Nightmare Seal was indeed quite umon. Its strength was even greater than that of ming Femme and the Chaotic Wind Brothersbined. Thankfully, with the dark fog obstructing vision, he was able to unleash his full strength to defeat his opponent. Otherwise, the Void Nightmare Seal still would have been a pain to deal with.

    As he gazed down at the Flowing Gold de in his hand, it was obvious that the massive sword¡¯s body had shrunk yet again.

    Even though the Flowing Gold de was powerful, it was still formed from an Arcana Technique, and there were certain costs necessary to maintain it, including not only Origin Energy but also metals.

    Every battle, the amount of metal serving as the body of the de would decrease ever so slightly.

    During his battle with ming Femme, the Flowing Gold de had been worn down quite a bit, and now it was being worn down yet again. And as the amount of metal was worn down, the Flowing Gold de¡¯s power would also decrease.

    ¡°Damn. It seems that I will need some more metal in the near future,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    At this rate, the Flowing Gold de¡¯s power would probably soon go down a tier.

    He just didn¡¯t know how much metal this massive tree contained, if it had any at all.

    Just as he was thinking about all of these things, he realized that there was nothing else around him. So those Nihility Shadows had fled when the Void Nightmare Seal had died, and the ck fog had disappeared too.

    However, with the ck fog gone, Su Chen discovered that he was now in an area surrounded by rubble.

    This was probably the Nihility Shadows¡¯ fault. Everything they did was silent and soundless, even when they transported people.

    ¡°Oh? This tree actually has other realms?¡± Su Chen was also suspicious.

    It seemed like the inside of the tree was bigger than he had originally expected.

    When he thought back to those Nihility Shadows, Su Chen came to an answer.

    It seemed that Jade Clearmist¡¯s tree battle fortress was bigger than he had even imagined.

    ¡°So he actually used the void fractures to increase the space inside the tree. That is quite ingenious of you, but it seems that you failed quite miserably. Not only was the castle not finished, but even the inside of this castle was taken over by these shadows. This was probably the reason why you sealed it, right? Haha, you actually tried to do something on your own that required an entire country to aplish? You are quite crazy,¡± Su Chen chuckled, but his tone was not scornful in the slightest.

    But who could aplish a miracle without saying things that others would think was madness? Su Chen had experienced this himself. The true genius of these kinds of people would only be appreciated after they seeded.

    But there would always be a few people who weren¡¯t able to achieve their dreams.

    Did this mean that they weren¡¯t great?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t think so.

    Even though Jade Clearmist had failed, his daring resolution had won Su Chen¡¯s admiration.

    But even more than his admiration, right now his main hope was that Jade Clearmist hadn¡¯t made him poor for no reason.

    He must have left behind something here, right?

    Su Chen began to walk rapidly when he thought of this.

    Because the space had been opened up by using void fissures, the space inside the tree was veryrge. The Nest Tree city was only the entrance. After being transported by the Nihility Shadows, he had no idea where he was now.

    But that didn¡¯t really matter. There would definitely be an end to this region no matter howrge it was. As long as Su Chen continued to search, he would be able to find it.

    Not to mention that his understanding of spatial principles had also drastically increased recently.

    But because this ce was made of a continuously linked void, there would probably be many more void organisms lurking around, and he needed to be careful.

    As soon as he realized this, Su Chen pulled out another vial of blood that he had prepared a long time ago, creating seven or eight clones of himself and instructing them to disperse. As they searched his surroundings, they would also expand his spatial knowledge.

    With all of these battle clones, he would have more than enough early warning if he were to run into any situations.

    Because these clones were linked to him by blood, he was able to see everything that they saw. This was also a good opportunity for him to test out his arrangements for the people who wereing in behind him......

    Not long after Su Chen entered the secret realm, a bunch more people arrived on the scene. It was Night God Sun, Li Daohong, and their followers.

    Li Daohong¡¯s expression was shady as he stood in front of therge tree. ¡°They¡¯ve already gone in.¡±

    Night God Sun asked, ¡°So what if they¡¯ve gone inside? Why does Brother Li feel so strongly about it?¡±

    Li Daohong harrumphed. ¡°Themotion made by this secret realm was too great. There might be new troubleing our way, and they will also realize that others might show up. It will probably be hard to spring something on them.¡±

    Night God Sun shook his head. ¡°A head-on battle is the most majestic path. Brother Li, you are still a human prince, so you should behave a little more like royalty. An ambush...... is not something that should see the light of day.¡±

    Li Daohong, however, chuckled. ¡°I am a prince, not the Crown Prince. I have no desire to rule. Why should I behave more princely? All that will do is incite suspicion and jealousy. Anyways, the Li n¡¯s bloodline is not particrly suited for a direct confrontation anyways.¡±

    Night God Sun chuckled. ¡°As you please. In any case, the situation has already been determined. Even if they have made some preparations, they will only have been made on the fly. We should still be able to just charge in, kill them all, and steal their treasures. That would be the best for us.¡±

    ¡°I think so too,¡± Li Daohong replied with a loudugh.

    Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

    They also jumped in through the mouth

    They had entered the body of the same tree, but what they saw was not the city of Nest Trees but a boundless desert.

    ¡°So there is indeed the aura of a spatial realm,¡± Night God Sun muttered as he sniffed the air a few times.

    ¡°It seems like we¡¯vee to the right ce,¡± Li Daohong chuckled.

    ¡°The rest will depend on you, Brother Li.¡±

    When Li Daohong heard this, his eyebrow jumped. ¡°Of course. Just wait and see.¡±

    As he spoke, he sat down, beginning to chant something in a low voice.

    As he chanted, faint snake-like shadows began to appear behind his back. These snakes had the heads of beautiful human females, however. Following his chants, which appeared to be in snake tongue, the female snakes all smiled and shot into the air, disappearing without a trace.

    Li Daohong¡¯s entire body trembled as his eyes went white. He had entered an extremely strange state of consciousness.

    Not long after Li Daohong¡¯s group entered the secret realm, yet another group of Harpies had arrived on the scene.

    These Harpies actually appeared incredibly valiant and fierce, their pitch-ck wings appearing to confer a surging murderous intent onto them.

    One of the bald Harpies said, ¡°The others have gone inside already. Dammit, how dare they try and steal a treasure that is clearly on my territory? Brothers, what do you think we should do?¡±

    ¡°Of course we should take it back!¡±

    ¡°Yes! We¡¯ll take everything and kill them all!¡± all of the Harpies following behind yelled simultaneously.

    ¡°Then let¡¯s go! No one can take the treasures of the Hunting Wind Bandits and live to tell the tale!¡±

    ¡°Go! Go! Go!¡±

    Following the bald-headed Harpy¡¯s cry, the remaining Harpy bandits howled madly as they charged into the mouth of the tree as well.

    Not long after those Harpies entered, yet another group of Harpies appeared.

    The old man in the lead was wearing a tall hat and holding a book in his hand. Shockingly, he actually had no wings, and his stature was very short. It was obvious he was an Arcanist.

    After appearing above the tree, he didn¡¯t immediately enter. Instead, he flipped through the book, as if he was looking for something. After some time, he said, ¡°There are three waves of Harpies who have gone in before us, and..... Some humans?¡±

    A Harpy behind the old Arcanist said, ¡°A human? There aren¡¯t many humans who can travel as they please throughout our country¡¯s territory.¡±

    ¡°That should be Li Daohong. His abilities are perfect for this area.¡±

    ¡°But how did he find out about this matter?¡±

    The Harpies nced at each other before suddenly cursing, ¡°Damn traitors!¡±

    The book-wielding old man waved his hand, and all of the Harpies fell silent.

    He said, ¡°This is not really that surprising. There¡¯s no need to be so stunned.¡±

    It seemed that he had anticipated this some time ago.

    ¡°So what should we do know?¡± a Harpy female with gold wings who was following closely behind the old Arcanist asked.

    ¡°They have certain things they are looking for, and so do we,¡± the old man replied. ¡°What they need is just treasure and resources, while I am after knowledge. If possible, it would be best not to take them on in a direct confrontation.¡±

    ¡°Sage is right. What we primarily need is knowledge. Jade Clearmist¡¯s knowledge is the most important. Only a person like Sage would be able to fully put this knowledge to good use.¡±

    The other Harpies all offered their agreement. It seemed as if they were just trying to tter the old man, but from their expressions it was abundantly clear that they were being very serious.

    In their hearts, this Sage was the number one schr under the heavens. He was quite learned in both modern and ancient history, and he had thoroughly studied the five Intelligent Races. Most importantly, he was the reason they had managed to survive until now.

    As they spoke, this group of Harpies entered as well.

    Not long after that, even more Harpies arrived on the scene. They had only been passing by and had hurried over after noticing themotion.

    Finally, a fifth group of Harpies arrived after a string of individual Harpies entered the realm. Their leader was dressed in an extravagant robe and held a birdcage in his hand. Furthermore, the beautiful carriage he sat in was being pulled by a Jade Qilin. It was immediately obvious that he was a foppish prince. After arriving at the massive tree, he first sniffed the air before nodding his head and speaking. ¡°Li Daohong is truly here.¡±

    One of the Harpies responsible for driving his carriage said, ¡°Young Master, this is obviously a valuable secret realm that just so happens to be open. Do we want to......¡±

    Bang!

    The Harpy received a fierce p.

    The foppish prince said coldly, ¡°It¡¯s just a secret realm. Do I look like I¡¯mcking in money? I only came here to give that bastard Li Daohong a good beating! Anything else is secondary. Of course, we cannot ignore any treasures that we find in the secret realm. But don¡¯t forget - Li Daohong is the primary target!¡±

    ¡°Yes! As prince hasmanded, dealing with Li Daohong is the top priority!¡± all of the Harpies replied loudly.

    ¡°That¡¯s more like it.¡± The foppish prince waved his hands and led everyone into the realm as well.

    After this group of Harpies entered, the entrance to the tree remained quiet for some time.

    The sun gradually began to set.

    Everything remained just as calm as it had been for a while now.

    But in the darkness, a group of ck shadows silently appeared. This time, it was a fleet of shuttles that suddenly appeared in the sky above the tree. Momentster, hundreds of figures began to jump out of the shuttle, right into therge tree and disappearing without a trace. The shuttles in the air also disappeared into the night, as if they had never been there in the first ce.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 105: Light Shaking Phantom

    Chapter 105: Light Shaking Phantom

    The seven Su Chen clones flew through the spatial realm, causing Su Chen¡¯s spatial perception to expand rapidly

    Su Chen discovered that his understanding of spatial principles greatly increased his ability tomunicate with his clones. In addition, hisprehension appeared to be increasing as his clones explored the spatial realm.

    Because he was simultaneously connected to multiple clones, Su Chen¡¯s mind was filled with all kinds of images. Not only so, but these images would be stitched together in his brain by the help of his consciousness crystal, forming aplete map in his head. Thisrge map began to take shape with Su Chen at the very center, and Su Chen was able to almostpletely encapste his surroundings in his memories.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t expected this kind of a result. He was both surprised and ecstatic.

    Even though this map wouldn¡¯t increase his strength, it could greatly increase his tactical prowess, giving him control over the situation as a whole. Most importantly, this map was the result of a beautiful coordination between all of the skills he had mastered up until now. His consciousness crystal, his spatial perception, and his clones all worked together to produce this marvelous result.

    Perhaps he could try otherbinations too to produce even more amazing results.

    Because he now had aplete map, Su Chen felt like he was in much more control.

    To the east was ake with Demonic Beasts hidden inside. They were probably the indigenous lifeforms in the area. To the west was a group of Harpies - the Wind-Gathering Harpies were currently locked in battle with a bunch of strange void creatures.

    Since Su Chen was only using the Wind-Gathering n, he didn¡¯t care if they lived or not. After a cursory nce, his clone left, searching in other directions.

    As he continued his investigations, he suddenly noticed a group of void creatures gathered on top of a small mountain to the southwest of where he was sitting.

    Su Chen¡¯s understanding of these void creatures was limited. He didn¡¯t really know what they were, but they weren¡¯t any taller than a meter. Their skin was a purplish-ck, and they had a somewhat humanoid appearance. However, some of the limbs connected to their joints were in fact metal des.

    These metallic bone des piqued Su Chen¡¯s interest.

    They were made of metal.

    Their bones were actually made of metal!

    It was impossible for this kind of a realm to naturally produce metallic ore because of how young it was, rtively speaking, and because of environmental reasons. Su Chen originally thought that it would be impossible for him to obtain more metal, but he was unexpectedly able to find what he needed because of these strange creatures.

    When he saw this, Su Chen wanted to walk over.

    But just because he could see far didn¡¯t mean that he would be able to immediately fly there.

    It was at this moment that an idea suddenly surfaced in Su Chen¡¯s mind. What if he could switch spots with his clones?

    Was that possible?

    Perhaps this would have cost Su Chen a lot of time and energy to research in the past.

    But now, it was possible for Su Chen to solve this riddle as long as the conditions were right.

    Since the clones were linked to his blood and he knew Whitetower Teleportation, hisprehension of spatial principles and his strong Arcana Technique base meant that it was not impossible for him to teleport such long distances.

    A momentter, Su Chen pulled out the Origin Bone Scepter, offering a high-tier Origin Crystal as the sacrifice.

    Su Chen had more than enough high-tier sacrifices that he could offer. If he didn¡¯t use them here, it would probably take him months to work through everything.

    Now, he had spared himself this time, and the foundations of a new teleportation Arcana Technique was being formed.

    With Whitetower Teleportation as the base, Su Chen made many modifications in order to allow himself to directly swap ces with his clones, further increasing the distance at which he could teleport.

    Su Chen¡¯s improved Whitetower Teleportation could only send him three kilometers or so, while this Arcana Technique could allow him to teleport nearly a hundred kilometers.

    As long as Su Chen¡¯s clone was somewhere within this radius, he would be able to directly teleport to it. Jumping over such a long distance had not yet been seen on this continent.

    Even the Arcana Kingdom and Sky Country had never produced teleportation techniques with ranges any greater than twenty kilometers, and those had been developed by legendary Arcana Masters with incredibleprehension of space. And every time a person used one of those techniques, it would burn through arge amount of their energy.

    Even though Su Chen¡¯s Arcana Technique required the creation of bloodline-linked clones, that was not really a big w.

    If Su Chen were to ever face a powerful opponent in the future, he could hide a clone a hundred kilometers away from his current position and teleport to it in order to escape.

    If he were to hide a few more, he would even be able to leap around repeatedly.

    If he strung ten clones together, he would essentially be able to leap ten thousand kilometers. This kind of speed would be difficult for even Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators to catch.

    Su Chen had never expected to improve his strength so substantially before even finding any treasures in this secret realm. The result really left him speechless.

    Su Chen decided to call this technique Light Shaking Phantom, tomemorate the fact that he had obtained such an incredibly powerful skill while still at the Light Shaking Realm.

    If he was able to continue to develop this technique in the future, allowing him to teleport thousands of kilometers at a single time, he would feel embarrassed to call himself a Light Shaking Realm cultivator.

    Of course, Su Chen wasn¡¯t that silly. Su Chen¡¯s bloodline-less cultivation technique was intended for the rise of the human race, which was why he was willing to distribute them freely. But if others wanted to learn any skills that conferredbat strength...... Sorry, you would need to go to his sect to learn them.

    Now that Su Chen had obtained the corresponding Arcana Technique Pattern, he decided to immediately try it out.

    A momentter, his figure disappeared, and the slightly ethereal figure of the clone that was standing there watching those strange creatures suddenly became much more tangible.

    Su Chen had sessfully managed to jump a distance of one hundred kilometers.

    This was really an instance where something more illusory suddenly became physically tangible. Even Su Chen felt a wave of nausea wash over him.

    ¡°So the amount of energy I need to expend to jump a long distance is still quite high. Perhaps teleporting ten times in a row...... is a bit beyond my capacity,¡± Su Chen said with a bitter smile.

    It would take him at least the time it took to brew a pot of tea to recover from one jump.

    Of course, this was partly because this was Su Chen¡¯s first time using the technique. As his control over spatial principles and his strength both increased, the dy between sessive jumps would go down.

    Su Chen shook his head to relieve some of the dizziness before turning to look at those strange creatures. Then, he chuckled, ¡°It seems like today¡¯s my lucky day. First, I manage to get my hands on two new spatial Origin Skills, and now I can use you guys to replenish my metal stores. Very good, very good.¡±

    He wasted no time and directly flew forth.

    The creatures began to chatter excitedly when they saw Su Chen, charging at him.

    Those creatures seemed quite average, but they could run really quickly, their feet mming heavily into the ground as they charged at Su Chen, howling relentlessly.

    ¡°They can¡¯t fly?¡± Su Chen was stunned.

    They were clearly void creatures, yet they didn¡¯t know how to fly. That was actually a rarity.

    An instantter, however, a strong wave of energy suddenly pressed down on him. Su Chen felt his body grow heavy as he suddenly lost control of his flight and was forcefully pressed to the ground.

    Flowing Light Forcefield?

    Su Chen was taken aback.

    Not, it wasn¡¯t Flowing Light Forcefield, but this technique seemed to have the same gravity-changing powers. They increased his weight, causing him to fall to the ground.

    Not only so, but the increased weight caused him to plummet at an astounding rate.

    Su Chen hurriedly activated Flowing Light Forcefield, altering gravity yet again to help himself this time. Only then was he able to stabilize in the air.

    When those creatures saw that Su Chen wasn¡¯t falling to the ground, they were obviously incensed. They pointed at Su Chen and howled and snarled, as if it was his fault for not allowing himself to fall to his death.

    Su Chen harrumphed. ¡°This is interesting.¡±

    He unleashed a palm strike at the creature at the very front.

    With his strength, a casual palm strike was enough to shatter a boulder. Any high-tier Demonic Beast would be killed in a single palm strike.

    The creatures¡¯ Origin Energy was inferior to that of a high-tier Demonic Beast. In theory, he should have been able to cut through them like tofu, but unexpectedly Su Chen¡¯s palm was only enough to force the demon to bow momentarily before it stood back upright. It didn¡¯t even spit out a mouthful of blood.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Su Chen muttered in surprise.

    The creature that had gotten smacked was obviously enraged. It began to shriek loudly.

    Its feet stomped against the ground, causing it to crack as it whistled into the air, unleashing a punch at Su Chen.

    Su Chen wanted to gauge the strength of his opponent, so he countered with a punch of his own. The two punches collided, but to his shock he was actually forced backwards slightly.

    The two of them were on par in terms of strength.

    ¡°How powerful!¡± Su Chen was also surprised.

    The bodies of these demonic creatures were shockingly powerful. This wasn¡¯t that great of a surprise, though, as their bones were made out of metal.

    What really stunned Su Chen was what happened afterwards.

    The creature didn¡¯t fall back to the ground, instead continuing to howl at Su Chen as it floated in the air.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Su Chen understood. ¡°Even though it can¡¯t fly, it can control gravity and can cause its opponents to fall or itself to rise. But how do you change direction?¡±

    The creature very quickly gave Su Chen an answer.

    A fast jet of air shot out of its butt. This jet of air propelled it forwards in Su Chen¡¯s direction.

    Are you kidding me?

    How do they fly around by passing gas?

    Su Chen had seen all kinds of unique lifeforms before, but he had never seen one like this before.

    But just because it was exotic didn¡¯t mean that Su Chen could underestimate its strength.

    Its Origin Energy was at the level of a mid-tier Demonic Beast, but its physical body was as strong as a top-tier Ravager¡¯s body. All told, a single one of these creatures was about as strong as a low-tier Light Shaking Realm.

    The problem was that there were hundreds of these low-tier Light Shaking Realm creatures, not just one.

    A momentter, countless creatures shot into the sky, unleashing attacks at Su Chen. Their razor-sharp joints glittered as they swung them at Su Chen.

    With so many creatures attacking him at once, Su Chen scrambled to react appropriately.

    He had made the critical mistake of underestimating his opponents.

    Determining his opponents¡¯ strength just by the quality of their Origin Energy was not reliable after all.

    If Su Chen was really facing a few hundred Light Shaking Realm cultivators, he would have had no choice but to run.

    Thankfully, these creatures weren¡¯t real Light Shaking Realm cultivators. There was still something Su Chen could do against them.

    ¡°Your physical bodies are strong, but unfortunately for you I have just the solution.¡± Su Chen flipped his hand as he spoke, the Lightless Ring appearing in his hands.

    No, it was probably more urate to call it the Lightless Sword now.

    The Lightless Ring had been fashioned into arge sword with a curved hilt.

    When he didn¡¯t use the Flowing Gold de, the Lightless Sword was just a broken sword. But this broken sword was being used to marvelous effect under Su Chen¡¯smand.

    Pu!

    The sharp de pierced the chest of one of the creatures.

    Su Chen was able to slice through their skin just like butter with this broken sword, whereas his palm strike had been unable to do anything.

    These creatures¡¯ strong lifeforce allowed them to easily regenerate any limbs they lost.

    However, things were obviously different when Su Chen sliced through them with his Lightless Sword.

    The Lightless Sword glowed faintly before arge amount of golden liquid looking like molten metal appeared on the skin of these creatures, flowing into the Demonic Emperor Origin Crystal and the Lightless Sword. As a result, the Lightless Sword glowed brighter and brighter, while the creatures appeared to have their bones torn from them. They suddenly seemed to soften, copsing into a pile of meat as they fell to the ground.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 106: Soul Departing Dream

    Chapter 106: Soul Departing Dream

    The iid Origin Crystal on the Lightless Sword hade from a metal-type Demonic Emperor. It possessed the innate ability to control metal, and under Su Chen¡¯s and Patelocke¡¯s changes, it had developed an ability akin to devouring metal. It could directly absorb metal in order to strengthen itself.

    Su Chen was facing a bunch of beasts with bones made of metal. They were incredibly powerful, and most shockingly of all they gathered inrge groups.

    Even Spirit Burning Realm cultivators would have been forced to retreat when faced with a group of unkible creatures like these.

    However, Su Chen¡¯s Lightless Sword was their kryptonate. The sturdy metal supporting their bodies was absorbed by the Lightless Sword, resulting in them dying immediately.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t stop for a moment and continued to jab his sword at the other demons.

    In terms of speed, these creatures couldn¡¯tpete with Su Chen, who had both Whitetower Teleportation and the Violent Wind Wings.

    As he unfurled his wings, he shed through a number of creatures at the same time, causing them to burst open. He absorbed their bones, then used Whitetower Teleportation to appear behind another small clump of creatures. The Lightless Sword in his hand shed through the air again.

    Any of the creatures cut open by the Lightless Sword would have their bones absorbed by the Demonic Beast Origin Crystal.

    The Lightless Sword couldn¡¯t absorb all of the metal from cutting open the creatures, but its powerful control abilities and its greedy appetite made it not want to stop absorbing the Origin Energy. As a result, the absorptive properties of the sword were still present even when the sword was not in physical contact with the bodies of the creatures. As a result, the liquid metal spurting from the wounds of these creatures flew through the air in glittering streaks towards the Lightless Sword.

    It almost appeared as if the bisected creatures were blossoming. The sight was incredibly spectacr.

    The streaks of metal gradually turned into a spring, gathering at the tip of the Lightless Sword.

    As Su Chen swung the broken sword, the ¡°blood¡± spurting from the demons glowed even more brilliantly as they howled in pain, eventually copsing due to being drained of their strength.

    Su Chen¡¯s speed only grew, causing the stream of metal flying towards the sword to grow in size. The scene was hard to describe in words.

    Those creatures weren¡¯tplete idiots. When they saw that they were being sliced apart, they began to feel fear, and they turned and scattered.

    The creatures might have relied on passing gas to advance and retreat, but they weren¡¯t slow in the slightest. A thick cloud of white smoke hung in the air as their figures began to fade off into the distance.

    Even though Su Chen did his best to try and ughter them, half of them still managed to get away.

    Su Chen felt that this was a great pity.

    Even though these creatures didn¡¯t have much metal content in their bodies, this metal was extremely rare due to its sturdiness. A fist-sized chunk of this metal was worth as much as half a ton of pure Stargold.

    Even though Su Chen didn¡¯t care that much for money, this kind of precious metal that was extremely hard to buy even with money was very important to him.

    After killing nearly a hundred fifty of these creatures, Su Chen had managed to earn back what he had lost and more. He would probably be able to use Flowing Gold de at least a few more times.

    Unfortunately, he was still far short of reaching a higher tier for this Arcana Technique.

    As such, Su Chen decided to continue chasing after them. Even if he wasn¡¯t able to reach the Ninth Ring after harvesting all of the metal from the creatures, these creatures were a rarebination of quality and quantity.

    By relying on hispleted map and his teleportation abilities, Su Chen flew through the spatial region, hunting as many of these strange creatures as he could.

    There were more than five hundred of them at first. Of these five hundred, Su Chen killed one-third of them, and then he managed to kill another hundred or so after they started to flee. All told, Su Chen had managed to kill about half of them. The remaining creatures could only do their best to true and hide, making it much harder for Su Chen to find them.

    But he didn¡¯t mind. This ce was sorge, anyways; as long as they didn¡¯t run out of the tree itself, he would have plenty of time to search for them.

    His current objective was to find the core of Jade Clearmist¡¯s hidden treasure stores.

    Suddenly, Su Chen spotted something interesting behind one of his clones.

    Thankfully, the ¡°cooldown¡± on his Light Shaking Phantom hade. His figure flickered as he teleported himself to that clone.

    Before his eyes was a small group of pces. Above these pces hung a massive spatial fissure, dividing the pces into two.

    ¡°Using spatial fissures to expand the spatial realm probably resulted in instability, right?¡± Su Chen knew that his guess was more or less urate when he saw this.

    This realm was Jade Clearmist¡¯s masterpiece, without question. His ambition was too great and his pursuits too great in number, resulting in his failure. Even the secret realm itself was filled with danger.

    Now, it seemed that this pceplex of hers had been damaged by these spatial fractures, and the piles of rubble scattered everywhere seemed to indicate that these pces had been destroyed or looted before.

    There probably wouldn¡¯t be any of the thousand-year-old medicines he had been hoping to find. As long as he was able to find some things that the void creatures weren¡¯t interested in, though, like knowledge, he would be satisfied.

    When Su Chen realized this, he began to fly towards the pceplex. As he was descending, however, he suddenly felt a strange sensation in his heart.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Su Chen nced up at the sky, seemingly thinking of something.

    Then, he chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s him? He found his way over here quite quickly.¡±

    As he spoke, he walked into the pce.

    Far away from this pceplex.

    A cloud floated calmly through the air.

    Li Daohong was sitting cross-legged on it. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open as he said, ¡°I¡¯ve found the core region, but it seems that some Harpies beat us to it. It¡¯s the guy that I had a little argument with a few days ago.¡±

    ¡°No matter who they are, they shouldn¡¯t even dream of defiling our sanctified objects!¡± Night God Sun said.

    ¡°It¡¯s as you say. I will go and try to stop him,¡± Li Daohong said.

    An instantter, he entered his calm state yet again. At the same time, Night God Sun unfurled his sleeves, motioning for the cloud to speed up.

    When Su Chen entered the pce, he was greeted by a bunch of crumbling walls.

    Even though this ce didn¡¯t look like it contained anything valuable, Su Chen still confidently advanced.

    Just as he was walking along calmly, he suddenly felt a strange sensation in his heart.

    It was as if there was something speaking softly to him in his ear.

    Su Chen spun around quickly but didn¡¯t see anything.

    Su Chen frowned. The quiet voice seemed to still be there.

    Not only so, but the voice had be even clearer.

    It was as if there was someone quietlyughing at him, but thatugh also contained a very sinister undercurrent.

    Next, Su Chen saw something floating towards him out of the corner of his eye, carrying with a light fragrance. It was as if some beautiful woman was gesturing at him, sending this gentle waft of perfume in his direction.

    ¡°This little demonic clown must be fake,¡± Su Chen harrumphed and ignored it

    A momentter, however, the demonic illusion suddenly howled piercingly, appearing to take on physical substance as it bit at him.

    Su Chen stood there motionless, gathering his consciousness energy and attacking.

    Consciousness techniques were the most effective against illusion targets.

    With how powerful Su Chen¡¯s consciousness was, he was able to easily st that ethereal target to smithereens.

    However, more of these creatures began to appear, constantly shrieking and howling as they circled around Su Chen, giving off an incredibly sinister vibe.

    ¡°Illusion realm?¡± Su Chen immediately became suspicious.

    But when had he fallen into an illusion realm? He hadn¡¯t seen anyone near him just moments ago; his consciousness was powerful enough to ensure that this was the case.

    What was happening?

    An idea suddenly surfaced in Su Chen¡¯s mind, and he quickly came to a realization of what had happened.

    ¡°Li Daohong......¡± he muttered.

    Su Chen understood that this had to be due to Li Daohong¡¯s interference.

    The Li n¡¯s Dream Beauty Bloodline was the weakest of the seven imperial families in terms of directbat strength, but it also possessed a number of unique abilities that could be used outside of the battlefield.

    For instance, users would be able to unleash attacks from long distances and cause a person to fall into an illusion realm. This was exactly a skill that the Dream Beauty Bloodline conferred upon its users.

    If he was currently experiencing an attack from a user with this bloodline, then he wasn¡¯t in an illusion realm but in a dream realm.

    Because the Dream Beauty was the ruler of nightmares.

    Li Daohong had probably already pulled him into a dream realm and was constructing nightmares to deal with him. The Dream Beauty¡¯s nightmares weren¡¯t only used to scare people - they were a genuine threat.

    But these nightmares wouldn¡¯t actually end up killing the opponent, or perhaps it was more urate to say that a person wouldn¡¯t really die when they were killed by them.

    If they did die to the nightmares, it would only be once in a dream. After they regained consciousness, they would return to themselves and would be fine.

    But every time they died in that dream realm, their soul would have a slight bit eaten off, eventually resulting in them going into a daze.

    If a person remained in this kind of situation for a long time, they would eventually die from having their soulpletely devoured.

    Of course, the rate at which this took ce was extremely slow.

    The Li n had managed to use nightmares to kill someone before, but it had taken three years for them to torment an Origin Qi Schr to death.

    Yet this Origin Qi Schr had been a low-tier one. If they wanted to try and kill a high-tier Origin Qi Schr, it probably would have taken them even longer.

    As such, the Li n didn¡¯t rely on this tactic alone to kill their opponents.

    More often than not, they would tunnel into a person¡¯s thoughts and begin to alter them.

    For instance, the person could develop favorable or fearful feelings towards the Li n through these dreams. Seeds of hate or of love could be nted and reaped at ater date.

    This had happened before in the Li n¡¯s history. Their matriarch, Li Xiangchen, had assumed the identity of a famous courtesan and sowed the seeds of fear in many powerful experts during her travels. When she encountered these powerful opponents in the future, they would be unable to take advantage of the opportunity to kill her. Just when they were confident that they could kill her, these seeds of fear would manifest in an intense way, causing their consciousness to copse. Even though there were some experts who were able to eventually fight back the influence of this fear, they were easily dispatched by Li Xiangchen during that process.

    And the Dream Beauty Bloodline could not only nt seeds of fear, but also of love, or submission, etc. Over time, this imperceptible influence would cause others to submit, resulting in an effect simr to that of the Slyheart Zhu n¡¯s bewitching techniques. In addition, there was no restrictions on the use of these skills. The only w was that this process took a long time - on the scale of many years to control a single person - and that the process could actually fail. But as long as a person was patient enough and was willing to broaden their, it was entirely possible to gain a group of loyal supporters over the span of a few years.

    This was how Li Daohong had obtained his sacrificial warriors.

    As such, even if the Dream Beauty Bloodline¡¯sbat power was the weakest, they could do as they pleased if they were given enough time.

    Li Daohong was currently using this Soul Departing Dream on Su Chen.

 Sect - Book 5, 107: Dream Figh

    Chapter 107: Dream Fight

    Soul Departing Dream was an offensive-type dream realm. A person who was mired inside the dreamrealm would be attacked by these dream creatures.

    As mentioned before, even if a person died to these nightmares, they would only lose a portion of their consciousness energy and wouldn¡¯t be affected too much.

    Li Daohong could only choose this tactic because the distance between him and Su Chen was simply too great.

    Even though the Dream Beauty Bloodline could be activated from long distances, the cost would increase the further the distance. In addition, since it was daytime, Su Chen was currently in an awake state. Li Daohong had forcefully dragged him into the dream realm.

    Theseplicating circumstances made it very difficult for Li Daohong topletely demonstrate the power of the Dream Beauty Bloodline. Thankfully, his goal was only to temporarily dy Su Chen, so he ended up deciding to use the simplest and most barbaric technique to attack Su Chen. Even though the Soul Departing Dream was the weakest tactic the Dream Beauty Bloodline possessed, it had the lowest requirements on energy expenditure as a result. This was part of the reason why Li Daohong was able to immediately able to pull Su Chen into the dream realm.

    Su Chen was delighted as he watched the nightmares encroaching.

    Using a dream realm on me?

    Li Daohong, you really have an active imagination!

    The Dream Beauty Bloodline¡¯s power was quite impressive.

    But unfortunately, it was too well-known.

    The n had been around for tens of thousands of years, meaning that the existence of this bloodline was very well-known. As such, it wasn¡¯t a secret at all.

    People had understood the ins and outs of the Dream Beauty Bloodline a long time ago, so they had also developed plenty of ways to counterattack.

    The Dream Beauty Bloodline was powerful, and the nightmares it produced were endless.

    But these nightmares were also made from consciousness energy and could also be destroyed by consciousness attacks, which was why Su Chen had managed to destroy them.

    For this reason, the best way to deal with the Dream Beauty Bloodline¡¯s attacks was still to use consciousness power.

    Battling in the dream realm was done just by consciousness energy.

    The Li n strongly warned its disciples to never drag someone with a stronger consciousness into a dream realm because it would create problems.

    Li Daohong¡¯s consciousness was indeed powerful, and with the support of the Attendant¡¯s Brain and a consciousness-type Origin Tool, his consciousness power was at 1200 units. This was already incredibly impressive amongst his peers.

    He would never guess in a million years that there was someone at the same cultivation realm as him that was even stronger than him.

    He was kicking an iron board without even realizing it.

    Without equipment, Su Chen¡¯s consciousness power was already at two thousand units; with equipment, three thousand. There was no way that Li Daohong could possiblypete with him.

    There was only one possible oue when using a dream realm against him, especially if it was Soul Departing Dream.

    As such, after confirming that Li Daohong had indeed dragged him into the Soul Departing Dream, Su Chen was immediately much more at ease.

    As he watched the nightmares gather around him, Su Chen decided to do nothing and allowed them to attack him, instead only erecting Heart Walls around himself.

    Now that Su Chen wasn¡¯t fighting back, the nightmares hissed and howled as they ran at Su Chen, tearing at his body.

    Even though they were in a dream realm, the pain from being wed at by those nightmares was incredibly real.

    Unfortunately, these nightmares were simply too weak. Their ws simply grazed Su Chen¡¯s skin.

    It wasn¡¯t that the nightmares¡¯ attacks weren¡¯t strong - Su Chen¡¯s consciousness was simply too powerful.

    In a dream realm, consciousness power was roughly equivalent to life force. The nightmares¡¯ individual lifeforce was around twenty units, while Su Chen¡¯s was at three thousand. Perhaps the nightmares¡¯ would have been able to tear most opponents to shreds, but they were much more inferior against Su Chen. With Heart Walls¡¯ powerful protection, the nightmares¡¯ attacks would have a hard time even scratching his skin. And any wounds that they did inflict were automatically regenerated.

    Li Daohong was immediately perplexed.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? Howe my attacks seem totally ineffective?¡± Li Daohong didn¡¯t understand.

    Even though he was the one pulling Su Chen into the dream realm, that didn¡¯t mean he had total control over the situation.

    Even though he was the one pulling his opponent into the dream realm, the dream realm also belonged to his opponent. The opponent always had host advantage, but most of the time they were ignorant about dream realms, which would allow Li Daohong to im the advantage for himself, doing as he pleased amongst the other party¡¯s ¡°home.¡± But there was no way he could possibly control a target like Su Chen, whose consciousness power far outstripped his. As such, Li Daohong could only take action based on how the dream realm responded.

    But as he controlled his nightmares, the only response that he got was that they were currently attacking their target.

    There was seemingly no end.

    What was happening?

    Li Daohong had only ever experienced two oues - either he was able to wipe his opponent out, continuously killing them as they revived, or his nightmares were wiped out by his opponent. From this, Li Daohong would either choose to attack or retreat.

    He had never experienced something like this before.

    Howe his attacks weren¡¯t causing any kind of reaction?

    He couldn¡¯t understand.

    But apart from the first nightmare, which had been fought off, the remaining nightmares were perfectly fine, so he decided to just continue attacking.

    It was only natural that Li Daohong woulde to this conclusion.

    He began to gather more of his consciousness energy in order to construct more nightmares.

    Even so, the increased number of nightmares he created didn¡¯t seem to have any effect at all.

    Li Daohong was utterly bewildered.

    Fine, then I¡¯ll create another wave.

    He constantly poured in consciousness energy, wanting to defeat his opponent in one fell swoop. However, his opponent seemed to be made out of air. No matter how the nightmares wed at him, he refused to die.

    At this point, Su Chen was being surrounded by hundreds of nightmares, all attacking him.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t mind. He watched the nightmares attacking him as he inspected the secrets of the dream realm.

    Yes, it was an old habit. As long as the circumstances allowed it, Su Chen would definitely try and analyze it. Perhaps he would be able to discover something he could use in the future.

    Dream techniques were hard toe by. They were somewhat different to illusion realms but achieved simr results. However, illusion techniques were useful in the real world, while dream techniques were only useful in dream realms.

    Su Chen¡¯s Fata Morgana was totally useless here, but his experience with a different system became useful here.

    That was the Dreamrealm.

    The Dreamrealm was also a dream realm, but it belonged to the Lord of the Dreamrealm and his Dream Spirits. It was shared by them.

    This was why the Dreamrealm was sorge and could contain so many sentient organisms at once to form awork.

    Inparison, the dream realm Su Chen was in was quite tiny both in terms of space and in terms of the internal environment.

    Even so, their sharedmonalities allowed Su Chen¡¯s understanding to increase and be even deeper than anyone else.

    Because he was a Dream Monarch!

    All of the people entering the Dreamrealm were treated as guests, but different guests had different privileges. Dream Guests, Dream Officers, and Dream Monarchs delineated these privilege tiers.

    As a Dream Monarch, Su Chen had many benefits within the Dreamrealm. He could suppress other peoples¡¯ notices and promote his own notices. He had all of the privileges that no one else did. In addition, he could construct a residence of his own within the Dreamrealm, and he could also pay a certain fee to put out an unlimited amount of notices.

    Of course, being able to suppress other peoples¡¯ notices and promote his own was much more important than creating a residence of his own design.

    However, thetter was far more important when it came to aidingprehension of a dream realm.

    Even though the former privilege was critical, it all merely came down to aparison of privileges between one guest and another. One guest couldpletely suppress another guest without being punished at all, but it wouldn¡¯t help that guest better understand the dream realm or bend it to his will.

    On the other hand, building a house in the dreamrealm and unlimited transmission was all rted to the use of the Dreamrealm itself. These privileges were actually incredibly useful.

    As a result, Su Chen¡¯s understanding of dream realms far exceeded that of anyone else.

    In addition, he was the Worldly Sage. His research ability was probably unparalleled amongst the entire human race, which also aided in his deep understanding of dream realms. However, he hadcked a side-by-sideparison in the past. Now that he had been dragged into a small dream realm, he was immediately able topare his experience.

    Of course, because this dream realm was small, it was much easier for Su Chen to analyze its basic makeup.

    Su Chen felt a strange sensation as he nced at the nightmares howling and scratching at him.

    He felt like he could control these nightmares.

    He couldn¡¯t really exin this feeling, but he had never really felt it before.

    But when he tried to do so, he discovered that he had no way to do it.

    He didn¡¯t know how he should do it.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this a problem of technique? Dream techniques...... Since it¡¯s a technique, there must naturally be an underlying principle. But unfortunately I haven¡¯t learned even a single such technique, so I don¡¯t know where to start. But...... I do know that this is my dream realm! Su Chen muttered.

    This is my dream realm!

    In this ce, you are the guest, while I am the master!

    An enemy was knocking on his front door, trying to affect his consciousness, change his memories, infiltrate his thoughts, and control his mood.

    But was it really that simple?

    By relying on his powerful consciousness, Su Chen was far more alert than any other target Li Daohong had faced before.

    By relying on this alertness, he was able to observe these nightmares.

    It was only natural that his abilities were useless in this dream realm.

    But as he inspected his surroundings, his eyes began to glow with a faint luster.

    Microscopic eyes!

    His microscopic eyes revealed the true essence of the dream realm.

    In the dream realm, all of his abilities were useless!

    In the dream realm, all of his abilities were useable!

    These two conflicting ideas existed simultaneously in this dream realm.

    If you didn¡¯t know the underlying principles, then you wouldn¡¯t be able to use anything. But if you did, then anything coulde into being.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t really know what state he was in at the moment. All he could do was closely observe his surroundings, watching those nightmares.

    Su Chen could see faint lines connecting them to something.

    Consciousness strands.

    It was these consciousness strands that were the source of these nightmares that were running rampant through this dream realm.

    He activated his consciousness crystal madly as he attempted to record down this whole scene, observing the entire

    Then, he quietly said, ¡°Break!¡±

    Bang, bang, bang, bang!

    The consciousness strands connected to the nightmares were all severed.

    On the faraway cloud, Li Daohong suddenly cried out as his eyes rolled into the back of his head before toppling face first onto the cloud.

 Sect - Book 5, 108: Blurred Dream

    Chapter 108: Blurred Dream

    ¡°Daohong!¡± Night God Sun yelled as he lifted Li Daohong back up.

    Li Daohong sat there for some time with a dumb expression before replying with a simple ¡°Ah.¡±

    ¡°What happened?¡± Night God Sun asked.

    What happened?

    Li Daohong opened his mouth a few times but didn¡¯t know what to say.

    Because he himself wasn¡¯t really clear what had happened either.

    He had been in the process of creating arge number of nightmares and sending them to attack his opponent, when all of a sudden his consciousness connection was severed.

    That wouldn¡¯t have been such a big deal, but creating nightmares expended consciousness energy.

    Now, he had left behind a lot of consciousness energy to his opponent. This affected him significantly, causing his consciousness power to decline.

    What happened?

    Li Daohong cared a lot about his face. Before he could figure out what had happened, there was no way that he would admit that he had just lost consciousness power to his opponent.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, he blinked and said, ¡°Nothing. Let me try again.¡±

    He entered the dream realm again.

    This time, he was able to pull Su Chen into the dream realm even more rapidly.

    Because Su Chen hadn¡¯t left the dream realm yet.

    It wasn¡¯t that he couldn¡¯t, but that he didn¡¯t want to.

    Once he had severed Li Daohong¡¯s consciousness, the nightmares were left behind in his world and were no longer being controlled. Next, Su Chen was able to turn these nightmares back into consciousness energy with but a thought, iming them for himself.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Su Chen was surprised to find that his consciousness energy was increasing.

    Even though the increase wasn¡¯t very much, it was representative of an exciting future - perhaps he would be able to increase his consciousness power like this in the future.

    More importantly, however, Su Chen learned how to use the nightmares.

    After absorbing them, he was able to dissect them, and his consciousness crystal was able to produce a method for controlling these nightmares.

    Of course, he was still far from being able to storm someone else¡¯s dream realm and construct these nightmares, but he was at least more than capable of defending himself.

    A momentter, arge wave of nightmares appeared yet again.

    This time, however, they were under Su Chen¡¯s control.

    ¡°How ugly. Let¡¯s change the way they look.¡± Su Chen wasn¡¯t a big fan of how these nightmares looked. With but a thought, the nightmares changed form, wearing ck clothes and wielding razor-sharp des in their hands. This way, the nightmares had be Su Chen¡¯s dream guards.

    Only their outward appearance had changed, however; their essence was still the same, and they were still meant for attacking. Because they had been created inside a dream realm belonging to Su Chen, however, the consciousness energy he had used to make them would return to him when they were destroyed.

    Just as Su Chen was reveling in this new sensation, Li Daohong suddenly barged in again.

    ¡°Again?¡± Su Chen was a bit surprised.

    This was his first time sensing that Li Daohong was infiltrating his mind..

    Since this guy wanted toe at him, then there was no point in being polite.

    Su Chen ordered his dream guards to retreat, allowing Li Daohong¡¯s consciousness to enter.

    Li Daohong found it incredibly easy to enter. He had originally thought that it would take some time to take down the consciousness walls, saving him a lot of time and effort.

    That must have been an ident, Li Daohong thought to himself.

    He didn¡¯t believe that a weak Harpy could possibly have a stronger consciousness than him or see through the tactic he had used so easily, turning the situation around on him.

    This sounded incredibly simple, but it was actually quite difficult.

    Li Daohong didn¡¯t believe that it could possibly happen to him, so he was more willing to believe that it was some kind of ident. Perhaps it was some kind of strange consciousness fluctuation that had severed his connection in the first ce.

    He wanted to get a better grip on the situation. Perhaps he would also be able to regain the consciousness power he had lost.

    Li Daohong charged into the realm with this kind of a thought in his mind.

    This time, however, he was much more careful.

    Instead of using the nightmares to sneak in, he chose a different tactic.

    A poetic, picturesque scene appeared before Su Chen¡¯s eyes.

    Su Chen watched as the empty space that he had originally upied suddenly became much richer and filled with content.

    Mountains, rivers, the sky, and the earth all appeared.

    The appearance of such beautiful scenery almost felt like it was real.

    Unfortunately, almost was the same as not at all.

    This time, Li Daohong had chosen to use the Blurred Dream.

    The Blurred Dream didn¡¯t really pose a killing threat, but it could alter a person¡¯s perception, allowing the user to then nt the seed that they desired.

    However, the prerequisite to the sess of this technique was that the opponent was unaware that they were in a dream realm.

    Normally, this Blurred Dream would have somewhat of a bewitching effect on its target when used, causing that person to sink into a reverie. Actually, most dream realms had this effect, but Blurred Dream did this to a greater extent.

    Unfortunately, Li Daohong¡¯s opponent was Su Chen.

    Li Daohong had no idea how powerful Su Chen¡¯s consciousness was.

    The gap in consciousness power between the two of them was the foundation of the battle. When two people wrestled, strength was always the basis no matter how skilled they were. If a person had no strength to speak of, there was nothing they could do no matter how agile or nimble they were.

    Even though Su Chen didn¡¯t have a particrly deep grasp of dream techniques, his powerful consciousness gave him the ability to preserve his alertness even in the face of Blurred Dream.

    As such, he waspletely unaffected.

    Most importantly, Su Chen hadn¡¯t counterattacked.

    Without counterattacking, Li Daohong would have no way of knowing whether he had managed to bewitch Su Chen or not.

    In fact, he made the opposite conclusion, which was that he had seeded.

    As such, he proceeded with the next step.

    Su Chen watched as a Harpy vige appeared, nestled in between the mountains and the rivers.

    The vige was not veryrge, but it seemed to be bustling with noise and excitement.

    A few beautiful Harpy women floated around him, attending to his needs.

    One of them looked a bit like Zhu Xianyao. It appeared that Li Daohong had modeled the Harpy¡¯s appearance based on her...... This bastard truly hadn¡¯t given up on Zhu Xianyao yet.

    Su Chen nced a bit longer at Zhu Xianyao. Li Daohong seemed to take that as feedback and thought that Su Chen was particrly attracted by this female. He then decided to use this Harpy to try and entice Su Chen.

    ¡°Oh, he¡¯s trying to nt the seed of love in me. If he activates this seed in the future, will I lose control of my passions?¡± Su Chen seemed to understand.

    But Li Daohong was a male. How would he activate this seed of love in the future?

    Would he have someone else activate it? Or would Su Chen see him as a woman? Or would the seed take effect regardless?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t want to think about this any further.

    He watched the Harpy female fly enticingly around him momentarily before activating his microscopic eyes, working hard to dissect this Blurred Dream.

    Given that he had already managed to seed once, Su Chen found his continued efforts much easier.

    He very quickly reverse-engineered the Blurred Dream, then honed his consciousness energy into a de, once again severing Li Daohong¡¯s connection with this dream realm.

    Li Daohong suddenly felt a wave of dizziness ovee him as he toppled over.

    This time, Night God Sun was much more prepared.

    Upon seeing him awaken, Night God Sun said, ¡°Brother, are you alright?¡±

    ¡°I......¡± Li Daohong stared at Night God Sun.

    Damn, howe the connection was severed again?

    And what about my consciousness energy?

    Constructing a Blurred Dream was much costlier than constructing a Soul Departing Dream. This time, he had lost nearly a hundred units of consciousness energy.

    Li Daohong almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

    What was happening?

    Why was it happening?

    Night God Sun was still staring at him with concern.

    He stared at Night God Sun and forcefully suppressed theints in his heart as he said, ¡°I, I¡¯m fine.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good to hear.¡± Night God Sun nodded.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, he asked, ¡°Then are you nning on continuing?¡±

    Li Daohong¡¯s vein pulsed momentarily before he gritted his teeth and said, ¡°Damn!¡±

    Li Daohong hadn¡¯t given up yet.

    He wanted to take another look at why the situation had turned out like this.

    Su Chen had only just finished analyzing the Blurred Dream when he suddenly felt his consciousness tremble momentarily.

    Hm?

    He was back?

    He had actuallye back?

    Su Chen was incredibly surprised, but he still weed it.

    Next, he watched as the scenery around him morphed, this time taking the shape of an imperial pce.

    Su Chen was sitting on the seat of power in Sky City. Countless important Harpies surrounded him, bowing to him as his loyal subjects.

    ¡°So now he¡¯s trying to entice me with power?¡± Su Chen muttered.

    It was still the Blurred Dream, but with a different kind of seed.

    On the other hand, Li Daohong had also changed things up.

    This time, he was no longer using his own consciousness energy. Instead, he was leading Su Chen¡¯s consciousness energy to construct this brand new world.

    ¡°What kind of skill is that?¡± Su Chen¡¯s interest was greatly piqued.

    Using the opponent¡¯s consciousness power to construct a dream realm? That was quite the skill. Even if Li Daohong failed, he wouldn¡¯t have to worry about the consciousness bacsh.

    But it probably wasn¡¯t that easy, right?

    So why didn¡¯t Li Daohong use it from the very beginning?

    It was clear that this skill had some other ws to it.

    Regardless, Su Chen¡¯s attention had been captured.

    He began to dissect it again.

    Because this was still the Blurred Dream, there wasn¡¯t much to dissect. After all, Su Chen could remember something forever with the help of the consciousness crystal. But in order for Su Chen to further understand what Li Daohong had done, he would need topare the differences.

    He was very quickly able to discover what these differences were.

    So Li Daohong had first constructed aplete thought before infusing it into Su Chen¡¯s mind, baiting his will into following along the path that Li Daohong had carefullyid out before it.

    Li Daohong was basically ying the role of a kind and gentle mentor, leading Su Chen¡¯s consciousness power in the direction that he wanted to.

    The reason this was possible was because Su Chen¡¯s consciousness power was simply too great, making it impossible for Li Daohong to really control him.

    But this ced quite a high burden on Li Daohong himself as well.

    Instead of barging his way into Su Chen¡¯s dream realm, he seemed to be circling around the walls this time, using all kinds of secret techniques to influence Su Chen from the shadows. Of course, this would require even more consciousness energy to do.

    Li Daohong seemed to have been thoroughly scared off by Su Chen. He was willing to expend quite a bit more Origin Energy in order to avoid having to infiltrate Su Chen¡¯s mind.

    He would be able to recover this expenditure, but anything that Su Chen had forcefully seized was forfeit.

    When he saw this, Su Chen was delighted.

    Did you think there was nothing I could do to you if you stayed outside the walls?

    If you won¡¯te in, then I¡¯ll open the front door and drag you in.

    Before this, Su Chen didn¡¯t even know how to open this door.

    But Li Daohong¡¯s infiltration was teaching Su Chen how to better use and control his consciousness power.

    At this point, opening a door was incredibly simple.

    If nothing else worked, he could even knock down the walls.

    Li Daohong never would have even dreamed that he had run into such a prodigy of an opponent.

    He was still carefully circling the walls of Su Chen¡¯s consciousness, constantly expending consciousness energy to direct Su Chen¡¯s will, when all of a sudden the front door to Su Chen¡¯s consciousness opened wide.

    Li Daohong¡¯s mind was forcefully pulled into Su Chen¡¯s dream realm.

    Thest thing Li Daohong saw was Su Chen¡¯s smiling expression.

    He said, ¡°Hello.¡±

    A sudden jolt of pain shot through Li Daohong¡¯s head as the consciousness connection was severed yet again.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 109: Obstructed

    Chapter 109: Obstructed

    ¡°No! You bastard!¡± Li Daohong howled madly.

    How could he not have realized what had happened to him at this point?

    He had been yed!

    Now, he was in a miserable state, and had lost nearly two hundred units of consciousness power as a consequence.

    Two hundred units!

    He only had 1200 in the first ce, meaning that he had lost one-sixth of his total consciousness power in one disaster.

    Actually, it was more like three disasters.

    Su Chen was still muttering something to himself over in his mind¡¯s imperial pce.

    He could absolutely understand Li Daohong¡¯s anger at the moment.

    Even so, his opponent¡¯s suffering was his happiness. Su Chen was quite satisfied with the oue.

    Unfortunately, a fourth infiltration never came, which made Su Chen slightly regretful. After all, not too many opportunities to boost his consciousness energy woulde about.

    Su Chen¡¯s strength had increased significantly after gaining two hundred consciousness units, but more importantly, he had learned a lot from Li Daohong¡¯s dream techniques.

    Even though his mastery of them was still quite shallow, as long as Su Chen put in the time, he would be able to improve them significantly over time.

    In that sense, Li Daohong had managed to nt a seed.

    However, this seed was a sacrificial seed that showed Su Chen the path of dream techniques.

    Su Chen was in a great mood. He had managed to obtain these dream techniques for free, and even as he did so, his treasure search had continued. It was a broad stroke ¡ª he had sent out countless clones to continue searching in all directions.

    The more clones he used, the more ground he could cover. One of the clones very quickly reported back some interesting information.

    It had discovered something in one of the nearby destroyed pces.

    Su Chen extravagantly activated Light Shaking Phantom, directly swapping ces with that clone.

    He appeared in front of a row of books.

    After briefly flipping through these books, he was able to confirm that they were Jade Clearmist¡¯s collections. This rare collection contained the findings and experiences of a number of legendary Arcana Masters.

    Indeed, he truly understood himself the best.

    This was truly an incredibly valuable discovery for Su Chen.

    He chuckled and stored all of the books away.

    With these books in hand, Su Chen¡¯s trip had already proven to be well worth the effort, even if he didn¡¯t manage to find anything else.

    Of course, if there were other benefits to be found, Su Chen wasn¡¯t nning on letting them slip by either.

    Unfortunately, after the entire secret realm was discarded, it seemed that this pce had been plundered by the void creatures. As such, apart from the inedible books, nothing else of great value was to be found.

    Despite that, he was able to find somemon resources in a rtively secluded corner of the destroyed pce.

    Su Chen thought that these resources were better than nothing and ended up taking them too.

    There wasn¡¯t much else to do here, so Su Chen could only switch hunting grounds. In any case, this realm was huge, so there was definitely more to search than just this single location. Perhaps he would find other benefits elsewhere.

    If that didn¡¯t work, then he could go hunt some more of those metallic creatures.

    This thought had only popped into Su Chen¡¯s head because he had just happened to spot a group of the creatures that had fled from him earlier. It seemed like this batch had around thirty or forty of them.

    Since there was nothing else for him to do here, then he might as well harvest these guys too. He stopped for a moment to think about the best way to prevent them from running away again. After all, chasing after them was incredibly annoying......

    ¡°This ce is toorge. It will most likely take some time to find Sir Azure Mark,¡± Youthful Abundance said agitatedly as she surveyed her surroundings. They were currently on the opposite side of the realm as Su Chen.

    And standing beside her was arge group of Wind-Gathering n members.

    ¡°Silly girl, what good would it do for us to find him?¡± One of the Wind-Gathering n¡¯s members harrumphed. ¡°The situation now is perfect. He can do as he pleases, while we can also do as we please. Isn¡¯t that just fine?¡±

    ¡°How can that be fine?¡± Youthful Abundance rebuked. ¡°Sir Azure Mark is our leader. We can¡¯t decide to move on our own!¡±

    Another one of the Wind-Gathering n¡¯s members angrily replied, ¡°Have you be addled from acting as that guy¡¯s servant for too long? Jade Clearmist¡¯s secret realm belongs to the Wind-Gathering n in the first ce. Why should we hand it over to him? He tookmand almost immediately and spouted nonsense like leaving us three items. What kind of principle is that? And yet you want us to continue acting as his ves rather than try to escape from his control? Are you an idiot?¡±

    ¡°Second Word, that¡¯s enough.¡± One of the Wind-Gathering n¡¯s elders hurriedly stopped that young Harpy¡¯s torrential abuse.

    Youthful Abundance was stunned.

    She wasn¡¯t an idiot. When she heard Second Word¡¯s words and looked at him, then at the other members of her n, she seemed to suddenly realize something and began to shout, ¡°So you...... You guys were the ones who split us up!¡±

    All of the Wind-Gathering n¡¯s members¡¯ expressions immediately shifted.

    The young, hot-blooded Second Word was the first to speak up. ¡°Yes, it was us! So what if you know? It wasn¡¯t some kind of void creature that separated us. We brought the Chaotic Space Origin Formation in with us, and took advantage of the ck fog to set it up and activate it. That¡¯s how we ended up separating from him.¡±

    ¡°Why would you do this!?¡± Youthful Abundance yelled hysterically.

    Second Wordughed. ¡°Didn¡¯t I already answer you? If we search the secret realm together, any benefits we find will belong to Azure Mark. On the other hand, if we split up, we can keep anything that we find. The n leader already told us to split up and search the surrounding areas to avoid any benefits being taken away by Azure Mark. We should use anything we can use immediately, or if we cannot, try to hide it. Anything you find belongs to you. It¡¯s all better than having a treasure fall into the hands of Azure Mark! And anything that we can¡¯t eat, hide, or smuggle out, we will give to him.¡±

    Youthful Abundance was taken aback.

    She never would have expected Wind-Gathering Ascension, who always maintained such a respectful exterior, to have actually prepared such a devious strategy behind the scenes.

    Even so, this was the exact attitude that an Intelligent Race n should have had.

    No one would ever be willing to hand over their hard-earned treasures so easily. The reality was that they would do everything in their power to try and keep the benefits for themselves.

    Wind-Gathering Ascension couldn¡¯t beat Azure Mark in a frontal confrontation, and had thus been forced to rely on Azure Mark¡¯s strength to some degree. Thus, he could only bow his head. But just because he had bowed his head didn¡¯t mean that he would stop brewing other ns behind the scenes.

    His n was to split everyone up so that they could use their numbers to try andpete for benefits.

    That was not a surprise in the slightest.

    Of course, Wind-Gathering Ascension was making a gamble.

    He was betting that Su Chen wouldn¡¯t kill them all, even if he were to find out.

    This had to do with the unique perceptiveness of an old Harpy.

    Even though Su Chen had put on a cold and calcting demeanor, this old Harpy could tell that he wasn¡¯t a person who disregarded all life. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have spared all of the Harpies that used to live on Dragon Mountain City.

    That was the basis upon which Wind-Gathering Ascension had made a bold gamble.

    The Wind-Gathering n had thus enacted their n to split into a number of small teams that immediately scattered. This way, they would be able to cast a wide while still maintaining a baselinebat strength.

    Youthful Abundance never expected the situation to develop like this. She stared at her fellow n members and despondently asked, ¡°Why? Why didn¡¯t you tell me earlier?¡±

    ¡°Tell you?¡± Second Word coldly harrumphed. ¡°Look at how loyal you are to Sir Azure Mark. If we told you, then could we have trusted your promise to not tell him? And what would we do if you did tell him?¡±

    Was that so?

    So her n had already deemed her untrustworthy?

    Youthful Abundance felt a bit dizzy.

    One of the elders eventually couldn¡¯t watch this any longer and said, ¡°Shut your mouth and keep quiet. Youthful Abundance, the n head told us not to tell you for your own benefit. You are always by his side, and you aren¡¯t very good at lying either. Given how careful that Azure Mark is, it¡¯s incredibly likely that he would detect our ns if you knew about them. We really didn¡¯t intend on this n at the very beginning either. The n head kept it hidden in his heart, afraid that Azure Mark would find out. He only told us the night before we entered the realm in order to prevent any idents from happening. Don¡¯t think about it too much.¡±

    Youthful Abundance was silent.

    ¡°I think she¡¯s be addicted to being a ve. There¡¯s no point in wasting your breath on her,¡± Second Word said disdainfully.

    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s not talk about this any longer. We¡¯re better off trying to figure out if there¡¯s anything valuable close by. Don¡¯t let the n head¡¯s efforts go to waste,¡± the elder said.

    Everyone began to split up to search the area.

    ¡°Look, there¡¯s a field of zed Jade Tobo over there.¡± Some Harpies very quickly made a discovery and called the rest of the Harpies over to take a look.

    Indeed, there was a field of zed Jade Tobo in the distance. This kind of tobo was a unique fragrant herb used by the Harpies to increase the power of their consciousnesses. Harpies would often light one when cultivating their consciousness power. Even though it wasn¡¯t as effective as directly drinking a consciousness-improving medicine, it would still increase the efficiency of their cultivation significantly.

    This field was actually worth quite a bit.

    The elder was delighted. Just as he was about to order everyone toe over and harvest the field, he discovered that there seemed to be some strange lifeforms lingering near the field.

    These creatures seemed quite small and were running through the fields, keeping their heads low as if they were running from something. Even though their joints were made of metal, a quick inspection of their Origin Energy levels revealed that they were quite weak. It was obvious that they wouldn¡¯t pose much of a threat to them, so the elder gave themand. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±

    Therge group of Wind-Gathering Harpies advanced.

    Those creatures were just wandering aimlessly through the fields when they suddenly saw arge group of Harpies rushing in their direction. They immediately revealed fearful expressions as they turned around to flee.

    It would have been fine if the Harpies just chased them off, but there were some people who just wanted to start trouble. When those troublemakers saw that the creatures were behaving that cowardly, some of themunched fireballs at them.

    Unexpectedly, all that happened was that the fireballs burst on the creatures¡¯ skins upon impact, leaving no marks. The creatures weren¡¯t even wounded.

    ¡°They¡¯re that tough?¡± The Wind-Gathering n¡¯s members were stunned.

    The group of creatures, which was just about to turn tail and run, suddenly froze.

    They nced at each other, then at their opponents, before suddenly turning around again and baring their fangs.

    An instantter, a wave of energy pressed down on the Harpies. Some of the weaker ones were immediately forced prostrate on the ground.

    Next, a few of the creatures leapt into the air, used their unique method of aerial transportation to soar through the air, and unleashed punches at one of the fallen Harpies.

    Bang!

    Blood and flesh flew through the air as that Harpy was immediately pulverized.

    ¡°Not good! These creatures have very powerful physical bodies!¡± the Harpy elder yelled.

    Of course, it was already far toote to regret their decision.

    Therge group of metal creatures howled as they charged forwards, their feet mming against the ground. Even though theirbat style wasn¡¯t particrly sophisticated, each blow of theirs was incredibly powerful, and sharp metal bones protruded all over their bodies. This made each and every one of them into a sharp ball that shed through the air, sending violent fluctuations of energy cascading down onto the fleeing Harpies. Their frustration had been suppressed until now, where they had suddenly found an opportunity to vent their frustration. In but an instant, almost half of the Wind-Gathering n¡¯s members had been ughtered.

    ¡°Run!¡± the Harpy elder howled loudly as he did his best to rally the n members and resist the powerful attacks crashing down on them.

    All of the Harpies simultaneously flew backwards.

    But even though those creatures were quite short, their temperament was incredibly fiery. As soon as they realized that these Harpies were no match for them, they began to pursue their targets relentlessly.

    The Harpies could only do their best to fly away. When the Wind-Gathering n members noticed a few Harpies standing in the distance, they flew in their direction, regardless of whether those Harpies were their enemies or not. They yelled, ¡°Help us!¡±

    These wandering Harpies were drifters who hade after seeing themotion. They didn¡¯t really know what was going on. All they saw was a few short creatures chasing arge group of Harpies. These creatures seemed to have rtively weak Origin Energy signatures. As such, these drifter Harpies naturally thought that the creatures were incredibly weak. Unexpectedly, one of the creatures broke off from the main group and started charging towards one of the drifters, raising its ded w.

    This single strike cleaved the Harpy in two,pletely ignoring his defensive barrier.

    The remaining Harpies were stunned. How could they possibly dare still think of fighting? They all immediately turned tail and ran, cursing the Wind-Gathering n all the while for dragging them into the mess. All they could do now was run along with arge group. Even if they weren¡¯t able to find reinforcements, perhaps more people would be able to escape with arger group.

    As they furiously attempted to escape, they soon found anotherrge group of Harpies flying in their direction.

    This time, however, the situation was obviously different. The Harpy in the very lead waspletely bald. It was obvious that he wasn¡¯t a friendly one.

    ¡°It¡¯s the Hunting Wind Bandits!¡± one of the more perceptive Harpies yelled loudly.

    All of the Harpies present began to panic.

    Now, there was a blockade in front of them and a group of pursuers behind them.

 Sect - Book 5, 110: Stormy Spiral

    Chapter 110: Stormy Spiral

    The group of Hunting Wind Bandits fanned out and barked, ¡°All of you, if you want to live, then surrender immediately and hand over the treasures you¡¯ve found!¡±

    Even though they were notorious for being the dogs of the Sky Country¡¯s government, doing their dirty work for them, bandits were still bandits. Their attitude was just as fierce and straightforward as most human bandits.

    But just because they weremon bandits didn¡¯t mean that they were weak.

    The individual leading the rest of the Harpies had no wings.

    These Wingless Harpies were a specialized kind of warrior that walked the path of physical strength. Because the Harpies possessed innately weak bodies, theycked soldiers that could serve as meat shields and tanks. Thus, they had done their best to think of many different ways to train up such soldiers.

    The Wingless Harpies were one such example.

    When these warriors reached a high enough cultivation tier, their wings would fall off. They were meant to serve as a frontline shield for other Harpy soldiers.

    However, the cultivation path of a Wingless Harpy was incredibly difficult and fraught with suffering. It required arge investment, and even then, the sess rate was quite low. As a result, this project had been considered an overall failure.

    There were less than a hundred Wingless Harpies in existence, and most of them were raised byrge noble ns to meet their needs. To these Harpy ns, which were so rich that they sometimes didn¡¯t even know what to spend their money on, price-to-performance was the least of their concerns.

    There weren¡¯t many Wingless Harpies in the first ce, and even fewer of them were able to cultivate to a high enough tier.

    The Wingless Harpy before them¡¯s physical strength was roughly equivalent to that of a high-tier Totemic Warrior amongst the Ravagers. He was definitely not an easy character to defeat.

    On the other side, the Wind-Gathering n¡¯s elder was known as Wind-Gathering Evergreen, a Fifth-Ring Arcana Master. He wasn¡¯t weak either.

    But ¡®weak¡¯ was a word that could only be used rtively.

    Wind-Gathering Evergreen clearly understood that most Wingless Harpies possessed an innate resistance to Arcana Techniques. Unless an Arcana Master was able to suppress them through their higher cultivation tier, it would be very hard for them to win against a Wingless Harpy.

    Additionally, it was obvious from the glow of Origin Energy radiating from his opponent¡¯s body that there was no way he would be able to suppress his opponent in terms of cultivation base. And that was not even mentioning the fact that the Wingless Harpy was surrounded by a group of powerful bandits.

    At that moment, Youthful Abundance cried out angrily, ¡°If you have the strength, then you should go and deal with the creatures behind us. Otherwise, that strength of yours would be worth nothing!¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± The Wingless Harpy nced behind them and saw arge group of bizarre creatures chasing after them.

    He smirked disdainfully. ¡°They¡¯re just a bunch of weaklings. You guys, go and deal with them.¡±

    ¡°Roar!¡±

    Three Hunting Wind Bandits charged out of the bandits¡¯ ranks.

    These three Hunting Wind Bandits were equivalent to Winged Knights.

    Winged Knights also cultivated their physical bodies. Even though they were weaker than the Wingless Harpies and even most humans that had close-quartersbat bloodlines, they were still much physically stronger than their average fellow Harpy.

    Cavalry mages, Archers, and Winged Knights were the three main soldiers types that the Harpies had developed over the years. The others, such as Sanskrit Chanters and Wingless Harpies, were all very specialized professions, akin to the Ravagers¡¯ Soulless or Bone Diviners. They were fostered for a very particr need. Of course, after Su Chen had taken the Origin Bone Scepter away, the Ravagers¡¯ profession of Bone Divining had been forever buried.

    These three bandits were Third-Ring Winged Knights. Their cultivation base wasn¡¯t very high, but theirbat strength wasn¡¯t weak by any measure. The three of them applied protective barriers to themselves before simultaneously attacking a single creature.

    The creature cracked a crooked smile, revealing a mouthful of sharp white teeth. It reached forwards and smashed the three swords together before making a violent headbutting motion.

    A strange horn actually appeared in the middle of its forehead as it smashed its head forwards.

    The horn pierced one of the Hunting Wind Bandits¡¯ protective barrier. A momentter, the horn morphed into countless long, sharp needles that suddenly burst out of that Hunting Wind Bandit¡¯s body, turning him into a porcupine.

    The Hunting Wind Bandit had died before he could even make a single noise.

    The other two Wind Hunting Bandits were badly startled and wanted to retreat, but they suddenly found it incredibly difficult to move, as the gravity had somehow intensified greatly. The creature swung both arms simultaneously through the air, causing them to strangely elongate as its metallic limbs prated the two of them. Shortly after dying, their corpses also turned into porcupines. The Harpies watching on felt their hearts tremble.

    What kind of strange creature was this? How was it this savage?

    More importantly, these savage creatures traveled as arge group.

    Even the Wingless Harpy felt his heart jolt violently as he watched therge group of creatures rush at them.

    He loudly yelled out, ¡°Retreat! Hurry up, retreat!¡±

    Moments before, they had been preparing to rob another group of Harpies, but now they had immediately turned tail and ran.

    Now, the crowd of people trying to run had grown evenrger.

    As they ran, a few other scattered Harpies were also dragged into the fray, causing the death count to reach triple digits.

    Thankfully, even though these creatures were powerful, they weren¡¯t that fast, and most Harpies could maintain their distance.

    But even though these creatures weren¡¯t fast, the Harpies couldn¡¯t speed up that much either.

    The strong gravity field was restricting their movement, making it impossible for them to run any faster.

    These strange creatures were great at leveling the ying field before using their extensivebat experience to defeat their opponents.

    Most shockingly, these creatures were incredibly impatient, as if they were unwilling to let even a single one of them go.

    ¡°Damn it, is this really worth it? They don¡¯t seem to have any intention of letting us get away. Is there really such a great grudge between us?¡± one of the Wind-Gathering n¡¯s membersined woefully.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if they have any hatred or grudges against us, but I do know that you were the ones who brought these cmitous creatures over here,¡± the Wingless Harpy cursed angrily.

    At this moment, he wasn¡¯t even thinking about trying to rob them anymore.

    ¡°You act hard, but you¡¯re actually super soft!¡± The Wind-Gathering n¡¯s youths seemed to have lost their fear for this Wingless Harpy.

    ¡°Courting death!¡± The Wingless Harpy stared angrily at them. He suddenly had the idea that the reason why these creatures were chasing after them so relentlessly might be because they were hungry. Naturally, the next thought to surface was about sending the creatures some food. Perhaps they wouldn¡¯t continue chasing them if they were fed.

    Unexpectedly, just as he was about to attack, Youthful Abundance pulled out a purplish liquid. ¡°This is Purple Sifting Miasma. If it touches you, you will lose all of your strength. If you dare attack them, then we will all die together.¡±

    Purple Sifting Miasma?

    The Wingless Harpy was stunned.

    That thing was incredibly poisonous. He was aware that it had arge area of influence, and that anyone who breathed it in would suddenly find themselves drained of energy. The Arcana Masters might survive the ordeal as it didn¡¯t affect Origin Energy, but to anyone who relied on their powerful physique to survive, it was an effective tactic. The Wingless Harpy might not die from the Purple Sifting Miasma, but he wouldn¡¯t be able to escape the pursuing creatures either.

    But this poison was incredibly hard toe by. Where had she gotten it from?

    Even Wind-Gathering Evergreen stared at Youthful Abundance in shock. She wasn¡¯t bluffing, was she?

    Youthful Abundance then said, ¡°Sir Azure Mark was the one who gave it to me.¡±

    So it was him?

    So this Sir Azure Mark was also an alchemist.

    Wind-Gathering Evergreen sighed when he heard this.

    The Wind-Gathering n had tried to shake off Azure Mark in order to traverse the secret realm without his influence, but unexpectedly, they were still forced to rely on Azure Mark¡¯s medicines for safety.

    The Harpy cursed madly, ¡°If you had something like that, why didn¡¯t you use it against those creatures earlier?¡±

    Youthful Abundance shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s not effective against the creatures behind us.¡±

    Damn!

    There was really nothing they could do but to continue running madly.

    Unfortunately, those creatures seemed to have absolutely no intention of letting up, putting the Harpies in a rough spot.

    Worse of all, a simr group of creatures had chosen this exact moment to appear in front of them.

    Damn, these guys were everywhere!

    Everyone despaired at their prospects.

    As one of the gutsier Hunting Wind Bandits stared at therge group of creatures charging in their direction, he suddenly cried out, ¡°I¡¯ve had enough of these guys!¡±

    As he spoke, he raised his de and charged recklessly at the creatures.

    Unexpectedly, the creatures made no attempt to kill him. Instead, they chose to back up a few steps.

    Huh?

    What was happening?

    That Hunting Wind Bandit was stunned.

    He took another step forwards, and those creatures took another step backwards.

    When he advanced three steps, they retreated three steps, fear and panic surfacing on their expressions.

    Are these creatures afraid of me?

    Am I actually really that powerful, and I just didn¡¯t know it all this time?

    All kinds of strange thoughts shed through his head involuntarily.

    His excitement surged as he loudly yelled, ¡°Die!¡±

    He shed out with his de.

    The blustering de wind mmed into the creature¡¯s head, resulting in a loud nging sound.

    Sparks flew off of the creature¡¯s head, but its skin wasn¡¯t even scratched.

    The Hunting Wind Bandit¡¯s heart trembled, but the creature was still standing there. However, it seemed to be gazing at something or someone behind him.

    This time, the Harpy finally realized that something else was happening.

    He turned around to find that a mysterious Harpy had appeared behind him at some unknown point in time.

    He wore a bluish demonic mask and was strolling onto the scene with his hands behind his back, giving off an incredibly otherworldly aura.

    All he did was stand there, staring coldly at the creatures.

    Youthful Abundance yelled out from a distance, ¡°Sir Azure Mark!¡±

    So this was Azure Mark? The producer of the Purple Sifting Miasma?

    But why would the creatures...... fear him?

    None of the Harpies present could believe what they were seeing.

    This was impossible.

    These creatures were so strong and in such great numbers. When their strength was added together, even a Seventh-Ring Arcana Master would find them hard to handle.

    So why were they so fearful of this Sir Azure Mark?

    As questions surfaced in their hearts, they watched as Sir Azure Mark stepped forward.

    With every step he advanced, the creatures retreated one step.

    It was obvious how scared they were of him.

    The onlookers felt like their eyeballs were about to pop out of their sockets.

    ¡°Is he a Ninth-Ring Arcana Master? That¡¯s not possible; his aura isn¡¯t nearly that strong,¡± the Wingless Harpy muttered to himself in shock.

    But whether he believed it or not, these creatures were disying genuine terror at the sight of Su Chen.

    When Su Chen saw the fearful creatures, he chuckled. ¡°I will give you an opportunity to surrender. If you do, I can agree to not kill you.¡±

    He wanted the creatures to surrender?

    Nobody could believe what they were hearing.

    ¡°HISS!¡± The creatures bared their teeth threateningly at Su Chen.

    Perhaps they hadn¡¯t understood him.

    When Su Chen saw this, he sighed. ¡°Fine. If that¡¯s the case, then we can only continue on as before. But to make sure that you guys don¡¯t go running around willy-nilly, I need to take some preventative measures. This will simplify my jobter on.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he gestured with his hand, causing an Arcana Technique to take effect.

    The sky suddenly darkened as a wave of wind surged through the air, intertwining and weaving arge of violent wind and wrapping all of the Harpies and creatures inside it.

    One of the creatures tried to retreat, but the wind rushed over it, dragging it violently back into the vortex, right next to where Su Chen was standing.

    ¡°Hey,¡± Su Chen said in greeting to the creature before slicing off the creature¡¯s head.

    The other creatures all cried out in panic, desperately wanting to leave, but they were surrounded by violent winds that would toss them back to Su Chen as soon as they stepped foot outside. As a result, the creatures would be trapped here for some time.

    ¡°Stormy Spiral?¡± Some of the more knowledgeable Harpies watching were able to recognize Su Chen¡¯s attack.

    Previous Chapter Next Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 111: Ascending Again

    Chapter 111: Ascending Again

    Stormy Spiral was a powerful Arcana Technique that was unique to the Harpies. Its ability was to lock down an area of space.

    More importantly, it was a Sixth-Ring Arcana Technique.

    When Youthful Abundance saw this, she cried out in shock. ¡°You¡¯re a Sixth-Ring Arcana Master now?¡±

    Formerly, Su Chen had only been able to unleash Fifth-Ring Arcana Techniques. Even though the Flowing Gold de had technically been brought to the realm of Seventh-Ring techniques, it was still a Fourth-Ring Arcana Technique at its core.

    Obviously, the fact that Su Chen was now able to use a Sixth-Ring Arcana Technique was indicative that he had likely ascended yet again.

    Given Su Chen¡¯s foundation, it wasn¡¯t too hard for him to learn Sixth-Ring Arcana Techniques. However, because the Harpies valued their research, they all kept their knowledge and secrets tightly guarded. Su Chen hadn¡¯t been able to find any good Sixth-Ring Arcana Techniques, so he had simply never tried to learn any.

    But that pile of books he had found in the pce contained quite a few Arcana Techniques in addition to its experimental records and written experiences.

    A legendary Arcana Master possessed no shortage of high-tier Arcana Techniques that ran the gamut from Fifth-Ring all the way to legendary. However, there weren¡¯t that many skills below Fifth Ring.

    The Stormy Spiral that Su Chen had used here was one of the techniques he had found in the book, and he had used it right after learning it.

    But how could he learn while in battle?

    That was actually quite an easy question.

    With clones!

    In order to catch the slippery creatures, Su Chen had pored over the books with six different clones, searching for any Arcana Techniques that fit his needs before learning them all.

    Learning high-tier Arcana Techniques was no joke, and creatingplete Arcana Techniques was incredibly difficult. This was why Su Chen needed a gigantic knowledge base. However, Su Chen¡¯s consciousness crystal was incredibly effective. What others would need to take a year or so to memorize was dissected by Su Chen¡¯s consciousness crystal in a matter of minutes.

    Of course, deconstructing an Arcana Technique¡¯s Pattern wasn¡¯t enough. His control over Origin Energy needed to be on the same level as his understanding. Different Arcana Techniques could be very different, and each Arcana Master would only be able to proficiently use elements that they were familiar with. Otherwise, one would be able to increase their cultivation tier just by learning other Arcana Techniques.

    Of course, the opposite also held true. Only with enough proficiency would one be able to control the corresponding Arcana Technique.

    Su Chen¡¯s wind proficiency was distinctly average. He probably would have had a better effect with thunder- or fire-based Arcana Techniques. Wind was much more challenging than those other elements.

    But that didn¡¯t matter.

    Because he had plenty of resources and money!

    Temporarily increasing a person¡¯s elemental strength was not a simple aplishment, and it would take more than cobbling somemon ingredients together.

    And Su Chen just so happened to have such an umon ingredient on hand.

    Lifesource Candles!

    Lifesource Candles were one of the trump cards that the humans had relied on to defeat the other races. They could be used in many different applications, including saving lives. No matter how badly wounded a person was, a Lifesource Candle would allow them to at least survive. As such, they were typically used to protect especially powerful individuals. The rate at which the candle burned was proportional to the severity of the wound.

    It had another function as well, however, which was to greatly strengthen a user¡¯s technique.

    They would basically boost a person¡¯s innate talent and ability. This was what allowed Su Chen to meet the necessary requirements to activate the Arcana Technique despite the fact that he might have been originally unqualified to do so.

    This was the greatest use of a Lifesource Candle.

    As such, it was quite easy for Su Chen to improve his proficiency with the wind element.

    All he needed was the right type of Origin Crystal and a Lifesource Candle.

    It just so happened that he had both of these on him ¡ª amongst Su Chen¡¯s handfuls of Origin Crystals, which he had been nning on using as sacrifices, some were wind-type crystals.

    In order to find a way to deal with those slippery creatures, he had started burning through his supply of Lifesource Candles.

    Some effects of the Lifesource Candles were temporary, while others were permanent. Thetter effects were obviously much more difficult to trigger.

    But since Su Chen had mastered its usage, it was hard to say that he wouldn¡¯t make any other improvements.

    Su Chen¡¯s wind element skill had formerly been equivalent to that of a Second-Ring Arcana Master. He was able to permanently bring this up to the Fourth Ring. Then, with the aid of twenty-one Lifesource Candles andrge quantities of wind-type Origin Crystals, Su Chen had finally be proficient in it and was now even able to unleash a wind-type Sixth-Ring Arcana Technique.

    Only someone like Su Chen would be able to cultivate like this.

    Even though this was a bit extravagant, Su Chen had lots of money. What else would he spend it on?

    Su Chen had always found it hard to spend money faster than he made it, so he was actually quite happy to have an opportunity to burn through some resources.

    The Stormy Spiral was able to directly restrict the movements of the creatures, making it so that they could only wait to be ughtered.

    Then, Su Chen pounced, waving his Flowing Gold de at them.

    After his control over wind had reached the Sixth Ring, his speed had gone up significantly as a result. Even without his Whitetower Teleportation, he was able to advance and retreat like the wind, using the chaos created by the storm to wantonly ughter his opponents.

    He really was like a ferocious gust of wind. All of the onlookers werepletely stunned.

    Were these the same creatures that had been chasing after them this whole time? Was their skin really as tough as iron? What about the gravity fields they could create? What about their terrifying metallic bone des?

    Why are you all dying to just a single sh of the opponent¡¯s, but weren¡¯t even scratched when weunched all-out attacks at you?!

    That¡¯s not fair!

    That¡¯s unreasonable!

    All of the Harpies present cursed silently. Even the Wingless Harpy bandit was stunned.

    As a Wingless Harpy, he was incredibly proud of his iron-like body, but his physical strength had meant nothing to these creatures. Now, however, this Azure Mark guy had shown up out of the blue and was crushing these creatures like a meat grinder. That was quite a serious blow to his confidence.

    However, this was only the beginning.

    Perhaps the strange creatures¡¯ attempts to hide were beginning to make Su Chen impatient.

    He frowned and unleashed yet another Arcana Technique.

    Transparent chains appeared in the air, flying towards those creatures.

    Wind Chains.

    Yet another Sixth-Ring Arcana Technique.

    Even Youthful Abundance couldn¡¯t believe her eyes.

    She could ept Azure Mark using a Sixth-Ring Arcana Technique. After all, he had already demonstrated incredible strength, and it was abundantly clear that he had already been close to ascending. But grasping two Sixth-Ring Arcana Techniques immediately after ascending was simply too shocking of a feat.

    She didn¡¯t know that Su Chen¡¯s clones were still hiding somewhere out there, voraciously reading books.

    Su Chen¡¯s peculiar way of using his clones had essentially caused his learning rate to double. Five or six clones were simultaneously reading these books and sending the knowledge that they learned to Su Chen¡¯s consciousness crystal for aggregation and assimtion. With how fast the consciousness crystal could work, it was able to smoothly process this information in parallel, meaning that it wasn¡¯t hard on Su Chen in the slightest.

    What Youthful Abundance didn¡¯t know was that Su Chen actually wouldn¡¯t have been able to use this Arcana Technique even a minute ago.

    Now, however, he had gainedplete control over this Arcana Technique, and the corresponding Arcana Technique Pattern had already appeared in his body. Even though it was his first time using the technique, the familiarity with which he executed the skill made it seem like he had used it for years already.

    Even Su Chen had to admit that his consciousness crystal was basically a cheat code when it came to studying Arcana Techniques.

    As long as his strength was sufficient, he would be able to immediately learn a technique.

    The Wind Chains bound up the creatures, allowing Su Chen to y them even more easily. His butchering rate had clearly gone up.

    Even though the creatures did their best to fight back, Su Chen continued to spare no expense in unleashing Wind Chain after Wind Chain. He didn¡¯t really need to bind them up; after all, as long as he could dy them momentarily, that would give him more than enough time to reap their lives.

    He was basically tying them up with one hand and killing them with another, ughtering them like pigs. The other Harpies couldn¡¯t believe what they were witnessing.

    There was originally a hundred of these metal creatures. But Su Chen had already managed to finish off half of them, and it seemed that his efficiency was only increasing. At that moment, the creatures nced at each other before falling to their knees and crying out to Su Chen.

    ¡°Oh? Are you all trying to surrender?¡± Su Chen was taken aback.

    These metal creatures were very stubborn, but they had no choice but to lower their heads when faced with certain death.

    Survival was always their top priority. Any species that didn¡¯t understand this principle would be the first to go extinct.

    ¡°Oh, interesting. But you don¡¯t seem very tameable, and neither can you understand what I am saying. Even if I do take you guys in, I won¡¯t be able to use you. Thus, I¡¯d rather use your corpses to feed my Flowing Gold de,¡± Su Chen muttered.

    Those creatures couldn¡¯t understand what he was saying, but they could sense his tone. Upon realizing that he didn¡¯t seem interested in epting them as his ves, they began to cry out in piteous fear.

    ¡°But perhaps there is one way for me to get you guys to obey me,¡± Su Chen said as he pointed at them, seemingly havinge up with an idea. ¡°Stand over there and don¡¯t move.¡±

    He didn¡¯t specify who he was talking to, so those creatures didn¡¯t dare move, and neither did the Harpies. Both groups just stared at him.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t seem like he was doing anything besides standing there motionlessly.

    No one knew what he was trying to do. They nced at each other in equal parts confusion and curiosity.

    What they didn¡¯t know was that Su Chen¡¯s clones were currently hiding in a corner, furiously flipping through the myriad of books.

    Jade Clearmist¡¯s library had an Arcana Technique known as Soul Link. It allowed any two individuals tomunicate via each others¡¯ wills and understand each other without words.

    However, this Arcana Technique was a Seventh-Ring Arcana Technique and required a certain level of soul mastery.

    Su Chen had enough consciousness power, but one¡¯s soul mastery depended on many other aspects such as one¡¯sprehension and experience. If Su Chen were at the Spirit Burning Realm, he probably would have met the requirements.

    But he hadn¡¯t, so his level of soul mastery was clearlycking.

    It could be said that he had an incredible amount of raw power, but not enough skill to be able to wield it properly.

    However, this didn¡¯t pose a problem to him.

    Why not continue using Lifesource Candles?

    As the clones pored over the books, memorizing the Arcana Techniques contained inside and forming the corresponding Arcana Technique Patterns, Su Chen¡¯s main body lit a Lifesource Candle.

    The way to use a Lifesource Candle was very interesting. After being lit, they would turn ethereal, enter a person¡¯s body, and then continue to burn there. While they burned, a person¡¯s perception would be heightened. The only prerequisite to their usage was that you had enough energy in the first ce to light one.

    For instance, if he wanted to increase the strength of his wind-type Arcana Techniques, he would need light the candle with a wind-type Origin Crystal.

    Increasing his soul mastery was much more difficult, however, because there were so few soul-type Origin Crystals.

    Even though Su Chen possessed arge pile of Origin Crystals, they were primarilyprised ofmon elements like wind, fire, and lightning. Even if Su Chen had a soul-type Origin Crystal, he wouldn¡¯t possible bear to use it as a sacrifice.

    So if hecked a soul-type Origin Crystal, then what was he to do?

    The answer was quite simple.

    Su Chen decided to burn his own consciousness energy.

    By using his own consciousness energy as fuel, he would be able to start the requisite fire.

    A momentter, Su Chen¡¯s body began to glow brilliantly.

    This scintiting light scattered in all directions, illuminating everything nearby and bathing them in light.

    When the Harpies sensed the soul light Su Chen was emitting, all of them felt a sudden urge to prostrate and worship him.

 Sect - Book 5, 112: Figh

    Chapter 112: Fight

    ¡°This is...... a seventh...... Seventh-Ring Arcana Technique?¡± Youthful Abundance muttered in shock. Even though she didn¡¯t recognize the Arcana Technique that Su Chen had just activated, the veritable sea of Origin Energy she could sense emting from his body clearly signified to Youthful Abundance that Azure Mark was already a Seventh-Ring Arcana Master.

    Seventh-Ring Arcana Masters were already incredibly powerful amongst Sky Country.

    But more importantly, hadn¡¯t he just reached the Sixth-Ring realm?

    Even though Youthful Abundance had been surprised by Su Chen¡¯s ascension from Fifth-Ring to Sixth-Ring, she was still able to ept it. Perhaps he had already been on the verge of breaking through.

    But using two Sixth-Ring Arcana Techniques immediately after breaking through was already heaven-defying. And now, he was using a Seventh-Ring Arcana Technique.

    The entire Wind-Gathering n was dumbfounded.

    Breaking through two realms in rapid session challenged everyone¡¯s understanding of the world.

    Had he already been at the Sixth-Ring earlier and had just never showed it off?

    That was the only possible exnation.

    At this moment, Su Chen had basically finished the process of burning his own consciousness power to strengthen his soul mastery.

    Now that his soul mastery was up to par, he discovered that his consciousness power had decreased from 2300 units or so down to about 1700.

    In other words, he had burned away roughly six hundred units of consciousness energy.

    This was quite a significant decrease. Even Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but feel a pang of sorrow run through his heart.

    But the resulting increase was worth it. Su Chen discovered that his soul mastery had indeed greatly increased.

    The most obvious manifestation was that he could now construct his Divine Pces.

    The Spirit Burning Realm was defined by a cultivator¡¯s ability to construct these pces.

    And the foundation of these pces was consciousness energy.

    Yang Opening Realm cultivators primarily focused on improving their control of Origin Energy, Light Shaking Realm cultivators on the strength of their human body, and Spirit Burning Realm cultivators on the strength of their consciousness.

    A Spirit Burning Realm cultivator¡¯s progress was symbolized by the formation of their eight Divine Pces. These eight Divine Pces were like eight important steps that led up to the formation of a powerful consciousness for humans.

    Before this, a person¡¯s consciousness strength would directly corrte to a number. Past this point, however, a cultivator would finally obtain a way to harness that strength and apply it meaningfully.

    Because he had an incredibly strong foundation, Su Chen¡¯s breakthrough into the Spirit Burning Realm was much easier than his breakthrough into the Light Shaking Realm. The only reason why he had waited this long was because he was searching for a more effective method for breaking through. Not only was he looking for a way to breakthrough without a bloodline, but he was also searching for a way to give him greater strength than a person with a bloodline.

    He had never expected that after his soul mastery had reached the Seventh Ring, his body would automatically reach a point where it was prepared to construct his Divine Pces.

    He could sense that, as long as he willed it, he would be able to form his first Divine Pce.

    But at this point, Su Chen wasn¡¯t even at the peak of the Light Shaking Realm yet.

    He only had four Lotus tforms.

    Forming a Divine Pce while only having four Lotus tforms was unheard of.

    Lotus tforms didn¡¯t only exist to increase a person¡¯s strength; they also served as a foundation for forming Divine Pces.

    And now, Su Chen¡¯s actions had obviously altered this foundation. Even though he wasn¡¯t anywhere close to the peak of the Light Shaking Realm, he could still enter the Spirit Burning Realm if he wanted to.

    This would definitely cause a major stir if others were to find out about it.

    Should he construct it right now?

    Su Chen resolutely rejected this thought not long after it surfaced in his mind.

    First of all, he hadn¡¯t managed to develop a superior ascension method yet. Second of all, there was still value in forming the rest of his Lotus tforms.

    Su Chen believed his current strength was enough and thus was in no hurry to increase his strength.

    On the other hand, this experience had allowed him to better understand the gap between the Spirit Burning Realm and the Light Shaking Realm, which would then allow him to make better preparations in the future.

    ¡°Hm, it seems that Arcana Techniques do in fact have quite a bit of value,¡± Su Chen murmured with a faint smile.

    Shi Kaihuan had once strongly opposed his cultivation of Arcana Techniques.

    The result was that his face had been pped once while they had developed the Blood Boiling Realm technique, and now it would be pped yet again.

    But that was fine. They were all on the same side, and Shi Kaihuang would definitely be happy to have his face pped like this.

    Forcibly reaching the Seventh-Ring had cost Su Chen even more than reaching the Sixth-Ring. This time, he had burned through thirty Lifesource Candles even with his strong foundation and his consciousness energy as the fuel. Any other path would have most likely cost even more.

    Otherwise, it would have been way too easy to be a high-tier Arcana Master.

    After ascending, Su Chen immediately learned this Soul Transmission skill and activated it, connecting his will with those strange creatures. Su Chen suddenly felt a barrage of chaotic thoughts enter his mind.

    These creatures were incredibly simple, so even though there were many of them, they were all thinking the same thing:. ¡°This is too scary,¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to die,¡± ¡°Surrender! Surrender!¡± and ¡°Mama......¡± were the mostmon ones floating through his head.

    There was nothing Su Chen could do about this.

    He realized that even though this skill was very strong, simultaneously managing the thoughts of so many lifeforms was also incredibly bothersome.

    It was as if his mind had suddenly been filled by arge crowd of bickering guests. Su Chen actually felt defeated rather than victorious. And that was only because these creatures were simple. If he weremunicating with the more intelligent humans or Harpies, Su Chen probably would have already gone mad.

    It became abundantly clear to him that he couldn¡¯t afford to use this Arcana Technique lightly.

    Su Chen sharply barked, ¡°Shut your mouths!¡±

    His will was transmitted to the creatures, who simultaneously stopped making noise and fell into silence.

    But Su Chen very quickly discovered that this was pointless.

    Even though the creatures weren¡¯t saying anything, Su Chen was still able to perceive their thoughts as their souls were connected.

    The bickering and arguing was still happening, though at a much more manageable level now.

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t tell the creatures to stop thinking, but he was getting extremely annoyed. After a moment¡¯s thought, he decided to dedicate a portion of his consciousness crystal to handle any thoughts that came from them.

    Su Chen did this on the spot to deal with the chaotic thoughts of these creatures.

    This method actually ended up being quite effective.

    Su Chen quickly found that themotion had died down. Any thoughtsing through the Soul Transmission were sent into this separatepartment of his consciousness crystal.

    The only drawback to this was that this would yet again cut down on Su Chen¡¯s effective consciousness power.

    Su Chen¡¯s 1700 units of consciousness power fell another 200 units as a result.

    And this was only based on the current situation, too. If Su Chen were to connect with even more minds, he would need to set aside even more consciousness power.

    But that didn¡¯t matter. He could just spend a bit more time cultivating his consciousness power in the future.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t cultivated his consciousness power much because his foundation hadn¡¯t been stable enough in the past. Now was a perfect time to strengthen this aspect of his cultivation.

    With Patelocke¡¯s True Spirit Scripture, it wouldn¡¯t take him too long to recuperate from these losses.

    After taking care of this matter, Su Chen nced around his surroundings, only to find that those Harpies were still standing around.

    Youthful Abundance saw that Su Chen seemed to have resolved the matter. She flew over and said, ¡°Sir Azure Mark, earlier......¡±

    Su Chen raised his hand to stop her from speaking further. ¡°I already know about the small schemes the Wind-Gathering n tried to pull on me. You don¡¯t need to tell me, and I don¡¯t really mind. Our agreement has been fulfilled. I saved you guys, and you have repaid me. We can go our separate ways now.¡±

    Even though he had been tricked by the Wind-Gathering n at first, he wouldn¡¯t be Su Chen if he hadn¡¯t eventually realized what had happened.

    But he didn¡¯t really care.

    He hadn¡¯t ever considered the Wind-Gathering n to be stalwart allies, so he had never really expected them to be loyal or to uphold their promise.

    If you can trick me, then do so with your own abilities. As someone who was constantly scheming against others, it would have been strange if Su Chen had been that offended.

    Youthful Abundance was stunned.

    It was over just like that?

    She didn¡¯t need to follow him around anymore?

    Early on, she had been forced by Su Chen to follow him, so her heart had been filled with hatred and resent. But now that she had her freedom, however, she was a bit unwilling.

    She recalled that nothing particrly bad had ever happened to her while following Sir Azure Mark. Actually, her status amongst the n had even gone up. In addition, Azure Mark was clearly very learned, and his knowledge base was incredibly vast. Just by following him around, she had learned quite a bit.

    She hadn¡¯t thought so at the time, but she immediately felt unwilling to part now.

    Where would she go to find another teacher like Su Chen?

    When her thoughts reached this point, she couldn¡¯t help but yell out, ¡°Sir Azure Mark, I want to follow you!¡±

    ¡°Oh? Follow me?¡± Su Chen chuckled as he looked at her.

    He shook his head. ¡°You and I should have never crossed paths in the first ce. You¡¯re better off returning to where you came from.¡±

    As he spoke, he turned to nce at the other Harpies, including the Hunting Wind Bandits.

    Even though it was a faint nce, all of the Harpies who noticed it trembled.

    Su Chen then said, ¡°As for the Hunting Wind Bandits, if you want to rob people, go somewhere else. The Wind-Gathering n¡¯s Harpies here are under my protection. Understood?¡±

    Even though his tone was merciless, he had still given the Wind-Gathering n a final helping hand in the end.

    How could the Hunting Wind Bandits possibly dare disregard his words at this juncture? The Wingless Harpy at the very front nodded hurriedly. ¡°I understand.¡±

    Even though he was brave and valiant, he knew to submit to an opponent he couldn¡¯t possibly defeat.

    Since the other party had already given amand, the Hunting Wind Bandits paid their respects to Youthful Abundance and the others before turning around and leaving quickly.

    The Wind-Gathering n and the other independent Harpies nced around at each other before beginning to converse amongst themselves.

    Youthful Abundance stared at Su Chen. Even though he was right in front of her, she felt like he was suddenly so very far away.

    A pang of sorrow suddenly surfaced in her heart as she stared at him.

    She felt like she had missed out on something big.

    As sorrow filled her heart, the tears began to overflow.

    When he saw her like this, Wind-Gathering Evergreen couldn¡¯t help but shake his head.

    He knew that his n had probably made a mistake this time around.

    However, since the matter had already taken ce, it was impossible for them to choose another path.

    When Su Chen saw her like this, he could only sigh. ¡°There are some more guestsing to see me soon. If you don¡¯t want to be dragged in, it¡¯d be best for you all to leave now.¡±

    Everyone was taken aback when they heard this.

    Wind-Gathering Evergreen picked up Youthful Abundance, motioning for them to leave.

    She was quite stubborn, however. The more Su Chen spoke like that, the more unwilling she was to go.

    Wind-Gathering Evergreen could only helplessly drag her away forcefully.

    Even if they wanted to watch, they would need to do so from a distance.

    As they retreated, yet another group of Harpies appeared on the horizon.

    It was Li Daohong and the others.

    They had still shown up in the end.

    They were charging in Su Chen¡¯s direction at a rapid pace. It seemed that they had already locked onto Su Chen¡¯s position.

    Apart from Li Daohong, Night God Sun and the rest of their subordinates were also present. Arge group of experts from both Liaoye Country and the Mother Goddess Sect had intermixed into a cohesive group. There were even quite a few Spirit Burning Realm cultivators and Seventh-Ring Arcana Masters in their group.

    Su Chen¡¯s only response at seeing such a powerful group of individuals was a slight smile.

    He said, ¡°You¡¯re finally here.¡±

    Night God Sun also smiled faintly. ¡°Night God Sun greets Sir Azure Mark. I have been waiting to meet you for a long time.¡±

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not talking to you.¡±

    Hm?

    Night God Sun was taken aback.

    Li Daohong then spoke up and said, ¡°Have you been waiting here to return my consciousness power to me?¡±

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen continued to shake his head.

    He continued, ¡°I¡¯m not talking to you either.¡±

    Night God Sun and Li Daohong¡¯s expressions simultaneously changed drastically.

    Su Chen nced even further behind them at a seemingly empty patch of earth and said, ¡°What? Do I need to drag you out from there personally?¡±

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 113: Scheme

    Chapter 113: Scheme

    A bell-like giggle tinkled through the air.

    A red-colored figure slowly emerged from thin air.

    It was ming Femme.

    She stood in the air, watching Su Chen with a provocative expression. ¡°So in the end, I wasn¡¯t able to hide from Master Azure Mark. I did arrive here a long time ago, and I wanted to strike at the right moment for you. I wasn¡¯t expecting you to call me out like that.¡±

    ¡°Strike at the right moment for me?¡± Su Chen chuckled. ¡°You mean, strike at me, right?¡±

    ming Femme¡¯s expression shifted ufortably. ¡°Master, you must be joking. My life is in your hands. How could I possibly even dare think of betraying you?¡±

    ¡°But you did dare to leak information about me to the Mother Goddess Sect. Otherwise, how could trash like this have shown up here?¡± Su Chen replied softly.

    Everyone¡¯s expression shifted simultaneously when they heard this.

    The Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s disciples and Li Daohong¡¯s followers all yelled, ¡°How arrogant!¡±

    Li Daohong and Night God Sun raised their hands to quell their subordinates, however.

    On the other hand, ming Femme was staring at Su Chen in shock. ¡°You......¡±

    ¡°You still want to deny it?¡± Su Chen chuckled coldly as he returned ming Femme¡¯s stare.

    ming Femme¡¯s expression had shifted to one of distress. ¡°Why would I throw my life away like that? My consciousness fragment is still in Master¡¯s hands. How could I possibly sell you out like that?¡±

    Su Chenughed again and replied, ¡°Because someone already helped you remove that restriction. Am I right, Your Highness Li Daohong? The Dream Beauty Bloodline may be most proficient in dream techniques, but dream realms still fall under the category of consciousness techniques. Thus, I¡¯m sure that your consciousness powers are pretty strong as well, right? I bet that the Li n has many methods to nullify consciousness control. Otherwise, why would you appear at this moment?¡±

    Li Daohong was taken aback before he began tough. ¡°Hey, you surprisingly know a lot about the Li n. No wonder ming Femme said that you had a vast knowledge base despite your young age. Consider me impressed!¡±

    ming Femme¡¯s expression was beginning to turn ugly now. ¡°When did you find out?¡±

    She had been forced to yield to Su Chen just like the Wind-Gathering n back in the day. This meant that her obedience was not born out of loyalty. As such, it was only natural that she would try to find ways to regain her freedom.

    But she had no idea how to nullify Su Chen¡¯s technique.

    Even so, in addition to her status as a member of Fate¡¯s Hands, she had another identity as a high-level spy for the Mother Goddess Sect. She was the one who had initially asked the Mother Goddess Sect to ally with Li Daohong. Because of her high status, there were many powerful individuals willing to support her, which was how she had managed to escape from Su Chen¡¯s control. Otherwise, this secret realm wouldn¡¯t have been opened in front of a human so easily.

    Yes, the price for having Li Daohong save ming Femme was that he would be allowed to participate in this expedition of Jade Clearmist¡¯s secret treasure realm. That was why he could appear here.

    But now, it appeared that this Azure Mark person had been prepared for this all along.

    The opponent wasn¡¯t reacting like he had only just found out. This made ming Femme and Night God Sun nervous.

    Night God Sun¡¯s expression was ugly as well. ¡°What else do you know?¡±

    ¡°What else do I know?¡± Su Chen tilted his head and thought for a moment before replying, ¡°Oh, just that ming Femme is actually a spy that the Mother Goddess Sect nted amongst Fate¡¯s Hands? And isn¡¯t her teacher one of the head bishops of the Mother Goddess Sect branch in Sky City? That kind of person has a social status that puts him above many others.¡±

    ming Femme trembled. ¡°Impossible! Impossible! How could you know all that so clearly?¡±

    Wind-Gathering Evergreen and Youthful Abundance were stunned when they heard this revtion as well.

    How had the situation turned around so suddenly?

    Su Chen chuckled. There was naturally no way that he would mention that he had divined all this from the Origin Bone Scepter, so he instead calmly replied, ¡°How I know this is not important. What¡¯s important is the battle to be fought today.¡±

    Night God Sun squinted. ¡°That is a good point. How you found out is not important anymore. As long as we capture you, that information will reveal itself in due time.¡±

    As he spoke, his entire body began to surge with power as a fierce glow of Origin Energy appeared on his body.

    The Harpies around him also prepared to attack.

    Su Chen, however, calmly said, ¡°Why are you all in such a hurry to fight? Do you not find it strange? Since I already know all this, why would I put myself in a position where I could be captured?¡±

    Night God sun was taken aback.

    Right, since his opponent had clearly anticipated this happening, it was only natural that he would have made his own preparations as well.

    He stared intently at Su Chen. ¡°What did you do?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the question I was waiting for,¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    As he spoke, he nced at Li Daohong. ¡°You can remove that consciousness restriction, but can you remove this?¡±

    As he spoke, he hand suddenly formed a strange seal that he subsequently pressed into the air.

    ming Femme suddenly began to tremble violently.

    ¡°Vermilion Blush!¡± Night God Sun yelled.

    Vermilion Blush was ming Femme¡¯s true name.

    ming Femme¡¯s mien was paling rapidly. She lowered her head and nced at her body, only to find that her midsection had suddenly started bulging unnaturally.

    ming Femme desperately yelled, ¡°There¡¯s something in me...... Something¡¯s moving around inside of me!¡±

    ¡°You bastard! What did you do to her?¡± Night God Sun was about to go insane.

    ¡°Of course, I¡¯m using a new technique to control her. The best way to describe it is a kind of bug that I have been developingtely. I have been doing many experiments rted to lifeform alteration, and I finally made a breakthrough not too long ago. Once I nt this bug in someone¡¯s body, it will move around inside that person¡¯s body ording to mymands. I have beencking a research subject, however, so I will be eternally grateful to ming Femme for volunteering herself as an experimental subject. It seems that the effect is pretty good. Right, what should I name this bug? Perhaps I should call it Gluttonous Parasite. What do you think? Pretty good, right?¡±

    Night God Sun trembled as he stared at ming Femme, who was already doubled over and sweating profusely from the pain.

    Su Chen coldly continued, ¡°Once I activate this parasitic bug, it will begin to furiously devour her internal organs. Of course, she can handle some internal damage given how strong she is, and she shouldn¡¯t die immediately. But unfortunately, that bug won¡¯te out until itpletely devours the host¡¯s body. So although she might stay alive for some time, that only means that she will feed my parasite a few more meals. But don¡¯t worry; once it¡¯s eaten its fill, it wille out on its own.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe you!¡± ming Femme began to yell loudly.

    Her body began to burn brightly as mes enveloped her entire body.

    She was extremely proficient in manipting fire, so she could easily light herself on fire without harming herself. Any small bugs inside her body should have been burned to a crisp.

    Su Chen, however, sighed. ¡°If the Gluttonous Parasite were that easy to deal with, then would I have spent so much effort in fostering it? I could¡¯ve just found any old bug and used that instead.¡±

    Indeed, the parasites weren¡¯t burned to a crisp. Instead, they began to make chirping noises, not out of fear, but rather of excitement.

    Their appetite only grew with the sweltering heat.

    ¡°AHHH!¡± ming Femme howled in pain as she clutched her stomach.

    Her internal organs were being devoured rapidly. Even though she was attempting to use all kinds of Arcana Techniques, and the Harpies around her were doing their best to heal her with their restorative Arcana Techniques, all they could do was increase ming Femme¡¯s lifeforce and her rate of regeneration. They were unable to destroy the Gluttonous Parasites. As long as those bugs remained in her body, the biting wouldn¡¯t stop, so any treatment could only dy, not prevent, her inevitable end.

    This dying would even further increase the pain that she felt.

    ming Femme¡¯s shrieks and howls of pain could be heard for miles, causing all of the nearby Harpies to tremble in fear.

    Even Wind-Gathering Evergreen and Youthful Abundance trembled in fear, wondering if Azure Mark had ced these parasites into their bodies as well.

    But after a moment¡¯s thought, they realized that that was impossible.

    After all, given how strong he was, he could have easily dealt with them without resorting to such measures.

    Night God Sun was also growing agitated.

    It wasn¡¯t just because ming Femme¡¯s teacher had a high status amongst his religious sect, but also because he had romantic feelings for her. When he saw her in such horrendous pain, but also knew that there was nothing he could do, hepulsively yelled, ¡°Stop! Stop those parasites and let them out. I am willing to swear on my honor that we are willing to back out of this expedition right now! Everything you find here will belong to you!¡±

    Su Chen, however, frowned. ¡°Your promise isn¡¯t even worth a single cent to me. You want me to let her go? Fine. Get out of here now, and let ming Femme remain as my subordinate. When I¡¯m done using her, I will return her to you.¡±

    ¡°Impossible!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not up to you to decide,¡± Su Chen coldly rebuked.

    Night God Sun was stunned.

    At that moment, ming Femme suddenly said, ¡°Sun, don¡¯t listen to him. This person is incredibly despicable. Even if you agree to his demands, he won¡¯t spare me. And when have the Harpies ever feared death? Even if I die, I must drag this bastard down with me! Sun, remember to avenge me!¡±

    ming Femme¡¯s entire body began to burn as she said this.

    Unlike before, however, she was actually burning herself this time.

    This time, she was really immting herself. ming Femme would rather die than be captured by Su Chen.

    ¡°Vermilion Blush!¡± Upon seeing ming Femme¡¯s suicide attempt, Night God Sun cried out in sorrow.

    Su Chen disdainfully said, ¡°You seem quite decisive, but unfortunately, you still haven¡¯t truly killed yourself yet.¡±

    The others didn¡¯t know this, but he was very clearly knew that ming Femme was protected by a legendary Arcana Technique. She had left a portion of her body with the Mother Goddess Sect so that even if she were killed, she would be able toe back to life as long as her soul returned to that portion of her body.

    Of course, the price of this resurrection-type Arcana Technique was immense. Her strength would fall greatly, and it was only possible to use this kind of technique once a lifetime.

    This was ming Femme¡¯s real escape route. It was only because the cost was so high that she had been unwilling to use it so casually.

    Now, however, ming Femme had no choice but to do use it in a bid to escape from her opponent¡¯s control.

    Unfortunately, her opponent was Su Chen.

    And his consciousness power was unrivalled here.

    In addition to that, he had broken through many of his previous obstacles with Li Daohong¡¯s contributions to his consciousness power, and he had also gained the knowledge in Jade Clearmist¡¯s library.

    Amongst that library¡¯s pool of knowledge was an Arcana Technique that could see through Yin and Yang and take control of a person¡¯s consciousness.

    With it, Su Chen was able to lock onto ming Femme¡¯s consciousness with but a nce.

    ¡°Trying to leave? You¡¯d better stay here.¡± Su Chen reached out and grabbed ming Femme¡¯s consciousness with his hand.

    However, because it was his first time using this technique and thus he was still unfamiliar with it, this grab actually caused ming Femme¡¯s consciousness to shatter into pieces.

    ¡°NO!¡±

    If Night God Sun had only been pretending earlier, the current heartbreak he was experiencing was as real as it could be.

 Sect - Book 5, 114: Mother Goddess Disciple

    Chapter 114: Mother Goddess Disciple

    ¡°Uh......¡±

    Su Chen nced at his hand, speechless.

    Despite his mastery from the consciousness crystal, his muscle memory was untrained, so as a novice, it was actually somewhat expected that his application of this technique wascking.

    However, thisck would sometimes result in serious consequences.

    A perfectly good hostage had been lost just like that.

    ¡°It seems like my luck is not so good today,¡± Su Chen sighed.

    Night God Sun was incensed. He howled, ¡°Azure Mark! You must die!¡±

    As he howled, all of the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s disciples and Li Daohong¡¯s subordinates surged towards Su Chen.

    This was such arge wave of experts that even Youthful Abundance covered her eyes in fear. Despite her belief that Azure Mark had be a Seventh-Ring Arcana Master recently, she still didn¡¯t think that he could withstand thebined assault of all these experts.

    In a sense she was right.

    If he were a mere Seventh-Ring Arcana Master, Su Chen truly would not have been strong enough to withstand this tidal wave of experts.

    But Su Chen wasn¡¯t just a Seventh-Ring Arcana Master.

    He was also a human Light Shaking Realm cultivator.

    Most importantly, he didn¡¯t need to directly withstand them.

    As he gazed at all the Harpies charging in his direction, Su Chen chuckled and said, ¡°Fine, it seems like there¡¯s no point in me saying anything else. But thankfully, I never ced all of my hopes on the woman who betrayed me...... After all, doing so would have been a bit tooughable.¡±

    ¡°What other tricks could you possibly have up your sleeve?¡± Night God Sun yelled in rage as he shot an arrow at Su Chen.

    Night God Sun was an extremely talented Supersonic Marksman amongst the ranks of the Harpy archers.

    Supersonic Marksmen were known as such because their arrows were faster than the speed of sound. These arrows were naturally incredibly powerful and hard to defend against.

    His arrow flew through the air. Only when it was right in front of Su Chen could he hear a thunderous boom.

    This thunderous sound apanied every twang of his bowstring.

    You would always be hit by the arrow before you heard it.

    Bang!

    The arrow mmed into Su Chen, generating a flurry of intense sparks.

    Even Su Chen wasn¡¯t able to dodge this arrow.

    Thankfully, even if he was unable to dodge the arrow, he was able to neutralize it.

    A projectile barrier had shimmered into being around Su Chen long before Night God Sun had even fired his arrow. Even though it was only a Fourth-Ring Arcana Technique, this barrier¡¯s defensive power was enough to halt this incredibly powerful arrow. However, the arrow¡¯s momentum continued and mmed into Su Chen, the impact forcing Su Chen back quite a bit.

    Su Chen tumbled through the air for a brief moment before he was able to right himself. ¡°What immense power.¡±

    He chuckled.

    He nced at his projectile barrier and found that it had already been destroyed.

    A normal projectile barrier could withstand around a hundred arrows before breaking, but a single arrow from Night God Sun had broken through the barrier.

    Night God Sun attacked again, this time unleashing three arrows at once.

    The other Harpy and human experts also attacked at this moment, inundating the sky with powerful Origin Energy that cascaded down towards Su Chen.

    Su Chen¡¯s response to this onught was very simple.

    He immediately activated Whitetower Teleportation, disappearing and reappearing nearly a kilometer away.

    ¡°Now the stage is big enough!¡± Su Chen chuckled. ¡°But I already told you all that I wasn¡¯t nning on just relying on that woman to deal with you all. She was only a research subject for me, serving as food for my parasites. It seems now that the experiment was a sess.¡±

    As he spoke, a strange bug broke out from ming Femme¡¯s corpse.

    It was precisely the aforementioned Gluttonous Parasite.

    ming Femme¡¯s powerful mes hadn¡¯t wounded it in the slightest. It actually emerged from her body still glowing red-hot, and only continued to growrger from there.

    The moment the parasite appeared was also the same moment that all of the Harpies¡¯ attacksnded. Su Chen had managed to escape the onught, but it wasn¡¯t able to. It was bombarded basically as soon as it appeared.

    Even so, the Gluttonous Parasite wasn¡¯t wounded by the turbulent energy in the slightest. In fact, it began to cry out with excitement.

    ¡°What kind of creature is this?¡± Everyone¡¯s expressions shifted dramatically.

    ¡°I already told you guys. It¡¯s a parasite!¡± Su Chen pointed at one of the Harpies in front of him, and the parasite immediately charged in his direction.

    This Harpy was a Sixth-Ring Arcana Master. He was by no means weak, and hisbat tactics were very steady. When he saw the Gluttonous Parasite charging towards him, he immediately applied a protective barrier to himself.

    Unexpectedly, the parasite pounced on top of him and immediately bit down at the barrier, devouring it piece by piece as if it were food. With just a few bites, arge chunk had disappeared from the barrier. An instantter, and the parasite had already slipped its way inside the Arcana Master and was starting to devour him as well.

    ¡°Stop! Stop!¡± the Arcana Master howled madly, but the Gluttonous Parasite continued to chomp at the Arcana Master ceaselessly. Its attacks weren¡¯t very powerful, but its elemental immunity made it impossible for the Arcana Master to harm it no matter how hard he tried. The ineffective attacks only resulted in even more pain and damage ¡ª the Arcana Master was literally being eaten alive, and he could only howl in despair and fear.

    ¡°What kind of creature is this?¡± Li Daohong was stunned.

    Night God Sun stared angrily at Su Chen. ¡°Is this the trump card that you prepared?¡±

    ¡°Not at all.¡± Su Chen shook his head before lightheartedly saying, ¡°This is only an appetizer. The main course......¡±

    He turned around. ¡°Is already here.¡±

    Another group of Harpies could be seen flying in their direction when he turned around.

    When Li Daohong saw who their leader was, his pupils contracted in shock. ¡°Holly Keen!¡±

    Holly Keen was the guy he had fought during the battle at the Origin Light Castle.

    He had actually appeared here.

    Not only that, but it appeared that he hade here for the express purpose of dealing with Li Daohong.

    This was because before he even arrived, Holly Keen began to yell, ¡°Li Daohong, you bastard, I¡¯ve finally found you! Hahaha!¡±

    How was this possible?

    How could Holly Keen possibly have known that he would appear here at this moment?

    Li Daohong realized something as he recovered from his shock. He turned to face Su Chen. ¡°You notified him?¡±

    ¡°Consider it a small gift that I prepared for you,¡± Su Chen said with a faint smile.

    Li Daohong was stunned.

    Who was this Harpy?

    Why did this Harpy know about his past grievances with Holly Keen? And how had this Harpy managed to prepare all this beforehand?

    Using Holly Keen to deal with him was truly a genius idea.

    Holly Keen hadn¡¯t managed to gain any advantage during their earlier battle, so his grudge with Li Daohong was quite deep.

    As soon as he heard a rumor that Li Daohong might appear in this location, he had immediately decided toe here and make trouble for him.

    ¡°Holly Keen? Why are you here?¡± Night God Sun was stunned.

    Holly Keenughed loudly. ¡°I¡¯m naturally here to make trouble for Li Daohong. Night God Sun, this has nothing to do with you. I don¡¯t care what you¡¯re doing here, but I will not spare Li Daohong no matter what.¡±

    As he spoke, he waved his arm, and his subordinates rushed towards Li Daohong, as did arge wave of puppets.

    Because they had exchanged blows before, Holly Keen understood Li Daohong¡¯s capabilities to a certain extent, and he hade prepared this time. He had brought many strong experts along with him, who immediately surrounded Li Daohong and his thousand subordinatespletely.

    Night God Sun stared angrily at Su Chen. ¡°You......¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I have a present prepared for you too,¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    What?

    This Harpy had managed to not only prepare something for Li Daohong but also for himself?

    Night God Sun was stunned.

    Su Chen then turned around and said, ¡°Hey, is it really appropriate for you guys to just continue hiding there like that?¡±

    As he spoke, arge group of Harpies slowly appeared. At the very front was an old man with a tall, pointed cap. He was holding a book in his hands.

    The old man didn¡¯t seem to mind being exposed by Su Chen. He said with a slight smile, ¡°Sir Azure Mark, you are truly incredible. You were able to easily takemand of the situation and use us to deal with your own problems. I, Inigo, respect your ability!¡±

    ¡°Fate¡¯s Light Inigo?¡± When he heard this name, Night God Sun¡¯s expression turned dark. ¡°Azure Mark, you¡¯re actually colluding with Fate¡¯s Hands?¡±

    Fate¡¯s Light Inigo was an incredibly powerful individual amongst Fate¡¯s Hands, and was actually the ninth most wanted criminal in all of Sky Country.

    Of course, this didn¡¯t mean that he was the ninth most powerful person in all of Sky Country.

    Fate¡¯s Light¡¯s true strength was not in his personal strength, but rather in his ability to influence others.

    Fate¡¯s Hands had an institute that they used to train the younger generations, which they called the Spiritual Light Institute. They specifically recruited poor Harpies with no future to the institute. And the institute¡¯s head was naturally Inigo himself.

    The Spiritual Light Institute was basically where Fate¡¯s Hands trained their future soldiers, and Inigo was the one responsible for brainwashing them and directing their entire life.

    As such, many of the people in Fate¡¯s Hands had studied under Inigo. It was obvious what kind of status he would have amongst the organization.

    As a result, he was recognized as a sage by the members of Fate¡¯s Hands.

    Despite the fact that he wasn¡¯t involved in the direct oversight of Fate¡¯s Hands, even the head of the organization himself would have to show Inigo respect and defer to him as teacher.

    Of course, Inigo was also incredibly strong. He was a Ninth-Ring Arcana Master, meaning that he was about as powerful as a high-tier Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator.

    The Thought-Manifestation Realm was already a kingly realm, so Inigo could be considered a king of Arcana Techniques.

    The most powerful individuals here should have been the two experts that Li Daohong and Night God Sun had brought with them. Li Daohong was being protected by a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator, while Night God Sun was simrly guarded by an Eighth-Ring Arcana Master. They had been explicitly brought along to ensure their safety while traveling through the secret realm.

    However, Inigo¡¯s appearance was enough topletely turn the tables around. No one was stronger than him in terms of cultivation base here.

    This wouldn¡¯t have normally been such a big problem, since Li Daohong and Night God Sun were quite strong themselves and had also brought alongrge numbers of powerful subordinates. Li Daohong¡¯s sacrificial warriors and Night God Sun¡¯s Night God Guards were all fierce fighters that didn¡¯t fear death. If they didn¡¯t care about the cost, Li Daohong and Night God Sun definitely would have been able to kill this sage of Fate¡¯s Hands by relying on sheer numbers.

    But Holly Keen¡¯s appearance had greatly restricted Li Daohong¡¯s group¡¯s strength. And this meant that Night God Sun would have a very hard time dealing with Inigo by himself. After all, Inigo hadn¡¯te on his own either; to his side stood a group of ferocious warriors.

    This was why Night God Sun¡¯s expression shifted drastically when he saw Inigo appear. He began to yell, ¡°Holly Keen, why are you still holding onto your personal grudges at this kind of time? Help me deal with this Fate¡¯s Hands guy first, and then you and Li Daohong can finish your battle.¡±

    ¡°Like hell I will,¡± Holly Keen shouted back impolitely. ¡°Don¡¯t think that I don¡¯t know that you and Li Daohong are in cahoots. The only reason I¡¯m able to beat Li Daohong up now without your interference is because you are preupied with Fate¡¯s Hands. If I help you deal with them, you¡¯ll be the first to attack me!¡±

    ¡°If we lose here, you won¡¯t be in a good situation either,¡± Night God Sun said angrily.

    Unexpectedly, Holly Keen chuckled loudly. ¡°Forget about it, Night God Sun. Don¡¯t think that I don¡¯t know what your trump card is. Even Fate¡¯s Light will have a hard time doing anything to you as long as you have that in your possession. You are not nearly as weak as you are making yourself seem.¡±

    Night God Sun nervously barked, ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen calmly inserted himself into the conversation here. ¡°He¡¯s naturally talking about the Divine Feather. Oh right, I think you actually need to use that feather to unlock the true secrets of this realm.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Everyone present turned to stare at Su Chen, stunned.

 Sect - Book 5, 115: Divine Guidance

    Chapter 115: Divine Guidance

    Every race had their own unique absolute trump card that they relied on in pinches. The humans had their Lifesource Candles and the Ravagers had their Elemental Totems. Naturally, the Harpies had one too.

    The Divine Feather was one of these items.

    Apparently, the Divine Feather had been bestowed upon them by the Mother Goddess ¡ª a feather plucked directly from her wings.

    The Divine Feather had a divine aura, making it incredibly powerful. It would bless the user and give them incredible strength, making it an extremely valuable weapon in battle.

    And the Mother Goddess Sect was responsible for guarding it.

    Apparently, the Mother Goddess had bestowed a total of seven feathers upon her followers. In the years that followed, four had been either lost or destroyed. At this point, the Harpies only had three feathers remaining.

    And Night God Sun was carrying one of those feathers on him.

    But he was stunned that Azure Mark knew that he was carrying a Divine Feather.

    In addition, he had mentioned some kind of connection between the Divine Feather and the true nature of this secret realm.

    He was suddenly reminded of a certain legend, and his expression dramatically shifted. ¡°Are the legends true? Was one of the lost Divine Feathers in Jade Clearmist¡¯s possession?¡±

    Su Chen chuckled before he replied, ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    When he saw this demonic-looking smile, Night God Sun yelped, ¡°How could you know?¡±

    ¡°How I know isn¡¯t important. If you don¡¯t believe me, you¡¯re free to experiment for yourself. Isn¡¯t that right, Fate¡¯s Light Inigo?¡± With those words, Su Chen turned to face Inigo.

    Inigo sighed.

    He originally had some thoughts of stopping the battle when he heard about the Divine Feather.

    After all, that kind of an ancient relic was unbelievably powerful. Even he didn¡¯t want to face the brunt of its power head-on. After all, he was a schr first, not a warrior. Despite his powerful strength, he was not particrly bold. He was more than happy to pick on people weaker than him, but he wasn¡¯t particrly keen on engaging in desperate struggles.

    But when he heard that Jade Clearmist¡¯s secret realm also had a Divine Feather, and that Night God Sun¡¯s was the key to uncovering the truth of the secret realm, it was impossible for his greed to not be moved.

    Most importantly, he had no choice but to listen to Azure Mark.

    Inigo also knew about the legend that Night God Sun had mentioned. After all, he was a schr, so his knowledge was incredibly broad.

    Even though the creator of the realm, Jade Clearmist, wasn¡¯t a Mother Goddess Disciple, he was intimately rted to an important individual amongst the Mother Goddess Sect. In addition, before the feather was lost, it had indeed belonged to that important individual of the sect.

    When these two facts were considered together, Inigo would have had to be an idiot to not understand what kind of game Azure Mark was trying to y.

    It was obvious that Azure Mark had known how to open Jade Clearmist¡¯s secret realm a long time ago, but he hadn¡¯t been confident that he could do it alone. As such, he was relying on Inigo to deal with this problem.

    But how could he possibly know about the secret?

    How had he known that Night God Sun would bring the Divine Feather with him?

    Just how could he be so confident that everything would go precisely ording to his n?

    It wouldn¡¯t make sense if it was all based off of scheming.

    All schemes were based upon predicting the human heart and typically followed general principles guiding human behavior. All ns that were made on the basis of other assumptions were intrinsically based off of blind guesswork, even if they managed to predict the situation correctly.

    Li Daohong¡¯s appearance here, as well as the presence of the Divine Feather, were not things that could possibly be anticipated through mere scheming alone.

    Was this Azure Mark actually a high-status individual amongst the Mother Goddess Sect? Was he the one who had orchestrated this whole ordeal?

    Otherwise, there was no possible exnation!

    Even Night God Sun seemed to realize that the strangeness of this scenario.

    Their opponent¡¯s calctions were simply impossibly precise, far outside the realm of what was feasible through raw intelligence. It was only natural that Night God Sun was also beginning to suspect that Azure Mark was a powerful Harpy.

    If not for the fact that his instructor, the Harpy that he trusted the most, had been the one to give him the Divine Feather, Night God Sun might have even though that the person before him was actually his master.

    Of course, Su Chen would never admit to how he had found out about all these matters.

    This kind of anticipation was impossible to aplish through scheming alone. He had basically had no choice but to cheat.

    However, the Origin Bone Scepter could only give him a limited amount of clues. The rest of the n had been pieced together based on the information already avable to him. It wasn¡¯t like he had been handed this n on a tter.

    But there was no need for Su Chen to exin all of this to them. It wasn¡¯t a bad idea to pretend to be omniscient from time to time.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t say anything when he saw their reactions and merely stepped back.

    Now that they had reached this point, there was no need for Su Chen to say anything else.

    Indeed, Inigo sighed and said, ¡°Even if I know that you are only using me, there is nothing I can do about it. Prince Night God, please take out the Divine Feather. Otherwise, you will not be fit to be my opponent.¡±

    As he spoke, he tore off a page from his book. On the page was a drawing of a golden peregrine.

    He rubbed his finger across the page, causing it to burst into mes. A golden peregrine flew out from the mes, tilting its majestic head and letting out a clear rion call. The page had returned to a nk state yet again.

    Based on its aura, it was immediately apparent that this Demonic Beast was at least at the level of a Lord-ss Demonic Beast.

    Ninth-Ring Arcana Masters were truly on another level, unleashing a Lord-ss Beast on the first move.

    However, Su Chen and Night God Sun were more focused on the book in his hands.

    cktower Book.

    cktower was an Arcana Master organization that had been created at the height of the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s power. It was as famous as Whitetower, the organization that had created Whitetower Teleportation.

    The cktower Book had been created by an Arcana Master by the name of Regilo, so it was also known as Regilo¡¯s book. Apparently, Regilo had felt restricted by Arcana Techniques, so he had created the cktower Book in an attempt to circumvent the dependency on Arcana Technique Patterns. The greatest benefit of the cktower Book was that Arcana Techniques could be directly imprinted into this book and used through it.

    This book made it much easier to use Arcana Techniques. Even low-tier Arcana Masters would be able to use high-tier Arcana Techniques if they possessed the cktower Book.

    However, this creation had not been viewed as particrly revolutionary or strong at the very beginning.

    The Arcanists had held the viewpoint that relying on external tools for strength was putting the cart before the horse.

    They wanted to grow stronger, yes, but not by relying on external tools.

    There were too many such tools that had already been created. If the only goal was to increase a person¡¯s power, they were better off creatingrge cannons instead.

    Arcana Techniques were representations of a lifeform¡¯s innate strength. What was the point of relying on a crutch to unleash techniques?

    This was why the cktower Book had not been well received, and Regilo had died a sad death as a result.

    But this book had still been passed on, eventually being obtained by Fate¡¯s Hands.

    Even though this item seemed to betray the Arcanists¡¯ fundamental philosophy of increasing a lifeform¡¯s personal strength, the power of the cktower Book was undeniable.

    The golden peregrine filled the sky with a golden light.

    This light very clearly demonstrated the aura of a powerful expert.

    Even so, this was only a small taste of what was toe.

    Inigo was an important individual, and the way he attacked was clearly reflected that. It was impossible for him to directly start off with a killing blow.

    The golden light seemed to illuminate everything nearby.

    Everything had fallen under its influence.

    It almost seemed like this peregrine would be able to sweep through everyone present in an instant.

    Night God Sun harrumphed. ¡°Who cares about a zing Sun Peregrine? Try my Falling Sun Bow on for size!¡±

    As he spoke, he drew his bow and unleashed an arrow. The razor-sharp arrow shot through the sky.

    The golden peregrine ¡ª no, the zing Sun Peregrine ¡ª spat out a mouthful of mes. The mes were so powerful that even metal would melt in an instant.

    Even so, the arrow that Night God Sun had shot out seemed relentless. The mes crashed into the arrow, but immediately came to a halt before being pushed back and flying right back at the zing Sun Peregrine.

    In this exchange of blows, Night God Sun had actually been the one toe out on top.

    And not only that , but Night God Sun immediately followed up with three more arrows, aiming them all at Inigo. Instantly, it appeared as if Night God Sun was one-sidedly suppressing Inigo.

    While the others were surprised, however, Su Chen was not.

    Inigo was indeed a Ninth-Ring Arcana Master, but he had one fatal weakness, which was that he didn¡¯t have a fighter¡¯s instincts.

    He was a schr. He had been in far too few life-and-death battles, or perhaps he had even been in none at all.

    As such, his attacks were quite constrained, and could even be considered methodical or wooden.

    This was why he had only unleashed a Lord-ss Demonic Beast in his first strike. Given his strength, he should have been able to at least call forth a Demonic King with no problems.

    Inigo¡¯sck of battle experience was a huge stumbling block for him, but that didn¡¯t mean that Night God Sun would be able to turn the tables on him that easily.

    Strength was still strength. Even an adult thatcked inbat experience would be able to easily beat up a child.

    Inigo sighed when he saw Night God Sun¡¯s three arrows fly in his direction.

    He flipped to yet another page.

    On this page, there was a drawing of an Arcana Master holding a torch in his right hand and a shield in his left.

    When he opened this page, Inigo¡¯s body suddenly began to glow with a saintly light.

    In that moment, it felt as if he were the disciple blessed by the Mother Goddess, while Night God Sun was the infidel.

    Under the halo of holy light, Night God Sun¡¯s extremely powerful arrows were renderedpletely useless.

    Inigo didn¡¯t flip through the book any further. Instead, he waved his arm as he began to chant. The holy light surrounding his body began to glow even more intensely, radiating everywhere. Everyone watching suddenly had the desire to prostrate themselves and worship Inigo.

    When he saw this, Night God Sun was infuriated. ¡°Heresy! You dare profane the Mother Goddess!?¡±

    This Arcana Technique was a unique one that belonged to the Arcanists ¡ª Divine Guidance.

    Apparently, Divine Guidance had been created at the height of the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s power, when they had dreamed of bing gods.

    This skill was actually a legendary Arcana Technique, and it was an incredibly powerful legendary Arcana Technique.

    This skill was actually ssified as a consciousness Arcana Technique. When used, it would affect all nearby lifeforms, making them want to worship and obey the user as if they were a god, bing his disciples forever. By absorbing the faith of the entranced targets, the user could be extremely powerful.

    This was a bit simr to an amped-up version of the Zhu n¡¯s bloodline skills, but amped-up to an almost unfathomable degree.

    This skill was one where describing it as ¡°awesome¡± was totally appropriate.

    Even though the Zhu n could control others, the various restrictions of their bloodline made it impossible for them to be totally invincible. The same went for the Li n and the Bewitching Butterfly Jin n.

    However, the ridiculous area that Divine Guidance could cover allowed it to influence almost all intelligent lifeforms within thatrge radius.

    This was why it was superior to even most other legendary Arcana Techniques, making it nearly a forbidden technique ¡ª something that was literally so powerful that people were forbidden from using it.

    Some people believed that the Arcana Kingdom had been wiped out not because they had provoked the Origin Beasts, but rather because their actions had sphemed a deity.

    That deity had given up on them, which was what had driven the Origin Beasts to attack, ultimately resulting in the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s destruction.

    The reason that deity had given up on the Arcanists was precisely due to the creation of Divine Guidance.

    For this reason, the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s decline was also known by an alternate name: Divine Extermination.

 Sect - Book 5, 116: The End?

    Chapter 116: The End?

    Inigo¡¯s Divine Guidance was not theplete version of Divine Guidance. Even if he had ess to it, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to use it anyways.

    He was currently using a weaker version of Divine Guidance, that was at the strength of the Ninth Ring. It might not have caused everyone present to prostrate themselves before him, but it could definitely affect their state of mind, weaken their killing intent, and dull their Origin Energy perceptiveness. This would also slow down the rate at which they gathered Origin Energy, weakening them further and giving him the perfect opportunity to strike.

    This was basically equivalent to an offensive, defensive, and attack speed debuff that simultaneously buffed him as well.

    This was a good example of just how powerful Ninth-Ring Arcana Techniques could be. It was entirely believable that the full-powered version of the technique bordered on being a forbidden technique.

    However, Su Chen frowned in disapproval.

    Inigo was indeed very powerful, as indicated by the fact that he could even use a variant Divine Guidance.

    But so what?

    He was only facing Night God Sun, so what was the point in weakening everyone else present? And he was also a Ninth-Ring Arcana Master, meaning that he should theoretically bepletely suppressing Night God Sun. What was the point in trying to gain a greater advantage?

    Wasn¡¯t this as unnecessary as taking off your pants to fart?

    If it were Su Chen, he would have retaliated with a powerful offensive Ninth-Ring Arcana Technique and then observed how his opponent responded. There was no point in making things soplicated.

    These pure-schr types always acted in ways that didn¡¯t make much logical sense in battle.

    They were locked into a particr way of thinking.

    Even so, the power of a Ninth-Ring Arcana Technique was quite astounding. And the effects of Divine Guidance were particrly frightening. Night God Sun felt his body grow heavy, as if his limbs had suddenly grown weights.

    Hepletely ignored the additional weight, however, and continued to charge at Inigo, staring at him with great hatred.

    As a disciple of a religious sect, it was impossible for his ire to not be provoked when he met an opponent that used Divine Guidance.

    That was a sphemous technique.

    Even if it were a weaker version.

    He yelled, ¡°Divine Guidance? What a joke! It¡¯s clearly an evil, demonic technique. You besmirch the name of the Holy Light by acting with such sphemous intent. How evil and despicable!¡±

    As he spoke, his body also began to glow with a divine aura.

    As this divine aura began to spread, the subservience aura Inigo¡¯s Divine Guidance was spreading began to lift as it changed appearance, morphing into something that appeared dark and twisted.

    Su Chen shouted out, ¡°Divine Feather!¡±

    Li Daohong also shouted , ¡°Divine Feather!¡±

    As did Holly Keen. ¡°Divine Feather!¡±

    And Inigo. ¡°Divine Feather!¡±

    Every person present uttered the same thing in that moment.

    Only the Divine Feather could achieve this kind of result.

    What kind of power was needed to transform an opponent¡¯s attack from something with a holy aura to something demonic?

    But where exactly was the Divine Feather?

    Neither Su Chen, Li Daohong, nor the other Harpies could figure it out.

    No one had seen Night God Sun pull out the Divine Feather. All they could see was the glow emanating from his body intensifying with each passing moment, causing his aura to surge.

    Inigo frowned before flipping to yet another page in the book.

    This page was very interesting.

    It had originally been nk, but as soon as Inigo opened it, the contents of this page came into view.

    It was a wall of gold light.

    This wall of pure golden light began to take shape, growing more and more tangible without showing any signs of slowing down. It was as if it could grow infinitely solid.

    As this process took ce, Inigo¡¯s Divine Guidance¡¯s demonic transformation slowed down until it finally stopped.

    ¡°Is it being absorbed?¡± Su Chen muttered.

    Indeed, not only was the cktower Book useful for storing and unleashing different Arcana Techniques, but it could also absorb some of the power of the enemy¡¯s blows like a shield.

    Night God Sun¡¯s attack was being absorbed by the cktower Book via a strange process.

    However, it seemed that the endless wave of power pulsing off of the Divine Feather was just too much for the cktower Book to handle.

    Even so, Inigo didn¡¯t only possess the cktower Book.

    He also had himself.

    As he flipped through the book, he began to chant in a low voice.

    It had to be said that Inigo was still very powerful just by himself.

    Even though it appeared that he could only rely on this cktower Book, his own ability to unleash Arcana Techniques was actually superior.

    Divine Guidance was only one of many Arcana Techniques that Inigo knew. In the next moment, he unleashed yet another powerful Arcana Technique.

    Double Moonlight.

    A silvery moon suddenly appeared in the sky.

    As the silvery light diffracted through the air, a chill seemed descended upon the immediate area.

    Night God Sun¡¯s powerful divine aura suddenly seemed to congeal and freeze after being basked in this soft light.

    It was hard to say why there was only one moon in the sky when the technique was called Double Moonlight. Even so, the fact of the matter was that this Double Moonlight technique had managed to halt Night God Sun¡¯s divine aura in its tracks.

    Inigo calmly said, ¡°There¡¯s no point in hiding it, Prince Night God. Show me its true strength.¡±

    Oh.

    So his true goal was to see the Divine Feather, was it?

    Su Chen finally understood what Inigo was after.

    It seemed that he had wrongly disparaged Inigo. The whole reason he had used Divine Guidance was to force Night God Sun into using the Divine Feather.

    But for some reason, only the glowing from Night God Sun¡¯s Divine Feather could be seen. The actual feather itself was nowhere to be found.

    Unfortunately, what Inigo wanted to see was exactly what Night God Sun refused to show.

    Night God Sun¡¯s response to the appearance of this moon was to tilt his head back and howl loudly before unleashing an arrow at the sky.

    This arrow was incredibly powerful and flew straight up into the sky.

    It seemed that he wanted to shatter the moon in the sky and destroy the source of this moonlight.

    Inigo flipped through his book yet again before unleashing another Arcana Technique to block Night God Sun¡¯s attempts.

    The way Inigo attacked was very peculiar. He would always alternate between using the cktower Book and his own Arcana Techniques, mixing the two wlessly while ensuring that they stillplemented each other.

    Night God Sun had reached a state where he could do battle with a Ninth-Ring Arcana Master due to the support of the Divine Feather.

    The two of them traded blows ceaselessly, causing the sky to grow dim from the powerful waves of Origin Energy they were unleashing.

    Li Daohong and Holly Keen were forced to temporarily pause their battle and get out of the way of these two madmen to avoid bing coteral damage.

    Everyone present waspletely awestruck by the battle between these two individuals, as if they were watching two main characters do battle.

    Inigo¡¯s actions still appeared unfettered and at ease, fitting his schrly aura. He made no attempt to unleash powerful attack after powerful attack. Instead, he relied on flipping through his book to defend himself.

    Night God Sun, on the other hand, fought as if he were a god of war. Golden light lined his figure, and each arrow he shot from his bow was razor-sharp and bloodthirsty.

    The two of them hadpletely different styles ofbat, but appeared to be quite equal matches for one another.

    However, it was obvious that while Inigo¡¯s attacks were still as unhurried as ever, Night God Sun¡¯s attack speed was beginning to pick up, and his momentum was also beginning to build.

    To the uninitiated, it might seem that Night God Sun was beginning to build up an advantage.

    But to experienced veterans who knew what was happening, they would realize that Night God Sun was actually at a disadvantage. He was being forced to increase his power output and speed to deal with Inigo¡¯s attacks.

    It felt like he would eventually fall no matter how high he raised his power.

    Perhaps that was exactly what Inigo wanted.

    This Fate¡¯s Hand¡¯s sage might not have been a fighter by nature, but he was no idiot. He naturally had his own way of analyzing problems and followed his own way of thinking.

    He was definitely going to force the Divine Feather out into the open.

    Yet another Ninth-Ring Arcana Technique was unleashed.

    A hurricane of Origin Energy once again rushed towards Night God Sun.

    Night God Sun seemed to be aware that he wouldn¡¯t be able to hold on for much longer.

    As such, he chose to do something drastic.

    He once again drew his bow and nocked an arrow, but this time his target was not Inigo.

    He shot at Su Chen!

    Whoosh!

    The arrow flew right at Su Chen.

    The arrow arced through the air with an incredible momentum.

    Even Su Chen hadn¡¯t expected Night God Sun to suddenly attack him out of the blue.

    Night God Sun had chosen to attack a different target while he was at a disadvantage.

    This arrow was so fast and so fierce that even Su Chen waspletely caught off-guard.

    Yes, he had really been caughtpletely off-guard this time!

    Pu!

    The arrow pierced through Su Chen¡¯s throat, only leaving behind a mangled hole.

    Blood spurted through the air.

    Su Chen had had no opportunity to defend himself, dodge, or even counterattack. This single arrow had managed to st him to pieces.

    ¡°Did you really think I would just let you just stand there and watch us fight so that you could reap the benefitster?¡± Night God Sun howled indignantly.

    The price he had paid to unleash this arrow was enduring one of Inigo¡¯s powerful Arcana Techniques. The holy light surrounding his body grew stronger as the power of the Divine Feather acted furiously to protect him from Inigo¡¯s attack.

    Youthful Abundance and the rest of the Wind-Gathering n were all stunned.

    Dead?

    The powerful, mysterious Azure Mark had died just like that?

    He hadn¡¯t even had an opportunity to counterattack.

    How was this possible?

    They didn¡¯t dare believe their eyes.

    ¡°What was the point in doing that?¡± Inigo sighed. ¡°This Harpy has an unknown background, and he might have uncovered some vital information about this secret realm. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have talked about the ¡®true face¡¯ of this realm. He wouldn¡¯t have said this if he hadn¡¯t found fake treasures. I was originally nning on asking him for more details, but we¡¯ve lost that opportunity now.¡±

    ¡°So what?¡± Night God Sun furiously drew his bow taut again. ¡°Anyone who opposes the Mother Goddess must die! Inigo, you are not an exception!¡±

    As he yelled, his aura seemed to peak yet again, each arrow he unleashed powerful enough to tten an entire city.

    Inigo shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not saying that he shouldn¡¯t die. It¡¯s just that I was hoping that he could have contributed something of value while he was still alive. The same goes for you; the Divine Feather...... hm?¡±

    Before he could finish his sentence, Inigo suddenly eximed in surprise as his movements froze for just a moment.

    When Night God Sun saw Inigo¡¯s expression, he couldn¡¯t help but nce at where Inigo was looking.

    Then, he was also taken aback.

    Because Azure Mark¡¯s corpse was beginning to slowly disappear. Eventually, it turned into a pile of pure blood before disappearing altogether.

    What had happened?

    Why would the corpse disappear?

    Inigo and Night God Sun suddenly thought of something at the same time.

    A voice helplessly sighed out from behind them. ¡°It seems that I made a miscalction. Why didn¡¯t you two just stick to fighting each other? There was no need to involve me like that.¡±

    As the bloody mist dissipated, Su Chen¡¯s figure appeared yet again.

    ¡°You aren¡¯t dead?¡± Night God Sun stared angrily at Su Chen in slight disbelief.

    ¡°Nonsense! After all, I¡¯m the one in control of the situation, so it¡¯s only natural that I get thestugh. Otherwise, would I really be in control of the situation?¡± Su Chen chuckled as he continued, ¡°But it seems that you won¡¯t bring out the Divine Feather¡¯s full power unless I get involved too. Well, that¡¯s fine.¡±

    Su Chen pulled out the Lightless Sword and stared forward intently. ¡°Which one of you will I fight first? Or would you two rather I take you both on at once?¡±

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 117: Absentminded

    Chapter 117: Absentminded

    Which one of you first?

    Or perhaps both at once?

    These words were simple, but they carried an incredibly overbearing tone with them.

    The crowd of spectators nced at each other. Finally, one of the Harpies stepped out from their ranks.

    ¡°My name is Ocean Pledge. Remember my name......¡±

    Before he was even able to finish his sentence, Su Chen¡¯s Lightless Ring came crashing down upon him.

    The Harpy named Ocean Pledge was stunned. Arcana Masters needed time to unleash their Arcana Techniques, so they usually fought at a slower pace. The only reason why some of Su Chen¡¯s opponents had been able to unleash Arcana Techniques quickly was because they were either incredibly talented or possessed Innate Arcana Techniques. Though there were some Arcana Techniques that focused on a quick cast speed, most Arcana Techniques didn¡¯t.

    This was the case with the skills that Ocean Pledge was using. His talent wasn¡¯t very high, his cast rate was sluggish, and his agility was very low. As such, he preferred to open with a verbal barrage, which would give him time to prepare his attacks.

    Su Chen, however, had no intentions of giving him the opportunity to do so. Since Ocean Pledge had dered his intent to do battle, what need was there to waste any more time?

    He was a human by nature, after all, so he naturally fought like a human as well. No matter what kind of opponent he was up against, he would first give them a taste of steel.

    That Harpy was caughtpletely off-guard. Shock was stered all over his face as he instinctively applied a protective barrier to himself. This was already the fastest Arcana Technique he could unleash.

    Even so, Su Chen¡¯s de descended unerringly. Light gleamed off the surface of the de before it mmed into the barrier, shattering it. The de¡¯s momentum continued, bisecting the opponent in one smooth stroke.

    ¡°This is a battle, not a conversation!¡± Su Chen said coolly. ¡°If you guys want to fight, I¡¯m happy to oblige, but don¡¯t even think about trying to save yourselves.¡±

    As he spoke, he charged at the Mother Goddess Sect disciples.

    Those disciples responded simultaneously by throwing Arcana Techniques through the air at Su Chen, thick and fast.

    But at the same time that they attacked, Su Chen¡¯s figure flickered, this time reappearing near the group of Fate¡¯s Hands Harpies. His sword blinked through the air, reappearing in the heart of one of the Harpies in the next moment.

    He was actually provoking Fate¡¯s Hands even while the Mother Goddess Sect was still angry with him.

    The Fate¡¯s Hands members were stunned and enraged by Su Chen¡¯s actions, and immediately attacked simultaneously.

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen¡¯s figure disappeared once again, this time reappearing behind one of Li Daohong¡¯s sacrificial warriors and chopping off his head.

    The targets he had chosen were all weaker than him in terms of cultivation base, and theirbat strength was even weaker. As such, not one of them was capable of withstanding his attacks, and he was able to easily ughter all three of them.

    How could the other Harpies not be enraged by his actions? They all leapt into action, looking to make trouble for Su Chen.

    However, Su Chen continued to rely on Whitetower Teleportation to evade their pursuit, making it incredibly difficult for them to pin down his location. This rendered most Arcana Techniques useless against him. And theseckeys were not strong enough to use high-tier spatial techniques, so they could only unleash wave after wave of area-of-effect Arcana Techniques and pray that one of them would hit.

    All of the Harpies had realized this. In addition, even if Azure Mark was their opponent, so too were the other Harpies, so they were not worried about coteral damage.

    Wild torrents of Origin Energy flew everywhere from the haphazardly shing Arcana Techniques.

    Everything was as Su Chen had said. Since he had been dragged into the fray, then no one else should even think about sitting around and doing nothing.

    Let¡¯s fight!

    Boom!

    The sounds of explosions could be heard resounding everywhere as vast waves of Origin Energy spread in all directions. At this point, no one could avoid being caught up in the battle.

    Even though the battle was chaotic, a general rhythm and flow was still present.

    Li Daohong and his men were fighting Holly Keen, while the Mother Goddess Sect was fighting against Fate¡¯s Hands. Their grudges towards each other had clearly manifested in this moment. No one tried to conceal their intentions any longer, and they began to attack each other mercilessly.

    Of course, they all had the same attitude towards Su Chen.

    Su Chen would attack anyone, and anyone who saw Su Chen would likewise attack him.

    The fisherman was unable to benefit this time and had also been dragged into the water.

    This was the real world.

    Otherwise, the battle probably wouldn¡¯t have even broken out in the first ce.

    Because Su Chen was no longer standing off to the side watching the battle, Night God Sun and Inigo could afford to fully concentrate on their own battle. At least to them, the feeling of being used by someone had disappeared.

    But just because Su Chen was personally involved in the battle didn¡¯t mean that he was using his full strength.

    By relying on the maneuverability that Whitetower Teleportation provided, Su Chen danced elegantly across the chaotic battlefield. Since his position wasn¡¯t fixed, it was hard for him to bepletely pulled into the turmoil. His ¡°desire¡± to fight was merely to cate the other parties ¡ª it was as if he were saying, ¡®See, I¡¯m fighting now. You guys can stop paying attention to me.¡¯

    As such, he didn¡¯t take much initiative to attack and instead focused on protecting himself.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t really care about how fiercely his opponents attacked each other.

    Enemies were enemies. Even though Su Chen was the one who had provoked them into action, their underlying hatred for each other had manifested itself during the battle. Even their leaders were fighting each other, so the subordinates had no excuse but to attack wholeheartedly as well.

    The mes of battle very quickly spread far and wide in an extremely rapid yet natural manner.

    Su Chen had merely sparked the fire; the spread of the mes waspletely natural.

    Torrents of Origin Energy flew through the air as a brutal battle began to unfold.

    Because Harpies primarily used Arcana Techniques in battle, they depended heavily on the energy in the environment. Even though only a few hundred people were battling, the flow of Origin Energy was even more chaotic than when the Ravagers had been fighting an all-out battle against the beasts.

    The scale of the Ravager battle had been greater, but their ability to use Origin Energy was limited. As such, while the general chaos created by that battle had spread further, the intensity of their chaos was actually inferior to this one.

    Here, where hundreds of Harpies were involved in a furious battle, thepetition for Origin Energy in the air was iparably fierce.

    A massive vortex of Origin Energy had been created by the battle of these hundreds of Harpies.

    Within this vortex, Origin Energy flowed in chaotically. Outside, Origin Energy flowed in a whirlpool-like fashion as it swirled towards the center of this ck hole.

    Of course, this strange phenomenon was impossible to observe with the naked eye and could only be seen by those with adequate consciousness perception skills. An artificial image would be reconstructed in the mind, with different levels of perception producing different levels of detail.

    Without question, Su Chen¡¯s perception of this event was the clearest.

    In his mind, the vortex appeared seemed physical, as it was made up of colors that corresponded to the elemental character of the energy and forms that corresponded to the Arcana Technique. The overall picture, of course, represented the chaotic flow of Origin Energy within the area.

    It appeared incredibly lifelike and alive, as if it were an oil painting.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t seen anything like this during the Ravager-Beast battle.

    It wasn¡¯t only because the local intensity of the battle was greater than the Ravager-Beast battle; Su Chen¡¯s abilities had improved greatly since then, which also yed arge role.

    At that moment, Su Chen saw an even smaller ck hole at the center of the multi-colored vortex.

    A small amount of the multi-colored light would escape from the vortex every once in a while as the stream flowed over the hole.

    What was that?

    Su Chen was stunned.

    He wanted to get a closer look but found that no matter what he tried, he was unable to see it any more clearly. The hole was so small that it was almost a one-dimensional point. It was already difficult for him to see the miniscule bit of light leaking from it.

    In any case, since he was just wandering around, Su Chen decided to activate his microscopic eye.

    To his shock, he found that the ck dot wasn¡¯t magnified in the slightest despite the fact that he had activated his microscopic eye.

    What did this mean?

    The microscopic eye allowed Su Chen to see almost any substance at the atomic level, so why couldn¡¯t he see through this ck dot?

    What if it waspletely unrted to microscopic substances?

    Because this new discovery had enthralled him, his attention to the battlefield began to slip.

    Two Arcana Masters and a Harpy archer attacked him. Su Chen was toozy to dodge and casually applied a powerful barrier to himself as he furiously performed some calctions.

    A myriad of ideas shot through Su Chen¡¯s head like lightning.

    With the consciousness crystal, Su Chen¡¯s calction abilities were greatly increased. Most of the time, however, he used those calctive abilities to increase his own strength.

    Su Chen was very quickly able to obtain a number of different hypotheses as his brain fired on all cylinders.

    Su Chen explored those different hypotheses some more, eliminating them all until he came to one final possibility.

    A spatial realm!

    This ck hole was very likely notposed of Origin Energy. After all, ck was not a color that represented Origin Energy in the first ce.

    The reason he could see it wasn¡¯t because of his eyes, but rather because of his spatial perception.

    His spatial perception was only at an elementary level, which was why he could only see a small bit of the ck hole. Only by increasing his spatial perception would he be able to observe it in more detail.

    That was merely a guess of Su Chen¡¯s, but after removing all other possibilities, there was only one path forward. Through this deductive method, his answer had gotten closer and closer to the truth.

    When he thought about how the total amount of Origin Energy across the Primordial Continent had begun to decline over a period of tens of thousands of years, making it impossible for the Origin Beasts to survive and causing them to all fall into a deep slumber, the existence of this ck hole suddenly seemed to give rise to a shocking hypothesis.

    High-power battles would open up spatial fissures, causing Origin Energy to permanently disappear!

    After all, under normal circumstances, the amount of Origin Energy in this world should have been held constant as it cycled through its various forms.

    Powerful creatures were basically able to gather and unleashrge quantities of Origin Energy.

    But no matter how much energy they were able to gather, whether it was the Origin Beasts, human cultivators, or Harpy Arcana Masters, their cultivation shouldn¡¯t have affected the total energy capacity of the continent. After all, energy was constantly being transferred between a user and the environment. Eventually, all of the consumed energy would return to the environment.

    But this ck hole provided another hypothesis.

    Energy was actually flowing directionally.

    Perpetually and gradually flowing in one direction and one direction only.

    Was that how it was?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know.

    This was just a vague idea that he hade up with by gazing at the ck hole.

    But this was also not apletely baseless idea either. Rather, it had been formted on the foundation of countless inquiries and theories that Su Chen had developed over the years.

    If this was the case, then Su Chen would have discovered the true reason for the decay of the continent¡¯s Origin Energy atmosphere.

    So where was that Origin Energy flowing to?

    What was at the other end of that ck hole?

    One answer seemingly gave rise to a whole host of new questions.

    Su Chen had no idea what the answers to those questions were.

    However, he had discovered that the secrets this continent was hiding seemed to be increasing.

    At first, he had only been paying attention to ways to strengthen the human cultivation system.

    But as his cultivation base and strength had increased, his focus had begun to shift from merely studying the human cultivation system to uncovering the truths hidden behind this world.

    What was outside of this world?

    This seed had now been nted in Su Chen¡¯s heart.

    In this moment, Su Chen suddenly had a premonition that the path he was walking on was not limited to just the human race.

    It surpassed humanity and involved the fate of the world itself.

    When he thought to this point, he couldn¡¯t help but chuckle.

    At that moment, the Harpies were still furiously attacking Su Chen. They were already infuriated when they noticed that Su Chen wasn¡¯t fighting back at all. When they saw his faraway, vacant expression, their anger burned even more fiercely.

    How can you afford to be absentminded in the middle of battle?

    That was too much, wasn¡¯t it?

    Boom!

    An exceptionally powerful ming Arcana Technique surged in Su Chen¡¯s direction.

    As the mes washed over Su Chen, the Harpies could only see a satisfied smile hanging on his lips.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 118: Opening the Secret Realm

    Chapter 118: Opening the Secret Realm

    It was impossible for Su Chen to not feel satisfied.

    His new discovery not only gave him some idea as to what the future would hold, but it also further increased his ability to control the chaotic, turbulent flows of Origin Energy.

    Typically, these turbulent flows of Origin Energy would weaken thebat ability of everyone on the battlefield to varying degrees.

    But Su Chen was an exception.

    He had been able to control and perceive these chaotic flows for some time now and could fight under their influence without being affected. As his understanding andprehension further increased, he discovered that he was even able to harness that power for himself now.

    While most people experienced a ten-to-thirty percent to decrease in strength, Su Chen actually increased in strength by roughly ten percent.

    How could he not be happy?

    Of course, that smile was intensely humiliating towards those Arcana Masters attacking him.

    The two Arcana Masters attacked at full-force. In that moment, theyid aside their enmity and joined hands to wash their shame away.

    ¡°Oh, so you¡¯re finally teaming up now? That¡¯s fine.¡± The two Arcana Masters had unleashed a Thunderball and a Flying Rage de at Su Chen. Su Chen responded with a simple sh of the Flowing Gold de.

    This simple attack had not been infused with the power of his Primordial Blood Incarnation or his ck mes. He wasn¡¯t even using the Origin Energy in his body to its fullest extent.

    But this simple sword strike was able to slice through the Thunderball and nullify the Flying Rage de¡¯s momentum. The sword energy continued to arc through the air, eventually mming into the chest of one of the opponents,pletely severing his body in two and continuing onto the second opponent. The Flowing Gold de then shed through the second opponent multiple times, cutting him into pieces as well.

    ¡°Beautiful!¡± Youthful Abundance yelled excitedly, badly startling Wind-Gathering Evergreen, who then quickly ced his hand over her mouth.

    Actually, Night God Sun and Inigo were obviously aware of their existence. But because there were much bigger fish to fry, they didn¡¯t have any attention to spare them.

    After dealing with these two minor opponents, Su Chen found another four opponents headed in his direction.

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°I knew that this was going to happen. Well, it¡¯s probably time for me to exercise some restraint now.¡±

    As he spoke, he reined in his aura and continued to leap around arbitrarily.

    A slightly dumber archer angrily shouted out, ¡°Azure Mark, are you looking down on us? Show us your true strength!¡±

    However, one of his nearbyrades smacked him on the back of his head. ¡°Shut your mouth!¡±

    On the battlefield, acting arrogantly was equivalent to courting death.

    There were always some smarter individuals who weed Su Chen¡¯s restrained attitude.

    This was especially true after they saw just how the two people in front of them had died.

    The two parties had reached a tacit mutual understanding. As for the dumb archer...... If he wasn¡¯t willing to listen, then he could attack on his own. The opponent would be more than willing to dispatch of him.

    It was with this kind of understanding that Su Chen continued to observe his surroundings, gradually deepening hisprehensions and increasing his own strength.

    But while Su Chen was casually watching the battle unfold, the fight between Night God Sun and Inigo had reached a critical point.

    Inigo was a Ninth-Ring Arcana Master. As he unleashed Ninth-Ring Arcana Technique after Ninth-Ring Arcana Technique, Night God Sun found it more and more difficult to resist even with the support of the Divine Feather.

    ¡°Prince Night God, why do you insist on being so stubborn?¡± Inigo sighed as he flipped to yet another page in his book.

    A ck cloud rose into the air as a powerful wave of pressure began to crush down on them from the sky.

    ¡°AH!¡± Night God Sun tilted his head back and howled in anger.

    Given that he was directly inside of the vortex, this pressure was incredibly difficult for him to withstand.

    He began to crumble under the pressure, but then the light from his wings began to glow even more intensely.

    Finally, Inigo saw a golden feather appear from behind Night God Sun¡¯s back.

    ¡°Divine Feather!¡± Inigo yelled out excitedly.

    Finally, it had been forced out.

    Inigo¡¯s eyes glowed greedily as he reached out with his hand. A pitch-ck hand had appeared in the sky and was reaching out to grab the feather.

    Night God Sun howled loudly as he shot three arrows into the sky all at once, whistling towards his opponent with an incredibly destructive momentum. The incredibly domineering aura of the arrows spread in all directions, badly wounding all of the Arcana Masters nearby. One of them even died on the spot.

    However, Inigo continued to nonchntly flip his book. The pitch-ck hand didn¡¯t seem to have any intention of stopping and continued to press forwards relentlessly.

    This was Inigo¡¯s true power. In order to obtain the Divine Feather, this schr was willing to use all the strength at his disposal.

    This Ninth-Ring Arcana Technique, the ck Demonic Hand, was his innate Arcana Technique. His ability to use it at such quick notice had basically turned it from a single-target attack into an area-of-effect skill. ck hands could be seen heading in all directions, giving those bystanders watching the battle a feeling of indescribable doom.

    Night God Sun also seemed to realize that the battle had reached a critical point. He howled loudly as he unleashed his most powerful arrow yet.

    A bright golden arrow shot through the sky at the ck Demonic Hand, exuding a powerful aura of extermination. Even Su Chen was forced to retreat.

    However, this action also created an unanticipatedplication for Su Chen. Arge group of Arcana Masters took advantage of the opportunity to attack him.

    Su Chen harrumphed. ¡°Did you really think that you are the only ones with numbers on your side?¡±

    He waved his hands. The strange creatures that he had forced to submit to him earlier charged forward at this moment.

    Not only that, but Su Chen brought out his Gluttonous Parasite as well.

    Originally, this world had contained no parasites. This Gluttonous Parasite was the first of its kind.

    The character for ¡°parasite¡± originated from the fact that the bug used a human as a vessel. Thus, it was abination of the characters for bug and for vessel.

    This parasite relied on devouring Origin Energy to survive, but it could actually be used for more than just plotting against someone. In actuality, its greatest effect would be manifested after it was born.

    During the previous chaotic battle, the parasite had devoured a number of Harpies already. When factoring Seventh-Ring ming Femme into its list of meals, it was quite obvious that the parasite had consumed a number of organisms with powerful Origin Energy character, allowing it to mature and grow incredibly quickly.

    The parasite opened its mouth wide as ten or so Arcana Techniques came flying in its direction, directly devouring them whole. The Harpies who saw this happen felt their gizzards tremble.

    At that moment, a column of light suddenly shot through the air.

    The column of light emerged from the ground, causing it to crack and leaving behind a big hole behind.

    Arge pce could be seen descending from the sky.

    All of the Harpies instinctively stopped fighting and turned to look at the pce.

    ¡°It¡¯s appeared! Jade Clearmist¡¯s true secret realm!¡± the Harpies all eximed to themselves.

    Above that pce, the blinding white light was concealing a thin golden strand that was resonating with the Divine Feather.

    ¡°It¡¯s another Divine Feather!¡± Inigo yelled in astonishment as he stared at Su Chen suspiciously.

    Everything had gone exactly as Azure Mark had anticipated.

    ¡°I told you already. It would have saved us a lot of trouble if you had just taken it out earlier,¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    The Harpies present were infuriated. After all, he was the one who had instigated this battle in the first ce. None of them wanted to hear those mocking wordsing from him.

    However, Su Chen was not nning on only instigating things then, but also now.

    As he spoke, he flew into the air towards the pce.

    Everyone was badly startled when they saw this and hurried to catch up, unleashing a barrage of Arcana Techniques at the same time.

    However, these Arcana Techniques were not all aimed at Su Chen.

    Most of them were aimed at their other opponents.

    The earlier battle had mostly been to jockey for position and to vent the hatred and enmity that had built up in their hearts. But now, the current battle was being fought for an even simpler reason ?¡ª profit.

    Everyone wanted to go in and not let anyone else in. The battle had reached its official climax.

    At this point, there was no more point to holding back any longer. All of the humans and Harpies began to furiously unleash technique after technique, ughtering anyone from another party to ensure that they would be the first ones to enter the pce and plunder all its treasures.

    The battle instantly turned white-hot, and everyone¡¯s killing intent was soaring to the heavens, including Li Daohong, Night God Sun, Holly Keen, and Inigo. All parties paid a tremendous price.

    At this point, given how much of a price had been paid, no one was willing to back down anymore.

    Those below were fighting furiously, while those in the lead charged forwards relentlessly.

    Night God Sun¡¯s wings spread wide as he shot towards the pce. ¡°Don¡¯t even think about trying to take these treasures from their divinely-appointed owners!¡±

    Inigo calmly replied, ¡°Since you people are so saintly, then you should uphold that standard now and not fight with us for these secr benefits.¡±

    As he spoke, his figure suddenly shed forwards. Even though this Ninth-Ring Arcana Technique was not as heaven-defying as Su Chen¡¯s teleportation techniques, it had still moved him an incredible amount forward.

    Li Daohong harrumphed and pulled out an item, rubbing it gently between his fingers. An instantter, his figure morphed into a blur of light as he shot forwards, not slower than Night God Sun in the slightest.

    Holly Keen, thest one remaining, didn¡¯t have any techniques he could use to boost his speed.

    But just because he wasn¡¯t fast didn¡¯t mean that he couldn¡¯t slow the others down.

    He pulled out a puppet and yelled, ¡°Seal those treasures for me!¡±

    The puppet tilted its head back and howled. A thunderp suddenly boomed through the air as it sealed off the entrance to the pce.

    When Su Chen saw this, he stopped in ce. Inigo¡¯s Dark Nightmare Hand pushed against the thunder seal, but was unable to move it in the slightest.

    ¡°Brat, you¡¯ve got some skill!¡± Inigo eximed as he stared at Holly Keen in surprise.

    This guy wasn¡¯t very strong, but he had all kinds of strange puppets at his disposal. Each of them had their own ws, but also had their own unique strengths.

    This puppet was definitely a puppet with strong sealing capabilities.

    Holly Keen chuckled as he flew forwards leisurely. ¡°Without my permission, no one should even think about entering!¡±

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Su Chen countered. ¡°I have no enmity with you, and I really don¡¯t want to p you in the face. But...... I feel like I can get in.¡±

    Holly Keen chuckled. ¡°If you can, then you may do as you please!¡±

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°Not only can I enter, but I can bring others in with me as well.¡±

    As he spoke, he waved his sleeves in the air, wrapping up the Gluttonous Parasite and the nearby void creatures before charging through the thunder seal.

    Inigo, Night God Sun, and Holly Keen watched on as he entered.

    He entered!

    He had entered!

    He had just entered as easily as that!

    How had he done it?

    Everyone was stunned.

    Even Holly Keen was taken aback. ¡°How is this...... possible? My thunder seal directly locks down space itself. There shouldn¡¯t be a technique that can get him in, so just how was he able to?¡±

    Inigo¡¯s eyes glowed in understanding as he said, ¡°I underestimated you.¡±

    He hurriedly flipped through the cktower Book.

    Ambent glow surrounded him as his figure turned into a streak of light and shot right through the seal.

    Holly Keen was left dumbfounded yet again.

    Night God Sun¡¯s Divine Feather blinked once, allowing him to teleport inside.

    ¡°Damn it!¡± Holly Keen howled.

    He nced at Li Daohong.

    Li Daohong shrugged. ¡°I can¡¯t break your seal, but I can just follow you around. Hey, they¡¯ve already gone in. You¡¯re not nning on just leaving this ce sealed like this, right?¡±

    Holly Keen was taken aback for a moment before he cursed. ¡°Damn it all to hell.¡±

    As he spoke, he deactivated the seal and charged into the pce himself.

    Li Daohong chuckled before his expression grew stony. ¡°Sacrificial warriors, to me!¡±

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 119: Stimulation Medicine

    Chapter 119: Stimtion Medicine

    The first thing Su Chen saw when entering the pce was an incredibly wide and spacious main hall.

    At the very front of the main hall was a female statue. Beneath the statue was an offering table with three items ced on it.

    At the center was a crystal, sealing a golden feather inside. That was precisely the Divine Feather.

    Divine Feathers were bestowed by deities, making them filled with divine power. But because the human world had no divine power, the feather¡¯s divine power couldn¡¯t be regenerated once it was used up. Jot only so, but it normally needed to be sealed. Otherwise, the feather¡¯s power would begin to leach out slowly.

    Night God Sun had been unwilling to bring out the full power of the Divine Feather earlier was because merely relying on the Origin Energy bestowed by the Divine Feather was much less costly than bringing it fully out. As soon as it appeared, the divine power it contained would begin to leak out irreversibly.

    For this reason, Night God Sun refused to use the Divine Feather unless it was absolutely necessary.

    But it was also because he had used this Divine Feather that the pce¡¯s Divine Feather was able to resonate with his, revealing the truth of the secret realm.

    The Divine Feather before him was sealed in a special kind of crystal that also relied on the Origin Energy originating from this divine power to sustain itself.

    There were two more items next to the Divine Feather.

    One of then was something Su Chen was quite familiar with. It was a totem with wind-like inscriptions carved on it.

    The Wind Spirit Totem.

    The Ravagers had lost many of their totems after tens of thousands of years of history. Some of them had been destroyed by the passage of time, while others had been taken as spoils of war. This Wind Spirit Totem was one such example, but Su Chen didn¡¯t really know how it had ended up in Jade Clearmist¡¯s hands.

    Su Chen was delighted when he saw the Wind Spirit Totem.

    This totem was quite a good item. The Vitality Totem had greatly increased Su Chen¡¯s lifeforce, making him even stronger than an average Ravager. Unfortunately, the way to use the totems was quite mysterious. Even now, he still had yet to figure out how to use the Thunder Spirit Totem.

    The final item was a red sphere that exuded a strong aura of bloodthirstiness. Su Chen didn¡¯t know what it was, but he knew without a doubt that these items were very valuable.

    Anyone else probably would¡¯ve immediately taken those treasures.

    Su Chen, however, chose not to do so. He stood there motionless, as if he was thinking about something.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, he pulled out two vials of medicine, spilling one on the ground and one on himself.

    The medicine he had poured on the ground was known as Stimtion Medicine, while he used the antidote on himself. This medicine would enhance a person¡¯s emotion no matter what that emotion was. Greedy people would be greedier, angry people would be angrier, jealous people would be more jealous, and people full of hatred would hate even more.

    This Stimtion Medicine would only amplify a person¡¯s pre-existing emotion. Even though this effect didn¡¯t sound too impressive, it was quite a useful tool when used in the right ce.

    Intelligent people were intelligent because they knew how to restrict their emotions. The greater a person¡¯s status was, the better they knew how to do this.

    Night God Sun was smart enough to implicate Su Chen in the battle beforehand to avoid giving Su Chen the opportunity to use him.

    It was obvious that it was very difficult for Su Chen to benefit like a fisherman.

    But at that moment, with these real treasures in front of them, maintaining their calmness was impossible. With Su Chen¡¯s medicine adding fuel to the fire, the oue was easily imaginable.

    He had only just poured the medicine on the ground when he suddenly heard the sound of rushing wind behind him.

    Inigo and Night God Sun had shown up.

    Their eyes lit up simultaneously as they reached out to grab the three treasures,pletely ignoring Su Chen¡¯s presence.

    At that moment, however, Night God Sun unleashed an invisible arrow at Inigo, and Inigo also unleashed an Arcana Technique at him. They didn¡¯t forget to attack Su Chen either.

    Su Chen only defended himself and didn¡¯t try to counterattack.

    At that point in time, anyone who retaliated would draw attention to themselves. Indeed, Inigo and Night God Sun began to duel with each other.

    Even though the Stimtion Medicine was only a rare-tier medicine, its effect was incredibly potent because it acted on pre-existing emotions. Even Inigo, a Ninth-Ring Arcana Master

    , was unable to avoid its effects. Him and Night God Sun stared at each other angrily.

    With the treasures right next to them and a mortal enemy in front of them, killing their enemy and taking the treasure was totally logical and righteous.

    At this point, rationality and logic had been left behind. The only thing they thought about was gaining an advantage and killing the other party.

    Su Chen retreated further.

    Not everyone could remain calm in the face of such precious treasures.

    But Su Chen could.

    All he saw were the opponents in front of him.

    The treasures were merely serving as bait. Only with enough bait would they truly be willing to attack each other without holding back.

    This was why Su Chen retreated to the furthest corner and activated Darkness Concealment, causing him topletely disappear into the shadows.

    At the same time, Li Daohong and Holly Keen also charged in.

    Their eyes began to glow with greed when they saw the treasures on the table.

    Soon after, more people entered the pce. The sight of those treasures caused them to lose their sense of rationality. What reced their rationality was the desire to unleash a furious beating on their enemies.

    Even though Su Chen didn¡¯t attack, the Gluttonous Parasite and demonic creatures he had brought were freely ughtering their way through the crowd, participating in this brutal battle.

    Su Chen sat in the corner, calmly watching the intense battle before him unfold. His heart was extremely calm and even.

    This calmness wasn¡¯t due to the medicine alone, but also because of his transcendent attitude towards these material treasures.

    Su Chen¡¯s attitude towards these important treasures was one of rtive indifference because he ced knowledge at the very front.

    Inigo was also an Arcana Master who valued knowledge, but when faced with these treasures, he had no way of remaining calm. In other words, he had thought that he was indifferent, but he actually was not. Otherwise, the Stimtion Medicine wouldn¡¯t have been as effective on him.

    Su Chen calmly watched as the ughter grew more and more intense.

    Every second, people were dying in droves.

    Li Daohong¡¯s sacrificial warriors, Holly Keen¡¯s subordinates, Fate¡¯s Hands members, and Mother Goddess Sect disciples all shared the same fate. They only differed in terms of rtive strength.

    The three treasures in the main hall were incredibly enticing bait, more than enough to cause everyone present to begin ughtering each other without any opportunity to stop.

    The battle grew more and more intense. Inigo finally began to demonstrate his full strength.

    He began to mutter a curse in a low voice. The sound of this strangely cadenced curse spread, filling the air with an eerie and mysterious aura.

    Night God Sun immediately felt that something was off and activated the Divine Feather.

    The longer the Divine Feather was exposed for, the more rapidly its energy would be expended.

    Anyone else probably would have eagerly inserted themselves into the battle, but all Su Chen did was continue to stare coldly.

    The light from the Divine Feather was blocking Inigo¡¯s Demonic Noise. This time, however, Inigo was attacking all of the nearby targets. Night God Sun might be able to resist the effects of the curse, but the others might not be able to. Night God Sun and Li Daohong¡¯s subordinates howled in pain as the cursed chant passed by their ears, causing them to die tragically.

    When he saw this, Night God Sun¡¯s expression was furious. ¡°Do you think you¡¯re the only one with a skill like that? Divine Feather, activate!¡±

    The golden divine light surged from behind him. Even Su Chen was affected, but he forcefully endured and refused to retaliate to avoid drawing any unnecessary attention.

    The members of Fate¡¯s Hands, however, suffered greatly as a result.

    Even Holly Keen¡¯s subordinates were caught up in the turmoil.

    Holly Keen was infuriated. ¡°Do you think you¡¯re the only ones with these kinds of skills? I have some too...... Explode for me!¡±

    The puppets that hemanded suddenly began to explode, and violent waves of energy began to spread in all directions.

    Li Daohong was also enraged. Holly Keen and Inigo¡¯s attacks didn¡¯t spare him in the slightest, and he lost a number of sacrificial warriors. If his subordinates were going to be ughtered even if they weren¡¯t participating in the battle, then it was better for them to go down fighting. Li Daohong yelled, ¡°Sacrificial warriors, offer up your wills to me!¡±

    Li Daohong¡¯s sacrificial warriors raised their hands at the same time before jabbing their fingers at their own eyes.

    In the blink of an eye, their fingers went through their eye sockets.

    As blood spurted into the sky, these sacrificial warriors simultaneously began to morph into the ethereal shape of the Dream Beauty. These illusory images then charged into Li Daohong¡¯s body, bringing the Dream Beauty¡¯s figure into reality. The Dream Beauty howled maniacally as a powerful, consciousness-piercing wave of sound rumbled over everyone. All of the existences present, including Su Chen and Inigo, felt their consciousnesses suddenly tremble.

    A shockingly powerful wave of consciousness power began to spread wildly in all directions.

    Even Su Chen, who was using Heart Walls, was unable topletely escape from its influence. Inigo¡¯s and Night God Sun¡¯s expressions darkened slightly, and the other human and Harpy subordinates cried out tragically in pain. Even the Gluttonous Parasite and the demonic creatures, who didn¡¯t fear Origin Energy attacks, cried out in pain.

    These subordinates all couldn¡¯t be considered weak, but the simultaneous use of so many trump cards formed a multyered attack. Even the powerful experts found themselves unable to withstand the collision and died in droves.

    As a wave of extremelypressed Origin Energy surged, covering the entire battlefield and sending people flying everywhere, even the pce itself couldn¡¯t help but groan under the intense pressure.

    When the dust settled, there were only a few people still standing from each group.

    Li Daohong still had a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator and two Spirit Burning Realm cultivators by his side. While the Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator was in an alright condition, the two Spirit Burning Realm cultivators were in bad shape.

    Holly Keen was in an even sorrier state. He only had one Eighth-Ring Arcana Master by his side. After all, Harpies had weaker physical bodies than humans, so it was impossible for them to oust humans.

    Night God Sun¡¯s Harpy disciples weren¡¯t much better off. Only one of the archbishops and three of the guards had survived. On Fate¡¯s Hands¡¯ side of things, only the vice institute head and three instructors made it out alive.

    Su Chen was probably the only person who had suffered the least losses.

    The Gluttonous Parasite and the demonic creatures all had extremely powerful lifeforces, so even though they were badly wounded by this barrage of energy, they were still alive.

    As for Su Chen, he was probably the only person who had managed to escape from the situation unscathed.

    He was probably the only one unaffected.

    He had kept his distance from the turbulent battle and had focused all of his energy on protecting himself. If he had been badly wounded by this urrence, that would have been simply too embarrassing.

    Even so, he might have been able to ensure that he wasn¡¯t wounded, but that didn¡¯t mean that he could keep up his disguise.

    This attack destroyed his disguise and even shattered his mask and ripped him out of concealment.

    Su Chen¡¯s sudden reappearance drew everyone¡¯s attention.

    That wasn¡¯t strange. After all, many of the participants in this battle had been ughtered by the violent torrents of energy. This had also wiped away thest traces of medicine left behind by Su Chen.

    The four main powers present immediately thought of Su Chen as soon as they escaped from the influence of the Stimtion Medicine.

    Or perhaps it was more urate to say that they had never forgotten. Now that they had regained control of their emotions, however, they were able to regain their soberness.

    When they saw Su Chen, who had lost his mask, holly Keen and Li Daohong both cried out, ¡°It¡¯s you? The human?¡±

    Night God Sun and Inigo also said in surprise, "River Sun?"

 Sect - Book 5, 120: Backup

    Chapter 120: Backup

    ¡°Uh oh, it seems I¡¯ve been found out,¡± Su Chen chuckled with some embarrassment as he rubbed the back of his head.

    Night God Sun and the others were stunned.

    ¡°Human? You said he¡¯s a human?¡± Night God Sun asked Li Daohong.

    ¡°Yes, he¡¯s definitely a human. He came with the Zhu n¡¯s diplomatic envoy,¡± Li Daohong said.

    ¡°Are you sure you didn¡¯t misidentify him?¡± Night God Sun said. ¡°He¡¯s clearly the Harpy who managed to infiltrate the Chaos Tower.

    Even though Su Chen had pretended to be some Harpy named River Sun when infiltrating the Chaos Tower, his true appearance had still been revealed under the influence of the True Light. As such, his face had been distributed far and wide to all the high-status Harpies. Even Fate¡¯s Hands had found out about this matter.

    ¡°It¡¯s definitely him. If you don¡¯t believe me, ask that guy.¡± Li Daohong jutted his chin out at Holly Keen.

    Holly Keen said fiercely, ¡°It¡¯s definitely that human. No wonder this Azure Mark guy knew about my feud with Li Daohong and notified me about this. It¡¯s because he was the one who started our conflict in the first ce.¡±

    Inigo said darkly, ¡°So this guy is a human spy?¡±

    All of the Harpies stared furiously at Su Chen.

    Even Li Daohong was staring at Su Chen with an unfriendly expression.

    No matter what Su Chen¡¯s true identity was, Li Daohong wouldn¡¯t have a good impression of him.

    Night God Sun stared intently at the human. ¡°So you¡¯re a human. Tell me, who exactly are you?¡±

    The medicine had dissipated, all of the subordinates had been killed off, and everyone had regained their soberness. Su Chen was now the target of everyone else¡¯s attention, and they began to interrogate him instead.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t seem to mind. He sighed, ¡°Fine, fine. Since I¡¯ve been recognized, it would be a bit shameful for me to continue the act. If you want to know who I am......¡±

    He didn¡¯t directly give an answer. Instead, he turned to Li Daohong and smiled with great meaning. ¡°Li Daohong, who do you think I am?¡±

    ¡°How would I possibly know who you are? All I know is that you harmed so many of my subordinates. I...... I......¡± Li Daohong suddenly began to stammer.

    He stared at Su Chen wide-eyed. ¡°The Zhu n...... The Zhu n...... You...... You can¡¯t be......!¡±

    ¡°Who is he?¡± Night God Sun and Inigo asked simultaneously.

    Li Daohong stared at him in shock. A sudden premonition surfaced in his heart as understanding dawned. ¡°Su Chen! Dammit, you¡¯re Su Chen!¡±

    He finally realized what was happening. Only Su Chen would speak to him in such a way, and only Su Chen could create this kind of amotion.

    Li Daohong had always kept his origins a secret.

    He knew of Su Chen and knew that Su Chen had also encountered a beggar who had ¡°blessed him¡±. As such, he had always wanted to meet Su Chen.

    He had never expected to meet Su Chen under these kinds of circumstances.

    ¡°Su Chen?¡± Night God Sun, Holly Keen, and Inigo also cried out.

    Su Chen¡¯s current fame was not small. He was the great sage of the human race, who had made it possible for humans without bloodlines to cultivate to the Light Shaking Realm. This was an improvement of three whole cultivation realms.

    How could they not be aware of a person like that?

    There were even some Harpies who had received a secretmission to try and assassinate Su Chen no matter the cost.

    Killing Su Chen would terminate the path to prominence for the human race.

    Simr thoughts were being expressed amongst the nobility in Liaoye Country.

    Just as Shi Kaihuang had said all those years ago, the Bloodline Nobility ns also greatly disliked Su Chen¡¯s actions.

    However, their actions were much more hidden. After all, certain actions could not see the light of day.

    Li Daohong never would have expected that the person who was scheming against him was actually Su Chen.

    Su Chen had actuallye into Harpy territory.

    Night God Sun was taken aback.

    He found no trace of denial in Su Chen¡¯s expression and knew that Li Daohong was telling the truth. In the next moment, a sudden idea surfaced in his mind. ¡°So you¡¯re Su Chen. The leaders of my country have given me orders to kill you at any cost. Inigo, as long as you are willing to help me to finish off this guy, I am willing to give up on any of the treasures in this realm. I am even willing to overlook everything that took ce here!¡±

    Inigo chuckled. ¡°That sounds pretty good to me.¡±

    Night God Sun was quite decisive. He knew that if he didn¡¯t ally everyone present, dealing with this shady, deceptive guy would be difficult. As such, he immediately made a move to try and ally all of the Harpies present.

    After pulling Inigo in, Night God Sun turned to face Holly Keen. ¡°Holly Keen, you should know how big of a threat Su Chen is to us Harpies. Killing him is the most important. As long as you are willing to help, I am willing to hand over one of the treasures in this temple.¡±

    Holly Keen nodded. ¡°Fine!¡±

    After all, Holly Keen was a Harpy by nature no matter how you looked at the situation.

    As a Harpy, he felt a sense of loyalty to the Harpies. Otherwise, Night God Sun would only need to go back and inform the other Harpies of what had transpired to make it so that they were unwilling to spare him.

    Finally, Night God Sun turned to face Li Daohong.

    Li Daohong chuckled. ¡°I understand. There are three treasures in this hall. Since Brother Night God Sun is willing to relinquish the treasure belonging to him, I won¡¯t insist on bein courteous. We will split the treasures and each take one for ourselves

    !¡±

    Inigo chuckled. ¡°Su Chen, you are very slippery. But you made one mistake, which was that you were unable to keep your identity a secret. Otherwise, you might have been able to make it out of here alive.¡±

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°You¡¯re right, but unfortunately I wasn¡¯t able to do that. Otherwise, some of you might have been able to leave alive. Now, however, I must ask all of you to die.¡±

    Given how many enemies were present, everyone was amazed at Su Chen¡¯s audacity and froze momentarily.

    Everyone might have attacked immediately if Su Chen hadn¡¯t said that, but now that he had said that, they started to hesitate.

    Who knew what kinds of trump cards Su Chen had prepared for them?

    What if they took the lead to charge forwards but ended up bing someone else¡¯s shield?

    Even though everyone present wanted to deal with Su Chen, they weren¡¯t all part of the same group, and they still cared about their own benefits. It was no surprise that they were choosing to be so cautious.

    Li Daohong said darkly, ¡°Su Chen, I don¡¯t believe that you have any tricks up your sleeve this time.¡±

    Even though he said he didn¡¯t believe it outwardly, what he really meant was to try and get Su Chen to show these skills earlier.

    Su Chen, however, didn¡¯t care.

    He tilted his head up at the sky and said calmly, ¡°You might not believe me, but I have anticipated and been prepared for this moment for a long time.¡±

    Night God Sun and the others harrumphed. It was obvious that they didn¡¯t believe him.

    Holly Keen said, ¡°I don¡¯t think he has any backup at all. He¡¯s probably just trying to scare us with false bravado.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then why don¡¯t you go first?¡± Inigo chuckled.

    This old guy was incredibly slippery. Even though he was a Ninth-Ring Arcana Master, he didn¡¯t put on any of the normal airs. Since Holly Keen didn¡¯t seem to believe Su Chen, then why not have him test out Su Chen first?

    Unfortunately, even though this Holly Keen was quite impulsive, he wasn¡¯t an idiot. He chuckled, ¡°I¡¯m the weakest person here. Nothing interesting will happen even if I try it out. But if you participate, this will be a sage-on-sage battle. Wouldn¡¯t that be much more interesting and informative?¡±

    Night God Sun voiced his support. ¡°That¡¯s right. Sage-on-sage is more interesting.¡±

    Li Daohong added, ¡°I think that sounds pretty good.¡±

    Now, the three of them were ganging up on Inigo.

    The Fate¡¯s Hands organization was also generally hated. They were the most likely to be attacked once Su Chen was dealt with.

    Inigo didn¡¯t mind. He chuckled, ¡°Are you nning on forcing me to Prince Su¡¯s side?¡±

    Night God Sun smiled. ¡°We are just asking you to make a move on our behalf. You¡¯re more than free to interpret that as you please. Or is it that you¡¯re a one-trick pony, and your skills are less effective against foreigners?¡±

    Inigo replied, ¡°It seems you have ced a knife against my back while I was focused on the battle in front of me.¡±

    These guys had very powerful mouths. Neither of them were willing to let the other get an advantage.

    Li Daohong frowned and was about to speak when he heard Su Chen say, ¡°Are you guys done arguing or not? I¡¯m still waiting for you to attack me.¡±

    Everyone was taken aback.

    Li Daohong originally wanted to remind everyone to not fall into Su Chen¡¯s trap, but Su Chen was the one who autonomously drew attention to himself. He was taken aback for a moment.

    Did Su Chen really have some kind of backup n?

    He couldn¡¯t figure it out.

    Suspicion began to surface in his heart.

    The more hurried Su Chen appeared to be, the less unwilling he was to attack.

    But he was not scared by Su Chen¡¯s words alone. Otherwise, he would have be a greatughingstock.

    Everyone nced at each other before quicklying to a decision.

    Night God Sun¡¯s Archbishop, Inigo¡¯s vice institute head, Holly Keen¡¯s Eighth-Ring Arcana Master, and Li Daohong¡¯s Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator simultaneously sprang into action.

    When he saw this, Su Chen sighed in disappointment.

    Everyone¡¯s alertness imediately increased when they saw Su Chen¡¯s sigh and expression.

    Night God Sun was the first to cry out in warning. ¡°Be careful!¡±

    He attacked at the same time.

    At that moment, however, a massive wave of energy appeared behind Inigo¡¯s back and washed over him, its momentum extremely shocking. Inigo was stunned. When had this new opponent appeared behind him? He was barely able to activate a defensive barrier at thest moment, one of his innate Arcana Techniques. Almost immediately afterwards, a sharp streak of light mmed into his back and exploded, causing boundless light to shine in all direction. A hand actually seemed to reach through Inigo¡¯s barrier and solidly collided with his chest.

    At the same moment, Inigo¡¯s figure suddenly vanished on the spot and reappeared off in the distance.

    Even though he had managed to forcibly avoid this life-threatening attack, his expression was still quite pale. The attack he had just dodged hadn¡¯t beepletely ineffective and managed to wound him.

    A person appeared where Inigo¡¯s figure had disappeared from. His hair waspletely white, but his expression was quite full of vitality. He stood there, smiling faintly at Inigo.

    Since his first attack hadn¡¯t managed tond, he no longer continued to attack. It seemed that he hadn¡¯t been expecting to be able to do much with this single attack.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Inigo yelled angrily.

    ¡°The human, Zhu Chenhuan. How are you doing?¡±

    Zhu Chenhuan bowed to Inigo. ¡°It was not my intention to ambush you. Even though I only used seventy percent of my strength, I still feel quite embarrassed. I hope you can forgive me.¡±

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 121: Strong Reinforcements

    Chapter 121: Strong Reinforcements

    Night God Sun hadn¡¯t just been sitting around, watching on nkly while Inigo was being attacked.

    Actually, he had detected someone else¡¯s presence even sooner than Inigo ¡ª the powerful perceptive abilities that the Divine Feather bestowed upon him made it very hard for others to ambush him.

    Even so, just because he could perceive someone¡¯s presence didn¡¯t necessarily mean that he could block their attack.

    Night God Sun quickly realized that he was indeed going to have a hard time defending himself against his opponents¡¯ attack.

    This was because he was being attacked by two people at the same time, and these two people were both extremely quick. He was only able to avoid one person, so he would have to forcefully take the other person¡¯s attacks.

    But which attack should he allow to hit?

    Night God Sun didn¡¯t know.

    He had never met the ambushers before, so he didn¡¯t know their identities, strength, or the skills that they possessed.

    He didn¡¯t know which person he should deal with, and he didn¡¯t have time to think about it either. As such, after only a moment¡¯s deliberation, he dodged to the left.

    But by avoiding one of the ambusher¡¯s attacks, he put himself directly in the path of the other individual¡¯s attack.

    Crack!

    There was a clear sound of something entering Night God Sun¡¯s body, after which his cry of pain could be heard throughout the room.

    He didn¡¯t have Inigo¡¯s teleportation abilities, and thus could only rely on the powerful defensive capabilities of the Divine Feather.

    Even the Divine Feather¡¯s divine power, however, was unable to withstand this attack.

    Even though this attack seemed rtively superficial, Night God Sun could sense a feeling of numbness seep through the wound as well.

    Poison!

    Night God Sun swung his arms through the air angrily, driving back his opponent as he cursed, ¡°Shameless! What kind of man are you, to ambush someone with poison?¡±

    A woman¡¯s voice replied, ¡°I¡¯m not a man in the first ce. What need is there for me to act honorably?¡±

    A valiant and formidable-looking woman appeared in front of Night God Sun. She wielded a long silver spear that carried an incredible aura about it. It was Chu Yingwan.

    At this point, she had already reached the Spirit Burning Realm.

    Next to her stood Shi Kaihuang.

    Li Daohong and Holly Keen weren¡¯t idle either.

    A barrage of attacks mmed into them, sending them flying. Li Daohong spat out a mouthful of fresh blood as he stared angrily at his assants. ¡°Li Chongshan of the Heavenly Might Battalion?¡±

    Li Chongshan replied with a slight smile, ¡°That¡¯s all in the past now. I am currently themander of the Boundless Sect¡¯s Flowing Fire Division.¡±

    The three people by his side calmly stated, ¡°Cheng Tianhai of the Boundless Sect.¡±

    ¡°Jun Moxie of the Boundless Sect.¡±

    ¡°Lin Shaoxuan of the Boundless Sect.¡±

    Six of the seven former Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯smanders had appeared. Only Guo Wenchang wasn¡¯t present as he was responsible for guarding the rest of the Boundless Sect.

    Apart from them, Tang Jie¡¯s seventy-three Sword Servants had alsoe, along with a few of the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s former lower-level officers. There were roughly twenty of them or so, which meant that the entire group had around a hundred soldiers present. These people hadn¡¯t dared to reveal themselves at the beginning because they were weaker, but they were emboldened to charge in once Zhu Chenhuan, Li Chongshan, and the others showed up.

    Night God Sun waspletely stunned when he saw this many people pour into the secret realm.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t been lying!

    He had been prepared for this a long time ago!

    Yes, Su Chen had been prepared.

    Ever since he had found out about Li Daohong and the others¡¯ arrival, Su Chen had been able to use the Origin Bone Scepter to basically determine exactly what would happen. How could he possibly ce all of his hopes on provoking the different parties into fighting one another?

    The only reason he did that was to make it easier to clean up the battlefield afterwards.

    His true trump card had always been the Boundless Sect.

    While in Cloudy City, he had dyed the opening of the secret realm for ten days or so partly to wait for the Zhu n and the Boundless Sect to show up.

    The Boundless Sect had spent quite a bit of money to make this happen.

    They had directly bought the fastest Cloud-Piercing Shuttles avable and flew towards Liaoye as quickly as possible. They were then able to enter Sky Country by relying on the Zhu n¡¯s negotiating power and had hurried over as quickly as possible in order to make it on time. Finally, they had concealed themselves in the darkness to avoid being spotted.

    Until now.

    Without the previous battle, Inigo and Night God Sun wouldn¡¯t have had any reason to fear Su Chen.

    But since that the battle had wiped out a majority of their forces, they only had a few subordinates remaining.

    The four forces only had around fifteen peoplebined, while there were nearly a hundred people from the Boundless Sect present.

    Even so, Inigo chuckled. ¡°Is this your trump card, Su Chen? You want to rely on a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator and two Spirit Burning Realm cultivators to deal with us?¡±

    Inigo was a Ninth-Ring Arcana Master, and he had an Eighth-Ring vice institute head by his side. Night God Sun also had an Eighth-Ring archbishop with him. Li Daohong had a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator and two Spirit Burning Realm cultivators with him. Holly Keen had an Eighth-Ring Arcana Master with him as well. Evidently, their high-end strength wasn¡¯tcking in the slightest.

    The Boundless sect was still too young. They didn¡¯t even have a single Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator amongst their ranks.

    This was why Inigo and Night God Sun were still filled with confidence.

    Su Chen, however, smiled slightly. ¡°We are weaker when ites to the Spirit Burning Realm and above. But if the gap in power isn¡¯t too great, we can still make up for that difference.¡±

    Li Daohong harrumphed angrily. ¡°If the gap in power isn¡¯t too big? These guys are at most at the Yang Opening Realm. How can you even mention them and us in the same sentence? We......¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished his thought when he suddenly saw Lotus tforms appear in front of the hundred Boundless Sect members¡¯ foreheads.

    ¡°Light...... Light Shaking?¡± Li Daohong, Night God Sun, and the others were stunned.

    Obviously, these hundred members had trained together and were part of the same group. These people appeared to bemon soldiers, but they were all at the Light Shaking Realm!

    A hundred Light Shaking Realm cultivators!

    How was this possible?

    When had it be possible to produce Light Shaking Realm cultivators in en masse like this?

    Everyone was badly startled.

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°So do we have the right to fight you now?¡±

    In terms of high-tier strength, the Boundless Sect was indeed quitecking, but their mid-tier strength wasmendable given that they possessed the bloodline-less Light Shaking Realm cultivation technique.

    This technique had been distributed far and wide amongst the members of the Boundless Sect. The current group of soldiers were not representative of the Boundless Sect¡¯s full strength either ?¡ª they were just the most outstanding group of soldiers of that cultivation tier.

    Li Chongshan chuckled. ¡°Why even bother wasting your breath on them? ughter anyone who is not on our side!!!¡±

    As he yelled this, the members of the Boundless Sect sprang into action.

    The hundred or so Light Shaking Realm cultivators surged forwards as one, their morale at an all-time high. Even Inigo, a Ninth-Ring Arcana Master, wasn¡¯t able to withstand this tide of attackers.

    Even though he was able to get a Ninth-Ring Arcana Technique off, a hundred streaks of de light shed down at him in the next instant. That was not something that even a Ninth-Ring Arcana Technique could withstand. The des collided with the technique,pletely breaking it apart.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t hold back either. Heughed as he charged at Li Daohong, shouting, ¡°Li Daohong, you¡¯re mine!¡±

    Li Daohong¡¯s expression hardened when he saw Su Chen flying at him, but he didn¡¯t immediately try to defend himself. Instead, he yelled, ¡°I¡¯m also a human, Su Chen. Why are you persistently trying to make things hard for me?¡±

    Su Chen chuckled coldly as he replied, ¡°You¡¯re the one persistently trying to make things hard for me, right? I never invited you here.¡±

    As he spoke, he shed out with the Flowing Gold de.

    Li Daohong responded by unleashing a strange wave of energy as he yelled, ¡°If you spare me, I am willing to be your ally!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m better off not having you as an ally!¡± The surface of the Flowing Gold de burst into ck mes.

    ¡°Su Chen, I¡¯m a member of the Liaoye imperial family. Do you really dare kill me?¡± Li Daohong yelled despondently.

    He was already fearful of death even before being defeated, and his tone was one of surrender.

    Indeed, a person who was too smart for their own good would lose the will to fight too quickly.

    Su Chen coldly answered, ¡°So what if you¡¯re a member of the imperial family? Who will know if I kill everyone here? Also, you¡¯re an embarrassment to the royal family. If I kill you, I might actually be thanked by Li Wuyi for removing a headache of his.¡±

    As he spoke, the four-faced Primordial Blood Incarnation appeared behind him.

    The Aspect formed behind his back, and the might of the Flowing Gold de began to surge, causing Su Chen to enter his most powerful state. de strike after de strike descended mercilessly upon Li Daohong.

    Even though Li Daohong possessed a Deste Beast Bloodline, the Dream Beauty Bloodline was the weakest of the seven imperial bloodlines when it came to a head-on battle. Since Su Chen had even managed to defeat a member of the Chu n, dealing with Li Daohong wasn¡¯t a problem at all. In the blink of an eye, Li Daohong had beenpletely suppressed by Su Chen.

    Li Daohong yelled loudly in fright, ¡°Su Chen, I know you. You and I both encountered the same person. We are both people who have been chosen by the heavens and shouldn¡¯t be wasting our time killing each other.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled coldly. ¡°That¡¯s just how you see it. I don¡¯t think the same way.¡±

    ¡°The old beggar! The old beggar! We are both people chosen by him. You cannot kill me!¡± Li Daohong howled loudly in desperation.

    But no one paid him any extra attention even though he had mentioned the old beggar.

    His mind was extremely brilliant, but his courage wascking. When faced with this crisis, he had no bravery to speak of, and his defenses weakened even further as a result. The weaker his desire to fight, the quicker his situation declined. One of Su Chen¡¯s Flowing Gold de strikes mmed into Li Daohong, whopletely lost his footing and was sent flying, blood spraying from the wounds that had been opened up on his body.

    When he saw that Su Chen had no intention of sparing him, Li Daohong fell into despair and began to yell loudly, ¡°Fine! If you won¡¯t give me a way out, then we¡¯ll all die here together!¡±

    As he spoke, he pulled out an item from his Origin Ring.

    He had pulled out a pennant, which immediately began to exude an incredibly sinister aura so thick that it was almost tangible. Faint, distant shrieks and howls could be also heard emanating from within the pennant.

    ¡°This is......¡± Even Su Chen had never seen this pennant before.

    Li Daohong¡¯s expression contorted fiercely. ¡°You forced my hand, Su Chen!¡±

    As he spoke, he waved the pennant in the air. A thick ck fog suddenly poured out of the pennant, and the shrieks and howls suddenly increased in volume. Faint, illusory images began to appear in the air as well.

    ¡°Su Chen, be careful! Those are real fiends!¡± Li Chongshan warned with a yell.

    Ghosts hadn¡¯t always existed on the Primordial Continent. After a living being died, their soul would disintegrate.

    But there were always a few people who didn¡¯t want to die and futilely attempted to pursue immortality. Some would eventually go down a frowned-upon path.

    The Arcanists had developed various ways to summon departed spirits, and humans eventually developed their own techniques that did the same. The Astrals had no physical body in the first ce, so they could be ssified under this banner as well.

    However, there was one kind of technique which was even more evil and sinister ¡ª the fiend-creating technique.

    The immortal souls created by this kind of technique were true fiends. They were incredibly vicious and overbearing, and theirbat strength was very high as well.

    But to foster these evil tendencies and to ensure that these fiends possessed an undying hatred for anything living, they needed to be refined from still-living beings. Obviously, this was an incredibly evil technique, so it was universally forbidden. Unexpectedly, Li Daohong had been secretly refining precisely these fiends for his personal use.

    Given how many fiends were contained within that pennant, numbering in the hundreds to even thousands, it was obvious that he had tormented countless individuals throughout his life.

    No wonder Li Daohong had been so unwilling to reveal this card until now. If he had, he would have immediately be public enemy number one regardless of his identity as a member of the imperial family.

 Sect - Book 5, 122: I Havenâ€™t Ascended High Enough Ye

    Chapter 122: I Haven¡¯t Ascended High Enough Yet

    There were some things that couldn¡¯t be reversed once they were started.

    Li Daohong was very clear about the consequences of his heinous actions. Given his royal status, he had no need to go to such great lengths to create this supposed ¡®trump card.¡¯

    The real reason he had done this was, in the end, still because of the excitement it gave him.

    Li Daohong had suffered tremendous humiliation at the hands of others, causing his heart to be incredibly twisted.

    Even though he had be a genius and regained his high status, the torment he had suffered before that greatly affected him. His personality had been molded by that experience, and that twisted aspect of his personality was integrated into his being.

    Many people thought that Li Daohong¡¯s revenge had beenplete with hisplete change in personality.

    However, they were wrong.

    That kind of revenge was merely the tip of the iceberg. No one would have expected that that was Li Daohong holding himself back quite a bit.

    He was secretly even crazier!

    This twisted insanity was what had given rise to the fiend pennant he was currently wielding.

    He had not constructed these fiends as a trump card. Rather, it was born out of his pure desire to torment other living creatures, watch them writhe, and have them howl in his hands. In other words, he enjoyed their suffering.

    Their use inbat was merely secondary.

    When the fiends were released from the pennant, a shadowy chill seemed to permeate the surroundings as the sounds of horrifying shrieks and howls filled the air.

    These fiends furiously wed at Su Chen. To Su Chen¡¯s surprise, he discovered that his Flowing Gold de actually couldn¡¯t do anything to these fiends. Even the effects of his shadow mes were limited.

    "Su Chen, be careful! Fiends are made of concentrated sinister energy and they exist in a state in between reality and illusion. Only the power of Yang energy can deal with them. Your Shadow mes don¡¯t have enough Yang power and thus won¡¯t be able to destroy them," Li Chongshan called out.

    The Shadow mes were primarily corrosive in nature, so they were actually considered Yin-type mes. They could be used to burn most physical creatures, but it was obvious that they weren¡¯t very effective against these fiends.

    This was quite problematic, as it was one of the worst possible matchups. It could be said that the Flowing Gold de was also being countered by these fiends.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, even Su Chen had fallen into a disadvantageous situation.

    "The power of Yang energy, huh?" Su Chen pondered for a moment before saying, "Then I can only use this."

    As he spoke, he pulled out a Lifesource Candle and set it on fire before cing it inside of him. Then, he pulled out a thunder Origin Crystal and began to absorb it.

    mes were definitely ssified as Yang energy, but so was thunder and lightning.

    Lightning, which was vicious and savage in nature, was the perfect counter against these ghostly fiends. As a result, it was an even better choice than fire.

    Because Su Chen cultivated the Thunder de, hisprehension of the element of thunder was passable. However, the Thunder de was not sufficiently powerful enough to deal with these fiends.

    As such, Su Chen wasted no time and immediately started increasing the amount of thunder essence in his body.

    Su Chen absorbed the abundant power in the thunder Origin Crystal, and through the help of the Lifeforce Candle, his mastery of thunder temporarily reached the Seventh Ring.

    His clones were still flipping through the books all the while.

    Su Chen had found yet another way to utilize the clones ?¡ª studying the techniques and using that knowledge in real-time.

    Now that his mastery of thunder had reached the Seventh-Ring level, he started forming a small ball of lightning at his fingertips.

    ¡°This is......¡± Li Daohong stared at Su Chen¡¯s hands in shock.

    Seventh-Ring Arcana Technique, Descending Lightning.

    A thick column of lightning mmed violently into Li Daohong¡¯s fiend pennant from the sky.

    All of a sudden, the situation had gotten much livelier. Lightning and thunder crashed down continuously onto the fiends, causing them to howl and shriek in intense pain.

    The fiends¡¯ sinister aura began to surge as they did their best to resist the power of the cascading lightning strikes.

    Surprisingly, this column of lightning was unable to fully destroy the fiends despite the fact that his attack was elementally effective. Instead, he was only able to barely draw even.

    Was a Seventh-Ring Arcana Technique still insufficient to deal with these fiends?

    Su Chen very quickly realized that this was partly because of just how many fiends Li Daohong had collected and partly because he had only just ascended to the level of Seventh Ring.

    That rate of ascension was simply too rapid.

    He had actually been at the Fifth Ring a day ago. Ascending two rings in a single day was far too rapid, so it was only logical that his ability to fully draw out the power of these stronger Arcana Techniques was limited.

    That wasn¡¯t a particrly worrisome problem, though.

    Since a Seventh-Ring Arcana Technique wasn¡¯t enough to deal with the fiends, then what about an Eighth-Ring Arcana Technique?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t really care about how much mastery he had over a particr Arcana Technique. As long as he could deal with his opponents, that was good enough for him.

    The Lifesource Candle continued to burn as the energy in the thunder Origin Crystal continued to evaporate.

    People with lots of money could afford to act this wastefully. No matter what kind of tactics their opponents possessed, they could just throw money at the problem to resolve it.

    Boom!

    His aura surged wildly yet again, a sign that Su Chen had managed to break into an even higher realm.

    He had reached the Eighth Ring!

    ¡°How is this possible?¡± Li Daohong shrieked.

    Even Inigo was startled by Su Chen¡¯s meteoric surge in aura as an expression of disbelief surfaced on his face.

    Everyone present was stunned.

    The opponent had be an Eighth-Ring Arcana Master in the blink of an eye.

    Was this some kind of sick joke?

    Were Arcana Masters really that cheap?

    Not at all.

    Actually, they were very valuable.

    Su Chen had burned through dozens of Lifesource Candles and a number of thunder Origin Crystals to achieve this effect.

    The amount of money he had spent today was roughly equivalent to the total wealth of a small country.

    As Su Chen reached the Eighth Ring, another violent wave of lightning surged from his fingertips.

    Eighth-Ring Arcana Technique, Electromaic Storm.

    This was not the end of his attacks.

    Su Chen then used a single-target thunder Arcana Technique.

    Eighth-Ring Arcana Technique, Thunder Execution.

    As a single-target Arcana Technique, Thunder Execution didn¡¯t cause as much widespread damage as Electromaic Storm, but its energy was much more concentrated, giving it much more prative strength.

    As the two Eighth-Ring Arcana Techniques flew through the air, it appeared as if the fiend pennant was on itsst legs.

    The tens of thousands of fiends howled in despair.

    Just as they were about to be wiped out, however, Li Daohong sprang into action yet again.

    He actually pulled out another item.

    This time, he pulled out a yellow gourd, out from which flowed a stream of sand.

    This stream of sand transformed into a wall, directly blocking Su Chen¡¯s Thunder Execution. Even Su Chen was startled by this move.

    Even though Thunder Execution was powerful, it had been stopped in its tracks by this wall of sand.

    ¡°This guy still has more trump cards?¡± Su Chen was very amused.

    ¡°I¡¯m from an imperial family. My treasures are unlimited, and I have all kinds of skills at my disposal. Do you really think you are worthy of killing me?¡± Li Daohong said arrogantly.

    When Zhu Chenhuan saw the gourd Li Daohon was holding, he blurted out, ¡°River of Sand Gourd...... So you were the one who wiped out the Level Waters Sha n.¡±

    The Level Waters Sha n was an incredibly phnthropic n that had helped countless individuals through hard times. Unfortunately, three years ago, their n had beenpletely ughtered by some evil thieves due to the River of Sand Gourd. Evidently, the River of Sand Gourd was an earth-type Origin Tool that could spit outrge quantities of sand. These rivers of sand were highly malleable and ideal for earth-type Arcana Techniques since they would enhance their effects. This was obviously true, given how easily the wall of sand was able to block an Eighth-Ring Arcana Technique.

    However, killing a phnthropic n for the sake of this treasure was quite abhorrent.

    Su Chen¡¯s expression sank. ¡°You are far too evil to let live.¡±

    ¡°You need to be able to kill me first!¡± Li Daohong guffawed loudly. ¡°I¡¯m from the imperial family, and I have an unlimited amount of treasure. Just how will you deal with me?¡±

    ¡°Hmph, it seems like that¡¯s all you know how to say. You want topete in terms of wealth? Fine, let¡¯s dance!¡± As Su Chen spoke, he continued to pull out Lifesource Candles nonstop.

    Weren¡¯t they justpeting in terms of wealth? It remained to be seen who needed to fear whom.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t need advice from Zhu Chenhuan to know what kind of Arcana Technique he needed to master this time.

    Wind-type!

    Wind techniques were extremely effective against earth techniques. Su Chen¡¯s mastery of the wind element was already at the Sixth Ring, so he only needed to ascend two rings.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t bother hiding the Lifesource Candles this time and lit them right in front of Li Daohong eyes before beginning absorbing its power.

    ¡°Lifesource Candles? Are those Lifesource Candles?¡± Li Daohong couldn¡¯t believe his eyes.

    Lifesource Candles were treasures of the human race. The Harpies also were very familiar with them, so they also couldn¡¯t help but stare at Su Chen in disbelief when they heard that he had Lifesource Candles on him.

    Li Daohong yelled hoarsely, ¡°So you have Lifesource Candles! But...... But...... Even with Lifesource Candles, you shouldn¡¯t possibly have been able to ascend that quickly! Could it be...... How many Lifesource Candles do you have!?¡±

    Su Chen smiled slightly as he humbly bragged, ¡°Not that much, only 161 in total. Once I ascend to this next ring, I¡¯ll have used up around half of my stock.¡±

    Li Doahong waspletely stunned.

    How could Su Chen possibly have so many Lifesource Candles?

    And he was using them in this extravagant manner here?

    He was insane!

    His boasts earlier about his wealth now seemed like a joke inparison.

    Li Daohong¡¯s wealth wasn¡¯t even worth mentioning in the same breath as Su Chen¡¯s.

    Actually, most of the treasures he had earned hade from betraying his moralpass. It had nothing to do with his actual ability to make money.

    Even Inigo fell into despair when he heard this response.

    Just what kind of an opponent were we fighting?

    They were already on the back foot, and now their opponent was throwing even more money at them.

    And it seemed like Su Chen didn¡¯t care in the slightest.

    And really, Su Chen didn¡¯t care.

    He had gathered arge number of treasures but was never able to find an opportunity to use them. Even now, he still felt a headacheing on whenever he thought about how to best use the treasures in his hands.

    What were the Lifesource Candles worth inparison?

    He still had two untouched vials of Deste Beast blood and a single Origin Beast Origin Crystal that he hadn¡¯t been able to use yet.

    And now, the Divine Feather was about to fall into his hands as well. If Su Chen didn¡¯t spend his treasures a bit more extravagantly, it was entirely possible that he would amass a stockpile of treasures sorge that even an entire lifetime wouldn¡¯t be enough to use it all up.

    Su Chen was probably the only person who could be frustrated by having too much money.

    At this moment, his mastery of wind had reached the prerequisite level. However, the clones hadn¡¯t yet found what they were looking for, so Su Chen could only wait.

    Li Daohong, however, was extremely agitated.

    Haven¡¯t you already reached a high enough tier? Why are you not attacking yet?

    Have you not ascended enough?

    How far do you want to go before you attack?

    What? Eighth Ring wasn¡¯t high enough? You want to go to the Ninth Ring?

    Li Daohong felt like crying.

    Su Chen waspletely unaware of Li Daohong¡¯s inner turmoil. He was still waiting for his clones to find something useful in those books.

    Waiting like this was quite irritating. Though, perhaps only he was able to fight and study at the same time, right?

    Su Chen felt incredibly stifled as he burned time with Li Daohong by carefully controlling the wind and thunder Origin Energy in the air and continuing to pressure Li Daohong.

    Su Chen¡¯s hands were upied, and the thunder and wind energy had nowhere to go. To deal with the situation, Su Chen started to form elemental balls behind himself with the building energy, one above each wing.

    One of them was a ball of wind, and the other a ball of thunder.

    This was one of the most basic elementalbinations. It wasn¡¯t particrly powerful, and Su Chen was only really using it to set up for a powerful Eighth-Ring Arcana Technique in the future.

    However, he was gathering these two balls for an awfully long time now. Most normal people wouldn¡¯t be able to keep them contained for that long.

    Thankfully, Su Chen¡¯s consciousness crystal allowed him to multitask much more easily.

    At that moment, however, a strange sensation suddenly began to wash over Su Chen.

    It was as if something was quietly tugging at him.

    No, it was more urate to say that something was tugging at the elemental balls behind him.

    As Su Chen traced that feeling back to its source, his attention was drawn to the Wind Spirit Totem at the very front of the temple that was beginning to glow faintly.

 Sect - Book 5, 123: Wind and Thunder

    Chapter 123: Wind and Thunder

    The Wind Spirit Totem was glowing!

    At that moment, images of his fight with the Scarlet Heart suddenly surfaced in his mind.

    Could it be......

    Su Chen¡¯s heart began to tremble.

    How was this possible?

    Why would the Wind Spirit Totem respond so soon when the Thunder Spirit Totem, which he had been studying for so long, had yet to react?

    Wait a minute. Thunder Spirit Totem?

    Su Chen suddenly thought of something. He unleashed a fierce attack at Li Daohong before pulling out the Thunder Spirit Totem from his Origin Ring.

    That damned totem was also glowing.

    No wonder the Origin Bone Scepter hadn¡¯t been able to show Su Chen how to use the Wind Spirit Totem. Just look at how many experts he was currently surrounded by!

    The Origin Scepter simply didn¡¯t have the capacity to show what was happening given the amount of peak experts here.

    But why would the Wind Spirit Totem and the Thunder Spirit Totem activate at this moment?

    Was it just because his Arcana Techniques had reached the Eighth Ring?

    But that didn¡¯t make sense!

    There were too many Eighth-Ring Arcana Techniques under the heavens to count! Well, actually, there weren¡¯t that many. But still, they weren¡¯t particrly rare either. Su Chen refused to believe that the two totems had never seen an Eighth-Ring Arcana Technique in their existence before, so why hadn¡¯t they activated until now?

    This definitely wasn¡¯t a matter regarding one¡¯s cultivation base.

    But the Wind Spirit Totem had only started responding after Su Chen had reached the Eighth-Ring level, and the Thunder Spirit Totem was responding as well. This meant that some kind of condition had definitely been recently met for them to both activate.

    It was his battle with the Scarlet Heart that had caused the Vitality Totem to activate for Su Chen.

    He hadn¡¯t even used any kind of lifeforce-rted Arcana Technique.....

    Hm?

    There was no such thing as a lifeforce Arcana Technique in the first ce. So what had caused the Vitality Totem to activate?

    And what was themon denominator for these three urrences, if there was one?

    Su Chen felt a headacheing on.

    He was still in the midst of a battle with Li Daohong, and the Wind and Thunder Spirit Totems were still glowing, though only one of them was in his possession. Su Chen needed time to go through all of the possibilities.

    Even the others began to realize that something wasn¡¯t right.

    Inigo stared at Su Chen suspiciously. ¡°Why? Why do you also have a totem? And why is it glowing right now? What¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s happening either,¡± Su Chen replied frankly.

    There was definitely some kind of amon factor between the two separate activation instances of these three totems.

    But he had no time to ponder this question any longer.

    Because Inigo was already reaching his hand out to swipe the Wind Spirit Totem away.

    The only reason he hadn¡¯t tried to take it earlier was because of his craftiness. He knew that trying to seize it at that point in time would have incurred the wrath of everyone else. Now, however, it was quite obvious that the changes uring to the Wind Spirit Totem would likely not benefit him.

    Su Chen¡¯s expression sank when he saw Inigo¡¯s move. ¡°That already belongs to me. Are you going to try and fight me for it?¡±

    With but a thought, the Wind Spirit Totem actually flew into the air and towards Su Chen of its own ord.

    Inigo was stunned. ¡°Quick, stop him!¡±

    Night God Sun, Holly Keen, and Li Daohong all attacked Su Chen at the same time. Li Daohong was even able tounch a punch at the Wind Spirit Totem; he had realized that it might be hard to stop the Wind Spirit Totem from flying away and thus wanted to destroy it before that happened.

    Su Chen said darkly, ¡°So you all still have enough spare energy to try to take these treasures from me!¡±

    These words seriously stimted Zhu Chenhuan, Li Chongshan, and the others. They all began to attack with renewed vigor. Zhu Chenhuan, in particr, jabbed out with a vicious finger strike.

    Heavenly Fox Finger!

    However, Inigo was determined to prevent Su Chen from having his way. He flipped through his book rapidly, causingyers of barriers to appear around his body. At the same time, he reached out to grab at the Wind Spirit Totem again.

    Unfortunately, all of these separate acts faded into the background for Su Chen.

    As he muttered something under his breath, he stretched out his hand. The Wind Spirit Totem seemed to respond to an order and shot off in another direction, dodging Inigo¡¯s grab.

    Then, Su Chen barked, ¡°Wind, rise!¡±

    A violent gust of wind began to billow in all directions.

    ¡°How is this possible?¡± Li Daohong stared at the scene in shock as wind roared violently around him. The walls formed from his streams of sand also began to disappear.

    ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it!¡± Night God Sun activated his strength to its fullest extent, stopping the wind in its tracks. He appeared to refuse to let the totem get any closer to Su Chen.

    With Night God Sun and Inigo acting together, they were actually able to stop the totem from advancing any further.

    Su Chen was also angered by their actions. ¡°You might be able to stop that, but can you stop this?¡±

    The Thunder Spirit Totem in his hand began to glow brilliantly.

    He had been holding this totem in the first ce, so no one could stop him from using it. And Su Chen could also sense that there was now a connection between him and the Thunder Spirit Totem. Even though he wasn¡¯t sure where this connection hade from, he at least knew how to harness it.

    As he activated the power of thunder to its greatest extent, the Thunder Spirit Totem¡¯s light began to scintite intensely. An intense surge of lightning suddenly crackled forth from the totem, discharging in all directions.

    Such a ferocious wave of lightning should not have been able to target anything, but this electric mass seemed to have eyes and darted around Zhu Chenhuan, Li Chongshan, and the others, focusing selectively on Inigo and Night God Sun.

    ¡°How is this possible!?¡± Inigo couldn¡¯t help but cry out in shock.

    He was keenly aware of how difficult it was to activate an Arcana Technique that could distinguish between foes and allies. This was not something that just mastering the power of thunder could lead to. Su Chen basically needed to imbue the lightning and thunder with his own will in order to give it that ability.

    That was a legendary ?¡ª no, a forbidden-level pursuit!

    How had Su Chen done it?

    No, it was more urate to say that the totem had done it.

    Could it be......

    A thought surfaced in Inigo¡¯s head.

    However, he no longer had any time to analyze things any further. The violent wave of thunder also sent him flying, shattering his cooperative moves with Night God Sun.

    The Wind Spirit Totem was no longer being restricted. An instantter, it flew into Su Chen¡¯s other hand.

    ¡°NO!¡± Li Daohong cried out in despair.

    He knew what was about to happen after Su Chen got his hands on the Wind Spirit Totem, so he unleashed one final punch that contained all of his strength in a futile attempt to stop it.

    Unfortunately for him, this fist slowly ground to a halt in the air.

    It was as if some formless hand had grabbed it and halted all its momentum.

    Su Chen towered in the sky as he casually knocked Li Daohong¡¯s hand aside and stared coldly at him.

    The Wind Spirit Totem was radiating with light as it floated above Su Chen¡¯s head, infusing his body with its power.

    The Thunder Spirit Totem was also activated.

    The power from the two totems simultaneously surged through Su Chen¡¯s body, an ominous rumbling filling the entire pce as if it were honoring Su Chen¡¯s ¡°ascension.¡±

    Even themoners could sense a sudden sharp spike in Su Chen¡¯s aura. The rate at which it shot up was jaw-dropping.

    At the same time, strange inscriptions began to appear on Su Chen¡¯s face.

    These inscriptions originated from the Wind and Thunder Spirit Totems. They snaked their way across his face, leaving behind glowing lines everywhere they went that pulsated with wind and thunder energy.

    Not only that, but the Vitality Totem¡¯s inscriptions also suddenly began to emerge from Su Chen¡¯s chest.

    As a deluge of elemental energy poured into his body, Su Chen¡¯s physical endurance was being put to the test. The Vitality Totem had activated at this moment, bing a solid rock that he could rely on to help him fully absorb these two totems.

    Su Chen suddenly realized something in that moment.

    There were many reasons why the two totems had activated. The wind and thunder energy he had gathered in the area was one possible reason. Another possibility was the Vitality Totem itself.

    The Vitality Totem may have previously activated because of how much death energy it had been surrounded by. And this time around, the presence of the Vitality Totem might have ¡°enticed¡± the two Spirit Totems into activating.

    Of course, this was just a guess. There might have been other conditions, but at least for now, the Vitality Totem was helping him through the process of absorbing the two other totems. In addition, Su Chen¡¯s personal vitality had also increased again.

    Su Chen had done a lot of research, but hadn¡¯t fought many bloody battlestely. So, he hadn¡¯t had many opportunities to test out his increased vitality. As a result, he had a very hard time activating the Vitality Totem.

    Due to the presence of the two totems, however, the Vitality Totem was finally bursting forth with its full potential, greatly bolstering Su Chen¡¯s lifeforce in the process.

    Su Chen felt like he was strong enough to grapple with a top-tier Ravager warrior now.

    That kind of physical power only belonged to warriors who possessed immense physical strength.

    As the wind and thunder energy continued to fill his body with their energy, Su Chen felt like there was now a spring of Origin Energy inside of his body, supplying him with an endless amount of Origin Energy and making him want to try out every wind and thunder Arcana Technique he had at his disposal.

    Not only that, but his mastery over thunder had increased yet again. This pushed him from the Eighth-Ring to the Ninth-Ring level.

    He had be a Ninth-Ring Arcana Master!

    Inigo was the first one to realize this, and he almost fainted from the realization.

    Su Chen¡¯s progress was truly astounding.

    Even so, this was Su Chen. His extensive preparation and the countless years¡¯ worth of knowledge he had umted had finally all manifested in this moment, pushing him into the Ninth Ring.

    However, that was still not sufficient enough to break through to the Tenth Ring level.

    It wasn¡¯t that the Wind and Thunder Spirit Totems weren¡¯t supplying him with enough energy, but rather that it wasn¡¯t possible to ascend to that realm by solely relying on energy.

    The higher quality these totems were, the more implications there were for their use, and the deeper their usefulness would extend.

    Su Chen had forcibly elevated himself to the Ninth Ring level. He could sense that, even though he had relied on external support to reach the Ninth Ring, hisprehensions had met all the necessary requirements.

    Thisprehension was on a physical level, something that came almost intrinsically from possessing so much Origin Energy. It was incredibly hard to describe, and definitely not something that could be achieved just from bing stronger alone.

    Su Chen simply understood.

    As a result, he now realized that not only had he reached the Ninth Ring, but he also didn¡¯t suffer from any of the drawbacks that normally affected a newly ascended Arcana Master.

    His foundation was more stable than anyone else¡¯s!

    He never would have imagined that the greatest benefit these two totems would bring him was not an increase in cultivation realm, but rather a stable foundation!

    An incredibly stable foundation.

    Who would believe a person if they said that they had managed to increase their cultivation base by four Rings, and with a stable foundation to boot?

    But Su Chen had the boldness to say it!

    Because this was the actual benefit provided to him by the totems!

    The totems conferred a profound understanding of the universe¡¯s fundamental truths upon him.

    It was almost as if these totems were the source of the corresponding form of Origin Energy.

    And now, Su Chen hade into possession of these very sources!

    After breathing in deeply and taking in the newfound sensations the totems had bestowed upon him, Su Chen smiled and said, ¡°You all...... are quite arrogant, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Peals of thunder echoed as he spoke, entuating his every word!

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 124: Total Extermination

    Chapter 124: Total Extermination

    Su Chen¡¯s wings had been ck at first.

    That was the color of the Violent Raven King.

    But after absorbing the Wind and Thunder Spirit Totems, the color of his wings had changed.

    His left and right wing were now different colors. His left wing had taken on a greenish hue, and small vortexes of air seemed to be revolving near it. These vortexes had the unique ability to constantly absorb and transmit wind. His right wing had now be blue, with faint tendrils of lightning dancing across its surface.

    When the power of wind and thunder werebined, the light emanating from the two wings seemed to fill the entire hall.

    No one else had any right to be present before him.

    Su Chen pped his wings, floating in the air as he said in a low voice, ¡°You all...... are quite arrogant, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Then, he moved.

    The Primordial Blood Incarnation appeared yet again.

    It was still the four-faced incarnation. This time, however, a pair of wings had appeared on its back.

    Su Chen¡¯s aspect had formerly been derived from Windbite, but he was now finally beginning to escape from total reliance on the Windbite bloodline. This was an important step for him to take.

    The Primordial Blood Aspect had not only sprouted wings; it was now also surrounded by lightning clouds blown about by gusts of wind.

    Su Chen¡¯s Primordial Blood Aspect formerly only amplified his strength variably depending on which direction he specialized in. At the time, that was primarily his shadow mes.

    But now, not only had Su Chen elevated his mastery of wind and thunder, but the function of his Primordial Blood Aspect was not as simple as before either.

    The aspect¡¯s illusory image almost appeared as if it hade to life.

    Previously, its image was purely illusory. Now, however, it appeared as if there were some tangible aspects to it, like this creature actually existed on this continent. It possessed Su Chen¡¯s bloodline, which bestowed Su Chen¡¯s strength to it as well.

    However, the people who truly understood Su Chen best would know that this wasn¡¯t Su Chen¡¯s bloodline power, or rather that no one had given him this bloodline power - it was of his own creation.

    He had actually created an existence by absorbing the power of other bloodlines and merging them together to create a human bloodline that surpassed all other bloodlines.

    That was the Primordial Blood Aspect!

    It had unlimited room to grow.

    And in that moment, its appearancepletely stunned everyone present.

    This time, it was no longer merely illusory or merely amplifying Su Chen¡¯ strength.

    This time, it was really alive!

    ¡°ROAR!¡± The Primordial Blood Aspect reared its head as it stood behind Su Chen, howling angrily.

    This howl seemed to pierce to the soul, causing anyone who heard it to tremble violently.

    The Primordial Blood Aspect raised its hands angrily in the air before first unleashing a violent gust of wind, followed by a de formed from lightning.

    ¡°Hurricane of Death and Lightning God¡¯s de?¡± Inigo¡¯s voice was an octave higher than usual.

    These two skills were both Ninth-Ring Arcana Techniques, brimming with unfathomable power.

    Su Chen was truly at the Ninth Ring now!

    Even so, this was not the scariest thing.

    The scariest thing was that he was able to use a Ninth-Ring Arcana Technique as soon as he reached the Ninth Ring!

    The scariest thing was that he was able to give the illusory image behind his back the ability to independently use Arcana Techniques!

    The scariest thing was that he had managed to unleash two Ninth-Ring Arcana Techniques simultaneously!

    This was something that should have only been possible for very experienced Ninth-Ring Arcana Masters, but a mere apparition behind Su Chen had managed to do it.

    He was now only a step away from reaching the very peak!

    How could Inigo not be stunned and frightened?

    Night God Sun and the others were all terrified.

    This was too excessive!

    Su Chen¡¯s strength was increasing at a meteoric rate!

    How were they supposed to fight a person like him?

    Hurricane of Death was another area-of-effect skill. It wrapped up Inigo and the others as soon as it appeared, but it also seemed to have a mind of its own and nimbly avoided Su Chen¡¯s allies.

    The Thunder God¡¯s de was a single-target attack that cleaved down at Li Daohong.

    Su Chen¡¯s primary target was still Li Daohong.

    ¡°You won¡¯t be able to kill me!¡± Li Daohong howled frantically.

    At that moment, he pulled out a number of other treasures in rapid session.

    Li Daohong truly had deep pockets, but every item he pulled out only caused Su Chen¡¯s killing intent to surge.

    This was because most of those treasures had alle from unrighteous means.

    He was truly twisted and wicked!

    Given his imperial bloodline, it would have been easy for him to obtain countless treasures in a much more upright manner. However, Li Daohong¡¯s twisted gratification in bloodshed and evil deeds had led him down this path instead.

    He must die!

    Su Chen coolly said as he watched Li Daohong scramble, ¡°Do you think those skills are the only ones you need to worry about?¡±

    Su Chen raised his hand, which was now holding the Flowing Gold de.

    A wave of ck mes climbed up the surface of the de.

    The attack of wind and thunder was totally unleashed by the Primordial Blood aspect. Su Chen¡¯s hands were still free.

    As Su Chen¡¯s desire to do battle surged, so too did his vigor and strength.

    It had been a long time since his blood had felt this hot.

    This time, he was going to enjoy the ughter!

    The effects of the Vitality Totem had granted him incredible physical strength. His Arcana Techniques had not been the only things to get stronger!

    ¡°Die!¡±

    As Su Chen roared, the Flowing Gold de descended.

    Li Daohong had seen this ck-me-covered de before, but the sensation it gave Li Daohong was now on par with the might of the Thunder God¡¯s de.

    The shadowy mes themselves hadn¡¯t improved, nor had the Flowing Gold de.

    But Su Chen had.

    His strength was now much greater, and his killing intent was in full force. Hisprehension of the elements had also progressed markedly.

    His strength melded together with the Arcana Technique beautifully, resulting in a beautiful de strike.

    ¡°Blood Illumination Cleanse!¡± Su Chen yelled.

    This was the name he had created for this attack.

    Using Li Daohong¡¯s blood, he would wash away the darkness Li Daohong had created and restore the light!

    Whoosh!

    The de descended.

    Li Daohong discovered that he was powerless in the face of this attack.

    When he used the River of Sand Gourd, the sand crumbled. When he used the Jade Armguard, it shattered. When he used the Fiend Pennant, the pennant was destroyed and the fiends scattered. Li Daohong attempted to use every single treasure at his disposal but found that he couldn¡¯t stop Su Chen¡¯s attack in the slightest.

    As the de descended on him, he let out a final desperate cry. ¡°NOO!!!¡±

    Pu!

    The Flowing Gold de shed past Li Daohong¡¯s body.

    Li Daohong¡¯s cry was cut off.

    His body swayed for a moment before it split in half.

    This de had severed his lifesource, making it impossible for him to regenerate.

    Death in a single strike.

    Su Chen sheathed his de and turned around, grabbing Night God Sun.

    This grab was filled with incredible authority, making it seem as if it was impossible to stop.

    Night God Sun activated the Divine Feather to its limit. ¡°Inigo, help me stop that attack! I¡¯m going to gather my strength and merge my Divine Feather with the other one. That way we can take him down with us!¡±

    ¡°Fine!¡± Inigo agreed and attacked.

    Pu!

    He ced his hand on Night God Sun¡¯s back. This unassuming palm was ced right on Night God Sun¡¯s wings. Night God Sun tilted his head back and spat out arge mouthful of blood.

    Most importantly, this palm strike knocked a golden feather right off of Night God Sun¡¯s wing.

    The Divine Feather.

    Because Night God Sun had been constantly using it, its glow had be much fainter.

    But at the very least, it was still glowing with divine power.

    Night God Sun¡¯s aura immediately plummeted.

    He turned around in disbelief.

    Inigo stood behind him, staring at him coldly.

    ¡°You......¡± Night God Sun spat out a mouthful of blood.

    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m not interested in dying,¡± Inigo replied.

    Su Chen¡¯srge hand had already wrapped itself around Inigo¡¯s throat, lifting him into the air. ¡°So even a sage has moments where he fears death?¡±

    Inigo smiled slightly, ¡°Even a sage is a living being. Living creatures all fear death. That is not really a surprise.¡±

    ¡°So why should I spare you? Because you attacked Night God Sun? You should be quite clear that I could have dealt with him without your help.¡±

    His harrumph was punctuated by the rumbling of thunder.

    The peals of thunder could be heard echoing throughout the temple.

    These sounds were not mere sounds - they also contained the power of thunder and were real attacks. All of the other opponents were sted aside, sending Night God Sun and Holly Keen flying.

    Su Chen growled, ¡°Apart from the person I am holding, I do not need any of these other people alive!¡±

    Zhu Chenhuan, Li Chongshan, and the Boundless Sect¡¯s subordinates were more than happy to attack, swallowing up their opponents in a sea of sword light. No matter how they pleaded for mercy, they eventually died to the de.

    Very soon, only Inigo remained in the main hall.

    At that moment, Night God Sun¡¯s Divine Feather slowly floated to the ground.

    No one went to pick it up. Everyone stared intently at Inigo.

    Only then did Su Chen restrain his aura. His wings folded back into his body, and his Primordial Blood Aspect disappeared.

    He stood there as if he was amoner, yet his hand was still wrapped around Inigo¡¯s throat. ¡°Give me one reason why I shouldn¡¯t kill you.¡±

    Inigo smiled bitterly. ¡°Can you put me down first?¡±

    ¡°No, I think we¡¯ll talk like this. I like the feeling of holding a Ninth-Ring Arcana Master¡¯s neck in my hand,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°...... Fate¡¯s Hands and Immortal Temple are on good terms. As far as I am aware, Sir Su and the Immortal Temple have a good rtionship as well.¡±

    ¡°The Immortal Temple is too loudmouthed for their own good. I don¡¯t know how good my rtionship with them will be in the future if this continues.¡±

    ¡°I hope that Sir Su can consider the Immortal Temple when making this decision......¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t mention anything about the Immortal Temple when you were teaming up with them. This kind of im has no traction; you¡¯d better find a different reason.¡±

    ¡°If you are willing to spare me, Fate¡¯s Hands is willing to be friends with Sir Su and develop a cooperative rtionship.¡±

    ¡°If I don¡¯t even care about the Immortal Temple, why would I care about Fate¡¯s Hands? As for coborations, do you know how many people on this continent want to coborate with me? I can put any technique up in the Dreamrealm right now and earn billions of Origin Stones. What kind of coboration could you possibly offer?¡±

    ¡°Sir Su, there are some things that you simply cannot buy with Origin Stones.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true. What happened earlier is one such example. Can you give me anything more?¡±

    ¡°......¡± Inigo was momentarily speechless.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, he said, ¡°Since Sir Su is here in Harpy territory, there must be something you want to aplish. I can help you deal with many different kinds of trouble.¡±

    ¡°I came to Sky Country to study Arcana Techniques, as well as to try my luck at finding some items that cannot be bought with money. I¡¯ve already aplished my objectives here.¡±

    ¡°Things that Origin Stones cannot buy......¡± Inigo thought for a moment before saying, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, I do know of a few ces with treasures like this.¡±

    ¡°Where?¡±

    ¡°Sky City¡¯s imperial pce or the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s Vatican.

    Su Chen smirked disdainfully. ¡°Are you trying to send me on a suicide mission?¡±

    Inigo gritted his teeth. ¡°There is one more ce with treasures like that.¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    ¡°The Spiritual Light Institute, and...... The Fate¡¯s Hands¡¯ headquarters.¡±

 Sect - Book 5, 125: Sellou

    Chapter 125: Sellout

    What would a person do to survive?

    The answer was anything.

    Su Chen had seen many shameless people before. Inigo was not the first, and he certainly would not be thest.

    As such, Su Chen asked, ¡°How can I trust you?¡±

    Inigo replied, ¡°Consciousness control.¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Don¡¯t try to y that game with me. Ninth-Ring Arcana Masters are like Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators. There¡¯s no way I will be able to control you with a mere fragment of your consciousness. As long as you want to, there are too many ways for you to escape. Don¡¯t forget, though, that I¡¯m at the Ninth Ring now as well!¡±

    Other people might becking in experience or have an iplete foundation.

    Su Chen, however, was different. His clones were flipping through the books, rapidly increasing his experience, while the Wind and Thunder Spirit Totems conferred upon him a powerful intuition.

    With thisbination of experience and perception, how was Inigo to lie to him?

    It was far too difficult.

    Inigo could only chuckle bitterly. ¡°So what do you think should be done?¡±

    ¡°Wait a moment.¡± Su Chen closed his eyes.

    Inigo didn¡¯t know what he was doing and could only wait quietly.

    Su Chen was actually waiting for his clones to flip through the books.

    Jade Clearmist was a legendary Arcana Master, and he possessed quite a few secret techniques.

    Very quickly, Su Chen discovered an Arcana Technique that relied on sending elemental energy into a person¡¯s body and controlling them via the threat of causing that energy to explode. Essentially, Inigo¡¯s life would be in his hands.

    However, this Arcana Technique was only a Seventh-Ring Arcana Technique. Su Chen was very suspicious that Inigo would be able to easily nullify it.

    If he didn¡¯t want that to happen, Su Chen would need to think of a way to upgrade it.

    Since he had already started down this path, Su Chen decided to follow through by altering this Arcana Technique.

    This process of improving an Arcana Technique might have taken other people years to aplish, but to Su Chen, who had both the consciousness crystal and a vast repository of knowledge to work with, it wasn¡¯t very difficult.

    Finally, after a furious bout of calctions, a Ninth-Ring Arcana Technique came into being.

    Su Chen opened his eyes and said, ¡°Rx your body. Don¡¯t try to resist.¡±

    Inigo didn¡¯t dare disobey. Su Chen¡¯s finger tapped onto Inigo¡¯s forehead.

    Inigo felt a mysterious, powerful strand of energy enter his body through Su Chen¡¯s finger.

    What kind of Arcana Technique was this?

    Howe he had never heard of it before?

    Inigo was both stunned and frightened.

    He could sense the energy enter his body before rapidly disappearing from his perception.

    However, Inigo also was aware that the energy definitely hadn¡¯t disappeared. It had just concealed itself so that he wouldn¡¯t have an opportunity to nullify it.

    Su Chen said, ¡°This is an Arcana Technique I created. If you betray me, it will burst open from within your being. Of course, if you have the ability to do so, feel free to try your hand at it. If you are able to do so, then you¡¯ll be free to do as you please.¡±

    It was impossible for Su Chen to ask Inigo not to think of ways to break free from his control, so Su Chen had no problem with being generous. If Inigo wanted to escape, then he was free to try and do so as long as he had the ability.

    Inigo obviously said that he wouldn¡¯t dare think of doing so, but neither of them believed that.

    After taking care of that matter, Su Chen began to examine his spoils.

    He had won two Divine Feathers and a single red ball.

    Su Chen knew about the Divine Feathers already, but he couldn¡¯t quite figure out what the round ball was.

    It was Inigo who said, ¡°Master, I think I might know what that is.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Tell me.¡±

    ¡°I think that should be the soul essence left behind by Jade Clearmist.¡±

    ¡°Soul essence?¡± Su Chen was stunned. ¡°Isn¡¯t it only possible for Astrals to make those? How does he have a soul essence?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I was going to say. Jade Clearmist was a legendary Arcana Master, and he wanted to bring glory to the Harpies. Apparently, he wanted to research a way to create an ethereal body like the astrals possessed and even went to the Wai Caves for inspiration. There, he obtained some knowledge belonging to the Astrals.¡±

    ¡°You aren¡¯t trying to tell me that he tried to turn himself into an Astral, right?¡± Su Chen was amused.

    ¡°Of course not. The Astrals had been trying for tens of thousands of years to turn others into Astrals as well but had always failed. There was nothing Jade Clearmist could do about that problem. What he wanted to do was rely on the Astrals¡¯ skills to pass on consciousness power, allowing the Harpies to possess incredibly powerful consciousnesses as well.¡±

    ¡°You mean...... power transmission?¡±

    ¡°Yes, transmission of consciousness power via soul essences,¡± Inigo replied. ¡°I think he probably seeded in the end. This is probably one of the soul essences Jade Clearmist left behind before his death. As long as you use it, you will inherit Jade Clearmist¡¯s consciousness power and greatly increase your own strength. Perhaps you will be able produce your own isted consciousness body at some point.¡±

    Su Chen coldly harrumphed, ¡°Are you trying to get me to use this thing? Inigo, don¡¯t try and y games with me. I don¡¯t believe for a second that this thing is that good. A soul essence that belongs to someone else...... Perhaps if I use it, I¡¯ll be inviting another will into my soul as well!¡±

    Inigo chuckled bitterly. It was impossible to tell if he was telling the truth or not.

    But no matter what Inigo was thinking, Su Chen refused to use this item.

    Patelocke had tried something like that against him at the Goldwater Ruins. After all, immortality was something that every living being dreamed of achieving. Jade Clearmist might have been ambitious, but it was only natural for him to also have some selfishness.

    Su Chen felt that he hadn¡¯t lived long enough yet to try and assimte soul essence left behind by a legendary Arcana Master.

    But just because he wasn¡¯t nning on using it didn¡¯t mean that it had no value whatsoever. The technology might not have been there yet, but it was still an aplishment worth studying for Su Chen.

    Consciousness...... Actually, that was a barrier that he would need to face in the future.

    Even though Su Chen was able to ascend, he wasn¡¯t in any hurry to do so. He wanted to improve the odds of sess so that people without a bloodline would have even more potential.

    In any case, he was already a Ninth-Ring Arcana Master, making him roughly as strong as a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator. He was in no hurry to ascend.

    He could absolutely take his time to study it.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t stand on courtesy and put it away, along with the Divine Feathers.

    Su Chen already knew why Night God Sun didn¡¯t want to bring the Divine Feather out. Once it was revealed, its power would constantly drain away. Thankfully, the crystal the pce had was designed to seal the Divine Feather. Su Chen sealed away the feather inside for future analysis.

    However, because the Divine Feather¡¯s constant drain, it was obvious that it would cost a lot to research.

    As such, Inigo¡¯s suggestion wasn¡¯t wrong. If possible, he might as well take the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s other two feathers with him as well.

    Right, there was also the Fate¡¯s Hands¡¯ headquarters and the Spiritual Light Institute to search.

    Su Chen put away the treasures and said, ¡°So we should prepare to head for the Spiritual Light Institute next.¡±

    Inigo carefully reminded, ¡°There are still some Harpies outside of the pce......¡±

    He was referring to the Wind-Gathering n and the other scattered Harpies who had shown up to try out their luck.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Su Chen said, ¡°The responsibility for the deaths of all these Harpies needs to belong to someone. Inigo, I¡¯m afraid that Fate¡¯s Hands will have to bear the burden this time.¡±

    Inigo understood what he meant. ¡°Got it. We¡¯ll give those Harpies outside a good show, but unfortunately your subordinates will need to y their part as well.¡±

    Li Chongshan chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s easy. We¡¯ll let them think that we just wanted to im some benefits for ourselves but were sent packing by a Ninth-Ring Arcana Master. That¡¯s better than the Harpies finding out that some humans got their hands on those treasures. Otherwise, they would probablye after us relentlessly.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Zhu Chenhuan nodded. ¡°It¡¯s about time for us to leave now. Su Chen, take care of yourself on this trip. This Inigo is incredibly slippery. Be careful about trusting him so easily.¡±

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°He had a helper who tried to do something simr. You know what happened to her.¡±

    He was talking about ming Femme.

    These Fate¡¯s Hands people were all from the same organization, so the way they did things was very simr. They would immediately surrender upon realizing that something was wrong, then look for an opportunity to counterattackter on.

    Unfortunately, they had run into a tough opponent in Su Chen.

    With the Origin Bone Scepter, Su Chen didn¡¯t need to worry about anything they tried as long as he was willing to pay the price.

    Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s words, everyone understood.

    Shi Kaihuang patted Su Chen on the shoulder. ¡°Make sure to be careful and don¡¯t stir up any unnecessary trouble. The earlier you can get back, the better. A long night leads to bad dreams.¡±

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°I know. I¡¯ll be careful.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang stared at him. ¡°You always say that.¡±

    Chu Yingwan was the one who walked over and whispered in Su Chen¡¯s ear, ¡°Come back soon so that we can drink some celebratory wine together.¡±

    Su Chen stared at Chu Yingwan, who blushed fiercely before leaving as if nothing had happened.

    Su Chen was delighted. He said to Shi Kaihuang, ¡°Congrattions, Instructor.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang cleared his throat with some embarrassment and left without saying anything else. The people following behind him all chuckled quietly, obviously aware of this.

    At that moment, Youthful Abundance was still standing outside watching.

    The doors to the pce swung open. Even though everyone wanted to go inside, they all recognized that the only people inside were powerful experts, and that they could be courting death.

    But they also weren¡¯t willing to just leave like that.

    Youthful Abundance couldn¡¯t help but wonder what had happened to Sir Azure Mark.

    While she believed that Sir Azure Mark would be fine, she was also worried about his safety and couldn¡¯t help but feel uneasy.

    After an unknown period of time, a loud rumbling could suddenly be hearding from the temple.

    Arge group of humans charged out from the temple.

    Everyone had seen these humans before. They were thest ones to enter the secret realm, but because there was so many of them, no one dared to get in their way. Unexpectedly, they were the first ones to reappear.

    This group of people had stormed in full of confidence, but now they were all panicking and yelling, ¡°Hurry! Run!¡±

    Inigo charged out with immense momentum, Ninth-Ring Arcana Techniques flying all over the ce as he sent the humans running.

    Inigo was the only one standing in the air, holding a feather. It was the Divine Feather.

    Inigo said arrogantly, ¡°All of the treasures here belong to me! If you don¡¯t want to die, get the hell out of here!¡±

    The humans scattered.

    Inigo turned around to survey his surroundings before also leaving.

    What next?

    They were gone?

    They had all left, just like that?

    The scattered Harpies all nced at each other, unsure of what to do.

    Finally, some of the more courageous Harpies dared to venture inside, but they ran out in fright after a single nce. ¡°Anyone who didn¡¯te out is dead!¡±

    What?

    All of the Harpies were stunned.

    Could it be that Night God Sun also......

    Youthful Abundance¡¯s heart trembled. She ran inside, only to find the ground littered with corpses. No other survivors were in sight.

    ¡°Sir Azure Mark! Sir Azure Mark!¡± Youthful Abundance yelled loudly.

    No one responded.

    Had Sir Azure Mark really died?

    Youthful Abundance stood there, a single tear falling from her eye.

    ¡°Are you looking for me?¡±

    A voice suddenly spoke from behind her.

    Youthful Abundance was badly startled. She turned around, only to find Su Chen smiling back at her.

    When she saw Su Chen¡¯s smile, she froze for a moment before wiping her tears away and smiling in response.

 Sect - Book 5, 126: Entering the Valley

    Chapter 126: Entering the Valley

    A flying carriage flew through the clear sky.

    The young, pretty woman driving the carriage chuckled, herughter like tinkling bells.

    ¡°Prince, where are we going next?¡± the young woman asked as she poked her head into the carriage behind her.

    ¡°I told you to just keep going straight. Don¡¯t ask so many questions,¡± Su Chen replied without even lifting his head.

    ¡°Fine.¡± The young woman frowned, but her eyes continued to dance yfully.

    As she drove the carriage, she actually began to hum.

    She didn¡¯t know that there was an Arcana Master quietly following along with them and even conversing with Su Chen.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be one more day before we reach the Thousand Poisons Mountain. The Fate¡¯s Hands¡¯ headquarters and the Spiritual Light Institute are both there.¡±

    ¡°I never would have expected that a powerful organization like Fate¡¯s Hands would actually live in that kind of a barren ce. You guys really know how to keep yourselves hidden,¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    The Thousand Poisons Mountain was known to be a highly toxic environment.

    If it was merely poisonous, that wouldn¡¯t have been such a big deal. However, there was arge variety of poisons that could be found on the mountain and that freely mixed together. This would be a serious test to any individual that would live there.

    After all, curing one poison might not be difficult, but curing ten or even more poisons all at once was not easy.

    There would always be one kind of poison that was extremely hard to deal with.

    For this reason, the Harpies considered Thousand Poisons Mountain to be off-limits.

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing we can do about that. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that this area is so dangerous, the Harpies probably would have alreadye hunting for us.¡±

    ¡°So how does Fate¡¯s Hands deal with the poisons in the mountain?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Inigo revealed that there was a Harpy who studied poisons and had been researching a universal cure for all poisons, wanting to make the entire Thousand Poisons Mountain a hospitable environment and eventually turning it into a major city. Though he had seeded, this Arcana Master refused to distribute it, instead trying to sell it for an astronomical price to other Harpies.

    Because he was asking for far too much, the Harpies never agreed to his conditions, and they reached a stalemate. The Harpies believed that only they would need this technique, and the Arcana Master felt that he was the only one who could provide the Harpies with such a technique.

    Both parties believed that they had the upper hand in the negotiations and refused to back down.

    When Fate¡¯s Hands found out, they realized that they had an opportunity.

    They weren¡¯t Harpies, so they didn¡¯t need to act dignified. If they couldn¡¯t afford it, then they would steal it.

    Fate¡¯s Hands had sent some powerful experts to track down the Arcana Master and seize the item from him. Unexpectedly, that Arcana Master wasn¡¯t weak, and he actually managed to escape from the clutches of a few powerful Arcana Masters. Even so, he was still badly injured, and he sumbed to his injuries not long after. The universal cure that he had invented disappeared along with him.

    However, Fate¡¯s Hands hadn¡¯t made that trip in vain. They were able to discover a recipe in that Arcana Master¡¯s researchb.

    The recipe was an early creation of the Arcana Master, which he had developed to handle the Thousand Poisons Mountain as well. Even though it couldn¡¯t nullify all poisons, it allowed any individual who possessed the medicine to travel as they pleased through most of the Thousand Poisons Mountain.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. If that¡¯s the case, then this universal cure is gone now?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Inigo replied, ¡°Yes. All we know is that it appeared to be some kind of item that devoured any kind of poison in close proximity. Unfortunately, after he took it away, no one was able to find it again.¡±

    Hm?

    Howe this sounded so familiar to Su Chen?

    That sounded an awful lot like the sheepskin scroll he had obtained from the auction in Long Coiling City.

    More specifically, the item contained many microscopic organisms that survived off of devouring poison. When there was no poison to be found, they would hibernate.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t encountered many poison cultivators in the past few years, so he had never found an opportunity to use the scroll. Now, Inigo¡¯s words reminded Su Chen of this treasure that he possessed.

    It can¡¯t be this sheepskin scroll, right? Su Chen thought to himself.

    But the more he turned it over in his mind, the more he was convinced that it was possible.

    If that was the case, then the situation had suddenly taken an interesting turn.

    These poison-eating bugs could not only eat poison but also unleash it, and were very powerful under the right circumstances. However, Su Chen had never studied them meticulously, so he hadn¡¯t figured out the most optimal way to use it. But now that he was going to the Thousand Poisons Mountain, an opportunity to try it out presented itself. Would the poisons in the mountain be its food, or were there some poisons that even the sheepskin couldn¡¯t devour?

    The Thousand Poisons Mountain quickly approached.

    Off in the distance, the Thousand Poisons Mountain could be seening into view. It was covered in a red, poisonous nt known as Thousand Years Flower. Its entire body was covered in poison, and anyone who came into contact with the flower would find their flesh corroding and would die on the spot.

    Youthful Abundance immediately knew where she was when she saw the familiar nt.

    ¡°Prince, this is the Thousand Poisons Mountain. The ground below us is extremely poisonous, and even the air above the mountain is incredibly poisonous. We can¡¯t get any closer than this!¡±

    Su Chen tossed a jade medallion at her. ¡°Don¡¯t waste your breath. Keep flying.¡±

    The jade medallion had been given to him by Inigo and contained a special kind of medicine that had been constructed based on the recipe given by the other Arcana Master. With this medicine, the user would be able to ensure that most poisons remained at least thirty feet from them.

    The medicine was vtile, so it needed to be changed out every so often.

    Fate¡¯s Hands relied on this method to defend themselves. Even if they were betrayed by one of their members, it would be impossible for them to do much harm.

    Even though ming Femme had managed to infiltrate Fate¡¯s Hands, she was only able to take one or two vials with her, which couldn¡¯t change the overall situation at all.

    Youthful Abundance guessed that this was an item that would nullify the poison, but she was still scared. She turned to gaze at Su Chen pleadingly but discovered that she was actually unable to move. The carriage descended automatically and flew into the mountain.

    When Youthful Abundance saw this, she shrieked in fear. Only when the carriage descended and she found that she was unharmed did she say in surprise and happiness, ¡°So nothing really happened?¡±

    ¡°You never listen to me.¡±

    Youthful Abundance stuck her tongue out. ¡°I got it. Next time you ask me to do something I will do it, even if you ask me to jump into a sea of mes.¡±

    ¡°Fine. Do you see the big rock in front of you? Use your head to break it.¡±

    ¡°What? Why?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you would jump into a sea of mes if I asked you? Are you not even brave enough to knock your head against a stone?¡±

    Youthful Abundance giggled. ¡°I was just saying. Why take it so seriously?¡±

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°Unfortunately, I was being serious.¡±

    He stepped forwards and actually knocked on the same rock.

    The rock actually opened automatically, revealing arge door behind it that opened up to a cave.

    ¡°This is......¡± Youthful Abundance¡¯s jaw dropped.

    ¡°The Spiritual Light Institute.¡±

    ¡°Fate¡¯s Hands?¡± Youthful Abundance blurted out.

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Inigo said to Youthful Abundance with a smile as he suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

    ¡°AHH!¡± Youthful Abundance screamed in fright.

    She never would have expected the violent, sadistic individual from Jade Clearmist¡¯s secret realm, a Ninth-Ring Arcana Master, to suddenly appear here.

    The first thing she did was actually ce herself in between him and Su Chen. ¡°Prince, get out of here! I¡¯ll try and hold him off!¡±

    Even Su Chen was rendered speechless by her desire to protect him.

    Su Chen nced at Inigo before saying, ¡°From today onwards, she¡¯ll be your student.¡±

    ¡°Understood, Master,¡± Inigo replied respectfully.

    ¡°Mas...... Master?¡± Youthful Abundance was stunned.

    It was only now that she discovered that she had never truly understood this person known as Azure Mark.

    She stared nkly at Su Chen and found him smiling slightly at her.

    He said, ¡°Go and study diligently with Sir Inigo. Your future will be better that way.¡±

    With...... Inigo?

    Youthful Abundance suddenly realized something. She yelled, ¡°Prince, don¡¯t abandon me! Don¡¯t abandon me!¡±

    Su Chen, however, waved his hand, and Inigo grabbed her and took her with him into the valley.

    As he watched her leave, Su Chen sighed. ¡°Sorry, but this is the best way to end things.¡±

    There was no good oue to bringing Youthful Abundance with him, and he was never nning on adding more members to his harem anyways. Resolving the matter like this was pretty good.

    As he watched Inigo take Youthful Abundance away, Su Chen also stepped foot into the cave.

    He didn¡¯t have Inigo introduce him because he wasn¡¯t nning on disguising himself at all.

    ording to what Inigo had said, the Spiritual Light Institute¡¯s most powerful individual was an Eighth-Ring Arcana Master.

    Eighth-Ring Arcana Masters were already insignificant in his eyes. What did he have to fear?

    He could just brazenly walk in and take the treasures for himself.

    As such, Su Chen decided to just walk into the cave.

    As he walked in, the cave very quickly began to sound with rms.

    The instructors of the Spiritual Light Institute flew over. When they saw Su Chen, they didn¡¯t even bother calling out to him. They immediately opened fire with their most proficient Arcana Techniques.

    Fate¡¯s Hands were wanted fugitives for the Harpies, so they were incredibly cautious. Anyone who broke into this ce without permission would be viewed as an enemy and ughtered.

    Since the Spiritual Light Institute belonged to Fate¡¯s Hands, this principle naturally applied to them as well. They attacked without remorse.

    Su Chen smiled slightly. The wings on his back unfurled as the power of wind and thunder suddenly began to gather into a massive ball of thunder. A momentter, Su Chen hurled this ball of thunder at his opponents.

    Those Arcana Masters had never seen abat style like that before and were all badly startled, choosing to strategically retreat. However, Su Chen was faster than them, so these balls of thunder all hit their targets. The tendrils of lightning were like hands grabbing at the Harpies. In the blink of an eye, ten or so of the oing Arcana Masters were tied up by the tendrils of lightning.

    None of them had seen this kind of technique before, so they were all shocked.

    That was to be expected. After all, this technique was born out of Su Chen¡¯s breakthrough in hisprehension of lightning.

    Those totems contained a deeper kind of power that was harder toe into contact with and even harder to grasp.

    Now, he was an expert in fire, thunder, and wind, and his field of view was much broader as well. Especially after obtaining the power of wind and thunder, Su Chen began to understand why he had been able to activate the Wind Spirit and Thunder Spirit Totems.

    But through these three totems, Su Chen was able to advance hisprehension in leaps and bounds. The skill he had just unleashed was one of the tools he had obtained during this period of time.

    These tendrils of lightning were actually a fusion of Su Chen¡¯s Air Tentacles and lightning Origin Energy. Thebination resulted in the formation of a new Arcana Technique. At the same time, Su Chen was able to open up apletely new door for himself.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 127: Lure

    Chapter 127: Lure

    Even though the basis of this modification had been a low-tier Arcana Technique, its innateposition was still of lightning-type Origin Energy. The powerful tendrils of lightning not only restricted the opponent¡¯s movements but also sent currents through them periodically, causing them to jitter and tremble. This made it impossible for them to ever fully gather their strength.

    Su Chen dragged these Arcana Masters behind him and headed straight for the institute¡¯s library.

    Before arriving, Inigo had already informed him about where all the valuable locations in the Spiritual Light Institute were.

    Inigo, like Su Chen, valued knowledge above all else. As such, the library was the ce where the Spiritual Light Institute¡¯s treasures were being stored. Any good items would be found there.

    When they saw Su Chen flying in that direction, they immediately understood his intentions and sighed with relief. ¡°Thank goodness, his goal is the library!¡±

    Thank goodness?

    Su Chen was taken aback when he heard this.

    However, he soon realized that the members of Fate¡¯s Hands were all criminals. To them, an opponent charging in through their front gates could be fatal.

    If this guy was only here to take treasures...... how could they not feel some thankfulness?

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°You guys are pretty lucky. My goal is just the treasures in the library. As long as you don¡¯t get in my way, I will spare you.¡±

    Unfortunately, these words werepletely pointless.

    The Arcana Masters that had been captured by him naturally wouldn¡¯t be able to move anywhere, while the ones that hadn¡¯t would still try their best to stop him. Otherwise, if the head of the institute were toe back and question them, they would be in trouble.

    Of course, they had no idea that the institute¡¯s head had already returned and was currently in hiding. As such, they could only fight back with all their strength.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t mind. He continued to activate these lightning chains to their fullest extent. In the blink of an eye, he had managed to tie up arge group of the Arcana Masters.

    These Arcana Masters weren¡¯t idiots. When they saw that their opponent wasn¡¯t killing them, they knew that they would most likely be able to survive. As such, they stopped struggling and allowed Su Chen to carry them around. However, they did lose some face - as they were in an institute, the students hade pouring out and were staring up at the sky, watching the instructors who were normally far above them being dragged around like this was nothing. They seemed to be growing excited.

    ¡°These kids have such little experience,¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    As he spoke, he arrived at the library. He wasted no time and sent out countless Air Tentacles to grab the books.

    The low-tier Air Tentacles seemed to contain a shocking amount of power under Su Chen¡¯s control. They appeared in the sky and very quickly expanded in numbers to the thousands, charging into the library and destroying its defenses. They swept through every corner of the library, taking anything they could find.

    Secret books, treasures, spiritual ingredients, etc. - anything that had any value whatsoever, he took.

    The tentacles were like channels. At their end was a mouth, which would devour anything that it came across. The books and items then traveled along their bodies all the way into Su Chen¡¯s hands before disappearing into his Origin Rings.

    Everyone was stunned by Su Chen¡¯s unique method of plundering the library.

    "Air Tentacles! Those are Air Tentacles," one person pointed out.

    This small Arcana Technique seemed to have incredible malleability under Su Chen¡¯smand. It was as if there was a freak creature with a thousand hands present, wantonly grabbing things from the sky.

    "You dare to try and plunder the Spiritual Light Institute? How bold!" An angry growl rumbled through the air as a streak of ck light shot in Su Chen¡¯s direction.

    The ck light flew in a strange, twisted manner even though it was formed from light, as if it were a snake.

    But it was in fact light, not a snake, and it had a peculiar glow to it. Anyone who saw it would have an eerie sensation rise in their hearts.

    If Su Chen didn¡¯t know what this skill was, he would have taken caution to avoid it.

    Unfortunately, he knew what he was facing.

    He had learned about the exact circumstances of the Spiritual Light Institute from Inigo a long time ago, so he knew that his opponent was the vice head of the institute. He was also known as ¡°Twisting Shadow¡±, and the attack he had used was a skill he was quite well-known for: Withered Flesh.

    Withered Flesh was an incredibly powerful attack that could ignore barriers and strike at its opponent, prating their body and eating away at it.

    The Arcana Technique was impossible to dodge. It would lock onto the target¡¯s position, making it incredibly difficult to dodge.

    The best way to deal with it wasn¡¯t to dodge but to immediately destroy it.

    Yes, this streak of light could be destroyed.

    After all, its intrinsic substance wasn¡¯t light, but a kind of special energy.

    The strange, contorted path it took was very much rted to space, which was why the attack could ignore barriers.

    However, this also made its speed of flight very slow. All Su Chen needed to do was destroy it before it hit him.

    The way to destroy it was very simple.

    Su Chen flicked his wrist, sending a droplet of blood flying through the air.

    A momentter, the ck light began to disappear.

    Yes, a single drop of blood was enough to nullify the attack.

    Withered Flesh targeted blood and flesh. As a result, as long as the target fed it blood or flesh - even down to a single drop of blood - the technique would be nullified.

    That was one of the greatest faults of this Arcana Technique, but people who weren¡¯t familiar with the technique wouldn¡¯t know how to deal with it.

    The vice institute head didn¡¯t expect Su Chen to know that. He said in surprise, ¡°Who are you? How do you know......¡±

    ¡°Who I am isn¡¯t important. Don¡¯t interfere in my business,¡± Su Chen replied bluntly as he shot a streak of lightning at the vice institute head.

    Even though he was one ring lower than Su Chen, the cultivation path he chose was incredibly treacherous, so he likely possessed some skills that were hard to deal with. It was very easy for Su Chen to get himself into trouble if he wasn¡¯t careful. However, because Su Chen was also robbing the library at the same time, it was hard for him to be careful, so he instead decided to push ahead with force. The streaks of lightning rained down on the vice institute head, forcing him to scramble to defend himself.

    Because of how strange Twisted Shadow¡¯s attacks were, he did not have particrly great offensive capabilities. Su Chen was also at the Ninth Ring, so Electromaic Storm and Thunder Execution backed Twisted Shadow into a corner. Twisted Shadow had no way ofunching any counterattacks, so he could only watch Su Chen plunder the library as he pleased.

    ¡°My Eagle Pattern Eye! My Boundless Thunder Pearl! The institute head¡¯s Thousand Poisons Spider Silk and Bone-Dissolving Water...... Bastard, bastard, you bastard!¡± When the vice institute head saw Su Chen plundering treasure after treasure, he hopped up and down with anger as he avoided Su Chen¡¯s lightning attacks.

    When Su Chen saw that he had taken almost everything of value, he retrieved the Air Tentacles andughed, ¡°Many thanks for your generosity. I will be taking my leave now.¡±

    As he spoke, he flew off into the distance.

    The vice institute head didn¡¯t want to let him get away just like that, but a tornado suddenly came bearing down on him and blowing him far away, causing him to miss his opportunity to give chase.

    Of course, if he had actually decided to give chase, he would have likely been killed.

    ¡°A Ninth-Ring Arcana Master skilled in both thunder and wind?¡± The vice institute head was stunned. ¡°Could it be Shadowsong Frostedge?¡±

    The most famous Ninth-Ring Arcana Master who had mastered both thunder and wind was Shadowsong Frostedge of the Shadowsong n. However, the Shadowsong n was incredibly powerful, and Frostedge was incredibly proud and aloof. How could he possibly decide to plunder the Spiritual Light Institute? His loyalty to his country would demand that he ughter everyone present at the Spiritual Light Institute rather than running after taking the treasures.

    As such, the vice institute head very quickly rejected that idea.

    So was it Skypiercer, then? No, Skypiercer was already four hundred years old. He wouldn¡¯t look that young.

    The vice institute head ran through arge list of people he could think of but couldn¡¯t figure out who it could be. Who woulde to the Spiritual Light Institute and only try to take their treasures? How would he exin the situation to the institute head?

    He waspletely bemused by the situation.

    At that moment, he suddenly heard a voice, ¡°What happened?¡±

    Everyone was surprised by this familiar voice.

    ¡°The Institute Head is back!¡±

    Inigo appeared, along with Youthful Abundance.

    He looked like he had only just returned and waspletely unaware of what had happened. A nk expression was written on his face.

    The instructors were forced to exin to him what had just taken ce.

    ¡°Institute Head, the person who robbed us only just left. We might be able to catch up to him,¡± one of the instructors said.

    ¡°Catch up to him? Why would we want to do that?¡± No one expected Inigo to respond in that manner.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Everyone was taken aback.

    Inigo said, ¡°You guys already said that our opponent was a Ninth-Ring Arcana Master skilled in both thunder and wind. All of youbined weren¡¯t strong enough to take him on. In other words, I probably am not strong enough to be his opponent, right?¡±

    ¡°This......¡± Everyone didn¡¯t know how to respond.

    Everyone else was afraid of saying that he wasn¡¯t able to do it, but the institute head was afraid that people would say he could.

    Of course, since Inigo had said as much, everyone else maintained their silence.

    Inigo said, ¡°Did anyone notify the headquarters about the ambush?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s already been done.¡±

    An instructor had already sent word as soon as Su Chen attacked.

    Fate¡¯s Hands¡¯ headquarters and the Spiritual Light Institute were both in Thousand Poisons Mountain, but for security¡¯s sake they were ced in different locations.

    When he heard this, Inigo nodded. ¡°Since our opponent is powerful, then we should ask them to send some more powerful experts our way. Perhaps even the Boss shoulde as well.¡±

    ¡°The Boss?¡± Everyone was stunned.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Inigo replied. ¡°No matter what, the Spiritual Light Institute is right next to our headquarters. If we run into trouble, so will they. We cannot be too careful.¡±

    ¡°But our opponent has already left.¡±

    ¡°How do you know he will not return in the future?¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± everyone could only reply.

    An even more urgent warning was sent out.

    Indeed, after not too long, arge wave of Fate¡¯s Hands members arrived on the scene, along with some powerful experts. Even the Boss of Fate¡¯s Hands showed up.

    His figure waspletely shrouded in darkness, making it impossible to see his face clearly. Even shining on him with light wouldn¡¯t reveal any of his physical features, because the light would automatically try to avoid him.

    He was like a ck hole; no light could be seen reflecting from his body, and he exuded a tremendously powerful aura. Anyone around him couldn¡¯t help but tremble in fear.

    That was an aura that belonged to a legendary individual.

    The head of Fate¡¯s Hands was actually a legendary Arcana Master.

    ¡°What happened that necessitated you calling me all the way out here, Inigo? How did your mission in Cloudy City turn out?¡±

    ¡°Not very good.¡± Inigo recounted an altered version of what had taken ce in the secret realm, intentionally pointing out that a bunch of humans had stolen the treasures. Even though he tried to kill them all, some of them were able to escape. He didn¡¯t expect to be suddenly robbed yet again so soon after returning to the Spiritual Light Institute.

    ¡°So something like that actually happened.¡± The Boss nced at the library. He could sense that a Ninth-Ring Arcana Technique had been unleashed there only recently.

    Who would do that? Who woulde and rob the Spiritual Light Institute?

    Just as he was pondering the situation, yet another rm bean to sound.

    The Boss turned his head around in shock and cried out, ¡°Not good! The headquarters is under attack! Robbing the Spiritual Light Institute was just to lure us out!¡±

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 128: Pursui

    Chapter 128: Pursuit

    Su Chen was in a great mood as he flew rapidly through the sky.

    This trip to the Thousand Poisons Mountain had greatly profited Su Chen. Not only had he managed to clear out the Spiritual Light Institute¡¯s library, but he was even able to freely plunder Fate¡¯s Hands¡¯ headquarters.

    They were worthy of their reputation as Sky Country¡¯s most powerful terrorist organization. Their pockets were surprisingly deep, and they had all kinds of Origin Tools in their stores, including some top-tier ones.

    Even though Su Chen wasn¡¯t able to use all of these items, the Boundless Sect would definitely benefit from them.

    Su Chen was already mentally divvying up his spoils of war so that each Boundless Sect disciple would receive an exceptional Origin Tool.

    Apart from Origin Tools, this ce also contained arge quantity of spiritual herbs.

    Su Chen might not have been able to every Origin Tool, but he was definitely able to find a use for most of these spiritual herbs and ingredients.

    Given Su Chen¡¯s current abilities as an alchemist, there weren¡¯t many people on the entire continent who couldpare with him. He was totally justified to take these items for himself.

    All those years of bitter practice had finally paid off in spades, both in terms of his personal strength and in his alchemical skills.

    However, he wasn¡¯t able to ponder this for very long before he noticed a cloud of drifting smoke off in the distance.

    A powerful wave of fear suddenly washed over him.

    ¡°This is......¡± Su Chen turned around and saw a ck cloud rumbling through the sky in his direction.

    ¡°Damn!¡± Su Chen immediately realized that something was off. This wasn¡¯t a freak urrence of nature ¡ª there was definitely an incredibly powerful individual headed right in his direction.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t even need to guess to know who that person was, given his actions just a few moments ago.

    This was Fate¡¯s Hands¡¯ leader, a legendary Arcana Master.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t hesitate for a single moment. He unfurled his Wind and Thunder Wings and shot off into the distance at full speed.

    By relying on the element of wind, Su Chen was able to significantly boost his flying speed. Earlier, while on the carriage, there had been no way for him to demonstrate this strength. But now it was proving useful for him.

    Even so, not every one of Su Chen¡¯s trump cards would be effective.

    Even though Su Chen¡¯s speed had greatly increased after he activated his wings, he found that the ck cloud was still closing in on him.

    The cloud was slowly but surely approaching him.

    Su Chen was badly shocked by the cloud¡¯s speed, and he pped his wings as hard as he could. As the wind howled and lightning crackled all around him, Su Chen¡¯s speed was raised to its absolute limit.

    Under normal circumstances, even a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator would have a hard time catching up to him.

    However, legendary Arcana Masters were legendary for a reason ¡ª they were strong enough to fight an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator with an Origin Beast Bloodline. There was no chance of Su Chen shaking him off.

    This Fate¡¯s Hands¡¯ leader had used some kind of technique to locate Su Chen and had followed him all the way over here.

    Su Chen knew that he was in deep trouble, as everything before had gone much too smoothly for him, leading him to underestimate the power of a legendary Arcana Master. Of course, it was also possible that Inigo had set him up on purpose......

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know if Inigo had yed a role in bringing about this situation, but at the moment, it didn¡¯t really matter. He needed to find a way to disappear from his pursuer¡¯s line of sight first.

    But the ck cloud only drew closer and closer. Where was he to run to?

    Su Chen¡¯s brain buzzed frically with activity as the consciousness crystal analyzed countless possibilities before finally selecting the one that would be the most likely to seed.

    Su Chen stopped trying to run forwards; instead, he began to descend to the surface of the Thousand Poisons Mountain.

    Su Chen¡¯s pursuer obviously didn¡¯t expect this sudden change in direction from Su Chen and was also taken aback. But after a moment, they also followed Su Chen down.

    If Su Chen had chosen to not leave the Thousand Poisons Mountain, that would actually save him quite a bit of energy.

    In the next moment, however, the leader¡¯s expression drastically changed. ¡°Not good!¡±

    He realized that Su Chen was heading for a very specific location.

    To be more precise, he was headed towards one of the forbidden areas of Thousand Poisons Mountain.

    Fate¡¯s Hands might have been able to salvage a recipe for a general antidote from that one Arcana Master, but it was not a universal cure yet. There were a few poisons that were so powerful that even this general antidote was powerless against. As such, these areas had beenbeled as off-limits by Fate¡¯s Hands.

    At this moment, the leader¡¯s target was headed for exactly one such location.

    The leader didn¡¯t know why his target had changed directions towards a forbidden area, but he knew that if he didn¡¯t stop his target now, he would probably never see those treasures of his ever again.

    Rumble!

    A pitch-ck hand began to descend from the ck cloud, reaching out to grab Su Chen.

    The shocking amount of power behind the grab made Su Chen feel as if the entire sky around him was falling down.

    Of course, this hand was not actually immeasurable. Rather, its area of effect was so great and the pressureing off of it so strong that Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but feel this way.

    No wonder Arcana Techniques had dominated the cultivation system for millenia.

    Unfortunately, Su Chen had no interest in admiring the strength of a legendary Arcana Technique. When he saw the domineering hand descend from the sky, his figure suddenly flickered and reappeared ten thousand feet away, dodging the legendary Arcana Master¡¯s attempts to grab him.

    The legendary Arcana Master never expected this thief to possess such far-reaching teleportation abilities. Even he wasn¡¯t able to teleport that far in one jump.

    His desire to capture Su Chen intensified even more. If he was able to squeeze some secret techniques out of Su Chen, that would be quite a big blessing. As such, he gritted his teeth and activated another secret technique. Su Chen suddenly felt like the space around him had congealed.

    ¡°My goodness......¡± Su Chen was dazed.

    This skill was somewhat simr to his Sumeru Void in that it also sealed space, but wasn¡¯t it covering too big of a region? It had actually affected an area equivalent to at least a hundred Sumeru Voids.

    Su Chen found himself unable to move, and even teleporting......

    Hm? He could still use it.

    Su Chen activated Whitetower Teleportation. Even though the teleportation distance was much smaller than usual, he could still use it.

    This meant that his opponent wasn¡¯t actually using spatial lockdown and was instead using brute force to hinder the Origin Energy surrounding Su Chen. But because Su Chen¡¯s Whitetower Teleportation was a purely spatial technique, it was able to easily overpower the opponent¡¯s technique despite the fact that the opponent was much stronger than him.

    Upon realizing this, Su Chen was delighted. He continued to descend as he tossed out a few droplets of blood, which scattered towards the ground.

    When the legendary Arcana Master saw that his attempt to stop his opponent¡¯s descent had failed, he immediately realized that Su Chen¡¯s teleportation abilities were spatial-oriented rather than purely Origin Energy-oriented. This exined why Su Chen had been able to teleport so far. As such, the legendary Arcana Master¡¯s desire to capture Su Chen only grew further.

    When he saw his opponent about to enter the forbidden area, the legendary Arcana Master yelled, ¡°Don¡¯t go down there! You¡¯ll die!¡±

    Oh? You¡¯re concerned about me?

    Su Chenughed as he shouted back, ¡°Thanks for your concern!¡±

    However, he continued to descend.

    But just moments after he said that, he suddenly came to a halt, as if something was blocking him and preventing him from descending any further.

    Su Chen was stunned. He nced around him but couldn¡¯t find anything blocking his path. What was stopping him from descending further?

    Just as he was looking around in surprise, he suddenly saw four words appear in the sky. Thin strands were attached to the words floating in the sky, anchoring Su Chen to them.

    This is......

    ¡°Thanks for your concern?¡± Su Chen read out these four words suspended in the air, which he had just uttered. However, the words hadn¡¯t dissipated and had actually taken on a physical form.

    His words should have been transmitted via sound waves through the air, making them an invisible existence. However, the strength of the legendary Arcana Master was able to give these words physical substance.

    What kind of Arcana Technique was this?

    That was simply too shocking, wasn¡¯t it?

    Because these four words had taken on real physical substance, Su Chen was now stopped in his tracks and couldn¡¯t continue to descend.

    The pitch-ck hand descended from the sky yet again, grabbing at Su Chen.

    Su Chen knew that he was in a tight spot. His wings spread open as a wave of lightning, wind, and fire burst forth from him.

    Boom!

    The three elements merged together and collided with the four words.

    These words were merely formed from the power of a legendary Arcana Master. Even though they were sturdy, they were not linked to the Arcana Master himself. As such, the words quickly began to show signs of shattering under the heavy bombardment unleashed by Su Chen.

    The legendary Arcana Master was greatly agitated. He was really going all out in his attempt to catch Su Chen, bringing out all of the trump cards that he possessed.

    Three of the words exploded, but just as ¡°concern¡± was about to shatter, it suddenly began to glow with a golden light.

    A powerful surge of energy suddenly stabilized the word ¡°concern,¡± simultaneously sending a boundless aura through the sky.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Even Su Chen was taken aback.

    He knew that this legendary Arcana Master definitely wasn¡¯t simple, but he had no idea that his abilities had reached this extent. Not only could he solidify the words that Su Chen spoke, but he could even ¡°gild¡± Su Chen¡¯s words?

    What kind of mysterious power was that?

    Legendary Arcana Masters weren¡¯t just more powerful, faster, or more flexible. They possessed skills that other people simply couldn¡¯t even begin toprehend.

    The aura emanating from the word "concern" was incredibly powerful and almost inconceivably so. It was obvious that this was not achievable through just Origin Energy alone.

    So was there a kind of energy in this world besides Origin Energy?

    Su Chen wondered.

    However, there was not much point in him thinking about this much longer. The hand in the sky was already descending towards him again.

    Su Chen, however, merely chuckled when faced with this hand.

    After all, he had also picked up some new tricks along the way.

    As he smiled and looked up at the sky, a profound, mystical aura suddenly began to explode forth from his body.

    This aura didn¡¯te from Origin Energy alone.

    This aura was so great and profound that the legendary Arcana Master immediately sensed it as soon as it appeared. He was greatly shocked. "How is this possible? How can he......"

    An explosion of thunder and lightning burst forth from the sky and actually blocked the hand in the sky from descending further. This mysterious power of Su Chen¡¯s was manifested differently from the legendary Arcana Master¡¯s, but it was simr in terms of its intrinsic properties.

    Even the power of a legendary Arcana Master wasn¡¯t able to subjugate this wave of thunder and wind energy, and the word "concern" eventually crumbled under its pressure.

    One of the fragments shot in Su Chen¡¯s direction. He surreptitiously grabbed it before his figure flickered and disappeared without a trace. When he reappeared, he was much further down than before.

    He had used his clone teleportation skill. This allowed him to teleport much further than with his Whitetower Teleportation, and the restrictions on its usage were less as well. As such, he was able to finally escape from the clutches of the legendary Arcana Master and reappear near the surface of the Thousand Poisons Mountain.

    ¡°NO!¡± The legendary Arcana Master howled angrily in frustration.

    Su Chen¡¯s figure flickered once again as he reappeared on the surface of the Thousand Poisons Mountain.

    Su Chen felt his legs wobble before giving out, a side effect from forcibly teleporting twice in rapid session. As his legs gave out, he fell to his knees.

    However, he stillughed.

    Because he had won.

    The legendary Arcana Master didn¡¯t dare follow him down here.

    Even though he was powerful, he wasn¡¯t invincible. He didn¡¯t dare take on the poison in this area either.

    ¡°Well then...... Goodbye.¡± Su Chen smiled up at the sky onest time as his figure darted into the forest, disappearing without a trace.

 Sect - Book 5, 129: Deep Strength

    Chapter 129: Deep Strength

    After running through the forest for some time, Su Chen found a cave and walked in.

    He didn¡¯t dare walk too far because the poison in different areas had different effects. If he went into the wrong area, he would be doomed. After all, even legendary Arcana Masters hesitated to wander around in this ce.

    When he saw that he had managed to make it out unscathed, Su Chen sighed in relief.

    He had only done so because he had wrapped the sheepskin around himself beforehand.

    Indeed, this sheepskin was astoundingly effective. It was able to devour any kind of poison that Su chen threw at it.

    There wasn¡¯t any poison around Su Chen at this point.

    However, Su Chen also discovered that it was impossible to use this sheepskin to absorb all of the poison away.

    This Thousand Poisons Mountain was quite strange. The poison seemed to be able to pour endlessly out of an unknown source.

    To the sheepskin, this was a mountain full of treasures.

    Unfortunately, even so, Su Chen was still stuck here.

    Even though the legendary Arcana Master didn¡¯t dare enter the forbidden area, he wouldn¡¯t allow Su Chen to get away so easily. More likely than not, he was standing guard somewhere nearby, so Su Chen was beginning to develop a headache just trying to think about how to leave.

    It seemed like he could only dy for time while he waited.

    But since he was in an isted area, his food and water stores would onlyst him for so long. With his opponent lying in wait outside and a group of subordinates waiting on his beck and call, it was obvious that Su Chen wouldn¡¯t be able tost as long as the legendary Arcana Master.

    Well, the situation was already settled anyways. If he had the time to think about these things, it was better to try ande up with a solution.

    As he thought to himself, he suddenly heard a voice say, ¡°I¡¯m impressed by your skill. You¡¯re able to survive despite going so deep into a forbidden area.¡±

    Su Chen smiled. ¡°Aren¡¯t you the same? Relying on the Thousand Poisons Mountain to eke out a living. I¡¯m just emting Fate¡¯s Hands. Well, perhaps this is the arrangement of fate anyways.¡±

    ¡°Hmph!¡± The other party was obviously angered, but they resisted the mes of anger and said, ¡°Who exactly are you?¡±

    Su Chen chuckled and ignored him.

    When the legendary Arcana Master found that his questions were falling on deaf ears, he asked instead, ¡°Even though you can ignore the poison in this forbidden area for now, you are also stuck there. I hope you¡¯re not nning on spending the rest of your life in there.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ll live with it. If I have to sit around in this ce, you¡¯ll at least have to keep mepany.¡±

    The leader said, ¡°You stole so many items belonging to me. So what if I have to keep youpany? You have nothing in that realm of yours. At the very least, I can still enjoy life out here.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°I stole all of those items from you and have now earned a legendary Arcana Masterpanion¡¯spany. So what if I¡¯m stuck here as a result? It¡¯s not like I don¡¯t have anything on me either. I have quite a few treasures in this Origin Ring of mine. At worst, I will die here, and Fate¡¯s Hands treasures will go with me to the grave.¡±

    The leader said, ¡°Is there a point in acting this way? How about this - as long as you are willing to hand over what belongs to Fate¡¯s Hands......¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll let me go, is that right?¡± Su Chen chuckled. ¡°I knew you were going to say that. Saying something cliche and insincere like that is a waste of my time.¡±

    The leaderughed, ¡°That¡¯s true. I do need to show some sincerity first. How about this? I, Kelesda, am willing to vow a vow not to harm you.¡±

    Su Chen saidzily, ¡°A vow from the leader of Fate¡¯s Hands...... Haha, can I say that it¡¯s worth nothing?¡±

    His heart, however, was in turmoil.

    Kelesda? So this guy was actually Kelesda.

    Damn! No wonder this guy was able to track him.

    Kelesda had been one of the most powerful individuals during his prime. He was given a whole host of nicknames like ¡°Death Star¡±, ¡°Darkness Tomb¡±, ¡°Thunder Lord¡±, etc.

    Apparently, this guy¡¯s research of Arcana Techniques had reached a level equivalent to that of the ancient Arcanists, and was even superior to them in some aspects. His strength was so deep that it was at a level that couldn¡¯t be fathomed.

    Su Chen had personally experienced this firsthand.

    Using his own words to lock him in ce was truly a legendary idea. that manifested his strength.

    Kelesda had once traveled all throughout the continent, living amongst the different Intelligent Races. He had managed to make quite a name for himself no matter where he was living. As such, he was not only a powerful Arcana Master, but he had also studied the human and Ravager cultivation systems to varying degrees before.

    While he was amongst the human race, he had fought people like Li Wuyi, Feng Zhuying, Cheng

    He was also one of the few Arcanist Remnants that was universally respected as an opponent.

    After all, this guy¡¯s fighting style was too strange. He really was a genius.

    Kelesda had joined the Immortal Temple before, but he detested the organizational hierarchy of the Immortal Temple. He believed that it had fallen far and would have a hard time rising again, so he decided to split off, instead heading for the Wai Caves before disappearing shortly thereafter.

    Ever since then, it was very rare for people to mention Kelesda¡¯s name.

    Unexpectedly, his opponent was now saying that he was Kelesda.

    This really is...... an incredible coincidence! Su Chen thought to himself.

    Kelesda was also stunned by how quickly Su Chen deemed his status as the leader of Fate¡¯s Hands to be worthless.

    He had particrly mentioned his name in an attempt to try and garner some trustworthiness in himself. After all, when had Kelesda ever been known to renege on a promise? Anyone who had witnessed this had been silenced after the fact, so it was only natural that his reputation was sound. Why didn¡¯t Su Chen trust him? That was totally illogical!

    Kelesda was enraged, but there was nothing he could do. He suppressed his impatience and said, ¡°So what do you want as a promise, then?¡±

    Su Chen indifferently said, ¡°Any promise that is not binding is useless, so forget about it. I¡¯m a bit tired right now and don¡¯t want to talk to you any more. Let me rest a bit first.¡±

    No matter how Kelesda tried to call him out, he refused to respond.

    He truly was a bit tired. After all, he had burned a significant amount of energy just to escape in a short period of time. If his reactions had been a bit slow or if he had made even the slightest mistake, he probably would have died.

    Now that he was able to rx, he actually managed to fall asleep.

    By the time he awoke, the sky was already dark.

    Su Chen nced up at the ck sky above him and chuckled. "I must be quite rxed, to be able to sleep in this kind of environment."

    But since he was already awake, what was he to do next?

    He was in apletely barren area with nothing to do. How should he upy himself?

    At that moment, he nced at his hand and couldn¡¯t help but be slightly taken aback.

    In his hand was the fragment of the word ¡°concern¡± that he had managed to grab. It was formed from Kelesda¡¯s mysterious power. Surprisingly, it hadn¡¯t disintegrated yet.

    Su Chen¡¯s heart suddenly began to beat as he closely inspected the fragment.

    His eyes began to glow with light as he almost instinctively activated his microscopic eyes.

    To his surprise, his microscopic eyes were actually unable to see through theposition of the fragment.

    His microscopic eyes could see clearly down to the smallest particles, but this fragment before him didn¡¯t seem to beposed of any kind of microscopic substance. As such, Su Chen was unable to analyze it. It was almost as if Su Chen wasn¡¯t holding anything in his hand at all.

    However, that didn¡¯t necessarily mean that his eyes couldn¡¯t see anything.

    Even amongst this void, Su Chen could sense a few existences there.

    Thes existences appeared to be uniquely situated between reality and the ether.

    ¡°So this kind of power does not actually have physical substance?¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    This profound, mysterious power came from a deeper, metaphysical level. Only people whoprehended its mysteries and could sense it would be able to use it.

    Su Chen could finally sense what he had thought was merely a myth from before.

    The myth turned out to be true.

    This kind of power was impossible to physically control. You wouldn¡¯t be able to pull it along no matter how hard you tried, but it was able to produce physical effects.

    It was light, it was waves, it was space, it was an entity impossible to describe with words alone. Even so, humans could still contact it.

    How would Su Chen influence it or even control it?

    It wasn¡¯t by Origin Energy!

    He definitely couldn¡¯t try to control it like he controlled Origin Energy.

    This mysterious power was on a higher level.

    Su Chen calmed himself down.

    If it was in the past, Su Chen might have been powerless to do anything.

    But now, he knew what to do.

    This was because he already knew how to control this deeper level of power.

    He would do it via the elemental totems.

    Yes, in that moment he could finally confirm that the elemental totems were closely linked to this mysterious power.

    After obtaining the powers of three different elemental totems, he had already developed a certain level of mastery of this mysterious power. However, he didn¡¯t know why he had that mysterious power, and certainly not how to use it.

    Just because he possessed it didn¡¯t necessarily mean it was his. The power still belonged to the totems.

    This time, however, the situation was different.

    The word fragment had given him a window of this ethereal power taking on physical form. This was probably an opportunity that would onlye once every thousand years, and Su Chen¡¯s elemental totems and his microscopic eyes gave him the ability to study them it even further. As he carefully inspected the fragment, the fathomless power from Su Chen¡¯s elemental totems seemed to resonate automatically, echoing with the fragment in his hand. The word fragment began to glow, gradually blinding Su Chen¡¯s physical eyes.

    Su Chen was incredibly excited, and he constantly worked to expand the fathomless power within his being.

    Unexpectedly,

    What had happened?

    Su Chen was stunned. He inspected the fragment carefully again but couldn¡¯t see anything particrly noteworthy.

    Even after analyzing it closely for a long time, Su Chen was still unable to discover anything. Just as he was about to give up, he suddenly sensed the totems in his body activate yet again, and the fragment in his hand began to glow.

    Su Chen was delighted

    Pu.

    The light suddenly died like an extinguished me, returning to its originally dull state.

    Every time Su Chen thought there was no hope, the fragment would begin to resonate with the totems in his body, and every time he tried to control that power, it would vanish.

    After some time, Su Chen finally understood.

    It seemed that this fathomless power could sense his emotion.

    It was like a donkey. The more he tried to coax it, the more it rebelled against hismand, but the more he let it do as it pleased, the more willing it was toe out.

 Sect - Book 5, 130: Method Power 1

    Chapter 130: Method Power (1)

    When Su Chen realized this, he knew what to do.

    After the fathomless power appeared, Su Chen no longer tried to control it. Instead, he allowed it to grow as it pleased, and he kept his own emotional state calm and steady.

    Indeed, the fathomless power didn¡¯t disappear this time.

    Even so, Su Chen wasn¡¯t able to figure much out about itsposition despite the fact that it was now glowing.

    The fathomless power was not physical in nature and couldn¡¯t be analyzed in terms ofposition or dissected into microscopicponents. As such, it was hard for Su Chen to figure out its governing principles and how to use it.

    Even so, Su Chen discovered that, while he was unable to see through the principles contained in the fragment, he was at least able to observe the changes that took ce.

    Yes, changes!

    At the very least, it was changing.

    And the foundation for its change depended on Su Chen¡¯s mood.

    Yes, his mood!

    Su Chen finally discovered that it was his mood that was influencing the mysterious power.

    This was because Su Chen¡¯s body already contained this fathomless power.

    In simple terms, the fathomless power in Su Chen¡¯s body was affected by his mood, and the fragment in his hand was resonating with the fathomless power in his body.

    This was why Su Chen¡¯s mood was also able to influence the fragment.

    ¡°It¡¯s not made of Origin Energy, and no Origin Energy system allows me to control it. It can only be controlled by a person¡¯s heart. So...... Maybe I can think of it this way? My thoughts are the key to controlling this kind of power?¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    Obviously, however, this was still insufficient.

    If that was the case, Soul Arcana Masters should have had the most ways of controlling this fathomless power.

    But in reality, very few Soul Arcana Masters were able to control this fathomless power. It was those who followed the path of Origin Energy all the way to its ultimate end. Many of them had managed to obtain this kind of power for themselves.

    This included Kelesda.

    He was definitely not a Soul Arcana Master.

    So what exined this, then?

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but wonder.

    His mood had be one of suspicion, and the mysterious power in his body responded in kind. Even the glow of the word fragment in his hand took on a different quality.

    Su Chen¡¯s heart trembled. ¡°Could it be that just because you can control it doesn¡¯t mean that you can use it? And this power is not obtained by soul power?¡±

    This was really too interesting.

    The unfathomable power was incrediblyplex, andprehending it was no easy feat. He had just gotten lucky, but he didn¡¯t truly understand it yet. He was still a long ways off from truly mastering this power.

    However......

    Wait a second. Wasn¡¯t there the perfect instructor present?

    Su Chen suddenly thought of Kelesda.

    Wasn¡¯t this guy still just sitting out there?

    Why didn¡¯t he ask Kelesda for some advice?

    As a legendary Arcana Master, he definitely had a deep understanding and mastery of this unfathomable power.

    But there was probably no way Kelesda would answer his questions if he were to just ask.

    He needed toe up with a good excuse.

    Just as he was trying toe up with a n, he heard Kelesda say, ¡°Young Harpy, I have one question I haven¡¯t been able to figure out, and I want to ask you about it.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Su Chen was taken aback. ¡°Fire away.¡±

    ¡°How did youe to control method power?¡±

    Method power? What was that?

    Su Chen was just about to ask what method power was when he suddenly realized that Kelesda was probably referring to the unfathomable power.

    Method power?

    Was that what Kelesda called it? Was Kelesda wondering how he hade to control method power?

    Right, Kelesda didn¡¯t know that he had the elemental totems, so Kelesda probably thought that he had cultivated it. Was that why Kelesda was so curious as to how he had managed toe to possess this kind of power? Though Kelesda had managed to suppress his curiosity for some time, he was eventually unable to resist asking.

    Unable to resist?

    That was perfect!

    Su Chen chuckled darkly.

    Since the other party knew that he had this method power, and he wanted to know how to use this method power, the situation became much simpler.

    Time to make something up.

    When he thought to this point, Su Chen said, ¡°By cultivating. What else can you do?¡±

    This reply was very vague. He never specified how to cultivate it, allowing Kelesda toe up with his own interpretation.

    This should have allowed him to avoid making any mistakes in his response, but unexpectedly Kelesda appeared to be taken aback. ¡°Cultivated? Isn¡¯t method power something that you can only possess viaprehension? How are you to cultivate it?¡±

    It could only beprehended? Not cultivated?

    Su Chen was taken aback.

    Was that how it was?

    Yes, it was only influenced by a person¡¯s soul...... If he didn¡¯tprehend it, what else could he do?

    Su Chen calmed himself down and replied, ¡°Comprehension is a form of cultivation. You are cultivating your soul instead. Do you not understand this principle?¡±

    His words appeared incredibly deep and profound. Even Kelesda couldn¡¯t help but blink in a daze momentarily.

    Even so, it seemed that this exnation was quite effective.

    Kelesda felt that Su Chen made a good point and nodded repeatedly. ¡°That makes sense. It appears I was too formal in my approach.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Su Chen was also quite generous. Actually, he really wanted to ask how Kelesda hadprehended this power, but he didn¡¯t dare ask for fear of exposing himself. As such, he settled on waiting for his opponent to ask.

    Even though answering Kelesda¡¯s questions would put him on the back foot, there was one benefit, which was that he could reply vaguely to certain questions and not respond to other ones.

    After all, surely no one was willing to share all their cultivation secrets so easily.

    It would totally be justified for Su Chen not to say anything. In fact, it would have been strange if Su Chen did say anything.

    Actually, having the opponent ask the questions was a way to ensure that he made less mistakes. After all, Su Chen didn¡¯t even know where to start asking from.

    Indeed, when Kelesda saw that Su Chen was willing to answer his questions, he asked with more interest, ¡°But you are obviously not at the legendary tier yet. How can you control method power?¡±

    Hm?

    Did a person need to reach the legendary realm before they couldprehend method power?

    What kind of notion was that?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t understand. Even as he tried to analyze that new piece of information, he said, ¡°My circumstances are different from most people, which allowed me toprehend method power earlier than most.¡±

    This was the truth. Su Chen truly did have some special circumstances. But as for where theprehension hade from, Su Chen intentionally kept it ambiguous.

    However, this waspletely believable to Kelesda. Without special circumstances, how would Su Chen haveprehended this method power?

    It was definitely special circumstances. The fact that Su Chen had said as much meant that he was probably not lying.

    Kelesda said with excitement, ¡°Can you tell me what those special circumstances were?¡±

    Su Chen was silent.

    Kelesda knew that this question of his was a bit too much. How could Su Chen possibly divulge such an important secret?

    He sighed, ¡°I know this is definitely an extremely secretive matter for you, so it¡¯s only normal that you won¡¯t say anything. However......¡±

    He was about to say that Su Chen was currently under siege, but if Su Chen didn¡¯t even care about his life, then threatening him waspletely useless, so he could only fall silent again.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of telling you the truth, but threatening me won¡¯t yield you anything. If I dared to steal from Fate¡¯s Hands, then I am definitely prepared to die. If you want to get something out of me, you¡¯ll need to prove your sincerity first.¡±

    Su Chen allowed their conversation toe to a stop. The rest was up to Kelesda.

    Kelesda was also a smart person and knew what Su Chen was getting at.

    Sincerity!

    Yes, he needed to show some sincerity first before his opponent would ept his offering.

    He asked, ¡°What do you want?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°It would be illogical for me to ask you to spare me, and even if you agreed, I wouldn¡¯t believe you. How about this? Since you are aware of how I haveprehended my method power, then why not tell me about yours?¡±

    Su Chen did his best to talk as little about his method power as possible to avoid making mistakes. After all, he had already almost dropped the ball with his cultivationment, so he was very clear that talking less was the best course of action.

    Kelesda, on the other hand, actually sighed with relief when he heard this. ¡°That¡¯s not a problem. I actually started toprehend method power about twenty years ago. That night had been a stormy one, and I had been researching how to use lightning Origin Energy to its greatest effect. Unexpectedly, I was suddenly inspired by method power andprehended the method ofbining sounds to make thunder and bending light to form streaks.¡±

    Oh? Was it that easy?

    Could you be anyzier in your exnation? What do you mean, you inadvertently perceived this method power? Did the method power suddenly make itself perceivable to you?

    In other words, did the method power autonomously choose to...... connect with you?

    Su Chen suddenly realized that, even though Kelesda¡¯s exnation was very simple, its implications were not.

    Inspiration,prehension...... Inspiration,prehension......

    Su Chen fell into thought.

    Upon seeing that he wasn¡¯t talking, Kelesda asked with some curiosity, ¡°Why did you stop talking?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I¡¯m thinking.¡±

    Another truth.

    Kelesda praised, ¡°Little friend, you truly have incredibleprehension. Even a mere experience of mine was enough to bring you enlightenment.¡±

    Enlightenment my ass.

    And when did I be your little friend?

    Su Chen knew that Kelesda was definitely trying to gain more of Su Chen¡¯s trust in the hopes that Su Chen would open up more, giving Kelesda more opportunities to find enlightenment. However, Su Chen was still caught off guard by Kelesda referring to him as a ¡°little friend¡±. If were such good friends, why not let me go?

    No, if he were to ask this, Kelesda would definitely reply, ¡°I will let you go. You can juste out.¡±

    Of course, Su Chen didn¡¯t want to do that.

    Dammit!

    Kelesda didn¡¯t know that Su Chen¡¯s mind was racing at the moment, and he continued to talk. ¡°Ever since that day, I have never been inspired again. I was able to reach a point where I can give sound physical substance by relying on that inspiration, but I have not advanced since then.¡±

    So that was how it was.

    Su Chen nced at the word fragment in his hands.

    So this solidified sound had been produced from this method power, which had actuallye from Kelesda¡¯s study of thunder and lightning?

    Su Chenprehended lightning as well. He was the Ninth Ring, and he had the support of the Thunder Spirit Totem, so why couldn¡¯t he turn sound into something physical? Didn¡¯t he already possess the right method power?

    Was it because it wasn¡¯t his own personal inspiration that he was unable to use it?

    But he could at least use them to absorb other totems.

    Su Chen mocked himself.

    He could confirm now that the Wind and Thunder Spirit Totems had been absorbed due to the increase in lifeforce in his body. In other words, the prerequisite to absorbing the totems was having enough elemental essence and the right method power.

    But wait a moment.

    He had no method power to speak of when he absorbed the Vitality Totem?

    How was that possible?

    Had he already obtained the inspiration of method power without even realizing it?

    Damn you, vitality method power! You didn¡¯t even give me a heads up when you inspired me!

    Wait a moment. Vitality methods?

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 131: Method Power 2

    Chapter 131: Method Power (2)

    Su Chen¡¯s thoughts seemed to travel back in time and returned to the earlier battlefield.

    Su Chen had been fighting with the Scarlet Heart when the Vitality Totem had merged with his body.

    However, Su Chen had a sense that the Vitality Totem had begun to transform much earlier.

    That was only the final oue, and didn¡¯t include its maturation and growth stages.

    The real change had taken ce during his battle with the Ravagers.

    He had watched the Vitality Totem unleash a powerful energy through Anubi¡¯s hands. The glow was impossible to describe with mere words. At first, he had assumed that the light hade from vitality Origin Energy.

    But now, he realized that he was wrong.

    That light originated from method power.

    The Vitality Totem¡¯s method power allowed it to protect any lifeform that utilized it.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know where this method power hade from, but he did know that the lives that had been sacrificed during that battle were countless in number.

    It was probably then that the Vitality Totem had received its required sacrifices in full.

    However, it didn¡¯t immediately transform then.

    It definitely wasn¡¯t for ack of sacrifices. However, there was definitely another important step that had been missing.

    And it was because this step was missing that the Vitality Totem had remained dormant for so many years.

    That was, until Su Chen had appeared.

    What was so different about himpared to other people? Why were other people unable to unlock the power that he had done so unintentionally?

    Su Chen fell into deep thought once again.

    There was definitely something unique about him when that had happened.

    His microscopic eyes?

    Those eyes had nothing to do with vitality, so it couldn¡¯t have been those.

    His extraordinary consciousness power was also not a possibility.

    Consciousness crystal? Impossible as well.

    Was it his powerful physique? No, that wasn¡¯t it either.

    Wait a minute!

    Su Chen suddenly thought of something.

    His physical condition had reached apletely different level after being baptized at the Origin Energy Temple. This made him unequivocally uniquepared to everyone else.

    But was that enough?

    Not nearly so.

    But when he recalled his battle with the Scarlet Heart, he remembered that the power of the Vitality Totem had further boosted his physical condition. The Scarlet Heart had eximed that Su Chen had reached the Greater Perfection Realm.

    He was referring to the Greater Perfection Realm that the Ravager Totemic Warriors could achieve.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t paid much attention to thatment at the time.

    Because he wasn¡¯t a Totemic Warrior, he had no idea what reaching the Greater Perfection Realm implied. To him, that had simply been a miscalction that the Scarlet Heart had made due to the influence of the Vitality Totem.

    That was the key question!

    Did the Vitality Totem push him to the Greater Perfection Realm?

    Su Chen suddenly seemed to understand.

    He had been misled! That wasn¡¯t the case at all!

    The reality was that he had probably reached the level of a Greater Perfection Realm Totemic Warrior even before absorbing the power of the Vitality Totem.

    It was just that Su Chen didn¡¯t even realize that this had taken ce. The main reason for this was because he had never had any totemic inscriptions engraved onto his body. Naturally, he didn¡¯t consider himself to be a Totemic Warrior either.

    However, he had forgotten about the Vitality Totem.

    It was the Vitality Totem that had conferred totemic power onto him.

    And that had resulted in yet another misconception ¡ª that he had only obtained the Vitality Totem¡¯s power after it had shattered. However, that was not the truth either.

    The truth was probably something along these lines:

    Before the Vitality Totem shattered, it had been able to increase the power of a Totemic Warrior. That was evident based on the battle in Ravager territory. It had given everyone tremendous power before it was shattered.

    As such, Su Chen had actually been strengthened by the Vitality Totem twice.

    The first time was when the Vitality Totem had further strengthened his already powerful body; it had branded the Vitality Totem in his body and raised him to the level of a top-tier Totemic Warrior at the same time.

    However, the process was far too short. Su Chen didn¡¯t even have time to fully appreciate the changes that had taken ce in his body before he waspletely stunned by the second round of changes bestowed on him by the totems.

    The totem had then shattered because Su Chen had satisfied its second requirement ¡ª being inspired with regards to vitality method power.

    The Vitality Totem¡¯s method power had then entered his body. At the same time, the totem shattered after losing its method power.

    Because these events had all happened in rapid session, Su Chen had erroneously believed that they were one and the same.

    But they were not!

    He had first be a top-tier Totemic Warrior beforepletely absorbing the Vitality Totem.

    Su Chen could confirm that this was the case because Kelesda had said that a person needed to reach the peak before they could be inspired.

    He didn¡¯t know why this was the case, but it was undoubtedly true. As such, he had definitely reached the Greater Perfection Realm first before being inspired and finallypletely absorbing the Vitality Totem.

    Only this could exin how he had finally absorbed the Vitality Totem.

    In the first ce, there were far too few individuals that had reached the Greater Perfection Realm. Even if they did reach such a high realm, they might not be able to directly touch the Vitality Totem. And even if they could directly touch the Vitality Totem, they might only absorb the power contained in the Vitality Totem without being enlightened about the method power. Even now, Su Chen had no idea what the conditions were for being inspired were, but Kelesda¡¯sments had made it clear that, while reaching the peak was an absolute necessity to be inspired, you wouldn¡¯t necessarily be inspired just because you were at the peak.

    Su Chen had been inspired as soon as he had reached the peak, so he had beenpletely unaware that he had reached the peak in the first ce.

    Because vitality was different from anything other energy and could only grow under immense pressure, Su Chen very rarely pushed his lifeforce to the limits because of the way he typically prepared for most situations.

    Simply put, he had obtained an incredibly powerful body, but he never put himself in situations where that power would be put to the test. With those conditions, how could he possibly have known about his powerful vitality, then?

    This was why, even after so many years, Su Chen had not been able to uncover the secrets of the totems despite the fact that he had already developed a way to reach the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline.

    This was because the totems could not be researched in the conventional sense. It involved spontaneous inspiration and was totally unreasonable in that sense.

    Su Chen had received his answer, but he wasn¡¯t entirely sure on how to proceed.

    But that was totally fine. After all, Kelesda was here to help him, right?

    Su Chen basically began to probe Kelesda for more information about this method power.

    As the questioning progressed, Su Chen discovered that even Kelesda didn¡¯t really understand much about it. It was as if this power could only beprehended, but not understood or studied. It was incredibly difficult to even describe it in concrete terms.

    For this reason, it was quite understandable that Kelesda wasn¡¯t able to provide a clearer answer.

    Su Chen was actually quite happy to hear that.

    Since it was impossible to provide a clear answer, then Su Chen didn¡¯t need to fear the possibility of him saying something wrong. As long as he wasn¡¯tpletely off the mark, there was nothing to fear.

    And in the first ce, he also possessed method power, so after making some guesses about how he had toe to possess this power, hisprehension had deepened slightly. Based on that and the information that he had swindled out of Kelesda, he found that he was actually able to converse fluently with Kelesda about this matter.

    And as their conversation continued, Su Chen¡¯s understanding of method power also grew deeper.

    Now, he finally understood that, within his body, there were many different types of method powers.

    His vitality method power, along with the wind and thunder method power he hade into possession recently, all belonged to this system. However, because they weren¡¯t his own personalprehensions, they were merely residing in his body at the moment. It would take time for him to slowlyprehend them for himself.

    However, he had one other kind of method power that did belong to him.

    Spatial method power.

    Yes. The inspiration he had received at Origin Light Castle was actually method power.

    More specifically, it was an outward manifestation of method power, and not the foundational concept of method power itself.

    The reason for this was because Su Chen¡¯s personal mastery of spatial power hadn¡¯t yet reached the peak.

    Despite that, he had brought Whitetower Teleportation to its peak. The individual who had initially created this Arcana Technique had quite a deep mastery of spatial techniques. Because of this, Su Chen was able to slightly peer into the secrets of spatial power. In that sense, this qualified as a ¡°special circumstance,¡± but it also meant that he hadn¡¯t fully mastered spatial method power. He had merely perceived a trace of the profundities contained therein, which raised his proficiency in all spatial techniques, especially Whitetower Teleportation.

    Because Whitetower Teleportation had been the foundation for hisprehension of spatial method power, it was also the technique that was affected the most.

    If Su Chen wanted to truly control spatial method power, he would first need to elevate his mastery of spatial techniques and reach the real peak.

    That didn¡¯t seem impossible.

    He had the Lifesource Candles and Jade Clearmist¡¯s stash of books, as well as the entire library of Fate¡¯s Hands and the Spiritual Light Institute. He also had the legendary Arcana Master Kelesda to bounce ideas off of......

    So did he now have four different directions to pursue in the future?

    There was nothing he could do. It would be an incredible waste for Su Chen to just let these method powers lie dormant in his body. As such, he would need to reach the respective peak for each of these skills.

    But that seemed like it wouldn¡¯t be enough either.

    Because he still needed toplete the bloodline-less cultivation system, and the next step was to develop a way to reach the Spirit Burning Realm without a bloodline. Well, that step was almostplete, so the next major project was actually developing a way to reach the Thought Manifestation Realm without a bloodline.

    And what about his consciousness power?

    His consciousness was already incredibly powerful, and his mastery of soul techniques was at the Seventh-Ring level as well. If he didn¡¯t develop that further, wouldn¡¯t it be an incredible waste?

    He had also managed to make significant progress in studying lifeform alteration. He couldn¡¯t just shelve that and put it aside, could he?

    In other words...... Su Chen suddenly found himself quite busy.

    He was at a loss for words.

    If that was the case, then what was he doing just waiting around?

    He¡¯d better get to work!

    In theing days, Su Chen seemed to have returned to his former manner of life. Every day, he delved into his research, exploring all of the new possibilities avable to him.

    He was originally a free-spirited individual. Even though he was in quite a dire situation, he was not discouraged. Since he was boxed in from all directions, he had decided that it made more sense to return to his old habits. And with Kelesda, a legendary Arcana Master, keeping himpany, his research ended up being much more straightforward.

    Kelesda discovered that his captive seemed to have no intention of leaving and had set up camp within this restricted area. Every day, Su Chen would discuss his research findings with him.

    Shockingly, this captive of his appeared to have an incredible mind. Talking with him really helped Kelesda¡¯sprehensions quite a bit.

    As time went on, Kelesda found that some areas that he had struggled to previously understand had suddenly be clear under Su Chen¡¯s guidance. Problems that had stifled him, that had been an impassable roadblock, had also be much simpler.

 Sect - Book 5, 132: Exploration

    Chapter 132: Exploration

    In the blink of an eye, a year had passed.

    In that year, Su Chen remained in the Thousand Poisons Mountain¡¯s restricted area, not taking a single step out from it.

    His Origin Ring was filled with rations. After all, he had been prepared for something like this to happen during his expedition to Harpy territory. He just hadn¡¯t expected for it to turn out like this.

    In addition, Su Chen found it very easy to ignore the passage of time.

    In this past year, Su Chen¡¯s understanding of method power had greatly increased, particrly his mastery of spatial techniques, which had already undergone a qualitative change. His maximum teleportation distance and perception range had both increased substantially.

    However, Su Chen couldn¡¯t fully confirm these perceptions yet - if he were to identally jump out of the restricted area and then had no way of nullifying Kelesda¡¯s seals, he would be in big trouble.

    For this reason, Su Chen didn¡¯t really know how to deal with Kelesda¡¯s restrictions.

    But regardless, Su Chen wasn¡¯t nning on trying to break out by force as long as he wasn¡¯t in a desperate situation.

    He was also a bit unwilling to do so.

    Having a legendary Arcana Master keep himpany was too great.

    In addition, the two of themplemented each other quite well.

    Su Chen had the consciousness crystal, which gave him incredible analysis abilities. Kelesda, on the other hand, had lots of experience as a legendary Arcana Master. As such, he was able to put many of Su Chen¡¯s ideas into actual practice.

    The two of them actually made quite a good pair.

    Over a period of time, Kelesda discovered that his bottleneck was loosening rapidly, as if he was about to make another breakthrough. No one knew what would happen if a legendary Arcana Master were to make another breakthrough. They would probably remain a legendary Arcana Master, and their exact tier wouldn¡¯t change much, but their strength would still probably increase greatly.

    Once you were as strong as Kelesda, any further breakthroughs would bring you incredible strength. As such, Kelesda had lots of hope for Su Chen.

    ¡°I tried one of your suggestions yesterday, nameless friend. Your deduction about Electromaic Storm is correct, but there are still a few problems with its practical use......¡± Kelesda ¡®reported¡¯ the oues of his experiment to Su Chen.

    Su Chen sat in a cave, writing things down carefully. The cave was filled with living necessities. Most of them were given to him by Kelesda, as long as they couldn¡¯t be used to help Su Chen escape.

    Su Chen made another deduction after Kelesda reported the results to him. His consciousness crystal allowed him to make calctions incredibly rapidly, so Su Chen was always able toe up with further directions for Kelesda to test.

    Throughout this process, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t tell Kelesda all of his considerations. Some of them he left for himself to study in future experiments. At the same time, Kelesda wouldn¡¯t tell su Chen all of the oues of his experiments. Each of them reserved some secrets for themselves, but did so in a way that wouldn¡¯t impact the other party¡¯s functioning.

    In that sense, Su Chen was keeping many more secrets from Kelesda than vice versa.

    It wasn¡¯t that Kelesda¡¯s character was better; Kelesda just subconsciously believed that Su Chen would never be able to escape, so there wasn¡¯t much point in keeping too many secrets. His keeping secrets was mostly to justify to himself that he was still wary - a habit of his, in some sense - and not because he felt like he needed to. There were sometimes things that Kelesda would withhold from Su Chen at first before giving in and handing them over to Su Chenter anyways.

    When Su Chen heard the report from Kelesda, he paused for a moment as he wrote down what had been said before saying, ¡°Fine, I got it. It¡¯s pretty simr to what I had imagined. I will change how to use itter.

    Kelesda had no questions about this. A year¡¯s worth of time was more than enough for him to better understand this nameless opponent of his.

    However, he didn¡¯t leave immediately. Instead, he said, ¡°Nameless friend, a year has already gone by. How many more rations do you have? Do you need help making some back?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have much left, but I don¡¯t really care for anything you might give me. I wouldn¡¯t dare put that stuff in my mouth,¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    Kelesda sighed. ¡°Friend, why do you insist on being this way? You have already more than demonstrated your value to me in this past year. I can promise you that I will not kill you. Actually, I will make you one of my officials......¡±

    ¡°But I will never be allowed to leave again, right?¡± Su Chen countered.

    Kelesda fell silent.

    Yes, Kelesda¡¯s desire to kill Su Chen had greatly decreased after Su Chen had demonstrated his value, but to just let Su Chen go...... Well, Kelesda would rather kill him.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, he could only say, ¡°You won¡¯t be able to escape.¡±

    He had already said this a number of times throughout the past year, and every time, Su Chen would respond with, ¡°I can escape.¡±

    Kelesda chuckled and didn¡¯t say anything more.

    He left.

    Even so, he left behind some backup in the area. As soon as Su Chen stepped out of the restricted area, he would know about it immediately. Su Chen wouldn¡¯t have any opportunity to find another restricted area to hide in.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t in a hurry.

    He continued his research and conversed with other people.

    Yes, conversed with others.

    Kelesda had made a big mistake from the very beginning. He had only restricted Su Chen¡¯s movements, but not his ability tomunicate remotely with other people.

    Patelocke!

    Patelocke was now in a well-preserved ancient transmission puppet and couldmunicate across almost unlimited distances.

    Su Chen had used Patelocke to send word about Jade Clearmist¡¯s secret realm.

    As such, the Boundless Sect had found out nearly a year ago that Su Chen was in captivity.

    They hadn¡¯t charged over recklessly partly because the Thousand Poisons Mountain was an unfriendly stretch of territory and partly because Su Chen had instructed them not toe for him - all he needed them to do was cooperate with his instructions from the outside.

    ¡°How¡¯s it going today?¡± Patelocke asked.

    ¡°Kelesda confirmed my electromaic theory. I can basically confirm now that this method power is most likely chaotic in nature. It¡¯s much more profound than any kind of power I have ever encountered before, and it is incredibly powerful and violent, but that doesn¡¯t mean that I can¡¯t begin to understand it,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible,¡± Patelocke refuted. ¡°Method power can only beprehended from inspiration, not understood.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just because we don¡¯t have enough of a foundation to understand it yet,¡± Su Chen countered in response. ¡°The method power system is incredibly powerful, and its effects are great, which is why it is so hard to control. But if you seed, you will be immensely powerful.¡±

    After a year¡¯s worth of research, Su Chen¡¯s understanding of method power had finally reached a certain level. Origin Energy was like money; once you had a bit of money, you would be able to use it to do business and affect others¡¯ money, resulting in a chain reaction. This chain reaction resulted in the desired Arcana Technique or Origin Skill.

    However, method power was different. It was much more profound and vast.

    Method power was more like aplicated mechanical instrument. Mastering just aponent of it was totally useless. Instead, you needed to have control of a few key locations, such as the power switch, the hinges, and other areas before being able to control the entire instrument.

    This analogy was still imperfect, however. Su Chen was able to determine one truth from Kelesda, which was that method power and Origin Energy were still directly linked.

    This linkage originated from the fact that a person¡¯s Origin Energy mastery would need to reach a certain level before they could even begin to receive inspiration from method power.

    This was whyprehending method power was very closely rted to a person¡¯s cultivation base.

    That person would need to have mastered something to its limit, no matter what that something was.

    The vitality limit, elemental limits, or even cultivation limits all applied.

    Kelesda had reached the peak of his understanding of thunder, which was how he received inspiration concerning thunder method power and became able to control sound. The biggest difference between method power and Origin Energy was that the former was rted to a person¡¯s soul, and would purely be activated by a person¡¯s soul.

    In simple terms, things like Origin Skills and Arcana Techniques all had a fixed form. If a person wanted to unleash a lightning storm, they would need to first select the corresponding Origin Energy Pattern. It was impossible to use a Whitetower Teleportation pattern to unleash a lightning storm. A person¡¯s talent only affected how quickly they were able to form these patterns, but the patterns themselves wouldn¡¯t change.

    However, method power was different. After all, it obeyed the soul, so once a person controlled method power, they would be able to use that power with but a thought. Origin Energy Patterns were totally meaningless in the face of these principles.

    However, that didn¡¯t necessarily mean that you could do as you pleased. Methods had their own corresponding characteristics. For instance, Kelesda¡¯s thunder method power only allowed him to manipte sound as he pleased, but not anything else.

    And doing this requiredplete mastery of a certain kind of Origin Energy.

    As such, to say that Origin Energy was the foundation of method power was not false.

    The problem was that there was a huge gap between mastering a kind of Origin Energy and receiving inspiration. This gap was not one that could be closed with cultivation. It requiredprehension, which came from inspiration, followed by learning how to control the method power.

    This process relied almost entirely on the blessing of the Heavens.

    In simple terms, it depended on character.

    This was the biggest difference between Kelesda and Su Chen. Su Chen believed that this was not necessarily true. There was definitely a path that connected mastering a kind of Origin Energy and receiving inspiration.

    The two of them had debated over this matter for some time.

    Kelesda, who had been inspired once already, had no way of understanding why this nameless friend of his, who also possessed method power, would insist on the calcbility of method power.

    Kelesda believed that method power was bestowed by the Heavens, an acknowledgment of an individual¡¯s strength and a granting of a certain measure of authority.

    This was also what most people who received inspiration believed as well.

    Method power, as its name implied, was rted to the fundamental principles that governed the world.

    Controlling this kind of power was essentially the same as mastering the principles of operation for that element. This was the highest possible aplishment.

    How could such a process be calcted, analyzed, or researched?

    No, it had to be bestowed by the Heavens.

    Kelesda wanted Su Chen to analyze not how to search for inspiration but how to best ¡°cate¡± the Heavens and obtain more inspiration that way.

    However, Su Chen obviously disagreed.

    He firmly believed that method power could be obtained in a systematic way.

    The only reason people hadn¡¯t been able to do this before was because their research wasn¡¯t deep enough.

    In that sense, even Patelocke felt that Su Chen had gone a bit mad.

    He sighed. ¡°Method power is the power of nature itself. If you want to calcte it, you essentially need to be able topute the fundamental rules of this world.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°You¡¯re right that it won¡¯t be easy, but just because it won¡¯t be easy doesn¡¯t mean that it¡¯s impossible. Right?¡±

    Patelocke was immediately rendered speechless.

    Yes, not easy did in fact mean something different than impossible.

    Su Chen said, ¡°The difference between Origin Energy and method power is the difference between a system that is well understood and a system that is not. Exploring the unknown requires you to stand at the peak of what is already known. This is a reminder from the very world that we live in. When you reach a certain level of mastery, you will be able to begin to try and understand it and predict its behavior. As such, we shouldn¡¯t be scared by the vast, unclear future. What we need to do instead is to continue to advance without stopping......¡±

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 133: Exi

    Chapter 133: Exit

    Su Chen, as usual, was testing out another one of his hypotheses today.

    A gentle voice suddenly called out to him.

    "Prince! Prince!"

    It was Youthful Abundance.

    Su Chen was taken aback. "Why are you here? This ce is dangerous!"

    Youthful Abundance said, "Prince, don¡¯t worry! Their leader isn¡¯t here right now. He left a while ago because he had to take care of some other business."

    "Hm?" Su Chen was taken aback.

    He already knew that Kelesda had left.

    Kelesda didn¡¯t try to keep that kind of information from him.

    He had told Su Chen that he needed to leave for a time and wouldn¡¯t be able to discuss things with him for some time.

    Of course, Su Chen didn¡¯t take his words that seriously.

    Kelesda had never given up on capturing Su Chen. This kind of ploy was almost childlike in its naivet¨¦.

    After all, who knew if Kelesda had really left? What if he hadn¡¯t left and was merely waiting for Su Chen to leave?

    Su Chen would rather err on the side of caution by choosing not to believe Kelesda¡¯s words.

    Unexpectedly, Youthful Abundance had showed up now.

    Why would Youthful Abundance have returned at this point in time?

    How could she know that he was here?

    Had her identity been discovered by Kelesda?

    Was Kelesda using her in an attempt to deceive him?

    Of course, it was also possible that Youthful Abundance had merely discovered the matter and had taken a risk to notify Su Chen after Kelesda had left.

    Or, there was another possibility, which was that Youthful Abundance had been captured or had betrayed him.

    Too much could happen in a year, and there were far too many possibilities.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know which possibility was true, but he knew that he couldn¡¯t leave no matter what ¡ª the probability that Kelesda would be nearby was just far too great.

    As such, Su Chen faintly said, "Is that so? I understand, but I don¡¯t want to leave right now."

    Youthful Abundance grew agitated. ¡°Prince has been here for over a year. No matter how thorough your preparations were, you probably won¡¯t be able tost much longer. This is an opportunity granted to you by the Heavens! If you don¡¯t go now, you might not ever be able to leave again.¡±

    ¡°I am aware of the situation. Right, Youthful Abundance, how did you know I was here?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Youthful Abundance sighed. ¡°So Prince doesn¡¯t believe me? Actually, this matter has already spread throughout the entire Thousand Poisons Mountain.¡±

    "Hm?" Su Chen was taken back. He hadn¡¯t expected that.¡Ál

    So Kelesda hadn¡¯t tried to keep it a secret at all. Instead, he notified everyone on the entire mountain.

    This was because he needed to preserve Fate¡¯s Hands¡¯ prestige.

    Fate¡¯s Hands being robbed was a sensational piece of news. If news were to get out, it would be an incredible blow to Fate¡¯s Hands.

    Even terrorist organizations had reputations. Otherwise, how would they be able to attract like-minded individuals? And how would they be able to expand their circle of influence?

    Kelesda wouldn¡¯t sit by idly and watch the name of Fate¡¯s Hands be smeared like this, so he needed to do his best to prevent news of this from spreading.

    It wasn¡¯t strange for Youthful Abundance to have found out.

    ¡°So how do you know Kelesda left?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°My instructor told me.¡±

    ¡°Inigo?¡± Su Chen muttered. ¡°Is he fine?¡±

    ¡°It seems that their organization¡¯s leader suspected him, but he never attacked him. However, Instructor is really agitated. He did his best to think up a way to entice the leader to leave, then sent me over to notify you.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Is he worried that I¡¯ll sell him out if I fall into Kelesda¡¯s clutches?¡±

    ¡°......Yes!¡±

    ¡°Then he is already toote. Kelesda is not that easy to trick. He¡¯s probably beating Inigo at his own game. Go and tell Inigo to run. Whether he can get away or not depends on his decisiveness. Kelesda is probably nearby and is waiting for me to exit. He won¡¯t pay attention to Inigo for a little bit given that I am around.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Youthful Abundance was dazed.

    She hade to give Su Chen a good opportunity to leave, but she was now being told that it was time for her instructor to run.

    This really was......

    Su Chen, however, fell silent.

    His words earlier were very sincere. He believed that Youthful Abundance hadn¡¯te to harm him, but he also believed that Kelesda wasn¡¯t that easy to deceive.

    If Youthful Abundance had told him that she had found out through some other reason that Kelesda had left, Su Chen might have believed her for a moment. But being tricked away by Inigo...... There was no doubt in his mind that Inigo was being suspected by Kelesda. If he were to fall victim again, he would really be an idiot.

    As such, Su Chen said, ¡°Go on and leave. I now understand some of the thunder method power and can investigate this myself. Kelesda is probably worried that I will find out and won¡¯t eavesdrop on our conversation. Go and tell Inigo to run, now. That is the only generosity I will show him. As for you, a young maiden...... Kelesda cares about his status and probably won¡¯t harm you much.¡±

    Youthful Abundance nodded and gulped, ¡°Got it!¡±

    As she spoke, she knelt down and kowtowed to Su Chen three times as she muttered, ¡°May the Deste Poison God protect you.¡±

    As she spoke, she turned around to leave.

    At that moment, Su Chen suddenly said, ¡°Wait a second.¡±

    Youthful Abundance was taken aback. ¡°Is there something else you need?¡±

    ¡°Did you just mention the Deste Poison God?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Yes. Fate¡¯s Hands is protected by the Poison God, which allows them to survive in this kind of environment. We are all very grateful to this Poison God.¡±

    ¡°But isn¡¯t Thousand Poisons Mountain just a mountain?¡±

    Youthful Abundance gently shook her head. ¡°Not entirely. Apparently, this mountain used to not be poisonous. However, a Deste Beast fell into hibernation some time ago, making this mountain incredibly poisonous. That¡¯s why Fate¡¯s Hands calls it the Poison God.¡±

    Su Chen squinted his eyes. ¡°Deste Beast? You¡¯re telling me that there¡¯s a Deste Beast asleep below me? Or that the mountain is actually a Deste Beast?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s how the legend goes.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Su Chen nodded. ¡°Fine, I understand. You may go now.¡±

    ¡°Farewell, Prince.¡± Youthful Abundance bowed and then left.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Su Chen said, ¡°Patelocke, I think I¡¯ve found a way to leave, even if it¡¯s...... a bit suicidal.¡±

    In the blink of an eye, three more months passed.

    Kelesda and Su Chen continued to converse.

    He didn¡¯t bring up Inigo or Youthful Abundance, as if nothing had happened at all, so Su Chen had no idea what had happened to them. However, he didn¡¯t ask any questions, and both parties were able to preserve a silent understanding.

    Today, however, Su Chen finally took the initiative to speak.

    He immediately uttered a shocking statement.

    ¡°I¡¯m out of rations,¡± he said.

    Kelesda was shocked for a moment before that shock turned to joy. ¡°So you¡¯ve finally run out of your rations? Hahahaha, my young nameless friend, why don¡¯t youe out then?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I will, so I wanted to let you know that I am about toe out. Will you let me leave?¡±

    ¡°I will!¡± Kelesda immediately replied.

    Of course he would agree. Anything that followed could be discussed after Su Chen emerged.

    Su Chen said, ¡°What if Ie out and you don¡¯t let me go?¡±

    Kelesda hurriedly said, ¡°What kind of person am I? I wouldn¡¯t lie to you.¡±

    That answer wasn¡¯t sincere in the slightest, but Kelesda felt that he no longer needed to be sincere. Su Chen was out of resources, and would eventually die if this were to continue, so there was no way Su Chen couldn¡¯t try something. Also, Kelesda really had no intentions of killing Su Chen; he just wanted to capture Su Chen to serve him properly.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Fine. If you lie to me, you will forever be unable to make any further breakthroughs in yourprehension of method power, and a demon will perpetually exist in your heart from today onwards.¡±

    Kelesda was rendered speechless.

    In this world, there wasn¡¯t really such a thing as a heart demon.

    One equaled one, and two equaled two. Allmon things could be calcted, and all power came from the use of Origin Energy.

    However, method power was different. It was obtained via inspiration and guided by a person¡¯s emotions. Perhaps there truly could be something like a heart demon when it came to theprehension of method power.

    However, Kelesda only hesitated for a moment before agreeing. There hadn¡¯t been any such thing as a heart demon across all of the Primordial Blood Continent¡¯s history, and he didn¡¯t believe it could happen to him either. As such, he said, ¡°Fine, I agree. If I go back on my word, I will never be able to make another breakthrough in myprehension of method power, and a heart demon will follow me wherever I go.¡±

    Even though he appeared totally nonchnt as he uttered these words, it appeared as if a small seed had nted itself into his heart.

    However, Su Chen still refused toe out and continued, ¡°I also have a technique that will allow me to overturn the heavens and cause the very ground to copse if you go back on your word. At that point in time, the Spiritual Light Institute and Fate¡¯s Hands¡¯ headquarters may both be destroyed. Do you understand?¡±

    Kelesda chuckled. ¡°If you had a skill like that, you would have used it a long time ago. Why insist on waiting until now?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Obviously, it¡¯s because I only discovered this secret technique recently.¡±

    Discovered recently?

    Keep spouting nonsense.

    Even if you were able to perceive some method strength, it would still be impossible for you to overturn Thousand Poisons Mountain.

    Kelesdapletely ignored Su Chen¡¯s words and chuckled, ¡°Fine, fine, fine. As long as you are willing toe out, we can discuss anything. If I go back on my words, you can do anything within your abilities. Even if you can destroy Fate¡¯s Hands¡¯ headquarters and the Spiritual Light Institute, I won¡¯t hold it against you. Is that good enough?¡±

    ¡°I feel much more at ease, hearing that from you.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s figure really appeared at the edge of the forbidden area as he spoke.

    Even after a year, Su Chen¡¯s appearance was still the same. He wore a pure white robe, and most shockingly, he had taken off his mask, revealing Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s face.

    ¡°Halcyon Wing Streak! So it is you!¡± Kelesda wasn¡¯t surprised in the slightest.

    Kelesda hadn¡¯t been idle during this period of time. He had tried to discover Su Chen¡¯s true identity, and he was actually able to find some clues on Su Chen¡¯s identity; however, these clues pointed him towards the Halcyon Wing n. This trail had been purposefully left behind by Su Chen for this purpose. Now, it appeared that Su Chen¡¯s preparations hadn¡¯t been in vain.

    Su Chen smiled faintly. ¡°So you were able to see through my disguise, huh? Yet you didn¡¯t try to use my n to threaten me.¡±

    Kelesda replied proudly, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t stoop to that level.¡±

    Even though he said that, the Halcyon Wing n was located in the heart of Sky City. If he were to try and stir up trouble there, that would be suicidal even if he was a legendary Arcana Master.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t bother exposing him and took a step forward.

    Even though this step seemed simple, it brought him out of the forbidden area at least once.

    He was one foot in heaven and the other in hell.

    Kelesda, however, did nothing. He continued to smile at Su Chen. ¡°Are you at ease now?¡±

    At ease? There was no way Su Chen would be at ease.

    He continued to walk forwards slowly until he finally stopped at the 99th step.

    Then, he said, ¡°Once I take this final step, I will be at a hundred. Are you sure you want to wait until that point?¡±

    Kelesda replied calmly, ¡°I won¡¯t go back on my word.¡±

    Su Chen took another step.

    With this step, the entire situation suddenly turned on its head!

 Sect - Book 5, 134: Entrance

    Chapter 134: Entrance

    The moment Su Chen took that hundredth step, the entire situation suddenly changed.

    This change happened so suddenly, but it wasn¡¯t earth-shaking. It was just that a strange space suddenly appeared, with Su Chen as the center.

    The air around Su Chen seemed to have been solidified.

    This skill was simr to Sumeru Void, but it was also simr to Flowing Light Forcefield or some other kind of spatial technique. In terms of fundamental essence, however, the technique was totally different.

    Other spatial restrictive skills only congealed the air, making it hard to move.

    In simple terms, this kind of spatial skill was not actually rted to the void. Rather, it relied on controlling microscopic substances. Sumeru Void and Flowing Light Forcefield were no exception. By using Origin Energy to control these microscopic substances within a certain area of ¡°space¡±, a person¡¯s movements could be hindered. For this reason, these kinds of techniques were not actually based on space but on wind.

    Wind was just the movement of air.

    And these techniques merely caused air to stand still and stop flowing.

    When the air particles were tightlypressed, they would create a section of dense airspace.

    These techniques operated by the application of Origin Energy in the proper manner. This was not actually that strange or rare.

    However, Su Chen¡¯s situation was different.

    Because there was no wind around him.

    He couldn¡¯t hear the sound of any wind around him, and he didn¡¯t feel like he was treading water. It just felt like he had suddenly been encased in a block of metal.

    Sumeru Void was like turning gas into water, making a person caught in its area of effect feel like they were submerged in water. This would make it hard for them to move and would slow them down. However, Su Chen felt as if the air around him had suddenly be solid. It became hard for him to even move a single finger, let alone move at all.

    If you were sealed inside a block of metal, how would you move?

    The density of the air around him was incredibly high.

    It was so high that it was almost unscientific.

    Yes, even the Primordial Continent valued science. Otherwise, what would Su Chen possibly have to research?

    But what was happening to Su Chen was truly unscientific. It was hard to understand or describe.

    This wasn¡¯t due to thepression of the air around Su Chen; it was as if those microscopic particles of air had suddenly changed phase. This was a tremendous change.

    It truly was unscientific and profound.

    A profound world involved profound thoughts. Any other Intelligent Race probably would have imed that the situation before their eyes was totally illogical and unscientific.

    EVen so, this was the true profound nature of cultivation!

    This was method power!

    Method power belonging to Kelesda.

    Under the application of this method power, Su Chen found it impossible to move. He waspletely stuck.

    Kelesda chuckled. ¡°You didn¡¯t expect that, did you? Apart from my thunder method power, I also have the ability to imprison an individual!¡±

    ¡°Spatial......? No, that¡¯s not it. This kind of restriction is a result of totally changing the phase of an element. I¡¯m basically stuck in a block of metal,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself. He discovered then that the words he spoke were taking physical form. This was quite simr to what had happened at first with Kelesda, but this time the words were not so stable. They disappeared shortly after appearing, returning to their surroundings.

    ¡°You can still speak?¡± Kelesda was stunned.

    Under most circumstances, this kind of metallic seal was not actually that powerful against most Origin Qi Schrs.

    The problem was that, after this solidified space had appeared, Origin Energy was no longer present. In other words, any Origin Qi Schr wouldn¡¯t be able to use Origin Energy to do anything. They would suddenly have be amoner and would only be able to rely on their physical strength.

    To Arcana Masters, this was fatal.

    Ravagers would be slightly better off. After all, they relied on their physical bodies most of the time.

    This was why Su Chen wasn¡¯t in as terrible a condition as he thought. He had the physique of a peak-tier Totemic Warrior, after all.

    Not only could he speak, but he could also move.

    He slowly lifted his hand and discovered that the space around him began to slowly crack. The metal surrounding him was morphing due to his movements, and the invisible air suddenly appeared incredibly tangible, even beginning to swirl around Su Chen again.

    However, the incredibly thick metal walls would only bulge but not break under Su Chen¡¯s strength. These walls were much more powerful than mountains. Kelesda had expended all of his energy to use a tactic like this - he had truly gone all-out in order to try and catch Su Chen.

    Kelesda was stunned when he saw that Su Chen could still move. ¡°How are you able to do that? You¡¯re too strong. Thankfully, however, you still have no way of escaping from my restrictive technique!¡±

    ¡°What restrictive technique? This is just the method power of metals. Is this the trump card you have been hiding this entire time? But it appears to be incredibly limited, as you can only use it on targets that are close to you. That¡¯s why you weren¡¯t able to use itst time. In addition...... This is the upper limit of the power of your technique, is it not?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°You are indeed very smart,¡± Kelesda chuckled. ¡°But you are too arrogant. Even though you appear very confident, I cannot imagine how you are nning on escaping from this.

    Su Chen said, ¡°I don¡¯t have a way of getting out of here, because before this I didn¡¯t know what your trump card was. Since I didn¡¯t know what your trump card was, I wasn¡¯t able to prepare ordingly. It would have been impossible for me to escape from your control.¡±

    Kelesda was delighted. ¡°As long as you are aware of that.¡±

    Su Chen continued, ¡°But the same also applies for you. You do not know what my trump card is. I have some tricks up my sleeve as well that make sure I can handle anything you throw at me.¡±

    As he spoke, his body actually began to twist and morph, turning into a unique kind of Origin Energy.

    Within this block of metal, Origin Energy actually appeared.

    That Origin Energy hade from within his body, and was the only energy that Kelesda couldn¡¯t have possibly converted. However, the amount of Origin Energy that was present was far greater than Kelesda had anticipated. A powerful wave of heat began to radiate from Su Chen¡¯s body, and the metal around Su Chen¡¯s body began to melt as a result, eventually turning into moltenva that bubbled around Su Chen.

    Su Chen had turned himself into a man of mes. The Origin Energy in his body hadbusted, burning as the simple element of fire.

    Next, a strange, unexpected wind began to blow, churning up the magma and turning it into a massive ming dragon. This was the result ofbining the elements of wind and fire.

    Even so, this was still not enough. Rays of lightning danced across the surface of the ming dragon¡¯s body.

    The three elements of fire, wind, and thunderbined to form this howling, raging dragon.

    This was one of the new Arcana Techniques Su Chen had developed. The ming Phoenix had been boosted to the Windfire Lightning Dragon. Due to thebination of three elements, its power was incredible.

    Even so, this wasn¡¯t what shocked Kelesda the most.

    He wasn¡¯t afraid of a powerful Arcana Technique, even if it was a legendary one.

    After all, he was a legendary Arcana Master himself.

    However, he discovered that the individual that had unleashed such a powerful attack wasn¡¯t Su Chen¡¯s main body.

    Specifically, this wasn¡¯t Halcyon Wing Streak - it was just a clone that Halcyon Wing Streak had formed from his Origin Energy.

    As such, this Windfire Lightning Dragon was merely unleashed from a clone. In other words, this Windfire Lightning Dragon was originally that clone itself.

    That was frightening.

    How could his opponent¡¯s clones be that powerful?

    And why hadn¡¯t he been able to see through them?

    This didn¡¯t make any sense!

    Kelesda couldn¡¯t wrap his head around what had just happened.

    ¡°How did you do that? This should be impossible!¡± he yelled loudly.

    ¡°How did I do it? You¡¯ve already seen me use this skill over a year ago.¡± Another Su Chen spoke, still hidden deep within the restricted area.

    Indeed, the individual who had walked out was merely a clone. This clone had managed to deceive even Kelesda.

    The reason this clone was able to deceive Kelesda was because he didn¡¯t understand the intrinsic essence of the clones.

    These clones had been made from his own blood, so in some sense they were extensions of himself. He hadn¡¯t been able to trick others in the past because he had used too little blood - the consumption of arge quantity of blood essence would have resulted in a drastic decrease in strength, and his cultivation would have stagnated. As such, it was only natural that he would avoid consuming too much of his own blood essence.

    However, Su Chen hadn¡¯t been particrly reserved with his use of blood essence in this past year or so.

    He had stored up far more than Kelesda had anticipated. Actually, the power in that clone was greater than what Su Chen possessed in himself.

    In other words, Su Chen had infused more blood essence into this clone than he even possessed in the first ce. As a price, Su Chen¡¯s cultivation base had actually begun to regress during this period of time.

    However, Su Chen found it quite easy afterwards to construct a replica of himself. Actually, his clone exploded with more power than Su Chen himself probably would have been able to achieve..

    As such, the clone¡¯s shocking power allowed it topletely destroy Kelesda¡¯s restrictive field - method power was very powerful, but it wasn¡¯t invincible and wouldn¡¯t be active at any given moment.

    Even if method powers were like huge treasure stores, the money inside could still only be spent in conventional ways.

    It was only natural that Kelesda¡¯s restrictive field copsed under the onught of Su Chen¡¯s techniques.

    However, this was not the most important point. The most important point was that he had missed an opportunity to catch his opponent and had also given Su Chen an opportunity to counterattack.

    Su Chen said, ¡°I gave you an opportunity, Kelesda, but you refused to take it. Since that¡¯s the case, then I¡¯ll have you take a look at my techniques instead.¡±

    As he spoke, the Windfire Lightning Dragon charged downwards yet again.

    However, it was not attacking Kelesda, but the mountain itself.

    The Thousand Poisons Mountain.

    Boom!

    The molten magma bored through the ground, melting away any rocks in its path before piercing deep into the ground.

    Shockingly, a massive tunnel system suddenly appeared beneath the ground.

    Even with the power of the Windfire Lightning Dragon, it would have taken quite a bit of time for it to create such a big hole. It would probably have expended all of its energy after digging a hundred feet down.

    However, now that it had found a naturally-existing tunnel, the amount of energy being consumed had drastically decreased.

    The dragon followed the path of the tunnel as it descended.

    Kelesda suddenly realized what was happening, and his expression drastically shifted. ¡°NO!¡±

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 135: Awakening

    Chapter 135: Awakening

    Fate was chosen by your own hands.

    Even if that fate was a suicidal one.

    If it weren¡¯t for Kelesda¡¯s going back on his word, Su Chen actually would have preferred not to do this.

    Awakening a hibernating Deste Beast that he was standing on was really a suicidal act!

    Even so, Su Chen had no choice.

    If Kelesda had bided his time, Su Chen could have sent the clone far away, then used Light Shaking Phantom to transport himself over to the clone.

    But since Kelesda had made a move, Su Chen was forced to respond in kind.

    It was time to put it all on the line!

    He would awaken the hibernating Deste Beast. Everything else would depend on the will of the Heavens.

    Kelesda was incredibly powerful, but was he powerful enough to take on a Deste Beast?

    Su Chen¡¯s thought process and actions were crude and simple, so even he considered his own actions suicidal.

    But even if he was going to die, he still needed to do it.

    No one could live forever. There were times where a person would need to put their lives on the line.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t hesitate to put himself in this situation. The first Windfire Lightning Dragon he ever created was used in a suicidal manner.

    An incredibly suicidal manner!

    Boom, boom, boom, boom!

    The Windfire Lightning Dragon flew through the tunnel that Su Chen had dug out for it long in advance.

    Yes, Su Chen had dug this tunnel out three months ago. This had also allowed him to confirm the existence of a hibernating Deste Beast.

    The reason he hadn¡¯t tried to leave through the tunnel was because Kelesda still would have had the ability to keep him in ce, and Su Chen had dyed in hoping that Kelesda would be willing to give him an opportunity to leave.

    However, Kelesda had given up on that opportunity, so Su Chen could only ept and y along.

    The Deste Beast was sleeping nearly ten thousand feet underneath the Thousand Poisons Mountain. Any smallmotion that might take ce on the surface wouldn¡¯t be able to bother it.

    However, Su Chen¡¯s Windfire Lightning Dragon was contained energy that Su Chen had taken a year to build up. It was about as powerful as a Tenth-Ring Arcana Technique. It was impossible for the dragon not to awaken the Deste Beast.

    "Impossible!" When Kelesda realized what was happening, he began to howl in shock and surprise.

    His howls were an attack in and of themselves. The three characters mmed into the Windfire Lightning Dragon. Kelesda wanted to dissipate the Windfire Lightning Dragon before it was able to hit the Deste Beast.

    The Windfire Lightning Dragon was very fast, but Kelesda¡¯s words were even faster. They traveled through the air at the speed of sound, chasing after the Windfire Lightning Dragon.

    However, these three characters were unable to catch up.

    Su Chen had also sprung into motion.

    He said, "Possible!"

    These two characters formed an area where sound was forbidden from going.

    In this area of space, everything was quiet. Air no longer flowed, so sound had no way of being transmitted. As such, the power behind those characters was nullified.

    This was also a method power.

    Spatial method power.

    Su Chen had been researching spatial techniques during the past year.

    Because thisprehension hade from his own understanding, he was very close to being able to control it even though he wasn¡¯t quite able to do so yet. Most importantly, it was this method power that would be the most likely to help him escape.

    Unfortunately, he was not yet at the peak of what was already known, so it was still difficult for him to explore the unknown just yet.

    Even though Su Chen had been constantly performing calctions and expanding his knowledge base, his understanding of spatial power was still far too limited.

    He wasn¡¯t able to use his spatial mastery to escape, but he couldbine it with hisprehension of thunder method power to prevent sound from traveling through a certain area of space.

    Thispletely nullified a technique that Kelesda greatly relied on, and his thunder method power was rendered useless.

    At the very least, useless within a certain radius.

    The three characters reappeared in the air. This time, however, they did note from Kelesda; Su Chen had forcibly dragged them back into existence.

    The characters twisted and writhed in the air, as if they were unwilling. They sent waves of bacsh careening against Su Chen¡¯s mind.

    Impossible! Impossible! Impossible!

    The noise from these three characters echoed violently in his head, causing even Su Chen to feel a sudden wave of dizziness wash over him.

    However, he was able to endure in the end.

    After resisting the waves of sound crashing through his brain, he was able to stop these three characters from being effective.

    The Windfire Lightning Dragon had already reached one-third of the way through the tunnel.

    Kelesda grew extremely agitated.

    ¡°Break!¡± he yelled loudly.

    This time, it was only a single character. However, that single character rumbled with incredible might. At the same time, Su Chen¡¯s sound barrier began to make strange cracking noises. The metal method power had appeared yet again, this timepletely encasing Su Chen¡¯s sound barrier.

    Simultaneously using both thunder and metal method power put quite a burden on Kelesda. However, to prevent the Windfire Lightning Dragon from reaching its target, Kelesda had no choice.

    With the sound barrier broken, the character for "break" resumed its powerful onught.

    This character was a true incantation. It was infused with an immense amount of power. If it wanted you to break, the spatial barrier would break, and so would the Windfire Lightning Dragon!

    A massive scar appeared in the ground as the character wreaked havoc on its surroundings.

    "Close!" Su Chen barked in response.

    His thunder method power was far weaker than Kelesda¡¯s, as he couldn¡¯t control it at all. Even so, he didn¡¯t need to rely on his ownprehension.

    He had the Wind and Thunder Spirit Totems, which contained method power in and of themselves. Even though they didn¡¯t belong to him, he could still use it.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t hesitate to bring out this power in order to deal with Kelesda.

    As he unfurled his wings, the light of thunder and wind appeared before mming into the "break" character.

    The method powers shed, sending a violent sh of sparks in all directions.

    The invisible currents of method power took on a physical appearance. They contained not only knowledge but even energy.

    Anyone watching might even experience a sh of understanding.

    Unfortunately, this glimpse would be hard toe by, so not many people were qualified to see it.

    Regardless, Kelesda¡¯s second attack was also stopped.

    At this point, the Windfire Lightning Dragon was already two-thirds of the way there. However, the deeper it went, the more difficult progress would be.

    Kelesda was infuriated and stunned. At this point, he was already going all out.

    He unleashed a verbal barrage, filling the sky with Origin Energy that surged towards the center.

    Kelesda was utilizing the full power of being a legendary Arcana Master at this point.

    Even though method power was very impressive, it wasn¡¯t necessarily the best option. Actually, Kelesda was like a young child in his use of method power. On the other hand, his mastery of the use of Origin Energy was nigh unparalleled.

    With this technique, he had merged the thunder method power with his Origin Energy, unleashing a forbidden-tier Arcana Technique.

    God-Executing Thunder Spear!

    Its name made it seem apparent that this spear was supposedly powerful enough to execute a god!

    Even though that was obviously an exaggeration, it still illustrated the sheer might of that spear.

    When the God-Executing Spear appeared, the sky actually dimmed as a colossal image of a deity appeared above Thousand Poisons Mountain. The image reached its hand up to the sky, causing the thunder and lightning flying through the sky to gather into a massive spear. Then, he threw it violently at the ground.

    The spear of lightning chased furiously after the Windfire Lightning Dragon.

    When he saw this, Su Chen¡¯s eyes began to glitter. ¡°What an awesome skill!¡±

    There was nothing Su Chen could do to resist a skill like that.

    However, he had no intentions of stopping that skill.

    Not only did he not try and obstruct it; he even amplified its effect to the best of his ability.

    ¡°If you want to destroy my skill, let me help you!¡±

    BOOM!

    As the mighty spear of lightning surged forth, Su Chen¡¯s thunder method power began to infuse it as well. He was actually helping this God-Executing Thunder Spear along to try and increase its might.

    ¡°Not good!¡± Kelesda realized what Su Chen was trying to do when he saw this.

    Unfortunately, there was really nothing he could do this time.

    He was the one who had unleashed this spear, and had supplied it with all of his energy. Now that Su Chen was pushing it along, the spear had already exceeded the limits of what he was capable of producing, so how could he possibly stop it?

    The spear of lightning hurtled towards the ground, quickly catching up to the Windfire Lightning Dragon and skewering it.

    ¡°ROAR!¡± The Windfire Lightning Dragon cried out, in incredible pain.

    This dragon had been formed from Su Chen¡¯s vitality. Not only was itposed of the three wind, fire, and lightning elements, but it also contained his lifeforce. As such, Su Chen felt as if he himself had been struck by that spear. As the dragon howled in pain, Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but grunt in pain as well before spitting out a mouthful of blood.

    That shouldn¡¯t have happened, but it still ended up happening anyways.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t anxious. Actually, he was delighted. ¡°Vitality connection?¡±

    This injury had allowed him to observe a deeper, more profound secret of vitality.

    This was the habit of a knowledge seeker. No matter what situation they were in, they would be extremely delighted as long as they were able to discover something new.

    Of course, whether that discovery would be useful or not in the future remained to be seen.

    The Windfire Lightning Dragon was destroyed, and Su Chen was affected. However, the God-Executing Spear¡¯s momentum wasn¡¯t decreased in the slightest. Instead, it continued to pierce right into the ground.

    Yes, this attack was simply too powerful. Even after destroying the powerful Windfire Lightning Dragon, it still continued to descend.

    That was not what Kelesda wanted.

    ¡°NO!¡± he yelled again.

    This time, however, he was not utilizing the thunder method power. This cry was one of actual despair. On the other hand, Su Chen actually smiled faintly.

    Yes, he had predicted that this would happen a long time ago.

    He had been in the forbidden area for so long that he had been able to make as many predictions as he could. Anything that Kelesda could have tried to pull would have been anticipated by him. The situation that was taking ce now was simply one of the possibilities that he had predicted. This was why Su Chen was able to use it so quickly to his advantage.

    So what if you use an attack I cannot defend against? Since it¡¯s that powerful, I¡¯ll make it even more powerful to awaken that Deste Beast with your assistance.

    Boom!

    The God-Executing Spear finally bore all the way through the ground and mmed into its target, churning up a shocking wave of thunder and lightning. The power from the spear had nowhere else to go, so it shot back out the hole, filling the sky with dazzling bolts of lightning.

    Even so, Kelesda and Su Chen both paid this scene no mind.

    They didn¡¯t care about that in the slightest. All they cared about was the response.

    But...... nothing happened?

    The attack dissipated just like that?

    There was no reaction?

    Kelesda and Su Chen were both stunned.

    How could this have happened?

    The attack had clearly struck the target, so why was there no reaction?

    Kelesda and Su Chen nced at each other, stunned.

    Then, Kelesda began to smile.

    ¡°Haha, haha, hahahaha, hahahahahahaha!¡± Kelesda began to howl withughter.

    So he had failed in the end, had he? Su Chen sighed.

    He had made calction upon calction, but none of them had led to this oue.

    At that moment, however, the Thousand Poisons Mountain suddenly trembled.

    The ground shook violently once.

    Kelesda and Su Chen froze at the same time.

    Kelesda¡¯s expression fell as he said, for the third time, ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°ROAR!!!!!!!!!!¡±

    An earth-shattering, infuriated howl rumbled through the air.

 Sect - Book 5, 136: Regaining Consciousness

    Chapter 136: Regaining Consciousness

    Bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Following this earth-shattering roar, the ground began to audibly crack.

    As if geysers were suddenly bursting forth from the ground, the surface of the Thousand Poisons Mountain began to explode as rocks hurtled through the air. A ck wave began to spurt out from holes in the ground.

    A wave of poison!

    What a shocking, ferocious wave of poison!

    The poison just surged out of the ground and into the sky, rapidly enveloping everything. The blue sky immediately turned ck.

    ¡°Heavens!¡± Kelesda yelled with fright as he trembled.

    Even Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but reveal a trace of shock.

    This was the kind of power that could only be described as earth-shattering!

    Even a forbidden-level skill unleashed by a legendary Arcana Master wouldn¡¯t have been this staggeringly powerful.

    The floating figure from earlier that had unleashed the spear would probably have been melted into a puddle of g when faced with such a powerful wave of poison. It was probably only strong enough to withstand two or three blows before copsing.

    In other words, the mere awakening of this Deste Beast was more thanparable to dozens of forbidden techniques being unleashed all at once.

    This exined why a single Deste Beast required an entire alliance of Intelligent Race members to handle.

    It was simply too powerful.

    And if it took that much effort to quell a mere Deste Beast, then Origin Beasts were out of the question.

    Actually, under current circumstances, Deste Beasts were scarier than Origin Beasts.

    Origin Beasts were too hard to awaken, and they would die very soon after being awakened.

    Deste Beasts, despite being slightly weaker, also had a greater ability to adapt to their environment.

    If they wanted to, a Deste Beast was more than capable of wreaking some havoc once it awakened.

    For this reason, the Intelligent Races had been forced to team up to deal with them, because they would have been wiped out otherwise.

    Su Chen had managed to stimte this Deste Beast and awakened it. No one knew how long it would be awake for, but it was already obvious that Fate¡¯s Hands w`as in trouble.

    As the Deste Beast flipped around underground, the entire mountain began to tremble.

    The Thousand Poisons Mountain was like a nket covering it. Since it was now awake, getting rid of the nket was only natural. As for the tiny fleas on the nket?

    Who would care?

    That ¡°roar¡± was actually just an unhappy grumble from the Deste Beast, as if it had been stung by a mosquito and awakened from its slumber.

    Of course, its immediate reaction upon being woken was to smack that mosquito.

    Even though its reaction was still a bit too slow, the attack still came.

    Boom

    A massive tentacle-shaped appendage shot out of the ground like a thick column before mming down on where Su Chen and Kelesda were standing.

    Su Chen and Kelesda simultaneously dodged out of the way.

    It wasn¡¯t hard to dodge. After all, the Deste Beast¡¯s movements were quite slow.

    That wasn¡¯t too strange.

    After all, it was simply toorge.

    It was sorge that its speed was actually inferior to that of a normal Intelligent Race, just like how humans were slower than mosquitos. Very rarely would a person be able to kill a mosquito in the air. Most of the time, they were killed while still in the process of sucking blood.

    Kelesda and Su Chen didn¡¯t really have a hard time avoiding that attack.

    Even though this single attack generated a violent storm that blew around them, they were still rtively safe.

    However, just because they were safe didn¡¯t mean that the others would be.

    Fate¡¯s Hands headquarters were here, and lots of their members lived here as well.

    Just the foging out of the ground was enough to kill countless of them.

    Even though they had the special medicine, it wasn¡¯tpletely effective. There were a few poisons it could not cure. Formerly, those poisons had been quarantined in the restricted areas, so they would have been fine if they didn¡¯t go into those areas.

    Now, however, as the poisonous fog spread everywhere, no one knew exactly what kinds of poison they were dealing with now.

    In the blink of an eye, countless Fate¡¯s Hands members had turned into skeletons.

    Those individuals were actually quite lucky. There were a few who didn¡¯t die immediately due to the fog and actually became zombified, beginning to attack their formerrades. These zombies being controlled by the poison were poisonous themselves. Even simplying into contact with them could be fatal, and there was no antidote for the poison.

    Fate¡¯s Hands¡¯ headquarters were totally swallowed up by this wave of poison. No one knew how many experts and powerful individuals had died as a result.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± Kelesda¡¯s heart ached so badly that he wanted to cry.

    Everything he had built up over the years had been destroyed in an instant?

    How could he not feel sorrowful?

    He red at Su Chen.

    Su Chen shrugged. ¡°I reminded you.¡±

    Yes, he had reminded Kelesda, but Kelesda hadn¡¯t taken him seriously.

    At this point, it was already toote for him to regret anything.

    There was no way for him to turn back. Kelesda stared angrily at Su Chen. ¡°Since you have destroyed everything I have, then I can only destroy you!¡±

    As he spoke, he reached out to grab at Su Chen.

    In that moment, all he wanted to do was kill Su Chen!

    The Deste Beast had awakened, but the restricted area was destroyed as well. Su Chen had lost his terrain advantage, and Kelesda wouldn¡¯t possibly let this opportunity to go to waste...... All he needed to do was avoid a few of the poisonous springs.

    Su Chen, on the other hand, had no intention of fighting Kelesda. When faced with Kelesda¡¯s attack, Su Chen¡¯s figure flickered and reappeared inside one of the columns of poisonous fog. He actually allowed the poisonous fog to envelope him.

    No poison could escape from his control!

    With thembskin scroll, Su Chen wasn¡¯t afraid of this poison.

    That was his greatest crutch.

    Even without the forbidden area, the Deste Beast was still around, and poisonous fog was pouring out from the ground everywhere. Kelesda could catch him as long as he wasn¡¯t afraid of death.

    When he saw that Su Chen waspletely unafraid of the poison, Kelesda felt his scalp go numb.

    His opponent was simply too much of a pain to deal with.

    However, that didn¡¯t mean that Kelesda was powerless. Just because Su Chen was hiding in the poisonous fog didn¡¯t mean that Kelesda couldn¡¯t force him out.

    A legendary Arcana Technique rapidly began to take form.

    This time, it was in the shape of a hammer made of lightning. It descended on Su Chen as soon as it was formed, the powerful aura of the hammer even forcing the poisonous fog back.

    Su Chen teleported away with Whitetower Teleportation, reappearing amongst another column of poison.

    With the poisonous fog present, Su Chen didn¡¯t need to fight his opponent. All he needed to do was waste time.

    The Deste Beast was still in the process ofing out.

    The ground began to tremble even more violently as chunks of rocks went airborne. The poisonous fog rose into the air and formedrge clouds, covering the entire area and shrouding it in darkness.

    The people living here were in serious trouble. Even with the antidote, they would have a hard time surviving this cmity.

    A disaster like this probably had wiped out a majority of Fate¡¯s Hands. Su Chen had helped Sky Country greatly.

    However, Sky Country wouldn¡¯t thank him for this. In fact, they would probably hate him more.

    Because the Harpies were next in line.

    The earth seemed to begin to open up beneath them.

    Poisonous fog rushed into the air, forcing Kelesda to get out of the way again.

    From his vantage point, he could see some kind of massive creature seemingly crawling out of the ground. Perhaps not long afterwards, the beast¡¯s entire head would appear.

    Even so, he was still unwilling to just let Su Chen go like that.

    ¡°Halcyon Wing Streak, you must die!¡± An enraged howl once again sounded out.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t hesitate to dodge yet again. Not only did he activate Whitetower Teleportation repeatedly, but he even used yet another blood clone. At this point, he had saved up quite a bit of blood, given that he had been repeatedly doing this for a few years.

    Inparison, Kelesda was much less lucky.

    The metallic domain he had tried to use to lock down Su Chen¡¯s movements was impossible to use, as the Deste Beast¡¯s awakening had sent the Origin Energy nearby into a turmoil. Any restrictive domain that Kelesda tried to unleash would be destroyed in an instant by the Deste Beast.

    As such, he was hoping that Su Chen would be able to escape.

    If Su Chen escaped, he would be outside the range of this turbulent Origin Energy, meaning that he would be able to once again restrict Su Chen¡¯s movements and hopefully capture him.

    However, Su Chen was making no effort to run. He just constantly used Whitetower Teleportation to run from one swathe of fog to the next. There was nothing Kelesda could do.

    They were both actually trying to just dy for time.

    Su Chen was dying because, as long as Kelesda was unable to withstand the pressure and retreated, he would have an opportunity to escape.

    Kelesda was dying, waiting for Su Chen to escape and give him an opportunity.

    At this moment, whoever was able tost to the very end would be the victor.

    Neither of them wanted to give up, so they both continued to hold on.

    Su Chen had thembskin scroll and didn¡¯t fear the poison, while Kelesda was incredibly powerful and was able to dodge the poison swirling around him.

    They continued to dy and waste time, and it was a certainty that they wouldn¡¯t be able to stay in this stalemate for much longer.

    Because the Deste Beast was about to make an appearance.

    The cracks in the ground grewrger andrger, and a creature began to emerge from the abyss.

    ¡°Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Ba-dump!¡± A rhythmic beating noise sounded out, resonating in the hearts of both Su Chen and Kelesda. They both felt a rush of adrenaline wash over them.

    That was the heartbeat of a Deste Beast.

    This heartbeat alone ced an incredible amount of pressure on anyone who heard it.

    And this pressure was only increasing.

    As the Deste Beast surfaced, the pressure continued to skyrocket.

    ¡°AH!¡± One of the Fate¡¯s Hands¡¯ subordinates who had managed to avoid the poisonous tide suddenly tilted his head back and cried out before exploding into bits and pieces.

    This pressure from the Deste Beast had killed him.

    Even Su Chen felt like the pressureing from the massive creature before him was impossible to withstand.

    He had a physique equivalent to that of a top-tier Totemic Warrior!

    The might of this beast was obvious.

    Even so, he refused to retreat.

    He didn¡¯t retreat, and Kelesda didn¡¯t retreat. The two of them flew back and forth through the poisonous fog, one chasing after the other. They were ying a game of chicken with their lives on the line.

    Whoever could endure longer would win!

    The tip of the creature¡¯s head broke the ne of the ground.

    This massive head was greenish-blue in color, and even the head alone exuded a formless pressure that caused Su Chen to freeze for just a moment. He was unable to activate Whitetower Teleportation in that moment. Thankfully, Kelesda was being simrly affected and wasn¡¯t able to capitalize on the opportunity.

    It was all they could do to hold on.

    Even so, an instantter, they both found themselves unable to hold on any longer.

    The massive Deste Beast tilted its head back and roared at the sky.

    This single roar immediately caused Su Chen and Kelesda to lose control of their bodies, and they began to plummet towards the ground.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 137: Extraordinarily Suicidal

    Chapter 137: Extraordinarily Suicidal

    When a Deste Beast howled, everything withered!

    Nothing could withstand the might of a Deste Beast.

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t either.

    Or at the very least, not right now.

    But as he plummeted to the ground, he did manage to do one thing.

    He pulled out an Origin Tool.

    Floating Board.

    Floating Board was a flying Origin Tool. A person would be able to fly by standing on it, but to Light Shaking Realm cultivators or most Harpy Arcana Masters, this kind of contraption was useless.

    It was just a low-tier Origin Tool.

    Additionally, Su Chen hadn¡¯t bought this low-tier Origin Tool from anywhere ¡ª he had actually created it from the resources he had on hand. To make this low-tier Origin Tool, he had salvaged two high-tier Origin Tools.

    The power of a Deste Beast could affect any biological creature¡¯s vitality and disrupt the flow of their Origin Energy.

    However, a Deste Beast¡¯s might was ineffective against an inanimate tool.

    This was because tools had no vitality. No matter how powerful the beast was, the tool¡¯s abilities would always be unaffected.

    And this kind of Origin Tool that only really affected itself in particr would be even less influenced by the environment.

    Su Chen and Patelocke had been diligently making thorough preparations during these past three months. In their work, they found nine different records of human-Deste Beast conflicts and thoroughly perused them, hoping to glean some insights. One of the most important quirks that they found in those records was that Origin Tools yed a very important role if a person was unable to resist a Deste Beast¡¯s power on their own.

    In the past, humans had not only relied on sheer numbers, but also onrge numbers of Origin Tools to hunt down the Deste Beasts.

    When a Deste Beast howled and disrupted the surrounding environment, anybody unable to resist their influence would at least be able to use their Origin Tools to continue and attack the Deste Beast. As such, their deaths might not bepletely in vain.

    This was one of the most important discoveries that Su Chen had made while trying to figure out a way to deal with the Deste Beast.

    Of course, Su Chen had no delusions about actually defeating a Deste Beast with an Origin Tool. But at the very least, he would be able to remain airborne.

    With this Floating Board, he was able to rapidly halt his descent before turning around and flying off to the side.

    Kelesda also howled at the same time.

    This roar was not nearly as intense as the Deste Beast¡¯s, but it did cause the air around him to suddenly congeal.

    Thunder Method Power.

    This time, it was being used to stabilize his Origin Energy.

    Method Power was even less affected by turbulent Origin Energy than Origin Energy tools. Even though its effects were weakened, the thunder Method Power was able to cut through the pressure emanating from the Deste Beast. He had managed to find some secure footing even when in a dire situation.

    Even so, that was all he could find.

    The Deste Beast was still emerging from the ground, and as it did so, an even greater pressure began to emanate from its body.

    The Floating Board and thunder Method Power might have helped Su Chen and Kelesda stabilize their situations, but their bodies still had to endure the immense pressureing off of the Deste Beast. When faced against this gargantuan creature, they were just like two small mosquitoes.

    But because they were still existences at the top of the food chain, Su Chen and Kelesda were able to endure.

    At this point, most of the Deste Beast had emerged from the ground. It was apparent now that it was actually a giant toad.

    Its t, triangr head, and its bumpy back, as well as its ugly croak all clearly spelled out, without a doubt, that this creature was a toad.

    An incredibly poisonous toad!

    And this toad¡¯s poisonous nature was its most frightening aspect. Every pore on its back was a poisonous spring, and each poison spring contained different types of poisons that were all mixed together, forming a mixture impossible to treat with a single antidote. This was the source of all the poison in Thousand Poisons Mountain ¡ª the powerful poisoning from the body of a Deste Beast was impossible for even a legendary Arcana Master to withstand on his own.

    However, the poison of this Deste Beast had ended up being neutralized by one man, and that lone fact hadid the foundation of Su Chen¡¯s battle with Kelesda.

    However, now that the Deste Beast had fully appeared in all its strength, its toxicity wasn¡¯t the biggest problem anymore. Its raw strength far outstripped any possibleparison with its poison.

    The overwhelming might of a Deste Beast was not something that Su Chen or Kelesda could contend with.

    The poisonous toad began to croak towards the sky as soon as it appeared.

    Even though it was merely croaking angrily about having been awakened from its pleasant dreams, it wasn¡¯t targeting Kelesda and Su Chen. These two mosquitos weren¡¯t even worth its attention. It might have been irritated, and so it was most likely howling just to vent some of its frustration.

    It was only natural for the toad to do that.

    This howl, however, carried with it the imposing manner of a Deste Beast, and it rumbled in all directions, traveling an incredibly far distance.

    All of Sky Country¡¯s powerful individuals simultaneously felt a strange sensation surface in their heart. They realized that a scary creature had probably awakened.

    Kelesda and Su Chen felt a bit faint when they were sted in the face with the might of this howl. Thankfully, this howl did not contain Method Power, so Su Chen was able to defend himself with Heart Walls and Kelesda his thunder Method Power. Even so, they were quite badly shocked.

    When faced with this kind of situation, Su Chen called out, ¡°Kelesda, are you still trying to fight? It¡¯d be better for us to join forces and just try to make it out alive!¡±

    Kelesda angrily replied, ¡°Even if I die, I will never team up with you!¡±

    As he spoke, he unleashed another streak of lightning at Su Chen.

    Not every person was as spineless as Inigo. Kelesda was a legendary Arcana Master, so it was only natural that he had his own pride to maintain.

    Su Chen had dealt a serious blow to Fate¡¯s Hands, so his hatred of Su Chen was bone-deep. Kelesda was willing to pay any price to kill Su Chen ¡ª at this point, he even believed that there was nothing more for him to lose.

    ¡°Fine, have it your way then.¡± Su Chen knew that there was no point in trying to talk sense into Kelesda.

    All he could do now was fight.

    And as they fought, the Thousand Poisons Toad also fought.

    Clouds of poisonous fog spurted into the air.

    The Thousand Poisons Toad had killed all of the nearby living creatures at this point.

    Because it wasn¡¯t used to the circumstances it found itself in, the Thousand Poisons Toad was obviously in a crabby mood.

    It spat out multiple clouds of poisonous smoke as soon as it appeared, almost as if it wanted topletely envelope itself in poison.

    That was its instinctive response to try and improve its surroundings slightly. Unfortunately, it was not actually strong enough to alter the environment of the entire Primordial Continent. And in fact, its actions actually resulted in a strong bacsh from the continent itself.

    Su Chen and Kelesda watched as, to their shock, a strange vortex appeared in the air. This vortex was like a ck hole, and it constantly revolved and sucked inrge quantities of the poisonous miasma, which then disappeared without a trace. The Thousand Poisons Toad¡¯s attempts to alter its environment were renderedpletely pointless.

    It howled with anger, but to no avail. The vortex continued to churn even after absorbing the poisonous miasma. It looked just like arge green eye, coldly staring at the poisonous toad.

    ¡°This is......¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    ¡°Method Power?¡± Kelesda was also stunned.

    The miraculous urrence taking ce before their eyes was a spectacr demonstration of Method Power.

    And this Method Power was many, many times stronger than the Method Power that Kelesda controlled.

    It was as if the will of the Heavens had restricted the might of the Thousand Poisons Toad, preventing it from growing even stronger.

    Almost as if a was restricting the extent of the Thousand Poisons Toad¡¯s power.

    However, the holes in this were sorge that the basically didn¡¯t exist for Su Chen and Kelesda.

    As such, they had no choice but to continue trying to run when faced with the might of the Thousand Poisons Toad.

    Actually, the appearance of this vortex hadnded them in an even worse spot.

    Because of the Method Power¡¯s restrictions, the Thousand Poisons Toad grew even more agitated. It had no way of altering its environment with its appearance, so it could only howl in rage and thrash about, causing the terrain nearby to copse into a giant cloud of dust. However, it appeared that the Method Power would ignore it as long as it didn¡¯t make too big of amotion.

    As it wantonly expressed its frustrations, sending waves of energy roiling in every direction, Su Chen and Kelesda were instantly thrown into a miserable state.

    Even so, Kelesda was still taking every opportunity he could to attack Su Chen.

    Spears made of lightning shot through the air at Su Chen one after another, each spear incredibly powerful. Whenbined with the deluge of poison surrounding them, it was apparent that the spears would soon be thest straw that breaks the camel¡¯s back.

    Kelesda was a legendary Arcana Master. His might was truly shocking when he attacked at full strength. Most importantly, Kelesda had a legendary Arcana Technique called Sixth Sense that preemptively warned him of any potential threats. Additionally, the longer he used it for, the more effective it would be.

    As the battle went on, Kelesda¡¯s Sixth Sense only grew stronger and stronger. As such, he became more and more free to attack as he pleased. Even though he was also subjected to the same torrent of poison and appeared to be in incredibly dire straits, the poison just didn¡¯t seem to harm him.

    Su Chen was also aware that Kelesda had this skill. He knew that Kelesda was using it as soon as he saw this situation.

    ¡°I heard that you got stronger as you fought, but now I am witnessing it for myself,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    Sixth Sense was truly worthy of its title as a legendary Arcana Technique. Even with a Deste Beast attacking him, Kelesda still found many opportunities to attack Su Chen.

    Of course, that was only because the Thousand Poisons Toad wasn¡¯t treating them as an enemy.

    Two buzzing mosquitoes weren¡¯t even worth its time.

    But if those two mosquitoes dared to try and suck its blood, that was a different matter entirely.

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°So it seems that...... I still have to be a bit more suicidal.¡±

    As he spoke, the Primordial Blood Incarnation appeared behind his back ¡ª at that moment, he didn¡¯t care about concealing his true identity anymore. The four-faced giant brandished a de covered in flickering ck mes.

    This was Su Chen¡¯s strongest state. The Flowing Gold de glowed darkly as Su Chen shed down with all his might.

    But his target was not Kelesda.

    Kelesda was stunned. ¡°Don¡¯t......¡±

    But his words weren¡¯t able to slow Su Chen in the slightest. A momentter, the Flowing Gold de fell heavily onto the Thousand Poisons Toad¡¯s back.

    This strike was the distition of all of Su Chen¡¯s power, and it included his physical strength, Ninth-Ring Arcana Master status, and even some of his thunder and wind Method Power.

    This sword strike was enough to shatter mountains and y Thought-Manifestation Realm cultivators. He was already very close to the limit of what was physically possible for a human.

    Even though this attack wouldn¡¯t deal much damage to a Deste Beast, its strength was more than sufficient to cause it to bleed.

    Pu!

    As the sword cut into flesh, a fountain of purplish-ck blood began to spurt into the air.

    Even though the blood appeared to be gushing out forcefully, it really was as insignificant as a mosquito bite to the Thousand Poisons Toad.

    But being bitten by a mosquito was enough to infuriate it.

    ¡°ROARR!¡± With a fierce howl, the Thousand Poisons toad turned around.

    This time, it was staring right at Su Chen and Kelesda.

 Sect - Book 5, 138: A Way To Escape

    Chapter 138: A Way To Escape

    When the Deste Beast¡¯s eye, which was asrge as one of the Zhu n¡¯s Cloud-Piercing Shuttles, turned to stare at Su Chen, Su Chen felt himself tremble involuntarily.

    But Su Chen¡¯s next action almost made Kelesda want to spit out blood ¡ª he shapeshifted into Kelesda.

    But really, the Deste Beast didn¡¯t really about who was who. It didn¡¯t care to investigate which mosquito in particr had stung it.

    However, Kelesda knew that Su Chen was nning on dragging him under along with him.

    Indeed, an instantter, the Thousand Poisons Toad tilted its head back and spat out a steady stream of poison at Su Chen.

    It had originally been wantonly spewing its poison in all directions with no particr target in mind. This time, however, it had aimed at the two mosquitoes in front of it.

    Su Chen and Kelesda simultaneously teleported out of the way.

    But the Deste Beast wouldn¡¯t be a Deste Beast if it allowed them to get away that easily.

    An instantter, the poisonous stream expanded until it seemed as wide as an ocean wave. This attack was not precise in the slightest, but it covered arge area. As long as the toad didn¡¯t exceed the limits set by the natural Method Power, it was free to do as it pleased.

    But this kind of limit was far too high for Su Chen or Kelesda to handle. The poisonous waves stretched as far as the eye could see.

    ¡°You bastard!¡± Kelesda cursed as he teleported once again.

    For this single stream of poison, Kelesda actually needed to teleport three times to avoid it.

    Inparison, Su Chen¡¯s mastery of spatial power was much greater. This was reflected in his ability to teleport much further than Kelesda, though this was the only aspect in which he was superior. A single Whitetower Teleportation by Su Chen was enough to bring him outside of the poison spurt¡¯s area of influence. But as the distance he teleported increased, the amount of energy he consumed would also increase.

    He wasn¡¯t afraid of the poison, but the raw momentum of the waves alone was more than enough to crush him t.

    Deste Beasts were simply too powerful, and they didn¡¯t even need to use any special techniques to utterly demolish two peak Intelligent Race individuals. But their power was two-sided; though Deste Beasts were incredibly powerful and their abilities expansive, it was impossible for them to directly kill a target. It was just like how it was difficult for a human to kill a mosquito unless the bug voluntarily stopped.

    Su Chen and Kelesda were far more mobile than an average mosquito, and they were also much more intelligent. They wouldn¡¯t just sit still in some spot and wait for the Thousand Poisons Frog to lock onto them. As such, they continued to fly around relentlessly.

    There was a benefit to being small, which was that the wave of poisoning off of the toad actually weren¡¯t able to catch up to them.

    Su Chen even had the opportunity to chuckle and taunt, ¡°You brought this upon yourself.¡±

    ¡°Even so, I refuse to spare you!¡± Kelesda howled with rage as heunched yet another lightning spear at Su Chen.

    He was actually still unwilling to let Su Chen off the hook.

    Su Chen was forced to dodge yet again.

    Kelesda roared as he chased after Su Chen. Waves of poison sshed in all directions and covered the sky, but Kelesda repelled it with his fiercely glowing body, as if he were the incarnation of a god of lightning.

    Su Chen activated his Primordial Blood Aspect to its greatest extent as he flickered away yet again, leaving behind countless afterimages in his wake.

    The torrents of poison surged like waterspouts, and the Deste Beast towered like a mountain. And through this stormy sea full of fatal dangers, Kelesda and Su Chen weaved a dangerous dance, locked in a thrilling game of cat-and-mouse.

    Su Chen had never experienced such a stimting battle before. He was dancing along the edge of death; even a momentarypse in his concentration would prove fatal.

    But even so, he couldn¡¯t help but relish the adrenaline coursing through his veins.

    As he flitted through the poisonous fog while evading the pursuit of a legendary Arcana Master, he felt revitalized like never before.

    This was a sensation that he couldn¡¯t achieve from burying his head in research all day. Only by fighting a life-and-death battle could he savor it once more.

    Su Chen had been in dire situations before, but they were few and far between. And a battle like this, where his life was beset on all sides by danger, was even rarer.

    He felt like every cell in his body, every drop of energy, every ounce of focus he had was being squeezed out. In this state of high tension, he felt more alive than he ever had.

    Even Kelesda could sense that something was strange. What was with this guy? He was a legendary Arcana Master, but it felt like there was nothing he could do to Su Chen.

    Even so, his desire to kill Su Chen only grew stronger with this strange feeling. As he attacked repeatedly, unleashing legendary Arcana Technique after legendary Arcana Technique, he unrelentingly howled, ¡°You must die! You must die!¡±

    It was as if he had gone insane.

    Su Chen could also sense that something had snapped within Kelesda.

    Unfortunately, Kelesda going insane didn¡¯t benefit him at all. This guy was just too powerful; Su Chen would have died to his hands long ago if Kelesda hadn¡¯t been constantly using Sixth Sense to avoid the torrents of poison. But the risks of continuing like this were simply too high. It was possible that his fragile boat would capsize at any moment.

    The problem was that Kelesda going berserk probably meant that there was no longer any way to turn back.

    The Thousand Poisons Toad was also beginning to grow annoyed by these two mosquitos that were still buzzing around its head.

    It opened its mouth yet again.

    This time, however, it did not spit out poison. Instead, a long tongue snaked out of its mouth.

    Toads had no problems eating mosquitos.

    As soon as this tongue appeared, it shot towards Su Chen and Kelesda at an astonishing speed.

    Thankfully for these mosquitos, they weren¡¯tmon mosquitos. At the same time that the toad¡¯s tongue extended, Kelesda sensed the potential danger of this attack. He hadn¡¯t gonepletely insane yet, so he teleported out of the way. And Su Chen had been keeping a close eye on him. So when he saw Kelesda, who had been closing in on him, suddenly teleport away, he knew that something was up. As such, he activated Whitetower Teleportation and quickly got out of the way as well.

    The two of them had only just disappeared when the toad¡¯s tongue shot past where they had been standing only moments ago. The tongue was so fast that the air around it trembled violently.

    Su Chen finally realized that even Deste Beasts didn¡¯t really understand how to use Method Power. However, they were so powerful that it didn¡¯t really matter.

    They didn¡¯t need to understand Method Power. By purely relying on their powerful physical bodies and an ocean¡¯s reserve of Origin Energy, they were more than capable of using sheer force to demolish their enemies.

    Even so, Su Chen realized that Deste Beasts were not invincible.

    There was one thing that could influence them - Method Power.

    A kind of power higher tiered than Origin Energy.

    Su Chen¡¯s former goal had merely been the Ultimate Emperor Realm. But now, he was pursuing something even greater.

    He knew what his future path held now.

    Of course, that was something he could daydream aboutter. At the moment, he still needed to figure out a way to leave.

    The Thousand Poisons Toad was still rampaging about, but Su Chen believed that he would be able to ultimately escape. After all, the Thousand Poisons Toad wasn¡¯t really intent on killing him; if it wasn¡¯t able to gobble him up, then so be it.

    However, Kelesda was a much bigger problem. He was already in an unstable state of mind and wouldn¡¯t relent until he had killed Su Chen. Once they managed to escape from the Thousand Poisons Toad, Su Chen had no idea whether he would still be able to run from Kelesda or not.

    This guy was incredibly powerful, and his concealment techniques werepletely useless against him. What was he to do?

    Su Chen furiously turned over multiple possibilities as the consciousness crystal to its greatest extent. Finally, an idea appeared in his mind.

    ¡°It seems that this is the only possible solution,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    He turned to nce at Kelesda, who was still furiously giving chase. Su Chen then gritted his teeth and pulled out a Lifesource Candle.

    He was burning them yet again.

    This time, however, he was upgrading his soul.

    His soul mastery had already reached the Seventh Ring. And during this past year or so, due to his constant intellectual shes with Kelesda, many of the past gaps in his understanding were currently no longer a problem. So now, he was gearing up for yet another shocking improvement.

    His consciousness power had reached the necessary level a long time ago, but he had never bothered to spend the necessary time. And now, with the aid of the Lifesource Candles, time would not be a factor either.

    He burned the candle fiercely, raised his soul mastery at an astounding rate, and began to assimte everything he had learned from Jade Clearmist¡¯s treasure realm. This allowed him to directly ascend to the Ninth Ring as a result. When he saw that he didn¡¯t have that many Lifesource Candles left, he steeled himself and continued to burn through them at an incredible rate. However, it appeared that he was going to be stuck at the Ninth Ring.

    Since he wasn¡¯t going to make a breakthrough, Su Chen gave up and put away the three final remaining Lifesource Candles, but not before igniting one of them and using it to temporarily increase his strength.

    Temporary increases in strength were always much easier to obtain than permanent ones.

    A momentter, Su Chen¡¯s soul finally broke out of the Ninth Ring and into the Tenth.

    Su Chen turned to stare at Kelesda.

    Fata Morgana!

    He was still using Fata Morgana, but it was clearly different from every other time he had cast it.

    After Su Chen¡¯s soul mastery had reached the Tenth Ring, any consciousness technique that he unleashed would be much more powerful. For Fata Morgana, its illusive power had skyrocketed. The former Fata Morgana simply wasn¡¯t evenparable.

    Even so, Su Chen didn¡¯t believe that he would be able to use it to deal with the legendary Arcana Master Kelesda.

    Thankfully for him, Kelesda seemed to have gone crazy.

    Fate¡¯s Hands had been dealt a death blow by Su Chen. The organization that he had spent thousands of years pouring his blood, sweat, and tears into had been destroyed almost overnight. Kelesda had no way of enduring this kind of suffering. It could only be slightly eased by the shedding of the perpetrator¡¯s blood.

    Under normal circumstances, Su Chen would never have dared to use this technique against Kelesda. After all, he had no idea what the bacsh would be if Kelesda were to break it apart.

    In that instant, however, Su Chen was able to perceive that his chances of sessfully deceiving Kelesda was much higher ¡ª perhaps around sixty percent or so.

    Empirically speaking, sixty percent was still a prettyrge risk. Especially given that if Su Chen failed, he would die.

    But from the standpoint of a warrior, sixty percent was more than high enough to bet on.

    Su Chen first created a clone from his massive reserve of blood essence before a faint luster flickered across his eyes.

    ¡°This one is a clone. That one is the main body......¡±

    He made no attempt to construct an borate lie. He just wanted Kelesda to mistake the clone for his true body and his true body for the clone.

    The sessful telling of a lie didn¡¯t depend only on the quality of the lie, but also how much it demanded.

    The moreplicated the lie, the more powerful an illusory technique would need to be.

    The simpler a lie, the weaker an illusory technique needed to be.

    As such, a simpler lie was easier to tell. Cheating someone out of a dor would always be easier than cheating someone out of ten thousand dors.

    Thus, to ensure that Fata Morgana would seed, not only had Su Chen upgraded its power as far as it would go, but he had also drastically decreased theplexity of the lie he told.

    He didn¡¯t want to do anything other than to trick Kelesda into mixing up his clone and his true body. This way, he was guaranteed at least another twenty percent chance to seed.

    Of course, when Su Chen shot this nce at Kelesda, Kelesda immediately froze in ce.

    Su Chen¡¯s heart involuntarily tightened.

    Had he seeded?

    He didn¡¯t know.

    He had even lost the ability to breathe, and he could only stare intently at Kelesda.

    When he activated Fata Morgana against Kelesda, he hadpletely forsaken his ability to choose, leaving his fate in Kelesda¡¯s hands.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t like doing this, but he had no choice this time around.

    And today, it appeared that fate was on his side.

    After a moment¡¯s pause, Kelesda finally turned to chase after the clone. However, his hatred of Su Chen was so intense that he couldn¡¯t help butunch a lightning bolt at the ¡°clone¡± before leaving.

 Sect - Book 5, 139: Mother Goddess Temple 1

    Chapter 139: Mother Goddess Temple(1)

    Su Chen shot through the air like a streak of light.

    He had finally managed to escape. After his huge risk had paid off, Su Chen was finally able to redirect Kelesda¡¯s attention.

    He had created his clone from hisrge reserve of blood essence, so controlling it for a little while wouldn¡¯t be a problem. By the time it ran out of energy, Su Chen would be long gone.

    As for the Thousand Poisons Toad, Su Chen wasn¡¯t worried about it in the first ce - it had never viewed him as a threat.

    However, this didn¡¯t mean that the situation had necessarily been resolved.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t forgotten about Kelesda¡¯s pursuit technique. As soon as Kelesda discovered that this clone was fake, he would immediately turn around and chase after him. Actually, Su Chen had sensed that clone¡¯s death half an hour ago.

    He could only hope now that the clone had bought him enough time and that Kelesda¡¯s pursuit technique wouldn¡¯t be able to track him. Otherwise, he would be in big trouble.

    As Su Chen continued to fly through the air, he suddenly felt a prickling sensation in his heart.

    He turned around to find a person chasing after him in hot pursuit.

    It was Kelesda.

    ¡°Damn!¡± Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but curse.

    This pursuit technique was really too reality-defying. How was Kelesda able to track him over such a long distance?

    ¡°Halcyon Wing Streak, you won¡¯t be able to run!¡± Kelesda howled from off in the distance.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I have quite a bit of respect for you, but that doesn¡¯t mean you will be able to catch me.¡±

    As he spoke, his figure flickered and disappeared.

    Light Shaking Phantom.

    After leaving the Thousand Poisons Mountain, Su Chen had taken this into ount and had created a few more clones.

    These clones could fly as they pleased because they weren¡¯t being affected by Kelesda. As such, they had flown roughly the same distance in a different direction as Su Chen had.

    Kelesda had caught up to the main body, but Su Chen had plenty of clones nearby and was able to teleport wherever he wanted.

    Kelesda was momentarily taken aback when he saw Su Chen disappear. He pulled out a crystal from his Origin Ring, in which he could see Su Chen¡¯s fleeing figure.

    ¡°Over there!¡± Kelesda shot off in a different direction.

    Meanwhile, one of Su Chen¡¯s clones was flying through the air when it suddenly took on physical form. The true body had taken the ce of the fake.

    Su Chen sighed with relief when he saw that his surroundings were clear. He scattered a few more clones around before continuing to advance.

    He was very clear that Kelesda would probably arrive on the scene sooner rather thanter.

    Indeed, two to three hourster, Kelesda had once again caught up to him. Su Chen ignored Kelesda and immediately teleported away as soon as he saw him.

    Light Shaking Phantom expended a lot of energy when teleporting long distances, but since it took Kelesda a few hours to catch up to Su Chen, Su Chen had more than enough time to rest.

    However, this would also make it very difficult for Su Chen to permanently shake Kelesda.

    Kelesda was like a nightmare, constantly hounding him every so often.

    The two of them continued this game of cat-and-mouse, even reaching a sort of tacit understanding. Su Chen would activate Light Shaking Phantom at a given moment before even seeing Kelesda, and Kelesda would automatically slow down if he ever saw Su Chen, because he knew what was going to happen next.

    Even so, Kelesda had no intentions of letting Su Chen get away.

    The destruction of Fate¡¯s Hands tormented Kelesda without end. Even if he had to chase Su Chen to the ends of the continent, he would never forgive him.

    Su Chen was also beginning to grow aggravated. After all, Kelesda was the one who had tried to capture him in the first ce, and now he was insisting on making life hard for Su Chen.

    Fine, will you go with me wherever I go? I want to see whether you truly have the right to be so overbearing.

    When Su Chen thought of this, he suddenly directed all of his clones to head towards Sky City.

    If you have the balls, let¡¯s continue our fight at Sky City.

    This was a wordless challenge Su Chen had issued to Kelesda.

    Kelesda understood.

    He epted.

    Near Sky City.

    This city had been deemed invincible throughout the history of the Primordial Continent.

    This fort, which had taken an astronomical amount of manpower to create, had even managed to go head-to-head with a Deste Beast before.

    However, since it had been considered invincible for so long, it had gradually begun to change.

    It had berger.

    Other kinds of terrain appeared on its surface, including mountains, rivers, fields, and even viges.

    Sky City had be more like a small country in and of itself, but this territory, which was only reallyrge enough to contain a city, now epassed an entire country.

    In some sense, Sky Country was basically Sky City. Those living on the outskirts of the main city were like pioneers. There was even some discrimination and prejudice against those who lived outside of the city.

    Regardless, the formerly invincible, imprable Sky City had be a bustling kingdom centered around a battle fort.

    There were constantly Harpiesing and going, making it an important hub for transportation.

    To the Harpies, Sky City was like a holynd. As long as an individual was a Harpy, they woulde from time to time to pay their respects.

    The center of this worship was at the top of Sky City - the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s temple.

    The Mother Goddess Temple was the Vatican of the Mother Goddess Sect. The Heavenly Mother was embodied by a statue of a female Harpy, standing at the very top of Vast Cloud Peak. Countless Harpies would make vows of religious piety there.

    The Mother Goddess Sect served as a unifying force for the entire Sky Country.

    The current head of the Mother Goddess Sect, Serene Dream Lotus Crown, was a person of immense importance. He, along with Eternal Night, governed Sky City quite effectively. In addition, his pioneering spirit was quite impressive.

    At this point, the Mother Goddess Sect received thousands of visitors a day. They woulde from all over Harpy territory to pay their respects. As they ascended the mountain, they would kowtow every three steps and bow every five steps to demonstrate their piety.

    Because they were unified in their faith, and the ce was strictly monitored, there was no chaos in this ce despite the sheer numbers of people present. Many Harpies had made the journey to the top of Vast Cloud Peak, but it was still very calm and peaceful. Only a religious sect could create this kind of environment.

    However, this peaceful situation was going to be disrupted.

    When Su Chen arrived, arge group of Harpies were in the process of walking up the mountain.

    Su Chen closed his wings and descended. He quickly created some clothes and put them on so that he would look like amon Harpy before mixing amongst the crowd and heading for the top of the mountain.

    However, he had no patience to kowtow every three steps, so he began to climb extremely rapidly. Thankfully, this kowtowing every three steps was not a strict rule, so there were some disciples who chose not to do so. Su Chen¡¯s actions, therefore, were not extremely out of the ordinary.

    But even the most insincere disciples would at least slow their footsteps as they climbed the mountain, maintaining a certain modicum of solemnity.

    It was very rare to see a person hurry up the mountain like Su Chen.

    When one of the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s disciples saw Su Chen, he stopped him and said, ¡°Your actions are all being observed by the Mother Goddess. Please, be certain to demonstrate the respect that you should show.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I have always humbled myself before the Mother Goddess, but today I do not have the time to do things slowly. I must meet with Bishop Moonless Face as soon as possible.¡±

    As he spoke, he took off his mask, revealing Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s face. ¡°I am Halcyon Wing Streak, his disciple.¡±

    When he heard this, the disciple was obviously taken aback before he replied, ¡°Bishop Moonless Face is not here right now. He has gone to Night Spirit City.¡±

    Night Spirit City was where most of the Nightfrost Nest¡¯s strength was. Moonless Face was originally the head of Nightfrost Nest, but he was unable to keep that position after he had been captured by the humans. Now, it appeared that this former leader wanted to reim his original position and was working hard on earning it back.

    Actually, Su Chen didn¡¯t want to meet with Moonless Face at all. The only reason he had brought it up was to confirm whether or not he was actually present. Him not being here was actually beneficial.

    After all, Moonless Face understood Halcyon Wing Streak the best. With him present, Su Chen¡¯s risk of being found out was much greater.

    When he heard this, he internally sighed with relief, but outwardly his expression sank. ¡°I have important news to ry. Who should I look for?¡±

    ¡°The current person in charge is Miss Flowing Jade Fragrance.¡±

    ¡°Good!¡± Su Chen then continued to advance. The guard saw this but made no further move to stop him.

    Flowing Jade Fragrance was currently sitting in the temple located in the Mother Goddess Temple, overseeing a ritual.

    As a very young Head Bishop, Flowing Jade Fragrance¡¯s status within the sect wasn¡¯t sturdy yet. This made it so that she was extremely careful about everything she said and did. She had a very low tolerance for any mistakes or ws.

    However, there was going to be someone who upset her today.

    A young Harpy charged into the main temple. After a quick nce, he headed in her direction.

    Flowing Jade Fragrance¡¯s eyes widened slightly. Without her even saying anything, two guards strode forwards to meet him.

    Very quickly, however, she discovered that the guards stopped trying to seize him after merely a few sentences. One of the guards hurried back to report to her.

    Flowing Jade Fragrance realized that this was probably something important.

    The guard hurried over to Flowing Jade Fragrance and reported in a low voice, ¡°This is Bishop Moonless Face¡¯s disciple Halcyon Wing Streak. He has something to report to the sect head.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s him? The guy who was humiliated by those humans?¡± Flowing Jade Fragrance¡¯s eyebrow jumped.

    She had never met Halcyon Wing Streak before, but news of his capture had spread far and wide across Sky City.

    Apparently, he had left Sky City not long after returning for some unspecified location. So why would he suddenly appear here?

    ¡°How ignorant!¡± Flowing Jade Fragrance frowned.

    She just didn¡¯t look favorably upon Halcyon Wing Streak. In her opinion, he should havemitted suicide after being humiliated in that kind of manner. The fact that he was still alive meant that he epted the shame heaped on him.

    How could such a filthy person even think about meeting with the sect master? Did he want to smear the human stench on his body all over the sect master as well?

    However, Flowing Jade Fragrance still asked, ¡°What is so important that you can only say it in front of the sect master?¡±

    ¡°This matter is rted to the changes that urred just a few days ago to the southwest.¡±

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 140: Mother Goddess Temple 2

    Chapter 140: Mother Goddess Temple (2)

    The Thousand Poisons Mountain was naturally off to the southwest of Sky City.

    Though Sky City could no longer move as it pleased, Sky Country still kept a close watch over anything that happened in its vicinity.

    They had set up a legendary Origin Formation that would notify them of anymotions that took ce across the entire country.

    But despite theplexity and effectiveness of this formation, it could only sense Origin Energy fluctuations and their rtive strength. This allowed them to determine the magnitude and importance of amotion, but not exactly what had taken ce.

    Naturally, Sky Country first needed to determine the severity of a situation before responding; the specific details weren¡¯t very important for smaller, trivial matters.

    Though using the strength of the Origin Energy fluctuations to measure the severity of the situation was slightly inurate, it was usually an appropriate approximation.

    For this reason, Sky City had immediately known that something big had taken ce in Thousand Poisons Mountain.

    And because the Origin Energy fluctuations were highly powerful, Sky Country had immediately dispatched experts to investigate the situation. However, because it was too far away, they hadn¡¯t heard back from any of them yet.

    Flowing Jade Fragrance now somewhat understood why Su Chen hade here.

    ¡°So you were at the scene, then? And you probably decided to hurry over here to see if you could get a reward for notifying us, right?¡± Flowing Jade Fragrance was immediately able to see through ¡°Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s¡± intentions and she coldly chuckled. ¡°Though, it probably makes more sense for me to hear about it from you.¡±

    After she finished speaking, she called one of the bishops under hermand over to send Su Chen in while she headed off into a side room to wait.

    The magnitude of what had taken ce southwest of Sky City was so monumental that she had no choice but to take it seriously. Otherwise, she would have never let a person covered in human stench get that close to her.

    But if the information that Halcyon Wing Streak provided wasn¡¯t important enough, she would give him something to think about.

    Su Chen greeted her ording to Harpy custom. Flowing Jade Fragrance ignored it and directly said, ¡°Speak. What happened?¡±

    Su Chen purposefully hesitated as he exined, ¡°The situation is prettyplicated. I would still prefer to meet with the Sect Master, if at all possible.¡±

    ¡°Halcyon Wing Streak!¡± Flowing Jade Fragrance harrumphed unhappily. ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking, but I can tell you right now that your status is insufficient to warrant a meeting with the Sect Master. Tell me what you know, and I will decide whether or not it is worth notifying the Sect Master.¡±

    Su Chen could only put on a helpless expression and say, ¡°Fine. A Deste Beast has awakened.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Flowing Jade Fragrance stood up as she stared at Su Chen angrily. ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    Her tone was as if he had been the one responsible for unleashing the beast ¡ª even though he was in fact the one who was actually responsible.

    ¡°You know how big of a situation this is. I wouldn¡¯t dare lie to you about this kind of news.¡±

    ¡°A Deste Beast? Why would it suddenly awaken now?¡± Flowing Jade Fragrance asked.

    Su Chen fell silent.

    Flowing Jade Fragrance understood his intentions. She nced at Su Chen and calmly asked, ¡°So...... you won¡¯t say anything unless you meet with her then?¡±

    Su Chen merely replied, ¡°Do I have the right to meet with her now?¡±

    Flowing Jade Fragrance let out a deep sigh.

    Since a Deste Beast was involved, then even Flowing Jade Fragrance didn¡¯t dare dy this meeting. She hurried over to the Sect Master¡¯s residence.

    Not long afterwards, another Mother Goddess Disciple walked over to Su Chen and said, ¡°The Sect Master is waiting for you at the Shrine.¡±

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen replied, ¡°I would prefer to meet with her at the Baptismal Altar instead.¡±

    The disciple was momentarily taken aback before he angrily said, ¡°You dare try and negotiate with the Sect Master himself?¡±

    Because he was a mere disciple, he held the belief that everything they the disciples possessed belonged to the Sect Master. What room did this disciple have to negotiate?

    The Baptismal Altar was a sacred area within Mother Goddess Temple, and as its name stated, Disciples would go there to be baptized in both body and mind. This had the additional benefit of greatly increasing their affinity for Origin Energy.

    It was a bit simr to the Ravagers¡¯ Origin Energy Temple, but the Harpies¡¯ altar only improved something that was already quite good, while the Origin Energy Temple was redressing ack. Their respective values were totally different. Even so, the Baptismal Altar was a sacred area of the Mother Goddess Temple, and only those who had made significant contributions were allowed to undergo the baptism.

    It was obvious that any Harpy who requested to meet Serene Dream Lotus Crown at the Baptismal Altar wanted to gain some kind of benefit.

    This was indeed Su Chen¡¯s goal, but not his main one.

    Actually, the main reason why he had made this request was because he couldn¡¯t enter the Shrine.

    The Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s Shrine was where offerings to the Mother Goddess herself were given, so it was kept under extremely close lock and key. More importantly, this ce was also protected by True Light.

    Su Chen would definitely be exposed if he went there.

    As such, he could only request to meet at a different location under the pretext of being greedy.

    Even though this disciple was angry, he could only faithfully report back as Su Chen had requested.

    A momentter, Su Chen was directly led to the Baptismal Altar. However, the disciple didn¡¯t give Su Chen any favorable nces.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t care.

    Once he arrived at the Baptismal Altar, he found an elegant, graceful female standing there.

    Even though her back was facing towards Su Chen, his instinctual reaction was as if he were standing at the base of a tall mountain gazing up at her.

    Thankfully, Su Chen still had his Heart Walls. He was able to quickly remove this feeling of worship from his heart, fully aware that it was the result of some kind of consciousness technique. If he had tried to forcefully resist it with some other consciousness technique, he still would have been able to look at her, but it would also have revealed his true strength.

    Su Chen bowed in greeting to Serene Dream Lotus Crown and said, ¡°Halcyon Wing Streak greets Sect Master.¡±

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown turned to face him. ¡°You may rise.¡±

    Su Chen lifted his eyes and found a cool, elegant face appear before his eyes. That person¡¯s appearance was extremely beautiful, but it also appeared unapproachable, as if it were impossible to get close to her.

    Su Chen felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured on his head when he noticed that the other party was also gazing at him with a cold look, causing a chill to spontaneously spread throughout his body.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown said, ¡°I have already sent people to determine what happened in the southwest. You most likely just happened to be passing through, which was how you found out about it in advance. It would have only taken two more days for me to receive news on what happened there. So on what are you basing your request to undergo a baptism? Is it merely based on the fact that you have presented me with this information?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Your Majesty, I was indeed just passing through. But I also know more than what Your Majesty believes. There are some aspects of the situation that only a person who saw the situation firsthand will know. In addition, what I want is not the baptism, but......¡±

    He stopped and fell silent.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown coldly said, ¡°Speak. What do you want?¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°Sect Master must know about what happened to me.¡±

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown sighed. ¡°I know of a little. This is also part of the reason why I forgave you for your irreverence today. That all happened in the past. Try and be a little bit more open-minded from now on, alright?¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s careful efforts had finally paid off. Anyone who knew of Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s past would more or less be understanding of Su Chen¡¯s actions, causing them to be far more forgiving andpassionate than they would have been otherwise.

    This was exactly what Su Chen wanted.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I tried to do so. This past year, I have traveled far and wide, hoping to erase my past from my memory. But the wounds that I suffered haven¡¯t been easy to wipe away. Most importantly, they have be a knot in my heart, severely affecting my mental state and preventing me from making any further advances.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. I¡¯m actually surprised that you still have the heart to advance.¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown somewhat understood ¡°Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s¡± predicament. ¡°So you want me to help you?¡±

    Su Chen knelt. ¡°The humiliation that I suffered can only be washed away by human blood. If I want that to happen, I must get stronger. However, there is a problem with my heart, and my faith has been shaken. I cannot think of any possible way to advance. It wasn¡¯t until I stumbled across what happened in the southwest that I realized that I had been given an opportunity. I ask for nothing but a blessing from the sect, so that......¡±

    He didn¡¯t finish as he let his voice die off.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown sighed. ¡°I understand what is going through your heart. You are a poor child, but is this small amount of torment enough to cause you to shake your faith? Is your faith that unstable?¡±

    Su Chen lowered his head and fell silent.

    He knew that if he were to say anything else, then it would be difficult for him toter get what he wanted.

    He hade here to make an exchange. Only by making an exchange would he be able to grasp the opportunity he had been looking for.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown didn¡¯t know what kind of schemes were swimming around in his head. When she saw that he seemed to have made up his mind, she harrumphed. ¡°Tell me exactly what happened. I will determine the reward you will receive based on the importance of your contribution.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t waste any time when he heard her statement. He quickly said, ¡°The Deste Beast that awakened is a toad located in Thousand Poisons Mountain.¡±

    ¡°Thousand Poisons Mountain? Fate¡¯s Hands? Is it rted to them?¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown was stunned.

    ¡°Yes. Kelesda personally used his God-Execution Spear technique to awaken the Deste Beast beneath the ground,¡± Su Chen said.

    His words were absolutely correct. The Thousand Poisons Toad had indeed been awakened by Kelesda¡¯s spear. But of course, Su Chen had left out the part where Kelesda¡¯s attack had been guided by the tunnel he had dug.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown was stunned. ¡°Why? Does he not want Fate¡¯s Hands anymore? Is he crazy?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but when I saw him on that day he did seem a bit mentally unstable,¡± Su Chen replied.

    That was also the truth. But of course, Su Chen had left out the key reason for Kelesda¡¯s insanity.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown was speechless.

    How could this be?

    Why had Kelesda gone insane? Why would he awaken a Deste Beast? She couldn¡¯t possibly understand the situation.

    ¡°Did you figure anything out about the Deste Beast¡¯s movements?¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown asked.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°When I left, it was still howling in ce. I don¡¯t know anything about its exact movements.¡±

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s expression sank.

    Su Chen knew that she wasn¡¯t particrly pleased with that answer, so he hurriedly added on, ¡°But I do know that Kelesda was headed in this direction.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s eyes began to glow intensely. Her already majestic aura surged even more wildly, pushing down on Su Chen like an indomitable mountain.

    Su Chen acted like he wasn¡¯t able to endure the pressure.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown asked, ¡°Do you know where he is now?¡±

    ¡°When I came, I saw him at the base of Vast Cloud Peak.¡±

    Upon hearing this, Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s heart trembled before she made a gesture. A hologram of light appeared in her hand, suspended in the air.

    Su Chen knew that this was Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s unique searching method.

    Anything near Vast Cloud Peak could be easily scryed by Serene Dream Lotus Crown. No one could evade her eye.

    After only a brief moment, Serene Dream Lotus Crown closed her hand and said, ¡°I found him. He is indeed here, skulking around the base of the mountain!¡±

    To Serene Dream Lotus Crown, Kelesda¡¯s lurking about at the base of Vast Cloud Peak definitely wasn¡¯t a good sign. In her mind, he was most likely plotting some devious attack on the Mother Goddess Sect.

    The Deste Beast awakening and Kelesda¡¯s sudden appearance were both huge matters. The Deste Beast¡¯s awakening was more important, but Kelesda was more of a risk.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown shot off into the distance.

    It wasn¡¯t strange that Serene Dream Lotus Crown was nning on taking center stage herself, given that her opponent was a legendary Arcana Master.

    ¡°Your Majesty!¡± Su Chen called out.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown turned to nce at Su Chen, a look of revulsion in her eyes. But even so, she said after a moment, ¡°Halcyon Wing Streak has provided incredibly valuable information, worthy of being granted a third-tier reward. Flowing Jade Fragrance, you take care of this matter. The rest of the head bishops, you alle with me.¡±

    After these words, she disappeared off into the distance, clearly ready to give Kelesda a piece of her mind.

 Sect - Book 5, 141: Mother Goddess Temple 3

    Chapter 141: Mother Goddess Temple (3)

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown left, and Flowing Jade Fragrance returned.

    Her gaze towards Su Chen was still filled with disgust.

    She coldly said, ¡°Her Majesty has given an order. Follow me.¡±

    Su Chen, however, didn¡¯t leave. He said, ¡°I heard that the Mother Goddess Sect possesses a kind of secret medicine that can deal with heart barriers.¡±

    ¡°You must be talking about the Clear Heart Pill. I can go and grab it for you now.¡±

    Su Chen, however, shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not talking about the Clear Heart Pill. Its medicinal effects are too weak, and it also causes a person¡¯s consciousness to irrevocably be a bitx. I¡¯m looking for the Jade Maple Extract.¡±

    Flowing Jade Fragrance turned to stare at Su Chen. ¡°That¡¯s something only obtainable by those with a tier one contribution. Your contributions are still far too little to merit that kind of reward.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°As far as I know, I can improve my contribution tier with offerings. How much do I need to offer to raise my contribution tier?¡±

    Flowing Jade Fragrance nced at Su Chen. ¡°You¡¯ve made thorough preparations, haven¡¯t you?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I thought about this for a long time on my way here. No matter what, I must break through this heart barrier. Only then will I be able to wipe away my humiliation and shatter the chains that bind my heart.¡±

    When Flowing Jade Fragrance heard this, she finally softened slightly, as if she understood what ¡°Halcyon Wing Streak¡± was going through. She nodded. ¡°Fine, if you want to raise your contribution to tier one, then it will take a million Origin Stones. If you......¡±

    Su Chen pulled out an Origin Ring.

    Wasn¡¯t it just a million Origin Stones? That was nothing to Su Chen.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that not everyone could consecrate offerings, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t have met with Serene Dream Lotus Crown in the first ce.

    It was too dangerous!

    Even though his conversation with Serene Dream Lotus Crown appeared to be simple and straightforward, even a moment¡¯s carelessness would have cost him everything.

    After all, Serene Dream Lotus Crown was a legendary Arcana Master herself. It was totally believable if she saw through Su Chen¡¯s disguise.

    The main reason she hadn¡¯t been able to see through his disguise was because she couldn¡¯t possibly investigate every Harpy that requested an audience with her. But if she was even remotely suspicious, then it would have been impossible for Su Chen to avoid being inspected.

    His move of meeting with the Sect Master was truly risky. Given Su Chen¡¯s aversion to takingrge risks, he wouldn¡¯t have done so unless he had no other choice.

    When Flowing Jade Fragrance saw Su Chen¡¯s Origin Ring, she was momentarily taken aback. And when she took a look inside, she was stunned. ¡°You......¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t been doing nothing these past few days,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°It appears that you have indeed worked quite hard.¡± Flowing Jade Fragrance shot him a nce as she took out a portion worth a million Origin Stones before returning the rest to Su Chen. ¡°Wait for me here.¡±

    ¡°Head Bishop, will you allow me to go to the storeroom with you? What I¡¯m trying to ask is, I want to see if there is anything else that would be useful. I have a bit of extra money on me anyways......¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t say anymore, but Flowing Jade Fragrance understood his intentions. After a moment¡¯s thought, she nodded and said, ¡°Fine. Come with me.¡±

    Trading offerings for rewards was a big revenue stream for the Mother Goddess Sect. Otherwise, this action wouldn¡¯t have been allowed.

    Since Halcyon Wing Streak had saved up quite a bit of money and was willing to spend it all here, Flowing Jade Fragrance had no intention of stopping him.

    She led Su Chen all the way to the storeroom.

    The Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s storeroom was located to the rear of the Mother Goddess Temple.

    The couple of disciples standing guard all bowed in greeting to Flowing Jade Fragrance when they saw her.

    Su Chen could tell that even though these disciples were mere guards, all of them were at least at the Light Shaking Realm.

    The presence of Light Shaking Realm guards indicated that whatever was being kept in the storeroom was still quite valuable.

    Yes, Su Chen had gone through all this trouble not to make some kind of offering for the Mother Goddess Sect, but instead to take advantage of the chaos he had caused at the Thousand Poisons Mountain topletely plunder the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s vaults.

    Kelesda served as the perfect bait. With him present, the Mother Goddess Sect would definitely react to this opponent in full force ¡ª or at least, most of their experts would make an appearance.

    That was an excellent opportunity for Su Chen.

    He could also rely on this excuse of searching for a special type of medicine to get into the storeroom.

    When they arrived at the storeroom, Flowing Jade Fragrance said, ¡°Please wait here for a moment. I will first go and grab a list of storeroom¡¯s inventory for you. Feel free to browse through and pick out whatever else you¡¯d like to exchange for based on your contribution; in the meantime, I will go and grab the medicine for you.¡±

    As she spoke, she headed for the door.

    Su Chen knew that this was probably his best opportunity. Flowing Jade Fragrance would never actually bring him into the storeroom. As such, Su Chen said, ¡°Please wait a moment.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Flowing Jade Fragrance was taken aback.

    Su Chen said in a low voice, ¡°Look into my eyes.¡±

    Flowing Jade Fragrance nced in his direction, only to find a strange glow filling his eyes. Her heart trembled momentarily before she fell deep into Su Chen¡¯s consciousness technique.

    ¡°Whew!¡± Su Chen sighed with relief when he saw this.

    Even though he had been able to trick a legendary Arcana Master like Kelesda, and dealing with Flowing Jade Fragrance should be much easier inparison, he had no idea whether Flowing Jade Fragrance would have some kind of special technique that specifically resisted illusion techniques. The Mother Goddess Sect was guarded by some kind of divine power, so their members¡¯ natural defense against consciousness techniques were stronger than average. In addition, they were currently inside the Mother Goddess Temple. Su Chen wouldn¡¯t have been surprised if he had failed, so he had chosen this moment to make his move. In the event that he did fail, he could still aplish his mission through force and grab a handful of treasures before running.

    But it seemed that his luck at the moment was quite good. At the very least, he didn¡¯t need to make a move immediately.

    Su Chen thenmanded, ¡°Bring me into the storeroom.¡±

    Flowing Jade Fragrance nodded as she brought Su Chen into the storeroom.

    With Flowing Jade Fragrance leading him through, the guards couldn¡¯t say anything and obediently let them in.

    Naturally, Su Chen began to plunder the ce dry.

    The storeroom did have some good items: Sourceless Water, Ocean Sand, Thousand Suns Fruit, Heavenly Psyche Conch, Bluewater Lily, etc. Almost all of these ingredients were considered rare-tier, and there were even some that were quite hard to find. The Origin Tools were basically all Grade Four or above, while the medicines were at least at the Distinguished level. Every item here would be hard to find anywhere else.

    Even so, that was all he could find.

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t find any legendary ingredients or an Master-tier medicines in the storeroom. He was also unable to find any Grade Two Origin Tools either.

    That made sense. This storeroom was only for rare items. It wasn¡¯t a core storeroom, so the truly good items wouldn¡¯t be kept here.

    As such, Su Chen sent out his Air Tentacles, quickly looted the entire ce, and then asked Flowing Jade Fragrance, ¡°Where is the core storeroom?¡±

    Flowing Jade Fragrance replied, ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t strange that Flowing Jade Fragrance didn¡¯t know, given her status.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t absolutely intent on finding it in the first ce. He had managed to obtain quite a few treasures already, and he was always earning more than he could afford to spend anyways. He had only recently managed to convert many of those treasures into his personal strength, but then he had robbed Fate¡¯s Hands clean. Now, he had managed to also rob the Mother Goddess Sect. Even if he wasn¡¯t able to find the core storeroom, that was totally fine.

    But that Divine Feather was a pity.

    Those Divine Feathers were truly good items. Even though Su Chen hadn¡¯t figured out how to control them yet, he had made some advances in his understanding of the feathers. It was entirely possible that he would be able to unlock the secrets contained in these feathers in due time, so Su Chen held quite a bit of hope toward these feathers.

    When he thought of this, Su Chen said, ¡°So you probably don¡¯t know where the Divine Feather is, do you?¡±

    He had originally just thrown the question out there carelessly, but unexpectedly, Flowing Jade Fragrance actually answered. ¡°It¡¯s in the main hall of the temple, held within the statue of the Mother Goddess¡¯s hand. It is nourished by the divine light shining upon it.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Su Chen was taken aback.

    So the existence of this Divine Feather was actuallymon knowledge.

    Su Chen had some understanding of the Divine Feathers. He knew that, as soon as they appeared in the world, their divine power would gradually dissipate as time passed. For this reason, Night God Sun had refused to take it out until the veryst moment, and was also why the Divine Feathers that Su Chen currently possessed were tightly sealed in a crystal.

    The Divine Feather on the statue, however, was obviously different. Apparently, it was directly connected to the Mother Goddess herself, and it was constantly receiving her divine power. Not only could this Divine Feather be openly exposed, but it could even directly absorb divine power. Any Divine Feather that had lost some of its energy in the outside world could be ced onto the statue to be nourished and recover its divinity.

    As for the feathers that weren¡¯t being nourished, they would either be sealed or would disintegrate after beingpletely used up.

    After Night God Sun¡¯s death, the Mother Goddess Sect only had two Divine Feathers remaining. One was being used in the outside world, while the other was securely disyed by the Mother Goddess Sect.

    However, the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s main temple was used for consecrating valuable offerings, so the restrictive precautions set in ce there were exceptionally strict.

    Even Flowing Jade Fragrance wouldn¡¯t be allowed to enter that ce without special permission.

    Under normal circumstances, it would have been impossible for Su Chen to even try and get anywhere near it.

    However, now that most of the experts of the Mother Goddess Sect had been drawn away by Kelesda, now was a perfect time. Su Chen wouldn¡¯t have been satisfied if he didn¡¯t at least give it a try.

    As such, after but a moment¡¯s thought, Su Chen determinedly said, ¡°Let¡¯s go to the main hall.¡±

    In any case, with Light Shaking Phantom, he could easily escape even if he couldn¡¯t defeat whatever defenses were erected. What did he have to fear?

    ¡°Yes.¡± Flowing Jade Fragrance was thoroughly under Su Chen¡¯s control, so she waspletely obedient towards him. She led Su Chen right to the main hall.

    At this moment, the situation in the main hall was exactly as Su Chen expected. No powerful experts were present there right now.

    However, that wasn¡¯t entirely the truth. Though the Mother Goddess Sect did in fact have to deal with Kelesda, they hadn¡¯tpletely abandoned the main hall. On the contrary, the core strength of the main temple¡¯s defense hadn¡¯t been affected at all. However, now that Su Chen had gotten stronger, his view of what was considered powerful had also changed ordingly.

    He was already a peak Ninth-Tier Arcana Master, and this mastery extended to the elements of wind, fire, and thunder, as well as his consciousness. When factoring in his peak-level physique and his Light Shaking Realm cultivation base, most Ninth Ring Arcana Masters would be knocked around helplessly by him. He was even able to fight evenly against most Tenth Ring Arcana Masters. And if he used wind and thunder Method Power, he could even defeat most Tenth Ring Arcana Masters.

    As such, unless they were a legendary Arcana Master, Su Chen really wouldn¡¯t consider them a worthy opponent.

    The Mother Goddess Sect couldn¡¯t possibly have Tenth Ring Arcana Masters stand guard at the main temple, so the presence of these guards was actually nearly irrelevant. Even if Su Chen hadn¡¯t created a diversion, there wouldn¡¯t have been any Tenth-Ring Arcana Masters standing guard here.

    But his diversionary tactic was better than nothing. Otherwise, the powerful individuals would have been nearby and could have responded to the situation fairly quickly. Their absence from the vicinity made it much easier for Su Chen to do whatever he wanted.

    The current strongest guards at the Mother Goddess Temple¡¯s main hall was an Eighth-Ring Arcana Master, and a temr captain who had somehow managed to raise his strength to the level of a normal Arcanist, probably by cultivating some kind of secret technique. Besides them, there were also thirty temrs and thirty Arcana Masters standing guard.

    ¡°Not bad, not bad. Seems like I can give this a try now,¡± Su Chen said with a slight smile.

    His eyes began to glow as his gaze swept over all of the guards.

    This time, he wanted to take control of all of them at the same time.

 Sect - Book 5, 142: Ransack

    Chapter 142: Ransack

    The guards simultaneously fell under Su Chen¡¯s control, revealing bewildered expressions as they did so. Some of them appeared to be fighting Su Chen¡¯s influence quite hard.

    It wasn¡¯t that their consciousnesses were stronger than Flowing Jade Fragrances. Rather, it was more so that Su Chen¡¯s consciousness was taking on a huge strain by trying to control thirty guards at once. It was such a strain that it was actually making it hard for him topletely maintain control over them.

    The thirty guards, especially the Eighth-Ring Arcana Master and the temr captain, fought back fiercely.

    When Su Chen saw that a few people seemed to be on the verge of escaping from his control, he frowned and said, ¡°Kill them!¡±

    As he spoke, he pointed at a few of the guards.

    Flowing Jade Fragrance charged forwards and began attacking repeatedly. Only after she killed the tenth guard did Su Chenmand, ¡°Enough!¡±

    Flowing Jade Fragrance immediately stopped.

    With ten less targets, the pressure on Su Chen¡¯s consciousness had greatly decreased. After exerting his full strength, he was finally able to bring the rest of the Harpy guards under his control.

    ¡°Stand guard here and don¡¯t let anyone else inside,¡± Su Chenmanded as he headed for the Mother Goddess statue within the main hall.

    The Mother Goddess statue was not as grandiose or majestic as therge one outside, but it was much more delicately sculpted, and it exuded a saintly aura.

    Anyone immersed in this aura would experience an increased Origin Energy sensitivity, and their consciousness power would also improve.

    This was most likely the effect of some kind of unique domain, which had incredibly useful benefits towards one¡¯s cultivation. And because this ce was not a designated cultivation grounds, a person would have to provide offerings if they wanted to cultivate here. This served as a kind of motivation for pious individuals, and it also further strengthened their faith in the Mother Goddess.

    Well, it did have to be said that believing in a god did have its benefits.

    But these benefits were not enough to sway Su Chen. Not only did he not believe in gods, but he even wanted to profane them.

    He stood in front of the Mother Goddess statue and quickly located the Divine Feather. It was inserted between the plumage of the female image, glowing with a unique golden color. There was no doubt that this was the Divine Feather.

    Under the care of the Mother Goddess statue, it didn¡¯t need to be sealed. Instead, it could absorb as much divine power as it pleased while releasing it radiantly in all directions.

    Su Chen was just about to step forward and simply take it when Flowing Jade Fragrance said, ¡°You cannot take it by force. You must first demonstrate your sincerity by worshipping her and offering the appropriate litany.¡±

    ¡°Bow and worship her?¡± Su Chen was taken aback. Was this really the only way for him to request the Divine Feather from the Mother Goddess?

    He didn¡¯t reject that notion outright. Since this protocol had previous precedent, there was naturally some truth to it. But was he willing to satisfy the requirements?

    He wasn¡¯t a sincere disciple anyways. If this statue had even a semnce of intelligence, nothing would happen even if he did bow and worship it.

    As for these Harpies......

    They were under his control, so the issue of whether the statue would consider them as true Mother Goddess Sect disciples was up for debate.

    However, Su Chen still ended up saying, ¡°You go and give it a try.¡±

    Flowing Jade Fragrance stepped forward, knelt down in front of the statue, and chanted the litany as was necessary.

    However, Su Chen could tell that Flowing Jade Fragrancecked all sincerity since she was under Su Chen¡¯s absolute control. She was merely performing her duties diligently as Su Chen hadmanded.

    Under normal circumstances, this prayer should have immediately dislodged the feather.

    But no matter how hard and long Flowing Jade Fragrance prayed for, the feather didn¡¯t move at all.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°No need to pray any further. It seems that it won¡¯t be of any use.¡±

    As he spoke, he stepped forwards and reached out to brusquely grab the Divine Feather.

    In that instant, however, the feather began to glow intensely. The female statue actually turned around to face Su Chen as she cried out in a strange voice, ¡°You audacious disciple, you actually dare to steal a divine object? You must be punished for your sphemous actions!¡±

    As this cry resounded through the room, Su Chen suddenly felt like something had mmed into his mind, sending him reeling. His mind was filled with a saintly light that expunged all thoughts from his mind he had been thinking about until that very moment.

    ¡°AHH!¡± Su Chen cried out as he cradled his head.

    At the same time, the temrs and Arcana Masters that had fallen under Su Chen¡¯s control regained their sobriety.

    These people hadn¡¯t been befuddled in the first ce, merely controlled. As such, they realized what was happening as soon as they awoke. When they realized that they had been controlled and forced to betray the sect, they were stunned and infuriated. In their rage, they immediately began to attack Su Chen.

    At the same time, Su Chen howled as he furiously gathered all the strength in his body.

    However, he aimed that power not at the guards behind him, but rather at the statue.

    A strike infused with all of his consciousness power was hurled in the statue¡¯s direction.

    Consciousness attacks should have only been effective against living objects, and not against inanimate ones. But Su Chen¡¯s consciousness attack somehow caused the Mother Goddess statue to tremble before a crack appeared on its smooth surface.

    Su Chen managed to extract himself from that halo of light as he defiantly and loudly cried out, ¡°You are not a god!¡±

    A furious fist strike mmed into the statue¡¯s body, which began to crack even faster before it finally exploded.

    At the same time, a good number of treasures came tumbling out of the statue¡¯s center.

    ¡°This is......¡± Su Chen was stunned.

    The Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s core treasury?

    So it was actually hidden in the Mother Goddess statue.

    Su Chen chuckled loudly and sent his Air Tentacles slithering through the air.

    ¡°The statue!¡± All of the guards were stunned.

    The Mother Goddess statue they had worshipped all these years had been destroyed just like that? It was gone?

    Finally, the temrs reacted. ¡°Protect the sacred objects!¡±

    The statue might have been gone, but the treasures were still there. They needed to be protected at all costs.

    ¡°Kill the thief!¡± the Eighth-Ring Arcana Master yelled.

    ¡°No, we must capture him alive!¡± Flowing Jade Fragrance had also regained herposure during this chaos.

    ¡°Just based on you guys alone? You should worry about getting out of here alive first,¡± Su Chen harrumphed coldly.

    Light from Arcana Techniques began to fly through the air.

    Even though the Halcyon Wing n¡¯s Arcana Techniques weren¡¯t very strong, they were extremely easy to use. Su Chen managed to unleash them with exceptional might. The guards all felt their bodies grow heavy, suddenly finding it incredibly difficult to move.

    This wasn¡¯t just due to the effects of Flowing Light Forcefield; Su Chen had also activated Sumeru Void. Thebination of these two techniques stacked multiplicatively, making their weight absurdly high and instantly making it extremely difficult for them to move.

    The Eighth-Ring Arcana Master was badly startled and unleashed a wave of holy light in order to nullify the control-type Arcana Techniques that Su Chen had used.

    Under normal circumstances, the Flowing Light Forcefield should have been dispersed rtively easily.

    Unfortunately, his opponent was Su Chen. As the holy light washed over the surroundings, Su Chen¡¯s Flowing Light Forcefield was only weakened slightly, and did notpletely dissipate.

    Thankfully, Flowing Jade Fragrance was also present. The head bishop gritted her teeth and unleashed a vicious attack, Death¡¯s Charge, right at Su Chen.

    This Eighth-Ring Arcana Technique had a certain percent chance of instantly killing its target. The sess rate depended on the target¡¯s will.

    The fact that Flowing Jade Fragrance had unleashed a lethal technique so soon after insisting that they needed to catch him alive was because she had realized that their opponent was far stronger than anticipated. She had changed her mind before she even had an opportunity to rectify her previous statement.

    Unfortunately, Su Chen¡¯s will was far stronger than anything she could have ever expected, and Death¡¯s Charge had virtually no chance of activating its special effect.

    Even so, Su Chen didn¡¯t even allow Death¡¯s Charge to touch him.

    He immediately dodged the attack, and then unleashed another Arcana Technique. This time, he had cast Electromaic Storm. Arge wave of lightning immediately rolled out in all directions. Even the Harpy elites were immediately burnt ck and given serious wounds. A few of the weaker ones died on the spot.

    ¡°Bastard...... Die!¡±

    The temr captain resisted the effects of Flowing Light Forcefield and then shed down at Su Chen with his de.

    When Su Chen saw this de strike, he was delighted.

    It was the Flowing Gold de.

    The temr¡¯s powerful strike was a tier higher than it should have been. Obviously, this temr captain had poured quite a few resources into his cultivation of the technique.

    ¡°Not bad. That¡¯s a perfect skill to use topare against my Lightless de,¡± Su Chen said as he unsheathed the Lightless Ring.

    Flowing Gold de versus Flowing Gold de.

    The temr captain¡¯s Flowing Gold de copsed like brittle y and was easily absorbed by Su Chen¡¯s de.

    The temr captain was badly startled. He never expected that the gap between their skills would be so great. Absorbing someone else¡¯s energy on the battlefield was not as simple as having a powerful Flowing Gold de; obviously, Su Chen¡¯sprehension was incredibly deep.

    Even so, that was just how Su Chen was.

    He might not know the skill, but it was impossible for anyone to defeat him when it came to the things he knew best.

    Even though he was a human, he was a Ninth-Ring Arcana Master that had mastered four different elements. In a sense, his Arcana Techniques were far stronger than his human cultivation base.

    But of course, the opposite was true when it came to Su Chen¡¯s foundation. The many years he had spent mired in research hadn¡¯t been in vain.

    After shattering his opponent¡¯s battle de and absorbing it, a hurricane surged forth from Su Chen¡¯s wings, enveloping everyone assembled in its gale.

    Countless razor-sharp wind des shot in all directions.

    Even though these wind des weren¡¯t particrly powerful, their sheer volume was enough to be fatal.

    Most frighteningly, the des were shot fromrge vortexes of wind, which would wrap up the guards and then sent them flying before shooting arge number of wind des at them.

    One of the guards wasn¡¯t able to get out of the way in time and was shredded into miniscule pieces by the razor-sharp wind des.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± Flowing Jade Fragrance howled.

    She strode forward imposingly, her entire body beginning to glow with holy light. ¡°This is a ce that belongs to the Mother Goddess. How dare you profane this sacred ground!?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s just the god of you Harpies,¡± Su Chen replied coolly. A four-faced creature had already appeared behind him.

    At this point, there was no need for Su Chen to hide his identity anymore. He activated the Flowing Gold de,bed the strength of his Light Shaking Realm cultivation base with this Ninth Ring Arcana Technique, and unleashed a wave of killing energy.

    ¡°What? You¡¯re...... a human?¡± Flowing Jade Fragrance was stunned by this revtion.

    Her hatred of Halcyon Wing Streak had originally reached its peak, but when she heard Su Chen¡¯s words, only then did she realize what had happened.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. So we don¡¯t need to waste our breath any longer, right?¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    The Flowing Gold de swung through the air again and again, reaping guard after guard.

    Flowing Jade Fragrance realized that the battle was more than likely lost given her opponent¡¯s true identity of a human.

    She loudly pleaded, ¡°Majestic god, please give me your blessing!¡±

    A streak of divine light shot forth from the shattered statue towards Flowing Jade Fragrance.

    However, the moment right before the divine light was about to strike Flowing Jade Fragrance, Su Chen reached out and intercepted the light, grasping it in his hand.

    ¡°How is this possible?¡± Flowing Jade Fragrance was stunned yet again.

    ¡°Divine light?¡± Su Chen chuckled. ¡°I don¡¯t know if there truly is a god out there. But at the very least, this power...... does not belong to a god!¡±

    As he spoke, he tightened his grip. The divine light shattered in his hand.

    The Flowing Gold de reappeared once again, carving out a river of blood.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 143: An Unacceptable Price

    Chapter 143: An Uneptable Price

    While Su Chen was busy plundering the Mother Goddess Sect, Serene Dream Lotus Crown and the other high-status members of the Mother Goddess Sect were flying towards where Kelesda had been spotted.

    As Sky Country¡¯s most wanted individual, Kelesda was a major target for Serene Dream Lotus Crown. She was willing to pay almost any price to finish him off ¡ª of course, if she knew about the price she was currently paying, she might have reconsidered that stance.

    But even so, that was her current mindset.

    Kelesda was waiting at the base of Vast Cloud Peak.

    Of course, he had changed his appearance, but that was pointless in front of Serene Dream Lotus Crown. Kelesda had no way of physically altering himself, so it was only natural that it was instantly seen through.

    However, Kelesda wasn¡¯t willing to give up so easily.

    The hatred he felt for Su Chen was bone-deep, and it constantly tormented him. Even though he knew that he was putting himself in extreme danger by staying here, he still needed toe.

    But just because he was mad with rage, that didn¡¯t mean that he was an idiot.

    As such, he had stopped his pursuit at the base of the mountain. He was certain that Su Chen was going to try to use the Mother Goddess Sect to deal with him. So, he decided to sit there and wait instead of forcefully making a move.

    Very quickly, Serene Dream Lotus Crown and the upper echelons of the Mother Goddess Sect arrived. When they saw Kelesda, one of the Head Bishops loudly yelled, ¡°Divine Light Revtion!¡±

    Kelesda¡¯s true expression was immediately revealed under the re of the holy light.

    ¡°It¡¯s him!¡± All of the Mother Goddess Sect experts were delighted when they saw Kelesda¡¯s face.

    Just as they were about to attack, Kelesda said, ¡°I¡¯m not against fighting. But before you do that, will you listen to what I am about to say?¡±

    One of the bishops defiantly said, ¡°What is there for us to listen to?¡±

    However, they didn¡¯t immediately attack.

    Kelesda¡¯s reputation of being a legendary Arcana Master preceded him. This kind of strength was not to be toyed with. The Mother Goddess Sect would definitely win if they were to really fight just based on the strength that they had amassed here. However, it also went without question that Kelesda would be able to take some of them with him.

    And Kelesda had never appeared so publicly before. His sudden appearance at the base of Vast Cloud Peak was far too out of the norm. It was only natural that they were approaching the situation with extreme caution.

    Despite their suspicions, however, they still continued to posture stubbornly. If the Sect Master wasn¡¯t present, they probably would have attacked already.

    Kelesda only looked at Serene Dream Lotus Crown. ¡°Serene Dream, you and I are not ofmon status. Even if we ultimately end up fighting, we should still be able to have a discussion beforehand, right?¡±

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s eyebrow jumped. ¡°What exactly are you trying to say?¡±

    Kelesda calmly replied, ¡°Halcyon Wing Streak was probably the one who told you that I am here, right?¡±

    The Harpies were all taken aback. Serene Dream Lotus Crown also realized that something was off. ¡°You know him?¡±

    ¡°Was he also the one who told you that a Deste Beast awoke in the southwest?¡±

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s expression sank. ¡°He also said that you were the one who awakened the Deste Beast. Kelesda, you bastard, do you know what you¡¯ve done? You¡¯ve plunged all of Sky Country into a desperate fight for our lives!¡±

    ¡°I was the one who awakened the Deste Beast?!¡± Kelesda tilted his head back and madly howled with a rage-filledughter. ¡°Is that what that bastard said? Then did he tell you that when that Deste Beast awakened, itpletely wiped out Fate¡¯s Hands¡¯ headquarters, causing countless lives to be needlessly lost?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± The Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s bishops were all stunned by Kelesda¡¯s words.

    Only Serene Dream Crown Lotus remained somewhatposed. ¡°In other words, besides you, Fate¡¯s Hands has been wiped out? Is that what you¡¯re trying to tell me?¡±

    Kelesda retreated a few steps as he cried out in despair, ¡°Yes, all of Fate¡¯s Hands has been destroyed apart from a few members who were out on missions. And all of this came about because of that bastard Halcyon Wing Streak!¡±

    ¡°Him? The kid that was humiliated by those humans?¡± One of the Head Bishops was still in disbelief at this revtion.

    ¡°What if I told you that that ¡®kid¡¯ is also someone who obtained Jade Clearmist¡¯s secret treasure, gained control over Method Power, and is already a Ninth-Ring Arcana Master that¡¯s mastered four elements?¡± Kelesda replied caustically.

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡± all of the other Harpies cried out at the same time.

    Even Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Thoughtless!¡±

    One of the Head Bishops standing behind her quickly reported, ¡°Halcyon Wing Streakes from the Halcyon Wing n. His father is Halcyon Wing Mourning. Seven years ago, Halcyon Wing Streak was captured and fell into human hands at the Jade Dragon border and he only returned two years ago during a hostage exchange. At that time, he was merely a Fifth-Ring Arcana Master. Not long after returning home, he became fed up with the way the other Harpies viewed him and set out on a solo journey. After that, his whereabouts are unknown.¡±

    This Head Bishop, who was known as Thoughtless, only had one primary responsibility: gathering intelligence. He had an eidetic memory, and he understood almost everything about many Harpies throughout the country.

    Just the fact that he had even taken notice of a Fifth-Ring Arcana Master at all was quite impressive.

    ¡°Reaching the Ninth Ring from the Fifth in only two years? And mastery over four elements?¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown muttered in a low voice. ¡°Do you think that that¡¯s even possible?¡±

    ¡°Impossible.¡± The Head Bishops all shook their heads.

    Even Kelesda said, ¡°That¡¯s what I believed as well, but I know what I witnessed with my very own eyes. I also got to know him more over a period of a year. No one knows his strength better than me. This Harpy is incredibly intelligent and well-learned in both ancient and current matters. There¡¯s no way that he¡¯s just a normal Harpy.¡±

    Even though they were on opposing sides, all the Harpies here still understood Kelesda¡¯s nature quite well.

    Given how arrogant he typically was, the best thing he could possibly say about a junior was ¡°not bad.¡± That would have already been quite the high praise.

    For him to say something like that...... was he even still Kelesda?

    Everyone was stunned after hearing his words.

    One of the Head Bishops said, ¡°It¡¯s basically impossible for someone to jump from the Fifth Ring to the Ninth Ring in just two years.¡±

    ¡°Basically?¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown nced at her subordinate. ¡°So you¡¯re telling me there is indeed a possibility?¡±

    ¡°Well...... It wouldn¡¯t be possible through normal cultivation, but it is possible if he relied on external items,¡± the Head Bishop replied, steeling himself as he did so.

    ¡°External items......¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown muttered to herself as item after item shed through her mind. She appeared lost in thought for a number of seconds.

    But no matter what item she considered, none of them could have brought about such a fantastic rate of improvement.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown couldn¡¯t help but shake her head. ¡°Mastering four elements and climbing from the Fifth Ring to the Ninth Ring in only two years...... That might take seventeen or so divine-ss medicines or hundreds of legendary medicines to aplish. Even Sky Country¡¯s imperial treasury wouldn¡¯t be able to sustain that kind of expenditure rate.¡±

    ¡°No, but there is one item that can achieve an even greater effect than any other medicine,¡± one of the Head Bishops gingerly pointed out.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown trembled as she cried out, ¡°Lifesource Candles?¡±

    Lifesource Candles were even more effective than legendary medicines, but legendary medicines were already hard enough to find. Lifesource Candles were only produced by humans.

    The humans relied on Lifesource Candles as their primary trump card, as it allowed them to produce tons of powerful experts, rivaling even the Astrals in their number of experts.

    Only this item could produce such a high-tier Arcana Master in such a short time period.

    ¡°Humans......¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown muttered to herself before her eyes lit up. ¡°Halcyon Wing Streak only just returned from human territory. Could it be......¡±

    ¡°He must have sold us out to the humans!¡±

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown asked, ¡°What kind of information could he possibly have given in exchange for hundreds of Lifesource Candles?¡±

    All of the Head Bishops were stunned.

    Even though only humans possessed the Lifesource Candles, they were incredibly rare even amongst humans.

    Humans would typically only have a single Lifesource Candle on them, and they would typically use its power to defeat a stronger opponent that they would normally lose to ¡ª in essence, a temporary breakthrough. As such, they were mostly carried around by high-status individuals as a precaution against future high-level attacks.

    Consuming them like medicine just to reach a high cultivation base...... Even the imperial Crown Prince probably couldn¡¯t afford to be that wasteful.

    ¡°Is he perhaps not Halcyon Wing Streak but a human?¡± one of the Head Bishops asked suspiciously.

    ¡°No, he¡¯s definitely a Harpy. I saw his wings. Those were real, physical wings.¡± A single sentence from Kelesda was enough to refocus the conversation.

    So how had a single Harpy managed to get his hands on that many Lifesource Candles?

    That was yet another conundrum.

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s not Lifesource Candles but some other divine object?¡± Some Harpies came up with an alternative exnation.

    They debated back and forth for some time about how Su Chen could have possibly managed to aplish this, but weren¡¯t able toe to a unified conclusion in the end.

    It was Serene Dream Lotus Crown who spoke up towards the end. ¡°Enough! No matter how Halcyon Wing Streak ascended, that¡¯s not important. Right now, what matters is...... You, Kelesda!¡±

    Everyone turned to face Kelesda yet again.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown said, ¡°Kelesda, if that¡¯s all you wanted to say, then we knew all that already. Is there anything else you want to say?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Kelesda chuckled coldly as he continued, ¡°There are three more points. First of all, he was the one who awakened the Deste Beast.¡±

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s heart sank. So that was indeed how it was.

    Actually, she had guessed this was the case before Kelesda had even said anything.

    But just because she could guess his first point didn¡¯t mean that she could guess the next few.

    Kelesda said, ¡°The second item is that the reason I became involved with him in the first ce is because he plundered Fate¡¯s Hands¡¯ headquarters.¡±

    When they heard this, all of the Mother Goddess Sect Harpies were stunned.

    The fact that he could aplish something of that magnitude had deep implications. None of them were idiots.

    As they processed Kelesda¡¯s words, they all suddenly realized how dangerous it was to leave this guy alone within the Mother Goddess Sect.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown had even thought of rewarding Halcyon Wing Streak earlier, but now that Kelesda had made his point, she immediately understood what was going on.

    He had just been testing the waters!

    ¡°I¡¯m going......¡± some of the Head Bishops began to call out.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown said, ¡°Everyone, don¡¯t panic! No matter what that brat¡¯s true motives are, the sect¡¯s guards are still present. I refuse to believe that they¡¯re unable to handle a mere Ninth-Ring Arcana Master. We must trust in our sect¡¯s disciples!¡±

    All of the Head Bishops bowed to Serene Dream Lotus Crown. ¡°Sect Master is truly wise!¡±

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown nced at Kelesda. ¡°I believe that my disciples will be able to handle that overconfident thief. Even if they can¡¯t, we can sustain some losses. The Mother Goddess Sect has paid too much of a price over the years due to your actions. If it only takes a few treasures to im your life here today, I am very willing to ept that price! But before then, don¡¯t even think about trying to have any of my strength withdraw from here today.¡±

    When he heard this, Kelesda smiled slightly. ¡°Can I make my third point now?¡±

    ¡°Speak!¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s aura was already beginning to surge.

    Kelesda pretended not to notice.

    He calmly said, ¡°The Deste Beast, the Thousand Poisons Toad...... is currently on its way here.¡±

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 144: Mutual Scheming

    Chapter 144: Mutual Scheming

    After dealing with the opponents in the main hall, he was just about to step outside when he saw a bunch of Mother Goddess Sect disciples pouring in his direction.

    None of them belonged to the group that Serene Dream Lotus Crown had taken with her. They were merely Harpies who happened to be nearby and had heard themotion.

    When he saw that it was just a bunch of random individuals, he paid them no mind and flew off into the distance.

    He needed to leave quickly. Serene Dream Lotus Crown and the others could return at any moment in time. Even though Su Chen had already left a clone outside and could teleport as he pleased, it was better if he didn¡¯t use that have to use that skill. As long as he wasn¡¯t in a dire situation, Su Chen would rather have remained in Sky City for a bit longer.

    Yes, he wanted to spend as much time as possible in Sky City, wreaking havoc and robbing the ce as much as he could.

    Humans and Harpies had never been on good terms. As long as the circumstances allowed for it, both parties would do their best to sabotage the other. This was not only a selfish matter but a matter that involved the survival of a race.

    As such, Su Chen¡¯s actions might have seemed evil in the sight of the Harpies, but humans would undoubtedly view it as good.

    A great good!

    What an enemy considered good was undoubtedly bad for you, and vice versa.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t the Mother Goddess. He had no heart for tens of thousands of races or to try and create evesting peace. If possible, he would rather unite the entire Primordial Continent under a human banner.

    If one day this really happened, Su Chen was willing to consider sparing some resources to help those from other races.

    For this reason, he needed to take advantage of any opportunity he was given to cause damage.

    Weaken the opponent and strengthen himself.

    Even that Deste Beast had been drawn over by Su Chen¡¯s clone.

    Without question, the Deste Beast would create the most destruction, which would also create the most opportunities for him.

    Su Chen¡¯s n was to use Kelesda to deal with the Mother Goddess Sect and the Deste Beast to deal with Sky Country as a whole.

    If he had no assistance, he would create it. The people chasing him had be his helpers.

    In that moment, Su Chen had basically managed to achieve the impossible.

    Su Chen left the temple and flew out a ways.

    But as he flew along, he began to wonder why he wasn¡¯t seeing anymotion off in the distance. A battle between two legendary opponents should have been heaven-shaking.

    In other words, they hadn¡¯t started fighting yet?

    A trace of uneasiness surfaced in Su Chen¡¯s heart.

    Su Chen had managed to use Kelesda topletely loot the Mother Goddess Sect. However, his primary goal was to use the Mother Goddess Sect to finish off Kelesda.

    He had managed to achieve his auxiliary goal, but his primary goal hadn¡¯t been achieved. In that sense, Su Chen¡¯s n had failed.

    This frustrated him immensely.

    If Kelesda didn¡¯t die, that would mean that he needed to constantly run and hide.

    Even so, no n would go smoothly one hundred percent of the time. idents were bound to happen.

    The creator of a n could only control the direction of a situation, not the details.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know that it was precisely his drawing of the Deste Beast that caused Serene Dream Lotus Crown to hesitate killing Kelesda - Su Chen could use the Deste Beast, but so could Kelesda. After all, Kelesda wasn¡¯t an idiot either.

    At the base of Vast Cloud Peak.

    Kelesda¡¯s wordspletely stopped Serene Dream Lotus Crown and the others in their tracks.

    ¡°This...... How is this possible?¡± the Head Bishops muttered amongst themselves.

    The onught of a Deste Beast wasn¡¯t a small matter.

    Kelesda calmly said, ¡°You can ask your subordinate whether or not it¡¯s true.

    As he spoke, he waved his arm. A few figures suddenly flew through the air. They were the Mother Goddess Sect disciples who had been sent to the southwest to scout out the situation. So they had fallen into Kelesda¡¯s hands.

    Kelesda had discovered them while he was chasing Su Chen. Upon discovering that they were Mother Goddess Sect disciples, Kelesda immediately captured them but didn¡¯t kill them. He took them with him to see the Deste Beast currently on the move before taking them with him to Sky City.

    ¡°Evening Moon!¡± One of the Head Bishops recognized his subordinate and cried out.

    ¡°Sect Master Serene Dream, Head Bishop Rainbow Light, there is a Deste Beast! It¡¯s currently headed in the direction of Sky City!¡± a few of the subordinates cried out.

    Even though they had fallen into the hands of an enemy, they didn¡¯t forget to immediately report the most important information.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown trembled slightly when she heard the news.

    She quickly recovered, however, and asked, ¡°The Deste Beast¡¯s movements should have been incredibly random. Why is it headed directly for Sky City?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s being drawn in this direction,¡± one of the oldest Harpies replied, kneeling.

    It¡¯s being drawn?

    All of the Harpies felt their vision go ck.

    Who would be that vicious?

    The first person these high-status Harpies thought of was Kelesda, but they weren¡¯t idiots either. There was no need for Kelesda to risk his life and give this information to them. After all, the informants probably would have said it was Kelesda immediately and wouldn¡¯t have forgotten such a critical piece of information.

    In other words, they didn¡¯t know who was responsible either.

    Could it be......

    An image appeared in Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s heart, causing her to tremble.

    An instantter, her eyes began to glow strangely as a Harpy¡¯s image appeared in the air. It was a projection of Halcyon Wing Streak.

    Without Serene Dream Lotus Crown saying anything, a few of the disciples automatically cried out, ¡°It¡¯s him, it¡¯s him! He was constantly using lightning to strike the Deste Beast and draw it over.¡±

    So it was him.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown felt her vision go blurry.

    ¡°You, you, and you, immediately return......¡±

    She hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when Kelesda said, ¡°There¡¯s no need. You won¡¯t be able to catch him. Don¡¯t forget, he was able to make it all the way here from the Thousand Poisons Mountain even though I was chasing him the whole way.¡±

    When they heard this, everyone was stunned.

    Right, this kid had been chased by Kelesda the whole way over.

    Wait a second.

    If he had been being chased by Kelesda, how was he to also draw the Deste Beast along?

    Everyone nced at Kelesda, revealing suspicious expressions.

    Kelesda understood what they were thinking and chuckled coldly. ¡°Are you wondering how he can provoke the Deste Beast even though he was being chased by me? Actually, you should have asked another question first. Why did I not try to stop him when I saw him provoking the Deste Beast?¡±

    The Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s members all harrumphed, thinking to themselves that it was already strange enough that he wasn¡¯t the one provoking the Deste Beast. There was nothing to wonder about.

    Kelesda, however, said, ¡°Because it was his clone.¡±

    ¡°Clone?¡±

    ¡°Yes, clone!¡± Kelesda replied with conviction. ¡°This brat has a few incredible skills at his disposal. He can create clones from his blood essence; with enough essence, he can construct many clones that can use all his abilities and are only somewhat weaker than the true body. As long as the blood essence of the clone is not consumed, they will persist. Most shockingly, they can actually recover energy by consuming medicines and spiritual herbs. His clone was the one provoking the Deste Beast, so it would be pointless even if I were to kill it. He would quickly form a dozen more and send them to take turns in provoking the beast. Unless I guarded the Deste Beast day and night, I wouldn¡¯t be able to stop him from doing that. But then that would have been ording to his n, as I would not have been able to chase after him.¡±

    ¡°But you still weren¡¯t able to catch up to him.¡±

    ¡°Yes, because this brat also knows an Arcana Technique by the name of Whitetower Teleportation.¡±

    ¡°Whitetower Teleportation? Isn¡¯t that the invention of that Arcanist organization?¡± One of the Head Bishops was somewhat familiar with ancient history and knew a little about Whitetower.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Kelesda sighed. ¡°But Whitetower Teleportation has almost transformed in this brat¡¯s hands. Not only can he teleport much farther, he has managed tobine the power of his blood clones. As long as his blood clones are present, he can teleport to them andpletely ignore distance.¡±

    ¡°How is that possible? Can he leap ten thousand kilometers at once?¡±

    Kelesda replied, ¡°Ten thousand kilometers would probably be impossible. Based on what I can sense, the further he jumps, the more of a burden is ced on his body. Ten thousand kilometers might kill him immediately. But teleporting a few tens of kilometers in rapid session can quickly result in a few hundred kilometers.¡±

    The Head Bishops were all stunned.

    Origin Qi Schrs typically found it difficult to even teleport a single kilometer. Even for Arcana Technique Masters, hundreds of kilometers was a shocking number.

    ¡°How can he possibly teleport that far?¡± Some of the Head Bishops couldn¡¯t understand.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown was the one who answered. ¡°If his mastery of spatial power is high enough, he might have someprehension of spatial method power. If he then mixes in his blood clones, he should be able to achieve an effect simr to that.¡±

    Kelesda sighed in praise, ¡°Sect Master Serene Dream is right. Yes, this brat hasprehended spatial method power.¡±

    ¡°But isn¡¯t he only at the Ninth Ring? He¡¯s not a legendary Arcana Master!¡± Everyone once again burst intomotion.

    Possessing method power while not being at the legendary level was simply unbelievable!

    Kelesda sighed, ¡°That¡¯s why I kept him trapped for over a year. This kid has a lot of secrets on him that are impossible to understand. I had no idea how he did it. To me, this kid himself is far more important than any of the treasures that I lost.¡±

    ¡°Heavens, our secret treasure store......¡± When the Head Bishops heard Kelesda¡¯s words, they finally realized how dangerous it was to leave someone like Su Chen alone in the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s territory.

    Some of them wanted to go back immediately.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown, however, said, ¡°There¡¯s no point in going back now. It¡¯s been so long that he has probably already gotten what he was after. And even if you went back, you wouldn¡¯t be able to catch him...... How would you catch him if he can teleport ten kilometers at once?¡±

    All of the Head Bishops were stunned.

    ¡°Should we just let him do as he pleases?¡± some of the Head Bishops said with dissatisfaction.

    ¡°That depends on what Sir Kelesda over here thinks. Isn¡¯t that right?¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown turned to face Kelesda.

    Kelesda chuckled and bowed to Serene Dream Lotus Crown. ¡°So even a wanted felon like me can be an ally?¡±

    ¡°An ally?¡± The Head Bishops were all stunned.

    ¡°Yes, an ally. Only I can lock onto Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s position and find him at any given point in time,¡± Kelesda said with a smile. ¡°And only I can help you catch him.¡±

    This alliance was the whole reason why Kelesda had ignored the peril he was in and met with them.

    Su Chen wanted to use Kelesda to draw away the Mother Goddess Sect and steal away their treasures. Kelesda saw what he was after but didn¡¯t try to stop him at all.

    The reason was very simple.

    The best way for him to ally with a sworn enemy was to first get rid of his status as the most wanted criminal.

    He might not be able to get rid of the terrible things he had done, but he could create an even more frightening individual.

    Even though Su Chen had merely robbed the Mother Goddess Sect and baited the Deste Beast into drawing near, these two actions alone were more than enough to turn him into Sky City¡¯s most wanted enemy.

    An enemy, not just a criminal!

    At that moment, Su Chen¡¯s threat level had already reached a point where the entire country was in danger.

    What was Kelesda inparison?

    Allying with Kelesda to deal with Su Chen was aplete necessity.

    This was exactly what Kelesda wanted. Even though he could see what Su Chen¡¯s n was, he allowed it to happen, even helping Su Chen waste time so that he could seed.

    Only if Su Chen seeded would Kelesda be able to seed.

 Sect - Book 5, 145: Unperturbed

    Chapter 145: Unperturbed

    A talented diplomat knew how to control his own emotions and impulses.

    After all, sessfully resolving a situation depended on gaining an advantage, not on managing his own emotions.

    Even though Kelesda was unquestionably a terrorist in the eyes of Sky Country, Kelesda viewed himself as a dreamer who was trying to revive the former glory of his race - most terrorists believed in their own ideals. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t be terrorists in the first ce.

    Kelesda hated Su Chen to his core for awakening the Deste Beast and destroying Fate¡¯s Hands. He had almost gone mad with anger, after all.

    But during this past few days, Kelesda¡¯s rage had subsided somewhat, and his intelligence once again returned.

    He began to consider what to do now that Fate¡¯s Hands was gone.

    Should he give up on his dreams just like that?

    Kelesda wasn¡¯t willing to ept that oue.

    A true warrior would never give up so easily. Even if he failed now, he would try again.

    Fate¡¯s Hands was finished, but that didn¡¯t matter. He was still there.

    As long as he was still alive, Fate¡¯s Hands could rise again.

    Not only so, but it might even result in an even better situation in the future.

    Yes, an even better situation!

    Halcyon Wing Streak was the newest terrorist to appear on the scene. He had destroyed Fate¡¯s Hands, but he was also the opportunity for Fate¡¯s Hands to arise yet again.

    With him present, Kelesda would have an opportunity to establish rtions with Sky Country.

    In the future, Fate¡¯s Hands could potentially be rebuilt without being viewed as an enemy by Sky Country. Instead, they could be like the Resurrection Door was to the Ravagers - an organization to be used by the Harpies instead.

    If that was the case, Fate¡¯s Hands wouldn¡¯t need to be confined to the Thousand Poisons Mountain any longer.

    If that was the case, Fate¡¯s Hands would probably flourish.

    Without destruction, there can be no construction. After death came nirvana in resurrection. Through the process of chasing Su Chen, Kelesda¡¯s thoughts became clearer, and he began to develop a kind of n.

    The first step was to begin working with the Mother Goddess Sect.

    Of course, convincing those Head Bishops wasn¡¯t going to be easy.

    ¡°Alliance?¡± The Head Bishops began tough as if Kelesda had told them a joke.

    Sky Country¡¯s most wanted criminal actually proposed an alliance with them? That was far tooughable.

    Kelesda said sincerely, ¡°Yes, an alliance. Only if we ally together will we be able to catch Halcyon Wing Streak. Right, if you aren¡¯t willing to do so, you can try and catch him yourselves first.¡±

    ¡°Even if we can¡¯t catch him, we won¡¯t ally ourselves with you! Sky Country will never ally with an enemy Harpy to catch another enemy Harpy!¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown said seriously.

    Kelesda calmly replied, ¡°First of all, you only represent the Mother Goddess Sect, not Sky Country as a whole. His Majesty Eternal Night is the one in charge. Also, I am not an enemy Harpy - I am an Arcanist. I cannot possibly betray the Harpies because I am not one. Third of all, Fate¡¯s Hands has already been destroyed. The enemy power you wanted to exterminate for so long has beenpletely wiped out by a Deste Beast. It doesn¡¯t exist anymore......

    As he spoke, a few tears actually rolled down his face.

    Those tears were genuine. He had fought bitterly for this organization for many years, and now it was gone just like that. How could Kelesda not feel sorrowful?

    Even Serene Dream Lotus Crown was moved.

    In that moment, she couldpletely understand Kelesda¡¯s sentiment...... Because Sky Country was about toe under threat of a Deste Beast¡¯s attack.

    Right, the Deste Beast was currently the greatest threat.

    As if he could sense Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s thoughts, Kelesda continued, ¡°There¡¯s onest point - the Deste Beast. The Deste Beast is charging in this direction. It is a Thousand Poisons Toad with incredibly poisonous attacks. It makes any terrain around it uninhabitable. Serene Dream, you should know how powerful the poison in the Thousand Poisons Mountain is, right? That¡¯s not something you can endure against. If you let that Thousand Poisons Toad get any closer to Sky City......¡±

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown and all of the Head Bishops were stunned.

    That oue would be truly frightening.

    The Thousand Poisons Toad¡¯s strength was rtively weakpared to other Deste Beasts, but its poison was incredibly potent. It was more than capable of turning its surroundings into a wastnd.

    It didn¡¯t even need to try to kill anyone. As long as it spouted poison within the vicinity of Sky City, the ce would instantly be a ghost town.

    That was something Sky Country absolutely could not ept.

    Kelesda said, ¡°I have an antidote that can deal with the Thousand Poisons Toad. Even though it can¡¯t cure all of the poisons it exudes, it can take care of most. With the antidote, ourbined strength, and the power of Sky City, we should be able to kill this beast before it reaches the city.¡±

    Kelesda had the antidote!

    That was his greatest crutch.

    Even though Su Chen didn¡¯t fear the poison, the sheepskin was not necessarily an antidote. And even if he was able toe up with an antidote form, he wouldn¡¯t possibly distribute it.

    As such, Kelesda became the only person who would be willing to make a transaction with the Harpies.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown might not need Kelesda¡¯s help to deal with Su Chen, but she couldn¡¯t deny her need for the antidote Kelesda had.

    The pressure of the Thousand Poisons Toad was simply too great.

    Kelesda had managed to pinpoint their vitals, making it impossible for them to resist.

    Diplomatic negotiations didn¡¯t care for feelings but for advantages. Otherwise, they couldn¡¯t be considered diplomatic negotiations.

    Even though they had dreamed of ying the person before them alive, they had no choice but to acquiesce given the situation they were in.

    These thoughts shed through Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s head like lightning. Now that she was aware Kelesda was in control of the situation, her killing intent hadpletely disappeared. However, she continued to stare at Kelesda with a steely expression.

    Just because her killing intent was gone didn¡¯t mean that her hatred was as well. She was just doing her best to prevent herself from attacking.

    That wasn¡¯t particrly strange. Even amongst powerful individuals, diplomacy was a necessary tactic. Some would rely on their strength to carve out a path to the top for themselves, but werecking in diplomatic skills. Serene Dream Lotus Crown was already demonstrating impressive self-restraint. There were a few Head Bishops behind her who hadn¡¯t managed to wrap their heads around the situation yet and were still calling out for Kelesda¡¯s death. Thankfully, those who were aware of what was taking ce managed to keep them in check.

    The temrs were the ones crying for blood. If the high-status Harpies were the ones insisting, the situation really would have been much more dire.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown realized that she wouldn¡¯t be able to kill Kelesda today and quickly adjusted her emotional state before asking, ¡°What exactly do you want?¡±

    Unexpectedly, Kelesda shook his head. ¡°You will not be able to give me what I want right now. I will need both your and His Majesty Eternal Night¡¯s agreement first.¡±

    ¡°You......¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown trembled in anger.

    Kelesda wasn¡¯t looking down on Serene Dream Lotus Crown. However, it was obvious that he was going to ask for a lot, so much so that even the Mother Goddess Sect wasn¡¯t qualified to make the final call.

    But that was also not such a big deal.

    Making any kind of agreement with Kelesda would be a mark of shame in the books of history.

    Yes, a mark of shame!

    Allying with a terrorist no matter the motivation or circumstances would be mocked in the history books.

    That was an unchangeable truth.

    She was willing to be wronged for the sake of her race, but history would not remember her so kindly.

    Having another Harpy help her bear that sin wasn¡¯t necessarily a bad thing.

    When she heard this, Serene Dream Lotus Crown nodded. ¡°Fine, we will go and request an audience with His Majesty Eternal Night right now.¡±

    ¡°Fine with me.¡± Kelesda let out a long sigh when he heard this reply.

    Now that he had managed to appease Serene Dream Lotus Crown, his n was one-thirdplete.

    Just as they were about to leave, a few Mother Goddess Sect disciples intercepted them.

    They knelt in front of Serene Dream Lotus Crown and cried out, ¡°Sect Master, disaster has struck!¡±

    ¡°Speak,¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown said calmly, decently confident that she knew what they were going to say.

    ¡°Halcyon Wing Streak just plundered our treasure stores!¡±

    ¡°Understood,¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown replied faintly. So this kid had ended up doing that? And that bastard Kelesda had helped him waste time.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown shot a re at Kelesda. She could tell what he had been gunning for the whole time.

    Kelesda appearedpletely nonchnt, as if he already knew that he had been found out. Serene Dream Lotus Crown knew that he knew that she knew what he was up to as well...... saying any more would be redundant.

    In any case, they both reached a clear understanding but pretended not to know.

    The arrival of a Deste Beast made any other situation a small one.

    Even a small treasury wasn¡¯t really worth all that much.

    As long as they caught Halcyon Wing Streak, they would be able to regain anything they had lost.

    The disciples who were reporting to Serene Dream Lotus Crown obviously weren¡¯t expecting her to be so nonchnt.

    The rest of the Head Bishops also appeared unsurprised. The disciples were immediately stunned.

    What kind of situation was this?

    They weren¡¯t worried about the treasure stores being plundered at all?

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown said faintly, ¡°There¡¯s no need to panic over the treasury being ransacked. The Mother Goddess¡¯ light will thoroughly expose the thief. As long as we catch him, we will be able to restore everything that was taken.¡±

    ¡°Sect Master is correct!¡± the disciples could only agree.

    ¡°Right, were there any casualties?¡±

    ¡°Head Bishop Flowing Jade Fragrance, Arcana Technique Master Flying Night, Temr Captain Wither, and all of the guards for the main temple died!¡± the disciples replied with sorrowful voices.

    ¡°Flowing Jade Fragrance¡¯s death is my responsibility,¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown sighed.

    She was the one who had told Flowing Jade Fragrance to escort Halcyon Wing Streak to the storeroom. News of her death was not all that surprising.

    But...... Wait a moment.

    Flying Night? Wither?

    All of the main temple¡¯s guards?

    What kind of situation was that?

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown nced at the disciples suspiciously. ¡°Why did the main temple¡¯s guards also die?¡±

    The disciples replied, ¡°Because Halcyon Wing Streak attacked the main temple. After plundering the storeroom, he went to the main temple and stole the Divine Feather, ughtered the guards, and even destroyed the statue of the Mother Goddess.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s voice immediately raised a few octaves.

    The disciple repeated himself,pletely unaware, ¡°Halcyon Wing Streak killed all of the main temple¡¯s guards, stole the Divine Feather, and destroyed the Mother Goddess statue.¡±

    Bang!

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown unleashed a fierce punch that smashed the disciple to smithereens.

    Then, she spat out arge mouthful of blood. It was obvious how heavy a blow this was to her consciousness given her status as a legendary Arcana Master. The Origin Energy rebound caused her to wound herself quite badly.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 146: Treasure

    Chapter 146: Treasure

    As he flew along, Su Chen didn¡¯t forget to look through and categorize the treasures that he had managed to loot from the Mother Goddess Sect. After all, he now had some free time to look through exactly what he had taken.

    Not too many items had fallen out of the Mother Goddess statue. Apart from the Divine Feather, there were only five other items.

    The first was a chunk of metal that appeared to absorb all light.

    Su Chen carefully inspected it for a long time but couldn¡¯t figure out what it was in this short period of time.

    But just because he didn¡¯t know what it was didn¡¯t mean know that no one knew. Su Chen called up Patelocke and began to describe the metal to him.

    This old guy had been around for so long that his knowledge base really was incredibly vast.

    After a moment¡¯s contemtion, he told Su Chen, ¡°There are a number of metals that match what you just described. However, there¡¯s no way that the Mother Goddess Sect would guard amon metal so closely. I imagine that it must be a chunk of Refined Stargod Metal.¡±

    ¡°Refined Stargod Metal? What is that?¡±

    ¡°Apparently, Refined Stargod Metal was produced by the Forerunners in a bygone era. Allegedly, those powerful individuals could refine stars into metal.¡±

    ¡°Refine stars?¡± Su Chen was stunned by this exnation.

    Currently, the upper limit of this continent¡¯s transportation was a thousand kilometers. That was already considered an incredible feat. Butpared to the bygone ancient eras, even one as recent as the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s, the current brilliance of this field was quitecking.

    In other words, throughout the Primordial Continent¡¯s millennia of history, its lifeform¡¯s average intelligence had gone up while pure strength had gone down.

    The human race¡¯s development, however, generally ran counter to this overall trend. They had gone from not being able to cultivate at all to having the Light Shaking Realm as their upper limit, and from there continued advancing until they reached the current limit today, the Ultimate Emperor Realm. This was an obvious upward trend, and was one of the major reasons why humans were one of the five major powers inhabiting the continent today.

    Even so, they were far, far away from reaching the power level of those ancient powers.

    Refining stars...... To Su Chen, this was simply inconceivable.

    ¡°Yes. Whether or not they actually refined stars into metal, I do not know. All I know is that this metal¡¯s sturdiness and tolerance must be astronomically high to be worthy of that backstory,¡± Patelocke said.

    ¡°But then shouldn¡¯t this piece of metal be very heavy? Why does it almost feel weightless in my hands?¡± Su Chen asked.

    But before Patelocke could reply, Su Chen found the answer himself. ¡°Wait a minute...... I can sense spatial power on its surface! This chunk of metal is actually sealed through some kind of spatial power. Patelocke, you¡¯re right; this item¡¯s actual mass is probably located in a different spatial realm. Otherwise, it couldn¡¯t possibly be this light. But how can it simultaneously be in a different spatial realm and here in my hand? How is the connection still intact? And even though it¡¯s already under something else¡¯s spatial effects, it can still be ced inside an Origin Ring without any conflict. This is simply too incredible...... This must be due to a profound...... an incredibly profound and deep understanding of spatial method power! This is not just one treasure but two! The presence of this method power is a peerless treasure in its own right!¡±

    Others might only view spatial method power as a way to store this Refined Stargod Metal, but to Su Chen, having this profound method power in front of him was probably even more valuable than the metal itself.

    Patelocke knew that Su Chen was already deeply engrossed in his thought experiments, so he gently reminded, ¡°I don¡¯t think that you¡¯ve reached a level where you can study this item yet.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re right.¡± Patelocke seemed to have awakened Su Chen from a daydream. ¡°Right, what uses does Refined Stargod Metal have?¡±

    ¡°Refined Stargod Metal was used by the ancient Forerunners to forge their weapons. It can only be used by a member of the Forerunner race, so we have no way of bringing out its full power.¡±

    ¡°So it¡¯s useless?¡± Su Chen was greatly disappointed by Patelocke¡¯s exnation.

    Indeed. If an item was too good, then sometimes that meant that it was impossible to draw out its full value.

    Already, Su Chen had the Deste Beast¡¯s Blood and the Origin Beast¡¯s essence, but he had no way of using them. Now, it seemed that this chunk of Refined Stargod Metal was going to fall into that category as well.

    ¡°That might not be entirely true.¡± Unexpectedly, Patelocke¡¯s next words gave Su Chen a bit of hope. ¡°Don¡¯t you have the Flowing Gold de?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Are you saying that I should let the Flowing Gold de absorb it?¡± Su Chen was taken aback. ¡°Is that even possible?¡±

    The Flowing Gold de was incredibly powerful. At full power, it was definitely one of the strongest weapons in Su Chen¡¯s current arsenal.

    However, the rate at which it consumed metals was simply too rapid. Su Chen basically needed to constantly scour his surroundings to satisfy its appetite.

    But now, Su Chen had this piece of Refined Stargod Metal in his hands. Even though it didn¡¯t appear thatrge, the mere fact that it had been refined from stars meant that the Flowing Gold de wouldn¡¯t be as greedy in the future.

    ¡°It should work, but you will need to take some time and slowly work out the best way to research and use it. I think that, as long as it is still a piece of metal, you should be able to find some way to use it,¡± Patelocke replied.

    ¡°So there¡¯s nothing you can do about it either?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°We¡¯ll be fine as long as the Origin Bone Scepter can do something about it,¡± Patelocke replied lightly.

    When he heard this, Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but chuckle.

    Yes, with the Origin Bone Scepter¡¯s help, he would likely be able to find an answer ¡ª unless, of course, there was no answer in the first ce.

    The cost of making this kind of prediction wouldn¡¯t be too high either.

    After putting the metal away, Su Chen nced at the next item.

    This next item was a nt suspended in a piece of jade. The jade itself was quite valuable and was known as Congealed Fat Jade. Su Chen had only ever seen one other nt that had been preserved in such a high-quality jade before, which was the Scarlet Heart¡¯s River Source Grass. That nt could improve an environment¡¯s hospitability greatly as it was a source of abundant Origin Energy that would nourish any nts and vegetation around it. Even though Su Chen hadn¡¯t managed to find much use for it himself, it was incredibly important to the Boundless Sect¡¯s development. At this point, it was a treasure that was closely guarded by all the members of the Boundless Sect.

    This nt before him, however, had been nted in a much more valuable treasure than the Boundless Dirt that the River Source Grass had been found in. It was obviously incredibly valuable.

    Su Chen suspected that this was most likely a Divine-ss medicinal ingredient.

    Medicinal ingredients and medicines were split into five tiers: Common, Umon, Rare, Legendary, and Divine.

    The Corpse Spirit Flowers he had used long ago were Legendary-ss medicinal ingredients. The Immortal Temple had likely expended arge amount of time and energy in their nning and attempts to im them all for themselves.

    But even then, these ingredients were at least obtainable.

    Divine-ss medicinal ingredients were nearly impossible to obtain.

    The value of these ingredients was simply far too high, which meant that almost all of medicinal ingredients at this tier had basically already been harvested. There was nowhere to look for new patches of these ingredients.

    There was only one ce where one could hope to find any more of these resources ¡ª deep in Beast territory. Only that ce remained pristine and primal, and many naturally-existing treasures could be found there. It was precisely because of these barbaric beasts that the ce hadn¡¯t been ransacked by the Intelligent Races yet. Thus, these valuable resources were essentially off-limits to the humans. This was quite an ironic situation.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know whether the Harpies had traveled deep into Beast territory to obtain this ingredient, but he was highly confident that it was at least a Divine-ss medicinal ingredient.

    ¡°This nt is probably Moonglow,¡± Patelocke quickly deduced its identity when he heard Su Chen¡¯s description. ¡°Is there a water droplet on its surface that can¡¯t be shaken off no matter how hard you try?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right,¡± Su Chen said as he shook the nt in his hand. Its most eye-catching characteristic was the droplet of dew on its surface that would not fall off.

    Patelocke exined, ¡°That¡¯s not water; it¡¯s Moonglow Dew. This nt must be ced underneath moonlight every night to absorb the moonlight and gather dew. It will produce one droplet of Moonglow Dew every hundred nights or so, and then it must recuperate for another hundred days. The stalk in your hand is probably in the recovery phase. Before it fully recovers, do not ce it under moonlight; otherwise, it will begin to degrade in quality, and its lifespan will also decrease. Right, Moonglow Dew is an absolutely necessary ingredient for a few Divine Medicines.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this nt a bit like the Hourss of Time?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s exactly like the Hourss of Time.¡±

    When he heard this answer, Su Chen chuckled.

    Getting a chicken was always better than getting an egg.

    Su Chen was already a Master Alchemist, and had only never broken through because he had no opportunities to refine any Divine-ss medicines.

    He simply didn¡¯t have the ingredients!

    Legendary Alchemists were basically impossible to find.

    But now, Su Chen would be able to harvest Moonglow Dew and concoct some Divine-ss medicines now.

    Even though he only had one Divine-ss ingredient, that nheless opened up were a number of low-tier Divine-ss medicines that he could now concoct.

    And Divine-ss medicines were still Divine-ss medicines. Regardless of what their effects were, they would definitely be very strong.

    Su Chen had relied on the Corpse Spirit Flowers to vastly improve his consciousness power in the past. Now, with Moonglow Dew, he was excited for his future prospects.

    The third item was a piece of armor.

    This armor was ming red and covered in ornate inscriptions. It was incredibly beautiful, and it glowed with a faintly divine aura. Obviously, it had been imbued with quite a bit of strength. Unfortunately, it was clearly designed for a female wearer.

    Su Chen felt that this was quite a shame. He could sense just how powerful this armor was, and it was far more so than his Algae Coral Thread Robe. It was probably even stronger than a Grade One Origin Tool. The Algae Coral Thread Robe had been with Su Chen for a long time now. Though it had more than served its usefulness, Su Chen¡¯s growth was starting to outstrip its defensive abilities.

    The Algae Coral Thread Robe proportionally minimized damage, but the stronger an attack it had to endure, the lower this proportionality constant would be.

    At the beginning, it had probably been able to nullify around thirty percent of an attack¡¯s strength. Now, however, it was difficult for it to even nullify ten percent.

    When faced with truly powerful attacks, Su Chen couldn¡¯t rely on the Algae Coral Thread Robe to protect him anymore. Instead, he relied on his powerful, Ravager-like body.

    But now, just when he had managed to find an incredibly powerful piece of armor, it ended up being made for a woman to wear.

    Well, the Harpies did exalt women more, and the Sect Master herself was female as well.

    This armor was most likely hers.

    However, when Patelocke heard about this piece of armor, he said after a moment¡¯s thought, ¡°This is most likely the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s Sky Armor, but it¡¯s probably not finished yet.¡±

    ¡°Not finished?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Apparently, the Sky Armor was formerly worn by the Mother Goddess herself, and disappeared along with her. However, the blueprints for the armor were left behind. The Mother Goddess Sect followed those blueprints and reconstructed the armor, but even a miniature version of the armor was quite hard to forge,¡± Patelocke replied.

    He was waiting for Su Chen to ask him how he had determined that this Sky Armor was iplete, but Su Chen unexpectedly asked apletely different question after a moment¡¯s pause.

    ¡°Patelocke, tell me...... Do you think that there really is a god in this universe?¡±

 Sect - Book 5, 147: Gods

    Chapter 147: Gods

    Were there really gods in this world?

    Patelocke hadn¡¯t expected Su Chen to ask such a question and was immediately taken aback.

    After a moment¡¯s pause, he replied, ¡°The Arcana Kingdom once went through a frenzied period trying to answer this exact question.¡±

    ¡°And their answer?¡±

    ¡°We eventually concluded that the Forerunners were ¡®gods.¡¯¡±

    ¡°The Forerunners were gods?¡± Su Chen repeated questioningly.

    The Forerunners were supposedly the first creatures to ever appear on the Primordial Continent. And because they were born from the will of the Heavens, they were incredibly powerful.

    They were also the first to disappear.

    After the Forerunners came the Origin Beasts and the Deste Beasts, who had reigned over the continent for a long period of time.

    And now, five different races were fighting with each other for sole dominion over this continent.

    Thus, it wasn¡¯t too great of a stretch to call the Forerunners gods.

    However, that still left a few questions unanswered.

    As Su Chen¡¯s consciousness crystal made rapid calctions, Su Chen said, ¡°I have a few suspicions.¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    ¡°The Forerunners existed in a time period that was too far in the past. Even if they disappeared, it would most likely be due to ack of Origin Energy. Where could they have possibly gone into hibernation to still be alive? That¡¯s my first question. Also, during the Forerunners¡¯ rule, even Origin Beasts didn¡¯t dare lift their heads, let alone the five Intelligent Races. We don¡¯t even know if the Intelligent Races were around back then. So why would these gods visit the Intelligent Races, and why would one of them be the goddess of the Harpies? That¡¯s my second question. And my third question is, what is the benefit of being a god anyways?¡±

    Patelocke methodically replied, ¡°The Arcana Kingdom also discussed all of these questions before. We thought of countless possibilities and made many different conjectures. Actually, I personally came up with a hypothesis that can answer all of your questions quite well.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Tell me about it.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s assume that the Forerunners are in fact gods. It follows then that the only reason they would be the god of an Intelligent Race is most likely because it gives them some kind of benefit.¡±

    ¡°What kind of benefit?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you ask me how they could survive to this day?¡±

    Su Chen was stunned. ¡°You¡¯re saying that......¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not saying anything,¡± Patelocke interrupted. ¡°I don¡¯t know the answer, and I have no idea why gods would be so weak as to need the faith ofmoners to survive. But if the Forerunners really are gods, then any suspicions are actually answers. When you string all of these questions together, then even the most impossible possibility can be the most likely one.¡±

    ¡°Then why don¡¯t humans have their own gods?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°The Harpies have a god because their god answered them. The humans have no god because no god bothered to pay any attention to the humans,¡± Patelocke replied straightforwardly.

    When Su Chen heard this, he fell deep into thought.

    But for some reason, he suddenly remembered the old beggar that had swapped out his eyes.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Su Chen said, ¡°Perhaps they did pay attention to humans, but the humans merely never noticed.¡±

    ¡°Never noticed?¡± This time, Patelocke was the one who was confused. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I can¡¯t really exin either. But when I was trying to steal the Divine Feather, I felt a tangible threat wash over me ¡ª the power of a god. That kind of power is impossible to describe or resist. What do you think happened afterwards?¡±

    ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°I smashed the statue of the deity apart with my fist.¡±

    Patelocke was having trouble keeping up with Su Chen¡¯s train of thought, so he waspletely clueless as to what point Su Chen was trying to make.

    Thankfully, he didn¡¯t need to ask anything. Su Chen continued to say, ¡°We aren¡¯t gods, so we can¡¯t guess at what they think or what they want. But I can confirm two things. First, I personally witnessed and sensed divine power myself. Second, they are somehow limited when they act.¡±

    ¡°Gods are limited......¡± Patelocke muttered.

    ¡°What can limit a god?¡± He didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Perhaps an even stronger god, like a god-king, or something else. Or maybe...... Method Power? The Will of the Heavens?¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know the answer.

    However, he did know that the world in front of him was incredibly vast, far more than he had ever imagined.

    This realization made him very excited.

    As he continued to climb higher and higher, he was consequently able to see further and further. The fundamental truths of the world had also be clearer as a result.

    This didn¡¯t make him afraid, but rather excited.

    This was the attitude of a true scientist.

    Those who liked to rely on others would create a god to worship even if no god existed.

    Those who liked to challenge others would try and research gods even if they did exist.

    Su Chen obviously fell into thetter group.

    Whether this world had gods or not wasn¡¯t actually that important. No matter how powerful they were, no ambitious person would bow down and worship a god.

    So what if you were a god?

    I have my own life and my own decisions to make.

    Su Chen was exactly this kind of person. The only reason he was even interested in gods in the first ce was because he wanted to figure out how to close the distance or even surpass them.

    Patelocke had no idea about the ¡°sphemous¡± thoughts running through Su Chen¡¯s mind as he continued to seriously exin, ¡°Your words make sense. Gods would only go into hibernation if they absolutely had to do so. Just because they are strong doesn¡¯t necessarily mean that we need to fear them. The world will only belong to the Intelligent Races from now on.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Su Chen agreed with conviction.

    The two of them could at least agreed on that subject.

    After finishing their discussion on the gods, Patelocke continued to talk about the armor.

    ¡°The Sky Armor was a divine Origin Tool used by the Mother Goddess. It is incredibly powerful, and it unleashes an incredible amount of pressure as soon as it is equipped. Only its recognized owner won¡¯t be affected by it. That is one of the unique attributes of a divine tool. You can¡¯t feel that kind of sensation from the item just yet, which is why I believe that it¡¯s iplete.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°I also have another reason why it¡¯s an iplete item.¡±

    ¡°Why do you think so?¡±

    ¡°If it wereplete, then Serene Dream Lotus Crown would have been wearing it.¡±

    ¡°......¡± Patelocke was speechless.

    What a simple reason. Why hadn¡¯t he thought of that?

    Fine, I don¡¯t want to talk with you anymore anyways, Patelocke thought as he sulked to himself.

    Even though the Sky Armor wasn¡¯tplete, it was still an iplete divine tool. Since it had been made for a woman to wear, then he might as well take it back with him and give it to......

    Damn, who should he give it to?

    Su Chen found himself at an impasse.

    More women meant more problems. He wasn¡¯t worried of being too poor, but rather of being too rich!

    Well, he would figure it out after he returned.

    The fourth item was a crystal, inside of which was a sealed bug.

    The crystal was also an incredibly high-quality one, so it was obvious that the bug inside was no ordinary bug.

    Even Patelocke didn¡¯t recognize it, so Su Chen could only put it away temporarily.

    Thest item was a scroll, which exuded a strong aura of divine power.

    Su Chen immediately knew what it was even without Patelocke saying anything.

    ¡°Divine Power Scroll? A scroll made from the skin of a god?¡± Su Chen was stunned.

    The Divine Power Scroll was no secret item. The Mother Goddess Sect had openly admitted to its existence.

    Apparently, the Mother Goddess had left behind some of her skin for the first Sect Master the first time she appeared. It, along with the seven Divine Feathers, had be a part of the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s inheritance.

    It was incredibly simple to use the scroll. Any Arcana Technique ced onto the scroll and then unleashed would be imbued with divine power, causing its might to greatly increase.

    Even a First-Ring Arcana Technique, when unleashed through a divine scroll, would be at the power of a Fifth-Ring Arcana Technique.

    High-tiered Arcana Techniques wouldn¡¯t experience that much of an increase, but they would at least go up by a single Ring.

    A Tenth-Ring Arcana Technique could reach the might of a legendary Arcana Technique when unleashed through this scroll.

    However, the Divine Power Scroll could only hold one Arcana Technique at a time. After every usage, a new Arcana Technique Pattern would need to be inscribed on it.

    Inscribing techniques on the scroll was much moreplicated than normal, since you would only be able to use the technique once in battle.

    Strictly speaking, the Divine Power Scroll wasn¡¯t actually all that practical.

    Perhaps low-tiered Arcana Masters would find it more useful. If two First-Ring Arcana Masters were fighting and one of them suddenly unleashed a Fifth-Ring Arcana Technique, the battle would be a one-sided ughterfest.

    But for a battle between powerful individuals, unless the battle was bnced on a knife¡¯s edge, most times it wasn¡¯t even as useful as a vial of strength-boosting medicine.

    The Divine Power Scroll¡¯s symbolic meaning was far greater than its practical meaning.

    For this reason, the scroll was often paraded around but rarely used. That was why it had been stored away.

    Even in Su Chen¡¯s hands, there would be no exception. He already had the Lifesource Candles, which were much easier to use than the Divine Power Scroll and would allow him to temporarily power up in battle. Of course, he only had two left now, but he still monopolized the method for countering the three great curses. He could just go and ask the Gu n for some more the next time he visited Gu Qingluo. Getting another hundred might be out of the question, but one or two every so often would probably be fine.

    As such, the Divine Power Scroll also fell under the category of being a spoil of war that Su Chen would never really use. Well, it did have one pretty important use ¡ª it would aid Su Chen in his research of divine power.

    Unlike the Divine Feathers, the Divine Power Scroll could be exposed to the environment for as long as one wanted. The divine power inside was well-contained and wouldn¡¯t leak out automatically, making it much easier and valuable to research.

    This was the benefit of being able to research extensively. In Su Chen¡¯s hands, items would be much more valuable than in anyone else¡¯s.

    The storeroom also had a number of good items, but they were far inferior to the divine items, so Su Chen wasn¡¯t really interested in any of them.

    The rare treasures in Jade Clearmist¡¯s and Fate¡¯s Hands¡¯ treasure stores, as well as the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s storeroom, had probably never felt this neglected before in the past.

    The countless number of high-quality Origin Tools were piled high in Su Chen¡¯s Origin Rings like trash, and rare medicinal ingredients werepletely ignored.

    In terms of wealth, Su Chen definitely stood at the very peak of this world.

    However, Su Chen still wasn¡¯t satisfied.

    He even began to make designs on Sky Country¡¯s imperial treasury.

    ¡°The Deste Beast is on its way and is about to wreak havoc on Sky City. Thus, more opportunities will arise soon. I wonder what His Majesty Eternal Night might leave for me?¡± Su Chen chuckled as he rubbed his chin greedily.

    ¡°I rmend you to forget about trying to rob Sky Country¡¯s imperial treasury. Serene Dream Lotus Crown has probably already realized that the Mother Goddess Sect has been robbed, and thus, Eternal Night will also know very soon. What would you do if you were the emperor of this country?¡±

    ¡°I would ce even more guards for the imperial treasury and wait for the thief toe and take it,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°And......¡±

    He turned around to nce at Vast Sky Peak. ¡°They haven¡¯t started to fight yet, and Serene Dream Lotus Crown still hasn¡¯t returned yet. It seems that it¡¯d be better if I bypass that direction for now.¡±

    ¡°You mean......¡± Patelocke asked.

    ¡°They¡¯ve allied together.¡±

    ¡°How can that be possible?¡± Patelocke was stunned. ¡°Kelesda is the most wanted criminal in Sky Country.¡±

    ¡°That title probably belongs to me now,¡± Su Chen replied with a bitter smile.

    Since no fight had broken out, it was only natural that Su Chen had managed to guess what had happened.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t unhappy that he was being used. Actually, he felt a trace of excitement.

    A difficult opponent made things interesting.

    The desire to do battle burned brightly in his heart.

    He said, ¡°My opponent seems to be problematic, but that¡¯s not a bad thing. No matter how powerful my opponent is, I will turn the Harpies upside down. This will be my contribution to the human race!¡±

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 148: Emperor Eternal Night 1

    Chapter 148: Emperor Eternal Night (1)

    A few hundred kilometers away from Sky City, a massive behemoth of a toad was charging at its direction, totally enraged.

    It wasn¡¯t very fast, and it was actually sorge that it had lost the ability to jump. It could only crawl along the ground, but each step it took propelled its body forward by a thousand feet.

    It was even possible to feel the rumbles emanating from this giant toad that was approaching the city. Wherever it ced its feet, mountains would crumble and the ground would crack.

    Deste Beasts could ignore any terrain in their path.

    It continued to advance relentlessly, bulldozing anything in its path.

    The ground trembled and rumbled violently beneath its feet, and the sky turned a few shades darker due to its humongous figure. Endless waves of poison poured out from its body, constantly diffusing into the surroundings.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Su Chen had never been a Harpy from the beginning, his actions would have been considered a grievous sin.

    This territory, which belonged to the Harpies, had suddenly became inhospitable. The Deste Beast trampled recklessly over the ground, killing countless civilians and destroying countless homesteads underfoot. Anyone who reacted too slowly to its advance would be crushed t without any opportunity to escape.

    This was the true nature of war!

    In war, there was no room for mercy.

    Su Chen knew what the Harpies had done to the humans in the past. They had carried out many unspeakable atrocities to the humans in their own right when the circumstances had been in their favor.

    Halcyon Wing Streak himself wasn¡¯t a good person either.

    Why had he been captured by the humans in the first ce?

    It was because he had been piging and ransacking human cities near the border.

    However, Su Chen hadn¡¯t even questioned Halcyon Wing Streak a single time about his actions.

    After entering the Hidden Dragon Institute, Su Chen had taken some time to travel the country. He had witnessed countless atrocities in these border towns.

    There was no need for Su Chen to recount the enemy¡¯s crimes to them. Su Chen had already be numb to this kind of thing, and the way he valued and weighed oues had changed as a result. For instance, he considered showing mercy to his enemies the same as being hurting himself.

    Su Chen would spare neither the Ravagers nor the Harpies.

    In that sense, when he had made up his mind to elevate the human race, he had also simultaneously decided to weed out, suppress, or even wipe out.

    Otherwise, on what basis could he im that he was working for the human race¡¯s rise to prominence?

    Rising to prominence through peaceful means was virtually impossible. Without a storm of bloodshed and violence, who would give you an opportunity to rise to prominence?

    As such, choosing not to take advantage of an opportunity to strike at your opponents was sometimes a great mistake and essentially a betrayal of your race.

    At the very least, these were Su Chen¡¯s beliefs.

    Clone after clone unleashed a barrage of lightning and thunder at the Thousand Poisons Toad, drawing it toward Sky City. The clones seemedpletely immune to the toad¡¯s enraged attacks and howls.

    Later on, the clones didn¡¯t even need to personally attack anymore. As long as one flew back and forth in front of the toad like an unkible pesky bug, the toad would chase after it relentlessly even as it left arge valley in its wake.

    When the Harpies flying by saw this, they were enraged.

    They pounced at Su Chen¡¯s clone, sending a flurry of attacks in his direction.

    But Su Chen¡¯s clone didn¡¯t even care about those attacks and made no attempt to dodge. It merely nced behind it, motioned at the Thousand Poisons Frog, pointed behind itself, and finally said, ¡°I¡¯m waiting for you over there!¡±

    Even though this sentence was just that, a simple sentence, Su Chen had imbued it with the Seventh-Ring Arcana Technique, Heart Walls.

    Su Chen had previously only managed to be able to use this Arcana Technique by improving his mastery with Lifesource Candles. Now, however, a single clone of his was strong enough to use this technique.

    And because of Soul Transmission¡¯s effects, the Thousand Poisons Toad was able to understand Su Chen¡¯s meaning.

    ¡°ROAR!¡± it howled angrily.

    Its massive tongue flickered through the air dangerously.

    This time, Su Chen¡¯s clone made no attempt to dodge. The clone allowed the tongue to strike it, shattering on the spot.

    However, the Thousand Poisons Toad knew that this slippery mosquito hadn¡¯t truly died yet.

    He was waiting for it in that direction.

    It continued to roar with rage, and charged forward at full speed. As for the group of Harpies around it, the toad didn¡¯t even spare them a second nce.

    Mosquitos, they were all a bunch of mosquitos!

    Within Sky City¡¯s Perpetual Daylight Pce.

    The Perpetual Daylight Pce was the imperial pce, and it had been constructed at the city¡¯s initial founding. At this point, it had experienced the rise and fall of a number of dynasties, and had even been torn down and rebuilt multiple times. However, its name had never changed.

    Its most tenuous period was probably shortly after Eternal Night took to the throne.

    People trying to tter the newly crowned emperor had told him that its name was too simr to his, which made it inauspicious for him. In addition, the former emperor had lived there, so it was probably a good idea to tear it down and rebuild it.

    Thankfully, Eternal Night had vetoed those suggestions.

    The Eternal Night n was known as such because they were formerly a n of assassins who specialized in carrying out their missions under the cover of night.

    Most Harpies weren¡¯t particrly talented assassins. Their typical mindset was like a bird that liked to fly high in the air, above all earthly problems. Being warriors or assassins didn¡¯t really suit them. However, the Harpies as a whole needed to make up for the obviouscks in those departments, so there was a huge incentive toe up with different ways to promote these otherwise understaffed upations. The Wingless were one such group, and so was the Eternal Night group.

    That was where the n had taken their name from.

    Without the Eternal Night n¡¯s sacrifice and willingness to embrace the darkness, how else would Sky Country have managed to maintain a grip on the territory they controlled?

    As such, Eternal Night and Perpetual Daylight didn¡¯t really oppose each other. Instead, theyplemented each other quite well.

    To him, Eternal Night, living in the Perpetual Daylight Pce was a good bnce that followed the principles of Yin and Yang.

    The rtively dpidated condition of the pce was also a good thing.

    Since the Harpies were surrounded by many enemies and were far from being able to enjoy themselves just yet, Eternal Night had chosen to live an ascetic life to motivate himself to work harder so that the Harpies would one day be able to reim the continent.

    The Perpetual Daylight Pce remained intact, and Eternal Night¡¯s reputation spread far and wide as a result. Everyone recognized that he was an honest, hardworking ruler.

    In the few thousand years since then, Eternal Night had be known for his wisdom, heroism, strength, and resoluteness. Each of these traits were backed up with many trials and tribtions.

    Today, this heroic emperor was once again standing at a turning point in Harpy history.

    Eternal Night sat quietly on his throne within Perpetual Daylight Pce.

    His face was unassuming, his stature quite short, and his skin a bit dark ¡ª a unique attribute of the Eternal Night n.

    Beneath him stood Serene Dream Lotus Crown and her Head Bishops.

    Eternal Night was currently deep in thought, but the people beneath him were locked in a heated argument.

    ¡°We must capture Halcyon Wing Streak at any cost!¡±

    ¡°Yes, and the Halcyon Wing n must also bear a portion of the responsibility!¡±

    ¡°No, the current objective should be to deal with the Thousand Poisons Toad!¡±

    ¡°I support allying with Kelesda.¡±

    ¡°Ally with Fate¡¯s Hands? Why are you so intent on throwing away the Harpies¡¯ prestige? That guy is a remnant of the Arcanists.¡±

    ¡°The Ravagers have allied with the Arcanists in the past.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯tpare us noble Harpies with those barbarians.¡±

    ¡°Stop arguing with each other. The Thousand Poisons Toad is currently charging in our direction. We should retreat first, in my opinion.¡±

    ¡°Running away just before a war begins?¡±

    ¡°How can you call this running away? Sky City can defend itself against the toad, but not against its poison. If you aren¡¯t interested in allying with Kelesda, then what else can we do?¡±

    ¡°I have an idea.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we draw the Thousand Poisons Toad over to the human border?¡±

    ¡°What kind of an idea is that? Do you know how far away the human border is? The Deste Beast will probably be nearly dead by the time that happens. If that¡¯s the case, then we wouldn¡¯t be dragging them into the water with us ¡ª we¡¯d be handing them a great gift!¡±

    ¡°And it would also destroy countless cities in its path. The eastern border is not like the western border. There are many towns and viges there, some of them indispensable!¡±

    The arguing continued. But unlike the Ravagers, who cursed and yelled at each other as if a fight could break out at any time, the Harpies were much more refined. Even if they did fight with each other, they did it with their words.

    Of course, the Harpies already viewed this scene as being incredibly uncultured.

    At that point, Eternal Night suddenly cleared his throat and motioned for them all to stop.

    The hall immediately fell silent.

    This was due to the prestige of Emperor Eternal Night, and it was also a particr habit of his.

    When Eternal Night remained silent, they were allowed to bicker as they pleased. But as soon as he opened his mouth to speak, their only job was to listen attentively.

    Eternal Night nced at the officials around him and then asked, ¡°Who can tell me why Halcyon Wing Streak would do this?¡±

    Everyone fell silent when they heard this.

    That was indeed the critical question.

    Halcyon Wing Streak was still a Harpy, after all. Even if he had been maligned in his country and embarrassed amongst his n members, there was no reason for him to bring such savage retribution upon the heads of everyone in Sky Country.

    Eternal Night turned to face Serene Dream Lotus Crown. ¡°You have met Halcyon Wing Streak before. What did you think of him?¡±

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown didn¡¯t expect that Eternal Night would ask about Halcyon Wing Streak and was mildly taken aback.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, she replied, ¡°I only exchanged a few sentences with him, so it¡¯s hard for me to make an analysis. However, he spoke to me with assurance and confidence, not something that any Harpy can do.¡±

    Eternal Night didn¡¯t seem to care about that. His onlyment was, ¡°So he seemed very sober and clear-minded then, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown replied, nodding.

    Of course he had been calm and collected. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to trick Serene Dream Lotus Crown in the first ce.

    Eternal Night stated, ¡°So, we can conclude that he hasn¡¯t gone insane. His mind is still very sharp and his perception acute. Also, his courage must be quite great, seeing as he was willing to risk trying to trick Sect Master so that he could steal the divine objects.¡±

    When she heard this, Serene Dream Lotus Crown realized what Eternal Night was getting at. ¡°You mean......¡±

    Eternal Night sighed as he said, ¡°A Harpy who is not mad but treats us Harpies with such madness doesn¡¯t make sense. Halcyon Wing Streak was wronged by the humans, but we were the ones who bought his freedom back. Perhaps the Halcyon Wing n did look down on him because of what happened to him, but then he should have attacked the Halcyon Wing n or the humans, not all of Sky Country. Most importantly, a person with such a clear, destructive intent shouldn¡¯t care that much about wealth. They would probably end up self-destructing at some point, but Halcyon Wing Streak is clearly an exception. If he¡¯s also very clear on his actions...... Do you all not feel that his goals and motivations are quite strange?¡±

    All of the Harpies present were stunned and nced at each other with uncertainty.

    One of the Head Bishops tentatively asked, ¡°Your Majesty, you mean?¡±

    Eternal Night replied, ¡°I suspect that he¡¯s not really Halcyon Wing Streak.¡±

    ¡°But Kelesda has already confirmed that his wings are real,¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown replied.

    Eternal Night shook his head. ¡°Kelesda only proved that he has wings, but not that he is Halcyon Wing Streak. Harpies are not the only ones with wings; after all, humans can have wings too.¡±

 Sect - Book 5, 149: Eternal Night 2

    Chapter 149: Eternal Night (2)

    A human with wings!

    Eternal Night¡¯s statement shocked everyone present. Serene Dream Lotus Crown even began to tremble. ¡°Are you saying that...... A human...... Everything was because of a human......¡±

    ¡°That makes it much more logical. This is why Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s personality changed so much after returning, and why he is so insistent on targeting our race, right?¡± Eternal Night said.

    One of the lower-status officials quickly replied, ¡°Your Majesty is truly wise. The possibility of this is quite high. Great Wind Country¡¯s Windbite can produce wings. Once their bloodline¡¯s density reaches a certain level, their wings can be real. It seems that Halcyon Wing Streak is likely a disguised human, probably from the Windbite n!¡±

    Unexpectedly, Eternal Night shook his head. ¡°This is definitely not Feng Zhuying¡¯s actions. The Feng n guards one of the human borders from the Beasts, so their hatred of the Beasts is incredibly deep. Their primary enemy will always be the Beasts, so they have always supported an alliance to deal with the Beasts. Feng Zhuying and his subordinates would never provoke a Deste Beast into attacking and then rob our storehouses.¡±

    A person who supported an alliance between the Intelligent Races was truly unlikely to infiltrate a neighboring race¡¯s territory and steal from them. Most importantly, the Feng n rarely interacted with the Harpies. However, it appeared that Eternal Night understood Feng Zhuying quite well.

    More precisely, he was knowledgeable about all seven human emperors, as well as their powerful subordinates and other talented individuals. This knowledge extended to the Ravagers, the Astrals, and the Oceanids as well.

    The long lifespan of a Harpy and their intelligence allowed Eternal Night to carefully study the world around him and gather arge stockpile of information so that he could thoroughly understand his opponents.

    He was now in his old age, and his body was beginning to show signs of deterioration. However, his mind was still exceptionally clear.

    When Serene Dream Lotus Crown and the others heard his words, they all nodded in agreement. This indeed didn¡¯t seem like something the Feng n would do.

    ¡°Then who do you think it could be, Your Majesty?¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown asked.

    She understood Eternal Night quite well given how long they had known each other, and knew that he never took shots in the dark. Since he had brought up a suspicion, he had also likelye to a conclusion.

    Eternal Night said faintly, ¡°Let¡¯s first assume that he is a disguised human. He probably didn¡¯t choose to assume Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s identity for no reason, and this is probably closely rted to the exchange of hostages from two years ago. And who could participate in that exchange......¡±

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown understood. ¡°So it was Liaoye Country¡¯s doing? True, only they would have such a deep-rooted hatred for us.¡±

    Even though the Harpies were technically enemies of the entire human race, Liaoye Country was responsible for directly facing off against the Harpies, so their rtionship with the Harpies was also the worst. The debt of blood that had been incurred between the two parties was unfathomably deep.

    It wouldn¡¯t have been strange at all for some group in Liaoye Country to do this to them.

    But the whole of Liaoye Country was still far too broad.

    Eternal Night said, ¡°After the exchange, the diplomatic envoy escorted them to Sky City, passing through security checkpoints at the Origin Energy Temple, Chaos Tower, and Sky City. Each hostage was thoroughly questioned before being allowed to advance. I believe that the humans don¡¯t have any skill that allows them to deceive True Light. Otherwise, there would have been far more than one or two human spies who tried to sneak in. As such, the assuming of Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s identity probably took ce after the hostages were returned......¡±

    ¡°That must be it!¡± one of the royal subjects said. ¡°Once the hostages returned, they would no longer be under another person¡¯s control. If the human were to kill Halcyon Wing Streak at this point and take his ce, it would be incredibly difficult to detect.¡±

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown said, ¡°But that also implies that the attacker was part of the diplomatic envoy! It must have been someone from the envoy!¡±

    ¡°Immediately send someone to figure out who was missing from the diplomatic envoy when they left!¡±

    The subjects began to discuss amongst each other animatedly.

    Eternal Night lifted his hand again. ¡°There¡¯s no need to find out. The humans wouldn¡¯t have left behind such an obvious clue. This person might have had a high status amongst the humans, but he probably took on an unassuming role in the diplomatic envoy, which would allow him to disappear silently. If we make an investigation now, they will probably tell us that one of their servants got sick and died on the way over. And if we go and dig up the corpse, we will probably find a body with wings buried there.¡±

    The Harpies were rendered speechless.

    Even though Eternal Night¡¯s analysis wasn¡¯t quite spot-on, he had managed to at least make his point. The humans couldn¡¯t possibly leave behind such an obvious clue for them to find.

    ¡°But......¡± Eternal Night continued calmly after a moment.

    This caused the eyes of the other Harpies to light up.

    Eternal Night said, ¡°I already said that he must be an important individual amongst the humans. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have done things like this, nor would he have been able to get the diplomatic envoy to cover for him. He also wouldn¡¯t have been able to stir up as great of amotion as he has done today.¡±

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown asked directly, ¡°Who do you think it is, Your Majesty?¡±

    Unexpectedly, Eternal Night shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know who this person is. I have some guesses, though. He is probably has quite close ties with the Zhu n or the Li n. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have been admitted into the diplomatic envoy so closely. But I reckon that it¡¯s more likely he is affiliated with the Zhu n.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡± everyone asked.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown was the one to answer this time. ¡°Yes, it must be the Zhu n. Kelesda said that this person was also involved in the raid on Jade Clearmist¡¯s secret treasure realm. Do you remember who was one of the deaths at that ce?¡±

    The Harpies all nced at each other before simultaneously crying out, ¡°Li Daohong!¡±

    That was right.

    Li Daohong had died in Jade Clearmist¡¯s secret realm.

    This had caused a greatmotion, as Liaoye Country used it as a pretext to put arge amount of pressure on Sky City. Serene Dream Lotus Crown was forced to prove to Li Wuyi that this wasn¡¯t a plot by the Harpies - there was no need to scheme against each other, since they were openly fighting. Li Daohong had died during one such open confrontation.

    Li Wuyi understood that killing Li Daohong had no benefit for the Harpies. Thankfully, Li Daohong was such a troublemaker that while the Harpies preferred for him to be alive, most of the humans probably were fine with his death. After iming some reparations from the Harpies, Li Wuyi returned his attention to the country¡¯s internal affairs.

    But now that Eternal Night brought up the matter again, everyone realized clearly that this human was most likely not part of the Li n¡¯s envoy. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have dared to attack his own prince.

    ¡°So it must be the Zhu n then? But who among the Zhu n is able to pull something like this off? Zhu Chenhuan?¡± one of the Harpies wondered aloud.

    Eternal Night shook his head. ¡°A mere Demonic Emperor Bloodline n shouldn¡¯t be able to produce a genius of this level. But not everything always goes the way we expect. After all, the Zhu n is quite skilled in bewitching techniques.

    It wasn¡¯t that strange for a n talented in charming techniques to ensnare one or two geniuses like that.

    In theory, Su Chen had also been ¡°charmed¡± by Zhu Xianyao. That was not a lie.

    But this also made it much more difficult to determine this person¡¯s identity.

    Even though the Zhu n was a Demonic Emperor Bloodline n, there were a few hundred of them amongst the human race. The Harpies and humans were also bitter enemies, so it was already quite impressive for Eternal Night to know what the Zhu n was proficient in.

    Even though Eternal Night was intelligent, hecked enough information to pin it on Su Chen.

    However, that didn¡¯t mean that he couldn¡¯t think of a solution.

    ¡°I will go and gather the necessary information on the Zhu n right now,¡± one of the officials replied. He was responsible for gathering information, so this was one of his duties.

    Eternal Night, however, replied calmly, ¡°By the time you manage to do so, the Thousand Poisons Toad will probably have already been dealt with, and the disguised Harpy will also have fled far, far away.¡±

    The Harpies were stunned.

    What were they to do?

    Eternal Night said, ¡°It¡¯s enough that we know this matter is rted to the Zhu n. There are some decisions you can make without knowing all the answers. Mountain Mist!¡±

    ¡°Your loyal subject is present!¡± One of the Harpies stepped out of rank.

    ¡°Send word to t Sky City as quickly as possible that we urgently need a shipment of Starcloud Gold for a negotiable price. Get them to send it over immediately. Also, check the records to see which people were present in that diplomatic envoy and find a way to get them as well...... The same people who made it to Sky City. I don¡¯t know what their rtionship to this guy is, but I believe that there are definitely a few of them who have a close rtionship with him,¡± Eternal Night said eerily.

    The royal subjects finally understood what Eternal Night was trying to do and replied, ¡°Your Majesty is truly wise.¡±

    Capturing the diplomatic envoy was the same as capturing Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s vitals.

    After delegating these tasks, Eternal Night said, ¡°Kelesda, what do you think about this n?¡±

    Kelesda?

    The Harpies present were all stunned with the exception of Serene Dream Lotus Crown.

    A voice chuckled darkly, echoing through the throne room. ¡°Your Majesty is truly worthy of being emperor. I, Kelesda, have nothing but praise to say. I never would have imagined that he was a human even though I have known him for a year, but your hypothesis has reminded me. Now that I think about it, there were many things about him that did seem human in origin. It all makes sense now.¡±

    A person walked in from outside the throne room. It was Kelesda.

    Kelesda was a master of thunder and specialized in the control of sound. It was no surprise that none of the discussion that had just taken ce had escaped his ears.

    Eternal Night maintained his emotionless expression. ¡°Then I will also guess what your goal is. You want to use the iplete antidote for the Thousand Poisons Toad¡¯s poisons, your ability to track Halcyon Wing Streak, and the threat of the Thousand Poisons Toad to rebuild Fate¡¯s Hands?¡±

    Kelesda chuckled. ¡°Most importantly, Fate¡¯s Hands will be aw-abiding organization from now on and will not oppose Sky Country any longer. In addition, Your Majesty must provide me with wealth and items, and the territory of Flower Mountain must also belong to me. After all, I have nothing right now.¡±

    The other Harpies were shocked by Kelesda¡¯s demands.

    Kelesda was being far too greedy, wasn¡¯t he? Not only was he asking for official political status, but he was also asking for treasures?

    Unexpectedly, Eternal Night didn¡¯t even bat an eyebrow. ¡°I can agree to your conditions, but you must agree to two small conditions of mine.¡±

    ¡°What conditions?¡± Kelesda was taken aback. He originally thought that Eternal Night would definitely make arge demand in response.

    Unexpectedly, Eternal Night replied, ¡°Change your name and your organization¡¯s regtions.¡±

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 150: Eternal Night 3

    Chapter 150: Eternal Night (3)

    Just change your name.

    That was Eternal Night¡¯s only requirement.

    Kelesda was stunned. ¡°Change names? Whose name?¡±

    ¡°Fate¡¯s Hands, and your own as well,¡± Eternal Night replied. ¡°You can call yourself anything you want, but you cannot call yourself Kelesda from this day onwards. The same goes for Fate¡¯s Hands.¡±

    Kelesda was stunned. The other Harpies were also beginning to react to what had just happened.

    Eternal Night was giving Kelesda and Fate¡¯s Hands a second chance at life.

    Even so, this seemingly superficial change was very important.

    If the country¡¯s subjects were to find out that Fate¡¯s Hands had achieved legitimate status, it would definitely be a huge blow to their morale.

    Changing this outward appearance would make the pill much easier to swallow for the country¡¯s subjects.

    As long as no one spread the news, who would know that this new power was once Fate¡¯s Hands?

    The same went for Kelesda.

    His identity was far too obvious. Changing his name and going under a different identity would benefit everyone.

    Was that too much of a request?

    Not at all.

    Kelesda had changed identities countless times to avoid being captured in the past. Not using the name Kelesda was a piece of cake for him.

    However, he was a bit unwilling to change the name of Fate¡¯s Hands.

    ¡°Fate¡¯s Hands is a name passed down by our founder. This name holds the hopes of countless surviving members of my race......¡± he said.

    Eternal Night simply said, ¡°Fate¡¯s Hands no longer exists.¡±

    Kelesda felt his heart tighten with pain.

    Yes, Fate¡¯s Hands no longer existed.

    Even if it were to be rebuilt, it would need to be from the ground up. What was changing a name inparison to an opportunity to rebuild?

    Even so, saying that the name waspletely pointless also wasn¡¯t true.

    As long as an army was still present in name, it could be filled with strong soldiers again even if all the soldiers in that army were killed in action.

    Why? Because the name of the army was the soul of the army. With the soul present, it was always possible to rebuild.

    Fate¡¯s Hands represented the hopes and dreams of countless Arcanists within Harpy territory, symbolizing theirbined efforts in that direction. Without that name, their backbone would have been gone.

    For this reason, changing names was also not a small matter.

    But just as Eternal Night had said, Fate¡¯s Hands no longer existed.

    It had been destroyed!

    Kelesda wanted to rebuild. Even though changing its name might make some of the Arcanists who were lucky enough to survive ufortable, it would also afford them more opportunities.

    The heart of an army wasn¡¯t impossible to rebuild as well.

    Kelesda¡¯s request to Eternal Night was like a p to the face of the Harpies. Eternal Night¡¯s request, therefore, wasn¡¯t extravagant in the least.

    Actually, Kelesda had already been nning on negotiating with Eternal Night but hadn¡¯t expected to be asked to pay such a cheap price.

    It had to be said, however, that this price was an important one to demand for the sake of Sky Country.

    As such, Kelesda could only agree. ¡°That¡¯s fine. What are the rules you insist on?¡±

    ¡°You cannot betray the Harpies. That¡¯s not too much to ask, is it?¡± Eternal Night asked.

    ¡°Well......¡± Yet another totally reasonable request.

    Fate¡¯s Hands was a terrorist organization, and now Eternal Night was demanding that they not betray the Harpies. That was obviously against what their core principles were - the Arcanist remnants obviously wanted to restore the Arcana Kingdom to its former glory. How could they never rebel?

    But in another sense, convincing the Harpies to support an organization that would eventually turn on them would be impossible.

    Even if Eternal Night agreed to it today, someone else would overturn it the next day.

    Kelesda also was keenly aware of this fact, but he also knew that agreeing to this condition would cause the fundamental nature of his organization to change.

    Changing names was the same as changing a military squad¡¯s callsign. It would require rebuilding of the army¡¯s heart.

    This demand, however, was basically changing the fundamental attribute of the army¡¯s heart itself.

    Eternal Night had countered Kelesda¡¯s advance quite well. You want to be cleansed? Fine, then clean yourself a little more thoroughly. You cannot be covered in mud and im that you are clean.

    If you want to abandon your boat and return to shore, you needed to demonstrate that through your actions.

    As long as Kelesda agreed, then the matter would be settled with much lessmotion.

    This was not the revival of Fate¡¯s Hands, but the creation of a kind of country-backed organization that no longer had anything to do with Fate¡¯s Hands.

    Even if the truth of the situation were toe to light, it could be exined away by iming that Eternal Night and Serene Dream Lotus Crown were forced to acquiesce to Kelesda because of the threat of the Deste Beast. And it was their wit and heroism that convinced Kelesda to turn to the light and join them in fighting back against the Deste Beast.

    There was room in the books of history for this kind of mediation, and plenty of precedent for this kind of thing to happen.

    Many people didn¡¯t realize that sometimes changing an individual¡¯s moniker would alter the direction of their life.

    Those names appeared so simple and straightforward when recorded on the pages of books, but there were all kinds of impacts as a result.

    If an organization constantly espoused their love for their country and demonstrated their loyalty in so many ways, then suddenly changed values and rebelled, how many people would be willing to swear loyalty to that kind of an organization? How many people would believe in it? How much influence would that organization then wield?

    If Kelesda wanted to create a new organization, this was a truth he absolutely needed to consider carefully.

    If you want to abandon your boat and return to shore, you needed to demonstrate that through your actions.

    How could he make a profit if he didn¡¯t pay a price in the first ce?

    Eternal Night was not being forced by Kelesda; he was intentionally positioning himself to ally with Fate¡¯s Hands. Not only so, but Fate¡¯s Hands would probably have to step in if ever the Harpies were to find themselves in trouble.

    These two bitter enemies had suddenly reached a mutual agreement under the conditions that Eternal Night had listed.

    Even Kelesda was taken aback.

    Of course, he would never insist on still being able to betray the Harpies while relying on their protection.

    His original intention was to establish a rtionship like the one between the Ravagers and Resurrection Door. Now, the opportunity was here to do so, so why did it still feel so awkward?

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown saw Kelesda¡¯s struggle and chuckled in a low voice, covering her mouth. ¡°His Majesty is truly as wise as he has ever been.¡±

    Her gaze was filled with admiration.

    Eternal Night coughed slightly. Serene Dream Lotus Crown realized her error and fell silent.

    After considering it for a while, Kelesda realized that he had no grounds to negotiate and sighed, ¡°I am truly awed by Your Majesty¡¯s wisdom. I was originally hoping to find an opportunity to rebuild, but now you have enlisted my help by offering amnesty. But so be it. At the very least, I have an opportunity to be enlisted now.¡±

    Eternal Night didn¡¯t waste any more time talking. He stretched out his hand and said, ¡°Bring it here.¡±

    Kelesda pulled out an item without hesitating and tossed it to Eternal Night.

    The recipe for the iplete antidote.

    It was impossible for any diplomat to immediately start handing out benefits over the other party¡¯s word alone. Even so, the fact that they were both important individuals amongst the Primordial Continent influenced the way that they did things. Eternal Night would never renege on a promise he had made in front of so many people, and Kelesda believed in Eternal Night¡¯s sincerity without question.

    Eternal Night handed over the recipe to one of his subordinates. ¡°Start making this immediately.¡±

    When they heard this, everyone basically realized what Eternal Night¡¯s attitude towards the Deste Beast was going to be.

    Fight!

    Indeed, Eternal Night said, ¡°I know you do not want to fight with the Deste Beast, and I can understand where you areing from. Battles always involve the loss of life, but this fight is unavoidable. The Deste Beast is already closing in on us due to our opponent¡¯s actions. We cannot redirect it, because only Sky City is capable of wiping out that monster. If we send it anywhere else, we will only cause more death and bloodshed. In addition, potent poison emanates from the beast like a sea, and it will probably take centuries for the environment to recover. If we send it around a few more times, we might lose much more habitable space.¡±

    This was why the Thousand Poisons Toad was so frightening. It destroyed any environment that it passed by.

    Typically, the destruction caused by a Deste Beast was repairable.

    The poison from the Thousand Poisons Toad, however, didn¡¯t dissipate easily.

    Anywhere that the toad had passed through waspletely uninhabitable due to how potent the poison it left in its wake was.

    It was only natural that Eternal Night could not ignore this responsibility.

    ¡°Letting it wander as it pleases until it dies is too passive and not something that we should do as servants of our country. It will almost certainly cause more destruction before it dies. We must fight this battle, and only Sky City is strong enough to destroy the beast,¡± Eternal Night said.

    Sky City had defeated Deste Beasts before. Eternal Night and the others were confident in their ability to im victory. In addition, the Thousand Poisons Toad¡¯s poison was the real threat, which Kelesda¡¯s antidote would be a great help in dealing with. Sky City¡¯s victory was even more assured.

    Eternal Night began to make ns for the battle.

    ¡°Sect Master Serene Dream, I must ask you to mobilize the troops,¡± Eternal Night said.

    Eternal Night was talented in diplomatic tactics, but raising the morale of the city and their desire to fight was Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s domain.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown smiled slightly as she nodded.

    ¡°Skyclimb, get in contact with Profound Water and Azure Light. Tell them to bring the Chaos Tower and the Origin Energy Demonic City with them.¡±

    ¡°What? We¡¯re mobilizing two more floating castles?¡± The Harpies began to chatter amongst themselves when they heard this.

    Eternal Night said, ¡°We need to strike with full force at our enemies, using our height advantage to steamroll them. Only this way will we minimize our losses. Also, Sky City cannot move, so if the Thousand Poisons Toad tries to escape, the two other floating castles can give chase. That is better than letting it run rampant, unleashing clouds of poisonous smoke as it flees.¡±

    ¡°His Majesty is truly wise!¡±

    Eternal Night turned to nce at Kelesda.

    Kelesda said with a slight smile. ¡°I suppose I will be responsible for taking care of the fake Halcyon Wing Streak, then.¡±

    Eternal Night, however, shook his head. ¡°No, you will remain by my side and await my orders.¡±

    Kelesda was taken aback. ¡°What?¡±

    Eternal Night replied with a slight smile, ¡°Don¡¯t misunderstand me. I am keeping you by my side to give everyone an opportunity to get to know you. Of course, you will probably need to change your appearance. Of course, I want to experience ordering around a legendary Arcana Master for myself.¡±

    Everyone chuckled when they heard this.

    Kelesda asked, ¡°Then what about that fake?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about him. I have ns for him,¡± Eternal Night said. ¡°Also, we need to determine the Halcyon Wing n¡¯s punishment.¡±

    ¡°Halcyon Wing n? Isn¡¯t this Halcyon Wing Streak fake? Why do we need to punish the Halcyon Wing n?¡± Everyone didn¡¯t understand.

    Eternal Night replied, ¡°We are only hypothesizing that Halcyon Wing Streak is a fake, because we have no concrete evidence to prove this. There is still a possibility that Halcyon Wing Streak is actually a Harpy. And even if he is a fake, the Halcyon Wing n bears some responsibility for not noticing the infiltration of an enemy spy. That is a big sin.¡±

    This was a bit like giving a scapegoat a bad name before hanging him.

    But no Harpy would stand up to Eternal Night because of it.

    Eternal Night said, ¡°The Halcyon Wing n¡¯s guilt is undeniable. Only by punishing them will we be able to quell the anger of our subjects and fulfill our duties. Also, we need some suicidal troops stationed on the front lines in our fight against the Deste Beast...... It seems that the Halcyon Wing n will be the ones to bear that burden.¡±

    Eternal Night¡¯s true intentions had finally been revealed.

    Cannon fodder was necessary in any battle. No group was more suited for that task than the Halcyon Wing n.

 Sect - Book 5, 151: Mobilizing the City

    Chapter 151: Mobilizing the City

    ¡°Wu!!!¡±

    The low mourning call of a bugle began to sound throughout Sky City.

    The Heavenly Sea Conch was a treasure that the Harpies had taken from the Oceanids. Its call, though low, was powerful and could travel far. The wail of the conch spread through all of Sky City very quickly.

    It was a signal mobilizing all of the people living in the city.

    A big battle was obviously near. Countless Harpy soldiers scrambled to their stations, watching intently.

    The peaceful atmosphere that had been present only a moment ago had quickly disappeared, reced by mounting killing intent.

    Groups of Harpy soldiers flew forth, worry and apprehension written on their faces. It was obvious that they had no idea who they were going to be fighting with, but their training caused them to almost immediately arrive at their stations.

    However, the steel city hanging from the sky itself was still the most impressive sight.

    Now that the horns of war were being sounded, Sky City had also begun to bare its fangs.

    The steel tes that made up the walls of the city began to retract, revealing countless cannons. These were the Harpies¡¯ Sun-Shattering Cannons. They were powered by Origin Energy, and each volley unleashed the might of a Light Shaking Realm expert. Tens of thousands of these Sun-Shattering Cannons protruded from the city walls. Anyone who saw this scene would probably tremble instinctively in fear and trepidation.

    Even so, this was only the beginning. As the gears turned, metal war chariots were wheeled out to the ramparts of the walls. These were the Fiendish Annihtion Chariots. Each one could unleash hundreds of Annihtion Bolts at once, each carrying incredible prative power.

    At the same time, statues began to descend appear on the city walls, spaced out a hundred feet from each other.

    These werebat puppets. Some were human and others were beast-like. Each had a different form, but they stood with the Harpy soldiers on the walls, forming an iron-d defense.

    The inscriptions covering the walls also began to transform their elegant glow into a harsh re. These inscriptions made up an Origin Formation that, when activated, would strengthen the walls while protecting the soldiers inside.

    There were two more high walls within the outer walls with a simr setup, and these walls were even taller and were packed with even more firepower. This ensured that, even if the outer wall was destroyed, the inner walls could continue to attack.

    The cannons, chariots, soldiers, puppets, and even the walls themselves served asponents of the incredibly powerful defenses of Sky City.

    And behind these three walls were twelve massive floating, revolving shrines, trailed by a thousand eight hundred floating boats.

    The walls were lined with soldiers, while the Arcana Masters were all gathered around the shrines.

    The twelve floating shrines supplied the Arcana Masters with Origin Energy. Each one of them contained a well of Origin Energy that would constantly infuse the Arcana Masters with Origin Energy. It was even more effective and pure than using Origin Stones. The floating boats were used to hold these Arcana Masters and were designed to give the Arcana Masters the full freedom to unleash Arcana Techniques as they pleased. Most of the Origin Formations inscribed on the boats were utilitarian in nature, used to increase the power of an Arcana Technique. Once the battle started, the floating boats would carry the Arcana Masters around, forming a nimble force of powerful attackers.

    These Arcana Masters made up Sky City¡¯s central line of defense. They were meant to provide firepower assistance, but because their own physical bodies were so weak, they needed to be a ways behind the front lines, relying on the protection of the walls to unleash their full might.

    Within the interior of the city were ny-nine Arcana Towers, each one holding up a Sun-Shooting Pearl. These pearls would begin to glow uponmand, forming a defensive barrier made of Origin Energy that would envelop the entire city.

    The Flowing Gold Fort had relied on nine simr towers to control the important defensive mechanisms of the fort. Sky City, however, had ny-nine, and each one of the towers was stronger than the ones at the Flowing Gold Fort.

    Each tower was guarded by an Eighth-Ring Arcana Master to make sure that it operated smoothly. Even if some of the towers were destroyed by a powerful opponent, the overall operation of the towers wouldn¡¯t be disrupted.

    Apart from these ny-nine Arcana Towers, the most eye-catching sight in the city was the Perpetual Daylight Pce.

    A massive cannon had appeared above the pce.

    The cannon was sorge that anyone who saw it would instinctively feel a sense of despair rising in their hearts.

    The Sun-Shattering Cannons had openings roughly as wide as a washbasin. That was already massive for this time period, but that opening seemed as small as a toothpick in the face of such a gigantic cannon.

    The cannon opening looked like the maw of a huge beast and was many times more imposing than the cannons mounted on the city walls.

    The body of the cannon waspletely constructed from rare metals, and was covered in profound inscriptions imbuing it with the power of Arcana Techniques.

    At the smaller end of the cannon was an Origin Formation specifically used to gather Origin Energy. Just the Origin Stones set on the formation alone were dazzlingly bright.

    This was the famous Demon-Executing Cannon of the Harpies.

    There was a saying amongst the Primordial Continent that the strongest possible attack was not the all-out attack of an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator, a legendary Arcana Master, nor even an Astral at peak strength. Only the Demon-Executing Cannon was capable of unleashing such a powerful attack.

    Each time it fired, it unleashed an attack even more powerful than a forbidden Arcana Technique.

    The sky would tremble and the ground would quake.

    It was probably the most powerful existence on the entire continent.

    Of course, the cost of constructing a cannon like that was astronomical. The Craftsmen and the Metalskins had spent thousands of years building it, burning a massive hole in the pockets of the Harpies. In addition, it could only be used in Sky City because it consumed too much energy each time it fired, so much so that only Sark¡¯s Nuclei was capable of supplying it with enough energy. It would take so much time and resources to prepare the cannon for firing that even arge n would gopletely bankrupt. Yes, Sark¡¯s Nuclei provided the power, but the cost was still high enough that people would point in amazement. Of course, its power output matched how expensive it was. Any target that was aimed upon by the cannon could only either choose to run or to die. There was no way any living creature would be able to withstand the attack.

    The Demon-Executing Cannon was the Harpies¡¯ Ruyi Bang[1. See

    . In short, this weapon was incredibly strong but was only brought out when needed by Sun Wukong.]. It, along with the ny-nine Arcana Towers, served as Sky City¡¯sst line of defense.

    And it wasn¡¯t like there were no defenses outside of Sky City either.

    The ground being used for agriculture had tunnels dug underneath the surface that were filled with mmable oil. Once lit, the mes would burn intensely. Even though these mes were not nearly as frightening as the iron-d defenses of Sky City, they could dy an attacking force and dull the tip of the spear.

    This time, however, most of these defenses were useless since the attacking force was a Deste Beast.

    The only thing that posed a serious threat to the Deste Beast was the Demon-Executing Cannon.

    This was also Eternal Night¡¯s greatest source of confidence that he could deal with the Deste Beast. Even a Deste Beast would be destroyed by the Demon-Executing Cannon!

    Sky City had only managed to defeat multiple Deste Beasts on its own throughout history because of the Demon-Executing Cannon.

    Now, the cannon was about to be unleashed yet again.

    ¡°Do I want to take advantage of the opportunity to destroy it?¡±

    As he stood on the street, hidden amongst a throng of Harpies, Su Chen stared up at the Lightning God Cannon. That was the first thought that shed through his mind.

    There was no way he could destroy Sky City, but ruining a single Lightning God Cannon was still possible.

    However, that would be taking a huge risk.

    He had only managed to plunder the Mother Goddess Sect because they weren¡¯t ready for him. He would absolutely be courting death if he were to make a move now.

    His opponents might even be waiting for him to make a move.

    Another major source of unease for him was Kelesda.

    Kelesda was able to lock onto his position. He should have brought a bunch of Harpies with him in hot pursuit already, but he never appeared. This rendered Su Chen¡¯s countless preparations for Kelesdapletely useless.

    This meant that the rhythm of battle was now out of his hands!

    The sess or failure of an endeavor not only depended on rtive strength but also on who controlled the tempo.

    Even though Su Chen was weaker than Kelesda, he was able to survive because the situation¡¯s rhythm was under his control.

    Controlling the rhythm meant that he could take the initiative and specifically take action to target his opponent.

    But now, this rhythm had been destroyed.

    Kelesda hadn¡¯t appeared, and Su Chen¡¯s n was beginning to fall apart. He could sense that the situation was quickly sliding in a direction that he wasn¡¯t prepared to deal with.

    That made him uneasy.

    Su Chen could attack an incredibly powerful opponent because he held the initiative, but now that he had lost it, turtling up was the best decision.

    A talented individual knew when to extend and when to withdraw. Now was the time to withdraw.

    Su Chen immediately gave up on trying to plunder Sky Country¡¯s imperial treasuries and walked in the opposite direction.

    After walking through a long alleyway, Su Chen arrived in front of a courtyard with white walls and a red entrance.

    He knocked on the door and was greeted by a human.

    When the human saw Su Chen, he squinted suspiciously. ¡°May I ask, you are......?¡±

    ¡°I am a traveler from faraway who does not miss home,¡± Su Chen replied.

    When that person heard it, his expression changed. He nced around furtively before saying in a low voice, ¡°Pleasee with me.¡±

    Su Chen walked inside.

    This ce was the embassy Liaoye Country had set up, making it simr to a conste. However, it did not actually hold much political importance; it was mostly used to gather information and remain in contact with the Harpies. Of course, because foreign rtions weren¡¯t big in this era, the embassy¡¯s power was incredibly weak. Its main purpose was to gather information and asionally provide some support to other people from Liaoye Country.

    Of course, this was also where the Zhu n had provided Su Chen with a support staff.

    Now that Su Chen had decided to turtle up for a while, he needed the people here to help him.

    However, he was unaware that, not long after he went inside, a Harpy stationed nearby put down a curtain and walked out of the store.

    He quickly came to the corner of a street and muttered a few sentences into the ear of another Harpy. That Harpy turned around and immediately flew off.

    After flying in a circle, the Harpy arrived at the Perpetual Day Pce. They spoke briefly with a guard, who went inside to report on the situation to hismander. Themander hurried into the pce and knelt down before Eternal Night.

    ¡°Your Majesty, Liaoye¡¯s embassy was visited by an unknown human today. This is his picture.¡±

    As he spoke, themander¡¯s palm began to project light into the air, revealing Su Chen¡¯s picture.

    Eternal Night nced at Kelesda, who was sitting right beside him.

    ¡°The face is different, but the figure matches, and his aura ispletely the same,¡± Kelesda said through gritted teeth. ¡°I would be able to recognize this guy even if he changed his appearance ten thousand times. Your Majesty is truly wise; you didn¡¯t even need me to discover his location.¡±

    Eternal Night replied calmly, ¡°You need to learn to use the power of the public more effectively. There are somethings you can aplish without relying on heaven-defying powers. Kaderville, if you were to go look for him, I can promise you that he has already set up many different skills to deal with you. At that point in time, not only will we fail to catch him, but that will also inform him about our current situation. But by using thosemoners, that human will have a much harder time detecting our involvement. Most importantly...... We have now confirmed that he has a deep rtionship with Liaoye Country.¡±

    Kaderville was Kelesda¡¯s new name.

    ¡°So what should we do now?¡± Kelesda asked.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Eternal Night replied. ¡°Time will give us our answer and our opportunity.¡±

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 152: Confrontation

    Chapter 152: Confrontation

    ¡°I need living amodations that aren¡¯t too secluded. They could be near themercial district, and hopefully are in one of the wealthier areas. I also need someone to buy all of my food and living supplies for me.¡±

    Su Chen went straight to the point as soon as he entered the embassy.

    ¡°As youmand,¡± the person replied respectfully. ¡°Do you have any other requests for us?¡±

    ¡°Not right now. You should go take care of those tasks for now. Find me a temporary room if you can, and I will wait for you there...... Oh, right, if you could also help me buy some Origin Crystals, that would be great ¡ª the more the better. To make it easier, you can take some of these Origin Tools I have on me to use as trade fodder.¡± As Su Chen spoke, he pulled out a bunch of Origin Tools.

    His hands were currently filled with these kinds of weapons, but in turn hecked resources, especially Origin Crystals.

    However, the diplomat was obviously stunned when he saw the Origin Tools that Su Chen had brought out. ¡°Grade Four Origin Tools? Isn¡¯t that a bit too high of a grade to sell? Are youpletely out of lower quality ones? If we try to sell these tools that you¡¯ve provided through the market, they will probably attract quite some attention. Also, you have so many of them......¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°These are the lowest quality ones I have.¡±

    The diplomat had originally thought that he was dealing with a human caught in dire straits, but now, it seemed that this person was actually incredibly wealthy.

    After showing Su Chen to one of the rooms inside the embassy, the diplomat took the Origin Tools and left in a hurry.

    Just before he left, however, Su Chen suddenly called out, ¡°Right, can you also help me and buy a few fish?¡±

    ¡°Fish?¡± The diplomat was stunned by the request.

    ¡°Yes. Make sure they¡¯re alive and healthy,¡± Su Chen rified with a faint smile.

    The diplomat nodded his head, still in a daze.

    Now that he was alone in the room, Su Chen pulled out the Origin Bone Scepter and began to make predictions about the current situation.

    The Origin Bone Scepter was probably the most crucial trump card that Su Chen had. He had relied on it to avoid many idents from urring.

    As long as any important individual was involved in what he wanted to predict, the cost would be exponentially higher. But if he was only made predictions about himself, then the cost would be lower. So, why not try to peer into the future and try to search for some simple answers to help him out of his current predicament?

    For instance, Su Chen¡¯s first question seemed wholly unrted to his situation. He asked, ¡°What am I going to have for breakfast tomorrow?¡±

    A simple question, and the Origin Bone Scepter gave him an equally simple answer ¡ª a kind of food unique to the Harpies, Clear Porridge.

    When he saw that it was Clear Porridge, Su Chen¡¯s expression rxed slightly.

    The fact that it was Clear Porridge indicated that, most likely, no idents were going to take ce between now and tomorrow morning.

    This was one of the tricks that Su Chen hade up with to bypass direct questions yet still receive useful answers.

    It was harder to make predictions about big events, but predictions about himself were much easier to do.

    This question about breakfast was a perfect example.

    He had made a simple inquiry about his breakfast the next morning. Different circumstances would result in different breakfasts, so he was able to extrapte from this simple insight into the future to guess at what might happen.

    ¡°When will the fish I am raising die?¡±¡± Su Chen asked.

    An image appeared on the surface of the altar. It appeared that, on an afternoon three days from now, the fishes would finally go belly-up.

    ¡°Three days? It¡¯s actually only three days?¡± Su Chen frowned.

    The dead fish indicated that trouble woulde knocking, and the fact that they had all died meant that his identity had been discovered. This was actually quite a simple question ¡ª Su Chen had decided in advance to only kill the fish when his identity was revealed.

    The cost of making a simple prediction like this was exceptionally low.

    However, this time period of three days still surprised Su Chen.

    Kelesda had the ability to lock onto his position. Why would his pursuit have suddenly slowed down by this much?

    Unfortunately, Su Chen¡¯s method of questioning could only yield incredibly simple answers, and uncovering exact details would be much harder to do.

    As such, Su Chen had no way of actually figuring out how Kelesda was tracking his position, and he simrly had no way of figuring out who the person scheming against him was.

    There was definitely a problem connecting all this together!

    Unfortunately, relying on peripheral questions made it nearly impossible to figure out the exact details of what was going to take ce.

    ¡°It seems that I need to ask some moreplicated questions,¡± Su Chen muttered.

    The more details he wanted to know, the moreplicated the answer would be.

    Thankfully, Su Chen¡¯s consciousness crystal meant that he wouldn¡¯t forget about an answer after seeing it.

    The real problem was that the moreplex predictions were even more likely to yield inurate information, meaning that issues were more likely to arise.

    For instance, Su Chen was entirely capable of raising these fish to determine his own safety. However, who was to say that the fish wouldn¡¯t die on their own? If the fish were going to just die on their own, and that was the scene that Su Chen had seen in the Origin Bone Scepter, it was entirely possible that Su Chen would make a wrong decision.

    By the same principle, not every location had Clear Porridge. What if Su Chen decided to head to a different town that didn¡¯t have Clear Porridge in the morning?

    In any case, answers obtained via these general living habits were easily distorted, even if they were true. Su Chen needed to be cognizant of this fact.

    Regardless, this roundabout approach did allow him to rify some things about the predictions and draw some basic conclusions.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know about the conversation that had taken ce in the Perpetual Daylight Pce and that the Zhu n was currently in mortal danger, but he could sense that something was definitely up.

    ¡°Something isn¡¯t right. My opponent is stronger than I expected. It¡¯s definitely not Kelesda or Serene Dream Lotus Crown, so it must be the majestic Eternal Night,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    Eternal Night was able to pinpoint Su Chen as his primary suspect, but Su Chen was just as able to determine the source of the greatest threat to him.

    Even though he didn¡¯t know what the exact threat might be, he could at least tell where it wasing from.

    He had to admit that Eternal Night¡¯s abilities were quite impressive if he was able to put so much pressure on Su Chen even as the Deste Beast¡¯s attack loomed.

    ¡°Three dayster...... What¡¯s going to happen three dayster? Why are they waiting until then to attack?¡± Su Chen couldn¡¯t figure it out.

    Su Chen tried to make a prediction about what would happen three dayster, but received no answer.

    ¡°So the situation will suddenly change three days from now? And even you can¡¯t clearly see what¡¯s going to happen?¡± Su Chen finally understood the flow of the situation.

    But this only made Su Chen¡¯s desire to do battle even stronger.

    It had been a long time since he hadst felt this exhrated. How could he pass up an opportunity like this?

    Su Chen mulled the situation over in his mind repeatedly as the consciousness crystal came whirring to life. Countless possibilities surfaced in his mind before being eliminated just as quickly as he considered them all carefully.

    But no matter what kind of possibility he considered, the image from the Origin Bone Scepter remained unclear. In other words, Su Chen hadn¡¯t yet managed to find the root of the problem.

    ¡°What am I missing?¡± Su Chen inspected the problem repeatedly in his mind.

    If he were Eternal Night, how much would he have deduced about his own identity, and what ns would he haveid in ce?

    He put himself in Eternal Night¡¯s position and continued hypothesizing bitterly. Gradually, an idea began to surface in his mind.

    ¡°Could it be?¡± Su Chen stood up in shock.

    He hurriedly activated the Origin Bone Scepter. This time, he wasn¡¯t didn¡¯t ask about himself, but rather about another person.

    ¡°I want to know where Zhu Xianyao will be in two days time.¡±

    The Origin Bone Scepter revealed an image of a massive flying boat. Zhu Xianyao was standing at the front of the boat, gazing off into the distance.

    Even though it wasn¡¯t immediately obvious where she was, the direction of the sun clearly indicated the direction that she was flying in. She was heading toward Sky City.

    ¡°Not good!¡± Su Chen trembled.

    He hurriedly reached out to Patelocke. ¡°Patelocke, can you get into contact with Zhu Xianyao?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯ll be a bit troublesome. I¡¯ve only set up directmunications with you,¡± Patelocke replied.

    ¡°Think of a way to contact her. Don¡¯t let them get to Sky City!¡± Su Chen said hurriedly.

    ¡°She¡¯s going to Sky City? Now?¡± Patelocke was stunned. ¡°Is this a coincidence? Or is there some other reason?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Su Chen shook his head as he exined, ¡°I can¡¯t confirm anything right now, but she definitely wouldn¡¯te here for no reason...... Eternal Night, you really have some guts!¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then it might already be toote to try and contact her,¡± Patelocke said bluntly.

    Su Chen fell silent.

    There were messenger stations set up at fixed distances between Sky City and Liaoye Country. This allowed news and information to be transmitted back and forth incredibly quickly. However, this system was not often used because of how expensive it was. Obviously, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t be able to use this setup either.

    In other words, Zhu Xianyao would already be on her way by the time Su Chen got into contact with her.

    When he realized this, Su Chen¡¯s expression sank.

    ¡°I must immediately leave and go save Zhu Xianyao.¡± Su Chen started making preparations to leave.

    However, just as he was about to leave, he suddenly stopped. ¡°What if they already have their eyes on me? Eternal Night will definitely know when I leave this ce, and he might even attack Zhu Xianyao ahead of schedule because of it.¡±

    Patelocke advised, ¡°You must stay calm andposed. Your identity hasn¡¯t been exposed yet. He¡¯s probably just making some preliminary moves for now .¡±

    When he heard this, Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°You mean...... Eternal Night is just testing the waters?¡±

    ¡°I will try to think of a way to contact Zhu Chenhuan and get him to save them, but you should prepare for the worst case scenario and also try to think of another way to remedy the situation.¡±

    ¡°Another way to remedy the situation, huh?¡± The consciousness crystal continued to churn out a number of possibilities.

    Under normal circumstances, Su Chen would have had a hard time figuring out how to resolve the situation.

    Thankfully, he was not under normal circumstances.

    The threat of the Thousand Poisons Toad was bing ever clearer. Even the most powerful city on the continent would be forced to scramble when dealing with a Deste Beast.

    This would give him an opportunity.

    ¡°Fine then! Eternal Night, let¡¯s have ourselves a battle and see who¡¯s more talented!¡± Su Chen dered coldly.

 Sect - Book 5, 153: Battling a Desolate Beast 1

    Chapter 153: Battling a Deste Beast (1)

    While Su Chen and Eternal Night were engaged in a secret struggle, the battle outside Sky City had already reached a red-hot climax.

    Starting three days ago, Sky City had sent countless brave, daring Harpies out to dy the Thousand Poisons Toad¡¯s advance and slow it down. Their goal was to either redirect its route or wait for it to die on its own, which would happen as long as they were able to buy enough time.

    A total of eight thousand Harpies, split into eighty toons, had been sent out like moths plunging into the me; each and every one of them had charged relentlessly at the powerful opponents, but at the very end, only twelve had been able to return alive.

    Despite the high casualty rate, they had seeded in dying the Thousand Poisons Toad¡¯s steps. Its advance was slowed down enough that Sky City had enough time to prepare for the oing siege.

    However, that was as much as they could possibly do.

    Today, the Thousand Poisons Toad had finally arrived.

    Clouds of poison spread out in all directions, rumbling towards the city and painting an apocalyptic scene of poison raining down from the sky.

    ¡°The size of the poisonous clouds has shrunk. The Thousand Poisons Toad¡¯s peak condition has probably already passed, and its strength must be declining. It will probably die in about ten days. Our warriors tried to lead it toward the wastnds, but unfortunately, they failed.¡±

    The speaker was Lonely Skyleap, the highest ranking general of the Harpy army. He was also known by Lord of the Skies, Harpy Sage, and many more monikers. Additionally, he was also the person who was primarily responsible for protecting Sky City as well as Eternal Night¡¯s most trusted confidant.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t surprise me. I can already sense the rumbling of its breath,¡± Eternal Night replied faintly.

    The Harpies had also had some conflicts of their own with the Beasts, though they were few and far between.

    If Kelesda was the most wanted criminal in Sky Country, then Demonic Emperor Deep Blue me was probably next in line. This Demonic Emperor was the leader of all Beasts within Harpy territory. He would appear from time to time and wreak havoc throughout the country.

    This awakening of the Deste Beast probably brought him the most happiness out of anyone else.

    Thus, it was only natural that this Demonic Emperor would take advantage of the opportunity to make an evenrgermotion.

    The Thousand Poisons Toad had originally been led by Su Chen towards Sky City, but it was very likely that the Beasts were behind the toad¡¯s continual advance toward the city during thest stretch.

    This was also why Eternal Night was so insistent on fighting ¡ª he knew that his enemies would not be willing to let such a golden opportunity pass by.

    ¡°Unfortunately, the Halcyon Wing n wasn¡¯t very useful and were only able to stall for this much time. It would have been much better if they had just held out for a bit longer!¡± another general standing beside himmented.

    That general¡¯s name was Scarlet Sea Killer.

    Eternal Night replied, ¡°The battle wille regardless of if we want it to or not. Our opponent is now knocking on our front door. My children, are you afraid?¡±

    ¡°Of course not!¡±

    The generals surrounding Eternal Night began to yell out passionately.

    ¡°Then let¡¯s give this guy a taste of just how strong we Harpies can be,¡± Eternal Night said.

    ¡°ROAR!¡±

    All of the Harpies emptied their lungs simultaneously.

    Only hot-blooded men were worthy of seizing glory on the battlefield. Even the cultured, refined Harpies possessed some measure of bloodthirstiness. They demonstrated their strong desire to do battle, and expressed their more savage side to raise their spirits.

    ¡°Then the rest is up to you,¡± Eternal Night said to Lonely Skyleap.

    A talented ruler knew when to intervene and when to step back.

    Eternal Night was able to control the flow of the overall battle, but the exact execution of the battle n was left to his trusted subordinate.

    ¡°We will not betray your expectations!¡± Lonely Skyleap replied, his brilliant gaze filled with confidence.

    The Deste Beast¡¯s silhouette was already beginning to clearer and clearer in the distance.

    Its body loomed over the Harpies like a mountain, causing them to tremble in trepidation.

    It was as if a mountain were advancing on their position and gradually but inexorably filling up everyone¡¯s field of vision.

    The warriors couldn¡¯t help but grow anxious when they truly beheld this gigantic beast.

    In that moment, a thought shed through everyone¡¯s head: if that beast really ran into Sky City, who would win?

    This question would never be answered, as at that moment, Lonely Skyleap issued hismands while the Thousand Poisons Toad was still advancing.

    ¡°Brilliant Light Company, activate the Heaven-Receiving Origin Formation and prepare tounch the first volley!¡±

    He was a Ninth-Ring Arcana Master that focused on mastering soul power. Every sentence of his would prate deep into his soldiers¡¯ hearts, causing them to obey hismands to the letter. This way, he didn¡¯t need to worry about anyone misinterpreting hismands. If he were fighting humans, Lonely Skyleap could even say onemand while silently transmitting another silently to confuse his opponents.

    This battle took ce on an almost supernatural level. It was simr in some aspects to howmoners fought, but it was also vastly different.

    As he issued hismands, the ground around Sky City began to glow with light, and the profound, arcane inscriptions lit up brilliantly.

    This was Sky City¡¯s foundation, the Heaven-Receiving Origin Formation. It only had one function, which was to stabilize the flow of Origin Energy in the city, making it impossible for chaotic flows of Origin Energy to appear anywhere inside the city.

    In other words, any Harpy attacking from within Sky City would bepletely unaffected by chaotic Origin Energy, as any hint of that would be quelled by the Heaven-Receiving Formation. Just this benefit alone was enough to greatly increase the might of an army, and directly turn their numbers into rawbat strength. For this reason, it was Sky City¡¯s most foundational Origin Formation.

    After Lonely Skyleap¡¯s order was issued and the Heavenly-Receiving Formation was activated, countless soldiers wearing reflective armor stepped forth into battle. They held not weapons in their hands, but rather mirrors.

    Brilliant Light Mirrors.

    The Brilliant Light Mirror was merely a Grade Six Origin Tool, which was not very high. As an attack, it could shine brilliant light at an enemy, but it¡¯s area of effect was typically quite low, and its power was considered weak even amongst simrly ranked Origin Tools. Under normal circumstances, it was basically only able topete against Grade Seven Origin Tools.

    However, the mirror¡¯s attacks had a very long attack range, and the power of its attacks was also multiplicative. Without the interference of chaotic Origin Energy flows, they became incredibly useful in battle.

    All at the same time, the thirty thousand Harpy soldiers raised the Brilliant Light Mirrors in their hands, and poured the Origin Energy in their body into their mirror. Thirty thousand beams of harsh light converged into three hundred columns of light, which then shot towards the Thousand Poisons Toad.

    These columns of light each contained the power of a hundred Brilliant Light Mirrors, and its power was additive due to the stabilizing effects of the Heavenly-Receiving Origin Formation. Thus, each of these columns was roughly equivalent to a Fifth or Sixth-Ring Arcana Technique. But when they mmed into the toad¡¯s rough back, the toad didn¡¯t even react. It merely shook its head briefly before continuing to trundle forwards, as if those three hundred columns of light had merely been small dots of light in its eyes.

    Lonely Skyleap wasn¡¯t surprised. After all, no Light Shaking Realm attack would be able to wound a Deste Beast.

    However, he didn¡¯t tell his subordinates to stop. Instead, he barked, ¡°Diverge!¡±

    The three hundred columns of light started to dance across the surface of the toad¡¯s body.

    The goal of these attacks weren¡¯t to create a pretty light show; rather, it was to search for the toad¡¯s weak points.

    As one of the Harpies¡¯ most renowned generals, Lonely Skyleap had a well-defined battle n in mind. He had never expected to defeat a Deste Beast with such simple attacks. Rather, by first locating its weak points, he could target the enemy more effectively.

    The Intelligent Races knew how to do this quite well, but the Beasts could not.

    The three hundred thick columns of light flooded across the toad¡¯s back. Lonely Skyleap and the dozen generals around him all stared intently at the toad¡¯s back, watching for any changes in the beast.

    These columns of light were still equivalent in strength to the attack of a Light Shaking Realm cultivator. Since those attacks could shatter boulders, they should still be able to elicit a reaction from the Thousand Poisons Toad¡¯s body. Wherever one of these reactions urred, it indicated that one of the Thousand Poisons Toad¡¯s weak spots were there.

    These vulnerabilities could only be detected through these rtively weaker attacks. Once they began to use stronger attacks, the Deste Beast¡¯s anger would be provoked. At that point in time, it would be much more difficult to methodically search the toad for weaknesses.

    The generals very quickly came to a conclusion.

    ¡°The poison spouts on its back are weaker, but those are obviously not its vitals.¡±

    ¡°Its midsection is weaker, but that¡¯s not its vitals either.¡±

    ¡°Its eyes are an important target, but it also has eyelids to protect its eyes.¡±

    ¡°Watch its underarm closely. You can clearly see......¡±

    As the lights spread all over the surface of the toad¡¯s body, the generals developed a rough understanding of the sensitivity and strength of different spots on the toad¡¯s body.

    At that moment, however, it appeared that the Thousand Poisons Toad had finally begun to grow irritated from the beams shining on it.

    It tilted its head back to the sky and unleashed a thunderous bellow. ck clouds began to descend from the sky, covering its body.

    ¡°This guy can also conceal itself?¡± Some of the Harpy generals were stunned by the toad¡¯s move.

    ¡°It¡¯s not the toad. Deep Blue me is probably somewhere nearby,¡± Lonely Skyleap said.

    Deste Beastscked intelligence, but Demonic Emperors were just as smart as the average Intelligent Race individual. This was because Demonic Emperors had started their evolution process as was brought on by the changing conditions of their environment. They had chosen to discard the path of absolute strength that the Origin Beasts and Deste Beasts walked along, and instead focus more and more energy on developing their minds.

    With Deep Blue me present, the Thousand Poisons Toad was going to be much harder to deal with.

    The ck clouds concealed its body, causing the Harpies¡¯ attacks tond on now unknown locations.

    Lonely Skyleap quickly issued an order. ¡°Combine your attacks to the thousand-Harpy level!¡±

    As the soldiers followed hismands, the columns of light quickly converged from three hundred into thirty, but now, each column of light was ten times as strong as before.

    This time, the Thousand Poisons Toad seemed to be able to sense the power behind the attack, and the light was so bright that even the ck clouds had a hard timepletely concealing them.

    The Thousand Poisons Toad roared and howled angrily as poisonous fog spread in all directions. It seemed like the fog was actually going to hit Sky City before the toad itself.

    Activate the Nine Dragons Hurricane Formation!¡± Lonely Skyleap barked yet again. His indifferent expression had finally shifted ever so slightly when he saw the ominous wave of poisonous fog rolling in.

    The Nine Dragons Hurricane Formation was not a typical formation of Sky City¡¯s. Instead, it had been specificallyid down in the past three days to deal with the clouds of poisonous fog emanating from the toad.

    The Thousand Poisons Toad¡¯s toxins were simply too potent. Even with Kelesda¡¯s antidote, the Harpies were not totally immune to it. As such, the Harpies had constructed this Nine Dragons Hurricane Formation to help them deal with the waves of poison.

    Using wind to keep the poison at bay was a good idea, but unfortunately, they didn¡¯t have enough time to fully prepare. The real Nine Dragons Hurricane Formation would form nine massive wind dragons that were as powerful as twelve forbidden-tier Arcana Techniques being unleashed simultaneously. This time, however, the formation barely manifested three wind dragons, and they were obviously individually weaker than normal ones as well.

    However, these three wind dragons were still able to stop the poisonous fog from entering the city.

    Lonely Skyleap sighed, rxing slightly when he saw this. However, that was soon reced by worry. He was still doubtful about how long these three wind dragons could keep the poison at bay for.

    However, he quickly discovered that those worries of his were no longer important.

    Because the Thousand Poisons Toad had finally arrived.

    It suddenly leapt into the air, preparing to send its massive body hurtling down onto the city.

 Sect - Book 5, 154: Battling a Desolate Beast 2

    Chapter 154: Battling a Deste Beast (2)

    At that moment, Lonely Skyleap suddenly issued anothermand. ¡°Wind the gears and move back! Release the bait!¡±

    As the soldiers moved to carry out hismand, the sounds of massive gears rumbling as they ground against each other could be heard echoing through Sky City as it actually began to move backwards.

    Yes, even though Sky City was locked in ce by the Deep Sea Anchor, this immobility was only in a macro sense. In actuality, it was still able to move around within a small confined area, and its limiting factor was the pliability of the Deep Sea Anchor.

    The chains were about 8800 feet long, which wasn¡¯t particrly short. But given the fact that it was restricting an entire city, it couldn¡¯t be considered very long either. Sky City was like a vicious bulldog on a short leash, so it couldn¡¯t move very far.

    However, it was still enough to avoid the toad¡¯s attack.

    Sky City¡¯s chain tightened as its Sark¡¯s Nucleus was activated to its greatest extent. A massive column of air suddenly rose into the sky.

    This column of air was even thicker than the Nine Dragons Hurricane Formation, but it didn¡¯t seem to pose any threat to anyone.

    However, this column of air was very meaningful to Su Chen ¡ª it indicated where Sark¡¯s Nucleus was located.

    After ncing deeply at the direction of the air column, Su Chen changed focus yet again.

    He watched as the Thousand Poisons Toad began to fall through the sky, narrowly brushing past Sky City.

    At the same time that it fell, however, it opened its mouth and unleashed its heavy tongue. As the tongue snaked out of its mouth, it quickly mmed into one of the city¡¯s walls.

    That section of wall immediately crumbled under the tongue¡¯s immense weight, as if it had been simultaneously struck by hundreds of Arcana Techniques. The hundreds of soldiers stationed on top of that section of wall all immediately lost their lives.

    Even so, Lonely Skyleap didn¡¯t even spare thatmotion a nce. He continued to issuemands. ¡°Brilliant Light toon, gather all of your strength. Prepare the Sun-Shattering Cannon!¡±

    The thirty columns of light merged once again. This time, there were three columns of light, each powered by ten thousand mirrors. The offensive power of the columns of light surged yet again as the members of the Brilliant Light toon also began to physically group up. This attack was equivalent in power to a Tenth-Ring Arcana Technique, just shy of touching the legendary realm. However, it could reach incredibly long distances, and was impossible to block.

    The powerful columns of light mmed into the Thousand Poisons Toad, causing it to finally feel a twinge of pain.

    ¡°ROAR!¡± the Thousand Poisons Toad bellowed angrily.

    However, Lonely Skyleap didn¡¯t care about what the toad felt at this point. The battle had already broken out, so there was no longer any room for them to retreat.

    An instantter, Lonely Skyleap once again issued anothermand. This time, thousands of Sun-Shattering Cannons unleashed a vicious barrage at the Thousand Poisons Toad.

    However, even though these cannons appeared incredibly powerful, they weren¡¯t even close to being as effective as the three brilliant light columns.

    The Sun-Shattering Cannons were about as powerful as a Sixth-Ring or Seventh-Ring Arcana Technique each. Under normal circumstances, they would be much more effective than the columns of brilliant light due to how many of them there were.

    However, against a Deste Beast, any attack weaker than the Eighth-Ring was essentially useless.

    Even then, Eighth-Ring attacks would only give the Deste Beast a pricking sensation, while a Ninth-Ring attack would feel like a bug bite. As such, even though the cannons boomed deafeningly, the Thousand Poisons Toad didn¡¯t feel threatened in the slightest.

    The cannonfire¡¯s actual purpose was to disperse the clouds of poisonous fog and help bear some of the burden on the Nine Dragons Hurricane Formations.

    This was because the Thousand Poisons Toad was attacking again.

    Another wave of poison surged forwards at the same time.

    This time, it was impossible for Sky City to dodge the attack.

    Lonely Skyleap didn¡¯t choose to try to do so either. Instead, hemanded, ¡°Release the gears and attack!¡±

    The Thousand Poisons Toad discovered that, as it was leaping toward the wall, the walls of Sky City were also moving in its own direction.

    The outer wall of the city crashed into the Thousand Poisons Toad. The area that bore the brunt of the impact were the newly developed areas, which had all been evacuated before the battle began. At this point, Lonely Skyleap and Eternal Night were prepared to sacrifice besides the main core of the city itself. If Lonely Skyleap wasn¡¯t willing to put all of his eggs in one basket, then he would never have be such a renowned general in the first ce.

    Sky City crashed into the toad¡¯s back. Even the Thousand Poisons Toad was unable to bear this burden, and it cried out in pain.

    The vast momentum of Sky City made this attack even more powerful than any forbidden Arcana Technique.

    At the same time, Lonely Skyleap issued anothermand. ¡°Thunder God Cannon, fire! ck Fiend Chariots, fire!¡±

    The cannon suspended above the Perpetual Daylight Pce fired.

    Boom!

    An ear-splitting thunderp shattered the air as a shocking ball of lightning exploded out.

    This ball of lightning was a hundred feet in diameter, and had a shocking amount of aggregated lightning power contained inside. Su Chen was also a Ninth-Ring Thunder Arcana Master, but he had never before seen anyone create a lightning ball thisrge or this dense.

    Forbidden!

    This really was as powerful as a forbidden Arcana Technique!

    The cannon mmed into the Thousand Poisons Toad¡¯s body right into the weak spot that had been identified earlier, sending a spurt of blood into the air.

    ¡°ROAR!¡±

    The Thousand Poisons Toad cried out in pain yet again.

    This time, however, the pain it felt was much more intense than the previous bug bites.

    At the same time, the ck Fiend Chariots on the city walls also fired, each one unleashing thousands of crossbow bolts in half a second. Since hundreds of chariots were firing, that meant that the volley consisted of a hundred thousand Annihtion Bolts. As the overwhelming number of attacks flew through the sky, they turned into a wall of spikes that descended upon the toad.

    The ck Fiend Chariots were unlike the Sun-Shattering Cannons. The Annihtion Bolts they fired did less overall damage, but their prative ability was much higher. They could directly bypass most barriers, and even some Grade Two or Grade One armors. These bolts were originally designed to bypass Origin Tool barriers, but their high cost had eventually led to them being put aside. The Harpies had managed to get their hands on them and had incorporated them into the city¡¯s defenses long ago.

    Against humans, the ck Fiend Chariots weren¡¯t nearly as effective as the Sun-Shattering Cannons. Creating their bolts was costly, and loading them into the actual crossbow was a huge pain; thus, they were difficult to use repeatedly. However, they were useful to a certain degree against Deste Beasts.

    These Annihtion Bolts also felt like mosquito bites to the Deste Beast, but even mosquito bites, when they numbered in the hundreds of thousands, could kill a person.

    In some sense, the Annihtion Bolts did even more damage than the Thunder God Cannon.

    In addition, these Annihtion Bolts were aimed right at where the Thunder God Cannon had just struck the Deste Beast moments ago.

    Sky City¡¯s ¡°punch,¡± the Thunder God Cannon¡¯s attack, and the ck Fiend Chariots¡¯ barrage were all a part of the meticulous preparations that Sky City had made for the Thousand Poisons Toad. The Thousand Poisons Toad had suffered a serious blow this time.

    Lonely Skyleap didn¡¯t hold back in the slightest. He had immediately unleashed his full might against his opponent.

    He had no choice. Even if he wanted to save a trump card and unleash a surprise killing blow at an opportune time, that kind of logic only worked against conventional enemies.

    Even though the Thousand Poisons Toad was a bit dazed by this sudden barrage of attacks, it was only to the point of an adult who had just been clocked in the face by a child.

    It was surprised, and it might have been knocked down, but did these bugs really think they would be able to kill it with that round of attacks?

    Quite the contrary. Its anger burned even more hotly now.

    The Thousand Poisons Toad was infuriated at this point.

    It leapt into the air again, this timending right outside Sky City. Its long tongue stretched through the air once again, mming into the city¡¯s walls just likest time.

    This time, however, its attack was much less effective than before.

    At the exact same time that it stuck its tongue out, the ny-nine Sun-Shooting Pearls began to glow, covering the entire city in their radiance.

    The toad¡¯s tongue collided with this glowing barrier of light, sending rainbow rays scattering in all directions.

    There were so many rainbows that it was almost as densely packed as the poison fog, filling up the entire sky.

    Barriers would normally fluoresce in this manner when struck, but an attack that could fill the sky with rainbows light could have onlye from a Deste Beast¡¯s attack. The awe-inspiring sight was actually not that surprising.

    Even so, this ferocious attack wasn¡¯t actually able to cause Sky City any harm.

    Sky City¡¯s barriers were powered by Sark¡¯s Nucleus, which was more than powerful enough to withstand this attack. In addition, because Sark¡¯s Nucleus was directly connected to the Origin Energy Sea, this barrier was essentially supplied with an unlimited supply of energy.

    Of course, even with that, this barrier was not invincible. The barrier depended not only on this constant supply of energy, but also the Origin Formation itself, the person maintaining it, and those Sun-Shooting Pearls mounted on top of those towers.

    When an attack was extremely powerful, the barrier might not run out of energy, the objects supporting the barrier might not be able to withstand the blow.

    The Thousand Poisons Toad followed up with two more strikes in quick session. The Arcana Masters on top of the towers fell to the floor, their faces pale white.

    The Deste Beast¡¯s attack was much mightier than any human army was possibly capable of unleashing. No wonder they were in such a terrible condition.

    Even so, this was only the beginning of the battle.

    Now that the Deste Beast waspletely enraged, it was bringing its full strength to bear. All creatures before it could only tremble in trepidation at its presence.

    When the Thousand Poisons Toad realized that it still hadn¡¯t shattered the barrier, it howled in frustration and stubbornly rammed its head at the barrier.

    This ram almost seemed like a mountain careening in the direction of the city.

    No, this attack was even fiercer ¡ª it was more like a whole mountain range descending from the sky. The barrier might be able to absorb this attack, but the ny-nine Eighth-Ring Arcana Masters supporting the barrier would most likely die on the spot to do so.

    At that moment, Lonely Skyleap yelled, ¡°Constetion Shift!¡±

    The glow of starlight suddenly illuminated the sky.

    Under the shining starlight, everything seemed to suddenly turn ephemeral.

    The Thousand Poisons Toad¡¯s attack course seemed to have suddenly been slightly altered. Instead of crashing into the barrier head-on, it merely nced off the surface. Once again, ray of diffracted light scattered in all directions. The toad fell onto the ground hard, the impact causing the outskirts of Sky City to directly crumble away.

    ¡°Spatial method power,¡± Su Chen blurted out when he saw this scene.

    Lonely Skyleap had just used spatial method power.

    However, this spatial power didn¡¯t belong to him, but rather to Sky City. This was probably the work of a massive Origin Energy Formation.

    This massive hidden Origin Energy Formation had somehow harnessed spatial method power, and through it gained the ability to redirect attacks when activated.

    However, the Deste Beast was just simply too powerful. Even the Constetion Shift formation wasn¡¯t able to fully divert the power of the Deste Beast¡¯s attack. Even though its head had merely nced off the barrier, it had nheless killed a few dozen soldiers due to the violent nature of impact.

    Even so, to the Thousand Poisons Toad, this kind of oue waspletely dissatisfactory.

    It howled with rage yet again.

    An instantter, the poisonous clouds in the sky suddenly twisted, as if they were about to transform.

 Sect - Book 5, 155: Battling a Desolate Beast 3

    Chapter 155: Battling a Deste Beast (3)

    The poisonous clouds actually began to condense into clouds of mosquitoes, but these mosquitoes were asrge as a rhino. Their stingers were as razor-sharp as swords and also glowed with a faint green light.

    However, just because these mosquitoes were formed from clouds of poisonous fog didn¡¯t mean that they weren¡¯t powerful.

    If Intelligent Race individuals could make illusory objects tangible, then all the more reason that Deste Beasts could do the same.

    Even though these mosquitoes were formed from Origin Energy, they were undeniably real. They surged forwards like a horde, full of rage, anger, and potent venom.

    Originally, the Harpies had only been fighting against a single enemy, but now, the sky was filled with thousands of them. Even Lonely Skyleap waspletely caught off-guard by the toad¡¯s move.

    The Harpies¡¯ battle tactics for today had been designed with a single, powerful opponent in mind, and weren¡¯t meant to go against an entire army. One major difference between the two kinds of strategies was that Sky City was bining¡± the power of their attacks.

    However, this kind of method of attack was obviously a bit less effective against a wave of poisonous bugs.

    The Brilliant Light toon couldn¡¯t reach its full effectiveness against this new enemy, and the Annihtion Bolts wouldn¡¯t be able to destroy that many bugs. Ethereal creatures weren¡¯t afraid of attacks with high prative physical power, as they couldpletely ignore any physical damage.

    Sky City¡¯s barriers were simr to most other cities¡¯ barriers in the sense that they were separated into different regions and controlled independently. This meant that when the Thousand Poisons Toad attacked a specific region, the city could focus their energy on that region to better resist the attack¡¯s force. Another benefit to this kind of setup was that the barrier wouldn¡¯tpletely crumble except for extenuating circumstances.

    However, this ability to reinforce particr regions was not very useful against the wave of bugs. After all, concentrating energy in certain regions of the barrier would have the effect of weakening other regions, that the bugs could change their target to.

    The swarm of bugs mmed into the barrier, sending up scintiting sparks of light over and over.

    When multiple regions of the barrier began to crack under the bugs¡¯ constant assault, streams of the poisonous bugs would pour into the city and begin to attack the Harpy soldiers inside.

    Because these bugs were especially poisonous, a single bite from them was enough to put a soldier out ofmission. As a result, the bugs simply didn¡¯t need to return to their cloud-like form.

    Even though the Harpies were using Kelesda¡¯s iplete antidote, there were still some poisons that couldn¡¯t be nullified by it.

    Poisonous clouds began to appear in the sky as the mosquitoes died one after another. And with each cloud, there were always some unfortunate Harpy soldiers nearby who would breathe the smoke in and then fall from the sky shortly thereafter.

    ¡°Sun-Shattering Cannons! Use the Sun-Shattering Cannons!¡± Lonely Skyleap yelled loudly.

    The Sun-Shattering Cannons were more effective against these poisonous mosquitoes, but it was obviously not enough to defeat them.

    Even more shocking was the fact that these poisonous mosquitoes weren¡¯t just idling around. Instead, they had gathered into arge wave andunched yet another attack. The Harpies were immediately put on the back foot regardless of whether they concentrated their might or not.

    ¡°Trapping Company, move out! Fire the Thunder God Cannon!¡± Lonely Skyleap howled.

    The Harpies charged forwards to meet the mosquitoes in battle. The Thunder God Cannon fired again, mming into the Thousand Poisons Toad and causing it to howl in pain once again.

    At the same time, Eternal Night, who had been surveying the scene, finally spoke up. ¡°Your Majesty, your time hase.¡±

    Following Eternal Night¡¯s words, a strange, high-pitched chant began to fill the air.

    Next, a flying carriage flew through the sky. Serene Dream Lotus Crown was sitting in the carriage, with dozens of Head Bishops from the Mother Goddess Sect behind her. Each of them stood on an engraved tablet, the tablets glowing with a strange, profound light.

    After arriving at the walls of Sky City, Serene Dream Lotus Crown pointed forwards. A door of light appeared, and immediately created a powerful vacuum force in the sky. The imposing might of the Deste Beast decreased by a significant amount, and even the power of its physical attacks appeared to diminish.

    This was one of the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s forbidden techniques, Withering Flesh.

    This Arcana Technique Technique couldn¡¯t kill anything, but it could weaken any creature¡¯s physical strength by thirty percent. This effect was, objectively speaking, not worth the title of a forbidden Arcana Technique. After all, in most circumstances, a Third-Ring Arcana Technique could achieve simr effects.

    However, it was ssified as a forbidden Arcana Technique because it was effective even against Deste Beasts.

    It was probably more urate to say that this technique had been developed for the express purpose of being used against Deste Beasts.

    In the past thousands of years, the Intelligent Races hade up with many different ways to fight back against the Beasts, including Origin Tools,rge-scale defenses, Origin Skills, and Arcana Techniques. Withering Flesh was one such technique that had been developed.

    Decreasing the might of a Deste Beast by thirty percent was incredibly impressive.

    However, Serene Dream Lotus Crown found it incredibly draining to maintain this Arcana Technique. And the burden was even being shared; the Head Bishops behind her were also helping her sustain this Withered Flesh technique.

    At the same time, two powerful Arcana Masters walked out from behind the twelve floating Shrines, simultaneously unleashing two Arcana Techniques. These two were both forbidden-level as well.

    Curse: Hollow Death.

    Curse: Eternal Ceremony.

    Hollow Death decreased the defensive power of the Thousand Poisons Toad¡¯s skin. Even though this decrease was not very significant, it lowered it past the point where most Eighth-Ring Arcana Techniques could now wound the Thousand Poisons Toad. This would allow more Harpies to sessfully damage the Thousand Poisons Toad.

    On the other hand, Eternal Ceremony helped to diminish multiple different attacks¡¯ power. Not only did it weaken their power, but it could also dissipate a single powerful attack¡¯s momentum into multiple smaller waves.

    The difference between a single attack with a hundred units of power and a hundred attacks each with single unit of power was massive.

    The Eternal Ceremony technique was basically designed to weaken attacks. The city¡¯s barriers would then only need to withstand more attacks that were significantly weaker. This was obviously a perfect synergy with Sky City¡¯s barriers, which were supplied by an endless source of energy.

    Withering Flesh, Eternal Ceremony, and Hollow Death appeared simultaneously, which greatly diminished the imposing presence of the Thousand Poisons Toad. At the same time, however, it also impeded all of the attacksing from the Harpy army.

    The battlefield itself had also begun to change.

    Arge group of nearly a hundred demonic puppets had stepped onto the battlefield.

    Each of these puppets were seventy to eighty feet tall, as if they were a massive giant. The moment they appeared on the battlefield, they charged at the waves of mosquitoes along with the other Harpy soldiers. As mechanical warriors, they feared no poison. No matter how strong the clouds of poison were, these puppets would continue to fiercely swing their glowing des, unleashing incredibly powerful strikes against the swarm of mosquitoes.

    With the appearance of these puppets, the rate of Harpy soldiers being injured began to greatly decrease. Even the destroyed regions of the barrier were beginning to regenerate.

    A furious wave of attacks was being forcibly beaten back.

    The Thousand Poisons Toad was obviously a bit surprised by the Harpies¡¯ fierce offense as well. Its strength and defenses had suddenly declined, and the swarm of mosquitoes it was so proud of was actually not as effective as it liked. Of course, the Harpies had already lost thousands of soldiers, each loss searing their heart like a hot iron poker. This didn¡¯t even factor in the vast seas of resources that they had consumed just to restrict this Thousand Poisons Toad.

    However, it would have been a big mistake to assume that the Thousand Poisons Toad was helpless because of this.

    The Thousand Poisons Toad bellowed with rage yet again before it began to violently suck in air.

    This violent inhtion created a massive air vortex with shocking propulsion powers. In the blink of an eye, countless Harpy soldiers had been forcibly dragged out of the city.

    This barrier was only effective against the toad¡¯s enemies on the outside, not the inside. As a result, the barrier served no protective purposes. The Harpy soldiers dragged out of the city flew directly into the Thousand Poisons Toad¡¯s mouth. At that moment, however, Eternal Night suddenly made a move. He stretched out his hand and made a grabbing motion in the air. At the same time, a massive w descended from the sky and grabbed those Harpy soldiers, saving them from being eaten.

    In terms of strength, Eternal Night was obviously inferior to the Thousand Poisons toad. But for that exact reason, he hadn¡¯t tried to save all of the soldiers. Instead, he focused all of his energy on trying to save just some of them.

    The hand, which appeared to blot out the sun, ced itself between the pressure vortex and the soldiers. It grabbed hundreds of them and forcibly pulled them out of the Thousand Poisons Toad¡¯s mouth.

    Unfortunately, even more soldiers fell victim to the toad¡¯s mouth than were saved, disappearing without a trace.

    ¡°Thunder God Cannon, aim at its mouth!¡± Lonely Skyleap howled.

    The Thunder God Cannon began to glow yet again.

    Unfortunately, the Thousand Poisons Toad had already closed its mouth by now. It used its powerful physical body to forcibly resist the blow before opening its mouth again, this time spitting out three powerful wind des.

    The same wind des werepletely different from what an Arcana Master would unleash.

    The three wind des were each nearly ten thousand feet long. They descended from the sky like tines of a massive, three-pronged trident, carving up the city¡¯s walls and defenses as they fell down.

    The Harpies went back to firing a rain of Annihtion Bolts onto the ground below. They had just loosed the crossbow bolts when the Thousand Poisons Toad formed yet another wave of mosquitos. The Harpies continued to rely on the Sun-Shattering Cannons and thebat puppets tobat this new wave of mosquitos.

    Both sides of the battle were incredibly even.

    Greenish-blue blood was pouring out from the Thousand Poisons Toad. These seemingly vast fountains of blood, however, were nothing more than superficial wounds to the Thousand Poisons Toad.

    On the other side, the Harpies were constantly suffering from the deaths of their soldiers. They would either ide to the fierce attack of the Thousand Poisons Toad, or from its toxic poison.

    The two parties exchanged blood and lives. Finally, after one day had passed, the Thousand Poisons Toad was forced to retreat helplessly.

    The Harpies, who were widely-known for their frailty, had relied on their powerful city to defend themselves from the attack of a Deste Beast. This was a direct demonstration of how frighteningly powerful Sky City was.

    The city¡¯s nearly endless source of energy, its various defensive setups and Origin Formations, and thebined efforts of the Harpy soldiers and Arcana Masters were all responsible for producing such a miracle.

    Of course, they had paid the price of nearly six thousand soldiers to do so.

    Was that too excessive?

    In truth, this was already quite a low cost when it came to battling a Deste Beast.

    It would have been normal to exchange a few hundreds of thousands of lives for a singr Deste Beast¡¯s life. There was nothing strange about that.

    However, to the Harpies, six thousand would not be the upper limit. The battle had not yet concluded.

    Of course, they hadn¡¯t brought out their full strength yet either.

    At the very least, Su Chen was aware of a forbidden-tier Arcana Master who hadn¡¯t made a move yet.

    Kelesda.

 Sect - Book 5, 157: Depth Echo

    Chapter 157: Depth Echo

    Once Su Chen had run through seventeen stores, he finally noticed Kelesda.

    This disappointed him slightly.

    Why had he suddenly shown up, and why now of all times? Wasn¡¯t he only supposed to appear three days from now?

    Despite the regret in his heart, however, Su Chen didn¡¯t hesitate in the slightest. His figure instantly flickered briefly before disappearing.

    Kelesda saw Su Chen¡¯s figure flicker as soon as he came within view. He knew that Su Chen had likely used that skill of his yet again. Even though he could lock down and control an area of space, its effects were limited. If he wasn¡¯t able to get within a certain distance of Su Chen in the first ce, he wouldn¡¯t ever be able to imprison Su Chen.

    Previously, Kelesda had been able to imprison Su Chen at Thousand Poisons Mountain because Su Chen hadn¡¯t ced any clones outside of the area beforehand, which made it impossible for him to use the Light Shaking Phantom technique. By the time Kelesda had started chasing him, Su Chen no longer had any time to release any clones, which was why Kelesda had eventually been able to trap him in that weird area of space. This obviously drastically limited Su Chen¡¯s ability to escape.

    But this time, Su Chen was prepared. He had set up a number of different clones all over the city. As soon as he saw Kelesda, he immediately leapt away, not even bothering to pick up a treasure that his fingers were just about to close in on. His decisiveness had rendered Kelesdapletely helpless.

    ¡°He¡¯s already started running?¡± Kelesda stopped.

    He wasn¡¯t that surprised by Su Chen¡¯s decision, but he couldn¡¯t help but feel a sense of regret surface in his heart.

    ¡°You old man, you¡¯ve finally shown your face. I thought that you had been finished off by the Mother Goddess Sect, but now, it seems that you¡¯ve given up on Fate¡¯s Hands and be one of Eternal Night¡¯s subordinates.¡± Su Chen¡¯s voice floated over to Kelesda from nearby, but this wasn¡¯t the real body; it was a clone who was sitting on a nearby rooftop and chuckling provocatively at him.

    When Kelesda turned around and saw the clone, he didn¡¯t immediately attack. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. My name is Kaderville, and I am under orders to bring you to His Majesty Eternal Night.¡±

    ¡°Kaderville?¡± Su chen was taken aback. ¡°You changed your name?¡±

    After thinking about it for a moment, he understood what had happened. ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. Was that one of the conditions of your alliance? You need to change your name and swap gs? That is one way to solve the issue, I suppose.¡±

    ¡°This is all thanks to you,¡± Kelesda said darkly, but his words could only be heard by Su Chen.

    ¡°Yes. Without me, you might not have been able to make such a decision. And even if you could have, those old fogeys back at Fate¡¯s Hands probably wouldn¡¯t have agreed.¡± Su Chen sighed and said, ¡°I unintentionally helped youplete your transformation. Well, without destruction there can be no construction. You should actually be thanking me.¡±

    ¡°Fine. When I bring you to His Majesty Eternal Night, I¡¯ll show you what no construction without destruction is,¡± Kelesda snarled fiercely. ¡°I¡¯ll rip you into pieces so that every part of your body can be rebuilt after being destroyed!¡±

    ¡°Hehe, that¡¯s quite vicious,¡± Su Chen jabbed back as he smiled. ¡°Unfortunately, the moment you submitted to Eternal Night, your will was no longer your own. Even if you are someday able to catch me, you won¡¯t be the person who decides what happens to me. Eternal Night will make the final decision.¡±

    Kelesda froze momentarily.

    Su Chen¡¯s words were correct. The moment he had submitted to Eternal Night was the moment that he had lost his autonomy. There were some things that he would never be able to make the final decision for anymore.

    Even so, this was the price that he had to pay.

    How could Kelesda have gotten all of those benefits for free? He had turned a dangerous situation into an opportunity for revival, making it possible to rebuild Fate¡¯s Hands. However, this new Fate¡¯s Hands had had its name changed and now served under someone else¡¯s banner. This was the necessary price.

    Eternal Night hadn¡¯t done so without a price either.

    Taking in Kelesda would no doubt anger a few of his older subjects. They would be dissatisfied and enraged, and some would even try to make a move against Kelesda. It was even possible that Eternal Night¡¯s prestige would suffer a blow.

    However, everyone had tacitly agreed to this price during the exchange.

    The more you wanted, the more of a price you would need to pay.

    But Su Chen ripping open the wound of what he had paid still caused Kelesda to wince in pain.

    He harrumphed. ¡°At the very least, I still have the right to decide on how to deal with you.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°You might have the right to do other things, but you absolutely do not have the right to decide on how to deal with me.¡±

    When Kelesda heard this, he fell silent.

    Su Chen then said, ¡°I came to see you not because I wanted to converse with you, but rather because there¡¯s something I want you to tell His Majesty Eternal Night.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Kelesda suddenly felt a trace of unease surface in his heart.

    Indeed, Su Chen¡¯s next words shocked him to the core. ¡°It¡¯s not much, really. It¡¯s just that during these past two years, I¡¯ve visited Jade Clearmist¡¯s secret treasure realm, Fate¡¯s Hands¡¯ headquarters, and the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s holy ground. This has made me quite rich, but keeping all of these treasures on hand is not the smartest thing to do......¡±

    He purposefully drew out thest sentence as he smiled at Kelesda.

    Kelesda suddenly realized something and blurted out, ¡°NO!¡±

    Su Chen shook his head slightly. ¡°That¡¯s right, I¡¯ve hidden them.¡±

    Hidden them?

    Hidden them!

    This whole time, Serene Dream Lotus Crown and Eternal Night had treated the treasures as things that had been temporarily misced. As long as they caught the thief, they would instantly regain everything that they had lost.

    This thought was quite logical, and there wasn¡¯t anything necessarily wrong with it.

    However, just because it was a logical assumption didn¡¯t mean that it would definitely ur.

    Su Chen had smacked them in the face with an extremely simple strategy.

    He had hidden them.

    In other words, even if they captured Su Chen, they probably wouldn¡¯t be able to regain those treasures any longer.

    These weren¡¯t piddling amounts of treasures either. They had been gathered by a few powerful organizations over a span of thousands of years. If their total cost was converted into Origin Stones, they would probably be worth hundreds of millions.

    In particr, Divine-ss Origin Tools were basically priceless and couldn¡¯t be bought with Origin Stones no matter how hard one tried.

    Virtually no one would be able to stomach this kind of a loss.

    Kelesda stared angrily at Su Chen. ¡°You couldn¡¯t have possibly hidden them. I¡¯ve been keeping a close eye on you this entire time. You haven¡¯t left Sky City even once.¡±

    Su Chen shrugged. ¡°Don¡¯t be stupid, Kelesda. You should know me and the tricks that I have up my sleeves. I don¡¯t even need to go out on my own ¡ª I can just send out a single clone, and that should be more than fine. And I wouldn¡¯t need to do something too grandiose to hide a few Origin Rings ¡ª I just found a few random ces, dug some holes, and buried them in the ground.¡±

    Kelesda¡¯s heart sank into the depths of despair.

    Gone.

    The treasures were all gone!

    This bastard!!!

    How could he have done something like that?

    What would he tell His Majesty? Or Her Majesty?

    When Su Chen saw Kelesda¡¯s enraged expression, he chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s all I wanted to tell you. Do you still want to fight? Then you should hurry up and make your move.¡±

    Kelesda stared intently at Su Chen, but then suddenly turned and shot off in a direction as he growled, ¡°You won¡¯t be able to get away with this, Halcyon Wing Streak!¡±

    That was the direction of Su Chen¡¯s main body.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± said the clone calmly. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. Depth Echo is strong, but that doesn¡¯t mean that there¡¯s nothing I can do about it.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Kelesda trembled violently. ¡°When did you know?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I already know,¡± Su Chen¡¯s clone said as heughed. ¡°I already know how you were able to lock onto my position. Kelesda, it won¡¯t be this easy in the future.¡±

    As the clone spoke, it began to retreat into the distance and gradually disappeared.

    ¡°NO!¡± Kelesda howled as he raced toward Su Chen¡¯s main body¡¯s direction.

    This time, he really was panicking.

    But just as he reached the halfway point, his perception of Su Chen suddenly began to fade......

    On the other end, Su Chen gulped down the medicine that he had concocted and let out a long sigh.

    This Arcana Technique, which had frustrated him for over a year, had finally been almostpletely nullified.

    The technique that Kelesda had used on him was a Tenth-Ring Arcana Technique, Depth Echo.

    This Arcana Technique had originally been protecting the resources in Fate¡¯s Hands¡¯ treasure stores and had been prepared by Kelesda as ast resort. Since Kelesda had been a thief himself for a long time, it was only natural that he was incredibly protective of his stash. Anyone who took his items would be doomed to be constantly hounded by this Arcana Technique, giving Kelesda ess to their position at any time.

    Because the technique merely transmitted a location and didn¡¯t actually harm the user in any way, it couldpletely ignore any and all defensive techniques. Additionally, its influence actually was impossible to perceive, making it incredibly difficult to remove. These characteristics made this location-perceiving technique one of the most effective ones of the current era.

    Su Chen had thrown two Demonic Emperor Origin Crystals and a Demonic King Origin Crystals at the scepter to obtain an answer. Since Kelesda was a forbidden Arcana Master, making him stronger than most Demonic Emperors, making a prediction that was rted to him would be incredibly expensive.

    Su Chen¡¯s clone had only exchanged a few sentences with Kelesda to inform him about Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s ¡°treasure stores,¡± but Su Chen hade up with at least a hundred other ns. Each one of them involved getting in contact with Kelesda and conversing with him in order to obtain an answer.

    The Origin Bone Scepter¡¯s predictions didn¡¯t necessarily have toe true, but there nheless still needed to be a foundation of truth incorporated into the prediction.

    For instance, after the Origin Bone Scepter predicted what Su Chen would eat, Su Chen was then able to use that information to determine a potential n of attack. This new future would then be revealed to him by another prediction from the Origin Bone Scepter, as it was now possible.

    But after he made that prediction, Su Chen had changed his mind and hadn¡¯t gone to eat breakfast.

    The future had changed, but not because the Origin Bone Scepter¡¯s prediction wasn¡¯t urate. Rather, it was because the future was full of limitless possibilities, and the Origin Bone Scepter only showed one of the ¡°unknown¡± possibilities. Once the unknown became known, it wasn¡¯t all that surprising that the future would change as a result.

    For this reason, Su Chen could predict that he would encounter Kelesda but could choose a different route. However, he needed toe up with a specific n for the Origin Bone Scepter¡¯s prediction toe true.

    As such, Su Chen had chosen to send a clone down one of the hundreds of paths that he had chosen in order to make one of those possibilities happen.

    The goal of sending one of his clones to meet with Kelesda, in addition to having him pass that message on to Eternal Night, was also to confirm his suspicions and make sure that the Origin Bone Scepter¡¯s prediction was urate.

    Now that he knew that the tracking technique that had been used on him was Depth Echo, Su Chen had then attempted to divine a way to nullify it. The cost of this was much lower, and he was able to very quickly concoct a medicine to deal with Depth Echo.

    But even the medicine that he had spent so long trying to perfect was actually not possible to fully concoct as he wascking some resources. This had weakened the medicine¡¯s overall effect and meant that he couldn¡¯tpletely escape from Depth Echo¡¯s grasp.

    Because the issue was ack of resources and had nothing to do with Su Chen¡¯s skill, the Origin Bone Scepter wasn¡¯t able to provide Su Chen with a way to deal with the situation.

    The result was that now, Kelesda could no longer determine where exactly Su Chen was hiding. However, he could still determine what general direction Su Chen was hiding in.

 Sect - Book 5, 156: Crazed

    Chapter 156: Crazed

    Su Chen¡¯s guess was that Kelesda was most likely being held in reserve to deal with him.

    Given Eternal Night¡¯s shrewdness and ruthless decision making habits, there was no way that he would leave Su Chen unattended.

    This was further proof that Eternal Night was probably closely watching all of Su Chen¡¯s movements.

    The main reasons why Su Chen hadn¡¯t made a move yet was because he wasn¡¯t sure what the best way of dealing with the Light Shaking Phantom was, and he was also waiting for Zhu Xianyao¡¯s arrival.

    When he thought of this, Su Chen¡¯s face broke out into a smile before he turned around and left ¡ª this battle had revealed most of Sky City¡¯s and the Thousand Poisons Toad¡¯s strength. With this information in hand, he now had an idea of what to do next.

    The next day, the Thousand Poisons Toad returned.

    After a night¡¯s rest, the wounds that the Deste Beast had sustained had recovered significantly.

    Even though the Harpies had known that this would happen, there was nothing they could do about it. They had only managed to survive the previous day¡¯s battle due to the city¡¯s powerful defenses. If they were to leave the city, they would be immediately thrust into a much worse situation. They would be courting death if they had tried to give chase.

    Even though this allowed the Thousand Poisons Toad to recover some of its wounds, the influence of the environment had also caused its strength to decline.

    Despite this decrease in strength, however, the Deste Beast had gotten smarter about its approach.

    This time, the Thousand Poisons Toad didn¡¯t n on brute forcing its way into the city. Rather, it constantly sent swarm after swarm of poisonous mosquitoes to attack the city.

    The Thousand Poisons Toad¡¯s specialty was, of course, poison. If it weren¡¯t for Kelesda¡¯s antidote, Sky City might not have been able to withstand this endless barrage from the Deste Beast. Even now, the swarms of mosquitoes would constantly change up their area of focus, making it difficult for the barrier to effectively block them and prevent them from entering the city.

    And anywhere the mosquitoes snuck into the city, they left behind a trail of Harpy soldiers¡¯ corpses on the ground.

    The battle became all the more intense as a result. Harpies were dying left and right. However, they were not afraid of death, and they continued to charge forwards relentlessly, using their lives to stem the flood of the mosquitoes. Even if all their life could do was slow down the advance of those mosquitoes slightly, they felt that their sacrifice was not in vain.

    This was the true nature of war.

    At the beginning of the battle, the two parties had been at their strongest. But as the battle dragged on, factors other than pure strength began to y a pivotal role, such as tactics and willpower.

    However, to Su Chen, this battle was no longer worthy of his attention.

    At least, not at the moment.

    He was about to do something for himself next.

    In a more upscale sector of Sky City.

    The upscale sector was not officially designated as such, but it came from a tacit societal understanding, as most of the wealthy Harpies and nobles in Sky Country lived in this area.

    The former Halcyon Wing n hadn¡¯t even had the right to enter this ce.

    Yes, former.

    They had been officially wiped out yesterday by the Thousand Poisons Toad¡¯s advance.

    While Su Chen was walking over, the Harpies responsible for keeping an eye on him also noticed his movements.

    They immediately notified their superiors.

    Eternal Night¡¯s subordinate, Night God Verdant, was responsible for keeping an eye on Su Chen. He was a part of the same n as Night God Sun, who had died in Jade Clearmist¡¯s secret realm, but they weren¡¯t considered to have been particrly close.

    Night God Verdant was also surprised when he heard that ¡°Halcyon Wing Streak¡± was headed for the upscale sector of Sky City.

    After the high level discussion with his advisors, Eternal Night had made many preparations to defend against ¡°Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s¡± possible actions. His purview included the Perpetual Daylight Pce, imperial treasury, and a few other strategic locations in Sky City. He was eagerly awaiting Halcyon Wing Streak to make a move on them.

    Because the Thousand Poisons Toad was currently besieging the city, any of Su Chen¡¯s destructive efforts could have especially tremendous negative effects.

    But unexpectedly, ¡°Halcyon Wing Streak¡± had chosen to avoid these strategically important locations and was instead headed for the wealthy sector of the city. Just what was he trying to do?

    The mission that Night God Verdant had been given was to carefully watch Su Chen. If he ever stepped foot into one of the aforementioned strategically important areas, he was to immediately activate the restrictions and cut Su Chen off to capture him. However, his target had remained put for some time, so Night God Verdant hadn¡¯t paid him much mind.

    Now, however, his target was not headed for a restricted area, and neither was he trying to leave Sky City. What should Night God Verdant do?

    Without amand from His Majesty, Night God Sun could feel a headacheing on.

    A few of Night God Verdant¡¯s subordinates were staring at him. After a moment of thought, Night God Sun gritted his teeth and said, ¡°His Majesty made it abundantly clear to not touch him as long as he doesn¡¯t enter any restricted areas or try to leave Sky City...... Let¡¯s see what he¡¯s up to first.¡±

    The answer very quickly arrived.

    Night God Verdant was informed that ¡°Halcyon Wing Streak¡± had entered a shop.

    A shop?

    What was he nning on doing there?

    Night God Sun was still wondering when a subordinate hurriedly reported to him. ¡°Reporting in, sir...... He¡¯s robbed New Moon Store!¡±

    Robbed?

    Night God Verdant was stunned.

    Why would this guy choose this moment to start robbing stores?

    New Moon Store was a famous store within Harpy territory. It held arge amount of treasures, even for a high-ss store. There were also quite a few Origin Tools, Origin Crystals, and other objects inside. Even though there weren¡¯t any divine-ss tools inside the store, there weren¡¯t many of them to begin with!

    But even if there were no divine tools or treasures, a shop like this would at least have a few special treasures, right?

    Just because the store wasn¡¯t as rich as the Mother Goddess Sect didn¡¯t mean that there would be nothing of value for Su Chen to take.

    But now, the store wasn¡¯t even able to sell off its wares out one by one before a thief came along and stole them all. The thief probably didn¡¯t even care about how much profit he had made just now.

    More importantly, this thief didn¡¯t seem to be satisfied with robbing just a single store. He then proceeded to move onto the next store. He was moving as if he was nning on robbing his way through everything in sight.

    Night God Verdant was taken aback by ¡°Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s¡± actions. He hurriedly asked, ¡°He sessfully robbed New Moon Store and got off scot-free? He didn¡¯t encounter any resistance? Last time I checked, New Moon Store should actually have some Tenth Ring Arcana Masters as guards, right?¡±

    ¡°They do have some, but weren¡¯t they all summoned to the front lines? At the moment, we are the only Eighth-Ring and above Arcana Masters in the immediate area,¡± the subordinate replied.

    Only then did Night God Verdant remember that His Majesty had ordered that anyone stronger than a certain level had to report to the front lines. Thus, at this point, there weren¡¯t many cultivators left, not to mention high-tier Arcana Masters. And even then, the few still hanging around weren¡¯t really much of a match for Su Chen. They were only meant to maintain some semnce of order in the city and wouldn¡¯t be of much use in a real fight.

    This exined why it felt like the high-ss area waspletely empty ¡ª it really was empty!

    ¡°What should we do now, Sir Night God?¡±

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Night God Verdant said, ¡°This fake Halcyon Wing Streak is an incredibly important person of interest. I cannot make a decision until I reconvene with His Majesty. Don¡¯t pay him any mind for now.¡±

    As he spoke, he hurried off to meet with Eternal Night.

    Su Chen continued to freely plunder the ce happily.

    Yes, he was looting the ce, and he was doing so with reckless abandon.

    The Deste Beast¡¯s attack gave Su Chen a great opportunity.

    Eternal Night could increase the security in the imperial pce, treasury, and other various strategically important locations. However, could he also afford to do it in areas that belonged tomoners?

    In a battle, it was always important to strike the opponent in their blind spot.

    Naturally, this high-ss area was one of Eternal Night¡¯s blind spots.

    Of course, Su Chen¡¯s n was to obtain benefits for himself even while prodding at the opponent¡¯s weak spots. Merely causing destruction wasn¡¯t actually that valuable to Su Chen. Otherwise, he would basically be the same as Kelesda ¡ª a terrorist.

    Su Chen had chosen to rob the high-ss region for other practical reasons as well.

    Right now, Su Chen¡¯s greatest problem was that Kelesda had a lock on his position and knew where he was at all times.

    Without the Light Shaking Phantom technique , Su Chen probably would have already died many times over.

    Even so, since Kelesda could lock onto his position, then problems were bound to rise up.

    Once the Harpies decided to make a move on him, such as capturing Zhu Xianyao or if they found a way to restrict the effectiveness of his Light Shaking Phantom, then they woulde looking for him.

    Yes, it was a fact that they were going to butt heads sooner orter.

    But as described previously, Su Chen wasn¡¯t nning on just sitting around and waiting for them to capture him.

    If his opponents were willing toe searching for him on their own, then that meant that the initiative had somehow fallen into their hands, and that they were in control of the rhythm.

    If Su Chen wanted to escape from this kind of situation, he needed to first figure out how to escape from Kelesda¡¯s lock on his position.

    And the best way to figure out how to resolve this issue actually was quite simple ¡ª by making a sacrifice.

    He would use a sacrifice to figure out how Kelesda was locking onto his position.

    This was the simplest and most effective method. Su Chen hadn¡¯t done so before simply because he didn¡¯t have enough Origin Crystals. But now that he was in Sky City, Su Chen found that he was basically surrounded with resources.

    The diplomat had bought a bunch of Origin Crystals for him, but since the prediction involved a forbidden-tier Arcana Master¡¯s secrets, Su Chen needed to think of a way to get his hands on some more.

    And the easiest way to aplish that was to simply take them!

    The upper-ss area was popted by nobles, so all of the stores there naturally contained a wide variety of resources.

    Resources were equivalent to wealth, and wealth was equivalent to strength!

    Being greedy was a necessity in this world, since it was possible to convert wealth into personal strength.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t hesitate to begin his robbing spree.

    Even though he only needed Origin Crystals, Su Chen didn¡¯t mind picking up other good items that he found along the way. In any case, he had a mountain of Origin Rings, since he had once used them to supply the entire Heavenly Might Battalion for a considerable amount of time. Byparison, the amount of treasures kept within these stores was trivial.

    Su Chen sauntered in and out of the different stores. He wasted no time in plundering each one of them.

    Fata Morgana was used to determine where the hidden treasures were located, Flowing Gold de to crush any form of resistance, Air Tentacles to quickly grab the treasures ¡ª Su Chen¡¯s abilities seemed to be quite effective when used for thievery.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t stop to even catch his breath as he ran through all the stores. His efficiency was incredibly high.

    The few Arcana Masters still present and able to defend the stores did their best to stop Su Chen, but his eyes only saw green at this point. Their actions werepletely useless.

    Su Chen rampaged through the city like a malevolent hurricane.

    He left behind a cloud of dust in his wake as he robbed them blind, taking everything that he could find. It was as if there was someone chasing after him.

    That wasn¡¯t far from the truth, actually, since those Harpies would never give him too much time.

    When Eternal Night heard Night God Verdant¡¯s report, a suspicious expression appeared in his eyes. ¡°He¡¯s robbing the high-ss area?¡±

    ¡°Yes. He¡¯s currently sweeping his way through the area. He doesn¡¯t seem to be sparing anything in his path,¡± Night God Verdant replied.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you? This guy is a terrible bandit! He steals things anywhere he goes! Jade Clearmist¡¯s treasure stores, Fate¡¯s Hands¡¯ headquarters, Spiritual Light Institute, and then the Mother Goddess Sect ¡ª he has no mercy!¡± Kelesda cursed through gritted teeth.

    Eternal Night seemedpletely indifferent. ¡°We will recover the riches we have lost at some point. As long as he hasn¡¯t left the city yet, everything is negotiable. However, his vicious, ruthless attitude is quite rare. Is it really just greed? Or does he have another goal?¡±

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Eternal Night said, ¡°Kaderville, you should go and pay him a visit. But don¡¯t forget to not expose your identity.¡±

    ¡°He already knows my identity,¡± Kelesda said.

    ¡°It¡¯s enough as long as you don¡¯t admit it,¡± Eternal Night replied.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 158: Goal

    Chapter 158: Goal

    At the front of the city walls.

    Eternal Night sat on an elevated seat, calmly observing the battle¡¯s progress. Beside him, Kelesda was reporting on the current situation.

    ¡°So this caterpir was still able to escape from you, right?¡± Eternal Night summarized indifferently.

    Those who knew him, however, understood that the calmer Eternal Night appeared, the angrier he actually was.

    Kelesda helplessly replied, ¡°He is even stronger than I had anticipated. Even now, I have no idea how he was able to escape from my Depth Echo technique¡¯s influence. Thankfully, he isn¡¯t able topletely evade my detection. I can sense that he¡¯s still in Sky City, but I can¡¯t pinpoint his exact location anymore.¡±

    Eternal Night drummed his finger against his armrest. ¡°Our opponent is much trickier and much more cautious than we could have ever imagined. He seems insane, but he has seemingly carefully calcted everything. He isn¡¯t attacking randomly either......¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty means......¡±

    ¡°Night God Verdant, how many stores did he try to rob?¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty, he robbed seventeen in total.¡±

    ¡°Were these seventeen all next to each other?¡±

    ¡°No, Your Majesty. There were a few stores that Halcyon Wing Streak ran past and ignored,¡± Night God Sun reported.

    ¡°Prepare a list of all the losses that the stores suffered.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re preparing it right now. It will be ready very soon.¡± Night God Verdant had been serving Eternal Night for a long time and knew all of his habits, especially the ones concerning a mistake. Thus, he dared not make even a small mistake.

    ¡°Also, go and try to figure out some things about those stores that weren¡¯t robbed. Prepare that information for me as well.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±

    Not long after, a scroll containing information on all of the stores in the high-ss area was handed over.

    Eternal Night took the scroll and inspected it carefully.

    He perused it quite carefully and slowly.

    After reading it through, he fell into thought for some time before saying, ¡°This person was after Origin Crystals.¡±

    From just analyzing the situation of the high-ss area, Eternal Night was able to figure out Su Chen¡¯s goal. Of course, Su Chen¡¯s goal truly was to steal all of the Origin Crystals, but Kelesda was nheless still impressed with Eternal Night¡¯s ability to discern the truth from a chaotic situation.

    ¡°Your Majesty¡¯s wisdom is as boundless as the sea,¡± Kelesda said.

    ¡°Our opponent¡¯s skill isn¡¯t weak either,¡± Eternal Nightmented, his gaze still focused on the battle.

    He hadn¡¯t forgotten that the battle was still ongoing.

    Kelesda said with some suspicion, ¡°Origin Crystals...... Why would he want Origin Crystals? And once he got the Origin Crystals, he was able to extricate himself from Depth Echo¡¯s effects. Is there a connection between the two?¡±

    Because of Kelesda¡¯s innate talent as a bandit, he had very quickly discovered the link between Su Chen obtaining the Origin Crystals and the nullification of his Depth Echo technique.

    Eternal Night¡¯s focus, however, was not on that aspect.

    To him, that was already a problem of the past. What he needed to do now was n and amodate for the future.

    He said, ¡°I¡¯m more interested in why it took him this long to make a move.¡±

    Kelesda was taken aback. ¡°He was probably waiting for the Deste Beast to attack Sky City, as all of our strongerbatants would be preupied. It¡¯s the perfect opportunity to strike.¡±

    ¡°So then why didn¡¯t he make a move yesterday? The Thousand Poisons Toad started attacking the city yesterday,¡± Eternal Night rebutted.

    Kelesda was taken aback.

    It made sense that Su Chen was waiting for the Deste Beast¡¯s attack to make a move. In fact, that was actually a part of Su Chen¡¯s n.

    But then why hadn¡¯t he made a move yesterday?

    Eternal Night was the one to answer his own question. ¡°Because he was observing.¡±

    ¡°Observing?¡± Kelesda fell deep into thought when he heard Eternal Night¡¯s words.

    Kelesda had also managed arge organization for a long time. He quickly realized something, and a fierce expression appeared in his eyes. ¡°This guy wants to do something to Sky City!¡±

    Su Chen was merely observing to try and locate an even better opportunity for himself.

    Because of Kelesda¡¯s iplete antidote, the Thousand Poisons Toad¡¯s most powerful attacks weren¡¯t entirely effective. As a result, its strength had been greatly reduced.

    Sky City was originally going to be facing a mere weakened Deste Beast, so their chances of victory were almost guaranteed. All they needed to focus on now was minimizing the price that they had to pay to win this battle.

    But Su Chen¡¯s presence had changed things drastically.

    The Thousand Poisons Toad was an external opponent, while Su Chen was an internal one.

    Su Chen wouldn¡¯t be Su Chen if he didn¡¯t try to stir up some trouble within the city.

    Many of the powerful cities throughout history hadn¡¯t been defeated by a siege but rather been sold out and backstabbed by a resident living in that city.

    Su Chen was like a dagger aimed and prepped to strike the enemy¡¯s stomach. As long as he timed things correctly, he would be a serious problem.

    For instance, if he shut down Sky City¡¯s defensive barrier by destroying the Arcana Towers, then the Thousand Poisons Toad would have a golden opportunity to attack the city itself. And if that let it enter the city, then the Harpies would be suddenly thrust into dire straits.

    However, Su Chen couldn¡¯t possibly achieve that.

    The problem with Su Chen was that his presence wasn¡¯t a secret.

    Since the people within the city were aware of his presence, then his potential destructiveness had roughly been halved.

    Su Chen might not be a traitor, but he served the same general function. Because Kelesda and Sky City were both prepared for him, all the strategic locations were closely guarded, including the Perpetual Daylight Pce, the Arcana Towers, and the Thunder God Cannon. Any single high-tier restrictive Origin Formation at each location made it impossible for Su Chen to use Light Shaking Phantom to ess it.

    However, the Harpies couldn¡¯t possibly nket the city with high-tier Origin Formations. Eternal Night could only ce them in specific areas, somon areas couldn¡¯t possibly be covered.

    This had given Su Chen an opportunity.

    Things were often more closely rted than they appeared. Some things might not seem important at first, but when they were removed from the equation, you would suddenly discover that they had actually yed an important role.

    Right now, Sky City was the center of a multidirectional battle. There were quite a few defenders present, meaning that a total copse of the city would be quite hard to orchestrate. This also meant that, logistically, almost every citizen of Sky City had been conscripted. Even the Harpies who weren¡¯t fighting on the front lines weren¡¯t just waiting around idly. They were producing the arrows, crystals, medicines, and Origin Tools necessary for the soldiers¡¯ battles on the front lines.

    So why would Su Chen wait to watch the battle yesterday?

    Obviously, it was to figure out which area of Sky City was the most important while also being the least well-defended.

    His first move was to steal all of these Origin Crystals to use as sacrifices for the Origin Bone Scepter. Then, he had begun to develop a n of attack for Sky City itself.

    When Kelesda realized this, he was stunned. ¡°Your Majesty, where do you think he¡¯s going to strike next?¡±

    Eternal Night¡¯s gaze sank as he dully replied, ¡°There¡¯s too many possibilities.¡±

    A powerful front line needed the support of the back lines on multiple fronts, which made it difficult to make a prediction on Su Chen¡¯s target.

    There were simply too many possibilities for even Eternal Night to narrow down.

    ¡°However, I am sure that his targets are all in line with what he wants to do. This is very safe for him, and it is an incredibly frustrating problem for us,¡± Eternal Night borated.

    At that moment, a person hurried over and reported, ¡°Your Majesty, the Red Rain Workshop was ransacked just now!¡±

    ¡°The Red Rain Workshop?¡± Eternal Night thought for a moment before speaking, ¡°Mist Blue Shadow.¡±

    ¡°Present, sir!¡± a Harpy stepped up.

    Eternal Night asked, ¡°You are the chief logistics officer. Does the Red Rain Workshop supply us with anything vital?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Mist Blue Shadow immediately replied. ¡°They are responsible for providing us with zing Powder.¡±

    Sky City¡¯s workshops were all currently producing the necessary supplies for battle. The fact that Mist Blue Shadow was able to immediately describe the service that the workshop was providing their army with clearly indicated how much thought he had put into this setup.

    ¡°zing Powder?¡± Eternal Night squinted. ¡°If I remember correctly, that¡¯s an ingredient that¡¯s needed to cast the Sun-Shattering Cannons.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Mist Blue Shadow nodded.

    ¡°Sun-Shattering Cannons...... Why the Sun-Shattering Cannons......¡± Eternal Night drummed his finger against his armrest as he fell deep into thought.

    The robbery of the upscale region hadn¡¯t given him much pause, and neither did the nullification of Kelesda¡¯s Depth Echo. However, the destruction of this workshop, which was responsible for producing zing Powder, had caused Eternal Night to sink into contemtion.

    It was as if he had run into a tough question that he simply couldn¡¯t answer no matter how hard he ruminated on the situation.

    While Eternal Night was still turning over these questions in his head, a massive blue wolf was standing outside of the other side of Sky City, shrouded in a cloud of fog. It stared intently at Sky City but remained motionless.

    The battle off in the distance was incredibly brutal, but the wolf¡¯s eyes werepletely clear and cid.

    ¡°Hey, see, our ancestor is really quite impressive! He poisoned another few hundred Harpies to death just now. The Harpies are going to lose another six or seven thousand soldiers today,¡± a golden bird excitedly chirped as it flew towards the wolf,nding on the ground near the wolf.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the best praise that you can offer, then this useless guy¡¯ll be a failure,¡± the wolf said in the human tongue with a sardonic smile.

    ¡°Failed? Useless?¡± The golden bird was stunned. ¡°Your Majesty Deep Blue me, how can you speak of our ancestor in that way? How is he a failure or useless? If he were to find out......¡±

    ¡°He won¡¯t,¡± the massive wolf said carelessly. ¡°Given his intelligence, he might not even understand what I said even if I had said that right to his face.¡±

    A trace of disdain appeared in Deep Blue me¡¯s eyes.

    Ancient beasts might be incredibly strong, but their intelligence was just toocking. As such, even though Deep Blue me was far weaker than the Thousand Poisons Toad, he still referred to it with a superior attitude.

    ¡°Also, he¡¯s about to die. Even if he could understand me, he probably wouldn¡¯t care,¡± Deep Blue me replied calmly. ¡°Right now, all that I can hope for is that he will fulfill its duty and destroy Sky City. But it seems like even that won¡¯t be possible. I don¡¯t think that the Thousand Poisons Toad will be able to hold on for any longer than tomorrow night at thetest.¡±

    The Deste Beast could have lived for a long time, but the intense battle had carved away at its energy stores, and its vitality was rapidly declining. Since Deep Blue me was also a Beast, he could see the toad¡¯s circumstances incredibly clearly.

    The Thousand Poisons Toad would be able tost for at most two more days.

    ¡°In other words......¡±

    ¡°Thirty thousand Harpies will be the extent of how many that ancestor of ours can kill. Isn¡¯t thatughable? Any other Deste Beast would have already covered the ground in veritable rivers of blood. Even when the Intelligent Races allied together, they had to pay the price of a few hundred thousand lives to obtain victory. Thirty thousand Harpies is probably the upper limit of how many will die for this ancestor of ours,¡± Deep Blue me sighed.

    ¡°It can¡¯t be. The old ancestor...... is that awful?¡± The golden bird didn¡¯t dare to believe its ears.

    Deep Blue me shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s not that our ancestor is that awful. Rather, it¡¯s that his opponents have a partial antidote, greatly limiting its most powerful abilities. Second of all, the environment has severely weakened it. It seems that the world is bing more and more inhospitable to Deste Beasts. Third of all...... it won¡¯t be able to enter the city.¡±

    ¡°The city?¡± the little golden bird asked in shock.

    ¡°Yes, the city!¡± Deep Blue me replied. ¡°The Harpies are relying on the city¡¯s powerful defenses to keep our ancestor at bay. As soon as those defenses are destroyed, the Harpies would be forced to pay an incredible price even if the defenses aren¡¯t down for very long.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty, then is it still possible for him to enter the city?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s very difficult, but we still have an opportunity,¡± Deep Blue me said as he stared intently at the faraway city.

 Sect - Book 5, 159: Gap

    Chapter 159: Gap

    Fresh blood dyed the sky red.

    That blood hade from the Harpies¡¯ blood being spilled everywhere.

    Even though Deep Blue me felt that this amount of blood was still far too little, the Harpies, whose reproductive rate was quite low, felt the sting of such a loss. This feeling waspounded by the sheer amount of resources they had poured into their defense.

    The chaotic battle was causing both sides to grow impatient. As time went on, the holdout became torturous. Finally, by the third day, the Thousand Poisons Toad was much weaker and also much more impatient. It appeared infuriated, but it was growing weaker and weaker. Nevertheless, it continued to m its massive body into the sturdy walls of Sky City and unleashing clouds of poison in all directions.

    Unfortunately, the Harpies were all used to this tactic by now, and their ability to advance or retreat had improved as well. No matter what the Thousand Poisons Toad tried to do, the Harpies were prepared, so they also suffered the fewest deaths.

    This would definitely be the least costly battle that the Intelligent Races had ever fought against a Deste Beast.

    Well, if it weren¡¯t for us, Palmer thought to himself.

    Palmer lifted up the felt hat on his head and continued to advance with the rest of the group.

    The Harpy captain at the front barked impatiently, ¡°Hurry up, we don¡¯t have much time left. We need to send these items over to the front lines!¡±

    Following thismand, the group of Harpies, who were riding a crash of Iron-Armored Rhinoceroses, hurried towards the castle walls.

    When the transportation party arrived at the base of Sky City¡¯s walls, one of the Harpy officers stopped them in their tracks. ¡°Your identification, please.¡±

    The captain handed over his identification.

    ¡°Profound rity from the Illusive Dust Workshop, responsible for constructing Annihtion Bolts. Are these all Annihtion bolts?¡± the inspections officer asked.

    ¡°Not entirely,¡± the Harpy replied. ¡°Some of them areponents for the Sun-Shattering Cannons that were ordered only recently. You know that some bandit destroyed the Red Rain Workshop yesterday, so their duties were transferred to us. We were only able to construct theseponents after staying up all night. Do you need to inspect these?¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± the official replied dutifully as he began to open the containers being carried by the Iron-Armored Beasts.

    ¡°Be careful. These boxes containponents for the Sun-Shattering Cannons and are explosive. You can¡¯t just open them like this.¡±

    ¡°Explosive?¡±

    ¡°Yes, explosive. That¡¯s not strange, is it? It¡¯s a military necessity.¡±

    Yes, they were military necessities.

    What was strange about a military necessity being dangerous?

    He nodded. After inspecting the documents once more, the inspections official returned them to the Harpy captain.

    The members of the transportation party walked through the checkpoint to the wall single-file. The inspections official nearby watched them closely, unwilling to ck off in the slightest. Even though he was far from being able to see through a person¡¯s disguise, he was still dutifully carrying out his responsibilities.

    One of the soldiers standing nearby chuckled, ¡°Captain, aren¡¯t you being a bit too nervous?¡±

    The official frowned. ¡°Don¡¯t forget that there¡¯s a bastard who was making trouble for usst night.¡±

    The soldier smiled. ¡°You were the one who said that he was alone. Don¡¯t we have a group of soldiers here?¡±

    ¡°Who knows? We have many enemies surrounding us right now. It wouldn¡¯t be strange if they were to join forces against us,¡± the captain said with some apprehension.

    He was probably the only official worried about something like this, but unfortunately it was impossible for this idea to reach Eternal Night. And even if it were, it was very likely that nothing woulde of it. There were simply too many possibilities, and Eternal Night couldn¡¯t possibly try to plug all the leaks. He simply didn¡¯t have enough manpower.

    The official had no idea that he had actually stumbled upon the truth of the matter.

    Off in the distance, Deep Blue me was still patiently waiting for news toe his way.

    The golden bird had already turned itself into a handsome young Harpy. The wings on its back were golden, giving it an elegant appearance. However, the way it sat spread-eagled was incredibly unrefined. It saidzily, ¡°Is that human trustworthy? I feel like the answer is no...... The Intelligent Races are never to be trusted.¡±

    ¡°We can only know whether we¡¯ll seed after we try,¡± Deep Blue me replied. ¡°If this fails, all that will happen is that we will lose Palmer and the others.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll miss it,¡± the golden bird said worriedly when it heard Palmer¡¯s name. ¡°Out of all your children, he¡¯s the only one that I can beat up soundly andfortably.¡±

    Deep Blue me had a hard time stomaching the golden bird¡¯s offensive words. ¡°Shut your mouth, Golden ze. Don¡¯t think that just because you¡¯re his son that I¡¯ll let you get off so easily!¡±

    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m just saying. You don¡¯t need to be so offended by it,¡± Golden ze said as he pped his wings. ¡°I am just getting anxious to see the fireworks. When are they going to start again?¡±

    ¡°Soon...... The agreed-upon time is almost here,¡± Deep Blue me replied.

    The transportation group passed through the city gates, then through the other wall before finally arriving at the southernmost gate entering Sky City.

    A few Harpies were stationed there to ept the goods.

    It was already possible to see the massive figure of the Thousand Poisons Toad off in the distance. However, the Thousand Poisons Toad was obviously having a hard time getting close to the city due to the swarms of locusts in its way. As such, it could only spit out dense clouds of poison from time to time.

    The poisonous fog sizzled whenever it came into contact with the city¡¯s barriers. If it weren¡¯t for the endless supply of Origin Energy, the poisonous fog probably would have already killed thousands if not tens of thousands of Harpies.

    This Deste Beast, which should have been able to wreak incredible amounts of devastation, was not powerful enough to breach the sturdy defenses of Sky City, making it impossible for the beast to actually demonstrate its full strength. This infuriated it to no end and caused it to howl with rage.

    ¡°Are you growing agitated? Don¡¯t worry, the moment you have been waiting for ising,¡± Palmer muttered to himself.

    ¡°Hey, you, don¡¯t just stand there. Get out of here.¡± One of the Harpies walked over to push Palmer out of the way.

    However, this shove waspletely ineffective, startling the soldier. Palmer suddenly reached out and picked him up, mming into the ground. Energy poured into his bare hands, allowing him to suddenly tear that Harpy in half.

    The other Harpy soldiers were badly startled when they saw this and all charged to face the new threat.

    Palmer gestured, and his originally thin, weak-looking body began to grow taller and sturdier. A massive wolf¡¯s head reced the Harpy head.

    It tilted its head back and roared, ¡°Awaken, mighty Wind Wolf warriors!¡±

    As it bellowed, the Iron-Armored Rhinoceroses carrying the cargo also began to howl, their bodies beginning to glow with red light. Suddenly, they broke free from the restrictions controlling them and charged right at the soldiers.

    ¡°Not good! It¡¯s the beasts! The beasts are attacking!¡± one of the Harpy officials cried out.

    A momentter, he was trampled underfoot.

    The sound of ferocious beast howls suddenly filled the air, startling the Harpies and causing them to turn around.

    Then, with shrill screeches, the countless Harpies shot into the air, silvery feather light filling the sky as the flew towards Sky City at top speed.

    No one couldpare to the Intelligent Races in terms of mobility.

    But no matter how fast they were, it was impossible for them to be faster than Palmer.

    Palmer, who had reverted to his original form, was a giant wolf nearly thirty feet tall. He stood on its hind legs and stared intently at the oing Harpies as a smile appeared on his face. ¡°Send some more of them my way!¡±

    Then, he took a stance and howled, ¡°For the glory of my race!¡±

    As he howled, an explosion suddenly entuated his promation.

    That explosion hade from the back of one of the Iron-Armored Rhinoceroses.

    The powerful wave of energy seemed to beparable to one unleashed by a Tenth-Ring Arcana Technique.

    Even so, this was only the beginning.

    Following that first explosion, the rest of the Iron-Armored Rhinoceroses began to explode as well.

    At this point, they had already spread out through this area of the city - they had charged forwards not to kill but merely to send the trunks on their backs to the designated areas.

    A string of explosions began to shake the city.

    A total of twenty-four Iron-Armored Rhinoceroses exploded with the force of a Tenth-Ring Arcana Technique all at the same time. Even the iron-d walls of Sky City would have a hard time withstanding this st, not to mention that it wasing from the inside rather than from without.

    The ferocious explosion sent Sky City reeling. A thick plume of ck smoke began to float into the sky from the southern region of the city. Even an idiot would realize that there was a situation brewing.

    At the same time, the Thousand Poisons Toad discovered what was happening. It bellowed as it leapt in that direction.

    Its massive body floated over the city like a dark cloud beforending on the ground and sending shockwaves in all directions.

    At this point, it was obvious that a massive hole had been sted into the side of Sky City.

    Sky City¡¯s defenses were controlled by region, but now that this region had been destroyed, it waspletely defenseless.

    Even with the Thousand Poisons Toad¡¯s low intelligence, it was able to sense that this was a perfect opportunity.

    It howled and opened its mouth, spitting out a steady stream of poison into that opening. At the same time, it fiercely mmed its body and tongue at the hole to try and widen it.

    ¡°Sess!¡± Outside Sky City, Golden ze pped its wings excitedly. ¡°Palmer was able to st the city walls open! That human didn¡¯t lie! His illusion was able to trick those Harpies, and he even freed the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros from his chains. He fulfilled his promise!¡±

    ¡°We were the ones who fulfilled our promise,¡± Deep Blue me replied. ¡°All he did was help us a little.¡±

    ¡°Well, this was a sessful alliance no matter how you look at it,¡± Golden zeughed loudly. ¡°It seems that it¡¯s time for we Beasts to also make our move.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Deep Blue me chuckled. ¡°The Thousand Poisons Toad has been fighting alone for so long. It¡¯s time for us to join it.¡±

    He turned around and barked, ¡°My children, let¡¯s charge forth into battle! It¡¯s time to reim this territory for the majestic Beasts!!!¡±

    ¡°ROAR!!!¡±

    As he howled, arge wave of Beasts surged forth, filling the sky with a cacophony of howls.

    Iron-Winged Scarlet Condors, ck-Blooded Eagles, Golden-Eyed Falcons, and ming Cranes shot through the sky.

    The most eye-catching beasts were still the pack of wolves prowling at the front.

    Wind energy swirled around them as they appeared to walk on clouds despite not having wings. Their appearance was incredibly ominous and menacing.

    The Wind Wolf pack!

    Deep Blue me¡¯s pack.

    ¡°Today is the day that Sky City will be destroyed!¡± Deep Blue me bellowed loudly.

    Bang!

    As if in response to his words, one of the ny-nine Sun-Shooting Pearls supporting the barrier in the sky suddenly began to glow intensely before it went dark.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - 160: Charging In

    First it was one, followed by another.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang! Of the ny-nine Arcana Towers, ten or so of them actually were extinguished, resulting in a drastic decrease in the strength of the barrier.

    The waning of the barrier, the gaping hole in the wall, and the demons flying everywhere became the nightmares of these Harpies.

    ¡°Mother Goddess!¡± one of the Harpies eximed in shock and despair when it saw the Beasts that seemed to have materialized out of thin air.

    Even more of the Harpies immediately went into shock, some of them considering retreating immediately if it weren¡¯t for the stony gazes of theirmanding officers standing behind them.

    ¡°Fire!¡±

    Lonely Skyleap¡¯s voice was still calm and collected, but it had begun to grow hoarse over the course of three days.

    ¡°Wuuuu!¡± The shrill howl of wind could be heard as the beasts began to crash into the city like a storm.

    The chaotic attack of the Beasts disrupted the Harpies¡¯ setup.

    Without the Annihtion Bolts and the Sun-Shattering Cannons, the Harpies¡¯ bows alone were a bit weaker than needed. Most of the Demonic Beasts charging forwards were incredibly powerful and unleashed waves of mes as they charged forwards. The Thousand Poisons Toad was attracting most of the attention, so this gap began to slowly but surely widen.

    The Beasts howled, the Deste Beast attacked, poisonous clouds flew in all directions, and the very ground itself was trembling.

    Even the unsinkable Sky City was beginning to show signs of breaking under this furious assault as the barriers continued to disappear and the walls began to crumble inrger andrger chunks. The Harpy soldiers began to die by the dozens.

    It was as if an open wound had been ferociously torn open by the enemy. The holes in the city¡¯s defenses grew more and more apparent.

    Boom!

    The Thousand Poisons Toad sent another massive tremor through the ground as it headbutted another section of the city walls, causing it to copse. Finally, it had created enough space for itself to enter the city.

    ¡°The Deste Beast has entered the city!¡± all of the Harpies began to cry out in fear.

    ¡°ROAR!¡±

    The Thousand Poisons Toad bellowed in happiness.

    After suffering so much torment for the past few days, it could finally exact its revenge!

    It opened its mouth wide and began to spit outrge swaths of poisonous clouds.

    This time, there was no barrier to keep the poison out.

    The blustering waves of poisonous fog spread slowly throughout the city, rolling over the Harpies stationed inside.

    Even though most of them were able to resist the immediate effects of the poison due to the partial antidote, the poisonous clouds were too vast and had immediately enveloped tens of thousands of Harpies. Even if one-tenth of them were to be poisoned, that would mean the deaths of thousands of Harpies.

    This single spew of poison killed around three thousand Harpies, shocking Lonely Skyleap. His yells grew even hoarser. ¡°Fall back! Everyone, fall back!¡±

    The Harpy soldiers on the front line began to retreat as quickly as possible.

    The Thousand Poisons Toad opened its mouth wide again and spat out another swath of poisonous fog. The flying Harpies began to plummet to the ground as if they had been stung by the poisonous mosquitoes.

    The Thousand Poisons Toad was also continuing to attack itself, headbutting the wall repeatedly as it attempted to destroy the entire southern wall protecting the city.

    The Beasts also took advantage of the opportunity to slip in through the gap.

    Even though the Beasts were much weaker than the Deste Beast, their sheer numbers gave them equally destructive potential as they rampaged through the city. A massive golden eagle flew through the air, raking its ws through a Harpy soldier and tearing him in two. Fresh blood sprayed through the sky.

    One giant wolf in particr and a three-legged golden bird were the most eye-catching beasts amongst them.

    The massive wolf was naturally Deep Blue me, while the three-legged golden bird¡¯s name was Gold ze. When the two of them joined forces, the burning blue mes unleashed by the wolf seemed to have been imbued with wind energy and began to spread at a much quicker pace. Even though the mes weren¡¯t nearly as powerful as the poisonous clouds unleashed by the Deste Beast, they were still devastating in their own right.

    Most importantly, these two creatures were much more elusive than the Deste Beast. The Thousand Poisons Beast only knew how to use brute force and didn¡¯t strategize when attacking. The two beasts, however, knew how to capitalize on opportunities and chose to attack where the Harpies were the most spread thin, resulting in the greatest numbers of casualties.

    This kind of targeted attack was, in some sense, even more of a fatal blow. When factoring in the cooperation of the other beasts, the damage that they did was probably no less than the damage done by the Thousand Poisons Beast. However, the Thousand Poisons Beast¡¯s poison also affected them, making it impossible for the Beasts to enter areas with poisonous clouds. They could only attack from the two nks, but that would also increase the rate at which Sky City would crumble.

    Even so, the originally iron-d defenses began to melt away like snow.

    The Thunder God Cannon fired again and again, but wanting to wipe out the infiltrating Beasts with it alone was far too difficult. When the Harpies saw the wave of Beasts closing in on them, they seemed to fall into despair.

    The three-legged gold bird, Golden ze, crowed victoriously, ¡°From this day onwards, Sky City will no longer exist!¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Eternal Night replied indifferently. ¡°For some reason, I believe that you guys will be the ones who will cease to exist.¡±

    As he spoke, he gestured.

    The situation suddenly shifted.

    A massive wave of pressure suddenly seemed to bear down on the Beasts straight down from the sky. Yet another floating castle had suddenly appeared out of thin air.

    This Floating Point somewhat resembled a pinecone. Upon closer inspection, it became apparent that it was actually constructed fromyers of bones. These bones glowed quite brightly and wereyered quite high in simr fashion as a beehive.

    It wasn¡¯t as majestic and spectacr as Sky City. It was roughly simr in size to the Thousand Poisons Toad. Most shockingly, the pressure emanating from the Floating Point wasn¡¯t weaker than the Thousand Poisons Toad¡¯s aura in the slightest; actually, it was even stronger. Even the Thousand Poisons Toad was taken aback.

    This was the Origin Energy Demonic City!

    A Floating Point that had been crafted from the bone of an Origin Beast.

    At the same time that the Origin Energy Demonic City appeared, the sound of giant footsteps could be heard rumbling across the ground.

    A massive tower swayed off in the distance as it approached - the Chaos Tower, a tower built on top of the back of yet another Deste Beast.

    The appearance of the Chaos Tower and the Origin Energy Demonic City shocked Deep Blue me.

    He realized in that moment what kind of trouble he was in. Never had he once suspected that Eternal Night would be this savage - he had obviously brought the two Floating Points close a long time ago, but had kept them from participating in the fight until this critical juncture.

    ¡°Not good! Hurry and retreat!¡± Deep Blue me yelled.

    However, just as the advance had been difficult, the retreat was not going to be easy as well.

    Two more Floating Points appeared, and the Sun-Shooting Pearls that had gone dark began to flicker back to life.

    Yes, the ten Arcana Towers that had lost their effectiveness earlier actually began to recover at this moment.

    They hadn¡¯t been destroyed!

    This was all a ploy!

    Deep Blue me¡¯s heart beat wildly. Everything had been to trick him into the situation.

    And as the Arcana Towers began to light up again, the originally destroyed barrier began to reform. Not only so, but the ground also began to glow as strange inscriptions appeared on the ground. A massive tornado formed at the center of the gap in the walls and began to blow towards the Beasts.

    Furthermore, countless Arcana Masters appeared near the gap, all of them legendary Arcana Masters. They sprang into motion simultaneously, creating a new barrier that prevented all the Beasts from retreating.

    The Harpies¡¯ barriers might not be able to keep out the Thousand Poisons Toad, but it was more than strong enough to stop Deep Blue me and the Beast horde in their tracks.

    Their real target was him!

    Deep Blue me was both stunned and enraged. He had never expected to be a victim like this.

    Now that the Beasts had fallen into the trap, the tornadoes, cannon fire, and Arcana Techniques began to resume their downpour. The Beasts immediately suffered tremendous casualties. Deep Blue me¡¯s regret was almost palpable.

    At that moment, a voice spoke directly in his ear. ¡°So you still ended up falling for his trap, Deep Blue.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s you?¡± Deep Blue me recognized who the other party was. It was the human who had gotten into touch with him in the first ce.

    Deep Blue me was infuriated. ¡°You shameless human, how could you ally with the Harpies......¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re wrong, Deep Blue. I never allied myself with that old fox Eternal Night. After all, he would probably prefer to deal with me first instead of you,¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    ¡°What?¡± Deep Blue me replied, stunned.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Of course, I must also admit that I was never rooting for you either. The humans and the Beasts will always be at odds. I helped your subordinates break into Sky City just to give you an opportunity to fight against the Harpies. But I never expected him to be so...... decisive.¡±

    He sighed.

    Eternal Night¡¯s response was vastly outside of his expectations. He was obviously intent on carrying this all the way through, and he was the one who had given the order to shut down some of the Arcana Towers.

    Yes, the dimming of those ten Arcana Towers was his doing, not due to Su Chen¡¯s interference - he would have been an idiot to try and break into that heavily-guarded of a location.

    The result was that Deep Blue me, along with the rest of the Beasts, fell head-first into this trap.

    Since Eternal Night couldn¡¯t bargain for the lives of his fellow Harpies that had been lost, then he was going to send the Beasts to the grave as well as rpense. This kind of thought process was vicious and calcting. Even Su Chen was taken aback.

    The Harpies would absolutely pay a tremendous price during the course of this battle, but the Beasts within Harpy territory would also basically bepletely wiped out. That would secure at least a hundred years of peace for the Harpies, which meant that the situation wasn¡¯t necessarily bad.

    Deep Blue me, who understood this now, felt intense regret.

    After a moment, however, Deep Blue me suddenly realized something. He said hurriedly, ¡°Human, you definitely have a way of getting me out of here, right?¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t be easy......¡± Su Chen replied calmly.

    ¡°No, I realize that I have no chance of being able to leave alive. However, there is one Beast that I hope you will help me save.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Are you referring to the three-legged golden bird?¡± Su Chen asked, realizing what Deep Blue me was getting at.

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Su Chen said, ¡°Breaking out is no longer going to be a possibility. Your only chance is to go in deeper.¡±

    ¡°Go in deeper?¡± Deep Blue me was stunned.

    ¡°Yes, go in deeper!¡± Su Chen said. ¡°Even though the Arcana Towers have recovered, the defenses operate based on both the stones making up the wall and the Arcana Towers. The Arcana Towers supply the Origin Energy, while the walls serve as the medium for the Arcana Formation¡¯s inscriptions. The destruction of the walls has destabilized the formation significantly, so that might still give you the possibility of escaping...... Charge in deeper, bringing the Beasts, the poisonous fog, and the target you want me to save in with you. Since most of you will not be able to escape anyways, the best you can do is go out with a bang. As for that bird, I can only promise you that I will do my best.¡±

    Su Chen was like a demon as he uttered these words seductively.

 Sect - Book 5, 161: Betrayal and Utilization

    Chapter 161: Betrayal and Utilization

    Charge inwards!

    These words echoed through Deep Blue me¡¯s mind as a vicious, hardened expression began to appear in his eyes.

    A momentter, Deep Blue me suddenly spewed out a stream of intense blue fire which appeared to transform into a dragon. It mmed ferociously into the barrier, actually passing through it and forming a tunnel of fire.

    ¡°After me!¡± Deep Blue me roared with unwillingness. The countless Beasts followed after him through that tunnel.

    When Eternal Night saw this, he muttered in a low voice, ¡°Sunset ze Tunnel...... Ke...... Kaderville, look at what you¡¯ve done!¡±

    Kelesda lowered his head in trepidation. ¡°I know I have made many mistakes in the past. Please, Your Majesty, forgive me.¡±

    Eternal Night harrumphed loudly.

    Kelesda and Deep Blue me were both on the most wanted list for the mighty sky country. As such, they were sympathetic to each other, and it was only natural that they wouldmunicate from time to time.

    Kelesda was proficient in thunder, while Deep Blue me was proficient in mes. The two of them had learned quite a few things from each other.

    One of the skills that Deep Blue me had learned was Sunset ze Tunnel, which used the formless nature of sound to forcibly prate a barrier, erecting a tunnel of wind and fire through the barrier. That was the skill that Kelesda had used to wander recklessly through the continent and do as he pleased.

    When Eternal Night saw this, he was immediately infuriated.

    Even so, Eternal Night was able to keep his anger in check and didn¡¯t punish Kelesda for what he had done in the past. All he did was harrumph as he signalled for two more groups of soldiers to move out and intercept Deep Blue me.

    He could also tell that Deep Blue me was running deeper into the city not to try and escape but to cause destruction.

    This ambitious, ruthless Harpy had quite the ability to control his emotions. He seemed to have no intention of suicidally sacrificing troops for the sake of the city¡¯s citizens. Instead, he hadmanded the two groups of Harpy soldiers to merely chase after the beast but not try to stop its advance. This was Eternal Night¡¯s way of preserving his strength as much as possible. As for the civilians...... well, given how many soldiers had already died, what did a few civilian deaths matter?

    There was no concept of being a public servant at this point in time. Eternal Night¡¯s way of thinking was entirely in line with what most other emperors of this time period would think.

    ¡°What a valiant leader,¡± Su Chen smiled slightly when he saw this.

    Just as he had expected, Eternal Night was still focused on preserving his military strength. This would mean that his obstruction of Deep Blue me¡¯s advance would be quite weak.

    Deep Blue me¡¯s movements clearly indicated that he was going to cut through the heart of the city like a knife preparing to plunge into a person¡¯s heart.

    Most frighteningly, not only were the Beasts charging through the heart of the city, but so were the waves of poison as well.

    Poisonous mosquitoes flew throughout the city, dispersing clouds of poisonous smoke and causing incredible devastation.

    When Su Chen saw this, he transmitted to Deep Blue me, ¡°Head for Stone Willow Road. I¡¯ll be waiting there for you.¡±

    Deep Blue me replied angrily, ¡°I have no idea where Stone Willow Road is.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, my clone is waiting in front for you.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, a clone wearing a mask and activating its wind and thunder wings appeared before Deep Blue me and beckoned towards him before flying off into the distance.

    Deep Blue me and the three-legged bird turned into a blur as they did their best to keep up. ¡°You seem to have been prepared for this a long time ago, human!¡±

    ¡°You make it sound like I was the one who baited you into the trap.¡±

    ¡°Is there a difference? Without your ¡®assistance¡¯, they probably wouldn¡¯t have seeded in the first ce.¡±

    ¡°So I was wrong to help you?¡±

    ¡°No, I just think that you have an ulterior motive.¡±

    ¡°If you want me to help you, you¡¯d better be a bit more respectful to me.¡±

    Deep Blue me harrumphed and fell silent.

    Stone Willow Road wasn¡¯t very close. As Deep Blue me followed Su Chen¡¯s clone, the Harpy soldiers began to gather behind him as they chased after him. The Beasts attempted to outrun the Harpies as best as they could even while they began to unleash a ughter in the heart of the city. Sky City immediately fell into chaos.

    However, from Eternal Night¡¯s vantage point, it appeared that the situation was different.

    He frowned slightly. ¡°Strange.¡±

    ¡°What is it, Your Majesty?¡± Kelesda asked.

    ¡°The route he is taking is problematic,¡± Eternal Night replied calmly. ¡°It appears that he has some destination in mind.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not that strange, Your Majesty. With that damned human helping him......¡± Kelesda suddenly felt his heart jolt. ¡°Not good, that brat is proficient in spatial techniques. If he was prepared for this, it¡¯s entirely possible that he could help Deep Blue me escape.¡±

    When Eternal Night heard this, his expression also shifted slightly.

    He had drawn up such a grand scheme in order to capture and finish off Deep Blue me, eradicating the problem from its roots and creating peace for the Harpies. If Deep Blue me were to get away, then this whole price would have been paid for naught.

    As soon as he thought of this, Eternal Night immediately stood up and watched Deep Blue me¡¯s advance, constantly tracing the path he was taking through the city. Suddenly, he said, ¡°They¡¯re headed for Stone Willow Road! Activate the puppets standing guard and stop them!¡±

    As soon as themand was given, the puppets standing guard near Stone Willow Road immediately sprang into action.

    There was a stone forest near Stone Willow Road that was filled with statues.

    Following Eternal Night¡¯smand, these statues actually came alive, morphing into giant puppets nearly a hundred feet tall. They walked out of the stone forest and arrived in the middle of the street. They wielded massive swords in one hand, and some of them even carried Origin Energy cannons on their backs. Apart from these giant puppets, a number of puppets made in the shape of Beasts also appeared to block the road, each one of them incredibly powerful.

    These puppets were incredibly thick-skinned, and they had both potent offensive and defensive capabilities. They made a perfect front line. Once Deep Blue me arrived, he would be greeted by projectiles fired from the Origin Energy cannons. Next, the puppets would all begin to charge forwards, relying on their powerful metallic bodies which naturally resisted Origin Energy to resist even Deep Blue me¡¯s corrosive fire-type attacks. Then, they would use their swords to hack at the Beasts, with Deep Blue me given the special attention of two Titan-ss puppets.

    Titan-ss puppets were treasures belonging to the Harpies. They were constructed entirely from Darkness Prison Metal and secondary Sark¡¯s Nuclei. Each one was as powerful as a legendary Arcana Master.

    Of course, there was no way these puppets would be able to actually fight against a legendary Arcana Master. After all, theycked the adaptability of the Intelligent Races. Their powerful defensive and offensive capabilities, however, were up to par. In a two-on-one battle, they would be able to fully demonstrate their strength.

    Deep Blue me immediately became entangled with the Titan-ss puppets. Even a Demonic Beast would have a hard time escaping from their pursuit. He roared with agitation, ¡°Hey, help me out over here!¡±

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen¡¯s clone merely shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m just a clone. There¡¯s nothing I can do for you. You will only be able to rely on your own strength to escape. If you can¡¯t do that, then I cannot help you.¡±

    ¡°What exactly have you prepared here?¡± Deep Blue me asked.

    Su Chen, however, chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s not something you need to know.¡±

    When he saw Su Chen¡¯s carefree smile, Deep Blue me felt his heart sink.

    He seemed to have realized something.

    ¡°You weren¡¯t ever thinking of saving him, were you? You were just using us.¡±

    Su Chen was mildly taken aback.

    He nced at Deep Blue me, who was staring intently at him even though they were currently in the middle of a battle.

    A deep gaze filled with nothing but hatred.

    Heughed.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, he said, ¡°Yes, I was using you. I was never considering helping you from the very beginning. No matter what, you are a Beast. I will never ally myself with a Beast. This is my bottom line. I will only ever deceive and use you for my own personal benefit. That is the case now.¡±

    Unexpectedly, Deep Blue me didn¡¯t appear to grow angry. Instead, he chuckled, ¡°You¡¯re right. You¡¯re human, and I¡¯m a Beast. It¡¯s impossible for us to ally with each other. We will only ever deceive and use one another. But what exactly is your goal, human?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re pretty smart. That¡¯s something you should be able to figure out on your own,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°What you are facing now is exactly what I need.¡±

    Deep Blue me was momentarily taken aback before understanding dawned. ¡°The Divine Armaments Workshop! Your goal is the Divine Armaments Workshop!¡±

    The Divine Armaments Workshop was located in the heart of the Harpy industrialplex. Their Sun-Shattering Cannons, ck Fiend Chariots, andbat puppets were almost all produced from this Divine Armaments Workshop.

    This was an incredibly important area for the Harpy war machine. Eternal Night had stationed arge number of guards there to keep watch over it. Even in Sky City¡¯s most perilous moments, he had never attempted to redirect troops from there even once.

    Until Su Chen¡¯s clone brought Deep Blue me towards Stone Willow Road. They would definitely pass by the Divine Armaments Workshop, which was why Eternal Night had activated the puppets standing guard there to try and intercept them.

    Even so, that was precisely Su Chen¡¯s n.

    There was nothing on Stone Willow Road. He had no special escape n in ce for Deep Blue me. Even though Su Chen could have prepared something if he had wanted to, Kelesda and Eternal Night were both unaware of Su Chen¡¯s bottom line.

    Allying with the Beasts crossed his bottom line.

    He would only ever deceive and use the Beasts, not ally with them.

    As such, he didn¡¯t hesitate to deceive Deep Blue me and strung him along this whole way in an attempt to bait the guards away from the Divine Armaments Workshop.

    Eternal Night had fallen for it. He almost instinctively took advantage of the ¡°opportunity¡± to send the nearby troops to intercept Deep Blue me. If he hadn¡¯t fallen for it...... well, then Su Chen probably would have just led Deep Blue me around for a while longer.

    There were plenty of important locations in Sky City. It was impossible for Eternal Night to let them wander as they pleased throughout the city for forever.

    And as soon as he made a move, Su Chen would pounce.

    This was the greatest benefit of being a spy. He was hidden in the shadows, while the Harpies were exposed in the daylight. Su Chen had the ability to adapt to the situation on the fly, but Eternal Night didn¡¯t have that luxury.

    As such, Eternal Night was fated to lose this battle of wits. It wasn¡¯t because Eternal Night was an idiot, but because he didn¡¯t control the initiative.

    While Deep Blue me and the puppets standing guard were locked in battle, a human-shaped figure hurriedly shot towards this critical structure.

    A devastating ughter and robbery was about to take ce.

    At that moment, Eternal Night received word.

    ¡°The Divine Armaments Workshop was attacked!¡±

    ¡°BANG!¡± When Eternal Night heard this, he finally lost hisposure and shattered his armrest with his palm.

    ¡°Halcyon Wing Streak...... You really are vicious!¡± Eternal Night said through gritted teeth.

    It seemed that this kid wasn¡¯t going to be satisfied until he had plundered every one of Eternal Night¡¯s important locations. Was he a bandit by trade?

 Sect - Book 5, 162: Blueprints

    Chapter 162: Blueprints

    Surprisingly, Deep Blue me wasn¡¯t angry when he discovered Su Chen¡¯s true motive. After a moment¡¯s pause, he suddenly began to guffaw withughter.

    ¡°Yes! That¡¯s more like it! This is how true enemies should act. Even though I don¡¯t know who you are, I respect your gumption. You were able to trick both me and Eternal Night. Well done!¡± Deep Blue meughed loudly.

    Deep Blue me appeared to be quite happy despite the dire circumstances he was in. He didn¡¯t seem to care much about Su Chen tricking him, perhaps because he had never really had much faith in Su Chen in the first ce.

    However, this didn¡¯t mean that he would just quietly ept this oue.

    As a Demonic Emperor, Deep Blue me had a certain measure of intelligence.

    After but a moment¡¯s thought, he was able toe up with a n.

    He said, ¡°Human, it appears you are quite greedy. If you save Golden ze from here, he will be able to lead you to treasure.¡±

    ¡°Continue,¡± Su Chen said with a smile. ¡°I need a better reason than that, preferably something substantial I can work with. These hidden treasures are too far away to ount for right now. Who knows if they are real or not, and how much treasure you are talking about? I would much rather be able to find some kind of benefit from that bird itself.¡±

    From the bird itself?

    ¡°He is the son of a Demonic Emperor. If you save him, you will be able to reap countless benefits.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re better off just telling me that he¡¯s the son of the Beast Sovereign, but that doesn¡¯t mean that I¡¯ll be able to get any benefits from Sovereign Inferno.¡±

    Deep Blue me appeared shocked. ¡°You know that?¡±

    ¡°Psh,¡± Su Chen smirked. ¡°I would have to be a hermit to not be able to figure out the identity of this three-legged golden bird.¡±

    The Beast Sovereign was an incredibly powerful Demonic Emperor, perhaps worthy of being ssified in an entirely different tier altogether. Delineations between Demonic Emperors didn¡¯t really exist. A Demonic Emperor was a Demonic Emperor, the most powerful of the Beasts. Any higher than that were Deste Beasts, but Deste Beasts weren¡¯t able to survive in this kind of environment.

    Dividing the Beasts purely in terms of strength would vite the natural order of the beast hierarchy, so Beast Sovereign was merely a name. They were still Demonic Emperor¡¯s by nature, but they were typically much more powerful than the average Demonic Emperor.

    Sovereign Inferno was one of the Beasts¡¯ ten Beast Sovereigns.

    Deep Blue me had been one of Sovereign Inferno¡¯s subordinates in the past. After bing a Demonic Emperor, he had established his own territory. Sovereign Inferno had ced him in charge of terrorizing the Harpies. Despite the fact that he was now a Demonic Emperor, he still treated Sovereign Inferno with the utmost respect.

    Sovereign Inferno¡¯s son hade along with him on this expedition and was now also caught up in this dire situation. Deep Blue me¡¯s first thought was to try and save this son.

    Deep Blue me smiled bitterly when he heard Su Chen¡¯s words. ¡°Apart from myself, what can I possibly offer you? Well, I suppose there¡¯s not much else I can do. Golden ze,e over here!¡±

    The three-legged golden bird flew over to Deep Blew me.

    Deep Blue me spat out a violent torrent of wind that caused the two Titan-ss puppets to stagger backwards as he said to Golden ze, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I can only apany you to here. The rest of the path is yours to walk alone.¡±

    As he spoke, he suddenly plunged his hand into his body, a contorted expression of pain appearing on his face. With a howl, he dragged his now bloody hand out of his body, holding something in his hand.

    A Demonic Emperor Origin Crystal.

    He shoved the Origin Crystal into Golden ze¡¯s mouth and said loudly, ¡°Save him, otherwise you won¡¯t be able to get anything for yourself!¡±

    ¡°Apletely intact Demonic Emperor Origin Crystal!¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    This Demonic Emperor Origin Crystal had been extricated by Deep Blue me himself. Not only did it contain his full strength, but it was even imbued with much of hisbat knowledge and experience. If he had some understanding of Method Power, it would even be possible for Su Chen to receive some enlightenment.

    This Demonic Emperor Origin Crystal was undoubtedly precious.

    After forcibly removing this Demonic Emperor Origin Crystal from his body, Deep Blue me was obviously unable to hold on. He keeled over and died on the spot.

    ¡°UNCLE!¡± Golden ze was stunned.

    Su Chen sighed as he reached out and grabbed Deep Blue me¡¯s corpse before saying, ¡°Follow me.¡±

    Golden ze seemed to have gone into shock. He stood therepletely motionless for a long while.

    The two Titan-ss puppets had escaped from the grasp of the torrent of wind at this point and began to charge forwards, howling yet again.

    Su Chen swung his arm through the air. A few dozen Demonic Beasts actually leapt through the air, intent on stopping these two puppets in their tracks.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Wake up, you idiot!¡±

    This yell exploded next to his ear like a thunderbolt, jolting Golden ze back to reality. He finally realized the situation he was in and gritted his teeth before running off with Su Chen.

    At the same time, all of the nearby Demonic Beasts charged over, not sparing any expense to prevent the nearby puppets from attacking Su Chen and Golden ze.

    ¡°How did you do that?¡± Golden ze asked in shock.

    ¡°I am a Ninth-Ring Arcana Master with soul mastery. It¡¯s not that strange that I¡¯m able to do this, is it? But since I am only a clone, I don¡¯t have much strength. If you don¡¯t hurry up a little, we really won¡¯t be able to get out of here. If I die, it¡¯s not a big issue, but if you die it would be a shame......¡± Su Chen said as he chuckled at Golden ze.

    Golden ze was stunned into silence. He followed after Su Chen closely and watched as Su Chen brought him right into one of the homes upied by a Harpy family. The Harpy was just about to scream when Su Chen waved his hand and said, ¡°You saw us go in that direction.¡±

    The Harpy¡¯s expression seemed to ze over before he said a momentter, ¡°I watched you go in that direction.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s more like it,¡± Su Chen chuckled as he took Golden ze and left in the other direction.

    After Su Chen¡¯s soul mastery had reached the Ninth Ring, his Fata Morgana had reached new heights. Tricking a few civilian Harpies was a piece of cake for him. The only restriction was that he was trying to trick them with one of his clones.

    As they ran through the city¡¯s streets, they purposefully chose to hide where the Harpy civilians were living. After passing through a few dozen households, Su Chen and Golden ze finally arrived at a certain alleyway.

    ¡°Can you disguise yourself?¡± Su Chen suddenly asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Golden ze replied with a nod.

    ¡°So why haven¡¯t you transformed yet?¡± Su Chenstared at him.

    Golden ze was badly startled and realized what Su Chen was saying. He finally transformed himself into a handsome young Harpy.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Wait here for me.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Golden ze was stunned. He watched as Su Chen¡¯s figure turned into a white cloud of fog, leaving behind a few drops of blood on the ground.

    ¡°Hey, hey, howe you disappeared? What am I supposed to do now?¡± Golden ze yelled.

    But since Su Chen had disappeared, Golden ze¡¯s cries fell on deaf ears.

    The street was totally empty - since a giant battle had broken out, none of the Harpy civilians dared to step outside. He was all alone on the street.

    Golden ze began to panic and had no idea what to do. After a long while, all he could think of was to hide himself in a corner in fright and terror. He had grown up never knowing true terror, so a moment like this when he was surrounded on all sides by enemies was quite foreign to him. All he could think about was how much he wanted to go back home to his father. No matter how strict his father was, it was much better than being here, where the possibility of death loomed at any moment.

    When he thought of this, tears began to fall from his eyes.

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re crying? This is the first time I¡¯ve seen a Demonic Beast cry,¡± a voice chuckled.

    Golden ze turned around in surprise to find the human with a mask standing beside him. The wings on his back were still bloody.

    Golden ze knew that this person was the real person in charge. He stood there quietly and motionlessly, not daring to utter a single word.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°You seem to be pretty obedient. Since that¡¯s the case, why don¡¯t you follow me?¡±

    As he spoke, he turned around and walked off, a happy smile on his face.

    It was impossible for him to not be happy.

    He had managed to plunder the Divine Arms Workshop. Everything that was even remotely valuable, he had taken.

    His most important find, however, was not wealth or even any physical treasure.

    Su Chen had managed to find a blueprint while ransacking the Divine Armaments Workshop.

    Blueprints for constructing secondary-ss Sark¡¯s Nuclei!

    Secondary-ss Sark¡¯s Nuclei were basically counterfeit versions of the real thing.

    The only city-ss Sark¡¯s Nucleus was installed in Sky City, and it served as a crucialponent for the mobility of the city. However, the Harpies had refused to give up on constructing duplicates of Sark¡¯s Nuclei for the past tens of thousands of years.

    Without the support of the Arcana Kingdom, even the Harpy kingdom¡¯s strength was unable to replicate such a glorious aplishment. However, they were still able to eventually develop secondary-ss Sark¡¯s Nuclei.

    The best secondary-ss Sark¡¯s Nucleus had been installed on the Origin Light Castle. It had been created by an Arcanist and was the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s attempt at producing a second Sark¡¯s Nucleus. The kingdom copsed before it could be finished, but some remnant Arcanists were able to construct this Sark¡¯s Nucleus.

    The Harpies couldn¡¯t replicate that one either.

    They had managed to recreate a Sark¡¯s Nucleus imitation of an even lower tier which could not be used to power any of the Floating Points. However, they were useful for powering thesebat puppets.

    Titan-ssbat puppets!

    Yes, these Sark¡¯s Nuclei were at the core of the operation of these puppets, and were core materials for the construction of these puppets.

    As for the Darkness Prison Metal and the other ingredients used to construct these puppets, they were not as important. The materials merely determined the quality and nature of the puppets. For instance, Darkness Prison Metal possessed an innate resistance to Origin Energy, giving them innately powerful defenses against Arcana Techniques. However, the materials used also made it impossible for them to unleash Arcana Techniques themselves.

    By not using Darkness Prison Metal, instead opting for an Origin Energy conductor, the puppets would take on an entirely different character. They might be a bit weaker against Arcana Techniques, but they would also be capable of unleashing powerful Origin Skills and Arcana Techniques.

    In any case, these secondary-ss Sark¡¯s Nuclei were the most importantponent in constructing these puppets. The other construction materials were just to give the puppets different properties. Their intrinsic essence would remain the same.

    This blueprint was the real treasure. With its aid, the Boundless Sect would possess these massive puppets in the future as well.

    Even though constructing these Titan-ss puppets was incredibly resource-consuming, that was exactly what that Su Chencked the least.

    Su Chen¡¯s worth after his exploits in Harpy territory was basically incalcble, so much so that Su Chen was toozy to even try and give a ballpark number.

    Given how rich he was, Su Chen could truly say that the one thing he cared about the least was money.

    He wasn¡¯t being pretentious. This was a genuine shift in attitude that had taken ce due to how rich he was.

    However, some people might wonder why he continued to plunder ces if he didn¡¯t care about money.

    That was a logical facy.

    Caring about money and caring about saving up money were two different things entirely. The former implied a base obsession with wealth, while thetter implied motivation and pursuit.

    Su Chen could afford to not care about money, but he still needed to consider motivation and pursuit.

    And his current pursuits were very simple - weaken his opponents as much as possible while strengthening himself and his allies as much as possible. To him, plundering everything in sight wasn¡¯t a matter of loving money.

    As he and Golden ze walked away, Su Chen asked, ¡°Is there any truth to Deep Blue me¡¯s im of the existence of a treasure store?¡±

 Sect - Book 5, 163: Arrival of a Visitor

    Chapter 163: Arrival of a Visitor

    When faced with Su Chen¡¯s question, Golden ze hesitated for a moment, as if he wanted to say something but didn¡¯t have the courage to do so.

    When Su Chen saw this, he understood and said, ¡°It¡¯s ok. I wasn¡¯t expecting Deep Blue me to leave much for me anyways. Tell me what he does have and that¡¯s good enough.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir,¡± Golden ze replied obediently. ¡°His Majesty Deep Blue did have some personal wealth, but there is no way it will be enough to satisfy you, sir.¡±

    ¡°Hm? You mean to say that this guy doesn¡¯t have a secret treasure stash for no reason except that he is incredibly poor?¡±

    ¡°Well...... Yes, that¡¯s correct,¡± Golden ze replied.

    Upon hearing Golden ze¡¯s reply, Su Chen realized that Deep Blue me was actually having quite a hard time in Harpy territory.

    Because of Sky City and the other Floating Points, the Harpies werecking in offense but more than capable in defense. If they couldn¡¯t expand their influence outward, they could only crack down in their own territory. The Harpies were also quite mobile, allowing them to sweep through the country day after day. Deep Blue me really had a hard time eking out a living. Unlike Kelesda, who had the protection of the Thousand Poisons Mountain, the Beasts in Harpy territory could only hide and scatter like rabbits.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, it was only natural that Deep Blue me didn¡¯t have much of a treasury to speak of. Of course, he wasn¡¯tpletely destitute - most of his riches came in the forms of Demonic Beast Origin Crystals and a few rare Origin Skills.

    When he heard about the Origin Crystals, Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up.

    He didn¡¯t care about Origin Tools at all at this point. All hecked was Origin Crystals. Deep Blue me was a Demonic Emperor, so it was only natural that he had an abundance of these Origin Crystals.

    ¡°Where are these Origin Crystals?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°In...... Forest...... Forest Overlook Mountain. Yes, Forest Overlook Mountain,¡± Golden ze confirmed.

    ¡°Give me a more specific location.¡±

    ¡°On the western side of Forest Overlook Mountain is a bluish-green pool. The treasures are kept under that pool.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°I think you¡¯re carrying it on your finger, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Golden ze was stunned and instinctively ced his hand behind his back.

    ¡°Don¡¯t try and hide it. Just give it to me. Don¡¯t worry, I will uphold my end of the agreement and help you escape.¡± Su Chen gestured.

    Golden ze hesitated for a moment before taking off the Origin Ring on his finger and handing it over to Su Chen. ¡°How did you know it was on my finger?¡±

    ¡°The lies you came up with were too stiff, and you also unconsciously nced at your hand every time you talked about the treasures. You Beasts rarely use Origin Rings, and when you do, you usually use them to store your personal wealth, right? Unless you have too much.¡±

    Su Chen opened up the Origin Ring and found it filled to the brim with Origin Crystals. There were two Demonic King crystals, seven Demonic Lord crystals, and a few nts. There weren¡¯t many of them, but they were all quite rare.

    Su Chen managed to harvest even more Origin Crystals from Deep Blue me¡¯s Origin Ring than he had managed to take from the high-ss region of Sky City.

    ¡°These crystals were originally going to be given to my father,¡± Golden ze muttered.

    He had apanied Deep Blue me on this expedition for this very reason. Unexpectedly, he had implicated himself in this situation.

    ¡°Pretty good!¡± Su Chen nodded with satisfaction. ¡°What about Deep Blue me¡¯s crystal?¡±

    Golden ze unwillingly opened his mouth and spat out Deep Blue me¡¯s Origin Crystal.

    This Origin Crystal was both blue and red, and intricate carvings glowed on its surface. Obviously, it was in perfect condition.

    ¡°Very good!¡± Su Chen nodded with satisfaction

    ¡°I¡¯ve given you the stuff now. When are we going to leave?¡± Golden ze asked.

    ¡°We¡¯re not going anywhere,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°What?¡± Golden ze began to grow agitated and he reached out to grab Su Chen¡¯s hand. ¡°You promised Deep Blue, and I fulfilled my end of the bargain. You can¡¯t go back on your......¡±

    Su Chen spun around and grabbed Golden ze by the throat, pinning him against a wall. ¡°Kid, learn to be a little more tactful. I promised Deep Blue to save you, and I have every intention of fulfilling that promise. But when we leave and how we leave is up to me. Also, I need to remind you that I told Deep Blue that we humans and Beasts are always enemies first. I¡¯m in a good mood today and want to keep my word, but if I wake up grumpy tomorrow, then I¡¯ll just go back on my word once. It¡¯s not a big deal. So...... make sure you don¡¯t make me unhappy.¡±

    Golden ze stared at Su Chen in a daze.

    Even though he was a Demonic Beast, he was the son of a Beast Sovereign. Who would dare bully him? Who would dare deceive him?

    But as soon as he left his father¡¯s side, Su Chen taught him a good lesson.

    When Golden ze saw Su Chen¡¯s eyes, which were filled with killing intent, a wave of fear washed over him and he immediately nodded obediently, ¡°Yes...... yes......¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s more like it.¡± Su Chen patted him on his face. ¡°Being more tactful will be good for you and me both.¡±

    As he spoke, he turned around and left.

    Anyone else probably would have been so scared that they lost their ability to speak. This Golden ze, however, was quite talkative and didn¡¯t forget to ask, ¡°So where are we going now?¡±

    ¡°Find a ce and wait it out. We¡¯re going to y a game of hide-and-seek.¡±

    ¡°Hide-and-seek?¡±

    ¡°Yes, hide-and-seek...... They¡¯ve arrived, so it¡¯s time for us to y the game,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Golden ze had no idea what Su Chen was talking about.

    ¡°Your Majesty, all of the infiltrating Beasts have been killed, and the Thousand Poisons Toad has also been killed. We Harpies have managed to sessfully destroy yet another Deste Beast!¡±

    Lonely Skyleap knelt before Eternal Night as he reported the situation.

    ¡°I saw,¡± Eternal Night said with no joy on his expression. ¡°I¡¯m more interested in our casualties.¡±

    Lonely Skyleap¡¯s exuberance was also extinguished. ¡°We¡¯re rifying right now and haven¡¯t been able toe up with an exact number yet.¡±

    ¡°Hm......¡± Eternal Night said, purposefully drawing out his words.

    Lonely Skyleap¡¯s heart trembled. ¡°But the estimates right now are at least...... a hundred twenty thousand, perhaps more!¡±

    A massive wave of pressure suddenly exploded forth in the room. Even Kelesda frowned, thinking to himself that this old man was truly frighteningly powerful, so much so that he was probably even more powerful than himself.

    Eternal Night was in a terrible mood.

    They should have been able to wipe out the Deste Beast with only thirty thousand casualties at first, but the sudden change in situation at the Harpies¡¯ southern border had caused this number to nearly quadruple. How could Eternal Night not be infuriated?

    This number didn¡¯t even include the Harpy civilians that had died due to the Beast invasion of the inner city.

    These people were all Harpy elites. Such a significant loss would cause the sweetness of any victory to turn sour.

    The Harpies would have a hard time recovering from such a massive loss. This would probably take hundreds of years before they could return to a simr level of strength. How could Eternal Night not feel hatred?

    ¡°Halcyon Wing Streak!¡± Eternal Night growled again.

    He had no idea who the human was, so Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s name was being dragged through the mud, and the Halcyon Wing n had beenpletely wiped out during the battle to defend the city. A few of them had survived the battle, but Eternal Night had no intentions of taking things halfway and had the survivors executed to prevent any problems from arising in the future.

    When Lonely Skyleap and Kelesda heard this name, they also itched with anger.

    Eternal Night asked, ¡°What about Deep Blue me?¡±

    Lonely Skyleap replied, ¡°Deep Blue me is dead, and Halcyon Wing Streak took his corpse. A three-legged golden bird was also with him. Based on our analysis, he could be Sovereign Inferno¡¯s son.¡±

    The pressure began to increase, forcing Lonely Skyleap prostrate on the ground.

    Eternal Night¡¯s voice was incredibly harsh. ¡°Why would Sovereign Inferno¡¯s son appear here? Why am I only hearing about this now?¡±

    ¡°We also...... just found out!¡± Lonely Skyleap stammered in response.

    It wasn¡¯t that he was careless. The battlefield was filled with countless deaths, so focusing on a small three-legged golden bird truly might have been a bit overkill. It was only after finding out about Deep Blue me¡¯s movements that he was able to determine this.

    To Eternal Night, the greatest loss was letting Golden ze escape.

    He didn¡¯t really care much about Deep Blue me¡¯s corpse, since that was merely a matter of wealth. Golden ze, however, was a political figure of incredible importance.

    Letting him get away was a huge missed opportunity. Eternal Night was having a hard time not blowing a gasket.

    ¡°You¡¯re sure he¡¯s in Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s hands?¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Lonely Skyleap replied with a frown. He couldn¡¯t actually confirm, but at that moment, he could only hope that this information was true.

    Eternal Night thought for a moment before saying, ¡°The three-legged golden bird being taken away by Halcyon Wing Streak is both a good thing and a bad thing. His teleportation skills will probably be incredibly limited now.¡±

    He turned to face Kelesda. ¡°Is Halcyon Wing Streak still in Sky City?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Kelesda replied with a nod.

    At this point, he was only able to determine whether Su Chen was within a certain location or not.

    ¡°Still here......¡± Eternal Night muttered. ¡°It¡¯s a good thing he¡¯s still here. That means we still have an opportunity.¡±

    After a moment¡¯s thought, he said, ¡°Night God Verdant.¡±

    ¡°Here.¡± Night God Verdant stepped out of rank.

    ¡°Go and ask the Origin Light Castle whether the guests we are waiting for have arrived yet. It¡¯s about time.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Night God Verdant replied hurriedly.

    Not long after he left, a Harpy official flew towards the pce at high speed.

    ¡°Sir Night Got Verdant!¡± the official greeted him respectfully.

    ¡°It¡¯s you?¡± Night God Verdant recognized the messenger and said, ¡°Do you have news from the Origin Light Castle?¡±

    The official replied, ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m here for. The guests have arrived.¡±

    ¡°Wonderful.¡± Night God Verdant was delighted, and he dragged the official back with him to the pce.

    He charged into the pce and knelt before Eternal Night. ¡°Good news, Your Majesty!¡±

    Eternal Night was still looking through the reports and didn¡¯t even lift his head. ¡°The guests are here?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Your Majesty, please tell us how we should proceed?¡±

    ¡°ce them under house arrest at the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion and try to not let them leave. Have the pavilion¡¯s owner ask them some questions about this fake Halcyon Wing Streak.¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡±

    ¡°Find someone who has the gift of speech to meet with Halcyon Wing Streak and inform him that we have the Zhu n¡¯s members in our hands. If he doesn¡¯t want them to die, he must meet with me. As long as he is willing to hand over what he stole, I am willing to keep him alive. Remember, that person must do their best to lower his guard. All we want to do is talk with him; he can pick the location. Stall for time as much as possible. Before that happens, ce a restrictive Origin Formation down where the negotiation will take ce. We also need to confirm the fate of the three-legged golden bird......¡±

    Eternal Night listed out hismands. In his mind, a web made to ensnare Su Chen was beginning to spread.

    Even so, the spread of this web ran into problems almost immediately.

    The officer responsible for locating Su Chen reported back: Halcyon Wing Streak had disappeared.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 164: Flexibility

    Chapter 164: Flexibility

    Even though the Harpies had known where Halcyon Wing Streak was, they didn¡¯t try to catch him because they had no way of countering his Light Shaking Phantom.

    And Su Chen had never changed locations either. Even though Kelesda had lost his ability to precisely track Su Chen after Su Chen had robbed the high-ss region of the city, Eternal Night¡¯s spies were still able to pin Su Chen¡¯s location to his residence. This gave Eternal Night the impression that he hadn¡¯t lost control of the situation yet.

    That was, right until this moment.

    Just as the Zhu n arrived and the Harpies were about to spring their trap, Su Chen had suddenly disappeared.

    He had vanished from the room that he had been staying at for quite a while now and disappeared without a trace.

    This made every one of the higher up Harpies feel incredibly vexed.

    Why had he just up and left?

    Even when he was being chased by Kelesda or when a Deste Beast attacked the city, he hadn¡¯t tried to escape in either of those situations. But now that everything had calmed down, he had disappeared. What kind of logic was that?

    And no matter what Su Chen¡¯s intentions could possibly be, Eternal Night suddenly found himself in a mental rut.

    ording to his original n, Halcyon Wing Streak should have had a strong connection to the Zhu n¡¯s members. And so once the Zhu n was in their hands, they would have grabbed Halcyon Wing Streak by the throat.

    Even if it was impossible for them to force Su Chen to surrender with just that, they should have been at least able to negotiate something. In other words, it would have given Eternal Night the opportunity to force Su Chen¡¯s hand and n out the situation ordingly.

    If he viewed them with incredible importance, then Eternal Night could ask for an incredibly high price. Even if he didn¡¯t view them with much importance, then Eternal Night could pressure the Zhu n and make them feel as if they had been thrown to the wayside. Perhaps then they would be willing to give Eternal Night some more information on Su Chen, such as the other party¡¯s identity or weak points.

    In any case, the Zhu n¡¯s arrival should have given Eternal Night many options.

    The only thing that he hadn¡¯t managed to ount for was a situation where the Zhu n had arrived, while he had suddenly lost the ability to contact Su Chen.

    What could he do if he couldn¡¯t contact Su Chen?

    The only answer was that his n would suddenly be much moreplicated.

    If the n had tantly failed, then he could have immediately given themand to wipe out the Zhu n. However, the n had obviously not failed yet as Eternal Night was merely having some trouble getting into contact with Su Chen. He had no idea what Su Chen¡¯s reaction to this news would be. Killing them off like this was indeed a bit inappropriate.

    But it was also impossible to say that the n was a sess.

    It wasn¡¯t a failure, but neither was it a sess. The matter remainedpletely unresolved, so no one knew what to do.

    ¡°You searched the surroundings too, right?¡± Eternal Night asked.

    ¡°We did. He was here the whole time, but after taking Sovereign Inferno¡¯s son, he didn¡¯t return,¡± reported the official responsible for watching Su Chen. The official understood how to delegate responsibility, and he was the most afraid of Eternal Night believing that his subordinates had done a bad job. As such, had he pushed the responsibility of observing Golden ze onto his own shoulders.

    ¡°Inferno¡¯s son......¡± Eternal Night muttered. ¡°Do you think this is rted?¡±

    Kelesda pondered the question for a moment before saying, ¡°Halcyon Wing Streak might have discovered the Harpies watching him, but the only reason he was bold enough to stay there was because of his Light Shaking Phantom technique. But when I interrogated him in the past, I found out that this technique of his relies on the use of blood clones to activate. Thus, only he can use it. Whitetower Teleportation can bring others along, but he can only teleport at most a thousand feet with that skill, and so he won¡¯t be able to fully escape. If Halcyon Wing Streak wants to save Sovereign Inferno¡¯s son, then he wouldn¡¯t be able to use Light Shaking Phantom to do so. He¡¯s probably holed himself up somewhere along with that brat.¡±

    Somehow, everyone suddenly had a good excuse for Su Chen¡¯s disappearance.

    Eternal Night¡¯s expression was dark. ¡°That makes sense. But the problem is that we cannot contact him, so our n is still impossible to carry out.¡±

    Kelesda replied, ¡°I¡¯m sure that Halcyon Wing Streak is still in the city. He is probably still thinking about a way to get Sovereign Inferno¡¯s son out of here. In some sense, that¡¯s a good thing. He always does things with careful consideration, and he seems to be much more careful now than he was in the past. As for passing on the information about the Zhu n to him, I think that we can figure out a way to do it without contacting him directly.¡±

    Eternal Night said, ¡°You mean......¡±

    ¡°Announce it publicly,¡± Kelesda dered.

    If they couldn¡¯t find him, then they could just make a public announcement. As long as he was still in Sky City, then news would inevitably reach him sooner orter.

    Eternal Night wasn¡¯t a full proponent for this n because Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s identity of being a human was merely a guess. On the other hand, making a public announcement that he had captured the Zhu n would definitely involve him in a political storm.

    Humans and Harpies had never gotten along well, and they were often involved in conflicts over borders. However, they were not at war at the moment, and the Harpies had no intentions of starting one, especially given that they had just fought a gruesome battle with a Deste Beast. Of course, they had also managed to earn quite a bit from their battle, their spoils of war including the Deste Beast¡¯s corpse and the rest of the in Demonic Beasts. Turning that wealth into strength, however, would take time.

    At least for now, Eternal Night had no interest in starting a war with the humans.

    And publicly announcing that he had captured the Zhu n was essentially the same as handing the humans the hilt of a sword.

    But he really couldn¡¯t think of a better way.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Eternal Night said, ¡°Let¡¯s do it a little more diplomatically. Don¡¯t say that we captured them; just say that we invited them over as guests. Also, invite some of the other nearby diplomats over with the excuse that we¡¯re celebrating our victory over the Deste Beasts. We¡¯ll hold a three-day celebration. Also, tell the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion to upgrade their service for a little bit so as to minimize the chances of offending the foreign parties.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty is truly wise,¡± all of the officials echoed back.

    Eternal Night, however, was quite unhappy with the situation. This would decrease the amount ofmotion of his move, but it meant that news of the Zhu n¡¯s capture would also be watered down. It was entirely possible that Su Chen would simply ignore it if he heard about this event.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, he said again, ¡°No, we do need to be a little harsh. We need to be diplomatic enough that we don¡¯t give our opponents an excuse to attack, but we also need to let Halcyon Wing Streak know that, if he doesn¡¯te, the Zhu n will pay a severe price.¡±

    This was a nightmarish situation for the diplomatic official. How would he phrase things in such a way that skirted around causing a political incident while still putting pressure on the opponent? Those two requirements appeared to be atplete odds with each other.

    Of course, the official didn¡¯t give voice to any of those concerns. He would do his best to fulfill his king¡¯s demands.

    The diplomatic official could only grit his teeth and desperately rack his brains for an idea.

    Within Origin Light Castle.

    In the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion.

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s expression was dark. ¡°What do you mean? We were invited here, and now we¡¯re being treated like prisoners?¡±

    A Harpy consort sat in front of her. The consort¡¯s age clearly showed, but she maintained her poise and grace.

    The consort didn¡¯t grow angry because of Zhu Xianyao¡¯s questions. Instead, she smiled warmly and said, ¡°Miss Zhu, please don¡¯t misunderstand my intentions. How are you our prisoners? I just hope that you can stay here at Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion for a few more days so that we will be allowed to host you awhile longer.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for that,¡± Zhu Xianyao replied. ¡°We are here to discuss the purchase of twelve unique materials and don¡¯t have any time to waste. I appreciate your good intentions.¡±

    The consort said, ¡°We can discuss things here. The official responsible for this matter is currently on his way over. Just wait a few more days, please.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao frowned. ¡°These twelve ingredients are incredibly important. The fact that you guys are making an exception and selling them to us humans is a big deal. We should be traveling straight to Sky City so that we can directly meet with all of the important Harpies. How can we stay in Origin Light Castle and wait for them toe to us? This would imply that we have no sincerity and would be a huge faux pas.¡±

    The owner of the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion responded, ¡°Miss Zhu, you¡¯re thinking too much into the situation. The fact that we have invited you all here to discuss the transaction of these twelve ingredients should be a demonstration of our sincerity. How could we think that it¡¯s disrespectful for you to not go to Sky City? After all, this was something that we requested. But if Young Miss is unwilling to stay here at my Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion, then that would be a shame to us. Are we not worthy of hosting Young Miss? Or is there someone Young Miss would like to meet in Sky City?¡±

    When Zhu Xianyao heard this, her expression remained calm as she faintly replied, ¡°Since you are extending such hospitality, then it would be rude of me to be so insistent on leaving.¡±

    When the consort heard this, she smiled widely. ¡°As long as Young Miss understands.¡±

    ¡°But even if we can¡¯t go to Sky City, then I can at least wander around Origin Light Castle, right?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked.

    ¡°This......¡± The Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion¡¯s owner found herself in a tough spot.

    Eternal Night¡¯s primary directive was to keep the Zhu n¡¯s envoy confined within the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion and to not allow them to leave at all.

    However, his secondmand had been to not enrage the Zhu n or offend them.

    This made things quite difficult for the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion¡¯s owner. She needed to both ce them under house arrest while simultaneously cating them. That was no easy task.

    Like the diplomatic official, the owner of the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion also fell into a difficult conundrum.

    Even so, this was just reality. Even the wisest ruler would sometimes give their subordinates orders that were impossible to fulfill.

    This was an inevitability for any ruler. One reason was that they were used to having others obey their everymand and wouldn¡¯t think too deeply about the intricacies and the requirements to carry out that order. This was also why they almost always selected the most talented and quick-witted subordinates to serve them. If their subordinates could sessfullyplete a difficult task, then that was a good indicator of their talent and ability.

    Under such a system, most subordinates were used to receiving and fulfilling difficult orders. This gave them a chance to demonstrate their capabilities and resilience, but it also subtly tested their ¡°flexibility.¡±

    This was precisely one of those moments now.

    When she saw Zhu Xianyao¡¯s expression turning uglier by the second, the consort replied after a moment¡¯s thought, ¡°Origin Light Castle has changed guards recently, so three of the four regions are currently under strict supervision. However, you should be able to move as you please through the eastern region of the castle.¡±

    ¡°The eastern region?¡±

    ¡°Yes. This region belongs almost exclusively to the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion.¡±

    Since His Majesty refused to let them leave Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion, then it was better to temporarily expand the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion¡¯s influence to the entire eastern region of Origin Light Castle.

    This was what it meant to be flexible.

 Sect - Book 5, 165: Banque

    Chapter 165: Banquet

    ¡°He must have gotten himself into trouble.¡±

    After ensuring that there were no guards nearby, Zhu Xianyao began to contemte aloud while making sure not to mention Su Chen by name.

    Beside her, a cloud of smoke floated around aimlessly. It was Su Chen¡¯s Demonic Lord subordinate, Death¡¯s Shadow of a Youth.

    This Demonic Lord had been assigned to follow Zhu Xianyao and keep her safe while Su Chen was exploring Harpy territory.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be surprised at all if that were the case, given how Master usually does things,¡± Death¡¯s Shadow replied.

    ¡°The problem is, we don¡¯t actually know what he¡¯s done, or how much the Harpies know about our rtionship,¡± Zhu Xianyao said as she paced back and forth a few times through the room, attempting to recall the consort¡¯s expression when she had asked the Zhu n to remain for some extra days.

    ¡°But no matter what he did, it seems that they¡¯ve managed to uncover at least some of our rtionship with him. That¡¯s the only reason why we¡¯d be held here,¡± Death¡¯s Shadow replied.

    ¡°But they also haven¡¯t used any forceful methods against us yet. Is that because they¡¯re not sure?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked.

    ¡°Or it might be because they don¡¯t have full control of the situation yet,¡± Death¡¯s Shadow replied.

    Then Death¡¯s Shadow shook its head and said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. We have no way of finding out what exactly happened in Sky City.¡±

    This was just a limitation of the time period. Theycked the ability tomunicate over long distances, and the various races had set up barriers to prevent each other from sending information through each others¡¯ territory. As such, it was difficult for any news to spread beyond any singr nation¡¯s borders. Even the Deste Beast¡¯s assault on Sky City was not widely known yet.

    ¡°Regardless, our being invited here tonight probably has something to do with him. It seems that the Harpies are ultimately nning on using us to deal with him.¡± Zhu Xianyao could already tell that this was a trap that the Harpies had set for Su Chen.

    But it seemed like this trap hadn¡¯t been activated just yet.

    This had somewhat confused her. Since they had managed to trick her intoing, then why not just seize her openly? What was the point of hiding things and going about it so discreetly?

    Of course, she had no way of knowing that Sky City was crawling with people searching for Su Chen. Their hostages had finally arrived, but their extortion target had suddenly disappeared, giving everyone in Sky City a huge headache.

    Zhu Xianyao couldn¡¯t possiblye up with that kind of answer on her own, but that didn¡¯t stop her from realizing what kind of situation she was in. As such, she very quickly said, ¡°No matter what, we must first find a way to escape from this situation. I refuse to let the Harpies use me like a pawn in their scheme to deal with Su...... to deal with him.¡±

    ¡°So what are you nning on doing then, Young Miss?¡± Death¡¯s Shadow asked.

    Zhu Xianyao paced back and forth a few more times. ¡°We can¡¯t directly contact with him. That¡¯s probably exactly what the Harpies are hoping will happen.¡±

    Su Chen had indeed left Zhu Xianyao some ways for her to get into contact with him. However, Zhu Xianyao was certain that the Harpies would most likely sense these methods, and that it might even be an oue that they were hoping would happen.

    ¡°That is indeed the case,¡± Death¡¯s Shadow agreed.

    ¡°The problem right now is that we don¡¯t know exactly what transpired between him and the Harpies, or how much their rtionship has broken down. Our first priority should be to figure that out. Only after determining that will we be able to n our next actions,¡± Zhu Xianyao said. She was quite smart in her decision to not move too quickly and in her immediate prioritization of gathering information.

    Only by confirming the situation would she be able to determine a direction to head in. Otherwise, responding in a disarrayed manner would most likely be counterproductive.

    ¡°But we¡¯re in Origin Light Castle. That makes it quite hard for us to determine what is going on in Sky City,¡± Death¡¯s Shadow pointed out.

    Zhu Xianyao chuckled coldly as she replied, ¡°If they don¡¯t dare let us into Sky City, then he has most likely stirred up quite a bit of trouble. I¡¯ve always felt like something was off about this ce as soon as I arrived, since even the price of basic materials has gone up significantly. Thus, I would bet that there are many Harpies currently in Origin Light Castle who know about what happened in Sky City.¡±

    ¡°But they won¡¯t tell us.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao raised an eyebrow. ¡°Have you forgotten about my skills?¡±

    Her Slyheart Demonic Fox Bloodline gave her the ability to bewitch others, even if they were Harpies. The eastern region of the city demarcated by the owner of the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion was a perfect ce for Zhu Xianyao to hunt for a target.

    Whenever subordinates attempted to adapt to the situation, there was always a possibility that the situation would begin to develop in unexpected ways.

    Back in Sky City, at the upper-ss area.

    The area¡¯s security had tightened considerably after Su Chen¡¯s string of robberies. Flying guards scoured this area of the city, among whom were a few sharpshooters and Arcana Masters.

    They carefully scrutinized every person who entered and exited the area.

    ¡°These guys are just being paranoid,¡± Old Mairined to one of the Harpy guards responsible for this area as he stepped out of his shop.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Mr. Mair. This is something decreed by the higher-ups. Even though I know that you aren¡¯t the criminal, I still need to do my job. I hope that you understand,¡± the Harpy guard replied tactfully.

    After the tragedy that had happened in the past, all of the races responsible for craftsmanship and industrial art were treated by the Harpies with immense respect.

    Essentially, every Craftsman had the status of a mafia boss.

    ¡°I understand. But please, make your inspections quick. I have family members back at home waiting for me to bring food to them.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± The guard quickly nced over Mair¡¯s goods, which were just a bunch ofmon foodstuffs. After confirming that there was nothing out of the ordinary, the guard quickly let him pass.

    Mair took hismon supplies back home with him.

    ¡°Gigi, Lexi, are you guys alright?¡±

    Two Craftsmen children ran out the front door, one boy and one girl. Both of their statures were short, their skin rtively dark, but their eyes were full of intelligence and liveliness.

    When they saw Mair, they rushed into his embrace and cried out, ¡°Father, father!¡±

    ¡°Father, did you bring me some Lulu Berries?¡±

    ¡°And me, me......¡±

    The two children made quite amotion upon seeing their father.

    ¡°Of course, of course.¡± As he gazed at his children, Mair¡¯s expression was as if he were looking at his most perfect creation, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

    He nced inside the house. Inside, his wife, Lily, was talking with two other young Craftsmen. They sat at the table, conversing with her as they helped her peel some beans.

    ¡°Mair was even simpler back then. He was full of conviction in the future, and he did everything with a fiery passion. But now, our family has be a barrier to his advance......¡±

    ¡°Sir Mair just made the decision that he felt was right. Actually, you are quite happy about his choice as well, right? You just don¡¯t want to be a burden for him, which is why your heart is filled with guilt.¡±

    ¡°Especially now; you feel like you are bing a burden for Sir Mair yet again.¡±

    ¡°But you actually don¡¯t need to feel that way. A man¡¯s sacrifices for his family are a glory to him. A family is the source of all happiness, and Sir Mair is truly wise to have perceived this.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. Hearing you say this makes me feel much better,¡± Lily said with gratitude.

    She didn¡¯t know the identity of these visitors and believed that they were rtives of her husband, so she conversed quite naturally with them.

    When Mair saw her delighted appearance, he sighed and walked over. ¡°It seems that you all are getting along quite well.¡±

    ¡°Of course, Sir Mair. Miss Lily is a very outstanding woman. You are very lucky to be her husband,¡± the slightly taller Craftsmen said to Mair with a friendly smile.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Mair handed over the food he had brought over to his wife. Lily took the food and kissed her husband tenderly before going into the kitchen.

    ¡°You guys, go y over there.¡± Mair sent his children away as well.

    Then, Mair leaned in and with a serious expression, said to his two guests, ¡°The guards outside are on high-alert and are searching for you two everywhere.¡±

    The slightly taller Craftsman replied, seemingly without a care, ¡°I know.¡±

    Naturally, this was Su Chen.

    The Harpies were searching diligently for Su Chen and his new aplice, but none of them could have possibly predicted that they would assume the forms of two Craftsmen and hide inside a real one¡¯s home.

    Mair said with some agitation in his voice, ¡°Please don¡¯t hurt them. As long as you don¡¯t hurt them, you can do anything you want.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so nervous, Mair. I already told you that we are just going to stay here for a few days, and perhaps also learn some puppet construction-rted skills in the meantime,¡± Su Chen replied with a chuckle. As he spoke, he continued to peel the beans in his hand, giving off a natural andplete air of nonchnce. Anyone who didn¡¯t know his true identity might actually believe that he was just a normal Craftsman.

    When Old Mair heard Su Chen¡¯s words, he sighed in defeat.

    He could only agree to Su Chen¡¯s terms.

    Old Mair had brought back quite a bit of food with him, which Lily used to cook a delightful dinner.

    Over dinner, Su Chen conversed happily with Mair¡¯s family. His studies were quite broad and he was well-traveled, so Lily and her children quickly became enamored with him.

    ¡°Torbe, do humans really believe in their ancestors more than gods?¡± the little Lexi asked. Torbe was the name that Su Chen had chosen to use while masquerading as a Craftsmen.

    ¡°More specifically, humans have a different attitude towards gods than you...... I mean, than we do. They believe in the existence of gods, but also believe that gods cannot control how they live. If gods make them unhappy, then gods are no longer seen as gods but as demons that should be fought against. On the other hand, their ancestors are the ones who gave them existence and established their n. They are to be studied and emted. And also, their bloodlines are passed on by their ancestors,¡± Su Chen exined patiently.

    ¡°Mother Goddess above. This is truly a sphemous line of thought,¡± Lily muttered as she gently bit her lip in difort.

    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± Su Chen agreed as he smiled respectfully. ¡°But there are also a few humans who believe in gods more than they believe in their ancestors. They just aren¡¯t particrlymon is all.¡±

    ¡°The problem is that the power of the humans¡¯ bloodlineses from Beasts, so in some sense, their ancestors also worship the Beasts, right?¡± Golden ze, who had been standing to the side, suddenly made this remark.

    When Su Chen, Mair, and Lily heard this, they all turned to stare at Golden ze in surprise.

    Su Chen asked, ¡°Did your father teach you that?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Do you not feel like it¡¯s quite logical?¡± Golden ze said delightedly.

    He was taking advantage of this opportunity to provoke Su Chen.

    This guy really didn¡¯t fear death.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t grow angry. Instead, he smiled slightly before saying, ¡°The human bloodline does indeed derive from the Beasts. However, over the course of tens of thousands of years of history, the human race¡¯s strength has developed to a point that surpasses anything that a pure bloodline-based system could provide. The bloodline power has only ever served as a foundation. The various extensions and adaptations derived from it belong solely to the humans. The power of the Beasts has only been borrowed temporarily; it is not something worth mentioning. Haven¡¯t you heard that there are humans now who can use bloodline techniques without any Beast-derived bloodline? Also, not only does the humans¡¯ faith in their ancestors give them strength, but it also creates certain rites and ceremonies that restricts their actions. This is the difference between humans and Beasts. Beasts may have gained intelligence, but they will never form a foundation that can surpass the Intelligent Races.¡±

 Sect - Book 5, 166: Assassination

    Chapter 166: Assassination

    After being taught a lesson by Su Chen, Golden ze felt put out ¡ª even though he was arrogant, he wasn¡¯t an idiot, and so he didn¡¯t continue to try and provoke Su Chen anymore.

    After dinner, Lily took the children into a room with a lit bonfire to tell them stories, while the men continued to talk with each other.

    This time, they were discussing what Craftsmen loved the most: the subject of crafting and creating.

    Mair was a puppet master, well-known even throughout all of Sky Country. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to settle down in the high-status area of the city.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t researched puppets very much, but after obtaining the consciousness crystal, his ability to remember things and perform calctions had greatly increased. Learning about puppets and their construction methods wouldn¡¯t have been very difficult, but he had never really ced much attention to that subject.

    This time, however, he had the Divine Armaments Workshop¡¯s blueprints, which made Su Chen much more interested in puppet construction methods. As soon as this topic of conversation came up, all of his hesitation disappeared.

    ¡°So Darkness Prison Metal is considered one of the best construction materials not just because of its powerful defensive properties, but also because of its malleability? Damn, I thought that these sturdy-type metals were incredibly difficult to work with.¡±

    ¡°They are under normal circumstances, but that¡¯s only if your methods involve Origin Energy. The Intelligent Races rely too much on these methods and often ignore other processes that can achieve simr effects, sometimes perhaps with even greater efficiency. The Allocation Forger was developed by my Master. Even though it revolves around some small tools forged out of special metal, it is incredibly effective when used in conjunction with Darkness Prison Metal.¡±

    ¡°Is that the three-segmented attachment with a big hole on top of it?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s the awkward-looking irregr polyhedron. If you look at it closely, you will feel an irresistible desire to smooth it over.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I remember that. I was wondering who had created such an odd object when I robbed the Divine Armaments Workshop, and what use it had...... Now I realize that I probably should have taken it with me,¡± Su Chen said with some regret.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t an official Craftsman, so it wasn¡¯t until this moment that he realized what he had missed during his plundering.

    He had grabbed the blueprints, but he had forgotten to take the equipment required to produce the titan-ss puppets. Even though he was still capable of producing these puppets, it was obviously going to be more difficult without the equipment. Furthermore, based on what Mair was saying, it appeared that the amount of work would be substantially more at that.

    After learning all this, he regretted not taking everything in the Divine Armaments Workshop away with him. This was quite a blow to his reputation of taking everything in sight. Su Chen had concluded that being unlearned was indeed a problem. Next time, he would be sure to study what he was robbing much more carefully.

    Mair and his wife were also stunned by Su Chen¡¯s willingness to learn.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t make things hard for Mair by forcing him to steal the equipment of the Divine Armaments Workshop or anything like that. Instead, all Su Chen did was continue to discuss puppet construction rted techniques with him.

    Mair was a good person to choose as a teacher, and it was rare for him to meet someone so eager to learn from him. Even though he logically knew that he shouldn¡¯t say too much to this enemy of the Harpies, his longing to impart his knowledge was impossible to suppress.

    Both parties were mutually interested, so they burned most of the night away discussing this topic passionately. And Su Chen was actually the first person to call it a night, forcing Mair to go to bed somewhat unwillingly.

    At this point, Golden ze was having a hard time keeping his eyes open.

    ¡°Are you really nning on living like this forever?¡± Golden ze asked helplessly.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this quite a good life?¡± Su Chen responded with a chuckle. ¡°The Craftsmen have a fairly high status in Sky Country. It¡¯s very unlikely that the Harpies will force their way in here.¡±

    ¡°And what aboutter?¡±

    ¡°Later? Let¡¯s take it one step at a time. I haven¡¯t been able to think of anything long term yet,¡± Su Chen replied somewhat irresponsibly.

    Golden ze was about to go insane from Su Chen¡¯s nonchnt attitude. ¡°Do you think that you haven¡¯t caused enough trouble yet? First, you robbed the Mother Goddess Sect, then the high-ss region, and finally the Divine Armaments Workshop. What else do you want to do? Assassinate a high-status Harpy?¡±

    He had only mentioned this casually to make a point, but unexpectedly, Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Assassination...... Hm, why haven¡¯t I thought of that? I¡¯ve robbed so many ces that it¡¯s about time I tried to assassinate someone. Very nice, very nice. I like that idea a lot.¡±

    What did I just do? Golden ze was stunned.

    At Skycatching Jail.

    Divine Feather Weave walked out from the main gate, let out a long sigh, and massaged his arms, which were sore from all the writing that he had been doing earlier.

    ¡°Sir, are we going to return now?¡± asked a Harpy soldier as he stepped forward.

    ¡°Yes, let¡¯s. We¡¯ve been working hard for the past three days. I¡¯m about to keel over,¡± Divine Feather Weave replied.

    The battle with the Deste Beast had just ended, so there were still many things to take care of. With Halcyon Wing Streak still around and stirring up so much trouble, Sky City¡¯s officials had no hope of resting. Divine Feather Weave was responsible for the internal security of the city, so there was an exceptional amount of pressure on him. It had been three days since he had even gone home.

    Thankfully, the matter had been mostly taken care of by now. With the exhaustion taking its toll, Divine Feather Weave wanted nothing more than to go home.

    He stepped on the carriage, which drove off toward his home.

    Divine Feather Weave sat in the carriage, quietly reading some books.

    ¡°You seem like you¡¯re in a good mood today, sir,¡± said the soldier driving the carriage.

    ¡°I¡¯m doing alright. We¡¯ve been working very hard for these past few days, but we¡¯ve finally got a clue just the other day,¡± Divine Feather Weave replied somewhat carelessly.

    ¡°Oh? Is this rted to that Halcyon Wing Streak?¡±

    ¡°Mhm,¡± Divine Feather Weave murmured.

    ¡°Can you talk about it?¡± asked the soldier driving the car.

    Divine Feather Weave was highly amused by the driver¡¯s presumptuous question. ¡°When did you be so curious about these things? Well, it¡¯s not exactly a secret anyways.¡±

    There wasn¡¯t much of a need to keep any information secret during this time period, and so Divine Feather Weave calmly said, ¡°I think that this Halcyon Wing Streak is highly likely to be the human Su Chen.¡±

    ¡°Su Chen?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Though you wouldn¡¯t know his name, this guy has an incredible reputation amongst the humans, to the point where they even call him a Worldly Sage. He and his instructor were able to improve the human cultivation system a number of times. Now, humans are able to reach the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline, which has vastly increased the strength of the human race as a whole.¡±

    ¡°So it¡¯s him. Is there a reason why you suspect that he¡¯s the one who¡¯s infiltrated our country?¡±

    ¡°Because this guy has already done something like this in the past,¡± Divine Feather Weave exined harshly. ¡°He was the one who used an illusion technique to wreak havoc in Ravager territory. There, he manipted the Beasts into attacking the Ravagers, causing a devastating cmity.¡±

    After exining Su Chen¡¯s deeds, Divine Feather Weave paused for a moment before saying, ¡°Halcyon Wing Streak can move around as he pleases in Sky City not just because he has an incredible spatial teleportation skill, but also because of his exquisite mastery of illusion techniques.¡±

    ¡°But there are quite a few humans who are highly skilled in illusion techniques.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s true that there are quite a few of them. But to fully understand the significance I¡¯ll need to first exin what happened two years ago.¡±

    ¡°Two years ago?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Two years ago, something strange happened in the Chaos Tower. A Harpy somehow snuck into the control center of the Chaos Tower without being detected at all, and he used that opportunity to steal many of the secrets rted to the Chaos Tower. We searched far and wide, but this Harpy who called himself River Sun had somehow managed to disappear into thin air. This mysterious Harpy had the following characteristics. First, his illusion skills were quite high, and it is probably impossible for anyone to see through him without the aid of True Light. Second, he also must have been skilled in spatial techniques; otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to bypass the tower¡¯s defenses so easy. Third, the Zhu n¡¯s arrival also took ce on the same day. But fourth of all, and most importantly, Chaos Tower¡¯s control mechanism has nothing to do with resources or cultivation as it is instead a feat of engineering. However, these profundities it contains wouldn¡¯t interest most Origin Qi Schrs. Only a human like Su Chen, who has the capacity to develop a cultivation system that removes the need for a bloodline, would have such a thirst for knowledge. From this, we can basically confirm that Su Chen, River Sun, and this fake Halcyon Wing Streak, are all probably the same person. And furthermore, based on the deceitfulness of his actions, his greed, and his ruthlessness, it appears quite apparent that all of the clues point in his direction.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. Sir, you are truly wise,¡± the soldier praised as he sighed in admiration. ¡°Have you notified anyone else about your suspicions yet?¡±

    ¡°Not yet. His Majesty is as pragmatic as always. Right now, this is only a guess of mine that I haven¡¯t confirmed yet though I have already secretly informed those on the front lines to send me information about Su Chen to confirm my suspicions. But I don¡¯t believe that I¡¯m wrong. Haha, now that we know what his bottom line is, things will be much easier to take care of.¡±

    ¡°Yes, things will be much more difficult once his bottom line is figured out,¡± the driver said in response.

    Divine Feather Weave was stunned. ¡°What did you say? Why would it be difficult?¡±

    ¡°What I mean is...... Harpies are truly Harpies. You guys are much harder to deal with than the Ravagers. Eternal Night alone is already quite the tough nut to crack. It¡¯s only fitting that his officials are also no pushovers.¡±

    When he heard this, Divine Feather Weave instantly went on high alert.

    He instinctively unfurled his wings, and shot out of the carriage.

    However, the soldier driving the carriage kept his head lowered and ignored him, instead chuckling coldly.

    Divine Feather Weave knew that the situation wasn¡¯t good and pped his wings hard, flying as fast and as far away as he could.

    He was above Sky City at the moment, and the city¡¯s merchant district was right next to him.

    Divine Feather Weave shot towards the merchant district. He knew that the sooner he reached a ce that was crowded, the sooner he would be safe.

    The carriage driver didn¡¯t chase after him and only watched on as heughed coldly.

    Divine Feather Weave was delighted. He believed that this brat¡¯s arrogance had given him an opportunity to survive.

    But he had only been flying for a little when he realized that there was actually nothing but clouds below him. Where was the merchant district?

    This...... What had just happened?

    Had he somehow managed to fly out of Sky City¡¯s range in such a short time period?

    Impossible!

    Sky City was under very strict lockdown, with each entrance and exit under close supervision. How was it possible for him to leave without even knowing it?

    Something was wrong!

    Just the fact that he was flying at top speed should have made quite amotion. Why hadn¡¯t the nearby Harpy soldiers noticed anything wrong at all?

    Could it be......

    A sudden ray of understanding dawned. As he looked around himself, he found that his surroundings suddenly began to appear more and more ethereal.

    ¡°Do you finally understand now? You came to your senses quite quickly. Unfortunately, it¡¯s toote......¡± a low voice sounded in his ear.

    Pu!

    Divine Feather Weave felt his body tremble.

    He lowered his head, only to find a massive, gaping hole in the middle of his chest.

    And Divine Feather Weave hadn¡¯t even been able to feel the attack strike him.

    ¡°Fata...... Morgana......¡± Divine Feather Weave choked out with great difficulty.

    ¡°You do know quite a bit about me.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, Divine Feather Weave¡¯s surroundings suddenly shifted. He found that he was still sitting in the carriage. When had he ever escaped from the carriage?

    ¡°You can already...... project in...... reality......¡± Divine Feather Weave muttered with great difficulty as his life faded away. ¡°Spirit...... Burning......¡±

    ¡°Not yet, but soon,¡± Su Chen replied.

    He withdrew his hand. Divine Feather Weave¡¯s head tilted to the side as he slumped onto the ground, lifeless.

 Sect - Book 5, 167: Fascinating

    Chapter 167: Fascinating

    Within Origin Light Castle.

    Zhu Xianyao sat on a fancy, elegant carriage that was flying over the city.

    From this vantage point, it was possible to see the entirety of Origin Light Castle. The sight was quite incredible to behold.

    ¡°The Harpies¡¯ Cloudy Tea. It has quite a lingering aftertaste. I must thank you, Consort, for giving me the opportunity to taste it yet again,¡± Zhu Xianyao said to the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion¡¯s owner after gently taking a sip of the tea in front of her.

    Even though the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion¡¯s owner had given Zhu Xianyao permission to move freely throughout the east side of the city, she had not yet once left Zhu Xianyao¡¯s side. Not only that, but arge number of the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion¡¯s experts also went with them wherever they went.

    They were supposedly there for protection, but they were actually there for supervision.

    When she heard Zhu Xianyao¡¯s words, the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion¡¯s owner smiled and said, ¡°Miss Zhu, you are an esteemed guest. How could I not treat you with the grandest hospitality? I cannot bear the responsibility of making even a small slight.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao smiled. ¡°So if I have a request, then would you be willing to help me see it through?¡±

    The Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion¡¯s master had quite the way with words. ¡°As long as it¡¯s within my power to help you with it, I will do my best.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao pped her hands together. ¡°Wonderful. I have heard that the Harpies produce a magnificent rose and rainbow hued robe, but it is produced in small quantities due to theck of ingredients. It¡¯s not just a matter of money ¡ª apparently, there is a long waiting list just to be able to buy one. I heard that the wait is as long as three years...... Would Consort be able to......¡±

    The Rosy Cloud Pavilion¡¯s rainbow robes were well-known all over the continent. The legend was that a Harpy fairy had ascended to the heavens and gathered a unique thread spun from rainbows, from which the robe was then stitched together with.

    This robe was incredibly lightweight and portable. Even a swath of its fabric a few dozens of feet wide could bepressed into a ball about the side of a fist. It wasfortable to wear in any kind of weather. And not only that, but its vibrancy could also be adjusted, and it could be made to fit any kind of body figure. Its adaptability was unparalleled; this, coupled with its radiant colors, was what gave it its incredible reputation. For these reasons, many women flocked to obtain it even if it wasn¡¯t very practical to wear intobat.

    Zhu Xianyao had wanted such an article of clothing for a long time, but it was too rare, and so she had never been able to secure one.

    The Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion Master let out a sigh when she heard this request.

    Even though these rainbow robes were quite valuable, they were not useful inbat. If Zhu Xianyao wanted one, then the special conditions they were in meant that she would receive one.

    The Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion¡¯s owner nodded. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then we can make a stop at the Rosy Cloud Pavilion.¡±

    ¡°Wonderful!¡± Zhu Xianyao pped her hands like a giddy schoolgirl. Even the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion¡¯s owner was slightly caught off-guard by her innocent behavior. Zhu Xianyao¡¯s natural charm was truly enough to capture almost anyone¡¯s heart, even a female such as herself.

    However, the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion¡¯s owner was very much aware of the Slyheart Fox Bloodline¡¯s power, so she was prepared to handle the situation. All of the people responsible for watching over the Zhu n were female. Even though the Slyheart Fox Bloodline was powerful, it wasn¡¯t as useful against women. Zhu Xianyao was a genius from the Zhu n, and with Su Chen¡¯s assistance, her charm had reached the next level. But despite all that, this natural handicap was not something that could be ovee that easily.

    As such, the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion¡¯s owner was only moved for a brief moment before she escaped from Zhu Xianyao¡¯s influence.

    Afternding at the Rosy Cloud Pavilion, the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion¡¯s owner stepped inside and said, ¡°Do you have any rainbow robes on hand? We would like to try one out.¡±

    The maidservant responsible hesitated. ¡°We do have one, but it¡¯s been reserved for the Head of Security¡¯s daughter......¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s alright. Take it out. I will give an ount to the Head of Security,¡± the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion¡¯s owner said. She pulled out an item and tossed it over to the Rosy Cloud Pavilion¡¯s maidservant, who no longer protested when she saw it.

    Zhu Xianyao, who was standing off to the side, was stunned when she heard their exchange.

    The Head of Security was an important position with great authority. In human terms, they had about as much influence as the average Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator.

    And the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion¡¯s owner was able to snatch a coveted item away from a Harpy like that without any reservation.

    This was obviously not because her authority superceded that of the Head of the Security. Rather, it showed that the person backing her was able to ignore his authority entirely.

    There weren¡¯t many Harpies in all of Sky Country who wielded that much influence.

    Zhu Xianyao began to realize that Su Chen had probably stirred up some kind of heaven-shakingmotion.

    However, Zhu Xianyao maintained an indifferent expression on the surface.

    The rainbow robe was very quickly brought out.

    Zhu Xianyao epted the rainbow robe and headed for the dressing room.

    Not long after, she reemerged, this time with an elegant, almost saintly robe draped around her. When she took a few steps forward, the thin veneer of clothing began to transform as the hem began to grow longer and take on a pale blue color. The sleeves shrunk, revealing Zhu Xianyao¡¯s slender, pale-white arms. The rainbow robe took on a semi-ethereal quality whenpared to its former noble, elegant aura.

    After taking a few more steps, the rainbow robe suddenly turned fiery red, giving Zhu Xianyao¡¯s attractiveness a ssh of burning desire. Any male whoid their eyes on her would probably lose themselves in the throes of passion.

    Even though they were not of the same race, humans and Harpies shared simr appearances. Zhu Xianyao¡¯s beauty could topple human governments, and she would probably have a simr effect in Harpy territory as well.

    Even the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion¡¯s owner couldn¡¯t resist pping her hand and sighing in amazement. ¡°This rainbow robe fits you perfectly. Only someone like you would be able to bring the full beauty of such a saintly garment out.¡±

    ¡°You tter me,¡± Zhu Xianyao replied as she bowed graciously to the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion¡¯s owner. ¡°Many thanks for taking care of me. I will treasure this robe that you¡¯ve given to me.¡±

    ¡°As long as you like it,¡± the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion¡¯s owner replied with a smile.

    As long as Zhu Xianyao was willing to cooperate and not stir up trouble, a simple rainbow robe was nothing byparison.

    ¡°Alright, we¡¯ve been here long enough. It¡¯s about time for us to go back.¡±

    The Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion owner was naturally delighted to hear that Zhu Xianyao wanted to go back.

    They returned to their carriage and headed back towards the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion.

    As they watched this group of Harpies leave, the maidservants of the Rosy Cloud Pavilion all frowned. ¡°What is this? She just came up here and took the robe that took us over half a year to make. That¡¯s ridiculous.¡±

    ¡°Quiet. Don¡¯t say things like that if you don¡¯t want to stir up trouble,¡± the steward of the pavilion said as she shushed their dissatisfaction.

    The steward had already reported the matter of the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion¡¯s owner¡¯s seizing the rainbow robe, and the answer he had received was toply with her request. He was very clear on the importance of this group of people.

    They could only lower their heads and acquiesce to their demands.

    At this moment, however, another woman stepped out of the changing room that Zhu Xianyao had used only moments ago.

    She looked exactly like the woman who had tried on the robe earlier.

    What was going on?

    The Harpies still present in the Rosy Cloud Pavilion were stunned. They watched as the woman nced around and said in shock, ¡°Hm? My sisters all left already? They didn¡¯t even let me know that they were leaving!¡±

    Sisters?

    Everyone nced at each other,pletely befuddled by the strange situation in front of them.

    They hadn¡¯t seen two people enter the changing room. What was going on?

    The steward asked in a low voice, ¡°Miss, may I ask when you went in......?¡±

    The woman impatiently replied, ¡°Are you blind? Did you not see me walk in? I helped her change into her new clothes.¡±

    The Harpies present did their best to remember, but they couldn¡¯t think of anyone else who had gone into the changing room to help Zhu Xianyao.

    The woman waved her hand dismissively and said, ¡°Fine. If they¡¯ve left, then they¡¯ve left. I¡¯ll just go back on my own. Really, now.¡±

    As she spoke, she straightened her sleeves and flew into the air.

    Everyone watched as she flew away before turning to look at each other, dumbfounded. However, they very quickly forgot about it.

    Once the woman had flown a ways away, she turned to look back at the Rosy Cloud Pavilion beforeughing uproariously.

    She was naturally Zhu Xianyao.

    Even though the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion¡¯s owner had taken precautions against the Slyheart Fox Bloodline¡¯s bewitching techniques, she had no idea about Zhu Xianyao¡¯s other identity: Su Chen¡¯s woman.

    In some sense, this identity was actually even more important than the former ¡ª after being with Su Chen for so many years, she had picked up quite a few things from him. This included his unpredictable tactics, his strategic nning, and some of his creations.

    Including the Blood Essence Clones.

    Wanting the rainbow robe was merely an excuse.

    Zhu Xianyao was just looking for an opportunity to ditch her guards without them bing suspicious.

    Even just the short period of time needed to change clothes was enough for her to put her n into motion.

    The one wearing the rainbow robe was actually Zhu Xianyao¡¯s Blood Essence Clone. The real Zhu Xianyao had been hiding in the changing room the whole time. It wasn¡¯t until everyone from the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion had left that she had revealed herself again.

    As for the Rosy Cloud Pavilion, even though they had discovered the appearance of a second Zhu Xianyao, they didn¡¯t know the details of the situation, so they were none the wiser. Naturally, they had no intention of reporting it to the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion¡¯s owner.

    And even if they did, then so what?

    The situation had already reached its boiling point. It was quite unlikely that it could possibly get much worse.

    At the moment, Zhu Xianyao needed to quickly find a suitable target to capture so that she could understand exactly what had happened in Sky City.

    A momentter, a pair of wings appeared on Zhu Xianyao¡¯s back and she flew in the direction of the city¡¯smerce district. Her illusion techniques also came from Su Chen ¡ª even though her mastery was not particrly impressive, it was enough to trick mostmon Harpies.

    Her current goal was to find a target, or more specifically, one capable of providing her with information on what had urred in Sky City.

    This target needed to have a certain amount of status so that they would definitely have urate information, and they needed to be a male so that her bewitching techniques would work. Finally, they couldn¡¯t be too strong.

    The best target that met these three requirements was naturally a Young Master from some high profile n.

    Zhu Xianyao began to survey her surroundings, looking for one such individual.

    Perhaps Lady Luck was on her side, as she quickly found one such Young Master from a noble n.

    A group of Harpies dressed in elegant clothing was headed in her approximate direction. And walking at their very front was a refined prince.

    As if he had already been drawn in by Zhu Xianyao¡¯s beauty, the Young Master immediately locked his gaze onto Zhu Xianyao as soon as he saw her, his gaze never wandering anywhere else.

    When Zhu Xianyao saw this, she smiled slightly and shot him a provocative nce before walking toward a nearby alleyway.

    When the Young Master saw this, he unconsciously followed Zhu Xianyao into the alleyway. His subordinates all stopped outside the alleyway. Everyone undoubtedly knew what was about to happen.

    A few of the Harpies who saw this situation sighed and shook their heads,menting the degeneration of society¡¯s youth.

    Zhu Xianyao led the Young Master into the depths of the alleyway.

    She turned to face the noble Young Master and tenderly asked, ¡°Do you find me beautiful?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    A sweet expression then appeared on Zhu Xianyao¡¯s face. ¡°Then are you willing to protect me?¡±

    The Slyheart Fox¡¯s charm went to work. Zhu Xianyao was nning on starting with a simple question before getting more and more serious. After asking if the Young Master was going to protect her, she would then whether he would dote on her, obey her, and finally die for her.

    This was the process by which she wouldplete her bewitching.

    But when Zhu Xianyao asked this second question, the other party¡¯s reply deviated from her expectations. ¡°Of course I am willing to do so, but my Master might not want me to.¡±

    Hm?

    What did that mean?

    Zhu Xianyao was stunned.

    She watched in shock as the other party¡¯s appearance suddenly began to morph into a very familiar figure.

    ¡°Iron Cliff!?¡± Zhu Xianyao blurted out uncontrobly.

    She had almost bewitched Iron Cliff!

 Sect - Book 5, 168: A War Draws Near

    Chapter 168: A War Draws Near

    Within Origin Light Castle, in a small alleyway in themerce district, Iron Cliff giggled at Zhu Xianyao¡¯s expression.

    Obviously, Iron Cliff had very much enjoyed messing with Zhu Xianyao.

    Zhu Xianyao helplessly replied, ¡°It seems like you are bing less and less obedient as time goes on. So those people who were with you......¡±

    ¡°Cloud Leopard, Lin Xiao, and the others,¡± Iron Cliff replied.

    Of course.

    ¡°Why are you guys here?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked, dumbfounded.

    ¡°We¡¯re here to look for you,¡± Iron Cliff replied matter-of-factly.

    After predicting that Zhu Xianyao would be tricked into entering Harpy territory, Su Chen had told Patelocke to pass his orders on to Iron Cliff and the others that they were to try and intercept the convoy. Unfortunately, they had been a step too slow.

    Thankfully, that had also been ounted for. If they weren¡¯t able to stop the convoy, then they were able to proceed onto the next stage of the n.

    The next stage, however, required him to get into contact with Zhu Xianyao first.

    Unfortunately, the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion was keeping too close of an eye on her. They wanted to find an opportunity to get closer to Zhu Xianyao, but they weren¡¯t able to find any chances. Their illusion techniques, like Zhu Xianyao¡¯s, might have been able to trick some of the lower-status Harpies, but there was no way they would work to the same effect on stronger Harpies. The Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion¡¯s defenses were airtight, and even real Harpies would be denied entrance if they were unfamiliar, not to mention fakes Harpies.

    Thankfully, they weren¡¯t forced to suffer and wait for too long. Zhu Xianyao had managed to escape on her own first.

    ¡°What exactly happened?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked impatiently.

    She had been waiting to hear an answer for far too long.

    Iron Cliff began to summarize roughly what had taken ce in Sky City.

    When she heard about Su Chen¡¯s repeated exploitations in Fate¡¯s Hands and the Mother Goddess Sect, Zhu Xianyao was dumbfounded. Her amazement only grew when she heard about how Su Chen had managed to draw the Thousand Poisons Toad to attack Sky City.

    Su Chen was basically nning on wiping out an entire kingdom single-handedly!

    No wonder the Harpies were so keen on capturing her. They were definitely nning on using her as a bargaining chip to deal with Su Chen.

    When she realized this, Zhu Xianyao suddenly seemed to remember something and said, ¡°Wait. If they want to deal with Su Chen, then they should have directly captured me. There¡¯s no need for them to maintain this veneer of politeness.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s only because they still haven¡¯t confirmed the rtionship between you and Master yet. In other words, Master¡¯s true identity hasn¡¯t beenpletely exposed yet. However, there are some Harpies who have managed to link what Su Chen has done with the arrival of the Zhu n two years ago. That¡¯s where they initially got the idea that the Zhu n is involved,¡± Iron Cliff exined.

    This answer wasn¡¯t something that Iron Cliff hade up with on his own. Rather, Su Chen and Patelocke hade to this conclusion after a lengthy discussion. Zhu Xianyao¡¯s current situation was pretty good proof that this was indeed the case.

    If the Harpies were absolutely sure that their target was Su Chen, who had deep ties to the Zhu n, then Eternal Night would have never used such soft-handed techniques.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Zhu Xianyao sighed with relief before asking, ¡°So shouldn¡¯t we prepare to leave soon?¡±

    Iron Cliff shook his head. ¡°Even though you¡¯ve temporarily managed to escape from the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion, your clone won¡¯tst forever. The security around Origin Light Castle is incredibly tight. If the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion discovers your escape, then they will definitely mobilize all their forces and lock down the borders. You will never be able to escape. And if you fail to escape, then that¡¯s their best way of confirming the connection between you and Master.¡±

    ¡°So you aren¡¯t here to take me away?¡± Zhu Xianyao crossed her arms in displeasure.

    Iron Cliff obediently replied, ¡°Master has already given his orders. If we were able to get in touch with you before the diplomatic envoy entered Origin Light Castle, then we could try to escape. But now that you are in Origin Light Castle, we need to move onto n B instead.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s n B?¡±

    ¡°Stall!¡± Iron Cliff replied.

    ¡°Stall?¡± Zhu Xianyao squinted her eyes questioningly.

    ¡°Yes, stall for time. But we won¡¯t just be waiting around. We¡¯ll do so by strategically pressuring Origin Light Castle,¡± Iron Cliff replied.

    As Iron Cliff began to exin the n, Su Chen¡¯s ideas began to unfold before Zhu Xianyao¡¯s eyes.

    First of all, Zhu Xianyao being ced under house arrest was a huge problem.

    However, after Su Chen used the Origin Bone Scepter to determine how Eternal Night was nning on capturing Zhu Xianyao, Su Chen was able to grasp a critical point in Eternal Night¡¯s n ¡ª he hadn¡¯t yetpletely confirmed the rtionship between Zhu Xianyao and the fake Halcyon Wing Streak.

    Everything was just a guess at this point!

    And as long as it was a guess, it was entirely possible for the guess to be wrong. No one was a stranger to this. Even Su Chen had made incorrect predictions before.

    But Eternal Night couldn¡¯t confirm that there was no rtionship between Zhu Xianyao and Halcyon Wing Streak either, so his actions were quite cautious. And this caution clearly revealed Eternal Night¡¯s warinesses to Su Chen.

    More specifically, Eternal Night¡¯s wariness towards the human race.

    The wariness of starting an all-out war!

    The Zhu n was not an unimportant one. Any n with a Demonic Emperor Bloodline was only one tier weaker than an imperial family. They were definitely high-status individuals.

    Arresting the sessor to such arge n without clear cause was not a small matter. It was entirely possible that a war could break out over such an incident.

    And this was especially pertinent after the Deste Beast¡¯s attack on the city as the Harpies¡¯ strength had greatly decreased. This was a prime opportunity for the humans.

    If something were to happen to Zhu Xianyao in any way, then that was absolutely more than enough of a justification to go to war.

    It was for this reason that Eternal Night had given such specific instructions to the diplomatic official. He needed to show both strength and softness. These two contradictory demands clearly indicated the difficult situation that Eternal Night found himself in.

    If he were able to confirm the rtionship between Su Chen and the Zhu n, then Eternal Night would be confident in moving against the Zhu n even if it gave the humans cause to attack. Just the fact that he would be able to force Su Chen out into the open made the risk more than worth it.

    However, before he was able to confirm this rtionship, Eternal Night could not make such a decision.

    This was why Su Chen had chosen to first hide himself.

    He had gone to great lengths to hide himself in order to ensure that Eternal Night would continue to be unsure.

    What would happen if Su Chen were to reveal himself and say that he had no rtionship to the Zhu n? Why was hiding so necessary?

    Actually, making that statement would be a huge mistake.

    The Harpies possessed countless experts who were proficient in all kinds of different techniques. If Su Chen really were to reveal himself, then it was entirely possible that someone would see through his lies. And even if they couldn¡¯t, doing something like that was very revealing in and of itself.

    Hising out and saying that there was no rtionship had certain connotations to it.

    Sometimes, telling someone that nothing was wrong was a clear indication that something was in fact wrong.

    If there was truly no rtion, then Su Chen shouldn¡¯t have cared in the first ce.

    If you were a spy who had managed to sessfully infiltrate an enemy country, and they had captured a stranger in an attempt to flush you out, then how would you react if they said that they were going to kill that person if you didn¡¯t show yourself?

    Under most circumstances, your reaction would be one of indifference.

    And that is indeed the correct reaction in that circumstance.

    Su Chen wanted to show Eternal Night that he had no rtion to the Zhu n, so his reaction had to be one of indifference.

    As such, he refused to reveal himself because any movements like that would betray the real rtionship between him and that woman.

    The truth woulde out one way or another as soon as he appeared.

    Of course, just because he couldn¡¯t show himself didn¡¯t mean that he couldn¡¯t try to save her.

    It was just that he wasn¡¯t the one directly trying to save her ¡ª it was instead the Boundless Sect, and Zhu Xianyao herself.

    As well as...... Liaoye Country.

    ¡°Liaoye?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked with some confusion.

    ¡°Yes, Liaoye,¡± Iron Cliff said as he continued to pass on Su Chen¡¯s words. ¡°Even though Eternal Night cannot prove the existence between you and Master, Master used his past interactions with Eternal Night to predict that his resilient and thorough nature won¡¯t just let you go just because he can¡¯t prove a connection exists. In other words, as long as the possibility exists, then Eternal Night won¡¯t spare you. Our current situation is that Master cannot reveal himself to save you, as that would only make your situation worse. Of course, he cannot ignore you either because if the situation remains as is, you will never be freed. If that¡¯s the case, we can only approach it from the angle that Eternal Night fears the most.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao understood. ¡°He isn¡¯t trying to start a war between the two countries, is he?¡±

    Iron Cliff chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s exactly what he¡¯s trying to do.¡±

    After the conflict with the Thousand Poisons Toad, Sky Country¡¯s military reserves had taken a bad hit. This was not just the nearly two hundred thousand soldiers who had been lost, but even more so therge amount of resources they had expended during the battle.

    A war included necessitated consumption of resources that had been stockpiled over a long period of time. Oftentimes, wars were conducted solely through attrition.

    Defeating a Deste Beast with just the power of the Harpies felt quite good, but their treasury would be much emptier for it, making it impossible for them to fight another battle of the same scale.

    Under these circumstances, it was only natural that Eternal Night would do his best to avoid any further conflict.

    No matter what, he could not allow Zhu Xianyao to be the spark of a conflict between the Harpies and the humans.

    And since that was what Eternal Night feared the most, then that was precisely what Su Chen was going to do.

    Su Chen nned on using this opportunity to take action.

    ¡°Of course, he¡¯s not insisting that a war be started. He just wants the humans to posture like it¡¯s about to break out,¡± Iron Cliff exined.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Zhu Xianyao understood Su Chen¡¯s n. ¡°He can¡¯te out to save me, but Liaoye Country can apply pressure onto Eternal Night. And before he is able to confirm the rtionship between Su Chen and me, the pressure will reach a point where Eternal Night will have to let me go if he wants to avoid war. That¡¯s quite a beautiful setup.¡±

    Based on Iron Cliff¡¯s description, it seemed that a political gambit between the two races was about to unfold. Zhu Xianyao found herself quite impressed with Su Chen¡¯s moves.

    It had to be said that this was quite a reliable n. However, themotion it would create might be a bit too big.

    If something went wrong, then not only would Zhu Xianyao find it impossible to escape, but a war between the two races might really break out.

    ¡°The problem is, will they all side with us?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked apprehensively.

    Even though Zhu Chenhuan had quite a bit of influence, he didn¡¯t have nearly enough to start a war between the two races.

    ¡°You¡¯re correct in that a member of the Zhu n being imprisoned might not be enough of a motivation to start a war. Patriarch Zhu mentioned that this might be the case; even if we can convince the country¡¯s nobles, we will probably have to pay a tremendous price. But if we stir up their greed, then the situation bes much muddier. No matter what, the Thousand Poisons Toad¡¯s assault on Sky City actually did happen, and their losses are real as can be. This is a golden opportunity for Liaoye Country and for the human race as a whole. As long as we humans still have some ambition, then there is no reason for us to let go of this opportunity. As for you, Young Miss, you will merely be an excuse to start this conflict.¡±

    Using just the rescue of a hostage to fan the mes of war was foolhardy. But if the inherent greed of the human heart was stimted alongside it, it would be much easier to convince those nobles to act.

    ¡°And what if Eternal Night lets me go, but we aren¡¯t able to stop the war from unfolding?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked.

    Iron Cliff calmly, ¡°Master said that once the mes of greed are sparked, they are nearly impossible to extinguish. But what does that have anything to do with him? As long as you are alright, Master doesn¡¯t care about whether the war actually happens or not. In addition, a race¡¯s rise to power alwayses at the expense of another¡¯s. Even if the humans end up wiping out the Harpies because of this, he doesn¡¯t feel like there¡¯s anything wrong with it.¡±

 Sect - Book 5, 169: Persuasion

    Chapter 169: Persuasion

    After understanding Su Chen¡¯s n, the rest became much easier to take care of.

    Iron Cliff provided her with a way to stay in contact, and then Zhu Xianyao returned to the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion.

    Inparison to trying to escape, trying to go back was much easier.

    Once Zhu Xianyao returned to the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion, the clone could find a time when no one was paying attention to disperse.

    The sudden disappearance of Zhu Xianyao might cause a momentary panic, but that was eptable, because then Zhu Xianyao¡¯s actual body would enter from outside. It would be as if they had merely lost track for a moment of a target they were supposed to keep an eye on, but that target hadn¡¯t actually escaped. The panic would very quickly be reced with relief.

    However, the Harpies never would have imagined that the truly shocking development would take ce shortly thereafter.

    While Sky City was still in an uproar trying to find Su Chen, Liaoye Country was also beginning to be stirred up.

    "Sky City was attacked by a Deste Beast. Losses include over two hundred thousand casualties and countless resources critical for battle."

    "Harpy General Night Violence was killed in battle. At this moment, he is the most influential casualty that we know of.¡±

    ¡°The Midnight Corps suffered serious losses.¡±

    ¡°Seven of the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s bishops were killed in action.¡±

    ¡°Legendary Arcana Master Heavenly Suncatcher was killed in action.¡±

    ¡°The Lightning God Cannon was damaged due to repeated use.¡±

    ¡°Submerged Camp was totally annihted. Six out of twelve Titan-ss puppets and nearly a hundred Battalion-ss puppets were destroyed.¡±

    ¡°They have suffered the loss of countless resources, including those used to construct Sun-Shattering Cannons and Annihtion Bolts, as well as a few billion Origin Stones.¡±

    ¡°The Origin Energy Demonic Tower was partially destroyed by the attack, and its ability to fly is seriously limited.¡±

    ¡°They sustained rtively fewer losses of their floating boats, but one of their imperial gships was downed and apparently cannot be repaired.¡±

    Report after report concerning the situation in Sky City fell onto Li Wuyi¡¯s desk like snowkes in a violent storm.

    This wouldn¡¯t have been such a big deal. After all, the Harpies¡¯ attack didn¡¯t really affect Liaoye Country much.

    However, some people were proposing that Liaoye Country should take advantage of the opportunity to attack the Harpies and seize their territory.

    The thought of dering war also entered Li Wuyi¡¯s mind.

    The reports continued to pile on.

    ¡°......¡®So, we should take advantage of the opportunity to mobilize our troops and demonstrate the might of our country¡¯...... Hmph, he makes it sound so easy.¡±

    Li Wuyi harrumphed and tossed the scroll aside.

    The political hall was where Li Wuyi and his imperial subjects discussed political matters. There were a total of twenty-seven subjects, but there were only three people who really participated - Head of Political Affairs Wang Rang, Head of Ceremonies Chang Rong, and Head of Military Affairs Li Ruyun.

    The Head of Political Affairs typically had more authority in this setting.

    At this moment, Wang Rang was sitting just below Li Wuyi. He said with a slight smile, ¡°An army bes outdated if it is never used. It¡¯s quite normal that they are pushing so hard to fight; there would be something wrong if they were afraid of battle. But for so many strategically important pieces of information to surface all at once is quite rare.¡±

    Li Wuyi chuckled. ¡°So you noticed it too. It seems that Zhu Chenhuan has been quite busy these past few days.¡±

    A young man standing to the side said with some surprise, ¡°Hasn¡¯t the Zhu n already entered into an agreement with Sky Country and obtained the right to do business there? They should be against the conflict, shouldn¡¯t they? Why would they be so proactive?¡±

    The young man¡¯s name was Li Daoqian, and he was Li Wuyi¡¯s son, as well as Liaoye Country¡¯s Crown Prince.

    Wang Rang replied, ¡°Apparently, Zhu Chenhuan¡¯s daughter, Zhu Xianyao, has been confined within Harpy territory.¡±

    Li Daoqiang hurriedly asked, ¡°Zhu Xianyao? It¡¯s her? Why would the Harpies want to capture her?¡±

    Li Daoqian had seen Zhu Xianyao a few times before. Both he and Li Daohong had been mesmerized by her beauty and had tried to pursue her in the past. Unfortunately, Zhu Xianyao wasn¡¯t interested in either of them. Even so, Li Daoqian found it impossible to forget about her, just like his little brother Li Daohong.

    When he heard that Zhu Xianyao had been confined within Harpy Territory, he immediately went on high alert.

    Li Wuyi was very displeased with this reaction and red fiercely at his son.

    Li Daoqian knew that he had stepped out of line and lowered his head, returning to his position.

    Wang Rang, however, seemed not to care at all. He shook his head and replied, ¡°Zhu Chenhuan came looking for me earlier. Based on what he told me, they were doing this on purpose to try and find a way to mobilize the troops. But I can¡¯t help but feel like this old man isn¡¯t being totally sincere about the situation. Unfortunately, the rift between us humans and the Harpies is simply too great, and it¡¯s very difficult for my men to get more information. I really don¡¯t know what is going on over there. As such, I can only believe old Zhu temporarily that he was willing to sacrifice his granddaughter as bait for the sake of the country.¡±

    Li Wuyi harrumphed, ¡°Old Zhu is like an incredibly sly fox. You can¡¯t trust what he says. I think there¡¯s a very high chance that Zhu Xianyao has gotten herself into some trouble, and that he needs our help to get her out.¡±

    When Li Daoqian heard this, he grew agitated. ¡°Father......¡±

    Li Wuyi said indifferently, ¡°If you dare ask me about saving her, I¡¯ll break your legs.¡±

    Li Daoqian fell silent immediately.

    Wang Rang chuckled. ¡°Zhu Chenhuan is quite sly, but we have already confirmed that Sky City was indeed attacked by a Deste Beast. Marching on the Harpies is quite a rare opportunity. And Zhu Xianyao is indeed a good excuse to start a war with; Zhu Chenhuan wasn¡¯t lying about that, at least.¡±

    Even though they were suspicious that they were being used, the truth was the truth.

    An experienced diplomat like Wang Rang wouldn¡¯t mind being used by someone as long as he received enough benefits during the process.

    Inparison to Wang Rang, Li Wuyi obviously had more reservations.

    ¡°Mobilizing an army is not hard, but what should we do after that?¡± Li Wuyi drummed his finger on the table as he muttered. ¡°First of all, are we sure that we can be victorious? Is it possible we can wipe out their country? Also, what will we obtain, and what price will we pay? If the battle doesn¡¯t go our way, what effect will it have on Liaoye Country? Finally, what response will the other races and countries have if we do attack?¡±

    These questions fully demonstrated the foresight and thoughtful consideration that was necessary for any ruler of a country.

    Even Wang Rang was taken aback by these questions. After a moment, he replied, ¡°If the reports we are receiving are true, the Harpies¡¯ military strength is much weaker. Purely in terms ofbat strength, we have a very high chance of winning. But wiping them outpletely will be impossible.¡±

    Sky City was simply too powerful. If it could even destroy a Deste Beast, there was no way Liaoye Country alone would be powerful enough to take it on, even if the city was badly damaged and incapacitated.

    If they couldn¡¯t wipe out Sky City, then they would need to consider things a little more carefully, particrly how the other party would respond.

    In addition, once Liaoye mobilized their troops, how would the other countries respond? That was a necessary consideration as well. How would the enemy races react?

    If they mishandled this situation, it was entirely possible that Liaoye Country would find themselves stabbed in the back by the other countries or races. What would they do then?

    That would be quite the joke.

    In any case, it was necessary to be both prudent and cautious when it came to dering war on an enemy.

    Su Chen wanted to provoke Liaoye Country into putting pressure on Eternal Night, but that was still a bit too idealistic. Actually making this happen would not be easy - after all, Su Chen was only one person. He didn¡¯t have the final say in starting this war.

    Thankfully, Su Chen hadn¡¯t only relied on a momentary weakness of the Harpies to convince Li Wuyi.

    Political matters carried great weight, but they were often carried out with underhanded tactics.

    Sometimes, a few simple maneuvers would resolve an immense problem.

    Sometimes, bribing someone would be quite effective.

    Li Wuyi was incredibly strategical, but no matter how smart he was, it was impossible for him to anticipate that Zhu Chenhuan had bribed Wang Rang. And even if he had noticed, he could only pretend not to have noticed.

    Wang Rang was also no idiot. He clearly understood that to convince Li Wuyi to make a move, he would need toe up with a persuasive reason.

    This reason could not be a lie or an exaggeration. It needed to actually be true. It was for this reason that he had openly admitted that Zhu Chenhuan was likely not telling the truth from the very beginning.

    Only by getting his emperor to believe that he had no private motives would it be easier to carry out the n.

    After confirming that Liaoye Country could never destroy Sky City, Wang Rang thought for a moment before saying calmly, ¡°I understand Your Majesty¡¯s worries, but Liaoye Country and the Harpies have never been friends. We have been at odds for tens of thousands of years, and we have fought countless battles both small andrge. The enmity has been around for thousands of years. This problem will not grow out of hand because of one or two fights. Even if we can¡¯t destroy the Harpiespletely, whether or not we attack them won¡¯t stop them from attacking us.¡±

    Wang Rang made it clear that the Harpies and humans had never been friends. Any peace was only temporary. As such, there was no need to worry about offending the Harpies, because the Harpies would definitely take advantage of such an opportunity if it were to present itself to them.

    Li Wuyi nodded when he heard this. ¡°That¡¯s true. Whether we fight or not, we will never be friends. Only by kicking them when they¡¯re down will we be able to make things easier on ourselves.¡±

    Wang Rang continued, ¡°I¡¯m not too worried about the other countries either. We humans are rtively unified due to themon threat. There shouldn¡¯t be any internal conflict.¡±

    ¡°I fear that there may still be ambitious, duplicitous individuals out there,¡± Li Wuyi said.

    Of course he was very clear about the internal condition. The human race was rtively unified, but there were always some people with unquenchable ambition. If those people tried to take advantage of the opportunity to spring into action, it was entirely possible that Liaoye Country would suffer an incredible blow.

    It was never wise to ce your hopes on someone¡¯s integrity.

    ¡°So we still need to ally with others. The seven human countries are no strangers to allying with one another when the situation demands it. Now that the Harpies are much weaker due to the Deste Beast¡¯s might, it¡¯s the perfect opportunity for us to strike.¡±

    Li Wuyi frowned. ¡°I¡¯m just afraid that none of the other countries will agree.¡±

    Wang Rang chuckled. ¡°Not if you ask them to mobilize their armies. But if you invite them to share in the spoils, they would be delighted.¡±

    ¡°Share in the spoils?¡± Li Wuyi was stunned.

    ¡°Yes, share in the spoils. Apart from the Harpies¡¯ territory, their resources, and the treasures of therger ns, has Your Majesty heard about the new hidden treasure that was just discovered in Harpy territory?¡±

    ¡°New hidden treasure?¡±

    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s called something like the Halcyon Wing treasure. Apparently, this Harpy was one of the captives that we let go in an exchange. After returning to the Harpies¡¯ territory, he stirred up quite themotion, looting Jade Clearmist¡¯s secret treasure realm, Fate¡¯s Hands, and the Mother Goddess Sect in rapid session before burying them in a hole outside of Sky City,¡± Wang Rong chuckled.

    After a moment, he added on, ¡°Based on preliminary estimates, that treasure is worth no less than three billion Origin Stones.¡±

    Li Wuyi felt his heart lurch uncontrobly when he heard this number.

    ¡°Three billion!¡± He sucked in a breath of cold air.

    ¡°Yes, just outside of Sky City.¡±

    ¡°Is the information urate?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s already spread throughout all of Sky City, and they have been constantly sending out soldiers to scout the area. It¡¯s almost certain that this information is true,¡± Wang Rang replied. ¡°A sum of three billion is more than enough to pique Empty Mountain¡¯s and Water Sheen¡¯s interests.¡±

    Just like Su Chen had used Sky City¡¯s weakness to lure Liaoye Country into sending out troops, Wang Rang had chosen to use a simr method. He first tossed out the bait, then let Li Wuyi make his own decision about the situation.

    Su Chen had created a rumor about the Halcyon Wing secret treasure to bait Liaoye Country into sending out troops and giving them a reason to mobilize. Unexpectedly, Wang Rang used it to drag Empty Mountain and Water Sheen into the mix.

    In some sense, the two of them were quite simr. They were willing to use any method to carry out their goal and weren¡¯t afraid of making the situationrger.

    Su Chen had no qualms about starting a war to save Zhu Xianyao.

    And Wang Rang had no qualms about making the conflict bigger for the sake of obtaining Zhu Chenhuan¡¯s promised benefits.

    Political figures were typically not idiots, but they were usually greedy, and their greed would result in them making stupid decisions.

    Of course, whether or not their decisions were stupid depended on the oue of the battle.

    If you seeded, you were smart, and if you failed, you were stupid. No one would care about what had transpired behind the scenes.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 170: Tenacity

    Chapter 170: Tenacity

    While Li Wuyi was still discussing this matter with his political chamber, Su Chen was busy taking matters into his own hands.

    All he was doing was carrying out assassinations left and right.

    Actually, Su Chen had never really cared much for this way of doing things, but he had no choice.

    He needed to give himself a usible reason for remaining in Sky City.

    If he wanted to protect Zhu Xianyao, Su Chen needed to remain in Sky City so that Eternal Night would hold onto hope until the humans were putting so much pressure on Eternal Night that he had no choice but to let Zhu Xianyao go.

    On the other hand, it would cause Eternal Night to grow suspicious if Su Chen remained in Sky City for too long, now that he had managed to escape from Kelesda¡¯s detection.

    As such, he needed to remain active.

    Even if his actions were a bit suicidal, he needed to demonstrate that he had a purpose in remaining here.

    Robbing people had be harder, so assassinating people was an eptable alternative.

    Golden ze¡¯s casualment had given Su Chen enough reason to move.

    The death of Skycatching Prison¡¯s warden, Divine Feather Weave was a huge shock.

    They couldn¡¯t get in contact with him, but instead of keeping himself hidden, he had actuallye out to assassinate other Harpies. What was he trying to aplish?

    Was this a challenge?

    Did he know that the Zhu n was already in their hands or not?

    All of the high-status Harpies could only wonder, but no matter how they thought about it, they never came to an answer.

    The main issue now was that their opponent¡¯s bloodthirst seemed to have been aroused. In the following days, he had actually assassinated two more high-status Harpies.

    Hunting Harpies and looting strategic locations were different in nature.

    The Harpies could set up spatial lockdown formations at Sky City¡¯s strategically important locations to deal with Light Shaking Phantom, but none of those high-status Harpies could carry a spatial lockdown formation with them. As such, Su Chen was basically targeting one of their major weaknesses.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t done so earlier because it wouldn¡¯t benefit him at all. It was only natural that he had had no interest at that point in time.

    But now, these assassinations would serve a purpose, and it appeared that he was really getting into it.

    In the span of just ten or so days, around eight high-ranking Harpies had been murdered. Sky City was in turmoil as a result, since the Harpies had finally discovered that, despite the fact that they had managed to deal with a Deste Beast, a disguised human had managed to infiltrate their ranks, and there seemed to be nothing they could do against him.

    Of course, that didn¡¯t mean they werepletely at his mercy.

    News about the Zhu n¡¯s arrival reached Su Chen¡¯s ears again and again, but Su Chen ignored them and didn¡¯t ask about them, as if he was totally unaware, and he made no attempt to get into contact with them.

    This gave the Harpies a great headache.

    If their opponent made no attempts to negotiate or get in contact with the Zhu n, there was no way they could anticipate what he was thinking, and the second half of the n was basically impossible to carry out.

    Eternal Night¡¯s thought process was very thorough, but Halcyon Wing Streak¡¯s actions made the Harpies question whether they had captured the wrong person for the first time.

    That wouldn¡¯t have been such a big deal, but the problem was that this would create problems down the road.

    Just as themotion in Harpy territory had not gone unnoticed by the humans, what the humans were doing couldn¡¯t escape the attention of the Harpies either, especially if they were never nning on keeping it a secret in the first ce......

    Within the Perpetual Daylight Castle.

    Eternal Night sat on his throne, listening to his subordinates discuss and debate.

    ¡°News of our battle with the Thousand Poisons Toad has already spread. The humans appear to be crying out for war. Li Wuyi has already ordered Wang Rang into the pce three times to discuss things, and it appears that Li Ruyun has also received orders. The soldiers guarding the Auspicious Dragon border are merely there as a distraction.¡±

    ¡°Zhu Chenhuan has gone to the capital and is currently activating his connections to convince the other nobles to mobilize. Zhu Xianyao appears to be the primary excuse for this.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve heard rumors that Li Wuyi has contacted Empty Mountain and Water Sheen. It appears that he will be allying with the two of them to increase their military strength.¡±

    ¡°News hase from the capital that Halcyon Wing Streak was one of the hostages that Li Wuyi had agreed to release in an exchange for the purposes of disrupting our society.¡±

    Report after report came in, causing even the unshakable Eternal Night to begin to feel a headacheing on.

    Empty Mountain and Water Sheen were the two countries under the least pressure because they were behind the front lines of the four countries. As such, they were also the most likely to mobilize their troops. If the three countriesbined strength, the Harpies would have no way of resisting. Of course, they could hole up in Sky City and defend themselves. However, they would lose a lot of the territory outside of Sky City, which was also impossible for them to ept. And once they lost the steady stream of resourcesing in from the outskirts of Harpy territory, Sky City¡¯s production alone would have a difficult time of keeping up with the rate of consumption.

    Even the strongest defense would eventually copse without any ability to mount an offense.

    This was also why the Harpies ced so much importance on the Floating Points n.

    Sky City was powerful, but it was surrounded on all sides by enemies because it had been constructed in the middle of territory belonging to other races.

    ¡°Your Majesty, the most important item currently is to send a diplomatic envoy to Liaoye Country and convince them not to mobilize their troops......¡± one of the subjects proposed.

    Eternal Night harrumphed, ¡°If the wolf wants to eat, can you negotiate with it?¡±

    All of the imperial subjects were stunned.

    Eternal Night said, ¡°The only way to deal with a hungry wolf is to fight it off so that it knows this meat is not easy to eat. Even if it does manage to take a bite, we need to make it pay a bloody price...... Send word to the Chaos Tower and the Harpy Star to head for the Origin Light Castle and assume the Trigram Formation. Prepare for battle."

    Of the Harpies¡¯ four Floating Points, Eternal Night had chosen to send three of them off in the direction of Liaoye Country. His determination to show strength was obvious.

    However, this decision didn¡¯t put anyone at ease. Apart from the humans, the Harpies were also enemies with the Beasts and the Oceanids. The Oceanids were terrorized by Demonic Beasts in the sea and were in no condition to pose much of a threat. They were the weakest of the five Intelligent Races. However, the Beasts the Harpies had to deal with were under Sovereign Inferno¡¯s control.

    Now that Sovereign Inferno¡¯s son was captive in Harpy territory, the Beasts were also probably getting ready to spring into action.

    The Origin Energy Demonic Tower alone could not withstand the Beast invasion.

    But no one said this aloud. Eternal Night was obviously tearing down the eastern wall to rebuild the western one - no matter how the Beasts responded, the humans needed to be dealt with first.

    "If that¡¯s the case, then we have no choice I suppose," the subjects all agreed.

    In the southern regions of Sky City.

    A fierce battle had just concluded.

    After ughtering the final guard, Su Chen reached into the carriage and grabbed the official, hauling him out and saying, "Look into my eyes."

    "You bandit!" The official still wanted to mount some resistance, but when he saw Su Chen¡¯s pitch ck, mysterious eyes, and a powerful will invaded his mind, he began to howl and writhe with pain.

    After a brief moment, the official copsed on the ground,pletely motionless, as if he had died. A momentter, Su Chen unleashed a swath of ck mes, which surged forth and devoured the Harpy, leaving behind nothing but ashes on the ground.

    This Shadow me was incredibly intense, clearly demonstrating Su Chen¡¯s strength. However, Su Chen had no happiness on his face.

    By taking that official¡¯s memories, Su Chen was able to confirm what Eternal Night¡¯s decision had been.

    This vexed him immensely.

    Eternal Night¡¯s decision would cause the battle to be fought further away from Sky City, which was a problem for Su Chen.

    There was no such thing as an imprable n. Like a game of chess, everyone wanted to be the yer and not the pawn.

    As the ruler of an entire race, Eternal Night was a chess yer. How could he allow himself to be led around by the nose by someone else? He didn¡¯t know whether themotion over in human territory was due to Su Chen¡¯s interference, but he could sense a sinister aura in the storm brewing.

    This was also why he had chosen to fight fire with fire.

    Did you think I would be afraid just because we were weakened after a fight with a Deste Beast? Did you think you could take advantage of me?

    Don¡¯t even dream about it!

    Even if we Harpies die, we will die by the sword! You humans think you can scare us so easily?

    He actually didn¡¯t care much about Zhu Xianyao.

    In this political gambit, Zhu Xianyao was merely a symbolic piece. He had no idea that Zhu Xianyao was the source of all of this turmoil.

    In this sense, Su Chen¡¯s n had both seeded and failed.

    He had sessfully tricked Eternal Night, but he had failed because, despite the process taking ce without a hitch, the oue left much to be desired.

    "Fine, Eternal Night! You refuse to lower your head unless you¡¯re beaten to death? Then I¡¯ll just have to beat you to death!" A trace of savagery appeared in Su Chen¡¯s eyes.

    At this moment, Harpy pursuers had appeared behind him. Su Chen didn¡¯t waste any time speaking. His figure flickered and disappeared, reappearing in Mair¡¯s room.

    Because he had ced a clone in the room, Mair never knew that Su Chen had even left. At the moment, they were happily conversing with Golden ze.

    Perhaps because they had gotten to know each other during the past few days, and because Su Chen had never done anything malicious to them, Mair began to let go of his fear. At this point, they were able tough and joke with each other.

    As Su Chen returned, he heard Mair say, "......then my father bent me over and spanked me hard. I never saw that clock again after that."

    The room was immediately filled withughter.

    Golden ze was the only one who noticed Su Chen¡¯s return.

    He nced at Su Chen and chuckled, "You¡¯re back? Old Mair was just telling us about how he once used Withering Liquid to lubricate his father¡¯s clock when he was younger. This is too interesting! I didn¡¯t know that the usually stoic Craftsmen could have such an amusing side to them."

    "Craftsmen also belong to the Intelligent Races. We also feel joy, anger, and sorrow," Old Mair said sincerely.

    "Then what about you? Have you ever shared such amusing experiences with your father before?" Su Chen asked Golden ze.

    "No, Father was always......" Golden ze was just about to reply when he suddenly realized something. He turned to stare at Su Chen, stunned. "Why are you asking me this?"

    Su Chen didn¡¯t reply. He walked towards where Golden ze was sitting, staring intently at him.

    Golden ze stared at Su Chen in shock. "You...... What exactly are you nning on doing?"

    Su Chen suddenly reached out and grabbed Golden ze¡¯s arm.

    He said, "This will hurt a little. Try and endure."

    "What?" Golden ze was stunned.

    With a sh of cold steel, Golden ze¡¯s arm had been cut off.

    "AHHH!" Golden ze howled in pain and attempted to run, but Su Chen used his other hand to press Golden ze down, keeping him from running. "Hey, hey. Don¡¯t be so nervous. "

    "My hand, you cut off my hand!" Golden ze bellowed.

    "Don¡¯t be so nervous. It¡¯ll grow back...... Here, drink this. It will stop hurting very soon. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not going to hurt you." Su Chen hurriedly pulled out a vial of medicine and tossed it to Golden ze. Golden ze didn¡¯t want to drink it, but he couldn¡¯t resist Su Chen¡¯s pressure. Mair and his two sons were dumbfounded by the scene that had just unfolded before their eyes.

    "Why?" Golden ze whimpered.

    He didn¡¯t dare resist Su Chen. All he could do was cry.

    Cry like a child.

    However, after drinking the medicine, it was true that the pain began to subside.

    "I just want to know if your father loves you enough," Su Chen replied.

    He carefully wrapped the hand up.

 Sect - Book 5, 171: Ascension

    Chapter 171: Ascension

    On the day that he lost his arm, Golden ze sat inside his room and cried.

    Even though he was physically mature, his emotions were not.

    Even so, suffering was the best whetstone. On this day, Golden ze finally began to mature.

    He realized what it felt like to have his life in someone else¡¯s hands. And he also realized what kind of person he was dealing with now.

    Mair and his family also seemed toe to their senses.

    Perhaps Su Chen¡¯s carefree demeanor had slightly deceived Mair and his family, causing them to treat Su Chen and Golden ze quite warmly.

    However, when Mair and his wife saw Golden ze lose his hand, they realized what these "friends" or "rtives" of theirs were really like. They quickly gave up on their fantastical thoughts. Even Mair¡¯s children learned on that day what terror was.

    The two mischievous children immediately became incredibly obedient.

    They listened attentively and behaved sensibly, and they appeared to cleave to their parents.

    It was as if they had matured overnight.

    However, Su Chen appeared to be totally oblivious.

    He continued to treat the family with the utmost politeness, as if he wasn¡¯t a bandit, an assassin, one of the most wanted criminals in Sky City at the moment for the havoc he had wreaked on the Harpies.

    His behavior was quite refined, and his words were courteous. He would give them treats from time to time, and he would thank them for their hospitality with what appeared to be a modicum of embarrassment.

    However, none of them looked down on him as a result, as they were disillusioned with the gentle front that he put on.

    They had fully realized that behind this calm demeanor was a ruthlessness befitting of his status as Sky City¡¯s most wanted criminal.

    A dayter, Golden ze¡¯s limb grew back. This "hand" was still part of the body of the Three-Legged Golden Bird after all.

    Su Chen appeared to congratte him.

    Three dayster, Su Chen stopped his assassination missions.

    Because he had discovered via the Origin Bone Scepter that Eternal Night had found a way to deal with him.

    He hade into possession of a spatial lockdown formation that could be ced within a carriage and that would prevent him from using Light Shaking Phantom. Eternal Night had made ns to bait Su Chen into a trap. However, Su Chen was able to cheat by using the Origin Bone Scepter and discovered the trap before it could be sprung, which was why he had stopped his activity.

    Illusion techniques, Light Shaking Phantom, and the Origin Bone Scepter were all things that Su Chen relied on to survive in Sky City. With these with crutches at Su Chen¡¯s disposal, it was only natural that there was nothing Eternal Night could do about him.

    Su Chen finally had a moment to rest, as he had ceased from any destructive activities on the Harpies. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Kelesda was able to determine that Halcyon Wing Streak was definitely still in Sky City, the Harpies probably would have thought that he had run away.

    Of course, Su Chen hadn¡¯t just been sitting around idly. Instead, he began to continue his research and experimentation.

    Only an ambitious person like Su Chen would have the heart to perform research while in enemy territory.

    After all, he had done research while trapped in the Thousand Poisons Mountain for a year. Now was no exception.

    Perhaps because of his good preparation in the past, Su Chen found that his research was incredibly fruitful.

    On the fifth day since he had ceased all destructive activities, Su Chen made a huge breakthrough.

    He had finally managed to fill in thest missing piece of how to reach the Spirit Burning Realm.

    More specifically, Su Chen probably could have reached the Spirit Burning Realm earlier. It was just that Su Chen wanted toe up with a moreplete method, which was why he had waited until this moment.

    Outside of Sky City.

    Su Chen was standing at a high-altitude location nearly thirty thousand feet away from Sky City. The wind was bone-piercingly cold here.

    Most shockingly, the clouds here possessed high concentrations of chilly energy, so much so that the cold energy emanating from the clouds could ignore barriers and directly permeate a person¡¯s body. It greatly affected an Origin Qi Schr¡¯s ability to move as they pleased.

    There was also a unique lifeform that lived in this kind of environment known as Frost Demons. Frost Demons were an extremely weird lifeform that had no physical body. They purely existed in an ethereal form. For this reason, they could ignore all Origin Energy attacks and silently invade a person¡¯s mind, settling there and slowly devouring it.

    It was through this devouring process that they would gain a physical body. As such, most Origin Qi Schrs could only kill them after allowing a portion of their mind to be eaten. Whether or not they would survive depended on their personal vitality.

    The process of having one¡¯s brain eaten would take about three days. In other words, with no other way to resolve the situation, anyone whose brain had been devoured would need to endure three days of pain before dying.

    This was why Frost Demons were also known as Brain-Devouring Parasites.

    Even high-tier Origin Qi Schrs and Arcana Technique Masters had a hard time dealing with these illusory creatures.

    However, Su Chen had voluntarily chosen to remain in this ce.

    He was going to attempt to make a breakthrough here.

    As he sat at the top of this elevated precipice, Su Chen began to sense himself falling into a deep tranquility.

    His heart became still, and his entire being had entered a realm without ego.

    Spirit Burning Realm cultivators, after all, needed to light the fire in their spirits.

    Unlike the Light Shaking Realm, breaking into the Spirit Burning Realm would result in a massive increase in consciousness power. The intangible consciousness power would be given real substance, allowing the cultivator to form their Divine Pces.

    Because of the unique properties of consciousness, humans needed to create eight consciousness pces, which were known as the Spirit Burning Pces.

    Forming the first was undoubtedly the most difficult.

    The first pce was known as Abundant Revolution. It signified the beginning of the Spirit Burning Realm, and it was also when Origin Qi Schrs would take off their old shackles and start anew.

    Transforming something illusory into something physical was impossible to do without an extremely solid foundation.

    This was also the reason why the first pce was called Abundant Revolution: it was the beginning of an abundant hope for those who reached that stage.

    Giving consciousness physical substance was not easy. Not only did you need a vast amount of consciousness power, but you also needed a strong will and enough energy to mold and temper that consciousness power to give it form.

    Before, there was only one way to breach the Spirit Burning Realm - amass arge quantity of consciousness power, then use the power of a bloodline to temper and mold it.

    However, Su Chen had managed to find a different path that was actually even more effective.

    He chose to calm his mind and harmonize himself with nature.

    Yes. Rather than using bloodline power to temper himself, he merged his consciousness with the environment around him, using the power of nature to temper himself.

    To aplish this, he needed to unleash his consciousness as much as possible and spread it out, which was totally different than trying to use a bloodline to forcefullypress a consciousness together.

    Su Chen allowed his consciousness to spread as he attempted to sense his surroundings. The cold air prated his body, allowing him to clearly sense the power in the environment, which he drew into his body to temper himself.

    Of course, this was much easier said than done.

    This process required incredible control over one¡¯s consciousness power; emotional state, harmonized by a special technique; a method to draw and direct the chaotic, free-spirited energy from the surroundings; a method topress that energy into a Divine Pce; and finally, a way to prevent the power of nature from prating too far into his body and causing hidden damage.

    Because this was a totally different cultivation technique, there was a need to start from the beginning and go through the entire process again. Su Chen needed to figure out each step and adjust the process ordingly. In fact, he had actually developed seven or eight different techniques to facilitate the breakthrough process.

    Shi Kaihuang had assisted him in each one of the techniques so far, but this Spirit Burning Realm cultivation technique was truly Su Chen¡¯s own creation.

    It was the result of decades of hard work, so even though the oue was quite incredible, it was also not a surprise.

    As Su Chen activated his consciousnesspression technique, Su Chen¡¯s consciousness began to condense. A storm began to brew around him, forming a vortex of energy that began to enter Su Chen¡¯s body through every pore before escaping through his nose and mouth. This flow of cold energy would then re-merge with the vortex and eventually enter Su Chen¡¯s body again, resulting in a conserved cycle of energy.

    This was a cycle Su Chen had brought about, but it was also a natural one.

    In that moment, Su Chen¡¯s internal revolution and the external cycle seemed to coalesce, forming a massive outline of a pce in Su Chen¡¯s mind as a result.

    Su Chen¡¯s Abundant Revolution Pce was very different from most peoples¡¯.

    It wasn¡¯t justrger, because what really determined the true strength of these pces was their detail.

    The more intricately adorned a Divine Pce was, the stronger it would be.

    Most Origin Qi Schrs¡¯ Divine Pces appeared to have been carved out of arge chunk of stone. They appeared quite majestic but also crude, like a statue created by a Ravager. Su Chen¡¯s, however, was a work of art.

    His pce was octagonal and built on a jade tform, which was surrounded by guardrails.

    Various statues had been ced on top of the guardrails. These were not mere statues; these were Demonic Beasts formed out of concentrated consciousness energy.

    Su Chen had studied countless bloodlines; even though he hadn¡¯t selected any of them to be his bloodline, Su Chen understood the principles behind the bloodlines of each Demonic Beast represented here, which meant that he was also able to use them.

    Now that he hadpleted a Divine Pce, he was even closer to the source of these bloodlines, as he would be able to form illusory images of these beasts.

    In future battles, the support of the Divine Pce would make it much easier for Su Chen to form this illusory images, which would fight by his side. Of course, they would be weaker than true Demonic Beasts, but they would possess some of the beasts¡¯ unique properties and characteristics.

    Above the Abundant Revolution Pce hung eight chains which appeared to extend into an unknown location.

    Those chains connected the pce to Su Chen¡¯s sea of Origin Energy.

    Via their Divine Pces, Spirit Burning Realm cultivators could directly obtain energy from their sea of Origin Energy, but the rate at which they could do so was limited to the rate of transmission.

    Most Abundant Revolution pces would only have one chain connected to their Origin Sea, meaning eight chains in total for eight pces.

    Su Chen, however, had eight thick chains connected to a single pce, and the chains were covered in profound inscriptions. These would further enhance their transmission capabilities.

    The front steps, the tiles, the awnings, and the entrances were all aesthetically designed by an architect who appeared to have quite an imagination. As a result, the Divine Pce exuded an aura of strength.

    The moment that it waspleted, it began to sink, eventually settling in Su Chen¡¯s sea of knowledge.

    The Abundant Revolution Pce wasplete.

    It represented an official breakthrough into the Spirit Burning Realm, and it served as the foundation for forming the other seven Divine Pces.

    The moment itpleted, Su Chen¡¯s consciousness began to expand as his field of view began to widen. His perception had heightened, and his consciousness was much nimbler than before.

    Su Chen activated his Origin Energy eyes and observed the Origin Energy flowing past him. He reached out with a few consciousness tendrils and attempted to gently coerce them into his body.

    Before, Su Chen had needed physical contact to absorb Origin Energy. Now, he could do it easily with but a thought.

    And that wasn¡¯t all.

    He could sense a shadowy presence encroaching on him.

    It was a Frost Demon.

    A Frost Demon was hiding in the back of his mind inconspicuously, doing its best to try and infiltrate Su Chen¡¯s mind and eat his brains.

    It was formless and impossible to touch.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t need to wait for it to start eating his brain to do anything to it.

    Because he wasn¡¯t amon Origin Qi Schr.

    He was a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator!

    Boom!

    The Abundant Revolution Pce began to resonate.

    A streak of consciousness power shot forth.

    The Frost Demon dissipated in a cloud of smoke.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 172: Leader

    Chapter 172: Leader

    The fifth day after Golden ze¡¯s arm had been cut off, Su Chen sessfully reached the Spirit Burning Realm. He became the first Spirit Burning Realm cultivator across the entire Primordial Continent without a bloodline.

    Unfortunately, no one was present to bear witness to such a tremendous aplishment. There was no fanfare or wild apuse - the only thing that greeted Su Chen was the sight of the setting sun.

    Even so, this was reality. Many incredible inventions all disappeared silently.

    For some reason, Su Chen felt a trace of worry surface in his heart in the moment that he broke through.

    This worry seemed toe out of nowhere.

    Seven dayster, news came from the Harpies¡¯ northern border.

    The Beast Wave had arrived.

    The Harpies were immediately thrown into turmoil.

    Now, they were fighting a war on two fronts.

    Two dayster, news from human territory arrived. Empty Mountain and Water Sheen had agreed to mobilize their armies and were preparing to attack. They even officially condemned the Harpies for their actions - unsurprisingly, Zhu Xianyao had been used as an excuse for the humans to attack.

    All of the parties involved in this scheme were all extremely excited -

    As long as Eternal Night¡¯s brain was normal, he would most likely let Zhu Xianyao go.

    Unexpectedly, however, Eternal Night remained motionless.

    Another three days passed.

    Within Mair¡¯s room.

    Su Chen sat alone in the courtyard.

    ¡°How are things over at Liaoye Country?¡± Su Chen asked as he stood in front of a flower, seemingly speaking to himself.

    A spectre-like voice replied, ¡°It will take time before the armies can fully mobilize, but the soldiers are already making preparations.¡±

    It was Patelocke¡¯s voice.

    Patelocke had already entered Harpy territory, but not the Origin Light Castle. From his position, he was capable ofmunicating with Zhu Chenhuan, Zhu Xianyao, and Su Chen at the same time.

    ¡°But yet he still chose to maintain his position,¡± Su Chen muttered.

    He had a bad feeling that the situation was no longer under his control.

    His n had been a good one.

    But the tragic reality was that not every good n would result in a good oue.

    In a battle between geniuses, it was not a rarity that both sides would be able to see through each others moves beforehand and take steps to prevent their n froming to fruition.

    It was for this reason that Su Chen had been able to aplish what he had aplished in Ravager territory.

    It wasn¡¯t just because Su Chen was smart, but also because of Anubi¡¯s impotence.

    This time, however, Su Chen knew that he had encountered a powerful opponent.

    Eternal Night¡¯s reactions were impossible to fully predict. He didn¡¯t know what Eternal Night was thinking or what he was doing.

    This worried him.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Su Chen said, ¡°Keep a close eye on what¡¯s happening over at Zhu Xianyao¡¯s ce of residence. I have a bad feeling about this.¡±

    ¡°Got it!¡± Patelocke replied.

    Even though Su Chen had taken so many protective measures, he eventually discovered that all of them appeared to have been meaningless.

    Two dayster, Su Chen heard back.

    Zhu Xianyao had been brought into Sky City.

    Under the identity of a criminal!

    Su Chen was about to go insane.

    Or was Eternal Night the one going insane?

    How could he do that?

    How could he ignore the impending pressure from the humans and Beasts and insist on dealing with him and Zhu Xianyao?

    At that moment, Su Chen finally got a taste of what it felt like to be on the other end of defeat.

    Unfortunately, the Origin Bone Scepter wouldn¡¯t give him any predictions about Eternal Night¡¯s actions.

    Eternal Night was too powerful, and he was constantly surrounded by a revolving cast of experts. As such, it was impossible for Su Chen to determine what Eternal Night was thinking.

    ¡°Su Chen, what do we do now?¡± Even Patelocke was beginning to grow anxious about the situation. ¡°Zhu Chenhuan also doesn¡¯t know about the situation yet. I haven¡¯t told him.¡±

    Su Chen paced back and forth a few times. ¡°You¡¯re right not to tell him yet. It appears that Eternal Night is determined to have a go at it. I¡¯m putting pressure on him by using two massive armies, while he is using Zhu Xianyao to force my hand. Him sending her to Sky City...... this is definitely aimed at me.¡±

    Patelocke agreed. ¡°This move from Eternal Night is vicious. He¡¯s intent on pressuring this weak spot of yours!¡±

    Su Chen harrumphed, ¡°He might have grasped my weak spot, but what about him? Does he have no weak spot?¡±

    Patelocke was taken aback. ¡°What is his weak spot exactly?¡±

    ¡°His subjects!¡± Su Chen said with a bone-chilling intent. ¡°Eternal Night, you really are ruthless to ignore the pressure of two armies bearing down on you just so you can y a game of chicken with me. But not every Harpy will be as vicious as you!¡±

    The next day, a rumor began to spread through Sky City.

    The content of the rumor was that Eternal Night had fallen for a human woman and forcibly seized her. However, because she was heiress to a Demonic Emperor n, the humans were preparing to attack, since Eternal Night had turned down their requests to negotiate multiple times. The Beasts were also invading, so the two enemy forces were attacking right when the Harpies were weakest. However, Eternal Night remained smitten with lust and ignored the plight of his country, forcibly bringing this woman to Sky City. This was going to cause war to break out between the humans and the Harpies.

    Apart from the fact that Eternal Night fancied Zhu Xianyao, most of this information was true.

    This was the most effective kind of rumor - ny percent true and ten percent false, designed topletely change the narrative. Any Harpy who found out would think that Eternal Night was the one who was responsible for the impending disaster. Yes, even the invasion of the Beasts would be Eternal Night¡¯s responsibility.

    At the very beginning, most of the Harpies didn¡¯t dare believe their ears.

    Eternal Night had been a king for thousands of years, and his subjects worshipped him for his wisdom. No one believed that he was capable of doing something like this.

    However, those who were interested in doing a little more research quickly discovered that there is likely something to those rumors.

    There was indeed a human diplomatic envoy that had been arrested in the Origin Light Castle, the humans were preparing a massive invading force, the Beasts were in fact encroaching on the borders of Harpy territory, and their leader was ignoring the Beast invasion, instead sending three Floating Points off to deal with the humans......

    These discoveries all supported the veracity of the rumors.

    The thought of another vicious battle loomed over the Harpies.

    None of the Harpies wanted to repeat what they had experienced at the hands of the Beasts.

    Not to mention that this conflict would probably be twice as intense.

    Even though starting a war over a woman sounded romantic, it was actually an idiotic, pointless idea.

    There was no way the Harpies would be willing to ept this kind of idiocy. There were even a few officials and nobles who didn¡¯t know the full story that found it uneptable.

    The rumor began to spread with more and more momentum through Sky City, and news of Zhu Xianyao¡¯s arrival spread.

    Within three short days, the citizens of Sky City had begun to mor for Zhu Xianyao¡¯s release.

    This fervor reached a climax at the moment Zhu Xianyao entered the city.

    When they saw the beautiful, elegant Zhu Xianyao imprisoned, the countless individuals watching were even more stirred up.

    ¡°Set her free!¡±

    ¡°Set her free!¡±

    ¡°Set her free!¡±

    The crowd of Harpies mored and yelled.

    This was the first time they had ever been the side of a human.

    The Harpies didn¡¯t want a war. At least, they didn¡¯t want to go to war for such a reason!

    Because of the dual authority of the religious and political branches of Harpy government, the Harpy civilians actually had quite a bit of authority over the government¡¯s actions, which was manifested through the Mother Goddess Sect.

    Within the Perpetual Daylight Pce.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown strode forwards rapidly. ¡°Eternal Night, what are you doing? Why are you so stubborn? Is capturing Zhu Xianyao the only way? Do you not know that news has already spread throughout the entire city that you are dragging the Harpies into a disaster all for a woman?¡±

    She began to tremble in anger as she spoke.

    She wasn¡¯t angry merely because of Eternal Night¡¯s decision. It was because...... his affections had been ced on a human female!

    Eternal Night¡¯s expression remained as stoic as ever.

    This old Harpy¡¯s will was irond, as immovable as a mountain.

    He could only say indifferently, ¡°Have you ever wondered why the rumors would have started in the first ce?¡±

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown was taken aback. ¡°What?¡±

    Eternal Night didn¡¯t wait for her to reply and answered her own question. ¡°The rumors have caused our own countrymen to turn on us...... Our opponent must have his back against the wall.¡±

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown said, ¡°You mean......¡±

    ¡°Such a violent response has never urred before. All that means is that we have found the right person. Zhu Xianyao is absolutely linked to this fake Halcyon Wing Streak.¡±

    ¡°So what?¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown shook her head. ¡°Right now, Halcyon Wing Streak is not the most important, but the battle between us two races. Halcyon Wing Streak is only one person. The amount of damage he can cause is not enough topletely destroy our race. As for the invasion of the other two races......¡±

    ¡°He can¡¯t cause enough damage to destroy our race? Who do you think is responsible for our current situation?¡± Eternal Night countered.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown froze.

    But women sometimes had the inherent ability to ignore logic. A momentter, she shook her head and said, ¡°I don¡¯t care. The most important item of business right now is to extinguish the mes of war that are brewing. Do you know how many civilians are beseeching me right now? They have just gone through a tough battle, and many Harpies have lost family and loved ones. You cannot insist on forcing them into battle again, especially one on two fronts!¡±

    When Eternal NIght heard Serene Dream Lotus Crown utter the words ¡°I don¡¯t care¡±, he knew that there was no point in continuing to discuss things any longer. He sighed, ¡°Dream Lotus, it¡¯s a good thing to ce importance on the cries of the civilians, but don¡¯t be wishy washy as a result. A talented leader knows how to take the opinions of the masses into consideration but doesn¡¯t bow to them. No matter what they think, you need to have your own opinions and thoughts on the situation...... even though I don¡¯t think it would make much of a difference if you did.¡±

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown was infuriated. ¡°Are you looking down on me?¡±

    Eternal Night fell silent, gazing intently at her.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown felt her face flush. ¡°I know that sometimes I don¡¯t reflect enough, but I represent the will of themon Harpies. They, like us, are all subjects of the Mother Goddess, and as such we have the duty to hear their voice! And my responsibility is to keep you in check and make sure that you don¡¯t ruin our country because of your own interests!¡±

    Eternal Night replied calmly, ¡°What we really need to pay attention to is to meeting the needs of the Harpies, not what they want. This way, you can¡¯t push responsibility onto them when the situation gets out of control. Their intelligence is limited, and they cannot possibly see the full picture that we can see. The only thing I am saying is that my primary goal right now is to calm the conflict.¡±

    ¡°Calm the conflict? How?¡±

    Eternal Night replied, ¡°Tomorrow afternoon, Zhu Xianyao will be executed on the pce¡¯s fairgrounds!¡±

 Sect - Book 5, 173: Uncompromising

    Chapter 173: Upromising

    News that Zhu Xianyao was to be killed very quickly spread throughout Sky City.

    When Su Chen heard this news, his expression was neither shocked nor angry.

    Even though it wasn¡¯t like he had known a long time ago, Su Chen realized that he had epted this possibility a long time ago. This sensation was totally illogical, and it also ignored Su Chen¡¯s emotions.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t tell Patelocke. He didn¡¯t want the others to be anxious.

    He sat in the courtyard, all alone, turning over something in his mind.

    Time flew by, and the sky gradually began to grow light......

    The execution was ted to take ce at noon.

    As noon drew closer and closer, the fairgrounds of the Perpetual Daylight Pce also began to fill up with Harpies wanting to watch the spectacle unfold.

    Because Harpies could fly, they were perfect spectators.

    The small fairgrounds was quickly filled with tens of thousands of Harpies.

    Standing below the stage were Zhu Xianyao and her subordinates, a total of 125 people.

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s expression was stoic.

    It wasn¡¯t because she was afraid of death, but that she believed in Su Chen.

    Inparison, the Zhu n¡¯s subordinates were in much worse shape. They were all pale with fright, and some of them couldn¡¯t control the tears and snot flowing down their face.

    The executioner was standing in ce, holding a Soul-Severing de in his hand. The surface of the de was covered in a unique medicine that couldpletely destroy any consciousness power it came in contact with, so that any target in by it, even an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator, would not be able to be resurrected.

    Further away, arge group of Harpy officials stood off to the side, watching closely.

    However, they didn¡¯t seem to have any heart to supervise the situation. They all appeared to be whispering into each others¡¯ ears.

    From time to time, an official would run into the pce before exiting with a gloomy expression on their face.

    The Harpies watching had no idea what those officials were doing, but they cried out, ¡°Your Majesty, please, spare her! You cannot kill Zhu Xianyao, otherwise a battle will break out and our race will be exterminated!¡±

    An old Harpy flew into the pce, heading straight for the main hall.

    Everyone realized that the officials were also doing their best to try and stop the situation from unfolding. The old individual who had just charged into the pce was a high-ranking Harpy official with outstanding character. No one had expected even him to step in and try and stop Eternal Night.

    Unfortunately, his pleas were also ineffective.

    Very quickly, the old Harpy was unceremoniously thrown out of the hall by a soldier as he cried out with incredibly piercing words such as ¡°don¡¯t let your emotions affect your decisions and drag the Harpy civilians into another bloodbath.¡±

    These cries didn¡¯t move Eternal Night, but they did move the Harpy civilians standing nearby.

    There were even some who were trying to convince those around them to storm the fairgrounds and stop the execution.

    Unfortunately, the crowd was not spurred into action. Arge group of elite soldiers charged over, aiming their weapons at the civilians. One of the civilians trying to stir up trouble suddenly found that an arrow had prated his wing, causing him to plummet from the sky.

    Some soldiers immediately flew out and arrested him.

    Next, a voice filled the surroundings. ¡°His Majesty has issued an order. Unless by his express permission, anyone who attempts to stop the execution will be treated as a traitor and will be immediately executed!¡±

    The speaker was Lonely Skyleap.

    This Harpymander¡¯s reputation had surged after leading the Harpies in a sessful defense against the Deste Beast, causing many of the civilians to respect him immensely. For Eternal Night to use him to proim this matter was like using a butcher¡¯s knife to kill a chicken, but that was also a clear demonstration of Eternal Night¡¯s decisiveness.

    The Harpies were originally scattered and unorganized anyways, so when faced with the imposing deration of a God of War, the unrest began to settle.

    The mes that Su Chen had only just lit were immediately extinguished, and the crowd no longer had any temper with which to fight back.

    Even Su Chen, who was mingled amongst that crowd of Harpies, could only smile helplessly and bitterly.

    Eternal Night, Eternal Night, you really have some skills!

    But will you really kill her?

    Su Chen knew that Eternal Night¡¯s goal was to force him out.

    But he didn¡¯t know whether Eternal Night was really nning on killing Zhu Xianyao if he didn¡¯t show himself.

    Only when the execution took ce would Su Chen know.

    Worth noting was that Su Chen was remaining hidden not because he was cowardly but because he didn¡¯t want people to link him with Zhu Xianyao. That would make it impossible for him to save her.

    For this reason, he could only wait.

    The best oue here was that Eternal Night was only trying to scare him. If Su Chen hadn¡¯t revealed himself at noon, perhaps Eternal Night would stop the execution.

    This was a battle of willpower and faith.

    Who would be able to hold on until thest moment?

    If this was before, Su Chen would haveplete confidence that he could have won.

    Now, however, he was no longer so confident.

    Eternal Night was the most fearsome opponent he had ever encountered before, not because he was strong or because he held immense power, but because he was incredibly wise and slippery.

    And now, Su Chen could only wait.

    Wait until all the cards were on the table.

    Time inched by second by second.

    The time of the execution came closer and closer.

    The Harpies watching onpletely ignored the harsh re of the sun.

    They continued to watch on anxiously, hoping that His Majesty would change his mind.

    However, their hopes were disappointed.

    No one could oppose Eternal Night.

    His determination and his will were all unaffected by those around him. Even the Mother Goddess Sect, which was on par with him in terms of authority, waspletely powerless.

    For tens of thousands of years, the Mother Goddess Sect had been responsible for keeping the emperor in line to protect the civilians. If necessary, they even had the power to overthrow the emperor himself. Even so, Eternal Night continued to forge onwards!

    His decisiveness and determination were truly praiseworthy.

    When the sun was directly above in the sky, the critical moment arrived.

    Bang!

    With this tolling bell, the executioner yelled loudly, ¡°The time is now. Prepare the execution!¡±

    Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

    The hundred and twenty-five subordinates were pushed down as the executioners raised their Soul-Severing des.

    The Harpies felt their hearts catch in their throats.

    Would there be any unexpected urrences?

    Would the execution be put on hold?

    Would someone interfere?

    The Harpy civilians all watched with earnest expectation.

    However, the answers they received was a great disappointment.

    Not at all!

    When the executioner issued themand, everyone felt their breath catch.

    As the executioners raised their Soul-Severing Baldes,

    Eternal Night had no intentions ofpromising!

    If you don¡¯te out, I¡¯m going to kill them all!

    The day before.

    Within the Perpetual Daylight Pce.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown was stunned when she heard Eternal Night¡¯s justification.

    ¡°So that¡¯s your decision? Is that why you are doing all of this? Do you know what might happen once those people die?¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown said with apprehension.

    Eternal Night smiled slightly. ¡°It will be a humiliating mark in the books of history, a shame for use Harpies.¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯re still insisting on doing this?¡±

    ¡°That is the responsibility I should bear,¡± Eternal Night replied. ¡°As the emperor of the Harpies, it is my duty to bear the responsibility for any decision that I make. As long as the Harpies survive, what is a small blemish to my reputation?¡±

    Even Serene Dream Lotus Crown was taken aback by Eternal Night¡¯s words.

    She gazed at Eternal Night as if she were gazing at a lover. Even though the other person was an old, grizzled man, he was extremely handsome and youthful in Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s eyes.

    She couldn¡¯t help but reach out her hand and stroke Eternal Night¡¯s face.

    She said, ¡°Eternal Night, do you remember what you said that time when we were reading together?¡±

    Eternal Night nodded. ¡°Of course. I said that, as a man, my ambitions and aspirations much stretch as far as the heavens. I will do what my predecessors could not do and bear what they could not bear.¡±

    ¡°You have done that,¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown as she leaned into him, unable to control herself.

    She wanted to hold Eternal Night, but he refused her advances.

    He shook her head at her.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown suddenly remembered her status.

    The Harpies had a rule that the leader of the Mother Goddess Sect and the emperor could never be together.

    This was to ensure the independence of the two branches of political authority.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown and Eternal Night had once lived like that. At that time, she was a genius talent rising through the ranks of the Mother Goddess Sect, while Eternal Night was only amon Harpy official. Their rtionship was extremely good.

    Even so, once Eternal Night seized control of the Harpies for himself, his rtionship with Serene Dream Lotus Crown was doomed.

    These past few years, Serene Dream Lotus Crown had felt incredibly bitter that Eternal Night had forsaken her for the sake of greater power, but all of that bitterness faded at this moment.

    Because she understood Eternal Night¡¯s heart and the burden he bore. It was not easy on him.

    She said gently, ¡°Then let theme. When the battle draws near, I will bear the burden with you.¡±

    Let theme.

    This was Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s decision.

    Since Eternal Night had decided to fight, Serene Dream Lotus Crown was willing to fight by his side.

    No matter what, they would need to endure!

    The des glowed with a chilly light that emanated in all directions, carrying with them an aura of death and relentless determination. It was apparent that death was imminent!

    At that moment, a gust of wind blew by.

    As if time had frozen, the hundred twenty-five Soul-Severing des hung motionlessly in the air.

    One of the des was merely three centimeters from Zhu Xianyao¡¯s neck.

    This had happened because the space around the des had suddenly frozen, as if the air had suddenly congealed into fat.

    Not only so, but a formless pressure suddenly began to emanate, forcing the des upwards.

    Because the executioners had used too much force, the collision of the two opposing forces caused the des to tremble violently.

    The simultaneous trembling of a hundred twenty-five des at the same time resulted in a strange hum filling the air.

    All of the Harpies were stunned when they saw this.

    They watched as a Harpy stepped out from the throng of spectators.

    Even though he had wings, they were furled. He stood in the air, not relying on his wings to remain suspended in the air.

    Not only so, but his aura grew stronger and stronger, as if he had taken off a costume of weakness.

    That Harpy had transformed into a human.

    The crowd burst out into an uproar.

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± When Zhu Xianyao saw him appear on the scene, she couldn¡¯t stop herself from crying out.

    Even though she believed that Su Chen wouldn¡¯t ignore her, her heart still ached when she saw Su Chen actually appear.

    How could you be this silly?

    Wasn¡¯t he the one who said that no one could save her if the rtionship between her and Su Chen were toe to light?

    Since I am going to die, what is the point in youing to the grave with me?

    In that moment, Zhu Xianyao began to weep, both with happiness and despair.

    Lonely Skyleap, however, smiled. ¡°You showed up after all...... And with your main body, too. How bold.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter anymore,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°If he has issued the order to kill Zhu Xianyao, then that means he doesn¡¯t want to kill me yet. Am I right?¡±

    What did that mean? All of the onlookers couldn¡¯t understand.

    Lonely Skyleap was stunned before he said, ¡°His Majesty was correct. You are in fact the most difficult opponent he has ever encountered before, Master Su.¡±

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°What a coincidence. I was just thinking that myself...... The Harpies have quite apetent ruler at the helm.¡±

 Sect - Book 5, 174: Responsibility

    Chapter 174: Responsibility

    Within Perpetual Daylight Pce¡¯s Heart-Inquiring Pavilion.

    This was where Eternal Night thought in silence. Under normal circumstances, this was not a ce where he handled political matters, so no guests were typically allowed to be present.

    Today, however, an outsider had appeared.

    A true outside.

    The human, Su Chen!

    Eternal Night and Su Chen had finally met.

    Right inside Eternal Night¡¯s Heart-Inquiring Pavilion.

    For this reason, only Su Chen and Eternal Night were present here. Even Serene Dream Lotus Crown wasn¡¯t present.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown had indicated her displeasure, but Eternal Night had refuted her immediately.

    He said, ¡°You are not good at negotiating.¡±

    Even though she didn¡¯t like his evaluation of her, Serene Dream Lotus Crown had to admit that he had a point. Eternal Night was eventually able to keep Serene Dream Lotus Crown out of the room as well, due to his influence as the emperor of the kingdom.

    Unlike what most people might have expected, however, Su Chen was not disying an attitude of open hostility.

    He stood in front of a bookshelf and flipped through one of the books as he said, ¡°I have experienced many things in this life of mine, and I have encountered many opponents. Some were weak, and some were strong, but I have never feared them. Even though they were strong, they were only strong in body and not in mind. The Intelligent Races are named precisely because we are known for our intellect, not our strength. I have never once lost to anyone in my lifetime, but now I realize that there is always someone smarter than you out there......"

    He put down the book, then turned to face Eternal Night and said, "I have heard of your great name before, but only after we have exchanged blows did I realize that this reputation is not fake."

    Eternal Night¡¯s expression remained unchanged. Obviously, he was not affected by Su Chen¡¯s praises.

    He only said faintly, "It wasn¡¯t easy to invite you toe out into the open."

    "You¡¯re right, it wasn¡¯t easy. But you were still able to do it. I admire your decisiveness...... Actually, I should have guessed that, if your prison warden was able to discover the truth, how could it have escaped your notice? The only difference was that you found out slightlyter."

    "You destroyed the evidence collected by the Sky-Catching Prison. Halcyon Wing Streak and Su Chen being the same person was merely a guess of mine," Eternal Night replied.

    ¡°Can you tell me how you managed to guess?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Eternal Night replied, ¡°Zhu Xianyao¡¯s subordinate.¡±

    Indeed!

    Even though, after killing Divine Feather Weave, Su Chen had purposefully headed for the Skycatching Prison to destroy the records there, he could not prevent new information from reaching the eats of Eternal Night. That information came from Zhu Xianyao¡¯s subordinates.

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s subordinates didn¡¯t know that Halcyon Wing Streak was Su Chen, but that didn¡¯t mean they didn¡¯t know about Su Chen¡¯s rtionship with the Zhu n. After all, ounts of Su Chen¡¯s actions in t Sky City when he was dealing with the Rong n had spread far and wide.

    The first thing that Eternal Night did after capturing Zhu Xianyao was to try and find a way to get information about people who were close to the Zhu n. Given their tactics, it was only natural that the Harpies were able to glean something from so many mouths.

    This was how Su Chen entered the periphery of Eternal Night¡¯s vision.

    The young Worldly Sage, full of intelligence and incredibly powerful.

    Most importantly, records of what he had aplished in Ravager territory preceded him.

    His exploitation of the Ravagers was not a secret. His illusion techniques, his rtions with the Zhu n, and his sudden disappearance during this time all allowed Eternal Night to link him and Halcyon Wing Streak.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t appear to mind when he found out. All he said was, "Emperor¡¯s brilliance and wisdom is worthy of praise. I feel extremely apologetic about what I have done to the Harpies. Now that I am here, my punishment is entirely up to you to decide."

    Eternal Night remained silent. He waved his hand and pointed at the table in front of him.

    Su Chen put down the book and sat.

    He sat facing Eternal Night, appearingpletely without fear.

    After some time, Eternal Night said, "To be honest, I really want to kill you right here and right now. The Harpies have lost hundreds of lives because if you. This grudge is one that cannot be wiped clean between me and you!"

    Su Chen chuckled. "The number of humans and Harpies that have been killed in the past tens of millenia number not in the hundreds of thousands but in the hundred of billions. Two hundred thousand is as significant as a single hair. As a human, it is my responsibility to eradicate any threats to my race and destroy their enemies. Even if my hands be drenched in blood, I have no regrets!"

    Eternal Night¡¯s aura suddenly surged, and a wave of intense pressure enveloped the surroundings. Not a single bit leaked out of the room, clearly demonstrating his precise control over his strength.

    Su Chen, however, continued to stare at Eternal Night levelly.

    As the current representative of the human race, he refused to shrink back in the face of this Harpy emperor.

    The aura gradually dispersed.

    Eternal Night sighed, "I¡¯m getting old. The younger generation is always more daring and willing to take responsibility."

    "I cannot im to be equal with Emperor when ites to taking responsibility. If there is any person on this continent worthy of my respect, or even to concede defeat to, it is you," Su Chen replied sincerely.

    "Oh? You know that I want to discuss something with you?" Eternal Night asked.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that why you are so insistent on meeting me?¡± Su Chen countered.

    Eternal Night nodded with a slight smile. ¡°That¡¯s correct. It¡¯s better for the doer to undo what they have done!¡±

    There was no need for either side to say anymore. Everything went unsaid.

    Why was Eternal Night so insistent on killing Zhu Xianyao regardless of whether or not Su Chen actually appeared?

    Because Eternal Night had managed to see one thing clearly - even if he released Zhu Xianyao, he would not be able to stop the conflict from urring!

    Yes, he could not stop it from urring!

    Starting a war was quite easy, but defusing one was not.

    The three human kingdoms had allied together under the pretext of Zhu Xianyao being unfairly captured, but the actual reason was because the Harpies were currently in a weakened state.

    Would the humans pull back their troops just because Zhu Xianyao was released?

    What a joke.

    Zhu Xianyao was just an excuse.

    If a bandit wanted to rob you, they might find an excuse, such as ¡°This mountain belongs to me!¡± But if you were to prove to the bandit that the mountain was his, would he give up on trying to rob you?

    Of course not!

    Throughout the course of human history, there had been plenty of examples of arge country invading a small country under the pretext of discovering the presence of illegal weapons there. After that country was conquered, it was then discovered that there were actually no such illegal weapons found there.

    In other words, the reason for mobilizing troops in the first ce was not actually a valid one.

    What happened then?

    Well, it didn¡¯t matter, because they won. The leader of therge country could just dere that the other country wasmitting wicked acts and needed to be eliminated.

    See, it really was that easy.

    Excuses were only meant to save face.

    What, you won¡¯t give me face? Doesn¡¯t matter to me.

    If you wanted to do it badly enough, you would find a way to do it with or without an excuse.

    Zhu Xianyao was merely an excuse. Releasing her would never stop the human invasion. That was even more useless against the Beasts. What did Zhu Xianyao have anything to do with them?

    As such, Zhu Xianyao also couldn¡¯t stop the battle.

    Both Eternal Night and Su Chen were clear about this. Even Zhu Xianyao knew, which was why she had said as much to Iron Cliff. Iron Cliff¡¯s response was that Su Chen had no intention of calling off the conflict anyways.

    He tossed out the fishing basket with no intention of repairing itter.

    But Eternal Night was going to force him to repair it!

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t anticipated this.

    He hadn¡¯t expected Eternal Night to be so ruthless.

    Incredibly ruthless!

    Just because Eternal Night had seen through

    It was impossible for anyone to not think wishfully.

    When faced with such powerful pressure, and the enemy saying that they would stop the conflict as long as the hostage was released, most people would be much more amenable to persuasion. After all, a hostage was just a hostage; they had no particr intrinsic value, and nothing would be lost if they were released. On the other hand, if the other party went back on their word and continued to move in by force, that would affect their reputation somewhat.

    What if the enemy was also aware of this and would call off the battle as a result?

    That was a possibility, after all.

    This ray of hope was more than enough to force roughly 70 percent of rulers to acquiesce.

    Even if their enemies still insisted on attacking, they would at least be able to exin things to their citizens.

    See, it wasn¡¯t me forcibly seizing the hostage that resulted in this situation - our enemies are just greedy and were using this as an excuse. The battle is not my fault.

    The ability to exin the situation to their subjects would cause a remaining 29 percent to acquiesce.

    However, there were always a few people who could endure the pressure from both without and within, maintaining their ability to choose.

    Eternal Night belonged to this one percent.

    He clearly saw that only by not releasing the hostage would he have even the slightest chance of avoiding battle.

    That chance came in the form of Su Chen!

    Su Chen was the one who had incited this conflict in the first ce.

    He was also the most likely to be able to quell it as well.

    So how would he get Su Chen to defuse the conflict?

    Zhu Xianyao!

    She was the only bargaining chip.

    For this reason, Eternal Night had been intent on killing Zhu Xianyao from the beginning.

    He was really going to kill her!

    The reason for this was very simple. If he was only intending on pretending to kill her, it was very likely that Su Chen would be able to see through his plot. Only by truly intending to kill Zhu Xianyao would he be able to force Su Chen out into the open.

    What if Zhu Xianyao died and Su Chen never showed himself?

    Hadn¡¯t this already been discussed?

    The human race would attack regardless of whether Zhu Xianyao was killed or not.

    If that was the case, it was better just to kill her.

    As long as Su Chen didn¡¯t appear, there was only one distinction between the two choices. If Eternal Night let Zhu Xianyao go, he would have been able to avoid taking responsibility for the impending battle, but he would also have lost the chance at stopping the battle from unfolding and meeting Su Chen. If he killed Zhu Xianyao, Eternal Night would have be a criminal in the eyes of the Harpies, because they would believe he was responsible for this disastrous battle. This would be a humiliating stain on his legacy in the books of history.

    Most rulers would have chosen the former in order to preserve their reputation.

    However, Eternal Night had chosen thetter.

    He was willing to take this chance to force out Su Chen and resolve the conflict.

    This was taking responsibility!

    No matter how the Harpy civilians viewed him, no matter how his reputation would be tarnished, Eternal Night forever only cared for the future of the Harpies.

    In that sense, Eternal Night¡¯s boldness surpassed Su Chen¡¯s. Even though Su Chen had quite a bit of ?skill, robbing ces and assassinating high-profile targets was not something that a royal leader would do.

    Of course, Su Chen was not an emperor.

    He was a sage, the human¡¯s Worldly Sage.

    This limitation was unfortunate for him, but it turned out to be the good fortune of the human race.

    As such, Su Chen and Eternal Night could both be considered great persons in their respective situations.

    And Eternal Night¡¯s gamble had paid off.

    He had managed to force Su Chen out into the open.

    Now, it was time for Su Chen to sell out.

    For the sake of Zhu Xianyao¡¯s life.

 Sect - Book 5, 175: Three Conditions

    Chapter 175: Three Conditions

    After a long period of facing off, Su Chen sighed, ¡°Why do you think I have the ability to stop the battle?¡±

    Eternal Night replied, ¡°I don¡¯t know how you will do it, because that is your problem. All I know is that there is only one person who has ever pushed me to this degree, and that¡¯s you. You have so far aplished miracle after miracle, first with the Ravagers and now with the Harpies, by relying on your transformation technique, spatial abilities, and predictive capabilities, all while remaining free to act as you please and wreak devastation on both of us. Since you have been able to do all of these things, calming a battle is but a trivial matter.¡±

    ¡°And what if I can¡¯t do it?¡±

    ¡°Zhu Xianyao will die,¡± Eternal Night said faintly. ¡°I don¡¯t care about offending the Harpies right now. If you cannot stop the war that is brewing between us, I will kill her. In any case, the number of deaths won¡¯t be changed much by adding one more to the tally.¡±

    His words were filled with ruthlessness, clearly demonstrating what kind of character he had.

    Now, it was Su Chen¡¯s turn to feel a headacheing on.

    He rubbed his temples and said, ¡°Your Majesty, when did you be so unreasonable?¡±

    ¡°The fact that I haven¡¯t given you a violent beating before sending you back to deal with the battle, given what you have done to the Harpies, is already me showing great restraint.¡±

    Su Chen could only helplessly say, ¡°Fine. Tell me your conditions.¡±

    Eternal Night raised three fingers. ¡°First of all, you need to stop the conflict that is brewing with both the Beasts and the humans.¡±

    When Su Chen heard this, he frowned.

    It wasn¡¯t because this request was too excessive, but because it was only one request of three that Eternal Night was going to make.

    However, Su Chen still said in the end, ¡°I agree.¡±

    ¡°Secondly, you must create a cultivation method for the Harpies as well.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Su Chen was stunned.

    Eternal Night said, ¡°You are the Worldly Sage, responsible for creating the bloodline-less cultivation techniques. If you can do it for the humans, you can also do it for the Harpies. We are inherently physically weak and have been trying to resolve this problem for years. However, we have alwayscked a good close-quartersbat system. If there¡¯s anyone who can solve this problem, it¡¯s you. After all, you helped those Ravager guys figure out a cultivation system, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    So you know about that too.

    Su Chen frowned, but in the end he still nodded, ¡°I can do that as well. The third request is probably for me to return all the treasures that I stole to you, right? I can agree to that as well.¡±

    As he spoke, he pulled out a trunk.

    The trunk was filled with Origin Rings.

    These were all the treasures that Su Chen had gathered during his two years in Harpy territory.

    Unfortunately, it appeared that he was going to have to return all of these treasures.

    Unexpectedly, Eternal Night didn¡¯t even spare the trunk a single nce.

    He said, ¡°You don¡¯t need to return these things to me.¡±

    What?

    Su Chen was stunned.

    Eternal Night said calmly, ¡°Anything you were able to take away belongs to you. I¡¯m not that greedy.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Old man, there¡¯s no need to say these things, right? This trunk not only contains all of the treasures I took from Fate¡¯s Hands and Jade Clearmist¡¯s treasure stores. Even the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s treasures are in here, especially those divine Origin Tools......¡±

    Eternal Night interrupted him. ¡°The Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s treasures aren¡¯t mine. Why should I care?¡±

    Hey......

    Su Chen stared at Eternal NIght in a daze.

    Eternal Night said, ¡°You don¡¯t need to pretend to be an idiot. I never nned on keeping this from you in the first ce. The Mother Goddess Sect merely represents divine authority and controls the souls of the masses. But that is true whether they seed or fail. The Mother Goddess Sect is too above worldly matters. They wield incredible authority, but they don¡¯t know how to use it because they don¡¯t know how to be political. Throughout the past tens of thousands of years, the Mother Goddess Sect has always been dragging the country back - dragging me back. There are many things I wanted to do that were impossible simply because they refused to let me.¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°But what I do know is that the Mother Goddess Sect and Sky Country are irreversibly tied together at this point.¡±

    Eternal Night nodded. ¡°I will not refute that truth, but that is only because of Serene Dream¡¯s trust in me...... But I am getting old, and one day I will die. Who knows what will happen then? The Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s influence might not necessarily be a good thing for the country. It¡¯s probably a good thing for those treasures to remain lost. If they lose some strength, it will give them less overall authority. The Mother Goddess Sect has a good reason for existing, and it is necessary for them to stick around, but they cannot be too strong. Weakening them a little is a good thing.¡±

    Su Chen finally understood what he was saying.

    Unfortunately, while Serene Dream Lotus Crown was infatuated with Eternal Night, Eternal Night was constantly scheming, even bringing the Mother Goddess Sect into the mix. There was no way that Eternal Night would be able to appropriate those treasures for himself, so it was better just to let them go.

    Of course, this didn¡¯t mean that Eternal NIght was just going to give them to Su Chen for free.

    It was obvious that these treasures would be given to him because of the third requirement.

    Su Chen could instinctively sense that this third condition was going to be the most important.

    Indeed, Eternal Night said, ¡°I need you to bring me two items. As long as you are able to do this, I will immediately release Zhu Xianyao, and everything you have reaped in Harpy territory will belong to you. If you want, I can even open up the imperial storehouses and let you take away any treasure that you want.¡±

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t happy in the slightest when he heard this. ¡°You don¡¯t need to entice me like that. If you¡¯re willing to pay that high a price, the two items you are going to request will be incredibly hard to obtain. Tell me what you want.¡±

    ¡°The Immortal Soul and Neptune¡¯s Eye.¡±

    Pu!

    Su Chen spat out the tea he had just been drinking.

    He stared at Eternal Night. ¡°You......¡±

    When he was able to confirm that Eternal Night wasn¡¯t kidding, Su Chen said, ¡°You¡¯d better prepare to kill me and her together then.¡±

    The Immortal Soul and the Neptune¡¯s Eye came from a piece of Sky City¡¯s history that the Harpies preferred not to look back on.

    The Deep Sea Anchor n.

    The n would give Sky City ess to an immense amount of energy, but the interference of the Harpies¡¯ enemies forever locked Sky City in ce, making it impossible for the city to move.

    The main offender of this was the Deep Sea Anchor itself, which extended into the unknown and firmly rooted Sky City in ce.

    One end of the Deep Sea Anchor was ced on the Sark¡¯s Nucleus controlling the city, while the other end was ced in the depths of the Origin Energy Sea.

    Even though it sounded quite simple, the n was incrediblyplex in reality. The anchor itself was an incredible feat of engineering, and it had been designed with a number of different functionalities in mind. It absolutely had many more functions than to merely transmit energy at a more efficient rate.

    Naturally, there needed to be a control mechanism for this kind of aplex piece of equipment.

    This control hub was actually Neptune¡¯s Eye.

    Neptune¡¯s Eye was arge crystal ball made with precious materials and filled withplicated Origin Formation inscriptions, allowing it to resonatepletely with the Deep Sea Anchor.

    Because this resonant functionality was installed when the Deep Sea Anchor was being created, it was impossible to construct a second Neptune¡¯s Eye for the same anchor.

    However, Neptune¡¯s Eye had been stolen after the anchor was sessfullypleted.

    The ones to take it away were the various Intelligent Races that had been harmed by the Harpies.

    The Immortal Soul had also been stolen.

    The Immortal Soul was a special kind of consciousness that was designed to attach itself to the Deep Sea Anchor to be the anchor¡¯s Tool Spirit. Of course, thispatibility was extremely rare, so it was impossible to find a substitute.

    The Immortal Soul¡¯s will would increase the maneuverability of the Deep Sea Anchor.

    If Neptune¡¯s Eye was like the Deep Sea Anchor¡¯s brain, responsible for controlling it, then Immortal Soul was like the anchor¡¯s limbs, responsible for moving it.

    The Deep Sea Anchor had basically entered a vegetative state after having its brain and limbs removed.

    Later on, it was discovered that these two treasures had been dispersed to the Oceanids and to the Astrals, bing their treasure.

    This was also the reason that they came to be known as Neptune¡¯s Eye and Immortal Soul.

    For Eternal Night to request these things from Su Chen meant only one thing - he wanted to allow Sky City to regain its mobility.

    Sky City!

    The powerful, invincible Sky City that even a Deste Beast could not defeat!

    Eternal Night actually wanted to give Sky City the ability to move around again.

    What were the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s treasures worth whenpared to such a grand n?

    That was why Su Chen said, ¡°Then you might as well kill me.¡±

    These two items were incredible treasures of the two races. How could he allow Eternal Night to have them?

    Unexpectedly, Eternal Night nodded when he heard this. ¡°Fine, that¡¯s what I was thinking as well.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Su Chen was taken aback.

    ¡°What I¡¯m saying is that I really want to kill you,¡± Eternal Night replied. ¡°If you don¡¯t agree to my conditions, then I will just kill you here and now. That is not a bad decision.¡±

    Su Chen frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t understand. Didn¡¯t you need my help to defuse the situation earlier? Why are you saying this now?¡±

    Eternal Night replied, ¡°That was before I saw you. But now, I suddenly feel that killing you is the best decision, based on the fact that you were the one to start this war, caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Harpies, and

    Hey now......

    Was this kind of hatred necessary?

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Su Chen asked, ¡°What is it that suddenly caused this change of heart?¡±

    Eternal Night replied, ¡°The fact that you are now at the Spirit Burning Realm.¡±

    Spirit Burning Realm!

    So Eternal Night had managed to figure it out anyways.

    Su Chen had carefully kept his cultivation realm a secret, but it appeared that Eternal Night had managed to discover that something wasn¡¯t right.

    Su Chen felt his heart tremble. ¡°Your Majesty, you must be joking. So what if I¡¯ve reached the Spirit Burning Realm? That¡¯s not really a big deal, is it?¡±

    ¡°How is it not a big deal? You¡¯ve reached the Spirit Burning Realm without a bloodline!¡± Eternal Night replied calmly. ¡°How many humans have yearned for this to happen without anythinging to fruition? Yet you were able to do it. There were humans who were able to reach the Blood Boiling Realm before. But then you opened the way to the Yang Opening Realm, then the Light Shaking Realm, and now the Spirit Burning Realm. In but a few decades, you have aplished what others could not in tens of millenia. Is that not a big deal?¡±

    Su Chen remained silent.

    Eternal Night continued, ¡°Because of you, humans will definitely escape from the control of bloodlines. Why are the three countries so confident that they can take us on? Because your cultivation techniques have been spread far and wide, and the Origin Qi Schrs have begun to appear in waves amongst the human race, especially ones at the Blood Boiling Realm or Yang Opening Realm. Those people serve as the backbone of the human army, and now they are virtually ubiquitous. Even the status of Light Shaking Realm cultivators is rapidly declining, even though you haven¡¯t universally distributed it yet. But you will sooner orter, right?¡±

    Su Chen fell silent.

    Eternal Night nodded. ¡°Many people think that the Light Shaking Realm is your upper limit, and that the Spirit Burning Realm is impossible. But I can tell that you are far from your limit. You are still young, but you have already broken into the Spirit Burning Realm. Who knows if you will be able to make it into thest two realms? What will happen to the strength of the human race? I can¡¯t help but tremble even thinking about it. Tell me, why shouldn¡¯t I nip the problem in the bud and kill you right now?¡±

    Su Chen sighed helplessly, ¡°If you put it that way, then I think your best bet is just to cut me down where I stand. You aren¡¯t afraid of beingbeled a viin anyways. It would be quite impressive for you to make such a sacrifice for the sake of the Intelligent Races.¡±

    ¡°This is the exact reason why I have not allowed myself to kill you until now...... I am not willing to be sacrificed for the sake of the Intelligent Races,¡± Eternal Night replied. ¡°Why do the Harpies need to pay the price for the sake of containing the human race¡¯s rise to power?¡±

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 176: Open

    Chapter 176: Open

    Why me?

    This was a very interesting attitude.

    This had happened throughout history many times before. For example, say that an enemy force had invaded deep into a country¡¯s territory and was knocking on the capital¡¯s front door. If the emperor asks the rich merchants and nobles to use their resources and manpower to defend the capital at all costs, then despite the dire predicament, the response would usually beckluster.

    Was it that these nobles were blind and couldn¡¯t understand the consequences of a sessful enemy invasion?

    Of course not.

    There were many other factors at y. For example, just because the country was going to fall didn¡¯t mean that their n necessarily would. It was possible that they could survive by paying a rtively small fee to the invaders. Others might think that they wouldn¡¯t be of much help and that the country would surely be able to withstand the invasion on its own. And yet another very important reason was, ¡°Why me?¡±

    Why should I pay ten thousand when the Ji n is only paying three thousand? Why are they not doing anything, but I am required to make a sacrifice? I can provide assistance, but only if they do as well. So what if we¡¯re doomed? Then we¡¯ll all just be doomed together. I don¡¯t get along with the other ns, and I won¡¯t ept them giving any less than me. If we are going to die, then we¡¯ll all die together!

    This kind of thought process was an inherent part of the human psychology.

    Eternal Night recognized the immense threat that Su Chen posed if he were to remain alive.

    But why should he pay the price for an act that would greatly benefit all of the other Intelligent Races?

    If the Harpies were to be wiped out, then none of the other Intelligent Races should be allowed to survive either.

    Eternal Night, in some sense, was also a normal person. Even he couldn¡¯t shed the psychological biases that came with being a Harpy.

    However, Eternal Night refused to give up hope.

    He didn¡¯t want to die, and he didn¡¯t want the Harpies to die either.

    So he had thought of an additional tactic.

    Increase the number of conditions.

    Su Chen, weren¡¯t you quite impressive? Aren¡¯t you very able?

    Fine then. Go and bring the Immortal Soul and Neptune¡¯s Eye to me.

    With these two items in his hand, Sky City would be able to regain its mobility. If Sky City could move again, what use was the Floating Points n?

    Just because I can¡¯t stop the humans from rising to power doesn¡¯t mean that I can¡¯t stop the Harpies from also doing the same.

    When the humans grew strong, the Harpies would be immune to their influence with this trump card. As for whether the other Intelligent Races survived or not, it didn¡¯t matter to him in the slightest. In the future, it might even be the six Intelligent Races against the two of them.

    Hm, that was a pretty good idea.

    This was the reason why Eternal Night required such an unreasonable third demand of Su Chen.

    Su Chen was rendered speechless.

    ¡°Your Majesty, you¡¯re not treating me as a ve ¡ª you¡¯re treating me as a divine emissary!¡± Su Chen said seriously.

    Eternal Night smiled wryly as he replied, ¡°Gods exist on high and are not influenced by our desires, but you can be. You are not a god, but a human, and a sage at that!¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter how sage-like I am. The Harpies have probably thought of countless ns to take those items back, right? But which of those ns have ever seeded?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why I need you!¡± Eternal Night replied unhesitatingly. ¡°I trust that you will be able to do it.¡±

    ¡°And what if I can¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°Then we will all die together.¡±

    Eternal Night could be incredibly unreasonable when he wanted to.

    Su Chenughed with anger. ¡°Fine. I don¡¯t even know how I¡¯m going to stop the impending invasion, but you already trust me enough to resurrect the hope of the Harpies? You really must have quite a high opinion of me.¡±

    Eternal Night seriously replied, ¡°It¡¯s not that I in particr have a high opinion of you. It¡¯s that no one can not have a high opinion of you after seeing your aplishments. You managed to deal devastating blows to both the Harpies and the Ravagers, so why not continue and do the same to the Oceanids and the Astrals? Offending all of the major Intelligent Races is quite an achievement, you know.¡±

    Can I refuse this achievement?

    But when Su Chen saw Eternal Night¡¯s expression, he knew that there was no room for negotiation.

    Ever since Eternal Night had seen through Su Chen¡¯s cultivation realm, Su Chen only had one real choice that he could make.

    ¡°It seems that I must agree.¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± Eternal Night said with great satisfaction. ¡°Of course, I am willing to help Sir Su with anything he needs assistance with, as long as it¡¯s within my ability to do so.¡±

    ¡°Weren¡¯t you the one who agreed earlier to open up the imperial storehouse to me?¡±

    This time, it was Eternal Night¡¯s turn to be stunned speechless.

    Within Perpetual Daylight Pce¡¯s Recuperation Hall.

    That was where Zhu Xianyao was being kept.

    She had be much more resilient after her earlier near-death experience.

    At this moment, she was lying in Su Chen¡¯s embrace as she said, ¡°So you agreed to all his conditions?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t have a choice. He was the one who won out in this exchange,¡± Su Chen replied with a sigh. ¡°Only now do I realize how lucky I was back in Ravager territory, as their ruler was an idiot. But Eternal Night is a truly frightening opponent. I thought that, with my Light Shaking Phantom technique and the Origin Bone Scepter, I would have been able to do as I pleased. However, it turns out that I was wrong.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao meekly said, ¡°It¡¯s all my fault for holding you back.¡±

    ¡°If you keep saying that, I¡¯ll be unhappy,¡± Su Chen said with a pampering tone. ¡°You are my woman. It¡¯s actually my fault for implicating you in all of this. How can this be your fault for holding me back? Eternal Night is doing the same for his fellow countrymen, after all.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao smiled. ¡°I was being unreasonable. You¡¯re right, my husband.¡±

    She was quite straightforward about the whole situation and very quickly stopped ming herself.

    ¡°But still, Eternal Night¡¯s request is not going to be easy to fulfill.¡±

    ¡°It won¡¯t, so that¡¯s why we¡¯ll need to seize the moment.¡±

    Even though he said that he would ¡°seize the moment,¡± his gaze was fixed on Zhu Xianyao as his eyes began to glow.

    Zhu Xianyao understood his intentions. She blushed as she pushed him gently. ¡°You devil.¡±

    Su Chen leaned in, and the room was soon filled with the sounds of youthful springtime.

    At the same time, Eternal Night was facing off against Serene Dream Lotus Crown.

    ¡°Why? Why didn¡¯t you force him to return the Divine Tool?¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown asked, infuriated.

    She was really mad this time.

    The loss of a Divine Tool was a huge deal for the Mother Goddess Sect.

    The criminal had been caught, but now Eternal Night was saying that it was impossible for him to retake the Divine Tool.

    What was the meaning of this?

    Even though Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s political skill was not nearly as high as Eternal Night¡¯s, that didn¡¯t mean that she couldn¡¯t sense the conspiracy lurking in the background.

    Eternal Night calmly replied, ¡°You¡¯re incorrect, Serene Dream. I never told Su Chen not to hand over the Divine Tool. He doesn¡¯t have it on him at the moment.¡±

    ¡°Then where is it?¡±

    ¡°This brat is incredibly slippery and has already sent the treasure from Harpy territory. Right now, it¡¯s buried somewhere randomly underground.¡±

    ¡°So tell him to bring it back!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s one of the conditions I¡¯ve given him,¡± Eternal Night said as he patted Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s hand. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. That Divine Tool can¡¯t have gotten far.¡±

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s heart softened due to his actions, and she blushed faintly. ¡°I¡¯m just worried that a long night brings with it many dreams. The longer we wait, the more likely something unexpected will happen.¡±

    Her thought process was correct, but unfortunately, she had no way of realizing that the source of these dreams was the person right beside her. The ¡®recovery process¡¯ of the Divine Tool was doomed to fail.

    Of course, Eternal Night wouldn¡¯t admit that he had not asked for the item back. He would instead ce the me on Su Chen so that it would seem like he was the one who had reneged on his word. And since Su Chen didn¡¯t want to return the treasures to the Mother Goddess Sect anyways, it was only natural that he would be more than happy to take on this me.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. The Divine Tool will definitely be returned. It¡¯s only a matter of time,¡± Eternal Nightforted. ¡°What¡¯s more important is the Immortal Soul and the Neptune¡¯s Eye.¡±

    Yes. Even though the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s treasures were all important, they could not evenpare to the Immortal Soul and Neptune¡¯s Eye¡¯s value.

    When Eternal Night used the future of the Harpies as his excuse, it was as powerful as a mountain bearing down upon Serene Dream Lotus Crown, forcing her to bow her head.

    She could only acquiesce powerlessly. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll be patient for a bit longer then.¡±

    ¡°I need you to be more than patient. You must also help me by helping him. I need you to open up the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s ancient library to him so that he can learn more about the Immortal Soul and Neptune¡¯s Eye. This is necessary for him to help meplete this marvelous n,¡± Eternal Night said.

    Even Su Chen would have a hard time sessfullypleting something that the Harpies had failed to aplish for tens of thousands of years. Eternal Night wasn¡¯t just throwing a difficult task at Su Chen with no care for the oue. Since he had asked for it as a condition, then he fully intended for Su Chen to fulfill it, and he would ordingly do his best to help Su Chen.

    As such, not only did he need to convince Serene Dream Lotus Crown to give up on the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s treasures, but he also needed her to help Su Chen. This included teaching Su Chen how to use the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s five divine treasures ¡ª though of course, he wouldn¡¯t ever openly admit this.

    But as long as Serene Dream Lotus Crown agreed, the situation would be much easier to resolve.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown never would have expected that Eternal Night had even taken her every mood into consideration, and she fully trusted him. After some time, she nodded. ¡°Got it. For the sake of this great undertaking, I will open up the ancient records to him. But there are so many records in there that he won¡¯t be able to go through them all. The most important matter should be to resolve the invasion of the humans and the Beasts.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. Su Chen can speedread, so just half a day in the library should be enough.¡±

    ¡°The ancient records are incredibly exhaustive in their details. Doesn¡¯t that mean that he will learn all of our secrets?¡±

    ¡°He has already made a blood oath not to spread our secrets publicly.¡±

    Blood oaths were a unique technique of the Harpies, and they caused the oathtaker to receive a bacsh if the oath was broken. Even though Su Chen was rtively confident in being able to escape from the effects of this oath, it would take a long time to research, and it was impossible for him to spend that much time on an extraneous project given his current pursuits. He would just keep this loophole a secret instead, which meant that the blood oath¡¯s effect was quite reliable.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown snorted in response. ¡°This guy really was born to be a bandit. He steals treasures, steals money, and steals wealth at any opportunity he gets.¡±

    Eternal Night calmly replied, ¡°Right now, I¡¯m hoping that his skills as a bandit will prove useful. That¡¯s the only way he will live up to our expectations.¡±

    He purposefully said ¡°our¡± expectations, as if the n had been drawn up by both him and Serene Dream Lotus Crown together. With his subtle phrasing, Serene Dream Lotus Crown had unknowingly fallen into this line of thought, and she responded ordingly.

    That afternoon, Su Chen entered the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s library.

    Arge number of the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s records were found here. It included their history, all kinds of legendary Arcana Techniques, and more importantly, detailed records of the Immortal Soul and Neptune¡¯s Eye.

    In addition, there was also information on how to operate the five divine tools.

    That was what Su Chen was actually after.

 Sect - Book 5, 177: Trus

    Chapter 177: Trust

    Of the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s five divine treasures, the only one that Su Chen hadn¡¯t been able to immediately figure out was the bug sealed inside amber.

    After going through all of the Harpies¡¯ records, Su Chen finally understood what it was.

    The Catastrophe Bug!

    Apparently, this bug was an incredibly scary bug with the power to multiply and regenerate endlessly. Its ws and teeth were both incredibly sharp, and its appetite was virtually insatiable. When a horde of them darkened the skies, they would destroy everything in their path.

    At their peak, they were apparently even able to fight against an Origin Beast.

    But as the environment had grown more and more inhospitable, the bug had also suffered from the same kind of pressure as the Origin Beasts.

    However, rather than choosing to slumber like the Origin Beasts, it instead chose to regress its evolution, allowing it to adapt to its surroundings.

    But unlike the Origin Beasts, the Catastrophe Bug was a eusocial creature, which meant that it relied on numbers and not on individual strength to survive.

    To them, the degradation of the environment was not a death sentence. They just needed to adapt to their circumstances; their overall decrease in strength could be offset by simply increasing their numbers.

    For this reason, the Catastrophe Bug was viewed as a constant threat throughout all of history. Even when the ambient Origin Energy was declining, the Catastrophe Bug could still move around as they pleased.

    What restricted them the most was not the environment but rather their voracious appetite.

    At this point in time, most of the Catastrophe Bugs had died off due to starvation. Only a few remained alive, but they could easily recover to their peak as long as they had enough food.

    Their decline had really been caused by the Arcana Kingdom.

    They had risen to power right when the Catastrophe Bugs were at their weakest. With that opportunity, they killed off arge number of them, and from then on, the bug¡¯s poption was perpetually kept in check. Whenever they were about to get out of control, the Arcanists would step in and cull the poption. This way, they would never get out of hand.

    Perhaps it was this aplishment that had given the Arcana Kingdom a feeling of invincibility, enough so as to openly challenge an Origin Beast. That had eventually resulted in the destruction and decline of the entire kingdom.

    The Catastrophe Bug had basically been strangled in the cradle, and very few of them still existed. Su Chen didn¡¯t expect that the Mother Goddess Sect would actually possess a living specimen.

    ording to the Harpies¡¯ records, this bug had been passed down from the Illustrious Divine Dynasty. One of the sect¡¯s Bishops had stumbled across itpletely by ident, and they had kept it intact and brought it back to the Harpies.

    The Bishop originally thought that the bug could have be one of the Harpies¡¯ trump cards.

    If the Harpies one day faced a perilous situation, then they should theoretically be able to revive the bugs and use them to attack their opponents. However, because it was impossible to control the Catastrophe Bug, releasing it was the same as releasing a demon into the world. This was ast resort, one not meant to be used lightly.

    But after grasping the situation, Su Chen grew excited.

    Just because the Harpies couldn¡¯t control didn¡¯t mean that Su Chen couldn¡¯t.

    After all, this subject was precisely what Su Chen was most proficient in.

    Even though Su Chen¡¯s main research area was still bloodline-less cultivation techniques, those techniques were still a breakthrough that took ce on a biological level. As a result, Su Chen had naturallye to understand how to improve and alter lifeforms through his research.

    Other aspects of his research, which included Origin Formations, talismans, and tool and puppet refining, were also interesting to him. However, his understanding of lifeform alteration was the deepest among them all. Even his alchemical breakthroughs were based off of this foundation.

    In any case, Su Chen was much more proficient in studying lifeforms, which made his job much easier.

    Of course, there were many different kinds of lifeform alteration, and Su Chen¡¯s main focus was on the human cultivation system. His familiarity with insect alteration was limited. Now, however, with the experience he had gained from infiltrating the Chaos Tower, Su Chen had alreadye up with a way to control the Gluttonous Parasite.

    The Gluttonous Parasite had died of starvation during Su Chen¡¯s imprisonment in Eternal Night¡¯s care, but the experience and skills that Su Chen had umted while raising it were permanent.

    As such, Su Chen was already somewhat familiar with this field.

    As long as he continued to tread this path, it was entirely possible that he would eventually develop some kind of universal skill for controlling insects.

    Apart from the Catastrophe Bugs, the Harpies¡¯ library also contained a lot of information about Neptune¡¯s Eye and the Immortal Soul.

    Earlier, Su Chen only knew that Neptune¡¯s Eye and the Immortal Soul were crucial to the control of Sky City, but he didn¡¯t know about any of the details. After reading through the library¡¯s records, however, Su Chen quickly realized why the Harpies had lusted after these two treasures for so long.

    They were simply too valuable to the Harpies.

    Any kind of treasure, no matter how rare it was, ran the risk of being stolen; this could be especially seen in the case with the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s five rare treasures. They had been hidden quite well, but not well enough to escape the notice of someone paying very close attention.

    And why was that? It was because the treasures were in a hidden state.

    After an item was hidden, rarely would it still continue to have robust defenses. Actually, that was a signal in and of itself, as having arge group of soldiers guard it around the clock was a waste of resources.

    However, if that treasure was in constant use, then the situation was totally different.

    The person guarding the treasure would always be on high alert, and because the treasure was generating value, it was worth it to set up a rotation of guards to watch it around the clock.

    Most of the treasures that Su Chen had managed to pilfer were all hidden and kept in a passive state. This was a major factor in his sess.

    Neptune¡¯s Eye and the Immortal Soul were meant to be constantly used, and the two races that currently possessed them had managed to progress in leaps and bounds because of them. Their importance was probably roughly equivalent to the importance of the Ravagers¡¯ Origin Energy Temple.

    There was no way Su Chen could quietly steal this kind of treasure. The only way for Su Chen to get his hands on them would be to forcefully seize them.

    But the difficulty of forcefully seizing these two precious treasures from two separate races was quite obvious.

    No wonder Eternal Night had ced his hopes on Su Chen.

    The only person capable of aplishing this feat in the world was probably Su Chen.

    After reading through all the appropriate materials, Su Chen fell into a period of deep thought as he activated his consciousness crystal to its greatest extent.

    If he wasn¡¯t able toe up with a n even after using his consciousness crystal for an entire afternoon, then it was probably useless for Su Chen to continue thinking about the problem given the rate at which the crystal processed information.

    Soon enough, Su Chen pieced an approximate n together.

    That evening, Su Chen appeared before Eternal Night once again.

    Eternal Night¡¯s expression was one of shock as he stared at Su Chen¡¯s n. ¡°That¡¯s your n? Are you kidding?¡±

    ¡°You know that I¡¯m not kidding. This is the n that I havee up with after considering countless possibilities,¡± Su Chen replied sincerely.

    Eternal Night deeply contemted the proposal.

    After a long time, he said, ¡°Aughable, idiotic, illogical n...... But I must also admit that, after the Harpies¡¯ countless failures, it does seem like there is a possibility for this n to seed. Su Chen, tell me. Are you confident in pulling this off?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°At the moment, I estimate that I only have a one percent probability of sess.¡±

    ¡°One percent, huh?¡± Eternal Night didn¡¯t grow angry. Instead, he nodded and said, ¡°That¡¯s already pretty good. Having even a little bit of hope is better than having no hope at all. Also, that one percent chance is only given the current situation, right? You should be able to improve those odds in the future.¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°The beginning is always the hardest, but as long as we take it one step at a time, we will eventually seed. Just because our chances of sess now are low, it doesn¡¯t mean that they will still be low in the future. The only thing that I¡¯m worried about is your patience. No matter how much ability I have, I will not be able to meet those deadlines.¡±

    Eternal Night responded, ¡°I understand this principle. Given how important this matter is, being in too much of a hurry will only ruin things. I am more than willing to give you more time, but you must also give me a good reason to believe you. On what grounds would you have me trust that you are genuinely interested in helping me obtain these two treasures and are not just making things up? Just because of Zhu Xianyao? That is not enough of a guarantee!¡±

    It was truly not enough.

    In theory, there was a simple way for Su Chen to resolve the issue with Zhu Xianyao ¡ª he could just dy the mission indefinitely. As long as he didn¡¯t openly resist the Harpies or give up on the mission, Zhu Xianyao would remain alive. She would basically be stuck in Gu Qingluo¡¯s situation, constantly confined to Harpy territory, but also assured to not die. Su Chen might even be allowed to visit her from time to time.

    And once Zhu Xianyao died of old age, the situation would be easily resolved.

    This was the best way for Su Chen to counter Eternal Night¡¯s third request for him.

    As such, Eternal Night could afford to wait, but he also couldn¡¯t afford to wait forever.

    He needed Su Chen to somehow demonstrate his sincerity.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°That¡¯s easy. If I seed, then you must give me the blueprints for Sark¡¯s Nucleus.¡±

    When Eternal Night heard this, his heart involuntarily skipped a beat.

    The Harpies did in fact have blueprints for building Sark¡¯s Nuclei; however, it was simply too hard to construct one, and the necessary ingredients were impossibly rare and hard toe by. Even if the Harpies had the blueprints, they couldn¡¯t even dream of fully replicating one. They could only make a miniature version. At this point, the various Floating Points were almost all being powered in part by these miniature Sark¡¯s Nuclei.

    ¡°You want the blueprints for Sark¡¯s Nuclei? Are you nning on building another Sky City?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°How can I do what the Harpies aren¡¯t able to? But even if I can¡¯t recreate Sky City, I can at least build a Floating Point. I can help the Harpies regain Sky City¡¯s ability to move, but I will also give the human race unlimited potential. This is a win-win situation, and should serve as proof of my sincerity.¡±

    Eternal Night considered Su Chen¡¯s words for a moment. ¡°We Harpies would ultimately lose out on such a deal. The humans¡¯ strength will greatly increase if I ept.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just untapped potential anyways, which will take time to fully turn into strength. And this is the only way that you can guarantee my sincerity. Otherwise, on what basis would we be working together?¡± Su Chen countered. ¡°The blueprints for Sark¡¯s Nuclei have been in the hands of your nobles for tens of thousands of years with no discernible effect. The same will probably be true for us humans.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to say with them in your hands,¡± Eternal Night shot back with a rejoinder of his own. In terms of political scheming, Eternal Night was not inferior to Su Chen in the slightest. In fact, he was probably slightly superior.

    But in terms of research capacity, he was far behind Su Chen.

    ¡°I¡¯m only really proficient in lifeforce alteration. Studying mechanical puppets is not really a main focus of my research,¡± Su Chen replied.

    In his heart, however, he secretly added, But it is a research interest of the human race as a whole.

    Just because the Harpies weren¡¯t able to replicate the majesty of Sky City didn¡¯t mean that the humans couldn¡¯t.

    In terms of creativity, humans would always be superior to Harpies!

 Sect - Book 5, 178: Negotiations

    Chapter 178: Negotiations

    After mutually deciding on a n with Eternal Night, Su Chen prepared to leave Sky City. Of course, before doing so, he decided to first make a stop at the country¡¯s imperial treasure stores.

    Since Eternal Night had allowed him to reap some personal benefits, it would have been impolite of him to refuse.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t ce much importance onmon resources, but the temptation of secret techniques, exclusive records passed down only to other Harpies, and some rare ingredients did pique Su Chen¡¯s interests.

    Unfortunately, the old coot was quite slippery, and none of the really good treasures were kept in the imperial storehouses. The Thousand Poisons Toad had left behind all kinds of precious treasures in the wake of its death, but none of them could be found in the storehouses. In the end, Su Chen only took an Imperial Feather Stone and a chunk of Darkness Prison Metal out with him.

    The former had been left behind by the country¡¯s founder, Withered Edge. Even though he was not the best ruler due to hisck of political finesse and his selfish personality, he was still strong enough to be considered a genius amongst the Harpies. He was the first Harpy legendary Arcana Master, and apparently, he had achieved a deepprehension of Method Power.

    This Imperial Feather Stone had been left behind by Withered Edge during one of his sessions of enlightenment. Hisprehension of Method Power was all imbued in the stone, and those with enough affinity with it could experience a simr enlightenment for themselves.

    But up until now, no one had been qualified to catch even a glimpse of Withered Edge¡¯sprehensions of Method Power.

    On the other hand, the Darkness Prison Metal was naturally an important ingredient for the construction of Titan-ss puppets. Even though it was possible to construct them without this metal, their strength would probably be inferior to those with it.

    Su Chen took these two items with him and then handed Golden ze over to Eternal Night before preparing to return to human territory.

    Most of themotion that he had stirred up had been quelled by now. Now, it was time for him to think of a way to stop this battle.

    As the earth turned, the tides of good fortune would shift unpredictably. Even Su Chen hadn¡¯t anticipated that the situation would swing so dramatically.

    Twelve dayster, Su Chen arrived at the capital.

    Zhu Chenhuan was already waiting for him there.

    ¡°I already know what happened,¡± Zhu Chenhuan said preemptively. ¡°Are you sure that you want to do this?¡±

    Zhu Chenhuan¡¯s expression was rtively ugly. After all, he was the one who hade up with this idea in the first ce, but now, he needed to extinguish it. Even though he was doing all this to save Zhu Xianyao, these actions still left a bitter taste in his mouth.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t too perturbed by it. ¡°There¡¯s nothing we can do about it. Eternal Night¡¯s tactics exceeded my expectations. He won this round. No matter what, Zhu Xianyao is my woman, and I¡¯m not just going to watch her die.¡±

    ¡°This excuse is not going to move the leaders of the three countries. This is an incredibly important moment in history, a moment that will not take the affection between two juniors into ount.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°I wasn¡¯t nning on convincing them with words anyways...... These kinds of people will never be moved by words alone.¡±

    Within Wind Screen Pce.

    Li Wuyi nced at Su Chen, who was appropriately standing on the steps below.

    ¡°So the human race¡¯s Worldly Sage is actually such a young man. You are truly a heaven-defying genius!¡±

    As he spoke, his pupils contracted slightly. ¡°Spirit Burning...... You¡¯re actually at the Spirit Burning Realm already? Have you already reached this step of your journey?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Su Chen made no attempts to hide his progress and nodded. ¡°Would Your Majesty like the technique?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re willing to give it to me?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t research it to keep it a secret from the very beginning.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the price?¡±

    ¡°You already know, Your Majesty.¡±

    Li Wuyi chuckled. ¡°How interesting. Su Chen, what do you take the country¡¯s political affairs as? What do you think a war is? Do you really think that you can start and end one whenever you want?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ve never treated war as a joke, and I never once thought that I could direct a country by my whims. That¡¯s why I am willing to pay such a price to aplish this.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not a high enough price, unless you are also willing to agree to not distribute this cultivation method to anyone other than us!¡± Li Wuyi said directly.

    Even though a bloodline-less Spirit Burning Realm cultivation technique was undoubtedly precious, Su Chen¡¯s distributing it freely would cause its value to sharply decline.

    If Su Chen agreed to only give Li Wuyi the cultivation technique, then it was worth it for Li Wuyi to stop the war. However, that depended entirely on Su Chen¡¯s stance.

    Even though he had bowed his head to Eternal Night because of Zhu Xianyao, that didn¡¯t mean that he hadpletely forgotten his mission or his goal. The bloodline-less cultivation techniques were still his primary focus, and he would not allow one n to monopolize them under any circumstance. This meant that, as a principle, nobody would be able to profit off of it.

    However, adapting to the situation was still eptable.

    Su Chen said, ¡°I am willing to let Liaoye Country exclusively own it for ten years.¡±

    ¡°Absolutely not!¡± Li Wuyi immediately rejected the suggestion. ¡°The impact of these techniques willst for generations toe, but you want to cate us with just ten years? What a joke.¡±

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°Your Majesty, then you should also clearly understand that this request is a selfish one if you acknowledge that this cultivation technique will havesting effects for generations toe.¡±

    Li Wuyi countered with, ¡°But aren¡¯t you asking me to stop the battle for a selfish reason as well?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty. That is correct. But don¡¯t forget that I was the one who created an opportunity for Liaoye Country to mobilize their troops in the first ce.¡±

    ¡°So you should treasure this opportunity more.¡±

    Su Chen cracked a smile. ¡°I can be a little extravagant from time to time.¡±

    Li Wuyi fell silent.

    Now that the negotiations had reached this point, it was quite obvious what both parties were interested in.

    Su Chen had managed to discern Li Wuyi¡¯s attitude. He was open to the possibility of calling off the invasion, but Su Chen needed to provide the necessary incentives for him to do so.

    And Li Wuyi also understood how determined Su Chen was regarding this situation.

    Both parties realized this about each other and couldn¡¯t help but break out in a smile.

    This smile was a pragmatic one.

    Li Wuyi abruptly said, ¡°It¡¯s gettingte now. Sir Su is a guest, so why not stay and have a meal with us? We can talk about it over dinner.¡±

    ¡°Fine!¡± Su Chen epted without too much formality.

    The alcohol quickly began to take effect. Apart from Li Wuyi and Su Chen, Zhu Chenhuan, Wang Rang, and a few other important imperial subjects were also present.

    However, Li Wuyi was obviously only interested in Su Chen.

    Su Chen sat right next to him.

    ¡°Here, here, here, Sir Su. This Reflection Flying Bass was caught in April. Its flesh is the juiciest and most tender at this point in time. Please, try it and let me know what you think,¡± Li Wuyi said hospitably as he picked out a few pieces of fish for Su Chen.

    Su Chen elegantly ate the offered fish, in his mouth and, after savoring the taste, he nodded and sighed with praise. ¡°It virtually melts in your mouth while maintaining a wonderful vor. Does Your Majesty have any interest in anything other than the bloodline-less techniques?¡±

    Li Wuyi continued to introduce dishes to Su Chen. ¡°These are the wings of the High-tier Demonic Beast Golden-Eyed Eagles. They were harvested from young eagles two years old. This single tter requires five of these eagles to make...... Well, that depends on what Sir Su is willing to sell.¡±

    Su Chen gnawed on the eagle wings as he said, ¡°Royal food is truly a delicacy. These wings are iparably tender...... Has Your Majesty ever considered that, since I can create bloodline-less cultivation techniques, that I can also create techniques that can improve a bloodline¡¯s power?¡±

    Li Wuyi narrowed his eyes. ¡°This is Poisonous Heavenly Centipede which has been ced in a y pot and baked for three days. This creature has a strange poison, but it¡¯s precisely this poison that makes it taste so good. You cannot extract the poison during the cooking process, as it won¡¯t taste good otherwise. You should only try this one in small quantities...... Have you ever seeded in that endeavor before?¡±

    As Su Chen munched on the centipedes, he said, ¡°Xianyao¡¯s charm abilities were improved by me.¡±

    Li Wuyi stopped introducing the various dishes disyed on the table and fell into a rare moment of silent thought.

    Su Chen¡¯s words were correct. The bloodline-less techniques might not be that useful to Li Wuyi, but a technique that could improve the power of his bloodline was much more meaningful.

    Even though many nobles were unhappy with Su Chen¡¯s efforts to create a cultivation system that was independent of bloodlines, there was no reason for them to believe that Su Chen¡¯s system would eradicate the value of a bloodline altogether.

    In the past, bloodlines had been the very foundation of human cultivation at the higher realms. Not only would they increase a cultivator¡¯s strength, but they were also mandatory for cultivation itself. Now, even though a bloodline was no longer required to reach certain cultivation realms, that didn¡¯t necessarily mean that bloodline-less cultivators were stronger than those with bloodlines.

    So even if Su Chen¡¯s bloodline-less cultivation techniques spread far and wide to the point where bloodlines were no longer essential, the increase in power conferred by a bloodline was still nontrivial.

    However, it was precisely this decrease in rtive strength between the two groups that the nobles were unable to ept.

    Li Wuyi, on the other hand, wasn¡¯t thinking about that at all.

    There were many reasons for this. One was that the bloodline-less techniques couldn¡¯t possibly entirely rece bloodline-based techniques, and Deste Beast bloodlines were not that easy to get rid of anyway. Even if Su Chen upgraded the bloodline-less cultivation techniques to the limit, it would be difficult for his techniques to ovee the might of a Deste Beast bloodline.

    As such, his need to monopolize the bloodline-less cultivation techniques was not actually that high.

    If Su Chen wanted to boost the power of the Li n¡¯s Deste Beast bloodline, however, that was much more valuable to him.

    ¡°Are you confident in your ability to do so?¡±

    ¡°Two years. If I can¡¯t do it in two years, then you can send out your armies. The Harpies still won¡¯t have recovered from the blows they¡¯ve suffered in that period of time,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°To what kind of level?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s hard to say. I¡¯ve researched the Li n¡¯s Bloodline before, though, so I say that I will at least raise it to the point where it¡¯s no weaker than the bloodlines of the other seven imperial families.¡±

    Of the seven Deste Beast Bloodlines, the Li n¡¯s bloodline was definitely the weakest in terms ofbat strength.

    If Su Chen was able to bring it up to par with the other bloodlines, then that was already an incredible increase.

    Li Wuyi thought for a moment, and then replied, ¡°A year.¡±

    Su Chen frowned. ¡°That¡¯s not an easy matter. A year is a bit too short.¡±

    Li Wuyi meaningfully replied, ¡°Did you think that it would be easy for me to stop the troops from moving? Sir Su, you must know that frequently changing your national policy causes unrest.¡±

    That was a good point. The worst kind of ruler was one who made onemand today and then a conflicting one tomorrow.

    Even though powerful individuals had the authority to act more peculiarly, being wishy-washy would still seriously undermine the public¡¯s faith in them as a leader.

    Li Wuyi wouldn¡¯t have been willing to do this unless Su Chen offered him enough of an incentive.

    Su Chen smiled in response. ¡°That¡¯s easy. You can just say that your officials have been moring for peace and that you have decided to follow their good advice. Won¡¯t that be sufficient?

    The emperor couldn¡¯t just change his mind on a whim, but they could absolutely follow the advice of their advisors.

    Politics was somewhat simr to a prostitute ¡ª you could dress it up and put makeup on it to turn it into anything that you wanted.

    Li Wuyi smiled coldly. ¡°Prince Su is a real talent indeed. I didn¡¯t realize that Liaoye Country¡¯s hundreds of officials are now under yourmand.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°I will of course still need Your Majesty to do me the aforementioned favor.¡±

    Li Wuyi fell silent.

    After a long moment¡¯s thought, he said, ¡°So you¡¯ve researched the Li n¡¯s bloodline before?¡±

    Su Chen felt his heart lurch violently at the implications.

    Li Wuyi slowly enunciated, ¡°You were the one...... who killed Li Daohong, weren¡¯t you?¡±

 Sect - Book 5, 179: Generosity

    Chapter 179: Generosity

    The next morning, Su Chen headed for Empty Mountain.

    He still needed to convince Chu Yuan.

    Zhu Chenhuan personally escorted him along the way.

    As they traveled, he didn¡¯t forget to sigh andment, ¡°This time I really have no words.¡±

    ¡°No words for what?¡± Su Chen asked innocently.

    Zhu Chenhuan shot him a nce. ¡°You dared to kill an imperial prince! How could I not be speechless?¡±

    Li Wuyi¡¯s usatory question towards Su Chen during the banquet had been overheard by Zhu Chenhuan. At that moment, he had been so scared that his soul had almost left his body. More shockingly, Su Chen had actually admitted to it!

    Zhu Chenhuan thought that this wouldpletely disrupt the negotiation process, and that there was even a possibility that Su Chen wouldn¡¯t be able to leave the pce alive.

    However, the situation didn¡¯t exactly unfold as he had expected it to.

    With but a few sentences from Su Chen¡¯s, Li Wuyi fell silent and said nothing more.

    Finally, Zhu Chenhuan could resist it no longer and asked, ¡°What exactly did you say to His Majesty so that he didn¡¯t try to do anything to you even though you killed his son?¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°What would I need to say? His Majesty is extremely clear how hated that son of his was. Li Daohong was probably no longer a son but a burden in his eyes. However, he was unwilling to be the one to personally sever this connection. Even so, he probably couldn¡¯t wait for someone to get rid of this problem for him as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°Would he ever admit to such a thing?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Of course not, but I would also not admit that I had killed him.¡±

    Li Wuyi believed that Su Chen had killed Li Daohon not merely because he had researched the Li n¡¯s bloodline in the past but also because Li Daohong had died in Jade Clearmist¡¯s treasure store, where Su Chen had eventually emerged victorious.

    Suspecting Su Chen under those kinds of circumstances was only natural.

    However, just because Su Chen was the victor and had managed to escape with a few vials of medicine didn¡¯t mean that he was the culprit. During that chaotic of a battle, it was entirely possible for anything to happen.

    There was no basis on which to firmly believe that it was Su Chen in the first ce.

    Li Wuyi was merely trying to feel out the situation, and perhaps even frame Su Chen for it.

    Yes, frame. Regardless of whether Su Chen had been responsible for killing Li Daohong, Li Wuyi could still pin all the me on him.

    As for the reason, there were many possibilities.

    As for the truth......

    Throughout history, the truth had been swallowed up by time. Only those present to witness it firsthand would know the truth.

    Su Chen had naturally given Li Wuyi a logical exnation for Li Daohong¡¯s death, but Li Wuyi wouldn¡¯t believe him, and he didn¡¯t need to either.

    This exnation was merely a way for Su Chen to temporarily extricate himself from the situation.

    ¡°I promised to give them a set of cultivation techniques,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°A prince of Li Daohong¡¯s status only possessed a single cultivation technique. This makes it obvious what kind of an outlook Li Wuyi had about his son.

    Li Wuyi wanted to ask for more, but Su Chen refused to offer anything else.

    It wasn¡¯t because he couldn¡¯t bear to part with more, but because giving more would indicate that he had a guilty conscience.

    This period of negotiation was also a chance to discover the truth.

    Li Wuyi was quite impressive with his skill. He first benefitted from Li Daohong¡¯s death, then used that death to feel out Su Chen¡¯s bottom line.

    However, after Su Chen¡¯s negotiations with Eternal Night, he had begun to realize just how shrewd these rulers could be. As such, his countenance remained as calm and immovable as ever, making it impossible for Li Wuyi to do much.

    Zhu Chenhuan could only sigh in amazement at his calmness.

    ¡°Su Chen, who do you think is more impressive? Eternal Night, or our emperor?¡± Zhu Chenhuan thought for a moment before asking this highly sphemous question.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Eternal Night won against me, but Li Wuyi did not.¡±

    Zhu Chenhuan was not surprised by this answer. ¡°The Harpies have weaker physical bodies than us humans, so their reproductive andbat abilities are inferior to ours. They should have already been relegated to a declining city, but because of Eternal Night¡¯s appearance, the Harpies managed toe back from the brink of death. However, the strength of an individual is still limited. No matter how long their lifespan may be, they will die one day. Eternal Night is already quite old, and he is not far from death¡¯s door. I once thought that, after Eternal Night¡¯s death, Liaoye Country would finally have its opportunity. I never would have expected this...... situation with Sky City to unfold.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled, ¡°You¡¯re worried that the Harpies will rise to power after I retrieve those treasures for Eternal Night?¡±

    ¡°Will that not happen?¡± Zhu Chenhuan countered.

    ¡°I thought you would be more worried about that granddaughter of yours.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not the only one who thinks about the benefit of the country. Also, your decision is not really serving the country anyways.¡±

    ¡°That depends on how you look at it,¡± Su Chen countered. ¡°Perhaps to you, this looks like aplete and utter failure. But in my eyes, this is only the beginning of a new battle.¡±

    ¡°The beginning of a new battle?¡± Zhu Chenhuan thought carefully about that statement. ¡°But you¡¯ve already made an agreement with Eternal Night.¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°That agreement doesn¡¯t mean jack. How many battles have begun to brew after an agreement was reached?¡±

    ¡°But Xianyao......¡± Zhu Chenhuan¡¯s words suddenly froze in his throat.

    Because he saw Su Chen¡¯s eyes.

    They burned fiercely, smoldering with intensity.

    The mes of sheer will.

    Zhu Chenhuan finally understood Su Chen¡¯s intentions. ¡°You¡¯re not nning on fulfilling your end of the agreement?¡±

    ¡°No, I will,¡± Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I will stop the three countries from attacking, and I will even help Eternal Night gain back the Immortal Soul and Neptune¡¯s Eye. But that doesn¡¯t mean he will definitely be the one to win.¡±

    Zhu Chenhuan waspletely caught off-guard.

    Su Chen, however, had no intentions of continuing.

    There was no need for him to say this much. As long as Zhu Chenhuan understood that his battle with Eternal Night was only beginning, that was good enough.

    In a battle between the humans and the Harpies, the loss of a single city or some territory could never be decisive.

    Eternal Night had managed to win one round against Su Chen, but that didn¡¯t mean much.

    His victory was notplete.

    He was too greedy and didn¡¯t have a perfect grasp on the situation, giving Su Chen yet another opportunity.

    An opponent like Su Chen was not possible to fully control. It was better just to take advantage of the opportunity to strike him down instead. The consequence of missing this opening would be stormy retribution.

    Even so, greed was a factor of every great individual¡¯s personality. Without greed or ambition, they never would have be great in the first ce.

    Before Eternal Night became emperor, he was totally dissatisfied. His lust for power caused him to take a risk and seize authority that did not rightfully belong to him. The rest of the story was quite obvious.

    As such, he needed to be greedy and ambitious.

    Until one day, he fell at the feet of his own ambition.

    This was the conclusion that Su Chen had dreamed up for him.

    However, before that took ce, Su Chen would first fully carry out the missives given to him by Eternal Night.

    When he saw that there wasn¡¯t much time remaining, Su Chen bid his goodbyes and left.

    A few dayster, he arrived in Empty Mountain territory.

    The first thing he did after entering Empty Mountain was to hang up a notice in the Dreamrealm detailing how to nullify the three curses. This was basically the same as notifying the Chu family that he had arrived.

    Two dayster, Su Chen arrived at New Rain City.

    A massive floating boat hung above the city, which immediately caught Su Chen¡¯s attention.

    Chu Jiangyu stood on the boat¡¯s tform.

    His expression was stony, and his hands were behind his back, looking as if someone had stolen a few million Origin Stones from him without returning them. Well, Chu Jiangyu would probably rather lose a few million Origin Stones than meet with this person.

    Su Chen flew over and cupped his hands in greeting. ¡°Crown Prince.¡±

    Chu Jiangyu¡¯s expression was steely. ¡°We know what you are here for. Our expedition to the Harpies will be put on hold. You may return to where you came from.¡±

    Hey.

    That was it?

    But on second thought, that actually made quite a bit of sense.

    The Seven Kingdoms probably talked amongst each other due to their rtively amicable rtions at the moment. Li Wuyi had probably told the Chu n about his conversation with Su Chen after it had taken ce.

    Even if Su Chen needed to buy out Li Wuyi, there was no need for Su Chen to do the same for the Chu n.

    As such, Chu Yuan had no interest in meeting with Su Chen, and instead sent Chu Jiangyu to meet with him. He was basically trying to send Su Chen on his way as soon as possible.

    Su Chen found this quite amusing. ¡°What are you in such a hurry for? There¡¯s something I need to ask His Majesty about.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°I need to meet with Qingluo. She is my wife. It¡¯s not too excessive for me to ask to see her, right?¡±

    ¡°That is permissible,¡± Chu Jiangyu answered curtly, as if Su Chen was infected and talking with him for any longer would get him sick too.

    ¡°I also need some Lifesource Candles.¡±

    Chu Jiangyu¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Su Chen, don¡¯t try and get a mile just because I gave you an inch!¡±

    Su Chen calmly said, ¡°That¡¯s quite the opposite. I have always been meticulous in my requests. I want Lifesource Candles, but I¡¯m not asking for them for free. I will buy them from you. In any case, since Empty Mountain is willing to withdraw their troops, I am willing to show my gratitude, and I will not use the three curses to extort you.¡±

    When Chu Jiangyu heard this, the mes of anger subsided slightly. ¡°How are you nning on showing your gratitude?¡±

    ¡°How about by helping you to increase the power of your bloodline?¡±

    Chu Jiangyu found this quite amusing. ¡°Su Chen, you must think you are being quite generous. You agreed to help Li Wuyi improve the Dream Beauty bloodline, and now you are promising to increase the strength of the Chu n¡¯s bloodline. Do you think I can¡¯t tell you¡¯re just trying to get an opportunity to research our blood?¡±

    ¡°I did that a long time ago. Chu Huailiang¡¯s blood was pretty useful to me,¡± Su Chen replied calmly.

    Chu Huailiang, who the Chu n had sent to kill him, had died to his hand. It would have been strange if he hadn¡¯t tried to do some research with Chu Huailiang¡¯s corpse in the first ce.

    Even though he had known for a long time that Chu Huailiang had died to Su Chen, Chu Jiangyu still almost spat out a mouthful of blood when he heard this.

    He red viciously at Su Chen. ¡°Su Chen, what exactly are you trying to pull here?¡±

    ¡°Nothing, I¡¯m just trying to improve the strength of the human race is all,¡± Su Chen replied calmly. ¡°My research of the bloodlines has always been for this goal, and now is no exception.¡±

    ¡°So why wouldn¡¯t you do it for us earlier?¡±

    ¡°My view before was quite shallow, and I viewed the Bloodline Nobility ns as my enemies. Now, however, I realize that nobles are also humans. If possible, we should join forces instead of fighting each other,¡± Su Chen replied sincerely.

    When Chu Jiangyu heard this, he couldn¡¯t help but pause in surprise.

    After some time, he finally replied, ¡°Are you sure you can do it?¡±

    ¡°Well, you don¡¯t have much hope about it anyways, right? If I do it, you will profit. If I can¡¯t, you won¡¯t lose out. But if you don¡¯t even have that much confidence in me, then there¡¯s no need for me to try and keep this avenue open,¡± Su Chen replied.

    The current Su Chen was very different from before.

    He had already pushed the cultivation level achievable by humans without bloodlines to the Light Shaking Realm. His strength was not something that most people couldpare with.

    For this reason, this kind of research was no longer a question of possibility but of time.

    After a long silence, Chu Jiangyu said, ¡°How many Lifesource Candles do you need?¡±

    ¡°The more, the better.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll ask my father.¡±

    Chu Jiangyu stepped back into the cabin of the boat.

    After some time, Chu Jiangyu returned and said, ¡°At most ten, each one ten million Origin Stones.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t hesitate and tossed out an Origin Ring in response.

    Chu Jiangyu felt a bout of envy when he saw that Su Chen was able to make a hundred-million Origin Stone transaction without batting an eye. He smiled and said, ¡°I heard that you made quite a killing while traveling in Harpy territory. How much did you manage to steal anyways?¡±

    ¡°Enough to buy a few hundred of these candles.¡±

    ......

    For a moment, Chu Jiangyu even though of killing him and looting him right then and there.

    What he didn¡¯t realize was that Su Chen was merely calcting the value of the moremon resources. The exact value of those top-tier treasures was impossible to estimate, so Su Chen didn¡¯t even bother including them in his calctions.

    And the fact that Su Chen wasn¡¯t nning on using the three curses to extort them actually caused Chu Jiangyu¡¯s impression of Su Chen to be more positive. The intense hatred he held for Su Chen began to subside, and for the first time he suddenly felt that getting to know Su Chen wasn¡¯t so bad after all.

 Sect - Book 5, 180: Sky Armor

    Chapter 180: Sky Armor

    Within Gu Pce.

    This time, Su Chen was being treated as an extremely valued guest of the Gu n.

    Even though Su Chen had repeated again and again that he wouldn¡¯t use the three curses to harm the Gu n in any way, just the mere fact that he could control the curses basically forced the Gu n treat him with immense respect.

    In addition, the Gu n had ced all of their hopes onto him.

    They believed that Su Chen was most likely the only person who could nullify these three curses.

    That evening, the Gu n hosted a celebratory banquet for Su Chen, and even Crown Prince Chu personally attended ¡ª his main responsibility was to keep an eye on the Gu n, so he naturally preferred for Su Chen to not get too close to the Gu n.

    Even though this was not possible due to Su Chen¡¯s already existing rtionship with Gu Qingluo, the Chu n could at least participate.

    This was also another reason why Chu Jiangyu didn¡¯t want to see Su Chen ¡ª his arrival meant that the Chu n would be very busy, and Chu Jiangyu would also have to follow Su Chen around again.

    But no matter how closely he watched Su Chen, he couldn¡¯t interfere with the matters between a husband and wife.

    Chu Jiangyu watched Su Chen¡¯s figure fade into Gu Qingluo¡¯s room and sighed helplessly, as if he had been abandoned.

    But what he cared about was theplete opposite of what Su Chen cared about.

    Just what did Su Chen care about?

    Did it even need to be said?

    As a dutiful husband, what else could he care about?

    Their honeymoon had been so short, and it was also rare for the two of them to spend meaningful time together. It was only natural that they would want to spend some quality time with each other.

    Because Su Chen and Gu Qingluo were both strong cultivators, they could easily go at it for an entire night with no problem. However, they were forced to stop their activities prematurely due to the limitations of their bed.

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s eyes were filled with tenderness as she lovingly gazed at Su Chen, who was lying in her bosom. Her voice, however, contained a sliver of hidden pain. ¡°So you were willing to give up everything for her?¡±

    ¡°Not everything, per se. I just made some necessary adjustments, is all,¡± Su Chen replied tactfully.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t seem that eager when you were trying to marry me,¡± Gu Qingluo harrumphed yfully as she gently bit Su Chen.

    Su Chenughed.

    He knew that Gu Qingluo was going to bring this up.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, he affectionately said, ¡°There are still some differences between the two situations. I confess that I did make quite a few concessions for Zhu Xianyao¡¯s sake, but there is a reason for it all. First of all, Zhu Xianyao¡¯s dire situation was entirely my fault. I was the one who caused everything, so therefore, I needed to take responsibility for everything as well. Second of all, it was a life-or-death situation. In most cases, I can negotiate or push back, but not when the stakes are that high. I refuse to watch on as a woman of mine dies without doing anything about it. Third of all, this was...... an exchange, one that both Eternal Night and I agreed to. Since I couldn¡¯t beat him, then it was only proper for me to submit and admit defeat. I cannot hold my head high if my woman would die otherwise. If it were you in that situation, I would have done the same.¡±

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s expression softened slightly as she murmured, ¡°Well, you at least know how to talk your way out of a bad situation.¡±

    However, she still felt a little uneasy about the whole situation.

    When Su Chen saw her conflicted expression, he chuckled. ¡°Don¡¯t be mad at me. Here, look at the present I got you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not interested.¡± Gu Qingluo didn¡¯t even lift her head to look.

    ¡°Wow, how incredible. Our Young Miss Gu is so transcendental that even Divine Tools can¡¯t move her heart anymore?¡± Su Chen said a teasing tone.

    ¡°Divine Tool?¡± Gu Qingluo was stunned when she heard his words.

    A fiery-redbat armor appeared before her eyes.

    This armor was paper thin, and it seemed weightless as it sat in Su Chen¡¯s palm. But when Gu Qingluo carefully sensed its features, she discovered that it was imbued with incredibly profound inscriptions.

    ¡°This is......¡± Gu Qingluo trembled slightly.

    ¡°The Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s Sky Armor. It¡¯s iplete,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Iplete?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Thepleted item would be mind-bogglingly powerful,¡± he exined.

    Because Su Chen had possessed this piece of armor for a while, he had graduallye to learn of its unique properties.

    Its power as a Divine Tool was almost beyondprehension. Even Su Chen, who rarely cared about the equipment he used, couldn¡¯t help but feel slightly pained at giving it away.

    This armor¡¯s defensive capabilities were outstanding, despite its apparent lightness.

    Earlier, Su Chen had tried to attack the armor in order to test out his strength after ascending to the Spirit Burning realm, but he hadn¡¯t been able to even scratch the armor¡¯s surface. The strength of the armor was obvious.

    In addition, the armor could also provide the user with a special blessing.

    This blessing directly increased the power of the user¡¯s Origin Skills. In that sense, its effect was very simr to the Divine Power Scroll. However, while the Divine Power Scroll could only affect a single Arcana Technique per use, the Sky Armor¡¯s powers allowed these blessings to be used at any time, and on any Arcana Technique or Origin Skills.

    By thisparison, the Divine Power Scroll was a much worse tool. Even though it was also technically a Divine Tool, its capability couldn¡¯t even measure up to one percent of the Sky Armor¡¯s.

    Apart from this divine blessing, Sky Armor also had a third, unique ability. It could unleash arge scale pressure wave centered on it. Any opponent would have to face the brunt of this pressure bearing down upon them.

    This pressure could be more urately described as an internal attack. Any person weaker than the user would be powerful and unable to mount any meaningful defense, and any person stronger would be unaffected ¡ª the user would suffer absolutely no bacsh. Because the skill was effective against all targets around the user, it was incredibly effective inrge-scale battles.

    For anyone who possessed the Sky Armor, attempting to overwhelm the, with sheer numbers alone would be impossible.

    Even though there were only three imbued powers in the armor, each one of them was almost heaven-defyingly powerful.

    Unfortunately, the armor also had its ws as it was still iplete.

    The biggest was the armor¡¯s dependance on a source of Divine Power.

    This source was necessary because all of the Sky Armor¡¯s abilities depended on a constant supply of Divine Power.

    Thepleted Sky Armor should have had its own source of Divine Power.

    However, this source of Divine Power was to the Sky Armor as Sark¡¯s Nucleus was to Sky City. It was both the most importantponent, and also the most difficultponent to make.

    Not only was the Sky Armor a Divine Tool, but it was also an extraordinary one. And it was precisely this power that made it virtually impossible topletely forge.

    Without a source of constant Divine Power, the only way for the armor to recover after being used was to be ced within the Mother Goddess Statue, as it would resupply itself with the faith offered by the Mother Goddess¡¯s worshippers.

    And even then, the rate at which it regained its powers was very low.

    ¡°So...... without a source of Divine Power, it¡¯s just an empty frame?¡± Gu Qingluo helplessly asked when she realized this w of the armor.

    ¡°Not necessarily. Even though the statue has been destroyed, the masses and their faith are still present. The Sky Armor can directlymunicate with that faith. It¡¯s just that the rate of recovery will be even lower than usual,¡± Su Chen replied.

    If the rate of recovery with a source of Divine Power would be a hundred units per second, then the iplete version while ced on the Mother Goddess Statue could recover divine power at around ten units per second, and the iplete version by itself would recover around one unit per second.

    ¡°So while you can¡¯t really use this armor under normal circumstances, it should be fine to keep as a trump card to be used in the most dire of circumstances,¡± Su Chen exined.

    ¡°This is already very good,¡± Gu Qingluo said happily as she beamed.

    Her happiness wasn¡¯t because she had been gifted a Divine Tool, but rather because Su Chen was still thinking of her.

    Even though it was iplete, this Sky Armor was still incredibly valuable.

    Su Chen¡¯s willingness to gift it to her had brought up all sorts of interesting questions.

    For instance, did this mean that she was more important than Zhu Xianyao?

    Perhaps thispetition was one that most women struggled with.

    Su Chen¡¯s sacrifice for Zhu Xianyao had made Gu Qingluo quite jealous, but now, she was satisfied with his actions towards her.

    Women sometimes needed to beforted just as much as ¡ª no, even more than children.

    Gu Qingluo put on the armor directly. The instant she did so, she was enveloped in a fiery glow, which gave her quite an imposing and heroic aura.

    Gu Qingluo appeared delighted. Her eyes spun for a moment before she suddenly said, ¡°Take this!¡±

    She unleashed a palm strike in Su Chen¡¯s direction.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t appear too surprised. Based on his current strength, he was able to ignore the attacks of even Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators. Gu Qingluo was only at the Light Shaking Realm, so he casually reached out to stop her attack.

    Unexpectedly, Gu Qingluo¡¯s palm strike suddenly began to glow with a golden color, and its might surged violently.

    Su Chen¡¯s hand trembled as it came into contact with Gu Qingluo¡¯s, and he found that he was barely able to withstand her attack.

    His expression changed drastically. ¡°Hey, stop messing around! It¡¯ll take that Divine Power a long time to recover!¡±

    Gu Qingluo had utilized the Sky Armor¡¯s blessing just then.

    Gu Qingluo, however, carelessly replied, ¡°I need to get used to it anyways. And I won¡¯t be running into any trouble anytime soon, so it¡¯s not like I¡¯ll be able to use it anytime soon.¡±

    She unleashed yet another palm strike, this one also infused with Divine Power.

    Su Chen was beginning to get angry.

    Once a Young Miss, always a Young Miss. It seemed that getting her to be careful was not possible. On the contrary, it was quite likely that she would pull it out to y around with every so often.

    However, Gu Qingluo also had a point. The Gu n had the Bloodline of an Origin Beast, so they were kept under constant surveince, and whether or not the Sky Armor was in Gu Qingluo¡¯s possession wouldn¡¯t really affect her day-to-day life. The only way she would actually be forced to use it would be if Empty Mountain had copsed and the Gu n was in dire straits.

    Only then did Su Chen rx his stance on Gu Qingluo¡¯s behavior.

    The two of them sparred for a little in the room. Gu Qingluo boosted the power of her attacks with the divine blessing, feeling out the limits and unique abilities of the armor for herself.

    Even though the battle was quite fierce, the two of them held back enough that the objects in the room weren¡¯t broken.

    After a few moments, Gu Qingluo finally stopped.

    Su Chen asked, ¡°Why did you stop?¡±

    Gu Qingluo pouted cutely. ¡°The Divine Power ran out.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Of course you would insist on wringing it dry. It took me many days to store up all of the Divine Power that you just used up.¡±

    ¡°Well, it doesn¡¯t matter. It¡¯s not like the defenses of this Sky Armor needs the support of Divine Power to work anyways. And it also looks quite nice!¡± Gu Qingluo twirled around, staring at herself in the mirror. It was clear that she was very happy with her appearance.

    For a woman, the beauty of her clothes was almost the most important criterion it could fulfill.

    ¡°It is indeed beautiful. Unfortunately, once all the power is used up, it won¡¯t glow as brilliantly as before,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Gu Qingluo murmured. She had also realized that, once the Sky Armor lost all its Divine Power, it was no longer as dazzling. ¡°It seems like I¡¯ll have to conserve at least a little bit of the power in the future.¡±

    Her attention was only on preserving the glow of the armor. Su Chen could only smile bitterly when he heard her words.

    Now that she had yed with it to her satisfaction, she finally decided to take the armor off.

    At that moment, Gu Qingluo suddenly noticed a ck strap protruding from one of the armor¡¯s sleeves.

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Gu Qingluo tugged at the strap.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably a pocket or something,¡± Su Chen replied nonchntly.

    Suddenly, the strap sprung to life, shrunk to the size of a needle, and slipped inside Gu Qingluo¡¯s wrist.

    ¡°AH!¡± Gu Qingluo cried out in pain.

    At that moment, the Sky Armor, which had dimmed earlier, began to glow again with brilliant intensity.

    The light was as glorious as the sun, instantly blowing all the nearby darkness away.

    Previous Chapter Next Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 181: Convergence and Conflic

    Chapter 181: Convergence and Conflict

    The sudden change in the situation caught Su Chenpletely off-guard. He had never seen something like this before.

    "Qingluo, what¡¯s wrong?"

    Gu Qingluo hurriedly sped her arm and pressed on her wrist as she said, panicking, "It¡¯s sucking my blood...... Heavens, it¡¯s trying to take all of my energy away!"

    Su Chen hurriedly tried to pull the Sky Armor off of her, but given how powerful its defenses were, how could Su Chen possibly hope to rip it off with brute strength?

    Gu Qingluo yelled, panicked, "It¡¯s my bloodline power! It¡¯s trying to absorb my bloodline power!"

    What?

    Su Chen was stunned.

    Could it be that it was her Origin Beast Bloodline that had incited this kind of response?

    Wait a minute!

    He suddenly realized that the Gu n¡¯s blood was used to refine Lifesource Candles, whose effect of amplifying an Origin Skill¡¯s power seemed eerily simr.

    Could it be that this "divine being" was actually......

    An idea suddenly popped into Su Chen¡¯s mind.

    However, now was not the time to think about these theoretical things. Gu Qingluo¡¯s bloodline was still being absorbed uncontrobly, so Su Chen calmed himself and said, ¡°Qingluo, control your strength. You are its owner! Whether or not it takes your power is dependent on your will. If you don¡¯t want to give it your power, then it can¡¯t take it from you!¡±

    ¡°What should I do?¡± Gu Qingluo was beginning to panic.

    Su Chen¡¯s instructions sounded quite easy in theory, but the problem was that whatever was sucking away at Gu Qingluo¡¯s bloodline had no intention of respecting her authority.

    Su Chen lowered his head, deep in thought. ¡°Any creature, even a divine one, must have a consciousness, and it is likely that the same holds true for the Sky Armor. Only by targeting its consciousness......¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t do it. My consciousness power is insufficient, and it¡¯s also resisting me every step of the way,¡± Gu Qingluo said dismally while shaking her head.

    ¡°I¡¯m also here.¡± Su Chen stepped forwards and hugged Gu Qingluo tightly as he gently said, ¡°Release your consciousness and let me in!¡±

    Gu Qingluo shut her eyes and opened up her consciousness without reserve to Su Chen.

    Her entire heart wasid bare in this moment.

    In that instant, their hearts became truly connected, and their wills melded, making it nearly impossible to distinguish between who was Gu Qingluo and who was Su Chen.

    At that moment, however, a powerful will suddenly appeared.

    A profound voice reverberated through the room as this powerful presence manifested itself. ¡°Qingluo, what happened?¡±

    It was one of the n¡¯s Ancestors!

    Gu Qingluo felt her heart tremble.

    Even though the Sky Armor had only caused a limitedmotion, the fluctuations of Divine Power had still ended up catching one of the Gu n¡¯s Ancestor¡¯s eyes.

    The Ancestor who had appeared was the Gu n¡¯s Fourth Ancestor, Gu Xinrong.

    Su Chen¡¯s arrival was of utmost importance to the Ancestors, so Gu Xinrong had left a fragment of her will near their room to keep an eye on the situation. Anymotion would be immediately noticed by her.

    Gu Qingluo was just about to reply when Su Chen instructed her not to be distracted.

    They had reached the crux of the merging process, and no distractions would be tolerated.

    Even though Gu Xinrong had nothing but good intentions, Su Chen found that her goodwill was impossible to ept in these conditions.

    When Gu Xinrong received no response, she grew alert, and almost instinctively attempted to enter the room.

    Her consciousness, however, was simply too powerful. It would definitely influence Su Chen and Gu Qingluo as soon as she entered the room, and as such, it was impossible for Su Chen to allow Gu Xinrong to ruin the situation. He had no time to exin, so he could only unleash a wave of consciousness power in an attempt to stop her from entering.

    Boom!

    A Divine Pce appeared behind his own head, and a wave of vast consciousness power enveloped the entire room.

    Gu Xinrong discovered that her consciousness fragment had actually been prevented from entering the room.

    What was happening?

    Even though she had merely tried to send in a fragment of her will, she was still an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator, someone who stood at the peak of humanity. And yet, right now her consciousness fragment had been unceremoniously stopped at the door, causing her to immediately feel like she had lost face.

    Gu Xinrong knew that Su Chen would never do anything that could harm Gu Qingluo, and that he probably had a good reason for keeping her outside. However, given her explosive personality and impatient temperament, her fighting spirit was kindled by the fact that a junior was trying to keep her out.

    Oh? You¡¯re not going to let me in? Well, I¡¯m going toe in anyways.

    She activated her consciousness power and began to pile on the pressure. Thankfully, the old woman knew how to hold back a little. Instead of immediatelying at him with her full strength, she slowly ramped up the amount of consciousness energy.

    Su Chen could sense the increasing pressure bearing down upon him, but there was nothing he could do.

    The situation was just too urgent. He had no focus to spare, so he could only discard all other thoughts and concentrate on merging his consciousness with Gu Qingluo¡¯s as he responded to Gu Xinrong by tapping into his own consciousness power stores.

    Even though Su Chen was only at the Spirit Burning Realm, he had formed an extremely stable Divine Pce, and his soul mastery had already reached the Tenth-Ring level ¡ª when he had ascended to the Spirit Burning Realm, his soul mastery had also increased by a tier.

    Tenth-Ring Arcana Masters could hold their own against highyer Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators. When this foundation was supplemented with Su Chen Spirit Burning Realm cultivation base and his exceptionally vast consciousness power, it was safe to say that Su Chen¡¯s consciousness power was virtually unrivalled throughout the entire country.

    As such, Gu Xinrong felt like she had run into a steel wall, and that there was seemingly no way for her to break through.

    This shocked her quite badly, but she continued to pour her consciousness in in an attempt to break through.

    Su Chen cursed madly in his heart.

    Even though his consciousness wasn¡¯t weaker than Gu Xinrong¡¯s in any way, consciousness power didn¡¯t exist in a vacuum, and personal skill also mattered. More importantly, he was attempting to merge his consciousness with Gu Qingluo¡¯s at the same time, and Gu Xinrong¡¯s pressure was distracting him from that process.

    He could only curse silently at Gu Xinrong for being so untactful and do his best to hold on.

    The two of them quickly sank deep into an invisible battle that was fought on the level of a person¡¯s consciousness.

    Su Chen was beginning to find it hard to breathe, which only caused his curses to intensify.

    His consciousness had started the process of merging with Gu Qingluo¡¯s, so Gu Qingluo could also sense the ferocity of his irritation. There was nothing she could do but roll her eyes.

    ¡°Hm? What cultivation method has this kid been practicing? Why is his consciousness that powerful?¡± The old woman had long since forgotten about any official business that she had to take care of and was instead now focusing on the pressureing from Su Chen.

    Hold on!

    Hold on!

    Su Chen yelled repeatedly in his heart.

    Their mind meld was almostplete. At this point, there was only a little bit left.

    The clock was ticking down, but Su Chen had started coughing up blood.

    The old woman didn¡¯t know what was going on, and her efforts only grew stronger.

    Ten.

    Nine.

    Eight...

    Time passed by second by second, but to Su Chen, those seconds almost felt like years.

    Even Gu Qingluo was filled with a paranoid fear.

    She feared that Su Chen wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand the Ancestor¡¯s might and would be killed on the spot.

    However, Su Chen gritted his teeth and refused to let go.

    He knew that stopping the process now would basically undo all of their progress, and that they would miss a critical opportunity at stopping the armor¡¯s invasion. It was entirely possible that Gu Qingluo would be sucked dry if he let go.

    As such, he needed to endure no matter what.

    Gu Qingluo could sense Su Chen¡¯s determination in that moment because of their consciousness connection.

    And in that moment, she was deeply moved.

    She finally believed that Su Chen truly loved her.

    He coulde up with a n and bow down to an enemy for Zhu Xianyao, but he could also put his life on the line by fighting against an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator for her.

    Tender feelings began to swell within her heart.

    Four.

    Three.

    Two.

    One!

    Sess!

    Their consciousnesses finally merged, dissolving the final boundary of distinction between them.

    Su Chen could sense Gu Qingluo¡¯s love for him deep within his heart, not from reading any superficial social cue. In a way, it somewhat felt like he was in love with himself. Gu Qingluo could also sense Su Chen¡¯s towering ambition and his boundless knowledge, as well as his simrly deep love for her. Finally, Su Chen¡¯s consciousness energy flooded into her being like an unstoppable sea. It was both his and hers.

    She closed her eyes, and yet she could still sense everything around her.

    Gu Qingluo could immediately sense Su Chen¡¯s intentions without even opening her mouth. She immediately knew what to do.

    At the same time, Su Chen could finally speak.

    He spat out arge mouthful of blood as he barked, ¡°You old coot, stop! Stop! Stop! Are you trying to kill Qingluo and me?¡±

    Gu Xinrong trembled as she immediately stopped pressuring Su Chen. ¡°What is going on in there?¡±

    ¡°We can talk about itter. Withdraw your consciousness energy now, or else you can¡¯t me me for being impolite. Damn, you almost killed me!!!¡± Su Chen cursed angrily.

    Gu Xinrong went pale with anger, but she also knew that she had probably caused a great deal of trouble for Su Chen and Gu Qingluo. Her face reddened, but she ultimately remained silent as she hurriedly withdrew her consciousness power.

    If it had been any junior other than Su Chen, she probably would have pped them to death for speaking to her in that tone even if she was the one in the wrong.

    Gu Qingluo gathered her consciousness energy and began to infuse it into the Sky Armor. Very quickly, she began to sense some kind of response out of the armor.

    The armor¡¯s will appeared somewhat hazy, and it was clearlycking in intelligence. However, it was unbelievably vast, preventing Gu Qingluo¡¯s consciousness from entering the armor.

    Gu Qingluo knew that this was the Sky Armor¡¯s consciousness. Or, was it an element of its divinity?

    The Sky Armor had originally been an inanimate object, but after being imbued with a divine spirit and the faith of the masses, it had developed a consciousness.

    Because this consciousness was still maturing, it typically remained hidden, choosing only to manifest itself at critical moments.

    Such as now, when it had sensed the power of Gu Qingluo¡¯s bloodline.

    This was akin to the instinctive thirst of a baby for its mother¡¯s milk.

    The Sky Armor was just as desperate for Divine Power.

    It had lost the nourishment of the Mother Goddess Sect, and at that moment of extreme thirst, it had suddenly sensed the smell of fragrant milk nearby.

    Even though this new milk¡¯s scent was different from its mother¡¯s, milk was still milk.

    That exined what had just transpired.

    Gu Qingluo felt a lot more confident after understanding what had happened.

    She began to try and convince Sky Armor to not be so greedy.

    However, the growing consciousness also behaved like a child, and there was no reasoning with it. If it wanted to eat, then it wanted to eat. It left no room for negotiation.

    Gu Qingluo feltpletely helpless.

    Thankfully, Su Chen was also present.

    Through Su Chen¡¯s consciousness, Gu Qingluo knew exactly what she needed to do.

    If you don¡¯t have intelligence, then I¡¯ll give you intelligence!

    A momentter, Gu Qingluo began to infuse the armor with her consciousness.

    A vast will began to surge into the armor.

    If the will¡¯s intention was to wipe out the armor¡¯s consciousness, then the armor¡¯s consciousness would have fought back. But since this will was being offered to it as a supplement, the armor¡¯s consciousness didn¡¯t hesitate to take it in.

    However, this will was also imbued with Su Chen and Gu Qingluo¡¯s human intelligence. When the armor¡¯s consciousness absorbed this strand of will, it also absorbed this intelligence.

    Actually, the end effect was even stronger than anticipated because the intelligence had appeared too suddenly. As soon as that spark of intelligence appeared, it overtook and overpowered the primitive consciousness from before. In other words, this Sky Armor had basically be a clone of the merged Su Chen and Gu Qingluo.

    Since it was now a duplicate of her will, it was only natural that it didn¡¯t want to hurt her anymore.

    The Sky Armor¡¯s strap began to loosen.

    Gu Qingluo let out a long sigh of relief. She inspected her bloodline power and found that eighty percent of it had been absorbed in this brief period of time. ¡°Thank goodness. Any longer and I would have been sucked dry by this guy.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s my fault. I put you in harm¡¯s way,¡± Su Chen said in shame.

    Their consciousness separated, and the feeling of being so closely joined together disappeared along with it. As such, they could only rely on words tomunicate again.

    But Gu Qingluo didn¡¯t seem to mind. ¡°You didn¡¯t know that this would happen. And we were able to gather some good fortune in the midst of disaster. Now, this Sky Armor truly belongs to us. Without my permission in the future, no one else will be able to use it.

    Yes, the Sky Armor had truly officially recognized a new master this time, and it would only obey Su Chen and Gu Qingluo in the future.

    As for the bloodline power that Gu Qingluo had lost, she would be able to recuperate it after just a few days of eating and sleeping well.

    Su Chen, however, had lost a significant portion of his consciousness energy, and the Ancestor¡¯s actions had also tormented him quite badly. However, in his eyes, such a price was worth gaining the Sky Armor¡¯splete loyalty.

    ¡°Su Chen, may Ie in now?¡± Gu Xinrong asked.

    She only asked this time after hearing the two of them talking to each other.

    Su Chen frowned. ¡°Troublemaker! If only you were this polite earlier.¡±

    An Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator and the ancestor of an Origin Beast Bloodline n was casually called ¡®troublemaker¡¯ by Su Chen. Gu Xinrong almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 182: Meeting Old Friends

    Chapter 182: Meeting Old Friends

    At the Gu Pce.

    Gu Xinrong sighed incessantly within the room now that she knew the whole situation.

    ¡°It¡¯s my fault for being so brash,¡± the old woman sighed. She had never lowered her head to anyone before in the past, but now she appeared to be breaking the mold by apologizing to Su Chen.

    This wasn¡¯t just because she had made a mistake, but even more so because she had made this mistake to Su Chen.

    He hadplete control over the three curses and was the human race¡¯s Worldly Sage, and he was even strong enough to resist her own consciousness

    Since someone who was his elder had apologized to him, Su Chen graciously let it go.

    Gu Xinrong was even more awed when she discovered that Gu Qingluo had been given the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s Sky Armor.

    Divine Tool! A Divine Tool!

    The old woman had lived for nearly a thousand years, yet had never evenid hands on a single one of those.

    Now, her great-great-great-etc. grand daughter had managed to get her hands on one. Gu Xinrong¡¯s eyes glowed with fervor, and she felt like her horizons had been broadened just by looking at it. Gu Qingluo almost thought that Gu Xinrong was nning on snatching the armor away from her because of how intently she was staring at it......

    An hourter.

    Gu Xinrong finally put down the Sky Armor.

    She was still sighing incessantly.

    ¡°Qingluo, you¡¯ve found yourself an incredible man.¡±

    Aren¡¯t you just saying this because Su Chen also gifted you an incredible Origin Tool as well?

    As if she could sense Gu Qingluo¡¯s thoughts, Gu Xinrong quickly pulled out two Lifesource Candles. ¡°Here. Don¡¯t think that I¡¯m just taking advantage of you.¡±

    Su Chen was able to put these Lifesource Candles to good use, so he immediately epted her offer. ¡°Many thanks, Ancestor.¡±

    Gu Xinrong was very pleased by this. ¡°Su Chen, it¡¯s rare for you to make a stop here. Why not spend a few days with us?¡±

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°That¡¯s what I was thinking.¡±

    Gu Qingluo was taken aback. ¡°Aren¡¯t you headed for Water Sheen soon?¡±

    If Su Chen wanted to quell the conflict between the three kingdoms, then he needed to convince Water Sheen to withdraw from the conflict as well.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°I don¡¯t need to go in person.¡±

    Don¡¯t need to go in person?

    What did that mean?

    A few dayster, they realized what he meant.

    Because people from Water Sheen came to visit him.

    Jiang Xishui.

    Ji Hanyan.

    At this point, Jiang Xishui and Ji Hanyan were already married.

    Jiang Xishui¡¯s monopoly over the waterways near Clear River City way back in the day was quite an outstanding aplishment.

    Once he stopped pursuing Ji Hanyan so obviously, Ji Hanyan also began to realize that Jiang Xishui was quite a reliable man.

    That was how the two of them got close.

    Not long after Su Chen left Clear River City, Jiang Xishui also returned to Water Sheen. At this point, he was the Deputy Commander-In-Chief of the Subdued Sea branch of the navy, and he had managed to form four Lotus tforms at this point. Ji Hanyan had borne Jiang Xishui a three-year-old fatty three years ago and sent news to Su Chen, who had sent them a congrattory gift.

    They had been friends for so long that there was no need for any fake courtesy when they interacted with each other.

    Jiang Xishui hugged Su Chen tightly before punching him. ¡°What are you trying to do?¡±

    ¡°What am I trying to do?¡± Su Chen asked with a smile.

    ¡°Still pretending?¡± Jiang Xishui said with fake anger. ¡°You visited Liaoye Country and Empty Mountain but didn¡¯te to Water Sheen at all. What are you trying to say?¡±

    ¡°So Your Highness was expecting me to arrive and waited for me the entire time?¡±

    Jiang Xishui rolled his eyes. ¡°How could we not wait for you? Liaoye Country and Empty Mountain both gave up on the expedition. There¡¯s no way we would try to attack the Harpies all on our own.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s also why I didn¡¯te on my own,¡± Su Chen replied calmly.

    Even though the Harpies had been dealt a serious blow by the Thousand Poisons Toad¡¯s invasion, the Floating Points were still no easy target to deal with. As such, the alliance of the three kingdoms was necessary to carry out this invasion.

    Now that two of the three parties had backed out, Water Sheen was put in a difficult spot.

    You guys aren¡¯t ying any more? What¡¯s the point in ying alone? We don¡¯t have much of a quarrel with the Harpies, so what¡¯s the point in traveling all that way for seemingly no benefit?

    Water Sheen wasn¡¯t particrly interested in fighting anymore, so it would have been a piece of cake for Su Chen to convince them to back down.

    However, Su Chen had chosen not to show up at all.

    Because he could sense Water Sheen¡¯s awkward position.

    Usually, with an alliance like this, things would fall apart very quickly if one link crumbled.

    Liaoye Country had taken the initiative to back out. Empty Mountain followed suit not long after, and now it was Water Sheen¡¯s turn to do the same thing.

    As such, they sat and waited for Su Chen toe to them, preparing a list of demands for him.

    However, Su Chen ended up not showing up at all.

    What a cheapskate.

    This made Water Sheen¡¯s emperor quite displeased.

    The three countries had allied to prepare to attack the Harpies, but only two of them had managed to get any benefit out of the situation. Why were they the ones who were singled out?

    This wasn¡¯t just a question of profits, but also of face - after all, this meant that Water Sheen were the ones who had been cheated.

    Even though Jiang Jusheng was not a person who lusted for glory, he still needed to care about the face of the country.

    This was also the reason for Jiang Xishui¡¯s arrival.

    When Jiang Xishui heard Su Chen¡¯s reply, he found it quite amusing. ¡°I knew it, you slimy bastard. There¡¯s no way you would ever pay a price if you didn¡¯t need to. See, Hanyan? I told you I was right.¡±

    Ji Hanyan replied, ¡°Xishui and I made a bet on the way here. He thought that you weren¡¯ting to Water Sheen because you had anticipated that Water Sheen wouldn¡¯t make a move. I didn¡¯t think you were so selfish as to put Xishui in that kind of a tough spot.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled, ¡°You two do make a pretty good pair. Even if I had managed to foresee this oue, I probably wouldn¡¯t want to say it aloud; otherwise, that could be misconstrued as me harming Xishui. Then, the emperor would believe that Xishui spent all those years in the Hidden Dragon Institute for no reason, seeing as he is totally unable to influence his friends - especially a friend like me.¡±

    Ji Hanyan¡¯s eyebrow jumped. ¡°As long as you know. So? How about an exnation?¡±

    ¡°What if I told you that it¡¯s because I want to give Xishui some help?¡± Su Chen countered.

    Jiang Xishui and Ji Hanyan nced at each other, both clearly excited by this prospect.

    Jiang Xishui said, ¡°What exactly do you mean, Brother Su?¡±

    Su Chen said faintly, ¡°There¡¯s not a big difference between herding one herd of sheep and two. In addition, Luo You¡¯s bloodline is the first Deste Beast Bloodline I encountered. My Primordial Blood Aspect came about because of it, so my understanding of its properties is quite deep. Actually...... I did it before you even showed up.¡±

    As he spoke, he pulled out a scroll. Jiang Xishui took it and was ecstatic as he scanned its contents. ¡°This is a way for you to upgrade the Luo You Bloodline!¡±

    Ji Hanyan was delighted. ¡°So Xishui did lose to me.¡±

    ¡°Not entirely, because there is one thing I need your help with.¡±

    ¡°What is it? Speak.¡±

    ¡°I heard that Xishui is now the Deputy Commander-In-Chief of the Subdued Sea branch of the navy, and that the navy is the most powerful military force in the entire country,¡± Su Chenmented.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°I want Xishui to be the Commander-In-Chief of the Subdued Sea branch of the navy.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡± Jiang Xishui and Ji Hanyan immediately refuted.

    Unlike most other countries, Water Sheen¡¯s navy was their most powerful force. There were three branches of the navy in total - Subdued Sea, Calm Sea, and Shaking Sea, with Subdued Sea being the strongest.

    Because of how important the navy was to the country, the person ced in charge of any one of these branches must be one of the emperor¡¯s trusted aides.

    Jiang Xishui was not the Crown Prince, so bing the Deputy Commander-In-Chief was already quite an impressive aplishment. If he were to ever gainplete control of the navy, it was possible that he could threaten the Crown Prince for his spot - and who knew what would happen after he gained control of the navy?

    Jiang Xishui had traveled all the way over to the Hidden Dragon Institute to study in order to avoid drawing attention.

    This was the reason why he had never appeared to show much ambition, and his rtionship with Jiang Shaoxuan, the current Crown Prince, was pretty good as a result.

    But pretty good was just pretty good. Permitting Jiang Xishui to be the Deputy Commander-In-Chief was already quite gracious, but it was impossible for him to allow Jiang Xishui to climb any higher.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°I know, but what if it¡¯s only temporary?¡±

    Jiang Xishui was taken aback. ¡°Is there something you need the Subdued Sea branch to help out with?¡±

    Su Chen nodded.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, I can talk to the Commander-In-Chief for you. He should be able to......¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Su Chen shook his head. ¡°This is an extremely sensitive matter. I need a person who hasplete faith in me and is willing to sustain losses on my behalf.¡±

    When he heard this, Jiang Xishui squinted his eyes. ¡°A military operation?¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Since Water Sheen is itching to fight, but the Harpies are no longer a viable target, why not choose another group?¡±

    Ji Hanyan hurriedly said, ¡°Su Chen, you might not know this, but the humans and the Oceanids are not on bad terms. Even though there have been some skirmishes between us during the past tens of thousands of years, we have been friends most of the time.¡±

    Unlike other countries, Water Sheen was not at odds with their neighbors, the Oceanids.

    ¡°I know. I¡¯m not asking you to fight the Oceanids, just the beasts in their territory,¡± Su Chen said.

    When Jiang Xishui and Ji Hanyan heard this, they both visibly rxed. ¡°There shouldn¡¯t be an issue with that. Actually, Water Sheen and the Oceanids have teamed up in the past for this express purpose.¡±

    Water Sheen and the Oceanids weren¡¯t enemies primarily because there were even stronger creatures prowling the waters - Sea Beasts.

    These Sea Beasts were almost unimaginably powerful. Their bodies were massive, and they often traveled in hordes. In some sense, they were far more terrifying than thend-prowling beasts.

    Very few beasts could ever reach that size onnd. Beasts the size of the Thousand Poisons Toad were a dozen a handful in the waters.

    Of course, just because they wererger didn¡¯t necessarily mean they were stronger than a Deste Beast. They were still Demonic Beasts in nature. However, it was still an undeniable fact that their physiques were superior to many at the same tier as them.

    It was far more likely for a Sea Beast to be stronger than any beast living on thend, assuming they were at the same tier.

    As such, Demonic Lords in the sea were equivalent to Demonic Kings onnd, Demonic Kings to Demonic Emperors, Demonic Emperors to Sovereigns, and Sovereigns to Deste Beasts.

    This made it abundantly clear just how difficult it was to survive in an environment like the sea.

    Deste Beasts didn¡¯t exist in the seas, but plenty of Sovereigns did.

    The fact that the Oceanids could withstand a virtually daily assault from Sovereigns and make it out alive was quite miraculous in many ways.

    And part of the reason for this was the support that they received from Water Sheen.

    Even though the Oceanids lived underwater, that didn¡¯t mean they couldn¡¯t survive onnd. They were, in some sense, amphibious, but they preferred to live in the water.

    But no one could ensure what would happen when they did go onnd.

    To prevent the Sea Beasts from getting that opportunity, Water Sheen chose to lend their support to the Oceanids, relying on them to keep the Sea Beasts at bay.

    As such, the rtions between the human race and the Oceanids were quite good. Even though there were some unavoidable conflicts from time to time, the general trend was a positive one.

    Jiang Xishui had no issues with Su Chen wanting to attack the Sea Beasts.

    ¡°Then what about Sovereigns?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°This...... If the n is appropriate and aren¡¯t too excessive, that is something we can consider,¡± Jiang Xishui replied after a moment¡¯s thought.

    Su Chen asked, ¡°Then what if it was a bunch of Sovereigns? What if we targeted a Sovereignir?¡±

    Jiang Xishui and Ji Hanyan were immediately stunned.

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 183: Agreemen

    Chapter 183: Agreement

    Jiang Xishui couldn¡¯t help but reach out and touch Su Chen¡¯s forehead.

    Was he running a fever?

    Even Ji Hanyan couldn¡¯t maintain herposure and stammered, ¡°Su Chen, are you alright? Sovereigns in the sea are like Deste Beasts onnd. That¡¯s impossible! You¡¯re basically sending all of these people to their deaths!¡±

    Su Chen, however, shook his head slightly. ¡°That¡¯s a distortion of the truth. Those Deste Beasts remain in concealment not because they are called Deste Beasts but because they are simply too powerful, to the point that this continent is not abundant enough in resources to support them. That¡¯s why they have to stay in hibernation. As such, the environment around us has already ced an upper limit on how strong they can be. If Sovereigns are really able to move around freely in the ocean, that means that they must be weaker than a Deste Beast.¡±

    Jiang Xishui replied, ¡°You must not understand - their use of Origin Energy might be inferior to a Deste Beast, but the special environment of the sea serves to amplify their strength. If you haven¡¯t witnessed how destructive these beasts can be firsthand, you wouldn¡¯t understand.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I¡¯ve encountered a Deste Beast in the past.¡±

    Then, Su Chen smiled. ¡°Of course, I also know that those Sovereigns aren¡¯t easy to deal with even if they aren¡¯t quite at the level of strength of a Deste Beast. But I must do this for my n. Don¡¯t worry, I just need you guys to distract them for a moment. You won¡¯t really need to fight them.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s still far too risky. My father won¡¯t agree, and I won¡¯t either,¡± Jiang Xishui said, shaking his head.

    ¡°He will agree,¡± Su Chen said calmly.

    Jiang Xishui was taken aback. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what we¡¯re going to discuss.¡±

    Jiang Xishui remained in the Gu Pce for three days. No one knew what he and Su Chen were talking about during these three days.

    But when he left with Ji Hanyan three dayster, his expression appeared quite confident and at ease.

    Su Chen appeared to have no intention of leaving.

    He continued to embrace Gu Qingluo day after day, performing some research on the side. In the blink of an eye, two months had gone by.

    This gave the Chu n quite a headache.

    Su Chen had clearlypleted his mission, so what was he still hanging around here for? Better for him to leave as soon as possible.

    They had no intention of trying to kill him anymore.

    After Chu Huailiang¡¯s failure, the Chu n¡¯s intentions of killing him greatly decreased. Most importantly, Su Chen had held up his end of the bargain and hadn¡¯t dispersed the secret technique. It appeared that he was quite trustworthy, and his view was incredibly long-term.

    To the Chu n, these three curses were of utmost importance, but in Su Chen¡¯s eyes, they were merely an afterthought.

    Of course, the bigger factor was Su Chen¡¯s strength.

    He had reached the Spirit Burning Realm.

    Not only so, but he was also a Tenth-Ring Arcana Master.

    Thebined strength that these two different cultivation systems brought to him resulted in a huge surge in his personal strength.

    It appeared that the bandits had be aware of the situation, and not many people were running around trying to make trouble for Su Chen anymore. As a result, Su Chen didn¡¯t really have any opportunities to test out his strength on anyone.

    But the Chu n knew that if Su Chen could kill Chu Huailiang while still in the Light Shaking Realm, then it was probably impossible for them to kill him now unless Chu Yuan made a move himself.

    The motivation wasn¡¯t there, and their opponent was extremely powerful, so their desire to silence him also decreased.

    But they also knew that, as long as Su Chen remained in the Gu Pce, the Gu n would not cease to think about how to deal with those curses.

    No one knew what kind of promise they would make Su Chen that would change his mind and cause him to start looking for this kind of a breakthrough.

    Given how powerful he was, no one dared to say that it was impossible for him.

    As such the Chu n was very worried, and they kept a close eye on Su Chen. But watching him this intently was also quite taxing!

    Eventually, Su Chen was invited as a guest yet again by the Chu n, and Chu Yuan politely asked when Su Chen was nning on leaving.

    Su Chen thought for a moment. ¡°A few days earlier, the Gu n¡¯s Fourth Ancestor mentioned something to me.¡±

    ¡°What did she say?¡± Chu Yuan didn¡¯t know why Su Chen had suddenly brought this up, so he could only respond in kind.

    Su Chen answered, ¡°She wants me and Qingluo to have a child.¡±

    Chu Yuan was taken aback momentarily before his expression drastically changed.

    Gu Xinrong was trying an indirect approach!

    That was definitely the case.

    If Su Chen and Gu Qingluo had a child, that child¡¯s bloodline would definitely be under the influences of the three curses when it awakened. If Su Chen cared for his child and didn¡¯t want them to be under the Chu n¡¯s control, he would definitely try to find a way and nullify these curses.

    She was nning on using Su Chen¡¯s paternal love to force his hand!

    But it was normal for a husband and wife to want to have children. That was not an excessive request, was it?

    Chu Yuan didn¡¯t know what to say. After a long moment¡¯s silence, he could only ask, ¡°So is Sir Su interested?¡±

    ¡°Me? I don¡¯t care much for the idea,¡± su Chen said indifferently. ¡°I need to do a lot of things that may end up offending a lot of people. Having a child will be a weak point.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! This is like Zhu Xianyao, who is right now posing somewhat of a problem for you. You have great ambitions, so you cannot allow these things to take up too much of your attention!¡± Chu Yuan finally seemed to have found a ¡°breakthrough¡± and attempted to convince Su Chen with great excitement.

    ¡°But I will need a child sooner orter,¡± Su Chen said, dumping a pot of cold water all over Chu Yuan. ¡°I won¡¯t be by Gu Qingluo¡¯s side for a long time. She¡¯s all alone and might get bored, so it would be a good thing to have a child to take up her attention.¡±

    How was she lonely!?

    She had all those subordinates to keep herpany! She wasn¡¯t lonely at all!!

    Chu Yuan howled with frustration in his heart, but he could only put on a fake smile and chuckle, ¡°True, true. But......¡±

    He drifted off, not sure what to say next.

    Su Chen spoke up first. ¡°But when I think that my child will eventually be trapped under the Chu n¡¯s administration in the future, just like Qingluo, I feel hesitant. If possible, I would prefer that my child wouldn¡¯t have a bloodline belonging to the Gu n. Perhaps I should research this.¡±

    Chu Yuan was delighted. ¡°That¡¯s definitely a possibility.¡±

    Figuring out a way to seal his child¡¯s bloodline was also a way around the situation.

    However, Su Chen continued, ¡°But this would be unfair for the child. I am also so busy, having promised to elevate cultivation techniques for many different ns, meaning that I won¡¯t have that much time to spend on this matter. If I have a child before I am able to resolve this issue, I¡¯m afraid it¡¯ll all be over.¡±

    Can you not keep changing your mind? Chu Yuan felt like he was about to insane.

    He stared at Su Chen forlornly and said, ¡°Sir Su, please just say exactly what you are thinking.¡±

    He could tell that Su Chen was doing this on purpose.

    There was naturally a purpose for him saying all of these things.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°I do have an idea that can solve all of these issues.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s your idea?¡±

    Su Chen took a sip of wine and ate a piece of meat. Just as Chu Yuan was about to lose it, he said, ¡°Let Qingluo leave with me.¡±

    Put simply, Su Chen was asking for Chu Yuan to let Gu Qingluo leave Empty Mountain.

    This was a huge deal.

    Chu Yuan immediately shook his head. ¡°Impossible. The Chu n¡¯s responsibility is to keep an eye on the Gu n and prevent those with the Gu n¡¯s bloodline from spreading to anyone else.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you just worried that the Gu n will build up their outside influence and begin their rise to power again? It¡¯s not like members of the Gu n haven¡¯t escaped in the past, but it doesn¡¯t seem like any of them have been able to achieve this. It¡¯s already been three thousand years. The members of the Gu n have likely already given up on this kind of idea.¡±

    Chu Yuan said calmly, ¡°That¡¯s just because their strength has been limited by us. If one day they are no longer under governmental suppression, and their influence begins to increase, they will want to rise to power sooner orter. After all, ambition is always very closely tied to strength.¡±

    Su Chen had to confess that there was some truth to this statement.

    The Gu n¡¯s members had no ambition at the moment because their strength was being suppressed.

    If one day the Gu n¡¯s influence reached a critical mass, it was almost certain that they would embark on a quest to reim their former glory. In fact, it would probably only take them around three thousand years.

    ¡°We can temporarily put aside the matter of children for now. If it does happen, I will definitely find a way to remove their bloodline from them. If not, I will send my child back to Empty Mountain so that the Chu n can keep an eye on them. What do you think?¡± Su Chen said sincerely. ¡°You can treat me as the person who responsible for keeping an eye on Gu Qingluo.¡±

    Chu Yuan said helplessly, ¡°I believe in Sir Su. But the situation is not as simple as you think it is. The Chu n¡¯s oversight of the Gu n is a matter of duty. This was decided by the seven countries together. If I let her go, that would be going against our agreement, and might even be seen as treason. The consequences are serious!¡±

    Su Chen replied calmly, ¡°I know. But this agreement is made by humans, so it can also be broken by humans. As long as the seven countries agree to make an exception, there shouldn¡¯t be a problem, right?¡±

    Chu Yuan was speechless.

    Even though he was unwilling to do so, Chu Yuan still nodded.

    A secondter, Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Fine, then. Right, there was something I forgot to tell you, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Chu Yuan was taken aback, and a trace of uneasiness rose in his heart.

    Su Chen said, ¡°The other six countries have already given me their agreement.¡±

    What!?

    Chu Yuan almost leapt out of his seat.

    ¡°This is impossible!¡±

    ¡°Please take a look, Your Majesty.¡± Su Chen ced six sealed scrolls in front of Chu Yuan.

    These six sealed scrolls hade from the six countries, signed personally by Long Sang¡¯s Lin Mengze, Liaoye¡¯s Li Wuyi, Cloud Rising¡¯s Du family, Owl Country¡¯s Cheng family, and Great Wind¡¯s Feng Zhuying.

    Chu Yuan could see just by ncing at the contents of the letters that, as long as Gu Qingluo didn¡¯t spread her bloodline to any outsiders, they were willing to let her leave the confines of Empty Mountain.

    On each of the six letters was stamped a genuine blood seal.

    The blood seals clearly indicated the support of the imperial households so that there could be no mistaking or falsification of intent.

    Chu Yuan trembled as he read through these letters. His mind was aplete nk.

    It wasn¡¯t because he had to let Gu Qingluo go, but because Su Chen¡¯s movements were simply too unpredictable.

    He gazed at Su Chen and asked, trembling, ¡°Can you tell me how you managed to aplish this?¡±

    Previous Chapter

 Sect - Book 5, 184: Omen

    Chapter 184: Omen

    How had Su Chen managed to get the Six Countries to agree to his demands?

    Actually, it was quite simple. He just utilized their greed and their predictable human tendencies.

    Despite so many different situations urring all across the continent, there were usually only a few ways used to resolve these situations: enticement, threats, emotional ploys, and reasonings.

    There was no way Su Chen could threaten the six countries into submission, and there was no way he could pull off an emotional ploy or politically pressure them.

    As such, Su Chen chose the simplest way he knew of resolving the situation: by throwing tons of money at it.

    Throwing tons of money at both the imperial subjects and emperors as well.

    His goal with the imperial subjects was to get them to help him create opportunities by putting in a good word for him, or, failing that, to at least convince them not to get in his way.

    His goal with the various emperors varied from person to person.

    Su Chen had enticed Liaoye Country, Empty Mountain, and Water Sheen with the improved bloodline techniques, and Long Sang, Wind Rising, Great Cloud, and Owl Country were all no exception either. After all, they were all willing to give it a try if all it meant was that they needed to mobilize a portion of their troops.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t need an entire army. He was able to get their agreement with a small exchange and by promising that Gu Qingluo wouldn¡¯t leave behind any heirs in the outside world.

    Su Chen also promised them that if they agreed to this condition, he would fulfill his end of the bargain even if someone else disagreed, causing the whole agreement to fall through.

    It was difficult for the rulers of the Seven Countries to not wonder whether the other rulers would agree to Su Chen¡¯s conditions. This way, even if one of the other rulers didn¡¯t agree, none of them woulde out worse for wear. And if the other six countries did agree, and the matter was carried out as nned, none of them could point the me at any of the other countries - after all, they had all agreed.

    There was no need to single out a group to bear all the burden. If they all bore it together, letting Gu Qingluo walk was a small matter.

    Of course, given Su Chen¡¯s status as the Worldly Sage and the promises he had made, the countries were willing to overlook the consequences of letting Gu Qingluo leave. Actually getting them to agree was a piece of cake.

    Li Wuyi and Jiang Jusheng were no exception. The benefits they received were not a strengthened bloodline, but something else.

    For instance, a few improved medicines - Su Chen was also an alchemist, after all.

    A few rare resources - these rulers had no interest in Origin Stones, but they still cared about certain rare resources that couldn¡¯t be found elsewhere. Su Chen had managed to store up quite a bit for himself after rampaging through Harpy territory. This was a perfect opportunity to put those treasures to good use.

    Eternal Night had also allowed him to do so for this express purpose.

    Retrieving the Immortal Soul and Neptune¡¯s Eye was of utmost importance, and would be impossible to carry out without utilizing money.

    With these conditions in ce, releasing Gu Qingluo was a small matter.

    Chu Yuan was rendered speechless by the six official edicts before him.

    Finally, he let out a long sigh, ¡°Sir Su, your skill truly astounds me. Since the other six countries have agreed, then I will permit it as well. Congrattions. Gu Qingluo may now apany you wherever you go.¡±

    ¡°Many thanks, Your Majesty! I¡¯ve incurred a lot of debt this time around,¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    It was already quite impressive for Su Chen to promise these improved techniques to the Seven Countries. Perhaps he was the only person capable of doing this in the first ce.

    ¡°But that also gives you an opportunity to research seven different Deste Beast bloodlines, and the pressure to stop your research on the bloodlineless cultivation techniques has probably diminished greatly,¡± Chu Yuan said calmly.

    ¡°Indeed, I wasn¡¯t able to hide it from Your Majesty,¡± Su Chen said with a slight smile, making no attempt to refute his im.

    Su Chen¡¯s goal with researching the Seven Countries¡¯ bloodlines was not only to get his hands on their blood but also to alleviate the enmity people felt towards him.

    In the past, when Su Chen didn¡¯t care about whether the nobles profited and only valued the bloodlineless cultivation techniques, the nobles viewed it as a great threat. That was why they had treated him with such enmity. This was obvious by the way that the Heavenly Might Battalion had been treated from beginning to end.

    But as Su Chen umted experience, he learned to choose a smoother, less abrasive approach to resolving problems.

    Since the nobles were afraid of losing the status that they had held onto for so long, Su Chen could think of ways to improve the power of their bloodlines.

    Bloodlines still had their reasons for existing. Su Chen was merely taking away the barrier between cultivation realms, so there was still a gap in strength between those with bloodlines and those without.

    Those with bloodlines were typically stronger than those without bloodlines when in the same cultivation realm.

    Su Chen¡¯s research had allowed those without bloodlines to reach higher cultivation realms, improving their potential.

    As such, it was still possible to reconcile the two systems.

    Previously, bloodlines held the advantage both in terms of cultivation and in terms of strength. In the future, they would still be stronger, and as long as they managed their position well, their superiority would still be undeniable.

    Of course, there was now the possibility that this system could be overturned in the future.

    Su Chen¡¯s Primordial Blood Aspect was a perfect example of this. If he were to reach even higher levels in the future, it was possible that he would even surpass the growth rate of bloodlines.

    But this was a secret technique that would only belong to the Boundless Sect. In the future, it would be a source of power for them.

    In any case, Su Chen¡¯s current actions were meant in part to appease the conflicting interests between him and the other emperors.

    In the past, Su Chen had been intent on destructive reformation, destroying the equilibrium of the current situation while greatly increasing the potential of the human race. Now, he was taking the approach of a gentle breeze. He was no longer intent on stripping the nobles of their power, which was one reason why the enmity between him and the nobles had decreased.

    Though this matter appeared almost impossible in the eyes of others, Su Chen was able to aplish it with ease.

    News that Gu Qingluo had been set free spread throughout the Gu pce, startling all of them.

    This surprise was very quickly reced with jubtion.

    This jubtion was not merely for Gu Qingluo, but also for themselves - who knew when an opportunity like this mighte upon them as well? Once a wall began to crack, other cracks would quickly appear. The Gu n¡¯s members also wished for independence, and now it seemed that the door had been cracked open just a bit.

    Gu Qingluo was also naturally ecstatic.

    Her happiness was because she would be able to be with Su Chen.

    The Gu n was filled with celebration.

    Even the Gu n¡¯s Ancestors, who rarely made an appearance for anything, were in attendance. It was obvious how important what had happened to Gu Qingluo was to them.

    But to Su Chen and Gu Qingluo, this was not a big deal.

    Their attention was ced on the Origin Bone Scepter.

    The Origin Bone Scepter glowed with light, which gathered and converted into miniature script. Even though the words only hung in the air for a brief moment, Su Chen was able to remember them with his consciousness crystal.

    As the image disappeared, Su Chen began to dictate what he had seen, and Gu Qingluo quickly wrote it down.

    Very quickly, a record on how to improve the Great Wind Bloodline was transcribed down.

    Yes, they were carrying out the research that Su Chen had promised to deliver.

    This work, which might take months if not years, was almost instantly resolved by the Origin Bone Scepter and the consciousness crystal in exchange for ¡°a few¡± Origin Crystals.

    Of course, that didn¡¯t mean it would actually be so easy to fulfill the requirements. Since the Origin Bone Scepter was making predictions from the future, the answer needed to be derivable, and certain other conditions needed to be met as well.

    This ¡°cheat code¡± was probably only usable by Su Chen anyways. Anyone else would have a hard time getting answers out of the scepter even if they used an Origin Beast¡¯s Origin Crystal as the sacrifice, because most people wouldn¡¯t have made such a breakthrough once in their entire life.

    The Origin Bone Scepter was merely saving Su Chen time. In theory, as long as it was within your capabilities to do something, the Origin Bone Scepter would show you how to do it.

    In a single night, Su Chen was able toe up with six of the seven improved bloodline cultivation techniques - he had already given Jiang Xishui the Water Sheen technique.

    ¡°This thing is really quite handy,¡± Gu Qingluo sighed in amazement as she watched Su Chen aplish in one night what she had thought might take many years. ¡°So why didn¡¯t you do this earlier?¡±

    ¡°If they get their hands on it too easily, they won¡¯t treasure it. I can¡¯t tell them that I was able to fulfill my end of the bargain in a single night when they had paid such a tremendous price, right? Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll make them wait a bit longer. In any case, I only promised to deliver my end of the bargain three years from now.¡±

    Gu Qingluo beamed and gently pinched Su Chen. ¡°Only you could be this crafty. It seems you¡¯ve thought of everything.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about that for now. You¡¯re up next, after all.¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± Gu Qingluo was taken aback. ¡°You need me as well?¡±

    ¡°The Gu n¡¯s bloodline is the human race¡¯s most powerful bloodline. If I am able to improve its strength, that will be a great benefit to the human race as a whole. And even though you have some freedom at the moment, you will also be in more danger if you follow me. The Sky Armor is indeed powerful, but it is not invincible. Improving your bloodline is a must. I cannot allow anything to happen to you no matter what.¡±

    When Gu Qingluo heard this, her heart was filled with sweetness.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t as gentle as most other men. He wouldn¡¯t say things like, ¡°Don¡¯te with me, it¡¯ll be too dangerous.¡± Instead, he did his best to help Gu Qingluo break through her fetters and increase her strength. This was what a responsible husband should be like.

    A new round of sacrifices began to take ce.

    However, the Origin Crystal disappeared without revealing any image.

    ¡°Even a Lord ss Origin Crystal wasn¡¯t enough?¡± Su Chen frowned.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Su Chen ced King-ss Origin Crystal on the altar¡¯s surface, along with a handful of Sands of Time and a few other supplementary ingredients.

    These shortcuts Su Chen was trying to take were quite expensive. Countless Origin Qi Schrs would likely have fought to the death over theponents Su Chen had justid on the altar, but he was merely using them to try and ask a question.

    A prediction finally appeared.

    However, the prediction did note in the form of an already written cultivation technique. Instead, a strange scene appeared before his eyes.

    A firestorm was raging fiercely atop the surface of the sea. The sky was dark and cloudy as violent rain poured down from the sky. The immense pressure of the situation was deeply imprinted on Su Chen and Gu Qingluo¡¯s hearts, causing them to involuntarily tremble in fear.

    A human figure could be seen standing in the midst of the zing firestorm.

    Upon closer inspection, that person was Gu Qingluo.

    She walked through the raging wind, rain, and mes. The mes didn¡¯t appear to be harming her in the slightest, and a brilliant glow was emanating from her body.

    Then, she turned around.

    Her gaze was pointed right at Su Chen and Gu Qingluo, who were watching the scene unfold.

    The illusory Gu Qingluo said something, but it was impossible to hear what she had said.

    An instantter, the image disappeared without a trace.

    Su Chen and Gu Qingluo were speechless.

    After a moment, Gu Qingluo said, ¡°What...... What was that?¡±

    Why had such a strange sight appeared when they had only asked about how to improve the Gu n¡¯s bloodline. Would Gu Qingluo find herself in this kind of a situation some day?

    Was this a good thing or a bad thing? Was it good or bad fortune?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know, but a trace of unease instinctively surfaced in his heart.

 Sect - Book 5, 185: Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques

    Chapter 185: Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques

    The third day after receiving his prediction, Su Chen took Gu Qingluo back to the Boundless Sect.

    He had just arrived when he saw that streaks of light were shooting into the sky from the Ten Ten Thousand Swords Mountain.

    These streaks of light weren¡¯t mes but rather streaks of sword Qi, dancing through the air and surging towards the clouds.

    The tens of thousands of disciples that were part of the Boundless Sect were weing the return of their esteemed Sect Master, the Worldly Sage, the one responsible for creating a new path forward for the entire human race.

    Gu Qingluo was stunned when she saw this. ¡°The Boundless Sect actually has this many disciples now?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m quite surprised as well,¡± Su Chen sighed. ¡°This is all because of Li Chongshan and the others! I¡¯m reaping where I have not sowed as the Sect Master.¡±

    Gu Qingluo shot him a nce. ¡°Of course. You need to roam the four seas and destroy the other races, as well as save some beauties. How could you have time for these things?¡±

    Su Chenughed loudly and didn¡¯t take the bait.

    Li Chongshan and the others were already walking towards Su Chen and bowed to him. ¡°Greetings, Sect Master!¡±

    Su Chen hurriedly said, ¡°There¡¯s no need to be so polite. We¡¯re all on the same side here.¡±

    Li Chongshan said calmly, ¡°It¡¯s precisely because we are on the same side that we must uphold etiquette. The Boundless Sect is not the same as it was before. We are carrying out a great undertaking. Without the appropriate order, how will we spread our influence?¡±

    In this time period, etiquette and courtesy were extremely important, in some cases more so than thew. After all, thew was enforced, and whether or not it was obeyed depended on the strength of the enforcer. Courtesy, on the other hand, came from a person¡¯s own heart.

    What stopped the great powers from not acting recklessly and endangering the masses wasn¡¯t thew butmon etiquette.

    For this reason, etiquette was of utmost importance. When Su Chen heard Li Chongshan say this, he could not refute Li Chongshan¡¯s words and could only ept their greeting.

    After this greeting, the group began to head towards the interior of the mountain.

    Su Chen asked, ¡°How many people are there in the Boundless Sect now?¡±

    Li Chongshan said, ¡°Sect Master, there are a total of 32,240 disciples right now.¡±

    ¡°This many?¡± Su Chen was taken aback.

    Back then, the Boundless Sect didn¡¯t have more than ten thousand members, even with the old Heavenly Might Battalion filling in those numbers. But in a few years, the number had managed to jump to thirty thousand, three times as much as before.

    This ce was not a high-traffic location. The Ten Thousand Swords Mountain was rtively deste, with merely a poption of five thousand individuals before the Boundless Sect established their home here.

    Chu Yingwan smiled. ¡°This is all because of Sect Master. With Sect Master¡¯s influence, as well as the Boundless Sect¡¯s bloodlineless Light Shaking Realm cultivation technique, it¡¯s only natural that so many people want to join. These twenty thousand people were carefully selected by us as well.¡±

    Su Chen had agreed to not distribute the bloodlineless Light Shaking Realm cultivation technique publicly, but had left a loophole for himself: he had ced no stiption on how many people the Boundless Sect would ept.

    During the earlier years, this wouldn¡¯t have been as big of an issue. But as the bloodlineless cultivation techniques became more and more ubiquitous, and more and more people advanced along this cultivation system, the fact that only the Boundless Sect possessed a method for reaching the Light Shaking Realm meant that only one oue was possible.

    These twenty thousand people had been carefully screened as well. Every day, countless Origin Qi Schrs were traveling here from foreign territories, wanting to join the Boundless Sect.

    However, the Boundless Sect¡¯s selection criteria were quite harsh. They didn¡¯t test aptitude, but etiquette and intelligence.

    Sects were not like ns. There was no such thing as blood rtions, so this instruction was the only thing keeping the sect together. This was why having a proper ethical code was so highly emphasized.

    Every individual who wanted to enroll with the Boundless Sect would need to take three years of etiquette ss at the Etiquette Hall. This was basically like brainwashing them into respecting their instructors. After these three years, they would be formally admitted.

    Many people would give up when faced with this condition, but even more continued to push on recklessly.

    The enticement of the bloodlineless cultivation technique was simply too great.

    For instance, during the earliest days of the Heavenly Might Battalion, there were only twenty or so people whose cultivation base were at the Light Shaking Realm. However, following the spread of Su Chen¡¯s cultivation techniques, this number was now around five hundred.

    Most shockingly, there were plenty of individuals at the Yang Opening Realm just waiting to break into the Light Shaking Realm. Not many cultivators existed below that.

    And as time went on, this number would only increase. Even the slowest cultivator amongst them would probably reach the Light Shaking Realm in five years.

    In other words, it was possible that the Heavenly Might Battalion would be entirely at the Light Shaking Realm five years from now.

    This was quite the shocking aplishment.

    Even so, this was the result of these cultivation realms bing much moremon. A simr situation was developing across the entire human race as a whole, and Blood Boiling Realm and Yang Opening Realm cultivators could be found everywhere.

    It was only because Su Chen had kept his promise to Long Sang Country that there weren¡¯t more Light Shaking Realm cultivators wandering about.

    Even so, the number of Light Shaking Realm cultivators was still increasing.

    The reason for this was very simple. Before a bloodlineless cultivation technique for reaching the Blood Boiling Realm had been developed, any cultivator would have needed a bloodline to sessfully break through. Because mixed bloodlines were impure, the Light Shaking Realm became the absolute peak achievable for those with such bloodlines.

    Now, with these low-level cultivation techniques, many people would choose to break into the Yang Opening Realm first before epting the power of a bloodline.

    With this elevated foundation, the same amount of bloodline power would allow a cultivator to reach new heights.

    At this point, it was theoretically possible for those with mixed bloodlines to reach the Thought Manifestation Realm already.

    Of course, this was merely theoretical; not enough time had psed yet for anyone to actually achieve such a feat.

    If one were to reach the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline, then the peak achievable cultivation realm would be the Ultimate Emperor Realm. It would no longer be a pipe dream for those without a bloodline to reach the absolute pinnacle of the human system of cultivation, and those cultivation realms would no longer be essible only by those from Bloodline Nobility ns.

    This was also why so many people were trying to think of ways to join the Boundless Sect.

    The attraction was far too great. By reaching the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline, then epting a bloodline infusion, it would suddenly be possible to reach the Ultimate Emperor Realm.

    This was the highest-known cultivation realm currently achievable by a human.

    Their Sect Master had even managed to develop a technique for breaking into the Spirit Burning Realm, meaning that it would be even more likely for them to reach the Ultimate Emperor Realm.

    And this could only ur by joining the Boundless Sect.

    Three years of brainwashing was nothing. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that they only had one life, they probably would have been willing to dig out their own heart and guts for a chance to enter.

    This was also a reason why the Bloodline Nobility ns hated him so intensely.

    The Boundless Sect had found itself in quite a bit of trouble during these few years that Su Chen wasn¡¯t present. But since the Boundless Sect was self-sufficient, and the strength of its cultivators was not insignificant, it was impossible for most people to do anything to the sect.

    Most importantly, the failure of the Zhu n had clearly demonstrated one thing: it waspletely pointless to try and stop the spread of information.

    Only by killing the inventor would they be able to stop the problem from spreading.

    However, Su Chen wasn¡¯t even in the country, so there was nothing the Bloodline Nobility ns could do to him.

    Finally, the Boundless Sect¡¯s strength was constantly increasing. Not many Bloodline Nobility ns had the power to wipe them out at this point.

    The five hundred Light Shaking Realm cultivators alone were quite problematic.

    They had trained together as part of the Heavenly Might Battalion, so their teamwork was impable. Now that their individual strength had increased, it was likely that they were strong enough to even take on most normal Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators.

    During these past few years, no particrly great disasters had befallen them despite the fact that many people had been looking to cause them trouble.

    This was also due in no small part to the efforts of Li Chongshan, Shi Kaihuang, and the others.

    ¡°But despite the fact that we did our best to try and screen the applicants, it¡¯s hard to ensure that all of them are totally loyal. It¡¯s entirely possible that some undercover agents for the nobility ns have managed to sneak in.¡±

    Guo Wenchang, who was responsible for security, said with some worry, ¡°We already caught a traitor who was trying to bring back the bloodlineless cultivation technique back to his n. I looked upon him quite favorably, and he was one of the first disciples I epted. I never would have suspected him to sell out the n. Thankfully, we discovered it in time......¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Our scale of operation is beginning to get toorge, so it¡¯s not surprising that these kinds of things are beginning to happen. But that¡¯s not really a big issue. If it weren¡¯t for my agreement with Long Sang Country in the past, this bloodlineless Light Shaking Realm cultivation technique would have been publicly distributed a long time ago. I only left it here out of consideration for the Boundless Sect. If one day the technique is leaked, it¡¯s not such a big deal.¡±

    Lin Shaoxuan said, ¡°But for the sake of the Boundless Sect¡¯s longevity, I would prefer that the Light Shaking Realm cultivation technique spreadster rather than sooner.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled, ¡°So our goal should not be to monopolize the cultivation technique but to take advantage of the opportunity to grow stronger. Old Guo, your responsibility is very important. Do your best to prevent this technique from escaping, but if it does one day, don¡¯t worry. At that point in time, we will have eaten our fill, and it will be time for the entire human race to benefit. Just...... allow the situation to progress naturally.¡±

    When Guo Wenchang heard this, he let out a long sigh.

    Those Bloodline Nobility ns were simply too good at sneaking in, and the problem had been giving him quite a headache.

    Su Chen¡¯s words helped to put him at ease.

    ¡°However, while the bloodlineless cultivation techniques are important for the future of the human race, the other secretbat techniques should still be hidden. I think that the disciples themselves should do their part as well. What if we split them up into Inner Court, Outer Court, and Inheritor Disciples in the future? The cultivation techniques can be learned by anyone as long as their cultivation base is sufficient, but the secret techniques like Aspects can only be learned at the Inner Court. Of course, the extremely powerful techniques can only be learned by Inheritor Disciples,¡± Su Chen proposed.

    Those gathered all felt like this was quite a good idea.

    These divisions would create some tension between the disciples, further increasing their strength. At the same time, this would prevent those intent on causing trouble from being able to do so, increasing the sect¡¯s overall security.

    Su Chen had a heart for the human race as a whole, but he still had some preference for those close to him. He was not apletely selfless saint. Actually, those selfless saints wouldn¡¯t have been able to aplish much either, because no one would be willing to follow them.

    At that moment, Gu Qingluo suddenly said, ¡°That sounds like a good idea, but I can think of one problem.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Su Chen asked.

    Gu Qingluo said, ¡°Don¡¯t you think that the name ¡®bloodlineless cultivation technique¡¯ doesn¡¯t sound very pretty?¡±

    The people present all nced at each other.

    Somehow, this had managed to slip through the cracks.

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s reminder made sense to everyone present.

    Calling them bloodlineless cultivation techniques was truly a bit in poor taste.

    Shi Kaihuang stroked his beard. ¡°Sect Master¡¯s Wife makes a good point. These techniques will form the backbone of our sect, so we should indeede up with a more pleasant-sounding name. We can¡¯t be so sloppy in the future. Sect Master, you shoulde up with a name.¡±

    ¡°Come up with a name?¡± Su Chen squinted.

    He stood at the peak of the mountain, staring off into the distance.

    After a moment, he said slowly, ¡°The Boundless Sect is stationed here at the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain. A person standing at the top of the mountain forms the character for ¡®immortal¡¯. Immortals are transcendent, legendary creatures that only exist in the imaginations of men. However, these bloodlineless techniques are intended for the constant progress of the human race, so that eventually we will all stand at the very top of a mountain. If I can someday research a technique for reaching the Ultimate Emperor Realm without a bloodline, or even discover even higher cultivation realms, we may be able to enter that ever intangible realm upied by the immortals.¡±

    ¡°So I believe that we should call these bloodlineless cultivation techniques...... the Flying Immortal cultivation techniques.¡±

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 1: Five Year Leap

    Chapter 1: Five Year Leap

    Winter came, then spring. In the blink of an eye, yet another year had passed.

    The Ten Thousand Swords Mountain bid goodbye to the winter, weing a season of beautiful, vibrant life.

    The flowers were in full bloom all over the surface of the mountain, forming a sea of flowers. The wind gently caressed the flowers, sending petals flying through the air.

    This was where Gu Qingluo lived - Jiulian Peak, which she had renamed.

    In the blink of an eye, Gu Qingluo had spent five years at the Boundless Sect.

    The sect¡¯s influence had only increased whenpared to before.

    At the beginning, the Boundless Sect only possessed the Heaven-Upholding Peak, which stationed nearly eight thousand of the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s soldiers. Now, the Boundless Sect had spread to the nearby eighteen peaks, and there were now a total of seventy thousand disciples. The sect¡¯s circle of influence was a few thousand kilometers in diameter.

    If it weren¡¯t for the deste nature of this territory, many people would have felt incredibly envious of the Boundless Sect¡¯s influence.

    However, thend¡¯s fertility had also begun to increase as the members of the Boundless Sect carefully cultivated it, with the River Source Peak having experienced the greatest revival.

    This was because the River Source Grass had been nted on it. At this point, the River Source Peak housed the Boundless Sect¡¯s medicinal garden. Su Chen had also nted the Moonglow he had taken from the Mother Goddess Sect, along with arge number of other rare medicines and herbs.

    River Source Grass and Moonglow made quite a beautiful pair. The River Source Grass elerated the growth process - a normal herb which might take a hundred years to mature could ripen in merely a few decades under the influence of the River Source Grass. The exact increased rate of growth depended on the herb itself, and how far it was nted from the River Source Grass.

    The shorter the distance, or the less high-quality the herb, the greater the effect.

    Moonglow was used to concoct Divine Medicines, but it could also increase the quality of any herbs nted nearby.

    These two effects caused the herbs nted in this garden to grow rapidly and greatly increased their quality as well.

    The Boundless Sect hadn¡¯t been around for a long time, so their foundation was rtivelycking.

    The River Source Grass and Moonglow helped to ameliorate this problem somewhat.

    With enough resources, they could begin to concoctrge quantities of medicines.

    The Divine Medicine Peak was where all of the alchemy took ce.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s field of alchemy was incredibly strong, because Su Chen himself was a Master Alchemist.

    For this reason, Su Chen personally oversaw the management of the Divine Medicine Peak.

    Every day,rge quantities of medicines were concocted and distributed to the members of the sect.

    Of course, these medicines weren¡¯t just given to anyone. Rather, they were given as rewards for making contributions to the sect.

    Arge sect needed to have a means of ie. The benefit of having such arge number of individuals was that it was equivalent to having that many workers.

    The Boundless Sect had three main avenues of earning money.

    The first avenue was by cultivating rtively deste areas of territory and nting spiritual herbs there, allowing the sect to be self-sufficient in this regard. The lowest-status disciples were usually responsible for handling the agricultural side of things. The Boundless Sect had already managed to open up the nearby three peaks, filling them with fields.

    The second avenue was by selling products. The Boundless Sect¡¯s prestige had begun to increase, allowing them to open up shops in different cities and sell items like Origin Tools, medicines, desserts, silk fabrics, and moneyundering services. Li Shu oversaw this branch, and he had selected a few of the disciples in the sect who showed some talent in this regard to assist him. Bypleting designated tasks, they would be rewarded with medicines, equipment, and cultivation techniques.

    The third avenue was to lend out military force. The rtively stronger disciples of the sect were the ones who handled this branch of business.

    At this moment, the Boundless Sect had quite a few mid-tier disciples, all of whom were at the Light Shaking Realm. Perhaps in the outside world, this would already be considered quite high-tier.

    Because of the sect¡¯s monopoly on the Light Shaking Realm cultivation technique - no, the fourth level of the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques, the Boundless Sect now had an astounding number of Light Shaking Realm cultivators at its disposal.

    These Light Shaking Realm cultivators had been dispersed and given many different kinds of tasks to strengthen the sect. As such, no one really knew how many Light Shaking Realm cultivators the Boundless Sect had. Su Chen, Li Chongshan, and the other important members of the sect knew, and the number was truly quite staggering.

    But before they had obtained absolute dominance, it was better to keep a low profile.

    Even though they could keep their strength on the down-low, however, it was impossible for their influence not to begin to be obvious.

    As the sect¡¯s disciples began to appear everywhere across the Seven Kingdoms, the name of the Boundless Sect started to spread despite the Sect Master¡¯s best efforts to control the spread of information.

    Whoosh!

    Ye Fenghan skewered the man in front of him with a thrust of his sword.

    ¡°How is this possible......¡± the small-headed, wide-eyed man muttered in shock as he clutched at his throat, blood frothing from his mouth. ¡°How...... could you have...... nullified my...... Nine-Layered Smoke Net......¡±

    ¡°Hmph, it¡¯s just an illusion technique. The Hidden Dragon Peak¡¯s annual assessment always includes tests of this kind, as well as soul tests and foundational tests. If you can¡¯t pass these tests, you aren¡¯t allowed to leave the mountain,¡± Ye Fenghan said with disdain.

    ¡°Soul...... test......¡± The man wanted to ask what ¡°soul tests¡± were, but he fell to the ground before he could finish his question.

    ¡°Impressive, Prince Ye!¡±

    ¡°Prince Ye is truly impressive. This Yama guy is incredibly slippery and is quite proficient in using illusory techniques. Hees and goes without leaving any traces, and who knows how many people have had a hard time capturing him? But now he has fallen to Prince¡¯s sword.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes. Prince¡¯s sword is truly majestic!¡±

    ¡°Formidable, Prince Ye.¡±

    The group of merchants traveling with him all praised and ttered him incessantly when they saw what he had done.

    Ye Fenghan yawned. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about saying these kinds of things. You guys paid me to do this work, so it¡¯s my job to take care of the problem for you and make sure you stay safe. Right, it seems that this Yama guy was also on a list of wanted criminals, right? So he should be worth a little. I¡¯ll leave his corpse to you in exchange for one of the Misty Dew Flowers you¡¯re transporting. Does that sound okay to you?¡±

    The merchants conferred with each other briefly before agreeing.

    A satisfied smile appeared on Ye Fenghan¡¯s face.

    The Boundless Sect would also assign a few resource collection assignments. By turning in the required amount of resources, he would be able to receive a corresponding reward.

    The Misty Dew Flower was one of the resources on that list, each one worth fifty contribution points.

    He was getting close to reaching a thousand contribution points at this point.

    Once he reached that amount, he would be able to go to the Cultivation Transmission Peak and select an Aspect that he had been eyeing for a long time.

    He happily put the Misty Dew Flower away. Just as he was about to leave, however, he saw a person running in their direction. Apparently, he was being chased by arge group of individuals.

    Ye Fenghan had no intention of paying it any attention. He nced at the person being chased before turning around to leave.

    However, Ye Fenghan suddenly realized that he was using a cultivation technique belonging to the sect and stopped. ¡°Are you a guest of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect?¡±

    When that person heard, he snapped to attention and replied, ¡°Third-Year Light of Flowing Fire!¡±

    The disciples of the Boundless Sect were everywhere, but they wouldn¡¯t openly reveal their origin so as to minimize the impact it would have on others. As such, they relied on these secret phrases to identify each other. Ye Fenghan was basically asking whether the other party was a disciple of the Boundless Sect.

    Rather than responding directly, however, the person presented with the callsign would need to clearly identify themselves without directly revealing their identity.

    Flowing Fire referred to the Flowing Fire Division, while three years meant that they had officially joined three years ago. Lamp, which referred to light, was referring to information gathering. Clearly, this person was a third-year disciple belonging to the Flowing Fire Division.

    When he heard this response, Ye Fenghan sneered. ¡°Your luck is pretty good.¡±

    He raised his hand and swung his sword.

    This sword strike appeared quite in andmon. Actually, it appeared to be a tad bit slow.

    The person being chased unleashed a palm strike behind him as he yelled, ¡°It¡¯s not that my luck is pretty good. This was all part of the n!¡±

    This palm strike wasn¡¯t aimed at any particr target. However, the space around him suddenly seemed to congeal as the air condensed, making it incredibly difficult for anyone to move.

    Ye Fenghan¡¯s slow sword strike, however, continued to descend.

    The two Origin Qi Schrs leading the charge were obviously not weak and moved to react to the attack, but they were totally unable to defend themselves against this sword strike and were immediately cut in half.

    The sword Qi continued to advance, cutting through another seven or eight people. The remaining group of pursuers were stunned and stopped in their tracks.

    The disciple being pursuedughed loudly, ¡°I already told you that my sect¡¯s disciples are all over the ce, and that we would definitely run into one of them eventually. You refused to believe me, so now you must suffer the consequences!¡±

    As he spoke, he unleashed eighteen palm strikes in rapid session. This time, he was not intending on restricting his opponents¡¯ movements. These palm strikes were purely offensive in nature, beating the remaining pursuers ck and blue.

    ¡°Raging Torrent Palms and Sumeru Void? You¡¯re pretty strong yourself!¡± Ye Fenghan was stunned.

    These two Origin Skills could only be obtained by trading in arge number of contribution points.

    He had only been part of the Flowing Fire Division for three years, but had already umted this many contribution points. If he didn¡¯t have a backer higher up on thedder, then he had managed to achieve it all by his own efforts.

    The Boundless Sect was in the early stages of development, so there was a lot of room for growth. Powerful backers didn¡¯t really exist yet, so rising in the ranks really depended on a person¡¯s own individual ability.

    When Ye Fenghan connected that to the fact that this disciple was being chased, he asked, ¡°What information did you find?¡±

    Ye Fenghan said, ¡°I thought I saved your life.¡±

    ¡°Hmph, I would have been able to escape even without your help,¡± the person replied. ¡°At the Light Shaking Realm, the people that can catch up to me, Chang He, aren¡¯t many.¡±

    Ye Fenghan was stunned. ¡°So you¡¯re Flying Ape Chang He, the one who ranked seventh in speed duringst year¡¯s assessment.¡±

    Ye Fenghan was familiar with Chang He¡¯s name. He specialized in speed and possessed the Wind Spirit Aspect, making him incredibly agile. As such, this guy actually possessed three different powers.

    However, Ye Fenghan didn¡¯t think that he lost to Chang He in the slightest. He didn¡¯t have an aspect yet because he had his sights set on an even stronger one. As such, he had been waiting this whole time to build up enough contribution points. At that point in time, his strength would surge.

    ¡°I¡¯m impressed you still remember. Seventh ce isn¡¯t really all that impressive,¡± Chang He said, apparently very unimpressed by his ranking.

    The merchants listening nearby were all stunned.

    What sect did they belong to, exactly? How were these random disciples this strong?

    And what about this seventh rank on the assessment? So even powerful individuals like them weren¡¯t all that rare amongst their sect?

    It was unsurprising that they were in disbelief.

    Ye Fenghan and Chang He had already left.

    To them, an urrence like this was an everyday affair.

    The Boundless Sect did their best to suppress their reputation, but as their influence spread uncontrobly, people couldn¡¯t help but begin to take notice.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 2: Medicine

    Chapter 2: Medicine

    At the Truth Peak.

    This peak was rtively unassuming, and there were only a fewmon houses built there.

    However, it was precisely this unassuming area that was one of the most top-secret locations across the Boundless Sect. No one was allowed to even step onto the base of the peak without express permission, and no one was allowed to fly over the top of the peak. In addition, there was a certain ritual that needed to be carried out before anyone was allowed to appear here.

    Because this was where the Boundless Sect¡¯s Sect Master, Su Chen, performed his research.

    This was where Su Chen was continuing his research.

    The Origin Bone Scepter greatly elerated the research process, but it was for this reason that there were some significant gaps in Su Chen¡¯s knowledge. The first thing Su Chen did after returning to the Boundless Sect was to establish the Truth Peak, which would allow him to continue his investigation.

    As a truth seeker, Su Chen¡¯s fascination was with discovering the profound, mysterious truths and principles that governed this universe.

    Su Chen spent most of his day here. As for the rest of his time, he spent a small portion of it at the Sky-Upholding Peak to manage the sect, at the Divine Medicine Peak concocting medicine, and cultivating and spending time with Gu Qingluo.

    Five years of research had caused Su Chen¡¯s understanding of the ¡°truth¡± to be much more solid, and by reverse-analyzing the predictions made by the Origin Bone Scepter, he came into possession of a lot of knowledge concerning the human system of cultivation.

    It was probably not an exaggeration to say that he was the best instructor of his time. He would be able to discern the condition of anyone set before him and what path they should take.

    His dream was slowly turning into reality. The changes brought about by Su Chen began to permeate every aspect of human society, and further promoted his status as a great Sect Master.

    He was far from invincible, but the disciples he had begun to amass were numerous enough to sweep through an entire country.

    This was the path Su Chen had chosen to walk.

    To the other races, Su Chen was a vicious, ruthless demon, but to the humans, he was a human with heaven-defying ambition and selflessness, a true pioneer.

    Su Chen remained mired in his research, as per usual.

    A mysterious creature was writhing on the massive table before him.

    It looked like a massive chunk of flesh, but every part of its body could move individually. From time to time, protrusions would emerge from its body before retracting back into its body.

    Su Chen, however, was treating this hunk of flesh with immense gravity.

    He very carefully poured some medicine on the meat. The medicine permeated the meat¡¯s skin, gradually transforming it until it took on the shape of a human being. A nose and two eyes began to appear on its face. The figure was clearly somewhat simr to Su Chen.

    The ¡°human¡± trembled momentarily before it began to shed its skin inyers. In that moment, the fake Su Chen actually let out a cry of pain as it melted into a puddle that rapidly disappeared.

    Su Chen calmly said, ¡°Make a record. My control over it is very good, but its consciousness resistance is still a bit weak. I was able to double its duration. Its consciousness power...... was 101 units.¡±

    Iron Cliff quickly recorded it down before looking up. ¡°101 is another improvement. We probably aren¡¯t far from sess.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Su Chen sighed as he turned over the vial of medicine in his hands.

    Yes, this vial of medicine was what he was actually researching. His goal was to use it to control a target lifeform so that it would obey hismands.

    His main goal in doing so was to devise a way to control the Catastrophe Bug.

    This bug was an incredibly powerful weapon.

    But before he attempted to use it, Su Chen absolutely needed to figure out how to control it.

    At this point, he had developed a medicine that could help him control another lifeform, but the medicine¡¯s side effects were too powerful. Any powerful consciousness attack would cause the target lifeform to immediately die.

    As such, Su Chen was searching for a way to increase the consciousness resilience of the medicine.

    Based on his estimation, as long as the medicine was able to reduce the rate of consciousness corrosion to below a hundred units, that would be good enough.

    However, because Su Chen also needed to preserve the unique properties of the medicine, every corresponding decrease in consciousness power required almost double the amount of effort.

    Today¡¯s result was pretty good. They were only a single step away from sess.

    ¡°Unfortunately, we don¡¯t have much time left,¡± Su Chen muttered.

    Iron Cliff was momentarily taken aback. ¡°Is it that time already?¡±

    ¡°Almost,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t just idling five years away. Instead, he was using the time to umte knowledge and make his preparations.

    Su Chen had never forgotten his agreement with Eternal Night.

    Based on their five-year agreement, it was almost time for Su Chen to make his move.

    As he was cleaning up, Death¡¯s Shadow of a Youth called to him from outside. ¡°Master, Vice Sect Master Li requests your presence.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Su Chen frowned.

    Li Chongshan rarely disturbed his research. It was very likely that there was something important that required his attention.

    Su Chen left the rest of the cleanup to Iron Cliff and stepped outside.

    Li Chongshan was already there waiting.

    When he saw Su Chen, he wasted no time and said, ¡°I have cultivated my Yin to the point that I am beginning to sense Yang Energy. I believe I am not far from making a further breakthrough.¡±

    Su Chen was delighted. ¡°You¡¯re going to try and break into the Thought Manifestation Realm?¡±

    Afterpleting the eight Divine Pces, evolving one¡¯s Yin and Yang was a key step in breaking into the Thought Manifestation Realm.

    Li Chongshan saying that he was beginning to sense Yang Energy in the depths of his Yin meant that he had reached a critical point in breaking through.

    And the reason he hade in such a hurry to tell Su Chen was because he wanted Su Chen to watch him during the breakthrough process to better understand how to reach the Thought Manifestation Realm.

    Breaking into higher cultivation realms was an incredibly dangerous undertaking. Usually, having others nearby was considered taboo.

    However, without any referenceparison, Su Chen would have a very hard time developing the corresponding cultivation technique. This was obvious based on how touch it had been for him toplete the initial stages of the Light Shaking Realm cultivation technique. Achieving the Spirit Burning Realm was only possible because of his powerful consciousness and solid foundation. However, he could not bring this foundation to the next cultivation realm. As soon as Li Chongshan realized that he was close to breaking through, he immediately came looking for Su Chen.

    This was undoubtedly an important matter for Su Chen.

    ¡°Iron Cliff, bring me my Yang Extract Pill!¡± Su Chen said.

    Even though Su Chen hadn¡¯t ever fully researched how to break into the Thought Manifestation Realm, that didn¡¯t mean he was totally ignorant. The Boundless Sect had already issued rewards for people who could bring information on the process of breaking into the Thought Manifestation Realm. At this point, there was quite a bit of information gathered. Theoretically, Su Chen was already prepared.

    He had also refined a few medicine to increase the chances of sess - until he reached a point where he could create the bloodline-less technique, attempting to increase sess rates was not a bad option.

    This Yang Extract Pill was one such medicine Su Chen had prepared for this moment.¡±

    Li Chongshan was surprised. ¡°A pill? Not liquid medicine?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Do you remember when an explosion urred at the Divine Medicine Peak?¡±

    Li Chongshan thought for a moment before nodding. ¡°I remember. One of the disciples there identally used Cinnabar Mercury in the ce of Scarlet Lute Extract. When he stimted it with mes, the ensuing explosion almost killed him, and half the medicinal hall was destroyed. But you didn¡¯t punish him because of it. Could it be that......¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s when I discovered a few red pills left behind - crystallized byproducts of the failed refining process. In a moment of inspiration, I fed it to one of the ducks being raised near the kitchen. Guess what happened to it?¡±

    Li Chongshan was taken aback .¡±Is that what that Flying Midnight Duck thing is all about?¡±

    The evening that the medicinal hall explosion took ce, people began to talk about a strange flying duck that appeared to be flying through the air, quacking as it flew. But anyone who tried to find the duck failed to do so.

    Because there was an entire flock of ducks being raised there, no one could tell which duck was which.

    This duck supposedly flew around the Divine Medicine Peak for ten or so days. Every night, it would quack as it flew through the air, making it impossible for people to get enough rest. Eventually, it disappeared on its own, and henceforth became known as the Flying Midnight Duck.

    It wasn¡¯t a big issue, but the somewhatedic name stuck around.

    Li Chongshan immediately realized that Su Chen was probably the source of this wholemotion. No wonder no one had been able to make heads or tails of the whole situation.

    Su Chen gestured. ¡°I never would have expected the duck to suddenly be intelligent after I fed it the medicine, and it learned how to conceal itself. I secretly watched it as I continued to research the pills I had found. I discovered that those pills actually had a unique pattern on their surface, which I have deemed Pill Inscriptions. They probably urred by chance when these pills were formed, unintentionally imbuing them with Origin Energy conducting properties. This is also why the medicinal effects of these pills are particrly great. So what if I was able to also make these inscriptions on medicinal pills? That¡¯s what I began to experiment with.¡±

    ¡°So are you going to turn all our medicines into pills from now on?¡± Li Chongshan asked.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°The Pill Inscriptions on the surface of these pills have simr properties to Origin Formations. Different Pill Inscriptions result in different effects. You cannot do this with liquid-based medicines. If we have some sess with these Pill Inscriptions, then we might be forced to go down the path of pills in the future. But this is also quite a faraway achievement. Right now, my grasp on these Pill Inscriptions is quite limited.¡±

    Su Chen appeared to be incredibly casual when talking about this aplishment, but Li Chongshan was very impressed.

    It was impossible for him not to be impressed. Su Chen had not only developed the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques and extracted bloodlines in the form of Aspects, but now he was even going to create earth-shattering changes in the realm of alchemy.

    If Su Chen was really able to aplish what he had said he would do, it was entirely possible to imagine a world where pills would be substantially stronger. Many alchemists would probably hate Su Chen bitterly for this.

    There was nothing that he could do about it, though. Every cycle of change would always harm the old in some way.

    Even if those alchemists were willing to begin refining pills instead, they would need to learn from the beginning.

    This was virtually impossible for them to ept.

    But Su Chen wouldn¡¯t care about things like this.

    The pathway of development of the human race wouldn¡¯t be influenced by an individual¡¯s will or because some small group of individuals wouldn¡¯t be able to profit as much.

    But as for the present.

    It was time to watch Li Chongshan break into the Thought Manifestation Realm.

    A dayter, Li Chongshan seeded.

    The Boundless Sect finally possessed a Thought Manifestation Realm expert, and Su Chen finally was able to glean some personal insights into the breakthrough process. This would serve as a good foundation for his future research on the topic.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 3: Gathering

    Chapter 3: Gathering

    The appearance of a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator within the Boundless Sect was a big deal. Not long afterwards, another piece of good news began to circte: Shi Kaihuang had reached the Spirit Burning Realm.

    Shi Kaihuang had been stuck at the Light Shaking Realm for a few decades now. Given his mixed bloodline, his cultivation¡¯s maximum potential should have been the Light Shaking Realm. But after Su Chenpleted the fifth level of his Soaring Immortal Cultivation Techniques, Shi Kaihuang had also be able to ascend. However, the wounds he had sustained during his campaign in Ravager territory made it temporarily impossible for him to do so.

    Once Su Chen discovered Pill Inscriptions, however, he was able to use that in conjunction with the Origin Bone Scepter to devise a solution for Shi Kaihuang¡¯s ascension.

    Thus, while Shi Kaihuang was thest of the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s original seven heroes to reach the Spirit Burning Realm, his breakthrough also attracted the most attention.

    The day that he ascended, Su Chen organized arge celebratory banquet. All of the sect¡¯s disciples came to celebrate and have a merry time, and even Shi Kaihuang himself drank to the point of weeping, clutching Su Chen¡¯s hand as he blubbered incessantly. He hadpletely lost the prestige andposure that a master should have had, but that also indicated just how much this meant to him.

    Chu Yingwan was ultimately the person who had to drag him away.

    ¡°The old man was really excited tonight,¡± Gu Qingluo said to Su Chen after everyone had left, packed full of wine and cheer.

    Su Chen walked slowly through the flower garden, the scattered moonlight elegantly framing his face and back.

    ¡°I can understand why. For most of his life, he probably thought that reaching the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline was the highest peak. But at this point, we¡¯ve gone several levels above that, so I¡¯m not surprised that he seemed so out of sorts tonight.¡±

    ¡°Then what about you? Have you never felt excited about your own aplishments before?¡±

    It wasn¡¯t true that Su Chen wasn¡¯t excited about his aplishments, but Su Chen knew what kind of a foundation he was standing on. In addition to his incessant efforts, he also had the aid of his microscopic eye, the consciousness crystal, and the Origin Bone Scepter.

    The best artisan needs the best tools. These tools had yed a major role in Su Chen¡¯s ability to reap benefit after benefit in his research.

    And the microscopic eye was the beginning, the source of all of these tools that he possessed now.

    It was possible to argue that Su Chen had managed to obtain the consciousness crystal and the Origin Bone Scepter through his own efforts, but the microscopic eye was another matter entirely.

    Su Chen would never forget that snowy avenue or that old beggar. Even now, he had no idea who that old beggar truly was. For this reason, the old beggar had, in his mind, be an existence that perpetually stood at the top of a mountain.

    An insurmountable, unimaginablyrge mountain.

    Before Su Chen grasped where the peak of that mountain reached, he could only maintain his reverent attitude.

    Under these circumstances, any achievements that Su Chen made appearedmon byparison.

    Of course, Su Chen didn¡¯t want to say that aloud, so all he said in the end was, ¡°A human¡¯s life is long. There are too many things worth my time to research. Even right now, there are countless people above us, not to mention in the future. The Beast Sovereigns, Astral leaders, and Lord of the Dreamrealm are all such examples. With so many great existences before us, we must be sure to take one step at a time towards them...... The road before the Boundless Sect is still very long!¡±

    Su Chen had done quite a good job with his act. Even Gu Qingluo was amazed by Su Chen¡¯s eloquence.

    But a momentter, Su Chen changed the topic of conversation. ¡°Unfortunately, I wanted to continue my research a bit longer, but time won¡¯t wait for me.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s time already?¡± Gu Qingluo understood what he was referring to.

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°I received word from Eternal Night yesterday. He¡¯s already...... made all his preparations.¡±

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s eyes dimmed momentarily.

    After a moment, however, she smiled. ¡°Fine. There are always responsibilities that you must attend to. Well, I should go along with my husband to see just what those Oceanids and Astrals are up to. Will they be able to escape from your clutches?¡±

    Su Chen straightforwardly replied, ¡°Whether they can escape from my clutches, I don¡¯t know. But there¡¯s no way that they¡¯ll be able to escape from yours......¡±

    As he spoke, he pulled Gu Qingluo into his embrace.

    The room was filled yet again with air of springtime.

    At the same time, amand was officially issued from the Boundless Sect to all of the outside disciples, ordering them all to immediately return home.

    River Gazing City, within Refined Jade Pce.

    Xiao Changqing sat high in a seat of honor. Beside him sat Lord He, who excitedly praised, ¡°I have never seen anything like Prince Xiao¡¯s divine sword technique before. It¡¯s thanks to your actions that those Bear¡¯s Ear Mountain Bandits were wiped out.¡±

    Xiao Changqing calmly replied, ¡°Lord He, you¡¯re being far too polite. I just did what I could with my limited power.¡±

    The bandits upying Bear¡¯s Ear Mountain had established themselves quite solidly. They were incredibly slippery, which made it hard for the authorities to deal with them. Xiao Changqing had tailed them for nearly thirty days before finally locating their headquarters, which allowed him to capture them all. He had actually been quite seriously wounded during this battle as well.

    However, this was all quite worth it. From this day onwards, the title of ¡°captain of the guard¡± at Refined Jade Pce would belong to him.

    As expected, Lord He said, ¡°Prince is exceptionally talented for your age. I have full faith that I can ce my safety in your hands. From this day onwards, you will be the captain of the guard.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, I agree. Prince Xiao is really best suited for this position,¡± the various members of the pce said as they also offered their support.

    At that moment, a rainbow suddenly appeared in the sky, hanging over the gathering. The sight of it was quite beautiful.

    Just as everyone was wondering where the rainbow hade from, Xiao Changqing stood up, his expression strange. ¡°So it¡¯s finally happened?¡±

    Xiao Changqing stood and bowed to Lord He. ¡°My sincerest apologies, Lord He. It appears that my sect is summoning me. Unfortunately, I will not be able to fill this post at the moment.¡±

    ¡°Your sect is summoning you?¡± Everyone present was stunned.

    Lord He wanted to say something, but Xiao Changqing¡¯s figure had already disappeared. As for the thirty or so days that he had spent earning this title of ¡°captain of the guards,¡± he treated them like worthless refuse.

    Within Divine me Valley.

    Arge group of people were crowded together, as if they were waiting for something. asionally, the sounds of discussion could be hearding from the group.

    At the center of the valley was a sea ofva that roiled and bubbled endlessly.

    Within the sea of magma, one could see four small, peculiar flowers growing. Each one of them had a purple fruit growing from the end, swaying tantalizingly at any beholder. Below the fruit were a fewva lizards swimming around in the pool ofva, staring intently at the fruit.

    A strange fragrance began to permeate the valley, causing all those watching to grow agitated.

    ¡°The Red Magma Fruit is about to ripen. Everybody, make your preparations.¡±

    ¡°No one try and take it from me. That Red Magma Fruit is mine!¡±

    ¡°Forget about it. Cold Light Sword Ye Fenghan, Flying Crane Chang He, Moondeath Scythe Bai Wuxin, Red Powder Skull, and the Xiangjiang Swordsmen are all here. Do you really think that you and I can even participate?¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s to say we can¡¯t? We might be able to grasp an opportunity while they¡¯re fighting amongst themselves.¡±

    ¡°Do they look like they¡¯re going to fight amongst themselves?¡±

    Everyone suddenly fell silent.

    Seven or eight young people were standing on the closest rock. At the very front was Ye Fenghan.

    The new Frost Aspect that he had just acquired imbued every attack of his with the power of frost. Unfortunately, his opponents had no idea that this power was due to the Aspect, so they hade up with an alternate name for him: Cold Light Sword. How crass.

    Unfortunately, while there were many things he could decide, his nickname was not one of them.

    As he rested his hand on the hilt of his sword, Ye Fenghan said, ¡°It seems that no morerades are going to show up today. Let¡¯s go with the old rules.¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± said one of the brawny men standing next to Chang He. ¡°As soon as the Red Magma Fruit ripens, Chang He will be responsible for harvesting it, Yunniang for keeping theva lizards at bay, and we for fighting off the rest. We will naturally split the contribution points. Any objections?¡±

    ¡°None at all!¡± Everyone else agreed.

    The members of the Boundless Sect typically each did their own thing, but if they ever congregated, they would always work together.

    Su Chen highly valued teamwork. Any ambition that caused internal strife or stealing from the group would be heavily punished. As such, the members of the Boundless Sect all worked exceptionally well with each other because of this unified front.

    Even though there were hundreds of people gathered here, the seven or eight Boundless Sect disciples were more than capable of snatching the fruits from everyone else present.

    These fruits were treasures each worth a hundred contribution points.

    Even so, it was at that moment that the sky suddenly transformed.

    Everyone turned to gaze at the sky. The boundless cascade of light was indeed quite dazzling.

    Chang He said, ¡°The sect summon. What should we do? The Red Magma Fruits will ripen in half an hour.¡±

    Thedy nicknamed Red Powder Skull, or Yunniang, said, ¡°If the summons have been given, then the situation must be quite big. Forget the Red Magma Fruits.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Ye Fenghan didn¡¯t waste any time either, immediately taking action and flying off into the distance.

    The others followed closely behind,pletely giving up on the Red Magma Fruits and leaving behind the myriad groups of people who had merelye to try their luck. They stared at each other, unable toprehend what had just taken ce.

    Of course, while some didn¡¯t bother hiding their existence, others kept a low profile.

    Lockheart City, near Pass Below Vige.

    Wang Xinchao mmed arge hammer repeatedly onto a chunk of red-hot iron in front of him. The chunk of iron slowly began to take shape.

    While any onlooker would think that Wang Xinchao was smithing, he knew that he was actually cultivating his hammer skills.

    Demon-Imprisonment Hammer.

    Wang Xinchao hade up with the name himself, as this was not a hammer technique that was distributed by the Boundless Sect. Rather, he had invented it himself.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s Sect Master, Su Chen, wrote and distributed a book describing the principles of human cultivation. After Wang Xinchao read it, an almost fantastical thought had popped into his mind.

    Since he like smithing so much, then would it be possible for him to create a technique that embodied the art of smithing which would then belong solely to himself?

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s master had no problems with this kind of fantastical thought, but he did have a problem with people who were all talk and no action.

    This was why Wang Xinchao had sprung into action as soon as he came up with the idea.

    He had lived in Pass Below Vige for nearly three years now. In these three years, his mastery of the hammer had be much more solid, and he was bing more and more familiar with the use of the Demon-Imprisonment Hammer.

    Wang Xinchao could sense that a breakthrough wasn¡¯t far off.

    Today, Wang Xinchao was smithing a chunk of iron as always when a bright fiery sh suddenly filled the forge, as if it antern were glowing at Wang Xinchao¡¯s heart.

    In that moment, his perception rushed towards his heart. Wang Xinchao suddenly realized that many of the problems which had gued him for a long time were suddenly being solved. Not only that, but the joints in his body were also beginning to crack and creak.

    This was the result of trueprehension. Wang Xinchao¡¯s physical body was embracing these changes as best as it could.

    He had seeded!

    After three years of hard work, the butterfly had finally burst from its cocoon.

    Wang Xinchao was extremely delighted.

    Even so, it was at that moment that he noticed the sect summons.

    ¡°Sect summons? Is something big finally about to happen?¡± Wang Xinchao muttered to himself.

    He lowered his head to nce at the stove in front of him. It appeared that there was still some inspiration left to be gleaned here, but he had no idea how long that would take.

    But if he stopped here, it was impossible to estimate how much time it would take for him to reach this state ofprehension again.

    Even so......

    ¡°The matters of the sect are most important!¡± Wang Xinchao muttered to himself.

    He stepped out of the forge without looking back even once, eventually disappearing without a trace.

    On this day, people all over the Seven Countries disappeared like smoke, regardless of whether they were famous or not.

    The human kingdoms, which had been stirred significantly by the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples, gradually became peaceful once again.

    The experts that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere would be gone for a very long time......

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 4: Departure

    Chapter 4: Departure

    Today, the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain was unusually busy.

    Streaks could be seen flying across the sky constantly.

    Those were not shooting stars, but people - specifically, Origin Qi Schrs carrying freight around.

    No, not Origin Qi Schrs anymore.

    The people of the Boundless Sect liked to be called cultivators instead.

    After all, their cultivation base hade from their own human efforts, not as a blessing from the heavens.

    There was an exceptionally great number of cultivators present today.

    The ¡°shooting stars¡± would descend from the sky every so often onto designated tforms at the top of each peak. While the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples were allowed to fly as they pleased, they were forced tond at these designated tforms to prevent these descents from interfering with other peoples¡¯ business.

    Ye Fenghan had justnded when two Boundless Sect disciples ran to greet him. ¡°Greetings, Senior Martial Brother!¡±

    ¡°Greetings, Junior Martial Brothers. I am Ye Fenghan of the Concealed Cloud Hall.¡± Now that he had returned to the sect, there was no need for pretense any longer.

    One of the junior disciples said, ¡°Senior Martial Brother, you may report directly to the Concealed Cloud Hall. Hall Master Le is already there waiting for you.¡±

    Hall Master Le was naturally Le Feng, one of the 76 people that Su Chen had saved from Anubi¡¯s clutches in the past.

    After the Boundless Sect was established, Le Feng¡¯s stalwart personality, fierce loyalty, and burning zeal made him a good fit for this position. He was responsible for investigating and dealing with internal affairs, particrly disciples who broke the rules. Because of how seriously he took his job, there weren¡¯t many disciples who weren¡¯t afraid of him. He always wore a cold, icy expression on his face, which was how he came to be known as the Iron-Faced Hall Master.

    When Ye Fenghan arrived at the Concealed Cloud Hall, he found that it was already filled with people.

    Le Feng stood at the very front. He waspletely silent, as were the people assembled below him.

    Ye Fenghan silently walked towards his designated spot and stood there, waiting patiently.

    After an unknown period of time, Le Feng said, ¡°That¡¯s enough time. The ones who didn¡¯t make it on time will be put on guard duty. As for the rest of you......¡±

    Le Feng gestured, and streaks of light flew into the students¡¯ hands, one for each student.

    Ye Fenghan reached out and grabbed his streak of light, only to find that it was actually a signalling talisman, a bottle of medicinal pills, and a Grade Five Origin Tool.

    He had never seen the pills before, but the instructions on the side were quite clear. The pills were called Source Guiding Pills, an invention of the Sect Master himself. They would bolster one¡¯s cultivation base, each one equivalent to a month¡¯s cultivation time. There were a total of twelve pills in the vial, meaning that the vial contained an equivalent of a year¡¯s worth of cultivation materials. This was the basis for their distribution.

    Any pills that could save a cultivator a year¡¯s time was obviously incredibly valuable.

    When paired with a costly Grade Five Origin Tool, it was obvious that this package was a rare collection of treasures.

    And this was only the initial package given to everyone before the mission started?

    So if they managed to sessfullyplete the mission, what would the rewards look like?

    Ye Fenghan couldn¡¯t help but feel his excitement begin to grow.

    The signalling talisman contained information about the mission they were about to embark on. With a single nce, Ye Fenghan was able to capture the most important details that he needed to be aware of.

    So this was his mission?

    The directive hadn¡¯t specified how they were meant to carry out the mission, but any talented underling would only think about how to aplish the mission, not why they were being asked to aplish it.

    With but a simple gesture, the directive turned to ash.

    ¡°Does everyone understand what they should do next?¡± Le Feng asked.

    ¡°Understood!¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t have any more questions, then go and make your preparations.¡±

    ¡°Hall Master, I have a question!¡± Ye Fenghan raised his hand after a moment¡¯s thought.

    During his travels these past few years, Ye Fenghan had managed to store up some treasures of his own, and he already had a Grade Four sword. Another Grade Five Origin Tool was a bit overkill.

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    ¡°May I exchange my pills and Origin Tool for something else?¡±

    Le Feng nodded. ¡°All of these items are worth contribution points. If you don¡¯t want them, you can exchange them for a corresponding number of contribution points and then pick whatever else you want. However, your cultivation base is your own, so you shouldn¡¯t rely on too many outward crutches. I rmend that you only exchange the Origin Tool. It would be better to keep the pills for yourself.¡±

    Everyone was delighted when they heard this.

    This way, they could all choose a setup that would meet their needs without fear of being wasteful.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t have any more pressing questions, you all are dismissed. Feel free to leave whenever necessary.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± the disciples all replied at the same time.

    The crowd dispersed. There were a few groups of people who appeared to be huddling and telling each other to take care of themselves.

    After leaving the main hall, Ye Fenghan headed for the Achievement Hall, which was the ce where he could turn in his contribution points for other things.

    After turning in the Grade Five Origin Tool, he had around three hundred contribution points in total. Most of the contribution points he had earlier had been spent on the Frost Aspect already.

    What could he get for three hundred contribution points?

    Ye Fenghan was a bit stymied.

    ¡°What? Finding it hard to choose?¡± a voice spoke from behind him.

    Ye Fenghan didn¡¯t even bother turning around and replied, ¡°Yes. There¡¯s too many good things, but I don¡¯t have enough money. Three hundred contribution points is a hard number to work with!¡±

    ¡°Your body technique and sword technique all rely on agility and lightness, while your Frost Aspect can slow your opponents down. This allows your agility to be even more apparent. But only pursuing one aspect is not necessarily a good thing. After all, a real fight is not like an arenapetition. Lacking any major ws is often more important than being incredibly strong in one aspect. Why not choose this Silkworm Armor? It¡¯s light, so it won¡¯t affect your speed, and its defensive propertiese not from the silk itself but from the defensive Arcana Techniques imbued into it. The armor can unleash three defensive barriers to shield you from fatal harm. Even though it only has a limited number of uses, given your particrbat style, it would probably be rare for you to be struck by a potentially fatal attack more than once. It seems to suit you quite well.¡±

    ¡°Not bad, not bad!¡± Ye Fenghan said happily. ¡°Many thanks for your guidance, brother.¡±

    He turned around to demonstrate his thanks but froze in ce.

    Howe the person standing behind him appeared so familiar?

    He rubbed his eyes before yelping, ¡°Sect Master?¡±

    So the person giving him pointers was the Sect Master, Su Chen.

    Su Chen smiled slightly and nodded at him. The people around appeared to notice as well and came over to pay their respects to the Sect Master.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to pay any attention to me, everyone. Just do what you were doing before. If there¡¯s anything you don¡¯t understand, feel free to ask,¡± Su Chen said with a slight smile.

    He had onlye over out of sheer curiosity to take a look and happened to run into Ye Fenghan, who couldn¡¯t make up his mind, which was also why he had made the suggestion. He didn¡¯t mind staying a little longer to offer some more suggestions; after all, given his perception and experience, he was easily able to determine the condition of his disciples and make the appropriate suggestion.

    After providing some more pointers, Su Chen left.

    He returned to the Heaven-Upholding Peak, where a massive pce had been constructed. Countless people were streaming in and out of the pce¡¯s entrance, carrying items and resources with them. In front of the pce sat eight gigantic flying boats.

    Su Chen and Cloud Leopard were responsible formanding these boats.

    When Cloud Leopard saw Su Chen arrive, he said, ¡°We¡¯re almost ready to head out.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Su Chen said calmly as he nced at the pce behind him. ¡°Who knows how long it will be when we return.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Wenchang will take good care of this ce,¡± Shi Kaihuang said as he stroked his beard.

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Since we¡¯re done here, let¡¯s head out.¡±

    Once Su Chen had given the signal, a low, mourning call of a bull¡¯s horn could be heard reverberating through the sky.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples all knew that the time to spring into action hade when they heard the signal. They all began to fly towards Sky-Upholding Peak, with some entering the pce and some entering the boat.

    The eight massive dragon boats began to ascend, carrying the cultivators inside, as well as the pce behind it, into the sky.

    A majestic, imposing army was thus transported into the sky.

    Su Chen, Gu Qingluo, Li Chongshan, Shi Kaihuang, Cloud Leopard, and a bunch of others flew to the top of the pce and stood there, rising steadily along with it. The Sky-Upholding Peak began to shrink before it disappeared behind a cloud.

    Su Chen nced behind him before saying calmly, ¡°Set out for target destination...... Unlimited Sea City.¡±

    ¡°Set out for target destination Unlimited Sea City!¡±

    Oommmm!!!

    The signal once again rang through the sky. All of the dragon boats began to rumble forwards towards the target destination.

    Of course, not all of the disciples had boarded the dragon boats.

    Apart from the disciples responsible for guarding the sect, there were also a few who had been assigned to carry out secret, individual missions.

    Ye Fenghan was one of those disciples.

    He nced up in the sky and watched as the dragon boats and pce disappeared from view before putting away everything in his Origin Ring. Then, he began to walk down the mountain.

    His target destination was also the Unlimited Sea City, but a slightly different region of it.

    Just as he was walking, he suddenly heard a voice call out from behind him. ¡°Wait up! Hey! Wait for me!¡±

    It was Chang He.

    Ye Fenghan shot him a nce. ¡°What are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t bring it up. My mission is to head for the Thousand Illusions Ind to gather some secret information. I will need to go alone. What about you?¡± Chang He said without much of an attempt at secrecy.

    Ye Fenghan shook his head. ¡°All individual missions are meant to be kept aplete secret. You broke the rule already.¡±

    ¡°Hey, I only told you cause we¡¯re friends,¡± Chang He said casually.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t report you. This is the only exception I¡¯m going to make,¡± Ye Fenghan said coldly.

    Chang He stuck his tongue out. ¡°No wonder you wanted the Frost Aspect. You¡¯re just a chunk of ice yourself! Your organs must be frozen solid!¡±

    Ye Fenghan ignored him and began to walk away. Chang He, however, followed along close behind, chattering the whole time.

    They had known each other for some time know and were familiar with each others¡¯ tempers. Ye Fenghan ignored Chang He¡¯s constant barrage of chatter, while Chang He ignored Ye Fenghan¡¯s ignoring of him.

    They got along quite well.

    But just as they were walking, they heard a shrill shriek.

    This shriek sounded like it hade from above them. When they nced up at the source of the scream, they found a humanoid figure tumbling towards them at startling speeds.

    ¡°Careful!¡± Chang He yelled as the two of them sidestepped simultaneously.

    The humanoid figure mmed hard into the ground.

    Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a young maiden.

    ¡°Ouchie!¡± The maiden crawled to her feet as she massaged her midsection.

    Then, she shot them a vicious re. ¡°Hey, what¡¯s wrong with you guys! Why didn¡¯t you try and catch me?¡±

    Ye Fenghan and Chang He nced at each other.

    Chang He spoke. ¡°Miss, how were we to know if you were an enemy or an ally? Also, it¡¯s not every day that you see a person fall from the sky. It shouldn¡¯t surprise you that we weren¡¯t able to react in time. But how did you get up there?¡±

    The maiden shot them a re. ¡°Nonsense. I¡¯m a Light Shaking Realm cultivator. Of course I flew! Is it that strange?¡±

    ¡°Then how did youe down?¡±

    The maiden¡¯s expression fell as she said with some reluctance and embarrassment, ¡°...... I didn¡¯t control my flight well.¡±

    ......

    What an unbelievable reason.

    Light Shaking Realm cultivators were still regarded as powerful people, but it was their first time seeing such

    Ye Fenghan was the first to speak. ¡°Miss, you aren¡¯t part of the Boundless Sect, are you?¡±

    ¡°No. What about it?¡± the maiden replied, rubbing her calves.

    ¡°If you aren¡¯t, then please return. The Boundless Sect ispletely closed to visitors today.¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t do! Su Chen invited me here personally.¡± The maiden almost immediately bounced to her feet.

    The Sect Master?

    The two of them nced at each other.

    ¡°May I ask what your name is, Miss?¡± Ye Fenghan asked.

    ¡°My name is Night Demon,¡± the maiden replied with a smile. ¡°Go and ask Su Chen. He¡¯ll know who I am.¡±

    Ye Fenghan and Chang He nced at each other before saying, ¡°There¡¯s no need for that. We know who you are too!¡±

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 5: Arrival at Water Sheen

    Chapter 5: Arrival at Water Sheen

    ¡°So I¡¯m pretty famous in the Boundless Sect, then?¡±

    Night Demon was quite curious about the state of affairs as she followed Chang He and Ye Fenghan behind.

    ¡°Well, you could say that,¡± Chang He said quietly. After all, he was never much for talking.

    Chang He would never tell her that her reputation amongst the Boundless Sect was great only because Sect Master Su Chen had specifically mentioned that a ditzy, airheaded youngdy was going toe looking for him. She would even openly dere her identity without bothering to bring along any official identification.

    He had anticipated her arrival a long time ago, but didn¡¯t bother waiting for her and left.

    Yes, Su Chen had left early on purpose.

    Well, not early. He knew that she was going to bete, but didn¡¯t bother waiting for her and left on his own first.

    Because he knew exactly what Night Demon was here to talk with him about.

    There was nothing surprising about this. The Origin Bone Scepter¡¯s predictive abilities were astounding. A small prediction about someone like Night Demon was not a problem at all.

    As such, Su Chen had no intention of dying once he realized that Night Demon wasing. He had merely arranged a few things with a few sentences and then left.

    ¡°So Su Chen¡¯s gone? I sent him a letter earlier telling him to wait for me, since there was important business for us to discuss, but he just left anyways!¡± Night Demon was enraged.

    Ye Fenghan pretended not to hear anything, while Chang He yed along. ¡°Miss Night, you misunderstand our Sect Master. Our Sect Master has too many things going on at the same time right now and really doesn¡¯t have the time to wait for people. And it seems that Sect Master already knows about what you came to talk about - he wanted us to tell you that he is in control of the situation and that you don¡¯t need to worry about him. Miss, it would be best for you to return where you came from.¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t do at all. What does he mean, in control of the situation? He needs to at least give me a yes or no,¡± Night Demon said as she put her hands on her hips. ¡°I didn¡¯te all this way just to hear him tell me ¡®he¡¯s in control of the situation,¡¯ okay?¡±

    ¡°This......¡± Chang He¡¯s expression was filled with embarrassment.

    Ye Fenghan said frostily, ¡°The Sect Master has already left. If you aren¡¯t happy about it, you can go look for him yourself. We have already fulfilled our duty by rying his words to you.¡±

    After he finished speaking, he turned around and left, not ncing at Night Demon a single time.

    ¡°Hey, what are you trying to say?¡± Night Demon red at him.

    Ye Fenghan was totally unperturbed.

    Chang He hurriedly attempted to make amends. ¡°This...... He just meant that we cannot stop you if you are insistent on trying to search for the Sect Master. But we have many things to attend to as well, so we cannot apany you.¡±

    As he spoke, he also turned around to leave.

    Unexpectedly, Night Demon appeared to have recovered from her initial shock. ¡°Absolutely not! You must bring me to meet Su Chen.¡±

    ¡°How can we do that?¡± Chang He said bitterly. ¡°We have our own missions toplete as well. None of us have the time to apany you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s easy. I¡¯ll help youplete your missions, and then you can take me to go look for Su Chen,¡± Night Demon said with extreme self-confidence.

    ¡°This...... Is this really appropriate?¡± Chang He nced at Night Demon, then at Ye Fenghan.

    Ye Fenghan frowned and was just about to reject her proposal when Night Demon continued, ¡°If you don¡¯t agree, I¡¯ll just keep following you around and make sure that you won¡¯t be able to do anything right.¡±

    ......

    Miss, can you not be so unreasonable?

    Ye Fenghan harrumphed and flew into the air.

    Chang He was momentarily taken aback before he followed suit, shooting into the sky.

    ¡°Want to get rid of me?¡± Night Demon didn¡¯t appear agitated as sheughed coldly. ¡°There¡¯s been many bastards who have tried to leave me behind so they can do things on their own, but which one of them seeded?¡±

    She shot into the air, chasing after the two people.

    Even though she was dim-witted and couldn¡¯t even fly properly, she was really fast.

    Ye Fenghan and Chang He tried a few different evasion techniques, repeatedly increasing their speed, but found that all of their efforts were to no avail.

    She even had the spare energy to chirp, ¡°It¡¯s not going to be of any use! I¡¯ve learned three different kinds of high-quality body techniques, and one of them was even specifically created by your Sect Master for me to use! There¡¯s no way anyone at my cultivation level will be faster than me.¡±

    The two of them groaned when they heard this.

    Sect Master, how could you treat us this way?

    Even so, the reality was that they werepletely unable to leave Night Demon behind.

    After nearly a day¡¯s worth of flying, they found that Night Demon was still on their tail.

    At this point, they were exhausted and needed to rest, while Night Demon was still bouncing around, full of energy.

    It wasn¡¯t that her energy stores were more abundant than theirs, but simply that she had more pills she could consume.

    When the two of them saw the round pills in her possession, they immediately knew that the Sect Master had given those to her as well.

    They groaned, cursing their misfortune. How could they have been unlucky enough to run into them?

    Most importantly, she was the friend of the Sect Master. There was no way they could attack her just because they couldn¡¯t shake her off.

    Chang He could only admit defeat. ¡°Are you sure that you will help usplete our mission first?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Night Demon nodded.

    ¡°Hey, I think we don¡¯t have any choice,¡± Chang He said to Ye Fenghan.

    ¡°Her? Really? Are you sure she won¡¯t hold us down?¡± Ye Fenghan was still a bit worried.

    ¡°She¡¯s still a Light Shaking Realm cultivators. Three is still better than two.¡± Chang He attempted to smooth over the situation with some simple logic.

    Ye Fenghan had always felt that this logic didn¡¯t really make much sense.

    His intuition was correct this time around, but he had no idea how badly his analysis was going to be off.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, he finally agreed even if he felt like she would only slow them down.

    ¡°That¡¯s more like it!¡± Night Demonughed when she heard.

    But based on how excited she appeared, and the Sect Master¡¯s ¡°escape¡±, Ye Fenghan couldn¡¯t shake that ufortable feeling rising in his heart.

    ¡°They¡¯ve probably met at this point,¡± Su Chen muttered atop the boat.

    Since he could predict that Night Demon was going toe looking for him, he could also predict who she was going to run into.

    Ye Fenghan and Chang He were two pretty good kids. With them around, Night Demon would be in good hands. But their missions were probably going to be affected. Naturally, Su Chen would send other people to fill in that gap.

    It was, of course, best, if they couldplete their mission, but it wouldn¡¯t affect the overall situation much.

    Actually, no single mission would affect the overall situation much, because the entire Boundless Sect had been called into action.

    This was something Su Chen had learned after his exchange with Eternal Night.

    Back then, Su Chen relied on his own skill, but he was only a single powerful individual. Now, however, he had be a skilledmander.

    Much of the knowledge and experience had been given to him by Eternal Night.

    On the one hand, they were enemies, but on the other hand they also had a master-student rtionship.

    Even though Su Chen believed that he had lost to Eternal Night, Eternal Night never felt like he had aplished something great as a result.

    Even though Su Chen believed that he had lost to Eternal Night, Eternal Night never felt like he had aplished something great as a result.

    It wasn¡¯t just because he had been pushed to such an extent. Most importantly, Su Chen could still learn from him and continue to advance, but he would never be able to learn what Su Chen was proficient in, and his research would never elevate the strength of his entire race.

    This was why Su Chen was so valuable.

    They were both formidable opponents in each others¡¯ eyes. Even Eternal Night couldn¡¯t help but wonder whether sparing Su Chen in exchange for regaining Sky City¡¯s mobility was a mistake.

    In any case, under Eternal Night¡¯s influence, Su Chen¡¯s strategic arsenal had expanded significantly, and that also resulted in a different style of doing things.

    He was no longer operating alone, but by relying on the might of his entire sect.

    The dragon boats flew for twelve days straight.

    After twelve days, they arrived at Water Sheen.

    This was where the border of Water Sheen and the Oceanidsy.

    Thend north of the sea was part of Water Sheen territory. This territory was heavily veined with rivers criss-crossing in all directions, which was why it was also sometimes known as Marsh Country.

    The Deste Beast, Luo You, had relied on these rivers to get deep into human territory and unleash its massacre.

    Both Water Sheen and the Oceanids needed to fight back against the might of these Sea Beasts. For this reason, they were on quite good terms; after all, they were facing off against amon enemy.

    Upon arriving at Water Sheen, it became obvious that most of the buildings were constructed in elevated locations out of wooden materials. This was because every Sea Beast attack was apanied by a tsunami.

    The elevated position allowed them to avoid the tsunami, while the wooden houses allowed them to be quickly converted into boats.

    Water Sheen¡¯s boat-making skills were unparalleled. Their boats were incredibly nimble and agile and were genuinely meant to operate on water, unlike most Origin Qi Schrs¡¯ boats, which could fly.

    Building boats meant for water was much cheaper, and because Water Sheen was constantly under attack from the Sea Beasts, they had dug their rivers much deeper so that evenrge boats meant for open waters could navigate on the surface of these rivers.

    As such, tall, multi-storied boats could be seen everywhere.

    Thework of rivers and therge boat sizes meant that transporting cargo across the country was incredibly easy, and the transportationwork was incredibly well-developed. Even without the influence of the Deste Beasts, this ability to do business with incredibly low overhead was quite valuable.

    Perhaps this was also why flying boats were quite a rare sight across most of the country.

    When the Boundless Sect¡¯s shuttles descended from the sky, the bystanders watching all found themselves quite enraptured as they sighed in amazement.

    Just as the emperor guards the country, Water Sheen¡¯s capital was located right next to the sea.

    After four more days of travel, the Boundless Sect¡¯s fleet finally arrived at Mengxiang City.

    This city was built on top of the water, giving it a strange, unique kind of charm. Two-thirds of the city¡¯s surface was water, and many of the buildings were actually houseboats that floated on top of this surface. The octagonal city was surrounded on all sides by ocean, but the walls of the city extended all the way down into the seabed. The four main waterways leading into the city were packed with boatsing in and out of the city. One-third were fishing boats, one-third were merchant boats, and the remaining one-third were military vessels.

    In that sense, it was quite obvious how this country was different than the others.

    This country both took from and gave back to the sea.

    The sea provided them with an abundance of resources, but it also served as a brutal survival test.

    A group of people covered in scales could also be seen walking through the city.

    Those were the Oceanids.

    However, unlike the Ravagers, the Harpies, or the Astrals, the humans tolerated their presence.

    ¡°Wu......¡±

    The deep sound of a bugle echoed throughout the sky.

    A boat carrying a group of people began to ascend to the fleet of dragon boats in the sky.

    The person at the very front was Jiang Xishui himself.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 6: Renege

    Chapter 6: Renege

    ¡°I¡¯ve waited for you to show up for a long time.¡±

    Jiang Xishui weed them with open arms.

    Su Chen chuckled, ¡°Are you sure you¡¯ve been waiting, not fearing?¡±

    Jiang Xishui punched him on the arm. ¡°Are you mocking me?¡±

    Then, he sighed, ¡°But you are right. I¡¯ve been afraid. The more I think about your n, the more afraid I get.¡±

    Su Chen patted him on the shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it will get better.¡±

    ¡°You really have that much self-confidence?¡± Jiang Xishui asked.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m just saying that you¡¯ll get used to it,¡± Su Chen quipped.

    As they spoke, the fleet descended. ording to Water Sheen¡¯s rules, they would need to pay a visit to the pce first.

    The imperial pce was located in the southern region of Mengxiang City, and was connected to the neighboring city with a wide water passage, which allowed for the passage of massive boats.

    Su Chen stood at the front of the boat. He was surrounded by tall walls, in which were embedded plenty of cannons and crossbows.

    Sets of profound, metallic doors creaked open ominously, like a giant beast baring its maw.

    Because these doors were designed to deal with the Sea Beasts, they were exceptionallyrge and thick, so that even an Ultimate Emperor Realm expert would have a hard time breaking through.

    After passing through thirteen such checkpoints, they finally arrived at the imperial pce, where the country¡¯s ruler, Jaing Jusheng, was already waiting for him.

    Jiang Jusheng wore a purple robe. His cultured appearance made him look more like a schr than the ruler of a country.

    When he saw Su Chen, he greeted, ¡°I have heard of your name for a long time. It¡¯s my pleasure to finally meet you.¡±

    As he spoke, he bowed slightly to Su Chen in greeting.

    People of ancient times were respectful to the wise, especially if they were particrly famous.

    Su Chen had been given the nickname of Worldly Sage, and his reputation had spread far and wide at this point. It was only natural that Jiang Jusheng would act in this way.

    Of course, Su Chen still needed to give him face as well. ¡°I am not worthy of Your Majesty¡¯s warm greeting.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for being polite.¡± Jiang Jusheng put his hand on Su Chen¡¯s elbow. ¡°I truly have been waiting for you toe for a long time. It¡¯s my fortune to finally meet you today. Oh, this is my son, Shaohong. Shaohong, greet the visitor.¡±

    A young man wearing a fancy dragon robe bowed and said, ¡°Greetings, Sir.¡±

    His words appeared polite, but his tone wasced with dissatisfaction.

    Su Chen knew that this was the Crown Prince, Jiang Shaohong. He smiled slightly and said, ¡°Su Chen greets Crown Prince.¡±

    Jiang Shaohong replied neither warmly nor coldly, ¡°Worldly Sage Su Chen, I have heard many tales of your exploits. You have developed the bloodline-less cultivation techniques, revived the human race, traipsed all across Ravager territory, saved the Heavenly Might Battalion, and even sent the Harpies for a loop. You have quite a bit of ability.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Crown Prince, you tter me.¡±

    Jiang Shaohong said, ¡°I am not. Not only has Sir dealt with the foreign races, but you can even influence the Seven Kingdoms now. You even have a say in whomands our country¡¯s navy.

    Jiang Jusheng¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Shaohong!¡±

    Jiang Shaohong lowered his head and fell silent, but an unwilling expression was still written all over his face.

    Jiang Jusheng said, ¡°My apologies. You know how impetuous the youths can be.¡±

    Actually, Jiang Shaohong was older than Su Chen, but given Su Chen¡¯s status, no one would possibly dare treat him as a junior

    Even though Jiang Shaohong¡¯s actions were a bit rude, it was difficult for the Crown Prince not to disy any arrogance. In other words, this was the proper way for a Crown Prince to carry himself; being too heroic or magnanimous was equally strange.

    Not every ruler of a country needed to be heroic and noble. Some were mediocre, while others were geniuses. It really was quite hard to say.

    Jiang Shaohong was definitely not mediocre, but he definitely had no shortage of arrogance and ego.

    This was why he had so openly demonstrated his distaste for Su Chen.

    He was unhappy because Su Chen had broken the traditional rules of Water Sheen by nominating Jiang Xishui for Commander-In-Chief of the Subdued Sea branch of the navy.

    Even though Su Chen had paid a tremendous price to aplish this, Jiang Shaohong didn¡¯t care what price Su Chen had paid. After all, he was the one being damaged by this exchange; none of the benefits would go to him.

    He had more than enough reason to be unhappy with Su Chen.

    Perhaps this was also why Jiang Jusheng hadn¡¯t said much else other than warning Jiang Shaohong.

    Upon entering the hall, Jiang Jusheng revealed arge spread that he had already prepared for Su Chen.

    The two parties sat down before Jiang Jusheng said, ¡°Are you still here to discuss the same thing asst time?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Su Chen said with a nod. ¡°I¡¯d like to borrow the Subdued Sea branch of the navy.¡±

    ¡°What for?¡±

    ¡°Embarking on an expedition to the sea in order to fight some Sea Beasts.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re just fighting some Sea Beasts, we¡¯ve been doing that the whole time.¡±

    ¡°I need to do it my way.¡±

    ¡°Tell me how. It¡¯s not something we won¡¯t consider.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing to tell. It¡¯s a temporary secret.¡±

    Jiang Jusheng fell silent.

    After a long while, he said, ¡°The Subdued Sea branch is a crucial part of our military strength. It cannot be lost.¡±

    Su Chen calmly replied. ¡°That¡¯s why I paid enough to purchase the entire branch in the first ce.¡±

    Five years ago, in order to convince Jiang Jusheng to ce Jiang Xishui inmand of the Subdued Sea branch so that he would be able to borrow them, Su Chen had given them a sizable amount of benefits.

    These included an improved version of the Jiang n¡¯s bloodline, a few secret techniques that had been upgraded, some rare cultivation resources, and arge amount of money.

    Just because Su Chen didn¡¯t use money didn¡¯t mean that it wasn¡¯t important. Many of the continent¡¯s cultivation resources were still purchased using money.

    Any suchmodity that could be traded was useful.

    Water Sheen wasn¡¯t exactly strapped for cash, but any emperor was always in need of more resources.

    The more money they had, the more areas they needed to spend on.

    Su Chen¡¯s deposit was not enough topletely rebuild the Subdued Sea branch from scratch, but it was at least enough to rebuild half of it.

    Of course, Jiang Jusheng would not have agreed to sell the branch even if Su Chen had offered enough money. An army was an army, and their value was not measurable by money alone.

    But he could consider allowing Su Chen to use them for a certain period of time.

    Especially if the other party was going to pay up front and use the armyter.

    Jiang Jusheng was happy to agree to Su Chen¡¯s conditions.

    Five years passed just like that.

    Su Chen hade to Water Sheen to im what was rightfully his - what Jiang Jusheng had promised to give him.

    But it appeared that Jiang Jusheng wasn¡¯t nning on just giving it to him painlessly.

    After some time, Jiang Jusheng said, ¡°I can lend you the Subdued Sea branch, but only under a few conditions.¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t take the bait. He said, ¡°I thought that we had agreed on all the conditions five years ago.¡±

    Jiang Shaohong immediately said, ¡°That was then, but this is now. How can you even mention them in the same sentence?¡±

    Su Chen nced at him, then at Jiang Jusheng. Jiang Jusheng made no attempt to stop the Crown Prince from speaking.

    Su Chen understood what was happening.

    He said, ¡°What are your conditions, Your Highness?¡±

    ¡°You may use them for a year, but you must make sure to bring back at least eighty percent of them back alive. The deposit will be five billion Origin Stones, and if less return with you, we will deduct ordingly,¡± Jiang Shaohong said quickly.

    It seemed that they had prepared these conditions some time ago.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Your Highness, are you joking?¡±

    ¡°Do I look like I¡¯m joking?¡± Jiang Shaohong jutted out his chin.

    Su Chen ignored him, turning instead to face Jiang Jusheng. ¡°Your Majesty, we had agreed earlier on a loan period of three years for two billion Origin Stones. In return, I promised that I would bring back at least seventy percent of the army with me, with penalties if I failed to do so. Howe the conditions have suddenly changed? And now there is a huge discrepancy. Are you nning on opening your greedy mouth now?¡±

    Jiang Jusheng sighed. ¡°Prince Su, please understand my position. I am the emperor of Water Sheen, and my responsibility is to guard the entrance into human territory. That is not a light responsibility!¡±

    Su Chen coldly said, ¡°The human race is constantly under attack from all fronts by the Ravagers, the Harpies, the Beasts, and the Astrals. Which of the seven countries have it easy? If Your Majesty felt that the agreement was untenable, you didn¡¯t have to agree. It doesn¡¯t look good to go back on your word now.¡±

    ¡°How is this going back on our word?¡± Jiang Shaohong arched his eyebrow. ¡°We¡¯re just changing the conditions slightly. This is not at all excessive.¡±

    Su chen said bluntly, ¡°I think it¡¯s extremely excessive. It seems that Water Sheen has no intentions of cooperating with me any longer. If that¡¯s the case, then I won¡¯t need to borrow the Subdued Sea branch any longer. Please return to me the money that I had given to you previously.¡±

    Jiang Shaohong immediately said, ¡°You don¡¯t have to borrow the navy, but we have already used up the money you have given to us and won¡¯t be able to return it all.¡±

    At this rate, they would soon be publicly reneging on their debt.

    Su Chen nced at Jiang Shaohong. ¡°Won¡¯t be able to return it?¡±

    He turned to face Jiang Jusheng. ¡°Your Majesty, are you nning on reneging on your debt?¡±

    ¡°How am I reneging?¡± Jiang Jusheng replied calmly. ¡°If you won¡¯t borrow our services, we can repay you, but it will take some time.¡±

    Su Chen asked, ¡°How much time?¡±

    Jiang Shaohong chuckled, ¡°I imagine it would probably take about a hundred years or so.¡±

    Everyone was stunned when they heard this.

    Jiang Xishui also grew agitated. ¡°Father!¡±

    Jiang Jusheng shot him a fierce re.

    ¡°A hundred years?¡± Su Chen was greatly amused. ¡°You¡¯ve really nned this out, haven¡¯t you? I didn¡¯t even ask you to pay me interest for my five year loan, but it¡¯s going to take you a hundred years to pay me back my initial investment?¡±

    Jiang Shaohong calmly replied, ¡°Watch what you say. We at least fulfilled part of our bargain, and that should be enough to offset the cost.¡±

    ¡°What part of the bargain?¡±

    Jiang Shaohong jutted out his chin. ¡°Of course, we made my younger brothermander of the Subdued Sea branch. Wasn¡¯t that part of the agreement? He has already been themander for five years, so our dying is not too excessive.¡±

    Not excessive! Su Chen was so angry that he began tough.

    He nced at Jiang Xishui.

    Jiang Xishui immediately stood. ¡°Eldest brother, what are you doing?¡±

    ¡°You still don¡¯t understand?¡± Jiang Shaohong red at Jiang Xishui. ¡°You colluded with an outsider to take control of the navy, and thus the entire country.

    Jiang Shaohong mmed his palm on the table and stood up.

    Jiang Xishui stared at his own brother, hurt. ¡°Eldest brother, you know I¡¯m not like that. I have never had any ambition for the throne.¡±

    Jiang Shaohong harrumphed, ¡°You may not have ambition, but who knows about the people by your side? Sometimes, the decision isn¡¯t up to you!¡±

    As he spoke, his gaze drifted towards Ji Hanyan.

    So he was apprehensive about Ji Hanyan?

    Well, that made sense.

    Ji Hanyan was a woman who did as she pleased.

    Was there anything wrong with cing particr care on this kind of woman?

    Bang!

    Suddenly, at that moment, a clear nging sound interrupted Jiang Shaohong¡¯s words.

    A cup of fragrant wine mmed into Jiang Shaohong¡¯s head. Wine poured down his head, covering his entire body.

    Even with Jiang Shaohong¡¯s skill, he was still unable to dodge in time.

    ¡°You?¡± He stared

    Ji Hanyan calmly retracted the cup in her hand as she coldly spat, ¡°Trash!¡±

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 7: On the Verge

    Chapter 7: On the Verge

    ¡°Trash!¡±

    Ji Hanyan¡¯s insultpletely ignored the Crown Prince¡¯s prestige. Her cold, disdainful temperament had once again reared her ugly head.

    Even Su Chen was taken aback by her actions.

    She was still so vicious even though she was a married woman.

    Jiang Shaohong was about to explode when Su Chen suddenly interjected, ¡°Fine, then a hundred years it is.¡±

    What?

    Everyone stared at Su Chen in surprise.

    Su Chen calmly said, ¡°Since you want to return my debt to me in a hundred years, then fine. I won¡¯t ever bring up the matter of borrowing the navy again. Let¡¯s leave!¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he turned around to leave.

    Jiang Jusheng immediately barked, ¡°Sir Su, please wait a moment!¡±

    Su Chen remained standing with his hands held rigidly behind his back. ¡°Is there anything else you need?¡±

    Jiang Jusheng said, ¡°You havee a long way as our guest. Why not stay here at the imperial pce with me for some time?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need. I have other business to attend to, so I shouldn¡¯t stay for long.¡± Su Chen straightforwardly rejected his offer.

    Jiang Jusheng smiled emotionlessly. ¡°What if I insist?¡±

    Su Chen squinted his eyes. ¡°Your Majesty, are you nning on arresting me in addition to reneging on your debt?¡±

    Jiang Jusheng calmly said, ¡°Worldly Sage Su¡¯s knowledge is vast. Having you is equivalent to having an extra branch of the navy. If I didn¡¯t try to convince you to stay, then that would be letting the citizens of my country down.¡±

    As he spoke, the doors to the hall slowly creaked open, and countless soldiers poured into the room. There were even a number of Spirit Burning Realm experts among them.

    ¡°Father!¡± Jiang Xishui yelled in despair.

    ¡°Shut your mouth. Do you have any right toment on affairs rted to the kingdom? I am just looking out for Water Sheen Country is all,¡± Jiang Jusheng said straightforwardly.

    Su Chen sighed regretfully. ¡°I just worry that you will take the wrong path and bring disaster upon your own head instead.¡±

    Jiang Jusheng replied, ¡°That¡¯s exactly why I¡¯d like you to stay! I have never underestimated your strength. You probably weren¡¯t sincere about being willing to wait a hundred years for us to return our debt, were you?¡±

    Jiang Jusheng could tell that Su Chen had only been pretending to agree so that he could escape from a dangerous situation.

    This was why he was even more determined to get Su Chen to stay.

    He could not allow Su Chen to leave!

    Even though he had no idea how powerful the Boundless Sect was right now, Su Chen alone was worth taking very seriously.

    Jiang Jusheng didn¡¯t want his kingdom to be the next Ravager or Harpy territory, so he needed to be as prudent as possible.

    The pressure he was exerting had clearly increased because of this overt disy of force. Even though they were still inside, it felt as if storm clouds were forming around them.

    However, Su Chen remained calm, and his expression was as still as water. ¡°Do you really think that this is enough to keep me here?¡±

    Jiang Jusheng chuckled. ¡°I understand, Sir Su. Sir Su possesses the Light Shaking Phantom, and if you want to leave, then no one here will be able to stop you. However, I have nheless set up a spatial lockdown formation here, so you might not find it as easy to use Light Shaking Phantom. Of course, you can always leave through the front door. Even if I am at the Ultimate Emperor Realm, I might not be able to stop you. But do you think that your subordinates will be able to escape along with you?¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re trying to use my subordinates to pressure me?¡± Su Chen said coldly. ¡°This seems quite familiar.¡±

    Jiang Jusheng said with a smile, ¡°Eternal Night helped expose your weak points. You are a saint, not a tyrant, and certainly not a king. This is why the people around you make you weak.¡±

    Su Chen countered, ¡°So you thought that you could use them to threaten me? Why do you think that I would let something like that to happen a second time after Eternal Night clearly seeded once?¡±

    Jiang Jusheng was taken aback. ¡°It¡¯s not possible that they also learned the Light Shaking Phantom technique, right? As far as I can tell, that technique touches upon spatial method power, which is impossible to teach.¡±

    ¡°Your knowledge is quite impressive, but reality is not soplicated,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°No one can protect the people besides them forever. It¡¯s just that I just made my decision a long time ago. If I¡¯m going to be held back by the people around me, then I would rather fight by their side from the very beginning.¡±

    If he was going to be held back by the people around him, then it was better for him to fight by their side from the very start!

    This was Su Chen¡¯s way of learning from his previous losses.

    This was also why he had taken Gu Qingluo with him.

    From the moment that Eternal Night had entrapped Zhu Xianyao, that was the decision that he had made.

    Did Jiang Jusheng really think that he could threaten Su Chen with the lives of his subordinates?

    That was far too naive.

    Su Chen coldly stated, ¡°There are some things that I would rather not do because I had originally intended to use them for a more important target. However, if there is a person seeking death in front of me, I am not afraid to oblige them. Actually, this is not necessarily a bad thing either, as it¡¯ll give me some extra time.¡±

    As he spoke, he lifted his hand, and a streak of light shot forth from his hand, eventually forming a projection.

    The eight dragon boats andrge pce that Su Chen had brought with him were currently slowly climbing into the sky, and the pce¡¯s tightly shut doors had begun to open.

    What was going toe out of that pce?

    No one knew.

    Su Chen had used these past five years to consolidate his strength. Even though he had never directly revealed his true motive, he had dropped many hints throughout that time.

    His true target was a Sea Beast Sovereign.

    Could something that could deal with an existence like that also deal with the imperial pce?

    No one knew.

    Because the pce was ced so close to the border, it was fully capable of withstanding an attack from a Sea Beast Sovereign despite the fact that it was not as strong as Sky City.

    Would the walls be powerful enough to withstand the might that the Boundless Sect had been building up for the past five years?

    No one knew.

    Put simply, Jiang Jusheng didn¡¯t believe it could.

    He didn¡¯t believe that the strength that Su Chen had stored up for five years was capable of defeating the strength that Water Sheen had been umting throughout the past few millennia.

    However, he did know that Su Chen was no simple opponent, and neither was he an idiot.

    If he dared to target a Sea Beast Sovereign, then the might he was about to unleash was definitely at least strong enough to deal with such.

    This also meant that the imperial pce would have to consume arge amount of resources even if their defenses did manage to hold.

    Just because the imperial pce¡¯s walls could withstand the attack of a Sovereign didn¡¯t mean that it was easy. Sky City had paid a tremendous price to defeat a Deste Beast, both in terms of resources and manpower. In addition, their resulting weakness had almost tempted three neighboring human countries into attacking them.

    Even if the imperial pce was able to withstand Su Chen¡¯s attack, what would happen if a Sovereign showed up soon after?

    This was why Jiang Jusheng¡¯s expression also began to sink.

    Even so, he wouldn¡¯t give up just because Su Chen had made a few threats.

    Jiang Jusheng had made up his mind long ago.

    He shook his head. ¡°I believe that Sir Su has brought a powerful group along with him this time. However, it is only possible for you to withstand the might of the Sea Beasts by borrowing the Subdued Sea branch of our navy, while Water Sheen Country needs no such lending! That¡¯s why......¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why you think that there¡¯s nothing I can do to you, right?¡± Su Chen chuckled coldly. ¡°That¡¯s a very logical analysis. In your eyes, my needing to borrow troops became evidence of my weakness, and my concession became evidence of my incapability. Emperor Jiang, you must be quite proud.¡±

    His expression suddenly focused. ¡°I already told you that this is not necessarily a bad thing for me. I will have an excuse to dy for another five years once we start this battle. Even though I will have revealed more of my strength than I would have liked, and Eternal Night might get antsy, I will still benefit from this nheless.¡±

    As he spoke, he began to clench his fists. The pce and eight dragon boats in the remote image also began to tremble violently.

    Just as the Boundless Sect was actually about to demonstrate their full strength, a crisp, clear voice announced, ¡°Oceanid Princess Westminster has arrived!¡±

    When Su Chen heard this, he rxed his hand, forcibly halting the Boundless Sect¡¯s offensive momentum in its tracks.

    Even Jiang Jusheng was taken aback. ¡°Westminster? Why is she here?¡±

    Jiang Shaohong said agitatedly, ¡°Father?¡±

    His expression was filled with anxiety.

    Jiang Jusheng¡¯s expression was simrly dark. The two parties were at a tense standoff, and the tension in the air was palpable. It was obvious that a battle could break out at any moment.

    Jiang Jusheng let out a long sigh and said, ¡°Open the door and let the guests in.¡±

    Creak!

    The pce doors opened once again.

    Another group of people walked into the room.

    These people were slightly different in appearance from humans. Their entire body was shrouded in mist, giving them a hazy appearance and a mysterious aura. They were clearly Oceanids.

    The Freedom Wind flowed freely around them.

    Yes, this was the same Freedom Wind that the Oceanids had obtained from the Arcanists all those years ago.

    Strictly speaking, it was not a treasure, but rather a unique Arcana Technique that could only be activated under extremely harsh andplicated circumstances.

    It allowed the Oceanids to travel freely onnd.

    The Oceanids lived in the ocean. That was naturally the most suitable environment for them to live in.

    They, like humans, had a head, a body, and two arms. However, they also had a pair of fins on their back. Their skin was smooth and scaleless, but it was covered in a thin fat membrane, which increased their speed in the water.

    They had no hair, and they breathed through the pair of gills on either side of their face. Their eyes were covered and protected by a hardened film.

    They did bear some resemnce to humans, but their biological functions were also the most different.

    This made it hard for them to survive outside of water.

    That was, until they obtained the Freedom Wind.

    Unlike the other races who had grown stronger from the Arcanists¡¯ treasures, the Oceanids had fought bitterly to obtain the Freedom Wind because they knew from the beginning that they would not be able to change the environment they lived in with just one or two treasures.

    That was precisely why they chose a way of retreat as their prize instead, a treasure that would allow them to go ontond in desperate situations.

    The Freedom Wind ensured that the Oceanids would not be in danger of extinction no matter what kind of situation they were in.

    Throughout the countless millennia afterwards, the Oceanids had encountered countless tough spots, but they were always able to make it through because of their ability to return tond at the most crucial moments.

    By relying on the Freedom Wind, not only could the Oceanids leave the water as they pleased, but they could even disy the strength that they would normally possess in water. This made them quite adaptable to their environment.

    The one leading the envoy was the aforementioned Princess Westminster.

    Su Chen had heard of her before. She was an incredibly powerful individual amongst the Oceanids. All Oceanid females were particrly powerful, and she was their main representative.

    She was the daughter of the current leader of the Oceanids. At the age of thirteen, she had ughtered the Sea Beast, the Iron-Barbed Whale, making a name for herself as a powerful warrior. From this point alone, she was an incredibly skilled huntress.

    The Oceanids had no strength rankings, only hunter rankings. As long as they were able to hunt a powerful Sea Beasts, even the weaker Oceanids could achieve a high ranking. By the same token, strong Oceanids who weren¡¯t able to achieve any hunting results would never be acknowledged.

    Her status was second only to the Divine Sea Warrior, which clearly demonstrated her importance.

    And she had somehow decided to appear in this location.

    The first thing she said was, ¡°Your Majesty Jiang, aren¡¯t your actions tearing down the harmony between our races?¡±

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 8: Deep Sea Sorrow 1

    Chapter 8: Deep Sea Sorrow (1)

    Jiang Jusheng squinted. ¡°Princess Westminster, I should have gone out to personally greet you. Unfortunately, we have an important guest with us today, and I overlooked this matter. Please forgive me.¡±

    Princess Westminster stretched her neck, revealing the glittering scales that lined her neck.

    The Oceanids weren¡¯t born with scales, but they could cultivate them for defensive purposes.

    ¡°You know that¡¯s not what I¡¯m talking about. Sir Su came this time not for you, but for us Oceanids. Isn¡¯t it a bit inappropriate for you to keep our important guest here confined like this?¡± Westminster said.

    Jiang Jusheng replied with a smile, ¡°You know that he¡¯s here because of the Oceanids, but do you know why he cares so much about the Oceanids? Because of Neptune¡¯s Eye! Even though Su Chen never mentioned it, what he did in Harpy territory couldn¡¯t have escaped my notice. Why would Eternal Night let him go? Why would he contact me and you immediately after being released? The answer should be patently obvious if you think about it. Are you really okay with him having designs on the Neptune¡¯s Eye? I am dealing with him for both of our sake.¡±

    Everyone present was stunned. Jiang Xishui stared at Su Chen in disbelief. ¡°You¡¯re after Neptune¡¯s Eye?¡±

    Su Chen nodded slightly.

    ¡°How can that be allowed?¡±

    ¡°The Neptune¡¯s Eye is far too important.¡±

    ¡°If the Harpies get their hands on it, and Sky City regains its freedom of movement, the situation will change drastically.¡±

    ¡°For the sake of all the other races, we cannot let him seed.¡±

    The members of Water Sheen¡¯s imperial court all began to mor at the same time.

    None of them had mentioned anything about the sake of all the other races when they were nning on forcibly capturing him, but now they had seemingly found an opportunity to justify their actions - since they had sufficient reason, they could renege on their debt as openly as they pleased.

    However, Princess Westminster gave them no face.

    She said, ¡°I know, but this matter primarily concerns the Oceanids. It¡¯s not up to you to make the decisions for me, is it?¡±

    What?

    Everyone was stunned by her answer.

    Jiang Jusheng was taken aback. ¡°You know about his n? Did you guess it?¡±

    ¡°Su Chen never tried to hide it from us from the very beginning,¡± Westminster replied. ¡°This is also the reason why I am here today.¡±

    How was this possible?

    Everyone present had no idea what was going on and turned to stare at Su Chen.

    Su Chen calmly said, ¡°Soldiers are incredibly important tools for a country. Under normal circumstances, they would never be lent to other people for them to use. But didn¡¯t Your Majesty agree in the end? And now you are reneging on your debt.¡±

    Jiang Jusheng understood. ¡°You bought it?¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s probably more urate to call it an exchange,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Yes, an exchange!

    Su Chen had never nned on tricking the Oceanids in the first ce, or to try and steal Neptune¡¯s Eye from them.

    Firstly, the Oceanids weren¡¯t his enemy, so he didn¡¯t want to use the same tactics he had used against the Ravagers or the Harpies against them. Secondly, it would have been very difficult for him to steal Neptune¡¯s Eye in the first ce. The Harpies had schemed to try and steal it for millennia but had never seeded. All they did was ensure that the Oceanids would be even more on guard against these kinds of tactics.

    Su Chen considered himself one of the greatest thieves who had ever lived, but even he was totally helpless against these odds.

    But just because he couldn¡¯t steal it didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t buy it.

    There were very few things in this universe that were totally off-limits. Actually, the Oceanids probably would have sold Su Chen the Freedom Wind if he offered enough, let alone Neptune¡¯s Eye.

    Jiang Jusheng stared at Westminster in shock. ¡°How much did he offer you?¡±

    Westminster shook her head. ¡°He offered us something money cannot buy.¡±

    Jiang Jusheng appeared to understand somewhat. ¡°True. Neptune¡¯s Eye is not something you can buy with money alone. What did he promise you?¡±

    Westminster replied, ¡°He will exchange for it with the Deep Sea Sorrow.¡±

    Upon hearing this, everyone was stunned.

    It was necessary to mention the Oceanids¡¯ history when talking about the Deep Sea.

    The Oceanids¡¯ history began in the 60,000 year of the Ancient Era. Apparently, two massive Sea Origin Beasts had begun to fight with each other.

    The battlested a full three days and three nights. Finally, one of the Origin Beasts died, sinking to the depths of the ocean floor and attracting arge number of Beasts looking for a quick meal.

    A small leatherfish just so happened to ingest a small amount of that Origin Beast¡¯s essence. Under the influence of the Origin Energy contained inside, the fish began to gradually evolve.

    After twenty thousand years of evolution, a new Intelligent Race had appeared on the continent.

    These were the Oceanids.

    As sea-dwelling creatures, the Oceanids were actually quite powerful. In fact, of the five major Intelligent Races, it was probably no exaggeration to say that they were the strongest.

    They had an innate affinity for water, and they possessed the brute strength of a Ravager and the perception of a Harpy. They also possessed the potential of a human, but these attributes were all suppressed because of the terrible environment they lived in.

    Sea Beasts were more powerful than beasts that lived on thend, which countered the strength of the Oceanids.

    During the height of the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s power, the Oceanids had requested the Arcana Kingdom for help, hoping to discover a way to preserve themselves.

    Because the Arcana Kingdom was interested in the abundance of resources contained in the sea and happened to need a race to help them gatherrge quantities of the rare resources in the ocean, they reached an agreement with the Oceanids. This was the origin of the Freedom Wind. If the Oceanids ever came under heavy fire, they would be able to temporarily retreat from the ocean and arrive on thend. At the same time, the Oceanids would also be able to help alleviate some of the pressure the Arcana Kingdom was under by the Demonic Beasts onnd.

    But in order to ensure that they could keep their leverage over the Oceanids, the Arcanists didn¡¯t give the Freedom Wind to the Oceanids after creating it. Instead, they pretended that they hadn¡¯t yetpleted it and kept it for themselves, using it to exploit the Oceanids and their resources.

    Unfortunately, no secretsts forever. The Oceanids eventually discovered the truth and felt that they had been cheated.

    During the Chaos Era, the Arcana Kingdom fell into decline.

    The Eternal City was under attack from the Ravagers, the Dark Astrals, the Harpies, and the humans at the same time. One of the luckier Arcanist noble families - Imbry and his family - took the Freedom Wind and sought out the Oceanids for asylum.

    The Oceanids ughtered most of the Arcanists after taking the Freedom Wind for themselves as revenge for the deception they had suffered all those years ago.

    However, a young Arcanist was able to escape from that ughter. The Oceanids had no idea how much destruction that Arcanist would wreak upon them in theing days.

    In the 116th year of the New Star Era, the Oceanids established the Azure Kingdom - the first kingdom out of any of the Intelligent Races. They didn¡¯t need to worry about the reactions of any of the other Intelligent Races because they were the only ones living in the sea. The Sea Beasts couldn¡¯t have cared less if the Oceanids created a kingdom or not; they would continue to devour, ughter, and sleep as they pleased.

    During the 262nd year of the New Star Era, Sea Beast Mvis attacked Deep Sea City. Many Oceanid heroes died in defense of the city, but they were eventually able to kill Mvis as well.

    During the 313th year of the New Star Era, Sea Beast Grook attacked Deep Sea City. One of the Oceanid heroes sacrificed himself as a diversion to draw off Grook.

    During the 355th year of the New Star Era, a Beast Wave assaulted the city. The Oceanids fought bitterly and barely managed to hold on.

    From the year 245 to the year 420, a period of less than two hundred years, the Oceanids were attacked four times by Sea Beast Sovereigns and twelve times by Beast Waves. This rate of urrence was nearly five times the typical rate, and the Oceanids grew suspicious.

    Finally, in the year 421, a young Oceanid child named Shang Yue who was on a mischievous adventure stumbled across something. This was how the Oceanids discovered a unique apparatus lodged nearby.

    This apparatus could send out unique pulses that attracted the Sea Beasts.

    It was obvious that someone had intentionally nted it there.

    After discovering the sources of the fluctuations, the two-hundred-year period of intense assault the Oceanids had been forced to endure finally came to an end.

    Who exactly had initiated this chain of disasters was unknown, but the Oceanids knew that the Arcanists almost certainly had a hand.

    During the 565th year of the New Star Era, the Oceanids suddenly suffered from a shocking gue that wiped out arge group of Oceanids.

    Because of the lesson they had learned previously, the Oceanids handled the situation with great prudence, and eventually they discovered that it was in fact linked to the Arcanists.

    The Oceanids sentrge envoys to the shores in an attempt to find the cure. The young Shang Yue had grown up at this point, and he was yet again the one who had discovered the true nature of the illness. He was also able to discover the mastermind behind this disaster - Daniel Imbry, a remnant of the Imbry family who had managed to survive the massacre.

    No one expected this Arcanist kid to be such a talented cksmith. He was able to use his unique Arcana Techniques to carry out a n for revenge that spanned centuries. The Oceanids had paid a tremendous price as a result of his actions.

    Soon after, the Oceanids entered into a fierce conflict with Imbry.

    They were never able to catch him. Instead, they managed to destroy Imbry¡¯s troublemaking organization four separate times. One time, they even managed to gravely wound Imbry himself, but he was still able to escape.

    At this point, the little mischievous Shang Yue had grown up to be the leader of the Oceanids. He and Imbry exchanged blows countless times, and of the four times that Imbry found his home destroyed, Shang Yue was responsible for three of those urrences.

    Because of Imbry¡¯s desire for revenge, Shang Yue also had to endure no less than six assassination attempts from him.

    In the 2100th year of the New Star Era, Daniel Imbry attempted to assassinate Shang Yue on a routine patrol for the sixth time, seriously wounding him. However, Shang Yue pushed through the pain and continued to manage the Oceanids¡¯ affairs, and didn¡¯t relent in his battle of wits with Imbry. It wasn¡¯t untilter, when he received word that Daniel Imbry had passed away from his wounds, that Shang Yue let out a long final sigh and passed away as well.

    The storied conflict between two legendary heroes thus came to an end.

    However, no one expected the new story that would emerge.

    Daniel Imbry had died, but his student, Corniga, was still alive.

    This student had inherited Imbry¡¯s talent, wealth, and hatred. He became the next nightmare of the Oceanids.

    Unlike Daniel Imbry, Corniga¡¯s personality was much calmer and tenacious. He was never anxious for results; instead, he was the kind of person who could spend an entire lifetime just to achieve one specific goal.

    And that was exactly what he did.

    Unlike Daniel Imbry, who produced many sessful aplishments, Corniga only ever produced one. Even so, it was this aplishment that caused the Oceanids to suffer for over twenty thousand years.

    This aplishment was the Deep Sea Sorrow.

    Yes, the Deep Sea Sorrow was not a treasure, and it didn¡¯t really have any miraculous application.

    It was an instrument of revenge created by an Arcanist remnant with a belly full of hatred that had stolen hundreds of millions of Oceanid lives over the years. The wounds it had left behind cut deep in the hearts of the Oceanid citizens.

    The Deep Sea Sorrow was actually the Oceanids¡¯ sorrow.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 9: Deep Sea Sorrow 2

    Chapter 9: Deep Sea Sorrow (2)

    Deep Sea Sorrow was an instrument.

    It had a very simple use, and its behavior was basically the same as the item Daniel Imbry had created - to attract Sea Beasts, but with greater efficacy than before.

    Deep Sea Sorrow was many times more superior to the fluctuation instrument, however.

    The fluctuation instrument would create specially designed pulses that would attract the attention of powerful Sea Beasts.

    Once the Sea Beasts arrived, they would instinctively begin to swim around the area. asionally, they would swim to where the Oceanids¡¯ territory began, causing a great stir.

    But because the fluctuation instrument was a mechanical device, it could be found and destroyed. In addition, it could not control the actions of the Sea Beasts; it could only draw them to a certain location, but whether or not a fight broke out still depended on the whims of the Sea Beast.

    Deep Sea Sorrow, however, was different.

    This instrument was unique in that, like Freedom Wind, it was both a treasure and a powerful Arcana Technique at the same time.

    Not only could it direct Sea Beasts to a specific location, it could also control their movements and even facilitate their growth process.

    Yes, this instrument could also upgrade the power of the Sea Beasts.

    No one knew how Cornigo had managed to achieve this, but as long as the Sea Beasts grew up near the Deep Sea Sorrow, they would mature much more quickly.

    The Oceanids believed that it was possible Deep Sea Sorrow contained a Divine-Tier medicine that elerated the growth process. This was how it attracted the Sea Beasts, and it was then able to give the Sea Beasts orders to attack the Oceanids.

    Yes, voluntarily attack the Oceanids!

    Not only could Deep Sea Sorrow affect the strength of the Sea Beasts, but it could also give them a target to attack.

    The Oceanids were plunged into a terrible situation as a result.

    Every so often, they would be attacked by a Beast Sovereign no matter where they migrated to, because the Sea Beasts would purposefully seek them out to attack them.

    In addition, killing these Sea Beasts wouldn¡¯t provide them with much benefit. Their blood essence was virtually nonexistent; in other words, there wasn¡¯t much point in fighting at all.

    The Oceanids hypothesized that this was also probably an effect of Deep Sea Sorrow. It most likely sacrificed their bloodlines to elerate their growth. This was also perhaps the reason that it could constantly catalyze the growth process of these Sea Beasts without end, because it relied not on its own source of power, but on the Sea Beasts themselves.

    This was how the Deep Sea Sorrow ensured that the Oceanids would be under a steady stream of attacks from these Sea Beasts. Understandably, their lives were incredibly difficult as a result.

    Because of the Sea Beasts¡¯ reckless ferociousness, even the ck me was eventually forced to stand together with the Oceanids.

    Deep Sea Sorrow¡¯s only weakness was that it was a man-made instrument.

    Just like the fluctuation instrument, its effectiveness woulde to an end once it was destroyed.

    Unfortunately, Corniga had been quite thorough with his preparations, and he hadn¡¯t nned on giving them an opportunity from the very beginning.

    Afterpleting the Deep Sea Sorrow, he quietly used it to attract Sea Beasts, fostering them over a period of four hundred years until he managed to build up a Sea Beastir, with the Deep Sea Sorrow at the center.

    This was the location of the infamous ¡°Abyss of the Sea.¡±

    Apparently, there were hundreds of Sea Beast Sovereigns living in the Abyss of the Sea. They were its most loyal guards, watching over Deep Sea Sorrow and preventing anyone from getting close to it.

    Corniga knew that, with the aid of the Freedom Wind, the Oceanids would never be exterminated in the sea.

    As such, he gave up on his ns topletely destroy the Oceanids. Instead, he imbued the Deep Sea Sorrow with a specialmand.

    Only Sovereigns that were about to die could attack the Oceanids. Any young Sovereigns were not permitted to leave the abyss.

    This was how, year after year, the might of the abyss grew, until it eventually became thergest no-man¡¯snd in the entire sea.

    No one could enter.

    No one dared to enter.

    The Oceanids had tried countless possible ideas in the past twenty thousand years, attempting to destroy the Abyss of the Sea and the Deep Sea Sorrow.

    However, they had never seeded.

    Deep Sea Sorrow persisted, bing the Oceanids¡¯ enduring nightmare.

    Sometimes, the Oceanids wondered if their act of revenge had been misguided. Could the past twenty thousand years of torment have been avoided?

    Su Chen was promising to help the Oceanids get rid of this problem once and for all.

    What reason would the Oceanids have not to ept?

    They were probably open to negotiating about Freedom Wind, let alone Neptune¡¯s Eye, if Su Chen was able to seed.

    Jiang Jusheng was amused when he heard what Princess Westminster had said. ¡°Are you crazy? This is the Deep Sea Sorrow we¡¯re talking about here! Where is it located? In the Abyss! The Abyss of the Sea! One of the most dangerous no-man¡¯snds in existence! Why is he so confident that he can do it? He¡¯s just blowing hot air!¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I¡¯m going to try whether I can do it or not. The Oceanids won¡¯t suffer anything if I fail, and they will only give Neptune¡¯s Eye to me if I am able to hand over the Deep Sea Sorrow to them.¡±

    Princess Westminster added, ¡°If there is a person on this continent who can deal with this issue of the Deep Sea Sorrow, then Su Chen is our best bet.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Jiang Shaohong asked.

    This time, it was Gu Qingluo who replied. ¡°Because he is Su Chen, the Worldly Sage.¡±

    Jiang Shaohong was amused. ¡°Just because people call him a Sage?¡±

    ¡°No, because he was able to develop a way to break through the limits of bloodlines when it came to cultivation techniques,¡± Princess Westminster replied.

    Jiang Jusheng was taken aback. ¡°You mean......¡±

    Princess Westminster nodded. ¡°If Su Chen had said that he was nning on ughtering his way into the Abyss to seize the Deep Sea Sorrow, I wouldn¡¯t have believed him. But Sir Su has indicated that he wants to capture a Beast Sovereign instead and perform some research on it. Perhaps he will be able to discover how the Deep Sea Sorrow is stimting the Sea Beasts. And if he can find that secret, he may be able to develop a way to counter its effects. And this......¡±

    Su Chen stepped in. ¡°This is exactly what I¡¯m good at.¡±

    Yes, research!

    That was exactly what Su Chen specialized in.

    His n had never been to deal with the hundreds of Beast Sovereigns directly. Instead, by dealing with one or two of them, and then performing his research on them, he would have a real shot at finding the source of the problem.

    Yes, this would take time. No one knew when Su Chen¡¯s research would actually bear fruit.

    But Su Chen possessed the Origin Bone Scepter.

    As long as there did exist a solution, Su Chen would eventually find it with enough trial and error.

    Even though there was still the possibility of failure, this was currently the most likely way for Su Chen to resolve the problem.

    At the very least, that was what Su Chen believed.

    The Oceanids and Eternal Night believed this as well.

    Jiang Jusheng hadn¡¯t expected the situation to turn out like this. ¡°So if he helps you deal with this problem, you will give Neptune¡¯s Eye to him? Do you know what this means?¡±

    Princess Westminster replied, ¡°All I know is that Sky CIty needs both the Neptune¡¯s Eye and the Immortal Soul to activate. Only returning the Neptune¡¯s Eye will not change the overall situation too much at the moment.¡±

    What This was a good way of shirking responsibility, since this matter hinged on two isted urrences.

    Just as Princess Westminster had said, handing over the Neptune¡¯s Eye, on its own, wouldn¡¯t affect the overall situation much. However, destroying the Deep Sea Sorrow would have a massive impact.

    And even if Su Chen did manage to get his hands on both necessary items, and Sky City regained its mobility, so what?

    The Harpies flew in the sky and had no interest for the creatures in the sea.

    They would only threaten other people, not the Oceanids.

    If the Harpies really wanted to enter the sea, the Oceanids wouldn¡¯t mind - they were more than happy to have someone help them share the burden of fighting against the Sea Beasts.

    The Oceanids hadn¡¯t been willing to hand over Neptune¡¯s Eye earlier because it was an importantponent of their defenses. There was nothing Sky City could offer that the Oceanids would be willing to trade for.

    On the other hand, Deep Sea Sorrow was totally worth it. If there were multiple Neptune¡¯s Eyes, the Oceanids would have been more than willing to hand over them all.

    Unfortunately, they couldn¡¯t offer much more, but that didn¡¯t mean they couldn¡¯t support Su Chen in other ways.

    That was why Princess Westminster had appeared here - Su Chen didn¡¯t mind waiting another five years, but the Oceanids minded greatly.

    Jiang Jusheng knew that the situation had taken a marked turn for the worse.

    ¡°What if I refuse to lend him my men?¡± Jiang Jusheng asked.

    Princess Westminster sighed. ¡°To us Oceanids, there is no longer any room for ¡®what if¡¯s.¡¯ The Oceanids have waited twenty thousand years. Now that we have an opportunity in our hands, we will grasp it no matter the price that we must pay.¡±

    This simple sentence more than demonstrated the decisiveness of the Oceanids.

    To protect Su Chen, the Oceanids had no issue with turning on their former allies, even if it meant bloodshed!

    Not only so, Princess Westminster even added, ¡°Also, Your Majesty, please fulfill your end of the bargain that you had promised to Su Chen.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Jiang Jusheng was infuriated.

    Princess Westminster said coolly, ¡°That was something you should have already given to him, and it is an integral part of Sir Su¡¯s n. The n is allowed to fail, but the person who causes the n to fail must bear the consequences of their action.¡±

    The Oceanids didn¡¯t necessarily believe that Su Chen¡¯s n would definitely seed, but they would never ept Jiang Jusheng being the reason for failure.

    Jiang Jusheng knew that he was in a tough situation.

    At that moment, a Spirit Burning Realm Origin Qi Schr rushed into the room and whispered into Jiang Jusheng¡¯s ear, ¡°Your Majesty, the Oceanids have already gathered their armies outside.¡±

    Suddenly, Jiang Jusheng found himself staring at a war just waiting to unfold!

    Jiang Jusheng didn¡¯t know if he could stop Su Chen, but he knew there was no way he could stop the Oceanids.

    They lived on the front lines against Beast Sovereigns all the time. All of their warriors were incredibly powerful and didn¡¯t fear death.

    If they wanted to attack Water Sheen, Water Sheen would definitely fall.

    Jiang Jusheng¡¯s expression suddenly changed as he began tough. ¡°A misunderstanding! It¡¯s all just a misunderstanding! I was just making a joke to Sir Su earlier. Don¡¯t take it so seriously! You all, back off now! Why are you still standing here? Sir Su, Princess Westminster, pleasee closer.¡±

    All of the soldiers immediately retreated.

    People with political power really needed to grow some thick skin.

    Jiang Jusheng was actually quite flexible when he needed to be.

    But Su Chen had no intentions of ying along with him.

    All he said was, ¡°May I leave now?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Of course. How could I keep you from leaving?¡±

    ¡°And what about the Subdued Sea branch?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Naturally, we will lend them to you. We¡¯ll just abide by the former conditions.¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not nning on pledging anything to you now. We¡¯ll see what ends up happening to the Subdued Sea Garrison, I suppose.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Jiang Jusheng was stunned.

    ¡°These are my conditions now. You can choose whether or not you want to ept them.¡±

    Jiang Jusheng said angrily, ¡°Su Chen, don¡¯t be brash. Do you really think I am afraid......¡±

    Su Chen interrupted him. ¡°No one can make a mistake without paying a price. I don¡¯t think my request is too excessive at all. Right now, I am in a terrible mood, so if we don¡¯t settle this matter now, there will be no chance of us discussing this in the future. Princess Westminster, what do you think?¡±

    Princess Westminster obviously didn¡¯t want the situation to degrade to this point. She frowned and said, ¡°Can you not resolve this situation with less animosity?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to use the Deep Sea Sorrow to force the Oceanids into action, so consider this a favor you are doing for me. However, I will only ept this oue,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Princess Westminster knew that Su Chen was giving her a way to back out of the situation. She had no expectations that Su Chen would actually return the favor someday.

    But since Su Chen had made his decision, and shepletely understood his anger......

    Princess Westminster turned to face Jiang Jushen. ¡°I agree that this is the best way to resolve the situation, Your Majesty.¡±

    [1] The Arcanist Remnant organization located in Oceanid territory.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 10: Great Army

    Chapter 10: Great Army

    Jiang Jusheng was furious.

    Unfortunately, the pressure mounting on him was more than he could bear.

    The matter had been decided. He had no choice but to bow his head.

    And he needed to do so in a convincing manner, without any stubbornness so that Su Chen wouldn¡¯te to make trouble for him in the future - he respectfully escorted Su Chen all the way out of his pce.

    It wasn¡¯t until Su Chen stepped into the flowing pce that Jiang Jusheng allowed his expression to sink.

    ¡°Father......¡± Jiang Shaohong said.

    Bang!

    Jiang Jusheng pped him hard across the face.

    This p was purely because of his unhappiness.

    Jiang Xishui had taken the Subdued Sea branch with him and followed after Su Chen. There was no one to vent his anger on but his eldest son.

    Jiang Shaohong understood his dad¡¯s temper very well, so he cradled his face but stayedpletely silent.

    Jiang Jusheng walked inside without saying a word, then sat down on his throne and stared off into the distance for some time. Finally, he spoke. ¡°Notify the other countries that Su Chen is nning on helping Sky City reim the Neptune¡¯s Eye!¡±

    This would greatly increase the pressure on Su Chen and the Oceanids.

    This was Jiang Jusheng¡¯s way of getting revenge.

    But after a moment, he changed his mind and said, ¡°Forget about it.¡±

    He knew what the Oceanids were like, and that this wouldn¡¯t change their decision at all. It would only make trouble for him in the future.

    This was because he knew exactly how much suffering the Deep Sea Sorrow had brought the Oceanids. They would be willing to pay any price to destroy it. Anyone who got in their way would be considered a stumbling block and would be dealt with mercilessly.

    If Su Chen left today, and news spread tomorrow, the Oceanids would definitely know that he was the one responsible.

    Jiang Jusheng hoped that the n wouldn¡¯t seed, but it couldn¡¯t fail on ount of him. Otherwise, the fury of the Oceanids would fall on him.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, he said, ¡°Let Xishui know that he is to report all of Su Chen¡¯s movements to me.¡±

    ¡°Will he listen?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯d better,¡± Jiang Jusheng replied darkly.

    ¡°Brother Su, this was my fault,¡± Jiang Xishui said apologetically on the Boundless Sect¡¯s floating pce.

    ¡°That¡¯s not your fault,¡± Su Chen chuckled, seemingly at ease. ¡°If you really are sorry, then do a good job leading the Subdued Sea branch. That will be the biggest help you can render to me.¡±

    ¡°Are we really going to go hunt a Sea Beast Sovereign?¡± Jiang Xishui asked with some apprehension.

    Princess Westminster, who was standing to the side, said, ¡°Your Majesty, please be at ease. The Oceanids have been fighting with Beast Sovereigns for a long time. We have lots of experience and will be able to guarantee victory.¡±

    ¡°But you have never been able to win against them,¡± Ji Hanyan said.

    Princess Westminster replied, ¡°That¡¯s just because there are too many of them. We can¡¯t kill them all off. Our hope of victory doesn¡¯te from the battle, but on Su Chen himself. As long as Sir Su is able to find a way of nullifying the effects of the Deep Sea Sorrow, that will be a big burden off our backs even if he isn¡¯t able to destroy itpletely.¡±

    The Oceanids weren¡¯t hoping that Su Chen could get his hands on Deep Sea Sorrow - they were more interested in him finding a way to nullify the catalytic effect that it had on the growth of these Sea Beasts.

    That way, even if the Sea Beasts continued to attack the Oceanids, the number of Beast Sovereigns attacking would decrease.

    Su Chen understood the way Princess Westminster thought and didn¡¯t mind.

    All he said was, ¡°Let¡¯s go. It¡¯s time for us to depart.¡±

    Jiang Xishui nodded at the guards next to him, who walked out of the pce, pulled out a conch shell, and began to blow.

    The low, mournful cry of the conch shell rang through the sky, and the Subdued Sea branch mobilized.

    The beautifulbat boats left the harbor and gathered on the surface of the sea.

    The Subdued Sea branch¡¯s boats weren¡¯t asrge as the Boundless Sect¡¯s flying dragon boats. Theirrgest boat was merely three-fourths the size of one of the dragon boats, while the smallest was one-tenth the size. However, there were at least a thousand of them in the fleet.

    ¡°The Subdued Sea branch has 1032 boats, including six hundred Guardian-ss, four hundred Song-ss, thirty Battalion-ss, and two Garrison-ss boats,¡± Jiang Xishui said with some pride.

    Of Water Sheen¡¯s boats, Guardian-ss boats could hold a hundred people, Song-ss boats could hold three hundred, Battalion-ss could hold a thousand, and Garrison-ss could hold three thousand. As such, there was a total of 216,000 people in the Subdued Sea branch.

    The sheer amount of firepower made it quite obvious why the Subdued Sea branch was the most powerful army of Water Sheen.

    The two hundred thousand man navy left the harbor, attracting the attention of the civilians nearby.

    ¡°Is the Subdued Sea Branch heading out on another expedition?¡±

    ¡°Who knows how many of them will return this time.¡±

    ¡°May theye back in peace!¡±

    The civilians standing on the harbour, the beach, and the nearby fishing boats all wished the Subdued Sea branch luck.

    Even though Jiang Jusheng wasn¡¯t a great character, his political management of his country was quite good - irvoyant rulers didn¡¯t necessarily have to be good people.

    However, the Subdued Sea branch¡¯s might paled inparison to the might of the Oceanids.

    Following the Subdued Sea branch¡¯s departure, Oceanids began to surface nearby as well, quickly filling the entire sea nearby.

    The Oceanids had nobat boats.

    They didn¡¯t need boats, and even if they had any, they would merely use them for cargo purposes. There was no military need for such boats.

    As sons and daughters of the sea, they could breathe freely in the water. Even barely matured Oceanids could swim through the sea as they pleased, as if they were walking on solid ground.

    However, they did have cavalry units.

    As the waves crested a frothy white, ferocious-looking sharks appeared at the surface of the water.

    All of these Mottled-Head Sharks were incredibly fierce creatures. Their speed underwater was exceptional, and they possessed an innate ability to control the flow of water. They were true Demonic Beasts that had been tamed by the Oceanids and turned into one of their main sources of strength.

    Those who rode the Mottled-Head Sharks came to be known as Hunting Shark Riders, putting them even above the Whale Butchers. After all, one needed to control, while the other needed merely to kill. The amount of skill necessary was totally iparable.

    The strength of these Hunting Shark Riders were roughly equivalent to that of a human Qi Drawing Realm cultivator, but with the assistance of the Mottled-Head Sharks, it was probably more urate to ssify them as Blood Boiling Realm cultivators.

    There were roughly four hundred thousand of these riders alone.

    Arge school of Flying Arrow Fish had also appeared next to the sharks.

    These Flying Arrow Fish would jump out of the sea from time to time, and they carried Oceanids on their back as well.

    These fish were not merely gliding; they had the actual capacity to fly. Even though they weren¡¯t able to maintain it for long, temporary flight was still more than possible.

    Theirbat strength was not as great as the Mottled-Head Sharks, but they were even faster.

    The Flying Arrow Fish riders were primarily responsible for scouting duties, as well as making incisive attacks at critical moments.

    Behind the Flying Arrow Fish were a group of massive Dragon Turtles.

    Dragon Turtles were Sea Beasts the size of a small mountain. They were typically about three hundred feet in size. Their sturdy shell and razor-sharp head mallets made them the Oceanids¡¯ most powerful close-quartersbat specialists. Each Dragon Turtle could carry up to a hundred soldiers.

    These Dragon Turtles were not considered cavalry, but underwater armor.

    Even though they moved much more slowly, they were quite effective against the Sea Beasts, whocked tactical understanding. Unfortunately, these Dragon Turtles took a long time to mature, so they were not easily reced when lost.

    The Oceanids were never able to produce arge battalion of Dragon Turtles for this reason. Even though they had done their best to keep the Dragon Turtles safe and healthy, they still didn¡¯t have any more than three hundred.

    Behind the Dragon Turtles came the Iron-Boned Seacows.

    Even though the Seacows looked nothing like actual cows, they wererge and strong but possessed gentle natures, which was why they were eventually called Seacows.

    These Iron-Boned Seacows were another important cavalry group amongst the Oceanid army. Theycked much offensive capabilities despite theirrge size and high defenses because of their mild temperament. However, they were incredibly useful - perhaps the most useful of the three major cavalry types - because they could bestow their strength to their rider.

    A mature Seacow was capable of increasing the strength of its rider by an entire realm.

    As such, a Blood Boiling Realm warrior would be as strong as a Yang Opening Realm warrior when riding a mature Seacow. Of course, the gap between Light Shaking and Yang Opening was far too great, so that kind of an increase was not possible. However, it was possible to go from lowyer Yang Opening to peak Yang Opening. If the rider was already at the peak of Yang Opening, it was possible that their strength could be boosted to the Light Shaking Realm level.

    The Seacows also had a long life cycle, but they were not as hard to breed as the Dragon Turtles. Under the Oceanids¡¯ care, their numbers had reached the tens of thousands at this point.

    Behind the Iron-Boned Seacows, the already somewhat turbulent sea grew noticeably more chaotic.

    Large tentacles surged out from the surface of the ocean, stretching to the sky.

    These tentacles were long and thick like pirs, each one of them at least a thousand feet long.

    Su Chen knew that these were the Oceanids¡¯ most powerful cavalry units, the Deep Sea Octopuses.

    Deep Sea Octopuses were thergest Sea Beast controlled by the Oceanids. When they fully extended their limbs, they were also roughly the size of a small mountain.

    Even the weakest Deep Sea Octopus was equivalent to a Light Shaking Realm cultivator in strength, while the more powerful ones could easily match up against a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator.

    There were actually quite a few Deep Sea Octopuses present. Even though they appeared quiterge, they were easier to breed than the Dragon Turtles. However, learning to control them was far more difficult.

    At this point, the Oceanids controlled no more than eight hundred of these Deep Sea Octopuses.

    Even so, when paired with the Oceanids¡¯ truly powerful warriors, the Deep Sea Octopus branch of the Oceanids¡¯ cavalry became a powerful trump card.

    Of course, the Oceanids had not brought their entire army here, but even one-tenth of their numbers was enough to fill those present with awe.

    The Oceanids surfaced one after another, producing quite a shocking scene.

    They were truly sparing no expense to keep Su Chen safe.

    Their reception of Su Chen, as well as their warning to Jiang Jusheng, clearly demonstrated their decisive intention!

    After the Deep Sea Octopuses stood a few more Oceanids.

    They were not riding anything, and they were not apanied by any escorts. There were only a few dozen of them floating on the surface of the water. They appeared diminutivepared to the Deep Sea Octopuses, but those with some understanding would be able to sense the shocking strength concealed in those thin frames.

    Su Chen knew that the Oceanids¡¯ experts had arrived on the scene.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 11: Sea Spirits 1

    Chapter 11: Sea Spirits (1)

    Five Oceanids floated towards Su Chen on the ocean waves.

    Actually, it was more urate to say that the Oceanids were being carried towards Su Chen and the others by the waves.

    The Oceanid at the front was a golden-haired youth. His hair parted at his shoulders, and when he arrived, the wave turned into a mountain that lifted the five of them up to the floating pce. The golden-haired youth confidently strode forwards to the foot of the pce, where he bowed in front of Su Chen before saying, ¡°The Twelfth of the Sea greets Sir Su.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re Prince Frostpoint,¡± Su Chen said with a slight smile. ¡°Pleased to meet you.¡±

    The Oceanids¡¯ current ruler was named Greatcloud, and Prince Frostpoint was the twelfth prince that had been acknowledged by him. That was how Prince Frostpoint hade to be known by the moniker ¡°Twelfth of the Sea.¡±

    That¡¯s right ¡ª he wasn¡¯t Greatcloud¡¯s biological son. And Princess Westminster wasn¡¯t Greatcloud¡¯s biological daughter either.

    In the Oceanids¡¯ culture, the youngest generation of Oceanid children were all raised together. Only after they reached a certain age would some individual Oceanid adults be allowed to choose some to raise. As a result, their ¡°children¡± often weren¡¯t biologically rted to them.

    This was why the Oceanids had no surname, as there was no point in having one.

    They had developed this kind of child-rearing system to improve the unity and teamwork of their race as a whole. When faced with the threat of extinction by these powerful Sea Beasts, the Oceanids had no choice but to give up on the idea of distinct ns and focus primarily on the safety and preservation of their own race.

    This was why the Oceanids were the most unified race amongst all of the Intelligent Races.

    Almost every Intelligent Race experienced internal conflict, but the Oceanids did not.

    They simply didn¡¯t have the time or energy to fight each other ¡ª all of it was spent fighting the Sea Beasts instead.

    And there was also no point in holding a grudge against each other, because none of them knew how long they would live for. To the Oceanids, past offenses and disputes over benefits washed away as quickly as water under the bridge.

    The Twelfth of the Sea was the twelfth child who had been chosen by Greatcloud. There were eleven brothers and sisters before him, all of whom had died in battle. Princess Westminster, naturally, was the thirteenth.

    The eleven youths that had died had also been the most promising Oceanid talents of Frostpoint¡¯s generation ¡ª as the leader of the Oceanids, Greatcloud¡¯s only privilege was that he was allowed first choice of the most outstanding children, who would then learn his most powerful techniques, and be given the most dangerous missions.

    Frostpoint and Westminster were the only son and daughter that Greatcloud could have. Before one of them died, Greatcloud would not be allowed to choose a new son or daughter.

    There was no room for affection or personal attachment. There was only the survival of the race.

    This was how the Oceanids lived!

    Frostpoint said, ¡°Sir Su, you¡¯re far too polite. The Oceanids have waited for this moment for an eternity. It is my greatest pleasure to finally meet you. We finally have an opportunity to be free.¡±

    Both sides were incredibly polite to each other.

    For this asion, the Oceanids had sent four generals along with Greatcloud¡¯s own son and daughter to ¡°save¡± Su Chen.

    The four Oceanid generals were roughly equivalent to Spirit Burning Realm cultivators, and Frostpoint and Westminster were each equivalent to Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators. They weren¡¯t much older than Su Chen, so the fact that their cultivation bases had progressed this far was obvious indicator of just how talented they were.

    Because they were making a request of Su Chen, the Oceanids treated the Boundless Sect with incredible respect. As such, they were able to get along quite well.

    The two armies advanced relentlessly, eventually disappearing off into the distance.

    In the Devil¡¯s Quadrant.

    This was a region of the Unlimited Sea popted by fierce and vicious demonic fish.

    In addition to these feral fish, there were also Sea Spirits in this location.

    The Sea Spirits were an Intelligent Race that lived in the sea, but they weren¡¯t considered one of the five primary Intelligent Races.

    For this reason, the Sea Spirit found their own way of survival ¡ª bymitting evil for the viins.

    The Sea Spirits served the Sea Beasts in a variety of different capacities.

    They were bloodthirsty and vicious by nature, and cared very little for self-respect or prestige. Because of these factors, they were enemies against both the humans and the Oceanids.

    A boat of humans was traveling across the surface of the sea.

    Even though the Devil¡¯s Quadrant was dangerous, it was also full of treasures and resources. Anything that could be found in this area was likely worth enough to ensure afortable life for quite a while.

    Of course, that was under the assumption that they made it back alive.

    The trawler bobbed up and down on the surface of the water as it slowly advanced forward. A person sat at the front of the boat, closely monitoring the surface of the water for any signs of danger that might appear.

    ¡°Six, see anything down there?¡± the captain of the boat, Old Spear, asked in a grizzled voice.

    ¡°Everything is normal. There are no problems,¡± Six replied.

    ¡°Everyone, let¡¯s put in a bit more effort! We¡¯re almost there. We¡¯ll need to get in and out quickly. Once we finish this mission, none of us will need to suffer anymore!¡± the captain yelled enthusiastically.

    The boatmen began to row with renewed vigor, as if boundless riches were right before their very eyes.

    Old Spear wasn¡¯t exaggerating, either; the Devilish Quadrant contained a Rainbow Seashell that was useful for Origin Qi Schrs of any cultivation realm.

    As such, they fetched an incredibly high price on the market.

    These precious shells could be found at the bottom of the Devilish Quadrant. As long as they were harvested them, it was essentially the same as holding money in their hand.

    Handfuls upon handfuls of money.

    Old Spear had seen people bring back these shells multiple times. Just a small portion was more than enough for these people to strike it rich.

    But he had never gone.

    Because he had also saw that there were more people who had went and never returned.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that his damned son had rued a massive gambling debt, there was no way that Old Spear would have been willing toe all the way out and take on such a risk.

    But he had no choice.

    He only had one son. Therefore, he needed to go.

    For this, he had dismissed the original crew of his boat and hired apletely new group of helpers.

    Almost all of the boatmen with him this time had their own reasons for why they needed to take on this humongous risk.

    For instance, Six needed to satisfy his greedy mother-inw¡¯s appetite so that he could marry the woman he loved.

    His deputy needed to care for his wife, who was seriously ill.

    They were all willing to throw caution to the wind for the sake of money.

    They were determined to make this journey and had left their fate up to the Heavens.

    When Old Spear saw the ripples on the surface of the ocean, he wiped the sweat from his brow and muttered, ¡°May the Heavens protect us!¡±

    They were almost at the ce where they would be able to harvest the shells.

    Rainbow-colored light appeared to be reaching out through the surface of the water.

    That was the luster of the Rainbow Shells glowing from the sea floor.

    ¡°We¡¯re here! We¡¯re here!¡± everyone cheered, as if the treasure was already in their hands.

    The boat quickly stopped in the middle of the area where the Rainbow Shells could be harvested.

    They dropped anchor.

    Without any explicitmand, the divers leapt into the ocean.

    There was no time to rest or to celebrate. They silently and efficiently got to work.

    ¡°Once you get them, we¡¯ll immediately leave. Each person should only grab three. Don¡¯t be greedy!¡± Old Spear couldn¡¯t resist reminding them to be cautious.

    He had learned this from the divers who had managed to make it back. While it wouldn¡¯t guarantee their safety, it would lower the chances of the Water Spirits discovering them.

    Yes, the Water Spirits were the greatest threat in this mission.

    Old Spear waited anxiously as the seconds ticked by.

    Harvesting the shells wasn¡¯t easy, and it took some time for the divers to scour the ocean floor. Even though they were quite eye-catching, it still took a considerable amount of time to find them.

    Every so often, a diver would resurface for air before descending again.

    Time slowly trickled by.

    Finally, a diver reappeared, holding a massive shell in his hand.

    Very quickly, the second and third shell appeared as well.

    It appeared that the Heavens were in a good mood today. The number of shells continued to grow. Finally, after an hour, they had managed to gather the bare minimum necessary for this trip of theirs.

    ¡°Get ready to leave,¡± Old Spear ordered.

    It was best to stay in this kind of a dangerous area for as short a duration as possible.

    ¡°Captain, let¡¯s just take a few more,¡± the boatmen said, unwilling to leave just yet.

    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s not often that we get a chance toe all the way out here. We can¡¯t leave this quickly.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s still early. The Sea Spirits won¡¯t be able to discover us that easily.¡±

    ¡°This is probably the only time that we will evere out here. It would be a disappointment if we didn¡¯t harvest a few extra.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s just stay a little longer.¡±

    They all began to plead with Old Spear.

    When he saw so many people staring at him thirstily, Old Spear gritted his teeth. ¡°Fine. Each person can take one more, and then we¡¯ll leave immediately!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Everyone excitedly dove back into the water.

    But despite their hopes, they weren¡¯t in the water for very long when Six yelled, ¡°Sea Spirits! It¡¯s the Sea Spirits!¡±

    Old Spear was badly startled. He hurried to the front of the boat to take a look for himself.

    It was possible to sea a few white streaks flying in their direction.

    Even though he couldn¡¯t see any of the Sea Spirits, both he and Six knew that those white streaks were indeed the Sea Spirits.

    These demons were like sharks ¡ª bloodthirsty, voracious, and fast.

    ¡°Dammit!¡± Old Spear cursed as he turned to yell at the water. ¡°Hurry back up! The Sea Spirits are here!¡±

    Unfortunately, the divers had no way of hearing him.

    ¡°Captain, let¡¯s get out of here! If we don¡¯t leave now, then we won¡¯t have a chance to do so in the future!¡± Six yelled.

    ¡°They¡¯re still down there!¡± Old Spear replied.

    ¡°Forget about them!¡± Six replied.

    Youths could often be quite cruel. Six was willing to do anything to survive.

    Forget about them?

    Old Spear was taken aback.

    Was this really their only option?

    Even so, before he could give amand, the boat began to move.

    The boatmen were already making preparations to leave.

    ¡°No, stop!¡± Old Spear yelled.

    He was unable to ovee his conscience.

    However, no one listened to him. The boatmen quickly began to row the boat away.

    Unfortunately, just because they had thrown aside their conscience didn¡¯t necessarily mean that they would survive. The white streaks began to chase after the boat, leaping out of the water as they drew closer.

    They circled the boat like streaks of white mist before condensing into humanoid figures. However, they were entirely made out of water, and their faces were eerily simr to that of humans.

    They were Sea Spirits.

    Even though they were called Spirits, they were actually just as fierce as the Sea Beasts themselves.

    There was a total of six Sea Spirits, who simultaneously hissed at the boat. The Sea Spirit leading the group crowed ecstatically, ¡°It¡¯s time to hunt!¡±

    They had discovered the trawler a long time ago, but had purposely waited for the opportune moment to strike so that the people on the boat would feel the maximum amount of despair.

    This was one of the reasons why the Sea Spirits were considered to be a vicious race.

    Because of how small and weak they were, they took great pleasure in tormenting the individuals from therger Intelligent Races.

    ¡°Yes, it is indeed time to hunt.¡±

    At that moment, a voice suddenly spoke.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 12: Sea Spirits 2

    Chapter 12: Sea Spirits (2)

    The voice wasn¡¯t particrly loud, but it sounded like it was right next to their ear.

    The Sea Spirit leader was taken aback. ¡°Who is it?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m right here. Can¡¯t you see me?¡±

    A cold voice floated towards the Sea Spirits from behind them.

    When they turned around, they found a young, sword-wielding man standing on the waves. Beside him stood two other people, one of them a youth with a bit of a temper, and the other a delicate, pretty young woman.

    Well, the woman was not really young anymore. She had just cultivated to a point where she was able to maintain her youthful appearance.

    Those with some wisdom would know this was the case.

    The young woman spoke. ¡°Hey, you water people, you all should just go and die.¡±

    Hey......

    Water people?

    The Sea Spirits nced at the young woman in surprise, and even the young man who had spoken earlier appeared to be quite embarrassed. ¡°Let¡¯s not waste any more time talking with them. We¡¯ll capture them first and then ask them how to find our way there.¡±

    How to find their way there?

    Were these three people lost?

    Getting lost at sea, and stumbling into the Devilish Quadrant...... A trace of despair appeared in Old Spear¡¯s eyes.

    These three people appeared unreliable no matter what!

    Perhaps the youths also felt a bit embarrassed. They nced at each other, then red at the young woman beside them, as if they were ming their predicament on her.

    It would have been fine if she just had a poor sense of direction, but she had also insisted on leading the way.

    She was really testing their patience.

    The young woman seemed totally oblivious, and her face wasn¡¯t red in the slightest.

    To her, getting lost waspletely expected.

    The Sea Spirit leaderughed fiercely. ¡°Ask for directions? Where are you nning on going? I can tell you right now.¡±

    ¡°Wonderful!¡± The young woman giggled, herughter like the tinkling of a bell. ¡°We¡¯re going to Pearl Sea first, then to the Thousand Illusions Ind, and finally to the Violent Sea Quadrant......¡±

    Words poured out of her mouth as the youths beside her facepalmed.

    Ye Fenghan could endure it no longer and said, ¡°You didn¡¯t need to tell them all of that.¡±

    ¡°Oh, right.¡± Night Demon stuck out her tongue and said with some embarrassment, ¡°I said too much again.¡±

    Ye Fenghan and Chang He replied simultaneously, ¡°We¡¯re used to it.¡±

    The Sea Spirit was taken aback. ¡°Pearl Sea? Thousand Illusions Ind? Are you guys looking for ck me?¡±

    Ye Fenghan and Chang He simultaneously said, ¡°It has nothing to do with you!¡±

    The Sea Spirit smiled fiercely. ¡°If you won¡¯t talk, we¡¯ll just have to capture you first.¡±

    Ye Fenghan chuckled coldly. ¡°What a coincidence! That was exactly what I was thinking as well.¡±

    He didn¡¯t want to waste any more time and pulled out the Grade Four Frostedge Sword. A wave of icy wind bore down on the Sea Spirits.

    The Sea Spirit leader¡¯s expression immediately shifted. ¡°Light Shaking Realm! Everyone, be careful!¡±

    However, instead of retreating, it began to hiss in a low tone.

    Even though the Sea Spirits were obviously not at the Light Shaking Realm, they still had no fear.

    Because they were in the Devilish Quadrant.

    This was the domain of the Sea Spirits.

    Once they began to howl, they would soon be reinforced byrge numbers of Sea Spirits. And they werepletely confident that they would be able to hold out until then.

    Unexpectedly, Chang He pulled out a jade disk, which stopped in the air and began to glow. Formless fluctuations began to spread in all directions, and the hisses of those Sea Spirits appeared to have run into a wall. In addition, they actually began to reverberate, resonating to form a shrill screech. Everyone nearby couldn¡¯t resist wanting to plug their ears with their hands.

    This had one benefit, which was that the divers underwater also heard and quickly surfaced, knowing that the situation was not good.

    Chang He chuckled. ¡°When you are out journeying, the thing you need to watch out the most for are shameless bandits who will call for reinforcements if they can¡¯t beat you. There would be no point in us traveling if we didn¡¯t know how to deal with that tactic.¡±

    Ye Fenghan nced at him. ¡°Yeah, I wonder who was chased around by a whole bunch of peoplest time.¡±

    Chang He was infuriated. ¡°I was just a bit toox one time. You keep bringing it up!¡±

    ¡°So I can¡¯t bring it up even though I saved you?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to do it so often. After all, we¡¯re from the same sect......¡±

    The two of them actually began to argue with each other.

    When the Sea Spirits saw that their calls for reinforcements were negated, they immediately began to panic.

    Since their assants were having an argument, they attempted to try to slowly sink under the water.

    It was obvious that they were nning on trying to run.

    Their opponents were at the Light Shaking Realm. The Sea Spirits weren¡¯t strong enough to fight back.

    At that moment, however, Ye Fenghan suddenly smacked the surface of the water. ¡°Trying to run? You¡¯d better stay here with me instead.¡±

    The surface of the sea, which was cold already, suddenly began to plummet in temperature yet again. The violent waves came to a crackling halt as they began to freeze.

    The Sea Spirits only managed to sink halfway underwater before they werepletely frozen in ce.

    The Sea Spirit Leader was enraged. ¡°Courting death!¡±

    It began to hiss once again, but this time offensively.

    The water underneath theyer of ice began to roil and bubble violently, surging towards the surface.

    The other five Sea Spirits also attacked at the same time. The ice began to crack as the water underneath the surface roiled, forming a massive mouth that chomped down at Chang He and the others.

    The Sea Spirits had impable control over water - that was undeniable.

    Ye Fenghan wasn¡¯t proficient in controlling water, but he was quite good at dealing with it.

    He coldly harrumphed, and a female figure exuding a bone-piercing frosty aura appeared behind him. Her face was blurry and impossible to see clearly. She blew into the air, causing the waves that had surged nearby to crackle as they froze in motion. In the blink of an eye, the waves turned into ice sculptures, frozen on the surface of the sea.

    Since the Sea Spirits were extremely proficient in their control of water, Ye Fenghan¡¯s actions cut off their connection with the ocean.

    When it saw this, the halfway submerged Sea Spirit chuckled coldly, ¡°Did you think that was enough? Come out, Lord Grewt!¡±

    As he cried out, the surface of the sea began to roil yet again.

    Ye Fenghan¡¯s icy aura was no longer able to suppress these giant waves, and the surface of the sea grew turbulent yet again.

    A wave suddenly formed and rose, stretching towards the three of them.

    Ye Fenghan¡¯s expression shifted slightly. ¡°Up!¡±

    They flew up into the sky together.

    But at the same time that they flew upwards, they saw a few people fly out from the water as well - the divers from earlier. However, they had been directly ejected by the torrential waves.

    ¡°Save them!¡± Even though Night Demon was not normally reliable, she was able to keep her footing in serious situations. Her figure flickered as she grabbed one of the divers. Chang He also sprang into motion. They were both proficient in speed, so they darted in between the towering waves, grabbing the divers and hurling them to safety.

    Chang He howled, ¡°Get out of here! You think this is a y?!¡±

    Old Spear cried, ¡°One more, there¡¯s one more that hasn¡¯t surfaced yet!¡±

    Chang He was just about to speak when he heard a low rumble. The crest of the wave began to expand as a massive creature emerged from the depths of the sea.

    It was a Blood Frenzy Shark.

    Blood Frenzy Sharks were one of the fierce creatures that inhabited the Devilish Quadrant. The one before their eyes was roughly a thousand feet in length, and it was as powerful as a high-tier Demonic Beast.

    No wonder these Sea Spirits believed that they would be able to deal with three Light Shaking Realm cultivators.

    The Sea Spirits served the Sea Beasts, including providing them with food. In turn, the Sea Beasts would protect the Sea Spirits at the critical moments.

    However, not every Sea Spirit directly served a master. Only the leader of this group of six was protected by a master. Otherwise, there would not have been a need for the Sea Spirits to request reinforcements in the first ce.

    When the Blood Frenzy Shark appeared, Old Spear began to frantically point at the shark¡¯s back as he yelled, ¡°Old Seven! It¡¯s Old Seven, hanging onto his back.¡±

    There was indeed a person hanging onto the Blood Frenzy Shark¡¯s back.

    Somehow, he was still alive, and was clinging onto the shark¡¯s back as he wept with fear.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go save him!¡± Chang He¡¯s figure turned into a gust of wind as he shot towards the Blood Frenzy Shark.

    ¡°Be careful!¡± Ye Fenghan yelled.

    Chang He hadn¡¯t reached the Blood Frenzy Shark, however, when he suddenly felt the blood in his body slip out of his control and begin to pour out of his body.

    The Blood Frenzy Shark had been given this name not only due to its bloodthirstiness but also because of its innate ability to control the blood of other living organisms. It could cause the blood in someone else¡¯s body to go berserk and fly out of their body.

    Yes, this creature had a powerful body and sharp teeth, but its most frightening ability was its control over another creature¡¯s blood.

    The way to resist this influence was very simple - it was by strength.

    The stronger a person was, the easier it would be for them to resist the Blood Frenzy Shark¡¯s influence.

    Chang He was roughly at the same cultivation level as the Blood Frenzy Shark, but his actualbat strength was different.

    Chang He was quitezy and didn¡¯t like to bitterly cultivate, so he chose a more supplementary route. He was extremely fast, and he possessed all kinds of strange tricks, but he just refused to use much effort. Even though he knew how to use Raging Torrent Palms and Sumeru Void, had a speed-type Aspect, and had a better Origin Tool than Ye Fenghan, he could not defeat Ye Fenghan.

    And this Blood Frenzy Beast was only a high-tier Demonic Beast, but it was quite strong for that tier, and its innate Origin Skill was definitely harder to deal with.

    In their sh, Chang He discovered that he was actually unable to nullify the shark¡¯s Origin Skill, only to reduce its effects. Despite his efforts to forcefully control the blood and Qi in his body, his blood began to seep through his skin, giving him a fearsome appearance.

    Ye Fenghan was badly startled, and he aimed his sword at the Blood Frenzy Shark.

    However, at the same time that he attacked, six waves crested in front of him. Two of them were aimed at him, while the other four were aimed at Old Spear and the others.

    Ye Fenghan could only split his sword into six images to stop those waves in their tracks.

    He could split his sword into even more images to try and attack the Blood Frenzy Shark at the same time, but given how strong the Blood Frenzy Shark was, it was very likely that his sword images wouldn¡¯t have much effect on the Blood Frenzy Shark anyways.

    As such, he could only yell, ¡°Night Demon, go and save them!¡±

    ¡°Got it!¡± At this critical moment, the young woman didn¡¯t disappoint. She flew right towards the Blood Frenzy Shark and struck it before her figure flickered to the other end of the shark, leaving behind a long scar on its back.

    The Blood Frenzy Shark howled in pain, and the pressure on Chang He decreased significantly.

    ¡°How about it? My Invisible ughter is pretty impressive, right?¡± Night Demon said giddily.

    ¡°Forget about that for now. Go and save the others,¡± Chang He said gruffly.

    ¡°Understood.¡± Night Demon began to descend.

    In terms of speed, she was even faster than Chang He. In a sh, she

    ¡°You¡¯re with me.¡± Night Demon grabbed him.

    Just as she was about to take him away with her, the boathand suddenly reached out to grab Night Demon¡¯s hand.

    Night Demon was startled, but the boathand was already reaching for her throat!

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 13: Sea Spirits 3

    Chapter 13: Sea Spirits (3)

    ¡°Watch out!¡±

    Ye Fenghan and Chang He cried out in despair when they saw this.

    The boatman¡¯s attack was both vicious and savage, and his fingertips glowed with a strange light, as if anything that got in its way would be obliterated.

    Given Night Demon¡¯s sluggish reactions, it was going to be impossible for her to dodge.

    Even so, just as his hand was about to pierce Night Demon¡¯s neck, the pendant she wore around her neck suddenly began to glow.

    Time suddenly appeared to slow to a crawl, and the boatman¡¯s hand eventually stopped in its tracks.

    His hand hovered right in front of Night Demon¡¯s hand, but Night Demon grabbed him and tossed him onto the boat.

    She didn¡¯t kill him; instead, she quickly brought him out of range of the Blood Frenzy Shark, attempting to calm him down by pulling him away from the battlefield.

    ¡°Alright!¡± Night Demon tossed the boatman onto the boat. ¡°Thest one of you guys is here now. Get out of here!¡±

    None of the other boatmen dared to catch him as he fell through the sky.

    Night Demon chuckled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. He¡¯ll be fine. He was just temporarily under the control of the Blood Frenzy Shark. Actually, its control skill is pretty mediocre, but it works against youmoners. Once he¡¯s a certain distance away, it¡¯ll lose its effectiveness.¡±

    Old Spear let out a sigh of relief. After inspecting Old Seven to make sure he was alright, Old Spear yelled, ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here!¡±

    The trawler shot off into the distance.

    At the same time, the Blood Frenzy Shark was continuing its battle with Chang He, and the Sea Spirits were still keeping Ye Fenghan tied down.

    Chang He yelled, ¡°Miss, if you don¡¯t help us, we¡¯re really going to die here!¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Night Demon appeared to have been jolted from her reverie and flew over, throwing the beaded bracelet on her wrist at the Blood Frenzy Shark. The beads began to glow a brilliant golden color Blood Frenzy Shark like bullets, leaving behind thousands of open wounds on the surface of its skin.

    Despite how thick-skinned the Blood Frenzy Shark was, it couldn¡¯t help but howl fiercely in pain.

    ¡°Jade Pendant of Protection and Golden Ball Barrage? Miss, are you really willing to part with those?¡± Chang He couldn¡¯t help but moan.

    The Jade Pendant of Protection and the Golden Ball Barrage were all items purchasable from the Boundless Sect for contribution points. They were quite powerful and expensive, but they could only be used once. The disciples of the Boundless Sect would never spend their hard-earned contribution points on these kinds of consumable items.

    But to Night Demon, there was no need for her to consider these things.

    Because Su Chen had given them to her in the first ce.

    These items were one-time-use only, so on the surface they appeared to be inferior to Origin Tools. However, they weren¡¯t without their own benefits - for instance, they would activate automatically and didn¡¯t need to be wielded by a user.

    If Night Demon had needed to activate the Jade Pendant of protection herself, she probably would have gotten herself stabbed before she even had time to react.

    Su Chen had given her a few of these things to ensure her safety. In any case, they weren¡¯t very well-received by the sect anyways.

    When Night Demon saw that the Blood Frenzy Shark hadn¡¯t died yet, she immediately pulled out yet another Golden Ball Barrage and tossed it out.

    The sky was filled with golden light yet again.

    It was as if stars had suddenly appeared in broad daylight.

    Chang He was renderedpletely speechless.

    Night Demon really didn¡¯t treat money like it was any object.

    These two Golden Ball Barrages mmed into the Blood Frenzy Shark. No matter how strong this giant¡¯s vitality was, it was still beaten to within an inch of its life. A series of well-aimed palm strikes permanently severed its lifeline.

    When she turned around, she found that Ye Fenghan had cleanly dealt with those other Sea Spirits.

    ¡°So you did have it in you! Well done,¡± Night Demon giggled as she gave them a thumbs up.

    Ye Fenghan and Chang He, however, had no intentions of celebrating. ¡°We¡¯re still in the territory of the Sea Spirits. It¡¯d be best if we left now. Otherwise, if the other Sea Spirits show up, we¡¯ll be in big trouble.¡±

    Night Demon pouted. ¡°Why are you in such a hurry? These Rainbow Shells look pretty. I want to take some for myself.¡±

    As she spoke, she waved her hand and scooped towards the ground.

    There was no need for her to actually dive underwater. A single Air Tentacle was more than sufficient to get the job done. But this also made it impossible for her to see what was underwater, and she could only scrape the sea floor blindly.

    Ye Fenghan and Chang He were having a hard time watching and said, ¡°Let¡¯s hurry and get out of here. The Sea Spirits could show up at any point.¡±

    Night Demon continued to say, ¡°What are you in such a hurry for? I already said we could leave after I get a shell. Also, even if the Sea Spirits areing, we can still see them. It won¡¯t be a problem for us to get away given how fast we are.¡±

    That did make some sense, so Chang He and Ye Fenghan could only agree.

    A momentter, Night Demon seemed to have grabbed something. She cried out, ¡°I¡¯ve got one!¡±

    She lifted the Air Tentacle out of the water. The tentacle was indeed holding something, but it wasn¡¯t a Rainbow Shell; it was a person.

    An old man, to be more precise.

    The old man¡¯s hair was fluffy, and he looked like he was in the middle of a nap.

    Even though he had been ¡°fished¡± from the bottom of the sea, his clothes were entirely dry, and he opened his eyes drowsily to nce at the three of them. He calmly asked, ¡°Who was the one who fished me up?¡±

    The three of them were badly startled when they heard his question and nced at each other.

    Night Demon pointed at Chang He. ¡°Him!¡±

    ÚÀ?

    What?

    Howe you didn¡¯t act like an idiot in this situation?

    Chang He stared angrily at Night Demon, who smiled shamelessly back at him.

    The old man didn¡¯t appear to grow angry. Instead, he stared at Chang He happily, then at Night Demon and said, ¡°You three kids are quite interesting. But it¡¯s a bit foolish of you toe here. See, the Sea Spirit still ended up discovering you, and they¡¯reing to make trouble for you right now.¡±

    What?

    The three of them turned around.

    However, there was nothing behind them, and definitely no sight of any Sea Spirits.

    They knew that they were not in a good situation and were just about to do something when three bangs sounded out. The three of them felt their eyes roll into the back of their heads as they passed out.

    The old man chuckled, ¡°Three rookies.¡±

    He turned around and slipped back into the sea.

    When he reawakened, Ye Fenghan found that he was lying on a bed in a dark cave. No trace of light could be seen.

    He tried to move and found that there were no fetters on him, so he sat up and tried to revolve the Origin Energy in his body. He discovered that his Origin Energy wasn¡¯t being restricted either.

    However, his Grade Four Frostedge was gone.

    Ye Fenghan wasn¡¯t too worried. As long as he was still alive, that was enough.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, he activated a light Arcana Technique.

    The Boundless Sect had multiple systems of cultivation. The disciples could learn Origin Skills or Arcana Techniques if they wanted to, and Su Chen had done his best to break down the barriers between the two cultivation systems so that new cultivation techniques could be developed.

    Even though Ye Fenghan¡¯s light skill was an Arcana Technique, part of its design included the use of Origin Energy Talismans. Actually, even these Origin Energy Talismans had experienced some substitutions. The cultivation system Su Chen had designed emphasized personal increases in strength over all else, so their use of Origin Energy had improved as well.

    Now that there was some light, Ye Fenghan was able to observe his surroundings.

    He discovered that he was in a massive cave. Not far from him was a long, twisted tunnel.

    The amount of light was limited, so Ye Fenghan could only follow the tunnel.

    He could hear the sound of water dripping near him, and the air was somewhat damp. Ye Fenghan realized that he was most likely under the sea somewhere.

    But how could such a ce exist under the sea?

    Who was that old man?

    Why would he capture him but not restrict him at all?

    Ye Fenghan had no clue what was happening.

    Just as he was advancing, Ye Fenghan suddenly sensed a person in front of him. He hurriedly extinguished the light and slowed down as he carefully crept forwards. As the target drew closer, Ye Fenghan suddenly attacked, jabbing his finger out like a sword.

    The opponent reacted quite quickly and retreated, simultaneously unleashing a palm strike. Even though this palm strike seemed quite simple, it exuded a vast amount of pressure, as if it was going to obliterate everything in its path. It was headed for a collision course with Ye Fenghan¡¯s forehead.

    When faced with this palm strike, Ye Fenghan made no attempts to dodge.

    He said, ¡°It¡¯s me.¡±

    The palm wind stopped in front of Ye Fenghan¡¯s forehead.

    ¡°You scared me half to death.¡±

    Chang He¡¯s voice floated back at him.

    Ye Fenghan gestured, and the light returned. Chang He had clearlye from the other end of the tunnel.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Ye Fenghan asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, but my treasures were taken.¡±

    Ye Fenghan said, ¡°Treasures are just external. As long as you are healthy, that is good enough. Right, have you seen Miss Night Demon anywhere?¡±

    Chang He shrugged. ¡°No. It seems we were imprisoned separately.¡±

    Ye Fenghan wanted to say that this didn¡¯t really count as imprisonment, but after a moment¡¯s thought, he bided his tongue and said instead, ¡°Let¡¯s find Miss Night Demon first and then we can talk.¡±

    The two of them continued to walk along the tunnel.

    Soon, a faint trace of light could be seening from the other end of the tunnel.

    The two of them heightened their caution and silenced their footsteps.

    As they got closer, they could faintly hear the voice of a young girl crying.

    ¡°No! Please, no.¡±

    ¡°Please don¡¯t do this!¡±

    ¡°I know I was wrong......¡±

    It was Night Demon¡¯s voice.

    Ye Fenghan and Chang He nced at each other, then charged out.

    Chang He yelled loudly, ¡°Night Demon, don¡¯t worry! We¡¯re here! Die, you rascal!¡±

    However, they stopped in their tracks as soon as they entered, stunned by the sight that greeted their eyes.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 14: Arrival at Thousand Illusions Island

    Chapter 14: Arrival at Thousand Illusions Ind

    The Limitless Sea.

    A massive fleet advanced across the surface of the sea.

    This fleet was sorge that they covered an area of a hundred square kilometers. Even the peak-tier Sea Beasts could sense the gathering strength from afar and didn¡¯t dare toe close to make any trouble.

    For this reason, the fleet was left mostly undisturbed, and no beasts came to make trouble for them.

    ¡°1200 kilometers ahead is the Icefire Cliff,¡± Prince Frostpoint said standing in the pce, which was floating in the middle of the fleet. ¡°Past there is the Thousand Illusions Ind, and past that is the Abyss.¡±

    ¡°Thousand Illusions Ind......¡± Su Chen muttered. ¡°How is your rtionship with the ck me?¡±

    Frostpoint chuckled bitterly, ¡°It¡¯s not about how good our rtionship is. We just need each other. The Sea Beasts have intensified their attacks in recent years, making it harder and harder for us to survive. The Intelligent Races living onnd have had an easier time because environmental pressures are decreasing, but the situation of the Oceanids ispletely opposite.

    The environmental changes had an effect underwater as well, but the Deep Sea Sorrow was able to nullify those changes.

    Sea Beast Sovereigns should have been incredibly rare existences, just like the Beast Sovereigns onnd.

    But because of the Deep Sea Sorrow, there were nearly five hundred Sovereigns in the Abyss alone. That was a truly shocking number.

    A mere Demonic Emperor, Scarlet Heart, had swept through Ravager territory mostly unchallenged. The might of a Sea Beast Sovereign, therefore, could be easily imagined.

    If all of these Sovereigns chose to emerge from the Abyss at the same time, they would probably be able to subjugate the entire continent.

    And the fact that the Oceanids were able to survive even in the midst of this kind of an environment for tens of thousands of years was a clear testament to their resilience.

    Even though ck me was an Arcanist organization, they were forced to ally themselves with the Oceanids in order to survive.

    For this reason, ck me was able to operate the most openly, closely followed by the Ravagers¡¯ Resurrection Door.

    Of course, this didn¡¯t mean that ck me had given up on their dreams of reviving the Arcanist regime.

    They were still working to aplish their dreams.

    They did this by working more and more closely with the other Arcanist organizations.

    The ck me had close ties to the Immortal Temple, Resurrection Door, Fate¡¯s Hands, and the Dazzling Society of the Astrals.

    As the only organization that could operate openly, the ck me became a group that facilitated and sheltered thosemitting evil deeds. Anytime someone was no longer able to live wherever they were originally located, they would run to the Thousand Illusions ind.

    This ce was exceptionally remote such that even the powerful imperial families wouldn¡¯t be able to extend their reach all the way here.

    And even if they could, ck me would happily draw them away to designated regions of the sea to y with the Sea Beasts. Not only would they be able to indirectly destroy their opponents, but that also served to somewhat decrease the pressure being put on them.

    As a result, the ck me became the ce where the evillest members of these Arcanist organizations woulde to hide.

    The other races had previously condemned the Oceanids for this and demanded that they hand over the Arcanists that were being protected.

    However, the Oceanids did their best to dy, or find others to help them alleviate some of the burden. The Thousand Illusions Ind was located in the heart of the sea, and it was an important stronghold in the defense against the Sea Beasts. The ck me harbored criminals partly to build up their strength to resist the attacks of the Sea Beasts. Naturally, since this benefitted the Oceanids as well, they would notin.

    Su Chen said faintly, ¡°Do you think ck me would agree if I asked them to hand over an important individual to me?¡±

    Frostpoint said with some surprise, ¡°Who?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Lin Zuiliu.¡±

    ¡°The King of Chaos?¡± Frostpoint was taken aback.

    Lin Zuiliu was a member of Long Sang¡¯s imperial Lin family. The current emperor, Lin Mengze, would probably need to refer to him as ¡°Uncle¡±.

    This person was quite a legendary figure. He, like the Raven King Feng Anya, had thirsted after power as well.

    Unlike Feng Anya, however, he had actually seeded.

    Yes, he had seeded!

    He had managed to kick his oldest brother off the throne, iming it for himself.

    Unfortunately, this onlysted three days before he was chased off himself.

    After being chased off, Lin Zuiliu was forced to run. However, he refused to give up and gathered his former subordinates to start an internal rebellion. For a while, he even held the advantage.

    He was really quite a talented individual. His martial skill and intelligence were both greater than that of his eldest brother, but his conceited nature led him to do something that offended all of the other imperial families. This allowed his eldest brother to eventually defeat him with the support of the other six countries.

    Lin Zuiliu ran a long ways after being defeated. Eventually, he came to the Thousand Illusions Ind and joined the ck me.

    Yes, a member of a human imperial family had actually be a member of an Arcanist organization. This was almostedic.

    Even so, this was the truth. Countless individuals had turned to the ck me for survival. Even though they were an Arcanist organization, their essence had, in some sense, changed from scheming to revive the Arcanist regime to harboring criminals.

    And this was how Lin Zuiliu became known as the infamous King of Chaos.

    Frostpoint was surprised by Su Chen¡¯s sudden mention of the King of Chaos. ¡°What do you want with him?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I need his help for some of my experiments.¡±

    When he heard this, Frostpoint fell silent.

    After a long while, he said, ¡°The King of Chaos¡¯s circumstances are quite unique. I don¡¯t know his exact situation right now, but I do know that he became one of the ck me¡¯s former five heads.¡±

    ¡°Former?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Frostpoint nodded. ¡°He tried to kill the other four so that he could take control by himself.¡±

    ......

    The King of Chaos was truly the King of Chaos. No matter where he went, he was always trying to start a rebellion.

    Su Chen asked, ¡°So what happened?¡±

    ¡°He was banished.¡±

    ¡°They actually didn¡¯t kill him?¡±

    ¡°If even you have something you need from him, how could ck me possibly be willing to kill him? Is he very important to you?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Well, not exactly. But doing research is like building a house. You need a foundation, structural support, tiling, bricks, and many other things toplete it. If any of these ingredients is missing, the house is likely to copse...... After all, destruction is always easier than construction.¡±

    Frostpoint understood. ¡°You think he¡¯s an integralponent to your research?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I have no idea. The biggest difference between building a house and doing research is that you at least know what condition a house is in before it ispleted. You also know what is important and what is not. But as for research...... Before you figure out which path is wrong and which path is tenable, no one knows what the house will look like.¡±

    Gu Qingluo chimed in. ¡°So the best thing to do is to try and fulfill Su Chen¡¯s request as much as you can. The King of Chaos might or might not be useful, but before we find out, we need to treat him as if he is.¡±

    Frostpoint understood. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then we will request for him. I doubt ck me will oppose us.¡±

    Westminstermanded, ¡°All forces, speed up! The target destination is Thousand Illusions Ind!¡±

    After another day, the fleet finally arrived at the Thousand Illusions Ind.

    This single ¡°ind¡± was actually arge group of inds.

    There were over a thousand inds here, and almost all of them were under the control of ck me.

    From the air, it was possible to see that these inds appeared to be strung together like a pearl ne, forming a massive ring-shaped structure. Upon closer inspection, it was obvious that this ring was mobile, spinning around and making any observer dizzy.

    This was not a misperception - this was reality.

    The Thousand Illusions Ind was actually setup on top of a massive Origin Formation. ck me had spent thousands of years to set it up, and it had been passed down and expanded for many generations.

    Currently, the Thousand Illusions Ind was very well-defended, and it was considered one of the most difficult cities to breach across the entire Primordial Continent, behind only the Harpies¡¯ Sky City and the Oceanids¡¯ Neptune¡¯s Stronghold.

    The Thousand Illusions Ind was named such because any creature that attempted to enter without permission would be confused by the intricate arrangement of inds. With the inds at the core of this Origin Formation, stronger individuals would have to brute force their way out.

    But if a Beast Sovereign was caught in the formation and was willing to sacrifice its life to escape, what could be done?

    This was part of the reason why ck me also had a hard time surviving in this kind of environment.

    By the time the joint human-Oceanid fleet arrived, gs of greeting had already been mounted on the inds.

    Obviously, ck me was aware of why Su Chen had shown up, and they seemed more than happy to help Su Chen with his request.

    As the sound of a conch being blown reverberated through the air, the circling inds came to a stop, and the ¡°pearl ne¡± split into two, revealing what was at the center.

    A massive natural harbor gradually began to appear.

    The boats in the fleet entered the bay one after another, stopping at one of the more central inds.

    A few members of ck me had alreadye out to greet them.

    There were two Arcanists, two humans, and one Ravager in the greeting party.

    Only in ck me would these three distinct races be able to get along with each other.

    Apparently, the ck me even had some Harpy members. In other words, they had managed to reconcile four races in total.

    There were no Astrals or Oceanids, however. The former¡¯s unique situation made it virtually impossible for them to rely on outward strength, while thetter was because there were basically no Oceanid traitors in the first ce.

    These five people were the five heads of the organization.

    The leader, however, was not an Arcanist but an elderly human. He smiled at Su Chen and said, ¡°It is an honor to finally meet you, Sir Su. Your presence brings glory to the Thousand Illusions Ind. I, Zhong Zhenjun, greet you!¡±

    Su Chen replied with a warm smile of his own, ¡°I have heard of A Howl Shakes An Army for a long time. It is also my honor to have met you today.¡±

    A Howl Shakes An Army, Three Smiles Worries The Demon were both monikers that Zhong Zhenjun had earned for himself.

    Even though he appeared quite carefree and easygoing, he was actually the most infamous criminal amongst the human race.

    This person was originally from Water Sheen, but instead of remaining in his n, he insisted on going out to see the world for himself. However, he did it in an improper way, and actually became a bandit. Everywhere he went, he would wantonly rob to his heart¡¯s delight. In particr, he liked to take things from Origin Qi Schrs, including cultivation resources. Not a single thing went untouched by him. Clearly, he was even worse than Su Chen. Su Chen had only done such things to the other races, not his own, but Zhong Zhenjun had no bottom line.

    Eventually, his reckless looting infuriated Jiang Jusheng, who sent people to try and kill him. Zhong Zhenjun escaped into the other countries, continuing his destructive behavior wherever he went. Eventually, he had managed offend all seven countries, which was what earned him his infamous reputation.

    Even though the Seven Kingdoms had all sent people to try and kill him, he was still alive and well, and his strength was only growing.

    His most outstanding aplishment was achieved when facing off against an army of nearly ten thousand elites. With a single war cry, he managed to wound or kill thousands of them, forcing the rest to beat a hasty retreat.

    In addition, while he liked to put on a cheery, cordial appearance, his heart was incredibly ruthless. He was the kind of person who would put you at ease with a disarming smile while putting the knife in your back.

    This was why people called him A Howl Shakes An Army, Three Smiles Worries The Demon.

    When he was enraged, entire armies were forced to bow the knee. When he smiled, even the experts needed to be careful.

    And after escaping to the ck me, three of the ck me¡¯s former heads died in rapid session, allowing him to rapidly rise through the ranks.

    Actually, the most recent head voluntarily gave up his position before Zhong Zhenjun even smiled at him.

    There were many such ruthless individuals amongst the ranks of the ck me.

    Including the other four people with him.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 15: Black Flame

    Chapter 15: ck me

    After Su Chen greeted Zhong Zhenjun, he nced at the Arcanist standing next to him.

    The old Arcanist said with a mild smile, ¡°Cavill greets Sir Su.¡±

    His voice was neither sinister nor warm, neither joyful, angry, or sorrowful. Anyone who didn¡¯t know his actual temperament might have thought that he didn¡¯t particrly like Su Chen. Actually, it was hard for anyone to know exactly what he was thinking.

    No one ever knew what Cavill was thinking.

    Cavill was probably the person with the least reputation out of the five ck me heads.

    He didn¡¯t have any particrly impressive military aplishments, and he rarely participated in any missions.

    Amongst the entire ck me organization, he was known as the Yes-Man ?¡ª he always replied with a smile and never really fought with others. He was also known as the Eternal Second. He would never be the leader of the group.

    Even so, it was precisely this Eternal Second who had been one of ck me¡¯s leaders for the longest.

    He had lived for nearly three thousand years and had experienced the passage of countless changes of ck me. But no matter how the wind howled and the rain poured down, he remained immovable. The ck me considered his position to have been forged by fire.

    However, this kind of talk very quickly disappeared.

    Because Cavill didn¡¯t like it.

    There weren¡¯t many things that he disliked, but all of them would disappear without question.

    This held true for both his enemies and any rumors.

    Cavill had given Zhong Zhenjun his spot, and he had made such a concession more than once before in the past.

    Su Chen greeted him extremely respectfully.

    After Cavill came another Arcanist, but this one was a woman.

    Her face was incredibly beautiful, and her voice was alluring and intoxicating. She smiled sweetly at Su Chen as she said, ¡°Cami greets Sir Su.¡±

    Su Chen smiled. ¡°The face of a fairy is truly worthy of praise, but unfortunately......¡±

    Cami¡¯s expression sank ever so slightly as she intensely asked, ¡°Unfortunately what, Sir Su?¡±

    Everyone knew that ttering Cami was exceptionally easy, as was making her angry ?¡ª all you had to do was either praise her beauty, or conversely, say that her beauty was never hers to begin with.

    Yes, this beautiful appearance was not Cami¡¯s actual face. It had actually been constructed by her.

    Ou of real human skin too!

    Cami was also known as the Scalping Grandmother. Her original appearance was that of an ugly, vile, old woman, but her obsession with appearing young and beautiful had led her to ughter countless beautiful young woman and take their skin for her own uses.

    She was the nightmare of every fair maiden on the continent, and even to this day, no one exactly how many young girls she had killed.

    This was a reflection of ck me¡¯s true nature. Their headquarters was a ce with an extremely high concentration of such vile individuals.

    Even though Cami had been full of anticipation for Su Chen¡¯s arrival, nobody could guarantee that her attitude wouldn¡¯t suddenly change if Su Chen brought up her least favorite matter.

    That was also what Frostpoint and Westminster were the most concerned about.

    They shot worried nces at Su Chen in an attempt to remind him to rein in his personal distaste for the sake of their grand scheme.

    Su Chen, however, continued to speak indifferently. ¡°Unfortunately, you used the wrong method.¡±

    Cami¡¯s expression hadpletely changed at this point. Su Chen was basically telling her straight to her face that her appearance and voice were all fake.

    An instantter, however, her anger dissipated.

    Because Su Chen¡¯s next words were, ¡°There are better ways to preserve your youth that are more effective and practical than your current method.¡±

    Cami was stunned when she heard this. ¡°You have something like this?¡±

    Gu Qingluo answered, ¡°Thirty years ago, my husband managed to refine a medicine that could preserve the fair skin of ady and minimize the effects of aging.¡±

    Cami was delighted.

    Su Chen, however, revealed some caveats. ¡°It probably won¡¯t be of much use to you, though. It can only slow down the aging process, not reverse the flow of time.¡±

    Cami was immediately dejected once more.

    But Gu Qingluo said, ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean that he can¡¯te up with a new medicine that can do that. My husband has made quite a few advances these past few years in his study of solid medicines.¡±

    Cami was delighted yet again.

    Su Chen, however, shut her down right after. ¡°But I am very busy right now and might not be able to find any time to work on it right now.¡±

    Cami turned to look at Gu Qingluo, no longer able to keep up with the extreme mood swings she was being put through.

    But Gu Qingluo merelyughed at Su Chen¡¯s statement. ¡°But you will have time eventually, right?¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Of course. I will resolve the issue sooner orter.¡±

    The two of them had raised and crushed her spirits many times in rapid session.

    Cami was not an idiot, and she knew what the two of them were hinting at. She smiled. ¡°ck me will do its best to cooperate with Sir Su, as will I.¡±

    Su Chen fell silent.

    He didn¡¯t like this evil olddy.

    But none of the members of the ck me were innocent. Byw, they all deserved to die.

    As someone with great power, clinging excessively to stringent ethics would only hinder his ability to aplish great things.

    As such, he could only endure his difort.

    Only once the situation was resolved could he then afford to think of a way to deal with the ck me.

    As for now, cooperation with them came first.

    Behind Cami was another human.

    This human kept their face veiled, making it impossible to see what they looked like.

    The mysterious person nced at Su Chen and cupped their hands in greeting, but remained silent.

    Zhong Zhenjun said, ¡°This is leader Ding Feng. He doesn¡¯t like showing people his true appearance, so please forgive him.¡±

    Su Chen said with a slight smile, ¡°It¡¯s not a problem.¡±

    He had never heard of the name ¡®Ding Feng¡¯ before, as there was no news of anybody going by this namemitting any crimes in the outside world.

    Given that the other party was concealing their appearance, it was very likely that this was not their true name.

    There were many ways of concealing one¡¯s appearance, but the other party had chosen the simplest way of doing so. In some sense, this contradicted with their other general behavior.

    At the same time that he greeted Ding Feng, Su Chen could sense a clear killing intent exuding from that individual.

    Even Li Chongshan, Chu Yingwan, and the others behind him could sense it as well.

    The old Heavenly Might Battalion generals nced at each other and frowned but held their tongue in the end.

    Behind Ding Feng was the lone Ravager.

    His name was Hatch.

    Su Chen had known about him for a long time.

    Before Su Chen¡¯s battles with the Ravagers, they probably would have feared Hatch the most.

    Hatch was originally from the Droughthammer Tribe.

    After his tribe had been defeated by the Redeagle Tribe, their status and strength began to slowly decline, until Hatch was born.

    Hatch was raised in a broken family, and he was also quite the brawny kid who loved to pick fights with others. Naturally, fighting with other Ravagers was basically his go-to activity.

    On its own, that wouldn¡¯t have differentiated him from any other Ravager.

    However, one day, Hatch was suddenly paralyzed.

    His arms seemed to have be useless, and they lost their ability to move.

    From that day onwards, he was seen as worthless, and he was no longer able to use his iron-like fists to fight.

    It wasn¡¯t until half a yearter that his arms suddenly recovered out of the blue, and he had also grown many times stronger than before.

    This story seemed quite familiar, didn¡¯t it?

    It was just like Su Chen and Li Daohong¡¯s.

    The only difference was that Hatch had only taken half a year to fully recover from his debilitation.

    After recovering, Hatch had exacted his revenge. The very night he recovered, he ughtered all of the children that had mistreated him in the past.

    Even though he pretended that he hadn¡¯t fully recovered, the Ravagers were still able to spot his bluff.

    Just when the Droughthammer Tribe was about to punish him, Hatch suddenly exploded with violence.

    He used his iron-like fists to bash the tribe leader¡¯s head in, then stole the tribe¡¯s Earth-Shaking Hammer. He managed to escape the encirclement, even leaving behind the mother that had taken care of him all these years and disappeared without a trace.

    From that point on, a legend about a ¡°head-basher¡± began to spread across the ins inhabited by the Ravagers.

    Hatch traveled for thirteen years throughout the ins. These thirteen years were filled with bloodshed.

    It was impossible to count how many Ravagers this guy had killed. He had at least been attacked by members of the tribes at least 136 times. Of those, he was able to kill the entire pursuing party 42 times.

    The tribes¡¯ various attempts to kill Hatch did nothing but strengthen him.

    Later on, people discovered that even though he had never gone through a baptism in the Origin Energy Temple, he was able to control and use Origin Energy easily.

    This was part of the reason he was so powerful. Those arms of his appeared to give him an innate ability to control Origin Energy.

    For this reason, the head-basher was also known as the Innate Origin Arms.

    These arms of his became a treasure that the various tribes put out a tremendous bounty for.

    When faced with the intense greed of his fellow Ravagers, even Hatch wasn¡¯t able to endure the pressure and finally ran.

    During his escape, he still managed to harm thousands of his fellow Ravagers, treating them as if they were his mortal enemies.

    Until he reached the Thousand Illusions Ind.

    If there was anyone Su Chen was interested in, it was Hatch.

    However, just as Li Daohong hadn¡¯t been able to give him any clues about the old man, Hatch was no exception either.

    Hatch¡¯s experience could only demonstrate one thing: Su Chen was not alone in what had happened to him.

    But apart from that, Hatch had no value to him.

    As such, Su Chen merely nodded to Hatch respectfully and kept his silence.

    If possible, he really wanted to tear off that guy¡¯s arms and do some research on them.

    Before that happened, however, he needed these two arms to deal with those Sea Beasts.

    After greeting one another, they began to discuss their next steps.

    As they walked along the Thousand Illusions Ind, Su Chen said, ¡°You all probably know the reason why I havee here today.¡±

    Zhong Zhenjun nodded. ¡°Sir Su wants to borrow some soldiers?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Zhong Zhenjun thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°I can understand Sir Su¡¯s desire to deal with the Sea Beasts, but with the Oceanid army and the Subdued Sea branch, as well as the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples, you should be able to take care of a Sea Beast, right?¡±

    He didn¡¯t know how strong the Boundless Sect was, but based on the fact that the Oceanids had sent their troops and the Subdued Sea branch was also present, dealing with a single Beast Sovereign shouldn¡¯t be a problem.

    It wasn¡¯t that the Oceanids and the ck me couldn¡¯t defeat these Sea Sovereigns; it was that they would suffer serious losses after every battle.

    The constant nature of their battle made it impossible for them to keep up with the costs.

    However, one or two victories wasn¡¯t a problem.

    The reality was that, even though the ck me and the Oceanids were fighting a losing war, theirbat tactics were generally superior because they couldn¡¯t afford to lose.

    For this reason, Zhong Zhenjun believed that Su Chen had more than enough manpower under his control.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I will need to get close to the Abyss if I want to research it. Our goal is not to kill Beast Sovereigns, but to resist their attacks and buy time.¡±

    Zhong Zhenjun immediately asked, ¡°How close? And how much time?¡±

    ¡°I want to get within ten kilometers.¡±

    Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s expression immediately shifted. ¡°Are you crazy? That¡¯s way too close!¡±

    Even though ten kilometers sounded like a fair distance, that was nothing to a Sea Beast Sovereign.

    Su Chen was basically asking them to help him do experiments right under the Sea Beast Sovereigns¡¯ eyes. No wonder Zhong Zhenjun said that it was impossible.

    ¡°We can be further, but it will take more time the further away I am from the center. And we cannot go more than a hundred kilometers away.¡±

    Zhong Zhenjun replied, ¡°That¡¯s still really difficult to do.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°That¡¯s why I need your help. The problem of the Deep Sea Sorrow was never going to be an easy fix in the first ce. If you want to get the job done quickly without paying any kind of price, then I can only inform you that you must be dreaming.¡±

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 16: Bloodline Transfer

    Chapter 16: Bloodline Transfer

    ¡°AH!¡±

    Following this shrill screech, Ye Fenghan and Chang He charged in, only to find Night Demon clinging to a rabbit and pleading with the old man from before.

    ¡°Night Demon! You......¡± Chang He and Ye Fenghan said at the same time.

    ¡°You guys are finally here!¡± Night Demon said with excitement. ¡°Help me stop him! This old man is evil! He wants to cut this rabbit open. How could you ever do that to such a cute rabbit?¡±

    Rabbit?

    They nced at each other.

    When they saw that Night Demon didn¡¯t appear to have been tied up in the slightest, they started to realize what had happened.

    Ye Fenghan lowered the sword he had unsheathed, and Chang He stopped attempting to cast Sumeru Void. The two of them said, ¡°So you were crying and hollering like this over a mere rabbit?¡±

    Night Demon nced quizzically at them, ¡°Is there something wrong with that?¡±

    A typical Night Demon response.

    Ye Fenghan nced at the old man. ¡°Who are you, exactly? Why would you capture us?¡±

    The old man didn¡¯t even nce at Ye Fenghan. Instead, he reached out to grab the rabbit. Thought Night Demon did her best to keep the rabbit from him, she found that she waspletely incapable of dodging even this simple motion of his. As she watched the rabbit return to its owner, she was so agitated that tears began to well in her eyes.

    The old man held the rabbit by its ears and walked off to the side. ¡°Kid, if you aren¡¯t nning on using your sword to hurt me, you¡¯d best keep it sheathed. It wouldn¡¯t be good for you to frighten an old man like me.¡±

    Ye Fenghan didn¡¯t put away the sword. He was not a person who would be so easily scared.

    He pointed Frostedge at the old man and said, ¡°I¡¯ll only ask you one more time. Why did you ambush us? If you won¡¯t answer me, then I won¡¯t hesitate!¡±

    ¡°Ambush?¡± The old man chuckled. ¡°Are you unsatisfied? Do you think you were captured just because I ambushed you, not because you underestimated my abilities?¡±

    Ye Fenghan¡¯s expression grew ugly. ¡°If you have the ability to back up all that talking, then we should fight it out to see.¡±

    Unexpectedly, the old man shook his head and said, ¡°I haven¡¯t fought with someone else in a long time. No fighting, no fighting.¡±

    Ye Fenghan was infuriated. Can you not be so shameless? You haven¡¯t fought with someone in a long time? What was that ambush all about then?

    ¡°Also......¡± the old man murmured. ¡°I don¡¯t even need to personally do anything to a person like you. Any one of my subordinates would be able to easily finish you off.¡±

    Any of his subordinates?

    Ye Fenghan and Chang He nced around.

    Apart from the four of them, however, there was no one else in the room. There were only a few caged chickens, ducks, and other small animals.

    Night Demon asked directly, ¡°Old man, where are your subordinates anyways?¡±

    The old man lifted the rabbit in his hands. ¡°Does this not count?¡±

    Ye Fenghanughed angrily. ¡°Good, good! I, Ye Fenghan, have cultivated for so many years, but I am supposedly inferior to a rabbit? Why not show me what it can do?¡±

    ¡°You asked.¡± The old man actually agreed immediately.

    He pulled out a vial of medicine and fed it to the rabbit as he said, ¡°Why don¡¯t you guys go and fight it out.¡±

    As he spoke, he reached out to grab Ye Fenghan.

    Ye Fenhan attempted to dodge but found that this seemingly in,mon grab was unavoidable.

    He used three or four movement techniques in rapid session and seven or eight sword techniques, as well as two secret techniques, one of which even Chang He had never seen before. However, the old man¡¯s hand seemed unstoppable. Some of the techniques that Ye Fenghan tried to use were nullified before they even left his hand.

    In the blink of an eye, Ye Fenghan had unleashed nearly a dozen techniques to no effect.

    An instantter, the old man¡¯s hand grabbed his shoulder. The old man said, ¡°In you go.¡±

    Whoosh! Suddenly, Ye Fenghan found himself in another room.

    Spatial teleportation!

    And the old man had actually teleported another person.

    Ye Fenghan was stunned.

    He finally realized how powerful the old man really was.

    There was no need for him to ambush them in order to capture them.

    He had done so simply because he wanted to.

    He was toying with them.

    Before he was able to fullyprehend what had just happened, the rabbit also suddenly appeared in the room.

    He had actually tossed the rabbit inside as well.

    Not only that, but the old man continued, ¡°Only one of you will be able to walk out of there alive.¡±

    Was this a joke?

    Ye Fenghan was just about to speak when he suddenly felt like something was off.

    He turned around to find the rabbit staring coldly at him. It exuded a ferocious, violent aura, and its gaze was filled with bloodthirst.

    What a familiar sensation.

    Ye Fenghan had experienced this before. During his exploits, he had run into simr opponents three times in the past.

    Each time, he was only able to defeat his opponent after being grievously wounded.

    One of those times, he had beenpletely defeated. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that another member of the sect just happened to be passing by then, he would have died.

    And now, this rabbit was exuding a simrly frightening aura.

    The formerly harmless, gentle rabbit that Night Demon had been shedding tears over just moments ago.

    The rabbit stared at Ye Fenghan with bloodshot eyes before baring its teeth menacingly. Sharp ws began to protrude from its feet, and its fur began to straighten out like porcupine quills, giving it quite a fearsome opponent.

    However, the most shocking thing about this rabbit was the bloody clouds that began to gather behind its back, as if it was umting some kind of power.

    ¡°This is......¡± Ye Fenghan muttered in shock.

    The rabbit was already charging forwards. It raked its w down at Ye Fenghan, not waiting to fully umte its strength before it attacked.

    Ye Fenghan quickly raised his sword to defend himself.

    ng!

    With a crisp, metallic sound, the rabbit¡¯s w collided with Frostedge. Even so, this Grade Four Origin Tool wasn¡¯t able to do much to the rabbit. All that happened was a thinyer of frost appeared on the rabbit¡¯s skin.

    However, the rabbit shot past Ye Fenghan before turning around in midair and biting down athim from behind.

    Ye Fenghan shed his sword through the air, causing a wave of frost to spring to life before him.

    He didn¡¯t have many sword techniques, and they were all quite simple in nature, but for this reason they were extremely efficient and incisive.

    This single sword strike filled the entire room with chilly energy.

    The rabbit¡¯s flying body froze in midair.

    It tilted its head back and howled.

    ¡°Screee!¡±

    This screech sounded less like the cry of a rabbit and more like the screech of a bird.

    It unleashed another w strike. Ye Fenghan felt like it was enveloping his entire world, as if it could tear through any barrier he mounted. He knew that he was in a dangerous spot, so he rapidly unleashed three sword strikes which formed three walls of ice.

    Crack!

    The rabbit w mmed into the ice walls and tore right through them. Ye Fenghan took advantage of the opportunity to leap backwards, thrusting out with his sword as he did so. The agile sword light pierced rapidly towards the rabbit.

    Unexpectedly, the rabbit unfurled a pair of wings that pped once hard.

    It began to fly!

    Ye Fenghan unleashed a torrent of sword Qi.

    As the rabbit flew through the air, the bloody clouds gathering behind it hadpletely taken form. It was an image of a bloody eagle. As the eagle spread its wings, a majestic aura began to fill the room.

    ¡°What?¡±

    Ye Fenghan, who was within the room, and Chang He and Night Demon, who were outside, were all stunned/

    ¡°Cloudpeck!¡±

    ¡°Cloudpeck!¡±

    ¡°Cloudpeck!¡±

    The three of them simultaneously cried out in shock.

    The Deste Beast Bloodline belonging to the Du n, Cloudpeck, had actually manifested itself on a rabbit.

    How could they not be stunned?

    ¡°Hahahaha! You didn¡¯t expect this, did you? I have managed toplete my Bloodline Transfer skill. With this skill, I will be able to control every bloodline under the heavens. I can give anyone I want a powerful bloodline. And I am not talking about mixed bloodlines - this bloodline ispletely pure! It can be transmitted through generations! Not only so, but I can even mix multiple bloodlines together to form newer, more powerful bloodlines. When that dayes, I willbine the single Origin Beast and seven Deste Beast Bloodlines into one to reach even greater heights. I will be invincible, and no one will be able to withstand me!¡±

    As the old man spoke, he threw his head back and began tough madly. His gaze was filled with fervor and intensity.

    When they heard this, Night Demon and Chang He immediately realized something and stared at him in shock. ¡°You¡¯re the King of Chaos, Lin Zuiliu!¡±

    ¡°Oh? So you¡¯ve finally realized, have you?¡± the old man chuckled, making no attempts to deny their usations.

    Yes, he was the King of Chaos, Lin Zuiliu.

    Back in the day, he had sessfully orchestrated a rebellion and became the emperor of Long Sang Country. However, he was removed from power soon after, and his scheming afterwards failed. This was because the other six countries had also banded together to deal with him.

    And this was because Lin Zuiliu had wanted to merge bloodlines to create a new, peerless bloodline.

    His idea was both shocking and offended the noble powers, making them incredibly unhappy.

    No one liked it when the status quo was broken. If Su Chen¡¯s actions would do this, how much more so would Lin Zuiliu¡¯s?

    Both removing the need for bloodlines andbining bloodlines offended them.

    However, Su Chen at least knew how to keep his pursuits somewhat under wraps, at least until he managed topletely seed. He knew how to makepromises with the nobles. Lin Zuiliu, however, didn¡¯t. If he were to be the emperor, who would be able to stop him?

    Perhaps not long after, a new Illustrious Divine Dynasty would emerge under his hand.

    Even though this would be a great aplishment, none of the other six countries would want to see this happen.

    As such, Lin Zuiliu must die!

    Unfortunately, he was simply too strong. He had already reached the Thought Manifestation Realm at that point in time, and his study of bloodlines and secret techniques, as well as his group of powerful subordinates, managed to keep him alive despite the fact that he had been defeated.

    Not long after the old man reached the Thousand Illusions Ind, he ascended to the Ultimate Emperor Realm, the peak of what was achievable by humans. No one was able to control him after that.

    Until he rebelled and was driven out of the Thousand Illusions Ind.

    No one would have expected him to suddenly appear here and capture three juniors.

    After discovering his identity, Chang He fell into despair.

    Any kind of skill was useless against this kind of powerful character.

    Escape? Forget about it.

    No wonder the old man hadn¡¯t given them any medicine. There was simply no need for him to do so in the first ce.

    At that moment, a shrill scream could be hearding from the nearby room.

    It was the bunny.

    He turned around in shock to find that Ye Fenghan¡¯s Frostedge had pierced the rabbit¡¯s body, and the rabbit¡¯s ¡°talons¡± had gouged deeply into Ye Fenghan¡¯s chest.

    The two of them forcefully pressed on. Ice began to slowly encase the rabbit, while the talons prated Ye Fenghanpletely, causing blood to spray everywhere.

    The rabbit wanted to cry out again, but the ice hadpletely covered its face. Eventually, the rabbit was entirely encased in ice andpletely motionless.

    Ye Fenghan released his grip. The rabbit fell to the ground and shattered into countless pieces.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care what bloodline you have. If you are going to try and kill me, then I have no choice but to kill you first!¡± Ye Fenghan spat coldly before falling to one knee, exhausted.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 17: Borrowing Troops

    Chapter 17: Borrowing Troops

    At Thousand Illusions Ind.

    An unprecedented celebration was taking ce.

    ck me was weing guests who hade to visit them from afar.

    ¡°The King of Chaos, Lin Zuiliu? You¡¯re interested in him, Sir Su?¡± Zhong Zhenjun asked these questions in a seemingly indifferently tone, as if he wasn¡¯t involved with him at all, as if he weren¡¯t the one who had personally defeated Lin Zuiliu and exiled him.

    ¡°Lin Zuiliu¡¯s bloodline research is very important to me. The Deep Sea Sorrow¡¯s power is likely derived from bloodline maniption, after all.¡±

    ¡°What a pity,¡± Cavill said. ¡°After Lin Zuiliu was exiled, no one knows where he went.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is,¡± Su Chen muttered before sighing. ¡°Well, that¡¯s all right as well. I suppose that our meeting will be up to fate. But how many people is ck me nning on sending to help me?¡±

    The five heads all nced at each other. In the end, it was Zhong Zhenjun who spoke first. ¡°The Sea Beasts¡¯ attacks have grown more and more violent over these past few years. Thousand Illusions Ind is within the Abyss¡¯s radius of influence, so we have always been under tremendous pressure. Even though we would still like to help you, our current strength is limited. We can most likely only provide you with a battalion¡¯s worth of soldiers.¡±

    A battalion was roughly equivalent to about a thousand soldiers. Zhong Zhenjun also knew that this number was quite low, which was why he had started by exining their circumstances.

    Did ck me not know how important Su Chen¡¯s mission was?

    Of course not.

    They knew how important Su Chen¡¯s sess would be to ck me.

    However, they still needed to ce some thought on the long-term consequences.

    Once the Deep Sea Sorrow was dealt with, would that really be a good thing for ck me?

    Without a constant threat, the Oceanids¡¯ attitude towards the ck me might change. There were many small problems and misunderstandings that had been ignored or overlooked because of this constant shared danger.

    After this threat began to lessen, all of those small problems would most likely still remain. What would ck me do then?

    On the other hand, if ck me tried to preserve their own strength and continue to fight against the Sea Beasts with the aid of the Oceanids, then who would rule the seas in the future?

    In any case, there were many different reasons for ck me to be extremely cautious with Su Chen¡¯s request.

    If at all possible, they wanted to have the Oceanids fight hard while they watched on from the sidelines.

    Perhaps this was only natural.

    Them offering merely a single battalion was essentially them making their stance on the matter clear.

    Frostpoint and Westminster were both clearly a bit disgruntled by their stance, but Su Chen wasn¡¯t surprised in the slightest.

    It was impossible for him to not notice the game that they were trying to y given his intellect and experience.

    After calmly taking a sip of tea, Su Chen said, ¡°Many people know that doing research requires a lot of time and energy. Sometimes, the price needed to aplish something great is almost inconceivable. But very few people realize the vast benefits that sessful research results can bring about...... You all know that I am Cloud Bat, so you should also clearly know how much money I¡¯ve made from selling my cultivation techniques, medicines, and Origin Skills.¡±

    When Zhong Zhenjun and the others heard this, their hearts couldn¡¯t help but tremble.

    They were naturally all too familiar with Cloud Bat¡¯s glorious aplishments.

    They had caused a veritable sea of wealth to rush into Cloud Bat¡¯s possession, and at this point, he was worth hundreds of millions of Origin Stones alone. Even though Su Chen was no longer publicly selling his bloodline-less cultivation techniques, he was still putting some of his other small inventions on the market along with records of his own cultivation experiences and improved Origin Skills.

    During the past few years, Cloud Bat had managed to earn nearly three billion Origin Stones.

    Because Su Chen¡¯s primary intention was simply to distribute these inventions as widely as possible, he had sold them at an extremely low price. If Su Chen had wanted to earn money with his inventions, then he probably could have earned at least twenty billion by now.

    In this day and age, intion didn¡¯t yet exist. Countless people would murder for hundreds of millions of Origin Stones, while a few tens of billions were more than enough to entirely buy out a small country.

    Su Chen¡¯s wealth was enough to render many people speechless.

    Once Su Chen brought this up, Zhong Zhenjun knew what he was going to say next.

    As expected, Su Chen said, ¡°The Deep Sea Sorrow is an incredible item...... Anything that can stimte a target¡¯s bloodline and use it to elerate growth is basically a cultivation-improving machine. It would be an incredible treasure to any cultivator!¡±

    Everyone present was stunned when they heard this.

    This whole time, they had all treated the Deep Sea Sorrow as a source of cmity. No one had ever thought of it as a cultivation treasure.

    Westminster couldn¡¯t resist making a counterpoint. ¡°The Deep Sea Sorrow¡¯s elerant properties are dependent on consuming the target¡¯s vitality andtent potential as its fuel.¡±

    Actually, she knew that now was not a good time to y devil¡¯s advocate, but she had an almost instinctual aversion to the notion that the Deep Sea Sorrow possessed any kind of significant value.

    In her eyes, this demonic instrument had caused the members of her race an untold amount of suffering. Destroying it was the best choice, not prolonging its existence in any form or manner.

    Su Chen calmly replied, ¡°Latent potential? It doesn¡¯t sound like those matured Sovereigns are particrlycking in strength anyways, are they not?¡±

    Westminster froze.

    That was true. If you were a Beast Sovereign, then why would you even care about running out of potential?

    Were they so greedy as to want to be Deste Beasts?

    ¡°Vitality is indeed a problem, but there are probably quite a few people who would be willing to exchange their lifespan for great power, right? And isn¡¯t research meant to resolve these kinds of problems in the first ce? Perhaps someday, I will figure out a way to nullify its vitality draining effect,¡± Su Chen continued.

    Frostpoint couldn¡¯t resist speaking up either. ¡°Sir Su, your mission is to figure out how to stop the Deep Sea Sorrow from elerating the growth of these Sea Beasts, not to reverse engineer its ability or to improve its effects.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°You only say that because you don¡¯t understand the nature of research. When you do everything in your power to resolve a problem, you will eventually realize that you have resolved not one but many problems all at once.¡±

    Anyone who wasn¡¯t a researcher would never understand the joys and sorrows of researching.

    The greatest pleasure of research was that you never knew what kind of oue you would find.

    Sometimes, you might get a red peach when you wanted a red pomegranate.

    And by the time you managed to pick the fruits of yourbor that you were looking for, it was possible that you would have already picked the entire field clean.

    This was the reality of conducting research.

    Su Chen never said that he would definitely be able to derive a satisfactory answer. However, he knew that as long as he attempted to do so, there was bound to be some unexpected discovery waiting to be made.

    The value of these discoveries was unknown, but they were typically quite valuable.

    What Su Chen had mentioned was merely a possibility.

    He then moved onto the next subject. ¡°Actually, besides the possibility of a tool that elerates one¡¯s growth and the bloodlines of those Beast Sovereigns, the raw resources within the Abyss might be a bit more tangible in terms of value.¡±

    Cami said, ¡°You will not be able to make any profit from the Abyss of the Sea.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps. I don¡¯t know what I will find in the future, but I do know that as long as my research bears some kind of fruit, the benefits will definitelye.¡± Su Chen raised his cup and toasted the other people sitting at the table before downing it all in one gulp.

    He then continued to say, ¡°These benefits will be divided ording to the contribution of the participants.¡±

    As expected, he was still attempting to use benefits to entice them.

    The five heads of ck me simultaneously felt a sense of derision arise in their hearts.

    However, their selfishness and greed eventually won out.

    Zhong Zhenjun spoke after some time. ¡° ck me can contribute a garrison.¡±

    That was three thousand soldiers.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Once we reach the Abyss, I will use some bait-and-switch tactics to draw those Beast Sovereigns out. Once they leave the Abyss, I will attempt to confuse them and prevent them from returning to the Abyss. That should throw their ranks into chaos.¡±

    The other five people instantly understood what Su Chen was getting at and frowned simultaneously.

    Su Chen continued speaking. ¡°We will do our best to control the direction that the Beast Sovereigns leave in so that they don¡¯t head for human territory, Oceanid territory, or Thousand Illusions Ind. But no one knows if or when the situation will spiral out of control. If it does happen, then I can only ask for forgiveness from Neptune¡¯s Fort and Thousand Illusions Ind. This is a necessary price to pay in order to secure our long-term peace.¡±

    In that moment, the heads of ck me¡¯s expression drastically shifted.

    Cami immediately stood up. ¡°Are you threatening us?¡±

    ¡°Threaten?¡± Su Chen nced at Cami innocently. ¡°I¡¯m just describing what might happen. How can you say that I¡¯m threatening you? Also, Thousand Illusions Ind has been fighting against the Sea Beasts for so long that you all would surely be able to handle one or two of theming your way, right?¡±

    Cami was virtually heaving with anger at this point.

    Thousand Illusions Ind was indeed capable of withstanding the attacks of a Sea Beast Sovereign. However, saying that they could ¡°handle¡± it was a wild exaggeration.

    All of their campaigns against Sea Beast Sovereigns had required for them to pay a tremendous price.

    Also, the Sea Beasts only attacked out at designated timings. Even with the assistance of the Deep Sea Sorrow, it still took a while for a Sea Beast to reach the Sovereign level. As such, the Oceanids and ck me only needed to withstand an attack once every five years.

    Otherwise, it would have been impossible for them to have held on for so long.

    But if Su Chen purposefully stirred up trouble, then it was entirely possible that they would need to defend themselves every five days!

    Who could withstand that kind of pressure?

    No wonder Cami was using Su Chen of threatening them.

    Su Chen calmly replied, ¡°Sea Beast Sovereigns are not the same as a Beast Wave. As long as it onlysts for a short period of time, they won¡¯t be able to cause as much of a storm as you expect. You won¡¯t need to pay as much of a price as you would against a typical Beast Wave.¡±

    ¡°But what if their attacks are too frequent? What if we have to fight more than one at once? What if the Beast Sovereigns only attack after gathering their forces? You haven¡¯t gone through something like this before, but we have!¡± Cami questioned sincerely.

    ¡°What does that have to do with me?¡± Su Chen replied, bluntly rebutting her.

    If you want to watch on as I attempt to destroy the Deep Sea Sorrow, then you deserve to deal with the consequences of your inaction.

    Being reasonable?

    There was no need for reasonableness with vile criminals.

    If Su Chen hadn¡¯t threatened them, then this group of people, who wanted to reap what they had not sown, would probably have felt like Su Chen owed them something.

    Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s face twitched as he said, ¡°An army.¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I want the ckwater Corps.¡±

    Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s expression shifted again.

    ck me possessed two major corps ¡ª the ckwater Corps, and the Violetme Corps.

    The ckwater Corps were primarily responsible for external offensive maneuvers while the Violetme Corps were primarily responsible for internal defense of the ind.

    And now, Su Chen was demanding the entire ckwater Corps.

    That was an army nearly eighty thousand strong.

    ¡°Absolutely not!¡± Zhong Zhenjun said through gritted teeth.

    ¡°I¡¯ll leave you a battalion,¡± Su Chen said calmly.

    ¡°Ridiculous!¡±

    ¡°Then what about a garrison?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no way that we would agree!¡±

    ¡°Fine, an army. I¡¯ll leave you ten thousand people, and the rest will go with me. Also......¡± Su Chen paused for a moment before suddenly pointing at the silent Fourth Head.

    ¡°I want him!¡±

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 18: Distribution of Authority

    Chapter 18: Distribution of Authority

    The fleet stayed at Thousand Illusions Ind for three days. After that, they left, this time with the ckwater Corps in tow.

    At this moment, Su Chen¡¯s army now contained four different sources of power.

    There were 50,000 people from the Boundless Sect, 210,000 from the Subdued Sea Branch, 300,000 from the Oceanids, and 70,000 from the ckwater Corps, which totaled 630,000 soldiers in total.

    And these were not 630,000moners ¡ª the army was entirelyposed of powerful Origin Qi Schrs, each one of them warriors capable of manipting the Origin Energy in their environment.

    A force this strong was probably capable of invading virtually any territory that they wanted to. Even Sky City would be put to the test by them.

    Even so, this number was still insufficient to handle all the Sea Beasts living in the Abyss.

    Every soldier on this expedition was prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice.

    Twelve dayster, the fleet arrived at the edges of the Abyss.

    This territory was wholly owned by Sea Beasts. It was one of the most terrifying locations on the entire continent, and even the most powerful individuals had to tread with caution.

    The fleet¡¯s imposing aura almostpletely disappeared once they arrived.

    The boats inconspicuously and silently glided along the surface of the water. The only sound that could be heard was the whistling wind and the crashing waves.

    Perhaps it was due to theck of outside interference, but even the sea itself was beginning to grow quite aggressive.

    Massive, towering waves began to surge to the sky as dark clouds formed overhead.

    Wild winds and heavy rain beat down upon the fleet as lightning and thunder shook the air around them with shocking intensity.

    From time to time, massive demonic birds would even fly across the sky, staring at the fleet below as if they were looking at dead men. They were waiting for the moment when they could descend and feast upon their corpses.

    Lightning spirits danced through the sky, exploding into balls of me from time to time. There were Thunderp Spirits, Darkness Lightning Spirits, Solitary Wind Spirits, and many other elemental spirits present. All of these spirits howled and cried out in a strange, unsettling cadence.

    Sea Beasts would also surface from time to time.

    Instead of running away, they were circling the fleet, searching for opportunities to strike.

    ¡°This is really quite a good ce to do research in,¡± Su Chen sighed as he nced up at the spirits floating around in the sky.

    Thunderp Spirits were the main source of power for the Bai n¡¯s Thunder de. These spirits could utilize the sound of thunder to attack an opponent,pletely ignoring most defenses. They were quite powerful as a result.

    Unfortunately, it was possible to counter this spirit¡¯s characteristics, and the defense-piercing aspect of the Thunderp Spirit¡¯s attacks was not necessarily always effective. As Su Chen¡¯s opponents had gotten stronger and stronger, his Thunder de¡¯s effectiveness had greatly decreased.

    Cloud Leopard, on the other hand, was sometimes able to squeeze some more use out of it, and he had a surprising ability to draw more power from than was expected.

    Of course, if Su Chen were to spend some more time researching that skill, it was entirely possible for him to develop a more powerful thunder attack, where its power would exceed that of the original move. However, Su Chen¡¯s primary interest was not on that, so after giving the spirits a cursory nce, he sighed and moved on.

    There were countless paths to take when it came to research. All Su Chen could do was choose the most important one at any given time.

    ¡°Master, they¡¯re waiting for you right now,¡± Iron Cliff said as he stood behind Su Chen.

    ¡°Mm,¡± Su Chen muttered in response. After staring at the sky for a bit longer, he returned to the pce.

    Li Chongshan, Frostpoint, and the others were already sitting in the pce.

    In order to ensure that their movements and actions would be coordinated, the unified fleet had designated a nine-personmand group with Su Chen as their leader all the way back at Thousand Illusions Ind. In addition to Su Chen, each of the four distinct branches had sent two people: Li Chongshan, Chu Yingwan, Jiang Xishui, Ji Hanyan, Frostpoint, Westminster, and ck me¡¯s Zhong Zhenjun and Ding Feng.¡±

    Su Chen had only requested for Ding Feng to apany him on this trip, but Zhong Zhenjun had also volunteered toe.

    The ckwater Corps were ck me¡¯s main military strength. Zhong Zhenjun didn¡¯t trust anyone else to manage them, not even Ding Feng. Thus, he had personallye to keep an eye on things.

    This nine-personmand group was the highest on the chain ofmand; every important decision was made by this group. This was what Zhong Zhenjun had advocated for, and the Oceanids had quickly seconded his idea.

    The Oceanids also didn¡¯t want Su Chen to have too much authority when it came to the division of power.

    Even though they had pinned their hopes on Su Chen, that didn¡¯t mean they would let him make every decision of his own volition.

    No one would hand over their autonomy so easily to another person.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t mind, and strictly speaking, the Oceanids had already given him enough face. The Boundless Sect had three members in this group, and Jiang Xishui and his wife were also allied with him. And as long as Su Chen didn¡¯t try to cheat the Oceanids, they would not go against him either. In some sense, it was not wrong to say that this nine-personmand group operated with one mind.

    The fleet had just arrived at the Abyss, so they needed to discuss their next steps before they made any moves.

    When Su Chen entered, Zhong Zhenjun was in the middle of talking. ¡°No matter what, stabilityes first. I think that we should first bait out a single Sovereign and pick it off when it¡¯s by itself.¡±

    Frostpoint shook his head. ¡°If Sovereigns were that easy to bait out and kill, then we wouldn¡¯t be in such a sorry state. The Sea Beasts aren¡¯tpletely devoid of intelligence. Once they realize that something is up, they will call for reinforcements. We¡¯re right next to the Abyss right now, so we could be kicking the ho¡¯s nest by trying that!¡±

    Zhong Zhenjun chuckled as he replied, ¡°Then we will need Sir Su toe up with some ideas for us. If he is so confident in being able to deal with the Deep Sea Sorrow, then this should be a small matter for him.¡±

    Everyone cursed silently in their hearts. Small matter? More like the crux of the matter!

    Figuring out a solution to this problem would decrease the threat of the Abyss by more than twofold.

    Even so, it wasn¡¯t like Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s words werepletely unreasonable.

    Sometimes, the words that incited the strongest negative reaction were the most truthful.

    Even Su Chen had to admit that Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s suggestion was logical.

    Su Chen sat down on the seat in the center and said, ¡°I understand Commander Zhong¡¯s suggestion and support it. However, there is no way for us to do that at the moment. But I do already have a n that should allow us to resolve this problem soon.¡±

    Zhong Zhenjun squinted at Su Chen. ¡°Oh? It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t believe you, Sir Su, but rather that I would like to know how you are nning on resolving this issue.¡±

    Su Chen casually replied, ¡°Easy. The Deep Sea Sorrow is issuingmands to the Sovereigns and forbidding them from leaving the Abyss. Only the older beasts that are about to die can leave. I just so happen to be developing a medicine that is supposed to increase the lifespan of older individuals. However, it ended up having the opposite effect.¡±

    Frostpoint furrowed his brow. ¡°You mean, it elerates the aging process?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Su Chen nodded.

    Everyone immediately understood what Su Chen was getting at.

    Younger Sovereigns wouldn¡¯t be easy to bait out, but if they elerated the aging process for one of the Sovereigns, then it would automatically leave the Abyss, making it much easier to hunt.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then why don¡¯t we just make all of those Sovereigns ancient at once? Why waste so much energy and effort?¡± Ji Hanyan couldn¡¯t resist asking this question.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°The Sea Beast Sovereigns are so massive that it will take an incredible amount of resources just to make one of them ancient. I have been gathering resources for over five years, but I only have enough to age two Sea Beasts. Also, the Sea Beasts will attack the Oceanids once they grow old. If I was really able to age five hundred Beast Sovereigns at once...... Hehe.¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t finish his sentence, but everyone knew that it would be a disaster for the Oceanids and ck me. The Oceanids would survive because of Freedom Wind, but Neptune¡¯s Fort and Thousand Illusions Ind would be lost forever.

    More importantly, it was possible that the Abyss wouldn¡¯t bepletely destroyed; as new Sea Beasts were drawn in, a new powerful force would eventually be built up in its ce again.

    In any case, this idea was not feasible.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then we can¡¯t waste the medicine on any random target. There are certain Sea Beasts that possess an innate resistance to poison, and others have vast amounts of vitality. We need to choose a suitable target,¡± Su Chen said.

    Frostpoint nodded. ¡°Even though it won¡¯t be easy, it is still possible. Sir Su indeed came prepared.¡±

    His tone was one of respect.

    Zhong Zhenjun, however, coldly said, ¡°If Sir Su has any other ns, please tell us now so that we aren¡¯t left in the dark until thest possible moment.¡±

    ¡°I will tell you when the time is right.¡±

    ¡°If Sir Su won¡¯t say anything, then I won¡¯t force you to talk. I would like to discuss something else, then.¡±

    ¡°Please speak.¡±

    ¡°I want to know how our future profits will be divided.¡±

    Everyone frowned when they heard this.

    When recruiting the ckwater Corps, Su Chen had mentioned that there would be benefits handed out in exchange for their help in dealing with these Beast Sovereigns.

    This was both an enticement and also reality.

    Even though these Sea Beast Sovereigns had basically lost their Origin Crystals due to the elerating effects of the Deep Sea Sorrow, it would be wrong to say that there weren¡¯t any benefits to be imed whatsoever. More importantly, Su Chen would be able to distribute benefits even if they couldn¡¯t find any from the Sea Beasts themselves.

    The division of benefits, then, was an important topic of discussion.

    Traditionally, the people who contributed the most would be rewarded the most, and that contribution was determined by how much manpower that side supplied.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s position was quite awkward as a result.

    The Boundless Sect had only contributed 50,000 people of the 630,000-strong army. This basically meant that in an impartial distribution, they wouldn¡¯t even receive a tenth of the benefits.

    Even if they doubled the Boundless Sect¡¯s portion by virtue of Su Chen¡¯s crucial assistance, they would still take less than twenty percent of the profits of this expedition.

    As the person who would be responsible for destroying the core of the Abyss, and as the mastermind behind this expedition, having such a small cut of the profits was a joke. In some sense, it would seem that Su Chen¡¯s authority was actually quite minimal.

    This period of time was not a particrly progressive one; most people let their fists decide how much they would be able to take home to eat.

    If you didn¡¯t get a bite, that merely meant that your fists weren¡¯t strong enough. You wouldn¡¯t even have the right to argue about it.

    This was why everyone had been avoiding this question.

    Even so, the awkwardness could not be avoided forever, and sooner orter, it would need to be addressed.

    Zhong Zhenjun was basically acting as the viin at this point. The way he posed his questions was nauseatingly crafty, and it was easy to dislike him as a result. However, the questions he asked were still necessary to ask and consider.

    Everyone nced at Su Chen.

    Su Chen, however, said without any trace of panic, ¡°It¡¯s still a bit too early to discuss how the spoils will be divided.¡±

    ¡°So when will be a good time?¡± Zhong Zhenjun immediately asked.

    ¡°Naturally, it is after the battle is fought.¡± Su Chen replied calmly.

    Even though keeping one¡¯s trump cards in hand was always a good thing, they could not be used in negotiations when kept hidden. As such, it was still necessary to y the card at the right moment.

    Su Chen was nning on making a big ssh in this first battle topletely quell the dispute on how the spoils should be divided.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 19: First Contact 1

    Chapter 19: First Contact (1)

    That day, the fleet officially entered the Abyss.

    They advanced extremely slowly ¡ª they essentially allowed the natural motion of the waves to carry them into the Abyss, all while they made preparations to retreat at any time.

    Dark clouds loomed oppressively over their heads in the sky, the pressure making it hard to breathe.

    The wind had whipped the sea into a violent frenzy.

    After entering the Abyss, the number of Sea Beasts in the waters obviously increased dramatically, and they would even approach the fleet and challenge it from time to time.

    However, the fleet didn¡¯t attempt to counterattack. Instead, they bolstered the fleet¡¯s defenses and attempted to quietly protect themselves.

    This stirred all the nearby Sea Beasts into a frenzy.

    Boom!

    A massive wave suddenly surged as a gigantic killer whale mmed its head into one of the fleet¡¯s boats, forcing it backwards.

    ¡°Damn, it¡¯s a Demonic Lord!¡± the boatman cursed.

    All the surrounding boats activated their defenses to resist the beast¡¯s attacks. In the face of these massive sea beasts¡¯ attacks, these grandiose-appearingbat frigates could only do this much.

    The killer whale attempted to headbutt the boat a few more times, but after receiving no reaction even after that, it became bored and dived back down beneath the water¡¯s surface.

    Everyone let out a sigh of relief.

    However, they very quickly realized that there were even greater difficulties ahead.

    Soon after, another massive Sea Beast appeared in front of them.

    It appeared to be roughly seven hundred feet long, and its indistinct round body bulged out of the water like the tip of an iceberg. Its entire body radiated a strange iridescent glow.

    It was a jellyfish.

    To be more exact, a Sea King Jellyfish.

    Sea King Jellyfishes were one of the most powerful Sea Beasts ever sighted. From birth, they were already strong enough to be considered high-tier Demonic Beasts. As they grew, they would quickly reach the strength of a Demonic King.

    This Sea King Jellyfish appeared to have already matured ¡ª in other words, it was already at least as powerful as a Demonic King. If they were unlucky, it could even be as powerful as a Demonic Emperor. Even if it hadn¡¯t reached the level of a Beast Sovereign just yet, it definitely wasn¡¯t far from that level.

    It was obvious how many frighteningly powerful Sea Beasts were in this area given that they had run into a Demonic King immediately upon entering.

    And even then, this Demonic King Jellyfish was considered a lower-ss Sea Beast amongst the plethora of Sea Beasts living here.

    Demonic Lords were basically treated as cannon fodder.

    Any Beast below that level was considered food.

    But to this mighty fleet, it was obvious that this kind of opponent was not really worth much consideration.

    Jiang Xishui nced at the Sea King Jellyfish and said, ¡°Activate the Radiance Formation!¡±

    The ten or so boats at the very front of the fleet turned to face the jellyfish as a massive sphere of light began to form on each of them before it shot from the body of the boats towards the jellyfish.

    The jellyfish seemed to sense the impending attack and began to churn up violent, roaring waves to disrupt it.

    However, wherever this light shone, the sea would calm down.

    Unhindered, the light enveloped the jellyfish like a formless hand, before firmly tightening its grip no matter how much the jellyfish squirmed or thrashed. The jellyfish¡¯s massive, billowing figure began to be slowlypressed under the light¡¯s pressure. Eventually, the jellyfish was constricted so tightly that it could no longer move.

    And just like that, a Demonic King had been easily dealt with.

    Even so, this was the strength of fighting in a group.

    After years of experience of fighting on the seas, the Subdued Sea Navy had amplebat experience. Dealing with a single Demonic King was no issue for them whatsoever. A veteran was always capable of easily dispatching a new recruit without expending much energy in the process.

    The now restricted Sea King Jellyfish silently sank under the waves. Before the energy from this ball of light dissipated, it could only quietly wait at the bottom of the ocean.

    The fleet continued to slowly advance. A massive vortex gradually began to materialize in front of them.

    This was the Abyss itself.

    It was as if some monstrous creature had taken a humongous bite out of the sea.

    If Su Chen wanted to study the Deep Sea Sorrow, then entering this forbiddennd was an absolute necessity.

    But when to enter and how to enter were still questions that needed to be considered.

    Before then, he needed to first make his preparations.

    Just as Zhong Zhenjun had said, capturing a Beast Sovereign and researching it was the most important task at hand.

    Without a way to naturally entice a Sea Beast Sovereign out, the only alternative was to force one out by further elerating their growth.

    This meant that they needed to wait for the right opportunity.

    The fleet stopped their approach not long after entering the region. They were still at the border, which meant that they could still escape if any younger Sea Beast Sovereigns attempted to chase after them.

    Actually, most of the Sea Beast Sovereigns rarely left the Abyss itself, let alone the outskirts of the region.

    But Su Chen¡¯s target was not actually any of these Beast Sovereigns.

    Rather, he was aiming for a Demonic Emperor.

    Specifically, a powerful Demonic Emperor on the cusp of bing a Sovereign.

    It wasn¡¯t easy to find a target like this. The best method was simply to wait.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t expect, however, that this waiting period would actuallyst for three days.

    During these three days, Sea Beasts would surface next to their fleet from time to time. A significant number of them were quite strong, and they would usually swim over to the fleet out of curiosity. Most of them were merely testing the waters and investigating the fleet; only some of the beasts that had developed a little intelligence actually directly attacked the fleet. But no matter what they did, they were unable to even dent the numbers of the fleet.

    Three days wasn¡¯t particrly long or short, but because the fleet was constantly under the threat of attack from the Sea Beasts, all the crewmembers were growing quite frustrated.

    Even though this was not a Beast Wave, the constant and immense pressure of the Beasts caused a schism amongst the ranks of the fleet.

    One group wanted to immediately leave the region and rest for a little before returning. Zhong Zhenjun was the main champion for this idea.

    The other group wanted to remain in the Abyss region and continue searching for an appropriate target. Frostpoint and Westminster were the ones championing that idea.

    The two groups that had originally held the same attitude towards the Deep Sea Sorrow were beginning to walk down two different extremes.

    Thankfully, this didn¡¯tst for very long.

    A Demonic Emperor appeared.

    Boom!

    A massive ssh could be heard as a gigantic beast surfaced from the water.

    As water sshed everywhere, a blotchy Sea Beast appeared before everyone¡¯s eyes.

    This Beast looked like arge sea turtle. Its skin was covered in triangr patches of discolored skin, on its back was an iron-like shell, and behind it flickered a massive, hefty tail that looked like a long chain. The only way that this Beast differed from a turtle¡¯s appearance was its shell¡¯sposition. Rather than being a continuous whole, it was formed from thirteenrge chunks of iron.

    This was the Iron-Shelled Dragon, also known as the Iron-Shelled Turtle. It was both like a turtle and not, but in terms of its bloodline, it was closer to that of a dragon.

    The Iron-Shelled Dragon was not exceptionallyrge for a Demonic Emperor. It was only about forty feet wide. Compared to many of the other Sea Beasts, this was incredibly small.

    However, it was also possible to say as a result that its strength was extremely concentrated. The Iron-Shelled Dragon was very powerful, and the smaller they were, the stronger they were. Their growth actually went counter to typical growth patterns for most Beasts.

    During their maturation period, they would growrger in size, but after reaching maturity, they would begin to shrink in size, and their strength would also be more and more fearsome.

    This Iron-Shelled Dragon¡¯s size clearly indicated that it was at the peak of the Demonic Emperor level. It probably wasn¡¯t far from reaching the level of a Beast Sovereign.

    It was merely a dot floating on the ocean ahead of them, but the pressure that the members of the fleet could sense was already immense.

    ¡°So it¡¯s finally appeared,¡± Su Chen said with a slight smile.

    ¡°ROAR!¡± The Iron-Shelled Dragon howled in their direction. Shadowy waves gathered and rolled through the air towards the fleet.

    The Iron-Shelled Dragon wasn¡¯t known for its howling ability, but the power behind this howl was still impressive nheless, and the soldiers couldn¡¯t help but tremble instinctively.

    No wonder it was a Demonic Emperor.

    ¡°What a pity. It¡¯s still an idiot without any intelligence,¡± Su Chen said faintly.

    Demonic Beasts would only develop intelligence by chance. Not every kind of Demonic Beast would have their intelligence increase along with their strength. However, it did hold true that typically the more powerful a Demonic Beast was, the greater their intelligence was.

    But to the Sea Beasts, this rule was far less likely to be true. The Sea Beasts grew rapidly, but their intelligence would take time to mature. As such, they were much dumber than the Demonic Beasts that lived on thend.

    This gap became even more pronounced due to the effects of the Deep Sea Sorrow.

    In order to control the Sea Beasts, Corniga had weakened the Sea Beasts intelligence at the same time that he increased their strength. As such, they typically acted instinctually, and their instincts were shaped by the Deep Sea Sorrow.

    For this reason, any Sea Beast that grew up around the Deep Sea Sorrow was basically guaranteed to becking in intelligence. On the other hand, Sea Beasts that had grown up naturally in further locations were more likely to possess such intelligence.

    The Iron-Shelled Dragon was no exception. Having grown up in the Abyss, there was no way it could escape from the influence of the Deep Sea Sorrow. Even though it was incredibly powerful, its consciousness was nothing but chaotic and reckless. Its eyes were filled with a violent bloodthirst.

    This was why itpletely ignored the strength of its opponent. Its heart was filled with the desire to do battle!

    That howl had been its ¡°battle cry.¡±

    The soldiers began to make their preparations for battle.

    This was the first actual fight the fleet would have experienced since arriving at the Abyss. They definitely needed to do a good job, so all of the soldiers tightened their focus.

    The sound of conch shells being blown could be heard rumbling through the air. The Oceanids were beginning to gather. They swam back and forth under the surface of the water, relying on their natural aptitude for swimming to get into formation. Even though it appeared that all their efforts were silent, they were in fact preparing to unleash great power.

    The Subdued Sea branch and the ckwater Corps split to nk the Iron-Shelled Dragon.

    Zhong Zhenjun nced at Su Chen and chuckled, ¡°We¡¯ll leave the center route to the Boundless Sect, while the two branches will pincer from the side. What do you think, Sir Su?¡±

    Leaving the center route to the Boundless Sect and taking the pincer role was a clear demonstration of his disdain for the Boundless Sect.

    The old thing really knew how to irk other people. Even if he was the leader of ck me, it seemed that he derived some kind of sadistic pleasure out of offending others.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t get mad. Instead, he calmly said, ¡°There¡¯s no need. It¡¯s just a Demonic Emperor, after all. You guys just sit tight.¡±

    Sit tight?

    Everyone present narrowed their eyes.

    Even though a Demonic Emperor was not worth much consideration in their eyes, and it would definitely be possible to deal with one, it wasn¡¯t like the Boundless Sect alone would have an easy time fighting against it.

    After all, the Boundless Sect only had a single Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator.

    The differences in strength between theter cultivation realms was more and more pronounced. Under most circumstances, an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator could defeat ten Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators, and likewise for Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators.

    Because of this, everyone believed that the Boundless Sect would probably need to mobilize all of their troops in order to resist the Iron-Shelled Dragon¡¯s attacks.

    What grounds did Su Chen have to boast so ostentatiously?

    A momentter, Su Chen said, ¡°We¡¯ll take the middle route.¡±

    As he spoke, a shocking sight unfolded before their very eyes.

    A stream of cultivators began to pour out of the pce and the dragon boats and into the sky.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 20: First Contact 2

    Chapter 20: First Contact (2)

    Except under special circumstances, such as with the aid of specific Origin Skills, only cultivators at the Light Shaking Realm and above could fly.

    At this moment, cultivators were flooding out of the pce and the dragon boats into the sky. There were so many of them that they almost blotted out the sun. The Subdued Sea branch, the Oceanids, and the ckwater Corps were all dazed when they saw this.

    The thousands of cultivators floating in the air exuded a majestic aura and a vigorous desire to do battle. Their Lotus tforms revolved before their foreheads, demonstrating that they were genuine Light Shaking Realm cultivators and weren¡¯t relying on flight Origin Skills to stay in the air. The rows of Lotus tforms glowed intensely, forming a steady stream of soft light connecting all the cultivators.

    Even so, more Light Shaking Realm cultivators were flooding into the sky. It was like a portal to another dimension had been opened, and an unending stream of experts was pouring into this new world. Zhong Zhenjun was totally stunned.

    ¡°Eight thousand already,¡± one of the ckwater Corps¡¯ high-ranking generals murmured in awe.

    Eight thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators!

    What did that mean?

    The Subdued Sea Army had a total of 210,000 soldiers, but they had only around four hundred Light Shaking Realm cultivators.

    The Oceanids hade with a force of 300,000, but even they had no more than seven hundred Light Shaking Realm cultivators.

    Because the ck me primarily recruited stronger experts, they had a better ratio. Even though they had only brought along 70,000 troops, they had a thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators. This was also why Zhong Zhenjun had thought that he held the right to call the shots.

    Even so, the Boundless Sect had more Light Shaking Realm cultivators than the other three forcesbined.

    Eight thousand?

    No, this was not the Boundless Sect¡¯s limit.

    The old Heavenly Might Battalion only had eight thousand soldiers. Now, they had all reached the Light Shaking Realm, but there were also several other talented cultivators who had managed to advance quickly and caught up with those who had begun cultivating before them.

    During the past few years, the Boundless Sect had managed to obtain roughly four thousand such talented experts.

    As such, the Boundless Sect contained at least 12,000 Light Shaking Realm cultivators!

    And Su Chen had brought them all with him.

    There was no need to keep this a secret.

    Because the Boundless Sect was churning out Light Shaking Realm disciples every day.

    To the rtively newly-birthed Boundless Sect, the only restriction they were currently experiencing was time - with enough time, Su Chen was able to guarantee that the entire sect could reach the Light Shaking Realm, or even the Spirit Burning Realm since the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques had now reached the Spirit Burning Realm as well.

    12,000 Light Shaking Realm cultivators out of 50,000 total disciples.

    These 12,000 Light Shaking Realm cultivators could deal with roughly twelve Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators at the same time, and this wasn¡¯t even the Boundless Sect¡¯s full strength yet. How could the other not be shocked?

    This was Su Chen¡¯s way of making a big ssh.

    This was his biggest trump card. After all, this force was more than enough to go toe-to-toe with the army of a small country.

    He was indeedcking in cultivators with extremely high cultivation bases, but the need for middle-realm cultivators had beenpletely satisfied.

    Want to try and bully us because we¡¯re weak?

    Go right ahead!

    The more you try it, the happier I am.

    Zhong Zhenjun waspletely bbergasted when he saw this, and even Frostpoint, Westminster, Jiang Xishui, and Ji Hanyan were dumbfounded.

    How was it possible? How could any single organization possess this much power?

    Frostpoint and the others weren¡¯t too worried, though. After all, they were all on the same side, and even though they might be apprehensive and a little bit jealous about just how strong the Boundless Sect was, they would also rejoice and celebrate.

    Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s expression, on the other hand, was quite ugly.

    He obviously was remembering his provocation of Su Chen from earlier.

    Su Chen said with a slight smile when he saw Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s ugly expression, ¡°It seems that Commander Zhong isn¡¯t very happy to see this scene?¡±

    Zhong Zhenjun felt his heart jolt. ¡°Not at all, not at all. How could I? The stronger my allies are, the greater the chances of sess.¡±

    ¡°Naturally,¡± Su Chen said with a nod, then motioned in the sky for them to get to work.

    In the blink of an eye, the 12,000 Boundless Sect disciples attacked simultaneously. A magnificent sight filled the sky.

    The members of the Boundless Sect were all united under the same banner, and eight thousand of them in particr had once served in the army together. As such, their use of cooperative tactics was ster. Under the support of abat formation, the bodies of each one of the disciples began to shine radiantly, causing Origin Energy-imbued light to spill everywhere.

    If you looked closely, you would even be able to see a faint glow at their feet.

    This was the Thousand Flows Formation.

    The most useful attribute of this formation was that it could link the strength of all of these Origin Qi Schrs, connecting their Origin Energy together.

    And after Su Chen had worked to improve the formation, he was able to reduce the impact of chaotic Origin Energy flow, further improving the ability of the disciples to fight together.

    The 12,000 cultivators moved as one, attacking simultaneously and converting the pressure in the sky into actual physical attacks. A massive spear began to gather in their hands as they hurled it at the Iron-Shelled Dragon.

    The Iron-Shelled Dragon howled and charged at the spear.

    The Iron-Shelled Dragon¡¯s defensive capabilities were particrly strong, especially if they were small. Even an attack from another Demonic Emperor would only be able to leave a small superficial wound on its skin.

    The strongest Iron-Shelled Dragon known to man had apparently managed to escapepletely unscathed from thebined attacks of four Demonic Emperors.

    As such, there weren¡¯t many attacks that the Iron-Shelled Dragon feared.

    A spear of light made of gathered Origin Energy?

    There was nothing to fear.

    This was why it charged so recklessly at the spear, intent on smashing it to smithereens.

    As the spear descended, the Iron-Shelled Dragon didn¡¯t even try to dodge. Perhaps it had forgotten the meaning of the word because of how recklessly it had been able to live these past few years.

    Just as the spear collided with the dragon¡¯s shell, Su Chen averted his gaze.

    He was shielding his eyes.

    Shielding his eyes from the light!

    At the moment of collision, a blinding light exploded forth.

    Unlimited, turbulent light!

    Under the shining of this light, everything turned a brilliant white, even the formerly dark clouds casting shadows on the surface of the sea.

    This light even prated the clouds, shooting a thick column of light into the sky. The Demonic Beasts flying in the sky all squawked, clearly startled.

    This light even prated deep into the ocean waters, illuminating the dark depths and filling it with light. All of the Sea Beasts began to grumble with anger.

    The light disappeared very quickly.

    The world returned to normal, as if nothing had ever happened.

    The Iron-Shelled Dragon, however, fell from the sky,pletely drained of energy.

    It was still alive, but it had lost the ability to fight.

    Defeat in a single blow!

    Li Chongshan motioned with his hand, securing the Iron-Shelled Dragon. He immediately began to pull it towards him and yelled, ¡°Retreat!¡±

    The army began to retreat as soon as themand was given.

    Even though the battle had been concluded almost instantly, it had caused too much of amotion, and the Sea Beasts in the Abyss had definitely taken notice.

    They immediately began to retreat out of the Abyss region¡¯s border. The 12,000 Boundless Sect disciples in the sky, however, remained in formation and waited.

    ¡°ROAR!¡±

    With a fierce howl, a massive beast surfaced from near the center of the whirlpool. The terrifying aura it was emitting could be sensed even before its face fully came into view.

    Beast Sovereign!

    This head was roughly the size of a small mountain. It opened its mouth wide, revealing row after row of razor-sharp teeth. A Demonic Lord Sea Beast happened to be swimming by and was inhaled by its breathing. It didn¡¯t even have a chance to struggle before it disappearedpletely into the dark depths of the Sovereign¡¯s belly.

    The massive head continued to rise, and the pressure in the air began to mount. It was almost as if they were facing off against a Deste Beast instead.

    Only Su Chen, who had actually crossed paths with a Deste Beast before, knew that Deste Beasts were actually even scarier. They were so powerful that it was impossible to sense exactly how strong they were.

    A person standing in the middle of a forested mountain would never be able to tell howrge it was. Only by summiting the mountain and surveying their surroundings would they be able to truly understand the size of the mountain they were standing on.

    The might of a Deste Beast was so great that anyone at or below the Light Shaking Realm would bepletely incapable of sensing it, but the might of a Sea Beast Sovereign was at least still perceivable.

    This made it so that the pressure exuded by Deste Beasts and by Sea Beast Sovereigns felt roughly the same. However, there was actually a huge difference.

    As the twelve thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators attacked simultaneously, a massive pressure descended on the head of the Sovereign.

    Despite the Sovereign¡¯s strength, it was unable to endure this pressure, and its head was forcibly pressed back into the water.

    It twisted and writhed under the surface of the water, howling with indignation. However, thebined strength of these Light Shaking Realm cultivators was impossible to deal with.

    At that moment, two more massive beasts emerged from the depths. They were actually Sovereigns as well.

    As they appeared, the sea water began to fly into the sky.

    It was as if the world had suddenly been flipped on its head. The rain suddenly appeared to be falling upside down.

    The three Sovereigns howled with wounded pride and thrashed violently. Even so, the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples continued to apply pressure, constantly increasing their Origin Energy output.

    They were truly going head-to-head with Sea Beast Sovereigns at the moment!

    This was a real battle of quantity versus quality!

    The three powerful Beast Sovereigns were actually unable to do anything to the 12,000 Light Shaking Realm cultivators. They could only continue to breach the surface, and the surface of the sea churned with activity as two more Beast Sovereigns surfaced.

    The Boundless Sect could finally sense some pressure on them.

    They began to sweat, and their faces began to turn pale as the light from their Lotus tforms shone even more radiantly. A few of the weaker disciples even began to visibly sway, clearly close to their limits.

    At this moment, the Oceanids hadpletely retreated from the area. They were the fastest in the ocean, after all.

    When Frostpoint saw this scene, he said, ¡°Sir Su, call them back. Everyone is almost out of the region. There¡¯s no need to fight to the death with these Sea Beast Sovereigns.¡±

    Frostpoint was truly concerned for the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples.

    Su Chen indifferently replied, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. They haven¡¯t been pushed to their limits yet. This is a rare opportunity.¡±

    It was possible to theorize how many powerful enemies twelve thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators could handle at once, but an actual answer could only be derived inbat.

    Westminster said with some apprehension, ¡°I¡¯m just worried they¡¯ll suffer excessive casualties.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I already said that they haven¡¯t reached their limit yet.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, another massive Beast Sovereign poked its head out of the water.

    It was clear that the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples were unable to withstand the immense pressure, and many of them began to spit out blood.

    Blood rained down from the sky!

    The Lotus tforms of a few of the weaker disciples noticeably dimmed, and it was clear they wouldn¡¯t be able to hold on much longer.

    Six Beast Sovereigns appeared to be the limit of what the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples could handle.

    Everyone present was anxious except for the Boundless Sect¡¯s leaders, who sat there watching,pletely unperturbed.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 21: First Contact 3

    Chapter 21: First Contact (3)

    At the same time that the six Sea Beast Sovereigns fully appeared, a voice suddenly spoke clearly, ¡°Go!¡±

    The lower bodies of the Boundless Sect Disciples suddenly began to glow strangely as well.

    This glow clearly came from those Origin Tools.

    However, these Origin Tools were not your typical Origin Tools - they were closer to mirrors than weapons.

    The rity Mirror.

    The rity Mirror was only a Grade Six Origin Tool. Even so, each one of these was worth roughly three hundred thousand Origin Stones, so ten thousand of them was roughly worth three billion.

    And all of these mirrors had been given to them by Su Chen.

    Su Chen was probably the only one who could do something like this.

    The reason he had given them to his disciples instead of having his disciples purchase their own Origin Tools was because this particr Origin Tool had a very particr use.

    They were Origin Energy Amplifiers, but they could individually only amplify the Origin Energy of an attack by around fifteen percent.

    For a Grade Six Origin Tool, that was pitiful.

    However, this item could also be directly connected to the Origin Energy of an Origin Qi Schr.

    Origin Tools weren¡¯t quite like Origin Qi Schrs. The strength of Origin Qi Schrs could be mixed with Origin Formations, but most Origin Tools would have a hard time synergizing. Each Origin Tool had its own own particr function, and typically only linked with its owner. Other people nearby would have a hard time using them. Actually, this was a necessity, because otherwise anyone could use anyone else¡¯s Origin Tools.

    The specialized nature of these Origin Tools made them difficult for others to use, but this also meant that they were difficult to use in a group setting.

    The rity Mirrors, however, would be able to link energy without any interference. They would be oneponent of arger group, making them incredibly useful to have in theserger-scale battles.

    It was only natural that Su Chen had handed out these treasures to his followers as a group.

    As soon as they brought out the rity Mirrors, the Origin Qi Schrs¡¯ strength noticeably increased. The Beasts, which had finally begun to show some strength just moments ago, were suddenly suppressed yet again.

    However, the stream of Beast Sovereigns emerging from the Abyss was unending.

    Even after the six Sovereigns were suppressed, two more appeared.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples weren¡¯t able to withstand this pressure.

    Even Zhong Zhenjun couldn¡¯t resist asking, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you have them retreat now?¡±

    Despite his jealousy and resentment, even he understood the importance of the situation.

    The ten thousand Boundless Sect elites were critical to this operation¡¯s sess.

    Su Chen, however, smiled. ¡°I already said that they haven¡¯t reached their limits yet.¡±

    Haven¡¯t reached their limits?

    What strength would they be able to draw out?

    What could they even do?

    Obviously, it was to rely on external objects.

    A momentter, Chu Yingwan issued amand. All of them immediately pulled out vials and poured a few pellets into their mouths.

    Their bodies suddenly began to glow a deep blood-red color, and their strength surged yet again.

    ¡°This is?¡± Zhong Zhenjun cried out in shock.

    ¡°Medicine,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Of course I know it¡¯s medicine! But how could the medicinal effects be this powerful?

    Actually, the medicine itself was not very powerful. The boost it provided was probably equivalent to your average Origin Tool. Thetter¡¯s power could not be multiplied, while the former¡¯s power came so suddenly that it was hard to adapt to.

    But the answer for Su Chen was very simple.

    If it was hard for the body to adapt to, then you might as well eat them more often.

    The more you ate it, the more your body would get used to it anyways.

    Burning Sun Pills weren¡¯t exactly cheap to purchase, but because they were useful in everyday applications, at the very least Su Chen didn¡¯t need to spend much of his own money to make up for the deficit. All he needed to do was to lower their price in order to encourage consumption.

    To the Boundless Sect, getting used to the medicine was not an issue. After all, these pills were even more effective than liquid medicine.

    The eight Sovereigns werepletely suppressed.

    While everyone was expecting more Sovereigns to appear, however, none did.

    The exit had been blocked.

    The exit / entrance of the Abyss was not particrly narrow, but eight Sovereigns was the limit it could fit. The rest of the Sovereigns were being blocked behind these eight sovereigns, but no matter how they howled with rage, it was impossible for them to get out.

    This terrain disadvantage was used to maximum effect by the Boundless Sect.

    For just a moment, the fleet began to wonder whether they would be able to beat the Sea Beasts just like this.

    But just as everyone¡¯s spirits were being raised, Su Chen was preparing to call his disciples back. It was quite refreshing to be able to suppress these Beast Sovereigns, but the cost was extremely high. If they continued at this rate, they would actually end up dead once they ran out of energy.

    Themand to retreat had been given, but the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples weren¡¯t in a hurry to retreat. Instead, they summoned their remaining energy and formed a massive of Origin Energy that descended upon the heads of the Sea Beasts.

    The eight Beast Sovereigns howled simultaneously, but despite how strong they were, they were actually unable to escape for some time.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples took advantage of the opportunity to fly out of range.

    At the same time, the Origin Energy was torn to shreds.

    The eight Sovereigns charged out of the Abyss at the same time towards the fleet.

    However, the fleet had left the Abyss a long time ago. The eight Sovereigns jerked abruptly to a stop when they came to the border of the region as if there was an invisible wall preventing them from going any further, and they even stopped attacking.

    This was the effect of the Deep Sea Sorrow.

    To ensure that the Deep Sea Sorrow would never be obtainable by the Oceanids, Corniga had prioritized its protection. He was okay with missing opportunities to deal blows to the Oceanids if it meant that the Deep Sea Sorrow would be able to continue operating.

    The Deep Sea Sorrow¡¯s control over the Beast Sovereigns was absolute. Even though their opponents were right in front of them, there was nothing they could do other than howl with rage.

    And now that the opening to the Abyss was unclogged, the heads of these Beast Sovereigns began to emerge from beneath the surface of the waters. Quickly, hundreds of Beast Sovereigns could be seen thrashing on the surface of the ocean.

    Even though a few hundred didn¡¯t sound like much, their massive bodies quickly filled the surface of the ocean. There appeared to be no area of space unupied by these Sovereigns.

    They howled and roared, churning up massive waves and causing the waters to grow turbulent.

    The waters actually began to divide around them, and the Sovereigns were suddenly floating in the air. Even so, they were able to swim through the sky as they pleased, but they still were confined to the Abyss.

    The Abyss and its border were basically absolute. Even the most powerful existences would be torn to shreds if they dared to try and enter.

    On the other hand, the Beast Sovereigns had no way of leaving either. No matter how ferocious or untamed their behavior was, it had no effect.

    Su Chen stared at the Beasts, with their enraged, bloodthirsty eyes and said softly, ¡°They really are just impulsive, angry animals.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but there are still people who want to try and sneak in despite the pressure from them,¡± Zhong Zhenjun said calmly.

    The leader of the ck me was not an idiot, but he obviously couldn¡¯t live without provoking someone either. Even though he waspletely stunned by the Boundless Sect¡¯s show of force, he would still try and find a way to regain control of the situation.

    Su Chen, however, didn¡¯t appear to mind in the slightest. ¡°That¡¯s just the n afterwards. Before we arepletely prepared, we will stay put.¡±

    Zhong Zhengjun immediately asked, ¡°What kind of preparations will be necessary to reach that point?¡±

    Su Chen, however, fell silent.

    He had already disyed his greatest trump card to great effect.

    But that didn¡¯t mean he needed toy out his entire hand on the table.

    Su Chen had only disyed his trump card this early because it would¡¯ve been hard to conceal its existence in the first ce. If Su Chen had kept this force tucked away even in a big battle, the others probably would have scalped him.

    However, there were other trump cards that could be hidden.

    How to sneak into the Abyss and how to defend against the Sovereigns were bothplicated questions.

    It would be impossible without trump cards, and trump cards alone wouldn¡¯t do the job.

    Su Chen needed more time to gather strength.

    But he knew that he would eventually seed.

    But he had no interest in exining these things to Zhong Zhenjun.

    Instead of answering him, Su Chen said, ¡°Let¡¯s discuss how we should split the benefits first.¡±

    When Zhong Zhenjun heard this, his expression immediately sank.

    His words hade back to haunt him, it seemed.

    It really did feel like he had just pped himself.

    Frostpoint chuckled. ¡°There¡¯s nothing to really discuss. We should definitely split the benefits by strength. The Boundless Sect has 12,000 Light Shaking Realm cultivators. All of usbined have less than 2,000, and Sir Su yourself can probably be considered another six thousand. As such, the Boundless Sect should get ny percent of the spoils.¡±

    Jiang Xishui pped his hands andughed, ¡°I agreepletely.¡±

    The Oceanids and the Subdued Sea branch weren¡¯t here to make money, so they had no issues whatsoever with the way that the spoils would be split.

    Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s expression was incredibly ugly. The three parties would only receive ten percent?

    If that was the case, wouldn¡¯t they only get three percent of the spoils?

    Wasn¡¯t that a little too outrageous?

    Zhong Zhenjun said coldly, ¡°Only counting Light Shaking Realm cultivators is a bit unfair, isn¡¯t it? Should I not count as a thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators myself?¡±

    Zhong Zhenjun was an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator and stood at the peak of the human cultivation system. Equating him with a thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators wasn¡¯t really an exaggeration either. Of course, the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples were typically more powerful than those at the same cultivation realm, and they also possessed different Aspects and had been given many different medicinal supplements. If Zhong Zhenjun were to really try and fight a thousand of the disciples at once, it was actually quite possible that he would lose.

    Even so, the prestige of an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator still needed to be respected.

    And Zhong Zhenjun did have the highest cultivation base out of anyone present.

    Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have dared to speak to Su Chen in this way.

    It was only natural that Zhong Zhenjun was unhappy given that Su Chen was counted as six thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators but he wasn¡¯t even considered one.

    Frostpoint¡¯s eyebrows jumped. ¡°If you think it¡¯s unfair, the Oceanids are willing to send two Sea Kings over, and they won¡¯t be considered in this division of spoils either.¡±

    These ¡°Sea Kings¡± were the Oceanids¡¯ equivalent of Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators.

    Apart from the Oceanid emperor, Greatcloud, the Oceanids had a total of fourteen Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators. This was second only to the neen that the humans had.

    The only reason that they weren¡¯t here yet was not because they didn¡¯t view this mission as important, but because they were waiting for the appropriate time to make an appearance. As long as there was a need on the front lines, however, the Sea Kings would arrive on scene shortly.

    Frostpoint truly did have the power to make this kind of decision, because the fifteen Oceanid Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators had all made preparations to fight.

    They weren¡¯t afraid of dying - they were just afraid of dying in vain.

    Zhong Zhenjun was infuriated and silenced at the same time. For a long time, he was unable toe up with a rebuttal.

    Jiang Xishui had technically been abandoned by Water Sheen, so it was impossible for him to request the aid of any Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators. As such, he could only offer his verbal support: ¡°The Subdued Sea branch agrees with this arrangement.¡±

    Su Chen, however, spoke up. ¡°Forget about it. Our fellow leader can count himself as a thousand, and if any of the Sea Kings do show up in the future, they will be ounted for as well. As for me, I will just count myself as a normal Spirit Burning Realm cultivator. There¡¯s no need to equate me to six thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators.¡±

    Frostpoint was agitated. ¡°How can that be allowed?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Combat strength isbat strength. We should calcte it as objectively as possible. As for the portion I should get because of my research, we can discuss thatter. There are some things that are better to be as clear as possible about, and I might not necessarily be losing out anyways. Don¡¯t you think so, leader?¡±

    Zhong Zhenjun smiled slightly. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s true.¡±

    However, when he saw Su Chen¡¯s self-assured, confident expression, he suddenly had the feeling that Su Chen may not have beenpromising at all - he was merely setting setting the stage for more robbery.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 22: Research

    Chapter 22: Research

    Now that the first battle was over, the fleet changed directions and headed for an ind to the west of the Abyss.

    Forever Clear Ind.

    Forever Clear Ind was one of the closest inds to the Abyss. Because it was simply too close and was very difficult to defend, no one dared to live there. After all, any passing Sovereign would be more than capable of obliterating it.

    However, Forever Clear Ind gained a master on this day.

    Two years ago, the Boundless Sect had sent disciples over to begin to develop this ind.

    Many of the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples had alsoe to facilitate this process.

    Thend on the ind was quite arable at this point, andrge quantities of resources were being grown there.

    A Flight Network was setup to facilitate travel between the Thousand Illusions Ind, Neptune¡¯s Fort, Water Sheen, etc.

    The ones setting up this were the Gu n.

    Yes, they had extended their Flight Network business all the way out here.

    Naturally, this had been Su Chen¡¯s idea.

    The Boundless Sect was going to be living in this area for a long time, so they needed lots of support from the backlines. The Gu n was demonstrating their support for Su Chen by installing the Flight Network here. In any case, Su Chen was the one who had given them this money-making opportunity in the first ce - they had managed to profit quite handsomely.

    When the fleet arrived at the ind, the dock was already filled with people waiting to greet them.

    Gu Qingluo flew forwards and leapt into a person¡¯s embrace. ¡°Father!¡±

    It was Gu Xuanmian.

    Gu Xuanmian had believed that he would never see his daughter again outside of Empty Mountain, the miracle he had hoped for had actually happened.

    As he tightly hugged his daughter, Gu Xuanmian said tenderly, ¡°Very good. You have done very good.¡±

    Next, he was introduced to these important characters one by one. However, after all these introductions, he was surprised to not see Su Chen amongst their ranks. ¡°Where is Su Chen?¡±

    Gu Qingluo replied, ¡°He¡¯s already doing his research.¡±

    A massive research station had been ced in the center of the Boundless Sect¡¯s floating pce specifically for Su Chen¡¯s needs.

    At this moment, Su Chen was sitting there in thought. Not far from himy the Iron-Shelled Dragon. Thankfully, because it was so small, Su Chen could fit it inside the research station.

    His original n was to age a Beast Sovereign to get it to leave the Abyss, after which they would be able to capture it.

    However, after encountering the Iron-Shelled Dragon, Su Chen changed his mind. The Iron-Shelled Dragon was an even more suitable target than a Beast Sovereign. It was easier to deal with because it was weaker, and it was almost a Beast Sovereign already. Turning a Demonic Emperor into a Sovereign would be easier than turning a young Sovereign into an old one. This would also save Su Chen quite a few resources.

    Su Chen made his preparations, then lifted his hand. A Flowing Gold de had appeared in his grip.

    After Su Chen¡¯s Flowing Gold de had absorbed countless precious materials, its might was close to that of a Divine Tool. Even the Iron-Shelled Dragon¡¯s sturdy shell was soft like butter under the de¡¯s precise strokes.

    The de scored the dragon¡¯s body, leaving behind a thin line in its softer midsection. However, the wound did notpletely rupture.

    Even so, the Iron-Shelled Dragon howled with anger and pain as it thrashed about, exuding a powerful aura.

    But no matter how powerful it was, it was at the mercy of the Origin Formation controlling it. This Origin Formation itself was not particrly impressive, but the source of power was. The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples were constantly rotating to power the formation, and this endless supply of dense Origin Energy allowed even this simple formation to suppress the Iron-Shelled Dragonpletely.

    Su Chen continued to score the dragon¡¯s body, recording his observations and using his microscopic eye to closely observe as he muttered under his breath from time to time.

    Iron Cliff was still his assistant. This Stoneskin, which everyone had believed to be an idiot, was now one of the most knowledgeable people in all the Boundless Sect - second only to Su Chen.

    Under Su Chen¡¯s tutge, Iron Cliff¡¯s medical skill had far surpassed the skills of an average person. No matter where he went, he was regarded as a skilled doctor.

    Not long ago, Iron Cliff had personally developed a method of cultivation specifically designed for Stoneskins. Su Chen had only given him a few pointers during the construction process.

    After cutting open the Iron-Shelled Dragon, Su Chen carefully stowed away its blood.

    As he nced at the fresh blood he had just collected, Su Chen muttered, ¡°As expected......¡±

    ¡°Is it some kind of special Origin Substance?¡± Iron Cliff asked.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Su Chen nodded. ¡°But it¡¯s not one kind - it¡¯s three.¡±

    Su Chen was able to carefully dissect theponents of the blood because of his microscopic eye.

    Long before he even began his experiment, Su Chen had suspected that the Deep Sea Sorrow¡¯s operation was primarily driven by special kinds of Origin Substance.

    This was the source, the intrinsic essence, of all energy on the Primordial Continent!¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s observations were only confirming this suspicion of his.

    Su Chen also guessed that the other Beasts in the Abyss would probably all have the same Origin Substances. However, he had not expected to discover that the beasts actually had three Origin Substances inmon rather than one.

    This surprised Su Chen quite a bit.

    How had Corniga managed to extract and utilize so many Origin Substances at once?

    Su Chen had wanted to aplish something like this a long time ago, but the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques had taken up most of his time and energy. As a result, his ability to do research on these Origin Substances had been greatly hampered.

    Even now, his analysis of the ck stones was not fullyplete yet.

    And now, he had found a creature with three different Origin Substances in side it.

    Well, that wasn¡¯t too strange, was it?

    The Arcanists possessed microscopic eyes in the first ce. To them, the discovery of Origin Substances was not strange at all.

    Actually, many of the inventions that had been lost to time probably had close ties to Origin Substances.

    However, merging three Origin Substances was no easy task. Clearly, this Corniga was no slouch - if the Arcana Kingdom hadn¡¯t copsed, he probably would have be quite a famous Arcana Master in his own right.

    ¡°Let¡¯s begin the catalysis,¡± Su Chen said as he put down the vial of blood in his hand.

    Confirming the existence of these Origin Substances was merely the beginning. Next, Su Chen needed to figure out how to utilize them and the principles behind their transformation. Every Sea Beast in the Abyss was under the Deep Sea Sorrow¡¯s influence, especially if they were powerful.

    Su Chen needed to know how to turn a Demonic Emperor into a Demonic Sovereign.

    It was important to reiterate something at this point.

    Demonic Emperors and Sovereigns were actually technically at the same cultivation tier.

    In other words, Sovereigns were still Demonic Emperors, but they were elite ones, typically far more powerful and elite. As a result, they had more authority than your average Demonic Emperors - emperors of emperors, in some sense.

    This title of Sovereign, then, didn¡¯t refer to cultivation realm. There was no intrinsic breakthrough to be made, nor any significant transformations to be made.

    They were basically just stronger Demonic Emperors.

    But that created a problem.

    How was the Deep Sea Sorrow able to differentiate between Demonic Emperors and Sovereigns?

    For an inanimate object to make this kind of determination meant that there was definitely some kind of rule that it had to apply.

    For instance, Su Chen was in the Spirit Burning Realm, while Li Chongshan was in the Thought Manifestation Realm. Determining the difference between the two was very easy, because Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators had opened their Yin-Yangs, giving them an endless supply of energy. The Deep Sea Sorrow would be able to easily identify such differences.

    However, Demonic Emperors and Beast Sovereigns were intrinsically identical. So how did the Deep Sea Sorrow figure out the difference?

    Historically, only Beast Sovereigns had attacked the Oceanids.

    The Oceanids were easily able to discern this based on the fact that these Sovereigns could fight against their own Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators.

    But inanimate objects weren¡¯t able to make these kinds of analysis. So what was its criteria?

    And how could it determine the ages of the Sovereigns?

    This was the first thing that Su Chen wanted to determine.

    If he was able to discover this principle, he would be able to interfere with the Deep Sea Sorrow¡¯smands in the future. For instance, if he were to release some kind of substance to influence the Beasts in the Abyss and make it so that the Deep Sea Sorrow thought all of the Sea Beasts were young Sovereigns, they would be confined there for eternity with no way of leaving.

    This was one way that he would be able to aplish his mission of destroying Deep Sea Sorrow.

    There were many different ways for him to aplish his mission. Before he did so, no one would know which one was the path to sess.

    So he needed to try each one.

    And to figure out which path was right, he needed to better understand the creatures living in the abyss.

    Following Su Chen¡¯smand, Iron Cliff pulled out a vial and poured out arge handful of scarlet pills, stuffing them into the Iron-Shelled Dragon¡¯s body.

    Su Chen had managed to develop these pills many years ago. Even though the n was only being put into motion now, he had begun to prepare for it at least five years ago.

    The red pills began to dissolve within the Iron-Shelled Dragon¡¯s body, causing it to howl with unwillingness.

    Waves of energy began to emanate from its powerful body, but the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples were able to keep it suppressed.

    As it thrashed about in pain, the Iron-Shelled Dragon¡¯s body began to transform. Its blood began to emanate an aura of power, and the air around it grew noticeably more turbulent. Strange Origin Energy flows began to appear within the research station.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t seem surprised by this at all. All he said was, ¡°Lower the power of the Origin Formation by twenty percent.¡±

    The Origin Formation¡¯s power was weakened, and the excess energy was used to constantly supply it with energy rather than suppress it.

    This was to help it along in its growth process.

    From Demonic Emperor to Sovereign.

    Ascension without any actual ascension!

    Su Chen activated his microscopic eye to its greatest extent, observing the process by which the medicine was elerating the growth of the Iron-Shelled Dragon.

    In order to ensure his ability to observe the Iron-Shelled Dragon¡¯s condition, he continued to constantly make cuts on its body.

    This unfortunate Iron-Shelled Dragon was, on the one hand, receiving a constant supply of energy while, on the other hand constantly being wounded. This made it quite difficult for it to grow stronger, and the consumption of itstent potential was extremely great.

    But this was the only way that Su Chen would be able to closely monitor the developments taking ce in the Iron-Shelled Dragon¡¯s body.

    Fresh blood continued to flow out of the Iron-Shelled Dragon¡¯s body as its blood bubbled and roiled due to the stimting effects of the medicine.

    Then, Su Chen discovered that the Iron-Shelled Dragon¡¯s aura suddenly changed!

    It waspletely different from before!

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 23: A New Realm

    Chapter 23: A New Realm

    ¡°Roar!¡±

    The Iron-Shelled Dragon roared loudly, as if its male appendage had been cut off. After a few moments of thrashing about without any effect, it finally calmed down.

    Its vicious, bloodthirsty aura was also gradually repressed.

    This was a result of Su Chen¡¯s interference.

    Ascending typically consumed arge amount of energy. The Iron-Shelled Dragon had expended all of its strength to aplish this given that someone was holding its leg back at the same time.

    But regardless, it had truly ascended to the level of a Sovereign.

    Ascended!

    In that moment, Su Chen realized what the answer was.

    ¡°Eureka!¡± Su Chen yelled with excitement, a sharp contrast from his usually calm, unppable demeanor.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Iron Cliff didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°I¡¯m not quite sure yet.¡± Su Chen unexpectedly shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ve just found a potential target, but can¡¯t confirm my prediction just yet.¡±

    ¡°But you do have a guess, right?¡± Iron Cliff asked.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re bing more and more conniving, Iron Cliff. Can you guess what it is?¡±

    Iron Cliff tilted his head for a moment, then replied, ¡°A new realm?¡±

    Su Chen nodded with satisfaction. ¡°More precisely, some light on how to reach that new realm.¡±

    What was above the Ultimate Emperor Realm?

    Countless people dreamed of whaty beyond.

    Everyone could agree that there was definitely a higher ne than the Ultimate Emperor Realm.

    Many people had believed that Method Power was the way to reach that new cultivation realm.

    However, Su Chen knew that this was not the case.

    Method Power and cultivation realms were two entirely separate matters.

    Method Power rted to one¡¯s control of the energy in the environment, while cultivation realms were rted to increasing one¡¯s own personal strength. The two were notparable.

    This was like the difference between an official and a schr - officials wielded thew, while schrs attempted to broaden their base of knowledge in order to better themselves.

    There was a cultivation base prerequisite in order toprehend and control Method Power. After all, government officials did need to study to some degree. But not every official was a schr by nature, and not every great schr would be an official.

    For this reason, there were people who had reached the Ultimate Emperor Realm but were unable toprehend Method Power, and there were also people like Su Chen who hadprehended Method Power without reaching the Ultimate Emperor Realm.

    As for what exactlyy beyond the Ultimate Emperor Realm, that was hard to say.

    There was no end to the path of cultivation. Until someone reached that point, no one would be able to say for sure.

    All that people knew was that, once the high-tier Beast bloodlines became avable, the upper cultivation limit that humans could reach was raised from the Light Shaking Realm to the Ultimate Emperor Realm.

    There weren¡¯t any realms above Ultimate Emperor discovered yet because they were simply too few in number.

    The loweryers served as foundations for the upperyers. Only with a big enough foundation would these upperyers of this pyramid be reachable, let alone creating an entirely new realm.

    This powerful base was a prerequisite for breaking through, but each of the Intelligent Races only had a handful of Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators each. This was why no breakthroughs had been made yet in this regard.

    But Su Chen¡¯s observations of this Iron-Shelled Dragon appeared to spark the beginning of change.

    This change was very small.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that the Iron-Shelled Dragon was revolving its energy and Su Chen was utilizing his microscopic eyes, or the fact that Su Chen had been the one to personally elerate its growth, it would have been difficult to spot in the first ce.

    And as soon as he had made this discovery, it faded just as quickly back into the bloodstream, giving Su Chen pause as he wondered whether he had simply misperceived its existence.

    This was why he wasn¡¯t quite sure yet.

    ¡°It seems like you¡¯ll need some more research subject,¡± Iron Cliffughed as he listened to Su Chen describe his discoveries.

    Even though the secret of the Deep Sea Sorrow hadn¡¯t been resolved yet, this new discovery was still enough to lift Su Chen¡¯s spirits.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. We¡¯ll get them to bring back a few more Demonic Emperors next time,¡± Su Chen muttered as he gently stroked the Iron-Shelled Dragon, as if he were caressing a lover. His eyes were filled with passion.

    These Demonic Emperors, who sat at the top of the food chain, were referred to by Su Chen as if they were minnows, as if capturing them was as simple as picking out tadpoles from a field.

    Even so, the ten thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators Su Chen had brought with him gave him some measure of confidence to say things like this.

    ¡°Master, we¡¯ve arrived at Forever Clear Ind. They¡¯ve been waiting for you outside for a long time now.¡± As a loyal servant, Iron Cliff¡¯s most important task was to remind Su Chen of how much time had gone by.

    Su Chen was stunned. ¡°Are we already at Forever Clear Ind? Time really flew there.¡±

    He cast a cleansing technique on himself to wipe away the filth that had umted on his body before walking out of the pce.

    After taking a few steps, he thought of something and said, ¡°I¡¯ll leave the dragon to you. If you get bored, feel free to do some research on it.¡±

    ¡°Research what?¡± Iron Cliff was taken aback.

    ¡°Up to you. You can try and figure out a way to confer the Iron-Shelled Dragon¡¯s strong defenses to Stoneskins, or you can try to find a way to break these Beasts out from the Deep Sea Sorrow¡¯s control and even control them yourself...... It¡¯s up to you,¡± Su Chen said with a smile.

    There were countless possibilities when it came to performing research. Su Chen couldn¡¯t possibly cover them all on his own, so he had already begun the process of training sessors.

    Iron Cliff was one of them.

    Iron Cliff, who had been quite muddleheaded in the past, was now one of Su Chen¡¯s most promising sessors. If news were to spread of this, countless people would definitely be astonished.

    Even so, this was reality.

    Iron Cliff may have started off on the back foot, but that couldn¡¯t stop Su Chen from training him into an outstanding researcher.

    With Su Chen¡¯s training, Iron Cliff¡¯s knowledge had long surpassed that which most others possessed.

    Of course, Su Chen wasn¡¯t only fostering Iron Cliff alone. During these past five years, Su Chen had also selected a few disciples to personally oversee in this regard, and some of them were performing quite well.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Su Chen said, ¡°Let Little Sweet and the others participate as well. They can be your assistants.¡±

    Little Sweet was the stubborn little girl that the Boundless Sect had picked up on their way to the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain. She was one of the first disciples of the Boundless Sect, and she had even been appointed one of the chief me stokers in the Divine Medicine Peak, making her second only to the Hall Master themselves.

    Little Sweet had picked up on Su Chen¡¯s Pill Inscriptions quite well, and it was clear that she had intentions of walking this path all the way to the end.

    Even though this was quite different from Su Chen¡¯s anatomical studies, he still encouraged her. He was never particrly biased, not to mention that he was the inventor of these Pill Inscriptions in the first ce. He didn¡¯t have the energy to focus much on this area, so it was a good thing that there were disciples willing to take on this responsibility.

    Because they shared a simr starting point, Little Sweet¡¯s mastery of Pill Inscriptions wasn¡¯t actually far behind Su Chen¡¯s. Little Sweet¡¯s assistance would give her more experience, as well asplement some of Iron Cliff¡¯sck.

    It was as if Su Chen had returned to his former lifestyle, as he began a research and fight campaign against the Beasts.

    Even though the Sovereigns in the Abyss were very powerful, they didn¡¯t have any intelligence.

    The Deep Sea Sorrow had permanently confined them here, and while it kept them safe from the attacks of the other Intelligent Races, that also allowed them to attack from the outskirts of the region. They could get close to the Abyss without worrying much about being attacked by these Sea Beasts.

    This was a ssic example of ¡°you win some, you lose some.¡±

    Under these circumstances, the fleet began to carry out their research n.

    Every so often, the fleet would head for the Abyss to capture many different Beasts ranging from the Demonic Lord to the Demonic Emperor level. They didn¡¯t let a single one of these Beasts get away. After capturing the Beasts, they would hand them over to Su Chen for dissection and observation, allowing him to extract their bloodlines and harvest them for resources.

    The Boundless Sect already had quite a bit of experience with this. There were people designated to handle the processing of the Beast, including converting it to food or harvesting them for a variety of rare resources. Their movements were incredibly skilled and familiar, and it was clear that they had been doing this for a while.

    Forever Clear Ind was the perfect processing nt. Every day,rge numbers of Sea Beasts would be sent to this location, then distributed after being stripped of their valuableponents.

    The Gu n in Long Sang Country was making a killing with their Flight Network. They were responsible for both sending living necessities to the ind and shipping these valuable resources back to the maind.

    Trade was still the most lucrative business, especially of resources that could only be found in the sea. Since both parties desperately needed resources from the other, resources from the sea would often sell for sky-high prices on the maind.

    The Gu n was profiting quite handsomely, while the fleet was raking in even more money.

    Even though the Deep-Sea Sorrow was consuming thetent potential of the Sea Beasts, making it impossible to harvest any meaningfully-sized Origin Crystals, there were many more resources to be harvested. Their flesh, bones, and even hides were all treasures.

    A Demonic Emperor¡¯s hide could be used to construct rare armors. The shell of an Iron-Shelled Dragon went for quite a high price.

    Apart from the Sea Beasts themselves, there were also many resources that could be harvested in the area around the Abyss.

    The ocean floor was littered with treasure. The Rainbow Shells from the Devilish Quadrant were worthless inparison to the treasures that could be looted from this area.

    Because the fleet was capable of resisting the pressure from the other Sea Beasts, they were also able to harvest any of the resources in the region.

    The fleet was in high spirits because of how abundant in number the treasures were here. This treasure store had not been plundered in many years, so it was possible to strike it rich just by casually scraping the seafloor.

    And the Boundless Sect had a majority stake on these spoils. This was in no small part due to Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s insistence on discussing how to divide the spoils earlier.

    Even though the Boundless Sect didn¡¯t have any Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators, these twelve thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators were strong enough to suppress any discontent, and they were without question the strongest group of soldiers present. Even though Su Chen had refused to let the Boundless Sect stake a 90% im, they were still taking roughly 75% of the spoils.

    And this was even including the concessions that Su Chen had made, such as not factoring himself into the calction.

    Su Chen had said that the fruits of his research would be distributed based on the circumstances.

    The treasures the fleet was hauling in more than covered the expenses for this expedition. In fact, they were profiting quite handsomely, allowing them to be quite self-sustaining.

    This meant that they would be able to sustain this kind of a setup for quite some time.

    Without the ability to be self-sustaining and constantly requiring an external supply of resources would never be a sustainable business venture.

    Both the Oceanids and Su Chen had made ns to settle in for a long fight. Even Zhong Zhenjun, who was reaping the benefits of the fleet¡¯s profits, was willing to stay here for some time.

    However, the situation was not nearly that simple.

    On the third month that the fleet had arrived at the Forever Clear Ind.

    The wind and sea were both calm. Norge waves could be seen on the surface of the ocean.

    Su Chen was not actually mired in his research; instead, he was walking with Gu Qingluo along the ind.

    Just as they were chatting, both of them suddenly stopped in their tracks and nced off in the distance.

    Then, they turned to look at each other.

    Gu Qingluo gently bit her lip. ¡°It¡¯sing.¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting for this for a long time.¡±

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 24: Sea Beast Wave

    Chapter 24: Sea Beast Wave

    A massive stretch of the sea off in the distance began to froth and bubble violently.

    Its body was incredibly massive, and its snow-white colored skin made it seem like an iceberg was charging towards them at high speed.

    Countless Sea Beasts were following closely behind it. There were so many of them that they basically covered every square inch of exposed ocean. They were truly everywhere.

    At the very front were four other massive Sea Beasts. From their auras, it was apparent that they were at the Demonic Emperor realm. In other words, the white killer whale¡¯s strength was quite apparent.

    Sovereign!

    A Sovereign had charged out of the Abyss!

    More specifically, a Sovereign who had reached the age requirement.

    It wasmon for the Abyss to send out a Sovereign every once in a while.

    This convention had be an ingrained rule in the Sovereigns at this point.

    Yes, there were even rules for the more aged Sovereigns.

    There were countless rules that the Deep Sea Sorrow imposed on the Sea Beasts when it elerated their growth. This resulted in a Sovereign emerging roughly once every five years. There would be some small variations depending on the situation, but these differences were typically quite minimal, and the difference would onlyst a few months.

    Before the fleet arrived at Long Clear Ind, it had been four years since a Sovereign had attacked the Oceanids. As such, it was expected that a Sovereign would attack at some point this year - however, the exact date was unknown.

    It appeared that the timeline was a little earlier this year, and significantly so at that.

    Did it have anything to do with the arrival of the fleet?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know.

    He just knew that this day was bound toe sooner orter, which was why he had prepared for it.

    Wu!!!

    An rm began to re.

    Forever Clear Ind ground into motion. Countless individuals flew into the air from the ind. When they saw the endless waves of Sea Beasts charging in their direction, their expressions all shifted drastically.

    A Sea Beast Wave was imminent.

    The fleet, which had dared to flirt around the region of the Abyss boldly, was suddenly put under quite a bit of stress by the sudden appearance of this Sea Beast Wave. As weird as the situation seemed, it was reality.

    The reason was very simple - the gathering of a Sea Beast Wave would throw the surrounding waters into chaos.

    Even though the Abyss was powerful, it was quite chaotic. The creatures living here would grow much more rapidly due to the influence of the Deep Sea Sorrow, but they would also lose their intelligence and rationality. They didn¡¯t understand how to cooperate with one another and survived solely based on their instincts.

    This was why the fleet dared to enter the region of the Abyss - as long as they treaded the fine line between life and death, they would be safe no matter how much danger it seemed they were in.

    Once they retreated from the Abyss, the Sovereigns could howl and thrash all they liked but would not be able to do anything to the fleet. The border was their biggest protection. And as long as they didn¡¯t create stir up too many waves while in the Abyss, the Beasts wouldn¡¯t be as likely to attack them.

    However, a Sea Beast Wave was an entirely different matter altogether.

    When a Sovereign within the Abyss was given an order to attack the Intelligent Races, its remaining intelligence would also be activated.

    Instead of attacking on its own, it would signal for all of the Sea Beasts not at the Sovereign level in the Abyss to attack with it.

    This was both themand of a domineering Sovereign and the will of the Deep Sea Sorrow. No Beast dared to defy this order.

    As such, once the Sovereign attacked, it took with it all of the Sea Beasts in the region. These Beasts were no longer scattered and moved as one.

    As for the Abyss, Sea Beasts from other regions woulde in to fill up the gap.

    The Limitless Sea was extremely vast, and there were countless Sea Beasts living in it. Every time a Sea Beast Wave urred, there would be an opportunity for the other Sea Beasts to be baptized by the Deep Sea Sorrow.

    This was a cycle that perpetually repeated itself.

    And every Sea Beast Wave would cause tremendous damage to the Intelligent Races.

    This was why the attack of a single Sovereign was even more frightening than thebined attacks of many Sovereigns.

    Just like how Floating Points that could move were more dangerous than an immobilized Sky City.

    The same was true for the Sea Beast Waves.

    These Sea Beast Waves were so powerful that the Oceanids would suffer great losses every time. Even though they had gotten somewhat used to it throughout the millennia, it was impossible for them to not feel some fear when they considered the endless wave of Sea Beasts about to ughter them.

    Frostpoint and Westminster were the first to respond to the rm.

    They shot into the sky. When they saw the scene before their very eyes, their expressions drastically shifted.

    Westminster descended to Su Chen and said, ¡°Sir Su, the Sea Beast Wave is here. We will retreat for now.¡±

    Now that they had gotten to know each other a little better, Westminster feltfortable addressing Su Chen much more casually.

    ¡°Retreat?¡± Su Chen nced at Westminster.

    Westminster nodded. ¡°Yes, retreat! The Sovereign is being influenced by the Deep Sea Sorrow to target the Oceanids. If we retreat, the Sea Beast Wave won¡¯t attack Forever Clear Ind.¡±

    Westminster was not retreating to escape, but to divert the attention of the Sovereign. This was extremely generous of her.

    Su Chen, however, said indifferently, ¡°Why did I choose this time toe? I wanted to see the might of a Sea Beast Wave for myself. If we can¡¯t even defend ourselves against a Sea Beast Wave, how will we be able to carry out thetter stages of our n anyways?¡±

    Westminster grew agitated. ¡°Sir Su, the Sea Beast Wave is far more powerful than you think. I know the Boundless Sect is strong, but there is no need to fight to the death with these Beasts here.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Actually, I don¡¯t need to know how strong the Sea Beast Wave is. I just need to know how many losses the Oceanids sustain with Neptune¡¯s Fort, a million soldiers, and fifteen Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators defending against the wave to get a feel for that.¡±

    Westminster sighed, ¡°As long as Sir Su understands. If we aren¡¯t strong enough, we can retreat for now. Once we reach Neptune¡¯s Fort, with the Boundless Sect¡¯s additional strength, we should be able to defend ourselves with rtive ease.¡±

    ¡°But I don¡¯t want to do that,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Hm?

    Westminster didn¡¯t understand.

    Su Chen calmly said, ¡°My target is the Abyss. If we cannot deal with the Sea Beast Wave on our own strength just yet, then what right do we have to im that we can enter the Abyss?¡±

    Westminster said bitterly, ¡°The current strength we have on the ind cannotpare to the strength of the whole Oceanid race.¡±

    Frostpoint, Zhong Zhenjun, and the others also showed up.

    Frostpoint nced at Su Chen. ¡°If you have such resolution, is there something you have in mind to stop the advance of the Sea Beast Wave?¡±

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen replied, ¡°Truth be told, I¡¯m not really sure either.¡±

    ¡°Not sure?¡± Everyone was taken aback.

    ¡°Yes, not sure. There are a lot of things where the oue can only be known after doing them,¡± Su Chen replied.

    He had indeed made preparations for how to deal with the Sea Beast Wave, but he had no idea how effective these preparations would be.

    As the Sea Beast Wave encroached, Su Chen said, ¡°Prepare for battle. Just likest time, the Subdued Sea branch and the ckwater Corps will pincer from the left and right. The Oceanids will attack from below, and the Boundless Sect will attack from above.

    Frostpoint turned around and issued themand to his subordinates.

    The low, mournful wail of a conch shell could be heard resounding through the air.

    ¡°What? We aren¡¯t retreating?¡± The Oceanid soldiers, who had personally witnessed the might of a Sea Beast Wave before, were all surprised.

    Even so, the training they had received helped them to get ready quickly.

    The Boundless Sect and the Subdued Sea Branch also both sprang into action. The Boundless Sect had been prepared to fight against a Sea Beast Wave a long time ago, while the Subdued Sea Branch had never really had to deal with a Sea Beast Wave before. As such, they weren¡¯t exactly clear about just how dangerous a Sea Beast Wave could be.

    Only the ckwater Corps was in disarray.

    Because they were primarily a naval force, they were always affected by every Sea Beast Wave. Even though the Deep Sea Sorrowmanded the Sovereigns to attack Oceanids, that didn¡¯t mean that the Sovereigns couldn¡¯t attack anyone else.

    As such, the Sovereigns would often take an interest in the Thousand Illusions Ind on their way to attack the Oceanids. This was unquestionably a cmity for the Thousand Illusions Ind.

    For this reason, they knew exactly how frightening these Sea Beast Waves could be, and it was hard for them to muster up the courage to fight against one of these waves.

    As such, when they heard thismand, they all panicked.

    Su Chen nced at Zhong Zhenjun. ¡°Commander Zhong, your men don¡¯t seem to be very disciplined.¡±

    Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s face reddened. Just as he was about to discipline them, Fourth Head leapt into the air and barked, ¡°Listen up! Heavenly Water Formations!¡±

    The seventy thousand ckwater Corps soldiers immediately sprang into motion.

    Because they were all Origin Qi Schrs, they were far more mobile than traditional armies. Even though they feared the Sea Beast Wave, their training allowed them to quickly assemble and prepare for battle.

    However, their hearts involuntarily trembled as they watched the Beasts roll in their direction.

    There was nothing that Zhong Zhenjun could do now other than ce his hopes on Su Chen.

    He nced at Su Chen. ¡°What do you have nned?¡±

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°Don¡¯t be in such a hurry. Wait for them to get a bit closer.¡±

    When everyone heard this, they could only gulp apprehensively.

    Ji Hanyan was the bluntest when she spoke. As she stared at the oing wave, she said directly, ¡°Su Chen, if you can¡¯t handle the situation and cause the Subdued Sea Branch damage, I won¡¯t go easy on you!¡±

    Su Chen calmly replied, ¡°I can¡¯t promise you any oue of the battle. The only thing I can promise you is that, no matter what the oue is, the Boundless Sect will not retreat before the others do.¡±

    When everyone heard this, they fell silent.

    Did Su Chen truly have no confidence that he could win?

    That might not be true either!

    Su Chen had been preparing for this for five years. If he was really cing the lives of a few hundred thousand people at risk and hoping for good luck, that would be trulyughable.

    Su Chen was probably ny-nine percent confident that he could handle the situation.

    But he would never say so aloud.

    Battles were always vicious by nature, especially when they were being fought against Sovereigns. There was no room for wishful thinking; they would need to fight as if their lives were on the line.

    What need was there for courage if you were assured of sess? What need was there for faith?

    There were always situations that would demand great sacrifice for sess, or action when sess was not guaranteed. If Su Chen wasn¡¯t prepared to handle these kinds of situations, how could he call himself a soldier?

    The Oceanids were prepared for this, the old Heavenly Might Battalion was prepared for this, but the Boundless Sect¡¯s new disciples, the Subdued Sea Branch, and the ckwater Corps were not as well-prepared in this regard.

    That would take much tempering.

    Tempering by blood and steel.

    This was why Su Chen had said what he said.

    He needed his allies to not only trust him but also be willing to take risks with him.

    When they heard Su Chen¡¯s words, everyone fell silent and waited apprehensively.

    The Sea Beast Wave drew closer and closer. The Sovereign in the lead roared, demonstrating its desire to do battle, and massive waves began to form, looming over the ind and casting a shadow on it.

    The soldiers¡¯ expressions turned slightly pale as the wave encroached on them.

    It was almost instinctual that they would wonder what kind of strength would be necessary to destroy this limitless force of Sea Beasts?

    Even a Deste Beast probably wouldn¡¯t be able to do so, right?

    If a Deste Beast couldn¡¯t, then what about an Origin Beast?

    Su Chen nced at the wave, then turned to nod at Gu Qingluo. ¡°It¡¯s your time to shine.¡±

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 25: Shining Dragon Bloodline

    Chapter 25: Shining Dragon Bloodline

    Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s words, Gu Qingluo smiled slightly. She gestured with her hands, and her white robe fluttered gently in the wind, giving her a saintly appearance.

    At this moment, the four different branches of the fleet were also in position. They were assembled like a pocket in order to try and trap the Sea Beast Wave inside.

    However, even the most powerful pocket would have a hard time storing a mountain or a sea.

    When facing this massive Sea Beast Wave, this pocket was obviously slightly weaker than it needed to be.

    Gu QIngluo flew into the sky. She nced at the Sea Beast Wave, then chuckled as she spread her arms wide. A profound, ancient aura began to disperse through the air.

    This ancient aura carried with it a majestic energy and an immense amount of pressure.

    It was as if some ancient, primordial beast had awakened and was simply unleashing its aura.

    Even Zhong Zhenjun blurted out, ¡°Shining Dragon Bloodline!¡±

    The aura exuding from Gu Qingluo belonged to the Origin Beast Shining Dragon, without question.

    Just as the Totems were to the Ravagers, or the Divine Feathers were to the Harpies, the Shining Dragon Bloodline was one of the human race¡¯s most important trump cards. Every Gu n disciple with an awakened bloodline was seen as a powerful weapon to be used. Whenever a bitter battle needed to be fought, the Gu n¡¯s disciples would always be involved.

    The power of the Gu n¡¯s bloodline far surpassed that of the rest, and they were considered amongst some of the strongest humans alive. They were more than capable of killing people at higher cultivation realms than them.

    The Gu n¡¯s disciples merely needed to consider how many realms they would leap instead.

    Even so, using Gu Qingluo alone as a trump card sounded a bit too much like a joke.

    They were facing a Sea Beast Wave!

    Even if Gu Qingluo was incredibly strong and could handle an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator on her own, so what?

    Her strength was still nothing more than a drop in the ocean.

    But as Gu Qingluo¡¯s aura continued to skyrocket, the onlookers quickly realized that Gu Qingluo¡¯s bloodline was exceptionally dense.

    And as this aura continued to soar, a Shining Dragon image appeared behind Gu Qingluo. This massive image was nearly a thousand kilometers in size, asrge as a mountain range. The onlookers were all stunned.

    Jiang Xishui cried out, ¡°Her bloodline purity has already reached 20%!¡±

    Bloodline purity wasn¡¯t rted to cultivation base. Just because you had a high cultivation base didn¡¯t necessarily mean your bloodline purity would be high as well.

    Some people could bepletely average when it came to cultivating, but their bloodline purity would be extremely high. Ji Hanyan, for instance, had managed to sweep the floor during the entrance examinations to the Hidden Dragon Institute because she had awakened the secondyer of her bloodline before everyone else. In other words, her bloodline was five percent purer than that of the others.

    Bloodline purity did affectbat strength. If two people had the same cultivation base, and their bloodlines were roughly equivalent in terms of strength, then a higher bloodline purity would result in more efficient use of that bloodline, so they would be stronger in a real battle. Of course, bloodline purity also aided in making breakthroughs, which was why all of these higheryer cultivation techniques had relied on bloodlines. It wasn¡¯t until Su Chen arrived on the scene that this reliance on bloodlines was taken care of.

    Typically, a person¡¯s bloodline purity couldn¡¯t increase past fifty percent. It wasn¡¯t impossible to go higher, but then the human bloodline would lose to the Beast bloodline, and a person would begin to irreversibly transform into a Beast.

    However, different bloodlines would typically have different limits.

    The limit of an Origin Beast Bloodline was not 50%; it was 30%.

    Yes, 30% was the limit!

    Origin Beasts were simply too powerful, so much so that when they reached thirty percentposition of a human¡¯s bloodline, they would overpower the humanponent and begin to take over.

    Of course, this was not to say that Gu Qingluo would be a Shining Dragon. This was simply impossible. However, bing a Demonic Emperor with some attributes of the Shining Dragon was entirely possible.

    Jiang Xishui was extremely clear about this, because the limit for Deste Beasts was 40%.

    But even at a purity of 30%, Origin Beast bloodlines were incredibly powerful.

    Once a person¡¯s bloodline purity reached 20%, they would be able to reliably reach the Ultimate Emperor Realm, and the same went for those with Deste Beast bloodlines at a purity of 40%.

    Those who possessed these two kinds of powerful bloodlines only ever needed to consider how to awaken their bloodline to a greater degree.

    For those with Demonic Emperor bloodlines, even having a bloodline purity of 50% only guaranteed a 20% chance of sess.

    Those with Demonic King bloodlines probably only had a 1% chance.

    Those with Demonic Lord bloodlines supposedly only had a 0.01% chance.

    High-tier Demonic Beast bloodlines and below had no chance.

    Jiang Xishui never would have expected that Gu Qingluo¡¯s bloodline purity was already at 20%. In other words, she was already capable of walking down the road that led to the Ultimate Emperor Realm. All she needed to do was cultivate diligently.

    But Gu Qingluo hadn¡¯t even awakened her bloodline for a decade. How had she reached a bloodline purity of 20% so quickly?

    That was three entireyers!

    Jiang Xishui turned to look at Su Chen.

    Indeed, Su Chen chuckled and said, ¡°I¡¯ve already improved the seven Deste Beast bloodlines. It was high time for the Gu n to get some help as well.¡±

    Yes, if the Su Chen had managed to improve the seven Deste Beast bloodlines, there was no reason that he couldn¡¯t do the same for an Origin Beast bloodline, not to mention that Gu Qingluo was Su Chen¡¯s wife.

    Given how in love with each other they were and how much time they spent with each other, it was only natural that she would eventually begin to reap the benefits.

    However, Su Chen had never mentioned it, so everyone just wasn¡¯t prepared.

    ¡°So Sir Su¡¯s n is to rely on the might of an Origin Beast to disrupt the Sovereign¡¯s control?¡± Princess Westminster was already able to discern what Gu Qingluo was trying to do.

    Oppose the Sea Beast Wave?

    There was no way Gu Qingluo had that ability.

    However, the aura of an Origin Beast was many times more imposing than that of a Sovereign. Its appearance would definitely shake the control that the Sovereign had on the other Beasts.

    Sea Beast Waves were frightening precisely because all of these Sea Beasts were under the Sovereign¡¯s control. However, this influence could be disrupted by the presence of a higher power.

    Actually, from the moment that Gu Qingluo had unleashed her Shining Dragon aura, the Sea Beast Wave had already begun to grow noticeably more chaotic. A few of the weaker Sea Beasts even cried out in fear and slowed down.

    The imposing might of a Shining Dragon was simply too frightening.

    ¡°Reaching 20% purity in the span of a few short years is indeed impressive,¡± Ding Feng, who typically kept his silence, suddenly said. ¡°But that alone might not be enough.¡±

    Even though the aura of an Origin Beast was far stronger than that of a Sovereign, an Origin Beast Bloodline was not the same as an Origin Beast.

    Not to mention that Gu Qingluo was only at the Spirit Burning Realm. Even Gu Xinrong, an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator who was more than qualified to grapple with one of these Sovereigns on her own, would not be able to wrest control of these Sea Beasts from the Sovereign.

    After all, one was a Beast, while the other was a human. There were still intrinsic differences.

    Even though the aura emanating from Gu Qingluo¡¯s body was extremely dense, there was no way it was capable of suppressing this Sea Beast Wave.

    Ding Feng¡¯s pessimistic outlook was understandable.

    Su Chen, however, smiled and said, ¡°I never said that her limit was 20%.¡±

    A momentter, Gu Qingluo¡¯s aura continued to climb in intensity as the Shining Dragon image grew increasingly tangible. The earlier image had been blurry, but now it wasing into focus, and more and more of the details could be clearly seen as the Shining Dragon bloodline began to exert its pressure.

    The Sea Beast Wave could sense the sudden increase in pressure. They howled simultaneously as they began to slow down.

    ¡°Thirty percent!¡± Everyone sucked in a breath of cold air.

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s bloodline purity was already at 30%.

    Thest member of the Gu n to reach this state point had done so three hundred years ago. They were the youngest and most powerful Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator amongst the Gu n.

    Gu Qingluo had actually managed to reach this level as well.

    Jiang Xishui, however, was angry instead of happy. He turned to Su Chen and barked, ¡°Su Chen, are you crazy? You should know that increases in bloodline purity ur by chance. Sometimes, it might increase when you don¡¯t want it to. Now that you¡¯ve brought her to the limit, what happens if she identally awakens her bloodline further? Won¡¯t you have harmed her instead then?¡±

    Most individuals from Bloodline Nobility ns never raised their bloodline purity to the absolute limit for fear that they would identally awaken it sometime in the future.

    No one had expected Su Chen to bring Gu Qingluo¡¯s bloodline purity to the limit so early on. She was still very young, and if she was unlucky enough to awaken her bloodline further in the next few hundred years, it would all be over.

    Su Chen, however, replied calmly, ¡°Actually, her limit is not 30% either.¡±

    What?

    Everyone was stunned.

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s aura began to surge once again.

    As the ancient aura intensified, spilling over everyone present, the Sea Beasts began to howl with fear, as if they had encountered some fearful existence. Even the Demonic Kings were beginning to show signs of unrest.

    ¡°Forty percent! Forty percent!¡± Jiang Xishui and Ji Hanyan began to yell.

    Even though they had never witnessed the strength of anyone with such a high Origin Beast bloodline purity before, the ancient aura evoked a kind of primal fear from deep within their being even though it was clearly being directed at the Sea Beasts. The only exnation was that Gu Qingluo¡¯s bloodline purity was already 40%.

    While the 20% purity had only been enough to slow the advance of the wave slightly, and 30% had caused some mild chaos, 40% was more than enough to slow the advance of the wave significantly and cause a medium amount of chaos.

    As if nned, the Sea Beast Wave just so happened to be in the pocket created by the fleet at the same moment that Gu Qingluo activated her bloodline to its greatest extent.

    At this point, almost all of the Sea Beasts below the Demonic King level werepletely in a panic. Only those at the Demonic King level and above were able to maintain some modicum of intelligence. Even so, they were clearly uneasy.

    And because this effect was magnified by distance, those closer were affected much more than those further away.

    The closest Sea Beasts had basically slowed to a stop, while the furthest Sea Beasts were still squeezing into the pocket from behind.

    Now that the situation had reached this point, no one actually had any idea what to do.

    Su Chen said, ¡°What are you waiting for?¡±

    Frostpoint, Zhong Zhenjun, Jiang Xishui, and the others snapped out of their reverie and immediately began to issuemands to their subordinates.

    Boom!

    Origin Energy began to scatter across the sky as wind, fire, lightning, and other Origin Skills and Arcana Techniques shot through the air, mming recklessly into the Sea Beast Wave.

    The Sea Beast Wave, on the other hand, waspletely in turmoil at this point and had no strength to mount a counterattack.

    Ji Hanyan, however, stared at Su Chen in rage. ¡°Su Chen, are you willing to sacrifice Gu Qingluo just for the sake of victory?¡±

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 26: Migh

    Chapter 26: Might

    Ji Hanyan was truly enraged.

    She and Gu Qingluo hadn¡¯t interacted much in the past, and there was even a period of time when she had been jealous that Gu Qingluo had found such an outstanding man for herself.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know that the ice queen Ji Hanyan had, for the briefest of moments, felt a tug at her heartstrings for him.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Su Chen had never voluntarily sought her out, that he was always mired in his research, then Jiang Xishui might not have stood a chance.

    This was why Ji Hanyan¡¯s opinion of Gu Qingluo was extremely neutral.

    However, she was enraged right now not because of her rtionship with Gu Qingluo, but rather because of the way that Su Chen had chosen to handle the situation.

    Ji Hanyan stared angrily at Su Chen, as if she wanted to kill him with her gaze alone. Frostpoint and Westminster tensed up and inched towards Su Chen, preparing to protect him.

    Su Chen, however, didn¡¯t mind. He watched the floating Gu Qingluo with a slight smile as he replied, ¡°Qingluo will be happy to hear that you took such a stance on her behalf, but don¡¯t worry ¡ª she¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    Ji Hanyan said in shock, ¡°Were you able to stop the beast transformation of the bloodline?¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°To be specific, I found a way to raise the purity limit of the human bloodline.¡±

    When Jiang Xishui and Ji Hanyan heard this, they immediately grew immeasurably excited.

    This was a big deal!

    Su Chen was basically saying that every member of the a Bloodline Nobility n could raise their bloodline purity by another level. In other words, humanity¡¯s strength had increased once again.

    Su Chen had always pursued the bloodline-less cultivation techniques, but now, he had suddenly made a u-turn and increased the power of all bloodline wielders as well.

    Actually, Su Chen¡¯s intentions had never been to overthrow the Bloodline Nobility ns. All he wanted to do was increase the strength of the entire human race.

    His research of the bloodline-less cultivation techniques was not meant to tear down the bloodline system - only to free human cultivation from the chains of bloodlines. ording to his view, humans would be able to cultivate even without bloodlines in the future, and bloodlines would only serve to further increase theirbat strength, not as the very foundation of cultivating.

    He was more than halfway done with his goal at this point. The bloodline-less cultivation techniques and Aspects formed aplete set of cultivation methods, and it was slowly taking shape.

    Gu Qingluo was able to raise her bloodline purity to forty percent partly because this extra increase hade from her Aspect.

    Using her own bloodline as an Aspect was particrly effective.

    Bloodlines were tangible, while Aspects were more ethereal. Combining the two resulted in a twofold increase in effectiveness.

    This allowed her to use the power of a bloodline with 40% purity while her actual bloodline purity was only at 20%.

    And it was that extra 20% that allowed Gu Qingluo to control the advance of the Sea Beast Wave.

    In theory, Gu Qingluo could achieve a pseudo-bloodline purity of around 60%.

    But that would be too risky. Before Su Chen found a better way of resolving the issue, he wanted to wait before doing so.

    The Shining Dragon was incredibly realistic now that Gu Qingluo was unleashing her bloodline at full force. The immense, majestic pressure it exuded caused the tens of thousands of Sea Beasts to howl with trepidation. They hadpletely lost their spirit and drive, as if they were in arge domain that was throwing them intoplete chaos. With the four branches of the fleet attacking them simultaneously, the Sea Beasts were virtually being baptized with Origin Energy, causing the stench of blood to rise into the sky.

    The Sovereign Beast was obviously enraged. It howled angrily and charged towards Gu Qingluo.

    It was going to kill her.

    ¡°Commander Zhong, now¡¯s your time to strike!¡± Su Chen said to Zhong Zhenjun.

    Zhong Zhenjun was the strongest individual present. Given his Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivation base, handing the responsibility of taking on the Sovereign to him was very appropriate. Su Chen was also giving him an opportunity to demonstrate his abilities.

    Of course, Sovereigns were the emperors amongst Demonic Emperors, and Zhong Zhenjun himself was not strong enough to handle the Sovereign alone. Westminster and Frostpoint nced at each other before also flying into the air, and the four Oceanid generals followed closely behind.

    These six individuals were all around the Thought Manifestation Realm in strength. Even though they and Zhong Zhenjun would still probably not be able to defeat the Sovereign, stopping it for some time was no issue.

    When the Sovereign saw this, it roared and continued to charge forwards, building up massive waves around it. These waves were like walls of seawater and rushed towards Gu Qingluo, Zhong Zhenjun, and the others rapidly.

    Even though the Sovereign possessed little to no intelligence, itsbat instincts were still working. It quickly realized that letting them dy was not a good idea, which was why it immediately attacked with its full strength. These waves contained the full power of a Sovereign, each drop of water traveling with as much momentum as a steel ball. Theirbined momentum bore down on the eight of them like a mountain, threatening to steamroll over them.

    Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s expression shifted slightly, but he knew that whether they won or lost this fight, protecting Gu Qingluo was the most important so that she could continue to unleash her aura. He gritted his teeth before sucking in a deep breath.

    This breath was so long and forceful that a small vortex actually began to form around him.

    Then, Zhong Zhenjun exhaled violently in front of him.

    ¡°ROAR!!!¡±

    A majestic, surprisingly tangible shockwave of sound boomed in all directions as it collided violently with the walls of seawater.

    The instant the blue walls of seawater mmed into the white shockwave, a brilliant re of light shone everywhere. A Demonic King that was unlucky enough to swim by was obliterated by the sudden release of energy andpletely disintegrated, not even leaving behind a skeleton. The violent, forceful nature of this sh was evident.

    Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s moniker, A Howl Shakes An Army, was put on full disy.

    However, facing off against a Sovereign was no easy feat. Zhong Zhenjun groaned with pain from the bacsh and took a few steps backwards.

    However, the Sovereign appearedpletely unfazed. It roared again, and the walls of seawater charged forwards yet again, rushing towards them.

    Frostpoint and Westminster leapt forwards and struck simultaneously, causing the towering wall of seawater to slow down significantly.

    However, the Sovereign howled yet again, and after a brief exchange of force, the wall of seawater continued to advance. The six Oceanids were unable to stop its advance.

    Thankfully, Zhong Zhenjun had managed to recover, and he attacked at the same time. Only then were they able to barely stop its advance.

    There was no point in using too many shy techniques when dealing with a situation like this. They were purelypeting in terms of cultivation realm and brute force.

    All that mattered at this point was strength!

    Sovereigns were incredibly strong, far more so than your average Demonic Emperor.

    Zhong Zhenjun and the six Oceanids felt an immense amount of pressure on them, and that didn¡¯t even include the few Demonic Emperors that had decided to head this way.

    Jiang Xishui, Ji Hanyan, Li Chongshan, Shi Kaihuang, and the others also sprang into action.

    Since Gu Qingluo alone was capable of disrupting the Sea Beast Wave, this battle was now going to be decided by the higher powers involved in the fight.

    And in that regard, the Sovereign and the Demonic Emperors held the absolute advantage.

    Ji Hanyan couldn¡¯t resist crying out when she saw the unwinnable situation, ¡°Su Chen, are you not going to call some people back to help us out?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Qingluo has a hard time sustaining this state. We must seize the opportunity to decimate the Sea Beast Wave, or at least heavily damage them. The Sovereign is not so important inparison.¡±

    ¡°The problem is that we won¡¯t be able to hold on much longer. If you have any tricks up your sleeve, you¡¯d better use them now!¡± Jiang Xishui said apprehensively.

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°I know. I¡¯m just wondering which trump card I should use.¡±

    Everyone almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

    If you have a trump card to use, what are you waiting for?

    Actually, Su Chen was not doing this on purpose. He just wanted to see how strong the Sovereign was and how strong Zhong Zhenjun and the others were.

    Only in a battle of life-or-death would it be possible to observe their true strength and make a decision.

    As he watched the Sovereign howl, unleashing boundless waves of Origin Energy and putting an immense amount of pressure on Zhong Zhenjun and the others, Su Chen finally said, ¡°Qingluo, you can use that.¡±

    ¡°Right now?¡± Gu Qingluo was stunned. ¡°It¡¯s just a Sovereign. Don¡¯t you have plenty of other ways of dealing with it?¡±

    ¡°I want to see what your limit is,¡± Su Chen replied.

    When Gu Qingluo heard this, she understood and said with a slight smile, ¡°Fine. If that¡¯s the case then I won¡¯t hold back.¡±

    As sheughed, she pulled out an item from her Origin Ring and put it on.

    Sky Armor!

    As soon as she put this beautiful Divine Tool on her body, Gu Qingluo seemed to turn into a fairy. A holy aura that demanded to be worshipped began to emanate from her body.

    At the same time, the Sea Beast Wave plunged even deeper into chaos. They were being beaten ck and blue, and could only respond with a tenth of the force that they were being attacked with.

    A few of the loweryered Sea Beasts were even beginning to attack each other, and even Demonic Kings found it hard to even move, and Demonic Emperors felt their wills tremble.

    Sky Armor had three main uses as a Divine Tool, and its third major use was forrge-scale suppression.

    The Shining Dragon Bloodline was very powerful, but so was the might of the Mother Goddess.

    They emitted two distinct kinds of pressure. The Shining Dragon Bloodline was overbearing and tyrannical, while the Mother Goddess¡¯s holiness was dignified and stately, so their interaction was not particrly favorable. Otherwise, the suppressive effects would have been even greater. Even so, the additional might of the Sky Armor further aggravated the Sea Beasts, weakening the attacks of even the Demonic Emperors.

    Even so, this was not the end just yet.

    A momentter, Gu Qingluo pulled out a vial of blood.

    Gu Qingluo opened the vial and unwillingly extracted a few drops of blood before cing those droplets on her forehead, in between her eyebrows. Then, she ced her hand on her heart, and her aura surged as the Shining Dragon grew even brighter. A massive dragon head solidified, as if it had emerged from another realm, and howled ferociously, stunning everyone present.

    Even that Sovereign shuddered, let alone the Demonic Emperors, and even Zhong Zhenjun felt an immense wave of pressure wash over him. He discovered to his surprise that there was no way for him to withstand this pressure!

    This formless pressure was not merely affecting his heart - it was affecting his whole body! Zhong Zhenjun, Jiang Xishui, Li Chongshan, Frostpoint, and everyone else discovered that it was basically impossible for them to revolve their Origin Energy at all.

    In that moment, everyone was paralyzed.

    Thankfully, all Beasts below the Sovereign level were also paralyzed. Only the Sovereign continued to howl unwillingly.

    However, in the face of this Shining Dragon head, it was as small as an it.

    The Shining Dragon squinted its eyes for a moment before it suddenly opened its mouth.

    Hu!

    A powerful wave of mes spurted forth from its mouth.

    These mes were incredibly real.

    The mes of the Shining Dragon burned everything to ashes.

    ¡°ROAR!!!¡± The killer whale howled unwillingly, but it was unable to endure the zing mes. Its skin began to rapidly turn to ash.

    ¡°Hurry up and attack!¡± Su Chen barked.

    His voice cut through the fog muddling their thoughts. Everyone felt their minds clear, and the Origin Energy in their body once again returned to their control.

    ¡°What are we waiting for? Charge!¡± Someone - no one knew who - yelled, spurring on everyone else to let out a war cry as they charged at the Sovereign.

    The dragon head had begun to fade after it spat out the white-hot mes. The physically present body became illusory once more, and Gu Qingluo¡¯s face paled significantly.

    She calmly pulled out a vial of medicine and drank it, quickly stabilizing her swaying body.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 27: Obedience

    Chapter 27: Obedience

    At the same time that Gu Qingluo took her medicine, Su Chen also made his move.

    He flew towards Gu Qingluo, and when he reached her, he said, ¡°Since you¡¯ve made your move, then it¡¯s only right that I do my part as well.¡±

    Gu Qingluo smiled faintly. ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting for you to show off.¡±

    Su Chen raised his hand.

    With a mere move from his hand, a violent windstorm began to surge as the Windbite¡¯s image appeared.

    However, in addition to its four faces, the current Windbite also had arge swath of clouds floating above its faces.

    The clouds revolved, gathering behind Su Chen¡¯s body as they merged into his Aspect.

    Su Chen¡¯s Aspect was no longer an individual entity. Instead, it appeared to have melded with the sky itself, as if the Windbite was now merely aponent of the sky rather than a distinct Aspect.

    Actually, at the boundary between this Aspect and the sky, it was possible to see faint shes of lightning, rippling waves, and burning mes.

    The waves were below, its rippling motion mimicking the ebb and flow of the ocean.

    The mes were above, burning like the sun in the sky.

    And in the center was the Windbite, still facing all directions. Lightning flickered across its faces from time to time, creating quite an awe-inspiring sight whenbined with the violently howling wind.

    At the same time that Su Chen¡¯s Aspect appeared, the Shining Dragon image behind Gu Qingluo appeared to fade ever so slightly. But another powerful aura once again burst forth, shocking the tens of thousands of Sea Beasts as it enveloped the Shining Dragon in a shroud of clouds. This image seemed to show the Shining Dragon breaking through the clouds in the sky.

    ¡°What is that?¡±

    Everyone began to animatedly discuss this turn of events amongst themselves.

    ¡°So Sect Master¡¯s Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect has finally reached the stage of small sess,¡± Li Chongshan chuckled.

    ¡°Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect?¡± Jiang Xishui felt his heart tremble violently at the implications of that name. ¡°Are you saying......¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Su Chen created this aspect bybining the seven Deste Beast bloodlines into one,¡± Shi Kaihuang answered in a low voice.

    How could Su Chen not take some benefits for himself when researching for ways to improve the Seven Kingdoms¡¯ bloodlines? Since they had voluntarily given it to him, it was only natural that he would develop a method to extract their Aspects to increase his own personal strength.

    ¡°Unfortunately, this path is quite arduous, and Sect Master doesn¡¯t have that much time to conduct research, so he has only reached the stage of small sess,¡± Chu Yingwanmented with a sigh.

    ¡°If only Lin Zuiliu were here,¡± Li Chongshan said.

    Lin Zuiliu had researched the art of merging bloodlines for many years now. With his experience and Su Chen¡¯s intellect, it was guaranteed that Su Chen¡¯s Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect would reach new heights. This was one of the reasons why Su Chen was so dead set on finding Lin Zuiliu.

    Unfortunately, after Lin Zuiliu had failed his coup, he had run off somewhere that not even ck me could find, even if they were willing to let bygones be bygones.

    But even though Su Chen¡¯s Aspect was only currently at the stage of small sess, its might was extraordinary.

    In particr, after it merged with Gu Qingluo¡¯s Shining Dragon Bloodline, its strength had increased even further.

    A ball of fiery red energy appeared from within the Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect before wings began to sprout from the main body. It was Su Chen¡¯s ming Phoenix Theurgy Art.

    However, this ming Phoenix was obviously different from any previous use. When it unfurled its wings, its wingspan stretched out tens of thousands of meters, covering up arge part of the sky. Its connection to the Shining Dragon Aspect gave it an aura that was even stronger than before.

    Su Chen had named the ming Phoenix a Theurgy Art. At the time, however, its power had not lived up to its name because of his own limited strength. He hadn¡¯t opened his Divine Pces then, so he had been incapable of bringing out the full might of the Theurgy Arts.

    As implied by its name, the Theurgy Arts used divine power to unleash magic.

    Without a vast base of consciousness power, how could Su Chen possibly unleash the full power of the Theurgy Arts?

    But after reaching the Spirit Burning Realm and opening his Divine Pces, he had finally gained the ability to finely control his consciousness power, and the true power of the Theurgy Arts was finally able to be manifested.

    When he had been in the Light Shaking Realm, Su Chen had still been in the stage of umting experiences. Now, he had finally reached the point where he could fully use everything that he had learned.

    When the ming Phoenix appeared, all the observers felt like another powerful Demonic Beast with the might of an emperor had appeared.

    However, this was merely the beginning.

    Others¡¯ Aspects typically involved an illusory projection of a real object, Beast, or even element.

    However, the Seven Bloodline Aspect created a microcosm, an ethereal realm of sorts.

    It bore some simrities to the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s Dreamrealm, which also involved the control of an illusory realm.

    Luo You was the water, while the ming Phoenix served as the sun. This was how the picture of the microcosm was formed.

    At the same time, Windbite was creating clouds of fog, shrouding the microcosm in mystery.

    The microcosm depicted in the Seven Bloodline Aspect disyed the majestic beauty of nature.

    Many people present hadn¡¯t even seen an Aspect before, so this sight was particrly stunning to them, and they felt as if their horizons had been broadened.

    And this Aspect was also amplifying the power of the Shining Dragon Bloodline.

    The Shining Dragon specialized in fire, and one of the innate, foundational Origin Skills it possessed was called Night Illuminating Candlelight, referring to its ability to burn brightly even in the dark.

    Even though that soundedmonce, it actually carried connotations of being eternal and evesting, as well as the ability to drive out darkness and bring in the light.

    Given all of these attributes, the might of this foundational Origin Skill was evident. Even when used by an illusory image, its power was undeniable.

    As such, the sun rising over the sea burned even more brightly due to the influence of the Shining Dragon.

    Under these circumstances, the inferno that the ming Phoenix unleashed was staggeringly powerful.

    Not to mention that, at the same time, the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples formed a hand seal. Even though the seal appeared quite simple, concealed within were innumerable profundities.

    The wave of mes had already descended. The surface of the sea began to sizzle and boil, and the Sea Beasts within howled bitterly with pain. White steam billowed off the waters.

    The area of this attack was so great that it actually enveloped the entire battlefield, and all of the Sea Beasts were wrapped up inside it.

    Frostpoint, Zhong Zhenjun, and the others were all stunned.

    Zhong Zhenjun immediately said, ¡°This is Spirit Burning?¡±

    Even though setting a hundred kilometers of ocean on fire didn¡¯t seem like such a big deal, it was actually powerful enough to cause a cmity. If Su Chen were to do this a number of times in rapid session, he would probably be able to raze an entire country.

    This kind of destruction was not something that even an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator like him could pull off.

    Even the Gu n¡¯s Ancestors, who were much more proficient in the use of fire than he, had never been able to achieve such incredible results.

    Shi Kaihuang chuckled slightly, ¡°It¡¯s just a coincidence. This is not the strength of a single person.¡±

    Yes, it was true that this was not Su Chen¡¯s individual strength. He also had the support of the Shining Dragon Bloodline and the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples.

    Even so, it was obvious that Su Chen was far more powerful than any of them had given him credit for.

    The mes burned brilliantly for some time before finally extinguishing. By the time Su Chen stopped unleashing the skill, the ocean was already littered with burnt corpses, and the air was filled with the smell of charred flesh.

    Even though there were still a few stragglers left, dealing with them was inconsequential.

    Now that the Sea Beast Wave had lost most of its numbers, it waspletely incapable of resisting the dual-pronged attack and waspletely destroyed.

    Even though the Sovereign was extremely powerful and had managed to resist Su Chen¡¯s attack, it couldn¡¯t handle Zhong Zhenjun and the others¡¯bined attacks. Eventually, it was in as well.

    This was the inevitable oue for every Sovereign living in the Abyss.

    A fierce battle had concluded just like that.

    The Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect disappeared along with the Shining Dragon image, and Su Chen and Gu Qingluo slowly descended from the sky.

    Everyone¡¯s gaze towards Su Chen waspletely different from before. They were filled with respect, awe, admiration, and jealousy.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples mostly looked at Su Chen with adoration, the Subdued Sea branch and Oceanids with awe, and Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s camp with envy.

    It was a bit embarrassing for an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator to be envious of a junior, but Su Chen¡¯s performance hadpletely stunned him.

    Perhaps Su Chen would be able to aplish this in the near future without any help. Zhong Zhenjun couldn¡¯t help but think of this possibility.

    If that was the case......

    He didn¡¯t dare to think about what might happen next.

    If someone had told him a year ago that it was possible for a single person to achieve this kind of result, he never would have believed it. However, Su Chen¡¯s performance today made it impossible for him to question that truth.

    When faced with a person with so muchtent potential, there were two possibilities: either you killed him now, or you got on good terms with him now.

    Killing him was not an option. There was no way he would be able to deal with the Boundless Sect¡¯s tens of thousands of cultivators, not to mention that he was still dependent on Su Chen to take care of this problem.

    A momentter, Su Chen had only just descended when Zhong Zhenjun rushed over to greet him, a wide smile on his face. ¡°Brother Su, you are truly incredibly strong! What an extraordinary Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect! My horizons have been broadened today. Amazing!¡±

    At the beginning, he had called Su Chen Sir Su, and then Sect Master Su. Now, he was even referring to Su Chen as Brother Su. In terms of status, the first was the most respectful, but it was also the most distant, while thest was the least respectful but also the most intimate. It was clear that Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s attitude had changed.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t pay this change in appetion much mind and said with a smile, ¡°Commander Zhong is quite graceful. Actually, if it wasn¡¯t for your help in stopping the Sovereign¡¯s advance, I wouldn¡¯t have had the opportunity to show my full strength either.¡±

    Su Chen knew exactly how much face to give Zhong Zhenjun, making Zhong Zhenjun quite happy.

    However, Su Chen was willing to give out polite words, but the same did not hold true for the division of spoils.

    Su Chen said, ¡°The Sovereign was killed by you, Commander, and the Oceanids, so I think it¡¯s safe to say that they belong to you.¡±

    Him giving the Sovereign to Zhong Zhenjun was equivalent to iming the rest of the spoils for the Boundless Sect.

    There was nothing to be done. After all, the Boundless Sect had once again done the lion¡¯s share of the work.

    Of course, Su Chen wasn¡¯t actually nning on taking it all for himself. However, anything he did give would be due to his generosity, given after the division of spoils had been taken ce. This would make it so that everyone else was grateful towards him.

    Before, Zhong Zhenjun might have subtly jabbed at Su Chen, but his attitude hadpletely turned around. He smiled and said, ¡°Many thanks, Brother Su, for your generosity.¡±

    He had tacitly agreed to Su Chen¡¯s distribution method.

    This was one of the benefits of openly disying one¡¯s strength.

    In this age, where strength was everything, people would always listen to the person who was strong rather than the person who was intelligent.

    There were many reasons that Zhong Zhenjun wasn¡¯t convinced by Su Chen, but the most important reason was because of his strength.

    Now that his assumptions had been overthrown, his attitude had naturally changed to one of eptance and submission.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 28: Bloodline Upgrade

    Chapter 28: Bloodline Upgrade

    The Sea Beast Wave disappeared.

    That night, a giant celebratory banquet was held on Forever Clear Ind.

    It had been many years since the Oceanids had been able to celebrate like this.

    Defeating the Sea Beast Wave was, in a sense, expected.

    However, they had done so by paying the minimum price, and this was even without the support of Neptune¡¯s Fort or the Thousand Illusion Ind.

    Su Chen had demonstrated to the Oceanids that there was yet another way that they would be able to much more easily deal with the onught of Sea Beasts.

    The power of the Shining Dragon Bloodline.

    The main reason that their offensive against the Sea Beast Wave had been so sessful this time was in no small part due to Gu Qingluo¡¯s efforts. Without her Origin Beast Bloodline, the Sea Beast Wave¡¯s charge would not have been stopped, and they wouldn¡¯t have been thrown into chaos. She had basically managed to rece Neptune¡¯s Fort entirely on her own.

    Of course, not every Gu n member was able to do this. No one amongst the Gu n had ever managed to achieve a bloodline purity of forty percent before.

    The ¡°Crazed Monarch¡±, or the Glorious Emperor, had apparently awakened his bloodline to a purity of thirty percent, which was what had made him so insane and bloodthirsty. However, there were also many people who believed that his descendants were merely trying to paint him in a better light, and that he was just naturally bloodthirsty and ruthless.

    In any case, forty percent bloodline purity was an unimaginable number. And even though they knew that there was a way to achieve this kind of power, at the moment only Gu Qingluo was capable of this.

    However, just because they had Gu Qingluo today didn¡¯t mean they would tomorrow.

    Su Chen¡¯s purpose here was to create a miracle and then make it so that the miracle becamemonce.

    After seeing Gu Qingluo¡¯s exceptional performance, it was unavoidable that many people began to think this way.

    The night of the celebration.

    Everyone was gathered,ughing and celebrating with each other.

    Zhong Zhenjun walked over to Su Chen with a cup of wine and said, ¡°Brother Su, I offer this cup of wine to you as a sign of respect. I have never done this to anyone else before, so you are the first one.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled and epted the cup. ¡°I don¡¯t think I am worthy of such high praise, Commander.¡±

    ¡°Oh, but you are!¡± Zhong Zhenjun said. ¡°You have made it possible for those without bloodlines to reach the Light Shaking Realm, and you have even elevated the powers of those with bloodlines. Your contributions to the human race are limitless. If it were possible for every human¡¯s bloodline to advance another step......¡±

    Zhong Zhenjun sighed as a look of longing appeared in his eyes.

    Su Chen understood his intentions.

    Actually, he wanted Su Chen to help him increase the power of his bloodline as well.

    Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s bloodline was the Bloodhowl Bloodline, a Demonic Emperor Bloodline with incredible strength.

    Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s Bloodhowl Bloodline had already been awakened to the purity limit of fifty percent, which was part of the reason why he was so strong. When he unleashed his full strength, he was fully capable of assuming the form of Bloodhowl, which greatly amplified his strength. But for this reason, Zhong Zhenjun also couldn¡¯t further awaken his bloodline. If he wasn¡¯t careful and awakened his bloodline once more, he would turn into a Beast.

    However, Gu Qingluo¡¯s exploits had helped him realize that there were many limits imposed by nature that could actually be broken.

    If Su Chen could raise Gu Qingluo¡¯s limit, then it was only natural that he could do the same for him.

    No matter how arrogant Zhong Zhenjun was, he had to bow his head deferentially when the benefits to be had were so important.

    Su Chen chuckled, ¡°It should be possible in theory, but it will take lots of time and energy. The current priority is the Deep Sea Sorrow. Before I find a way to deal with it, I will not be able to divert my energy to other focuses.¡±

    Zhong Zhenjun immediately realized what Su Chen was getting at. ¡°So you will do it after resolving the issue of the Deep Sea Sorrow?¡±

    Su Chen lowered his head in thought for a moment before shaking his head and saying, ¡°I don¡¯t want to keep the truth from you, Commander Zhong. Even though this sounds like a simple matter, researching the bloodline-less cultivation techniques has some differences from researching how to upgrade an existing bloodline. The bloodline-less techniques are useful for everyone, but upgrading a bloodline requires a very targeted approach. There are almost too many bloodlines under the Heavens that each have their own unique attributes. In addition, even people with the same bloodline have some biological differences. It won¡¯t be easy for me to study these people one by one.¡±

    Zhong Zhenjun seemed to grasp what Su Chen was saying. ¡°So Brother Su will choose a few people to give out special secret techniques to?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly right!¡± Su Chen replied.

    Did Su Chen really need to analyze each bloodline separately in order to upgrade it? Was there nomon theme that he could rely on?

    Not necessarily.

    But Su Chen truly did not want to do that this time.

    His goal of raising the foundation of the human race¡¯s strength inherently carried some connotations of upending the monopoly that Bloodline Nobility ns enjoyed.

    Supplying a few Bloodline Nobility ns with upgraded techniques to buy time for himself and to benefit both parties was a necessity. The Boundless Sect needed nothing other than time.

    However, if he turned his focus towards upgrading the bloodlines of those from Bloodline Nobility ns, he would have gone against his original mission.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t want to do that.

    In the future that he dreamed of, bloodlines would only ever be supplementary power, not a main source of strength.

    The Bloodline Nobility ns would be allowed to continue existing, but one day or another they would lose their noble status.

    In the Primordial Continent¡¯s future, sects would dominate the cultivating world, not these Bloodline Nobility ns.

    This was a blueprint Su Chen had drawn up for the future, but there was no need for him to exin all this to Zhong Zhenjun.

    Zhong Zhenjun, however, misunderstood and thought that Su Chen was asking for a price.

    Without a unified method, the Bloodline Nobility ns would need to get on Su Chen¡¯s good side if they wanted him to provide them with specialized services. This was indeed much better than having a single unified pipeline.

    In other words, as long as he supported Su Chen, Su Chen would definitely help him.

    Zhong Zhenjun thought that he had seen through Su Chen¡¯s n and chuckled, ¡°Brother Su is quite ambitious. This is indeed a good foundation to do business on. I am willing to support Brother Su with all my strength.¡±

    Zhong Zhenjun had somehow gotten things all twisted up. What was the rtionship between being ambitious and a good foundation to do business on? And he was beginning to refer to Su Chen even more casually.

    However, the old man was just that shameless. This was how he demonstrated his attitude on the situation.

    As long as you help me, anything is negotiable.

    Su Chen epted it. Even though Zhong Zhenjun wasn¡¯t a good character, there was no need for Su Chen to y the vignte. There was no reason for him to refuse someone who was willing to submit to him - and an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator at that.

    The two of them quickly settled the matter over their conversation.

    After a conversing for a bit longer, Zhong Zhenjun turned around and found Jiang Xishui waiting there already. He chuckled, ¡°It appears that someone is waiting for my spot. I won¡¯t waste your time any longer.¡±

    He cupped his hands and left.

    Jiang Xishui and Ji Hanyan watched him leave before taking his ce.

    Ji Hanyan said, ¡°Su Chen, why didn¡¯t you tell us earlier that you could raise the limit of someone¡¯s bloodline purity? Tell me what you¡¯re going to do about mine and Xishui¡¯s bloodline.¡±

    There was no treating of Su Chen as an outsider.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Things haven¡¯t even really begun yet. Qingluo was able to seed because I have been researching her Shining Dragon Bloodline for a long time, and she is also my wife. I probably wouldn¡¯t even be able to replicate my sess on another member of the Gu n at the moment.¡±

    ¡°So this method isn¡¯t generally useable on the members of the Gu n?¡± Frostpoint suddenly interjected.

    He and Jiang Xishui and Ji Hanyan were on quite good terms, so Frostpoint hadn¡¯t shied away just because Jiang Xishui was present. After all, they both had the same goal - it was just the fine details that differed somewhat.

    Zhong Zhenjun only cared about himself. As long as his own bloodline was upgraded, he couldn¡¯t care less about what happened to the rest of the Zhong n.

    Ji Hanyan and Jiang Xishui were obviously hoping to not only upgrade their own person bloodlines but the bloodline itself as a whole.

    Frostpoint was an Oceanid. They had their own cultivation system, so the power of bloodlines waspletely useless to them.

    However, the ability of a forty percent purity Shining Dragon Bloodline to suppress a Sea Beast Wave was exceptionally useful.

    Frostpoint didn¡¯t dare ask that Gu Qingluo remain at Neptune¡¯s Fort indefinitely, but he was hoping to at least be able to invite a Gu n member to stay at the fort as an esteemed guest.

    If he seeded, then even if the n to deal with the Deep Sea Sorrow failed, the Gu n member would likely be capable of helping them out significantly.

    However, there were two prerequisites: first of all, there needed to be someone in the Gu n capable of reaching simr heights; second of all, that person needed to be able to leave Empty Mountain.

    Only Su Chen was capable of fulfilling both of these conditions at the moment.

    This was why Frostpoint had asked this question with such anxiety.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°It seems that Prince Frostpoint isn¡¯t too confident in my abilities to deal with the Deep Sea Sorrow after all.¡±

    Frostpoint¡¯s expression reddened.

    Yes, the Oceanids had never really ced their hopes on Su Chen actually aplishing what they were asking of him. All they hoped was that Su Chen would be able to discover a way to suppress the effects of the Deep Sea Sorrow in the process, so that the Oceanids would be able to secure better living conditions for themselves. And Su Chen had demonstrated that he was more than capable of aplishing something like that.

    Su Chen was not upset at being underestimated by Frostpoint and said, ¡°Qingluo was only able to seed because of a number of external factors. Without these factors present, very few people from the Gu n, if any, would be able to replicate her sess.¡±

    ¡°What factors?¡± Frostpoint and Westminster asked simultaneously.

    Their attitude was obviously that these external factors needed to be resolved at any cost.

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°The blood of a Deste Beast and the essence of an Origin Beast.¡±

    Boom!

    The two Oceanids felt as if a bomb had just detonated in their brains, and they went ckjawed.

    ¡°Deste...... Deste Beast¡¯s blood?¡± Frostpoint asked, his voice trembling violently.

    ¡°Origin...... Origin Beast Essence?¡± Westminster¡¯s figure swayed.

    Su Chen had given them quite a bad shock.

    Even so, Su Chen was not lying.

    How could Gu Qingluo¡¯s strength have risen so quickly otherwise?

    Su Chen had obtained the Deste Beast¡¯s blood from Scarlet Heart, while the Origin Beast essence hade from the Metal-Devouring Ape. These two were key to Gu Qingluo¡¯s breakthrough.

    The red liquid that Gu Qingluo had drank earlier was diluted Deste Beast blood.

    Without these two, there was no way Gu Qingluo¡¯s strength would have risen so quickly...... There were some problems that simply being fearless about wouldn¡¯t be able to resolve.

    Of course, Su Chen hadn¡¯t given Su Chen all of the Origin Beast essence or Deste Beast blood to use. Even so, there was no way that most people would have ess to these kinds of resources.

    Even though the Oceanids had built up quite a treasury for themselves, and they did have some Deste Beast blood on hand, they had no Origin Beast essence in their presence.

    And even if they did, the quantity would have been limited. There was no way they would use such precious materials on a member of a different race.

    So was their target still Deep Sea Sorrow?

    The siblings sighed.

    ¡°The power of an Origin Beast bloodline is extremely difficult to raise, but the further you descend, the lower the cost and difficulty will be......¡± Su Chen said to Jiang Xishui and Ji Hanyan.

    Jiang Xishui and Ji Hanyan nced at each other.

    Ji Hanyan smiled. ¡°So this low-quality bloodline of mine still has some uses? But who knows what kind of level you¡¯ll be able to raise it to.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°It should be more than enough for you to suppress Brother Jiang and show him your ferocity.¡±

    Ji Hanyan pped her hands andughed, ¡°I like the sound of that!¡±

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 29: Plo

    Chapter 29: Plot

    Even though the battle at Forever Clear Ind seemed like just a single battle amongst a history of countless simr histories, the implications were in fact extremely far-reaching.

    This was the first time that the humans and Oceanids hadn¡¯t been forced to hold defensive positions in order to drive off the Sea Beast Wave. Not only had their strength increased, but it was now possible for them to switch from defensive to offensive strategies.

    This battle had also solidified everyone¡¯s trust in Su Chen.

    They began to believe that it was truly possible for aplish what he had promised to do.

    With the wind in their sails, the fleet¡¯s movements became much more self-confident.

    They took the initiative tounch offensives, constantly capturing powerful Sea Beasts out from the ocean for Su Chen to experiment on.

    It had to be said that the Abyss was a region that bred powerful creatures. Even though a majority of the Sea Beasts that lived in the Abyss had just been wiped out, the other Sea Beasts that were being drawn over from everywhere else quickly filled this gap and also began to grow stronger. As such, the "hunting expeditions" had no shortage of targets to pick from.

    Based on what Su Chen had said, the Abyss had basically be a holynd for the Sea Beasts. After all, they could get stronger just by entering the area; how could it not be considered holy? However, the Abyss had its limits, and there was a soft cap on how many Sea Beasts it could contain. Once that number was reached, it would be quite difficult for more Sea Beasts to enter the Abyss.

    If more Sea Beasts arrived, some of the Sea Beasts already present would gather together and attack.

    Having existed for so long, the Abyss had developed its own rules for existence.

    The Abyss¡¯s equilibrium made it the perfect hunting grounds for the fleet. They didn¡¯t need to worry about there being too many or too few Sea Beasts.

    And as time went on, the members of the fleet were able to familiarize themselves with the area and derive some simple rules about when the Sea Beasts would appear.

    Once these principles were discovered, those responsible for capturing the Sea Beasts would use them to their greatest advantage.

    As such, the fleet was able to use the least amount of manpower and take the smallest risks to achieve their goals.

    As per usual, a group of soldiers was assigned to patrol the waters today.

    There were a total of sixbat boats - one of them from the Boundless Sect, two from the ckwater Corps, and three from the Subdued Sea Branch. The Oceanids didn¡¯t need boats, but there was a group of Iron-Boned Sea Cow-riding cavalry present with them.

    This was a pretty typical team for capturing Beasts, and they were strong enough to handle most Demonic Emperors.

    When the Sovereigns didn¡¯t emerge, these teams were more than sufficient to deal with the majority of the Sea Beasts present

    Lin Xiao stood at the fore of the boat, in quite high spirits.

    ¡°Captain, Far Peak says there is a Six-Winged Sea Wolf ahead,¡± one of the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples said to Lin Xiao.

    ¡°Demonic Lord?¡± Lin Xiao frowned. ¡°It¡¯s too weak. Tell them not to disturb it and try to find another target. This rule that we can only capture three a day is really annoying. Who knows why this is even a rule.¡±

    Not allowing the patrols to capture more than three high-tier or above Demonic Beasts was for their safety.

    However, the orders from the higher-ups often conflicted with the desires of those lower on the chain ofmand. To the soldiers, who craved the thrill of the hunt, this restriction of only being allowed to capture three Demonic Beasts was hard to bear. As soldiers, they could not go against the orders of their superiors, but how they carried out their orders was up to them.

    Since they could only hunt three Demonic Beasts, then why not find some more powerful targets to tackle?

    Ignoring the Sea Beasts that weren¡¯t powerful enough had be a habit for these hunting parties already.

    As one of the twelve Sword Servants that had followed Su Chen back in the day, Lin Xiao was inmand of quite a powerful group. After all, he himself was a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator.

    Yes, he had reached the Spirit Burning Realm already.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples had all improved in leaps and bounds, making breakthroughs in spades.

    As part of the group that had followed Su Chen the longest, his innate talent was quite good, and the special resources given to him by the Boundless Sect allowed him to quickly step out of the Light Shaking Realm. Not only did he form his Lotus tforms rapidly, but he was even lucky enough to break into the Spirit Burning Realm, making him one of the earliest Spirit Burning Realm cultivators amongst the Boundless Sect.

    Even though this group was still incredibly small, they were slowly but surely bing a core part of the fleet¡¯s strength, and many of them had been assigned to captain these hunting expeditions.

    Upon hearing Lin Xiao¡¯smand, the ships took great pains to avoid the Demonic Lord and headed in a different direction.

    ¡°They don¡¯t even want a Demonic Lord? It seems their appetite is growing,¡± one of the human officials standing on the Far Peak muttered.

    ¡°What can you do? They¡¯re from the Boundless Sect, after all. The more strong people they have, the greater their appetite will be,¡± one of the ckwater Corps¡¯ officials replied.

    ¡°If they have the ability, they should go and subjugate a Demonic Emperor next,¡± someone else added on.

    ¡°It¡¯s not like they haven¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°How about two?¡±

    ¡°I could handle it.¡±

    ¡°Get the hell out of here. Don¡¯t provoke them too much.¡±

    As they jabbed back and forth at each other, all sense of propriety quickly went out the window.

    Most of the individuals from the ck me were pirates, bandits, and rogues. As such, they were always incredibly unrefined in their speech. Even if their leader had been cowed, they were still quite prickly, so it was only natural that they wouldin about it.

    If they didn¡¯tin, they wouldn¡¯t have been from the ck me.

    However, though they wereining, they weren¡¯t actually nning on doing anything. After all, their fates were linked at the moment, and harming the others was the same as harming themselves. After all, they were all being pressured by the Sea Beasts, so there was no point in betraying anyone else.

    Even so, exceptions were exceptions precisely because they toppled conventional logic.

    Just as everyone wasughing and chatting with each other, no one noticed a young ckwater Corps general silently approach the boat. He looked like he was gazing off into the distance, but he was actually pouring a little bit of ck medicine into the water.

    The medicine fell into the water and disappeared without a trace.

    He had just finished pouring out all the medicine and was about to put away the vial when a hand suddenly pped him on the back. ¡°Shang Li, what are you doing? Just standing here dozing off?¡±

    The young man¡¯s remained emotionless as he calmly lowered the hand holding the vial before turning around and saying casually, ¡°Nothing much. I¡¯m just staring out at the sea.¡±

    The soldier was taken aback. ¡°Are you crazy? You don¡¯t think being out on the sea every day is enough for you? Weren¡¯t you the one who said that you wanted to vomit when you looked at the sea?¡±

    Shang Li said with a slight smile, ¡°I¡¯m in a good mood today. It¡¯s only natural that my outlook is different.¡±

    The soldier had already put his arm around Shang Li. ¡°Don¡¯t act like you¡¯re refined. You and I aren¡¯t that kind of people. Come on, some of us are going to get a drink together.¡±

    Shang Li was dragged away by the soldier, so he could only relinquish his grip. All of the medicine in the vial fell into the see.

    Shang Li nced behind him somewhat regretfully as he said helplessly, ¡°Aren¡¯t we not supposed to drink on the job?¡±

    ¡°Who cares about the rules? Shang Li, what¡¯s gotten into you today? When have you ever cared about rules on the job? When the Sea Beastse, these rules aren¡¯t going to save me or you. Come on, let¡¯s go and have a drink!¡±

    Shang Li was forcefully dragged away.

    No one saw the medicine rapidly diffuse into the sea.

    Very quickly, the calm waters began to churn.

    Countless Sea Beasts began to charge in their direction, as if there was something attracting their attention. Once they arrived, they began to chase after the boats.

    At first, only a few small fry showed up, but soon therger Sea Beasts arrived on the scene, gathering inrge numbers very quickly.

    The massive numbers of Sea Beasts gathering in one location caused the surface of the sea to ripple abnormally.

    One of the Boundless Sect disciples responsible for overwatch suddenly yelled out,

    ¡°Distance,¡± Lin Xiao asked.

    ¡°Right beneath us!¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Lin Xiao was taken aback.

    He shot into the sky and immediately began to revolve his Divine Pce. As his consciousness spread, he immediately realized that something was wrong and cried out, ¡°Not good! There is arge group of Sea Beasts gathering beneath us right now. Notify all teams to retreat! Retreat and get out of here!!!¡±

    Wu!!!

    The emergency rm to retreat began to resound.

    ¡°Hm? What¡¯s going on? We haven¡¯t even managed to obtain anything yet, so why are we leaving now?¡± Everyone was surprised.

    Only Shang Li, who was standing on Far Peak, had a shady expression.

    If it wasn¡¯t for that damned bastard earlier, he wouldn¡¯t have needed to use all of the medicine. That way, the Sea Beasts wouldn¡¯t have gathered so quickly, and the hunting expedition would have gotten deeper in. At that time, it would have been impossible for them to retreat.

    As for now...... Everything would depend on the will of the Heavens.

    He stared coldly at the surface of the water as he counted down in his heart. Ten, nine, eight, seven......

    Once the rm to retreat had been sounded, everyone sprang into ocean. The boats began to turn around to leave.

    At the same time, therge number of Sea Beasts that had gathered below the surface of the waters also began to rise.

    As they began to appear on the surface of the sea, the Origin Energy fluctuations grew even stronger, and the captains of the boats could begin to sense the abnormalities brewing under the water.

    ¡°Activate the defensive barriers!¡±

    ¡°Turn these ships around!¡±

    ¡°Raise the rear sails!¡±

    ¡°Light Shaking Realm cultivators and above, prepare to go airborne!¡±

    ¡°Retreat! Retreat at full speed!¡±

    The sound ofmands being given could be heard everywhere.

    Six, five, four, three......

    Shang Li was still counting silently, and he seemed to be very active. However, in reality he wasn¡¯t doing anything.

    ¡°Put in the Origin Stones!¡±

    ¡°Everyone, prepare for battle!¡±

    ¡°Hurry! Hurry! There are still Sea Beastsing from below.¡±

    ¡°Brace for impact!¡±

    ¡°......Two...... One......¡±

    Shang Li muttered silently.

    On thest number, a massive jellyfish rose to the surface, mming into the boats that had only just turned around.

    The massive collision almost lifted the entire boat into the air.

    Thankfully, Far Peak wasn¡¯t just sitting around doing nothing. At the same time, two massive wings made of steel and wood sprouted from the boat¡¯s body, allowing it to glide through the air. At the same time, the boat¡¯s body glowed with a golden protective barrier. As such, this powerful attack wasn¡¯t able to damage the boat too much.

    ¡°Hiss!¡±

    The giant jellyfish hissed with rage, and its countless tentacles reached out to grab the floating boat.

    The boat was able to dodge most of the attacks, while the attacks that didnd caused the barrier on the boat to flicker madly.

    ¡°Counterattack!¡± themander of the boat yelled loudly.

    The ckwater Corps struck at the same time, and streaks of Origin Energy light mmed into the giant jellyfish¡¯s body.

    But at the same time that they attacked, even more Sea Beasts began to emerge from beneath the surface of the waters.

    They roared and howled as they ascended, and the surface of the ocean roiled. An oppressive aura rose from the depths of the ocean, throwing the hunting party into despair.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 30: Joining

    Chapter 30: Joining

    ¡°Retreat!¡±

    Cries of despair could be heard echoing across the surface of the waters.

    All of the boats simultaneously retreated as a few of the more powerful Origin Qi Schrs took flight and began to unleash attacks at the Sea Beasts below.

    However, there were simply too many Sea Beasts emerging from the waters. Their oppressive aura surged high into the sky as their attacks came one after another. This was nothing short of a miniature Sea Beast Wave.

    "How did this happen?" Lin Xiao felt his heart tremble as he watched the situation unfold.

    The Sea Beasts in the Abyss always acted individually without the leading of a Sovereign. Why would things suddenly change?

    He didn¡¯t understand, but the situation was worsening by the second.

    Even though the boats were retreating at top speed, wanting to escape from the ferocious Sea Beasts that had gathered without suffering any losses was probably going to be impossible.

    One of the Subdued Sea Branch¡¯s boats, Long Sky, was slightly behind the rest of the group. Dozens of Sea Beasts were already swarming in its direction. If it was surrounded, it was probably going to be impossible for it to escape.

    "Point those Sun-Cleaving Cannons in that directions!" Lin Xiao yelled.

    "Captain, there¡¯s no time to fire the cannons. We¡¯re better of leaving," his subordinates said.

    "Get out of my way! Am I going to just watch them die? I am the captain of this entire hunting party. I refuse to leave my men behind just to save myself!" Lin Xiao roared with anger. "Fire the cannons!"

    The Sun-Cleaving Cannons installed on the aft of the boats began to fire.

    Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

    Streaks of Origin Energy light began to m into the targets around Long Sky, tearing them to shreds.

    "Let¡¯s get out of here!" the soldiers on Long Sky yelled.

    They attempted to use the gap opened by the Sun-Cleaving Cannons to escape, but the Sea Beasts¡¯ pursuit was fierce. The cannons alone were incapable of resolving the issue; they had merely alleviated the pressure for a moment. Not only was Lin Xiao unable to save Long Sky, but now his own boat was also beginning tog behind.

    As they watched the Sea Beasts close in, one of the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples cried out, "Captain, if we don¡¯t go now it¡¯ll be toote!"

    Lin Xiao nced at the people on Long Sky, and then at the ever-increasing number of Sea Beasts present. One of the jellyfish¡¯s tentacles had already wrapped itself around the boat. Lin Xiao¡¯s heart trembled, and he shut his eyes with pain as he cried out, "Go!"

    This cry was filled with despair, hatred, and unwillingness.

    But just as he issued themand, a huge column of water suddenly shot into the air.

    This column of water was obviously different from the turbulence being created by the Sea Beasts. It shot through one of the Sea Beasts like a streak of white light, connecting with the Heavens.

    Then, a few people actually stepped out of that column of light.

    At the very front was an old man. His appearance wasn¡¯t much to look at, yet it was obvious that this column of light and water was created by him. He gestured casually, causing the column of light to quickly dissipate. But instead of disappearing, it quickly turned into a of light that began to descend on the surface of the sea.

    Any Sea Beasts caught in this all cried out in pain. The razor-sharp wires of the began to slice open the Sea Beasts. In an instant, the passed through them, ripping the Sea Beasts to shreds.

    Fresh blood covered the surface of the ocean.

    ¡°Well done, old man!¡±

    Behind the old man stood three people - one female and two males. The person who had just spoke was the woman.

    ¡°Fenghan!¡±

    ¡°Chang He!¡±

    There were people on the boats who recognized the two of them, and they called out to them.

    The old man, naturally, was Lin Zuiliu.

    Lin Zuiliu was indeed an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator. A single attack of his was enough to wipe out arge proportion of the Sea Beasts. He was just strutting around when he suddenly noticed anotherrge wave of Sea Beasts charging in his direction. ¡°What are you all waiting for? Get out of here! These guys aren¡¯t going to stoping, and I don¡¯t have the time or energy to waste on them.¡±

    As he spoke, he began to generate a violent wind that blew against the sails of the boats, sending them shooting off into the distance.

    Lin Zuiliu also brought along his three followers aboard.

    Lin Xiao bowed to Lin Zuiliu and said, ¡°Lin Xiao greets you, sir. May I ask, sir, what your name is......¡±

    Ye Fenghan said, ¡°This is Lin Zuiliu.¡±

    Upon hearing that this person was Lin Zuiliu, everyone was stunned.

    Su Chen had been looking for this old man for a long time, but none of them had expected him to appear in this ce.

    Lin Xiao was just about to say something when Lin Zuiliu¡¯s figure flickered, reappearing next to Lin Xiao. Lin Zuiliu sized him up before suddenly grabbing his arm. Everyone was shocked, thinking that Lin Zuiliu was about to do something, but Lin Xiao stopped them.

    Lin Zuiliu squinted his eyes. ¡°Yet another person without a bloodline...... A Spirit Burning Realm cultivator without a bloodline. So this Su Chen guy has pushed the limit to the Spirit Burning Realm already?¡±

    Lin Xiao replied, ¡°This is the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques.¡±

    ¡°Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques...... Haha, how arrogant! Is that enough to consider yourself an immortal?¡± Lin Zuiliu chuckled as he let Lin Xiao go.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples all frowned when they heard this.

    Su Chen was basically like a deity amongst the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples. He was the one who had given all of these people without bloodlines an opportunity to be Origin Qi Schrs, fulfilling their dreams. Lin Zuiliu¡¯s disdain of the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques caused Lin Xiao to immediately say, ¡°Sir, even though you have saved my men, I will not ept your disrespect towards our Sect Master.¡±

    ¡°So what if you can¡¯t ept it?¡± Lin Zuiliu saidzily.

    Everyone was taken aback.

    Yes, so what if they couldn¡¯t ept it?

    He had just saved them. There was no way they would fight just because of a few sentences.

    And even if they did fight, they would probably lose.

    Suddenly, Night Demon did something.

    She walked forwards and grabbed Lin Zuiliu by the ear. ¡°Hey, you old man, can¡¯t you be a little nicer when you speak? Why do you always sound like you¡¯re trying to offend someone? Do you think you¡¯re all that just because you were able to save them?¡±

    Unexpectedly, Lin Zuiliu didn¡¯t even try and defend himself. All he said was, ¡°Aiya, aiya, let go! I was just kidding, okay? I am very impressed that he was able to push the bloodline-less cultivation techniques to the Spirit Burning Realm. However, I also have my own studies. He studies the bloodline-less techniques, while I study mixing bloodlines. I¡¯m not weaker than him, okay?¡±

    Night Demon said with a frown, ¡°Psh! What is there to treasure about it anyways.¡±

    She let go and stood to the side.

    Lin Zuiliu rubbed his ear. ¡°Aiya, howe I¡¯m so unlucky? You demonness, you don¡¯t even understand the basic principle of respecting your elders.¡±

    However, his tone wasn¡¯t unhappy at all. It appeared that he quite enjoyed being mistreated by Night Demon.

    Lin Xiao said, ¡°King of Chaos, it¡¯s good that you came this time. Sect Master has already asked us to look for you, but unfortunately we were never able to find you. I never thought that you would be fated to meet today.¡±

    ¡°What fate?¡± Lin Zuiliu said calmly. ¡°That little girl was annoying me to no end, which was why I agreed toe all the way out here. Otherwise, I was quite happy doing my research. Why would I have cared toe all the way out here at all?¡±

    Lin Xiao was taken aback. ¡°But don¡¯t you want to talk with our Sect Master¡±? Sect Master is one of the most knowledgeable people on the whole continent......¡±

    ¡°So what if he¡¯s knowledgeable? Am I obligated to talk with him? He is going down the bloodline-less path, while I am going down the mixed bloodline path. There is no intersection between the two,¡± Lin Zuiliu said bluntly.

    At that moment, a voice suddenly spoke. ¡°My apologies, but I have actually gone down the mixed bloodline route a little as well.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Lin Zuiliu¡¯s eyes glittered. Suddenly, without saying an extra word, he turned around and unleashed a palm strike behind himself.

    Boom!

    A profound, mystical depiction appeared in the sky. The microcosm formed by the seven Deste Beast Bloodlines manifested itself yet again, its majestic aura spreading in all directions.

    Lin Zuiliu¡¯s palm strike had actually been blocked.

    "Sect Master! Sect Master is here!"

    All of them began to cheer with excitement.

    Lin Zuiliu slowly turned around to find a person floating loftily in the air. If it wasn¡¯t Su Chen, who else could it be?

    Su Chen had shown up so quickly because of Light Shaking Phantom. As soon as he got wind of what was happening, he had immediately teleported over to handle the situation.

    He did not, however, expect to find Night Demon and the others here, along with the King of Chaos that he had been searching for this entire time.

    The first thing that this King of Chaos did when he saw Su Chen was to unleash a palm strike in his direction.

    This palm strike was targeted about a hundred feet before Su Chen. Even though it didn¡¯t hit him directly, it was still strong enough to force out his Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect. The violent sh of energy sent shockwaves through the area.

    Su Chen appeared quite calm, but his heart was pounding violently.

    The Origin Energy that had washed over him was as vast as a sea.

    Lin Zuiliu was an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator alright. The only reason Su Chen had been able to withstand this palm strike was because of the powerful Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect, but even more because Lin Zuiliu hadn¡¯t used his full strength.

    Lin Zuiliu turned around slowly. ¡°You are Su Chen?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s me.¡± Su Chen smiled slightly.

    Lin Zuiliu chuckled. ¡°You can actually take a palm strike with twenty percent of my strength? Not bad, not bad. Hm? This is......¡±

    His jaw suddenly dropped as he saw the Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect around Su chen and said, ¡°This is Windbite¡¯s aura, along with Dream Beauty¡¯s aesthetic? And...... Luo You¡¯s power! You were able tobine the powers of the seven Deste Beast Bloodlines!? No, wait a second. Those aren¡¯t bloodlines!¡±

    Lin Zuiliu¡¯s mind raced as he leapt back and forth between the different possibilities.

    Whoosh!

    The Aspect faded.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Your perception is truly impressive, King of Chaos. These are indeed not bloodlines, but they are borne out of bloodlines. I call them Aspects."

    "Aspects? How are they different from bloodlines?" Lin Zuiliu asked immediately.

    ¡°The power of a bloodlinees from an outside source, while the power of an Aspect can be cultivated.¡±

    ¡°So Aspects can be obtained by cultivation? What does it have to do with a bloodline then?¡±

    ¡°They are an extension of bloodlines. The essence of the bloodline is captured, and then the bloodline is discarded.¡±

    ¡°So how do you capture the essence of the bloodline while discarding the bloodline?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯splicated. If you are interested in knowing, why not sit down with me and talk about it?¡± Su Chen said with a slight smile.

    Lin Zuiliu tilted his head back and howled withughter. ¡°Haha, I have no objections. But I think that Commander Zhong might have some objections, won¡¯t he?¡±

    Lin Zuiliu had been exiled by Zhong Zhenjun all those years ago, so the kind of poor rtionship they had was obvious.

    If Lin Zuiliu was to join the group, Zhong Zhenjun would definitely not be happy about it.

    Lin Zuiliu appeared to already understand the general situation of the fleet, which was why he was able to say something like that.

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen smiled slightly and said, ¡°As long as the King of Chaos is willing to join, Commander Zhong won¡¯t have any problems with it.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Lin Zuiliu stared at Su Chen in shock, only to find that Su Chen was confident and at ease, seemingly with no worries about having to do things by force.

    So even Zhong Zhenjun was subjugated by him?

    Lin Zuiliu almost immediately realized this point.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 31: Control

    Chapter 31: Control

    Just as Su Chen had said, Zhong Zhenjun merely stared at Lin Zuiliu for a moment before leaving without saying a word.

    Lin Zuiliu clucked his tongue in amazement.

    The fact that a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator could stop an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator in his tracks was an impressive feat regardless.

    Su Chen was also quite surprised. Why was Lin Zuiliu so bold? Was he not worried that Su Chen wouldn¡¯t be able to keep Zhong Zhenjun in line, and Zhong Zhenjun would fall on him and devour him alive?

    But then again, Lin Zuiliu was also an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator. If he dared to show his face here, there was probably a good reason he dared to do so.

    In fact, he realized that his guess was correct very quickly.

    Lin Zuiliu¡¯s trump card was the mixed bloodline techniques he had developed. This allowed him to quickly raise up an army of powerful subordinates. This was immediately obvious based on the rabbit and wild chickens that he was able to produce.

    However, Lin Zuiliu¡¯s mixed bloodlines had their own weaknesses as well. Typically, the host organism was incapable of bearing the load of so many bloodlines at once, and their lifespan would be greatly shortened as a result. Their vitality would be drained until they dropped dead. For instance, the rabbit that Ye Fenghan had fought with bitterly probably would have eventually died if Ye Fenghan had simply stayed defensive and wasted time.

    However, this didn¡¯t mean there was no solution to the problem.

    In fact, there were two - the first was to lower the strength of the bloodlines being infused so that the sudden increase in strength wouldn¡¯t be asrge in magnitude. The second was to infuse these bloodlines into someone who was strong enough to bear it in the first ce.

    However, Lin Zuiliu was unwilling to do either of these things.

    His goal was tobine the seven Deste Beast Bloodlines to create a peerless bloodline. It was understandable that Lin Zuiliu didn¡¯t hold back and insisted on being stubborn until the very end.

    Lin Zuiliu hade to look for Su Chen precisely because Ye Fenghan had convinced him that Su Chen might have a way to increase the foundation of those without bloodlines. This would allow him to use even more brute force. Unexpectedly, however, he was able to see the Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect as soon as he met Su Chen.

    How could his fancy not be tickled?

    As such, the two of them were able to hit it off quite nicely, and their conversation went on and on without end.

    ¡°Aspects are derived from bloodlines, but they aren¡¯t bloodlines. As such, in an actual battle these Aspects are far inferior to an actual bloodline. The most basic difference is that there is no way to emte the kind of innate power that people can draw from an actual bloodline,¡± Su Chen exined to Lin Zuiliu within hisboratory.

    ¡°So what good are these Aspects, then?¡± Lin Zuiliu asked.

    ¡°Even though there is no way to draw out this core power, you are still at least able to obtain the outward manifestation, including the aura, the consciousness, and its attributes. It¡¯s almost a perfect replicate. In addition, just because you can¡¯t draw out the core power doesn¡¯t mean that they have no strength. Aspects are illusory, while bloodlines are more tangible; but when an illusory strength reaches a certain degree, it can be likewise real,¡± Su Chen exined.

    The Aspects that Su Chen had created were like amplifiers. They provided no Origin Energy of their own, but they could greatly amplify the power of Origin Skills used by Origin Qi Schrs. And a majority of the characteristics of a bloodline could be replicated by an Aspect.

    For instance, Ye Fenghan¡¯s Frost Aspect was actually extracted from Ji Hanyan¡¯s Frostbird Bloodline. The Frostbird Bloodline itself was quite powerful, strong enough to encase any target in ice. The Frost Aspect didn¡¯t have an intrinsic source of energy, but the freezing attributes of the Frostbird Bloodline were still preserved. As such, every one of Ye Fenghan¡¯s attacks was actually imbued with the power of frost.

    This was the importance of the Aspects.

    As for Su Chen¡¯s Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect, that was even more powerful. Even though only Windbite, Dream Beauty, and Luo You had been manifested at this point, these three had amplified his consciousness, water, and wind-type Origin Skills by a significant amount. Not only so, but he was an aplished Arcana Master, and these Aspects were effective on Arcana Techniques as well. Su Chen¡¯s newfound strength was quite apparent.

    Even though he was only at the Spirit Burning Realm, his study of Arcana Techniques had reached the apex for quite some time.

    However, because he refused to fully disy that side of his abilities, most people continued to view him as a Spirit Burning Realm.

    Zhong Zhenjun never would have expected that even the feat of demolishing the Sea Beast Wave was not Su Chen¡¯s full strength. All he had shown so far was that he was stronger than your average Spirit Burning Realm cultivator.

    In other words, Su Chen had many trump cards remaining up his sleeve, and one of those trump cards was his own personal strength.

    ¡°Unfortunately, it¡¯s still merely an outward manifestation,¡± Lin Zuiliu shook his head, not entirely surprised.

    ¡°But at the very least, my Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect is already somewhatpleted, while your endeavors haven¡¯t borne any fruit yet,¡± Su Chen said with a slight smile.

    ¡°Who said they haven¡¯t borne any fruit yet?¡± Lin Zuiliu opened his eyes wide. ¡°I have already managed to merge bloodlines, but I just haven¡¯t figured out a way for these bloodlines to be passed on.¡±

    ¡°If you only have a way tobine the bloodlines but not pass them on, isn¡¯t achieving your dream still nothing more than an illusion?¡± Su Chen said bluntly.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I came looking for you,¡± Lin Zuiliu chuckled. His skin really was quite thick. ¡°I wasn¡¯t able to pass on these bloodlines to anyone because I couldn¡¯t find a suitable target that was strong enough. But don¡¯t you think that your bloodline-less path and your Aspects correspond quite well to my method of mixing bloodlines?¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°As I expected.¡±

    If Lin Zuiliu was able to think of this possibility, it was only natural that he was able to as well.

    Lin Zuiliu was only missing the foundation, while Su Chen¡¯s work would provide him with that exact path that he was looking for. In the past, Lin Zuiliu had only managed to find Qi Drawing Realm cultivators without bloodlines, but now that those with Spirit Burning Realm cultivation bases were present, the difference in foundation was staggering.

    What would happen if he let Xiao Ling use Lin Zuiliu¡¯s mixed bloodlines?

    Even Su Chen wanted to know the answer.

    However, they still needed to take it one step at a time, which would take time.

    The two of them both loved to do research, so they wasted no time in setting up their workbenches and getting to work.

    Neither of them cared about what took ce in the outside world. Even so, it was at this moment that the outside world changed greatly.

    The hunting expeditions that were going out began to suffer from a series of sudden idents.

    Originally, the fleet believed that what had happened to Lin Xiao was merely a chance urrence, but as they continued tounch expeditions, they discovered that situations simr to what had happened to Lin Xiao began to crop up everywhere. In the worst case, only two boats were able to return because the Sea Beasts had gathered too quickly.

    When faced with these kinds of situations, even the fleetmanders couldn¡¯t help but grow anxious.

    Su Chen was still buried in his research when someone knocked on the door of his researchb.

    Iron Cliff opened the door.

    It was Li Chongshan.

    ¡°Is something wrong?¡± Su Chen knew that Li Chongshan wouldn¡¯t disturb him with small matters. After taking care of the immediate task at hand, he had quickly stepped outside of hisboratory.

    Li Chongshan followed after Su Chen, describing what had taken ce.

    Su Chen frowned. ¡°Repeated idents? How many people died?¡±

    ¡°Not including Lin Xiao¡¯s ident, there were a total of five times, resulting in losses of 742 people, along with four hundred Oceanid warriors.¡±

    ¡°Those aren¡¯t insignificant losses. It happened so many times, but you didn¡¯t let me know until now?¡± Su Chen was a bit displeased.

    Li Chongshan lowered his head and replied, ¡°Sect Master¡¯s research is extremely important. We were hoping to resolve the situation on our own.¡±

    ¡°You obviously weren¡¯t able to. But since you havee looking for me, I imagine that you have made some discoveries, right?¡± Su Chen understood Li Chongshan quite well, and that he wouldn¡¯te to find him at the slightest hint of adversity.

    Indeed, Li Chongshan replied, ¡°We think it¡¯s because of artificial causes.¡±

    ¡°Artificial?¡± Su Chen stopped.

    At that moment, he had already arrived at the outer veranda of the pce.

    Su Chen nced off into the distance as he rested his hands on the railing.

    As he gazed at the sea, off which sunlight was rippling, he realized that all of the boats were floating stationarily in the harbor. There was no sign that any boats were going to be sent out for the time being.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Li Chongshan said standing next to Su Chen. ¡°The repeated nature of these idents made us suspicious. I, Zhong Zhenjun, and Jiang Xishui went to the Abyss ourselves to see what happened but found nothing out of the ordinary. And every time we went, there was no sign that the Beasts were being attracted. One time, Kaihuang and I intentionally drove a boat out there, creating waves on the surface of the sea, but we only attracted a few Sea Beasts - not nearly as many Sea Beasts as had attacked the hunting expeditions.¡±

    ¡°But when you only sent out your subordinates, these idents would ur?¡± Su Chen murmured.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, Sect Master. That¡¯s also why we think someone is intentionally wreaking havoc.¡±

    ¡°Could it have anything to do with the size ofmotion?¡±

    ¡°We tried already, and Commander Zhong and Xishui even took two hunting parties out with them once, sailing across the surface of the sea for three consecutive days. However, no Sea Beasts ended up gathering.¡±

    ¡°So...... There¡¯s someone hiding under the surface,¡± Su Chen said as he tapped his finger on the railing.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, he said, ¡°Were the hunting expeditions that went out the same every time? Were the members of the expeditions the same?¡±

    ¡°They were not the same hunting expeditions, and the members of the expeditions weren¡¯t the same either.¡±

    ¡°So it¡¯s not just one person?¡± Su Chen¡¯s eyebrow jumped. ¡°Interesting. If it was one person who didn¡¯t want our n to seed, that wouldn¡¯t have been such a big deal. But if there is a group trying to sabotage us, this is no longer an individual matter, so there should be some kind of organized group attempting to stop us. Also, the members of this fleet were hand-picked carefully, and each of the soldiers was tested. Since we can assume that no outsiders have infiltrated our ranks, then it must be one of our men trying to create chaos. So why would so many people betray us all at once?¡±

    Li Chongshan was taken aback momentarily before he said, ¡°We wondered this as well. Perhaps they were bribed.¡±

    Su Chen, however, shook his head slightly. ¡°It might not be bribery. There might be some other methods at y.¡±

    ¡°Other methods?¡± Li Chongshan was taken aback for a moment before he understood. ¡°Are you saying something like a consciousness control technique? But controlling this many people is not easy.¡±

    ¡°Maybe not for the Bloodline Nobility ns, but there are others who might not find it as much of a challenge,¡± Su Chen calmly replied.

    Li Chongshan immediately understood. ¡°The Astrals?¡±

    Who was more proficient than the Astrals at controlling others?

    Most importantly, they did have a reason to disrupt Su Chen¡¯s endeavors.

    If Su Chen was able to sessfully deal with the Deep Sea Sorrow, then they would undoubtedly be the next targets.

    The Astrals were not like the Oceanids, and did not live in conditions of extreme duress.

    If Su Chen didn¡¯t have anything that could move them, it was only natural that he would just take it from them.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, it was only natural that the Oceanids would attempt to strike first.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 32: Puppets

    Chapter 32: Puppets

    On this day, the Abyss was quite calm and peaceful.

    A small team of boats was slowly heading towards the harbor from outside.

    Once again, Lin Xiao was leading the way in his dragon boat. The group of five boats advanced just as before, but this time there were also a few more supervisory eyes watching the surface of the sea. This appeared to be how the fleet was going to increase security over the region. These eyes could see to a certain depth beneath the sea. If the Sea Beasts began to move strangely again, they would issue a warning, giving the boats an opportunity to escape.

    Even though the effectiveness of such a system was questionable, it was still better than nothing.

    The floti slowly advanced, eventuallying across a Demonic Lord Sea Beast.

    This time, they were not picky. Lin Xiao immediately gave the order to capture it.

    The five boats surrounded the Demonic Lord and began to st at it with their Origin Energy cannons.

    Streaks of powerful Origin Energy mmed into the Sea Beasts like a cannon. Blood sprayed everywhere as the Sea Beast howled in anger, churning up waves everywhere.

    As the waves cascaded in all directions, a vortex quickly formed and began to draw in the boats.

    This was the Sea Beast¡¯s killing blow. The vortex was more than capable of swallowing up the entire fleet, consigning them to eternal damnation.

    At the same time that the vortex appeared, all of the Oceanids surfaced simultaneously and moved towards the vortex. The vortex began to gradually slow down as its drawing power decreased.

    Once the vortex stopped spinning, it would lose its frightening sucking power, making itpletely non-threatening.

    As the vortex began to die down, the boats¡¯ attacks grew even more vicious, causing the Sea Beast to howl bitterly in pain.

    It was only a Demonic Lord Sea Beast. Naturally, there was no way it could endure the full might of the floti.

    Lin Xiaomanded, ¡°Unleash the Sky-Catching Net!¡±

    Arge ck arced through the air, constantly expanding as it flew. It wrapped around the wounded Demonic Lord and immediately constricted, tying up the Sea Beast quite neatly.

    Sky-Catching Net was an incredibly practical tool for capturing targets. Its level of strength could be attuned to the strength of the target.

    In order to save on costs, the floti was using the lowest-grade Sky-Catching Net. As for the possibility that the Sea Beast would escape from the...... Why else had they unleashed a beatdown on the Sea Beast in the first ce?

    It was only natural that it would grow obedient after being violently beaten.

    As the constricted, the Demonic Lord was dragged along behind the boat. Of course, there was someone specifically assigned to keep an eye on it.

    The Sea Beast was purposefully being dragged behind Long Peak.

    Shang Li stood quietly at the aft of the boat, gazing at the captured Sea Beast. His eyes shed and glittered strangely.

    He muttered, ¡°As a Sea Beast, you should have the power to traverse the sea as you please, but you ended up being bound in this ce. Are you really okay with this?¡±

    The Sea Beast opened its eyes wide, ncing at Shang Li mournfully as it groaned, as if responding to Shang Li¡¯s words.

    Shang Li continued, ¡°If you still have any backbone, you should have fought to the end.¡±

    The person responsible for keeping an eye on the Sea Beast said, ¡°Beasts have no backbone to speak of. Shang Li, you really are a funny guy, you know that?¡±

    Shang Li chuckled. ¡°I was just saying it casually anyways. Who cares if it listens to me or not?¡±

    At that moment, however, the Sea Beast suddenly began to struggle. Its spirits, which had been subdued only a moment ago, suddenly began to surge.

    The guard was stunned when he saw this. ¡°Shang Li, you jinx, now this guy is really stirred up.¡±

    Just as he was about to attack, a massive boom sounded out, causing the boat to rock violently.

    ¡°It¡¯s the Sea Beasts!¡± someone yelled.

    ¡°The Sea Beasts are attacking!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? Why wasn¡¯t there an rm?¡±

    ¡°Are those people watching blind?¡±

    Everyone yelled angrily as a massive Sea Beast breached the water¡¯s surface. It narrowly scraped past one of the boats, almost flipping it. As soon as it appeared, a powerful, icy consciousness spread across the entire region, causing everyone nearby to shudder involuntarily.

    ¡°It¡¯s a Demonic Emperor!¡± everyone yelled.

    ¡°Everyone, prepare for battle!¡± Lin Xiao yelled.

    Just a Demonic Emperor? The team of boats was not afraid.

    Very quickly, however, Sea Beasts began to appear from all directions.

    Even the Demonic Lord they had left behind earlier began to go into a frenzy as energy exploded from its body. The Sky-Catching Web was unable to withstand its explosive movements and began to tear.

    ¡°It looks like we¡¯re really unlucky. The Sea Beasts are attacking us yet again,¡± Shang Li said with a slight smile.

    ¡°Maybe you¡¯re the only unlucky one,¡± a voice suddenly spoke.

    Shang Li¡¯s expression drastically shifted as he whirled around, only to find a person standing behind him.

    ¡°Sect Master!¡± the other guard cried out.

    Su Chen had appeared on the scene.

    But why was he here? Had he been on the boat the entire time?

    Even as all these possibilities shed through his mind, he was already bowing to Su Chen. ¡°Greetings, Sect Master! Your appearance is incredibly timely. I am confident that you will be able to ughter all of the Sea Beasts attacking us!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to keep up this farce. Tell me your real name,¡± Su Chen said as he waved his hand, scattering some medicinal powder into the water.

    As the medicinal powder dissolved and diffused into the seawater, a miracle urred.

    The gathered Sea Beasts suddenly retreated, giving up on chasing after the floti. Only the Demonic Emperor was still battling the floti because it was already involved in a fight. The medicinal powder had little to no effect on it.

    Shang Li stared in shock at what was going on around him as he said, ¡°This disciple doesn¡¯t understand what Sect Master is referring to.¡±

    Upon seeing that he was continuing to y dumb, Su Chen said after a moment¡¯s thought, ¡°The medicine you scattered into the ocean was probably Fragrant Bait Pellets, right? That medicine is used to draw Sea Beasts in particr. I knew how to do this when I was at the Qi Drawing Realm, so I¡¯m not too surprised. But you must really not think much of my skill as an alchemist! And the way you spurred on that Demonic Lord was probably with some kind of Astral consciousness technique, right? It can actually imprint your words onto the consciousness of that Demonic Lord. Even a Deste Beast would be able to understand your words. This was why that Demonic Lord appeared to go berserk.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, Shang Li¡¯s panicked expression began to fade, reced by one of calmness and stoess. He chuckled coldly. ¡°Su Chen, you never cease to amaze. So you discovered us so early on.¡±

    When they heard this, the soldiers on Long Peak were also stunned.

    One of the more quick-tempered soldiers barked, ¡°So you were the one responsible for all those idents!¡±

    Just as he was about to charge forwards, Su Chen stopped him. ¡°Don¡¯t get any closer. He¡¯s not himself right now, but a puppet under the control of the Astrals. There are some skills that you guys just aren¡¯t skilled enough to handle. You all, disperse. Leave them to me.¡±

    Upon hearing Su Chen mention the name ¡°Astrals¡±, everyone was taken aback.

    The Astrals were a strange race with powerful consciousness techniques. They were indeed opponents that the floti couldn¡¯t handle.

    But Shang Li was not an Astral.

    He was merely a puppet controlled by the Astrals, just like Wei Liancheng from all those years ago.

    As a puppet, Shang Li waspletely unafraid of being discovered.

    He chuckled, ¡°Su Chen, so what if you¡¯ve discovered my true identity? As you have said, I am but a puppet. Even if you kill me, you will not have solved the problem. If you can¡¯t find where the master is, he will continue to hide in the shadows. If you kill me, my master will have some of his strength freed up to target another person and control them instead. He will continue to create chaos for you.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Yes, there¡¯s no point in killing you, which was why I never mentioned it in the first ce. If you aren¡¯t afraid of dying, why would I threaten you with it? Also, Shang Li is a member of my fleet, and if I kill you there will be no turning back. On the other hand, if I kill who is controlling you, you will quickly regain your freedom. So how could I kill you?¡±

    Shang Li¡¯s expression drastically shifted before he leapt backwards.

    At that moment, the Demonic Lord had managed to escape from the Sky-Catching Web. It opened its mouth wide, and Shang Li leapt headfirst into it.

    He was going to try and kill himself.

    He would rather die than fall into Su Chen¡¯s clutches.

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°What¡¯s the point?¡±

    He reached out his right hand and made a grasping motion. Shang Li stopped in his tracks.

    Su Chen pulled his hand back, sending Shang Li whizzing towards Su Chen.

    Shang Li hurriedly attempted to revolve his Origin Energy in an attempt to destroy his own heart, but the moment he fell into Su Chen¡¯s clutches, he felt his body go weak as the Origin Energy in his body was suddenly not under his control.

    Su Chen quickly tossed Shang Li aside and said, ¡°Keep an eye on him, but don¡¯t make eye contact, and don¡¯t let him die.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± all of the soldiers replied.

    At this moment, the floti was still fighting with the Demonic Emperor, which was howling and churning up massive waves. Even though the floti had a numbers advantage, they were still having a hard time fully controlling it.

    The surface of the waters became incredibly turbulent as a result.

    Su Chen nced at the havoc-wreaking Demonic Emperor before raising his hands. Lightning began to flicker across his palms, slowly forming a de made out of thunder.

    Instead of immediately unleashing the skill, however, he allowed it to continue to gather.

    The de of lightning grewrger andrger, eventually taking on the form of a spear.

    However, Su Chen still held back, continuing to pour lightning power into the spear. In any case, the floti was strong enough to withstand the Demonic Emperor¡¯s attacks for now. Su Chen was prompted by a sudden impulse and interest to y it up.

    The lightning continued to gather incessantly. At this point, it was no longer a spear of lightning, but a snake.

    The violent, raw, untamed lightning energy coursing through the serpent made it hard for Su Chen to resist the impulse in his heart. However, his understanding of lightning and the enlightenment he had received about thunder and lightning Method Power was finallying into y. He continued to hold onto this wild energy, refusing to relinquish his grip.

    As Su Chen continued to gather it, the lightning snake grew longer and longer until it began to take on the form of the dragon.

    This massive lightning dragon took shape in Su Chen¡¯s hands. Everyone on Long Peak could clearly see the crackling dragon floating in the sky.

    At that moment, Su Chen could feel the dragon slipping from his hands. He knew that if he didn¡¯t release it now, it would be toote to do soter, so he swung his hands forward. ¡°Go!¡±

    The iplete lightning dragon shot forth ferociously, aimed right at the Demonic Emperor.

    Even the Demonic Emperor recognized that the lightning dragon was incredibly dangerous, but the dragon was so fast that it had collided with the Demonic Emperor in an instant!

    Boom!

    An unprecedented, brilliant light burst forth upon impact.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 33: Research 1

    Chapter 33: Research (1)

    This was Su Chen¡¯s most brilliant attack to date. In that moment, a blinding light illuminated the surface of the entire sea.

    Amidst this shocking attack, the soldiers on the floti even forgot about the Demonic Beast for just a moment.

    ¡°How beautiful!¡± the soldiers sighed as they stared at the scene before their eyes.

    After that blinding sh, they could see that behind this beautiful scene, a shocking, mangled hole had been bored into the Demonic Emperor¡¯s body. The hole prated the Demonic Beast¡¯s bodypletely. Not only so, but the lightning power had also spread when it had contacted the Demonic Emperor¡¯s body. Even the areas surrounding the hole were badly charred.

    The Demonic Emperor looked just like a roasted duck that had had a giant chunk taken out of it. Its body was burnt to a crisp, and it had lost most of its mobility.

    Defeating a Demonic Emperor in a single strike!

    The soldiers stared at Su Chen in disbelief, and even Su Chen himself was stunned.

    He knew that, with hisprehension of lightning and thunder, a full-strength attack of his was more than capable of wounding existences at that level of power. Doing this much damage, however, should have been impossible. He had taken more than thirty seconds to gather his full power in that moment.

    He was surprised that he had managed to unintentionally create a new kind of attack - an attack that concentrated and condensed elemental power to an incredible degree.

    The destructive power that could be unleashed by an attack like that hadpletely surpassed his expectations.

    Unfortunately, because of how long the cast time was, this skill was totally impractical in a one-on-one fight. In a battle, however, there were situations indeed where it would be useful.

    This was the second Theurgy Art Su Chen controlled. It required an incredible amount of consciousness energy to gather that much lightning energy, but Su Chen¡¯s mastery of lightning also needed to be very high in order topress it to that degree.

    This was also one of Su Chen¡¯s most powerful attacks at the moment.

    Actually, Su Chen had been conducting all kinds of different research these past few years, but he hadn¡¯t spent much time focusing on increasing his own strength. As such, he had no new skills to show for it. Even so, the solid foundation he had developed was enough to help him create a new skill in a moment¡¯s inspiration. This was all just a result of good preparation.

    Su Chen¡¯s lightning Theurgy Art was still in its preliminary stages, but once he had refined it, it would be even more effective. But that would happen in the future.

    Even though the Demonic Emperor hadn¡¯t been killed by Su Chen¡¯s attack, it wasn¡¯t far from death. The floti attacked with renewed vigor and very quickly captured the Demonic Emperor, dragging it off. In the end, the hunting expedition had been quite sessful.

    When Lin Zuiliu saw Su Chen drag Shang Li back to the researchb, he said, ¡°All that for this brat? And you even went yourself?¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Don¡¯t look down on him. If we want to deal with those moles hiding in the darkness, we will need to find how far their reach goes. And the first one is usually of particr importance.¡±

    When Shang Li heard this, he harrumphed. ¡°Even if you have captured me, the others will be on guard and will restrain their actions a little. How will you capture them then?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°The Fragrant Bait Pellets you carried on you clearly show how you were making trouble for the fleet. I already issued amand to search everyone when we return. Anyone who is carrying these Fragrant Bait Pellets on them will be arrested immediately.¡±

    Shang Li¡¯s expression froze. He was obviously not expecting Su Chen to pull something like that.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°Of course, that doesn¡¯t mean that there won¡¯t be people who get rid of their pellets in time, or that there aren¡¯t cautious individuals who don¡¯t carry the pellets with them until they are formally given a mission. Some of the lucky ones might have already used their pellets, but in any case we will be able to catch a few. As for the rest......¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Well, we¡¯re in no hurry. We¡¯ll take our time to catch them.¡±

    Shang Li said, ¡°If you miss this opportunity, we won¡¯t give you any new ones.¡±

    ¡°But you will continue to make trouble, won¡¯t you?¡± Su Chen countered. ¡°If we make new ns, it¡¯s only natural that you would try to find new ways to sabotage our operations.¡±

    Shang Li couldn¡¯t resist asking a dumb question. ¡°So what if we insist on not doing anything?¡±

    Su Chen guffawed. ¡°Isn¡¯t that even better? You can just obey and act as my servants. As long as you obey mymands, I don¡¯t care if your heart belongs to me or not.¡±

    Shang Li was rendered speechless, but he didn¡¯t want to give in. ¡°You won¡¯t be able to catch my master anyways. My master is brilliant. With him present, your n will not seed.¡±

    ¡°This is exactly the reason why I captured you,¡± Su Chen calmly replied. ¡°From today onwards, my research will have expanded yet again.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± This time, both Shang Li and Lin Zuiliu couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    ¡°Consciousnesses,¡± Su Chen replied calmly as he ced his hand on Shang Li¡¯s forehead. ¡°Researching how to help someone escape from the control of an Astral, and how to discover traces of the person pulling the strings.¡±

    Lin Zuiliu squinted his eyes. ¡°This won¡¯t be easy. You have the Deep Sea Sorrow, bloodline-less techniques, bloodline mixture, and now consciousness research to worry about. Do you have enough time?¡±

    Su Chen smiled. ¡°You underestimate my research capabilities.¡±

    Having the Origin Bone Scepter was like having a bunch of time. This was precisely the reason why he dared to pursue so many different research targets all at once.

    To Su Chen, the research process went like this.

    First, he would perform some foundational research and analysis in order to determine the principles by which something operated. The Origin Bone Scepter wouldn¡¯t be able to help him in this regard; he would need to do his own research and build up a suitable foundation first.

    Once he had reached a certain point, he would begin to consider different experimental designs and setups.

    That was when the Origin Bone Scepter woulde in handy. The Origin Bone Scepter could help Su Chen avoid some of the incorrect setups and choose the most urate one. If Su Chen was the one who hade up with the urate setup, then the cost would be even lower - perhaps only a low-tier Origin Crystal would be necessary, since the Origin Bone Scepter only needed to tell Su Chen whether the path he was considering was wrong or right.

    After saving a lot of time on this trial-and-error side, Su Chen would need to reflect on his findings.

    His knowing that one route was right and every other route was wrong was also a means to help him better apprehend these foundational principles. This way, he would be able to earn back the experience that he had skipped by using the Origin Bone Scepter.

    After this, Su Chen would proceed to the next round of experiments.

    This was how Su Chen conducted his research. Discovery experiments and the use of the Origin Bone Scepter went hand in hand, and the rate at which he umted knowledge was elerated by the Origin Bone Scepter. It wasn¡¯t like the Origin Bone Scepter had halted his creativity.

    Actually, the Origin Bone Scepter¡¯s main purpose was to help Su Chen learn faster so that he could put his findings into practice.

    Oftentimes, discovering a scientific truth would take decades, but once the truth was found, it would be possible for a student to learn it in only a few days.

    By relying on the Origin Bone Scepter, Su Chen was acting as the role of a student. Some research that might have taken him decades to do otherwise would only take half a month¡¯s worth of nning, one minute of making predictions, and a month or so to go back over his findings. If things didn¡¯t necessarily go ording to n, he could just repeat the first two steps a few more times, and eventually the right path would reveal itself to him. The amount of time he would need to spend on these issues was really quite pitiful.

    For this reason, the others believed that Su Chen would need to spend a lifetime in pursuit of each of his individual goals, but Su Chen didn¡¯t feel like he was busy to the point that he found it impossible to cope yet.

    As a result, he still had time to cultivate every day and manage some basic sect affairs.

    Su Chen had never used the Origin Bone Scepter in front of Lin Zuiliu before, so Lin Zuiliu had no idea what Su Chen¡¯s true strength was in this regard. He scoffed, clearly in disbelief, and said, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, don¡¯t think I¡¯ll go easy on you. And my Bloodline Mixture Pills areplete. Where are the experimental subjects you promised me?¡±

    ¡°The effects of the Bloodline Mixture Pills haven¡¯t been determined yet. More research needs to be done.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why I need research subjects.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no way I¡¯m giving you human subjects right away.¡±

    ¡°Then find me a pig or a chicken or a dog that¡¯s cultivated the Boundless Sect¡¯s Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques before,¡± Lin Zuiliu replied bluntly.

    The two of them bickered quite often. Lin Zuiliu had always hoped that Su Chen¡¯s disciples would be able to inherit the mixed bloodlines he had created. However, Su Chen felt that enduring the power from all of those bloodlines was still out of their reach, so he wanted to carefully test the power of these Bloodline Mixture Pills first, as well as potentially weaken their effects or convert part of their power intotent potential.

    The two of them had been working hard on this issue for a while now.

    Now, they had managed to jointlyplete the Bloodline Mixture Pill. Lin Zuiliu viewed human life as nothing but chaff and wanted to find a human subject to test it out on immediately, but Su Chen shut him down immediately.

    At that moment, Su Chen said, ¡°You don¡¯t need to ingest the medicine to determine its effects. I have other methods.¡±

    Lin Zuiliu rolled his eyes. ¡°I have heard for a long time that you perform experiments on living creatures as well. Howe you¡¯ve be so soft all of a sudden?¡±

    Su Chen inspected the pill, using his microscopic eyes to observe itsposition as he replied, ¡°I used my enemies in the past, many of them evil people. Even so, I think my actions may have vited the will of the Heavens, so I don¡¯t do that anymore. People will always grow and mature. When I was young, I was willing to achieve my goals by any means possible. But now that I¡¯ve grown a little, I¡¯ve learned to think a little more carefully before I do things. There aren¡¯t many people like you, King of Chaos, who can maintain this juvenile attitude forever.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he smirked.

    He sounded like he was praising Lin Zuiliu, but he was actually mocking Lin Zuiliu for not maturing. However, Su Chen¡¯s skill in mocking others was so great that Lin Zuiliu found that he had no way of retorting. After a while, he harrumphed, ¡°You¡¯ve been staring at that thing for forever. Have you found anything yet?¡±

    ¡°The fiery nature of the medicine hasn¡¯t retreated yet. Its medicinal power is still a bit too barbaric, and there is an excess of energy inside. It¡¯s not an issue of the recipe but of the refining process. You still need to improve your skills a little, King of Chaos, but I¡¯m not too surprised - after all, you haven¡¯t been studying alchemy all your life. I already told you that I could have some of the disciples in my Hall of Medicine concoct it, but you just wouldn¡¯t listen to me.¡± Su Chen tossed the vial back over to Lin Zuiliu. ¡°Make it again.¡±

    Lin Zuiliu took the pills and turned them over carefully. ¡°You were able to spot the problem just by looking at these pills?¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t believe me, cut out a little of the powder and feed it to some stray dog or cat. Before you are able to refine the pills properly, I must attend to other matters,¡± Su Chen said as he turned around to leave.

    ¡°What are you going to be doing?¡± Lin Zuiliu asked, but he saw Su Chen walk over to Shang Li and say, ¡°Look into my eyes.¡±

    He activated Fata Morgana.

    Lin Zuiliu was momentarily taken aback before he realized that Su Chen had merely begun his consciousness research.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 34: Research

    Chapter 34: Research

    Consciousness research was a bit different from other kinds of research.

    It was not physical, so the only way to research it was through nonphysical methods.

    And its abstract nature made it impossible for Su Chen to use his microscopic eye, so this time Su Chen would genuinely be searching for an answer on his own.

    When he used Fata Morgana on Shang Li, Shang Li fell into a strange dream realm. Su Chen followed closely behind him into the dreamrealm, but as a bystander instead.

    He didn¡¯t enter Shang Li¡¯s sea of knowledge. Instead, he entered the dream realm itself.

    This was because the sea of knowledge was a vital location hidden behind multiple barriers, and this dream realm was one such outeryer.

    Shang Li¡¯s will was instinctively rejecting any outsiders, so all Su Chen could do was enter the dream realm first.

    Shang Li¡¯s dream realm looked like a fragmented world made of bubbles. These bubbles were everywhere, and each of them contained a multicolored world, unveiling a different time, location, and situation.

    Su Chen knew that most peoples¡¯ consciousness realms were like this. At every moment in time, strange new memories were being created, and these memories were stored in the form of these bubbles, which could be popped at any point in time. The owner of these memories would unconsciously travel this world of bubbles, merging them to form strange dream realms.

    These dreams also served as abyrinth to guard Shang Li¡¯s sea of knowledge. If Su Chen was unable to navigate through thebyrinth, he wouldn¡¯t be able to sneak in.

    But just as he was about to make his move, one of the bubbles suddenly morphed as a fierce, demonic figure emerged from it, biting down viciously at Su Chen.

    As it opened its maw, the demonic figure transformed into a sea of blood and rushed towards Su Chen.

    Su Chen chuckled coldly when he saw this. ¡°Astral, huh?¡±

    He seemedpletely carefree. Just as the sea of blood was about to swallow him whole, a brilliant light suddenly began to shine forth from Su Chen¡¯s body. The effect was just like the rising sun driving away the darkness of the night. The demonic figure howled as the sea of blood began to boil.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± the Astral¡¯s will roared as it attempted to reform its body. This time, it took the shape of a hundred-thousand-foot tall giant. The giant swung its arm through the air, destroying countless of Shang Li¡¯s memory bubbles. At the same time, however, arge bubble enveloped it and Su Chen. In other words, they had fully entered Shang Li¡¯s dreambyrinth and had be the main characters in his dream.

    ¡°Die! This is my territory!¡± the projection of the Astral¡¯s will howled. A powerful, sinister, and chilly aura began to envelop Su Chen, prating deep into his body.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± Su Chen shot back.

    Now that he had opened his Divine Pce, he was capable of using consciousness-type Origin Skills as he pleased, and his mastery of consciousness Arcana Techniques was also at the Tenth Ring level.

    Su Chen¡¯s consciousness was many times more powerful than those of his contemporaries because of his secret skills and his vast supply of medicines. He had no fear about fighting back against an Astral.

    As such, he didn¡¯t hesitate to begin grappling with that Astral¡¯s will.

    A powerful, self-confident will began to appear in Shang Li¡¯s dream realm, countering the sinister, ancient aura being emitted by the Astral will. The two wills collided violently in this dream realm, exploding and unleashing an incredible amount of energy. Thankfully, this explosion was merely on the consciousness level, but even so, the silent shockwaves of energy burst countless of bubbles that Shang Li had nearby.

    Because these dream bubbles came from Shang Li¡¯s heart, however, new bubbles rapidly appeared to rece the older ones. As long as Shang Li¡¯s heart was intact, he would remain uninjured.

    Under the control of the Astral will, these bubbles began to merge and formed thick walls that arranged themselves in the form of a maze. Su Chen immediately found himself at a dead end.

    ¡°Hahahaha, if you can¡¯t defeat my Rainbow Labyrinth Seal, you will never discover our secret!¡± the willughed.

    ¡°How interesting. But this is also quite trivial,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°If I can¡¯t destroy it, then I can¡¯t destroy it. After all, I will research whatever I can, starting with this Rainbow Labyrinth Seal of yours. Whenever Iprehend it, I will naturally be able to destroy it.¡±

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t in a hurry. He floated in front of the walls of the Rainbow Labyrinth Seal, lost in thought.

    The wall impeding his progress was formed from countless dream fragments that hade under the control of the will attempting to sabotage his efforts. However, in Su Chen¡¯s eyes, this wall was not actually a barrier. Instead, it was a research target worthy of analysis in and of itself.

    ¡°This...... you...... how could you?¡± The Astral will clearly had not expected Su Chen to respond in this way and was immediately dumbfounded.

    Even so, this was Su Chen.

    This was the basic quality that any researcher needed to have.

    So you tried to create a barrier to stop me from advancing?

    Sorry, but any difficulties I encounter actually just be more research targets for me.

    If you have any other stumbling blocks to put in my way, you¡¯d better bring them out now.

    Su Chen stood calmly in thebyrinth, inspecting theposition of the dream fragments.

    He didn¡¯t try to determine thebyrinth¡¯syout. After all, that would merely be a guessing game. What he wanted to do was determine the link between this dream realm and the Astral¡¯s will in order to figure out how the Astral was controlling Shang Li.

    Su Chen always preferred to understand the principles behind something¡¯s operation. Once he understood those principles, it would be a piece of cake to nullify the technique. There was no need for Su Chen to try and find his way through the maze in the first ce.

    The Astral¡¯s will realized this and said angrily, ¡°Are you not going to try and save Shang Li? I have imprisoned his will in the depths of his sea of knowledge. Only by breaking through will you be able to save him.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I¡¯m trying to do. Only by understanding how you Astrals are controlling people will I be able to set him free from your control and save him,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°But you won¡¯t be able to save him just by doing research! You need to do it by force!¡±

    ¡°Won¡¯t I just be falling in your trap if that¡¯s the case?¡± Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Who do you think I am? Do you think that I need to save every life just because I am a sage? Don¡¯t forget that I have taken many peoples¡¯ lives myself. I kill as few people as I possibly can for the sake of the greater good. I do want to save Shang Li, but I won¡¯t fall into your trap on his behalf. In order to break the Astrals¡¯ control over humans once and for all, I am willing to make the necessary sacrifices. So I¡¯m more than happy to take things slowly. You don¡¯t need to try and use virtue to trick me into acting hastily, because I won¡¯t fall for that.¡±

    As he spoke, he returned his attention to the walls of thebyrinth, dissecting how the wall was formed. His own will was constantly shifting as he attempted to imitate his opponent¡¯s power.

    The Astral will was infuriated when it saw this. It gathered its strength yet again, and the nearby bubbles began to burst. Countless demons poured out of the shattered bubbles and charged at Su Chen like a wave.

    These strange creatures hade into being through Shang Li¡¯s strange dreams, but the Astral was able to hijack them for its own purposes.

    When Su Chen saw this, he shook his head gently. ¡°It¡¯s no use.¡±

    He gently exhaled, forming a cyclone out of thin air that began to expand in all directions. The dream creatures were immediately sent flying.

    The creatures were illusory existences. They had no real strength to speak of, so Su Chen¡¯s consciousness wind was more than enough to rip them to shreds.

    At that moment, however, a strange beast made from ck fog leapt through the cyclonepletely unperturbed.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Su Chen was also taken aback. His eyes flickered with lightning. A momentter, a bolt of lightning appeared in this consciousness realm and mmed into the strange creature, sending it to the ground. Even so, the creature did not dissipate. Instead, it roared and continued to attack Su Chen. Its roar was even capable of making Su Chen feel quite dizzy.

    ¡°Confusion Fog and Chaotic Soul Weeping? You¡¯ve got quite a few tricks up your sleeve,¡± Su Chen said with a cold smile.

    The Astral was obviously using consciousness Origin Skills against him.

    The consciousness world was insubstantial, but consciousness Origin Skills could take on tangible forms in this environment, resulting in actual physical attacks.

    However, the current Su Chen wasn¡¯t so easy to deal with either, and he had a whole host of consciousness Origin Skills and Arcana Techniques at his disposal.

    Su Chen wouldn¡¯t have minded if the Astral had merely tried to stop him with thebyrinth, but he was more than happy to take the Astral head-on if it wanted to fight.

    His eyes glowed as another lightning bolt descended from the sky, mming into the ck fog beast. The beast howled in pain and began to dissipate, turning into rows of soldiers clothed in ck. At the same time, the nearby dream bubbles began to burst yet again, and countless Vicious Beasts sprang into the dream realm.

    Su Chen waved his hand in front of him. ¡°Soldiers, advance.¡±

    Rows of golden-armored soldiers appeared out of thin air, already in formation, and began to charge. Shang Li¡¯s consciousness had suddenly turned into a battleground.

    The Astral will bellowed, and countless flying dragons appeared in the sky.

    Su Chen gestured as well, causing hordes of Beasts to spring to life and join in on the battlefield.

    A momentter, a wave of mes roared through the battlefield, turning Su Chen¡¯s soldiers into ashes.

    Su Chen unleashed a raging flood of water that immediately washed the Astral¡¯s forces into disarray.

    The opponent began to unleash thunder and lightning himself, while Su Chen responded by causing the very ground to tremble violently.

    Both of them continued to unleash consciousness techniques, which took on many different manifestations. The battle appeared to be both real and not real at the same time.

    Plumes of smoke rose into the sky above the battlefield as fires began to rage, spreading in all directions.

    Boom, boom, boom!

    Lightning cascaded violently to the ground, mes roared, waters roiled, and the ground quaked and trembled.

    The consciousness world could regenerate itself even upon being destroyed.

    As a result, Su Chen¡¯s battle with the Astral destroyed Shang Li¡¯s consciousness world many times, but each time it regenerated itself.

    One had a host advantage, while the other had an extraordinarily powerful consciousness. In the end, however, neither of them was able to inflict anysting harm on the other.

    Eventually, the Astral will was the first one to run out of steam, and it stopped attacking on its own.

    The violent wind began to subside, and the dream bubbles began to reappear, forming thebyrinth once again.

    The Astral will said, ¡°Your consciousness is more powerful than I expected, Su Chen. I am truly amazed.¡±

    ¡°Your amazement will only increase,¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    ¡°Hmph,¡± the Astral harrumphed. ¡°But you still will not be able to break through the dreambyrinth so easily, and you will have an even harder time finding me. I am hiding nearby, just like a poisonous snake hiding in tall grass. At the right moment, I will strike, dealing you a fatal blow.¡±

    ¡°I already told you that I have more surprises up my sleeve. Why are you in such a hurry to retreat?¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    As he spoke, he tapped a dream bubble next to him.

    The dream bubble was destroyed, but strangely no new dream bubble resurfaced to take its ce.

    Amazingly, Su Chen was able topletely bypass these walls made of bubbles, allowing him to walk straight in one direction. If any dream bubbles were obstructing his advance, he would simply destroy them with a simple jab of his finger, allowing him to easily navigate through thebyrinth.

    ¡°How...... How is this possible?¡± the Astral will cried out in shock.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to be surprised. To you, fighting a battle might be just that and nothing more, but to me, fighting a battle is just aponent of my research. Now that the battle is over, my research is also starting to bear fruit,¡± Su Chen replied with a slight smile.

    ¡°There¡¯s no way you could have done it that quickly.¡±

    ¡°I have always done things quickly...... You will need to learn to get used to my speed.¡± As Su Chen spoke, he tapped his finger on thest wall of bubbles.

    The bubbles popped, revealing the sea of knowledge lurking behind.

    Su Chen stepped through the wall.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 35: Two Years

    Chapter 35: Two Years

    Upon entering the sea of knowledge, the defenses surrounding Shang Li¡¯s consciousness immediately copsed.

    A cloud of ck fog hung over Shang Li¡¯s sea of knowledge, refusing to dissipate. A voice howled out from the cloud, ¡°Don¡¯t even think about saving him! Apart from death, no one can take him away from me. Hahahaha!¡±

    Thisugh was fearsome and tinged with insanity.

    ¡°Save him? That¡¯s a dumb way of consoling yourself. I already told you that I will not insist on saving him...... I just want to study him a little more,¡± Su Chen said disdainfully.

    ¡°He is your subordinate!¡± the Astral said in anger and shock.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. That¡¯s why I will do my best to save him. But if I¡¯m not strong enough, then I can only give up on him. Should I tear my clothes and weep on his behalf?¡± Su Chen countered.

    ¡°But you didn¡¯t try your best at all.¡±

    ¡°How do you know I didn¡¯t try my best? Do I need to put my life on the line or spend hours of time and energy for it to count as doing my best? Also, you¡¯re the one who is harming him in the first ce, not me. You think that I¡¯m not doing enough to try and save him? How ridiculous and ironic!¡± Su Chenughed scornfully.

    Even though the Astral was the one doing all these things to Shang Li, he somehow still had the face to criticize Su Chen.

    Even so, this was reality. To the Astral, the more Su Chen valued Shang Li and his own ethical duties, the more opportunities the Astral would have.

    Su Chen had realized that there was nothing he could do, so he had stopped. The Astral, on the other hand, was disappointed that Su Chen hadn¡¯t insisted on forging on, and had even begun to criticize Su Chen for his behavior.

    This was quiteical and absurd, but it was also the truth.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t care about how his opponent felt at all.

    Just as he had said, he would do his best to save Shang Li, but if he couldn¡¯t he could only give up on them. In the grand scheme of things, Shang Li was not that important, and Su Chen had no intention of stubbornly proceeding down the wrong path for the sake of one man¡¯s life. Instead, his intention was to size up the situation carefully and act ordingly.

    Shang Li¡¯s sea of knowledge was alreadypletely upied by the Astral, it was going to be too hard to save him.

    Su Chen had given up on trying to save Shang Li. He had only entered Shang Li¡¯s sea of knowledge to observe and gather data.

    The ck fog was hanging over Shang Li¡¯s sea of knowledge, and the Astral¡¯s will hadpletely permeated every nook and cranny of Shang Li¡¯s consciousness. He was entirely capable of summoning countless creatures to attack Su Chen, but there was no point. Su Chen didn¡¯t fear him, and he couldn¡¯t kill him either, so fighting was aplete waste of time. As such, the Astral will could only pointlessly mor.

    As the Astral will yelled, however, Su Chen was continuing his research. He couldn¡¯t use his microscopic eye, but his consciousness crystal was fully activated as he rapidly analyzed all of the information avable to him.

    ¡°What kind of sage are you? You¡¯re more like a hypocrite.¡± The Astral was stillining, attempting to distract Su Chen, but he had no idea that its actions werepletely meaningless against Su Chen.

    Su Chen smiled. ¡°I am called a sage not because of my morality but because of the contributions I have made towards the human race.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Then why don¡¯t you show me what you are currently researching?¡±

    Su Chen replied meaningfully, ¡°I am trying to remember your scent and get a feel for your consciousness pulse.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± The Astral was stunned.

    Su Chen tilted his head up to look at the sea of knowledge in front of his eyes. ¡°You have alreadypletely corrupted this ce, but even though I cannot drive you outpletely, I have remembered your strength, your consciousness¡¯s unique fluctuations, your aura, etc...... Astral, what is your name? Actually, there are two of you, aren¡¯t there?¡±

    The Astral didn¡¯t say anything.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s okay if you don¡¯t say anything. Now that I¡¯ve remembered you, you won¡¯t be able to run...... I will catch you very soon.¡±

    An instantter, Su Chen¡¯s figure flickered as he disappeared from Shang Li¡¯s consciousness.

    He had returned!

    Just like that.

    Within the researchb, Su Chen¡¯s body jolted as his eyes regained their spirit. His will had returned to his body.

    He smacked Shang Li on the chest, knocking him unconscious.

    Su Chen walked out of the researchb.

    The nearby Boundless Sect disciples bowed in greeting when they saw him appear. ¡°Sect Master!¡±

    ¡°Gather the entire fleet, now!¡± Su Chen said.

    The disciples were stunned. Were they about to go into battle? However, they still quickly scurried off to fulfill their Sect Master¡¯s orders.

    Wu!!!

    The conch shell signal was blown once again.

    The fleet began to gather together.

    No one knew why Su Chen had suddenly gathered everyone together, but since Su Chen had given themand, the most important task at hand was to obey.

    All of the fleet¡¯s ships simultaneously departed from the port. The soldiers stood on the surfaces of the boat in an orderly fashion. At this point, the fleet was like a well-oiled machine, and the process of gathering them together was smooth and painless.

    Li Chongshan and the others flew over and asked Su Chen, ¡°What¡¯s happened?¡±

    Su Chen, however, raised a finger and shushed them as he flew towards the first boat.

    The soldiers stood at attention on the surface of the boat. Su Chen walked past them one by one, as if he were a drill sergeant examining his troops.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Zhong Zhenjun came over to ask.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t reply. Instead, after he finished inspecting that boat, he flew directly to the next one and continued his inspection, as if inspecting the troops. Not a single one of them escaped his notice.

    Zhong Zhenjun was beginning to grow impatient and was just about to ask what was going on when Su Chen suddenly stopped in front of one of the soldiers. He looked him over, then said, ¡°He is a puppet being controlled by the Astrals. Hurry and captured him.¡±

    What?

    Everyone was stunned.

    The soldier flew into the air and was about to attack when Gu Qingluo coughed gently. The soldier suddenly froze in midair as if he had suddenly been paralyzed. A momentter, a few more soldiers flew into the air, tied him up, and dragged him off.

    There was no need to exin any further. The soldier¡¯s actions alone were more than enough to demonstrate what had happened.

    Everyone immediately realized what Su Chen was doing.

    Ji Hanyan asked, ¡°Su Chen, you can figure out which people are puppets being controlled by the Astrals? How are you doing it?¡±

    ¡°I smelled him,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Smelled him?

    Everyone was stunned.

    Su Chen flew back into the air, heading for the next boat - there was no need to continue inspecting this one, since the Astrals could only control so many puppets at once and would definitely not ce more than one puppet on a boat.

    In what seemed like the blink of an eye, Su Chen was able to find ten or so puppets being controlled by the Astrals, including humans and Oceanids.

    The Astrals had concealed themselves quite well, but the unique aura of an Astral was still detectable by Su Chen.

    Su Chen had memorized the consciousness fluctuations of those Astrals, allowing him to discover the puppets that he had taken control of. Not a single one was able to escape Su Chen¡¯s notice.

    The spies that the Astral had nted so carefully were so quickly uprooted that even he spat out a mouthful of blood. All he could do was sit angrily in the darkness and swear that he was going to take his revenge.

    However, before he could do so, the threating from Su Chen was growing closer and closer - after finding the puppets, Su Chen began to search the entire ind. Clearly, he was not going to be satisfied until he managed to catch that Astral.

    The Astral knew that his situation wasn¡¯t looking so good, so he could only grit his teeth and activate his secret escape technique.

    By the time Su Chen discovered the secret room on the ind, all he found was the mess left behind by the Astral.

    ¡°He ran,¡± Su Chen said with a gloomy expression.

    ¡°It¡¯s my fault for letting an Astral sneak his way onto the ind without us detecting it!¡± Lin Shaoxuan said as he knelt on the ground.

    He was responsible for managing the security of the Forever Clear Ind, so this oversight was indeed part of his responsibility.

    Su Chen, however, replied calmly, ¡°This is not exactly your fault. The Astrals are incredibly skilled at hiding in the darkness and scheming. Their perception is strong, and their consciousness techniques are unpredictable. It¡¯s not surprising that we weren¡¯t able to catch them this time given how good they are at running and hiding. But after this experience, we need to find a way to defend ourselves against further infiltration. At the very least, we need to make sure we know if he shows up again.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Lin Shaoxuan replied loudly.

    Su Chen turned around and left.

    The situation with the Astrals was resolved as a result.

    Even though Su Chen wasn¡¯t able to apprehend the mastermind of the whole situation, he was at least able to stop the issue from growing more serious.

    Unfortunately, Su Chen wasn¡¯t able to save any of the puppets controlled by the Astrals. As such, he could only use them to their greatest value as research subjects.

    One benefit of this was that Su Chen¡¯s understanding of consciousness had greatly improved.

    Based on his understanding, Su Chen was able to develop a technique that specifically targeted the Astrals. The technique would allow him to detect the presence of any Astrals nearby. This would make it much more difficult for the Astrals to sneak up and control more soldiers from the shadows.

    Su Chen named this technique Astral Search, since it was exclusively meant to be used to find any Astrals in the area.

    Of course, this was merely one of many side branches that Su Chen was researching.

    Su Chen was still spending most of his time researching bloodline mixture.

    Not the Deep Sea Sorrow.

    Sessfully mixing bloodlines was the prerequisite to Su Chen starting his research on the Deep Sea Sorrow in the first ce - only Gu Qingluo¡¯s Shining Dragon Bloodline could suppress a Sovereign. And only by suppressing the Sovereigns would he be able to enter the Abyss and gain a better understanding of what exactly the Deep Sea Sorrow did.

    All of these things were closely linked. Only by resolving one issue would he be able to begin working on the next.

    Lin Zuiliu¡¯s arrival had given Su Chen a spark of inspiration, and it had also catalyzed his bloodline mixture research.

    But even with Lin Zuiliu and the Origin Bone Scepter, Su Chen took two full years to make a significant breakthrough.

    On that day, a blinding, powerful light suddenly shone from the pce.

    The piercing, brilliant light shot high into the sky.

    ¡°Sess! Sess! I¡¯ve finally seeded!¡±

    An insaneugh echoed throughout the ind as Lin Zuiliu¡¯s figure shot into the sky. He danced like a child, holding a vial of something in his hand.

    ¡°What seeded?¡± everyone whispered amongst themselves when they saw his giddy behavior.

    Su Chen calmly walked out behind him and said, ¡°What else could make the King of Chaos this happy?¡±

    Zhong Zhenjun squinted his eyes. ¡°Bloodline mixture? So he actually pulled it off?¡±

    ¡°He did it a long time ago, actually, but couldn¡¯t find an appropriate vector for the longest time. It turns out that cultivators using the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques are extremely suitable heirs of these bloodline mixtures,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t sound like it would be that hard,¡± Frostpoint replied.

    ¡°That¡¯s because we also did some other experiments,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°What did you guys do?¡± everyone asked.

    ¡°Naturally, we tried to further improve Qingluo¡¯s strength,¡± Su Chen calmly replied. ¡°Our goal was to allow Qingluo to unleash power equivalent to a bloodline purity of sixty percent.¡±

    Sixty percent purity!

    Everyone felt their hearts tremble violently.

    Forty percent was already enough for Gu Qingluo to throw an entire Sea Beast Wave into disarray. What would sixty percent look like?

    Suppressing even Sovereigns?

    That was their goal in the first ce.

    ¡°So did you seed?¡± everyone asked.

    ¡°Yes, we did!¡± Su Chen nodded confidently.

    Then, he cracked a smile and said, ¡°So our next course of action is to barge right into the Abyss.¡±

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 36: Abyss 1

    Chapter 36: Abyss (1)

    Since the decision had been made, there was no point in hesitating any longer.

    The fleet, which had been waiting for this moment for a long time, began to make their preparations.

    Two dayster, the fleet officially moved out.

    The massive fleet poured out of the port towards the Abyss.

    The Abyss!

    A name that both frightened and excited the hearts of men.

    Once they went, they would either ughter their way into a new era, or they would be forever lost.

    On the way there, every soldier steeled themselves for the battle that was toe, and the atmosphere was solemn and stern.

    Unfortunately, Su Chen did not share their concern. He embraced Gu Qingluo and whispered sweet nothings to her. It was as if he didn¡¯t realize that there was an important battle ahead of him.

    When Ji Hanyan saw his behavior, she couldn¡¯t resist asking, ¡°Are you that self-confident?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think you could say self-confident. However, if you could see the future, then you wouldn¡¯t be as nervous either,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°See the future? You used the Origin Bone Scepter to predict the oue of this expedition?¡±

    The Origin Bone Scepter falling in Su Chen¡¯s hands was not really a secret. If Eternal Night could guess the truth, other people would be able to as well.

    However, this was obviously not the correct answer.

    Su Chenughed loudly. ¡°Is that a joke? I probably wouldn¡¯t be able to make a prediction even if I sacrificed the entire fleet. But you don¡¯t necessarily need the Origin Bone Scepter to make a prediction.¡±

    ¡°So what are you using then?¡± everyone asked.

    ¡°Of course, my intellect, experience, and knowledge. Don¡¯t you feel that these are much more reliable than the Origin Bone Scepter?¡±

    ¡°So what have you seen then, Sir Su?¡± Princess Westminster asked.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°An operation that is in and is executed without a hitch.¡±

    Not long after, the Abyss began to fade into view.

    The vortex of the Abyss was always revolving, and just beneath the vortex was the Abyss itself.

    It was actually a spatial realm of its own.

    The Abyss region was technically part of the Abyss, but in actuality they were two separate realms entirely.

    Once the fleet arrived, themanders began to issue their orders.

    ¡°All boats, prepare to stop. Don¡¯t drop your anchors, and prepare to enter the waters!¡±

    Not letting the anchors drop was to make escaping easier. The people responsible for standing guard on the boats needed to be prepared to retreat at any time, or, in a worst-case scenario, serve as a distraction for the targets.

    If they wanted to get into the Abyss, they would need to enter the water.

    The Oceanids lived in the water, so there was no point in even mentioning them. The humans, on the other hand, had made their own preparations - the Dragonfish.

    The Dragonfish Hemolytic Totem Su Chen had developed was an extremely useful skill that allowed humans to breathe underwater when using it.

    So many years had passed at this point. Even though the Hemolytic Totem was eventually abandoned by the Boundless Sect because it was only really useful on lower-tier Origin Qi Schrs, its usefulness in this particr application meant that it was still sticking around.

    Not only so, but there were countless individuals who had begun to make improvements to the Hemolytic Totem. At this point, it had condensed quite significantly in size, and it was also more effective.

    Andmonly used Hemolytic Totems had seen particrly spectacr improvements. At this point, the Dragonfish Hemolytic Totem was merely the size of a palm print.

    And this was not actually Su Chen¡¯s doing, but the work of some young human genius. Su Chen had even invited him here to help engrave these Hemolytic Totems onto his soldiers.

    Yes, the original inventor of the Hemolytic Totem was now forced to buy it from others.

    Even so, that was exactly what Su Chen needed.

    One man¡¯s wisdom was limited, but the wisdom of amunity was unsurpassed.

    Su Chen had merely opened the way before leaving the rest up to those following closely behind him. By the efforts of those individuals to create sessive iterations and improvements, the human race¡¯s strength would begin to improve in leaps and bounds.

    The same went for cultivation.

    By relying on the Dragonfish, the human Origin Qi Schrs also became capable of moving freely underwater. In fact, they could even fight and use some of their Origin Skills.

    Following their superiors¡¯mands, everyone leapt into the water, sending sshes of water into the air like dumplings being dropped into a pot.

    As soon as they entered the vortex, the constant spinning motion made them feel dizzy.

    They spun and spun for some time before they finally stopped.

    When they opened their eyes, they found that the turbulent water around them had be calm yet again.

    The water here was so clear that it seemed there was no pollution whatsoever. It was possible for them to see hundreds of feet in any direction. This rity was quite impressive to the soldiers.

    Everywhere they looked, they could see theirrades looking back at them, many still reeling from confusion.

    Then, the Oceanids swam past them, gesturing at them before they shot towards the surface.

    The Abyss was a forbidden region, but the Oceanids were incredibly familiar with it.

    After all, the Oceanids had sent many soldiers in to try and resolve this problem of the Deep Sea Sorrow, hoping to permanently put an end to this problem.

    As such, the human soldiers quickly moved to follow suit when they saw the Oceanids¡¯ actions.

    Everyone very quickly surfaced. The sky in this ce was a brilliant blue, and the wind was calm and the waves quiet. It almost looked like they were in ake, not an ocean.

    ¡°How beautiful and peaceful,¡± someone sighed.

    ¡°This shouldn¡¯t be surprising. It¡¯s an isted void, so there is no wind at all, which is why it¡¯s so peaceful and why the sky is always this color. It does look beautiful, but if all you had to look at was this for ten thousand years, you would probably want to vomit,¡± someone who had clearly done their homework replied.

    ¡°Shh!¡± One of the Oceanids put a finger to his lips.

    Everyone was surprised for a moment until they heard a crashing sound.

    A massive wave had appeared off in the distance.

    The surface of the water, which had been calm only moments before, suddenly became turbulent. The water appeared to tower to the sky, as if falling up into the sky. Even the Origin Qi Schrs were dragged up by the current to the sky, giving them a faint sense of vertigo.

    Just as they were trying to figure out what had happened, this feeling disappeared. The towering curtain of water copsed, leaving the Origin Qi Schrs caught inside in midair.

    In addition, a massive creature had remained in the air as well.

    It was impossible to tell what this creature was. Its body was round and plump like a white ball, and it had no eyes, only a mouth.

    That mouth, shockingly, could traverse the creature¡¯s body freely. The soldiers couldn¡¯t help but shudder in disgust and amazement as they watched the ball float towards them.

    More of the Oceanids and Origin Qi Schrs had entered the Abyss at this point. When they saw the creature, some cried out, ¡°Not good! This is the Heaven-Swallowing Mayfly. This Beast has an innate control over gravity, making it incredibly hard to deal with.¡±

    So it was the Heaven-Swallowing Mayfly. No wonder it seemed for a moment that gravity had been reversed, and why those Origin Qi Schrs had felt like they were suddenly in free-fall.

    Wait a second - if it could control gravity, then didn¡¯t that mean......¡±

    Someone asked, ¡°Can itterally trante the gravitational force as well?¡±

    ¡°It can!¡±

    An instantter, all of the soldiers were suddenly thrown off-bnce yet again. This time, however, the gravitational pull was noting from above them, but to the side.

    In the direction of the Heaven-Swallowing Mayfly.

    The soldiers began to slide uncontrobly towards the Heaven-Swallowing Mayfly, which began to slowly open its mouth.

    The only mouth that the ball of flesh had.

    The mouth continued to widen without stopping. Very quickly, it covered the entire surface of the ball. The soldiers realized that this was not a ball of flesh, but a giant floating mouth, towards which they were ¡°falling.¡±

    ¡°AHH!¡± everyone began to scream.

    They furiously attempted to resist the effects of this gravitational pull.

    Because almost all of them could fly, resisting gravity was something they were quite ustomed to.

    However, the gravity field generated by the Heaven-Swallowing Mayfly was obviously not simple either. In fact, it could continue to increase the strength of its gravity field.

    At the same time that everyone regained their footing, the force of gravity suddenly jumped to three times what it was before.

    The soldiers attempted to stabilize themselves yet again, but the gravitational pull continued to increase to ten times, then twenty times......

    The Origin Qi Schrs went all out to try and resist this frighteningly powerful gravitational pull, but found that there was nothing they could do.

    The Mayfly was a Sovereign!

    All of the Sea Beasts here were Sovereigns!

    Trying to fight back against a Sovereign?

    Were they kidding?

    And the Heaven-Swallowing Mayfly was clearly extremely well-suited forrge scale battles, as numbers werepletely ineffective against it. No matter how many Origin Qi Schrs they threw at it, it would just swallow them all up.

    A few of the Origin Qi Schrs couldn¡¯t resist any longer and ¡°fell¡±, howling with despair as they did so.

    There were also some Origin Qi Schrs who attempted to attack before they were devoured, but any of the attacks aimed at the Mayfly simply went into its giant mouth before disappearing without a trace.

    Just as they were about to be swallowed up, time suddenly seemed to freeze for just a moment.

    The dozens of Origin Qi Schrs in ¡°freefall¡± suddenly came to a standstill.

    Immediately afterwards, a violent, muffled explosion could be heard.

    This explosion, however, was not intended to attack the Mayfly, because there was no lightning, only an explosion of sound.

    Even so, it was this explosion that caused the Heaven-Swallowing Mayfly to close its mouth slightly.

    Next, a string of explosions could be heard. The Heaven-Swallowing Mayfly seemed to have an extremely strong adverse reaction to these explosions and immediately shot off into the distance.

    Its abilities of flight were also dependent on this gravitational force. It flew off into the distance like a shooting star.

    Finally, the person who was attacking it revealed themselves - it was Su Chen.

    ¡°Trying to run?¡± Su Chen harrumphed as he prepared to pursue.

    Others might be afraid of a Sovereign, but Su Chen wasn¡¯t. He was strong enough, and he had done his homework. The Heaven-Swallowing Mayfly was good againstrge groups of weak soldiers, but its ability to deal with a strong opponent was very mediocre. Most importantly, it was afraid of the sound of explosions.

    Su Chen was ready to give chase to the fleeing Mayfly.

    Unexpectedly, he had only taken a step when he felt a powerful gravitational pull hold him in ce.

    Not only so, but the Origin Qi Schrs around him also began to fly in his direction.

    This time, the Mayfly had turned Su Chen into the center of gravitational pull.

    Not only so, but it had also simultaneously created another gravitational center.

    Tens of thousands of Origin Qi Schrs were being drawn to Su Chen even as he himself found it impossible to escape. The two fields of gravity were ced in different directions, making it impossible for Su Chen to even try to catch up it.

    ¡°You really want to y?¡± Su Chen was getting fired up.

    As he watched the Origin Qi Schrs hurtling in his direction, there was nothing Su Chen could do but forcefully shove his arms out in opposite directions. ¡°Open!¡±

    A violent surge of energy burst forth from his palms, keeping all of those Origin Qi Schrs from mming into him.

    At that moment, however, ripples appeared not far away yet again.

    Yet another massive creature was beginning to surface......

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 37: Abyss 2

    Chapter 37: Abyss (2)

    This time, a flower appeared from the water¡¯s surface.

    This flower was asrge as a mountain as it slowly lifted itself from the water. Its petals unfurledyer afteryer. As the soldiers watched the flower inexorably bloom, the soldiers felt their vision blur as they uncontrobly began to fly towards it.

    ¡°Don¡¯t look at the flower!¡± Su Chen barked.

    His consciousness power was far greater than most people¡¯s, so he was able to immediately discern that this strange flower was using a bewitching technique. However, the extent and scope on which its bewitching technique operated was truly astonishing.

    His roar was able to temporarily break the flower¡¯s bewitching grip on the soldiers, but they only paused for a brief moment before continuing to advance. Obviously, he was incapable ofpletely breaking the soldiers from their reverie.

    When Su Chen saw this, he harrumphed and said, ¡°Fine. If that¡¯s the case, then why don¡¯t you let me know how this feels.¡±

    He gestured, and a lightning bolt appeared in his hand. It was his Lightning Execution Theurgy Art.

    Large quantities of lightning energy began to gather in Su Chen¡¯s hand, gradually condensing into a blustering wave of energy. Su Chenpressed it to its absolute limit before he allowed the lightning to form into a dragon¡¯s shape.

    He unleashed the lightning dragon with a simple gesture. ¡°Go!¡±

    The lightning dragon seemed to roar as it crackled through the sky, aiming right for the center of that massive flower.

    By now, the entranced soldiers had drawn quite close to the ¡°flower.¡± The flower opened its giant mouth, making it obvious that its ¡°petals¡± were not petals but rather sharp des that were constantly revolving, creating the illusion that it was perpetually blooming.

    And these revolving des were just waiting for the soldiers to get a bit closer so that they could slice the soldiers into shreds.

    At that moment, the lightning dragon mmed into the flower¡¯s petal des.

    Boom!

    A violent explosion rang out, and the powerful shockwaves sent the soldiers flying backwards.

    At the same time, the demonic flower howled piercingly.

    When the blinding light faded, most of the flower had been charred to a crisp. At the center of the flower, there was a spider¡¯s head, from which was flowing a purplish-ck liquid. The spider howled at Su Chen angrily.

    However, this howl had lost its bewitching properties due to its injuries.

    ¡°That¡¯s more like it,¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    Su Chen¡¯s Lightning Execution Theurgy Art was extremely powerful. Earlier, it had managed to incapacitate a Demonic Emperor in one blow, and even though it wasn¡¯t as effective against a Sovereign, it would still do damage. Now, it appeared that the effect was even greater than he had predicted.

    The Sovereign had been wounded quite significantly.

    This Beast was a Sovereign! The fact that Su Chen could wound a Sovereign to that degree in one attack was impressive in its own right.

    When the soldiers realized that they too were qualified to learn the Sect Master¡¯s cultivation techniques, and that they might be able to reach this level in the future as well, their hearts were filled with anticipation.

    This was the ultimate goal of the Boundless Sect. All of Su Chen¡¯s knowledge would eventually be passed down to his disciples, allowing the Boundless Sect¡¯s strength to significantly increase.

    "Hiss!" The spider screeched as it began to furiously charge in Su Chen¡¯s direction.

    However, without its bewitching abilities, none of the soldiers were afraid of it.

    In a frontal confrontation, Su Chen¡¯s strength was obviously somewhatcking. Even though his Lightning Execution Theurgy Art was incredibly powerful, it expended too much energy, and it took simply too long to cast.

    However, there was no way that a single person¡¯s firepower couldpare to that of tens of thousands of soldiers.

    Su Chen¡¯s main responsibility was to handle exceptionally disruptive and strange situations, like when the Mayfly had altered the direction of gravity or when this strange spider-flower had bewitched the soldiers. The soldiers, naturally, were then responsible for following up after Su Chen with their unrivaled firepower.

    This was the best way for the fleet to apply its strength.

    As thousands of Origin Skills mmed into the demonic flower, it screeched in pain and turned to run.

    But just as it started moving, another voice spoke out. ¡°You¡¯re not going anywhere.¡±

    A massive hand descended from the sky, smashing into the demonic flower and swatting it backwards. Zhong Zhenjun had finally made his move.

    Of course, Zhong Zhenjun was not capable of taking on a Sovereign on his own. However, he knew exactly when to strike while conserving still most of his energy. The demonic flower¡¯s retreat was stopped before it even began.

    It wailed and howled bitterly under the continued barrage of attacks.

    At that moment, three more columns of water suddenly appeared off on the horizon.

    Clearly, three more Sovereigns had sensed the disturbance and were quickly homing onto their location.

    The Abyss was the territory of the Sovereigns. It was possible to run into a Sovereign at any time and ce here.

    The Abyss was, in some sense, their home. It was only natural that noisy intruders would attract their attention.

    And soon after that, even more columns of water appeared, until it felt like seawater was perpetually hanging in the air.

    The terrifying amount of pressure caused everyone¡¯s hearts to involuntarily tremble.

    Su Chen knew that there was no time to waste. He created a clone and then called out, ¡°Qingluo, to me!¡±

    Qingluo flew into the air.

    The two of them gripped each other¡¯s hand tightly as they smiled lovingly at each other. Then, they flew off towards the oing Sovereigns.

    The demonic flower-spider was still shrieking and writhing in pain as it bore the brunt of the fleet¡¯s attack.

    Su Chen and Gu Qingluo flew by it without even a second nce.

    Their goal was not to kill these Sovereigns, but rather to gather information about the Deep Sea Sorrow. If they couldn¡¯t aplish this goal, then their expedition would be a failure regardless of how many Sovereigns they killed.

    As such, after ensuring that the soldiers had established a stable formation, the two of them began to fly towards the purported location of the Deep Sea Sorrow. This location was easy to confirm, as it was naturally where the Sovereigns were the most concentrated.

    As they did so, however,rge numbers of Sovereigns began to surge in their direction.

    The pair drew closer and closer. Just as they were about to collide, Gu Qingluo spread her arms out and unleashed the full aura of her Shining Dragon Bloodline.

    This time, she immediately started at sixty percent bloodline purity. The image of the Shining Dragon behind her back was, at this point, so tangible that it was all but physically present. It charged through the clouds, raking the ground beneath it asunder with its ws and killing countless smaller Sea Beasts that had happened to be in the area.

    A sixty percent bloodline purity was enough to instill fear into even the hearts of Sovereigns. None of them dared to get any closer to the Shining Dragon hovering in the air.

    This was the might and majesty of a Shining Dragon. Its appearance immediately subdued the Sovereigns and their wild, unrestrained pressure.

    At the same time, Su Chen also sprang into action. He pulled out a round disk and briefly fiddled with it before it began to emit a warm light.

    Su Chen tossed the disk into the water, where it slowly sank down before very quickly fading from view.

    This Origin Formation Disk was designed to probe its surroundings for the Deep Sea Sorrow. It could detect, record, and then send the fluctuations in the area to Su Chen, giving him ess to this critical data.

    After taking care of this matter, the mission¡¯s primary objective would beplete.

    This was why Su Chen had said that he only needed them to buy him three seconds¡¯ time once he got close to the Deep Sea Sorrow.

    Yes, this matter would really only take him three seconds.

    But after taking care of this matter, Su Chen nced at Gu Qingluo and found that she was more than capable of holding on for some more time. He asked, ¡°Are you doing alright?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine!¡± Gu Qingluo replied loudly.

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll do a bit more.¡± Su Chen pulled out another item, a sealed crystal this time, and formed some hand seals over it. He then nced at the Sovereigns off in the distance, who were currently still locked in a standoff with Gu Qingluo. They didn¡¯t dare to advance any further, but they were also unwilling topletely retreat.

    The staggering strength of all these Sovereigns put a great deal of pressure on Gu Qingluo. All she could do was endure as best as she could.

    Su Chen knew that he didn¡¯t have much time.

    He cast his gaze across the gathered Sovereigns in a circle before finally choosing a suitable target.

    ¡°Hold on for just a bit longer!¡± he called out as he suddenly leapt towards his target.

    He had chosen a giant shark Sovereign. Its body was covered in razor-sharp spikes, giving it an incredibly fierce look. Obviously, its could demolish fortifications with a shake of its body.

    Su Chen charged towards his chosen target, drawing a de as he did so.

    The Lightless de.

    Golden light began to flow over the surface of the Lightless de, forming a giant sword ?¡ª the Flowing Gold de.

    This weapon, which had been fed and tempered by an incredible amount of precious metals, was incredibly threatening because itbined the strength of an Origin Tool and an Arcana Technique.

    As soon as it appeared, Su Chen unleashed a shockingly powerful attack.

    The sword cleaved through the air!

    When the Flowing Gold de touched the shark¡¯s head, it cut through it like a knife through tofu.

    ¡°ROAR!¡± the shark howled in pain.

    Even though it was still somewhat cowed by the might of the Shining Dragon, the Sovereign was still infuriated at suffering an injury. The spikes on its back suddenly shot out like long spears, aimed at Su Chen.

    ¡°Stay!¡± Su Chen barked at the giant shark.

    Even though Su Chen was merely a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator, hisprehension of Arcana Techniques had already reached the Tenth Ring level. When he attacked the giant shark with a Tenth Ring consciousness Arcana Technique, even the giant shark reeled for just a moment.

    An instantter, Su Chen used Whitetower Teleportation to appear on the giant shark¡¯s back.

    He stuffed the crystal in his hand into the shark¡¯s wound, cast a recovery Origin Skill so that the wound would quickly close up, and then flew off.

    The shark had managed to shake itself free from its daze at that moment, and it continued to shoot its long bone spikes at Su Chen.

    Su Chen twisted the Flowing Gold de, using the t side of its de to block the oing spears.

    However, the Sovereign¡¯s attack was incredibly ferocious and fearsome, and the force of the impacts sent Su Chen flying into the air.

    Even so, that was exactly what Su Chen wanted.

    As he hurtled through the air, Su Chen flipped over a few times to stabilize his positioning before reappearing precisely at Gu Qingluo¡¯s side.

    ¡°How did it go?¡± Gu Qingluo asked loudly.

    ¡°Sess!¡± Su Chen replied with augh.

    ¡°Then let¡¯s return,¡± Gu Qingluo said, her expression pale as she spat out a mouthful of blood.

    She had obviously reached her limit. There were nearly a hundred Sovereigns gathered in this area, and even though they weren¡¯tpeting in terms of direct strength, the immense pressure was impossible for Gu Qingluo to fully resist.

    Now that her mission waspleted, Gu Qingluo could rx her consciousness, which caused the wave of pressure emanating from the Sovereigns to finally roll over her, immediately wounding her.

    Su Chen grabbed Gu Qingluo before she even began to fall.

    Boom!

    Without Gu Qingluo suppressing them, the Sovereigns immediately began to churn up massive waves that bore down upon Su Chen.

    The destructive potential of these waves was staggering. If any human city were their way, it would have been obliterated.

    However, just as these waves were about to crash into Su Chen, he and Gu Qingluo disappeared into thin air.

    They almost immediately reappeared in the location that they had been in before they set out.

    The fleet had just exterminated the demonic flower and were reaping the spoils.

    Su Chen appeared out of thin air and immediately began to fall. Thankfully, Li Chongshan was there to catch him. ¡°Sect Master!¡±

    ¡°The mission has been aplished. Let¡¯s get out of here!¡± Su Chen said as he spat out a mouthful of blood.

    At this point, his Light Shaking Phantom allowed him to take someone with him, but the physical toll that took on him was quite severe as well.

    ¡°Retreat immediately!¡± Li Chongshan roared.

    From the moment they first stepped foot in the Abyss, they hadn¡¯t even been here for more than ten minutes, but they were going to leave now.

    Just as Su Chen had predicted, their expedition was simple and had been executed without a hitch.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 38: The Secret of the Abyss

    Chapter 38: The Secret of the Abyss

    Following Su Chen¡¯smand, all of the soldiers simultaneously began to retreat back to the vortex.

    Origin Qi Schrs shot out of the turbulent waters of the sea and onto boats that had been waiting for them to return one after another.

    There were no greetings or conversations. As soon as a boat was full, it would immediately leave without dy.

    Not long after all the boats left the Abyss, Sovereigns also began to emerge from the vortex.

    However, this wasn¡¯t a problem for the Boundless Sect.

    History repeated itself once again ?¡ª the Boundless Sect¡¯s cultivators¡¯ unified might blocked the exit of the Abyss and prevented the Sovereigns inside from emerging. Only when the boats were long gone did they unleash a final restrictive of Origin Energy before retreating.

    These immensely powerful Sovereigns could only howl angrily at their enemies as they watched them fly away.

    Even so, no amount of anger was going to do anything.

    The Boundless Sect had used this method two years ago to handle them, and the same tactic was still effective two yearster.

    And the Boundless Sect had even gotten stronger in the past two years as well.

    The Boundless Sect had gained a few more bloodline-less Spirit Burning Realm cultivators and even more Light Shaking Realm cultivators.

    A total of fifty thousand Boundless Sect disciples hade on this expedition. If there were twelve thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators among them, then that meant that there were thirty-eight thousand who were not at that realm.

    These people were training to reach the Light Shaking Realm, and would also begin to break through as time had passed.

    During this two year period, nearly two thousand of these disciples had stepped into the Light Shaking Realm, brining the total number to fourteen thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators.

    Zhong Zhenjun and the others were amazed by the sheer number of Light Shaking Realm cultivators as well as the rate at which they appeared.

    Unfortunately, Su Chen had made his stance quite clear ?¡ª with the agreement he had with the nobles in ce, the only way to cultivate the fourth level of the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques was to join the Boundless Sect.

    Apparently, there were quite a few members of the ckwater Corps who had secretly contacted the Boundless Sect and asked to join. If it weren¡¯t for the Boundless Sect giving their allies face, then they probably would have already poached all of the ckwater Corps and Subdued Sea Branch¡¯s members.

    In any case, the Boundless Sect¡¯s strength had dramatically risen in the past two years. When their additional experience in dealing with Sovereigns was factored in, then it was obvious why locking down the exit to the Abyss was a piece of cake to them.

    Even though the escape had gone off without a hitch, everyone heaved a collective sigh of relief when they sessfully left the Abyss¡¯ territory.

    Even though their trip to the Abyss felt as if danger existed behind every turn, it had actually been rtively uneventful. Everything had gone as Su Chen had predicted.

    This was not very strange. After all, sess was built upon this uneventfulness.

    If every one of their expeditions was filled with danger and a constant stream of unexpected situations, then failure was almost an inevitability.

    Because truly sessful ns were meant to be executed without manyplications.

    Even so, the soldiers were filled with excitement.

    ¡°We did it! We made it back from the Abyss alive!¡± someoneughed loudly.

    Regardless of what had happened, they had made it out of the Abyss alive.

    This achievement alone was worthy of praise.

    ¡°Yes, and we even managed to kill a Sovereign! Hey, do you think that if we do this a couple more times that we¡¯ll kill off all the Sovereigns within the Abyss?¡± someone asked ambitiously.

    ¡°Forget about it. How could we get that lucky every time? Did you not see the Sect Master and his wife put their lives on the line to buy us time? Do you want them to do that for us every day?¡±

    When they realized that that ambition was nothing more than an empty dream, everyone couldn¡¯t help but sigh.

    ¡°But I¡¯m afraid that this situation is only going to be more and moremon,¡± one of the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples said.

    Hm? What was that supposed to mean?

    The disciple continued to exin, saying, ¡°If we want to nullify the Deep Sea Sorrow, then this single experience is not going to be enough. Our battle with the Abyss is going to be a long one fraught with repeated encounters and battles. Actually, them eventually fighting back is almost guaranteed. I believe that one day, we will definitely get to ughter Sovereigns again!¡±

    When everyone heard this, they silently fell deep into thought.

    Now that they were no longer in the stimting environment of the battlefield, their sense of caution and prudence had returned.

    The sails of the boats rippled with the wind.

    Forever Clear Ind gradually began toe into view.

    However, the soldiers didn¡¯t appear excited to return home at all. Instead, their expressions had be quite serious and heavy.

    Because they had realized that this was not the end of the battle, but rather just the beginning.

    Indeed, in theing days, the fleet would go on an expedition to the Abyss every so often.

    Most of the time, they would retreat soon after entering and wouldn¡¯t remain there for long, let alone venture deeper in.

    The only ones who probed deeper into the Abyss were Su Chen and Gu Qingluo.

    To Su Chen, the fleet¡¯s main mission was to hold their position around the vortex and stop Sovereigns from approaching when necessary. The rest of the objectives, however, depended solely on himself and Gu Qingluo. As a result, the fleet felt as if Su Chen¡¯s actions were shrouded in mystery.

    However, research was in and of itself a profound and mysterious matter.

    All the soldiers could do was hope that Su Chen¡¯s research proceeded as smoothly as possible.

    ¡°This really is hard to imagine.¡±

    Within the pce¡¯s researchboratory, Su Chen was staring at arge jar. Inside the jar was water that he had collected from the Abyss, along with a few normal fish.

    Light flowed across Su Chen¡¯s eyes as he observed a microscopic particle floating in the water in the jar.

    It was a strange kind of Origin Substance. Under normal circumstances, it would bepletely inert.

    But if any lifeforms got close to it, then the Origin Substance would rapidly infiltrate the lifeform¡¯s body. Su Chen watched as the bodies of the fish began to transform.

    These changes urred rtively slowly and, at the beginning, only on a very small scale. Su Chen had had a hard time noticing it at first.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that the fish had doubled in size after only three days, he wouldn¡¯t have devoted so much energy to observing the tank. Now, however, he was obsessed with discovering the properties of this Origin Substance.

    However, there was a problem ?¡ª Su Chen¡¯s microscopic eye could observe what was taking ce in the water, but not what was taking ce within the bodies of the fish themselves.

    As such, he could only surmise that this strange Origin Substance was responsible for the changes taking ce in the fishes¡¯ bodies, but he had no idea why or how these changes were taking ce.

    This required him to slowly take his time in observing these fish.

    More importantly, these microscopic Origin Substance particles would begin to degrade shortly after leaving the Abyss, which forced Su Chen to constantly return there to collect seawater ¡ª? even though his intentions were obviously not to just collect seawater.

    ¡°Regardless, this microscopic substance should be the true culprit that¡¯s elerating the growth of these creatures,¡± Lin Zuiliu said. ¡°As long as you figure out a way to destroy those substances, you should be able to stop the creatures living in the Abyss from growing faster than normal.¡±

    Su Chen, however, shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s not my goal.¡±

    Lin Zuiliu was taken aback. ¡°Aren¡¯t you here precisely because you want to solve the issue of the Deep Sea Sorrow for the Oceanids?¡±

    Su Chen smiled. ¡°Of course, but that doesn¡¯t mean that I necessarily have to go down the path you just described.¡±

    Lin Zuiliu didn¡¯t understand.

    In a spective tone, Su Chen said, ¡°Have you ever wondered whether these substances could be useful on humans?¡±

    ¡°On humans?¡± Lin Zuiliu was momentarily taken aback before his expression turned to one of shock. ¡°You want to use these on humans?¡±

    ¡°An Origin Substance that can elerate the growth process...... If used under the appropriate circumstances, it¡¯s possible that we humans will not need to cultivate nearly as bitterly in the future,¡± Su Chen expounded calmly.

    Lin Zuiliu found himself tongue-tied by Su Chen¡¯s ambition and didn¡¯t know what to say.

    Actually, he wasn¡¯t really a qualified ¡°researcher¡± because hecked the fundamental thought process necessary to perform science.

    Su Chen, of course, was different.

    Long before he had even discovered what the function of the Deep Sea Sorrow was, he had considered the possibility of using the Deep Sea Sorrow¡¯s technology to aid the human race.

    Even though Deep Sea Sorrow did consume one¡¯stent potential, no one would care once they reached the level of a Sovereign. And who could say whether even this drawback could be resolved by further research?

    If the ability of the Deep Sea Sorrow could be extended to affect humans, then it would have a colossal impact on the human race as a whole.

    As such, Su Chen had held onto this idea from the very beginning.

    As for a way to deal with the Deep Sea Sorrow?

    A solution had been revealed the moment the microscopic Origin Substance had been isted.

    It would be enough to just find a way to destroy this Origin Substance.

    And would it be hard to find a way to destroy this Origin Substance?

    Not at all!

    It had already been said that this kind of Origin Substance would break down by itself once it was brought out of the Abyss.

    This meant that this Origin Substance¡¯s existence depended on some extremely heavy restrictions. By applying the rightpound in the right ces, it would be easy to counteract the Deep Sea Sorrow¡¯s influence.

    Yes. Now that the secret behind the Sea Beasts¡¯ elerated growth had been discovered, Su Chen¡¯s research had moved into the expressne. Perhaps not long after, it would bepletely finished.

    However, Su Chen¡¯s n wouldplicate things for some time.

    After all, destroying and reappropriating were twopletely separate matters.

    Lin Zuiliu was quite surprised by Su Chen¡¯s ambition. ¡°You want to use something designed for Sea Beasts on a human? I don¡¯t know what to say anymore, Su Chen.¡±

    Su Chen, however, replied, ¡°It¡¯s entirely possible that this thing was originally designed to be used on someone from the very beginning.¡±

    What?

    Lin Zuiliu was taken aback by this possibility.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Patelocke, why don¡¯t you exin.¡±

    Patelocke¡¯s voice immediately filled the room. ¡°There were many different ambitious ideas that came about during the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s age. They included immortality, strengthening one¡¯s physical body, memory transfer, lifeform control, and many more. And one of these ideas was life-form evolution.¡±

    Patelocke wasn¡¯t actually in the researchb; his soul was still in Liaoye Country with the Zhu n. Since he was the only one capable ofmunicating over an unlimited distance, leaving him in human territory made it easier to spread and collect information.

    In any case, it didn¡¯t matter where Patelocke was because he couldmunicate with Su Chen from anywhere.

    Lin Zuiliu had talked with Patelocke before, so he wasn¡¯t surprised by Patelocke¡¯s sudden voice. However, Patelocke¡¯s words did surprise him. ¡°Are you saying that the Arcana Kingdom was in fact able to realize that idea?¡±

    Patelocke patiently exined, ¡°An existence such as this Origin Substance, which cannot survive in the outside world and is only present in the Abyss, cannot be of natural origins. It¡¯s extremely likely that someone artificially synthesized it. As far as I¡¯m aware, a few of the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s Arcana Masters specialized in this kind of research in the past, and they hoped to progress in the field of life-form evolution. Apparently, they achieved some sess. It would have been nearly impossible for just Corniga alone to develop such an incredible machine as the Deep Sea Sorrow. But if he was able to stand on the shoulders of others before him and improve off of their work, then sess would not be outside the realm of possibility.¡±

    ¡°So......¡±

    ¡°Most likely, the Arcana Kingdom developed an evolutionary advancement technology that ended up being a failure,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°And what we need to do is return it to its original state so that it bes a sess again.¡±

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 39: Ten Thousand Swords Mountain in Danger

    Chapter 39: Ten Thousand Swords Mountain in Danger

    A gentle morning breeze blew through the air, warmly caressing the faces of anyone who was outside.

    Su Chen was standing on one of the pce¡¯s balconies, gazing off into the distance. Rippling white sails could be seen everywhere as the fleet¡¯s boats returned to harbor. The air was filled with celebratory sounds andughter.

    ¡°The Sect Master finally has some time to gaze at the scenery?¡±

    A clear voice jokingly called out to him from behind.

    Su Chen knew who it was without even turning around. He chuckled andnguidly replied, ¡°I spent the entire night doing experiments. I failed 1238 times, and felt a bit tired at the end. That¡¯s why I came out to take a break. I didn¡¯t expect Princess to catch me cking off.¡±

    Princess Westminster walked over to Su Chen. ¡°How could I everin about the Sect Master beingzy? What the Sect Master has done is already shocking enough, but I would never say that I ever expected us to reach this point.¡±

    ¡°This point¡± was naturally referring to their entering the Abyss, which had broken its reputation as a no-mansnd.

    Su Chen, however, just shook his head. ¡°Being able to enter and exit the Abyss at will is not the goal. We still need to figure out a way to deal with the Deep Sea Sorrow, or perhaps even learn to use it for our own purposes.¡±

    ¡°Sect Master Su, are you trying to appropriate it for your own purposes?¡± Princess Westminster stared fixedly at Su Chen.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t try to hide anything from her. ¡°If we can extract the essence of this item, which is capable of elerating the growth of Sea Beasts, and then improve it, the resulting product should affect humans as well.¡±

    ¡°Sect Master Su, you a truly a blessing to the entire human race. Unfortunately, not all humans seem to think that this is the case,¡± Princess Westminster sighed regretfully.

    Su Chen frowned. ¡°You seem to be trying to say something.¡±

    ¡°We received word a few days ago that there are some people who are intent on harming you, Sect Master Su.¡±

    ¡°There are many people who

    want to harm me.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s different this time! They aren¡¯t intending on attacking Sect Master directly ?¡ª rather, they want to attack the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain......¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes glittered.

    Currently, most of the Boundless Sect¡¯s elites had left the sect, and the Boundless Sect was quite empty as a result. It seemed like someone had finally gotten antsy enough to try to take advantage of this opportunity to attack the sect itself.

    He didn¡¯t bother asking Princess Westminster where she had heard such news. After all, the Oceanids were quite influential and powerful, and it was inconceivable for them to not have their own information-gatheringworks. On the other hand, the Zhu n hadn¡¯t heard about this at all. But now that the rtionship between Su Chen and the Zhu n was out in the open, it was only natural that Su Chen¡¯s enemies would take extra care to prevent sensitive information from falling into the Zhu n¡¯s ears. They were already being very polite by not attacking the Zhu n itself.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Su Chen asked, ¡°Is Jiang Jusheng the one stirring up trouble?¡±

    Westminster chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re quite sharp! Unfortunately, it¡¯s not just him ?¡ª there are some people from Long Sang who are pushing for this as well. Also, it¡¯s highly likely that Li Wuyi is involved.¡±

    ¡°Li Wuyi?¡± Su Chen was stunned. ¡°He shouldn¡¯t be that short-sighted of a person. Why would he do something like this?¡±

    ¡°Sometimes, it¡¯s not about whether you¡¯re being short-sighted or not. He probably has some hidden agendas of his own.¡±

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but think of Li Daohong.

    Was Li Wuyi ultimately unable to forgive him for killing his son?

    Or was there another reason?

    Su Chen suddenly thought of the Astral that had escaped earlier.

    A theory gradually began to form in his head.

    Then, Su Chen cracked a smile.

    When Westminster saw that Su Chen seemed more happy than worried, she was taken aback. ¡°Sect Master Su?¡±

    The Oceanids had debated for a long time about whether they should notify Su Chen of this attack on his sect, as they were extremely worried that Su Chen might leave the Abyss as a result.

    In the end, it was Westminster who believed that sincerity was the most important basis for an alliance. Su Chen would very likely hold it against them in the future if they concealed this fact from him.

    Even though Su Chen would probably still continue to cooperate with them due to his need for Neptune¡¯s Eye, it would still affect their rtionship. Westminster had decided to notify Su Chen in order to maintain good rtions with him.

    The Oceanids, who lived under constant pressure due to the Abyss, valued military strength over political maneuvers and good rtions with allies over schemes. This was why they were particrly prudent in how they handled their rtionship with Su Chen, all so that he wouldn¡¯t get the wrong idea.

    Even so, Westminster was still filled with anxiety.

    She didn¡¯t expect, however, that Su Chen would respond in this way to her warning.

    He calmly said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m justughing because my enemies have made a serious mistake. Even though Ten Thousand Swords Mountain may seem like the foundation of my sect, I am actually the real foundation, along with the sect¡¯s elite disciples. So what if they are able to destroy an empty nest? Not to mention...... They might not even win.¡±

    ¡°They might not win?¡± Westminster was stunned.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Their biggest mistake was that they shouldn¡¯t have waited for two years before attacking.¡±

    Fifty thousand of the Boundless Sect¡¯s eighty thousand disciples hade on this expedition, which meant that thirty thousand had been left behind.

    If Su Chen had gained two thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators here in two years, then what had happened back at Ten Thousand Swords Mountain?

    They had gained a thousand or so as well.

    Now that they were no longer restricted by bloodlines, Boundless Sect disciples began to sprout everywhere like weeds, growing hardily and incessantly.

    No one knew the situation of the sect quite like Su Chen.

    He knew that, as long as they were given enough time, they were more than strong enough to create a miracle.

    As for now, his most important task was to give them a warning ahead of time.

    Thankfully, Patelocke was still with the Zhu n. This meant that Su Chen would be able to transmit this information to the Boundless Sect in less than a minute.

    Within the Boundless Sect.

    Guo Wenchang was the only one of the senior Boundless Sect members that had remained behind.

    He had originally been a civics official, but because he had been born in a Bloodline Nobility n, he had also be an Origin Qi Schr once his bloodline activated.

    Guo Wenchang was, by nature, quitezy. He preferred to study rather than fight, so even though he was an Origin Qi Schr, he was quite reluctant to cultivate single-mindedly.

    However, fate had put him into the Heavenly MIght Battalion, where he couldn¡¯t escape from his sses or his cultivation, which was how he had reached this point. However, because he hated fighting, his strength amongst the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s seven leaders was the weakest. Even so, Guo Wenchang didn¡¯t mind it in the slightest. His ambitionsy elsewhere; cultivating was a necessity for a soldier, but if possible, he would prefer to be a bureaucratic official.

    As such, he had been the one keeping the former Heavenly Might Battalion in check, and now the current Boundless Sect.

    There were three people who were critical to the Boundless Sect¡¯s development. Su Chen was naturally the first. As the inventor of the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques and the Sect Master, the disciples of the sect worshipped him. The second was Li Chongshan. As a seasonedmander, he ran a tight ship and kept the disciples in line. If the sect¡¯s disciples adored Su Chen, then they definitely feared Li Chongshan, all of them dreading angering him. And during this initial period of growth, strict supervision was an absolute necessity. The third was naturally Guo Wenchang. Guo Wenchang was not as feared as Li Chongshan, but he was responsible for managing all the affairs of the sect, whether great or small. Su Chen and Li Chongshan were only responsible for the bigger picture while Guo Wenchang enjoyed handling the remaining annoying small details.

    It could be said that Guo Wenchang was like the Boundless Sect¡¯s steward. Without him, many things would be much more inconvenient.

    After Su Chen left with the troops, Guo Wenchang had been put in charge of defending the sect. Keeping house had basically be his entire job.

    Guo Wenchang¡¯s talents allowed him to keep the Boundless Sect neat and tidy.

    Today, Guo Wenchang was reading one of the reports that had been delivered to him as he sipped on a cup of tea.

    One of the sect¡¯s disciples hurried inside. ¡°Ministry Chief, we¡¯ve received an urgent notice from the Zhu n.¡±

    ¡°Bring it here.¡±

    A jade disk was handed to Guo Wenchang, and words began to float across its surface. Guo Wenchang¡¯s gaze immediately contracted as he coldly said, ¡°How arrogant! Go call Tuohai and the others over.¡±

    A momentter, Guo Wenchang¡¯s hall was filled with people, all of them disciples that showed particrly promising potential in the past few years.

    ¡°The Sect Master has sent word to us that Water Sheen and Long Sang are nning on attacking Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, and it is very possible that Liaoye is involved as well. What do you all think?¡± Guo Wenchang immediately got to the heart of the matter.

    ¡°Three countries? Joining forces to attack us? Is this real?¡± Everyone was badly startled and began to animatedly discuss amongst themselves.

    ¡°What did the Sect Master say about such an important situation?¡± someone asked. Clearly, they were at a loss for what to do.

    Guo Wenchang replied, ¡°The Sect Master said the Abyss is too far, and that a huge battle is about to break out there. He might not be able to send troops back to reinforce us, so we will need to think of a solution on our own. He believes in our strength, and he will ept any decisions that we make.¡±

    When everyone heard this, they understood Su Chen¡¯s intentions.

    A burly man with a face full of hair stood up and resolutely said, ¡°Does it even need to be said? We¡¯ll fight them to the death!¡±

    His name was Yan Tuohai, one of Guo Wenchang¡¯s personal disciples. Though he seemed somewhat old, he was actually quite young; it was just that his facial hair gave him a much more mature appearance.

    ¡°We cannot bear the might of three countries all on our own. Getting into a direct confrontation with them is a bit of an overextension,¡± someone countered.

    ¡°You say that it¡¯s three countries at once, but they are merely sending some soldiers our way. You don¡¯t really think that their emperors would really personally show up, right?¡± said a pale-skinned schr. His name was Ju Lang. Back then, he had merely been a schr with an ambition to be a renowned official. However, his eventual disillusionment with the governmental official system had caused him to turn to cultivation. However, because he was amoner without a bloodline, cultivating was bitterly difficult for him.

    Back in the day, he had been one of the first people to turn to the Boundless Sect for help, and he had discovered his hidden potential for cultivation as a result. The rate at which he absorbed Origin Energy was faster than most, and he learned incredibly quickly. He was one of the first Origin Qi Schrs to reach the Light Shaking Realm, and also one of the few Light Shaking Realm cultivators who hadn¡¯t gone on this expedition with the Boundless Sect.

    Because he was also a former bureaucratic official with a talent for managerial duties, he had been left behind to apany and assist Guo Wenchang.

    ¡°Even if it isn¡¯t their entire army, we might still not be able to handle them if they dare toe. I think that relocating is our best chance of sess,¡± another one of the rity Hall¡¯s disciples said.

    ¡°You mean escaping?¡± Yan Tuohai¡¯s tone immediately became one of disgust.

    ¡°Escaping? No, this is relocating. Relocating! Our responsibility is to protect the sect and its treasures. If we try and fight back, then who will bear the responsibilities of the lives of the thirty thousand disciples here? Who will guard the countless resources that the sect has in its possession right now? Who will continue to pass down the cultivation techniques?¡±

    The disciples began to quarrel amongst one another.

    Escape, fight, request reinforcements ?¡ª all kinds of ideas, besides surrendering, were proposed.

    Each of them had their own way of looking at the situation and thought processes, and those who wanted to escape weren¡¯t necessarily cowards. It was possible that they just had more foresight or sympathy for their fellow sect members. On the other hand, those who wanted to fight might not necessarily be brave, just hotheaded and impulsive. Both sides began to ardently discuss with one another, but Guo Wenchang was still the one who held the ultimate decision-making power.

    Guo Wenchang remained silent, not saying a single word.

    After a long time.

    He said, ¡°The Sect Master instructed me to manage the sect¡¯s responsibilities in his ce, so I don¡¯t dare to make a mistake. I am a bureaucratic official, so I hate battle, and I don¡¯t like fighting even though I have a cultivation base. However, fate is always drawing me into battle again and again. Perhaps this is just our fate ?¡ª the fate of men, the fate of soldiers...... One way or another, we will fulfill our duties on the battlefield. While the soldiers are putting their lives at risk on the front lines, we are sitting here doing nothing but calmly cultivating and resting. When a triales, how should we respond? Should we escape? Or should we face it head-on?¡±

    He lifted his head to look at everyone. ¡°I am a bureaucratic official, and I hate fighting. But if a battle heads my way, I will not show weakness.¡±

    ¡°We will bravely face our opponents and drive them back. As for anyone who trespasses on our territory...... Kill them all!¡±

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 40: Arrival

    Chapter 40: Arrival

    Shen Junan towered in the air, floating forwards atop a bed of clouds.

    His expression was firm and resolute.

    He had personally requested to take on this mission, and the Crown Prince had shown him favor by giving him this opportunity. It was only natural that he was determined to make the most of it.

    He turned around and saw that his subordinates were still keeping up with him, so he said, ¡°Everyone, let¡¯s move a little faster. Our goal is to reach the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain before nightfall.¡±

    ¡°Are we going to attack them at night?¡± Lu Xiwen asked carefully.

    Shen Junan said cockily, ¡°Speed is of utmost importance in war.¡±

    He had never really read many wartime strategy books before, so he didn¡¯t really know why he needed to be speedy or why it was important. All he knew was that the faster they attacked, the better.

    Lu Xiwen, on the other hand, was much more logical. However, it was apparent to him that Shen Junan was in no mood to listen, so he could only sigh and remain silent, following closely behind.

    Even though the three countries were supposedly carrying out a joint operation, Long Sang were still the ones primarily responsible for advancing the front.

    Jiang Jusheng was being watched by the Oceanids and couldn¡¯t do as he pleased. Also, the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain wasn¡¯t near Water Sheen, so all he dared to do was fan the mes a little. He had sent a few Origin Qi Schrs over in a disy of solidarity, but these people were all clearly not from the imperial family.

    Li Wuyi was doing even less. His job was to keep the Zhu n on a leash and to make sure that they wouldn¡¯t send reinforcements to the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain.

    He had also sent a few Origin Qi Schrs over, but not a single one of them was at the Light Shaking Realm. The squad¡¯s leader was merely a Yang Opening Realm cultivator. What did they count for?

    The two other countries were obviously hoping just to watch the trouble that was about to ensue - there was no point in sending the armies of their respective countries out to deal with a Ten Thousand Swords Mountain that was rtively deserted. If any of the three countries were serious, they would be able topletely clean out the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain.

    This was why the other two countries hadn¡¯t bothered to send out much of a force. Long Sang Country, however, was clearly investing big-time.

    The leader, Shen Junan, was a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator.

    Cultivators at the Thought Manifestation Realm were almost at the very top. After all, the number of Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators amongst the human race was easily countable. Apart from the twelve seemingly immortal Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators amongst the Gu n, the only other Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators were the various emperors of the countries.

    The emperors would never personally appear on the battlefield, so it was basically true that Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators were able to run rampant.

    A single one of them was equivalent in strength to an army with tens of thousands of soldiers.

    Apart from Shen Junan, Long Sang had also sent twelve Spirit Burning Realm cultivators, fifty-six Light Shaking Realm cultivators, and nearly three thousand Imperial Guards. These were the Crown Prince¡¯s personal soldiers. It was obvious that the Crown Prince was being extremely decisive.

    Yes, even though Jiang Jusheng had been responsible for inciting this situation in the first ce, Long Sang¡¯s Crown Prince Lin Wenjun had provided the major backing for this expedition.

    Su Chen had smacked Lin Wenjun¡¯s face quite hard with the matter of the Heavenly Might Battalion, resulting in him being stripped of his position as the Vice Commander of the Ravager Extermination Army. Instead, he had been demoted to a mere general of the twave Army.

    However, Lin Wenjun was still the Crown Prince. In the end, Lin Mengze hadn¡¯t taken that title away from him.

    Even though many people believed that the Crown Prince spot was going to be stripped from him sooner orter, they were all wrong.

    Because Lin Wenjun had turned his fortunes around!

    Not only was Lin Wenjun able to stabilize his backslide, but he even managed to crawl his way out of the twave Army and officially return to Long Coiling City. Now, he was even overseeing all of the soldiers in the entire country.

    Truly, the rollercoaster of life was hard to predict.

    Lin Wenjun had managed to rise to power again, and now his first priority was to teach Su Chen a lesson!

    Attack Ten Thousand Swords Mountain!

    He was going to repay Su Chen for everything that he had done.

    Shen Junan was determined to carry out the Crown Prince¡¯s will and bathe the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain in the blood of its disciples.

    The army advanced quickly, eventually reaching the city before sundown.

    Upon arriving, they realized that the formerly deste mountainous region had transformed dramatically.

    Thergest, central peak had a pce built on top of it now, the top of which extended into the clouds. The continuous chain of buildings surrounding it gave it an imposing impression far greater than they had expected.

    Shen Junan¡¯s eyes glowed with a strange light. ¡°How bold, to carry out suchrge-scale construction! Are they nning on starting a revolt?¡±

    In this period of time, carrying out suchrge-scale construction did indeed have some connections with starting a rebellion. After all, one imperial family ruled the country, and if this pce was more beautiful and extravagant than the imperial family¡¯s pce, Shen Junan¡¯s utterance would not have been too excessive.

    However, the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain was technically located at the intersection of the borders of three different countries, making it a no-man¡¯snd. The Boundless Sect had nearly eighty thousand disciples, so it was only natural that they took up lots of space and had built lots of houses here. In addition, because they were so high up, it was difficult for them to avoid having their buildings carry a somewhat saintly aura to them. Put inly, Shen Junan was basically looking for an excuse to attack.

    He was very happy to have found such a logical one, and he yelled, ¡°Everyone, do you see this? The Boundless Sect was supposed to be responsible for guarding the border, but they have taken advantage of the situation to enrich themselves and scheme against the imperial family. Their intention to create chaos is as in as day. Everyone, it is our duty to wipe out these bandits and ruffians once and for all!¡±

    Following Shen Junan¡¯smand, war chariots began to descend from the sky - Lin Wenjun¡¯s Imperial Guards.

    As the Crown Prince¡¯s personal troops, the Imperial Guards were treated quite well. They had been assigned a war chariot for every ten soldiers.

    War chariots were even higher-quality flying Origin Tools than Cloud-Piercing Shuttles. Not only were their flight capabilities much greater, but their might in battle was far greater as well. Each war chariot could be supplied with an Origin Energy barrier that protected the soldiers inside, but wouldn¡¯t prevent the soldiers from unleashing attacks through the barriers. In that sense, they were somewhat simr to Su Chen¡¯s Raging Sun Shuttle.

    And given how expensive the Raging Sun Shuttle was, it was easy to imagine just how costly these war chariots were.

    Even so, the Imperial Guards had been outfitted with three hundred of these war chariots.

    They gave no warning or advance notice. Once they arrived, the battle started.

    Shen Junan¡¯s military strategy reflected his personality - simple, direct, violent, and ruthless!

    The three hundred war chariots descended like three hundred shooting stars, each of them unleashing dozens of fireballs downwards. All of a sudden, it appeared as if fire was raining down from the sky.

    The Boundless Sect was obviously caught off-guard by this sudden attack and seemed to be defenseless. The fireballs mmed into the pce walls, which immediately caught fire. The sounds of panicked cries could be heard, but no one appeared to be ready to fight; instead, they were all calling to put out the fires.

    Only a few figures flew into the sky. The person leading the way roared, ¡°Who is it? Who dares to offend the Boundless Sect?¡±

    It was Guo Wenchang.

    ¡°We¡¯re here precisely to destroy the Boundless Sect!¡± Shen Junanughed loudly as he jabbed out with his finger.

    Following this finger jab, the skies seemed to darken as a powerful wave of killing intent washed over Guo Wenchang, causing his expression to shift. ¡°Thought Manifestation Realm?¡±

    At the Thought Manifestation Realm, cultivators had the power to bring illusory existences into reality. They could transform the Origin Energy around them into any object they could conceive of and use it in battle. Shen Junan¡¯s seemingly casual finger strike was actually infused with an extraordinary amount of energy. It was as if a Demonic Beast had suddenly shown up on the scene, preparing to unleash a ughter of epic proportions.

    Even though Guo Wenchang was already a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator, he was still an entire cultivation realm below Shen Junan. There was no way Guo Wenchang would dare to fight head-on against Shen Junan, so he could only pull out an item.

    The item was a small mirror that gradually began to grow. It perfectly blocked Shen Junan¡¯s finger strike, which mmed into the mirror but couldn¡¯t break through. Instead, the mirror glowed faintly, and Shen Junan found that his finger strike had actually been reflected back at him.

    Shen Junan was taken aback. ¡°Reflection Mirror?¡±

    Any Origin Tool that could reflect the attack of a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator needed to be at least a Second Grade Origin Tool.

    So Guo Wenchang, a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator, actually had a Grade Two Origin Tool.

    Most importantly, he was able to use it extremely smoothly and without interruption, meaning that it was highly likely he had some other treasures on him that he could use as well.

    He had heard for a long time that Su Chen had managed to store up quite a bit of wealth in the Boundless Sect in the past couple of years. Now, it appeared that that was indeed the truth.

    Shen Junan¡¯s eyes flickered with greed as he turned around and said, ¡°What are you all standing around for? Finish them off, and leave this leader of theirs to me!¡±

    As he spoke, he reached out to grab Guo Wenchang.

    So what if he had a Grade Two Origin Tool?

    The gap between a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator and a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator couldn¡¯t be bridged with just a Grade Two Origin Tool.

    Unexpectedly, when Guo Wenchang saw Shen Junan attack again, he immediately put away the Reflection Mirror. A cloud appeared immediately below his feet, whisking him away before Shen Junan was able to grab him.

    Shen Junan had seen clearly that Guo Wenchang was only able to dodge his attack because of that cloud beneath his feet. That cloud was probably also a precious treasure that raised his speed.

    But that was still not enough.

    Shen Junan howled fiercely withughter. ¡°Good, good, good! The more treasures you have, the happier I¡¯ll be!¡±

    As he spoke, his figure flickered, and he shot after Guo Wenchang in hot pursuit.

    Guo Wenchang made no attempt to stand his ground. He shot off into the distance by relying on the cloud beneath his feet, closely followed by Shen Junan. Shen Junan could tell that this person was probably the highest-status person that had remained in the Ten Thousands Sword Mountain, which also meant that his treasures were probably the most precious. If Shen Junan were able to capture him, all of his treasures would belong to him.

    As such, he remained locked on to Guo Wenchang, unwilling to let him go.

    Lu Xiwen followed closely behind. ¡°Commander Shen, don¡¯t chase after him any more! We still need your support to control the overall situation!¡±

    ¡°Get out of my way! What is there to support? Just rely on your own strength to kill them! These guys are a bunch of weaklings anyways,¡± Shen Junan said impatiently.

    To Shen Junan, the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain was like a treasury waiting to be plundered. There was no need for him to extend his soldiers any special support. It was also worth mentioning that his focus had always been on his cultivation, not on military strategy, since he had relied on his own cultivation base to achieve his current standing.

    This was why he appeared to not care in the slightest. His current priority was to capture Guo Wenchang and take all of his treasures. Then, he would return to the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain and plunder the rest.

    It was with this in mind that Shen Junan chased after Guo Wenchang mercilessly. But even though Guo Wenchang appeared weak, he had quite a wide variety of protective treasures at his disposal. Upon seeing that Shen Junan was closing in on him yet again, he pulled out a fan and swung it behind him. A powerful wave of mes surged forth from the fan.

    These mes were so fierce that even Shen Junan couldn¡¯t ignore them. He was forced to strike out with his palm to extinguish the mes, and Guo Wenchang took the opportunity to flee once again.

    Shen Wenjun wasn¡¯t discouraged in the slightest. Instead, his excitement only grew as he continued to pursue Guo Wenchang.

    Reflection Mirror, Sky Fleeing Cloud, Raging me Fan...... The more treasures Guo Wenchang brought out, the more delighted Shen Junan was, and the more intent he was on pursuing him. Slowly but surely, he had overextended himself without even realizing it.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 41: Dividing Troops

    At the same time that Shen Junan was preupied with pursuing Guo Wenchang, the situation near Ten Thousand Swords Mountain also unfolded.

    When Guo Wenchang had first appeared, there were a few other Boundless Sect disciples who had followed him into the air as well.

    ¡°Coincidentally,¡± there just happened to be twelve others with him.

    Each one of them possessed a few treasures of their own as well, and the twelve Spirit Burning Realm cultivators also ran off in pursuit of riches.

    Everything had urred so naturally that, in the blink of an eye, only the group of Light Shaking Realm cultivators remained at the original site.

    The remaining soldiers all nced at each other. All of their superiors had split up to chase after the choicest portions for themselves, so after only a moment¡¯s consideration, they decided to divide the rest of the spoils amongst themselves.

    Even though they would most likely still have to hand over most of what they plundered, they would still be able to make some money from it.

    Given how often Su Chen pulled off heists like these, it was high time that he got a taste of his own medicine.

    The attackers quickly descended, swooping down towards the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain like hungry vultures.

    At this moment, their war chariots were pounding away mercilessly at the mountain, throwing the cultivators there into disarray.

    However, when the attackersnded on the ground, they found that the scenery around them had drastically changed. Their opponents were not in disarray; instead, they had somehow gathered together and boxed them in on all sides.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples were standing in formation, facing off grimly against the invaders. There appeared to be a few thousand of them present.

    Illusion formation?

    Everyone was stunned.

    So what they had seen earlier was all an illusion?

    So the Boundless Sect had been prepared for their attack?

    However, when the soldiers realized that the strength of the troops they were facing was distinctly average, their fear and panic immediately disappeared.

    One of the younger defending cultivators hoisted the battle banner in his hand and fiercely shouted, ¡°Fight!¡±

    ¡°Fight!¡± all of the disciples responded vigorously.

    ¡°Weapons!¡± one of the Origin Qi Schrs in the lead yelled. All the other disciples drew their weapons, unleashing countless des, spears, swords, and battleaxes on their opponents as a unified whole.

    Even though these weapons were formed from Origin Energy, their destructive potential was staggering. They carved a vicious path through the opposing forces, wiping out any resistance in their way.

    The fifty Light Shaking Realm cultivators simultaneously began to revolve their strength as they barked, ¡°So even dogs dare to be so presumptuous!¡±

    Waves of energy surged as the fifty Light Shaking Realm cultivators attacked simultaneously, creating a vortex of death. The enemy¡¯s weapons were shattered in this fearsome vortex.

    But the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples didn¡¯t seem too worried. The youngmander leading them continued to issuemands. ¡°mes!¡±

    Next, the formation of cultivators unleashed a violent, raging wave of mes that dashed out in front of them.

    These Origin Skills, which were unleashed by a battalion of Origin Qi Schrs at once, would force even experts to take them seriously.

    Even so, the fifty Light Shaking Realm cultivators not only had quality but also quantity. Just this thousand soldier formation was not going to overwhelm them.

    These Light Shaking Realm cultivators nced at each other and chuckled as they unleashed a wave of wind that snuffed out the mes.

    One of the soldiers even said, ¡°They have quite a few sly tricks up their sleeves, but their strength is limited. What are these tricks going to do?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Let¡¯s not waste any more time and destroy these guys,¡± the others responded.

    The surprise that hade from being ambushed was beginning to fade.

    At that moment, however, the clouds dispersed as yet another group of soldiers appeared before their eyes.

    ¡°Another group? They¡¯re just delivering themselves into our hands now,¡± someone scoffed.

    ¡°Wait a moment. Something seems off about this group,¡± another said as they pointed at the oing soldiers.

    Everyone else quickly realized what was off about the group.

    The second group of soldiers also numbered at around a thousand, but their auras were much more extraordinary. It seemed that they were all at the Light Shaking Realm?

    How was this possible?

    It had to be another illusion technique.

    Yes, it had to!

    That was what everyone thought.

    An army of a few thousand Yang Opening and Blood Boiling Realm cultivators was pretty normal, but an army of a thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators was definitely abnormal.

    When the attackers¡¯ thoughts reached this point, they became confident that this new group of soldiers was merely an illusion.

    At this moment, the neers unleashed an attack.

    They were once again led by a single person, who jabbed his finger out at them. The thousand-man army attacked alongside him, and a wave of rampaging mes flew forth.

    This level of strength, which should have only belonged to someone at the Ultimate Emperor Realm, was actually manifested by a thousand person group of soldiers.

    However, this only strengthened the Long Sang Origin Qi Schrs¡¯ belief that this was all just an illusion.

    True Light Shaking Realm cultivators were free spirits. It was impossible for them to be this united, or for them to cooperate with each other to this degree.

    They were so confident that they didn¡¯t even attempt to defend themselves, treating this shocking wave of mes as nothing more than an illusion. As such, the end result was easily imaginable.

    A momentter, the roaring mes engulfed them.

    If the fifty Light Shaking Realm cultivators had attempted to run, then it probably wouldn¡¯t have been very easy for the newly emerged army to hit them all. After all, they were still seasoned Light Shaking Realm cultivators while the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples were rtively new to warfare. More importantly, running away would have wasted a lot of time.

    But reality was different. The fact that they had been tricked by an illusion technique earlier had left a shadow on their hearts. The fifty Light Shaking Realm cultivators made no attempt to dodge or defend themselves, resulting in them being ughtered almost immediately.

    These cultivators should have been the core strength of the invading forces, but a single moment¡¯spse in caution had resulted in them beingpletely obliterated. Even more tragically, the other Long Sang attackers had no idea that this had taken ce.

    The illusion formations set up around Ten Thousand Swords Mountain entirely concealed the ambushers¡¯ aura, making it so that anybody outside the formation would have no idea what was happening inside the formation. This gave the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples even more of a chance to mount a deadly counterattack.

    The three hundred war chariots were caught up in a ¡°people¡¯s war¡±[1. See

    for more information.] ?¡ª 18,000 of the Boundless Sect¡¯s Origin Qi Schrs utilized the terrain, Origin Formations, Origin Tools, medicinal pills, and other secret skills to resist the Imperial Guards¡¯ offensive push. The Light Shaking Realm cultivators weren¡¯t participating because they had more important targets to kill, and because they also saw this as an opportunity for the other disciples to temper themselves. Of course, to minimize losses, they had still ended up sending out thirty or so them to protect the disciples.

    As for the other Light Shaking Realm cultivators, they got into formation and prepared to ambush their opponents yet again.

    Even though the Boundless Sect had a thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators, almost all of them were newly ascended. The military strength of a peak Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator, twelve experienced Spirit Burning Realm cultivators, and fifty Light Shaking Realm cultivators was not to be underestimated. Even if they did win a straightforward fight, their losses would be great.

    As such, the best approach was to divide and conquer, and then wiping them out in one fell swoop when they were weakened enough.

    Even though this was an extremely old-fashioned tactic, it was still quite effective.

    Especially when their opponent¡¯s didn¡¯t know exactly how strong they were.

    After ughtering the fifty Light Shaking Realm cultivators, Yan Tuohai, who was leading the Boundless Sect¡¯s Light Shaking Realm disciples, said, ¡°Let¡¯s go and finish off those twelve Spirit Burning Realm cultivators as well.¡±

    The Light Shaking Realm cultivators then divided themselves into twelve groups and flew off in different directions, as the locations of where the bait would flee to had been decided beforehand. Each group of Light Shaking Realm cultivators had around eighty people in them.

    Usually, ten Light Shaking Realm cultivators were more than enough to handle a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator. Eighty was clearly overkill, so it wouldn¡¯t take them long to deal with their targets.

    Even so, no one wasted any time in sprinting to their destination at full speed.

    The most important factor in this battle was speed. If they waited too long, then the people serving as bait would be in danger.

    And the person in the most danger was Guo Wenchang.

    The person he was drawing away was the strongest, but he would also need to survive for the longest.

    Guo Wenchang was still flying through the sky.

    ¡°Hahahaha! I want to see how far you can run. If you know what¡¯s best for you, then hand those treasures over to me right now! I promise that I¡¯ll spare your life,¡± Shen Junanughed loudly. He appeared to be in quite high spirits.

    His opponent had already taken out six Origin Tools, each one of them a valuable treasure. Hisposure was already beginning to boil over.

    The more treasures his opponent pulled out, the more resolute he became about capturing his opponent.

    Unfortunately, many of these treasures were defensive in nature, making it hard for Shen Junan to actually capture Guo Wenchang despite the gap in their cultivation bases.

    Wait a minute.

    These treasures were all defensive in nature?

    Shen Junan slowly began to feel like something was wrong.

    Even though he was impulsive, he was not necessarily an idiot. An unsettling thought popped into his head, causing his expression to sink slightly as he abruptly stopped pursuing Guo Wenchang. ¡°Are you purposefully dragging me around?¡±

    Guo Wenchang started. So Shen Junan had seen through his ploy?

    Shen Junan red at Guo Wenchang. ¡°Tell me. What kind of tricks have you left behind at Ten Thousand Swords Mountain?¡±

    Guo Wenchang remainedpletely silent.

    At this moment, his best thing he could say was nothing.

    Even so, Shen Junan¡¯s sense of unease only continued to grow.

    The Crown Prince had personally entrusted this mission to him. There was no way that he could fail his expectations.

    He was not afraid of being defeated. Rather, he was more afraid of how many lives he would lose in this battle.

    The Imperial Guards were somewhat expendable, but every Light Shaking Realm cultivator lost was a huge blow to the sess of the operation, and the Crown Prince¡¯s evaluation of his sess would definitely suffer.

    This oldmander didn¡¯t know what kind of ambush had been set up at Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, but if Guo Wenchang dared to draw him away on his own, then it was likely that Guo Wenchang had some level of confidence in his chances of sess.

    Shen Junan¡¯s anxiety spilled over at this thought. He turned around and immediately began to fly towards Ten Thousand Swords Mountain.

    However, there was no way that Guo Wenchang was going to let him leave like that, so he hurriedly made an attempt to give chase.

    However, he had only just barely gotten close when Shen Junan suddenly turned around and swiped at Guo Wenchang¡¯s face with a Clouddragon w.

    Guo Wenchang was badly startled, but his figure managed to disappear and reappear off in the distance in time to dodge.

    ¡°Hm? Su Chen¡¯s Whitetower Teleportation?¡± Shen Junan muttered in a low voice.

    Whitetower Teleportaiton was a skill that Su Chen was quite well known for. Many people knew about it, but Shen Junan didn¡¯t expect that he would actually be willing to pass it on to others.

    Not many people could understand Su Chen¡¯s thought process.

    However, Guo Wenchang mastery of spatial principles was low, so his Whitetower Teleportation was far inferior to Su Chen¡¯s.

    Shen Junan smiled fiercely. ¡°If you have the ability, thene and deal with me. Otherwise, I¡¯m going to leave.¡±

    As he spoke, he turned around and ran off again, forcing Guo Wenchang to give chase once more.

    Now that Guo Wenchang had lost the initiative, the situation had be much moreplicated.

    At first, Guo Wenchang had been the one running away as fast as he could, relying on the power of his treasures to escape. Now, however, he needed to obstruct Shen Junan from leaving while also avoiding Shen Junan¡¯s attacks. The difficulty of thetter was, understandably, far greater.

    Shen Junan repeated this maneuver a few times, each time missing Guo Wenchang by no more than a hair.

    Even so, Guo Wenchang gritted his teeth, unwilling to give up.

    No matter what, he could not allow Shen Junan to ruin the n that they had set in ce, especially given that the thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators had already split up to take care of the twelve Spirit Burning Realm cultivators. If Shen Junan were to return at this moment, then the Boundless Sect¡¯s Light Shaking Realm cultivators would be the ones being ughtered rather than the other way around.

    Even if it meant his death, Guo Wenchang would not let Shen Junan leave.

    As he steeled his resolve, Guo Wenchang charged at Shen Junan yet again.

    ¡°Good! Keeping at me!¡± Shen Junan yelled loudly as he wed out again.

    Guo Wenchang¡¯s figure flickered again as he prepared to use Whitetower Teleportation to dodge. But at the same moment that he reappeared, Shen Junan suddenly bellowed.

    Guo Wenchang suddenly found that he was paralyzed, as if he had been struck by a lightning bolt.

    A momentter, Shen Junan¡¯s hand mmed violently into his body.

    This single strike severely wounded Guo Wenchang.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 42: Sage Aspec

    The full-strength attack of a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator was not weak in the slightest. Guo Wenchang was immediately thrown into a precarious situation.

    Shen Junanughed loudly and reached out to grab Guo Wenchang. ¡°Die, you bandit!¡±

    The Clouddragon appeared, wriggling through the air as it opened its mouth.

    Guo Wenchang sighed. ¡°Why bother?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Shen Junan was taken aback. An item appeared behind Guo Wenchang¡¯s head ¡ª a book.

    Golden light shone forth in all directions.

    The pages of the book slowly flipped by themselves as words began to pour out from its pages, sending streaks of light in all direction and causing Shen Junan¡¯s heart to tremble slightly in fear.

    What was that?

    Shen Junan watched as the words pouring out of the book began to fill the sky, forming a strange yet beautiful sight. A sage had descended from the heavens with this book in his hands. The words quickly gathered to form arge character for ¡°suppress.¡±

    As soon as this character appeared, Shen Junan felt as if a mountain was pressing down on him, causing him to almost fall out of the sky.

    How was this possible?

    How could a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator disy such strength?

    He despondently watched on as Guo Wenchang flew into the sky yet again.

    Blood trickled from the corner of Guo Wenchang¡¯s mouth, indicating that his wounds were as serious as they appeared. However, the pages of the book behind him only fluttered even more rapidly. The sage writing in the book actually looked somewhat simr to Su Chen.

    This...... What was going on?

    Shen Junan waspletely dumbfounded by what had just happened.

    Guo Wenchang loudly orated:

    Pervading Heaven and Earth is a righteous spirit¡ª

    Mixed and manifold, it assumes various forms.

    Below, it makes rivers and mountains;

    Above, it makes the sun and stars.

    In the world of man, it is what Mencius called ¡®flood-like,¡¯

    Surging forth to fill all that lies beneath the blue sky......

    As he recited this poem, the saintly figure waved its brush, and giant character after character began to descend. In but an instant, a massive cage of golden characters had appeared in the sky around Shen Junan, rendering himpletely unable to escape from no matter how violently his Clouddragon thrashed.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Shen Junan howled in disbelief. He waspletely incapable of understanding or epting that a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator could actually capture him.

    ¡°My Aspect! The Song of the Spirit of Righteousness, the Vastness Book, the Sage Portrait!¡± Guo Wenchang replied loudly as a brush appeared in his hand.

    This brush was not a Top-Grade Origin Tool. Rather, it was just a normal brush, but it had apanied him for many years, from the time when he was merely a governmental official until now.

    With this familiar brush in his hand, Guo Wenchang suddenly seemed to transform into a divine being. His consciousness expanded as his aura soared to the sky.

    He made a brushstroke across the sky, and the sagely figure behind him mimicked his motions.

    Every brushstroke was profound and filled with grace.

    Guo Wenchang had always been a schr by nature, but fate had forced him onto the path of cultivation. Even so, the arts were where his true interests had alwaysin.

    Su Chen¡¯s creation of the Aspects and gathering all the bloodlines that he could get his hands on had resulted in the development of hundreds of Aspects.

    Guo Wenchang, however, was totally uninterested in any of them. He didn¡¯t pick a single one, and instead chose to spend his days drawing and painting in vacuous sentimentality.

    Some people believed that he didn¡¯t know how to use Aspects as a result.

    This was true.

    But the Aspects that he didn¡¯t know how to use were merely the ones that Su Chen had passed down, not the one that he had created himself.

    Very few people knew that he had asked Su Chen for a vial of his blood in the past.

    Su Chen¡¯s blood!

    He was also conducting his own research.

    However, he was not researching how to increase the overall strength of the human race.

    Instead, his research of Su Chen was purely out of his interest in the path of a Sage.

    At his core, Guo Wenchang believed that Su Chen¡¯s Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect still fell into the trap of relying on the Beasts for strength and that it wasn¡¯t the true path that a human should take.

    He believed that this path should originate from a human in the first ce.

    Guo Wenchang hoped that the future Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect¡¯s core would not be the Windbite, any other Deste Beast, or even the Origin Beast, but rather a human.

    Su Chen understood this sentiment, but he didn¡¯t have enough time to follow up because there were too many other things that he needed to study.

    And what Su Chen had no time to do, Guo Wenchang had decided to do.

    He studied the path of the Sage, with Su Chen as his Aspect.

    Su Chen had be the embodiment of a sage.

    Su Chen was more than happy to participate. He didn¡¯t reject a good research proposal and freely gave away his blood.

    This was how Guo Wenchang cultivated.

    His Song of the Spirit of Righteousness and his Vastness Book were both created in preparation for this saintly figure to use.

    Before this, he had never demonstrated his aptitude in this regard. Actually, even he himself had no clue how strong this Aspect of his would be.

    But in this moment, he didn¡¯t care about how powerful or weak this Aspect was. All he wanted to do was fully express everything in his heart in that moment.

    His brush danced through the air as ck ink filled the sky. Each brushstroke was filled with Guo Wenchang¡¯sprehensions and experiences that he had umted all throughout the years. At that moment, his deepest, most genuine, sincere thoughts were released.

    Even Shen Junan was stunned by Guo Wenchang¡¯s performance. As he gazed at the golden characters hanging in the sky, he couldn¡¯t stop himself from crying out, ¡°What is that? What is that?!¡±

    However, he was still a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator. Even though Guo Wenchang¡¯s Sage Aspect had shocked him quite badly, he was still capable of fiercely growling, ¡°What a ridiculous Sage Portrait! Watch me rip it apart!¡±

    He raised his hands high into the sky, conjuring arge swath of wind and smoke that gathered into the form of a ck dragon. This ck dragon exuded an incredibly sinister, demonic aura, and immediately began to charge at the golden cage formed from characters.

    Guo Wenchang¡¯s Chains of Righteousness rapidly corroded away under the the ck dragon¡¯s vicious attacks, turning into ck smoke before dissipating.

    Even though Guo Wenchang was still inscribing new characters, they were not capable of preventing the ck dragon from advancing.

    Upon closer inspection, every time the ck dragon collided with the golden characters, it was wounded quite seriously as well. In terms of pure, absolute Origin Energy content, the dragon was actually being damaged more heavily than the golden characters were.

    However, Shen Junan didn¡¯t care about that at all.

    He was a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator, making him about ten times as strong as Guo Wenchang. There was no need for him to worry about this kind of expenditure.

    He was going to use his own personal strength to forcefully pressure the opponent to death!!!

    Five more ck dragons emerged from his fingers and charged forward, causing the golden prison to crack. The Chains of Righteousness could no longer withstand the mammoth pressure and shattered.

    The book behind Guo Wenchang¡¯s head ripped noticeably, and the Sage Portrait shimmered and wavered, bing more transient.

    ¡°Hurry up and die!¡± Shen Junan¡¯s five dragonsbined into a hand, with each dragon forming a finger on the hand. This was the renowned Five-Dragon Hand technique. At that moment, the ck hand forcefully pressed down upon Guo Wenchang.

    The Sage Portrait drew its brush through the air again as the Vastness Book transformed into a shield.

    However, this time, the spirit of righteousness was unable to win against evil. The five dragon fingers prated the Vastness Book, destroyed the Sage Brush, and mmed into Guo Wenchang¡¯s chest.

    After the attacknded, Guo Wenchang could sense darkness permeating every corner of his body. He howled as he flew backwards, and the blood he spat out was pitch ck at this point.

    Guo Wenchang knew that he was in dire straits, but he refused to leave. Instead, he began tough maniacally as he charged forwards again, pulling out all of the treasures in his possession as he relentlessly continued attacking. Instead of sending them all at Shen Junan, however, he scattered them in order to dy Shen Junan even further. He had no idea how much longer it would take the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples to arrive, but he was going to waste Shen Junan¡¯s time until they arrived no matter how long it took.

    Shen Junan¡¯s anger surged as he watched Guo Wenchang scatter the treasures everywhere.

    Guo Wenchang had already wasted far too much of his time. When he saw that Guo Wenchang was still willing to stall him, even at the cost of his own life, Shen Junan knew that something unexpected had happened. He decisively forsook the treasures, intent on returning to Ten Thousand Swords Mountain at once.

    But at that moment, a group of people appeared on the horizon. They were obviously charging in this direction.

    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Shen Junan was stunned. He could already tell that these people were not his subordinates, but rather disciples of the Boundless Sect.

    But why would the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples suddenly charge in this direction?

    Shouldn¡¯t they all be locked in a fierce battle at Ten Thousand Swords Mountain?

    Could it be......

    A horrible thought shed through Shen Junan¡¯s head.

    No, that was impossible.

    Even now, Shen Junan refused to believe that the Boundless Sect was capable of wiping all his soldiers out. He still held onto the belief that everything the Boundless Sect was doing was merely ast-ditch effort to make things difficult for him.

    All he was worried about was how he would take responsibility if his troops¡¯ losses were too great.

    The possibility that he might not be able to win had never crossed his mind.

    However, when this vast group of Boundless Sect disciples appeared, Shen Junan¡¯s heart was dealt a heavy blow.

    And when they got closer, this anguish intensified especially when he sensed that these disciples were all...... at the Light Shaking Realm!

    His heart immediately sank.

    There were too many of them for him to even count, but it was obvious that there were at least hundreds.

    How could this be?

    How could the Boundless Sect have this many Light Shaking Realm cultivators?

    Hadn¡¯t they all gone on the expedition to the Limitless Sea?

    Was this an illusion? Were they trying to trick them?

    But their strength and speed simply could not be faked.

    These hundreds of Light Shaking Realm cultivators were not a force that a lone Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator like him could take on. Shen Junan knew that he no longer had any time to ponder over what had happened. All he could do was run.

    Thankfully, despite the numbers advantage of the Boundless Sect, their individual strength was too weak to keep up with him.

    Shen Junan immediately turned tail and ran away as fast as he could.

    However, he didn¡¯t forget to reach out and try to grab Guo Wenchang, hoping to at least take a live captive with him.

    Unexpectedly, Guo Wenchang smiled as he made no attempt to dodge. He also charged forwards and reached out to grab Shen Junan.

    Shen Junan was badly startled. He immediately knew that something was wrong. If, even in this state, Guo Wenchang was still trying to prevent him from leaving, then wouldn¡¯t he just be falling for Guo Wenchang¡¯s trap if he tried to capture Guo Wenchang now?

    He hurriedly retracted his hand, but Guo Wenchang had already swung the now-broken brush in his hand. The Chains of Righteousness emerged yet again, and the golden cage of words once again imprisoned Shen Junan. At the same time, he threw himself recklessly at Shen Junan with no regard for his own safety.

    ¡°Damn! You insane bastard!¡± His actions terrified Shen Junan.

    Shen Junan desperately threw himself at the Chains of Righteousness.

    However, the never-ending chains that Guo Wenchang was producing made it momentarily impossible for him to break free.

    Bang!

    Bang!

    Bang!

    The chains of righteousness constantly shattered and reformed. By now, the army of disciples had already closed in.

    Yan Tuohai, who was leading the troops, loudlymanded, ¡°Attack! Weapons!¡±

    ¡°Weapons!¡±

    The Origin Qi Schrs cried out fiercely as countless weapons once again filled the sky.

    The weapons formed by these Light Shaking Realm cultivators were far superior to the ones formed by the ordinary cultivators from earlier, and theirbined strength was also many times greater. The razor-sharp weapons began to rain down from the sky.

    Shen Junan had only just managed to escape from the prison when he was greeted by the sight of thousands of weapons descending upon him. He didn¡¯t dare to hold back in the slightest, and the Five-Dragon Hand appeared once again.

    The Five-Dragon Hand howled recklessly as it charged at the storm of weapons, but it was totally incapable of keeping all the weapons at bay. In but a few moments, the hand fell apart as the weapons unrelentingly bore down on Shen Junan. The astonishingly powerful waves of Origin Energy detonated as they met his body, immediately ripping him to shreds.

    Death in a single blow!

    ¡°Master!¡±

    Guo Wenchang¡¯s body began to fall from the sky.

    Yan Tuohai howled mournfully as he sprinted to Guo Wenchang¡¯s side. He gently cradled Guo Wenchang, but found that Guo Wenchang¡¯s skin was beginning to turnpletely ck. The sinister energy had pervaded throughout his entire body. There was no hope.

    But even so, Guo Wenchang was still smiling.

    Even as tears of blood streamed from his eyes, he was still smiling. ¡°I finally understand what the Sage Portrait iscking......¡±

    ¡°Master, please stop talking! I¡¯ll take you to the infirmary right now!¡± Yan Tuohai yelled agitatedly.

    Guo Wenchang, however, shook his head and said in a low voice, ¡°There¡¯s no need. I have always hated fighting, but fate has never once respected my wishes. Now, I can finally rest. These are the realizations that came to me in today¡¯s battle. Help me...... pass them onto the Sect Master.¡±

    As Guo Wenchang spoke, he tapped his finger against Yan Tuohai¡¯s forehead, and a streak of golden light flowed forth.

    Then, Guo Wenchang¡¯s head drooped as he breathed his final breath.

    [1] Guo Wenchang here is quoting the ¡°The Song of the Righteous Spirit,¡± written by Wen Tianxiang of the Song Dynasty (c. 1200). Trantion is pulled from .

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 43: Counterattack

    ¡°Wenchang is gone.¡±

    Su Chen sighed as he stood near a railing on Forever Clear Ind.

    Behind him were Li Chongshan, Shi Kaihuang, Chu Yingwan, Cheng Tianhai, Jin Moxie, and Lin Xuanshao.

    Given that one of the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s former heroes had died, it was impossible for Su Chen not to inform them.

    The news came so suddenly that everyone was immediately stunned.

    Shi Kaihuang trembled as he asked, ¡°How did he die?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°He died while fighting the Crown Prince¡¯s man, Shen Junan.¡±

    ¡°The Crown Prince...... I¡¯ll kill that bastard!¡± Cheng Tianhai began to exude a strong killing intent.

    He didn¡¯t im that he was going to go and kill the Crown Prince immediately, demonstrating his growth, but even so the hatred and anger that he felt didn¡¯t diminish in the slightest.

    ¡°We will. But before then, we need to fulfill the mission before us,¡± Chu Yingwan said.

    She knew that there were some things Su Chen couldn¡¯t say, so she helped him say them.

    Cheng Tianhai¡¯s eyes were bloodshot. ¡°How much longer must we wait?¡±

    Chu Yingwan was unable to provide an answer to this question, and could only turn to look at Su Chen.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Three years.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s going to take three more years?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve already reached this point. Why do we need to wait for three more years?¡± Shi Kaihuang couldn¡¯t resist asking. He knew how much progress Su Chen had made. recently, and that at his pace, three years was a bit of an overestimate.

    ¡°Because that¡¯s the date I agreed upon with Eternal Night,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Must you use all the time that he has given you?¡± Lin Shaoxuan couldn¡¯t understand this rationale.

    What was the point in wasting more time?

    ¡°Yes!¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°I must use it all.¡±

    He didn¡¯t exin himself, but everyone gradually realized the implications of this decision.

    In Su Chen¡¯s mind, the true opponent was Eternal Night, who was also the only one who had ever defeated him.

    For this reason, Su Chen needed to use every second that Eternal Night had given him to its fullest potential.

    Jun Moxie said, ¡°How is the Boundless Sect?¡±

    ¡°The sect won decisively and annihted our opponents. Only Wenchang ly Wenchang sacrificed himself.¡±

    Everyone sighed.

    This was just Guo Wenchang¡¯s personality. He was willing to sacrifice himself in order to ensure that the overall losses would be minimized.

    Li Chongshan said, ¡°Since the sect haspletely annihted our attackers, I don¡¯t think that Long Sang will let this matter go unpunished.¡±

    Ignoring the matter of taking revenge, Long Sang¡¯s pride and prestige had taken a huge hit, and they were now on openly hostile terms with the Boundless Sect already. If they stopped fighting now, they would be idiots.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Yes, that¡¯s why I¡¯m nning on sending Shaoxuan back to manage the overall situation.¡±

    Lin Shaoxuan was widely considered by most to be Li Chongshan¡¯s sessor. His wisdom and cultivation base were both exceptional, so sending him back to manage the overall situation was a very good idea.

    Chu Yingwan, however, frowned. ¡°Are you only nning on sending him back?¡±

    ¡°Of course, I¡¯ll have him bring some gifts with him as well,¡± Su Chen replied.

    He hadn¡¯t sent reinforcements during the first round because Long Sang had no idea how strong the Boundless Sect was and wouldn¡¯t send nearly as many soldiers. But now that they had suffered such tremendous losses, their next attack would definitely be far stronger. If the Boundless Sect didn¡¯t send reinforcements this time, they probably wouldn¡¯t be able to hold on.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. We¡¯ve prepared a big present for them. The Lin n is going to have an opportunity to drink their fill.¡± As Su Chen spoke, he dragged his finger across the stone railing, leaving behind a deep gash.

    Since Long Sang had killed Guo Wenchang, then more blood needed to be spilt as a sacrifice.

    That night, Lin Shaoxuan returned to the Boundless Sect.

    At the same time, news of the deaths of Shen Junan and the Imperial Guards began to stir up quite the mor.

    Shen Junan had died?

    The three thousand Imperial Guards had been killed?

    None of the twelve Spirit Burning Realm or dozens of Light Shaking Realm cultivators had returned?

    The entire army was lost?

    How could this be possible?

    If the full-strength Boundless Sect had been able to aplish this feat, that would have been somewhat understandable. After all, the strength of the Boundless Sect was not a secret; the only thing people didn¡¯t know was exactly how strong the Boundless Sect was.

    However, the nearly empty Ten Thousand Swords Mountain had somehow managed to destroy an army led by a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator. This was almost unexcusable.

    And the ensuingmotion was predictable and obvious.

    The strength that they had lost was not a small force. Those soldiers were more than capable of overturning arge province.

    In particr, a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator could be considered a pir amongst a Bloodline Nobility n. Now, one of them had been lost just like that.

    And even though the three thousand Origin Qi Schrs that were part of the Imperial Guard seemed like they were just lowyer cultivators, they were the most loyal to the imperial family, given that they were the Crown Prince¡¯s personal guard.

    Now, his personal guards had been evaporated.

    How was he to exin this to others?

    His face had been pped to the point of bruising.

    Immediate retribution was necessary so that they could regain the former glory!

    The Boundless Sect was growing too powerful, and pursuing peace was better than going into battle!

    Two different kinds of ideas emerged.

    Amongst the imperial court, the hundreds of officials argued and fought with each other incessantly.

    However, those moring for battle slowly but surely began to take the advantage.

    They would not stop until they reached the Yellow Springs. First of all, the loss of face that the officials had experienced was uneptable and needed to be won back. Second of all, the Boundless Sect¡¯s existence was always a stumbling block to the Bloodline Nobility ns. Su Chen¡¯s bloodline-less cultivation techniques were shaking the foundation that these Bloodline Nobility ns had created for themselves. As this shaking only grew more intense, their tolerance of Su Chen¡¯s activity would decrease slowly but surely.

    In other words, the ensuing battle was inevitable in some sense.

    Whenever a new power arose, the older powers would attempt to defend their positions. It was almost guaranteed that a battle would unfold.

    The only reason it was happening now was because it was the most suitable opportunity for those older powers.

    The motion for battle was quickly passed, and orders were issued as the soldiers began to mobilize. However, therger an organization was, the lower their efficiency would be.

    Even though Long Sang was very powerful, centralizing all of their troops and mobilizing at once would take a very long time.

    While Long Sang was still in the process of mobilizing their troops, an old man and three younger individuals had alreadye to Long Coiling City.

    ¡°Hey, old man, can you move a little more quickly?¡±

    Night Demon impatiently beckoned. Not far behind her, an old man was strolling leisurely. This old man was precisely Lin Zuiliu.

    ¡°How nostalgic! I feel homesick,¡± the old man muttered as he strolled. ¡°I just wanted to do my research in peace, but now that kid Su Chen has tossed me over here. Once he learned my bloodline mixture techniques, he just threw me aside. Outrageous, I tell you! Outrageous!¡±

    The old man spoke as if he was a young maiden that had been abandoned.

    Chang He chuckled. ¡°Forget about it, old man. Who are you kidding? We all know that you were ecstatic that Sect Master gave you this opportunity. The King of Chaos has always stirred up winds and waves wherever he goes. If you didn¡¯t get an opportunity to stir up some chaos this time, how could you be worthy of your title? Haha!¡±

    ¡°You talk too much.¡± Ye Fenghan smacked him on the back of the head.

    In front, Night Demon gestured. ¡°Hurry, hurry! My branch of the Immortal Temple is just ahead.¡±

    ......

    We¡¯re still in public, Young Miss! Even though it¡¯ste and there is no one on the streets, do you have to be so ostentatious about everything?

    Even though they were used to Night Demon¡¯s behavior, the three of them still couldn¡¯t help but nce at each other, totally speechless.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. Anyways, it won¡¯t be long before the Immortal Temple will be able to appear in public anyways,¡± Night Demon replied.

    ¡°That is indeed the case.¡± At that moment, a person stepped out of the alleyway and appeared in front of Night Demon. His expression was filled with gratitude as he said, ¡°Good thing I stood against the opinions of the masses and sent you on this mission. You were able to seed in two years, after all!¡±

    Night Demon hade looking for Su Chen on Shi Mingfeng¡¯s orders.

    Shi Mingfeng had been a big proponent of turning the Immortal Temple from an underground terrorist organization to one that could operate openly and brazenly.

    However, the prejudice that the other countries held against the Immortal Temple were too great. They didn¡¯t even get a chance.

    To resolve this issue, Shi Mingfeng had turned his attention to the Boundless Sect. After discovering that Su Chen was going on an expedition to the Abyss, the Immortal Temple had hoped to openly provide support so that the Immortal Temple would have space in which they would be able to operate somewhat openly.

    However, Su Chen was not willing to offend Long Sang for the Immortal Temple, so he had refused to even meet with Night Demon. Even after Night Demon had caught up to him, Su Chen still refused to give an answer.

    This time, however, Su Chen had finally agreed.

    Lin Wenjun¡¯s taking action against the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain hadpletely torn down the friendly rtions between the two parties. Su Chen had nothing more to fear, and now it was time for him to rope in any groups that he could rope in.

    The Immortal Temple didn¡¯t want to hide in the shadows any longer?

    Fine!

    Su Chen immediately rmended them a person.

    That person was Lin Zuiliu.

    When Shi Mingfeng saw Lin Zuiliu, he suddenly felt a sense of incredible danger fill his heart.

    Even though this sensation disappeared a momentter, Shi Mingfeng immediately realized who the old man was and bowed. ¡°Greetings, King of Chaos!¡±

    Lin Zuiliu chuckled. ¡°It seems that the kid has already gotten in touch with you. That¡¯s good. That way I don¡¯t have to waste my time beating around the bush. I came this time precisely to drag Lin Mengze off that throne of his. If the Immortal Temple wants to be the loyal subjects of the dragon, how many soldiers can you provide me with?¡±

    Shi Mingfeng wiped the sweat from his brow. Even though his subordinates had locked down the entire street, talking about starting a rebellion in public was still very hard for him to get used to. As such, he could onlyugh along and say, ¡°This is a serious matter. Why don¡¯t youe with me and we can discuss it further?¡±

    ¡°Hmph! What is there to fear? I can even sense how many bugs and snakes are nearby. But you might not bepletely aware of the situation, right?¡±

    What?

    Shi Mingfeng was stunned.

    Lin Zuiliu gestured. A shadow suddenly flew out from nearby into Lin Zuiliu¡¯s hands.

    When Shi Mingfeng saw this person, his expression drastically shifted. ¡°This is not a person who belongs to the Immortal Temple.¡±

    ¡°Of course not, but it seems that this concealed branch of yours is not actually that concealed,¡± Lin Zuiliu chuckled as he ced his palm on the person¡¯s forehead. ¡°Consider yourself fortunate. I am making myeback and amcking suitable subordinates. I will give you the opportunity of bing one of my pawns.¡±

    As he spoke, a wave of energy surged from his palm into the person¡¯s forehead. The person jerked and thrashed about for some time before his movement began to gradually subside. Finally, after he had stopped jerking around, the person knelt on the ground and said, ¡°Greetings, Master!¡±

    Consciousness control?

    Shi Mingfeng hadn¡¯t heard of the King of Chaos possessing these kinds of skills.

    Night Demon rolled her eyes and said, ¡°Hmph! Su Chen only created a limited amount of pills from the elevated Zhu n bloodline, but you aren¡¯t using them sparingly at all! Why waste them on such weak small fry?¡±

    Lin Zuiliu¡¯s attempt to appear imposing had failed, and his shame gave way to anger. ¡°What do you know? This person was extremely skilled at hiding himself, and he was able to discover the Immortal Temple¡¯s rendezvous point. He must be an incredibly skilled tracker. You cannot evaluate people merely based on their physical strength. Right now, I need people who specialize in all kinds of different......¡±

    Night Demon left without even listening to his exnations.

    The King of Chaos could afford to act all high and mighty around others, but he lost to Night Demon every time.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 44: Individual Thoughts

    On the Thousandfold Cliff.

    This geographical feature was located on the western side of Long Sang. It was remote and rtively barren, so not many people ever passed by this area.

    Apart from the few humans that lived here were the Moonkin.

    The Moonkin and the Stoneskins were two of the major races subservient to humans. The Stoneskins had no ce of residence to call their own until Iron Cliff had established one at the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, but the Moonkin were much luckier. They had their own territory and were nocturnal creatures that preferred living in heavily forested areas, making them the perfect assassins.

    However, the Moonkin, who operated in the shadows, had suddenlye out into the open today.

    These Moonkin were dressed in in green robes, causing them to blend in almost perfectly with the foliage behind them.

    Only the middle-aged Moonkin standing in the middle was dressed in a red robe. A crown of flowers was ced on her head, giving her an incredibly beautiful appearance.

    This was the empress of the Moonkin, Night Elegance.

    As the Moonkin Empress gazed at the group of visitors heading in their direction, a warm smile appeared on her face.

    ¡°Mother!¡±

    Night Demon leapt forward into Night Elegance¡¯s arms.

    In Moonkin society, females were exalted, so that made Night Demon the Moonkin¡¯s princess.

    This perhaps served to exin why her status amongst the Immortal Temple was rtively umon. Since both the Immortal Temple and the Moonkin preferred to live in the shadows, it was only natural that the Moonkin and the Immortal Temple interacted with each other quite often.

    Night Elegance rubbed her daughter¡¯s head. ¡°You little girl, you were gone for so long. Only now do you even think ofing back?¡±

    ¡°Hmph, if it weren¡¯t for that old man, I wouldn¡¯t have wanted toe back at all,¡± Night Demon tilted her head away, spurning her mother¡¯s affections.

    As she spoke, the old man walked over.

    Lin Zuiliu chuckled, ¡°Little Night woman, so this girl was indeed your daughter. I thought she looked like you the first time I saw her.¡±

    Night Demon asked with curiosity, ¡°So you do recognize my mother?¡±

    Night Elegance harrumphed. ¡°I wish that he didn¡¯t.¡±

    When Ye Fenghan and Chang He heard this, they nced at each other and silently wondered if there was some kind of melodramatic tale behind all of this. Perhaps Night Demon was Lin Zuiliu¡¯s daughter? But given that Lin Zuiliu treated Night Elegance just like he treated Night Demon, that was probably not the case.

    Indeed, Lin Zuiliu said, ¡°Little Night Woman, don¡¯t say it like that. Your father and mother once traveled the world with me......¡±

    Night Elegance said, ¡°It wasn¡¯t just my father and mother! The entire Moonkin Race was stirring up trouble with you, but in the end you just couldn¡¯t resist performing your bloodline mixture research, inviting cmity on yourself from the Seven Kingdoms! In the end, you were defeated, and you put us Moonkin in a terrible spot as well. We have been hiding here in the Thousandfold Cliff ever since. How do you still have the nerve toe and see us even now?¡±

    When everyone heard this, they were stunned.

    So the Moonkin had followed Lin Zuiliu in his rebellion, but it was obvious that Lin Zuiliu had misused their trust.

    Lin Zuiliuughed loudly and said, ¡°I knew that you would take exception to me. But I am not here to listen to youin to me again. Once again, I will need your support in ascending to the throne. As long as I am able to do so, I will remember your support and contributions, and the Moonkin will be allowed to take and govern this entire western region of Long Sang on their own.¡±

    ¡°Hmph!¡± Night Elegance said disdainfully. ¡°Don¡¯t try and entice me with these kinds of benefits.¡±

    ¡°Mm?¡± Lin Zuiliu said with some dissatisfaction.

    Following this grunt of discontent, Lin Zuiliu¡¯s aura suddenly transformed.

    Earlier, he had looked like nothing more than an old man, but in an instant his figure appeared to tower, causing everyone present to instinctively look up to him.

    This was not due to any pressure he was exuding. Instead, it was an expression of his true self. The prestige and might of the King of Chaos appeared in that moment, spreading boundlessly in all directions.

    When faced with the true prestige of a king, the Moonkin simultaneously felt their hearts tremble.

    This was the innate respect that the weak had for the powerful - a kind of natural subservience installed in their biology.

    Only Night Elegance continued to resist as she cradled her daughter and red at Lin Zuiliu. ¡°King of Chaos, no matter how you try and threaten or entice us this time, we will not help you.¡±

    ¡°Then what if the Immortal Temple and the Boundless Sect are also involved?¡± Lin Zuiliu asked straightforwardly.

    ¡°The Boundless Sect?¡± Night Elegance was stunned.

    The Immortal Temple¡¯s participation was not strange. After all, they had always been in the business of overthrowing regimes, but because of their old habits, they were never willing to openly appear on the surface.

    But what about the Boundless Sect?

    Why did the Boundless Sect want to overthrow Lin Mengze?

    Because the Moonkin were so remote, news reached them very slowly. They had no idea what had taken ce a month prior.

    Only after Shi Mingfeng stepped forward and exined the situation did Night Elegance understand that the Boundless Sect had also been wrapped up in this conflict against the Lin n.

    Night Elegance thought for a moment, then nodded and said, ¡°I have heard of the Worldly Sage¡¯s reputation, and of the Boundless Sect¡¯s strength as well. But I think we are still a ways away from being strong enough to take on the entire country of Long Sang.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯m afraid that you haven¡¯t quite heard enough,¡± Lin Zuiliu chuckled as he exined the Boundless Sect¡¯s strength in full detail.

    When Night Elegance heard that the Boundless Sect had no fewer than 15,000 Light Shaking Realm cultivators, she was stunned.

    ¡°That¡¯s not possible!¡± she cried out.

    Lin Zuiliu didn¡¯t waste his time speaking. Instead, he pulled out a recording disk and tossed it to her.

    The recording disk began to shine, revealing the battle that had taken ce between the fleet and the Sea Beasts of the Abyss.

    The battle itself was not particrly interesting or out of the ordinary, but what was worth noting were the ten or so thousand cultivators floating in the air.

    When Night Elegance saw this, she was dumbfounded.

    This was the most convincing evidence.

    ¡°Now we can find a ce to discuss this matter, right?¡± Lin Zuiliu asked with self-confidence.

    That night, the Moonkin officially joined Lin Zuiliu¡¯s ranks.

    A monthter.

    Atop the Graceful Light Peak.

    A man stood, swinging his sword.

    It was Ye Fenghan.

    Even though the sun was out and burning brightly, cold Qi was constantly emanating out from Ye Fenghan as he swung his sword in a thirty-foot radius.

    Because of the sh between hot and cold, white clouds of steam billowed everywhere. Ye Fenghan stood in the midst of these clouds, giving him quite a mysteriously poetic appearance.

    Chang He descended from the sky, pping his hands. ¡°Your mastery of the Frost Aspect has improved yet again in only a few days.¡±

    Ye Fenghan didn¡¯t say anything. Instead, he shed his sword directly at Chang He.

    Chang He¡¯s figure flickered as he attempted to dodge, but Ye Fenghan¡¯s sword had seemed to lock onto him and pursued him relentlessly.

    Chang He repeatedly attempted to escape, but his speed was being negatively affected by the Frost Aspect. He found that he was unable to escape, even after ten attempts, so he eventually stopped. ¡°You win, I can¡¯t escape.¡±

    The sword stopped at the top of his nose. A piece of ice sprouted from his nose and began to spread, covering his entire face and then his head in ice.

    Thankfully, Ye Fenghan was controlling his power, and had only sealed Chang He¡¯s head.

    Chang He revolved his Origin Energy, almost instantly shattering the ice encasing his head.

    ¡°Hey, that¡¯s too much. Last time you only froze my nose, but this time you froze my entire head. Are you not worried that you¡¯re going to turn me into an idiot?¡±

    Ye Fenghan coldly replied, ¡°That¡¯s fine by me! Then you and that silly girl Night Demon would make a perfect pair.¡±

    ¡°Hey, is there something wrong?¡± Chang He nced at Ye Fenghan quizzically.

    Ye Fenghan¡¯s expression sank. ¡°We¡¯ve been here for a month already, but Lin Zuiliu hasn¡¯t made any moves at all. Long Sang has almostpletely gathered the troops that they are nning on using to attack the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain.¡±

    Chang He wasn¡¯t surprised by this. ¡°Lin Zuiliu has been gone from Long Sang for too long. He needs time to convince those who aren¡¯t quite willing to support him.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Ye Fenghan shook his head. ¡°I thought about it already. He doesn¡¯t need more time to convince them; he wants to wait until Long Sang has attacked the Boundless Sect to make his move.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Chang He was stunned. ¡°That can¡¯t be possible, right? Sect Master sent him here to attract the attention of Long Sang so that they won¡¯t be able to send their full forces against us.¡±

    ¡°But he is not a disciple of the Boundless Sect. Does he need to obey the Sect Master¡¯s instructions? Don¡¯t forget, he is an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator. In terms of cultivation base, he is even stronger than Sect Master! Do you really think that he will obey every single request that Sect Master makes of him?¡±

    Chang He was rendered speechless by Ye Fenghan¡¯s words.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, he asked, ¡°Do you mean to say......¡±

    ¡°Different ambitions is all,¡± Ye Fenghan said. ¡°Sect Master wants to use Lin Zuiliu to control Long Sang. This is, in theory, a good move. However, when a pawn has its own desires and ambitions, it will be much harder to control. It seems that Lin Zuiliu would rather have the Boundless Sect deal with Long Sang so that he can take advantage of the opportunity to benefit.¡±

    Even though they were both doing the same thing, the consequences of these different ns were vastly different from each other.

    Just as Ye Fenghan had said, no one was willing to be used as a pawn, let alone a powerful individual like Lin Zuiliu.

    Theoretically, using Lin Zuiliu to restrict Long Sang was a good idea, but if Lin Zuiliucked the impetus to follow through on his end of the agreement, Su Chen might end up being used by the pawn instead. Lin Zuiliu might look like a crazed man, but he was no fool.

    He was very clear about the big picture.

    As such, he had no intention of helping Ten Thousand Swords Mountain restrict Long Sang. Instead, he was going to use the Boundless Sect to improve his own odds. Of course, he would never admit this aloud, so he instead imed that his preparations were not yetplete. The moment that Long Sang invaded the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, he would attack - no sooner, and noter.

    It would be even better if he did this when the Boundless Sect was in a moment of crisis. This way, all the benefits would be his, and Su Chen might even owe him a favor.

    But the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain would definitely suffer heavy casualties.

    When he heard Ye Fenghan¡¯s words, Chang He also understood what was happening, and his expression shifted. ¡°So aren¡¯t we in trouble then? If Lin Zuiliu won¡¯t control Long Sang, then the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain is in great danger!¡±

    Ye Fenghan said meaningfully, ¡°That¡¯s exactly why Sect Master sent us here!¡±

    Chang He was taken aback. ¡°So Sect Master was prepared for this a long time ago. What should we do?¡±

    ¡°If he won¡¯t make a move, we¡¯ll make a move for him.¡±

    ¡°You mean......¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re going to attack t Order City.¡±

    Chang He frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t think the two of us will be enough.¡±

    Ye Fenghan immediately replied, ¡°Of course. We must utilize the troops that Lin Zuiliu has gathered, including the Moonkin warriors.¡±

    ¡°How will we do that?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re going to rope in some of his helpers, then create a diversion,¡± Ye Fenghan said as he pulled out a red vial of medicine.

    When Chang He saw this vial of medicine, his eyes lit up.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 45: Impersonation

    t Order City.

    This was a small city located to the west of Long Sang. It wasn¡¯t very big, and its defenses were quite weak as well. The city¡¯s strongest guards were only at the Yang Opening Realm, but even so, their territory was directly subservient to the emperor.

    Today, Commander He was sitting in his courtyard and calmly drinking tea when he suddenly heard a rumbling sound, as if the sky were about to explode. However, Commander He, who was familiar with Origin Energy fluctuations, could clearly tell that an Origin Skill was being activated, and by someone stronger than a Light Shaking Realm cultivator at that.

    Was a Light Shaking Realm cultivator headed this way?

    Commander He¡¯s heart beat wildly as he leapt to the rooftop to take a look. A massive figure had appeared above t Order City, seemingly hundreds of feet tall. The figure red coldly at the city below him and howled, ¡°From this day onwards, t Order City belongs to me, Lin Zuiliu! If anyone dares to resist, I will ughter them mercilessly!¡±

    Lin Zuiliu?

    The King of Chaos?

    Upon hearing this name, Commander He felt like someone had smashed the back of his head with a hammer, and his mind shook violently.

    He was extremely familiar with the name ¡®King of Chaos.¡¯ After all, this person had once acted as the emperor, and had single-handedly drawn the ire of all seven emperors at once.

    But why would he suddenly appear now?

    Could it be that the country was about to be plunged into the chaos of rebellion yet again?

    Commander He couldn¡¯t stop himself from trembling.

    And it wasn¡¯t just him. All of the guards within the city were dumbfounded by this deration.

    This was the King of Chaos!

    An Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator!

    How could they even resist?

    Even though a numbers advantage could sometimes allow an army to suppress a powerful individual, that depended on the strength disparity between them in the first ce. If the difference in strength was three realms or greater, then any numbers advantage would be moot.

    If themander of the guards was merely at the Yang Opening Realm, Lin Zuiliu would be able to swat them away with a palm regardless of if there were thousands or ten thousands of them.

    The soldiers stared at the sky as if they were looking at a demon. A few of them were even so scared that they involuntarily knelt down.

    The floating Lin Zuiliu nced beneath him. No one dared to meet his gaze. Eventually, his sights settled onto Commander He. ¡°You are He Zhengqiang?¡±

    He Zhengqiang gulped before slowly replying, ¡°I am He Zhengqiang. Greetings, King of Chaos!¡±

    ¡°Why do you not kneel?¡±

    Commander He sighed as a resolute expression appeared on his face. ¡°I have been appointed by His Majesty to watch over the Moonkin. Even though I have no chance of stopping you, that does not mean that I will surrender just to save my own life. The King of Chaos¡¯s strength is transcendental, but all I have to lose is my life. What do I have to fear?¡±

    Lin Zuiliu¡¯s expression remained merciless as he replied, ¡°Well said. You are indeed quite heroic. But even if you want to die, I will not permit it. I will spare you today so that you can notify Lin Mengze...... that I have returned!¡±

    What?

    Commander He was taken aback and stared incredulously at Lin Zuiliu. ¡°You¡¯re not going to kill me?¡±

    ¡°What? Are you going to insist on dying?¡± As Lin Zuiliu spoke, he made a gesture. A ruthless, barbaric sword intent descended from the sky,nding thirty feet in front of Commander He. This simple strike left a gouge a few dozen feet deep in the ground.

    Even though this attack was nothing to an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator, using it to kill a Yang Opening Realm cultivator was a trivial issue.

    Lin Zuiliu said, ¡°If you want to put your life on the line, then you can try to withstand one thousandth of my power. I am willing to fulfill your wishes.¡±

    Even though Commander He didn¡¯t fear death, he wasn¡¯t at the point yet where he wished for it. When he heard this, he took a moment to think before asking, ¡°If I go, will the King of Chaos preserve the lives of the innocent civilians living in this city?¡±

    At this moment, almost everyone in t Order City had noticed this startling sight. However, because of the immense pressure bearing down upon them, nobody dared to move. They all knelt, motionlessly prostrate on the ground. Only Commander He could speak to Lin Zuiliu. When the civilians heard his words, they were all filled with gratitude.

    Lin Zuiliu insipidly replied, ¡°If you obey me, then the people in your city will naturally also be my subjects. I haven¡¯t even found the time to take care of them yet ¡ª how could I harm them? As long as they don¡¯t think of rebelling, or better yet, as long as they continue to act normally, nothing will happen.¡±

    Upon hearing Lin Zuiliu¡¯s words, Commander He sighed and cupped his hands. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then I will hurry to the imperial pce to report this matter. Many thanks for your noble actions, King of Chaos.¡±

    Lin Zuiliu chuckled as he waved his sleeves. ¡°Go.¡±

    Commander He left in a hurry.

    Because of his rush, he naturally didn¡¯t notice that when the image of Lin Zuiliu in the sky disappeared not long after he left, it revealed two young men standing in its ce.

    Chang He chuckled. ¡°Great! We¡¯ve aplished our mission here. The Sect Master¡¯s Bloodline Clones is indeed easy to use...... Right, how did the Sect Master get his hands on Lin Zuiliu¡¯s blood in the first ce?¡±

    Ye Fenghan coldly replied, ¡°They¡¯ve been researching together for awhile now. If the Sect Master hadn¡¯t asked Lin Zuiliu for his blood, he wouldn¡¯t be the Sect Master anymore.¡±

    ¡°So do you think that the Sect Master has Bloodline Clones of us too?¡± Chang He asked.

    Ye Fenghan nced at him coldly. ¡°Stop dreaming. Your Bloodline Clones might not even be worth the Sect Master keeping around.¡±

    As he spoke, he turned around and left.

    ¡°Tch! Stop acting so high and mighty.¡± Chang He shrugged before turning and leaving.

    Bang!

    Lin Zuiliu struck out with his palm, nearly ttening a nearby mountain.

    ¡°What...... did...... you...... say?¡± Lin Zuiliu red at Ye Fenghan as he articted each word threateningly.

    Ye Fenghan didn¡¯t lower his head a single inch and stared right back at Lin Zuiliu. ¡°I said, we just conquered t Order City...... in your name.¡±

    ¡°Who told you to do that!?¡± Lin Zuiliu roared, infuriated, his emotions causing the air around him to heat up as killing intent began to violently surge from him.

    Ye Fenghan, however, nonchntly replied, ¡°The thirty thousand lives currently at Ten Thousand Swords Mountain told me to do that. King Lin, you can¡¯t have forgotten your promise with my Sect Master, right?¡±

    ¡°Are you responsible for managing my affairs now?¡± Lin Zuiliu shot back angrily. ¡°You¡¯re courting death!¡±

    Ye Fenghan nodded. ¡°That is indeed the case, and also why I¡¯ve returned. If the King of Chaos wants to kill me, then I am here to satisfy your wishes.¡±

    ¡°Do you really think that I don¡¯t dare to kill you?¡± Lin Zuiliu howled as white Qi gathered into an arrow that shot towards Ye Fenghan¡¯s throat.

    Ye Fenghan, however, waspletely unafraid.

    He was really prepared to die.

    If Commander He wasn¡¯t afraid to die, then neither was he.

    At that moment, however, he heard Night Demon¡¯s voice speak up from behind him. ¡°Wait a moment! Su Chen wants to speak with you.¡±

    The arrow stopped right in front of Ye Fenghan¡¯s throat. Lin Zuiliu turned around to find Night Demon offering a formation disk.

    This was a transmission disk that Patelocke had enhanced. It allowed anyone with the disk to contact Su Chen by using him as a medium.

    An image slowly began to form above the surface of the transmission disk. It was Su Chen.

    ¡°Old Lin,¡± Su Chen said with a chuckle.

    The two of them had researched together for quite some time now. Even though they both had their own distinct personal motives, it was still reasonable to consider them old friends.

    When Lin Zuiliu saw Su Chen, his anger subsided a little.

    His expression was gloomy. ¡°Su Chen, look at what your subordinates have done.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°They¡¯re young and perhaps a bit impulsive. This is not something that you can avoid. In any case, they had your best interests in mind, which is why they were in such a hurry to reim thend that you had lost. Even though they were a bit presumptuous in their actions, their intentions were good.¡±

    Su Chen made sure to adopt a much more neutral approach than Ye Fenghan, and he also didn¡¯t directly say that he was forcing Lin Zuiliu¡¯s hand in order to divert some of the pressure on Ten Thousand Swords Mountain. Instead, he imed that they were merely looking out for Lin Zuiliu¡¯s best interests.

    It could only be said that, since he hade this far, Su Chen had naturally learned how to best speak to people with regards to their status.

    He had done quite a bit ofughing along, feigning ignorance, and making meaningless small talk throughout the years.

    But upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s exnation, Lin Zuiliu was so angry that he wanted tough. ¡°Good intentions my ass! Sect Master, if your men keep doing things for me with ¡®good intentions,¡¯ I might end up dead in Lin Mengze¡¯s hands.¡±

    Su Chen, however, didn¡¯t mind his outrage. ¡°The King of Chaos¡¯s strength is renowned throughout thend, and you now have the seven mixed bloodline as well. What does a small Lin Mingze matter? If you were to fight one-on-one, I would bet that you would win.¡±

    Lin Zuiliu coldly replied, ¡°Unfortunately, Lin Mengze won¡¯t give me an opportunity to fight him one-on-one. Thoseckeys of his will swarm and overwhelm me instead.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why you need to quickly seize your former territory so that you can bolster your forces. If you stay holed up for this entire time, you won¡¯t be able to aplish anything in the future.¡±

    Lin Zuiliu red at Su Chen.

    Actually, even he understood that there was no rectifying this situation. If he killed Ye Fenghan, then his rtionship with Su Chen would irreversibly fracture, making that an incredibly undiplomatic action. However, his anger had gotten the better of him in the moment, and Ye Fenghan had also stubbornly refused to bow his head. Now that he had verbally sparred with Su Chen for some time, his anger had subsided quite a bit.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, he said, ¡°Your men were the ones who moved on their own and ruined my n. Some kind of reparation must be made, right?¡±

    Instead of killing someone, why not take a step back and ask for restitution instead?

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°What does the King of Chaos want?¡±

    ¡°Since the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples are so capable, you should send some to act as my helpers.¡±

    ¡°The front lines here at the Abyss are already stretched thin......¡±

    ¡°I will hold the back lines for you!¡±

    Su Chen paused for a moment, and then asked after some thought, ¡°How many do you want?¡±

    ¡°A Thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators.¡±

    ¡°Absolutely not. At most, I¡¯ll give you a hundred Light Shaking Realm cultivators and eight hundred Yang Opening Realm cultivators.¡±

    ¡°What can Yang Opening Realm cultivators do?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re all at the peak of the Yang Opening Realm. If you take good care of them, then they will reach the Light Shaking Realm within three years.¡± This was another tactic of Su Chen¡¯s to force Lin Zuiliu to take good care of his men.

    Lin Zuiliu opened his mouth to speak, but after a moment¡¯s pause, he could only sigh. ¡°How outrageous! You im that you can hand me eight hundred Yang Opening Realm cultivators who are all guaranteed to reach the Light Shaking Realm within three years, and yet I already know that you are telling the truth. The Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques are truly incredible. Just the fact that they can greatly raise one¡¯s likelihood of breaking into the higher cultivation realms, not to mention that they allow those without bloodlines to cultivate, is incredible. The path of cultivation has opened up because of you, and the strength of the human race as a whole has advanced by leaps and bounds. The future will belong to the Boundless Sect.¡±

    ¡°To the human race, you mean,¡± Su Chen corrected straightforwardly.

    Lin Zuiliu shook his head. ¡°And the Boundless Sect as well...... When I think about the future, I sigh and wonder what the point of fighting so hard for this ruling position even is in the first ce.¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t expect that the Boundless Sect¡¯s potential would have such an impression on Lin Zuiliu, to the point where even the position of emperor paled inparison to its prestige. Su Chen felt a bit agitated and wanted to smooth things over.

    Unexpectedly, Lin Zuiliu shook his head and proudly stated, ¡°Overthrowing Lin Mengze has been my dream from the very beginning. Even if the Boundless Sect someday rises to power and my kingdom bes worthless, I won¡¯t care as long as I can defeat Lin Mengze and nt my feet on his face today. Let¡¯s settle on this now!¡±

    Somehow, Lin Mengze had managed to appease himself.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 46: Ambush

    Since the matter had progressed to this point, there was no point in dying. They might as well start advancing.

    That night, Lin Zuiliu upied t Order City with his troops. Once hepletely subjugated it, his armies then took over Southern Sky Pce, before sweeping across the entire country.

    In but half a month, the entire western region of Long Sang had fallen into his hands.

    When word began to spread, the entire country was stunned.

    It was not just Long Sang that was amazed; even the other six countries were dumbfounded.

    Why had this old fogey reappeared?

    What was he trying to do?

    While everyone was still in a daze over his brazen actions, Lin Zuiliu had already begun his performance.

    After taking control of the entire western region, he didn¡¯t march on the capital. Instead, he headed for the south, nning on conquering that area as well. Because his soldiers were all Origin Qi Schrs, their mobility was easily imagined.

    Even Lin Zuiliu himself took to the field at Haizhou City, forcibly destroying the defensive Origin Formation and subduing the inhabitants there.

    A single person had taken down an entire city all on his own.

    He didn¡¯t stop there, though, and immediately proceeded to his next destination.

    It seemed like he was nning on taking over the entire southern region in one fell swoop.

    At that moment, Long Sang¡¯s troops had already reached Ten Thousand Swords Mountain and were preparing for a fierce battle. When they heard this news, however, they were immediately stunned.

    The King of Chaos had returned? Then what were they supposed to do?

    Should they fight here or retreat?

    Despite Long Sang¡¯s military array being incredibly impressive and them having three Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators on this expedition, Ten Thousand Swords Mountain was still no easy prey.

    This time, the Boundless Sect wasn¡¯t making any attempt to conceal its strength. They had activated the mountain¡¯s defensive formations and were prepared to fight to the death.

    The defensive formation had been upgraded a number of times in the past few years, and its offensive power and capabilities had been greatly improved as a result. The illusion that had tricked Shen Junan and the others was merely one of its new functionalities, not its sole improvement. And because the Boundless Sect¡¯s territory included arable farnd, it meant that they producedrge quantities of resources. When factoring in therge number of Light Shaking Realm cultivators, it was entirely possible for the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples to hold out for a number of months.

    And even if Long Sang¡¯s army did seize Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, they would pay a huge price.

    General Guan Tao was a veteran, but even he hesitated at this dilemma, unable to make up his mind.

    His hesitation ended up giving him an opportunity.

    Three dayster, orders from Long Coiling City arrived, saying that they were to immediately give up on this operation and return to the southwest.

    Guan Tao sighed. Thankfully, he had not been impulsive, and the emperor was not crazy.

    This decision was not strange at all. Fighting a war on two fronts was not wise, especially when neither party was easy to deal with.

    That evening, Guan Tao ordered his troops to quietly retreat.

    Though the troops had every intention of doing so, Lin Shaoxuan refused to let them go that easily.

    One aspect that Long Sang was vastly inferior to the Boundless Sect in wasmunication.

    Patelocke was connected to multiple groups despite the fact that he was still with the Zhu n. His importance was quite high, as hismunication range was incredible. This allowed these distant groups to coordinate effectively and easily.

    Lin Shaoxuan had been aware of Lin Zuiliu¡¯s attacks from the very beginning, and he had purposefully allowed this information to reach Guan Tao.

    Long Coiling City¡¯s orders hadn¡¯t escaped Lin Shaoxuan¡¯s notice either. The Immortal Temple had even managed to be one step ahead in that regard.

    During this time period, information security was terrible. Nobody invested much into preventing information from being leaked.

    On the other hand, the Boundless Sect recognized the incredible value of information, and they used it to maximum effect.

    After learning that Long Coiling City had issued retreat orders, Lin Shaoxuan quickly calcted how long it would take for the orders to arrive, and then kept a close eye on the Long Sang troops as that time neared.

    Guan Tao even did his due diligence by setting up some diversionary illusion formations. These formations were crafted by the best Origin Formation specialists within the army. Under normal circumstances, the Boundless Sect would have been easily fooled.

    But against someone who was prepared, it waspletely useless.

    With a simple probe, Lin Shaoxuan quickly determined that Guan Tao was about to withdraw his troops.

    He didn¡¯t hesitate in the slightest and, led all of the disciples in the sect to board the Cloud-Piercing Shuttles and charge away.

    Dragon Gate Pool.

    It was impossible to reach Ten Thousand Swords Mountain without passing through this location. The same went for leaving. As such, it was a very strategic chokepoint.

    The Dragon Gate Pool was not a particrly dangerous location in and of itself.

    However, not every militarily-strategic location was necessarily inherently dangerous. Some of them just happened to be naturally suited for ambushes.

    There were two mountains bordering the Dragon Gate Pool, and on one end was water. The central area was also at a lower elevation, which made it easy for Origin Energy to get trapped there.

    As such, even though the ce didn¡¯t seem like much of a chokepoint, it was an incredibly important location.

    Under normal circumstances, it would be a high priority to cautiously scout out the area before advancing to avoid falling straight into an Origin Formation.

    However, Guan Tao hadn¡¯t done so.

    It wasn¡¯t that he wasn¡¯t cautious. Rather, it was that the Long Sang troops had only just passed through this location earlier.

    Unless someone had immediately started preparing an Origin Formation after they passed through earlier, there was no other way for a formation to be sessfully set in such a short period of time. And the only way that could happen was if someone had gotten wind of their movements in advance. Otherwise, setting up this kind of ambush was impossible.

    For this reason, Guan Tao had chosen not to waste his time and ordered his army to immediately enter.

    However, as they marched through the Dragon Gate Pool, he gradually began to realize that something was wrong.

    After they had been marching for some time, Guan Tao nced around before frowning. ¡°Something¡¯s wrong.¡±

    ¡°What happened, General Guan?¡± asked his deputy, Jiang Liu.

    Guan Tao didn¡¯t reply. His brows furrowed even more deeply.

    Suddenly, he tapped his left index finger on his forehead and growled, ¡°Break!¡±

    His eyes opened wide as a divine light shone filled his gaze, after which he began to scan his surroundings.

    But even though he had activated an eye technique, he was still unable to discover anything noteworthy.

    Just as the glow in his eyes began to dim and when he was about to close his eyes, he suddenly thought of something and turned to look at the sky above him.

    He muttered, ¡°The sky...... is very blue.¡±

    ¡°Yes, it is very blue indeed,¡± Jiang Liu replied.

    Guan Tao said, ¡°Before we entered the Dragon Gate Pool, I remember seeing a dark cloud off in the distance. But now, I can¡¯t seem to find it.¡±

    What?

    The people around him were stunned.

    Guan Tao flew into the air, this time charging directly into the sky.

    He hurriedly nced below him, and the same glow appeared in his eyes again. This time, however, he had activated his eye technique to its greatest extent. Not only that, but his Thought Manifestation Realm aura also began to spread out, enveloping the surroundings.

    No one knew why Guan Tao had suddenly decided to show off like this, but they watched. Suddenly, the sky above them began to crack as if it were ss shattering. In the blink of an eye, spiderweb-like cracks had spread everywhere.

    Following this, a voice sighed, ¡°General Guan is indeed General Guan. It¡¯s not easy to trick you at all.¡±

    Guan Tao was taken aback. ¡°Lin Shaoxuan?¡±

    Lin Shaoxuan¡¯s figure appeared out of thin air as he wryly smiled at Guan Tao. ¡°Shaoxuan greets General Guan. It¡¯s been a long time, but your elegant bearing has remained the same.¡±

    Upon seeing Lin Shaoxuan, Guan Tao¡¯s expression drastically shifted as he yelled, ¡°Not good! There¡¯s an ambush here! Hurry up and get out of here!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s toote,¡± Lin Shaoxuan said with a sigh. ¡°Even though not all of your troops have entered the Dragon Gate Pool, getting more than half of them is good enough.¡±

    As he spoke, the cracking sky finallypletely shattered, and a vast swath of thunderclouds revealed itself overhead.

    Immediately afterwards, a powerful bolt of lightning descended from the sky, mming into the ground.

    ¡°This is the Sky Lightning Formation!¡± Guan Tao yelled as he unleashed a ferocious punch at the sky.

    This punch was filled with might, and it exuded a tremendous amount of pressure. Clearly, the punch was capable of shattering a mountain. However, even this powerful fist was incapable of destroying the Origin Formation that the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples had spent so much manpower and resources creating. The punch was only capable of weakening the lightning bolt slightly, which bought some time for Guan Tao¡¯s subordinates to escape.

    Lin Shaoxuan sighed. ¡°General Guan, you¡¯re panicking. And when you panic, you¡¯re more likely to make mistakes.¡±

    As he spoke, he waved his hand. The river behind them, which had previously been flowingzily, suddenly began to expand before taking the form of a massive beast. Demonic Beasts continued to form from the water, recklessly charging at the Long Sang soldiers. It just so happened that the Long Sang soldiers were in the process of retreating. They had basically delivered themselves into the hands of their opponents.

    ¡°No!¡± Guan Tao yelled.

    He hadn¡¯t expected Lin Shaoxuan to focus on the Flowing Yin Yang Formation instead of the Sky Lightning Formation. Those thunderbolts had merely been a distraction. This surging river was the true killing blow ¡ª Lin Shaoxuan¡¯s goal had not been to kill the Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators, but rather to damage the lower ranks as much as he could.

    Perhaps they were also aware that they didn¡¯t have enough time to set up a formation that could kill a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator.

    However, even if they weren¡¯t able to kill the Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators, they could kill the others.

    Under the weight of the immense wave crashing down on them, the Blood Boiling Realm cultivators were basically killed in the blink of an eye. The Yang Opening Realm cultivators were able to hold on for a bit longer, but the end result was just that they had merely prolonged their suffering.

    Only the Light Shaking Realm cultivators were strong enough to escape from the influence of this giant wave. But right when they extricated themselves, streaks of sword light suddenly filled the sky, rushing towards them.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples weren¡¯t just idly waiting around while the Long Sang army had been panicking.

    They had concealed themselves in the formation, and were now using their terrain advantage to ughter the stronger cultivators.

    ¡°Good, Lin Shaoxuan! Very good!¡± Guan Tao snarled as he stared at Lin Shaoxuan in rage. ¡°You¡¯ve taken everything I taught you and used it on me instead!¡±

    Lin Shaoxuan sighed again. ¡°Shaoxuan will not forget General Guan¡¯s kind instruction. As long as General Guan doesn¡¯t personally attack, Shaoxuan promises not to harm you.¡±

    ¡°So that allows you to kill them? Don¡¯t forget that you too are a citizen of Long Sang Country!¡± Guan Tao rebuked angrily.

    Lin Shaoxuan calmly replied, ¡°Of course I haven¡¯t forgotten. But General Guan, you seem to have forgotten what happened to the Heavenly Might Battalion back then.¡±

    Guan Tao was taken aback.

    Lin Shaoxuan continued speaking. ¡°And this time, wasn¡¯t it the imperial family who came after the Boundless Sect first? We are all humans, and we evene from the same background. How could I possibly desire to harm them? But it seems to me that you were the ones who turned your backs on us first! Are you all the only ones who don¡¯t need to consider these things when you want to kill people?¡±

    Guan Tao was rendered speechless.

    The fearful cries from below were still continuing. His two Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators had long since charged over, unleashing punches at the sky as they attempted to destroy the formation.

    One of the more excitable ones even cried out, ¡°Guan Tao, why waste any more of your words on him? Let¡¯s hurry up and try to break out of this formation!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s toote,¡± Guan Tao sighedmentably.

    Guan Tao himself had taught Lin Shaoxuan this Flowing Yin Yang Formation. At that time, Lin Shaoxuan had been a smart, curious youth. Guan Tao had noticed his intelligence and taught him how to use the Flowing Yin Yang formation to ambush a stronger force. No one was clearer than he about the properties of this formation.

    It was a given that no soldiers below the Spirit Burning Realm would survive, and even the Spirit Burning Realm cultivators would suffer quite greatly.

    Roughly half of the soldiers had entered the Flowing Yin Yang Formation. In other words, half of their troops had been lost in a single instant.

    A devastating blow!!!

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 47: Identity

    Bad news always came in waves.

    Lin Zuiliu was trying to stir up a rebellion, and now half of the soldiers sent to defeat the Boundless Sect had been killed.

    Lin Mengze felt a migraineing on.

    Within the Thousand Hands Hall.

    Lin Mengze sat in his throne with a dark expression. ¡°We were just about to attack the Boundless Sect when Lin Zuiliu appeared. Guan Tao was just about to retreat when he was ambushed by an Origin Formation. Their coordination is really quite impable.¡±

    Lin Zuiliu heading to the Abyss was no secret. Of course, Su Chen was also there, so everyone immediately realized that Su Chen was likely implicated as soon as Lin Zuiliu had appeared.

    However, no one had expected Lin Zuiliu and Lin Shaoxuan to cooperate with each other so well, to the point that half of the soldiers who had been sent to deal with the Ten Thousands Sword Mountain had been wiped out.

    ¡°Apparently, Lin Shaoxuan was the one leading this group,¡± one of the imperial officials said carefully.

    Lin Mengze harrumphed. ¡°Wild nts grow from wild seeds no matter how much you cultivate them!¡±

    Very few people knew that Lin Shaoxuan was actually a member of the imperial family as well.

    However, his status was not very high, because he was the illegitimate son of Lin Mengze¡¯s older brother, Lin Raoxian. Actually, he would even need to refer to Lin Mengze as his father¡¯s elder brother.

    No one had expected the scorned, disdained illegitimate child to be one of the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s youngestmanders, and now one of the Boundless Sect¡¯s elders.

    When Lin Mengze thought about Lin Shaoxuan, his heart was filled with gloominess.

    Unfortunately, no one could tell what he was thinking. The officials could only begin to discuss amongst one another.

    ¡°The most important thing to figure out right now is what we should do.¡±

    ¡°The Boundless Sect is just a small thorn in our side. Lin Zuiliu is the real enemy, so we should naturally focus our attention on dealing with Lin Zuiliu instead.¡±

    ¡°But the Boundless Sect¡¯s potential is enormous, and their strength advances in leaps and bounds every day. We have already offended them, so if we continue down this path, we will only be setting ourselves up for failure in the future.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean, offend? We are officials, while they are only citizens. So what if we teach them a lesson? Will they dare to rebel?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid they might end up teaching us a lesson.¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about? At most, it¡¯ll just be considered an unsessful military operation. After all, victory and defeat aremon experiences for a soldier.¡±

    ¡°You really know how to cover your own behind.¡±

    The officials jabbered on relentlessly. Some proposed that they should deal with Lin Zuiliu first, while others proposed that they should deal with the Boundless Sect first. All kinds of reasonings and ideas were thrown out there.

    Only the Crown Prince, Lin Wenjun, understood his father¡¯s thoughts and said, ¡°Father, since Lin Shaoxuan is the one who came back this time, why don¡¯t we wait a bit longer? Maybe we can......¡±

    He didn¡¯t finish his sentence, but Lin Mengze understood what he was getting at.

    He gently rapped his finger on the table in front of him a few times before saying, ¡°We can let the matter of the Boundless Sect be for now. The important task is to kill Lin Zuiliu. Are any of you willing to go and face this rebel?¡±

    Everyone nced at each other. For once, none of them dared to open their mouths.

    What a joke! Lin Zuiliu was also an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator. Other than an ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator, who could fight him?

    There was only one Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator in Long Sang at the moment, and that was Lin Mengze himself.

    Lin Mengze was the emperor and didn¡¯t make a move himself often. But without his oversight, who dared to volunteer?

    Actually, Lin Mengze should have asked, ¡°which officials¡±, not ¡°which official.¡±

    Seven or eight Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators should be enough to handle an emperor.

    The way he had phrased the question wasn¡¯t articte enough, so no one was willing to step up to the te. The hall immediately fell into silence.

    Lin Mengze immediately realized the issue. After all, he was the emperor, and he wasn¡¯t an idiot. However, that didn¡¯t mean that his personality was that great. His expression sank as he harrumphed, ¡°You guys all act so powerful normally, but none of you seem to have any bravery in the most critical moments.¡±

    Everyone lowered their heads, wordlessly.

    Lin Mengze continued, ¡°Since none of you are willing to take the initiative, I will choose. He Wenle, Chang Jianxin, Liu Yu......¡±

    He named five people, all of whom were at the Thought Manifestation Realm.

    Upon hearing these names, everyone sighed with relief.

    Even though five-on-one was still not an easy fight, it would be no problem for them to hold out for some time. When paired with enough Spirit Burning and Light Shaking Realm cultivators, it was at least possible to guarantee that they wouldn¡¯t be defeated.

    Lin Zuiliu¡¯s biggest issue was that his foundation was too shallow. Even if he had taken control of the southern region, he was stillcking in manpower. If they were topete in terms of foundational strength, Lin Zuiliu would definitely lose.

    As for why Lin Mengze had only picked five......

    Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators weren¡¯t cabbages, not to mention that one had just been killed and one had been imprisoned - Guan Tao was the one who had been imprisoned due to his failure as a general. Even though his failure had not been without its reasons, he still needed to be punished as a warning to others.

    As such, selecting five was already Lin Mengze¡¯s upper limit. It was obvious how big of a problem Lin Zuiliu was posing.

    Now that the generals had been selected, it was time to choose the supporting troops.

    That was simple. They could reorganize the troops that had returned from the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain and fill in the gaps with soldiers from other branches instead.

    The problem was that it was not always possible to gather those different branches so easily.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Lin Mengze said, ¡°Pull some people from the Flowing Gold Fort.¡±

    Someone said in shock, ¡°Your Majesty, the Flowing Gold Fort is a critical location for defending us against the Ravagers! You cannot weaken the forces there!¡±

    Lin Wenjun said, ¡°The Ravagers are in a chaotic state right now, and Danba is publicly starting a revolt. The two sides are still locked in a bitter struggle with each other. There¡¯s no way they¡¯lle for us right now.¡±

    ¡°But......¡±

    ¡°No buts. The matter is decided,¡± Lin Mengze said.

    At that moment, a voice called out, ¡°Your Majesty, I have an urgent military report!¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    ¡°Demonic Beasts have invaded us from the north. They are currently wreaking havoc and have razed six cities already.¡±

    Lin Mengze frowned. ¡°It¡¯s just a few Demonic Beasts. Are those cities incapable of suppressing the Beasts themselves?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid not.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a Demonic Emperor.¡±

    Bang!

    Lin Mengze crushed the inscribed dragon jade that he had been holding in his hand.

    On Forever Clear Ind.

    As per usual, Su Chen stood at the top of the pce, gazing out at the sea. No one knew what he was thinking.

    This was the time of day he had reserved for his own reflection. This gave his overworked brain some time to rest, as well as an opportunity for all the experience he had umted to give him inspiration.

    Just as he was quietly enjoying this peaceful moment of solitude, a malepletely dressed in iron armor walked over, his armor nking loudly. It was the fourth head of the ck me, Ding Feng.

    He walked over to Su Chen and stood still before saying, ¡°You were looking for me?¡±

    ¡°Mhm,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°I have some good news.¡±

    Ding Feng didn¡¯t speak.

    Su Chen calmly said, ¡°Shaoxuan was victorious and wiped out nearly half of the troops assaulting the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain. He himself was also unharmed...... He really did a good job this time.¡±

    Ding Feng remained silent.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t say anything else.

    The two of them stared at each other for some time.

    After a while, Ding Feng said, ¡°What does this have to do with me?¡±

    Su Chen calmly said, ¡°Don¡¯t you often meet with him secretly? You two have quite a good rtionship, right? Is it that strange for me to let you know?¡±

    Ding Feng calmly replied, ¡°Sir Su, you must be mistaken. I and Elder Lin have never secretly met before.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°I am the Boundless Sect¡¯s Sect Master. Even though I am primarily responsible for performing research and figuring out how to nullify the Deep Sea Sorrow, whether through medicine or some other means, I have never forgotten my other status -mander of this joint fleet. As such, no matter how mired I appear to be in my research, I have always made a point to be aware of information traveling in the outside world. Luckily, some of the profits I had identally stumbled across in the past gave me the ability to handle so many things at once.¡±

    Su Chen tapped his own head as he spoke.

    Then, he turned around to nce at Ding Feng. ¡°Perhaps you have never secretly met with him before, but that hasn¡¯t stopped you from secretlymunicating with each other before. For instance......¡±

    He raised his hand and made a few hand gestures. They seemed quite casual andckadaisical, but there was also something different about them.

    Ding Feng stayed motionless, but a ray of light flickered across his eyes.

    ¡°Your subordinate doesn¡¯t understand,¡± he said.

    ¡°But I do,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°Do you know why I specifically requested you toe with me from the Thousand Illusions Ind?¡±

    Ding Feng remained silent.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°Because I knew that you already recognized Shaoxuan. Yes, you kept it hidden quite well, and even now I am having a hard time sensing your emotional fluctuations. But you forgot that Shaoxuan doesn¡¯t have the same talent. I have never seen the same level of excitement and joying from his heart as I did in the moment that he saw you. As such, I immediately realized that you were an incredibly important person to him. But since he didn¡¯t say anything about it, I didn¡¯t want to ask more. Actually, I would have preferred for things to remain this way if it had been possible.¡±

    ¡°But you didn¡¯t,¡± Ding Feng replied.

    This time, he finally made no attempts to deny the truth.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Su Chen sighed. ¡°Every person has their own secrets, and forcefully prying them out is not a good thing. But the situation is urgent, so I have no choice.¡±

    ¡°The situation is urgent?¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Yes. I just got word that Danba¡¯s civil war has reached a critical point, and victory will probably be determined in the next two years. As such, the pressure on the Flowing Gold Fort has greatly decreased. Even though Lin Zuiliu and the Boundless Sect have put Long Sang in between a rock and a hard ce, the redeploying of the Flowing Gold Fort is an issue. Even though there are no Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators there, and not even many Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators, the elite of the elites are all stationed there. They are brave and powerful soldiers who cannot be underestimated. If the soldiers in the Flowing Gold Fort are redeployed, they will definitely be a big pain to deal with. I have already sent people to the northern regions to use the illusion medicines I have developed along with the cloning Origin Substances I have extracted to create the fake impression that a Demonic Emperor is invading from the north. This should be enough to dy them momentarily, but it won¡¯t buy us too much time. Half a year would already be quite impressive.¡±

    ¡°What does this have to do with me?¡±

    ¡°I need you to make it so that the Flowing Gold Fort will not be able to send their soldiers out. This way, Lin Zuiliu and Shaoxuan will have more time to set up and prepare.¡±

    Ding Feng fell silent.

    After a long time, he said, ¡°Why do you assume that I am capable of preventing the Flowing Gold Fort from sending out troops?¡±

    ¡°Because you are the former vicemander of the Flowing Gold Fort, the bloodline-less hero of the human race, the long-disappeared General Long Pojun!¡±

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 48: Blood Fiendâ€™s Bone

    The atmosphere suddenly grew calm.

    Ding Feng gazed at Su Chen. After a long while, he finally said, ¡°How did you know?¡±

    Upon seeing that he made no attempt to deny the allegations, Su Chen smiled with satisfaction. ¡°The ckwater Corps should have been a group of disruptive, unruly bandits, but you managed to train them into an elite group of soldiers. This is not something a normal person could do. It was also strange that you would continue to conceal your identity despite joining the ck me. Lin Shaoxuan is an illegitimate heir of the imperial family and a member of Long Sang Country. Long Pojun¡¯s disappearance and Lin Wenjun¡¯s assuming of your position, then the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s fate..... I originally thought that this was because of Lin Wenjun¡¯s incapability, but now I know that he did so in order to get on his father¡¯s good side. But the only reason I ended up finding out about this in the first ce was because of Lin Chenyuan¡¯s backslide......¡±

    Lin Wenjun had made such a terrible mistake, yet he had still somehow managed to regain his stride. Lin Chenyuan¡¯s advantage was incredibly obvious, yet he had still lost somehow. Why was that?

    Su Chen was also very curious about this matter.

    And via Patelocke, he had managed to get into contact with Lin Chenyuan.

    Even though Lin Chenyuan had failed, he hadn¡¯t died; he had merely been denounced. He was very confused and dissatisfied with his failure, which led to him doing some detective work on his own.

    Eventually, he was able to find some things out.

    The information he uncovered was truly shocking.

    Because Lin Wenjun¡¯s resurgence was also rted to what had happened to the Heavenly Might Battalion back then.

    More specifically, Lin Wenjun¡¯s harming of the Heavenly Might Battalion was not due to his ipetence. It was nned from the very beginning!

    However, no one knew why Lin Wenjun had chosen to do so.

    But from what Lin Chenyuan had managed to gather, Lin Wenjun had done so on his father¡¯s behalf.

    This piece of information was shocking.

    So it was the emperor himself who wanted to set up the Heavenly Might Battalion?

    Lin Wenjun¡¯s fall and rise to power could be easily understood as a result.

    His failure was actually just him taking the brunt of the usation for Lin Mengze.

    His rise again was naturally because he was reaping the rewards.

    However, Lin Chenyuan had no idea why Lin Mengze wanted to deal with the Heavenly Might Battalion. Actually, Lin Chenyuan wasn¡¯t even certain whether it was Lin Mengze who wanted to deal with the Heavenly Might Battalion in the first ce. He had spent countless riches and lost numerous personal aides to get this information, and it was still quite blurry and incoherent. All he knew was that there was a high likelihood that someone in the imperial family was responsible for scheming against the Heavenly Might Battalion, and that this matter was also likely rted to the missing Long Pojun.

    Su Chen had already known about Lin Shaoxuan¡¯s royal status, because he had drawn everyone¡¯s blood when doing his research in the past.

    When he drew Lin Shaoxuan¡¯s blood.

    Hm?

    Deste Beast Blood?

    That was how Lin Shaoxuan exined his identity to Su Chen.

    When Lin Chenyuan informed Su Chen of what he knew, Su Chen was immediately reminded of Lin Shaoxuan. By factoring in Ding Feng and Lin Shaoxuan¡¯s secret interactions, the truth immediately became clear to him. If he hadn¡¯t noticed then, then he wouldn¡¯t have been Su Chen.

    Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s exnation, Ding Feng - no, Long Pojun - finally understood.

    He nodded. ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. Sir Su¡¯s intelligence is unrivalled. I¡¯m not surprised I wasn¡¯t able to keep the truth from you.¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°Actually, Lin Wenjun wanted to deal with the Heavenly Might Battalion primarily because of you, right?¡±

    Long Pojun didn¡¯t deny this assertion. Instead, he asked, ¡°How did you manage toe to that conclusion?¡±

    ¡°Simple inference. If Lin Wenjun wanted to deal with Shaoxuan, there was no need to do so in such aplicated manner. There were many opportunities to kill him, or even openly execute him, without any repercussions. After all, Shaoxuan is an illegitimate son, and Lin Raoxian died a long time ago. No one would speak up on his behalf. As such, his main reason for dealing with the Heavenly Might Battalion was to......¡±

    ¡°Force me out into the open,¡± Long Pojun replied.

    ¡°Unfortunately, he failed,¡± Su Chen said.

    The Heavenly Might Battalion had been stuck in Ravager territory for so long, but Long Pojun never showed himself. In the end, it was Su Chen who saved them from their plight.

    Long Pojun sighed. ¡°Back when I joined the army, I was enlisted by the Heavenly Might Battalion. I was the happiest during that period of time. Wenchang was my master, and Chongshan was one of my trusted subordinates. I watched Moxie grow old. Tianhai was my disciple, Yingwan was the daughter of one of my deceased friends, and Lin Shaoxuan was the son of my master...... The Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s disciples were like my family.¡±

    Su Chen remained silent.

    Long Pojun nced at him. ¡°Do you want to ask me why I didn¡¯t do anything even when I knew that they were headed towards destruction?¡±

    ¡°I think that you probably had your own reasons why you couldn¡¯t.¡±

    Long Pojun chuckled. ¡°You do know how tofort me, but I¡¯m sorry to say that I had no such reasons. The only reason I didn¡¯t go was because I knew that it was going to be of no use...... I wouldn¡¯t have been able to save them.¡±

    As he spoke, he let out a long sigh and gazed out at the calm surface of the sea. ¡°I had already joined the ck me by then. Even though the world was vast, this was the only ce I could hide myself. The Thousand Illusions Ind is in the middle of nowhere, and information only rarelyes this way. Sometimes, it takes many months before news can reach us. I found out about the Heavenly Might Battalion¡¯s plight after slightly less than half a year had gone by. During that period of time, I had thought of trying to save them as well. But what would I do it with? They were in Ravager territory, while I was all on my own. Even if I did go, I would only be dying with them. I don¡¯t have that much ability. True, my leadership skills are not bad, but think about it, Su Chen - did you really save the Heavenly Might Battalion just because of your leadership and tactical skills?¡±

    Su Chen was taken aback.

    It was true that he had managed to save the Heavenly Might Battalion, but not by relying on tactics. The primary factor was his wealth! This wealth allowed him to purchaserge numbers of Origin Rings and stuff them full of resources, allowing the Heavenly Might Battalion to survive. This was how they were able to continue fighting and turn the tide to their advantage.

    And Su Chen¡¯s attracting the Beasts¡¯ attention and confusing the Ravagers had nothing to do with military strategy either. Instead, Su Chen¡¯s n was basically to stir up as much trouble as possible so that they would have an opportunity to escape in the chaos.

    And there was no way that Long Pojun could have prepared all of these things.

    Even so, Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but frown slightly.

    He admitted that there was nothing wrong with what Long Pojun had said, logically speaking. Even if he had gone, it was likely that he wouldn¡¯t have been able to do anything.

    But did everything need to be considered so logically?

    He was a soldier, but was hepletelycking in fearlessness and valiance?

    Aren¡¯t you Long Pojun? The legendary, peerless, unshakable Long Pojun?

    How could Long Pojun say something like ¡°it wouldn¡¯t have made a difference even if I had gone¡±?

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t resist saying, ¡°I¡¯m starting to question whether you¡¯re Long Pojun after all. The Long Pojun in my heart is a peerless warrior, one who is never discouraged and never gives up.¡±

    ¡°What do you know?¡± Unexpectedly, Long Pojun began to yell. ¡°That isn¡¯t me at all, and I am not the person that you think I am!¡±

    What?

    Long Pojun continued to roar, ¡°I¡¯ve had enough! These past years, I¡¯ve had enough. A peerless warrior? That¡¯s not me at all! I¡¯m tired of pretending to be that kind of person. Su Chen, I will show you today what kind of person I really am!¡±

    As he spoke he shoved his arms out in front of him, shaking off the armor surrounding him.

    A short man appeared before Su Chen¡¯s eyes.

    After taking off the hard shell of armor, the real Long Pojun was actually only up to Su Chen¡¯s shoulder. That wouldn¡¯t have been such a problem, but most importantly he was so skinny that he looked like nothing more than a bag of bones, as if he hadn¡¯t eaten a filling meal in years.

    This wasn¡¯t much of an exaggeration. It really did look like someone had draped a skin over a skeleton. It was even possible to see some red bones glowing under his skin, along with his faintly beating heart.

    But...... how could this be Long Pojun?

    The Long Pojun in his memories, and in the legends, was a tall, stalwart, brawny man. His body was supposedly as tough as iron.

    Apparently, this man¡¯s body was incredibly powerful. He could eat an entire cow in one sitting, and it was as if his body was made out of metal. Every time he attacked, he would directly use his fists to smash his opponents to death. His muscles were outrageously strong. He was a prime example of a ferocious man.

    Even if those rumors were exaggerated, the amount of exaggeration was a little too unreasonable.

    Also, Cheng Tianhai and Li Chongshan had been with Long Pojun for many years. They couldn¡¯t possibly have exaggerated as well, right?

    During their previous conversations, Long Pojun had been mentioned before. Their tone was filled with respect and reverence. No one had ever told Su Chen that all of these rumors were, in fact, a load of bull, and that he was actually a short, skinny manpletelycking in presence.

    No one at all!

    No one had ever said anything even remotely close to this!

    In their eyes, General Long was a peerless, unrivalled God of War!

    The only thing that somewhat provided some credence to these legends were the countless scars that covered the skinny man¡¯s bodies.

    The man¡¯s back was marred with scar tissue criss-crossing his body. It was as if he had somehow managed to survive a Death by a Thousand Cuts.

    There was almost no space left on his body to leave another scar.

    How had such a skinny body managed to endure these kinds of wounds?

    Su Chen¡¯s expression was grave. ¡°What exactly happened to you?¡±

    Long Pojun chuckled bitterly.

    He lowered his head to nce at himself and his hands as he said, ¡°Nothing, really. I just didn¡¯t want to go on any longer. I got sick of fighting, sick of killing, sick of pretending to be a peerless, real man...... I grew tired and just wanted to find a ce where I could rest, is all.¡±

    ¡°So what¡¯s happening to you now?¡±

    ¡°I cannot satisfy it. It is hungry, but it cannot devour any blood or flesh, so it can only consume me...... Little by little, it has consumed me to this condition.¡±

    ¡°It?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Yes, it. This bone on my body,¡± Long Pojun replied.

    Underneath the shriveled skin, a blood-red bone glowed and pulsated.

    Su Chen¡¯s gaze tightened. ¡°This bone...... It isn¡¯t yours?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s not,¡± Long Pojun replied. ¡°Someone exchanged it for me.¡±

    Su Chen felt his heart tremble. ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you seen him before? He gave you a pair of eyes that could perceive the truths of this world, and me this Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone that could devour blood and flesh to constantly grow stronger, allowing me to be a peerless God of War.¡±

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 49: Return

    So that old beggar was involved yet again, huh?

    After running into Li Daohong, Su Chen was no longer surprised by this kind of situation.

    His own situation was not necessarily unique. He had no idea how many people were affected by the old beggar as well.

    The same went for Long Pojun.

    However, unlike the suffering that Su Chen and Li Daohong had gone through, he was able to act and move freely as soon as the bone had been transnted into him. That overpowering strength had be his almost immediately. Even so, there was a price that he needed to pay.

    ¡°To outsiders, I look like a valiant, intrepid soldier who tempered his body until it was as strong as iron. However, no one realizes that I am just trying to satisfy its needs. The reason I was so strong was because of the strength that it gave me, and the reason my body was as tough as iron was because of the protection it gave me. My fearlessness in battle and all the ughter I performed was because the bone needed the flesh of my enemies to survive. The more enemies I had and the more flesh I consumed, the stronger it would be. But at the same time, that would only increase its appetite.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s why you kept fighting, and how you were able to eventually carve out a name for yourself as the Flowing Gold Fort¡¯s God of War.¡±

    ording to the legends, Long Pojun was famous for his brave and fiercebat style. His bloodthirst led him to always be leading the charge. If there was a situation to be resolved by fighting, he would fight, and if there was no situation he would create one and then fight.

    Under his watch, Long Sang and the Ravagers fought with each other the most.

    Even if there was no particr reason to, Long Pojun would send out hunting expeditions into the ins.

    They would reap the Ravagers¡¯ lives in order to sate the appetite of the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone.

    For this reason, Long Pojun was considered by many Ravagers to be a demon, the kind that was used to coax little Ravagers to bed.

    In their hearts, Long Pojun was as immovable as an iron wall.

    ¡°So why do you starve it then? Why do you insist on putting yourself in such a sad state?¡±

    Long Pojun smiled slightly. ¡°Why? Because I must starve it! Its appetite grows day by day. At first, I was able to satisfy it just by killing one person, but towards the end it was possible that ughtering an entire toon wouldn¡¯t be enough to satisfy its demands. I knew that, sooner orter, I would die because of this. If I want to survive, the only thing I can do is decrease its appetite. But when I do that, the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone starts to consume me instead. Every time I starve it, it eats a bit of my flesh. Now that I¡¯ve starved it for a long time, its appetite has also decreased, but the result is that I ended up like this.¡±

    ¡°Then you currently......¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already managed to get it under control. At this point, I only need to feed it a little bit of Sea Beast meat to satisfy it,¡± Long Pojun said with a slight smile. ¡°All of my strength and courage was fake, but my fight against this thing is real. You wouldn¡¯t understand how much it hurts to be consumed from the inside at every moment. For the sake of eating, it has tormented me constantly, but I was able to endure...... to survive.¡±

    So that¡¯s how it was.

    When a person was strong for a long time, even if it wasn¡¯t real, they would eventually adopt that persona and actually be strong.

    Long Pojun¡¯s physical strength hade from the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone, but the strength of enduring the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone¡¯s torment came from himself.

    This endurance demonstrated an impressive side of his character.

    ¡°Did you know that my name is actually not Long Pojun?¡±

    ¡°Long Pojun isn¡¯t even a real person in the first ce.¡±

    ¡°My real name is Dog, because I crawled out of a cave. I don¡¯t even have a surname.¡±

    ¡°The true Long Pojun is this Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone. I am merely its loyal subject.¡±

    ¡°The name Long Pojun...... was given to me by my foster father. Oh, my foster father was Lin Raoxian.

    Long Pojun calmly spoke as he leaned against the pce¡¯s handrail.

    ¡°Lin Raoxian is your foster father? Does he know about the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone?¡±

    ¡°Mhm,¡± Long Pojun said with a nod. ¡°After the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone was transnted in my body, I wasn¡¯t used to its might, and the blood in my body began to boil. I almost burst open then and there. Luckily, there were quite a few small Beasts in the area that I could ke my bloodthirst on. However, at the time I only had the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone, and my personal strength was also extremely weak. Unfortunately, on the third day after I discovered the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone, I encountered a powerful Vicious Beast. I couldn¡¯t defeat it, but just as the Beast¡¯s w was about to kill me, my foster father happened to pass by and saved me.¡±

    ¡°So he knows about the secret of the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone.¡±

    ¡°Yes. I was small back then, and didn¡¯t know the treachery of the human heart. Thankfully, I was lucky and ran into a good person. Even though my foster father was a member of the imperial family, his temper was even and his behavior rxed. The only w was that he was quite promiscuous with his seed. The day that my foster father saved me, he discovered the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone...... Because that bone was actually refined from one of the bones of the Dragon Centipede. As such, the Dragon Centipede Bloodline was inherently attractive to the bone.¡±

    Su Chen began to understand what had taken ce. ¡°So that¡¯s how it is...... That is probably the reason why Lin Mengze tried to set you up. He wanted that Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone to strengthen his own bloodline. You disappeared probably because you sensed his intentions, allowing you to escape before he was able to do anything about it.¡±

    Long Pojun nodded. ¡°You¡¯ve guessed itpletely.¡±

    ¡°However, Lin Raoxian was really a good person. He was both able to deflect suspicion from you about the bone and didn¡¯t absorb the bone for himself either.¡±

    Long Pojun nodded. ¡°Yes. My foster father said that, if he absorbed my Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone, he would reach the Ultimate Emperor Realm, without the bloodthirst. If Lin Mengze absorbed the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone, it was even possible that he would be able to break out of the Ultimate Emperor Realm and reach even greater heights. But he didn¡¯t want to do so because he didn¡¯t want to be manipted by the arrangements of fate.¡±

    ¡°Manipted by the arrangements of fate...... Could it be?¡± Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up.

    ¡°Yes, my foster father knows that old man. That mysterious old man...... Actually, he isn¡¯t really a mystery. He has existed for millions of years already.¡±

    Millions of years?

    Su Chen was stunned.

    This mysterious old man had been around for millions of years already?

    Long Pojun calmly replied, ¡°This Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone was basically prepared for him. Fate had made it so that I would inherit the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone, and that he would chance upon me, then extract that bone for his own use. But my foster father didn¡¯t like to be manipted by fate. He had his own desires and ns, so he refused it...... Not only so, but he even taught me how to refine the bone and bring it under my own control. He also taught me cultivation techniques, and how to read and write. My foster father enjoyed traveling and never stayed in one ce for more than half a year. But for me, he remained in a small mountainous vige for an entire three years before leaving.¡±

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but let out a long sigh when he heard this.

    Because of Lin Mengze, Lin Raoxian was not very famous. Everyone thought that he was merely an idle prince.

    But no one could have imagined that the idle prince was actually this kind of person.

    Didn¡¯t want to be manipted by the arrangements of fate......

    Interesting!

    So was that mysterious old man ¡°fate,¡± then?

    And what was fate¡¯s goal in doing all of these things?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know, so he could only listen to Long Pojun continue to talk.

    ¡°Three yearster, my foster father left. Before he did, he told me that, since I had the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone, I was destined to be a dragon amongst men and a powerful military figure. That was why he gave me the name Long Pojun and told me to enlist in the army. Only this way would I be able to satisfy the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone¡¯s voracious appetite.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then how did Lin Mengze find out that you have the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone? Hadn¡¯t youpletely processed it at that moment?¡± Su Chen asked.

    The Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone was only physically noticeable at this point because Long Pojun had starved himself to the point that he was nothing more than a bag of bones and couldn¡¯t hide it. But it was clear that the Long Pojun of old didn¡¯t have this problem. Otherwise, it would have been discovered a long time ago.

    Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s question, Long Pojun¡¯s face twitched as he grimaced. ¡°It was because of a woman......¡±

    When Su Chen heard this, he understood.

    He had been in the prime of his youth, and his bloodthirst had known no bounds. No powerful enemy had been able to get the better of him, but a woman had managed to easily trick him.

    Perhaps she had sold him out to Lin Mengze after finding out about the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone, or perhaps she had been sent to scout him out by Lin Mengze in the first ce. After all, it was not strange that someone without a bloodline who was that powerful would attract some attention.

    Which one was true was no longer important. This matter had clearly wounded Long Pojun¡¯s heart, and it was especially rted to love. As such, Su Chen didn¡¯t ask any further questions.

    All he asked was, ¡°Does Lin Mengze know about the rtionship between you and Lin Raoxian?¡±

    Long Pojun nodded slightly.

    ¡°No wonder he tried to make a move on the Heavenly Might Battalion. So it was for this...... He wanted to use Lin Shaoxuan and the Heavenly Might Battalion to draw you out, and even now......¡± Su Chen suddenly understood why Long Sang was so intent on attacking him this time.

    Lin Mengze still hadn¡¯t given up on discovering the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone.

    He was going to deal with the Boundless Sect, just as he had dealt with the Heavenly Might Battalion in the past.

    However, what had transpired earlier was proof that threatening the Heavenly Might Battalion would not be enough to force Long Pojun out into the open. Why would he try the same tactic again?

    Because he couldn¡¯t just let the opportunity go to waste like that.

    Su Chen could understand that mindset. To people who were unwilling to ept defeat, they would sometimes need to fail multiple times before they were willing to give up.

    Politically speaking, however, this was a dumb decision.

    The matter had already beenid to rest, but now Lin Mengze was intent on provoking a powerful opponent in a vain attempt to revive this dream of his. That was incredibly unintelligent.

    What would make Lin Mengze so desperate to do something like that even if he knew that the chances were extremely slim?

    Su Chen¡¯s mind raced as he tried to consider all of the possibilities.

    Suddenly, he realized something and said, ¡°Lin Mengze¡¯s body is probably not going tost much longer.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Long Pojun was stunned.

    ¡°Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t be so insistent on trying to find you. If he got his hands on the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone, and he broke into a new cultivation realm, it¡¯s possible that he would be able to extend his lifespan as well.¡±

    ¡°But his vitality shouldn¡¯t have been consumed yet,¡± Long Pojun said.

    Given his Deste Beast Bloodline and his Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivation base, he should have been able to live around 1000-1800 years. If he had possessed an Origin Beast Bloodline, that number would have been closer to 3000. This was why there had only been a dozen or so emperors across the entire twenty-thousand-year history of the Illustrious Divine Dynasty.

    Lin Mengze was only around eight hundred years old, far from reaching that age. Why was his physical condition already beginning to decline?

    Then, he suddenly thought of something and cried out loudly, ¡°Could it be that she...... She...... She......¡±

    He stammered and trembled but was unable to say anything in the end. For the first time, however, a smile of true happiness appeared on his face.

    Su Chen could tell what he was thinking and calmly said, ¡°I¡¯m not too clear about the things of men and women, but the likelihood that something has happened to Lin Mengze¡¯s body is quite high. That¡¯s why he needed to try onest time even if he knows that you will not appear. It seems that my exposing of you is going to aid him in his intentions instead.¡±

    Unexpectedly, Long Pojun suddenly stood up. ¡°I want to go back!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Su Chen was taken aback.

    He had originally given up on trying to convince Long Pojun to return, but unexpectedly Long Pojun had volunteered to return on his own.

    Long Pojun¡¯s expression was resolute as he said, ¡°I want to go back. I want to know how...... she......¡±

    Su Chen understood.

    It was quite apparent that Su Chen¡¯s words had given him new hope.

    There was a possibility now that the love that had shattered before could be repaired.

    ¡°But your body......¡± Su Chen frowned as he stared at the emaciated Long Pojun.

    Was it even possible for him to return to being a peerless God of War with a physique like this?

    Long Pojun, however,ughed proudly, ¡°I just need to feed it until it¡¯s full again. Oh, Blood Demon¡¯s Bone, forgive me for starving you for so many years. It¡¯s time for us to resume our journey.¡±

    As if the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone could sense Long Pojun¡¯s decisiveness, it began to glow a blood-red color.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 50: Dying Wish

    Long Pojun eventually decided to return.

    To the Flowing Gold Fort.

    With him here, the Flowing Gold Fort would definitely not send out troops for no reason. In fact, it would be quite good if they didn¡¯t start stirring up trouble in the first ce.

    No matter how much ability Lin Mengze had, the pressure mounting on him from three different fronts was definitely enough to disrupt his ns for a short period of time.

    Now that he didn¡¯t need to worry about his back lines, Su Chen returned his focus to the Abyss.

    His research of the Deep Sea Sorrow was still ongoing. Every so often, the fleet would go into the Abyss and gather some resources for Su Chen to study.

    Su Chen began to peel back theyers of secrets surrounding the Deep Sea Sorrow.

    Just as Patelocke had said, this peculiar Origin Substance was the invention of the Arcanists. Their goal was to evolve their own strength, both to improve the power of Arcana Techniques and also to address the weakness of their own physical bodies.

    However, this product was a failure. Even though it elerated and enhanced the growth process, anyone it was used on would experience a regression in intelligence.

    Many different Arcana Masters spent their whole lives vainly attempting to resolve this issue. Corniga, on the other hand, utilized the Origin Substance to create the Deep Sea Sorrow instead.

    Su Chen¡¯s goal of using this Origin Substance for himself was a bit like continuing the Arcanists¡¯ research. He was going to try and resolve the issue that the Arcanists had attempted to resolve with blood, sweat, and tears.

    This really was quite a challenge.

    However, Su Chen had already faced many challenges of simr magnitude. The bloodline-less cultivation techniques were one such example. Adding on another challenge was not really that big of a deal.

    In the following days, Su Chen immersed himself in his research.

    At the same time, the situation within Long Sang Country also began to change.

    As expected, Long Pojun returned to the Flowing Gold Fort, exining that he had been the victim of a scheme set up by the imperial family, who were not afraid of having civilians take the fall for their own personal benefit. Even the Heavenly Might Battalion had suffered because of this.

    When news of this spread, it created quite a bit ofmotion. Several of Long Pojun¡¯s former subordinates even chose to immediately leave with Long Pojun.

    There weren¡¯t many people who chose to leave, and there was basically no dent in terms of military strength.

    However, the indelible impact that this revtion had left on the hearts of the soldiers was undeniable.

    Even though most of the soldiers remained in the Flowing Gold Fort, the shocking news that Long Pojun had broughtpletely shook their will to fight.

    Their morale immediately began to decline.

    This decline in morale affected the entire Flowing Gold Fort. The soldiers became disorganized and disorderly, making it difficult for them to execute any military orders.

    If that was only an issue for low-tier Origin Qi Schrs, that wouldn¡¯t have been such a big issue in the first ce. The problem was that even their direct superiors felt the same way.

    The officers were like the nervous system of the entire army, responsible for controlling and directing the movements of the soldiers. Not only had the muscles been affected; even the nerves themselves and the brain suddenly began to malfunction. How could the soldiers not feel betrayed and hurt by this revtion?

    Apparently, in one of their officers¡¯ meetings, some of the more temperamental generals even motioned to ¡°ughter their way to the Thousand Hands Hall and kill that bastard Lin Mengze.¡±

    Those words were treason.

    Of course, no one actually dared to confirm the truth of that statement. It was merely a rumor.

    However, the Flowing Gold Fort¡¯s will to fight hadpletely disappeared.

    It was impossible to mobilize them anywhere. Thankfully, the Ravagers were in a chaotic situation themselves. Otherwise, if they were to suddenly attack, the Flowing Gold Fort would have immediately fallen.

    Long Pojun used this opportunity to head south with his men to join up with Lin Zuiliu.

    In the southern region of Long Sang.

    A group of soldiers flew through the air on a Cloud-Piercing Shuttle. There were even some who flew directly through the air instead of riding the shuttle.

    At the very front of the flying cultivators was a massive, brawny, sturdy man. It was Long Pojun.

    When he left Forever Clear Ind, he had been nothing more than skin and bones. In Long Sang, however, his body had gradually begun to recover to its former state. At this point, he had regained roughly seventy to eighty percent of his full strength. This was possible because of the seventeen men that Lin Mengze had sent to capture him.

    As they flew through the air, Long Pojun suddenly stopped, raising his right hand in the air. Everyone immediately understood what this signal meant and prepared for battle.

    An instantter, a few dozen figures came flying in their direction from off in the distance.

    They didn¡¯t waste any time and immediately proceeded to unleash a barrage of Origin Qi Schrs in Long Pojun and the others¡¯ direction.

    ¡°Hmph! Lin Mengze¡¯s henchmen are really intent on killing us,¡± one of the soldiers who had chosen to follow Long Pojun harrumphed. He gestured, unleashing a violent wave of mes in the opposite direction.

    ¡°Allow me!¡± Long Pojun charged forwards, as if he was going to tackle the barrage of Origin Skills head-on.

    This wave of Origin Energy contained thebined might of a few dozens of Light Shaking Realm cultivators. Even a powerful expert would have had a hard time withstanding that attack, but Long Pojun was able to endure through brute force. The people around him, however, were already used to this and used the opportunity to attack their opponents, who were still focused on Long Pojun.

    This battle tactic was really quite simple.

    Long Pojun was the shield, while the others were the spear.

    He alone bore the responsibility for protecting everyone else!

    Even so, Long Pojun, who was once considered to be a peerless warrior, managed to withstand thisbined attack and protected the soldiers around him.

    Throughout the many centuries, he had used these kinds ofbat tactics to save the lives of countless soldiers, earning their respect and loyalty.

    The other soldiers believed in him, and he had never betrayed their faith.

    As for the trial he was facing now? Piece of cake.

    Long Pojun forcefully endured the storm of Origin Energy. A momentter, he appeared in front of one of the Light Shaking Realm cultivators. He reached out and grabbed that Light Shaking Realm cultivator by the throat.

    That person tried to evade three times in a row, and activated two different defensive Origin Skills and a defensive Origin Tool.

    However, none of these were useful against Long Pojun.

    That cultivator discovered that there was no way for him to escape from that grab. The barriers shattered one after another as Long Pojun¡¯s hand wrapped itself around his neck.

    ¡°NO!¡± Despair appeared in that person¡¯s eyes.

    Crack!

    Long Pojun snapped his neck.

    Under most circumstances, Light Shaking Realm cultivators could regenerate broken limbs, even a broken neck. Some even cultivated secret techniques that allowed them to survive even if they were beheaded.

    This person possessed one such secret technique, making it so that a broken neck was only really a minor wound.

    However, the ¡°minor wound¡± didn¡¯t regenerate this time.

    The soldier was taken aback. He could sense the vitality being sucked out of his body shortly before he died.

    A faintly discernible red light entered Long Pojun¡¯s body. Long Pojun let out a long sigh as his body grew slightly stronger.

    It was already impossible to see the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone from the outside, but Long Pojun¡¯s bones were beginning to crack with satisfaction.

    Death in a single blow!

    An instantter, Long Pojun shot towards another person. The Origin Skills mming into him felt like nothing more than tickles.

    Long Pojun was like a wolf amongst the sheep, ughtering them relentlessly.

    Even though he was supposed to be the shield, this shield was somehow able to deal a devastating amount of damage.

    In particr, the soldiers being killed by Long Pojun all basically died in a single blow.

    Long Pojun had never really cultivated any offensive Origin Skills. The Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone¡¯s insatiable appetite was the best offensive weapon. In addition, the vitality that Long Pojun was absorbing would then be converted into defensive power. This was why, amongst the soldiers, Long Pojun was basically invincible.

    The more people he was fighting, the happier he was.

    These dozens of Light Shaking Realm cultivators were rapidly ughtered by him.

    Long Pojun could sense that his strength had recovered quite a bit. It appeared that he wasn¡¯t far off from reaching the peak.

    He stood up straight and howled, ¡°Lin Mengze, you just wait! I¡¯lle looking for you soon!¡±

    He had only just said that, however, when an icy cold voice answered him. ¡°There¡¯s no need to wait. I came looking for you first.¡±

    Long Pojun felt his heart tremble. He turned around to find a person standing in midair, looking at him. If it wasn¡¯t Lin Mengze, who else would it be?

    He wore a crown on his head, and he stood atop a floating cloud. Every step he took, little clouds would form beneath his feet. Arge golden cape was draped around his shoulders, and he strode forwards with his hands behind his back, as if he was Logn Pojun¡¯s neighboring over for a visit.

    Lin Mengze hade over personally to kill him. A trace of surprise appeared on Long Pojun¡¯s face when he saw Lin Mengze.

    Even though he said that he was going to look for Lin Mengze to get his revenge, he was clear that, even at peak strength, he was not capable of fighting Lin Mengze.

    Not to mention when he hadn¡¯t managed to reach peak strength yet.

    Long Pojun yelled, ¡°You guys, hurry up and get out of here!¡±

    These words were meant to be directed at the soldiers around him. Even if those soldiers had never met Lin Mengze before, they could tell by the exchange of words and by what the neer had said what his identity was.

    The might of the ruler of a country radiated from his figure. The soldiers, who were staunch supporters of General Long in his fight against an incapable ruler, discovered that they actually could not muster up the will to fight.

    Long Pojun¡¯s call seemed to wake them from a reverie. Only then did they finally retreat.

    Lin Mengze didn¡¯t bother chasing them. Instead, he nced at them for a moment with pity before he said, ¡°Do they really think they can escape from my hands? What idiocy.¡±

    As he spoke, he gestured, and the countless soldiers who were trying to escape suddenly lost control of their own bodies. The clouds in the sky unfurled, wrapping around those soldiers. The soldiers felt as if they were drowning and their hands and legs were tied down. In addition, it felt as if a thousand-ton weight had suddenly descended on them and was gradually growing stronger.

    Blood began to pour out of their orifices. It seemed apparent that they were going to be killed soon.

    And to Lin Mengze, this was no more difficult than lifting his index finger.

    Long Pojun¡¯s heart was full of sorrow, but he could only stare intently at Lin Mengze. ¡°You were nearby, but you sent those Light Shaking Realm cultivators to their death. Did you know that the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone wasn¡¯t at full power yet and used them to nourish me?¡±

    Lin Mengze harrumphed. ¡°You seem to have gotten quite a bit smarter since west met.¡±

    ¡°If you want the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone that badly, even to the point that you were willing to sacrifice all those Light Shaking Realm cultivators, even to the point of damaging your own reputation...... You must be really desperate, to the point where you are willing to pay any price...... You¡¯re close to death, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Lin Mengze¡¯s expression sank.

    Long Pojun, on the other hand, began to chuckle. ¡°I hit the nail on the head! You¡¯re about to die! The Dragon Centipede is supposed to be resistant to many kinds of poison, so there aren¡¯t many things that can lead to an early decline. The only thing that can do this much damage to you is probably a Dying Wish, right?¡±

    Lin Mengze¡¯s expression grew even uglier.

    Upon seeing this, Long Pojunughed even more maniacally. ¡°As I expected! Hahahaha! This is my revenge! Lin Mengze, you probably never expected that Little Yao actually really loved me. She was forced by you to uncover my secret, but she made a vow with you! If you went back on your promise, you would pay the price!¡±

    Lin Mengze calmly said, ¡°I took three whole days to kill that woman.¡±

    Long Pojun felt his heart tremble.

    Lin Mengze continued, ¡°But I will be sure to kill you a bit quicker than that.¡±

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 51: Loyalty

    Dying Wish was a Forbidden Bloodline Skill.

    Its effect was unique and incredibly powerful. Any vows made under its influence would actualize into reality, and there would be consequences for reneging on one¡¯s word.

    This kind of ability was impossible to exin through logic alone.

    But the world was vast, and anything was possible.

    There would always be certain special powers that were impossible to exin through just logic.

    And even the things that could be exined with logic usually had some mysteriousponents shrouded in mystery as well.

    This was just how the world worked. Mysterious powers existed, and they were naturally impossible to understand or analyze.

    Dying Wish was one of the things that Su Chen had no way of currently understanding.

    Thankfully, he was not the one under the effects of a Dying Wish ¡ª Lin Mengze was.

    Long ago, he had sent a woman to probe Long Pojun, but she had actually ended up falling for Long Pojun. Even though she was able to find the information that he desired, she had forced Lin Mengze to promise not to harm Long Pojun before she was willing to divulge the information.

    Lin Mengze had promised.

    As an emperor, he didn¡¯t believe in the principle of emperors not going back on their word. He didn¡¯t bother keeping any of these trifling matters in mind.

    After all, he was merely making a small promise. It wasn¡¯t really that significant.

    But he was wrong. Surprisingly, this imperial subject of his had been so bold as to even use a Dying Wish on him.

    And when Lin Mengze reneged on his word, he had subsequently fallen under its curse.

    This curse was simr to a nightmare. It would only manifest in his dreams. Every time Lin Mengze fell asleep, all the people that he had ever killed woulde for him, seeking revenge.

    At the very beginning, Lin Mengze didn¡¯t care. After all, even in his dreams, he was a powerful Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator. He was able to easily tear those nightmares apart.

    However, he gradually began to discover that something was wrong.

    Because those nightmares came without end.

    Regardless of what he did to kill the nightmares, they would soon reappear and continue to fight with him without fail.

    Every night, Lin Mengze would have to battle these creatures. Over time, his consciousness began to be affected, and even his physical condition started declining.

    It was only then that Lin Mengze realized that something was terribly wrong. So just the act of fighting in his dreams affected his consciousness.

    He was an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator. His sea of knowledge was boundless, he had consolidated Yin and Yang within his body, his consciousness was reinforced by eight Divine Pces, and his soul was extraordinarily powerful. Even if his physical body was destroyed, his soul would be able to survive and revive by just finding another physical host. The lifespan of 1800 years referred to his consciousness, not his physical body.

    But now, his consciousness was being continually damaged. In other words, his lifespan had been greatly shortened.

    This greatly shocked Lin Mengze, and he began desperately trying to find a way to free himself from these nightmares.

    But no matter what he did, he was unable to resolve the problem. Those nightmares had been nted deep inside his heart and were actually being birthed from he himself. As long as he was alive, the nightmares would continue.

    Every night, Lin Mengze was forced to battle against these nightmares. His consciousness slowly eroded away, as was his lifespan, and even his physical strength.

    He had already tried avoiding sleep.

    At Lin Mengze¡¯s cultivation base, it wasn¡¯t a big deal to never sleep. He could recover his mental energy just by sitting still. For him, the act of sleeping was more of an act of habit, and even a kind of cultivation.

    But Lin Mengze found that he was unable to avoid the nightmares even if he avoided falling asleep.

    At twilight, the nightmares would infallibly appear, and Lin Mengze would spontaneously grow tired. The timing was incredibly precise. No matter what he did, this would happen, and the more he struggled, the more difficult he found it to extricate himself from it. It would usually take him at least two hours to escape from the nightmarish creatures.

    This meant that it was impossible for him topletely stop sleeping. If he was fighting with someone at around that time, then hisbat strength would greatly decrease at that precise moment in time.

    Lin Mengze felt fearful.

    But there was nothing he could do.

    The nightmares essentially forced him to fall asleep, and once he started dreaming, he would need to constantly stave off these nightmares. The Dying Wish made it impossible for him to do anything.

    He had tried asking the Li n for help.

    Li Wuyi had personally intervened, attempting to use the Dream Beauty Bloodline to enter the dream realm that Lin Mengze was thrust into every night.

    Under the Dream Beauty¡¯s imposing might, the nightmares had hid themselves, unwilling to appear in the open.

    However, as soon as Li Wuyi left, the nightmares would return once again.

    It was impossible for Lin Mengze to ask Li Wuyi to act as his personal ¡°dream bodyguard,¡± so he could only continue to withstand the attacks on his own.

    As time passed, his consciousness erosion grew more and more severe, and his ability to withstand the pressure began to decrease.

    At this moment, he seemed totally fine, but that was only a superficial disguise. If he deactivated his concealment technique, then the ck circles around his eyes would be ringly conspicuous.

    An Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator, the ruler of an entire country, had been put into such a sorry state by a bloodline curse.

    Lin Mengze had gone through all the possibilities he could think of, eventuallying to the realization that the only solution was Long Pojun yet again.

    As long as he killed Long Pojun and absorbed his Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone, he would be able to break into a higher realm, a realm supposedly belonging to the immortals.

    Once he became an immortal, he would definitely be able to escape from these nightmares.

    And even if that wasn¡¯t possible, he would at the very least extend his lifespan.

    It was under these circumstances that the idea to attack the Boundless Sect had taken root.

    Because of his failure with the Ravagers, Lin Mengze actually didn¡¯t hold much hope for sess.

    But against all odds, Long Pojun had actually revealed himself this time.

    As he gazed at Long Pojun, Lin Mengze chuckled. ¡°As an imperial subject, you should be willing to die for your king. You have an important treasure in your possession, and yet you refuse to hand it over. I personally came to demand it from you, but you dared to hide from me. This kind of disloyalty borders on treason!¡±

    Long Pojunughed angrily. ¡°So it¡¯s my fault for not handing my life over to you?¡±

    Lin Mengze pompously replied, ¡°Yes, it is your fault. I am the emperor, and mymands are themands of the Heavens. You disregarding my orders is disgraceful and rebellious, perhaps even traitorous. I will personally im your life as the rightful punishment, and to serve as a warning to others.¡±

    After he finished pontificating, he wasted no more time and jabbed his finger at Long Pojun.

    A violent st of wind surged past Long Pojun.

    Long Pojun growled as he unleashed a punch. His iron-like fists descended like a mountain upon Lin Mengze.

    His Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone had hardened his body to the extreme, causing his skin to be like iron. Even Origin Skills with especially prative properties would have a hard time piercing his skin.

    However, under Lin Mengze¡¯s finger jab, Long Pojun suddenly felt the hair on his scalp stand on end as a numbness began to permeate through his body. This numbness was not painful, but it felt as if someone was directly reaching into his body.

    At the same time, the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone in Long Pojun¡¯s body suddenly began to pulsate, slowly moving towards the finger¡¯s attractive force.

    ¡°Why resist?¡± Lin Mengze sighedmentfully. ¡°You and I originate from the same source in the first ce. It¡¯s normal for us to be one.¡±

    The Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone, however, ignored him. A violent, bloody aura surged forth from it, spilling out of Long Pojun¡¯s body and gathering around Long Pojun¡¯s fist. This blood-red fist then careened towards Lin Mengze.

    Lin Mengze casually stepped to the side, easily dodging Long Pojun¡¯s attack. ¡°Your offensive prowess is far weaker than your defense.¡±

    As he spoke, a boundless pressure began to emanate from his body once again. The clouds began to roll towards Long Pojun as if they had minds of their own.

    Long Pojun felt the air around him suddenly constricted, making it hard for him to move.

    This skill was somewhat simr to Shi Kaihuang¡¯s Sumeru Void. Strictly speaking, this skill originally belonged to the Lin n. Shi Kaihuang had merely appropriated it for his own use.

    Lin Mengze¡¯s Sumeru Void was far stronger.

    Long Pojun¡¯s physical body was incredibly strong, but Lin Mengze was using a soft approach to counteract Long Pojun¡¯s hard strength.

    While Lin Mengze¡¯s finger probed around in Long Pojun¡¯s body, his Sumeru Void kept Long Pojun firmly in ce, making it hard for him to move.

    Next, Lin Mengze exhaled.

    His breath congealed to form a string that wrapped around Long Pojun. This skill was somewhat simr to Su Chen¡¯s Air Tentacles.

    Long Pojun roared and grabbed the Air Tentacles, ripping them all in two.

    However, Lin Mengze¡¯s Air Tentacles were not rigid but soft and flexible.

    These tentacles constantly reformed themselves and continually wrapped themselves around Long Pojun. They were less like ropes and more like strands.

    Like the silk strands of a spider¡¯s web.

    One strand turned to multiple strands, which turned into a handful of strands.

    As more and more of them appeared, they grew stronger and stronger.

    Long Pojun tore them apart by the handful, but even more Air Tentacles surrounded him, reaching out to constrict him.

    Because Lin Mengze wanted the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone, he needed to keep Long Pojun alive.

    This was why he was using skills that allowed him to capture Long Pojun alive.

    Even though Long Pojun was frighteningly powerful, he wasn¡¯t a match for an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator, especially not one with a Deste Beast Bloodline. Lin Mengze was even stronger than Zhong Zhenjun.

    Long Pojun fought as hard as he could, but he was still merely a bug caught in a spider¡¯s web. No matter how hard he struggled, he only wrapped himself in the web tighter.

    Lin Mengze¡¯s attacks were incredibly simple. He had chosen to use a soft approach to dull Long Pojun¡¯s hard physical strength.

    During this period of time, Lin Mengze made no further moves. He merely stood with his hands behind his back, watching Long Pojun struggle futilely.

    Once Long Pojun had beenpletely wrapped up like a dumpling, Lin Mengze said, ¡°You are like a mantis trying to stop the advance of a war chariot. What¡¯s the point? If you had handed over the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone obediently, I would have considered you a very loyal subject.¡±

    ¡°To hell with your loyalty!¡± Long Pojun cursed.

    Lin Mengze did not respond. ¡°I am a Son of Heaven, and my way is the way of the Heavens. My actions are righteous and justified without prejudice.¡±

    As he spoke, he reached out to take Long Pojun away.

    At that moment, a harsh red light suddenly began to glow from Long Pojun¡¯s body. The Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone appeared as if it was about to break free from the control of these Air Tentacles.

    Lin Mengze frowned. ¡°So it¡¯s still able to resist, even after all that.¡±

    He wed out, this time using seventy percent of his strength. His n was to disable Long Pojun and capture him once and for all.

    At that moment, however, Lin Mengze¡¯s expression suddenly shifted. ¡°Not good!¡±

    He temporarily gave up on Long Pojun and shot forward, his figure turning into a streak of light.

    A palm narrowly whizzed past Lin Mengze¡¯s back, leaving behind an afterimage.

    Lin Mengze reappeared off in the distance, and he turned around with an expression full of rage. ¡°Lin Zuiliu?¡±

    ¡°Hahahaha! Brat, we meet again,¡± Lin Zuiliu guffawed. At the same time, Long Pojun roared and tore himself free from his fetters, once again regaining his mobility.

    ¡°Pu!¡± Lin Mengze spat out some blood.

    Even though Lin Zuiliu¡¯s attack hadn¡¯t directlynded, his palm energy had still infiltrated Lin Mengze¡¯s body, affecting him quite significantly.

    ¡°You...... tricked me?¡± Lin Mengze used as he viciously red at Long Pojun.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Long Pojun had purposefully allowed Lin Mengze to try and capture him, upying all of his attention, then Lin Zuiliu wouldn¡¯t have been able tounch an ambush so easily.

    Long Pojun cracked his neck. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to escape from the suffering that her Dying Wish cursed upon you? If you die, then you won¡¯t have to worry about it ever again.¡±

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 52: Two-Faced

    Upon hearing Long Pojun¡¯s sphemous words, Lin Mengze¡¯s expression sank. ¡°You...... are courting death!¡±

    As he spoke, he activated his strength to its greatest degree. All around him, a boundless wind storm began to whip up, and the sky appeared to darken somewhat. A massive Dragon Centipede appeared in the sky. Its gigantic figure obscured the sun, and with a single roar, it unleashed a deluge of energy towards the ground below.

    Despite this shocking disy of strength, Lin Zuiliu appearedpletely calm. He gathered his aura at the same time, causing poisonous mes to appear, surging to the sky.

    Unlike Lin Mengze¡¯s Dragon Centipede Bloodline, Lin Zuiliu¡¯s Seven-Bloodline Mixture¡¯s manifestation was a strange creature with a human¡¯s head, an eagle¡¯s wings, and a pig¡¯s body. Even though it was clearly derived from a Dragon Centipede, the bloodline had taken on its own distinct properties.

    The moment it appeared, both Dragon Centipedes in the sky hissed angrily and charged at each other.

    These bloodline images were formed from concentrated bloodline power, and were equivalent to the maximum power that the two of them possessed. When the two Dragon Centipedes collided, a gigantic shockwave momentarily overshadowed the sun and moon. The shockwave expanded in all directions, rumbling off into the distance.

    Even Long Pojun was knocked flying by this shockwave of energy.

    When he looked up, he saw that the two Dragon Centipedes had already locked horns. Below them, Lin Mengze and Lin Zuiliu weren¡¯tzing around either; ck clouds roiled in every direction as the two of them did their best to annihte each other.

    Lin Mengze gestured, and a small golden sword appeared in his hand.

    ¡°Go!¡± he cried out.

    The golden sword turned into a streak of light and shot towards Lin Zuiliu.

    The sword light moved as fast as lightning, heading straight for Lin Zuiliu¡¯s forehead.

    Lin Zuiliu knew exactly how powerful this sword was. In response, he activated one of his skills by spitting out a pearl that perfectly intercepted the streak of sword light. The sword light was incapable of prating the pearl and bounced off of it harmlessly.

    Lin Mengze wasn¡¯t surprised. He calmly pulled out another item, a jade roughly the size of a teacup, and then hurled it at Lin Zuiliu.

    Lin Zuiliu, however, yelped strangely and turned into a streak of light. It seemed like he waspletely unwilling to even try to block the jade.

    ¡°Heart-ying Sword and Soul Rending Jade, huh? Don¡¯t you also have the Raised Sifting Umbre and the Raining Smoke? Just take them all out! Let¡¯s see whether your four treasures or my Seven Bloodlines is stronger!¡± Lin Zuiliuughed.

    Lin Mengze harrumphed. ¡°If you want to die, I don¡¯t mind obliging you.¡±

    As he spoke, he pulled out another two items.

    One was an umbre. As soon as he opened it, an illusory hand appeared, grabbed it, and lifted it into the air. It seemed to naturally restrain Lin Zuiliu¡¯s arrogant aura just through its existence. And not only that, but the air around it also began to whirl, rapidly forming a vortex.

    The raging mes that Lin Zuiliu had formed were slowly but surely absorbed by the vortex until theypletely disappeared.

    This treasure was the Raised Sifting Umbre. It was effective as both an offensive and defensive treasure, as it possessed the ability to absorb any damaging attacks.

    At the same time, a swath of pale blue smoke snaked out from Lin Mengze¡¯s body.

    The pale blue smoke billowed forth from seemingly nowhere, and rain suddenly began to fall from the sky.

    The rain should havee from the clouds, but the clouds were under the control of man. If the clouds had been forbidden from raining, then there would be no rain. Yet at this particr moment, rain nheless began to fall from the sky.

    This rain, which also seemed to havee out of nowhere, continued to pour from the sky, obscuring the vision of the two fighters.

    The rain falling from the sky set a nostalgic ambiance, as if the two of them had returned to the primitive days where man could not fly.

    A mysterious sense of sorrow then began to pervade the surroundings.

    Lin Zuiliu¡¯s attacks grew noticeably slower.

    Even Long Pojun could sense that Lin Mengze¡¯s hatred had decreased slightly.

    This was the effect of the Raining Smoke.

    Well, to be specific, the effect of the raining from the Raining Smoke.

    It dealt no direct damage, unlike the Heart-ying Sword or the Soul Rending Jade. It was just a plume of smoke and rain, but it affected a person¡¯s will to fight.

    All hatred, anger, sorrow, and despair would fade away, causing a person to lose their desire to continue fighting.

    Fighting intent!

    It was a mysterious, intangible concept, and yet it truly existed.

    The difference between a person¡¯s strength with a sharpbat intent versus a dull one was as clear as night and day.

    The Raining Smoke had a potent calming effect. Any person who was enveloped by the smoke and rain would gradually lose their will to fight, and their attacks would be soft. It was basically the equivalent of a debuff across the board.

    Lin Mengze was the emperor. Not only did he possess peerless strength, but he also possessed incredible wealth. Naturally, the Origin Tools that he used were only the best of the best.

    All of the four Origin Tools that he had used were peak-tier Grade One Origin Tools, and each one of them was incredibly powerful.

    Most people wouldn¡¯t even get the chance to use one in their entire lifetime, but Lin Mengze had four, and he could use them simultaneously. This only served to amplify their effects.

    Inparison, Lin Zuiliu was far poorer. Apart from the Star-Fixating Pearl, which was the Grade One Origin Tool that had stopped the golden sword light, he had nothing else.

    Even so, if Lin Mengze expected to win just solely based on these four treasures of his, then it was obviously still too early to celebrate.

    When Lin Zuiliu saw Lin Mengze bring out all four of his treasures, heughed loudly. ¡°Let me show you the full power of my bloodline mixture then!¡±

    He abruptly let out a loud roar.

    Following this roar, a blood-red smoke seeped out from the strange Dragon Centipede-based manifestation.

    This blood-red smoke constantly billowed forth. Everywhere it went, the surroundings corroded away.

    The w that Lin Mengze¡¯s Dragon Centipede had just stretched out corroded almost immediately. Even though it rapidly regenerated it due to the powerful bloodline supporting it, Lin Mengze¡¯s strength had still taken a slight but noticeably hit.

    And most shockingly, the effect of the Raining Smoke was greatly diminished by this blood-red smoke.

    Lin Mengze was stunned. Only with the help of the Raised Sifting Umbre, which began to glow even more intensely, was he able to barely stop the advance of this blood-red smoke.

    ¡°How is it? Do you like what you see? This is the result of mixing the Windbite Bloodline with the Dragon Centipede Bloodline ¡ª the Simrity Dust. It is capable of nullifying many different kinds of attacks, including your Raining Smoke!¡± Lin Zuiliu arrogantly dered with a loudugh.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t seen much,¡± Lin Mengze harrumphed as he jabbed out a number of times, using those rapid attacks in conjunction with the umbre to force the Simrity Dust back.

    Lin Zuiliu didn¡¯t seem to mind his resistance. The Dragon Centipede behind his back raised its head and roared again, spitting out a mouthful of fog. Its aura surged yet again.

    In fact, a scarlet-red glow even began to emanate from its body, shining in all directions and exuding an intense amount of pressure.

    ¡°This is......¡± Lin Mengze¡¯s pupils contracted in shock.

    ¡°Golden Bird Shining!¡± Lin Zuiliu roared as he unleashed a mighty attack. A massive, golden sun appeared and descended from the sky, directly colliding with Lin Mengze¡¯s Soul Rending Jade.

    That jade item was incredibly vicious. It could easily erode away a person¡¯s consciousness, even if it merely nced them.

    However, Lin Zuiliu¡¯s Golden Bird Shining was infused with the power of the Golden Bird Bloodline.

    The Golden Bird Bloodline belonged to the Cheng n of Owl Country. This sun was infused with an imposing imperial aura, which counteracted the sinister nature of the Soul Rending Jade.

    Lin Zuiliu and Lin Mengze had fought a number of times in the past. As such, Lin Zuiliu knew exactly what treasures Lin Mengze had and had made his preparations ordingly.

    The Simrity Dust dealt with the Raining Smoke while the Golden Bird Bloodline nullified the Soul Rending Jade.

    Lin Mengze didn¡¯t dare to continue using the Soul Rending Jade, so he could only hurriedly stow it away.

    But Lin Zuiliu¡¯s might continued to descend.

    Thankfully for him, Lin Mengze wasn¡¯t a pushover either. He unleashed a barrage of palm strikes with one of his hands, which eventually converged into a single palm that forcibly pushed the Golden Bird back.

    The two of them growled simultaneously. Lin Mengze¡¯s expression paled and Lin Zuiliu groaned ¡ª the Golden Bird might have been able to handle the Soul Rending Jade, but it clearly couldn¡¯t withstand the might of the Dragon Centipede.

    A momentter, the Heart-ying Sword appeared yet again. Lin Zuiliu responded by summoning streams of water to defend himself.

    His seven bloodlines hadn¡¯t beenpletely mixed into one yet, but despite this gap, he had already achieved a bit of sess.

    Every time he attacked, he could imbue it with the power of two different Deste Beasts. However, one of these had to be the Dragon Centipede. After all, this was his original bloodline.

    As such, he could make six differentbinations, allowing him to unleash six different powerful skills.

    His Simrity Dust was thebination of the Windbite and Dragon Centipede bloodlines while the Golden Bird Wheel was thebination of the Golden Bird and Dragon Centipede bloodlines. This time, he was naturallybining the Luo You and Dragon Centipede bloodlines.

    The Dragon Centipede was said to have had thousands of hands. Apart from its innate ability to utilize and resist poison, its vast number of hands allowed it to unleash many attacks at once. It could simultaneously unleash tens or even hundreds of Origin Skills at once. However, this also expended the corresponding amount of Origin Energy, and the user had to have the ability to use that many Origin Skills in the first ce.

    In any case, the Dragon Centipede¡¯s explosive power was quite impressive.

    And that was precisely what Lin Mengze had just done; he had unleashed countless Origin Skills at once, and then merged them together. This was the Primordial Continent¡¯s equivalent of the Buddha¡¯s Palm.

    Lin Zuiliu was also utilizing this aspect of his bloodline to his advantage.

    The Dragon Centipede¡¯s multiple hands and Luo You¡¯s control over water merged to form hundreds of streaks of water. Even though it was hard to tell the difference, each streak of water was actually its own water-type Origin Skill.

    Lin Zuiliu had basically activated a thousand water-type Origin Skills at once, and then superimposed them to defend himself against the Heart-ying Sword.

    The Heart-ying Sword¡¯s offensive capabilities were impressive, but when faced with a thousand Origin Skills, it had no way of prating through.

    The moment the two forces collided, the Heart-ying Sword bounced off in a different direction, and Lin Zuiliu¡¯s ball of water disappeared as well.

    Both of their expressions sank simultaneously, but they didn¡¯t rest for a single moment and immediately unleashed another attack.

    In terms of strength, Lin Zuiliu¡¯s bloodline mixture research had reached the stage of small sess while Lin Mengze¡¯s personal strength was declining due to the nightmare curse. In addition, Lin Zuiliu had wounded him with his earlier sneak attack. As such, he was definitely the weaker one in these exchanges. However, Lin Mengze also had quite a few treasures on him. In addition to the four peak-tier Origin Tools, he had a number of supplementary treasures, which included pills, formations, and one-time consumables ¡ª a veritable treasure trove. As the battle progressed, he would take some out and use them from time to time.

    As a result, the two of them fought on quite even footing.

    Under normal circumstances, it probably would have taken a few days to determine a winner and a loser.

    All Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators possessed immense amounts of Origin Energy, and it was difficult to burn through it all in a short period of time.

    However, Long Pojun was also present in this battle.

    He hadn¡¯t attacked yet, because he knew that he wasn¡¯t Lin Mengze¡¯s opponent even if he did join in.

    But as the battle went on, Long Pojun gradually began to get a feel for the rhythm of the battle and started to identify the gaps between their attacks. As such, he began to stealthily sneak closer and closer to Lin Mengze¡¯s position.

    Because of his brawny physique, he typically fought by charging in head-on. Rarely did he ever try to ambush someone.

    But today, for his own sake, and for the sake of the woman who had died for him, he was going to carry out a sneak attack.

    Long Pojun spotted an opportunity and sprang into motion. He punched out at Lin Mengze¡¯s back. ¡°Die, Lin Mengze!¡±

    Lin Zuiliu¡¯s expression drastically shifted. ¡°Don¡¯t!¡±

    Long Pojun watched on in shock as Lin Mengze chuckled in his direction.

    Was heughing?

    Wait a moment!

    Wasn¡¯t his back facing him?

    Why was he able tough at him?

    His face?

    Long Pojun discovered to his great surprise that a face had actually appeared on the back of Lin Mengze¡¯s head.

    A face...... had appeared on the back of Lin Mengze¡¯s head.

    A momentter, Long Pojun¡¯s vision went dark as his body involuntarily flew into the air.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 53: Farewell

    ¡°Hiss!¡±

    As he flew through the air, he watched as the face on the back on Lin Mengze¡¯s head bared its teeth at him. That evil, sinister aura deeply prated his body.

    At that moment, Lin Zuiliu attacked at the same time. Streaks of light began to rain down from the sky/

    Upon closer inspection, those raining lights were actually individual razor-sharp des. Their edges were iparably sharp, as if they could cut through anything standing in their way.

    This was thebination of the White Fang and Dragon Centipede Bloodlines. The des themselves were quite destructive in and of themselves, but because of the Dragon Centipede, Lin Zuiliu was capable of unleashing thousands of these des all at once.

    Of course, with so many razor-sharp des descending, the might of this attack was far superior to that of a single one. Even if each of the des only had one-hundredth the power of the actual des on their own, that was still a tenfold increase in power. In addition, because Lin Zuiliu was extremely practiced with this skill, the power of his des was actually greater than one-hundredth that of the original.

    Each of the des carried a kind of vicious aura to them. This was clearly Lin Zuiliu¡¯s most powerful attack.

    At the same time that he attacked, Lin Mengze suddenly turned around.

    The face on the back of his head hissed at Lin Zuiliu. The thousand des descending from the sky actually froze, unable to descend any further.

    Lin Mengze took advantage of the opportunity to retreat, at the same time forming a giant hand and reaching out to grab Long Pojun. Even now, he was unwilling to let Long Pojun to go.

    Just as he was about to grab Long Pojun, Long Pojun roared, and a blood-red light began to shine brilliantly from his body.

    This ferocious roar drew out all of the strength in his body. A massive blood-red vortex mmed into Lin Mengze¡¯s hand, causing him to let out a rare groan of pain and fly off.

    ¡°Don¡¯t even think about running!¡± Long Pojun could tell that Lin Mengze was thinking of escaping and yelled loudly.

    Lin Mengze harrumphed. ¡°If I want to leave, who can stop me? Long Pojun, I¡¯lle back to collect your life some other time.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid you won¡¯t have the opportunity to,¡± Lin Zuiliu said as he jabbed out with his finger.

    A massive eagle appeared in the sky.

    The eagle drilled its beak downwards!

    This was the Cloud Rising Du n¡¯s Cloudpeck Bloodline, but it was not mixed with the Dragon Centipede Bloodline this time - using those techniques was simply too exhausting, and even Lin Zuiliu would have a hard time using them in rapid session.

    Even so, this simple finger jab carried incredible prative ability. It collided with Lin Mengze¡¯s back. Lin Mengze groaned with pain and flew off into the distance without even looking backwards.

    Lin Zuiliu didn¡¯t bother to chase and watched him fly off into the distance.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you chasing him?¡± Long Pojun asked angrily.

    Lin Zuiliu shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s no point. I know this guy the best. He is always cautious to the uttermost, and there are too many ways that he has of escaping. Instead of killing him, it would be better to destroy a portion of his strength.

    As he spoke, he turned to nce at the Heart-ying Sword and the Raised Sifting Umbre.

    This sword was still fighting with the Star-Fixating Pearl, while the Raised Sifting Umbre was still fending off Lin Zuiliu¡¯s Dragon Centipede skills.

    Lin Zuiliu hadn¡¯t bothered chasing after Lin Mengze because he needed to focus more of his energy on suppressing the umbre so that Lin Mengze wouldn¡¯t be able to call it back to him. Now that Lin Mengze was far away, the umbre¡¯s resistance had greatly decreased. Finally, the umbre closed and fell from the sky into Lin Zuiliu¡¯s hands.

    The same happened to the Heart-ying Sword.

    As for the Soul Rending Jade and the Raining Smoke, Lin Mengze had taken them away with him. After all, they belonged to him in the first ce, so it was rtively easy for him to retrieve them.

    Lin Zuiliu didn¡¯t mind. Instead, he chuckled, ¡°With these two treasures, Lin Mengze won¡¯t have a chance in the future. Hahahaha!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid that we missed the opportunity to kill him!¡± Long Pojun said, clutching at his chest. ¡°He is being attacked by those nightmares constantly. Who knows when he will die?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that even better? Then I don¡¯t have to waste my time and energy,¡± Lin Zuiliu said, staring at Long Pojun quizzically.

    Long Pojun harrumphed. ¡°He murdered my Yaoyao. How could I let him get away with that?¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. You were willing to betray your country for the sake of a woman? Indeed, your loyalty leaves much to be desired,¡± Lin Zuiliu sighed.

    Long Pojun was infuriated. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°What do I mean?¡± Lin Zuiliuughed loudly. ¡°I am not like you. My goal is just to be the ruler of Long Sang. As for how I get there, I couldn¡¯t care less. And if I am to be the emperor, I would hope that my subordinates obey me. Now, it seems that you are not as useful to me as I thought you would be.¡±

    As he spoke, he reached out to grab Long Pojun.

    ¡°You!¡± Long Pojun never would have expected Lin Zuiliu to make a move on him, and his shock was immeasurable. ¡°I am a close ally of the Heavenly Might Battalion. If you do this, Su Chen will never forgive you.¡±

    ¡°Do you think I¡¯m afraid of him?¡± Lin Zuiliu¡¯s expression grew grave.

    Lin Zuiliu had an ambition of his own, and he clearly wanted to rule the world. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have worked so hard to research mixing the seven bloodlines. His cooperation with Su Chen was utilitarian in nature, and it in no way indicated that he was Su Chen¡¯s subordinate. Otherwise, Ye Fenghan and Chang He wouldn¡¯t have needed to take action on his ¡°behalf.¡±

    However, when Lin Zuiliu thought about the Boundless Sect¡¯s ten thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators, his heart involuntarily trembled.

    He was an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator who had mixed many powerful bloodlines and had mastered many secret techniques. Slowly but surely, he had be one of the most powerful individuals on the continent.

    Even so, he had no confidence that he could deal with tens of thousands of Light Shaking Realm cultivators all at once.

    As such, Lin Zuiliu added on, ¡°In any case, even if I kill you here, no one will know. I can just push the me onto Lin Mengze.¡±

    Long Pojun saw through the facade and recognized that Lin Zuiliu was still cautious of Su Chen. He harrumphed, ¡°You forget that Su Chen has the Origin Bone Scepter. There is no secret in this world that can hide from his eyes.

    Lin Zuiliu frowned.

    It was true that very few secrets could escape Su Chen¡¯s notice as long as he had the Origin Bone Scepter.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, he chuckled, ¡°I was only joking with you. There¡¯s no need to take me so seriously, General Long. Now that I am beginning to gain some power, I am in need of capablemanders like you. I haven¡¯t even had a chance to use you yet. How could I kill you?¡±

    Long Pojun red at him. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you for a second. There is one thing you got right, which is that my loyalty does leave much to desire. If you want a loyal dog, you go and find one yourself. I¡¯m not the guy you¡¯re looking for.¡±

    Lin Zuiliu squinted his eyes. ¡°You mean......¡±

    ¡°From this day onwards, you will go your own way, while I will go my own. This time was thest time we will work together. We will not see each other in the future,¡± Long Pojun said.

    ¡°Is that so.¡± Lin Zuiliu nced at him coldly. After a long while, he suddenly said, ¡°You have fallen under the influence of Lin Mengze¡¯s Soul-Assimting Ghost. This curse will eat away at you and destroy your physical body. Without my assistance, you will die in an hour.¡±

    Long Pojun smiled slightly when he heard this. ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. If that¡¯s the case, it seems that I am going to the Yellow Springs even without your aid. That is the way it should be. I should have died a long time ago, and now my wish of seeing Yaoyao again will be granted. Unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t able to witness Lin Mengze¡¯s death personally, but what does that matter? He will die sooner orter. Whether I see it with my own eyes or not, his fate has been settled. I am more than willing to meet death.¡±

    As he spoke, he shoved Lin Zuiliu aside and began to fly away.

    Lin Zuiliu was taken aback by his actions. After a moment¡¯s thought, he sighed. ¡°Well, whatever. Even though you are arrogant and obstinate, you are still a close friend of the Boundless Sect. Seeing that you have a good rtionship with Su Chen, I¡¯ll help you out just a bit.¡±

    He reached out and tapped Long Pojun¡¯s back with an illusory finger. The ck Qi beginning to creep up his face faded ever so slightly.

    He didn¡¯t even turn around. Instead, he cupped his hands and bowed, expressing his thanks.

    Lin Zuiliu said, ¡°Lin Mengze¡¯s Soul-Assimting Ghost is extremely troublesome. Even if I wanted to save you, I would have to pay a tremendous price. Right now, I have only helped you control its spread so that you can live a bit longer. If you really want me to cure you, I will need to sacrifice quite a bit of my cultivation base as a price. If you be my loyal dog, I can do this for you. If you won¡¯t, then I can only let nature take its course. I don¡¯t think Su Chen would have much to say about that.¡±

    ¡°This is enough,¡± Long Pojun replied and flew off.

    He flew aimlessly.

    Since he knew that he was about to die, he didn¡¯t care about where he went. In any case, he hadpleted his mission at the Flowing Gold Fort, and the debt between him and Lin Mengze had been cleared away. With nothing else chaining his heart down, he began to rx and wander. As he gazed at the world around him in all its splendor and glory, he discovered that he had somehow ignored many of the simple beauties in life.

    For a number of days, Long Pojun flew wherever he pleased. At the same time, his body continually weakened, and even the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone wasn¡¯t able to sustain him.

    Long Pojun knew that this was due to the Soul-Assimting Ghost. It was eating away at his consciousness and siphoning away his vitality. However, he didn¡¯t care in the slightest.

    He flew onto the top of a mountain and was greeted by a view that had seeminglye out of a painting.

    Long Pojun was just admiring his surroundings when he suddenly heard a voice call out, ¡°General Long! General Long!¡±

    Long Pojun nced to the side and couldn¡¯t help but chuckled. ¡°General Liu.¡±

    General Liu¡¯s name was Liu Sitong. He was one of the soldiers who had served under Long Pojun in the past. During the battle earlier, he had sessfully escaped. Somehow, they had run into each other here.

    When Liu Sitong saw Long Pojun, he ran over happily and said, ¡°So it is General Long! Thank goodness you¡¯re alright.¡±

    Long Pojun smiled and recounted how Lin Zuiliu had saved him.

    Liu Sitong¡¯s expression was filled with regret. ¡°If only I wasn¡¯t so ipetent. When I saw the emperor, my only thought was to save my own life.¡±

    Long Pojun calmly said, ¡°That¡¯s not your fault. That emperor had some strange consciousness techniques. I¡¯m not surprised that you had no will to fight him.¡±

    Apart from the pressure that Lin Mengze had exerted on them, an important reason why everyone had fled was because Lin Mengze had the ability to suppress their battle intent. With Long Pojun ordering them to run away, it was only natural that they had done so.

    But after running away, some regained their sobriety and realized that they should have tossed away their fear of death a long time ago. So why had they escaped?

    They ran back to the scene as quickly as they could.

    Unfortunately, by the time they returned, no one was there any longer.

    General Liu was one of the people who had gone back. He thought that Long Pojun had died and was in the process of mourning, but unexpectedly he had run into Long Pojun here. It was only natural that he celebrated.

    However, what he did not know was that Long Pojun was going to die anyways.

    The two of them sat on the mountain peak, drinking wine and chatting.

    Long Pojun rarely spoke much, but at this moment he began to pour out all of his secrets to one of his old subordinates.

    He told Liu Sitong about the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone, about his story with Yaoyao, about his expeditions with the ck me, and about how he had run into Su Chen.

    ¡°I¡¯m about to die,¡± Long Pojun said.

    Liu Sitong gazed at Long Pojun sadly.

    Long Pojun smiled slightly. ¡°But deathes for all men sooner orter. What¡¯s the point in being too concerned about it? The fact that I can have my most trusted aide see me off is more than enough.¡±

    ¡°General!!!¡± Liu Sitong wept.

    Long Pojun nced up the starry sky. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that there were some things I never was quite able to figure out. Sitong, can you help me with something?¡±

    ¡°Just tell me, general. I will do it even if it costs my life!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing, really. After I die, take out the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone from my body and feed it. Then...... Go to the Abyss. Give it to Su Chen. This is the only thing I can do for the Boundless Sect - for the old Heavenly Might Battalion.¡±

    Long Pojun¡¯s voice trailed off as he closed his eyes.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 54: The Decisive Battle Draws Near

    On Forever Clear Ind.

    Within the Boundless Sect¡¯s Pce.

    Su Chen nced inside the long case and found a bone inside, glowing a blood-red color.

    The Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone.

    After gazing at it in silence for some time, Su Chen sighed. ¡°Many thanks, General Liu, for your hard work.¡±

    General Liu replied, ¡°Sect Master Liu, a little bit of this Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone has been taken off.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Su Chen nced at Liu Sitong.

    Liu Sitong replied, ¡°The missing portion was sent to Lin Mengze.¡±

    Su Chen was taken aback. ¡°Why did he do something like that?¡±

    ¡°So that he could continue to live,¡± Liu Sitong replied. ¡°Lin Zuiliu sat and watched General Liu die, refusing to help. His goal is to easily seize power after Lin Mengze dies...... But how could I allow him to get what he wants so easily?¡±

    The person Liu Sitong hated the most for Long Pojun¡¯s death wasn¡¯t Lin Mengze. That grudge was already as deep as it could go, so there was no need to further exacerbate it.

    However, Liu Sitong was infuriated by the fact that Lin Zuiliu had merely stood to the side and watched Long Pojun die.

    As such, not long after Long Pojun died, Liu Sitong decided to help Lin Mengze live for just a bit longer.

    He wanted to make trouble for Lin Zuiliu, or at least make it so that Lin Zuiliu wouldn¡¯t be able to take control of Long Sang so easily.

    Su Chen was rendered speechless by his actions.

    ¡°But if you do that, Lin Mengze will be able to live for a few more years.

    Liu Sitong replied, ¡°Sect Master Su, letting Lin Mengze die like that is too light of a punishment for him. Those of us who served under General Long are all hoping to watch his kingdome down around him and drag him off of his throne, then cut him apart ourselves to get revenge for General Long. But we don¡¯t have the strength to do so......¡±

    Su Chen understood his intentions. ¡°So you want me to do it for you?¡±

    Liu Sitong lowered his head. ¡°General Long told me about what happened to the Boundless Sect. Now that Lin Mengze has already provoked the Boundless Sect, the Boundless Sect will have to retaliate sooner orter.¡±

    Su Chen thought for a moment but said nothing more than, ¡°I understand.¡±

    ¡°Sect Master!¡± Liu Sitong cried out.

    Su Chen ignored this plea and said faintly, ¡°If the Boundless Sect is to grow stronger, we will need the strength of many talented individuals.¡±

    Liu Sitong understood in his heart. ¡°Sitong is willing to join the Boundless Sect and be one of its disciples. If Sect Master is willing, Sitong will return to Long Sang and recruit my former subordinates.¡±

    Su Chen said nothing more and motioned for him to leave.

    Liu Sitong retreated, leaving Su Chen alone within the main hall.

    Su Chen stared at the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone inside the case for a long time,pletely silent.

    After a long time, he said, ¡°Attendant!¡±

    One of the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples entered. ¡°Sect Master!¡±

    ¡°Send news to the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain. Inform Lin Shaoxuan...... that Long Pojun has been killed in battle.¡±

    Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, three years had passed.

    They had been in the Abyss for five years.

    In five years¡¯ time, the fleet had gone through all kinds of battles and skirmishes, and ughtered countless Sea Beasts.

    In fact, they were even able to establish a new trade route from the Abyss to the maind, facilitating trade in the area. This was virtually an unprecedented miracle amongst the human race.

    During this period of time, changes had urred in the other regions of the continent as well.

    First of all, the Ravagers.

    Danba had won.

    A year ago, Danba had led his armies into Gun Castle, personally ying the Crazed Emperor and taking Eket Pce for himself.

    From that day onwards, the Inferno Tribe¡¯s thousand-year rule over the Ravagers came to an end. The Gravel Lizard Tribe came to power.

    The civil war was still brewing within Long Sang Country.

    This battle took ce with quite a few twists and turns.

    Originally, Lin Mengze had been close to death, but Liu Sitong¡¯s revenge had given Lin Mengze an opportunity to deal a serious blow to Lin Zuiliu.

    Lin Zuiliu had waited around for a long time to hear news of Lin Mengze¡¯s death but never got it. Instead, he missed his opportunity, and Lin Mengze managed to gather his troops and teach Lin Zuiliu a serious lesson at the Heavenly River ins.

    The giant army that Lin Zuiliu had built up over a long period of time waspletely defeated by the imperial army. Just as they were about to be annihted, the Boundless Sect attacked from behind and gave Lin Mengze quite a bad shock. This ended up creating an opportunity for Lin Zuiliu to escape.

    Lin Mengze was enraged and turned his sights to the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain.

    Lin Shaoxuan led the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples into hiding.

    The two sides were locked in a bitter battle of tug-of-war for more than half a year.

    Roughly two years ago, Lin Mengze had personallyid an ambush for a branch of the Boundless Sect¡¯s elite disciples. Just as they were about to exterminate their opponents, however, a group of incredibly powerful soldiers suddenly appeared out of nowhere. After attacking the Long Sang troops and sending them into disarray, they disappeared.

    Lin Mengze searched far and wide but couldn¡¯t find any information on this group of soldiers.

    This matter had remained suspended for two years, and news that the Boundless Sect possessed a secret battalion began to spread.

    However, no one knew any further details about this group of soldiers.

    Even though Long Sang¡¯s troops were thwarted again and again, they were able to rise again and again with the backing of the imperial family. For the rebellion¡¯s troops, however, a single serious defeat was enough to knock them down once and for all.

    A year ago, Lin Zuiliu¡¯s greed gave Lin Mengze an opportunity to teach him yet another harsh lesson. The advantage suddenly swung in Lin Mengze¡¯s favor, and the situation began to y itself out.

    During that final year, Lin Zuiliu had basically been chased permanently by Lin Mengze.

    Lin Shaoxuan harbored quite a grudge against Lin Zuiliu because of what had happened to Long Pojun. At the beginning, he had saved Lin Zuiliu out of necessity, but this time there was no need for him to act.

    Because he knew that soon this old man would have already yed his part to the end.

    Once the five years had passed, Lin Zuiliu had basically been backed into a corner by Lin Mengze.

    He sent the Boundless Sect countless letters asking for aid, but Lin Shaoxuan pretended not to notice and settled in to watch a good show.

    Lin Zuiliu cursed angrily, ¡°If I go to the grave, the Boundless Sect will be next.¡±

    Lin Shaoxuan¡¯s expression remained calm. ¡°If you calcte the time, it¡¯s about time for them to start......¡±

    ¡°Wu!¡±

    The low croon of the conch shell could be heard yet again.

    The fleet began to gather once more.

    Even though they had gathered countless times throughout the past five years, something seemed different this time.

    The massive pce flew into the air, nked by the eight dragon boats.

    The countless frigates and battleships bobbed up and down on the water. Every one of the soldiers wore a serious expression on their faces.

    Today was the day.

    Three days ago, all of the soldiers had been notified that this moment wasing.

    Su Chen stood in front of the pce and gazed down at the people below him. His voice boomed like thunder, rolling into the ears of each soldier.

    ¡°It has been five years since we first gathered. After five years of bloody battle, five years of research, five years of waiting, the day has finally arrived. Yes, we are going to the Abyss to destroy those Sea Beasts and wipe out the nightmare that has gued the Oceanids for tens of thousands of years once and for all.¡±

    ¡°This battle will be fierce and bloody!¡±

    ¡°It is true that I have made many discoveries and solved many problems in my research these past five years. However, I must admit that there are still some problems that I was unable to fix. Even so, we are at war, and we cannot wait until everything is in our favor before striking. In addition to our military strategy and preparations, we also need an abundance of strength, faith, heroism, and a spirit of self-sacrifice.¡±

    ¡°I am grateful that I see no trace of fear on your faces despite the fact that you do not know what power we possess nor how much confidence we have in being able to win this battle.¡±

    ¡°This is our alliance! You are our cultivators!¡±

    ¡°In you, I see not only strength and power, but the future of the entire human race.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, a smile appeared on his face.

    He paused for a moment before continuing. ¡°It is time for me to tell you now what power we possess and what we will be facing.¡±

    ¡°The Sovereigns in the Abyss have grown extremely powerful by relying on the Deep Sea Sorrow. Today, however, I have discovered a way of divesting this strength. The preparations I haveid in the Abyss areing into effect right now, and today is the day that we reap our harvests. I have researched a medicine that will weaken the Sovereigns, and we will be able to kill them. However, there is a time limit on what we can do.¡±

    Su Chen raised a single finger. ¡°An hour! We only have an hour¡¯s worth of time. Once that time passes, the Sovereigns will recover.¡±

    ¡°As such, it is as I said. Even though we have medicine that can suppress our opponents¡¯ strength, the true key to our victory is still our courage!¡±

    ¡°It is our bravery that makes us fearless; it is our bravery that will allow us to press on relentlessly; and it is our bravery that will allow us tough in the face of death.¡±

    ¡°Today, we are going into battle against the Sovereigns in the Abyss.¡±

    ¡°Today, we will destroy the Abyss once and for all, and turn it into a piece of ancient history!¡±

    ¡°Today, we will aplish a miracle for the human race!¡±

    Su Chen roared.

    ¡°Destroy the Abyss, aplish a miracle!¡±

    ¡°Destroy the Abyss, aplish a miracle!¡±

    ¡°Destroy the Abyss, aplish a miracle!¡±

    All of the soldiers began to yell.

    ¡°Move out!¡±

    ¡°Wu!!!¡±

    The conch shell lowed yet again as the massive fleet began to head for the vortex of the Abyss once again.

    This was going to be their final battle. Either their enemies died, or they did.

    But just as Su Chen had said, the fleet waspletely fearless.

    This situation had repeated itself many times before in the storied history of conflicts between humans and Beasts. Today, a miracle was truly about to take ce.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 55: Entrance

    The massive fleet patiently waited at the border of the Abyss¡¯s entrance.

    This ¡°Bermuda Triangle¡± was as familiar as their backyard at this point, and they had gone in and out so many times that they had long since lost track.

    The Sea Beasts in the Abyss fully replenished themselves wave after wave, and the soldiers had eaten so much Sea Beast flesh that they were even beginning to get sick of it.

    However, today would be the end to all of this.

    The fleet began to close in on the entrance as they dropped their anchors nearby.

    Two scouts deftly circled the vortex once before reporting back. ¡°Sect Master, the hunting mission was sessful. We managed to capture one Demonic King and two Demonic Lords.

    This Demonic King, which alone would have been enough to throw an entire city on the maind into despair, had been easily captured by these two scouting parties. Obviously, they had dispatched far too many Demonic Kings during the past five years.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t even bother ncing at it and immediately pulled out an item.

    This item was a pouch. When he opened it, arge group of bugs crawled out of it. These bugs were each asrge as a fist; a pair of translucent wings sprouted from their backs, and razor-sharp mandibles dangled in front of their faces. They were naturally the Catastrophe Bugs.

    Over these past few years, Su Chen had performed lots of research on many areas. Part of his efforts had been concentrated on better understanding these bugs.

    And now, they were one of the weapons that Su Chen was nning on using to deal with the Sovereigns in the Abyss. He had finally pulled them out to use in thisst expedition.

    These current Catastrophe Bugs had been bred and improved from the original Catastrophe Bug. There were some differences between this variant and the original, and one major one was that these bugs were weaker than the originals.

    The original Catastrophe Bugs were immune to all Origin Energy attacks, and they also possessed the innate ability to travel along streams of Origin Energy. In other words, they could chase an Origin Skill to its source. In addition, their attacks also ignored all Origin Energy barriers.

    These bugs basicallypletely countered any Origin Energy user. They didn¡¯t fear any Origin Energy attacks, and they could only be dealt with through physical means.

    At first nce, Su Chen¡¯s version of the Catastrophe Bugs appeared far inferior inparison. Instead of beingpletely immune to Origin Energy, they merely possessed an 80% resistance to it. Even though that sounded quite impressive on paper, their rtively weak physical bodies meant that the twenty percent that affected them would most likely easily kill them.

    Their ability to ignore Origin Energy defenses was also limited. It would take them some time to eat their way through a more powerful barrier.

    There was nothing that Su Chen could do about this. The Catastrophe Bugs were simply too hard to control. If he wanted to resolve all of these issues, it would probably take him a few more years of dedicated research.

    In the end, he had chosen to make the Catastrophe Bugs¡¯s mutations regress their capabilities. This allowed him to control them much more easily.

    This was a pretty typical mindset for reverse-engineering a problem. ¡®If I can¡¯t control you, then I will weaken you until I can.¡¯

    That was the thought process that had given birth to the revised Catastrophe Bugs.

    Su Chen had managed to tame all of these Catastrophe Bugs, and all of them were fertile brood mothers.

    Following Su Chen¡¯s whistle, all of the Catastrophe Bugs flew into the air and headed towards the Demonic King and Demonic Lords that had just been captured.

    The Sea Beasts had been securely restrained, and they were only able to thrash about helplessly and howl as the brood mothers crawled inside their bodies. However, these roars only served to whet the bloodthirst of these Catastrophe Bugs, just like a warrior¡¯s fighting spirit in response to another warrior¡¯s fierce war cry.

    The bugs subsequently started rapidly devouring the Sea Beasts, extractingrge quantities of energy before finally entering the reproduction stage.

    The breeding capabilities of the Catastrophe Bugs were incredibly high. As long as they had enough food, they would constantly reproduce.

    The three Sea Beast carcasses rapidly became breeding grounds for the Catastrophe Bugs. Soon, waves of new Catastrophe Bugs would begin to from the carcasses.

    In order to ensure that these Catastrophe Bugs wouldn¡¯t slip out of his control, Su Chen had already given them medicine to ensure that they wouldn¡¯t live longer than an hour.

    After some time, Su Chen reckoned that it was about the right time and motioned to another group of soldiers off in the distance.

    These few Boundless Sect disciples guarding the entrance to the Abyss sent out a signal of their own, and a boat began to head off in their direction.

    This boat was a bit strange because it was packed to the brim with barrels of wine.

    The thousands of barrels of wine were being transported across the sea by this boat, but Zhong Zhenjun, an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator, had been tasked to guard it. Obviously, this boat was incredibly important.

    ¡°Release!¡±

    Following thismand, Zhong Zhenjun sprang into action. The boat was lifted up and then sent plummeting into the Abyss. At that exact moment, a spark of Origin Energy ignited, lighting up the barrels of wine instantaneously. Pale blue liquid liberally sprayed everywhere, but at that moment, it disappeared into the Abyss along with the boat.

    This liquid was another medicine that Su Chen had developed to deal with the Deep Sea Sorrow.

    Because this medicine was meant to target the entire Abyss, enough medicine had to be made to fill an entire boat. And in order to produce this much medicine, the fleet had expended quite a bit of resources. If they wanted to make another batch, it would probably take them another five years, or perhaps even longer as many of these ingredients were bing harder and harder to find.

    The medicine had been released, and the Catastrophe Bugs bred. Preparations were being hastily made for battle.

    Actually, at that moment, the battle had already begun. These actions were merely the preliminary shots of the initial skirmish.

    The Sovereigns of the Abyss, whocked intelligence, couldn¡¯t possibly have prepared a counterstrategy in advance, which gave the fleet a crucial opportunity.

    What had carried them through this arduous campaign entire time had always been their mental strength, which was enough to make most people fall into despair.

    ¡°How much...... will this medicine weaken them?¡± one of the soldiers asked quietly.

    All they knew was that this medicine would weaken the Sovereigns, but Su Chen had never told to what exact extent.

    Perhaps this was because even he himself wasn¡¯t clear what the answer was.

    ¡°Each Sea Beast is different. Some have an innate resistance to poison, while others don¡¯t. Some have unique maturation processes, and those who became enthralled by the Deep Sea Sorrow while they were nothing butmon Sea Beasts will be affected more than already strong Sea Beasts who came from far away. There might even be some who became Sovereigns before this, and they¡¯ll be affected the least. So how much the Sea Beasts will be weakened is...... hard to say,¡± Su Chen exined with a tinge of regret.

    Those who understood his exnation began to exin to those around them in even simpler terms. ¡°Also, the distribution of the medicine is affected by time and many other factors. As such, it¡¯s extremely hard to predict what the exact decrease in strength will be, which is why the Sect Master didn¡¯t give us an exact number.¡±

    ¡°What we need the most in this battle is courage. We are going to fight, and the rest will be up to fate.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Warriors ask no questions. All they do is make their preparations to die.¡±

    ¡°But I just want to throw this out here. I say, what are we still waiting for?¡±

    ¡°For the medicine to take effect, of course, and for those Catastrophe Bugs to breed some more. You ask too many questions. Why not figure it out yourself?¡±

    ¡°Keep those mouths shut.¡±

    In the face of an order from a direct superior, the chattering subsided, and a deep silence fell across the surface of the sea. Even the waves themselves appeared eerily silent.

    Even so, everyone was aware that a massive change was taking ce in an area that they couldn¡¯t perceive.

    They had no idea how well the medicine was dispersing or working, but the Catastrophe Bugs were already showing a noticeable change.

    By now, the three massive carcasses had practically beenpletely devoured. Large swarms of Catastrophe Bugs continuously flew out from their withering remains, filling the sky. The soldiers watching felt the hair on their scalps tingle.

    ¡°ZZZzzz!¡±

    A shrill buzz began to fill the air as the Catastrophe Bugs charged fearlessly into the Abyss, serving as the vanguard forces.

    They were the tip of the spear, the cannon fodder, and the constantly unending supporting cast.

    After the Catastrophe Bugs started pouring into the Abyss, the Oceanids were the next to spring into action.

    The seven Sea Kings appeared, with the Oceanid ruler Greatcloud at the forefront.

    The Oceanids had finallye out in full force due to the importance of this final mission. Apart from those needed to maintain the critical defenses, almost all of their fighters were present, including Greatcloud himself.

    This Oceanid was unnaturallyrge, and his face was covered in fiery-red hair.

    His upper half was naked, and he wielded a trident in his hand.

    This trident was the Oceanids¡¯ famous weapon, Neptune¡¯s Trident.

    ¡°Leader Greatcloud, I leave it in your hands,¡± Su Chen said as he cupped his hands in greetings.

    Su Chen and Greatcloud had already met many times throughout the course of the past five years, so there was no need for them to greet each other excessively.

    ¡°We Oceanids have been waiting for this day for far too long,¡± Greatcloud said faintly.

    As he had said, the Oceanids had been waiting for this day toe for a long time.

    As such, it was only natural that the Oceanids would take to the front lines without fear.

    Following hismand, the seven emperor-realm Oceanids jumped into the Abyss as well, forming the second wave of attackers.

    The third wave, however, was not a group of more soldiers.

    A massive wave of puppets began to rush out of the pce floating in the sky.

    Giant puppets!

    Now that the final battle was before them, Su Chen had revealed yet another one of his trump cards.

    The Catastrophe Bugs had been somewhat restricted in theirbat ability, but these giant puppets were his true killing move.

    Even though there were only forty of them, they were of extremely high quality. Thirty-six of them were Mountain-ss, each strong enough to single-handedly fight off an army. Their strength was equivalent to a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator¡¯s.

    The remaining four were the legendary Titan-ss puppets.

    These Titan-ss puppets had been constructed from the Refined Stargod Metal that Su Chen had taken from the Mother Goddess Sect and the Darkness Prison Metal that he had received from Eternal Night. By employing the talents of countless Craftsmen and constructing the necessary secondary-ss Sark¡¯s Nuclei by relying on the blueprints, he was able to create these four puppets.

    Making these giant puppets had basically burned through almost all of his resources.

    Each Titan-ss puppet was as strong as an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator.

    No one knew that this was actually Su Chen¡¯s most powerful trump card.

    Zhong Zhenjun had originally believed that the Boundless Sect was Su Chen¡¯s ultimate trump card, but they turned out to merely be a mid-tier portion of his strength. At the time, it had seemed as if he wascking in experts who stood at the very pinnacle.

    What he didn¡¯t know was that Su Chen had burned through his fortune to construct this group of puppets, filling that gap in his arsenal.

    But even though those Titan-ss puppets were strong, there were only four of them, and activating them consumed an incredible amount of resources. This was why Su Chen wasn¡¯t willing to use them lightly.

    Today, however, the time hade toy it all on the line.

    Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s heart trembled when he saw this group of unfathomable puppets charge into the Abyss.

    How many trump cards was this guy still holding onto?

    Even though his ambition to joust for control with Su Chen had been quelled a long time ago, his innatelypetitive personality still made him feel like he had suddenly suffered quite a harsh blow.

    It was as if everything he had constructed in his imagination had been brought tumbling down almost instantaneously.

    The fourth wave of attackers was Su Chen and Gu Qingluo, who fearlessly jumped into the Abyss.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 56: Direct Attack 1

    Perhaps it was because the fleet had been constantly entering and leaving the Abyss over the past few years, but for whatever reason, the Sovereigns there had gradually begun to adapt.

    Now, every time the fleet entered, there would be quite a few Sovereigns hanging around the entrance. As such, every expedition to the Abyss immediately began with a fierce battle.

    The fleet had gradually settled into this habit, of sorts.

    However, the situation was obviously different this time.

    When Su Chen and Gu Qingluo entered, they saw that the Oceanids¡¯ seven generals and the Boundless Sect¡¯s forty puppets were already sting away at three Sovereigns.

    When faced with such an immensebined pressure, the three Sovereigns werepletely suppressed and could only react blindly with their instinct.

    ¡°Not a bad start,¡± Su Chenmented.

    ¡°Yet it is also only the start,¡± Gu Qingluo added.

    Even though the Sovereigns were powerful, the fleet had always immediately left the Abyss after gathering the necessary resources. This time, however, they were nning on staying in the Abyss for an hour.

    An hour was more than enough time for all of the Sovereigns in the Abyss to notice themotion ande over.

    This was, without question, a lot of pressure for the fleet to handle. Even with all of these thorough preparations, it was possible that this was asking too much of them.

    Greatcloud yelled, ¡°Su Chen, the rest is up to you!¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± Su Chen pulled out a pouch and made a motion with his hand. The four Titan-ss puppets immediately flew over, transforming into four streaks of light as they entered the pouch.

    The fleet would remain here to tie down the Sovereigns and secure their exit point while Su Chen would destroy the Deep Sea Sorrow. These four Titan-ss puppets would serve as his bodyguards.

    Su Chen and Gu Qingluo went around the fleet and flew off in a certain direction.

    After visiting the Abyss so many times, Su Chen had gotten a good grasp on where the Deep Sea Sorrow was located. Unfortunately, because of how short all of their previous expeditions were, it was impossible for Su Chen to find an opportunity to actually get a good look at it.

    However, it was impossible to be prepared for every oue. Often, adapting on the fly was as equally important as making thorough preparations.

    The fleet¡¯s forces continued to pour into the Abyss and suppress the nearby Sovereigns. Those who had entered first began to set up formations to defend the rest of the fleet from the Sovereigns¡¯ attacks.

    Su Chen and Gu Qingluo flew forwards for quite some time before an ind appeared off in the distance.

    This ind wasn¡¯t actually an ind ¡ª it was actually a massive turtle Sovereign.

    When Su Chen had sent his clones out to scout the area in the past, the clone that had went in this direction had been swallowed by this giant turtle.

    The turtle preferred to spend its time resting and was usually standing in this areapletely motionless. The fleet had fought with the Sovereigns near the entrance dozens of times, but Su Chen had never personally seen this giant turtle even once.

    But if any human were to get close, it would automatically attack.

    Unfortunately, it was impossible to avoid this turtle if one wanted to reach the Deep Sea Sorrow. It was like the gatekeeper for the Deep Sea Sorrow.

    Su Chen came to a stop right above the giant turtle.

    Even though the massive turtle was still motionless, Su Chen was certain that the giant turtle would attack if he were to take even a single step forwards.

    He was able to precisely control his distance because he had spent three clones to gauge the range of the turtle.

    Su Chen coldly red at the turtle and said, ¡°We¡¯ll use you to test out the power of these guys.¡±

    A spine-crawling buzz filled the air as arge swarm of Catastrophe Bugs appeared in the sky.

    These Catastrophe Bugs, after being sent into the Abyss to draw the attention of the Sovereigns and serve as cannon fodder, had split into two groups. One of the groups remained at the site of the main battle and would consume flesh, reproduce, and bolster their numbers. Meanwhile, the other group hade with Su Chen.

    Following Su Chen¡¯smand, therge group of Catastrophe Bugs shot forwards.

    The massive turtle could sense the oing threat, and the small ind rose from the water, revealing the turtle¡¯s massive body. A long neck emerged from the hole in its shell as it roared at Su Chen.

    The roar boomed for miles like thunder.

    Unfortunately, this threatening howl waspletely useless against the Catastrophe Bugs. In fact, it only served to give them a better target.

    The turtle Sovereign exhaled, releasing a massive cloud of water vapor into the sky.

    This old turtle typically preferred to hole up in its shell and defend itself, but this time, it was taking the initiative to spray water vapor into the sky. Obviously, it viewed the Catastrophe Bugs as a significant threat.

    The droplets of water vapor were filled with the frightening power of a creature with a cultivation base as powerful as that of an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator. The droplets of water appeared capable of destroying a mountain or a city.

    However, the Catastrophe Bugs were barely affected. Their 80% resistance to all forms of Origin Energy greatly decreased the might of the attacks. In addition, the Catastrophe Bugs had grouped up to jointly handle the attacks.

    As the Catastrophe Bugs grouped up, these formerly weak bugs were able to greatly increase their defensive prowess.

    The giant turtle observed, to its surprise, that its cloud of water vapor was only able to kill a couple hundreds of the Catastrophe Bugs.

    But hundreds of Catastrophe Bugs, in the context of this swarm¡¯s size, was basically inconsequential. The Catastrophe Bugs descended ravenously, and the Sovereign immediately knew that it was in danger and attempted to duck into the water.

    However, the water was incapable of stopping the advance of the Catastrophe Bugs because they could maneuver just as freely in the water.

    They easily infiltrated the giant turtle¡¯s body and immediately began tounch a furious assault.

    The turtle¡¯s shell was extremely sturdy, but it didn¡¯t cover all of its weak points. Actually, to the Catastrophe Bugs, there was no such thing as a weak point. As long as they could find a ce where their mandibles could bite down, that was good enough for them.

    In the blink of an eye, the turtle¡¯s body was infested with the attacks of the Catastrophe Bugs.

    ¡°ROAR!¡± it howled fiercely.

    These Catastrophe Bugs were fierce. As soon as they found an opening, they would slip into the target¡¯s body and reproduce as they devoured its flesh. Thervae that they produced would also eat at the target until it was totally consumed.

    As such, any target that the Catastrophe Bugs had locked onto would be eaten alive. How could the turtle possibly endure the dreadful pain? It began to roll around in agony, churning up massive waves on the surface of the ocean.

    Unfortunately, no matter how much power it tried to gather, it was incapable of expelling the bugs from its body. The turtle¡¯s Origin Energy was incredibly vast, but there was simply nothing it could do.

    Suddenly, the turtle leapt into the air and bit at Su Chen. The immense pain had driven it to madness, and its only thought was to take vengeance on Su Chen.

    When Su Chen saw the giant turtle take action against him, he grabbed Gu Qingluo, and their figures flickered, reappearing on the other side of the strait.

    Afterprehending spatial Method Power, it had be much easier for Su Chen to bring someone along with him when he teleported.

    However, he had only just reoriented himself when thousands of water torrents surged in his direction.

    ¡°So this Beast isn¡¯t going to forgive me after all,¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    He teleported away once again.

    There was no way that he could take on a Sovereign all on his own, but he did have some confidence in dodging its attacks.

    At the same time that he dodged, Su Chen whistled, which stimted the Catastrophe Bugs and caused them to rapidly speed up their feeding frenzy.

    All of the Catastrophe Bugs doubled their fierce assault. When this effect was amplified tens of thousands of times, even the immovable turtle couldn¡¯t help itself from being consumed.

    With a huge bang, an item suddenly shot into the air ¡ª the turtle¡¯s massive shell. With just a nce, it was clear that the turtle had already been mostly eaten away by the Catastrophe Bugs.

    Just before it had died, the turtle had ejected its shell, revealing the scene below. The countless Catastrophe Bugs had left behind enough eggs and flesh for them before returning to Su Chen¡¯s side.

    Not long after they left, anotherrge group of bugs crawled out of the turtle¡¯s corpse. They finished consuming the remaining scraps of meat on the turtle¡¯s back before quickly flying away, searching for a new target.

    Like a gue, these bugs began to spread everywhere throughout the Abyss.

    Su Chen continued to fly forwards.

    The Deep Sea Sorrow was located in the deepest depths of the Abyss. It would take quite a bit of time to reach it even without any interruptions, so they didn¡¯t have much time to waste.

    Even so, there were more obstacles in their way than just a single turtle Sovereign.

    After flying for some time, they stumbled across two more Sea Beasts.

    One of them looked like a jellyfish, calmly floating in the sky as if the air was water.

    Even though all of the Sovereigns in the Abyss were Sea Beasts, there were still quite a few strange ones, and it was not out of the ordinary to find one that could fly.

    Apart from this ¡°floating jellyfish,¡± there was also a sea otter.

    It was lying on its back, sprawled across the surface of the sea, allowing the currents to take it wherever it pleased.

    Even so, the sea otter never floated too far away.

    Most importantly, this sea otter didn¡¯t appear to be affecting the nearby current ¡ª rather, it was the source of the current itself.

    Upon closer inspection, the water was actually spiraling around it like a small whirlpool. The sea otter remained at the center of this vortex, the border of which was clearly delineated, and the vortex itself was also traveling along its own circr arc. The imagery was quite strange.

    Anyone else might not have noticed anything out of the ordinary about its circumstances.

    Su Chen, however, was immediately able to tell what was so special about this sea otter Sea Beast.

    ¡°Method Power,¡± he said.

    ¡°Method Power?¡± Gu Qingluo was stunned. ¡°You mean......¡±

    ¡°Yes. That sea otter hasprehended its own Method Power,¡± Su Chen nodded as he replied seriously.

    He was absolutely certain that this was Method Power.

    After all, he had personally experienced spatial, lightning, and me Method Power before. Even though he was not able to control all of these different Method Powers, he was notpletely ignorant about Method Power anymore.

    ¡°But don¡¯t the Sovereigns in the Abyssck intelligence because of the Deep Sea Sorrow? How could one of them stillprehend Method Power?¡± Gu Qingluo asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s the interesting thing. If this Sea Otter hasn¡¯t somehow broken through the Deep Sea Sorrow¡¯s restrictions and miraculously retained its intelligence, then the only other exnation is that...... Perhapsprehending Method Power doesn¡¯t require intelligence?¡±

    Comprehending Method Power doesn¡¯t require intelligence?

    Then what does it require?

    Gu Qingluo didn¡¯t understand where Su Chen was going.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know either. However, he did understand that any Sovereign that couldprehend Method Power was not going to be easy to handle. This also meant that the Sovereign apanying it was not going to be a simple foe either.

    ¡°Two Sovereigns at once is not an easy issue to deal with,¡± Su Chen muttered. ¡°But no matter how hard they are to deal with, we need to do it regardless.¡±

    As he spoke, he opened the pouch in his hands. Four Titan-ss puppets stormed onto the battlefield.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 57: Direct Attack 2

    The four Titan-ss puppets appeared at the same time and began to charge towards the sea otter.

    Even though they were made of metal, their bodies had been covered in Origin Formations, allowing them to fly through the air rapidly. As soon as they appeared, they began to run across the surface of the water, their feet creating ripples wherever they touched the water. These ripples had a strange rhythm to them and even caused the surface of the water to hum faintly.

    This was the effect of the t Treading Origin Formation, allowing them to give form to formless entities and exert force against those entities.

    When faced with such an immense pressure bearing down on it, the otter opened one of its eyes and then casually flicked its tail. This seemingly leisurely movement actually caused the Titan-ss puppets to begin to sink into the water.

    The t ground they had been walking on had been taken out from under their feet.

    This was not an Origin Skill. Instead, it was likely some Method Power that the sea otter hadprehended, giving it incredible control over water. While t Treading allowed the Titans to walk on the surface of the water via the use of Origin Energy, there was nothing that could be done if the sea otter was using Method Power to counteract its effects.

    Its calm, unhurried action was actually one of the most powerful moves it could have used. Obviously, it was not willing to make light of these Titan-ss puppets either.

    The four Titan-ss puppets sank into the water.

    The waves suddenly surged, making it nearly impossible for the Titan-ss puppets to resurface even if they wanted to.

    The sea otter shot a nce at Su Chen, as if mocking that his puppets were only mediocre at best.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t mind. He let out a low growl, and the swarm of Catastrophe Bugs appeared behind his back.

    These bugs had managed to easily wipe out a massive turtle. The threat they posed was easily imaginable.

    But at the same time that the Catastrophe Bugs appeared, the jellyfish made its move.

    A formless ripple began to spread in all directions, and Su Chen and Gu Qingluo both felt a wave of dizziness overtake them as a chilly, evil intent attempted to infiltrate their hearts and take control of them.

    A consciousness invasion!

    Su Chen was stunned.

    Thankfully, even though his cultivation base was only at the Spirit Burning Realm, his consciousness power had already reached the level of an Emperor already, and his mastery of consciousness Arcana Techniques was at the Tenth Ring. Even though the jellyfish was powerful in this regard, it would still have a hard time trying to control Su Chen. However, Gu Qingluo was clearly having a much harder time withstanding the pressure.

    Su Chen reached out to grab Gu Qingluo¡¯s hand, helping her ease the burden.

    With Su Chen¡¯s help, Gu Qingluo was able to rx quite a bit.

    However, the jellyfish was obviously not trying to target them, but the Catastrophe Bugs.

    An instantter, all of the Catastrophe Bugs screeched and chittered, clearly finding it hard to withstand the jellyfish¡¯s consciousness attack.

    The Catastrophe Bugs might be able to endure most Origin Energy skills, but their consciousness was quite weak inparison.

    There was nothing that could be done about this problem. That was precisely what allowed Su Chen to control them for his own purposes.

    Actually, the original Catastrophe Bugs were incredibly powerful. Their immunity to Origin Energy and their rapid rate of reproduction made them almost invincible. Even so, the fact that they could be controlled by Su Chen meant that these weaknesses inevitably began to show.

    Their resistance to Origin Energy decreased to eighty percent, and their resistance of consciousness power decreased even further. In addition, their lifespan had been reduced to an hour.

    This was the price Su Chen needed to pay in order to control these bugs, and as such they were no longer worthy of their title of being invincible. When they ran into opponents that were capable of targeting them, they would be easily killed.

    The jellyfish before Su Chen¡¯s eyes was obviously one such opponent.

    Even though it was unable to wipe out the imprint Su Chen had left on their souls, it could fight with Su Chen, causing lots of damage in the process.

    The Catastrophe Bugs in the sky began to rapidly die off, their carcasses raining down from the sky as they shrieked in pain.

    ¡°Let me!¡± Gu Qingluo said with some agitation.

    ¡°Not yet. Your strength must be preserved until thest moment,¡± Su Chen refused and grabbed Gu Qingluo¡¯s arm. ¡°This is only the beginning.¡±

    ¡°But the Catastrophe Bugs are being destroyed,¡± Gu Qingluo eximed, panicking somewhat.

    The Catastrophe Bugs that Su Chen had poured his blood, sweat, and tears into researching were beginning to die off in droves only after winning a single battle. This was like cultivating bitterly for ten years, then being killed immediately after celebrating reaching the peak. How was it possible not to feel a tinge of regret?

    Su Chen, however, didn¡¯t seem to mind at all and said, ¡°We¡¯ll just switch up our tactics.¡±

    He raised his fingers to his mouth and whistled loudly.

    With a boom, the surface of the ocean exploded.

    Four massive figures shot into the sky - the Titan-ss puppets that had fallen into the water early.

    The four puppets glowed with white light, as if they were enveloped by an egg shell. This thinyer was not a defensive barrier, but a flight Origin Formation.

    During the rule of the Arcana Kingdom, the study of puppets had advanced in leaps and bounds. Because of their physical weakness, the Arcanists spared no expense in developing powerful bodyguards, which was why they had so much experience constructing puppets. With Patelocke by his side, it was impossible for the t Treading Origin Formation¡¯s nullification to render these Titan-ss puppets useless. The earlier attack had been merely to probe the sea otter¡¯s abilities.

    The probe clearly demonstrated that the sea otter was extremely good at controlling water, which put the puppets at a disadvantage when fighting in the sea. In addition, the jellyfish had managed to keep the Catastrophe Bugs in check.

    If that was the case, it was time to switch opponents.

    The four Titan-ss puppets flew into the air, their eight fists glowing with golden light as they punched at the jellyfish. Because they were puppets, they had no consciousnesses to speak of, and the jellyfish¡¯s consciousness techniques werepletely useless. Actually, a single one would have been more than enough to defeat it. But because Su Chen was in a hurry, he decided to try and resolve the situation as quickly as possible.

    When faced with the fierce charge of the four Titan-ss puppets, the jellyfish knew that it was in trouble and flew away as quickly as it could.

    However, it was not able topletely flee from danger, because the four Titan-ss puppets followed closely behind, giving the Catastrophe Bugs, which were only moments ago in dire straits, a brief reprieve.

    Su Chen whistled yet again, and the Catastrophe Bugs turned around in midair, this time swarming towards the sea otter.

    The sea otter finally sprang into motion.

    It swung its tail, churning up a massive wave that rushed towards the swarm of bugs.

    The momentum of this wave was unstoppable, and it was infused with the water Method Power that the otter hadprehended. Even the four Titan-ss puppets probably would have been forced backwards by an attack of this magnitude.

    However, the Catastrophe Bugs were the ones facing this attack.

    Thest opponent they had faced, the giant turtle Sovereign, had been reduced to nothing more than a pile of bones.

    Even if this wave had been imbued with Method Power, it was still intrinsically based on Origin Energy.

    And if it was based on Origin Energy, its power would be reduced by twenty percent.

    If it was based on Origin Energy, the Catastrophe Bugs could band together to resist the attack.

    The remaining Catastrophe Bugs all gathered together and assumed a tight-knit formation, forcefully enduring the wave crashing down on them.

    The otter¡¯s seemingly unstoppable attack was pitifully weak against the Catastrophe Bugs, and was only able to take out a few thousand of them.

    The Catastrophe Bugs seized the opportunity to close in.

    The sea otter knew it was in trouble and opened its mouth, letting out a loud roar.

    A giant cyclone surged forth from its mouth, spinning violently as it ughtered any creature that was sucked into its path.

    Even so, this was still of limited use against the Catastrophe Bugs.

    The Catastrophe Bugs were swept into the cyclone and then spat out the other side. It appeared that, as before, their numbers hadn¡¯t dwindled very much.

    The otter dove underwater. At the same time, the surface of the ocean suddenly became still and began to glint under the sunlight - it had been turned to iron.

    Turning seawater from its liquid state into a metal-like state was something that probably only a Sovereign could aplish.

    ¡°So you even have a trick like this up your sleeve? It seems like my medicine didn¡¯t actually affect you very much,¡± Su Chen sighed.

    Unfortunately, even this struggle was in vain.

    The Catastrophe Bugsnded on the sturdy wall of seawater and began to bite down at it.

    Even though this wall of water appeared tougher than any metal that could be found on the main continent, the Catastrophe Bugs bored their way through it like swiss cheese. Eventually, the smooth surface of the water cracked like a mirror before finally shattering.

    The Catastrophe Bugs plunged into the water like lemmings.

    The surface of the water roiled violently as the otter ferociously defended itself against the Catastrophe Bugs. As a Sovereign that hadprehended Method Power, there were many water-type skills that it could use. But no matter what kind of arsenal it possessed, as long as its attacks still relied on Origin Energy, its effect on the Catastrophe Bugs would be limited.

    Very quickly, a storm began to whip up on the surface of the sea, as if an underwater volcano was about to erupt. Brilliant shes of light could be seen glimmering under the surface of the water, and even mes and ice crystals appeared. Obviously, the otter was using every trick in the book to try and stem the tide of Catastrophe Bugs, including the skills it was not very proficient with.

    However, it was clearly fighting a losing battle.

    Even though Su Chen didn¡¯t bother diving underwater to see what was happening, Su Chen could sense that the battle taking ce below the surface was beginning to die down just based on the fact that the ocean¡¯s surface was beginning to calm down.

    After a few more moments, the surface of the sea returned to its former calm state.

    Su Chen knew that the battle hade to an end.

    A momentter, the Catastrophe Bugs flew out from the ocean, gathering near Su Chen.

    Their numbers had increased yet again.

    The four Titan-ss puppets had also begun to descend from the sky.

    Their return indicated that the jellyfish had been finished off as well.

    Actually, the jellyfish should have lost even faster than the otter due to the fact that it was outnumbered and that its close-quartersbat skills were weak in the first ce. The only possible exnation was that the jellyfish had been running the whole time. However, the Titan-ss puppets were not only strong, but also incredibly fast - Su Chen had ¡°taught¡± them how to use Whitetower Teleportation. As such, the jellyfish was unable to escape and was sted to death under the violent barrage of fists unleashed by the Titan-ss puppets.

    Having dealt with the two Sovereigns, Su Chen and Gu Qingluo continued to advance on the Deep Sea Sorrow.

    They ran into two more groups of Sovereigns on the way there, but with the protection of the Catastrophe Bug and the Titan-ss puppets, they were easily able to im victory.

    After defeating a fifth wave, Su Chen and Gu Qingluo finally arrived at a small mystical mountain.

    This was where the Deep Sea Sorrow was located.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 58: Direct Attack 3

    This mountain was actually physically present. It appeared to be covered in verdant foliage and flowing streams, with clouds circling near its peak. There were even some majestic-looking birds flying around nearby.

    A waterfall thundered off the side of a cliff.

    The scene was very picturesque, but it was also quite strange.

    After all, the Abyss never rained. They were in an isted area of space, and there was no need for rain or snow to refill any lost water.

    If there was no rain or snow, where did the waterfalle from?

    Even so, it was truly there. Water flowed down its side without end.

    A few ck shadows could be seen floating just underneath the surface of the waters around the mountain.

    It wasn¡¯t obvious from the air, but Su Chen could sense that those Sea Beasts were all Sovereigns based on his Origin Energy perception.

    These Sovereigns were circling around the mountain, guarding it.

    ¡°This is where the Deep Sea Sorrow is located? Then where is it exactly?¡± Gu Qingluo asked.

    ¡°At the top,¡± Su Chen said as he pointed at the mountain with his chin.

    Gu Qingluo was momentarily taken aback. ¡°You mean......¡±

    ¡°On top of the waterfall. Or, you could say that it is the source of the waterfall in the first ce.¡±

    Even though he couldn¡¯t see it with his own eyes, Su Chen was confident that this was the case.

    This was the recognition of a great master¡¯s work by another great master, just like two powerful martial artists sparring and exchanging blows.

    This kind of understanding was bone-deep and manifested by way of intuition.

    As a top-tier schr of the science of cultivation, Su Chen had the ability to understand and perceive theposition of this world. For just a moment, Su Chen almost felt as if he had gone back in time, watching how Corniga had orchestrated all of this.

    He hade to this ce and built this mountain, creating a closed circuit for the isted space.

    That waterfall was the source of everything!

    More specifically, it wasn¡¯t a waterfall - it was a spring of vitality flowing out of the Deep Sea Sorrow.

    Its flowing never ceased, and as the Deep Sea Sorrow¡¯s waters mixed with the sea water, the Sea Beasts would begin to grow at a rapid pace.

    As such, this waterfall was the source of life for these Sovereigns.

    And the Deep Sea Sorrow was the source of this source.

    ¡°So what are we waiting for? Let¡¯s go and destroy it now!¡± Gu Qingluo was obviously excited.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be in such a rush,¡± Su Chen said as he grabbed Gu Qingluo¡¯s hand.

    Those Sovereigns below weren¡¯t just there for decoration. It appeared there was at least a dozen of them down there.

    This was probably thest line of defense that Corniga had left in ce for the Deep Sea Sorrow. They were most likely under its control and wouldn¡¯t leave easily.

    Even though the battle taking ce at the entrance to the Abyss was fierce, to the point that the energy fluctuations could be felt even here, the Sovereigns near the mountain appearedpletely indifferent.

    ¡°I will unleash the power of my Shining Dragon Bloodline to stun them, and you can take advantage of the opportunity to destroy the Deep Sea Sorrow. What is there to be afraid of?¡± Gu Qingluo said somewhat disdainfully.

    Her strength had increased yet again during the past few years, and Su Chen had prepared quite a few trump cards for her as well, all with the goal of using them to deal with these Sovereigns. As such, she was extremely confident.

    Su Chen, however, calmly replied, ¡°The more this is the case, the more careful we should be. First of all, the Sovereigns standing guard here are definitely the most powerful ones. What if your Shining Dragon Bloodline isn¡¯t able to suppress them? Second of all, none of us have even seen the Deep Sea Sorrow before, so we have no idea if there are any protective Origin Formations nearby. In addition, even if we can find it and it is not being protected by and Origin Formation, will it be so easy to destroy? What if it¡¯s made out of an incredibly sturdy material? What would we do then?¡±

    Gu Qingluo pouted. ¡°Fine. You always think things through so carefully, so what do you think we should do?¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Of course we should cheat!¡±

    As he spoke, he pulled out the Origin Bone Scepter.

    Gu Qingluo thought that Su Chen already had a n in mind, but it turned out that he was going to use the Origin Bone Scepter to resolve the issue. A smile of amusement appeared unbidden on her face.

    However, upon further consideration, she realized that there was no need toe up with an awe-inspiring n when you could cheat, not to mention that the situation didn¡¯t really allow for an awe-inspiring n in the first ce.

    Apart from Su Chen and Gu Qingluo, there was no one else near the mountain. This meant that the Origin Bone Scepter¡¯s predictions could be made much more easily. As long as Su Chen didn¡¯t make any predictions about himself, only about the Deep Sea Sorrow, the cost would be exceptionally low.

    But weren¡¯t there Sovereigns present as well?

    Yes, there were, and if these Sovereigns were factored into the prediction, the cost would definitely be high.

    But the issue was that there were only Sovereigns around.

    ording to the Origin Bone Scepter¡¯s prediction rules, if the prediction target was worth more than the actual sacrifice offered, the prediction would fail.

    As such, Su Chen would basically only need to offer amon sacrifice and ask a question, and sess or failure would be an answer in and of itself.

    If he seeded, the oue would be pretty self-exnatory.

    If he failed, that meant the Sovereigns would get involved. In other words, that path was not a tenable one.

    Getting no answer was an answer in and of itself.

    Su Chen began with an extremely simple prediction: trying to determine whether he could just fly to the peak of the mountain and retrieve the Deep Sea Sorrow. As expected, he failed.

    This meant that the Sovereigns would get involved.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t appear to care all that much. Instead, he made a prediction about what would happen to him and Gu Qingluo after an hour.

    The prediction failed yet again, implying that the Sovereigns would chase after them. The Origin Bone Scepter was unable to make a prediction as a result.

    For the Sovereigns that wouldn¡¯t easily leave the mountain to chase after him meant that it was very likely that he had taken the Deep Sea Sorrow with him. There was also a remote possibility that there were simply too many variables for the Origin Bone Scepter to ount for.

    Su Chen continued his predictions, this time choosing to pick a different direction.

    Simply put, he wanted to see if there was a way to aplish his goal without startling the Sovereigns.

    The third time, he made a prediction about Whitetower Teleportation.

    The range of this skill was very far. At this point, Su Chen could leap ten thousand feet at once - the pinnacle of range that an Intelligent Race member could achieve in the first ce. Unfortunately, the Sovereigns had an extremely sizable patrol range, and a few of therger Sovereigns were thousands of feet in size in the first ce. There was no way Whitetower Teleportation would seed.

    Light Shaking Phantom would get him fr enough, but he needed to first send one of his clones out.

    Su Chen chose that as his fourth prediction but failed yet again.

    The fifth time, Su Chen predicted that he would invent a concealment medicine, but he failed.

    The sixth time, Su Chen asked what would happen if he went off to distract the Sovereigns while Gu Qingluo took advantage of the opportunity to take it.

    Failure!

    Su Chen tried many different ideas, but all of them failed.

    The rate at which the Origin Bone Scepter was consuming Su Chen¡¯s sacrifices was mercilessly informing him that it was impossible for him to get close to the Deep Sea Sorrow without alerting the Sovereigns.

    ¡°It seems like we can only do things by force.¡± Gu Qingluo leapt to her feet, already prepared to do battle.

    ¡°No, I still have one idea,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    Su Chen gestured, and a Catastrophe Bug appeared in his hand.

    ¡°We¡¯ll send it.¡±

    Even though the Catastrophe Bugs were powerful, they relied on sheer numbers to overwhelm their enemies.

    A single Catastrophe Bug was far less threatening, and probably wouldn¡¯t be noticed by the Sovereigns.

    The sacrifice began to disappear from the altar.

    This time, an image finally appeared.

    A Catastrophe Bug flitted around in the image like a bee. Eventually, itnded at the top of the waterfall.

    Su Chen and Gu Qingluo saw a giant statue standing at the top of the peak, opening its mouth wide.

    The waterfall wasing out of that mouth.

    The Catastrophe Bug attempted to enter the statue¡¯s mouth, but a momentter, a white streak of light suddenly shot out of the statue¡¯s eyes, mming into the Catastrophe Bug.

    The Catastrophe Bug, which had withstood the attacks of a few Sovereigns at this point, was instantly incinerated.

    The image disappeared.

    Su Chen and Gu Qingluo both fell into a stunned silence.

    ¡°So there are defenses in ce,¡± Gu Qingluo said.

    What was that white light? It appeared to bemon, but its actual power was quite threatening.

    ¡°Well, at least we¡¯ve found a way to sneak in without startling the Sovereigns,¡± Su Chen said, maintaining hisposure.

    If a Catastrophe Bug wouldn¡¯t attract the notice of a Sovereign, then the situation would be much easier to resolve.

    Su Chen pulled out a vial of his blood and applied a temporary stasis measure to it before allowing the Catastrophe Bug to fly away. Once the Catastrophe Bug arrived at the source of the waterfall, the blood would turn into a clone, allowing Su Chen to use Light Shaking Phantom.

    As for how he would leave, that was even simpler. He could just leave behind a clone here.

    Actually, Su Chen had even left a clone at the entrance to the Abyss.

    ¡°You need to be careful,¡± Gu Qingluo clutched at his hand as she said with affectionate concern.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Just wait here for my good news,¡± Su Chen said.

    A clone appeared. Because Su Chen¡¯s consciousness was connected to it, he could remain in contact with Gu Qingluo.

    The Catastrophe Bug flew off with Su CHen¡¯s blood. Very quickly, it arrived yet again near the statue.

    This time, however, instead of attempting to enter the statue¡¯s mouth, it let the drop of blood fall.

    The moment that the blood droplet fell to the ground, a clone appeared. An instantter, the space around the clone rippled faintly as the real body substituted for the ce of the fake one.

    Su Chen had easily jumped the gap, and appeared in front of the statue.

    Because of how close the two clones were, he hadn¡¯t expended much energy to make this jump.

    First, he used a concealment technique to cover up his aura, doing his best not to startle those Sovereigns. Then, he stowed away the Catastrophe Bug before beginning to carefully inspect the statue.

    The statue was roughly three hundred feet tall and stood erect on the mountain peak.

    The Origin Bone Scepter¡¯s prediction hadn¡¯tsted long enough for Su Chen to get a clear look. Now that he was able to, however, he couldn¡¯t help but feel slightly taken aback.

    Because the face of this statue was not actually an Arcanist¡¯s face.

    Arcanists were proportionally short by birth, so the actual height of the statue wasn¡¯t so important. However, the statue¡¯s limbs were slender and lithe, and its pointed ears and faint green skin clearly indicated that the statue was not of an Arcanist. Actually, it bore some resemnce to the nearly extinct Dark Astrals.

    Corniga was an Arcanist. The fact that he had not constructed the statue in the form of an Arcanist was confusing, to say the least.

    However, Su Chen didn¡¯t have time to ponder this question too much. He looked up at the giant mouth of the statue and began to fly into the air.

    The Deep Sea Sorrow should be inside, so he would need to go inside if he wanted to take it with him.

    There was no way that Su Chen would try to brute force his way inside given the white light he had seen in the Origin Bone Scepter¡¯s prediction. Instead, he created another clone to see if the clone could sneak past the statue¡¯s defenses.

    Even though Su Chen wasn¡¯t particrly proficient with Origin Formations, as an avid researcher, he was very clear that there needed to be a mechanism that activated that white light. As long as he didn¡¯t trigger that mechanism, none of the defenses would do anything.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know how that white light was activated, but it was very likely that any organism that tried to enter would be in.

    The clones were only formed from a drop of Su Chen¡¯s blood, so its aura of vitality was virtually impossible to detect.

    Unless the statue would use the white light to kill even mosquitoes, a clone most likely wouldn¡¯t activate that particr mechanism.

    The clones couldn¡¯t deceive the Sovereigns because they had eyes, but the same didn¡¯t necessarily go for a statue.

    As he considered this, the clone entered the mouth of the statue. Indeed, no streak of white light attacked the clone.

    An instantter, Su Chen himself materialized within the mouth of the statue.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 59: Diomedes

    The mouth of the statue was very spacious. It functioned as a giant door, and in its throat was a set of stairs that descended into the dark depths of the statue.

    That was where the Deep Sea Sorrow¡¯s water came from.

    Flowing from bottom to top.

    As expected, there was more to the statue than met the eye.

    Su Chen sent out the single Catastrophe Bug again, using it to blindly search for a path forward as he carefully followed it down.

    Once he reached the bottom of the flight of stairs, he was greeted by arge tunnel that was lined with thorny brambles.

    Su Chen quickly realized that these brambles were incredibly tough, as he had a hard time tearing them apart. Even his mes could not burn them away.

    At that moment, an unidentified object shot out of the brambles, narrowly missing Su Chen¡¯s face.

    Su Chen tilted his head and nimbly dodged it, but the thing actually twisted around in midair and shot towards Su Chen yet again.

    Su Chen jabbed out with his finger, and the air pressureing off of his finger mmed into the item.

    The object immediately burst open and fell from the air. A faint green liquid seeped out from it and onto the ground. Only then did Su Chen realize that the ¡°object¡± was actually arge beetle.

    And that the liquid seeping out of its corpse was extremely corrosive and poisonous.

    Once that first beetle died, countless other beetles began to pour out from the brambles, flying in Su Chen¡¯s direction.

    ¡°There¡¯s quite a few of them.¡± Su Chen raised his arm and unleashed a palm strike.

    Unexpectedly, those beetles actually shot back into the brambles when he unleashed his strike.

    The palm strike descended, and the brambles bunched up, resisting Su Chen¡¯s palm strike.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Su Chen murmured as he suddenly understood what he was looking at. ¡°So this is the Deathly Still Brambles.¡±

    Su Chen had finally realized what was going on.

    These Deathly Still Brambles were extremely annoying to deal with, and they were exclusively produced by the Dark Astrals. Not only were they incredibly resilient, but they also possessed an innate resistance to Origin Energy.

    Those beetles were Dark Beetles.

    Dark Beetles existed in a symbiotic rtionship with the Deathly Still Brambles. The brambles offered the beetles protection while the beetles¡¯ dung served as the brambles¡¯ fertilizer and provided them with much-needed nutrition. When the beetles flew around, they would also scatter the Deathly Still Bramble¡¯s seeds, forming a region filled with the brambles while simultaneously expanding their habitat.

    The two of them relied on each other quite heavily, resulting in a uniquely dependent rtionship.

    Su Chen knew what he was facing as soon as he saw those beetles.

    The Deathly Still Brambles and Dark Beetle pairing was quite annoying to deal with, but if Su Chen wanted to progress, then he would need to pass through this obstacle, and he didn¡¯t have too much time to waste.

    The Dark Beetles dodged Su Chen¡¯s attack by hiding in the brambles and promptly flew out yet again.

    Su Chen immediately unleashed his Catastrophe Bugs.

    Because he had used his Light Shaking Phantom technique to enter the statue, he didn¡¯t have many Catastrophe Bugs with him. Even so, using them to deal with the situation was more than enough.

    The Catastrophe Bug was king of insects for a reason. While the Dark Beetles needed to rely on the Deathly Still Brambles for protection, the Catastrophe Bugs were able to scorn the might of a Sovereign all on their own. As such, the instant they appeared, the powerful aura that the Catastrophe Bugs exudedpletely suppressed the Darkness Beetles. Their low vitality made them instinctively submit to these kings.

    Even so, the Catastrophe Bugs mercilessly pounced upon them, unleashing a ughter.

    The defenses of the Deathly Still Brambles werepletely useless against the Catastrophe Bugs. They slipped into the openings of the brambles and continued their massacre, causing countless beetle corpses to fall out of the brambles and onto the ground. In the blink of an eye, the Catastrophe Bugs hadpletely annihted the Dark Beetles, and even the Deathly Still Brambles had beenpletely consumed.

    This seemingly headache-inducing obstacle had beenpletely nullified with a single move. Su Chen stepped over the beetle corpses on the ground, which crunched underfoot.

    ¡°Su Chen, are you alright?¡± Gu Qingluo¡¯s voice suddenly spoke in his ear.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. I just ran into a small bump in the road, but it wasn¡¯t a problem,¡± Su Chen exined as he continued to advance so that Gu Qingluo would feel more at ease.

    ¡°Deathly Still Brambles? Aren¡¯t those things unique to the Dark Astrals? They usually only use those things to protect their tombs,¡± Gu Qingluo said.

    ¡°Yes. Now, it seems that this statue was not created by Corniga, but rather by some Dark Astral or even an Astral,¡± Su Chen said. ¡°Corniga probably discovered this location and then reappropriated it for his own purposes.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. But if it¡¯s the tomb of an Astral, then you need to be careful. Those guys sometimes seem like they¡¯re undying. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if something randomly popped out of the ground and attacked you even if it had been buried millenia ago,¡± Gu Qingluo reminded worriedly.

    ¡°I know. But that¡¯s assuming that Corniga didn¡¯t already dig it out.¡±

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t the first person to show up on the scene. Corniga had arrived before him.

    Any surprises up ahead had probably already been experienced by Corniga before.

    As for the Deathly Still Brambles, their hardiness meant that they would grow back easily. It wasn¡¯t strange that they would return in force, given that Corniga had been gone for so long.

    And just as Su Chen had predicted, a number of other barriers and traps were still in his way, but they were dealt with quite easily.

    The main mechanisms that had remained intact after Corniga¡¯s foray were the white light that shot out of the statue¡¯s eyes and the brambles. The brambles were always able to grow back, and the white light¡¯s mechanism had been purposefully left whole by Corniga. As long as it wasn¡¯t a defensive mechanism that absolutely had to be destroyed, Corniga had done his best to keep them intact, as they would serve as natural defenses for the Deep Sea Sorrow.

    As Su Chen followed the flow of water to its source, the hallway eventually opened up into a wide space.

    It seemed as if he had entered a miniature paradise.

    This was because Su Chen could see the sky.

    This ce was surprisingly spacious. At the center of the space was a pool of water, out of which a gigantic tree was growing.

    The water all flowed from the tree.

    From its drooping branches and leaves.

    When Su Chen saw this, he was amazed.

    Even though he had wondered what the Deep Sea Sorrow actually was all this time, he had never expected it to actually be a tree.

    Yes, this tree was the Deep Sea Sorrow.

    Its roots were firmly embedded within the pond, which probably was connected to the outside world.

    The roots of the tree drew water out of the pond while the branches released the water, which with now suffused with it the peculiar Origin Substance of the Abyss.

    So this Origin Substance, which could elerate a lifeform¡¯s growth, actually came from this tree!

    Suddenly, Su Chen understood.

    Corniga wasn¡¯t the one who had invented the Deep Sea Sorrow.

    He had merely discovered it.

    And after finding the tree, he had decided to use it for his own purposes.

    Perhaps the intrinsic process involved in creating the process was incrediblyplicated, but it manifested in this tree which was incredibly simple and uninteresting.

    A tree!

    A tree that could supply this Origin Substance abundantly!

    This tree had transformed this entire region and harmed the Oceanids for twenty thousand years.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Even Gu Qingluo was rendered speechless by Su Chen¡¯s discovery.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, she asked, ¡°So should we destroy this tree right here and now?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Su Chen immediately replied as he shook his head. ¡°This tree is simply too incredible. It can produce a constant supply of this unique Origin Substance. If I were to nt it on Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, what do you think would happen?¡±

    Gu Qingluo immediately warned, ¡°You¡¯re not wrong, but don¡¯t forget that Corniga has already altered this tree. Even though the tree is capable of elerating an organism¡¯s growth, its beneficiaries will also fall under its control, and they will be forced to defend it and attack the Oceanids.¡±

    ¡°So let¡¯s get rid of themands then,¡± Su Chen said straightforwardly. ¡°If Corniga can infusemands, then I can get rid of thosemands.¡±

    With the Origin Bone Scepter present, this was not an impossibility.

    ¡°So then how are you going to take it with you?¡±

    ¡°Why not ask the Origin Bone Scepter?¡± Su Chen decided to cheat yet again.

    But right when he pulled out the Origin Bone Scepter, a cloud of smoke suddenly billowed out from the tree.

    Then, it condensed into an illusory body right besides the tree.

    That body was that of an old man¡¯s, and as soon as he appeared, he cried out, ¡°The Origin Bone Scepter! An extraordinary scepter! I can finally meet you face to face.¡±

    Hey......

    Su Chen nced at the spectral body. ¡°Astral?¡±

    The spectral body before him clearly belonged to an Astral, but there were also some clear differences. For one, its legs were directly protruding from the tree, as if he had sprouted from the tree itself.

    ¡°A human! The Origin Bone Scepter has fallen into the hands of a human? Have those barbaric Ravagers already been destroyed?¡± the Astral asked Su Chen in shock.

    ¡°They are still around, but this treasure doesn¡¯t belong to them anymore. It seems like you know what it is?¡±

    ¡°How could I not? That is something that I have been pursuing all this time. The Origin Bone Scepter...... If I had seeded in my mission and gotten my hands on the Origin Bone Scepter, then I, Diomedes, wouldn¡¯t have fallen to such a state in the first ce.¡±

    The old Astral then sighed regretfully.

    Diomedes?

    This name sounded somewhat familiar, but Su Chen couldn¡¯t remember where he had heard of it before.

    The old Astral asked Su Chen, ¡°What year is it right now?¡±

    ¡°The 27th millenium of the New Star Era,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Twenty thousand years? So I¡¯ve been asleep for twenty thousand years, huh?¡± the Old Astral mumbled calmly.

    Su Chen¡¯s clone outside said to Gu Qingluo, ¡°Your words were true. A twenty thousand year old guy really did jump out of nowhere.¡±

    The Su Chen inside seemed to think for a moment before his eyes lit up. ¡°Diomedes? You said that your name was Diomedes? So your name has three characters, then? That must mean that you¡¯re one of the Astrals¡¯ elders.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, and one of the most high-ranking ones to boot,¡± Diomedes replied proudly.

    The Astrals¡¯ naming conventions were incredibly simple. Common Astrals only had a single character in their names, middle-ss ones two, elders three, and the leader four.

    Due to this naming convention, the history of the Astrals was quite easy to remember. There weren¡¯t many of them to begin with, they lived forever, and their names were easy to remember. Over the past twenty thousand years of history, there had only ever been around a hundred famous individuals from the Astrals.

    As a result, it was rare for a great individual to appear from the ranks of the Astrals.

    Diomedes was a rtively famous individual in his own right.

    As he had said, before he had mysteriously disappeared, he was indeed one of the highest-ranking elders ¡ª second only to the leader of the Astrals himself, in fact.

    But the reason why his name had been passed on until this very day was because of the great impact that his disappearance had had on the Astrals.

    It was his disappearance that had ultimately forced the Astrals to halt their ns to create the Spring of Immortality.

    And because of his disappearance, the Reproductive Temple had eventually been destroyed.

    Unfortunately, this great elder¡¯s disappearance had only had negative effects for the Astrals.

    Obviously, he had no idea of the cmities following his disappearance.

    Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in Su Chen¡¯s mind, and he realized a monumental secret.

    He eximed, ¡°So the Deep Sea Sorrow is actually the Spring of Immortality!¡±

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 60: History 1

    The Spring of Immortality was actually more of a project than anything else.

    And the Arcanists had been the first ones to propose it.

    During the height of the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s power, they had proposed all kinds of unique ideas, attempting to bring them all to fruition.

    There was one topic in particr that had caught the attention of all the Intelligent Races ¡ª the ns for the Spring of Immortality.

    The theoretical framework of the Spring of Immortality was quite simple. ording to Arcana Master Clega Yind¡¯s research, Origin Energy would take on a liquid form whenpressed to a high enough density. This was the theory behind the existence of the Origin Energy Sea. As such, his hope was to invent some kind of instrument that could store Origin Energy in this liquid form.

    In other words, he wanted to emte the sea of Origin Energy by creating an Origin Energy Well.

    This way, he would have a boundless store of Origin Energy for him to use.

    This was the initial concept behind the Spring of Immortality.

    However, the project began to change as it progressed.

    It was quickly deemed wholly impractical. The difficulty of creating an Origin Energy Well wasn¡¯t any less than utilizing the Origin Sea in the first ce. If a source of liquid Origin Energy already existed, then why would anyone try to create a replica that was just as hard to use? That was truly an idiotic endeavor.

    However, there were others who took this concept in new directions.

    Then someone discovered that liquified Origin Energy was extremely malleable and could take on many different forms.

    As such, the Spring of Immortality¡¯s true purpose was not in its unlimited energy source but rather in its extreme adaptability.

    It could serve as a foundation for Origin Energy to transform even more drastically.

    With this philosophy in mind, a more concrete n for the Spring of Immortality began to take shape.

    However, this research remained unfinished even through the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s decline.

    Once the Arcana Kingdom was toppled, the other Intelligent Races divvied up the spoils. Among them, the Astrals had gained the most knowledge because of their love for it and their great interest in the profound secrets of this world.

    The Astrals had then established their Immortal Kingdom, and the Astral leader was crowned Achilles the Immortal. His viceroy was, naturally, Diomedes.

    In the 1000th year of the New Star Era, Diomedes restarted the Spring of Immortality project, hoping to finish the Arcanists¡¯ research.

    Because of the Astrals¡¯ unique form of existence, their physicality had always been questioned.

    They themselves believed that they were genuine lifeforms. Their bodies were merely formed from pure consciousness, making them fundamentally different from ghosts.

    But the other races believed that the Astrals were ghosts!

    At first, there were no such things as ghosts, but the Dark Astrals had created a new lifeform, ghosts, in their own image. Their actions had fulfilled what was, at that point in time, nothing more than a fairy tale.

    The Astrals could not ept this ssification. They had converted themselves to live longer and better lives, not for them to have a ¡°better death.¡±

    Even though this appeared to be nothing more than semantics on the surface, it was still an important distinction. Their very reason for existence was being targeted and attacked. Just asws were vital to a country and teachings to a sect, a race¡¯s view of themselves was of utmost importance as it touched upon the very reason why they existed in the first ce.

    The most obvious problem with epting thebel of ¡®ghosts¡¯ was that many Astrals would have started wondering whether there was any point to living a life such as this.

    This kind of self-doubting, fatalistic viewpoint could quickly lead to the demise of an entire race.

    Diomedes had discovered a theory written down in the Spring of Immortality¡¯s research records ¡ª the Origin Energy creation theory.

    The theory of Origin Energy creation had been initially proposed by one of the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s Arcana Masters, Kader. Kader specialized in Origin Energy research, and during the course of his studies, he had discovered that one of the unique properties of liquified Origin Energy was that it could create organic matter.

    As such, he developed the following hypothesis: of the manyponents that were needed to produce life, Origin Energy was involved in the formation of thoseponents.

    Based on this starting point, he was able to deduce a fascinating conclusion: the creatures living on the Primordial Continent were intrinsically rted to the Origin Energy Sea. It was Origin Energy that had created everything in the beginning, including a variety of different lifeforms.

    And the reason why some lifeforms were stronger and others weaker was because some organisms had been created with a purer life essence, while others had received a muddied version. The former had naturally be those of the Origin Races and thetter the Intelligent Races.

    If he was able to discover the principles behind Origin Energy creation, then it would be possible for the Astrals to obtain their own physical form.

    This was the Origin Energy creation theory,

    Unfortunately, the Arcana Kingdom had been too prolific in its research at the time. Many different ideas were constantly being disseminated, and Kader¡¯s proposal hadn¡¯t attracted much attention. It had been quickly swallowed up by the passage of time and forgotten.

    Until the fateful day it fell into Diomedes¡¯ hands.

    In it, Diomedes saw a possibility for the Astrals to regain their purpose for living.

    He was going to use this theory to revitalize the Astrals!

    This was a very grandiose and risky train of thought, but Diomedes believed that it was possible.

    For the Astrals, who had forsaken their corporeal form, their own bodies were the perfect research material. There was no need to overly treasure them.

    And with that, their ns to create the Spring of Immortality were set in motion. Actually, it was probably more urate to refer to it as the Spring of Life. Its primary function was to strengthen a lifeform at a fundamental level. Of course, the Astrals could also use it to weaken their opponents ¡ª as long as they were able to master and control the principle of Origin Energy creation theory, they would be able to perform all kinds of modifications on different lifeforms.

    If the Astrals had seeded, then they might have be the next ultra-powerful race to rule the continent. They would have had the Origin Beasts¡¯ control over Origin Energy, an undying body, and a powerful consciousness. Perhaps it wouldn¡¯t even be too much to consider them the perfect creature.

    Fortunately, they had not seeded.

    Diomedes had disappeared.

    As the primary driver behind the Spring of Immortality project, Diomedes¡¯ disappearance dealt a serious blow to the project¡¯s progress. The Spring of Immortality had immediately found itself stranded, which eventually led to its failure.

    And because this project was a failure, the Astrals didn¡¯t bother keeping it a secret. It was unsurprising that the humans also knew quite a bit about its specifics.

    Ahd now, Diomedes had unexpectedly appeared here, in the Abyss.

    When Su Chen realized that the other party was the Diomedes of old, he immediately thought of how involved Diomedes had been with the Spring of Immortality project. It was only natural that Su Chen quickly put two and together.

    Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s words, Diomedes was obviously surprised as well. ¡°The Deep Sea Sorrow? What is that? What is going on in the outside world?¡±

    ¡°It seems that you¡¯re still unaware. Why don¡¯t I tell you how we reached this point first?¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t immediately tell Diomedes what had happened in the outside world. After all, he was still an Astral elder, and it was hard to say what kind of schemes he was hiding in his heart. If Su Chen exined everything to him, then it was entirely possible that Diomedes would begin to scheme against him.

    When Diomedes saw Su Chen¡¯s behavior, he understood what Su Chen was trying to do. ¡°The fact that you were able to enter an area that Imbly painstakingly created proves that you are no ordinary individual. But don¡¯t worry. I will tell you everything you want to know, as long as you answer me one thing.¡±

    ¡°Imbly? This is Daniel Imbly¡¯s creation?¡± Su Chen interrupted. ¡°I thought it was Corniga¡¯s.¡±

    Daniel Imbly was the root of the Oceanids¡¯ torment. He was an Arcanist who had fought with the Oceanids for thousands of years, and was Corniga¡¯s teacher.

    ¡°Corniga? Oh, you mean that Arcanist child. Yes, he participated as well. Even though he suffered from an incurable disease, his resilience was quite impressive. Without his help, I wouldn¡¯t have fallen into this state either,¡± Diomedes sighed.

    ¡°An incurable disease?¡±

    ¡°Yes. That child, Corniga, had at least three kinds of incurable illnesses and seven serious wounds. His eyes had gone blind, a third of his brain had been gouged out, and both of his legs wereme...... It¡¯s quite a miracle that he was even alive. But yes, he was the one whopleted all of the arrangements here.¡±

    Su Chen was taken aback. ¡°How did he do it?¡±

    Diomedes shrugged. ¡°Little by little. He spent all of his timepleting his teacher¡¯s wishes and sealin me here, using me as the converter for the Spring of Immortality. This spring is capable of producing vast amounts of vitality that elerates the growth of any nearby organism. When Daniel Imbly left this task to his disciple, I thought he was crazy. He could have found any other normal Arcanist to fulfill his mission, but he chose that crippled child instead. This kind of enterprise is extremely difficult for even a healthy individual to pull off. Unexpectedly, it was this cripple that somehow managed toplete Daniel¡¯s work on his own.¡±

    ¡°That is quite unprecedented,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    History had given Daniel Imbly an urate ount, but no one knew the sacrifice that Corniga had made as well. Actually, no one even knew that he was crippled in the first ce.

    No wonder he hadn¡¯te up with any other inventions in his lifetime.

    The youth had spent his entire life to get this one thing right.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Su Chen asked, ¡°Weren¡¯t they the ones who put you into this situation in the first ce? Howe it doesn¡¯t sound like you hate them?¡±

    ¡°Put me?¡± Diomedes was momentarily taken aback before he realized what Su Chen meant and chuckled, ¡°You think Imbly and Corniga schemed against me and put me into this state?¡±

    ¡°Is that not so?¡±

    ¡°No, no, no,¡± Diomedes chuckled. ¡°Not at all! They were helping me.¡±

    ¡°Helping you?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Diomedes sighed. ¡°That happened a long time ago, and I can recount the story to you. But kid, I¡¯ve already told you all this. Shouldn¡¯t you tell me about what¡¯s happening in the outside world? Is that not fair?¡±

    ¡°Fine. What do you want to know?¡± Su Chen estimated that he still had time and nodded.

    ¡°What is the current situation of the outside world? And what¡¯s all this talk about the Deep Sea Sorrow anyways?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s pretty simr to before, but the Illustrious Divine Dynasty has fallen, reced by the humans¡¯ Seven Kingdoms......¡± Su Chen broadly described before moving onto the Deep Sea Sorrow.

    However, he left out the destruction of the Reproductive Temple.

    He didn¡¯t want to overly stimte Diomedes.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is,¡± Diomedes said. ¡°So the current Astral leader is the third one, and he is still holed up in the Wai Caves? It seems like they haven¡¯t made any progress whatsoever.¡±

    ¡°Everyone else is just advancing,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°That is true. I cannot sense the aura of a bloodline on you, but you are already at the Spirit Burning Realm. While I was alive, the humans were still pouring all their efforts into studying bloodlines. Have they reached the point where they no longer need the support of a bloodline anymore?¡±

    ¡°Only certain individuals,¡± Su Chen shrugged. ¡°So can we talk about you now? Why is it that sealing you here is actually helping you?¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s quite a long story.¡±

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 61: History 2

    Chapter 61: History (2)

    Diomedes couldn¡¯t remember anything before he had be an Astral.

    When he gained immortality, he also lost many of the earthly pleasures that he once enjoyed. From then on, he was unable to enjoy the sweetness of fruit, the pleasantness of a gentle spring breeze, and the joy of love.

    Yes. Converting to a spiritual body not only limited his ability to interact with the outside world, but even the emotions that he could feel.

    Diomedes had once believed that this was an irreversible process.

    That was, until he discovered the theory of Origin Energy creation.

    Yes. This was the main reason behind his desire to see the Spring of Immortality realized, which would pave the road for a new breed of Astrals.

    To restore his long-forgotten senses, Diomedes had begun researching the theory of Origin Energy creation and the Spring of Immortality.

    At the very beginning, however, his research was quite rudimentary and uninspired.

    What really set him hurtling down this path was an unintentional dream.

    The Astrals typically did not dream, because the Astrals didn¡¯t need to sleep.

    For them, dream realms essentially did not exist. They were merely products of illusory daydreaming.

    But one day, Diomedes had suddenly had a dream.

    In that dream, he had seen himselfplete the Spring of Immortality.

    Even though it was just a dream, it felt incredibly realistic, so much so that he could even recall the finest details.

    After he awoke, he attempted to recreate some of what he had seen in the dream, with a modicum of disbelief.

    The results astounded him.

    This path was actually tenable!

    The Spring of Immortality that he had seen in his dreams could actually be realized!

    Diomedes believed that the true god had inspired him with this direction.

    Unfortunately, Diomedes wasn¡¯t able to remember the construction method for all of theponents of the Spring of Immortality, and there were some parts that he wasn¡¯t able to immediately understand. It would still take time and hard research for him to fullyprehend what he had seen in his vision.

    However, this was not a problem for Diomedes.

    From that point onwards, he became furiously mired in his research on the Spring of Immortality.

    In order to actually recreate it, Diomedes had traveled far and wide, scouring thend for the necessary resources.

    He had searched like a man possessed, all the way to the sea.

    The sea contained one of the most important materials for constructing the Spring of Immortality: the Revolving Spring.

    The Revolving Spring was a unique spatial item. Its hallmark was that it was always revolving, spinning repeatedly without ever stopping.

    This Revolving Spring was absolutely critical and necessary for the Spring of Immortality¡¯s construction.

    Diomedes had searched as hard as he could for it and finally discovered the Revolving Spring. Unfortunately, in the moment of his triumph, he had been suddenly ambushed by a vicious Sea Beast.

    Even though Diomedes was ultimately able to defeat the beast, he had been badly poisoned in the process, and his lifespan began to decay rapidly. Clearly, this poison was no ordinary poison; it was actually effective against spiritual bodies, which meant that Diomedes¡¯ death was fast approaching.

    It was at that moment that he encountered Imbly and his disciple.

    At that point in time, Imbly had been looking for an opportunity to retaliate against the Oceanids. Once he ran into Diomedes, he believed that this opportunity hade. He suggested constructing the Spring of Immortality here to Diomedes, as he would be able to use its power to survive.

    Diomedes informed Imbly that there were still a few special requirements for constructing the Spring of Immortality that weren¡¯t fulfilled yet.

    As a highly talented metalworker, Imbly could fulfill all of the requirements that Diomedes just so happened to becking. However, there were some changes to the original n because of this unforeseen turn of events.

    Even so, Diomedes¡¯ impending death gave him no other option. He could only agree to Imbly¡¯s suggestion and help him construct a Spring of Immortality here.

    He knew that Imbly definitely had an ulterior motive for helping him construct the Spring of Immortality, but he had no choice if he wanted to survive. Because of the spring¡¯s unique properties, he was able to stave off death. However, this also meant that he would never be able to leave the spring either. In the end, he chose to go into hibernation afterwards.

    This period of dormancy hadsted for twenty thousand years.

    ¡°Twenty thousand years. The outside world has changed so much in such a short period of time,¡± Diomedes said with a sigh. ¡°And yet I have been sleeping here this whole time. What is the difference between that and death? Perhaps I should never have tried to prolong my life in the first ce. Getting old and dying is a natural part of life after all.¡±

    ¡°So you want to leave?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°Yes, I want to leave. Even if I die in the process, as long as I can go out and take a look at the world again, I will be satisfied,¡± Diomedes calmly stated as he stared aimlessly off into the distance.

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°I can understand how you feel. The fact that you¡¯ve been sleeping here for twenty thousand years is perhaps a sign of your destiny. Maybe death is the best option for you.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he stepped aside, opening up the path behind him.

    ¡°I¡¯m in no hurry,¡± Diomedes said as he chuckled amusedly. ¡°Don¡¯t you want the Deep Sea Sorrow? Here, it belongs to you know. Do you see the Origin Formation inscriptions down there? As long as you can nullify them, you will be able to take it with you.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I¡¯m not in a hurry either. Please, sir, you may go first.¡±

    ¡°No, I insist. You first.¡±

    ¡°You first.¡±

    ¡°You first.¡±

    ¡°Please, there¡¯s no need to stand on courtesy with me.¡±

    ¡°Not at all, not at all. You are my elder, so this is only proper.¡±

    The two of them bantered back and forth, neither of them willing to make the first move.

    Su Chen remained all smiles, but he refused to touch the tree.

    Diomedes¡¯ expression gradually sank. ¡°Young man, you¡¯re here to take the Deep Sea Sorrow, aren¡¯t you? The opportunity is right before your eyes, but you¡¯re ignoring it? What are you trying to do?¡±

    Su Chen calmly replied, ¡°Old man, if you want to see the outside world that badly, then why don¡¯t you take the opportunity to do so? Could it be that you can¡¯t?¡±

    Diomedes trembled slightly before he smiled again. ¡°Rubbish! What do you mean I can¡¯t? I just don¡¯t want to at the moment!¡±

    Su Chen smiled, but his eyes remained cold. ¡°So why not take a step forward and show me?¡±

    Diomedes red at Su Chen, and his expression began to shift.

    After a long time, he finally relented and said, ¡°Impressive, kid! It seems that I wasn¡¯t able to keep it from you in the end.¡±

    He chuckled. ¡°Fine. I admit that my body has fused with this spring a long time ago, so I indeed cannot leave on my own. However, this tree is the foundation of the Spring of Immortality. As long as you take it with you, I will still be able to leave.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid that not only is it the Spring of Immortality¡¯s foundation, but it is also the foundation for the array that is suppressing your power, right?¡± Su Chen calmly borated.

    Diomedes was stunned. ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    Su Chen chuckled coldly. ¡°Imbly is an Arcanist. The Arcana Kingdom¡¯s downfall was partly due to the Astrals. How could he possibly treat an Astral so kindly as to genuinely try to save their life?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because he needed to use me to construct the Deep Sea Sorrow!¡± Diomedes yelled futilely.

    ¡°Yes, but that¡¯s not the only way you two could have struck a deal. He could have also forcibly suppressed your strength. Am I right, Elder Diomedes? Or should I say...... controller of the Deep Sea Sorrow.¡±

    As soon as Diomedes heard this, he almost fell over with fright. ¡°How did you know? This is not possible! This is not possible!¡±

    Su Chen nced at Diomedes with aplicated expression. ¡°You made two mistakes. First of all, you mentioned that Imbly constructed the Deep Sea Sorrow here to help you in an attempt to make me overlook the fact that you need assistance to escape. But you forgot that the statue outside looks like an Astral. How could Imbly have made a statue in the form of an Astral? Therefore, you must have been the original creator of this ce.¡±

    Diomedes fell into a stunned silence.

    Su Chen continued his exnation. ¡°Second of all, you don¡¯t even know who I am. Actually, I have encountered a spectre like you before. Interestingly enough, he also tried to use his lies to resolve his issue, but I was able to see through his tactics. You are not the first one to try something like this. However, this is not the important part, which is ?¡ª you do not know how deep my understanding of the consciousness is......¡±

    Su Chen was the inventor of Soul Armaments, after all.

    Hisprehension of consciousness power was far more profound than most people¡¯s.

    Additionally, the method that had been used to join Diomedes to the tree was actually somewhat simr to Su Chen¡¯s Soul Armaments production method. Thus, once Su Chen realized that the tree itself was the Deep Sea Sorrow, he kept the possibility of Diomedes himself being a Spirit Tool in mind.

    Even though this sounded quite fantastical, Patelocke had already been a Spirit Tool for some time now, and he had even been transferred over into a transmission puppet. He was still a Spirit Tool in essence, and it was just that his form made it easier for him to move around.

    How could Su Chen not see through Diomedes¡¯ secret?

    And this also exined something else that Su Chen had had a hard time understanding: how exactly had Corniga managed to program such aplicated set of instructions into the Sovereigns?

    And now, he finally understood.

    It was Diomedes!

    With this intelligent lifeform as a part of the Deep Sea Sorrow, it was only natural that he could continue to carry out Corniga¡¯s orders.

    As for why Diomedes would help Cornigamand the Sovereigns, it obviously had to do with his survival.

    Su Chen knew that if Diomedes didn¡¯t issue such orders, his fate would be grim.

    But obviously, Diomedes wasn¡¯t willing to just roll over and submissivelyply.

    As such, he had always been waiting for an opportunity.

    When Su Chen arrived in front of him, he instantly knew that this opportunity hade at longst, which was why he had tried to use his words to create a favorable situation for himself.

    Unfortunately, his tactics had beenpletely seen through by Su Chen.

    When he saw that Su Chen had not fallen for his tricks, Diomedes¡¯ expression contorted. ¡°Those two bastards imprisoned me for twenty thousand years! Twenty thousand years, I tell you! They used me as their Spirit Tool, forcing me to help them control the Abyss and attack the Oceanids. I was never willing! Human, if you let me go, the Deep Sea Sorrow will be yours. I will never do anything like this again. I want freedom! I just want freedom!¡±

    Su Chen gently shook his head. ¡°If you had told the truth from the very beginning, I would have considered setting you free. But since the first words out of your mouth were lies, that means that you harbor evil intentions. Set you free? I think that you¡¯ll have to obediently stay in this tree for some time.¡±

    As he spoke, he turned around and ced his hand on the tree.

    He didn¡¯t try to undo the sealing Origin Formation present in the tree. Instead, he added on a few moreyers of protective seals, picked up the tree, and pulled it out from the ground, roots and all.

    ¡°No!¡± Diomedes yelled desperately.

    Su Chen ignored him, and therge tree slowly began to detach from the ground.

    After the tree was uprooted, the previously constant stream of water began to dry up.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t mind. The Revolving Spring was contained within the Deep Sea Sorrow, so the Spring of Immortality would be wherever the tree was.

    But because this item had some unique spatial properties, it could not be ced into an Origin Ring.

    And obviously, carrying it around out in the open would not be practical.

    Diomedes had been unwillingly dragged back into the tree, causing the entire tree to tremble in rage.

    When Su Chen saw this, his heart moved and he said, ¡°Make this tree smaller, Diomedes.¡±

    There was no response.

    ¡°You¡¯d better listen to me. Even though you won¡¯t be able to leave the tree, I can at least take you out from this deste world. Don¡¯t you want to get a good look at the outside world? I can promise you at least that much if you follow me. But if you don¡¯t listen......¡±

    The tree then began to rapidly shrink, stopping when it reached the size of a sapling before falling into Su Chen¡¯s hand.

    ¡°Very good,¡± Su Chen said with a delighted smile. ¡°Now Patelocke has apanion.¡±

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 62: Retrea

    Chapter 62: Retreat

    Back outside the massive statue, the Su Chen clone standing next to Gu Qingluo suddenly flickered. It took on a slightly ethereal quality, as if it had suddenly turned illusory.

    That was how Gu Qingluo knew that Su Chen¡¯s main body had returned.

    ¡°Is it done?¡± she asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s done,¡± Su Chen replied sinctly.

    ¡°Then we should leave as soon as we can.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not in a hurry. In any case, we still need to provide the Oceanids with an exnation,¡± Su Chen replied.

    As he spoke, he activated a recording Origin Formation and pointed it at the statue.

    The statue then exploded; waves of mes engulfed it, shattering it and sending chunks of marbled rock shooting in all directions.

    Su Chen had prepared a couple different items beforehand, all to deal with the Deep Sea Sorrow.

    One of those preparations was explosive medicines.

    The statue¡¯s explosion was recorded by a number of different recording Origin Formations. They would serve as Su Chen¡¯s exnation to the Oceanids ?¡ª after all, they didn¡¯t need to know exactly what kind of object the Deep Sea Sorrow was for him toplete his end of the deal.

    ¡°ROAR!¡±

    The massive explosion had alerted the Sea Beasts below. The Sovereigns surfaced, howling with rage and terror.

    The ceasing of the Spring of Immortality¡¯s flow had already tipped them off that something was wrong, but because it had happened so quickly, they had not been able to figure out what was wrong. But now, they could clearly see that their precious water source had been destroyed.

    The Sovereigns standing guard simultaneously unleashed their terrifying auras to the limit, charging at the ind from every direction.

    Regardless of whether someone was actually there or not, they would worry about it afterwards.

    When faced with the impending barrage of attack, Gu Qingluo¡¯s eyes flew wide open as the Shining Dragon aura began to surge within her body.

    The thick, imposing aura of an Origin Beast nketed the entire area, directly suppressing the might of the Sovereigns.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±

    Su Chen retrieved the recording Origin Formations and dragged Gu Qingluo away. Even though her Shining Dragon Bloodline was powerful, it couldn¡¯t be activated for too long.

    As the two of them flew away, Gu Qingluo restrained her aura.

    As soon as the Shining Dragon¡¯s might disappeared, the Sovereigns resumed their frenzied pursuit.

    These Sovereignscked intelligence, so their actions were extremely simple.

    If their opponent was stronger, they would quaver with fear. If their opponent was weaker, they would give chase.

    True Origin Beasts were always powerful beyond measure, so the Sovereigns would never chase an actual Origin Beast.

    Gu Qingluo, however, was not a genuine Origin Beast.

    Thus, as soon as the Shining Dragon Bloodline¡¯s power disappeared, the Sovereigns resumed their pursuit after Su Chen and Gu Qingluo.

    Whenever Gu Qingluo reactivated her aura, the Sovereigns would obediently retreat.

    But once Gu Qingluo restrained her aura, they would continue their chase with renewed vigor.

    As such, a strange game of cat and mouse unfolded as Su Chen and Gu Qingluo flew across the surface of the sea. Behind them, arge group of Sovereigns alternated between ferociously giving chase and fearfully shrinking back, as if they were a pack of hyenas searching for the right opportunity to attack. Their innate greed and fear conflicted with one another, emting the ebb and flow of an actual hunt.

    However, Gu Qingluo¡¯s Shining Dragon Bloodline had a limited amount of power, so she could not sustain the release of her aura for too long.

    ¡°Hold on! Just a bit longer and we¡¯ll be out of here,¡± Su Chen said.

    Su Chen¡¯s clone was at the entrance. Once they got close enough, he would be able to directly teleport Gu Qingluo there along with him.

    Even so, at that moment, Su Chen¡¯s expression suddenly shifted. ¡°Not good!¡±

    Gu Qingluo was startled. ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°My clone was destroyed,¡± Su Chen replied grimly.

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s expression also shifted, but not out of concern for herself. ¡°Is the fleet in danger?¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s clone had been waiting within the floating pce for safety. If the clone within the pce had been destroyed, then didn¡¯t that mean that the fleet was about to crumble?

    Su Chen, however, shook his head. ¡°No, the Sovereigns didn¡¯t kill it.¡±

    ¡°Then......¡±

    ¡°It was killed by one of the sect¡¯s disciples!¡± Su Chen replied.

    Su Chen¡¯s clone was linked to his main body through his consciousness, and Su Chen had been able to clearly see one of the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples sneak in and assassinate his clone.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples were all staunchly loyal, and the ones who had been selected to be his personal guards had been selected from the best of the best.

    Even so, someone had still managed to sneak in and unleash a sneak attack against him.

    The Astrals?

    Or was it a spy that the Bloodline Nobility ns had nted?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know.

    But he did know that their opponent had chosen the best opportunity to strike at his most vulnerable moment.

    Right now, the Sovereigns were still chasing after them, but Gu Qingluo¡¯s Shining Dragon Bloodline power was starting to run dry. At this pace, there was no way for them tost long enough to make it back to the fleet.

    When he realized this, Su Chen said, ¡°The only thing that we can do now is to have me draw the Sovereigns away.¡±

    ¡°No......¡± Gu Qingluo wanted to say something, but Su Chen firmly interrupted her.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be silly. Take my clone and leave. This way, I can escape once I draw them off. We don¡¯t have any other alternative!¡±

    Gu Qingluo felt her heart tremble, and she realized that Su Chen was telling the truth.

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s Shining Dragon Bloodline could prevent the Sovereigns from chasing her, which would mean they would instead chase after Su Chen. Thus, if she took Su Chen¡¯s clone and fled as quickly as possible, it would also give him an opportunity to escape.

    She gazed deeply into Su Chen¡¯s eyes. ¡°You be careful, you hear me? Don¡¯t let anything happen to you.¡±

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. We¡¯ve already crossed the biggest river. What is this small stream inparison?¡±

    Yes, they had managed to resolve the issue that was the Deep Sea Sorrow. How could their escape from the Abyss be more difficult?

    Gu Qingluo continued to gaze at Su Chen passionately before leaning in to gently kiss him.

    Su Chen handed some of his blood over to Gu Qingluo, who then unleashed her Shining Dragon Bloodline and flew off. Su Chen himself flew off in a different direction.

    He was going to draw the Sovereigns off as far away as possible.

    As expected, the Sovereigns, who didn¡¯t dare chase after Gu Qingluo with her aura active, switched targets to Su Chen.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t possess Gu Qingluo¡¯s suppressive capabilities, but he was faster, and his spatial control was even greater. Every time the Sovereigns got even remotely close to him, Su Chen would leap ten thousand feet away with Whitetower teleportation and then continue to run until he pulled away again.

    Even so, this distance was merely two or three steps for the Sovereigns, and they were able to very quickly catch up every time.

    This was where Light Shaking Phantom came in handy.

    Su Chen calmly dispersed a few drops of blood around him, creating clones that ran out in all directions. Even though this meant that he was basically running in circles, Su Chen didn¡¯t care, because he had ced all of his hopes on escaping with Gu Qingluo.

    However, this method of his quickly lost its effectiveness.

    Even though the Sovereigns had no intelligence, they still possessed basicbat instincts.

    It was only natural for the Sovereigns to p at a swarm of mosquitoes that was annoying them.

    Especially when one of the mosquitoes was using the other mosquitoes to jump around everywhere.

    Every time Su Chen created more clones, one of the Sovereigns would unleash a wide-area attack that epassed all of Su Chen¡¯s clones.

    Su Chen¡¯s clones didn¡¯t even had time to reach a safe area before they were destroyed, which meant that it was no longer possible to use these Light Shaking Phantoms to dodge the Sovereigns¡¯ pursuit.

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t do anything but run now. However, the Sovereigns were obviously beginning to adapt, and they spread out, attempting to surround him and cut off all paths of retreat. They were like a pack of wolves encircling a poor littlemb.

    At the same time, Su Chen was also beginning to lose strength.

    Even though he had merely teleported a short distance each time, and even though the burden on him wasn¡¯t too great, doing it repeatedly meant that the strain was building up. Su Chen could sense the exhaustion umting within his body, and each sessive use of Whitetower Teleportation would cause a bout of intensifying dizziness to wash over him.

    Suddenly, he realized something: Whitetower Teleportation was impossible to use anymore.

    At that moment, he also sensed that his connection with his clone had suddenly been severed.

    Gu Qingluo was flying along rapidly, activating her speed to its extreme limit.

    When Gu Qingluo saw that she was far enough away, she said to the clone, ¡°Su Chen, we¡¯re far enough away. You cane back now.¡±

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen¡¯s clone appeared to ignore her.

    Gu Qingluo was stunned. ¡°Su Chen, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    After a moment, the clone opened its eyes. ¡°I can¡¯t sense the main body any longer.¡±

    ¡°What? How can that be?¡± Gu QIngluo was stunned.

    ¡°This space...... There¡¯s something wrong with this space,¡± the clone replied.

    The clone of Su Chen raised his head and nced at the sky.

    Gu Qingluo followed his gaze and saw that spiderweb cracks had appeared in the sky, and they were multiplying in number with each passing moment.

    ¡°The space...... Could it be the Deep Sea Sorrow?¡± Gu Qingluo immediately understood.

    The clone nodded. ¡°Yes. More specifically, it¡¯s probably that statue¡¯s destruction. That statue is the core of this spatial realm, and once it¡¯s destroyed, the entire spatial realm will lose its stability and begin to fall apart. If that happens, then my connection with my clones will be severed.¡±

    ¡°So what can we do? Without you, the main body won¡¯t be able to return!¡± Gu Qingluo said with great agitation.

    The clone, however, unemotionally replied, ¡°This is not the most important task at hand right now. You have to hurry back and notify the fleet to retreat. If they don¡¯t retreat before the spatial realm¡¯s copse, then they¡¯ll be in grave danger.¡±

    ¡°But what about you? What will you do?¡± Gu Qingluo felt like she was about to go crazy.

    Without the fleet locking down the exit, how would Su Chen return? And how would Su Chen even get through the exit?

    The clone, however, smiled calmly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve been through worse situations and survived before.¡±

    Gu Qingluo still wanted to say something to counter him, but the clone interrupted her. ¡°Don¡¯t let everyone else down. After all, not only are you my wife, but you are also the wife of the Boundless Sect¡¯s Sect Master, and the most important wife in all of the Boundless Sect.¡±

    ¡°All I want to be is your woman,¡± Gu Qingluo whispered as she started weeping.

    ¡°You are, and you have always been.¡± The clone gently wiped away Gu Qingluo¡¯s tears as its figure began to ripple.

    Without a connection to the main body, the clone¡¯s existence would be unstable. Eventually, the clone began to disappear.

    Gu Qingluo continued to fly towards the exit, but the Su Chen she cradled in her bosom grew fainter and fainter.

    At longst, she returned to the entrance, where the fierce battle was continuing.

    At the same time, the clone was unable to endure any longer and dissipated into a puff of air in Gu Qingluo¡¯s arms.

    Gu Qingluo felt as if she had just watched Su Chen himself disappear, and her heart was filled with a deste sorrow.

    A momentter, however, the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples began to cry out, ¡°Sect Master¡¯s wife has returned! She¡¯s returned! The Deep Sea Sorrow has definitely been destroyed!¡±

    ¡°Hooray!!!¡±

    A cheer began to resound among the troops.

    This cheer was full of excitement and joy, which stemmed from the satisfaction of victory after a hard-fought battle.

    Upon hearing these cheers, Gu Qingluo suddenly understood.

    She wiped the tears from her eyes and flew towards the fleet as her firm voice echoed through the air. ¡°I am Gu Qingluo. The Deep Sea Sorrow has been destroyed, and our expedition has been sessful! Right now, I order...... for all hands to retreat!¡±

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 63: Safety Island

    As soon as Su Chen realized that his connection to his clone had been severed, Su Chen knew that he was in trouble.

    What his clone could sense, it was only natural that he could sense as well.

    This spatial realm was soon to copse.

    Spatial copse was a frightening prospect. Once it did, it would be impossible to survive within the realm.

    If Su Chen wasn¡¯t able to return to the exit before that happened, he would be in big trouble.

    Su Chen was forced to charge towards the entrance as quickly as he could.

    Arge group of Sovereigns howled and chased after him.

    Under these kinds of circumstances, there was no use in any kind of scheme. All that mattered was speed.

    Su Chen pulled out a pill and swallowed it. This pill would increase his strength and activate his Origin Energy. Up until now, Su Chen had never been quite willing to use it, but now was not the time to worry about such trivial matters. He swallowed it and then immediately raised his speed to its absolute limit.

    But no matter how quick he was, he wouldn¡¯t be able to escape from the Sovereigns. After all, he was two realms lower than them in terms of cultivation base, so it was only natural that his strength was being suppressed.

    As Su Chen watched the Sovereigns get closer and closer, a trace of despair appeared in his eyes.

    So was he going to die in this secret realm after all?

    If he didn¡¯t die to the spatial realm copsing, he would be ughtered by the Sovereigns.

    No, he wouldn¡¯t give up so easily.

    Su Chen gritted his teeth, preparing to unleash the Titan-ss puppets and the Catastrophe Bugs as ast resort.

    At that moment, however, a giant swordfish charged forwards, closing in on Su Chen rapidly. Just as Su Chen was about to attack, the swordfish shot right past him and charged forwards.

    Hm?

    What was happening?

    Su Chen watched on, stunned, as the swordfish continued to charge forwards, heading for the exit. The other Sovereigns also roared andpletely ignored Su Chen.

    Su Chen was stunned at first, but he suddenly realized what was happening.

    The Sovereigns could also sense the space around them copsing and realized that they needed to leave.

    And without the Deep Sea Sorrow¡¯s control, their repressed intelligence and freedom had been released. That was why the Sovereigns had chosen to escape.

    ¡°This...... fine,¡± Su Chen muttered.

    Despite his slight unwillingness at being ignored, Su Chen continued to charge forwards.

    At that moment, a sensation suddenly emerged in his heart, and he nced up at the sky.

    The sky suddenly cracked, revealing arge hole.

    The space was beginning to actually decay.

    This decay would take ce faster and faster, and the manifestations of cracks appearing in the space meant that the space wouldn¡¯t be able to live for much longer.

    If this were to continue, he would never reach the exit in time.

    At the exit.

    The fleet was in the process of retreating, while the Sovereigns were recklessly charging forwards.

    However, the Sovereigns were not interested in attacking, but simply to escape.

    They wanted to leave this ce.

    Upon realizing this, Li Chongshan and the others immediatelymanded, ¡°Stop attacking and leave! Get out of here, now!¡±

    ¡°Give up on the formations. Everyone, retreat!¡±

    ¡°Retreat!¡±

    ¡°Wu!!!¡±

    The signal to retreat sounded across the sky, and the fleet began to retreat under themand of the generals.

    Outside of the Abyss, a massive wave suddenly roared out of the entrance, sending countless people flying through the air, apanied by a few Sovereigns from time to time.

    The vortex continuously spat out people like a whale exhaling through its blowhole.

    The Sovereigns who had managed to escape didn¡¯t attack the fleet. Instead, they cried out happily and then sank into the water, swimming away as they enjoyed their newfound freedom.

    This caused the fleet to sigh collectively with relief as they reorganized themselves.

    Within the Abyss, Gu Qingluo was still staring off into the distance agitatedly. ¡°Su Chen, Su Chen...... Hurry up ande back!¡±

    However, no trace of Su Chen could be seen off on the horizon.

    The sky was still fragmenting, and the seawater was beginning to fly into the sky.

    A few of the Sovereigns, who were further away, were also sucked up into the air by the waves. They howled and shrieked in fear, attempting to escape from the pull of the water. However, there was nothing that they could do.

    Li Chongshan flew over. ¡°Qingluo, hurry and leave. The space is about to fragment entirely. If you don¡¯t leave now, it¡¯ll be toote.¡±

    ¡°But Su Chen hasn¡¯t......¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no time to wait for him any longer!¡± Li Chongshan yelled, his eyes bloodshot. ¡°If you insist on waiting here for him, you¡¯ll put yourself in danger as well.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t!¡± Gu Qingluo yelled.

    She didn¡¯t want to hear that answer.

    Shi Kaihuang flew over. ¡°Su Chen¡¯s quite hardy. He won¡¯t die that easily. But if you stay here, you might be a burden to him.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Gu Qingluo gazed intently at Shi Kaihuang.

    Shi Kaihuang hadn¡¯t yet replied when she suddenly felt a blow collide with the back of her head.

    She turned around in shock, only to find that Cheng Tianhai had already grabbed her hand. ¡°Sorry. I wanted to knock you out and then take you away, but I forgot that you are now stronger than me.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Everyone present was stunned. They were all Origin Qi Schrs, making them incredibly hard to kill, let alone knock out.

    However, a momentter, Shi Kaihuang and Li Chongshan nced at each other before simultaneously exerting pressure against Gu Qingluo. A powerful wave of Origin Energy suddenly restricted her movement. ¡°Go!¡±

    They threw her towards the entrance.

    ¡°NO!¡± Gu Qingluo roared as she instinctively began to unleash her Shining Dragon Bloodline.

    ¡°Please, Sect Master¡¯s Wife, leave!¡± Li Chongshan yelled.

    ¡°Please, Sect Master¡¯s Wife, leave!¡± A whole bunch of Boundless Sect disciples sprang into action simultaneously, gathering a wave of energy and shoving it at Gu QIngluo.

    Gu Qingluo was powerful, as her Shining Dragon Bloodline could suppress even Sovereigns, so she was not afraid of thisbined attack. However, if she were to attack forcefully, she might harm them, and in that moment of hesitation, the wave of Origin Energy enveloped her, sending her through the vortex. She disappeared without a trace.

    After sending Gu Qingluo away, Li Chongshan yelled, ¡°Everyone else, leave!¡±

    There weren¡¯t many soldiers remaining, and of the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples, only the most loyal ones remained. They were in no hurry to leave. Instead, they asked, ¡°What will we do about Sect Master then?¡±

    Li Chongshan gritted his teeth. ¡°Sect Master is blessed. He¡¯ll be fine. Right now, Imand that you all leave.¡±

    Everyone was still hesitating when Shi Kaihuang roared, ¡°Get out of here!¡±

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples could only slip into the vortex.

    Li Chongshan and Shi Kaihuang nced off into the distance as they muttered, ¡°Su Chen, you must return alive.¡±

    Even they were unwilling to retreat.

    As if he could sense their thoughts, Su Chen suddenly felt as if he could faintly perceive the exit off in the distance.

    He wasn¡¯t far away.

    Even so, Su Chen was aware that this distance was impossible for him to traverse.

    The sky was already full of holes at this point, like a tattered roof. No gentle wind or breeze was present any longer.

    Instead, the chaotic decay of the realm was whipping up a terrible storm.

    Su Chen had already determined that he could not close that gap.

    Once he realized this, Su Chen actually began to calm down.

    If escaping wasn¡¯t a possibility, then he needed to think of a way to survive.

    The copse of space around him was indeed frightening, and there was almost no chance that he would survive. However, almost no chance was not the same as no chance at all, so there was still some hope to be had.

    In that instant, countless possibilities flickered through his mind as his consciousness crystal whirred to life. Eventually, he was able to determine what would give him the greatest likelihood of sess.

    Upon realizing this, Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but sigh. ¡°I never would have expected that I still have to rely on you in the end.¡±

    As he spoke, he took out the small sapling.

    The Deep Sea Sorrow.

    As soon as the sapling appeared, the cracks around him seemed to begin to stabilize somewhat.

    The Deep Sea Sorrow was a Divine Tool made of countless precious materials. Apart from those that could elerate the growth process, it itself was a spatial Divine Tool, which was why the decay had begun to stabilize. This was obvious based on the fact that the realm had begun to fragment as soon as the Deep Sea Sorrow had been taken.

    If there was an effect, then there had to be a cause as well.

    If the Deep Sea Sorrow was the reason why the space had begun to decay, then it was also the source of stabilization that was currently taking ce.

    However, these opposite causes obviously had vastly different effects.

    Destroying was always easier than building. Deep Sea Sorrow was the reason why the void had copsed, but that didn¡¯t mean that it could rebuild the space on its own.

    Pulling away the support beams from a house would cause it to copse. However, reinserting the support beams during the process of copse wouldn¡¯t cause the house to recover, and it might not even be able to stop the copse, only buy some time.

    Su Chen estimated that there was still far too little time for him to make it to the exit.

    Thankfully, he had not been banking on that.

    The house would fall, and this process could not be stopped by the Deep Sea Sorrow. Even so, using it to create a protective room for himself was not an impossibility.

    The small sapling began to grow, and a flow of water began to trickle down from its leaves again - the Spring of Immortality.

    No, it was more urate at this point to call it the Revolving Spring, not the Spring of Immortality.

    It was just like a streamer wrapped around the giant tree, revolving around it and gradually forming a stable, isted space.

    Su Chen felt that this space still wasn¡¯t enough and pulled out a stone room.

    The water flowing beneath his feet began to umte, forming arge pile of mud.

    A small ind began to form underneath him.

    Yes, Su Chen was going to try and use the Deep Sea Sorrow to temporarily construct an isted void for himself.

    Even though it was impossible for him to stop the house¡¯s copse by reinserting the support beams, he could at least set them up over his head to protect himself, giving him a shot at survival.

    Given how powerful the Deep Sea Sorrow was, constructing an isted space like this was not difficult in the slightest. The statue from earlier was proof of this.

    Unfortunately, Su Chen had no time to construct an borate space for himself. As such, he could only increase his living space as much as possible and prepare his living essentials to try and prolong his survival.

    As long as thest vestiges of the realm were still intact, the vortex wouldn¡¯t disappear, and Gu Qingluo and the others would be able to try and think of a way to save him.

    Yes, the best choice for Su Chen was to construct a safe space for himself

    Su Chen¡¯s actions were very smart and effective. Very quickly, an isted ind began to appear.

    In order to ensure that he had enough resources to survive, Su Chen even gathered some seawater, forming a space capable of self-sufficiency for some time.

    Even so, he had only just prepared this when he suddenly heard a crack. His ind, which had only just stabilized, actually cracked yet again.

    How could that be?

    Su Chen was stunned. He watched as a Sovereign began to charge into the small ind he had created.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 64: Void 1

    The Sovereign trying to break its way into Su Chen¡¯s ind was a seahorse.

    The Void Seahorse was a rare breed of Sea Beast. Even though they were Sea Beasts, they were only born in the water; they spent most of their adult years in the sky, and their elderly years onnd. In other words, they had three different habitats. But because of the Deep Sea Sorrow, this Void Seahorse had broken its typical living habits to live in the sea.

    The Void Seahorse possessed an innate ability to perceive the void.

    As a Sovereign, it was likely that the Void Seahorse had managed to pinpoint the only stable location within the entire realm, which was why it had suddenly appeared and tried to force its way into the ind of safety.

    Actually, the Void Seahorse was strong enough to search for other ways to return to reality even if the void around it copsed. It was one of the few creatures that could survive within a copsed void.

    However, that required a significant amount of experience traveling between voids and living in that kind of environment.

    Even though this Void Seahorse was strong enough, its experience wascking. As such, despite its natural affinity for spatial voids, it could only attempt to seek harbor on Su Chen¡¯s ind. It was not capable of leaving on its own.

    It forced its way headfirst into the ind.

    After entering the ind, it actually even knew to turn around and fix the crack behind it before slumping onto the ground with a sigh of relief.

    It seemed quite apparent that what had just happened had given it quite a bad surprise.

    Then, it seemed to sense something and lifted its head, only to find Su Chen gazing right back at it.

    The Void Seahorse immediately began to bristle.

    However, it then noticed the Titan-ss puppets and Catastrophe Bugs that Su Chen had unleashed and began to tremble in fear.

    Su Chen chuckled coldly. There was nothing he could do to arge group of Sovereigns, but he wasn¡¯t afraid of a single lone Sovereign.

    A momentter, however, Su Chen himself was also taken aback.

    Because the Void Seahorse nced at the wall behind it and pantomimed a shing motion.

    Even though it couldn¡¯t speak, the threat it was making was crystal clear.

    I might not be able to defeat you, but the consequences for fighting...... hehe.

    ¡°Dammit! I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m being threatened by a beast,¡± Su Chen cursed.

    Even though Su Chen despised this feeling, he could not deny that there was nothing he could do.

    The ind was only so big. If the two of them were to truly begin to fight, the fluctuations alone would likely be enough to destroy the stability even if the Void Seahorse itself was incapable of doing anything.

    Making peace was the best option under the circumstances.

    ¡°Fine. You stay there, and I¡¯ll stay here.¡± Su Chen drew a line with his hand, dividing up the ind.

    The Void Seahorse wasn¡¯t an idiot and nodded its head before lying down. Apparently, it seemedpletely unafraid of an ambush from Su Chen.

    At this point in time, the sky above the ind had crackedpletely.

    The water within this area was all being sucked up into the sky out through the holes, headed for an unknown direction. As the void continued to fragment, all of the living creatures still present died.

    Two hourster, the entire void had beenpletely emptied out. Only the ind remainedpletely unperturbed.

    A single patch of solidnd floated through the void, and a stream circled around the ind repeatedly and without end - the only motion in an otherwise deathly still empty void.

    Su Chen and the Void Seahorse sat on the ind, staring at each other.

    After some time, Su Chen suddenly chuckled. ¡°Well, we¡¯re going to be here for a while. Are you prepared?¡±

    The Void Seahorse snorted. Su Chen had no idea what it was trying to convey.

    ¡°Fine, it seems like my onlypany is this guy who doesn¡¯t even know how to speak,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    ¡°Hey, brat, what do you mean? Have you forgotten about me?¡± Diomedes suddenly spoke.

    Su Chen said, ¡°He¡¯s at least alive, which is more than can be said about you. You¡¯re nothing more than a ghost with lips.¡±

    Diomedes was infuriated. ¡°Shut your mouth! The Astrals are not ghosts!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s not really a big difference.¡±

    Diomedes chuckled. ¡°Kid, I have been imprisoned for twenty thousand years. There¡¯s no reason for me to be dissatisfied with our current condition. After all, the only difference is that I¡¯ve been imprisoned in a different ce. But as for you, who don¡¯t have control of the situation......¡±

    Whoosh!

    Su Chen pulled out a huge pile of resources from his Origin Ring,pletely shutting Diomedes up. Diomedes stammered, ¡°You...... you...... Why would you bring so many rations with you?¡±

    ¡°I got trapped like this before, so I made sure to be prepared this time,¡± Su Chen replied.

    He had been trapped in the Ten Thousand Poisons Mountain before and had only managed to survive based on the food and water in his Origin Ring.

    After that, Su Chen became even more paranoid about falling into this kind of a situation in the future. Because he had more than enough money, it was more than enough for him to bring a number of Origin Rings with him.

    Surprisingly, this had actually happened again. Based on what Diomedes had seen, it was entirely possible that Su Chen would be able to survive for seven or eight years without issue.

    This kid...... I really don¡¯t understand him. How could he even be prepared for something like this? Diomedes was amazed.

    ¡°It seems like you are prepared to remain here for a while. If that¡¯s the case, you¡¯d better hope that your woman is able to find a way to save you. However, saving someone from a pure void is not easy. They need to be strong enough, as well as possess a modicum of understanding concerning spatial principles,¡± Diomedes chuckled.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m not pinning all my hopes on them.¡± Su Chen put away the rations and stood up. He walked towards the boundary of the ind and began to inspect it.

    ¡°This is...... the Arcanist¡¯s Eye?¡± Diomedes eyesight was indeed sharp, and he was immediately able to figure out what Su Chen was doing.

    A momentter, however, he shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know how you got your hands on one of those, but spatial Method Power is not something that the Arcanist¡¯s Eye can give you.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Then what if I already have someprehension of spatial Method Power?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Diomedes was stunned. ¡°That¡¯s not possible. You aren¡¯t strong enough......¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when Su Chen stuck his hand outside of the safe haven of the ind.

    A shocking scene unfolded.

    This boundary should have been solid. If Su Chen wanted to stretch his hand past the border, he would need to destroy part of the barrier. However, Su Chen¡¯s hand actually went right past the boundary, as if it didn¡¯t exist at all.

    Su Chen¡¯s hand was extended in the void. Due to the strange flow of the void, it quickly withered and turned to ash.

    Su Chen retrieved his hand and tapped it. With a crack, his entire right hand and wrist fell off onto the ground.

    This was due to the frightening destructive power of the void. Any living organism would dissipate under the tearing force of the void, leaving behind only the inanimateponents, like rocks.

    In the outside void, many of therge rocks and other objects were floating aimlessly - the only objects in the outside void. They may have been seawater, Sea Beasts, or other lifeforms originally, but after the void had copsed, all that remained were rocks.

    Even though Su Chen had lost his hand, he didn¡¯t mind.

    Once his strength had reached this point, any lost limbs could be regenerated.

    However, a faint trace of spatial fluctuations could be seen lingering on Su Chen¡¯s wrist, making it impossible for his hand to regenerate.

    That was exactly what Su Chen was looking for.

    He gazed intently at his own wrist.

    Method Power was not observed, but perceived.

    But even though the microscopic eye couldn¡¯t physically see Method Power, it could capture the effects that Method Power had on the surrounding objects. This would help him understand the existence of Method Power.

    He sat there in deep thought, carefully analyzing his hand.

    When Diomedes saw Su Chen¡¯s actions, he began to understand as well.

    ¡°Using your own body to perceive Method Power, and even directly interacting with the void...... You do have someprehension of spatial Method Power. But...... how is that possible?¡±

    Diomedes couldn¡¯t imagine how Su Chen had managed toprehend Method Power at such a young age and with such a weak cultivation base.

    This was something that not even peak-tier cultivators could achieve!

    Su Chen had no time to take Diomedes¡¯ shock into ount. All he did was calmly observe and sense the traces of spatial power still fluctuating on his hand.

    This was pure spatial power, strong enough to wipe out any living creature, but it did not exist under normal conditions. Su Chen was able to obtain it by merely sacrificing his hand, but as it undted from Su Chen¡¯s wrist, aggravating the wound, it was also consuming itself.

    Very quickly, the strand of spatial power disappeared, and Su Chen¡¯s perception came to an end.

    Under normal circumstances, this would have been a fortuitous encounter. Whether or not a person could derive inspiration from this strand of spatial power depended on them, and if it was lost, it was lost forever.

    However, because of Su Chen¡¯s unique situation, he was surrounded by such strands of spatial power.

    A thin barrier separated his ind from the dangerous outside world, but it also gave Su Chen the opportunity to more deeply explore the void realm around him.

    Once the spatial power disappeared, Su Chen¡¯s hand began to grow back.

    Very quickly, a perfect hand took shape.

    Su Chen reached his hand out yet again, sensing the the spatial power obliterate the vitality in his hand, embracing the torturous pain as the spatial power tore through his hand.

    After pulling it back, he could sense the spatial power persistently wearing down his arm.

    He repeated this process again and again, constantly attempting to sense the spatial power around him.

    His hand was destroyed and reborn again and again.

    Once it had been consumed to a certain point, Su Chen would eat to restore the vitality he had lost, then continue in this way.

    There was no sun or moon on the ind, so it was impossible to tell how much time had passed. There was nothing to be done but to sit tight on the ind and wait. Most people might have gone crazy due to the long period of istion, and while Su Chen was mired in his research, Diomedes was incredibly bored, so he began to try and teach the Void Seahorse to speak.

    The Deep Sea Sorrow was no longer suppressing the Void Seahorse¡¯s intelligence. Under Diomedes¡¯ instruction, the Void Seahorse¡¯s intelligence began to gradually reemerge, and it began to speak.

    Time flew by.

    No one knew how much time had passed, but it almost felt like a full lifetime had passed.

    Su Chen was still mired in his research.

    Hisprehension of space was bing more and more thorough.

    His hand was already capable of surviving for a certain amount of time even when extended in the void.

    And when the destructive void rippled across his hand, it would merely change color slightly and sway as if being blown by a gentle wind. However, it would not be destroyed.

    At this point, Su Chen could even stick his entire arm out of the protective barrier.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 65: Void 2

    Experimenting with the void was the best way toprehend spatial Method Power!

    After all, spatial power existed everywhere in the void. And every strand of void energy was imbued with copious amounts of spatial Method Power.

    Su Chen was just like a child in a toy shop. He furiously analyzed his surroundings, using his microscopic eye and consciousness crystal with wild abandon. This frenzied state of focus caused his consciousness power to drastically increase as he continued to experiment with the void.

    Even Diomedes was amazed by Su Chen¡¯s tenacity.

    The Astrals were an incredibly studious race. They spent almost all of their long lifespan mired in research. However, the Astrals primarily studied the biological sciences and consciousness power. Their study of Method Power and physical properties was, byparison,cking.

    Even so, their diligence and effort was the same. As such, Diomedes was reminded of his former self when he looked at Su Chen.

    On this day, Su Chen continued to elevate his understanding of spatial Method Power just like usual.

    At this point, just a bit less than half of his body could be extended out into the void, epting the void¡¯s baptism.

    Unfortunately, he would need to withdraw very quickly after doing so.

    And after returning to normal space, the parts of his body that had been destroyed by the void space would gradually begin to recover.

    Diomedes said, ¡°You¡¯re advancing very quickly. I¡¯m amazed that you¡¯re already able to adapt to the void.¡±

    Su Chen, however, shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s not fast enough. Diomedes, how do you think void creatures are able to survive in the void?¡±

    ¡°They were originally a part of the void in the first ce,¡± Diomedes said matter of factly. ¡°When flesh and blood is mixed with spatial power, it is officially ¡®epted¡¯ by the void, which is why those creatures are not corroded by the void. You, on the other hand, are not a void creature, so the void does not recognize you. This is why the void saps away at your life until all that remains are the inorganicponents that are allowed to exist within the void.¡±

    Su Chen nodded in agreement. ¡°That¡¯s also what I think is happening. So another way to think about it is that there is some kind of unique substance that allows the void creatures to be epted by the void, right?¡±

    When the Void Seahorse, which wasn¡¯t far away, heard Su Chen¡¯s words, it suddenly straightened its neck out of curiosity.

    After Diomedes taught the Void Seahorse how to speak, it was also capable of understanding their conversations.

    Diomedes nodded. ¡°Yes, but the prerequisite is that you can find it...... Oh, right. I forgot that you have the Arcanist¡¯s eye.¡±

    ¡°I also have my entire research setup with me.¡± Su Chen turned to nce at the Void Seahorse and said, ¡°How about we strike a deal? Let me borrow some of your blood.¡±

    The Void Seahorse arrogantly spun around and ignored Su Chen¡¯s offer.

    The ind was too small, and if they fought, it would definitely be destroyed. So since Su Chen couldn¡¯t attack the seahorse, he could only try and resolve this issue peacefully.

    He nced at Diomedes. ¡°Help me convince it.¡±

    Su Chen had been mired in his research this entire time, causing him to ignore the Void Seahorse. Diomedes, on the other hand, had basically be the Void Seahorse¡¯s teacher, so their rtionship was not bad.

    Diomedes chuckled. ¡°Why should I help you?¡±

    ¡°You want to return to the real world sooner rather thanter, right?¡±

    ¡°I want to be free,¡± Diomedes said.

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible.¡± Su Chen immediately refused Diomedes¡¯ request. ¡°You would help speed up my research greatly, but you¡¯re not irreceable. Without you, all it will mean is that it¡¯ll take more time. If you help me, I can promise to nt you on the most beautiful peak of Ten Thousand Swords Mountain. You will be allowed to move as you please within the mountain range, but you will not be able to leave Ten Thousand Swords Mountain.¡±

    ¡°Well...... Fine, I ept.¡± Diomedes didn¡¯t try to negotiate any further. He knew that Su Chen wasn¡¯t wrong.

    Diomedes then went off to convince the Void Seahorse.

    After some time, the Void Seahorse finally agreed to let Su Chen extract a vial of its blood.

    With the Void Seahorse¡¯s blood, Su Chen¡¯s understanding of spatial method power began to grow in leaps and bounds, and his strength along with it. Soon after, he was able to immerse his entire body in the void.

    Even though he wasn¡¯t able to remain in the void for long, he was strong enough topletely leave the safety of the ind and circle it once.

    He was like a castaway stuck on a deserted ind who was furiously learning how to swim so that, one day, he would be able to swim across the vast sea and return home.

    However, learning to traverse the void was many times more difficult than learning to swim across the ocean.

    Today, Su Chen flew a couple ofps around the ind before returning.

    Upon reentering the ind, Su Chen asked, ¡°How long?¡±

    Diomedes pointed at the hourss and replied, ¡°One flip.¡±

    This hourss had been constructed ad-hoc on the ind and wasn¡¯t very precise, but one of its flips represented roughly a quarter of an hour.

    A satisfied smile appeared on Su Chen¡¯s face.

    ¡°Tomorrow, I¡¯m going to go somewhere further to take a look,¡± he said. ¡°Tomorrow¡± referred to a hundred turns of the hourss.

    Diomedes wasn¡¯t surprised.

    The fact that Su Chen could circle the indfortably meant that it was time for him to begin exploring further.

    However, Diomedes still warned Su Chen. ¡°Be careful. Don¡¯t get too close to the chaotic flows of spatial energy. You aren¡¯t capable of handling those yet.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    The next day.

    Su Chen left the safety of the ind, heading off into the void.

    Void energy rippled over his body, causing it to faintly flicker.

    The spatial Method Power that he hadprehended was currently protecting him from the destructive spatial power of the void. In addition, Su Chen¡¯s research had reached the point where he could now produce a void Origin Substance that counteracted the fluctuations of spatial power that he wasn¡¯t yet capable of handling otherwise. This was the Origin Substance that he had extracted from the Void Seahorse¡¯s blood, and it helped disperse the frighteningly destructive power of the void space. But because he hadn¡¯t yet managed to extract the bloodline itself, he was incapable of personally producing this Origin Substance. But with the Void Seahorse stuck in the ind, Su Chen was able to get enough of the void Origin Substance by just refining its blood every so often.

    However, this Origin Substance was incapable ofpletely dispelling the power of the void. The remaining energy still had to be personally dealt with by Su Chen.

    The destructive influence of this void power continually shaved away at his vitality, causing his skin to take on an ashen color and his heartbeat to grow strained.

    As long as he returned to the ind before his body waspletely petrified, Su Chen would be able to utilize his Origin Energy to replenish the vitality that had been lost.

    Because this was his preliminary ¡°expedition,¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t dare to stray too far from the ind.

    Actually, he had only flown around the outer perimeter once, so his path was still centered around the ind. In fact, he was able to see the ind at all times.

    But from that day onwards, Su Chen traveled farther and farther each day, and the time he spent immersed in the void grew greater and greater.

    One day, as Su Chen was flying, he suddenly noticed a giant rock flying at him.

    From time to time, strangely shaped rocks would appear around the ind, and Su Chen had seen a few of them before.

    However, this stone in particr seemed different. Even though it was a stone, it was shaped more like a giant shark. Its gaping maw was filled with razor-sharp teeth, and there were many sharp spikes were on its back. It was very simr to a Razorback Shark, an extremely vicious Sea Beast Sovereign. It was only natural that Su Chen wouldn¡¯t recognize its image.

    But why was there a statue of a Razorback Shark floating through the void?

    Su Chen was taken aback for a moment before he suddenly realized something.

    This wasn¡¯t a statue ?¡ª it was a real Razorback Shark!

    This void used to contain the Deep Sea Sorrow, after all, and it was the former home to many powerful Sovereigns.

    And these Sovereigns had all been turned into statues under the influence of the void.

    Sovereign statues?

    Would they be useful in any way?

    Once Su Chen realized this, he began to furiously fly towards the giant stone.

    When he reached it, Su Chen first rapped on it with his knuckles. It felt like it was merely anothermon stone statue.

    However, it had been a Sovereign in its past life. Would it really be useless even though it was dead?

    Su Chen unleashed a punch at the statue.

    Unexpectedly, this statue was incredibly solid, and Su Chen¡¯s punch had seemingly no effect on it.

    Even Su Chen was surprised by this. He pulled out the Lightless de.

    The Lightless de easily prated the outer stoneyer. In that moment, Su Chen felt an interesting sensation.

    It was the sensation of the Lightless de informing him that it was hungry.

    Su Chen was very familiar with this sensation.

    This was the Lightless de¡¯s unique attribute ?¡ª ever since it had been permanently imbued with the Flowing Gold de Arcana Technique, it would react like way whenever it sensed something that it wanted nearby.

    And the only thing that the Lightless de would ever want was metal.

    Thus, there was metal within the stone!

    Su Chen immediately understood.

    He activated the Flowing Gold de¡¯s absorption powers, and all of the metal within the statue began to flow into the Lightless de.

    Soon after, the Lightless de began to glow brilliantly as its body began to expand once more.

    Su Chen¡¯s Lightless de was already quite impressive in size, and before absorbing the metal in the statue, it was equivalent in strength to a Grade One Origin Tool. After, it had actually reached the peak of Grade One Origin Tools, and it felt like it was about to break into the highest tier. However, it found itself just an iota short of doing so, which was why it wasn¡¯t able to take this final step.

    ¡°It¡¯s that powerful?¡± Even Su Chen was stunned by the results.

    The Lightless de¡¯s glow began to fade after finishing its meal. The void¡¯s destructive power had no effect on it; instead, its body appeared to be much heavier and weightier than usual.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Su Chen unleashed another fist strike at the statue.

    This time, the Razorback Shark statue was sted apart in one blow.

    The shattered stone fragments flew everywhere. Su Chen casually reached out, crushed one of the pieces, and then used his microscopic eye to analyze itsposition. There were some metal flecks that hadn¡¯t beenpletely absorbed by the Lightless de, and under Su Chen¡¯s incisive gaze, there was nowhere for them to hide.

    Su Chen finally realized what this metal was.

    ¡°Void Starmetal? So it¡¯s actually Void Starmetal!¡± Su Chen was stunned.

    There were many different kinds of strange metals that existed in this universe. Of these, there were four particrly well-known ones. The first ranked was Refined Stargod Metal, which was refined to the point that it was nearly divine in nature. Unfortunately, it was so powerful that no one could really use it, and even now, the ingots that Su Chen had acquired were still lying around in his storehouses. The second ranked was Dark Prison Metal, which came from foreignnds and was hard toe by. This metal was what Titan-ss Puppets were constructed from. The fourth ranked was Cloudmother Metal Essence, which was even sturdier than Dark Prison Metal. In other words, its sturdiness was second only to Refined Stargod Metal. However, its Origin Energy conductivity was abysmal. Cloudmother Metal Essence could be produced on the Primordial Continent, and even though the production amount was pitiful, it was at least not impossible to find. Before Su Chen had gotten Dark Prison Metal from Eternal Night, he had been nning on using this Cloudmother Metal Essence to refine his Titan-ss Puppets instead.

    And naturally, Void Starmetal was third in that ranking.

    There were even some people who believed that Void Starmetal deserved to be ranked second, as it was more useful than Dark Prison Metal.

    Void Starmetal was not necessarily any sturdier than Dark Prison Metal, and its Origin Energy conductivity was also significantly worse, roughly around the level of Cloudmother Metal Essence¡¯s.

    As such, any Origin Skills unleashed through an Origin Tool made with this metal would not have their effects amplified by much. This was one of the reasons why it was considered to be inferior to Dark Prison Metal.

    However, Void Starmetal had one unique property, and that was it had intrinsic spatial properties.

    Void Starmetal¡¯s spatial properties were incredibly powerful. Origin Rings created with it would have much greater storage properties than without.

    However, using this material to merely craft Origin Rings was a waste. There were many items that would benefit from improved spatial attributes, such as teleportation boots, spatial deflection on a suit of armor, or spatial powers on a de ?¡ª regardless of what it was used to make, this metal was incredibly useful.

    However, the Primordial Continent didn¡¯t produce Void Starmetal ?¡ª it could only be found within the void. No one knew exactly how Void Starmetal was created.

    That was, until now. Su Chen was finally enlightened.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 66: Void 3

    So Void Starmetal was formed after a powerful creature was killed by the void.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know how strong the creature needed to be for its remains to form Void Starmetal, but he had a strong hunch that not just every organism could be turned into this unique metal. This metal was probably the amalgamation between the essence of a strong creature and the indomitable power of the void, which resulted in the unique properties of this metal.

    After the Lightless de absorbed the Razorback Shark¡¯s Void Starmetal, Su Chen could sense that the surface of the Lightless de was now imbued with spatial Method power.

    However, this spatial power had not yet taken form. It needed to be directed by Su Chen¡¯s will before it would actually do anything.

    Luckily, Su Chen¡¯sprehension of spatial Method Power had nearly reached the peak, so controlling the flow of spatial energy was no problem for him.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, he attempted to gather this spatial power at the cutting edge of the de.

    Imbuing the edge of the de with spatial power would result in extremely powerful attacks, which made sense. After all, the Lightless de was at its core a weapon. Otherwise, if he wanted to teleport around instead, why would he use a de?

    Under Su Chen¡¯s control , the spatial power gradually began to consolidate itself.

    When it was ready, Su Chen swung the Lightless de. As it whooshed through the air, an invisible destructive spatial force rippled through the space in front of it, threatening to obliterate anything in the de¡¯s path.

    Unfortunately, there was no point to using this technique while he was still in the void.

    Even so, Su Chen was quite satisfied with its effects.

    With this new unique ability to unleash spatial attacks, the Lightless de had begun to close in on the level of a Divine Tool.

    However, powerful Divine Tools typically had a few Origin Skills that they could unleash. Just this spatial de alone wasn¡¯t enough to merit that title yet.

    And Su Chen didn¡¯t have enough spare energy to work on creating a multifunctional Divine Tool.

    However, not all Divine Tools could necessarily activate many Origin Skills. If a tool only had one kind of power, but was devastatingly powerful, then it could also be considered a Divine Tool.

    After absorbing the Void Starmetal of that Sovereign, the Lightless de¡¯s spatial attributes had be rtively strong. At this point, Su Chen could use it to unleash multiple spatial attacks in a row, but he was still not satisfied.

    He wanted to upgrade the spatial powers of the Lightless de to their utmost limits so that it could be a truly unrivalled Divine Tool.

    As such, Su Chen continued his hunt.

    He didn¡¯t forget that this void had once contained hundreds of Sovereigns.

    Some of them had managed to escape the Abyss, but there were definitely quite a few that hadn¡¯t.

    In other words, there was still arge quantity of Void Starmetal floating out there, just waiting to be found.

    How could he just let all this treasures slip past his fingers like that?

    So naturally, he began to search for more Sovereign statues.

    As he wandered through the void, tempering himself, he would constantly search for treasures. Now that he had a new goal, his daily life was much less boring.

    Through his search, Su Chen found quite a few Sovereign statues.

    All of them contained Void Starmetal within them, confirming Su Chen¡¯s suspicions on how it was formed.

    After absorbing the Void Starmetal of two more Sovereigns, the Lightless de finally underwent another qualitative transformation.

    The originally in and unassuming Lightness de now glowed with a strange light. To the naked eye, it appeared as if this sword had taken on a slightly ethereal and illusory quality. Its essence was quite hard to perceive.

    This somewhat illusory, somewhat corporeal body of the Lightless Sword had taken on some unique properties after absorbing enough Void Starmetal. It was no longer fully corporeal; instead, it appeared to be constantly slipping back and forth between reality and an illusory ne. Each one of its strikes seemed blurry, rather than crisp and precise. If Su Chen were to throw the sword through the air, it would even disappear and reappear every so often, as if it teleporting in the direction that he had thrown it in rather than flying through the air.

    This spatial fluctuation property made its attacks incredibly hard to anticipate or predict.

    In addition, the old Lightless de had a detrimental property that one it degraded after each battle. As thebination of an Arcana Technique and the Lightless de itself, the Lightless de consumedrge amounts of metal to nullify the power of many Arcana Techniques. And now, after being imbued with spatial power, the Lightless Sword was capable of destroying Origin Energy.

    When the Lightless de collided with a powerful attack, it would directly break down the Origin Skill or Arcana Technique within the opposing attack. In fact, a portion of the opposing attacks would even be deflected into an illusory space, causing its power to decrease significantly. As such, the Lightless de¡¯s defensive capabilities had also been greatly increased by its intrinsically destructive capability.

    Finally, Su Chen gave this spatial attack a name ?¡ª Dimensional sh.

    An attack that seemed to break down everything in its path was virtually impossible to dodge. In other words, this de was arguably one of the most powerful des in existence.

    The Sky Armor only possessed three effects, but each one was extraordinarily powerful. This more than qualified it for its title of a Divine Tool.

    And because Su Chen had constructed the Lightless de himself, it was only natural that he was incredibly familiar with it.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t waste the rest of the Void Starmetal after the de evolved either.

    In addition to being able to withstand the void¡¯s destructive power, Su Chen also needed to be able to move quickly through the void.

    As such, Su Chen decided to use Void Starsilver to construct a pair of Void Boots for himself.

    These Void Boots were made from Beast Hide, Heavenly Silk, and Void Starsilver. The Heavenly Silk was something that he had brought along for the Deep Sea Sorrow expedition. The Beast Hide, on the other hand, had been gathered on-site from the Void Seahorse. Originally, the Void Seahorse hadn¡¯t been willing to cooperate, but Su Chen had tricked it by demonstrating his recentprehensions of spatial power and then lying that he was confident in being able to keep the ind intact if they really were to fight. Only with that threat did the Void Seahorse obediently lower its head.

    In any case, the amount of hide needed to construct two boots was not much anyways.

    There was one step of the construction, however, that gave Su Chen quite a bit of trouble. In order to give this Origin Tool its unique properties, he needed to inscribe an Origin Formation in it, which was not his area of expertise. The Lightless de¡¯s situation was different because it was already apleted tool with its own Origin Formation inside; the Flowing Gold de merely conferred upon the Lightless de its appetite for metal.

    The boots, however, needed to be made entirely from scratch, so Su Chen would need to personally inscribe an Origin Formation for them.

    After many days of contemtion, he finally decided on a risky solution to this troublesome problem.

    He wasn¡¯t going to inscribe an Origin Formation.

    He was going to imprint Method Power!

    Given his level of understanding of spatial Method Power, if he was able to imprint that onto a tool, it should be more than sufficient to take the ce of an Origin Formation.

    This was probably the first time that Method Power would be used as the coreponent of a piece of equipment.

    Su Chen had no idea what the oue would be, but since there was so much Void Starmetal and Beast Hide avable, it was worth trying.

    Su Chen began to earnestly imprint hisprehension of Method Power and how to apply it into the boots.

    This was wholly different from an Origin Formation.

    Origin Formations were designed to operate by a set of rules. Once the Origin Formation was inscribed, effects that corresponded to these preset rules could be unleashed.

    Method Power, on the other hand, was rted to the principles that governed the operation of the world; it was the root of all things. As such, theoretically, it was infinitely adaptable.

    Origin Formations functioned on a macro-scale, while Method Power was on the micro-scale ¡ª difficult to understand and grasp.

    In some sense, imbuing a piece of equipment with the principles of Method Power would give it an infinite number of possibilities

    As such, Su Chen had no idea what would happen once he sessfully imprinted Method Power into his boots. He could only do his best to guide its creation in the direction that he wanted it to take.

    The boots took three hundred hoursses to finish.

    After imprinting the boots with the final bit of spatial Method Power, Su Chen lifted them into the air. The boots emitted a profound and mysterious glowing aura as they appeared to morph right in his hands.

    The Method Power, which was impossible to perceive under normal circumstances, appeared to manifest itself immediately. In that moment, Su Chen could sense the Method Power on the boots activating of its own will, forming them into a new shape.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know what it would be. He had minimally restricted the Method Power on the boots, allowing it as much free reign as he could.

    Very quickly, a set of new inscriptions automatically appeared on the boots.

    It was an Origin Formation!

    But Su Chen wasn¡¯t the one who had inscribed this pattern. Instead, it had taken form all on its own.

    The principles of heaven and earth had guided the formation of this pattern upon these boots.

    These boots had basically been created by the Heavens. Su Chen didn¡¯t know that he had just aplished an unprecedented feat. Even so, he gazed at the boots in his hands with iparable excitement, wanting to know what kind of effects had been bestowed upon them.

    The Origin Formation¡¯s inscriptions appeared quite slowly, as if someone was manually drawing them one by one with a brush. Towards the end, the inscriptions appeared so slowly that it almost felt as if the brush was being dragged through a thick pool of oil.

    Even so, the more slowly the inscriptions appeared, the more obvious it was that these boots were being imbued with an extraordinary power.

    Even though it was still spatial power, there was now an ineffable quality to it.

    Even Su Chen felt his heart palpitate in awe at the boots¡¯ aura.

    What was this?

    He didn¡¯t know.

    But since the situation had already reached this point, he could only wait and see.

    Finally, the boots stopped transforming.

    All of the light had disappeared as the boots settled down. The boots returned to their in state, as if nothing had ever happened.

    However, Su Chen could sense that something was clearly different.

    As if...... something was changing around him.

    He cautiously picked up the boots and nced around him.

    At that moment, he was still on the ind.

    The ind was still as sparse and deste as always.

    Apart from the spectral Diomedes and the Void Seahorse, which spent most of its time sleeping, there was nothing really special of note.

    Even so, at that moment, an ominous sense of danger began to creep over him.

    Su Chen let his puppets out.

    This action immediately caused the Void Seahorse to tense up. Even Diomedes felt that Su Chen¡¯s actions were strange.

    Diomedes nced around and seriously said, ¡°I can promise you that there¡¯s nothing alive around us.¡±

    Diomedes was an Astral. No lifeform could sneak past his senses, unless it wasn¡¯t actually alive at all.

    Even so, the portent that Su Chen felt had reached its peak.

    He suddenly jumped into the air.

    Whoosh!

    A violent void fluctuation rippled past him so quickly that he almost couldn¡¯t see it.

    Only someone who hadprehended spatial Method Power could tell that that attack was definitely on the level of Dimensional sh, if not greater.

    An attack!

    An actual attack!

    Su Chen whirled around and shed out in the direction that the attack hade from.

    There was no response ?¡ª Su Chen¡¯s attack hadn¡¯t even caused a ripple in response.

    The surroundings were as empty as always, as if the attack had never even urred.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?! Why are we being attacked?!¡± Diomedes yelled out anxiously. ¡°There aren¡¯t any other lifeforms here apart from the three of us!¡±

    Su Chen nced around and vaguely muttered, ¡°The guy who attacked us isn¡¯t here.¡±

    As he spoke, he suddenly stabbed his sword forwards.

    Even though it seemed like this sword strike had hit nothing but empty air, it actually sent streaks of rainbow-colored light everywhere.

    And amongst the iridescent light, a shadowy, grey figure could be seen.

    This figure was humanoid in appearance. And as soon as it appeared, it began to float in Su Chen¡¯s direction.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 67: Cemetery

    Su Chen could see the shadowy figure very clearly as soon as it appeared.

    It was truly just a shadow.

    A shadow without a body.

    It floated swiftly towards Su Chen.

    Even though the shadow was doing nothing other than floating, Su Chen didn¡¯t dare to let the shadow get close to him.

    He hurriedly retreated as he expanded his hand slightly. Five red lotuses appeared in his hand and shot off towards the shadow.

    Even though the lotuses were small, they burned fiercely when theynded on the shadow.

    ¡°Hiss!¡± The shadow shrieked shrilly, the ear-piercing cry causing Su Chen¡¯s skin to crawl.

    The shadow turned around and began to fly away.

    When Su Chen saw that it was trying to run, he activated Sumeru Void.

    At this point, he was extremely proficient with spatial Method Power, and Sumeru Void achieved unprecedented effectiveness in his hands. Su Chen reached out and made a grasping motion, and the space affected by Sumeru Void suddenly appeared to congeal and condense until it was a small ball of space.

    The shadow continued to fly forwards within that small Sumeru Void microcosm, but it never reached the end.

    It didn¡¯t even realize that it had been confined to this small ball.

    It wasn¡¯t until it noticed a massive eye staring at it from the outside that it began to shriek in fear.

    Then, its body began to emit a blue smoke as it was burned alive.

    ¡°It¡¯s a shadow lifeform!¡± Diomedes cried out.

    Shadow lifeforms only lived in the Shadow Realm. Why had one suddenly appeared here?

    What was going on?

    Diomedes was dumbfounded.

    On the other hand, Su Chen appeared to have been somewhat enlightened.

    ¡°So my boots opened a pathway between the two realms?¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    Even though the Method Power on the boots had set up the formation of their own ord, Su Chen had still given it some guidance.

    This guidance was rted to his ability to teleport.

    After all, Su Chen needed to greatly increase his mobility.

    He hadn¡¯t expected, however, to somehow connect two different realms together.

    This was no ordinary skill - it transcended the limits of what an Origin Skill or an Ancient Arcana Technique could achieve.

    Well, that made sense. After all, didn¡¯t Method Power supercede Origin Skills and Ancient Arcana Techniques in the first ce?

    Wasn¡¯t it quite normal that Method Power was able to do something like connect two different realms?

    If it had done something that any normal Origin Skill could have achieved, wouldn¡¯t that have been more abnormal?

    It could only be said that its effectiveness was so great that it was precisely what Su Chen didn¡¯t need.

    ¡°So letting it ¡®grow¡¯ without supervision has its consequences,¡± Su Chen muttered.

    The boots were a good pair of boots, but they weren¡¯t necessarily useful to him here.

    ¡°Divine Tool! It¡¯s actually a Divine Tool!¡± Diomedes eximed in shock.

    No ordinary Origin Tool could link two realms like that, but the boots could. That was why Diomedes called it a Divine Tool.

    Su Chen, however, shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s not quite there yet.¡±

    Upon hearing this, Diomedes seemed toe to his senses. ¡°Yes, you¡¯re right. We¡¯re in the void, where the borders between realms is much weaker. These boots are probably only effective in this kind of location. It¡¯s not a connection between two realms, but a tunnel to a single one. That probably doesn¡¯t matter much to you, though.¡±

    Every realm had a protective barrier of its own, so opening a tunnel between two realms required breaking down two of these barriers, not one.

    However, these boots weren¡¯t actually that powerful. They were only able to open up one side, resulting in a one-way tunnel. Because Su Chen was currently in a void, the boots only needed to break down the barrier of that particr realm to connect Su Chen to it.

    As such, it was more like an iplete Divine Tool.

    To most people, iplete Divine Tools weren¡¯t particrly useful. Even so, to Su Chen, there was no difference between it and aplete Divine Tool.

    After all, he was currently capable of living in the void. He would be able to use this pair of boots to enter the void as he pleased, then use the boots to travel to any other realm that he wished to go to.

    To him, this was almost equivalent to opening a tunnel that connected two different realms.

    However, just because he could go didn¡¯t necessarily mean that he would.

    The other realms were not really fun ces to be. Usually, to someone who wasn¡¯t familiar with what was on the other side, the risk could prove to be fatal.

    At the very least, Su Chen absolutely wouldn¡¯t go to a ce like the Shadow Realm, because any lifeform that entered that ce would be consumed and be turned into a shadow. This was somewhat simr to how the void would reduce all organisms to their most basic state.

    Unless there was a ce like his current ind that would allow him to study shadow Method Power and adapt to it, Su Chen would be courting death if he tried to go there.

    ¡°Can it take us back to the Primordial Continent?¡± Diomedes asked.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°It¡¯ll be hard without exact coordinates.¡±

    Creating these spatial tunnels required a certain location to be found, like teleporting to a certain location on a map.

    In order to do that, you would need to know where that location on the map was first.

    If you had never even seen the map before, how would you know where on that map you wanted to go?

    Especially if that map was exceptionallyplicated and vast.

    This Divine Tool had only just beenpleted, so Su Chen¡¯s opening of a connection to the Shadow Realm was purely an ident. Only when Su Chen returned to the Primordial Continent would he be able to take note of the Primordial Continent¡¯s coordinates. Otherwise, the boots wouldn¡¯t be able to help him return to the Primordial Continent.

    As such, the best way for Su Chen to return would be to figure out a way to find the first entrance.

    The first entrance was a tunnel to the void in and of itself. However, it already had a specific coordinate on the Primordial Continent that it led to.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we try our luck? Who knows, we might get lucky,¡± Diomedes said.

    ¡°It¡¯d be more likely to attract the attention of some creatures that we can¡¯t defend ourselves again.¡± Su Chen wasn¡¯t interested in taking Diomedes¡¯ bait. Opening a tunnel to a different realm was extremely dangerous, since it was impossible to predict what sort of trouble they would bring upon themselves. If they identally let in some powerful, slippery creature, the ind would be heavily damaged even if they weren¡¯t killed by it.

    ¡°Then open the tunnel outside, in the void!¡± Diomedes said.

    This was a good idea.

    The void¡¯s destructive power was effective against almost all living creatures no matter what realm they were from. Otherwise, the void wouldn¡¯t have been so isted from its surroundings.

    Any creature that could live in the void, apart from creatures born in the void, would need to have mastered spatial Method Power.

    ¡°We can give it a try. Even if we aren¡¯t able to return to the Primordial Continent, it¡¯s not a bad idea to be able to identify the beacons of a few of the other realms.¡±

    For the next period of time, Su Chen continued his hunt for Void Starmetal, from time to time attempting to open tunnels to other realms with his boots.

    However, he very quickly discovered that using the boots to search for other realms was very difficult.

    After all, he was trying to search for targets on an incrediblyplicated, vast map, which also contained arge amount of empty space.

    If Su Chen were to pick out a point on that map while blindfolded, it was possible that he woulde up empty-handed.

    Actually, that was far more likely than him finding a connection to a different realm.

    And even if he was able to open up a connection to another realm, those realms were oftenpletely empty.

    After all, not all of the realms were that interesting.

    Su Chen activated nearly twenty tunnels but was never able to discover a single foreign realm.

    However, he dide across quite a few more dead Sovereigns. Soon, he would have enough to craft another piece of equipment.

    This time, however, Su Chen had learned his lesson and didn¡¯t try to create another piece of equipment - if he were to let Method Power do as it pleased again, who knew what kind of oue he could expect? It was better to wait for Jiang Hanfeng and the others to help him out.

    Some more time went by. It was impossible to know how long, but it definitely felt like at least a few months.

    Su Chen¡¯s mastery of spatial Method Power continued to advance, and the ground that he could cover continued to increase. However, he simply couldn¡¯t find the exit to the Abyss.

    Su Chen knew that everything within the Abyss had changed after it had copsed. The path, which had seemed so simple before, had expanded due to the void. And without anyndmarks to guide him, Su Chen had no idea which direction the exit was in, making it extremely difficult to try and find the exit.

    But as time went on, and his mastery of Method Power improved, Su Chen firmly believed that he would be able to find the exit sooner orter.

    One day, Su Chen was still searching when he suddenly saw arge group of fuzzy shadows in front of him.

    Su Chen was very familiar with these shadows.

    They were left behind by the Sovereign statues.

    But why were there so many of them?

    Su Chen saw that there seemed to be hundreds of them.

    He was momentarily taken aback, but after a moment¡¯s thought, he suddenly erupted with a jubnt shout.

    The exit!

    He immediately realized that he was near the exit!

    Only that could exin why there were so many Sovereign statues near the exit.

    Because when the Abyss began to copse, most of the Sovereigns had gathered around the exit.

    They fought here, escaped from here, and died here.

    And once the Abyss fully copsed, exterminating all living creatures inside, all of the Sovereigns that hadn¡¯t been able to escape had all died here, forming a massive cemetery of Sovereigns.

    Upon realizing this, Su Chen couldn¡¯t stop himself from gazing around excitedly.

    He had finally found a way home!

    When he realized that there was still time, he flew forwards past Sovereign statue after Sovereign statue.

    Those Sovereign statues were filled with Void Starsilver. If Su Chen were to collect all of it, he would have been able to sell them for enough to buy out the entire Seven Kingdoms.

    Even so, what really attracted Su Chen¡¯s attention was the exit that would lead him home.

    As he flew forwards, his powerful perception of spatial fluctuations let him know that there were someing from right in front of him.

    That must be the exit!

    Su Chen continued to advance as quickly as he could until a dot of light could be seen off on the horizon.

    That dot of light wasing from the other end of a tunnel that led to another realm. It was the only real source of light in this otherwise pitch-ck environment, making it a goodndmark.

    Even so, Su Chen saw a giant shadow near the entrance envelop him.

    No, it wasn¡¯t a shadow - it was a massive, whale-like creature.

    It hadn¡¯t died. Instead, it was swimming through the void like a fish in water.

    It slowly swam back and forth, guarding the exit.

    Then, it stopped and turned to nce at Su Chen.

    Its eyes were filled with killing intent.

    A Sovereign!

    When it saw Su Chen, it stopped and slowly opened its mouth.

    Not good!

    Su Chen instinctively recognized that something was wrong. Just as his opponent opened its mouth, he had already activated Light Shaking Phantom.

    Boom!

    A massive wave of energy shot out of the whale Sovereign¡¯s mouth, sweeping through the void and swallowing up where Su Chen had been just a moment ago.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 68: Refining Medicine 1

    ¡°So there¡¯s a Sovereign that is living in the void and is blocking the exit?¡± Diomedes asked back on the ind.

    ¡°That¡¯s probably why Qingluo and the others still haven¡¯t been able to save me yet,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    The humans living on the Primordial Continent didn¡¯t have zero exposure to the void. After all, the void had been a subject of research in the past. Even though each attempt to explore it had required powerful people to expend a vast amount of resources, it wasn¡¯t impossible.

    Su Chen had been a bit concerned that there was no sign that the Boundless Sect had tried to rescue him.

    He refused to believe that the Boundless Sect and Gu Qingluo would give up on him, but the fact that so much time had passed without anymotion gave Su Chen some unrest.

    Until now, when he saw the Sovereign at the exit, he finally felt a bit of peace.

    With this Sovereign present, it was impossible for the Boundless Sect to do anything - any messages or physical support they tried to send through that exit would be stopped by that Sovereign.

    As such, his first feeling was surprisingly one of relief and dness.

    The second was, how the hell was he going to deal with this creature?

    ¡°How strange. Possessing an innate affinity for void power isn¡¯t enough to survive in the spatial realm. It also requires lots of experience living in the void, since that is the foundation forprehending Method Power. Most of the Sovereigns affected by the Deep Sea Sorrow should have no intelligence. How could there be one that¡¯s used to living in the void?¡± Diomedes couldn¡¯t understand.

    After all, the Void Seahorse was also a void creature, but it couldn¡¯t survive out in the void on its own.

    ¡°The Abyss also has some visitors whoe from outside. This Sea Beast is probably one of the more mature ones that received a summons from the Deep Sea Sorrow to enter the Abyss.¡±

    ¡°Now everything is starting to make sense. It seems that your luck is really quite piss-poor,¡± Diomedes chuckled.

    With a Sovereign guarding the way, it would be quite difficult for Su Chen if he wanted to return.

    Even though he had the Titan-ss puppets with him, they couldn¡¯t withstand the destructive force of the void either. If they were brought out into the void, they would immediately disintegrate into ashes. And because of howplex these puppets were - one could argue that they were the ultimate artificial creation - Su Chen had no way of imbuing them with spatial Method Power even if he wanted to.

    The Catastrophe Bugs had all died off a long time ago.

    As such, only Su Chen himself was capable of dealing with the Sovereign.

    Even though Su Chen now possessed two spatial Divine Tools, the Lightless de¡¯s Dimensional sh was useless against other void creatures. After all, spatial Method Power was spatial Method Power no matter how you looked at it. Naturally, the Single-Realm Boots were also useless.

    Su Chen¡¯s Spirit Burning Realm cultivation base was truly insufficient to deal with a Sovereign.

    But if he didn¡¯t pass this test, he wouldn¡¯t be able to return.

    Su Chen fell into a long period of thought.

    After some time, Su Chen said, ¡°It seems that...... I have no choice.¡±

    ¡°Oh? What did you think of?¡± Diomedes asked with great interest. He wanted to know how Su Chen was nning on getting around the interference of a Sovereign.

    ¡°Ascend to the Thought Manifestation Realm,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Ascend to Thought Manifestation?

    Diomedes was stunned.

    He hadn¡¯t expected Su Chen to give that kind of an answer.

    But upon further reflection, he realized that it actually made quite a bit of sense.

    If he were to truly reach the Thought Manifestation Realm, he would only be a single realm below the strength of a Sovereign. However, he was also a Tenth Ring Arcana Master. The twobined would give him a much better shot at dealing with a Sovereign.

    ¡°But without bloodline power, how will you reach the Thought Manifestation Realm? Your bloodline-less cultivation technique for reaching the Thought Manifestation Realm isn¡¯tplete yet?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need that.¡± Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I just need you.¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± Diomedes was stunned.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Yes, you! I haven¡¯t had much time to think about the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques recently. However, I have been studying the Origin Substances produced by the Deep Sea Sorrowtely. With it, I should still be able to reach the Thought Manifestation Realm.¡±

    If normal Sea Beasts could ascend because of those Origin Substances, why couldn¡¯t Su Chen use them for himself?

    However, there were definitely some side effects to using the elerating Origin Substance, including a general decrease in intelligence, a shorter lifespan, consumption oftent potential, etc. Su Chen had been researching how to avoid these side effects in the first ce, which was why he had never used it to increase his own strength.

    And it was true that he had made some breakthroughs after so many years of research.

    ¡°I can use the water from the spring to refine a pill that will help me open my Yin and Yang and bring me to the Thought Manifestation Realm,¡± Su Chen continued.

    ¡°But what you want are the bloodline-less cultivation techniques. If you use this medicine to rece a bloodline, doesn¡¯t that vite the principles you have always abided by?¡±

    Throughout this period of time, Diomedes had gotten to know quite a bit about Su Chen, including his experiences and dreams. He was incredibly impressed that Su Chen had managed to push the human race to the point where they could all cultivate to the Spirit Burning Realm.

    And now, Su Chen was nning on relying on medicine to ascend. This surprised Diomedes quite a bit.

    Su Chen, however, was not put off by this. ¡°My goal is to escape from the restrictions of a bloodline so that every human can grow solely by virtue of their own effort. If I am able to achieve this by relying on my own strength, that would be for the best, but relying on some outward aids is not uneptable. As long as these outward aids aren¡¯t only inheritable from a n, that is fine by me.¡±

    Back when Su Chen was trying to break into the Light Shaking Realm, he had borrowed an Origin Formation created by Shi Kaihuang to breach that massive bottleneck. Even now, breaking into the Light Shaking Realm still required an Origin Formation; that counted as external aid.

    Actually, Su Chen didn¡¯t mind getting help from outward items as long as they weren¡¯t bloodlines or impossible to duplicate.

    Deep Sea Sorrow was a tree. As long as Su Chen nted it, the Spring of Immortality would flow unceasingly. This would allow him to constantly produce the necessary pills for breaking into the Thought Manifestation Realm, and made much more sense than the current system of transmission by birth.

    And even if this wasn¡¯t enough, Su Chen could continue to develop new ways of breaking into the Thought Manifestation Realm afterwards to make up for thatck.

    But if he wanted to create that pill, he would need to make quite a few modifications and improvements. This would require Diomedes¡¯s help.

    When Diomedes realized this, there was nothing he could do but agree.

    In the next few days, Su Chen and Diomedes began to research new ways of concocting these pills.

    Diomedes had never seen Su Chen¡¯s pill-making methods before, and could only cluck his tongue in amazement as Su Chen exined his thought process to him.

    With Diomedes¡¯s help, Su Chen was able to better control the Spring of Immortality and refine the necessary pills.

    While the Spring of Immortality was crucial to refining these new pills, Su Chen found that his real shortage was in other materials.

    Even though Su Chen had brought quite a few raw ingredients with him, he didn¡¯t have an unlimited storage capacity, and there were even some that he just t-out hadn¡¯t brought.

    As such, he would have to make substitutions with the ingredients that he had brought, and he had a limited quantity of them. Every time he used some, his stockpile would decrease, and if he was unable to refine the medicine before he used up all of his ingredients, it was over.

    Su Chen was incredibly careful with his research as a result, saving ingredients wherever possible so that he wouldn¡¯t identally use up all of one ingredient in the event that he would need it in the future.

    He continued to refine his medicines slowly but surely.

    Within his small hut, Su Chen carefully controlled the fire in his palm, constantly mixing and stirring the medicinal mixture within the cauldron. His microscopic eye was activated to its greatest extent so that he could clearly observe what was taking ce inside the mixture. Suddenly, a puff of hazy green smoke burst forth from the cauldron as it began to bubble.

    Su Chen knew that he had failed yet again.

    Once the hazy smoke dissipated, all that remained in the cauldron were some ck medicinal dregs.

    Su Chen carefully inspected these dregs and gave them a sniff before writing down, ¡°Golden Cups and Dragon Oak Roots are weaker when mixed than expected and are incapable of keeping the mixture together. The medicinal power is draining too rapidly. Also...... I only have three Dragon Oak Roots remaining.¡±

    After writing down thisst sentence, Su Chen sighed.

    ¡°Another failure?¡± Diomedes¡¯s specter asked.

    ¡°Yes. I just can¡¯t seem to get the mixture stable enough. If the mixture isn¡¯t stable, the medicinal powers will sh,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Diomedes leaned over to get a closer look and said, ¡°The ingredients still aren¡¯t right.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve tried all the ingredients already.¡±

    ¡°Then we¡¯ll need to think of a different way ofbining them.¡±

    ¡°The problem is that I¡¯ve tried all of the ingredients we have,¡± Su Chen shook his head despondently.

    It wasn¡¯t that he wasn¡¯t trying hard enough - his cleverness just wasn¡¯t enough topensate for the shortage of materials.

    ¡°Don¡¯t give up.¡± Surprisingly, Diomedes was the one who wasforting him now.

    Su Chen smiled bitterly. ¡°I want to not give up, but I¡¯ve hit a dead end. Without ingredients, I won¡¯t be able to refine a pill; without a pill, I can¡¯t ascend; if I can¡¯t ascend, I can¡¯t defeat the Sovereign; if I can¡¯t defeat the Sovereign, I won¡¯t be able to return; if I can¡¯t return, I won¡¯t have enough ingredients...... What a vicious cycle.¡±

    ¡°Well, you say that, but that might not necessarily be true. There is still one other way that you can get your hands on some ingredients, but you¡¯ll have to get lucky,¡± Diomedes said.

    Su Chen was momentarily taken aback. ¡°You can¡¯t mean...... opening a tunnel between two realms?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I mean.¡±

    If they were able to find a useful realm, they might be able to resolve this issue of a shortage of ingredients.

    Upon realizing this, Su Chen knew what he needed to do.

    ¡°It seems that, yet again, this is our only hope.¡±

    In the days that followed, Su Chen began to drift through the void.

    He would wander around, searching for Void Starmetal and opening tunnels every so often.

    Because he had found the exit, gathering Void Starmetal was no longer going to be an issue. Every day, he would just go to the exit and steal some of the Sovereign statues nearby - at this point, he had enough Void Starmetal to sell wholesale.

    The giant whale Sovereign continued to guard the exit closely, unwilling to leave. Every time Su Chen got close, it would attack him.

    Unfortunately for it, Su Chen was able to use Light Shaking Phantom. He might not be able to defeat the Sovereign, but he sure as hell could run away.

    As such, the two of them fell into a sort of routine. Su Chen woulde to harvest the statues, and after he had harvested a few statues, the whale would rush over. Su Chen would then escape, opening a few tunnels behind him in the process. This way, even if he did identally let in some powerful, dangerous creature, the Sovereign would have to handle it. The best case scenario was that both of them would be seriously wounded.

    This day was no exception.

    Su Chen arrived at the exit yet again. He had only taken one statue when the giant whale began to swim in his direction.

    Su Chen activated his boots, opening a tunnel and then preparing to leave.

    At that moment, however, he suddenly froze in ce.

    Because this time, he could see a vibrant, multicolored world on the other side of the tunnel.

    A living realm!

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 69: Refining Medicine 2

    Su Chen was immediately able to identify that this a Vitality Realm had opened up in front of him.

    This thick, dense aura of vitality was impossible to fake ¡ª there was definitely a Vitality Realm on the other side of the tunnel.

    However, that didn¡¯t necessarily mean that he would be able to enter it. After all, different realms had different environments, many of which were not suitable for humans to inhabit. Only humans with powerful enough cultivation bases would be able to survive in a hostile foreign environment.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know whether his strength had reached that threshold yet, but he could sense that this other realm was not very dangerous.

    Regardless, since he had opened up a tunnel, he had no choice but to go.

    He needed raw resources.

    As such, Su Chen made his decision in almost an instant.

    Instead of activating his Light Shaking Phantom technique and escaping, Su Chen stepped into the tunnel bridging the void and that Vitality Realm. The tunnel closed up immediately after he entered, and the Sovereign was left empty-handed yet again. All it could do was howl angrily in the void.

    On the other side of the tunnel, Su Chen could feel that something irritating his body, causing his entire body to itch uncontrobly.

    Su Chen hurriedly applied an Origin Energy barrier to himself, hermetically sealing himself and cutting off any direct contact to the outside atmosphere. This was an absolutely essential skill for anyone who wanted to enter a foreign realm. After all, it was impossible to know what would be harmful. The visible opponents were usually not much of an issue; rather, the silent killers that could not be seen posed the greatest threat.

    As soon as Su Chen set foot in this world, he could see with his microscopic eye that the air was packed with countless microscopic creatures with incredibly powerful group offensive capabilities. The irritating itchiness he had felt just moments ago stemmed from them.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t very experienced at exploring new realms. As such, he had been immediately ambushed upon entering, and even though he had quickly applied an Origin Energy barrier to himself, his body was still covered in these microscopic organisms.

    A momentter, however, a powerful wave of mes burst out from Su Chen¡¯s body, incinerating all of the microscopic organisms around him. The fact that his clothes weren¡¯t singed in the slightest clearly indicated that hisprehension of fire Method Power had improved as well.

    Only after this baptism of fire was Su Chen able to catch his breath and carefully inspect his surroundings.

    He was surrounded by exceptionally tall trees, each one seemingly stretching into the heavens.

    Based on theplex ecosystem that Su Chen had observed so far, it was quite apparent that there were a number of valuable resources here.

    And since that was the case, Su Chen needed to hurry up and locate the resources that he needed the most.

    As such, Su Chen ignored the situation around him and hurriedly began to search his surroundings.

    With his microscopic eye, Su Chen was able to sample the hundreds of nts around him without fear. Soon enough, he started harvesting them stalk by stalk. With his consciousness crystal functioning at its maximum output, he automatically memorized any herbs that were useful so that he could pick them if he ever came across them in the future. This would greatly increase his harvesting rate.

    As Su Chen flew through the Vitality Realm, he began to umte arge stockpile of useful herbs.

    However, as time continued to pass, Su Chen slowly felt a sense of difort rise in his mind.

    Su Chen knew that this was the sign of the foreign realm rejecting him.

    Unless two realms were very simr to each other, any lifeform from one realm entering another one would experience great amounts of dissonance. This dissonance was not something that just an Origin Energy barrier alone could deal with. Because the alien lifeform wasn¡¯t of that realm in the first ce, everything in that realm¡¯s environment would have an adverse effect on it.

    The greater the difference, the greater the effect would be; the same held true for the amount of time that the alien lifeform was in the realm.

    The difference between this realm and the Primordial Continent wasn¡¯t too great, which was why Su Chen was able to remain here for some time. If Su Chen had found himself in a fiery realm or an icy one, his expedition would have been even shorter. A ce like the Shadow Realm, which was incredibly sinister, was so different that it wouldn¡¯t have even let him in.

    Upon recognizing that his situation was starting to take a turn for the worst, Su Chen knew that it was time to leave.

    In any case, he had noted down this realm¡¯s spatial coordinates, so he could always return after he recovered. There was no need for him to force things too far.

    Just as he was about to leave, however, he heard an ominous rumble off in the distance.

    He nced up and found a giant beast furiously sprinting in his direction.

    This beast looked simr to a rhinoceros, but it had six hooves, and every step it took caused the ground to tremble violently.

    Clearly, it was very unhappy with Su Chen¡¯s arrival. As it closed in on Su Chen, it actually lowered its head, attempting to gore Su Chen with its mighty horn.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Not bad!¡±

    Right before the horn was about to skewer Su Chen, he jumped aside, grabbed the rhinoceros by the tail, and hefted it up into the air.

    A momentter, Su Chen brutally mmed the rhinoceros down into the ground.

    Boom!

    The giant rhinoceros howled in pain as the ground trembled beneath its weight.

    Its fighting intent, however, was not diminished in the slightest. Purple lightning began to flicker across its body as it gathered its strength to attack Su Chen again.

    Su Chen lifted his hand and calmly dispelled the lightning attack. ¡°Not bad.¡±

    This rhinoceros was not exactly weak. ording to the Primordial Continent¡¯s standards, it would have been ssified as a Demonic Lord.

    Unfortunately, this Demonic Beast stood no chance against Su Chen.

    An instantter, Su Chen¡¯s fist mmed into the rhinoceros¡¯s head, splitting it open like a watermelon and causing the rhinoceros to roar in agony.

    With three more rapid punches following that, the rhinoceros¡¯s skull shattered. Su Chen reached his hand inside and groped around for a moment before pulling out a white, viscous object ¡ª it was the rhinoceros¡¯s medu, the ce where its essence was located.

    Su Chen¡¯s studies of anatomy had reached the point where he was capable of easily identifying which body parts and organs were valuable with just a nce.

    Even creatures that he had never seen before were no exception.

    The medu was the rhinoceros¡¯s essence, and it would be higher quality the fresher it was harvested. This was why Su Chen had chosen to rip it out from the rhinoceros while it was still alive. Even though this method was slightly barbaric, the result was much better. If it weren¡¯t for such savagery, then where would the human race be?

    Also, this guy was pretty barbaric for trying to gore Su Chen in the first ce.

    After removing the beast¡¯s medu, Su Chen stored it in a white jade box that had an Origin Formation which would keep the medu fresh for a longer period of time.

    Su Chen then reached out and ripped the rhinoceros¡¯s horn off as well. Apart from its medu, only its horn could be considered useful; even so, this horn was only useful for refining Origin Tools, so it was still next to useless for Su Chen.

    After stowing these two items away, Su Chen grabbed the rhinoceros by its leg and activated his Single Realm Teleportation Boots yet again.

    The Single Realm Teleportation Boots could be activated directly if Su Chen had fixed spatial coordinates locked in his mind, so a tunnel directly connected to the ind of safety appeared.

    Diomedes was quite surprised when he saw Su Chen step out of the tunnel entrance, carrying a strange rhinoceros-like creature behind him.

    ¡°This is......¡±

    ¡°Meat,¡± Su Chen replied simply.

    They had been on the ind for an extremely long time, and Su Chen hadn¡¯t eaten meat the whole time. He was beginning to develop a craving for it.

    Diomedes was speechless when he heard this. ¡°I meant, where did you get it?¡±

    ¡°Where else could I have gotten it from?¡± Su Chen countered insipidly.

    Diomedes immediately grew excited. ¡°You found a foreign realm?¡±

    ¡°Yes, one that seems quite primal too. However, the creatures there aren¡¯t exactly weak either. This guy that randomly jumped me was as strong as a Demonic Lord,¡± Su Chen said as he prodded the rhinoceros corpse beneath him with his foot.

    ¡°A primal realm bubbling with Origin Energy...... Your luck is not bad,¡± Diomedes said.

    ¡°Bubbling with Origin Energy?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s what we use to describe the primal ages. You know that the Origin Energy back then was much denser, which allowed the Origin Beasts ruled the continent. However, as the world continued to evolve, and as the Origin Energy grew thinner and thinner, the Origin Beasts were eventually forced to slumber, allowing the Intelligent Races to take center stage,¡± Diomedes exined.

    ¡°Are you saying that every realm follows this pattern? At the very beginning, every realm will be virtually bursting at the seams with Origin Energy, allowing Origin Beasts to dominate. Then, as the Origin Energy weakens, the Intelligent Races will take over?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°The Astrals spent a lot of time researching this question, and yes. That¡¯s the conclusion that we arrived at.¡±

    ¡°Interesting. If this is happening in almost every realm, then where is that missing Origin Energy being siphoned to?¡±

    This question stumped Diomedes as well.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Diomedes shook his head and said, ¡°Perhaps it returns to the sea of Origin Energy.¡±

    ¡°Then where does Origin Energy itselfe from? Does ite from the sea of Origin Energy as well? And what route does the Origin Energy take to aplish this? Why does every realm seem to ultimately lead there?¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s string of questions rendered Diomedes speechless.

    The old specter¡¯s embarrassment soon turned to irritation. ¡°How would I know these things? If you have the ability, then go and figure out the answer yourself.¡±

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen nodded sincerely in response. ¡°I will. One day, after Iplete the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques, I might try to discover the truth behind the transformation of worlds.¡±

    Diomedes was stunned when he heard this.

    Su Chen, however, put his conjectures aside and began butchering the rhinoceros.

    On that day, he ate his fill of barbecued meat. Even the Void Seahorse managed to eat its fill, and its gaze towards Su Chen was no longer filled with enmity.

    After all, they had been stuck in the same ce for so long that it was only natural that some camaraderie would build up between them.

    Unfortunately, there was too much that Su Chen needed to do, and he had no time to cater to the whims of a Void Seahorse. This feast, however, improved the Void Seahorse¡¯s impression of Su Chen by quite arge margin.

    In the following days, Su Chen would constantly go to the Vitality Realm in search of more resources.

    Just as Diomedes had said, that realm was incredibly primal. No signs of civilization could be seen anywhere, and singr powerful creatures roamed thends everywhere. As a result, however, the realm was also filled with an abundance of resources.

    By relying on the Single Realm Teleportation Boots, Su Chen was able to easily travel between the ind and the realm, gathering arge amount of precious resources.

    Unfortunately, he stillcked an ingredient that could stabilize the elerant Origin Substance.

    On this particr day, Su Chen was still working on his new pill.

    A fierce fire heated the cauldron as the medicinal ingredients inside bobbed around aimlessly. A pale blue smoke gently wafted into the air.

    Su Chen¡¯s expression was stolid. He had seen sess slip from his grasp at thest second far too many times, which was why he felt no emotion just yet. Almost instinctively, he was even anticipating the sound of a medicinal pill shattering yet again.

    But despite his expectations, the shattering sound never appeared. Instead, the pill within the cauldron began to glow with a crystalline sheen, creating clear nging sounds whenever it collided with the walls of the cauldron.

    When the final inscriptions emerged on the pill and the medicine began to glow, Su Chen was stunned.

    He had seeded?

    He had actually seeded?

    Just when Su Chen was sure that he was about to add one more failure to the list of countless failures, he had finally managed to sessfully refine the pill.

    Su Chen forcefully suppressed the excitement in his heart as he took the pills out from the cauldron.

    There were three of them in total, each one glowing with a jade-like luster.

    ¡°This really is a powerful medicine!¡± Diomedes sighed in wonder.

    Even though he couldn¡¯t use it, Diomedes could still sense the dense medicinal fragrance wafting from thepleted pills.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 70: Stalemate! Danger!

    The Sovereign¡¯s Graveyard.

    That was the name that Su Chen hade up with for the Abyss¡¯ exit.

    At this point, Su Chen had already gathered more than half of the Sovereign statues there. The Void Starmetal that he had drained from them all was enough to make a small mountain, construct a few dozen pieces of spatial equipments, or buy an entire country.

    The disappearance of the Sovereign statues caused the giant whale to feel particrly uneasy.

    After all, this graveyard was basically its home. And to it, each Sovereign statue was equivalent to a decoration in its home.

    But now, a thief was constantly robbing him.

    This thief was exceptionally fast. The whale was always unable to catch him, and could only watch him slip through its hands time and time again. This made it very angry.

    Even so, no matter how angry it became, it was never able to prevent the statues from being stolen away.

    As such, its angry howls could regrly be heard echoing throughout the void.

    Today, that damned bastard had appeared yet again.

    The giant whale didn¡¯t even bother attacking, because it knew of its opponent¡¯s speed firsthand. That annoying teleportation ability guaranteed that this slippery bastard would escape. Even if it was a Sovereign capable of controlling the space in this region, it still wouldn¡¯t be able to prevent Su Chen from escaping.

    Thus, the giant whale elected to not pay too much attention to its opponent.

    But even though the giant whale had every intention of ignoring Su Chen, Su Chen refused to do the same.

    He flew towards the giant whale and jeeringly called out, ¡°Hey, I¡¯m back.¡±

    The giant whale red coldly at him. Its massive eyeballs rolled in their sockets for a brief moment before it spat out a wave of energy.

    This casual attack was basically the equivalent of it reaching out to swat at a fly.

    In this giant whale¡¯s mind, its opponent was about to teleport away yet again.

    To its great surprise, however, its wave of energy was stopped in its tracks. Its opponent stood there, suspended in the void, still face-to-face with it.

    This surprised the giant whale quite a bit.

    This little thief seemed to be exceptionally energetic today!

    It squinted its eyes slightly and began to swim towards Su Chen.

    Su Chen remained motionless.

    He wasn¡¯t running?

    The giant whale began to grow excited for the first time in a while as its aura surged. A powerful storm of energy began to brew around it.

    ¡°ROAR!¡±

    The whale bellowed loudly. This roar was imbued with an intrinsic destructive potential, and the waves of sound undted in Su Chen¡¯s direction.

    Su Chen calmly withstood the pressure rolling over him. ¡°You probably feel quite upset about not being able to fight me for such a long time, right? Well, here¡¯s your chance to finally get your fill.¡±

    He made a casual gesture. A giant streak of purple lightning appeared in the air, took the form of a long spear, and then shot off towards the giant whale.

    The giant whale bellowed again as it whipped up a violent storm in response.

    The wind and lightning collided with each other before scattering in a sh of light. These attacks were mere precursors to the epic battle that was about to unfold.

    In terms of pure energy, the giant whale Sovereign held the absolute advantage.

    It was a king amongst Beasts, and its strength could not be disdained. This giant whale was more than capable of annihting most living creatures on the Primordial Continent. In addition, because it was a spatial creature, its speed in the void was exceptionally quick as well.

    Its massive figure rumbled through the air, tearing through the void and leaving afterimages in its wake. In a true frontal fight, its imposing manner was quite shocking.

    Unfortunately, there were no mountain ranges in the void. Otherwise, they probably would have copsed from just the ripples of its power.

    In this empty void, the only signs of their great battle were the swaths of mes and streaks of lightning dancing within a storm of wind. And this was further diminished by the fact that both parties¡¯ attacks were dissipating almost instantaneously. As such, this battle was actually quite small in terms of its scale.

    But just because the scale was small didn¡¯t necessarily mean that the danger was too.

    There was no real room for long-range attacks within the void. If they fought, it had to be a close-quarters exchange to see whose skills were stronger.

    After reaching the Thought Manifestation Realm, Su Chen¡¯s personal strength had increased significantly.

    In the first ce, humanity¡¯s Origin Skill cultivation system was fundamentally tied to improvement. The higher an individual¡¯s cultivation base, the more robust their vitality. Thus, the vitality of a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator was exceptionally high. And because Su Chen was also a Tenth-Ring Arcana Master, his Arcana Techniques, which possessed incredibly potent offensive capabilities, were no weaker than a Sovereign¡¯s attacks.

    Before his breakthrough, Su Chen¡¯s defenses had been inferior to the whale¡¯s, making it so that he didn¡¯t dare face the Sovereign¡¯s attacks head-on.

    But now that he had reached the Thought Manifestation Realm, Su Chen¡¯s previous weakness had been mitigated quite significantly. He was no longer afraid of the giant whale Sovereign, and the two of them immediately began exchanging blows.

    One Tenth-Ring Arcana Technique after another was unleashed. A pair of wings unfurled from Su Chen¡¯s back yet again as the wind, thunder, and fire Arcana Techniques that he had learned mmed violently into the giant whale.

    His Thought Manifestation Realm cultivation base, meanwhile, was primarily ying the defensive role.

    The Seven Bloodline Microcosm appeared yet again. The jade-colored sea stretched out to the horizon as the sun began to rise.

    Not only was its might greater, but Su Chen¡¯s Seven Bloodline Microcosm now contained an additional Aspect as well.

    This Aspect could be seen within the sun rising from the sea.

    Formerly, the sun had only been a circle of red light with no actual physical substance.

    Now, however, this red sun radiated an intense heat, further increasing the microcosm¡¯s grandiose aura. Upon closer inspection, it was possible to see a three-legged golden bird within the sun.

    When the three-legged bird unfurled its wings, the sun would begin to rise, and thousands of light rays would shoot out in all directions.

    The giant whale had spat out a dense swath of corrosive fog earlier. When the light rays collided with the fog, they easily dispersed it.

    The Golden Bird Bloodline!

    Su Chen¡¯s Seven Bloodline Microcosm had finally incorporated the Golden Bird Bloodline. In total, four Aspects had now been sessfullybined.

    The microcosm¡¯s power enveloped Su Chen, protecting him from all attacks. The whale Sovereign quickly discovered that, even with its colossal power, it was incapable of breaching Su Chen¡¯s defenses.

    It howled furiously as it charged madly in Su Chen¡¯s direction. Su Chen, however, held his ground as if he were a mountain.

    No ¡ª a mountain would have been destroyed, but Su Chen would not be moved.

    He towered majestically in midair, withstanding every attack from the giant whale.

    After he reached the Thought Manifestation Realm, he had opened his Yin and Yang, which meant that the Origin Energy within his body was perpetually revolving, resulting in a never-ending flow. As long as he didn¡¯t use any forbidden techniques, he would likely be able to continue fighting until the universe copsed in on itself.

    And the Seven Bloodline Microcosm had greatly increased Su Chen¡¯s defense. Every one of the whale¡¯s attacks was significantly weakened by the Seven Bloodline Microcosm before being easily deflected by Su Chen¡¯s magic barriers. The remaining momentum that did make it through was easily withstood by Su Chen¡¯s physical body.

    On the other hand, Su Chen¡¯s attacks were slowly but surely umting damage on the giant whale.

    Even though the whale¡¯s skin was incredibly tough and thick, and Tenth-Ring Arcana Techniques could only wound it, the neverending barrage of attacks was causing its wounds to build up, and it was starting to suffer quite heavily.

    Su Chen¡¯s fighting intent had been aroused. He gestured with his hands, and a massive ming Phoenix Theurgy Art appeared.

    This was Su Chen¡¯s gship technique.

    However, the phoenix had transformed yet again. The ming Phoenix¡¯s body was now augmented withyers of violent wind, which caused its mes to burn even more vigorously. The phoenix¡¯s ws also glowed with radiant lightning. Its aura was significantly more fearsome than it was before.

    This powerful Arcana Techniquebined three elements - wind, thunder, fire - and had already transcended the realm of a Tenth-Ring Arcana Technique.

    A legendary Arcana Technique!

    Only legendary Arcana Masters could use legendary Arcana Techniques. Su Chen was not a legendary Arcana Master, but hisprehension of Method Power had allowed him to break through that restriction and unleash these powerful attacks all the same.

    The ming Phoenix was almost asrge as the Sovereign. It let out a keening cry as light radiated from its body.

    ¡°Taste the fury of the elements,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself as he made a shoving gesture with his hand. The ming Phoenix soared into the air.

    The Sovereign could sense the threat that this phoenix posed to it.

    Earlier, it had felt helpless when attacking Su Chen, like a human facing a towering mountain. Now, this legendary Arcana Technique threatened him like an iparably sharp de.

    A true threat, a threat that was more than capable of killing it!

    In that moment, the giant whale Sovereign roared and retreated.

    It retreated!

    It didn¡¯t dare to tackle this attack head-on.

    At the same time that it retreated, it continued to form vortex after vortex of air from its mouth.

    These vortexes were somewhat simr to the spatial storms wreaking havoc in the void. Their destructive capabilities were unrivaled, and they were even capable of nullifying Arcana Techniques and Origin Skills. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Su Chen had ascended to the Thought Manifestation Realm, he would have been killed by these attacks no matter how powerful he was.

    The giant phoenix flew through the air at high speeds, tearing through the vortexes without stopping. Even after one-third of its body had been eaten up, it collided with the giant whale, causing an explosion of light. The whale bellowed with pain as a massive, gaping hole appeared on its body.

    Fresh blood flowed into the void and immediately dissolved into thin air due to the void¡¯s destructive properties.

    Even so, it had somehow managed to survive the attack.

    ¡°Not bad. Can you handle another one?¡± Su Chen began to gather another ming Phoenix.

    The giant whale wasn¡¯t afraid to take a stand and continued to unleash these vortexes of wind. It was even able to form a few void spears andunch them at Su Chen, taking advantage of the opportunity to counterattack.

    The fight had reached its climax at this point, and both parties were fully immersed in battle.

    Su Chen unleashed ming Phoenix after ming Phoenix. The giant whale¡¯s destructive vortexes banded together to form a giant storm that surged towards Su Chen.

    The giant whale had been badly wounded by the ming Phoenix, but even so, marks of decay began to appear on Su Chen¡¯s body despite the fact that he had the Seven Bloodline Microcosm protecting him.

    The two parties were now locked in a struggle for life and death, and Su Chen could sense his own Origin Energy reserves beginning to decline - unleashing legendary Arcana Techniques was simply draining too much of his energy, and even a perpetual flow of Origin Energy wasn¡¯t enough to sustain this kind of output.

    Of course, the giant whale was not exactly in a better spot. Its Origin Energy was also quite limited.

    However, which one of them would be able tost until the end was hard to say.

    If anyone else were there to witness this battle, their eyeballs would have probably already popped out of their sockets.

    No matter how you looked at it, Su Chen¡¯s opponent was a Sovereign!

    A creature that stood at the peak of creation.

    And Su Chen wasn¡¯t even an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator or a legendary Arcana Master.

    He had not reached the peak of either cultivation system, but even so, he was able to fight against a Sovereign amongst emperors purely based on his own strength.

    This kind of power was impossible to not be amazed by.

    Unfortunately, no one was there to witness this disy of power. The human race¡¯s perception of Su Chen was still that of a sage, not a warrior.

    Su Chen himself didn¡¯t really care. The most important task at hand was to finish this guy off. Even though he had more than proven himself capable of jumping realms, he was only able to draw even with a Sovereign.

    The two of them were already beginning to grow tired. Even now, it was still hard to say who would be able to hold out until the bitter end.

    However, there was one factor that was working against Su Chen - as time went on, the corrosive power of the void was affecting him more and more.

    If both of them were to fully exhaust their strength, the whale would be able to survive due to its innate affinity for the void. Su Chen, however, would definitely disintegrate under the void¡¯s destructive power.

    No, it was more likely that he would be a statue made out of Void Starmetal.

    This battle was incredibly dangerous!

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 71: Return

    This stalemate was inherently dangerous for Su Chen.

    At this rate, Su Chen would definitely be killed!

    The whale also realized this, which was why it spared no expense in attempting to maintain the stalemate.

    It didn¡¯t care about personally defeating Su Chen; as long as its opponent ran out of steam first, it would win.

    As both of their Origin Energy reserves reached the lowest point, their strength also decreased to the nadir. An ashen gray pallor suffused Su Chen¡¯s face, and the giant whale believed that its victory was within grasp.

    It was even prepared to let out a roar of victory.

    At that moment, however, Su Chen smiled. ¡°So you think you¡¯ve won?¡±

    The giant whale was stunned.

    It watched as Su Chen pulled out a vial of medicine and chugged it down.

    His aura suddenly surged.

    Medicine!

    You actually drank medicine!?

    That¡¯s cheating!

    The giant whale was infuriated.

    But despite its rage, Su Chen continued ¡°cheating.¡±

    Not only was he drinking medicine, but he was also drinking multiple kinds.

    Medicine that helped him recover, medicine that increased his strength, medicine that increased his defense ¡ª Su Chen drank them all and more.

    Besides drinking medicine, he was also absorbing Origin Stones. After all, Origin Stones could be used to recover Origin Energy, so absorbing a few thousand Origin Stones over the course of a single battle was amon urrence. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have been nearly as valuable as a form of currency.

    In the blink of an eye, Su Chen had recovered almost all of the Origin Energy that he had expended during the battle.

    The whale started panicking.

    It was a Sea Beast, and it didn¡¯t have nearly as many tricks up its sleeves. Its opponent was cheating, but it could not cheat. Thus, the only choice it had was to retreat.

    The whale roared, spat out arge group of spatial storms, and then turned around and started running away.

    ¡°Trying to escape?¡± Su Chen harrumphed. ¡°Did you really think that it would be that easy?¡±

    He activated Sumeru Void.

    Sumeru Void immediately restricted the Sovereign¡¯s movement. Truth be told, this was somewhat taxing for Su Chen as well.

    Even though Su Chen¡¯sprehension of spatial Method Power was quite deep, tying down a Sovereign was still a herculean task.

    But just because he couldn¡¯t do it under normal circumstances didn¡¯t mean that he couldn¡¯t do it now. The Sovereign was at its weakest state, while Su Chen had begun to recover to his peak state. Even if Su Chen spent ten times as much energy as the Sovereign to keep it in ce, it was worth it.

    Why would Su Chen wait until the final moment of the battle to drink all those medicines of his? It was precisely because he was afraid that the Sovereign would try to run away.

    Only once all of its trump cards had been forced out did Su Chen have the confidence to forcefully keep the Sovereign in ce.

    As soon as Sumeru Void was activated, the giant whale felt like the space around it had turned solid.

    Even though it was an extremely powerful void creature, the giant whale found it impossible to escape from Sumeru Void¡¯s influence because of the constant feed of Origin Energy from Su Chen.

    The whale struggled and thrashed desperately, but no matter where it went, Sumeru Void closely followed it and continued to restrict its motion. Su Chen also carefully followed behind it, further preventing it from escaping by unleashing a barrage of Arcana Techniques at it.

    The giant whale was flying towards the exit.

    Didn¡¯t you want to leave?

    Then I¡¯ll just let you go.

    But after it flew past the exit, it realized that Su Chen was still pursuing it relentlessly.

    After all, Su Chen had won the fight. As long as he killed the giant whale, he would be able to enter and leave this void space as he pleased. There was no need to worry about leaving at the moment.

    The giant whale fell into despair when it saw that its opponent wasn¡¯t willing to let it off so easily.

    It bellowed mournfully, and then turned around and charged in Su Chen¡¯s direction instead of running.

    It had decided to put its life on the line.

    ¡°That¡¯s more like it!¡± Su Chen formed another ming Phoenix and sent it mming into the giant whale¡¯s body.

    This attack was the final straw that broke the camel¡¯s back. The giant whale groaned as it copsed, unable to bear the burden of its wounds any longer.

    Before the void power eroded the corpse away, Su Chen stowed the giant whale in his spatial ring. He had gathered more than enough Void Starmetal, but he was still somewhatcking in void beast hides, which Su Chen needed to create spatial armor.

    After finally killing the void Sovereign, Su Chen was in no hurry to leave. Instead, he first activated Light Shaking Phantom and returned to the ind.

    After resting for some time, Su Chenpletely recovered. Only then did he leave the ind once again.

    He flew outside of the ind, and then began to slowly push it towards the exit.

    Upon arriving at the exit, Su Chen collected the rest of the Sovereign statues and made sure that he hadn¡¯t missed anything before asking, ¡°Are you all ready to go?¡±

    Diomedes grunted in assent, while the Void Seahorse nodded with some trepidation.

    Based on what had happened to that giant whale, the Void Seahorse knew that it was no longer able to fight against Su Chen in a one-on-one battle. As such, it had no heart to threaten Su Chen anymore.

    ¡°Then let¡¯s go.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he ced his hand on the giant tree.

    ¡°Shrink!¡±

    The constantly revolving flow of water immediately stopped as the water all flew into the body of the tree. The protective barrier around the ind also disappeared, causing the ind itself to start disintegrating.

    Su Chen gestured, and the Deep Sea Sorrow flew into his hand. At the same time, he grabbed the Void Seahorse and teleported towards the exit.

    Primordial Continent, I¡¯ve returned!

    Within the area around the copsed Abyss.

    The former entrance to the Abyss had disappeared a long time ago. Only a small ck hole remained where it once stood, floating on the surface of the water by its lonesome.

    Gu Qingluo gazed at the hole, her gaze filled with anticipation.

    Behind her were the Boundless Sect¡¯s eight frigates and the floating pce. They seemed to be quite busy with something, as streaks of mysterious and profound light constantly flew from the boats and into the hole. Inside, these streaks of light all gathered together to form a giant, mysterious inscription.

    ¡°Sect Master¡¯s wife, the Origin Formation is almost done. Please, back up a little,¡± Jiang Hanfeng said as he flew over.

    This Origin Formations genius was now quite well-known amongst the human race for his skilled work. Even his demeanor had changed to reflect this.

    Gu Qingluo softly asked, ¡°Hanfeng, do you...... do you think that it¡¯ll work this time?¡±

    Hanfeng fell silent.

    He knew that Gu Qingluo wasn¡¯t questioning his skill in creating Origin Formations. It was just that there were some things that took more than a perfect Origin Formation to aplish.

    This lone entrance led to a realm filled with incredible destructive power, and there was even a Sovereign guarding it on the other side. Unsurprisingly, this gap seemed virtually insurmountable.

    So much time had passed, and the Boundless Sect had done their best. However, all of their operations so far had ended in failure.

    Jiang Hanfeng could only ensure that his Origin Formation was sufficient, but he could make no guarantees about the end result.

    Gu Qingluo understood what his silence signified and gently said in resignation, ¡°It¡¯s alright. I know that you all are trying your best.¡±

    ¡°Sect Master¡¯s wife.¡± Lin Xiao walked over and gently said, ¡°The Origin Formation is ready to be activated.¡±

    Gu Qingluo nodded before turning around and retreating.

    This Origin Formation was a forbidden one that would form a massive seal, send it through the entrance to the void, and seal the void Sovereign on the other side.

    There was no other alternative.

    Something needed to be done no matter how dangerous the void was.

    However, that Sovereign had foiled every one of their previous attempts.

    If they wanted to enter the void, then they first had to take care of that Sovereign.

    But because the Sovereign lived in the void, it was impossible to overwhelm it with sheer numbers. Most of the soldiers present couldn¡¯t even enter the void, so they could only do their best to deal with the Sovereign from their side.

    The conflict between the Boundless Sect and this Sovereign had been going on for some time now.

    The Sovereign didn¡¯t dare to cross over, because it would definitely die against the sheer might of the Boundless Sect. The reverse held true for the Boundless Sect as well.

    As such, both parties were caught in a stalemate.

    The Boundless Sect had thought of many possible ways to break through this stalemate, but none of them had managed to seed.

    There was nothing that could be done about this. Not only were the two parties in separate realms, but the opposite end of the tunnel was even a void space, rendering many of their conventional tactics useless.

    Today, they were trying out one of the final ideas that they hade up with. They were attempting to send a giant seal through the entrance that would seal the Sovereign on the other side, at least temporarily. Then, they would send some powerful individuals through to the void to ughter that Sovereign.

    Even though the soldiers had prepared many items to kill this Sovereign as quickly as possible, it was likely that many of them wouldn¡¯t return alive even if the mission was sessful.

    The Boundless Sect really was putting it all on the line for Su Chen!

    Whenever Gu Qingluo thought about how much the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples were going to suffer, regardless of the operation¡¯s sess, her heart trembled involuntarily.

    At this point, the Origin Formation had beenpleted. All that remained was to wait.

    To wait for the Sovereign to inevitably swim past the entrance.

    After all, the Sovereign was always patrolling the entrance, and it would never stray too far from it.

    And the Boundless Sect had long since developed an Origin Formation that could pinpoint the location of the Sovereign at any point in time.

    After waiting for a moment, one of the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciple¡¯s monitoring disks began to glow red.

    The disciple yelled, ¡°It¡¯s here, just outside the entrance.¡±

    ¡°Activate the Origin Formation!¡± Jiang Hanfengmanded loudly.

    After the Origin Formation was activated, the outline of a giant sealing character appeared in the sky.

    At the same time, another Origin Formation was also activated, and with it came a strange, low cry that echoed through the air.

    This low cry simted a noise that the whale Sovereign found enjoyable. The Boundless Sect would use this sound to keep the Sovereign near the entrance so that the seal would be more effective.

    ¡°It¡¯s not leaving!¡± the disciple monitoring the disks reported excitedly. ¡°Our attempts to attract it seem to be working.¡±

    Everyone simultaneously sighed in relief.

    The sealing Origin Formation was still gathering energy, and the seal itself was gradually solidifying and taking shape.

    ¡°It¡¯sing our way!¡± the supervising disciple suddenly called out.

    What?

    Everyone was stunned by the report.

    ¡°It¡¯s heading for the entrance!¡± the disciple blurted out anxiously. The disk in his hand began to re with rm.

    ¡°It¡¯sing at us, very quickly!!!¡± the disciple cried out as panic began to seep into his voice.

    The Sovereign wasing out?

    Everyone was stunned for a brief moment before their surprise gave way to joy.

    They were happy because the Sovereign was essentially sending itself to its death, and they were merely surprised because they didn¡¯t expect this to happen. It was still very possible for them to sustain significant losses even with this windfall.

    ¡°All cultivators at the Light Shaking Realm and below, retreat! The rest of you, to me. Hanfeng, how¡¯s your formation looking?¡±

    It was Li Chongshan who gave the order this time.

    At this critical moment, it was only fitting for the most veteran to takemand.

    ¡°Almost ready!¡± Jiang Hanfeng yelled back. ¡°Tell me when it¡¯s about toe out.¡±

    ¡°Right now!¡± the supervising disciple cried out urgently.

    Boom!

    The character for the seal had finished materializing at this point, and with the supervising disciple¡¯s signal, it began to descend towards the entrance.

    At the same time, a figure emerged from the hole.

    ¡°Sect Master?¡± all of the disciples cried out in shock.

    That wasn¡¯t the Sovereign at all ¡ª it was Su Chen!

    Everyone was surprised and jubnt, but they immediately realized something and cried out in fear. ¡°No!¡±

    But it was toote.

    Boom!

    The sealing Origin Formation descended.

    In order to deal with the Sovereign, they had set up an extraordinarily powerful Origin Formation. Even though its purpose was merely to seal, if the target was too weak, then the immense pressure from the seal would be more than enough to crush the target to death.

    What was this?

    Su Chen had only just emerged from the exit when he saw a giant golden character emanating an extremely powerful aura descend upon him. More shockingly, this character appeared to have some spatial sealing properties, making it impossible for him to teleport away.

    In that moment, Su Chen was incapable of escaping.

    There was only one thing he could do.

    He unleashed a punch!

    A punch that shattered the sky!

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 72: A Return Visi

    Boom!

    Following the collision between Su Chen and the sealing Origin Energy Formation, a massive explosion of energy filled the sky.

    Many of the soldiers present shut their eyes and sighed in their hearts. It¡¯s over. We killed the Sect Master.

    They had waited so long to save him, but now, he had died at their own hands. How ironic.

    Thankfully, this feeling of dread was only temporary.

    Because a momentter, Su Chen¡¯s figure reappeared in the sky.

    The sealing character was covering his body like an extrayer of skin as it glowed with a golden light. While it was incapable of restricting his movements, Su Chen had also chosen to not destroy it, leaving it hanging over him like an ornamental cape.

    As Su Chen resisted the influence of the seal, a shocked expression appeared on his face. ¡°What kind of seal is this? Why is it so powerful?¡±

    Somehow, he was capable of talking and flying even with the seal suppressing him.

    Jiang Hanfeng was also stunned with Su Chen¡¯s seemingly unaffected movements. ¡°How is this possible? This sealing formation was designed to restrict a Sovereign, and any cultivator weaker than an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator should have immediately died. How are you still fine? And how can you fly around like that?¡±

    ¡°Are you unhappy that I managed to survive?¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    ¡°No...... Not at all......¡± Jiang Hanfeng seemed stupefied, and he couldn¡¯t even formte any proper sentences for some time.

    They had spent so much time and energy thinking of a way to save Su Chen, but their n had gone so awry that they had ended up attacking their own Sect Mater. If word was to spread, then it would be somewhat embarrassing for the Boundless Sect.

    Su Chen raised his hand and ced it on the seal. ¡°I refuse to believe that I can¡¯t defeat you!¡±

    Bang!

    Iridescent light scattered in all directions following the explosion.

    ¡°Is that really Su Chen?¡± Gu Qingluo felt a rush of excitement well up within her. ¡°Hanfeng, hurry up and deactivate the formation.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need. I need to test my strength against it anyways!¡± Su Chen yelled as he continued to unleash more palm strikes.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples watched as Su Chen mercilessly pounded away at the seal.

    As sparks of multicolored light shed by haphazardly, the frighteningly powerful shockwaves of energy rippled past the entire fleet. It was almost as if the seal was sealing an actual Sovereign, not a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator.

    No, not quite.

    Li Chongshan could see what had happened to Su Chen, and his expression was one of pleasant surprise. ¡°Thought Manifestation...... Su Chen has reached the Thought Manifestation Realm!¡±

    Shi Kaihuang, Chu Yingwan, and the others were all equally as excited.

    So the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques had advanced yet again? Not only had Su Chen somehow managed to survive in the void space, but he had even gotten stronger!

    Jun Moxie eximed in admiration, ¡°The Sect Master must be protected by the Heavens!¡±

    Everyone else nodded in agreement, firmly believing this.

    Su Chen¡¯s battle with the seal was reaching its end.

    The powerful ming Phoenix legendary Arcana Technique made yet another appearance. However, this time, Su Chen did not send it soaring through the air; instead, he had it wrap itself around his fist, giving his fist the sharpness of the Phoenix¡¯s razor beak. When this shockingly powerful attack mmed into the ¡°seal¡± character, the seal cracked audibly before finally shattering.

    Jiang Hanfeng spat out a mouthful of blood. As the primary controller of the sealing Origin Formation, his consciousness was linked with it. Thus, any bacsh would also be solely his to withstand.

    Even so, his confidence seemed to have been dealt an even more serious blow. ¡°My seal was destroyed? It was actually destroyed through brute force?¡±

    His goal in creating this formation had been to trap a Sovereign, but upon seeing Su Chen break free of its influence with ease, it was only natural that his self-confidence would be shaken.

    Thankfully, Su Chen¡¯s next action was to throw his arm around Jiang Hanfeng andpliment, ¡°What a powerful seal! That was designed to be used against a Sovereign, right? If that whale Sovereign had been hit by your seal, then I wouldn¡¯t have had to struggle so much to kill it.¡±

    Jiang Fenghan was stunned. ¡°You killed the Sovereign? How did you do that?¡±

    Unfortunately, his question was drowned out in a loud cacophony of voices.

    ¡°Sect Master!¡±

    ¡°Husband!¡±

    ¡°The Sect Master is unharmed!¡±

    ¡°The Sect Master has returned!¡±

    After the shock and amazement passed, endless cries of jubtion filled the sky. Boundless Sect disciples everywhere were cheering and celebrating.

    Gu Qingluo transformed into a streak of light and leapt into Su Chen¡¯s embrace.

    That day was a day of great happiness for the Boundless Sect.

    Back on Forever Clear Ind.

    This ind had once been the fleet¡¯s base, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers used to live here. In fact, a special trade line had even been set up to facilitate the flow of resources between the ind and the maind.

    However, after the Abyss had copsed, most of the Ocenaids and ck me members had retreated. Now, only the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples and the Subdued Sea Branch, led by Jiang Xishui, remained on the ind.

    ¡°So after that all happened, the Oceanids and ck me just retreated?¡± Su Chen asked Gu Qingluo as theyy in each others¡¯ arms.

    Now that he had returned, it was time for him to figure out just what had exactly happened while he had been gone.

    Gu Qingluo warmly replied, ¡°During the Abyss¡¯s copse, there were quite a few Sovereigns who followed us out. The Oceanids had originally nned on staying here and helping use up with ways to save you. However, the escaped Sovereigns began slowly congregating near Oceanid territory soon after.¡±

    Su Chen immediately understood. ¡°It¡¯s probably because the Deep Sea Sorrow¡¯smands have long been ingrained into their consciousness. Even though they managed to free themselves from the Abyss, their instinctual hatred of the Oceanids is still present.¡±

    Gu Qingluo said, ¡°That¡¯s why the Oceanids had no choice but to return and protect themselves.¡±

    Su Chen nodded. Since this was the case, it wasn¡¯t the Oceanids¡¯ fault for not sticking around. After all, they had to take care of themselves first.

    ¡°Then what about Neptune¡¯s Eye?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°When the Sovereigns attacked, Princess Westminster asked me if they could temporarily hold onto it to keep themselves safe. Considering their circumstances, I agreed. Not long ago, the Oceanids managed to finally defeat all of the Sovereigns. Once the pressure on them lessened, they naturally sent Neptune¡¯s Eye over to us.¡±

    ¡°So they acted in good faith.¡± Su Chen nodded.

    This was quite normal. After all, it was hard to know whether Su Chen had survived or not. The Sovereigns, on the other hand, were very much real threats, and Neptune¡¯s Eye was also an important political tool. As such, the Oceanids¡¯ best move, theoretically, would have been to simply renege on their promise.

    However, the Oceanids had not chosen to do so. Instead, they had followed through on their promise, giving Gu Qingluo Neptune¡¯s Eye with great gratitude. In that sense, the Oceanids had been quite loyal.

    Inparison, their other ally was much morecking.

    After Su Chen disappeared, Zhong Zhenjun had turned around and immediately left for Thousand Illusions Ind,pletely ignoring the rtionship that they had built up over the many years.

    Bandits would always be bandits. Their short-sightedness and narrow-mindedness were to be expected.

    Even though he was unhappy with how Zhong Zhenjun had conducted himself, Su Chen didn¡¯t say anything else.

    ¡°It would have been fine if they merelycked any feeling of brotherhood. After all, we didn¡¯t really have that high of an expectation for them in the first ce,¡± Gu Qingluo said. ¡°However, attempting to sabotage us behind the scenes is stooping to a new low.¡±

    ¡°Oh? How so?¡± Su Chen¡¯s gaze grew chilly.

    Gu Qingluo harrumphed. ¡°After you were stranded in the void, Zhong Zhenjun seemingly took all the ck me members with him and left. Secretly, however, he tried to poach some disciples of the Boundless Sect. He purposefully spread rumors that you had died and that the Boundless Sect¡¯s higher-ups were in disarray. Li Chongshan and I were supposedly trying to fight for power. Then, he imed that ck me was generously epting members of the Boundless Sect for enrollment as core members.¡±

    ¡°Hmph. That old guy is pretty good at spreading rumors,¡± Su Chen chuckled darkly.

    Obviously, Zhong Zhenjun wanted to do something to stymie the might of the Boundless Sect.

    However, the Boundless Sect¡¯s tens of thousands of Light Shaking Realm and Spirit Burning Realm cultivators were too intimidating for him to do anything overt.

    As such, he would not publicly oppose the Boundless Sect. However, he was more than willing to covertly mess around behind the scenes.

    In fact, this kind of tactic was not to be underestimated. It was actually quite effective.

    A few of the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples, who were unclear about the situation, had actually been cheated away by these words.

    Even though Gu Qingluo and Li Chongshan had quickly discovered the ruse early on and snuffed it out, it was true that Su Chen was still missing, which understandably made the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples uneasy. That,bined with Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s attempts to undermine the Boundless Sect meant that it was only natural for some of the younger saplings to bepletely uprooted.

    Su Chen had been stuck in the void for an entire year, and during that year, Zhong Zhenjun had worked tirelessly.

    At this point, Zhong Zhenjun had managed to siphon away almost a thousand people from the Boundless Sect.

    A thousand people!

    Even though this was just a small fraction of their forces, the number was not very small.

    In Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s mind, the Boundless Sect would basically be an incubator for ck me. In the future, when ck me officially became stronger than the Boundless Sect, that was when ck me would fully annex the Boundless Sect!

    Even though Su Chen hadn¡¯t met up with Zhong Zhenjun yet, he could easily guess what this guy was up to.

    ¡°But now that you¡¯ve returned, the hearts of the disciples should have calmed down. That old man Zhong Zhenjun shouldn¡¯t even think of poaching any of our disciples now,¡± Gu Qingluo said happily.

    Su Chen yfully poked Gu Qingluo¡¯s nose. ¡°Is that all the appetite you have?¡±

    Gu Qingluo was taken aback. ¡°What do you want to do?¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Of course, we¡¯re going to make a move on Thousand Illusions Ind and teach that old man how to be a decent human being!¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t me Zhong Zhenjun for not waiting around to save him. However, if Zhong Zhenjun wanted to try to undermine Su Chen¡¯s subordinates, then he couldn¡¯t me Su Chen for reciprocating.

    Wu!!!

    As the sound of a conch shell reverberated across the surface of the sea, Forever Clear Ind burst into a hubbub ofmotion.

    A battle was drawing near, and obviously, with Su Chen¡¯s return, the situation was going to be different this time.

    This was the belief in the truly strong.

    After ughtering that Sovereign, Su Chen had ascertained his status as the most powerful human on this continent.

    At this point, no one had any right to be arrogant before him, and he no longer had a need to keep a low profile anymore.

    On Thousand Illusions Ind.

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Within ck me¡¯s main hall, Zhong Zhenjun immediately bolted upright.

    The subordinate reporting the news knelt down, trembling with fear as he repeated, ¡°Reporting to leader, Su Chen has returned!¡±

    It was only natural that Zhong Zhenjun would have ced some spies amongst the ranks of the Boundless Sect in order to better rope in the Boundless Sect¡¯s members. As such, he was quite clear about what this piece of news signified.

    Upon hearing this piece of information, Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s expression drastically shifted. ¡°He¡¯s not dead...... He actually managed to return, alive.¡±

    The subordinate steeled his heart and continued with his report. ¡°That¡¯s not all. Not long after he returned to Forever Clear Ind, he rounded up his troops, and they are currently headed for...... for Thousand Illusions Ind.¡±

    Hiss!

    Zhong Zhenjun sucked in a mouthful of cold air.

    Su Chen was obviously noting to spread d tidings!

    Beside him, Cami the Scalper leaned in and whispered, ¡°Leader, those things we did to them before......¡±

    Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s face contorted uncontrobly as his emotions weren¡¯t given any time to settle.

    After a long time, he suddenlyughed. ¡°It¡¯s a good thing that Su Chen has returned. We fought side by side for five years, so it¡¯s only natural that some camaraderie would have built up between us. We should warmly wee him upon his return. So Su Chen ising with his troops, right? Open up the defensive formations! We¡¯re going out to greet him!¡±

    The ever cautious Cavill immediately asked, ¡°Is that appropriate? I think that it would be better for us to stay inside and defend ourselves.¡±

    Zhong Zhenjun harrumphed impatiently. ¡°Did you really think that Thousand Illusions Ind¡¯s defensive formations could ever stop the Boundless Sect? Don¡¯t forget, those formations were only ever useful against Sea Beasts, whocked intelligence, not against humans. The Boundless Sect is far more powerful!¡±

    Cavill sighed when he heard this.

    Oh, so now you¡¯re clear about their power! Why didn¡¯t you say this earlier when we were undermining them?

    Greed had truly blinded their hearts!

    Thousand Illusions Ind¡¯s formations were deactivated, and ck me¡¯s armies marched out under their banner.

    Off in the distance, the Boundless Sect¡¯s banners could be seen flying high.

    As the two armies drew closer and closer, Su Chen¡¯s face soon came into view.

    Zhong Zhenjun sucked in another mouthful of cold air. So it was him.

    He had truly returned!

    But it was okay. Zhong Zhenjun was confident that he could still salvage the situation.

    He attempted to pump himself.

    After preparing an eloquent greeting, he flew into the sky. ¡°When I found out that Sect Master Su had returned, I was delighted......¡±

    Su Chen impatiently scratched his ear, andnguidly yelled, ¡°Attack!¡±

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 73: Challenge

    Boom, boom, boom, boom!

    After Su Chen gave themand, countless Boundless Sect cultivators flew into the air, ready to take out their anger upon ck me¡¯s soldiers.

    Zhong Zhenjun didn¡¯t expect Su Chen to immediately attack them, and his shock was palpable. ¡°Sect Master Su, let¡¯s be civilized here! If there¡¯s something you want to say, then we should talk about it first. Isn¡¯t there some kind of misunderstanding here?¡±

    Su Chenpletely ignored him.

    Excuses were the weak¡¯s defense, but they were pointless for the strong.

    And right now, Su Chen was undeniably the ¡°strong¡± in this rtionship. Naturally, he was unwilling to waste any of his time verbally sparring with Zhong Zhenjun.

    It was quicker to just fight.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples filled the sky.

    They were no longer the same Boundless Sect that had entered the Abyss six years ago.

    Back then, the Boundless Sect merely had twelve thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators.

    And now, after six years, the Boundless Sect¡¯s Light Shaking Realm cultivators had swelled to twenty thousand strong, and they also had nearly a thousand Spirit Burning Realm cultivators on top of that.

    How could Zhong Zhenjun not be jealous?

    The Boundless Sect had gathered an incredible amount of talent!

    Even though Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s soldiers were quite skilled,pared to the Boundless Sect¡¯s might, their strength was like a single hair pitted against nine oxen.

    For this reason, when the Boundless Sect revealed its fangs, when the sight of powerful Origin Qi Schrs filled the sky, and when the terrifying sea of Origin Skills was in front of their faces, it was enough to send anyone into the depths of despair.

    Even though Zhong Zhenjun was an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator, there was nothing he could do against so many high leveled cultivators.

    For every Origin Skill that he unleashed, a hundred more Origin Skills came hurtling in his direction.

    Despite Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s strength reaching the apex of the human race, he was nheless drowned in this sea of Origin Energy. Like a stone cast into the ocean, all his efforts couldn¡¯t even make a ripple.

    Zhong Zhenjun knew that he was in deep trouble and let out a ferocious roar.

    ¡°HA!¡±

    His moniker, ¡®A Howl Shakes An Army,¡¯ was not just for show. As the shockwaves of sound rolled through the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples, their hearts trembled momentarily.

    Unfortunately, this roar was not indomitable. At the same time that the roar came, the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples also struck, stirring up a chaotic wind that disrupted the sound waves and prevented them from fully forming. The moment of shock rapidly passed as the roar waspletely nullified.

    However, Zhong Zhenjun seized advantage of this opportunity to fly backwards and yell, ¡°Su Chen, don¡¯t push me too far!¡±

    Su Chen faintly replied, ¡°From this day onwards, ck me will no longer exist on the Primordial Continent.¡±

    His simple words were spoken with an overbearing, dominant tone.

    Zhong Zhenjun was infuriated. He had also realized that there was no longer any point to exchanging words.

    Su Chen hade to stir up trouble, not to negotiate.

    He could only indignantly yell, ¡°Su Chen, if you have the guts, then ept my challenge and duel me! If you beat me one on one, ck me will belong to you. If you lose, then take your men and leave. You can take the former disciples of yours that are on Thousand Illusions Ind as reparation even if you lose.¡±

    At this point, Zhong Zhenjun had been suppressed to the maximum degree. Even he had to admit that ck me would never be able to match up against the Boundless Sect. The only option left to him was to strike at his opponent¡¯s vitals as hard as he could.

    And the Boundless Sect¡¯s most vital part was Su Chen. He should only be at the Spirit Burning Realm, so he would be rtively weak. Even with his Seven Bloodline Aspects, he would be no match for Zhong Zhenjun.

    Zhong Zhenjun had challenged Su Chen in front of everyone to make it harder for Su Chen to refuse.

    In this time period, where martial strength reigned supreme, it was normal for two generals to exchange blows to decide the oue of a battle while their respective armies watched on.

    If one of the generals was unwilling to ept the challenge, then their soldiers¡¯ morale would significantly weaken.

    Zhong Zhenjun wasn¡¯t really hoping to lower the morale of the Boundless Sect¡¯s soldiers. However, this would at least halt Su Chen¡¯s momentum and aid him in the uing negotiations.

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen raised his eyebrow in bored amusement. ¡°Challenge? Fine by me!¡±

    He ced his finger in his mouth and whistled loudly. The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples immediately stopped their barrage of attacks.

    Su Chen flew forth by himself.

    Zhong Zhenjun didn¡¯t expect that Su Chen would actually ept his challenge and was caught dumbfounded for a moment. ¡°Sect Master Su, thank you for finally showing yourself. Listen to me......¡±

    His goal had never been to fight because he could not kill Su Chen even if they did fight. As such, all Zhong Zhenjun wanted was an opportunity to reestablish rtions.

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen raised his hand to interrupt Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s reconciliation speech as he impatiently said, ¡°Didn¡¯t you want to challenge me? I¡¯m right here. Let¡¯s not waste any more of my time.¡±

    ¡°What? You......¡± Zhong Zhenjun couldn¡¯t understand what was happening. A Spirit Burning Realm cultivator had epted his challenge? Had Su Chen gone crazy?

    Su Chen, however, had already sprang into motion, jabbing his finger at Zhong Zhenjun.

    As soon as this finger jab appeared, Zhong Zhenjun immediately realized that something was off.

    The finger strike¡¯s aura was extremely vast and broad, as if it had been imbued with some kind of heavenlyw.

    The Thought Manifestation Realm was known as such because any cultivator that reached that realm would be able to perceive the will of the Heavens. Their intentions and will, then, would all gain a sense of naturalness and oneness with the world.

    For this reason, every attackunched by a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator, even simple punches and kicks, would be filled with power.

    Su Chen had truly reached the Thought Manifestation Realm.

    This finger strike of his was not one of the many techniques that he was known for, but even so, its might was definitely extraordinary. If Zhong Zhenjun still couldn¡¯t tell what was going on by this point, then he would truly be an idiot.

    He hurriedly raised his hand to defend himself as his expression shifted. ¡°You¡¯ve reached the Thought Manifestation Realm?¡±

    ¡°Stop wasting your breath!¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s finger jab chained into a palm strike, which thundered forth. Lightning shed and thunder boomed as the domineering palm advanced through the sky. In an instant, a raging storm covered the battlefield.

    Casual attacks simply couldn¡¯tpare to the meticulous use of Origin Energy. As such, Su Chen immediately opened with abination attack of his wind, thunder, and fire Arcana Techniques.

    Thebination of Arcana Techniques and Origin Skills was astoundingly effective. Not only did thisbination skill possess the majestic, boundless might of an Arcana Technique, but it was also extremely easy to cast ¡ª a characteristic hallmark of an Origin Skill.

    Su Chen continued to unleash overwhelming attacks one after another, filling the sky with Origin Energy. Each bolt of lightning was as sharp as a peerless spear, each streak of fire as overbearing as a primordial phoenix, and each gust of wind as violent as a maelstrom.

    Zhong Zhenjun had to scramble to deal with Su Chen¡¯s powerful onught of attacks.

    As he frantically defended himself, Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s anger finally reached its boiling point.

    ¡°Did you really think that you would be invincible once you reached the Thought Manifestation Realm? Don¡¯t forget that I¡¯m still an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator!¡± As he roared out, Zhong Zhenjun unleashed a dragon-like punch. This punch surged forth from his fist, howling fiercely as it blew away all of Su Chen¡¯s attacks. All of the other Boundless Sect disciples were stunned by this disy of power, and they couldn¡¯t help but suddenly start worrying for Su Chen.

    Su Chen, however, smiled slightly. ¡°You said it correctly. My Thought Manifestation Realm...... is indeed invincible!¡±

    He drew his sword!

    The Lightless de!

    He shed at the oing dragon fist.

    A faint, almost imperceptible ripple of light flickered through the sky.

    The bystanders watched on as the violent, domineering, earth-shattering dragon fist was split in two by this sword strike that barely made a sound.

    The dragon fist had been destroyed!

    Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s dragon fist had been easily sliced in half by Su Chen¡¯s simple sword strike.

    After the dragon fist was cut apart, its momentum became greatly reduced. After a loud explosion, itpletely disintegrated.

    Zhong Zhenjun was stunned. ¡°This...... How is this possible?¡±

    Su Chen gestured with his Lightless de. ¡°Keep going.¡±

    Su Chen had managed to ughter even a Sovereign without the use of Dimensional sh.

    Zhong Zhenjun was obviously weaker than that Sovereign, but Su Chen was now able to use his Lightless de against Zhong Zhenjun. Under these circumstances, Su Chen was toozy to even use the Seven Bloodline Microcosm against Zhong Zhenjun.

    No matter what Zhong Zhenjun threw at him, Su Chen would respond with a simple sword strike.

    Dimensional sh ripped through the fabric of space and reality. It would cut through any object, Origin Skills, and bodies in its way.

    Zhong Zhenjun discovered, to his great surprise, that all of the Origin Skills that he had learned and cultivated over the many centuries of his life were all useless in the face of Su Chen¡¯s sword.

    No matter how he tried to change up his attacks, Su Chen was always able to nullify them with a single sword strike.

    ¡°Spatial power? That¡¯s spatial power?¡± Zhong Zhenjun yelled in astonishment.

    ¡°So you noticed,¡± Su Chen replied with a faint smile.

    ¡°How is that possible? How could you know a skill like that?¡±

    Su Chen sneered. ¡°Did you forget where I just came back from? If I was able to return alive from the void without gaining some mastery in spatial power, then that would be the true miracle.¡±

    Zhong Zhenjun was stunned.

    He suddenly felt that his opponent¡¯s words were extremely logical, and that there was nothing he could say in rebuttal.

    Su Chen raised his sword once again, pointing its humming edge at Zhong Zhenjun. ¡°Alright, you¡¯ve had enough fun. It¡¯s time for this pointless battle toe to an end.¡±

    ¡°This is not fair! Su Chen, you¡¯re using a Divine Tool......¡± Zhong Zhenjun yelled out in a panic, still trying to find the words to resolve the situation.

    Su Chen, however, didn¡¯t give him an opportunity to continue. His next Dimensional sh seemed to tear open the sky itself as it ignored Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s magical barrier and easily cut him in twain.

    Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s bisected body floated backwards as they merged back together on their own. He was still yelling. ¡°If there¡¯s something you want to say, then we can talk it over in a civilized manner!¡±

    Su Chen harrumphed, and the sword in his hand flickered yet again as he shed twice at Zhong Zhenjun in a cross-shaped pattern. Zhong Zhenjun wanted to try to escape again, but he suddenly discovered to his astonishment that the air around him seemed to have congealed.

    Sumeru Void.

    Sumeru Voidbined with Dimensional sh was probably the closest an attack coulde to being ¡°overpowered.¡±

    Zhong Zhenjun was cut into four pieces.

    A momentter, however, his body merged together once again. ¡°Please, have mercy!¡±

    ¡°I am,¡± Su Chen replied calmly.

    He shed out four times.

    Then eight.

    Then sixteen.

    Su Chen unleashed more and more sword strikes with every new round. As time went by, Su Chen¡¯s sword strikes eventually became as densely packed as a fine mesh weave.

    Zhong Zhenjun waspletely stunned when he saw that fine of swordwork.

    In the past, he had once encountered a legendary Arcana Master who could use a skill simr to Su Chen¡¯s Dimensional sh. He, however, had only been able to unleash one Dimensional sh at a time before he had to recover.

    Zhong Zhenjunhad never heard of a person like Su Chen who could use multiple Dimensional shes in rapid session.

    Su Chen¡¯s Origin Energy output was tens of thousands of times greater than that legendary Arcana Master. His strength was simply jaw-dropping. Of course, the Lightless de yed a pivotal role in his ability to do this, as did Su Chen¡¯sprehension of spatial Method Power. If this were anyone else, then they wouldn¡¯t have been able to achieve this feat.

    Zhong Zhenjun was doomed. He was diced into thousands of tiny pieces, immediately forcing him to the brink of death.

    As an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator, his lifeforce was extremely vigorous. Even if he was cut into pieces, his body would be able to reform.

    However, even an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator couldn¡¯t handle being cut into so many pieces like this.

    Every one of Su Chen¡¯s attacks ate away at his lifespan, and the attacks only continued to grow denser and denser. At first, he was sliced intorge chunks, then medium, and now small. If this were to continue, he would soon be nothing more than ground meat.

    Actually, Zhong Zhenjun wouldn¡¯t even survive to that point.

    Su Chen swung his sword yet again, sending out another barrage of densely packed sword strikes.

    At this point, the Dimensional shes were so closely packed to each other that they had basically formed a web that threatened to envelop Zhong Zhenjun and extinguish his life.

    Zhong Zhenjun gazed at the web of dazzling sword light.

    He suddenly realized that he had truly reached the end of the line.

    No!

    There was still a chance.

    At this point in time, only this move could still save him.

    He gazed past the mesh of light, staring straight into Su Chen¡¯s eyes.

    He gritted his teeth.

    There was no other choice.

    Then......

    He plopped onto his knees, prostrating himself.

    ¡°Sect Master, please spare my life!!! I am willing to surrender and be the Sect Master¡¯s ve! You can treat me like an ox or a horse and I won¡¯t everin!¡±

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 74: Surrender

    The web of sword light stopped inches away from Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s face.

    It was as if someone had hit the pause button. In that moment, all of the web¡¯s momentum dissipated.

    Only Su Chen, with his extremely precise control over spatial Method Power, could aplish this. No one else could have dispersed a web of dense spatial power that they had created themselves once it was unleashed.

    Su Chen nced at Zhong Zhenjun. ¡°You¡¯re willing to be my ve, even if that means bing an ox or a horse?¡±

    Zhong Zhenjun kowtowed repeatedly. ¡°Yes, I am willing to be treated like an ox or a horse by Sect Master!¡±

    The soldiers watching below were immediately thrown astir.

    Zhong Zhenjun was still the leader of the ck me, a powerful Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator. It was incredibly embarrassing for someone like him to kowtow and beg to be spared.

    Even so, Zhong Zhenjun had managed to live to this point not only because of his own personal strength but also because he didn¡¯t care much about losing face - perhaps thetter more so.

    Su Chen nced at Zhong Zhenjun and thought for a moment, then said, ¡°Even though you¡¯re just an old dog with no shame, I must admit that you do have your uses.¡±

    Zhong Zhenjun was delighted. ¡°Yes. I am still an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator, and I am willing to fight to the ends of the earth on Sect Master¡¯s behalf.¡±

    ¡°Fight to the ends of the earth? I have the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples, so I have no need of you.¡± Unexpectedly, Su Chen shook his head and said, ¡°You¡¯re an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator, so the best fit would be for you to stay by my side and be my research subject.¡±

    What?

    Zhong Zhenjun was stunned. ¡°Don¡¯t......¡±

    Su Chen jabbed out with his finger onto Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s neck. Zhong Zhenjun reflexively opened his mouth, and a pill flew into it, entering his body.

    ¡°Eat it and don¡¯t resist. Otherwise, you will die!¡± Su Chen¡¯s words were simple, yet full of meaning.

    Zhong Zhenjun didn¡¯t dare to move. He could sense the medicinal power rapidly diffusing throughout his entire body. Eventually, he crumpled to the ground,pletely drained of strength.

    ¡°From this day onwards, you will be my research subject. Whenever I reach the Ultimate Emperor Realm, perhaps I will allow you to fight to the ends of the earth on my behalf.¡± As he spoke, he grabbed Zhong Zhenjun and threw him behind him. Iron Cliff caught him and put him away.

    This powerful Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator had be Su Chen¡¯s research subject just like that.

    Once he had done this, Su Chen retracted his hand.

    He nced below and found that the ck me¡¯s members were all staring at him, speechless.

    Now that their leader had been tossed about and eventually turned into a research subject, what was there for the rest of them to do?

    Su Chen said, ¡°If you surrender, you can live. Otherwise, you will die.¡±

    After reaching the Thought Manifestation Realm, Su Chen had grown tired of speaking in long sentences. Now, he kept all his speaking short and sinct.

    The members of the ck me nced at each other before eventually deciding to surrender.

    This den of criminals, which had existed outside of the realm of thew for so long, and which many people had tried to capture to no avail in the past, changed ownership overnight.

    This was truly a miracle.

    But now that the entire Abyss was gone, the Thousand Illusions Ind was not such a big deal.

    Actually, incorporating the ck me was actually going to be more troublesome.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Su Chen said, ¡°These people are the scum of the earth, so we shouldn¡¯t allow them to join the Boundless Sect. We should keep them as an external part instead. But we must bring them all back; they are not allowed to wander as they please. The Thousand Illusions Ind will be left to some disciples to guard on a periodic rotation. It will serve as an outpost for the Boundless Sect, responsible for gathering materials from the sea. The trade routes that we had set up before can be used again. After all, the sea is full of riches, and it would be a tragedy to waste them like this.¡±

    ¡°Sect Master is truly wise!¡± Everyone was filled with admiration.

    From this day onwards, the Boundless Sect had managed to eke out a territory belonging solely to themselves.

    ¡°Then what should we do about the disciples who defected?¡± Li Chongshan asked.

    This was quite a problem.

    There were still a thousand or so Boundless Sect disciples amongst the ranks of the ck me.

    At the moment, they were probably the most apprehensive out of everyone present.

    After all, humans hated traitors more than all else, and the way that they dealt with traitors was usually extremely harsh.

    Gu Qingluo said, ¡°Husband, some of these people were tricked by Zhong Zhenjun and left in a moment of confusion. There might have been some who even regretted their decision but weren¡¯t able to rejoin.¡±

    ¡°Sect Master¡¯s wife!¡± Lin Xiao and the others said in shock.

    It sounded like Gu Qingluo wanted to forgive them.

    ¡°Sect Master¡¯s wife, we cannot allow this. These traitors can¡¯t be let off so easily. Otherwise, how will the Boundless Sect find its footing? And how will we get the disciples to have faith in us?¡± someone pleaded.

    ¡°No matter how you look at it, they were once our disciples. They only left because they were cheated away by someone¡¯s flowery speech, and their actions are still understandable.¡±

    ¡°That still doesn¡¯t mean we can spare them. Leniency now will only lead to problems in the future. Don¡¯t forget that there are still tens of thousands of disciples watching us right now.¡±

    ¡°Thew should be considered, but so should our human ties.¡±

    The higher-ups of the Boundless Sect began to discuss animatedly amongst one another.

    Su Chen fell into a deep silence.

    He didn¡¯t mind that they were arguing. His consciousness crystal allowed him to absorb everyone¡¯s suggestions, then consider the proposals from multiple different angles.

    After a long time, Su Chen raised his hand.

    The discussion came to a halt.

    Su Chen said, ¡°I never had any expectation that people would be loyal to me forever. As long as the disciples who left didn¡¯t do anything that would shame the Boundless Sect¡¯s name, I am willing to let bygones be bygones. If they want to return, I am willing to wee them with open arms.¡±

    Upon hearing this, everyone was stunned.

    Su Chen was going to take the broad route.

    Even as his strength had increased, his heart and his mindset had only broadened.

    The young Su Chen had forsaken the Su n for their indifference towards him. Now that he was a Sect Master, he had learned how to care for even the disciples that had abandoned him.

    He understood their difficulty and sympathized with their struggles. He was willing to overlook their idiocy and forgive them for their mistakes.

    All rivers converge to the vast sea.

    In that moment, Su Chen was truly demonstrating that a person with a great heart was destined to achieve great things.

    Even Li Chongshan couldn¡¯t help but sigh, ¡°Sect Master is truly brilliant!¡±

    ¡°But the disciples who actively harmed the sect after leaving cannot be spared,¡± Jun Moxie replied darkly.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Su Chen nodded. ¡°That will require you all to interrogate them one by one. Those who did not make a mistake will be allowed to return. Those who made small mistakes will remain with ck me. Those who made big ones...... You decide how to handle them.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± all of the higher-ups responded.

    It took roughly half a month to handle the ck me.

    The original members of the ck me found their statuses unchanged, but Jun Moxie was assigned as their leader.

    Jun Moxie was sinister and sly by nature, making him a perfect candidate to lead the ck me. After selecting a few more outstanding disciples to fill in their ranks, the ck me was rapidly subjugated.

    At the same time that he was managing the ck me, there were two more situations that required Su Chen¡¯s attention.

    One was rted to the current situation within Long Sang Country.

    Lin Zuiliu and Lin Shaoxuan were slowly but surely losing control of the situation.

    If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that Gu Qingluo had sent some reinforcements to them after destroying the Abyss, the two of them probably would have been killed by Lin Mengze already.

    Now that Su Chen had returned, it was time for him to resolve that situation.

    However, there was one more thing that he needed to take care of: Eternal Night.

    The Neptune¡¯s Eye was in his hands. ording to the n, it was time for Su Chen to go and meet with Eternal Night.

    Su Chen himself had to personally take care of this, so he decided to send Li Chongshan back to Long Sang Country with the Boundless Sect while he and Gu Qingluo would travel to Sky Country and meet with Eternal Night.

    The day of separation quickly arrived.

    Arge army departed from the Thousand Illusions Ind. After being away for so long, it was finally time for them to return.

    On the other side of things, Su Chen and Gu Qingluo were also preparing for departure. Apart from the two of them, only the Void Seahorse was going toe along. Without the Deep Sea Sorrow¡¯s influence, the Void Seahorse¡¯s intelligence was continuing to grow. It had gotten to know Su Chen somewhat while on the ind, and it was grateful that Su Chen had killed the whale Sovereign and brought it back to the real world. Its fear of Su Chen had also increased after seeing the Boundless Sect¡¯s might in all its glory.

    In addition, Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s surrender had been a good demonstration for it. As a result, the Void Seahorse understood that it needed to make a choice, and it eventually decided to be Su Chen¡¯s pet.

    It wasn¡¯t strange for a human to have a pet, but a Sovereign pet was extremely extraordinary.

    Su Chen had only one pet before, the Death¡¯s Shadow of a Youth. However, as Su Chen had gotten stronger, it was left behind, and Su Chen left it behind at the sect to do as it pleased.

    This Sovereign, however, was more than worthy of following him until the end of time.

    Su Chen sat directly on the Void Seahorse and said, ¡°I leave the matter in Long Sang to you.¡±

    Li Chongshan said, ¡°With us there, Sect Master has no need to worry. The Harpies, however, are the real danger. I¡¯m just worried that Eternal Night is going to try and take the treasure and keep the hostage. If that happens, we¡¯ll be in trouble.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Eternal Night is still waiting for me to help him take the Immortal¡¯s Soul and won¡¯t do anything to me.¡±

    Li Chongshan, however, shook his head. ¡°If I was Eternal Night, I would insist on capturing you even if it meant giving up on Sky City regaining its mobility.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Su Chen squinted his eyes.

    Li Chongshan continued, ¡°Even though Sky City is important, in my eyes you are even more important. Sky City is, at the end of a day, merely a powerful castle. It is not truly invincible. Your actions, however, are dramatically increasing the strength of the human race as a whole. In the future, we humans will definitely be the strongest of all the Intelligent Races.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I understand. But don¡¯t forget, everything I have done is in the past. Sky City, however, is the future.¡±

    No matter how useful Su Chen was, the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques¡¯ sixth level had been developed. Him reaching the Thought Manifestation Realm was already an established fact.

    Killing Su Chen wouldn¡¯t affect the spread of the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques, or the Boundless Sect¡¯s rise to power. All that would happen would be the Harpies losing out on their opportunity.

    It was impossible that Eternal Night would make this decision based on his personality.

    Su Chen was very confident in this. After all, Eternal Night had let him go once already, and Danba had already chosen to do this even before Eternal Night.

    All of the strong individuals Su Chen had encountered thus far all had a simr thought: increasing their own strength was more important than killing their opponents.

    They were very clear that they would never be able to kill all their opponents. If they wanted to survive in the midst of a hostile environment, and improve their quality of life, increasing their personal strength was far more important than killing all of their enemies.

    This was why Danba was willing to cooperate with Su Chen, and why the same went for Eternal Night.

    No matter how strong their opponents became in the future, they could only focus on doing what was best for them.

    Not to mention that Su Chen had more than enough self-confidence now.

    Even if Eternal Night wanted to do something to him, it wouldn¡¯t be easy.

    It was impossible for Eternal Night to predict that Su Chen¡¯s strength would have advanced to such a terrifying degree merely in the span of a few short years.

    ¡°I leave the matter in Long Sang to you, and you leave the matter with the Harpies to me. We¡¯ll see who can finish their mission first, then meet at the Demonic Wind Altar,¡± Su Chen said as he gripped Li Chongshan firmly by the hand.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 75: Meeting

    Sky City.

    When Su Chen reappeared above the pce many yearster, he was no longer considered an enemy, but an important guest.

    Three hundred Harpy females dressed in gaudy robes flew towards him, bearing fresh flowers in their hands and forming a bridge of flowers leading him to the pce.

    A profound, ethereal song floated through the air in Su Chen¡¯s direction. This song was used by the Harpies to greet important visitors, and the Harpy females around him began to dance in time with the music.

    The Harpies were incredibly talented musicians, but humans rarely had the privilege of listening for themselves. Su Chen had only heard it once despite the fact that he had been in Sky Country for so long.

    Amidst this joyful, celebratory music, Su Chen entered the Perpetual Daylight Pce and greeted Eternal Night.

    Some years had passed since they hadst met. Eternal Night was still a skinny old man, but now his eyes were filled with hope towards the future.

    When Eternal Night saw Su Chen, a rare smile appeared on his face. ¡°Sect Master Su has finally arrived. I have been waiting for some time for this day.¡±

    ¡°I apologize for beingte, Your Majesty. Please forgive me,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright,¡± Eternal Night said as he waved his hand generously.

    The time limit was imposed to make sure that Su Chen wouldn¡¯t dy, and Su Chen had indeed stuck to the n as best as he could. The final dy had been out of his control - the Harpies knew this, as they had been closely observing what happened in the Abyss this entire time.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t cked off in the slightest in his handling of this matter, and the many years of silence had all been in preparation for that sudden show of strength. There was no fault that Eternal Night could find, so he didn¡¯t me Su Chen in the slightest. Actually, Eternal Night almost tried to save Su Chen out of impulse when Su Chen disappeared. However, with the Sovereign in the way, there was nothing he could have done anyways.

    After some casual conversation, Su Chen pulled out an item. ¡°At least the expedition was a sess. I have Neptune¡¯s Eye with me, and I havee to fulfill one part of our agreement.¡±

    The item Su Chen had taken out was naturally Neptune¡¯s Eye.

    Neptune¡¯s Eye was actually a deep blue crystal ball. Its outer appearance seemed somewhat simr to that of an eye, and it possessed the innate ability to control the sea - hence the name.

    This item was crafted out of Deep Sea Agate.

    In the depths of the ocean lived a unique kind of fish with an innate control of water. They were known colloquially as Sons of the Deep, and only one of them ever existed at one time.. This fish had a long lifespan, often numbering in the hundreds or thousands of years. They only had a single central bone in their body, and within the marrow of the bone flowed a crystalline liquid. That simultaneously rock-like and liquid-like substance was the Deep Sea Agate.

    Because of how long a Son of the Deep lived and the fact that there were only one of them at any given time, there had been no more than a hundred Sons of the Deep across the Primordial Continent¡¯s hundred thousand years of history. As such, the amount of Deep Sea Agate that could be collected was extremely limited.

    This Deep Sea Agate ball was sorge that it basically had to be aposite of almost all the Deep Sea Agate that had ever been harvested. Then, countless individuals had worked on refining it. As such, Neptune¡¯s Eye was a one-of-a-kind item. It would take another hundred thousand years to find another one.

    As Su Chen held Neptune¡¯s Eye, a thin film of water seemed to form around him.

    His proficiencyy in wind, fire, and thunder techniques, but with the Neptune¡¯s Eye in his hand, Su Chen¡¯s water Arcana Techniques had grown much more powerful as well, to the point that they were no weaker than the other three kinds.

    Of course, he did not attack. Instead, he smiled at Eternal Night with a slight smile.

    When Eternal Night saw Neptune¡¯s Eye, he said with excitement, ¡°That¡¯s it!¡±

    He reached out.

    In that moment, his hand actually trembled slightly.

    The shame that the Harpies had suffered for tens of thousands of years would finally be wiped away by his hands.

    Su Chen, however, retracted his hand, stowing the Neptune¡¯s Eye once again.

    Eternal Night¡¯s gaze constricted slightly. ¡°Sect Master Su, what is the meaning of this?¡±

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°I¡¯ve brought Neptune¡¯s Eye with me here. Shouldn¡¯t I be allowed to go and see Xianyao?¡±

    Su Chen and Eternal Night¡¯s agreement had only stipted that Eternal Night would release Zhu Xianyao once Su Chen delivered the Neptune¡¯s Eye and the Immortal¡¯s Soul. The exact details had not been settled.

    For instance, Su Chen could wait to deal with the Astrals first before giving Eternal Night the Neptune¡¯s Eye.

    However, Su Chen had not done so. In fact, he had voluntarily offered the Neptune¡¯s Eye, even surprising Eternal Night.

    Once Su Chen had made his request, however, Eternal Night realized what was happening.

    He squinted his eyes. ¡°You want to meet with Zhu Xianyao?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°It¡¯s been six years. I at least need to see how she is doing, don¡¯t I?¡±

    Eternal Night frowned.

    Strictly speaking, Su Chen¡¯s request was not excessive. He hadn¡¯t seen his second wife for six years, and it was only natural that he would hand over one of the required items for a chance to meet with his wife.

    However, Eternal Night couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that something was wrong.

    Perhaps because Neptune¡¯s Eye was simply too rare.

    This treasure was impossible to put a price on. Any person who obtained it would do anything to use it for a while longer, especially if no explicit conditions had been stipted on its use. If Eternal Night was in Su Chen¡¯s position, he would definitely try and dy giving it over until he had obtained the Immortal Soul as well.

    At the very least, he would be able to use the Neptune¡¯s Eye for himself for this period of time.

    However, Su Chen had chosen not to do so. Instead, he had volunteered to hand over Neptune¡¯s Eye, giving Eternal Night a sense of unease.

    This kind of feeling was entirely instinctual and had been honed by ruling a country for many years. It was a natural suspicion of anything that didn¡¯t take a natural course.

    But suspicion couldn¡¯t solve every problem.

    Because suspicions about Su Chen also applied to him as well - who knew if Su Chen would be able to obtain the Immortal¡¯s Soul. Taking the Neptune¡¯s Eye now was a good decision regardless.

    In that sense, Eternal Night¡¯s need for the Neptune¡¯s Eye was greater than his need for Su Chen.

    As such, he could not refuse Su Chen¡¯s request even if he felt like something was up.

    They were in the Perpetual Daylight Pce, after all.

    Su Chen waspletely within his rights to ask to see Zhu Xianyao.

    He couldn¡¯t afford to be so stingy that he refused to agree to even this request.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Eternal Night nodded. ¡°Fine.¡±

    At the same time that he led Su Chen there, Eternal Night also issued a silentmand to have Kelesda go on standby - just in case.

    Actually, Eternal Night should have asked for Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s support first. The Mother Goddess Sect was more powerful and were all united, unlike the imperial officials, who, while strong, all had their own situations to take care of and were hard to gather.

    However, Eternal Night¡¯s agreement with Su Chen had actually offended the Mother Goddess Sect. In order to entice Su Chen into working for him, as well as weaken the Mother Goddess Sect, Eternal Night had purposefully allowed Su Chen to take the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s treasures with him.

    He had been able to hide it for some time, but not forever.

    After Serene Dream Lotus Crown had found out about this, her temper had red, and their rtionship had grown strained.

    As such, very few strategic decisions could be made without anypromise. Despite the fact that everything had gone ording to n for Eternal Night, he had paid quite a tremendous price. It was a stretch to say that he was responsible for the rift between the political and religious branches of power, but he certainly did their rtionship no favors.

    This was why Eternal Night hadn¡¯t notified Serene Dream Lotus Crown after thinking about it for some time.

    In his view, two legendary Arcana Masters was more than enough to handle the situation.

    Not long afterwards, Zhu Xianyao arrived.

    Like a burst of mes, she rushed into Su Chen¡¯s arms and said, in a daze, ¡°You¡¯ve finally returned!¡±

    Su Chen tightly embraced her, sensing her burning passion, and said gently, ¡°I¡¯m afraid that things have been difficult for you these past few years.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao shook her head cutely. ¡°Difficult isn¡¯t quite the word I¡¯d use. These people have treated me very well, and none of them dared to make me unhappy. I just couldn¡¯t help but think of you.¡±

    ¡°Oh? None of them dared to make you unhappy?¡±

    ¡°Mhm!¡± Zhu Xianyao nodded her head. ¡°I told them that if anyone makes me unhappy or wrongs me, my husband will not be happy when he finds out. And if that happens, he might lose focus, and if he loses focus, he might not be able to do as good of a job, and the Harpies¡¯ ten thousand year dream might note to fruition.¡±

    ¡°...... Well said.¡± That was all Su Chen could say.

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s logic was something, but no matter how strong it was or otherwise, it was very effective.

    The Harpies¡¯ goaly in Sky City. With such a strategic goal before them, any other price was small inparison. They would never dare to pick on Zhu Xianyao, so they did their best to satisfy her demands and ensure that she was happy.

    For this reason, Zhu Xianyao was practically treated like a princess here, and she was never wronged.

    ¡°No wonder. I thought you got a little fatter,¡± Su Chen said as he pinched Zhu Xianyao¡¯s cheeks.

    ¡°Have I? No way, I have been watching what I eat very closely!¡± Zhu Xianyao replied in shock as she began to examine herself closely.

    Indeed, all women were the same when it came to appearances.

    An instantter, Zhu Xianyao turned around and called out, ¡°Hey, you guys, no wonder you have been feeding me so much. Are you trying to harm me? From tomorrow onwards, you are not allowed to feed me any other supplementary foods, and I will primarily eat Moon Frost Flowers.¡±

    Moon Frost Flowers were a unique kind of food belonging to the Harpies, made from the stamens of flowers that grew in the northern regions of Harpy territory. They could increase a person¡¯s ability to absorb Origin Energy. Harvesting hundreds of these flowers would only produce enough to fill a small te, so they were incredibly precious and were typically considered desserts. Only nobles would be allowed to eat such fare. Zhu Xianyao, however, had requested that these flowers be her main source of nutrition. The extravagance was truly something.

    ¡°No wonder your strength has increased so much in the past few years. You¡¯ve already reached the Spirit Burning Realm,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    With the entire Harpy race supporting her, Zhu Xianyao¡¯s cultivation had advanced much more rapidly than it would have if she was still back with the Zhu n.

    ¡°Of course. They are taking very good care of me here,¡± Zhu Xianyao said happily.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, do you even still want to leave?¡± Su Chen asked.

    When Zhu Xianyao heard this, her expression sank.

    She hugged Su Chen tighter. ¡°No matter how good it is, I will never be happy as long as you aren¡¯t by my side.¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Now that I¡¯ve heard you say that, I can rest assured in taking you with me.¡±

    Hm?

    What was that supposed to mean?

    Eternal Night groaned in his heart.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Eternal Night, many thanks for your care for my wife these past few years. She has been quitefortable here. But I think that I would like to relieve Your Majesty of this burden. I will take my wife with me and take care of her myself.¡±

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 76: Departure

    What?

    As soon as he heard this, Eternal Night knew that something was wrong. He opened his eyes wide, and his powerful consciousness immediately enveloped the room. At the same time, a massive tongue suddenly shot out of the hall¡¯s ceiling and wrapped towards Su Chen and Zhu Xianyao.

    His rapid reactions demonstrated just how decisive he was as a ruler.

    Unfortunately, his decisiveness and ferocity were useless against Su Chen.

    Regardless of whether it was his consciousness or the giant tongue, both disappeared as soon as they got close to Su Chen, as if there was a giant invisible mouth next to Su Chen swallowing up anything that got close to him.

    When Eternal Night saw that his initial attack had been nullified, he was just about to follow up when he suddenly heard a voice cry out, ¡°Be careful, Your Majesty! He has a spatial barrier around him diverting any attacks that get close to him into a different spatial realm!¡±

    At the same time that the voice spoke, a strange fluctuating light appeared next to Su Chen.

    This fluctuation was incredibly subtle, but Su Chen¡¯s expression shifted as soon as this faint ripple appeared.

    The color suddenly drained from his face as he suddenly opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of blood.

    The onlookers couldn¡¯t understand what had happened. Only Su Chen himself knew that a number of things had happened in that short moment.

    First of all, Su Chen had activated his Void Armor to create a spatial barrier and iste him from any attacks. The Void Armor had been constructed from the giant whale Sovereign¡¯s hide and the Void Starsilver. With Jiang Hanfeng present, there was no need to allow the Method Power to run rampant again. The refined armor had the ability to form a spatial wall around him that could divert all attacks into the void.

    This form of defense was virtually invincible. Only other spatial attacks would have any effects.

    However, because of this spatial barrier, the person inside the barrier was simrly unable to move.

    Su Chen, however, didn¡¯t mind. If spatial attacks could prate the barrier, then he would also be able to escape with spatial techniques.

    Given his mastery of Light Shaking Phantom, it would have been simple for him to leave.

    However, just as he was about to do so, another problem suddenly reared its ugly head.

    Because a strange fluctuation had urred in the fabric of space-time.

    This ripple had thrown his connection with the Light Shaking Phantom into chaos. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that he had managed to quickly react in time and cancel the teleport, he probably would have sent Zhu Xianyao straight into the void. He would have been fine, but Zhu Xianyao definitely would have died. The wounds he had just suffered were a small bacsh resulting from him forcefully cancelling the teleport.

    And this had naturally happened because someone had interfered.

    The person who had interfered had aprehension of spatial Method Power that was inferior to him, so under normal circumstances it wouldn¡¯t have affected him in the slightest. However, Su Chen was also carrying Zhu Xianyao, and teleporting her with him significantly raised the difficulty.

    Under these circumstances, Su Chen was forced to retreat.

    This had all taken ce in an invisible realm. Any ignorant bystander would have simply watched as Eternal Night¡¯s attacks were seemingly ineffective, and then that Su Chen had somehow mysteriously gotten himself injured.

    Only Su Chen himself was aware of how many dangerous

    ¡°Kelesda!¡± Su Chen wiped away the blood trickling from his mouth as he murmured.

    Kelesda appeared like a ghost in front of Su Chen.

    Spatial Method Power!

    So this guy had somehow managed toprehend a little spatial Method Power. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to interrupt Su Chen¡¯s teleportation.

    Kelesda chuckled. ¡°You didn¡¯t expect that, did you, Su Chen? Iprehended spatial Method Power as well. This is all thanks to you; if it weren¡¯t for that chase that we went on, I wouldn¡¯t have advanced nearly as quickly.¡±

    Su Chen had used Light Shaking Phantom to prevent Keleda from getting too close to him back in the day.

    However, this was also the same as him personally instructing Kelesda.

    Throughout this process of pursuit, Kelesda was able to somewhat grasp Su Chen¡¯s Method Power.

    Afterwards, Kelesda had spent quite a bit of time and energy to understand it.

    He was already a legendary Arcana Master. Under his diligent studies, he was actually able toprehend some spatial Method Power. In addition, he had chosen to interfere at a critical moment, preventing Su Chen from leaving with Zhu Xianyao.

    ¡°Tch!¡± Su Chen frowned. ¡°It¡¯s not that I didn¡¯t expect it, it¡¯s that you weren¡¯t worth expecting in the first ce.¡±

    ¡°Su Chen, what are you trying to do?¡± Eternal Night stood and mmed his fist on his table.

    ¡°As you can tell, I am taking her with me.¡± Since his teleportation path had been blocked, Su Chen was no longer in a hurry. ¡°However, Your Majesty, please rest assured that I am just taking her with me ahead of schedule. I will still aplish what I promised I would do.¡±

    Eternal Night said darkly, ¡°Did you think I would believe you?¡±

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen replied, ¡°Did you think that I needed you to believe me?¡±

    What?

    Eternal Night and Kelesda were both shocked.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°Did you really think that you could stop me from leaving if I wanted to leave? I was just trying to leave peacefully. It seems now, however, that a peaceful resolution is not possible.¡±

    He nced at Kelesda, then suddenlyughed loudly. ¡°The fact that you were able to ambush me earlier is probably causing you to underestimate me. See if you can still stop me.¡±

    Kelesda¡¯s expression drastically shifted. ¡°Don¡¯t even think of trying to run!¡±

    He attacked fiercely, activating his spatial Method Power to its greatest extent. The space around Su Chen began to ripple yet again, making it impossible for Su Chen to teleport away with Zhu Xianyao.

    However, that had never been Su Chen¡¯s intention from the very beginning.

    He unsheathed his sword!

    The Lightless de.

    Then, he shed through the air with his sword.

    This sh caused violent fluctuations in space, and a formless rift appeared in the air.

    This rift began to expand. Kelesda thought that Su Chen was still trying to use spatial methods to escape, and he did his best to seal up the rift.

    Unexpectedly, a shocking power suddenly came surging out of the rift.

    This power was so profound and great that, as soon as it enveloped the battlefield, Eternal Night and Kelesda felt the instinctual desire to bow and worship.

    ¡°This is......¡±

    However, the two of them soon reacted as a hand reached out of the fissure.

    A slim, jade-like hand.

    It struck out on empty air.

    A frighteningly powerful wave of energy surged forth from the hand.

    Boom!

    The violent energy cascaded throughout the pce. Even though it was made from extremely sturdy materials, the pce trembled violently following this explosion of power. In fact, the main hall that Eternal Night was standing in was immediately sted into the air, and even the roof had been torn off.

    ¡°ROAR!¡±

    A primal roar echoed throughout the sky, as if an ancient beast was drawing near. Anyone who heard this roar felt their hearts and minds tremble.

    A few of the Harpies that were particrly affected plummeted out of the sky due to sheer terror, falling to their deaths.

    Even more of the Harpies knelt down on the ground in fear, calling on the Mother Goddess and asking for her protection.

    Eternal Night and Kelesda were affected even more.

    They watched as a woman stepped out of the void. She wore the Sky Armor, and a coiled Shining Dragon image zed brilliantly behind her back. She was standing on the back of a Void Seahorse and floated into reality out from the void.

    That Void Seahorse was actually a Sovereign!

    Eternal Night blurted out, ¡°Gu Qingluo?¡±

    Kelesda eximed, ¡°Origin Beast Bloodline?¡±

    Given how intelligent and experienced the two of them were, they would have been idiots not to have realized what had happened.

    Just as Su Chen had said, he had really been trying to resolve the situation peacefully.

    However, Kelesda¡¯s interference forced Su Chen to demonstrate his might.

    And this might was truly heaven-shaking and earth-shattering.

    At that moment, no person¡¯s aura couldpare with Gu Qingluo¡¯s.

    The might of an Origin Beast, which was enough to even cause a Sovereign to tremble and retreat in fear, was nightmarishly powerful. In addition, the Void Seahorse allowed her to travel anywhere she saw fit.

    Su Chen¡¯s sword strike was merely to give them a location.

    At the same time that Gu Qingluo appeared, Su Chen said, ¡°Since we¡¯ve alreadye to blows, I don¡¯t want to waste this opportunity.¡±

    As he spoke, he shed out yet again, this time right at Kelesda.

    Kelesda had someprehension of spatial Method Power, so he could immediately sense the frightening amount of spatial Method Power behind Su Chen¡¯s attack. The only thing he could do was try to use his lifeforce and stick it out.

    However, he was not an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator with a vigorous lifeforce like Zhong Zhenjun. Arcanists were very physically weak. If Kelesda allowed himself to take this blow, he would be killed after being cut into pieces just a few times.

    As such, Kelesda immediately attempted to dodge.

    But just as he was in the process of teleporting away, a slight fluctuation appeared in the space near him.

    This time, the fluctuation came from Su Chen.

    Su Chen, who was no longer attempting to flee, stood behind the spatial barrier. Without Zhu Xianyao holding him back, he was able topletely suppress Kelesda with his superior spatial power.

    Kelesa knew that he was in trouble. He could only apply a temporary speed technique to himself, causing him to transform into a streak of light as he shot off towards the horizon.

    Even so, the Dimensional sh still grazed him.

    Pu.

    Blood sprayed through the air.

    One of Kelesda¡¯s legs fell from the sky.

    ¡°AH!¡± Kelesda cried out in pain as he hurriedly activated a limb regrowth technique.

    This technique was faster than allowing a limb to regenerate on its own, but it consumed lifeforce at a much greater rate. Given the circumstances, however, it wasn¡¯t like Kelesda really had a choice.

    Unfortunately, even though he was able to regenerate his leg, Su Chen¡¯s Dimensional sh came after him yet again.

    Kelesda could only try to dodge yet again.

    Sumeru Void reappeared.

    Kelesda¡¯s movement was impaired once again, and his speed plummeted. Dimensional sh imed Kelesda¡¯s leg yet again.

    In that moment, Kelesda could empathize with Zhong Zhenjun¡¯s te.

    Both of them were peak existences amongst their respective peers.

    However, they were like fish on the cutting board against Su Chen, and could only allow themselves to be cut into pieces again and again.

    Unfortunately, Eternal Night couldn¡¯t help him. Gu Qingluo¡¯s might was keeping all of the Harpies in ce, and Eternal Night was doing his best to break free.

    ¡°Su Chen, stop ying around! I can sense a powerful existence heading in our direction!¡± Gu Qingluo yelled.

    ¡°That should be Serene Dream Lotus Crown. It¡¯s fine, we have enough time. If we don¡¯t handle this matter of Kelesda, he will definitely try and interfere as I am leaving again,¡± Su Chen replied.

    He shed out with his de.

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to attack!¡± Kelesda yelled at the top of his lungs.

    In the blink of an eye, Kelesda had lost his leg seven or eight times.

    At first, it was merely a coincidence. Later on, Su Chen was able to notice the pattern, and decided to just go for his legs instead.

    The hall was littered with severed thighs.

    When Su Chen heard Kelesda¡¯s cry, he thought for a moment, then said, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, I suppose I could spare you.¡±

    As he spoke, he sheathed his sword.

    Kelesda let out a sigh of relief.

    But just as he rxed, Su Chen suddenly said, ¡°Actually, I think it would be better if you died.¡±

    He raised his hand. A ming Phoenix appeared, diving at Kelesda and enveloping him in a ball of raging fire......

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 77: Going Upstream

    On this day, Eternal Night suffered the heaviest blow that he had suffered to date.

    During his previous duel with Su Chen, he had managed to endure the incredible pressure, bearing a veritable mountain on his back in order to drag Su Chen off of his high horse and force Su Chen to work under him instead.

    That day had been his peak.

    Afterwards, he had anticipated that Su Chen would not lower his head that easily. More likely than not, Su Chen was brewing up some kind of scheme behind the scenes.

    Eternal Night had spent quite a bit of time trying to predict what Su Chen would do.

    However, there was one possibility that he had failed to consider from the very beginning: seizure by force.

    It was only natural that his thought process was guided by what he was ustomed to.

    A person who typically preferred to solve problems with their fists would have a hard time puzzling their way out of aplicated situation.

    And a person who was in the habit of thinking deeply about things and resolving issues with brains instead of brawn would often overlook simpler possibilities.

    Eternal Night had underestimated Su Chen¡¯s strength and decisiveness, allowing Su Chen to deal him a blow that sent him reeling.

    If Serene Dream Lotus Crown had been present, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t have been able to take Zhu Xianyao away so easily.

    Unfortunately, this single misstep had cost him his opportunity altogether.

    At that moment, Eternal Night was still being suppressed by Gu Qingluo. After Su Chen killed Kelesda, heughed loudly, "Eternal Night, I will not forget your kind treatment of my wife these past few years. Our former agreement is still in effect, and I will do my best to obtain the Immortal¡¯s Soul for Your Majesty and fulfill my end of the bargain."

    What?

    Eternal Nigh was taken aback.

    Su Chen¡¯s figure flickered as he teleported next to Gu Qingluo and said, "It¡¯s time to go!"

    The three of them and the Beast slipped into the void, disappearing without a trace.

    Eternal Night stared at the ce that Su Chen had just disappeared into, speechless and dazed.

    "Your Majesty, what happened?"

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown had just arrived on the scene. When she saw the state of disarray that the pce was in, she was stunned.

    Eternal Night, however, didn¡¯t reply. He turned around and nced at the Neptune¡¯s Eye lying not far behind him on the ground.

    ¡°Neptune¡¯s Eye?¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown saw it as well and couldn¡¯t help but cry out in astonishment.

    Eternal Night¡¯s gaze, however, remained on the Neptune¡¯s Eye as he muttered to himself. ¡°He was just here a moment ago......¡±

    ¡°Who was just here?¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown asked.

    ¡°He could have taken the Neptune¡¯s Eye with him before he left,¡± Eternal Night continued to mutter to himself. ¡°But he didn¡¯t...... Could he be telling the truth? But why? Why would he still choose to do so?¡±

    Eternal Night began to mumble incoherently to himself.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown hurried forwards to support Eternal Night, who weakly fell into his chair like an old man. ¡°Why? I just can¡¯t figure it out!¡±

    This was the first time that Serene Dream Lotus Crown had ever seen Eternal Night so distraught.

    Two hourster, Eternal Night¡¯s guesses were confirmed.

    Su Chen sent word that his agreement with the Harpies was still in effect, and that he would do his best to aplish it regardless.

    In other words, Su Chen had onlye just to take Zhu Xianyao with him a bit ahead of schedule.

    Of course, if he had told Eternal Night from the beginning that this was his n, Eternal Night would never have believed him.

    As such, he could only get his way by force.

    There was no way that Eternal Night could doubt his words now, though.

    The only thing he couldn¡¯t understand was why Su Chen would do this.

    ¡°Why are you still going to help him take the Immortal¡¯s Soul?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked, somewhat peeved.

    Even though the Harpies had taken good care of her these past few years, she was still a hostage. Everywhere she went, she was supervised, and there were many things she was not allowed to do. She didn¡¯t even have a closepanion at her side; it was only natural that she felt that her life was quite difficult.

    For this reason, Zhu Xianyao¡¯s attitude towards the Harpies was still quitecking in goodwill.

    But she couldn¡¯t understand why Su Chen was still interested in fulfilling his end of the bargain.

    ¡°Would you believe me if I said that I am a person who upholds his end of the bargain?¡± Su Chenughed as he asked.

    Zhu Xianyao rolled her eyes. ¡°Big Sis Qingluo, do you think our husband is that kind of person?¡±

    Even though Gu Qingluo and Zhu Xianyao knew about each other, this was their first time meeting in person. Zhu Xianyao knew how to behave herself, however, and correctly referred to Gu Qingluo as ¡°Big Sis.¡± Not only had Gu Qingluo met Su Chen first, but she had also tagged along to save Zhu Xianyao, causing Zhu Xianyao to feel some gratitude towards her. In addition, Gu Qingluo¡¯s Origin Beast Bloodline was not inferior to her bloodline in the slightest. Referring to Gu Qingluo as a senior wasn¡¯t a loss of face at all.

    Zhu Xianyao was quite good at buttering people up, so her and Gu Qingluo actually got along quite well.

    Upon hearing Zhu Xianyao¡¯s question, Gu Qingluo chuckled. ¡°That depends on what promise he¡¯s made. If his promise is to forcefully seize someone¡¯s eldest daughter, he will definitely keep his word. But if he has promised to steal a treasure for someone else without benefit to himself, well, that promise doesn¡¯t hold much weight.¡±

    Su Chen smiled bitterly. ¡°Come now. I¡¯m still the Sage of the human race. My trustworthiness is not that terrible, is it?¡±

    Gu Qingluo said, ¡°Public morals and personal morals are different. Just because you have one doesn¡¯t mean you¡¯ll necessarily have the other.¡±

    Su Chen gently patted her forehead. ¡°So you have made some advancements.¡±

    Then, he turned to face Zhu Xianyao. ¡°So, Xianyao, why do you think I am doing this?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao thought for a moment, then said, ¡°I don¡¯t know why, but I do know that every investment you make results in returns nearly ten times greater. Are you thinking of iming Sky City?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Sky City belongs to the Harpies, and is closely linked to their bloodlines. I cannot try and steal Sky City just based off of controlling the core. My true goal is the Origin Energy Sea.¡±

    ¡°The Origin Energy Sea?¡± both Gu Qingluo and Zhu Xianyao cried out.

    ¡°Yes, the Origin Energy Sea. That is where every realm converges to, and the source of all energy. It is one of the most mysterious, profound locations ever conceived of. This is the conclusion that I reached when I was in the void for a year,¡± Su Chen replied.

    The year that Su Chen had spent in the void,prehending spatial Method Power and jumping between realms, had also given him a new understanding of the universe. Many of the universe¡¯s secrets had been revealed to him.

    Questions such as, ¡°Why is the Origin Energy on the Primordial Continent disappearing?¡± and ¡°Who is the old beggar?¡± were constantly present in Su Chen¡¯s mind.

    Su Chen¡¯s dream in the past had been to establish the path of cultivating without a bloodline. As he began to bring that dream to fruition, his horizons began to expand, and it was only natural that he had taken an interest in the profound secrets governing the universe.

    And the sea of Origin Energy was the means by which Su Chen would begin toprehend them.

    Because it was the source of the myriad realms that existed in this world, and the origin of all energy.

    As such, only there would everything be made known to him.

    And the only ce on the entire Primordial Continent with a connection to the Origin Energy Sea was Sky City.

    Back then, Su Chen hadn¡¯t thought much of it, but now that he knew more, he was beginning to realize how incredible of an invention it was.

    Not only did it result in the basically invincible Sky City, but it also opened a path to the source.

    In order to continue his pursuits, Su Chen would naturally need to do his best to fulfill his end of the bargain.

    Upon hearing where Su Chen¡¯s ambitionsy, the two women were rendered speechless.

    Gu Qingluo said with some anxiety, ¡°I know that you are always striving to reach the peak, pushing the limits of knowledge, but I¡¯m worried that your gaze is so far ahead that you¡¯re missing the scenery below your feet.¡±

    Su Chen could sense her worry andughed, ¡°The path to the top never ends. However, as I continue to ascend, I do it hand-in-hand with you both. I will never overlook this fact.¡±

    As he spoke, he reached out to grab their hands and pulled them into his embrace.

    They sat on the back of the Void Seahorse. Su Chen had one arm wrapped around each girl as he gazed off at the beautiful scenery before them.

    Zhu Xianyao hadn¡¯t seen Su Chen in a long time, and her being was filled with passion. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Gu Qingluo was next to her, she probably would have already made a move on Su Chen.

    Su Chen, however, seemed to have no such considerations and leaned in.

    Zhu Xianyao was deeply embarrassed. ¡°Don¡¯t!¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°You are both my wives. What does it matter? You are going to experience it sooner orter, so why not here and now?¡±

    As he spoke, he waved his hand. A cloudy mist surged forth, enveloping the three of them and obscuring them from sight. It was impossible to know what was taking ce within the cloud, but fairy-like croons and groans would asionally escape the confines of the cloud......

    At the same time that Su Chen was enjoying himself in the skies after his long journey to save his woman, the battle in Long Sang had officially begun.

    Naturally, the Boundless Sect and Long Sang Country were the primary participants in this battle.

    During the past few years, Long Sang had been embroiled in a civil war. Lin Mengze and Lin Zuiliu were fighting for control of the throne, throwing the entire country into turmoil.

    Under normal circumstances, Lin Mengze should have been able to quash Lin Zuiliu given thebined might of his army.

    However, the Boundless Sect¡¯s interference, and the matter with Long Pojun, gave Lin Mengze quite a bit of trouble. And after he had failed to kill Long Pojun and had even sustained a grave wound, Lin Mengze had once again lost control of the situation, giving Lin Zuiliu a chance to breathe and continue to dy.

    However, Lin Mengze was still the emperor, after all. A big tree had deep roots, and after a few years of jousting, Lin Mengze reimed the advantage and pushed Lin Zuiliu all the way to the border.

    On the other hand, Lin Shaoxuan fiercely held the southern border with the aid of the Boundless Sect. No matter how Lin Mengze¡¯s armies tried, they were incapable of breaking through its defenses, resulting in a stalemate.

    Lin Zuiliu had already asked Lin Shaoxuan for aid a number of times, but Lin Shaoxuan firmly imed that the Boundless Sect wascking in manpower and could send no reinforcements other than their well-wishes.

    Only the Long Sang armies, who were locked in a conflict with the Boundless Sect, knew how troublesome their opponents were.

    Even though the Boundless Sect didn¡¯t possess more than a handful peak-tier existences, their mid-tier echelons were simply too strong.

    Not only did they possess an insane number of Light Shaking Realm cultivators, but their pockets were seemingly bottomless, affording them an endless amount of support.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples never fought individually, but always in formation, and they would also carry a multitude of treasures on them every time they went into battle. Grade Five and up Origin Tools could sell for millions of Origin Stones in the outside world, but they were standard amongst the ranks of the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples, and often they were equipped with more than one.

    The medicines they ingested were different too - they were not liquid medicines, but medicinal pills.

    These medicinal pills were easy to eat and took effect very rapidly, regardless of what the actual effect was. Oftentimes, the disciple¡¯s strength would immediately skyrocket as soon as they ingested the pill. In addition, they could afford to ingest multiple at once, then repeat once the medicinal effects had subsided.

    They had both money and manpower, and they were more than willing to fight!

    That was the Long Sang armies¡¯ evaluation of the Boundless Sect.

    They didn¡¯t have experts capable of steamrolling an entire army all by themselves, but they did possess arge group of strong fighters who were seemingly impossible to kill. They always fiercely stood their ground and were impossible to drive off.

    Today was no exception.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples were arrayed in formation, waiting for an attack toe.

    They never took the initiative to attack. Instead, they utilized Origin Formations to defend themselves. This was somewhat dishonorable, but it was also incredibly effective.

    ¡°You useless bastards! If you have the ability to do so,e out and fight us!¡± the soldiers that Long Sang had sent out to demoralize the Boundless Sect cursed.

    They were already quite used to this. Every time they fought, they would try to demoralize the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples. If they could somehow bait the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples into attacking, that was even better.

    Both sides had won and lost battles during this period of time. The times when Long Sang won were usually because some of the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples weren¡¯t able to hold in their temper and attacked on their own, disrupting their formation.

    Today, however, the demoralization squad had only just begun their work when they suddenly got a response. ¡°Fine. If that¡¯s the case, we¡¯lle out and fight.¡±

    Hm?

    Why were they so sessful today? The demoralization squad was delighted.

    The Long Sang armies prepared to unleash a furious assault.

    ¡°Thene!¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re going toe, just do it!¡±

    The army¡¯s banners began to sway.

    The situation suddenly changed!

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 78: War Situation

    On that day, Lin Mengze received a piece of news that dealt him the greatest blow since the war had begun.

    The soldiers at Southern Cloud Gate had been defeated!

    Half of the hundred-thousand-strong army had been wiped out, while a majority of the rest had surrendered. Less than a thousand had made it back alive.

    The reason this had happened was because the main force of the Boundless Sect had returned.

    Li Chongshan led them into battle, dealing Lin Mengze a harsh blow.

    From that day onwards, the situation in Long Sang Country began to change. Long Sang¡¯s armies suffered defeat after defeat, while the Boundless Sect began to triumph.

    No one knew the full extent of the Boundless Sect¡¯s strength while they were off in the Abyss, but after they had returned, they were putting it on full disy to all the human kingdoms.

    Twenty thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators and thousands of Spirit Burning Realm cultivators. This number was shocking and threw the Seven Kingdoms into an uproar.

    The Boundless Sect steamrolled their way over the Long Sang soldiers, who could do little more than flee. Even Lin Zuiliu, who was sitting at the southern border, found an opportunity and was revitalized, allowing him to push back and sandwich Long Sang¡¯s armies between him and the Boundless Sect.

    Actually, whether the Boundless Sect had Lin Zuiliu¡¯s aid didn¡¯t really matter. At this point, they were more than strong enough to challenge an entire country. Lin Zuiliu¡¯s sandwiching was more akin to trying to fight the Boundless Sect for their territory and benefits.

    As the two parties began their conquest, the Boundless Sect had a clear advantage due to their greater manpower.

    As the Boundless Sect marched onwards, they continued to swallow up Long Sang¡¯s territory.

    Notably, the Boundless Sect was not heading straight for Long Coiling City.

    They were in no hurry to attack Long Coiling City. Instead, they expanded their reach rapidly in all directions, allowing them to quickly swallow uprge swathes of territory.

    As such, the Boundless Sect¡¯s expansion was extremelyteral in nature. Every step they took, they wouldpletely swallow up any of the other cities in their path. Their advance was not like a spear; instead, they were more like a tsunami sweeping across Long Sang Country.

    This created a sh between them and Lin Zuiliu.

    The two of them had originally been working in tandem, one from the north and one from the south.

    However, the Boundless Sect¡¯s wanton devouring of Long Sang¡¯s territory stopped Lin Zuiliu¡¯s advance in its tracks.

    On a map, the Boundless Sect was at the bottom left-hand corner, while Lin Zuiliu was at the bottom right and Lin Mengze was in the center.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s expansion was beginning from that bottom-left hand corner, and they were sweeping across the boundaries of the map. By the time that they imed the center, they would have imed almost all of the map. They had basically divided up the map into two, with the Boundless Sect controlling the central portion.

    And Lin Zuiliu would definitely need to pass by the territory belonging to the Boundless Sect on his way forwards.

    He discovered that his troops were actually unable to advance.

    The Boundless Sect refused to let him pass!

    ¡°What did you say?¡±

    Lin Zuiliu smacked the table and leapt to his feet. The messenger quailed at his feet and replied, ¡°The other party said that no one is allowed to enter the Boundless Sect¡¯s territory. If we want to attack Long Coiling City, they asked that we please go around.¡±

    ¡°Go around? They¡¯ve imed the entire central region of Long Sang already. Where am I supposed to go around through?¡± Lin Zuiliu roared angrily.

    ¡°Ravager territory,¡± a voice replied. The speaker was a pale-faced, clean-shaven middle-aged man. His name was Li Ming, and he was Lin Zuiliu¡¯s advisor.

    ¡°What?¡± Lin Zuiliu stared at Li Ming in shock.

    Li Ming said, ¡°The Boundless Sect is obviously doing this both to seize their own territory and also force us to go by way of the Ravagers instead.¡±

    ¡°Why would they do that?¡± Lin Zuiliu asked.

    ¡°Because of the Flowing Gold Fort,¡± Li Ming replied.

    Lin Zuiliu understood.

    Even though Long Sang Country was in chaos, and their armies had taken a significant hit, there was still one branch of troops whose strength asrgely preserved - the soldiers stationed at the Flowing Gold Fort.

    This group of soldiers, who were responsible for handling the Ravagers, were originally supposed to be redeployed to deal with the Boundless Sect and Lin Zuiliu. However, because Long Pojun had stirred up some unrest amongst the soldiers there, only a few ended up being redeployed. Most of the soldiers had remained there.

    As such, the soldiers stationed at the Flowing Gold Fort were the only group of soldiers whose strength was mostly intact.

    Of course, regardless of how powerful they were, they were incapable of facing off against the Boundless Sect in a head-on battle.

    A powerful entity like the Boundless Sect was already capable of challenging an entire country, while Flowing Gold Fort merely contained a small fraction of the strength of an entire country.

    Even so, the Boundless Sect didn¡¯t necessarily want to have to deal with the Flowing Gold Fort.

    Li Chongshan, Chu Yingwan, and the others were all raised there, and they possessed an innate connection with the ce. Long Pojun had also made it so that ce was still unstained with the blood of Boundless Sect disciples. As such, they were hoping to be able to get the Flowing Gold Fort to surrender peacefully.

    They had already tried to do this earlier.

    Unfortunately, they had failed.

    They had their own system of values. Even though Lin Mengze had let them down, and they could ignore his orders, they would not casually surrender and be traitors.

    In fact, the opposite was true. When Lin Mengze held the advantage, the Flowing Gold Fort was unwilling to send out troops and fight. But when Lin Mengze had fallen into dire straits, the Flowing Gold Fort had finally decided to mobilize.

    In their eyes, this was how a true soldier was supposed to behave.

    True soldiers were not afraid of spilling blood for the sake of their own country.

    They were not fighting for Lin Mengze, but for Long Sang Country.

    Thankfully, the Flowing Gold Fort wasn¡¯tpletely iron-d, so news of this had still managed to spread.

    Li Chongshan, Shi Kaihuang, and the others weren¡¯t willing to fight with the soldiers in the Flowing Gold Fort, so they thought of this n. They would let Lin Zuiliu go through Ravager territory to distract the Flowing Gold Fort.

    This would restrict the Flowing Gold Fort and prevent them from sending out soldiers against the Boundless Sect, and it would also keep Lin Zuiliu from taking too much of their territory.

    Even though there had been no official rules written down, everyone had tacitly agreed that the territory seized belonged to whoever had seized it.

    Lin Zuiliu was, of course, unwilling to do this, but since the Boundless Sect had imed the entire central region of Long Sang, he had no choice but to go the way of the Ravagers. The Gravel Lizard Tribe had already taken over at this point and had gone to Gun Castle, leaving the ins empty. Lin Zuiliu would be able to travel in and out as he pleased.

    But just because the Boundless Sect was pointing out the way for Lin Zuiliu didn¡¯t mean that he was willing to acquiesce so easily.

    Now that he understood what the Boundless Sect was trying to do, his expression sank. ¡°Send word to Li Chongshan and the others that Long Sang belongs to me. Sect Master Su promised me that himself.¡±

    Li Ming said, ¡°I¡¯ve already done it, but I¡¯m afraid that...... it won¡¯t have any effect.¡±

    Indeed, Li Chongshan very quickly replied.

    The reply was quite lengthy and voluminous, but at its core was one message: the Sect Master had asked you to go and im the country by yourself with the Boundless Sect¡¯s support, so you cannot me us for your failing to live up to your own expectations. The same principle still stands - any territory you have been able to im on ount of your own strength, we will not try and take from you, but don¡¯t even think about taking what belongs to us.

    And the message also didn¡¯t forget to mention what had happened at t Order City.

    Lin Zuiliu should have attacked in order to ease the burden on the Boundless Sect. However, he had selfishly chosen to dy in attacking, forcing Ye Fenghan and Chang He to assume his identity in order to push him into attacking.

    This matter was a sore point in Su Chen and Li Chongshan¡¯s hearts.

    If you won¡¯t uphold your end of the bargain, don¡¯t me me for not doing the same.

    Put inly, since he had acted in poor faith when the Boundless Sect had needed his aid, there was no one he could me but himself for his current predicament.

    Lin Zuiliu trembled with rage when he read this reply.

    He had known that the Boundless Sect would retaliate sooner orter, but he hadn¡¯t expected it toe so quickly, nor for it to be so harsh and shameless. Wasn¡¯t he just a few dayste in attacking? And now they had taken over the entire central region, making it impossible for him to attack?

    Of course, he conveniently ignored the fact that, without the Boundless Sect¡¯s sudden rise to power, he wouldn¡¯t have even had the chance to counterattack.

    The Boundless Sect had offered him this lone path. Whether or not he was going to take it depended on himself.

    Lin Zuiliu fell silent.

    After a long time, he said, ¡°Send a letter to Li Chongshan. Tell him that I am willing to go by way of the Flowing Gold Fort, but that he must leave thend to the east of Long Coiling City to me! If he wants me to do things for him, he can¡¯t insist I do it on an empty stomach, can he?¡±

    The old thing was still somewhat cognizant of the situation. Now that the Boundless Sect¡¯s influence had surged, it was going to be impossible for him to take over all of Long Sang on his own. As such, he requested that the Boundless Sect divide up Long Sang with him instead.

    Li Chongshan replied very quickly.

    He agreed.

    Lin Zuiliu took his soldiers with him and set off for the Flowing Gold Fort.

    But before he had even gotten on the road, he received a piece of news that further aggravated him.

    The Moonkin had backed out.

    Night Elegance informed Lin Zuiliu that the Moonkin had only ever wanted a ce where they could survive.

    Now that arge portion of the west had been taken over, there was more than enough room for the Moonkin to settle down given how few they were in number. As such, they no longer wished to keep fighting, hoping instead to be able to settle down and take care of themselves.

    Even though Lin Zuiliu did his best to persuade them otherwise, the Moonkin had made their decision. Lin Zuiliu could only helplessly agree to their terms, but killing intent had already surfaced in his heart - he had decided that, after dealing with the Flowing Gold Fort, he would turn around and ughter these backstabbing bastards.

    Finally, his troops mobilized, going by way of the Sinister Marshes and the Bitter Joy Skyway to reach the Harvey ins. From there, they headed straight for the Flowing Gold Fort.

    The Flowing Gold Fort was primarily responsible for defending against the Ravagers.

    The Ravagers had strong bodies and weak magic, so the Flowing Gold Fort¡¯s defenses were extremely sturdy. However, they were significantlycking when dealing with a powerful expert or a barrage of Origin Skills.

    Lin Zuiliu was an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator, and he had brought five Thought Manifestation Realm and a few dozen Spirit Burning Realm cultivators with him. His subordinates were all quite proficient in unleashing Origin Skills as well. The Ravagers simply couldn¡¯tpete in that regard.

    And given the Flowing Gold Fort¡¯s unsteady state and the fact that the Ravagers were no longer nearby, their defenses would definitely bex. If Lin Zuiliu¡¯s armies were to suddenly attack at night, it would definitely yield extraordinary results.

    With this in mind, Lin Zuiliu and his troops pressed onwards to the Flowing Gold Fort.

    After a few days, the Flowing Gold Fort finally came into sight.

    Lin Zuiliu didn¡¯t even let his soldiers rest for a moment and immediately attacked. Speed was of the essence, and Lin Zuiliu didn¡¯t even want to wait for a minute.

    Following the signal to attack, Lin Zuiliu¡¯s soldiers rushed towards the Flowing Gold Fort¡¯s walls.

    The Flowing Gold Fort was obviously caught off-guard, and they weren¡¯t even able to activate the barriers in time.

    The trained soldiers rapidly scaled the fort¡¯s walls, taking control of them and opening the gates before rushing towards the center of the fort to continue their ughter.

    Everything had gone so smoothly that even Lin Zuiliu couldn¡¯t resist muttering in satisfaction, ¡°My great ambition...... has been finally achieved.¡±

    At that moment, a violent rumble could be heard as the city walls began to glow with light.

    The defensive barriers had been activated.

    Lin Zuiliu said disdainfully, ¡°We¡¯re already in the cities. It¡¯s toote to activate the barrier.¡±

    The Flowing Gold Fort¡¯s defensive barriers were aimed outwards, not inwards. As soon as an invading force made it inside of the city, there was no point in activating them.

    A momentter, however, Lin Zuiliu watched lightning and fire begin to fall from the sky as the barrier reached up towards the sky.

    They were falling inside the fort.

    This barrier was not intended to defend against outside invaders.

    It was obviously designed to kill anything inside of the fort!

    A trap!

    Lin Zuiliu felt his heart tremble.

    Then, he heard a war cry surround him.

    Soldiers came flying towards them from every direction, and figures could be seen flying through the sky - the very experts that he had recruited.

    An ambush!

    Lin Zuiliu felt himself grow weak at the knees.

    Suddenly, he realized that he had fallen for a trap.

    Li Chongshan wasn¡¯t asking him to fight against the Flowing Gold Fort - he was treating Lin Zuiliu as food for the Flowing Gold Fort instead.

    The two parties had definitely reached some kind of agreement beforehand.

    At the same time.

    Two people stood, floating high in the sky.

    One of them had silvery hair, but his body was tall and sturdy, and a muscr aura emanated from his body. Even though he was old, it was obvious that he was a fighter through and through.

    This person was themander of the Flowing Gold Fort, Hong Qianzhu.

    Beside him stood Li Chongshan.

    ¡°General Hong, Chongshan has fulfilled his duty. Lin Zuiliu has taken the bait,¡± Li Chongshan said.

    Hong Qianzhu nodded. ¡°The Flowing Gold Fort has done their duty, then.¡±

    ¡°General Long¡¯s spirit can rest easy now,¡± Li Chongshan replied.

    Long Pojun¡¯s status amongst the Flowing Gold Fort was almost legendary. His death caused virtually all of the Flowing Gold Fort¡¯s soldiers to hate Lin Mengze.

    In Hong Qianzhu¡¯s mind, defeating Lin Zuiliu was not only a task given to him by Long Sang Country so that he could demonstrate that they had not been idly sitting by. He was defending his country and giving the soldiers inside the fort an appropriate exnation.

    And as for Li Chongshan, by using the Flowing Gold Fort to deal with Lin Zuiliu, he was not only able to dispose of an ally with unfathomable motives but also apetitor.

    In this world, where the winner takes all, Lin Zuiliu¡¯s dividing of the spoils was a cardinal sin.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 79: Destroying the Formation

    On this day, a great event shook Long Sang Country.

    Lin Zuiliu and his troops attacked Flowing Gold Fort under the cover of night, but they suffered a vicious counterattack and were utterly demolished.

    The previously eighty-thousand-strong army had been almostpletely wiped out. The only reason Lin Zuiliu had been able to ughter his way out of the encirclement was because of his personal strength.

    At the same time, Hong Qianzhu¡¯s reputation took a marked upswing.

    Even so, just when everyone thought that Hong Qianzhu was going to lead the Flowing Gold Army¡¯s troops back to reinforce Long Sang, they stopped their advance and remained where they were.

    They were still maintaining a neutral position in this battle.

    The spectators who were waiting for a furious battle to unfold were all left disappointed.

    Meanwhile, the Boundless Sect took advantage of this opening to seize the territory that Lin Zuiliu had left defenseless before pushing onwards towards Long Coiling City.

    When Su Chen returned with Gu Qingluo and Zhu Xianyao, he was greeted with the following scene.

    At Forward Pond Pass.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s troops were all stationed here.

    As soon as Su Chen arrived, Li Chongshan went out to greet him. ¡°Greetings, Sect Master. Forgive me for my ipetence, but we weren¡¯t able to subdue the entire country before you returned.¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°You¡¯ve already done very well. It¡¯s not that you were slow. It¡¯s just that I was too fast.¡±

    With the Void Seahorse as his mount, Su Chen was capable of moving many times faster than the Boundless Sect¡¯s forces. He was already very impressed with what Li Chongshan had managed to do in this period of time.

    Su Chen then stepped into themand tent and didn¡¯t waste his breath before sitting down in the spot that had formerly belonged to Li Chongshan. ¡°How are things going now?¡±

    Li Chongshan straightforwardly replied, ¡°Lin Mengze sent Lin Qingliu and fifty thousand Golden Sand Troops to guard Forward Pond Pass. Lin Qingliu then also invited Spiral Jade Ind¡¯s four Chen Brothers to set up a formation here. Right now, we are trying to determine the best approach to these fortifications.¡±

    Su Chen nced at Jiang Hanfeng. ¡°Is this formation a significant problem?¡±

    Jiang Hanfeng nodded. ¡°I have met Spiral Jade Ind¡¯s Chen Brothers before. The four of them are extremely proficient in setting up Origin Formations, and they specialize in incredibly venomous and sinister ones. Their most famous formation is the Jade Sea Yellow Sky formation. If that formation ispletely set up, even a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator would have a hard time withstanding its might without any prior preparations. Only an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator would be able to survive that formation. However, if other Origin Qi Schrs interfered, then perhaps even an emperor would die.¡±

    An Origin Formation was not an isted existence. Humans and formation would oftenbine forces to astounding effect.

    Lin Qingliu was an imperial disciple and a highly talented member of the junior generation. Even though he wasn¡¯t Lin Mengze¡¯s actual son, Lin Mengze doted on him quite heavily, and his strength had reached the level of a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator ¡ª the highest of all the imperial disciples. The fifty thousand Golden Sand soldiers had also all been personally trained by him, and they were all quite strong in their own right as well.

    This group of soldiers,bined with the vicious formation, would definitely be a tough nut to crack even if the Boundless Sect were ultimately able to seize control of the gate.

    As such, Li Chongshan and the others were discussing the best way to defeat their opponents while paying the lowest price.

    Once he understood the situation, Su Chen thought for a moment before asking, ¡°Are you sure that they have no Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators amongst their ranks?¡±

    ¡°Definitely not!¡± Li Chongshan replied confidently.

    Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators didn¡¯t grow like cabbages. There were usually only ever a dozen or so of them in the Seven Kingdoms, which averaged to around one or two per country.

    Long Sang¡¯s two Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators were Lin Mengze and Lin Zuiliu.

    Now that Lin Zuiliu had been defeated and Lin Mengze seriously injured, there shouldn¡¯t have been anybat-ready Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators left.

    Upon receiving the answer, Su Chen said, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then we¡¯ll just attack. Let me deal with the formation. The ground troops will be left up to you.¡±

    This was essentially no strategy. Su Chen was going to force his way through.

    There was no need for any alternative!

    Because he, Su Chen, was present.

    Now that he was capable of killing a Sovereign all on his own, he was virtually invincible in this realm, and that was not even mentioning the fact that he had the support of the Void Seahorse. If he released Zhong Zhenjun from his researchb, then he would even have an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator fighting on his side.

    But the two of them would be more than enough.

    Two Sovereign-level entities fighting at once was more than sufficient for this battle.

    Any n, tactic, or strategy were all useless in the face of an individual with indomitable strength.

    Brute force!

    That was the strategy that Su Chen had chosen.

    Once themand was given, the troops obeyed.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s bloodthirst had been roused, and they immediately made their preparations to move out.

    At the walls of Forward Pond Pass.

    Lin Qingliu was dressed in martial attire as he gazed off at themotion in the distance.

    He suddenlymented, ¡°The banners are beginning to sway. It seems that they¡¯re about to attack.¡±

    Beside him stood a few soldiers dressed in simr garb. They were obviously the Chen n¡¯s four brothers.

    The eldest of the four, Chen Er, said, ¡°Rest assured, prince. With our Demon-Devouring Wind Formation already set up, they will die here no matter how many people they throw at us.¡±

    Lin Qingliu, however, didn¡¯t seem to rx in the slightest. Instead, he said, ¡°The Boundless Sect has remained stationary outside of Forward Pond Pass ever since they got here. But a few moments ago, they began to celebrate, as if they were weing someone back. And now, they are sounding the drums of war...... A powerful enemy has probably arrived on the scene and given them renewed hope.¡±

    ¡°A powerful enemy?¡± The four brothers were stunned.

    ¡°Su Chen,¡± Lin Qingliu spat out through gritted teeth.

    Su Chen hade here?

    Everyone felt their hearts tremble involuntarily.

    The Chen brothers nced at each other.

    Then, Chen Er said, ¡°Even though Su Chen is their Sect Master, he is merely a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator. His personal strength is not worth mentioning in theserge battles.¡±

    At this point in time, Long Sang still believed that Su Chen¡¯s strength was still merely at the Spirit Burning Realm.

    Lin Qingliu, however, knew that an opponent who was capable of throwing the Harpies into total disarray while only at the Light Shaking Realm could not be underestimated. In addition, he had managed to glean some crucial information from those earlier cheers.

    The enemy was about to go all-out.

    As such, he was keenly aware of how dangerous this uing battle would be.

    ¡°You guys leave first,¡± he said.

    ¡°What?¡± The Chen brothers were all stunned.

    Lin Qingliu exined, ¡°We will definitely lose this fight. I thank you four for your support, but now that the oue has been determined, there is no need for you all to go to the grave with me. You should return to Spiral Jade Ind and pass your days there peacefully instead.¡±

    The Chen brothers knew that Lin Qingliu wouldn¡¯t say this for no reason, and they couldn¡¯t suppress the surprise in their hearts.

    They were just about to say something when they saw two people flying in their direction from the Boundless Sect¡¯s camp. It was Su Chen and Gu Qingluo, riding upon their Void Seahorse.

    There was no need for them to even attack. The Void Seahorse on its own was shocking enough. The Void Seahorse wasn¡¯t holding its aura back at all, and it was unreservedly unleashing its full power. Spatial vortexes constantly formed and disappeared around it randomly, causing its body to glow with a faint, rippling, and imperceptible light. This blurry area around the seahorse was obviously a zone of destruction, which threatened to annihte anything that entered its path. Any person or object that entered this zone would be cut to pieces.

    Sovereign!

    That was a Sovereign!

    And Su Chen and Gu Qingluo were sitting on the back of that Sovereign.

    They were riding a Sovereign?

    The Chen brothers almost fainted when they saw this.

    ¡°This is an illusion. It must be an illusion......¡± Chen Er muttered to himself in disbelief.

    A momentter, however, Su Chen charged forwards on the Void Seahorse, riding headfirst into the Demon-Devouring Wind Formation.

    Hiss!

    The formation began to hiss eerily as a demonic wind began to whistle through the air.

    This wind, however, ran straight into the Void Seahorse¡¯s frighteningly destructive spatial vortexes, which chewed up the wind and spat it out without a problem.

    At the same time, a powerful burst of Yang Energy surged forth as a Shining Dragon image appeared in midair, bearing down upon the gathered Long Sang soldiers like a scorching sun.

    The Demon-Devouring Wind Formation was a Yin-type formation. And the dual Yin natures of the demonic energy and the chilling wind made this formation exceptionally effective. The only weakness of the formation was Yang-type mes, and not just any kind of Yang-type me either. After all, the Demon-Devouring Wind Formation was an incrediblyplicated formation, and its core consisted of a number of different Yin-type treasures.

    Unfortunately, today it was matched up against the might of the Shining Dragon.

    If the Shining Dragon Bloodline could suppress even a Sovereign Beast Wave, then how could the Demon-Devouring Wind Formation even put up a fight?

    The Shining Dragon Aspect appeared high in the sky, and its harsh sunlight beat down on the ground, melting away the sinister winds of the formation like ice.

    The formation that the Chen brothers had poured so much time and effort into creating waspletely destroyed by the Shining Dragon¡¯s overwhelming power.

    The Chen brothers felt their stomachs churn.

    Some of the Golden Sand soldiers were still maintaining the formation and attempting to attack in order to hold the line. Unfortunately, their attacks were swallowed up by the spatial vortexes and disappeared without a trace ¡ª Su Chen and the Void Seahorse had worked together to wrought a massive sphere of spatial destruction that barreled through the pass.

    Given the raw destructive potential of spatial power, there was virtually no one who could withstand its might. The Void Seahorse steamrolled through everything in its path.

    Actually, even though spatial vortexes were terrifyingly powerful, their area of effect was generally quite limited, and under normal circumstances, they wouldn¡¯t im that many lives. However, the Golden Sand soldiers were extremely disciplined and fought withbination tactics. As such, they would never disperse, and would instead stick together, even to the death.

    This was absolutely the right choice when facing most powerful opponents, and it allowed them to maximize the effect of their numerical advantage. But against overwhelming might, however, this only sealed their fates.

    These spatial vortexes were so powerful that not even an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator could stop them. They could only be avoided. This was indeed worthy of abined technique unleashed by Su Chen and the Void Seahorse.

    The Golden Sand soldiers¡¯ attempts to defend themselves were like ants trying to halt a rolling cart.

    Their team tactics would not save them this time. Instead, it only served to hasten their demise. Every spatial vortex churned through hundreds of soldiers like massive meat grinders.

    Wherever the spatial storms went, soldiers died in droves.

    Su Chen and Gu Qingluo were like street cleaners ¡ª one nullified the formation while the other purged the area of all life. The Demon-Devouring Wind Formation had beenpletely dismantled. The Chen brothers trembled, unable to believe their eyes.

    At the same time, the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples charged forward.

    But when they charged into the formation, they found that the number of Golden Sand soldiers still alive was simply pitiful ¡ª the spatial storms had ravaged their formations, not even leaving corpses behind.

    The surviving Golden Sand soldiers, who had just undergone baptism by spatial vortex, werepletely stunned.

    There were very few techniques that were this unreasonably powerful. The sheer destructive might had left an indelible shadow in their hearts,pletely dousing any desire to resist.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples had been expecting an epic showdown, but in the end, they barely even had a chance to fight.

    By the time Li Chongshan and the others caught up to Su Chen, Lin Qingliu and the Chen brothers had already been turned into dust at Su Chen¡¯s hands. Maybe it was because their fear of Su Chen had driven them mad, but they made no attempt to surrender or escape. Instead, they fearlessly charged forward, the final shes of resistance in this battle that were promptly swallowed up by the void.

    Li Chongshan flew forwards, his expression gloomy.

    When Su Chen saw his sullen expression, he couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Li Chongshan replied, ¡°Didn¡¯t we agree that you would neutralize the formation and that we would deal with the soldiers?¡±

    Su Chen was momentarily taken aback before he smacked his head. ¡°I got too caught up in the heat of the battle and forgot to leave some for you. My bad.¡±

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 80: Negotiations

    The battle at the Forward Pond Gate was an easy victory for the Boundless Sect. Fifty thousand Golden Sand soldiers had been massacred, and Lin Qingliu hadid his life down for his country.

    When news of this spread, an uproar spread throughout the country.

    Whether or not the Boundless Sect was going to take over Long Sang was no longer a question of if but when. However, just because the Boundless Sect could win this battle didn¡¯t necessarily mean that they would be able to take over all of human territory.

    After that battle, there were virtually no more groups of soldiers capable of standing in the Boundless Sect¡¯s way.

    Lin Mengze chose to gather all the remaining troops to himself and turtled up in Long Coiling City.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s expansion proceeded without incident, and they quickly swept their way across most of Long Sang.

    Three dayster, the Boundless Sect finally showed up at Long Coiling City after swallowing up the rest of Long Sang.

    At this point, only Long Coiling City remained under Lin Mengze¡¯s control.

    But as long as Long Coiling City was still there, Long Sang was still legally in the Lin n¡¯s hands. The other territory was merely under ¡°temporary seizure.¡±

    Only by wiping out the Lin n would they have truly sessfully taken control.

    Today was the day that the Boundless Sect was going to finish this mission and establish themselves as a force to be reckoned with amongst the Seven Kingdoms.

    Upon realizing that they would soon be the leaders of an entire country, the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples were ecstatic.

    Off in the distance, the Boundless Sect¡¯s eight floating frigates and the pce all appeared, surrounded by countless Cloud-Piercing Shuttles.

    Most typical armies had very few Light Shaking Realm cultivators and above, so there was always a shortage of Cloud-Piercing Shuttles. This was why they always moved on foot, while the ones who could fly assumed overwatch positions and advanced at the speed of an old turtle. The Boundless Sect, on the other hand was primarily made up of cultivators who could fly, and those who could not were seated in the Cloud-Piercing Shuttles. As such, the Boundless Sect¡¯s mobility was astounding.

    As such, traditional armies had no way ofparing with the Boundless Sect. It was only natural that the Boundless Sect held an absolute advantage.

    When the soldiers guarding Long Coiling City saw the sky filled with floating ships and cultivators, their stomachs churned.

    How could the entire army fly? This was basically a heavenly army.

    How were they to defend themselves against such an army?

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples stopped not far from Long Coiling City. At this point, the city¡¯s defensive barriers had already been activated, and soldiers lined the walls of the city.

    Long Coiling City had existed for thousands of years, and it had endured a number of invasions in the past. The tempering of its past experiences made it so that its defenses were no weaker than the Flowing Gold Fort¡¯s.

    It had previously withstood the attacks of three hundred thousand Ravagers, a giant Beast Wave, and an eighty-thousand strong army of rebels and pirates. Every bloody trial only announced just how resilient and strong it was. Even though it had fallen before, that was usually the result of internal strife.

    An external invasion had never sessfully breached the walls of the city before.

    However, the soldiers guarding the fort had no confidence when they saw the Boundless Sect arrayed in formation before them.

    Even so, they needed to be confident.

    Because they had other ns in ce.

    A few people flew out of the city towards the Boundless Sect.

    The person at the very front was Li Wuyi.

    For Liaoye¡¯s emperor to suddenly appear in this ce had obvious implications.

    Not only so, but Su Chen was also quite familiar with the person next to Li Wuyi - Chu Jiangyu.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t recognize the others, but based on their auras and bloodlines, it was quite apparent that they were important political leaders from the other countries.

    ¡°So the other countries finally couldn¡¯t sit back any longer, huh?¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    Even though the Seven Kingdoms would fight amongst each other from time to time, they were still mostly allied, and each bore their fair share of glory and shame. Every time an important situation arose, they would band together to deal with it.

    Lin Zuiliu¡¯s rebellion had been quashed by the six countries, who had sent aid to Lin Mengze.

    Now that the Boundless Sect was bearing down on Long Coiling City, the six other countries had also made their appearances.

    The only reason they had taken so long to appear wasn¡¯t part of their n. The Boundless Sect was simply moving too quickly.

    Bureaucrats always did things at a leisurely pace. Back then, it had taken nearly two months for the three countries to settle on a n of attack against the Harpies. Inparison, the Boundless Sect had only taken half a month to sweep through all of Long Sang.

    As such, while the six other countries were discussing amongst themselves what to do, they suddenly realized that the Boundless Sect was suddenly at Lin Mengze¡¯s throat when they had merely been at his belt buckle the other day.

    This was why they had hurriedly sent over an envoy to Long Sang. If they had been just a little slower, there wouldn¡¯t have been any discussions to be had.

    Su Chen was not surprised by the fact the six kingdoms had sent a joint diplomatic envoy here, but he was slightly surprised that Li Wuyi had chosen toe himself.

    As he watched Li Wuyi draw close, he cupped his hands in greeting. ¡°Su Chen greets Emperor Li.¡±

    Li Wuyi chuckled. ¡°Greetings, Sect Master Su. I never would have thought that the Boundless Sect would be so imposing in but the span of a few years. This is truly the good fortune of the human race.¡±

    ¡°What a pity that this strength is not being directed at the foreign races, but at our fellow humans. This is truly a tragedy,¡± one of the old men standing next to him said coldly.

    Su Chen shot him a nce. ¡°Who are you?¡±

    The old man proudly replied, ¡°Greatwind¡¯s number one physician, You Tianxiang.¡±

    ¡°I think you should change your name to You Tianxia instead,¡± Su Chen impolitely replied [1. Su Chen is changing ¡°xiang¡±, which means auspicious, to ¡°xia¡±, which means blind.].

    ¡°What did you say?¡± The old man was incensed.

    ¡°I¡¯m saying that you¡¯re not only blind, but also an idiot! If Feng Zhuying sent you to try and convince me, is he trying to kill Lin Mengze instead of save him?¡± Su Chen thundered, his gaze cold.

    Everyone knew exactly what the Boundless Sect¡¯s grudge with Lin Mengze was.

    During the past few years, Lin Mengze had been the one bullying the Boundless Sect. The Boundless Sect was merely retaliating. The old man, however, was openly criticizing Su Chen for essentially betraying his fellow humans instead of attacking the foreign races. His bias was extremely obvious.

    But even if he was biased, his manner of speech was incredibly crude. Even Su Chen couldn¡¯t wrap his head around why Feng Zhuying would send such an idiot to negotiate with him.

    Li Wuyi chuckled. ¡°He¡¯s not the person Brother Feng had sent. That person encountered an ident along the way and wasn¡¯t able to make it. It just so happened that this doctor was in Long Sang at the moment, so we sent word to him as a substitute. It appears now that this was a mistake. He is clearly crude and unrefined, and has offended Sect Master Su. I think it would be best for him to die here and now.¡±

    You Tianxiang was rmed. ¡°Emperor Li......¡±

    Actually, he wasn¡¯t a total idiot. However, his strength had led him to be far too arrogant. He had originally imagined that Su Chen would have to give the joint envoy quite a bit of face, and that had given him the confidence to speak so arrogantly and carelessly. Su Chen felt that You Tianxiang was quite crude, but he didn¡¯t know that You Tianxiang felt like he was being quite courteous already.

    The price for being arrogant when he shouldn¡¯t have been arrogant, however, was steep.

    An instantter, Li Wuyi raised his palm and pushed it against You Tianxiang¡¯s head.

    There was no extreme burst of power or show of force. This simple-seeming palm, however, caused the old doctor¡¯s eyes to roll into the back of his head, and he immediately fell out of the sky.

    Su Chen said, ¡°He is a person of Greatwind. It¡¯s not exactly appropriate for Emperor Li to kill him, is it?¡±

    Li Wuyi calmly said, ¡°The human race does not make distinctions, and the Seven Kingdoms are all one family in the first ce. Brother Feng will only thank me for culling one of his ipetent subordinates.¡±

    There was clearly meaning concealed within his words, but he had done so in a much more elegant manner.

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°If that¡¯s the case...... Please, follow me.¡±

    Within the Boundless Sect¡¯s pce.

    Li Wuyi and the others had been seated in the main hall. Some of the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples had already stepped forwards, bringing them tea. However, this tea was a very dark green color, giving it a sinister quality.

    Su Chen said, ¡°This is the Tea of Cycles. Please, enjoy.¡±

    The name ¡°Tea of Cycles¡± almost made it seem as if the tea was inviting them to pass onto the next cycle of life. When paired with the frankly eerie appearance of the tea, it was only natural that the guests all nced at each other, momentarily unwilling to drink it.

    Chu Jiangyu, who understood Su Chen quite well, knew that Su Chen wouldn¡¯t resort to such base methods if he actually wanted to kill them. As such, he tilted his head back and drank it in one gulp.

    As the tea entered his stomach, he immediately felt a gentle warmth suffuse throughout his body, causing him to let out a sigh of contentment.

    Upon seeing that his expression was slightly strange, the other guests were even more afraid to try the tea.

    Li Wuyi took a gentle sip. He frowned for a moment before his expression smoothed out. ¡°What is this tea made from?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°This tea is made from harvesting the leaves of a tree that I nted on the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain.¡±

    Were these mere tree leaves?

    Li Wuyi felt his heart tremble. ¡°Leaves...... What kind of tree did they grow on?¡±

    ¡°Oh, the tree is nothing special,¡± Su Chen casually replied. ¡°You might have known it as the Deep Sea Sorrow before.¡±

    Everyone present felt their brains explode.

    Someone asked, their voice trembling, ¡°Deep Sea Sorrow? You mean, the instrument that is supposedly capable of elevating a lifeform and greatly increasing their cultivation base......¡±

    Su Chen nodded.

    Li Wuyi¡¯s gaze constricted. ¡°It wasn¡¯t destroyed?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°I brought it back with me to the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain and made some adjustments to it. Nowadays, it sits on that mountain, and is an incredibly valuable treasure of ours. I took some of its leaves with me this time and used it to make this tea......¡±

    Upon hearing this, the rest of the guests hesitated no longer and each took a sip.

    Even Li Wuyi couldn¡¯t help but sigh, ¡°Your style and boldness are as inspiring as always, Sect Master Su.¡±

    Style referred to the fact that he was willing to use the tree¡¯s leaves to entertain his guests, while boldness referred to the fact that Su Chen was willing to openly admit this secret.

    Su Chen smiled. ¡°There is no secret which cannot be told to men.¡±

    ¡°Is Sect Master Su not afraid that openly admitting the possession of an important treasure like the Deep Sea Sorrow will cause others to conspire against you to take it for themselves?¡± Chu Jiangyu wouldn¡¯t resist asking.

    Su Chen replied casually, ¡°They can conspire all they like. I¡¯ll deal with them one by one. In any case, haven¡¯t these ¡®others¡¯ alreadye to me before I even said anything about the Deep Sea Sorrow? I imagine that I would have had to take you all on sooner orter if I didn¡¯t agree to your conditions today, right?¡±

    Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s words, Li Wuyi immediately understood.

    He knew why Su Chen had treated them to this tea.

    So you want to use the Seven Kingdoms¡¯ alliance to threaten me?

    If I don¡¯t agree to back down here, you¡¯ll band together to deal with me?

    Fine, let me give you some additional incentive.

    See? An invaluable treasure that can elerate the growth of any lifeform is sitting right smack dab in the middle of the Boundless Sect.

    Are you game?

    If so, I¡¯ll happily take you all on at once.

    Su Chen was using this method to inform the others that he was not only unafraid of the Seven Kingdoms¡¯ alliance, but that he weed it.

    Just cause and all that.

    If everyone is scheming against me, I will scheme against everyone.

    Let¡¯s see if you still dare!

    In that moment, Li Wuyi understood.

    There was nothing to negotiate. Su Chen was unwilling to take even a half step backwards!

    Actually, Li Wuyi needed to think about how to quell the other countries¡¯ greed so that they wouldn¡¯t end up following in Lin Mengze¡¯s footsteps.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 81: Conditions

    It had to be said that Su Chen¡¯s decision was very bold and even arrogant.

    But Su Chen had the right to be arrogant, and he needed to be arrogant.

    A secret like the Deep Sea Sorrow, which was openly nted on a mountain and supplied water for tens of thousands of people to use, could not be kept a secret forever.

    As such, it made more sense for Su Chen to simply announce it publicly so that everyone knew that the Deep Sea Sorrow was in his hands.

    At the very least, this would allow him to prepare appropriately for his guests.

    The current Boundless Sect was not weaker than any other country. In the past, they had been somewhatcking in peak-tier cultivators. Now, however, with Su Chen, Gu Qingluo, and the Void Seahorse, they had nothing to fear.

    Of course, if the Seven Kingdoms banded together, they would definitely still be stronger than the Boundless Sect.

    Even so, the Seven Kingdoms would never bring out their full strength to deal with Su Chen. After all, they all had their own issues to worry about.

    Cloud Rising was constantly under attack from the Beasts, and they had a hard time even keeping themselves afloat. Even if they did send troops to participate in the fight, it would be for symbolic purposes only. The Chu n was kept in line because of Su Chen¡¯s control over the three curses. They were merely there to demonstrate their alliance with the rest of the Seven Kingdoms. Water Sheen could help the Boundless Sect now that the threat of the Oceanids was no longer present, but their Subdued Sea Branch was still under Jiang Xishui¡¯smand, and there was no way that Jiang Xishui was going to just hand over control now.

    As for Long Sang? Sorry, but they¡¯re toast already. Their strength already belonged to Su Chen.

    As such, if they were to truly fight, only Greatwind and Liaoye would probably be capable of mustering forces to fight.

    But even Liaoye needed to take the Harpies into consideration.

    Eternal Night was still banking on Su Chen fulfilling his end of the bargain and bringing him the Immortal¡¯s Soul. If Su Chen were to ask him to help in fighting against Liaoye, Eternal Night would definitely butt in.

    In any case, the Seven Kingdoms may have been of the same intentions, but none of them could afford to make great changes in order to deal with this threat.

    Unless they really nned on putting it all on the line against the Boundless Sect, who had easily swept Long Sang¡¯s armies aside, there was no point in them trying to threaten Su Chen.

    As such, Su Chen could afford to be fearless.

    Yes, I¡¯ve turned the Deep Sea Sorrow into my personal treasure. If you have the ability, feel free to try and take it from me!

    If you don¡¯t, get out of my way.

    As for Long Sang, sorry - it¡¯s mine, just like the Deep Sea Sorrow.

    You cannot ask me to spit out what I have already eaten. Long Sang and the Deep Sea Sorrow both are not an exception.

    Li Wuyi very quickly realized that there was no longer a point to negotiating any further.

    He sighed. ¡°Sect Master Su, your bravery is truly astounding. The Seven Kingdoms have always been branches growing from the same tree, but now it seems that we are fated to have one cut off today.¡±

    ¡°Not necessarily.¡±

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen changed the subject.

    Li Wuyi was taken aback. ¡°Sect Master, you mean?¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°Well, let¡¯s hear your conditions first.¡±

    Chu Jiangyu took the opportunity to speak. ¡°The fault lies with Lin Mengze for attacking the Boundless Sect first. But they are still the descendants of those with a Deste Beast bloodline, and they will be important for the future of the......¡±

    He had wanted to ask Su Chen to preserve that Deste Beast Bloodline for the sake of the future of the human race, but given how many powerful individuals the Boundless Sect had managed to produce, it was almost inevitable that the human race would graduate from bloodlines in the future. As such, it was not fitting for him toplete that thought, so he changed tacks. ¡°I hope that Sect Master will give the Lin n a chance. We are willing to concede everything west of Swallow River City to Sect Master......¡±¡±

    ¡°Is that all you¡¯re offering?¡± Su Chen said calmly. ¡°I thought that I would be able to get something from the Six Kingdoms as well.¡±

    Li Wuyi understood what Su Chen meant.

    In Su Chen¡¯s eyes, Long Sang already belonged to him. He wasn¡¯t interested in being given what already belonged to Long Sang - he wanted to see what the Six Kingdoms would give him.

    Hey, isn¡¯t your appetite a little too great?

    Su Chen, however, said, ¡°The seven Deste Beast Bloodlines have dominated the politicalndscape for three thousand years. Even though my sole ambition has been to develop a bloodline-less cultivation technique, I unwittingly made enemies of the Bloodline Nobility ns. Even so, they are still currently the backbone of the human race¡¯s defenses against foreign races. But if you all want to keep the Lin n safe, you must pay a price. Don¡¯t try to entice me with what belongs to Long Sang. After all, Long Sang is already mine anyways.¡±

    He raised his hand. ¡°If you have any precious treasures, you can gather them all together and I will ept it. Of course, I won¡¯t be taking them for nothing - I will also sell a certain number of medicines refined from the Deep Sea Sorrow for the lowest possible price. How does that sound?¡±

    So that¡¯s how it was.

    That made things interesting.

    Li Wuyi and the other nced at each other before Li Wuyi smiled. ¡°That¡¯s easy. My country¡¯s treasury has a Ink Jade Chrysanthemum. If Sect Master likes, we are more than willing to gift it to Sect Master.¡±

    Chu Jiangyu said, ¡°Sect Master isn¡¯t currentlycking in Lifesource Candles, but we do have a Blood Ape Tooth that we are willing to gift to Sect Master.¡±

    ¡°Cloud Rising will gift Thousand Beast Saliva.¡±

    ¡°Owl Country will gift a Demon Speaks Not.¡±

    ¡°Greatwind will gift a Wind-Carved Stone.¡±

    ¡°Water Sheen will gift a Frost Rose.¡±

    As expected, each of the Six Kingdoms had quite an impressive treasury avable to them.

    Su Chen nodded enthusiastically when he heard this. ¡°Very good, very good. If that¡¯s the case, I ept.¡±

    Li Wuyi asked, ¡°Then, Sect Master Su, how are you nning on handling the Lin n?¡±

    Su Chen replied immediately, ¡°Actually, I believe that cultivators should not focus on minute matters too much. The path of cultivation is long, and a cultivator shouldn¡¯t be in too much of a hurry. Entangling oneself with too many secr matters will only divide one¡¯s heart and slow one¡¯s progress. The Boundless Sect relies on cultivation and won¡¯t overly interfere with secr matters, much less be another empire. As such, this ce will still belong to the Lin n.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Is that so?¡± Li Wuyi chuckled.

    He understood Su Chen quite well and wasn¡¯t immediately moved by his words. Instead, he waited with bated breath to hear what Su Chen was going to say next.

    The Boundless Sect had fought bitterly to arrive at Long Coiling City not just to teach Lin Mengze a lesson before departing.

    Indeed, Su Chen continued, ¡°Of course, there are some rules that need changing.¡±

    Li Wuyi: ¡°Please speak, Sect Master.¡±

    Su Chen began to calmlyy out his demands.

    Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s requests, however, Li Wuyi and the others couldn¡¯t help but whistle in amazement.

    You say that you aren¡¯t nning on eliminating them, but your demands are basically going to aplish the same effect.

    The total number of requests was not high and mostly boiled down to the following:

    The first was that the Boundless Sect would be the country¡¯s institution, and their territory would be expanded to three times its current size.

    This was a normal request.

    The second was that, from this day onwards, all of Long Sang¡¯s officials tier three and above would only keep their position if the Boundless Sect allowed it.

    In other words, without the Boundless Sect¡¯s approval, all of these important officials would be viting thew.

    Even the leader of the country was no exception.

    Su Chen had constructed a crown and attached significance to it: only a person wearing this crown could rightfully reign as Emperor of Long Sang.

    As the country¡¯s main institute, the Boundless Sect would be responsible for bestowing this crown. Anyone who didn¡¯t have the crown was not allowed to be Emperor.

    In other words, even the Emperor himself had to be approved by the Boundless Sect - the crown was just to make it sound prettier on paper.

    The third was that Long Sang needed to pay the Boundless Sect a thirty percent tax every year.

    Of course, just like with the crown, Su Chen chose to call it something slightly less demeaning: an offering.

    Even though Long Sang made quite a bit of profit, their expenses were also very significant. Tacking on a thirty percent pay cut on top of that basically meant that they would barely have any left to spend.

    The fourth was that the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples be given a specialmand medallion allowing them to exercise authority over officials and soldiers at the corresponding rank.

    This was tant usurpation of authority, and Su Chen had a hard time trying to make it sound better, so he didn¡¯t bother doing it at all and merely wrote it off as a privilege that the disciples of the institute should possess in the first ce.

    In any case, these conditions could all be summed up in one sentence: the Boundless Sect was the boss of the country, and the country existed to serve the Boundless Sect and work for it.

    Even Li Wuyi was dumbfounded by Su Chen¡¯s demands.

    He wasn¡¯t going to ughter the Lin n - he was going to turn them into his ves!

    Li Wuyi coughed slightly and said, ¡°Sect Master Su, aren¡¯t these conditions a little...... extreme?¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Whether or not it¡¯s extreme is up to the Lin n, right? Why don¡¯t you let them make the decision?¡±

    Rubbish! Even an idiot knew that being a ve was better than dying.

    Li Wuyi¡¯s expression sank slightly. ¡°If you do this, it will be difficult for the Six Kingdoms to save face.¡±

    Su Chen harrumphed. ¡°It¡¯s better than wiping out the Lin n, isn¡¯t it? I know that this will be a bit difficult for you all to bear, but if you weren¡¯t even willing to ept this little, what kind of concessions would this be? Any concession you make is going to be hard to swallow.¡±

    Li Wuyi coughed. ¡°Sect Master Su is truly elegant. Since you have made your decision, I will inform Lin Mengze. He should be the one to decide the matters that pertain to him.¡±

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen shook his head. ¡°He won¡¯t need to make a decision on this one.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Everyone was taken aback.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Just because I am willing to preserve the Lin n doesn¡¯t mean that I will spare Lin Mengze. My n has no ce for Lin Mengze, Lin Wenjun, Lin Xiaochu, Lin Shng, Lin Yuexin, Lin Liusheng, Lin Baixi......¡±

    Su Chen immediately listed a long string of names, which basically included all of the members of the Lin n with any significant amount of authority.

    Only one person was the exception.

    Lin Chenyuan.

    The young prince who had made an agreement with Su Chen before.

    Li Wuyi finally understood.

    Su Chen could spare the Lin n, but he wouldn¡¯t spare Lin Mengze.

    He was only nning on leaving one source of the Lin n¡¯s bloodline alive in the form of Lin Chenyuan.

    Despite the fact that he had agreed not to ughter the Lin n, he was still basically tearing them up by the roots.

    Li Wuyi stared at Su Chen in shock. ¡°You¡¯re going to kill that many people?¡±

    Su Chen, however, shook his head. ¡°I won¡¯t be the one killing them - you will.¡±

    ¡°We will?¡± Li Wuyi was stunned.

    ¡°Yes, you. Weren¡¯t you going to inform Lin Mengze of my decision? I think that he would rather die than be a ve. You won¡¯t be able to convince him. If that¡¯s the case, why not just execute him then and there to bring this matter to a close? That would be much better.¡±

    Someone said unhappily, ¡°Sect Master Su, now you¡¯re being too extreme, aren¡¯t you? We are here to help mediate on behalf of Long San, not to be your assassins.

    Su Chen continued calmly, ¡°From today onwards, I am Long Sang, and Long Sang is me. You are correct in that you came to help Long Sang, but you are not only helping me - you are helping yourselves.¡±

    ¡°Helping ourselves?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Su Chen nodded confidently. ¡°If you are the ones who attack, you won¡¯t have to worry about losing face, because it¡¯s no longer my will but yours...... You acted of your own ord to forsake the Lin n to ally with the Boundless Sect, and as such I was moved by your act of goodwill and became your ally. Isn¡¯t this a matter worth celebrating?¡±

    As he spoke, he turned to nce at Chu Jiangyu.

    Chu Jiangyu understood. ¡°Very well. Sect Master Su indeed speaks with words in his words.¡±

    Two hourster.

    The Six Kingdoms were unable to convince Lin Mengze to capitte and instead executed him on the spot, then appointed Lin Chenyuan as his sessor.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 82: Mobilizing

    On that day, a seemingly innocuous change took ce amongst the human race that would have profound, far-reaching implications in the future.

    Long Sang¡¯s Emperor was deposed!

    The deposer was someone who was also of the Lin n and had the Lin n bloodline.

    To those who didn¡¯t know what had happened, it seemed as if nothing had changed. The Bloodline Nobility ns still reigned supreme, and the Seven Kingdoms were still governed by the seven Deste Beast Bloodlines.

    However, there was a new institute on the scene.

    The Boundless Sect.

    Even though most people didn¡¯t know exactly what had taken ce between Long Sang and Boundless Sect, that didn¡¯t stop them from recognizing the Boundless Sect¡¯s sudden surge to prominence.

    From that day onwards, the Boundless Sect fully came into the view of the public.

    More and more people wanted to begin enrolling.

    The Boundless Sect did their best to increase the stringency of their requirements, but that didn¡¯t stop waves of potential disciples from looking to join.

    To resolve this issue, the Boundless Sect¡¯s higher-ups were forced to make a rule. Three exams were put in ce - examinees would need to climb a mountain, pass through a forest, and cross a river. Each stage of the exam was quite dangerous and would test their resolve, their innate talent, and their bravery. Only those who passed all three stages would be qualified to be an Outer Court disciple.

    The Boundless Sect also reorganized slightly.

    Outer Court disciples would need to cultivate for at least three years before entering the Inner Court and receiving the Light Shaking Realm cultivating technique.

    Apart from their own effort, Inner Court disciples would need many contribution points in order to be personal disciples.

    The method of inheritance had also been modified. A special technique was used to transmit information into a disciple¡¯s Sea of Knowledge, preventing them from spreading those techniques elsewhere.

    Of course, because the Light Shaking Realm cultivation techniques had been intentionally leaked in the past, it had slowly begun to spread. However, the Spirit Burning Realm technique was firmly in the grasp of the higher-status disciples.

    ess to the Thought Manifestation Realm was even more restricted.

    Su Chen had actually neverpleted the Thought Manifestation Realm cultivation technique; he had merely managed to use the Deep Sea Sorrow¡¯s water to refine pills.

    Apart from water converted by the Deep Sea Sorrow, these pills also required three kinds of rare ingredients that could only be obtained by Su Chen¡¯s Single-Realm Teleportation Boots. As such, the quantity of production was limited, and even if one were to obtain the cultivation technique, it would still be useless.

    As the organization expanded and its influence began to spread, the Boundless Sect prospered more and more with each passing day.

    In the blink of an eye, most humans only recognized the authority of the sect and not the authority of the empire.

    The other Six Kingdoms were apprehensive about this development, and a few of the older generation even imed that if the Boundless Sect wasn¡¯t exterminated, the whole human race would be disrupted.

    Unfortunately, no matter how much attention these kinds ofments garnered, it was of no use.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s rise to prominence was not because of the Six Kingdoms¡¯ softness but because of its tenacity and strength.

    With the aid of the cultivation techniques, a constant stream of ascending disciples truly gave the Boundless Sect a boundless future to look forward to.

    Even though the Boundless Sect was still not an opponent for the other Six Kingdoms, as long as they weren¡¯t dealt with a fatal blow, they would be able to recover and regenerate until they were strong enough to take over.

    If the Six Kingdoms didn¡¯t have any external enemies, they might have been able to destroy the Boundless Sect.

    But they did, and their enemies were very powerful, so they could only sit and watch as the Boundless Sect¡¯s influence continued to spread.

    Time flew by.

    Spring flowers were soon in bloom. In the blink of an eye, a year had passed.

    During this year, the Boundless Sect had expanded like crazy. The total number of disciples had shot past the hundred thousand mark and reached 120,000 total disciples.

    However, this number would lead to a slightly inted impression of the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples. Most of them were individuals without bloodlines. They were the Boundless Sect¡¯s future, but in that moment they did little to contribute to the Boundless Sect¡¯s overall strength. In fact, in some sense, they were responsible for siphoning more and more of the Boundless Sect¡¯s resources, and it took more manpower to oversee them as well.

    Thankfully, the Boundless Sect¡¯s core of elites was seemingly limitless.

    At this point, the Boundless Sect had 24,000 Light shaking Realm cultivators, and every day they took a step closer to the 25,000 mark.

    In addition, the Boundless Sect had also officially broken two thousand Spirit Burning Realm cultivators.

    There were even four more Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators.

    These were Chu Yingwan, Jun Moxie, Lin Shaoxuan, and Gu Qingluo.

    Apart from developing within the country, the Boundless Sect¡¯s influence also began to spread to the other six Kingdoms.

    The benefits of being Long Sang¡¯s official institute began to manifest themselves at this moment. As a nonpolitical entity, the Boundless Sect could exert its influence on any of the other countries without repercussions.

    Very quickly, the Boundless Sect began to make a name for itself in the other countries as well.

    This resulted in an inevitable bacsh from the Six Kingdoms.

    A few of the older Bloodline Nobility ns began to draw up ns to try and deal with the Boundless Sect and interfere in its operations.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s rtionship with the Six Kingdoms also began to grow strained as a result.

    This was also inevitable due to their differing standpoints. The gap between the Bloodline Nobility ns and the bloodline-lessmoners manifested itself in this fashion.

    Even so, Su Chen didn¡¯t want to fight with the Six Kingdoms.

    If possible, he preferred to resolve the matter peacefully.

    ¡°Peacefully? There won¡¯t be any peace to speak of. Those ancient fogeys haven¡¯t seen eye-to-eye with us for a long time. The best way to get our enemies to go back into their shell is to make them afraid of us! If we teach them a sound lesson, peace will naturally follow.¡±

    Cheng Tianhai proimed confidently within a pce located in the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain area.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, a lot of people will die?¡± Chu Yingwan said softly as she nced at Su Chen.

    She understood Su Chen¡¯s heart.

    ¡°If we die, then so be it. What battle is deathless?¡± Cheng Tianhai said callously.

    ¡°That depends on whether those deaths were profitable or not. A ughter amongst humans is not what we are after,¡± Su Chen said.

    As soon as Su Chen spoke, the others wisely chose to shut their mouths.

    He sat on the chair reserved for the Sect Master and gazed off into the distance. ¡°With the persistent threat of the foreign races, the civilians must have a hard time surviving already. If we start a civil war now, they will onlyugh at us. The Seven Kingdoms have been around for three thousand years and have endured so many storms precisely because of their assuming a united front against external enemies. If the Boundless Sect attempts to start civil conflicts immediately after rising to power, what will the others think about us?¡±

    Cheng Tianhai was rendered speechless.

    Yes, the Bloodline Nobility ns had never devolved to fighting with each other. They had always faced off against outsiders as allies. Would the Boundless Sect really ignore these ever-present external threats?

    If that was the case, the Boundless Sect would definitely seem short-sighted and incapable of restraining their selfishness for the sake of the bigger picture. Even the Boundless Sect¡¯s own disciples would probably feel that way.

    ¡°But those Bloodline Nobility ns are increasingly bing a thorn in our side. If this continues, we will have a hard time expanding in the future,¡± Jun Moxie said.

    ¡°If it¡¯s hard to expand, then so be it,¡± Su Chen calmly replied. ¡°Perhaps because things have gone too smoothly for us up until now, we seem to have lost the ability to handle small problems. If we immediately jump to ughtering our opponents just because we are having a hard time expanding, we are ignoring a lot of other possibilities. Of course, there are some enemies that are an exception.¡±

    His subordinates could be as impulsive as they wanted, but as the Sect Master, it was Su Chen¡¯s responsibility to remain even-keeled.

    He knew that some small difficulties in expanding wouldn¡¯t have a major effect on the overall situation.

    His ultimate goal stilly with the foreign races.

    In the end, it was still Shi Kaihuang who understood what his disciple was thinking. ¡°You mean...... the Astrals?¡±

    Su Chen nodded slightly. ¡°It¡¯s about time for us to make our move against them.¡±

    ¡°Attacking the Astrals now? Then what about those nobles who keep making trouble for us?¡± Lin Shaoxuan asked.

    ¡°Let them make as much trouble as they like. We should give up on expanding for now and immediately retract our forces,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Retracting their forces would be the best way to prepare for mounting a full-power assault.

    Before every important offensive expedition, it was important to prepare adequately and decrease control over surrounding areas in order to gather strength.

    They had done this when assaulting the Abyss, and now was no exception.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°If those nobles want to make trouble, let them. The more, the better. The Boundless Sect¡¯s focus should not be ced on the gain or loss of these individual cities. We must look at the future. Half of the Primordial Continent is still in the hands of the Beasts, and of the half controlled by the Intelligent Races, we have less than a third of that territory. There is so muchnd to be imed and so many enemies to kill. These cities pale inparison. When we return victorious, then you can look and see who else dares to stir up trouble. If there are still people bouncing around then, we can swiftly exact our retribution then!¡±

    This short and simple speech managed to stir up a sense of heroism in the hearts of all who heard.

    This was what it meant to have a broad view.

    In Su Chen¡¯s eyes, the Bloodline Nobility ns were no more than clowns and weren¡¯t worth his attention or consideration. Once the powerful enemies were dealt with, then he would have the bandwidth to unsparingly weed out those who still dared to make trouble.

    The meeting quickly came to an end after that.

    On that day, the Boundless Sect began to retract their influence and prepared to assault the Astrals.

    The sect¡¯s disciples, who had been scattered all across human territory, returned.

    Some of the groups that had been harassing the Boundless Sect thought that they had been victorious and celebrated, but there were others who felt that the Boundless Sect¡¯s actions were abnormal and recognized that something significant was about to take ce.

    However, no one had any clue what kind of storm Su Chen was preparing to stir up.

    The Demonic Wind Altar was a small town at the border of Owl Country and Astral territory.

    Because this ce was remote and deste, not many people lived here. One of the benefits of living in this ce was thatnd was plentiful, but one of the downsides was that it was often besieged.

    Sometimes, the Astrals would be attacking, while other times the humans would be pushing back.

    Typically, it was the humans who wereunching offensives.

    The Astrals weren¡¯t exactly skilled when it came to frontal confrontations.

    As such, humans typically held the advantage in a frontal showdown.

    Owl Country was the only country that held the advantage against an external invading force.

    Of course, they didn¡¯t consider themselves lucky because of this.

    Even though the Astrals weren¡¯t very good at fighting head-on, they were still not easy to deal with.

    Their sneaky tactics and their ability to control other humans were tricky to deal with, and there were quite a few people who preferred to die on the battlefield than try and fight the Astrals.

    For this reason, Owl Country¡¯s soldiers never went out in small hunting parties against the Astrals. Instead, they would move outpany bypany. Even in the most remote of locations, they would either choose to station an entirepany or no one at all.

    In addition, they abided by a number of strict rules.

    You weren¡¯t even allowed to use the bathroom on your own.

    Demonic Wind Altar was no exception. Even though there were only a few dozen civilians here, there were a thousand soldiers stationed here.

    As per usual, the soldiers trained during the day and stood guard at night.

    The guards stood in pairs, gazing up at the night sky and chatting with one another.

    ¡°Hey, stay alert. Don¡¯t let us be ambushed by our enemies without even realizing it,¡± the captain called out from not too far away.

    ¡°What ambush?¡± one of the soldiers saidzily. ¡°The Astrals won¡¯t ughter their way over. Instead, they¡¯ll sneak up and just control us. It¡¯ll be over before we even realize it.¡±

    ¡°Absolutely. I¡¯ve been a soldier for so long, but I¡¯ve never seen arge group of soldiers before.¡±

    Someone interjected, ¡°We¡¯re arge group of soldiers, aren¡¯t we?¡±

    The group of soldiers allughed.

    As they wereughing, however, a soldier suddenly felt that something was off.

    He nced up in the sky before all the color drained from his face. ¡°Cap- Captain!¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± the captain asked impatiently.

    The soldier stammered, ¡°There¡¯s a-rge group of so- soldiers.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± The captain was stunned and immediately whirled around. ¡°What are you trying to pull? Where did the Astrals get arge group of soldiers from?¡±

    The soldier pointed above. ¡°Up...... up there.¡±

    The rest of the soldiers looked up at the sky and were immediately bbergasted.

    They watched as countless cultivators flew past overhead, shooting into the darkness ahead.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 83: Targe

    Because the sky was dark, the soldiers of Owl Country¡¯s vision was limited. All they could see was arge group of cultivators flying across the night sky. They had no idea how many cultivators there were, but they could tell that these flying cultivators loomed over them like a massive cloud.

    Their suffocating, weighty, and solemn aura bore down on the soldiers below.

    One of the cultivators flying overhead nced down at the ground as he flew by.

    This casual nce caused the soldiers to feel as if a ferocious beast hadid its eyes upon them.

    ¡°How incredible. A single Origin Qi Schr can actually possess that much consciousness power.¡± Even though the soldier was quite weak, he had a decent amount of experience. And because he was used to fighting against the Astrals, he was actually quite familiar with consciousness power.

    ¡°Lower your head and shut your mouth!¡± one of the nearby officers hissed at him.

    Even though he had no idea who these flying cultivators were, their sheer number made it abundantly clear that it was not thepany¡¯s ce to deal with them.

    A single one of those flying Origin Qi Schrs was more than capable of ughtering them all.

    And there were somehow a whole group of those monsters flying off into the distance.

    How many Light Shaking Realm cultivators were there exactly?

    Why was there still no end to them?

    The soldiers watched on from below, all dumbfounded.

    Was this an illusion technique?

    Was it even appropriate to call all these Origin Qi Schrs experts? With so many of them here, wouldn¡¯t it be more appropriate to refer to them as ordinary?

    As the procession continued overhead, the soldiers¡¯ amazement reached a point where it could increase no further.

    They were not just ordinary ¡ª they were basically cabbages!

    Finally, all of the ¡°cabbages¡± finished passing by overhead.

    The night returned to its silent, peaceful state, but the soldiers were all in a quiet daze.

    After a long time, thepanymander finally said, ¡°Something big is about to happen!¡±

    ¡°Then what should we do, Commander?¡± someone asked excitedly.

    Thepanymander red. ¡°What should we do? What do you think we can do? Eat, sleep, and repeat!¡±

    ¡°Past Demonic Wind Altar is Old Crow¡¯s Nest. And past that is the Scorched Lightning Region,¡± Lin Shaoxuan said to Su Chen.

    The Scprched Lightning Region was another forbidden no-man¡¯snd. It was constantly bombarded by lightning and fire, turning it into a region of death. Even Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators would need to be careful when venturing through there.

    ¡°That ce is too dangerous to travel through, so it leaves us with merely two options. The first is to go around it, which will take us a number of extra days. The second is to go underground, but there are eighteen different entrances and quite a few marshes along the way. It¡¯d still be very dangerous, and there are also Astrals hiding down there that we might not be able to defend ourselves against. Sect Master, what should we......¡± Lin Shaoxuan turned to nce at Su Chen.

    Su Chen calmly waved his hand nonchntly. ¡°We came here to ughter the Astrals, so let¡¯s just charge right on through.¡±

    ¡°Hey, we came here to take the Immortal¡¯s Soul,¡± Lin Shaoxuan reminded.

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Yes. And by exterminating the Astrals, the Immortal¡¯s Soul will naturally fall into our hands.¡±

    Unlike the Oceanids, Su Chen only held a single attitude towards the Astrals: ughter them all!

    His grudge against the Astrals was partly due to their vastly different physiques. The Astrals had given their consciousness physical form with the Consciousness Extraction Instrument, making them a kind of spiritual entity at their core. This was a vast departure from a living creature with a natural body of flesh and blood; in some sense, they were actually even more distinct from humans than the Beasts.

    As such, many people refused to recognize them as one of the Intelligent Races.

    Actually, this was mostly due to how the Astrals preferred to carry out their objectives. They always hid in the dark, utilizing their ability to manipte other creatures to aplish their ns. As such, they were always ruining things from behind the scenes.

    Typically, most people viewed the Astrals with a healthy amount of fear.

    They were like nightmares or ghosts, always leaving behind a shadow in the hearts of men.

    Su Chen had encountered the Astrals a total of three times. The first had been at Clear River, where he had personally met a human who had been enved by an Astral. The second was on Forever Clear Ind, where an Astral had infiltrated the ranks of the Boundless Sect and was nning on stirring up trouble. The third was when he met Diomedes, and Diomedes had straight up lied to his face multiple times. It could be said that Su Chen held zero positive feelings towards the Astrals.

    More importantly, the Boundless Sect was powerful enough that they didn¡¯t need to rely on negotiations to sessfully get what they wanted.

    They wanted the Immortal¡¯s Soul?

    Easy.

    They just needed to kill all of the Astrals and take it.

    This was Su Chen¡¯s thought process and his boldness. More importantly, only he was capable of doing something like that.

    This wasn¡¯t only because of the Boundless Sect¡¯s strength; it was also due to Su Chen¡¯s powerful research prowess. He held the unique advantage of being able to develop a technique that specifically targeted his opponents¡¯ weaknesses.

    Why had the Oceanids ced so much trust in Su Chen? It was because they were confident that Su Chen could develop something that would be especially effective against the Deep Sea Sorrow. And Su Chen had in fact done precisely that ¡ª without his special medicine, the Boundless Sect wouldn¡¯t have been able to withstand the attacks of hundreds of Sovereigns.

    And now that Su Chen was nning on dealing with the Astrals, it was only natural that he would develop a counter to them.

    Actually, Su Chen had managed to develop a prototype all the way back on Forever Clear Ind. Any Astrals who approached their base would be immediately discovered. However, because Su Chen¡¯s primary focus at the time had been the Deep Sea Sorrow, he hadn¡¯t treated the Astrals as a real threat.

    But after the Abyss was destroyed, it was now time to target the Astrals.

    The Astrals¡¯ most frightening ability was consciousness envement, which allowed them to silently take control of most any intelligent lifeform and use them as they saw fit.

    However, consciousness envement¡¯s sess was affected by the target¡¯s consciousness. Su Chen¡¯s consciousness was so powerful that he was impossible to enve. Zhu Xianyao and anybody proficient in simr techniques were also impossible to enve.

    Even so, the Astrals often had a wide range of targets to pick from, and to most people, they were still worthy of being considered nightmares.

    As a result, Su Chen had chosen to focus on this area for his research.

    The first thing he did was to publicly distribute the True Spirit Scripture for every Boundless Sect disciples to cultivate so that their consciousness power would increase. Of course, because theycked Su Chen¡¯s microscopic eyes, their cultivation speed was far slower.

    Next, Su Chen began to distribute his Heart Wall technique as well, which was extremely effective in resisting consciousness envement. Unfortunately, learning this technique required a certain amount of consciousness power. More importantly, it needed to be consciously activated, and it could only be used to defend against an iing consciousness attack, not nullify a pre-existing one. If the Astrals struck from stealth, then the Heart Walls technique wouldn¡¯t do anything.

    As such, one of Su Chen¡¯s first goals was to improve that technique. His mastery of consciousness power had already reached the Tenth Ring, and with the aid of the Dream Beauty Bloodline, his research had quickly begun to bear fruit.

    This fruit was the reason why Su Chen dared to attack the Astrals, thereby aplishing what many others had tried and failed to do in the past.

    At this moment, Su Chen was discussing battle strategies with Lin Shaoxuan and the others when a re suddenly rose in the distance.

    Upon seeing the signal, light flickered across Su Chen¡¯s eyes. ¡°Speak of the devil!¡±

    As he spoke, his figure flickered, and he immediately disappeared.

    He had distributed his clones amongst the ranks of the soldiers, and a momentter, he reappeared near where the re had gone off. The nearby cultivators were all grasping their weapons nervously as they nced around. There was a cultivator lying on the ground next to them, but his eyes were tightly closed, and he was no longer conscious.

    Su Chen nced at the unconscious cultivator. ¡°So he¡¯s entered a stage of semi-consciousness? When did you discover this?¡±

    ¡°Just now. There¡¯s two more over there as well,¡± one of the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples replied loudly.

    Su Chen saw another two unconscious disciples in the direction that the disciple had pointed in. They were also being guarded by arge group of people.

    Su Chen¡¯s lips curved up in a cold smile. ¡°I¡¯m amazed! He actually gave it two more tries.¡±

    This state of semi-consciousness was a consciousness technique that Su Chen had developed for the sake of protecting his disciples against consciousness envement.

    Unlike Heart Walls, which had high consciousness requirements and needed to be consciously activated, this state of semi-consciousness was the result of an Arcana Technique that passively triggered whenever its user was threatened.

    Its function was quite simple. Whenever a foreign will attempted to take over a cultivator¡¯s body, that cultivator¡¯s will would be temporarily sealed, greatly increasing their ability to resist the invasion and rendering the consciousness envement ineffective.

    As soon as this technique was activated, the increased defensive capabilities would allow the cultivator to better repel the invading will. At the same time, however, the cultivator would lose control of their body. Simply put, they would enter aatose state.

    As such, in a one-on-one fight against an Astral, this technique was equivalent to a death sentence. This technique came with a fatal side effect, which was that the cultivator would lose the ability to prevent the opponent from simply killing them.

    In arge-scale battle, however, it was far more valuable.

    If one hadrades to protect them, then the situation waspletely different.

    This group of soldiers had been flying along when they had suddenly noticed that one of theirrades had fallenatose.

    Everyone immediately realized that thatrade had been ambushed by an Astral, who was hiding in the shadows, trying to control them and sow chaos.

    Consciousness envement was an invisible process. It was possible for a person to fall under another¡¯s control right in front of your very eyes without you noticing. That was why it was so scary.

    Now, however, after these three people had fallen unconscious, the ho¡¯s nest had been stirred. All of the nearby soldiers lit their res as a warning.

    In fact, only a few seconds had passed from when the Astral had attacked to when Su Chen had arrived on the scene.

    As such, Su Chen merely needed to nce at his surroundings before confidently saying, ¡°He¡¯s still here.¡±

    After these words, he suddenly harrumphed.

    This harrumph sent powerful waves of consciousness power undting in all directions. The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples were unaffected, but the Astral hiding in the darkness felt a sudden sense of impending doom wash over him and was forced to jump from his hiding spot.

    And as soon as he appeared, Su Chen sensed him.

    A faintly illusory figure had been hiding in the nearby bushes. He had probably been in that area the entire time, but no one had detected him until this very moment.

    The Astral knew that he was in deep trouble and hurriedly attempted to retreat.

    Su Chen harrumphed again. ¡°Where do you think you¡¯re going?¡±

    A consciousness spike flew straight at his target.

    This consciousness spike was invisible, but the Astral was able to see it clearly ¡ª it glowed like a fireball in a dark tunnel.

    When the Astral realized that his opponent was using consciousness techniques to attack, he instinctively let out a sigh of relief.

    An Astral¡¯s consciousness was their most powerful weapon. For a human to try to fight him with a consciousness technique was almostughable.

    That Astral didn¡¯t even attempt to defend himself, instead using his ethereal body to forcefully withstand the attack.

    But the moment the consciousness spike stabbed into his side, the Astral felt a wave of intense pain radiate throughout his entire body.

    It hurt like hell!

    After bing an Astral, he had never felt pain like this before.

    So he could still feel pain?

    Soon after, he sumbed to the pulsating waves of pain.

    The Astral¡¯sst thought before he copsed was, Who is this guy? Why is his consciousness even stronger than an Astral¡¯s?

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 84: Cemetery

    Su Chen was very happy to have captured an Astral alive.

    He handed the Astral over, then left, leaving the interrogation to his subordinates.

    The interrogation went very smoothly.

    The Astrals were not exactly a resilient race. They were sinister, vicious, and tricky, but they were not strong.

    They were lonely, cold-blooded creatures with long lifespans who possessed no significant affection for their fellow Astrals.

    Perhaps that was one of the reasons why the Astrals lived solitary lives - they only had themselves.

    Under these circumstances, the Astral very quickly capitted.

    His name was Leica, which made him a mid-tier Astral.

    He was from Tormuncardo.

    Gloom Kingdom was a veryx kingdom. There was virtually no societal structure to speak of. Because every Astral preferred to wander around the gloom on their own, there was no such thing as a family structure or nonbatant civilians. Each Astral was considered a unit ofbat.

    As such, the Astrals had no designated army, for they were all soldiers in the first ce.

    Whenever a big battle broke out, the Astrals would temporarily group together locally. The Astrals near Tormuncardo would gather at one ce, those in the Wai Caves at another, those in Terror City elsewhere, etc. Mobilization orders were passed on through consciousnessmunications. Because they couldmunicate telepathically, their movements werepletely silent no matter how many Astrals were grouped together.

    Tormuncardo was one of the cities holding the front line against Owl Country, as well as one of the targets that the Boundless Sect was set on taking down.

    After discovering that Leica was from Tormuncardo, the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples realized that their n to attack under the cover of night had more than likely already been exposed - the Astrals possessed the ability tomunicate over long distances, especially when gathered in one ce. With the support of a corresponding Origin Formation, it was entirely possible for the Astrals tomunicate right in front of the Boundless Sect without them even realizing it.

    In other words, the Astrals were interrogating the Boundless Sect even as the Boundless Sect was interrogating the Astrals.

    This was very typical for the Astrals.

    As a whole, the Astrals were the strongest Intelligent Race. This was already an unspoken fact.

    After getting a grasp on the situation, Jun Moxie, who was responsible for carrying out the interrogation, reported what he had learned to Su Chen and inquired whether they would continue to attack Tormuncardo at night.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Su Chen said, ¡°We will continue the assault. Whether they have prepared for us or not, the only option we have is to steamroll our way through them. But since they know we areing, there is no need for us to hurry so much. Let¡¯s take breaks when appropriate so that we¡¯ll be prepared to fight when we get there.¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡± Jun Moxie went and passed down the answer he had gotten.

    Following Su Chen¡¯smand, everyone slowed down their advance.

    After roughly an hour, Tormuncardo appeared off in the distance.

    This city, created by the Astrals, had a very unique aesthetic.

    Unlike human cities, which hadrge walls erected around circr patches ofnd covered in defensive Origin Formations and were regrly guarded, the Astrals¡¯ cities were quite reflective of their fundamental principles. There was no unified city. Instead, tons of small Astral houses dotted thendscape. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that they had been ordered to do so, they would have chosen to live even further apart from one another.

    These houses were constructed out of Gloomrock, which naturally exuded a sinister energy that nourished the Astrals¡¯ bodies. If the space was too great, this effect would be diminished, so the Astrals¡¯ houses were typically quite small and scattered.

    The Astrals had no living necessities, and needed no food or water. As such, they had very little production apart from these small houses.

    The barren, destend, the withered trees, the sinister energy floating everywhere, and the coffin-like houses made it almost seem as if the entire city was a giant cemetery.

    The Astrals seemed even more ghost-like as a result.

    The only difference that they had from the legendary immortal races were that those immortal races relied on quantity, while the Astrals relied on quality.

    Before the Boundless Sect¡¯s armies had even arrived, a formless energy fluctuation had rippled throughout the cemetery.

    Very quickly, Astrals began to float out of the small houses.

    They gathered in the sky above Tormuncardo silently, maintaining their eerie silence.

    An Astral glowing with strange light was the first to speak. ¡°The humans are attacking us. They number in the tens of thousands, but the other details aren¡¯t so clear.¡±

    It was impossible to tell how strong an Astral was just based on outward appearance. The only way to distinguish them was that they would glow once their energy had condensed to a certain degree. However, this could only be used to distinguish high-tier Astrals, not so much the mid- and low-tier ones. Only Su Chen, with his monstrously powerful consciousness, was capable of making such distinctions.

    This Astral, whose body was glowing with this characteristic light, was indeed a high-tier Astral.

    His name was Tajita, the leader of Tormuncardo and a member of the Astrals¡¯ society of elders.

    After Tajita spoke, the cemetery remained silent, but on the consciousness ne the Astrals immediately burst out into a mor.

    Countless discussions and argumentsmenced simultaneously.

    ¡°The humans think too highly of themselves.¡±

    ¡°We just so happen to becking in research subjects.¡±

    ¡°I need arge group of ves.¡±

    ¡°Kill them all!¡±

    Tajita was forced to quell the ¡°uproar¡± and said, ¡°This group of humans is not the same as the others. Leica was captured by them, and he informed me that these humans have some kind of ability that allows them to resist consciousness envement. If we try to use it on them, they will instead fall into aatose state.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s hard to imagine. Aren¡¯t they just courting death then?¡±

    ¡°Not necessarily. If consciousness envement bes no more than a consciousness attack, we won¡¯t be able to stir up chaos amongst their ranks any longer.¡±

    ¡°If we can¡¯t create chaos amongst their ranks, it will be hard to face them head-on. We can¡¯t rely on consciousness envement to kill them, can we?¡±

    ¡°Consciousness envement consumes a ton of energy. If it¡¯s not going to work at all, I¡¯d rather not use it.¡±

    ¡°No matter how you look at it, not being able to use consciousness envement is a big problem. We won¡¯t be able to face them head-on.¡±

    ¡°We were never able to in the first ce. A frontal conflict was never the Astrals¡¯ specialty.¡±

    ¡°But this time is different. If we can¡¯t control theirrades, many of ourbat techniques will not be usable.¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s just a portion of them, right? We have a number of other tricks up our sleeves. If they thought that victory was assured just because we can¡¯t use consciousness envement on them, they¡¯re wrong.¡±

    ¡°This is a battle that we must fight.¡±

    ¡°Yes, we must fight. Not only for Tormuncardo, but also because of their newfound resistance. We must get to the bottom of this.¡±

    ¡°Absolutely!¡±

    At the very least, all of the Astrals were able to agree that they needed to fight this battle.

    Consciousness envement was the foundation upon which the Astrals had built their empire. As such, they absolutely needed to figure out how these humans were able to resist consciousness envement.

    Now that they had made their decision, none of them hesitated. They began to spread out, and an intense howling began to fill the air.

    Amidst the howl, many puppet-like creatures walked out of the Astral houses. Some were humans, some were Harpies, some were Ravagers, and some were even Demonic Beasts.

    But regardless of their original race, their pallor was dark to the point that it bordered on ck, and their movements were incredibly stiff.

    These, naturally, were the puppets being controlled by the Astrals.

    These Astral puppets weren¡¯t like this before. After they were initially controlled, they would have still been capable of keeping their main attributes.

    But after following the Astrals back to the Gloomy Kingdom, and under the influence of the steady stream of sinister energy, their bodies began to gradually grow rigid and their intelligence declined. Eventually, they became nothing more than walking corpses.

    If that was the case, then why even bother bringing the puppets back with them? Why not just throw them away?

    This touched on the mechanism behind consciousness envement.

    The Astrals¡¯ consciousness envement technique was one of the easiest control techniques to use.

    It could be used at long range, it was usually undetectable, itsted forever, and there were theoretically no limits on the number of targets that could be controlled.

    However, there was no such thing as an invincible technique in this universe.

    Even such an outstanding consciousness technique had its ws.

    First and foremost, the opponent¡¯s consciousness power was what determined the sess or failure of the envement. While most other bewitching techniques could be resisted once the target¡¯s consciousness power had reached around a hundred units, the Astrals¡¯ consciousness envement technique could only be resisted at around five hundred units. Even so, it could be resisted.

    The second was that every use of consciousness envement would

    This decrease would continue until it reached a limit.

    In other words, an Astral¡¯s cultivation base would decline for every target that they controlled.

    As such, many Astrals who were interested in advancing their cultivation base preferred not to use consciousness envement because it would limit their advance.

    If an Astral liked controlling others, he would most likely remain a low-tier Astral for the rest of his life, and he would only be capable of controlling the weakest of creatures.

    For this reason, many Astrals would stop after acquiring a certain number of ves, and they would bring their ves back with them if they returned. Even though the sinister energy caused them to lose their deceptive capacity, it strengthened their bones and made them much more physically powerful.

    The reason the Astrals could now fight battles head-on was precisely because of these puppets.

    Tormuncardo had roughly five hundred Astrals and three thousand puppets. The numbers themselves were not very high, but they were each powerful in their own right.

    Following this howling, even more sinister energy filled the space around Tormuncardo, enveloping the entire city in a dense shroud of sinister fog. At the same time, all of the Astrals disappeared from sight.

    By the time the Boundless Sect arrived, the scene waspletely empty before them.

    ¡°It¡¯s Dark Qi,¡± Lin Shaoxuan, who was leading the offensive, said.

    The humans and Astrals had been fighting for quite some time, and they were both familiar with each others¡¯ tactics. The Astrals¡¯ sinister energy was known as Dark Qi by the humans. In fact, Dark Qi was, in some applications, considered quite a valuable resource.

    ¡°Our enemies are indeed prepared for us. Be careful! Don¡¯t enter the range of the Dark Qi,¡± Lin Shaoxuan called out. ¡°Disperse and surround Tormuncardo first. Don¡¯t let a single Astral escape!¡±

    The soldiers at the very front began to split off in two directions, but their movements were greeted by the sounds of a strange chuckle.

    ¡°Did you really think you would be fine if you didn¡¯t enter? If you won¡¯te in, then we¡¯lle out!!!¡±

    With a sharp hiss, the sinister energy suddenly expanded like a wave of fog, immediately spreading over the immediate surroundings and enveloping a majority of the Boundless Sect inside.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples suddenly discovered that they seemed to have entered apletely foreign realm.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 85: Kingdom of Loneliness

    Wang Xinchao was one of the Boundless Sect disciples¡¯ squad leaders leading the charge. Hemanded nine other Origin Qi Schrs who, like him, were all at the Light Shaking Realm. His cultivation base was the highest, with five fully-formed Lotus tforms.

    The reason why he had been able to jump from early Light Shaking to five fully formed Lotus tforms in the span of merely seven years was because he was a courageous fighter. He had made countless contributions to the sect and had been rewarded appropriately.

    In the past, he had participated in hunting Sea Beasts, stood on the front lines during the Sovereign onught, and yed a potent role in the offensive against Long Sang Country.

    But this was his first time fighting against the Astrals. He did not expect that the fight would actually develop in this fashion.

    The moment he charged onto the battlefield, a nauseatingly multicolored world appeared before him.

    He should have been surrounded by a grey sinister fog, but after he was swallowed up by the fog, he realized that he was actually in a realm filled with dazzling color. It was so bright that he was actually beginning to feel dizzy.

    It was as if there were countless rainbow-colored bubbles floating right before his eyes.

    And each bubble epassed an entire world.

    Inside those bubbles, Wang Xinchao could see countless scenes being yed out. There were bustling cities filled with people walking to and fro, tall mountains, frozen wastnds, wild oceans, and mysterious forests......

    What was going on?

    As he and his soldiers were trying to regain their bearings, one of the bubbles suddenly began to expand as it floated in their direction.

    An instantter, Wang Xinchao and his squad reappeared in the midst of a dark and mysterious forest.

    ¡°Wee to my Kingdom of Loneliness!¡±

    A shadyughter filled the air. It had no clear origin, seeminglying from all directions, which made it impossible to locate the speaker.

    ¡°Hmph. This is nothing more than the cheap tricks of a treacherous conman,¡± Wang Xinchao harrumphed coldly.

    ¡°Be careful. This is an illusion realm,¡± cautioned one of the soldiers who was familiar with the Astrals.

    The Astrals were innately talented with regards to their consciousness power and Origin Energy. Amongst all the Intelligent Races, they were superior in terms of raw potential, making them extremely fearsome in both of these aspects.

    And bybining these two innate advantages, the Astrals had developed a uniquebat style: one that centered heavily around illusion realms.

    Almost every Astral could activate and use illusion realms to their maximum potential. By leveraging their powerful consciousness and skillful control over Origin Energy, they could create a massive illusion realm that both concealed them and helped them do battle against their opponents.

    The Astrals were not good in head-on battles. Their physical fragility and their sparse numbers made them much more suited for covert assassinations. They were not fierce warriors, nor would they ever be.

    But if someone dared to fight an Astral in its territory, then they would find themselves up against a fearsome and sinister enemy.

    An Siyuan, who had been at the Light Shaking Realm, had been rendered incapable of doing anything even against a low-tier Astral precisely because of this reason.

    As soon as this squad entered the illusion realm, they were cut off from the rest of the disciples. The only thing they could sense around them was the environment of the illusion realm. It was impossible for them to sense each other even if they were right next to them.

    Most frighteningly, the entirety of Tormuncardo had been instantaneously filled with simr illusion realms.

    The five hundred Astrals residing here were capable of constructing five hundred distinct illusion realms. And despite these realms being spaced closely together, they did not interfere with each other at all. This was another unique ability that belonged solely to the Astrals.

    When the Boundless Sect¡¯s front-line troops charged into the cemetery, they were immediately divided amongst the five hundred illusion realms and separated from each other. Their numerical advantage almost immediately vanished, and there was nothing they could do but bring their full strength to bear in an attempt to resist.

    Such was always the case when fighting against Astrals.

    If I can¡¯t defeat you directly, then I¡¯ll pull you into a one-on-one battle, then use my abundant experience to defeat you!

    Wang Xinchao¡¯s squad had entered one of these illusion realms.

    They were trapped within a dense forest, with no signs of animate life nearby.

    Wang Xinchao cautiously said, ¡°Everyone, be careful. The Astral is likely somewhere within this illusion realm. He¡¯s hidden himself, so as long as we can find and kill him, the illusion realm will shatter.¡±

    ¡°But how will we find him? It feels like there¡¯s danger lurking around every corner in this forest.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be too anxious. The objects within an illusion realm seem real, but they actually aren¡¯t. Our opponent is just using Origin Energy to trick our senses. Even though this ce appears to be filled with fields of grass and trees, you can tell that something is off because if you look closely, each de of grass and each tree is identical. This is because they are all illusory, and since they are illusory, the creator of this illusion realm must have manually constructed it. The mental expenditure was simply too demanding, and he must not have had enough consciousness power, so our opponent took many shortcuts. For example, he made all the trees and all the des of grass identical, and turned a droplet of water into a vast sea,¡± one of the younger cultivators exined. His name was Wen Hai, and his experience with formations was quite formidable.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. Then how are we supposed to distinguish between what is real and what is illusory?¡± someone asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s easy. Illusory objects cannot be real, and real objects cannot be illusory. Because we are in an artificially constructed world, real objects cannot be a part of this facade. As such, as long as we carefully observe what we see, we will be able to find traces and clues that lead to the truth. There are exactly three ways to shatter an illusion. The first is to rely on your knowledge and experience. The second is through brute force, either via Origin Energy or consciousness power. And the third is what I am showing you now: closely analyze your surroundings and identify the ws in the opponent¡¯s illusion realm,¡± Wen Hai said confidently.

    So that¡¯s how it was. Everyone felt enlightened.

    ¡°Hehehe, well said.¡± The Astral couldn¡¯t resist speaking up again. ¡°But the question that you should really be asking yourselves is, ¡®Will I have the opportunity to nullify the formation?¡¯¡±

    Wen Hai confidently replied, ¡°I have already neutralized it.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Everyone present was stunned.

    Wen Hai pointed in front of him and said, ¡°Look at that tree. Its trunk is exceptionally thick, and it is obviously different from the surrounding trees. I can guarantee that someone is hiding behind that tree!¡±

    Upon hearing this, all of the cultivators simultaneously attacked without a second thought.

    Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! Countless powerful attacks careened towards the tree.

    But despite these Origin Skills being unleashed, there was no reaction whatsoever.

    Just when all of them were stunned by the oue, Wang Xinchao suddenly let out a guttural howl as he smashed his hammer at one of hisrades.

    That cultivator reacted quite quickly as well. When he saw Wang Xinchao¡¯s sudden strike, he quickly applied a barrier to himself and ran towards Wang Xinchao¡¯s direction.

    However, he was just a moment toote.

    Bang!

    A fiery-red palm mmed into Wen Hai¡¯s back. Wen Hai roared with pain as he flew through the air, his entire body aze with mes.

    The rest of the squad saw that a fiery-red figure had appeared behind Wen Hai at some point. It was impossible to see the figure¡¯s appearance, only the red hand that was slowly retracting. However, it was obvious that this figure was exuding an intense killing intent.

    ¡°Be careful! It¡¯s an Astral Servant!¡± someone yelled out.

    The figure that had just attacked Wen Hai was a puppet controlled by the Astrals. It had probably cultivated some kind of powerful palm technique in the past, which was why it had been able to easily injure a Light Shaking Realm cultivator.

    The rest of the soldiers pounced on the Astral Servant. Since the Astral Servant had revealed itself, it was impossible for it to melt into the illusion realm again. Even so, the Astral Servant clearly did not fear death, and it simrly rushed in the direction of its enemies.

    The puppet¡¯s speed was not very great, but after being strengthened by Dark Qi, its body was as tough as iron. Even though the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples had Light Shaking Realm cultivation bases, they felt like they were attacking a solid rock, as they merely caused sparks to fly off of its body in all directions.

    But even metal and stone could be easily shattered by a Light Shaking Realm cultivator.

    ¡°Metal-Boring Finger!¡±

    ¡°Jade-Shattering Fist!¡±

    ¡°Icy Squall Palm!¡±

    ¡°Magma Leg!¡±

    ¡°Demon Imprisoning Hammer!¡±

    All the cultivators unleashed their secret techniques at the Astral Servant.

    ¡°Aiya, you guys really are quite powerful. But so what? I¡¯ll kill you off one at a time nheless!¡± The Astral¡¯s sinister, eerie voice continued to float towards them as taunts flew out.

    As he spoke, ten more Astral Servants stepped out of the forest and charged towards them.

    Just when everyone was about to defend themselves, Wen Hai cried out, still in pain, ¡°Don¡¯t fall for his tricks! Those are just illusions.¡±

    But the soldiers unleashed their Origin Skills all the same.

    Indeed, these newly emerged figures all rapidly shattered. They were just illusions.

    But at the same moment, however, yet another Astral Servant shot out of the ground. Its attack skewered a Boundless Sect¡¯s disciple¡¯s foot before exploding, sting it clean off and almost causing the disciple to faint from the severe pain.

    Even though this Astral Servant was immediately subjected to a barrage of attacks, two members of the squad were now seriously injured.

    Immediately afterwards, arge wave of frost began to spread out, enveloping the verdant forest in ayer of white. An icy wind howled through the trees, slowing the squadron¡¯s movements.

    Yet another wave of Astral Servants came charging out of the forest.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples assumed that it was an illusion, but just when they were nning on ignoring it, a streak of sword light shot forth from one of them and pierced the chest of yet another Boundless Sect disciple.

    The remaining soldiers counterattacked and found that some of the Astral Servants were real and some were fake.

    By relying on its illusions, the Astral continued to unleash his servants against his opponents. Even though these servants would be immediately killed every time they revealed themselves, the squadron was still sustaining heavy injuries. And these attacks were different than usual - after being struck, Dark Qi would linger near the wounds. If this Dark Qi was not expelled, it would be impossible for them to regenerate their wounds.

    In the blink of an eye, most of the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples had been incapacitated, and an equivalent number of puppets had died.

    In the end, only Wang Xinchao was left unharmed. Even so, he was breathing hard from exertion, and was having a hard time maintaining his footing. A number of small wounds had also opened up on his body.

    ¡°Hahaha! So what if you came here with so many Light Shaking Realm cultivators? Once you have entered my Kingdom of Loneliness, the only way out is death. Oh, I forgot to tell you - if your wounds don¡¯t heal soon, they will remain there permanently. And if you wait even longer than that, the Dark Qi willpletely infiltrate your body, and you will die!¡±

    The Astralughed maniacally.

    Wang Xinchao nced at the small wounds on his body. Indeed, under the influence of the Dark Qi, his limbs were beginning to feel heavier and heavier, and the massive hammer was swinging more and more slowly through the air.

    Hu!

    Another wave of Astral Servants pounced.

    Even though he knew that they were nothing more than illusions, he couldn¡¯t be sure that no real Astral Servants were mixed in amongst their ranks. As such, he could only attack.

    And at the same time that he smashed those illusory figures, a shadowy voice spoke from behind him.

    ¡°Mystic Ice Shard!¡±

    Crack.

    Ice began to creep up Wang Xinchao¡¯s body and cover himpletely.

    He lowered his head to find a transparent hand ced on his midsection.

    The Astral!

    He had finally shown himself.

    As soon as hended his attack, the Astral floated away before Wang Xinchao had any time to react.

    He was clearly quite cautious. As he floated in midair, he guffawed, ¡°You humans seemed to have popped out of nowhere. Despite your cultivation bases, your strength is shockingly bad, and you have virtually nobat experience. So what if you have ten people in your squad? You will all still die to my hands.¡±

    At this point, the ten-man squad appeared to bepletely incapacitated with their injuries.

    Wang Xinchao shot him a cold nce. ¡°So you¡¯ve finally decided to show yourself.¡±

    His tone was cold and detached.

    Hm?

    The Astral was stunned.

    Wang Xinchao slowly pulled out a vial, which looked somewhat like a sk for holding wine.

    He tossed back the medicine, and the ice that had formed around his body retreated at a rate noticeable to the naked eye. In fact, even the sinister energy around his wounds began to retreat.

    The other wounded members of his squad also gulped down this ¡°wine.¡± Immediately afterwards, the Dark Qi that had gathered around their wounds also began to dissipate.

    ¡°What? How is this possible?¡±

    Wang Xinchao calmly said, ¡°Sect Master invented quite a few goodies in order to deal with you Astrals. Resisting your consciousness envement is but one of them, and the ability to nullify your Dark Qi is another. Otherwise...... Did you really think we would be this easy to wound?¡±

    Even without medicine, the ten of them would have been able to win against a single Astral, but they also likely would have paid a significant price to win. But with this medicine, Wang Xinchao and the others would be able to easily trick the Astral out into the open, making it much easier to fight in the future.

    As the Dark Qi was dispelled, the squad¡¯s wounds began to regenerate and they quickly surrounded the Astral.

    Wang Xinchao raised his hammer high in the air. ¡°Demon Imprisoning Hammer!¡±

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 86: Wind Silence Breach

    After half an hour, Tormuncardo had fallen.

    Five hundred Astrals all died in battle.

    Their defeat had urred so rapidly not only because of Su Chen¡¯s medicine, but more importantly because of their own personal strength.

    Those Astrals never would have expected to run into tens of thousands of Light Shaking Realm cultivators who were fully capable of steamrolling them.

    Throughout Astral history, it was quitemonce for them to win fights even when they had lower numbers to begin with.

    By relying on their trickery and elusiveness, they were able to defeat powerful foes time and time again.

    But no matter how proficient they were in fighting with a numbers disadvantage, that experience was virtually useless in the face of absolutely dominant strength.

    There was no chance that five hundred or so Astrals would be able to take on 27,000 Light Shaking Realm cultivators. The massive gap in strength ensured that they would lose. This battle had only created a ripple which quickly disappeared.

    After Tormuncardo fell, the Boundless Sect relentlessly marched onwards.

    Past Tormuncardo was the Wind Silence Breach.

    Wind Silence Breach was a stretch of rubble canyon, with piles of stones that reached towards the heavens. A massive hurricane had torn through the canyon, resulting in a twisted, winding pathway.

    In fact, this hurricane was not only wind but also Origin Energy.

    The Origin Energy in the Wind Silence Breach was incredibly chaotic and energetic, forming a natural region of turbulent Origin Energy. As such, it was much harder to control Origin Energy when inside the canyon.

    The main reason for this phenomenon was the massive breach at the center of the canyon. This breach was the real Wind Silence Breach.

    Wind Silence Breach was a half-open spatial fissure. It was connected to the void, but notpletely so, resulting in the chaotic flows of Origin Energy. Given that the canyon also contained Demonstar Ore, which could influence the flow of Origin Energy, it was only natural that this ce was incredibly dangerous. Only the Astrals would be able to survive in this kind of environment.

    As such, any Origin Qi Schrs that stepped foot into this ce would need to be incredibly careful. Both the turbulent Origin Energy and the chaotic spatial flows were very dangerous.

    The Wind Silence Breach was also one of the Gloomy Kingdom¡¯s four most defensible positions.

    These four areas were inherently dangerous and served as natural protection for the Astrals.

    Because the Astralscked the strength to repel a full-on frontal assault, they had chosen to erect their kingdom in a naturally dangerous location to survive. Wai Caves, Reaper¡¯s Pce, Nightmare Forest, and Wind Silence Breach were the four most famous locations.

    These dangerous environments were the best natural protection. Any army that dared to attack through that avenue would need to first fight against the environment itself, then deal with the Astrals utilizing the terrain to unleash sneak attacks.

    This was how the Gloomy Kingdom had existed for tens of thousands of years without ever falling.

    ¡°The Wind Silence Breach is just in front of us. This region is incredibly vast, and torrential Origin Energy is everywhere. We must be incredibly careful,¡± Li Chongshan said as he pointed off in the distance.

    Su Chen could faintly see a long spatial fissure stretching across the sky off in the distance. That was almost certainly the Wind Silence Breach. Via his spatial perception, Su Chen could sense familiar fluctuations emanating from that breach.

    He smiled slightly. ¡°Wind Silence Breach is a natural no-mansnd? Not to me. Order the troops to attack. I will handle that spatial fissure.¡±

    As he spoke, he flew off towards the breach.

    Li Chongshan gave the order, and the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples let out a war cry as they charged forwards.

    The danger of the spatial fissure was threefold: the turbulent Origin Energy, the Astrals themselves, and the wind blowing through the spatial fissure. The turbulent Origin Energy and the Astrals went hand-in-hand, because it was only a problem when facing off against the Astrals. The turbulent Origin Energy on its own actually didn¡¯t pose much of a threat to the Origin Qi Schrs.

    The wind blowing through the spatial fissure was another matter entirely.

    As the wind blew through the breach, it would carry with it the destructive powers of the void.

    Even though this wind was not nearly as frightening as the void itself, it was still more than capable of wiping out all lifeforms in the canyon. Only Spirit Burning Realm cultivators would be able to withstand the spatial energy, and only just barely.

    Su Chen immediately flew towards the breach at breakneck speed.

    Just as he was flying through the air, a consciousness spike suddenly whistled towards Su Chen. Su Chen harrumphed, and the energy rebounded to his attacker. A groan could be heard off in the distance as an Astral took flight and flew away.

    Upon seeing that his target hadn¡¯t actually died, Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but sigh respectfully. These Astrals were indeed powerful, given that they could withstand his might, which was on par with that of a Sovereign at this point. Of course, he had only attacked in passing and hadn¡¯t been very serious in the first ce.

    As he continued to fly forwards, a pale green wind rushed towards Su Chen.

    There was another Astral trying to drag Su Chen into an illusion realm so that it could use its will to do battle with Su Chen.

    However, Su Chen reemerged from the illusion realm after only a second, as if he had not even been dragged in in the first ce. The Astral that had tried to pull Su Chen into the illusion had been killed on the spot and was turning to dust.

    As he continued to fly forwards, a sudden barrage of Origin Skills came hurtling in his direction.

    At least seven or eight Astrals had chosen to attack Su Chen simultaneously.

    ¡°Oh? So you do know how to abuse your numbers advantage after all,¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    He seemingly remained motionless, but the wings on his back unfurled, scattering powerful thunderbolts pealing in all directions.

    The awe-inspiring thunderstorm bore down on top of the Astrals.

    Lightning was super effective against Astrals. Humans had learned this a long time ago during one of their many fights against the Astrals.

    Su Chen was a Tenth-Ring Lightning Arcana Master, so this storm of lightning and thunder was particrly effective.

    Even though this storm was obviously not capable of destroying the world, it was more than powerful enough to decimate a localized region entirely, not to mention the Astrals within that region.

    As the thunder rumbled violently through the air, all of the Astrals within range of the storm were immediately killed.

    ¡°Not bad,¡± Su Chen chuckled to himself as he continued to advance.

    This storm of lightning petrified the other Astrals hiding in the darkness.

    This Tenth-Ring Arcana Technique clearly demonstrated that their opponent was at least a Tenth Ring Arcana Master.

    And most cultivators wouldn¡¯t¡¯ have been capable of unleashing a Tenth-Ring Arcana Technique due to the chaotic flow of Origin Energy in this location.

    No one had ever managed to even unleash a Ninth-Ring Arcana Technique before in Wind Silence Breach.

    Now, however, Su Chen had casually unleashed such a powerful strike with virtually no effort at all on his part. Not even a legendary Arcana Master should have been able to do this!

    So who exactly was their opponent?

    An existence even stronger than a legendary Arcana Master?

    They had never heard of this before.

    The sheer might of the sudden onught hadpletely stunned all the Astrals present, dulling their mental capacities.

    What exactly had just happened?

    Were they under an illusion?

    This couldn¡¯t possibly be real. Right?

    The masters of illusion suddenly began to question their state of consciousness, wondering if they had perhaps been the ones who had fallen victim to an illusion.

    As they turned their gaze on Su Chen again, they realized that he was still calmly walking towards the spatial fissure.

    His movements were unhurried, but every step he took greatly reduced the distance between him and the fissure. In fact, he had already entered the region that was the most affected by the spatial wind.

    The destructive wind there was so powerful that even the Astrals didn¡¯t dare to get close. However, Su Chen appeared as nonchnt as ever.

    What was he going to do?

    Was he trying tomit suicide?

    The Astrals couldn¡¯t understand.

    They couldn¡¯t understand what the person in the sky was trying to do, but that didn¡¯t stop them from recognizing the immense threat heading their way.

    This sense of threat masked even the war cries of the countless Boundless Sect disciples following behind.

    One of the high-tier Astrals flew into the air. ¡°Who are you? I am Commander Harrater of the Wind Silence Breach, and a member of the Astrals¡¯ society of elders. I......¡±

    Su Chen raised his hand. ¡°I¡¯m not interested in knowing who you are. Get out of my way.¡±

    As he spoke, he waved his hand, and the Astral was swatted aside like a fly.

    He had actually wanted to kill the Astral with that strike, but high-tier Astrals were quite powerful in their own right. His body rippled as he withstood the powerful strike. Even so, the Astral was quite badly startled. He had been forced to use his defensive trump card, the Forbidden Spatial Armor. Even so, Su Chen¡¯s attack managed to shatter it in mere moments.

    And even though Su Chen hadn¡¯t managed to kill the Astral, he was much more serious this time, so the remaining momentum washed over the Astral, forcing him to m into the ground face first.

    The high-tier Astral had never suffered such humiliation before, and his anger surged. ¡°Bastard!¡±

    However, a momentter, he saw Su Chen officially begin wading upstream of the spatial storm.

    The frightening destructive power of the spatial storm could rend flesh from bones. Only Harrater dared to enter such a ce, and that was where he had tempered his Forbidden Spatial Armor.

    When he saw Su Chen step into such a realm, Harrater thought to himself, You must be trying to kill yourself!

    He began to follow closely after Su Chen in order to see if he could find an opportunity to kill Su Chen.

    Harrater unleashed the Forbidden Spatial Armor as soon as he stepped inside the region as well, allowing him to be unaffected by the spatial wind.

    He could only observe, however, as Su Chen calmly advanced on the fissure.

    Harrater was stunned. He had never expected that the spatial wind would actually bepletely ineffective against Su Chen as well. But when he saw that Su Chen was still heading deeper in, his worries were momentarily assuaged.

    The further in one went, the more powerful the spatial wind would be. After all, spatial power was inherently destructive and possessed the capability topletely rend any living creature.

    There was no way that his opponent would survive.

    He was going to personally see to it that this human died. When Harrater thought this to himself, he gritted his teeth and continued to follow Su Chen deeper in.

    The further they flew, the stronger the wind grew, and even Harrater was beginning to find it hard to withstand the violent power of the void despite the fact that his Forbidden Spatial Armor was still active.

    He was only strong enough to wander around the outskirts of this region and never dared to go in any further. The person before him, however, seemed to be capable ofpletely ignoring these winds.

    Harrater fell into despair when he saw this.

    He knew now that this human was far stronger than he had anticipated. It was very likely that the Wind Silence Breach was finished.

    At this point in time, he was still thinking about Wind Silence Breach. The thought that the Astrals might be finished never even crossed his mind.

    Since he couldn¡¯t withstand the violent storm, he could only retreat.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to leave now?¡± Su Chen called out. ¡°I thought you would have been able to follow me in a little deeper. How disappointing.¡±

    Harrater was stunned. He watched as the human in front of him reached behind him, pulling Harrater involuntarily into his grasp.

    Most shockingly, the spatial storm waspletely incapable of harming him as soon as the human grabbed onto him.

    Su Chen held him firmly in one hand as he continued advancing on the fissure.

    ¡°What a giant rupture. Every second, it is consuming thend and resources of the Primordial Continent, and even its Origin Energy......¡± Su Chen muttered to himself before reaching out and cing his hand on the fissure.

    A shocking scene appeared.

    The fissure slowly began to seal itself.

    ¡°This...... How is this possible? No, you cannot do this!¡± Harrater cried out with a loud voice.

    If the fissure was sealed, the Wind Silence Breach would disappear, and the Gloomy Kingdom would have lost one of their four strategic defensive locations.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t bring you along with me so that I could listen to youin,¡± Su Chen replied.

    He grabbed Harrater before his figure suddenly flickered. This time, he reappeared within the void, at the same time undoing Harrater¡¯s defenses.

    The void almost instantaneously swallowed Harrater up.

    Under the violent deconstructive force of the void, Harrater had been transformed into a unique crystalline object that was notably distinct from the Sovereign statues.

    Su Chen casually shattered the crystal, and a flow glowing objects appeared in his hand.

    ¡°So these are Void Crystals! They are indeed the product of a destroyed consciousness. This is different from what happens to most typical lifeforms.¡±

    Su Chen began to grow excited.

    These Astrals were all precious treasures!

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 87: Gradual Advance

    Void Crystals were incredibly rare spatial-type materials. Unlike Void Starmetal, it was not used to make armor or weapons. Instead, it was a vitalponent for utility tools such as spatial rings,munication devices, or even transport formations.

    One example of its usage was the transmission puppet that Patelocke was possessing; it had a Void Crystal as its core.

    Void Crystals were even rarer than Void Starmetal. After all, it was much harder for a consciousness entity to be annihted by the void.

    But now that Su Chen had confirmed that the Astrals had such a use, it was impossible for him to politely hold himself back any longer. He immediatelymanded his disciples to capture all of the Astrals alive.

    And he spared no expense to maximize his yield. Afterwards, he personally sent the Astrals into the void and extracted their Void Crystals one after another before leaving.

    With these newly acquired Void Crystals, Su Chen would be able to create even more ancient transmission puppets. That meant that Patelocke would no longer have to stay in one ce for long periods of time. With an ancient transmission puppet of his own, Su Chen would be able tomunicate with anyone at any ce and at any time. In a simr vein, he could also create long-range teleportation formations. The benefits that this would bring to the entire Primordial Continent was quite apparent.

    From this point of view, these Astrals were truly living treasures.

    He had originally nned on exterminating their entire race, causing these half-organic half-specter lifeforms to gopletely extinct. But now, he had found a surprising use for them, causing him to re-evaluate the value of the Astrals¡¯ continued existence.

    After an hour, Wind Silence Breach waspletely subdued. All of the Astrals had either been killed or captured.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t expended much of his energy while fighting the Astrals, but he was actually beginning to grow somewhat tired from constantly throwing Astrals into the void.

    As these Astrals were thrown into the void en masse, the number of Void Crystals that Su Chen had also began to increase.

    He called Jiang Hanfeng over and exined his ns for the teleportation formation. And the moment he pulled out a Void Crystal, Jiang Hanfeng felt his knees go weak.

    After this brief interlude, the invasion continued.

    Past Wind Silence Breach were the Ringed Corridor ins.

    The Ringed Corridor ins were not one of the four natural defensive environments of the Gloom Kingdom, but its terrain was still quite unique in its own right. There was arge maic field underground, which caused the terrain to transform every so often.

    In other words, the ground would move and shift on its own ord.

    As a result, the Ringed Corridor ins was constantly shaking with earthquakes all year round. Deep gulches and scarred ravines dotted the surface of the ins, creating a roughly hewn and uneven surface.

    In this vtile environment, any lifeforms that inhabited this region could be here today and gone tomorrow.

    Even itsndmarks and features would constantly shift locations.

    There were a total of three Astralmunities living in the Ringed Corridor ins. None of them were able to live in the same ce for long due to the fluctuating terrain, and they would constantly migrate around thend.

    As such, the only way to find and finish off the three Astralmunities in a timely manner was to split up the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples.

    But this would also decrease the effectiveness of the Boundless Sect¡¯s offensive.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s higher-ups began to discuss the matter at length.

    ¡°Speed is of the utmost importance. It¡¯s been no more than half a day since we first attacked the Astrals, so they most likely haven¡¯t discovered our presence yet, nor have they gathered together. I believe that we should not waste our time in the Ringed Corridor ins and instead push through to the Wai Caves,¡± Lin Shaoxuan said as he drew a straight line on the map that directly passed through the center of the Ringed Corridor ins, Nightmare Forest, Specter¡¯s Garden, Damaged Canyon, and Reaper¡¯s Temple before ending at Wai Caves to demonstrate his point.

    A majority of the Boundless Sect supported Lin Shaoxuan¡¯s proposed n, but there were also many people who harbored different ideas.

    ¡°It¡¯s not going to be possible for us to wipe out the Astrals all at once. I agree that the current Boundless Sect is the most powerful force that has ever existed in human history, but that doesn¡¯t mean that the Astrals won¡¯t be able to mount a respectable counterattack against us. They have been around for tens of thousands of years, so we should expect their sleeves to be quite deep. If we blindly attack our opponents without adequate preparations, we may just run out of steam and find ourselves in grave danger...... I think that it would be wisest if we advanced step by step and prepare for a long-term battle,¡± Shi Kaihuang argued.

    This old man always prioritized steadiness and disagreed with rushing things.

    Inparison, Lin Shaoxuan, who represented the younger generation, was much more impulsive and decisive.

    This was not a surprise. The Boundless Sect¡¯s strength was truly greater now than it had ever been.

    Between the cultivation techniques that Su Chen had developed and therge quantity of improved medicines that he had created, many of the Astrals¡¯ attacks were rendered useless. Additionally, theirrge numbers of high-tiered cultivators made them seemingly invincible. As long as they didn¡¯t try to attack a heavily fortified ce like Sky City, they would be able to go anywhere they pleased.

    The Astrals were not even worth mentioning inparison.

    With such a powerful force at their disposal, Li Chongshan preferred to finish the job in one fell swoop.

    However, Shi Kaihuang¡¯s opinion was not so easily ignored either.

    No one knew just what tricks the Astrals had up their sleeves. If they barged into enemy territory without grasping a full picture of their opponent¡¯s strength, it was not impossible for them to invite cmity upon their own heads.

    As such, Shi Kaihuang¡¯s proposal also garnered quite a bit of support.

    Su Chen thought about this problem for some time before saying, ¡°Well, then why don¡¯t we spend some time thinking about what kinds of secret tricks the Astrals might have up their sleeves?¡±

    That was hard to specte about.

    Jiang Hanfeng tossed out, ¡°It could be some kind of ultra-powerful formation.¡±

    Li Chongshan hypothesized, ¡°Or it might be an extremely dangerous unique environment.¡±

    Chu Yingwan said, ¡°It could be some kind of legendary technique.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao guessed, ¡°They might also have the aid of some mysterious, powerful ally.¡±

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s answer was the most interesting. ¡°Perhaps there is an Origin Beastying dormant somewhere in the depths of Wai Caves.¡±

    Everybody had their own ideas, and these ideas all seemed possible.

    No one knew exactly what kinds of concealed techniques or plots the Astrals might have up their sleeves, but they all quickly realized that there were a multitude of ways that the Astrals could potentially turn the tables on them.

    If they weren¡¯t extra careful, it was very likely for them to eventually fall prey to some kind of hidden trap.

    Su Chen had used a very simple method to help everyone realize the dangers that they were facing. When they were the ones who uttered the dangers aloud, some of the disciples who had grown overconfident due to their recent string of sesses sobered up a little.

    When Su Chen saw that everyone had calmed down, he continued his speech. ¡°It seems that everyone is now on the same page. Very good. Even though we have won some key initial battles, part of that is due to the element of surprise being on our side. Very soon, Wai Caves will receive notice that humans have invaded their territory, and they will definitely respond in kind. Right now, we need to prioritize not quickly seizing territory, but rather cutting off the Astrals¡¯ ability to recuperate, as well as as much information as we possibly can, as quickly as we can. The Astrals are already few in number, and every one that we kill reduces their threat by a little. As a foreign race, there is nomon ground for us to negotiate on. As such, we will slowly but surely strangle them and reduce the territory avable to them, until we havepletely wiped them all out!¡±

    Thus, Su Chen was able to quickly and effectively resolve this series of discussions.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s method of attack had been decided with this. They would no longer try to advance at a breakneck pace ¡ª instead, they would fight their battles slowly but surely, focusing their attention on quashing the supplies and foundation of their opponents.

    Once themand was given, the best way to handle the Ringed Corridor ins became abundantly clear.

    Divide and conquer!

    Arge-scale takeover of the Ringed Corridor ins began to unfold.

    Right now, there were currently a total of sixty thousand Boundless Sect disciples in the Gloomy Kingdom. Of these, twenty-three thousand were Light Shaking Realm cultivators and two thousand were Spirit Burning Realm cultivators ¡ª the Boundless Sect¡¯s mainbat force. Of the remaining thirty-five thousand disciples, thirty thousand were Yang Opening Realm cultivators. They were a part of the second echelon and were tasked with handling the less important skirmishes as well as maintaining formations, cleaning up after the main force, and supporting the other disciples at critical moments. They also served as reserve soldiers for the main force ¡ª as soon as one of them ascended to the Light Shaking Realm, they would be promoted to the main force.

    The remaining five thousand were all below the Yang Opening Realm. They were mostly responsible for handling logistics, such as piloting the floating frigates, the pce, and the Cloud Piercing Shuttles, manufacturing equipment like Origin Tools, puppets, and medicines, and even handling basic living necessities like cooking.

    Now that a general n had beenid out, the sixty thousandbat soldiers were split up into ten battalions that began tob over the ins in search of the three Astralmunities. The sooner they discovered thesemunities, the better ¡ª even though they had decided to take things one step at a time, the Boundless Sect still hoped to utilize the element of surprise as best as they could.

    The ten battalions split off to search in different directions. Each battalion was split into sixpanies, and eachpany wasposed of ten small squadrons. These squadrons were the smallest subdivision, each containing a hundred soldiers as that was the minimum size a unit could be at and still fight against the Astrals.

    Ye Fenghan was themander of the Hidden Mountain Company¡¯s fourth squadron.

    His second-inmand was Chang He.

    These two had returned to the Boundless Sect soon after taking care of the matter rted to Lin Zuiliu. They had then fought under Lin Shaoxuan against Long Sang for some time before rejoining and participating in the offensive against the Astrals.

    In terms of the aplishments that Ye Fenghan had contributed up to now, he was more than qualified tomand apany or even perhaps a battalion.

    However, Ye Fenghan had no interest in building up his authority. He had spent all of his contribution points on cultivation resources, Origin Skills, and equipment, so his status had remained roughly the same. His strength, however, had drastically increasedpared to before. He had currently formed seven Lotus tforms and was considered a reserve member of the Spirit Burning Realm troops.

    Chang He had also advanced quite far, and he had also sessfully formed seven Lotus tforms.

    But even though his strength had increased, Chang He was still just as talkative as before, regardless of whether or not he actually had anything of substance to say.

    ¡°Hey, did you hear? Something good has appeared on the contributions exchange site.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Apparently, it¡¯s a transmission box that¡¯s roughly the size of your palm. It allows you tomunicate with anyone within a five thousand kilometer radius of you, but there¡¯s a prerequisite for the other party to also have a transmission box, and you also have to memorize a special password. Seems like kind of a hassle.¡±

    Ye Fenghang didn¡¯t even blink twice before saying, ¡°You are too easily swayed by outward appearances. Even though this transmission box is a good thing, it won¡¯t increase your strength at all. It¡¯s totally pointless to waste contribution points on something like that.¡±

    Chang He unhappily replied, ¡°Hey, can you not think so inflexibl? Besides cultivating, you must have some form of amusement, right? For instance, won¡¯t we be able to talk with Night Demon whenever we want if we have this box?¡±

    When Ye Fenghan heard Night Demon¡¯s name, his heart involuntarily trembled, but his expression remained as stoic as ever. ¡°Why would I want to talk to her?

    ¡°Ai, you¡¯re so boring. Night Demon is a good girl, even though she¡¯s a bit dumb, and silly at times, and......¡±

    Chang He trailed off towards the end, as he had realized that something wasn¡¯t quite right.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, he tactfully changed the subject. ¡°Actually, you can get the transmission box without paying any cultivation points. I heard that the first squad to find an Astralmunity will be rewarded with a transmission box...... In my opinion, this is a strategically valuable item, and they should just give it to us instead of offering it as a reward.¡±

    Ye Fenghan shot him an annoyed re. ¡°This item must be incredibly difficult to construct. If they were just handed it out, how would they decide who should receive one and who shouldn¡¯t? That would be another source of conflict in and of itself. The current method is much better. But I also heard that these transmission boxes are made from materials rted to the Astrals. The more of them we capture alive, the more transmission boxes there will be overall. As such, the contribution points for capturing an Astral alive are probably even greater than killing one.¡±

    Chang He found Ye Fenghan¡¯s response to be incredibly amusing. ¡°Ha, so even a stone-faced person like you is interested in these boxes! Are you still gonna deny it?¡±

    Ye Fenghan ignored him. All he said was, ¡°I just think that, with this item, we will be better able to report any discoveries that we make.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be such a spoilsport! I know that you just want to talk to Night Demon!¡±

    Ye Fenghan immediately felt that Chang He was being extremely unreasonable, especially since he had managed to say exactly what he had been thinking. How extremely annoying!

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 88: Great Formation

    Ringed Corridor ins had aplicatedyout, especially due to the constant transposition of terrain. Navigating it was extremely frustrating.

    Just as they were all advancing, they suddenly heard a rumbling from beneath the earth and knew that the ground was about to shift yet again. They flew into the air, and those who couldn¡¯t fly scrambled into the Cloud-Piercing Shuttles - at this point, the Boundless Sect¡¯s wealth knew no bounds, and even low-tier disciples had been given Cloud-Piercing Shuttles.

    They had only just flew into the air when the ground below then began to transform.

    It was as if there was something squirming through the ground, bringing with it massive changes to the nearby terrain. The ¡°gears¡± of the Ringed Corridor ins had begun to ¡°turn¡±, causing mountain ranges to form from t ground and vice versa.

    Such a drastic transformation was awe-inspiringly impressive.

    Thankfully, even though these movements appeared violent, they weren¡¯t dangerous in the slightest.

    As they watched on, a gigantic chunk ofnd came flying through the air, with ck dots scattered across its surface. Only as it got closer to them did they realize that those ck dots were actually small coffin-like constructs.

    ¡°It¡¯s an Astral cemetery! We¡¯ve got one!¡± Chang He cried out happily.

    An Astral cemetery had appeared before their very eyes.

    This cemetery was being shuttled along by the ground beneath it, seeminglypletely unaffected by the motion.

    The first thing Ye Fenghan did upon discovering the cemetery was to report it back to his superiors.

    Then, he settled in for the main force to arrive.

    At that moment, however, he discovered that the chunk ofnd carrying the Astralmunity suddenly veered off in another direction.

    ¡°Holy crap, the ground can even change directions?¡± Chang He watched as the ground beneath their feet suddenly shot off in a different direction. He had no idea what had just happened.

    ¡°Don¡¯t waste your breath. Keep up,¡± Ye Fenghan urged.

    The reinforcements were aware of the squad¡¯s location, so they would be able to keep up as long as the squad didn¡¯t lose their target.

    The small squad carefully followed the shifting ground from afar, never getting too close.

    All of a sudden, the Astralmunity came to a stop.

    The ground was still moving, but the cemetery had stopped near a canyon, as if they had just been dropped off a boat.

    This was the first time Ye Fenghan had discovered that the Astralmunities could stop moving as they pleased.

    After themunity stopped, hundreds of illusory figures floated out from the coffins towards the canyon.

    ¡°What are they doing?¡±

    Chang He shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. The Astrals are always secretive about their actions. Who cares what they¡¯re doing? Once our main backup gets here, we¡¯ll be able to wipe them out.¡±

    Ye Fenghan, however, frowned. ¡°The Astrals prefer to live alone and very rarely move as amunity. Their default is to try and solve any problem on their own. It¡¯s extremely rare for them to move as a group like they just did. And under the circumstances......¡±

    Ye Fenghan knew that the Astrals had a strange way ofmunicating with each other. After all, Tormuncardo had already been somewhat prepared for their attack when they arrived.

    Even though Wind Silence Breach was quite a ways away from the Ringed Corridor ins, and the Astrals shouldn¡¯t have been able tomunicate with each other from that kind of distance, who knew whether they had some other secret transmission techniques up their sleeves.

    If that was the case, then it was definitely worth keeping an eye on the Astrals¡¯ movements.

    When he realized this, Ye Fenghan said, ¡°We must go and take a look.¡±

    Chang He was badly startled. ¡°Are you crazy? You¡¯re courting death!¡±

    ¡°What if they¡¯re doing something that is going to impede our expedition? Should we just stand here and idly watch on?¡± Ye Fenghan countered.

    Chang He helplessly replied, ¡°You say that, but we wouldn¡¯t be of any use even if we went. You can¡¯t possibly think that our small squad is going to be able to do anything to them, right?¡±

    ¡°Who knows?¡± Ye Fenghanmented as he descended to the ground.

    He didn¡¯t fly, and he made no attempt to conceal himself. Instead, he slowly walked along the ground. This would limit the disturbance around him to its greatest extent. The Astrals were incredibly perceptive of Origin Energy and consciousness power, and they would easily notice any abnormal fluctuations. But this hypersensitivity to Origin Energy and consciousness power also made their normal detection abilities quite limited. Living inside this different world for so long rendered their physical eyes almostpletely useless.

    As such, the best way to get close to them was to not use any Origin Skills at all and just walk over. This was one trick that the humans had learned through fighting against the Astrals for millenia.

    Ye Fenghan carefully advanced on foot.

    At this point, the shifting of terrain had begun to die down slightly.

    The shifting terrain had created many ravines in the ground. Ye Fenghan made use of these gulches and valleys to conceal his movements as he advanced. Very soon, he had arrived at the cemetery.

    From there, it was possible to see that arge group of Astrals had gathered.

    At their center was a massive Origin Formation that had beenpleted. The nodes of the formation glittered like stars under the night sky.

    A huge crowd of Astrals was gathered around the formation, and one high-tier Astral stood in their midst, chanting something in a low voice. At the same time, formless consciousness power ripples began to disperse in all directions.

    These consciousness ripples were invisible, but they were spreading over an incredibly long range. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Ye Fenghan also cultivated the True Spirit Scripture and Heart Walls, he probably would have already been discovered. Even so, a shiver ran up his spine when he felt the consciousness fluctuation wash over him.

    Not only so, but he could sense that there seemed to be consciousness fluctuation responses off in the distance as well.

    This immediately gave Ye Fenghan pause.

    At first, it had seemed that only this Astral cemetery was in motion, but he suddenly realized that all of the Astrals on the Ringed Corridor ins were up to something.

    He felt his scalp tingle.

    What target was enough to force all of the Astrals living in the Ringed Corridor ins to band together?

    The Boundless Sect!

    Only the Boundless Sect!

    Without question, the Astrals had already gotten news of the Boundless Sect¡¯s arrival. They had found out much more quickly than the Boundless Sect had anticipated, and had begun to deal with them in a targeted manner.

    Ye Fenghan didn¡¯t know what battle tactics the Astrals would use, but he knew that he couldn¡¯t let them seed.

    As soon as he realized this, Ye Fenghan made a decision.

    He began to slowly inch his way towards the cemetery.

    When Chang He saw this, his agitation almost drove him mad.

    Was this guy crazy? What was he doing??

    Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t call out to Ye Fenghan because he was too far away, so he could only sit and watch as Ye Fenghan walked towards themunity.

    Because the Astrals were all in the canyon, the Astral cemetery itself was quite deste. Only a few lifeless puppets had been left behind as guards.

    Ye Fenghan quickly navigated through the cemetery, heading for a pyramid-like structure at the center.

    That was the Astral Hall, where the Astrals took care of official business. Because Astrals were solitary creatures, and they couldmunicate telepathically, there was no need for them to have incredibly convoluted political hierarchies. A single Astral Hall was more than sufficient for them to settle all political issues. In that sense, the Astrals were truly superior to humans.

    But it was for that reason as well that the Astral Hall was considered a weak spot amongst the Astrals.

    If you wanted to make amotion, targeting the Astral Hall was a great choice.

    Upon arriving at the Astral Hall, Ye Fenghan noticed a low-tier Astral standing guard outside.

    Ye Fenghan was confident that he could handle this guard, but it was going to be a bit of trouble not to disturb or alert the other Astrals in the canyon.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Ye Fenghan pulled out an item from his Origin Ring: a crystal in the form of a raindrop.

    This item was the Nightmare Crystal, a special kind of crystal that could unleash special ripples of consciousness power. A target struck by the Nightmare Crystal would be temporarily disoriented. The Nightmare Crystal also contained a special kind of poison that was particrly effective against those with spiritual bodies.

    This was another thing that Su Chen had invented expressly to deal with the Astrals. Unfortunately, he was unable to mass-produce them due to their high cost, so they could only be bought with contribution points.

    Ye Fenghan had paid quite a bit to buy this thing. He was originally nning on using it as a life-saving measure, so it was only natural that he was a bit hesitant about using it on a mere low-tier Astral.

    Ye Fenghan gritted his teeth and threw the Nightmare Crystal out.

    The Astral reacted quite rapidly and opened its mouth to unleash a formless wave of consciousness energy in response.

    Unfortunately, at the same time that this consciousness wave expanded, the Nightmare Crystal also mmed into him.

    The instant the crystal came in contact with the Astral, the Astral froze in ce. Obviously, the Nightmare Crystal¡¯s effect had manifested itself, and the wave of consciousness energy it had been in the process of unleashing was cut off.

    The interrupted fluctuation of consciousness energy was noticed by the Astrals in the canyon, but it wasn¡¯t very powerful.

    The high-tier Astral sitting within the formation turned around, then said, ¡°I thought I felt a consciousness ripple from Zero just now.¡±

    ¡°I did too, Elder Cruta, but it was not strong. It was probably nothing more than an ident,¡± an Astral replied.

    ¡°Perhaps, but at this critical moment......¡± Cruta thought for a moment, then said, ¡°Wing, you go and take a look.¡±

    An Astral flew into the air and headed towards the Astral Hall.

    Meanwhile, Ye Fenghan stepped out of the Astral Hall after dealing with the guard outside.

    His n originally was to destroy the Astral Hall and make amotion to draw some of the Astrals in the canyon back, thereby dying their ns and buying time for the Boundless Sect¡¯s main forces to show up. But as soon as he stepped inside, he realized that the hall was actually filled with formation inscriptions.

    At each of the formation¡¯s six corners sat an Astral, all of them mid-tier.

    As soon as Ye Fenghan stepped inside, the six Astrals all turned to nce at him,pletely stunned.

    Ye Fenghan hadn¡¯t expected there to be six Astrals within the Astral Hall either, and he was also at a loss for words.

    The two of them stared at each other, both parties momentarily at a loss as to what to do.

    Ye Fenghan barely squeezed out a smile. ¡°Sorry, I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere.¡±

    As he spoke, he slowly retreated out of the Astral Hall.

    Shockingly, however, the other party didn¡¯t seem to be chasing after him.

    What?

    Ye Fenghan thought for a moment and realized that something seemed off.

    His curiosity won over, and he quickly returned to the scene of the crime.

    The six Astrals were still sitting in the middle of the Origin Formation,pletely motionless. When they saw Ye Fenghan appear yet again, their expressions became panicked.

    Ye Fenghan was delighted. ¡°So you can¡¯t move now?¡±

    He lowered his head and nced at the Origin Formation. The profound formation inscriptions on the ground headed in the direction of the canyon.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is...... This and that are one and the same? Wait, that might not be all.¡± Ye Fenghan suddenly recalled the faint responding fluctuations he had sensed earlier.

    Understanding dawned in his heart. ¡°A giant formation that spans half of the Ringed Corridor ins...... The Astrals¡¯ intelligence-gathering abilities are truly formidable. Perhaps even the terrain¡¯s transformation was your doing, huh?¡±

    Ye Fenghan could tell from the gazes of terror on his opponent¡¯s faces that he had guessed correctly.

    Therger the Origin Formation, the more of the environment¡¯s Origin Energy was necessary to power it, and the more powerful it would be.

    Ye Fenghan had no idea what kind of formation this was, but as soon as he considered just how vast the formation was, and how many Astrals were needed for its activation, he became quite aware of how frighteningly powerful this formation was.

    Wasn¡¯t Wai Caves where their ultimate trump cards were supposed to be?

    Howe Ringed Corridor ins was already as strong as the final boss?

    Ye Fenghan broke out in a cold sweat.

    But while there were benefits to a formation beingrge, there were also quite a few drawbacks.

    If an Origin Formation was too vast, there would be more opportunities to ruin it as well.

    Now was one such instance.

    Ye Fenghan slowly raised his sword. ¡°So as long as I destroy this, the entire formation will be affected?¡±

    ¡°You dare!¡± one of the Astrals couldn¡¯t help but yell. ¡°If you destroy this formation, we will be freed and you will die!¡±

    That was true.

    If he destroyed the formation, the six Astrals being tied down would also be set free.

    There was no chance that Ye Fenghan would be able to win against six Astrals.

    He smiled. ¡°I guess I must be quite unlucky. I thought I had an opportunity to earn some contributions, but now...... I guess it was an opportunity to die instead.¡±

    As he spoke, his sword descended.

    Right onto the center of the Origin Formation.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 89: Darkness and Ligh

    As this sword stabbed onto the formation, it exploded with a blinding light. The formation began to groan and wail as if it were alive.

    As soon as this sword strikended, Ye Fenghan didn¡¯t even stay to watch.

    He immediately booked it.

    Regardless of what the result of his sword strike was, there was no way that he would be able to endure the consequences that were about to take ce.

    At the same time that he charged out of the Astral Hall, an enraged roar thundered through the air. ¡°NO!¡±

    Following this cry, the Astral Hall exploded.

    A powerful wave of energy cascaded in all directions, surging like the tide of the ocean.

    Even though Ye Fenghan had retreated incredibly decisively, the violent explosion still caught up to him and mmed into him like a giant wave tossing about a small boat. He felt as if his bones were going to break, and his flesh and blood seemed to be melting away under the violent onught of energy.

    In that moment, his face, eyes, arms, and even his chest began to melt away, revealing the pearly white bones underneath.

    Ye Fenghan was in so much pain that he almost wanted to kill himself.

    Even so, he was eventually able to endure.

    He furiously attempted to revolve his Immacte Cultivation Technique in order to guard his heart until the turbulent waves of energy disappeared.

    Ye Fenghan descended to the ground, a mangled mass of flesh and blood.

    At this point in time, his entire body was injured, and he had even gone blind because he had lost his eyes.

    However, Ye Fenghan was stillughing as he pulled out a vial of medicine, dumped out a few pellets into his hand and swallowed them, then continued to run.

    Yes, he was happy.

    If even he, with his seven Lotus tforms, couldn¡¯t withstand the violent explosion, then those six Astrals would have an even harder time.

    Even though Astrals were powerful, that was on the level of Origin Energy and consciousness power control, not their physical bodies.

    Even a high-tier Astral would have had a difficult time withstanding the sudden burst of energy, let alone a few mid-tier Astrals. As long as he could evade the pursuit of the six mid-tier Astrals, any loss would have been worth it.

    Even so, it was at that precise moment that Astral Hall glowed with an intense light. A zing, humanoid figure could be seen amidst the turbulent energy - one of the six Astrals.

    How had the Astrals survived?

    Even though he couldn¡¯t see anything, Ye Fenghan was still capable of sensing the presence of the Astral behind him.

    However, that Astral¡¯s figure was quite strange. Its body was flickering with light, alternating between darkness and light.

    He hurriedly shot in Ye Fenghan¡¯s direction, roaring madly as an arrow of sound whizzed towards him.

    Ye Fenghan couldn¡¯t see the attack, but he could hear the sound. He didn¡¯t know what kind of attack wasing his way, but he didn¡¯t need to know either.

    His figure flickered, and he disappeared, reappearing in another direction.

    Whitetower Teleportation.

    Ye Fenghan had learned almost all of Su Chen¡¯s techniques. It could be said that he was Su Chen¡¯s most loyal follower.

    The arrow of sound shot past Ye Fenghan, but just as it flew past him, it suddenly expanded. A zing white light burst forth from the arrow, and the attack blew past Ye Fenghan, sending him flying.

    The Astral once again flew into the air, roaring angrily. However, its voice seemed incredibly primal and unclear, making it impossible to interpret what he had said.

    A violent wave of energy surged yet again, but this time it was a white column of light that swept across the sky like a de of white light. Immediately afterwards, the ground cracked.

    Just as Ye Fenghan was about to use Whitetower Teleportation again, his brain suddenly seized as his consciousness spiraled out of his own control, making it impossible for him to actually activate the technique.

    Just as this white light was about to slice him into two as well, a person suddenly appeared and pulled him aside, allowing him to narrowly avoid being hit.

    It was Chang He.

    ¡°Howe you look like this?¡± Chang He was stunned when he saw Ye Fenghan¡¯s bloody appearance.

    ¡°Hurry and get out of here!¡± Ye Fenghan yelled.

    He had only just spoken when a ck fog suddenly burst forth out of the white streak of light, threatening to envelop them both.

    Chang He was badly startled. He had never seen an Origin Skill that could transform like that before, and this sudden transformation made him extremely wary of directly touching it. Thankfully, he also knew how to use Whitetower Teleportation and managed to leap aside before it touched him.

    He turned to nce at the Astral, who had suddenly begun to spew out a boundless amount of ck fog that circled towards Chang He.

    Chang He hurriedly retreated, watching the flickering shadow closely as he said, ¡°That¡¯s an Astral?¡±

    Ye Fenghan couldn¡¯t see anything, but his senses were as sharp as ever. ¡°It¡¯s not just an Astral. I can sense many different energies shing with one another inside that body...... Yes, it must be the six Astrals. They must have merged bodies, relying on that to endure the explosion.¡±

    ¡°The Astrals can merge bodies?¡± Chang He was stunned.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Ye Fenghan shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s nothing more than a guess of mine. The Astrals have all kinds of strange tricks up their sleeves. It¡¯s not particrly strange that they can merge bodies, is it? Or perhaps that was the function of the formation in the first ce.¡±

    ¡°ROAR!¡±

    The enraged shadow roared yet again and continued to chase after the two of them, ck fog surging out from its body.

    Now that he knew the secret behind this shadow, Chang He actually grew less anxious.

    He calmly watched his opponent attack, even ignoring the ck wave that surged in his direction.

    Just as the ck wave was about to swallow him up.

    Boom!

    A massive explosion of energy burst forth, forcing the ck wave to retreat.

    Behind Chang He stood hundreds of Origin Qi Schrs. A few of the small squads had arrived on the scene.

    All of the Origin Qi Schrs in these patrol squads were Light Shaking Realm cultivators. Even the flickering shadow was no match for them and immediately fell into a disadvantaged position.

    ¡°Not so arrogant now, are we? No matter how strange your techniques are, it¡¯s not enough if you¡¯re not strong enough,¡± Chang He chuckled.

    The flickering shadow was unable to endure thebined pressure and could only roar in anger. Ye Fenghan said, ¡°Don¡¯t kill it! This kind of amalgamation is definitely rare and hard to find. It may be useful in Sect Master¡¯s hands.¡±

    Chang He was startled for a moment. ¡°That¡¯s right, Sect Master likes this kind of thing the most. Everyone, capture it...... Holy crap, you¡¯d better speed up!¡±

    Chang He¡¯s voice suddenly jumped an octave.

    Off in the distance, waves of Astrals had begun to pour out of the canyon.

    Such a giantmotion would naturally not go unnoticed, and it was only natural that the Astrals had sent out some people to take a look at what had just happened.

    When they saw the scene before their eyes, the Astrals couldn¡¯t hold back their mournful cries.

    The mournful cries were echoed by the puppets they controlled.

    Countless puppets had charged out of the cemetery and were rushing in their direction.

    ¡°Hurry up and get out of here!¡± Chang He howled as he unleashed a palm strike onto the shadow¡¯s body. The oveid might of these palm strikes was the straw that broke the camel¡¯s back, and it was actuallypressed into a ball.

    A web shot forth from the hundreds of cultivators and enveloped the shadow, making it impossible for him to move.

    Then, the cultivators all retreated.

    At this point, it was more important for them to survive than try to maintain a location for the rest of the troops to home in on.

    Boom!

    A formless consciousness fluctuation burst forth, enveloping all the cultivators and numbing their consciousness for just a moment, causing their speed to drastically decrease.

    A momentter, however, the cultivators all pulled out a pill and tossed in their mouth, which allowed them to immediately revert to normal.

    A strange chant sounded off in the distance immediately afterwards. As the sound waves gently rolled over their ears, the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples suddenly found themselves quite sleepy, making it hard for them to fly quickly.

    One of the squadmanders, however,ughed and pulled out a jade chime and tapped it with a small hammer. A clear, crisp sound rang out, immediately rendering that chant ineffective.

    At the same time, another cultivator pulled out a handful of sand and threw it into the air. The sand immediately whipped up a sandstorm.

    This sandstorm was not designed to hinder their opponent¡¯s advance but to obscure their vision, making it difficult for them to unleash techniques on them.

    A lightning storm suddenly descended from the sky.

    This wave of attacks was much simpler inparison. They were using brute force this time.

    The Astrals¡¯ Arcana Techniques were quite powerful. The fact that they could unleash such powerful skills even from this kind of distance was impressive in and of itself.

    However, the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples were all more afraid of bewitching techniques. After all, they were better equipped to resist these kinds of physical attacks.

    As the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples forced their way through the lightning storm, the sandstorm behind them was already beginning to dissipate.

    Another wave of attacks assaulted their senses, this time in the form of illusions. The Astrals were clearly hoping to send the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples into a dream realm from which they would have a hard time escaping.

    Thankfully, with the aid of the previously applied Heart Walls, they were able topletely avoid this attack altogether.

    Actually, the Astrals were greater in both numbers and in might.

    However, the gap between them became the disciples¡¯ greatest ally. Many of the Astrals¡¯ skills had a distance limitation on them which could not be used or would not be nearly as effective because of how far away the disciples were. And the Boundless Sect had made more than adequate preparations for their expedition this time around. Quite a bit of information on the battle tactics of the Astrals had been gathered throughout the past tens of thousands of years ofbat. As long as it was something they had seen before, there would be a way for them to handle it.

    As a result, there was nothing that the Astrals could do to this group of soldiers despite their objectively superior strength.

    The Astrals were stumped for a time.

    They were beginning to lose hope of ever catching up to the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples when an extraordinary wave of consciousness power washed over them.

    Upon sensing this consciousness power, the Astrals actually stopped in their tracks and turned to pay their respects to something.

    A tall Astral was flying in their direction - the very same high-tier Astral who had been overseeing the ceremony earlier.

    When the explosion had taken ce, that Astral hadn¡¯t immediately tried to leave the canyon. Only now did he finally arrive on the scene.

    Chang He just so happened to turn around. When he saw this, he immediately knew they were in trouble. ¡°Hurry and get out of here!¡±

    However, the disciples were already running at top speed. No amount of urging was going to make a difference.

    The high-tier Astral began to raise his hands as he howled into the sky.

    The space around him actually began to distort.

    Suddenly, soundless whistles began to spread through the air.

    These sounds weren¡¯t actually physical in nature, but they prated deep into the hearts of all who heard. The disciples all felt as if something had grabbed them by the heart, causing them to shiver and squirm in intense difort. There was no way for them to continue unleashing techniques, and all they could do was scratch themselves fiercely. Only Ye Fenghan and a few more of the peak-tier Light Shaking Realm cultivators could endure.

    A single attack had managed to incapacitate a squad of a hundred people.

    Chang He was badly startled.

    He knew that he wasn¡¯t going to be able to hold on for much longer. As such, he stuffed the shadow into Ye Fenghan¡¯s hands and said, ¡°Take this guy and run in that direction, okay? That¡¯s where the main army is. Don¡¯t go astray.¡±

    ¡°What are you going to do?¡± Ye Fenghan instinctively sensed that something was up.

    ¡°Of course I¡¯m going to go and pick a fight with that guy!¡± Chang He cried out a

    Ye Fenghan was badly startled. ¡°No, don¡¯t!¡±

    ¡°Hurry and leave! Hand this strange creature over to Sect Master!¡± Chang He nted his foot on the seat of Ye Fenghan¡¯s pants and booted him away, then turned around and rejoined the rest of the soldiers to charge against the high-tier Astral.

    Tears began to roll from Ye Fenghan¡¯s eye sockets.

    ¡°Remember to tell Sect Master that my name is Chang He!¡± Chang He yelled as he charged fearlessly in a true disy of heroism.

    ¡°Chang He, is it? I¡¯ll remember it.¡±

    A voice suddenly spoke at that moment.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 90: Breakthrough

    ¡°Look, look! The contribution rankings have gone out!¡±

    Within the Boundless Sect¡¯s main camp, a massive crystal screen began to disy a long list of rankings.

    The rankings list of the Boundless Sect disciples¡¯ contribution points had been refreshed, but only the top one hundred individuals had the right to appear on that list.

    Every day around this time, the disciples would gather around to watch with great interest.

    ¡°Ye Fenghan with a total of 12321 contribution points takes first ce!¡± Chang He crowed as he pped Ye Fenghan on the shoulder.

    ¡°You¡¯re not looking too bad yourself. Seventh suits you quite nicely,¡± Ye Fenghan replied.

    The other disciples also took notice of this.

    ¡°A reward of ten thousand contribution points?¡±

    ¡°Howe they were given so much?¡±

    ¡°They must have made an extraordinary contribution!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of any contribution worth ten thousand points before.¡±

    ¡°Those guys have struck it rich this time.¡±

    The disciples all animatedly discussed amongst each other.

    Contribution points were umted by carrying out missions, and the numbers being advertised were what was left over after expenditure.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s contribution points had always been very valuable and hard toe by. Often times, it would take quite a few valiant battle results to even earn a thousand.

    Ye Fenghan had been on the higher end of the scale, but even then he only had around two thousand points. Now, these ten thousand contribution points, which had been given to him by Su Chen, were making everyone else quite envious. They couldn¡¯t help but try to guess what kind of contribution Ye Fenghan had made to earn such a big reward.

    Actually, the entire squad had been rewarded greatly. Chang He had been given three thousand cultivation points as well, propelling him into the top ten.

    Naturally, they had been rewarded that many contribution points because of the matter involving the Astral Hall.

    Onlyter on did Ye Fenghan discover that the Astrals were in fact nning on setting up an incrediblyrge formation in the Ringed Corridor ins that was specifically targeted at them.

    This formation was quite terrifying. As soon as it was activated, the entire Ringed Corridor ins would be enveloped in it and subjected to a barrage of cmitous proportions.

    No matter how strong the Boundless Sect was, they would have paid a tremendous price if they had been caught in this formation.

    But it was for this reason that the formation was extremely costly to activate. The Astrals didn¡¯t have enough wealth on hand to keep it in a constantly primed state.

    Under normal circumstances, the formation would be firmly embedded under the ground in apletely dormant state. Activating it would require piecemeal excavation and activation.

    As such, the startup process for this formation was quite lengthy and involved.

    Ye Fenghan had discovered the Astrals just as they were in the process of activating the formation.

    And his actions had affected the massive formation. When the Boundless Sect¡¯s armies stormed onto the scene shortly afterwards and destroyed all of the formation inscriptions in the area, they were able to narrowly avoid this cmity.

    They really had gotten lucky this time.

    Many people believed that the Astrals had ced their ultimate trump cards in Wai Caves and never expected to encounter such danger all the way out in the Ringed Corridor ins.

    Su Chen, Li Chongshan, and the others couldn¡¯t help but break out in a cold sweat when they thought of what could have happened. If it wasn¡¯t for Ye Fenghan¡¯s timely discovery and decisive action, who knew what their oue would have been.

    Inparison, ten thousand contribution points really wasn¡¯t that much.

    Even so, that was merely the beginning.

    ¡°Ye Fenghan, the Sect Master would like to speak with you,¡± a disciple said as he walked over.

    Upon hearing this, the other disciples within earshot turned their envious gazes upon Ye Fenghan.

    It was obvious that he was going to receive other awards as well.

    The messenger led him to the pce. From there, they walked until they had reached an old, weathered building. The messenger stopped outside and said, ¡°Sect Master, the person you have requested to meet with is here.¡±

    ¡°Come in,¡± Su Chen¡¯s voice floated through the doorway.

    Ye Fenghan entered and saw that Su Chen was standing in front of a massive stone table. Beside him stood Iron Cliff.

    On the stone table was the flickering shadow from earlier. Even though no physical restrictions appeared to be in ce, the shadow waspletely incapable of escaping and could only thrash helplessly.

    Ye Fenghan could sense some kind of energy shackling the shadow in ce.

    Sumeru Void.

    Ye Fenghan had managed to guess correctly.

    However, the Sumeru Void being used by the Sect Master was vastly different from the Sumeru Void that Chang He could use. The shadow was extraordinarily powerful, but it wasn¡¯t even capable of moving in the face of Su Chen¡¯s might and could do nothing but roar.

    ¡°You¡¯re here.¡± Su Chen motioned towards Ye Fenghan. ¡°Come and take a look at this guy.¡±

    Ye Fenghan stepped over and stood next to Su Chen.

    Su Chen asked, ¡°Do you know anything about him?¡±

    Ye Fenghan thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°All I know is that this shadow is most likely an amalgam of six different Astrals. Beyond that, I don¡¯t really know anything.¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡± Su Chen thought for a moment, then said, ¡°The Astrals are basically immortal with respect to time. In order to extend their lifespan and restore the Arcana Kingdom¡¯s glory, almost every Astral has chosen to walk down a simr path as they. As such, there is in fact a cultivation technique that the Astrals can use to merge bodies. So that phenomenon in and of itself is not so surprising. However, this particr merge is atypical.¡±

    Ye Fenghan said, ¡°Is Sect Master referring to this mixture of dark and light energy?¡±

    The alternating light and darkness was difficult to describe orprehend. Not only did the body¡¯sposition appear to change as the darkness and light transitioned back and forth, but the Arcana Techniques that the Astral could unleash appeared to change as well.

    If it had merely possessed these two systems of Arcana Techniques, it wouldn¡¯t have been such a big deal. The main issue was that it seemed capable of interconverting between the two at will.

    The light it had released only moments before could suddenly convert into darkness and attack again. Simrly, darkness appeared to be able to convert into light at any given moment in time.

    This was the same as unleashing two simultaneous attacks at once and was a unique property of this shadow, which had never been observed before.

    Naturally, Su Chen was unwilling to let such a prime specimen go, and he was resolved to do his due diligence on this research subject first.

    When he heard Ye Fenghan¡¯s question, Su Chen chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s correct. If my guess is right, the formation under the Ringed Formation ins is probably designed to have tremendously explosive power. This method both maximizes the damage that the formation can do while decreasing the cost of operation of the formation. Your attack probably caused a portion of the formation to overflow with energy. Because of the immense threat to their life, the six Astrals chose to merge, but at the same time a portion of the formation¡¯s energy also entered their body. Under normal circumstances, they should have immediately died, but because they were still within the formation, and the Origin Formation itself was capable of reconciling the two opposite forms of energy, these threebined to produce this uniquely harmonious entity.¡±

    Even though Su Chen hadn¡¯t seen it happen personally, he was more than capable of piecing the general situation together.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Ye Fenghan felt enlightened, and when he recalled what he had witnessed before, he knew that Su Chen¡¯s guess was most likely correct.

    ¡°This Astral entity managed to perfectlybine light and darkness, harmonizing two totally ipatible forms of energy so that one is in the other and the other is in that one. How perfect!¡± Su Chen sighed with praise, and his gaze was filled with expectation.

    Ye Fenghan didn¡¯t actually know Su Chen that well, and he was a bit caught off-guard by Su Chen¡¯s expression. He couldn¡¯t resist asking, ¡°Is this very important to Sect Master?¡±

    ¡°Yes, very much so!¡± Su Chen muttered in a low voice. ¡°This merging of darkness and light is very much rted to the Yin and Yang in the human cultivation system. And Yin and Yang......¡±

    ¡°Thought Manifestation!¡± Ye Fenghan yelped.

    To ascend to the Thought Manifestation Realm, it was necessary to open one¡¯s Yin and Yang. The overflow of energy was also involved in this process, just not nearly as extreme as what had happened with the Origin Formation was all.

    ¡°But doesn¡¯t Sect Master already have a way for those without bloodlines to reach the Thought Manifestation Realm?¡± Ye Fenghan asked, confused.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°First of all, I actually never resolved the issue of breaking into the Thought Manifestation Realm without a bloodline. All I did was create a kind of medicine that could substitute for a bloodline and enable me to break into the Thought Manifestation Realm. Second of all, the mixture of light and darkness in this Astral entity far outstrips the Thought Manifestation Realm. If I can break down its fundamental principles and absorb it, then I will not only be able to create the Flying Immortal Cultivation Technique¡¯s true sixthyer but, more importantly, upgrade the Thought Manifestation Realm itself.¡±

    A Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator¡¯s strength was very closely tied to the degree which their Yin and Yang ovepped.

    But even peak-tier Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators half a step into the Ultimate Emperor Realm were incapable of fully reconciling the two opposing yet bnced entities. This was a fundamental problem of shing essences.

    If Su Chen was able to use the power of this mixture of light and darkness on breaking into the Thought Manifestation Realm, it would be a significant boost to the Thought Manifestation Realm¡¯s power.

    If the human cultivation system was like a multi-storied building, then Su Chen¡¯s n was to raise the height of the sixth floor altogether rather than turning the sixth floor into the seventh.

    This was a sensational piece of news, and even Ye Fenghan was dazed when he heard this.

    He fumblingly asked, ¡°That isn¡¯t going to be easy, is it?¡±

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen replied, ¡°Actually, it¡¯s already done.¡±

    It was already done?

    Yes!

    It was already done.

    It was indeed that simple.

    The shadow had been freshly created, and all of its secrets were on its body.

    And Su Chen¡¯s eyes just so happened to be the perfect tools for peering into those secrest.

    They allowed him to see the intrinsicposition of anything he desired, and his consciousness crystal allowed him to remember everything he saw. As such, Su Chen¡¯s research was always based on what he didn¡¯t know yet.

    Because the rate at which he grasped what was known was far too quick.

    Once the secrets contained in the shadow¡¯s body were revealed to Su Chen, the first thing he did was to analyze its makeup entirely in order to understand the underlying principles behind this fusion. He had been forced to spend some time trying to figure out how to adapt this transformation to a human.

    But in the end, he had seeded.

    The sixth level of the Flying Immortal Technique had officially taken shape.

    Not only so, but this Thought Manifestation Realm was even more profound than before.

    ¡°A person who cultivates the sixth level of the Flying Immortal Technique will be stronger than your average Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator. Not only so, but this strong foundation will make it easier to ascend to the Ultimate Emperor Realm,¡± Su Chen said with a wide smile.

    Ye Fenghan was delighted when he heard this.

    Su Chen nced towards him. ¡°Do you want to learn it?¡±

    ¡°Well...... I am still at the Light Shaking Realm, a far cry from reaching the Thought Manifestation Realm. I don¡¯t even need to think about it right now,¡± Ye Fenghan replied as he lowered his head.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°You are not greedy or impatient. I like that. But since you are already at the peak, let me help you out a bit. Once you break into the Spirit Burning Realm, you¡¯ll be ready to learn.¡±

    ¡°Ascend to Spirit Burning? Right now?¡± Ye Fenghan was stunned.

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± As he spoke, he suddenly extended his palm and ced it on Ye Fenghan¡¯s forehead.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 91: Gloom City

    When Ye Fenghan stepped out of the pce, he was still slightly dazed. In his stupor, he had virtually no reaction when he saw Chang He waiting for him outside.

    Chang He nced at him, some confusion on his face. ¡°Why do you look so strange? It¡¯s like your soul was sucked out of your body. The Sect Master didn¡¯t reprimand you, did he? But that¡¯s impossible! You made such an important contribution......¡±

    ¡°No, I was rewarded. I just feel a bit tired right now is all,¡± Ye Fenghan replied hollowly,pletely devoid of strength.

    ¡°Tired?¡± Chang He didn¡¯t understand.

    He wanted to probe further, but then suddenly realized that something felt off.

    He sniffed the air like a dog. ¡°This aura...... Heavens, you reached the Spirit Burning Realm?¡±

    He emotionally grabbed Ye Fenghan by the cor. ¡°Tell me, how did you reach the Spirit Burning Realm just like that?¡±

    ¡°The Sect Master personally guided me and helped me ascend,¡± Ye Fenghan replied helplessly.

    Chang He trembled with excitement. ¡°I knew it! I knew that you were going to be rewarded in other ways besides contribution points. But to think that he actually helped you break into the Spirit Burning...... the Spirit Burning Realm!¡±

    ¡°Not just that.¡±

    Ye Fenghan¡¯s words stunned Chang He. ¡°What else is there?¡±

    Noticeably exhausted, Ye Fenghan replied, ¡°Apart from helping me ascend to the Spirit Burning Realm, the Sect Master also gave me the sixth level of the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques, a piece of spatial equipment, three vials of consciousness-strengthening medicine...... and the Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect.¡±

    ¡°Spatial...... equipment? Seven...... Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect?¡± Chang He¡¯s jaw hit the floor in shock.

    After Su Chen returned from the void, he had gathered arge group of Origin Formations and equipment construction experts, then used the Void Starmetal that he had gathered to construct a ton of spatial equipment.

    However, this equipment was incredibly precious, and was normally only given to the higher-ups to use. Amazingly, Ye Fenghan had somehow managed to secure such a precious piece of equipment for himself. Just what kind of equipment was it?

    Then again,pared to the Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect, a piece of spatial equipment was nothing.

    The Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect was Su Chen¡¯s most powerful invention to date. Its offensive and defensive properties were both extraordinary. Back when Su Chen had been at the Spirit Burning Realm, he had been able to levy the strength of the Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect to withstand the might of a Sovereign. It was obvious from that just how powerful this Aspect was.

    And now, he had handed it down to Ye Fenghan? At the rate things were going, Ye Fenghan would soon be a personal disciple soon.

    How could Chang He not feel stunned and jealous?

    Ye Fenghan, however, sighed. ¡°But he gave me a condition.¡±

    ¡°Condition? What condition?¡± Chang He began to calm down when he heard this.

    ¡°The Sect Master asked me to head towards Nightmare Forest as part of an advance scouting squad.¡±

    So that¡¯s how it was.

    The events at Ringed Corridor ins had given Su Chen quite a bad scare.

    He could afford to not worry about himself, but the same could not be said for the Boundless Sect.

    If the Ringed Corridor ins already contained a formation powerful enough to nearly single-handedly exterminate the Boundless Sect, then what kinds of surprises were waiting in Nightmare Forest, Specter¡¯s Garden, Damaged Canyon, Reaper¡¯s Temple, and Wai Caves?

    Su Chen was forced to be careful.

    This was also one of the reasons why he had summoned Ye Fenghan.

    He had given him many benefits and rewards because he was also entrusting an important duty to him.

    The Nightmare Forest was another one of the Astrals¡¯ natural forbidden territories.

    It was possible that, like Wind Silence Breach, it wouldn¡¯t pose a threat to the Boundless Sect. However, it was also possible that, like Ringed Corridor ins, it only appeared harmless while actually being filled with incredible danger.

    It would take some investigation to determine which was which.

    In any case, what had happened at the Ringed Corridor ins had taught Su Chen an important lesson, forcing him to take the Astrals seriously. He was nning on sending a sizable number of disciples behind enemy lines to get a handle on the actual situation.

    On the other side of the war, news of the human invasion had finally reached the ears of the Gloom Kingdom.

    Within Wai Caves.

    This ce was on the extreme north tip of the Primordial Continent, and waspletely frozen no matter the season, making the ground extremely hard. More amazingly, the ground here had a high capacity for absorbing Origin Energy, making it incredibly difficult for even an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator to damage it.

    Despite the ground¡¯s durability, a massive cavern had been carved out beneath the resilient ground.

    Yes, the Astrals¡¯ Gloom Kingdom had been built here.

    The bulk of the city was underground, roughly five thousand feet below the center of Wai Caves. The walls of the city were made entirely out of dark green stone, which possessed a simr Origin Energy absorption properties as the ground, and thus also its resilience. In terms of pure defensive power, these walls were no weaker than Sky City¡¯s.

    Gloom City also had another unique advantage, which was that its surrounding environment was incrediblyplex.

    Any invasion force that wanted to attack Gloom City needed to dig underground to reach it.

    This meant traveling through long stretches of underground tunnels.

    The Astrals¡¯ underground tunnel system was incrediblyplex. In addition, it was so narrow that usually only one person could walk through it at a time. As such, a numerical advantage waspletely nullified in this kind of terrain. To enter the underground world, all invaders needed to go through these tunnels one by one.

    And the tunnels constantly branched off as well.

    It was impossible to predict which tunnel led to the underground city. The tunnels had to be manually explored one by one.

    If you guessed incorrectly, then running into fatal traps was inevitable.

    And even if you managed to find the right path, you would be in even bigger trouble.

    The Astrals had created countless secret caverns and numerous hiding spots within the tunnels, where Astrals, puppets, traps, or formations would lie in wait. Any invader that explored these tunnels would be subjected to a vicious barrage of attacks.

    This was how Gloom City protected itself.

    The ground itself served as a protective shell for Gloom City, and it was alsoyered with defensive Origin Formations that further diminished and blunted any attacks targeting the city.

    This threeyered system of defense made Gloom City impossible to siege, and was why the Astrals had managed to peacefully exist here for tens of thousands of years.

    Most of the time, the Astrals living there would remain within their own ¡°coffins¡± and quietly conduct their own research, or sometimes, they would run off somewhere to gather more research subjects or for other reasons entirely.

    Today, however, a strange bell interrupted the typical calm of Gloom City.

    Bong, bong, bong!

    As the bell¡¯s rings pealed through the sky, all of the Astrals felt an urge tugging in their hearts, calling them to respond no matter how far away they were.

    ¡°This is......¡± Ulric raised his head from the book he had been carefully perusing. After a moment¡¯s thought, he realized the significance of the tolls. ¡°Total mobilization? These tolls must be from the bell meant to gather us, the Death¡¯s Mourn Bell. It¡¯s been a long, long time since Ist heard this sound.¡±

    Ulric muttered all this to himself quite calmly. The Astrals were far too used to long periods of istion, to the point where Ulric hadpletely forgotten what the purpose of the Death¡¯s Mourn Bell was for a short moment.

    If the Death¡¯s Mourn Bell was being rung, then a Death Conference would inevitably be hosted.

    Death Conferences were held when all of the Astrals gathered together. In some sense, this was their supreme assembly.

    Something big had definitely happened.

    Ulric put his book away and stepped out of his house.

    When he walked out, he saw the other Astrals around him floating towards the central za.

    ¡°Hey, Ulric, do you know what happened?¡± asked an Astral who stopped in front of him.

    ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t know either.¡± Ulric shook his head.

    ¡°I don¡¯t, but I have a bad feeling about this. The ringing of the Death¡¯s Mourn Bell is probably not going to bring us good news this time.¡±

    ¡°Sorry, but has the Death¡¯s Mourn Bell ever been the bearer of d tidings? Why have I never heard of that before?¡±

    ¡°This time is different! This time is different,¡± the Astral replied solemnly.

    Faint chains appeared around his translucent body due to the agitation and anxiety that he was feeling.

    ¡°Calm down!¡± Ulric saidfortingly. ¡°No matter what happens, time will smooth everything over.¡±

    ¡°May the Immortal preserve us!¡±

    The two Astrals prayed for a moment before falling silent and heading for the central za.

    When they reached their destination, they found that the za was already crammed with Astrals, with more still on the way.

    The Astrals were all used to living solitary lives. Under normal circumstances, it was rare for even ten Astrals to gather together.

    After another period of time, no more Astrals appeared to be floating in this direction, which meant that almost all of them had arrived on the scene.

    A low, gravelly voice descended from the sky. ¡°My fellow Astrals.¡±

    ¡°Menus the Wise!¡± all of the Astrals responded in unison.

    An Astral slowly came into view at the center of the za.

    Fog was obscuring his figure, making it difficult to see the Astral¡¯s face. Even so, the powerful waves of consciousness energy emanating from his body left no doubt that this was their leader, the king of the Astrals: Menus the Wise.

    Menus gravely said, ¡°There is some bad news that I must tell you all...... The humans are invading.¡±

    So they were under attack from the humans?

    This didn¡¯t surprise the Astrals very much. After all, the sounding of the Death¡¯s Mourn Bell was often rted to such invasions, so this announcement merely confirmed their suspicions.

    But a human invasion was not that big of a surprise. Was it really necessary to call a Death Conference just for this?

    Menus very quickly answered this secondary question for them.

    ¡°By the time we received news, the humans have already taken over the Ringed Corridor ins.¡±

    What?

    This second piece of news stunned the Astrals.

    This rate of advancement was simply too fast. News had only just reached Gloom City, but the humans had already taken over the Ringed Corridor ins. And the Ringed Corridor ins itself were quite important. The Astrals had spent an incredible amount of time and energy to set up the Origin Formation within it. In the Astrals¡¯ eyes, the Ringed Corridor ins should have stalled out any possible enemy offensive. No invader would want to continue advancing after taking that kind of a beating.

    But why hadn¡¯t the giant formation taken effect?

    As the Astrals murmured and discussed amongst themselves, the ambient consciousness fluctuations spiked a few hundred times in magnitude.

    A powerful will interrupted the conversation. ¡°Enough! The news has already been confirmed. There is no need to doubt the veracity of this statement any longer. The main debate now is how we should respond.¡±

    ¡°How else can we respond? We will of course fight them to the end!¡± some Astrals cried out.

    The Astrals were cold-blooded, but that didn¡¯t mean that they didn¡¯t have a temper.

    If the humans dared to invade, then they would get a taste of the Astrals¡¯ full strength!

    ¡°I need to draft an army that can stop them before they reach Reaper¡¯s Temple,¡± Menus continued.

    That was the main goal of the Death Conference.

    To draft an army.

    Individual Astrals were quite powerful, and all of them were capable of fighting. However, this was also why they had no official standing army.

    Every time arge battle was about tomence, the Astrals would organize themselves into an army, and then return to their original roles at the end.

    To the Astrals, this was already something they were quite used to.

    ¡°We are at yourmand!¡± all of the Astrals replied simultaneously.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then General Memnon will be in charge of repelling the human invaders.¡±

    ¡°As youmand,¡± an Astral loudly responded. The other Astrals didn¡¯t respond at all.

    The Astrals made their own decisions in battle, so there wasn¡¯t much point to having a leader in battle. And given their innate apathy towards social ss and status, choosing amander was done even more casually.

    Now that a leader had been chosen, Menus then said, ¡°All Astrals will report to General Memnon, with the exception of the elders. We will meet separately to further discuss our ns.¡±

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 92: Astral Meeting

    There were many Astral elders. As long as an Astral reached the level of a high-tier Astral, they were automatically granted the title of elder.

    However, these elders were merelymon elders.

    The only ones that could actually participate in this war meeting were the ¡°in-office¡± elders.

    Ulric was one such in-office elders. Once the other Astrals had left, Ulric and the other in-office elders entered the discussion hall.

    The discussion hall wasrge and circr, and the floor of the hall was covered in round chairs.

    Ulric sat down in the chair that belonged to him. At the front of the hall, Menus the Wise had already taken a seat.

    After all of the in-office elders were seated, Menus said, ¡°Now that everyone is here, we can begin the meeting. First, I will give some more details about our invaders. This time, it¡¯s not Owl Country. It¡¯s the Boundless Sect.¡±

    The Boundless Sect?

    The elders began to discuss animatedly amongst each other when they heard this name.

    This name had alreadye up a number of times in the past.

    It had been mentioned the most when the Boundless Sect was exploring the Abyss.

    ¡°They¡¯re here for the Immortal¡¯s Soul,¡± one of the Astral elders immediately said.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Now that he¡¯s finished one part of that filthy bargain he made with Eternal Night, he¡¯s extending his ws into Astral territory.¡±

    ¡°But this time he didn¡¯t try to strike a deal with us. Instead, he just chose to attack.

    ¡°That¡¯s because they have no reason to cooperate with us this time.¡±

    ¡°Or maybe it¡¯s because they don¡¯t feel like there is any more need to cooperate with us. After all, they were even able to conquer the Abyss.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be such an idiot. They were able to conquer the Abyss not because they were stronger than the Sovereigns there, but rather because they had developed a special medicine that diminished the effects of the Deep Sea Sorrow.¡±

    ¡°And who can say whether or not they have developed a new medicine that is effective against us? Based on the news that I have received, it seems that...... they have already reached this point.¡±

    ¡°No matter what kind of external aid they have, they will not be able to breach our defenses!¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re already starting to break through. We¡¯ve already lost the Ringed Corridor ins.¡±

    The discussion hall was chaotic and unruly.

    ¡°I think that we should immediately send the Trigenders and the Kobalos to the Nightmare Forest and stop them,¡± one of the elders proposed.

    The Trigenders were a subsidiary race to the Astrals.

    They had three genders, including male and female.

    The Trigenders were a strange race. Their members covered their bodies from head to toe in tattoos, and they liked to copte publicly. They would even often host public ¡°ceremonies¡± at dusk, and their promiscuity was a source of shame for all the other Intelligent Races.

    The Kobalos were a short-statured race with not much talent for anything. Like a bully, they were both tyrannical and cowardly. When they held the advantage, they would all pile on an opponent, but when they were at a disadvantage, they would immediately scatter. Their reputation was just as horrendous as the reputation of the Trigenders.

    Neither the Trigenders nor the Kobalos were well-regarded, but the Astrals didn¡¯t care.

    The Astrals had lost the ability to reproduce altogether, so whatever the Trigenders did publicly was of no concern to them. And as for the Kobalos, their cowardice was indeed sufficient to render most people speechless. However, the rate at which they reproduced helped boost the Astrals¡¯ numbers quite substantially. They were the perfect cannon fodder.

    As such, hordes of Kobalos would often be thrown onto the battlefield at critical junctures, followed by the elites of the Trigenders before the Astrals even made an appearance.

    The status of the three different races was inversely corrted with their poption. The fewer they were in number, the higher their status was.

    A few Astral elders rallied around this suggestion.

    Of course, there were also quite a few who opposed this idea.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to waste the lives of those subordinate races. We should instead group them with our main force, and then wait for the invaders at the Damaged Canyon. That¡¯s the best ce to make a stand.¡±

    ¡°Do you think that those humans will be able to storm their way to the Damaged Canyon? What a joke.¡±

    ¡°I think that if we continue to maintain this blind arrogance, then it might even be possible for them to reach Gloom City.¡±

    The discussion once again devolved to meaningless arguments.

    Menus raised his hand, immediately silencing all of the other Astrals.

    He spoke. ¡°Ulric, you have exchanged blows with the Boundless Sect before, and you have dyed their movements in the past. As such, you should have some degree of familiarity with their tactics. Why don¡¯t you tell us a little about their methods?¡±

    Ulric stood. ¡°Venerable elders, Ulric greets you all. Six years ago, when the Boundless Sect first arrived at the Abyss, I just so happened to be searching for a special ingredient there and ran into them by chance. When I learned that they were scheming with the Oceanids to deal with the Deep Sea Sorrow, I immediately realized that Sky City was most likely involved and that us Astrals were likely to be their next target. As such, I decided to try and stir up some problems for them...... I took control of a few of their subordinates......¡±

    Ulric began to exin what he had done on Forever Clear Ind.

    ¡°By using those servants, I was able to get a firm grasp on the overall strength of the Boundless Sect. This is also where the first news of the Boundless Sect came from in the first ce.¡±

    ¡°So you were the one who provided us with that information. Thank you, Ulric. You are the one who has best helped us understand our opponents.¡±

    ¡°No wonder your strength declined so much since then, to the point where you almost fell out of the high-tier ranking. It must have been because you were forced to use the consciousness envement technique so many times there.¡±

    ¡°And it¡¯s no wonder our leader insisted that you maintain your spot as an elder. You made an extremely important contribution to the Astrals.¡±

    The in-office elders individually thanked Ulric.

    Ulric replied, ¡°This is just my duty. I thought that I could dy them on my own, but I was naive to think so. The Boundless Sect¡¯s Sect Master is an incredibly difficult character to deal with. His strength is not the most frightening aspect about him ¡ª rather, it¡¯s his research talent. No matter what his opponent¡¯s strengths are, he is always able to pinpoint their worst weaknesses to exploit and control. The Boundless Sect was originallypletely defenseless against me, but they quickly developed a n to discover my presence. I was only able to avoid them because of sheer luck. Actually, they almost found me a number of times.¡±

    Menus said, ¡°But you still seeded in the end. You struck the Boundless Sect a harsh blow at a critical moment and managed to trap Su Chen within the void.¡±

    Ulric shook his head. ¡°That was also all luck. I managed to find a unique herb that allowed me to bypass the Boundless Sect¡¯s detection methods. Unfortunately, it was a variant herb, so I was only able to find one. I could only use it on the most important disciple I had taken control of, and I will not be able to replicate that sess again. More importantly...... Su Chen didn¡¯t die. I don¡¯t understand how he could have survived in the void for a year, but he did. And he has returned, even stronger than before.¡±

    Ulric¡¯s voice was quite serious.

    Menus said, ¡°That is true, but that is not your fault. Alright, you may sit.¡±

    Ulric returned to his seat.

    Menus continued the discussion by asking, ¡°So now, everyone should be clear on just what kind of opponent we are facing, right?¡±

    The elders nodded individually.

    Now that they understood a bit more about the Boundless Sect¡¯s strength, the elders quickly gave up on trying to hold the Boundless Sect at the Nightmare Forest. Even though the Nightmare Forest was not an easy location to attack, it was obvious that it wouldn¡¯t be able to slow down the Boundless Sect¡¯s advance in the slightest.

    One of the elders pointed out, ¡°It will take time for our armies to fully gather, and we probably won¡¯t make it in time for a battle at Nightmare Forest. We should call back any of the Dark Astrals still there.¡±

    The Dark Astrals were the pre-conversion lifeform of the Astrals. As such, they were also considered a part of the Astral family and were scattered throughout Astral territory. Most of them were in Gloom City, but there were some elsewhere as well.

    Because Astrals could only be produced from Dark Astrals, the Dark Astrals were treated like children in the Astrals¡¯ eyes and protected as such. Before every important battle, they would be pulled all the way to the back lines for preservation.

    There weren¡¯t many Dark Astrals at the moment, which was all the more reason for them to be protected.

    To the Astrals, the Dark Astrals were an important strategic resource.

    As for that elder¡¯s suggestion, most of the Astrals had no issue with it.

    Pulling the Dark Astrals back to the back lines easily reached a consensus amongst the Astrals.

    However, the question of where they should station their main force became a point of intense contention.

    This time, even Ulric¡¯s information wasn¡¯t enough for them to make a clear decision.

    ¡°We should attack our opponent¡¯s at Specter¡¯s Garden.¡±

    ¡°The Damaged Canyon seems much more appropriate.¡±

    ¡°I prefer Reaper¡¯s Temple. That is the best ce for us to make our stand.¡±

    ¡°Then we might as well do battle at Gloom City instead.¡±

    Anothermotion broke out.

    Surprisingly, Menus the Wise didn¡¯t say anything to stop the discussion this time.

    Within Nightmare Forest.

    As its name implied, the forest was capable of inducing nightmares in anyone who stepped foot inside.

    The Nightmare Forest was primarilyposed of skeleton trees.

    These trees seemed old and withered, trom the trunk to the roots. The branches stretched out into the air like ws, and actually this was their natural state.

    Rows of skeleton trees stretched into the distance, each one reaching out into the sky with their contorted ¡°arms¡± as the knots on the bark seemed to smile sinisterly at anyone who got close.

    The wind whistled eerily through the tree branches.

    Ye Fenghan nced at the creepy forest and said, ¡°Nightmare Forest is just ahead of us. Everyone, stay careful. These trees can emit a unique fragrance that will cause anyone who smells it to enter a frenzied state. If your will isn¡¯t strong enough, then you will easily be tormented to death.¡±

    ¡°We all already know this,¡± Chang He repliedzily. ¡°This kind of attack is so low-leveled that even a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator can withstand it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. As such, what we are looking for is the kind of threat that not even a Light Shaking or Spirit Burning Realm cultivator can handle,¡± Ye Fenghan said.

    ¡°......¡± Chang He felt a shiver run down his spine when he heard Ye Fenghan¡¯s words, but there was nothing he could say in retort.

    As a scouting team, their job was precisely to determine the most lethal dangers awaiting them within this forest.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go. No matter what kind of danger is hidden inside, we will only know once we go inside.¡±

    As Ye Fenghan spoke, he stepped into the dark forest.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 93: Decipher

    The Ringed Corridor ins.

    Su Chen was still assiduously researching the intermittently flickering shadow creature.

    This research subject was quite difficult to pursue. Because it was an amalgamation of six different Astrals, it was extremely unpredictable. After all, even the Astrals themselves would have a hard time replicating this feat.

    Apart from uncovering its secrets to use as inspiration to enhance the fusion of Yin and Yang for his Thought Manifestation Realm cultivation technique, Su Chen also hoped to use it to discover even more profound secrets, if possible.

    Today, Su Chen was researching as usual when Zhu Xianyao came in from the outside.

    After Su Chen rescued Zhu Xianyao from Harpy territory, she had constantly been by Su Chen¡¯s side. She helped Gu Qingluo manage the Boundless Sect¡¯s affairs and had also been assigned the status of ¡°Sect Master¡¯s wife.¡±

    However, Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t managing Sect affairs. She was more interested in Su Chen¡¯s research, so she woulde by and visit him every so often. Gu Qingluo, inparison, acted much more befittingly of her status. She was constantly fulfilling her duties.

    As such, Su Chen was not surprised to see Zhu Xianyao walk in unannounced. In fact, he even said, ¡°Here, use your Soul-Peeling Needles and give this guy a poke.¡±

    Su Chen gave Zhu Xianyao a task as soon as she appeared.

    The Soul-Peeling Needle was one of the Zhu n¡¯s secret techniques. It was kept extremely confidential and was very hard to learn. Zhu Xianyao had isted herself for a number of months to focus on studying and mastering it while she was in Harpy territory.

    But before she could use it even once in battle, it had instead been reappropriated for researchbor by Su Chen.

    Zhu Xianyao walked over, giggling. A point of light gathered around her finger, and then descended to where Su Chen was pointing. The shadow immediately responded with an explosion of powerful light.

    Su Chen immediately used his eyes to analyze and dissect the shadow¡¯s reaction, recording everything that he saw down in his consciousness crystal.

    Zhu Xianyao knew his habits and didn¡¯t disturb him.

    After some time, the light in his eyes began to fade. Zhu Xianyao tenderly said, ¡°If you don¡¯t tell me to stop soon, then I¡¯m going to faint.¡±

    Su Chen smiled. ¡°You can stop now.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao pulled her hand back and sighed as she fell into Su Chen¡¯s arms. ¡°I feel so tired.¡±

    Su Chen grasped Zhu Xianyao by the waist. ¡°Hey, Iron Cliff¡¯s right there.¡±

    Iron Cliff stood there quietly, pretending to not notice anything.

    Zhu Xianyao was even more brazen than him and didn¡¯t seem to care about whether Iron Cliff could see them or not. She wrapped her arm around Su Chen¡¯s neck and nted a deep kiss on his mouth. ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡±

    Brazen, bold, and rash. In this time period, some would even consider her actions shocking.

    Su Chen, however, didn¡¯t mind them one bit. He leaned in and gave Zhu Xianyao a deep kiss in response.

    Iron Cliff could no longer maintain his indifference. He sighed and turned around to leave.

    However, he didn¡¯t even make it out the door when Su Chen called him back in. ¡°Where are you going? The experiment isn¡¯t over yet.¡±

    Iron Cliff wryly said, ¡°Master, you still want to continue with the experiment?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Su Chen put Zhu Xianyao down. Zhu Xianyao frowned, clearly quite unhappy.

    Su Chen pped her butt teasingly. ¡°Don¡¯t be so quick to turn unhappy. I have some good news for you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not interested in any good news.¡± Zhu Xianyao¡¯s hands balled up into fists and gently hammered at Su Chen¡¯s chest as if she were going to beat him to death.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Even if the news is that I found a way to improve your bloodline¡¯s bewitching properties?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao was immediately stunned. ¡°You mean......¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°I made a breakthrough that gave me some insights into the Astrals¡¯ consciousness envement skills.¡±

    The Astrals¡¯ consciousness envement technique was one of the most powerful skills in their arsenal.

    However, their mastery of this skill was closely rted to their ethereal bodies. Even if someoneprehended the principles behind it, they wouldn¡¯t necessarily be able to use it.

    But if Su Chen was the one who had managed to find some insight, it definitely wouldn¡¯t just be on the level of an ¡°observer¡¯s.¡± He definitely would have found something that he could study or even use in the future.

    And the Zhu n specialized in bewitching techniques that were quite simr to the Astrals¡¯ consciousness envement technique. As such, Zhu Xianyao was delighted to hear that Su Chen had found a way to improve her n¡¯s bewitching techniques.

    Actually, the Zhu n¡¯s bewitching techniques had already been upgraded by Su Chen once before. This second upgrade was probably going to be even more impressive than before.

    Indeed, Su Chen next said, ¡°The Astrals¡¯ control technique differs from the Zhu n¡¯s. The Zhu n primarily relies on charming the opponent, which is why this skill is best used by women. The Astrals¡¯ consciousness envement, however, does not differ between gender, and the effectsts forever. This is because their control method directly affects their opponent¡¯s sea of knowledge by creating a dream realm that forcibly overwrites their memory and changes their allegiances.¡±

    This was the first time that Zhu Xianyao had heard anyone talk about how the Astrals controlled their opponents. She was currently still in Su Chen¡¯s embrace, and she gazed up at him with her round eyes as she asked, ¡°Forcibly overwrite? But the Astrals¡¯ ves don¡¯t lose their memories.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Of course not. Because what they¡¯re overwriting is not, strictly speaking, memories, but rather their values, ethics, and philosophy. They brainwash their targets into believing that Astrals are superior beings, and constantly strengthen this rhetoric, which gives themplete control over that target. So even if the creature knows that it is being enved, it is more than happy to serve their new master in that capacity. This is essentially the same as a child being told to respect the teacher and the Dao from birth, or a subject being told that he must die for his king. It¡¯s basically akin to imprinting.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao immediately pointed out, ¡°But teachings can fail, while the envement technique does not.¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Yes. It is possible for teachings to fail, but consciousness envement will never fail. This is because teaching is, at the end of the day, merely surface-level and shallow. It relies on words to influence and shape a person¡¯s mind. When a target¡¯s will is too powerful, no amount of teaching will ever be able to influence that person¡¯s mind. Consciousness envement, on the other hand, directly imprints these beliefs onto an individual¡¯s heart to achieve the envement effect. Actually, the Astrals¡¯ are quite skilled to be able to pull this off. They actually nt a consciousness seed within their target¡¯s sea of knowledge.¡±

    ¡°Consciousness seed?¡± Zhu Xianyao grew excited.

    The things that Su Chen had mentioned just now were not really secrets. After all, the humans and Astrals were both decently familiar with each other. Zhu Xianyao already knew some of what Su Chen had exined, just maybe not as in-depth as he did.

    But this was the first time that Zhu Xianyao had ever heard of a consciousness seed before.

    ¡°Yes, a consciousness seed!¡± Su Chen dered confidently. ¡°Their consciousness seed is very well-concealed. If it weren¡¯t for this Astral amalgamation, I wouldn¡¯t have discovered this secret.¡±

    This Astral amalgamation was formed from six distinct Astrals. Even though the formation had fused them together, they were not actually of one mind. This meant that there were holes in their form that Su Chen could exploit.

    Merging together had made the Astral amalgamation more formidable, but it also came with its own ws. When Zhu Xianyao had used her Soul-Peeling Needles to deal a heavy blow to the amalgamation, these ws had magnified to a discernible level, allowing Su Chen to get a much clearer picture of the secrets behind the Astrals¡¯ consciousness envement techniques.

    This consciousness seed was actually just a child-will.

    When the Astrals used their consciousness envement technique on a target, they were actually splitting off a fragment of their will, nting that child-will into their target¡¯s sea of knowledge, and then using it to take control of the target¡¯s consciousness. Because this process involved cleaving their will into a parent one and a child one, and because the Astrals were spiritual entities, every use of their consciousness envement technique permanently weakened their strength to a certain extent.

    This method allowed the Astrals¡¯ to perfectly insert their will into another lifeform. From the moment the technique was sessfully activated, that strand of Astral will was constantly altering the target¡¯s thought process. As a result, any enved target would willingly serve the Astrals regardless of whether their memories remained intact. After all, their will was no longer their own.

    The Astrals had concealed these consciousness seeds quite well. They were hard to find and even had the ability to self-destruct. If someone probed into an enved person, the consciousness seeds would automatically destroy themselves, making it impossible for anyone investigating to discover the Astrals¡¯ secrets.

    The Astrals had taken control of countless targets throughout history, but the self-destructing consciousness seeds made it so that no one had been able to discover the secrets behind consciousness envement for a long time.

    Until this Astral amalgamation had appeared.

    This strange amalgam had been formed as a reactionary byproduct and was a pure ident. More importantly, there was a non-negligible amount of chaos and uncertainty that had been introduced during the merging process.

    Su Chen had asked Zhu Xianyao to use her Soul-Peeling Needles on it because this would activate the shadow¡¯s defenses and cause it to automatically use the consciousness envement technique in response.

    However, Su Chen possessed the Heart Walls technique. Instead of fighting back, he took advantage of this opportunity to observe what happened inside his consciousness. Besides his ample preparations, the Soul-Peeling Needles also somewhat paralyzed the shadow, slowing down its attacks significantly. The chaotic thoughts of its six wills and its slowed attack from the pain of the Soul-Peeling Needles meant that the Astral amalgamation was forced to reveal its hand. This was how Su Chen had managed to discover the consciousness seed.

    ¡°What a marvelous thought process and what exquisite skill.¡± Upon realizing the theoretical framework of the consciousness envement technique, Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but sigh in appreciation. ¡°But more importantly, it is not nearly as foreign as we thought it was.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°You mean......¡±

    ¡°Humans can learn it as well!¡± Su Chen replied confidently.

    This single discovery had shattered an immutable paradigm about the Astrals that had existed for tens of thousands of years.

    Yes, humans could learn this technique as well.

    Even though the technique wasplicated, it was still learnable. However, the prerequisites to do so were quite high, and the effects would not be as potent. Even so, it could still be learned.

    But that was not the most important implication.

    Actually, Su Chen didn¡¯t want to make the secrets behind the Astrals¡¯ consciousness envement technique public. The Astrals were already universally despised. Teaching humans how to control others probably wouldn¡¯t result in anything good.

    But now that he knew the secret of the consciousness seed, he could develop a medicine that would help the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples to better resist this technique.

    The current stopgap of inducing aa could finally be discarded.

    Zhu Xianyao was also ecstatic when she realized this. She excitedly grabbed Su Chen by the cor and yelled, ¡°I don¡¯t care what you say. You must teach me how to use this consciousness seed!¡±

    Su Chenughed as he replied, ¡°I can teach you, but you must promise me that you will never spread this technique. Otherwise...... the entire continent will fall into chaos.¡±

    ¡°Got it!¡± Zhu Xianyao nodded diligently. ¡°I will learn this. Then, I will enve a horde of Astrals so that they will do many things for us. That way, Big Sis Qingluo won¡¯t have as many responsibilities to take care of.¡±

    So she did harbor some ambition to not let Gu Qingluo steal all the limelight, Su Chen thought to himself.

    But this was fine as well.

    Gu Qingluo possessed the Shining Dragon Bloodline, which was capable of intimidating almost any enemy she encountered. Zhu Xianyao also needed to have a specialty; with her bloodline¡¯s power and the consciousness envement techniquebined, it was possible that she would be an outstanding enchantress.

    If that was the case...... Hehe, an entire horde of Astrals at mymand.

    That idea was sounding nicer and nicer.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 94: Nightmare Fores

    After Su Chen gained a basic understanding of the consciousness seed¡¯s principles, it became much easier for him to find a way to neutralize it.

    With the power of his consciousness crystal, Su Chen was able to quickly develop a method to counteract the consciousness seed¡¯s sinister influence.

    Actually, his method utilized a simr theory, creating another consciousness seed. However, this consciousness seed would protect the user instead ¡ª a child-will that was borne from the user¡¯s own will.

    As soon as a foreign will attempted to invade the user¡¯s sea of knowledge, this child-will would automatically counterattack at full force.

    Because this child-will was a fragment of the user¡¯s original will, living in the user¡¯s sea of knowledge would nourish it, and with the defender¡¯s advantage, it would be incredibly difficult to defeat the child-will as long as the invader was not exceptionally more powerful than the user.

    Su Chen decided to name this technique the Consciousness Refinement Art.

    Right now, Su Chen¡¯s only goal with the Consciousness Refinement Art was to use it to defend against the Astrals. He had no idea that both it and the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques would be the two great pirs of human cultivation in the future.

    Two days after Su Chen put the finishing touch on this new technique, the Boundless Sect finally managed to consolidate their control over almost all of the Ringed Corridor ins.

    Two days after that, Ye Fenghan returned from Nightmare Forest.

    He brought the fruits of his investigation back with him ¡ª there was no shockingly powerful formation like the one in the Ringed Corridor ins. There was only an average Five Elements Origin Formation present, and the area primarily belonged to the Trigenders.

    The Trigenders werescivious by nature, but they did have some special tricks up their sleeves. For example, their illusion techniques were quite powerful. As such, Su Chen immediately realized that the Nightmare Forest¡¯s defenses would be primarily illusory in nature.

    Since Su Chen had just finished creating the Consciousness Refinement Art, he was eager to give it a try. As such, he gave themand for the Boundless Sect to move out.

    That day, the entire army arrived at Nightmare Forest. By this point, the Astrals were well prepared for their arrival. Even though Nightmare Forest seemed just as quiet as usual, Su Chen could sense that there was quite a bit of power lurking within the darkness.

    Whoosh!

    A low cry shattered the gloomy silence.

    A thousand Boundless Sect disciples first entered Nightmare Forest.

    These disciples were all at the Light Shaking Realm. In any other army, they would have been considered a group of powerful experts; here, however, they were nothing more thanmon soldiers.

    Even so, if they attacked all at once, their low status didn¡¯t diminish the power of their attacks in the slightest.

    The sky was filled with magnificent sword light, which shortly descended from the sky.

    At the same time, the withered tree branches ubiquitous in the Nightmare Forest appeared to suddenly bud, sprouting forth leaves that criss-crossed in an uneven pattern. The trees¡¯ foliage rapidly formed awork of leaves thatpletely concealed the ground from the sky.

    As the streaks of Sword Qi descended down on the forest, sinister green streaks of light shot out of the forest in response.

    At the same time, globs of fire bubbled up from the ground and shot off towards the sky.

    Like the Harpies, the Astrals were quite proficient in Arcana Techniques. As such, they used Arcana Techniques almost as much as they used consciousness techniques.

    Humans, inparison, had developed their own cultivation system and thus freed themselves from the ssic dependence on Arcana Techniques. They pursued the ability to attack rapidly in order to enhance adaptability inbat.

    The sword streaks collided with the droplets of liquid fire, filling the sky with a shockingly brilliant sh of scintiting light.

    However, when the light show ended, the fireballs had beenpletely destroyed while the sword light was still shining brightly.

    Just as the streaks of sword light were about to prate through the foliage, the leaves opened up and giant, stone-like figures stepped forth, leaping into the air. They punched out with their bare fists, the frightening momentum carrying a violent torrent of energy that met the sword strikes, stopping them in their tracks.

    Even so, the streaks of sword light continued their descent just a momentter, their movement ebbing and flowing like the tide. The violent energy mmed into the stone figures, smashing them to bits and pieces.

    Amidst the chaotic storm of energy, a flooding river suddenly emerged from the ground with a deep rumble. It gushed towards the sky, thrashing and roaring at them like a dragon.

    But the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples didn¡¯t panic. Instead, they focused their attacks together, simultaneously shoving their palms out in front of them.

    These multitudes of palm strikes merged to form an even stronger, more powerful tornado that scattered the torrential river. The Astrals below were badly startled when they saw the results of this exchange.

    This was due not only to the gap in strength between the two parties, but also to the fundamental difference between cultivation techniques and Arcana Techniques.

    Arcana Techniques were purely rted to the application of Origin Energy. Thus, it merely borrowed strength from the environment; it never fully possessed it. So, it was much easier to disperse and dispel.

    Cultivation techniques, on the other hand, focused on utilizing the energy of nature to strengthen oneself and advance one¡¯s biological status, obtaining great power as a result.

    The key difference between the two was that practitioners of the former obtained their power by mastering powerful Arcana Techniques, while thetter did so by consolidating their own strength.

    For this reason, Arcana Techniques were often slightly inferior in group battles.

    And with a genius like Su Chen influencing the field, the Boundless Sect¡¯s ability to fight in a fixed formation was enhanced even further. This helped prevent chaotic flows of Origin Energy from forming and also increased their efficiency and power output when attacking.

    As such, this group of a thousand cultivators was easily able to suppress the Astrals¡¯ Five Elements Formation.

    Even though this formation was by no means a trump card, the Five Elements Formation should not have been ovee this easily. The Astrals responsible for maintaining the formation trembled in despair when they saw how easily their opponents overpowered it.

    The Nightmare Forest¡¯s defenses began to copse one after another under this barrage of endless attacks.

    Once the firstyer fell, it became clear that this battle was about toe to an end.

    As expected, the enemy¡¯s front line rapidly crumbled away.

    Any resistance quickly disappeared. By the time the thousand soldiers of the Boundless Sect shed their way through the canopy, they discovered that there were no opponents waiting on the other side ¡ª the Astrals had all fled, not even leaving their puppet servants behind.

    ¡°That was pretty easy,¡± everyoneughed as they descended.

    They then split up to search the area but couldn¡¯t find even a trace of the enemy.

    One of the disciples soon returned to report their findings to Su Chen. ¡°Sect Master, the enemies ahead of us have already retreated. Shall we continue and advance?¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s eyebrow jumped up in interest. ¡°So they ran away already? As expected...... If that¡¯s the case, then let¡¯s see what exactly they have in store for us. Shaoxuan, you go scout ahead. Take ten thousand with you.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡± Lin Shaoxuan flew off into the distance.

    Soon afterwards, ten thousand Boundless Sect disciples entered the forest as a vanguard, while the rest continued to wait outside.

    Very soon, the report came back: no signs of anything suspicious.

    Su Chen harrumphed. ¡°Tell them to continue advancing until they¡¯ve cleared Nightmare Forest. We¡¯ll follow behind after that.

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    Themand was quickly passed down.

    Not long after,rge clouds of pink smoke suddenly appeared from nowhere. They rapidly engulfed the entirety of Nightmare Forest as a sinisterugh echoed throughout the forest.

    ¡°So they¡¯re still trying to y these paltry illusion games,¡± Su Chen said disdainfully.

    The Astrals held an absolute advantage when it came to consciousness power, so illusion techniques and formations were naturally a cornerstone of their fighting style.

    This was the Nightmare Forest¡¯s true killing formation.

    In that sense, it was not that different from the formations that protected the cemeteries from foreign attackers. The only difference was its strength.

    The Nightmare Forest¡¯s formation mixed its potent illusory potential with the Trigenders¡¯ innate illusion techniques. As such, the illusion appeared particrly realistic, as if it were capable of giving illusory objects tangible substance. In particr, some of the illusions could do real, physical damage.

    Even though most of the injuries it inflicted were on the consciousness level, these physical injuries could still kill.

    The Astrals had once relied on this illusion formation and three hundred Astrals to wipe out a fifty-thousand-strong army of the Illustrious Divine Dynasty, as well as an entire Ravager tribe. Even though this illusion formation was not necessarily one of the Astrals¡¯ trump cards, it was still one of the most powerful formations on the continent.

    Even with the aid of such a powerful formation, however, the Astrals had still chosen to retreat.

    They had not chosen to fight the Boundless Sect inside Nightmare Forest. Instead, they had left behind a mere few Astrals who would utilize the formation to observe their opponent¡¯s strength.

    They ced no hope in the formation stopping the Boundless Sect¡¯s advance at all.

    And this indeed turned out to be the correct decision.

    After the formation was activated, they quickly discovered that their illusion techniques werepletely useless against the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples.

    They advanced cheerfully no matter how they were threatened or enticed. Even the most convincing illusions, which were capable of dredging up old and dear memories from a person¡¯s heart, were renderedpletely useless against the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples as they could see right through any illusion. It was as if they were mercilessly cutting down their own ¡°parents,¡± ¡°brothers,¡± and ¡°spouses.¡±

    The substantiated illusions that could deal physical damage were also ineffective. Most of them were almost immediately destroyed, and the few that managed to slip through the cracks of the Boundless Sect¡¯s attacks bounced off harmlessly ¡ª the illusion formation¡¯s attacks still primarily targeted the consciousness. As a result, their effectiveness was also quite limited.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples had only just nted their personal consciousness seeds, so they were still not yet capable of withstanding extremely powerful consciousness attacks. But against these weak illusions, the seed proved to be exceptionally effective and easily repelled them.

    Thispletely stunned the Astrals watching the battle unfold, causing them to lose any remaining desire to fight.

    Su Chen, on the other hand, was quite happy to see that the Consciousness-Refinement Art was as effective as he had imagined.

    ¡°Congrattions, Sect Master. You¡¯ve invented yet another incredible cultivation technique,¡± Li Chongshan said as he gazed at Su Chen, his eyes filled with veneration.

    Even though the person before him was quite young in age, he had already created countless miracles.

    All kinds of incredible cultivation techniques were devised by his hands, with profound implications for the rest of humanity.

    The human race was finally going to rise to prominence!

    That grand thought shed through Li Chongshan¡¯s mind.

    The same thought surfaced in Su Chen¡¯s mind as well.

    He smiled slightly and nced at the battlefield before him. ¡°Yes, I agree. This technique has far surpassed my expectations. Perhaps I will be able to improve it even further in the future. The human race¡¯s rise to prominence has truly begun.¡±

    ¡°Congrattions, Sect Master! You have created a limitless future for the entire human race!¡± The people around him began to cheer as well.

    Su Chen dly epted the ¡°ttery,¡± and then said, ¡°It seems like nothing is going to surprise us today. Go and give the order for the rest of the troops to move out. I want to im the entire Nightmare Forest for ourselves before nightfall.¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡±

    Half an hourter, Nightmare Forest¡¯s illusion formation waspletely destroyed.

    An hour after that, Nightmare Forest waspletely devoid of all Astrals and Trigenders.

    By the next day, the Boundless Sect had conquered all of Nightmare Forest and the surrounding territory.

    Unfortunately, the Astrals didn¡¯t leave behind any soldiers or spoils of war. They had all retreated a long time ago.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 95: Accusations

    After the Boundless Sect imed Nightmare Forest for their own, they set up camp there and momentarily stopped their advance.

    They stayed here for twenty days. It almost seemed as if the Boundless Sect had no intention of advancing.

    No one knew what Su Chen was doing during this period of time, but because they held the upper hand so far, the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples peacefully settled down and licked their wounds without anyints .

    They had been constantly fighting for some time and now was a good time to rest anyways.

    Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, ten more days had already passed.

    On this day, Ye Fenghan was cultivating his Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect.

    He was currently only capable of manifesting one Aspect ¡ª the Dream Beauty Aspect, which he had chosen due to his mission at the time, to explore Nightmare Forest as the vanguard team. The Dream Beauty Aspect increased his proficiency with illusions, allowing him to break out of illusions more easily. At higher levels, it would even be possible for him to substantiate illusions, allowing him to freely morph his appearance or influence other peoples¡¯ six senses.

    Ye Fenghan began to gather his strength, causing white fog to appear around his body.

    This fog swirled around him in a slow vortex. Eventually, the fog condensed into a strange face that merged onto Ye Fenghan¡¯s face. Suddenly, Ye Fenghan¡¯s appearance had visibly changed.

    His nose had grownrger, his eyes had shrunk, and his mouth had be slightly tilted. He had gone from a handsome young man to a in and unassuming middle-aged man.

    Ye Fenghan was quite satisfied when he nced at his new appearance in the mirror.

    This was one facet of the Dream Beauty Bloodline¡¯s ability to substantiate illusions, which was changing his appearance. Rather than physically rearranging his facial features, however, this technique could be better thought of as one that constructed a mask of human skin that was ced on top of his face. Obviously, thetter was far less advanced than the former.

    However, illusions created by the Dream Beauty Bloodline had one particr benefit ¡ª even though they couldn¡¯t be extremelyplex, they had a certain degree of ¡°allure¡± to them that caused its ws to be overlooked. In fact, any creature that saw Ye Fenghan¡¯s appearance would probably want to believe that it was real. This was due to the Dream Beauty Bloodline¡¯s influence, and its effect enhanced these typical illusions.

    Of course, this effect was greatly diminished against the Astrals, which was why he had chosen to conceal his movements when exploring Nightmare Forest instead of disguising himself.

    Due to this limitation, Ye Fenghan was slightly dejected when he realized that this tactic was nearly useless against the Astrals.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, he canceled the disguise and instead tried out another one of the Dream Beauty Aspect¡¯s abilities: influencing the senses.

    A Boundless Sect disciple just so happened to be walking by at that moment.

    An idea came to Ye Fenghan, and he activated it, specifically targeting the unaware disciple¡¯s vision.

    The disciple continued walking until he was about ten feet away from Ye Fenghan. He stopped and then said, ¡°Ye Fenghan, the Sect Master is looking for you.¡±

    The Sect Master is looking for me?

    Ye Fenghan asked with some surprise in his voice, ¡°Do you know what it¡¯s for?¡±

    He hadn¡¯t altered where his voice came from, so the other disciple nced quizzically off to the side. ¡°Hm? Why is your voiceing from over there if you¡¯re standing here?¡±

    Ye Fenghan chuckled. ¡°Do you think that I can hit you like this?¡±

    As he spoke, he unleashed a punch.

    In the disciple¡¯s eyes, Ye Fenghan had punched towards his side, but then he suddenly felt something hit his left arm.

    This punch was not very powerful, but it did give that disciple quite a scare.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? How did you hit me?¡±

    Then, he suddenly realized what had happened. ¡°You¡¯re manipting my vision? You¡¯re not right in front of me?¡±

    He immediately concentrated his Origin Energy around his eyes and activated the technique that allowed him to detect Astrals.

    However, Ye Fenghan¡¯s position didn¡¯t change.

    What was going on?

    His Astral Sight was actually ineffective?

    Ye Fenghan chuckled again.

    Indeed, sometimes the tier of the technique was more important than the technique itself.

    Even though the Dream Beauty Bloodline wasn¡¯t that effective against the Astrals, it was more than sufficient to be used against other Intelligent Race members.

    The Boundless Sect disciple seemed to realize something after his Astral Sight had ineffective. ¡°This must be a reward from the Sect Master, right? It¡¯s quite impressive!¡±

    Even though his tone sounded indifferent, his gaze was clearly filled with envy.

    ¡°I¡¯m only at the stage of small sess,¡± Ye Fenghan said in a satisfied tone as he removed the illusion, revealing his true location to the other disciple.

    The disciple, to his credit, wasn¡¯t annoyed at all and tossed Ye Fenghan a tablet. ¡°Alright, enough horsing around. Don¡¯t keep the Sect Master waiting.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll go right away,¡± Ye Fenghan replied, continuing to chuckle to himself.

    In a rare turn of events, Su Chen was actually not preupied with his research at that moment. Instead, he was carefreely picking flowers with Gu Qingluo and Zhu Xianyao.

    Ye Fenghan approached Su Chen and respectfully greeted him. ¡°Greetings, Sect Master.¡±

    Upon seeing Ye Fenghan, Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°You did a very good job this time.¡±

    Ye Fenghan hurriedly said, ¡°You give me too much praise. The Astrals were the ones who abandoned the territory of their own volition. I do not dare take credit for that.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not referring to our conquest of the Nightmare Forest, but rather how you allowed us to advance fearlessly by confirming that there were no dangers lurking within the depths of Nightmare Forest. Even though it may feel like your scouting expedition didn¡¯t serve much of a purpose, ensuring that there was no danger is a serious contribution in and of itself,¡± Su Chen calmly exined. ¡°The Astrals, like us, have survived for tens of thousands of years. Their foundation runs deep and cannot be underestimated. Even though the Boundless Sect has developed at a rapid pace in recent years, we should not expect to easily steamroll our enemies into submission. Otherwise, we will most likely suffer a gruesome fate.¡±

    Su Chen paused momentarily before continuing. ¡°The Astrals most likely voluntarily retreated from Nightmare Forest only because they didn¡¯t see any chance to turn the tables on us. By that logic, they will next gather in the ce that they believe will allow them to definitely secure victory. With this knowledge, we will be able to easily determine where the Astrals have setup traps and where they have not.¡±

    He then lowered his voice. ¡°The Astral armies have gathered near Specter¡¯s Garden.¡±

    Ye Fenghan immediately understood his meaning. ¡°So Sect Master is saying that the Astrals believe that they will be able to win against us there. So they must have some kind of powerful trap waiting there for us, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes. But just knowing that they have a trap is not enough. We need to know exactly what it is. You did a very good job in Nightmare Forest, and I hope that you will continue to deliver impressive results. Of course, I am not forcing you to do this. Your actions have already more than repaid what I gave you earlier. You have the right to refuse my next request. So? Are you up to the challenge?¡±

    Ye Fenghan understood what Su Chen was saying and boldly stood upright and saluted. ¡°Just give me the word, Sect Master. This disciple is willing to head to Specter¡¯s Garden and probe the Astrals there.¡±

    Su Chen was not surprised by Ye Fenghan¡¯s decisive reply and nodded. ¡°Very good. However, Specter¡¯s Garden is different from Nightmare Forest. Nightmare Forest¡¯s trees had illusory properties and were primarily geared towards concealment purposes. Also, Nightmare Forest¡¯s defenses were not fully activated during our previous battle. Specter¡¯s Garden, however, will be densely popted by the Astrals and their army. It will likely be very difficult for you to sneak your way through as is, so we need to prepare adequately before you head out.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he turned to nod at Zhu Xianyao.

    Zhu Xianyao gestured with her hand. A transparent shadow slowly floated towards Ye Fenghan.

    ¡°An Astral!?¡± Ye Fenghan was badly startled.

    ¡°Yes, but he¡¯s under Xianyao¡¯s control and he serves her now,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Ye Fenghan was stunned.

    For tens of thousands of years, the Astrals had always been the ones doing the controlling. He had never expected to see the day where humans could take control of Astrals.

    Even so, the irrefutable truth was before his eyes, and Ye Fenghan had no choice to believe it.

    This was the effect of the Consciousness Refinement Art.

    The Consciousness Refinement Art wasn¡¯t a control technique in its own right, but it greatly enhanced the effects of all other control techniques. It was even capable of breaking down barriers and elevating the level of control.

    Of course, it was still quite challenging to actually subdue an Astral.

    To enve this Astral, Su Chen had personally suppressed the Astral¡¯s will, knocking its strength down a peg from mid-tier to low-tier. Then, Zhu Xianyao had spent nearly an entire month nting a consciousness seed with Su Chen¡¯s direct help before finally seeding.

    This was precisely the reason why the Boundless Sect had stopped here for thirty days.

    Now that their element of surprise had been lost, the only way forward was with an open confrontation. Speed was no longer a critical element in this war, and all they could do was carefully advance step by step.

    ¡°His name is Yanto, and is one of the Astrals responsible for managing the Nightmare Forest¡¯s formation. After he was defeated in battle, he fled. I expended quite a bit of energy to help enve him, and Xianyao sacrificed three years¡¯ worth of her cultivation base toplete the technique. But this servant is worth it. From this day onwards, he will be your servant. Of course, on the surface, it will be the opposite.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s meaning was quite apparent.

    It seemed that Ye Fenghan would enter Specter¡¯s Garden as a supposed prisoner. He would pretend to be Yanto¡¯s ve, and Yanto would pretend to be his master.

    Ye Fenghan thought for a moment, and then said, ¡°I have a question.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Are you referring to the Heart Walls technique?¡±

    ¡°The Sect Master is truly insightful!¡±

    Almost all of the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples cultivated an altered version of the Heart Walls technique that would automatically force them into aatose state as soon as anyone attempted to enve their consciousness. This was why the Astrals werepletely incapable of enving any of the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples.

    For Yanto to suddenly bring a Boundless Sect disciple back with him as a captive would definitely draw some suspicion.

    And there was no way Ye Fenghan could pass for a ve that Yanto had imed in the past.

    Because any Astral familiar with Yanto would have met his ves before. In addition, any puppet that lived in this area for a long time would lose their intelligence due to the influence of the Dark Qi, causing their faces to turn ashen and their skin and bones to harden like iron.

    Ye Fenghan could only disguise himself as a new ve.

    Su Chen had anticipated this issue a long time ago.

    He calmly replied, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve already mustered the Subdued Sea Branch. They don¡¯t cultivate the Heart Walls technique, so you can pretend to be one of them instead.¡±

    After the battle at the Abyss hade to a close, the Subdued Sea Branch had been fully assimted by the Boundless Sect. Apart from those who were staunchly loyal to the oldmand, who Su Chen allowed to return, most of the soldiers and officers had been grafted into the Sect. But because they were naval troops at heart, they were stationed near the sea to pioneer and im more territory.

    Because they didn¡¯t need to face the Astrals, Su Chen had never taught them the Heart Walls technique.

    Now, however, Su Chen had purposefully redirected a group of those soldiers on this campaign.

    The reason for this was very simple: to give Ye Fenghan¡¯s false identity some viable credence.

    An entire army was being moved for a single person.

    But Su Chen knew that it would be worth it.

    Any sacrifice was bearable if he could find out what kind of tricks the Astrals were hiding up their sleeves.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 96: Specterâ€™s Garden

    Specter¡¯s Garden was actually just a long stretch of ins.

    However, these ins were special in that they were covered in fragrant flowers, making it one of the most beautiful ces on the continent. This was also where the ¡°garden¡± part of its name came from.

    However, the characters before ¡°Garden¡± were not nearly as inviting.

    The ce was known as Specter¡¯s Garden because over 80 percent of the flowers here were poisonous.

    In fact, almost every single species of poisonous flowers that existed on the continent could also be found here.

    All kinds of rare poisonous flowers grew and blossomed in ubiquitous patches here, forming multicolored connected rows. The overall spectacle was quite dazzling.

    The only other ce that couldpare in terms of toxicity was the Thousand Poisons Mountain.

    Apparently, however, Specter¡¯s Garden had not always been like this.

    The Neanderthals had once lived here.

    The Neanderthals were a race that had already gone extinct. When they still roamed thend, they preferred to live in gardens and forests, and they called themselves children of nature. The Neanderthals used to live peaceful lives in Specter¡¯s ins, until one day, a young Neanderthal brought an unidentified flower back home.

    That flower had been nted in a corner of the ins.

    From that day onwards, the ins slowly yet inexorably transformed.

    The Neanderthals were subjected to untold torment and grew weaker and weaker with every passing year. By the time that they discovered the patch of poisonous flowers, it was toote.

    This patch of flowers emitted a toxic miasma that prevented anyone from approaching it. Eventually, the cloudpletely swallowed up the Neanderthals¡¯ habitat. This was partly where the name ¡°Specter¡¯s Garden¡± came from, because the ce was filled with far too many sorrowful spirits of deceased Neanderthals.

    Some people imed that the original flower the youth had nted was actually the mother of all poisonous flowers, an item that had been used to foster the Origin Race¡¯s poison-type members.

    Others imed that the flower was actually a trap of the Astrals, and that they had masterminded this cmity to im the Neanderthals¡¯ territory. Of course, the Astrals vehemently denied these usations.

    There were all kinds of different spections about the mysterious flower that had created the Specter¡¯s Garden. But there was one thing that was for certain: after the Astrals imed the territory for themselves, they carefully cultivated the poison instead of neutralizing it.

    Because they weren¡¯t afraid of poison.

    Their ethereal body came with many advantages, one of which was immunity against most poisons.

    Of course, this didn¡¯t necessarily mean that the Astrals werepletely immune to all poisons. There were some strange poisons that were exceptionally potent against consciousness-based lifeforms, and they often did a significant amount of damage to Astrals if they weren¡¯t prepared. Though the Astrals did have their own ways of coping, it doesn¡¯t need to be mentioned here.

    In any case, as one of the Gloom Kingdom¡¯s four forbidden territories, Specter¡¯s Garden¡¯s main source of danger was its poisonous, multicolored miasma.

    Even so, this poisonous environment wouldn¡¯t be able to do much against the Boundless Sect.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t spent all that time in Harpy territory for nothing.

    After Kelesda had surrendered to Eternal Night, the recipe for Fate¡¯s Hands¡¯ antidote had naturally fallen into Eternal Night¡¯sp.

    And since Su Chen was attacking the Astrals on behalf of Eternal Night¡¯s desire to obtain the Immortal¡¯s Soul, there was no way that Eternal Night would be so selfish as to keep the recipe to himself.

    Even though the recipe was iplete, it was still quite effective against most poisons.

    And this wasn¡¯t even mentioning Su Chen¡¯s work. He hadn¡¯t been just idling around ¡ª he had already discovered a way to neutralize an additional portion of the poisons that Fate¡¯s Hands¡¯ antidote couldn¡¯t handle. If Specter¡¯s Garden contained 10,000 different types of poisons, then the Boundless Sect could already handle 9,900 of them.

    And even though the remaining hundred poisons couldn¡¯t bepletely neutralized, the amount of poison ingested still yed arge role in its lethality ¡ª after all, it would be crazy to assume that poisons were equally effective regardless of dosage. In addition, human cultivators had developed physical bodies that had a certain level of innate resistance to poison. As such, it was impossible for any poison to wipe out arge group of people with merely a drop.

    And poisons that could not be neutralized or deconstructed were only so because they were extremely rare and hard to find in the first ce.

    As such, the hundred remaining poisons that were the most difficult to neutralize were also the rarest ones. Even if the Boundless Sect did stumble across them, the damage they would inflict would be limited.

    Even though Specter¡¯s Garden was consideredpletely off-limits to most people, it posed very little threat to the Boundless Sect.

    Despite all their precautions, Su Chen had still decided to send Ye Fenghan in as a spy to probe the Astrals and see if they had prepared any other weing gifts for them.

    He wouldn¡¯t underestimate his opponents this time. No trump card would surprise him, given how long their civilization had stood for.

    Ye Fenghan couldn¡¯t help but sigh in amazement as he gazed out at the sea of flowers in front of him. Specter¡¯s Garden truly lived up to its reputation.

    Colorful flowers blossomed everywhere, each species a different color or form.

    Even though these flowers were incredibly poisonous, they were also extremely beautiful. This kind of idyllic yet deadly scenery could only be found here.

    If one temporarily ignored how dangerous this ce was , it would have truly been a luxury to live in this ce.

    Unfortunately, the Astrals had no way of appreciating its beauty.

    After discarding their physical bodies, the world before them had long turnedpletely grey and nd.

    ¡°What a pity. The most beautiful things always belong to the people who are least appreciative of them,¡± Ye Fenghan sighedmentably.

    Yanto, who was standing beside him, said, ¡°If you¡¯re referring to the beauty of these surroundings, then you¡¯re correct. But even if the Astrals could appreciate beauty, they would have long grown tired of this scenery after tens of thousands of years. Aren¡¯t you humans the same? Actually, you humans often go one step further...... If this ce belonged to humans, then you all probably would have destroyed it already.¡±

    Even though he was being controlled, his own soul was still intact ¡ª just like the other puppets.

    Ye Fenghan was momentarily taken aback. It was true that he hadn¡¯t considered this.

    But these poisonous flowers would probably have to be uprooted in order for humans to actually live here.

    As such, Ye Fenghan was struck speechless as he considered Yanto¡¯s arguments. ¡°Fine, you¡¯re right. We¡¯re all the same. But even so, right now, I think that it is beautiful and worth treating with respect.¡±

    As Ye Fenghan spoke, he stepped forth and walked into the sea of flowers.

    The multicolored, variegated flowers seemingly swayed in response to his movement, releasing their pollen and creating a cloud of fatal powder.

    Unfortunately, Ye Fenghan waspletely immune to this powder mixture. In fact, all this did was attract their natural enemies.

    A swarm of bugs hard to see with the naked eye drifted towards Ye Fenghan, opened their mouths up wide, and began to happily swallow all of the poison fog.

    They were the microscopic creatures that used to live on Su Chen¡¯s poison-devouring scroll.

    In order to mitigate the risk Ye Fenghan had to bear to explore Specter¡¯s Garden, Su Chen had paid a hefty price by handing the poison-devouring scroll over to him. In addition, Ye Fenghan had also been given three Lifesource Candles and a transmission box.

    With the poison-devouring scroll, Ye Fenghan had no need to fear Specter¡¯s Garden¡¯s environment in the slightest.

    Soon after entering, Ye Fenghan began to rapidly fly towards his destination. Wherever he flew, the flowers would instinctively part before him, creating a path in front of him.

    Not a single flower dared to stand in his way as he advanced.

    However, this scene was much too eye-catching, so Ye Fenghan put the poison-devouring scroll away once the Astralmunity was in sight.

    Now that they had arrived, it was time for Yanto to put on a show.

    The process of entering the actual cemetery was unprecedentedly easy. The Astrals didn¡¯t even bother interrogating Yanto, let alone ask why he had returned sote.

    Ye Fenghan was quite amazed by this.

    Yanto exined, ¡°When the Astrals discarded their physical bodies, they also threw away most physical sensations. This is why they are cold, solitary, and affectionless. It¡¯spletely normal for an Astral to just disappear for a year, unannounced. If we want to, we can even lie down on our beds and go to sleep forever.¡±

    Ye Fenghan somewhat understood. ¡°So disappearing for a few days is nothing to you all? Is it really thatmon, even before a battle?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Yanto replied, ¡°We need no reason to disappear. Sometimes, we can even spend an entire week just daydreaming. If you stay here for a few days, you will see Astralse and go at random. There is no need to change our behavior even when we are at war. The only restriction is that we cannot stray too far from here, and that we should do our daydreaming and sleeping here as well. We cannot organize ourselves and move as one unit like you humans can ¡ª it is far too difficult. It¡¯s already an incredible feat for us to gather like so.¡±

    ¡°......¡± Ye Fenghan was rendered speechless.

    ¡°It¡¯s no wonder you guys aren¡¯t able to withstand a frontal assault,¡± Ye Fenghanmented.

    Yanto chuckled. ¡°The Astrals have never been able to withstand a frontal assault. We just drag our opponents onto our ying field, and then use our abundance of experience to defeat them there.¡±

    ¡°Fine, you win. So what should we do next?¡± Ye Fenghan nced warily at his surroundings.

    Even though the Astral army had supposedly gathered here, there was no sense of organization or ongoing training ¡ª just as Yanto had said. Most of the Astrals were just sleeping in their rooms. The only difference between them being gathered and not was that this cemetery had more coffins than normal.

    That was it.

    ¡°We can just walk around and do as we please,¡± Yanto replied casually. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to dig around and try to figure out what schemes the Astrals haveid for the Boundless Sect? Just go and ask. No one will be suspicious of you ¡ª the only two possibilities are that they either know or they don¡¯t.¡±

    Ye Fenghan was speechless at how cavalier Yanto was. ¡°They don¡¯t try to keep things a secret?¡±

    Yanto shook his head slightly. ¡°No. The Astrals have never once had a spy throughout their storied history.¡±

    This fact was viewed with pride by the Astrals, if they knew what pride meant.

    The Astrals had always been the ones doing the controlling, never the ones being controlled.

    Yanto was the first.

    In the future, he would go down in Astral history for this feat and for this feat alone.

    But Yanto didn¡¯t care about that in the slightest.

    As a puppet who was controlled by someone else, he was still able to think for himself. However, all of his thoughts were towards contributing to the human race¡¯s rise to power.

    This was determined by the consciousness seed in his sea of knowledge.

    As such, Yanto said, ¡°We can ask whatever we need to. The Astrals won¡¯t be on guard.¡±

    An Astral just so happened to walk by at that moment.

    Ye Fenghan¡¯s heart jolted, and he immediately strode towards that Astral. ¡°The Boundless Sect is right before us. How are we nning on engaging them? It can¡¯t be just with this sea of poisonous flowers, right?¡±

    The Astral was obviously taken aback.

    He didn¡¯t reply. Instead, he gazed deeply at Yanto. Ye Fenghan felt his heart sink.

    Wasn¡¯t he supposed to ask whatever he wanted to? What was with this expression?

    Then, Yanto nodded and simply replied, ¡°This is a new servant of mine. He hasn¡¯t been corrupted by the sinister Qi yet, so his curiosity has not yet diminished.¡±

    Understanding dawned on the Astral¡¯s face. ¡°I don¡¯t know. That is something that only high-tier Astrals are privileged to know.¡±

    After replying, he turned around and left.

    Ye Fenghan was stunned. ¡°A secret that only the high-tier Astrals know? So they do have some concept of keeping things a secret, huh?¡±

    Yanto replied, ¡°Perhaps they¡¯re just toozy to inform their subordinates.¡±

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 97: Warrior

    The elders mostly lived in the center of the cemetery, where a flower garden had been ced for the elders to enjoy themselves and rest in.

    When Ye Fenghan and Yanto arrived, they could see a high-tier Astral elder taking a leisurely stroll through the garden. There were also other Astrals holding books and standing underneath trees, near the flowers, or in small pavilions, quietly reading to themselves.

    The atmosphere was incredibly calm and peaceful, making it seem as if no important conflict was brewing.

    ¡°They seem quite at ease,¡± Ye Fenghan couldn¡¯t resist muttering.

    ¡°They are Astrals, after all,¡± Yanto replied. ¡°Giving up our physical bodies is, in some sense, like dying. As we experience the cycle of life again and again, slowly growing more and more isted, we have be indifferent and apathetic to some degree.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t seem that apathetic when you set out to do things,¡± Ye Fenghan said.

    Yanto replied, ¡°Apathy is a kind of temperament. Doing battle is a decision. The two are not in contrast with one another.¡±

    Ye Fenghan was amused. ¡°How philosophic.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just an inevitable outlook that you develop if you live forever.¡±

    Ye Fenghan allowed the conversation to end there. ¡°So what should we do now? Should we keep on asking around?¡±

    ¡°Let me instead,¡± Yanto said.

    He walked towards an Astral elder floating on the pond and bowed, saying, ¡°Greetings, Esteemed Elder Agus.¡±

    The Astral named Agus was still spacing out..

    Yanto said nothing and waited quietly.

    After some time, Agus replied, ¡°I don¡¯t remember your name, young Astral.¡±

    Yanto replied, ¡°My name is Yanto. I met you once thirty-two years ago, and you gave me some instruction at the time.¡±

    Agus replied, ¡°Forgive me, I can¡¯t seem to remember that.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not surprised. You have encountered too many other living creatures throughout your whole life,¡± Yanto said respectfully.

    Yanto waspletely speechless.

    This was a very typical conversation between two Astrals.

    Because Astrals had given up on their physical bodies and could live a long time, three hundred years in their eyes was nothing more than a drop in the ocean. This was why they could say things like ¡°this child is only three hundred years old¡± or ¡°it¡¯s been five hunred years since west saw each other.¡±

    Yanto continued, ¡°Esteemed Elder Agus, the humans are advancing quite rapidly, but we still seem to be just waiting around. This worries me.¡±

    Agus calmly replied, ¡°There is no need to worry about this, Young Yanto. We are Astrals, and we have our own prestige and self-confidence. No matter how powerful our enemies are, or how amicable we are, we will definitely win.¡±

    ¡°Amicable?¡± Ye Fenghan couldn¡¯t help but chuckle.

    ¡°ve, do you have an issue with this?¡± Agus nced at Ye Fenghan.

    Ye Fenghan calmly bowed and said, ¡°Esteemed Elder Agus, I am honored to be the ve of an Astral. But I apologize; even so, I cannot agree with your view based on the experience that I have.¡±

    ¡°That is quite alright. After all, this is the fundamental manifestation of your intelligence. It¡¯s been a while since I left this ce or saw a ve with their consciousness still intact. What do you want to say?¡±

    Ye Fenghan replied, ¡°I feel that, while the Astrals are a very majestic race, they are definitely not amicable. And in a world born in chaos, there is no point to seeking peace anyways.¡±

    Agus thought for a moment, then replied calmly, ¡°That is only your thought, youn human. The humans have short life spans. Even a member of the Gu n, who possess an Origin Beast Bloodline, will only be able to live around three thousand years or so. To the Astrals, however, three thousand years passes in the blink of an eye. Our long lifespan makes it so that we have no need to fight. You may not know, but...... virtually no Astral from the Gloom Kingdom dies of old age. They have all fallen to the hands of their opponents instead.¡±

    Ye Fenghan was momentarily taken aback before he nodded. ¡°Yes. From a biological perspective, there is no point for Astrals to fight.¡±

    The longer a creature¡¯s lifespan was, the rarer they were..

    The Astrals could live for far too long. Under those circumstances, there was no point for most Astrals to fight for anything. And their loss of most senses made it so that there was very little on the continent that could move their hearts.

    ¡°But if that¡¯s the case, then why do the Astrals still insist on attacking and capturing ves unprovoked?¡± Ye Fenghan asked.

    The greatest grudge between the humans and the Astrals was that they would constantly sneak into human territory and forcefully enve them.

    This was even more unbearable than t-out killing them.

    ¡°For survival,¡± Agus replied. ¡°It is possible for the Astrals to live peaceably, but even if we have few needs, we do have needs. If we have needs, then we will need to fight to make sure those needs are met. If we fight, there will be deaths. For the sake of survival, we Astrals are forced to think of ways to increase our strength constantly. This is the source of everything we do.¡±

    So the world is responsible for turning you into this, huh? Ye Fenghan thought to himself.

    But who was not fighting for survival?

    The Astrals would disappear if they didn¡¯t fight. Were the humans any exception to that rule either?

    However, he did have to admit that Agus¡¯s words were logical.

    Ye Fenghan had once thought of the word ¡°Astral¡± as a synonym for cold-blooded, sinister, and vicious. Only now, upon meeting with Agus and listening to his point of view, did Ye Fenghan realize that each race had their own situations in which they had no choice.

    Having no choice, however, could not uphold righteousness or protect a country. The only way to reach the top was to be the strongest.

    The Astrals and the humans were the same in that regard.

    Ye Fenghan could only lower his head quietly.

    It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t want to argue, but his identity didn¡¯t allow him to say any more.

    Yanto redirected the conversation in a timely manner. ¡°Elder, may I ask how we are nning on dealing with the Boundless Sect this time?¡±

    Agus nced at Yanto. ¡°You seem very interested in this.¡±

    ¡°I cannot help but worry about the Astrals¡¯ fate.¡±

    ¡°Even if it means that you must die?¡± Agus asked.

    Yanto was taken aback when he heard this. A faint sense of difort surfaced in his heart when he heard this, but he steeled himself and continued to forge onwards. ¡°Yes. For the Astrals, I am willing to sacrifice even my soul.¡±

    Humans would sacrifice their bodies, while the Astrals would sacrifice their souls.

    Agus was pleased by Yanto¡¯s answer. ¡°Very good. We were having a hard time trying to figure out who to send, but since you¡¯re here, I will use you first.¡±

    Hm? What was that supposed to mean?

    Yanto and Ye Fenghan were both startled. Agus unleashed a wave of energy.

    This consciousness fluctuation rippled off into the distance. Astrals began to slowly filter in this direction. Shockingly, they were all Astral elders.

    The pressure from all of these high-tier Astrals gathered in one ce was staggering.

    ¡°You¡¯ve found someone fit for the job, Agus?¡± a high-tier Astral asked. A glowing golden halo floated above his head, proof of his status as a in-office elder.

    Agus lowered his head to the person who had asked. ¡°Esteemed Elder Ulric, this young Astral is willing to sacrifice himself for the Astrals.¡±

    ¡°Is that so.¡± Ulric nodded. ¡°Very good. So our race is capable of producing hot-blooded warriors after all.¡±

    The humans had all kinds of descriptors for the Astrals, including ancient, immortal, sinister, intelligent, and wise, but altruistic, hot-blooded, and brave were not among them.

    The Astrals were like a wise old man amongst the five Intelligent Races - calm and unhurried, even when attacking.

    But these creatures were never courageous, let alone loyal to anyone.

    As such, the Astrals had no true warriors or heroes. This was not an exaggeration - it was fact.

    Warriors here referred to Astrals who would continued to press onwards even if continuing meant death.

    The Astrals suffered an incredibleck of such individuals.

    Until that moment, when Yanto immediately volunteered himself to be a sacrificial warrior.

    Of course, he was aware of what was about to happen.

    He was probably going to be given a suicidal task. His instincts told him to refuse, but Ye Fenghan was able to nip those thoughts in the bud just by shooting him a surreptitious re.

    Agus¡¯s mission was definitely going to be rted to the Boundless Sect.

    If the Astrals were willing to give them that mission, it would be for the best.

    Ye Fenghan would be able to control the killing weapon meant for the Boundless Sect. How could he pass up an opportunity like that?

    Yanto was not a hot-blooded warrior, but Ye Fenghan was.

    And Ye Fenghan¡¯s will was the same as Yanto¡¯s will.

    Since Ye Fenghan had made his decision, Yanto could only ept it.

    Ulric asked, ¡°Are you sure you are willing to take this risk for the Astrals? You should know that the mission you are going to undertake is incredibly dangerous. There is a great chance that you will die!¡±

    Hm?

    A great chance of dying?

    So there was still the possibility of survival?

    Yanto sighed with some relief and said without Ye Fenghan¡¯s reminder, ¡°I am willing to sacrifice my soul for the sake of the Astrals, but I hope that I can bring my servant with me.¡±

    Yanto pointed at Ye Fenghan.

    He was not acting presumptuously. Ye Fenghan had secretly given him this direction earlier.

    If his ¡°Master¡± wanted to die with him, Yanto could only ept it.

    Ulric nced at Ye Fenghan, then nodded. ¡°That is not a problem. As a reward for your loyalty, Specter¡¯s Garden¡¯s library will be opened to youpletely. Before the Boundless Sectes, you may enjoy it to your heart¡¯s content.¡±

    Yanto was delighted.

    The Astrals¡¯ libraries were the mostplete on the entire continent. They were a race that loved to do research, after all.

    However, the books that the Astrals had ess to were restricted by tiers. Mid-tier Astrals were not allowed to read books that were only avable to high-tier Astrals, for instance.

    Now, however, Ulric had granted him this privilege. Perhaps this was one of the benefits of being a hero.

    The Astrals had little need for material things or money, so these libraries were of tremendous value.

    Ye Fenghan had wanted to ask if the Astrals had any other treasures, but he was still of quite low status. The Astrals were fine with a ve interrupting, but asking for more treasure would have been a bit too much.

    Ye Fenghan wanted to remind Yanto to ask, but he was having a hard time figuring out how to express his inquiry, so Yanto remained silent in the end. This made Ye Fenghan quite disappointed.

    However, he took advantage of the opportunity to ask another important question. ¡°Esteemed Elder Ulric, may I ask what our responsibility for this mission will be¡±

    This question was asked precisely and in a timely manner.

    Ulric thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°You¡¯ll know when the timees.¡±

    Damn!

    Weren¡¯t they not supposed to keep secrets?

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 98: Burning Sun

    The battle came very quickly.

    The Boundless Sect arrived in merely a day.

    This was not very surprising.

    Upon receiving news from Ye Fenghan, and finding out that the Astrals ¡°ultimate technique¡± hadnded in Ye Fenghan¡¯s hands, Su Chen wasn¡¯t willing to wait any longer. He gave themand to advance, and the Boundless Sect began to advance relentlessly.

    Unfortunately for Yanto, this meant that he was only able to spend a day inside the library. Ye Fenghanforted him by saying that, after the Astrals were destroyed, the library here would belong to the Boundless Sect, meaning that he coulde and read whenever he pleased.

    Even though he had already be a human ve, Yanto was still a little put off by this phrasing......

    After crossing through the sea of flowers, the Boundless Sect arrived at the Astrals¡¯ cemetery.

    The Astrals had already gathered their army of 150,000.

    However, a hundred thousand of these soldiers were actually subservient races, primarilyposed of the Trigenders and the Kobalos, and forty thousand were consciousness enved puppets. There were only around ten thousand Astrals.

    This was the first time that the Astrals had actually formed into an army to fight against their invaders head-on.

    The ten thousand Astrals would have been capable of wreaking havoc on any other country. This kind of force was probably only seen once every thousand years.

    Even so, they were obviously the weaker party when matched up against the Boundless Sect.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s strength was quite apparent.

    And to the Boundless Sect, ten thousand Astrals was far too few.

    ¡°Only ten thousand Astrals? So they aren¡¯t nning on putting it all on the line here. In other words, there are probably more powerful traps waiting for us past Specter¡¯s Garden,¡± Su Chen said as he gazed down at the arrayed Astrals from the floating pce.

    Gu Qingluo, who was standing beside him,ughed. ¡°They have been around for tens of thousands of years, after all. They most likely still have concealed skills in droves.¡±

    Zhu Xianyaoughed. ¡°Doesn¡¯t that make things interesting? It would be boring if we just steamrolled our way through.¡±

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°I would rather it be boring and simply resolve all of these problems. Isn¡¯t that much better?¡±

    Li Chongshan said, ¡°The Astrals wouldin if they heard you talking like this. If we¡¯re not steamrolling them now, what would you call steamrolling? They wouldn¡¯t be the Astrals if they didn¡¯t put up a fight.¡±

    Shi Kaihuang said, ¡°The problem is that they¡¯re not only trying to put up a fight; they¡¯re trying to turn the tables on us. Right, have you heard back from Fenghan?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Those Astral elders seem to have suddenly learned how to delegate and are only going to inform him of the n at the veryst moment. As such, we will need to put some pressure on them first if we want to know what they¡¯re hiding from us.¡±

    ¡°So what are we waiting for?¡± Lin Shaoxuan asked.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°What are we waiting for? Start the offensive.¡±

    Following Su Chen¡¯smand, the war bugles were blown, signalling the beginning of the attack.

    Cloud-Piercing Shuttles flew through the sky, heading straight for the Astral armies. Even though Light Shaking Realm cultivators could fly, using the Cloud-Piercing Shuttles allowed them to conserve some Origin Energy and for those under the Light Shaking Realm to participate in the battle. Most importantly, it allowed them to move as one.

    The first wave of Cloud-Piercing Shuttles came to a stop ten thousand feet away from the opposing army. Then, the soldiers inside all raised their hands. Flying swords shot into the sky before whistling towards the enemy formation.

    ¡°What is this? How can they attack us from so far away?¡± the Astrals, who had never seen the Boundless Sect¡¯s flying sword technique before, asked in astonishment.

    Human Origin Skills were always inferior to Arcana Techniques when it came to range. As such, humans were always the ones charging while the Astrals kept their distance and yed defensive whenever they fought.

    This was the first time they had seen their opponents demonstrate an effective range even greater than theirs.

    Their intelligence reports hadn¡¯t mentioned anything like this.

    Yes, because the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples truly didn¡¯t possess a skill like that.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s flying sword ¡°technique¡± was not only due to what they cultivated but, more importantly, the fact that they were all using Soul Armaments.

    Soul Armaments relied on a strong consciousness link between a cultivator and their Origin Tool, greatly raising their control over it. However, the Boundless Sect had kept it a secret this entire time.

    Now, they were using this against the Astrals to fully demonstrate just how different cultivators were from Origin Qi Schrs.

    The flying swords could not only strike from extremely far away, but they were also incredibly powerful. Some of the more advanced cultivators could even control dozens of swords at once. Swords were basically raining down from the sky in a torrential downpour upon the Astrals.

    The first ones to be struck were the Trigenders and the Kobalos. These two races were not exactly weaklings. The Trigenders could merge three individuals into one and fight, and they were able to use all kinds of strange and mysterious skills. The Kobalos were cowardly, but they also possessed a wild side. If the Astrals stimted their bloodthirst, they were more than capable of oveing this cowardice and attacking with abandon.

    However, none of these were of any use when the opponent was too far away. The Astrals, who had always adopted defensive tactics, had never expected that their opponents would actually have a greater range than they.

    And these flying swords were not Arcana Techniques. Arcana Techniques would need to be recasted after being unleashed, but Soul Armaments were connected to their owner¡¯s consciousness and could attack constantly. One of the flying swords appeared in front of a Kobalo and beheaded it before moving on to find another target. There was no need for them to ¡°rest¡±.

    These flying swords danced all across the battlefield, mercilessly reaping the lives of their enemies.

    Lin Shaoxuan smiled slightly when he saw this. ¡°Only a thousand men, yet we are able to scatter our enemies before us. They are truly too weak.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be in such a hurry. They¡¯re not totally helpless,¡± Su Chen said.

    Indeed, a white shroud of light suddenly emerged from the Astral camp. The Astrals in the back lines had simultaneously activated a magic barrier.

    The swords collided with the barrier, sending sparks flying wildly.

    At the same time, fireballs began to sail through the air, hurtling towards this battalion of the Boundless Sect.

    However, this gap of ten thousand feet was still quite difficult to handle. Most Arcana Techniques were incapable of traveling that far, which was why the Astrals had elected to use simple fireballs. Their power, however...... well, it was not even worth mentioning.

    ¡°Exterminate!¡±

    The leader of this thousand-man battalion was Lin Xiao. A group of a hundred cultivators attacked simultaneously, unleashing a wave of frost thatpletely extinguished the fireballs before they even got close.

    The fireballs, which had been unleashed by at least three thousand Astrals, waspletely wiped out by a group of a hundred soldiers. The advantage at being to strike from such long range was quite obvious.

    At that moment, however, a formless consciousness ripple boomed through the entire battlefield, jolting the Boundless Sect disciples¡¯ hearts and causing their movements to slow significantly.

    Su Chen knew that an Astral elder had just made his move, using these powerful consciousness fluctuations to disrupt their attacks.

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s eyebrow jumped, and she prepared to make her move.

    Su Chen, however, restrained her. ¡°It¡¯s far from time for you to do anything yet. But the fact that a thousand-man battalion was able to force one of their in-office elders to intervene is very good.¡±

    Su Chen smiled slightly, then gestured with his finger.

    Lin Shaoxuan understood what he meant and passed it on. Two more battalions took flight.

    The three thousand Boundless Sect disciples gathered and unleashed a violent roar.

    This roar was not any kind of consciousness technique, but it was filled with bloodthirst and vigor, as well as a steelybat intent.

    The in-office elder¡¯s consciousness technique was actually forcibly repelled by this roar. For just a moment, a low groan of pain could be faintly heard right next to the disciples¡¯ ears.

    At the same time, two thousand more swords flew forth, renewing their siege against the barrier.

    The swords hacked and shed against the barrier of light relentlessly.

    The barrier formed by these ten thousand Astrals was not weak, and even the three thousand disciples were unable to break through.

    But just because their strength wasparable didn¡¯t mean that their rate of expenditure was equal.

    The defensive barrier consumed Origin Energy much more rapidly than controlling the flying swords did, and because the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples were controlling the Soul Armaments via their consciousness, their Origin Energy expenditure was much lower.

    The side with arger force was actually expending energy at a more rapid rate.

    The Astrals obviously also recognized that the deadlock could not be allowed to continue. They only had two choices.

    Either they attacked and closed the distance, or they retreated and increased the distance.

    Attacking was impossible.

    The Astrals¡¯ surprises were prepared defensively. If they attacked, those surprises would be rendered useless.

    As such, they could only retreat.

    All of the Astrals simultaneously sensed themand to retreat.

    At the same time, a fog suddenly appeared out of nowhere, enveloping the armies.

    The Astrals were going to use an illusion formation and turtle up.

    Even though the Boundless Sect was more than capable of smashing through this battle strategy, the Astrals didn¡¯t really have anything better that they could do.

    They had done this for tens of thousands of years, and it had always been effective.

    So even if they had run into their kryptonite, they had no other choice.

    The fog caused the swords to lose track of their targets. After flying around for a bit, they returned to their owners¡¯ hands.

    ¡°They¡¯re pulling back already? Is this real?¡± Lin Shaoxuan was a bit surprised.

    To Lin Shaoxuan, who was a seasoned veteran, they had merely been testing the waters.

    Conventionally speaking, most battles would start small before both sides began to add on manpower, change up battle strategies, andyer on additional offensives before total war broke out.

    This thought process conformed with traditional military theory.

    But what were the Astrals doing?

    They were retreating immediately?

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m not surprised. We are fighting the Astrals, after all. They¡¯re not used to fighting like that; they¡¯re likely fine with it asionally, but they would much rather resort to something they¡¯re familiar with.¡±

    Lin Shaoxuan harrumphed as he gazed at the white fog. ¡°Ghosts will be ghosts. All they can do is lurk in the shadows and scheme anyways.¡±

    ¡°But shadows will never be able to withstand the light, and craftiness will always lose to strength,¡± Li Chongshan said.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Since they want to retreat, we¡¯ll st them out into the open.¡± Su Chen turned to nce at Gu Qingluo. ¡°This time, it¡¯ll be up to you.¡±

    Gu Qingluo smiled proudly. ¡°So you¡¯re finally going to let me do something?¡±

    Su Chen said sincerely, ¡°Yes. Use your boundless sun, my dear, and sweep away all the darkness and shadows. Bring those old sewer rats into the light.¡±

    Gu Qingluo smiled and flew into the air.

    Sky Armor activated, and a zing light filled the sky!

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 99: Extermination

    The moment that Sky Armor was unleashed, all of the Astrals saw a sun rise high into the sky.

    Gloom Kingdom was always enveloped in shadow and darkness.

    Around 80% of the Astrals that lived within the kingdom would never see the light of day.

    They didn¡¯t need light, and they didn¡¯t like light.

    In this sense, Astrals were the same as the ghosts from folklore.

    Even though they weren¡¯t afraid of light, it was true that their defenses were woefullycking in this regard.

    And now, a sun which they had not seen for a long time had appeared in the sky.

    The current Gu Qingluo was different from before yet again.

    Her strength had surged just by following Su Chen around.

    The undoing of her bloodline restriction was already innately hastening her growth. While the other members of the Gu n were still carefully limiting the degree to which they awakened their bloodline to 20%, Gu Qingluo had awakened hers to 40%, since her upper limit was now 60% anyways.

    The amount of power that she had ess to was far greater, which also resulted in a much rapider rate of cultivation.

    Su Chen¡¯s rate of cultivation was quick because of his eyes, but Gu Qingluo only needed to expend and absorb the power of her Shining Dragon Bloodline. Her cultivation speed was no slower than Su Chen¡¯s - in fact, she was even faster.

    As such, she had reached the Thought Manifestation Realm in less time, and by now she had already reached the peak of the Thought Manifestation Realm. It seemed that she was going to ascend to the Ultimate Emperor Realm very soon.

    She was most likely going to be the youngest Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator on the Primordial Continent.

    A Thought Manifestation Realm cultivation base and a 40% awakened bloodline put the full power of the Shining Dragon Bloodline on disy.

    Even without unleashing the Shining Dragon Aspect, Gu Qingluo¡¯s body still burned fiercely, unleashing rays of dazzling sunlight that seemed to melt away all of the defenses that the Astrals had set up.

    ¡°Hiss!!!¡±

    Shrill shrieks could be heard echoing through the air - the pained cries of the Astrals.

    Origin Energy fluctuations began to pulse through the sky, attempting to alleviate the pressure emanating from Gu Qingluo through sheer brute force.

    Only when the tide was retreating was it possible to see who was swimming naked. At that moment, the Astrals¡¯ true supporting pirs were exposed.

    In the blink of an eye, Su Chen had locked onto three targets. ¡°There, there, and there. Three in-office elders!¡±

    Three imprints suddenly appeared on their bodies. A momentter, the three in-office elders suddenly felt the space around them distort before they reappeared and found themselves in midair.

    Su Chen had used his mastery of spatial powers to directly teleport the in-office elders out of formation.

    He had expended quite a bit of energy to teleport them across such a great distance. At the same time, three shadows shot forth from amongst the Boundless Sect¡¯s ranks towards the three elders.

    The Void Seahorse and two Titan-ss puppets.

    Even though the Boundless Sect still had no Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators yet, they had quite a few entities that were just as strong as an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator. Su Chen, Gu Qingluo, and the Void Seahorse were all stronger than an average Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator, while the Titan-ss puppets were roughly equal in strength.

    As such, Su Chen wasn¡¯t afraid ofpeting with top-tier strength either.

    After the three elders were captured, the Astrals didn¡¯t stand a chance. Gu Qingluo unleashed her full power, causing mes to spurt forth in all directions andpletely eradicating a majority of the Astrals¡¯ defenses.

    Gu Qingluo was responsible for breaking down the defenses, while the Boundless Sect was responsible for reaping lives.

    Streaks of sword light flew through the air. Without the barrier¡¯s interference, the swords began to execute Astral after Astral.

    The oue of the battle had already been determined.

    ¡°So now is the time for you to use that trump card, right?¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    And the Astrals were indeed doing just that.

    After Ulric had seen Gu Qingluo appear in the sky, he knew that this battle had been lost. Even though he was an in-office elder, his strength was limited because he was still recovering all of the consciousness power he had lost. At this point in time, his status did not actually measure up with his actual strength. In fact, because Su Chen had managed to turn his disaster into good fortune, there was no way that Ulric would be able topete.

    He turned to face Yanto. ¡°Come with me.¡±

    Yanto and Ye Fenghan knew that the payoff was close and followed closely behind.

    Ulric walked into the Astral Hall.

    The Astral Hall was just as dismal and gloomy as before. Four in-office elders were standing guard there.

    Upon seeing Ulric, the four elders paid him their greetings.

    Ulric said, ¡°Bring them out.¡±

    An Astral elder stepped forwards and made a strange gesture, then pantomimed a tossing motion. A jar appeared out of nowhere.

    This was also a spatial technique, but it was many times more sophisticated than an Origin Ring.

    Ye Fenghan knew that the Astrals were not very proficient in spatial methods. As such, it was highly likely that the Astrals had expended quite a bit of energy to preserve this item.

    And usually, there were only two reasons to use this kind of spatial technique to store items: either the item was incredibly valuable, or it was incredibly dangerous.

    Indeed, the Astral elder¡¯s movements were incredibly careful now that he was holding the jar.

    Ye Fenghan noticed that the jar was constructed out of Brokenhearted Jade.

    Brokenhearted Jade was extremely poison-repent. Oftentimes, a small piece was enough to construct an extremely high-quality poison warding medallion, but this jar was madepletely out of it. Its surface was inscribed with poison-restricting markings.

    So it was rted to poison after all?

    Ye Fenghan immediately understood.

    Specter¡¯s Garden was a ce where poison thrived, so it made sense that this ultimate killing technique also relied on poison.

    Ulric said, ¡°Specter¡¯s Garden has countless kinds of poisons, but most of them can be targeted and nullified. Though the wave of poison is powerful, it is possible to survive it. But there are some poisons that leave no possibility of survival whatsoever. They are usually quite transient, because nature forbids their perpetual existence. But as soon as they are brought into being, they are bound to unleash a cmity.¡±

    Ye Fenghan¡¯s heart sank.

    Ulric epted the jar, then walked towards Yanto.

    He said, ¡°Every thousand years, Specter¡¯s Garden produces a special kind of poison that we call...... Annihtion. This poison ispletely impossible to defend yourself against. Even Astrals will die if theye into contact with it. It is able to corrode through every known entity until it ispletely consumed, so it cannot be stored. The only way to preserve it is to keep it in an isted void. This Brokenhearted Jade jar is not its container - the small void it contains is. There, Annihtion cannot contact any physical substance. It contains all of the Annihtion that the Astrals have spent countless lives to gather for the past twenty thousand years. As soon as it is unleashed, everything will be destroyed, and nothing will survive - not the humans, not the Astrals, and not even the ground itself.¡±

    Ye Fenghan was stunned when he heard this.

    He had never heard of a poison like that before.

    ¡°This poison, however, has one w - it does not spread rapidly,¡± Ulric continued. ¡°As such, you cannot expect to use it against any powerful expert, because it won¡¯t be able to catch up to them. It will need to be spread extremely discreetly in order for it to take effect.¡±

    Yanto asked, ¡°How should we use it?¡±

    Ulric replied, ¡°There is an underground tunnel here. Go through it and you will find yourself behind the Boundless Sect¡¯s front lines. Your job will be much easier after that.¡±

    Yanto said, ¡°Charge into enemy lines and open the jar.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Ulric nodded. ¡°That¡¯s why I said that you need to be prepared to die. Yanto, the future of the Astrals will depend on you.¡±

    Yanto nodded. ¡°Rest assured, Elder!¡±

    Ulric let out a long sigh. ¡°You may go.¡±

    He waved with his sleeve, and a tunnel appeared underground.

    Everything had obviously been nned out a long time ago. If the Astrals were ever forced to use this poison, they would deliver it via this underground tunnel.

    Yanto said nothing more and left with Ye Fenghan in tow.

    As Ulric watched them leave, he suddenly felt his heart skip a beat, as if he was missing some key piece of information. A sense of unease began to spread over him.

    What am I thinking?

    Perhaps this was because of the pressure the humans were putting on him.

    Uric shook his head, wanting to shake off the shadows in his heart.

    Even so, those worries only seemed to sink in the more he tried to brush them off.

    He didn¡¯t realize anything in the end, however, and chalked it up to being overly stressed.

    He didn¡¯t try to chase after them. Tens of thousands of years of history triumphed over his personal feelings. Ulric walked out of the Astral Hall and began to wait for their n toe to fruition.

    He waspletely confident in Annihtion.

    Perhaps it would not kill Su Chen or Gu Qingluo, but it would at least do great damage to the Boundless Sect. If the jar was opened smack dab in their midst, it was very possible that the Boundless Sect would lose 90% of their soldiers all at once.

    The Boundless Sect would not be able to continue their campaign against the Astrals if they suffered that kind of loss.

    Time slowly trickled by.

    The scene that Ulric was waiting for, however, never appeared.

    This made him a bit impatient.

    What was happening?

    Why hadn¡¯t Annihtion taken effect?

    His emotional state slowly began to grow unsteady.

    At this point, the Astral army was being suppressed quite heavily by the Boundless Sect¡¯s soldiers.

    The subservient races had been scattered, and the cowardly Kobalos had lost all motivation. Even the techniques stirring up their bloodthirst were unable to override their intuitive desire to flee.

    The streaks of sword light gave chase relentlessly. Soon, Ulric himself would be thrown into the mix.

    Why? Why hadn¡¯t it activated yet?

    Ulric was growing more and more anxious, and the uneasy sensation in his heart grew stronger and stronger until it permeated his entire being.

    In that moment, Ulric suddenly understood.

    Even though he wasn¡¯t aware yet of what exactly had happened, he knew that the n had failed.

    It was aplete failure!

    Boom!

    The pained cries had not ceased, and the Boundless Sect was still advancing fearlessly. The Astrals were beginning to fall apart.

    ¡°Elder Ulric, why hasn¡¯t Annihtion taken effect yet?¡± the four elders in the Astral Hall asked, panicking.

    In that moment, Ulric seemed to have calmed down significantly.

    He turned around to leave. ¡°The n is aplete failure. Order the remaining Astrals who are lucky enough to still be alive to retreat.¡±

    ¡°Failure? How could it have failed?¡± the other elders asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know!¡± Ulric finally lost his temper and roared. ¡°The only thing we can do now is hurry and leave this ce to try and preserve the remaining numbers we have left!¡±

    A low bugle cry gave the cue for the Astrals to retreat. At the same time, the puppets they controlled charged forwards with reckless abandon, holding the line in their masters¡¯ stead.

    ¡°Trying to run?¡± Su Chen nced at the Brokenhearted Jade jar next to him as a smile broke out on his face. ¡°Attack!¡±

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 100: Sky Magnet Mountains

    A triumphant victory.

    The Boundless Sect decimated the Astral soldiers stationed in Specter¡¯s Garden.

    The miracle Ulric had been waiting for never came. He had briefly entertained thoughts of sacrificing himself along with the rest of hispatriots, but he had eventually chosen to retreat.

    As a race with a wealth ofbat experience, the Astrals had quite a few ways of escaping. As such, nearly three thousand of them had managed to escape with their lives.

    This number was quite high given how badly they had just been stomped.

    But there was nothing Su Chen could do. After all, they were still in enemy territory, and he could not carelessly pursue after them. When the Astrals actually made the decision to flee, they were able to get away without much trouble.

    Thankfully, Su Chen didn¡¯t appear to care much. After all, they would sh at Wai Caves again sooner orter, and whether or not these three thousand Astrals were present then didn¡¯t actually matter much.

    Within the Boundless Sect¡¯s pce.

    Su Chen met with Ye Fenghan yet again.

    ¡°You did a pretty good job this time. Is there a reward you would like?¡± Su Chen asked straightforwardly.

    Ye Fenghan immediately got down on his knees. ¡°I do not need any reward, but if possible, I would like to be Sect Master¡¯s apprentice!¡±

    ¡°You want to be my personal disciple?¡± Su Chen pondered for a moment before shaking his head.

    Ye Fenghan felt his heart sink. Had all of his efforts been in vain? Were they still not enough for Sect Master to ept him as his personal disciple?

    Su Chen was already speaking. ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to ept you, but that it would be pointless even if I did. I am not nning on concealing any of my techniques, and I will eventually publish them so that anyone who has enough contribution points can learn them. The path I am traveling down leaves me no time to give pointers. As such, there really isn¡¯t much of a difference if you be my personal disciple or not. This even extends to the position of Sect Master; when the Boundless Sect needs to choose my sessor, they will not restrict selection to my personal disciples alone. Instead, they will choose any disciple who is truly up to the task. As such, you will find that being my personal disciple grants you no special privileges. I only refused you because I didn¡¯t want you to feel disillusionedter on.¡±

    Ye Fenghan was still bitterly disappointed when he heard this. After a moment¡¯s thought, he said somewhat despondently, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then I would like to learn Sect Master¡¯s ming Phoenix Theurgy Art.¡±

    ¡°You want to learn that? No problem.¡± Su Chen gently tapped the air with his finger, and a mote of light flew forth from it into Ye Fenghan¡¯s forehead.

    ¡°I have given you the cultivation method already. The rest of the path will be yours to walk.¡±

    ¡°Many thanks, Sect Master!¡± Ye Fenghan bowed before standing back up. ¡°Oh, Sect Master, about the Damaged Canyon and Reaper¡¯s Temple......¡±

    Su Chen interrupted him. ¡°You won¡¯t need to go there. It¡¯s not very dangerous.¡±

    ¡°Hm? Why is that?¡±

    ¡°Because the Astrals have given themand to retreat all the way to Wai Caves...... They are going to make theirst stand there.¡±

    If they were going to make theirst stand at Wai Caves, then they had already given up on trying to defeat their enemies in Damaged Canyon or Reaper¡¯s Temple. In other words, there would be no trump cards that could pose a serious threat to the Boundless Sect.

    If that was the case, then Su Chen naturally no longer had anything to fear.

    Specter¡¯s Garden was extremely vast. It would take a long time to fully upy it.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t want to wait that long, so after resting and reorganizing for a little, the Boundless Sect army moved on.

    While they had dyed quite a bit in the Ringed Corridor ins, the Boundless Sect this time moved as swiftly as the wind, basically stepping on the fleeing Astrals¡¯ coattails all the way to the Damaged Canyon.

    Damaged Canyon was actually in essence aplicated, torturous mountain range known as the Sky Ma Mountains.

    Apparently, these mountains had been formed by a giant chunk of maic rock that had fallen from the sky.

    Whether or not that rock was maic was unknown, but it was undeniable that this mountain range had a few unique characteristics of its own.

    One of the most noteworthy properties was that Origin Energy would flow in an exceptionally turbulent manner.

    In other words, this ce could spontaneously create chaotic flows of Origin Energy even in the absence of arge group of cultivators attacking all at once. Anyone who found themselves in this region would find their control over Origin Energy drastically decreased.

    This effect was the most pronounced in a canyon in the middle of the mountain range. There, it was virtually impossible to use Origin Energy, which was why it was named Damaged Canyon.

    Because there, no Origin Skills could be used.

    And because even the sky was affected, it was impossible to just fly through the region. The Boundless Sect needed to walk through the area on foot.

    Worth mentioning was that, even though it was impossible to utilize Origin Energy, the area was still popted by powerful Demonic Beasts.

    These Demonic Beasts relied not on their Origin Energy skills but on their innately powerful bodies. In this kind of restricted area, their strength was all physical.

    Apparently, the enmity between the Astrals and the Ravagers had actually stemmed from this ce.

    The Ravagers had felt that a ce like this, where all that mattered was one¡¯s physical strength, was perfect for them to possess. Unfortunately, the Astrals didn¡¯t necessarily agree with that logic.

    In any case, Sky Ma Mountains was not a location that was friendly to Origin Energy users.

    Even though it was not a no-man¡¯snd like Wind Silence Breach or Specter¡¯s Garden, its effect on Origin Energy had much greater implications for powerful individuals over low-tier cultivators. Inparison, the dangers that the four forbidden areas posed were not actually that terrifying to stronger cultivators.

    As such, calling the ce a no-man¡¯snd really depended on the person. To powerful individuals, Sky Ma Mountains were the real no-man¡¯snd.

    After the Boundless Sect arrived, they descended to the ground.

    As soon as they had gotten close, Gu Qingluo frowned. ¡°I can sense some strange force affecting me and weakening my control over my Origin Energy.¡±

    ¡°The Sky Ma Mountains live up to their reputation. We¡¯re only on the edge, but the effect is already this great.¡± Su Chen could obviously sense it as well and sent word to the other disciples. ¡°We will not be able to fly through this area and can only walk through it on foot. Everyone, make sure to be careful.¡±

    The other Boundless Sect disciples could also sense that something was different, and they began to descend from the sky one by one.

    ¡°Sect Master, it seems there are no Astrals here. They probably all retreated,¡± Lin Xiao reported.

    ¡°I¡¯m not surprised. The Astrals are even more affected than we are in this kind of ce,¡± Lin Shaoxuan said.

    The Astrals relied entirely on Origin Energy to fight, while humans primarily focused on increasing their own personal strength when cultivating. As such, their vitality would increase after every ascension.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be too bold,¡± Shi Kaihuang warned. ¡°The Astrals are in control of this area. How do you know that they haven¡¯t found a way to nullify the effects of the Sky Ma Mountains yet?¡±

    Cheng Tianhai replied, ¡°Because if they had, they wouldn¡¯t have given the order for everyone to retreat and gather at Wai Caves. I think it should be fine.¡±

    Li Chongshan immediately said, ¡°This is exactly what I think is strange. Do you not think that we found out that they were retreating to Wai Caves too easily?¡±

    Even Su Chen was momentarily taken aback by that.

    He hadn¡¯t paid much thought to it at the time, but now with Li Chongshan and Shi Kaihuang both taking exception to it, he immediately realized that something was wrong.

    Su Chen¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Order all the disciples to stop immediately. Call Yanto and Fenghan over.¡±

    A momentter, the two of them arrived on the scene.

    Su Chen directly asked, ¡°Yanto, Ye Fenghan, did Ulric ever tell you to directly retreat to Wai Caves if the n failed when you were interacting with him?¡±

    Ye Fenghan was taken aback. After a moment¡¯s thought, he replied, ¡°No, I didn¡¯t hear anything like that.¡±

    ¡°Did he tell any of the other Astrals to do that?¡±

    Ye Fenghan thought carefully, then shook his head. ¡°I didn¡¯t hear anything like that.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s expression was quite gloomy.

    He lowered his head in thought for a moment, then suddenlyughed, ¡°How dangerous. We almost walked right into their trap.¡±

    Li Chongshan and Shi Kaihuang also began to understand.

    Chu Yingwan said calmly, ¡°So that means that the intelligence we gathered at Specter¡¯s Garden was purposefully slipped to us by them? Then there is probably a good show awaiting us inside the Sky Ma Mountains.¡±

    Ye Fenghan¡¯s expression shifted slightly. ¡°It is impossible to use Origin Energy in the Sky Ma Mountains. But if the Astrals have figured out a way around it and have just kept it a secret, then...... won¡¯t we be likembs led to the ughter if we go in?¡±

    Jun Moxieughed coldly. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then even our fight at Specter¡¯s Garden could have been a ploy to bait us here. Of course, if they had been able to wipe us out with the poison, that would have been for the best. But if they couldn¡¯t, then they would immediately try to draw us to Sky Ma Mountains. This ce...... is very dangerous!¡±

    Reality dawned on everyone as to just how much danger they had been in. When they nced back at the mountain range, a shiver ran up their spines.

    Their enemies were not idiots, and they were not weak.

    In order to survive, they were fighting with all their might.

    ¡°Then what should we do?¡± Even the normally brash Cheng Tianhai was somewhat anxious. ¡°We can¡¯t just stop attacking now, can we?¡±

    It was impossible that the Boundless Sect would stop their offensive. They wouldn¡¯t retreat just because there was a possibility of danger.

    However, they did need to consider how they would attack.

    Su Chen thought for some time before finally speaking. ¡°There are only two ways to resolve the issue of turbulent Origin Energy in the Sky Ma Mountains that I can think of. The first is to develop a technique that can resist its effects, and the second is to find some kind of treasure that can do that. A cultivation technique is out of the question. After all, Yanto is amongst our ranks, and he doesn¡¯t have any technique that can deal with the effects of the Sky Ma Mountains.¡±

    Yanto nodded.

    He was an Astral, but he had never heard of such a technique before.

    Actually, Su Chen was a veteran in dealing with chaotic flows of Origin Energy, but he was only ever able to ensure that he could act freely even in turbulent Origin Energy. However, he had never developed it into a full technique.

    Su Chen continued. ¡°As such, the Astrals probably stumbled across some kind of treasure that resolved this issue for them. And if it¡¯s a treasure, that means we can take it. If they can use it, we can use it too.¡±

    Everyone¡¯s eyes lit up.

    ¡°Sect Master means......¡±

    ¡°We will use a battle to foster a battle. We will use our enemy¡¯s treasure to resolve the issue of the Sky Ma Mountains,¡± Su Chen said.

    He chuckled. ¡°It seems like we¡¯re going to need to send in a scouting party first after all.¡±

    Ye Fenghan immediately clenched his fists. ¡°Sect Master, I am willing to go.¡±

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen shook his head. ¡°You are not suited for close-quartersbat. This mission will need to be carried out by the right people. The selection criteria will just be those who have cultivated powerful body techniques and can fight even if the Origin Energy around them is chaotic.¡±

    ¡°As for the leader......¡± Su Chen thought for a moment, then said, ¡°I will lead this group.¡±

    No one was more suited for this than Su Chen.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 101: The Source of the Turbulence

    Inparison to Specter¡¯s Garden multicoloredndscape, the Sky Ma Mountains were much more deste.

    Due to the turbulent, chaotic Origin Energy here, the entire area was much wilder.

    The mountains appeared to be no more than random piles of rocks scattered everywhere. Virtually no vegetation could be seen. Nothing appeared to be hiding there.

    Even so, you would never know if that was real or not as long as you didn¡¯t get close to it.

    That was just how it went when fighting the Astrals. You would never need to worry about not being able to defeat the Astrals in a head-on fight, but there were almost never any opportunities to fight like that anyways. This had been the case at Wind Silence Breach, the Ringed Corridor ins, and Specter¡¯s Garden, and it would be the case at the Sky Ma Mountains.

    Even though the Astrals had appeared to fight out in the open at Specter¡¯s Garden, that was only a ruse so that they could disperse poison to their opponent¡¯s back lines. They were still lurking about the shadows, but that time Su Chen had just managed to beat them at their own game.

    It was extremely likely that there were Astrals hiding amongst this mountain range.

    And what Su Chen needed to do was to find them.

    ¡°Look. In front of us is Pentagon Hill. Our maps stop there, so we don¡¯t know what is past that,¡± Wang Xinchao said as he pointed straight ahead.

    This Boundless Sect disciple had originally been a cksmith. He was not one of the strongest disciples in the sect, but he was quite stable. Because he primarily cultivated body techniques, he had studied all of the Boundless Sect¡¯s body refinement techniques, including the Flowing Wind Body technique that Su Chen had cultivated a long time ago. Not only so, but he was able to reach the stage of Great Sess in all of them.

    It was for this reason that he had been selected to be part of this group.

    ¡°Then we should fill out the map a little more,¡± Iron Cliff chuckled.

    Iron Cliff had obviously been invited along on this expedition as well. Even some of the Stoneskins under hismand had followed along.

    Ever since the Stoneskins had chosen to serve the Boundless Sect, they had found arge tree for themselves.

    This tree not only shielded them from the wind and rain, but it also provided them with cultivation techniques. In the past, no Stoneskin could go beyond the Yang Opening Realm. Now, that restriction had been shattered. As the Stoneskins grew stronger, there was even the possibility that the limit would be raised to the Spirit Burning Realm.

    Such generosity and the possibility of a boundless future made all the Stoneskins incredibly grateful to Su Chen, to the point where they were even willing to pledge their lives to him.

    The Stoneskins who had been living in Hurricane Canyon before this was only a small group. As their reputation began to spread, more and more Stoneskins flocked to seek shelter, causing their ranks to expand. By this point, they were quite a powerful branch of the sect. However, their glory was obscured by the rest of the Boundless Sect¡¯s radiance, so they often went unnoticed. In addition, most of them had not been cultivating for as long, so they had far too few Light Shaking Realm cultivators amongst their ranks. This was why they had never really had an opportunity to demonstrate their true strength.

    Today, however, their opportunity had arrived.

    These Stoneskins, whose powerful bodies were their calling cards, were far more useful than human cultivators in an environment like the Sky Ma Mountains.

    As such, nearly half of the scouting party was made up of these Stoneskin elites.

    The Stoneskins were quite excited to finally have an opportunity to be used in battle. When a young Stoneskin heard what Iron Cliff had said, he couldn¡¯t resist chiming in, ¡°Not only the Sky Ma Mountains, but all of Gloom Kingdom wille under our control. This territory is bound to be the Boundless Sect¡¯s eventually!¡±

    ¡°Yes, it will belong to the Boundless Sect!¡± the others cried out in unison.

    ¡°Alright, alright, Miye. There¡¯s no need to yell so loudly. We all know where your loyalties lie,¡± Iron Cliff chuckled as he patted the young Stoneskin on the shoulder.

    Miye was the son of the former chieftain of the Hurricane Stoneskins, Harvey.

    Harvey had been abandoned by the Stoneskins due to his stubbornness. His life was still quite carefree, but his son, Miye, had be a loyal follower of Iron Cliff. After all, he was one of the first Stoneskins that Iron Cliff had given pointers to. Now, he had ascended to the Light Shaking Realm as well. That rate of cultivation was already quite decent for most humans, let alone a Stoneskin.

    This was both because of his own effort and also because of Iron Cliff¡¯s abundant support.

    The current Miye was already the strongest Stoneskin, excluding Iron Cliff of course, and would be the future chieftain of the Stoneskins.

    ¡°Alright. From here, we will split into ten-man groups and search. Remember, don¡¯t be reckless when you find our targets. Use the transmission boxes to notify everyone else first,¡± Su Chenmanded.

    Every one of the disciples on this expedition had been given a transmission box. The box¡¯s coreponent was a Void Crystal. These crystals, which were produced from the Astrals themselves, would be used against the Astrals as well.

    Once Su Chen gave themand, the expedition split up into their small groups and began to spread out.

    Su Chen had selected eight hundred people to apany him on this expedition, so there were eighty groups in total. Though that seemed quite high, they were covering a vast territory. As such, they were like stones cast into a pond, disappearing after creating a few ripples.

    Thankfully, the eighty small stones were also capable of moving. With enough patience, they would eventually run into some of the fish hiding under the surface of the water.

    Su Chen moved alone.

    Using the same metaphor as before, Su Chen was like the fisherman standing above the pond, searching for targets from his unique vantage point.

    After the eighty groups had dispersed, Su Chen flew high into the air, carefully observing the situation below - Sky Ma Mountains¡¯ interference with flight did nothing to him because he was able to ignore chaotic flows of Origin Energy.

    As he floated high in the sky, Su Chen created a flock of clones and scattered them in all directions as he activated his vision to its limit.

    The high speed at which he could fly, the range of his eyesight, and the number of clones he could create at once made Su Chen the primary investigating power of the small groups.

    Even so, Su Chen was unable to find anything even after a day of searchin.

    The same went for the eighty groups as well.

    They meticulouslybed the mountain range but didn¡¯t find a single Astral.

    Was he overthinking things? Perhaps the Astrals hadn¡¯t actually resolved the issue posed by the Sky Ma Mountains and hadn¡¯t prepared an ambush after all?

    No, definitely not!

    Su Chen had some understanding of the Astrals, after all.

    They were not only sly and crafty, but they also had an innate penchant for research.

    They would never let such arge issue go unresearched for tens of thousands of years. If even a single Astral took an interest to the area, their long lifespan and inquisitive mindset made it extremely likely that they would be able toe up with a way to nullify the effects of the mountains.

    So where would they be hiding, then?

    Su Chen fell into deep thought.

    Just as he was pondering this, however, a wave of Origin Energy suddenly rippled out in all directions.

    This was amon urrence in the Sky Ma Mountains. In other words, this was the source of the chaotic Origin Energy flows in the region. The strange maic properties of the mountains attracted Origin Energy and stimted it such that Origin Qi Schrs wouldn¡¯t be able to use it. And whenever these chaotic flows of Origin Energy appeared, their effects would be amplified.

    The chaotic flows of Origin Energy would rise and fall periodically.

    When the chaotic flows were not as intense, Origin Qi Schrs would at least be able to utilize certain Origin Skill and Arcana Techniques, but if the chaotic flows were strong, forcibly attempting to unleash an Origin Skill would undoubtedly result in bacsh.

    In Su Chen¡¯s eyes, however, the secrets of Origin Energy turbulence were fullyid bare.

    The moment that the formless wave of Origin Energy appeared, Su Chen was able to sense its appearance, and he could even perceive how strong it was.

    As such, he made no attempt to avoid it, instead unleashing a wave of Origin Energy of his own. This wave was not too strong nor too weak, not too dense nor too dispersed. It ranpletely counter to the wave of Origin Energy that had just washed over him, destructively interfering with it.

    The Origin Energy wave died as quickly as it had appeared, resulting in no effect on Su Chen.

    Just as the Origin Energy waves canceled out, however, Su Chen sensed a faint consciousness fluctuation.

    This consciousness fluctuation shed by, but Su Chen was still able totch onto it.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Su Chen¡¯s consciousness shook.

    He immediately realized that the earlier Origin Energy fluctuation could have had nonnatural origins.

    ¡°Could it be that they can not only resist it, but even control it? That makes things even more interesting,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself as he nced at therge mountain below him.

    If the Astrals could control the Origin Energy waves, then that meant they were not using some kind of special medallion that could nullify the effects of the mountains. Instead, they had most likely unlocked the secrets of the chaotic flowing Origin Energy in this ce, allowing them to develop ways of controlling them.

    But this kind of control was definitely not very advanced. Otherwise, he would have been facing a storm of Origin Energy instead of a rtively simple wave.

    Regardless, this gave Su Chen a new direction in which to continue his search.

    He hurriedly activated his transmission box. ¡°Everyone, listen closely. The Astrals are most likely hiding underground. What you all need to do now is find the secret entrances. If they are hiding underground, there must be an opening to a tunnel somewhere. And be careful...... They should be capable of controlling Origin Energy fluctuations on a small scale.¡±

    Su Chen closed the transmission box, then flew down to the ground.

    Since the Origin Energy fluctuation had found its way here, then that meant that there was at least a location which the Astrals were monitoring him from.

    That also implied that there was an entrance somewhere nearby!

    One of the mountains beneath Su Chen appeared to bepletely solid, but hidden beneath it was actually a giant cave.

    An Astral was observing the outside world carefully through a peephole. The walls around him were covered in profound inscriptions, and he held a crystal ball in his hands, which glowed faintly and resonated with the inscriptions on the wall.

    He had just gently brushed the surface of the crystal, which had generated that wave of Origin Energy from earlier.

    Surprisingly, that wave of Energy had not actually knocked the human out of the sky. That made this Astral a little suspicious.

    He lowered his head and nced at the crystal in his hand, muttering to himself, ¡°What¡¯s the matter with this thing? Is it broken?¡±

    These Origin Energy waves were formless and impossible to sense. Only Su Chen with his special eyes was capable of seeing it, so the low-tier Astral had no idea if the wave had actually been activated or not. All he could see was that the human floating in the sky was still there, causing him to instinctively believe that the crystal had malfunctioned somehow.

    And he hadn¡¯t had much time to y around with it yet either, so there was quite a lot about the crystal ball that he didn¡¯t understand.

    He never would have expected that this simple action of his would reveal so much to his opponent, and he didn¡¯t notice that the person in the sky hadnded on the ground near where he was. That person had already created a number of clones and scattered them in all directions.

    After inspecting the crystal ball for some time and ensuring that there was nothing wrong with it, the Astral decided to give it another try.

    He nced back up at the sky but found that there was no one there.

    ¡°He¡¯s gone already?¡±

    The low-tier Astral let out a rueful sigh.

    Suddenly, he seemed to sense something and whirled around. A pair of icy eyes were staring right at him.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 102: Deceitful Stoneskins

    Su Chen immediately pounced forwards and locked the Astral in a spatial realm. Before the Astral could even react, Su Chen sent a powerful strand of his will into his opponent¡¯s mind.

    Forcibly wresting control of an opponent¡¯s consciousness was something the Astrals were very familiar with, but Su Chen was giving them a taste of their own medicine.

    Only someone like him, whose consciousness power exceeded three thousand units, and had mastered the Dream Beauty Bloodline, could soul-search an Astral.

    And inparison to the Astrals, Su Chen¡¯s methods were far more brutish, resulting in much more pain to the Astral being interrogated.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t care in the slightest. Very quickly, he was able to find the answers that he had been looking for.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    Whoosh.

    Su Chen¡¯s figure flickered and disappeared for a moment before reappearing.

    The Astral from before had disappeared, reced by a Void Crystal that Su Chen held in his hand.

    Su Chen stowed away the Void Crystal, then pulled out his transmission box. ¡°I¡¯ve found one of their concealment points and can confirm now that the Astrals have in fact set up ambushes for us. However, these ambushes are not under the ground, but in the sky.¡±

    ¡°Sect Master is truly wise!¡± The other disciples were delighted when they heard Su Chen¡¯s words.

    ¡°Master, what is with these Astrals exactly?¡± Iron Cliff asked.

    He had kept his habit of referring to Su Chen as Master. As the only person who could do so, Iron Cliff felt quite proud to be distinct from the rest of the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples.

    As Su Chen exined, everyone came to know that the Astrals had managed to nullify the chaotic Origin Energy flows here eight thousand years ago, and were even able toe up with a way to use it themselves.

    The Sky Ma Mountains¡¯ turbulent Origin Energy was due to a unique spatial realm suspended above them known as the Chaos Realm.

    The Chaos Realm was filled with violent, unrestrained energy, making it chaotic in and of itself. Unlike the void, chaos was the intrinsic nature of the Chaos Realm. This kind of chaotic essence greatly affected the Origin Energy there, making it chaotic as well.

    The reason that chaotic Origin Energy flows would appear throughout the Sky Ma Mountains was because the Chaos Realm¡¯s ripples had spilled out and were affecting this ce as well.

    After the Astrals discovered this issue, they began to realize that by controlling the opening and closing of the entrance to the Chaos Realm, as well as by drawing out the chaotic element contained inside, they would be able to harness the disruptive properties of this region.

    The crystal ball that the Astral had held was used to open the entrance to the Chaos Realm, allowing him to generate turbulent Origin Energy fluctuations.

    It was not strange that the Astrals were able to utilize the Sky Ma Mountains¡¯ properties to their advantage, but it was atypical that they had kept it so secret from most of the other Astrals.

    This was obviously to keep it a secret as much as possible so that it could be used to surprise an invading force, if it ever came down to that.

    This was not a bad idea in theory, but unfortunately Su Chen had still managed to see through it.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. What should we do next, Master?¡± Iron Cliff asked.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Why, we¡¯re going to be destroying their control, of course. There are two parts to their control of the Chaos Realm. The main element is in the sky,posed of a concealed floating formation. The otherponent is inside the mountains. Some Astrals have been scattered throughout the mountains and are watching us carefully so that they can use their tools - these crystal balls - at the right time to disrupt our movements. And because they can control the degree of chaos, the chaotic flows of Origin Energy will intensify a hundredfold if we try to defeat them with brute strength. That is strong enough to tear many of us into shreds. Your mission is now to search for these concealed hideouts and seize those crystal balls. With the crystal balls, we will be able to evade the disrupting influence of the torrents of Origin Energy.¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡± all of the disciples replied in unison.

    With Su Chen¡¯s pointers, the other disciples found it much easier to discover the whereabouts of the hidden Astrals.

    Very quickly, Iron Cliff found himself near the entrance to one of the hidden caves.

    He didn¡¯t have Su Chen¡¯s ability to teleport, but he did have a method unique to himself.

    Boom!

    Iron Cliff¡¯s fist mmed into the wall of the mountain, causing it to tremble violently.

    Chunks of stone flew everywhere as a cloud of dust appeared out of nowhere.

    An Astral flew out from amidst the rubble.

    ¡°Stoneskin!¡± The Astral¡¯s voice was filled with thick disdain.

    In the Astrals¡¯ eyes, all other races were inferior, but the degree of inferiority varied amongst races. The Stoneskins, who were servants and whocked fine control over Origin Energy, were extremely poorly regarded. In their minds, the gap between them and the Stoneskins was night and day.

    How could the Astral not feel disdain when a Stoneskin forcibly broke down the entrance to his privateir?

    The Astral was not afraid even though his hiding spot had been uncovered.

    He let out an enraged shriek. Arge group of puppets charged forward and pounced on Iron Cliff as the Astral took advantage of the opportunity to retreat.

    ¡°This again.¡± Iron Cliff was already extremely familiar with this tactic. The Astral wouldunch deadly attacks from behind the front lines while the puppets charged relentlessly. As such, Iron Cliff gave the Astral no time to conceal himself and charged forwards. The Astral¡¯s puppets were left to his fellow Stoneskins to handle.

    ¡°You imbecile!¡± the Astral harrumphed coldly. ¡°You don¡¯t know who you are fighting!¡±

    As he spoke, a spectral, ethereal w raked towards Iron Cliff¡¯s heart. At the same time, a frosty glow began to emanate from his body asyers of stained ss began to envelop him. Not only so, but strange skulls began to appear, revolving around him.

    The Astral had unleashed a number of powerful Arcana Techniques in the blink of an eye, demonstrating his strength.

    Iron Cliff, however, ignored all of this and roared as he continued to charge.

    The spectral w left behind five deep bloody gashes on Iron Cliff¡¯s body, and the wave of frost enveloped him. Despite this, however, Iron Cliff continued to charge forwards valiantly. He smashed head-on into the stained ss screen, causing it to shatter as he continued to charge like a mad ox.

    The skulls flew forwards, biting down on Iron Cliff¡¯s muscles and injecting poison into them.

    Iron Cliff, however, continued to charge as if he could feel nothing.

    Charge, charge, charge!

    All he did was charge.

    The Astral hurriedly floated backwards as he unleashed a swath of mes, followed by two lightning bolts. Iron Cliff¡¯s body had been charred ck.

    However, he was still charging, continuing to close the distance between the two of them.

    The Astral finally felt a hint of fear, unleashing three fireballs and four wind des in rapid session, followed by a patch of brambles that began to grow. At this point, he no longer had time to cast any powerful Arcana Techniques and could only rely on these quicker, lower-strength Arcana Techniques to stop his opponent¡¯s advance.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang!

    The fireballs sshed off of Iron Cliff¡¯s body but couldn¡¯t slow him down in the slightest, and the wind des bounced off of him harmlessly. The brambles were quashed underfoot by Iron Cliff before they even had a chance to grow, so they didn¡¯t slow him down in the slightest.

    Iron Cliff drew closer and closer until he was mere meters away.

    ¡°Die!¡± Iron Cliff snarled with a ferocious smile as he unleashed a punch.

    Just as the punch was about tond, a strange light flickered across the Astral¡¯s eyes. ¡°You will not want to attack me!¡±

    Iron Cliff froze, suddenly motionless before the Astral.

    The Astral began to speak in a low, gravelly voice, ¡°You despicable lifeform, lift up your head and see who you are truly up against. You will never be able to reach such heights or achieve such glory. Follow me and be my ve, and you will be blessed by this glory......¡±

    The Astral tapped his finger on Iron Cliff¡¯s forehead.

    The Astrals¡¯ consciousness envement techniques might have been useless against the Boundless Sect, but this Astral was not using consciousness envement but soul invasion. This was another method that the Astrals could use to control a target. It was obviously moreplicated than consciousness envement, but it would not result in a decrease in strength, and most importantly, it appeared to be able to bypass the Boundless Sect¡¯s defenses.

    Hopefully I¡¯ll be able to control this big lunk, the Astral thought to himself as he continued to utter enticing phrases and infusing them into Iron Cliff¡¯s mind.

    He could sense that the soul invasion process was proceeding quite smoothly, as if there was no resistance at all.

    This made him quite excited.

    He was about to seed!

    Wait a minute. What was that?

    The Astral, who was quite deep in Iron Cliff¡¯s mind at this point, discovered to his shock that a bright light had suddenly begun to take form within his target¡¯s body.

    The Astral took a closer look and found that beneath that glowing light appeared to be some kind of pce.

    That was...... Abundant Revolution?

    The Astral suddenly realized that the pce was actually Abundant Revolution[1. The first consciousness pce formed when reaching the Spirit Burning Realm.]!

    Even though it was not yetplete, the outline of Abundant Revolution was definitely there!

    This meant that his opponent was on the cusp of ascending, but was merelycking something that would allow him to fully form the pce.

    The Astral felt a jolt run through his consciousness.

    He was stunned not only because of the fact that a Stoneskin had somehow managed to break through their cultivation restrictions but even more because his soul invasion technique was useless against Spirit Burning Realm cultivators.

    Even someone a half-step into the Spirit Burning Realm could not be controlled because the opponent¡¯s consciousness would be too powerful for someone like him to subdue.

    Then why...... Not good! This was definitely a trap!

    The Astral immediately realized the predicament he was in.

    He attempted to withdraw his consciousness, but Iron Cliff sprang into action in that moment.

    He nced at the Astral and said with a faint smile, ¡°Now do you understand?¡±

    A momentter, a powerful wave began to form in Iron Cliff¡¯s consciousness.

    The half-finished Abundant Revolution began to glow fiercely, forming a giant vortex above it.

    The Astral projection in Iron Cliff¡¯s sea of knowledge immediately began to disintegrate into the vortex, reverting to its primal consciousness energy form.

    ¡°NO!¡± the Astral howled frically. His consciousness energy was rapidly draining from him, flowing into the vortex and into Iron Cliff¡¯s sea of knowledge. At the same time, Iron Cliff¡¯s Abundant Revolution began to expand and take concrete form.

    He was using this opportunity to break into the Spirit Burning Realm.

    He was using the Astral¡¯s own power toplete himself!

    The Astral felt like he was going to go insane.

    Was his opponent really a Stoneskin?

    When had the Stoneskins be so deceptive and sinister?

    ¡°Anyone would learn a few tricks like this if they had been following my Master for as long as I have. Thanks for your contribution!¡± Iron Cliffughed. The blinding light began to break out of his sea of knowledge and shine forth from his body, covering him from head to toe in illuminating light.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 103: Heavenâ€™s Blood

    Su Chen continued to fly through the air.

    White clouds calmly drifted by him. The entire mountain range was extremely peaceful, and there were no Astrals in sight.

    However, Su Chen knew for a fact that they were right there, concealed somewhere down there.

    Unfortunately, the Astral that he had killed was merely a low-tier Astral responsible for maintaining a single observation point. He had no idea where the central hub in the Sky Maic Mountains was. It turns out that the Astrals were quite good at keeping secrets after all.

    Even from a height of two hundred thousand feet, it was still impossible for Su Chen to locate the hidden central hub.

    He knew that the Astrals had hidden themselves quite meticulously, and that they would be very difficult to find. After a moment¡¯s thought, he chuckled, and then activated his Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect.

    Once his Aspect was activated, the heavens and the earth seemed to tremble as the surroundings were bathed in the glory of Su Chen¡¯s full might.

    Su Chen then pushed his strength to its utmost extent, and the resulting gargantuan pressure wave disrupted everything nearby. But because of how deste thisnd was, there were no obvious, perceivable effects from Su Chen¡¯s action.

    However, Su Chen quickly sensed that something was off.

    Within the area that his Aspect¡¯s power had rippled across, there was a small region that seemed to have beenpletely unaffected.

    More specifically, the energy he had emitted appeared to either be absorbed or redirected whenever it touched that area¡¯s boundaries.

    After sensing the initial mismatch, Su Chen quickly focused his attention there and pinpointed the exact location of the anomaly. The area seemed exceptionally quiet and empty, with nothing but a singr cloud floating in the air above it.

    That cloud was extremely in and unassuming,pletely identical to the ones around it. However, Su Chen had nheless noticed that something was off about it.

    The cloud waspletely motionless.

    Not only was it not moving, but it also remained immobile even after Su Chen¡¯s immense pressure wave had washed over it.

    And the other issue was that this cloud was too small.

    It was roughly the size of an ordinary house.

    And Su Chen couldn¡¯t find anything on that cloud either.

    What was going on?

    Su Chen pondered his avable options, then chose to carefully scan the cloud from top to bottom. He even had to use his microscopic eye before he finally noticed something special about it.

    A small speck of dust.

    There was a small speck of dust carefully hidden at the center of the cloud. The speck was impossible to notice without examining the cloud.

    But once Su Chen saw the speck of dust, he chuckled.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got you now!¡± he muttered to himself in delight as he reached out to touch the speck of dust.

    Even though it was merely a miniscule speck of dust, Su Chen felt the world around him whirl and distort as soon as he touched it.

    When his surroundings stabilized, Su Chen discovered that he was now standing in the middle of a vast, arching hall.

    At the base of the hall, there stood a giant stone tablet. The tablet was covered in all kinds of profound inscriptions, and countless Astrals were huddled around it, performing some kind of mysterious ritual.

    Su Chen¡¯s sudden appearance stunned all of the Astrals, who immediately whirled around to face him.

    At the same time, a consciousness rm began to ring out.

    ¡°Intruder!¡±

    A powerful wave of consciousness power washed over Su Chen like an ocean tide.

    ¡°Hey, that¡¯s not how you treat a guest!¡± Su Chenughed loudly. Hisugh was imbued with formidable might, which stopped the oing wave of consciousness power in its tracks.

    This attack contained thebined strength of dozens of Astrals. Even if the effects weren¡¯t necessarilypletely additive, the fact that Su Chen could still withstand it all on his own was clearly demonstrative of just how powerful his consciousness was.

    The other Astrals were also noticeably taken aback for a moment before they finally reacted.

    ¡°It¡¯s Su Chen! The Boundless Sect¡¯s Sect Master, Su Chen!¡±

    Their voices at first were filled with panic, but that fear quickly gave way to excitement.

    ¡°If we kill Su Chen, the danger to the Astrals will have resolved itself!¡±

    ¡°If we kill Su Chen, the Astrals will rise to supremacy!¡±

    All of the Astrals began to cry out simultaneously.

    Streaks of consciousness energy shot towards Su Chen as all of the Astrals simultaneously appeared to go mad, even ignoring the hub.

    ¡°Wow, not holding back at all, huh?¡± Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Unfortunately, that¡¯s not enough!¡±

    As he spoke, he pped his hands. The Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect reappeared once again, filling the entire space.

    The Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect was strong both offensively and defensively. All attacks would be weakened by at least thirty percent, including consciousness attacks. A giant dragon coiled its body as it flew into the air. The head of the dragon, however, was that of a beautiful woman - the Dream Beauty Bloodline. As it exerted its power, a giant dream realm came into being, and all of the consciousness attacks disappeared with nary a ripple into the realm.

    Su Chenughed loudly. ¡°Seems like it¡¯s my turn now.¡±

    He raised his hand, then mmed it down onto the ground. Inscriptions rapidly snaked across the surface of the ground, beginning to glow with shocking intensity.

    Suddenly, a violent wave of mes burst forth from out of thin air, gathering into the form of a giant dragon.

    The Shining Dragon!

    Su Chen¡¯s study of the Gu n¡¯s bloodline had advanced yet again, allowing him to replicate the might of the Shining Dragon to a certain degree. When he merged it with his own toolbox, the ming Phoenix was upgraded to the ming Dragon Theurgy Art.

    Obviously, however, this ming Dragon was not yet the Shining Dragon. The gap between the two was still far too great at that moment.

    It was still stronger, however, than the former ming Phoenix. As soon as it appeared, the entire hall was filled with fiercely burning mes, forcing all of the Astrals onto their back foot.

    ¡°Su Chen, you will die here today even if we must sacrifice ourselves!¡±

    An Astral roared ferociously as he charged towards Su Chen, opening his mouth wide.

    A phantom-like, ghostly figure appeared, hissing and biting at Su Chen.

    ¡°Soul Ripskull?¡± Su Chen felt a shiver run up his spine.

    Soul Ripskull was an incredibly sinister Arcana Technique, one that solely belonged to the Astrals. The phantom-like figure appeared to be intangible, as virtually no Origin Energy could influence it. Its attacks were relentless, and being bit by it would result in heavy damage to one¡¯s consciousness. This was one of the extremely headache-inducing techniques that the Astrals had developed, one that only high-tier elders could use. Its ¡°undying¡± characteristic made it rtively difficult to deal with.

    However, this undying characteristic was merely rtive.

    Su Chen tried a few different things to dispel the phantom but failed each time. Even the ming Dragon Theurgy Art only caused it to dim faintly, while Su Chen was forced to take evasive action repeatedly. Even so, it continued to pursue after him, as if it had locked onto his location.

    A cold light shed across Su Chen¡¯s eyes. ¡°Do you really think that makes you invincible?¡±

    Just as the Soul Ripskull was about to close the distance yet again, Su Chen¡¯s figure suddenly flickered as it disappeared, taking the Soul Ripskull with it.

    The Astrals were stunned. A momentter, Su Chen reappeared. The Soul Ripskull was nowhere to be found.

    Su Chen curled his lip disdainfully. ¡°That Soul Ripskull was nothing special. In the face of the void, everything is worthless.¡±

    He had used the void to kill the Soul Ripskull.

    The void was Su Chen¡¯s most lethal weapon at this point. If there was anything that he couldn¡¯t defeat, he could simply bring it along with him to the void and throw it there. The only things that Su Chen couldn¡¯t kill were the ones that were too heavy for him to bring along.

    Even though Soul Ripskull was quite tough to deal with, it was much easier to transport.

    The high-tier Astral¡¯s eyes turned bloodshot when he saw that the Soul Ripskull had served no purpose. ¡°With my immortal life as a sacrifice, unleash your anger, universe. Heaven¡¯s Blood!¡±

    When Su Chen heard the words ¡°Heaven¡¯s Blood¡±, even his expression shifted slightly. ¡°Damn, he¡¯s really not holding back.¡±

    He hurriedly retreated.

    The hall suddenly was enveloped in zing red light.

    All of the Astrals began to howl bitterly at the same time.

    Their spectral bodies twisted and contorted as they transformed, melting under the intense shining light. Even the high-tier Astral was beginning to liquify.

    However, the high-tier Astral showed no fear, instead gazing at Su Chen with deep hatred. ¡°We are all willing to sacrifice ourselves to kill you here. Come forth, Heaven¡¯s Blood!¡±

    The scarlet, bloody light filling the hall began to condense, contorting violently as it did so. Its destructive intent filled the surroundings.

    Su Chen attempted to retreat by teleporting to the void, but he discovered in that moment that he was unable to do so.

    The space around him had been locked down.

    Specifically, this was due to the might of a certain strand of will.

    ording to what the old Astral had said, even the world itself possessed a will.

    This will was the will of the Heavens.

    The will of the gods.

    Its source was primordial, perpetually silent and slumbering.

    But under certain conditions, it could be awakened, and its will directed.

    The ancient, stoic will originally had no channel, but the chant was able to temporarily direct the ancient will.

    This was the where the name ¡°Heaven¡¯s Blood¡± came from.

    The Astrals had offered themselves as sacrifices to the Heavens to awaken and enrage it, such that it would bleed.

    This bleeding would enrage the Heavens, bringing its destructive wrath down to the earth.

    This destructive power was on apletely different level than the void. Even Su Chen was not capable of withstanding an attack like that.

    Yes, he was indeed incapable of withstanding it.

    He could withstand the power of the void because of hisprehension of spatial Method Power. As such, he was not actually forcefully enduring it, but diverting its power via the use of his Method Power and avoiding all injury. If you asked him to actually withstand it, it was still impossible for him.

    The might of Heaven¡¯s Blood was on par with the power of the void, but Su Chen had noprehension of heavenly will and had no choice but to dodge.

    Su Chen felt his scalp tingle when he saw the blood.

    Luckily, it appeared that the high-tier Astral had not unleashed aplete version of Heaven¡¯s Blood.

    This gave Su Chen a slim opportunity.

    The red light around him intensified, only increasing the sense of crisis that he felt. Blood began to slowly seep out of Su Chen¡¯s pores.

    When Su Chen saw this, he sprang into action. Instead of retreating, he charged forwards, heading straight for the stone tablet.

    That stone tablet had be the branch that was preventing Su Chen from falling off of the cliff entirely.

    When the high-tier Astral saw this, he was given quite a bad surprise and instinctively reached out to try to stop Su Chen. However, he had already given his life over as the price for activating Heaven¡¯s Blood, and more than half of his body had melted away at this point. He had no strength remaining to interfere.

    Su Chen charged towards the stone tablet and ced his hand on it.

    Boom!

    A massive wave of energy exploded forth.

    Chaotic Origin Energy flows!

    This stone tablet was the mechanism controlling the gate to the Chaos Realm, connecting it with the Primordial Realm below. As Su Chen activated it to its fullest extent, turbulent Origin Energy surged into the room with reckless abandon. Even Su Chen was unable to fully resist the violent onught and felt as if the Origin Energy in his body was going to erupt, driving him crazy.

    Even so, the power of Heaven¡¯s Blood suddenly appeared to have been stopped in its tracks.

    At this point, it was still in the process of fully forming, but instead of continuing to form, it actually began to regress and decay.

    ¡°NO!!!¡± the high-tier Astral cried out in despair. At this point, only his head remained.

    He was able to personally witness Heaven¡¯s Blood revert to its formerly calm state before disappearing under the effects of the turbulent Origin Energy.

    The power from the turbulent Origin Energy was capable of disrupting the formation of Heaven¡¯s Blood. At the same time, the turbulent Origin Energy itself appeared to be calmed down as a result.

    At the same time.

    Pu!

    Su Chen released his grip on the tablet. He copsed heavily onto the ground and spat out a mouthful of blood.

    Heaven¡¯s Blood hadn¡¯t killed him, but the torrential Origin Energy, which he had always been able to ignore, had gravely wounded him.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 104: Reaperâ€™s Temple

    ¡°Cough!¡± Su Chen spat out a little more blood as he crawled back to his feet.

    ¡°You truly cannot underestimate any opponent, huh?¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    Given Su Chen¡¯s current strength, it was very difficult for him to find anyone that could face him in a duel at this point.

    A normal high-tier Astral elder shouldn¡¯t have been able to do anything to him.

    Even so, Su Chen had still ended up being seriously wounded. The Astrals truly had quite a solid foundation, to the point that even amon high-tier Astral elder had almost been able to turn the tables on him. This made Su Chen much more careful.

    After the hurricane had passed, no Astrals remained in the area. Su Chen picked up the stone tablet and stowed it away. The tablet was a formation treasure, and Jiang Hanfeng would definitely appreciate itter.

    Upon stepping outside of that microscopic world, Su Chen stowed the speck of dust away as well. That dust was a spatial treasure, with extremely good concealment properties.

    Su Chen descended, with two new treasures in hand.

    The small groups had all individually found the hiding spots of the Astrals and were engaged in battle with them.

    Su Chen monitored the situation with the transmission boxes before his figure flickered and disappeared. He reappeared next to one of the small teams - with the transmission boxes giving him a location, Su Chen no longer needed to use the clones except to cover long distances.

    The group was extremely unlucky and had run into a mid-tier Astral. Just as they were bitterly fighting for their lives, they suddenly saw that someone had arrived on the scene. When they realized who it was, they all cried out with excitement, ¡°Sect Master!¡±

    Su Chen had already floated by like the wind.

    He hadn¡¯t seemed to have done anything in particr, other than fly by the Astrals and then leave without even stopping.

    The Astrals appeared to be frozen in ce for a moment before they suddenly crumbled, disintegrating into dust.

    Having dealt with these Astrals, Su Chen teleported to the next small team and quickly dealt with the mid-tier Astrals there as well.

    After half a day, almost all of the Astrals scattered across the mountain range had been discovered and killed. With the ambushes effectively dealt with, the danger of the area had been nullified.

    The Damaged Canyon had been conquered as well.

    That afternoon, the Boundless Sect began to travel through the Sky Ma Mountains.

    After a day¡¯s walking, they passed through the Sky Ma Mountains and began to advance on Reaper¡¯s Temple.

    Inparison to Sky Ma Mountains, Reaper¡¯s Temple was much more straightforward - the ce¡¯s peculiarities were not being kept a secret.

    The ce was called Reaper¡¯s Temple because it was actually a graveyard that hadter been ssified as a region.

    At the very beginning, however, it was indeed a graveyard.

    This nameless graveyard was supposedly incredibly ancient, containing a mysterious power that could create powerful yet strange lifeforms, which were known as Graveyard Spirits.

    However, there were two main restrictions on Graveyard Spirits. The first was that they could not leave the graveyard, and the second was that they could only be created by offering an appropriate sacrifice, and the sacrifice needed to do it willingly.

    Most people found those conditions unreasonable and paid them no mind. No one would be dumbe enough to sacrifice themselves to be a strange creature that couldn¡¯t even leave the graveyard.

    This graveyard was exceptionally useful in the hands of the Astrals, however.

    Weren¡¯t they just sacrificing a single life? That was no problem.

    After all, the Astrals had been converted from their physical, Dark Astral forms in the past.

    And the graveyard¡¯s sacrifices only required physical bodies as a sacrifice.

    As such, the Astrals¡¯ consciousness converter instrument had actually been ced in Reaper¡¯s Temple for some time to simultaneously convert and sacrifice.

    For this reason, Reaper¡¯s Temple had been Gloom Kingdom¡¯s capital for some time.

    That was also when the Astrals were at their peak. Not only did they have many strong individuals amongst their ranks, but they also had countless of these strange lifeforms at their disposal. Even though those lifeforms were confined to the graveyard, they could still be used to fulfill a number of auxiliary functions, such as research assistants or capital guards, etc.

    Until the Origin Energy Well¡¯s explosion.

    The Origin Energy Well¡¯s explosion had far-reaching implications on the Astrals. The Reproductive Temple had been destroyed, the Brood Mothers had almost gonepletely extinct, and even the strange creatures in the graveyard appeared to grow uneasy. Finally, the Astrals were forced to head further north still, moving their capital all the way north to Wai Caves.

    Afterwards, the Astrals discovered that there were many reasons for the Origin Energy Well¡¯s explosion. One of these was due to the influence of the strange energy present in Reaper¡¯s Temple. As the numbers of these strange creatures had increased, their effect on the Astrals had grown more and more pronounced, draining away their essential resources.

    From that moment on, the Astrals had slowly begun to drift away from Reaper¡¯s Temple. Even the conversion process was no longer taking ce there any more. At this point, the ce was essentially just a strategic defensive location for Wai Caves. A small number of Astrals were stationed here prior to conversion in order to maintain the numbers of the Graveyard Spirits.

    The endless number of Graveyard Spirits were the most frightening creatures in this territory. Countless powerful experts had been scared away by their sheer numbers in the past. Even though some of them had managed to survive, they had all chosen to seal their own memories so as to forget everything that had happened there. As such, human understanding of Reaper¡¯s Temple was still quite limited.

    In some sense, Reaper¡¯s Temple was simr to the Abyss. It wascking in offensive power, but more than made up for it with its defensive might. In fact, the Astrals were quite proud of this defensive line.

    These spirits were their trump cards in this region. There was no need to use anything else.

    The Boundless Sect arrived after two days.

    They were able to see a vast temple shrouded in fog off in the distance, which obscured their vision and prevented them from peering inside the temple. This was quitemon for the Astrals.

    That was Reaper¡¯s Temple.

    Reaper¡¯s Temple had taken the Astrals eighty years to construct. It upied quite arge chunk ofnd, and its design andyout were both quite intricate. It more than qualified to serve as a city.

    The Astrals always lived in cemetaries, not in cities, but Reaper¡¯s Temple was obviously the exception. They had abducted many human, Metalskin, Craftsmen, and Harpy architects, as well as Ravager ves, to construct the pce for them. This offended basically all of the other Intelligent Races.

    Naturally, the pce had been built for the sake of the graveyard and the Graveyard Spirits.

    At the center of the city was the graveyard, where the Graveyard Spirits lived.

    Because the Graveyard Spirits were constantly increasing in number, the city had always been expanding. Only once the Astrals decided that creating these Graveyard Spirits was more of a burden than a blessing to them had they decided to stop production, gradually resulting in the expansioning to a halt.

    From that time on, the city had remained roughly unchanged even until now.

    Therge number of Graveyard Spirits present here qualified it to be considered as one of the continent¡¯s most well-known no-man¡¯snds, and one of the Gloom Kingdom¡¯s as well.

    Wind Silence Breach was dangerous because of the giant spatial fissure, Specter¡¯s Garden was dangerous because of the poison there, and Reaper¡¯s Temple was dangerous because of these Graveyard Spirits.

    When it came to purebat prowess, Reaper¡¯s Temple was the strongest.

    Neither spatial fissures nor poisons were really a problem to Su Chen, but these Graveyard Spirits meant that an unavoidable battle was sure to break loose.

    ¡°When you¡¯re trying to conquer an entire country, fighting some direct battles is unavoidable. It would be too illogical otherwise,¡± Su Chen murmured as he gazed at the pce from a distance.

    ¡°It¡¯s a pity that we aren¡¯t going to be fighting the Astrals directly but a bunch of dead creatures instead,¡± Lin Shaoxuan sighed.

    If he could choose, he would have preferred to fight against other Intelligent Races. That way, they would bepeting in terms of strategy andbat skill.

    Lin Shaoxuan felt that a battle against these unintelligent creatures would be totally one-sided. No matter how strong their fists were, this was an undeniable fact.

    Were they stronger than the Sovereigns in the Abyss? And yet the Abyss had still been destroyed.

    ¡°The Astrals probably won¡¯t just sit idly by and watch anyways. They¡¯ll definitely conceal themselves amongst the chaos and attack at the most opportune time,¡± Li Chongshan said.

    Lin Shaoxuan seemed quite happy when he heard that. ¡°That would be for the best. If the enemy Astrals attack, just leave them to me.¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Fine. You might want to bully these Astrals, but I want to see for myself just what these strange creatures are. I wonder what secrets that graveyard contains that allows it to create such powerful lifeforms.

    His life of research led him to be naturally excited about anything he had never seen before.

    His research of the Astrals had reached a certain level already, to the point that he was more willing to turn them into resources instead. He had never crossed paths with the Graveyard Spirits before, however, and that made him quite excited.

    After some discussion, the Boundless Sect¡¯s higher-ups made their decisions.

    The army would rest for a day before resuming the offensive.

    The next morning, at early dawn.

    The Boundless Sect arrayed themselves in formation against Reaper¡¯s Temple.

    ¡°Qingluo, dispel the fog,¡± Su Chenmanded.

    Gu Qingluo was the first to make a move. Her Shining Dragon Bloodline shone brilliantly. As the ming energy emanated in all directions, the thick fog around the temple began to dissipate.

    The concealment tactics that the Astrals had been so proud of were easily brushed aside by Gu Qingluo, and a majestic city came into view.

    Because the main forces of the Boundless Sect could fly, they were able to see the situation in the city extremely clearly. The center of the city, however, was exceptionally frightening.

    Mountains of corpses had been piled up all throughout the center of the city, which was also popted by quite a few strange creatures. They looked like they had basically been stitched together out of corpses. From time to time, they would grab a nearby corpse and begin to gnaw on it. There were all kinds of corpses there, including human, Ravager, Harpy, Oceanid, Craftsmen, Metalskin, and even Trigender and Kobalo corpses.

    The Trigenders in particr had most likely just been thrown in, because they were still alive and shrieking with fear and despair. Those strange creatures, however, didn¡¯t seem to care in the slightest and picked them up without hesitation. The fresh blood that stained their bodies only made them seem fiercer and more frightening.

    Upon seeing this scene, everyone was stunned.

    The truth hiding behind the fog was exceptionally savage, giving them all quite a shock.

    In that moment, it became abundantly clear why other survivors had voluntarily chosen to seal their memories. The reality was simply too shocking, and if it entangled their hearts for a long period of time, it would affect their state of mind and even their cultivation.

    ¡°Not enough resources...... So these are the resources they are referring to? No wonder those Astrals are alwaysing out to kidnap people. They are just trying to meet the needs of those creatures, aren¡¯t they?¡± Shi Kaihuang said with extreme agitation.

    At that point in time, the Astrals had also sensed the dispelling of the fog, and they knew that their opponents had clearly seen everything within the city.

    rms began to re throughout the city as a swath of blood-red fog began to surge.

    This red fog, however, was not meant for concealment. The Boundless Sect watched as giant hands began to break out of the ground. As the earth trembled and cracked, countless Graveyard Spirits began to crawl out from the ground.

    So the amalgams they had seen earlier were merely the tip of the iceberg - there were far more hibernating underground.

    ¡°Wake up, my servants. Today is the day that you will eat your fill!!!¡± A resonant voice echoed through the air.

    Following this clear cry, an exceptionallyrge Graveyard Spirit appeared.

    It raised its head to nce at the sky, then raised its hand. The hand, which was as big as a mountain, reached out to w at the Boundless Sect¡¯s soldiers.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 105: Graveyard Spirits

    As the giant Graveyard Spirit¡¯s hand descended, it seemed to blot out the sun. At the same time, Shi Kaihuang, Chu Yingwan, Lin Shaoxuan, Cheng Tianhai, and the others all sprang into action. Their attacks collided with the giant hand, but the hand inexorably continued to advance as if nothing had happened to it.

    As the hand continued to descend, Li Chongshan took action as well. A vigorous wave of energy collided with the giant hand, but the giant hand only paused momentarily before continuing its descent.

    Even a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator wasn¡¯t capable of stopping this overbearing palm strike.

    But at that moment, Su Chen struck out with his sword.

    The Lightless de unleashed a Dimensional sh.

    Before the others had time to even react, a bloody line appeared on the giant hand before its skin burst open.

    The giant Graveyard Spirit below the ground bellowed angrily, causing the earth and heavens to tremble as its giant hand retracted.

    A bloody river spewed through the sky.

    The other half of its hand began to separate and fall off, but before it could hit the ground, the giant Graveyard Spirit snatched it out of the air and actually devoured it. A nauseating, bloody stench filled the air. At the same time, the hand that it had just lost grew back without a sign of damage.

    ¡°Everyone, be careful. This creature has a very robust vitality. It probably won¡¯t be easy to kill,¡± Su Chen warned.

    He had a wealth of experience at this point, and was able to immediately identify the giant Graveyard Spirit¡¯s specialties and strengths.

    Even though Su Chen was no easy prey himself, no cultivator could constantly regenerate their body parts through self-cannibalism, which this creature could do.

    ¡°Leave it to me!¡± Intense mes began to orbit Gu Qingluo¡¯s hands. ¡°Let¡¯s see if this abomination can survive the power of my Shining Dragon¡¯s mes.¡±

    As she spoke, she hurled a white fireball at the ground below her.

    This fireball appeared simple on the surface, but when it sshed against the giant Graveyard Spirit¡¯s body, its mes seemed to burrow into the creature¡¯s body into its bone marrow, making them impossible to put out. The Graveyard Spirit roared and howled in pain repeatedly.

    Su Chen¡¯s Dimensional sh was capable of cutting through even the toughest surface, but Gu Qingluo¡¯s Shining Dragon mes were even more destructive than that.

    Her mes burned on and on until they were finally extinguished.

    An instantter, however, the huge Graveyard Spirit grabbed the creatures around it and threw them into its mouth, recovering from its grievous wounds yet again.

    Not only that, but it also tilted its head back and exhaled a cloud of diseased air, which was tinged a sickly green color.

    In fact, all of the other Graveyard Spirits within the city did the same.

    In the blink of an eye, the sky was filled with this sickly faint green disease cloud. Shockingly, these disease clouds were actually groups of innumerable tiny bugs swarming about.

    ¡°Careful! Those are Pestilence Bugs!¡± Su Chen cautioned.

    Pestilence Bugs were rted to Catastrophe Bugs. Their ability to cause destruction was no less than that of the Catastrophe Bugs, but they weren¡¯t nearly as physically resistant. Their entire life purpose could be condensed down to spreading diseases and gues. Even high tier Origin Qi Schrs would have a hard time resisting the vile pestilent properties of their gue.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s cultivators all sprang into action when they saw the swarms of Pestilence Bugs closing in on them, unleashing countless streaks of lightning.

    Lightning-type attacks were exceptionally effective against poisonous bugs, which was why the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples had almost unanimously chosen tounch such attacks. The ensuing lightning storm was so intense that the sharp metallic smell of ozone pervaded the air; as a result, arge portion of the swarm was cut down.

    Even so, quite a few of the disciples were still bit by the Pestilence Bugs and hurriedly sent to the back lines for treatment.

    The huge Graveyard Spirit below howled yet again. This time, clouds of blood began to condense in the sky, brimming with corrosive potential.

    These corrosive clouds of blood seemed capable of dissolving anything they came into contact with. Even Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators would be hard-pressed to fully withstand their effects.

    But even more shocking than their corrosivity was the sheer number of blood clouds produced. The entire city waspletely covered by these corrosive blood clouds, and more were forming by the second.

    ¡°Revolving Dragon¡¯s Light formation!¡± Lin Shaoxuan cried out.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples pulled out their Origin Tools and got into formation before simultaneously unleashing their Origin Energy. A ring of light formed in the air. Following Lin Shaoxuan¡¯smands, the ring of light then descended, mming into the corrosive blood clouds. As the two attacks met, violent shockwaves of energy pulsated through the city.

    The two powerful attacks had actually canceled each other out.

    The Graveyard Spirits were surprisingly formidable. The Boundless Sect¡¯s forces numbered in the tens of thousands, but it had taken them an unexpected amount of effort to deal with just these corrosive blood clouds.

    When the skies finally cleared, they found that they had expended quite a bit of energy.

    Thankfully, the Boundless Sect had nevercked for strong soldiers.

    Since this wave of soldiers was beginning to grow tired, they returned to the back lines, letting another ten thousand advance to take their ce.

    ¡°Destructive Lightning!¡± Lin Shaoxuanmanded next.

    Tens of thousands lightning bolts simultaneously streaked down from the sky, falling down even more heavily than raindrops in a storm.

    The Boundless Sect couldn¡¯t just allow the Graveyard Spirits to keep initiating the attacks.

    This lightning storm swept across the entire city.

    Each Boundless Sect disciple was unleashing roughly one lightning bolt a second, and in total, this meant that Reaper¡¯s Temple was forced to endure an onught of nearly ten thousand lightning bolts every second.

    Against a barrage this dense, there was virtually no safe ce left in the whole temple. Every street and every surface was baptized with inordinate amounts of lightning. The Graveyard Spirits themselves were sted to pieces one by one by bolts of charged electricity.

    Even though they attempted to regenerate their bodies through consuming corpses and each other, their rate of regeneration was slower than the rate of destruction.

    As such, it soon became obvious that these Graveyard Spirits were all slowly but surely being worn down.

    ¡°So they too were too weak to put up a fight?¡± Cheng Tianhai sighed.

    ¡°It¡¯s not going to be that easy,¡± Su Chen responded, dousing him with cold water.

    It was impossible for a ce that the Astrals had sunk so many resources and energy into to be toppled so easily.

    An instantter, the giant Graveyard Spirit let out a strange roar, which stirred all of the remaining Graveyard Spirits throughout the city into motion.

    They all began to run frantically towards the giant Graveyard Spirit in the center of the city. The first Graveyard Spirit that arrived leapt towards the giant creature¡¯s body and actually melted in, merging its body with the giant. The giant Graveyard Spirit¡¯s body grew in size ever so slightly.

    So they were actuallybining into one gargantuan being.

    As more and more Graveyard Spirits merged into the giant Graveyard Spirit, it became evenrger. After just a few seconds, its size outstripped the limits of its territory, and it began to grow upwards at a rate visible to the naked eye.

    More and more Graveyard Spirits continued to charge at the giant from all directions, causing it to grow even faster. A few secondster, it had reached a height of a thousand feet, with a bodypletely made up of Graveyard Spirits. The sight was truly frightening and horrifying to behold.

    The abomination¡¯s face seemed to have been constructed from a hundred different female faces. When it finished absorbing all of the Graveyard Spirits, it tilted its head to the sky.

    ¡°AHHH!¡±

    A shrill shriek escaped from its mouth.

    It raked its hand through the sky yet again.

    This time, Su Chen¡¯s expression was much more serious.

    ¡°Dimensional sh!¡±

    ¡°Dimensional sh!¡±

    ¡°Dimensional sh!¡±

    Seven or eight Dimensional shes were unleashed in rapid session.

    Li Chongshan and the others could also use it ¡ª Su Chen had prepared a wide variety of spatial equipment for them to use on this expedition. However, since they had noprehension of spatial Method Power, their equipment recovered energy much more slowly than Su Chen¡¯s. As such, they were only willing to use them sparingly.

    Against this gargantuan creature, however, there was no need to hold back.

    The sword light descended upon the giant abomination, easily slicing through its body. Even so, the creature was sorge that the wounds were almost superficial, like small holes on the creature¡¯s hand. Even though they had managed to pierce the creature¡¯s body, its movements were not impeded in the slightest.

    The arm continued to rumble through the air.

    ¡°Heaven-Bracing Shield!¡± Lin Shaoxuan yelled.

    The Boundless Sect rearranged themselves, rapidly entering a new formation. Then, streaks of light arced across the sky, interweaving to form a giant shield. Soon afterwards, the arm collided violently with the shield.

    This was the most powerful attack that had been unleashed so far during this battle.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples¡¯ formation were actually incapable of withstanding this blow and the formation was immediately broken. A few of the more unfortunate disciples were instantly smashed to smithereens.

    The gargantuan creature immediately swung its arm again without any hesitation.

    ¡°Retreat, Thousand Rivers Ribbon!¡± Lin Shaoxuan continued to yell outmands somewhat hoarsely as his voice boomed out in all directions.

    Streaks of energy once again weaved together, this time forming ribbons that wrapped around the giant¡¯s body, arms, and legs in an attempt to restrain its movements.

    This seemingly ¡°softer¡± approach, however, was actually immediately effective, and the giant abomination froze in ce.

    The giant stomped and roared in frustration. The ensuing sts of energy caused the thousands of ribbons to tear.

    Lin Shaoxuan adapted yet again bymanding the Boundless Sect to switch to the Heavenly Song Formation. By using sound waves to attack, the Boundless Sect caused the giant¡¯s ears to ring with excruciating pain. The giant responded with a roar of its own, using its voice to cancel out the effects of the song.

    The Boundless Sect then rearranged themselves into the zing Sky Formation. The fierce mes burned away at the giant, consuming its mass and bleeding its strength away. The disciples then used their flying swords to follow up with another attack. The giant responded by unleashing swathes of ck fog, which were capable of destroying Origin Tools. In the blink of an eye, thousands of Origin Tools were destroyed, causing the disciples¡¯ hearts to pang with sadness.

    The two sides continued to exchange blow after blow. For some time, it appeared that the Boundless Sect was incapable of doing anything against the giant abomination.

    However, this was partly because the Boundless Sect was still holding back.

    Of the sixty thousand Boundless Sect disciples, only ten thousand were attacking at any given moment.

    This was a precaution; even if their opponent unveiled some invincible killer technique, they wouldn¡¯t be all wiped out.

    Even so, the Boundless Sect¡¯s attacks were still quite powerful, and they were constantly unleashing them as they rotated back and forth. This ultimately resulted in a stalemate.

    At that moment, however, Su Chen¡¯s attention was ced elsewhere.

    He nced at a different location and muttered, ¡°If they¡¯re going to make a move, then they should be doing it sometime soon.¡±

    As if responding to his words, a cloud of dust suddenly appeared behind the Boundless Sect. Another group of enemy soldiers had entered the fray, but this time, it was a giant flock of birds charging in their direction.

    ¡°Demonic Beasts? It seems like the Astrals have been quite busytely.¡± Li Chongshan was stunned.

    After the horde of beasts appeared, yet anotherrge group of soldiers appeared off in the distance. This time, it wasposed of the Trigenders, Kobaloi, and the Astrals¡¯ puppets. Only the Astrals had yet to show themselves.

    Everyone turned their gazes to the fourth direction.

    ¡°It seems like they¡¯re nning on surrounding us. The Astrals never cease to amaze with their inventiveness,¡± Chu Yingwan chuckled.

    ¡°No, they¡¯re not surrounding us,¡± Su Chen responded confidently. ¡°The Astrals are not there, but rather here.¡±

    He pointed right at the center of Reaper¡¯s Temple.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 106: Reaper

    Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

    Streaks of ckish-green light shot into the sky.

    Those who were unaware of the truth might have thought that the Graveyard Spirits were the ones behind this phenomenon.

    However, Su Chen knew that this actually meant that the hidden Astrals were finally making their move.

    The Astrals were proficient in not only consciousness envement techniques, but also Arcana Techniques. After realizing that their consciousness techniques were, by andrge all useless against the Boundless Sect, they had finally changed tactics.

    These ckish-green streaks of light were pure Arcana Techniques ¡ª Reverse Shooting Stars.

    It was a Seventh-Ring Arcana Technique with powerful corrosive properties. Though the technique was originally meant to be used against a single target, casting thousands of them at once made it suitable for use against arge group of enemies.

    The Astrals had also chosen an extremely appropriate Arcana Technique to use in this situation. The Reverse Shooting Stars were powerful not necessarily just because of their killing power, but also because of their ability to easily eat through any defensive barriers. This was extremely effective against the Boundless Sect, whose primary form of defense was barriers.

    When Su Chen saw the Reverse Shooting Stars soaring through the sky, he harrumphed and jabbed out with his finger. A spatial fluctuation appeared in the sky.

    Boom!

    A violent wave of spatial energy burst in the bath of the Reverse Shooting Stars, immediately destroying almost 90% of them.

    This spatial fluctuation was incredibly powerful, as evidenced by the fact that Su Chen had managed to single-handedly nullify most of the attacks of a few thousand Astrals. Everyone was dumbfounded when they saw this.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples all cheered joyously. ¡°The Sect Master¡¯s strength is peerless!¡±

    Su Chen, however, sighed as he nced at the jade slip in his hand that had lost its luster. ¡°What a pity. There goes another one of my spatial consumables.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao chuckled, ¡°Don¡¯t be so anxious, my husband. We have plenty of them with us.¡±

    But Su Chen continued to sighmentably. ¡°Our treasury is not limitless. If we aren¡¯t frugal enough with our expenditures, we will soon find ourselves bankrupt.¡±

    As he spoke, the soldiers in the sky and the soldiers on the ground began another round of exchanges.

    The Beasts and the subservient races charged forward at this moment, linking up with the gargantuan Graveyard Spirit to face off against the Boundless Sect.

    This was the second time that the Boundless Sect was directly facing off against the Astrals¡¯ forces since entering Gloom Kingdom, but this time, the opponent was much stronger.

    At Specter¡¯s Garden, the Astrals were actually trying to lead them into a trap, so that frontal fight had actually just been a front. At Reaper¡¯s Temple, however, the Astrals were taking the fight seriously for the first time.

    The Astrals were relying on the gargantuan Graveyard Spirit to pose a sizeable threat. Put inly, they were using this giant meatshield as cover while unleashing their own attacks from the back lines.

    The Astrals¡¯ ability to unleash Arcana Techniques in rapid session was truly quite shocking.

    These Astrals had all been alive for an astoundingly long period of time. Thus, their Origin Energy reserves were incredibly vast, and any low-tier Astral was capable of casually unleashing Fourth and Fifth-Ring Arcana Techniques, while high-tier Astrals could unleash Eighth-Ring Arcana Techniques and above. Currently, the Boundless Sect was the only army strong enough topete with the Astrals in this regard.

    As the race with the highest proportion of powerful warriors, the Astrals were truly unlucky to be suppressed so heavily by the humans. Because of their vastly inferior numbers, even their strength advantage had slipped away, dooming them to a fate of defeat.

    The gargantuan Graveyard Spirit was still howling and roaring indignantly. It continued to charge forwards recklessly like an unkible beast. Even Gu Qingluo¡¯s Shining Dragon Bloodline was being suppressed by it.

    But even though it was strong, it couldn¡¯t break through the Boundless Sect¡¯s formation. The Boundless Sect was nowmitting twenty thousand soldiers to withstand its onught. With double the numberspared to before, they were able to easily nullify the gargantuan Graveyard Spirit¡¯s attacks while the others ughtered the Beasts and the subservient races.

    Even though the Astral forces seemed to be almost overwhelming in number, the Boundless Sect still actually held the initiative.

    As if they had also realized this, a fluctuation of energy suddenly burst forth from the center of the city.

    A strange consciousness fluctuation permeated the atmosphere. Strangely enough, it was tinged with sorrow and destion. Even Li Chongshan and the others felt a wave of mncholy wash over them.

    ¡°So they¡¯re finally pulling out the big guns?¡± Su Chen harrumphed coldly.

    He hadn¡¯t believed for a second that the gargantuan Graveyard Spirit and the Astral encirclement were the Astrals¡¯ final trump cards. Since the Astrals dared to fight against them head-on, they definitely had an even stronger crutch to rely on.

    After that mournful consciousness cry echoes throughout the battlefield, the Astrals began to fly through the air and towards the giant Graveyard Spirit.

    They flew extremely slowly, as if they were merely out to do some errands.

    Su Chen frowned as he felt an ominous portent from their movements. ¡°Stop them!¡±

    Gu Qingluo unfurled her sleeves. A zing ray of intense light shone forth, simultaneously epassing both the gargantuan Graveyard Spirit and the Astrals.

    This was the Breath of the Shining Dragon. The real Shining Dragon had wiped out entire branches of the Arcana Empire¡¯s army with a single breath in the past. Even though Gu Qingluo was not quite at that level yet, even the one-thousandth of that strength that she could tap into was frightening enough.

    Even so, when this ray of light appeared, the Astrals¡¯ bodies suddenly shimmered as they transformed into streaks of light that instantly shot forwards, piercing into the gargantuan abomination¡¯s body.

    The giant¡¯s body suddenly began to emit a brilliant red light.

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s Shining Dragon Bloodline attack had also mmed into the giant¡¯s upper body. Under normal circumstances, her attack should have been able topletely destroy the giant¡¯s upper half.

    Even so, as the red wave of light shined in all directions, the Shining Dragon¡¯s breath disappeared without a trace.

    In fact, the giant Graveyard Spirit¡¯s aura suddenly surged even more.

    Its eyes glowed with a powerful, intense light.

    Before, its movements had been wooden and puppetlike, and it had primarily relied on its unassable body to do battle. Once the hundreds of Astrals poured into its body, however, the giant had undergone aplete transformation.

    Suddenly, now that it had gained consciousness and intelligence, its vigor also surged.

    This phenomenon was hard to describe. The opponent¡¯s aura was now bloodthirsty, sinister, and malevolent.

    Its eyes glowed balefully as it balled up its fist.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang. Four quick punches in rapid session.

    It did four times the amount of its previous attacks, as if its damage output had suddenly been quadrupled.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples didn¡¯t even have enough time to get into formation before the four sessive attacksnded.

    The violent waves of force immediately put the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples up against a cliff. The blood in their body roiled violently as Origin Energy whizzed around them chaotically.

    Before they had a chance to react, the malevolent giant had already jumped into the air, using its massive body to crush the ground before flipping onto its hands and kicking out at the same time with its powerful legs. The giant had just unleashed a number of vicious yet precise attacks in rapid session.

    The giant¡¯s sudden surge in strength was unprecedented. Its sudden agility and skill in close-quartersbat was astounding.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples were caughtpletely off-guard by this fierce chain of attacks, and their defenses finally crumbled.

    ¡°Reaper! Reaper!¡±

    The Astrals within the city began to chant this name feverishly.

    This Graveyard Spirit, which had been dubbed ¡°Reaper,¡± howled again and swung its arm through the air.

    If this attack were tond, it would probably cause thousands of disciples to explode into red mist.

    At that critical moment, all of the Boundless Sect¡¯s powerful experts made their stand.

    Su Chen, Gu Qingluo, Li Chongshan, Chu Yingwan, and the others all flew forth.

    ¡°Seven Bloodlines Microcosm, open!¡± Su Chen unleashed his Seven Bloodlines Microcosm Aspect to the maximum level.

    Gu Qingluo raised her Shining Dragon Bloodline¡¯s power to the limit as well.

    Earth-shaking Origin Skill after Origin Skill mmed into the Reaper¡¯s arm. Su Chen himself unleashed six Dimensional shes in rapid session, but despite leaving six holes in the giant¡¯s arm, his attacks were unable to actually cleave its arm off.

    It was as if the giant¡¯s arm had been bound together with many thin strands. It was clearly moving only with great difficulty, but it was still moving nheless.

    Spatial barriers, crystal walls, and burning mes all appeared.

    Then, a faint fragrance of incense began to waft through the air.

    Su Chen and Gu Qingluo had activated their Lifesource Candles.

    In that moment, their strengths began to drastically surge.

    In particr, Su Chen¡¯s cultivation base jumped into the Ultimate Emperor Realm for just a moment. And in that moment, he felt like he had entered apletely different realm of existence. Everything was different.

    He could grasp the world in his hands!

    Then, he punched.

    Boom, boom, boom, boom!

    He unleashed eighteen barbaric punches in a row. Each punch was imbued with spatial power and precisely targeted at one of the giant¡¯s pre-existing wounds.

    Finally.

    Bang!

    The Reaper¡¯s arm was finally severed from its body.

    The giant arm, however, continued to fly forwards with reduced momentum, mming into hundreds of Boundless Sect disciples.

    But without the Reaper¡¯s enormous physical strength driving the arm forward, the force of the impact was greatly lessened. Even so, most of the disciples were seriously injured, and around thirty of them died on the spot.

    The giant howled and retreated a few steps. Its severed arm actually didn¡¯t immediately regenerate.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°In its Reaper form, this creature cannot regenerate!¡±

    So even though this evolved Graveyard Spirit was incredibly powerful, it could not regenerate itself while in this state? Everyone was immediately excited by this implication.

    Another ten-thousand-man battalion joined the battle against the Reaper.

    ¡°All hands on defense!¡± Lin Shaoxuan roared.

    At the same time, the Reaper jumped into the air again, kicking at the Boundless Sect soldiers six times in a row.

    The Reaper¡¯s attacks felt like they were ten times as powerful as before, and its intelligence had increased greatly as well. Its strikes had be both vicious and precise, and itsbat strength seemed to be on par with that of a Deste Beast. It was no wonder the Astrals were confident in being able to take on the Boundless Sect here.

    But just as the ten-thousand-man battalion seemed like they were going to be scattered again, just as the Reaper¡¯s intense flurry cut off any chance for a counterattack, another twenty thousand soldiers charged forwards. The now thirty thousand soldiers joined forces in an attempt to block the Reaper¡¯s attack.

    There was no point in keeping anything hidden at this pivotal moment of the battle.

    As such, all of the disciples took to the battlefield at the same time, unleashing their full might.

    They would fight bitterly to their dying breath.

    At this point, any and all fancy techniques were pointless. The victor would be determined solely through exchanging drop of blood for drop of blood and seeing who wouldst to the very end.

    The Boundless Sect was now using thirty thousand soldiers to block the Reaper¡¯s attack and the other thirty thousand to hold back the Beasts, Astrals, and subservient races.

    The battlefield devolved intoplete bem. Blood poured down from the sky, and every so often, a soldier would plummet from the sky like a dying star.

    This was the most brutal battle that the Boundless Sect had ever fought to date, and it would also be the one where they suffered the greatest losses.

    Origin Skills, Arcana Techniques, and sword light flew everywhere. The sky itself seemed to be on fire, and cries and yells of rage, agitation, and despair echoed ceaselessly throughout the battlefield.

    All Su Chen could see was a storm of blood......

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 107: Willingness

    Even though the Reaper was strong, it had traded away its ability to regenerate. Thus, it only grew weaker and weaker as the battle dragged on.

    After enduring the initial spike in difficulty, the inevitable conclusion to the battle drew near, and the advantage returned to the hands of the Boundless Sect.

    Once the battle oue was determined, the Astrals could also sense that the situation was quickly spiraling out of their control.

    They mustered up a final wave of consciousness energy to disrupt the Boundless Sect¡¯s forces before turning around to flee.

    The Astrals were incredibly slippery and possessed all kinds of strange methods that allowed them to quickly escape from the battlefield. Even though the Boundless Sect had indeed triumphed repeatedly on this campaign, the actual number of Astrals that they had killed was limited.

    There was nothing that Su Chen could do about this other than hope that, after reaching the Wai Caves, there would be nowhere left for them to run to.

    Letting the Astrals flee also had its own silver lining: the conclusion to battles came about much sooner.

    After losing the backbone of their army, the Astrals¡¯ forces would inevitably copse quickly.

    Once the giant Reaper let out a deste howl before crumbling to the ground, the Boundless Sect¡¯s victory was all but confirmed, and yells of excitement and jubtion could be heard all throughout the region.

    This was the most difficult battle that the Boundless Sect had fought to date.

    More than three thousand of the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples had died in this battle, a tremendous loss for them.

    On that day, the skies above Reaper¡¯s Temple were filled with the sounds of grieving and mourning. The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples had all gathered together to stand vigil and remember the ones who had passed away.

    Su Chen¡¯s heart was incredibly heavy.

    As he gazed at the gathered corpses, Su Chen muttered to himself, ¡°I am beginning to wonder what the point to doing all of this is. I have already saved Xianyao, so there is not even a real reason for me to wage this war. If I had not, many of those who had died here today would have survived instead.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t say that,¡± Li Chongshan said sincerely. ¡°Don¡¯t doubt the meaning of your actions just because blood was spilt on the battlefield. Do you still remember the vow that you made in the past? How you would fight to the bitter end for the sake of the human race¡¯s rise to prominence?¡±

    Su Chen stared intently at Li Chongshan. ¡°Yes. Of course I remember.¡±

    Li Chongshan ced his hand on Su Chen¡¯s shoulder. ¡°As long as you remember. Merely gaining strength is not the same as bringing the entire human race to prominence. There are far too many Intelligent Races to count, and in some sense, every one of them poses a threat to us, even the Oceanids. Only when we can proudly look down upon everything around us like the Arcanists did can we truly consider ourselves as having risen to prominence. No, we will do even better than the Arcanists. We will im the Beasts¡¯ territory as well and be the true rulers of this continent.¡±

    Su Chen felt his heart jolt when he heard these lofty words.

    Li Chongshan continued. ¡°In order to aplish this, we will need to keep fighting and wipe out enemy after enemy. And with every battle, blood will inevitably be shed. What happened today will likely happen again in the future, perhaps with even more casualties. You can feel sorrowful, frustrated, and be hard on yourself. However, you can never doubt yourself. You must understand that everything that you believe in and everything that you are doing is meaningful. You are not doing this to fulfill your agreement with Eternal Night; you are doing this for the sake of the human race¡¯s future, to create a new dawn for all of us!¡±

    ¡°For the sake of the human race¡¯s future, to create a new dawn for all of us,¡± Su Chen murmured to himself as his gaze once again filled with resolve.

    It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t understand these principles, but rather that the massive casualties of the Boundless Sect had impacted him greatly. As such, it was only natural that some self-doubt would creep in.

    At that moment, what he had needed the most was for someone to tell him that he was doing the right thing.

    Thankfully, Li Chongshan had taken on that responsibility.

    As the formermander of the Heavenly Might Battalion, Li Chongshan had fought on countless battlefields. He knew exactly what supported the soldiers¡¯ bloodied hands and kept them steady.

    It was faith!

    Without faith, any soldier would have been doomed a long time ago.

    This was also why the soldiers in Flowing Gold Fort had been stirred up so much upon hearing that Lin Mengze had indirectly killed Long Pojun ¡ª he had betrayed their faith.

    An army¡¯s morale was absolutely critical, both for onesposed ofmoners¡¯ and ones of Origin Qi Schrs.

    Powerful armies could only exist if their soldiers were willing to sacrifice their lives for the greater good. This holds true even today.

    After Li Chongshan¡¯s words sobered Su Chen up, he let out a long pent-up sigh as countless possibilities leapt through his mind.

    Then, he smiled. ¡°Yes, our goal is to raise the entire human race to prominence. It is indeed time to take the next step and make that a reality.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Li Chongshan didn¡¯t quite understand.

    Su Chen, however, raised his hand and began to draw out some characters in the air.

    Two letters took shape in the air. Su Chen picked them up, and then handed them to Li Chongshan. ¡°Have two disciples go look for Danba and Eternal Night.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going to ask them to participate in this battle as well?¡± Li Chongshan was stunned.

    Su Chen indifferently replied, ¡°Exterminating the Astrals is not something that concerns just us humans. Letting the Ravagers and Harpies participate is only natural. While they will take a portion of the spoils of glory inbat, they will also help us deal with many of the barriers still ahead of us.¡±

    Li Chongshan mulled Su Chen¡¯s n over, and thenughed. ¡°The Sect Master is correct. Eternal Night and Danba will probably feel a little uneasy if they watched us wipe out the Astrals all on our own. We can show a little weakness, as is appropriate. If we make a show of good faith, then they should also agree to our conditions.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not all......¡± Su Chen calmly continued. ¡°In this letter, I also wrote that they will be allowed to enter Gloom City first to plunder it once Wai Caves fall.¡±

    Li Chongshan was stunned. ¡°You mean......¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Our campaign to exterminate the Astrals will definitely make them cautious. Thus, I will use their capital, which is both full of danger and unlimited treasures, to entice them in. The Harpies and Ravagers will probablye out in full force for the sake of acquiring these treasures. Also, without this incentive, it will be otherwise impossible to convince them, since they would essentially be working for free. I also don¡¯t need them to agree to deal with a certain number of opponents; as long as they are willing to create enmity between themselves for the sake of reaping some benefit, that is good enough.¡±

    This invitation from Su Chen would, in one fell sweep, gain him some crucial reinforcements, blunt the enemy¡¯s counterattack, and also create further enmity between these two other races.

    And even if Danba and Eternal Night could foresee Su Chen¡¯s intentions, they most likely wouldn¡¯t refuse the offer either.

    Greed was an incredibly powerful motivator.

    The Astrals¡¯ vast vaults and unlimited treasures were definitely enough to cause the two parties to drool with desire.

    The Boundless Sect had already carved a path forwards, and now they were leaving the juiciest portion to them. How could they possibly refuse the offer?

    Even if they knew that it was bait, they would still eagerly snap it up!

    This was the inspiration that Su Chen had glimpsed from Li Chongshan¡¯s reassurance.

    His gaze was firmly fixed on the entire continent. What was one city inparison?

    For all those reasons, Su Chen was able to make this incredibly important strategic decision.

    And it was this decision that would allow the Boundless Sect to not attack the Wai Caves all on their own, which would save countless lives of the Boundless Sect. Thus, they would be able to better preserve their core strength for future battles.

    He who is willing to sacrifice will reap the greatest rewards.

    As Su Chen exined his n, a disciple flew over.

    ¡°Reporting to Sect Master: an entrance to the graveyard was discovered at the center of Reaper¡¯s Temple.¡±

    A drop of Su Chen¡¯s blood flew through the air before morphing into a clone. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    No one knew what the Astrals might have left behind in the graveyard. Su Chen would never explore the graveyard with his true body.

    Upon arriving at Reaper¡¯s Temple, Su Chen saw a giant gaping hole before his eyes. This was where all those Graveyard Spirits had crawled out of.

    Su Chen¡¯s clone stepped inside. To his surprise, he found that it was incredibly clean.

    Not only was it clean, but the graveyard had also been modified so that it contained many rooms, which was probably where the Astrals had resided.

    Su Chen¡¯s clone continued to stride deeper and deeper in until he arrived at a hall carved from stone. This was the only location that gave off an aura that matched the name of ¡°Reaper¡¯s Temple.¡±

    The walls of the deste stone hall were covered in profound inscriptions.

    And at the very top of the hall was a simple, unadorned statue.

    This statue was simple and solemn. Beneath its feet were piles of bones.

    The instant Su Chen entered, the statue opened its eyes wide. ¡°A human? So those damned ghosts have finally been defeated?¡±

    Most of the Intelligent Races derogatorily referred to the Astrals as ghosts, to mock them for not being true lifeforms.

    This statue¡¯s referring to Astrals as ghosts immediately gave it a sense of camaraderie.

    Su Chen patiently asked, ¡°And who are you?¡±

    ¡°I am the Reaper, Jia Luo. Offer a sacrifice to me, and I will bestow great power upon you!¡±

    ¡°Sacrifice? What? Vitality?¡±

    The statueughed. ¡°No, Astral bodies! The more powerful, the better. Those despicable Astrals only ever gave me lowly lifeforms to mess with me. Aren¡¯t you enemies with the Astrals? Go and ughter them to your heart¡¯s content, and then offer their corpses to me. I will bestow true power upon you.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Su Chen seemed to understand the situation at once. ¡°You mentioned true power?¡±

    ¡°Yes, just like the thing that you dealt with outside,¡± Reaper Jia Luo replied with a chuckle, ¡°Didn¡¯t you already witness its might? That is the true power that I will bestow upon you. Unfortunately, the Astrals were never willing to properly nourish me. It wasn¡¯t until today that they finally sacrificed over a hundred Astral bodies to me all at once. I ate until I was stuffed and couldn¡¯t eat anymore! Hahahaha.¡±

    So when those hundreds of Astrals had melted into the giant Graveyard Spirit, they had actually been offering themselves up as a sacrifice to the Reaper statue, allowing the giant Graveyard Spirit to reach its full potential.

    Reaper Jia Luo!

    This was the first time that Su Chen had ever encountered a deity, beings that supposedly only existed in legends. He had never expected that offering sacrifices to it would grant such awe-inspiring strength.

    Wait a second. A living deity?

    Su Chen nced at the statue again, and then suddenly started reexamining the situation.

    ¡°What are you hesitating for?¡± The statue began to yell out loudly. ¡°Hurry and bring me some Astrals to eat!!! With my help, you will be an invincible race!¡±

    ¡°But the Astrals didn¡¯t be invincible, did they?¡± Su Chen suddenly interjected.

    ¡°That¡¯s because they weren¡¯t willing to give up their fellow Astrals!¡±

    Su Chen calmly replied, ¡°The Astrals nheless should have been able to scrounge up some criminals, traitors, or other willing sacrifices over the past tens of thousands of years to obtain this power. Some things are always possible as long as you desire it enough. So why didn¡¯t they?¡±

    The statue was rendered speechless.

    Su Chen then answered his own question. ¡°Because they couldn¡¯t, right? A god...... The gods disappeared a long, long time ago. But one has suddenly somehow appeared here? Hehe......¡±

    Su Chen started chuckling. This eerie chuckle caused the statue to tremble slightly.

    Su Chen continued on. ¡°You¡¯re just a soul fragment, right? You were forced to attach yourself to this statue because you were unwilling to die. The sacrifices that you demand are actually a source of consciousness power that you survive on. And if you gather enough, you can resurrect, right? I don¡¯t know what will happen if you do resurrect, but I do know that this world no longer needs any gods.¡±

    When Su Chen finished speaking, his expression grew sinister.

    The statue began to panic. ¡°NO!¡±

    Su Chen turned around to leave. ¡°Station a guard here. Under no circumstances will we feed it any sacrifices.¡±

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 108: Joining Forces

    Gods!

    Did gods really exist in this world?

    This possibility shed through Su Chen¡¯s mind as he stepped out of the graveyard.

    His clone disappeared, but this thought was still bouncing around in the mind of the main body. He couldn¡¯t help but think of the Harpies¡¯ Mother Goddess. After all, that peculiar reaction really did make it seem like there was some god observing thisnd.

    But if that was truly the case, then why were they only observing instead of actively intervening?

    For some reason, Su Chen was reminded of the old beggar yet again.

    He had already met two other people who were simrly affected by the old beggar.

    And Long Pojun had told Su Chen that the old beggar was actually an ancient being.

    Only gods could possibly live that long, right?

    But what was the old beggar¡¯s goal?

    It was obvious that gods were not powerless in the human realm.

    But the extent of their powers was another question entirely.

    It was as if these gods could only affect this world on an extremely small scale. Even so, they were still trying their hardest to do so.

    But why?

    The more Su Chen thought about it, the more confused he became. In the end, he resorted to interrogating the surviving Astrals.

    The interrogation, however, left him bitterly disappointed.

    Reaper Jia Luo was indeed merely a soul fragment. Its memory had already mostly faded away, so much so that it didn¡¯t even know how it had ended up in its current state.

    It would have to eat many, many Astrals before it would regain its memories.

    The Astrals had actually already tried to do this in the past, which had resulted in them needing to pay a heavy price to push Jia Luo down to his current state.

    As for what the Astrals had learned after Jia Luo had regained its memories, only the high-tier Astrals knew. These simple guards knew nothing other than the fact that this monumental secret was managed by their leader himself.

    ¡°In other words, I will only know after I seize the Wai Caves and take control of Gloom City,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself. ¡°Menus the Wise...... I wonder just how many secrets this old Astral has stored away.¡±

    An insatiable sense of curiosity rose in Su Chen¡¯s heart.

    Even though he wanted to do nothing more than ughter his way over to the Wai Caves at that moment, Su Chen nheless repressed the feverish desire in his heart and continued to solidify their encampment at Reaper¡¯s Temple.

    This was for dual purposes: on one hand, they were still gathering information, and on the other, they were waiting for the Harpies and Ravagers to respond.

    The responses came very quickly.

    Needless to say, when Eternal Night found out that Su Chen had requested reinforcements, he had immediately sent over a hundred thousand Harpies to support his campaign. These hundred thousand Harpy warriors had participated in the defense of Sky City, making them all veterans and elites. Eternal Night was obviously not holding anything back for the sake of the Immortal¡¯s Soul. Even if all hundred thousand Harpies died, the Immortal¡¯s Soul absolutely needed to be reimed.

    Danba¡¯s support was not nearly as resolute. In fact, the two had to negotiate for some time before finallying to an agreement.

    They had exchanged at least ten letters, constantly going back and forth.

    The Ravagers should have been dyed quite far significantly after wasting so much time negotiating, but they had actually crossed into Astral territory long before the agreement was reached. Obviously, Danba had taken advantage of the Boundless Sect¡¯s campaign to expand the Ravagers¡¯ borders into Astral territory as soon as he received the first letter from Su Chen. Since the Astrals were in a state of constant retreat, their borders were naturallypletely unguarded.

    After two months, the Boundless Sect marched upon the Wai Caves and arrived at the agreed-upon time.

    On that day, the Astrals witnessed a scene the likes of which had never been seen in Astral territory before.

    Three races had converged at this frigid, northern tip of the continent.

    The Wai Caves were famous for being frozen solid year-round.

    The caves were situated at the extreme north end of the continent. The air was iparably chilly, and resources were sparse due to the harsh environment. There was no grass to speak of, so there were very local animals. Only the fierce howls of the wind could be heard.

    This Astral territory waspletely empty of any living creature.

    And with no living creatures, there was rarely any conflict, which meant that this ce was perpetually shrouded in silence.

    After all, the Wai Caves derived their name from a phrase that meant, ¡°Not a sound could be heard.¡±

    The Astrals had constructed their capital here because they had no need for food, and their required living necessities were extremely low. In fact, this location¡¯s deafening silence, naturally hazardous environment, and Origin-Energy-absorbing earth all served as forms of protection for the Astrals.

    This was why they had ignored thisnd¡¯s frigid, biting cold and its desteness and built their capital city here, along with an intricate system of underground tunnels that ultimately formed the Gloom Kingdom¡¯s underground kingdom.

    From the surface, the Wai Caves appearedpletely t. Anyone who hadn¡¯t entered it before would have a hard time even finding the entrance.

    In actuality, the entrance to the Wai Caves was not on the ground, but in the sky.

    Sky-Breaking Mountain.

    This mountain peak stoically towered above everything.

    It stood alone, just like a giant on the deste ground. It was somewhat reminiscent of a stone tree, because there were no other mountains around it.

    The Sky-Breaking Mountain proudly stood tall like a sword jabbed straight into the ground. It represented the Astrals¡¯ im on this territory, as well as their might and power.

    And on this day, the greatest test that the Astrals would ever face finally arrived.

    The Boundless Sect was still the first to arrive on the scene.

    The bone-chilling wind couldn¡¯t diminish their morale. After arriving, they hunkered down and began to wait.

    The Harpies were the second group to arrive.

    As a race naturally capable of flight, their speed was undeniable.

    And as a race also proficient in Arcana Techniques, they possessed many different ways to withstand the cold.

    Inparison, the Ravagers, who were thest to arrive, were in a much sorrier state.

    They were the only group of soldiers that had traveled here on foot.

    The giant horde of Ravager soldiers appeared off in the distance. They marched in a chaotic and disorganized fashion, and their yells could be heard long before their figures became clear.

    ¡°Hurry up, you worthless bums, you cowards! Is a little chilly air enough to cause you to shrink back? Straighten up those chests!!!¡± a tall Ravager bellowed.

    He was Lonzell, one of Danba¡¯s fiercest generals.

    Many years had already passed, but this man¡¯s valor had only increased. He had lost an eye during the civil war against the Inferno Tribe, but his eyepatch only served to further entuate his ferocity. Even the cold couldn¡¯t stifle the boundless desire to do battle exuding from every pore of his body.

    The Ravagers roared savagely in response and charged forwards with renewed vigor.

    Even though they were in an arctic tundra, many of them were still half-naked. They crudely carried their weapons on their backs and advanced rapidly. White steam trailed off from their bodies as they devoured the Beast legs in their hands. To the Ravagers, food was their greatest source of energy.

    They were obviously much less graceful than the Harpy elites and much less disciplined than the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples, who were organized into tight formations. Even their most powerful groups of soldiers would be disorderly and undisciplined.

    Even so, beneath this chaotic facade was still a certain kind of order.

    As Su Chen watched the procession of Ravagers approach, his gaze tightened. ¡°This guy......! He¡¯s gotten even more clever, it seems.¡±

    Jiang Hanfeng curiously asked, ¡°How has he gotten more clever? They seem just as disorderly as always.¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°This Ravager army might seem disorderly, but they are actually very disciplined, and their movement is very coordinated. Yes, they might not be standing in neat rows, and they might not all have the same weapon. Actually, even their formation is a bit crooked. However, these are all superficial defects; if you look closely enough, you will notice that the basic unit of fighters that the Ravagers typically employ has changed.¡±

    Previously, the Ravagers¡¯ basicbat unit were small three-man teams.

    These teams were the smallest amongst all of the Intelligent Races.

    This was because the Ravagers¡¯ brains were simple, making it difficult for them to coordinate andpleteplex tasks with others. Thus, in the past, the Ravagers had learned to operate in three-man teams as it was the easiest.

    This current Ravager army, inparison, seemed to be divided into teams of ten Ravagers each.

    No matter what kind of threats the Ravager forces faced, these ten-man teams would remain intact. This was incredibly impressive ¡ª obviously, Danba had vastly improved their ability to cooperate with one another.

    Danba had managed to overthrow the Crazed Monarch and his armies, which were brimming with experts, not only because of Su Chen¡¯s help, but also because of his own diligence and hard work.

    The presence of these ten-person teams greatly meant that Danba¡¯s soldiers had greatly increasedbat proficiency inparison to the Crazed Monarch¡¯s. During his campaign against the Crazed Monarch, a single one of his ten-person teams had been capable of taking out seven three-person teams on the other side. This increased team size also greatly increased their ability to deal with a target much stronger than them. In short, this change improved their odds of survival and also ate away at their opponent¡¯s supply of powerful experts.

    Most of the Inferno Tribe¡¯s experts had been killed by the Gravel Lizard Tribe¡¯s armies. They had evaluated Danba¡¯s modern armies from traditional lens, so it was only natural that they had suffered tremendous losses.

    ¡°Most importantly...... they are not Danba¡¯s direct subordinates,¡± Su Chen calmly borated.

    ¡°They¡¯re not his confidantes?¡± Everyone was stunned.

    ¡°Yes, these Ravagers aren¡¯t from the Gravel Lizard Tribe.¡± Su Chen had interacted with the Gravel Lizard Tribe quite extensively in the past, so he had immediately noticed that these Ravagers did not belong to them.

    ¡°Then what tribe are they from?¡±

    ¡°The Inferno Tribe.¡±

    The imperial tribe?

    Everyone was stunned by this revtion.

    After the Crazed Monarch had been defeated, the Inferno Tribe should have been vanquished, and all power stripped away. Even though Ravager tradition meant that they wouldn¡¯t be ughtered, they would need to relinquish the most fertilends, decrease their numbers, and ept supervision from the new imperial family.

    But unexpectedly, Danba had sent these defeated Ravagers to participate in this paramount mission. Not only that, but they were also organized into ten-person teams, which suggested that they had also adopted hisbat strategy.

    Danba¡¯s self-confidence was quite apparent just from this army¡¯sposition.

    But since that he had sent members of the Inferno Tribe over instead of trusted members of his own Gravel Lizard Tribe......

    Obviously, Danba had not been deceived by Su Chen¡¯s enticing offer.

    He was even using this opportunity to deal with his least-loyal subjects.

    Indeed, behind the Inferno Tribe came Ravagers from the Redeagle, Iron Bone, Blood Hand, and various other tribes.

    These tribes had all been loyal to the former imperial family. The new Ravager nobles, which included the Droughthammer, Thunder Edge, and Raging Sun tribes, were not present either.

    Of course, that didn¡¯t mean that no one of importance was here. After all, wasn¡¯t Lonzell here?

    And Lonzell wasn¡¯t the only one. Danba had alsoe.

    After the 200,000 Ravagers fully arrived, an imperial carriage appeared.

    The young Ravager monarch, Danba, stepped out of his carriage and onto the frozen ground.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 109: Discussions

    Upon seeing Danba appear, Su Chenughed, then flew towards him.

    This caused the Ravagers to panic slightly, but Danba raised his hand, quelling the brewing chaos.

    Su Chen was quite impressed by that.

    If this had been a restricted group of elite soldiers, this would not have been as much of a surprise, but it was truly a shock that the Ravagers were in fact able to do this as well. The fact that he was able tomand such obedience even from members of another tribe was even more incredible.

    Su Chen passed by the armies and walked over to Danba¡¯s carriage. ¡°I trust you have been well.¡±

    ¡°Same to you.¡± Danbaughed in response, then gestured at the throne beside him. ¡°Come and sit.¡±

    The throne wasrge enough to seat three people in total.

    Su Chen chuckled and didn¡¯t stand on courtesy, taking a seat next to Danba.

    Given his current status and identity, it was fitting for him to sit there as well.

    ¡°I¡¯m amazed that you didn¡¯t bring your direct subordinates with you,¡± Su Chen said with a smile.

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t up to me. Sect Master Su gifted me a poisoned meat pie, so I must be careful,¡± Danba replied.

    ¡°But you still chose to eat it, and you even showed up personally.¡±

    ¡°Because it tastes good.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to eat only the good parts without eating any of the poison, you know.¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s worth a shot,¡± Danba replied indifferently.

    Su Chen approached from a different angle. ¡°Using these tribes, who may still have some resistance, to take this risk is not a bad idea. Buting on your own is significantly more dangerous. Are you not worried that these guys will try and find an opportunity to betray you?¡±

    Danba calmly replied, ¡°Their family members are under my control. If I die, so will their loved ones.¡±

    ¡°But that n isn¡¯t foolproof.¡±

    Danba countered, ¡°No n is ever foolproof. Is there ever a fight that Sect Master Su has been one hundred percent confident that he can win?¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Well, I think my odds are a bit higher than yours. Danba, your courage seems to know no bounds these days.¡±

    ¡°I just believe that I can control the situation, is all.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps this self-confidence of yours will be your downfall!¡±

    Danba calmly replied, ¡°I am the leader of the Ravagers. Is it rare for us to die because of excessive self-confidence?¡±

    Su Chen froze for a moment, realizing that Danba was right.

    There had been many Ravagers throughout their history who had died for that exact reason.

    ¡°I think that you have a bit more reason to have this confidence than they did,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°That¡¯s nonsense. I¡¯m just young and overconfident, is all,¡± Danbaughed self-deprecatingly. ¡°Su Chen, I am impressed that you were able to forge all the way through to Wai Caves. The human race has indeed risen to prominence because of you. Perhaps I should have killed you back then instead of cooperating with you to nip this problem in the bud. My self-confidence back then appears now to have been a big mistake.¡±

    ¡°If that was the case, then you wouldn¡¯t have been able to witness the fate of the Astrals like this.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid that the fate of the Astrals today will be the fate of the Ravagers tomorrow.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Where did all your self-confidence go?¡±

    As they were speaking, a junior Harpy general flew over and walked over to Danba¡¯s throne, saying, ¡°General Lonely requests your presence.¡±

    The Harpies were led this time by General Lonely Skyleap, who had been responsible for guarding Sky City back then. He was a legendary figure amongst the Harpies, but inparison to Eternal Night¡¯s prestige, his glory was apparentlycking.

    Eternal Night¡¯s sending him over was a clear indication of how seriously he was taking this issue.

    However, he hadn¡¯t anticipated that Danba would personally make an appearance. Given that Su Chen was also the leader of his own group, there was an obvious discrepancy in status.

    Most critically, the Harpies were still just as arrogant as before.

    Lonely Skyleap was inferior to Su Chen and Danba in terms of status, but the fact that he was requesting their presence and not going to meet them left a bad taste in their mouth.

    Danba and Su Chen nced at each other, their eyes revealing that they were both thinking the same thing.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Get the hell out of here!¡±

    Hepletely ignored the messenger Harpy.

    The young Harpy general was startled. ¡°What did you say?¡±

    ¡°He said get lost!¡± Danba impatiently unleashed a punch.

    This punch appeared incredibly casual, but a violent wave of energy immediately burst forth from the fist, sending that Harpy general flying. The Harpy general wasn¡¯t wounded at all, but he was knocked backwards quite a significant distance. It was obvious how precise Danba¡¯s control over this fist was.

    To the Ravagers, unleashing explosions of energy was not difficult, but precisely controlling their strength was much harder.

    Su Chen¡¯s gaze grew sharper upon seeing such meticulous precision. ¡°Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques.¡±

    ¡°An improved version.¡± Danba smiled slightly. ¡°I must thank you for providing us with this cultivation technique and making up for therge w in the Ravager cultivation system.¡±

    A simple cultivation technique had allowed Danba¡¯s strength to increase that much?

    Su Chen could tell that Danba had undergone all of the Origin Energy Temple baptisms, but unlike the former Totemic Warriors, Danba¡¯s wild energy was actually sheathed like a sword. On the surface, he appeared much more in and unassuming. No other Totemic Warrior had been able to achieve a simr effect in the past.

    Danba truly had made a breakthrough and was bringing the Ravagers on to new heights.

    And this was all given to Danba by Su Chen.

    Most importantly, Su Chen hadn¡¯t expected his cultivation technique to have such drastic effects on the Ravagers. Danba had obviously been nning this for a long time.

    ¡°So after the Ravagers made breakthroughs using my cultivation technique, they became better able to control their bloodthirst and anger? Seems that I sold it for far too cheap,¡± Su Chen said as he squinted his eyes.

    The Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques had been like a giant door to the Ravagers, opening up unlimited possibilities to them.

    In that sense, Danba had indeed gotten quite a good deal.

    ¡°This is the reason why I was willing to work with you in the first ce,¡± Danba said as he retracted his fist.

    Su Chen found this quite amusing. ¡°Very good, very good. The Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques have caused both of our races to advance in leaps and bounds. The Oceanids will likely experience a sudden surge in strength as well now that the Deep Sea Sorrow has been dealt with. As for the Harpies, once they get their hands on the Immortal¡¯s Soul and Sky City is freed, their might will also increase significantly. Fighting for supremacy would only be interesting that way. This is very good, very good!¡±

    Su Chen began tough loudly.

    Danba nced at him strangely. ¡°Are you really nning on giving the Immortal¡¯s Soul over to Eternal Night?¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± Su Chen countered. ¡°We¡¯ve already reached this point, so I would prefer to see it through to the end. Only if all four Intelligent Races be strong will we be able to defeat the Beasts. Isn¡¯t that what you said in the past? For the sake of the future of all the Intelligent Races.¡±

    Danba nced at Su Chen, his gaze deep, and was just about to speak when Lonely Skyleap flew over, his expression extremely ugly.

    ¡°Sect Master Su, Emperor Danba, this is supposed to be a three-party discussion. Isn¡¯t it a bit too early for you to be pushing aside the Harpies?¡±

    Danba and Su Chen nced at each other before smiling simultaneously.

    Then, they turned to gaze at Lonely Skyleap.

    Lonely Skyleap instinctively felt a sense of unease surface in his heart.

    Su Chen and Danba simultaneously said, ¡°So noisy. Scram!¡±

    They simultaneously punched at the sky.

    Lonely Skyleap was badly startled and hurriedly attempted to defend himself. Arge cloud of smoke appeared in the sky with a bang.

    Lonely Skyleap had only just activated his barrier when a violent punch mmed directly into it. The Eighth-Ring Metal Fortifications skill was shattered by a single fist. The other fist mmed into his body, send him flying.

    Even though he was an expert amongst the Harpies, Su Chen and Danba bullied him like he was a little child. He received the exact same treatment as the general from before, even how far backwards he was knocked. Upon closer inspection, Lonely Skyleap realized that he hadn¡¯t been wounded in the slightest. Obviously, his opponents hadn¡¯t nned on killing him in the first ce. That was quite humiliating to him.

    They hadpletely ignored his prestige as a warrior amongst the Harpies.

    Su Chen calmly retracted his hand and said, ¡°Even though the Harpies have the right to proudly soar the skies, Gloom City is underground. Those wings will only hinder you in that kind of environment. The Ravager warriors, on the other hand, can fight much more effectively there. General Skyleap, if you want to make this battle even the slightest bit easier, you had best pay Emperor Danba your respects. After all, whether or not your warriors will be able to survive theplicated maze underground will probably depend in no small part on the Ravagers.¡±

    Lonely Skyleap froze, as his former anger immediately dissipated.

    Most frustratingly, Su Chen had actually amplified his voice so that they spread in all directions, and the other Harpies definitely heard.

    This was the same as saying that if Lonely Skyleap didn¡¯t acquiesce, all of the Harpies would know that he wasn¡¯t treating their lives with gravity.

    And that the Harpies would need to hand over some of the benefits that they reaped when all was said and done.

    Because the Ravagers were certain to do more during this battle.

    Lonely Skyleap had no option but to agree, because their primary target was still the Immortal¡¯s Soul.

    Upon realizing this, Lonely Skyleap let out a long sigh.

    He was an important individual, meaning that he knew when to extend and when to retreat.

    He flew back and lowered his head. ¡°Lonely Skyleap understands. I would like to apologize for my earlier rudeness.¡±

    Danba immediately said, ¡°You don¡¯t need to say sorry, but after we take Gloom City, the Immortal¡¯s Soul will belong to the Harpies, and everything else will belong to the Ravagers.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Lonely Skyleap was immediately enraged. ¡°Danba, you¡¯re just trying to take all the profits for yourself! Even though we Astrals are here for the Immortal¡¯s Soul, we aren¡¯t just going to work for you for free!¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°I think we should just divide the spoils based on who has the ability to take it.¡±

    Danba nodded quite readily. ¡°Fine. We will divide the spoils by ability. Whoever takes the spoils is who it belongs to. But if that¡¯s the case, if the Immortal¡¯s Soulnds in the hands of the Ravagers...... Hehe.¡±

    Lonely Skyleap¡¯s heart sank.

    The Harpies¡¯ ultimate goal was still the Immortal¡¯s Soul. That would not change. In theory, giving up on everything else for the sake of the Immortal¡¯s Soul was an eptable exchange. But since the Ravagers and the Harpies were fighting side-by-side, it was quite unreasonable for the Ravagers to take everything. After all, the Immortal¡¯s Soul was only valuable to the Harpies. Amongst all the treasures that the Astrals possessed, it was merely a drop in the ocean.

    If the Ravagers began to try and fight the Harpies for the Immortal¡¯s Soul, the situation would be extremely troublesome.

    It was true, after all, that the Ravagers had an advantage undergroundpared to the Harpies.

    But Lonely Skyleap was also unwilling to just let go of all of these potential spoils.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 110: Underground Battle

    When Su Chen saw Lonely Skyleap¡¯s hesitation, he chuckled. ¡°If the Harpies really want the Immortal¡¯s Soul, you are more than likely to focus all your attention on the Astral Hall. Gloom City has the Brood Mother Temple, the Eternal Spring, the Dream Return Pce, the Twilight Pavilion, the Millenial Garden...... There are simply too many ces with too many resources that need to be plundered. If the Harpies focus on one area, the Ravagers probably won¡¯t be able to out-rob the Harpies.¡±

    But what was the difference between that and Danba¡¯s earlier proposal?

    Lonely Skyleap nced at Su Chen and said, ¡°It seems like Sect Master Su and Emperor Danba are on quite good terms.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°You can¡¯t really call this good terms. I just don¡¯t like you, is all.¡±

    Lonely Skyleap felt incredibly humiliated by this, but there was nothing he could do.

    It was his fault for requesting their presence, then criticizing them when they failed toply.

    They were the weakest and neediest group out of the three, but they still dared to put on airs. The Harpies¡¯ pride, which ran bone-deep, was quite annoying.

    As such, Danba and Su Chen didn¡¯t hesitate to suppress his arrogance, forcing him to pay the prices for his pride.

    Of course, most importantly, Danba had brought with him the Inferno Tribe¡¯s Ravagers and their allies, so Su Chen¡¯s ns to stir up a conflict between the Harpies and the Ravagers was already useless. Danba¡¯s men dying would only be good for him.

    So what was the point in stirring up this conflict? It would have been far better for Su Chen just to y his cards as he was dealt them.

    The fact of the matter was that Su Chen just liked Danba more than Eternal Night. Thetter was extremely foxy and wily, and was the only person who had managed to outwit him and defeat him.

    He would rather use Danba to deal with Eternal Night, not the other way around.

    Want the spoils?

    It¡¯s up to you to take them.

    This was the eventual agreement that the three parties came to.

    The Harpies could only ept if they wanted to im the Immortal¡¯s Soul for themselves.

    After negotiating, the assault immediatelymenced because the area was simply too cold.

    The countless caves scattered across the surface of Sky-Breaking Mountain were the entrances to the Wai Caves.

    Every cave went downwards, but none of them actually headed straight down.

    The tunnels formed aplicated, interconnectedwork that would need to be felt out bit by bit. Only the Astrals were able to remember exactly how to navigate the system of tunnels. Any enemies and invaders would likely find themselvespletely lost.

    But when the invading force was sizable enough, even the mostplicated maze could be solved via brute force.

    The three armies had chosen a very simple method to deal with thisbyrinth - they would simply fill the tunnels with people and slowly snake their way down.

    Once all of the tunnels were upied, the correct path would naturally appear.

    Groups of Ravager, Harpy, and human soldiers entered the system of caves from different entrances. From afar, they probably looked likerge groups of worker ants entering their colony.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples were split amongst seventy-one openings.

    They began to slowly but surely make their way through the tunnels. Because the tunnels were interconnected, they would asionally run into each other.

    The tunnels would be lively at that point.

    If there were other paths to explore, the disciples would explore those alternative paths; otherwise, they would deem the cave a dead end and backtrack.

    Going back and forth in such a narrow cave system was obviously no easy task.

    As such, the disciples were constantly calling out to one another.

    ¡°Stop! Stop! Whoever¡¯s behind us, stop walking forwards!¡±

    ¡°This is a dead end!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t attack! We¡¯re your allies!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a path here......¡±

    ¡°Be careful...... Ah, dammit! There¡¯s a trap here.¡±

    The Astrals weren¡¯t nning on letting these invaders just calmly waltz into their home. Traps had been sprinkled all throughout thework of tunnels, and each trap¡¯s activation became a bother for the Boundless Sect.

    Bang!

    Iron Cliff shattered the boulder bearing down on him as heined, ¡°Weren¡¯t we going to duel in the Wai Caves? Why are we just fighting traps instead?¡±

    ¡°This is the duel,¡± Su Chen, who was standing next to him, replied. ¡°It¡¯s quite fitting for the Astrals, is it not?¡±

    Yes, it was indeed quite fitting.

    ¡°Sky-Breaking Mountain is only used to thin out our front line. Once we actually reach the underground, the real battle will begin,¡± Su Chen calmly continued. ¡°In other words, the annoyances we are facing now are only the beginning.¡±

    Iron Cliff felt his hair stand on end when he heard this. ¡°So doesn¡¯t that mean that this stage is going to be very difficult to clear?¡±

    Su Chen sighed. ¡°Well, not really. No matter how you look at it, these tunnels will lead us to Gloom City. No matter what the Astrals try to do, they will not be able to stop us. The only major difference is how many lives we will lose.

    Following Su Chen¡¯s words, a lowugh sounded out from in front of them, as if a ghost was chuckling to itself.

    Finally, the Astrals were showing themselves.

    These Astrals relied on their familiarity with the tunnel system and their sneaky techniques to begin to harass and hunt the invading cultivators.

    Because of terrain restrictions, such as the narrowness of the tunnel walls, the Astrals were not afraid of the enemy¡¯s numbers. No matter how many of them there were, the Astrals were only facing one or two at a time. This gave them a perfect opportunity to demonstrate their prowess in individual fights.

    Just as Su Chen and Iron Cliff were chatting, an Astral had chosen to strike.

    A wave of corrosive fog suddenly appeared, swirling towards the advancing cultivators.

    This wave of fog was definitely an incredibly potent Arcana Technique. Its corrosiveness was even effective against barriers, but its one major w was that it was quite slow and easy to dodge. In the tunnels, however, there was nowhere to dodge to. The disciples didn¡¯t even have any time to dispel the fog before it enveloped them, causing them to cry out in pain.

    ¡°Hurry and retreat!¡± the cultivator in the lead yelled loudly.

    Thankfully, the disciples had already been ordered not to bunch up too much in the tunnels, giving them space to retreat. Even so, two cultivators were gravely wounded, and had lost the ability to fight.

    ¡°Bring the wounded back. You two, take point,¡± the group¡¯smander ordered. Those two recements were cultivators skilled in neutralizing such poison techniques.

    A piece of jade appeared in both of their hands. The jade glowed faintly, preventing the cloud of poisonous fog from inching any closer.

    They had only just passed the poisonous cloud, however, when the ground in front of them suddenly shot up, wrapping towards the two cultivators as if it was alive and firmly tying them up.

    The people behind hurriedly pulled the sand off of them, only to discover that the two cultivators had already died, their eyes still wide open in panic.

    The sand had already invaded their bodies, wreaking havoc inside. This was why it was known as Shadow Breaking Sand.

    Themanderid down these two subordinates, then said in a low voice, ¡°Continue to advance.¡±

    ¡°You will all die here,¡± the Astral continued to mock.

    Themander ignored the taunt and said, ¡°Pay him no mind and stay alert. He won¡¯t dare to show himself.¡±

    At that moment, one of the Origin Qi Schrs responsible for probing their surroundings suddenly yelled, ¡°Seal!¡±

    Two cultivators instinctively sprang into action, forming seals on the space directly in front of them. As the seals took effect, countless small, formerly invisible snakes seemed to appear out of nowhere.

    This was not an Arcana Technique - these snakes were terrifying creatures that lived underground. If any of them were to get into someone, that person would die.

    Thankfully, the Origin Qi Schr had been alert and had discovered the snakes in time.

    The Astrals were incredibly tricky and unpredictable, so Su Chen had assigned a scout specifically to each group. This was quite effective in dealing with a majority of the Astrals¡¯ techniques.

    This cultivator hadn¡¯t managed to catch the Astral¡¯s earlier attacks in time and felt incredibly guilty. His sess was a form of redemption, in a way.

    The two sealing cultivators unleashed a flurry of palm strikes, killing all of the small snakes.

    At that moment, a fireball suddenly appeared in front of them.

    The fireball took up the entire tunnel and bore down on the group, giving them all quite a scare.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be fooled! That¡¯s an illusion!¡± the scouting cultivator yelled.

    Unfortunately, he had been just a moment toote. At least three of the cultivators with him responded in kind, but to no effect. At the same time, an incisive attack mmed into one of the cultivators seemingly from out of nowhere, sending him flying.

    ¡°Over there!¡± The scouting cultivator pointed.

    Boom!

    A turbulent wave of Origin Energy surged forwards. The pained cries of that Astral could be heard echoing throughout the cave.

    The Astral knew that he was in trouble and attempted to run. At that exact moment, however, another figure appeared right next to him.

    ¡°You......¡±

    He was stunned.

    Su Chen reached out and grabbed him by the neck. A sudden burst of energy immediately killed the Astral before he could even make a sound.

    Su Chen casually tossed the corpse aside and stepped out of the darkness.

    ¡°Sect Master!¡± all of the disciples cried out.

    ¡°Continue to advance,¡± Su Chen calmly replied as he disappeared yet again, reappearing in another section of the tunnels.

    Simr scenes were ying out all throughout thework of tunnels. Su Chen was like an emergency response team, saving his disciples no matter where they were.

    The Astrals were incredibly difficult to locate. They seemed capable of attacking from any direction, resulting in significant casualties to the invading force. The deeper they went, the fiercer and the sharper the resistance was.

    The Astrals were using every tool at their disposal to hunt their opponents, including servants, puppets, strange beasts, poison, illusion techniques, Arcana Techniques, traps, Origin Formations, etc...... This was indeed doing quite a bit of damage to their opponents.

    However, the joint army continued to advance fearlessly. No matter how many soldiers would fall by the wayside, their determination would not wane.

    The Harpies were going to reim the Immortal¡¯s Soul.

    The Ravagers were going to drive this troublesome race extinct.

    An opportunity like this, which only came about every few tens of thousands of years, could not be passed up.

    This motivated them to continue to charge forwards relentlessly.

    The Astrals¡¯ resistance only grew fiercer as they progressed, but the joint army was also beginning to limate to the Astrals¡¯ techniques.

    No matter how slippery and sly the Astrals tried to be, strength was not a negligible consideration.

    Even in a tight space, which the Astrals used to their advantage, theirbined strength was far inferior to that of the joint army¡¯s.

    As long as the three races were willing to do so, they could exchange three or even four lives for one just to break out of those tunnels.

    Nheless, the invasion of the tunnels was exceptionally arduous and time-consuming.

    After an entire day of bitter battle, a group of soldiers finally found the expanse of Gloom City beneath their feet.

    ¡°We¡¯re through! We found our way through!¡±

    They began to cheer and celebrate.

    After sacrificing tens of thousands of lives, they had finally arrived at the Astrals¡¯ underground world.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 111: Forest of Towers

    They had entered a dark, gloomy realm.

    No light could be seening from the city below. The Astrals didn¡¯t need light, after all.

    They moved like ghosts, and a dark, dim world was more suited to them anyways.

    But the three invading races were incredibly unfamiliar with the dim world around them.

    A Harpy activated an illumination technique.

    At that same instant, however, a whole bunch of Arcana Techniques immediately extinguished it.

    ¡°Don¡¯t shine any lights! They¡¯re waiting to ambush us in the darkness!¡± someone called out.

    Just because they had entered the underground world didn¡¯t mean they were safe. Actually, the battle was only beginning.

    The dark space gave the Astrals ample opportunity to attack. They hid themselves in locations that were difficult to spot, attacking anyone who dared to activate an illumination skill and swallowing them up in darkness.

    This was an effective tactic against thebined armies. Anyone who attempted to improve visibility in the caverns would be killed by darkness, and the already dim lighting in the caves made it difficult to see. Even though they were Origin Qi Schrs and possessed different techniques that allowed them to see in the dark, the Astrals were simrly able to utilize darkness Arcana Techniques.

    Since the two canceled each other out, the darkness was actually dark, making it hard for even Origin Qi Schrs to see clearly.

    A vicious battle began to unfold in the shadows.

    The Astrals¡¯ ambush officiallymenced.

    Even as the human-Ravager-Harpy forces charged forwards relentlessly, they suffered blow after blow from the Astrals.

    These sneak attacks resulted inrge numbers of casualties.

    But if the Astrals thought that they could win this way, they were grossly mistaken.

    A Ravager captain suddenly cried out, ¡°Mighty Red Rain warriors, we fight to the death! Charge!!!¡±

    ¡°RRRRRAAGHH!¡±

    Arge group of Ravagers howled at the same time.

    The totems inscribed on their upper bodies began to glow a deep red color as their battle intent surged.

    Then, these Ravagers rushed forwards like a raging gale, knocking aside everything in their path as they stampeded forwards.

    The Astrals unleashed Arcana Techniques, but the Ravagers ignored thempletely and charged right through them. Their powerful physique and innate resistance to Origin Energy may have been the reason why their cultivation process was so arduous, but it was also how they were able to withstand the might of those who had mastered Arcana Techniques.

    As they withstood the brunt of the attacks flying at them from all directions, the Harpies behind them seized the opportunity and began to unleash Arcana Techniques indiscriminately in all directions. They didn¡¯t need uracy, only a general sense of direction. A number of Astrals let out pained cries from somewhere within the darkness as they were forced backwards.

    ¡°Finish them!¡±

    Dozens of swords whistled through the air, impaling those Astrals from behind.

    No blood was spilt. However, when the swords pierced through their backs, the Astrals let out pained consciousness cries before toppling to the ground, motionless.

    Even though only a small number of Astrals had been killed, the soldiers¡¯ morale was greatly increased. Most importantly, they had found an effective way of dealing with their opponents.

    The cooperation between the three armies was finally beginning to bear fruit.

    The Ravagers acted as a shield, the Harpies as a probe, and the humans as precise instruments of death. The armies advanced step by step in this fashion, quickly forcing the Astrals to retreat.

    As a result, the sneak attacks beingunched from the darkness came to an end even more rapidly than they had anticipated.

    At this point in time, the soldiers who had left the entrance to the underground world first finally crossed through the region of darkness, entering a vast in.

    Amazingly, light had suddenly appeared.

    The light came from an artificial moon off in the distance. It hung high in the sky, emitting a gentle light that enveloped the surroundings. Finally, the soldiers could see the ground beneath their feet.

    The in was incredibly barren. No resources grew inside the Wai Caves; the only resources to be found here were rocks and ores.

    No other Intelligent Race would have been able to survive in this kind of environment.

    A tall castle towered on the opposite end of the ins.

    Gloom City!

    That was definitely Gloom City.

    ¡°Gloom City is finally in sight,¡± Lonely Skyleap sighed.

    ¡°The Astrals will be exterminated on this day!¡± Lonzell cried out with excitement.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get too excited yet.¡± Su Chen dumped a bucket of cold water on his head. ¡°We were able to kill off quite a few Astrals in our previous encounters, but those numbers probably amount to less than one-fifth of the total number of Astrals. Menus the Wise has already gathered them all here, so there should be just under a hundred thousand of them.¡±

    Upon hearing that number, Lonzell couldn¡¯t help but frown.

    To the Astrals, this was no small number. After all, their individual strength was astonishing, and each Astral possessed a number of ves, puppets, and weapons, all of which totalled closer to three hundred to five hundred thousand. When factoring in their terrain advantage, it was obvious that a big fight was inevitable.

    This made Lonzell a bit unhappy. ¡°So the Boundless Sect didn¡¯t really carve out this path? The Astrals just let you guys in?¡±

    Danba immediately said, ¡°Lonzell, don¡¯t be rude. Those ghosts will never fight you head-on, and each of them possesses the ability to escape at any time. They are both very slippery and very powerful, making them hard to kill. The fact that the Boundless Sect was able to kill so many of them is very impressive. And now that the Astrals have gathered their full strength here to fight against us, a tough battle is inevitable. The only reason we have all gathered here is thanks to Sect Master Su.¡±

    Lonzell resentfully fell silent.

    ¡°But they might deal you a heavy blow because of us,¡± Su Chen calmly said. ¡°I can¡¯t help but feel like the Astrals have some trump cards left to use, and none of these trump cards will be easy to deal with. Even a moment¡¯spse of vignce can give them the opportunity to turn the tables on us.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no use thinking about these things now. I would never pass up an opportunity to get rid of the Astrals once and for all,¡± Danba calmly replied.

    Lonely Skyleap harrumphed. ¡°We Harpies will aplish His Majesty¡¯s demand even if we must sacrifice ourselves in the process.¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°Since everyone still has the gumption to fight, then fight we will. We¡¯re going to need to go to the rodeo whether we¡¯re riding a mule or a horse.¡±

    The three races began to sound their respective signals.

    The soldiers fell into formation and prepared to attack.

    The Ravagers were the ground forces and upied the middle position.

    The humans and the Harpies nked the Ravagers on both sides like wings.

    These wings were really wings, since both the humans and the Harpies were flying.

    Unfortunately, the space underground was limited, and the cultivators were only a few dozens of feet above the ground. The Ravagers didn¡¯t need any long-range techniques to cover their surroundingspletely.

    This was one of the unique aspects of fighting underground. Under these circumstances, the Ravagers were able to fully demonstrate their effectiveness.

    The soldiers began to advance on Gloom City.

    As they drew closer, Gloom City began to grow clearer and clearer.

    The city¡¯s aesthetics were incredibly Astral-like.

    Gloom City had no walls, and no defensive constructs appeared to be present apart from countless tall towers that had been erected.

    These towers were where the Astrals lived, where their researchbs were located, and what protected them. Any Astral that was able to reach the mid-tier would be given a protective tower of their own within Gloom City.

    And Gloom City¡¯s expansion was via these towers as well.

    If no suitable tower was free when an Astral reached the mid-tier, they would construct one on the outskirts of the city.

    As such, the number of towers was a rough indicator of the Astrals¡¯ strength.

    There were roughly a hundred thousand of them.

    These towers both made up Gloom City and defended it.

    Yes, Gloom City had no other defenses. The forest of towers was the only defense that they had, but it was also exceptionally effective and terrifying.

    Su Chen had managed to get a rough briefing on Gloom City from Yanto. Based on what Yanto had said, each one of Gloom City¡¯s towers was an individual weapon with powerful defensive properties. The Astrals¡¯ power more than doubled when they were fighting from within these towers, and the towers were also able to unleash powerful Arcana Techniques. Of course, different towers had different capabilities, but the weakest tower in Gloom City was capable of unleashing Fifth-Ring Arcana Techniques, while the leader¡¯s tower could unleash legendary Arcana Techniques, which was also why it was known as the Legendary Tower.

    Beneath legendary, there were five hundred Tenth-Ring towers; 1,500 Ninth-Ring towers; 5,000 Eighth-Ring towers; 16,000 Seventh-Ring towers; 27,000 Sixth-Ring towers; and 44,000 Fifth Ring towers.¡±

    These shocking numbers were enough to make a person¡¯s scalp go numb.

    Thankfully, there were less than a hundred thousand total Astrals remaining, and only forty thousand of them or so were mid-tier. As such, only forty thousand towers could be activated at any given time.

    But those empty towers weren¡¯t useless either.

    When an Astral tower was destroyed, the Astral inside would be able to relocate to another tower as long as they didn¡¯t die.

    ¡°As such, if we want to deal with these guys, we cannot just selectively attack them wherever they are. We must sweep through the region, destroying all of the towers indiscriminately,¡± Su Chen said, his tone serious.

    ¡°That¡¯s simple.¡± Lonzell cracked a smile. ¡°We Ravagers happen to be great at destroying everything in our path.¡±

    Using the metaphor of a wildfire to describe the Ravagers was quite apt.

    The Ravagers were never good at focusing on targets. Indiscriminate destruction, however, was their specialty.

    Su Chen nodded sagely. ¡°This battle will indeed be an opportunity for the Ravagers to demonstrate their might.¡±

    Lonzell was delighted by Su Chen¡¯s words and guffawed. ¡°Just you wait and see.¡±

    He turned around and yelled to the Ravagers, ¡°You bumbling idiots, have you still not managed to put that treasure of ours together? Hurry and push it over here.¡±

    With a great mor, rows of giant cannons were pushed forwards from the back lines.

    Dragonfire Cannon!

    The aesthetics of these cannons were uniquely Ravager-like. The Ravagers just wheeled them out onto the battlefield. They had been forced to disassemble the cannon¡¯splicated guidance system in order to bring it with them, then reassemble it once inside.

    Lonely Skyleap nced at the Dragonfire Cannon with just a hint of scorn in his eyes as he said, ¡°Bring ours out too.¡±

    Some Harpies descended from the sky, pulling out cannons and setting them on the ground. They were the Sun-Shattering Cannons that had been used to defend Sky City in the past. Even though they weren¡¯t as powerful as the Dragonfire Cannons, they were much more portable and could be carried inside an Origin Ring. The Dragonfire Cannons, inparison, wouldn¡¯t fit inside an ordinary Origin Ring and needed to be disassembled and reassembled.

    Su Chen motioned with his hand, causing puppets to begin to appear one-by-one. The two Titan-ss puppets were especially eye-catching. Su Chen had obtained quite a bit of knowledge about constructing puppets from Arcanist ruins and Eternal Night. After the blueprints had been handed over to the Boundless Sect¡¯s cksmiths, puppet-making became an important branch of its own. The puppets were all constructed from rare metals sourced from all over the continent. Most shockingly, these puppets were also covered in Void Starmetal ting, allowing them to be stored in the void no matter howrge or powerful they were. As such, their portability was even greater than the Harpies¡¯ Sun-Shattering Cannons.

    Now that the weapons for besieging the city had been prepared, all that remained was to mount the offensive.

    There was no resting or catching of breath.

    The armies¡¯ tens of thousands of cannons began to unload as soon as the signal to fire was given.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 112: Failed Produc

    Boom, boom, boom, boom!

    The cannons sted away, filling the sky above Gloom City with light. The towers¡¯ defenses groaned under the barrage of firepower as waves of mes bathed the entire city.

    At the same time, Gloom City¡¯s counterattack had also begun.

    The towers¡¯ attacks were quite in-line with the era in which they were constructed. Lightning began to crackle and ather at the tops of the towers. Tendrils of lightning reached out, scattering amongst the armies before sending a lightning bolt in their direction.

    The soldiers activated their defensive barriers. The Ravagers held up physical shields, which began to shine with a blood-colored light. The Harpies utilized joint Arcana Techniques to form a magic barrier that formed a giant protected region. All attacks that entered the region would be gradually nullified. The Boundless Sect also utilized joint techniques to defend themselves.

    The lightning bolts danced across the surfaces of the barriers like snakes, filling the sky with a blinding silvery light.

    The two sides were already exchanging blows as soon as the battle had begun, each side demonstrating their imposing might. Very few casualties had appeared, however.

    But as time went on and the barriers began to disintegrate, the casualties began to appear.

    A few of the weaker towers were unable to withstand the violent assault of the cannons. Once their barriers had shattered, the towers began to crumble. Even though they did their best to unleash one final bolt of lightning, the overwhelming wave of attacks made it seem much weaker inparison. The Astrals inside the towers, however, were able to escape into the towers further behind.

    The Astrals were losing those Arcana Towers, but thebined army was losing real lives.

    As lightning continued to beat down on them, a few of the unlucky Ravager soldiers were caught up in the more violent area of the storm. Their shields were destroyed and their bodies were sted to bits before they were even able to react. Simr scenes were ying out amongst the human and Harpy soldiers, the chaotic lightning energy disrupting them significantly. The uneven nature of the lightning storm made it so that certain groups of soldiers were hit harder than others, resulting in more casualties.

    The obstruction in the tunnels and the sneak attacks in the region of darkness had all been small skirmishes. The current battle they were locked in, however, was a true war. In the blink of an eye, an astounding number of lives had been lost.

    ¡°These Arcana Towers are too powerful,¡± Lonely Skyleap muttered as he turned to nce at Su Chen. ¡°There are too many of them, and their defenses are too sturdy. If we keep pushing on like this, I¡¯m afraid that we will all die before we destroy them.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Even though the towers are quite powerful, they are immobile. Fighting against them inrge formations is inappropriate. Give themand to disperse the formation and have them take turns defending themselves against the towers¡¯ attacks. As soon as their barriers shatter, they are to immediately retreat, and those waiting in reserve will advance and activate their barriers. We¡¯re going to take turns fighting.¡±

    As themand was issued, the army¡¯s strategy began to change. Instead of simply forcing their way forwards, they chose to stay on the outskirts of the towers¡¯ range and pick them off one by one.

    Put simply, they were nning on wearing out their opponent.

    This new strategy greatly diminished the number of casualties they were suffering, but their rate of advance slowed, and they were expending much more energy.

    But as long as they could mitigate casualties, it was all worth it.

    The battle entered a slow, tedious rhythm. Neither side was willing to take the initiative to attack, instead choosing to lob shells at each other from afar.

    The massive underground region that contained Gloom City was filled with raging fire and shing lightning.

    Even though the forest of towers was strong, none of the towers could move. Su Chen took advantage of that weakness and cycled his forces, decreasing the number of casualties even as the towers continued to fall one by one.

    Perhaps because they realized the unsustainability of the situation, the Astrals began to make changes.

    A ck swath of mes began to form above Gloom City. These mes gathered and assumed the form of a giant. Next, a bronze puppet with lightning dancing across its body appeared, wielding a giant sword and shield, followed by a giant tree, which shook its leaves, causing countless green fruits to fall to the ground. Fierce, short, greenish-gray people popped out of the fruits. Finally, a dark ck shadow began to slowly creep across the ground. No tangible figure was associated with the shadow, but that didn¡¯t stop it from emanating a strong, strange aura.

    As soon as these four strange existences appeared, a shockingly powerful wave of energy burst forth from Gloom City in all directions.

    That burst of energy immediately suppressed the allied armies.

    At the same time, the four creatures began to charge directly towards the allied armies.

    ¡°So we need to take the initiative to attack, huh?¡± Su Chen was not surprised.

    Constantly being forced to defend while on the back foot would only get them killed. A truly sessful defense needed to give them the opportunity to counterattack. Otherwise, they would be slowly ground to death, just like what had happened before.

    The only way to disrupt their opponent¡¯s rhythm was by attacking.

    These four creatures were most likely one of the secret treasures that the Astrals had prepared for moments like this.

    It was no surprise that a race that loved to perform research like the Astrals had some tricks up their sleeves.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyebrow arched when he saw the creatures. ¡°Qingluo, you go and deal with that ck ming fiend. Li Chongshan, you handle the tree creature. The other two will be up to you to deal with,¡± Su Chenughed as he gazed at Lonely Skyleap and Danba.

    Danba said, ¡°The giant creature wielding the sword and shield is ours. Lonzell, you go and handle him.¡±

    Lonzell roared valiantly as he charged towards the bronze warrior.

    Lonely Skyleap frowned. He had originally wanted to take on the bronze warrior. The dark shadow was simply too strange, meaning that it would be difficult to get a grasp on and deal with. However, Danba had acted too quickly, and there was no way that Lonely Skyleap had the fact to ask Danba to let him face the bronze warrior instead. As such, there was nothing he could do but turn to a Harpy general beside him and say, ¡°You go and stop that shadow.¡±

    When Su Chen saw the Harpy general take flight, he sighed, ¡°I¡¯m afraid he won¡¯t be enough.¡±

    Lonely Skyleap harrumphed. ¡°Gentle Float is a Ninth-Ring Arcana Master.¡±

    ¡°Still not enough,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Lonely Skyleap was taken aback.

    The Harpy General named Gentle Float had already charged forwards. As he gestured, a web of interweaved lights descended on the shadow. The shadow, however, continued advancing as if it had felt nothing. The Harpy soldiers around it had already begun to turn into g.

    Gentle Float was badly startled and began to attack repeatedly, but no matter how strong his attacks were, he waspletely incapable of stopping the shadow from moving.

    As the shadow advanced erratically, it swallowed everything that got too close to it.

    Gentle Float was forced to begin retreating as he continued to try and find what was effective

    Su Chen was also observing carefully.

    Suddenly, he frowned. ¡°Careful!¡±

    Whoosh!

    A streak of light shed by. Suddenly, a thin line of blood appeared on Gentle Float¡¯s forehead.

    A look of amazement appeared in his eyes before he fell to the ground, split into two halves.

    This Ninth-Ring Arcana Master had died, just like that.

    The faint shadow turned around and began to head in a different direction.

    ¡°Found you!¡± Su Chen¡¯s gaze suddenly constricted as he reached out and grabbed the air next to him. The ck shadow immediately froze, unable to move any further.

    Danba and Lonely Skyleap were all stunned by this.

    In order to better observe the battle as it progressed, the three leaders were all far behind the front lines.

    The fact that Su Chen was able to grasp his target from so far away was a clear demonstration of his shockingly powerful spatial skills.

    The shadow was still thrashing in Su Chen¡¯s grip. Eventually, motes of light began to appear on its body as it fell motionless.

    Danba understood. ¡°So that¡¯s its main body. The shadow is merely a distraction.¡±

    ¡°This is probably some kind of concealment technique that the Astrals had tried to create, but it was a failure...... A very powerful failure, but a failure nheless,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°You mean to tell me that these four strange creatures are failed products?¡± Lonely Skyleap was stunned.

    The ck ming giant was being dealt with by Gu Qingluo, the tree by Li Chongshan, and the bronze warrior by Lonzell. Each of them was incredibly powerful, but Su Chen was calling them failed products.

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Su Chen said confidently. ¡°The ck ming giant was the result of their research on the element of fire so that they could increase their resistance to it. The tree was an attempt at creating a new ss of soldiers for them to use, allowing them to produce an unlimited amount of cannon fodder. After all, the Astrals have always suffered from low poption. The bronze warrior represents the Astrals¡¯ hopes to improve theirbat strength so that they would no longer be the only Intelligent Race without the ability to win in a head-on fight.

    Indeed, if the Astrals had been sessful in producing these creatures, the situation would probably have been quite different.

    These creatures definitely were failed products, with ws that no one knew yet.

    For instance......

    As the bronze warrior fought, its body suddenly began to heat up.

    Danba immediately recognized that something was wrong and barked, ¡°Lonzell, retreat!¡±

    Lonzell immediately did as Danbamanded him to and retreated quickly.

    At the same time, the bronze warrior suddenly exploded like a miniature supernova. Large rays of radiant light sshed through the sky, filling the entire area in golden light.

    When the light dissipated, the bronze warrior was no more, as were the soldiers that had been surrounding it.

    Lonzelly on the ground in a bloody heap. It wasn¡¯t clear if he was alive or dead.

    So this creature couldn¡¯t fight for long periods of time because it would explode.

    Thankfully, the creatures that Gu Qingluo and Li Chongshan were fighting didn¡¯t spontaneously explode. The ck me giant, however, suddenly fragmented and began to rain down from the sky. It hadn¡¯t exploded, but the destructive potential was just as frightening. Thankfully, Gu Qingluo had been prepared and managed to nullify a majority of the damage.

    Li Chongshan¡¯s fight was even easier - the tree constantly shrank as it constantly pumped out those small soldiers. Eventually, it was merely the size of a sapling.

    Li Chongshan stowed it away. Even though the item was wed, it still likely held research value. The other two creatures had already exploded, not even leaving behind a corpse.

    The ck shadow that Su Chen had grabbed had also died.

    Yes, after thrashing about in Su Chen¡¯s grip for some time, the shadow fellpletely still. Su Chen could sense that its vitality had disappeared. How the shadow had died waspletely mystifying to him.

    The four creatures had caused a decent amount of damage to the allied soldiers, and they posed a bit of a headache.

    ¡°I wonder how many of these failed products they have,¡± Lonely Skyleap said.

    ¡°Probably quite a few,¡± Su Chen calmly replied.

    Lonely Skyleap shot him a re. ¡°Don¡¯t jinx us.¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°Even if you don¡¯t like it, that¡¯s the truth. The Astrals have performed countless experiments over the past tens of thousands of years. I refuse to believe that all they have to show for it are these four creatures. Just you wait.¡±

    As soon as Su Chen spoke, anotherrge wave of creatures surged out of Gloom City.

    This time, there were much more of them, each of varying shapes and sizes.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 113: Devil King

    The sheer number and variety of creatures charging out from Gloom City was staggering.

    These creatures included lizards with dogs¡¯ heads, three-eyed cats, six-legged deer, and those were the easy ones to imagine. Most were impossible to even describe with words.

    There was a wheel that could roll on its own with a triangr eye, a dinner tray that could fly and had a mouth through which it was constantly bbering, and a carriage being driven by a ghost. The ghost, however, looked like a contorted slug.

    Any creature you could possibly imagine and the ones you couldn¡¯t were basically all there. The sight was enough to make one¡¯s skin crawl as they charged at the joint armies.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let them get close!¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s voice echoed amongst the three armies.

    These items were all failed products created by the Astrals. As such, they were simply too unpredictable. No one knew what would happen if they got too close, so the best course of action was simply to keep them out of the front door.

    The cannons turned to bombard the oing wave of strange creatures.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples simultaneously threw their swords into the air, unleashing wave after wave of sword Qi. The sight was enough to cause any bystander¡¯s blood to boil.

    A bloody ughtermenced as life was reaped en masse.

    The furious deluge of firepower dealt a serious blow to the strange creatures. Most of them were killed before even getting close, and the ones that did get close were specifically targeted and picked off.

    The creatures created some problems when they died. One of therger creatures, which looked just like a giant hunk of meat, exploded after it was killed, immediately snuffing out nearly a hundred Harpy and Ravager lives. Even so, they generally didn¡¯t pose a threat.

    ¡°Is that all they¡¯ve got?¡± Lonely Skyleap harrumphed. ¡°It looks like nothing more than a scare tactic.¡±

    Su Chen and Danba, however, remained silent as they closely observed the battlefield.

    Almost all of the creatures on the battlefield had died. Fresh blood flowed through the small rivulets on the ground.

    In Su Chen¡¯s eyes, however, this was quite noteworthy.

    It was as if there was something on the ground?

    An Origin Formation!

    Su Chen immediately realized what it was.

    They were actually fighting on top of a giant Origin Formation.

    That was more like it!

    How could the Astrals allow them toe knocking so easily?

    If there was an incredibly devastating Origin Formation in ce at the Ringed Corridor ins, how could there not be one here?

    What was the giant formation being used for?

    ¡°Those were sacrifices,¡± Danba suddenly said.

    He could sense it.

    Unlike Su Chen, he hadn¡¯t seen the fresh blood flowing across the ground, but he could sense the sudden transformation in the essence of vitality that was taking ce.

    He said with conviction, ¡°Those creatures were being used as sacrifices, not to deal with us.¡±

    Lonely Skyleap was taken aback. ¡°Sacrifices for what?¡±

    ¡°A foreign creature,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Foreign?¡± Lonely Skyleap was stunned. ¡°Could it be......¡±

    Inside of Gloom City, a group of Astrals were standing in a circle, their staffs raised high in the air as they chanted in unison.

    As they chanted, a giant door began to slowly creak open on the battlefield.

    The lofty, gigantic door stood alone in the middle of the battlefield. The majestic, imposing aura it emanated caused everyone¡¯s hearts to tremble.

    ¡°Darkness Door!¡± Lonely Skyleap cried out.

    Everyone was actually very familiar with what this door was.

    It was a Darkness Door.

    However, this Darkness Door was far, far bigger than any of the other Darkness Doors that they had ever seen before.

    Of course, the Darkness Demon that woulde out from within would definitely be much stronger as well.

    As the Darkness Door opened, a ck cloud of fog began to waft out, enveloping the surroundings in darkness.

    ¡°Mwahahaha!¡± a sinisterugh echoed through the cavern as a gigantic demon descended from the sky. It lifted the ck cloud into the sky with its massive hand, then reached out and grabbed a nearby Harpy, tossed him into its mouth, and quickly devoured him. The creature¡¯s bloodthirst caused everyone to shiver involuntarily.

    ¡°Bone-Piercing Arrows!¡± Following thismand, arrows flew towards the Darkness Demon.

    ¡°You weak creatures.¡± The fifty-foot-tall Darkness Demon gestured with his hand, calmly sweeping aside the arrows before unleashing yet another wave of darkness that swallowed up the Harpies before it.

    ¡°Careful, that¡¯s the Darkness Demon!¡± one of the Harpies cried out.

    ¡°Attack it with fire!¡± Su Chen gestured, and a wave of mes surged forth from his hands, spurting towards the darkness.

    ¡°Let the darkness consume everything!¡± the Darkness Demon cried out before the mes enveloped it.

    Boom!

    The Darkness Demon disintegrated, turning into a pile of ashes.

    Even though Su Chen¡¯s fire techniques were not as powerful as his spatial ones, he did still possess someprehension of Method Power. A Darkness Demon was never going to be able to withstand his attack.

    However, even more dark clouds began to pour out of the door, and the eerieughter was only continuing.

    Darkness Demon after Darkness Demon began to emerge from the giant door, cackling and chuckling ominously as they traversed the battleground.

    ¡°Die, puny creatures! You will be trampled by the might of our darkness, and your blood will feed us!¡±

    A giant Darkness Demon howled as it charged at the joint troops.

    ¡°These damned Astrals,¡± the soldiers cursed.

    No one anticipated that the Astrals had actually set up a giant summoning formation on the ground, using an ocean¡¯s worth of blood from living creatures as a sacrifice. It seemed that the door would remain open for a long time, meaning that there would be countless Darkness Demons pouring through the other side.

    ¡°This was inevitable.¡± Su Chen was not very surprised.

    Exterminating the Astrals was never going to be an easy task. Su Chen was not going to be surprised no matter what tricks they had up their sleeves.

    For that reason, the Astrals¡¯ fate was sealed.

    Darkness Demons were still flooding out through the giant door, wreaking havoc on the battlefield as they enveloped it in dark fog.

    At that moment, an exceptionallyrge demon emerged. It was almost the size of the Darkness Door itself. Its figure filled the frame as it attempted to squeeze through the doorway. The other Darkness Demons also ran over to help. The giant demon roared impatiently, as if detesting the door frame for being too narrow for its majestic stature.

    ¡°It¡¯s the Devil King! The Darkness Devil King!¡± Lonely Skyleap paled.

    This terrifying, vicious creature had surpassed the emperor realm, making it superior to any Intelligent Race individual.

    If that demon was able to force its way through, there would be tremendous consequences.

    The Astrals were crazy to summon the Darkness Devil King.

    The Darkness Devil King was slowly but surely squeezing its way through the door.

    ¡°Su Chen, think of something!¡± Lonely Skyleap cried out.

    ¡°What else can we do? The only option we have is to destroy that door!¡± Su Chen yelled in response. ¡°I will go and destroy the door. Lonely Skyleap, Danba, bring your men with you and protect me as much as possible from those other demons.¡±

    ¡°Got it!¡± Lonely Skyleap and Danba replied.

    Su Chen flew into the air. ¡°Qingluo, help me take this guy on.¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Gu Qingluoughed before she flew towards the Darkness Door with Su Chen.

    The Darkness Demons howled and shrieked as they rushed towards Su Chen.

    Su Chen and Gu Qingluo nced at each other. Su Chen nodded, and then they attacked simultaneously.

    Su Chen used his left hand and Gu Qingluo used her right to draw out a semi-circle. A Shining Dragon image appeared around each of them.

    Su Chen¡¯s dragon was smaller and more condensed. Its aura was more restrained, but it was also nimbler. Inparison, Gu Qingluo¡¯s was exuding a far more oppressive aura.

    Even so, when the two of them intertwined their arms, the two dragons began to merge, and a new Shining Dragon epassing the both of them gradually began to take shape.

    The moment that the new Shining Dragon appeared, a violent wave of mes surged in all directions.

    The oing Darkness Demons were immediately turned into dust.

    Even so, this was not an actual offensive technique; it was merely the overflow of energy that came from forming the new dragon.

    The actual core of Su Chen¡¯s dragon was fire essence, which drew from hisprehension of fire Method Power. Gu Qingluo¡¯s dragon, on the other hand, possessed the actual essence of a dragon, and drew from her Shining Dragon Bloodline.

    Merging the two resulted in reat changes.

    The newly formed Shining Dragon turned its gaze on the giant Darkness Door, rage appearing in its eyes.

    Then, it opened its mouth.

    ¡°ROOARRR!¡±

    A zing inferno surged forth from its mouth, charging at the Darkness Door.

    The wave of mes washed over the Darkness Devil King, causing it to howl in anger. Its hand, which had managed to make it through, wed madly through the air, actually knocking aside the sweeping wave of mes. The darkness stubbornly kept the mes at bay. At the same time, the Darkness Devil King roared again, causing the Darkness Demons around it to redouble the efforts to pull it out. Countless Darkness Demons were also behind the door pushing it through.

    ¡°HRRAGH!¡±

    The Shining Dragon¡¯s rage only grew.

    A brilliant fireball began to form as it prepared to demonstrate its full might.

    The fireball was actually the size of a small mountain, making it seem like a miniature sun. Its temperature was almost illogically high, seemingly capable of melting through anything in its path. Momentster, the fireball was hurled violently at the Darkness Door.

    Lonely Skyleap felt like his eyes were about to fall out of their sockets. He knew that this fireball alone was more than capable ofpletely wiping out a giant city. Even an emperor-realm cultivator would have a hard time withstanding that attack.

    So theirbined strength had already reached such a terrifying degree?

    They absolutely needed to find the Immortal¡¯s Soul!

    Lonely Skyleap clenched his fists.

    Only Sky City was capable of withstanding this kind of power.

    Boom!

    The superheated fireball mmed into the Darkness Door, and into the Darkness Devil King itself. White sparks flew everywhere.

    ¡°ARGHH!¡±

    This time, even the Darkness Devil King was unable to withstand the pain and roared. The Darkness Demons attempting to pull it through melted away instantaneously.

    The massive Darkness Door began to groan ominously as well.

    ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it!!!¡± the Darkness Devil King roared.

    The arm that had gotten through suddenly severed itself from the main body, transforming into a darkness dragon that charged towards the couple.

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 114: Divine Inspiration

    Boom, boom, boom, boom!

    The darkness dragon mmed into the superheated fireball, sending moltenva in all directions. As the darkness and the bright red mes mixed together, the resulting explosion spread the mes nearly ten kilometers in all directions, turning all of the nearby Darkness Demons to ashes. Even the joint armies and Gloom City suffered from ssh damage, forcing the joint armies to hurriedly retreat and causing Gloom City¡¯s defenses to dim significantly.

    The ground had beenpletely scorched by the explosion.

    This was the same ground that was known for its resistance to Origin Skills. Even so, in that moment, the unimaginably powerful explosion actually appeared to have ssed the ground, and a corner of the Darkness Door had been blown off.

    The Darkness Devil King had lost an arm, yet it was still howling and thrashing.

    However, now that the Darkness Demons that had been pulling it into the battlefield had all disappeared, the powerful Darkness Devil King began to sink back into the world that it hade from.

    ¡°NO!¡± it roared fiercely, attempting to force the door open wide. However, the Darkness Door was already beginning to shrink, forcing it backwards.

    ¡°Have a safe trip!¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect appeared behind him as he pointed his finger in the direction of the Darkness Devil King.

    That finger tap made it seem as if space itself was about to copse. Some irresistible force seemed to be drawing all things towards itself.

    Su Chen¡¯s finger was the center of this pulling force. Under the influence of his finger strike, even the Darkness Devil King¡¯s return to its world was slowed.

    The Darkness Devil King showed no sign of happiness, however. Instead, it asked in shock, ¡°This...... What is this technique?¡±

    ¡°I have no clue,¡± Su Chen calmly replied.

    He had unleashed this finger strike after perceiving the changes in his environment. Even though it appeared incredibly simple, it was actually filled with profundity.

    Su Chen had always been incredibly logical. Every technique, every Origin Skill he could use had all been the product of hard work. He didn¡¯t rely on mysterious principles, and he didn¡¯t have faith in ineffable skills. Even so, the truth was that the deeper these rational roots went, the more likely it was for such moments of miraculous inspiration to ur.

    That was the case with Su Chen¡¯s finger strike. There had been no need for analysis or experimentation. Rather, his umted knowledge had suddenly given him a moment of inspiration. Whether the finger strike was actually profound or not was hard to say.

    And it was this divinely inspired finger strike that had allowed him to unleash such incredible power.

    The resulting spatial distortion spread, drawing everything into itself. Even the Darkness Door was no exception, and the rate at which it disintegrated only began to increase. The Darkness Devil King¡¯s flesh simrly began to crumble away under the might of this finger strike, disappearing into nothingness.

    ¡°How is this possible?¡± the Darkness Devil King cried out in terror.

    This was the first time that it was no longer attempting to squeeze its way through the doorway, but instead, retreating.

    It was afraid!

    The soldiers who saw this scene were all dumbfounded.

    How could a simple finger strike be that powerful?

    Finally, the finger light dissipated, and the Darkness Door copsed.

    The Darkness Devil King had returned to its former world, but it had permanently left behind one of its arms.

    Dark crystals glittered in the sky.

    Su Chen reached out and inspected it closely, only to find that it was Darkness Essence. Darkness Essence was incredibly difficult to obtain, as it was basically the crystallized form of darkness Origin Substance. However, its crystalline state made it much easier to absorb and use. Su Chen¡¯s ck mes had used this Origin Substance at its core.

    As Su Chen had gotten stronger, he had begun to outgrow those techniques. To the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples that were cultivating those techniques, however, these crystals were incredible treasures.

    Su Chen gathered all of the Darkness Essence around him without hesitation before tossing it to Lin Shaoxuan. ¡°Add these to the list of items that the disciples can purchase with their contribution points. One thousand contribution points is enough to buy one gram. They are used to aid in cultivation of darkness Origin Skills.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± Lin Shaoxuan excitedly stowed away the sizable amount of Darkness Essence.

    ¡°Husband, look at this,¡± Gu Qingluo said happily as she picked up a jade-like, sparkling bone.

    ¡°That¡¯s the arm bone of the Darkness Devil King,¡± Su Chen immediately identified.

    The Darkness Devil King¡¯s arm had been destroyed by Su Chen and Gu Qingluo¡¯s superheated fireball. The bone itself, however, was still intact, an obvious indication of its quality.

    Su Chen weighed it in his hand before chuckling, ¡°This is the real treasure. When we get back, we¡¯ll have the sect¡¯s cksmiths fuse it with some Void Starmetal. It should make for quite a powerful weapon. After all, you are stillcking a suitable Origin Tool, Qingluo.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want a weapon made out of bones,¡± Gu Qingluo pouted.

    Su Chenughed. ¡°There are people who would kill for such a weapon.¡±

    ¡°Right, what was that finger strike of yours earlier?¡± Gu Qingluo suddenly remembered and asked with great interest.

    ¡°You could say it was a divinely inspired finger,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect for it to be that powerful either.¡±

    ¡°Congrattions, my husband. Now you have mastered yet another peerless technique,¡± Gu Qingluo chuckled.

    Su Chen, however, shook his head. ¡°It was just a spur of the moment attack. I doubt I will be able to replicate it for some time.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. If it can happen once, it will happen twice and a third time,¡± Gu Qingluo said happily. ¡°I believe that you will definitely do it.¡±

    Su Chen gazed at his own finger, silent. He began to mull over what he had felt when unleashing that finger strike.

    As they were speaking, the battle was still unfolding.

    The joint armies had resumed their advance, and all of the darkness creatures had beenpletely exterminated at this point.

    These darkness creatures also provided the soldiers with Darkness Essence. In the future, this would arouse quite a bit of interest in the Boundless Sect¡¯s ck fire techniques.

    The battle returned to its former equilibrium.

    The cannons were still firing away.

    The joint armies were determined to st away at their opponents from long range.

    After dealing with the Darkness Creatures, the armies continued their destruction of the Tower Forest.

    At the rate they were going at, it seemed like it would take no less than a few months to work their way through.

    However, a few months was no time at all in the joint armies¡¯ eyes. The Harpies were willing to fight for not just a few months, but even a few years or decades, and they had already sent a second wave of reinforcements.

    It appeared as if the Astrals were also aware that their days were numbered.

    As the cannons sted away, a consciousness fluctuation suddenly enveloped Su Chen, Lonely Skyleap, and Danba, echoing near their ears: ¡°Are you all truly nning on leaving the Astrals no ce to rest their heads?¡±

    Su Chen raised his eyebrows. ¡°Menus the Wise?¡±

    ¡°You can just call me Menus.¡± Light began to condense into a figure that gradually took form before them. The Astral figure wore a purple crown on his head, and wielded a staff with a tricolored gem set on its top.

    The fact that he could appear before the three of them even over a distance of dozens of kilometers was a testament to his strength.

    Lonely Skyleap said, ¡°Menus, if you are willing to hand over the Immortal¡¯s Soul, we will spare the Astrals.¡±

    Menus, however, ignored him and turned to nce at Su Chen and Danba. ¡°Sect Master Su, Chieftain Danba, is that how you all feel as well?¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°If you give him the Immortal¡¯s Soul, he will naturally leave, but Danba and I will continue to fight.¡±

    Lonely Skyleap was startled before he shot Su Chen an angry re.

    Su Chen gazed coldly at Lonely Skyleap. ¡°General Skyleap, I know that you have a high status amongst the Harpies and that you don¡¯t respect us...... The Harpies have never respected anyone. But if you keep overriding my authority like this, I can only let you search for the Immortal¡¯s Soul on your own.¡±

    Lonely Skyleap fiercely red at him but didn¡¯t dare to say anything more.

    Su Chen turned to nce at Menus. ¡°I apologize for us making fools out of ourselves, leader Menus.¡±

    Menus shook his head. ¡°I never nned on handing over the Immortal¡¯s Soul in the first ce. But I do have another suggestion that you three may be interested in hearing.¡±

    ¡°Oh? What do you propose?¡±

    Menus replied, ¡°My proposal is very simple. Retreat now, and I will spare you all. What do you think?¡±

    Lonely Skyleap was taken aback for a moment before he suddenly began to guffaw. ¡°Are you crazy, you half-alive half-dead creature? Spare us? How absurd!¡±

    This reaction was not strange.

    They had never believed that the Astrals were suddenly on theirst legs, or that the Darkness Door was thest resort that the Astrals possessed.

    The Astrals probably hadn¡¯t used their actual killing technique yet.

    Su Chen and the other high-ranking officers had discussed this extensively already and brainstormed a number of possibilities.

    The simplest was that there was some kind of Origin Beast or Deste Beast hibernating below Wai Caves that would be awakened when they were in danger and would kill everyone present.

    However, this theory was quickly disproven.

    First of all, the resistant nature of the earth in the Wai Caves was not suited for an Origin Beast or a Deste Beast to live in. If they fell asleep here, they would likely never wake up. After all, their hibernation was closely linked to the decline in Origin Energy content on the continent. If they were to further iste themselves from Origin Energy by hibernating underground, wasn¡¯t that basicallymitting suicide?

    And even if there had been an Origin Beast or a Deste Beast, they could still put up a fight. They would never win against an Origin Beast in a fight, but those hibernating Origin Beasts wouldn¡¯t fight. At most, they would unleash a single blow before dying. Back in the Death Region, the Origin Beast had been awakened and had unleashed a stunningly powerful attack. After that, however, nothing else had happened. Deste Beasts could live for a few days at least, but the Boundless Sect was strong enough that they wouldn¡¯t all be wiped out in an instant and would have enough time to escape.

    As such, they concluded that even if such ns did exist, the Boundless Sect wouldn¡¯t bepletely decimated even if they did suffer serious losses. This was part of the reason why they had chosen to forge onwards fearlessly.

    It waspletely expected that the Astrals had more trump cards ready to use. But they were far too naive if they believed that these trump cards would allow them to turn the tables on the joint armies.

    Most of the time, trump cards were merely used to limit the number of casualties.

    This was why Lonely Skylea hadughed in the face of Menus¡¯s threat.

    It was obvious that the threat was not very effective.

    Even Danba said indifferently, ¡°If you do have anything else prepared for us, please just bring it out. There¡¯s no point in trying to scare us with empty words.¡±

    Another ancient-sounding voice echoed in their consciousness. ¡°Then what if I serve as a mediator? Are you willing to ept that and give me face?¡±

    Following this voice, Su Chen, Danba, and the others found themselves in a world filled with flowers and birdsong - a far cry from the bloody battlefield they had just been on.

    This strange, beautiful world was flourishing with life. Countless tiny spirits were floating through the sky. The scenery was very beautiful and harmonious. Su Chen, Danba, and Lonely Skyleap, however, received quite a significant shock.

    Any skill that could transport them directly from the battlefield into another realm was no ordinary skill.

    Most shockingly, this realm was incredibly familiar to them.

    The Dreamrealm.

    ¡°The Lord of the Dreamrealm!¡± Su Chen blurted out.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 115: Barrier of Gods

    Even though he had never spoken with the Lord of the Dreamrealm before, Su Chen was able to sense and confirm in that moment that the speaker was in fact the Lord of the Dreamrealm.

    Only that kind of an existence would be able to forcibly drag them into the Dreamrealm without their explicit permission.

    Danba also arched an eyebrow when he heard that voice.

    Lonely Skyleap¡¯s response, however, stunned both of them. His voice sharpened suddenly as he said, ¡°Abilo, are you going to break the Barrier of Gods and vite the Eternal Treaty just to meddle in these small affairs?¡±

    Barrier of Gods? Eternal Treaty? What were those?

    Danba and Su Chen nced at each other.

    A blood-red sun slowly began to rise within the Dreamrealm.

    The red sun morphed into the face of an old man, who sighed. ¡°That¡¯s not what I¡¯m thinking at all. The Dreamrealm and the real world both rely on each other, and we would never lightly interfere with the Origin Realm¡¯s affairs. However, these Astrals offer much consciousness energy to me year after year, which is why I wanted to serve as a mediator......¡±

    Lonely Skyleap replied darkly, ¡°What does that have to do with me? I know the Astrals have powerful consciousnesses, and their offerings are like rain in a drought. But what about the Harpies contributions? Are we offering no more than bitter water? And are the humans offering trash?¡±

    He didn¡¯t mention the Ravagers, because their consciousness power contribution wasn¡¯t even worth mentioning.

    The sun descended as a vast body of water appeared below it. As the sun disappeared within it, the body of water morphed into a giant, appearing before the three of them. ¡°That¡¯s not all. The Astrals also offer a few unique contributions that I cannot talk about.¡±

    Lonely Skyleap didn¡¯t understand. ¡°So what? What does that have anything to do with us?¡±

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm was no ordinary character. His strength probably exceeded the emperor realm as well.

    Lonely Skyleap, however, spoke without a trace of politeness.

    Given that the Lord of the Dreamrealm had presided over the Primordial Continent for so long but had never done anything to interfere, Su Chen soon grasped the situation.

    Indeed, the Lord of the Dreamrealm said, ¡°Arrogant child, your Mother Goddess was probably the one who told you about the Barrier of Gods and the Eternal Treaty, right? You think that, with the Barrier in my way and the Treaty restricting me, there is nothing I can do to you? That¡¯s why you are so arrogant in action and speech.¡±

    Lonely Skyleap jutted his chin out. ¡°So what if I do? Abilo, the Primordial Continent has not been under the control of the gods for a long time. You can try to influence the direction that this world goes in, but you will never be able to control it.¡±

    Influence, but never control?

    Su Chen felt as if a lightning bolt had shed across his mind. Suddenly, many of the things that he hadn¡¯t understood in the past started to make sense.

    So gods truly did exist.

    So gods had lost the ability to exert any control on this world.

    So gods could only use special methods to indirectly influence the world situation.

    Special methods...... indirectly influence......

    These two phrases echoed in Su Chen¡¯s mind as his thoughts began to clear up.

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm and Lonely Skyleap were still continuing their conversation. The Lord of the Dreamrealm chuckled, ¡°Yes, the treaty prevents me from directly and openly interfering with the Origin Realm¡¯s affairs, but the times are always changing, and there are some things that you will never be able to imagine or understand. Young Harpy, don¡¯t be too arrogant. Even if the gods can only slightly influence your world, that is still not something that you can withstand.¡±

    Lonely Skyleapughed loudly, ¡°Then why not give it a try. The Harpies are willing to engage in a bloody battle with the Dream God for the sake of the Mother Goddess¡¯s glory!¡±

    Upon hearing this, the Lord of the Dreamrealm sighed. ¡°So you have been bewitched by Kashmir after all. She has always been extremely wary of me. Since that¡¯s the case, bring out your Kashmir¡¯s Wings.

    Lonely Skyleap let out a long, keening cry as the wings on his back unfurled, unleashing a golden glow. Two of the feathers in particr glowed rather intensely; they were the Divine Feathers.

    The Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s Divine Feather had been taken by Su Chen, but suddenly two of them had appeared here. It seemed that the Mother Goddess had bestowed more upon them.

    The Mother Goddess, who had been silent for so long, had suddenly started to act again, and the Lord of the Dreamrealm was openly interfering between a battle that only involved the Intelligent Races. The meaning behind both of these actions was thought-provoking.

    Upon realizing what the Lord of the Dreamrealm had said, Su Chen and Danba nced at each other, seeminglying to a mutual realization. On the surface, however, they let nothing slip.

    Lonely Skyleap fully unfurled his wings, scattering golden light in all directions.

    The giant made of seawater, however, merely ncedpassionately at him and said, ¡°This ce...... is my world.¡±

    The giant appeared to staypletely motionless, but the golden light emanating from Lonely Skyleap¡¯s wings began to fade as he plummeted towards the ground.

    This General Skyleap, who had directly challenged the Dream God to a battle, actually began to fall without even getting a chance to attack. The gap between his words and his actions was so great that Su Chen and Danba were greatly surprised.

    Even so, Lonely Skyleap didn¡¯t seem panicked in the slightest. As he fell, he continued to yell, ¡°So what if it¡¯s your world? You cannot hurt me no matter what you do!!!¡±

    Indeed, Su Chen and Danba watched as Lonely Skyleap continued to fall, never seeming to hit the ground. It was as if he was falling through a bottomless pit, and never fading from Su Chen and Danba¡¯s sight. He was neither far nor close.

    So the Lord of the Dreamrealm, who was capable of constructing an entire realm, could do nothing to harm even a single Harpy?

    Was this the restriction of the Barrier of Gods and the Eternal Treaty?

    Su Chen and Danba both couldn¡¯t help but wonder.

    Suddenly, a sinister voice spoke. ¡°He might not be able to, but I can!¡±

    Within the Dreamrealm, a strange, shadowy figure began to appear. The figure was hazy and indistinct, as if it were part human and part ghost - the manifestation of an Astral within the Dreamrealm. But the Astral before them was exceptionally tall. When factoring in the amethyst-studded gold crown on his head and the tricolor gem iid on his staff, it was obvious that this Astral was Menus.

    As soon as Menus appeared, he reached out to w at Lonely Skyleap.

    This w was a real, tangible attack, formed out of extremely pure consciousness energy.

    Lonely Skyleap would definitely be seriously injured if he was struck by that attack.

    Even though Su Chen and Danba seriously disliked Lonely Skyleap¡¯s arrogant attitude, he couldn¡¯t just sit and watch Lonely Skyleap die either.

    The two of them simultaneously sprang into action. Their attacks in the Dreamrealm were formed from consciousness power, but they took on the appearance of physical attacks here. The more powerful one¡¯s consciousness attack, the fiercer the physical attack would appear.

    Su Chen¡¯s consciousness power had reached the apex of humankind already. He was quite powerful even amongst the Astrals, so the destructive capacity of his ¡°fists¡± hadn¡¯t decreased much in the Dreamrealm. Danba, on the other hand, shouldn¡¯t have had much consciousness energy as a Ravager. Even so, surprisingly enough, his attacks were still unique. Their power wascking, of course, but his attacks were incredibly condensed. In addition, his focus was not to drive back Menus¡¯s attack but to strike Menus himself.

    Menus hissed in response to this tandem attack and waved the tricolor gem staff in his hand.

    His tricolor staff should have been no more than a projection within the Dreamrealm, with no actual practical effect. Even so, a brilliant explosion of tricolor light burst forth, intercepting Su Chen¡¯s fist. At the same time, the amethyst-studded crown began to glow, enveloping himpletely. Danba¡¯s pernicious attack was actually stopped in its tracks by the crown¡¯s glow.

    Menus¡¯s w strike still ended up uratelynding on Lonely Skyleap¡¯s body. Lonely Skyleap¡¯s wings suddenly red with an intense golden light in response. The light collided with Menus¡¯s w, immediately opening up a hole on it. Menus¡¯s hand continued descending, however, unimpeded, raking across Lonely Skyleap¡¯s arm.

    Even though the arm was not a real arm, Lonely Skyleap¡¯s arm in the actual world began to wither.

    ¡°AH!¡± Lonely Skyleap cried out in pain and rage. ¡°O, great Mother Goddess, your heir is asking for your protection!¡±

    The two wings began to glow even more intensely.

    At the same time, an angry voice spoke. ¡°Abilo, you¡¯ve overstepped your authority.¡±

    ¡°Oh, Kashmir,¡± the Lord of the Dreamrealm said calmly.

    At that precise moment, the Dreamrealm suddenly began to tremble as the natural light inside began to fade, as if something had struck it.

    The countless tiny spirits flew around in a panic as the Dreamrealm rumbled ominously.

    They lived in the world that belonged to the Lord of the Dreamrealm. If this realm copsed, then they would not survive.

    And now, the Dreamrealm was being attacked from the outside. Even the Lord of the Dreamrealm, who had assumed a calm and unperturbed demeanor since the very beginning, was surprised and angered by this. ¡°Kashmir, are you trying to start a fight with me yet again?¡±

    ¡°You were the one who vited the treaty and interfered with my heirs first!¡±

    ¡°I am just protecting the Astrals ording to the ancient agreement that we had made in the past.¡±

    ¡°No matter how you choose to protect them, you are not allowed to directly interfere. The Eternal Treaty is not easy to override in the first ce, and the small agreement you have made with the Astrals cannot possibly supersede the agreement you have with the other gods!¡±

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm sighed, ¡°That¡¯s what I had done in the past. But have you noticed that the world around us is changing?¡±

    Unexpectedly, the Mother Goddess actually paused for a moment before saying, ¡°Yes, I have felt it too. Not long ago...... the Barrier of Gods began to rx.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± The Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s voice was tinged with happiness. ¡°Fate is as fickle as the Heavens and the earth are unchanging. Perhaps the era of gods is soon dawning.¡±

    ¡°You mean......¡±

    ¡°We should prepare for the future.¡±

    ¡°Yes, we should.¡± The Mother Goddess shockingly agreed with what the Lord of the Dreamrealm had said.

    However, her anger quickly returned. ¡°Don¡¯t even think about trying to use those bewitching techniques on me!¡±

    ¡°Bewitching? Perhaps. But this is nothing more than the truth,¡± the Lord of the Dreamrealm calmly said. ¡°A new age is dawning, where the gods...... will roam the earth once more!¡±

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 116: Last Resor

    The giant transformed into a cloud of fog, which gradually spread out and epassed the entire space. An ethereal face floated in and out of existence.

    The panicking spirits finally calmed down as the Dreamrealm began to steady itself. It appeared that the Mother Goddess was no longer going to attack.

    ¡°No matter what, my heirs must be allowed to take the Immortal¡¯s Soul from the Astrals,¡± the Mother Goddess said.

    ¡°They may have it,¡± the Lord of the Dreamrealm replied.

    Menus remained silent.

    To obtain the protection of the Lord of the Dreamrealm, the price that needed to be paid needed to be paid.

    ¡°If so...... then everything is settled.¡± The Mother Goddess¡¯s voice grew faint as it dispersed.

    Obviously, her involvement in the matter had ended.

    ¡°Farewell, Mother Goddess!¡± Lonely Skyleap cried out as he knelt on the ground.

    ¡°What about us? Have we been tossed aside?¡± Su Chen chuckled as he nced at Danba.

    Danba shrugged but remained silent, his gaze firmly fixed on the Lord of the Dreamrealm and Menus.

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm spoke again. ¡°Young fellows, you have heard everything you need to hear. The gods will return again, and their era of glory will spread across the Primordial Continent. ording to the will of the gods, the world will be restructured. So? Are you still interested in opposing the gods?¡±

    ¡°So gods really do exist, and they will return soon, huh? But even so, there is nothing you can do right now, right?¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s voice sank. ¡°You have already seen what I can do.¡±

    He was referring to the ease with which he had been capable of controlling Lonely Skyleap.

    Su Chen harrumphed. ¡°So you think you are going to do the same to me? I am one of your Dream Monarchs, a respected, venerable user of your Dreamrealm, and this is how you treat me? How disappointing.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s voice became frigid. ¡°You have threatened me enough, Lord of the Dreamrealm. I will consider future matters in the future. As for today, I will not negotiate with you about the Astrals¡¯ death.¡±

    ¡°How arrogant!¡± the Lord of the Dreamrealm thundered from the sky.

    A formless wave of energy washed towards Su Chen.

    Su Chen, however, appearedpletely nonchnt and said, ¡°If I am going to be arrogant, I will be arrogant until the end. Is there anyone else who thinks the same as me?¡±

    Danba said, ¡°The Ravagers are willing to adopt the human race¡¯s stance on the matter.¡±

    Su Chen cracked a smile. ¡°What a rarity. Then what about the Harpies? Are you willing to join in?¡±

    Lonely Skyleap lowered his head

    When Su Chen saw this, he made no attempt to pressure Lonely Skyleap and said calmly, ¡°It seems like the Harpies have made their decision as well. If that¡¯s the case...... So be it.¡±

    As he spoke, he turned to the Lord of the Dreamrealm and said loudly, ¡°If we¡¯re going to be openly hostile, then I have no issue returning this Dream Monarch mark to you!¡±

    As he spoke, his body suddenly began to glow brilliantly like the sun, scattering the giant cloud of fog and causing it to begin to precipitate to the ground.

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm roared in disbelief, ¡°How can this be? How did you know? How did you know those were my seals?¡±

    The reason that the Lord of the Dreamrealm could control Lonely Skyleap wasn¡¯t because he was capable of overstepping the bounds of the Barrier of Gods, but because Lonely Skyleap was marked by his seal - that is, the three statuses that the Lord of the Dreamrealm bestowed upon the users of the Dreamrealm.

    These statuses were energy linkers.

    With those seals present, he was not free!

    And now, Su Chen had chosen to burn those seals away. Like a government official retiring and returning to his hometown, he was now free from being controlled.

    In addition, the Lord of the Dreamrealm suffered a certain amount of bacsh because of this. After all, any empire would suffer some loss after losing an official.

    Even though the Lord of the Dreamrealm was not afraid of the bacsh, he would quickly run out of resources if everyone followed suit.

    The light from Su Chen¡¯s burning of the seals seemed to radiate for tens of thousands of kilometers, directly damaging the Lord of the Dreamrealm and causing him to howl madly.

    ¡°Hahahaha!¡± Su Chenughed loudly. ¡°If I know, I know. Why ask all these questions?¡±

    As he spoke, a bolt of light shot forth from his body. Danba quickly followed suit. The two bolts of light merged together, shooting towards the cloud like a cannon.

    This was no resignment - this was a rebellion.

    ¡°NO!!!¡± the Lord of the Dreamrealm roared with rage.

    Boom, boom, boom, boom!!!

    The Dreamrealm once again began to tremble violently.

    This time, however, the instability wasing from within rather than without, and the degradation was taking ce even more quickly than before.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± the Lord of the Dreamrealm howled angrily.

    He wanted to demonstrate his divine might, but the Barrier of Gods made it so that his influence on the Primordial Continent was very limited.

    Su Chen quickly burned away the seal, causing the Lord of the Dreamrealm to lose any opportunity he might still have had to control Su Chen.

    Menus¡¯s expression shifted slightly. ¡°Dreamlord!¡±

    After a few moments of howling and gnashing of teeth, the Lord of the Dreamrealm could only helplessly say, ¡°I can¡¯t scare him any longer.¡±

    Yes, it was all just to scare Su Chen off.

    That was the only thing this god could do at the moment.

    Obviously, the scare tactic had failed.

    ¡°The Astrals can only depend on themselves from here on out,¡± the Lord of the Dreamrealm said in a low voice.

    Menus lowered his head. ¡°Understood, honorable Dreamlord.¡±

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm turned to nce at Su Chen. ¡°You¡¯ve won, young human. But this is only the beginning. In the future, the gods will return. At that time, you will pay the price for your actions here today!¡±

    As he spoke, his figure began to fade.

    Su Chen gazed at the dissipating fog and said coldly, ¡°Everything would have been fine without your return. But since you areing back, I will put you to death. A new era is dawning, yes; but whether that era is yours still remains to be seen.¡±

    Boom!

    The fog finally disappeared.

    Su Chen, Danba, and Lonely Skyleap reopened their eyes, finding themselves back in the real world. One of Lonely Skyleap¡¯s arms had been destroyed.

    Lonely Skyleap¡¯s expression was dark. Obviously, he was still extremely lost in thought about what had just transpired.

    Su Chen and Danba nced at each other.

    Then, Su Chen said, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then are the Harpies going to back out of this next battle?¡±

    Lonely Skyleap¡¯s expression was incredibly ugly, but he remained silent.

    From afar, an Astral was flying over, holding a special box in his hands. It was impossible to see what was inside the box, but Su Chen and Danba both guessed that this was probably the Immortal¡¯s Soul.

    At this crux, the Astrals could only choose to relinquish the Immortal¡¯s Soul.

    And the Harpies......

    Unsurprisingly, they chose to sell out the humans and the Ravagers.

    Once Lonely Skyleap received the Immortal¡¯s Soul, he let out an audible sigh and said, ¡°My apologies. We are going to retreat now.¡±

    This was the first time that he put on no airs of superiority.

    ¡°Oh, running now that you¡¯ve eaten your fill? How typical of the Harpies,¡± Su Chen said faintly.

    Lonely Skyleap flushed, but there was nothing he could say in response.

    The Harpies were incredibly arrogant, but as a result they cared a lot about their pride.

    Now that the bridges had been burned, he could me no one but himself for the

    As such, all he did was turn around and motion with his hand. The Harpies began to retreat.

    Danba watched as the Harpies retreated before shooting Su Chen a quizzical nce. ¡°You¡¯re not going to try and stop him?¡±

    Su Chen replied calmly, ¡°A watermelon forcibly ripped from the ground will not be sweet. Since they no longer have any heart to fight, why would we try to force them? If we messed up and aggravated them, causing them to join forces with the Astrals against us, we would be in far bigger trouble.¡±

    ¡°But doesn¡¯t it bother you to just see them go like that?¡± Danba asked. ¡°Especially now that they have the Immortal¡¯s Soul, Sky City will regain its mobility. Are you not afraid that the Harpies will take advantage of the opportunity to rise to power?¡±

    Su Chen countered, ¡°What about you? Are you afraid?¡±

    Danba and Su Chen nced at each other. Suddenly, they began to chuckle.

    Neither of them spoke, but they very clearly understood what each other were thinking.

    So what if Sky City regains its mobility?

    The human race and the Ravagers were both advancing at breakneck speed, giving them reason to believe more in themselves.

    The Boundless Sect alone had managed to ughter their way to the capital of the Astrals all on their own. In the past, this was totally impossible.

    By simr token, the Ravagers¡¯ strength was also improving.

    Both Su Chen and Danba were filled with anticipation for the future.

    They believed in, relied on, and chose the future - new cultivation techniques, newbat skills, new weapons, and even new ways of thinking.

    The Harpies, however, insisted on holding to the past. All they thought about was how to ¡°resurrect¡± Sky City.

    What need was there to fear a race that ced all of their hopes on the past?

    Not to mention the myriad of backups that Su Chen had prepared amongst the Harpies.

    The reason he had allowed Lonely Skyleap to take the Immortal¡¯s Soul back was because his backups had already begun to mature.

    Simrly, Danba most likely had some ns in ce for dealing with the Harpies.

    In that nce, both parties were also able to confirm this fact.

    Since each race already had no reason to fear the Harpies on their own, knowing that the other race also had measures in ce to handle the Harpies meant that there was even less reason to fear.

    As such, the two of them broke out intoughter.

    Danba said, ¡°I never expected that a human would be my most intimate friend.¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°You are not the only close friend that I have.¡±

    Danba sighed, ¡°The Ravagers......¡±

    Then, he chuckled. ¡°But this is my identity, and my race. No matter how crude, barbaric, and impossible to teach they are, I will always love them. The cultivation technique you provided has improved them on a fundamental level. As long as we continue to develop it, generation after generation, the future of us Ravagers will improve.¡±

    Su Chen calmly said, ¡°When I hear you say that, I start to feel like having another race on this continent is not a bad thing.¡±

    The two of them nced at each other, thenughed yet again.

    Then, Danba¡¯s expression sank. ¡°But there is no reason that the Astrals should exist.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    As the two leaders conversed with each other, another round of battles was breaking out.

    Even though the Harpies¡¯ retreat had weakened the joint armies¡¯ forces significantly, they still held the advantage.

    Without the support of the Lord of the Dreamrealm, it seemed as if the Astrals had lost their final trump card. Tower after tower continued to fall, causing the situation to progress ever so slowly to a crisis for the Astrals.

    Even so, neither Su Chen nor Danba were willing to rx.

    They believed that the Astrals, who had survived for tens of thousands of years, would definitely have yet another killing technique hidden and waiting to be used.

    And that would be the final killing blow.

    When a profound, majestic roar sounded off in the distance, Su Chen and Danba finally rxed a little from their tense state.

    Deste Beast!

    So the frighteningly powerful Deste Beast had finally appeared.

    Even so, this was all within Su Chen and Danba¡¯s expectation.

    The appearance of the Deste Beasts definitely indicated that the Astrals were finally pulling out theirst resorts.

    Very quickly, however, they realized that they had still made some miscalctions.

    Because there were two Deste Beasts that had appeared.

    Previous Chapter

 A Year of Great Undertakings - Book 6, 117: Strange Desolate Beasts

    These two Deste Beasts werepletely identical in appearance.

    They both had a round and ball-like form, each with two eyes, a nose, and a single wing. However, one of the creatures had its wing angled towards its left side, and the other towards its right. In addition, one of the creatures had two legs in the front and a hole on the left side of its body while the other had two legs at the back and a hole on the right side of its body. It was almost as if they were conjoined twins that had, at some point, been separated.

    Unlike most typical Deste Beasts, their bodies were not veryrge. Actually, they were roughly the same size as an average human being.

    More shockingly, they didn¡¯t use their feet to walk; instead, they used the hole in their body to maneuver around. Air flowed through the hole, propelling them forwards like a balloon with a hole in it. This meant that their flight path was extremely erratic, as they could only travel sideways like a crab.

    However, while crabs could walk in two directions, these two Deste Beasts could only move in one direction. They could only turn around by redirecting the flow of air from their single hole, but their starting position was fixed.

    In other words, the creatures could not turn around without moving forwards.

    If they wanted to go backwards, then they had to first propel themselves forwards and then alter the airflow to make a u-turn.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples had seen all kinds of strange creatures by this point, but it was their first time ever seeing anything this bizarre. What¡¯s more, two of them had appeared at once.

    If it weren¡¯t for the powerful aura and heavy pressure emanating from their bodies, no one would have ever thought that these two bumbling balls were Deste Beasts.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Danba was obviously surprised.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Too many strange Deste Beasts have existed since ancient times for there to be records of them all ,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Everyone¡¯s expression was quite solemn at the prospect of dealing with two unknown Deste Beasts at once.

    ¡°How should we handle them?¡± Danba asked somewhat nervously.

    ¡°We¡¯ll retreat first, and then each of us will take one on,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°That¡¯s not a very efficient strategy.¡±

    ¡°But it is the most practical one.¡±

    Although splitting up to deal with a Deste Beast was not the most brilliant of ideas, to Su Chen, it was the most practical one avable. After all, even though they were theoretically on the same side, neither party was willing to go all out and sacrifice the lives of their soldiers for the sake of the other party. In fact, they would probably prefer for more of their ¡°allies¡± to die.

    This kind of situation, where lives were sure to be lost while neither party could fully trust the other, was actually the most problematic kind.

    Thus, given the relevant constraints, splitting up to deal with the Deste Beasts one on one was indeed the most practical n.

    Danba knew that Su Chen¡¯s reasoning was sound, but he still had some misgivings. ¡°The main issue is that while your men might be able to handle a Deste Beast, mine cannot.¡±

    The Boundless Sect had brought their most elite disciples on this expedition. Thirty thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators were more than enough to deal with a Deste Beast. The Ravagers¡¯ forces, however, were far weaker inparison.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°I refuse to believe that you don¡¯t have any trump cards hidden in reserve. Go ahead and use them. I promise that I won¡¯t do anything to you this time.¡±

    Promise?

    What were promises worth?

    Even so, Danba amazingly agreed after considering it for a moment.

    He then nodded towards one of his subordinates. That subordinate, who had seemed mediocre and ordinary until now, suddenly transformed. His stature grew taller and his shoulders broader as his aura morphed into that of a powerful Ravager general.

    Averigus.

    He was the God of War, Averigus, who had angrily denounced Anubi at the arena all those years ago.

    Apparently, Averigus had yed a pivotal role in Danba¡¯s coup against Anubi and subsequent struggle for power. His backstab at thest moment had resulted in theplete copse of the Inferno Tribe.

    From that day onwards, the ¡°weed¡± who was half-elven and half-Ravager had incurred the wrath of the entire Inferno Tribe. As such, Averigus had disappeared not long after that event. Some imed that Danba had burned his bridge after crossing it and killed Averigus; others concluded that Averigus had gone into a self-imposed exile due to the guilt he felt towards the Inferno Tribe¡¯s civilians.

    But now, he had reappeared.

    The moment this old God of War revealed himself, he pulled out an unknown item and blew into it. Even though this was obviously a signal of some kind, no sound of any kind was emitted.

    Su Chen had his own thoughts on the matter, but Danba gave a preemptive exnation. ¡°I have another branch of soldiers nearby. However, it will take them some time to get here. They won¡¯t be immediately avable.¡±

    ¡°Understood. Shaoxuan, take five thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators and help them hold out for a bit,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Understood!¡± Lin Shaoxuan immediately left with five thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators in tow, flying over to bolster Danba¡¯s ranks.

    At this point, the two Deste Beasts had already arrived.

    Their flight path was quite haphazard as they meandered forward through a tortuous route, zig-zagging all over the ce. Yes, these strange looking Deste Beasts couldn¡¯t fly in a straight line either; they seemed to bobble around randomly. But despite their appearances, they slowly but surely made their way over to the battlefield, and the general direction they were traveling in was right on target.

    From what Su Chen and Danba had seen so far, they could tell that these two Deste Beasts didn¡¯t seem to have any particr unique properties other than being extraordinarily sturdy.

    Yes, their bodies were incredibly sturdy.

    Anything that was unfortunate enough to be in their path was smashed into smithereens without any resistance.

    Gloom City¡¯s towers were a perfect example. The two Deste Beasts had steamrolled their way through the city, seemingly ignoring any of the Astrals¡¯ instructions if there were any. Any towers that were unfortunate enough to stand in their path were destroyed upon contact. While the towers¡¯ defensive barriers were powerful enough to resist the joint army¡¯s firepower for a prolonged amount of time, these Deste Beasts were capable of destroying them with a mere brush.

    That was not that strange. After all, they were genuine Deste Beasts. The Thousand Poisons Toad had managed to inflict heavy damage on Sky City by just mming its body into the city.

    The two Deste Beasts also had another ability besides their incredibly sturdy bodies: the air spat out from their bodies.

    Even though the expelled air seemed to primarily serve as its mode of transportation, once the air reached a certain distance from its body, it would transform into a violent hurricane and wreak havoc on its surroundings.

    The two Deste Beasts were basically miniature hurricane hammers, careening every which way as they destroyed everything in their path.

    The towers were torn to bits by this seemingly invinciblebination!

    Before the Deste Beasts had even dealt any damage to the joint army, Gloom City had been torn up first.

    The Astrals, however, seemed to have expected this and made no attempt to resist or counter no matter how much damage those two Deste Beasts did to their towers.

    These two Deste Beasts careened into almost every obstacle they could find in Gloom City, like two balloons that never seemed to run out of air. They only left after destroying nearly a thousand towers, which helped out the joint soldiers quite a bit.

    However, the joint army had no time to celebrate.

    Because the Deste Beasts were nowing for them.

    No matter how random their flight patterns appeared, they were slowly but surely converging on the joint army.

    ¡°Everyone, retreat!¡± Li Chongshan yelled above the din of battle.

    ¡°Retreat! Retreat!¡± the Ravagers echoed.

    The two armies retreated at the same time, separating themselves as they did so.

    They were not actually running away; they were just repositioning so that they would have more space to maneuver in the battle that was about to take ce.

    As expected, the two Deste Beasts also split up, each flying off in a different direction. Their flight paths were so random, though, that it took some time before anyone could ascertain that they had actually split up.

    This indicated that, as long as these two Deste Beasts didn¡¯t have any unrevealed techniques, their movement speed was their biggest weakness.

    If that was the case, then they should be theoretically able to kite them to death.

    ¡°Flying swords, go!¡±

    Following Li Chongshan¡¯smand, tens of thousands of flying swords simultaneously shot out, raining down upon the two Deste Beasts.

    Thisbination attack was likely strong enough to outright kill a Sovereign. However, Li Chongshan was not foolish enough to expect these swords to do the same to a Deste Beast. Instead, their purpose was to inflict numerous small wounds that would umte over time, eventually resulting in the Deste Beast¡¯s death.

    Even so, the soldiers quickly realized that their swords weren¡¯t even leaving behind the small cuts that they desired on the Deste Beast¡¯s body.

    They couldn¡¯t pierce through its defenses!

    And these sword strikes were no ordinary Light Shaking Realm attack. Each sword¡¯s power was amplified by the formation that the disciples had arrayed themselves in. As such, each sword actually contained the power of multiple people ¡ª an effective way to convert quantity into quality.

    Even so, the Deste Beast wasn¡¯t damaged even the slightest.

    This surprised Li Chongshan and the others quite a bit.

    Li Chongshan barked, ¡°Thirty times the strength. Again!¡±

    Under normal circumstances, each sword was about ten times as strong as a normal one. Thirty times was a significant step up and would require a much greater expenditure of Origin Energy.

    But if their weakest attacks weren¡¯t even wounding their opponent, then that expenditure was necessary.

    The sword light descended upon the Deste Beast yet again, this time thirty times as strong.

    After the light faded, Li Chongshan saw to his disbelief that the Deste Beast¡¯s skin was still pristine and unblemished.

    This creature¡¯s skin was quite tough!

    Even though Li Chongshan knew that Deste Beasts were incredibly strong creatures, he had never heard of such a resilient Deste Beast before.

    Most Deste Beasts relied on their abundant vitality to sustain and recover from their wounds. The Thousand Poisons Toad, for instance, was so big that even a shot from a Sun-Shattering Cannons would only inflict a small wound on it.

    But even a sword at ten times its normal strength was capable of wounding it, let alone one at thirty times the strength.

    But against this strange Deste Beast, however, thirty times was obviously still not enough.

    This Deste Beast appeared to specialize in defense.

    ¡°Eighty times!¡± Li Chongshan called out.

    The ten thousand swordsmen raised their hands before shing down in unison once again. This time, however, the number of sword streaks had noticeably decreased.

    At that level of power, not everyone would be capable of unleashing an attack. As such, the number of swords had naturally dwindled from ten thousand to one thousand topensate for the increased power of the swords. This was the only way for them to unleash this powerful of a technique.

    A thousand swords, however, was still quite arge number.

    Even so, the Deste Beast emerged from the sword rainpletely unscathed.

    The soldiers felt like they were about to go insane.

    How was this possible?

    Li Chongshan gritted his teeth. ¡°Three hundred times!¡±

    At this level, they could only manifest a total of a hundred streaks of sword light.

    Actually, when the individual strength of the sword was pushed to this level, the overall offensive capability was lower. Ten times strength unleashed by ten thousand soldiers was equivalent to one hundred thousand units of strength, thirty times strength unleashed by ten thousand soldiers was equivalent to three hundred thousand units of strength, but eighty times strength unleashed by a thousand soldiers was only equivalent to eighty thousand units of strength in total.

    And three hundred times strength unleashed by a hundred individuals was only thirty thousand units of strength.

    This tactic of sacrificing their overall power output to raise each individual¡¯s power was only done out of necessity.

    After all, only the attacks that prated the creatures¡¯ defenses counted. If the damage was negligible, the total number of attacks didn¡¯t matter at all.

    Even so, the situation that they beheld caused them to be filled with despair.

    Even after the Deste Beast was struck by the hundred streaks of sword light at three hundred times strength, it still appeared to bepletely unharmed. Their movements weren¡¯t affected at all as it continued to relentlessly close in. Even Su Chen couldn¡¯t believe his eyes.

    Thisbination attack was already on par with the might of a legendary Arcana Technique. However, even then, they had failed to even scratch their opponent.

    Thisparatively tiny Deste Beast was actually astonishingly tough, even for a Deste Beast.

    Previous Chapter

 Book 6, 118: Invincible

    <h4>Book 6, Chapter 118: Invincible</h4>

    Li Chongshan felt his scalp tingle when he realized just how tough the Deste Beasts really were. At that moment, Su Chen spoke up. ¡°Let me give it a try.¡±

    He pulled out his Lightless de and unleashed a simple Dimensional sh at that Deste Beast.

    Unexpectedly, he missed.

    Su Chen¡¯s sword strike had actually struck nothing but thin air.

    Even so, missing was not exactly strange. Both Deste Beasts were still flying around with incredibly hard-to-predict motions as they relied on their singr air hole for propulsion. Even they had a hard time figuring out which direction they would go next, let alone Su Chen.

    The ten thousand Boundless Sect disciples had been able to effectively attack the Deste Beast simply because of how many of them there were. Naturally, Su Chen¡¯s uracy was much lower, since there was only himunching a single attack.

    The same principle applied to when the ten thousand swordsmen concentrated their attacks to increase their attacks¡¯ might, as the total number of swords would diminish, making it hard to hit the Deste Beast.

    Su Chen frowned when he saw that his attack had missed. In response, he swung the Lightless de three times in rapid session, followed shortly by two more. Unleashing five Dimensional shes in a row consumed arge amount of his energy, and Su Chen¡¯s face paled considerably as a side effect.

    This time, one of the Dimensional shes finally made contact with the Deste Beast.

    Even so, yet another shocking scene unfolded.

    The Deste Beast that had been struck by a Dimensional sh continued to fly around as chaotically as ever, as if it werepletely unaffected.

    How was this possible?

    Even Su Chen¡¯s eyes widened in surprise.

    Throughout his entire life, he had always been the one surprising others. And yet, here deep underground, it was finally his turn to make a surprised face.

    Dimensional sh was a spatial technique that rent space itself apart. Any creature with mass should also be rent apart. In other words, this attack should ignore any and all physical defenses. As long as its target took up an area of space, it would be affected.

    Su Chen had already experimented and validated this theory on a number of materials. In the end, only Void Starmetal had been able to resist his Dimensional sh at all. His research had eventually revealed that Void Starmetal was actually coated in a thinyer of spatial distortions. It was this infinitesimally thin coating that redirected the energy in his Dimensional shes, making it impossible for the sh to affect the space upied by the Void Starmetal.

    And now, this Deste Beast¡¯s body was the second substance that had ever blocked his Dimensional shes.

    Could the creature possess simr redirecting properties as the Void Starmetal?

    However, Su Chen quickly realized that this conjecture held no water.

    Because the Deste Beast did not redirect his Dimensional sh, but rather seemingly absorbed it.

    The disappearance of his Dimensional sh was quite mysterious. It was as if the attack had merely ceased to exist.

    To confirm that this was indeed how it was being blocked, Su Chen unleashed a few more Dimensional shes.

    The same phenomenon urred. The Dimensional shes were well and truly disappearing. The violent spatial power, which was more than enough to tear through space itself, vanished without a trace as soon as it met the Deste Beast¡¯s skin.

    Without its characteristic destructive spatial power, how would Su Chen¡¯s Dimensional shes harm the Deste Beast?

    ¡°So you also possess some understanding of spatial Method Power, then?¡± Su Chen muttered under his breath.

    Originally, this Deste Beast¡¯s only unique characteristics seemed to be its iron-like skin and its erratic movements. Now, however, this creature had also seemed to demonstrate a deep use of spatial Method Power. Additionally, its spatial Method Power seemed to only have defensive abilities, not offensive ones.

    If that was the case......

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then activated his Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect. A ming dragon appeared behind him once again.

    ROAR!

    The ming dragon howled as it flew forth, mming into the Deste Beast¡¯s body and sending a flurry of sparks showering out in all directions. The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples all cheered at its magnificent power.

    But when the mes dissipated, everyone saw that the Deste Beast was still rampaging about as if nothing had happened.

    Su Chen¡¯s attack, which could easily melt any known metal, waspletely ineffective yet again.

    Everyone was simultaneously dumbfounded.

    How could such a powerful attack have done nothing to it?

    Deste Beasts couldn¡¯t be invincible, could they?

    ¡°It¡¯s not spatial walls,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    In the moment that the ming dragon had collided with the Deste Beast, Su Chen had been able to confirm that his attack had actuallynded. It had not been ¡°cut off¡± by any kind of spatial technique.

    But Su Chen still wasn¡¯t able to understand how the Deste Beast had managed to withstand his attack without taking any damage whatsoever.

    Attacking and defending were not equivalent actions. The person attacking possessed an inherent advantage. Even a child attacking an adult could cause tremendous pain to the adult. In other words, it should not have been possible for the creature to maintain its defenses.

    By the same reason, a Light Shaking Realm cultivator¡¯s attack could still do some damage to an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator even if the Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator was more than capable of ttening the Light Shaking Realm cultivator with a single finger.

    This inequality was inherent to the action of someone attacking and someone defending.

    If the attacking party couldn¡¯t break through the opponent¡¯s defenses at all, then that implied that the two parties¡¯ gap in strength had widened to an insurmountable level.

    For example, if a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator tried to attack an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator.

    Deste Beasts were ridiculously powerful, but there was no way for there to be such a gap between the current Su Chen and a typical Deste Beast that Su Chen couldn¡¯t even wound the Deste Beast.

    There was something else going on if his attacks were seemingly all ineffective.

    And that was not even mentioning that there were two of these Deste Beasts.

    Su Chen nced at the other Deste Beast off in the distance and saw that it was also chasing the Ravagers around without any real resistance.

    Even though Danba¡¯s reinforcements hadn¡¯t arrived yet, it was quite obvious that they wouldn¡¯t make a difference even when they did. Thankfully, the chaotic flight paths of the Deste Beasts meant that they advanced rtively slowly. The Ravagers had been able to retreat in time and avoided excessive casualties. However, their formation had beenpletely dismantled as a price.

    Thankfully, the Astrals were just as afraid of these two Deste Beasts, and they hadn¡¯t taken advantage of the opportunity to counterattack.

    ¡°Husband, let¡¯s attack together!¡± Gu Qingluo flew over, wanting to attempt what they had used against the Darkness Devil King.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need,¡± Su Chen said as he shook his head.

    He was sure that the Deste Beast¡¯s defenses were impossible to understand or prate with conventional logic. Even if he and Gu Qingluo did join hands, it was unlikely for their attack to do much.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Su Chen gathered his consciousness energy and attempted to invade the Deste Beast¡¯s Sea of Knowledge.

    Using consciousness techniques against a Deste Beast was extremely risky. Most Deste Beasts relied on their physical strength, but there were a rare few that had incredibly powerful consciousnesses. If Su Chen identally stumbled upon one of them and tried to invade their mind, he would undoubtedly die.

    Thankfully, this particr Deste Beast didn¡¯t seem to have an overwhelmingly powerful consciousness. In fact, there was virtually no resistance when he invaded.

    Su Chen was excited for a moment, but that excitement soon gave way to shock.

    If the Deste Beast¡¯s mind was this easy to invade, then why hadn¡¯t the Astrals done so?

    As soon as he realized this major point, Su Chen immediately retreated from the creature¡¯s mind.

    At that same exact moment, a violent tide of willpower suddenly surged in from nowhere, threatening to envelop him and smash his consciousness to pieces.

    As soon as Su Chen sensed the overwhelming willpower, he decisively severed his connection with the consciousness energy that he had sent to invade the Deste Beast¡¯s mind.

    This forceful severing caused Su Chen¡¯s expression to pale as his consciousness power permanently decreased. Even so, his decisive action had saved him from being struck by that powerful wave of willpower. If he had been forced to bear the brunt of that attack, then he would have be a vegetable if not killed on the spot.

    ¡°Hmph, consider yourself lucky!¡±

    A sinister voice echoed in Su Chen¡¯s heart.

    Menus.

    That slippery bastard.

    Obviously, Menus had used some kind of strange technique to conceal the Deste Beast¡¯s true consciousness power in an attempt to trick Su Chen into invading. Thankfully, Su Chen had discovered that something was off and retreated in the nick of time, which forced Menus to take action sooner than nned and gave him a way out.

    Even so, this had wounded Su Chen considerably.

    He couldn¡¯t help but feel a pang of sorrow over losing the consciousness energy that he had spent so long umting.

    Even so, this was the reality of war. No one could profit endlessly; a price always had to be paid.

    Thankfully, Su Chen¡¯s consciousness was strong enough that this loss wouldn¡¯t affect him too much. However, the Deste Beast was still alive and kicking, and it had gotten much closer after breaking through the Boundless Sect¡¯s formation. By now, the Boundless Sect was already beginning to suffer some casualties.

    Although it inflicted casualties quite slowly, its invincible defense and the constant stream of air that it emitted meant that it could fight continuously without taking a break.

    As the Deste Beast rampaged through the Boundless Sect¡¯s formation, the disciples felt a sense of overwhelming despair when faced with its imprable defenses.

    Su Chen had failed to do any damage with three different attacks. He could only try to think of something else.

    He stared intently at the Deste Beast, his microscopic eyes beginning to whir into action.

    His microscopic eyes were normally not very useful inbat, so this showed that he really was using every resource avable to him.

    But as soon as he activated them, he was immediately taken aback by what he saw.

    Or rather, what he didn¡¯t see.

    He couldn¡¯t see the Deste Beast!

    Su Chen felt like he had suddenly be blind again after he activated his microscopic eyes. Everything around him waspletely shrouded in darkness.

    What was going on?

    Su Chen was stunned.

    He deactivated his microscopic eyes, only to see the Deste Beast still rampaging through the ranks of his soldiers.

    It was obviously there, but for some reason, his microscopic eyes werepletely incapable of seeing it.

    What could this mean?

    Suddenly, an incredible idea shed through Su Chen¡¯s mind.

    Consciousness power!

    How could what appeared to be nothing more than a ball of meat possess such a frighteningly powerful consciousness? And how was Menus able to influence it? If the creature was under his control, then why did it seem like he could barely control it?

    Su Chen finally realized what had happened.

    He sighed. ¡°We¡¯ve been had.¡±

    Su Chen then flew into the air and loudly dered, ¡°Everyone, focus all of your attacks on the Deste Beast!¡±

    Upon hearing his words, the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples, who had just been fleeing in disarray, immediately turned around and hurled attack after attack at it.

    Streaks of sword light seemed to disappear harmlessly as they collided with the Deste Beast, which was still flying around haphazardly.

    Su Chen, however, seemed to have steeled himself. He ordered his disciples to continue attacking without respite.

    Because they were now also attacking, the disciples¡¯ ability to evade the Deste Beast had greatly decreased. As the Deste Beast careened wildly through the disciples¡¯ ranks, quite a few of them were smashed to death.

    Li Chongshan felt his heart ache when he saw this take ce, and he quickly flew over to Su Chen and said, ¡°Sect Master, there¡¯s no point to attacking like this. We simply cannot injure this creature!¡±

    ¡°No! It is useful,¡± Su Chen said, ¡°We have been wounding it the entire time. We just weren¡¯t able to see it, is all.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Li Chongshan was greatly taken aback.

    What was that supposed to mean?

    The Deste Beast was obviously uninjured.

    However, Su Chen replied very seriously, ¡°We have been injuring it this whole time. It is not actually some kind of ultra-defensive Deste Beast. In fact, it might not even be a Deste Beast at all.¡±

    Li Chongshan waspletely dumbfounded when he heard this.

    It¡¯s not a Deste Beast?

    Was this some kind of sick joke? How could it be so powerful if it wasn¡¯t a Deste Beast?

    Su Chen, however, continued exining. ¡°I know that I am right. This is not a Deste Beast ¡ª in fact, it¡¯s not even a Beast. It¡¯s an extremely unique and special creature that is being supplemented by the Astrals¡¯ illusion techniques. I don¡¯t know what exactly it is, but I do know that there is no chance it¡¯s invincible.¡±

    After Su Chen revealed what he had found out, he reached out and grabbed Gu Qingluo¡¯s hand. ¡°Come, my wife. Let¡¯s deal this creature a harsh blow and drag its true appearance out!¡±

    The two of them joined hands, and a white-hot fireball appeared on the battlefield yet again.

 Book 6, 119: Leaders

    <h4>Book 6, Chapter 119: Leaders</h4>

    Like all the other attacks, Su Chen and Gu Qingluo¡¯s incredibly powerful fireball didn¡¯t seem to do anything to the Deste Beast. However, Su Chen disregarded what he saw and continued to attack the Deste Beast along with the rest of his disciples.

    Even though none of the disciples¡¯ attacks seemed to have any effect on the balloon-like creature, Su Chen insisted on resolutely forging onwards.

    The battle seemed like it would drag on forever, and its high intensity put a tremendous strain on the disciples. If it wasn¡¯t for Su Chen¡¯s peerless reputation, they would have long since started to doubt whether their actions were having any effect.

    But as they continued to barrage the Deste Beast with their attacks, it finally showed signs of slowing down.

    It wasn¡¯t very fast in the first ce, which made its change even more dramatic and obvious. Even the wind that flowed out from the hole in its body was beginning to die down.

    ¡°It¡¯s growing weaker. It¡¯s growing weaker!¡± someone cried out when they noticed the change.

    Light had finally appeared at the other end of the tunnel.

    The Sect Master was right!

    Everyone¡¯s excitement redoubled, and their desire to fight was rekindled.

    The streaks of sword light flying through the air grew sharper as well.

    The Deste Beast being barraged by their attacks roared ferociously, but it seemed like there was nothing more it could do. No matter how fiercely it struggled, it was incapable of escaping from the relentless bombardment of attacks, and its movements only further revealed its weakness.

    Surprisingly, this weakness also began to manifest in the Deste Beast that the Ravager were fighting against.

    As time went on, this weakening became more and more obvious.

    Even though the Deste Beast¡¯s body didn¡¯t have any visible wounds, its discernible slowing down was an obvious indication that it was indeed umting and feeling the damage.

    When Li Chongshan saw this, he couldn¡¯t help himself from sighing with relief. As he unleashed thirteen punches in a row, he asked, ¡°Are you sure that this creature is just an illusion? If so, why haven¡¯t we seen its true appearance yet?¡±

    Su Chen slowly replied, ¡°Because this is no ordinary illusion technique...... It¡¯s Method Power.¡±

    ¡°Method Power?¡± Li Chongshan was stunned.

    He knew exactly just how powerful the mysterious Method Power could be.

    Su Chen had gained the ability to travel through the void without aid due to his mastery of spatial Method Power. In fact, that was also how he had invented the Dimensional sh technique, a void transportation technique, transmission boxes, etc.

    The Deste Beasts before his eyes were actually products of consciousness Method Power.

    The Astrals were incredibly talented illusionists, but they had never produced an individual who hadprehended Method Power.

    Throughout the thirty thousand years that the Intelligent Races dominated the, the humans, Harpies, Oceanids, and even Ravagers had all managed toprehend Method Power at some point. Surprisingly, however, the Astrals, who were individually the strongest, had never managed toprehend Method Power.

    Some people theorized that this was possibly linked to the Astrals¡¯ unique bodyposition.

    As originally biological creatures who had given their physical bodies up for ethereal ones, the Astrals may have also unintentionally given up something for greatly increased Origin Energy sensitivity and consciousness power.

    That something was Method Power.

    At least, that was one exnation for why the Astrals had never produced any individuals who could use Method Power.

    On this day, however, that theory was debunked.

    It turned out that the Astrals did in fact have someone who hadprehended Method Power.

    Only Method Power was capable of maintaining an illusion for so long, an illusion that was basically impossible to identify.

    Although Su Chen had been able to sense that something was wrong, it was not because he had seen through the Method Power.

    Even though illusion Method Power was quite powerful, it only had macroscopic effects, as that was their entire point for existing ¡ª they deceived other creatures that interacted with the macroscopic world, not microscopic ones.

    This was why illusion Method Power had no effect on the microscopic world.

    Thus, while Su Chen¡¯s microscopic eye didn¡¯t directly see through the illusion Method Power itself, the issue had immediately be apparent when Su Chen had seen nothing where he should have seen something.

    Unless there were even more profound forces at y, nothing else could exin this phenomena.

    The other clue was the Deste Beast¡¯s incredibly powerful consciousness energy.

    It was simply illogically strong.

    How could a Deste Beast with such incredibly strong physical defenses also possess such vigorous consciousness energy? And even with such a strong consciousness, why would its actions be so brainless? And how had Menus even managed to nt a trap in its mind?

    All of these contradictions pointed to the situation being abnormal.

    Even without understanding how the Method Power was used, Su Chen had been able to identify the crux of the issue with just his logic.

    When Li Chongshang heard Su Chen¡¯s full exnation, he finally understood what had happened.

    ¡°So what are those things, then?¡±

    Su Chen faintly replied, ¡°We¡¯ll know once we break it open.¡±

    As he spoke, the Deste Beast was struck by yet another violent barrage of attacks.

    This Deste Beast, which was already on itsst legs, let out a final, mournful howl. Its seemingly indestructible skin even seemed to tear slightly.

    Even though this rupture was extremely small, it was easily noticeable due to the bright light shining from it. Additionally, it quickly grew in size even without further stimtion until it finally burst open with a loud bang.

    At the exact same time, the Deste Beast that the Ravagers were fighting against also exploded.

    The two Deste Beasts simultaneously burst forth in a ze of light, rising into the sky like two miniature suns. Upon closer inspection, it was possible to see the faint outline of two Astrals sitting inside the two zing balls of light.

    Those ¡°Deste Beasts¡± had actually been Astrals!

    How could they be Astrals?

    When had the Astrals developed such a powerful technique?

    Su Chen and the others were all stunned.

    Yanto was simrly stunned.

    This Astral, who Zhu Xianyao had enved and then used to turn the tables on the Astrals in the past, suddenly cried out when he saw the figures within the two balls of light. ¡°How is this possible?¡±

    Su Chen hurriedly turned around. ¡°You recognize them?¡±

    Yanto, however, didn¡¯t respond. Instead, he fell to his knees, his expression filled with shock. ¡°Achilles the Immortal and Kapius the Eternal? So you are both actually still alive? Alive......¡±

    Yanto began to weep profusely.

    At the same time, Zhu Xianyao clutched at her chest and spat out a mouthful of blood. ¡°He¡¯s broken free from my control.¡±

    Shockingly, Yanto had managed to break free from Zhu Xianyao¡¯s control at that moment.

    But even more shocking were the words that he had just uttered.

    ¡°Achilles the Immortal? Kapius the Eternal? It¡¯s them?¡± Su Chen stared up at the sky in shock.

    The two former Astral leaders?

    Didn¡¯t they die a long time ago?

    Why had they suddenly appeared here, and from those ¡°Deste Beasts¡± no less?

    Su Chen hurriedly pulled out his transmission box and yelled into it, ¡°Patelocke, Diomedes!¡±

    Light appeared above the transmission box, forming a projection in the sky.

    Diomedes¡¯ voice came through the box first, filled with shock and disbelief. ¡°Achilles the Immortal?¡±

    He had been away from Astral society for too long and didn¡¯t recognize Kapius the Eternal. At the very least, however, his reaction clearly indicated that Yanto wasn¡¯t lying.

    ¡°How could this be?¡± Su Chen stared up at the sky, his expression cloudy with doubt.

    After the two floating suns in the sky lost their outer shell, they began to fly back towards Gloom City at an incredibly fast speed.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let them get away!¡± Li Chongshan immediatelymanded as he prepared to unleash an all-out onught.

    Diomedes, however, sighed. ¡°I understand now...... There¡¯s no need to chase after them. They¡¯re already dead.¡±

    ¡°What did you just say, Diomedes?¡± Su Chen asked hurriedly.

    ¡°First tell me what happened. Then, I will be able to give you an answer.¡±

    Su Chen sinctly exined what had just happened. By this point, the two ¡°suns¡± had already flown back to Gloom City, and it was impossible for them to catch up any longer.

    As such, Su Chen gave the order for everyone to rest. After such a bitter battle, they needed some time to regroup and reorganize their forces.

    After hearing Su Chen¡¯s summary, Diomedes sighed. ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. I never expected them to actually seed. But at this cost?¡±

    ¡°Tell me. What exactly is going on?¡± Su Chen asked.

    But when Diomedes heard Su Chen¡¯s demand, he actually began to chuckle. ¡°Su Chen, you are attacking members of my fellow race. Do you really think that I¡¯m going to reveal anything to you?¡±

    Su Chen harrumphed impatiently. ¡°I wasn¡¯t counting on it in the first ce. However, now that these two creatures have been defeated, your answer will merely serve to satisfy my curiosity, nothing more. The oue of this battle was determined long ago.¡±

    Diomedes froze for a moment before smiling bitterly. ¡°That is true. It seems that my race is destined to be exterminated from today onwards. Su Chen, if possible, I would ask you to leave the Dark Astrals alone after you wipe out the Astrals, and for you to only destroy the consciousness extraction instrument.¡±

    The Dark Astrals were the pre-converted Astrals, and in some sense, the true form of the Astrals. But because they hadn¡¯t undergone the conversion procedure yet, their strength was actually quite limited. Even so, their statuses amongst the Astrals was impossibly high. For a variety of reasons, their poption had never reached a particrly high level, which meant that they were the main limiting factor for how fast new Astrals were created.

    The fact that Diomedes was no longer asking Su Chen to spare the Astrals but instead the Dark Astrals meant that he was willing to abandon their current position of strength for the sake of the race¡¯s overall future survival.

    Upon hearing Diomedes¡¯s words, Su Chen thought for a moment before nodding in agreement. ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡±

    Without the consciousness extractor instrument, the Dark Astrals didn¡¯t pose a real threat. In addition, Su Chen himself held the personal belief that it was important to not go too far in his actions. As he had gotten older, his extremist tendencies had been rounded out, and he had be slightly morepassionate. As a human who stood at the very peak, it was necessary for him to act as a role model, and in some instances, avoid ughtering for the sake of ughter. Keeping his bottom line intact was an extremely important goal for him at this point.

    Of course, Su Chen had no way of knowing that, in the future, the Dark Astrals would manage to free themselves from the chains of the consciousness extraction instrument and radically increase their reproductive capabilities. After developing their own cultivation system, they would then go on to establish a powerful kingdom on the continent, which would pose a significant threat to the human race. But that was a story for another time.

    When Diomedes heard Su Chen agree, he said, ¡°This is probably abination of the Ascension n and the Vitality Tunnel n.¡±

    ¡°The Ascension n? The Vitality Tunnel n?¡± Su Chen arched his brow in curiosity.

    The Astrals¡¯ inquisitive nature meant that they had developed many ns throughout their storied history. These included the Eternal Spring n, Radiation n, Consciousness Network n, and many more. The former had resulted in the destruction of the Reproductive Temple while thetter twoid the groundwork for the Astrals¡¯ consciousness envement techniques and their Consciousness Network.

    Of the myriad ns that they hade up with, many had failed, and many had seeded.

    The Ascension and Vitality Tunnel ns were two ns that Diomedes believed had failed.

    Now, however, it seemed as if they had seeded.

    Or at the very least, they had partially seeded.

 Book 6, 120: All-Out

    <h4>Book 6, Chapter 120: All-Out</h4>

    Achilles the Immortal was the Astral who had originally proposed the Ascension n.

    As the first leader of the Astrals, Achilles the Immortal had naturally been a genius cultivator. After obtaining his spirit body, he had made breakthrough after breakthrough, quickly reaching the peak of Astral strength.

    Afterwards, however, he had failed to advance even a single centimeter forward.

    Achilles very quickly realized that he had most likely already reached the power limit of his spirit body and thus would never take another step forward.

    To ovee the limits of his spirit body, he hade up with the Ascension n.

    The Ascension n, in essence, sought to elevate the Astrals, and it was very simr in theory to what the humans had done to upgrade their cultivation system. However, while Achilles had been in the process of developing this Ascension n, it had changed somewhat.

    Diomedes had left too early to know what had happened afterwards, but he could still tell that Achilles was well and truly dead. However, his current strange state of existence gave him some unique properties.

    These unique properties included the illusion Method Power that had surrounded and protected the ¡°Deste Beasts.¡±

    In other words, the Ascension n had ultimately been unable to remove the cultivation limits of a spirit body. However, it did allow the Astrals to produce an individual who could use Method Power.

    ¡°How fascinating. There was no actual breakthrough, but with some Method Power and some unique resources, such a strange creature was born,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself. ¡°So what was the Vitality Tunnel n?¡±

    ¡°It was a Deste Beast,¡± Diomedes replied bluntly.

    ¡°A Deste Beast?¡± Su Chen and the others were taken aback.

    Diomedes ndly said, ¡°Did you really think that the atmosphere is what¡¯s dampening the Boundless Sect¡¯s barrage of attacks? There actually is a Deste Beast living underneath Gloom City. However, it¡¯s not under the Astrals¡¯ control.¡±

    So, the Astrals had chosen this location as their capital not only because of the unique properties of the ground, but also because there was a Deste Beast living right underneath them.

    The Astrals clearly hoped that they would be able to use it as theirst line of defense.

    However, Deste Beasts were not easy to control. The Intelligent Races had only ever managed to tame a single Deste Beast, and that was the Harpies¡¯ Chaos Tower. Even so, that Deste Beast hadpletely lost its ability to attack, so it was nothing more than a glorified camel.

    If the Astrals actually awakened the Deste Beast, then they would be the ones suffering a cmity.

    Their powerful consciousnesses were not enough to control a Deste Beast.

    After countless experiments, they had concluded that they would never be able to control the Deste Beast. Naturally, the next step was to look into other possibilities for them to use this hibernating Deste Beast.

    The Vitality Tunnel n came about as a result of this initiative.

    The Astrals had given up on trying to control the hibernating Deste Beast and instead began looking into extracting its powerful vitality while it remained asleep.

    ¡°The greatest challenge when working with vitality is extracting it from the Deste Beast without waking it up. This process requires extremely powerful consciousness techniques. Just the Astrals themselves are not strong enough to do it, unless they breach the realm of Method Power,¡± Diomedes exined calmly.

    Su Chen muttered under his breath, ¡°So this Method Power is not only used to deceive us, but also to deceive that hibernating Deste Beast?¡±

    Diomedes heard him and replied, ¡°Yes. If my prediction is correct, then Achilles and Kapius most likely sacrificed themselves at a critical moment to produce Method Power. This allowed them to pilfer vitality from the Deste Beast. In other words, they essentially became vitality extractors that operate at all times by way of the Vitality Tunnel and other various Arcana Techniques. The illusion Method Power, naturally, serves to deceive both you all and that Deste Beast, ultimately causing it to die without ever awakening.¡±

    ¡°What a brilliant n,¡± Su Chen murmured in appreciation.

    They had actually intelligently harnessed the strength of a Deste Beast in this manner. Of course, although they were able to borrow the Deste Beast¡¯s powerful vitality, its offensive capacity was wasted.

    Even though this seemed like a terrible tradeoff on the surface, this gave them more control over the power than awakening the Deste Beast would.

    Unfortunately, they had still failed in the end. If the Astrals had known that this would be the oue, then they might have chosen to just awaken the Deste Beast from the beginning.

    But now, the Deste Beast had already died in its sleep at thebined hands of the humans and Ravagers. Their attacks against those strange ¡°Deste Beasts¡± had simultaneously damaged the Deste Beast. After all, only a creature like that could withstand so many attacks before falling.

    As it died, the Astrals¡¯ final ace in the hole had died along with it.

    They really and truly had no trump cards left.

    After the joint army took a short break to reorganize themselves, they once again resumed their siege on Gloom City.

    As bright shes of light lit up the sky, Gloom City was rapidly enveloped in a wave of mes.

    ¡°Elder Gilga has fallen in battle.¡±

    ¡°Elder Bracken has fallen in battle.

    ¡°Elder Amah has fallen in battle.¡±

    Report after report of fallen elders arrived before Menus. As the battle continued to rage on, the dying Astrals¡¯ social tiers gradually became higher and higher. At this point, even in-office elders were beginning to die.

    ¡°Menus the Wise, the great Astral race is dying. Please, think of something,¡± one of the Astral elders pleaded.

    ¡°We Astrals have never been alive,¡± Menus said gently, ¡°We died a long time ago when we gave up on those fragile bodies of ours.¡±

    ¡°But our consciousnesses are still present, and our will is still firm. Our enemies are now destroying our resolute will,¡± one of the elders cried out in anguish.

    ¡°There is no such thing as true immortality in the first ce,¡± Menus gently muttered to himself.

    The Astrals had lived for far too long, so long that they viewed themselves as supernatural entities, with no further need to advance.

    Yes, no need to advance!

    Even though everyone knew that the Astrals loved to conduct research, and that they were a highly intelligent race, the truth was that their thought processes had started stagnating a long time ago.

    Their research had always been limited by their narrow-mindedness and their unwillingness to ept any form of external aid. In fact, flow of information even between the Astrals themselves was exceptionally limited.

    This was why the Astrals, despite having so many incredible researchers, were incapable of producing results to match their prowess.

    Some races tended to produce results rather than talented individuals.

    Others were more likely to produce talented individuals than results.

    The Astrals were of thetter group.

    They were known for possessing individual researchers with incredible talent, but they had never created any earth-shaking results to show for it.

    The humans, on the other hand, had made countless achievements. Their cultivation techniques, which had been written specifically for humans to use, had be the human race¡¯s future while also exposing the weaknesses of the Astrals.

    The day the Astrals¡¯ pre-existing foundation was surpassed by someone else was the day that they would die.

    Menus had seen thising a long time ago, and in the past, he had attempted to reform their culture. The number of Astrals who had responded to his pleas, however, were pitifully few in number.

    As such, he was not at all surprised that this day hade.

    The Astrals could not change their aloof and divided temperament. As such, it was no surprise that they were unable to defeat a foe who was both powerful and united.

    When his thoughts reached this point, Menus sighed with regret. ¡°I knew that this day woulde sooner orter, but I never expected it toe so quickly, or for it to happen on my watch. If at all possible, then I would have preferred to sacrifice myself like the two who came before me in order to protect the city.¡±

    The two former elder ¡°guardian spirits¡± had already been defeated. The Astrals had lost theirst trump card.

    When the remaining elders heard Menus¡¯sments, they all tacitly recognized the truth in his words. Sorrow and regret filled their hearts as well.

    ¡°But the Astrals are still the Astrals. Even if they defeat us here, they must pay the price,¡± Menus stated upromisingly. ¡°Even if we die, we will drag them down with us.¡±

    ¡°We no longer have any methods that can decimate their army,¡± an elder said.

    ¡°No, we still have one thing left,¡± Menus said. ¡°The consciousness extraction instrument.¡±

    The consciousness converter?

    Everyone was stunned.

    This instrument was used to convert Dark Astrals with physical bodies to Astrals with consciousness bodies. It was not meant to be used in battle.

    What was it good for?

    Menus slowly clenched his fist. ¡°I¡¯m going to give them a taste of conversion.¡±

    The consciousness extraction instrument was only effective on the Dark Astrals. If it were used on any other lifeform, they would have their vitality unconditionally drained away without gaining a consciousness body. As such, it was possible to use the instrument as a weapon. The prerequisite, however, was for the lifeform to be within its area of effect.

    And the consciousness extraction instrument¡¯s area of effect was extremely small.

    An elder spoke up. ¡°The consciousness extraction instrument can only be used against a single target at once, and not against a group of enemies.¡±

    ¡°I know that. But if there are Astrals who are willing to sacrifice themselves, then the consciousness extraction instrument¡¯s area of effect can expand temporarily,¡± Menus exined.

    ¡°Howrge can it get?¡±

    ¡°That depends on how many lives we are willing to sacrifice.¡±

    The Astrals all nced at each other. Suddenly, they realized that this was thest decision they would ever make.

    Menus proudly dered, ¡°I, thest leader of the Astrals, Menus, am willing to give my life for the glory of my race!¡±

    The other Astrals present all nced at each other for a moment before simultaneously roaring out, ¡°We are willing to die for our race¡¯s glory!¡±

    The ever cold-blooded Astrals had finally felt their blood boil in their final moment. They were willing to burn their lives away as long as it meant that they could drag their opponents to hell with them.

    The attacksing from the remaining Arcane Towers were growing noticeably weaker by this point.

    The battle had begun to wind down and the inevitable conclusion was drawing closer.

    Sword light rained down from the sky, mming mercilessly into Gloom City¡¯s forest of towers without end.

    Su Chen floated in the air, observing the scene of destruction below him.

    ¡°It seems that they are truly out of options,¡± Gu Qingluo said softly.

    Su Chen, however, remained silent.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Gu Qingluo asked when she saw that Su Chen¡¯s expression was cloudy instead of joyous.

    ¡°Back in Sky Country, I had Eternal Night¡¯s back against the wall. However, even from that position, he managed to strike back against me. Every long-lived ruler has their own prestige and aura. They will never easily admit defeat or give up, and they are all willing to die...... as long as it gives them an opportunity to bite back. Menus the Wise is not a single iota less intelligent than Eternal Night. If we don¡¯t want to carelessly suffer disastrous losses, we cannot underestimate our opponent in any way.¡±

    Gu Qingluo said with some surprise, ¡°Husband, you mean......¡±

    Su Chen calmly replied, ¡°Tell all of our soldiers to slow their advance and start attacking in thousand-man toons...... We cannot give our enemies an opportunity to attack all of our men no matter what.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he began to fly downwards. ¡°Let me go take a look myself.¡±

    The closer they were to the conclusion, the more cautious Su Chen grew.

    Menus, who was standing at the head of Gloom City, sighed in admiration when he saw the change in the joint army¡¯s troop movements.

    Their foe was truly quite cunning and prudent. So they refused to give him any opportunity at all? It seemed that he would only be able to swallow up these thousand or so soldiers with hisst move.

    But then, he suddenly saw Su Chen fly over.

 Book 6, 121: Life and Death

    <h4>Book 6, Chapter 121: Life and Death</h4>

    When Menus saw that only a thousand of the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples were attacking, he felt incredibly disappointed.

    But once he saw Su Chen personally arrive on the scene, a trace of hope emerged in Menus¡¯s heart.

    If he killed Su Chen, that would be far more meaningful than killing even ten thousand Boundless Sect disciples.

    ¡°Change targets to Su Chen!¡± Menus immediatelymanded.

    The consciousness extraction instrument was quickly adjusted to face towards Su Chen.

    Normally, its area of effect was a circle of light about a foot in diameter. With the sacrifice of countless Astrals, however, that light circle began to widen considerably.

    And following Menus¡¯smand, the concealed light circle was shifted onto Su Chen¡¯s position.

    Su Chen suddenly felt an incredible sense of imminent danger wash over him, as if he were being gazed at by some terrifyingly powerful creature. Goosebumps ran down his arms as all his hairs stood on end.

    Su Chen, however, did not retreat. Instead, he unhesitatingly pulled out an item and tossed it into the air.

    This item was a stone tablet, and the same one that Su Chen had taken from the Damaged Canyon. It was imbued with incredibly powerful spatial energy.

    This item had allowed Su Chen to survive the scarily strong deluge of Heaven¡¯s Blood. After all, it was an incredibly powerful defensive item that could erect spatial barriers.

    Afterwards, Su Chen had instructed his subordinates to refine it into a personal protective item that would deal with any hidden killing techniques his enemies threw at him.

    This was also the reason why he had been willing to personally descend even though he knew just how risky this was. If he personally showed up, then the Astrals would undoubtedly focus on killing him instead of the other Boundless Sect disciples, whom he viewed as dearly as his own children. If it were possible, then he would not let even a single one of them die.

    Su Chen thought that their final sacrificial killing technique was going to be Heaven¡¯s Blood. But this was a mistake as hecked a deep understanding of the technique.

    Even though Heaven¡¯s Blood was incredibly powerful, it had a ring limitation: it could only be activated in an isted void. This was why the Astrals had been able to activate it at the Damaged Canyon with rtively few sacrifices.

    Even though the Wai Caves were underground and surrounded by Origin-Energy isting earth, they were not cut off from the outside world, and still belonged to the Primordial Continent. Activating Heaven¡¯s Blood in thisrge of a realm would be impossible even if all of the Astrals sacrificed themselves.

    As such, in some sense, Heaven¡¯s Blood was also a failed product that would never see the light of day.

    As soon as Su Chen pulled out the stone tablet, he felt a frighteningly powerful force envelop him, locking him in ce, and preventing him from moving a single muscle.

    But unlike the absolute, destructive, overbearing power of Heaven¡¯s Blood, this force felt more like it was being directly exerted on his body.

    An ineffable sensation began to permeate through his body. He felt as if something was tearing at him and contorting his body beyond its limits.

    Even more shockingly, he was incapable of withstanding it in the slightest.

    This...... What was happening?

    Su Chen felt as if he was about to break apart into a million pieces, but his body was stillpletely unscathed.

    This torment appeared to being from his consciousness?

    Not good!

    He suddenly realized what had happened.

    The consciousness extraction instrument!

    The Astrals had actually used the consciousness extraction instrument on him.

    Apart from the Dark Astrals, no living creature had ever managed to persist after their physical body was converted into a consciousness one. This instrument had solely been used to create Astrals, but now, the Astrals were turning around and using it on him.

    More importantly, the stone tablet¡¯s spatial defenses werepletely useless in this instance.

    Damn!

    Su Chen cursed bitterly in his heart.

    He knew that he needed to act quickly. Otherwise, once the consciousness extraction instrumentpletely converted his physical body into a consciousness one, he would truly die.

    ¡°RAH!¡±

    Su Chen roared violently.

    On the surface, his Adam¡¯s apple merely bobbed up a centimeter as a pitiful amount of noise gurgled out from his throat. In the consciousness realm, however, a viciously powerful consciousness attack surged forwards.

    Su Chen was beginning to lose control of his physical body, but the strength of his consciousness was rising exponentially as it began to crystallize.

    ¡°Trying to turn me into a consciousness body?¡± Su Chen grit his teeth.

    He turned to stare at the Astrals below him.

    He could see them disappearing one by one as they faded into ashes, chanting as they did so.

    Beside those Astrals was a mysterious giant instrument, glowing faintly with white light.

    That was probably the consciousness extraction instrument.

    The consciousness extraction instrument was incredibly powerful, to the point where Su Chen wasn¡¯t able to withstand its influence at all. However, it also had its own weakness, which was that the conversion process took time.

    This gave Su Chen a sliver of an opportunity to survive.

    He knew that he didn¡¯t have much time left. His consciousness body was already beginning to form as his consciousness was slowly dragged out of his body.

    And Su Chen¡¯s vitality was beginning to drain away at the same time.

    First, it left his feet, then his calves, and then his thighs as it continued to spread up towards his head.

    If it reached his head, then all of his vitality would have beenpletely drained away, and Su Chen¡¯s body would actually have died, only leaving behind an Astral body.

    This consciousness body would not exist for very long, and would likely disappear as soon as the consciousness extraction instrument was shut down.

    This was because most creatures, aside from the Dark Astrals, didn¡¯t have enough consciousness power and were unable to endure the harsh environment around them without the protection of a physical body.

    Su Chen, however, was different. His consciousness power had reached levels previously thought unattainable by any human, so there was a possibility that his consciousness body could persist.

    Even so, Su Chen had no desire to be an Astral body.

    ¡°I...... am...... human!¡± Su Chen arduously spat out as he red at the ground with an unshakeable will.

    He refused to be a strange creature that walked the line between life and death, and he refused to give up on his human body.

    But no matter how hard Su Chen struggled, his consciousness continued to peel away from his physical body, which was slowly but surely dying.

    ¡°Die!¡± Menus raised his tricolor gem staff into the air, pouring all of his energy into the consciousness extraction instrument to hasten its activation. He could sense that his fellow Astrals¡¯ lives were being snuffed out one by one, but only by destroying this fearsome opponent could the other Astrals even have a chance of survival.

    Die and be one of us!

    Countless Astrals simultaneously cried out vengefully at this moment.

    They could sense Su Chen¡¯s powerful consciousness, and they seemed to realize that it was possible that he could sessfully convert and be an Astral body. However, they did not seem disheartened in the slightest; instead, their excitement surged as they willed the consciousness extraction instrument to work even more quickly.

    Su Chen¡¯s consciousness body was still rising into the air, and the decay had already reached his chest.

    From the outside, it didn¡¯t seem like anything was happening to Su Chen. The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples only thought that he had stopped to take a look at something.

    Su Chen¡¯s consciousness roared and thrashed in refusal, but all he could do was create wave after wave in the consciousness ne, which were all stopped by the Astrals¡¯bined consciousnesses. And only the Astrals could sense his struggles; no one else had any clue as to what was happening.

    Perhaps this would bring any other creature great sorrow, but it was a matter of great joy to the Astrals.

    Revenge!

    Revenge!

    Revenge!

    The countless Astrals all cried out fervidly. In that moment, their cold, detached personality had given way to raw, unadulterated emotion.

    ¡°Die! Convert! Be one of us Astrals!¡± Menus roared with irrepressible excitement.

    The decay eventually reached his neck.

    Su Chen¡¯s face slowly stiffened.

    He was like a statue, standing motionlessly in the air.

    The decay continued to rise.

    It consumed his mouth, his nose, his eyes, and then, in the final moments, his scalp.

    Su Chen¡¯s consciousness had beenpletely stripped from his body!!!

    ¡°Conversionplete!¡± Menus howled with ecstatic joy as the consciousness extraction instrument began to wind down afterpleting its job.

    As the white light dissipated, it became evident that thousands of Astrals had sacrificed themself in the process, all of it in the name of sessfully converting Su Chen to an Astral body.

    Even so, this price waspletely worth it to get rid of Su Chen.

    Su Chen¡¯s consciousness body was also floating in the sky now.

    However, it was invisible.

    The humans and Ravagers could not see him, but to the Astrals, he was as bright as a burning sun in the dark night.

    Menus was not surprised that Su Chen¡¯s consciousness body was persisting even after the consciousness conversion instrument shut down.

    Consciousness power was key to the conversion process. The Astrals had mastered this a long time ago, but they had struggled to raise the consciousness power of the other races to the appropriate level. And because they were isted from the other races, the Astrals were neither willing nor capable of breeding subjects for consciousness conversion.

    However, they had managed to sessfully convert a select few individuals from other races, resulting in a few special Astrals that could be deployed on the battlefield.

    Those strange Astrals had made their appearances along with all of the other failed products earlier, but unfortunately, theseplex creatures had been drowned out in a sea of violent energy summoned by tens of thousands of cultivators.

    Menus, however, believed that Su Chen¡¯s consciousness body would be different.

    ¡°You are going to be my most prized possession, the new Immortal¡¯s Soul!¡± Menus dered excitedly.

    Su Chen¡¯s death would definitely throw his enemies into turmoil. The threat to the Astrals had been dealt with!

    This new consciousness body would take time to fully stabilize, so Menus ignored it for the moment. Instead, he turned to the battlefield. ¡°Cease your struggling, foolish mortals! Your leader is dead! Your fate has been sealed!¡±

    Menus¡¯s voice spread in all directions throughout the battlefield. All of the humans and Ravagers who heard it were immediately taken aback.

    What?

    Their leader was dead?

    Then what about the Su Chen standing in the sky? Wasn¡¯t he still floating up there?

    How was he dead?

    Were the Astrals insane?

    The attacks only paused for a brief moment before immediately resuming.

    It was obvious that they had all treated Menus¡¯s words as a lie.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s no matter either way,¡± Menus muttered to himself.

    Since they refused to believe him, he was more than willing to give them a taste of real despair.

    He lifted the tricolor gem staff in his hands and aimed it at the physical Su Chen in the sky.

    The physical body was already dead, but even without its vitality, it surprisingly remained suspended in the sky.

    This made Menus slightly suspicious.

    However, all Menus thought was that this was something that Su Chen had prepared, or the effect of some treasure that he carried on him and thought nothing of it.

    But when the tricolored gem staff activated, yet Su Chen¡¯s body didn¡¯t begin to burn, he began to realize that something was off.

    Menus was obviously taken aback. He raised his tricolor gem staff and pointed it at Su Chen¡¯s body for a second time. ¡°Burn!¡±

    This time, there was finally a reaction.

    At the center of Su Chen¡¯s corpse, a solid red light began to flicker like a lick of me.

    Menus let out a sigh of relief.

    He didn¡¯t like surprises, especially not at such critical junctures.

    But even though the small me flickered and burned, it did not expand to consume the corpse nearly as quickly as Menus expected. Instead, it spread rtively slowly and gradually.

    Even more shockingly, as this lick of me continued to spread, that corpse suddenly seemed to regain its vitality.

    At the same time, Su Chen, who should have been stripped from his physical body, slowly opened his eyes. ¡°So this is what death tastes like? The line between life and death contains many profound secrets. It is both terrifying and dangerous. I thank you, Menus, for giving me an even more powerful consciousness and helping me along my path to bing an emperor.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, the me in the center of his physical body burst forth as it flew into the heavens.

    A strange cloud suddenly formed in the ¡°sky,¡± resonating with the physical body below.

    ¡°Receiving Heaven?¡± Menus cried out in shock. ¡°Ultimate Emperor Realm!?¡±

 Book 6, 122: Ascension

    <h4>Book 6, Chapter 122: Ascension</h4>

    In the human cultivation system, there was a critical threshold that needed to be reached at every step in order to properly ascend.

    Qi Drawing cultivators opened their Dan Sea, Blood Boiling cultivators lit their heartmps, Yang Opening cultivators casted their pces, Light Shaking cultivators formed their Lotus tforms, Spirit Burning cultivators built their Divine Pces, and Thought Manifestation cultivators opened their Yin-Yangs. Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators, then, would need to receive the Heavenly Temple in order toprehend matters rted to life and death and reach the pinnacle.

    Of course, this was a highly simplified version of what was happening.

    Put inly, reaching the Ultimate Emperor Realm required a thoroughfare for the will of the Heavens. As such, there was the need to construct a ¡°reception hall¡± of sorts within an individual¡¯s body that would join their will to that of the Heavens.

    Why was it necessary to reach this realm in order toprehend Method Power? Because, at least for humans, it was only possible to receive the will of the Heavens at the Ultimate Emperor Realm.

    As such, the Ultimate Emperor Realm was the base for controlling Method Power. Su Chen had only managed to bypass that limitation out of sheer luck.

    And Receiving Heaven inherently contained a conversion of death to life. The process was incredibly dangerous, and even the slightestpse in concentration would result in actual death.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t been in the Thought Manifestation Realm for long, but because of his eyes, his cultivation rate was incredibly rapid, and his foundation very solid. His understanding of the path to the Ultimate Emperor Realm was far too basic, so he had no ns of attempting to break through anytime soon. ording to his estimation, it would have taken him at least ten years to reach that point.

    However, his estimation was obviously not what fate had nned for him. No one could have anticipated that he would be suddenly attacked by the consciousness conversion instrument.

    The consciousness conversion instrument stripped a person¡¯s soul from their physical body, causing it to die. That process, shockingly enough, just so happened to correspond with the first step of reaching the Ultimate Emperor Realm: Withered Body.

    Reaching the Ultimate Emperor Realm elevated a human¡¯s consciousness and physique at the same time, eventually merging the two with the will of the Heavens and producing an entity that was three-in-one.

    As Su Chen was dying, he had suddenly realized that the consciousness extraction instrument¡¯s conversion process appeared to check off quite a few of the boxes necessary for humans to break into the Ultimate Emperor Realm. As soon as that realization came to him, he decisively prepared to form his Heavenly Temple to receive the will of the Heavens and harmonize with it.

    Death followed by resurrection!

    That was his decision. In truth, it was a tremendous risk.

    But Su Chen had no choice. If this opportunity passed him by, he was very unlikely to have the bravery to try it again anytime in the future.

    As such, Su Chen gave up on trying to withstand the instrument¡¯s operation and began to make his preparations for ascending to the Ultimate Emperor Realm.

    He began toy the foundation for the Heavenly Temple.

    Receiving the will of the Heavens involved the second step in ascending to the Ultimate Emperor Realm: Illumination.

    In the process of ascension, Illumination was simultaneously the most important and the least important step.

    It was the least important because failing at this step would not affect the ascension process much. As such, it was quite secure.

    On the other hand, it was the most important because this step was the only step where one couldprehend Method Power. How far a person could go after reaching the Ultimate Emperor Realm was very much tied to this step.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know what others had experienced when receiving the will of the Heavens, but as soon as he finished constructing his Heavenly Temple and his body had withered, he suddenly became able to clearly perceive the countless profound mysteries that this world contained.

    Method Power!

    Never before had the world of Method Power been so clear in his eyes.

    Most people¡¯s vision was foggy and blurry during the process of Illumination, but Su Chen was able to see everything around him with unprecedented rity.

    This was because this profound and mystical entity, which was impossible to describe in words alone, was not foreign to Su Chen.

    He had mastered a little Method Power a long time ago, and had even gained someprehension of fire, lightning, and consciousness Method Power along the way.

    Hisprehension of Method Power was far beyond what was expected of him given his cultivation base, so this step, which was arduous for others, was actually the easiest for him.

    When Su Chen realized this, he made no attempt to be reserved.

    Under full Illumination, he began to perceive the truest, most fundamental principles of the natural world, filling in the areas in his knowledge that had beencking before.

    But Su Chen also had his own struggles.

    The third step in ascending was Soul Joining.

    A person¡¯s body and soul would merge, then be joined to the Heavens.

    Su Chen had managed to do thetter but not the former, because the consciousness extraction instrument had separated his consciousness body from his physical body, preventing them froming together.

    That was also the biggest difference between breaking into the Ultimate Emperor Realm and what the consciousness extraction instrument could do.

    Breaking into the Ultimate Emperor Realm required a ¡°fake¡± death of sorts, but the death brought about by the consciousness extraction instrument was very real.

    His body would actually wither, with no chance for regeneration. Only his consciousness body would remain.

    If his physical body was incapable of resurrecting, then all of this effort would turn out to bepletely in vain. After all, humans did not see physical bodies as mere shells for their consciousnesses but as the very instrument of cultivation.

    Thankfully, Su Chen had the Lifesource Candles still on him.

    Lifesource Candles would increase an individual¡¯s vitality temporarily.

    This item, which was capable of giving people the ability to ¡°jump realms¡±, was incredibly powerful. Actually, they were infusedpletely with vitality Method Power.

    The Lifesource Candles could be lit with one¡¯s soul, so Su Chen decided to burn one and ce it in his Heavenly Temple.

    This lick of fire became the final ray of hope that Su Chen could hold onto after death, and a tremendous boon to the process of reaching the Ultimate Emperor Realm.

    The glow that Menus saw surrounding Su Chen¡¯s body came from a Lifesource Candle.

    It was leaping around in Su Chen¡¯s body, and as it burned, Su Chen¡¯s body began toe alive once again.

    Only now had Menus finally realized what was happening.

    Su Chen actually wanted to use this opportunity to break into the Ultimate Emperor Realm!

    ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it!¡± Menus yelled.

    He raised his tricolor gem staff high into the sky, and a bolt of deathly energy shot towards Su Chen.

    This was the Withering Ray, but as in Menus¡¯s hands it had be exceptionally terrifying. Even real Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators would have a hard time withstanding it.

    It surged straight for Su Chen¡¯s soul, wanting to destroy it for good.

    Obviously, Menus had dropped the idea of turning Su Chen into a consciousness entity.

    ¡°You¡¯re toote,¡± Su Chen chuckled when he saw the ray of light shooting in his direction.

    The consciousness Su Chen lifted his hand and pointed in front of him. A simr ray of light shot forth from his hand, colliding with it. Shockingly enough, Withering Ray was actually incapable of advancing even a single inch. A legendarily powerful Arcana Technique had beenpletely nullified.

    Menus was stunned.

    Not because Su Chen had easily nullified his attack, but because it was the consciousness Su Chen was the one who had sprang into action.

    In other words, Su Chen did truly possess a consciousness body, and he had in fact be an Astral!

    But his physical body was still there. What was that supposed to mean?

    Menus began to grow slightly confused.

    ¡°Are you surprised?¡± Su Chen chuckled and asked as he stood high up.

    Then, he continued, ¡°I am neither an Astral nor a consciousness entity.¡±

    As he spoke, his consciousness body suddenly dispersed into countless twinkling stars, charging towards his physical body.

    Menus finally understood.

    This was no consciousness entity.

    This was Deification!

    Su Chen¡¯s consciousness was being deified.

    The final step before breaking into the Ultimate Emperor Realm.

    This final step would take ce after Withered Body, Illumination, and Soul-Joining. It was a form of tempering that would drastically increase the strength of a person¡¯s consciousness.

    In other words, that was the first step to truly bing a god.

    This was why people referred to it as Deification.

    But this was just a theory. No one had actually ever truly be a god, because perfect Deification required the ability to wander freely in one¡¯s consciousness body apart from one¡¯s physical body.

    Today, however, Menus witnessed it for himself.

    ¡°Deification......¡± he muttered to himself.

    He already understood that Su Chen¡¯s sess at this step was definitely linked crucially to the activation of the consciousness converter instrument.

    For instance, the fact that the consciousness conversion instrument could condense a person¡¯s consciousness was already quite useful.

    However, the fact that Su Chen had managed to find the critical opportunity in such a short period of time was truly shocking.

    Menus never would have expected that, instead of killing Su Chen, the consciousness conversion instrument would actually perfect Su Chen and help him ascend to the Ultimate Emperor Realm.

    And to Su Chen, this was a matter worth celebrating.

    Now that Su Chen¡¯s consciousness had returned to his body, he opened his physical eyes and said with a slight smile, ¡°Many thanks, Menus. It seems that the path to reaching the Ultimate Emperor Realm is actually quite simple. But since that¡¯s the case, I cannot allow you to destroy that instrument any longer.¡±

    A Lifesource Candle was still burning inside of his body. This was already the third candle that he had lit. The candlelight emanated from his body, casting a profound glow on his surroundings.

    In that moment, Menus suddenly felt like his enemy was the incarnation of the Heavens themselves!

    Su Chen raised his hand. ¡°Time has cast you aside. You creatures, who attempted to escape from the judgement of life, will now return to your rightful ces.¡±

    As he spoke, a giant vortex suddenly appeared in the sky above Gloom City.

    The vortex¡¯s destructive capacity was simply staggering. Faint, indiscernible wails could almost be hearding through the vortex, as if it was the entrance to a dungeon containing unimaginable horrors.

    Then, Astral after Astral was forcibly sucked into the vortex. No matter how they struggled and thrashed, they were unable to resist the vortex¡¯s pull on them.

    ¡°What kind of technique is this?¡± Li Chongshan, Gu Qingluo, and the others were awe-struck when they saw this.

    They knew Su Chen quite well, but had never seen him use a skill like that before.

    ¡°It seems as if he hase up with a new skill yet again,¡± Zhu Xianyao said.

    ¡°This is no ordinary skill, though,¡± Chu Yingwan muttered.

    ¡°It¡¯s almost as if he has opened a tunnel to a strange realm, but something feels off. It¡¯s as if that strange realm doesn¡¯t actually exist,¡± Shi Kaihuang said in wonder.

    ¡°It¡¯s an illusion realm. That strange realm is constructed from an illusion, and doesn¡¯t actually exist in the real world!¡± Li Chongshan said confidently.

    Illusion realms were ¡°fake¡± worlds created using illusion techniques, but everything in those worlds were incredibly real.

    Illusion realms were supposedly only creatable by those who hadprehended illusion Method Power, and they were the apex of all illusion techniques. When living creatures were pulled into an illusion realm, everything in that illusion would be real, allowing the user to construct existences inside it that were powerful beyond imagination. As such, if any technique were to be considered invincible, these illusion realms would likely be at the top of the list.

    Su Chen was not exactly the most talented illusion user, so how had he managed to construct something like an illusion realm? That was simply inconceivable.

    Had heprehended illusion Method Power?

    Su Chen¡¯s voice floated towards them. ¡°I have not yetprehended illusion Method Power. I merely Deified my Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect, allowing me to produce something akin to an illusion realm.¡±

    Deified the Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect?

    What did that even mean?

    No one understood.

    Up in the sky, the ck clouds circling in the sky suddenly began to morph, assuming the shape of a giant dragon head.

    The dragon opened its mouth wide, swallowing countless Astrals along with their forest of towers and even the consciousness extraction instrument all at once.

    This time, all of them got a good look.

    The dragon was still the Shining Dragon Aspect, and the world inside of its body was still thendscape of the Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect. Under Su Chen¡¯s control, however, thisndscape had be a world of its own, filled with environmental hazards and vicious creatures just waiting to tear those Astrals apart.

 Book 6, 123: God Sealing

    <h4>Book 6, Chapter 123: God Sealing</h4>

    It was true that Su Chen had notprehended illusion Method Power, but his Seven Microcosm Bloodline realm looked no different than an illusion realm. The countless Astrals pulled inside were tormented by the dangerous realm as Su Chen watched on coldly.

    As the creator of that realm, he hadplete control of it, giving him far too many ways to deal with the Astrals inside. However, Su Chen did nothing and instead watched on silently as he expanded his senses.

    This sensation was incredibly wondrous, and it made Su Chen think of the Lord of the Dreamrealm.

    There were quite a few simrities between their worlds.

    One difference was that the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s world was purely made out of consciousness power, while Su Chen¡¯s was not entirely so. As such, it was not nearly as vast or majestic as the Dreamrealm, but as a tradeoff Su Chen had much more control over his realm.

    As Su Chen watched the Astrals being torn apart by the realm, he suddenly shook his head and said, ¡°How pointless.¡±

    He waved his hand, sending the Astrals inside into the void. When he pulled them back, they had all been turned into Void Crystals.

    ¡°SU CHEN!!!¡± Menus¡¯s roars filled the sky.

    Su Chen, however, didn¡¯t even spare him a single nce. The giant dragon head in the sky descended towards Menus, who was lifting his arms in the air.

    Jet-ck streaks of light began to shoot forth from the staff. This was the most powerful attack that the leader of the Astrals could muster, but it still paled in the face of this newly ascended Ultimate Emperor.

    The gap between their cultivation realms was not sorge, but the difference in strength was.

    The giant dragon descended as the jet-ck light faded away upon contact with the dragon¡¯s body.

    Crack!

    The tricolor gem staff began to crack slowly but surely under the pressure before it shattered.

    At that moment, Menus¡¯s crown began to move. Two strange spirits appeared in the air - Achilles and Menus, the two Astrals that had fled earlier.

    So they were being borne on Menus¡¯s crown.

    When the two former Astral leaders appeared, they immediately plunged into Menus¡¯s body. At that moment, Menus merged with Achilles and Kapius. His aura suddenly surged, and radiant light began to emanate from his body.

    ¡°Oh? So you do still have some tricks up your sleeve.¡± Su Chen¡¯s interest was piqued yet again.

    Even though this method ofbining three Astrals together would confer great power upon him, there would definitely be powerful side effects. In some sense, it was not really a trump card. Menus was at the brink of death and no longer hoped for victory. All he wanted was to deal his enemy a harsh blow before dying.

    When faced with this kind of situation, most people would choose to retreat, because time was a natural enemy for these kinds ofst-ditch techniques.

    But Su Chen wanted to witness for himself just how strong abined Astral could be.

    As such, he refused to retreat. The dragon head disappeared as he himself appeared directly beside Menus.

    At this point, Menus had already turned into a three-hundred-foot-tall giant Astral. His face was extremely contorted because he was now an amalgam, and it was impossible to recognize Menus¡¯s features in the giant Astral any longer. Even so, his hatred for Su Chen hadn¡¯t decreased in the slightest.

    ¡°For the glory of the Astrals!¡± Menus howled indistinctly as he opened his mouth wide and bit down towards Su Chen.

    A violent storm of consciousness energy came pouring towards Su Chen.

    Su Chen felt as if he was facing a tsunami of cmitic proportions. The pressure he was enduring was difficult to describe using words alone.

    Even so, it appeared as if that pressure could do nothing to Su Chen.

    If Menus¡¯s attack was a storm, then Su Chen was like a sturdy boulder.

    A rock that was impossible to shake no matter how fiercely the wind howled and raged.

    This consciousness storm, which was powerful butcked focus, was totally ineffective against him.

    However, this was just Menus venting, not an actual attack.

    What happened afterwards was the real problem that Su Chen needed to handle.

    Boom!

    The consciousness storm actually didn¡¯t disappear after it blew past Su Chen. Instead, it began to expand, rapidly forming a deste, primal enclosure.

    Su Chen felt like a de of grass in this world. Any creature that appeared in this world would be as tall as a mountain,rge enough to trample him underfoot.

    ¡°Illusion realm?¡± Su Chen¡¯s eyebrow jumped.

    This was a true illusion realm!

    He had managed to give illusions real substance. Even though they only existed in this illusion realm, they werepletely subject to the control of their creator and would be used to eradicate any threats that were dragged inside.

    So this merging process allowed Menus to surpass the limits on most Astrals and reach the point where he could control illusion Method Power.

    Su Chen, however, was greatly disappointed. ¡°Is that all you can do?¡±

    ¡°It will be enough as long as I can kill you!¡± Menus roared from the sky.

    A rhinoceros the size of a small mountain came thundering in Su Chen¡¯s direction.

    ¡°This is...... far from enough!¡± Su Chen casually unleashed a punch.

    He was like an ant attempting to stop an elephant in its tracks.

    Even so, this time the ant managed to seed.

    The moment Su Chen unleashed a punch, an unassuming streak of white light shot forth from his fist, colliding with the rhinoceros¡¯s descending hoof. The giant rhinoceros¡¯s foot immediately split open, and the rhinoceros let out a furious howl before it immediately dissolved into countless motes of light.

    An illusion realm could make it so that the creatures inside posed a real threat, but it could not cause Su Chen¡¯s strength to decrease.

    As such, even though Menus¡¯s creations appeared incredibly imposing, they were not even capable of withstanding a single blow from Su Chen.

    Thankfully, Menus was not relying on that single rhinoceros.

    Illusion realms were dangerous because they could produce endless amounts of such creatures.

    ¡°Come forth, my boundless armies. Swallow him whole!¡±

    Following Menus¡¯s furious roar, countless illusions appeared and began to charge towards Su Chen, rushing across the surface of the ground like a giant wave.

    These illusion creatures were rtively weak, and Su Chen was more than capable of killing them in a single strike. No matter how many he killed, however, their numbers were endless. As one died, another would rise to take its ce. This cycle would repeat itself endlessly.

    As such, no matter how Su Chen attacked, he would find it impossible to wipe out these illusory soldiers.

    Even the vegetation around Su Chen was incredibly dangerous. Any single de of grass could suddenly explode forth, turning into a razor-sharp de and rushing to impale Su Chen.

    Actually, even the wind, clouds, and rain could be fatal.

    This was the true terror of an illusion realm. As long as its creator willed it, anything was a threat.

    If it had been anyone significantly weaker than Su Chen that had been caught up in this illusion realm, they would have been swallowed up a long time ago.

    Even Su Chen was beginning to feel some weariness set in. Those creatures were only rtively weak; in the real world, they wereparable to Light Shaking Realm cultivators in strength. The fact that it was possible to create an endless deluge of Light Shaking Realm cultivators in an illusion realm clearly illustrated just how dangerous these realms truly were.

    ¡°This is quite impressive!¡± A trace of excitement shed across Su Chen¡¯s eyes. ¡°But this ce seems to be full of traces of that old man. You most likely learned this from him, right? Given how close you all seemed to be, anyways.¡±

    This time, Menus ignored him.

    Su Chen, however, chuckled. ¡°Even though illusion realms are powerful, sustaining them is no easy feat. Since we¡¯ve reached this point, I should probably take the new Method Power Iprehended out for a spin.¡±

    The new Method Power youprehended?

    Menus was taken aback.

    The Illumination process was the perfect opportunity forprehending additional Method Power.

    If he hadn¡¯t chosen illusion Method Power, that could only mean that something even better had captured his attention.

    Menus instinctively felt a trace of uneasiness surface in his heart. At the same time, Su Chen¡¯s eyes shed. ¡°With mymand, I bestow life! Awaken!¡±

    Following this cry, the Deste Beasts charging towards Su Chen suddenly stopped in their tracks. A dull, red light began to cloud their eyes as they suddenly looked up at the sky.

    Menus could sense that those illusory creatures had somehow managed to escape from his control.

    How could that be possible?

    What kind of technique was this?

    An instantter, those beasts simultaneously began to scatter, charging towards the beasts that were not under Su Chen¡¯s control and actually beginning to attack them.

    Not only so, but even the nts and the abiotic elements in the world appeared to have suddenly developed their own will, fighting amongst each other. Some of them even began to attack the world itself.

    The illusion realm was Menus. As such, these attacks were aimed at him.

    The sudden chaos dealt Menus a blow, greatly exacerbating the burden on him.

    ¡°No! How are you doing this? How is this possible!?¡± Menus began to cry out in fear.

    ¡°I have just given them the life that they were so desperately waiting for,¡± Su Chen replied calmly.

    Behind him, the Seven Bloodline Microcosm appeared once again. The seven Deste Beasts, which all hailed from the real world, appeared above Su Chen. A Shining Dragon menacingly circled overhead.

    They all appeared incredibly realistic.

    Menus suddenly seemed to realize something as he cried out in astonishment, ¡°Deification! God-Sealing All Things! You actually mastered God-Sealing All Things!?¡±

    Apparently, there was a kind of Method Power in this world that would allow a living creature to constantly evolve and advance, eventually reaching the point of bing a god.

    This was the legendary God-Sealing Method Power that Su Chen knew to be Deification.

    As such, he already informed everyone about the new Method Power he had obtained. At that time, however, no one had taken him seriously and thought that he was just bragging.

    But the process of Deification was something that only the Heavens could bestow, and it was not the result of man¡¯sbor.

    As such, no one would ever think to master the God-Sealing Method Power even if it did exist.

    A person who mastered that Method Power would be able to make a god out of anyone they wanted.

    That was even more impressive than bing a god himself.

    Who would even think about sealing gods when they couldn¡¯t even be a god in the first ce?

    As such, no one even bothered fantasizing about obtaining that kind of Method Power for themselves.

    It was already hard enough to see Method Power in that foggy world. Who had the ability to pick and choose which Method Power toprehend?

    But that was precisely the Method Power that Su Chen had chosen.

    Actually, it was not even really his choice - it had automatically appeared after his strength had reached a certain threshold.

    Before this, he had already mastered spatial Method Power andprehended portions of lightning, fire, wind, and consciousness Method Power.

    To Su Chen¡¯s amazement, hisprehension of thetter four had served as the basis forprehending this God-Sealing Method Power in the first ce.

    And after obtaining the God-Sealing Method Power, Su Chen knew that he would need to strengthen hisprehension of other Method Powers in order to continue his mastery of God-Sealing Method Power.

    At this point, his Deification had only reached the point of Communication with All Things. This was why his Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect was onlyparable with an illusion realm at the moment.

    Unlike illusion realms, however, which focused on giving substance to illusory creatures, Deification focused on the real world.

    Even though the ability of illusion realms to make illusions real sounded quite impressive, its effect was limited to that illusion realm. Put quite inly, its bark was worse than its bite. Deification, on the other hand, bestowed consciousness upon anything that actually existed, to the point that they would even be capable of possessingtent potential.

    In theory, Su Chen¡¯s God-Sealing Method Power would allow him to stand alone at the very peak when cultivated to the point of God-Sealing All Things.

    Of course, he was far from reaching that level yet.

    But he was more than capable of giving these illusion creatures their own will, allowing them to revolt. And by utilizing the power of the illusion realm, Su Chen even managed toplete the manifestation of his Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect.

    When Su Chen saw the seven Deste Beasts appear simultaneously for the first time, he couldn¡¯t help but sight. ¡°No wonder people always told me that enemies make for the best stepping stones. Without your help, I don¡¯t know how long it would have taken me to reach this point. Menus, if there¡¯s anything else left that you can do, you¡¯d better do it now.¡±

    He was filled with anticipation.

 Book 7, 1: Paradise

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 1: Paradise</h4>

    The sky above Ten Thousand Swords Mountain was always clear and idyllic.

    ¡°Always¡± was really always. Without Ten Thousand Swords Mountain¡¯s permission, rain would never fall from the sky.

    And if Ten Thousand Swords Mountain needed rain, then the sky wouldn¡¯t dare withhold a single drop.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples would directly form clouds in the sky above the mountain as needed and then herd them to the desired peak, upon which a storm would descend.

    These disciples were known as Cloud-Herding Disciples.

    ¡°Le Qing! Bring those clouds of yours over here for a bit. We need some water in this area!¡± In the sky, a disciple wearing a white robe while floating on top of three clouds called out to another fellow disciple. From his demeanor, it was obvious that he was at the Light Shaking Realm. However, despite his advanced cultivation, he was still just amon Outer Court disciple.

    And he was not the only one.

    Off in the distance, floating near another group of clouds, there was another young Boundless Sect disciple. That disciple was holding a long red whip in his hand as he drove the clouds through the sky. As the clouds moved to his whim, they began to disperse torrents of rain without dispersing.

    The cultivator responsible for herding the clouds together was a Light Shaking Realm cultivator who had already formed four Lotus tforms; even so, he held no real position of power in the Boundless Sect.

    ¡°Coming!¡± The cloudherd named Le Qing drove the dozens of clouds under his control towards the other cultivator¡¯s direction, intent on merging them together. Since the timing was right, he barked, ¡°Up!¡±

    All of the clouds simultaneously began to unleash rain.

    The rain preciselynded on Ten Thousand Mountain¡¯s peaks. This rain was no ordinary rain either ¡ª it was imbued with Origin Energy, and the cloudherds had also infused them with special medicine. Wherever the raindropsnded, they perfectly irrigated the ground, bringing forth abundant vegetation. The unique flowers, herbs, and nts that grew on the side of the mountain were thus nourished and grew bountifully.

    Most humans obtained their cultivation resources by seizing them from others, but the Boundless Sect had developed a system that allowed them to farm and procure these resources all on their own. At this point, the preliminary foundations of that system had been fully developed, allowing the Boundless Sect to continue expanding.

    ¡°The rainfall hassted for three counts. Stop the rain!¡± Le Qing called out while precisely measuring how much rain had fallen. With a wave of his hand, the clouds evaporated away as they slowly disappeared.

    ¡°What a pity,¡± sighed the other disciple, whose name was Jin Fan.

    ¡°What¡¯s there to pity?¡± Le Qing asked quizzically.

    ¡°The medicine in the clouds. They always disappear before we canpletely use them up,¡± Jin Fan replied.

    Le Qingughed. ¡°They are of this world in the first ce. They will re-form and return soon.¡±

    ¡°Maybe not. The continent is veryrge, and it wouldn¡¯t be surprising if more than half of this special rain fell somewhere else,¡± Jin Fan replied ruefully.

    Le Qing chuckled. ¡°So what? Are you going to be this selfish over just a little bit of medicine?¡±

    Jin Fan rubbed his head. ¡°Ie from a poor family, where even steamed buns needed to be carefully split before we could eat them. I really cannot stand letting anything go to waste. If we waste some today and some more tomorrow, then eventually we¡¯ll have wasted quite arge amount.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true, but there¡¯s also nothing we can do about it. Ten Thousand Swords Mountain is not isted from the rest of the world,¡± Le Qing replied, ¡°The only possible solution would be to create an isted void, ce the entire mountain range inside, and only allow Origin Energy to enter, not exit.¡±

    Jin Fan¡¯s eyes glittered when he heard this. ¡°Is that possible?¡±

    Le Qing shook his head. ¡°No. That would be far too difficult to do. Carving out another cave or constructing another pce would be just as hard as forming an entirely new realm. Even Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators are incapable of doing so.¡±

    Jin Fan had the utmost faith in their Sect Master. ¡°So would Sect Master be able to do it?¡±

    ¡°Sect Master?¡± Le Qing wanted to say that even their Sect Master would have a hard time doing so. To aplish such a feat, theirprehension of just spatial Method Power needed to be extremely deep. Thus, such an idea was at most wishful thinking. However, his high respect for Su Chen made it so that he didn¡¯t dare say such a sphemous thought out loud.

    Suddenly, at that moment, a giant booming sound suddenly burst forth.

    The two of them turned around in shock, only to find that a giant hole had mysteriously appeared in the sky above them.

    The hole was pitch ck, and it was impossible to see inside it. It was as if a giant creature had opened its gaping maw ¡ª that was how sinister the darkness was.

    Despite its alreadyrge size, this hole rapidly expanded, as if it were trying to devour the entire world. Soon enough, itpletely encapsted Ten Thousand Swords Mountain.

    This scared the two disciples quite badly.

    What was going on?

    Had some terrifying demon torn down the barriers between realms and invaded their realm?

    In that moment, countless possibilities flitted through their imagination.

    Obviously, they were not the main characters of this story, because the ¡°demon¡¯s¡± first move was to straight up devour the entire world around them. Even these two innocent cloudherds were not spared.

    ¡°AH!!!¡±

    The two of them cried out in despair, but it was useless. They felt the world around them spin wildly as a wave of dizziness overcame them.

    But no matter how dizzy they became, death did note for them. They tumbled through the air countless times before finallying to a stop. Only then did they realize that they were actuallypletely unharmed, as even their Origin Energy was still revolving normally. It was as if nothing scary had happened at all.

    As they slowly recovered from their shocked state, they found that the familiar, ever present mountains and rivers were still around them. Past them, however, everything was blurry.

    Le Qing and Jin Fan attempted to force open the barrier. It felt soft to the touch, but was obviously extremely sturdy. Even when they used all their power, they were unable to tear it open. The two of them even attempted to use their Origin Tools to cut a way out, but no matter how hard they attacked, not even a scratch was left on its surface.

    ¡°It¡¯s over! We¡¯re going to be imprisoned here forever!¡±

    Le Qing and Jin Fan felt a sense of despair surface in their hearts.

    ¡°Hey, are you two alright?¡± a voice suddenly spoke up from behind them.

    The two of them turned around in surprise to see Su Chenughing at them.

    ¡°Sect Master!¡± the two of them cried out happily.

    ¡°Sect Master, why are you here? Could it be......¡± Jin Fan said before suddenly realizing something and mming up.

    ¡°What? Did you think that some kind of foreign demon was attacking us?¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    The two of them lowered their heads in embarrassment.

    They had finally begun to realize what had actually happened.

    Le Qian sensed his surroundings, immediately discovering that the Origin Energy in this region was incredibly dense. It was actually flowing regrly and was not stagnant. In other words, this realm was still connected to the outside world, though it was impossible to know that from their location.

    ¡°A tunnel leading to another world......¡± Le Qing muttered in slight disbelief. ¡°Sect Master, you actually did it! You opened up an isted void! Is this so that you can better store some of the precious ancient medicines?¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°You must be quite smart to have guessed it right away.¡±

    He didn¡¯t know about their earlier conversation. Actually, it was only natural that they were able to immediately guess what had happened.

    Le Qing¡¯s choice of words, however, gave him pause. After muttering to himself for a brief moment, he nodded and said, ¡°The name ¡®isted void¡¯ does sound a bit nd. What you said inspired me. Why don¡¯t we call this ce Paradise Genesis?¡±

    ¡°Paradise Genesis!¡± The two of them simultaneously grew excited. ¡°That¡¯s a good name!¡±

    Su Chen faintly said, ¡°This is the Boundless Sect¡¯s first Paradise, so I have thus named it Genesis. But it will not be thest. Cultivate well. Perhaps in the future, you will each have your own little Paradise. Even though it may be smaller than this one, it will be more than suitable for you to settle down in.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± The two of them were delighted by this prospect. ¡°Is it really possible for every disciple to have one?¡±

    ¡°Not right now, but in the future...... Well, who¡¯s to say what¡¯s possible?¡± After Su Chen finished speaking, he waved his sleeves, bringing the two of them out of Paradise Genesis.

    Upon returning to the main world, the two of them saw that the giant dark void in the sky had disappeared, as well as arge chunk of Ten Thousand Swords Mountain and the surrounding peaks.

    It was as if someone had just sliced away a giant section of the mountain, making Ten Thousand Swords Mountain more akin to Hundred Swords Mountain.

    Even so, this obviously didn¡¯t bother the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples at all.

    Off in the distance, even more Boundless Sect disciples could be seen slowly flying over, dragging more mountains behind them.

    They were moving mountains now!

    After herding the clouds around, the Boundless Sect now did the same with their mountains. Obviously, they were nning on moving all of the nearby mountains over to fill in the gap that had been created.

    Even though this was quite the majestic demonstration, it was not so much destruction as remodeling of the nearby terrain. Even Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators would have a hard time performing such a task.

    But the Boundless Sect had managed to make it a reality.

    This was because the Boundless Sect¡¯s core cultivators were no longer at the Light Shaking Realm, but rather the Spirit Burning Realm.

    Any one of these cultivators would be worthy of leading a small n or being a general in the imperial army, but here, they were merely a part of the sect¡¯s core strength. Truly, the Boundless Sect¡¯s might was staggering.

    When tens of thousands of these Spirit Burning Realm cultivatorsbined their power, moving mountains was no longer an insurmountable task.

    The peaks were steadily transnted to Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, then resculped and rearranged.

    And in the still-hidden void, a paradise belonging solely to the Boundless Sect waited.

    From this day onwards, the Boundless Sect¡¯s resource-generating area would be located in an even safer environment. At the same time, it was even better nourished than before, as the Origin Energy concentration was even denser, allowing the nts and herbs there to grow and flourish.

    Paradise Genesis¡¯s creation, truth be told, was a monumental event, but it was merely a small milestone in Su Chen¡¯s grand n.

    After taking care of this matter, Su Chen quickly left.

    As Jin Fan watched Su Chen leave, he couldn¡¯t resist asking, ¡°Brother Le, do you think that the Sect Master will someday really be able to make a Paradise for each one of us?¡±

    ¡°Who knows,¡± Le Qing casually replied, ¡°Creating a Paradise involves spatial Method Power, and at our cultivation base it should be impossible. But......¡±

    ¡°But with the Sect Master here, it might really not be impossible,¡± Jin Fan said hopefully.

    ¡°You have a lot of faith in him.¡±

    ¡°Of course. Think about it ¡ª in the past, the words ¡®Light Shaking¡¯ were esteemed and held in high regard. If you reached the Light Shaking Realm, then you were strong enough to rule over an entire city. But now? Any random cultivator from the street could be a Light Shaking Realm cultivator. And before, it would take at least thirty to forty years of bitter cultivation to reach this point, and a bloodline was absolutely necessary to do so. But now with the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques, it only takes around ten years to reach that same level. Long ago, the Light Shaking Realm was even considered to be the absolute limit achievable by the human race, but that limit was eventually raised to the Ultimate Emperor Realm. If the Light Shaking Realm is this easy to reach right now, who can say if the same will eventually happen to the Ultimate Emperor Realm?¡±

    Le Qing was stunned. ¡°You¡¯re saying......¡±

    Jin Fan continued expounding on his views. ¡°The Sect Master did say that not every Paradise would be as big as Paradise Genesis. Perhaps we will not need that profound aprehension of spatial Method Power to establish small ones? Maybe a superficial understanding will be enough, or perhaps the Sect Master will provide us with a special cultivation technique that he developed based on his understanding of spatial Method Power. We might not even need to be at the Ultimate Emperor Realm by that point......¡±

    When Le Qing heard Jin Fan¡¯s conjectures, he was stunned.

    If the ascension process truly became easier, and those seemingly profound methods became much more well-understood and documented, then what their Sect Master had said might not be impossible after all.

    But more importantly, their Sect Master was Su Chen.

    The Su Chen who was more than familiar with performing miracles!

    Something that was considered rare today might not even be rare tomorrow.

    The only difference was that, in the past, Su Chen had always been putting other people out of work; now, he was doing it to himself as well.

 Book 7, 2: Situation

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 2: Situation</h4>

    Su Chen had justnded on Heaven-Upholding Peak when Li Chongshan, Lin Shaoxuan, and the others flew over and said, ¡°Congrattions, Sect Master! You have sessfully pried open the universe and created a Paradise!¡±

    Su Chen chuckled, ¡°Alright, there¡¯s no need to tter me like this. Right, where is Instructor?¡±

    ¡°ying with Little Jianzhu,¡± Cheng Tianhai replied.

    Little Jianzhu was Shi Kaihuang¡¯s son. Three years after returning from Wai Caves, Chu Yingwan had gotten pregnant and bore a son, who was already six years old - a time when his energy and liveliness was at its peak. Shi Kaihuang was delighted to have a son even at his stage in life, and at this point held very little responsibility apart from taking care of his son.

    Secretly, everyone knew that Shi Kaihuang was doing this on purpose.

    At this point, Su Chen¡¯s status had begun to skyrocket, and he was widely considered the number one figure of the human race. He had developed countless crucial cultivation techniques, earning him the respect and even the worship of the general popce. It was not even a stretch to say that some people treated him like a god. Shi Kaihuang, as Su Chen¡¯s instructor, would naturally be implicated. The old man was extremely clear-headed, and had chosen to live a life of seclusion to avoid bringing Su Chen any trouble. Even though Su Chen had pleaded with him multiple times, Shi Kaihuang was extremely stubborn, and there was nothing Su Chen could do.

    When Su Chen heard this, he could only shake his head. ¡°That stubborn old man.¡±

    ¡°Old Shi is getting old, and you¡¯ve already seen his dream through. Now that he has a wife and a son, he has no interest in hearing other people say that he only got this far by hanging onto your coattails. Try and understand his position,¡± Jun Moxie said.

    Su Chen could only nod his head in agreement.

    ¡°Right, Sect Master - since you transferred such arge chunk ofnd into the Paradise, this newnd will need to be reorganized,¡± Lin Shaoxuan said. ¡°What are your thoughts on this?¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°Right now, Paradise Genesis is mostly being used to cultivate nts and herbs, with medicine refining as auxiliary. As for the mountains we transnted, they are currently empty, so we can use some for housing the disciples, and some for refining tools, talismans, and formations. Right, speaking of formations, we will probably need to repair the sect¡¯s defensive formation since arge chunk is probably missing right now. Hanfeng will have his work cut out for him......¡±

    Su Chen continued to delegate tasks.

    The disturbance created from transnting these mountains was not small; divisions would need to be redrawn, and manpower redistributed. There was quite a lot of work involved to sort this all out, and even with his consciousness crystal, it took Su Chen quite a bit of time to figure out the optimal way of going about such business.

    After a whole morning¡¯s worth of work, Su Chen pantomimed wiping sweat from his brow and said, ¡°Howe I feel like managing the sect¡¯s affairs is even more tiring than creating Paradise Genesis? I would rather have spent this time opening another Paradise instead.¡±

    Everyoneughed, but they also knew that he was joking.

    Even though the process of opening a Paradise seemed simple, it had taken Su Chen quite a bit of time and energy to get it to a point where it could contain the better part of a mountain. Preparations alone had taken five years, and the amount of resources that had been consumed was even greater. A lot of the Void Starmetal and Void Crystals that the Boundless Sect possessed had been used in the process, and it would take some time before they would reappear.

    ¡°Sect Master, this is a list of the disciples who are being admitted to the Inner Court this time around. Please take a look,¡± a tall, thin man said as he handed over a list of names to Su Chen.

    His name was Chang Weishan, and he had joined the Boundless Sect twelve years ago.

    He had formerly been a schr, just like Guo Wenchang, and had served in an official capacity. However, he had eventually resigned due to the rampant corruption guing the imperial system.

    Later on, he heard about Su Chen, and learned that evenmoners could cultivate. That was when he made the decision toe to the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain and join the Boundless Sect.

    Once in the Boundless Sect, Chang Weishan made no disy of spectacr talent, and his cultivation base was average. His management of internal affairs, however, was spectacr. After Guo Wenchang died, the Boundless Sect had beencking in a person who could properly take care of the Sect¡¯splicated, intricate internal affairs. This was why Chang Weishan had been picked out and suddenly promoted. At this point, he had a say in a lot of how the Boundless Sect was managed.

    At this point, his cultivation base was still at the Light Shaking Realm, but his status was almost equal to that of the Boundless Sect¡¯s most senior members. And he had only reached the Light Shaking Realm with the aid of the countless medicines that Su Chen and the others had given him. Obviously, his cultivation aptitude was quite mediocre.

    His true talents obviouslyy in handling internal affairs. The list of names Su Chen was given included the disciples¡¯ names, their ce of birth, a short biography, their corresponding test scores, etc., allid out in a clear, easy-to-understand format.

    Su Chen nodded in satisfaction. ¡°Not bad. At this point we should have more than eight thousand disciples in the Inner Court, right?¡±

    Chang Weishan replied, ¡°At this point, we have a total of 84231 Inner Court disciples.¡±

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s strength had truly increased. Light Shaking Realm cultivators were now just about as valuable as cabbages, and there were more than eighty thousand of them now.

    This didn¡¯t even include the vastlyrger number ofmon disciples.

    The Boundless Sect numbered around four hundred thousand disciples at this point, with one-third of them having mid- to high-tier cultivation bases. There were at least fifteen thousand Spirit Burning Realm cultivators at this point.

    However, there were no more than a hundred Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators still.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s rtively short existence was still its upper limit.

    But if this were to continue, perhaps in thirty years the sect would have tens of thousands of Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators.

    This number waspletely inconceivable.

    The total number of Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators before this was in the double digits. When factoring in the almost immortal Gu n cultivators, that number was still no more than thirty.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯stent potential was extremely obvious.

    At this point, the Seven Kingdoms had tacitly bowed their heads to the Boundless Sect. Even though they still wielded political power, Ten Thousand Swords Mountain was slowly but surely bing the new political center of the human race.

    Most interestingly, this transition of power was met with rtively little resistance.

    Before, the appearance of any new power was a serious challenge to the old.

    But after a battle in which tens of thousands of lives had been lost, this exchange between old and new could not possibly continue.

    Of course, there were also some other reasons that this was an exception.

    For instance, the virtually insurmountable gap in strength!

    The old was able to suppress the new because they were simply stronger. They would snuff out any threat that the new posed long before it had matured.

    For this reason, the old typically defeated the new throughout history.

    The few uprisings that did seed were often discussed and easily remembered, but the vast number of failures often were quite forgettable.

    But when a new power rose far too quickly to be stopped, everything would be different.

    That was the case with the Boundless Sect.

    When they were still young and tender, the Boundless Sect had chosen to conceal themselves so that they would not attract any unwanted attention.

    The few people who recognized just how important Su Chen was could do nothing to him, because his cultivation techniques were being distributed in the Dreamrealm without restriction.

    And new cultivation techniques not only allowed those without bloodlines to make new breakthroughs, but as Su Chen continued to improve and revise those techniques, also elerated the cultivation process. By using his microscopic eye, Su Chen was able to improve the way that humans absorbed Origin Energy, and even developed a method that could directly influence the movement of these motes of Origin Energy. As such, it became possible for all cultivators to cultivate by killing Beasts.

    After killing a creature, they would perform movements that looked akin to a religious ritual. This became the Boundless Sect¡¯s foundation as well.

    For all these reasons, the Boundless Sect was able to advance at an astounding rate. Before the rest of the human race could even react, they had be an infallible power.

    The extermination of the Lin n had fully demonstrated this principle.

    Around the time that Lin Mengze had been killed was thest chance that the Seven Kingdoms had to fight back against the Boundless Sect.

    But in the face of Su Chen¡¯s enticement and sowing of discord, the Seven Kingdoms eventually chose to concede. This concession made it so that they missed thest opportunity avable to them. After the Boundless Sect sessfully exterminated the Astrals, the Seven Kingdoms also realized that they no longer had any chance of controlling the Boundless Sect.

    From that moment on, the old had lost the desire to fight the new, instead choosing to make concession after concession.

    As a result, power began to transfer from the old to the new, resulting in a surprising period of peace.

    The center of the human race¡¯s power slowly began to move from Empty Mountain¡¯s capital, New Rain City, to the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain. This location, which had been deste and abandoned for so long, was gradually bing a hub for the entire human race.

    Actually, its location made it quite ideal for this purpose.

    And the increase in power began to spill over into the surrounding regions, with profound implications.

    Even though the emperors were still rulers of their respective kingdoms, their influence was slowly beginning to decline.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s status in Long Sang was slowly spreading into the other kingdoms as well.

    This was exactly what Su Chen wanted.

    He wanted to unify the entire human race into one gigantic kingdom, but not by bloodshed. Using their impressive might to cow the other kingdoms into submission was the best choice.

    Eighty thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators and fifteen thousand Spirit Burning Realm cultivators.

    Any one of these two groups would be more than capable of steamrolling their way through the Seven Kingdoms.

    Even so, Su Chen still felt like these numbers were insufficient.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, he said, ¡°Has there been any sign of movement from the Harpies yet?¡±

    Chang Weishan immediately replied, ¡°Eternal Night has returned from his visit to the Oceanids.¡±

    Su Chen squinted his eyes slightly.

    A year after Lonely Skyleap tok the Immortal¡¯s Soul back with him, the Harpies had managed to finally give Sky City the freedom of movement it hadcked for tens of thousands of years.

    On that day, Sky City immediately traveled to the border of Liaoye Country, then to the Southern Sea region before finally exterminating a horde of Demonic Beasts in that region, including a Demonic Emperor. This was how they were dering to the entire continent that Sky City had returned.

    The Harpies¡¯ morale had also surged as a result, resulting in mounting tensions between Liaoye Country and the Harpies.

    Because, ording to the Harpies, the moment that Sky City regained its mobility, their territory began to automatically expand. Wherever Sky City went was where the Harpies could exercise their control.

    Eternal Night, however, refuted such a philosophy.

    After Sky City had regained its mobility, Eternal Night¡¯s status amongst the Harpies had skyrocketed, to the point where they virtually treated him like a god.

    Only he was capable of restraining the surging tide of pride that the Harpies were currently feeling.

    Because he knew that the Harpies were far from being invincible yet.

    If Sky City began to immediately go on the offensive after regaining its movement, neither the humans, the Ravagers, nor the Oceanids would stand by and watch idly. It was very likely that they would ally with each other in response.

    After all the Harpies had abandoned the Boundless Sect in the fight against the Astrals, the humans and Ravagers had worked together to take Gloom City (shockingly without quarreling over the division of spoils), and the humans had also helped the Oceanids resolve the issue of the Deep Sea Sorrow. As such, the formation of such an alliance was extremely likely.

    Eternal Night had no desire to incur the wrath of these three races at this point in time.

    During the past ten years, he had been quite active in trying to establish ties with others even as the Boundless Sect was beginning to realize their full potential.

    His efforts had never been particrly sessful.

    Not long ago, however, Eternal Night had personally paid the Oceanids a visit. Su Chen had no choice but to take the situation seriously.

    If he had returned, then the old coot¡¯s strategy of division had likely born fruit.

    He just didn¡¯t know how many benefits the Harpies had given to the Oceanids to buy their impartiality.

    ¡°Well, it doesn¡¯t matter,¡± Su Chen said after a moment¡¯s thought. ¡°The seed we nted all those years ago should be close to maturing soon. It is time for some of these debts to be settled.¡±

 Book 7, 3: Arranged Battle

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 3: Arranged Battle</h4>

    Sky City, Perpetual Daylight Pce.

    Eternal Night sat on his throne, managing his country¡¯s affairs.

    After Sky City regained its freedom, Eternal Night¡¯s prestige had surged to new, unprecedented heights.

    ¡°Elenpo¡¯s corruption is inexcusable and has already been confirmed. Find someone to deal with the matter,¡± Eternal Night ordered.

    A trembling official below him replied, ¡°Understood, Your Majesty!¡±

    He had been asked by a friend to speak up on Elenpo¡¯s behalf, but in that moment, he lost all of his courage. Whatever Eternal Night said, he would do.

    ¡°Right. Skyleap, what¡¯s the situation with the humans at the moment?¡± Eternal Night asked Lonely Skyleap as he poured over the multitude of reports arranged on his table.

    ¡°They¡¯re pretty quiet,¡± Lonely Skyleap replied.

    ¡°Ack of movement is the greatest sign of movement,¡± Eternal Night said as he sighed and shook his head. ¡°The Boundless Sect¡¯s development will take time to mature, and the more time that passes, the worse off we are. We have already given them far too much time.¡±

    ¡°Must we really fight?¡± Lonely Skyleap asked, somewhat worried.

    ¡°A fight is unavoidable,¡± Eternal Night replied emotionlessly.

    The moment the Boundless Sect rose to power, Eternal Night knew that the Harpies and humans would inevitably sh someday.

    There was no other option. The Boundless Sect had risen to power far too quickly, and their genocide of the Astrals had greatly shocked the other Intelligent Races. At the same time, it had reminded them that their future opponent could potentially be even stronger than the full might of the former Abyss.

    To Eternal Night, whose dream was for the Harpies to stand alone at the peak and rule over all other races, this waspletely uneptable.

    If they didn¡¯t take advantage of Sky City¡¯s newfound mobility to crush their opponents now, then perhaps even Sky City would be unable to keep the humans from invading them in the future.

    Throughout these past few years, he had been working hard to build important rtionships with the other races so that, in the event of war breaking out, they would maintain their neutrality.

    Only after paying a tremendous price had Eternal Night finally convinced the Oceanids to remain impartial, and the Ravagers were currently being tied down by the Beasts to the north. Now was the perfect time to start a war.

    When Lonely Skyleap realized what Eternal Night was thinking, he gave up all hopes of trying to convince him otherwise.

    Just as the two of them were about to discuss potential battle strategies, a soldier entered and reported, ¡°Your Majesty, the Boundless Sect has sent a letter.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± The two of them simultaneously looked up.

    Eternal Night immediately said, ¡°Bring it here.¡±

    The letter was ced on Eternal Night¡¯s desk.

    Eternal Night opened the letter and perused it carefully. His perpetually stony and cold expression suddenly shifted ever so slightly.

    ¡°Your Majesty?¡± Lonely Skyleap called out with some concern when he noticed that something was off about Eternal Night¡¯s expression.

    Eternal Night seemed to be pulled back to reality by Lonely Skyleap¡¯s call, and he shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m fine. The letter is from Su Chen. Can you guess what it¡¯s about?¡±

    Lonely Skyleap tentatively answered, ¡°Is it a deration of war? Or is he asking for peace?¡±

    Eternal Night shook his head. ¡°Neither...... He¡¯s asking me to trailze a path to the northwest.¡±

    ¡°Trailze a path to the northwest?¡± Lonely Skyleap was stunned by this seemingly random request.

    The Intelligent Races primarily upied the southwestern area of the continent, and the unexplored northwest naturally belonged to the Beasts. The Beasts¡¯ territory was an untouched wilderness. Their untamed nature meant that there were countless mysteries and treasures just waiting to be found.

    For the Intelligent Races, paving a path to the northwest was their ultimate dream.

    In fact, the Intelligent Races¡¯ current territory had been carved out as they gradually expanded into the Beasts¡¯ territory.

    The Intelligent Races had always wanted to ze a path deep into their enemy¡¯s territory thaty to the northwest.

    Even so, every acre of new territory was stained with vast amounts of blood.

    This was the simplest form of exchange between humans and nature!

    However, it often took a single race standing at the very peak for the Intelligent Races to aplish this trade.

    The Boundless Sect was extremely powerful, but they did not rule alone. The fact that Su Chen was asking the Harpies to trailze a path to the northwest at this point in time was indeed more than a bit suspicious.

    ¡°What exactly is he after?¡± Lonely Skyleap wondered out loud.

    Eternal Night tapped his index finger against his desk a few times before saying, ¡°Nothing, really. He just doesn¡¯t want to let Sky City¡¯s formidablebat power lie fallow. In other words, he wants to use the northwest to weaken Sky City.¡±

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t want to let Sky City¡¯sbat power lie fallow? He wants to use the northwest to weaken us?¡± Lonely Skyleap finally understood after mulling over Eternal NIght¡¯s words for a brief moment. ¡°He wants to fight us after we im some of the territory to the northwest.¡±

    ¡°More specifically, at Skywild ins.¡±

    Eternal Night handed the letter to Lonely Skyleap.

    Below the letter was a simple sketch of the northwest region.

    Two deep red lines plunged deep into that territory, intersecting at a certain location.

    That intersection was circled, with threerge characters written above it: Skywild ins.

    There was no exnation or anything of the sort ¡ª just two simple lines and a single intersection point. Even so, Su Chen¡¯s intentions were clearly conveyed with just that.

    First conquer the northwest, and then we will battle.

    Even without any explicit exnation, Eternal Night understood everything.

    This was the mutual understanding between people who harbored great ambitions.

    They both wanted to wipe out the other party, but neither wanted to waste their unrivaledbat strength. As such, the ideal n was to first whet their des against the Beasts in the northwest.

    Upon realizing this, Lonely Skyleap scoffed. ¡°He must be dreaming! Your Majesty, there is no need to entertain......¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± Eternal Night countered, ¡°We have indeed dreamed of taking control of the northwest for a long time.¡±

    Lonely Skyleap was stunned by Eternal Night¡¯s stance.

    Eternal Night went on, saying, ¡°Su Chen wants to use Sky City¡¯s newfound strength to carve out and take a part of the northwestern territory, but wouldn¡¯t Sky City be doing the same to the Boundless Sect? Su Chen¡¯s n is in fact quite enticing.¡±

    Lonely Skyleap said anxiously, ¡°But what if Su Chen deceived us? What if the Boundless Sect has no intentions of reciprocating and instead ambushes us while we are advancing?¡±

    Eternal Night calmly replied, ¡°Ambush what? Sky City?¡±

    Lonely Skyleap was momentarily taken aback.

    Of course they could not ambush Sky City. It was the main prong of their excursion into the northwest. Where would their forces gather if not there?

    Lonely Skyleap finally understood.

    Wherever Sky City was, that was where the Harpies would gather.

    There was no need to worry about the possibility of a backstab at all.

    Of course, it was not like no Harpies would remain behind. There were quite a few Harpies scattered throughout Harpy territory that still needed to be protected. If the Boundless Sect really did ambush them at an inopportune moment, they would still suffer significant damage.

    Eternal Night said, ¡°Well, it seems that Su Chen has already anticipated that issue. He¡¯s already proposed a way to assuage our concerns.¡±

    ¡°Which is?¡±

    ¡°To have observers present for both sides.¡±

    In the letter, Su Chen directly proposed the idea of each side having their own observers. Specifically, the n involved both sides sending observers to the other side and then giving them transmission boxes so that they couldmunicate in real-time. Naturally, these observers would then observe the opposing army¡¯s general movements and ensure that it was advancing as scheduled towards the rendezvous point.

    There would be around ten or so of these designated observers, who would be switched out twice every year to ensure that they wouldn¡¯t be bribed to the other side.

    The observers¡¯ main purpose was to ensure that neither army would make any actions that were detrimental to their allies. However, they were not allowed to spy and report on any military secrets.

    This would help ameliorate theck of trust between the two races so that they could advance towards a mutually beneficial goal.

    At the end of the letter, Su Chen also included, ¡°The Origin Races are enemies of all Intelligent Races. They were blessed with so many resources, and yet they wasted them away and refused to adapt. Us Intelligent Races should seize our rightful glory by wiping out these external foes rather than humiliating ourselves with internal squabbles......¡±

    Su Chen had managed to lump the Harpies into his ¡°out,¡± rebranding the conflict as an ¡°internal squabble.¡±

    After Lonely Skyleap read through the rest of the letter, he fell speechless.

    After mulling it over for a long time, he finally said, ¡°Your Majesty, are you really nning on epting his suggestion?¡±

    Eternal Night confidently replied, ¡°Of course. Why not? Su Chen¡¯s suggestion is very fair, and it also aligns well with my goals. This is thest opportunity we will ever have to truly rise to power. If we seed, we will be finally able to rule the entire continent.¡±

    ¡°But if we lose......¡±

    ¡°Then we lose,¡± Eternal Night said unhesitatingly, ¡°This situation is truly a winner-take-all one. Once you be a loser, you will quickly discover that even wanting to be someone¡¯sckey is just wishful thinking.¡±

    This was Eternal Night¡¯s viewpoint.

    Trailzing a path to the northwest was not the most important point. What truly mattered was who was thest winner standing.

    Su Chen was basically agreeing to fight the Harpies at Skywild ins. As for the arduous trek there, it was merely a test, and also the essory spoils to the real battle. Truly, this was aplicated game.

    The side that sessfully conquered the other here wouldy sole im to all the spoils, while the losing side would naturally be the vanquished and fade into history.

    This was in fact a rigorous test of both sides¡¯ reinforcements and logistical nning. As such, it was truly an exhaustive battle that would test all their aspects.

    Both Su Chen and Eternal Night possessed supreme confidence that they would be the one to emerge victorious.

    Su Chen fully believed that the Boundless Sect would be able to convert any resources they gained into realbat strength, like a warrior with frighteningly powerful regenerative abilities. Any spoils they plundered from their battles along the way would be quickly converted into resources and used to make up for any losses they sustained.

    Eternal Night, on the other hand, believed in Sky City¡¯s imprable defenses, which made them invincibile in most small-scale skirmishes. If they took no damage, they would consume very little of their resources. This was more akin to a warrior with incredible defensive prowess, who was capable of simply exhausting their opponents to death.

    One regenerated rapidly, while the other sustained very few losses.

    These characteristics were distinctly unique to them.

    This was why both of them were absolutely confident that they would ultimately secure victory.

    If they felt assured of victory, then why not give it a try?

    They were going to fight anyways, so there was no reason to not do so at Skywild ins.

    Even though both sides were wary of the other side¡¯s schemes and potential tricks, their mutual understanding of each other greatly alleviated any fears of the other party actually seeding in such ns.

    And they could understand each other on a deep level because they were both extremely ambitious individuals.

    As such, Eternal Night knew that Su Chen wouldn¡¯t try anything funny.

    And after receiving Eternal Night¡¯s reply, Su Chen was simrly confident in setting out to the northwest.

    The order was spread far and wide for the Seven Kingdoms to muster up all their resources and manpower and to prepare to fight together with the Boundless Sect.

    The Boundless Sect was not moving on their own this time.

    This was also the first time that the Boundless Sect was publicly utilizing their connections with all the other human kingdoms.

    After a brief period of ¡°struggle,¡± all the countries agreed, including the Gu n¡¯s twelve ancestors. All of the human race¡¯s Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators and a majority of the Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators were mobilized.

    Two monthster.

    After making thorough preparations, the Boundless Sect officially set out for Illusion Fog City. The resident country¡¯s ruler, Du Qingxi, personally came to the city to greet them.

    A battle that was about to envelop half the continent was about to take ce.

 Book 7, 4: Advancing In A Straight Line

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 4: Advancing In A Straight Line</h4>

    Scarlet Fowl Mountains.

    This was an exceptionallyrge mountain range near Cloud Rising¡¯s border.

    This mountain range had once been known as the Golden Fowl Mountains. However, once it became a bastion of defense for Cloud Rising against the Beasts, much blood had been spilled here, which was why it was now known as the Scarlet Fowl Mountains instead.

    Cloud Rising experienced many small andrge Beast Waves every year.

    Tens of thousands of Beasts would invade by crossing the border and inflicting devastation on the nearby territory.

    Cloud Rising expended quite a bit of strength in order to repel the Beast Waves.

    They were the only country that reallycked the ability to attack any of the other countries. Ny percent of their military was necessary to hold the front lines.

    As such, Cloud Rising as a nation suffered immensely. Too many heroes and warriors had spilt their blood here. Theypletely disdained any internal squabbles and only desired to exterminate the Beasts. As such, their hope had always been that the various races would set aside their differences and focus on defeating the Beasts instead, but this hope had only ever been a fantasy.

    They were also the country that needed the most help. Most of the Lifesource Candles being produced in Empty Mountain were actually given to Cloud Rising and Greatwind, with Cloud Rising getting the majority of that share.

    The other countries would also often send reinforcements to aid Cloud Rising.

    This was a clear demonstration of just how difficult it was for Cloud Rising to maintain its borders.

    As such, when the Boundless Sect called for the unification of the Seven Kingdoms in order tounch a counterattack, Du Qingxi resisted very little. Even though he didn¡¯t like the fact that the Boundless Sect seemed to be overriding his authority, the opportunity to join hands and deal with these Beasts was not something he could pass up. He had made the correct ethical choice.

    An unprecedentedlyrge army was gathered today at the border of this no-man¡¯snd.

    1,300 armored Dragon Boats floated in the sky, battle drums beat steadily, and banners were waved as the army steadily advanced, their forces stretching as far as the horizon.

    At the center of the Dragon Boat floti was a giant floating pce being towed by thirty six massive Dragon Boats.

    The Boundless Pce.

    This Boundless Pce was new and improved.

    The new pce was muchrger, to the point that it was almost the size of one of the Harpies¡¯ miniature fortresses.

    In fact, the pce did have the aura of a fortress. Its defensive and offensive capabilities were already quite impressive; now that Su Chen had made further modifications to it, its functionalities had been enhanced. The Boundless Sect¡¯s power was too great, however, meaning that no one had yet forced out the Boundless Pce¡¯s true power yet.

    As such, the pce¡¯s symbolic meaning was more important than its practical use.

    In other words, it was mostmonly being used to hold meetings.

    A groundbreakingly great meeting was taking ce in the pce.

    The meeting was great not in terms of its attendance but because of the identities of those participating.

    Su Chen, Chu Yuan, Li Wuyi, Jiang Jusheng, Feng Zhuying, Du Qingxi, Cheng Qikong, Gu Xinrong, Gu Qingsong, etc. were all present. They were existences that stood at the very peak of the human race, and each one was powerful enough to cause the earth to tremble beneath them.

    As the Sect Master, Su Chen unquestionably sat at the very top seat. Even though he was the youngest amongst all of them, his status was undeniable.

    Most shockingly, beside Su Chen sat a white-haired old man.

    The old man appeared withered, and his eyes seemed lifeless. His facial hair was wispy and unkempt, and he amazingly held a long-stemmed pipe in his hand from which he would take asional puffs. The smell was extremely choking; obviously, he was not smoking any high-quality substances.

    However, not a single person amongst them showed any sign of discontent with this arrangement.

    Because his name was Gu Huiming.

    He was the oldest living ancestor of the Gu n. Actually, it was perhaps urate to say that he was the ancestor of everyone present.

    He was one of the Glorious Emperor¡¯s sons!

    After the Illustrious Divine Dynasty had fallen, most of the Gu n¡¯s members had been ughtered. Only a single inheritor of the bloodline was spared: Gu Huiming.

    At that time, he was only a three-year-old child.

    The fact that he had survived until now meant that he had lived 3,600 years already. This was most likely the limit achievable by any human, and only someone with the power of the Shining Dragon Bloodline could aplish such a feat.

    It was not wrong to say that every member of the Gu n had inherited his bloodline and that they were all rted to him in one way or another, to the point that even the official records couldn¡¯t keep track of how exactly they were rted. As such, everyone just referred to him respectfully as Ancestor. That was the case for Gu Qingluo, and even for Gu Xinrong and the other twelve Gu n elders.

    In fact, even the rulers of the seven countries needed to refer to him as such.

    Naturally, Su Chen himself was no exception.

    Su Chen originally had no intention of inviting him along on this expedition to attack the Beasts. This Ancestor was actually quite like a Deste Beast in the sense that most of the time he was in hibernation, attempting to keep himself as healthy as possible. His only goal was to live as long as he could and surpass the limit of three thousand years that had gued most of the other members of the Gu n.

    And he had indeed done so. Before him, the longest-living Gu n member had only survived to around 3,200 years old.

    But this old ancestor suddenly seemed to change his mind and, instead of focusing on cultivating his lifespan, he had decided to apany everyone else on this journey.

    This had caught Su Chen off-guard.

    There was nothing he could do but helplessly ept.

    Thankfully, the old fellow made no trouble for Su Chen. He had lived for such a long time that his view was quite generous, and didn¡¯t bother interfering with small matters. Even during these meetings, he would rarely speak. Su Chen didn¡¯t need to do anything but endure the stifling smokeing out of the old man¡¯s pipe.

    ¡°Past the Scarlet Fowl Mountains is the Azure Mountains. That¡¯s when we¡¯ve officially entered Beast territory. Currently, there are three Beast leaders near our borders - the Red-Eyed Demonic Emperor, the Purple Heart Demonic Emperor, and the Crow Skyking,¡± Du Qingxi said, who was sitting just below Gu Huiming.

    He was seated there not because he was the strongest, but because he understood this region the best.

    ¡°Crow Skyking?¡± Upon hearing this name, Su Chen grew interested.

    Skyking was a unique title amongst the Beasts used to refer to those Demonic Beasts who hadn¡¯t yet cultivated to the point of bing a Demonic Emperor but whose strength had already reached that point. Just like how Sovereigns were exceptionally powerful Demonic Emperors, Skykings were exceptionally powerful Demonic Kings.

    The fact that this Skyking had split its territory with two other Demonic Emperors was a clear indication of just how powerful it was. It was most likely far superior to others at the same cultivation level, which was what had allowed it to keep this status.

    And Su Chen¡¯s interest in such a creature was far greater, because as soon as it reached the level of a Demonic Emperor it would immediately be a Sovereign.

    A future Sovereign in the making.

    It was always better to kill these kinds of umon creatures as early as possible.

    ¡°Yes, the Crow Skyking. Its main body is that of a shadowy crow, and it is frighteningly strong. Apparently, it is capable of sending a target into the Shadow Realm,¡± Du Qingxi said.

    ¡°Drag its target into the Shadow Realm......¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    If it did truly have that kind of ability, no wonder it was considered a Skyking.

    This was simr to how Su Chen could send weaker targets into the void. As soon as they went inside, they would immediately die as long as theycked anyprehension of spatial Method Power - even if they were a Sovereign. However, Su Chen found such a tactic somewhatcking. It was quite difficult to move Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators, and would cost quite a bit of energy to do so. Weaker opponents could simply be dealt with by a single finger strike.

    This Crow Skyking, however, was obviously unique. If it could use such techniques on a whim, then its strength in this regard was no weaker than Su Chen¡¯s. Most likely, it hadprehended some degree of shadow-type Method Power.

    Yet again, it was unsurprising that such a creature had be a Skyking.

    Perhaps this Skyking was even more terrifying than the two Demonic Emperors.

    ¡°These three leaders each have their own territory,¡± Du Qingxi said as he drew in the air with his finger. Very rapidly, andscape appeared, demonstrating his artistic skill. And even though the drawing was clearly made out of Origin Energy, each color was distinct, causing thendscape to seeminglye alive.

    Three red circles were spread out, indicating the locations of these leaders.

    ¡°Right now, we have two different paths to take. One is we can go straight through the Clearwood Forest and get right to the heart of the issue, but that path makes it easy for us to be ambushed on all sides. The other possibility is to take a roundabout path by seizing Azure Dragon Peak first and killing the Red-Eyed Demonic Emperor, then going to Watercloud Stream and killing the Purple Heart Demonic Emperor before returning to Clearwood Forest. This will take us longer to do, but it is also the safer choice.

    Upon hearing this, Jiang Jusheng said disdainfully, ¡°Brother Du, we have amassed such arge army already. Do we really fear being ambushed by Demonic Emperors? That¡¯s like an elephant being afraid of three ants getting in its way.¡±

    Upon hearing this, everyone chuckled.

    Yes, three Demonic Emperors were in fact quite weakpared to the strength and numbers of the human army.

    Jiang Jusheng was not actually trying to mock anyone; he was trying to curry favor with someone instead.

    After all, he had directly offended Su Chen. Now that the Boundless Sect had more than demonstrated their strength, he was quite uneasy and did his best to improve the rtionship.

    Actually, Jiang Jusheng had been the most vocal person about agreeing to the alliance, and his agreeableness exceeded even that of Du Qingxi.

    Unfortunately, even though he was doing his best to make his presence known, Su Chen continued to treat him with the same lukewarmness that he treated everyone else.

    Upon hearing Jiang Jusheng¡¯s mocking, Du Qingxi blushed. ¡°I know that we are not afraid of their ambush. But the Beasts themselves are skilled in guerri tactics and will use the forest¡¯s terrain to their advantage. If we are ambushed there, we will have to pay a price even if we win. We still have no idea what kinds of troubles we will run into on this journey, so it¡¯s better for us to minimize casualties at that moment.¡±

    Jiang Jusheng still wanted to say something, but Su Chen intervened. ¡°You are right, Emperor Du, but while limiting casualties is important, time is even more important.¡±

    Time?

    Everyone nced at Su Chen.

    Su Chen calmly said, ¡°This battle is not only meant to deal with the Beasts but also to deal with the Harpies. We are going to fight with the Harpies at Skywild ins. Whoever gets there first will be able to seize the initiative. As such, we not only need to proceed in a stable fashion but also quickly! Only by passing through these areas as soon as possible will we be able to have the advantage at the Skywild ins.¡±

    Upon hearing this, everyone simultaneously nodded. ¡°Understood!¡±

    Without question, Su Chen had chosen the simplest strategy.

    Advance in a straight line!

    At the same time, Sky City also began to rumble towards the West.

    Inparison to the Boundless Sect¡¯s massive armies, Sky City¡¯s grandeur spoke for itself.

    Their method of dealing with their opponents was even simpler - they would just steamroll their way through with the city.

    On the third day of the expedition.

    The Harpies encountered their first foe.

    Sky Castle unleashed a vicious bombardment, instantly killing the Demonic Emperor leading the attack.

    The Harpies had managed to im first blood.

    At this point in time, the Boundless Sect had only just reached Clearwood Forest, but they ran into no resistance whatsoever.

    The three Emperors had all fled.

 Book 7, 5: Flying Moon

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 5: Flying Moon</h4>

    War was veryplicated.

    War was also very simple.

    It wasplicated because there was a dazzling number of different strategies that could be used. The different divisions of power in those armies and the ability of some Origin Qi Schrs to fly had greatly increased the variety of tactics that could be used inbat.

    It was simple because no matter how many different tactics were avable,the foundation that decided victory and defeat was strength!

    Strength was the source of everything!

    When the gap in strength reached a certain level, no amount of scheming couldpensate.

    This was why the three Emperors had all chosen to flee without second thought. The same thing was taking ce to the north - Sky City¡¯s invincibility had caused the other Demonic Emperors to flee. The city was basically a gigantic armored weapon that was carving a path through Beast territory.

    One one side was an invincible army, and on the other was an invincible armored weapon. The two groups simultaneously invaded Beast territory from two different starting locations, quickly sending them packing.

    Demonic Beasts were fleeing from the forests, the wilds, and the mountains.

    A giant wave of retreating Demonic Beasts swept towards the northwest of the continent.

    This was a sight that had not been seen on the Primordial Continent for tens of thousands of years. The Beasts had always been the ones forcing the Intelligent Races to retreat, but today was the day that the Intelligent Races was turning the tables on them.

    ¡°We have never been humiliated like this before!¡± a red-eyed Demonic Emperor with arge horn roared unwillingly as he retreated along with the rest of the Beasts.

    The speaker was the Red-Eyed Demonic Emperor, whose body was that of a giant python.

    ¡°So what if we don¡¯t want to retreat? The humans are too powerful. If we don¡¯t want to die, we can only run. Even if the sky falls on us, we have someone strong to hold it up for us. Everything will be easily resolved as long as we can reach the Flying Moon Emperor,¡± a Demonic Emperor with a slightly purplish face said.

    This speaker was the Purple Heart Demonic Emperor, a purple-blooded fox.

    The creature that was floating in the sky and seemed to be shrouded in darkness was naturally the Crow Skyking.

    At that moment, the Crow Skyking suddenly said, ¡°We¡¯re not going there.¡±

    Hm?

    The two emperors nced at him.

    Even though the Crow Skyking was one cultivation realm lower than them, his strength and intelligence made him their de facto leader.

    The decision to retreat had been given by the Crow Skyking.

    The Red-Eyed and Purple Heart Demonic Emperors knew that the Crow Skyking wouldn¡¯t say this without a good reason, so they waited to hear what he had to say next.

    The Crow Skyking continued, ¡°The humans have mobilized en masse. A Sovereign alone will not be able to withstand their might. When you factor in the Boundless Sect¡¯s sudden rise to power, and the fact that even the Astrals were defeated, even a few of our Sovereigns joining hands might still lose.¡±

    The Red-Eyed Demonic Emperor spoke up. ¡°But even if the Sovereigns can¡¯t drive them back, surely the Deste Beasts can. Right?¡±

    The Deste Race that the Red-Eyed Demonic Beast was referring to were naturally the Demonic Beasts.

    Even though Deste Beasts could be found hibernating almost anywhere, most of them were concentrated in Beast territory.

    No one could say for sure just how many Deste Beasts and Origin Beasts were slumbering in their half of the continent, but the number was definitely not a low one.

    During the height of the Illustrious Divine Dynasty, they had attacked the Demonic Beasts many times, defeating quite a few of them and prating deep into their territory.

    However, they were always forced to retreat.

    Because of the awakening of the Deste Beasts.

    Of the nine Deste Beasts that the human race had managed to ughter, seven had died under these kinds of circumstances.

    Without the protection of the Deste Beasts and the Origin Beasts, the Demonic Beasts would have been wiped out a long time ago.

    Both the Arcana Kingdom and the Illustrious Divine Dynasty had both had a few opportunities to destroy the Demonic Beasts, but they had all failed because of these slumbering Beasts.

    It was hard to say how many Deste and Origin Beasts were still hibernating in Beast territory, but until they had all died, the Demonic Beasts¡¯ stronghold would remain unshakeable.

    Perhaps they were not able to utilize this power to attack, but their defenses were virtually impregnable.

    As such, the Demonic Beasts didn¡¯t really mind the attacks of the Intelligent Races. They were well aware of just how many Deste Beasts were still alive in their territory.

    There were more than enough to make those who were arrogant enough to try and invade their territory regret their foolish decision.

    Even so, the Crow Skyking didn¡¯t seem to care. He said, ¡°So what? You and I don¡¯t even have our own territory anymore. If we try to join the Flying Moon Emperor, what do you think he will do to us? If we station our armies with his, he will probably just use us as cannon fodder. We will just be their footstools if we go there. Without our territory, we have no prestige to speak of.¡±

    The Red-Eyed Demonic Emperor was greatly agitated. ¡°Weren¡¯t you the one who gave the order to retreat?¡±

    The Crow Skyking shot him a nce. ¡°Are you ming me?¡±

    The Red-Eyed Demonic Emperor froze.

    The Purple Heart Demonic Emperor hurriedly tried to smooth things over. ¡°Alright, alright, let¡¯s not squabble with each other. Crow, you know what Red-Eyed is like. He has a hard time controlling himself.¡±

    The Crow Skyking harrumphed.

    The Demonic Beasts would develop a human-like intelligence after bing Demonic Emperors, but their unique upbringing would usually result in all kinds of strange temperaments.

    Some Demonic Emperors were easily angered, some were extremely lustful, some were impulsive, and some werezy.

    These were their instinctual temperaments that were virtually impossible to restrict even after they gained intelligence.

    The Red-Eyed Python was one of the easily angered types. Sometimes it didn¡¯t even take a spark for him to explode.

    The Crow Skyking was more than aware of this w of his and dropped the matter. All he said was, ¡°The humans are advancing in a straight line. It doesn¡¯t seem as if they are nning on turning aside until they run into a powerful opponent. If that¡¯s the case, they will reach Flying Moon very soon. Our avoiding him is actually avoiding the battle.¡±

    Purple Heart was delighted. ¡°Yes, we should let the humans and Flying Moon devour each other while we attack from a different direction.¡±

    ¡°Retreat?¡± The Crow Skyking shot him a nce. ¡°No, we are not going to retreat.¡±

    What?

    The two Emperors were stunned.

    The Crow Skyking nced at the Beasts assembled below and said, ¡°We are going to advance. We¡¯ll go around to human territory.¡±

    ¡°To human territory?¡± the Red-Eyed and Purple Heart Demonic Emperors cried out simultaneously.

    ¡°Yes, to human territory!¡± The Crow Skyking nodded. ¡°Since the humans have mobilized en masse to attack, their territory must be lightly guarded. We will topple their old home!¡±

    Upon hearing this, the two Demonic Emperors were overjoyed.

    ¡°What a brilliant n!¡±

    ¡°Now we will have lots of tender human meat to eat!¡±

    All of the Beasts began tough.

    While the three Emperors were discussing their secret n, the human armies were continuing their relentless advance.

    Even though they were on the offensive, all they seemed to be doing was walking.

    Any creature with or without intelligence had fled before the might of this staggeringly powerful army.

    There was nothing Su Chen could do about this - the human army¡¯s strength was simply too great and impossible to conceal, and he would never split up their forces so that the Demonic Beasts wouldn¡¯t be afraid. All he could do was send out a few scouts before the main armies arrived.

    However, the Demonic Beasts had quite an boratework of information, and some even had certain kinds of observation skills that allowed them to sense the movements of the humans very early on. As such, each sessive wave of Beasts fled more quickly than thest.

    Of course, not everyone was able to escape.

    Some never got word, some reacted too slowly, some were unlucky, and others had foolishly decided to stand their ground...... The army encountered all kinds of different Beasts, who were then swiftly discarded like leaves in the wind.

    This feeling of mowing through the enemies was actually quite satisfying.

    The human army continued to steamroll anything and everything that got into their way, no matter how powerful or strange or grotesque. Some soldiers did in fact feel it was a pity that there weren¡¯t enough Beasts to kill.

    Cloud Rising and Greatwind¡¯s soldiers were the most excited.

    They had fought with the Beasts for countless years, suffering from their attacks annually. In fact, they had almost instinctual physical reactions to the phrase ¡°Beast Wave¡±.

    Now that they had a chance to retaliate and turn the tables, it was only natural that they were so excited. They were finally able to exact revenge for the countless loved ones they had lost to the ws and fangs of these damned Beasts. Not a single one was spared.

    Norge-scale conflicts broke out, but there were plenty of skirmishes that didn¡¯t attract the interest of any of the higher-ups.

    All of them felt a bit bored.

    Some even joked that this offensive was more like a race - whoever ran faster would be closer to victory.

    Of course, they knew that this was only a joke.

    The Demonic Beasts would never allow them to continue unopposed like this forever. The only difference was when the counterattack would begin.

    But one thing was certain - this counterattack was not going to be a stopgap measure. The retreating Beasts were constantly increasing in numbers, and they would definitely try and fight back at some point. As such, the battle would definitely be great as soon as it broke out.

    Themanders continued to make their preparations.

    Would the Flying Moon Emperor attack on his own? Would he try to run? Would he join up with the other three Emperors to attack them together? Would he awaken one or more Deste Beasts? The discussion was seemingly endless.

    Some people even began to ce bets on the possibilities.

    The odds of the Flying Moon Emperor taking them on alone were one to four.

    The odds of him running were one to two.

    The odds of a Deste Beast attacking were one to twenty.

    It was statistically unlikely that they would run into a Deste Beast during the first encounter.

    The reason for this was very simple: when Deste Beasts were awakened, they would begin to die. As such, Deste Beasts would never be awakened unless the Beasts were in dire straits.

    A Deste Beast would probably squash the Beasts that had tried to awaken it if they didn¡¯t even try to fight first.

    Flying Moon Emperor was most likely to run.

    After all, he was only a Sovereign. There was no way that he would be able to withstand the human army¡¯s onught.

    Not to mention that the humans had quite a few Sovereign-level powers on their side as well.

    Su Chen was one, the old Gu n Ancestor Gu Huiming was another, and Gu Changsheng and Gu Feihong were also qualified to be considered at that tier as well. Including the Void Seahorse, that made a total of five Sovereign-level powers.

    A single Sovereign paled significantly inparison.

    Even so, not everything would always go ording to n.

    After traveling for about twenty days or so, the human army arrived at the Moon-Gazing Mountain.

    This was the Flying Moon Emperor¡¯s territory.

    The Flying Moon Emperor¡¯s main body was that of a rabbit. It lived on top of the mountain for most of its life, gazing at the moon in the sky.

    Below him were countless Demonic Beasts gazing up at him in simr fashion.

    This was where the name Moon-Gazing Mountain came from.

    When the human army arrived, they saw that the Beasts had gathered in extremely high concentrations and were arrayed in formation against them.

    This Flying Moon Emperor had chosen to stand his ground and fight!

 ?Book 7, 6: Climbing a Mountain

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 6: Climbing a Mountain</h4>

    Su Chen felt some suspicion about the Flying Moon Emperor¡¯s decision.

    It was impossible for him not to be suspicious.

    But regardless of how he felt, he couldn¡¯t possibly refuse his opponent¡¯s disy of goodwill by backing off.

    As such, he waved his hand, giving control of the army over to Du Qingxi.

    Du Qingxi was the emperor of Cloud Rising. He was quite familiar with dealing with the Beasts, so his understanding of their behavior was the greatest. As such, handing over the reins to him was not a downgrade.

    Du Qingxi didn¡¯t disappoint. Even though he was individually very strong, he didn¡¯t make any brash moves. Instead, he calmly sent out twenty thousand Origin Qi Schrs at a time, one group from the Seven Kingdoms and the other from the Boundless Sect, and pincered the oing army between them.

    Even so, twenty thousand Origin Qi Schrs at once was quite a show of force.

    The situation on the battlefield began to intensify.

    At that moment, however, Su Chen had no interest in watching how the battle was about to y out.

    They would just be trading blows and sending waves of elemental power at each other, with wind, fire, and lightning flying all over the ce, filling the sky with multicolored light as blood rained down from the sky. After all, this battle was nothing out of the ordinary.

    This was why Su Chen didn¡¯t have much interest in it.

    He sat on the Boundless Pce¡¯s throne as he rested his head on his hand, seemingly thinking about something.

    He sat there quietly for some time as time passed.

    It wasn¡¯t until dusk began to fall when the mor outside started to die down.

    It appeared as if the battle was ending soon.

    The fact that no one had reported anything to him or sounded any rms meant that the human army had kept everything under control.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, he asked, ¡°How does it look out there now?¡±

    A disciple responded, ¡°The Flying Moon Emperor was defeated and is fleeing.¡±

    So they had won yet another easy victory?

    There was no trap or scheme being sprung. This Flying Moon Emperor¡¯s actions appeared to be both idiotic and conceitedly overconfident. Of course, there were quite a few Demonic Beasts who possessed such a temperament.

    However, Su Chen¡¯s brow only continued to furrow.

    An explosion of cheers suddenly burst forth from outside.

    The Demonic Beasts¡¯ final defenses had been destroyed. The humans hadpletely routed the Beasts, and they were celebrating their victory.

    This was the first battle the humans had fought against the Beasts, which was why their spirits were so high.

    Su Chen, however, remained calm.

    ¡°Sect Master, we won!¡± Cheng Tianhai dered with excitement as he strode into the hall.

    ¡°Oh,¡± Su Chen murmured in response.

    Cheng Tianhai was taken aback. ¡°Sect Master, are you unhappy about something?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Not really, but I just don¡¯t think that there¡¯s much to be happy about.¡±

    Cheng Tianhai was befuddled by Su Chen¡¯s words and scratched the back of his head. ¡°Not much to be happy about? What does that mean?¡±

    Jun Moxie sighed, ¡°A single Demonic Emperor and two hundred thousand Demonic Beasts are worth getting this excited over? Ourbined strength is enough to defeat them with a casual swipe of the hand. Is there any glory to a victory like this? You¡¯re the only one hollering and making a racket like this, as if it was all due to your efforts. No one else is surprised that we steamrolled over them like ants. Winning is to be expected; losing would be the real cause for surprise. There¡¯s no need to be so excited over a victory like this - you should be letting out a sigh of relief instead.¡±

    Cheng Tianhai was startled. ¡°Oh, that does make sense.¡±

    His excitement seemed to have dampened quite a bit.

    Su Chen muttered, ¡°Two hundred thousand Demonic Beasts? Just sent to the ughter like this......? Moxie, do you feel like there¡¯s anything wrong with this situation?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Jun Moxie replied. ¡°The Demonic Beasts that died were all low-level Beasts. Surprisingly, we only killed twenty Demonic Lords, a single Demonic King, and no Demonic Emperors. This strength is clearlycking somewhat.¡±

    A Sovereign typically had five to ten Demonic Emperors under theirmand. The most powerful ones could even have up to thirty under their control. Each Demonic Emperor would rule over countless Demonic Kings and Lords.

    It was indeed strange that only twenty Demonic Lords and a single Demonic King had died in this battle.

    Obviously, Jun Moxie and the others had realized this as well, which was why they were showing no signs of excitement over winning the battle.

    Lin Shaoxuan stepped inside as well. ¡°We¡¯ve confirmed that the Flying Moon Emperor did in fact only have around two hundred thousand subordinates, but he has far more Demonic Kings and Lords under hismand. Obviously, they had sacrificed all of their mid- to low-tier grunts so that they could escape.¡±

    ¡°Well, that makes things interesting. Why would they do that?¡± Du Qingxi walked over as well.

    Now that the battle was over, everyone was beginning to return, causing the hall to grow noisy.

    Everyone had their own guesses about the Sovereign¡¯s seemingly illogical actions.

    ¡°Maybe he wants to test our strength?¡±

    ¡°Test our strength with two hundred thousand subordinates? Even if they are primal, they have some kind of intelligence, okay?¡±

    ¡°Maybe they¡¯re using our hand to get rid of dissenters,¡± someone else suggested.

    ¡°If they were just trying to get rid of dissenters, then they should have dealt with some Demonic Emperor and its disobedient subordinates, instead of sacrificing all of their low-level strength. Are all the dissenters in your n of such low status?¡±

    ¡°Then perhaps he was tired of ruling over all of them and wanted to make an exit from this responsibility.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s why he took with him a bunch of Demonic Emperors, Kings, and Lords, right? What an insightful train of thought.¡± Obviously, this suggestion was being ridiculed as well.

    Ideas flew back and forth, but not a single one seemed to match up.

    Finally, it was Su Chen who said calmly, ¡°Sometimes, after you¡¯ve eliminated all possibilities, the one that seems the most improbable is the one that is actually true.¡±

    Feng Zhuying said, ¡°Sect Master, you mean......¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Flying Moon wanted these Beasts to die!¡±

    Everyone turned to nce at each other.

    Flying Moon wanted his subordinates to die? Why?

    Li Chongshan lowered his head in thought for a moment before he said, ¡°Is it to get a reaction out of the Deste Beasts?¡±

    Someone immediately shot down that idea. ¡°Deste Beasts will only awaken when the Demonic Beasts are pushed into dire straits. The death of two hundred thousand Demonic Beasts doesn¡¯t yet qualify. Flying Moon would have sacrificed his foot soldiers in vain.

    ¡°Then are they a sacrifice?¡± Gu Qingluo suddenly asked.

    ¡°A sacrifice to what?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. But this appears to be the most logical conclusion we can draw at this point,¡± Gu Qingluo replied.

    Li Wuyi, who was standing off to the side, nodded. ¡°Sect Master¡¯s wife makes a good point. If we must find a reason, this is the one that makes the most sense.¡±

    ¡°But there was no sacrificial altar or Origin Formation near the battle, and we didn¡¯t sense any peculiar Origin Energy fluctuations either,¡± Du Qingxi immediately said.

    As the overseer of the battle, what he feared the most was some kind of secret underground formation waiting to trap them. As such, he had dispatched countless scouts to closely observe the surroundings and prevent any idents from taking ce. He did in fact have a right to speak on such matters.

    Without an altar or an Origin Formation upon which the sacrifices could beid, this theory held no water.

    Themanders once again began to discuss amongst themselves but still failed toe to an agreement.

    Finally, Su Chen spoke yet again. ¡°I don¡¯t know why it chose to do this, but I do know that no matter what our enemies are trying, we will not shrink back in fear. Since we can¡¯t tell what our enemies are preparing, we will continue to advance. Any schemes will reveal themselves eventually. As long as we continue to execute our n, nothing the enemy does will be able to harm us significantly.¡±

    Tens of thousands of years of fighting had given the humans quite a bit of experience in dealing with such enemies. As long as they followed that n closely, they would be able to mitigate the damage of even the most dangerous ambush.

    Since they didn¡¯t know what their opponent¡¯s goal was, Su Chen decided to fearlessly stay the course in response to all these possibilities.

    Even so, the reality was that their enemies truly didn¡¯t have any special tactics up their sleeves.

    No unexpected situation had urred on the battlefield, and nothing had been discovered by the scouts. It appeared as if the Flying Moon Emperor hadpletely given up on controlling the area and, after gifting the majority of his subordinates to the human army, had fled, leaving behind his riches and treasures.

    The territory itself was abundant in natural resources.

    All kind of precious herbs could be found within its forests, its mountain ranges, and its canyons. To the Intelligent Races, these nts and herbs were exceptionally rare, but to the Beasts they weremonce.

    Some disciples managed to find quite a few Corpse Spirit Flowers when digging through some sinister cave. Those flowers had been responsible for starting Su Chen¡¯s path of cultivation.

    The Beasts themselves were also treasures.

    Two hundred thousand Beast corpses were worth a small fortune. The disciples efficiently skinned the carcasses, ate their flesh, and used them to boil soup, refine pills, and construct tools. As a result of this battle, the human army had made a haul of many formerly rare resources, making morale quite high - indeed, killing Beasts was much more satisfying than killing Astrals.

    Apart from these naturally-urring resources were the treasures in the Flying Moon Emperor¡¯s pce.

    Unfortunately, almost all of the treasures within the pce had been taken with the Flying Moon Emperor. However, the pce itself was also quite valuable.

    As such, the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples decided to tear down the pce upon discovering that there were no treasures inside. The pce contained quite a few rare metals, which would be useful for refining tools.

    By the time all of this had been finished, it was already dark.

    Even though cultivators could see in the dark, Su Chen still gave themand to rest.

    They were all used to moving by day and resting by night. Even as Origin Qi Schrs, their habits were still maintained, such that they were used to performing most of their recovery routines at night.

    Su Chen paced through the camp, giving the soldiers as much time as he could to rest to ensure that their condition remained in tip-top shape.

    The night slowly passed by.

    Su Chen, however, had no heart to cultivate.

    He lifted up his head to gaze at the sky. A round, full moon hung in the sky amidst a ck backdrop.

    The moonlight shone down on the majestic Moon-Gazing Mountain. It did in fact look a little like a rabbit worshipping the moon.

    Apparently, the Flying Moon Emperor would perform this ritual every night and gaze at the moon. This mountain had thus been named after the rabbit¡¯s actions.

    An idea suddenly popped into his head, and he began to walk towards the Moon-Gazing Mountain.

    He didn¡¯t fly. Instead, he walked towards the mountain step-by-step, slowly ascending the mountain as the moonlight shone down on him.

 Book 7, 7: Ascension

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 7: Ascension</h4>

    At the top of Moon-Gazing Mountain was a tform nearly two hundred feet in diameter. Its surface was smooth and sleek, and it had obviously been sculpted by Origin Energy.

    A throne sat beside the stone tform - that throne almost certainly belonged to the Flying Moon Emperor.

    This throne, however, was arranged in an unorthodox fashion.

    The throne should have been facing away from the cliff to better meet with any guests who might ascend the mountain. That way, the Beasts would also be able to kneel when they entered.

    The stone throne, however, faced the cliff itself, two steps away from a plummeting drop.

    Even though Sovereigns could indeed fly into the sky and dig deep underground, setting up a throne that seemed to overlook nothing but empty space and ignoring the Beasts that would gather behind it was hard to get used to and seemingly illogical.

    Su Chen stepped around the back of the throne to get a look at its front.

    The throne was very simple. On its back had been carved a simple rabbit, which was facing towards the sky. Up in the sky hung a round moon.

    At first, Su Chen couldn¡¯t tell that anything was up with the moon, but the more he looked at it the more he felt that there was something subtly attention-drawing about the moon that was making it hard for him to avert his gaze.

    A sense of shock surfaced in Su Chen¡¯s heart as he quickly activated his microscopic eye.

    Even so, that throne seemed to be just as in as before, with nothing noteworthy appearing in Su Chen¡¯s field of view.

    That meant that the chair¡¯s strange effect was not on the Origin Energy level. If that was the case, then probing it on the consciousness level was next.

    When he thought of this, Su Chen deactivated his microscopic eye as a giant eye began to form behind him.

    The eye was dark and deep, carrying with it a hint of a mysterious aura.

    This was Su Chen¡¯s Heart Eye, a skill that he had gained from absorbing the knowledge of all those Astrals earlier. He had modified it so that it was specifically used for detection.

    Just as his microscopic eyes could see things on the microscopic scale, so also the Heart Eye could perceive entities existing in the consciousness realm.

    Su Chen immediately discovered that a strange entity appeared to be shrouding the throne. It was difficult for him to describe what it was exactly, but he could sense its presence.

    Its existence seemed a bit surreal, yet it was a certainty that it existed.

    This feeling made Su Chen tremble. When he nced at the throne again, the image inscribed on its back had begun to morph.

    It was as if he had suddenly been sent back in time.

    He watched as a rabbit sat on the throne, gazing up at the sky and worshipping the full moon above it.

    Behind it were countless Demonic Beasts bowing down in worship to him.

    Countless thin threads could be seen in the sky, connecting the moon and the worshipping rabbit. The strands then congealed to form a thick rope.

    Was this their moon-worshipping ceremony?

    Su Chen finally lifted his head to gaze at the sky.

    He turned and sat down on the throne, looking up at the sky as he fell deep into thought.

    Suddenly, golden talisman-like inscriptions burst forth from the throne. They appeared to be a mysterious script of some kind. Even so, Su Chen was immediately able to grasp the meaning behind the inscriptions and began to gently chant them under his breath. The strange, foreign sybles flowed from his mouth as the corresponding golden inscriptions began to dim. At the same time, a strand appeared connecting the moon and the throne.

    Su Chen continued his muttered recitation as parts of the golden script continued to fade, causing more and more strands to form.

    At that moment, Su Chen suddenly stopped.

    Instead, he opened his eyes and nced up at the moon in the sky.

    The moon, which had been hazy earlier, was now iparably clear.

    Su Chen¡¯s lips curled upwards in a sardonic smile. ¡°So that was your goal? I¡¯m afraid I must disappoint.¡±

    As he spoke, he gently swiped at the strands with his hand, deftly snapping them.

    Actually, they snapped not because of his gesture, but because he had stopped chanting the script. Without any power left to form, they could only snap.

    ROAR!

    Su Chen suddenly felt as if he was being assaulted by an invisible roar.

    This roar didn¡¯t actually exist in the physical realm, yet Su Chen was still able to sense it.

    It was as if some existence infinitely far away had let out a howl of rage.

    The golden inscriptions on the throne began to disappear, but this time instead of dimming they actually began to disintegrate.

    It was as if they had sustained some serious damage.

    Su Chen stood up from the throne. When he nced back at the moon, he realized that its attractiveness seemed to have faded slightly.

    Su Chen snapped his fingers. A hazy, ethereal scene appeared before his eyes.

    A rabbit appeared to be fleeing through the ins. It had finally managed to escape from the clutches of a pack of hungry wolves, and it was furiously digging a hole for itself using the remaining strength it had left.

    What it didn¡¯t realize was that this hole led to a deeper hole.

    The rabbit stumbled inside in a daze. All it saw was an image.

    A lone moon hung loftily in the sky, while countless creatures prostrated themselves to it in worship.

    The rabbit was confused. It couldn¡¯t fullyprehend what it was seeing due to its limited intelligence.

    All it could do was instinctively gaze up at the moon. Truth be told, this was not really worship but more so simple imitation.

    That was when countless golden characters surfaced in the air.

    The rabbit, which had never known how to talk, suddenly knew how to utter this strange chant.

    Then, afterwards......

    There was no more afterwards.

    The scene disappeared from view.

    Perhaps this was because he hadn¡¯tpleted his recitation of the golden script.

    But even if he couldn¡¯t see exactly what had happened, Su Chen was able to guess that this rabbit was most likely the Flying Moon Emperor.

    So this was the source of its growth.

    As for the moon.

    Su Chen chuckled as he nced up at the sky, muttering to himself, ¡°Gods, you really have been quite hard at work.¡±

    Even though they no longer existed in this world, the gods were still silently manipting the scenes in a hidden way.

    This clearly indicated that they had been driven away somehow in the past, yet were always thinking of returning here.

    Otherwise, none of these signs would exist.

    But what was it that had driven them away? Why did they want to return? How many gods were there? What kinds of skills did they have up their sleeves?

    Su Chen¡¯s brows furrowed even further.

    His best bet at answering those questions was probably Reaper Jia Luo.

    Even so, Reaper Jia Luo was no more than a mere soul fragment that had already lost a majority of its memories. Its consciousness body would need to be nourished first.

    That was not a difficult task. Even though the Astrals had already been exterminated, the Boundless Sect had kept some of them alive for research purposes, and there were still a few stragglers wandering the face of the continent. Most importantly, Su Chen had been given the consciousness extraction instrument, which could be used at any time.

    The only reason he was apprehensive of this method was because of Reaper Jia Luo¡¯s status.

    The consequences of restoring a god¡¯s power to them could be easily imagined.

    If a mere soul fragment had managed to take on such a terrifying appearance, what would the full strength of a god look like?

    Even so, Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but feel uneasy at not knowing why the gods had disappeared.

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s words echoed in his ears.

    This world was changing. The return of the gods was not far off.

    Changing!

    What exactly was changing?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t understand.

    Was it a reversion of Origin Energy?

    No, that couldn¡¯t be it.

    The Primordial Continent was not regaining energy. Su Chen, who could see Origin Energy, was clearly able to perceive this.

    But if it wasn¡¯t reverting, what else could have caused them to disappear?

    Was it not rted to the declining Origin Energy in this realm?

    Su Chen¡¯s suspicions only grew stronger.

    When he thought to this point, he nced back at the moon onest time before turning around to leave.

    He decided to feed Jia Luo a few consciousness bodies to see what memories it would divulge first. It was very likely, however, that this slippery fellow would not say anything even if it did remember, or that it would try and bargain for some kind of transaction (such as one secret per consciousness body it was allowed to devour).

    Su Chen pondered over the situation as he walked.

    Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.

    In that moment, he could clearly sense a powerful wave of energy suddenly surge from within his body.

    This feeling was difficult to describe. It was as if he had ingested an entire vial of powerful medicines and the medicinal power they contained was currently surging through his body. This sensation was quite familiar andforting, in some sense.

    Thisforting feeling continued to intensify. Su Chen knew that his physical body was being upgraded.

    This was an improvement in his fundamental essence.

    The feeling of ascending!

    Even though this feeling of ascension was not as clear as it had been when going from the Yang Opening Realm to the Light Shaking Realm or from the Thought Manifestation Realm to the Ultimate Emperor Realm, he knew he wasn¡¯t wrong about this feeling. Instead, it was as if he had made some kind of a small breakthrough, such as going from one Lotus tform to two.

    How could it be?

    Why was this happening?

    Su Chen waspletely mystified.

    How had he suddenly begun to ascend?

    He hadn¡¯t eaten or done anything, so why was he ascending now?

    There was no known realm above that of the Ultimate Emperor Realm. The only criteria for reaching the Ultimate Emperor Realm, after all, was the peculiar sensation that could only be found at the intersection between life and death.

    This was why there were no subdivisions to the Ultimate Emperor Realm.

    And because the profound secrets contained at this intersection were impossible to fully understand, advancing further was exceptionally challenging.

    But Su Chen was different. Even though the earlier sensation wasn¡¯t extremely powerful - rather, it felt more like a light breeze - his strength had instantaneously increased by a rtively significant amount. In fact, he felt as if he had gained ten years of strength in an instant.

    This made Su Chen quite suspicious.

    <i>Why did I suddenly ascend?</i>

    <i>And how did I do it while at the Ultimate Emperor Realm?</i>

    <i>Could it be because of the floating moon?</i>

    Su Chen was reminded of the Flying Moon Emperor.

    But that rabbit had worshipped day and night for years to reach its current state. None of its attainments had happened overnight. Su Chen¡¯s advance was equivalent to a lower-tier cultivator suddenly advancing hundreds of years along in their cultivation journey.

    Even gods couldn¡¯t possibly bestow such great power when they were still isted from this realm. Right?

    Not to mention that he hadn¡¯t even finished uttering the entire script.

    Upon thinking of this, Su Chen nced back down at his body. Suddenly, he realized that there was a faintly pulsating glowing light flowing through his body.

    ¡°This is......¡± Su Chen muttered.

    At first, he thought that this was some form of retribution from that moon god, but he quickly realized that was not the case.

    Because the light possessed no harmful intent. Instead, it remained there, silently supporting him.

    The power from earlier seemed as if it had not beenpletely used up yet.

    Su Chen attempted to perceive as much as he could about this strange energy.

    Suddenly, he realized something.

    ¡°Vitality Method Power?¡±

 Book 7, 8: Divine Power

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 8: Divine Power</h4>

    The power contained in the Ravagers¡¯ Totems was Method Power.

    Su Chen hadprehended certain amounts of Method Power from the other Totems he had obtained, with the exception of the Vitality Totem.

    That was because his level back then was too low, and he had no way ofprehending its power.

    As such, this Vitality Method Power hadin dormant within his body until its sudden activation due to these special circumstances.

    So the Vitality Method Power was what had been responsible for his ascension.

    Truth be told, at this point it didn¡¯t really matter if he ascended or not. There was virtually no Intelligent Race individual that posed a threat to him at this point.

    Even so, the implications of the ascension itself were quite deep.

    This implied that there was further room for growth, a hope for an even higher ne than the Ultimate Emperor Realm.

    And with no suitable opponents, Su Chen was unable to find joy in fighting his contemporaries any longer. It was only natural that his interests nowy in fighting the limits imposed by the Heavens.

    As such, Su Chen began to tackle this new challenge.

    Not only was he exterminating the Beasts and facing off against the Harpies, but he was even challenging the fundamental principles of the natural world......

    That was what he was pursuing.

    For this reason, this ascension was of even more importance than billions of Origin Stones. After all, discovering a new business direction was often worth more than cold hard capital.

    But why would the Vitality Method Power suddenly activate at this moment? Did it have something to do with the gods?

    Wait a moment!

    Su Chen suddenly thought of something and blurted out, ¡°It wasn¡¯t the gods!¡±

    He turned to stare at the stone throne again, unleashing his consciousness in all directions.

    This time, he perceived something he hadn¡¯t noticed the first time around.

    He had a strange sensation that seemed to walk the line between actually existing and not. Even so, he could sense that this feeling was seemingly merging with that of his own body, forming a mysterious connection.

    This connection was impossible to describe, as it was both real and yet not.

    This was the first thought that came to Su Chen¡¯s mind.

    Who could believe that something like this existed? Even so, Su Chen could sense that it was real.

    The reason he hadn¡¯t been able to perceive it earlier was because he hadn¡¯tprehended Vitality Method Power. Now, because his foundation had beenid, he was finally able to notice it.

    The existence of an even higher power!

    Su Chen had no idea what kind of power it was, but he knew that it was definitely rted to vitality. Otherwise, his noticing it wouldn¡¯t have depended on hisprehension of Vitality Method Power.

    Even so, that was far from all.

    Because he could sense that this power appeared to be bridging the stone throne and the moon.

    Finally, Su Chen understood why the Flying Moon emperor had sacrificed two hundred thousand of his subordinates.

    It was indeed offering them up as sacrifices!

    There was no need for an altar or an Origin Formation of any kind.

    The deaths of two hundred thousand Beasts would fill thisnd with this mysterious entity, which would then be corralled by the throne and directed towards the moon, eventuallynding in the hands of the moon god.

    So this was the power that the gods needed?

    They had been in as offerings to the gods!

    ¡°You were misfortunate to run into me!¡± Su Chen suddenly said as he unsheathed the Lightless de, shing at the stone throne.

    Bang!

    The stone throne was cut in two.

    ¡°NO!!!¡± a god in the shape of a moon howled from far outside the continent.

    Of course, Su Chen was unaware of this, and even if he was aware he wouldn¡¯t have cared.

    Now that the throne had been destroyed, he realized that the mysterious entity surrounding the throne was now entering into his body.

    Yes, his Vitality Method Power was attracting this mysterious substance that was very much rted to vitality.

    Without the moon to draw it, the mysterious entity automatically began to flow towards Su Chen. This was a good thing.

    Just as he was about to absorb it, however, a voice exploded next to him. ¡°Do not absorb it!¡±

    What?

    Su Chen was badly startled. He nced around but found no one around him.

    The voice that had spoken, however, was still echoing through his ears.

    Was it an illusion?

    No, that wasn¡¯t possible.

    Su Chen¡¯s consciousness was on par with an Astral¡¯s at this point. It was virtually impossible for him to be susceptible to any illusion at this point.

    Then what kind of person was capable of directly transmitting their voice into his ear?

    Wait a moment!

    That voice!!!

    Su Chen suddenly trembled.

    How familiar.

    It was as if he had heard it before.

    His gaze grew unfocused as his thoughts traveled back in time to his youth, to the time of bitter darkness.

    ¡°It¡¯s him!!!¡±

    Su Chen began to tremble uncontrobly.

    He gazed up at the sky and said, ¡°So you¡¯ve been watching me this whole time, right? You¡¯ve been watching me this whole...... Why? Why would you do that to me? Who are you? Show yourself!¡±

    ¡°Show yourself!

    ¡°Show yourself!

    ¡°Show yourself!

    Su Chen cried out seven or eight times repeatedly, his voice booming through the sky. Birds began to fly into the air from their nests in response.

    A few of the army¡¯s stronger individuals also sensed themotion and flew into the air, but before they could get anywhere, a powerful wave of pressure forced them back to the ground.

    Su Chen spoke. ¡°I¡¯m fine. I¡¯ll be back soon.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Sect Master.¡± Upon hearing his voice, everyone sighed.

    Then, their expressions grew strange.

    Gu Xinrong, Gu Qingshan, and Feng Zhuying, as well as Li Chongshan, were the ones who had flown into the air, yet they were easily forced back to the ground without even getting a glimpse of what was happening. That kind of a tale was simply inconceivable.

    Gu Xinrong said, ¡°That kid¡¯s strength has grown yet again.¡±

    Her age made her instinctively refer to Su Chen as ¡°that kid¡±.

    Li Chongshan was more worried about Su Chen. ¡°He didn¡¯t sound happy at all. It¡¯s as if someone pissed him off.¡±

    ¡°Strange. Who could do that to Sect Master?¡± Gu Qingshan waspletely stymied.

    But that cry of ¡°show yourself!¡± did make it seem as if he was somehow at a disadvantage.

    They couldn¡¯t make heads or tails of it.

    If that was the case, better not to waste too much time thinking about it anyways.

    Su Chen obtained no answer. There was nothing he could do but quietly observe the strange entity floating around him.

    Do not absorb it!

    That voice wrapped itself around Su Chen like a curse, throwing him into indecision.

    This energy was so pure and vast that it was definitely an upgrade over normal vitality energy. It was obvious that this energy was extremely good just based on the fact that the moon god had wanted it.

    But that voice had told him not to absorb it.

    Wait a moment. Was this energy needed by gods?

    ¡°Energy needed by gods...... Could it be that gods are gods precisely because of this kind of energy? So this is not the energy of gods but divine power?¡±

    Su Chen mulled over the situation carefully as his gaze slowly began to sharpen.

    Perhaps gods were extremely powerful, but where were they now?

    Outside of this realm!

    Perhaps divine power could make him a god, but what would happen after he became a god?

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know why that person was stopping him, but he at least knew that that person wasn¡¯t harming him. If it weren¡¯t for him, he would never have be the person he was today.

    Since that existence didn¡¯t want him to absorb it, then it was best not to absorb it.

    But......

    Giving up on it just like that wasn¡¯t Su Chen¡¯s style. If he could somehow collect it and do some research on it, that would naturally be for the best.

    But how to collect this divine power?

    Su Chen could sense that this divine power wouldn¡¯tst forever. Now that the throne had been destroyed, it would rapidly dissipate if Su Chen didn¡¯t try to absorb it.

    He needed to quickly think of something.

    Countless possibilities floated through Su Chen¡¯s mind.

    Got it.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up as he nced at the copsed stone throne.

    He reached out and pushed out against the strange throne as a strange chant began to flow from his mouth. It was precisely the same chant that Su Chen had uttered earlier.

    This time, however, the situation was reversed.

    Instead of the golden characters fading away as Su Chen chanted, they began to appear one after another.

    This script was clearly made of condensed divine power.

    The earlier script had been set in ce a long time ago by the moon god. They were most likely used forpleting the sacrifices and converting them into a usable form.

    This time, however, Su Chen had mixed up the order of the chant.

    After all, he was only using the chant to consolidate some of the divine power, converting what he had absorbed into this script so that not even a little was left in his body.

    That way, he would be able to keep the divine power around without absorbing it.

    As Su Chen chanted, the night slowly passed. Eventually, all of the divine power in Su Chen¡¯s body had been fully converted.

    He then used the stone throne to create a box. Upon the lid of the box was precisely the same moon as in the inscription.

    The throne had once been used for sacrificial purposes, storing and converting divine power. As such, it was exceptionally suitable for storing divine power. And with Su Chen present, the moon god could give up on his hopes of ever reconnecting with that power.

    The heavy stone box contained the script that Su Chen had formed.

    There were a total of 102 characters, each one containing dense amounts of divine power.

    But because of the density of power, it was impossible to fit the box in his Origin Ring.

    After taking care of the matter, Su Chen descended from the mountain. He found Li Chongshan and the others already standing there waiting for him.

    ¡°Sect Master, what exactly happened on that mountain?¡± Li Chongshan asked with concern.

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s better not to ask.¡±

    As he spoke, he turned around, intending on returning to the pce.

    ¡°Sect Master Su, can you let this old man have a look at the box you¡¯re holding in your hand?¡± Gu Huiming suddenly said.

    His eyes were fixated on that box, as if he could sense something.

    Even Su Chen had to show some respect to this ancestor.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, he handed it over.

    Gu Huiming, however, didn¡¯t take it. All he did was get close to take a look.

    His face drew closer and closer until it was almost brushing the box as he muttered, ¡°I just want to look, not touch...... not touch......¡±

    As he spoke, the box opened slightly.

    A streak of golden light shot out of the box and into Gu Huiming¡¯s eye.

    ¡°AH!¡± Gu Huiming yelled as he stumbled backwards.

    ¡°Ancestor!¡± everyone cried out at the same time as they reached out to support him.

    But before they could even get close, Gu Huiming suddenly tilted his head back as intense light began to shine from his eyes.

    ¡°HATRED!!!¡±

    Gu Huiming roared with rage as an image of a giant dragon surged to life from behind him, echoing his howl as it roared at the sky.

 Book 7, 9: Pursuit

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 9: Pursuit</h4>

    The Shining Dragon revealed a shockingly powerful aura as it roared fiercely and coiled up imposingly in the sky.

    At the same time, Su Chen¡¯s box responded by emitting a brilliant color, and it actually seemed to push back against the Shining Dragon¡¯s aura.

    This scenepletely stunned Li Chongshan and the others. Su Chen¡¯s eyes, however, glimmered in anticipation.

    He suddenly stowed the box away,pletely snuffing its light out all at once. The Shining Dragon, with its opponent having suddenly left, roared as it circled the sky onest time before leaving.

    ¡°Whew!¡±

    The Gu n ancestor¡¯s aura had obviously sharply declined as a result of his sudden exertion.

    Even though he had lived for a long time, his spirit had never waned. Now, however, he seemed to have aged a few hundred years in just a couple seconds, assuming the form of an old man.

    Gu Huiming let out a long sigh as he said, ¡°I never expected that the Clearheart Tranquility I maintained for my whole life would be shattered like this.¡±

    ¡°Ancestor!¡± Gu Xinrong and the other Gu n members all rushed over to support Gu Huimin.

    Only they knew that Gu Huiming¡¯s long lifespan was due to not only his Shining Dragon Bloodline, but also the fact that he cultivated the Clearheart Tranquility Art.

    No one had expected his cultivation art to be suddenly broken like this. Suddenly, arge chunk had been gouged out of Gu Huiming¡¯s lifespan.

    When the Gu n¡¯s members realized this, they all turned around and red at Su Chen, disregarding the fact that he was the Boundless Sect¡¯s Sect Master.

    Gu Huiming, however, nonchntly waved his hand. ¡°Forget it ¡ª this must be fate. Living this long is tiresome in its own right anyways. At least I can live out the rest of my days in a carefree manner now.¡±

    As he spoke, he stood up once again. His spirit began to rise as his body suddenly became youthful again.

    This time, however, everyone knew that he was merely putting up a facade.

    Su Chen bluntly asked, ¡°Ancestor, how much longer do you have?¡±

    Gu Huiming chuckled wryly. ¡°It¡¯s hard to say. I should be able tost for at least three to five more months, though. I can promise you that I will not die before your fight with Eternal Night. I still need to watch you single-handedly exterminate the Harpies.¡±

    Su Chen silently nodded.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about that right now. Do you know what that was?¡± Gu Huiming was obviously much more garrulous now that his Clearheart Tranquility cultivation art had been broken, and his aura was also beginning to rise.

    ¡°A divine script formed from divine power,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Indeed.¡± Gu Huiming didn¡¯t seem surprised by Su Chen¡¯s answer at all. ¡°Where did you get it?¡±

    Su Chen then described what had taken ce near the stone throne, as well as the Flying Moon Emperor¡¯s intention.

    ¡°So you¡¯re saying that the Flying Moon Emperor got his power from the Moon God? And that the two hundred thousand subordinates he gifted to us were actually sacrifices to the Moon God? And the divine script that you now possess was formed from those sacrifices?¡± Everyone was bemused when they heard this exnation.

    None of them could have ever imagined that there existed an additional kind of energy beyond Origin Energy.

    ¡°So what are the differences between divine power and Origin Energy?¡± Gu Qingluo asked the question on everyone¡¯s mind. ¡°Is it more powerful, or......?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°If this was just about strength and power, the difference would be negligible. After all, ack in strength can bepensated for with quantity. Origin Beasts and Vicious Beasts both use Origin Energy, but the gap between the two is immeasurable. Divine power is unique in that it is rted to Method Power.¡±

    Su Chen had only been able to sense the divine power afterprehending Vitality Method Power. Obviously, this divine power was somehow linked to the intrinsic essence of life in addition to Vitality Method Power.

    But this was something that Su Chen had only realizedter.

    As for how he could prove his conjecture, that was easy.

    Su Chen nced around him, picked out a nearby rock, and then quickly carved it into the shape of a statue. Then, he ced his hand on the statue and activated his God-Sealing Method Power.

    The statue creaked as it came to life.

    Su Chen¡¯s Method Power could confer consciousness onto inanimate objects. Everyone was already aware of this.

    But then, Su Chen opened the box in his hands, deftly extracted a single character, pped it onto the statue, and then closed the box, all in a single moment. The statue suddenly started trembling violently before it tilted its head back and let out a fierce roar. Its aura surged upwards rapidly.

    But Su Chen wasn¡¯t done yet.

    Next, Su Chen shed at the air, opening a fissure to the void, and then fearlessly put his hand inside. Everyone was stunned when they saw this ¡ª Su Chen¡¯s mastery of spatial Method Power had reached the point where he could open rifts as he pleased, which meant that he no longer needed Origin Rings to store his items.

    Su Chen¡¯s hand reappeared with a chunk of something in it.

    Refined Stargod Metal!

    The most precious metal on this continent! Unfortunately, it was so powerful that nobody knew of a way to properly use it.

    Today, however, Su Chen revealed that he had finally discovered how to use it.

    Su Chen withdrew yet another character of divine power and infused it into the chunk of Refined Stargod Metal, causing it to glow faintly. He then swiped his hand across the surface of the metal. Gold kes flew off and filled the air, as if Su Chen had blown off ayer of fine dust from the chunk of metal.

    The golden dustnded on the statue. Surprisingly, this caused the statue¡¯s aura to decline. Soon after, the statue returned to its initial dormant state. The only noticeable difference was that it had be a bitrger and heavier.

    Li Wuyi¡¯s eyes lit up.

    His Dream Beauty bloodline enhanced his perceptive abilities, which gave him the confidence to say, ¡°This puppet seems to be a Titan-ss puppet.¡±

    Titan-ss?

    Everyone was stunned.

    The human race possessed a total of four Titan-ss puppets, and they were both constructed from incredibly rare materials. They had to be powered by the Sark¡¯s Nuclei left behind by the Arcanists and were each extremelyplex automatons. This was why Su Chen had only ever constructed four of them.

    Now, however, he had seemingly created a Titan-ss puppet out of thin air in a matter of moments. Was this some kind of joke?

    ¡°We¡¯ll know for sure after we test it ourselves!¡± Chu Yuan said as he jabbed out at the statue with his finger.

    The statue made no attempt to dodge, and it simply endured the finger strike before countering with a fist of its own.

    Chu Yuan felt an immense pressure from this seemingly ordinary punch as it flew towards him. He gritted his teeth and responded with a punch of his own.

    Their simple exchange of blows sent frighteningly powerful shockwaves rippling in all directions.

    Boom!

    A violent storm of energy erupted everywhere.

    There was even a newly formed crater at the point of impact.

    Thankfully, everyone watching possessed the strength of an Ultimate Emperor Realm, even Gu Qingluo, which allowed them to endure the storm of energy unscathed.

    The statue then fell motionless once again, but Chu Yuan had disappeared.

    A momentter, Chu Yuan whizzed back over, his face slightly red ¡ª no matter how fast he was, he could not conceal the fact that a puppet had just sent him flying.

    ¡°That thing is definitely strong enough, but it seems a little dumb. If I actually fought against it, I would definitely win,¡± Chu Yuan said as he attempted to regain some of his pride.

    Su Chen chuckled as he shot him down. ¡°That¡¯s because it was just born. It hasn¡¯t had any time to learn yet.¡±

    ¡°Learn? That thing can learn?¡± Everyone was stunned.

    ¡°Naturally,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°I gave it consciousness, the divine power gave it incredible strength, and the Refined Stargod Metal gave it an incredibly tough body. With these three factorsbined, it has resulted in this puppet. That¡¯s why it can learn fighting techniques and cultivate Origin Skills. Right now, it¡¯s like an Ultimate Emperor child, and it needs some guidance before it will fully mature.¡±

    Su Chen nced at the statue, which was now kneeling by his side.

    Obviously, by giving it consciousness, Su Chen had undisputedly be its sole master.

    ¡°Divine power...... So this is divine power!¡± Gu Huiming muttered in shock. ¡°It really is as astoundingly powerful as Method Power.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then it must be true that gods once existed on the Primordial Continent,¡± Li Chongshan said.

    If divine power could control Method Power, then the two were definitely intrinsically linked. In other words, these banished gods were definitely not outsiders. They had almost certainly been born here. However, they had been forced to leave at a certain point in time for some unknown reason.

    The Origin Energy was thinning, the gods had left, the Origin Beasts had fallen into a deep slumber, and divine power was starting to fade.

    There was definitely something tying all these things together.

    All kinds of wild conjectures and possibilities came to mind. In fact, it wouldn¡¯t even be that surprising if there had been an earth-shattering fight that identally destroyed some ancient seal.

    Even so, there were still a few other mysteries about the gods that remained unresolved.

    Namely, what exactly were the gods doing behind the scenes, and what was the Eternal Treaty?

    It was possible to guess at the answers, but no real answer would be found until their journey reached the very end.

    The others seemed far more interested in the benefits they could reap from Su Chen¡¯s new discovery.

    ¡°How many more Titan-ss puppets can you make through this method?¡± Gu Xinrong asked.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°This puppet was made with abination of methods, including divine power, Method Power, and Refined Stargod Metal. Mobilizing Method Power is no problem for me, and not much Refined Stargod Metal is needed either. The main issue is divine power. The total amount of divine script that I possess is limited, and every Titan-ss puppet I create will consume two characters. I have a total of 102 remaining, which is enough for fifty-one Titan-ss puppets at most. If I take some for my own research, then I won¡¯t even have enough for fifty.¡±

    When they heard that Su Chen would be able to easily create close to fifty Titan-ss puppets, everyone couldn¡¯t help themselves from hissing in disbelief.

    These puppets were of the Titan ss! Each and every one of them was as strong as an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator.

    What would fifty Titan-ss puppets even look like?

    Some of them even thought to themselves, <i>You¡¯re already invincible. What¡¯s the point in bing even stronger?</i>

    Others, however, were unhappy with Su Chen¡¯s decision.

    Gu Xinrong said with obvious dissatisfaction, ¡°You would use these for research? What a waste.¡±

    Obviously, she thought that all of these characters would be better used to create Titan-ss puppets.

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°You don¡¯t understand the beauty of research at all.¡±

    Gu Xinrong red at him, about to explode with rage. But then, she suddenly remembered that he was already her superior, someone who could create fifty puppets just as strong as her with a simple gesture, and her anger quickly subsided.

    Gu Qingluo asked, ¡°So you formed these divine characters yourself? Does that mean that you¡¯ll be able to form more in the future?¡±

    That question hit at the crux of the issue.

    Su Chen thought for a moment, and then nodded slightly.

    When they saw him nod, everyone grew extremely excited. Only the emperors of the various countries felt a sense of despair creep up within their hearts ¡ª theirst shred of hope had just disappeared.

    The Boundless Sect was already terrifying enough, but Su Chen was developing at an even more terrifying rate. His strength had already reaching an indomitable level.

    But Su Chen went on to say, ¡°However, creating more divine script requires an equivalent sacrifice of lifeforms. These hundred or so characters were only formed from the sacrifice of two hundred thousand subordinates of the Flying Moon Emperor.¡±

    Gu Qingluo chuckled. ¡°We¡¯re killing a sea of Demonic Beasts anyways, aren¡¯t we?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Jiang Jusheng could no longer hold it in. ¡°How many more Titan-ss Puppets is the Boundless Sect nning on creating? Are the ones you already have not enough?¡±

    ¡°Enough? How could they possibly be enough?¡± Su Chen calmly replied, ¡°It might perhaps be enough to deal with you lot, but they are far too few in number if I want to take on the Deste Beasts, Origin Beasts, or even the gods.¡±

    Everyone was stunned by his ambition.

    They didn¡¯t know when Su Chen¡¯s goal had changed, but he was no longer looking at dominating the entire continent.

    Now that he had reached a higher ne of existence, it was only natural that his goals would ascend as well.

 Book 7, 10: Forbidden

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 10: Forbidden</h4>

    If he had power, he would use it.

    Su Chen unhesitatingly constructed forty-five additional Titan-ss puppets. In addition to the five that he already had, this made a total of fifty. As for the remaining ten characters, Su Chen left them for his own research.

    These fifty Titan-ss puppets were now one of Su Chen¡¯s greatest trump cards.

    But apart from those who had attended that particr meeting, no one else knew.

    Su Chen carefully concealed this secret, and imposed a strict rule saying that he would kill anyone who dared to divulge it.

    This was the first time he had threatened death upon anyone strong enough to lead a country.

    On that day, the army continued to advance, prating deeper into Beast territory.

    This ce was extremely wild and untamed. High mountains, towering forests, and many other naturally hazardous locations were scattered all throughout. Precious resources grew in abundance and flourished, practically lining the road wherever they went.

    As such, there were quite a few people who suggested to Su Chen that they should split up to harvest these resources more efficiently.

    However, Su Chen immediately shot down those suggestions.

    The battle at Skywild ins necessitated speed. Whoever got their first would have the advantage.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t want to slow down for the rtively meager profits before them, so he insisted on continuing to charge ahead relentlessly. Of course, taking into consideration everyone¡¯s need for resources, he assigned a thousand-man group to scout out their surroundings and harvest any resources they could find.

    ¡°Hanfeng, Hanfeng, did you hear? Sect Master is organizing a group of a thousand scouts to search for and harvest resources. They¡¯re taking volunteers right now!¡±

    Chang He scrambled over to Ye Fenghan as he yelled excitedly, ¡°We should go too. There will definitely be quite a few treasures to be found in this deste ce!¡±

    Ye Fenghan was practicing his sword techniques. His sword swayed and flickered faintly, but seemingly nothing had changed.

    Chang He stepped forward to grab him. ¡°Hey, say something.¡±

    His hand had been clearly ced on Ye Fenghan¡¯s shoulder, but in that moment his hand fell on empty air.

    Chang He was not surprised. He whirled around and grabbed behind him, but still missed.

    ¡°I refuse to believe that I can¡¯t touch you. Take this! And this! And this, and this, and this!¡± Chang He yelled as he began to dance around. Ye Fenghan appeared to continue calmly swinging his sword, but Chang He just couldn¡¯t get a hand on him no matter what he tried.

    Finally, after quite a bit of exertion, Chang He said while panting, ¡°Alright, alright, your mastery of these ethereal techniques is quite impressive, and I can¡¯t touch you. Hey, are you nning on going or not? This is a rare opportunity!¡±

    Ye Fenghan withdrew his sword. ¡°This is not some ethereal technique. It¡¯s an illusion sword technique I derived from the Dream Beauty Aspect. I¡¯m just a bit shy of reaching the stage of Great Sess in it, so I don¡¯t want to go right now.¡±

    ¡°Aiya, who knows when you will seed? There¡¯s no need to be so hasty. Getting these resources should be a top priority. Don¡¯t you want to reach the Thought Manifestation Realm? With these resources, you will be able to refine pills and ascend even sooner. That sounds pretty good to me.¡±

    Ye Fenghan¡¯s expression remained motionless. ¡°Growing with the aid of medicine results in no tempering. My foundation will not be solid enough. It¡¯s not worth it.¡±

    ¡°Heavens!¡± Chang He was infuriated. ¡°Even if you aren¡¯t in a hurry to reach the Thought Manifestation Realm, I want to be a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator! My Light Shaking Realm foundation is solid enough, isn¡¯t it? It¡¯s not unsteady, right?¡±

    Ye Fenghan replied, ¡°What¡¯s unsteady is your will.¡±

    Chang He rolled his eyes in frustration.

    Ye Fenghan continued, ¡°But you have always been like this. I imagine not much will change even if you cultivate for a thousand years.¡±

    ¡°You......¡± Chang He pointed at him, preparing to teach him a lesson.

    Ye Fenghan, however, interrupted him. ¡°I will go with you on one condition.¡±

    ¡°Just say the word,¡± Chang He said, bouncing up and down with excitement.

    ¡°Starting from now, you are not allowed to speak for three days. If you lose, you will need to empty my chamber pots for a whole year.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it? Fine, no problem!¡± Chang He answered unhesitatingly.

    Ye Fenghan said, ¡°Starting from now.¡±

    Chang He immediately shut his mouth.

    Ye Fenghan was quite amused by Chang He¡¯s sudden silence, thinking to himself that a few days of peace and quiet would be nice. He chuckled, ¡°Actually, I would still have gone with you even if you hadn¡¯t agreed.¡±

    ¡°Urk......!¡± Chang He¡¯s eyes bulged violently, but he managed to keep his mouth shut.

    Ye Fenghanughed when he saw this. ¡°Not bad, not bad. I¡¯m impressed you were able to resist. Come, let¡¯s go and register now.¡±

    As he watched Ye Fenghan leave, Chang He started to wonder whether Ye Fenghan had already made his decision to go. Three days without talking was going to be quite difficult. Fine, Ye Fenghan, just you wait! I¡¯ll drown you in words when the timees.

    Ye Fenghan very quickly epted the mission from Su Chen, officially joining the scouting party.

    Many of the individuals who had volunteered were old friends of his from the Ringed Corridor ins, so they all knew each other. They were quite excited to hear that Ye Fenghan would be joining them. After half a day, their ranks had finally been filled. Many of them were delighted to be reunited.

    Only Chang He remainedpletely silent.

    All of them were surprised to see that the normally vocal, talk-your-ear-off Chang He was being so quiet.

    One of the younger volunteers, named Ding Dong and known colloquially as Little Clueless, asked with curiosity, ¡°Second Brother Chang, why aren¡¯t you saying anything?¡±

    Ye Fenghan was their Senior Brother, while Chang He was their Second Brother.

    Chang He shot him a re and rolled his eyes.

    Ye Fenghan said, ¡°He¡¯s mad at me. He didn¡¯t want me to go, but I dragged him along with me. He¡¯ll be fine soon.¡±

    Chang He grew extremely agitated at such a tant distortion of the truth.

    Even though he couldn¡¯t speak, he could still gesture.

    Finally, everyone realized that it wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t want to speak - it was that he couldn¡¯t.

    Little Clueless stared at Chang He quizzically. ¡°Second Brother Chang, why are you mute?¡±

    Chang He began to bounce up and down as he continued to gesture wildly with his hands.

    He Han had already picked up on what was happening. ¡°It¡¯s not that Second Brother is mute; it¡¯s that Senior Brother most likely isn¡¯t letting him talk.¡±

    Chang He nodded repeatedly.

    Finally, everyone understood the situation. They all turned to nce at Ye Fenghan, who harrumphed, ¡°You¡¯re still jumping around like this even though you can¡¯t speak? Let¡¯s see just how long you¡¯llst.¡±

    As he spoke, he turned around and left. Chang He wanted to cry out that he could in factst three days, but Ye Fenghan had already left. As such, he could only hold up three fingers in protest.

    This put the rest of them in a guessing mood.

    ¡°Three hours?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s too short.¡±

    ¡°Three years?¡±

    ¡°Are you trying to get him killed?¡±

    ¡°Three days?¡±

    Chang He nodded repeatedly.

    Everyone burst outughing.

    Three days without talking? That would truly be an arduous trial for Chang He.

    They continued to joke and chat with one another as they followed after Ye Fenghan, who was already in the lead. Only Chang He couldn¡¯t speak, which frustrated him to the point that he stopped paying the others any mind.

    In the blink of an eye, two days had gone by.

    Chang He had suffered immensely during these two days, but he had somehow managed to hold out.

    Whenever Chang He thought about the fact that he would win as soon as night fell, his heart was filled with joy, which was written all over his face.

    Quite a few of the disciples offered him their congrattions.

    This only served to make him giddier. His only regret was that he had no way of repaying their courtesy.

    At this point in time, the expedition was about to travel through a forest with fiery-red foliage. The trees nketed the entire mountain in a sea of ¡°mes¡±, creating a picturesque scene below.

    A disciple holding a jade mirror said, ¡°There¡¯s an extremely apparent Origin Energy reaction from below, which means there must be a valuable treasure down there.¡±

    This mirror was a treasure that Ye Fenghan had bought with contribution points from the Boundless Sect. It could sense nearby Origin Energy fluctuations and even certain herbs. Originally, it had belonged to the Astrals; now that the Astrals had been exterminated, it naturally fell into the hands of the Boundless Sect yet again.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go and take a look,¡± Ye Fenghan said.

    Upon entering the red forest, they found a small stream flowing through it. A tender shoot grew next to the stream. Its verdance and vibrance clearly indicated that it was no ordinary nt.

    ¡°Chang He, you go and harvest that treasure. But be careful,¡± Ye Fenghanmanded.

    Chang He grinned smugly at Ye Fenghan, as if to say that there was nothing to worry about.

    Ye Fenghan knew what he was thinking and said, ¡°Don¡¯t be too overconfident. The only Demonic Beasts that ran away were the ones somewhat participating in an organized group. There are quite a few Demonic Beasts who aren¡¯t subject to any ruling authority still hanging around.¡±

    Chang He, however, was clearly not satisfied with that. He gestured furiously, indicating that they hadn¡¯t run into any hidden Demonic Beasts the past two days.

    His mastery ofmunicating with just his hands had improved quite a bit.

    Ye Fenghan had gotten used to it. When he saw this, he said, ¡°Fine, you do what you want. Let it be known that I warned you.¡±

    Chang He turned around and proudly strutted over to the amber.

    The small stream was easily conquered by Chang He. He easily reached the tender shoot, then turned and shot Ye Fenghan a giddy look, as if to say, <i>See? Nothing to worry about.</i>

    Ye Fenghan, however, continued to stand with his sword at the ready.

    Upon seeing this, Chang He interest immediately waned, and he dejectedly reached out to pluck the shoot.

    The shoot, however, remained immobile.

    Chang He was taken aback. He tried again, this time exerting much more strength, but found that the shoot was immovable, as if its roots extended far underground.

    Chang He gritted his teeth and stubbornly refused to give up, activating his Origin Energy to its limit.

    This power was finally enough to begin slowly pulling the shoot out of the ground.

    And as the shoot was uprooted, a giant head began to emerge from under the shoot.

    This head was asrge as a boulder and only had a single eye, which stared unblinkingly at Chang He. It was as if the creature was asking Chang He why he had uprooted it.

    So this shoot was growing on the head of a Demonic Beast.

    Now that its head had been uprooted, the shoot no longer needed Chang He¡¯s assistance to ascend. The Demonic Beast began to stand as its body expanded unceasingly, eventually revealing the form of an extremely long python.

    Its aura seemed to indicate that it was a Demonic King.

    Chang He waspletely stunned when he saw this. It was actually Ye Fenghan who blurted out, ¡°RUN!¡±

    Chang He seemed to awaken from his reverie and turned around to flee.

    The giant python opened its mouth wide, unleashing a wave of noxious as at Chang He.

    ¡°Goddamn!¡± Chang He yelped as he ran as fast as he could.

    At the same time, the members of the scouting expedition sprang into action.

    Streaks of sword light viciously shed across the giant python¡¯s body, causing it to hiss and thrash repeatedly. Even so, it was incapable of escaping from the heavy web of sword light.

    Ye Fenghan, in particr, unleashed a particrly chilling sword strike thatbined his Cold Light Sword with the illusion sword technique derived from the Dream Beauty Aspect. Even the Demonic King python was incapable of withstanding such a heavy blow.

    Chang He suddenly seemed toe to when he saw this.

    That¡¯s right: even if the enemy is a Demonic King, we are not weak anymore!

    Almost imperceptibly, the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples had grown in strength until even a small scouting expedition was capable of challenging a Demonic King!

    Wait a second!

    Chang He¡¯s expression suddenly fell.

    ¡°Damn! I just spoke.¡±

    He had managed to hold out for two whole days, but a Demonic Beast had ruined his streak.

    When Chang He thought about the fact that he would need to empty Ye Fenghan¡¯s chamber pots for a whole year, he cried out in frustration, ¡°I¡¯ve had it with you, you bastard!¡±

    He raised his sword and charged forward fearlessly.

 Book 7, 11: Golden Pill

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 11: Golden Pill</h4>

    After a big battle, the scouting expedition finally destroyed the Demonic King.

    Everyone was extremely excited. After all, a Deste King was bound to possess quite a few riches, and ording to the Boundless Sect¡¯s rules, any Beasts killed during the expedition would belong to the scouting expedition. All they needed to do was hand over the ownerless resources they had obtained.

    This was not a small haul. No wonder they were all so ecstatic.

    Only Chang He¡¯s expression was gloomy as he pleaded with Ye Fenghan, ¡°Brother, this time it really wasn¡¯t my fault. How about this? If I give up on my profits from this expedition......¡±

    Ye Fenghan replied coldly, ¡°I don¡¯t care about your profits. Don¡¯t want to dump my chamber pot? Easy - don¡¯t talk so much when you¡¯re around me.¡±

    ¡°Fine, fine, fine. I¡¯ll listen to you more in the future, okay?¡± Chang He was delighted.

    Ye Fenghan cupped his hand to his ear and made a shushing motion.

    Chang He understood and obediently moved off to the side.

    ¡°Captain, we¡¯ve found it. The Tricolored Lotus was just beneath its body,¡± one of the scouting party¡¯s members eximed with excitement as he held a red, white, and blue flower in the air.

    The Tricolored Lotus could be used to increase a person¡¯s sensitivity to Origin Energy and increase their control over it. It could also improve the might of sword Qi that was unleashed, making it one of the most needed resources for the Boundless Sect. They had always tried to source high quantities of it, but unfortunately their efforts were met with limited sess. Now that they had upied quite a bit of Beast territory, however, they were able to harvest to their heart¡¯s content.

    Ye Fenghan nced at the Tricolored Lotus and said with excitement, ¡°This is probably at least three thousand years old. That makes it worth three thousand contribution points.¡±

    Everyone was delighted when they heard this.

    This untamed wilderness really was a ce of many treasures - treasures as far as the eye could see!

    Ye Fenghan stowed the Tricolored Lotus away carefully.

    He was also given the small shoot that had been growing on top of that Demonic King¡¯s head.

    That shoot was known as the Jade Stem. It had been formed by that Demonic Beast from its own flesh and blood, and was used to bait its prey into its trap. The shoot itself was a valuable item that could greatly increase the power of one¡¯s consciousness as well, and was no less precious than the Tricolored Lotus.

    Since Ye Fenghan was the captain of the expedition, it was only natural that he was given the most valuableponent of the Beast as well.

    This shoot could be eaten, or it could be used to refine pills. Of course, thetter was much more effective than the former.

    But after a moment of thought, Ye Fenghan ended up deciding to use it immediately.

    His Dream Beauty Aspect was about to make a breakthrough. If he used this shoot, he would be able to immediately break through, sessfullypleting his second aspect.

    If that was the case, his chances of surviving in this primal wastnd would greatly increase.

    As soon as he thought of this, Ye Fenghan immediately made up his mind.

    He first found a quiet location, then ced the Jade Stem in his hand as he began to activate the Origin Energy in his body, sending it into the Jade Stem.

    The shoot began to slowly emit a white vapor.

    Ye Fenghan sniffed the vapor, but it didn¡¯t enter his nose. Instead, it circled around his body, then began to seep into his body through his eye.

    This was how the Jade Stem was supposed to be used. More specifically, it was a method that Su Chen had devised.

    Throughout his research, of which a majority was aimed at big goals such aspleting the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques, he had made quite a few improvements to minor items on the side. One of these was a more efficient way to use rare herbs.

    Boiling the Origin Energy and then assimting it through the eye was thirty percent more effective than directly ingesting the medicinal herb.

    As the medicinal power flowed into Ye Fenghan¡¯s body, he felt his sea of knowledge begin to expand. A faint tinkle of a woman¡¯sughter could be heard echoing through it.

    Ye Fenghan knew that this was an inevitable bacsh that would ur once his Dream Beauty Aspect reached a certain level. His heart remained calm and unperturbed as the woman¡¯sughter began to fade.

    Suddenly, Ye Fenghan felt a rumbling in his mind as countless illusory ck figures began to charge at him, howling fiercely.

    Ye Fenghan was badly startled. Sect Master hadn¡¯t said anything about any demons entering his body when reaching the stage of Great Sess. What was happening?

    He didn¡¯t believe that Su Chen would try to harm him, yet there was also no denying what was happening before his very eyes.

    Even so, he knew that he could rely on no one but himself to survive this ordeal. He carefully guarded his heart as he activated the power of his Aspect to its greatest extent, holding on for dear life.

    Thankfully, now that his Dream Beauty Aspect had reached the stage of Great Sess, his sea of knowledge had be much more responsive, and the waves surged to form giant walls blocking off his heart.

    However, those strange figures came thick and fast, charging with reckless abandon as they attempted to tear his sea of knowledge to shreds. Even with the aid of his Dream Beauty Aspect, Ye Fenghan found it hard to defend himself adequately.

    If those ck figures entered his body, it was very likely that he would lose himself.

    At that moment, he could sense that one of his other Aspects was beginning to awaken.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Ye Fenghan decided to activate his Golden Bird Aspect as well.

    The Golden Bird Aspect belonged to Owl Country¡¯s Cheng n and specialized in fire. Apparently, the real Golden Bird was capable of igniting the Heavens, incinerating everything below into ash.

    Even though the humanized bloodline wasn¡¯t nearly as powerful, at full power it was more than capable of setting an area of ten thousand square feet aze. It was also the Aspect of the seven Deste Beast Aspects that had the greatest area-of-effect.

    Ye Fenghan had no choice. He could sense the sinister energy encroaching on his heart, leaving him no choice but to fight back with fire.

    An instantter, mes exploded from Ye Fenghan¡¯s body, burning those demons to a crisp as they roared and shrieked in pain.

    So these guys were in fact afraid of fire.

    That was no surprise given their sinister nature.

    Ye Fenghan gritted his teeth and began to burn fiercely. In the blink of an eye, the demons in his body were charred and turned to ash.

    At this point, his Dream Beauty Bloodline had already reached the stage of Great Sess, and no new demons were appearing. Once the sun appeared, the remaining demons were all exterminated. Finally, Ye Fenghan was safe.

    Even though this battle had taken ce inside of his body, he had actually been wounded quite significantly.

    Just as he was in consternation about what had just happened, he suddenly discovered that his consciousness power had gone up yet another level. At the same time, a golden pill formed out of consciousness power had coagted in his sea of knowledge.

    What was that?

    Ye Fenghan didn¡¯t know what it was, but he could sense that it was filled with a powerful energy.

    Perhaps he could draw it out?

    He reached out to touch the golden pill with his consciousness......

    BOOM!

    It exploded.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Ye Fenghan¡¯s subordinates all rushed over when they heard the explosion.

    Ye Fenghan stepped out of his tent, his face charred and smoke billowing everywhere.

    His expression was steely as he coughed, ¡°I¡¯m fine, I¡¯m fine. I was just doing some research...... which failed.¡±

    ¡°Hm? So you¡¯ve picked up Sect Master¡¯s habit of researching as well?¡± Chang He chuckled.

    Ye Fenghan shot him a re. Chang He immediately shut his mouth and stepped off to the side.

    He had no choice but to obey if he didn¡¯t want to be emptying chamber pots for a year.

    But when he heard Chang He mention the Sect Master, his heart jolted for a moment.

    He knew that perhaps only Su Chen would be able to exin what had just happened to him. He pulled out his transmission box and stepped off to the side, attempting tomunicate with Su Chen.

    Upon seeing this, Chang He muttered to himself, ¡°What¡¯s he being so secretive about.¡±

    Until Su Chen¡¯s figure appeared off in the distance.

    Su Chen came very quickly.

    Because he was riding the Void Seahorse.

    Everyone was amazed when they saw Su Chen appear, and they all knelt on the ground. ¡°Sect Master!¡±

    Su Chen nodded in their direction, then looked at Ye Fenghan. Suddenly, he grabbed Ye Fenghan¡¯s hand, and a violent st of consciousness power invaded his mind. Ye Fenghan made no attempt to defend himself and let Su Chen do as he pleased.

    After a brief moment, Su Chen nodded. ¡°This is indeed a little strange. Come with me.¡±

    He grabbed Ye Fenghan and dragged him off to the side.

    When Chang He saw this, he was bemused. ¡°What exactly is going on?¡±

    Everyone else shrugged, obviously just as confused.

    Not far from there, Su Chen and Ye Fenghan stood. Su Chen was obviously deep in thought, his expression solemn.

    Ye Fenghan said, ¡°Sect Master, what exactly happened to me? Just give it to me straight. I can take it no matter what happened.¡±

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Su Chen said, ¡°I don¡¯t actually know what exactly happened to you. It¡¯s possible that, when you used that pure Yang energy to dispel the demons, a byproduct was left behind. This interaction between Yin and Yang may have affected your body itself, forming a golden pill in the process.¡±

    ¡°Sect Master means that whatever those demons left behind when they died remained in my body, and even merged with my Origin Energy to form such a pill?¡±

    ¡°The truth might be even moreplicated than that. I need to search your memories thoroughly in order to determine what took ce. Rx your consciousness and use the Dream Beauty Aspect to guard it, but do not resist...... This will hurt quite a bit.¡± As Su Chen spoke, he tapped his finger onto Ye Fenghan¡¯s forehead.

    Very quickly, Ye Fenghan felt a torturous pain begin to spread all over his entire body.

    He gritted his teeth and forcefully endured. After an unknown period of time, Su Chen finally retracted his finger.

    He let out a long sigh. ¡°Finally, it¡¯s done.¡±

    This way, Su Chen saw everything that Ye Fenghan had experienced.

    He carefully parsed through Ye Fenghan¡¯s memories, perceiving the various changes that had taken ce in his body. A preliminary conclusion had already begun to take shape in his mind, but more uracy would take some time.

    When Su Chen nced back at Ye Fenghan, who was slumped on the ground, he said, ¡°Fenghan, I am willing to ept you as my disciple. What do you think?¡±

    Ye Fenghan was momentarily startled before he rejoiced. ¡°Disciple pays his respects to Master!¡±

    Su Chen smiled and nodded when he saw this.

    Actually, Su Chen had viewed Ye Fenghan as his disciple in all but name for a long time. Otherwise, he would not have passed on the Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect, nor given him any cultivation pointers.

    epting him as a disciple now was no more than a formality.

    Ye Fenghan kowtowed three times before Su Chen gestured for him to stop. ¡°Rise.¡±

    Ye Fenghan stood and respectfully came to Su Chen¡¯s side.

    Su Chen said, ¡°I have a pretty good idea about what happened, and there¡¯s no need for you to panic now. The way I see it, this matter is a blessing, not a curse. You should spend some time to ponder over it; if you run into any issues, just let me know.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Master!¡±

    Su Chen casually carved out a rift in space and pulled out a Titan-ss puppet, handing it to Ye Fenghan. ¡°Since I¡¯ve now epted you as my disciple, I must also observe etiquette by giving you a gift. Take this Titan-ss puppet and use it to keep yourself safe.¡±

    A Titan-ss puppet was as strong as an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator. Being given such a present startled Ye Fenghan quite badly. He had no idea about the wealth that Su Chen had recently umted, so he hurriedly protested, ¡°Master, you can¡¯t!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a big deal. Since I¡¯ve epted you as my disciple, I cannot put your life in danger so carelessly. That being said, this item is only meant to keep you safe. If you rely on it too extensively, you will not advance.¡±

    ¡°Your disciple understands!¡± Ye Fenghan replied loudly. ¡°I promise you that I will only use this treasure at a critical juncture.¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡± Su Chen stood calmly. ¡°Now that the matter¡¯s been settled, you may go. What has taken ce in your body can only be fully realized through battle. Let¡¯s see what surprises it will bring for you. If anything seems to be going wrong, let me know immediately.¡±

    As he spoke, he turned around and left.

    Ye Fenghan watched Su Chen depart respectfully, but he didn¡¯t notice that a shadow had fallen across Su Chen¡¯s face.

    ¡°Lord of the Dreamrealm, you just couldn¡¯t hold yourself back, huh?¡±

 Book 7, 12: Demonic Scheme

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 12: Demonic Scheme</h4>

    When Ye Fenghan returned, Chang He and the others immediately swarmed him.

    ¡°Captain, why did Sect Mastere all the way out here?¡±

    ¡°Why was Sect Master looking for you?¡±

    ¡°Did he give you some kind of mission?¡±

    The group of soldiers chattered incessantly, making it hard for him to get a word in edgewise.

    Ye Fenghan felt a headacheing on from all the mor. ¡°Stop yelling. It wasn¡¯t anything serious, just that Master......¡±

    ¡°MASTER!?¡± Chang He screeched. ¡°Did you just call Sect Master, Master?¡±

    Ye Fenghan shut his mouth and gazed at the people around him.

    Everyone else stared right back at him.

    Chang He asked in a low voice, ¡°Sect Master epted you as his disciple?¡±

    Ye Fenghan thought for a moment, then nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t tell anyon else.¡±

    Everyone immediately fell to their knees. ¡°Greetings, Senior Martial Brother!¡±

    Ye Fenghan rolled his eyes. ¡°I knew you were going to do this. Alright, alright,e on, you guys, stand up. If Master doesn¡¯t say anything about this, you aren¡¯t allowed to either.¡±

    ¡°Understood, Senior Martial Brother!¡± they began to chuckle.

    After all, they had been friends for some time. Even though Ye Fenghan¡¯s status had gone up, the situation soon returned to normal after the customary disys of etiquette had been observed.

    As for Su Chen¡¯s eptance of Ye Fenghan as his disciple, none of them were particrly surprised. After all, Su Chen had already passed down his Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect. Many people had already begun to consider him as Su Chen¡¯s disciple in all but name.

    Now that this matter was over, everyone set out on the road again, continuing their search for resources.

    This searchsted for a little less than half a month. The scouting expedition searched everywhere, obtaining quite a haul in the process. They had also fought in a few fierce battles, including against one Demonic King, three Demonic Lords, and a horde of Beasts.

    Today, after taking quite a few detours along the way, the scouting expedition arrived at Carefree Mountain.

    Carefree Mountain was located in the eastern region of Beast territory, and was tangential to the main offensive thrust. This was unsurprising, given that their mission was primarily to search for treasures.

    Carefree Mountain was a ce countless people dreamed of visiting because Carefree Grass grew here. Ingesting the herb would give people an intense sensation of euphoria, so nobles would pay an extremely high price to get their hands on it. Apparently, there was quite a craze in the capital of each country for this grass. There had even been an instance of a pce being sold for a kilogram of high-quality Carefree Grass.

    Carefree Grass was effective even on cultivators. Many higher-tier Origin Qi Schrs liked to use the grass to relieve themselves of their boredom.

    Later on, Su Chen and his Hall of Pills managed to develop a kind of pill that could greatly increase the power of one¡¯s consciousness. Unsurprisingly, the main ingredient was this Carefree Grass.

    This Soul-Intoxicating Pill was not as effective as Spirit-Sobering Medicines, but it was far cheaper to make. After all, Corpse Spirit Flowers were legendary medicinal ingredients, while Carefree Grass was merely umon. It grew abundantly on the aptly named Carefree Mountain.

    Ye Fenghan and the others hade here with Carefree Grass specifically in mind.

    With this, the Boundless Sect¡¯s production of Soul-Intoxicating Pills would greatly increase.

    ¡°See, that red stuff is Carefree Grass. It really does grow inrge swathes,¡± one of the scouting expedition¡¯s members said with excitement.

    ¡°Everyone, be careful. The main army hasn¡¯t gone this way, so there could still potentially berge groups of Demonic Beasts present here,¡± Ye Fenghan reminded.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Senior Martial Brother. As long as they aren¡¯t Demonic Emperors, what do we have to fear?¡± someone responded.

    Ever since they had vanquished a Demonic King, everyone¡¯s confidence had risen significantly.

    And Demonic Emperors couldn¡¯t just be found everywhere. It was unlikely that they would be so unlucky.

    But just because the likelihood was low didn¡¯t mean that they didn¡¯t need to be cautious. Only after carefully surveying their surroundings did they finally move in.

    As soon as theynded, everyone split up, each working to gatherrge quantities of Carefree Grass.

    Even though the value of this nt was somewhat limited, there was so much of it that the disciples were harvesting it by the handfuls. While rare nts like the Tricolored Lotus were far more valuable, they were extremely hard to find and sell inrge quantities.

    And the harvesting process was a breeze!

    It was rare for the process of harvesting resources to proceed so smoothly.

    They were free to chat and joke amongst one another as they worked.

    Just as they were enjoying their harvest, however, a cloud of dust suddenly appeared off on the horizon.

    Ye Fenghan nced up at the sky before frowning, ¡°Something¡¯s wrong. There¡¯s arge number of Demonic Beasts encroaching on our position. Everyone, hurry ande back!¡±

    All of the other disciples had already sensed that something was wrong without him even saying anything.

    Ye Fenghan even pulled out an Origin Formation Disk and buried it in the ground. A concealed space appeared, enveloping all of the disciples within.

    This Origin Formation was a high-level concealment formation that had been specifically designed for the scouting expedition to use in times of danger. From the outside, it looked like nothing more than a mere rock. Even if a person were to touch it, it would feel just like a normal rock, and the rock was even able to fool many probing techniques.

    The cloud of dust rapidly drew near. At this point, leaving was no longer an option, which was why Ye Fenghan had chosen to activate the formation so decisively.

    An instantter, the cloud of dust rolled in their direction. The expedition originally hoped that the Beasts would continue to advance past the Careless Mountain, but they hadn¡¯t expected that the Beasts actually came to a stop when they arrived at the mountain, choosing to set up camp here.

    When they saw this, the members of the scouting expedition cursed silently in their hearts.

    How could they be this unlucky? Why were the Demonic Beasts resting here?

    Out from the cloud of dust walked countless Demonic Beasts of all shapes and sizes, each of them howling and roaring without ceasing. Soon, the entire mountain was packed with these Beasts, and it became their hub of operations.

    Most shockingly, thest two Beasts to step out of the cloud were actually two Demonic Emperors and a Demonic King, and it seemed that the Demonic King¡¯s status was in no way lower than that of the two Demonic Emperors.

    The members of the scouting expedition felt a chill run down their spines.

    These three Demonic Emperors, in addition to those hundreds of thousands of Demonic Beasts, would immediately rip them to shreds if they were discovered.

    Even though the formation concealing the scouting party was powerful, it was hard to say whether it could evade the perception of a Demonic Emperor. This depended both on the Demonic Emperor¡¯s detection abilities and also whether or not it was actively searching its surroundings. Unless it possessed a consciousness as powerful as an Astrals¡¯, it would most likely not discover the Origin Formation without taking the initiative to search for it.

    Thankfully, the three Demonic Emperors seemed to have no intention of searching their surroundings. They settled down in a leisurely manner, not even sparing Ye Fenghan¡¯s general direction a single nce. Ye Fenghan and the others couldn¡¯t help but sigh with relief.

    Very quickly, however, a new problem arose.

    Because the three Demonic Emperors were headed in their direction.

    This agitated them once again.

    But there was nothing they could do apart from hope that these Demonic Emperors would leave soon rather thanter.

    Unfortunately for them, when it rained, it poured. The three Demonic Emperors continued to walk in their direction, seemingly with no intention of stopping.

    It seemed they had set their sights on this illusory rock.

    Well, that was actually not so surprising. All of the other rocks nearby were rough and jagged; only this illusory rock appeared to be smooth and round on the surface. The three Demonic Emperors were obviously looking for a ce to sit, which was why this rock had immediately caught their eye.

    The Demonic King actually sat down on the illusory rock first, followed by the two Demonic Emperors.

    All it was possible to see from within the rock was three Beast butts floating above their heads.

    Chang He shrugged, seemingly indicating that there was nothing to do but wait.

    Ye Fenghan could only shake his head helplessly.

    Even though Su Chen had indeed given him a Titan-ss puppet, a single Titan-ss puppet wouldn¡¯t be useful in the slightest under these circumstances. All they could do was wait.

    At that moment, a voice spoke. ¡°I say, Crow, how long are we going to wait? The humans¡¯ borders are right before our eyes, but you insist on dying time and time again. It¡¯s already been half a month!¡±

    When they heard the words ¡°humans¡¯ borders¡±, everyone¡¯s ears perked up.

    The Crow Skyking, however, ignored the Demonic Emperor that was speaking and remained silent.

    Hurry up and say something! Everyone thought to themselves.

    Is this silence befitting of the seat you are sitting in?

    After a moment, a voice spoke. ¡°There¡¯s no need to be in such a hurry, Red-Eye. Didn¡¯t we already tell you? The duel hasn¡¯t begun yet - if we attack now, the human armies can return at any time. We must wait until they go deeper before making our move. After all, we¡¯re here to get rich, not pointlessly give our lives away.¡±

    ¡°Hmph. I just don¡¯t want to wait that long. In my opinion, we should just ughter our way through now and enjoy whatever we can im for a little before leaving. Who has this much time to scheme anyways?¡±

    Crow Skyking finally spoke. ¡°This is why I keep saying that you are good for nothing. If you don¡¯t know how to be patient, how can you aplish great things?¡±

    The Red-Eyed Demonic Emperor was enraged and mmed his palm onto the rock below. ¡°What did you say?¡±

    This strike gave everyone hiding in the rock quite a bad scare, and the formation¡¯s inscriptions on the interior flickered intensely.

    Thankfully, the Origin Formation managed to hold on without reacting strangely.

    Everyone sighed with relief.

    Chang He pointed at the ground, indicating that they should try and burrow away.

    Ye Fenghan, however, shook his head.

    Tunneling would stir up Origin Energy fluctuations, meaning they would be discovered almost immediately. After all, this concealment formation could only conceal them, not cover up any traces of Origin Energy use.

    As such, it was better under these circumstances to remain calm and wait.

    Since Ye Fenghan had vetoed his idea, Chang He could do nothing but patiently wait.

    At this moment, the Red-Eyed Demonic Emperor had calmed down because of the Purple Heart Demonic Emperor¡¯s coaxing. After a brief pause, he said, ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll wait if I have to. In any case, we¡¯re close to the Purple Bamboo Forest. I just don¡¯t know if the Sovereigns wille and make trouble for us if we ignore their orders and don¡¯t participate in the fight.¡±

    The Crow Skyking replied faintly, ¡°The victor has not yet been determined. If they win, they will be busy dividing up territory, and if they lose, they will have no spare energy to deal with us anyways. Once we make our way through human territory and obtainrge quantities of resources, we might even be strong enough to turn the tables on them.¡±

    The Crow Skyking was close to breaking through. As soon as he became a Demonic Emperor, he would immediately be as powerful as a Sovereign, meaning that he would have nothing to fear from the other Sovereigns. This was what he was cing all his hopes on.

    Ye Fenghan and the others nced at each other.

    This sounded like the Beasts were going to make their stand at the Purple Bamboo Forest, and that these three Demonic Emperors were nning on invading human territory at the same time.

    This was actually quite a brilliant strategy.

    Even if the human armies were to get word of the Beast invasion, they would most likely be unable to return for some time due to the battle.

    And most frustratingly, these Demonic Beasts were choosing to go by way of Owl Country instead of by way of Cloud Rising.

    Su Chen had anticipated that the Beasts might try to cut off their path of retreat and had left behind some countermeasures in Cloud Rising. These Demonic Beasts, however, had taken quite a detour in order to mount an offensive on Owl Country instead.

    The Boundless Sect didn¡¯t have much in the way of preparations ced here.

    The citizens of Owl Country were likely facing impending doom.

    The scouting expedition originally thought that the ambush itself was shocking enough, but they hadn¡¯t expected the Beasts to reveal an even more crucial secret. Was this a blessing or a curse? Ye Fenghan even pulled out his transmission box, determined to immediately inform Sect Master of the Beasts¡¯ n as soon as they were discovered.

    He needed to let Sect Master know no matter what happened.

 Book 7, 13: Into the Dreamrealm Once More

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 13: Into the Dreamrealm Once More</h4>

    Now that the three Demonic Lords had finished their discussion, it was time to eat.

    Ye Fenghan and the others still had no other option but to wait.

    Finally, the Demonic Lords finished eating and prepared to leave.

    Just as they were about to go, however, they suddenly received a report from one of their Demonic Emperor subordinates. ¡°Emperors, we discovered nearby traces that some Carefree Grass was recently harvested.¡±

    Upon hearing this, the three Demonic Lords simultaneously stopped in their tracks.

    Crow Skyking darkly asked, ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± the Demonic King replied confidently, ¡°The earth was freshly turned, which means that whoever did it probably passed by not long ago.¡±

    The Purple Heart Demonic Emperor said, ¡°Us Demonic Beasts have no interest in Carefree Grass. Only the humans would ever use that stuff.¡±

    ¡°There are definitely humans nearby!¡± The Red-Eyed Demonic Emperor roared with bloodthirsty as his eyes began to glow with a brilliant red light.

    Ye Fenghan and the others groaned silently in their hearts. They could have never imagined that their cover would be blown by the subtle traces they had left behind while harvesting Carefree Grass.

    The perceptive abilities of Demonic Beasts were incredibly high when they were actively searching for something. They most likely wouldn¡¯t be able to avoid being detected this time around.

    Chang He almost threw caution to the wind for a preemptive attack, but Ye Fenghan forcibly restrained him.

    Strangely enough, the Red-Eyed Demonic Emperor searched the area for quite some time but didn¡¯t seem to find anything.

    What? Were the Boundless Sect¡¯s Origin Formations strong enough that they could even fool Demonic Emperors?

    Everyone gazed up with bated breath. The Red-Eyed Demonic Emperor searched the entire area, but he never nced at the rock beneath him.

    The members of the scouting expedition let out a collective sigh of relief. Indeed, the most dangerous ce was oftentimes the safest.

    They silently prayed that the Red-Eyed Demonic Emperor wouldn¡¯t look down.

    The Red-Eyed Demonic Emperor searched far and wide but found no signs of any humans. He sighed, restrained his senses, and helplessly said, ¡°I couldn¡¯t find anything.¡±

    He was the Demonic Emperor with the keenest perception out of all three of them. Even though his red eyes were not specialized for detection, his eyesight was still extremely keen. Since even he couldn¡¯t see anything, the Purple Heart Demonic Emperor and Crow Skyking didn¡¯t bother worrying about it any further.

    The Crow Skyking offhandedlymented, ¡°They probably came here to harvest some Carefree Grass and ran away when they saw us approaching.¡±

    Purple Heart agreed. ¡°I think so too.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re just a bunch of lowly thiefs. Let¡¯s go.¡± After the three Demonic Lords failed to find anything, they stepped back into the dust cloud and went on their merry way.

    Chang He was just about to step outside when Ye Fenghan held him back yet again.

    The scouting expedition remained silent and motionless as they continued to wait even though the Demonic Beasts had left. Time slowly trickled by.

    After an unknown period of time had passed, everyone started growing impatient, and the Origin Formation was also reaching the ends of its energy reserves.

    Chang He desperately wanted to say something, but Ye Fenghan wordlessly covered his mouth and then pointed in front of them.

    Something suddenly burrowed out from the ground, right where Ye Fenghan was pointing ¡ª it was a pangolin, which then morphed into the form of an armor-wearing human wielding a long spear. It was a Demonic Lord.

    The former pangolin nced around, muttered something under its breath, and then burrowed underground again. This time, it disappeared for good.

    No one knew where this pangolin had run off to, and none of them dared to move for some time afterwards. Finally, after another long stretch of time, Ye Fenghan said, ¡°Alright. It¡¯s gone now.¡±

    As he spoke, he deactivated the Origin Formation and stepped out.

    ¡°Hey, how did you know that it truly left? Maybe it¡¯s still nearby, hiding around somewhere.¡±

    Ye Fenghan coldly exined, ¡°My Dream Beauty Aspect allows me to sense nearby consciousnesses. Even though this creature hid itself quite well, its consciousness was as bright as amp in a dark night. Don¡¯t worry. This guy has tunneled away, and there aren¡¯t any other Demonic Beasts nearby either.¡±

    Everyone sighed with relief when they heard this.

    But Chang He vengefully muttered, ¡°You¡¯ve had the Dream Beauty Aspect since forever, but I¡¯ve never heard you mention its detection abilities before.¡±

    Ye Fenghan didn¡¯t bother replying.

    Chang He was, in fact, correct ¡ª Ye Fenghan had possessed the Dream Beauty Aspect for a long time, and even at the stage of Great Sess, its detection abilities should have been very limited. After all, that was not its primary specialty.

    There was one other reason why he could sense the leftover Beast scout: because of the golden pill within his body.

    This mysterious golden pill had greatly enhanced the sensitivity of his consciousness, allowing him to detect the pangolin hiding underground.

    Ye Fenghan didn¡¯t know what was happening to him, and all he could do was ry everything that had just happened to them to Su Chen through his transmission box.

    Within the Boundless Sect¡¯s pce.

    Su Chen fell silent for a long period after hearing Ye Fenghan¡¯s report.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, my husband?¡± Gu Qingluo walked over and amorously wrapped her hands around him. Not far away from them, Zhu Xianyao was boiling water to make some tea. Even though Zhu Xianyao was more than capable of instantly causing the water to boil with Origin Energy, she preferred to slowly boil it over a normal open me ¡ª it felt more personal that way.

    ¡°It¡¯s not a big deal. We just found three of the little bandits that escaped from us earlier. They¡¯re trying to cut us off from behind,¡± Su Chen calmly replied.

    These emperor-level creatures had been relegated to the status of little bandits in Su Chen¡¯s eyes.

    When Gu Qingluo heard Su Chen¡¯s dismissive response, she smiled slightly. ¡°I¡¯m surprised they thought of such a n. Do they really believe that they can sneak behind our back lines and strike at human territory?¡±

    Su Chen, however, shook his head. ¡°They¡¯re not nning on going through Cloud Rising. They¡¯re going through Owl Country instead.¡±

    ¡°Owl Country?¡± This time, it was Gu Qingluo and Zhu Xianyao¡¯s turn to be surprised.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Su Chen said, nodding. ¡°This Crow Skyking is quite innovative with his tactics.¡±

    It was true that Su Chen hadn¡¯t stationed any troops in Owl Country.

    Though this wasn¡¯t because his considerations were iplete ¡ª rather, it was because that wasn¡¯t something he could practically consider in the first ce.

    Every leader knew that spreading their troops thin across a long defensive front was a horrendous mistake, and anypetent leader knew how to deploy their soldiers for maximum defensive coverage across an area. Otherwise, any significant offensive would punch a hole right through their defensive line.

    Even so, Su Chen had still left some Boundless Sect disciples behind at Owl Country. However, he hadn¡¯t anticipated that the three Demonic Lords would be sneaky enough to evade detection all the way until they reached Owl Country¡¯s border. If it weren¡¯t for Ye Fenghan¡¯s timely discovery, then Owl Country really might have suffered a disastrous cmity. Even though the human race wouldn¡¯t be wiped out, they would definitely suffer some painful losses if no further action was taken.

    But now that Su Chen had discovered their n, it was only natural that he would leave a few surprises for them to discover.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Su Chen chuckled and said, ¡°This Crow Skyking is quite an impressive figure, but he is still an ant in my eyes. Qingluo, Xianyao, why don¡¯t you two go and deal with them?¡±

    ¡°Us?¡± Zhu Xianyao was caught off guard by Su Chen¡¯s suggestion.

    ¡°Yes. Especially you, Xianyao,¡± Su Chen replied sincerely. ¡°Don¡¯t you feel that this Crow Skyking is very suitable to be your next servant?¡±

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s eyes began to sparkle at his words.

    With Su Chen¡¯s help, her bewitching abilities had skyrocketed. At this point, she was definitely more than capable of bewitching a Demonic King, though a Demonic Emperor was still a bit outside of her range.

    And even though the Crow Skyking was powerful enough to reach the Demonic Emperor level, he was still a Demonic King, making him the perfect target for her bewitching abilities.

    Zhu Xianyao¡¯s strength would definitely increase by leaps and bounds if she could subdue and take control of this Demonic King.

    She pped her hands in delight and said, ¡°That¡¯s perfect! Then what about you, husband? Are you not going toe along?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I still need to take care of some matters.¡±

    Even though the Crow Skyking¡¯s actions had caught him off-guard, he was still a mere small fry.

    In Su Chen¡¯s eyes, Ye Fenghan¡¯s other report was far more worthy of consideration.

    Namely, the golden pill¡¯s abilities.

    Within Su Chen¡¯s cultivation room.

    Su Chen sat cross-legged in the room and revolved his Origin Energy as he activated his Dream Beauty Aspect to its limit.

    His Dream Beauty Aspect had long since reached the stage of Great Sess, but no matter what he did, those demons that Ye Fenghan had encountered remained nowhere to be found.

    But Su Chen didn¡¯t grow impatient. After a moment¡¯s thought, he pulled out a vial.

    Smoke began to waft out of the uncorked vial, which then assumed the form of a spirit ¡ª it was the physical manifestation of a Dream Spirit in the real world.

    Su Chen grabbed the Dream Spirit by the neck and said, ¡°Bring me to the Dreamrealm.¡±

    The Dream Spirit howled, ¡°You are the enemy of the Lord of the Dreamrealm! He has refused entry to you. Do not even dream of entering!¡±

    Su Chen harrumphed lightly. ¡°Do you really think that I need his permission to enter? You all must really underestimate me.¡±

    As he spoke, his eyes suddenly began to glow mysteriously as a powerful wave of consciousness energy burst forth from his eyes and entered the Dream Spirit¡¯s body. The Dream Spirit shrieked with pain as its body slowly morphed into a seal ¡ª it was the very same seal that had once been inscribed on the back of Su Chen¡¯s hand.

    However, this seal then revolved in the air until it gradually expanded to form a tunnel.

    Through this passageway, it was possible to see a vibrantly multicolored world on the other end. The idyllic atmosphere almost appeared to be beckoning for Su Chen to enter. From time to time, he could even hear sounds of tinklingughter echo through the tunnel.

    Su Chen, however, harrumphed coldly. ¡°Trying to trick me with these simple tactics?¡±

    He ruthlessly smacked out with his hand. The passageway formed from smoke immediately dissipated into nothingness.

    But just as the smoke was on the verge of dissipating, however, Su Chen reached out and made a grasping motion. The smoke suddenly restabilized, and the passageway reopened; but this time, the world on the other side was no longer a vibrant and multicolored paradise, but rather a ne filled with darkness that exuded a sinister aura.

    Su Chen, however, said, ¡°That¡¯s more like it!¡±

    Even though the Dreamrealm he had interacted with in the past waspletely different from whaty on the other end of this tunnel, Su Chen knew that this was the real Dreamrealm.

    His eyes began to glow with light once again as his consciousness flowed through the tunnel.

    As he did so, he watched as an illusory creature took form inside.

    It was himself.

    Or at least, his outward appearance.

    This was the image that his own consciousness assumed within the Dreamrealm.

    So it was as he expected.

    Only consciousness energy could survive in this special world, and all consciousness energy would take on a physical appearance here. As such, all kinds of mysterious creatures could theoretically appear here.

    At the same time, however, the Dreamrealm¡¯s users were also linked to the real world.

    The Dreamrealm was not a realm of dreams; rather, it would be more urate to say that its users were put in a dream-like state.

    The two seemed to be simr but were in fact very distinct situations.

    Su Chen had grasped this distinction, which was why he was able to force his way inside ¡ª underneath all its unique qualities, the Dreamrealm was just another isted realm.

    The consciousness version of Su Chen immediately appeared within the sinister environment.

    There was only darkness surrounding him. Gone were all the shy, multicolored disys of light that he had grown ustomed to in the past.

    Just as Su Chen was reorienting himself and adjusting to this new environment, countless shadows shrieked and rushed in his direction.

    These shadows were identical to the ones that Ye Fenghan described in his report.

    ¡°As expected. You slippery bastards, you¡¯re already trying to invade me as soon as you got a chance,¡± Su Chen chuckled coldly, ¡°But I¡¯m afraid that you¡¯ve misyed your hand this time around.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, a powerful wave of consciousness power surged forth from within his mind, instantly swallowing all of the demons like a tsunami.

    He hade specifically to collect these demons.

 Book 7, 14: Ten Years

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 14: Ten Years</h4>

    Su Chen¡¯s massive wave of consciousness energy swept all of the demons away.

    But in the blink of an eye, countless new demons surfaced to take their ce. This time, there were even a few strange ones that looked like giant eyes.

    Su Chen harrumphed coldly. ¡°Paltry demons!¡±

    mes surged forth from his body.

    These mes were not real; rather, they were formed from aggregated consciousness energy. Even so, the heat radiating from the mes was intense enough that they seemed capable of incinerating virtually anything to ash.

    The demons shrieked and howled miserably as they died in droves.

    At the same time, Su Chen noticed that these demons were leaving behind a strange, star-like residue when they died.

    Su Chen felt his heart skip a beat as he diverted a small bit of his consciousness to interact with that unknown residue.

    As soon as his consciousness touched it, his body jolted as the strange residue instantly disappeared. His entire body felt different, as if some kind of restriction had been unlocked, or as if his consciousness had ascended to another level.

    ¡°As I expected!¡± Su Chen immediately began to recklessly absorb all of the residue left behind by the demons¡¯ corpses.

    As he continued to absorb and process the strange residue, a golden pill began to gradually form in Su Chen¡¯s body as well. His, however, was evenrger and rounder than Ye Fenghan¡¯s, and it was imbued with more energy as well.

    Su Chen continued to incinerate the endless stream of demons, and his golden pill grew fuller and fuller. After a certain point, it even began to float into the air, after which it flew into the eighth consciousness pce that he had formed.

    As it settled down in the pce, a loud boom took ce inside the pce.

    Strangely enough, he felt as if countless voices were chanting something indecipherable in his ear, causing his skin to crawl.

    At this point, Su Chen had long since stabilized his Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivation, and he had also formed his eight consciousness pces quite a long time ago. Even so, this pill raised his consciousness pces to new heights and greatly increased his consciousness power.

    His strength hadn¡¯t increased by an entire realm, of course, but even so, it still had quite a profound effect on Su Chen.

    ¡°Wonderful!¡± Su Chen crowed excitedly.

    He could sense that his pursuit of the zenith had finally brought him to the perfect state.

    Ever since Su Chen had reached the Light Shaking Realm, his bloodline-less ascensions had required outside help to seed. This time, however, his discovery of this golden inner pill meant that his Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques had officially distanced themselves from bloodline cultivation. Not only that, but this discovery had also resulted in the creation of apletely new path to the apex.

    At that moment, a powerful will suddenly descended upon the sinister Dreamrealm.

    ¡°So, Lord of the Dreamrealm, you¡¯re finally here?¡± Su Chenughed loudly. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that you¡¯re toote!¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s consciousness immediately began to retreat.

    A chilling wave of willpower washed over him like an unstoppable tidal wave as all of the demons simultaneously rushed at Su Chen with newfound power. Suddenly, their fear of mes seemed to have disappeared.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t seem too perturbed by this change, however. He casually pulled out one of the divine script characters from his box and tossed it in front of him.

    Radiant divine light came to life, spilling everywhere.

    Even the Lord of the Dreamrealm could no longer protect those demons as they crumbled into dust without any resistance.

    An infuriated roar echoed from the depths of the darkness ¡ª the Lord of the Dreamrealm was enraged.

    But before he could do anything else, Su Chen¡¯s will fully exited from the Dreamrealm and returned to his physical body.

    After Su Chen returned, he waved his hand, causing the passageway to fade.

    After taking care of this matter, Su Chen let out a long sigh.

    Even though he had seemingly passed through that trial without much issue, it had actually been quite dangerous.

    Thankfully, the Lord of the Dreamrealm didn¡¯t anticipate that Su Chen could use divine script characters, which was why he had ultimately lost. Next time, however, the Lord of the Dreamrealm would be ready for this trick, and escaping wouldn¡¯t be nearly as easy.

    Though, now that Su Chen hadpletely formed his golden pill, there was no longer any need to go back to the Dreamrealm and kill more demons.

    However, Su Chen¡¯s goals didn¡¯t end here.

    He needed to improve this new cultivation path as a whole so that the entire Boundless Sect would be stronger.

    In some sense, the demons within the Dreamrealm were the most nutritious meals possible for a cultivator.

    But why exactly did these demons leave that mysterious residue behind in the first ce?

    Su Chen had no idea.

    Even so, a guess slowly began to piece itself together in his mind.

    The Primordial Continent was a physical realm while the Dreamrealm was a consciousness one.

    When a physical realm and a consciousness realm intersected, many strange changes would take ce.

    The same principle held for the merging of Yin and Yang.

    As for whether this hypothesis was correct or not, Su Chen could only verify it through dedicated research.

    Regardless, after the golden pill had settled in Su Chen¡¯s consciousness pces, he could instinctively tell that they had reached a state of unparalleled perfection. Even though it seemed counterintuitive that improving a lower cultivation realm could impact his current strength, it was undeniable that a few significant changes had taken ce in his body as a direct result of that golden pill.

    Su Chen could sense that the Origin Energy in his body had qualitatively advanced to a higher level.

    This change was entirely due to the full formation of the golden pill and the effects that it exerted on the Origin Energy in his body.

    But because Su Chen was an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator, changes to his Spirit Burning Realm foundation didn¡¯t actually have that much of an effect on him. Even so, Su Chen relished in the way his body had changed.

    Pu!

    A small me sprang to life at Su Chen¡¯s fingertip.

    The me danced around Su Chen¡¯s finger like a nimble dragon, filled with boundless vigor and vitality.

    This was the seed of the ming Dragon Theurgy Art, and it was just beginning to bud.

    Compared to before, Su Chen¡¯s current ming Dragon bud was much more agile; it seemed to havee alive, as it was capable of leaping and dancing on its own. In addition, he was now capable of blessing it with his God-Sealing Method Power as well.

    But Su Chen had consciously chosen not to do so, partly because his Origin Energy had transformed.

    After his Origin Energy¡¯s subtle transformation, besides Su Chen¡¯s ming Dragon bing much more agile, the me had also be tinged with a faint white color.

    However, the gap between a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator and an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator was not that easily bridged, which minimized the difference. The faint tinge of white merely entuated the vibrantly red me.

    Even so, a delighted expression still surfaced on Su Chen¡¯s face.

    With a light flick of his fingers, the small ming dragon flew forth, as if it had its own will. Itnded on a nearby bookshelf where it continued to burn brilliantly, but surprisingly, nothing was damaged.

    Then, Su Chen made a sudden gesture with his fingers. The small me immediately expanded, consuming the bookshelf and turning it into ashes.

    Su Chen watched on coldly as he analyzed the situation.

    The altered Origin Energy didn¡¯t seem to be much stronger than before in terms of raw power, but it had taken on two additional effects.

    The first was that it was much more responsive to the user¡¯s intentions and also far more obedient to the user¡¯s wishes. In other words, Origin Skills could be altered and controlled as needed even after they were unleashed.

    Su Chen had been able to do this in the past, and his Theurgy Arts had already aplished these feats.

    However, he had only been able to achieve that level of control due to his own personal ability, his powerful consciousness, and the inherent characteristics of his Theurgy Arts. These abilities were not transferable; after all, not just anyone had a consciousness as powerful as his.

    Even so, if the golden pill path could be generalized and spread to the sect¡¯s disciples, then the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples would have much finermand over their Origin Skills. It would be as if each of them had mastered their own Theurgy Art.

    The second effect was that the attacks were now much more effective on an internal level.

    Su Chen¡¯s me had burned the bookshelf from within, which was why it had been consumed in an instant.

    This had nothing to do with raw power.

    There was no practical difference between a cultivator with ten thousand units of strength attacking with one thousandth of their full strength and a cultivator with ten units of strength attacking with all of their might.

    The me that Su Chen had unleashed just now was incrediblypressed and only slightly more powerful than your average me.

    The bookshelf should have taken at least a minute to burn up under normal circumstances.

    And the reason why the bookshelf had immediately been burnt to ashes wasn¡¯t because of the me¡¯s overwhelming power, but rather because the me had ignited every part of the bookshelf from the inside at the same time. This caused the bookshelf to be consumed almost instantaneously.

    The result was that these weak mes could achieve effects up to a hundred times greater than what should have been possible.

    This kind of intrinsic change in how the Origin Energy operated was exactly what Su Chen was after.

    ¡°This has gone far beyond my expectations......¡± Su Chen gently muttered to himself.

    After all, this was merely the Spirit Burning Realm¡¯s golden pill. What about the Thought Manifestation Realm? What about the Ultimate Emperor Realm? What if even the Light Shaking Realm was supplemented?

    What kinds of changes woulde about then?

    A new path had suddenly opened up before Su Chen¡¯s eyes.

    These possibilities were far more meaningful than anything else he had explored thus far.

    Su Chen¡¯s excitement grew even further.

    This excitement stemmed from discovering a new world, a new dream.

    Ever since Su Chen had discovered that he could use the consciousness extraction instrument to ascend to the Ultimate Emperor Realm, whichpleted the seventh level of the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques, his life had be dull andcking in excitement.

    He had originally thought that his future focus afterpleting the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques would be to pursue higher realms, constantly searching for the ever-elusive apex.

    Now, however, he discovered that he had been wrong.

    There was still much that he didn¡¯t know about this world.

    Whether it was Deste Beasts, Origin Beasts, gods, this new faint white energy, or the path of the golden pill, they all served to open his eyes and reveal just how many mysteries this world still contained. It also helped him realize that, while the human path might be limited, the pursuit of knowledge was truly unlimited.

    Completing the path of the golden pill, reaching the true peak, deconstructing divine power, upgrading the God-Sealing Method Power, wiping out the Demonic Beasts......

    There was simply too much to be done!

    Su Chen¡¯s heart was filled with newfound excitement, and his will to fight also surged.

    ¡°Argh...... Su Chen......¡±

    A familiar low voice echoed in his ears.

    It was the Lord of the Dreamrealm.

    It seemed that he was truly angry, given that his will had forcibly broken out of the Dreamrealm and into the real world.

    There was a real, physical response to his actions.

    It seemed that the Lord of the Dreamrealm had finally managed to transmit his will from the Dreamrealm into the real world.

    However, Su Chen felt no fear because of this.

    He smiled slightly as he brazenly asked, ¡°Lord of the Dreamrealm, what exactly is the Eternal Treaty?¡±

    ¡°You dare to even ask me such a question?¡± The Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s deep voice echoed through the room, shaking in rage. ¡°The Barrier of this world is crumbling, and the Eternal Treaty is beginning to lose effect. The gods will soon return and take control of this world once again! At that time, I will bring death upon you and your race to exact revenge for your murder of my descendants today!¡±

    ¡°So those demons were the Dream Spirits, right? How fascinating! In the fake Dreamrealm, they seem calm, gentle, and yful. However, their true appearance is actually so ugly and sinister. You constructed a beautiful dream in order to entice us. But why? Why can you construct such a realm, capable of mesmerizing hundreds of races, yet still be barred from returning? Is it because you don¡¯t have enough energy? Or is the Treaty restricting your actions?¡± Su Chen continued to ponder out loud.

    ¡°That has nothing to do with you!¡± the Lord of the Dreamrealm howled, ¡°The day that the Barrieres down will be the day of your demise!¡±

    ¡°Your reply has already given me the answer I seek ¡ª you don¡¯t have the ability to do so yet.¡± Su Chen nodded as he continued postting, ¡°You can only create realms, but not destroy this one. This is also because of the Barrier¡¯s restriction, right? What exactly is the Barrier? Where is it? Is it tangible, or intangible?¡±

    ¡°Shut your impertinent mouth! You¡¯re asking too many questions,¡± the Lord of the Dreamrealm roared impatiently.

    He hade to intimidate and scare Su Chen, but Su Chen hadpletely ignored his threats. Instead, all Su Chen did was ask questions, and he would even sometimes answer his own questions.

    Worse still, his answers were all correct.

    Su Chen also recognized this, and he smiled slightly. ¡°I¡¯ve found your weakness, haven¡¯t I? This makes me quite happy. I quite like the feeling of tormenting a god while that god cannot do anything to me.¡±

    ¡°Shut your mouth! You will not be arrogant for much longer!¡±

    ¡°Oh? I think that I can be arrogant for quite some time.¡± Su Chen continued to provoke his opponent. ¡°Maybe ten years? A hundred? I think that a thousand sounds quite nice.¡±

    ¡°No. You will have at most ten more years......¡± the Lord of the Dreamrealm spoke ominously as his voice began to fade away.

    Su Chen¡¯s expression shifted slightly. ¡°Ten years? So in other words, the gods will return in ten years?¡±

 Book 7, 15: History

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 15: History</h4>

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s presence finally retreated.

    Su Chen sat in his room,pletely motionless.

    Ten years!

    This small number caused Su Chen¡¯s heart to palpitate.

    He didn¡¯t know what exactly would happen within ten years, but he couldn¡¯t help but feel that time was not on his side.

    After sitting in silence for some time, he finally stood up and summoned the Void Seahorse.

    ¡°Take me to the Reaper¡¯s Temple,¡± Su Chenmanded.

    The Void Seahorse obediently lowered its neck, allowing Su Chen to get on. The Void Seahorse¡¯s innate predisposition for the void was even greater than Su Chen¡¯s, which allowed it to swim through the void even faster than Su Chen. However, at the same time, it also needed Su Chen¡¯s protection to survive the void as it had not yetprehended spatial Method Power. Thus, with the two of them working together, they could travel much further much quicker, allowing them to truly attain the level of traveling a thousand kilometers in a single breath.

    Half an hourter, Su Chen appeared directly above Reaper¡¯s Temple.

    Although this territory now belonged to the humans, the environment here was still as harsh as ever, resulting in few individuals living here. Even now, it was still a deste and uninhabited wastnd. Only a few of the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples had been stationed here.

    Within the temple that once belonged to the Astrals:

    A few of the disciples were standing guard, seemingly quite bored.

    Su Chen strode in without pause. The disciples initially reached out as if to stop him, but when they realized that it was Su Chen, they fell to their knees in fright.

    Su Chen strode through the temple¡¯s basement and came to a stop where Reaper Jia Luo was being held.

    ¡°Jia Luo! I want to know about the Eternal Treaty and the Barrier of the Gods,¡± Su Chen stated directly.

    The statue chuckled humorlessly.

    Dark fog seeped out before beginning to circle around it as Jia Luo¡¯s voice eerily echoed out, ¡°I knew that you woulde make a request of me.¡±

    ¡°This is not a request,¡± Su Chen said obstinately.

    Jia Luo chuckled. ¡°I don¡¯t care how you want to interpret this. In any case, I have no memories about the Eternal Treaty. If you want to know about those secrets, then that¡¯s easy ¡ª just feed me some Astrals.¡±

    ¡°The Astrals have all been exterminated by me.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t take me for an idiot!¡± Jia Luo howled in rage. ¡°I refuse to believe that you¡¯ve ughtered every single Astral. Those arrogant loners never stick together and are scattered all across the continent. You may have destroyed their foundation, but you cannot have possibly wiped out all of the stragglers! More importantly, you have control of the Dark Astrals. With them present, you basically have a never-ending supply of Astrals. Feed them to me! If you want me to regain my memory so that I can answer your questions, then feed them to me!!!¡±

    The dark fog swirled animatedly in beat to Reaper Jia Luo¡¯s sonorous voice as it boomed through the cavern.

    ¡°How many do you want?¡± Su Chen finally asked.

    Jia Luo chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s more like it. But to tell the truth, I don¡¯t really know myself. Would it be a few? Would it be many? Who knows how many I would have to eat to regain my memories? My memories might return with the very first one I eat, or perhaps I will need to eat until the very end......¡±

    ¡°Then how can I trust you? What if you regain your memories but purposefully conceal them from me? Even if you do remember the truth, perhaps you will remain silent.

    Jia Luo confidently replied, ¡°How could I? I don¡¯t know anything about that so-called Eternal Treaty.¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t know anything about it, then why haven¡¯t you asked me about what it is even once?¡±

    Jia Luo instantly fell silent.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°See? You already know, but you pretended not to. So just how can I trust you?¡±

    Jia Luo hurriedly replied, ¡°No, no, no. That¡¯s not how it is. I only have a cursory understanding of what the Eternal Treaty is ¡ª I don¡¯t know any of its details.¡±

    ¡°Then tell me this. Generally speaking, what does the treaty entail?¡±

    Jia Luo straightforwardly replied, ¡°It¡¯s an agreement between the gods.¡±

    ¡°Rubbish,¡± Su Chen replied, his tone filled with dissatisfaction. ¡°Anyone could figure that out by just looking at the name alone. I want to know what kind of conditions this treaty includes, why it exists, and how the gods adhere to it!¡±

    ¡°That, I really don¡¯t know all that.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t beat around the bush with me, Jia Luo!¡± Su Chen said with a ferocious growl, ¡°If you don¡¯t cooperate, then don¡¯t even think about trying to get a single scrap from me.¡±

    ¡°I want Astrals.¡±

    ¡°Then answer the question. One question, one Astral,¡± Su Chen said as he unlocked a nearby cage, which contained arge number of Astral captives that he had prepared for this exchange with Jia Luo.

    Jia Luo stared greedily at the captive Astrals before finally agreeing. ¡°Fine, but you¡¯d better ask me something that I already know.¡±

    ¡°What are the contents of the Eternal Treaty?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Why was the Eternal Treaty established?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°What use does the Eternal Treaty have?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Then what do you know?¡±

    ¡°All I know is that the Eternal Treaty is rted to an agreement that the gods made and that it forbids them from meddling with this world.¡±

    ¡°I know that as well.¡±

    ¡°However, some of the gods¡¯ wills still managed to sneak their way through,¡± Jia Luo continued.

    Su Chen was startled by this new piece of information.

    Jia Luo replied, ¡°This includes the Harpies¡¯ Mother Goddess as well as me.¡±

    ¡°And him......¡± Su Chen muttered under his breath.

    He was reminded of the old beggar yet again.

    After a moment¡¯s pause, he asked, ¡°What are the conditions for a god¡¯s will to enter this world?¡±

    ¡°Strength,¡± Jia Luo replied without hesitation. ¡°There is a price that must be paid when a god vites the treaty and goes through the Barrier of Gods. The stronger the individual is, the greater a price they will have to pay. I wasn¡¯t wounded too badly at first, but I had to sacrifice my body and most of my memories to sneak past through the Barrier. In the end, only a small fragment of my will managed to sessfullynd in this world.¡±

    ¡°So even though the Lord of the Dreamrealm and the Harpies¡¯ Mother Goddess could send their will into this ce, they don¡¯t dare to in fear of losing too much of their strength......¡± Su Chen muttered. Then, he asked, ¡°What is the price that they needed to pay? And what is the connection between the Eternal Treaty and the Barrier of the Gods?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already answered one of your questions. If you want to get more out of me, then send some more Astrals my way!¡±

    Su Chen picked up a random Astral and tossed it to Jia Luo.

    ¡°Hahahaha!¡± The fog danced around animatedly as it enveloped the Astral. Astrals were purely consciousness entities, but at that moment, the Astral shockingly began to physically melt into the fog as it was assimted. At the same time, Reaper Jia Luo¡¯s soul fragment erged slightly.

    ¡°How wonderful! It¡¯s been forever since Ist tasted such a delicious sensation!¡± Jia Luo crowed in pleasure.

    ¡°Now, tell me how the Eternal Treaty and the Barrier of the Gods are connected.¡±

    ¡°Oh......¡± Jia Luopsed into a long period of thought.

    After some time, he replied, ¡°I don¡¯t have any memories rted to that specific matter, but I did remember a memory about what is outside the barrier. If you¡¯re interested......¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    ¡°First, an Astral.¡±

    ¡°Fine. Just speak.¡±

    ¡°Past the barrier is an abundance of Origin Energy, far more abundant than this ce. It is so dense there that it virtually flows like water, allowing anyone to use it as they please.¡±

    Su Chen was taken aback. ¡°An Origin Energy Sea?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what an Origin Energy Sea is, but that world is indeed encapsted by arge sea which is formed from concentrated Origin Energy.¡±

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t contain his excitement.

    The gods seemed to reside in a world that contained a sea of Origin Energy, and at the center of that sea was actualnd.

    How simply inconceivable!

    He hurriedly asked, ¡°If the Origin Energy in this ce is so abundant, then why are the gods trying to return to the Primal Continent?¡±

    Jia Luo coolly replied, ¡°That¡¯s the third question. Give me another Astral.¡±

    Su Chen handed over another Astral as it requested.

    Jia Luo consumed, or more urately, assimted it. Then, the statue smacked its lips a few times before saying, ¡°Because that ce has no life.¡±

    No life? A world with an abundance of Origin Energy had no life?

    How was that possible? And why did the gods need life?

    Thetter question reminded Su Chen of the sacrifices that had been offered to the moon god.

    If divine power could be produced from the deaths of all of those creatures, then the gods¡¯ need forrge quantities of life could be understood.

    And in the Origin Energy Sea, no life existed apart from the gods themselves.

    So this was why they wanted to invade the Primordial Continent.

    It wasn¡¯t because of territory.

    Rather, it was for life!

    Su Chen felt a chill run down his spine.

    If that was truly the motivation behind their return, then this invasion would definitely bring with it a massive cmity.

    Su Chen tossed Jia Luo another Astral and then asked, ¡°If there is a continent at the center of that Origin Energy Sea, which is filled with abundant Origin Energy, and where even the gods live, then why is there no other form of life?¡±

    Jia Luo replied, ¡°There used to be life there, but not anymore.¡±

    ¡°Where did they go?¡±

    ¡°They came here.¡±

    They came here!

    They came here!

    They came here!

    This statement rang in Su Chen¡¯s ears like a thunderbolt, sending him reeling.

    ¡°The Origin Beasts!¡± he blurted out.

    Those giant hibernating Beasts that were incapable of adapting to the deteriorating environment.

    Why?

    Why were they rejected by this world? Why did they have no option but to spend their lives in hibernation?

    At that moment, Su Chen finally understood.

    So the Origin Beasts and the Deste Beasts were not native inhabitants of the Primordial Continent.

    They actually came from the Origin Energy Sea.

    ¡°But the legends say......¡±

    Jia Luo calmly replied, ¡°You know as well as I do that legends are just legends. The legends say that the Origin Races appeared first, and that they were followed by the Origin Beasts. Then, the environment suddenly changed when the Origin Races disappeared and the Origin Beasts fell into a deep slumber...... However, if you reconcile that with what you have learned just now, then what conclusion is naturally achieved?¡±

    Su Chen sucked in a breath of cold air. ¡°So the Origin Races actually referred to the gods. As gods, they controlled the Intelligent Races, using them to nourish and sustain themselves! This was why they existed before the Origin Beasts. But afterwards, for some unknown reason, the gods and the Origin Beasts began to fight...... And after that, the Origin Beasts came to the Primordial Continent while the gods went to the Origin Energy Sea world. Neither side was ultimatelypatible with their environment. The gods lost their only source of nourishment while the Origin Beasts fell into a deep slumber.¡±

    Jia Luo sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t know if this is truly what happened, but my soul fragment seems to be indicating that what you say is very close to the truth.¡±

    ¡°Are there still more differences?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t say. I will need to remember more.¡±

    He was clearly hinting that Su Chen should continue feeding him Astrals.

    ¡°You won¡¯t get any more from me today,¡± Su Chen said as he turned around to leave.

    ¡°But you will return, right?¡± Jia Luo said with a knowing chuckle. ¡°You want to know more about the secrets of the gods, which means that you have no choice but toe to me. You want to fight back against the gods, which means that you will need toe to me. Even if you want to wipe out the gods, you will still need toe to me! Su Chen, if you¡¯re afraid of even this measly soul fragment, then how can you possibly stand up to the gods?¡±

    Su Chen stopped and turned around.

    After a long time, he nodded. ¡°You are right, Jia Luo. If I don¡¯t even have the confidence to resist your demands, then how can I fight back against the gods? Just as you have said, I will indeed return soon.¡±

    And with those words, he stepped out of the basement.

    As Jia Luo gazed at Su Chen¡¯s departing figure, he suddenly began to cackle madly. ¡°Hahahaha, freedom! I¡¯m going to regain my freedom!¡±

    Su Chen muttered to himself, ¡°Perhaps the day you regain your freedom is the day you will die.¡±

    Jia Luo heard this, but didn¡¯t seem to care in the slightest. ¡°I am a Reaper! What fear do I have for death?¡±

 Book 7, 16: The Demonic Beastsâ€™ Counterattack (1)

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 16: The Demonic Beasts¡¯ Counterattack (1)</h4>

    No matter what had taken ce in the past, the current battle was still ongoing.

    The humans and the Harpies had both prated deep into Beast territory at this point, leaving behind long scars on the ground. Their trajectory was right on course for the Skywild ins.

    This advance was both unrelenting and dangerous.

    The nearby Beasts hadn¡¯t even been fully cleaned out, yetrge swaths of territories had been conquered.

    This high-speed advance towards the Skywild ins left them quite vulnerable to being surrounded. In addition, whether their opponent would appear after they reached the Skywild ins was still unknown.

    Even though these two races had each agreed to allow observers to apany them on the advance, was this observation method reliable? What if they were bought, or deceived?

    Or what if one side changed direction at thest possible moment, leaving their opponent to face the Beasts as they searched for an opportunity to strike?

    There were too many different possibilities.

    After all, military battles were all about mutual deception. Any tactic that allowed one side to put the other in the ground was fair game.

    Not to mention that neither Su Chen nor Eternal Night would feel bound by a piece of paper.

    Yet these two leaders quite uncharacteristically seemed to have developed a sense of honor. Both sides, under theirmand, continued to advance at a breakneck speed towards the agreed-upon destination.

    Within the untamed forests of the northwestern region of the continent.

    The sun shone brilliantly in the sky, causing the trees below to cast a massive shadow.

    Sky City trundled along quite slowly.

    It wasn¡¯t that they were conserving energy; they were merely harvesting the nearby resources.

    Large numbers of Harpies flew in and out of Sky City at every moment, harvesting all of the nearby resources like worker bees.

    And three more floating cities were following closely behind Sky City.

    One looked like a giant dragon boat, with tworge wings and a thousand two hundred oars sticking off the side. Every p of its wings sent tremendous gusts of wind flying violently everywhere. At the very front of the dragon boat was the face of a ferocious Beast.

    This was the Origin Energy Demonic Tower

    The Origin Energy Demonic Beast was the fourth Floating Point to be drawn up. It was constructed from the skeleton of an Origin Beast. This particr Origin Beast was known as the Fierce Serpent, a giant flying snake with the body of a dragon. Its roars pealed like thunder, and it naturally only had one eye.

    As such, its skeleton possessed innate control over air. The Harpies had constructed the Origin Energy Demonic Beast using its skeleton as the core ingredient.

    The second was a star-shaped Floating Point.

    It was called the Harpy Star, the second Floating Point designed by the Harpies, and the only Floating Point that had been created by the efforts of the Harpies themselves.

    The entire Floating Point was actually a gigantic Origin Formation, with roughly thirty thousand Harpies living inside and ensuring the operation of the formation.

    The Harpy Star, unlike the other Floating Points, didn¡¯t rely on a core. Instead, the Harpies fueled it with theirbined strength. The price for this was that maintaining it expended lots of manpower and resources. The Harpies had even lost two legendary Arcana Masters over the creation of this Floating Point.

    This was also thergest price that the Harpies had paid, and it left a bad taste in their mouth. Some extremists believed that creating the Harpy Star was the biggest mistake that the Harpies had ever made, seeing as they had stagnated for almost a thousand years as a result.

    Even so, it was still given such a name.

    And for this reason, the Harpies never attempted to construct a simr fort ever again.

    The third appeared much stranger.

    It looked like a giant bug slowly floating through the sky. However, its body was covered in holes, and its eyes had been gouged out. Countless Harpies flew in and out of these holes, as if they were worker bees.

    This was the Brood Mother that the Harpies had obtained from t Sky City.

    After twenty years of fostering, the Brood Mother had grown to a tremendous ten thousand feet in size. Even though it appeared incredibly bloated, it was capable of containing a million soldiers at once. Eternal Night thus gave it the name Mother of All Bugs.

    Actually, the Mother of All Bugs wasn¡¯t evenplete yet despite the fact that the Harpies had been nourishing it for twenty years.

    They had only brought it out in advance because of the abundance of resources present, which the Harpies could feed to the Brood Mother. In addition, with Sky City having regained its mobility, the rtive importance of the Mother of All Bugs had drastically gone down. They wouldn¡¯t possible spend a hundred years to raise this Floating Point; instead, using this opportunity toplete it sooner rather thanter was the best decision.

    The three Floating Points nked Sky City like satellites, serving both as its guards and also as its power amplifiers.

    When faced with such an impressive array, the powerful Demonic Beasts could only retreat.

    Even so, this retreat was not without limitation. After all, the Demonic Beasts did have their own pride.

    Within the Perpetual Daylight Pce.

    Lonely Skyleap hurriedly entered while Eternal Night was sitting at his seat taking care of some misceneous matters.

    ¡°Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡± Eternal Night didn¡¯t like wasting his breath while working on official business.

    Lonely Skyleap was aware of this habit of his and said straightforwardly, ¡°The Demonic Beasts are here.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Eternal Night paused whatever he was doing. ¡°They¡¯re all here?¡±

    ¡°We only spotted four: the Inferno Sovereign, the Amber Sovereign, the Four-Faced Sovereign, and the Light Goose Sovereign. We don¡¯t know where the Kucha Sovereign has gone.¡±

    ¡°Kucha disappeared?¡± Eternal Night frowned.

    The name Kucha was not particrly awe-inspiring, but it was the oldest of the ten Beast Sovereigns currently alive. Apparently, this Sovereign was actually formed from a ten-thousand-year-old Kucha nt, the only non-Beast of the ten Sovereigns. Its power was immense, however, with some rumors iming that it had broken into a realm beyond that of the Demonic Emperors, putting its strength on par with that of a Deste Beast.

    Eternal Night was suspicious of this.

    Deste Beasts were not permitted to exist in this environment. The stronger they were, the more quickly they would die. If Kucha was really that strong, there was no need for Eternal Night to fear. But if it was not yet at the level of a Deste Beast, it would not have been eliminated by natural selection. That would be a more significant issue.

    Kucha¡¯s disappearance made Eternal Night slightly unhappy, but the fact that four Sovereigns were preparing to fight indicated just how seriously they were taking this battle.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Eternal Night nodded. ¡°That¡¯s fine. No matter what Kucha is up to, he will be helpless when we deal with hispatriots.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty is truly wise.¡± Lonely Skyleap ttered in a timely manner.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then let¡¯s begin,¡± Eternal Night said faintly.

    There was no spur of the moment decision to be made. Ever since they had entered this primal wastnd, they had been fighting. The only difference was in the intensity of the battle.

    Signals began to re, echoing through the sky.

    The Harpies who were out harvesting resources returned to their stations when they heard the signal. Sky City¡¯s guards and footsoldiers assumed their positions on the city walls, and the Arcana Masters entered their Arcana Technique Towers. In addition, the three satellite Floating Points drew closer to each other.

    Off in the distance, an army of Demonic Beasts was surging in their direction.

    There were so many of them that they blotted out the sun and the earth. Both werepletely covered by the advancing Beasts, whose numbers seemed endless.

    In addition to the four Sovereigns were three hundred Demonic Emperors, four thousand Demonic Kings, a hundred thousand Demonic Lords, and their countless subordinates. This kind of a force was no weaker than the sea of Sovereigns found at the Abyss.

    The Beasts were typically unorganized and hard to gather. Even Sovereigns, who could be considered to wield actual influence, were typically only apanied by one to two hundred thousand Demonic Beasts. However, that did not necessarily indicate that their numbers were limited so. In the fact of an invading force, the Beasts would gather into a terrifying Beast Wave.

    Such an imposing force being assembled was definitely a rare sight.

    These terrifying numbers were the main reason why the Demonic Beasts had been able to reign supreme over the Primordial Continent for so long.

    Even if they were facing a newly mobilized Sky City, the Beasts weren¡¯t totally helpless.

    Today, they were going to make these Intelligent Race members pay for their arrogance.

    Four giant pces slowly revolved in the sky above the Beast forces.

    One was shrouded in a ck mist. Thousands of wailing faces appeared to fade in and out of this mist, and the walls of the pce even had a contorted face inscribed onto them.

    One was in the shape of a giant y oven, but the body of the oven was actuallyposed of fire. The pce was a beautiful representation of the element of fire.

    One was smooth and round like an egg. There appeared to be no entrance or exit, but the ¡°eggshell¡± would asionally glow with a faint, imperceptible luster.

    The final pce was impossible to identify, because it glowed with such an intense light that the form of the pce waspletely indiscernible. The only thing for certain was that there seemed to be some kind of hole obscured by the dazzling light.

    Four Sovereign pces!

    Next to the four Sovereigns¡¯ pces floated a few hundred smaller Demonic Emperor pces. Beside the Sovereigns, these Demonic Emperors were the creatures with the highest status and political power.

    And now, when faced with these relentless challengers, the old guard was finally beginning to mount their counterattack.

    ¡°Attack!¡±

    ¡°Destroy Sky City and capture Eternal Night!¡±

    A raucous cheer rose up from the assembled Beasts as they surged forwards like a tidal wave.

    Even though they had been waiting for this battle for a long time, the Harpy soldiers stationed in Sky City still couldn¡¯t help but involuntarily tremble when they saw this oppressive wave bearing down on them.

    The first group to attack were the creatures flying through the sky.

    This aerial squad,posed of Scarletme Vultures, Whitewinged Eagles, Three-Eyed Falcons, and Venomous Serpents, to name a few, took the lead to attack. Sky City¡¯s barrier flickered and rippled under the assault.

    Lonely Skyleap gave themand to fire the arrows. As a storm of arrows rained down from the sky, the first drops of blood were shed.

    At that same moment, the rest of the Beast Wave had closed in as well. The Beasts ferociously leapt into the air like a rising tsunami, reaching heights of at least a thousand feet. The impact when colliding with the barrier of Sky City was no weaker than a tsunami, scattering ¡°ocean spray¡± everywhere.

    A spray of blood!

 Book 7, 17: The Demonic Beastsâ€™ Counterattack (2)

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 17: The Demonic Beasts¡¯ Counterattack (2)</h4>

    ¡°No wonder they¡¯re the overlords of this continent.¡±

    Le Feng nced at the veritable tidal wave of Beasts washing over them as he calmly floated above Sky City.

    The Demonic Beasts¡¯ true strength, which had allowed them to dominate more than half of the continent, had finally been revealed. Just half of their forces already totalled three hundred Demonic Emperors, which was a level of strength that the five major Intelligent Races couldn¡¯t match even if theybined their strength together.

    But this was because raw power was one of the Demonic Beasts¡¯ greatest advantages. The Intelligent Races never fought with just their Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators. Rather, their battle tactics revolved around Origin Formations, puppets, Origin Tools, fortresses, medicines, talismans, and many other external forces. Right now, the Harpies had no more than thirty Tenth-Ring Arcana Masters and only three legendary Arcana Masters; however, they currently held the advantage because of Sky City. They had managed to force the aloof Demonic Beasts to rally together for survival through their use of tactics.

    This was an exchange between raw, primal power and calcting intelligence. Millions of Beasts were facing off against Sky City and the three Floating Points. A bloody battle was sure to unfold.

    As the onught of the Beastsmenced, fire and brimstone rained down from the sky in retaliation as brilliant Arcana Techniques were activated throughout the battlefield. At the engagement line between soldiers and Beast, weapons and w collided ceaselessly. The sight was more than enough to make anyone¡¯s blood boil with excitement.

    Le Feng and hispanions were the only ones who remained calm and motionless.

    As observers, their duty was merely to observe, and never to participate in the battle.

    Not only did they need to observe the Demonic Beasts, but they also needed to observe Sky City¡¯s movements.

    This battle was the best opportunity to suss out Sky City¡¯s defenses and see if it had any exploitable holes in its defense. Even though the Thousand Poisons Toad had already brought many of these defenses to light, Su Chen was only one person, and his observational range was limited. Now that a few years had passed, and now that Sky City had even regained its mobility, who else knew what might have changed?

    Currently, Sky City¡¯s barriers had been fully activated, and the Sun-Shattering Cannons and Fiendish Annihtion Carriages were firing away with impunity. Arrows constantly rained down from the sky while Arcana Masters unleashed Arcana Techniques like there was no tomorrow, supporting their foot soldiers and providing cover fire.

    Sky City was powerful in terms of both offense and defense. Its walls were as strong as iron, and yet a torrential deluge of Origin Energy incessantly ebbed and flowed from it, churning up a violent whirlpool that sent blood flying in all directions.

    Le Feng¡¯s analytical gaze calmly swept over every corner of the battlefield.

    Individuals were chosen to be observers first and foremost based on their loyalty and secondly based on their perceptive abilities.

    In the past, Le Feng had once killed a Purple-Eyed Golden Eagle. Then, he had refined it into an Aspect and obtained its power, causing his eyes to glow faintly purple whenever he activated its ability.

    This ability of Le Feng¡¯s instantly expanded the range of his vision and pierced through most concealment techniques.

    As he pushed his eyesight to its limit, the situation around Sky City became crystal clear to him. Le Feng silently watched on as he made a mental note of everything he saw even as he used a special device that the Boundless Sect had given him to record down everything he saw.

    The two Harpies following him took note of this but didn¡¯t find it very surprising.

    These were the terms of the agreement they had made, after all ¡ª the humans could observe the Harpies¡¯ every move, and the Harpies could do the same to the humans.

    Of course, the results of each side¡¯s observation heavily depended on the observer¡¯s ability.

    The first wave of Demonic Beasts was already nearlypletely wiped out by this point, but their armies were so vast that this loss amounted to nothing more than losing a drop in the ocean.

    The Beasts on the front lines hadn¡¯t even been eliminated yet when a new wave of Beasts rose to take their stead.

    This time, the bulk of their force was made up of Iron-Armored Rhinoceroses.

    These Rhinoceroses had always been the best footsoldiers in an organized battle. Their powerful defensive capabilities and unstoppable charges would definitely drain Sky City¡¯s resources even if they did no real damage.

    When the Rhinoceroses charged, Sky City¡¯s barrier began to flicker and fluctuate somewhat.

    The Ny-nine Arcana Towers lit up at the same time as well, supporting the barrier as the Arcana Masters within them constantly activated Arcana Techniques in support.

    With the addition of the Arcana Masters¡¯ energy, Sky City¡¯s barrierpletely nullified the Rhinoceroses¡¯ powerful charge. Naturally, the now exhausted Arcana Masters had substitutes ready and waiting to rece them.

    The glowing off of the Arcana Towers would ebb and flow as a result, as did the strength of the barrier. Sometimes, the barrier seemed to be no thicker than a piece of paper, which would prompt the Iron-Armored Rhinoceroses to take advantage of the opportunity to attack.

    In that case, the nearby Harpy footsoldiers had to put their lives on the line to stop the Beasts¡¯ advance, resulting in yet another round of bloodshed.

    ¡°Even though Sky City¡¯s multyered defenses mean that the city won¡¯t fall as soon as a small breach is made, it also ensures that Sky City is not truly impregnable. As long as the enemy focuses all their attacks on a single area, they will be able to quickly overwhelm the defenses in that area, thereby gaining ess to the city itself,¡± Le Fengmented.

    One of the Harpies standing guard near him ignored him, though he was secretly quite displeased by thement. Afterall, they had been ordered to not interact or argue with Le Feng in any way.

    The young Harpy soldier apanying him, however, was far more impetuous and was immediately provoked. He snorted as he replied, ¡°So what if you figured that out? As long as the foundation to our Origin Formation is still intact, our defenses will automatically regenerate.¡±

    ¡°Clear Night!¡± the first Harpy hissed in anger.

    Le Feng casuallyughed. ¡°Don¡¯t be such a worrywart. Did you think we didn¡¯t know that? After all, our Sect Master has borne witness to a battle between this city and a Deste Beast before. How would he <i>not</i> be aware of the power of the Origin Formation¡¯s foundation? After all, he had to borrow Demonic Emperor Deep Blue me¡¯s power to destroy a segment of the wall and the Origin Formation itself.¡±

    ¡°That was in the past!¡± This time, when they heard his words, neither Harpy could stop themselves from responding. ¡°It¡¯s no longer possible to use the same method to nullify our Origin Formation!¡±

    ¡°Is that because the foundation of your Origin Formation has been upgraded?¡± Le Feng asked with a chuckle.

    The two soldiers immediately froze.

    Le Feng, however, had already gotten his answer.

    This revtion was no surprise to Le Feng, and it wouldn¡¯t pose much more danger than a headache to the Harpies either. Su Chen¡¯s maniption of Deep Blue me had dealt quite a serious blow to the Harpies; after the situation was resolved, Eternal Night hadmanded that the Harpies¡¯ defensive Origin Formation be upgraded.

    Of course, this reinforcement came with its own price. While the foundation of the formation was now better protected, they had to expand theworks that contained in the Origin Formation, which meant that the energy expenditure had also increased.

    To the Harpies, however, it was obvious that this sacrifice was well worth it.

    Le Feng smiled slightly when he realized that he had hit the nail on its head. Then, he pulled out his booklet and confidently recorded down, ¡°The defensive barrier¡¯s foundation now consumes more energy than before.¡±

    The battle was still progressing below them, but it seemed that no significant changes would ur for the time being. Both sides were bleeding soldiers, though it was obvious that the Beasts¡¯ losses were far more significant than the Harpies¡¯.

    Regardless, both sides had only deployed their cannon fodder so far. Not a single one of the truly powerful fighters had appeared so far.

    Le Feng, however, had no interest in observing the rest of the battle. Instead, he turned to nce at Perpetual Daylight Pce.

    At the very back of that pce, there was a small strand of white smoke rising into the air.

    Le Feng knew that the white smoke trail indicated that a Sark¡¯s Nuclei was being activated to its greatest extent.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t actually seen any Sark¡¯s Nuclei in the past, so he had been quite uncertain as to their functions and peculiarities. But after he had obtained the blueprints to construct them, his understanding of theirposition had vastly improved, allowing Le Feng to confirm that this smoke was indeed came from the Sark¡¯s Nucleus. Due to how much raw Origin Energy ran through the Sark¡¯s Nucleus, there would inevitably be a small portion of Origin Energy that was not converted, and that unconverted energy escaped in the form of this smoke.

    However, there seemed to be something off about this situation.

    Sect Master had noted that the Sark¡¯s Nuclei would typically pump out a thick, dense fog when it was pumping at full capacity. If so, then why was this white smoke trail so thin?

    Even though Le Feng might have a different appraisal of the situationpared to Su Chen, Le Feng was confident that Su Chen would never describe this thin wisp of smoke as a ¡°thick and imprable fog.¡±

    Le Feng lowered his head, lost in thought as he silently gazed at the white smoke. Su Chen¡¯s words echoed in his mind again. ¡°In the past, Sky City was unable to move because they were anchored to the Origin Energy Sea, which gave them ess to a boundless store of energy. Even though they did not have the ability to move, they did have an unlimited source of Origin Energy to draw from and fuel their defenses with. Now, if Sky City wants to move, then that anchor has to be retracted. In other words, they have to cut off their limitless source of energy. Regardless, they will still have the ability to reconnect their anchor and reestablish their connection to the Origin Energy Sea. As such, it¡¯s entirely possible that they can re-anchor themselves to the Origin Energy Sea whenever necessary. This is something that you will need to look into for me. You must find out if they¡¯re prepared for such a maneuver. If lowering the anchor takes a significant amount of time, then your observational skills will be the key to uncovering that.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯smands echoed through his ear as Le Feng calmly surveyed his surroundings.

    If the anchor was withdrawn, then Sky City would be incapable of directly drawing energy from the Origin Energy Sea. Sark¡¯s Nuclei had been engineered to be far more efficient as a way around this situation, which was why the dense fog had faded into a white smoke.

    If that was the case......

    <i>It¡¯s possible that Sky City¡¯s defenses won¡¯tst for much longer</i>, Le Feng mused to himself.

    But he merely continued to wait silently, watching closely for that moment to arrive.

    He hoped that the Beasts¡¯ furious onught would be able to pressure Sky City into revealing some of its hidden cards.

    Specifically, to the point where Sky City would no longer be able to bear the brunt of the assault without re-anchoring itself to the Origin Energy Sea.

    Day after day, he waited.

    The Demonic Beast soldiers felt like they were limitless in number, attacking in wave after wave after repeated wave.

    Rivulets of blood spread everywhere on the ground below Sky City, but the waves of Beasts behind them continued to advance relentlessly. Their attacks only grew more and more powerful as Demonic Lords began to throw themselves into the fray.

    The Harpy soldiers guarding the city had rotated twice by now. Currently, the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s guards were fighting while the imperial army rested. Behind themy a multitude of Harpy casualties, all of whom were moaning in pain.

    The moment Le Feng was waiting for did note. However, when Le Feng saw a few of the Harpies¡¯ new weapons, his eyes lit up and he happily recorded them down.

    The two Harpies were incensed when they saw all of their secret battle tactics beingid bare before an enemy¡¯s eyes, but the agreement stated that as long as the observers didn¡¯t force their way into a restricted area, they were allowed to record anything that they saw. As such, the two Harpy guards could do nothing but watch and endure the humiliation.

    Finally, once night fell, the situation of the battle changed slightly.

    The anchor was not lowered; rather, Sky City suddenly lurched into motion.

    Its movement waspletely unstoppable.

    Boom!

    Sky City slowly rumbled to life as it began to slowly but surely advance forwards.

    This advance was quite courageous!

    The massive city could be considered a terrifying weapon in its own right. At that moment, it shot through the air with massive momentum, like a battle hammer wielded by a god of war.

    Sky City had waited for an entire day to seize this opportunity. After night fell, and when their opponents¡¯ vision would be obstructed, they had seized the moment and careened forward like a wild bowling ball.

    This ¡°mere¡± charge left a deep scar more than a hundred thousand feet long in the ground. Any Beasts in its path had been smashed to a bloody pulp.

    Without the restriction of the anchor, Sky City¡¯s charging attack was fully unleashed. The only thing that could stop it was ack of enemies in front of it.

    This charging attack dealt a tremendous blow to the Beast army. Their low-tier soldiers suffered a devastating blow, and even three Demonic Emperors and twelve Demonic Kings had been mercilessly trampled underfoot. These Emperor-level creatures had been killed without even a chance to fight back.

    Of course, Sky City¡¯s defensive barrier was flickering like mad all the while.

    But the Harpies¡¯ next action showed that there was no cause for concern.

    Even more smoke began to waft out from behind Eternal Daylight Pce as the nking sounds of an anchor being lowered could be heard rumbling through the sky.

    Sky City had finally dropped its anchor.

 Book 7, 18: Unauthorized Access

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 18: Unauthorized ess</h4>

    After Sky City regained its mobility, it had essentially be a fort with two different forms.

    One was its lightly-armored mobile state and the other was its heavily-armored fortress state.

    The former allowed Sky City to move as it pleased, while thetter had the strongestbat abilities.

    When the Deep Sea Anchor was tethered to the Origin Energy Sea, Sky City once again regained the ability to tap into an endless source of Origin Energy. At that moment, the entire city shone brilliantly in the night sky as if it were the sun.

    The ny-nine Sun-Shooting Pearls sitting atop the Arcana Towers emitted a dazzling radiance as a flood of Origin Energy rushed into them. The burden on the Arcana Masters sitting inside greatly decreased as a result even as Sky City¡¯s firepower significantly multiplied in intensity.

    The once-flickering barrier suddenly stabilized itself, but that wasn¡¯t all ¡ª multicolored Origin Energy cannons and Origin Formations had also appeared around it.

    At the same time, a sudden thunderstorm descended onto the battlefield as lightning bolts mercilessly bathed the ground in white sma. The sheer destructive power of this storm of lightning was impossible to describe.

    This was the Heaven¡¯s Execution Formation.

    While this formation didn¡¯t have any special characteristics in and of itself, it was rare for any formation to be able to affect hundreds of kilometers around the targeted area. Its might was fixed no matter how much energy one used to power it, but its area of effect scaled with the energy it was supplied with. Thus, it was one of the most effective formations againstrge groups of enemies. The Harpies hadn¡¯t used it against the Thousand Poisons Toad because it was only a single individual ¡ª activating the formation would have been a waste of Origin Energy. After all, even though Sky City had an unlimited amount of energy, maintaining the formation still put a sizable burden on the Arcana Masters.

    Against the millions of Beasts, however, this formation was the ideal one to use.

    The thunderstorm swept over the majority of the battlefield. Even though the Demonic Beasts below howled and roared relentlessly in defiance, their efforts to stem the vicious assault were all in vain.

    The lightning bolts continued to mercilessly descend upon the Beasts.

    These bolts of lightning were not powerful enough to kill a Demonic Lord outright, but their effects against the low-ranking cannon fodder were a different story altogether. The vast thunderstorm inflicted an almost inconceivable amount of damage to those lower ranked Beast soldiers.

    Even though these lower ranked Beast soldiers were not very strong, they still upied a noticeable portion of their opponent¡¯s attention. The Beasts would never let them be wiped out in an instant like this if they could help it.

    As soon as the thunderstorm appeared in the sky, four streaks of light simultaneously shot out, flying towards it at high speeds. The four Sovereigns had finally made their move.

    Following their appearance, countless Demonic Beasts and hundreds of Demonic Emperors took action as well, unleashing a coordinated wave of attacks against the sky. A tremendous barrage of energy exploded forth, disrupting the storm clouds and the formation itself.

    Destroying a formation through brute force was the simplest method. Under these circumstances, it was only natural that the Heaven¡¯s Execution Formation would be incapable of holding on for too long, but it didn¡¯t need to. As long as it dealt enough damage before being destroyed, it would be enough. Beast after Beast had already been turned to ash by the relentless rain of lightning.

    Le Feng, however, felt his eyelids twitch in surprise when he saw this.

    If the Harpies were fighting the Boundless Sect, what would have happened?

    Under thebined might of the Sovereigns, the Heaven¡¯s Execution Formation was quickly shattered. Immediately afterwards, however, a new cloud of hot ash appeared in the sky.

    Another terrifying Origin Formation was preparing to strike.

    Le Feng had once heard that Sky City possessed hundreds of extremely powerful Origin Formations, and some of them were even strong enough to be considered forbidden-level formations.

    The previous Heaven¡¯s Execution Formation was a forbidden-level one, as was the currently forming cloud of ash.

    Sky City relied on its boundless source of energy and its vast size to bring its true might to bear. It was truly and undisputedly the most powerful fortress on the entire continent.

    Molten fire rained down from the sky, glowing brilliantly as they fell down from the heavens like shooting stars. It almost seemed like a picture of the apocalypse. The Sovereigns were forced to strike yet again.

    They had to destroy the brimstone clouds.

    ¡°ROAR!¡±

    With a fierce roar, a giant creature took center stage. It was nearly a thousand feet tall, and its body seemed sturdy enough to hold up the sky itself. This creature unleashed a punch at the brimstone cloud in the sky without dying.

    This was the Stone Barbarian Demonic Emperor. Of all the Demonic Emperors, it had one of strongest physical bodies, with a gigantic frame and a humanoid form. ording to the legends, no one couldpete with it in terms of pure physical strength.

    The Stone Barbarian¡¯s hammer-like fists cleaved towards the sky, ripping out a massive chunk of the cloud.

    A momentter, however, a giant figure formed from lightning appeared in the sky.

    This lightning giant pulled back its arm, which was wielding a spear also made of lightning, and then threw its spear at the Stone Barbarian, shattering it into pieces.

    But even as the Stone Barbarian fell, two more giant Beasts appeared behind it ¡ª a Golden ze Lion and a Cracked Pattern Beast. They wed out, destroying the lightning giant in a single sh.

    Immediately afterwards, a dragon made of wind appeared, twisting towards the two Beasts. This time, four Demonic Emperors preemptively rose high into the sky to meet it.

    The Demonic Emperors and the wind dragon collided in a fierce exchange at the same time that the Beasts on the ground met Sky City¡¯s impregnable defenses. In the end, this only resulted in a massive increase in casualties. At this level, even Demonic Emperors seemed to be somewhatcking in power.

    It would be impossible to tell who was winning this battle for a while, so Le Feng turned his attention away from the battlefield and back to the smoke pouring out of Sky City.

    About one minute had passed between when the anchor¡¯s chain first started nking until it had stopped.

    However, Le Feng had a suspicious feeling that the nking sound was actually meant to confuse him.

    After all, tethering the anchor to the Origin Energy Sea was no simple matter. It had taken Sky City two years to sessfully release the Deep Sea Anchor for the first time. Of course, this was partly because they wanted to preserve the Deep Sea Anchor for future use.

    But even still, under these pressing circumstances, the Deep Sea Anchor¡¯s deployment was definitely a great matter. There was no reason for them to rush toplete it in a minute.

    But from their earlier performance, it seemed as if that was truly the case.

    Le Feng was quite suspicious, but on the surface, he pretended that nothing was wrong. Instead, he continued to casually wander around Perpetual Daylight Pce.

    The two Harpy soldiers anxiously watched over his every move, worried that he would discover the truth if he got too close.

    Unfortunately, even with Le Feng¡¯s Purple-Eyed Eagle Aspect, it was impossible for him to thoroughly inspect Sky City from outside of it. This agitated Le Feng quite a bit.

    At that precise moment, arge cart passed by Le Feng, headed towards Eternal Daylight Pce.

    He had seen this kind of cart quite often before. Ever since Sky City detached itself and started moving, these carts had been moving in and out of Perpetual Daylight Castle in a constant cycle. Le Feng refused to believe that they had nothing to do with the Deep Sea Sorrow.

    But how could he possibly get a better look at the situation?

    As the cart drew closer and closer, Le Feng decided to take a risk and seize the opportunity.

    Right as the cart was about to pass him, he took a single step forward.

    This step was extremely timely and put him right in the path of the oing cart. His move was so sudden that the cart was unable to brake in time and it smashed into him. Unexpectedly, the cart was the one that suffered the most damage from the collision. As it broke, the trunk it was holding shattered, and arge quantity of Origin Stones poured out.

    Origin Stones?

    Le Feng was stunned by this discovery.

    Origin Stones were a basic supplemental item for all cultivators. Why would Perpetual Daylight Pce, which had an endless supply of Origin Energy, need such an item?

    Countless possibilities shed through Le Feng¡¯s mind even as the two Harpy soldiers cursed out the Harpy driving the carriage. ¡°Hey! Be a little more careful, will you? Keep your eyes on the road!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s alright. He didn¡¯t do it on purpose,¡± Le Feng said with a chuckle, trying to smooth over the situation.

    As he spoke, he began helping the Harpy driving the cart pick up all of the Origin Stones that had fallen to the ground.

    Since these Origin Stones weren¡¯t a particrly valuable resource, the two supervising Harpies didn¡¯t pay him that much mind. More importantly, as Le Feng¡¯s guards, there were quite a few secrets that they also hadn¡¯t been informed about so that they wouldn¡¯t inadvertently spill these crucial secrets. Naturally, matters concerning the Deep Sea Anchor were even further removed from them.

    If they didn¡¯t know about the secrets, they couldn¡¯t reveal them. However, this also meant that they would bepletely unaware if the secret was fully exposed in front of them.

    What had just happened was a perfect example of such a situation.

    In the two Harpies¡¯ eyes, thesemon Origin Stones were not worthy of their attention. However, the fact that they were being sent to Perpetual Daylight Pce had aroused Le Feng¡¯s suspicion.

    It was only natural that the two Harpies werepletely clueless.

    Le Feng continued to help the cart driver put all the Origin Stones back into the trunk.

    The cart driver simrly had no idea about the significance of what had just transpired. After quickly thanking Le Feng, he got back onto the cart and soon entered Perpetual Daylight Pce.

    As Le Feng watched the cart driver¡¯s figure pass the pce door, he chuckled, and then uttered a string of strange words before whispering a few sentences into his transmission box.

    The two Harpies couldn¡¯t understand what he had said, and they didn¡¯t feel that anything was strange either. After all, Le Feng had already done this multiple times before.

    They never even considered that what had just taken ce could be important.

    After the cart was ushered into Perpetual Daylight Pce, it made seven or eight turns before finally stopping at a storehouse, waiting for further instructions.

    Many other carts, simrly filled with Origin Stones, had also stopped at this storehouse.

    From time to time, Harpy soldiers would enter, open the carts, and dump all their contents out. These Origin Stones were then ced in the center of a gigantic Origin Formation. After a brief sh of light, the Origin Stones would be consumed and turn into powder. More Origin Stones would then be immediately added to take their ce.

    Down the long corridor leading away from the formation was a vast, open area. In the center of that space stood a giant instrument that was somewhat simr in appearance to a cauldron, with a me burning fiercely away beneath it. It hummed quite loudly, supplying a shocking amount of energy to the rest of the city.

    This was the Sark¡¯s Nucleus, the core of Sky City.

    The energy from the converted Origin Stones was being sent here.

    This was, without question, the most interesting aspect of the whole operation. The seemingly infinite source of energy, Sark¡¯s Nucleus, needed to be supported by Origin Stones?

    If Le Feng saw this with his own eyes, then he would definitely realize what was happening.

    This was the truth behind the one-minute deployment of the Deep Sea Anchor.

    Sky City¡¯s engine was always extremely busy, and heat constantly radiated outwards.

    Once the battle outside reached its most chaotic state, the energy output from Sky City¡¯s internal mechanism would also reach its uppermost limit.

    ¡°Hurry, hurry! Another Origin Formation has been destroyed. Increase the iing energy feed. Prepare to switch to the Light Shaking Formation!¡± the supervisor of the Sark¡¯s Nucleus yelled, his voice echoing throughout the chamber.

    ¡°Increase? Increase with what? The Deep Sea Anchor has only reached the border. The anchor¡¯s saturation hasn¡¯t even reached five percent yet!¡± one of the Craftsmen replied huffily. ¡°We¡¯re only surviving right now due to the supplemental energy from the Origin Stones.¡±

    ¡°Then increase the feed of Origin Stones! The front lines are in a precarious position; whoever makes a mistake first will die!¡±

    A Harpy ran over and barked, ¡°Hurry! Increase the feed of Origin Stones!¡±

    A few more carts of Origin Stones were hurriedly dumped on the formation.

    No one noticed that a drop of blood had been smeared onto one of the Origin Stones hidden in the carts. In the next moment, the stone was consumed with a brilliant sh of light.

 Book 7, 19: Cat and Mouse

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 19: Cat and Mouse</h4>

    The single droplet of blood naturally dripped off of the Origin Stone and onto the ground.

    But then, the droplet spread into an unnaturally thin film, from which two eyes gradually began to appear. The sight was incredibly strange.

    The pair of eyes nced around, surveying its surroundings before inching towards a slightly more secluded corner. Then, it began to transform.

    The blood expanded in size before turning into the shape of a small standing figure. After only a few moments, it was apparent that this figure was in Su Chen¡¯s shape.

    Blood Clone!

    Compared to before, however, Su Chen¡¯s Blood Clone had improved yet again. It could now be activated by a subordinate, and it could also change its appearance.

    This miniature Su Chen clone was not to be underestimated.

    Since this clone was smaller, it was also better able to conceal itself, and the energy it took to maintain this clone was also less. This allowed Su Chen to focus almost all of his focus onbat. This newly spawned clone, however, didn¡¯t have muchbat ability ¡ª instead, it prioritized survivability and stealth.

    Unfortunately, as soon as the clone opened its eyes, it saw a giant foot descending down upon it.

    All Su Chen¡¯s clone could do was cry out before being trampled underfoot.

    ¡°What was that noise?¡± One of the nearby Craftsmen nced around but didn¡¯t see anything worth noting, so he left.

    After the Craftsman left, his foot revealed a two-dimensional imprint on the ground. It was colored red and vaguely shaped like a human.

    A few secondster, an arm extended out of this t imprint, reached around, grabbed its own head, and peeled itself off of the ground like a piece of paper.

    The clone then reinted itself by sucking in a deep breath of air.

    ¡°How unlucky,¡± the clone muttered to itself as it scratched its head.

    Now that Su Chen¡¯s clone had a chance to survey its surroundings in peace, it quickly located the central area of the formation.

    It had barely taken a few steps, however, when it suddenly heard a ttering sound above his head.

    The Harpies were dumping more Origin Stones into the formation from above.

    Unfortunately for the clone, it was right underneath the downpour.

    ¡°Dammit!¡±

    That was all Su Chen¡¯s clone could squeeze out before the deluge of Origin Stones overwhelmed it.

    Thankfully, there was enough space in between the cracks of the Origin Stones for it to avoid being crushed.

    An instantter, a thin blood-colored strand twisted and writhed its way out of the pile of Origin Stones.

    This time, the clone had morphed itself into a long strap of sorts.

    After extricating itself from the pile of Origin Stones, the clone continued to advance through the formation, tiptoeing towards his destination. He looked just like a tiny mouse skulking about.

    Eventually, however, he met his match.

    A tiger-like creature emerged in front of him, staring intently at him with its green eyes as if it were eyeing a new toy.

    A cat!

    Why was there a cat here of all ces? Even mosquitoes would find it difficult to get into this ce.

    Su Chen¡¯s clone felt its scalp tingle in fear.

    The cat leisurely swiped at Su Chen with its w.

    The clone made an exaggerated face as it stuck its tongue out.

    Unfortunately, the clone wasn¡¯t able to scare the cat away. After all, the cat was technically a demonic one, which meant that it possessed its own degree of strength.

    Su Chen¡¯s clone was badly startled. It split itself into three sections ¡ªa head, torso, and legs, and then sent each of them scrambling off in a different direction.

    When the cat saw this, it chose to chase after the portion that had the head.

    Two legs sprouted out from the upper third of the clone¡¯s body in a bizarre fashion before carrying it along as the demonic cat chased closely after it. But then, the running head on legs flickered before suddenly disappearing.

    It had chosen to conceal itself.

    Unfortunately, this consumed a great deal of Origin Energy, and Su Chen¡¯s clone had even split itself into three portions. As such, its duration had decreased even further.

    The demonic cat didn¡¯t leave even though it¡¯s ¡°toy¡± had disappeared. Instead, it calmly continued to survey its surroundings.

    Su Chen¡¯s clone¡¯s upper third carefully hid in a random corner. Suddenly, the demonic cat¡¯s nose twitched once before it leapt straight at the head, opening its mouth to swallow the head whole.

    <i>Dammit! Of course blood would have a distinctive scent that this cat would never miss! </i>Su Chen¡¯s clone cursed to itself.

    The upper-third of Su Chen¡¯s body was consumed just like that.

    One-third of his clone was now permanently gone.

    After the demonic cat ate a third of Su Chen¡¯s blood clone, it trembled noticeably as its gaze suddenly sharpened. After all, Su Chen¡¯s blood was extremely nourishing for that cat.

    What a wonderful sensation!

    The other two-thirds joined back together after traversing more than half the room. A new head grew out from thebined body, but it¡¯s overall size was much smaller than before.

    ¡°Damn, how unlucky,¡± Su Chen¡¯s clone muttered to itself. The cat had already circled around and was charging towards him yet again.

    Su Chen¡¯s clone was badly startled and immediately started running away.

    Perhaps the cat had memorized the blood clone¡¯s scent after eating its head, as it chased after the clone relentlessly.

    Now that it had gotten a taste, there was no way it would ever let the Blood Clone go.

    This game of cat and mouse continued all the way until they both reached the core of the formation.

    When Su Chen¡¯s clone saw the giant humming machine, it instantly became excited. ¡°Sark¡¯s Nucleus! I finally get to see you with my own eyes!¡±

    Theplete Sark¡¯s Nucleus was far moreplicated than the one drawn out in the blueprints that Su Chen had stolen.

    It was soplicated that there were a total of 1,346 miniature Origin Formations in it alone.

    Sark¡¯s Nucleus could be thought of as a cauldron supplying Sky City with all of its energy. On one side of this cauldron, there was an opening where a constant stream of Origin Stones poured into it. Inside it, the Origin Stones were being converted into pure energy. Additionally, there was a giant chain that connected the center of this cauldron to the Origin Energy Sea.

    ¡°So that¡¯s what¡¯s happening.¡± Su Chen¡¯s clone immediately understood the situation when it saw this scene.

    Sark¡¯s Nucleus was indeed drawing energy from the Origin Energy Sea, but its connection was much more tenuous than the Harpies let on. In reality, most of its energy was being supplied by the Origin Stones, with another significant portion being provided by the Deep Sea Anchor.

    In any case, truly retethering Sky City to the Origin Energy Sea would take much longer than it seemed. Before the Deep Sea Anchor reached the depths of the Origin Energy Sea, Sky City would need to rely on Origin Stones to fuel their Origin Energy consumption.

    Simply put, they were just trying to scare them!

    But scare who?

    The observers, of course.

    The Harpies had done their best to shroud Sky City in mystery.

    Unfortunately for them, Su Chen had still......

    Before Su Chen could finish his thought, however, he realized that the demonic cat was bearing down on his clone again.

    Dammit!

    Su Chen cursed in his heart as the clone hurriedly leapt into motion while also concealing itself at the same time.

    The core was primarily manned by technical operators, not fighters. Additionally, the ambient energy was in constant turmoil due to Sark¡¯s Nucleus¡¯ operation, which meant that anti-concealment formations wouldn¡¯t work in this area. As such, no one was able to expose the presence of Su Chen¡¯s clone.

    In other words, the cat was the only creature that could sense the movements of Su Chen¡¯s clone.

    Su Chen¡¯s clone sprinted madly across the floor as the demonic cat followed closely in hot pursuit.

    The Craftsmen weren¡¯t too surprised when they saw the cat bounding across the floor, probably because they were used to it.

    The demonic cat¡¯s speed only grew with each passing second, and the distance between them was quickly closing, but not a single Craftsman made an attempt to stop the cat. Su Chen¡¯s clone gritted its teeth, and then decisively changed directions, heading straight for Sark¡¯s Nucleus.

    The cat immediately followed.

    Only now was the ho¡¯s nest shaken.

    Su Chen¡¯s clone nimbly slid past a lever. The cat attempted it to follow but couldn¡¯t fit through, so it mmed into the lever instead.

    This collision knocked the lever into a higher gear.

    Sark¡¯s Nucleus immediately began to creak and groan.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? Who opened the gas valve!?¡± cried out one of the Craftsmen in rm. This ident hadpletely wasted the most recent batch of Origin Stones.

    More importantly, a temporary interruption in the supply of Origin Energy would directly affect the battle going on outside.

    On the battlefield, Sky City¡¯s defensive barrier suddenly disappeared for a brief moment.

    Even though it was only a brief moment, tens of thousands of Beasts took advantage of it to charge into Sky City, directly engaging the Harpy soldiers inside.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± all of the Harpies began to yell at the same time.

    One of the Craftsmen hurriedly replied as he fixed the gas valve, ¡°It¡¯s that damned cat!¡±

    ¡°Catch it!¡±

    Two Craftsmen charged forwards.

    However, the demonic cat was still chasing after Su Chen¡¯s clone.

    Su Chen¡¯s clone leapt past the cauldron andnded near another set of controls.

    He didn¡¯t know what these controls would do, but since he didn¡¯t know, it was worth a try.

    The demonic cat naturally pounced towards the controls as well.

    The Craftsmen cried out in despair when they saw the cat descending upon the control panel.

    Bang!

    The demonic cat¡¯s bodynded squarely on three switches.

    The anchor immediately groaned to a halt before beginning to retract.

    At the same time, huge clouds of white steam began to billow from Sark¡¯s Nucleus. It seemed as if it was about to grind to a halt.

    ¡°No, Little Qing! Look what you¡¯ve done!¡± one of the Harpymanders, who had rushed over upon hearing themotion, cried out in despair when he saw the cat¡¯s actions.

    He was the one who had brought the cat here in the first ce.

    Pets weren¡¯t allowed to enter the core of the city, but as the chief overseer of the core, it was only natural that he had some special privileges.

    Little Qing the cat was normally very well-behaved and never ran around amuck like this.

    Today, however, the cat had gone crazy for seemingly no reason.

    After getting a taste for Su Chen¡¯s blood, the demonic cat had lost all rationality. The only thing it could think about anymore was how it would devour Su Chen¡¯s clone, to the point where it hadpletely forgotten about the rules that it had to follow. It continued to chase madly after Su Chen¡¯s clone no matter how desperately his owner called out for him.

    The cat scrambled across all kinds of switches and levers, causing quite themotion before it finally closed the distance between it and Su Chen¡¯s clone.

    Su Chen discovered to his disappointment that his clone was actually incapable of escaping from the demonic cat¡¯s paw.

    Bang!

    The demonic cat pounced onest time, pressing Su Chen¡¯s clone beneath its paw.

    But just as it was about to devour Su Chen¡¯s clone ¡ª

    Bang!

    The cat¡¯s body burst into mes.

    ¡°Meow!¡± That was the only sound the cat had time to utter before it was sent flying. It had been killed on the spot.

    The Harpy overseer walked over, picked up the demonic cat¡¯s corpse by the scruff of its neck, and rebuked it as he wailed, ¡°Look at what you¡¯ve done! You really made a huge mess this time!¡±

    His sorrow caused him to overlook the fact that the dead cat¡¯s paw, which had been tightly curled up, suddenly rxed.

    Su Chen¡¯s clone had managed to free itself from the demonic cat¡¯s lifeless paw.

    He could sense that the clone had already expended most of its energy, and that its concealment technique was also starting to unravel.

    Thankfully, there was a dead cat next to it.

    The clone walked over to the cat¡¯s open wound, where it reverted to its original form of a droplet of blood.

    Fresh blood mixed with fresh blood.

    No one would be able to tell the difference.

    Unexpectedly, however, the Harpy overseer picked up the cat. ¡°It¡¯s time to go.¡±

    He tossed the corpse into Sark¡¯s Nucleus¡¯s, where it directlynded on the fiercely burning fire.

    Holy crap!

    Su Chen cursed yet again.

    He had barely escaped from the clutches of the demonic cat, but now his clone was going to die inside of this cauldron?

    Su Chen¡¯s clone attempted to separate itself from the demonic cat¡¯s body with all its might.

    Bang!

    The cat¡¯s corpse was tossed into the cauldron.

    No one noticed that, at that exact moment, a droplet of blood fell from the cat¡¯s body andnded on the edge of the cauldron. Perhaps even if anyone did see it, they wouldn¡¯t have paid it any mind.

    The blood quietly waited on top of Sark¡¯s Nucleus like a small cinnabar dot, flickering faintly by the light of the cauldron¡¯s fire.

 Book 7, 20: Initiative (1)

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 20: Initiative (1)</h4>

    This droplet of blood continued to glow faintly on top of the cauldron, resiliently hanging on.

    Even so, it was beginning to run out of steam.

    The squabble with the demonic cat had expended quite a bit of the clone¡¯s energy, making it impossible for it to do much of anything else.

    Well, at least he had taken care of the most important matter.

    The blood slowly but surely dissipated away, eventually leaving behind nothing more than a faint seal marking on the cauldron.

    This seal was incredibly small, roughly the size of a single blotted droplet of blood. In such a busy environment, no one would ever notice it unless they were specifically searching for it. But more importantly, this seal served as a homing beacon.

    A spatial marker of sorts.

    Once the clone had taken care of this matter, it disappeared for good, and Sky City¡¯s core once again returned to its former smooth operations...

    Sky City was still locked in a battle with the Demonic Beasts, but Su Chen was no longer observing.

    Within the Boundless Sect.

    ¡°Whew!¡±

    Su Chen let out a long sigh and massaged his forehead.

    Transmitting his will over such a long distance had expended quite a bit of his energy.

    ¡°Master?¡± Iron Cliff could tell that Su Chen¡¯s face was slightly wan and couldn¡¯t help but inquire.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. I just feel a bit tired after that long-distance consciousness journey. That being said......¡± Su Chen chuckled as he then ryed his discovery to Iron Cliff.

    Upon hearing what Su Chen had done, Iron Cliff let out a wry chuckle. ¡°So you¡¯re saying that, as soon as our battle with the Harpies begins, that you¡¯ll be able to directly infiltrate their core and wreak havoc upon their most vulnerable area?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly right,¡± Su Chen said as he stretched outzily. ¡°This is all thanks to Le Feng finding an opportunity to send my blood inside.¡±

    Iron Cliff immediately said, ¡°The Heavens must be watching over us. We will definitelye out victorious in this duel!¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°We got lucky because they were preupied with a battle. Now that you mention it, our Demonic Beast friends should probably be making their move around now as well, right?¡±

    ¡°We haven¡¯t discovered the presence of any Demonic Beasts ahead, but we haven¡¯t seen them for many days now. I imagine that a storm is just off on the horizon.¡± Iron Cliff¡¯s foresight had improved greatly after following Su Chen for so many years.

    ¡°Mmm,¡± Su Chen indistinctly murmured.

    Suddenly, he thought of something and said, ¡°Iron Cliff, do you think that the Harpies have some kind of secret tactic of their own that will allow them to discover our secrets while we are preupied with a huge fight?¡±

    Iron Cliff replied without hesitation, ¡°Of course. No one would possibly let such an opportunity go to waste. However, Deputy Sect Master has already assigned talented individuals to closely supervise those Harpy observers.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Weren¡¯t the Harpies keeping an eye on Le Feng as well? However, he nheless still managed to find an opportunity to send a drop of my blood into Sky City¡¯s core. He seeded most likely because the Harpies aren¡¯t that familiar with my Blood Clones, and none of them would ever expect that I would be able to control a clone from so far away.¡±

    Iron Cliff was momentarily taken aback. ¡°Sect Master is saying......¡±

    Su Chen calmly said, ¡°All of the defenses that we¡¯ve prepared are only effective against the tactics that we are already aware of. However, do you think that we know every single trick the Harpies have up their sleeves? If we don¡¯t know what they¡¯re going to do, then we can¡¯t defend against it either. For instance, how would you or I know whether or not they had bugged this room with some Origin Formation or secret mechanism and are listening to us as we speak?¡±

    Iron Cliff was taken aback by this possibility.

    Su Chen suddenly summoned a bolt of lightning into his hand.

    Whoosh!

    The bolt of lightning swept through every nook and cranny of the room,pletely sterilizing it.

    If there were any such microscopic Origin Formations nted in the room, then they would definitely have been destroyed by the sweep of lightning.

    Iron Cliff rubbed his head. ¡°We should be safe now.¡±

    Su Chen, however, shook his head slowly. ¡°This ce might be safe right now, but what about everywhere else? And how long will this ce even be secure for? As long as those Harpy observers are still breathing, they will be able toe up with ways to harm and spy on us whenever they please.¡±

    Iron Cliff was startled. ¡°Master, you¡¯re not thinking of killing them, are you?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°Of course not. Not only would that affect my reputation, but it would also put Le Feng and the others in danger.¡±

    Iron Cliff let out a sigh of relief when he heard this.

    ¡°But imprisoning them is not an impossibility,¡± Su Chen muttered.

    Even though imprisoning the Harpy observers would definitely affect his reputation negatively, it was unlikely to directly cause Le Feng and the other human observers to die as a result.

    A momentter, however, Su Chen rejected that idea as well. ¡°If I do that, then Eternal Night will probably refuse to fight me at Skywild ins.¡±

    This duel at Skywild ins had originally been Su Chen¡¯s proposal, and he would naturally not let all of his preparations go to waste. These ten Harpy observers, however, were indeed a thorn in Su Chen¡¯s side.

    Iron Cliff understood what Su Chen was thinking and suggested, ¡°Why don¡¯t we assign some more people to keep an eye on them?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I already said that our main concern is defending ourselves against techniques that we don¡¯t understand or know about. Do you think that Le Feng¡¯s act of slipping a droplet of my blood into Sky City¡¯s core on an Origin Stone would not have happened if they had simply assigned more Harpies to supervise him?¡±

    Iron Cliff fell silent.

    Su Chen said, ¡°With such high stakes, we cannot afford to take reactionary measures. We must take preemptive initiative!¡±

    As Su Chen spoke to himself, his eyes began to glow.

    Iron Cliff knew that Su Chen had arrived at an answer when he saw this expression, but he couldn¡¯t for the life of him figure out how Su Chen was going to take the initiative if he wasn¡¯t going to kill or capture those Harpy observers.

    Night Rain sat in his room, calmly cleaning his Flying Rain de.

    As themanding officer, there was no need for him to participate in this battle.

    But fighting was just in his blood.

    Whenever he held this de in his hand, Night Rain felt like he had returned to the real him.

    With this de, he had carved out rivers of blood, creating a name for himself that had raised him to his current position.

    Unfortunately, there was no room for him to participate in this battle.

    It was for this reason that Night Rain was gazing at his de as if he were gazing at a lover.

    A lover that he was about to part with.

    ¡°Night Rain? Night Rain?¡± Youthful Labor cried out from outside his window.

    Youthful Labor was the other Harpy observer. His personality was quite erratic, and no one really knew why Eternal Night had chosen him to take on this responsibility.

    Upon hearing Youthful Labor¡¯s cries, Night Rain frowned and impatiently asked, ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Demonic Qi is surging in front of us,¡± Youthful Labor yelled excitedly from outside the window.

    ¡°Hm?¡± When Night Rain heard this, he stood up.

    He pulled his door open and walked to the railing of the ship. He immediately spotted a dense, pitch-ck cloud off in the distance.

    This ck cloud was obviously not naturally formed. Instead, it wasposed of copious amounts of Demonic Qi and exuded an intense pressure. If amoner saw this cloud off on the horizon, they probably would have died of fright on the spot.

    Even Night Rain felt uneasy when he saw this ominous cloud.

    ¡°What an immense cloud of Demonic Qi. So the Demonic Beasts are finally about to make their move here as well, huh?¡± Night Rain muttered to himself.

    Night Rain had learned from the transmission box that the Boundless Sect had gifted him that Sky City and the Beasts had already started fighting. The Beasts over in this area, who had been monitoring the situation closely, had also finally made their move.

    The Harpies were not the only ones who were going to spill their blood today.

    Fortunately, the Beasts had indeede for the Boundless Sect, and by the looks of things, there appeared to be just as many here as at Sky City.

    This made Night Rain quite happy.

    Perhaps the storm would blow just a little fiercer and save the Harpies quite a lot of energy.

    But Night Rain knew that this was not possible.

    Both the Harpies and the humans were stronger than they had ever been before. One possessed the invincible Sky City while the other had a terrifyinglyrge core group of powerful disciples.

    Of course, this strength still paled inparison to that of the Beasts.

    But as mentioned before, the Intelligent Races didn¡¯t rely on just their strength to contest the Beasts.

    The Harpies had their Floating Points while the humans had bloodlines, Lifesource Candles, and powerful military formations.

    As the human army drew closer to the cloud of Demonic Energy, the formation of the Beasts ahead gradually revealed themselves.

    There were hundreds of Demonic Emperor pces floating in the sky as countless Demonic Kings and Demonic Lordsmanded their own troops. They were arrayed in an imposing fashion, and the massive army exuded an immense pressure upon their enemies.

    They had ruled this territory for tens of thousands of years.

    But there would alwayse a day where the old would rece the new.

    And today was that day.

    The battle didn¡¯t break out immediately. Instead, both sides took their time arranging themselves into formation and preparing for battle.

    If the Beasts were barbaric, hot-blooded, andcking in intelligence, then the humans were cool, calm, and collected as they arranged themselves in a disciplined manner.

    A sh between ice and fire would definitely produce an amazing spectacle.

    No impassioned speech was necessary to motivate the troops. After all, the centuries of hatred and resentment between the two was more than enough reason for them to w at each other¡¯s throats. As both sides¡¯ respective armies got into position, the signal to attack was given without pause. Themanders didn¡¯t want to waste even a single second and immediately led their subordinates into battle.

    The Beasts made their move as well.

    Their strategy was the same as always: cannon fodder in the front, whose sheer numbers would drown their foe.

    The humans responded with an even simpler solution.

    A multitude of small armored flying boats detached from therge floating dragon boats and descended towards the Beasts like hail from the sky.

    Cloud-Piercing Shuttles were a unique invention of the humans, and they stood out even amongst all of the unique tools developed throughout their history.

    They allowed lower-tier cultivators topensate for the fact that they could not fly, and theyter became one of the unique characteristics for humans to distinguish themselves from a forest of Intelligent Races.

    Duringrge-scale battles, the Harpies relied on Sky City¡¯s defenses, the Astrals on armies of puppets, and the Ravagers on their physical strength and Totems. Naturally, the humans primarily relied on their armored flying shuttles.

    When enough of these shuttles were deployed at the same time, they would essentially form arge barrier in the sky, making them the ideal front line for the human army. They were basically armored flying tanks that absorbed the majority of the enemy¡¯s attacks, allowing the Origin Qi Schrs to fight freely. Of course, their defenses were far from matching Sky City¡¯s, but their offensive capabilities were greater and they were more flexible in a variety of tough situations. After all, they could change formations at a moment¡¯s notice.

    This array of Cloud-Piercing Shuttles was the Meteor Formation which the humans were famous for. Evenmon soldiers could instantly assume this formation. Until the Boundless Sect¡¯s appearance, this was one of the human race¡¯s trump cards.

    The Meteor Formation wasposed of a total of seven unique kinds of Cloud-Piercing Shuttles, and each of these shuttles was necessary toplete the formation. Notably, the manufacturing methods for each shuttle was split amongst the Seven Kingdoms.

    The reason for doing so was very simple ¡ª this mean that the Meteor Formation could never be used in an internal struggle.

    The Meteor Formation was only truly effective when the Seven Kingdoms joined forces against a foreign enemy. No ruler was allowed to ever use the Meteor Formation against a fellow human army.

    This was yet another reason why the Seven Kingdoms were rtively unified.

    If they ever separated, they would perish.

 Book 7, 21: Initiative (2)

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 21: Initiative (2)</h4>

    It was difficult to actually deploy the Meteor Formation due to how stringent its requirements were. However, over the course of thousands of years, the human race had umted many of these shuttles. Even though some shuttles were lost with everyrge battle, the human race had nheless still umted around a million Cloud-Piercing Shuttles.

    This was one of the Seven Kingdoms¡¯ greatest trump cards. The millions of soldiers assigned to man these Cloud-Piercing Shuttles wereparatively far less important.

    The first to appear was arge group of yellow Cloud-Piercing Shuttles packed into a tight formation. Every Cloud-Piercing Shuttle was covered in its own barrier, but the barriers of these Cloud-Piercing Shuttles were actually linked together, forming a massive entity.

    The seven unique Cloud-Piercing Shuttles that made up the Meteor Formation were the Heaven¡¯s me Shuttle, Flying Ash Shuttle, Cloudre Shuttle, Raytrace Shuttle, Metal-Tipped Shuttle, Rainstorm Shuttle, and Thunderbolt Shuttle.

    The shuttles that had appeared first were Flying Ash Shuttles.

    And these Flying Ash Shuttles were primarily used for defensive purposes.

    Cloud Rising¡¯s Deste Beast Bloodline, the Cloudpeck, had been the ruler of the skies in its prime.

    The overall defensive barrier formed by the Flying Ash Shuttles spread out in two directions as if it were unfurling its wings. However, the barrier was concentrated around the two ¡°wingtips¡± and not the center. This actually resulted in a barrier that did not entirely enclose the shuttles.

    This initial deployment was just a preparatory move for a follow-up attack.

    Unlike the Harpies¡¯ Sky City, which relied entirely on its powerful defense, the humans believed that the best defense was a strong offense. Even the Meteor Formation, which was designed to be mainly defensive in nature, operated under such principles. Thus, one of its mainstay abilities was to mount powerful counterattacks.

    At this moment, the horde of airborne Demonic Beasts had just arrived at the shuttles¡¯ barrier. They immediately began wing and striking at the newly erected giant floating wall.

    The powerful defensive capabilities of the Flying Ash Shuttles were put on full disy as the Demonic Beasts threw themselves at the giant wall with reckless abandon ¡ª not a single one was able to break through.

    At the same time, a number of red shuttles emerged behind the Flying Ash Shuttles.

    Large swaths of mes suddenly burst forth, enveloping the Demonic Beasts and their surroundings.

    This congration covered a total area of ten thousand square kilometers, burning every inch fiercely and causing the flying Demonic Beasts to shriek and howl in pain.

    The Heaven¡¯s me Shuttles!

    The Heaven¡¯s me Shuttles were primarily ranged weapons and were produced by Owl Country.

    Owl Country¡¯s Deste Beast Bloodline was that of the Three-Legged Golden Bird, which had exquisite mastery over the power of fire. Naturally, Owl Country¡¯s citizens also had an innate affinity for manipting fire, and this was represented in the Heaven¡¯s me Shuttles¡¯ ability to create an inescapable region of ¡°Heavenly mes.¡± When all of the Heaven¡¯s mes shuttles attacked at the same time, they could send scorching mes sprawling for hundreds of kilometers in any direction. Unfortunately, this would also weaken its effect, which meant that this area of effect fire would only really harm low tiered Demonic Beasts.

    But in this situation, it almostpletely wiped out the charging eagles in an instant.

    However, the Demonic Beasts¡¯ ranks were endless. The front line, which had been thoroughly dismantled by the might of the mes, was immediately re-formed as a new wave of Beasts rose to take their ce.

    This time, it was the ming Crows.

    ming Crows were not particrly powerful Demonic Beasts, but they had an innate resistance against fire.

    The effect of the Heaven¡¯s mes Shuttles was greatly diminished against them.

    Thankfully, there were still Origin Qi Schrs present.

    Arge group of Origin Qi Schrs was positioned just behind the Meteor Formation. They collectively unleashed their flying swords, filling the sky with razor-sharp sword Qi that quickly rained down upon the ming Crows, tearing them apart.

    After all, the Meteor Formation didn¡¯t exist on its own. The whole reason for its deployment was to serve as a shield for Origin Qi Schrs to attack from safety. It was just that this shield also possessed the ability to fight back on its own.

    Just the defeat of the ming Crows wouldn¡¯t cause the Demonic Beasts to retreat. Instead, it prompted even more powerful Demonic Beasts to charge forwards. In addition, these Demonic Beasts were noticeably stronger than the ones in the initial wave. Most of them were high-tier Demonic Beasts, many of whom possessed some level of innate resistance against fire.

    At that moment, however, small, silver-colored shuttles appeared, firing offsers at the Demonic Beasts.

    The Raytrace Shuttles.

    The Raytrace Shuttles were primarily used to weaken opponents.

    Long Sang¡¯s Deste Beast was the Dragon Centipede, which was known for the devastating curses it inflicted upon its enemies. As soon as the Raytrace Shuttles were mobilized, they would shoot rays of curse energy at any creature that entered their vicinity, causing them to experience a ten to forty percent reduction in strength.

    These high-tier Demonic Beasts immediately suffered a thirty percent decrease in their strength as soon as they entered the Raytrace Shuttles¡¯ domain. The Heaven¡¯s mes Shuttles once again unleashed their mes, easily turning those high-tier Demonic Beasts to ashes.

    The Demonic Beasts, of course, were also attacking from range.

    Streaks of powerful Demonic Qi collided with the Flying Ash Shuttles, causing their defensive barrier to flicker violently.

    A few of the more powerful Demonic Lords and Kings took advantage of this opportunity to attack the human army from behind as they could rely on their powerful strength to ignore the weakening effects of the Raytrace Shuttles and the mes from the Heaven¡¯s me Shuttles. Their main goal was to disrupt the Meteor Formation.

    A powerful tornado whirled into existence right in front of the Meteor Formation. Sparks flew brilliantly as the gale collided violently with the barrier.

    The tornado immediately dissipated as soon as it met the barrier, revealing a few dozen powerful Demonic Beasts, including a Demonic Emperor, four Demonic Kings, and around twenty Demonic Lords.

    The tornado had been drummed up by the Demonic Emperor, who quickly assumed the form of a pale-faced, buck-toothed man that was wielding a whip made of bamboo leaves. He sharply cracked his whip against the Flying Ash Shuttles, each whip strike causing the barrier to flicker madly. Under his onught, one of the Flying Ash Shuttles finally gave out, and its defensive barrier fell. The Demonic Emperor immediately seized the opportunity and smashed the lone shuttle to pieces with his whip.

    Although Demonic Emperors had a certain level of intelligence, it was impossible for them topletely ovee their primal and animalistic nature. Whenever a battle broke out, they would invariably join in. This Demonic Emperor was no exception.

    Just as he was getting drunk off of unleashing his power, however, a golden shuttle suddenly charged out of the formation and into the fray, shining an intense golden ray of light at the Demonic Emperor.

    Shockingly, this single ray of golden light actually dealt a significant amount of damage to the Demonic Emperor.

    An instantter, hundreds more of these golden shuttles appeared, and theybined their power to summon a golden spear which careened towards this Demonic Emperor. The Demonic Emperor reached out with his hand in an attempt to stop the spear, but the spearpletely prated his palm, and then chest. It cleanly passed through his body as if it weren¡¯t even there. Although this attack didn¡¯t kill the Demonic Emperor, it had significantly wounded him.

    The Demonic Emperor, however, was still not satisfied and bounded into the air, recklessly swinging his whip through the air.

    Suddenly, a thunderbolt descended from the sky, mming straight onto the Demonic Emperor¡¯s head and paralyzing him.

    Immediately afterwards, countless golden spears pierced the Demonic Emperor¡¯s body, silencing his roars as his body immediately exploded.

    A Demonic Emperor had died almost immediately to the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle¡¯s formation.

    The Thunderbolt Shuttles.

    The Metal-Tipped Shuttles.

    The Thunderbolt Shuttles were primarily produced by Liaoye Country.

    Liaoye¡¯s Dream Beauty Bloodline was a consciousness-type bloodline, allowing them to specialize in silently ambushing their opponents. The Thunderbolt Shuttles were so named because they attacked in the form of a thunderbolt; however, this thunderbolt was actually illusory and was only manifested via consciousness power. The attack would appear incredibly powerful on the surface but would contain a hidden consciousness attack under the surface. No matter how powerful their target was, they would all temporarily fall into a paralyzed state. Their strength merely determined how long they remained in this state.

    The Metal-Tipped Shuttles were responsible for attacking and were controlled by Empty Mountain.

    Empty Mountain¡¯s Deste Beast Bloodline, White Fang, possessed the greatest offensive capabilities due to its steel-like teeth. This was why the Chu n was given control over them. On the battlefield, their primary purpose was to specifically target Demonic Lords and higher.

    Some purple shuttles also appeared on the back lines, glowing with a mysterious luster. They were located precisely where the feral Demonic Emperor had first begun his attack.

    These were the Rainstorm Shuttles.

    The Rainstorm Shuttles handled recovery and repairs and were controlled by Water Sheen.

    Water Sheen¡¯s Deste Beast Bloodline, Luo You, was a giant sea-dweller capable of bending the waves to its will, giving it powerful recovery and supportive abilities. They were the most trustworthy allies in a fight and the most relied-on backup. For this reason, Du Qingxi had specifically interceded for Jiang Jusheng to smooth over his conflict with Su Chen. Only then were they capable of fighting shoulder-to-shoulder on the same front lines.

    With the repair efforts of the Rainstorm Shuttles, the region that had just suffered the most damage began to slowly recover.

    The final ss of Cloud-Piercing Shuttles, the Cloudre Shuttle, were controlled by Greatwind. Their function was self-detonation.

    The Deste Beast Windbite¡¯s speed was virtually unparalleled. The Cloudre Shuttles attacked by blowing themselves up, meaning that they were also the Meteor Formation¡¯sst resort. Their destructive capabilities had essentially merged the attributes of the Heaven¡¯s me Shuttles and the Metal-Tipped Shuttles into one. For this reason, these shuttles needed to be extremely fast. Otherwise, they would be destroyed before reaching the target of detonation.

    The captains of the Cloudre Shuttles needed to have a resolute will and the heroic spirit to sacrifice themselves for others. For this reason, the Cloudre Shuttles saw the least use, and would never be used until thest possible moment.

    The Meteor Formationposed of these seven distinct sses of shuttles became an iron wall keeping the Demonic Beasts at bay. In battle strategy terms, this was the front line.

    The Meteor Formation¡¯s purpose was to defend and repel any enemies.

    The true killers were still the Origin Qi Schrs.

    Before the Boundless Sect appeared, the human race had managed to w their way to the territory they currently held by relying on the power of their bloodlines, the Meteor Formation, and Lifesource Candles.

    And the brunt of the burden was still borne by bloodline power.

    Even though bloodline power had created vast social disparities, creating internal strife, it was an undeniable fact that Bloodline Nobility ns were important.

    And most of them carried out their duties responsibly, fighting on the front lines to preserve their country.

    This time, when the Beasts invaded, the human race¡¯s Origin Qi Schrs were split into two groups.

    One group was the Seven Kingdoms¡¯ armies. They used the Meteor Formation as a wall from behind which countless Origin Qi Schrs with bloodline power would lob Origin Skills at the enemy. As such, their equipment and techniques were all over the ce.

    The other group was the Boundless Sect¡¯s soldiers. Inparison to the Seven Kingdoms¡¯ armies, the Boundless Sect was much simpler. They had been issued the same equipment, wielded the same swords, and mastered simr techniques. Even if the odd disciple preferred to wield a different kind of weapon, they were also equipped with a sword.

    But because the Seven Kingdoms¡¯ soldiers had fought in tandem with the Meteor Formation before, their positioning and their ability to grasp opportunities was excellent. The Boundless Sect wascking in experience, and all the good positions were taken from them. In terms of formation, the Seven Kingdoms¡¯ Origin Qi Schrs looked like they had the upper hand.

    But when it came to the actual fight, things were obviously different.

    The Seven Kingdoms¡¯ Origin Qi Schrs came from different ns, so their attacks were also different.

    Some were morepetent in close-quartersbat, while others preferred to attack from range.

    Those specializing in close-quartersbat could do nothing other than wait.

    The Boundless Sect was obviously different. They cultivated simr techniques. Of course, each had their own specialty, but they were stillpatible inrge-scale battles.

    Once the battle was fully underway, the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples simultaneously lifted their swords. Hundreds of thousands of streaks of sword light flew through the sky.

    Even though they were pushed out of position by the Seven Kingdoms¡¯ men and weren¡¯t in the best spots, the flying swords they controlled were totally unaffected. They danced through the air, gathering to form one giant and unleashing a vicious sword strike.

    The power of bloodlines suddenly seemed quite dim inparison.

 Book 7, 22: Initiative (2)

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 22: Initiative (2)</h4>

    On the S.S. Clearwater.

    The battle was in full swing off in the distance, but Night Rain¡¯s attention wasn¡¯t there.

    He was gazing at the back lines.

    Up in the sky, the Boundless Pce floated alone, like an imperial carriage. Its status was supreme.

    That was Night Rain¡¯s target.

    But just like the Perpetual Daylight Pce, the Boundless Pce wasn¡¯t exactly a ce the observers could go in and out of.

    Fortunately, Night Rain¡¯s n was more borate than just to simply waltz in.

    He quietly waited for an opportunity to present itself.

    Even though there was theoretically a front line and a back line in battle, the distinction was not so clear in real life.

    Origin Energy fluctuations filled the sky. From time to time, explosions of energy would rock the boats, as even the fluctuations were incredibly strong. The Meteor Formation wasn¡¯t able to prevent all of the shockwaves from leaking through, and wave after wave of energy crashed down on the dragon boats behind the front lines, tossing them about as if they were in the middle of a violent storm.

    From time to time, Origin Qi Schrs would be sent back from the front lines for treatment before returning to the front lines.

    At the same time, carriages designed to transport tools were also traveling back and forth between the two locations.

    All of this traffic made the back lines quite chaotic. Night Rain carefully observed all of this and made a mental note of it.

    The observers were supposed to observe the progression of the battle and make sure that the opposing army was moving in the expected direction, but both sides were carefully evaluating the trump cards that the other side possessed, searching for weaknesses and secrets.

    Both the humans and the Harpies relied on Origin Energy-rted instruments to meet a majority of the front line¡¯s needs. As such, they operated under a different system, and grasping this system would mean grasping a portion of the enemy¡¯s secrets.

    Of course, this was not the most important target.

    The most important target was still the Boundless Sect.

    Night Rain shot it yet another surreptitious look.

    The opportunity he had been waiting for hadn¡¯te yet. This made Night Rain feel quite a bit of agitation, but on the surface he remained calm and emotionless.

    ¡°Brother Night Rain.¡± Youthful Labor walked over, a trace of unease in his eyes.

    Night Rain shot him a nce, indicating with his eyes that an opportunity woulde as long as they patiently waited.

    Youthful Labor grew calm again, as if he had understood what Night Rain was saying.

    The battle taking ce in the air was growing fiercer and fiercer, and casualties were beginning to mount. More and more injured soldiers were being ferried to the back lines as a result, and the time to recovery was increasing as well. From time to time, people would yell:

    ¡°Medicine, is there still medicine?¡±

    ¡°Send some men over there?¡±

    ¡°Send a squad to the west and plug up that gap!¡±

    As the battle grew fiercer and casualties increased, peoples¡¯ state of mind would begin to grow unsettled.

    Suddenly, a giant fireball came hurtling through the air.

    Night Rain¡¯s eyes lit up.

    A cultivator on one of the dragon boats, however, suddenly flew forth, shing the fireball with his sword and dispersing it.

    Night Rain sighed quietly.

    But this meant that the battle¡¯s intensity was still increasing, and attacks that could make it through the gaps would only increase.

    Indeed, following this fireball, more and more attacks began to slip through the cracks.

    The Meteor Formation seemed to have taken quite a bit of damage and waspressing its reach in order to maintain efficacy.

    This was why more attacks were beginning to make it through in the first ce.

    And as the Meteor Formation continued to shrink, the number of attacks that would make it through would only increase.

    An opportunity would present itself soon.

    Night Rain pped his shoulders to loosen up.

    ¡°Hey, you two, split up a little,¡± one of the human cultivators responsible for keeping an eye on them said.

    Youthful Labor immediately replied, ¡°It¡¯s none of your business. We¡¯re not going anywhere.¡±

    The observers were free to converse with each other as they pleased. That human cultivator had probably instinctively told them to split up out of an abundance of caution. All he could do was mutter, ¡°You two are like winged eunuchs.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Youthful Labor was infuriated.

    Night Rain held him back. ¡°Don¡¯t bother interacting with these kinds of people.¡±

    ¡°Hmph! I want to report you to your Sect Master!¡± Youthful Labor yelled.

    ¡°Please, go right ahead,¡± the human cultivator replied without a care. ¡°The rules say that we cannot physically touch you, but merely saying a few sentences in passing is not attacking anyone. If you can¡¯t even handle this, then you might as well let yourself be angered to death.¡±

    ¡°You......¡± Youthful Labor was hopping with anger, but there was nothing he could do or say to the human cultivator.

    What he had said was totally right. The humans couldn¡¯t touch them, but by the same token the observers had no choice but to endure the verbal insults that might be thrown their way.

    Actually, Le Feng had received simr treatment at the hands of the Harpies, but all of the human observers were quite strong-willed and didn¡¯t take it to heart.

    The Harpies, on the other hand, had sent a total of ten observers, and one of them was no older than a child!

    At that moment, a brilliant streak of light appeared in the sky, descending towards the dragon boat.

    This streak of light was a lightning bolt, both fierce and vicious, urately striking the dragon boat and cleaving it in two.

    Perfectly timed!

    Night Rain hurriedly leapt into the air, dragging Youthful Labor with him as a barrier appeared around his body.

    However, there seemed to be something wrong with this barrier of his, and Youthful Labor was somehow left outside of it.

    The lightning mmed viciously into Youthful Labor¡¯s body. Youthful Labor let out a cry as he fell from the sky, grievously injured. Part of this wound was due to the lightning itself, but most of it was due to the lightning that flickered across Night Rain¡¯s hand for just a second.

    Night Rain immediately began to yell loudly, ¡°Hurry! Someone, save him!¡±

    The supervisors responsible for keeping an eye on him hurriedly flew over. These supervisors were forbidden from leaving them or straying too far no matter what happened, and were tasked with protecting them. If any observer died, then it was highly likely the Harpies would believe that the humans had yed a hand in their death.

    The supervisors were all extremely agitated and immediately flew over to take a look at his wounds. One of them said, ¡°His wounds are very serious. He was struck by Lightning Execution, which is incredibly powerful. Once the energy has gotten inside his body, it will wreak havoc on his internal organs and is incredibly difficult to dispel.¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t let him die!¡± one of the other cultivators cried out.

    ¡°Only Sect Master can save him.¡±

    ¡°Bring him to see the Sect Master, now!¡± Night Rain howled madly.

    The cultivators began to hesitate.

    ¡°What are you waiting for? He¡¯s about to die!¡± Night Rain yelled.

    One of the cultivators finally nodded. ¡°Bring him to the Boundless Pce first.¡±

    ¡°This Harpy is also injured,¡± another cultivator said as he pointed at Night Rain. The lightning had conducted through Youthful Labor to his body, injuring him quite a bit. Even though his wounds were not nearly as serious as Youthful Labor¡¯s, they were still going to be quite hard to treat.

    ¡°Bring them both.¡±

    The human cultivators began to carry the two Harpies towards the Boundless Pce.

    At that moment, Su Chen was standing at the Boundless Pce¡¯s war table, issuingmands from time to time as he observed the condition of the battle.

    The cultivators had justnded and were about to notify the Sect Master when they suddenly heard Night Rain howl, ¡°Youthful Labor! Youthful Labor!¡±

    The cultivators turned around, stunned, only to find that Youthful Labor had stopped breathing.

    One of the cultivators hurried over and soon confirmed that the youth was indeed dead.

    Youthful Labor had died!

    The youngest, most beloved observer that the Harpies had sent had died, just like that.

    This left quite a bit of trouble in the hands of the humans.

    The supervisors all nced at each other, their expressions grim.

    From their perspective, they had failed in their duties.

    Night Rain hugged Youthful Labor¡¯s corpse as he howled bitterly. The energy from Lightning Execution was still coursing through him, and perhaps his sorrow only served to exacerbate his physical decline.

    ¡°Hurry and take him to see Sect Master!¡± one of the cultivators yelled.

    A Harpy observer had already died. They couldn¡¯t afford to lose another.

    ¡°Keep an eye on him!¡± Some of the cultivators were still quite sober-minded.

    No matter what, they could not allow this Harpy, who was still alive, to do anything that would put the human race¡¯s endeavors into jeopardy.

    They carried Night Rain all the way to where Su Chen was sitting. Everyone was focused on Night Rain, with only a single cultivator responsible for guarding Youthful Labor¡¯s corpse. Even that cultivator was ncing around anxiously, not paying much attention. As such, he failed to notice a ck shadow slowly slinking out from underneath Youthful Labor¡¯s corpse.

    This shadow seemed to be alive as it snuck deeper and deeper into the pce.

    It wasn¡¯t concealed, so if anyone had been paying attention, they would have immediately spotted it.

    However, a fierce battle was still going on, and the shadow was very faint. After all, shadows were being cast all over the ce, so it was unsurprising that no one noticed this particr shadow sneaking around.

    The shadow smoothly glided through the hall, finally arriving at the ce where Su Chen was: the Calm Thought Hall.

    This ce was the Boundless Sect¡¯s nucleus. All of the secrets that pertained to the Boundless Sect were kept here.

    This included Su Chen¡¯s research logs, the treasures he had taken from all over the continent, and even many of the sect¡¯s trump cards. All of these items could be found here.

    Su Chen had plundered Demonic Emperors, Ravagers, and Harpies already. Now, it seemed that he was about to get a taste of his own medicine.

    Even so, the ck shadow was totally uninterested in this.

    It continued through the hall until it arrived at Su Chen¡¯s researchb.

    Because Su Chen would often make mistakes while performing research, nothing of particr value was actually kept in there.

    However, it seemed that this ce had captured the shadow¡¯s attention.

    Not a single person was within the researchb.

    Upon entering, the shadow nced around before suddenly standing up, revealing a tiny figure about a foot tall.

    The miniature figure nced around before jumping onto the research table.

    The ck shadow seemed to be very familiar with the research table. It came to a specific location, where Su Chen always stood, and performed a quick search before pulling out a special cup. What it did next was shocking.

    First, it ripped off its own head, then tossed it into the cup. The shadow¡¯s head turned into a few drops of dark liquid before mixing with the cup itself and disappearing.

    The ck shadow grew yet another head, causing its body to decrease. After a quick survey of its surroundings, it walked over to a specially-constructed stone tablet and threw its head at it yet again.

    After repeating this process three times, the shadow was no bigger than a walnut.

    Then, the shadow began to slink away, seemingly heading back to that youth¡¯s body.

    At that moment, a voice suddenly spoke. ¡°Soul-Devouring Poison...... So that¡¯s how it is. Your goal was not to steal something from the Boundless Sect but to assassinate me. Well, that does make sense. If the core of Sky City is Sark¡¯s Nucleus, then the human race¡¯s core is me. Killing me is the best way to win. This would be better than any treasure or knowledge you could obtain from us.¡±

 Book 7, 23: Sweep

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 23: Sweep</h4>

    The shadow immediately froze when it heard Su Chen¡¯s voice.

    It nced around in disbelief, but even more surprisingly, it couldn¡¯t find any trace of Su Chen¡¯s figure.

    He was obviously not physically here, but his voice was incredibly clear and direct. This inconsistency drove the shadow mad.

    The shadow, however, could not speak. All it could do was open its mouth as it pantomimed a scream. Even without a face or an expression, its actions clearly demonstrated one singr emotion: fear.

    An instantter, the scene around the shadow distorted.

    The ck shadow discovered that its surroundings seemed to melt away like ice. Everything returned to its previous positions.

    The S.S. Clearwater reappeared around it yet again.

    It was still in the Dragon Boat. Youthful Labor¡¯s corpse was to its side, and in the cornery Night Rain, who seemed to have fallen asleep.

    Sounds of battle could still be heard in the background, but the situation was not nearly as dire or chaotic as it had been earlier.

    A man was standing right in front of them: Su Chen.

    ¡°This was all fake?¡± Night Rain awoke from his dream, crestfallen.

    They had been tricked.

    Everything that had just happened had been an illusion.

    ¡°Not entirely,¡± Su Chen said with a faint smile.

    The battle had indeed begun, but it was still in its early stages ¡ª far from reaching the climax.

    His illusion had merely elerated how quickly the battle had progressed.

    ¡°At least I had the time to deal with you rats. If more time had gone by, then you might¡¯ve honestly slipped by,¡± Su Chen said with a faint smile.

    Now that he had discovered the Harpies¡¯ true goal, Su Chen¡¯s heart felt much more at ease.

    He nced at Youthful Labor, who was lying on the ground, and then at the ck shadow. He assuredly asked, ¡°The Harpies have actually managed to master the Soul Poison technique, an Astral technique...... Can you still return to your original body?¡±

    The ck shadow, which was actually Youthful Labor¡¯s soul fragment, nced at Su Chen warily before looking at Night Rain.

    It seemed to understand what was about to happen and reached towards its head to tear itself into two. An instantter, however, a powerful will enveloped the shadow, making it hard for it to even move its pinky. After immobilizing the shadow, Su Chen then slowly forced it back into Youthful Labor¡¯s body. ¡°It¡¯s better to live if you can. Even though you think that living a life like this is no better than death, it¡¯s better than you actually dying on my watch.¡±

    The soul fragment had sacrificed its own lifeforce to poison Su Chen, and it was no longer intact. If it was put back into its host body, then the individual would merely be a broken, worthless shell of a person. Youthful Labor knew this, but he had still agreed to the n. No one could question his loyalty.

    But in the end, his loyalty didn¡¯t matter. The fact that he had failed his mission was an undeniable truth.

    He would not be the hero of the Harpies today.

    After Su Chen forcefully sent Youthful Labor¡¯s soul fragment back into his body, he casually snapped his fingers. A crystalline coffin immediately appeared around Youthful Labor¡¯s body.

    While this casual movement might have seemed simple, it was actually incredibly profound. The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples immediately realized that their Sect Master¡¯s strength had grown yet again.

    It was true that Su Chen¡¯s strength had increased by leaps and boundstely.

    His improvement was closely tied to the faint white energy that he had obtained after forming his Golden Pill and also from converting the divine script into divine energy. With the aid of this newfound energy, Su Chen could sense his advance elerating. Many theories that had been previously obscured to him were now easily understood without much effort on his part.

    And he was receiving new enlightenment from the path of this Golden Pill.

    After neutralizing the Harpies¡¯ scheme, Su Chen¡¯s mood improved dramatically.

    At that moment, the Demonic Beasts¡¯ attacks were still mounting in intensity. Unlike what the earlier illusion realm portrayed, the Demonic Beasts¡¯ attacks came hard and fast with little reprieve between each wave. After just a few rounds of attacks, Demonic Emperors had already joined the fray. It seemed that they were trying to end this battle quickly.

    ¡°So the Demonic Emperors have already made their move? Fine, fine, fine. It seems that I should start warming up,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself as he teleported to the battle formation in the front lines. Surprisingly, a Demonic Emperor was already charging in his direction.

    This Demonic Emperor possessed the form of a wild boar, and had clearly invested all of its resources into its body and not its brain. It recklessly attacked any enemies before it without any thought. It had only managed to survive till now becauserge-scale battles were quite rare; otherwise, it would¡¯ve never even made it to this level.

    At this moment, the Demonic Emperor boar reverted to its original form. A massive and brawny wild pig charged forwards, its hooves thundering against the ground as it bared its sharp tusks at Su Chen.

    The Metal-Tipped Shuttles unleashed a few golden spears in its direction, but the boar actually managed to deflect them with a wave of its head.

    It seemed that being an idiot dide with its own benefits. While its intelligence might becking, it wasn¡¯t weak in the slightest.

    Unfortunately, itsck of intelligence also meant that it tried to pick a fight with the wrong opponent; it actually locked onto Su Chen.

    When Su Chen saw this, he chuckled. ¡°Not bad.¡±

    He directly countered with an attack of his own.

    Both sides were at the Ultimate Emperor Realm. In theory, they needed to trade nearly a thousand blows before victory would be determined. Only once one party exhausted all their strength and used up all of their trump cards could the other side prevail.

    But Su Chen obviously thought differently. For him, it would be a loss if he needed even a single strike to ughter this boar.

    As such, all he used was a single finger.

    This in and unassuming finger jab left a single small bloody hole on the boar¡¯s body.

    Normally, even ten thousand wounds of this size wouldn¡¯t be able to kill a Demonic Emperor, given their immense vitality. But after Su Chen¡¯s finger strike struck it, the boar¡¯s charge grinded to a halt as it swayed back and forth as if it were intoxicated. Suddenly, it fell to its knees and plummeted from the skies.

    This single finger jab hadpletely annihted its vitality, immediately killing it.

    This Demonic Emperor had managed to survive the Extermination Emperor¡¯s Extermination Finger, escaped after being surrounded by forty-two Demonic Kings, and been wounded nearly three thousand times, and even been torn to a thousand pieces by the Heaven-Splitting Sovereign himself. But in the end, it had died to a simple finger jab from Su Chen.

    The few Demonic Emperors who were nearby were all badly startled.

    In an instant, three more Demonic Emperors flew at Su Chen at the same time.

    When Su Chen saw the three Demonic Emperors simultaneously charge at him, he smiled slightly. ¡°That¡¯s more like it.¡±

    He unsheathed his sword and sent a Dimensional sh flying at them, immediately cutting one of the Demonic Emperors in two. This Dimensional sh, however, was not enough to kill it; even though that Demonic Emperor had been cut in two, it hadn¡¯t died yet. Its body rapidly began to bind itself back together as it cried out, ¡°That killing attack can¡¯t be used multiple times in a row!¡±

    Oh? Are you insinuating that I made a mistake by not killing you in one blow?

    Su Chen¡¯s eyebrow twitched violently.

    It was true that the skill he had used to kill the Demonic Emperor boar wasn¡¯t amon technique. It had actually been infused with the mysterious faint white energy.

    But if these Demonic Emperors thought that Su Chen could only unleash that attack every so often, then they were dead wrong.

    Just as he was thinking of using it again, an idea suddenly sprung to mind. He purposefully avoided using that energy and instead activated his Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect to unleash the ming Dragon Theurgy Art.

    This ability was now Su Chen¡¯s calling card. The moment the Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect and the ming Dragon Theurgy Art appeared, his opponents immediately knew who they were fighting against.

    ¡°Su Chen! It¡¯s Su Chen!¡±

    Following this reveal, the number of Demonic Beasts headed in Su Chen¡¯s direction drastically increased.

    There were at least ten or so Demonic Emperors headed his way, along with thirty Demonic Kings and hundreds of Demonic Lords.

    The pressure that this group of Beasts exuded was iparably intense.

    But Su Chen calmly floated in the air, right outside of the Meteor Formation¡¯s protective boundary. Even with all of these Demonic Beasts bearing down on him, his demeanor remained totally carefree. The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples, on the other hand, were badly startled by the scene and anxiously rushed towards Su Chen to support him.

    Su Chen turned around and steadily said, ¡°There¡¯s no need for you all toe. I can handle them on my own.¡±

    What?

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples were shocked by his words.

    Numbers were not meaningless on the Primordial Continent. When a group of enemies banded together in arge group, their strength would multiply drastically. This applied to the Harpies and the humans, so naturally, it also applied to the Demonic Beasts.

    As such, Su Chen wasn¡¯t automatically invincible when faced against these Beasts just because he was stronger than them. Even a peerless expert who had mastered Method Power or forbidden-tier techniques wouldn¡¯t normally be able to fight against such arge group of Beasts.

    The huge group of Demonic Emperors, Kings, and Lords simultaneously attacked as they charged at Su Chen. Their attacks seemed to superimpose on top of each other, raising their offensive charge to a frightening level.

    The ming Dragon Theurgy Art was infused with Su Chen¡¯s fire-type Method Power, but thebined might of all these Beasts created an enormous vacuum that the ming Dragon simply could not ovee. It was quickly snuffed out.

    The remaining energy washed over Su Chen, crashing furiously into his Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect.

    The seven Deste Beast Aspects served as Su Chen¡¯s shield, isting him in apletely different world. This fully demonstrated the adaptability of the Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect.

    But when faced against so many Demonic Beasts at once, even the Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect was unable to bear the load. Cracking sounds could be heard everywhere, as if the defenses surrounding Su Chen were about to buckle and break at any moment.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples were extremely agitated when they saw this. They wanted to rush over and support their Sect Leader, but they didn¡¯t dare to do so. However, neither could they leave. All they could do was watch on from afar.

    <i>Is he going to unleash the army of Titans? </i>Li Chongshan and the others couldn¡¯t help but wonder at what Su Chen¡¯s n was.

    The fifty or so Titan-ss puppets were definitely more than capable of suppressing this tide of Demonic Beasts, but wasn¡¯t he nning on saving them to be used as trump cards against Sky City? Was he really going to reveal them here?

    Everyone was still wondering what Su Chen¡¯s next move would be when they suddenly saw him gently push his palm forward. The Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect, which seemed like it was about to copse only moments ago, suddenly began to glow with a silver light, as if the microcosm had been covered in a silver veil. The Demonic Beasts¡¯bined attack actually ground to a halt against the renewed microcosm.

    Just as everyone was trying to figure out what had just happened, Su Chen made another move.

    It wasn¡¯t clear what he had done, but those Demonic Emperors, Kings, and Lords were all suddenly frozen in ce. They began to panic, but none of them were able to break free no matter how desperately they struggled.

    Even more frighteningly, theirbination attack had been split apart.

    If theiryered attack was split apart, then they were actually fighting as individuals. In fact, not only did their attacks not amplify each others¡¯ strength, but they would actually start interfering with each other.

    This sensation of having theiryered attack split apart shocked all of the Demonic Beasts present.

    One of the Demonic Emperors loudly yelled, ¡°We can¡¯t give him an opportunity to split our attacks apart. Everyone, attack!¡±

    Even though they couldn¡¯t move, they could still fight back.

    The Demonic Beasts unleashed anotherbination attack. Since their formation had beenpletely disrupted, it was significantly weaker than their first one; even still, it was still quite hard to deal with.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t pay it any mind. He was currently in the process of sensing the changes in the environment after he had used that faint white energy. As soon as he had split his opponents¡¯ attacks apart, Su Chen immediately realized that he might have paved a path for the powerful to ovee a numerical disadvantage.

    The current him was capable of ughtering all of the creatures present with a single sweep of his hand, but after a moment¡¯s thought, he decided that it would be better more beneficial to keep a low profile for now.

    So, he might as well ignore those lower-leveled creatures and just kill the Demonic Emperors first.

    If anyone had heard his thoughts, then their jaw probably would have hit the floor. Even so, this choice was already being ¡°low-key¡± for Su Chen.

    An instantter, Su Chen unleashed another palm strike.

    As this palm strike flew out, the sky dimmed noticeably.

    Demonic Emperors plummeted from the sky!

 Book 7, 24: Killing

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 24: Killing</h4>

    Ten or so Demonic Emperors plummeted from the sky at the same time, like dumplings plopping into a pot.

    These emperors, who normally sat on high, had been ughtered by Su Chen with a single move. The nearby Beasts who saw this felt their stomachs churn in shock.

    This was a feat that none of them had ever witnessed before. No single individual had ever been this powerful in the entire history of the Primordial Continent.

    Su Chen¡¯s imposing might made everyone watching feel as if a god had descended upon their mortal ne.

    The remaining Demonic Kings and Lords were immediately struck dumb by the scene and at aplete loss as to what they should do.

    Su Chen made the decision for them. ¡°There¡¯s no need for you all to stay here either.¡±

    He reached out and made a grasping motion in their general direction, pulling in all of the Demonic Kings and Lords into a spatial cavity.

    This was yet another powerful technique that Su Chen had mastered afterprehending spatial Method Power, but he was only able to do it because of the faint white energy he had gained.

    Even though he had used up all but a trace of the energy within his body after unleashing this attack, he had basically single-handedly wiped out about a tenth of the Beast horde¡¯s strength. Such tremendous might was incredibly shocking to everyone who saw it.

    The humans, in particr, all began to cry out with excitement when they saw all of the Beasts that had just attacked Su Chen plummeting out of the sky. The Beasts, on the other hand, felt their stomachs churn as they trembled in fear.

    This powerful force had basically melted like ice in the presence of fire before Su Chen¡¯s hands.

    Even without that strange white divine energy, Su Chen could still fight. After a moment¡¯s thought, however, he withdrew his hand and flew back towards the pce.

    Word of what he had done would probably eventually reach Sky City. If that was the case, better to let them think that he was only capable of this much power.

    But when he turned to leave, the Beasts suddenly calmed down quite a bit.

    Su Chen had dealt them a grievous wound by wiping out so many of their powerful forces in a sh. Actually, they probably would have been more afraid had he not retreated.

    But when they saw him backing off, the Beasts¡¯ train of thought changed directions.

    Su Chen hadn¡¯t even tricked Sky City yet, but the Beasts had already been deceived.

    ¡°His strength has been exhausted!¡±

    ¡°This person is simply too scary! We cannot allow him to leave here alive, or else the Beasts will be sure to fall!¡±

    ¡°We must kill him at any cost!¡±

    Arge group of Beasts howled as they charged at Su Chen. In the blink of an eye, he was surrounded by a dozen or so more Demonic Emperors.

    At the same time, arge hand covered in ck fur appeared out of nowhere and reached out to grab Su Chen¡¯s head. One of the Sovereigns had finally joined the fray.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyebrow jumped. ¡°You really think I¡¯m a pushover?¡±

    He unleashed a punch, which mmed into the Sovereign¡¯s palm. Immediately, he realized that his opponent¡¯s attack appeared to be a little strange, carrying with it a faint vortex-like power that actually weakened his punch by quite a bit. In the end, Su Chen¡¯s palm was unable to break through the Sovereign¡¯s palm strike. Of course, the Sovereign¡¯s palm was unable to do anything to Su Chen either.

    The Beasts, however, interpreted this in apletely different way.

    ¡°So he is running out of energy.¡±

    ¡°Kill him!¡±

    ¡°The attack of a Sovereign is indeed umon!¡±

    The Beasts understood how to tter their leader, at least.

    As if pleased by the praises of his subordinates, the Sovereign that had attacked Su Chen finally revealed its head. The Sovereign was in the shape of a giant bull. It opened its mouth and roared, ¡°Su Chen, today is the day of your death. Hand your life over!¡±

    ¡°Hmph, it¡¯s like you¡¯re ying the viin in an opera,¡± Su Chen said disdainfully.

    This bull had probably learned that phrase from a script from a y. The words sounded quite foreign and out of ceing from his mouth.

    The bull Sovereign was infuriated by Su Chen¡¯s snub. He swung his arm, and the giant steel rod in his hands descended from the sky towards Su Chen.

    Su Chen raised his Lightless de to meet the attack, stopping the rod in its ce. ¡°Which Sovereign am I facing?¡±

    ¡°I am the Sovereign of Regret!¡± the bull roared as it swung the rod again, which was as heavy and as thick as a mountain.

    The bull Sovereign¡¯s strength was clearly terrifying, to the point that even Su Chen didn¡¯t want to try and endure it with his physical body alone. He could only activate his Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect. A beautiful scene appeared behind Su Chen¡¯s back, enveloping the steel rod. As the steel rod carved through the Aspect, it was drawn into the image and turned into one of the many mountainsprising the scenery.

    ¡°Hm?¡± The old bull was stunned. He felt as if his Sea-Treading Rod had suddenly been mired in a pit of y, making it incredibly hard to swing it any further.

    The Sovereign of Regret possessed incredible physical strength, and even mountains wouldn¡¯t be able to stop his violent swings. How could a mere image make it so hard for him to move?

    ¡°As I expected, you¡¯re quite strange!¡± the old bull howled as he unleashed a punch at Su Chen.

    Su Chen¡¯s figure flickered as he directly teleported behind the old bull, then stabbed at the bull¡¯s back with his sword.

    The swordnded on the bull¡¯s back. If Su Chen still had some of that faint white energy in reserve, the bull¡¯s body would have exploded after the sword had run him through, rapidly destroying any vitality he had remaining. However, this sword strike was just amon attack from Su Chen. Even though it was powerful, it would not kill the bull. The old bull was a Sovereign, after all, with an incredibly vigorous life force. The wound would quickly heal on its own.

    As such, the bull did not retreat, instead using its body to trap Su Chen¡¯s Lightless de in ce before violently headbutting Su Chen. The horns on its head glowed with a fatal icy light.

    This goring attack was the real killing blow. Its power was roughly on the level of the Chu n¡¯s Sky-Rending de. If Su Chen were to use Whitetower Teleportation, he would have been able to get away. However, the Lightless de was currently lodged deep in the Sovereign of Regret¡¯s body and was being affected by his energy. As such, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t be able to take it with him.

    Su Chen had no choice but to grit his teeth and respond with a palm strike of his own.

    The horn pierced right through Su Chen¡¯s hand, exploding with energy and shredding it into bits.

    ¡°RAAAGH!¡± the Beasts howled in excitement.

    Su Chen had been wounded!

    Even though it wasn¡¯t a fatal wound, and Su Chen quickly regenerated, they were all ecstatic.

    The Sovereigns were their only hope after Su Chen had managed to ughter a dozen Demonic Emperors in a single breath.

    ¡°Do you really think you¡¯re that strong?¡± A vicious expression flickered across Su Chen¡¯s face.

    Even without the faint white energy, I am more than strong enough to wipe the floor with you!

    The horn once again pierced towards Su Chen, this time aimed at his body.

    Su Chen made no attempt to dodge, allowing the horn to descend.

    Boom!

    Su Chen remainedpletely motionless. Just as the bull Sovereign¡¯s horn was about to pierce Su Chen¡¯s body, it suddenly exploded.

    ¡°AH!¡± the Sovereign of Regret cried out in pain. ¡°Spatial walls, those are spatial walls!¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s spatial walls were not only useful for defense; he could also use them as an offensive technique under the right conditions.

    ¡°We already warned you that Su Chen is no easy target, yet you insisted on charging in so haphazardly,¡± a voice spoke at that moment.

    Three more ws simultaneously appeared out of nowhere, as if tearing through the fabric of space, and descended towards Su Chen.

    Three Sovereigns had chosen that moment to attack.

    ¡°Shameless!¡± Li Chongshan and the others began to curse.

    An ambush was an extremely low blow for individuals with as much status as the Sovereigns had.

    Thankfully, Gu Huiming, Gu Changsheng, and Gu Feihong leapt into action, stopping those attacks from finding their target. The six palms and ws collided in the sky, sending a giant shockwave rippling through the entire battlefield.

    At that precise moment, however, a ck finger stealthily appeared, silently speeding towards Su Chen¡¯s unprotected back.

    The fifth Sovereign.

    The ambushing Sovereign was called the Weeping Heart Sovereign. Its attacks were not particrly powerful, but they were incredibly sinister. Any wounds it opened up would slowly begin to drain the target¡¯s Origin Energy, using that Origin Energy to slowly but surely multiply and erge the wounds.

    As such, the Weeping Heart Sovereign was able to kill its targets just by inflicting a small wound and allowing time to take its course.

    The Weeping Heart Sovereign was the most treacherous Sovereign out of the ten of them that ruled over the Beasts.

    This finger strike from the Weeping Heart Sovereign came so suddenly that even Su Chen was slightly caught off-guard. The others surrounding him had no time to react either.

    As its finger drew closer and closer to Su Chen, the Weeping Heart Sovereign felt a sense of ecstasy rising in his heart.

    At that moment, however, a powerful white light suddenly burst forth form Su Chen¡¯s back.

    ¡°This is......¡±

    The Weeping Heart Sovereign was stunned.

    Su Chen reached out and made a grabbing motion, plucking the Weeping Heart Sovereign out of the air. So it was actually a Siberian weasel.

    The final vestiges of the faint white energy burst into the Weeping Heart Sovereign¡¯s body, carrying along with it all of the remaining energy that Su Chen possessed. The Weeping Heart Sovereign exploded into pieces with a brilliant sh.

    When the explosion of energy washed over the Sovereign of Regret, he let out a strange howl and then turned around to flee, not even bothering to take the Sea-Treading Rod still stuck in Su Chen¡¯s microcosm.

    Even if his personality seemed brusque and barbaric, he was faster than anyone when it came to fleeing at a critical moment.

    The other three Sovereigns also immediately turned and ran when they saw that the situation wasn¡¯t looking good.

    Their ambush had failed, and a Sovereign had been killed in a single strike. How could they not feel fear?

    Su Chen, however, made no attempt to give chase.

    His execution of the Weeping Heart Sovereign had seemed quite simple, but it had sapped him of all of his remaining energy. At this point, he really did have no more energy left.

    But even without strength, his wits were still about him.

    As he watched the four Sovereigns turn tail, Su Chenughed coldly before yelling, ¡°The Sovereigns are fleeing!¡±

    ¡°The Sovereigns are fleeing!¡±

    This promation echoed throughout the battlefield.

    Actually, the Sovereigns weren¡¯t fleeing - it was more urate to say that they were returning to their positions on the back lines.

    But the Beasts who hadn¡¯t yet fully grasped what was happening saw that the Sovereigns they trusted in were in fact running, and one of them had already died.

    The Sovereigns were the core of the Beasts¡¯ attacks. If even the Sovereigns were running, how could the remaining Beasts have any confidence to continue fighting?

    And without any hope of victory, even the barbaric, primal Beasts would begin to question the point of continuing to fight. If they had no chance of winning, then why fight? If their death would serve no purpose, then it was better just to run.

    And as soon as thoughts of deserting arose, they would begin to spread like the gue.

    Su Chen¡¯s deration had sent the Beasts into a panic. They each began to lose their will to continue fighting.

    Upon seeing this, Li Chongshan chuckled. ¡°The overall situation has been decided.¡±

    Yes, the overall situation has been decided.

    The copse of an army was truly like the copse of a mountain. Once it began, it would take divine intervention to stop it.

    In but a few brief moments, the Beasts began to flee en-masse. Even the threat of death by the Sovereigns stationed at the back lines wasn¡¯t enough to stop them.

    Their morale hadpletely tanked. The situation waspletely out of the hands of theirmanding officers.

    Not to mention that even the Demonic Kings and Lords were beginning to panic.

    Once the floating pce in the sky began to move towards them, the battle waspletely lost.

    The Beasts began to flee en masse and in every direction. The mountains were covered with nkets of Beasts running as the human soldiers took advantage of the opportunity to cull their numbers as much as possible.

    This battlested for three days and spanned tens of thousands of miles.

    Blood had been spilled everywhere, and sword Qi flew all over the ce.

    Countless Beast corpses were gathered by the human cultivators and treated as precious hunting spoils.

    And all of this had begun with Su Chen¡¯s involvement.

    From that day onwards, Su Chen had truly be a god in the eyes of the rest of the human cultivators.

    ¡°A god?¡±

    Su Chen smirked disdainfully when he heard Lin Shaoxuan¡¯s report. ¡°I don¡¯t want to be a god. They¡¯re just old lifeforms that have been abandoned by the passing of time. They need to enve other creatures in order to obtain their power. Their return will only bring disaster.¡±

    Su Chen had learned from the Flying Moon Emperor what would most likely happen to the Intelligent Races inhabiting the Primordial Continent if the gods returned.

    They would probably be even greater enemies than the Beasts.

    How could Su Chen respect such gods? And if that was the case, how could he ept being considered a god himself?

    ¡°Yes, Sect Master is not pursuing the path to be a god, but the path to be an Immortal,¡± Lin Shaoxuan chuckled.

    Su Chen froze for a moment when he heard this before smiling gently.

    When Su Chen had firste up with the name for the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques, it was out of a sense of optimism and hope. At that time, Su Chen had no idea what an Immortal really was. He had simply assigned whatever was above the Ultimate Emperor Realm as belonging to that subset.

    Now, it seemed that this way of thinking was still a bit shallow.

    Real Immortals were like gods, but they possessed their own strength and ability.

    If that was the case......

    Su Chen suddenly came to a realization.

    At first, he was having a hard time trying to name the faint white energy, but now he had suddenly gotten some inspiration.

    This white energy was key to the path of bing an Immortal!

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, I¡¯ll call it Source of Immortality,¡± Su Chen muttered.

    ¡°What?¡± Lin Shaoxuan didn¡¯t understand what Su Chen was saying.

    Su Chen calmly replied, ¡°I¡¯m saying that the age of the gods has alreadye and gone. The age of the immortal is upon us. Ownership of the Primordial Continent is fated to be transferred from the gods to the humans.¡±

 Book 7, 25: Duel

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 25: Duel</h4>

    Demonic Beast corpses were scattered all throughout the battlefield.

    The floating fortress in the sky was smoking everywhere.

    Even so, the ruler of the skies had eventually emerged victorious.

    Eternal Night stood at the head of the city, gazing down. His gaze was quite focused and serious.

    Lonely Skyleap charged over with excitement and said, ¡°Your Majesty, our three days of pursuit has finished. Less than a tenth of the Beasts remain, and they no longer pose a threat to us.¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡± Eternal Night grunted faintly.

    Lonely Skyleap was a bit surprised. ¡°Your Majesty, is there a reason why you don¡¯t seem to be happy about this?¡±

    ¡°I just don¡¯t think that it¡¯s really worth getting happy over,¡± Eternal Night replied calmly.

    ¡°Not worth getting happy over?¡± Lonely Skyleap was stunned.

    Eternal Night continued indifferently, ¡°The Beasts have incredibly fast reproductive cycles, some of them having multiple a year, and producing many cubs each year. The only thing that has been limiting their numbers until now is their constant in-fighting. Now, they¡¯ve been backed into a corner, and there is an abundance of resources avable to them. Since there¡¯s no need for them to kill each other, the Beasts will be able to return to their former numbers in but a few years. Is it really worth being happy over? On the other hand, we Harpies have suffered quite a few casualties during this battle, and our armies have been significantly weakened. I imagine that both Sky City and the Floating Points were damaged as well.¡±

    Lonely Skyleap hung his head.

    Eternal Night was correct. The Beasts¡¯ reproduced incredibly quickly, and the strength they had lost would quickly be recovered with the passage of time. Of course, producing Demonic Lords would take some time, but the constant infighting made it so that their rate of ascension was quite high. Without any interference from infighting, it was possible that some would even gain the strength of an Emperor rather quickly.

    Only when the Beasts¡¯ strength reached a certain level would they begin to fight with one another due to their vastly different personalities.

    This was virtually an ingrained habit by this point. After all, the humans had managed to defeat the Beasts before in the past under the banner of the Illustrious Diving Dynasty, yet weren¡¯t the Beasts still the most powerful today?

    Of course, it wasn¡¯t like Eternal Night had no way of dealing with this situation.

    Striking while the iron was hot and taking control of this uncivilized territory, culling the number of Beasts as needed was more than sufficient.

    Of course, there was still a Deste Beast to think about.

    Whenever the Beasts were in particrly dire straits, the Deste Beasts would reawaken.

    However, Eternal Night had no clue which Deste Beast would be the one stopping them this time.

    Even though the Harpies had won, Sky City had also suffered its fair share of damage. The momentary malfunction of the Sark¡¯s Nucleus in particr had yed an important role, and further maintenance was necessary. Of the three Floating Points, the Origin Energy Demonic Tower had been quite seriously damaged and wouldn¡¯t be fully repaired for quite some time. It seemed that only two Floating Points would be participating in the battle against the humans.

    Even Lonely Skyleap couldn¡¯t help but question whether they had made the right decision. After all, they had no choice but to press on towards their duel with the humans and had no time to expand their base of operations.

    Even so, this was the truth. Just as the Beasts weren¡¯t totally unified, neither were the Intelligent Races. Otherwise, they really might have had a chance to overturn the status quo thousands of years ago.

    The world situation refused to bend to the will of a single man.

    ¡°Reporting!¡± Just as Lonely Skyleap was deep in thought, a Harpy soldier suddenly rushed in and handed Eternal Night a letter.

    The letter was fashioned out of a Thought-Uttering Jade. When Eternal Night picked it up, the jade shed brilliantly, and its contents were immediately transmitted into Eternal Night¡¯s mind.

    He sighed. ¡°The humans were victorious, and Youthful Labor failed.¡±

    ¡°Youthful Labor failed......¡± Lonely Skyleap muttered to himself before sighing and shaking his head.

    Youthful Labor was handpicked by him for his astounding consciousness power. He had managed to endure the consciousness molding technique they had obtained from the Astrals and managed to refine a kind of special soul poison. This poison was incredibly rare, and the way the poison had to be administered was also extremely secretive. It should have been quite hard to notice, but unfortunately, he had still failed in the end.

    ¡°So he failed, did he,¡± another low voice spoke. This time, however, the speaker was a ck shadow that had silently appeared next to Eternal Night.

    That figure was an Astral elder.

    ¡°Yes. Just as you predicted, right?¡± Eternal Night said calmly.

    The Astral replied, ¡°Whatever are you saying, Your Majesty? How could it be as I predicted?¡±

    Eternal Night chuckled coldly. ¡°This kind of consciousness poison can only be used by the Astrals. Su Chen must know now that we have allied with the Astrals. There is no longer any room forpromise between us.¡±

    The Astral elder chuckled. ¡°The humans and the Harpies are already mortal enemies. The fight for the right to rule has no ce forpromise in the first ce. Tacking on another reason for enmity is not such a big deal. Su Chen has exterminated the Astrals, so we will fight with him until the very end. Your Majesty, you will definitely defeat the Boundless Sect as long as our two races are united.¡±

    ¡°Two races?¡± Lonely Skyleap raised an eyebrow. ¡°The Harpies are just taking in a dog that lost its master, is all.¡±

    The Astral elder was enraged by Lonely Skyleap¡¯s words, but all he did was chuckle in the end. ¡°You may look at it as you please, General.¡±

    Eternal Night shot Lonely Skyleap a nce, clearly disapproving of what he had just said. Lonely Skyleap could only tactfully lower his head in silence.

    Eternal Night said, ¡°Su Chen has not died, and the human race has won a great victory. The letter my observer sent me doesn¡¯t detail how many casualties they suffered, but their main force is intact, so a fight is imminent. All that remains is to prepare for the duel. For the sake of our sess, you can begin to carry out your n, Pablo.¡±

    The Astral elder chuckled when he heard this. ¡°Your wish is mymand, Your Majesty.¡±

    He bowed and retreated into the shadows.

    Once the Astral elder had disappeared, Lonely Skyleap said, ¡°Your Majesty, this Astral is not trustworthy. They might help us in our scheme against Su Chen today, but tomorrow they could be scheming against us!¡±

    ¡°I know. But Su Chen is far more terrifying than them,¡± Eternal Night replied.

    Lonely Skyleap felt a shiver run up his spine.

    An idea surfaced in his head, and Lonely Skyleap couldn¡¯t resist saying, ¡°Your Majesty, if you had a chance to go back in time to when Su Chen offered himself up to you, would you still choose to work with him, or would you kill him?¡±

    Eternal Night shot him a deep nce and didn¡¯t reply.

    All he said was, ¡°That¡¯s a stupid question.¡±

    Lonely Skyleap fell silent.

    After some time, Eternal Night sighed as well.

    Then, he said, ¡°Gather everyone into formation, and put the Craftsmen and Metalskins to work on repairing Sky City. The time limit is three days. After that...... we will forge on ahead to the Skywild ins.¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡±

    Meanwhile, over at the Boundless Sect.

    Su Chen was simrly tallying up the losses they had experienced.

    The price for victory were the lives they had lost along the way.

    Even though Su Chen had attempted to fight as much as possible and decrease the burden on his soldiers, he couldn¡¯t fight back the pangs of sorrow as he took in just how many lives had been lost.

    ¡°Six hundred thousand......¡± Su Chen muttered in a low voice.

    Inparison to the tens of millions of Beasts they had ughtered, six hundred thousand was not arge number, but that was still six hundred thousand individuals who had died.

    Just yesterday, they had all been alive and well.

    This put a damper on Su Chen¡¯s spirits.

    Most of those who had died were low-tier cultivators, and some of the shuttle drivers weren¡¯t even Origin Qi Schrs. They made up more than half of the casualties that the Boundless Sect had suffered.

    The Meteor Formation in particr, which had served as the defensive line during the battle, suffered the greatest destruction.

    Of the other two hundred thousand or so casualties, the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples didn¡¯t even ount for one-tenth of those deaths, and a majority of those disciples had been outer court disciples.

    The difference in strength between the Seven Kingdoms and the Boundless Sect was now bing fully manifest.

    The Seven Kingdoms had originally thought that, as the ones who had established the human race¡¯s system of rule, that their performance during the battle would exceed the Boundless Sect¡¯s.

    This result, however, gave them a rude awakening.

    Perhaps the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples weren¡¯t as disciplined as the soldiers of the Seven Kingdoms, but they cultivated simr techniques and practiced fighting in the same system. Theirpatibility in battle was exceptional, and their foundation was extremely deep. Unsurprisingly, their formation was far stronger than that of the Seven Kingdoms¡¯.

    At its core, this was an example of the new recing the old.

    The Boundless Sect represented apletely new system that was far more suited for the era they lived in, and it was full of vitality and newness.

    The results of this battle fully attested to this.

    Those who still clung to bloodlines had nothing to say when faced with such a result.

    They couldn¡¯t even use the Boundless Sect of cking, because ever since the battle began, they had upied the positions least protected by the Meteor Formation. In other words, they had taken the most dangerous spots, yet they had suffered one-tenth the casualties and dealt ten times the damage.

    These numbers put the other soldiers to shame.

    No one was able to take any issue with the Boundless Sect anymore.

    This was exactly what Su Chen had been hoping would happen.

    If he wanted to unify the human race under one banner, any blood spilt should be spilt fighting an external enemy.

    The moment that the humans defeated the Harpies would be the moment that they could truly assume ownership of the continent.

    After reading through the report, Su Chen issued an order simr to the one Eternal Night had given. ¡°It¡¯s time to execute the Supernova Project. Issue thismand: Anyone who is not injured should do their best to harvest resources, refine medicine, and repair shuttles and Origin Tools. Three days from now, our duel at the Skywild ins will begin!¡±

    Both the Harpies and the humans scattered upon being given thesemands. They began to scour the untamed wilds that had once been upied by the Beasts, refusing to leave even a single stone unturned. For the sake of victory in the uing battle, and for the sake of determining the rightful ruler of this continent, both sides were doing their utmost to recover and increase their strength. At the same time, they began to n for the trump cards that the other party might possess, preparing to strike from the shadows.

    Three dayster, both groups set out for the Skywild ins once more.

    On the same day.

    At Owl Country¡¯s border.

    The dust had just settled on an intense battle.

    Gu Qingluo and Zhu Xianyao were floating in the sky. Beneath Zhu Xianyao knelt a Demonic King.

    The Crow Skyking.

    ¡°We finally seeded!¡± Zhu Xianyao cried out with excitement.

    This was the most powerful creature she had ever enved before, one that would eventually be a Sovereign. She had even used a Lifesource Candle.

    ¡°We should hurry back and prepare for the uing battle now,¡± Gu Qingluo said softly.

    Her Sky Armor fluttered in the wind, giving her a heroic, majestic appearance.

 Book 7, 26: Surprise Attack

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 26: Surprise Attack</h4>

    Skywild ins.

    This ce was located in the western stretches of the Primordial Continent, and sat in the center of the untamed wilderness upied by the Beasts.

    Skywild ins was one of the most fertile locations on the entire continent. Its size was quite limited, but precious herbs grew in abundance here, and all kinds of naturally-urring treasures could be found. Some strong Intelligent Race individuals had managed to make it to this ce and returned with enough treasure to buy an entire city. Any resource found here was extremely valuable, making it the treasury of the Primordial Continent.

    Apparently, this was also the final gathering ce for the Beasts after the Origin Energy avable in the environment had begun to decline.

    This idea was soon validated, as Su Chen could sense that the Origin Energy in this ce was far richer than anywhere else.

    Everyone¡¯s Origin Skills and Arcana Techniques would be stronger here, and they would consume less energy. The battle would be much more brutal as a result.

    After the main army arrived at the Skywild ins, they soon found a suitable location for the duel: the North-Facing Slope.

    Terrain was still an important factor in battles between cultivators. What mattered, though, was not which area was higher but rather whether it would be possible to assemble an Origin Formation there. The more easily Origin Formations could be deployed, the more suitable the terrain was.

    The Origin Energy around the North-Facing Slope was quite dense, and the area¡¯s strong maic fields would be especially useful in offensive Origin Formations.

    Very quickly, groups of scouts began to split off from the main force, searching for resources and setting up formations in preparation for battle. Clearly, they had thought out ns for this process, as their movements were quite organized.

    ¡°A ughter seems inevitable,¡± Su Chen sighed.

    Merely from the standpoint of setting up the formations, the North-Facing Slope was extremely suited to the Boundless Sect¡¯s needs.

    ¡°Sect Master, Le Feng sent word that Sky City will get here in about three days,¡± Lin Shaoxuan reported excitedly.

    Reaching the Skywild ins first was an extremely important objective for both sides. Of course, getting there first wouldn¡¯t guarantee victory, but the first to arrive would still have an advantage. They would be able to set up Origin Formations first,e up with tactics to hold onto that advantage, and scour the ce for precious resources and herbs, refining them into usable consumables in battle.

    Morale would also increase. In battle, morale was still quite important. Even cultivators would not be able to fight a battle they knew they had no chance of winning. The reason why their fight against the Beasts had been rtively easy was because of Su Chen¡¯s deration that the Sovereigns were fleeing, which had totally destroyed the Beasts¡¯ morale. That was why their forces had copsed.

    Reaching the Skywild ins had its benefits both in terms of raising morale and obtaining benefits, as well as for strategic preparations. No wonder Lin Shaoxuan seemed so excited.

    ¡°Three days?¡± Su Chen¡¯s eyebrow jumped.

    ¡°Yes, sir,¡± Lin Shaoxuan replied. ¡°Does Sect Master feel we don¡¯t have enough time? The Harpies are moving quite fast, it seems.¡±

    Unexpectedly, Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t think we have too little time, I think we have too much.¡±

    Too much?

    Why was Su Chen worried about having too much time to prepare? Lin Shaoxuan didn¡¯t understand.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°Sky City started fighting the Beasts at around the same time that we did. After the Beasts lost, the danger of running into a counterattack was greatly reduced. If they had rushed forward as quickly as possible, it¡¯s still likely that one of us would have gotten here first, but the gap shouldn¡¯t be so big.¡±

    Lin Shaoxuan replied, ¡°Sky City is incredibly powerful, but it¡¯s not exactly known for its speed. There¡¯s no way it would be faster than our dragon boats.¡±

    ¡°But it shouldn¡¯t be this much slower.¡±

    Jun Moxie spoke up. ¡°I heard that Sect Master yed a hand in the damage that Sky City sustained this time around. Is that true?¡±

    ¡°Something seems strange.¡± Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I did identally stir up somemotion near the Sark¡¯s Nucleus, but I have no idea how much damage I actually did. But I do know that, given how important Sark¡¯s Nucleus is to Sky City, they would never let Le Feng find out that their mobility was affected. If I had been assassinated or gravely injured by the Harpies, would you not have kept the matter a secret so as not to disturb morale?¡±

    Everyone fell silent, stunned.

    Su Chen said, ¡°I¡¯ve exchanged blows with Eternal Night before, so I know just how tricky he can be. Never underestimate him. No one knows when he might suddenly surprise you with a sneak attack.¡±

    Everyone present grew serious when they heard this.

    Even Li Wuyi nodded. ¡°Eternal Night is the ruler responsible for making the Harpies relevant again. Putting him on such a pedestal is not an overreaction. If Eternal Night is in fact purposefully slowing Sky City down, that begs the question: why?¡±

    The old Gu Huiming nodded as well. ¡°Can we think of it this way? Eternal Night is purposefully taking his time because there is something bad waiting for us at the Skywild ins.¡±

    The reasoning was quite simple. Since Eternal Night had given the Boundless Sect an opportunity to arrive at the Skywild ins first, that meant that he definitely would have made arrangements for what would happen here as well.

    Once this became clear, the answer was not nearly as hard to guess.

    ¡°Could it be a Deste Beast?¡± Chu Yuan immediately wondered.

    The Deste Beasts were an unavoidable hurdle for the Intelligent Races, as well as the guardian angels of the Beasts.

    No one knew how many Deste Beasts were in hibernation, but they would definitely appear whenever the Beasts were in dire straits, repelling the invading Intelligent Raes.

    After the defeat the Beasts had suffered, Deste Beasts could appear at any time and any ce.

    It was totally logical that a Deste Beast could appear in the Skywild ins.

    The only question was: how would the Harpies control it?

    Someone pointed out this contradiction. ¡°The appearance of the Deste Beasts is quite random in nature, and not even Sovereigns can control them fully. So how could the Harpies do anything? They might not even be capable of awakening a Deste Beast, much less directing it to the Skywild ins.¡±

    That was true. From a practical standpoint, aplishing this was far too difficult. If even the Sovereigns had great difficulty, how could the Harpies do anything?¡±

    However, Su Chen said firmly, ¡°No, it must be a Deste Beast!¡±

    If he had still been unsure only moments ago, that hesitation had now disappeared.

    Everyone was startled by Su Chen¡¯s assertiveness.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Three days! That¡¯s how long Sky City took to vanquish the Thousand Poisons Toad. If Eternal Night evaluates us to be on the level of Sky City, then this gap of three days begins to make perfect sense. That¡¯s why it must be a Deste Beast.¡±

    People always liked to use past experiences to predict the future. Eternal Night was smart, true, but he was no exception.

    Eternal Night had instinctively assumed that the humans would take three days to defeat a Deste Beast because Sky City had taken three days to defeat the Thousand Poisons Toad.

    ¡°How will he do it?¡± Feng Zhuying didn¡¯t understand.

    He still couldn¡¯t grasp how a Harpy could control the movement of a Deste Beast.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°He can¡¯t, but the Astrals can.¡±

    Finding a reason once the oue had been found was much easier.

    The Harpies themselves were indeed incapable of directing the movements of a Deste Beast, but the Astrals could!

    After all, the Astrals had preyed on the abilities of others for tens of thousands of years. They weren¡¯t suited to fight head-on battles, but they would always try to pull off countless schemes behind the scenes. Even Deste Beasts could be utilized, as long as the Astrals were willing to pay a price.

    But given their hatred towards the human race for exterminating their fellow members, what difference would a few more sacrifices to control a Deste Beast make?

    Upon realizing this, Gu Huiming, Li Wuyi, and the others all understood.

    ¡°Retreat from the Skywild ins, now!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s toote now. We¡¯re already being watched, and our opponent is racing over here. With the aid of those Astrals, it won¡¯t be hard for that Beast to find our tracks.¡± Su Chen nced up at the sky. At some point, it had slowly grown dim. It was possible that this was merely a change in the weather, but it was also possible that a powerful entity was rapidly closing in on their position.

    Without the earlier discussion, they might have thought it was the former, but now they knew that thetter was far more likely.

    The mood in the room became heavy.

    It wasn¡¯t necessarily because they were facing a Deste Beast, but more so because Eternal Night had even calcted the timing perfectly. Even if they did manage to defeat the Deste Beast after a tough fight, they would then immediately face the overwhelming might of Sky City.

    It was almost as if Eternal Night had been watching them this whole time.

    Oh, right - he was watching them.

    Those observers were his eyes. This was not a secret matter.

    Many schemes were actually easier to pull off when enough information about an enemy¡¯s movements was publicly known.

    ¡°We can¡¯t just sit idly by. There is still some time. Have everyone participate in setting up the defenses! We mustplete the defensive Origin Formations before the Deste Beast gets here!¡± Su Chen immediatelymanded.

    ¡°Understood!¡± All of the high-ranking humans immediately began transmitting the orders to their subordinates.

    At this point, there were no longer any divisions between the strong and the weak. Everyone, from the Ultimate Emperor Realm to themon martial artists, all joined hands.

    Those responsible for harvesting resources harvested resources, and those responsible forying down the formationsid down the formations, squeezing out as many seconds as they could.

    Every bit they could construct would only improve their chances of victory and survival.

    The human army, which had been advancing in a calm and orderly fashion only moments ago, suddenly exploded into a flurry of activity. The defensive formation began to take shape at a rate visible to the naked eye on the North-Facing Slope.

    At the same time, the sky only continued to darken, and ck clouds began to gather. The pressure was beginning to mount.

    The disciples responsible for sounding the rm gazed intently at their surroundings, golden light shining from their eyes as they attempted to determine where the Deste Beast wasing from. Even if it gave them an extra second to prepare, that was enough.

    Time slowly trickled by, but the Deste Beast had still not yet appeared.

    The human army¡¯s adrenaline was beginning to fade, yet no Deste Beast had appeared. A trace of doubt surfaced in their hearts.

    Had they guessed wrong? Were they worried for nothing?

    Many people had this thought.

    At that precise moment.

    ¡°AWOO!!!¡±

    A thunderous, ear-shattering roar echoed through the skies.

    ¡°The sky! In the sky!¡± the sentinel disciples began to cry out.

    A giant golden bird seemed to be descending from a different ne. Its wingspan alone was roughly ten thousand feet.

    It descended with all the momentum of a mountain falling out of the sky.

    ¡°Time to face the enemy!!!¡±

    rms began to re through the sky, mixing with the shrill shrieks of the golden falcon.

    ¡°Prepare for battle!!!¡± Su Chen boomed.

    His voice was filled with excitement.

    It was only natural that he was excited to fight. Ever since he had gained the power of an Immortal, no one at his level was worthy of being his opponent. Now, he finally had an opportunity to fight in a fierce battle.

    This kind of excitement gave Su Chen an incredible adrenaline rush, and his face contorted into a vicious smile.

    He growled, ¡°Eternal Night wants to take advantage of us, does he? He won¡¯t even get a handful of rice from me. Three days? I¡¯ll take care of this Deste Beast in a single day!¡±

 Book 7, 27: Duel (1)

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 27: Duel (1)</h4>

    The sky had grown dark because the giant falcon was blocking out the sun.

    The falcon¡¯s wings churned up an extremely powerful gale, making it hard for the soldiers to stand up straight. Miniature tornados sprang to life, enveloping all of the humans in the battlefield within. Most shockingly, the cultivators discovered that their attacks seemed to have been nullified by the violent winds being generated by the falcon. It was as if they had suddenly reverted to beingmoners, unable to fly and having lostplete control of their body.

    In their weakened state, the violent wind blew them around mercilessly. Any cultivator below the Light Shaking Realm was like a decaying leaf tumbling in the wind, and the Spirit Burning Realm cultivators were just trying not to smash into anything else. Only those at the Thought Manifestation Realm and above could avoid being tossed about.

    Even so, this was the effect of a casual p of the wings from the giant falcon. It hadn¡¯t even truly begun unleashing its full power yet.

    ¡°Get into formation!!!¡±

    The officers responsible for directing the cultivators roared as loudly as they could, but the wind carried away theirmands as soon as the words left their mouths.

    Thankfully, it was at that moment that a thunderous voice suddenly boomed in everyone¡¯s mind. ¡°Activate the Star Fixing Formation!¡±

    It was Su Chen!

    By relying on his powerful consciousness, Su Chen managed to transmit thismand into the minds of all of the human soldiers present.

    Boom!

    A streak of starlight shot from the North-Facing Slope into the sky, piercing the clouds overhead.

    Wherever the starlight was scattered, the winds grew weaker.

    The human armies had no idea just what kind of Deste Beast they were facing yet, or what unique properties it possessed, but they did know that stabilizing themselves was the top priority.

    As such, a formation like the Star Fixing Formation, which could stabilize the Origin Energy and cultivators nearby, had managed to bepleted prior to the giant falcon¡¯s arrival.

    Once the formation was activated, the winds being generated by the giant falcon noticeably weakened.

    The giant falcon shrieked in displeasure, raking its giant ws through the sky.

    The falcon¡¯s talons were asrge as a mountain. This simple motion tore up nearly half of the North-Facing Slope.

    The humans were far smaller and weaker inparison to the giant falcon, which was emanating a majestic, imposing aura.

    Shadowy figures began to appear in the sky.

    The Gu n¡¯s twelve elders, Chu Yuan, Li Wuyi, Jiang Jusheng, Feng Zhuying, Du Qingxi, Cheng Qikong, and the other Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators all made their moves, rushing forward to meet the giant falcon. Even the Void Seahorse made its appearance, unleashing a seemingly invincible Dimensional sh.

    Dimensional sh was a spatial technique that could ignore all physical barriers. Even a Deste Beast would be incapable of defending themselves against it.

    Whoosh!

    The Dimensional sh left behind a deep wound on the golden falcon¡¯s body, and golden blood began to spray hotly in all directions. The blood sshed on a few unlucky cultivators who were standing too close, immediately turning them to ashes. The power of a Deste Beast¡¯s blood was impossible to withstand for most normal cultivators.

    But even though this Dimensional sh had managed to injure the giant falcon, it was incapable ofpletely cutting through. In fact, to a creature of its size, this wound was no more irritating than a mosquito bite.

    The golden falcon didn¡¯t even feel it - itpletely ignored the Void Seahorse, instead descending mercilessly upon the Star Fixing Formation.

    This formation, which was inhibiting it from unleashing its full power, was far more irritating.

    The Star-Fixing Formation¡¯s resilience was only average. This w would most likely destroy itpletely.

    At that moment, Su Chen¡¯s voice suddenly resonated in their hearts once more. ¡°The Stars Change Positions!¡±

    Following hismand, the nearby space began to distort strangely.

    The giant falcon suddenly found that its w strike had missed its target. Instead, its attack had struck a nearby hill.

    What was that all about?

    The giant falcon was having a hard time wrapping its head around what had just happened, but if it couldn¡¯t figure it out, it just wouldn¡¯t think. After all, the Deste Beasts had always relied on their strength and not their brains to resolve issues.

    If one w strike wasn¡¯t enough, then what about a second.

    Even so, the space nearby distorted yet again, and the giant falcon¡¯s attack missed once more.

    This was the point of The Stars Change Position.

    Most formations would be protected by imprable barriers.

    This time, however, the humans had not chosen that tactic.

    Without Sky City and its ny-nine Arcana Towers, fighting a Deste Beast head-on was idiotic. Even the most powerful defenses the humans possessed wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand more than a few attacks from the Deste Beast.

    Su Chen and the others had been prepared for this possibility a long time ago, and they had spent quite a bit of time discussing their experiences fighting against Deste Beasts.

    Eventually, they reached the conclusion that it wouldn¡¯t be possible to stop a Deste Beast with an iron-d defense alone. If that was the case, there was no point in mounting such a defense in the first ce.

    Instead of trying to fight, they had taken the tactic of avoidance.

    If I can¡¯t withstand your attacks, I¡¯ll just dodge!

    The Stars Change Positions was borne out of such ideology - a tactic used specifically to deal with the Deste Beasts. It could use spatial methods to redirect a Deste Beast¡¯s attacks. In fact, this method was effective against attacks from other races as well. No matter how powerful an attack was, it was useless if it didn¡¯t hit its target!

    Of course, such a concept was something that only Su Chen could dream up.

    Su Chen¡¯sprehension of spatial Method Power was extremely deep. With his guidance, Jiang Hanfeng and the other talented Origin Formation specialists under hismand managed toe up with this supplementary formation.

    This was one of the reasons why the Boundless Sect dared to fight against the Beasts.

    The Stars Change Position consumed spatial materials, including Void Crystals and Void Starmetal, so Su Chen hadn¡¯t been willing to use it lightly. He even refused to use it when the Beasts had begun their onught.

    Now however, this formation was finally seeing use.

    With its protection, the golden falcon¡¯s attacks all missed, and the Star Fixing Formation remained intact.

    The golden falcon, however, seemed to take offense to this and unleashed a flurry of attacks against the formation. But no matter how closely it focused, all of its attacks missed. On the other hand, the formation¡¯s surroundings had beenpletely decimated.

    The North-Facing Slope was originally no more than a small slope, but the giant falcon had gradually sculpted it into a mountain with its attacks.

    A mountain surrounded by a basin.

    No matter how the falcon attempted to change the way it attacked, its target remained untouched. Meanwhile, the human soldiers were taking advantage of this opportunity to attack with all their might.

    All of the Thought Manifestation and Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators had joined hands to attack from above, while countless Origin Qi Schrs unleashed joint techniques at the falcon from below. The Deste Beast was sorge that missing was not a concern. The only concern was that wounding it required tens of thousands of soldiers to attack in unison rather than hundreds or even thousands.

    ¡°GRRAHH!¡± the giant falcon keened angrily.

    The Stars Change Position couldn¡¯t redirect sound waves, and the ear-piercing cry sent intensely powerful shockwaves of sound radiating in all directions. The weaker disciples were killed by this attack immediately.

    Long before the giant falcon uttered its angry cry, however, Su Chen had given a thirdmand.

    ¡°Wave-ttening Formation!¡±

    A transparent light surged, rapidly enveloping the entire battlefield and emanating with boundless warmth.

    Its only function was to quell soundwaves within a certain area, greatly decreasing the killing power of any sound-rted techniques.

    Many Deste Beasts possessed such abilities. Throughout Intelligent Race history, there had been too many records of Deste Beasts ughtering countless soldiers with a single roar.

    This was why the human race had developed the Wave-ttening Formation - to deal with these attacks from Deste Beasts.

    But just like the Star Fixing Formation, it was quite fragile and needed to be protected by The Stars Change Position.

    Even the falcon¡¯s cry was stifled. It opened its beak once more, but this time, a white ball of wind began to gather.

    The ball of wind continued to growrger andrger as it descended towards the North-Facing Slope.

    Even though this ball of wind appeared quite ordinary, no one wanted to find out what would happen if it was allowed to hit the North-Facing Slope.

    Actually, Deste Beasts didn¡¯t really possess manyplicated techniques. They were just too powerful.

    If legendary Arcana Techniques could be considered to be the equivalent of roughly Thirteenth-Ring, then any attack from a Deste Beast was at least the equivalent of Twentieth-Ring.

    This kind of might was simply impossible to withstand as an individual, so it could only be kept at bay with formations that took advantage of numbers to give soldiers an opportunity tond a blow - even if death would follow imminently.

    The core strategy of how to deal with Deste Beasts remained unchanged no matter how the peripheral matters shifted.

    This ball of wind appeared to be traveling quite slowly and seemed as if it would be quite easy to disperse.

    Even so, this slow speed perfectly countered the effects of The Stars Change Position.

    The ball of wind had locked onto North-Facing Slope. No matter how The Stars Changed Position, they could only dy the descent of the ball of wind, but not redirect it entirely.

    The Stars Changed Positions three times in a row but were incapable of evading the ball of wind, which continued to descend slowly but steadily.

    ¡°Stop the formation!¡± Su Chen gave themand. The Stars Change Position consumed precious spatial materials every time it was activated, and these materials were exceptionally hard to produce. Su Chen himself had to go to the void to harvest them, and the yield was often quite low. It took lots of time and effort to do so. As such, when Su Chen saw that The Stars Change Position was not effective, he hurriedly gave themand to stop.

    Just as the ball of wind was about tond, Su Chen unleashed a finger strike.

    If the attack was unavoidable, then it needed to be dispersed by force.

    This finger strike, however, did nothing.

    The ball of wind seemed to havepletely ignored Su Chen¡¯s interference.

    Indeed, the Origin Skills of Deste Beasts were not so easy to destroy.

    But at that precise moment, Su Chen activated his microscopic eyes. His eyes rapidly flickered across the scene, capturing as much detail as they could about the revolving ball of wind.

    Even though the wind ball wasrge, it was still made out of Origin Energy - albeit significantly more Origin Energy than usual. Even so, it was precisely because there was so much Origin Energy that figuring out its secret was much easier.

    Su Chen was using his method for investigating the chaotic flow of Origin Energy. Decades had gone by since he had first gained this ability, and his skill had advanced in leaps and bounds. Factoring in the size of the ball of wind, Su Chen was able to almost immediately identify the principles behind it.

    He unleashed another finger strike, this time imbuing it with a trace of immortal energy.

    The ball of wind exploded violently upon collision.

    The ensuing shockwave was terrifyingly powerful

    But even if the shockwave was powerful, it had missed all of its intended targets apart from a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator, who had unluckily happened to be standing in the way. Even the shockwave from the forcibly dispersed attack immediately ripped that cultivator to shreds.

    ¡°GRRAHH!¡±

    A thunderous cry rumbled through the sky, one that even the Wave-ttening Formation had a hard time controlling.

    The golden falcon was infuriated.

    From the moment it had first attacked until now, only a few dozen Origin Qi Schrs had died, yet its body was already riddled with thousands of bloody holes.

    If this were to happen, wouldn¡¯t it go down in history as the Deste Beast that had killed the fewest Intelligent Race members?

    That was absolutely uneptable!

    The golden falcon¡¯s intense humiliation gave way to surging, red-hot anger.

 Book 7, 28: Duel (2)

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 28: Duel (2)</h4>

    Deste Beasts had their own pride.

    The giant falcon waspletely enraged by the fact that its attacks were doing nothing.

    A zing golden light began to shine from its entire body.

    Following this sh of light, a violent squall was whipped up yet again, and des of wind began to appear in the sky.

    Golden Wind Edge.

    It was as if a massive de formation had suddenly materialized out of nowhere, and each de carried a dense aura of death and extermination.

    Wind Edge was one of the weakest Arcana Techniques, and would often be discarded by cultivators as low as Yang Opening.

    The Wind Edges being unleashed by the giant falcon, however, were radically different, and the aura they gave off was exceptionally threatening.

    One of them happened to appear next to a cultivator. Even before it hadpletely formed, it seized the opportunity and shed downwards, slicing that Origin Qi Schr into two.

    The Origin Qi Schr¡¯s name was Feng Siye, one of Feng Zhuying¡¯s uncles. He was also an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator, yet this Wind Edge had bisected him before he even had time to react.

    Even so, Feng Siye¡¯s body sealed itself back together. His face was much paler, and he yelled, ¡°It just severed a portion of my lifespring!¡±

    Lifespring was the foundation supporting these powerful experts. Simply put, it was their life¡¯s value.

    A portion of one¡¯s lifespring was roughly equivalent to a tenth of a person¡¯s life value.

    In other words, Feng Siye could only handle nine of these attacks. The tenth one would kill him.

    Everyone present was badly startled when they heard this.

    Even though being able to tank ten of these attacks didn¡¯t sound bad in theory, these attacks were being unleashed on arge scale.

    A simple misstep could result in being skewered by a few dozen des all at once. In other words, death in a single blow.

    As soon as Feng Siye cried out, Su Chen immediately roared, ¡°Cursing Heaven Formation!¡±

    A grey luster immediately began to envelop the Northern-Facing Slope.

    This grey luster cast itself onto the golden falcon¡¯s body, causing the falcon¡¯s brilliance to dim significantly. The same urred to the golden Wind Edges descending from the sky.

    The Cursing Heaven Formation was yet another formation designed by the humans to be used against Deste Beasts. Its function was to weaken the Deste Beast¡¯s attacks by thirty percent, and was yet another useful tool in the human arsenal.

    However, the Cursing Heaven Formation was extremely expensive to operate, and was virtually impossible to maintain throughout an entire battle. As such, Su Chen hadn¡¯t dared to activate it from the very beginning.

    It wasn¡¯t until the giant falcon had begun attacking in earnest that Su Chen had hurriedly issued themand.

    Even though the giant falcon¡¯s attacks had been weakened, however, no one wanted to get cut by those Wind Edges. They were still terrifyingly powerful.

    Everyone began to dodge as quickly as possible.

    The golden des of wind in the sky began to whizz through the sky.

    Whoosh!

    Golden light filled the sky, scattering everywhere.

    This time, the golden falcon seemed to have wisened up. Instead of trying to destroy the formation, it was attempting to kill the annoying mosquitos buzzing around it first.

    The twenty or so Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators dispersed immediately. These mosquitos were elite mosquitos, after all, and each of them had their own unique strength and speed.

    Feng Zhuying transformed into Windbite, melding with the wind; Du Qingxi rapidly ascended on a cloud; Jiang Jusheng formed a number of water clones to soak up the damage in his ce; and Su Chen simply teleported out of range.

    The Gu n, however, dealt with this issue the most elegantly.

    After all, they made up more than half of the human race¡¯s peak-tier strengths. The twelve of them had simultaneously sprang into action as soon as the giant array of golden Wind Edges had appeared. An image of a majestic Shining Dragon had appeared behind each of them.

    The twelve Shining Dragons flew towards each other as soon as they appeared, merging to form a giant Shining Dragon. The dragon roared imposingly, shattering all of the golden Wind Edges descending in their direction.

    The twelve elders had managed to withstand an attack from a Deste Beast.

    This was the power of an Origin Beast bloodline.

    The human race had a number of important trump cards they relied on, including the Meteor Formation and Lifesource Candles, but it was still the Gu n¡¯s elders that put on the most impressive show on the battlefield!

    These elders possessed the most powerful bloodline, the longest lifespans, and the weightiest foundations. They were the only ones that had the right to ignore the majesty of a Deste Beast.

    Of course, none of the elders dared to face a Deste Beast on their own, but when enough of them were together, they were able to produce a realistic manifestation of an Origin Beast.

    This Origin Beast was a manifestation, not an illusion. It truly existed.

    After nullifying the giant falcon¡¯s attack, Gu Huiming called out, ¡°Shining Dragon¡¯s mes!¡±

    White-hot mes began to spurt forth from the Shining Dragon manifestation¡¯s body.

    Even the golden falcon trembled when the Shining Dragon manifestation had appeared, but it very quickly realized that the Shining Dragon was not the real thing. As such, it retaliated without hesitation by unleashing a violent barrage of wind at the dragon.

    This giant falcon was obviously a Beast with mastery over the wind, but it seemed to have some metal attributes as well. This was why its attacks could be so chaotic and violent yet razor-sharp at the same time.

    The Shining Dragon¡¯s mes immediately sent turbulent streams of energy surging in all directions upon mming into the wind storms, forcing everyone else back and keeping them from

    No, there was one more exception.

    Su Chen¡¯s figure flickered, reappearing above the golden falcon¡¯s head. The Lightless de instantly grew to its full size, shing down directly onto the golden falcon¡¯s head.

    Whoosh!

    Blood sprayed everywhere. Some sshed onto Su Chen and began to sizzle against his skin.

    The falcon let out a bitter cry of pain. All the feathers on its back stood upright.

    It only felt such pain because Su Chen had imbued his attack with a little immortal power. He only had a limited amount, so he was using it sparingly. Even so, just a little was more than enough to greatly amplify the strength of his attacks.

    ¡°Careful!¡± Gu Huiming yelled.

    A small arrow of golden wind shot forth from its wings.

    Su Chen hurriedly retreated, his figure flickering as he easily dodged the attack. Everyone else felt incredibly envious when they saw this.

    It wasn¡¯t that they didn¡¯t have simr techniques. The Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators all possessed some kind of teleportation skill, but none of them could jump as far as Su Chen could.

    Deste Beasts were just too big, and the range of their attacks was astounding as well. Each attack seemed simple, but even a simple talon strike was capable of destroying nearly half a city. Normal teleportation skills simply weren¡¯t effective. This was no different than Sun Wukong not being able to escape from Buddha¡¯s palm [1.https:/nkino.wordpress/2015/02/23/the-bet-with-the-buddha/ ]. If they couldn¡¯t even teleport out of harm¡¯s way, what was the point of teleporting at all?

    Su Chen, however, was different. Hisprehension of spatial Method Power allowed him to teleport far further than most would be able to. As such, he was the only one who could use such tactics on the battlefield.

    As such, the battlefield was immediately divided into three areas.

    The main area was still the North-Facing Slope, which was where all of the Origin Qi Schrs were gathered. This allowed the Origin Qi Schrs to utilize their numbers advantage to its greatest effect when fighting against the Deste Beast. A total of eighteen different formations had been developed to deal with Deste Beasts. If used in a rotation, they would have been more than capable of killing the Deste Beast, unfortunately, due to time constraints they were only able to set up five. The remaining thirteen were iplete, which was why their firepower was still severelycking. This was also why some of the Origin Qi Schrs were building the formations as they fought.

    The second group of power was the Gu n¡¯s twelve elders. The Shining Dragon manifestation really was incredibly powerful, and after the golden falcon¡¯s attacks had been weakened, the Gu n¡¯s twelve elders were even able to withstand one of its attacks head-on. Of course, this was merely temporary; as time went on, they would begin to run out of strength.

    The third group was naturally Su Chen himself.

    His main responsibility was to output damage.

    His powerful teleportation abilities made him the only individual that could deal significant amounts of damage. When factoring in the immortal power in his possession, his damage output was equivalent to that of everyone elsebined.

    He would teleport behind the falcon from time to time like a ghost. Every time he appeared, he would deal quite a bit of damage to the golden falcon.

    The other Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators were obviously having a much tougher time.

    The giant falcon¡¯s strength was simply too great, to the point that these Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators didn¡¯t even dare remain within its range for too long. Otherwise, they would definitely die. All they could do was unleash attacks from afar, then retreat further to avoid follow-up attacks. Only once the wave of attacks had passed could they close in once more.

    From time to time, the golden falcon would unleash a flurry of attacks at once.

    If that happened, they could only endure.

    Bang!

    Boom!

    Speaking of which, the giant falcon chose that moment to do that very thing.

    A fan of ten thousand des followed immediately by a violent ball of wind.

    This time, its target was the ¡°flies¡± in the air.

    The violent explosion of wind sliced through everything in its path. An Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator and Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator were caught within the storm.

    The Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator was able to regenerate, but the Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator died on the spot.

    An attack that would im one-tenth of an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator¡¯s vitality would im one hundred percent of a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator¡¯s vitality.

    Both sides were slowly but surely wearing down the other.

    Unlike the battle against the Thousand Poisons Toad, the golden falcon¡¯s attacks were obviously much more powerful.

    The golden falcon¡¯s speed and offense were both high, whereas the Thousand Poisons Toad possessed potent poison and an abundance of lifeforce. The battle against the golden falcon was thus far more intense, with both sides hurling powerful attacks at the other from the very beginning.

    Without the Boundless Sect¡¯s support and the timely-arranged formations, the humans would have lost countless lives in such a high-intensity battle.

    Even so, their casualties began to mount as time dragged on.

    In addition, The Stars Change Position couldn¡¯t be used repeatedly. The cultivators hugging the North-Facing Slope couldn¡¯t possibly activate it just to avoid the battle¡¯s shockwaves, so they could only endure the violent waves of energy washing over them. Once the golden falcon discovered this, it drew closer to the North-Facing Slope, putting the cultivators there between a rock and a hard ce. Their numbers were beginning to dwindle as wave after wave of powerful energy crashed into them.

    A particrly powerful explosion killed nearly a thousand cultivators all at once.

    Su Chen had no choice but to bring out the Meteor Formation as well to help alleviate some of the burden. Unfortunately, this gave the golden falcon an even clearer target, as the Meteor Formation was not protected by an Origin Formation.

    The number of casualties only continued to grow.

    Even so, this was the reality of battle.

    Nothing gained, nothing ventured. As the battle¡¯s intensity increased, they were forced to make a difficult decision, causing both their casualties and their expenditure to go up as well.

    The only good news was that the golden falcon¡¯s defenses and vitality were only average. Less than half a day had gone by, and its wounds were beginning to show. If this were to continue, Su Chen really would be able to finish off this Beast in less than a day.

    It was just hard to say how many more lives would be lost before that happened.

    <i>If only Gu Qingluo were here</i>, Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but sigh inwardly.

    Even though Gu Qingluo wasn¡¯t an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator, her bloodline purity was the highest. When factoring in Sky Armor, the Shining Dragon manifestation would definitely be more powerful with her present, giving him more opportunities to attack.

    ¡°Careful!¡± At that precise moment, Gu Huiming suddenly called out.

    The situation suddenly took a turn for the worse.

 Book 7, 29: Duel (3)

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 29: Duel (3)</h4>

    Sky City.

    Eternal Night nced through the report in his hand. ¡°So the battle¡¯s already begun?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty. Our observers have already reported this to us, and we¡¯ve confirmed its veracity. We even made sure to double-check with our spies there.¡±

    Eternal Night, however, didn¡¯t seem too satisfied. ¡°Tell them to report the condition of the battle to me again. I want all the details they have.¡±

    Lonely Skyleap was taken aback. ¡°Right now?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Eternal Night said in a serious voice.

    Lonely Skyleap hurriedly left.

    A momentter, he returned with a new report in his hands. That hade from the Harpy observers on the front lines.

    This was partly Su Chen¡¯s fault. After all, he had given them transmission boxes, allowing both parties to be made aware of what was happening instantaneously.

    Eternal Night¡¯s expression grew solemn as he read through the report. Suddenly, he crumpled it and said, ¡°Give themand to speed up. Head for the Skywild ins at full speed.¡±

    ¡°Full speed?¡± Lonely Skyleap didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Eternal Night murmured. ¡°There¡¯s been a miscalction. This giant falcon specializes in offense, not defense, and it probably won¡¯tst three days. At most, it has one more day before it gets killed. If we don¡¯t get there in time and give them two days to rest, the advantage we fought for will have gone to waste.¡±

    Lonely Skyleap was still optimistic. ¡°Deste Beasts are strong. Even if the humans win, they will definitely pay a heavy price.¡±

    Eternal Night replied straightforwardly, ¡°Today is not yesterday. Both we and the humans are more powerful now than we have ever been. If the humans of old could defeat Deste Beasts, what about the current humans? With Su Chen and the Boundless Sect present, their casualties might be far lower than either you or I expect. If we don¡¯t get there right before their battle ends, we will have missed our opportunity. Two days is more than enough time for them to fully recuperate. Activate Sark¡¯s Nucleus to its fullest extent! And activate all of our hidden assets, including those observers. Think of a way to destroy their formation.¡±

    Lonely Skyleap was badly startled when he heard this. ¡°The burden will be too great for the Origin Stones and the Arcana Masters to bear. Expending so much energy before the battle begins will definitely affect our performance. And if we use the humans and observers we roped in now, thenter......¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t have the luxury to worry aboutter. Once the battle begins, it¡¯s a matter of life and death. We need to use every tactic at our disposal right now and get there in at least a day and a half!¡± Eternal Night growled fiercely. ¡°Even half a day is too much time for them to rest! Also, round up those human observers. From this point on, they are not allowed to transmit any news to the humans!¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡± Lonely Skyleap didn¡¯t dare dy any longer and ran off to ry themand.

    Sky City¡¯s core began to creak and groan as Sark¡¯s Nucleus was fully activated. Sky City, which had been moving at a leisurely pace earlier, suddenly began to pick up speed as it trundled towards its target.

    Eternal Night had finally torn apart the pretenses for the sake of victory, openly acting against the human observers.

    ¡°Careful!¡± Gu Huiming¡¯s voice echoed in Su Chen¡¯s ear as the giant falcon opened its mouth wide, a vortex of wind forming near its mouth.

    This time, its attack wasn¡¯t a ball of wind but a vortex, pulling everything nearby into it.

    Su Chen hurriedly teleported away, but discovered that it was much harder this time. It wasn¡¯t that he couldn¡¯t teleport at all, but the difficulty had greatly increased, and his teleportation distance had decreased.

    Instead of teleporting to the location he had intended on jumping to, he had instead reappeared not far from the vortex.

    This position caught Su Chen off-guard. An instantter, the powerful vortex began to pull him towards the giant falcon¡¯s mouth.

    Even Gu Huiming and the others were irresistibly pulled towards the giant falcon¡¯s mouth.

    Everyone began to panic.

    Li Wuyi cried out, ¡°Hurry and attack its mouth! Its mouth!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no time! Burn those Lifesource Candles!¡± Gu Huiming roared.

    All of the Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators simultaneously pulled out their Lifesource Candles, lighting them immediately. Even though there were only twenty or so candles, the light they emanated was dazzling and filled the entire battlefield.

    A dazzling disy of colors appeared in the sky, and the Shining Dragon manifestation grew significantly more tangible.

    ¡°RRAGHH!¡±

    With a fierce howl, the Shining Dragon suddenly rushed forwards and headbutted the giant falcon, sending it backwards.

    At the same time, the other Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators attacked with all their might as well.

    These Lifesource Candles were indeed worthy of being treated as trump cards. The strength of these cultivators soared immediately. Even though there was no formal realm beyond the Ultimate Emperor Realm, these Lifesource Candles seemed capable of unlocking new heights for them.

    Unfortunately, they had no time to familiarize themselves with these new heights. All of their focus was ced on unleashing attack after attack so as to not waste the precious power of the Lifesource Candles.

    Boom, boom, boom, boom!

    Numerous attacks mmed viciously into the golden falcon¡¯s body, sting its beak into pieces. The vortex could not be sustained and began to disappear, causing everyone to let out a sigh of relief.

    Their strength had more than doubled with the aid of the Lifesource Candles. As such, they were currently in their strongest state, which was why they were hurling attacks with reckless abandon. The giant falcon was being knocked every which way. It couldn¡¯t understand just how these puny humans had suddenly gotten that strong.

    At that moment, however, an explosion sounded from North-Facing Slope.

    Following that explosion, the formation light covering the North-Facing Slope dimmed significantly.

    It was the Cursing Heaven Formation.

    Without the suppression of the Cursing Heaven Formation, the giant falcon¡¯s strength surged. It let out a keening cry of joy, and the pressure it was emanating grew significantly.

    ¡°What just happened?¡± someone cried out in agitation.

    Stopping the Cursing Heaven Formation at this moment? Were they trying to get them killed?

    Su Chen¡¯s expression shifted. ¡°This is not good. Something¡¯s happening below us.¡±

    He knew that this wouldn¡¯t happen for no reason. Something had definitely taken ce.

    A Boundless Sect disciple hurriedly flew up to report. ¡°Sect Master, some humans have betrayed us and infiltrated the area where the Cursing Heaven Formation was being kept to destroy it.¡±

    ¡°Traitors! Spies!¡± Everyone cursed when they heard this.

    ¡°Can it be repaired?¡± Su Chen hurriedly asked.

    ¡°Yes, but it¡¯ll take time,¡± Jiang Hanfeng interjected.

    ¡°Then hurry and fix it. Increase our control over the Meteor Formation and kill all the traitors. Capture all of those observers for me!¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡±

    Even though they had reacted quite quickly, the destruction of the Cursing Heaven Formation greatly increased the pressure on everyone present.

    A batch of Lifesource Candles, gone just like that. It was impossible for them not to feel a pang in their hearts - Lifesource Candles were strategically important resources and were limited in quantity, yet the battle against a Deste Beast was going tost an entire day. They might need to burn hundreds of Lifesource Candles just to make up for the deficit.

    The golden falcon was still continuing to attack with reckless abandon.

    It was if the disappearance of the Cursing Heaven Formation had driven it mad. Countless des of golden wind whizzed mercilessly through the sky, putting an immense amount of pressure on them.

    Su Chen was forced to redirect more of the Meteor Formation to help alleviate the burden, but this only increased the casualties they suffered. His heart ached whenever he thought about it.

    That damned Eternal Night!

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but begrudgingly admire Eternal Night¡¯s resolute, decisive, and sinister tactics.

    The pressure was only continuing to mount. Some were already pleading with Su Chen to bring out the Titan-ss puppets. If fifty Titan-ss puppets were to appear, they would definitely secure victory. It was also likely, however, that Eternal Night still had cards up his sleeves. If even a single Harpy had gone unnoticed, Su Chen¡¯s secret trump card would have been exposed.

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but hesitate.

    Just as the pressure was about to force him to bring out some of them, a sweet-smelling fragrance wafted past him.

    The image of the Shining Dragon, which had been flickering only moments earlier, suddenly seemed to have stabilized.

    ¡°Qingluo?¡± Su Chen was ecstatic.

    He turned around and found Gu Qingluo standing behind him, smiling gently at him.

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s appearance greatly strengthened the Shining Dragon Manifestation, stabilizing the situation.

    At the same time, Su Chen also saw Zhu Xianyao, and a creature following closely behind her.

    His eyes glittered. ¡°Crow Skyking?¡±

    ¡°Mhm!¡± Zhu Xianyao nodded sincerely.

    ¡°He¡¯s about to break through as well.¡± Su Chen immediately perceived the Crow Skyking¡¯s strength. ¡°The Heavens really are helping me.¡±

    Su Chenughed loudly, then teleported to the Crow Skyking, tapping his finger on the Skyking¡¯s forehead.

    Following that tap, the Crow Skyking¡¯s body began to tremble violently.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Li Wuyi and the others were stunned when they saw this.

    ¡°Creating an even more powerful helper,¡± Su Chen murmured.

    He retracted his hand. The Crow Skyking knelt on the cloud as his wings unfurled, sendingrge waves of demonic Qi in all directions.

    This demonic Qi grew thicker and thicker.

    Suddenly, the Crow Skyking tilted its head back and let out a high-pitched shriek.

    Plumes of demonic Qi surged from his body as his aura began to rise to the Heavens. A powerful pressure began to emanate from him.

    ¡°An emperor!¡± Someone perceived what was happening.

    So the Crow Skyking had be a Demonic Emperor just then.

    No, a Demonic Sovereign.

    As soon as the Crow Skyking ascended, he became a Sovereign - a significant increase in strength. And this servant was Zhu Xianyao¡¯s ve.

    This was the effect of Su Chen¡¯s God-Sealing Method Power.

    God-Sealing Method Power could theoretically confer consciousness to an inanimate object, but Su Chen wasn¡¯t at that point yet. He wasn¡¯t even capable of sealing emperors yet.

    But since the Crow Skyking was already half a step into the Demonic Emperor Realm, Su Chen was more than capable of giving him a small push.

    Zhu Xianyao pointed forwards. ¡°Let me see what new abilities you¡¯ve gained. Go and deal with that thing!¡±

    The Crow Skyking let out a long, keening cry as it rushed towards the golden falcon.

    The golden falcon unleashed a golden Wind Edge. Even though they were both Beasts, the golden falcon had no intentions of showing mercy to a traitor.

    The Crow Skyking¡¯s body morphed into a cloud of smoke, allowing it to bypass the giant falcon¡¯s attack.

    An instantter, a ck door appeared in the sky.

    Thick ck fog poured out of the door as an ancient voice spoke. ¡°Crow, you¡¯ve finally be an Emperor and can summon me now? Very good, very good!¡±

    A ck hand stretched forth from the ck door.

 Book 7, 30: Backup Plans (1)

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 30: Backup ns (1)</h4>

    ¡°The Shadow Realm, that¡¯s the Shadow Realm.¡±

    Some people were able to identify what they were seeing.

    The ck door hovering in the sky above them was a door leading to the Shadow Realm, and the speaker from earlier was a Darkness Devil King.

    The Crow Sovereign actually possessed skills like that of the Astrals, allowing it to open Darkness Doors and unleash the Darkness Devil King.

    That creature was on the level of a final boss.

    But final bosses still varied in strength. Even the Darkness Devil King wouldn¡¯t have a good time against a Deste Beast.

    The Darkness Devil King reached out, following the Crow Sovereign¡¯s signal as it reached out to grab the giant golden falcon.

    A disdainful expression flickered across the golden falcon¡¯s eyes before it fiercely mped its beak down onto the Darkness Devil King¡¯s hand.

    Would a Deste Beast fear a physical attack?

    It was as if a tasty insect had just offered itself up to the golden falcon.

    The Darkness Devil King¡¯s hand immediately shattered as soon as the falcon¡¯s beak mmed down on it.

    ¡°What frightening power! How could this...... It¡¯s a Deste Beast! A Deste Beast! Crow, you bastard, you¡¯ve set me up!¡± the Darkness Devil King cried out bitterly in pain from within the Darkness Door. The rest of its arm began to shrink back as it attempted to retreat.

    But the giant falcon wouldn¡¯t let this opponent go. It hooked the Darkness Devil King with its beak, forcibly dragging it back out through the door.

    ¡°No!! Let me leave!¡± the Darkness Devil King roared fiercely. Unfortunately, its body began to slowly but surely emerge from the door.

    Darkness Devil Kings were quiterge. The one the Astrals had summoned was around three thousand feet tall.

    The one the Crow Sovereign had summoned was still at least a thousand feet tall.

    Even so, it was still like a child in the face of the giant falcon, who forcibly dragged it out through the Darkness Door. Then, a barrage of Wind Edges descended towards it. You dare raise a hand against me? The punishment will be death!

    The Darkness Devil King cried out, ¡°Crow, this is all your fault. Come help me!¡±

    The Crow Sovereign, however, ignored its pleas. That Darkness Door was a direct tunnel to the Shadow Realm, and its existence didn¡¯t depend on this particr Darkness Devil King. He was more than capable of finding a recement sometime in the future, so the death of this Darkness Devil King didn¡¯t affect him in the slightest.

    The Darkness Devil King also knew that it was finished. It had finally seen the light of day, only to immediately suffer such a cruel fate. It turned to face the falcon, who was still pecking fiercely at him, and roared, ¡°I won¡¯t hold back!¡±

    Dark devilish Qi began to pour out from his body, rushing towards the giant falcon.

    This Darkness Devil King¡¯s strength was even above that of legendary Arcana Masters. Even though this one was quite weak amongst its peers, it was still objectively strong. Even the golden falcon wouldn¡¯t be able to escape from its attacks unscathed. As the devilish Qi suffused through the golden falcon¡¯s body, its corrosive properties went to work.

    The offensive power of the devilish Qi was only average, but its wounding power was much higher. The golden falcon was already wounded. Now, the devilish Qi prated its body through these wounds, so there was no need for it to break through any defenses. It was also for this reason that the devilish Qi did more damage than usual.

    The giant falcon was in incredible pain. It would rather be shed hundreds of times by the humans¡¯ des than to be dissolved alive by the corrosive devilish Qi. The only attack that did more damage was probably Su Chen¡¯s immortal-energy-imbued attacks.

    The falcon let out a cry of rage as it began hurling attacks at the Darkness Devil King. The Darkness Devil King also knew that its time wasing to an end and attacked with all its might. At the same time, it roared, summoning even more Darkness creatures from the Shadow Realm to attack the falcon.

    Suddenly, a bunch more cannon fodder had appeared on the battlefield.

    This eased the burden on the elders quite a bit. Finally, they could attack as they pleased. Such an opportunity was extremely hard toe by.

    Even if they had only just lit a Lifesource Candle, none of them hesitated to light another as they attacked with all their might.

    The golden falcon¡¯s vitality began to drain even more rapidly. In but a few moments, its body was covered in deep wounds, and lifesource was virtually pouring out of its body.

    Eventually, the Darkness Devil King was torn to pieces, and the Darkness Door closed.

    But the damage had been done. The giant falcon was grievously wounded, and its movements had slowed considerably.

    When Su Chen saw this, he knew that victory was inevitable, and let out a sigh of relief.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, hemanded, ¡°Bring the Meteor Formation back, and tell everyone else to slow down their attacks. Rotate troops to the front lines and wear down the giant falcon.¡±

    Everyone was surprised by such an order.

    ¡°Su Chen, if we don¡¯t take advantage of this opportunity to quickly finish off our opponent, we won¡¯t have an advantage going into a fight against Sky City,¡± Chu Yuan worried.

    ¡°We¡¯ve suffered enough casualties already. Switching to more defensive tactics will lessen that number a bit.¡±

    ¡°But Sky City¡¯s currently storming in this direction at top speed......¡± Li Chongshan said with some agitation.

    After all, they had nted spies and observers amongst the Harpies as well. This was how Su Chen and Li Chongshan had found out that Sky City was beginning to speed up.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about them. They won¡¯t get here that quickly, because I¡¯ve prepared a grand present for them.¡± A cold light flickered across Su Chen¡¯s eyes. ¡°You¡¯ve gotten the jump on me a few times now, Eternal Night. It¡¯s time for me to return the favor!¡±

    Sky City shot through the sky like a meteor, chugging ahead at full speed toward the Skywild ins.

    Eternal Night stood in the city¡¯s observatory, gazing off at the distance.

    From time to time, Harpies would fly up to him and give him reports.

    ¡°Sark¡¯s Nucleus is operating at full capacity. We are now traveling at top speed.¡±

    ¡°The Mother Goddess Sect has begun the Spirit-Quickening Ceremony to further increase our speed. We probably will reach the Skywild ins early tomorrow morning.¡±

    ¡°All of the observers we stationed around the human armies have been captured, and the spies we paid off have mostly been killed. Only Four, Six, and Twelve still remain.¡±

    Eternal Night slowly read through the reports, his expression stony and emotionless.

    ¡°Your Majesty, good news!¡± Lonely Skyleap ran over. ¡°Four reported that the battle has stabilized somewhat, and the humans are switching from attacking to defending.¡±

    ¡°Oh? They seem quite calm, all things considered,¡± Eternal Night said. ¡°They don¡¯t seem in a hurry at all even though they know we areing.¡±

    Lonely Skyleap said, ¡°Your Majesty, should we also slow down a little? Many of the Harpies are reaching their physical limit due to traveling at top speed for so long.¡±

    Eternal Night, however, decisively rejected this suggestion. ¡°Absolutely not. We can¡¯t afford to rest before reaching the Skywild ins.¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡± Lonely Skyleap replied helplessly.

    At that moment, rms began to re through the sky.

    ¡°Hm? What happened?¡± Eternal Night turned around.

    Lonely Skyleap nced in the direction of the sirens. ¡°I¡¯m not sure either. It seems there¡¯s some kind ofmotion going on over there. Let me take a look.¡±

    A plume of smoke was rising into the sky off in the distance.

    Lonely Skyleap quickly arrived on the scene. When he saw that the fire was justing from an insignificant storehouse, he let out a sigh of relief.

    The mes were burning quite fiercely, and the piercing smell of charred materials filled Lonely Skyleap¡¯s nose.

    Lonely Skyleap covered his nose with his hand. ¡°What smell is that...... What the hell is in that storehouse?¡±

    A Harpy bowed in greeting. ¡°General, this storehouse contains raw ingredients we¡¯ve harvested from this ce. As for which herbs were being kept here, we don¡¯t know yet. We¡¯ve sent a runner to find out.¡±

    ¡°Well, if it¡¯s just a few medicinal herbs, this isn¡¯t a big deal. I¡¯d imagine they probably just caught on fire identally,¡± Lonely Skyleap said, waving his hand impatiently. ¡°Be careful not to let any human spies take advantage of the chaos.¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡± the Harpies below replied smartly.

    An Arcana Master flew over and unleashed a water-type Arcana Technique onto the mes. Rain began to fall from the sky onto the warehouse.

    Unexpectedly, the rain only served to cause the fire to burn more fiercely, as if oil had been poured onto it. The sudden increase in intensity of the fire caught the Arcana Master totally off-guard.

    Lonely Skyleap shoved his palm in the direction of the fire. He wasn¡¯t proficient in water-type Arcana Techniques, but this palm strike of his was capable of sealing off space. Creating a vacuum around the fire could also extinguish it.

    A shocking scene unfolded before his very eyes.

    The mes continued burning merrily without respite. The smoke, on the other hand, only grew denser and denser, and a giant cloud of smoke was beginning to form in the sky.

    Lonely Skyleap finally felt like something was wrong andmanded, ¡°Go and figure out what was being kept in that storehouse. Now!¡±

    One of the Harpies hurriedly left. Lonely Skyleap tried out a few more tactics, but the me continued to burn merrily.

    Lonely Skyleap began to feel a sense of unease creeping over his heart. Something was very wrong.

    Finally, the Harpy soldier returned. ¡°It was Withered me Grass and Void...... Void...... Void Crystals?¡±

    The Harpy soldier¡¯s jaw dropped when he read the second item on the list.

    ¡°Withered me Grass? Void Crystals?¡± Even Lonely Skyleap was taken aback.

    Withered me Grass was a unique kind of grass that could produce a ton of smoke from a small stalk. And the name Withered me was paradoxically referring to the undying nature of the mes produced when this grass was set on fire.

    Void Crystals were resources that only the humans possessed.

    The twobined made it abundantly clear why the fire was impossible to put out.

    The mes were protected by some kind of spatial properties, isting them from the physical world

    How could Lonely Skyleap not put two and two together at this point? He began to yell loudly, ¡°This must be one of the humans¡¯ tricks!¡±

    ¡°But what¡¯s their goal, exactly?¡± one of the Harpies asked, somewhat dazed.

    Lonely Skyleap was startled by that question as well. What <i>was</i> their goal? He had no idea.

    Why would the humans set a pile of Withered me Grass on fire?

    Wait a second.

    Lonely Skyleap took another whiff of the smoke, enduring its acrid smell as he appeared to be sniffing for something in particr. Suddenly, he yelled, ¡°It¡¯s Demonic Salivating Fragrance!¡±

    Demonic Salivating Fragrance was a Demonic Beast treasure that could be used to help them evolve and adapt.

    For this reason, it was often a key ingredient in manufacturing Demonic Beast bait. Even Demonic Emperors would be moved by this scent.

    And this storehouse had been filled nearly halfway with this stuff. Now, it was spreading on the wind, being carried away by the smokeing from the Withered ze Grass.

    If there were any creatures nearby......

    An idea suddenly shed through his mind as he cried out, ¡°Not good!¡±

    Wu!!!

    rms for battle began ring through the city.

    ¡°Ambush!¡±

    ¡°A Demonic Beast ambush!¡±

    Terrified cries spread in all directions.

    Tens of thousands of Demonic Beasts had appeared off on the horizon.

    Giant floating pces began to appear one after the other, revolving in the sky above the arrayed Demonic Beasts.

    ¡°Revolution Pce, Hundredfold Pce, Flying Moon Pce..... Dammit, these are the Beasts from Su Chen¡¯s side! He¡¯s chased them over to us instead!¡± Lonely Skyleap cursed. Suddenly, what had happened became very clear.

 Book 7, 31: Backup Plans (2)

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 31: Backup ns (2)</h4>

    The humans and Harpies both had won their respective battles against the Demonic Beast already.

    Even so, the oue was still different for each of them.

    The Harpies fought with their opponents head-on, befitting a conflict between Emperor-level powers. They had relied on brute strength to steamroll their enemies. By the time they won, they had also exterminated a majority of the Beasts they were facing.

    The humans, however, had unleashed a targeted strike. Before the Beasts had even truly been defeated, Su Chen had scattered them just by yelling. This resulted in the Beasts fleeing while the humans gave chase.

    As such, no one really noticed that Su Chen was actually intentionally chasing the Beasts in the Harpies¡¯ direction, and had even left some of them alive for this exact reason.

    Su Chen had only killed the Weeping Heart Sovereign. The other four were still alive.

    And Su Chen had only killed a dozen or so Demonic Emperors. Even factoring in the twenty more that the others had killed, more than eighty were still alive.

    In other words, the Beasts¡¯ high-ranking leadership was still mostly intact. The only Beasts that had actually been killed were the ones who ran a little too slowly.

    After these Beasts were defeated by the humans, they were forced to abandon their old homes and could only run in the direction that the Harpies wereing from. If they wanted to survive, they would definitely sh with the Harpies sooner orter.

    And that was precisely what Su Chen was aiming for.

    Eternal Night wasn¡¯t the only one who had prepared a present.

    Sky City¡¯s energy was being funneled into its speed, not on defense, and because Sark¡¯s Nucleus was being somewhat overdrawn, Sky City mmed into the Beasts without time to even slow down. Suddenly, the Beast armies were looming over them.

    Boom, boom, boom, boom!

    Demonic Beasts began to crash into Sky City in waves.

    This collision was in and simple. Without the barrier,rge groups of Beasts suddenly found themselves inside the city.

    ¡°Stop them this instant!¡± Lonely Skyleap howled as he charged into the fray.

    The attack hade so quickly that the Beasts had already entered the city before the soldiers were even able to mount the city¡¯s walls. Sky City¡¯s offensive options were also still in the process ofing online, but the first wall had already been breached.

    This was a quick and humiliating blemish on Sky City.

    Thankfully, the Harpies responded quite quickly. As the Beasts began pouring into the city,rge groups of Harpies took flight, assuming formation in the skies as they began unleashing a storm of arrows at the Beasts below them.

    Even so, close-quarterbat was a nightmare for most Harpies. The Beasts charged through the storm of arrows, snapping at the throats of the Harpies and tearing the unfortunate ones apart. Lonely Skyleap had only just gathered a group of Harpies when they were scattered by the ferocious Beasts almost immediately.

    Beast after Beast rushed into the city, destroying everything inside in a frenzy and devouring any Harpies they could get their hands on to vent their rage.

    Sky City was at its weakest. Even though Sark¡¯s Nucleus had begun to wind down, this process would take time. Before Sky City slowed down, the barrier would not be activated.

    In other words, they needed to endure for some time.

    Lonely Skyleap wondered whether the Harpies would be able to hold out until then. The Demonic Beasts were simply too powerful, and without the aid of Sky City¡¯s powerful defensive and offensive tools, the Harpies were totally at the mercy of the Beasts.

    ¡°Mother Goddess Sect Guards, destroy the invaders!¡± a clear voice rang out through the sky.

    ¡°Serene Dream Lotus Crown?¡± Lonely Skyleap turned around with joy and found arge group of Mother Goddess Sect Guards wearing goldenbat uniforms swarming in their direction.

    The Mother Goddess Sect Guards were trained entirely by the Mother Goddess Sect, making them one of the strongest groups of Harpy soldiers. Under normal circumstances, they were left to patrol the Mother Goddess Sect temple. Only in moments of extreme crisis would they appear in battle.

    There weren¡¯t too many of them, but each one of them was elite and experienced. Most of them wouldn¡¯t even grunt in pain if they were wounded. And unlike the rest of the Harpies, they seemed to have no problems with close-quartersbat.

    However, there were simply too many Beasts present. Even though the Mother Goddess Sect guards were very powerful, their numbers were still beginning to dwindle under the deluge of attacksing from the Beasts.

    ¡°AWOO!¡±

    A pale green wolf howled as it pounced, sinking its teeth deep into one of the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s guards and tearing him in two. It quickly discarded the corpse and leapt towards its next target.

    ¡°Brainless Beasts!¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown roared as she attacked, holding a saintly halo in her hand. When she tossed the halo into the air, holy light filled the sky, and all of the nearby Beasts suddenly slowed down.

    This was Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s Dreamlike Light. Any person who fell under the shining of the light would immediately feel as if they were suddenly in a dream, and their movements would slow significantly. In arge-scale battle, this technique was terrifyingly powerful.

    Even so, the Dreamlike Light¡¯s range was limited, and as even more Beasts poured in from outside the city walls, they continued to wreak havoc in Sky City. These Beasts were unhindered by the Dreamlike Light.

    Even Serene Dream Lotus Crown felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness when faced with such overwhelming numbers.

    Boom!

    A giant bull charged forwards, goring Serene Dream Lotus Crown with itsrge horns.

    A red lotus appeared on Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s chest.

    Petals began to flow unceasingly from the lotus, stopping the bull¡¯s horns in its tracks.

    However, Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s face was extremely pale.

    The bull¡¯s horn suddenly shown as its tip sharpened significantly. Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s defenses immediately shattered, and the horn pierced her chest, causing blood to spray out from the wound.

    This attack hade from the Sovereign of Regret that Su Chen had beat back before. Now, he was making his appearance on the battlefield once again.

    The Sovereign of Regret prepared to charge at Serene Dream Lotus Crown yet again as he roared with excitement, ¡°Die for me!¡±

    At that moment, a shriveled ck hand suddenly reached out and grabbed the horn, stopping it in its tracks.

    A thin, weak-looking old man faded into view.

    ¡°Your Majesty!¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown cried out with excitement.

    It was Eternal Night.

    The old man held the bull horn and let out a gentle sigh. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have sought your own death like this.¡±

    As he spoke, he gestured with his hand, sending the Sovereign of Regret flying.

    The Sovereign of Regret tumbled through the sky. ¡°You won¡¯t be able to kill me on your own!¡±

    Eternal Night shook his head. ¡°I didn¡¯t say I would kill you. The one killing you is it.¡±

    He pointed behind him.

    The Sovereign of Regret was taken aback. A giant cannon was beginning to emerge above the Perpetual Daylight Pce and turned to aim squarely at him.

    The Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s Demon-Executing Cannon!

    The Sovereign of Regret¡¯s expression dramatically changed. ¡°NO!¡±

    BOOM!!!

    The cannon fired an explosive shot.

    A dense column of lightning pierced the Sovereign of Regret¡¯s body, instantly turning more than half of his body to ash.

    This half of his body was gone forever. Even with the Sovereign of Regret¡¯s incredibly powerful vitality, it was impossible for him to regenerate.

    He gazed at the missing lower half of his body in disbelief before letting out a long guttural howl. Suddenly, the rest of his body began to turn to ash as well.

    ¡°Your Majesty, that was incredible!¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown and Lonely Skyleap both began to shout.

    The Demon-Executing Cannon, like the barrier, was powered by energy.

    But because the Demon-Executing Cannon was a single entity, the amount of energy it required was farless.

    As such, Eternal Night had made a shocking decision when he saw the enemy ambush - instead of using the precious energy they had gained from slowing Sark¡¯s Nucleus down to power the barrier, he had diverted it to the Demon-Executing Cannon.

    Of course, this would also dy the barrier¡¯s activation.

    The bloody battle would persist for longer.

    Eternal Night, however, was prepared for this.

    Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

    Dozens of Arcana Masters appeared behind Eternal Night. Following his gesture, the Arcana Masters arrayed themselves in formation. At the same time, the Demon-Executing Cannon fired again, this time aimed towards the densest group of Beasts that had invaded the city.

    With a thunderous boom, yet another column of lightning burst forth, incinerating many of the Beasts gathered there.

    This was the disadvantage of fighting on home soil: the more powerful the attack, the more damage they would cause to themselves.

    Obviously, Eternal Night was putting it all on the line.

    The Demonic Beasts were invading with no respite. If the Harpies wanted to protect themselves, they needed to be resolute enough to break their own wrists if necessary.

    This involved not only the destruction of the city itself, but also of the elite soldiers and Arcana Masters still there!

    The Beast invasion hade too suddenly, and the only groups of soldiers that had managed to mobilize in time were all elites at least at the Fifth Ring or higher.

    Without enough cannon fodder on the front lines, these Arcana Masters and elite archers had no choice but to personally lead the charge into battle, using their own bodies to demarcate a front line. They had exchanged their lives for nothing more than their enemy¡¯s cannon fodder.

    This pained Eternal Night greatly.

    Even so, he had no other choice.

    When faced with the Beasts, who had already made their way into the city, not spilling blood was no longer an option. The only choice they had was to fight until the bitter end.

    A shockingly bloody battle began to unfold in Sky City.

    Both sides were doing their utmost to ughter the other.

    The Beasts obviously wanted to use this opportunity to exterminate the Harpies, while the Harpies were doing their best to hold on until the barrier returned.

    Within the depths of the core,rge numbers of Harpies were furiously throwing Origin Stones into the furnace. An old Craftsman slowly counted out the numbers as they rose: ¡°Eighty-six...... Eighty-seven...... We¡¯re almost there......¡±

    Boom!

    A giant explosion caused the ground beneath them to tremble.

    ¡°Eighty-four...... Dammit, why¡¯d they fire again? We were almost there!¡± the elder cursed angrily.

    ¡°There was nothing we could have done. Another few Demonic Emperors and a Blood Rhinoceros charged in. If we hadn¡¯t opened fire, the core would have been lost...... They seem to know that this area is critical and have been charging here this whole time. His Majesty and Her Majesty are both leading troops into battle right now, but we aren¡¯t used to fighting in formation like this,¡± the general replied as if he was about to cry.

    Even though he was in the room, his heart was still outside, and he wanted nothing more than to charge into battle with hisrades.

    ¡°It must be that bastard Su Chen who leaked these secrets. Ask them to hold on just a bit longer!¡± the old Craftsman yelled.

    Su Chen!

    In that moment, the Harpies¡¯ collective hatred for Su Chen burned more fiercely than ever before.

    Meanwhile, the battle was still ongoing, and blood was flowing everywhere.

    Even the highest nobility like Eternal Night and Serene Dream Lotus Crown were in dire straits. Lonely Skyleap was seriously wounded and had almost lost his life.

    Even so, Beasts were still constantly streaming into the city with no regard for their own safety, and the three Sovereigns had banded together once more.

    After discovering the presence of the Demon-Executing Cannon, they had stealthily hidden themselves in the clouds and refused to show themselves. That didn¡¯t stop them from unleashing attacks, though.

    ¡°Your Majesty, fire the Demon-Executing Cannon again!¡± some of the Harpy generals yelled, unable to withstand the unending barrage of attacks.

    ¡°Hold on for just a moment longer!¡± Eternal Night gritted his teeth.

    ¡°Ny seven.¡±

    ¡°Ny eight.¡±

    ¡°Ny nine......¡± the elder cried out in excitement, preparing to activate the defensive barriers.

    At that moment, a figure suddenly appeared in the core¡¯s control room.

    It was Su Chen.

 Book 7, 32: Insider Knowledge

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 32: Insider Knowledge</h4>

    ¡°Aiya, it seems like I¡¯vee at the perfect time,¡± Su Chen chuckled as he nced at the number being shown on the disy above the switch for Sky City¡¯s barrier.

    Then, he reached out and grabbed the handle - the very same one that the demonic cat had identally pushed in the past.

    He forcefully pulled it down.

    ¡°NO!¡± the Craftsman howled in despair.

    The energy output of Sark¡¯s Nucleus suddenly began to wind down.

    rms began to re as arge group of Harpy soldiers charged in Su Chen¡¯s direction.

    Su Chen curled the corner of his lips up in a smile. ¡°Don¡¯t be in such a hurry.¡±

    Formless consciousness ripples began to disperse in all directions. The Harpy soldiers suddenly froze, incapable of moving.

    ¡°That¡¯s more like it. Don¡¯t worry, today will not be the day of your extinction.¡± As Su Chen spoke, he tapped the Craftsman¡¯s forehead and said in a low voice, ¡°You saw no human here today. All that happened was Sark¡¯s Nucleus malfunctioned due to the excessive load, resulting in an explosion of energy.¡±

    ¡°I saw no human. Sark¡¯s Nucleus malfunctioned due to the excessive load, resulting in an explosion of energy......¡± the Craftsman repeated in a wooden voice.

    ¡°That¡¯s more like it.¡± Su Chen smiled slightly, then turned to nce at the Harpy soldiers. ¡°The same goes for you.¡±

    This idea began to permeate the thoughts of the Harpies and the Craftsmen, altering their memories.

    ¡°What happened? Why did you sound the rm?¡± At that moment, a Harpy general rushed in and began yelling at them.

    Su Chen pulled out a transmission box.

    This was an item that the Boundless Sect had given to the Harpies as well, and now he was using it to get in contact with them.

    Su Chen smiled slightly. He first shut down the rm, then replied, ¡°Sark¡¯s Nucleus was overloaded and exploded with energy moments ago, tripping the rm. The barrier is temporarily unusable.¡±

    The quality of the voices being transmitted by the boxes was quite poor, which was why Su Chen was brave enough to answer in their stead.

    ¡°What?¡± The voice from the transmission box cried out in despair. In the background, sounds of Beasts snarling and explosions of energy could be faintly heard.

    This news would definitely be a huge blow to the Harpies who were currently fighting on the front lines.

    After a tense pause, the voice yelled, ¡°So hurry up and fix it!¡±

    Su Chen jumped off of Sark¡¯s Nucleus and gently rubbed the wall of Sark¡¯s Nucleus. ¡°We¡¯re doing our best to fix it.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d better do it fast. The longer you dy, the more of ourrades will die!¡± The Harpy general sounded like he was about to cry.

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I wanted to hear,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    ¡°What? I didn¡¯t catch that.¡±

    ¡°I said, for the glory of the Harpies, we will fight without fear.¡±

    The Harpy General was momentarily taken aback before he nodded in agreement. ¡°Yes. For the glory of the Harpies, we will fight without fear!¡±

    He came to Eternal Night¡¯s side and knelt. ¡°Your Majesty, because Sark¡¯s Nucleus was being operated at such high intensity for so long......¡±

    ¡°I heard,¡± Eternal Night sighed, his face seemingly withering even further.

    The Beasts were still pouring into the city. Even though the Harpies had managed to organize themselves, it was obvious that they were no match for their enemy without Sky City¡¯s protection.

    ¡°AH!¡±

    Fresh blood sprayed through the air. A Tenth-Ring Acana Master had fallen at the hands of a Demonic Emperor wielding a silver crescent de in his hands. The Demonic Emperor cackled with glee.

    The casualties were really beginning to add up.

    ¡°Can we still fire the cannon?¡± Eternal Night asked.

    The general hurriedly ryed themand to the core before shaking his head, his face pale.

    So the Demon-Executing Cannon cannot be used anymore either?

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s surprise was not as threatening as a Deste Beast, but the timing they had grasped was impable, immediately posing a huge threat to Sky City.

    ¡°Your Majesty, hurry and think of something!¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown was also beginning to grow agitated.

    Eternal Night calmly replied, ¡°Now that the situation has escted to this point, all we can do is have the Mother of All Bugs self-detonate.¡±

    ¡°Detonate the Mother of All Bugs?¡± Serene Dream Lotus Crown was stunned.

    Each Floating Point was powered by a vast power source. The destructive power generated by detonating one of them was so powerful that perhaps even Sky City wouldn¡¯t have been able to withstand, let alone the Demonic Beasts.

    The Mother of All Bugs was still iplete, but the core in its body was finished. As such, its detonation power was not weaker than that of the Harpy¡¯s Star in the slightest.

    And because the Harpy¡¯s Star was in a moreplete state, Eternal Night chose to first sacrifice the Mother of All Bugs.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown trembled. ¡°Have we already reached this point?¡±

    ¡°Yes, we have,¡± Eternal Night replied decisively.

    As the ruler of a country, Eternal Night¡¯s resolve was quite impressive. As a warrior, he knew when it was necessary to make sacrifices.

    Outside Sky City.

    The Mother of All Bugs floated through the sky. Strange insects would crawl out of the holes in its body from time to time and join the attack against the Beasts. asionally, rain would even fall from the sky.

    As one of the Floating Points nking Sky City, the Mother of All Bugs was also under attack by the Beasts. Luckily, its defensive systems were separate, so they weren¡¯t affected. The Beasts would have a hard time breaking through in a short period of time. And because Sky City was seemingly defenseless, most of the Beasts were focusing on attacking Sky City instead. The pressure on the Mother of All Bugs was not very great.

    Even so, the Mother of All Bugs had just been given themand to self-detonate.

    Even though the Mother of All Bugs was a fort, it was also a living creature. More specifically, it was the product of merging a fortress with a living creature.

    The Mother of All Bugs cried out in sorrow as it slowly trundled towards the battlefield. Even if it didn¡¯t want to, it had no choice but to obey the ordersing from its master.

    At the same time, the Harpies within the Mother of All Bugs began to leave the fort, retreating to Sky City.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Su Chen was still sitting in the core region, watching the frenzy unfold like a curious child when he suddenly sensed something. His eyebrow jumped as his consciousness began to rapidly spread.

    Very quickly, he received the relevant information about the Mother of All Bugs.

    ¡°So they¡¯ve already given themand to self-detonate, huh......¡± Su Chen felt a tinge of regret.

    The Mother of All Bugs was one of the biggest trump cards he had prepared to deal with Sky City, but now his actions had forced Eternal Night to issue themand to detonate the Mother of All Bugs.

    Somehow, the rock he had picked up had ended up crushing his own foot.

    Without an expressmand from him, the Mother of All Bugs would default to obeying the Harpies¡¯mands.

    When he realized this, Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I suppose you should ignore that order.¡±

    The Mother of All Bugs chirped with happiness, as if chains that had been kept in its heart for a long time had been released. The excitement and joy it felt was transmitted to Su Chen¡¯s heart, as if it were a child who had just found its long-lost father.¡±

    ¡°What just happened?¡±

    The Harpy generals standing next to Eternal Night stared at the Mother of All Bugs in disbelief. It had originally been flying towards the Beasts, but now, it had suddenly begun to retreat.

    One of the Harpy generals reissued themand. ¡°Hurry and fly over there to self-destruct!¡±

    This time, there was no response. The Mother of All Bugs continued to pull back.

    When he tried to force the Mother of All Bugs towards the Beasts a third time, he finally got a response.

    ¡°It refused! It refused mymand,¡± the Harpy general yelled in despair. ¡°It says it refuses the order to self-destruct.¡±

    Even Eternal Night was stunned by this development.

    They had used one of the most powerful control techniques at their disposal to enve the Mother of All Bugs, so why? Why was it still capable of refusing directmands?

    But there was no time to think about this too much, because the Mother of All Bugs¡¯ retreat meant that they had lost the support of a fort, and the torrent of Beasts surging into the city only grew stronger.

    Eternal Night¡¯s expression was grim. ¡°The Harpy¡¯s Star will take its ce.¡±

    The Harpy generals were shocked.

    The Harpy¡¯s Star had been constructed through the blood, sweat, and tears of their fellow Harpies.

    Yet after the Mother of All Bugs¡¯ refusal, its time had finallye.

    There was no rebellion this time. The Harpy¡¯s Star began rushing towards the Beasts without hesitation.

    When Su Chen saw this, heughed coldly. ¡°So you want to try with the Harpy¡¯s Star this time? Unfortunately, I¡¯m not nning on letting you have your way today.¡±

    He brought his fingers to his mouth and whistled silently. Suddenly, the sky distorted as a violent gale began to blow against the Harpy¡¯s Star. This wind had been imbued with copious amounts of spatial power. The Void Seahorse had been called into action.

    The Void Seahorse¡¯s ability to create spatial storms was quite astonishing, but these spatial storms were nowhere near strong enough to push a fort back.

    Even so, the goal of this attack wasn¡¯t to push back the fort, but to create an Origin Energy ck hole above the Harpy¡¯s Star. Once the Harpy¡¯s Star detonated, the ck hole would swallow up a significant portion of the explosion, greatly reducing its effectiveness. Obviously, this was not what Eternal Night was hoping for.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± Even Eternal Night began to feel a sense of helplessness with so much pressure mounting on him.

    At that precise moment, however, the voice of a god descended from the heavens.

    ¡°For the glory of the Harpies!¡±

    Following this voice, a saintly light began to shine brilliantly in all directions.

    As the light descended on the Harpies, their wounds rapidly recovered, and their Origin Energy reserves were replenished. The Beasts, on the other hand, began to howl in pain as if they were being burned.

    ¡°Universal Light Divine Art!¡± Eternal Night muttered in a daze.

    He turned around to find that an imposing figure had appeared above Sky City. It was Serene Dream Lotus Crown.

    At some point in time, she had returned to the Mother Goddess Sect, and now she was standing beneath a giant statue of the Mother Goddess.

    This statue was the exact same one that Su Chen had destroyed. It had been repaired, and now it glowed with a faint light. It seemed as if this faint light was powering the holy light suffusing from Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s body.

    ¡°NO!¡± When Eternal Night saw this, however, he did not be happy. Instead, he cried out in despair.

    He had buried his affection for Serene Dream Lotus Crown a long time ago, but in that moment he was no longer able to restrain his feelings. He cried out, ¡°Don¡¯t!¡±

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown gazed at Eternal Night, then smiled slightly and raised her finger to the sky.

    This finger strike seemed to disappear amongst the clouds, as if it had missed its intended target.

    Suddenly, however, howls of pain burst forth from the cloud - it was the Void Seahorse.

    This mighty Sovereign had been badly wounded by a single attack from Serene Dream Lotus Crown. The Void Seahorse didn¡¯t dare to remain any longer and immediately retreated through the void.

    The ck hole in the sky also disappeared.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown gestured, sending the Harpy¡¯s Star into the midst of the Beasts as if pushing it forwards.

    ¡°For the glory of the Harpies!¡±

    Following this sorrowful cry, the Harpy¡¯s Star exploded.

    Immensely powerful waves of energy washed over the entire battlefield, drowning all the Beasts in a tide of energy almost instantaneously.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown smiled gently when she saw this.

    The divine light began to fade, and Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s head drooped.

    She died.

    ¡°Indeed, borrowing divine power from the godses at a great price,¡± Su Chen muttered. ¡°Self-destruction...... divine power...... As expected of a race that has existed for tens of thousands of years. I never would have known about these trump cards if I hadn¡¯t made this trip.¡±

    As he spoke, his figure flickered and disappeared.

    Without the Beasts to keep the Harpies in check, there was no point to staying here any longer.

 Book 7, 33: Conversion

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 33: Conversion</h4>

    On the battlefield of Skywild ins.

    A massive battle had just ended.

    The giant golden falcon, which had reaped countless human lives, had finally run out of strength.

    After nearly an entire day of battle and countless casualties, the humans had won yet again.

    The ins had been thoroughly baptized in blood, and many of the soldiers were so exhausted that they simply copsed motionless on the ground as soon as the Deste Beast was in, unable to even speak. Even the Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators had shed all pretenses, and they were all currently resting in the pce.

    Su Chen¡¯s figure flickered as he returned to the scene. He nced around and said, ¡°Hm? You¡¯re all done?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Even without you, we were able to finish off this Deste Beast,¡± Gu Qingluo said as she shot him a proud nce.

    Zhu Xianyao and Gu Qingluo yed a huge part in their victory for this battle. Gu Qingluo, with her sixty percent purity bloodline, provided the most effective support. And Zhu Xianyao had the Crow Sovereign under her control. As such, each of them were about as strong as a Sovereign, which was why she had the grounds to speak so pridefully.

    Zhu Xianyao chimed in. ¡°That¡¯s right! You left us behind to do the hard work while you went off to have fun on your own!¡±

    Su Chen was rendered speechless and could only smile bitterly in response.

    Thankfully, Li Chongshan gave him a way out. ¡°So how did things go over at Sky City?¡±

    ¡°Serene Dream Lotus Crown died, but the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s divine techniques are indeed extraordinary. However, that did give me a chance to scrutinize some of the gods¡¯ secrets......¡± After Su Chen said this, his voice began to trail off.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t destroy Sark¡¯s Nucleus?¡± Gu Huiming asked.

    ¡°Yes. I want Sky City,¡± Su Chen directly replied.

    Yes, that¡¯s right ¡ª Su Chen wanted Sky City for himself.

    This was the reason why he hadn¡¯t destroyed Sark¡¯s Nucleus, and it was also why he had upheld his promise with the Harpies.

    He wanted Sky City!

    There was no other reason. Sky City¡¯s power was undeniable. With it, the human race would have a much easier time fighting against Origin Beasts, and perhaps even be able to contest the gods.

    When Su Chen had found out that he only had ten years to prepare for the gods¡¯ arrival, his motivation to finish this war only increased.

    He absolutely needed to obtain Sky City.

    And thanks to his recent visit to the Harpies, Su Chen had finally understood what Sky City¡¯sst resort was.

    Self-destruction!

    If the Floating Points could blow themselves up, then surely Sky City would be able to do so as well. If Eternal Night saw that the Harpies had no hope of victory, then it was very likely that he would give thismand and drag the humans to the afterlife with them.

    With this knowledge in hand, Su Chen could now ount for it when making ns for the final battle.

    After some discussion with the other human leaders, Su Chen returned to his cultivation room.

    As soon as he opened the door, a brilliant golden light pierced his eyes as countless divine characters twinkled while floating in the air.

    ¡°Oh? It seems quite a few of them have already finished forming.¡± Su Chen nodded his head in satisfaction.

    Naturally, Su Chen would not let an opportunity to generate more divine characters go to waste. As such, he had made the appropriate arrangements within a secret room and used a method simr to the Moon God¡¯s to form new divine characters. Instead of offering them up as a sacrifice, however, he had kept them for his own use.

    After stowing the newly formed divine characters away, Su Chen immediately began cultivating with them because he was in his own secret chambers.

    The immortal energy in his body revolved slowly, putting a tremendous strain on his entire body due to its raw intensity.

    At that moment, the divine characters sitting in the open box beside him began to glow, as if responding to the motion of the immortal energy in his body. Then, they all flew into the air and unleashed a powerful pressure.

    This pressure was so immense that even Su Chen¡¯s secret chamber, which was constructed from metal essence, ck Cloud Stone, and even a legendary Origin Formation, seemed incapable of fully containing it.

    The Boundless Pce began to hum as a barrier suddenly covered it. Everyone thought that they had been ambushed and scrambled to arms.

    At that moment, Su Chen was still enduring the heavy pressure being emitted by the divine characters.

    These characters seemed to have been stimted by something as they continued to pressure him. It was almost as if they wanted to charge into his body and exterminate him.

    No, not him ¡ª they wanted to exterminate the energy in his body!

    Su Chen could sense that the divine characters ¡°hated¡± immortal energy!

    Even worse, quite a few divine characters had been formed from the bloody battle, but the amount of immortal energy that Su Chen possessed was still very limited. The divine characters had an obvious advantage.

    As such, the divine power suppressed the immortal energy by quite a bit. However, Su Chen was obviously on the side of his immortal energy, and he would not allow the divine characters to invade his body that easily.

    Even so, all Su Chen could do was revolve his energy and continue to endure the pressure.

    But the pressureing off of the divine characters only continued to mount, and they ceaselessly tried to forcibly invade his body and devour the energy inside.

    Devour!

    Devour!

    Devour!

    Slowly but surely, Su Chen began to sense the will that was guiding the divine characters.

    One of the divine characters suddenly broke the stalemate and rushed into Su Chen¡¯s body.

    ¡°Dammit!¡± Su Chen knew that he was in deep trouble.

    This divine character quickly fused itself into the immortal energy in his body, and the two began fighting against each other.

    Under normal circumstances, this divine character would not have stood a chance. After all, it was fighting a battle against Su Chen inside of his own body.

    An instantter, however, two more divine characters flew into Su Chen¡¯s body.

    The divine character grew stronger after being reinforced, and the immortal energy in his body was forced to start retreating.

    Su Chen was extremely agitated, but there was nothing he could really do to help.

    At that moment, Gu Qingluo and Zhu Xianyao knocked on the door. ¡°Husband, the Boundless Sect¡¯s rms went off and the barrier has gone up. Is something wrong?¡±

    When Su Chen heard this, he was delighted and roared, ¡°Activate the Borderless Mystic Ice Formation and then bring all of the puppets here! Hurry!¡±

    Gu Qingluo and Zhu Xianyao nced at each other and were shocked for a brief moment before they came to their senses and flew off to do as Su Chen hadmanded.

    An instantter, the Boundless Sect rumbled once more as yet another powerful formation was activated.

    The Borderless Mystic Ice Formation.

    This formation was said to be so powerful that it could slow time itself when it was activated. Of course, this description was an exaggeration.

    But once the formation was activated, it would greatly decrease the density of nearby energy. Specifically, all Origin Energy attacks unleashed within the formation area would be weakened by around eighty percent. The only drawback to this formation was that it made no distinction between friend and foe, which meant that everyone within the formation would be equally affected. As such, this formation¡¯s only real use was to buy time. In an actual battle, it would only serve to hurt the Boundless Sect.

    In that moment, however, Su Chen was going to use this formation to stall out the divine characters.

    Even though the characters were formed out of divine power, that didn¡¯t necessarily mean that they would be immune from the formation¡¯s effects.

    But against divine power, which was on the level of Method Power, the Borderless Mystic Ice Formation could only weaken it by twenty percent or so.

    But that was enough!

    Su Chen felt the pressure on him lighten up slightly.

    He grimaced. ¡°You want to devour me? I¡¯ll devour you first!¡±

    Su Chen furiously revolved the immortal energy in his body tounch a counterattack against the weakened divine characters in his body. However, Su Chen could sense that, as he eroded away at the divine characters¡¯ power, they didn¡¯t disappear. Instead, their golden luster was gradually converted to the faint white aura that was characteristic of immortal energy.

    The characters were being converted?

    Su Chen was delighted.

    It seemed that divine power and immortal energy were both enemies and also of the same origin. Whenever they encountered each other, they would sh, and the winner would fully assimte the loser.

    Upon realizing this, Su Chen couldn¡¯t help himself from throwing his head back andughing loudly.

    At that moment, however, countless streaks of divine power flew into his body.

    There were just too many characters to deal with. Su Chen¡¯s body was beginning to break down from the constant pressure, and even the support of the Borderless Mystic Ice Formation would onlyst him for a few more seconds.

    At that moment, Zhu Xianyao returned. ¡°Husband, here are the puppets that you wanted!¡±

    She threw a handful of puppets at the door as if they were toy figurines.

    Bang!

    The door to the secret chamber flew open.

    All Zhu Xianyao saw was a golden sh as dozens of divine characters flew towards those puppets.

    Since he couldn¡¯t withstand the pressure, Su Chen had asked for some puppets so that they could take some of the pressure off of him. A momentter, the door to the secret chamber mmed shut once more.

    Zhu Xianyao watched on as the puppets in the room began to shake violently, as if they had suddenly fallen ill.

    No, it wasn¡¯t just the puppets ¡ª the entire Boundless Pce was shaking.

    ¡°Heavens! What is going on!?¡± Gu Qingluo cried out in shock. She had just gotten back from activating the formation.

    It wasn¡¯t just her, either. Li Chongshan, Du Qingxi, and the others all charged over.

    Even the Borderless Mystic Ice Formation couldn¡¯t suppress this violent shaking. As the Boundless Sect was rocked by tremor after tremor, some of the weaker disciples weren¡¯t able to maintain their bnce and started teeter-tottering around as if they were drunk.

    The disciples on the North-Facing Slope stared up at the sky enviously ¡ª theirmanding officers really knew how to throw a party.

    Within the pce, the tremors continued to shake the entire structure.

    This went on for an entire hour before it finally stopped.

    This silence thensted for about half an hour.

    At that point, Gu Qingluo and Zhu Xianyao could no longer resist their urge to call out to Su Chen, and they did so a few times.

    Some timeter, the door creaked open.

    Everyone immediately rushed into the secret chamber, only to find that it waspletely empty with not a single person inside.

    ¡°What...... What¡¯s happening? Why is there no one inside?¡± Zhu Xianyao immediately began to fret and worry.

    ¡°Wait a moment!¡± With her Shining Dragon Bloodline, Gu Qingluo could sense that something was wrong.

    As Gu Qingluo surveyed the room, she warily said, ¡°Our husband is right here. I can sense his presence.¡±

    Everyone was stunned.

    But why couldn¡¯t they see him? Had he concealed himself? When did Su Chen take an interest in pulling petty pranks?

    Gu Qingluo, however, shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s not concealment.¡±

    Everyone was mystified by Gu Qingluo¡¯s words. Gradually, however, the air before them began to twinkle faintly, as if stars had appeared before their very eyes.

    They were all surprised by this, but only Gu Qingluo seemed to realize what it signified. ¡°Back up! Back up, now!¡±

    All of them scrambled backwards out of the room. The glimmering light intensified until it gradually took on the form of Su Chen.

    At first, this form was nothing more than a silhouette of light. Finally, however, the light congealed into Su Chen himself.

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± Zhu Xianyao leapt forward in joy to hug him, but she grabbed nothing but empty air.

    She discovered, to her shock, that her hands had passed right through Su Chen¡¯s body.

    Zhu Xianyao waved her hand back and forth through Su Chen¡¯s body a few times. It really seemed that he was nothing more than an ephemeral projection.

    Everyone was instantly dumbfounded. Su Chen, on the other hand, nced at them in surprise, and then back at himself before finally realizing what had happened. He opened his mouth and tried to say something, but nothing came out of his mouth.

    Suddenly, Zhu Xianyao felt her hand being forcibly pushed out of Su Chen¡¯s body.

    She reached forward and tried to touch Su Chen again.

    This time, she felt a physical sensation ¡ª flesh.

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± she yelled delightedly.

    ¡°Sorry! Something unexpected happened. I didn¡¯t mean to make you all worry,¡± Su Chen said with a lightugh, his voice suddenlyced with a unique allure.

    Li Chongshan squinted suspiciously as hemented, ¡°You seem to have advanced yet again.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I made a new interesting discovery,¡± Su Chen said, quite serious this time.

    Li Chongshan wasn¡¯t surprised at all. Instead, he merely sighed. ¡°Don¡¯t you feel like your strength has been increasing a little too quicklytely? At this rate, you¡¯ll soon be able to challenge a Deste Beast on your own.¡±

 Book 7, 34: The Secrets of the Gods

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 34: The Secrets of the Gods</h4>

    The sun was beginning to set.

    The wilderness was covered in corpses and drenched in blood.

    Eternal Night stood alone on the mountain leading to the Mother Goddess Sect, gazing at the mounds of corpses scattered everywhere. His heart ached.

    ¡°Your Majesty!¡± Lonely Skyleap clutched at his chest as he wobbled unsteadily towards Eternal Night. ¡°Serene Dream¡¯s funeral is about to begin.¡±

    Eternal Night silently walked into the Mother Goddess Temple¡¯s Hall of Ceremonies.

    Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s corpsey upon an altar at the very front of the hall. A young maiden wearing a crown of flowers was kneeling beneath it, gently murmuring a prayer under her breath.

    Her name was Red Dew Flower, and she was one of the highest-ranking bishops of the Mother Goddess Sect and also Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s personal disciple.

    Eternal Night slowly walked towards Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s remains, gazing at them with a sentimental expression as he softly said, ¡°You¡¯ve suffered a lot over these past years. And now, your soul has finally returned to the Heavens. Wait for me there. When I finish my task here, I wille to look for you.¡±

    Red Dew Flower calmly asked, ¡°Does Your Majesty not feel that it is a bit toote to say these words?¡±

    Eternal Night sighed regretfully. ¡°Yes, it is a littlete, but I do not regret my decision. Lotus Crown made her sacrifice for the Harpies¡¯ future, as will I.¡±

    Red Dew Flower lifted her head to gaze at Eternal Night. ¡°But what if the Harpies lose thising battle?¡±

    Eternal Night squinted as he slowly said, ¡°Are you doubting me?¡±

    Red Dew Flower refused to back down as she continued to stare intently at Eternal Night. ¡°I am the new leader of the Mother Goddess Sect, which gives me the right to question Your Majesty¡¯s decisions! These include your sparing of Su Chen and your relinquishing of the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s treasures!¡±

    Eternal Night frowned.

    He knew that Red Dew Flower wouldn¡¯t support him unconditionally like Serene Dream Lotus Crown had, but the fact that she was opposing him this openly surprised him quite a bit.

    Of course, this was likely rted to the alliance he had made with Su Chen, which had significantly weakened the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s influence.

    When Serene Dream Lotus Crown had been alive, she had shielded him from all of the religion¡¯s criticism. Now, the bacsh of that decision was beginning to hit back.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Eternal Night replied, ¡°Red Dew Flower, the survival of our race hinges solely on whether we advance or retreat. The humans are getting stronger by the day with no limit in sight. When they truly reach their full potential, they will not allow us to live.¡±

    ¡°Then you shouldn¡¯t have spared Su Chen in the first ce.¡±

    ¡°But without him, Sky City would not have regained its freedom of movement.¡±

    ¡°Even without Sky City¡¯s freedom of movement, we could have maintained our borders.¡±

    So she was still operating on that old-fashioned, conservative mindset?

    She clearly believed that, if he had just killed Su Chen, then everything would have returned to ¡°normal.¡± Even though Sky City would not be able to move, its might would have kept them safe.

    Unfortunately, young maiden, you¡¯re just too young.

    There are some things that you don¡¯t know about.

    Or at the very least, you just don¡¯t know about them yet.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Eternal Night replied, ¡°There is a book on the bookshelf in your teacher¡¯s room. Second row from the top, and the third book from the left. Open it, and you will find the answers you seek. We can talk once you have those answers.¡±

    Red Dew Flower was taken aback.

    She didn¡¯t understand why Eternal Night had suddenly mentioned a book from out of nowhere, but since he had said so, then she could only forcefully suppress the doubts in her heart.

    Her thoughts went wild even as she carried out the burial ceremony. But no matter what, she could not fathom what that book could possibly contain.

    Eventually, the ceremony came to an end.

    Next, it was time for the new leader of the Mother Goddess Sect to be inducted.

    The long, drawn-out ceremony and the various minor rites frustrated Red Dew Flower quite a bit.

    She had dreamed about her coronation many times in the past, but the actual ceremony was so hurried and simple that it left her with a somewhat empty feeling of sorrow and paint.

    By the time everything wrapped up, it was already nighttime.

    Red Dew Flower returned to the Mother Goddess Sect leader¡¯s residence, only to find that it had already been altered to her personal preferences. The traces of Serene Dream Lotus Crown¡¯s life were already beginning to disappear.

    Red Dew Flower gazed at the familiar yet foreign room before her as Eternal Night¡¯s words continued to echo constantly in her mind.

    She rose and headed for the secret cultivation room near the back.

    This secret cultivation room¡¯syout was the only one that had been preserved. In fact, there was an ancient rule that said that this room was not to be touched by any of the new leaders of the Mother Goddess Sect.

    It seemed there was quite a bit of foresight that had gone into this decision.

    Red Dew Flower stepped into the study and walked over to the bookshelf.

    Most of the books were about Arcana techniques, and a select few were the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s divine scriptures.

    Red Dew Flower quickly found the book that Eternal Night was referring to: <i>Secrets of the Western Border</i>.

    Red Dew Flower attempted to pull the book out of the bookshelf, but was unable to remove it.

    She exerted a bit more force. But then, suddenly, the wall to her side began to creak and groan as a dark passage appeared before her eyes.

    Red Dew Flower gazed into the darkness, shocked. Inside, she found a dimly-lit room.

    This dimly-lit room was arranged very simply in that it waspletely empty.

    The moment the passageway opened, however, Red Dew Flower felt a wave of energy wash over her.

    The room had obviously been equipped with an extremely sophisticated Origin Formation.

    Red Dew Flower¡¯s knowledge of the fundamental principles of Origin Formations was quite deep, so she was immediately able to identify that the flow of time in this room had been sealed by an Origin Formation.

    Only when the secret passageway was opened would the formation deactivate, and it would also automatically reactivate as soon as the door was opened.

    The difficulty of creating a time-dependent Origin Formation was easily imaginable, and yet, such aplicated formation had been created to watch over just one thing.

    A jade circlet.

    An ancient-looking jade circlet. Even with the masking effect of the Origin Formation, the ancient aura emanating from it was unmistakable.

    But what was this circlet, exactly, and why did it need so much protection?

    Red Dew Flower carefully walked over to the jade circlet and picked it up. On the circlet were inscribed the words: Scarlet Dream¡¯s Parting Words.

    Scarlet Dream?

    Red Dew Flower was stunned by the implications. Scarlet Dream was the founder of their empire!

    And this circlet had been left behind by Scarlet Dream?

    She continued to read through the circlet¡¯s inscriptions, her shock only growing more and more with every word she read.

    ¡°This...... this cannot be real,¡± she muttered to herself, still in shock.

    ¡°This is all real,¡± a voice spoke out from behind her.

    Red Dew Flower whirled around in surprise, only to find Eternal Night standing right beside her.

    When had hee in? She hadn¡¯t noticed his presence at all.

    Red Dew Flower was badly startled, but she still put on a calm expression. ¡°Your Majesty! Even though you are the ruler of the Harpies, you cannote and go as you please within the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s halls!¡±

    Eternal Night, however, remainedpletely nonchnt. He casually strolled through the dark room while he gazed at its barren walls.

    ¡°How long has it been since Ist visited this ce? Eight hundred years? A thousand? It¡¯s been so long that I can¡¯t remember anymore,¡± Eternal Night sighed regretfully as he shook his head. Then, he nced at the jade circlet. ¡°But even if I forget when Ist visited this ce, I will never forget what I saw at that time.¡±

    Red Dew Flower asked, her voice trembling, ¡°So what¡¯s written on here is true? The gods...... the gods......?¡±

    Eternal Night nodded gently. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s all true. The gods are the true owners of this world, and also our rulers and envers. They left this continent hundreds of thousands of years ago, but they will return one day.¡±

    ¡°And the Mother Goddess is one of them?¡±

    Eternal Night nodded silently.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then why do we even worship the Mother Goddess?¡± Red Dew Flower asked harshly.

    ¡°Because we are actually her descendants...... Truth be told, a majority of the Intelligent Races are descended from various gods,¡± Eternal Night exined.

    Red Dew Flower was stunned. ¡°What? So the humans, Ravagers, Oceanids, and Arcanists......¡±

    ¡°Yes, they each have their own god, who is also their ancestor!¡± Eternal Night replied.

    ¡°If that¡¯s truly the case, then why don¡¯t they treat us well instead of trying to enve us?¡±

    ¡°If you had mountains of children, then you wouldn¡¯t care for any of them either,¡± Eternal Night calmly exined. ¡°The Lord of the Dreamrealm has millions of Dream Spirits under his banner. The Harpies are the Mother Goddess¡¯s offspring, but how can she care deeply for all million of us? More importantly, the gods do not view us as their children. There is no long period of time where they take care of us and raise us. In their eyes, we are more like a factory than anything else. We are not the Mother Goddess¡¯s children. Rather, we are just a few pitiful creatures that she created when shebined her bloodline power with a divine technique, is all.¡±

    Red Flower Dew started trembling with her entire body as she asked, ¡°So they created us just to enve us?¡±

    ¡°More urately, it¡¯s for divine power...... We are the source of their divinity,¡± Eternal Night answered.

    Red Dew Flower lowered her head and nced remorsefully at the jade circlet as she muttered, ¡°In the beginning, Method Power and energy were abundant and plentiful throughout thend. The Origin Races were born in such a time. They possessed inherent divinity and utilized Method Power to fulfill their wishes, transforming the world that they had been born into. However, this transformation process was more than the world could bear, and it shattered Method Power, causing it to be much rarer and difficult to control. As divine power grew thin, the Origin Races¡¯ divinity weakened as well. Unwilling to ept such a fate, the Origin Races created lesser races from their offspring, from whom they extracted divine power to nourish themselves......¡±

    The more Red Dew Flower read, the more her body quivered.

    She turned to face Eternal Night. ¡°So we were created by the Mother Goddess just to supply her with divine power?¡±

    Eternal Night nodded. ¡°That might have been the sole reason at the very beginning, but now, it seems that she harbors other motives as well.¡±

    ¡°Other motives?¡±

    ¡°Continuing to extract divine power from their offspring is actually elerating the breakdown of Method Power, making it much more difficult to use. On their side, extracting divine power is bing harder as well. What hundreds of people could have supplied now needs thousands or even tens of thousands of individuals to match. And as the divine power they received began to dwindle, they switched from using Method Power to using Origin Energy alone. This energy was purer; without the aid of Method Power, their control over Origin Energy became much less precise, and its destructive capacity increased.¡±

    Red Dew Flower said coldly, ¡°So they quickly ruined the Origin Energy realm as well.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Eternal Night nodded. ¡°The gods are always fighting with each other, using energy with reckless abandon. This is why the world around us is copsing. Method Power and Origin Energy was beginning to leak out. Afterwards came......¡±

    ¡°The Origin Beast invasion,¡± Red Dew Flower said.

    Eternal Night, however, chuckled. ¡°You¡¯ve got it backwards. The Origin Beasts weren¡¯t the invaders; the gods were.¡±

    The gods were the real invaders.

    During one of their battles, they identally opened up a tunnel to the Origin Energy Sea. There, they discovered an environment flourishing with Origin Energy.

    For Origin Energy, and for the sake of survival, the gods ughtered their way to the Origin Energy sea.

    Then, they never returned. The Origin Beasts and Deste Beasts appeared to fill this void, beginning a new era in history.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then why do we still believe in the Mother Goddess?¡± Red Dew Flower was still somewhat incapable of letting go of her suspicions.

    Eternal Night said, ¡°Because the Mother Goddess needs us, and we need her. Our worship provides her with small amounts of divine power, and she provides us with guidance and protects us during critical moments. This rtionship is mutually beneficial and necessary. But the Mother Goddess cannot return, because the moment she does, we will all be ves!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why you wanted to try and weaken the Mother Goddess Sect?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Eternal Night sighed. ¡°The Eternal Treaty¡¯s effectiveness is beginning to wane, and the gods will soon return. If we cannot umte enough strength before that happens, we will be ves once more. Standing to the side and watching idly is of no use. Only by charging forwards courageously will the Harpies even have a chance!¡±

    ¡°What is the Eternal Treaty anyways? And how would Scarlet Dream know about something so far in the future? And the things you are saying are not mentioned on the jade circlet, so how would you know?¡± Red Dew Flower refused to back down.

    Just as Eternal Night was about to reply, a giant explosion suddenly rocked the entire chamber.

    ¡°What just happened?¡± Both Eternal Night and Red Dew Flower were stunned.

    An rm began to re.

    That rm meant an enemy was invading!

    Both Eternal Night and Red Dew Flower were stunned. They hurriedly rushed out of the secret chamber. As soon as they returned to the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s main hall, Lonely Skyleap burst in, out of breath.

    ¡°What is going on?¡± Eternal Night asked, his voice grave.

    ¡°An ambush!¡± Lonely Skyleap yelled, panicking. ¡°It¡¯s the humans! They weren¡¯t waiting for us at the Skywild ins! They¡¯re here!¡±

 Book 7, 35: Blaze of Glory

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 35: ze of Glory</h4>

    The Meteor Formation advanced unrelentingly, like an unstoppable tidal wave.

    Arge number of cultivators unleashed a constant barrage of attacks, causing waves of flying swords to descend from the sky and generate a terrifying flow of sword Qi that threatened to destroy everything in its path.

    ¡°AH!!!¡±

    Countless Harpy soldiers fell to the vicious onught of swords.

    ¡°Despicable!¡± Eternal Night couldn¡¯t help but curse the humans when he saw this.

    Even so, he was not exactly surprised in his heart.

    This was war, after all.

    There was no such thing as light or darkness on the battlefield ¡ª there was only victory and defeat.

    Despicable?

    Yes, Su Chen had in fact vited their agreement andid an ambush for them ahead right in front of Skywild ins. This was quite despicable, but hadn¡¯t Eternal Night done the same thing? Throwing a Deste Beast at the humans was not exactly honorable, and neither was destroying their Origin Formation and stabbing them in the back after their battle was finished.

    And Eternal Night didn¡¯t really believe that Su Chen¡¯s actions made him despicable. Eternal Night was just venting his anger and hatred.

    He hated that he had assumed that the humans would take advantage of the extra time after their fierce battle to recover.

    He hated that he was wrong.

    The humans hadn¡¯t rested at all.

    They had continued moving after ughtering the giant eagle and prepared an ambush for the Harpies.

    At this point, they had used this tactic twice over the course of this war. Shockingly, they had managed to seed both times.

    ¡°Activate the defensive barriers!¡± Eternal Night immediatelymanded.

    They had learned from their previous mistakes, and Sky City no longer traveled at its top speed anymore. Instead, they had reserved enough energy to activate their barriers. In theory, they should have been able to immediately activate their barrier.

    But nothing happened even after Eternal Night gave themand.

    Eternal Night was taken aback, and a trace of unease surfaced in his heart.

    Suddenly, he spotted a Harpy flying towards him at top speed. Even more shockingly, that Harpy was burning his vitality to maximize his speed. He virtually tumbled out of the air as he yelled, ¡°The core has stopped supplying energy, and the barrier cannot be activated!¡±

    As soon as the Harpy gave his report, he fainted.

    Eternal Night¡¯s heart trembled. The possibility that he feared the most hade to pass.

    He whirled around and yelled to Red Dew Flower, ¡°You organize the Mother Goddess Sect and prepare a counterattack. I will go to the core. Su Chen must be there!¡±

    As Eternal Night flew over, he pulled out his transmission box. ¡°Skyleap, how are things going over on your end?¡±

    Lonely Skyleap¡¯s voice replied from the box, ¡°Your Majesty, the humans are invading at full force, and the core is not supplying us with any energy either. The barrier is not going up!¡±

    ¡°But we are still flying, right? This means that the energy supplied by the core hasn¡¯tpletely been stopped yet! Pass along my orders ¡ª stop flying and reallocate all of our energy to our defensive systems,¡± Eternal Night hurriedly said.

    ¡°That still won¡¯t be enough to fully support our defenses.¡±

    ¡°We can do without the first and second lines. Retreat to the third,¡± Eternal Night said. At this moment, he could not afford even a moment of indecision, which was why he had directly given the order to pull back from the first two lines. Sky City¡¯s defenses were not particrly deep, which was why they only had threeyers of defenses. In other words, they were already on theirst line of defense.

    And they still had to think of a way to repel the vicious human invaders as well.

    Lonely Skyleap replied, ¡°You know that, if we divert the energy from the movement systems into our defenses, then we will not be able to leave, right?¡±

    Eternal Night paused for a brief moment before steadfastly replying, ¡°We are not going to flee.¡±

    This simple statement was filled with boundless heroism and determination.

    Lonely Skyleap could only sigh. ¡°Understood. We will fight for Your Majesty until the very end!¡±

    Then, Sky City suddenly lurched to a halt.

    As it stopped all movement, a barrier surrounding Sky City¡¯s innermost region shimmered into appearance.

    This small and transparent barrierpletely stopped the human army¡¯s advance. At the same time, the Sun-Shattering Cannons began to aim and fire at the humans from behind the barrier¡¯s protection.

    Even though Sky City had already abandoned its two outermostyers of defense, its third and final line of defense was more than enough to keep the human armiespletely at bay.

    This was where the real battle would take ce.

    The human¡¯s Meteor Formation and the Harpies¡¯ Sun-Shattering Cannons continued to st away at each other as Arcana Techniques and Origin Skills crisscrossed in the sky. Brilliant rays of light scattered everywhere.

    And sprays of blood tainted the brilliant disy of lights.

    By now, Eternal Night had already arrived at Sky City¡¯s core region.

    As soon as he arrived, he noticed that there were no Harpies in the general area.

    Eternal Night frowned at the implications and stepped inside.

    He didn¡¯t believe that his soldiers would desert or run from battle. This only left one other possible oue: all of the soldiers inside had been killed.

    Even though he didn¡¯t want to admit this, it was the most likely.

    The further in Eternal Night went, the stronger this intuition became.

    The metallic scent of blood was virtually assaulting his senses. Even though he hadn¡¯t yet seen exactly what had happened, he could easily imagine the gruesome scene that would soon greet his eyes.

    Eternal Night rounded a corner and entered a vast, open room. The scene that he saw was exactly what he feared.

    A mountain of corpses.

    Thousands of Harpy corpses were piled up in a corner. The pile was so tall that it almost reached the ceiling.

    And on top of that pile of corpses sat a lone person.

    Su Chen.

    He was resting his chin on his hand, as if he was pondering something deep in thought.

    When Su Chen saw Eternal Night and his subordinates enter, his eyes lit up as he said, ¡°You¡¯re finally here.¡±

    Eternal Night ignored him and instead focused on the pile of corpses in the room.

    After a long time, he spoke. ¡°I stationed 3214 guards here, along with 456 Craftsmen and Metalskins. Are they all dead?¡±

    Su Chen shrugged helplessly. ¡°They were all very loyal. I had no other choice.¡±

    ¡°Bastard!¡± shouted one of the generals beside Eternal Night, outraged by Su Chen¡¯s casual demeanor.

    Eternal Night, however, calmly replied, ¡°They were all good kids.¡±

    Su Chen nodded in agreement. ¡°I agree. They were extremely loyal to the Harpies, and even those Craftsmen had their own principles. I told them to stop Sark¡¯s Nucleus from channeling any more energy to the city, but they refused. I don¡¯t really understand how Sark¡¯s Nucleus works, and I couldn¡¯t stand the thought of destroying it. Thus, I had no choice but to sit here and watch it continue supplying you with energy...... Otherwise, you wouldn¡¯t have even been able to activate your third line of defense.¡±

    Eternal Night calmly listened to Su Chen. ¡°So you not only want to destroy the Harpies, but you also want to also im Sky City in the process?¡±

    ¡°This city is quite valuable. I hope to give it a new life with a new master,¡± Su Chen replied coolly.

    Eternal Night nodded. ¡°It is very valuable, but that doesn¡¯t mean that it¡¯s invincible.¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s still capable of dealing with some of the more powerful enemies, such as Deste Beasts or gods.¡±

    ¡°Gods?¡± Upon hearing this, a glimmer of light finally flickered across Eternal Night¡¯s eyes. ¡°So you also know about them, and you also want to deal with them?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Su Chen said with a nod, before asking with some interest, ¡°You¡¯re also calling them gods? Could it be that......¡±

    Eternal Night was just about to respond when one of the Harpy generals standing beside him could no longer hold himself back. He rushed forwards as he savagely yelled out, ¡°Die, Su Chen! Heaven¡¯s Execution Lightning de!¡±

    A giant sword formed out of lightning shed out at Su Chen.

    Su Chen calmly raised his hand and grabbed the lightning de with his empty palm. The lightning ran across his arm and over his body, but he was not wounded in any way. It was almost as if Su Chen was ying with the lightning; to some degree, this was true, as it assumed various animal-shaped forms under his control.

    Eventually, he settled on the form of a bird. He calmly stroked the bird¡¯s head as he spoke. ¡°I thought that the Harpies worshipped the Mother Goddess. Shouldn¡¯t you be celebrating her return?¡±

    Eternal Night seemed to not have noticed his subordinate¡¯s attack as he replied, ¡°It¡¯s fine to worship gods who are far away. However, if theye too close, their might will be too much for us to bear.¡±

    The general that had just attacked roared as he unleashed another powerful Arcana Technique.

    At that same instant, however, Su Chen flicked his hand. The lightning bird flew forwards, mming into the general¡¯s chest. Even though the general had erected a barrier to protect himself, the lightning bird still sted a giant hole in the general¡¯s chest. It was as if the barrier hadn¡¯t even existed in the first ce.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Who could have anticipated that two mortal enemies would actually have the same ultimate goal in mind?¡±

    Eternal Night coldlyughed in response. ¡°But you will not spare us because of just this, right?¡±

    Su Chen nodded seriously. ¡°Yes. We are not of the same race, so we will never be able to fully see eye-to-eye. Even if we make an alliance, we will continue to suspect each others¡¯ sincerity and only end up holding each other back. If that¡¯s the case, then it¡¯d be much better to simply eliminate you, take Sky City for ourselves, and use your resources to nourish our armies. Ten years¡¯ worth of time is enough for the Boundless Sect to produce tens of thousands of Spirit Burning Realm cultivators, thousands of Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators, and hundreds of Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators.¡±

    ¡°Ten years.¡± Eternal Night¡¯s gaze dimmed faintly. ¡°So we only have ten years before the Barrieres down?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡±

    ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°That old Dreamrealm guy said so himself.¡±

    ¡°The Lord of the Dreamrealm.¡± Upon hearing this, all of Eternal Night¡¯s suspicions washed away. ¡°The Lord of the Dreamrealm is the only god that is allowed to maintain a close connection with this world. His illusions can directly descend into this world and harvest resources here. Of course, he cannot actually kill anyone. However, once the Barrieres down, everything will change. The Lord of the Dreamrealm will be the most terrifying god that we face out of all of them. We must kill him first!¡±

    ¡°You make it sound easy. He is still a god, after all. I doubt that we can kill him just like that,¡± Su Chen said as he shook his head.

    Eternal Night waved his hand, and the generals standing behind him rushed towards Su Chen simultaneously.

    Eternal Night, however, continued conversing with Su Chen. ¡°So why would you fight if you don¡¯t even have any confidence of winning?¡±

    Su Chen countered, ¡°Do you need to be reassured of victory before fighting a battle? If so, then what are your subordinates doing? Do they think that they can kill me?¡±

    Su Chen calmly raised his hand. A Sumeru Void appeared around them, bringing Eternal Night¡¯s dozen or so generals and Arcana Masters to a sudden stop. All of a sudden, it was hard for them to even revolve the energy in their body, as Su Chen had restricted the entire area, making it impossible for them to do anything. He had effectively cut off the very source of their strength.

    The difference in strength between the two sides was simply far too great.

    And as Su Chen¡¯s strength increased, this gap had only grownrger andrger. Now, it was a terrifyingly great chasm.

    Eternal Night observed all this happen expressionlessly. ¡°Your strength astounds me, Su Chen. But you¡¯re right ¡ª true heroes don¡¯t only fight battles that they know they can win. Even if you know that you will lose, you will fight until the end. And we are no exception.¡±

    He strode forward gantly. ¡°Let us use this battle as the Harpies¡¯ final ze of glory!¡±

 Book 7, 36: Small Platoon

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 36: Small toon</h4>

    A bloody battle like no other was currently unfolding within Sky City.

    Sword Qi rained down like a torrential storm, and the powerful waves of energy sending blood sshing in all directions.

    This matter concerned the survival of both sides¡¯ respective race, so there was no room for mercy orpassion. The only constant on this battlefield was the constant loss of life.

    ¡°Over there!¡± Ye Fenghan yelled at Chang He and the others as he pointed in a certain direction.

    ¡°Why would we go over there?! We should be focusing on destroying these Arcana Towers first!¡± Chang He replied.

    Since they hadunched an ambush, there were a few groups of humans who had managed to sneak into Sky City¡¯s thirdyer before the defenses were raised. Ye Fenghan¡¯s group was one such group.

    As one of the Boundless Sect¡¯s most elite groups of soldiers, their speed was extremely quick.

    But this also meant that they were now trapped inside of this newly erected barrier. As a result, they were surrounded by Harpies on all sides, who were mercilessly trying to snuff out their lives.

    While in this predicament, the few groups that had made it inside could only escape. Chang He¡¯s first reaction was to hurry and destroy the Arcana Towers. The ny-nine Arcana Towers were the core of Sky City¡¯s defenses, and each one they destroyed would weaken the barrier that was cutting them off from the outside world.

    Ye Fenghan, however, obviously thought differently.

    ¡°We won¡¯t have enough time to do it,¡± he said. ¡°The Arcana Towers are too obvious of a target. Moving there will only attract more attention towards us.¡±

    ¡°Then where should we go?¡±

    ¡°Perpetual Daylight Pce!¡± Ye Fenghan boldly replied.

    ¡°Perpetual Daylight Pce!?¡± Chang He was caught off-guard, but after a moment he delightedly eximed, ¡°Yes, it must be filled with treasures! Let¡¯s go and rob them blind!¡±

    Even though they were being pursued as they talked, the squad let out cheers when they heard Chang He¡¯s words. Then, they turned around and started rushing towards Perpetual Daylight Pce.

    This idea was a stroke of brilliance on Ye Fenghan¡¯s part.

    It was true that the Arcana Towers were an important strategic location for the Harpies¡¯ defenses, but that also meant that they would be the most heavily guarded. The towers would undoubtedly be a meat grinder for the human forces, while Perpetual Daylight Pce would likely have much fewer guards.

    As Ye Fenghan¡¯s squad advanced to their new destination, they found to their delight that the resistance they faced was in fact decreasing. They were able to easily ughter their way to the front of the pce.

    The pce was normally protected by a variety of techniques and formations, but Eternal Night had diverted almost all of Sky City¡¯s power towards the third line of defense. Naturally, Perpetual Daylight Pce¡¯s defenses had been neglected, and its only remaining defenses were a few guards who had stayed behind to keep watch on the situation. Those guards couldn¡¯t help but feel faint when they saw nearly a hundred human cultivators flying in their direction. However, even though they knew that they would lose the fight, they still chose to loyally sound the rm and fight as hard as they could.

    Ye Fenghan made a casual sweeping gesture with his arm, and a wave of sword light rushed forwards, decapitating a few of the Harpy guards.

    ¡°Hey, leave some for me!¡± Chang He yelled unhappily.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have time to y around with you today,¡± Ye Fenghan coldly replied before continuing tomand the rest of the group. ¡°Everyone, charge in and set this pce on fire. Create as much of amotion as possible ¡ª the bigger, the better.¡±

    Chang He unhappilyined, ¡°Really? Isn¡¯t that just going to get us killed? I think that we should just sneak in and get rich. Stirring up amotion doesn¡¯t really serve our interests.¡±

    Ye Fenghan fiercely red at him. ¡°I don¡¯t have anything against getting rich, but don¡¯t forget that we¡¯re in the middle of a war. We shouldn¡¯t only focus on what benefits we¡¯ll get. Can we reallye all the way here and leave all the danger to the others? Can we really let them die in battle for our sake?¡±

    Chang He was rendered speechless.

    The other squad members lowered their heads silently as well.

    Righteousness was actually a fairly rare quality in this time period, and not every leader possessed it either. Even the disciples of the Boundless Sect, who still had a trace of naivete, were slightly selfish. As such, this situation would test the character of any squad¡¯s leader.

    Since Ye Fenghan had made his decision, the others had no choice but toply.

    When Ye Fenghan saw that the entire group was now sullen, he added on, ¡°Shanzi, Chenghai, and Longchao. Go take your subordinates and plunder whatever you can from the pce.¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡± everyone crowed with excitement.

    Chang He chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s more like it. We can consider the others, but we also need to worry about ourselves.¡±

    As he spoke, he turned around, ready to brazenly stride into Perpetual Daylight Pce.

    Ye Fenghan immediately grabbed him by the cor. ¡°You¡¯reing with me.¡±

    ¡°Hm? What is it?¡± Chang He started running to keep up with Ye Fenghan as they navigated the winding hallways of the pce. Along the way, they encountered a few Harpy maidservants, who shrieked in fear. Ye Fenghan ignored them entirely.

    ¡°Hey, tell me where we¡¯re going!¡± Chang He refused to be quiet.

    The fires had already been set, but themotion was notrge enough for Ye Fenghan¡¯s tastes yet. Chang He secretly hoped that the fires would spread more slowly so that they could loot more treasures. This was why he was extremely unhappy that Ye Fenghan had dragged him away to run around seemingly aimlessly.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to the core,¡± Ye Fenghan finally replied.

    ¡°You mean the imperial storehouses?¡± Chang He¡¯s eyes lit up.

    Su Chen had visited these very same storehouses before, so they were specifically marked on their maps. Chang He remembered this very clearly, but he had never expected to have the opportunity to personally raid the storehouses.

    Unexpectedly, Ye Fenghan shot him down once again. ¡°We¡¯re not going there either.¡±

    ¡°Hm? Then where are we going?¡±

    ¡°To the Harpies¡¯ Demon-Executing Cannon,¡± Ye Fenghan calmly answered.

    Chang He felt his mind begin to tremble violently when he heard this answer.

    That was when he suddenly remembered that the terrifyingly powerful Demon-Executing Cannon was actually housed within Perpetual Daylight Pce.

    This cannon¡¯s power was unrivalled. Even Deste Beasts would have a hard time withstanding its blows.

    If Ye Fenghan wanted to go to a ce like that, then his goal was obviously to use the cannon.

    In that moment, Chang He knew that he had no other option but to follow along obediently.

    The imperial storehouses were very close to the Demon-Executing Cannon. Actually, Chang He could see the storehouses¡¯ doors beckon to him enticingly from nearby.

    Chang He felt his heart ache as he watched the entrance to the imperial storehouses fly by in a blur.

    These storehouses definitely contained countless riches, the likes of which perhaps even the Boundless Sect had never before seen!

    But he had no choice but to pass them by!

    With tears in his eyes, Chang He vented all of his anger on the enemies in front of him.

    ¡°Charge!¡±

    His Raging Torrent Palms violently surged forwards, instantly killing two Harpies. The power from the palms continued unabated, mming into a solid iron door.

    The door was immediately blown off its hinges, revealing a massive, dark cannon sitting in the vast room behind the door.

    The Demon-Executing Cannon!

    The Demon-Executing Cannon was being guarded by a squad of Harpies, who were obviously prepared for these two intruders. As soon as the door was blown open, one of the Harpies signaled with the sword in his hand. ¡°Fire!¡±

    Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

    Hundreds of razor-sharp arrows whistled in Ye Fenghan and Chang He¡¯s direction.

    These Harpies were all elite archers, and the arrows that they had just fired were Armor-Burying Arrows, which were crafted from an alloy of metal essence and Dark Light Stones. Each arrow also had a miniature Origin Formation that vastly increased their prative power. Additionally, the arrowheads were covered in Nightmare Serpent Saliva, which was exceptionally poisonous. This volley of arrows could have felled even a Light Shaking Realm cultivator.

    This wave of a hundred arrows cost around a few tens of thousands of Origin Stones just to fire. Such extravagance startled Chang He quite badly.

    Ye Fenghan¡¯s eyes flickered as he activated his Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect.

    The Three-Legged Golden Bird took to the skies as intense heat began to radiate from its body. It felt like a second sun had appeared.

    The arrows actually melted away, as they were unable to withstand the intense heat of the ¡°sun.¡± Even though Ye Fenghan¡¯s Golden Bird Aspect had not yet reached the stage of Great Sess, which meant that the arrows were notpletely melted, it was still powerful enough to destroy the Origin Formations inscribed on the arrows. The Nightmare Serpent Saliva was burnt away, and the even the arrows¡¯ speed decreased significantly.

    ¡°Hey, do something!¡± Ye Fenghan cried out.

    ¡°Oh!¡± Chang He suddenly broke out of his reverie and raised a barrier.

    This barrier seemed exceptionally in and unremarkable.

    This simple barrier, however, easily stopped all of the Armor-Burying Arrows. These arrows, which could purportedly prate all the way through a mountain, only ttered uselessly against the nondescript barrier. Their destructive power waspletely nullified.

    Additionally, the Golden Bird Aspect¡¯s specialtyy not in defense, but rather in offense!

    Ye Fenghan flipped his hand over. ¡°Go!¡±

    The Three-Legged Golden Bird let out a long keening cry as it rushed forwards.

    The Harpy general pointed at it as he loudlymanded, ¡°Stop that creature!¡±

    The Harpy soldiers began to hurl Arcana Techniques at it, but how could they possibly block the Three-Legged Golden Bird¡¯s fierce mes?

    It relentlessly charged towards them like a supercharged fireball. When it exploded, it tore a number of the Harpies to pieces.

    ¡°Wow.¡± Chang He let out a long whistle as hemented, ¡°That¡¯s an impressive amount of power. I don¡¯t remember it being so strong before.¡±

    ¡°The Sect Master gave me a vial of the Golden Bird¡¯s bloodline, which raised its strength,¡± Ye Fenghan replied straightforwardly.

    This was the truth behind Ye Fenghan¡¯s sudden surge in power.

    The Aspects that Su Chen had developed were not wholly separated from the bloodline system.

    People without bloodlines could still utilize the power of Aspects.

    Possessing a bloodline, however, could further amplify the power of that Aspect.

    Actually, Su Chen had never nned onpletely removing the Bloodline Nobility ns. His goal had been to merely remove the restriction that one <i>needed</i> a bloodline to cultivate. Having the power of bloodlines to support humanity¡¯s strength was obviously a good thing.

    Yes, this was the position that the Bloodline Nobility ns would upy in the future.

    Cultivation would be the main way humans increased their power, but the Bloodline Nobility ns would still have a reason to exist.

    As Ye Fenghan dealt with the scattered Harpy guards, Chang He charged forwards to im control of the Demon-Executing Cannon!

    ¡°Haha! The Demon-Executing Cannon now belongs to us. It¡¯ll be exhrating when we use this on the Harpies!¡± Chang He roared withughter.

    Yes, firing the Demon-Executing Cannons at the Harpies inside of the city would definitely elerate the destruction of the Harpies¡¯ defenses. This would be an important contribution!

    Just as Chang He leapt towards the Demon-Executing Cannon, however, Ye Fenghan suddenly yelled, ¡°Be careful!¡±

    A sharp spear suddenly appeared out of nowhere, aimed straight at Chang He.

    Suddenly, Chang He realized that he had nowhere to retreat to.

    A wave of pressure enveloped him, making it impossible for him to move at all.

    Only one kind of person was capable of pulling something like this off ¡ª a Tenth Ring Arcana Master.

    ¡°It¡¯s over!¡± Chang He cried out, his expression full of regret and despair.

 Book 7, 37: Titan

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 37: Titan</h4>

    Bang!

    Just as Chang He had epted his death, a metal hand suddenly appeared in front of him, plucking the oing spear out of thin air.

    The spear struggled in the hand¡¯s grip but was unable to escape for some time. Eventually, it began to disappear.

    Only then did Chang He realize that a giant metal status had suddenly appeared in front of him.

    A Titan-ss puppet!

    This was the Titan-ss Puppet Su Chen had handed to Ye Fenghan. He had chosen to use it at this moment to save Chang He¡¯s life.

    As the spear disappeared, the person wielding it also appeared.

    A Harpy elder dressed in borate pce uniform was sping his hands together as he watched them.

    ¡°Titan-ss puppet? Su Chen must be quite rich to give you one of these things. He only has four of them, right?¡± the old Harpy said.

    ¡°You¡¯re wrong. Master has fifty of them now,¡± Ye Fenghan replied coldly.

    ¡°Fifty?¡± The old Harpy was quite badly startled by this revtion. An instantter, however, his eyes lit up. ¡°Then you must be Su Chen¡¯s disciple?¡±

    ¡°Yes, he is!¡± Chang He proudly announced. ¡°And the only one too.¡±

    ¡°Shut your mouth!¡± Ye Fenghan said.

    Indeed, the elder immediately turned his attention to Ye Fenghan. ¡°Wonderful! Simply wonderful! If I capture you alive, I will be able to force Su Chen to retreat!¡±

    It was a stretch to imagine that capturing Su Chen¡¯s disciple would force him to pull back, but the Harpy elder clung to the idea like a life preserver. Even if he knew that chances were slim, he refused to give up without giving it a try.

    He immediately cried out, ¡°Wave of Frost!¡±

    The temperature in the room suddenly fell as a boundless wave of ice energy formed, quickly sealing the room in ice. Only the Demon-Executing Cannon glowed with light, repulsing this wave of frost.

    Chang He jabbed forward with his finger.

    The Titan-ss puppet charged forwards and unleashed a simple punch. The ice shattered almost immediately, proving incapable of restraining the Titan-ss puppet for even a moment.

    The Harpy elder had never nned on using ice alone to seal the Titan-ss puppet, however. The Harpies also possessed Titan-ss puppets, after all, so they knew exactly how to deal with them. The elder began unleashing streaks of light at the charging puppet.

    Light was his primary means of attack. Ice was just a supplementary measure.

    The old Harpy¡¯s attacks rained down on the Titan-ss puppet, filling the sky with a dazzling disy of light that beat down on the Titan-ss puppet in waves.

    The Titan-ss puppet, for its part, endured the light storm and continued to unleash punches.

    Whereas Intelligent Race members were much nimbler, Titan-ss puppets were extremely sturdy. Their bodies were roughly equivalent in sturdiness to the ground of Wai Caves, insting them from Origin Energy and greatly weakening any Arcana Techniques or Origin Skills they were struck by.

    Such terrifying resistance made them very hard to destroy. In a frontal confrontation, even an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator would have a hard time defeating one.

    However, the simple manner in which Titan-ss puppets attacked was their main weakness.

    Titan-ss puppets primarily specialized in close-quartersbat. Of course, they could wield Origin Skills as well, but their proficiency in long-range attacks was much lower.

    The most important tactic when fighting against Titan-ss puppets was to not let them get too close.

    Of course, this alone was not enough.

    Titan-ss puppets were powered by Sark¡¯s Nuclei. Even though these variants were far inferior to the original, using one to power a Titan-ss puppet gave them much more sustainability than most powerful cultivators, unless those cultivators carried with them arge amount of Origin Stones and medicines.

    As such, battles between Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators and Titan-ss puppets often ended in stalemates.

    However, the ability of a Titan-ss puppet to seize the initiative was inferior, and their single-target attacks were far more inefficient.

    For this reason, Titan-ss puppets were typically only used on the battlefield, not for one-on-one duels. Even a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator had little to fear from a Titan-ss puppet - if I can¡¯t beat you, I can just run.

    The light storm nced off the Titan-ss puppet¡¯s body. To it, this kind of attack was easily ignorable.

    Upon seeing this, Chang He began to cackle with delight.

    Tenth-Ring Arcana Techniques could do very little to Titan-ss puppets. As such, victory was almost guaranteed, especially considering that both Ye Fenghan and Chang He were also present.

    Chang He said, ¡°Fenghan, let¡¯s join in as well.¡±

    ¡°Shut your mouth and stay put!¡± Ye Fenghan red at him.

    A thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators were needed to even put up a fight against an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator. Did he think a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator and a Light Shaking Realm cultivator can do anything?

    The Tenth-Ring Arcana Master would have far too many opportunities to kill them.

    ¡°Stay behind and keep the barrier active. Also, keep an eye out for him teleporting to where we are to try and take us out first,¡± Ye Fenghan cautioned.

    Upon hearing Ye Fenghan¡¯s warning, Chang He seemed toe to his senses and fell silent, watching the battle unfold.

    Upon seeing that the two humans were staying put, the elder chuckled. ¡°You kids are quite smart, but do you really think this is enough?¡±

    As he spoke, his figure flickered and reappeared right beside Ye Fenghan.

    Ye Fenghan didn¡¯t seem surprised. He chuckled. ¡°I knew you¡¯d try something like this.¡±

    The elder¡¯s hand reached out to grab Ye Fenghan but pulled in nothing but empty air.

    Bang!

    Ye Fenghan¡¯s figure dissolved into bubbles.

    The old Harpy was stunned. ¡°Flowers in a Mirror?¡±

    ¡°No. Fata Morgana.¡± Ye Fenghan and Chang He had reappeared on the other side.

    Su Chen¡¯s Fata Morgana could achieve a simr effect as Flowers in a Mirror. Pairing it with a Titan-ss puppet would allow him to avoid most powerful attacks.

    The old Harpy¡¯s grab was unsessful. At the same time, a spear emerged in the Titan-ss puppet¡¯s hand, which it threw at the old Harpy.

    This was one of the few long-range attacks the Titan-ss puppet possessed. The attack¡¯s power was roughly equivalent in strength to the Eighth-Ring Lightning Spear.

    The Harpy elder calmly swiped at the air with his hand. A light screen appeared in the sky, swallowing up the heavy spear flying through the air.

    An instantter, however, the Titan-ss puppet charged forwards once more, bounding forwards as it brought its iron fist crashing down towards the old Harpy.

    This seemingly simple strike was actually even more powerful than the Origin Skills the Titan-ss puppet unleashed. The old Harpy could not afford to react slowly and could only teleport away once more.

    At the same time that he reappeared, however, a Three-Legged Golden Bird crashed into him.

    Even though the old Harpy immediately revolved all the strength in his body to resist, the blow still sent him reeling.

    Dammit, he had actually gotten hit by this brat?

    Not too far away, Chang He asked, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say not to attack?¡±

    Ye Fenghan replied seriously, ¡°You can attack if the opportunity presents itself.¡±

    Chang He asked, ¡°When would be a good opportunity?¡±

    Ye Fenghan replied, ¡°Just then.¡±

    Chang He asked, ¡°Then when will the next opportunitye?¡±

    Ye Fenghan rolled his eyes. ¡°How should I know?¡±

    The Titan-ss puppet immediately whirled around and continued to attack.

    The Harpy was practically the size of a mosquitopared to the Titan-ss puppet.

    Unfortunately, this puppet wasn¡¯t able to do anything to the mosquito. The mosquito utilized its agility to avoid the puppet¡¯s attack, searching for opportunities to capture Ye Fenghan. Even so, Ye Fenghan was quite slippery himself, and he also possessed quite a few ways of escaping himself. In addition to Fata Morgana, he also had blood clones and Whitetower Teleportation. Whatever skills Su Chen had developed, Ye Fenghan had learned. He used them in a rotation, and kept a barrier active on his body to prevent the Harpy elder from getting the better of him.

    The elder could do nothing about this.

    As such, the three of them entered a stalemate.

    Even so, this stalemate would need to be broken sooner orter.

    The elder tried his hand a few more times. Finally, after Ye Fenghan had evaded his attacks a few more times, the elder said, ¡°Is that all you have? You keep using the same skills over and over.¡±

    Ye Fenghan replied, ¡°As long as you can¡¯t catch me, these skills are sufficient.¡±

    The Harpy elder suddenly guffawed. ¡°Do you really think there¡¯s nothing I can do to you? I¡¯m sorry to disappoint!¡±

    He pounced once again, reaching out to grab Ye Fenghan. Just as his hand was about to wrap itself around Ye Fenghan¡¯s head, however, he suddenly shot off in a different direction and raked his hand through the air.

    Bang!

    Both Ye Fenghan and Chang He were sent flying by the vicious attack.

    He had seen through their technique?

    Both Chang He and Ye Fenghan were stunned.

    ¡°Found you!¡± the elder giggled.

    Ye Fenghan hurriedly activated Whitetower Teleportation but found to his surprise that the space around him suddenly seemed to be restricted, making it impossible for him to move.

    ¡°Trying to run?¡± the elder harrumphed.

    Even though he did not specialize in spatial techniques, he was still a Tenth-Ring Arcana Master. Sealing an area of space for a short period of time was no problem for him. Most importantly, his opponent was not a master of spatial techniques either. If he had been facing Su Chen, this sealing technique would have been a joke.

    But now, Ye Fenghan had nowhere to run.

    The old Harpy exerted a tiny bit of force, causing the barrier to neatly shatter.

    Just as he was about to fully capture Ye Fenghan, he saw the Titan-ss puppet charging towards him out of the corner of his eye.

    The elder calmly waved his hand. An iron statue sprang to life behind him, charging forwards to meet the Titan-ss puppet.

    So he actually possessed a technique like this that bordered on the level of a legendary Arcana Technique, yet had waited until this very moment to use it.

    The iron statue kept the Titan-ss puppet at bay, allowing the elder to continue reaching for Ye Fenghan.

    But just as he was about to grab Ye Fenghan, he suddenly realized that Ye Fenghan¡¯s expression was calm and collected.

    This is......

    The old Harpy had been in countless battles and had umted a wealth of experience.

    He knew as soon as he saw this expression that something was wrong.

    Suddenly, Ye Fenghan¡¯s body began to glow with an intense white light.

    The light seemed to prate to the very core of his being, tormenting him and filling him with pain.

    How could this be?

    What kind of technique was this?

    Why can I not use any of my Arcana Techniques?

    Why can I not control him?

    The elder¡¯s shock was apparent. Was his opponent really a mere Spirit Burning Realm cultivator?

    And why did it seem as if a sun was rapidly forming before his very eyes?

    In fact, he could see more than a sun.

    Because the puppet¡¯s movements suddenly changed as well.

    It jumped into the air like a real martial artist, unleashing a barrage of vicious attacks that almost immediately shattered the barrier he had

    Why?

    Why had the Titan-ss puppet suddenly be so agile?

    They were only pretending!

    The two humans were pretending, and even the puppet was pretending!

    The old Harpy wanted to retreat further, but found that there was nowhere else to go.

    Ye Fenghan was already reaching out in his direction, not giving him any opportunity to flee.

    The white light on his body was beginning to fade very rapidly.

    But before it fadedpletely, the old Harpy would not be able to escape.

    There was nothing he could do but watch the Titan-ss puppet bring its weighty fist down onto his head.

    Thest thing he heard before he died was, ¡°You were waiting for an opportunity, but so was I, and so was it......¡±

 Book 7, 38: Open Fire

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 38: Open Fire</h4>

    Bang!

    The Titan-ss puppet¡¯s fist descended mercilessly, splitting the elder¡¯s skull open like an watermelon.

    The elder did not regenerate from this wound. The destructive power of a Titan-ss puppet hadpletely extinguished his vitality in one blow.

    Ye Fenghan fell to the ground, his strengthpletely exhausted.

    The earlier battle had been an incredibly dangerous bncing act. Even a slight misstep would have resulted in death.

    He had only won because of the Titan-ss puppet¡¯s unexpected might, as well as the immortal energy that was in his body.

    ¡°Well, that old guy is dead now.¡± Chang He was not as aware of the significance of what had just transpired. In his eyes, a Tenth-Ring Arcana Master was equal to an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator, as was a Titan-ss puppet. In fact, Tenth-Ring Arcana Masters were typically weaker than either of the two, and the Titan-ss puppet had even been granted intelligence by Su Chen through his unique Method Power. In Chang He¡¯s eyes, their victory was practically guaranteed.

    He had no idea that, while they might have had the advantage in terms of strength, he would have died if it weren¡¯t for Ye Fenghan keeping both of them safe.

    Ye Fenghan was toozy to exin all this to him, but Chang He just didn¡¯t seem to shut up. ¡°Right, what technique did you use back there? It must be an incredible one if it can even restrict a Tenth-Ring Arcana Master.¡±

    ¡°A one-time use one,¡± Ye Fenghan replied.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine too. Just tell me the name of the technique! Can I exchange for it with contribution points?¡± Chang He asked excitedly.

    Ye Fenghan tilted his head, thought for a moment, and then shook his head. ¡°Not right now.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± Chang He seemed nonplussed by his quick rejection.

    Ye Fenghan finally lost his patience and pped him upside the head. ¡°Stop asking so many questions and get to work.¡±

    After saying this, he turned towards the Demon-Executing Cannon.

    ¡°What else is there to do?¡± Chang He asked curiously.

    ¡°Firing the cannon, of course.¡± Ye Fenghan gently stroked the cannon¡¯s metallic surface as he nced at the chaotic battlefield in the distance.

    Rivers of blood flowed everywhere, and decapitated heads dotted the gruesomendscape.

    Both races were fighting with all their might, fully focused on either holding or destroying the third line of defense.

    The barrier flickered constantly as it continued to protect the Harpies. Of the ny-nine Arcana Towers, three had already fallen to the hands of one of the human squads. At that moment, the Harpy front lines were under incredible duress. Failure was, in some sense, almost inevitable.

    But before the barrier totally copsed, the humans would need to pay a tremendous price to maintain their offense.

    ¡°How do you use this thing?¡± Chang He asked as he circled the cannon.

    ¡°Do you see that dial over there? Turning it controls its direction. And that lever controls its power output; the higher, the more powerful.

    ¡°How do you know all this?¡± Chang He was extremely curious.

    ¡°Sect Master informed me before we arrived. Don¡¯t ask me how he knew.¡±

    Chang He finally understood. ¡°So this was a mission that the Sect Master assigned to you from the very beginning, right? You didn¡¯t tell me about this?¡±

    ¡°Shut up and go adjust that lever!¡± Ye Fenghanmanded. ¡°Mountain, you go and guard the entrance.¡±

    The Titan-ss puppet nodded once before lumbering away.

    Chang He ran over to the power lever. Ye Fenghan was already beginning to adjust the cannon¡¯s direction, aiming it at the Arcana Towers.

    ¡°Set the power to twenty. Prepare to fire,¡± Ye Fenghan barked sharply.

    ¡°That low?¡± Chang He nced at the power lever and saw that it went all the way up to 180. He felt that Ye Fenghan was setting the power to be too low.

    ¡°What do you know?¡± Ye Fenghan replied curtly, ¡°The Demon-Executing Power¡¯s rate of fire and its power are inversely rted. The lower the power, the more rapidly we¡¯ll be able to fire shots. Twenty is more than enough to destroy those Arcana Towers. Fire!¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡± Chang He excitedly pressed the button to fire.

    A lightning bolt shot forth from Perpetual Daylight Pce.

    This lightning bolt was nowhere near as powerful as some of the earlier ones fired. Twenty units of power was obviously quite mediocre for the Demon-Executing Cannon. Even so, a shower of sparks still spilled forth from its mouth.

    More importantly, this particr shot dealt an extremely heavy psychological blow to the Harpies.

    Why was the Demon-Executing Cannon firing on its allies?

    All of the Harpies were immediately dumbfounded when they saw the cannon¡¯s target, while the human soldiers exploded into cheers.

    ¡°Recapture the Demon-Executing Cannon!¡± one of the Harpies howled furiously. Large groups of Harpy soldiers began to retreat towards Perpetual Daylight Pce.

    Meanwhile, Ye Fenghan and Chang He were still ying around with the Demon-Executing Cannon¡¯s power settings.

    When Ye Fenghan saw that the Arcana Tower had only swayed but was not destroyed, he frowned beforemanding, ¡°Forty. One more!¡±

    ¡°Got it!¡± Chang He happily adjusted the lever.

    An instantter, an incredibly thick column of lightning sprayed forth from the cannon.

    This column of lightning immediately disintegrated the Arcana Tower. The powerful attack, however, continued shooting forwards without stopping, ughtering all of the nearby Harpies as well.

    Ye Fenghan was stunned. ¡°Why is forty so powerful?¡±

    ¡°Um......¡± Chang He muttered sheepishly.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    Chang He embarrassedly replied, ¡°I was a bit too excited on that one. I identally raised the power to eighty.¡±

    Damn!

    Ye Fenghan red at him.

    After readjusting the cannon once more, Ye Fenghan said, ¡°Set the power to fifty-five. Fire!¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t fire yet,¡± Chang He replied with a mournful expression.

    Ye Fenghan didn¡¯t even turn around. ¡°Is there a circling red light next to the lever?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Then it overheated with thest shot. We can only fire again once the red light has disappeared. The stronger the shot, the longer it takes the cannon to cool down.¡±

    Chang He could only helplessly wait for the red light to disappear.

    Firing a powerful shot was indeed addictive, but it also meant that the recovery time would increase. No wonder Ye Fenghan had been increasing the power so slowly.

    Thankfully, eighty units of power was not that powerful, and the red light quickly dimmed. Chang He readjusted the power lever, this time making sure not to overshoot.

    A column of lightning equivalent to fifty-five power units mmed into yet another Arcana Tower. This time, the Arcana Tower lit up brightly before slowly crumbling away.

    ¡°This is the perfect power level,¡± Ye Fenghan said as he smiled in satisfaction.

    Precisely regting the power of the Demon-Executing Cannon would allow it to deal maximum damage.

    Of course, this principle only really applied to mon¡± targets like Arcana Towers. Using it against a Deste Beast was even simpler: just fire at maximum power. A thousand attacks at twenty units of power would not be as effective as a single st of 180 units.

    The cooldown time at fifty-five units wasn¡¯t too long either. Chang He and Ye Fenghan carefully controlled the Demon-Executing Cannon and continued to decimate the Arcana Towers.

    Arcana Tower after Arcana Tower crumbled to pieces, and the Harpies¡¯ defenses began to significantly weaken. Parts of the barrier even disappeared as there were no longer any Arcana Towers in the vicinity to sustain them.

    The Demon-Executing Cannon easily perforated the barrier, dealing a heavy psychological blow to the Harpies.

    Even though the first wave of Harpy soldiers had already arrived on the scene, the Titan-ss puppet meant that it was impossible for them to interfere. The Harpy soldiers were like moths drawn to the me. The only fate that awaited them here was death.

    Even as the Titan-ss puppet continued to swat down the flies buzzing around outside, Ye Fenghan and Chang He continued to fire the cannon as quickly as they could, enjoying themselves immensely.

    ¡°This really is addicting!¡± Chang He cackled in delight.

    During this short period of time, the Demon-Executing Cannon had destroyed around a dozen Arcana Towers. It seemed that, at this rate, they would soon finish off all of the Arcana Towers.

    At that exact moment, however, Ye Fenghan redirected the cannon once more. ¡°Alright, we¡¯re changing targets.¡±

    ¡°What? Why? The defenses haven¡¯t been fully destroyed yet.¡± Chang He didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°Master wants an intact Sky City, and not one riddled with holes,¡± Ye Fenghan replied. ¡°Constructing an Arcana Tower is not cheap. We have to destroy some of them to minimize our losses and help our forces enter the city. Once they are inside, our primary duty will actually be to preserve the towers as much as possible.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Chang He suddenly understood.

    As more and more holes continued to open up in the barrier, more and more human cultivators would charge into the city.

    Earlier, their goal had been to destroy.

    Now, their goal was to protect.

    Ye Fenghan turned his attention away from the Arcana Towers.

    ¡°So what should we target next?¡±

    ¡°The Harpies, of course,¡± Ye Fenghan said with a chuckle, ¡°Don¡¯t you think that using this cannon to fry flies would be quite entertaining?¡±

    Chang He was taken aback for a brief moment before he burst out inughter. ¡°Not bad, not bad. You¡¯re right indeed. This cannon was made to exterminate pesky flies anyways. How much power?¡±

    ¡°Set the power to five. Let¡¯s give them a taste of rapid fire bombardments.¡±

    ¡°You got it!¡±

    Ye Fenghan then aimed the cannon at the Harpies on the front line, and the Demon-Executing Cannon began to glow once again.

    This time, since the power output was only set to five units, the red light signaling that the cannon had overheated didn¡¯t light up after firing.

    Chang He repeatedly mashed the fire button with reckless abandon, and a steady stream of lightning bolts shot out of the cannon. Ye Fenghan swept the cannon in an arc as if he were controlling a machine gun instead. Harpy after Harpy was struck by the lightning, and some of the weaker Harpies died on the spot.

    However, the power output was a bit too low to pose a serious threat, and the cannon could only attack one target at a time. Even though it appeared to be stirring up quite amotion, its destructive power was limited at this power level.

    Ye Fenghan shook his head. ¡°Five is not enough. Raise the power to ten.¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡± Chang He raised the power appropriately.

    This increase in power was significant. The red light still did not light up, but the lightning bolts no longer flew forth in a steady stream. Wherever the individual lightning boltsnded, they would also explode, causing a mild amount of ssh damage as well.

    The rtively thin lightning bolts, however, had a harder time hitting their targets.

    Ye Fenghan was still not satisfied. ¡°Power to twenty.¡±

    The power had been brought back to twenty once again.

    Boom, boom, boom!

    Bolts of thick lightning arced through the sky, apanied by an ominous rumbling of thunder. Every time the cannon fired, a significant amount of damage was done.

    ¡°Power to thirty!¡± Ye Fenghan continued to adjust the power level.

    The Demon-Executing Cannon continued to fire volleys of lightning at variable might under Ye Fenghan¡¯smand.

    Ye Fenghan eventually discovered through trial and error that, against Harpy soldiers, the Demon-Executing Cannon was most effective when it¡¯s power was set somewhere between thirty and seventy units.

    Any lower than that, and the cannon would be too weak to deal efficient damage.

    As for whether thirty or seventy units of power was needed, it depended on the target¡¯s strength. Thus, Chang He was hard at work, constantly adjusting the cannon¡¯s power.

    They continued to fire relentlessly. Tens of thousands of Harpies fell to the unstoppable barrage of lightning bolts.

    Suddenly, they heard a loud cheering from the battlefield.

    ¡°What just happened?¡± The two of them were befuddled by the sound.

    When they turned their attention to the source of the celebration, they saw a giant statue begin to topple off of a faraway mountain.

    The Mother Goddess Statue had been pulled down.

    She fell t on her face. Arge group of Titan-ss puppets could then be seen walking out of the cloud of dust.

    ¡°It¡¯s the Titan army! The Sect Master¡¯s Titan army!¡± Chang He cried out in excitement.

    Ye Fenghan smiled slightly.

    Su Chen¡¯s Titan-ss puppets had been moving against the Mother Goddess Sect. The Mother Goddess Sect was one of the Harpies¡¯ most important pirs that supported them, and they also had arge number of trump cards. This was the reason why Su Chen had dispatched his army of Titans there. Now, it seemed that their efforts had been rewarded.

    At the same time that the Mother Goddess Sect statue fell, another, much closer cheer resounded.

    Multicolored lights appeared to be shing off in the distance.

    And as those lights shed, Sky City¡¯s barrier began to shatter under an oppressive weight.

    A massive object was bearing down on Sky City, emanating an imposing aura all the while.

    The Mother of All Bugs!

 Book 7, 39: Anger

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 39: Anger</h4>

    Within the core of Sky City:

    Eternal Night sat down,pletely drained of energy.

    He had been defeated.

    This battle had been between the two most powerful individuals of either race, but the oue was exceptionally one-sided.

    There was no fierce battle or exchange of blows. Eternal Night had been defeated with a single attack.

    This attack, which contained immortal energy, had immediately shattered all of Eternal Night¡¯s attacks.

    ¡°What technique is that?¡± Eternal Night asked as he gazed at Su Chen in shock.

    ¡°I call it immortal energy. It is distinct from divine power.¡± Su Chen then began to exin the principles of immortal energy to Eternal Night.

    When Eternal Night heard this exnation, he was amazed. ¡°I never knew that such an energy could even exist. Where does this energye from?¡±

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Su Chen replied, ¡°From lifesource.¡±

    ¡°Lifesource?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Su Chen said with a confident nod. ¡°The power of the gods is derived from Method Power. Immortal energy, however,es directly from an individual¡¯s lifesource. At least, that¡¯s how I understand it. Both the outside environment and one¡¯s body are treasures. It was just that, in the past, we were deceived by the grandiose nature of the world around us and never tried to unlock the potential contained within ourselves. Now, a ray of light has finally dawned on me.¡±

    When Eternal Night heard this, he fell deep into thought for a moment before asking, ¡°Could the Harpies possess this power as well?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Su Chen shrugged. ¡°We will only know after a Harpy tries to cultivate it.¡±

    Interestingly enough, Su Chen hadn¡¯t killed Eternal Night outright. Instead, after the battle, they had begun to converse with each other as if they were long lost friends.

    Even so, neither Eternal Night nor Su Chen found this to be strange.

    They were very simr people, and both of them carried great ambitions and a mutual understanding of the other. Even if one defeated the other, they would still respect a worthy opponent. For this reason alone, Su Chen wouldn¡¯t grow high and mighty over victory, and neither would Eternal Night feel indignant about his loss.

    Such a rtionship was quite rare and hard to find.

    Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s words, Eternal Night smiled bitterly. ¡°It seems that we Harpies will never have such an opportunity.¡±

    ¡°That might not be so,¡± Su Chen said cryptically.

    ¡°What?¡± Eternal Night was stunned by his words and turned around to gaze intently at Su Chen.

    Su Chen continued, ¡°I said, it might not be impossible for the Harpies to cultivate this new energy. You already know that I research everything with the intention of making it broadly applicable to everyone. I have never harbored the selfish idea of hoarding everything that I¡¯ve discovered for my personal benefit.¡±

    Eternal Night¡¯s coldly interrupted, ¡°You know that that¡¯s not what I¡¯m asking about.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°Did you think that I was going to kill off every single Harpy? If you were the winner in this war, what would you do?¡±

    Eternal Night fell silent, still staring intently at Su Chen. Su Chen did likewise.

    The two of them stared at each other for quite some time before Eternal Night finally said, ¡°If I won, then I wouldn¡¯t kill all of the humans. I would capture and enve them, just like what we did to the Craftsmen, the Metalskins, the Stoneskins, and the Moonkin. They would be servants for me to use as I please...... However, don¡¯t you dare even think about making the Harpies your ves!¡±

    Eternal Night began to yell as he red at Su Chen.

    There was no gratitude, only anger and hatred.

    This was the attitude of a ruler. He would rather die than be someone else¡¯s servant.

    But even if he could make that choice, the other Harpies couldn¡¯t.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t bother replying. Instead, he remained silent and only continued to stare intently at Eternal Night.

    Eternal Night began to tremble with emotion.

    He desperately said, ¡°The Harpies were once enved by the Beasts for tens of thousands of years. We...... No matter what, we will never return to a life where our fate is in someone else¡¯s hands. Freedom is invaluable. We will preserve our freedom no matter what!¡±

    Su Chen calmly replied, ¡°Freedom is precious indeed, but life is even more precious. Your Majesty, you have already lost the right to negotiate on this matter.¡±

    Eternal Night helplessly closed his eyes as he bitterly said, ¡°I have truly harmed the Harpies.¡±

    Su Chen smiled faintly. ¡°Such is the fate of anyone with grand ambitions. If you don¡¯t seed, then you will end up destroying everything you have created. Actually, you don¡¯t need to worry about much, as we humans will be the ones bearing the brunt of the gods¡¯ wrath. If we lose, then our fate will be even worse than yours. This is what it means when people say that great falls apany great rises. The lowly ves, however, will be able to survive even if they have no hope of ever reaching the peak. If the human race loses...... Well then, let¡¯s just say that the Harpies will be in much better shape. This is just how these things are.¡±

    Eternal Night was stunned by Su Chen¡¯s logic, but upon further reflection, he realized that this view actually made quite a bit of sense.

    The victors of this battle would be saddled with the most responsibility, which included bearing any future consequences that would arise as a result.

    Actually, this defeat could, in some way, be considered the Harpies¡¯ good fortune if the Intelligent Races¡¯ battle against the gods went poorly.

    But even if he understood this, Eternal Night couldn¡¯t stop himself from grabbing Su Chen¡¯s arm. ¡°Su Chen, promise me that you will not lose! The Harpies would rather serve humans than the gods!¡±

    Only someone who knew the truth could speak in this way.

    Su Chen gently nodded. ¡°I cannot promise you anything, but I will do everything within my power not to.¡±

    When Eternal Night heard this, he tilted his head back and cackled, ¡°Hahahaha, well said, well said! You can only do what is in your power.¡±

    Hisughter sounded like it was tinged with insanity. All of the majesty and prestige he held as a ruler had disappeared.

    Su Chen knew that Eternal Night was just venting the rage in his heart, so he watched silently.

    After a long time, he said, ¡°Your Majesty, give themand to surrender. Too many people have died. There¡¯s no need to continue like this.¡±

    Eternal Night finally stoppedughing and muttered, ¡°You¡¯re right. It is time.¡±

    His tone was despondent, yet it also contained a certain kind of fearlessness towards death.

    Su Chen knew that Eternal Night would not keep himself alive when he saw this.

    As a failed leader, he would not allow himself to go on living on this continent.

    Off in the distance, a shocking explosion of light burst forth as the human armies let out a collective cry of joy.

    That was Sky City¡¯s barrier copsingpletely.

    They had paid a price in blood to bring down that barrier.

    Now, it was time for them to reap the fruit of theirbor.

    The bitter battle to destroy Sky City¡¯s defenses had ended, and the human cultivators swarmed into the city, beginning to im Harpy life after Harpy life.

    There was not much time remaining.

    Su Chen tilted his hand, and a spatial vortex appeared before Eternal Night.

    This was a spatial technique that would transmit Eternal Night¡¯s voice throughout the entire city.

    Actually, Eternal Night would have been able to project his voice without Su Chen¡¯s help, but he was looking a little pale, so Su Chen decided to help them out.

    Within Sky City, a brutal massacre was beginning to unfold.

    Even though the Harpies were far inferior to the humans when it came to close-quartersbat, their backs were against the wall. Even if they died, they would make sure to get onest hit in.

    A human cultivator was swarmed immediately after he killed a Harpy soldier. Even though he did his best to fight his way out, he eventually fell under theirbined might.

    The Harpies, on the other hand, were in an even worse situation. They continued to struggle with all their might.

    ¡°Damn, these Harpies have gone insane,¡± Lin Shaoxuan muttered as he wiped the sweat of his brow.

    ¡°Their country is about to fall, so it¡¯s quite understandable.¡± Li Chongshan was quite calm. ¡°Tell your soldiers to keep fighting hard. The ughter will probably be ending soon.¡±

    Only they would likely understand the meaning behind these words.

    ¡°Found them! Found them!¡± At that moment, a loudmotion suddenly sprang up off in the distance.

    ¡°Why all themotion?¡± Li Chongshan asked.

    A cultivator replied, ¡°We found Le Feng and the others.¡±

    ¡°You found Le Feng?¡± Li Chongshan and the others were ecstatic.

    Le Feng was their observer, and he had been imprisoned after Eternal Night had openly vited the terms of their agreement. Su Chen and Li Chongshan were quite concerned with this matter.

    But they seemed to be quite lucky. Sky City had yet to fall, but Le Feng and the others had already been found.

    ¡°How is he?¡± Li Chongshan asked with some agitation.

    The cultivator, however, shook his head silently.

    Li Chongshan felt his heart jolt when he saw this.

    He hurriedly flew over to where arge group of human soldiers was gathered.

    Li Chongshan and Lin Shaoxuan arrived at the same time. Cheng Tianhai was already on the scene, cradling Le Feng in his arms. His body had beenpletely mangled from head to toe.

    But this was not such a big deal. After all, flesh wounds were insignificant to cultivators. As long as he could still cultivate, he would recover.

    As such, when Li Chongshan reached over to help him up, he received a huge shock. Not even the faintest trace of Origin Energy could be sensed in Le Feng¡¯s body anymore.

    They had crippled him.

    In other words, his wounds would never fully heal.

    ¡°Le Feng...... What about the others?¡± Li Chongshan asked.

    ¡°The same!¡± Cheng Tianhai howled with rage. ¡°These goddamn Harpies! I¡¯ll kill them all!¡±

    He spun around and roared, ¡°Brothers, to arms! We won¡¯t rest until we wipe every Harpy off the face of this continent!¡±

    ¡°ughter all Harpies!¡± all of the human cultivators echoed mournfully.

    Prisoners of war had different statuses than the soldiers fighting in battle. Le Feng¡¯s treatment at the hands of the Harpies had truly infuriated all of them. Even Li Chongshan, who was always level-headed, howled with rage as he charged forwards.

    The human cultivators surged forwards in a wave of fiery fury.

    At that moment, Eternal Night¡¯s voice rang throughout the city.

    ¡°All Harpies, hear mymand. We have lost this war. I order all forces toy down their weapons and surrender.¡±

    What?

    Everyone was stunned by this announcement.

    ¡°No! We haven¡¯t been defeated yet! We¡¯ll fight to our dying breath!¡± a Harpy general cried out in anger and despair.

    Even more shocking, however, was Cheng Tianhai¡¯s reaction.

    The killing intent in Cheng Tianhai¡¯s eyes didn¡¯t fade in the slightest when he heard the Harpy order to surrender. ¡°Who gives a damn about your surrender? Is it not too little, toote? Kill them all!¡±

    Even though a majority of the Harpies had lost their will to continue fighting, the human cultivators were still full of fiery rage.

    ¡°Why? Why do they still want to kill us even though we already surrendered?¡± Eternal Night was enraged by this turn of events.

    At that moment, a short report was transmitted to Su Chen. Su Chen briefly nced at it, then sighed. ¡°This is the reason. Take a look for yourself.¡±

    He handed the report over to Eternal Night.

    Eternal Night was stunned by what he read. ¡°I did not give that order.¡±

    ¡°I know, but there are always a few fiery-headed people who don¡¯t listen to orders and act on their own. More importantly, this has already happened,¡± Su Chen sighedmentfully.

    ¡°So what should we do?¡±

    ¡°We can only give them time to vent. Let them continue massacring the Harpies for a while longer,¡± Su Chen nonchntly replied.

    Eternal Night was badly startled by this decision. He grabbed Su Chen and yelled, ¡°You cannot throw away the lives of my countrymen to ke your men¡¯s bloodthirst!¡±

    ¡°Oh, but I can,¡± Su Chen replied coolly, ¡°From this moment onwards, the nobles have be the ves, and this is merely the fate of a ve, especially that of a disobedient one.¡±

    Eternal Night felt despair overwhelm him. ¡°What do you want from me to spare them?¡±

    ¡°How about your life?¡± Su Chen countered.

    If someone else had said this, then Eternal Night would have assumed that they were going to kill him.

    But Su Chen¡¯s words meant the exact opposite.

    He said, ¡°From today onwards, your life and your intellect will fully belong to me!¡±

 Book 7, 40: Fight Until The End!

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 40: Fight Until The End!</h4>

    When Le Feng next opened his eyes, he found himself lying on a soft bed. Beside him stood a familiar individual.

    ¡°Sect Master?¡± Le Feng hurriedly attempted to sit up.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t even turn around. ¡°Just lie there for now and don¡¯t move.¡±

    ¡°Sect Master......¡± Le Feng cried out weakly. All the sorrow that had built up in his heart came pouring out at once, and he couldn¡¯t stop the tears from flowing out. When the enemies had been doing their worst to him, his eyes had remained dry. But now, he was weeping like a little child.

    Su Chen knew why Le Feng was crying and made no attempt to console him. Instead, he busied himself with his own affairs.

    A cauldron gently revolved above his hands, which were carefully controlling a small fire that was gently heating the suspended cauldron.

    From time to time, a fragrant medicinal scent would waft out of the cauldron.

    ¡°Sess,¡± Su Chen said to no one in particr.

    He withdrew his hands and opened the cauldron lid. There were three green pills rolling around at the bottom.

    Su Chen used his microscopic eye to carefully inspect the pills. After a long time, he sighed and said, ¡°This is still not enough. Well, I¡¯ll just keep working at it then.¡±

    As he spoke, he brought the medicinal pills over to Le Feng. Then, he calmly said, ¡°Are you done crying now?¡±

    Le Feng¡¯s tears finally stopped. ¡°Sect Master......¡±

    Su Chen sat down beside Le Feng. ¡°You didn¡¯t give in when they were physically maiming you, so why¡¯re you behaving like a little child now? Well, you are older than me, so I won¡¯t lecture you or anything like that. Here, eat this.¡±

    Su Chen fed one of the pills to Le Feng.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Le Feng asked curiously.

    ¡°A new medicine that I¡¯ve been researching. I hope that it will help repair your Sea of Qi,¡± Su Chen answered.

    Le Feng shook his head despondently. ¡°That won¡¯t work. My Sea of Qi has beenpletely destroyed, and I can no longer control the Origin Energy in my body. I¡¯ve been thoroughly crippled.¡±

    He had never heard of anyone who had ever recovered from having their cultivation base crippled.

    Su Chen, however, calmly said, ¡°There were many people who once believed that developing the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques was impossible. Do you think your crippled state will be harder to cure than a problem that had gued the human race for thousands or even tens of thousands of years?¡±

    Le Feng froze for a moment before smiling bitterly. ¡°But won¡¯t that consume quite a bit of Sect Master¡¯s time and energy?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°Maybe not. Some seeminglyplicated problems might actually turn out to be quite simple.¡±

    ¡°Simple?¡± Le Feng was taken aback.

    Actually, the inability to recover from a crippled cultivation base was also a problem that had existed for tens of thousands of years. It just wasn¡¯t quite as high-profile as that of the bloodline-less cultivation techniques.

    Even Su Chen wouldn¡¯t be able to resolve this problem that easily, right?

    Su Chen, however, calmly said, ¡°Your body has sustained many wounds, and your Sea of Qi has been utterly destroyed. This makes cultivating the Flying Immortal Techniques virtually impossible.¡±

    Why are you telling me all this? Didn¡¯t you just say that you might have a way to heal me?

    Le Feng didn¡¯t understand what Su Chen was trying to say.

    But Su Chen ignored his confused look and continued talking. ¡°But just because it is impossible to rebuild your Sea of Qi doesn¡¯t mean that you will never be able to control Origin Energy ever again, or that you won¡¯t be able to embark on the path of cultivation anymore. Since your body is already in this condition, and since it just so happens that I have recently gained some new insights into cultivation, I think that we should try a new route altogether.¡±

    ¡°A new route?¡± Le Feng was stunned.

    ¡°Yes, a new route. We can restart the entire cultivation process,¡± Su Chen stated.

    So this was Su Chen¡¯s n!

    After inspecting Le Feng¡¯s body, Su Chen had realized that a full recovery was virtually impossible. Those rogue Harpies had been truly vicious. Not only had they destroyed his Sea of Qi, but they had also severed every meridian in his body. This would not kill him, but it did force him to endure unspeakable pain.

    Even so, Su Chen had still managed to find a sliver of hope even in this dire situation.

    This hope was founded upon the foundationid by the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques and immortal energy.

    Su Chen¡¯s Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques branched away from conventional cultivation methods quite early on.

    And immortal energy was an even broader path forwards.

    When these two possibilities were both taken into consideration, Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but feel like the system of human cultivation was actually far more profound than what he had thought it to be in the past.

    However, since he had already reached the Ultimate Emperor Realm, he would not destroy his own cultivation base to start over.

    But Le Feng¡¯s misfortune also came with its own unique opportunity.

    Using Le Feng as an experiment to attempt to ze a new path of cultivation from the very beginning might very well result in a new pir of human cultivation being born.

    At that point in time, the Yang Opening Realm might merely be the foundation, the Light Shaking Realm would establish that foundation, and the formation of a Golden Pill would be the peak. In fact, it was even possible that there were even greater possibilities beyond that would be discovered with time.

    How could Su Chen not be excited by this unlimited prospect?

    He then exined his thoughts to Le Feng. ¡°The path of the Golden Pill was first discovered by Fenghan. My research of it hasn¡¯t delved too deeply into its intricacies yet, so I have no idea where to begin and where it might end. In fact, I have only personally experienced the section in the middle, so there is actually a lot that I don¡¯t know about this new cultivation path. I want to build up the roots of this system so that this cultivation system can sprout and eventually grow into a tree that will shelter the entire human race. I won¡¯t be able to start over, but you can. If you start from the beginning, then you might even be the pioneer of this new cultivation system. Are you willing?¡±

    When Le Feng heard this, he became so excited that he began to tremble violently. ¡°Your disciple is willing!¡±

    His new path forward would likely be extremely difficult, but Le Feng had finally seen a ray of hope.

    How could he not be excited?

    Su Chenughed when he heard Le Feng¡¯s response. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then you don¡¯t have any time to ck off. Here, tell me what this feels like......¡±

    Su Chen then tapped his finger on Le Feng¡¯s forehead.

    ¡°AHH!¡± Le Feng cried out in pain.

    The torturous cultivation process had begun......

    While Le Feng and the other observers were working hard at their new cultivation path, the outside world was in a flurry of activity.

    Sky City had changed ownership!

    The war between the humans and the Harpies had eventually reached its inevitable conclusion. The Harpies¡¯ ten-thousand-year reign over Sky City had finallye to an end.

    ;

    Following Eternal Night¡¯s official surrender, the Harpy race officially followed in the footsteps of the Astrals by being the second Intelligent Race to be unceremoniously kicked out of the Five Great Races.

    The Harpies and the Dark Astrals were both now servants of the human race.

    When victory was secured, the human soldiers all began chanting Su Chen¡¯s name in celebration, cheering for the immortal legacy of him, the Boundless Sect, and the human race. Their morale was at an all-time high.

    Only the higher-ups knew that the human race was far from invincible.

    Even the Deste Beasts were capable of giving them a run for their money, let alone the inevitable battle with the gods.

    The Beasts had been able to exert their dominance over the continent not only because of Demonic Emperors, but also because of Deste Beasts. And even if the human race controlled Sky City and no longer feared Deste Beasts, Origin Beasts were still a thing.

    How powerful had the Arcana Kingdom been? And yet, the Shining Dragon had managed to wipe it out virtually single-handedly.

    The power of an Origin Beast was not something they could take on just yet.

    It was still a little too early to im that they were invincible.

    While their subordinates were celebrating like it was the end of the world, the higher-ups were already thinking about how they would retreat back to human territory.

    ¡°We cannot stay here for much longer. If we do, then Deste Beasts will definitely appear,¡± Jiang Jusheng said.

    ¡°The Deste Beasts have already shown themselves.¡± Lin Shaoxuan was young and full of confidence in Su Chen and the Boundless Sect.

    Du Qingxi shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s not the same. The Deste Beast that we faced was one that Eternal Night purposefully drew over. The rest of them will not show themselves until it is absolutely necessary, but if we remain here for any longer, then the story will be different.¡±

    Both Deste Beasts and Origin Beasts would appear for one reason and one reason only: if the Beasts were in a crisis.

    The five Intelligent Races had defeated the Demonic Beasts plenty of times throughout history, forcing them into dire straits. Every time, however, Deste Beasts would inevitably appear and steamroll through the Intelligent Races¡¯ forces, allowing the Demonic Beasts to easily reim the territory that they had lost.

    While no Origin Beasts had appeared in the past ten thousand years or so, Deste Beasts had appeared quite a few times, which was why many of the higher ups were familiar with how they operated.

    They followed a general set of rules that were affected by a variety of factors, such as the distance that the invaders had covered, how long they were there for, and how many Demonic Beasts they had ughtered. Finally, the number of Demonic Beasts that had been sacrificed also yed a role ¡ª put simply, the Beasts were using their lives to ask their Ancestors to reawaken and aid them.

    Now that the major battle with the Harpies had concluded, every day that they spent in Beast territory would only increase the likelihood of provoking an attack from the Deste Beasts.

    If the Deste Beasts awakened, then the human armies would not be fighting just one or two, but rather multiple at once.

    Once the Demonic Beasts were cornered against the wall, they would let their opponents know just how deep their foundation truly went.

    No one knew just how many ancient Beasts were lying dormant underground. The Intelligent Races obviously hoped that they would all die in their sleep and never awaken.

    But before then, it was better to not provoke them if at all possible.

    The leaders of the Seven Kingdoms all basically had the same mindset, as did the Gu n. This was partly due to the habit that they had built up throughout the years.

    The Boundless Sect, however, thought differently.

    This group of soldiers had formed rtively recently and were still filled with a youthful exuberance. Even though their roots were still somewhat shallow, their vast numbers of high-level cultivators gave them the confidence to face any enemy. And most importantly of all, they believed in themselves.

    This all stemmed from their faith in their leader. Wherever he told them to go, they would go without hesitation.

    As such, none of them particrly cared for what the leaders of the Seven Kingdoms had to say.

    Even Li Chongshan said, ¡°The Sect Master says that we came all this way not only to defeat the Harpies, but also to defeat the Beasts. Until the Sect Master calls for us to retreat, we will not retreat. Of course, if you all get cold feet, then we will not force you to stay either.¡±

    Jiang Jusheng angrily replied, ¡°It is already a tremendous feat for the human race to reach this point. However, my desire to retreat is not born out of selfishness or cowardliness. I just hope that we can instead use this time to think our n through a little. The Deste Beasts may not be within our power to fight against just yet. Even if we have Sky City, what happens if seven or eight of theme for us at once? And even if we do defeat them, what will we do if an Origin Beastes hunting for us? This is exactly what happened to the Arcana Kingdom!¡±

    Even though Jiang Jusheng was selfish by nature, everything that he had said in this moment was absolutely correct.

    Even Li Chongshan had to admit that his words had merit.

    At that moment, however, a voice spoke up. ¡°Even if an Origin Beastes, we must fight.¡±

    What?

    Everyone turned around in shock to see Su Chen walking out of the room.

    His steps were unhurried as he spoke in a calm voice. ¡°We don¡¯t have much time left. The gods are returning, and the Primordial Continent will soon be thrown under their yoke. If that happens, then we will undoubtedly be their ves. So if we don¡¯t want to be their ves, then we must fight. These untamed wilds have not been touched for tens of thousands of years and contain invaluable resources not found anywhere else. We must thoroughly plunder this ce and leave no stone unturned. And we must further temper ourselves against more powerful and fearsome foes. After all, when the gods were still present in this world, their main opponents were Origin Beasts. If we can fight against Origin Beasts, then we will be able to fight against the gods as well.¡±

    ¡°As such, these Origin Beasts and Deste Beasts are the best sparring partners that we could ask for. We must train and strengthen ourselves while they are still only able to emerge one by one. Even their flesh will be an important resource for us! We don¡¯t care about Demonic Emperors anymore; what we want to battle are precisely the Deste and Origin Beasts!¡±

    At this point, Su Chenughed confidently. ¡°Ten years! We still have ten years¡¯ time. And in these ten years, we will not go anywhere. We will hunt down these Beasts and continue to drive them back. They will either be our nourishment, or we will be their fertilizer. I will not force you to stay. But I will leave you with this warning: if you leave, then you may have distanced yourself from danger, but you will also have distanced yourself from the best opportunity to grow. If the Boundless Sect is not destroyed in the uing conflict, then you will never again have an opportunity to catch up in the new era which will be under ourmand.¡±

 Book 7, 41: Slaughter

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 41: ughter</h4>

    In Redstone Basin.

    This basin was an ancientndmark.

    Red sandstone covered thendscape, giving the basin an extremely ancient and dusty appearance.

    Today, however, a fresh coat of paint had been applied.

    Scarlet blood washed over the entire basin, which was filled with the corpses of countless Demonic Beast. Up in the sky, sounds of constant mournful wailing and moaning could be heard.

    The majority of these mourners were Demonic Beasts.

    They were gathered around the edge of the basin. In front of them stood a Sovereign, who cried out, ¡°Majestic Ancestor, please open your eyes! The vile humans havee to attack us once again! We are already at our limit!¡±

    There was no response.

    The Sovereign didn¡¯t even turn around as he emotionlesslymanded, ¡°Sacrifice another ten thousand.¡±

    The Sovereign¡¯s guards forced another ten thousand Demonic Beasts into the basin and then executed them, spilling even more fresh blood onto the red ground.

    This new river of blood flowed to the center basin, draining into a seemingly bottomless hole. Finally, after an unknown period of time, the ground of the basin trembled slightly.

    Then, an ancient voice sighed out, ¡°Why are you awakening me again? Do you feel that I have been alive for too long?¡±

    The Sovereign was delighted by the response. ¡°Ancestor, we really are at our wits¡¯ end! Otherwise, we would not dare to disturb Ancestor.¡±

    ¡°Which one are you?¡±

    The Sovereign hurriedly replied, ¡°Ancestor, my name is Kucha.¡±

    ¡°Kucha...... Ah, the one who ate the Tree Ancestor¡¯s enlightenment in order to be a Sovereign. In some sense, you are his descendant ¡ª you should have gone to him.¡±

    Kucha bitterly replied, ¡°Blood Ancestor, I...... I don¡¯t dare to awaken Tree Ancestor.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± The Blood Ancestor seemed to understand Kucha¡¯s predicament. ¡°You must have produced some Shadow Calcite. Are you afraid that he will take your Shadow Calcite and consume it for himself?¡±

    Kucha fell to the ground, trembling violently. He didn¡¯t dare utter a single word in response.

    The Blood Ancestor thennguidly asked, ¡°How is the situation looking?¡±

    Kucha hurriedly replied, ¡°The humans have massacred their way to Skywild ins. Golden Feather Ancestor was awakened by a secret Astral technique, but it was defeated by the humans in battle.¡±

    ¡°Golden Feather is dead?¡± The Blood Ancestor raised its voice ever so slightly. Even so, this slight increase in volume caused the very earth to tremble.

    All of the Demonic Beasts immediately prostrated themselves in fear, not daring to move even a single muscle.

    Kucha was no exception.

    After some time, the Blood Ancestor¡¯s voice rumbled out, ¡°I cannot sense Golden Feather¡¯s aura. It seems that he really is dead.¡±

    Kucha took advantage of the opportunity to once again plead, ¡°Ancestor, please support us.¡±

    ¡°Absolutely not!¡± The Blood Ancestor immediately rejected him. ¡°I can sense that the Barrier is beginning toe down. And soon, it willpletely disappear. I cannot awaken everyone when our fight against the gods is so close at hand. We have been waiting for the moment when we can exact our revenge. The Divine Beasts will definitely return to the Origin Energy Sea!¡±

    Kucha agitatedly replied, ¡°But if the humans take over the wilderness, then the Ancestors will not have any Demonic Beasts left to protect their territory!¡±

    When it heard this, the Blood Ancestor fell silent.

    Without the Demonic Beasts controlling their territory on the surface, the humans would recklessly invade the Beasts¡¯ borders, and they might even take the initiative to attack the Deste and Origin Beasts.

    If the humans were the ones who were waking up the Deste Beasts and Origin Beasts, they would have plenty of time to set up all kinds of traps for them in advance. Then, when these Ancestors awoke, the traps would be activated all at once. Many of the Ancestors would probably die before fully awakening. The Ancestors that could be poisoned would be poisoned, and those that could be trapped would be trapped. They had witnessed these tactics quite often when they had fought against the gods.

    This was especially true for Ancestors like them. If they were all awakened......

    As soon as it realized this, the Blood Ancestor assented to Kucha¡¯s request. ¡°Fine. Take two units of my blood and awaken two Elders.¡±

    Two balls of blood flew out of the dark, fathomless hole,nded in Kucha¡¯s hand, and turned into two droplets of blood.

    Kucha carefully stowed them away and then delicately asked, ¡°Blood Ancestor, what if two Elders is not enough?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± The Blood Ancestor grunted in disbelief.

    Kucha said, ¡°The invaders this time are both the humans and the Harpies. Not long ago, the humans and Harpies fought each other. The humans won a decisive victory and have imed Sky City for themselves.¡±

    ¡°Sky City...... The Arcanists......¡± the Blood Ancestor muttered to itself, deep in thought.

    The Blood Ancestor knew quite a bit about the Arcanists.

    They were a race that had required an Ancestor to personally take action in order to finish off.

    As for Sky City, he had also heard about it thest time he was awakened.

    Upon hearing Kucha¡¯s exnation, the Blood Ancestor thought for a moment before sending over two more balls of blood.

    One was scarlet, while the other was the color of bone marrow.

    The Blood Ancestor said, ¡°Here¡¯s one more unit of blood. If even three Elders are not enough, then take this marrow and awaken the Barbaric Ancestor. We have already lost the Shining Ancestor. I pray that we will not lose another. Go, hurry. Don¡¯t waste my time any longer. If we keep talking, then my body will fully awaken.¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡± Kucha bowed respectfully before turning to leave.

    Sky City.

    At this point, Sky City was now well and truly flying the human race¡¯s and the Boundless Sect¡¯s gs.

    The throne in Perpetual Daylight Pce that had once belonged to Eternal Night was now upied by Su Chen.

    Even though he had never referred to himself as a ruler, all of the other leaders unanimously considered him to be the true ruler of the human race.

    This newly crowned emperor sat upon the throne, listening to his subordinates¡¯ reports.

    ¡°The Harpies in Sky City have been fully incorporated, though Sky Country has not been notified yet,¡± Li Chongshan said.

    Sky City had indeed been conquered, but the Harpies had not been fully subjugated. There were still many of them stationed back at Sky Country. In addition, there were still three Floating Points to deal with. If these Harpies could not be dealt with, then the Harpies had not truly been conquered.

    When Su Chen heard Li Chongshan¡¯s report, he fell into a moment of deep thought before carefully saying, ¡°We will need to deal with them, but I think that it would be best to have Eternal Night take care of this matter for us.¡±

    ¡°Eternal Night?¡± Li Chongshan and the others were stunned.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Su Chen said with a nod. ¡°After all, he was the Harpies¡¯ ruler, and the sway he has over them cannot be overstated. Having him publicly proim their surrender to Sky Country would be the best move.¡±

    Making Eternal Night issue the surrender order would be a great test to him, as well as an intense humiliation.

    But Eternal Night had no choice but toply.

    ¡°I¡¯m just worried that Eternal Night might be dismembered alive by enraged Harpies when he goes back.¡± Although Li Chongshan¡¯s words seemed to indicate some concern, his expression said otherwise.

    Even though Eternal Night¡¯s reputation was extremely high, everything was different after such a significant loss.

    If he had died in battle, the Harpies would view him as a leader. Surrender, however, meant that he was a traitor.

    If he were to continue proiming surrender, he would garner even more ire and hatred.

    As such, perhaps only one-tenth of the Harpies back home would remain loyal to him, but more of them would hate him.

    Even so, this was exactly what Su Chen was after.

    Eternal Night was powerful. Su Chen couldn¡¯t use him with full confidence without destroying some of the confidence that the other harpies had in him.

    This was the reason why, throughout history, traitors were often the ones who were the most vicious when dealing with their formerrades.

    That was the only way they could prove their trustworthiness.

    Eternal Night didn¡¯t want to do this, but Su Chen was not going to give him a choice in the matter.

    In such an important matter, there was no room to take Eternal Night¡¯s personal feelings into consideration.

    If it were any other Harpy, Su Chen probably would not have needed to go to such lengths. Against Eternal Night, however, this was the best way to get some kind of leverage on him.

    All Su Chen said in response to Li Chongshan¡¯sment was, ¡°Those who are willing to surrender will be assimted, and those who do not will be dealt with. Someone will need to do the dirty work, and Eternal Night is as good a choice as any. Right, send the Mother of All Bugs and the Titan Army with him, and pick out a few of the Harpy generals that had surrendered.¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡± Li Chongshan nodded his head.

    ¡°Right - has there been any movement from the Ravagers¡¯ side yet?¡± Su Chen asked.

    The current ruler of Long Sang, Lin Chenyuan, was responsible for keeping an eye on the Ravagers.

    Even though Lin Chenyuan was far weaker andcked presencepared to the other emperors, his political abilities were up to par. Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s question, he hurriedly replied, ¡°The Ravagers don¡¯t particrly seem to be up to something. I asked the Flowing Gold Fort just a few days ago and confirmed that the tribes nearby were all just going about their daily business.¡±

    When Su Chen heard this, he squinted his eyes. ¡°If everything seems normal, that means something is definitely up.¡±

    For some reason, Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but feel that Danba was bing more and more alien to him.

    There should have been no way that the Ravagers would simply sit on the sidelines and watch while the humans brawled with the Harpies. And someone like Danba should have been actively trying to put himself in an advantageous situation. Either he would ally with the humans to demonstrate his allegiance and establish a position for himself in the future, or he would do the same with the harpies. Or, he could have attempted to ambush one or the other, obtaining some short-term but nevertheless very real benefits in the process.

    Su Chen had specifically bolstered the Flowing Gold Fort¡¯s manpower for this exact reason.

    In the end, however, the Ravagers had done nothing.

    This was simply too different from what Danba would normally do.

    Su Chen turned the matter over in his mind repeatedly but couldn¡¯t seem to figure it out. At that moment, however, a mor suddenly burst forth from outside the Perpetual Daylight Pce.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Some of the officers were unhappy at the sudden disturbance, but that dissatisfaction quickly gave way to shock when they heard the response.

    ¡°An assassination attempt!¡±

    What?

    Everyone was stunned.

    Who would dare try and pull off an assassination attempt at this moment in time?

    The answer, however, surprised everyone present.

    Because the assassination target was not a high-level officer. He was just a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator.

    Actually, a cultivator at that level was extremely hard to find in this army, which wasposed exclusively of powerful elites.

    The assassination target¡¯s strength was mediocre, but his talent formand was exceptional, which was why he had been allowed to tag along. After the human race¡¯s victory, he had been given some administrative responsibility. As such, it was also wrong to say that he was aplete nobody.

    Somehow, this steward had found himself on the wrong side of an assassination attempt.

    Thankfully, he hadn¡¯t died yet.

    Upon hearing this, Su Chen¡¯s interest was piqued. ¡°Let¡¯s go and take a look.¡±

    The pce steward was lying on the ground outside, surrounded by arge group of Boundless Sect disciples.

    Su Chen asked, ¡°Who was present when the assassination attempt took ce?¡±

    One of the disciples replied, ¡°Your disciple Mo Cong was present.¡±

    ¡°Exin to me what happened.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Mo Cong said. ¡°The assassin was an old beggar. His clothes were old and ragged, but he was definitely a human.¡±

    ¡°An old beggar?¡± Su Chen¡¯s gaze suddenly constricted.

    One of the other disciples spoke up. ¡°What did you just say? An old beggar? We¡¯re in the Perpetual Daylight Pce. Where would an old beggare from?¡±

    Mo Cong replied, ¡°I don¡¯t know either. He appeared seemingly out of nowhere. In fact, he was smiling and talking to me when he approached, but suddenly he disappeared. I turned around and found him standing next to Steward Li. After he patted Steward Li¡¯s back, Steward Li immediately copsed.¡±

    Su Chen asked, ¡°What did that beggar look like, exactly?¡±

    Mo Cong thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°He wasn¡¯t very tall, his nose was red like he had been drinking, and his hair was unkempt and disheveled.¡±

    It¡¯s him!

    Su Chen began to yell madly in his heart.

    At that moment, the unconscious Steward Li suddenly woke up.

    He smiled at Su Chen and said, ¡°Long time no see, Su Chen. I am very pleased with your growth. But you are running out of time. Be sure to use it wisely......¡±

    Then, Steward Li¡¯s head drooped as he suddenly fell unconscious once more.

 Book 7, 42: Goal

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 42: Goal</h4>

    Within the pce hall.

    Su Chen sat on the throne, silent and in deep thought.

    He remained there, motionless, so immersed in his thoughts that he seemed to tune out everyone around him.

    Li Chongshan called out Su Chen¡¯s name a few times, but he only received a vague grumble in response.

    Everyone knew that Su Chen was mulling over somethingplex, so they gave up on trying to get his attention.

    This persisted all the way until dusk. Gu Qingluo walked over, sat down beside him, and softly said, ¡°There are some things that you might not be able to understand just by thinking about it harder. Why don¡¯t you take a break? Here, try some of this Clearheart Lotus Seed Porridge I made for you.¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°You know that this is not what I need.¡±

    Gu Qingluo said with some displeasure, ¡°I personally prepared this for you. Even if you don¡¯t need it, you¡¯re going to drink it.¡±

    Su Chen chuckled wryly. ¡°You probably made it like this, right?¡±

    mes casually leapt to life above his hand, heating the bowl of porridge in his hand and causing it to boil fiercely.

    For cultivators like them, it was beyond trivial to personally prepare a bowl of porridge.

    Gu Qingluo was extremely unsatisfied with his reply. ¡°Oh, so the fact that I <i>personally</i> made the porridge for you isn¡¯t enough? Do I have to exert myself until I¡¯m exhausted to demonstrate my sincerity?¡±

    At this point, Su Chen and Gu Qingluo were quitefortable with each other. ¡°Of course. If it¡¯s too easy for you to do, then its value obviously decreases. On the other hand, gifting me something that was challenging for you to aplish is much more precious to me.¡±

    Gu Qingluoughed. ¡°Sorry to disappoint, but there are very few things that I find difficult to do.¡±

    ¡°Then what about tearing down the Barrier of Gods?¡±

    Gu Qingluo was stunned.

    She nced at Su Chen. ¡°You mean...... that old beggar......¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°It¡¯s just a guess of mine. If he does indeed originate from that side, then that would exin many things.¡±

    ¡°Like what?¡±

    Su Chen pulled out a jade circlet and calmly passed it over to Gu Qingluo.

    This was the same jade circlet that was hidden deep within the Mother Goddess Sect. After the Harpies surrendered, it had finally fallen into Su Chen¡¯s hands ¡ª they would not have been able to keep it a secret anyways, as nothing would have escaped Su Chen¡¯s consciousness sweep.

    Gu Qingluo took the jade circlet. Her eyes began to widen in shock as she read through its contents. ¡°So it¡¯s just as you guessed.¡±

    Su Chen and Gu Qingluo already knew quite a bit of what was recorded on the jade circlet, so they weren¡¯t that surprised by the secrets it revealed. However, it did serve to confirm their suspicions, and it also provided them with a couple extra details, which allowed them to fill in some of the nks in their knowledge about the gods.

    Even so, Gu Qingluo was still rendered speechless to see their spections confirmed by this new source of information.

    ¡°So...... not only are we their ves, but we are also their descendants,¡± Gu Qingluo softly muttered to herself.

    ¡°That sounds about right,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°But what does any of that have to do with the old beggar?¡± The words had only juste out of Gu Qingluo¡¯s mouth when she realized something, and her eyes widened in shock. ¡°You can¡¯t possibly mean......¡±

    Su Chen gently nodded. ¡°Do you not think that this is a very real possibility?¡±

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s jaw dropped.

    If Su Chen¡¯s guess was urate, then they would truly be stuck in a difficult situation.

    She had a hard time wrapping her head around all the implications of what she had just read. After a long time, she simply shook her head and said, ¡°The members of the Gu n live for so long that there are an incredible number of generations before me that still live. I have grandfathers, grandfathers of grandfathers, elders, and even elders of elders. Did you know that trying to remember all of these titles is a massive headache? Most of the, time we just simply things to just ¡®grandfather¡¯ and ¡®Elder.¡¯¡±

    Su Chen was quite amused by the way Gu Qingluo thought about things. ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a problem at all.¡±

    ¡°Fine. Then let¡¯s talk about a different issue,¡± Gu Qingluo said with a straight face, ¡°This...... elder...... of ours, what is his goal?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I was wondering about earlier,¡± Su Chen replied calmly. ¡°But before we can answer that, we need to consider another matter.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°From what I can gather, the Barrier of Gods should be a wall that separates the Primordial Continent from the Origin Energy Sea. This barrier makes it impossible for anybody to travel between the two, which is why the gods still have no way to return to this world.¡±

    ¡°Mhm.¡± Gu Qingluo nodded her head.

    This was not much of a secret. The names, ¡°Barrier of Gods,¡± and ¡°Eternal Treaty,¡± made it quite clear that they were the main obstacles to the gods¡¯ return.

    In fact, the Barrier of the Gods was most likely what was actually restricting the gods, while the Eternal Treaty was an agreement that the gods had reached with each other.

    And ten years from now, the Barrier and the Treaty would both lose their effectiveness.

    Su Chen continued, saying, ¡°Since there¡¯s a barrier separating the two realms, there shouldn¡¯t be a path that connects the two. However, that¡¯s not entirely true. For example, the Mother Goddess Sect canmunicate with the Mother Goddess. In addition, the Moon God was able to absorb divine power from the Flying Moon Emperor. And the Lord of the Dreamrealm was even able to openly do business in the Primordial Continent through his Dreamrealm. From these rare but very real examples, it is clear that the gods have never given up on this world. In fact, they have even used a variety of tactics to insert themselves into our world so that they can continue to influence it.¡±

    Light flickered across Gu Qingluo¡¯s eyes when she heard Su Chen¡¯s thoughts, and she nodded repeatedly.

    ¡°Obviously, however, either the Treaty, the Barrier, or both, restricts their power. The Moon God, the Mother Goddess, and the Lord of the Dreamrealm could all only use a small portion of their full power. The Mother Goddess can bestow Divine Feathers, the Moon God can create Sovereigns, and the Lord of the Dreamrealm can exist in the Dreamrealm with the caveat of being unable to kill anyone. And while they are able to influence our world through various methods, their actions also reveal their currentck of strength.¡±

    Gu Qingluo seemed to somewhat understand Su Chen¡¯s point. ¡°They¡¯ve gained an advantage in some ways, but they¡¯ve also lost out in others. The Lord of the Dreamrealm is likely incredibly powerful, but before the Barrier of the Gods copses, he will be unable to kill even a small chicken. The same goes for the Moon God and the Mother Goddess.¡±

    Su Chen then said, ¡°What if the old beggar is one of them?¡±

    Gu Qingluo raised a finger in protest. ¡°But he¡¯s attacked and harmed people!¡±

    ¡°But if you look closely at his actions, he has only harmed people who are extremely weak and possess little strength,¡± Su Chen said.

    The story of the old beggar had spread far and wide at this point. However, for some reason, everyone that the old beggar had attacked was extremely weak.

    In fact, this Blood Boiling Realm cultivator that the old beggar had attacked was actually the strongest target to date.

    This was likely rted to the Barrier¡¯s decline.

    ¡°Some loss, but also some gain.¡± Gu Qingluo slowly restated her earlier aphorism. ¡°They¡¯ve never shown themselves or their true power, but they are constantly acting behind the scenes, creating butterfly effects that alter the natural course of events. Why do I feel like this is simr to something that you can do......¡±

    ¡°Blood clones,¡± Su Chen quickly interjected.

    Gu Qingluo¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Yes, blood clones!¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s blood clones could walk across the continent in his ce, but they had their own limitations. For instance, they were typically much weaker than Su Chen, and the duration that they could persist for was also limited.

    If the old beggar was truly a human, then his manifestation in the Primordial Continent was most likely a clone of some sorts.

    Also, each god had their own unique abilities.

    These abilities were extremely important in how they broke through the Barrier, and they were also why each of them influenced the continent differently.

    Apart from these abilities, it was also apparent that each of these gods had extremely different goals.

    So why would the old beggar do what he did?

    What exactly had he been studying for tens of thousands of years? What was he waiting for?

    These questions stumped Su Chen.

    But there was one more thing that made Su Chen suspicious.

    ¡°Why would he say that to me?¡± Su Chen muttered out loud.

    ¡°What?¡± Gu Qingluo didn¡¯t understand what Su Chen was pondering.

    ¡°He only appears every so often, which means that it¡¯s probably quite difficult for him to send his clone over here, right? If that¡¯s the case, then he should have said something with actual value. Would he really waste such a rare chance to visit this world on praising me? Don¡¯t you think that this doesn¡¯t make any sense?¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Long time no see, Su Chen. I am very pleased with your growth. However, you are running out of time. Be sure to use it wisely......¡±

    That was what the old beggar had said to him through his Blood Boiling Realm vessel.

    While he had said the truth, it was also a seemingly useless message.

    Why would the old beggar spend so much energy just to offer him some praise and encouragement?

    That made no sense.

    This was the real question that was eating away at Su Chen.

    Was there some deeper, hidden meaning behind the beggar¡¯s words that he was missing?

    But no matter how long Su Chen mulled over these words, nothing came to mind.

    When Gu Qingluo heard Su Chen¡¯s exnation, she frowned before remarking, ¡°That is a bit strange. It kind of sounds like he was specifically trying to urge you to use your time wisely. In other words...... He¡¯s on our side? He¡¯s against the gods returning?¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°It seems to be like that for now. But, obviously, that can¡¯t be all. Because his statement is still useless and a waste of effort if that¡¯s all he wanted to say...... Even without this reminder, I still would have diligently continued to make my preparations. This statement has no practical value.¡±

    Gu Qingluo scratched her head in confusion. ¡°Then I have no clue. His words don¡¯t seem to hold any other meaning.¡±

    Su Chen decisively replied, ¡°There must be. There has to be. He wouldn¡¯t do something that pointless.¡±

    Gu Qingluo wondered, ¡°Then why wouldn¡¯t he just tell you directly?¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°The Eternal Treaty must be restricting what he can and cannot say.¡±

    The Barrier of the Gods prevented the gods from invading, so the Eternal Treaty must restrict the gods in another fashion. Combined, the two greatly reduced how much the gods could influence the Primordial Continent.

    Even so, some of the gods, who had alternative motives and goals, had continued to search for opportunities to bypass these restrictions.

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm, the Moon God, and the Mother Goddess were no exception.

    This beggar¡¯s actions were also in line with this hypothesis.

    Throughout the past tens of thousands of years, he had done many small things that,bined, had significantly altered the course of human history.

    Quite a few of the heroes that had emerged throughout the years had been affected by his actions.

    Obviously, these heroes had not lived up to the old beggar¡¯s expectations, which was why he continued to appear every now and then......

    Until today.

    ¡°I am very pleased with your growth......¡± Su Chen murmured yet again. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. ¡°He¡¯s telling me that I¡¯m going down the right path.¡±

    ¡°What path? Resisting the gods?¡± Gu Qingluo asked.

    ¡°No!¡± Su Chen stood up as he was struck by enlightenment. ¡°The path of strengthening the human race by itself! He wants me to lead the human race to avoid strengthening ourselves through all of these things!¡±

    ¡°Away from what, exactly?¡±

    ¡°From bloodlines and the gods themselves!¡± Su Chen eximed excitedly. ¡°He ced his first hopes in Li Daohong and gave him the Attendant¡¯s Brain. He also ced his hopes in Long Pojun and gave him the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone. His reason behind doing so was not for them to rely on this power, but rather for them to use it to obtain a new power from apletely different system!¡±

    Gu Qingluo murmured, ¡°But they only used that power to satisfy their own desires. On the other hand, you......¡±

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°Yes, I did it. That¡¯s why he told me that my actions so far have been right. No, that¡¯s not all he told me ¡ª more importantly, he let me know that this is the right way to fight against the gods.¡±

    Suddenly, Su Chen¡¯s heart was filled with confidence.

    Because he was reminded of a phenomenon that he had seen quite recently.

    When the immortal energy had devoured the divine power!

    So that was what the old beggar had been waiting for?

    This was the right path for the human race to take.

    The old beggar hade all this way to let Su Chen know that he was on the right path, and that he needed to continue forging onwards.

    The old beggar had been waiting for tens of thousands of years for this to happen.

    He had scouted out countless potential seedlings, hoping that one of them would eventually grow into a giant tree.

    And Su Chen was the tree that he had been waiting for.

    ¡°So that¡¯s what he wanted to tell us......¡± Gu Qingluo murmured, her eyes shining with joy and hope.

    ¡°That¡¯s not all. His words also told me onest thing,¡± Su Chen muttered. ¡°Something that I was never able to fully understand until now.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Danba!¡±

 Book 7, 43: The Desolate Beasts Come Knocking

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 43: The Deste Beasts Come Knocking</h4>

    After defeating the Harpies, the humans finally had an opportunity to take a well-deserved rest.

    This was the moment everyone had been waiting for.

    The untamed wilderness inhabited by the Beasts was filled with rare resources. During their warpath over to Skywild ins, no one had any time to properly take advantage of this fact. Now that the dust had settled, however, it was time to reap the rewards.

    Even though the Beasts¡¯ counterattack was inevitable, the human soldiers would be quite happy as long as the Beasts didn¡¯t arrive just yet.

    More importantly, the current humans were confident like never before.

    Even though many loyal soldiers andrades had died during the battle, the ones who had survived had grown even stronger.

    In fact, the overall number of Light Shaking and Spirit Burning Realm cultivators had increased.

    The Boundless Sect and the Seven Kingdoms originally had around 12,000 Light Shaking Realm cultivators, with 8,000 of theming from the Boundless Sect. After the battle with the Harpies, however, that number had increased to 13,000, and their Spirit Burning Realm cultivators numbers also increased by a few hundred. The number of Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators, on the other hand, had decreased. Some of them had been killed during the battle, and the human armies had not been able to replenish those numbers yet.

    But if they were able to harvest a lot of resources from Beast territory, then new Thought Manifestation Realm and even Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators would appear.

    Su Chen¡¯s Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques had been fully disseminated at this point, and Light Shaking Realm cultivators were already bingmon. Soon, even Spirit Burning Realm cultivators would be as numerous as dogs.

    However, the Thought Manifestation Realm and Ultimate Emperor Realm were a little different as bloodline-less cultivators still needed external aid to reach that point. One required the Deep Sea Anchor while the other required the consciousness conversion instrument. The Boundless Sect controlled both, which meant that they were the ones who determined who would ultimately reach the apex of human cultivation. Anyone who wanted to be a Thought Manifestation or Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator had to join the Boundless Sect, unless they were a member of a Bloodline Nobility n.

    The human soldiers began to plunder the Beasts¡¯ territory to their heart¡¯s content after a short respite.

    With Sky City under their control, looting resources was even easier.

    Every time they plundered a location, they would quickly stow their harvest in Sky City before moving onto the next location. Like a swarm of locusts, they didn¡¯t leave a single de of grass untouched or a stone unturned. Well, not exactly everything ¡ª Su Chen ordered them to leave the immature herbs alone to avoid irreparably destroying the soil and environment.

    At the same time, the work of repairing Sky City slowly started up as well.

    When the humans had been the ones besieging the city, they had tried to cause as much damage as possible; but now that it had fallen into their hands, they began regretting their destructive acts.

    As a result, the entire human race entered an unprecedented period of productivity and growth.

    Or they would have, if it wasn¡¯t for the Deste Beasts¡¯ invasion.

    The Deste Beasts attacked twenty days after the Harpies¡¯ defeat.

    Actually, this reaction from the Beasts could be considered a bit slow.

    But this was also understandable ¡ª every time a Deste Beast was awakened, they would take a step closer to death. None of them were willing to be awoken easily, even if the Demonic Beasts were the ones waking them.

    But they had nheless awoken. And now, three of them had arrived on the scene at once.

    One creature appeared to be no more than a strange ball of fog, from which faint shadows could be seen fading in and out of view. The Beast¡¯s physical form, however, was unknown.

    The second was a giant m. It towered in the sky like a giant mountain, its shell tightly mped shut. In fact, it had no way of moving by itself, and it had to rely on the third Deste Beast to drag it around.

    The third Deste Beast was the most normal-looking out of all three of them.

    It was a giant lion. This lion, however, was covered with sleek scales, and its tail was exceptionally long. There was also an additional mouth on its backside that was connected to the mouth on the lion¡¯s head.

    As soon as these three Deste Beasts appeared, the sounds of celebrationing from Sky City instantly died out,reced by a somber silence.

    ¡°So they dide after all, and three of them at once. They seem to be taking us quite seriously,¡± Li Chongshan sighed.

    ¡°That¡¯s not surprising. The Demonic Beasts aren¡¯t exactly idiots. They would never throw themselves at us one by one,¡± Su Chen replied confidently with a smile.

    He was the only one who was still able tough in this situation.

    ¡°It¡¯s Hidden Cloud, Towering m, and White Lion,¡± Gu Huiming said with a solemn expression.

    ¡°They have names? Did you give them those names yourself, or have they had them for a long time?¡± Su Chen wondered aloud.

    Gu Huiming replied, ¡°These namese from <i>The Primordial Will</i>. Oh, <i>The Primordial Will</i> is a collection of ancient records that was transcribed during a time of peace, and it primarily includes details that pertain to Origin Beasts and Deste Beasts. But because the records are outdated and contain some myths and folklore, its uracy is low. Even so, we are still able to draw some rough conclusions. Obviously, these three fall within that category.¡±

    Su Chen nodded as he responded, ¡°Understood. So the Illustrious Divine Dynasty recorded down the details of nearly a thousand Deste Beasts, and the information contained in those records is urate as long as we can identify the Beasts, right? And the information that we can¡¯t match to any Beasts is useless?¡±

    Gu Huiming¡¯s expression grew a little gloomy. Could you not be so blunt, please?

    No matter how many mistakes were in <i>The Primordial Will</i>, its contents were still useful when applicable.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Tell me a little bit about their unique points.¡±

    Gu Huiming hurriedly replied, ¡°Even though Hidden Cloud is a Deste Beast, itcks a physical form. As such, most attacks against it are useless, with the exception of consciousness skills or Method Power. Not much else is written about its capabilities, but supposedly, it is able to conceal itself and strike without warning. Its speed and attack power are also both quite powerful.

    Su Chen neatly summarized these attributes into a single archetype. ¡°So it¡¯s an assassin.¡±

    Gu Huiming replied, ¡°Yes, you can think of it that way. Towering m is immobile, but it can create illusions that bait its opponents into its attacks. Even though it cannot move, its defenses are incredibly strong. It also possesses an illusion pearl within its body. This pearl is a very valuable treasure, and not only can it amplify the power of its illusions, but it also gives the Towering m¡¯s illusions the ability to affect reality.¡±

    ¡°An illusion master.¡± Su Chen frowned.

    Even though the name ¡°illusion master¡± didn¡¯t sound particrly menacing, they were actually incredibly dangerous on a battlefield. A Deste Beast illusion master in particr would definitely be capable of creating astonishingly powerful illusions.

    When humans fought against Deste Beasts, they relied not only on overwhelming numbers, but also on an impable coordination to maximize that advantage.

    Illusions could disrupt this unity.

    If the human army¡¯s coordination was disrupted, then their formations would copse and their troops thrown into disarray. At that point, a numerical advantage would be meaningless.

    As such, Su Chen immediately recognized that the giant m would likely pose the biggest threat to them.

    Gu Huiming continued his exnation. ¡°The White Lion is a typical Deste Beast.¡±

    Somehow, Gu Huiming managed to describe the third Deste Beast in a single, sinct sentence.

    A typical Deste Beast was basically a Beast that was very physically powerful.

    They often had giant bodies and iparable physical strength. Seven or eight out of ten Deste Beasts fell into this category, which was why they were referred to as ¡°typical.¡±

    The reason why this type of Deste Beast was somon was because they relied on their powerful bodies to survive.

    Of course, the different ways in which they used their bodies was unpredictable, but there were only so many possible variations ¡ª they either used their teeth, ws, or tough hide. The golden falcon from earlier had been no exception. Even though it did possess some mastery of wind techniques, it had primarily fought with its physical body.

    Even if the White Lion had a few tricks up its sleeve, its reliance on physical strength was indisputable. Since Gu Huiming didn¡¯t know anything specific about its unique abilities, there was no point to describing it any further.

    Su Chen immediately understood the logic behind sending these three Deste Beasts when he heard all three descriptions. ¡°They have a pretty good setup. A meat shield, a long-range attacker, and an assassin. What a great team.¡±

    ¡°The Beasts aren¡¯tpletely dumb,¡± Li Wuyi said, reminding Su Chen of what he had said earlier.

    ¡°But they have still underestimated us,¡± Gu Xinrong chuckled coolly.

    The human race had managed to take on a Deste Beast all on their own. Now, with Sky City under their control and increased high-level cultivators, they were confident that they could defeat three Deste Beasts.

    Su Chen, on the other hand, cautioned, ¡°Maybe not. Since we have Sky City, we have some more options when ites to strategy. If our opponent is too powerful, then we can always run away. Eventually, they will run out of energy and die.¡±

    This was something that the Deste Beasts could not prevent. Once they were awakened, they would slowly but surely begin to die.

    This was also their greatest w.

    If their opponent was smart enough, then they could win without even fighting. As long as they avoided fighting for a few days, the Deste Beasts would eventually die on their own.

    This was why the Deste Beasts had avoided using overwhelming force to defeat their enemies this time. If they awakened seven or eight Beasts, their opponents could simply just run away for a week, causing them to suffer a tremendous loss for little to no gain.

    Zhu Xianyao didn¡¯t understand. ¡°Why can¡¯t we run if there are three of them? It would be better to not fight at all.¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°They might not be able to catch up to us, but they can still invade human territory.

    Giving up on fighting would only be done as ast resort.

    A Deste Beast without a target would not allow itself to die meaninglessly. It would almost certainly head for the human borders to wreak havoc. This was also something that Su Chen and the others could not ept.

    As such, the humans would avoid this route unless absolutely necessary.

    Three Deste Beasts was a perfect number to deal with the humans and Sky City. Both sides were evenly matched with an equal chance of winning.

    Only when the odds of victory were even would both sides be the most willing to fight.

    This was why exactly three Deste Beasts had appeared at once.

    ¡°Of course, they might bring along some small fry, like some Sovereigns that managed to escape or the remnants of the Demonic Beast hordes,¡± Su Chen said with a faint smile as he gazed off into the distance.

    The humans had fought against the golden falcon on its own because it had been awakened by the Astrals.

    Now, however, Su Chen refused to believe that these three Deste Beasts would have no support from the Demonic Beasts.

    Even if he couldn¡¯t see them, Su Chen knew that they were nearby.

    ¡°Right, we almost forgot about the remaining Demonic Beasts.¡± Gu Qingluo and the others frowned, deep in thought.

    Three Deste Beasts were already quite challenging to deal with. Adding on Demonic Beasts would only increase the pressure.

    Su Chen, however, seemed totally unconcerned. ¡°It¡¯s better this way. If they weren¡¯t confident in their victory, why would they even show up? After all, we are also confident that we will win. Don¡¯t forget that our Titan army never revealed themselves in our previous battles against the Beasts.¡±

    Upon hearing this, everyone¡¯s eyes lit up.

    Su Chen had kept the Titan army a secret for their fight against the Harpies. It wasn¡¯t until they actually attacked Sky City that he had deployed them to capture the Mother Goddess Temple and destroy any support from them.

    As such, the Beasts were actually unaware of this trump card.

    But now, there was no longer any need to keep it hidden.

    With a casual wave of his hand, the Titan army would appear.

    ¡°The Towering m¡¯s illusion techniques can easily disturb our formations. Thus, the human army will focus on using the God-Sealing Formation to restrict the White Lion. The Towering m will be dealt with by the Titan army.¡±

    Because they were puppets, the Titan-ss puppets perfectly countered the Towering m. Even though it was powerful, its skills werepletely useless against puppets.

    ¡°Then what about Hidden Cloud?¡± Feng Zhuying asked.

    ¡°Hidden Cloud?¡± Su Chen¡¯s mouth quirked up in a confident smile. ¡°Leave it to me.¡±

 Book 7, 44: Solo Challenge (1)

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 44: Solo Challenge (1)</h4>

    ¡°You? You¡¯re going to take on a Deste Beast by yourself?¡±

    When Su Chen said that he would fight a Deste Beast by himself, everyone was so stunned that their jaws almost hit the floor.

    He was talking about a Deste Beast! They were on apletely different levelpared to Demonic Emperors or Sovereigns.

    If Demonic Emperors were equivalent to Tenth-Ring Arcana Masters, then Deste Beasts were equivalent to Fifteenth-Ring Arcana Masters and Origin Beasts to Twentieth-Ring Arcana Masters. The gap between each tier was a whole five rings!

    That was the same gap between a Light Shaking Realm cultivator and an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator.

    If it took a thousand well-trained and coordinated Light Shaking Realm cultivators to defeat an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator, then it took a thousand well-trained and coordinated <i>Ultimate Emperor Realm</i> cultivators to defeat a Deste Beast.

    This was why the humans alway arrayed themselves in grandiose fashion every time they fought against a Deste Beast. They simplycked the appropriate number of Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators, which forced them to bring in lower-tier cultivators, the Meteor Formation, and Lifesource Candles to make up for it.

    Even so, theirbined power was typically still slightly less than the might of a thousand Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators. Thus, every battle with a Deste Beast had been extremely bloody with no exception. Victories often came at a tremendous cost.

    The rise of the Boundless Sect had finally pushed the human race above that thousand Ultimate Emperor Realm power threshold, which was why they had been able to defeat a Deste Beast without paying too heavy of a price earlier.

    Their strength had finally gotten up to par.

    But now, Su Chen was iming that he could challenge a Deste Beast all on his own......

    Yes, he had ughtered a dozen Demonic Emperors with a single strike, but that didn¡¯t necessarily mean that he was qualified to solo a Deste Beast!

    Su Chen, however, nodded confidently again. ¡°Yes, let me handle it.¡±

    Gu Huiming said in a serious voice, ¡°Su Chen, we all know that you are the strongest human alive right now. However, challenging a Deste Beast all on your own is just courting death!¡±

    The Gu n¡¯s Ancestor possessed an incredible status. Even the Boundless Sect¡¯s leader, the most powerful human currently alive, was not above his rebuke.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t take offense. He chuckled as he replied, ¡°I¡¯m not nning on getting myself killed. I¡¯m just going to dy it.¡±

    ¡°With what?¡± Gu Huiming asked ndly.

    Su Chen nced off in the distance and then calmly replied, ¡°I got my hands on some new toys recently...... Don¡¯t worry. Even if I can¡¯t defeat it, I¡¯ll be able to run away.¡±

    After saying this, he flew off into the distance, disappearing in almost an instant. By the time everyone noticed it, he had reappeared next to Hidden Cloud. The others had no choice but to believe that Su Chen wouldn¡¯t overextend himself just to avoid losing face.

    As soon as Su Chen appeared, Hidden Cloud reacted by immediately expanding its cloud form, a rolling wave of fog rushing in his direction.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t dare to let the fog envelop him and retreated at full speed. At the same time, he unsheathed his sword and unleashed a wave of sword Qi. The sword Qi passed through the fog without any resistance, leaving itpletely unscathed.

    But Su Chen didn¡¯t grow agitated. Instead, with a casual gesture of his hand, the ming Dragon Theurgy Art emerged before him.

    The violent mes rushed towards the fog. Su Chen was able to clearly see that the fierce mes were driving back the ever-expanding fog.

    Su Chen¡¯s control over fire Method Power had reached a level that was actually strong enough to dissipate Hidden Cloud¡¯s fog.

    But whereas the ming Dragon¡¯s energy was limited, the fog seemed to be anything but that.

    Even more fog swept out in response to Su Chen¡¯s ming Dragon, swallowing it whole like the sea extinguishing a small fireball.

    ¡°Hey......¡± Even Su Chen was rendered speechless by this move.

    Indeed, the gap in strength between the two of them was simply insurmountable in a head-on collision.

    An instantter, Su Chen opened his mouth, unleashing an invisible howl.

    A consciousness stab.

    This kind of attack was best described as one where consciousness power was condensed into an incredibly sharp form so as to prate an opponent¡¯s mind.

    Su Chen was testing the waters to see how effective consciousness attacks would be against it.

    Hidden Cloud seemed to sense the consciousness attack, and the fog suddenly morphed into the shape of a giant face. This gaseous face opened its mouth, from which sprang out countless hands formed from fog that rushed towards Su Chen.

    ¡°That got a pretty big response,¡± Su Chen chuckled to himself as he continued to fly backwards.

    The consciousness stab was weaker than the ming Dragon Theurgy Art in terms of raw power, but it seemed to have a greater effect on Hidden Cloud. In other words, it seemed that using consciousness power to attack it was indeed the best tactic.

    But that didn¡¯t necessarily mean that Su Chen would do so.

    He had a limited amount of consciousness power. Even if his reserves were ten times greater, he would still probably be incapable of fully killing a Deste Beast with just consciousness attacks.

    As such, he continued to look for alternative ways to attack Hidden Cloud.

    At the same time, he was also dodging the thousands of fog hands constantly swatting at him. Hidden Cloud had been ssified as an assassin, but the way it was currently fighting made it seem much more like a berserker.

    Each of the thousands of fog hands snapped through the sky like wicked whips, churning up the air around them. Themotion was so great that it almost seemed as if Su Chen was being herded around by a group of violent clouds.

    Su Chen attempted using his sword to slice through the fog hands. The Lightless de actually passed cleanly through one of them, severing it from its host.

    Through this attack, Su Chen realized that even though Hidden Cloud possessed an innate resistance to physical attacks, that only applied while it was in an illusory state. When it attacked, it would no longer be in an illusory state, which meant that it would be vulnerable to physical attacks while it was attacking.

    Surprisingly, however, Hidden Cloud was able to maintain multiple states of existence at the same time.

    Its body remained ethereal while only its hands were tangible.

    In other words, only the part of its body that was attacking Su Chen would possess physical substance, while the rest would remain in an intangible state.

    This Beast was truly a pain to deal with!

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but sigh in amazement. The humans would have had a much harder time dealing with this creature than the golden falcon.

    The fog hands continued to swat at the fly that was Su Chen.

    Even though he could cut the hands down, Su Chen had no choice but to retreat again and again when faced with a veritable flood of them.

    Without the support of any other cultivators or a powerful formation, Su Chen genuinely felt like a mortal sinking into the stormy ocean without a life preserver in sight.

    Even so, the more intense the storm, the more Su Chen wanted to brave it.

    Truly courageous individuals would not fear danger.

    Su Chen watched the giant Deste Beast continue attacking him as countless fog hands snaked through the air towards him. He really was dancing on a knife¡¯s edge.

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± Gu Qingluo clenched her fists as she worriedly watched the battle unfold in the distance.

    ¡°You have to believe in him!¡± Li Chongshan firmly grasped Gu Qingluo¡¯s shoulder. He knew what she was thinking, so he said, ¡°If you go now, you won¡¯t be able to help him. At worst, you¡¯ll only be a burden to him.¡±

    Gu Qingluo knew this as well. Her appearance would most likely distract him instead of help him, so she could only grit her teeth and say, ¡°I know. What are we waiting for? Finish off these two bastards so that we can go help out the Sect Master!¡±

    At this moment, the only thing they could do was ughter the other two Deste Beasts to help alleviate some of the pressure on Su Chen.

    Hopefully, Su Chen would be able to hold on until then!

    At that moment, all of the human soldiers shared the same thought.

    ¡°Hiss!¡±

    A hair-raising hissing sound suddenly gushed out from the fog.

    At that exact moment, Su Chen suddenly felt a wave of pain overtake him. He froze in midair as blood spurted out from his nose.

    Not good!

    Su Chen knew that he had fallen prey to Hidden Cloud¡¯s consciousness attack.

    Even though Hidden Cloud was best ssified as an assassin, its proficiency in consciousness techniques was equally astonishing. In fact, its three most impressive qualities were its incredible speed, ability to ignore physical attacks, and powerful consciousness attacks.

    Unlike Towering m¡¯s illusions, however, Hidden Cloud¡¯s were more geared towards assassinations.

    Thankfully, Su Chen¡¯s consciousness was incredibly powerful. Any other Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator would most likely have been seriously wounded if not killed on the spot.

    As soon as Su Chen was affected by the consciousness technique, all of the fog hands quickly began to snake towards Su Chen.

    Just as they were about firmly wrap themselves around him, a faint light suddenly shone out from Su Chen¡¯s body. The fog hands ended up hitting nothing but empty air ¡ª in that brief moment, Su Chen had escaped from the Beast¡¯s control.

    Naturally, he had done so by relying on his immortal energy.

    This was also the reason why Su Chen had been confident in being able to challenge a Deste Beast on his own.

    Unlike when he had faced therge wave of Demonic Emperors, Su Chen had stockpiled much more immortal energy today, which also passively increased his recovery abilities.

    Even though his increased amount of immortal energy didn¡¯t meant that he could defeat a Deste Beast all on his lonesome, he was still capable of holding out for some time.

    And this period of time was more than enough for Su Chen to do plenty of things.

    The fog surged in his direction once more, and this time, it emitted an extremely corrosive aura that caused the very air to sizzle dangerously.

    Su Chen continued to retreat until his back met a mountain. Suddenly, he turned around and struck at the mountain with his palm.

    The mountain trembled violently as chunks of rocks began to fall from the sky. As they fell, they took the shape of ears, eyes, a mouth, and a nose which then gathered together to form a giant human face. As more rocks continued to descend, the rest of the body and legs also appeared, eventually forming a giant, mountain-sized statue.

    Su Chen struck out with his palm once more at the statue. Shockingly, the statue opened its eyes before suddenly unleashing a punch that collided with the thousands of fog hands wriggling in the sky. The hands began to pop one after another.

    This was Su Chen¡¯s God-Sealing Method Power, which allowed him to confer consciousnesses upon inanimate objects.

    Even though he was still incapable of making the statue a god, he was more than capable of giving it a consciousness.

    This mountain giant was not necessarily stronger than an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator, but its physical strength was extraordinary, which made it the perfect meat shield. Somehow, it had managed to stop Hidden Cloud¡¯s vicious attack in its tracks.

    However, there seemed to be no end to the fog hands. After the mountain giant¡¯s punch destroyed a swathe of hands, more surged forwards to rece them, causing the mountain giant¡¯s fist to only prate a fewyers of hands before running out of steam. Eventually, all of the momentum of its punch was consumed.

    The mountain giant roared with rage, but it was incapable of extricating its arm from Hidden Cloud¡¯s grasp. Hidden Cloud¡¯s thousands of hands had firmly grasped the mountain giant¡¯s arm and it started dissolving apart as the corrosive fog went to work.

    Hidden Cloud was not nning on waiting for the mountain giant¡¯s arm topletely dissolve away. After a few seconds, the fog hands made a sudden, jerking motion, cleanly twisting the mountain giant¡¯s arm from its body and sending it flying through the air.

    The mountain giant took advantage of its sudden freedom to unleash a punch with its left fist instead.

    The oue, however, was exactly the same.

    Bang!

    Its other arm was summarily broken.

    The mountain giant roared in anger as it opened its mouth to bite down on Hidden Cloud. Unfortunately, the fog hands wrapped themselves around its neck, slowly but surely tightening their grip.

    With a sudden bang, the mountain giant¡¯s head came tumbling off as well.

    This caused the mountain giant to finally fall motionless, turning back into a mountain peak that looked like a statue without arms or a head.

    ¡°Hoho.¡± Su Chen didn¡¯t seem particrly surprised by this oue. He chuckled, ¡°Deste Beasts are truly able to move mountains and fill oceans. However, I want to know just how many mountains you can move, and just how many oceans you can fill!¡±

    As he spoke, he continued to retreat, cing his palm on yet another nearby mountain as he did so.

    Actually, the location that Sky City had stopped at was quite particr. It was surrounded by tall forested mountains, and some peaks even pierced through the clouds. Since this particr stretch of territory had never been explored by the Intelligent Races before, it was unnamed. Even so, it was definitely asrge as an entire country. The tallest mountain peaks here were nearly a hundred thousand feet tall, and those mountains possessed an immense majesty of their own.

    Su Chen had no way of giving those mountains their own consciousness, but he could animate the mountains that were only a few thousand feet tall.

    With a rapid session of palm strikes, three mountains came to life and began lumbering towards Hidden Cloud.

    Hidden Cloud casually sent out its fog hands once more.

    Even though the three mountain giants were quite strong, they were nothing more than cannon fodder against Hidden Cloud.

    The disdain that Hidden Cloud felt for these mountain giants was extremely evident in its actions.

    Its pride at being at the apex of the food chain was clearly expressed even though it could not speak.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°I know that just these guys won¡¯t be enough to take you on, but I wasn¡¯t counting on them to do much damage in the first ce. They are only a shield; I am the spear!¡±

    Suddenly, Su Chen¡¯s figure flickered forward as he reappeared above the cloud of fog, with the Lightless de raised high into the sky.

    As the Lightless de descended, a white glow suffused the de. This strike had been augmented with the power of immortal energy.

    ¡°You can¡¯t be hit with physical attacks, huh? Why don¡¯t you try this one on for size.¡±

    Kacha!

    The de pierced Hidden Cloud, slicing through it like a hot knife through butter.

    ¡°HISS!¡±

    Hidden Cloud let out its first cry of pain since the start of the battle.

 Book 7, 45: Solo Challenge (2)

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 45: Solo Challenge (2)</h4>

    Hidden Cloud was in immense pain.

    It hadn¡¯t been in this much pain in thousands of years.

    The immortal energy infused sword strike hadpletely bypassed its ethereal physique and deeply prated into its psyche, dealing huge damage to its already frail vitality.

    After letting out an instinctive hiss of pain, Hidden Cloud¡¯s fog¡¯s corrosiveness suddenly multiplied as it rushed forward with renewed determination.

    But Su Chen hadn¡¯t stuck around to watch the fireworks. As soon as he felt his strike connect, he turned around and ran away again. By now, he had already teleported tens of thousands of feet away, putting him solidly behind the wall of mountain giants.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Hidden Cloud transformed its body into a number of illusory palms that tried to smash Su Chen into a meat paste.

    Then, Hidden Cloud charged forward with its main body.

    As it did so, the fog around its body condensed, causing Hidden Cloud to shrink in size significantly. This greatly increased its agility.

    ¡°Did I finally get your attention?¡± Su Chen chuckled as he continued to retreat at top speed.

    But even if he was fast, Hidden Cloud was faster.

    Assassins were not exactly slow, after all.

    And Hidden Cloud was no exception.

    It had two primary means by which it moved. The first was that it could teleport anywhere within the cloud of fog surrounding it.

    When the fog was spread out, Hidden Cloud¡¯s main body could travel freely throughout the smoke, making it incredibly hard to pin down.

    Its movement speed was practically unrivalled in this state.

    If it wanted to move quickly outside of the range of the cloud of fog, it relied on another method.

    It howled!

    The main body opened its mouth wide as it unleashed formless waves of sounds in front of it.

    These sound waves did no damage, but they could travel extremely far.

    And wherever the sound waves traveled to, Hidden Cloud could also teleport to.

    ¡°Ah!¡±

    Hidden Cloud¡¯s shrill cry quickly caught up to Su Chen. An instantter, Hidden Cloud appeared right on top of Su Chen, immediately enshrouding him in a cloud of corrosive smoke.

    ¡°Damn!¡± Su Chen cursed as he hurriedly teleported out of the fog.

    At that same moment, however, Hidden Cloud shrieked again. Another wave of sound surged forwards, followed closely by the giant cloud of fog.

    There was nothing that Su Chen could do besides continue to retreat even as Hidden Cloud doggedly refused to give up on its prey.

    A strange scene arose, where a cloud seemed to be ying a game of cat-and-mouse with a human, punctuated here and there with strange howls.

    Eventually, Su Chen no longer had the time to create more mountain giants. All he could do was retreat. By the same token, Hidden Cloud didn¡¯t have any time to unleash attacks after teleporting to Su Chen. Thus, neither of them did anything besides run and chase.

    Both sides were trying their hardest, so neither side was able to gain any significant advantage.

    Hidden Cloud was obviously much stronger than Su Chen.

    But in terms of pure maneuverability, even Hidden Cloud, who could theoretically travel at the speed of sound, could not catch up to Su Chen.

    They circled around the mountain range a number of times, causing both sides to burn through their reserves of energy. It seemed that this deadlock would not break until one of them ran out of energy.

    ¡°You really are an annoying bastard!¡± Su Chen muttered as he felt a headacheing on. ¡°Luckily, I was prepared for this.¡±

    Su Chen pulled out a transmission box and barked, ¡°Qingluo, can you go and find out where those Demonic Beasts are hiding? I need to know their position as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°Got it!¡± Gu Qingluo replied as she immediately pulled out from the battle.

    At the same time, Su Chen¡¯s figure flickered and disappeared once again.

    But this time, he hadpletely disappeared from Hidden Cloud¡¯s sight.

    Hidden Cloud nced around in surprise, but it found that Su Chen hadpletely disappeared from its sight.

    Back in Sky City:

    The battle against the Deste Beasts was still unfolding.

    Iron Cliff, however, was not participating in this battle. Instead, he was sitting on the city¡¯s walls and silently watching the battle unfold.

    Beside him was a crystalline coffin, inside of whichy Su Chen.

    This was actually one of Su Chen¡¯s blood clones.

    After Su Chen¡¯s clone had been killed at a critical moment during their Abyss expedition, he had constructed this defensive crystal coffin to store his blood clone in. Only Iron Cliff was allowed to guard it, so that no one could even have an opportunity tounch a surprise attack.

    The Su Chen in the coffin suddenly opened his eyes and stepped out of the coffin.

    Iron Cliff greeted him. ¡°Wee back, Master.¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡± As Su Chen stepped out of the coffin, he scattered a few droplets of blood on the ground, forming a number of new clones. One of these stepped back into the coffin while the others charged out of Perpetual Daylight Pce, scattering in different directions.

    Su Chen himself quickly strode over to his research workstation. ¡°I led Hidden Cloud off on a wild goose chase, but it is incredibly fast. I imagine that it will return very soon. Come help me with this. We don¡¯t have much time.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he began to set up the workbench in front of him.

    ¡°What are we refining?¡± Iron Cliff asked as he stepped closer.

    ¡°Consciousness-Reviving Pills.¡±

    Iron Cliff was taken aback. ¡°Aren¡¯t those a failed product?¡±

    ¡°I want them to fail. Hurry. It¡¯ll take more than one or two to affect such arge Beast. We¡¯ll refine it in batches of ten. Bring me some Heart-Intoxicating Grass as well.¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡± Iron Cliff immediately ran off to fetch the needed materials.

    Hidden Cloud let out a roar of rage when it failed to locate Su Chen and began charging back towards Sky City.

    Of course, it was not using its soundwave teleportation method to do so.

    Even though time was of the essence, Su Chen calmly and steadily refined the herbs in front of him.

    The collected, serious expression on Su Chen¡¯s face was illuminated by the dancing mes heating the cauldron.

    Then, he formed a seal with his hands and ced them onto the cauldron, which let out a muffled thump, like the sound of corn popping.

    Iron Cliff leaned in and listened attentively before saying, ¡°They¡¯re done.¡±

    Su Chen tapped the lid of the cauldron, revealing a few hundred pills sitting neatly inside.

    At that moment, the clone of Su Chen standing outside the pce spotted Hidden Cloud¡¯s figure off in the horizon.

    Su Chen picked up the pills and was just about to leave when a voice suddenly came out of his transmission box. ¡°Su Chen!¡±

    It was Gu Qingluo.

    ¡°Qingluo?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve found where those Demonic Beasts are hiding.¡±

    Upon hearing this good news, Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Where?¡±

    ¡°A canyon three hundred kilometers northwest of here.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s figure flickered before disappearing along with the pills.

    He had barely finished swapping ces with the clone when Hidden Cloud came bearing down on that position.

    ¡°I missed you for a while there. Why don¡¯t we continue our little game from before?¡± Su Chen immediately whirled around and booked it northwest.

    ¡°Hiss!¡±

    Hidden Cloud let out a furious hiss and once again gave chase.

    The cat-and-mouse game had begun once again.

    This time, Su Chen wasn¡¯t just running around in circles. Instead, he was heading directly towards the location that Gu Qingluo had pointed out to him.

    Arge group of Demonic Beasts was lying in wait there.

    They were waiting for a prime opportunity to strike. Specifically, when the three Deste Beastspletely destroyed Sky City.

    Not even in their wildest dreams would they imagine that Su Chen would show up before they even had a chance to attack.

    As soon as he arrived, Su Chen saw an ocean of Beasts below him in the exact location that Gu Qingluo had given him.

    He chuckled and sprinted directly into the canyon.

    ¡°Who is that?¡± Some of the Demonic Beasts with keener eyesight managed to spot a tiny, human-like figure rushing in their direction. And closely behind it was arge cloud of fog.

    ¡°That¡¯s......¡± The Demonic Beasts were still trying to wrap their heads around what they were seeing happening, but Kucha immediately panicked when he noticed the two of them. ¡°Not good!¡±

    But Su Chen had already reached them.

    At that exact moment, the soundwaves from Hidden Cloud¡¯s hisses arrived in the canyon as well.

    The soundwaves were so intense that all of the Demonic Beasts around Su Chen were sent flying, as if they had been struck by an area-of-effect attack that was centered around Su Chen.

    Of course, the real cause for terror had yet toe.

    As soon as Hidden Cloud appeared, a dense fog filled the canyon.

    The corrosive fog immediately caused all of the Demonic Beasts to roar and howl in pain.

    Thankfully, Su Chen left the canyon immediately after, still closely followed by Hidden Cloud. The fog quickly dissipated from the canyon.

    Since the fog had only lingered there for a brief period of time, most of the Demonic Beasts were only slightly hurt by its corrosive effects. Some of the weaker ones had sustained some wounds, but not fatal ones.

    The Beasts all let out a collective sigh of relief, but then, they noticed that Su Chen had doubled back around and was heading towards the canyon once more.

    With the soundwaves closely following behind.

    The previous scene repeated itself. Su Chen appeared in the midst of the Beasts, immediately followed by Hidden Cloud. The corrosive fog once again swept over all the Beasts present, eroding away at their flesh before departing in the next moment.

    A few secondster, this happened yet again.

    Su Chen jumped in and out of the canyon like a child ying hopscotch. One moment, he was in; the next, he was out; the next, he was in, and so on and so forth.

    The same went for Hidden Cloud and the corrosive fog surrounding it.

    The Beasts realized that they were in trouble.

    The corrosive power of Hidden Cloud¡¯s fog was extremely strong, and as it repeatedly ate away at the Beasts¡¯ hides, causing them to suffer an unbearable amount of pain and torment.

    They all began to desperately run out of the canyon, unable to bear the pain any longer.

    Unfortunately for them, Su Chen chased after them wherever they ran. Many of the weaker Demonic Beasts died like this before they even had a chance to fight against the humans.

    ¡°Elder, please restrain your fog a little bit!¡± Kucha cried out in terror.

    Only his voice would be able to elicit a response from Hidden Cloud.

    Hidden Cloud rumbled in assent, and the corrosive fog¡¯s radius was greatly reduced. An expression of rage and anger could still be seen faintly through the fog.

    When Su Chen saw this change, he immediately scattered a few droplets of blood, which sprouted into a number of blood clones.

    These clones did nothing more than pull out handfuls of Consciousness-Reviving Pills and stuff them down their throats.

    Ten batches of pills meant that there were quite a few of them, which allowed the clones to gulp them down by the handful.

    The clones, now filled with Consciousness-Reviving Pills, suddenly charged towards Hidden Cloud.

    Hidden Cloud¡¯s hatred towards Su Chen had long since reached a fever pitch. Even if it were only clones, it would still swat them apart with its fog hands. Just as it was about to crush one of them, however, Su Chen imbued it with a streak of immortal energy, preventing Hidden Cloud from squeezing it to death.

    In response, Hidden Cloud opened its mouth wide and forcefully tossed the clone inside.

    ¡°That¡¯s more like it.¡± Su Chen let out a delighted chuckle.

    Kucha seemed to sense that something was wrong and immediately cried out, ¡°Hurry and spit those out! Don¡¯t eat them, my lord!¡±

    This time, however, Hidden Cloud ignored him.

    Its contorted face suddenly began to glow with a bright red color, and the fog that Hidden Cloud had restrained earlier suddenly surged forwards once again. This time, it expanded its territory over ten times, and its area of influencepletely enveloped Kucha, Su Chen, and the other Beasts.

    Su Chen made no attempt to teleport away this time. Instead, he raised a barrier and coolly observed Hidden Cloud¡¯s next actions.

    The contorted face began to exude a shockingly powerful aura as it roared and thrashed repeatedly, its bloodlust surging.

    These Consciousness-Reviving Pills had been developed by Su Chen in an attempt to further strengthen a cultivator¡¯s consciousness. Even though the Spirit-Sobering Medicines could already achieve such an effect, they were too costly to produce. One of Su Chen¡¯s minor goals had always been to develop a cheaper consciousness-strengthening medicine, which would allow all humans to increase the strengths of their consciousnesses for a reasonable price. This would also allow more people to use the consciousness conversion instrument to step into the Ultimate Emperor Realm.

    In other words, Consciousness-Reviving Pills could have be a necessaryponent in the series of bloodline-less cultivation techniques.

    Unfortunately, even though Su Chen had eventually managed to develop the medicine, it had a major detrimental side effect: the user would lose all sense of rationality, and their mindset would be extremely chaotic.

    The Consciousness-Reviving Pills might not have had much of an effect on other Deste Beasts, but Su Chen had been able to determine that Hidden Cloud¡¯s consciousness defenses were incredibly weak through their earlier exchanges. This was why he was confident these pills would affect it. Even so, Su Chen had still made sure to refine ten batches.

    Ten batches of Consciousness-Reviving Pills was more than enough to send this Deste Beast into an uncontroble frenzy.

    At this point, it could no longer distinguish between friend and foe. Its bloodthirst had beenpletely unleashed, and all it could think about was killing.

    However, Su Chen was too quick and nimble for it to catch and kill.

    The Demonic Beasts around him, however, were not nearly as quick. They were perfect targets to ke its bloodthirst with.

    A bloody ughter immediatelymenced.

 Book 7, 46: Solo Challenge (3)

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 46: Solo Challenge (3)</h4>

    After Hidden Cloud lost its wits, it began to mindlessly ughter the Beasts around it.

    The corrosive mist continued to expand ceaselessly as it devoured the Demonic Beasts. Even as Demonic Beasts keeled over one by one, Hidden Cloud¡¯s true body freely teleported around, hunting to its heart¡¯s content.

    This only further increased the rate at which the Beasts were dying.

    The Demonic Beasts were well and truly doomed. The ambush that they had carefully nned had beenpletely countered, and they were now being ughtered by their own Elder. In addition, Su Chen was also using them as a distraction to waste Hidden Cloud¡¯s time.

    Su Chen was not yet strong enough to fight against a Deste Beast all on his own.

    But with a group of cannon fodder on his side, Su Chen would have enough breathing room to attack as he pleased.

    His immortal energy reserves were also much higher now than they were in the past, which allowed him to repeatedly imbue his attacks with immortal energy even in a long, drawn-out fight. Even though Su Chen had no idea if he had enough immortal energy to actually finish off Hidden Cloud, he was sure that he would still be able to deal substantial damage to it.

    In a one-on-one fight, Su Chen would need over a hundred times to kill Hidden Cloud just once.

    Finding and utilizing cannon fodder was the key factor that had allowed him to turn this situation around.

    First, Su Chen had used God-Sealing Method Power to create mountain giants to use as cannon fodder, and now, he was using the Demonic Beasts.

    While Hidden Cloud was preupied with the Demonic Beasts, Su Chen constantly leapt in and out of the corrosive fog¡¯s boundary.

    Su Chen wasn¡¯t greedy, either; every time he entered, he would only attack once before turning around and immediately leaving. The Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect was more than sufficient to protect him for each short foray into the acidic fog.

    After each plunge into the fog, he would then spend some time hovering on the outskirts and recovering his spatial power before diving back in once again. There was a certain rhythm to Su Chen¡¯s movements, and it seemed to maximize how long he could fight for.

    In some sense, Su Chen was like a diligent ox plowing the field. Eventually, the field that was Hidden Cloud would bepletely tilled.

    You¡¯ve carved so many lines into my back, but why can¡¯t I touch you even once?

    This style of fighting was indeed quite aggravating.

    Of course, Hidden Cloud was also in a berserk state and ughtering anything it could get its hand on. Despite the number of lives it had reaped, its killing intent towards Su Chen hadn¡¯t decreased in the slightest.

    Or, more urately, its desire to ughter anything and everything was still incredibly strong.

    ¡°Hiss!¡±

    Yet another shrill shriek filled the skies.

    An illusory shadow stepped out of the fog. It looked just like a sinister ghost, and in its hand was a ck de formed from condensed fog. Suddenly, it charged at Su Chen, blinking in front of him even before he heard the shriek.

    Whoosh!

    The ck de descended.

    Su Chen raised the Lightless de to parry the attack, but the ck fog de actually passed right through it as it continued to descend upon Su Chen. Just like Hidden Cloud, this de seemed to also have the ability to change between an ethereal and a solid state at will.

    Su Chen hurriedly retreated, not willing to waste any precious spatial power to block an attack that he didn¡¯t fully understand. His reactions were a little slow, however, and the de nicked his chest.

    ¡°Siii!¡±

    White smoke immediately gushed out from the wound as the affected area sizzled violently.

    Su Chen lowered his head, nced at himself, and then casuallymented, ¡°Wow, that¡¯s pretty powerful.¡±

    The injury that he had just sustained was not a light one. To his surprise, he found that simply revolving the Origin Energy in his body wasn¡¯t enough to heal the wound ¡ª he actually had to use some immortal energy before it started recovering.

    The ¡°ghost¡± pounced at him once again. This time, Su Chen refrained from trying to use the Lightless de to block it and instead responded by throwing out a wave of mes that crashed into the ghostly figure.

    The mes devoured everything in their path, but surprisingly, they were incapable of doing anything to the ghost. It easily burst through the sea of mes as it continued its attack against Su Chen.

    Just as Su Chen was about to intercept it, his spine tingled, and he immediately teleported away instead.

    A de shed through the spot that he had been standing on just moments before. Another ghost had somehow appeared behind him without him noticing.

    Suddenly, Su Chen realized that he was surrounded by ghosts, and each one of them exuded a vicious killing intent towards him.

    There was one ghost that was obviously in charge. It was dressed in tattered war armor and riding a ghostly horse. Two blue wisps of ghostly fire burned within its eye sockets, and the tattered triangr war banner that it carried behind it emanated a sinister and gloomy aura that spread for thousands of kilometers.

    As the eerie pennant swayed in the wind, the ghosts surged forward as one, each one as fast as a lightning bolt. In the blink of an eye, they arrived in front of Su Chen.

    Su Chen punched one of the ghosts right in the forehead, cleanly blowing its head off. However, the ghost merely dissolved into a cloud of fog before reforming and biting down onto Su Chen¡¯s hand without missing a beat.

    Su Chen¡¯s hand immediately emitted a white glow as a bolt of lightning arced across it before leaping to the many ghosts surrounding him. As soon as the lightning touched the ghost, they exploded into miniscule wisps of fog.

    ¡°So lightning is still my best option,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

    As the eerie pennant continued to sway in the sky, even more ghosts rushed forwards.

    ¡°Thunder Prison!¡± Su Chen clenched his fist, causing a ring of lightning to explode forth before settling into a web-like defensive structure of lightning in front of him.

    The Ninth-Ring Arcana Technique, Thunder Prison, actually had the power of a legendary Arcana Technique due to Su Chen¡¯s mastery of lightning Method Power. Although a legendary Arcana Technique would not do against a Deste Beast, it was quite effective against the ghosts that Hidden Cloud had summoned.

    The ghosts swarming towards Su Chen were immediately blown to smithereens by the web of lightning.

    These sinister ghosts were not Hidden Cloud¡¯s most powerful trump card, but they were quite useful when it needed to catch a slippery rabbit like Su Chen.

    Even so, the ghosts were rendered utterly useless when that rabbit suddenly transformed into a porcupine.

    Hidden Cloud stopped summoning ghosts when it saw Su Chen¡¯s move. Instead, it tilted its head back and let out a long, keening cry.

    ¡°What¡¯s it doing now?¡± Su Chen was quite curious.

    Most Deste Beasts fought by relying on their overwhelming physique. But Hidden Cloud was obviously an exception to this rule. Its physical strength was actually quite limited, but it could transform at will, travel at the speed of sound, and even summon ghosts. Now, it seemed that it was about to reveal yet another unique ability.

    Following this keening cry, a streak of light appeared in the sky.

    This strange light looked like a giant rift had been cut straight into the sky.

    Then, this rift slowly but surely began to expand, giving off the feeling that the sky was going to copse.

    There didn¡¯t seem to be anything on the other side of that rift, but for some unknown reason, Su Chen had a feeling that he was in serious danger.

    Something was definitely off!

    Just as the sense of crisis was about to overwhelm him, he teleported away.

    The spot that he had been standing in mere moments ago was suddenly struck by numerous spatial rifts.

    Dimensional sh!

    Hidden Cloud knew how to use Dimensional shes!?

    No, it wasn¡¯t Hidden Cloud ¡ª it was something else!

    Su Chen activated his microscopic eye.

    Only then did he notice that a few, faint shadows were floating in the sky. Even with his microscopic eye, he was only barely able to perceive them.

    Invisible figures.

    And their invisibility was obviously at a very advanced level, likely at the same level of Method Power.

    If it wasn¡¯t for his eyes¡¯ unique perceptive abilities, it would have been impossible for Su Chen to detect their presence.

    Additionally, their Dimensional shes barely had any noticeably preparatory energy signatures.

    Then, Su Chen suddenly remembered something. ¡°Dark Assassins.¡±

    Dark Assassins were a unique ghost-like creature that originated from a foreign realm. They were naturally invisible, allowing them to stealthily roam the various realms. They were hard to capture and even harder tomunicate with, which meant that they only obeyed powerful creatures. Su Chen had only ever heard of them in the legends, as it had been tens of thousands of years since one had appeared on the Primordial Continent.

    So Hidden Cloud could actually summon these creatures, huh?

    Well, it made sense that ancient creatures could summon ancient creatures.

    The most terrifying aspect of the Dark Assassins was their invisibility. As soon as they were spotted, the threat they posed would significantly decrease.

    More Dimensional shes once again descended upon his new position.

    Su Chen¡¯s figure flickered as he continuously dodged while using his Light Shaking Phantom to close in on one of the Dark Assassins. Dark mes spurted forth from his palms and leapt onto the Dark Assassin.

    Counterintuitively, Dark Assassins were beings made of light. They were just able to control their bodies¡¯ reflectiveness to an insane degree, allowing them to absorb virtually all light rays around them. This was what created the illusion of invisibility. Since they were creatures made of light, it was only natural that they would fear Shadow Origin Substance the most.

    This meant that Su Chen¡¯s Shadow mes were a perfect counter to their existence. As soon as the Shadow mes leapt onto its target, powerful light began to glow from within the Dark Assassin¡¯s body.

    This phenomenon would only happen once in a Dark Assassin¡¯s life ¡ª when they were close to death.

    Just before they died, all of the light that they had absorbed throughout their life would burst forth in a glorious splendor.

    An instantter, Su Chen was enveloped in a blinding light as if a sun had suddenly emerged from nowhere.

    Su Chen continued to calmly and precisely strike at his foes, using Shadow mes to incinerate the remaining three Dark Assassins.

    ¡°Hiss!¡±

    A third hiss echoed through the skies.

    Su Chen knew that Hidden Cloud had made another move.

    Its main body was still wantonly ughtering the Demonic Beasts around it, but at the same time, it was also attempting to use other techniques to finish off Su Chen as well.

    The rift in the sky did not disappear; instead, arge group of ck dots began to gather at its edges.

    These dots were miniscule in size and blurry from a distance, but they could not escape Su Chen¡¯s notice.

    These dots were actually extremely small insects, but their small size belied their ferocity. They had a long proboscis that protruded from their head, making them look somewhat simr to mosquitoes.

    Su Chen chuckled when he saw this. ¡°You seem more like a summoner than an assassin to me.¡±

    Hidden Cloud had used three different summoning techniques in rapid session, surprising Su Chen quite a bit.

    It seemed that their earlier evaluation had been a bit off. Hidden Cloud was actually a summoner first and foremost, and the creatures that it summoned were all quite ancient.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t know what kinds of bugs they were, but they were likely to be far ancient ones as well. It was already quite impressive that he had recognized the Dark Assassins.

    But that didn¡¯t necessarily prevent him from having a way to handle these bugs.

    ¡°Bugs? I have some too.¡± With a calm gesture, a transparent box appeared in his hand. When Su Chen opened the box, arge swarm of bugs surged forth: Catastrophe Bugs.

    This was the fourth generation of Catastrophe Bugs. They were typically kept in a dormant state, as they would die soon after being awakened. Their numbers were maintained by designated brood mothers, who lived in the Mother of All Bugs ¡ª quite the fitting pairing, in Su Chen¡¯s opinion.

    However, Su Chen was rarely able to use them in battle, which meant that they spent most of their life in a dormant state.

    Since Hidden Cloud had summoned a swarm of bugs, Su Chen decided to do the same.

    The two opposing bug swarms began to viciously attack and devour one another.

    Neither swarm wasposed of simple, average insects, and neither swarm was afraid of death. As such, insect corpses soon began raining from the sky.

    In the blink of an eye, the bugs that Hidden Cloud had summoned werepletely wiped out, and most of the Catastrophe Bugs had been killed as well.

    Su Chen, however, didn¡¯t seem to mind the oue at all. The Catastrophe Bugs were not going to live for long anyways, so the only important thing was that they aplished their mission.

    After wiping out the swarm of bugs, Su Chen turned to face Hidden Cloud. ¡°So what other tricks do you have up your sleeves? Keep going.¡±

    ¡°Hiss!¡±

    Hidden Cloud was utterly infuriated by Su Chen¡¯s provocations.

 Book 7, 47: Completion

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 47: Completion</h4>

    Hidden Cloud was enraged when it saw that its attack waspletely ineffective against Su Chen.

    As it roared and howled, the expanding fog suddenly withdrew into itself.

    The condensed fog then poured into the contorted face, giving it a giant fog body. The new form that Hidden Cloud had assumed was roughly asrge as one of Su Chen¡¯s mountain giants.

    In this form, Hidden Cloud was no longer able to selectively phase specific body parts in and out of an ethereal state.

    This was because the fog giant¡¯s body constantly ebbed and flowed, like the ocean tide.

    Its face was still as fierce and contorted as ever, but now, its newly formed fog body was also emanating a sinister aura.

    The Origin Energy around Hidden Cloud¡¯s body was incredibly turbulent. For just a moment, Su Chen felt as if he had lost control of the Origin Energy in his own body.

    ¡°So you¡¯ve finally decided to pull out the big guns, huh?¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    The power of an enraged Deste Beast was not to be underestimated, and Su Chen braced himself ordingly.

    Energy ripples pulsed out from Hidden Cloud¡¯s body. Even before it attacked, it was clear that this powerful Deste Beast had a top-tier vitality and exceptional might. Then, silver mes sprung to life, cloaking its body in a veil of mes while a thin silver me de formed in its hand.

    Then, it swung the silver de. A wild wave of mes surged forth in a curved trajectory, tearing through the sky.

    In response, Su Chen gently flicked the Lightless de in his right hand, imbuing his parry with a faint trace of white light ¡ª immortal energy.

    This time, Su Chen was facing off against Hidden Cloud in a full-on frontal confrontation.

    Su Chen wanted to see whether or not his immortal-energy-infused de strike could sessfully deflect a Deste Beast¡¯s attack.

    No earth-shaking explosion of energy took ce. Instead, brilliant light spilled everywhere when the two des intersected, turning the sky into a kaleidoscope of bright colors. Immediately afterwards, the Lightless de bisected the arc of mes and even managed to go on to pierce Hidden Cloud as well.

    At the same time, however, the now bisected silver mes continued to sweep towards Su Chen.

    Both Hidden Cloud¡¯s and Su Chen¡¯s bodies split in two.

    They had both managed to wound each other with their attacks.

    Su Chen groaned as the lower half of his body separated from his upper half. Then, while his legs retreated backwards, his upper half reached out and firmly grabbed his lower half, sealing the two together. His immortal energy¡¯s effects then activated at that moment, forcibly expelling the residual energy that Hidden Cloud¡¯s strike had left behind and allowing his body to recover.

    Hidden Cloud did the same. The Origin Energy in its body revolved fiercely, easily expelling the invading immortal energy. Even though immortal energy was incredibly powerful, it was swept away by the deluge of Origin Energy like a rootless tree.

    Through this exchange, both Su Chen and Hidden Cloud had gotten a better grasp of their opponent¡¯s abilities.

    Even though immortal energy was more powerful than regr Origin Energy, Hidden Cloud¡¯s Origin Energy reserves dwarfed Su Chen¡¯s immortal energy. In this case, quantity triumphed over quality and then some.

    Su Chen still needed to improve his immortal energy reserves!

    And the most important difference between the two of them was still the gap in their cultivation realms!

    Su Chen silently drew these conclusions from that one exchange.

    He had no idea what woulde after forming a Golden Pill, but he was beginning to gain someprehension on what needed toe before it.

    As the first individual on the Primordial Continent to tread the path of an Immortal, he had already formed his Golden Pill. But without any forerunners, the only path forward was to look backwards to first improve his fundamentals.

    And Su Chen was already beginning to understand the intricacies of this new cultivation system.

    While his body regenerated from his wounds, a subtle change urred within his body.

    This sensation was impossible to describe in words, but Su Chen could tell that one of the paths that had been obscured to him in the past was now slowly but surely revealing itself to him. A new foundation was beingid right before him.

    ¡°So is that how it is? My Golden Pill from before was a counterfeit because it was formed by an external power. Its regenerative and assimtive properties were inferior to a genuine one, but now...... something feels different,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself, deep in thought, as he licked his lips.

    He could sense that his physical body was bing more and more powerful.

    He had felt something simr during his ascensions as an Origin Qi Schr, but it was different this time.

    Only his immortal energy had improved, and it was apletely separate system of power from his cultivation. And this power came not from converting divine power, but was rather an intrinsic improvement that came from within himself.

    A power that belonged to him and himself alone.

    ¡°Still not enough,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    He could sense that, while the foundation was beginning to form, it was not yetplete. The power of the Golden Pill was still too weak for what he needed it to aplish. He had only formed about nine-tenth of the lowestyer of the foundation.

    Even though he was only missing one-tenth, this tenth was preventing him from reaching the stage of Great Sess.

    ¡°So this level is Foundation Establishment? And there is also a level below Foundation Establishment....... But what could it be? Well, that¡¯s not important right now. It should be something simr to Qi Drawing, but without a conversion process.¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, he formed a few hand seals. Large plumes of white smoke burrowed out of his body.

    Hidden Cloud had no idea what Su Chen was doing. It had just shaken off the effects of Su Chen¡¯s immortal power, only to find Su Chen standing there muttering to himself mysteriously. Hidden Cloud let out a fierce shriek and shed at Su Chen with its silver me de once more.

    Only a Deste Beast could have concentrated the Origin Energy in this de to its current extent.

    Even so, Su Chen nced dismissively at the oing attack before shaking his head. ¡°Don¡¯t be in such a rush.¡±

    His figure flickered and reappeared tens of thousands of feet away. White smoke continued to pour out from his body, but now, his face was also beginning to grow extremely red.

    At this point, Su Chen was essentially reversing the natural order of progression and undergoing cultivation reversion to strengthen his foundation. This was not exactly a difficult process, but it wasn¡¯t easy either, and it involved all sorts of profound secrets andplex procedures.

    Hidden Cloud, of course, didn¡¯t understand this. It chased after Su Chen, but it soon discovered to its surprise that Su Chen¡¯s use of escape arts had suddenly be much more strategic.

    Earlier, Su Chen would constantly have to take breaks in between his teleports. Now, however, there was no cooldown period between his teleports ¡ª he jumped around repeatedly and with rtive ease. In fact, he was no longer even ncing at Hidden Cloud, and instead seemed to be single-mindedly leaping about like a yful monkey.

    The enraged Hidden Cloud swung its ming de madly. Its now permanently tangible body was exceptionally powerful, and its first attack had only been dispelled by Su Chen¡¯s generous use of immortal energy. In theory, his immortal energy reserves should have been quite low by this point. However, this was also precisely when Su Chen had chosen to start running, and even though Hidden Cloud could keep up, it couldn¡¯t find the opportunity to attack, making for an immensely frustrating chase.

    When Hidden Cloud saw that Su Chen was only nning on running away, it roared fiercely as the silver de in its hands melted away into two silver balls of fire that then covered its hands. It began unleashing punch after fiery punch in Su Chen¡¯s direction. The sky itself was virtually covered in silver mes.

    Such an overbearing attack didn¡¯t scare Su Chen, but it did surprise him.

    Because from his point of view, Hidden Cloud¡¯s actions were extremely foolish.

    An individual¡¯s power was not necessarily determined by their ferocity or brutishness. Impable and exquisite control over one¡¯s energy was also a path to ultimate power. Even Deste Beasts, who possessed oceans of Origin Energy, needed to be careful ¡ª their very existence went against the world, and every second of life was another step closer towards death.

    Soon, however, Su Chen understood why Hidden Cloud was being so foolish.

    It was due to the Consciousness-Revival Pills¡¯ effects.

    The Consciousness-Revival Pills had turned Hidden Cloud into a bloodthirsty, insane, and irrational creature that viewed every living organism surrounding it as an enemy. In fact, its bloodthirst was suppressing its rationality, which was why it had ughtered its allied Demonic Beasts. At the very least, it was still capable of recognizing that Su Chen was its greatest threat, which was why it was relentlessly chasing him.

    But as Su Chen continued to ¡°provoke¡± it, the hatred and rage in its heart only grew stronger. When its emotions utterly overwhelmed its rationality, Hidden Cloud also began to lose control of its Origin Energy.

    At this point, it would be more appropriate to say that Hidden Cloud was venting its anger rather than fighting.

    The angrier it was, the wilder its actions would be.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is,¡± Su Chen calmly muttered to himself, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then why don¡¯t we give you a little more fuel.¡±

    A mysterious luster flickered across Su Chen¡¯s eyes, which seemed to draw Hidden Cloud¡¯s attention into his gaze.

    Fata Morgana had been activated.

    Even though Fata Morgana was Su Chen¡¯s most powerful consciousness technique, under normal circumstances, it was incapable of affecting a Deste Beast.

    But now that Hidden Cloud was in a half-crazed state, Fata Morgana was able to push it ever so slightly further over the edge.

    Hidden Cloud suddenly tilted its head back and let loose an enraged roar.

    Then, it gave up on its pursuit of Su Chen and charged into the sky.

    Fierce silver mes filled the sky as Hidden Cloud unleashed attack after attack at the sky. It was as if a meteor shower had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

    This shower, however, seemed to be falling upwards into the sky rather than down towards the earth.

    The silver ¡°shooting stars¡± created a beautiful scene, forming a river of silver light that flowed through the sky. Even Sky City, which was hundreds of kilometers away, could see it.

    Such a sight was definitely a once in a lifetime event.

    ¡°This is...... that Deste Beast¡¯s attack?¡± Gu Qingluo trembled when she saw this magnificent disy.

    She knew that Su Chen didn¡¯t possess such a skill. It was simply too powerful, and her heart began to beat wildly in worry.

    Thankfully, Su Chen¡¯s clone was right beside her and it said with a faint smile, ¡°Yes, but don¡¯t worry. It poses no threat.¡±

    It poses no threat.

    Everyone else present almost fainted when they heard those words.

    How could Su Chen say such a thing when such a brilliant scene was unfolding before their very eyes?

    Even so, Su Chen was not putting on airs ¡ª in that moment, Hidden Cloud truly posed no threat to him.

    Back near the canyon, Su Chen continued to calmly observe Hidden Cloud.

    Hidden Cloud had gonepletely berserk at this point, and this attack was the most powerful attack that it had unleashed yet. But without any intelligence to guide the attack to a target, it was aplete waste of energy, and not a single strikended on its target.

    It truly posed no threat in this state.

    Even Su Chen hadn¡¯t anticipated the sudden turn that this battle took. He had nned on stalling for as long as he could before finally using the blood clones to run away at thest moment.

    But now, it seemed that he had sessfully challenged a Deste Beast on his own ¡ª and won at that.

    Even though he had been extremely lucky in how this battle had developed, this was still nheless a mind bogglingly miraculous aplishment.

    The only question left was ¡ª how much remaining energy did this Beast have, and how long would it continue to mindlessly attack before it died?

    With this question in mind, Su Chen stood to the side and waited. At the same time, he continued converting the energy in his body, finishing thest remaining tenth of his foundation.

    All of the Origin Energy in the surroundings had been sucked up by Hidden Cloud during its mad attacks, and there was virtually none left in the air, but at this point, Su Chen no longer needed to absorb any Origin Energy from the environment.

    There was no external energy to be found, but Su Chen had unearthed a new energy from his own lifeforce.

    When the conversion process was finished, Su Chen felt extremely satisfied.

    The heavens and the earth as a realm, and the human body as a realm.

    In that moment, Su Chen suddenly had a premonition.

    Only now had he truly be human.

 Book 7, 48: Defiance

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 48: Defiance</h4>

    Hidden Cloud continued its barrage of frenzied and vicious fist strikes that were aimed at nothing in particr.

    The silver river of mes flowed unceasingly through the sky.

    This silver riversted for an entire three hours before showing signs of weakening.

    Hidden Cloud was beginning to run out of steam.

    Even an ocean¡¯s worth of Origin Energy couldn¡¯t handle its expenditure rate. Every one of Hidden Cloud¡¯s attacks was unleashed at full-power, which was why it had run out of energy after just half a day. It wouldn¡¯t even be able tost for as long as the golden falcon.

    Even so, Hidden Cloud continued to madly wave its fists in the air.

    It almost seemed as if Hidden Cloud was raging against the Heavens, determined to fight until its dying breath.

    And it trulysted to its dying breath!

    Boom!

    After one final, barbaric punch, Hidden Cloud¡¯s arms came to a crashing halt.

    It stood there,pletely motionless, as its massive body began to shrink.

    Eventually, Hidden Cloud had be the size of a mere human.

    At this point in time, Hidden Cloud¡¯s intelligence also began to return to it.

    It opened its eyes and nced at Su Chen, opening its mouth as if it wanted to say something. But it was unable to find the words, and it eventually closed its mouth before unceremoniously toppling to the ground.

    A wisp of fog rose from its body and into the sky, gradually turning into a steady stream of fog. Once the fog hadpletely dissipated, so had Hidden Cloud. All that remained behind was a body of light that twitched every so often.

    This body of light was Hidden Cloud¡¯s true form. Actually, it was quite simr to a parasite, as it relied on attaching to powerful entities to ensure its survival.

    While attached to a host organism, it would absorb its host¡¯s life force until its host had been fully transformed into an ethereal state. Then, it would assimte its now-ethereal host into the cloud of fog nketing it.

    This was the real secret behind its ability to alternate between tangible and intangible states.

    Hidden Cloud had died, and it was probably the first Deste Beast to die by expending every ounce of its energy in battle. When Hidden Cloud¡¯s main body disappeared, the fog also disappeared, revealing the parasitic creature inside.

    The parasite was in a semiconscious state at this point. Even though it had lost arge amount of its lifeforce, it was still twitching and writhing on the ground.

    This writhing, however, was not a sign of life but of death. When this parasite died, its writhing would only grow more and more intense, never stopping. It actually didn¡¯t need any energy source of any kind to sustain its motion. This was just one of the organism¡¯s fundamental properties.

    When Su Chen saw this writhing bug, he suddenly realized something.

    He had only been able to recognize the parasite before him due to the vast amounts of knowledge that he had umted over the course of reading tens of thousands of books. In some sense, it was only natural that he could immediately identify it on sight.

    Su Chen suddenly felt extremely fortunate that he had stumbled across this insect. ¡°Wow, this is really a treasure.¡±

    He pulled out a jade box and put the bug corpse inside.

    After taking care of this, Su Chen nced around and verified that no living Demonic Beasts were in his immediate vicinity before turning to leave.

    Some time after Su Chen left, a nearby rock suddenly shifted.

    A shadow crept out from under the rock and gradually returned to a physical form.

    It was Sovereign Kucha, and his expression was filled with shock. He couldn¡¯t stop himself from trembling as he muttered to himself, ¡°A single human managed to kill Elder Hidden Cloud? This is even more terrifying than the Arcanists¡¯ achievements. I must go and awaken the Barbaric Ancestor immediately!¡±

    After Kucha said this, he flew off into the distance, leaving the blood-stained canyon behind.

    As such, Kucha failed to notice that, not long after he left, the fresh blood on the ground had begun squirming......

    Back in Sky City:

    The battle here was in full swing.

    Floating shuttles swayed back and forth while flying swords danced in the sky.

    Sky City¡¯s powerful defenses were no longer a nightmare to the human forces. Instead, they had be the human race¡¯s most reliable shield.

    White Lion and Towering m were like giants wading through an endless sea of human soldiers.

    Even Deste Beasts would be tormented by the deluge of attacks that they were currently suffering from. White Lion and Towering m constantly roared and howled with pain and rage.

    However, the ways in which they expressed their rage was different.

    White Lion was a typical Deste Beast, so it attacked by mming its massive body against Sky City¡¯s iron defenses. Every leap it took sent it moving tens of thousands of feet in seconds, every bite was thousands of teeth raking across Sky City¡¯s barrier, every strike of its paw could obliterate a mountain, and every howl sent the nearby clouds fleeing in fear.

    It could be said that White Lion¡¯s way of fighting demonstrated the majesty and might of a Deste Beast without any pretense. The sheer aura that it exuded seemed powerful enough to devour all of the soldiers present.

    Towering m, on the other hand, was the exact opposite.

    Towering m remained quiet and motionless the entire time.

    The only movement it ever made was to slightly open its shell every once in a while.

    It was in no position to pounce on Sky City.

    Its silence, however, was the silence of death, and it brought devastation upon the human soldiers.

    It had carved out a circle a hundred thousand feet in radius around itself that waspletely calm and peaceful.

    No lifeforms were present in that circle apart from the fifty Titan-ss puppets.

    This area was a zone of absolute death created by Towering m. Any living organism that entered this zone would have their lifeforce constantly sapped away, which would only serve to increase its strength. Whenever something died within this zone, it would also be turned into a puppet for Towering m to control as it pleased. Only the Titan-ss puppets could ignore this effect.

    However, the Titan-ss puppets alone could not kill Towering m.

    Towering m¡¯s shell was even tougher than Cloudmother Metal Essence. The only material that was more durable than its shell was probably the Arcane Turtle¡¯s shell.

    The fifty Titan-ss puppets, which were supposedly unbeatable in close-quartersbat, found that all of their attacks bounced harmlessly off of Towering m¡¯s imprable shell.

    In fact, it was they who were finding it hard to bear the opponent¡¯s attacks.

    A single, solitary eye hung high in the sky.

    The Towering Eye.

    The Towering Eye was the only offensive ability that the Towering m possessed. In other words, all of its attacks were carried out through the Towering Eye.

    On the surface, it seemed to be nothing more than an eye, but upon closer inspection, the eye was actually a vortex. And at the center of that vortex was a boundless darkness.

    Out of the darkness, however, shone a brilliant, zing light ¡ª Towering m¡¯s light.

    Towering m could construct illusions, unleash powerful consciousness attacks, and also make either forms of attack tangible. All of these attacks were unleashed through the shining light.

    Towering m was currently shooting out three hundred streaks of light every second. Most of themnded on their targets, while the rest were scattered throughout the battlefield. Anybody struck by the light would be confused for a brief moment and attack theirrades. Even though this confusion onlysted for a brief period of time, the disruption that it caused was substantial with each target hit.

    No one liked to be attacked from behind by theirrades, and a well-timed de to the back from a trusted ally was extremely hard to guard against. Even if it was not done on purpose, and even if the ally recovered quickly, a challenging dilemma arose every time. Should you fight back? Should you kill them? After all, they will recover soon. However, if you don¡¯t kill them, you will have to endure for however long they are controlled for.

    The humans had no choice but to assign a special group of soldiers to the sole duty of dealing with these mind-controlled soldiers and keeping them alive if possible. The influence of Towering m¡¯s light was dependent on the target¡¯s consciousness power, and this special group of soldiers all possessed extremely powerful consciousnesses. In order to maximize the effectiveness of its mind-controllingsers, Towering m instinctively sought out weaker targets to control. Thus, it rarely targeted the soldiers in this special group.

    Zhu Xianyao was the leader of this squad. Her bloodline made her quite resistant to the Towering m¡¯s light. Whenever anyone was affected by the light, she could even forcefully dispel the effect by first using the Zhu n¡¯s control techniques to diminish the effects of the Towering m¡¯s light before forcefully awakening them.

    Gu Qingluo, meanwhile, was responsible for handling the White Lion.

    The Shining Dragon Aspect formed from Gu Qingluo and the twelve Gu n elders directly faced off against the White Lion. With Sky City¡¯s support, the Gu n¡¯s elders no longer had any fear of running out of energy, so they could fight with all their might. Even if they did run out of energy, they could simply return to Sky City to recharge.

    As such, there was a certain push and pull to the battle. Whenever the Gu n¡¯s members sprang into action, that signaled the rest of the human army to attack. The Gu n¡¯s members would be responsible for defending the other cultivators while they unleashed as many attacks as quickly as possible.

    When the Gu n¡¯s members ran out of energy, the entire human army¡¯s formation would enter a defensive stance. Gu Qingluo and the twelve elders would then return to Sky City to recharge while the other cultivators held the front lines.

    White Lion was suffering quite the heavy beating as a result.

    This was the benefit of Su Chen baiting Hidden Cloud away.

    If Hidden Cloud had been present, then thebination of its corrosive fog, White Lion¡¯s powerful attacks, and Towering m¡¯s control skills would definitely have posed a significant threat to the human army.

    But without Hidden Cloud, Sky City and the Titan-ss puppets meant that the human army could fight against two Deste Beasts while remaining rtively unscathed.

    But their current tactics did not allow them to end the battle in a short period of time.

    ¡°Speed up our attacks! Only after we kill it can we go to Sect Master¡¯s aid!¡± Gu Qingluo yelled frically as she returned to Sky City¡¯s walls. She immediately sat down and began to recover the energy in her body, only to hear someone beside her suddenly cry out, ¡°Look, over there! Hidden Cloud has disappeared!¡±

    Gu Qingluo turned to look in that direction. Indeed, the silvery rain that had been falling upwards into the sky for a number of hours had finally disappeared.

    What did that mean? Had something happened to Su Chen?

    Gu Qingluo felt her heart tighten as she turned to face the nearby clone. ¡°Su Chen, are you alright?¡±

    The clone remained motionless.

    Gu Qingluo felt her heart seize in abject fear. She cried out once more. ¡°Su Chen!¡±

    A sudden wave of pressure washed over her in response. Those nearby suddenly found it difficult to breathe.

    This pressure could only emanate from Su Chen¡¯s real body. Gu Qingluo immediately understood what had happened. ¡°Su Chen, you¡¯re back!¡±

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m back.¡±

    He nced around, and his eyebrow jumped up. ¡°It¡¯s been so long. You guys still haven¡¯t finished off these two bastards yet?¡±

    ¡°Well, they are Deste Beasts. How could they be easy to defeat?¡± Gu Xinrong replied brashly.

    ¡°It seems like I still need to make an appearance on the battlefield,¡± Su Chen sighed yfully. ¡°I thought that I would finally have an opportunity to rest.¡±

    ¡°Make an appearance my ass. You better keep Hidden Cloud well entertained. Don¡¯t worry. We¡¯ll kill at least one of them before nightfall,¡± Gu Xinrong confidently said.

    ¡°Keep Hidden Cloud entertained?¡± Su Chen was momentarily taken aback before he realized something. ¡°You guys thought that I came back because I couldn¡¯t handle it any longer?¡±

    ¡°Is that not the reason?¡± They all turned to nce at him in surprise.

    Su Chen chuckled but elected not to rify anything.

    Everyone was stunned when they saw this.

    A lone and unlikely possibility surfaced in their minds.

    Had he killed Hidden Cloud?

    Gu Xinrong softly murmured, ¡°Is that even possible?¡±

    Gu Changsheng fiercely barked, ¡°I don¡¯t believe it!¡±

    Gu Huiming likewise yelled, ¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡±

    All of them shook their heads simultaneously.

    Their reaction to Su Chen¡¯s feat of killing a Deste Beast all on his own was not one of joy, but rather one of disbelief.

    Only Gu Qingluo leapt forward with excitement as she lovingly hugged Su Chen. ¡°Husband, you really killed it? You really killed it?!¡±

    Su Chen nodded gently.

    His simple motion left everyone else reeling in shock.

    Killing a Deste Beast by oneself virtually vited the natural order that had been ordained by the Heavens!

 Book 7, 49: Mobilizing Reinforcements (1)

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 49: Mobilizing Reinforcements (1)</h4>

    Even though saying that Su Chen had defeated a Deste Beast by himself would be omitting a few details, it was an undeniable truth that Su Chen had challenged a Deste Beast entirely on his own.

    But like he had said, this was only the beginning. Soon, they would be fighting against even more powerful opponents.

    Ten years was just too short of a timeframe. Su Chen had no choice but to force himself to speed up his development.

    Thankfully, his lifetime of research was beginning to bear fruit, and his foundation was stable enough for him to reap the rewards.

    As he watched the imposing, majestic White Lion and the immovable Towering m fight off in the distance, Su Chen said, ¡°I¡¯ll take care of Towering m.¡±

    Towering m¡¯s powerful control skills allowed it to control any living organism that entered its radius of effect. Numbers were totally useless against it, which was why only a powerful individual like Su Chen could fight against it.

    Su Chen¡¯s figure flickered as he instantly reappeared above Towering m.

    Even though he was just floating above Towering m, Su Chen could sense a powerful will constantly attempting to invade his consciousness. It was as if there was a voice strongly urging him to worship and obey the invading will¡¯smands.

    What a terrifying Deste Beast. Even someone with a consciousness as powerful as Su Chen¡¯s would have a hard time resisting.

    Thankfully, Su Chen was not relying on just his consciousness power.

    Immortal energy swelled within him once again, this time protecting his consciousness from the invading will.

    His state of mind once again became calm.

    Then, Su Chen shed his sword right at Towering m.

    By now, this giant Deste Beast had already suffered countless attacks from the Titan-ss puppets, and as a result, its shell was covered in dents and, in some weaker locations, holes. Towering m had not managed topletely brush off the attacks of the Titan-ss puppets ¡ª after all, in terms of pure strength, the Titan-ss puppets were a higher level than Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators.

    Su Chen¡¯s sword pierced one of Towering m¡¯s damaged points, easily slicing through the tender flesh like a hot knife through butter. There seemed to be no resistance whatsoever.

    The immortal energy surrounding the de suddenly shed a searing white color. When Su Chen burned his immortal energy, his sword was able to easily pierce through Towering m¡¯s shell and strike at its body.

    Towering m¡¯s body was not as tough as its shell, so Su Chen¡¯s sword strike wounded it quite seriously. Since it had no mouth, Towering m was incapable of expressing its anger through a roar, but it could still do so by increasing the intensity of its attacks. The light in the sky intensified until it became a white-hot sun, and everyone nearby immediately fell under Towering m¡¯s control.

    However, Towering m did not immediately send them into battle against the rest of the human forces; instead, they all rushed back towards Towering m to support it.

    Su Chen ignored this. He pulled the Lightless de out of Towering m¡¯s shell with a vicious twist, attempting to bore arger hole in its shell.

    Towering m became extremely agitated. It could clearly sense the threat that Su Chen posed, and it quickly diverted all of its rays of light towards Su Chen.

    Su Chen activated his immortal energy, which shed with Towering m¡¯s light. The resulting light show was extremely dazzling, but Su Chen paid it no attention and continued to widen the hole in front of him ¡ª Towering m¡¯s shell was extremely tough, and it might even be tougher than Sky City¡¯s walls. However, its shell had no other redeeming qualities other than its extreme toughness. As soon as it was broken, it would be extremely difficult to repair the hole.

    Su Chen gritted his teeth fiercely and continued slowly grinding away at the mshell. The de grated sharply against the m¡¯s hard shell as if he were sawing at a rock.

    When the unstoppable spear met the immovable shield, there was no other option but for them to sh repeatedly until one was ground into dust.

    Towering m was obviously at a disadvantage in this conflict.

    Because Su Chen was not alone.

    The Titan-ss puppets had charged over to support Su Chen.

    Their arrival was extremely timely. In an orderly fashion, they leapt into the air one by one, smashed their heavy fists onto the area that Su Chen was cutting at, and then backed off to make room for the next Titan-ss puppet.

    They repeatedly struck at the same point again and again.

    And as Su Chen continued to saw at the m¡¯s shell, it eventually couldn¡¯t take it any longer and cracked.

    Bang!

    Following that burst of sound, arge, gaping hole appeared on Towering m¡¯s chest.

    The Towering Eye glowed with intense light once again as it attempted to summon reinforcements to its side.

    Su Chen gestured with his hand. ¡°Stop them!¡±

    The fifty Titan-ss puppets surged away from the Deste Beast and back towards the humans controlled by Towering m. They did not attack, and instead used their sturdy bodies to block the controlled humans from advancing while enduring the attacks flying at them.

    Su Chen took advantage of this opening to slip through the hole in the shell.

    Right after entering, he saw countless floating specters made of light moving towards his direction.

    ¡°Astrals?¡± Su Chen was momentarily taken aback.

    But he soon realized that his first guess had been wrong.

    These specters were not Astrals, but rather an extremely simr creature. They were likely spirits of some kind.

    These spirits were parasites that lived within Towering m¡¯s body. They relied on Towering m for survival, but they also protected it when it was in danger. In some sense, they served as Towering m¡¯s guards.

    Since Towering m¡¯s body had been invaded, the spirits were all mobilized, and they began to shriek as they wed at Su Chen.

    ¡°These minor demons won¡¯t even be able to withstand a single attack,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself as he unleashed a ming Dragon Theurgy Art, followed by a Thunder Prison. The violent mes and lightning wreaked havoc within Towering m¡¯s body.

    Even though Towering m¡¯s shell was tough, its body was much weaker.

    Just these two attacks alone tormented Towering m to no end. The Towering Eye in the sky began to revolve like mad in response, constantly disrupting the human armies. Back in the general battlefield, the human soldiers were losing control of themselves left and right, creating an uncontroble stampede of sorts.

    Even so, this was itsst opportunity to wreak such havoc.

    Su Chen began to fully reveal his offensive might from within Towering m¡¯s body, going on a rampage with his attacks. The spirits that were supposed to guard Towering m werepletely annihted. Despite the fact that they had been steadily growing for tens of thousands of years, they couldn¡¯t evenst for a minute under Su Chen¡¯s onught.

    Towering m¡¯s interior was being devastated by Su Chen.

    Shadow Inferno!

    Tenth-Degree Hurricane!

    Dragon Trial Spear!

    Destructive Lightning!

    Su Chen unleashed all of the energy in his body as quickly as he could, using all of his high-damaging skills in rapid session. Each skill was also imbued and strengthened with some immortal energy, vastly increasing their destructive capacity.

    After just a few minutes, Towering m could take it no more. The Towering Eye¡¯s frantic motions clearly indicated its deteriorating health. As Towering m¡¯s vitality continued to bleed out, the Towering Eye¡¯s twitching began to slow, and the light shooting from it also waned ever so slightly.

    White Lion quickly realized what was happening and began to roar in anger as it redoubled its efforts.

    Unfortunately, the Towering Eye¡¯s effect only continued to weaken, until it eventually came to a stop.

    Suddenly, the Towering Eye disappearedpletely.

    The humans that had been under Towering m¡¯s control also came to their senses.

    ¡°He seeded!¡± All of the human army¡¯s eyes were fixed on the grandiose scene unfolding before their very eyes.

    They watched as Su Chen valiantly charged out of the hole in Towering m¡¯s body.

    He flew to the top of Towering m¡¯s immobile shell, as if climbing a mountain. To the human soldiers, they felt like they had witnessed the incarnation of a god descend from the Heavens and into their mortal ne.

    ¡°Towering m is dead!¡±

    ¡°The Sect Master has ughtered Towering m!¡±

    Someone suddenly made this promation.

    The human army erupted into a deafening series of jubnt cheers.

    They hadn¡¯t realized that Hidden Cloud was also dead, which was why they weren¡¯t celebrating that aplishment just yet.

    But they had witnessed Towering m¡¯s death firsthand. In that moment, Su Chen left an impression of invincibility in all of their hearts.

    Gu Qingluo and the others also rejoiced when they saw Su Chen¡¯s feat.

    White Lion was now fighting on its own.

    The human army would be able to kill it even without the aid of Sky City. The oue of this battle had been decided.

    Sky City¡¯s countless cannons bombarded White Lion as flying Qi swords criss-crossed through the sky.

    Everyone began unleashing attacks as quickly as they could.

    No matter how fiercely White Lion retaliated, it waspletely overwhelmed by the deluge of attacks. Slowly but surely, its vitality and energy were being drained away.

    When Su Chen saw that the overall situation had been settled, he teleported back to Sky City and then said to Gu Qingluo, Li Chongshan, and the others, ¡°I still have something that I need to take care of, so I¡¯ll take my leave first. I leave the rest of this battle in your hands.¡±

    ¡°Where are you going?¡± Gu Qingluo hurriedly asked.

    ¡°To squash some of the bugs that managed to escape,¡± Su Chen said as he departed, flying in apletely different direction.

    Kucha raced through the air as quickly as he could.

    As soon as Hidden Cloud had been in, he knew that the battle was over.

    No one could have possibly imagined that Su Chen could kill an Elder all on his own.

    With Hidden Cloud¡¯s defeat and Su Chen¡¯s return to the battlefield, the Deste Beasts¡¯ defeat was sealed in stone.

    Perhaps only the Arcana Kingdom had ever managed to ughter three Deste Beasts at once.

    In other words, it was time to awaken an Ancestor.

    Even though the human armies were powerful, an Ancestor would be able to crush them with little to no resistance.

    Because they possessed a power even greater than that of the gods!

    Kucha was extremely confident in his Ancestor¡¯s power.

    Suddenly, as he was flying through the air, a primal, raw aura enveloped him, preventing him from moving even a muscle.

    Kucha panicked. Had Su Chen somehow managed to catch up to him?

    Just as he was spinning his eyes around in terror, a low voice spoke up. ¡°Who dares disturb my rest?¡±

    Hm?

    Kucha was stunned.

    The clouds in the sky had gathered to form an ancient face fraught with wrinkles. The face gazed intently at Kucha.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± the low voice uttered once more.

    Kucha felt as if the face¡¯s aura alone was more than capable of immobilizing him.

    He was a Sovereign. Only Deste Beasts or the rare Origin Beasts could have such a profound effect on him.

    However, most Deste Beasts did not know the humannguage. During the era of the Deste Beasts, the Intelligent Races had yet to rise to power. Thus, not many Deste Beasts had learned the Intelligent Races¡¯ tongues. On the other hand, many Origin Beasts, for one reason or another, did know thesenguages.

    Was this individual before him an Ancestor?

    But why had it awakened on its own?

    Kucha¡¯s eyes were filled with shock.

    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m asking you a question, you little brat.¡± The old face formed from the clouds seemed a little dissatisfied by Kucha¡¯sck of response. Behind the face loomed the Ancestor¡¯s gargantuan body, but the clouds obscured it, preventing Kucha from making out an exact shape.

    Kucha hurriedly came to his senses and stammered, ¡°This little one, Kucha, greets Ancestor.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± the old face grumbled.

    When Kucha heard this response, he finally realized that this old creature was most likely an Origin Beast Ancestor. However, he didn¡¯t know which Ancestor he was talking to. The Origin Beasts had been asleep for far, far too long, so it was impossible for Kucha to know the characteristics of every one of them. There were only a few he was acquainted with, including the Blood Ancestor, the Barbaric Ancestor, and the Tree Ancestor.

    Kucha was overjoyed when he realized that he was speaking to an Origin Beast. He had originally intended to find the Barbaric Ancestor and ask it to attack the humans. But now, an already awakened Origin Beast had appeared before his very eyes.

    The old face spoke once more. ¡°I am very unhappy. Some bastard suddenly awakened me, dammit! Tell me what exactly has happened, and why I have been awakened so suddenly. And why is this ce so deathly quiet?¡±

    Kucha immediately understood what had happened to this Ancestor. ¡°The Astrals! It must have been one of the remnant Astral forces. They must have awakened you in order to get revenge on the humans.¡±

    ¡°The humans?¡±

    ¡°Yes! The humans have ughtered their way deep into Beast territory. We are currently facing extinction. Please, Ancestor, you must help us!¡± Kucha immediately cried out as he knelt before the wrinkled, old face.

 Book 7, 50: Mobilizing Reinforcements (2)

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 50: Mobilizing Reinforcements (2)</h4>

    Surprisingly, the old face shook its head in disapproval and said, ¡°What does this have to do with me?¡±

    What?

    Kucha was stunned.

    The old face continued, ¡°I am about to die. From the moment I awakened, my vitality has been declining, and going into battle will only elerate that process. I still want to live a bit longer, so all I am going to die is sit here until I die.¡±

    Kucha said hurriedly, ¡°But Ancestor, the Beasts are about to be wiped out.¡±

    ¡°What does that have to do with me? I would have already killed if you were the bastard that woke me up,¡± the old face said calmly. It seemed that it was about to ignore him.

    Kucha had never expected that this Ancestor wouldpletely ignore its progeny. Upon further reflection, however, he realized no one had ever made it a rule that Ancestors needed toe to their descendants¡¯ aid.

    The Shining Dragon may have been willing to do so, but that didn¡¯t mean that other Origin Beasts would.

    Hadn¡¯t the Blood Ancestor delegated the matter to the Barbaric Ancestor?

    But what if the Barbaric Ancestor refused as well?

    Awakening the Barbaric Ancestor would inevitably lead to its death. If the Barbaric Ancestor was unhappy with that......

    Kucha couldn¡¯t help but shiver when he heard the old face¡¯s words.

    He didn¡¯t know if the Barbaric Ancestor would deal with the humans, but just as the old face had said, it was a distinct possibility that the Barbaric Ancestor would kill him in a fit of rage if things didn¡¯t go well.

    Upon realizing this, Kucha¡¯s desire to awaken the Barbaric Ancestor weakened somewhat.

    Even so, he was still a Sovereign, and he was unwilling to sit back and watch the Beasts waltz to their doom. The old face was turning around to leave when Kucha suddenly cried out, ¡°I have the Blood Ancestor¡¯s marrow! Consuming it will increase your lifespan.¡±

    ¡°What? The Blood Ancestor?¡± The old face refocused on Kucha.

    Kucha nodded. ¡°Yes! The Blood Ancestor¡¯s marrow is a peerless medicine in its own right, and will extend your lifespan by three days. The Blood Ancestor asked me to go awaken the Barbaric Ancestor. But since Ancestor is already awake, Kucha offers this marrow and asks Ancestor to move against the humans!¡±

    The old face loomed closer and closer to Kucha. ¡°Are you not afraid that I¡¯ll kill you and take this treasure for myself, then not attack?¡±

    Kucha forged onwards and replied, ¡°If Ancestor wants it, I dare not withhold it. Whether Ancestor is willing to or not, I can only be resigned to my fate.¡±

    The old face gazed at Kucha intently for a long period of time, causing Kucha¡¯s skin to crawl.

    Then, the old face chuckled. ¡°Hand over the marrow.¡±

    Kucha obliged.

    The old face opened its maw and swallowed the marrow. A contented voice spoke from the clouds, ¡°Not bad, not bad. It truly is a peerless medicine. How rare, how rare!¡±

    Kucha was a bit speechless when he heard this, but the old face was already asking him another question. ¡°How powerful is the Blood Ancestor you speak of, and how much life does he have left in him?¡±

    Kucha was stunned. ¡°Ancestor, you have never heard of the Blood Ancestor¡¯s name before?¡±

    The old face replied, ¡°Do you know the name of every Beast amongst your ranks?¡±

    Of course Kucha did not know every Sovereign amongst the Beasts, but theparison was somewhat nonsensical. There were far fewer Origin Beasts; if there were as many Origin Beasts as Sovereigns, the Primordial Continent probably would have already been torn asunder.

    But Kucha dared not to be flippant, so he could only obediently reply, ¡°Blood Ancestor is the Plundering Bloodbat. It can create tens of thousands of clones of itself and morph shapes easily. Even amongst Ancestors, it is incredibly powerful.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Then what about the Barbaric Ancestor?¡±

    Kucha replied, ¡°The Barbaric Ancestor is......¡±

    Suddenly, his voice caught in his throat, and he stared at the ancient, weathered face in terror.

    ¡°Why have you stopped?¡± the old face growled.

    Kucha began to tremble. ¡°You...... You are not an Ancestor!¡±

    He had finally realized the truth..

    No Ancestor would possibly fail to recognize both the Blood Ancestor and the Barbaric Ancestor.

    He had been tricked!

    ¡°Oh? So you saw through me in the end, huh?¡± The ancient voice began morphing into one much more familiar to his ears.

    The old face also began to revert, revealing Su Chen¡¯s smiling face.

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± Kucha yelled in fright.

    Upon realizing that Su Chen had both deceived him and cheated him of the marrow, he was both stunned and enraged. ¡°You dare to deceive me? I¡¯ll kill you if it¡¯s thest thing I do!¡±

    A ckish-green streak of Qi stabbed towards Su Chen.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Su Chen murmured. ¡°Even though I am not your Ancestor, trust me - I can crush you just as easily as those Ancestors of yours.¡±

    As he spoke, he unleashed a palm strike.

    This palm strike immediately dispersed the ckish-green Qi, then bypassed the restrictions of space and grabbed Kucha by the neck.

    As soon as the palm gently but firmly gripped him, Kucha felt as if he had beenpletely drained of energy.

    If Kucha was an ant, and Origin Beasts were giant elephants, Su Chen was like a dog. Even if he was far from being able to fight with an Origin Beast, he had no problems crushing an ant like Kucha.

    As he hoisted Kucha in the air, Su Chen said, ¡°You¡¯re right. I shouldn¡¯t have lied to you - I should have captured you and tortured you until you told me everything I wanted to know. That may have been more effective and direct. Since you don¡¯t seem to like the gentle route, why don¡¯t we go along with your suggestion?¡±

    As he spoke, a violent wave of mes rushed into Kucha¡¯s body. The pain of burning up from the inside caused him to writhe and twist in agony. Most shockingly, his body was actuallypletely fine. The pain assaulted him in unceasing waves.

    Kucha learned a second lesson on this day: when an extremely powerful enemy deceives you, you should feel grateful, not wronged. After all, failing to be deceived would only lead to even greater torment.

    Dammit!

    He cursed himself in his heart again and again.

    His regret was consuming. If he had a choice, he would have definitely preferred to have remained ignorant about this whole situation.

    Su Chen¡¯s voice floated towards him seemingly from afar. ¡°Now are you ready to tell me what I want to know?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll talk, I¡¯ll talk, I¡¯ll tell you everything!¡± Kucha howled. ¡°The Barbaric Ancestor is the Primal Tyrant. He possesses incredible power, and is impulsive and bloodthirsty.¡±

    ¡°How obedient of you,¡± Su Chen said with a faint smile.

    Truthfully speaking, Su Chen had only tried the deception route because it was more interesting and amusing for him.

    ¡°So you were on your way to awaken the Barbaric Ancestor?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t the Blood Ancestor go? Wasn¡¯t he awakened?¡±

    ¡°No, the Blood Ancestor is still slumbering.¡±

    ¡°Then how did he tell you to awaken the Barbaric Ancestor and give you his marrow?¡±

    ¡°The Blood Ancestor also has the ability to divide his consciousness in addition to creating numerous clones. While his main body is asleep, he can awaken a small portion of his soul to handle any emergencies that arise. All that dies is aponent of his soul. However, he cannot do this for too long; otherwise, his main body will be affected, and he will fully awake. Right now, he is the only Ancestor that can maintain a certain level of contact with us while slumbering.¡±

    ¡°So your actions are decided by him? Was he the one who awakened the Shining Dragon in the past?¡±

    ¡°Yes. In ancient times, the Blood Ancestor was perhaps not the strongest. But during this period of hibernation, he is the only one that has remained truly invincible.¡± Kucha really was spilling everything he knew to save his own life.

    ¡°Oh. So that¡¯s how it is!¡± Su Chen released his grip and began to stroke his chin in thought.

    He left Kucha alone, and Kucha didn¡¯t dare to try and escape. He could only nce at Su Chen asionally before averting his gaze, trembling. A Sovereign, an emperor amongst the Beasts was shivering like a terrified rabbit before Su Chen.

    Unfortunately, this was the harsh reality it had to face.

    If he was not strong enough, he could only resign himself to his fate.

    Su Chen thought for a moment, then suddenly said, ¡°Do you know how many hibernating Deste Beasts and Origin Beasts there are?¡±

    Kucha thought for a moment, then replied, ¡°As far as I know, there were around three hundred Ancestors alive during the ancient eras, and around ten thousand Elders. But after so many years, the Ancestors¡¯ numbers have dwindled. There are probably only thirty of them left, and around three hundred Elders.¡±

    ¡°Thirty and three hundred, is it? That¡¯s still quite a few,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    Kucha bolstered his courage and continued, ¡°Yes. Any Ancestor is capable of devastating the human armies. Su Chen, I know you are very powerful, but you are not the Ancestors¡¯ opponent. Even if you kill me today, another Demonic Beast will carry out this duty......¡±

    ¡°So noisy.¡± Su Chen casually waved his hand, causing Kucha to immediately shut his mouth. ¡°I didn¡¯t ask you that.¡±

    Then, Su Chen said, ¡°You should know where these Ancestors and Elders are sleeping, right?¡±

    Kucha stared at Su Chen in shock.

    How could he not understand what Su Chen was saying?

    It seemed that he wanted to figure out where the Origin Beasts and Deste Beasts were hibernating, then prepare ambushes for them.

    No matter how strong these Origin Beasts were, they were hibernating, and could not defend themselves against a human ambush. This was also why the Origin Beasts would aid the Demonic Beasts in their times of distress. In some sense, the Demonic Beasts were their guardians on the surface.

    Kucha shook his head vehemently. Muffled noises escaped from his mouth as he tried to answer Su Chen¡¯s question.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± Su Chen waved his hand once more, and Kucha regained the ability to speak.

    Kucha said, ¡°The hibernation sites of the Ancestors and Elders is a closely-guarded secret. How would I know?¡±

    Su Chen asked, ¡°Then how do you know where the Blood Ancestor and the Barbaric Ancestor are sleeping?¡±

    Kucha replied, ¡°The Blood Ancestor¡¯s hibernation site is known by all Beasts, and is the only one that is publicly known. ess ispletely forbidden because of this. No matter what state the battle reaches, no one is allowed to approach that site. We learn the locations of the other Ancestors and Elders from the Blood Ancestor. In an emergency, we would awaken the Blood Ancestor, who would inform us which Ancestors or Elders to awaken. This is a tradition that hassted for tens of thousands of years. Of course, I also know where the Tree Ancestor is hibernating, but this is because I identally ate his enlightenment. But that is nothing more than a coincidence. And I would never dare to divulge its location to the other Beasts.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. Then what about that golden falcon? How did the Astrals know where it was sleeping and awaken it?¡±

    Kucha replied, ¡°That Elder was most likely not dormant in Beast territory.¡±

    Su Chen understood.

    The Beasts had once dominated the entire continent, which was why the Origin Beasts and Deste Beasts were now slumbering all over the ce. All they needed to do was notify the Blood Ancestor of the location they had chosen.

    But as the years went by, the Beasts began to lose more and more territory that they could not reim, and the Deste Beasts and Origin Beasts buried there also became inessible.

    These giant, ancient beasts were buried too deep underground and would not be easily discovered, but as time had gone by and their surrounding terrain had shifted, it was only natural that a few would be revealed. Most of them were killed while in their sleep, but some had managed to survive.

    This was the case with the Origin Beast in the Death Region, as well as the Thousand Poisons Toad in the Thousand Poisons Mountain.

    The golden falcon likely fell into this category of Beasts. It had lost the protection of the Demonic Beasts a long time ago, and hadin dormant in Astral territory for some time but was never awakened and killed.

    ¡°Unless you scour the entire Beast territory, you will not be able to find them all. And even if you do, finding them one by one will be extremely difficult,¡± Kucha said.

    ¡°I know,¡± Su Chen said with a faint smile. ¡°I wasn¡¯t nning on it anyways. Since the Blood Ancestor seems so clear about all of these things, let¡¯s go pay him a visit.¡±

 Book 7, 51: Awakening

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 51: Awakening</h4>

    ¡°What did you say?¡±

    Gu Huiming, Gu Qingluo, Zhu Xianyao, Li Chongshan, and all of the other higher-ups stared at Su Chen in shared disbelief.

    ¡°Can you not look at me like that?¡± Su Chenzily replied. ¡°I said, I was just thinking of visiting Redstone Basin and chatting with that Blood Ancestor for a little while.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s an Origin Beast!¡± Gu Qingluo spat through gritted teeth. ¡°Do you feel like you¡¯ve been alive for too long?¡±

    Su Chen seriously replied, ¡°Well, if I hadn¡¯t stopped Kucha today, then he would have awakened an Origin Beast all on his own. Do you think that we would have been able to avoid fighting against an Origin Beast in that scenario?¡±

    Everyone fell silent.

    But Gu Qingluo stubbornly refused to back down. ¡°That¡¯s different. At least, in that scenario, we would have been able to face it together.¡±

    Su Chen shook his head slowly. ¡°So what? Would we even have a chance of winning? And even if we did win, so what? We pulled off something that even the Arcana Kingdom could never aplished in their prime. But then what? They¡¯ll just awaken two or three more! Would we still be able to win against them?¡±

    Gu Qingluo felt her blood pressure begin to rise as anger welled up within her. ¡°Su Chen, what is that even supposed to mean? Are you saying that we¡¯re doomed to lose this war? If that¡¯s the case, then why did you even bring us all the way out here? Why would you even challenge the Beasts to begin with?¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Su Chen chuckled before responding, ¡°Is the fight itself not sufficient a reason? We have always known about how strong Origin Beasts are, but have we ever shrunk back because of that? And when have we ever hesitated to fight against the strong foe that is the Beasts? Why has the human race managed to reach new heights during the past few decades? Is it because the Beasts have grown weaker? Of course not! Even though our opponent is as powerful as they have always been, the human race has stood its ground and seized and to call its own through our sweat and tears! Our aplishments are built upon the bloody foundationid by our ancestors. They might have also wondered whether victory was possible, but that never swayed their will. All they knew was how to fight and when they needed to fight. Even if we are fated to lose, we must fight until the end. That is the only way we can establish a foundation for future generations. You ask me why? This is why!¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s monologue rendered Gu Qingluo and the others speechless.

    Of course.

    The fight itself was reason enough!

    When fighting against a powerful foe, discussing benefits and risks was meaningless.

    All that mattered was fighting to the very end!

    Even though Su Chen knew that Origin Beasts were impossible to defeat, he had still made the trek here.

    The Arcana Kingdom and the Illustrious Divine Dynasty also possessed such an indomitable spirit. No matter how powerful the opponent was, they had charged forwards with relentless drive, and their efforts hadid the foundation for the human race¡¯s rise to power that was now being openly manifested!

    The other human leaders could say nothing against Su Chen¡¯s speech and could only silently agree.

    Su Chen continued speaking. ¡°So there is no point in fearing what might happen. We will have to pass the trial that is the Origin Beasts one way or another, but when we do so is still up in the air. The Heavens have given us an opportunity that we must grasp. I will go alone...... that will be better than all of us facing him at the same time.¡±

    ¡°Are you set on awakening the Blood Ancestor to kill him?¡± Gu Huiming asked.

    Su Chen steadfastly replied, ¡°That¡¯s only one option. If the Blood Ancestor dies, then the other Beasts will lose their knowledge of where the other Origin Beasts are slumbering, giving us an opportunity to face them one at a time. However, there¡¯s a very real possibility that the Blood Ancestor will pass along that information to the other Beasts as ast resort. In fact, I would prefer to not kill him at all.¡±

    ¡°Then you mean......¡±

    Su Chen calmly replied, ¡°My priority will be to have a conversation with him, if possible.¡±

    Redstone Basin.

    The basin¡¯s walls were still painted in the bright red of fresh blood, and turbulent Origin Energy circted constantly around the foreboding hole in the middle.

    Su Chen had made Kucha bring him to this ce. From his vantage point, it looked like the whole ce was covered in blood, and the setting sun only served to entuate the basin¡¯s sanguine color.

    ¡°Don¡¯t go directly to the bloody hole. We¡¯llnd on the outskirts and then walk there. Avoid making any noises so that we don¡¯t alert the guards......¡± Kucha rambled on.

    Su Chen merely nced below before his figure flickered and reappeared just in front of the bloody hole.

    Kucha was so startled that his jaw almost hit the floor.

    The basin itself seemed to react to the disturbance, as some of the red stones began to shift around strangely. Suddenly, heads and limbs popped out of the stones, transforming into bloody creatures that immediately began rushing towards Su Chen. These creatures were not puppets; instead, they were Blood Turtles, guards that the Blood Ancestor had created through its own bloodline. As long as they were in the Blood Ancestor¡¯s vicinity, each one of them would possess the power of a Demonic King.

    Su Chen¡¯s sudden appearance had startled these Blood Turtles, causing them to charge fiercely at this sudden, unknown intruder.

    Their shrieks and roars had some unique properties as well. They could be used to both attack their opponent and forcefully awaken the Blood Ancestor¡¯s soul fragment. Of course, this forceful awakening process would also deal a bit of damage to the Blood Ancestor since no sacrifices were being offered. Only in the most dire of moments would this method be used.

    The Blood Turtles continued to attack Su Chen primarily through their shrieks, allowing them to speed up the awakening process.

    As their cries drilled into Su Chen¡¯s ears, the turtles picked up speed and began ramming their bodies into Su Chen.

    The way that they fought was quite unique. They first coiled up into a ball before rolling into their opponents like a boulder. Even though this attack was a little crude, they were actually extremely powerful.

    Su Chen raised an eyebrow and chuckled coldly. ¡°Not bad.¡±

    The Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect appeared behind him. The Blood Turtles rolled themselves straight into the picturesque portrait formed by the Aspect, where they were immediately incapacitated.

    Kucha had only just flown down andnded by Su Chen¡¯s side. When he saw that the hundreds of Blood Turtles had already been restricted by Su Chen, he was incredibly shocked. He knew just how powerful all of these Blood Turtles were, but evenbined, they weren¡¯t able to withstand even a single move from Su Chen. But upon further reflection, he realized that this was actually the expected oue ¡ª after all, Su Chen had defeated a Deste Beast single-handedly.

    Kucha rushed over agitatedly. ¡°Esteemed guards, please don¡¯t be anxious. He is not an assassin.¡±

    One of the Blood Turtles, still rolling through the Aspect¡¯s scenery, cried out, ¡°You traitor! You¡¯ve sold out the Blood Ancestor¡¯s hibernating location!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not how it is!¡± Kucha grew extremely agitated when he was used of betrayal. ¡°This is Su Chen, the leader of the humans. He came all the way here to have a conversation with the Blood Ancestor.¡±

    ¡°The Beasts and the humans have nothing to discuss,¡± the Blood Turtle roared angrily.

    Su Chen reached out, grabbed that Blood Turtle by the neck, and carelessly pulled him out of the Aspect. ¡°You are just a guard. What authority do you have to decide whether or not I may speak with your Ancestor? Go and awaken your Ancestor. I have matters to discuss with him.¡±

    ¡°In your dreams!¡± The Blood Turtle continued to thrash around unwillingly in Su Chen¡¯s grip, but Su Chen¡¯s hand was firmly wrapped around its neck, like an iron vice. It was impossible for it to escape.

    ¡°That¡¯s not up to you. Kucha, you mentioned earlier that awakening your Ancestor required sacrifices, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Kucha answered with a nod. ¡°Blood sacrifices are the best way. If the guards have been activated, then the effect on the Blood Ancestor will be even greater than normal. This method is only to be used in emergencies.¡±

    ¡°Well, since I¡¯m here to negotiate, I should at least demonstrate my sincerity with some sacrifices. But I don¡¯t have any Beasts on hand. Why don¡¯t we......¡± Su Chen nced at the Blood Turtle in his grip as he emotionlessly said, ¡°Use you.¡±

    Kucha was stunned. ¡°They¡¯re the Blood Ancestor¡¯s personal guards! You cannot......¡±

    But before he could even finish speaking, Su Chen had killed the Blood Turtle that he was holding and tossed it into the bloody hole.

    The Blood Turtles were then killed and thrown into the bloody hole one after another.

    Just when the Blood Turtles were about to bepletely wiped out, the bloody hole finally seemed to respond. A powerful aura surged into the sky, enveloping the entire basin.

    ¡°Oh? It awakened that quickly? Didn¡¯t you say that it usually took tens of thousands of sacrifices?¡± Su Chen was taken aback by how quickly he had received a response.

    Kucha cursed bitterly in his heart. The ¡®tens of thousands of sacrifices¡¯ referred to low-tier existences. These Blood Turtles were all peak Demonic Kings that possessed the Blood Ancestor¡¯s bloodline. Naturally, much fewer of them were needed to awaken the Ancestor. Actually, Su Chen had thrown in quite a few more than he needed to. However, his actions had simply been too fast, and Kucha had been too afraid to say anything, resulting in this waste.

    An imposing voice boomed out. ¡°Who has awakened me again? I only just fell asleep...... Hm? What did you use to awaken me? Dammit, who did this?!¡±

    The deep voice¡¯s tone quickly grew angry, obviously because the Blood Ancestor had realized what had been sacrificed to awaken it.

    Su Chenzily replied, ¡°It¡¯s me. Don¡¯t be mad. This much should be enough to keep you awake for a little bit longer, right? There¡¯s a lot that I want to ask you, so I won¡¯t let you go back to sleep so easily.¡±

    ¡°Human!¡±

    A cloud of blood appeared above the bloody hole, forming an enormous face that red fiercely at Su Chen.

    ¡°My name is Su Chen,¡± Su Chen said, unintimidated.

    ¡°Su Chen......¡± The Blood Ancestor thought for a moment before suddenly recalling where it had heard that name before. ¡°The ruler of the humans?¡±

    Killing intent shed through its eyes. ¡°So it¡¯s you! You¡¯re the one who led the human armies and invaded the Beasts¡¯ territory. Now, you even dare toe here and awaken me? You must be tired of living!¡±

    A giant hand extended from the cloud and swatted down at Su Chen, as if it was going to crush Su Chen into a pancake.

    Su Chen disdainfully replied, ¡°You can stop pretending now. If I had truly awakened you, then I would already be dead. But since you are just a small fragment of your true soul, you cannot kill me.¡±

    As he spoke, he calmly reached out and tapped his finger against the descending hand, causing it to burst like a fragile balloon.

    ¡°You!¡± the Blood Ancestor cursed.

    ¡°What about it? I¡¯m right here. Why don¡¯t you just awaken and kill me?¡± Su Chen stubbornly asked.

    The Blood Ancestor took a deep breath.

    It would not allow Su Chen to provoke it into truly awakening so easily.

    It red at him, and then at Kucha who was standing not too far away, before falling deep into thought. Finally, it said, ¡°You aren¡¯t here to kill me?¡±

    ¡°See, that¡¯s the attitude you should have for a discussion,¡± Su Chen chuckled as he pped his hands.

    ¡°Discussion? You came here to discuss something with me? What do you want to talk about?¡± The blood cloud face nced up and down at Su Chen, as if it were sizing him up.

    ¡°What else is there to talk about? Naturally, it¡¯s about the decaying of the Barrier of the Gods, and the gods¡¯ return. When that happens, you too will face extinction. Instead of wasting both of our energy and time, why don¡¯t we work together to fight against the gods?¡± Su Chen said confidently.

    ¡°Oh?¡± The Blood Ancestor nced at him with renewed interest. ¡°So what exactly do you know about the Barrier and the gods?¡±

    Su Chen fell silent.

    Upon seeing his reaction, the Blood Ancestor realized what was going on.

    It chuckled condescendingly. ¡°So you actually know nothing at all, right?¡±

 Book 7, 52: Ancient History (1)

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 52: Ancient History (1)</h4>

    The Blood Ancestor¡¯s faceughed quite loudly, but Su Chen didn¡¯t let any emotion show on his face. ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be surprising to you that I don¡¯t know all of the details about what took ce tens of thousands of years ago. However, I do know the important facts, like how they will destroy the Barrier in ten years time and return. That will be a cmity for both of us. Am I right?¡±

    The Blood Ancestor¡¯s expression froze. ¡°Ten years? Where did you get that number?¡±

    ¡°The Lord of the Dreamrealm told me.¡±

    ¡°The Lord of the Dreamrealm?¡± The Blood Ancestor seemed confused, as if it had never heard of that title before.

    Su Chen could only describe him further. ¡°He is capable of creating a realm of dreams that connects the consciousnesses of various living creatures.¡±

    ¡°Oh, the Dream God. Hmph, I can¡¯t believe that that old dog hasn¡¯t died yet from the constant torment he must be suffering in the Deep Freeze Prison,¡± the Blood Ancestor said with a derisive snort.

    Deep Freeze Prison?

    What was that?

    Su Chen was confused, but he could only go on to say, ¡°Not only is he not dead, but he seems to be quite active and energetic. Right now, every being on the Primordial Continent with some degree of strength can enter thework that he has created andmunicate with each other, even if only through words.¡±

    Su Chen then broadly exined what the Lord of the Dreamrealm had been up to in the past years.

    ¡°Oh! So that¡¯s why he¡¯s still alive.¡± The Blood Ancestor immediately understood the situation. ¡°That guy relies on consuming consciousness power to survive, and consciousness power is also the only thing that can pass through the Divine Power Prison. Thus, he is probably living the mostfortably out of all the gods right now. A Dreamrealm, huh? Hehe, I¡¯m impressed that you were able toe up with a way to extract consciousness power.¡±

    Divine Power Prison?

    What was that?

    Su Chen grew more and more confused as the Blood Ancestor tossed out another unfamiliar term. He could only ask, ¡°Blood Ancestor, what are the Divine Power Prison and Deep Freeze Prison?¡±

    ¡°The prisons that are keeping them locked up, of course. What else could they be? Do you not understand what the word ¡®prison¡¯ means?¡± the Blood Ancestor countered disparagingly.

    Su Chen froze for a moment before slowly asking, ¡°Are you telling me that the gods are currently imprisoned?¡±

    ¡°Naturally.¡±

    The Blood Ancestor¡¯s matter-of-fact tone sent Su Chen reeling.

    What the hell?

    Hadn¡¯t they been temporarily living somewhere else?

    Since when had they been thrown in prison?

    Su Chen stared at the Blood Ancestor with an expression of shock written on his face.

    The Blood Ancestor then said, ¡°Before I exin what I know to you, tell me what you know so far.¡±

    Su Chen could only exin what he had learned up to this point.

    Upon hearing the information that Su Chen possessed, the Blood Ancestor harrumphed scornfully. ¡°So Jia Luo was the one who fed you most of that information. However, it seems that his amnesia has made him mostly incoherent. The Deep Freeze Prison must not be entirely ineffective. Those guys should be having quite the difficult time, quite the difficult time indeed. Hahahaha!¡±

    The Blood Ancestor tilted its head back andughed uproariously, seemingly quite delighted.

    The Blood Turtles that Su Chen had sacrificed would let it stay awake for some time, so Su Chen was willing to wait patiently as the Blood Ancestor vented its emotions.

    After some time, the Blood Ancestor finally calmed down and said, ¡°Jia Luo is not entirely wrong, but we are not actually separated from the gods.¡±

    ¡°What? Not separated?¡±

    ¡°Yes. We, the Origin Beasts, like the gods, are also ancient creatures that came from this continent, and the two of us used to coinhabit thisnd,¡± the Blood Ancestor said confidently.

    ¡°But Jia Luo said that there was a world flourishing with Origin Energy at the center of the Origin Energy sea that was without life.¡±

    The Blood Ancestor chuckled. ¡°What world do you think they¡¯re referring to? It¡¯s the one beneath our very feet!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Su Chen was stunned by this revtion.

    ¡°I¡¯m saying that the Primordial Continent is smack-dab in the center of the Origin Energy Sea!¡± the Blood Ancestor clearly enunciated again.

    The Primordial Continent had once been called the Origin Realm.

    And its location in the center of the Origin Energy Sea meant that this realm was practically bursting with Origin Energy.

    Raw Origin Energy was extremely unstable, and an overabundance of it led to extreme climate conditions, making it hard for any kind of life to develop.

    But if it did, that lifeform would undoubtedly be an extraordinary one.

    The gods.

    The first god born in the Origin Realm named himself the Original One. Actually, all of the gods¡¯ names hade from him.

    The Original One was the Origin Realm¡¯s true Ancestor as well as the ancestor of all gods.

    He had been born from a storm and inherently possessed control over Method Power since his birth.

    At first, he wandered the Original Realm by himself, alone. Wherever he went, Method Power followed, blessing and bringing order to thend around him.

    And as thend became more and more ordered, life became easier and easier to sustain within the Origin Realm.

    One by one, more and more gods appeared on the continent.

    The wind and rain were at their beck and call. They could control the environment as if it were an extension of themselves, but no matter how strong they were, they could not defeat the Original One.

    In time, the Original One became known as the Origin Ancestor.

    Later generations were unaware of the distinction between the two different names, which was why he eventually came to be known solely as the Origin Ancestor. [1. In Chinese, the characters ¡°Ôª¡± and ¡°Ô´¡± have identical pronunciations and simr meanings. There is a subtle distinction, though, in that whereas ¡°Ôª¡± has connotations of ¡°first, original, or primary¡±, ¡°Ô´¡± means something more like ¡°root, source, or origin.¡± I tried to trante the two in a way that would capture the ¡°lost in trantion¡± effect that the author went for (even if it means that the Original One¡¯s name sounds a bit stupid).]

    In actuality, there was only a single Origin Ancestor ¡ª The Original One.

    Of course, referring to all gods as Origin Ancestors was understandable forter generations.

    This was the Origin Realm¡¯s golden era. The gods wandered the realm, peacefully living their own lives.

    Until one day, when the Original One died.

    His death waspletely due to natural causes. He was able to live for an extraordinarily long time, but he was not immortal.

    On the day that the Original One died, all of the gods came to know fear.

    Because they finally realized that death was a possibility for them too, and that even as gods, they could not escape it.

    The Original One¡¯s death was the first manifestation of death Method Power in the Origin Realm. From his death, Reaper Jia Luo was birthed, wielding thews of life and death. In some sense, it was appropriate to say that Reaper Jia Luo had been birthed by the Original One.

    The Original One¡¯s death not only brought about the Reaper, but it also created life in the form of new creatures.

    These genuine creatures did not rely on Method Power to be born. Instead, they appeared in the Origin Realm through an entirely different method.

    The first lifeform in the Origin Realm was discovered by the Moon Goddess.

    At that time, she was wandering through the Origin Energy Sea when she suddenly noticed a seed being born along by the waves.

    The Origin Energy Sea was turbulent and violent, but the seed appeared to bepletely unaffected by the raging waves. Instead, it floated calmly on the surface of the sea, allowing the waves to carry it into the Origin Realm.

    This seed was not affected by Origin Energy whatsoever.

    The Moon Goddess epted that seed purely out of curiosity.

    On the 1982nd day after she received the seed, a lifeform emerged from it.

    The first creature had appeared in the Origin Realm.

    This creature was a fish.

    The Moon Goddess eventually named it Kun. [2. A legendary fish in Chinese mythology that has the potential to eventually transform into a Roc.]

    Kun swam through the Origin Energy Sea as it pleased and lived off of Origin Energy.

    When it was first born, Kun was only the size of a palm. Very quickly, however, it grew and grew until it reached a size of tens of thousands of kilometers.

    But no matter howrge it grew, it always viewed the Moon Goddess as its mother, and relied on her greatly.

    The two of them wandered the Origin Realm together for a long time until one day, the Moon Goddess realized that she was also about to die.

    As one of the oldest deities alive, she was a part of the first group of gods who would die after the Original One.

    One the day that she died, the Moon Goddess stood on Kun¡¯s back.

    She dispersed all of her divine power into motes of light that infused themselves into Kun¡¯s body.

    Kun could sense its mother¡¯s death. With a mournful, keening cry, it dove into the depths of the sea, where ity motionless for a long time.

    Three hundred days after the Moon Goddess¡¯s death, Kun began to transform.

    Wings sprouted from its back, formed from the Moon Goddess¡¯s divine power. Its body also morphed into the shape of a Roc. The newly formed Roc then soared high into the sky and flew off into the distance, never to be seen again.

    But after the Roc disappeared, a new patch of ground appeared near the Origin Realm.

    This newnd was over ten thousand square kilometers in size and was located just off to the side of the Origin Realm, near the Lakelight Cliff that the Moon Goddess had loved to frequent.

    Some gods believed that thisnd had emerged from Kun¡¯s corpse after it died.

    So, the gods named that ce the Kun territory.

    After an unknown period of time, new creatures began appearing on the Kun territory.

    The Origin Beasts.

    All of the Origin Beasts originated from the Kun territory, because it was only there that they were protected from the violent storms that afflicted the Origin Energy Sea.

    The Original One¡¯s Method Power and Kun¡¯s will ensured that the storms would not breach the boundaries of the Kun territory.

    Additionally, Method Power¡¯s influence in this continent was likewise weakened, and Origin Energy became much more stable, fulfilling the necessary conditions for life to be brought forth.

    Even so, the only creatures that were able to survive in this newnd were the extremely powerful Origin Beasts. After all, its ¡°peacefulness¡± was only rtive to the turmoil that the rest of the Origin Energy Sea experienced. Compared to today¡¯s standards, the environment in the Kun territory back then was still extremely harsh.

    At this point, the identity of the very first Origin Beast had long been forgotten, because they appeared in droves.

    They were birthed by the environment and possessed boundless power, butcked intelligence.

    After the gods discovered them, they were quite amused. The perpetually solitary and lonesome gods had finally found a source of entertainment.

    At first, the gods and the Beasts coexisted quite peacefully.

    In human terms, it was quite simr to the rtionship between a pet and its owner.

    However, the gods were much more powerful than a mere owner.

    But the gods did not really have any desire to do anything with this power of theirs, because they had everything they could ever want, apart from immortality.

    Even so, it was around that time that a new discovery changed everything.

    This new discovery came from the new Moon Goddess.

    After the old Moon Goddess had died, the Origin Realm had given birth to a new Moon Goddess.

    Like the old Moon Goddess, the new Moon Goddess enjoyed thepany of the Origin Beasts, and was the happiest around them.

    Of these, the Moon Goddess¡¯s favorite pet was an ape.

    The Divine Eye Ape.

    Yes, the very same Divine Eye Ape that the Arcanists sourced their bloodline from.

    In the eyes of the Moon Goddess, this mighty Divine Eye Ape was nothing more than a cute and mischievous monkey.

    The Moon Goddess particrly cherished it, and as a result, spoiled it heavily.

    The two of them constantly apanied each other and quickly became good friends.

    In fact, the Divine Eye Ape was often reluctant to leave the Moon Goddess¡¯s side. It would do whatever the Moon Goddess requested it to do.

    In order to win the Moon Goddess¡¯s affection, it would even attack other Origin Beasts.

    It was during one such asion that the Moon Goddess discovered a strange power connecting them.

    This power was impossible to describe with just words alone. It was extremely mysterious and profound.

    More importantly, however, it could extend a god¡¯s lifespan.

    In other words, it could give them eternal life.

 Book 7, 53: Ancient History (2)

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 53: Ancient History (2)</h4>

    Even gods were not immortal.

    This was because, before they discovered divine power, the gods were not actually gods.

    Before the gods discovered divine power, the gods and Origin Beasts had been, in some sense, on the same level. The gods, however, had been born in the storms of Origin Energy and better understood how to use Method Power.

    The first bit of divine power that the Moon Goddess ever received came from the Divine Eye Ape.

    This piqued the Moon Goddess¡¯s interest, and she quickly ran a variety of different experiments to explore what exactly Divine Power was.

    She soon discovered that divine power was produced through faith. Without faith, there would be no divine power to speak of.

    As such, the Moon Goddess began to search out and persuade other Origin Beasts to worship her.

    The Moon Goddess started umting divine power at an ever increasing rate, and she grew more and more powerful as she did so. Most importantly, she had stopped aging, and she would not die.

    This made the Moon Goddess incredibly happy.

    At the time, the Moon Goddess wanted nothing more than to live for as long as she could.

    Slowly but surely, however, she began to grow dissatisfied.

    Because she had realized that the maximum divine power she could gather through faith was limited. As time passed and her strength increased, the amount of divine power that she needed to sustain her divinity also grew. In other words, the longer she lived, the more divine power was required for her to continue living.

    The number of Origin Beasts was limited, so the amount of divine power that they could provide was limited as well.

    More importantly, the other gods were beginning to catch onto her secret and had started gathering their own groups of Origin Beast worshippers.

    This made the Moon Goddess incredibly anxious.

    The gods began to fight with one another over the Origin Beasts, who were pampered and treated like royal pets.

    This all came to an end, however, when yet another discovery was made.

    No one knew who made this discovery, but news spread very quickly, mostly because it was virtually impossible to conceal ¡ª killing Origin Beasts provided even more divine power.

    Faith was still the foundation of divine power, but absorbing it through proffered sacrifices was actually the most efficient method to do so.

    The amount of divine power that an Origin Beast sacrifice provided was extremely great, and it wouldst a god for a long time. The properties of Kun territory also meant that new Origin Beasts would be birthed spontaneously every so often.

    This cycle was then harnessed by the gods for them to obtain their necessary nourishment.

    Thus, the Origin Beasts¡¯ status went from pets to food.

    Food for gods.

    In order to obtain eternal life, all of the gods, even the Moon Goddess, who supposedly loved to y with her pets, began to hunt these Origin Beasts.

    The sudden change in the rtionship dynamic wounded the Origin Beasts¡¯ pride greatly. They would not allow themselves to be hunted like dogs, which was why they began to retaliate against the gods.

    Even though they didn¡¯t have divine power or Method Power, the blessing of the Origin Energy Sea gave them incrediblyrge physiques and impable control over Origin Energy.

    The two sides were soon embroiled in a fierce battle.

    This battle was so intense that it caused the very sky to tremble and the earth to quake. Eventually, however, the gods emerged victorious.

    A majority of the Origin Beasts were subsequently captured and tamed as livestock that provided the gods with divine power while a small number managed to escape and hide deep under the Origin Energy Sea.

    But the gods soon discovered that, over the course of their battle, the realm had sustained a significant amount of damage. The previous center of the Origin Energy Sea had been shifted to another realm, causing the Origin Energy density in the Origin Realm to decrease.

    At the beginning, this was a good thing.

    The decreasing Origin Energy density significantly calmed the turbulent Origin Energy waves within the Origin Realm, making it much more peaceful.

    This peacefulness allowed for even more creatures to spring to life.

    New Origin Beasts constantly came into being in Kun territory, but their general strength was declining as a response to the constantly changing Origin Realm.

    Even though the gods had gained dominion over the Origin Beasts, they were still dissatisfied.

    Their need for divine power was simply too great, and there were far too few Origin Beasts to meet that need. The Origin Beasts¡¯ reproductive rates were also declining, and that wasn¡¯t even mentioning the fact that the Origin Beasts were beginning to weaken and be more and more like modern-day Deste Beasts due to the natural process of evolution.

    The gods fought amongst each other for control of the Origin Beasts a number of times. At this point, the Origin Beasts had essentially be resources that were fought over.

    This continued until the second Sky Goddess¡¯ appearance.

    This second Sky Goddess was birthed a thousand years after the death of the first Sky Goddess. As a newly birthed goddess, she was significantly weaker than the rest, and she had very few opportunities to garner any Divine Power from Origin Beasts. She could only closely guard the single Origin Light Sabertooth that she possessed.

    For a long time, the second Sky Goddess remained extremely obscure.

    Until one day, when the barbaric Tyrant God suddenly tried to forcefully im this Sky Goddess in a moment of hot-bloodedness.

    Shockingly, he was defeated.

    And he had been so soundly defeated that a single finger strike from the Sky Goddess was enough to im his life.

    It was only then that the other gods realized that the Sky Goddess had somehow obtained an incredible amount of divine power. Her true power was so immense that she was actually one of the most powerful gods in the entire realm.

    But she only possessed a single Origin Beast follower, so where had her vast store of divine powere from?

    A few of the more curious gods carefully observed her every action and movement until they finally discovered her secret.

    The Sky Goddess had created a new lifeform at some point in time.

    These lifeforms were extremely weak and tiny, but they did offer one major benefit: they could reproduce on their own, without any help from the environment. And because these lifeforms were very weak and had short life spans, their reproductive abilities were exceptionally high. In just a hundred years, they had already formed a sizable poption.

    Even though these creatures individually provided much less divine power than an Origin Beast, their numbers more than made up for the deficiency, and they were ultimately the reason why the Sky Goddess¡¯s strength had skyrocketed.

    This was the secret behind the Sky Goddess¡¯s sudden increase in strength.

    Soon after that, the gods also figured out that Sky Goddess hadbined her bloodline with the Origin Light Sabertooth to create these creatures.

    When the gods made this discovery, they quickly began their own secret experiments to produce more efficient and more robust races that would supply them with more divine power.

    The Sky Goddess eventually became known as the Mother Goddess.

    Not long afterwards, the Mystic Armor Beast and the Dream God¡¯s bloodlinebined to produce the Mystics; the Immortal Enlightenment and the Nature God¡¯s bloodlinebined to produce the Dryads; the Divine Eye Ape and the Moon Goddess¡¯s bloodlinebined to produce the Astrals; the Savage Tyrant and the War God¡¯s bloodlinebined to produce the Ravagers; the Nightmare Spirit and the Darkness God¡¯s bloodlinebined to produce the Dark Astrals; the Illusive Feather and the Sky Goddess¡¯s bloodlinebined to produce the Harpies; and the Scaled Flood Dragon and the Sea God¡¯s bloodlinebined to produce the Oceanids.

    At the peak of activity, hundreds of unique races popted the Origin Realm. Each god had their own race, and some even had multiple.

    The Mother Goddess was one such god that had multiple worshipping races ¡ª the Harpies were just the most sessful race that she had produced.

    Sess from the gods¡¯ point of view was a direct measure of how much divine power that race provided them with.

    The gods were constantly attempting to maximize the divine power from their vassal races.

    They very quickly discovered that the amount of divine power that a race could provide was not only linked to the creature¡¯s strength, but also its intelligence.

    The higher both attributes were, the more divine power that race could supply.

    This was why the Mother Goddess could use a weaker race to rece the Origin Beasts ¡ª they were much weaker, but their intelligence was also greater.

    It tookrge amounts of resources to raise powerful creatures, but intelligent creatures required rtively less resources for the same output of divine power.

    Thus, Intelligent creatures were the superior choice when it came to the divine-power-to-price ratio.

    As such, the gods began to fiercely pump out race after race of intelligent creatures.

    During that period of time, a creature¡¯s potential divine power output was basically entirely determined by their intelligence, and thus, a god¡¯s vassal races¡¯ intelligence also became the standard by which the god¡¯s power was measured.

    The Mother Goddess, Dream God, and Moon Goddess, who had been quite unassuming in the past, suddenly soared to unprecedented heights with this change in how divine power was acquired.

    The Mother Goddess was the first to create a subservient race, the Dream God relied on his unique consciousness powers to increase the intelligence of his creatures, and the Moon Goddess used her bewitching powers to obtain more sacrifices from her creatures. Later on, the Mother Goddess also utilized this method to increase her divine power as well.

    This was a golden age for the Origin Realm, and it was also the gods¡¯ most productive period of time.

    The Origin Beasts were their livestock and their vassal races were food, both constantly working to extend their lifespan.

    Even so, once they reached the top, there was nowhere else to go but down.

    The Origin Realm continued to drift away from the center of the Origin Energy Sea. The realm¡¯s Origin Energy continued to thin not because it was flowing out of the realm, but rather because the realm was losing the Origin Energy Sea¡¯s support.

    Until one day, the Origin Realm beached itself.

    From that point onwards, Origin Energy would only flow out of the realm and never in.

    The rapidly declining Origin Energy within the world also began affecting the gods, causing them to fall into a panic.

    They wanted to return to the center of the Origin Energy Sea. Having divine power without Origin Energy was like only eating meat and neglecting vegetables. Doing so for an extended amount of time would result in heavy health problems.

    But it was toote to try to find a solution now.

    The Origin Energy Sea had never been calm, and even the gods would be torn asunder by the violent storms that constantly raged on it ¡ª the gods may have be immortal, but that didn¡¯t mean that they were invincible.

    Suddenly, an unprecedented idea was put forth.

    The Kun territory!

    The Kun territory was the only ce that was unaffected by the Origin Energy Sea¡¯s violent storms.

    If they could transform the Kun territory into a boat and use it to drag the Origin Realm back to the center of the Origin Energy Sea, then everything would return to normal.

    This was a good idea in principle. Even though the Kun territory was a bit too weak to tow an entire realm by itself, the gods would be able to support it and help it along.

    The Kun territory would protect the gods from the raging winds of the sea while the gods provided the necessary power to mobilize the territory.

    The gods¡¯ power was clearly demonstrated by the fact that they actually managed to move the Origin Realm slightly.

    Slowly but surely, the Origin Realm inched towards the center of the Origin Energy Sea. Even though this process expended quite a bit of energy, the n was considered a sess.

    But no one could have foreseen what happened next.

    The Origin Beasts, who had always been somewhatcking in intelligence, suddenly gained intelligence and the ability to think critically, allowing them to restart their fight against the gods.

    The way they rebelled was very simple, yet effective.

    They immediately severed the connection between the Kun territory and the Origin Realm. The Kun territory thus became a giant prison that was to be cast away into the violent throes of the Origin Energy Sea for all eternity.

    But the gods were also extremely powerful, and they reacted instantly despite the Origin Beasts¡¯ best attempt to surprise them.

    Just as the Kun territory was about to be swept away, the gods joined hands to submerge the Kun territory and attach it to the Origin Realm from below, locking the twondmasses together once more.

    But because they were now submerged within the depths of the Origin Energy Sea, even the Kun territory could no longer shield them from the seething liquid Origin Energy surrounding them. The gods were forced to erect a barrier to iste them from their surroundings and protect their hideout from the turbulent Origin Energy. This was the only way for them to cling to survival.

    This was the origin of the Barrier of the Gods.

    The Barrier of the Gods was a cage confining the gods, but it was also what they relied on to stay alive.

 Book 7, 54: Countermeasures

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 54: Countermeasures</h4>

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡±

    Su Chen felt extremely enlightened after hearing the Blood Ancestor¡¯s exnation.

    Even though the Origin Beasts had sessfully expelled the gods, it turns out that they had been forced into hibernation because the gods¡¯ n to migrate the Origin Realm back to the center of the Origin Energy Sea had failed.

    But before then, they had enjoyed a period of rtive ease.

    Just like the gods who had enved them, the Origin Beasts used their might to enve the thousands of races left behind. For the Intelligent Races, this was the Dark Ages of their history.

    Sometimes, suffering would only make an individual harsher instead ofpassionate.

    ¡°So what is the Eternal Treaty?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± the Blood Ancestor replied with a shake of its head. ¡°That probably took ce after the gods were confined to the Kun territory.¡±

    Su Chen said, ¡°Maybe I should rephrase my question. The gods have been locked up in there for at least a hundred thousand years by now, right? Without any sources of divine power, they should not be able to live for that long. So why are they still even alive? Are there new gods being born, and are the current gods not the same ones that you all fought against?¡±

    The Blood Ancestor immediately replied, ¡°That¡¯s impossible. The Deep Freeze Prison¡¯s environment is not conducive to birthing gods, so they must be the same gods that I remember. There can only be one exnation as to why they are still alive: they must still have a source of divine power.¡±

    Su Chen was immediately reminded of the Moon Sovereign¡¯s sacrifices, the strange glowing statue within the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s headquarters, and the magnificent Dreamrealm created by the Lord of the Dreamrealm.

    Su Chen somewhat understood the situation after analyzing it more closely. ¡°So the Barrier of the Gods doesn¡¯tpletely cut them off from the Origin Realm. One way or another, the gods are able to find loopholes in their istion. Between the Dream God¡¯s Dreamrealm, the Moon Goddess¡¯s bewitching, and the Mother Goddess¡¯s religion...... They all have ways to continue receiving divine power. Even though it isn¡¯t much, it is enough to allow them to survive.¡±

    ¡°The Kun territory must also still be giving birth to more Origin Beasts...... Even though no new gods will be created, new Beasts will still appear. As long as they use them sparingly, they should be able to survive.¡±

    ¡°And if that¡¯s still not enough, they can always throttle their resource consumption,¡± the Blood Ancestor said.

    ¡°How can they do that?¡± Su Chen asked curiously.

    The Blood Ancestor chuckled darkly. ¡°The tiny Kun territory cannot sustain hundreds of gods, but a smaller number should still be possible.¡±

    Su Chen immediately recalled Jia Luo¡¯s current status.

    Who had turned this Reaper into a shell of his former self?

    At first, Su Chen had thought that it was the Origin Beasts.

    But now, he knew that it wasn¡¯t them.

    It was actually the gods themselves.

    While the gods continued attempting to exert influence on the Origin Realm, they also fought against one another over the limited amount of resources and Origin Beasts in the Kun territory . They were lowering their overall consumption of divine energy by lowering the number of gods inhabiting the territory!

    Su Chen¡¯s gaze grew frosty. ¡°I think that I¡¯m beginning to get a better idea of what the Eternal Treaty is all about.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± The Blood Ancestor also seemed to understand. ¡°Like the Barrier of the Gods, it must have also been for self-preservation.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a very likely possibility,¡± Su Chen agreed with a slight smile. ¡°But it doesn¡¯t surprise me that the gods were willing to do anything just to survive.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± the Blood Ancestor replied with a nod, ¡°Now that a hundred thousand years have passed, the Kun Territory is beginning to merge with the Origin Realm once more, and there is no longer a need for the Barrier of the Gods to exist. Once it is fully destroyed, the gods will return.¡±

    ¡°They can¡¯t destroy it themselves?¡±

    ¡°That barrier was created by a few hundred gods with their full strength. I don¡¯t know how many gods are left, but I imagine that theyck the strength to fully destroy it, which is why they have no choice but to wait for time to erode it away.¡±

    All of the effort that they had put into protecting themselves had ended up imprisoning them. The barrier was being eroded away under the constant assault of Origin Energy, however, which gave the gods an opportunity to return.

    But as time passed, the new owners of the Origin Realm no longer wanted their former masters toe back.

    Su Chen said, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then shouldn¡¯t we team up? Do you still have any objections to this?¡±

    The Blood Ancestor chuckled coldly as it replied, ¡°Team up? Do you not understand why I told you all that? We are simply not qualified to be their opponents. Even in the past, the gods steamrolled us due to their control over divine power and Method Power. Don¡¯t delude yourself by thinking that you¡¯ll be able to defeat them just because you¡¯ve made some progress in your cultivation. Even with Sky City, I would be quite impressed if you could defeat one of us Ancestors. As for a god? Don¡¯t even think about it.¡±

    Su Chen seriously replied, ¡°Won¡¯t they be much weaker after being confined in Deep Freeze Prison for a hundred thousand years?¡±

    The Blood Ancestor replied, ¡°I understand where you areing from. Yes, their strength will have regressed, perhaps even to the point where they¡¯ll be weaker than a Deste Beast. However, trust me when I say that the gods¡¯ strength doesn¡¯t lie in just their power. Rather, their most terrifying aspect is their limitless potential. As long as they return, they will immediately begin regaining massive amounts of divine power. They can harvest divine power through battle and ughter, which will allow them to grow stronger at an unstoppable pace. Unless you can kill all of them at once, there is nothing you will be able to do other than watch them grow stronger than beyond your wildest imagination. That growth will show you the true meaning of despair!¡±

    Su Chen fell silent.

    The Blood Ancestor waspletely right.

    The gods might have been weakened, but they would definitely recover their former strength.

    Kill them all in a single blow?

    Forget about it. Even if the gods had be as weak as a Deste Beast, could Su Chen kill a Deste Beast in a single blow?

    Of course not.

    Even the Blood Ancestor couldn¡¯t.

    So if neither of them could aplish this, then the gods would quickly show Su Chen just how high their peak power really was.

    Their rate of growth was enough to cause anyone to fall into despair.

    There was nothing surprising about that.

    The prospect of facing an Origin Beast was already enough to cause the human armies to fall into despair, not to mention facing the gods, who were even more powerful.

    Su Chen fell silent.

    Even though he already knew that the gods were exceptionally powerful, the deluge of information that he had just received made him feel he was being crushed by an unstoppable pressure.

    But did that mean that he should just give up?

    Su Chen was unwilling to ept that possibility.

    He had been fighting valiantly for the human race¡¯s sake his whole life.

    He had managed toplete an entire series of bloodlineless cultivation techniques, a feat that everyone else had deemed impossible. And now, the path of cultivation was open to everyone.

    The human race was about to enter a period of unprecedented growth.

    And he was being told to give up now?

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t and wouldn¡¯t.

    He refused to ept such an oue no matter what.

    As Su Chen continued to ponder the situation in silence, the Blood Ancestor did the same.

    Actually, how could the Blood Ancestor calmly ept such an oue?

    Hadn¡¯t the Origin Beastsin dormant for a hundred thousand years for the express purpose of stopping the gods¡¯ return?

    But now that the return of the gods was imminent, the Blood Ancestor¡¯s will was suddenly struck by doubt and ack of self-confidence.

    Fight against the gods?

    That was simply too difficult!

    The power that these gods could wield had left an indelible mark in his mind. Even a hundred thousand years could not erase that impression.

    What the Blood Ancestor wanted was merely to put up a good fight, not to win.

    Fear had destroyed any hope he may have ever held of winning.

    This may also be the reason why he was willing to exin all of these things to Su Chen in such great detail.

    In the face of the Barrier¡¯s imminent copse, the war between the Beasts and the Intelligent Races was no longer as important.

    But just because it had given up didn¡¯t mean that Su Chen would too.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Su Chen said, ¡°There¡¯s still one thing that I don¡¯t quite understand.¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    ¡°Where did your intelligencee from?¡±

    The Origin Beasts originally possessed no intelligence. Like the Deste Beasts, all they once had were their instincts and low-level mental functions.

    The sudden increase in intelligence and reasoning that they had gained was a little shocking, to say the least.

    Su Chen¡¯s question caught the Blood Ancestor slightly off guard. After a long time, it replied, ¡°To be honest, I¡¯m not really sure myself. I just remember suddenly having it, as if I had been enlightened overnight.¡±

    ¡°But even if you suddenly gained intelligence, how did you alle up with this n so quickly?¡± Su Chen continued asking.

    Intelligence was nothing without sufficient experience and knowledge as a foundation. Even the most intelligent person in the world would behave like aplete barbarian otherwise.

    Severing the connection between the Origin Realm and the Kun territory was not an idea that could be conceived of through pure intelligence alone.

    The Blood Ancestor had no answer to this question.

    Even the ancient Origin Beasts couldn¡¯t possibly know all of the secrets that this universe contained.

    But Su Chen seemed to have realized something from the Blood Ancestor¡¯sck of an answer.

    He then asked, ¡°So whatbination of Origin Beast and deity produced the humans?¡±

    A thoughtful expression appeared on the Blood Ancestor¡¯s face.

    After a long time, it slowly replied, ¡°Strange, why can¡¯t I remember? It¡¯s almost like......¡±

    ¡°Like someone erased that part of your memories?¡± Su Chen interjected.

    The Blood Ancestor opened and closed its mouth a few times, seemingly at a loss for words, but it didn¡¯t deny Su Chen¡¯s assertion.

    Su Chen smiled slightly.

    That slight smile was an expression of his joy and confidence.

    It was as if spring hade after a long winter, an oasis had appeared in the desert, or a terminally ill patient¡¯s heart had suddenly begun to beat again......

    An irrepressible joy that came from seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!

    The Blood Ancestor was mystified by Su Chen¡¯s ted expression. ¡°Why are you smiling? Is there anything I said that¡¯s worth smiling over?¡±

    Su Chen vaguely replied, ¡°There are some questions that I was never fully able to wrap my head around. Now, however, I realize that the answers were before my very eyes. This makes me quite happy.¡±

    ¡°What answers?¡±

    ¡°Answers to a difficult problem that has gued me for virtually my entire life, and also the answer to defeating our enemy.¡±

    The Blood Ancestor didn¡¯t understand the first half of Su Chen¡¯s cryptic statement, but the second half was extremely clear.

    ¡°What did you say? A way for us to defeat our enemy?¡± the Blood Ancestor hurriedly asked in anticipation.

    ¡°Yes, a way of defeating our enemy. Perhaps there might be a way for us to deal with the gods after all,¡± Su Chen replied confidently.

    ¡°Hahahaha!¡± The Blood Ancestor began tough, but out of derision instead of happiness. ¡°How arrogant. So just how are you going to defeat the gods, pray tell? Stop spouting nonsense. You won¡¯t be able to deal with them.¡±

    ¡°Oh really?¡± Su Chen shot back. ¡°And what if I do?¡±

    ¡°Then I will obey you unquestioningly and give youmand over every Origin Beast at my disposal! To defeat the gods, I would even sacrifice myself,¡± the Blood Ancestor replied decisively.

    This was not an empty statement. Regardless of the situation, the Origin Beasts would die if they hibernated for too long.

    If they could aplish something that they should havepleted a long time ago before their death, then death was a worthy price to pay.

    Su Chen said, ¡°My method is very simple. Since the gods will regain their divine power before they return, then why don¡¯t we just ughter our way to them before they have a chance to recover?¡±

    ughter his way over to them!

    That was Su Chen¡¯s decision.

    Instead of waiting for the gods¡¯ inevitable return, why not seize the opportunity to attack?

    The Blood Ancestor was clearly surprised by such a proposition. ¡°But the Barrier is still active, separating us from them. How can we cross over to their side? You don¡¯t even know where the Barrier is physically located.¡±

    ¡°Well, I guess I¡¯ll need the help of a friend then.¡±

    ¡°What friend?¡±

    ¡°A friend who has crossed through the Barrier before.¡±

 Book 7, 55: Smooth and Steady

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 55: Smooth and Steady</h4>

    Spring hade exceptionally this year. As the ground began to warm, the many different forms of life that hadin dormant during the winter began to flourish once more.

    Northface City was bustling with activity as well. The annual Spring de Festival was starting soon, and each house was fully decorated with gaudy, elegantnterns. The sound ofughter and celebration filled the air.

    This year, however, the atmosphere was slightly different.

    The good news of the human race¡¯s triumph had spread far and wide by this point.

    Apparently, the Boundless Sect¡¯s armies had not only swept their way through the wilds inhabited by the Beasts, but had even subjugated the Harpies and exterminated a number of Deste Beasts.

    Of course, the final notice was also the most important: all taxation and forcedbor would be suspended for three years to give them a time of rest.

    To many of the country¡¯s citizens, this piece of information was even more important than the human race¡¯s triumph. It was only natural that this year¡¯s celebration would be even more lively than usual.

    Apparently, this decision had been made because of the sudden influx of rare and valuable resources from Beast-controlled areas.

    The Boundless Sect also fully released the bloodline-less cultivation techniques. Now, anyone amongst the Seven Kingdoms could cultivate them.

    In the past, an adequate supply of cultivation resources was hard toe by, but with the taming of the wilds and the lifting of taxation policies, resources were much more avable, making it easier for cultivators to ascend.

    Apparently, the Sect Master was still not satisfied, and he had personally gone to visit the Oceanids in an attempt to open yet another trading route.

    Currently, the entire human race was now under the rule of this Sect Master.

    Even though the Seven Kingdoms still existed, each with their own ruler, everyone knew that only Sect Master was at the very height.

    The tea pavilions, the wine taverns, and other public gathering areas were filled with an air of rejoicing. Even the beggars lining the streets and the prostitutes in the brothels were happy - the dispelling of forcedbor had made their lives much easier, and they were able to save up more money as a result.

    There was perhaps only one n that was excluded from this celebration.

    The Su n.

    In theory, the Su n¡¯s status should have risen in a meteoric fashion due to Su Chen¡¯s current status.

    But the reality was that the Su n had not changed in the slightest.

    Not a single member of the n had ascended to meteoric heights or descended to the lowest depths.

    The Su n was still the Su n, as steady and stagnant as always, in a way that almost belied their status as arge n in Northface City. In fact, even their wealth and status had remained entirely the same.

    Of course, this was all because of Su Chen.

    Some had once asked Su Chen how he nned on dealing with the Su n.

    Su Chen¡¯s reply was to neither support nor suppress them. They would be treated like they had always been treated.

    As a result, they were treated with the utmost fairness, resulting in the current state of affairs.

    No one would ever bully them, but no one would ever give them preferential treatment either.

    In fact, they were treated so fairly that it was a little eerie.

    The Su n¡¯s servants could only buy vegetables at market price - no higher and no lower.

    They would be treated with both politeness and formality whenever they were conducting business.

    The Su n would always be invited to the city¡¯s important affairs, and their status would be honored, but no one would ever invite them to personal gatherings.

    It was as if they didn¡¯t exist!

    This was extremely difficult for the Su n¡¯s members to bear.

    But this was not the most important factor.

    No, the most important factor was that, underneath this mask of calm was disdain, ridicule, and contempt.

    Su Chen¡¯s rtionship with the Su n was not a secret in Northface City. Everyone, from the old to the young, knew about this story.

    For this reason, everyone scorned the Su n for pushing aside their pir of support, even if they refused to say so openly.

    If people¡¯s thoughts could be heard, then the entire Northface City would likely be filled with the sounds of ridicule and mocking.

    How could the Su n¡¯s members have any joy remaining in their hearts?

    ¡°Pei!¡±

    Su Hao spat on the ground as he nced at the bustling outside world, then flicked his sleeves and returned to the main hall.

    The Su n¡¯s hall was quite busy as well.

    The Su residence¡¯s inhabitants were gathering in the hall to celebrate the new year.

    Su Feihu sat at the top seat and greeted all the guests. The formerly youthful physique he had possessed had withered significantly due to old age. His mind was still sharp, and he was in a good mood. As the n¡¯s juniors all bowed and paid their respects to him, he smiled and said, ¡°Good, good. Very good.¡±

    Once the greetings had been given, everyone sat down at their respective seats.

    Su Feihu nced around, then asked, ¡°Why isn¡¯t Eldest Brother here?¡±

    Naturally, he was asking after Su Cheng¡¯an.

    One of the maidservants stood and said, ¡°My Lord is not feeling well and is currently resting in his room.¡±

    Su Feihu shook his head. ¡°Not feeling well? I think that his difort ising from his heart. It¡¯s been so many years, yet he still is unable to let that go, huh? Well, let him do as he pleases.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    Su Feihu¡¯s gaze appeared almost electric as he gazed at everyone. ¡°I know that you all hate this oue. The greater his status is, the more difficult it will be for you to bear. But trust me, this is for the best.¡±

    The juniors all lowered their heads in silence, obviously not taking his words to heart.

    Su Feihu¡¯s wife spoke up. ¡°Alright, alright. Today should be a day of celebration. Forget all of this heavy talk. Come, let¡¯s eat.¡±

    Everyone lowered their heads and began to eat.

    Even the atmosphere of the meal, however, seemed stale and stagnant.

    Su Feihu was the only one who didn¡¯t mind.

    After eating, Su Feihu immediately went out into the courtyard, sipping on his tea as he smelled the roses he had nted.

    Just as he was enjoying himself quite immensely, a wind blew past him.

    Su Feihu discovered that his surroundings had be totally silent, as if time had stopped.

    The flowers had stopped swaying, water had stopped flowing, and even the wind had stopped blowing.

    Su Feihu was not surprised by this, and he smiled slightly. ¡°Chen¡¯er, are you back?¡±

    There was no response.

    Su Feihu chuckled. ¡°Come on out. I know that it¡¯s you.¡±

    The silence persisted, but Su Chen¡¯s figure gradually began to materialize out of thin air.

    He stood there silently, as if he had been there this whole time.

    Su Feihuughed when he saw Su Chen. ¡°You finally know toe back and pay us a visit. It¡¯s been three years since thest time, right?¡±

    During the past few years, Su Chen had secretly returned to Northface City a few times to see Su Feihu. Each time, however, they would only talk for a brief period of time before Su Chen would leave.

    Because he would alwayse by just before the new year, Su Feihu was used to his appearing. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to identify Su Chen so easily.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been busytely and haven¡¯t had much time to see you, Uncle.¡± Su Chen walked to where Su Feihu was sitting and sat down next to him.

    The gentle breeze resumed, the flowers continued their swaying dance, and the water began to burble once more. Anyone who passed by, however, would not be able to see Su Chen sitting there.

    Su Feihu chuckled, ¡°Your ability to hide yourself seems to have improved again.¡±

    Su Feihu said this because now people could still see him, but they could not see him talking to Su Chen. This was quite an extraordinary feat.

    Su Chen replied, ¡°I¡¯ll teach you if you want to learn, Uncle.¡±

    Su Feihuughed and waved his hand. ¡°There¡¯s no need. I¡¯m getting old anyways, and I don¡¯t have the heart to continue advancing any longer. I just want to calmly and quietly live out the rest of my days on the rest of this earth. That is good enough for me.¡±

    ¡°Just because you like it doesn¡¯t mean others will,¡± Su Chen said.

    Actually, Su Chen had already forgiven the Su n quite some time ago for what they had done for him. In fact, he had even tried to free them from the current situation they were in.

    Su Feihu, however, didn¡¯t want that.

    He had been the one to propose the ¡°neither suppress nor support¡± idea.

    Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯sment, Su Feihu disdainfully replied, ¡°Who cares if they don¡¯t like it? They just want to borrow your influence and soar to new heights. I refuse to let them have their way. Chen¡¯er, reaching the peak is not easy. How many powerful, talented heroes were eventually weighed down by those around them? These rtives of yours were not able to help you at all in your moment of need, but now that you¡¯ve achieved something they are swarming like mosquitoes to a fresh source of blood. The better you treat them, the more trouble you will bring yourself. Of course, if you wanted to, you could raise the Su n to unprecedented heights with a wave of your hands, but whose blood would they be sucking? Not only yours, but the entire human races! And whose reputation would they be destroying? Yours, of course! I¡¯m very happy that you¡¯ve forgiven them for what they¡¯ve done in the past. But I cannot allow you to bear them as a burden just because of that. I won¡¯t be able to help you with much, but I can at least make sure that they won¡¯t bother you.¡±

    Su Chen nced at Su Feihu, his eyes slightly wet with tears.

    Su Feihu truly cared about him. This was why he didn¡¯t want the Su n to be a burden to him, and why he had so decisively severed their connection.

    Su Chen very much wanted to say that he could avoid what Su Feihu was talking about by treating them more severely, but he knew that that was basically impossible.

    Money was meant to be spent; authority was meant to be used.

    Otherwise, what was the point of trying to earn either?

    Su Chen¡¯s ambitions were great, and he had no time to worry about watching over these people. Even Su Feihu might not want to - after all, he had overseen the Su n for far too long, and he knew their hearts. Give them an inch, and they would take a mile.

    Treating them more severely orpletely cutting them off were both useless.

    The current status quo was for the best.

    ¡°Actually, taking things slow and steady like this is not a bad thing. The higher up you are, the greater the wind will be. No one knows when trouble wille looking for you. At the very least, no one has any intentions of messing with us, and no one will try to use us to deal with you. We are quite safe. Isn¡¯t that security what many of us are fighting for in our human life? I like the way things are. If those juniors want to live the high life, they¡¯ll have to work for it themselves. Giving up on some people who only know to cling to you as you rise is not a bad thing,¡± Su Feihu continued.

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°If Uncle says so, then I will obey. Right, how is he doing?¡±

    Su Feihu knew that he was asking about Su Cheng¡¯an.

    With a sigh, he replied, ¡°The knot in his heart has only grown tighter in recent years. I imagine he doesn¡¯t have much longer to live.¡±

 Book 7, 56: Religion

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 56: Religion</h4>

    Su Cheng¡¯any on his bed, his face extremely pale. Only the hair on his head was whiter. His entire appearance screamed as if he was about to die at any point in time.

    This should have been impossible given his cultivation base, but the knot in his heart had been unresolved for so many years.

    But just because he was like this didn¡¯t mean that he had be repentant in his old age.

    Admitting fault was a kind of humiliation, which was why it was also a prized virtue - not everyone could do it.

    Su Cheng¡¯any in his bed, slowly sipping at his tea as he smacked the side of his bed, cursing, ¡°You useless buffoon. How could you go and visit that brothel again? What¡¯s the point in going to that kind of ce?¡±

    Su Hao replied carelessly, ¡°Where else am I to go? To the gambling den? That ce is no fun at all. I can¡¯t win, and I can¡¯t even lose.¡±

    ¡°You useless bastard. All you can think about is gambling or spending time with whores. How could I have sired a useless son like you?¡±

    Su Hao retorted, ¡°How would you have found my mom if it weren¡¯t for the fact that you frequented brothels yourself? If it weren¡¯t for yoursciviousness, would the Su n still be in its current state? Yet you¡¯re telling me off......¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Su Cheng¡¯an was so infuriated that he almost spat out blood. He picked up the medicinal bowl in his hand and hurled it at Su Hao. ¡°You failure of a son! I can¡¯t believe that I...... for you......¡±

    Su Hao calmly wiped away the medicinal dregs on his face and harrumphed, ¡°You want to say that you gave up on Su Chen for my sake, right? Forget about it. You did that for no one but yourself.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t even mention that traitor in my midst!¡± Su Cheng¡¯an smacked his hand against the bed violently. ¡°I have no knowledge of such an unfilial son.¡±

    ¡°No one is filial in your eyes,¡± Su Hao muttered as he spun around and ignored him.

    ¡°You......¡± Su Cheng¡¯an pointed his finger at Su Hao for a long time but couldn¡¯t find the words to say. Finally, he spat out a mouthful of blood.

    A young man standing by his side hurriedly rushed over to Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s side. ¡°Father, please, calm down.¡±

    His name was Su Ming, and he was also Su Cheng¡¯an¡¯s son. His physique and cultivation, however, were only so-so.

    As he reached out to support Su Cheng¡¯an, however, Su Cheng¡¯an refused his aid. ¡°Get out of my sight! I don¡¯t need your help, you worthless trash. All of you, trash, unfilial sons!¡±

    Su Haoughed coldly. ¡°Hear that, Second Brother? I already told you that no one is filial in his eyes.¡±

    Su Ming lowered his head. ¡°No matter what, our father is our father. You shouldn¡¯t anger him like this. If you keep doing that, then......¡±

    Su Haoughed coldly. ¡°Then our bitter days will havee to an end.¡±

    Both Su Ming and Su Cheng¡¯an were stunned by his words.

    ¡°You......!¡± Su Cheng¡¯an stared at his beloved son in disbelief, only to find that his son was staring back at him with eyes full of hatred.

    Su Hao replied coldly, ¡°If you die, Su Chen might not hate us anymore, and our rtionship with him might be restored. I know you don¡¯t like to hear this, but most of the members of the n think this way as well.¡±

    ¡°Pu!¡±

    Su Cheng¡¯an spat out another mouthful of blood, this time substantially more so than before. It was obvious that these words had wounded him quite greatly.

    Su Ming hurriedly rushed forward once more as he cried out, ¡°Third Brother, what are you doing? Are you trying to kill Father?¡±

    Su Hao replied coldly, ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything. How could I kill him? If he dies, he can only me it on his anger. Actually, all the suspicion would fall on you, since you¡¯re the one holding him. I¡¯m not even touching him right now.¡±

    Su Ming was stunned.

    Su Hao nced at Su Cheng¡¯an. ¡°It seems like he¡¯s not going to be able to hold on for much longer. I¡¯d better leave to avoid suspicion.¡±

    As he spoke, he strode out of the room.

    Su Cheng¡¯an was totally speechless. He onlyy back down after Su Ming pushed him gently back onto the bed.

    Su Cheng¡¯an, Su Ming, and Su Hao were all unaware that there were two other people standing within the same room.

    Su Chen and Su Feihu.

    They were seemingly transparent. No one could see their presence, nor hear what they were seeing.

    As Su Feihu gazed at his elder brother, he let out a sigh. ¡°You see? This is why I say that the Su n does not need your support. If you let a useless individual like Su Hao gain such status, what harm do you think he will be capable of causing?¡±

    Even Su Chen was speechless.

    All kinds of birds could be found in arge enough forest.

    Virtually any n would possess individuals like Su Cheng¡¯an or Su Hao. Of course, others like Su Ming also existed.

    The problem was that one bad apple could spoil the whole bunch, and a single rat could ruin an entire bag of rice.

    Su Feihu knew this was the case, which was why he had insisted on the former conditions.

    He didn¡¯t want the Su n to be a burden on Su Chen. This was the love that should havee from a family member.

    As for Su Cheng¡¯an, Su Chen no longer harbored a trace of guilt towards him in the slightest.

    The old man still believed that it was Su Chen who was unfilial.

    This was not entirely strange.

    People were very good at ming others for their mistakes. Everything was always someone¡¯s fault.

    This was a kind of instinctual self-preservation. If a person refused to admit they were wrong, they would continue to do what they felt was right, making it easier for them to live with themselves.

    Many people pursued both physical and emotionalfort. Physicalfort was more obvious, while emotionalfort was much more hidden. As such, many people had a harder time figuring out how to face the reasonings of their own heart.

    Su Cheng¡¯an was obviously no exception.

    The stubbornness of an old man was on full disy. Unsurprisingly, this was also the reason that his physical condition had declined to this point.

    If everything was Su Chen¡¯s fault, then he, Su Cheng¡¯an, had done nothing wrong.

    That was all.

    As Su Cheng¡¯any on his bed, he continued to mutter, ¡°Unfilial son! Unfilial son!¡± No one knew if he was cursing Su Hao or Su Chen.

    Su Chen calmly observed for a little longer before finally pulling out a vial of medicine and cing it in Su Feihu¡¯s hand. ¡°No matter how you look at it, he¡¯s the one who gave me life in the first ce. Give this medicine to him, and he should recover shortly.¡±

    Su Feihu slowly epted the vial. ¡°You may have helped him recover this time, but what about next time? The longer he lives, the worse his condition will be. Your medicine will not be able to keep him alive forever, right?¡±

    ¡°The rest will be up to the Heavens,¡± Su Chen calmly replied, ¡°I will do what I can do. The oue will be whatever it is.¡±

    Su Feihu sighed and nodded. ¡°Yes, we should just let things take their natural course. But while you might be willing to follow the Heavens on this matter, you aren¡¯t on others. Am I right?¡±

    Su Chen was taken aback. ¡°What do you know?¡±

    Su Feihu smiled bitterly. ¡°I don¡¯t know anything, but I do know that you were never willing to meet him until today. There¡¯s definitely a reason for this.¡±

    Su Feihu continued, ¡°Also, there have been strange signs appearing all over the continent. Even though you have developed the bloodlineless cultivation techniques, religious worship only seems to be increasing.¡±

    ¡°Religious worship is increasing......¡± Su Chen squinted his eyes.

    Naturally, he was aware of exactly what was happening.

    The Barrier of the Gods was slowly but surely cracking, and divine power was beginning to influence the real world. In simple terms, the gods¡¯ ability to bypass the Barrier was increasing.

    In the past, the Mother Goddess could only provide the Harpies with Divine Feathers every so often, and the Lord of the Dreamrealm could control an illusion realm but could not kill anyone. Now, however, the divine power they wielded could cross over, affecting themoners living in the Origin Realm and allowing the gods to begin harvesting Divine Power from their followers.

    The gods¡¯ infiltration of the mortal ne had finally begun.

    Even though Su Chen had begun publicly distributing the bloodlineless cultivation techniques, he couldn¡¯t force people to change their ways. Cultivation took hard work, while believing in gods would allow them to obtain power more easily. Also, cultivation required resources, making faith seem like the much simpler option.

    Comfortable, simple, and effective were the main selling points of worshipping deities. Even with the Boundless Sect¡¯s suppression, the worship of gods was beginning to secretly spread. Thankfully, these groups were primarily small and underground, and would never see the light of day. But Su Feihu was obviously aware of this.

    Even though he didn¡¯t know why the Boundless Sect wanted to restrict the worship of other gods, Su Chen definitely had a reason for doing it.

    Su Feihu¡¯s guesses were confirmed somewhat by Su Chen¡¯s visit this time.

    After a long moment of thought, Su Chen asked, ¡°How is the religious scene in Northface City?¡±

    Su Feihu replied, ¡°I¡¯m not super clear, but it seems that the Li n has some believers amongst their ranks. They¡¯re constantly chanting religious mantras day and night, organizing prayer groups, and offering sacrifices. I¡¯m not clear about the details. Su Chen, why are you trying to suppress religious worship? I heard that they truly exist, and they might return soon. Is this real?¡±

    Su Chen squinted his eyes. ¡°Who did you hear it from?¡±

    ¡°Who else? The members of the Li n themselves are constantly harping about when the gods are going to return to reim the Origin Realm for themselves. What Origin Realm? Aren¡¯t we the Primordial Continent?¡±

    Su Chen was silent and didn¡¯t answer.

    After quite some time, he said, ¡°I¡¯m going to leave.¡±

    ¡°Leave?¡± Su Feihu was stunned.

    Their conversation seemed to be going quite well. Why was he leaving all of a sudden?

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to stay a bit longer?¡±

    ¡°I still have a lot of things I need to do,¡± Su Chen replied.

    As he spoke, he turned around and began walking away. Suddenly, he paused, as if he had thought of something, and asked Su Feihu, ¡°If I must kill many people in order to save the human race, am I being hypocritical? Should I do so?¡±

    Su Feihu replied genuinely, ¡°Not at all. A person with grand ambitions has certain things that he must do and certain things that he must not do. Making the necessary sacrifices for the good of the entire human race is a good thing.¡±

    Su Chen nodded his head, then turned around and prepared to leave.

    Su Feihu marveled in his heart as he watched Su Chen leave.

    As soon as Su Chen had left the Su residence, he pped his hands. A person appeared behind Su Chen like a ghost.

    It was Le Feng.

    He was standing on his feet once more, and his strength seemed to have surpassed what it was before.

    ¡°Go and investigate the Li n to see if they were worshipping gods. They are located in the eastern region of the city. If they are...... kill them.¡±

    ¡°Kill them?¡± Le Feng was startled.

    Even though the Boundless Sect had always forbidden the worship of gods, they had never killed other believers before.

    ¡°Yes, kill them,¡± Su Chen replied very confidently. ¡°From this day onwards, worshipping gods will be equated to worshipping demons. Anyone who continues to hold onto their faith...... will be killed!¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡± Le Feng loudly replied.

    Su Chen spun around and left.

    As soon as he stepped out of the Su residence, his final connection with the Su n had been severed. From this moment onwards, his only target was the gods.

    Since a battle with the gods was about to unfold, and their believers were essentially their capital and ammunition, Su Chen could not afford to give the gods any advantage, no matter how slight.

    War had been dered. There was no longer any room to retreat. What needed to be done would be done, even if it meant that his hands would be stained with blood.

 Book 7, 57: Demonic Sacrifices

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 57: Demonic Sacrifices</h4>

    Liu Dalu hurried through the forested path.

    It was hard to see at night, but Liu Dalu¡¯s steps were decisive and full of confidence.

    Suddenly, he came to a stop before a tree with an incredibly thick trunk. Liu Dalu nced around cautiously before knocking on the tree¡¯s trunk three times.

    An instantter, three knocks replied back from within the tree.

    Liu Dalu responded with two more knocks of his own.

    A previously invisible door swung open, revealing the interior of the tree.

    A man with hair as messy as a crow¡¯s nest appeared. His face was obscured by a ck cloth. He nced at Liu Dalu before dryly asking, ¡°What took you so long?¡±

    ¡°My wife was keeping a close eye on me.¡±

    ¡°No one followed you here, right?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Do you have the items?¡±

    ¡°Yes, they¡¯re right here,¡± Liu Dalu said as he patted the bundle in his hands.

    ¡°Come in.¡± Crow¡¯s Nest quickly ushered him inside the tree.

    Liu Dalu jumped through the hole in the tree, and Crow¡¯s Nest tossed him a piece of ck cloth so that he could also cover his face.

    Liu Dalu hastily put it on before following Crow¡¯s Nest into a broad and open general hall. There were a few dozen ck-masked individuals bowing and worshipping.

    In front of them was a tall statue of a deity.

    This statue had three eyes and six arms. Each hand held an item, which were a candle, battleaxe, copper cymbal, golden truncheon, water pitcher, and calligraphy brush.

    All of the ck-clothed individuals were chanting in sync, ¡°Praise and glory be to the God of Six Desires......¡±

    Only one individual was not worshipping ¡ª a white-haired old man.

    After Liu Dalu arrived, the old man immediately asked, ¡°Did you bring it with you?¡±

    Liu Dalu hurried over to the old man and offered up the bundle.

    The old man opened the bundle. Inside the bundle was an infant.

    The old man took a deep breath to confirm that it was still alive before sighing in relief. ¡°Well done. Our god will reward you handsomely.¡±

    Liu Dalu was delighted. ¡°Praise be to our god!¡±

    Hisst offering had been rewarded with incredible vitality. After he went home that night, he had given his wife quite a bit of pleasure while demonstrating the power of his new manhood.

    After acquiring a taste for such things, Liu Dalu wanted even more. He had even epted such a sinister, demonic request as offering up an innocent baby.

    The elder propped up the infant with his left hand and raised a dagger with his right hand. The dagger¡¯s hilt had a serpentine motif, and when the dagger was raised, the carved figure slowly extended, wriggling its way into the tender flesh between the elder¡¯s thumb and index finger. The dagger and its wielder had be one.

    The elder raised the serpentine dagger and yelled in a frenzy, ¡°Great god, please ept this lowly sacrifice! We are eagerly awaiting your return, and we offer our wills up to you!¡±

    The voices of the worshippers below began to swell in volume as they called out to their God of Six Desires.

    As their chanting continued growing in intensity, the statue began to somewhat respond to these worshippers. Its shadow actually began twisting perceptibly, closing in around the infant. Its image also grew much fiercer under the candlelight.

    The chanting grew even more feverish.

    A bloodthirsty glint shed through the elder¡¯s eyes as he let out a reverberating cry. ¡°In the name of our god!¡±

    The dagger descended.

    Just as the dagger was about to pierce the infant¡¯s heart, however, it stopped in ce.

    The elder discovered that something seemed to be holding him back, preventing him from fully following through with his strike.

    At the same time, the sounds of ughter could be heard off in the distance.

    The elder was briefly stunned, but he quickly recovered. ¡°Not good! It¡¯s the Demon Hunters!¡±

    The elder hurriedly threw the infant at the ceiling.

    The ceiling above the elder was made out of stone. Under normal circumstances, the infant would most likely have been killed upon impact.

    But the infant gently came to a stop in midair and remained there, floating calmly. At this moment, it opened its eyes and began to giggle innocently as it took in the novelty of its surroundings, totally unaware that it had almost died multiple times.

    The elder had already turned tail and started running away. While he did so, he tossed out an item, which caused giant plumes of smoke to immediately appear out of nowhere.

    The smoke immediately made the situation even more chaotic.

    Those worshippers were onlymon, ignorant townsfolk. They cried out in terror as arge horde of disciplined soldiers charged in through the passageway, preparing to arrest them all.

    The elder backed up all the way to the statue and then smacked it with his palm. A small door appeared in the back of the statue.

    The elder immediately jumped through the door, but after a moment¡¯s thought, he poked his head back through, ced a small wooden figurine at the feet of the statue, and then continued charging through the door.

    Behind the door was a tunnel. Even though the elder was quite advanced in his age, his steps were light and quick. Soon, he reached the end of the tunnel, which led to a well in someone¡¯s backyard.

    The walls of the well were quite slippery, but it was obvious that this elder was familiar with the escape route. With a firm stomp of his feet, he easily jumped out andnded on the ground next to the well.

    He had just barelynded when he heard someone start chuckling from behind him. ¡°Not bad.¡±

    The elder froze.

    He slowly turned around, only to find that there was a young man standing not far away from him,ughing and slowly pping his hands.

    The elder sneakily started backing up as heughed nervously. ¡°Haha, I¡¯m sorry. I seem to have gotten lost. I¡¯ll take my leave now.¡±

    The youth stopped pping as he angrily responded, ¡°Hey now, don¡¯t insult my intelligence, alright? You don¡¯t really think that you can still receive salvation, do you? Right, I should introduce myself. My name is Chang He.¡±

    ¡°Thousand Flower Palms Chang He?¡± The old man was stunned.

    At this point, Chang He¡¯s name had be quite well-known. He was one of the Boundless Sect¡¯s three Demon Hunter leaders. Because he was capable of using all kinds of different approaches to deal with these worshippers, he had been given that nickname.

    When Chang He heard the nickname, he unhappily replied, ¡°That name doesn¡¯t sound imposing at all. I say, Old Zhang, you won¡¯t get away this time, alright? We¡¯ve spent so much time catching and trapping you, after all.¡±

    The elder chuckled wryly. ¡°Sir Chang, you seem to have caught the wrong person. My surname is Li, not Zhang. Yes, my n worships the gods and is defying the Boundless Sect¡¯s orders. I admit my wrongdoing, but my surname is really not Zhang!¡±

    Chang He¡¯s expression grew frosty. ¡°Zhang Tianshi, originally known as Zhang Erlong, is a sixty-four year old man who was born in a small vige hidden in the mountains. Three years ago, you ughtered your entire vige to offer their lives up as tribute to the God of Six Desires. I must say, old man, you are quite vicious. You¡¯ve reaped quite a few lives over the past few years. It¡¯s time for you to pay that debt now.¡±

    Upon hearing Change He¡¯s words, the elder¡¯s expression turned cold as he realized that he would not be able to weasel his way out of this predicament. ¡°Sir Chang seems to have done his homework.¡±

    ¡°Why else would I personally make an appearance? So are you going to surrender peacefully, or will you force me to beat you into surrendering?¡±

    Zhang Tianshi chuckled as he replied, ¡°Sir Chang may be powerful, but do you think that I¡¯ve survived all this time due to just pure luck? I just didn¡¯t want to bother with you earlier, but if you insist...... I¡¯ll be more than happy to show you just how powerful the gods are!¡±

    As he spoke, his entire body began to swell, and his withered physique rapidly morphed into that of a muscr young man¡¯s.

    ¡°Is that all? You¡¯d better skip right to the good stuff,¡± Chang He nonchntly replied, not even batting an eye at Zhang Tianshi¡¯s transformation.

    Zhang Tianshi also knew what caliber of an opponent Chang He was and that normal techniques would be totally useless against him. Actually, he already knew that he would be lucky to escape with his life in this situation.

    As such, he immediately raised the small wooden figurine in his hand and desperately cried out, ¡°God of Six Desires, bestow your power upon me!¡±

    A ray of divine light flickered across the surface of the figurine before shooting into Zhang Tianshi¡¯s body. Zhang Tianshi immediately began to glow a faint golden color as he gave off quite the imposing aura.

    Unfortunately, he could not use this power to battle.

    Zhang Tianshi quickly stowed the figurine in his hand away, threw a wave of surging golden light at his opponent, and then whirled around to take advantage of that opportunity to leave.

    ¡°Trying to leave? Don¡¯t forget that I¡¯m called the Thousand Flower Palms,¡± Chang He chuckled calmly as he reappeared before Zhang Tianshi once again.

    His mastery of battle techniques was just as varied as his hunting tactics. His familiarity with Whitetower Teleportation was quite impressive at this point.

    Unexpectedly, however, Zhang Tianshi continued charging forwards, a strange luster flickering through his eyes for the briefest of moments. Chang He suddenly felt as if his consciousness had gone ck, and he immediately froze in ce.

    Not good!

    Chang He knew that he was in a tough spot. But how could he not have blocked that nce from Zhang Tianshi given his strength? What was going on?

    ¡°Die!¡± Zhang Tianshi raised the serpentine dagger in his hand. The carved serpent¡¯s eyes seemed to bore straight into Chang He¡¯s soul, and a cold, dismal aura enveloped him. It was as if he had been thrown into a cold, dark prison.

    He knew that he had been tricked. If this dagger managed to wound him, even with a slight scratch, he would probably be one of Zhang Tianshi¡¯s sacrifices.

    Chang He revolved all of the energy in his body, managing to exhale a breath of air.

    That was the only thing he could do. As he breathed out, the small wind whipped up into a column of air that mmed into Zhang Tianshi¡¯s face, impeding his forward momentum.

    At the same time, the pressure enveloping Chang He decreased somewhat. Chang He was able to gently flex one of his feet, sending him flying through the air.

    Zhang Tianshi gave hot pursuit. The serpentine dagger swayed dangerously in front of Chang He, casting a sinister, cold shadow over him once more. Suddenly, he found that he was short of breath, and he began to plummet from the sky.

    Zhang Tianshi raised the dagger once again. ¡°I can¡¯t believe that you¡¯ve forced me to consume my divine blessing, but that¡¯s fine. As long as I can kill you, I will obtain much, much more!¡±

    Just as the dagger was about to descend, Chang He red at him. ¡°Do you dare kill a god?¡±

    In Zhang Tianshi¡¯s mind, Chang He had suddenly disappeared, only to be reced by the God of Six Desires. His fear surged, and his grip on the serpentine dagger ckened by the unexpected change.

    A voice rumbled through his mind. ¡°You idiot, that¡¯s an illusion technique!¡±

    Zhang Tianshi quickly broke free from the illusion and was about to continue stabbing down with the dagger, but by then, Chang He had already nted his foot firmly into Zhang Tianshi¡¯s chest.

    He could finally move freely once more.

    Just as Zhang Tianshi was sent flying, however, he cried out, ¡°May God use my mortal body!¡±

    Boom!

    The wooden figurine shattered. A powerful, imposing will surged forth, enveloping the entire area. Even Chang He could do nothing besides tremble in fear, frozen in ce.

    ¡°The God of Six Desires?¡± Chang He was stunned.

    ¡°You dare kill my worshippers? Die!¡± A three-eyed, six-armed god had manifested behind Zhang Tianshi¡¯s body, just like an Aspect. But unlike an Aspect, this image was much more tangible and imposing.

    The arm wielding the golden truncheon rose high into the sky before it domineeringly mmed down towards Chang He.

    This was the Soul-Shaking Truncheon. Even though it was just a projection, the effect that it had on a person¡¯s consciousness was quite impressive.

    Just as the truncheon was about to smash Chang He¡¯s head open like an overripe watermelon, a streak of brilliant sword light suddenly descended from the heavens.

    It directly pierced the image behind Zhang Tianshi, causing the Soul-Shaking Truncheon to momentarily freeze in the air as the sword light passed through the image and easily lopped off Zhang Tianshi¡¯s head.

    Zhang Tianshi¡¯s head exploded from that single strike.

    ¡°NO!¡± the God of Six Desires roared with anger.

    The streak of sword light then returned to its owner ¡ª a youth dressed in in white robes. It was Ye Fenghan.

    ¡°You bastard! I¡¯ll be back! And when I do, I will rule over this world and ughter you all!¡± the fragmenting image roared in abject fury.

    ¡°You can see yourself out,¡± Ye Fenghan said in a tepid tone as he calmly shed out with his sword once more, ripping both Zhang Tianshi and the God of Six Desires¡¯ image into pieces.

 Book 7, 58: Secret Society

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 58: Secret Society</h4>

    ¡°Tch. I would¡¯ve won even without your help,¡± Chang He huffed in annoyance, back in the small courtyard.

    ¡°Of course, of course. Our Chang He is one of the three Demon Hunter leaders. You would have defeated him in a single move. Old Ye, you interfered too early,¡± a brawny man wielding a giant hammer yfully jeered as he strode over. It was Wang Xinchao.

    The Boundless Sect had created the Demon Hunters in order to deal with the gods¡¯ attempts to gain more worshippers. The ones in charge of this new division were Ye Fenghan, Wang Xinchao, and Chang He.

    Ye Fenghan and Chang He needed no introduction, as they were familiar characters. Even though Chang He was a bit impulsive andcked Ye Fenghan¡¯s stability, he more than made up for those deficiencies with the broad range of techniques that he had mastered and the varied tactics that he could employ. In a one-on-one battle, his strength was the weakest, but his ability to adapt on the fly was the greatest out of all of them. Wang Xinchao was also one of the Boundless Sect¡¯s newer members. His calm, unhurried, and ssic strategies had earned him a spot as another one of the Demon Hunters¡¯ leaders.

    Chang He was surprised to see Wang Xinchao appear as well. ¡°Howe both of you are here?¡±

    ¡°The God of Six Desires is already able to manifest an image. How could I not show up in that case?¡± Ye Fenghan replied.

    He nced at Zhang Tianshi¡¯s body apprehensively.

    The cracks in the Barrier were multiplying, and the influence that the gods could exert was increasing with each passing day. This meant that the pressure on the Demon Hunters was also steadily mounting.

    This was obvious from just how much more difficult suppressing these worship rituals had be.

    But throughout this process, the Boundless Sect had also umted quite a bit of valuable experience.

    The most important discovery was that immortal energy was the best counter against divine power.

    Ye Fenghan¡¯s sword strike had been able to cleanly slice through the God of Six Desires¡¯ image precisely because of this reason.

    Still, expending about five percent of the immortal energy in his body to kill a mere image was a bit too excessive, Ye Fenghan thought to himself.

    He was still at the Golden Pill realm, but with Su Chen¡¯s guidance, he had begun to fill in some of the gaps in his foundation. This step would make his foundation much more stable, and whenpleted, his Golden Pill would be fully solidified.

    Even so, it had taken five percent of the immortal energy that a Golden Pill cultivator possessed to destroy a mere projection of a god. It was obvious that, despite immortal energy¡¯s inherent advantage against divine power, the cultivator¡¯s personal strength still mattered quite a bit.

    They really did need to find a higher realm!

    Ye Fenghan couldn¡¯t help but wonder how his Master¡¯s research was faring.

    Over the past few years, Su Chen had sunk almost all of his time into researching higher cultivation realms. Most of his efforts were centered aroundbining this new system of immortal energy with the Ultimate Emperor Realm to advance again.

    But doing so seemed to be extremely challenging.

    Even Ye Fenghan had no idea whether Su Chen would seed or not.

    And even if he did seed...... would it be enough?

    If their raw strength was still somewhatcking even after another advancement was made, then they could only make up for the remaining deficit with numbers.

    Ye Fenghan nced at Chang He and then coldly replied, ¡°Haven¡¯t you already reached Foundation Establishment? You should have been able to kill him with a single strike.¡±

    Chang He scratched his head in an embarrassed manner as he replied, ¡°I forgot about that.¡±

    ¡°Hmph!¡± Ye Fenghan snorted before reprimanding, ¡°No one will be around to save you if this happens again.¡±

    ¡°Tch. I¡¯ll be fine even without your help. Right, Xinchao?¡±

    ¡°Call me Second Brother.¡±

    ¡°Bastard, I¡¯ll defeat you sooner orter and im that title for myself!¡±

    Wang Xinchao paid Chang He¡¯s squabbling no mind. Instead, he strode over to Zhang Tianshi and flipped his palm over. Suddenly, Wang Xinchao¡¯s eyes rolled into the back of his head.

    After a moment, he said, ¡°It¡¯s him.¡±

    Both Ye Fenghan and Chang He perked up when they heard Wang Xinchao say this. ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡±

    Wang Xinchao nodded decisively. ¡°Yes, I just confirmed it. He¡¯s a member of the Secret Alliance, and an elder at that.¡±

    The two of them were delighted when they heard this news.

    The Secret Alliance was a secret society that consisted of deity worshippers that had appeared roughly half a year or so ago. All of their members were religious fanatics, as well as members of various prominent organizations.

    In order to fight back against the Boundless Sect¡¯s culling, they had gathered together to coordinate themselves so that they could continue worshipping their gods. They were willing to use any tactic at their disposal to do so.

    And the Demon Hunters were working quite hard to fight back against theirbined force.

    This was also why the three leaders had appeared in the same ce ¡ª they had caught wind of the fact that Zhang Tianshi of the Secret Alliance would being here to perform demonic sacrifices earlier.

    Wang Xinchao had obtained an Astral¡¯s discarded body during the campaign against them, giving him the ability to interrogate an individual¡¯s soul.

    If a person hadn¡¯t been dead for more than an hour, then their will would not be fully dissipated, and Wang Xinchao would then be able to interrogate them. Even Su Chen didn¡¯t possess a technique like this, which made Wang Xinchao as rare as a Qilin¡¯s horn or a phoenix feather even amongst the entire human race.

    This ability of his was also an important reason behind why he had been chosen as one of the Demon Hunter leaders. The Demon-Imprisoning Hammer that he wielded was only secondary.

    ¡°Who else is a member of the Secret Alliance?¡± Ye Fenghan immediately asked.

    Wang Xinchao shook his head. ¡°The members of the Secret Alliance hide their identities from each other. Only the alliance¡¯s leader knows the true identities of all the members. But I have a few guesses based on who Zhang Tianshi interacted with on a daily basis. He Tu should be responsible for leading the Moon Goddess worshippers, a Harpy named Flowing Fragrance for the Mother Goddess, Shadow Demon for the Mad God, and Li Yuan for the River God. Also, Flying Forehead and Ming Kong are responsible for the Dream God¡¯s worshippers.¡±

    ¡°This is all old information,¡± Ye Fenghan muttered.

    Having crossed paths with these worshippers a number of times in the past, Ye Fenghan knew every one of the names that Wang Xinchao had just mentioned.

    Wang Xinchao continued talking. ¡°Zhang Tianshi came all this way to meet with Flying Forehead to discuss the details of some important n.¡±

    ¡°What n?¡±

    ¡°Reviving the Dreamrealm.¡±

    Upon discovering that the Lord of the Dreamrealm was a god, Su Chen had immediately banned the Dreamrealm from being used by any human.

    This was also the rule imposed by the Boundless Sect that had garnered the most bacsh. After all, the Dreamrealm¡¯s usefulness to everyone was just too great.

    At the same time, however, the Dreamrealm was the very source that sustained the Dream God. Given how much consciousness energy flowed through the Dreamrealm, the Dream God was most likely the mostfortable out of all the gods.

    Even though he knew that the bacsh would be great, Su Chen still issued the decree and gave themand to enforce this rule.

    The right to dream was not as valuable as the right to live. Under the tremendous pressure of the Boundless Sect, the other humans had no choice but to remove their seals and ughter all of the Dream Spirits living inside.

    During that period of time, a few of the humans who left the Dreamrealm rtivelyter were even able to watch that beautiful illusion copse. The cute, lovable Dream Spirits had morphed into terrifyingly fierce, nightmarish creatures before their very eyes.

    That terrifying scene left a deep impression on them, helping them realize just how fake the Dreamrealm¡¯s beauty had been.

    Even so, there were always people who would continue pursuing something beautiful even if they knew that it was fake.

    They longed for the days of old, and med the Boundless Sect for the countless ¡°injustices¡± that they were currently suffering.

    Organizations with the goal of reviving the Dreamrealm had existed ever since it was banned, and even the Dreamrealm itself had not beenpletely destroyed. A few small groups of individuals were still holding on in there, clinging to what remnants they could.

    Ye Fenghan and Chang He were not surprised by this revtion.

    But Wang Xinchao wasn¡¯t done yet.

    He continued, saying, ¡°They seem to have some confidence in seeding. Flying Forehead said that he had obtained a Divine Crystal from the Lord of the Dreamrealm, which will allow them to create a moreplete and stable Dreamrealm.¡±

    ¡°A Divine Crystal?¡± Ye Fenghan and Chang He nced at each other in confusion.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Chang He asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know its exact properties, but if Origin Crystals are condensed, refined Origin Energy, then it makes sense that Divine Crystals would be the same for divine power,¡± Wang Xinchao calmly replied.

    Even though they had never seen a Divine Crystal before, they were able to infer its function just based on its name.

    Chang He squinted, still unsure, as he replied, ¡°We¡¯ll need to look into this more thoroughly. Do you know where they are nning to do this?¡±

    ¡°In Wolfheart Valley, which isn¡¯t far from here. They were nning on meeting three days from now.¡±

    ¡°Great. Let¡¯s go and screw up their ns!¡± Chang He whooped in celebration.

    Wang Xinchao shook his head. ¡°Don¡¯t be hasty. Zhang Tianshi¡¯s memories tell me that quite a few worshippers will show up this time. I don¡¯t know if just the three of us will be sufficient.¡±

    ¡°Hmph, they¡¯re just a bunch of lowly worshippers,¡± Chang He replied dismissively, his voiceced with contempt.

    Ye Fenghan, however, nodded in agreement with Wang Xinchao. ¡°Our numbers are indeed a little low.¡±

    Chang He red at him. ¡°Where did your balls go? Have we ever lost to these clowns after the Demon Hunters were formed?¡±

    Ye Fenghan replied straightforwardly, ¡°The situation has changed. The worshippers were not particrly strong in the past, and we were usually just subjugating some misguided farmers andmoners. Back then, our biggest issue was finding the worshippers, not exterminating them. Our primary mission is to investigate in the first ce. But now that the gods¡¯ influence grows stronger with each day, those worshippers are simrly bing more and more powerful. Their ability to fight back against the Demon Hunters is increasing, which can be clearly seen from the number of casualties that we¡¯ve suffered recently. I might not be afraid of a single Zhang Tianshi, but if ten or even hundreds of them are gathered in one ce, then they will be quite a headache to deal with.¡±

    ¡°So your intention is to request help from the higher-ups, then?¡± Chang He was a little unhappy with such a decision.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already informed the Sect Master. He will decide how this matter will be handled.¡± Ye Fenghan would never make such a risky decision on his own, which was part of the reason why he had been given such great responsibility.

    The reply came very quickly through the transmission box.

    That afternoon, Ye Fenghan was notified of the Sect Master¡¯s decision.

    But when he heard what that decision was, even he was stunned.

    Ye Fenghan put down the box and said, ¡°The higher-ups have replied.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s their decision?¡±

    ¡°Master will be personallying this time.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Chang He and Wang Xinchao were both stunned.

    Su Chen was going to make an appearance?

    ¡°Yes!¡± Ye Fenghan nodded sincerely and repeated his words. ¡°Master will be personallying this time.¡±

 Book 7, 59: Physical Dreamrealm

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 59: Physical Dreamrealm</h4>

    Three dayster.

    In Wolfheart Valley.

    This ce was located on the eastern fringes of what used to be Harpy territory. Apparently, a Wolf Demonic King had died here, and its heart had turned into a giant boulder that had sundered the ground, creating a giant crevice.

    From atop a nearby mountain, it was possible to see that seven statues of gods had been erected within Wolfheart Valley at some point in time.

    These statues were of the Moon Goddess, Mother Goddess, Mad God, River God, God of Six Desires, Wind God, and the Dream God, who was ced at the very center.

    There were also around three hundred individuals surrounding them, all of them bowing and worshipping the statues. Despite their numbers, however, their worshipping was done in total silence.

    Most of them had learned to be quiet and low-key after evading the Demon Hunters¡¯ pursuit for so long.

    Even more shockingly, however, was the fact that none of them were wearing any sort of face coverings. Instead, their faces were fully visible for all to see.

    They silently worshipped the seven statues, offering their faith and vitality to the gods. Some of them had even been tightly bound ¡ª clearly, they were going to be used as live sacrificial offerings.

    ¡°He Tu, Flowing Fragrance, Shadow Demon, Li Yuan, Flying Forehead, and Si Likong...... They are all present,¡± Chang He quietly harrumphed. These people were all priority targets of the Demon Hunters, and yet here they were, all gathered together in a single location.

    Suddenly, Chang He¡¯s gaze fell on one of the worshippers, and he visibly trembled. ¡°Chang Yuesheng? What is he doing here?¡±

    Ye Fenghan shot Chang He a worried nce. ¡°What? You recognize him?¡±

    Chang He gulped before saying with some difficulty, ¡°He¡¯s my junior martial brother.¡±

    Chang He was from the Chang Vige, where the Chang surname was incrediblymon. It was highly likely that anyone who shared his surname was rted to him, and he had quite a few junior and senior martial brothers.

    Still, it was quite a surprise to run into him here.

    ¡°What was your impression of him?¡± Ye Fenghan asked.

    Chang He glumly replied, ¡°Pretty good, actually.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll kill him for you, then,¡± Wang Xinchao offered.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need. I¡¯ll do it myself,¡± Chang He replied in a low voice.

    Even though he yed the act of a bumbling fool on a day-to-day basis, Chang He knew what to do when it counted.

    Anyone who had the authority to appear in this ce was scum who had sacrificed countless lives and turned their back on the human race. Even a junior martial brother would not be shown mercy.

    ¡°They¡¯ve already begun. Should we make our move now?¡± Wang Xinchao asked.

    Ye Fenghan, however, remained motionless as he continued to observe the situation. ¡°Don¡¯t you think that these statues are arranged in a strange manner?¡±

    ¡°Yes, their arrangement is indeed somewhat peculiar,¡± Wang Xinchao replied as he also turned his gaze back to observe the situation. ¡°It¡¯s almost like they¡¯re set up in a formation. But I can¡¯t seem to sense any Origin Energy fluctuations.¡±

    Ye Fenghan replied, ¡°It should be linked to divine power, perhaps to some kind of sacrificial formation. We have to be careful...... Hm?¡±

    Ye Fenghan suddenly let out a small exmation of surprise, and even Chang He and Wang Xinchao were caught off guard.

    Because a group of individuals had suddenly appeared outside of the valley and were charging in towards the circle of worshippers. They were dressed just like imperial soldiers.

    But why would imperial soldiers suddenly appear now of all times?

    Ye Fenghan and the others nced at each other in confusion.

    Even though the bloodlineless cultivation techniques had spread far and wide, allowing anyone to cultivate, there was still a gap between those who depended on cultivation for their livelihood and those who did not. Imperial soldiers were primarily used to uphold order and security, so theirbat power was rtivelyckingpared to true fighters.

    On the other hand, all of the worshippers that had gathered in Wolfheart Valley were cruel, calcting killers. Each had a decent cultivation base, and that wasn¡¯t even mentioning the unique abilities that they had received from their gods.

    Indeed, the worshippers didn¡¯t seem anxious in the slightest. Instead, they all began to slowly stand up, gazing off into the distance with cold expressions.

    Just as the soldiers were about to encounter the worshippers, however,rge plumes of fog sprang out from out of nowhere,pletely shrouding Wolfheart Valley. It was now impossible for Ye Fenghan and the others to see what was going on down below.

    ¡°Not good! Those soldiers are in danger!¡± Chang He cried out. ¡°We need to hurry and save them.¡±

    Ye Fenghan, however, remained motionless. ¡°The situation seems a little strange, and the time that we agreed upon with Master hasn¡¯te yet.¡±

    Chang He grew agitated at Ye Fenghan¡¯s words. ¡°I know that something seems strange, but if you just sit there and watch, then those people will definitely die. What will we say to the Sect Master then? That we just sat and waited for him to show up, leaving those guards to be butchered?¡±

    Ye Fenghan knew that Chang He wasn¡¯t wrong. After a moment¡¯s thought, he nodded and said, ¡°Chang He, then you take some men with you and go down there.¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡±

    Chang He smartly saluted. A few dozen strong cultivators had appeared around him ¡ª all members of the Demon Hunters.

    ¡°Follow me! We¡¯re going to save those men!¡± Chang He cried out heroically as he leapt into the valley.

    The fog was so thick that he could not see anything clearly, which was why he had no other choice but to blindly jump in.

    As soon as Chang He stepped into the fog, however, he realized that there were no sounds of fighting around him.

    What was going on?

    Why did everything seem so deste all of a sudden?

    Where had all the people in the fog gone?

    Where were the Demon Hunters who had followed him in?

    Chang He surveyed his surroundings in shock. It was as if he had jumped into an isted realm. Emptiness surrounded him, and he could hear nothing.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Chang He cried out.

    There was no reply.

    A chill crawled up Chang He¡¯s spine, and he unleashed a palm strike at the space in front of him.

    There was no response.

    His Raging Torrent Palm should have sent sound waves rolling in all directions even if he struck the air, but he couldn¡¯t even feel a mild fluctuation. It was as if all his years of cultivation had been for nothing.

    How was this possible?

    Chang He was stunned, but no matter how much effort he put in, the suffocating silence of the fog loomed over him.

    ¡°Dammit, what have I gotten myself into now?¡± Chang He nervously muttered to himself.

    From above, Ye Fenghan continued gazing into the depths of the fog.

    Chang He had disappeared into it like a raindrop hitting the ocean, not even leaving a ripple behind.

    The problem was that Chang He¡¯s fighting style typically caused argemotion.

    When he realized this, Ye Fenghan¡¯s expression grew solemn.

    Wang Xinchao also felt anxious and could no longer sit still. ¡°There¡¯s definitely something going on down there. Let me go and take a look.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t move!¡± Ye Fenghan barked. ¡°I agree that there is definitely something fishy going on here. However, it might not be something that we can deal with on our own.¡±

    Wang Xinchao countered, ¡°Chang He might die down there.¡±

    Ye Fenghan calmly replied, ¡°That was his decision. I cannot put all of the Demon Hunters in danger just because of him.¡±

    ¡°Are you just going to sit there and watch him die?¡± Wang Xinchao cried out angrily.

    Ye Fenghanughed in response. ¡°Of course not. Chang He is my friend. I will go and save him, but you all do not need to follow me...... Before Master gets here, Imand all of you to sit tight and wait!¡±

    After speaking, he unsheathed his sword and leapt into the valley as well.

    He was going to save Chang He on his own.

    As soon as he slipped into the fog, however, Ye Fenghan immediately found himself surrounded by an ancient chill.

    This chill, which was fully absent of human touch, hung over his heart. He felt as if he had left thend of the living and stepped foot into the Yellow River.

    Even so, this ancient chill evoked an unexpected sense of familiarity from deep within Ye Fenghan¡¯s heart.

    Ye Fenghan surveyed his surroundings. Strangely enough, he was beginning to get a strong sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu.

    Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

    Ye Fenghan cried out, ¡°The Dreamrealm! This is the Dreamrealm!¡±

    This was the Dreamrealm that the Dream God had constructed! But due to the Boundless Sect¡¯s suppression, it had copsed. Most of it had be empty, deste space, apart from the destroyed remains of the Dreamrealm Castles. Those castles were responsible for conveying that sense of human warmth and touch.

    And Ye Fenghan had appeared in an area of the Dreamrealm where there were no Dreamrealm Castles or people anywhere in sight.

    But why had he suddenly appeared in the Dreamrealm?

    ¡°So is this what Master was talking about when he said that the Dreamrealm could manifest itself in the physical world?¡±

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm had once pulled Su Chen into the Dreamrealm during the Boundless Sect¡¯s war against the Astrals. That was when Ye Fenghan had first learned that the Dreamrealm could influence the physical world.

    This time, however, it was the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s subordinates who had aplished this feat.

    There was only one possible exnation: the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s influence on the Primordial Continent was growing.

    Ye Fenghan cautiously surveyed his surroundings, his wariness at the maximum level.

    At that moment, a shrill hiss came from off in the distance.

    Without even turning, Ye Fenghan unsheathed his sword and shed behind him.

    ¡°HIss!¡± The shrill hiss could be heard once more.

    Ye Fenghan turned around to find a Dream Spirit standing behind him. More precisely, this creature was a Dream Demon, the same kind that Ye Fenghan had encountered when he had initially formed his Golden Pill.

    As expected, he was in the Dreamrealm.

    All of the doubts in Ye Fenghan¡¯s mind disappeared. He paid no heed to the terrifying Dream Demon; after all, he had already ughtered quite a few of them, and since they were formed from consciousness energy, killing and absorbing them would actually strengthen his Golden Pill.

    Ye Fenghan had no qualms about using his immortal energy to deal with the Dream Demon descending on him.

    After defeating and absorbing the Dream Demon, Ye Fenghan began to fly in the direction that the Dream Demon had appeared from.

    Even though the Dreamrealm was farrger than Wolfheart Valley, it still had its limits.

    As long as he wasn¡¯t confused by the fog around him, Ye Fenghan was confident that he would be able to unravel the secrets behind this manifestation of the Dreamrealm.

    He flew through the air for quite some time before two more Dream Demons appeared before him that were swiftly exterminated. The suspicion in his heart, however, only grew stronger with the chain of events. ¡°Why are there so few of them?¡±

    The Dream Demons were the foundation upon which the Dreamrealm was built. Without them, the Dreamrealm would be truly empty.

    So why had he encountered so few of them?

    Unless they were all gathered in a certain location, Ye Fenghan thought to himself.

    But if they were all gathered somewhere else, what could they possibly be doing? And where would they be gathering anyways?

    Ye Fenghan fell deep into thought.

    Wait a second!

    Ye Fenghan seemed to realize something as he chuckled coldly. ¡°Ah, so that¡¯s how it is.¡±

    He suddenly turned around and began to fly back towards where he had originallye from.

    After flying for some time, he came to a stop and allowed his senses to expand and fill his surroundings. Then, he took a few more steps forward.

    He closed his eyes and began to quietly wait.

    Eventually, a head poked out, seemingly from thin air.

    This was the head of a Dream Demon, but it seemed to be disconnected from its body. The sight was quite strange.

    Ye Fenghan immediately reached out, grabbed the Dream Demon by its forehead, and pulled it towards him. The rest of the Dream Demon¡¯s body quickly appeared, and at that same moment, Ye Fenghan ran his sword through its body.

    The surface of his sword immediately glowed a faint white color as it shed through the air in front of him.

    Rumble!

    The scenery before his eyes suddenly transformed. The framework of a giant, lofty castle had appeared before his very eyes.

    Countless Dream Demons were hard at work constructing the castle.

    They were building a new Dreamrealm Castle.

    And the materials for its construction were humans!

 Book 7, 60: Bait

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 60: Bait</h4>

    These people were the soldiers that had charged straight into Wolfheart Valley.

    They had been captured and renderedpletely immobile by the Dream Demons, as if they had died. The Dream Demons were beginning to extract the bones from their bodies, using them like logs to construct the castle.

    A castle made out of human bones!

    At the very center of the castle was an altar made out of human flesh and blood. On top of the altar was a golden crystalline entity. Arge eye was suspended above the crystal, ncing back and forth.

    Ye Fenghan shivered when he saw the eye. At the same time, the eye spotted him.

    The floating eye immediately began to glow with red light, and the Dream Demons constructing the castle seemed to sense something. Instead of charging in his direction, however, they all scattered, disappearing from view almost immediately. Only the halfpleted castle remained.

    Ye Fenghan was surprised by their behavior, but regardless, he would not allow this castle to remain intact. He flew over and shed his sword at it.

    One of the arms making up the castle suddenly flew forwards, stopping Ye Fenghan¡¯s sword in its tracks.

    Hm?

    This was?

    Ye Fenghan was just about to pull his sword away when arge group of bones also flew into the air, gathering to form aplete human skeleton. Shockingly, that skeleton was now wielding a sharpened bone sword, and used it to attack Ye Fenghan.

    What was happening?

    Ye Fenghan waspletely confused.

    Even so, he reacted by parrying the attack. The stream of sword Qi collided with the bone skull, but nged off with a metallic sound. The skull seemed to be much sturdier than it should have been.

    ¡°Hmph!¡±

    Ye Fenghan harrumphed coldly, and mes leapt to life at his fingertips, gradually growing into ming Phoenix, the very same one that Su Chen had developed. It mmed into the skull, and under the heat of the fierce mes, the skull began to disintegrate.

    Ye Fenghan was just about to rush forwards once more when a ck fog began to leak out of the floating eye.

    As the ck fog descended, skeleton after skeleton wobbled to life.

    This time, there was arge group of them.

    Even though the ming Phoenix Theurgy Art was powerful, using it expended quite a bit of Origin Energy.

    Ye Fenghan shuddered slightly when he saw all of these skeletons running in his direction. He infused the next ming Phoenix with some immortal energy, imbuing it with a faint white glow. Before it struck any of the skeletons, however, it exploded in the air, scattering globs of white mes onto the army of skeletons. The skeletons began to twist and writhe in pain.

    Their howls could not be heard on the physical level, but their cries of pain could be perceived by Ye Fenghan¡¯s consciousness. Even Ye Fenghan found the assault of shrieks somewhat difficult to bear and let out a groan of pain. It was as if there was something boring into his skull.

    Even so, Ye Fenghan was quite excited.

    ¡°So I finally managed to harm you, huh?¡± he muttered as he gazed at the floating eye.

    ¡°Hiss!¡±

    The floating eye in the sky seemed to expand as it unleashed a wave of murderous intent.

    The castle of bones suddenly began to transform, this time forming a giant skeleton instead of an army of small ones. The giant skeleton immediately mmed its arm down at Ye Fenghan.

    Ye Fenghan¡¯s sword once again began to glow with white light as it pierced towards the giant skeleton¡¯s hand.

    The giant skeleton twisted its arm in midair, avoiding the sword strike.

    Ye Fenghanughed loudly. ¡°So you do know how to dodge after all.¡±

    He unleashed three sword strikes in a row, each one of them imbued with immortal energy. The giant skeleton, however, didn¡¯t seem afraid and opened its mouth instead.

    Even though its head was only made up of two bones, a hurricane surged forth from its open maw, sending Ye Fenghan flying backwards.

    At the same time, its tworge bony arms pped down onto Ye Fenghan. White light began to glow around Ye Fenghan¡¯s body, and the immortal energy burst forth as soon as the two hands collided with him. The two bony hands were sted to smithereens, but Ye Fenghan himself felt a wave of dizziness wash over him as well.

    The floating eye hissed once more, and countless bone spears appeared in the sky before shooting towards Ye Fenghan.

    There was nothing Ye Fenghan could do but teleport away using Whitetower Teleportation.

    Surprisingly, however, those bone spears immediately gave chase.

    They could teleport as well?

    Even as he wondered this, the spears closed in on him, not slowing down in the slightest.

    There was nothing Ye Fenghan could do but surround himself with immortal energy, shattering those bone spears.

    Immediately afterwards, however, another wave of bone spears appeared and descended towards Ye Fenghan.

    The giant skeleton was actuallyposed of countless bones. At the moment, it was pulling off handfuls of bones at once and hurling them in Ye Fenghan¡¯s direction.

    There hadn¡¯t been more than a few hundred imperial soldiers that had charged into the fog, so why did it seem like the giant skeleton was able to throw tens of thousands of bones at him without consequence?

    The floating eye red at him fiercely as itmanded the bone giant to unleash wave after wave of spears.

    Immortal energy was more than capable of dealing with the torrent of spears, but the strain it ced on him to use it repeatedly was beginning to drain his reserves.

    Dammit!

    Ye Fenghan knew that this stalemate could not continue, but the floating eye¡¯s powers were too sinister. Without immortal energy, he would not be able to free himself, not to mention that the terrifying consciousness howls would disrupt his thoughts from time to time......

    Wait a minute!

    A trace of suspicion suddenly emerged in his heart.

    The greatest threat to him was still that consciousness howl.

    The consciousness shrieks prated his sea of knowledge, negatively affecting hisbat abilities.

    The giant skeleton, on the other hand, seemed to primarily be forcing him to expend his energy. The actual damage it was doing was minimal.

    But if that was the case, then why wouldn¡¯t the floating eye primarily focus on those consciousness attacks? Why would it rely on the skeleton instead?

    This was indeed a little nonsensical.

    Ye Fenghan had fought enough to know that his opponent was definitely being motivated by some hidden reason.

    If consciousness attacks were more effective, but the floating eye continued to insist on using the giant skeleton......

    A few different ideas surfaced in Ye Fenghan¡¯s mind.

    Just at that moment, the giant skeleton unleashed another handful of bone spears. Ye Fenghan instead gritted his teeth, shut his eyes, and activated a barrier. He had given up on trying to use immortal energy to protect himself.

    If this risky action didn¡¯t pay off, he would likely be torn to pieces. It was even possible that he would die immediately.

    Even so, Ye Fenghan had chosen to take this risk.

    The swarm of spears collided with Ye Fenghan¡¯s barrier.

    In theory, this should have been enough to impale him thoroughly.

    The end result, however, was shocking.

    The barrier flickered slightly, but managed to block all of the bone spears. Ye Fenghan wasn¡¯t wounded in the slightest.

    Even the floating eye trembled involuntarily, obviously surprised by such an oue.

    Ye Fenghan slowly opened his eyes. ¡°As I thought. A tangible illusion..... Half of the power is illusive, while the other half is real, right? Your power allows you to give these illusions physical substance. It seems that the Lord of the Dreamrealm is already capable of killing people in the real physical realm, but onlymoners. Against stronger cultivators, you have no choice but to scare us a little.¡±

    Ye Fenghan immediately saw through the facade.

    The floating eye let out an enraged howl once again.

    This time, however, Ye Fenghan could use his immortal energy to shield his consciousness, allowing him to remain unshaken.

    Even though the gods were powerful, their strength would still be limited before the Barrier fully copsed.

    What he had just experienced was no more than the Dreamrealm¡¯s ability to make illusions tangible. It was merely ying a trick on Ye Fenghan¡¯s senses.

    Once Ye Fenghan had severed his reliance on his own senses, the truth had be clear. The limited power that the Lord of the Dreamrealm controlled could not scare Ye Fenghan. His consciousness power, on the other hand, which was less limited, posed more of a threat.

    But targeting his consciousness was also useless now that he was protecting it with immortal energy.

    The floating eye writhed in midair. No matter how the giant skeleton thrashed, it could not affect Ye Fenghan. Ye Fenghan kept his eyes closed as he shed out repeatedly with his sword. Bones cascaded off of the giant skeleton¡¯s body, and even the ck fog began to retreat.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang.

    As the bone giant¡¯s body fragmented, it began to lose its ability to move. Soon, it reverted to a motionless state, but this time in the form of a pile of rubble instead of a neat castle.

    Ye Fenghan strode over to the altar.

    The floating eye was finally beginning to panic.

    But no matter how it struggled, it could not affect Ye Fenghan¡¯s will.

    Ye Fenghan¡¯s gaze was captured by the golden crystal ced prominently on the altar.

    ¡°No, don¡¯t touch that!¡± A powerful will infiltrated Ye Fenghan¡¯s consciousness.

    Ye Fenghan ignored it and reached out to grab it.

    Just as he was about to take it, however, he suddenly stopped.

    Ye Fenghan said, ¡°This is the Divine Crystal?¡±

    There was no response.

    Ye Fenghan didn¡¯t pick it up. Instead, he calmly stared at the golden crystal. ¡°It seems pretty high-quality.¡±

    ¡°You..... Why didn¡¯t you take it?¡± The floating eye was stunned.

    Ye Fenghan chuckled. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t your tone be one of relief?¡±

    ¡°Relief? Ah...... Yes, I am very lucky, but...... why wouldn¡¯t you take it? This is a Divine Crystal condensed by a god, after all. Even a god would have a hard time producing one of them. If you obtain it, your strength will increase in leaps and bounds.¡±

    ¡°Are you encouraging me?¡± Ye Fenghan asked.

    The floating eye immediately shut its mouth.

    Ye Fenghan continued, ¡°Why do I get the impression that you really want me to take it?¡±

    ¡°No, not at all,¡± the floating eye replied powerlessly. ¡°Dammit, what are you thinking of doing?¡±

    Upon seeing this, Ye Fenghan felt much more at ease. ¡°I don¡¯t think you liked my question very much.¡±

    ¡°AAAGGGHHHH!¡± The floating eye roared at Ye Fenghan.

    But it was toote.

    Ye Fenghan calmly retracted his hand. ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a Divine Crystal.¡±

    ¡°It is! How could it not be?¡± The floating eye howled, seemingly about to go insane.

    Ye Fenghan remained calm as he stared at the floating eye. ¡°So this is a trap, right? The purported Divine Crystal is just a trap used to deceive us. All of the other obstructions were just to make me think that this item was extremely valuable, right? After all, only something that you obtain with significant effort is worth anything.¡±

    ¡°Shut your mouth!¡± The floating eye yelled madly.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Ye Fenghan asked. ¡°And why would you go to such great lengths for it?¡±

    ¡°Bastard! Hurry up and take it, or else I will kill you!¡± the Floating Eye roared as it began to revert to its original form.

    Unfortunately, these threats werepletely useless against Ye Fenghan.

    He stared coldly at the floating eye. ¡°Tell me what this is, or I will kill you!¡±

    Both sides were threatening each other, but it seemed as if neither could do anything to the other.

    At that moment, however, a voice spoke.

    ¡°That is actually a Divine Crystal, but it has been infused by the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s will. If you were to take it, your mind would have been invaded by his will, turning you into a puppet for him to use.

    Ye Fenghan and the floating eye were both simultaneously stunned.

    Ye Fenghan said, ¡°Master?¡±

    The floating eye roared, ¡°Su Chen!¡±

    A fracture had appeared in the space around them. A person stepped out from the fissure - Su Chen.

    As he nced at the fading eye, Su Chen chuckled, ¡°Long time no see, Lord of the Dreamrealm. It seems that you¡¯ve gotten some new tricks up your sleeves since thest time we met.¡±

 Book 7, 61: Fragments

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 61: Fragments</h4>

    The floating eye glowed brilliantly for a moment, then began to dim.

    ¡°Trying to leave?¡± Su Chen replied with a slight smile. ¡°Not on my watch. I still need to use you for my experiments.¡±

    As he spoke, he calmly waved his hand. The floating eye began to expand as if it had suffered some kind of stimtion, beginning to unleash a shocking amount of energy.

    In that moment, Ye Fenghan wondered whether he would have died if the floating eye had unleashed that much energy all at once against him.

    The notion that the Dream God couldn¡¯t kill people in the physical realm was likely outdated.

    As the cracks in the Barrier began to growrger, the gods¡¯ power would begin to leak through. Killing someone would be easy to do.

    Boom!

    Suddenly, the violent explosion of energy seemed to have been frozen in ce, incapable of advancing even the slightest bit.

    ¡°Lord of the Dreamrealm, you have definitely grown stronger if you can make your illusions tangible. Unfortunately, even the most tangible illusions are still false, and you will never be able to do anything to those with real power.¡± As Su Chen spoke, the wave of energy began to dissipate. Ye Fenghan realized that the wave of energy was not as terrifying as it seemed.

    Not only so, but even the skeleton giant wasrgely made up of water.

    While the decline of the Barrier had allowed the gods to exert more influence on the real world, the only reason the earlier attacks had seemed so terrifying was because of the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s unique mastery over illusions, which made it hard to differentiate between reality and illusion.

    Unfortunately, this was useless in Su Chen¡¯s eyes. He was able to easily identify what was real and what wasn¡¯t.

    The floating eye hissed and shrieked in anger.

    Strangely enough, the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s will had been able to manifest in the past, but now he could do no more than hiss iprehensibly.

    Su Chen, on the other hand, knew that this was not the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s actual will. Instead, it was an illusory projection he had constructed. In order to conceal this secret, he had purposefully withheld his divinity from it. This way, if his n ultimately failed, his opponent would not be able to extract any secrets from it.

    This also decreased the difficulty for Ye Fenghan. Otherwise, he probably would not have been able to withstand an attack from the main body¡¯s consciousness. Allowing Ye Fenghan to smoothly obtain the Divine Crystal, then control him using the main body was a much better idea.

    Unfortunately, the n failed. There was nothing the floating eye could do now but tremble in anger.

    Su Chenpletely ignored the floating eye¡¯s angry roars and faintly said, ¡°Did you think that I wouldn¡¯t be able to figure out your secret if you removed its connection to your main body?¡±

    Su Chen reached out and picked up the Divine Crystal.

    At least this item was real.

    ¡°RRAAGHHH!¡± the floating eye howled.

    This time, its anger was genuine.

    If the n failed, some losses would be sustained no matter how much the Dream God had tried to mitigate them.

    This Divine Crystal was one such price.

    To Su Chen, dealing with a strand of divine will was exceptionally easy.

    In but a moment, Su Chen was able to get a rough idea of what was happening. He said, ¡°Fenghan.¡±

    ¡°Master, your disciple is here!¡± Ye Fenghan replied.

    ¡°Do you want to help me with an experiment?¡±

    ¡°I am willing to walk through fire for you, Master.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Su Chen reached out and tapped Ye Fenghan with his fingers a number of times. All Ye Fenghan knew was that a mysterious energy began to pervade his body, along with a strand of will.

    Su Chen¡¯s will.

    Ye Fenghan didn¡¯t resist, enduring the difort and pain.

    Su Chen said, ¡°Take this.¡±

    He handed the Divine Crystal to Ye Fenghan.

    Even though Su Chen had said before that picking up this item would turn him into a consciousness ve, Ye Fenghan epted it without hesitation.

    Strangely enough, this time nothing happened. Ye Fenghan held the Divine Crystal while standing there motionless.

    ¡°Are you afraid?¡± Su Chen chuckled coldly. ¡°Even if you refuse to try and take over his body, I will force you to! Fenghan, devour it!¡±

    Ye Fenghan opened his mouth and put the Divine Crystal inside.

    Just as he was about to swallow the crystal, a faint image began to appear on its surface, seemingly trying to extract itself from the crystal.

    ¡°Who said you could run?¡± Su Chen harrumphed as he jabbed out with his finger. The illusory image was forced back into the crystal, which was quickly swallowed by Ye Fenghan.

    Su Chen ced his palm on Ye Fenghan¡¯s forehead. ¡°Guard your sea of knowledge very carefully and forget about everywhere else. Let it go where it pleases. I will keep you safe.¡±

    ¡°Your disciple is not worried at all!¡± Ye Fenghan replied decisively, relinquishing control of the rest of his body.

    An instantter, a sinister, evil intent began to permeate his body, attempting to control him. Ye Fenghan¡¯s face contorted as he roared, ¡°You¡¯re forcing my hand, Su Chen!!!¡±

    ¡°Oh, so now your consciousness is intact?¡± Su Chen chuckled coldly.

    In order to prevent his secret from being divulged, the Lord of the Dreamrealm had only sent a creature with basic-level authority to oversee the operation here. No matter how he tried to distance himself from it, however, he still needed to provide it with the most basicmands. For instance, the main body would be awakened after the host was controlled; otherwise, there would be no point in having control of a powerful body if an idiot was in charge of it.

    Su Chen was using this to force the Lord of the Dreamrealm to appear within Ye Fenghan¡¯s body and attempt to control him from within.

    As the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s will began to return to the crystal, his ability to vocalize his anger also increased.

    Even so, he knew that he was in trouble, and attempted to disperse his will as quickly as possible.

    Unfortunately, Su Chen would not allow him to do so. A powerful wave of consciousness power surrounded Ye Fenghan¡¯s body, forcibly pushing the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s will back into Ye Fenghan¡¯s body.

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm had no intention of trying to take over Ye Fenghan¡¯s body, yet Su Chen wouldn¡¯t let him leave.

    The two of them fought in a back-and-forth fashion like this for some time.

    Even though the Lord of the Dreamrealm was powerful, the Divine Crystal only contained a small fragment of his will. When the will fragment realized that it couldn¡¯t escape from Su Chen¡¯s control, it began to howl, ¡°Su Chen, do you not care if your disciple lives or dies?¡±

    ¡°Kill him, if you can,¡± Su Chen replied coldly. It seemed as if Ye Fenghan¡¯s life meant nothing to him.

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s will fragment was incensed. <i>Do you really think I can¡¯t do anything? I¡¯ll tear this fis apart even if I die in the process.</i>

    The will began to gather itself as it charged at Ye Fenghan¡¯s sea of knowledge.

    This sudden explosion of power would be enough to turn Ye Fenghan into a vegetable.

    At that moment, however, an image of Su Chen appeared in Ye Fenghan¡¯s sea of knowledge like the incarnation of a god. He easily stopped the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s will fragment outside.

    ¡°NO!¡± The Lord of the Dreamrealm hadn¡¯t expected that Su Chen would ambush him from Ye Fenghan¡¯s sea of knowledge. All his will fragment had time to do was to let out one final cry of defiance before it came under Su chen¡¯s control.

    Because it had been so intent on attacking, it was captured by Su Chen before it even had the chance to destroy itself.

    Su Chen began to sort through its memories, allowing the stream of memories to enter his own mind. A flood of information poured into his sea of knowledge.

    ¡°Hiss!¡± the floating eye shrieked fiercely.

    Unfortunately, this cry of anger was totally pointless.

    ¡°You¡¯re useless to me now.¡± Su Chen kept his eyes closed, continuing to filter through the information he was receiving. With a simple finger strike, the floating eye immediately burst open.

    Now that the Dreamrealm had been shattered, all of the people that had been caught up in it stumbled out.

    Some of them were members of the Demon Hunters, while others were the heartless worshippers.

    ¡°Sect Master!¡± Chang He eximed in happiness. He had just been pulled out of a fight with arge swath of fog.

    Su Chen slowly opened his eyes. He surveyed his surroundings, then muttered to himself, ¡°So many spies.¡±

    In the Boundless Sect¡¯s eyes, anyone who worshipped the gods was a traitor. In order to obtain some table scraps, they had sold out the entire human race.

    But no matter how much Su Chen despised their existence, the fact remained that they still existed.

    The gathering in Wolfheart Valley was an assembly of traitors, and almost all of the important ones amongst the human race were present with the goal of resurrecting the Dreamrealm.

    The gods¡¯ n for this ce was extremely simple.

    The first was to establish a new Dreamrealm, by which the Lord of the Dreamrealm could harvest faith as divine power. After the Boundless Sect had destroyed the initial Dreamrealm, the Lord of the Dreamrealm desperately needed a recement.

    The second was to control a powerful member of the Boundless Sect through this Divine Crystal, gaining a spy amongst their ranks.

    Actually, this second goal was more of a backup to the first one. If the first one failed, there was a possibility that the second one would seed. If the first did seed, the second would potentially be more usefulter on.

    Unfortunately, both of these ns had been destroyed by Su Chen. Not only had the Lord of the Dreamrealm failed to resurrect the Dreamrealm, but he had suffered even greater losses.

    Su Chen nced at Ye Fenghan. ¡°Are you doing alright?¡±

    Ye Fenghan¡¯s expression was pale. Even with Su Chen¡¯s protection, the consciousness surge had still affected his sea of knowledge a little bit due to the resulting fluctuations of energy.

    Even so, Ye Fenghan nodded. ¡°I¡¯m alright.¡±

    Su Chen smiled. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to have put you in a little danger. But you should have received some benefits as well. Try perceiving your consciousness.¡±

    Ye Fenghan gingerly sent out his consciousness, then eximed in joyous surprise, ¡°My consciousness power has increased?¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°I destroyed the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s will fragment, a majority of which fell into your sea of knowledge. If you absorb them properly, this will only be the beginning.¡±

    Ye Fenghan was overjoyed.

    This was the consciousness fragment of a god, after all. No wonder his consciousness had suddenly gotten substantially stronger. And if this was only the beginning, it seemed as if the sky was the limit.

    So it was true that great gains could only be obtained from great danger. He no longer harbored any hesitations over Su Chen¡¯s request.

    ¡°Many thanks, Master!¡± Ye Fenghan replied loudly.

    ¡°You deserve it.¡± As Su Chen spoke, he turned to face Chang He and the others. ¡°How are you all feeling?¡±

    ¡°We are fine, Sect Master,¡± the members of the Demon Hunters replied in unison.

    Su Chen said, ¡°You all have worked hard this time. There is no need for you to participate in what happens next.¡±

    Hm?

    What else was there to do?

    They all nced at each other, confused.

    Su Chen strode towards the seven statues.

    He came to the center of them, then suddenly stomped his foot.

    The ground beneath his feet began to glow, expanding slowly but surely to cover the entire area. The soft glow was like starlight, illuminating the entire sky.

    ¡°This is......¡±

    Everyone present gazed around, stunned by the sudden appearance of this realm illuminated by starlight. At the very center of the area, a small door appeared.

    Su Chen walked towards the door.

    As they watched the door close behind Su Chen, everyone fell into a befuddled silence.

    Chang He walked over and asked Ye Fenghan, ¡°What should we do now?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± Ye Fenghan replied.

    ¡°What should we do with this scum?¡±

    Ye Fenghan nced at the evil worshippers, then replied indifferently, ¡°They don¡¯t really have any use for us anymore.

    ¡°Don¡¯t we need to interrogate them first?¡± Chang He was stunned.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need.¡± Ye Fenghan tapped his own head. ¡°It¡¯s all in here.¡±

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s will fragment had not only boosted Ye Fenghan¡¯s consciousness power, but also given him quite a few memories.

    He knew exactly what that door was, what the gods were up to in this ce, and the statuses of those evil worshippers.

    From this day onwards, these worshippers would not be allowed to continue existing in this world!

 Book 7, 62: Agreement

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 62: Agreement</h4>

    Su Chen stepped into an unfamiliar, unique world.

    The world around him seemed fluid and soft, but it simultaneously exerted an enormous amount of pressure onto his body.

    Behind this fluid appearance was a boundless darkness. Su Chen unleashed his consciousness into his surroundings and immediately felt like he had mmed into a wall that was surrounding this entire space. The only crack was immediately in front of him.

    The fluid energy appeared to be pouring out through that crack and filling the space.

    ¡°The Barrier is fracturing,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    At this moment, he was in the space between the Primordial Continent and the Barrier of the Gods. He was surrounded by that barrier. This small pocket of space was unique because some energy could flow in and out through the crack.

    A crack in the wall that was just big enough for an insect to fit through.

    But even if Su Chen could squeeze through, the gods could not.

    Because they were too big.

    Only their projections or clones could pass through the small hole if they wanted to affect the chain of events in the Primordial Continent.

    Even Su Chen could only go from the Primordial Continent to this space. Right now, he was incapable of going from his side over to where the gods were.

    ¡°The gap is too small...... But soon, it will be muchrger,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    The energy cascading through the crack was slowly but surely wearing down on the Barrier.

    A hole the size of an ant could lead to the failure of a dike. This small crack would eventually lead to the ruin of the Barrier.

    More precisely, it was one of the cracks.

    There were actually a number of cracks in the Barrier like this, based on what Su Chen had determined from the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s memories.

    Through hundreds of thousands of years of erosion, the Barrier had been slowly ground away. This was why the Barrier seemed to be growing more and more permeable. The effort of the gods had minimal effect in this regard.

    Su Chen began to chuckle to himself, relishing the pressure washing over him due to the unique arrangement of this small pocket.

    Then, he let out a deep breath and said, ¡°I¡¯m here. Where are you?¡±

    ¡°Where are you?¡±

    ¡°Where are you?¡±

    ¡°Where are you?¡±

    His question echoed throughout the space, but no one responded.

    Su Chen frowned but continued to silently wait.

    After an unknown period of time, a figure finally appeared in the small pocket of space before him.

    The figure appeared to be bobbing up and down on the fluid energy inside the pocket, and faded in and out of focus.

    Only upon arriving before Su Chen did it grow clear.

    That figure belonged to the old beggar.

    The old beggar had finally appeared.

    Su Chen, however, was not surprised.

    He hade all this way not for the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s clone - that was just an unexpected bonus. His real goal was to meet with this old beggar. Ye Fenghan did not know yet that the knowledge he had received from the Lord of the Dreamrealm also contained a few quite important pieces of information.

    This was essentially the appointment that the old beggar had made with Su Chen.

    Su Chen felt a surge of emotion in his heart when he saw the old beggar.

    If it weren¡¯t for him, he probably would have been no more than one of the Su n¡¯s Young Masters, with some promising talent. His status would have been far different.

    It could be argued that the beggar was responsible for making him into who he was today.

    How could Su Chen not be grateful to the individual who had given him so much?

    Interestingly, the old beggar¡¯s reaction to seeing Su Chen was quite simr.

    As he gazed at Su Chen, his eyes were filled with a tonic love and affection.

    The two of them stared at each other for some time before Su Chen broke the equilibrium.

    He bowed to the old beggar. ¡°Su Chen greets Senior. May I know Senior¡¯s name, if I might dare to be so disrespectful?¡±

    The old beggar smiled slightly. ¡°I don¡¯t have a name. When I was born, names had no meaning, because the human race didn¡¯t exist then.¡±

    Su Chen felt his heart seize.

    The old beggar¡¯s words had unintentionally revealed his status.

    ¡°Su Chen greets the human Ancestor God!¡±

    ¡°Human Ancestor......¡± the old beggar muttered before nodding. ¡°You can think of me that way, but I am not a god.¡±

    ¡°You aren¡¯t a god?¡± Su Chen was stunned.

    The old beggar nodded. ¡°Yes. As you know, I am merely one of the first creatures created by the gods.¡±

    ¡°But......¡±

    ¡°You want to say that, after Kun¡¯s territory appeared, all creatures were gods, right? You want to ask me how I can survive behind the Barrier if I am not a god, right? And how I am able to bypass the Barrier and do something that even they couldn¡¯t, right?¡± the human Ancestor asked.

    Su Chen nodded, a little dumbfounded.

    The human Ancestor sighed. ¡°That would take a long time to exin, longer than we have. All I can tell you is that I am able to bypass the Barrier and use clones precisely because I am not a god. Gods are very powerful, but they also have their own restrictions as a result. Without faith or sacrifices, their power will greatly decrease. On the other hand, humans have the ability to draw power from their very being. They are even more powerful than gods, which makes them freer as a result!¡±

    ¡°Even more powerful than the gods!¡± Su Chen was badly startled by this statement.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you already possess something like that?¡± the human Ancestor chuckled.

    So it all came back to immortal energy, huh?

    ¡°So the human Ancestor was the first individual to possess immortal energy?¡±

    Unexpectedly, the human Ancestor waved his hand in dismissal of that idea. ¡°I¡¯m not the same as you. I was too corroded by the power of faith, so even if I understand it in my mind, there are certain things I cannot achieve.¡±

    Su Chen gazed at the human Ancestor in confusion, who continued, ¡°I don¡¯t have enough time to exin all these things to you. This fracture is being watched closely by those gods, and I can only divert their attention for so long. The return of the gods is nigh......¡±

    ¡°We still have six years,¡± Su Chen said.

    The human Ancestor shook his head. ¡°No, you only have two more years.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Su Chen was stunned.

    Didn¡¯t the Lord of the Dreamrealm say ten years?

    The human Ancestor said, ¡°One of the Barrier¡¯s cracks is growing faster than predicted, resulting in its more rapid decline.¡±

    ¡°Then this ce......¡±

    ¡°Is only meant to divert your attention,¡± the human Ancestor replied. A streak of light flew forth from his palm into Su Chen¡¯s forehead, transmitting all the necessary information to him.

    The human Ancestor continued, ¡°This ce is where the biggest fracture is. In order to prevent you from detecting it, the gods have made basically no moves in that location. If you cannot repair that fracture, the gods will return two years from now.¡±

    Su Chen said decisively, ¡°I will not let them have their way.¡±

    The human Ancestor nodded. ¡°I believe you can do it, but this will only dy them for a little. The Barrier¡¯s decline is not something you can fully stop, and you won¡¯t be able to change the ultimate oue.¡±

    ¡°Do you have any ideas?¡± Even though Su Chen was facing the human Ancestor, who was the human race¡¯s benefactor, he still kept his lips sealed about the n he hade up with.

    The human Ancestor smiled gently. ¡°Don¡¯t you already have one? ughter your way over there before the gods return!¡±

    Su Chen froze, a little embarrassed.

    The human Ancestor chuckled. ¡°There¡¯s no need to be embarrassed. Being cautious is prudent, while courage and boldness will be the foundation to your sess. I have waited for two hundred thousand years, nting countless seeds. Finally, a tree has grown that is capable of supporting the entire human race. Su Chen, you have done well! Very well!¡±

    So that was indeed the case?

    In that moment, Su Chen understood what the human Ancestor¡¯s goal was.

    For two hundred thousand years, the human Ancestor¡¯s clone had wandered throughout human territory, scattering seeds everywhere and raising up generational talents. His goal was ultimately to increase the strength of the entire human race.

    Even so, the reality was that most of the people who were given such a gift only used it for themselves.

    They were able to rely on that power to reach new heights, but chose to live luxurious, extravagant lives instead of attempting to revitalize the human race.

    Though they were powerful, their hearts were selfish, and theycked ambition inparison.

    Of course, some had the heart to be more generous with their power, but that generosity was limited to doing good things for people throughout their travels. Virtually none had the heart or patience to perform research for the sake of the generations toe.

    Li Daohong had been given the Attendant¡¯s Brain, but that turned him into nothing more than a greedy, selfish prince. Lin Raoxian had been given the Tranquil Heart so that he would not be influenced by personal gain, but in the end his heart was so tranquil that he gave the Blood Fiend¡¯s Bone to Long Pojun.

    He had ced his hopes on countless individuals and seedlings, but was disappointed time after time.

    Even so, he had refused to stop his actions.

    Because he firmly believed that one day, someone would be capable of carrying on his dream.

    Thissted for two hundred thousand years before Su Chen finally appeared.

    And Su Chen finally understood why the human Ancestor had done all these things.

    But there was still some things that he didn¡¯t quite understand.

    He asked, ¡°Why couldn¡¯t you just tell me directly?¡±

    The human Ancestor shook his head. ¡°I was not allowed to. This was the price I paid to uphold bnce.¡±

    ¡°Bnce......¡± Su Chen fell into deep thought.

    He recalled the three years that he had spent in darkness.

    Suddenly, everything became a little clearer to him.

    ¡°The bnce of power? The bnce of information?¡±

    The human Ancestor nodded. ¡°Passing through this Barrier is never easy.¡±

    He could not say anymore, but what was left unsaid was incredibly clear.

    ¡°Then how can I cross over?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°When the fracture reaches its maximum size......¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Surprisingly, Su Chen rejected the human Ancestor¡¯s proposal. ¡°I¡¯m talking about right now.¡±

    ¡°You want to cross over right now?¡± The human Ancestor was stunned.

    ¡°Yes, now!¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°When the fracture reaches itsrgest state, the human armies may be able to pass through, but the gods will be close to doing the same. That will leave us with very little time. I must cross over now in order to buy the human race more time.¡±

    ¡°You cannot cross over.¡±

    ¡°As long as I can do what you do, that is good enough. After all, there are still other lifeforms living on Kun territory, right?¡± Su Chen said.

    He had learned from the Lord of the Dreamrealm that there were creatures other than gods still alive in Kun territory. However, these lifeforms were confined to the Kun territory and could not provide the gods with much divine power.

    The Primordial Continent was still the greatest source of divine power for the gods.

    The human Ancestor fell silent.

    After a long time, he said, ¡°That is an idea. But I must warn you that, if youe to my side, I may not be able to help you.¡±

    ¡°As long as you can bring me over, I can handle the rest on my own,¡± Su Chen replied decisively.

    After another lengthy pause, the human Ancestor finally nodded. ¡°This is a big risk, but it is also a risk worth taking.¡±

    He tapped his finger on Su Chen¡¯s forehead again. ¡°This is my projection method. Merge it with your clone technique, and you will be able to sneak into Kun territory. Ten days from now, I will meet you at thergest fracture. Remember, you will only have one chance!¡±

    As the human Ancestor spoke, he disappeared without a trace.

 Book 7, 63: Eternal Treaty

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 63: Eternal Treaty</h4>

    After Su Chen obtained the Human Ancestor¡¯s projection technique, he immediately returned to study it more closely.

    This projection technique was extremely different from his blood clone technique. Thetter was based around splitting off fragments of his personal vitality, and it also relied on absorbing Origin Energy to create the clones.

    The Human Ancestor¡¯s projections did not require blood. Instead, all it required was a strand of the user¡¯s will. This was also why it was called a projection technique and not a clone technique.

    This was also why the Human Ancestor¡¯s projection was able to cross the Barrier. After all, consciousness power was the only thing that could pass through it.

    That didn¡¯t mean that making such projections came at no cost, however. They would simrly need to be nourished by one¡¯s own vitality. That was an unavoidable requirement.

    Every time the Human Ancestor created a projection, he needed a host body to project into.

    Put simply, the Human Ancestor¡¯s projection technique could also be thought of as a possession technique, but the possession¡¯s sess rate depended less on the target¡¯s willingness and more on their age.

    The only reason he was able to aplish something like this was because he was the Human Ancestor.

    Each time he made a projection, however, he had to live out the course of an entire life.

    This was also the reason why his projection would only appear every so often. He needed time to form each and every one of them.

    As the Barrier began to copse, however, the difficulty of forming these projections greatly decreased. Additionally, the Human Ancestor¡¯s projections no longer needed to be discarded immediately after being used.

    His ssic appearance of an old beggar had been chosen on purpose. He needed to transmit information to the human race, but he also had to do so without viting the realm¡¯s equilibrium. As such, he had no choice but to work within those limitations.

    Unfortunately, this sign eventually became nothing more than a legend. People only knew about what the old beggar did, but not why he did it. Countless legendary figures had been brought to life by his hands, but only a select few had fulfilled his dream of leading the human race to new heights.

    Of course, to say that there had been none would be an exaggeration.

    The Gu n¡¯s Ancestor, Gu Xuanmian, who had extracted the Shining Dragon Bloodline and established the first human dynasty, had received the blessing of the Human Ancestor.

    With his power, Gu Xuanmian had developed the bloodline cultivation system that hadsted all the way to the current age. Even though this had resulted in the establishment of the Bloodline Nobility ns, it was undeniable that the human race¡¯s prosperity had greatly increased as a result.

    Unfortunately, the Bloodline Nobility ns had eventually ended up restricting the human race¡¯s development. In some sense, their existence limited the bloodlineless cultivation path and the path of bing an immortal.

    It wasn¡¯t until Su Chen appeared and shattered the bloodline restrictions that the human race had taken their second huge leap forwards.

    Regardless, the Human Ancestor¡¯s actions had been vital to the human race¡¯s development.

    But even he was unable to prevent the gods from ultimately returning.

    Su Chen knew that he was humanity¡¯sst hope.

    After obtaining the projection technique, Su Chen immediately activated the Origin Bone Scepter, attempting to find a way to merge the projection technique with his blood clone technique.

    The Human Ancestor¡¯s projection technique was, in some sense, a divine technique, and any prediction that was rted to it would require a sacrifice of astronomical value. But after Su Chen had exterminated the Astrals and tamed the wilds, his personal wealth had skyrocketed. At this point, he had hundreds of Demonic Emperor Origin Crystals and literal tons of Deste Beast blood.

    The Origin Bone Scepter was an item that could manipte Method Power. As long as its conditions were satisfied, it could make a prediction. And after it was fed enough resources, a way to reconcile the two would appear.

    Ten dayster, Su Chen left the Boundless Pce and flew off towards the darkness in the distance until he arrived at the location that had been pointed out by the Human Ancestor.

    At first nce, this location appeared to bepletely deste and uninhabited.

    Even so, this was where thergest fracture in the Barrier was located, and where the gods would appear when they returned.

    But before all that, Su Chen was going to use this fracture and infiltrate their realm beforehand.

    Because he understood spatial Method Power, Su Chen immediately sensed the fracture¡¯s location as soon as he arrived.

    With a gentle swipe of his finger, a door appeared out of thin air.

    Su Chen stepped inside, only to find that the pocket space behind the door was muchrger than the one he had been in before.

    The gods had specifically not stationed anyone here at this breach so that the humans would not be alerted. As such, this area had been kept aplete secret, until now. If it hadn¡¯t been for the Human Ancestor, it probably would have taken Su Chen tens of thousands of years to discover it.

    Now, however, he could use it for his own purposes.

    The space before him distorted as the Human Ancestor appeared once more.

    ¡°Are you ready?¡± he asked.

    Su Chen nodded.

    ¡°Then let me pick a good host for you.¡±

    Su Chen squeezed out a drop of his own blood. This droplet of blood was of no ordinary blood ¡ª it was his blood essence.

    The Human Ancestor frowned when he saw this. ¡°No physical object can pass through the Barrier ¡ª at least, not right now. The fracture is still onlyrge enough for consciousness power to pass through.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± Su Chen replied steadily.

    The blood essence slowly faded as it seemed to seep into his palm.

    ¡°Hm? This is......¡± the Human Ancestor clucked his tongue in surprise as he remarked, ¡°The Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s ability to give illusory objects substance?¡±

    ¡°I wiped out one of his clones and learned some tricks from it,¡± Su Chen replied.

    The blood essence had not fully disappeared. Instead, it had been concealed within his body.

    Even so, crossing the Barrier still would not be easy.

    Thankfully, Su Chen had the Human Ancestor¡¯s aid.

    The Human Ancestor¡¯s projection began to retreat.

    A consciousness seed enveloped the illusory blood essence and then the two flew towards the barrier. The closer one got to the Barrier, however, the greater the pressure of the Origin Energy Sea they would have to endure. Even consciousness power would have a hard time keeping itself intact in the midst of the powerful Origin Energy storms that brewed there, not to mentionrger, illusory objects.

    Even though they seemed to be mere feet away from the breach, that distance felt like an almost insurmountable gap.

    The restrictions on Method Powering from either side prevented any physical objects from crossing over without first passing through an extremely dangerous test. The illusory blood essence advanced very slowly and unsteadily as the violent winds buffeted it constantly. Soon after it entered the turbulent area, half of it had already been eroded away.

    At this rate, the droplet of blood essence wouldpletely disintegrate into nothingness before it reached the other side. Even though the consciousness seed would still pass through, if it couldn¡¯t merge with Su Chen¡¯s blood essence, then it would be impossible for it to mature normally like the Human Ancestor¡¯s projection.

    Thankfully, the Human Ancestor intervened at that critical moment.

    The projection covered Su Chen¡¯s blood essence in a powerful shell of consciousness power, helping it withstand the pressure threatening to rip it apart.

    Finally!

    Under the protection of the Human Ancestor¡¯s consciousness power, the droplet of illusory blood essence managed to pass through the breach.

    ¡°Whew! Finally, we¡¯re through.¡± Su Chen let out a long sigh of relief.

    ¡°The rest will depend on you. I no longer have the strength to aid you for some time,¡± The vestiges of the Human Ancestor¡¯s will transmitted to Su Chen from the other side as it began to disappear. Obviously, casting this protective shell over the illusory blood essence had taken a significant toll on him.

    Su Chen¡¯s main body watched the droplet of blood essence disappear, but he didn¡¯t leave just yet. He remained there, using his spatial Method Power to influence the surroundings and reducing the rate at which the breach widened.

    Even though spatial Method Power could not fully stop the Barrier from copsing, it could at least reduce the rate at which the copse took ce.

    This didn¡¯t take ce in just this location; the Boundless Sect was also hard at work, stabilizing the other fractures as well. Hopefully, their actions would be able to dy the gods for at least another few years.

    For Su Chen¡¯s projection, this timing was still a bit tight. Hopefully, his projection would be able to find a way to further dy their return.

    Within the Winter Night Duchy.

    Duke Fabino paced back and forth outside the room, until the clear sound of a baby¡¯s wails could be heard.

    The midwife responsible for delivering the baby, Miss Justine, carried a newborn infant out of the room. ¡°Congrattions, Duke Fabino. You now have a son.¡±

    ¡°Ah, a son! I, Fabino, finally have a son!¡± The duke tilted his head back andughed in relief, wringing his hands as if he wanted to hold his son, but he didn¡¯t quite dare to do so.

    ¡°You can hold him, but don¡¯t use too much strength,¡± Miss Justine said as she tenderly handed the child over.

    Fabino gazed at his own son as he softly murmured, ¡°Look, he has a pair of ck eyes.¡±

    ¡°And ck hair,¡± Miss Justin said, ¡°Look, he¡¯s already opened his eyes and is looking at you.¡±

    The infant had opened his eyes, and was now gazing at his surroundings curiously.

    His eyes darted around in a lively manner.

    ¡°What will you name him?¡± Miss Justine asked.

    ¡°Look how sharp his gaze is. This child will definitely be intelligent. I can sense it! The entire Fabino Duchy will be changed because of him! I will call him Frost. Frost Fabino!¡± Fabino replied decisively.

    And like that, Frost¡¯s name was decided.

    No one noticed how Frost frowned slightly upon hearing this name.

    Even if they had noticed, they probably would have just assumed that it was an insignificant twitch of his muscles.

    Only the little Frost knew that this frown was actually one of displeasure. And he was displeased because his consciousness bewitching technique had actually failed.

    He had tried to use his consciousness power to influence his father into naming him Su Chen. This would have saved him from having to respond to two different names.

    But the amount of consciousness power that he possessed was not enough to do this.

    Su Chen¡¯s projection, also known as Frost Fabino, quickly discovered that this was because, although he appeared simr to a human, his actual bodily makeup was very different from that of a human.

    The biggest difference was that the consciousness power of the creatures in this world existed in a solid state.

    This made it very difficult for their consciousnesses to be affected by the outside world, and vice versa.

    Perhaps this was the reason why they could provide little to no divine power to the gods ¡ª their basic substance was restricted and they were unable to release much more, making it very difficult for the gods to utilize their faith. The result was that their poption was only enough to sustain the few gods still living in the Kun territory.

    The Dusk of the Gods was a historical event that had taken ce a long time ago. For unknown reasons, the ancient gods had fought with each other afterwards. Many gods had been killed during this conflict.

    It was obvious to Su Chen that this battle had been sparked by the gods¡¯ self-preservation instincts.

    The dead gods¡¯ lives had been used to sustain this world, bringing forth new lifeforms and new worshippers. This was what had allowed the surviving gods to barely survive until this day and age.

    After that battle, the gods had reached an agreement to not fight amongst themselves anymore. Instead, they would focus all of their efforts on wearing down the Barrier and attempting to escape.

    To achieve this goal, the gods needed to band together. If they ever fought against one another again, then they would undoubtedly suffer mutual destruction!

    That was the birth of the Eternal Treaty.

 Book 7, 64: Infiltration (1)

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 64: Infiltration (1)</h4>

    ng!

    A steel shortsword chopped cleanly through a wooden stake.

    ¡°Well done!¡± the onlookers began to cheer.

    ¡°Young Master is the best!¡±

    ¡°Well done, Young Master.¡±

    ¡°Young Master is a genius!¡±

    A cacophony of praise could be heard through the air.

    Frost Fabino calmly sheathed his shortsword.

    He had heard this kind of praise all too often.

    He had just turned seven this year, but the strength he could disy was equivalent to that of an adult. This was partially because lifeforms in this world matured earlier (reaching full maturity at the age of twelve). The other reason was because of his innate talent.

    The illusory blood essence had vastly increased his vitality. Even though it was not fully activated yet, it would still allow him to advance at breakneck pace. He was truly a genius. Even though his servants¡¯ words were full of admiration, the content of their praise was urate.

    Even so, these words were totally pointless to Frost.

    Seven years. He had been in this world for seven years already.

    His main body was still floating around the Primordial Continent, sealing the Barrier¡¯s fractures and dying the return of the gods.

    The Barrier, which should have been destroyed in two years, was further sustained for a period of time.

    This dy, however, was like treating a terminal illness. Its eventual destruction was inevitable.

    Another few years, give or take, and the Barrier would begin to fully copse.

    He needed to find a way to extend the dy before that happened.

    Actually, there was in fact a way for him to do so.

    Su Chen had learned from the Lord of the Dreamrealm that the gods were actively working to wear down the Barrier. Each god was attacking the Barrier to elerate its destruction.

    In other words, as long as he could keep those gods upied for some time, the Barrier¡¯s decline would slow down significantly.

    Of course, that was easier said than done. At the very least, it was not something that little Frost could do by himself.

    Thankfully, there were also a few other possibilities......

    Frost asked, ¡°When will Father return?¡±

    One of the servants bowed and said, ¡°Duke Fabino has just returned and is in his study.¡±

    Frost turned around and began to head for the study.

    Fabino¡¯s study was actually off-limits to anyone without prior permission.

    Frost, on the other hand, was an exception.

    A frown was on Fabino¡¯s face as he read over the reports that had been left on his desk.

    When Fabino saw his son enter, his countenance improved significantly. ¡°My son, your sword skills have significantly matured, and your abilities have far surpassed those of your peers. From this point onwards, you are a true warrior. This is probably the best news I have gotten all summer.¡±

    In the Kun¡¯s territory simple system, a level one warrior was the foundation to the supernatural. There were a total of ten levels. Beyond that was the legendary tier. In some sense, this system was quite simr to the Arcana Technique system.

    The fact that Frost had managed to reach this level at the tender age of seven clearly demonstrated his outstanding talent.

    Frost calmly replied, ¡°Then what about the bad news, Father?¡±

    ¡°Those bandits have reappeared in the Lonely Forest,¡± Fabino sighed, holding the corresponding scroll in his hands. ¡°Another group of merchants was robbed by them yesterday. My guards have basically be a bunch of good-for-nothings. I can¡¯t believe that there was nothing they could do!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not a surprise, Father,¡± Frost replied. ¡°After all, they¡¯re the demonic forces that upy the Lonely Forest.

    The Lonely Forest was a forest right next to Fabino¡¯s duchy. The forest seemed to be imbued with a mysterious power, making it a forbidden area for anything alive. Any living creature that stepped foot inside would be in grave danger; perhaps only one in every ten individuals returned alive. This was where the forest got its name from, as it was perpetually deserted and eerily silent.

    The demonic forces, however, were an exception.

    They were able to take up residence within the Lonely Forest, entering and leaving as they pleased. This rendered Duke Fabino¡¯s forcespletely helpless against them.

    They had attempted to bait the demonic forces out of their hideout many times, but unfortunately their ploys had been seen through every time. It was as if they had some all-seeing eye.

    This upset Fabino quite a bit, and became a prick in his heart that bothered him incessantly.

    ¡°They are causing too much damage and losses to us. Do you have any good ideas, my Frost?¡± Fabino asked his son.

    This was not too strange. Even though his son was only seven years old, he was already disying an astonishing intellect. His genius was not limited to practicing martial arts; his political skills were quite impressive as well. Frost had demonstrated this numerous times during the past seven years.

    ¡°Have the Church¡¯s men take care of it,¡± Frost replied. ¡°The Lonely Forest¡¯s power most likelyes from some kind of curse. Their clergymen should be able to handle it quite easily.¡±

    ¡°But they cost too much to hire,¡± Fabino replied as he rubbed his forehead.

    The demonic forces upying the Lonely Forest never touched the Church¡¯s cargo, so they had never offended the Church either.

    An expensive offering was needed under such circumstances to have them act.

    Fabino should have been able to muster up the funds under normal circumstances, but not too long ago some misunderstandings had cropped up between him and one of the Church¡¯s bishops.

    This misunderstanding was not necessarily a big one. Bishop Olik had taken a shine to one of the maidservants under Duke Fabino¡¯s rule. Duke Fabino was not stingy and agreed. That night, however, the maidservant mysteriously died.

    Forcing oneself onto someone and then killing them was an extremelymon thing for a noble to do during this period of time.

    The bishop mistakenly believed that Fabino had selfishly refused to give the maidservant to him, choosing to kill the maidservant instead.

    Their rtionship soured as a result.

    Duke Fabino had a grievance he could not air, and there was no way he could possibly exin what had happened. After all, he had indeed gone to visit the maidservant that evening, and he had also drunk some wine......

    In any case, Bishop Olik was extremely displeased, and had issued Fabino a price for his services that Fabino simply could not ept.

    The demonic forces grew bolder by the day.

    Upon hearing Frost¡¯s reply, Fabino shook his head.

    ¡°I¡¯m not talking about the Winter God Church,¡± Frost replied.

    ¡°What?¡± Fabino was stunned.

    ¡°I¡¯m talking about the Moon Goddess Church,¡± Frost said.

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡± Fabino immediately leapt to his feet.

    Each deity had a range in which they operated. The Eternal Treaty¡¯s restrictions prevented any one deity from casually intruding on the territory of another deity.

    Thend that was now under Fabino¡¯s control had exchanged hands countless times before, but the Winter God had ruled over it this entire time.

    This was a rule that could not be broken.

    Upon hearing Frost¡¯s proposal, Fabino¡¯s immediate response was to reject that idea.

    ¡°We¡¯re not asking them to proselytize. We¡¯re just asking them to exterminate a few bandits,¡± Frost replied.

    Not to proselytize, just to exterminate bandits.

    This territory did belong to the Winter God, but the Moon Goddess¡¯s soldiers could stille to their aid.

    Hm, this was a valid excuse.

    Fabino mulled over the matter a little. ¡°Will they agree?¡±

    ¡°We will be paying them. In any case, exterminating evil is part of their duties.¡±

    Even though the Moon Goddess Church did not have the same standard of righteousness that some of the other Churches possessed, their viewpoint was more or less the same.

    Those upstanding, righteous Churches had mostly fallen during the Dusk of the Gods. The Moon Goddess, who had absorbed the divine power of multiple races on the Primordial Continent, was the standard of righteousness in this realm.

    Righteousness from darkness!

    This was the Moon Goddess Church¡¯s standard of justice.

    The Moon Goddess Church¡¯s disciples were more than happy to participate in the extermination of evil.

    Fabino thought for a moment before nodding. ¡°I will make a request to Bishop Surrey.¡±

    ¡°Not Bishop Surrey - Bishop Thor,¡± Frost replied.

    ¡°Thor?¡±

    ¡°Yes, a friend that I made recently. He is a new Bishop that was recently appointed over the Plum Orchard territory, and he is eager to share in your difficulties,¡± Frost said.

    Fabino chuckled. ¡°So you were already prepared for this.¡±

    ¡°I still need your permission.¡± Frost respectfully lowered his head.

    Fabino gazed at his son with satisfaction. ¡°Well done. The Heavens have indeed blessed me if I have such an outstanding son. I agree with your proposal. If that¡¯s the case, I will send you to Plum Blossom territory to make an official invitation.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Father. I will go and prepare immediately.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re in such a hurry?¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t have much time, Father.¡±

    Fabino sighed, ¡°Yes, we don¡¯t have much time. But I¡¯m still a little hesitant about sending you all on your own. You are only seven years old, after all.¡±

    ¡°I will be protected by my subordinates, and I have be an official warrior as well. Father, please give me an opportunity to prove myself.¡±

    ¡°You proved yourself a long time ago, my child,¡± Fabino gazed at Frost, his gaze filled with some suspicion.

    <i>You will know very soon how big of a mistake this is very soon</i>, Frost thought to himself as he stared back at Fabino.

 Book 7, 65: Infiltration 2

    Within the Lonely Forest.

    This ce had once been a beautiful forest, but five years ago, a mysterious curse had struck thend, transforming it into a deadly area that was off-limits to any living creature. But to Laban and his demon bandits, this ce was actually the safest haven, and with flowing milk and honey.

    At this moment, hundreds of demonic bandits were dancing, eating, and drinking around a roaring campfire that was situated right next to a small stream running through the Lonely Forest.

    They were not wearing the demonic masks that they normally used to conceal their identities. Actually, they celebrated just like regr humans.

    Laban sat on a nearbyrge rock, holding a leather wineskin that he kept refilling. He had drunk a little too much, and his vision was unfocused. Even so, he refused to let the leather wineskin slip from his grip.

    ¡°Bart, go and bring that woman over to me,¡± Laban suddenly yelled out in high spirits.

    An old bearded bandit replied, ¡°Leader, our boss said that we can¡¯t do those kinds of things.¡±

    ¡°Pei!¡± Laban mmed the rock he was sitting on. ¡°There¡¯s so many of us here. If we aren¡¯t allowed to touch the women, then how will we go on living? Should we use your holes instead?¡±

    The group of bandits behind him began to chucklesciviously.

    Laban waved the wineskin haphazardly and roared, ¡°Hurry up and bring her to me!¡±

    The old bearded bandit had no choice but toply.

    Very quickly, a young woman was brought before Laban.

    She seemed to be around fifteen years old. Her dress was long and elegant, and it was obvious that she was of noble upbringing. Even though she was a prisoner, her proud demeanor remained. ¡°Let me go, you vile scum! Don¡¯t touch me with your dirty hands.¡±

    ¡°No problem,¡± Laban said with an amicable chuckle, ¡°I won¡¯t use my hands to touch you, but I will use my member to receive you.¡±

    The bandits allughed uproariously.

    ¡°Pei!¡± The woman¡¯s personality was surprisingly fiery, and she actually spat at Laban.

    Laban jumped off the rock, picked up the woman, and walked off into the forest. ¡°I like your personality......¡±

    The woman thrashed and kicked violently, but that only further aroused Laban. ¡°Yes, baby, just like that. I hope that you¡¯ll keep this up for a while.¡±

    ¡°I also hope that you¡¯ll be as excited in a few minutes as you are now,¡± a voice coldly spoke out from behind him.

    Laban suddenly froze.

    He turned around, only to find that a ck-clothed man was standing not far away from him.

    His entire body was shrouded in dark fog. It was impossible to determine his appearance or even what his true voice sounded like. His entire being was shrouded in mystery.

    All of the bandits simultaneously stopped what they were doing.

    Laban shrugged andzily tossed the woman to the side. ¡°Hey, boss. Why are you here?¡±

    ¡°There were some things that I wanted to delegate to you, but I didn¡¯t expect to be greeted by such a fascinating scene,¡± the ck figure replied, ¡°I remember telling you not to do anything like that. If you want to bed a woman, then just go to the city¡¯s brothel.¡±

    Laban spread his hands in a show of helplessness. ¡°I hate going to the city, and this broad is very beautiful, don¡¯t you think? You¡¯d never find something this top-quality in the city¡¯s brothels.¡±

    The ck shadow remained silent.

    Laban said helplessly say, ¡°Alright, boss, this was my mistake. Since you¡¯re here, I¡¯ll leave this broad to you. What do you think?¡±

    The ck figure calmly replied, ¡°That¡¯s your response? You disappoint me, Laban.¡±

    Laban¡¯s embarrassment gradually gave way to anger. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t threaten me. So what if you¡¯re the boss? I¡¯m the leader of these bandits! I¡¯m only willing to listen to you because you¡¯ve helped us, but if you continue bbering on like this, then don¡¯t me me for......¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t me you for what? Killing me?¡± the ck figure sarcastically countered.

    Laban snarled withughter as he shot back, ¡°You might be the boss, but don¡¯t forget that all of these brothers roll with me.¡±

    The ck figure nced at the bandits behind them. ¡°Do you all think so as well?¡±

    The bandits remained silent.

    Internal conflicts were quitemon amongst bandits. Most bandits were fighters through and through, and their chosen career reflected their opportunistic natures.

    They knew that the ck figure was definitely strong in his own right if he was capable of being their boss, but none of them knew just exactly how powerful he was. Laban¡¯s challenge to the ck figure was a perfect opportunity for them to determine their boss¡¯s strength and see whether he truly had the authority to boss them around.

    They wouldn¡¯t just follow whoever had the most money.

    The ck figure seemed to understand what the bandits were thinking and chuckled in amusement. ¡°You want to see how strong I am? I¡¯m afraid that you all will be disappointed. Laban, I will give you onest chance. Are you sure that you want to challenge me?¡±

    ¡°I want to give it a try,¡± Laban replied with a steely glint.

    As he spoke, he unsheathed the de tucked into his waistband.

    As a level three warrior, Laban had the right to be confident in his own strength.

    The ck figure nodded. ¡°Very well. You¡¯ve just relinquished yourst chance of survival.¡±

    Laban hefted his de. ¡°Whatever you say, man. Even though you¡¯ve tried to keep your strength hidden, I can still tell that it¡¯s quite pitiful. You are merely a level one warrior.¡±

    ¡°So you could still tell.¡± The ck figure clucked its tongue and nodded before continuing to say, ¡°I suppose that I shouldn¡¯t be surprised that you noticed despite my best attempts to keep it hidden. You must have discovered it a long time ago, which is why you dared to ignore mymands tonight. But Laban, you also seem to have forgotten who it was that allowed you to survive in this forest without any worries.¡±

    ¡°Of course I haven¡¯t. That¡¯s why I won¡¯t kill you. Once I defeat you, I¡¯ll keep you by my side so that you can continue producing that medicine that allows us to avoid the effects of the curse for us,¡± Laban replied with a dark chuckle.

    ¡°Very good. Since you¡¯ve said as much, I will not kill you when I get the chance to,¡± the ck figure said with a sigh.

    There was no need for any more words.

    Laban leapt into the air as he unleashed a powerful sh with his de.

    The momentum behind this sh was exceptionally heavy and it carried with it the full physical might of a level three warrior. Its form was also flexible, allowing it to adapt to whatever defense it faced. In fact, it was even strong enough to withstand a parry from a level four warrior.

    Unfortunately, he had made one fatal miscalction.

    The ck figure gently waved his hand.

    Laban suddenly felt a powerful itching sensation ovee him. It was so intense that he was immediately paralyzed by the immense physical pain.

    This explosion of pain seemed to break out everywhere at once, making his entire body feel like it was being subjected to this torment.

    ¡°AH!!!!¡± Laban began to howl like mad, and he even threw his de aside as he rolled back and forth on the ground.

    It was as if something was gnawing at his insides. His face, arm, and chest were all decaying away by the second, slowly but surely revealing the pale white bone underneath.

    ¡°How is this possible?¡± All of the bandits were immediately terrified by the sight.

    ¡°It¡¯s the curse! It¡¯s the curse!¡±

    Some of the bandits cried out in understanding when they realized what had happened.

    They suddenly remembered that what Laban was suffering through was exactly what the curse did to those without protection.

    But didn¡¯t the medicine that they drank protect them from the effects of the curse?

    Could it be......

    The bandits all turned around to nce at the ck figure again.

    The ck figure calmly answered their thoughts. ¡°Yes. Even though I¡¯ve given you medicine that can withstand the curse¡¯s effects, I can also neutralize it at any time. And because you all have inhabited the Lonely Forest for far too long, your bodies are irrevocably stained with the curse. As soon as the protection from the medicine vanishes, the built up curse will immediately explode and devour your bodies. Don¡¯t worry, though. I did say that I would keep him alive.¡±

    With a wave of his hand, Laban¡¯s body stopped decaying.

    However, the wounds that he had sustained did not recover. Labany there, weakly moaning in pain. If he didn¡¯t receive additional medical care soon, he would likely sumb to his wounds.

    One of the bandits was bolder than the rest. ¡°How can you control the curse to this extent? Could it be......¡±

    The ck figure chuckled. ¡°Even though you are all scum, you aren¡¯t stupid. Yes, that¡¯s right. The strange situation in this forest was orchestrated by me from the very beginning.¡±

    So he was the creator of this curse.

    The bandits all fell to their knees in despair.

    Any thoughts of rebelling were crushed in the face of the man who controlled this malicious curse.

    Laban was still mewling pathetically. ¡°Spare me, spare me! I am willing to serve you with all my heart!¡±

    The ck figure replied, ¡°You will indeed serve me, but not as the leader of these bandits.¡±

    He strode forward, the ck fog pooling at his feet.

    He stood over Laban and emotionlessly said, ¡°Did you know that there is another kind of technique that I am skilled in? I can create quite the formidable puppet. A crippled level three warrior is the perfect base to make a puppet. If I use your body as the main ingredient, then I should be able to refine a puppet that can even hold its own against a level four warrior if I use the right supplemental materials.¡±

    ¡°No! Don¡¯t!¡± Laban howled in terror upon hearing his fate. ¡°Spare me, and I can continue to serve you. You need a leader, one who can lead the rest of the bandits! Only I can do this!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s true,¡± the ck figure said with a slow shake of his head. ¡°You are not a talented leader. In my view, even a woman would be a better leader than you.¡±

    As he spoke, he carefully bandaged and treated Laban¡¯s wounds. Of course, this was not out of the goodness in his heart, but rather so that Laban would be a useful material in the near future.

    ¡°You¡¯re the creator of the Lonely Forest¡¯s curse?¡± A voice suddenly spoke from behind him.

    ¡°Hm?¡± He turned to face the speaker.

    It was that woman.

    By this point, she had already stood up, and was currently staring at him fearlessly.

    The ck figure was amused by her audaciousness. ¡°Yes. Why does it concern you?¡±

    The woman loudly dered, ¡°Help me kill someone.¡±

    The ck figure stared at her quizzically. ¡°What did you say? Help you kill someone?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± the woman replied, nodding sincerely, ¡°As long as you help me kill that damned woman, I¡¯ll give you anything you want.¡±

    ¡°I have no interest in your body,¡± the ck figure replied dryly.

    Even though the woman was beautiful, the ck figure didn¡¯t seem to put her beauty in his eyes.

    ¡°I¡¯m not talking about myself,¡± the woman replied.

    The ck figure¡¯s interest was finally piqued.

    He turned to nce at the woman seriously. ¡°Then what else do you have to offer?¡±

    ¡°My name is Isabe Gwent, the first heir to the Gwent family. Not long ago, I had my title of heir stripped from me. As long as you use this curse to kill the thief who stole my inheritance, I will be able to regain control of the Gwent family. When that happens, all of the Gwent family¡¯s treasures will belong to you.¡±

    ¡°A ssic power struggle, huh?¡± the ck figure remarked as he nced at Isabe.

    Isabe tactfully added on, ¡°The Gwent family is one of the three wealthiest families in the duchy.¡±

    Even so, the answer that she received left her disappointed.

    The other party shook their head and simply replied, ¡°I¡¯m not interested.¡±

    Not interested?

    How could you not be interested?

    You¡¯re the leader of a bunch of bandits. How could you not be interested in money?

    Isabe felt a sense of despair overwhelm her.

    ¡°But perhaps there is something else that you can do for me.¡± The ck figure¡¯s words once again rekindled hope within her.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Isabe asked hurriedly. She vowed in her heart that, no matter what opportunity was presented to her, she would seize it.

    ¡°Be the leader of these bandits,¡± the ck figure answered.

    ¡°What?¡±

    Isabe was dumbfounded.

    As were the bandits.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Be the leader of these bandits, lead them well, and demonstrate your worth to me that way. This will be thest opportunity for you to take revenge,¡± the ck figure stated.

 Book 7, 66: Infiltration 3

    Isabe had never experienced anything like this in her entire life.

    In the blink of an eye, she had suddenly be the leader of a group of bandits that had been trying to vite her only moments ago.

    What...... What did this mean?

    But if she didn¡¯t agree, then the other party wouldn¡¯t spare her, let alone help her get revenge.

    But if she agreed, then just how would she aplish her revenge?

    She stammered, ¡°I...... I¡¯ve never led anyone before.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the heir of arge family, so you should have had plenty of subordinates under you in the past, right? Treat these bandits like your old servants. Get to know them first, and then assign them to perform various tasks. Reward the obedient ones and punish the disobedient ones. For instance, they should be punished for their wrongdoing today......¡±

    As the ck figure spoke, it gently waved its hand.

    All of the bandits began to howl simultaneously. Obviously, he had dispelled the effects of the medicine, causing the curse to fill their bodies with pain.

    However, this version of the curse did significantly less damage than the curse that had afflicted Laban. Their skin didn¡¯t immediately melt away, but their blood did seep out and bead on the surface of their skin, causing their appearance to quickly be quite terrifying.

    Isabe trembled as she yelled out, ¡°That¡¯s enough! They didn¡¯t betray you ¡ª they just chose to be neutral!¡±

    Even as she spoke those words, Isabe couldn¡¯t believe that she had dared to speak against such a terrifying individual with such a defiant tone.

    An instantter, however, the curse actually stopped.

    The ck figure said, ¡°If you say it¡¯s enough, then it¡¯s enough.¡±

    He turned to nce at the group of bandits. ¡°Your punishment will stop here because of the goodwill of your new leader.¡±

    Isabe let out a long sigh of relief. She was not an idiot, and she understood that the other party was helping her establish some goodwill and respect.

    This would make it easier for her to do her work, even if she wasn¡¯t quite clear on just what she needed to do.

    Isabe took a deep breath and then said, ¡°I need to know all of their names, abilities, strengths, and what they do on a daily basis.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s easy. Bart!¡± the ck figure called out.

    The old bearded man hurriedly scrambled over.

    ¡°Bart followed Laban for many years. He knows about the situation here quite well. He¡¯ll be your helper.¡±

    ¡°Al...... alright.¡± Isabe nodded as she steeled her nerves.

    The ck figure picked Laban¡¯s body up and started walking off into the distance. ¡°Then I will leave this ce to you. Remember, you have three days to get used to this ce.¡±

    ¡°Three days? What will happen in three days?¡±

    ¡°Three days from now, a group of soldiers will surround you, including two clergymen, four holy warriors, and twenty or so of their servants.

    What?

    The bandits were stunned when they heard this piece of news.

    The Church¡¯s clergymen were not easy to deal with, and their holy warriors were even stronger.

    The bandits¡¯ most powerful warrior had been crippled, and even if he had been present, they still would have been no match for a group that strong.

    ¡°Can the Lonely Forest keep them away?¡± Isabe asked.

    ¡°If they dare to enter this forest, they¡¯ll have made their own preparations. In actuality, there are a few different divine techniques that can nullify the curse that presides over this forest.¡± The ck figure¡¯s reply made the bandits quite despondent.

    ¡°Then what if we can¡¯tst that long?¡± Isabe continued to ask.

    The ck figure simply replied, ¡°Then you will die.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t let us die like that, right? If we die, then you won¡¯t have any more bandits to use.¡±

    Isabe was still trying to negotiate for more favorable terms.

    She was still hoping to get a better answer.

    Unfortunately, reality left her disappointed.

    The ck figure emotionlessly replied, ¡°You¡¯re wrong. If you die, then I will just find another group to support me. The demon bandits will always exist, though it might not be your group in the future.¡±

    After the ck figure said these words, he spun around and left, leaving the group of bandits shell-shocked. After the ck figure left, his face morphed, revealing Frost¡¯s visage.

    Even though he was young and his strength average, some of his abilities far exceeded those of his contemporaries, which included the creation of the curse that permeated the Lonely Forest.

    How he would use Laban was yet another example of his precociousness.

    Frost, who had always regretted theck of readily-avable materials, had finally gotten his hands on the body of a level three warrior.

    As such, after leaving the Lonely Forest, he immediately headed straight to a nearby cave. This ce was his secret researchboratory, where he conducted all of his experiments and research.

    This included his understanding of biology on this side of the Barrier. Frost had early on discovered that living creatures born in the Kun¡¯s territory were extremely suited to be used as puppet chassis.

    The underlying theory was to use the physical body as the foundation andbine it with multiple supplementary materials. With this general blueprint, Frost had developed a way to produce a unique kind of puppet.

    And with this blueprint, Frost could build up an army of loyal subordinates before he reached full maturity.

    After ensuring that no one else was nearby, Frost began to construct his first puppet.......

    Meanwhile, Isabe and her bandits were beginning to panic.

    Frost¡¯s emotionless words echoed ceaselessly through their minds.

    There was no chance of them escaping. Since the curse had fully pervaded their bodies, they would likely die without the constant suppressive effects from their boss¡¯s medicine.

    Since they couldn¡¯t escape, their only choice was to think of a way to neutralize the pending threat.

    The bandits huddled together as they discussed possible ns of action.

    ¡°What else can we do? We¡¯ll just fight them head-on!¡± one of the rasher bandits roared.

    ¡°That¡¯s just going to get us all killed. There¡¯s no way we¡¯ll be able to win in an upfront fight against them.¡±

    ¡°Then what do you think we should do?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s hide somewhere and ambush them.¡±

    ¡°Are you kidding? Your traps are nothing more than child¡¯s y. ¡®Hey, look, I caught you!¡¯ Is that what you¡¯re going to say to them? Do you think that jumping out of tall grass will mean that you¡¯ll be able to finish them off? I¡¯m about to die ofughter.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to wait until you die ofughter. You¡¯ll die very soon!¡± the bandit who was being mocked yelled angrily.

    The two of them then broke out into a fight. The nearby bandits made no attempt to stop them. Instead, they formed a circle around them and jeered them on.

    This was just how bandits behaved. Even if the sky was about to copse, it was impossible to expect them to do anything even mildly productive.

    Isabe felt a headache wash over her.

    Even though she repeatedly tried to get their attention, no one listened to her.

    They continued to chaotically mor and shout and argue,pletely ignoring their ¡°leader,¡± Isabe.

    They¡¯re not listening to me at all! Me being their leader is only in name, Isabe thought to herself mournfully.

    She knew that this was a natural result of being artificially instated. No one would take her seriously.

    Deep inside her heart, however, Isabe refused to give up.

    She didn¡¯t want to admit defeat here, because doing so would mean returning to her previous, powerless self.

    There was no way that she would ever ept that.

    Even if the alternative was bing a bandit herself.

    Only after I truly be a bandit will they be willing to ept me, she thought to herself.

    As Isabe watched the two bandits brawl with each other, a cold glint of light suddenly flickered through her eyes

    She finally seemed toe to a conclusion, and she forcefully charged into the mix, grabbed one of the bandits by his shoulder, and threw him over her shoulder onto the ground.

    This shoulder throw was executed beautifully, and the rest of the bandits were startled by her interruption.

    ¡°Hey! He was my opponent.¡± The other bandit seemed unhappy about Isabe disturbing his fight.

    Isabe responded with a vicious first to the bandit¡¯s stomach, causing him to fall to his knees.

    Isabe coldly dered, ¡°The Gwent family is a family of martial artists. Every son and daughter is trained in meleebat. If you aren¡¯t satisfied, feel free to try me.¡±

    Arge group of bandits rushed towards her.

    Isabe panicked slightly, but she did her best to control her emotions. ¡°I am your leader. You all would do best to remember that.¡±

    But one of the bandits shook his head. ¡°I refuse to ept you as my leader.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say that earlier, when the boss was here? Do you think that you¡¯ll be able to slink away unpunished after killing me?¡± Isabe immediately threatened.

    Upon hearing this, the bandits froze momentarily. What had happened to Laban was still fresh in their minds. Before they could determine what their boss was thinking, none of them dared to do anything to Isabe.

    Isabe let out a sigh of relief. So the looming threat of the boss was still useful, huh?

    A momentter, however, someone said, ¡°We can¡¯t possibly win against the clergymen, so we will die sooner orter. Who cares about our boss?¡±

    This statement won the approval of many bandits.

    Someone even went one step further. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then why don¡¯t we get a taste of our new leader? If we¡¯re going to die anyways, then why not have some fun before we die?¡±

    ¡°I think that sounds like a good idea,¡± one of the bandits chuckled darkly.

    These bandits were scum, through and through. Even though they were in a desperate situation, none of them were thinking of ways to extricate themselves from the situation. Instead, all they thought about was having some fun before they died.

    Isabe felt a sense of despair wash over her once again.

    Just as the bandits were reaching out to grab her, however, an idea sprang to mind.

    She yelled out, ¡°I know how to deal with those clergymen.¡±

    The bandits suddenly stopped, staring at her attentively.

    Isabe repeated, ¡°I know how to deal with the clergymen, but you have to listen to my orders.¡±

    ¡°If you really have a way to deal with them, we are willing to obey you,¡± one of the bandits said.

    ¡°And what about you? And you? And you?¡± Isabe asked, ncing pointedly at each of the bandits next to her.

    ¡°We swear on it, as long as you can do it.¡±

    ¡°I swear on my mother¡¯s grave.¡±

    The bandits all agreed, each swearing their own strange vow.

    Even though it sounded a bit insincere, it was obvious that her words were beginning to convince the bandits.

    Isabe let out a long sigh of relief.

    She thought to herself, You can do this. You can definitely do this.

    After she calmed down a bit, she continued, exining, ¡°The Church¡¯s forces are indeed incredibly strong, and we are not their opponents in the slightest. That¡¯s why our only chance of surviving is by encircling them and searching for opportunities to strike.¡±

    ¡°What kind of method is that? What a waste of time,¡± some of the bandits muttered scornfully.

    Others asked, ¡°What kind of opportunities would we be looking for?¡±

    ¡°Opportunities to kill the clergymen!¡± Isabe dered. ¡°As long as we can kill the clergymen, we will have won.¡±

    What? Everyone gazed at Isabe in shock.

    Isabe loudly exined, ¡°Even though the clergymen and the holy warriors both possess divine techniques, they specialize in different areas. From what I understand, the clergymen should be the ones who are responsible for repelling the curse. Additionally, not everyone from the church will be able to do that.¡±

    The bandits¡¯ interest had finally been caught. ¡°So you¡¯re saying that......¡±

    ¡°We willunch an all-out strike to kill the clergymen. As long as they die, there will be no one to help the holy warriors and their servants repel the curse, and they will then inevitably die to the curse.¡±

    Isabe continued. ¡°Thus, we are actually not fighting against the whole expedition, but rather just the clergymen. This is also why the boss is letting us fight against them on our own. Even though they are powerful, they have a fatal w. If we can take advantage of this w, then our enemies will fall at our feet.¡±

 Book 7, 67: Infiltration 4

    ¡°Even though our enemies are powerful, they have a fatal w. If we can take advantage of this w, then our enemies will fall at our feet.¡±

    These words came out of Frost¡¯s mouth as well.

    If he wanted to fight against the gods, then merely putting in effort to fight against them would not be enough to win. He needed to find their weakness and exploit it.

    And what was the gods¡¯ weakness?

    Their overreliance on divine power.

    In other words, the very existence of this world was their weakness.

    And only by targeting this weakness would the humans in the Origin Realm have any chance of defeating the gods.

    All Su Chen was doing right now was just the beginning.

    His research on Labansted for three whole days.

    Three dayster, apleted puppety before him.

    Unlike the metal puppets that he had created back on the Primordial Continent, the puppet before him was made out of real flesh and blood. It looked just like a normal human, but the bones inside its body had been reced with metal. Even its sea of Qi and reserves of Origin Qi had been altered.

    The biggest difference between this new flesh and blood puppets and the older mechanical ones was that their ability to manipte Origin Energy was far greater, making them much more adaptable. Their bodies also possessed a certain amount of innate vitality, which made them much stronger as well.

    Su Chen knew how to create these kinds of puppets in the Primordial Continent as well, but as the leader of the Boundless Sect, he needed to consider the ethical implications of his actions. He needed to demonstrate to those around him that he had a bottom line.

    Even though constructing these flesh and blood puppets would make the Boundless Sect stronger, doing so would also greatly damage peoples¡¯ impression of the Boundless Sect. In that sense, Su Chen¡¯s hands were tied.

    But here, there were no restrictions tying Frost down. He wouldn¡¯t hesitate to turn all of the humanoids in this world into puppets if that could deal with the gods.

    Humans needed to have principles, but they also needed to know when to take a stand.

    Afterpleting the puppet, Frost let out a sigh of relief.

    Before the power of Su Chen¡¯s bloodline fully awakened, this would be his most powerful trump card.

    After taking care of this matter, Frost leapt onto the puppet¡¯s back and said, ¡°Take me to the Lonely Forest.¡±

    The flesh puppet¡¯s intelligence was also higher than a metal one, and it could understand basicmands. The metal puppets would likely have gotten lost in the Lonely Forest, but the flesh puppet retained a small portion of its former body¡¯s memories, allowing it to navigate the forest with rtive ease.

    The puppet began to race towards the Lonely Forest under Frost¡¯s direction.

    The first role that the flesh puppet filled after being created was to serve as a mount.

    When Frost arrived at the bandit hideout that was situated deep in the Lonely Forest, the sight that greeted his eyes waspletely different from the one that he had left behind.

    Fresh blood and decimated trees littered the ground, as did upturned boulders andrge chunks of earth.

    A pile consisting of a few dozen corpses wasid on the side of the river, all belonging to the bandits.

    On the other side was a pile of corpses from the Church¡¯s expedition. Two of the corpses were particrly eye-catching. They were still wearing long white robes, and the hems of their garments were fringed with gold. But currently, those exquisite-looking robes were quite tattered and torn.

    The bandits that were still alive had gathered together beside the stream and were using its water to wash out their wounds. It seemed as if the battle had concluded quite recently.

    ¡°It seems that you discovered the key to victory,¡± Frost said nonchntly. ¡°Who thought of it? If I had to guess, I¡¯d choose Miss Isabe.¡±

    Isabe was sitting in the middle of the bandits. Obviously, her aplishments in the recent battle had won her the respect of the other bandits.

    She stood up. ¡°Boss, your wisdom astonishes me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m very satisfied with your performance. But since you were able to kill the Moon Goddess¡¯ disciples, her Church will not spare you. Soon enough, new pursuers will arrive, and they will be even stronger than before.¡±

    His words caused all the bandits¡¯ expressions to grow grim.

    Isabe, however, remained calm. ¡°You didn¡¯te here just to sentence all of us to death, did you?¡±

    ¡°Of course not,¡± Frost replied.

    He flicked his arm, tossing a booklet over. ¡°Learn this, and your strength will greatly increase.¡±

    ¡°Learn it?¡± Isabe nced at the book and saw that its title was Foundation Cultivation. A simple title, but that was not important. As she skimmed through the book, she blurted out, ¡°This is not a technique we warriors have ever cultivated.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right. It¡¯s a unique cultivation method that I copied down, and it doesn¡¯t belong to the realm of martial arts,¡± Frost nonchntly replied.

    He had indeed adapted his cultivation technique to the physiques of the people living on this side of the Barrier. If one followed the cultivation methods within this booklet, their strength would greatly increase, and theirtent potential would improve as well.

    Giving such a prized item to a bunch of bandits was like casting pearls before swine.

    One of the bandits chuckled disparagingly. ¡°You wrote this? You¡¯re just a level one warrior. What kind of wisdom could you possibly impart?¡±

    That bandit truly did not fear death.

    But if he did fear death, then he wouldn¡¯t have been a bandit in the first ce.

    Frost didn¡¯t even blink as he said, ¡°Kill him.¡±

    Whoosh!

    A ck figure charged forwards ¡ª the flesh puppet. It virtually teleported in front of the disrespectful bandit before thrusting its wed hands deep into the bandit¡¯s chest. When it reemerged, its ws were clutching the bandit¡¯s still-beating heart.

    ¡°You......!¡± the bandit stammered out before toppling over in disbelief.

    ¡°Laban! It¡¯s Laban!¡± the other bandits cried out in shock.

    They finally noticed that there was something standing behind the ck figure. It was their former leader, Laban.

    ¡°As you can see, this is Laban. He is now my puppet, and one with greatbat power at that. This is my skill and my strength! This is why I don¡¯t care if you all live or die. If any of you ignore my orders or express discontent with my leadership, then I will simply turn you into a puppet and use you as such. But if you all obediently follow my orders and demonstrate your worth to me, I am willing to let you live. After all, constructing a puppet takes quite a bit of time and energy.¡±

    The bandit gang fell into a terrified silence.

    Frost chuckled darkly. ¡°That¡¯s more like it. You can curse me all you like in your hearts...... I imagine some of you are calling me a demon right about now, right?¡±

    The bandits received another wave of shock. This guy was truly a demon if he could even hear their thoughts.

    Frost continued speaking. ¡°I don¡¯t care about what you think in your hearts. All I care about is whether or not you will carry out my instructions. Study the techniques that are recorded down in this book. Those who seed will be used by me, and those who fail...... will be turned into puppets. Am I clear?¡±

    Everyone nodded simultaneously.

    Frost then nced at Isabe. ¡°You have done very well, but this is only the beginning. Keep on working hard. This is an opportunity both for them and for you as well.¡±

    After saying this, he hopped back on Laban¡¯s back and left.

    The bandits were speechless when they saw that their former leader had been turned into a mount. Only now had they finally gained a glimpse into their boss¡¯s true personality.

    Isabe fell deep into thought.

    This was an opportunity for them, and for her as well.

    If this booklet really lived up to Frost¡¯s description, then it was likely that she would soon be very strong.

    If she wanted to be the leader of these bandits, then mere intelligence was not enough. She needed strength!

    And this booklet could be the key to changing everything!

    Isabe¡¯s grip on the booklet tightened imperceptibly when she realized this.

    That night, Isabe began to cultivate ording to the methods recorded in the booklet.

    The martial artists living in Kun¡¯s territory all focused on tempering their physical bodies by using external stimtion to activate a unique organ in their body. This organ absorbed Origin Energy when stimted by pain. This Origin Energy would remain in their body in the form of a unique cloud. This was the foundation upon which they would form their Fighting Seed.

    These warriors could obtain quite a bit of power through such methods, and they would continuously grow stronger and stronger over time.

    Foundation Cultivation, on the other hand, worked by establishing a foundation directly through meditation.

    This was also the reason why the bandits initiallycked faith in it.

    Isabe was perhaps the only one who believed that it might work.

    Because the booklet promised to give her exactly what she needed. After all, physical tempering was a bit extreme for most women. And she had no other cultivation methods aside from the one found in the booklet that she was holding in her hand.

    Perhaps it was for this reason that Isabe was extremely interested in the technique.

    After just a night of such meditation, she could already feel the difference in her strength.

    A Fighting Seed had already formed in her body. Isabe was both surprised and delighted. ¡°A Fighting Seed!? I actually formed a Fighting Seed!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± The bandits were all stunned by her improvement.

    Bart rushed over. ¡°Leader, do you really possess Fighting Qi now?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not entirely sure if I have it or not, but it definitely feels like Fighting Qi,¡± Isabe replied.

    ¡°That¡¯s not possible. It¡¯s ten times harder for a woman to obtain Fighting Qi than a man, let alone obtaining it overnight.¡±

    Males typically needed a year of constant training to develop Fighting Qi. Only those with high-level cultivation techniques from the Church could form a Fighting Seed in around three months.

    Developing Fighting Qi in a single night was basically iprehensible.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we test it out?¡± One of the bandits boldly reached out and touched Isabe¡¯s cheek. Obviously, he had wanted to do so for a long time.

    Isabe instinctively struck out with her palm, badly startled.

    Her palm mmed into the bandit¡¯s arm. With a faint white light, Fighting Qi burst forth from her body and snapped the bandit¡¯s arm in two, sending the bandit flying.

    All of the bandits were stunned when they saw this. Isabe, however, retracted her hand and sighed after sensing her physical condition. ¡°That simple palm strike used up arge portion of my Fighting Qi. I can unleash two more palm strikes at most. What an incredible amount of expenditure!¡±

    Everyone was bbergasted.

    Fighting Seeds were seeds in every sense of the word.

    The seed itself did not pose much of a threat, but it had the potential to grow without limit. A freshly formed seed should only have been capable of powering a single palm strike, but not only had Isabe managed to form her seed in a single night, she had even umted enough Fighting Qi to unleash three palm strikes in rapid session.

    That cultivation speed was practically divine!

    No one knew what to say.

    They all nced at each other before suddenly sprinting off in different directions without another word, all of them anxious to start cultivating.

    When Isabe saw this, she let out a long sigh of relief.

    She finally had obtained enough strength to guarantee her safety. Hopefully, she would not be harassed by the bandits as much after this.

    Speaking of which, this boss of hers was really mysterious.

    Who was he? And how did hee into the possession of such a shockingly powerful cultivation technique?

    Just what was he after?

    Isabe fell deep, deep into thought.

 Book 7, 68: Infiltration 5

    Duke Fabino had run into trouble.

    The bandits in the Lonely Forest were growing more and more confident. They were basically attacking every day now, ambushing the various merchants that passed by.

    But this was not the most troublesome aspect.

    The most troublesome aspect was the Moon Goddess Church.

    The group of warriors sent from Plum Blossom territory hadn¡¯t arrived even after all this time. Now, he was beginning to wonder if they had been crushed in the Lonely Forest as well.

    The Plum Territory had already sent over people to determine exactly what had happened, and to determine how restitutions would be made over the loss of life they had suffered.

    But they were members of a church located in Plum Territory, so why were theying to Fabino to seek restitutions?

    Fabino felt incredibly wronged. He had no intention of paying for this. After all, the cost of making up the losses suffered by a Church was not a small sum, as their appetites had always been great. Furthermore, they had failed in their mission, and the bandits were still hale and hearty. Why did he need to pay for a botched job?

    The Moon Goddess Church, however, viewed the situation differently. They believed that the losses they had sustained were due to the mission they had undertaken on Fabino¡¯s behalf. As such, it was only right that Fabino would bear the costs of such an expedition.

    As a result, both sides entered a stalemate.

    This alone would not have been such a big deal. However, the local Church was also getting involved. Fabino¡¯s duchy fell under the Winter God Church area of influence. Even though they were not as powerful as the Moon Goddess Church, they still had their own bottom line. Why was the Moon Goddess Church doing business outside of their territory?

    As such, the Winter God Church also began to put pressure on Fabino, giving him quite the headache.

    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have agreed to let the Moon Goddess Church¡¯s contingent cross the border.¡±

    Frost knew that even though Duke Fabino wasn¡¯t cursing him directly, he wasining quite a bit.

    After all, he had been the one to make this proposal in the first ce.

    Even so, this was exactly what he wanted.

    Frost calmly said, ¡°Father, there is no need for you to stew over matters like this. Let me take care of it for you.¡±

    ¡°How are you going to take care of it? Right now, two different Churches are both making trouble for me. What will you do?¡± Fabino asked with some curiosity.

    ¡°Simple. Have them devour each other,¡± Frost replied.

    ¡°Forget about it. That¡¯s just not possible,¡± Fabino waved his hand dismissively.

    With the Eternal Treaty in ce, the gods rarely fought amongst each other. Most of the time, they focused on recovering, waiting for the day of their return.

    Wanting to get the Churches to fight against each other would not be easy.

    But that didn¡¯t mean it would be impossible.

    Frost said, ¡°Under normal circumstances, you¡¯re right that this would not be possible. But now, the Moon Goddess Church has lost two clergymen and four holy warriors. This is not a small loss. As such, they must find someone to bear the cost for them.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why they came knocking on our doorstep!¡±

    ¡°But they all know that you are not the real culprit. All you did was invite them, so your responsibility to bear the financial burden is rtively low.¡±

    ¡°But the Winter God Church is not the real culprit.¡±

    ¡°They can be.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Fabino was stunned.

    Frost said, ¡°The Moon Goddess Church performed a mission outside of their jurisdiction. The Winter God Church believed that this was infringing on their profits and aided the bandits in secret, causing the Moon Goddess Church¡¯s expedition to be fully lost. They are the real culprits.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re insane!¡± Fabino immediately leapt to his feet. ¡°You want to frame the Winter God Church?¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± Fabino countered. ¡°Father, have you not had enough of doing the bidding of these self-important churches? Even though you are a duke, it seems to me that they are the real leaders. Every year, forty percent of your profits need to be rendered to them, but what have they done for us in return? Nothing! They are just taking our money for free! If we go to them asking for aid, they extort us even further. We pay the price for dealing with any of the problems we face, but they reap all the benefits. Isn¡¯t that outrageous?¡±

    Fabino was rendered speechless by Frost¡¯s tirade.

    After a long time, he said, ¡°There¡¯s nothing we can do. This is just reality. The churches are responsible for carrying out the will of the gods.¡±

    ¡°The gods have no time to care about such things. All they want is faith and the masses, not believers. Actually, you control the believers. If a cmity strikes, and the number of believers drastically decreases, only then will the gods take notice. And all of this depends on you! It¡¯s the churches who need you, not the other way around.¡±

    ¡°But they can change leaders.¡±

    ¡°They don¡¯t have the authority to do so.¡±

    ¡°But they do have the ability.¡±

    ¡°So we¡¯ll make them lose that ability - such as if they don¡¯t have time to take care of such matters.¡±

    Fabino fell silent.

    After a long time, he said, ¡°What are the odds of sess?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s important is not the odds of sess, but the fact that the Fabino duchy will not be implicated in any way,¡± Frost replied.

    Fabino chuckled.

    This was true. As long as they carried out this mission secretly, neither failure nor sess would implicate them.

    He said, ¡°You take care of it, my son.¡±

    Frost bowed his head. ¡°Understood, Father.¡±

    Fabino let out a long sigh of relief as he watched his son step out of his study, but his gaze shrank ever so slightly.

    Who would believe that a seven-year-old was capable ofing up with such an intricate n?

    This kind of individual would definitely be terrifying in the future.

    Fortunately, he was his son.

    Fabino believed that, no matter how much Frost grew in the future or how much he aplished, he would never harm himself.

    Because he was his own son!

    This was the faith that allowed him to trust Frost unconditionally.

    Three dayster, the corpses of the Moon Goddess Church¡¯s warriors were found.

    Traces of the Winter God Church¡¯s divine techniques were found nearby - techniques that only disciples of the Winter God Church could use.

    The problem had suddenly be a very big one.

    This implied that the Winter God Church had yed a hand in killing the members of the Moon Goddess Church.

    The Moon Goddess Church was enraged. A group of warriors was dispatched immediately to reckon with the Winter God Church, who vehemently denied any involvement.

    Even though the Eternal Treaty existed, preventing the gods from fighting with one another, their disciples were not so restricted by the terms of the Treaty. Because the Moon Goddess Church¡¯s influence was great, the disciples of the Winter God Church had no choice but to acquiesce to an investigation.

    It was at this moment that a ck-clothed young man appeared before one of the Moon Goddess Sect¡¯s new bishops, Gambell.

    ¡°The fragrance of Cape Jasmine reminds me of autumn and fills my heart with a pleasant sensation. Tell your master that I very much appreciate his new creation.¡±

    Gambell sat in front of a table made out of cherry wood, sniffing the fragrant tea in his cup as he spoke to a youth beside him.

    Gambell preferred a tea that was bitter with a fragrant, nostalgic scent.

    Unfortunately, it was difficult to find drinks matching such criteria. Apparently, the form had been personally developed by this youth, whose name was Lille. It was impossible to buy his concoctions from anywhere else. Even Gambell had no choice but to treat the young man with respect.

    Even if he secretly scorned the youth in his heart.

    At least, until this happened.

    The youth replied respectfully, ¡°Being able to serve a bishop is my glory.¡±

    ¡°But your master still refuses to see me even once,¡± Gambell replied calmly. ¡°Why should I trust someone whose face I have never seen before?¡±

    ¡°This......¡± A hesitant expression appeared on the youth¡¯s face. ¡°It¡¯s not that my master doesn¡¯t want to meet you. He has reasons for being incapable of doing so.

    ¡°Is that so? Then why should I have faith in any of his suggestions?¡± Gambell countered.

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to have faith, Bishop,¡± the youth immediately replied. ¡°As long as you say the word, my family¡¯s master will take care of all of the ns. No danger wille to the Moon Goddess Church at all. You will be able to easily devour the Winter God Sect, and expand your influence even broader. The Moon Goddess will definitely reward you for your efforts.¡±

    Gambell calmly replied, ¡°Why should I trust that you can do it? And why should I believe that your master won¡¯t betray me after the fact of the matter? If I am going to work with your master, show me some real sincerity.¡±

    The youth still wanted to speak, but Gambell suddenly lifted his hand, causing the youth to freeze in ce.

    Gambell chuckled fiercely. ¡°Did you think I couldn¡¯t see through your disguise? Let me see what kind of person you really are.¡±

    He made a grasping motion with his hand, as if ripping something off. A much smaller figure appeared before his eyes once the disguise had been torn off.

    ¡°A child?¡± Gambell was stunned.

    Standing before him was a young child no more than seven or eight years old.

    The child stared back at Gambell, his eyes wide in fear. ¡°You......¡±

    Gambell leaned in closer. ¡°Hm? Your face is so familiar. Howe I feel like I¡¯ve seen you before?¡±

    He looked the child up and down a few times before his eyes suddenly widened. ¡°Frost! Frost Fabino, the genius of the Fabino family. Would you look at that? Frost Fabino has appeared in my temple...... By the Moon Goddess, are you here on Fabino¡¯s orders? Fabino wants to overthrow the church in his duchy?¡±

    Gambell¡¯s eyes widened in disbelief. He felt that he had already guessed the truth.

    ¡°No, that¡¯s not it! I made this decision myself!¡± Frost howled in despair. Even though he vehemently denied Gambell¡¯s reasonings, his protests only served to deepen Gambell¡¯s conviction that he was right.

    ¡°No wonder Fabino doesn¡¯t dare reveal himself. If the Winter God Church were to catch wind of this, he¡¯d be finished,¡± Gambell chuckled.

    He wasn¡¯t surprised at all to hear that Fabino wanted to overturn the church in his jurisdiction.

    Every church was like a leech in the territory they ruled over. Conflicts between archbishops and nobles wasmon with all kinds of different strategies being employed in their altercations.

    In some sense, these bishops and nobles were destined to face off against each other for the sake of profits. Cooperations, on the other hand, was much rarer.

    As such, Gambell was not surprised that Fabino wanted to deal with the Winter God Church. The only thing that had caught him off guard was the fact that Fabino was willing to go to such great lengths to do so.

    But it was true that this had created an opportunity.

    An opportunity to expand the Moon Goddess¡¯s influence.

    The Eternal Treaty restricted the gods but not their disciples. Small skirmishes weren¡¯t umon between different churches, but nothing big usually came out of them. After all, their leaders discouraged such actions.

    But if one church struck first, the situation waspletely different.

    Using the Winter God Church¡¯s unprovoked attack as a pretext for striking back was a great idea.

    In fact, it was virtually perfect!

    Greed shed across Gambell¡¯s eyes. ¡°I like your n very much. Go back and tell your father that I will agree to his proposal.¡±

    The struggling Frost finally stopped. ¡°Are you telling the truth?¡±

    Gambell chuckled. ¡°You are indeed still a child. A single sentence was enough to get you to reveal the truth. Yes, go and tell him that I am willing to work with him.¡±

    Previous Chapter

 Book 7, 69: Infiltration 6

    TRIGGER WARNING: cutting

    Within the Winter God Church¡¯s temple.

    Bishop Christopher sat at the long white stone table, his expression steely as he gazed at the warriors striding in his direction.

    They were dressed in a silvery armor and wielded crescent halberds. The helmets they wore were adorned with a white swan.

    They were the Moon Goddess Church¡¯s Swan Warriors, their elite guard.

    ¡°They sent six clergymen and twenty Swan Warriors? Are they here to investigate or to attack?¡± one of the clergymen standing beside him snorted disdainfully.

    ¡°Quiet, Georgia. Don¡¯t make trouble,¡± Christopher replied solemnly. ¡°The Moon Goddess Church is sending quite a powerful force, but with the Eternal Treaty in ce, they will not make any moves carelessly.¡±

    Even though the Eternal Treaty didn¡¯t restrict the actions of the disciples, the peace it was meant to uphold affected all of them, making it so that none of them would dare to open fire in a careless way.

    Most of the time, this thought process would be correct. Now that someone was scheming to make things happen, however, it would inevitably be wed.

    The Moon Goddess Church¡¯s warriors finally arrived at the Winter God Church¡¯s temple.

    The group of soldiers parted, and a man wearing arge yellow robe stepped forwards. ¡°Christopher, my friend, don¡¯t try and pull anything funny.¡±

    ¡°Gambell?¡± Upon seeing Gambell, Christopher¡¯s gaze noticeably shrank.

    Georgia was also taken aback. ¡°The new bishop of the Moon Goddess Church? Do you recognize him?¡±

    ¡°Yes. We¡¯ve crossed paths before in the past...... and not in a good way. This snake!¡± Christopher cursed.

    He made no attempt to keep his voice quiet, and Gambell heard everything that he had said.

    Gambell shrugged. ¡°Don¡¯t say it like that, Christopher. You know that I¡¯ve always viewed you as one of my friends.¡±

    ¡°Every person that bes your friend has a terrible fate...... I haven¡¯t forgotten what happened to Nius.¡±

    Gambell shrugged. ¡°He betrayed the light of the gods. I felt terrible when I had to purify him. But let¡¯s not talk about that; you know why I¡¯m here today.¡±

    ¡°I know. But I also know that your men died in the Lonely Forest, not to the hands of the Winter God Church. You should go there to investigate first.¡±

    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be right for me to not stop by and say hello first, right?¡± Gambell replied calmly. ¡°In any case, the pertinent clues might not be in the Lonely Forest. They could be right within the Winter God Church.¡±

    Christopher was enraged. ¡°What is that supposed to mean? Are you saying that we were involved in what happened?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not saying anything, Christopher. You know that anything is possible. And what we need to do is find the truth...... I hope you won¡¯t mind using in and taking a look, right?¡± Gambell asked.

    Christopher shot him a fierce re, then spun around and walked back into the temple. ¡°You cane in, but I hope that you will abide by the temple¡¯s rules. I will attempt to free up any ce you would like to go to, but if I cannot, don¡¯t make an issue out of it.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need to go anywhere else,¡± Gambell said as he followed Christopher into the temple. ¡°I just want to take a look at your room.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Christopher stopped in his tracks, stunned. ¡°Gambell, do you know what you¡¯re saying?¡±

    ¡°Of course, my friend Christopher,¡± Gambell replied brashly. ¡°Let me take a look at your room. This is my only request.¡±

    The other clergymen and warriors of the Winter God Church all began to roar in indignation.

    ¡°Absolutely not!¡±

    ¡°That would be far too humiliating!¡±

    ¡°The Moon Goddess Church is bullying us intolerably!¡±

    Gambell calmly said, ¡°You¡¯re not refusing me because you have a guilty conscience, right?¡±

    Christopher stared deeply at Gambell. After a long time, he finally nodded. ¡°Alright, you cane and look.¡±

    ¡°Archbishop!¡± The other clergymen and warriors all tried to persuade him otherwise.

    Christopher said, ¡°I will allow you to search my room, but if you can¡¯t find anything, you will need to render an ount to me.¡±

    ¡°Of course I will,¡± Gambell replied.

    Christopher strode off towards his own room.

    Christopher¡¯s room was to the rear of the temple grounds, in a secluded garden. His house was constructed out of red brick, and his yard was extremely scenic.

    A group of people walked towards the Archbishop¡¯s living quarters at a leisurely pace. The clergymen leading the way intentionally took roundabout paths, not wanting to reveal the Archbishop¡¯s secrets to other individuals even if they truly did have nothing to do with what had happened in the Lonely Forest. Conflicts between churches were often moreplicated and ugly than conflicts between nobles over territory. If they didn¡¯t even have the notion of trying to prevent the other party from getting an upper hand on them, then they wouldn¡¯tst for long.

    And what Archbishop wouldn¡¯t have some skeletons in their closets? For instance, Christopher was a pedophile, and clues of this could easily be found in his room. If such news were to be spread publicly, then Bishop Christopher would be finished even if the Winter God Church was found to be innocent.

    The guards responsible for destroying evidence did as much as they could in order to avoid giving the Moon Goddess Church any leverage.

    Unfortunately, just because they were on guard didn¡¯t mean that they would be able to predict everything.

    One of the guards rushed into Christopher¡¯s room, preparing to wipe away any clues that were present.

    But just as he was about to do so, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

    ¡°I¡¯m impressed you were able to discover me so easily,¡± a voice chuckled from behind him.

    The experienced guard didn¡¯t even turn around. Instead, he said in a calm voice, ¡°Gambell sent you to frame us, right? So the Moon Goddess Church does have ulterior motives. But your n has failed. With us here, it will not happen.¡±

    The voiceughed sinisterly. ¡°You¡¯re right that we wouldn¡¯t have been able to frame the Winter God Church. But if we are just trying to find any excuse, then it doesn¡¯t really matter, now does it?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± The guard was stunned.

    Pu!

    Suddenly, a dull pain erupted from his chest. He lowered his head, only to find a sharp spike protruding from his chest.

    His assant had killed him......

    How did he dare......

    The unfinished thought floated away as he began to slip into unconsciousness.

    He desperately wanted to know who was responsible for doing this, but as he lost consciousness, all he saw was a short figure standing behind him.

    So short.

    His vision faded to ck.

    Framing was only necessary if they needed a righteous pretext. A sinister scheme, however, required nothing more than a simple excuse.

    Whether the Winter God Church had actually performed the killings was no longer important. All the Moon Goddess Church needed was an excuse to fight.

    Frost had provided them with an adequate excuse. All that remained was to quietly watch the situation develop from afar.

    After rearranging everything in the room, Frost immediately left, returning to the Winter God Church¡¯s prayer hall and taking a seat.

    A group of children was currently reciting prayers under a nun¡¯s leading.

    Frost followed along obediently, but he was more focused on listening to what was taking ce off in the distance.

    ¡°Father says that we must humble ourselves before the gods, sustaining them with our hearts......¡± he gently muttered.

    ¡°You recited it wrong. It¡¯s ¡®worshipping them with our hearts¡¯,¡± a quiet voice whispered into his ear.

    He turned his head and found a little girl roughly his age sporting pigtails sitting beside him. Herrge, round eyes were gazing at him intently.

    ¡°Alright, I got it,¡± Frost calmly replied.

    The wide-eyed little girl grew unhappy and she muttered more forcefully, ¡°The gods demand that you show sincerity! If you make a mistake, you must confess it and punish yourself. Our blood will wash away our sins. Otherwise, they will remain in our heart forever!¡±

    Frost was greatly amused. ¡°You want me to spill blood for this? You really are quite nosy.¡±

    The young girl pouted. ¡°This is the gods¡¯ teaching! You should obey.¡±

    Frost smiled when he saw her serious demeanor.

    Then, he nodded. ¡°Alright, if you insist.¡±

    He suddenly pulled out a de and cut himself.

    Fresh blood flowed forth from his arm.

    This motion attracted the nun¡¯s attention. ¡°Frost, what are you doing?¡±

    ¡°I recited the scripture incorrectly, miss. She believed that I should cleanse my mistake with my blood, so I could only obey,¡± Frost said as he pointed at the young girl beside him.

    ¡°Heavens! There was no need for you to have done anything like that!¡± the nun cried out as she picked up Frost, staring angrily at the young girl. ¡°Selena, how could you force your ssmate to cut himself?¡±

    The girl named Selena was stunned. Obviously, she hadn¡¯t expected to be lectured, and she stammered, ¡°But that¡¯s what the scripture says. All I did was obey what was written.¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s not for you to carry out,¡± the nun replied angrily. ¡°All you should have done was take care of yourself!¡±

    The young girl was badly frightened by the nun¡¯s sudden outburst, and as a feeling of being wronged surfaced in her heart, tears began to well up in her eyes and fell to the floor.

    She cried for quite a long time, and even her recitation of the scripture came to a halt.

    Until a familiar voice called out to her in a faint whisper.

    Selena turned around to find Frost standing beside her, holding a handkerchief in her hand.

    ¡°Here, wipe your tears. If you cry too much, you won¡¯t be pretty anymore,¡± he said.

    ¡°I won¡¯t!¡± Selena jerked her head away, still feeling wronged.

    Suddenly, she felt the handkerchief wiping at her face.

    Selena was startled, but she allowed Frost to gently wipe away her tears until he eventually stopped.

    He was still smiling at her.

    Suddenly, Selena felt her heart begin to beat faster.

    ¡°You...... what are you doing?¡± she asked, flushing.

    ¡°I just feel bad for making you cry. I should have been a little more careful so that the nun didn¡¯t see me.¡±

    Selena was moved by the fact that he was not ming her, but shouldering the burden by himself.

    She had cried for so long that she was a little dazed by this point, and said, ¡°I¡¯m beginning to like you more. What is your name?¡±

    ¡°Frost. I don¡¯te here often to pray, and I¡¯m not really a devout believer,¡± Frost replied.

    ¡°Your name is so familiar,¡± the young girl murmured. ¡°What is your surname?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want my identity to get in the way of our contact,¡± Frost replied.

    ¡°You seem like you¡¯re from a noble family, but my family is not weak either,¡± Selena replied.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, she added, ¡°But maybe not as strong as yours. Otherwise, the nun wouldn¡¯t have yelled at me like that.¡±

    ¡°You aren¡¯t at the age yet where you should use your status to determine right and wrong,¡± Frost said.

    ¡°You talk as if you¡¯re much older than me,¡± the girl pouted. ¡°I¡¯m still a little unhappy right now. You may go. I don¡¯t want to talk to you right now. Come back a littleter and I will be more likely to pay attention to you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t,¡± Frost replied.

    ¡°Why not?¡± Selena was stunned.¡±

    ¡°Because you¡¯re in my way,¡± Frost replied.

    As he spoke, a violent explosion could suddenly be heard off in the distance.

    The battle had begun.

 Book 7, 70: Infiltration 7

    The sudden sounds of conflict badly startled the children in the prayer hall. Frost pushed aside the girl in front of him and strode towards the temple¡¯s inner chambers.

    To the back of the prayer hall was a small room. It was typically locked year-round, and no one really knew what was inside.

    Even so, that was precisely where Frost wanted to go.

    He unsheathed the de by his waist, then shed at the lock with his sword. Given his strength as a level one warrior, the door easily swung open.

    Before he could see what was behind the door, however, a shadow suddenly charged out from behind the door - a holy warrior, wielding a sharp but short de. Even though Frost was no more than a mere child, the holy warrior didn¡¯t even hesitate.

    Frost gazed at the sword piercing towards him, not panicking in the slightest.

    Just as the sword was about to run him through, a ck-clothed man appeared from behind Frost. It was the flesh puppet Laban.

    Laban easily deflected the sword, then unleashed a Destruction Corkscrew.

    The aura of death descended upon the holy warrior. Even though the holy warrior wasn¡¯t weak, he was a bit too weak to face off against a puppet capable of unleashing the might of a level four warrior. He was immediately cut into two.

    Frost stepped inside the room, only to find that it was actually a staircase that spiraled towards the basement.

    ¡°You stay and watch over this door. Don¡¯t let anyone in,¡± Frost said as he began to walk down the steps.

    The battle was already fully underway within the Winter God Church. Not many people would be able toe to this ce. And if they did, a flesh puppet would be more than capable of fending them off.

    The stairs were very long. Frost felt as if he was descending down a never-ending staircase.

    It was so long that even he began to wonder if something was wrong.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, he turned around and began to walk back up the stairs. With just a few steps, he had returned to the same room. The flesh puppet was still standing guard there.

    ¡°Interesting,¡± Frost muttered to himself.

    So there was something up with thisdder.

    As long as he was going down, it seemed that there was no end to it.

    He could sense that this was not spatial Method Power. After all, with hisprehension of Method Power, it was impossible for him not to know if it was. Even if he was incapable of using spatial Method Power, nullifying it wasn¡¯t a problem.

    But if it wasn¡¯t spatial power, then what was this?

    Just as he was doubting himself, however, he heard a voice say, ¡°Are you trying to go through the Forest¡¯s Entrails?¡±

    It was Selena.

    She stood outside the room, staring intently at him.

    Frost felt his heart jolt. ¡°Do you know what this is?¡±

    Serena was surprised. ¡°Do you not know what it is? Then why do you want to go here?¡±

    Frost replied, ¡°Because there¡¯s something that I need down there. What is the Forest¡¯s Entrails?¡±

    Selena replied, ¡°The Forest is actually a giant, ancient creature. It¡¯s sorge that it can eat an unlimited amount of food. Later on, it angered the gods and was killed by them. This staircase was formed from its entrails. Apparently, it goes on without end, just like the Forest¡¯s appetite.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Frost seemed to understand.

    The Forest was probably some kind of ancient Origin Beast. This was no spatial Method Power staircase. Instead, it was the innate power of an Origin Beast. Most likely, it was able to extend its entrails an indiscriminate length.

    Frost didn¡¯t know before, but now that he had been given some basic history lessons, he immediately knew how to handle the situation.

    He walked back into the stairs, standin there motionlessly.

    After a brief moment, the stairs disappeared, revealing an underground chamber.

    Yes. this was the best way to pass through the Forest¡¯s Entrails. As long as he remained motionless, the entrails would automatically transport him to his destination. This was because entrails were typically lined with smooth muscle.

    The ground below the earth was totally empty save for a pond made of ice. Cold wisps of air constantly floated up from the surface of the pond, as if the air itself was going to freeze.

    And the source of this frozen pond was a unique object.

    A heart.

    A broken heart floated in the middle of the pond, beating ever so faintly.

    ¡°So...... are you my target? Heart of the Winter God Church?¡± Frost muttered to himself.

    Even though the heart was his target from the very beginning, only now did Frost really know what it was that he had been tasked to retrieve.

    The heart of a god!

    The Winter God was indeed on hisst legs. Actually, he was already almost dead. Only his heart was still beating faintly, which was why the Winter God Church only possessed a small amount of territory. If it wasn¡¯t for the Eternal Treaty, they would have been wiped out a long time ago.

    Now, however, he was no more than a god in aa!

    Frost never would have expected that his first target would actually be a god. This rendered him totally speechless.

    ¡°This is quite the trial,¡± Frost muttered to himself, quite amused.

    A level one warrior facing off against a dying god was quite an unpredictable pairing.

    Gods were gods. Even if they were virtuallyatose, a simple motion would be more than enough to kill him.

    Frost knew that, if he even thought about trying to take that heart, it was incredibly likely that a cold stream of energy would immediately surge forwards and kill him.

    But......

    He hade all this way to ughter the gods in the first ce.

    So what if you¡¯re a god?

    ¡°You have no one to me but yourself,¡± Frost muttered. ¡°I might not be able to do anything to the weaker gods, but I dare say that there is something I can do against a god in your state.¡±

    As Frost spoke, a blood-colored glow began to cover his body.

    This bloody color grew more and more dense, gradually taking on the form of a human.

    Su Chen!

    Su Chen¡¯s figure gradually opened his eyes. When he saw the Winter God¡¯s heart, he chuckled slightly to himself. Suddenly, he reached out into the air. The amount of space in this cramped basement was quite limited, but Su Chen¡¯s projection continued to reach out,pletely unaffected. Even so, his arm refused to touch the wall no matter how far he stretched it, as if this basement was actually an unlimitedlyrge world, or an endless passageway like the Forest¡¯s Entrails.

    He continued to reach his arm out until he hit the ¡°border¡± of the basement.

    Suddenly, he watched as a small crack appeared in the ¡°sky¡±, as if a closed eye was being opened.

    A strand of will reached through the crack.

    It was Su Chen¡¯s will, the will of his main body!

    A giant hand materialized out of thin air and reached out to grab the Winter God¡¯s heart.

    This was Su Chen¡¯s hand.

    Just as he was about to grab the Winter God¡¯s heart, a shockingly cold spurt of air shot forth from it, cold enough that perhaps even a specter would have been frozen solid. Ice crystals crawled across the surface of the hand, freezing it in ce.

    An instantter, however, the ice began to crack, and Su Chen¡¯s hand continued to wrap itself around the heart unimpeded.

    ¡°How arrogant!¡±

    An enraged will¡¯s voice suddenly thundered through the basement.

    ¡°Who are you? How do you dare defile a god¡¯s body?¡± Each word uttered carried enough power to shatter a person¡¯s consciousness.

    The little Frost felt as if his entire body was going copse, and this was even with the protection of the main body.

    ¡°Who I am is not important. What matters is that I have a use for you.¡± Su Chen¡¯s hand continued to descend unrelentingly.

    Pu!

    Frosty Qi surged forth from the broken heart once more, attempting to stop Su Chen¡¯s hand in its tracks.

    Su Chen, however, was growing impatient. He was only able to unleash the strength of his main body by relying on little Frost as a channel. As such, he could not use his full strength. Meanwhile, the fact that the Winter God could counterattack even while in aatose state surprised him greatly.

    Most importantly, attacking from the other side of the Barrier like this would easily attract a lot of attention. If his actions were to identally catch the eyes of the other gods, he would be in big trouble.

    As soon as he realized this, Su Chen wasted no time and jabbed downwards with his finger. A powerful, destructive energy surged forth from his finger with enough momentum to move mountains and oceans, pressing down towards the Winter God¡¯s heart.

    ¡°NO!¡± The Winter God realized what was about to happen. He only had one heart left, and could not block Su Chen¡¯s attack. Even so, that didn¡¯t mean that he waspletely powerless.

    Large ice crystals began to form around the heart, sealing it inside.

    These crystals formed from divine power were extremely tough. Even other gods would have a hard time shattering them. This was the Winter God¡¯sst resort.

    Unexpectedly, the destructive power emanating from Su Chen¡¯s finger suddenly disappeared without a trace, causing his finger to bounce off the ice harmlessly.

    ¡°So you ended up sealing yourself off after all, huh?¡± Su Chen chuckled.

    Attacking from across the Barrier would put a heavy strain on his main body, so there was no way he could have possibly unleashed an attack that powerful. He had only pretended to be able to, but it was surprisingly effective, and the Winter God had effectively sealed himself off.

    ¡°Hahaha, not bad! I know how to use this thing now.¡± Su Chen¡¯s giant hand reached out once more, grabbing the Winter God¡¯s frozen heart and lifting it into the air.

    At the same time, Frost could sense the will of Su Chen¡¯s main body, and he knew that the Winter God¡¯s heart could be used to further strengthen the Barrier, giving the humans on the Primordial Continent three extra years¡¯ time.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have much time left. You must find a second object, and soon,¡± the main body¡¯s will urged.

    The finger pointed at Frost, sending a strand of will right into Frost¡¯s body.

    Boom! As the strand of will entered, Frost could sense changes beginning to take ce throughout his entire body.

    The power that hadin dormant for so long was finally beginning to stir, and his bloodline was starting to awaken!

    Having taken care of this matter, Su Chen¡¯s main will finally disappeared.

    Only Frost remained, still carefully observing the changes taking ce in his body.

    ¡°Over here! Over here!¡±

    The sounds of conflict could be heard directly overhead.

    It seemed that the soldiers up above had sensed themotion below and were on their way down here.

    Su Chen¡¯s main body had already departed and would not be able to aid Frost any further. The rest was up to him.

    Bang!

    The flesh puppet fell heavily to the ground. Christopher appeared shortly afterwards, his bodypletely covered in blood.

    ¡°Frost! It¡¯s you? So your family is the one responsible for instigating everything?¡± The archbishop couldn¡¯t believe his eyes. ¡°So all of this is Fabino¡¯s idea? You must have wanted to overthrow the churches a long time ago. And even...... By the gods, what is going on? Where is the majestic Winter God? Where have you taken him?¡±

    Christopher grew extremely agitated upon noticing that the Winter God¡¯s heart had disappeared.

    ¡°He has gone where he should go,¡± Frost calmly replied. ¡°Gambell is worthless for allowing you to make it all the way down here. But don¡¯t worry, I will be sure to give Gambell the credit after I kill you.¡±

    As Frost spoke, his entire body began to transform.

    His bones began to expand and elongate, causing his body to grow. His thin, weak frame began to fill out. In the blink of an eye, this child had grown into a strong, muscr young man.

    ¡°Heavens!¡± Christopher¡¯s eyes bulged as he stared at what was unfolding before his very eyes.

    ¡°My bloodline has finally awakened!¡± Frost cried out, reveling in the intoxicating sensation.

    He shook his hands and feet gently. ¡°I was imprisoned in this broken shell for seven years. Finally, I am free from its weakness. Tomemorate this event, I shall use you as a sacrifice.¡±

    As he spoke, he gestured with his hand, and a swath of mes immediately filled the entire basement.

    Previous Chapter

 Book 7, 71: Infiltration 8

    The Winter God Church waspletely wiped out on that day.

    Afterwards, the Moon Goddess Church expanded their influence to the Fabino Duchy, and Gambell was the one who profited the most from all that happened.

    Even though he had ¡°enough¡± evidence to prove that the Winter God Church was at fault, Gambell¡¯s actions still came with significant implications.

    Additionally, some people had also started to realize that, as the Barrier crumbled, the Eternal Treaty that restricted the gods was also beginning to lose its effectiveness.

    The rtionships between the various gods began to shift ever so slightly. They were still allies, but they were now also rivals.

    This was exactly what Su Chen was hoping would happen. After all, a united group of enemies was much more frustrating to deal with than a divided one.

    But he was still far from fully tearing their alliance apart. Su Chen¡¯s ns were still budding, which was why the gods hadn¡¯t caught on yet ¡ª it wasn¡¯t because they couldn¡¯t see what was happening, but rather because it was too negligible for them to take notice.

    The day that the Winter God Church was wiped out eventually came to be known as the Arrival of Winter.

    After the Arrival of Winter, Fabino¡¯s status remained rtively unchanged. This was undoubtedly a good thing for him.

    What worried him, however, was that his son had disappeared.

    A group of merchants slowly traveled along a road as the sun began to set.

    This caravan¡¯s documents showed that it belonged to the Red Kite family.

    ¡°Let¡¯s hurry up and get out of this muddy area before night falls!¡±

    A tall man yelled impatiently at the rest of the caravan from the back of his horse, ordering them to speed up.

    A storm had recently passed through the area, and as a result, the ground was extremely muddy. The wheels of their carts repeatedly got stuck in the mud, and it took significant effort to extricate them each time it happened.

    This made their advance extremely slow and arduous.

    At that moment, another carriage sunk into the mud.

    This made Filo extremely agitated ¡ª it seemed that it would be impossible for them to reach Scorched Cliff City by nightfall. In fact, they would be lucky to even get halfway there.

    The main issue was that, with every extra night that they spent in the wilderness, the danger that they faced increased.

    Those Scorched Earth pygmies andrge-eared dwarves would finally have their long-awaited opportunity to take a bite out of them.

    At that moment, however, a guard yelled, ¡°Boss, look over there!¡±

    Filo nced at where his subordinate was pointing at and saw a youth walking along the road, not far from where they were.

    This young man seemed quite in and unassuming, and he was dressed in in clothes. There was also a thin veil draped over his face, making it difficult to make out the young man¡¯s features. Even so, this simplicity was precisely what made him stand out even more in this kind of an environment.

    Yes. While others were struggling to extricate themselves from the mud, this young man calmly and easily walked across the mud¡¯s surface without being affected in the slightest. In fact, his clothes weren¡¯t even stained after reaching the other side.

    His simple, clean appearance betrayed his noble upbringing.

    ¡°Everyone, be careful!¡± Filo said in a grave voice.

    He clearly understood that anyone who could walk through this deste wastnd was not an ordinary individual. If the other party had any ill intentions, then it was time for him to demonstrate his value.

    The person in front of them was headed right in their direction.

    A few of the more cautious guards reached for their bows.

    The person stopped about twenty meters from them, and then asked, ¡°Can you tell me how to get to Halcyon Earth Forest?¡±

    He was just asking for directions?

    The guards all nced at each other.

    Without their leader¡¯s permission, they would not answer the question.

    Filo thought for a moment, pointed in a certain direction, and then said, ¡°Go twenty kilometers in that direction. Then you will reach your destination.¡±

    The traveler shook his head. ¡°You¡¯re lying to me.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Filo was taken aback.

    ¡°Why would you lie to me?¡± the traveler continued pondering out loud.

    Filo instinctively replied, ¡°I didn¡¯t lie to you.¡±

    The traveler sighed and flipped his palm over. Arge fireball immediately roared to life. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to do this, but if you lie to me one more time, I will have no choice but to punish you a little.¡±

    Whoosh!

    The caravan¡¯s archers immediately nocked their arrows and drew their bows. A few of their arrows were even glowing brightly. Those glowing arrows were Magic-Nullifying Bolts. Even if their opponent possessed extraordinary skills, the caravan¡¯s guards still had a way to defend themselves.

    The tension in the air was palpable, and just as they were about to reach their limit, a voice suddenly spoke up. ¡°I apologize, esteemed guest. They just wanted to protect me. You¡¯re right in thinking that the Halcyon Forest isn¡¯t in that direction......¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s in the same direction that you¡¯re going, right?¡± the traveler interrupted.

    The chariot¡¯s screen opened, revealing a young noblewoman¡¯s face.

    The young noblewoman was slightly taken aback by the traveler¡¯s question, but she quickly nodded and said, ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Goodbye,¡± the traveler said, before turning around and leaving.

    He seemed to have no intentions of stopping.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have told him the location, Young Miss,¡± Filo said in a low voice.

    ¡°Then what should I have done? Let you keep lying to him? And then allow an avoidable fight to break out? Don¡¯t forget that he already had some idea of what the correct direction was,¡± the young noblewoman replied. ¡°This person might be only pretending to not know where the Halcyon Earth Forest is and has some ulterior motive. Or, he is very smart and able to infer the truth from the scant clues avable. Regardless of which case is the real one, you do not need to provoke him.¡±

    Filo thought for a moment before nodding. ¡°You¡¯re right, Young Miss.¡±

    He had merely wanted to save them some trouble, but now, it seemed that his actions had only brought more trouble to their group.

    And that lone traveler was probably not going to be the source of that trouble, Filo thought to himself.

    At that exact moment, however, a cacophony of shrill shrieks interrupted his thoughts.

    Arrows screamed through the sky; arge group of figures had appeared off in the distance and were currently charging madly in their direction.

    Filo¡¯s expression drastically shifted. ¡°It¡¯s therge-eared dwarves and Scorched Earth Pygmies! Dammit, there¡¯s at least a thousand of them! Push the carriage over and prepare for battle!¡±

    The caravan¡¯s guards quickly dismounted and shoved the carts over, using them to form a defensive line. The horses were then pulled behind that defensive line, so that they could unleash a vicious cavalry charge at a decisive moment.

    Filo rushed over to the young noblewomen. ¡°Miss Felli, please get out of the carriage right now and mount a horse. There¡¯s a lot of enemies. We might not be able to hold our position.¡±

    ¡°I saw.¡± The young noblewoman was anxious, but she did her best to remain as calm and steady as she could.

    She gracefully stepped out of the carriage. Even though she was unfamiliar with the sensation of walking through squelching mud, she gritted her teeth and mounted a horse.

    The viciousrge-eared dwarves and Scorched Earth Pygmies, on the other hand, were obviouslypletely unaffected by the terrain.

    Their feet were very t and their bodies small and light. They also wore special shoes that were extremely well-suited to traversing through muddy terrain.

    Therge-eared dwarves and Scorched Earth Pygmies were both indigenous creatures of this area. Their strength was mediocrely average, but their reproductive rate was extremely high. As such, they typically relied on overwhelming numbers to secure victory.

    Even a level three warrior would find it difficult to deal with over a thousand small creatures rushing them at once.

    And even if each one of his soldiers was capable of fighting off ten creatures on their own, they still only had twenty soldiers and thirty or so horse drivers. Their forces were just a bit too weak.

    Even so, they wouldn¡¯t let these damned pygmies get off lightly.

    ¡°Fire the arrows!¡± Filo roared.

    Arrows whistled through the sky, easily piercing through the chests of their targets among the oing horde of enemies.

    Unfortunately, the archers were too few and the enemies too many. The twenty or so arrows were only able to im twenty or so lives. The enemy horde was virtually untouched, and the arrow attack even gave the enemies an opportunity to close more distance between them.

    ¡°Fire again!¡±

    Wave after wave of arrows flew forth, attempting to cull the enemy numbers as much as possible.

    After five rounds of arrows, there were around a hundred or so corpses littering the floor. Most of them, however, hadn¡¯t actually been killed by the arrows; instead, they had been trampled to death after falling to the ground.

    But these vile creatures didn¡¯t seem to care. Their bloodthirst was at its peak, and the only thing they could think about was ughtering and plundering.

    The first wave of enemies reached the archers.

    Their ugly maws opened wide, revealing rows of sharp, yellow teeth. They were short, only about half as tall as a regr human, and they wielded crude stone des. Their movements, however, were extremely agile and vicious. They mbered over the impromptu wall of carts, but were quickly met with spears to the neck.

    The deaths of theirrades, however, didn¡¯t cause the rest of the pygmies and dwarves to retreat in fear.

    They continued to madly rush forwards as they yelled with whoops and howls.

    ¡°Attack!¡± Filo yelled loudly.

    The guards put down their bows, pulled out their des, and readied themselves to defend their position with their lives. Even the merchants pulled out weapons and stood on the front lines with the guards.

    But as they stared down the seemingly never-ending wave of creatures, they felt their hearts seize with trepidation.

    They knew that their defenses wouldn¡¯t hold for very long.

    At that moment, however, a giant wave of mes suddenly surged forwards from behind the horde of creatures.

    The mes were fierce and intense, and they immediately covered arge swath of territory. Hundreds of the dwarves and pygmies were swept up in the congration, howling as they turned to ash.

    What just happened?

    Everyone was stunned.

    As the mes disappeared, a figure could be seen off in the distance.

    The lone traveler.

    So he had run into these creatures as well.

    The creatures were obviously not picky about their targets, and they hadn¡¯t hesitated to attack an individual like him.

    This time, however, they had picked on the wrong person.

    The traveler unleashed a fireball with a simple gesture, which immediately turned into a wall of mes that surged forth, sending the remaining creatures fleeing in fear.

    That was a normal fireball.

    But when did fireballs be so strong?

    Everyone was stunned.

    Filo had seen people use fireballs before.

    A normal fireball was only capable of killing a singlerge-eared dwarf. Since when could a single fireball be an entire surging wave of mes? That single-target skill had basically be an area-of-effect skill, which seemed to possess even more killing power than the single-target skill.

    This was just too far beyond the realm of possibility!

    But the other party had clearly just used a fireball technique.

    In the end, two fireballs alone had been enough to scatter the attackers and frighten them away.

    Therge-eared dwarves and Scorched Earth Pygmies didn¡¯t dare attack the traveler anymore, but they didn¡¯t retreat either. Instead, they turned around and rushed toward the caravan.

    ¡°Help us!¡± all of the caravan¡¯s guards cried out loudly.

    Shockingly, the traveler shot them a casual nce before turning around to leave.

    He just left the caravan to their fate, as if he hadn¡¯t seen anything at all.

 Book 7, 72: Infiltration 9

    The traveler¡¯s departure caused all of the caravan members to fall into despair.

    At that precise moment, however, a clear whistle suddenly rang out off in the distance.

    A group of soldiers had arrived on the scene. They waved their sabers in the air as they charged into the swarm of dwarves and pygmies, easily hacking them to pieces. Cold light glinted on their metal weapons, which unleashed streak after streak of concentrated de Qi. It was obvious that each and every of these soldiers was an elite.

    But the fact that so many elite warriors had appeared all at once, and that there was not a single weak one, was both surprising and exciting.

    The soldiers immediately whipped up a whirlwind of blood.

    They ughtered the creatures mercilessly, annihting droves with every swing of their des.

    In the blink of an eye, every single one of the dwarves and pygmies had been killed.

    Victory hade so suddenly that the merchant caravan didn¡¯t even have time to fully process to what had just happened.

    ¡°Many thanks for your assistance!¡± Filo shouted gratefully.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get too excited. Our aid does note without its cost,¡± one of the soldiers calmly replied.

    A female soldier emerged from their ranks in a heroic fashion, her golden blonde hair rippling in the wind.

    She nced at Filo before loudly asking, ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    Filo gulped. ¡°We¡¯re al...... alright.¡±

    ¡°You guys, go and help them out,¡± the female soldier said with a quick wave of her hand. A group of soldiers immediately stepped forward to carry out hermand by hoisting the overturned carts out of the mud.

    ¡°We can¡¯t thank you enough,¡± the merchants said with gratitude.

    This group of soldiers was a group of righteous soldiers.

    Not only had the soldiers exterminated the creatures about to im their lives, but they had also helped them clean up and given them food to eat and water to drink ¡ª the battle had taken quite a physical toll on the caravan members.

    Compared to the lone traveler that they had encountered earlier, this group of soldiers were virtually saints.

    Right, where had that person gone?

    Filo remembered the traveler. He turned around to search for him, only to find that the traveler had already disappeared.

    Within Halcyon Earth Forest.

    This ce was located in the southern stretches of Kun¡¯s territory, and it primarily belonged to the Sun Astrals.

    The Sun Astrals actually were an offshoot race of the Dark Astrals.

    After Kun¡¯s territory was separated from the Origin Realm, a group of Dark Astrals had found themselves stranded on this side of the Barrier. The sudden change in environment had forced them to adapt extremely quickly in order to survive.

    In the current age, these Sun Astrals looked extremely different from the Dark Astrals. They were far more slender, pale, and refined-looking.

    Yes, even their refined demeanor was a result of evolution.

    The Sun Astrals were actually descendents of the Love Goddess, Amelie. This Love Goddess had extremely high standards and expectations when it came to appearances, and those who were ugly would not receive her favor. As such, over the course of tens of thousands of years, the Sun Astrals naturally evolved to possess the beauty that their Love Goddess desired. In fact, their artistic talents had increased as well, and even the way they spoke had naturally be much more elegant.

    Of course, this greatly decreased theirbat prowess, but in their world, all that mattered was the gods¡¯ approval.

    Su Chen stared into Halcyon Earth Forest from outside.

    The current Su Chen¡¯s body had matured greatlypared to when he had been the seven-year-old Frost.

    Once his bloodline awakened, he had be the real Su Chen, making himpletely distinct from Frost.

    Funnily enough, his main goal for most of his life had been to develop a bloodlineless cultivation path. Now, however, his clone¡¯s most crucial advantage was precisely his main body¡¯s bloodline.

    Any powerful individual could produce their own bloodline. Su Chen, who had once attempted to abandon them, was now the very source of the bloodline that his projection had used to catapult its strength upwards.

    This was quite ironic.

    But no matter how ironic it came about, all that Su Chen currently cared about was getting stronger, especially when considering the opponents he was facing.

    By awakening his bloodline, Su Chen¡¯s strength would greatly increase. Of course, this projection was still far from being as strong as the main body.

    But at the very least, he could use many techniques that he couldn¡¯t in the past.

    Su Chen¡¯s second goal was inside this forest, whose guardian was the Love Goddess that the Sun Astrals worshipped.

    The Love Goddess was hale and hearty, unlike the God of Winter, who had been nothing more than a half-broken heart.

    Even though the Love Goddess¡¯sbat power was the weakest of the gods, her attractiveness meant that she had quite a few lovers. As such, the Love Goddess had never personally taken to the battlefield whenever the gods fought against each other. Instead, she had relied on the protection of her lovers to easily pass through such trials. This was how she had managed to survive to the current age.

    Of course, even the weakest deity was far beyond Frost¡¯s capacity to deal with.

    If Su Chen wanted to achieve his goals, then he needed to n and execute a carefully crafted strategy.

    The seed had already been nted. Now that it was beginning to bud, his foremost priority wasing up with a way to speed up its growth.

    Su Chen muttered to himself and spread his hands, almost as if he was uttering some kind of prayer or chant.

    On a level imperceptible to the human eye, countless microscopic organisms flew forth from his hand and settled in the forest as their new home.

    Very quickly, the microscopic organisms began to fill the entire forest.

    They reproduced and grew at an astonishing rate.

    Just like they had done in the Lonely Forest.

    Yes, this was the truth behind Su Chen¡¯s curse.

    It was actually caused by a unique organism, which Su Chen had obtained from the Three Rivers Jungle and modified, that possessed an extremely powerful corrosive ability. Even a single one would reproduce quickly enough to fill an entire area in no time at all.

    A little like me, Su Chen thought to himself.

    When he had first arrived at Kun¡¯s territory, Su Chen had only been a small, insignificant seedling. Now, however, this small seedling had grown into a sturdy sapling that was growing by the day. Even though he was still a ways away from reaching his goal, a slow but steady advance would eventually lead him to sess, would it not?

    The newly released organisms began to spread throughout the forest.

    After taking care of this matter, Su Chen turned around and left.

    Soon, these microscopic organisms would take over the entire forest, and the Sun Astrals¡¯ way of life would be threatened.

    Of course, the threat that this forest infestation posed to them might not be that great after considering the fact they still had the protection of their beloved Goddess.

    But trouble was still trouble. Even a deity would have a hard time resolving this issue.

    ¡°Father, don¡¯t you think that my bow looks pretty?¡±

    Little Ivy ran towards her father¡¯s bosom and raised the small bow in her hand as if she were holding onto a precious treasure.

    Klipp took the small bow and said, ¡°The engravings here are still a bit crude. You should have used three strokes to carve out this flower, but you only used two.¡±

    ¡°I just wanted my bow to be a little sturdier,¡± Little Ivy muttered with a pout.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that, sweetie,¡± Klipp said as heforted his daughter. ¡°Only beauty and aesthetics matter to us. We must have faith in our Goddess¡¯s directions and maintain our heritage and history. Follow your heart and pursue the path of the fine arts. There is no need to consider utility, which is a heresy for us artists. Does that make sense?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I understand,¡± Little Ivy replied as she nodded. ¡°I will go and make it a little more beautiful. What do you think of carving an extra line, representing a stream? That way, it¡¯ll carry the essence of flowing water whenever I use it. That would be extremely pleasing to look at.¡±

    ¡°Sounds great!¡± Klipp chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s a good idea. Give it a try. I¡¯m sure that the Goddess will appreciate your creation.¡±

    ¡°En!¡± Little Ivy nodded sincerely, turned around, and then ran outside.

    ¡°She will be a fine artist,¡± Klipp said to his wife.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think that your current pursuit of the arts is a little overzealous? I would still prefer for Ivy to join the Sun Astral Guards in the future,¡± his wife replied.

    ¡°What would be the point of that?¡± Klipp became clearly unhappy with her suggestion. ¡°Those brutes know nothing about elegance and aesthetics. They even recently submitted a request to remove the borate fretwork from their armor and reduce the engravings on their weapons by two-thirds! Those designs were all created by master artists! They truly have no eye for beauty and tastefulness!¡±

    ¡°They are also Sun Astrals, and they just put the safety of our race first. Recently, the world seems to be scarier. Didn¡¯t you hear about what happened recently? The Moon Goddess Church assimted the Winter God Church,¡± his wife replied with some fear.

    ¡°Only the gods need to worry about those things. With the gods present, there is nothing for you to worry about,¡± Klipp replied confidently.

    ¡°But the gods are very busy. They haven¡¯t answered our prayers in a long time.¡± Klipp¡¯s wife knew exactly how busy the gods had recently been. She didn¡¯t know what they were doing, but there was an ineffable tension in the air that hadn¡¯t escaped her notice.

    Because she was one of the Sun Astrals¡¯ twelve priestesses.

    Her ability to perceive the outward situation was higher than that of her husband, who was a pure artist.

    And her husband even despised the Sun Astral Guards to boot. How sensitive could he possibly be towards the current state of affairs?

    No!

    In his eyes, humans were barbarous beasts, while therge-eared dwarves and Scorched Earth pygmies were bugs that crawled through the mud.

    As such, he had no heart to care about what was going on in the outside world.

    Even so, his wife still loved him.

    This was just how the Sun Astrals were.

    The Sun Astrals¡¯ single-minded pursuit of artistry came from within. Her husband¡¯s fanatical pursuit of the fine arts only further demonstrated his sophistication.

    Klipp was stillining, and his wife listened attentively to his rant.

    At that moment, however, a dull thud came from the outside.

    ¡°Ivy!¡± Klipp called out.

    There was no response other than a strange cry.

    Klipp raised his head in surprise. He looked out of the red crystal window and saw that a group of Sun Astrals had gathered outside, panicking about something.

    Klipp stepped outside and walked over to them, confused. Only then did he see his daughter lying on the ground,pletely motionless.

    ¡°Ivy!¡± Klipp cried out as he rushed to pick up his daughter.

    The young girl¡¯s eyes were tightly shut, and her face was deathly pale.

    ¡°Don¡¯t touch her, Klipp!¡± his wife yelled.

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Klipp stared at his wife in anger.

    ¡°Look!¡± His wife pointed at his surroundings.

    That was when Klipp suddenly discovered that he had, at some point in time, beenpletely surrounded by other fallen Sun Astrals.

    ¡°This...... What is going on?¡± Klipp muttered to himself in shock.

    He turned around again to nce at his wife, who was now staring at him with an expression full of fear.

    She began to back up.

    ¡°Amelie!¡± Klipp yelled.

    He suddenly realized that something was very wrong.

    Why?

    He could feel his own heartbeat elerating as his body temperature steadily rose.

    Then, he could no longer control himself and tilted his head back as he spat out arge mouthful of blood.

    Previous Chapter

 Book 7, 73: Infiltration 10

    ¡°We¡¯re finally home!¡± Filo let out a long sigh from atop his horse.

    After a tumultuous journey, the merchants had finally reached Scorched Cliff City, allowing Filo to rx a little.

    Every trip that they took outside put them in a significant amount of danger.

    Of course, the oue of sessfullypleting this gamble was worth celebrating.

    After the cargo was delivered to Scorched Cliff City, the merchant group would definitely rake in a big haul.

    Disaster and happiness are truly interrted, Filo thought to himself with a sigh.

    He turned around to find the female cavalry rider chatting happily with his Young Miss, Sicilia.

    He spurred his horse on over. ¡°Madame Isabe, we have arrived at Scorched Cliff City. It¡¯s all thanks to your help.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to be polite. We¡¯re happy to apany you,¡± Isabe replied with a smile.

    Her appearance was already quite distinct, as she was dressed in a full suit of armor. When she smiled, almost everyone around her was immediately mesmerized.

    Everyone gazed at Isabe in a daze, thinking to themselves that the person who married this woman would be incredibly lucky.

    Perhaps only the bandits who followed Isabe wouldn¡¯t dare to think of such things.

    After all, any woman who could stand firm and retainmand of a group of bloodthirsty bandits did so not through a pleasant smile and a beautiful appearance, but rather an iron fist and bloody hands.

    Isabe might have been a young, naive girl at the very beginning, but after bing a bandit captain, she had been forced to change herself to survive.

    She would either die, or she would seed.

    And since Isabe had seeded, she had be the true leader of the bandits and fully transformed herself in the process .

    The young, naive girl that she had once been was long gone.

    But the more Isabe became separated from her innocent past self, the more she wanted to present a pure and righteous side to others.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t youe to our family¡¯s residence and stay there a while?¡± Sicilia asked, extending an invitation to Isabe.

    ¡°I¡¯m okay with that, but why does something about this city feel a bit strange?¡±

    Even though the city entrance was wide open for anyone toe in through, the main gate was extremely deste, and almost no one was walking along the streets. Actually, this was the case for the entire city, as far as the eye could see.

    Filo muttered to himself, ¡°This is indeed a little strange. Where did they all go? Scorched Cliff City is usually not like this.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s take a walk through the city. If anything is up, we will know then,¡± Isabe replied as she spurred her horse into a trot and entered the city.

    There should have been soldiers standing guard on the city walls, but not a single individual was present to halt them. The caravan entered the city with no issue. But the further they walked, the stranger it felt. There were a few beggars sitting by the side of the road in tattered clothing, but their gazes were nk, as if they were dead. It was impossible to get a response from them.

    ¡°What the hell happened here?¡± Filo said with a frown.

    Sic replied, ¡°I feel like we¡¯re in a ghost town.¡±

    Filo felt his heart tremble. ¡°Let¡¯s hurry back to the tradingpany.¡±

    The caravan took off at a rapid pace towards their tradingpany.

    Soon after, they arrived at the Ride Kite Trading Company, which was simrly devoid of human presence. There was only a single shop assistant standing guard near the entrance.

    ¡°Adam, what the hell is going on here?¡± Filo asked as he dismounted his horse.

    ¡°You¡¯ve finally returned, Sir Filo.¡± A ray of hope appeared in Adam¡¯s lifeless eyes.

    ¡°Hurry up and tell me what happened! Where is everyone? Why is Scorched Cliff City so empty?¡± Filo fired off a string of questions.

    ¡°It was a curse! A terrifying curse!¡± Adam replied, still terror stricken.

    Filo soon learned that, not long before their arrival, a curse had suddenly swept through the city.

    This curse¡¯s effects were terrifying. Anyone struck by it would immediately begin to sweat blood until they died. The worst part was that the curse was incredibly contagious, and it rapidly spread from an afflicted person to others.

    This was why a majority of the city¡¯s now ex-residents had run away. Now, the city had been essentially abandoned, and the only people who had remained were the ones that had no way of escaping with their own power.

    ¡°How could this be? Is there no way to counteract this curse? What about the Church?¡± Filo asked loudly.

    Adam gently shook his head in response.

    Against a curse of this level, the Church could only do enough to protect themselves.

    They were capable of preventing individuals from being infected, but once they were infected, even the clergymen were powerless. ording to them, this curse permeated infected individuals to the bone, and it was incredibly difficult to extricate.

    Filo swayed unsteadily on his feet from the shock of the news.

    Sicilia cried out, ¡°What about my father? How is he?¡±

    ¡°The Patriarch is safe. He was able to escape from Scorched Cliff City in time. But his wife......¡±

    Adam fell silent, but Sicilia knew what had been left unsaid. Her vision suddenly darkened as she copsed onto the ground.

    ¡°Young Miss.¡± A few of the guards stepped forwards to steady her.

    ¡°Mother......¡± Sicilia mumbled as she began to weep.

    ¡°Can you do anything besides cry when troublees your way? That won¡¯t do you any good,¡± a cold voice said at that moment.

    Isabe had jumped off of her horse and was walking in their direction.

    A corpseid in her path, and it probably belonged to someone who had died not too long ago.

    Isabe kicked the dead individual aside with her clean armored boots, sending red flicks of blood spraying into the air.

    ¡°Be careful! Don¡¯t get infected!¡± Adam cried out.

    Isabe pretended not to hear. ¡°So it¡¯s the Erythema Curse.¡±

    ¡°Erythema Curse?¡± Everyone was stunned. ¡°What is that?¡±

    ¡°A vicious, poisonous curse that was developed by an Arcanist. Its characteristics include the ability to spread rapidly to coverrge areas, and its killing power is extremely strong. Since it leaves a vibrant red rash on its victims, the curse has be known as the Erythema Curse,¡± Isabe exined.

    ¡°Who? Who would create such an evil thing?¡± Sicilia cried out angrily.

    Isabe shot her a strange nce. ¡°I already told you that it was an Arcanist. They might have done it for strength, riches, or perhaps for something else entirely. Who knows?¡±

    Filo reacted quite quickly. ¡°Miss Isabe, have you seen this curse before?¡±

    ¡°How else would I know its name?¡± Isabe immediately replied. ¡°This curse wreaked some havoc in the western regions of thisnd in the past.¡±

    ¡°I never heard about that.¡±

    ¡°Everyone who did died.¡±

    ¡°Is there any way to nullify the effects of the curse?¡± Filo hurriedly asked.

    ¡°Nullify it?¡± Isabe tilted her head, as if deep in thought, and then replied, ¡°We need to find the source. This curse¡¯s power alwayses from a source. If we can find it and destroy it, then the curse will be nullified.¡±

    ¡°Then where is the source?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll have to carefully search for it,¡± Isabe replied as she scanned her surroundings. ¡°We should first find some people who have been afflicted with the curse but who haven¡¯t died yet. They will be able to sense the location of the source, and only they are capable of doing this.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is,¡± Filo muttered to himself. However, he stayed put, and he gazed intently at Isabe, a meaningful gaze shing across his face.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Isabe asked.

    Filo replied, ¡°I just think that this is quite the coincidence. You appeared earlier right when we were in dire straits, and now you¡¯re also here immediately after the curse¡¯s outbreak in Scorched Cliff City.¡±

    Isabe frowned. ¡°Are you using me of something?¡±

    Filo hurriedly replied, ¡°How could I? I¡¯m just worried for you. After all, the Erythema Curse is extremely powerful. What if......¡±

    Isabe nced at Filo withpassion in her eyes. ¡°The Erythema Curse is indeed powerful, but if we destroy its source before those afflicted by the curse die, then they will fully recover. Not only that, but they will also develop an immunity to the curse itself.¡±

    ¡°Is that how it is?¡± Filo was taken aback. ¡°Then you......¡±

    Isabe coldly said, ¡°I already told you that there was an outbreak in the western regions. We passed by there on our way here.¡±

    Adam yelled, ¡°I knew it! You must have been responsible for bringing the Erythema Curse here!¡±

    Isabe coldly replied, ¡°We are immune to the disease, not carriers of it. Also, when have you ever heard of a curse that spreads before those carrying it even arrive?¡±

    Thatst statement dispelled any of Filo¡¯s remaining suspicions.

    It was an indisputable fact that Isabe had been with them before the curse had afflicted this city.

    Isabe continued, saying, ¡°I will give you onest opportunity. If you waste any more time, then we will take our leave.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m on it!¡± Adam shouted as he leapt to his feet. He knew that this city¡¯sst hope rested with these people now.

    Not long after, Isabe gathered arge group of cursed victims together to address them all.

    These cursed individuals were all near death¡¯s door.

    Now, however, someone hade to them, offering them hope. It was only natural that they would do everything in their power toply, as they would do whatever was needed to survive.

    Isabe began teaching them how to sense the subtle call of the curse¡¯s source.

    This sensation was extremely hard to describe, but it soon became very apparent whether or not an individual could sense it.

    Usually, only about one in a thousand individuals could sense the source.

    Thankfully, there were enough curse victims in Scorched Cliff City that there were a handful of people with the appropriate sensitivity.

    ¡°Over there, over there! I can feel it. There¡¯s something calling to me from over there,¡± a youth cried out excitedly.

    ¡°Yes, over there!¡± the other humans added on.

    After a thorough search, they tracked down the source to a civilian home in the eastern quadrant of the city.

    The source was an altar, upon which a strange tree grew.

    The curse was being dispersed through the tree.

    Under Isabe¡¯s instruction, they quickly destroyed the altar, and then began to purify the strange tree.

    When the source of the curse was purged, the dark atmosphere brooding over the city seemed to lift, and the aura of death began to fade.

    Those who had just been waiting for the Erythema Curse to kill them all began to miraculously recover.

    Based on what Isabe had said, there was no longer any need for them to fear this kind of curse ever again, as they had now developed an immunity towards it.

    The survivors were simultaneously ted and sorrowful.

    This was probably the swiftest and most disastrous cmity that had ever visited Scorched Cliff City. In the brief span of forty-eight hours, the residents of the city had been taken on an emotional rollercoaster. As a result, they gained a renewed appreciation for the sanctity of life, and they were full of gratitude towards Isabe and her band of warriors.

    But if the mastermind wasn¡¯t dealt with, then the situation would never be fully resolved.

    ¡°We just received word that the Erythema Curse has spread to Halcyon Earth Forest,¡± Filo whispered to Isabe that night during a celebration.

 Book 7, 74: Abandon

    Within Halcyon Earth Forest.

    A gue was beginning to spread amongst the Sun Astrals.

    In just half an hour, hundreds of Sun Astrals had been afflicted by the curse.

    Amelie¡¯s temple was packed to the brim with Sun Astrals.

    At the very front was Klipp¡¯s wife, Emma, and another one of the Love Goddess Church¡¯s twelve priestesses. She cradled her daughter as she whispered prayers to the statue in front of her.

    This statue had been carved to bear the likeness of a beautiful woman. Her appearance was peerless and her clothing sensual. A faint, bewitching smile perpetually hung on her face.

    Such a smile was definitely not something that could have been made by just the Sun Astrals¡¯ ability. It must have been their goddess¡¯s design.

    Finally, her prayers received a response.

    A golden light surrounded the statue, which opened its eyes ever so slightly. ¡°What has happened for you to summon me...... Hm? What is this? I can sense a thick aura of death!¡±

    ¡°Oh Great Amelie, a gue is currently sweeping through ournds. I implore you, show mercy and save my child, my husband, and our race,¡± Emma pleaded.

    ¡°What a nauseating stench......¡± Amelie said with a frown. She looked down and saw the child being cradled by her priestess. Even as a statue, her appearance was incredibly beautiful.

    A golden light suddenly shone forth from the statue, sweeping over all of the Sun Astrals present. Little Ivy slowly began to open her eyes.

    Her illness had been cured.

    ¡°Ivy!¡± Emma embraced her daughter excitedly.

    Quite a few of the other Sun Astrals who were in simrly dire straits also recovered.

    There were a few, however, that died before the Love Goddess could do anything.

    Even she couldn¡¯t do anything about that.

    ¡°Alright. If there¡¯s nothing else, then leave me be.¡± After taking care of the matter, Amelie¡¯s presence disappeared, and the statue returned to its original motionless state.

    ¡°May the Love Goddess be blessed!¡± all of the Sun Astrals chanted at the same time.

    After they finished praying, the Sun Astrals left the temple.

    The gue had passed, and life needed to continue.

    Even though a few Sun Astrals had died, the matter had mostly been resolved. This was a good thing.

    Little Ivy was able tough once more, and she immediately returned to continue carving her small bow. Klipp and his wife were already beginning to discuss what they would eat for dinner.

    They definitely needed to have a special dinner.

    After all, they needed tofort themselves after suffering through such a terrifying experience.

    Priestess Emma actually decided to personally cook this meal.

    Klipp, however, vehemently refused. ¡°No, no, this is a celebration, not a punishment.¡±

    ¡°Are you saying that my cooking skills are not adequate?¡± Emma¡¯s expression sank.

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly what he means, mama,¡± Little Ivy said, gleefully adding fuel to the fire.

    ¡°Hey, kiddo, don¡¯t throw me under the bus like that.¡±

    ¡°I just saved your life, you bastard! Is this how you n on repaying me?¡± Emma said, angrily putting her hands on her hips.

    ¡°Even that cannot make up for your cooking,¡± Klipp guffawed. ¡°I would say that even if I was cursed a second time.¡±

    ¡°I should have just let you die,¡± Emma said as she smacked her husband on the back of his head.

    This gentle smack, however, caused Klipp to suddenly freeze.

    ¡°Klipp?¡± Emma asked, badly startled by his reaction.

    Klipp opened his mouth and spat out another mouthful of blood.

    Emma began to panic. ¡°Klipp, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Klipp crumpled to the floor, a red rash appearing all over his body.

    He spat out with great difficulty, ¡°The curse...... has returned.¡±

    How was this possible?

    Emma was stunned.

    Even so, she reacted immediately by casting two protective barriers around him, isting him from Ivy and herself.

    These protective barriers could prevent the curse from spreading any further, but it couldn¡¯t cure those who were already afflicted. Only the divine light of the goddess herself could drive off the curse.

    But even if it could protect them, the amount of holy light that Emma could use was limited, and the number of Sun Astrals who died would only increase with time.

    Emma hurriedly picked up her husband and rushed back to the temple.

    ¡°Oh great goddess, may you once again return to our mortal ne. The terrible gue has returned with a vengeance!¡±

    Following Emma¡¯s prayer, the Love Goddess Amelie returned once more.

    Even she was surprised by what had happened. ¡°Didn¡¯t I already remove the curse? Why is it still...... Hm, it seems that the source of the curse is still present.¡±

    ¡°Please, Goddess, destroy the source!¡± Emma loudly pleaded.

    Suddenly, she saw a strange expression appear on Amelie¡¯s face.

    ¡°Goddess?¡± Emma asked with some suspicion.

    ¡°I cannot find where the source of this curse is,¡± Amelie replied with a dour expression.

    What?

    Emma was stunned. ¡°How can this be?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not strange at all,¡± Amelie replied straightforwardly. ¡°If the source is too far away, or if the source was hidden after the curse was released, then it will be very hard to discover.¡±

    ¡°But you are a goddess!¡±

    ¡°The gods are not omniscient,¡± Amelie murmured. ¡°If they were, then how could there be stronger and weaker gods? That alone indicates that even gods have their limits. And that¡¯s not even mentioning the fact that we are so busy that we really don¡¯t have time to take care of these matters. I haven¡¯t rested in days because of that damned Barrier. Ugh, my skin must look horrible right now......¡±

    Amelie seemed a bit absent-minded, and sheined incessantly about her burdens.

    Emma understood her goddess¡¯s personality quite well.

    Each deity had their own personality, and the Love Goddess¡¯s personality was unquestionably that of a prima donna.

    Unfortunately, this prima donna happened to hold the fates of the Sun Astrals in her hands.

    Emma had no choice but to interrupt her string ofints. ¡°Goddess, please save us!¡±

    ¡°Oh, right. I almost forgot about that.¡± Amelie raised her hand, and another wave of golden light surged forth, covering all of the afflicted Sun Astrals.

    They were cured yet again.

    This time, however, they weren¡¯t nearly as happy about their situation.

    Because they knew that, not long from now, the curse would resurface once again.

    Amelie waited around for this precise reason.

    She wanted to see just what was so special about this curse.

    But nothing happened even after a long time of waiting.

    ¡°It seems that the curse must have gone dormant. I will take my leave for now. There are still many things that I must do.¡± Amelie disappeared once more.

    ¡°All we can do is hope that the curse doesn¡¯t appear again,¡± Klipp said,forting his wife.

    ¡°Yes, all we can do is hope,¡± Emma replied in a weak tone. For some reason, she couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that something was still wrong.

    Indeed, half an hourter, the Sun Astrals fell victim to the curse yet again.

    Actually, Emma was still sitting in the temple.

    She prayed once more, and Amelie appeared for the third time.

    ¡°So the curse is back again? How annoying. Why doesn¡¯t it ever show itself when I¡¯m around?¡± Amelie rubbed her head, groaning in frustration as she unleashed another wave of golden light.

    This time, none of the Sun Astrals had any heart to celebrate their recovery.

    Because they could sense that this curse was quite troublesome.

    Amelie waited once more.

    This time, she waited for two whole hours.

    But nothing happened in those two hours.

    Amelie finally understood.

    ¡°It¡¯s avoiding me,¡± she stated.

    ¡°Someone is trying to drive a wedge between us Sun Astrals and you, Goddess. This is not a coincidence, but a deliberate scheme!¡± Emma was extremely confident in her deduction.

    ¡°You¡¯re right. Who could it be? Who would orchestrate all this behind the scenes?¡± Amelie was growing angry as well.

    The glow surrounding the statue grew more and more radiant as Amelie¡¯s expression became angry.

    A giant image appeared from behind the statue of the goddess, and the Sun Astrals all fell to their knees one by one. They knew that this was not a will projection, but rather a clone of the Love Goddess herself that Amelie had left behind.

    The glory of the goddess¡¯s clone filled the entire temple, greatly concentrating the energy nearby.

    Amelie¡¯s gaze swept through the temple. Suddenly, sheughed. ¡°Found you!¡±

    She immediately flew forwards.

    ¡°Squeak!¡± A shrill cry filled the temple.

    A small mouse squirmed out of its hole before being sted to smithereens by Amelie.

    ¡°Hahahaha, I¡¯ve caught you now!¡± Amelie giggled with delight.

    ¡°So the source was that mouse?¡± Emma murmured to herself. ¡°But how could a mouse contain such a powerful curse? And how did it know to avoid your presence?¡±

    Amelie¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Because even though it is the source, it is not the one controlling the curse...... Damned bastard!¡±

    Amelie had been able to find the concealed source of the curse, but determining the mastermind behind the curse was an entirely separate matter.

    Just as Amelie had said, the gods were not omniscient.

    They were very powerful, but there were quite a few things that they simply could not do.

    ¡°In any case, the source has been destroyed. You all will be safe for now,¡± Amelie said.

    ¡°But if the mastermind doesn¡¯t give up, then the gue will inevitably return, right?¡± Emma asked carefully.

    Amelie¡¯s expression was dark as she replied, ¡°Yes...... However, he¡¯d better not return! I will not spare him.¡±

    She left then, her words still ringing through the air in her wake.

    Nothing else happened in Halcyon Earth Forest for some time.

    The Sun Astrals believed that the gue had passed, and that they could now return to their old way of living.

    But the curse returned once more.

    Amelie was about to go crazy at the thought of having to descend a fourth time. However, she could not find the mastermind even after she searched through the entire forest.

    He simply wasn¡¯t anywhere closeby.

    He had most likely made his arrangements and then ran away, leaving behind no clues apart from a single mouse that served as the source of the curse.

    Actually, there was more than one.

    This time, there were three sources of the curse.

    Amelie stomped her feet in exasperation at being provoked like this, but there was nothing she could have done. The situation would have been the same even if her true body was present.

    Even though an elephant was far stronger than a mouse, there was only so much it could do against a mouse.

    As such, the curse appeared time after time, forcing Amelie to descend again and again.

    And her multiple descensions did note without a price.

    Every time a god or a goddess descended, some of their divine power that was obtained through faith would be consumed.

    Repeatedly descending was putting an immense burden on Amelie.

    This Love Goddess soon became extremely reluctant to descend and save her people.

    Of course, she still kept up the pretense of a loving goddess on the surface.

    ¡°The Barrier¡¯s destruction is at a critical juncture, and I cannot keep leaving like this. Otherwise, our progress will be obstructed. You all must learn to adapt and face the situation on your own instead of relying on us gods for everything......¡±

    After Amelie spoke these disingenuous words, she was no longer willing to descend.

    In some sense, however, her words were also correct.

    Once the Barrier was destroyed, even better sources of faith would be avable in the Origin Realm.

    As such, there was no need to be too distraught even if all of the Sun Astrals were wiped out now.

    As soon as Amelie realized this, she felt extremely regretful about her past descensions.

    But it was toote for regret. She had already lost quite a bit of divine power by descending repeatedly.

    As such, the Sun Astrals soon realized something when the curse returned, and their cries for help went unanswered:

    They had been abandoned by their goddess.

    Previous Chapter

 Book 7, 75: The Undercurrent Swells

    ¡°Well, that was unexpected,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself from his vantage point on a faraway mountain.

    This had not been a part of his original n. He had intended to use the curse to torment the Sun Astrals, drag Isabe to Scorched Cliff City, and then have them deal with the curse as a pretext to steal the item that was being stored in Halcyon Earth Forest.

    Unexpectedly, however, Amelie had actually descended, and repeatedly at that.

    It wasn¡¯t that he hadn¡¯t considered how the gods react. However, the Human Ancestor had told Su Chen that the gods would almost single mindedly focus on destroying the Barrier given the critical juncture they were in. Thus, they likely wouldn¡¯t spend any attention on the small issues of their believers.

    Well, it was true that the survival of the Sun Astrals was not a small matter.

    But if that was the case, then did the gods actually care about their worshippers?

    So if their worshippers were constantly being ughtered, what would happen then?

    Would the gods actually descend and intervene?

    Was this yet another way for him to dy the Barrier¡¯s destruction?

    A myriad of questions and ideas uncontrobly floated through Su Chen¡¯s mind.

    Yes, there were indeed multiple paths to slowing the Barrier¡¯s deterioration.

    Countless possibilities shed through his mind, each designed to decimate the worshippers of these gods.

    To aplish these ns, however, he would need his own faction and subordinates.

    I need to keep fostering Isabe, Su Chen thought to himself.

    He could already see a group of warriors approaching from off on the horizon ¡ª Isabe and the bandits under her control.

    After studying the cultivation techniques that Su Chen had given them, their strength had soared significantly, and they were now even able to infuse their horses with Fighting Qi, allowing them to hasten their horses¡¯ footsteps. Their cavalry unit horses could easily traverse rocky mountainsides, allowing them to quickly reach the top of the mountain.

    Isabe hopped off the back of her horse and knelt down on one knee before Su Chen. ¡°Greetings, Boss. I have done as youmanded.¡±

    After speaking, she took out a leaf and presented it to Su Chen.

    This leaf was vibrantly verdant, as if it had been carved out of exquisite jade. It exuded a strangely alluring aura, and anyone whoid their eyes on it would have a hard time tearing their gaze away.

    ¡°The World Tree¡¯s leaf is finally mine,¡± Su Chen said with a slight smile.

    Without the support of the Love Goddess, the Sun Astrals had had no choice but to seek outside help. Even though Isabe and the others had arrived many dayster than scheduled, they had still managed to obtain the leaf. His n was still on course. They had purposefully imed that the World Tree¡¯s leaf was the true source of the curse and then taken it away.

    The World Tree¡¯s leaf was a protective item that the Love Goddess Amelie had given to the Sun Astrals for their protection. After Amelie abandoned them, however, the Sun Astrals suddenly cared much less about the World Tree¡¯s Leaf.

    Once the source of the curse disappeared, all that remained for them was to figure out what they wanted their rtionship with their Love Goddess to be. But that was a problem for them to tackle alone.

    Su Chen was in an extremely good mood now that the World Tree¡¯s leaf was in his possession. He chuckled. ¡°Very well done. Hmm, how should I reward you?¡±

    Surprisingly, Isabe directly said, ¡°Boss, can I propose a reward?¡±

    Su Chen thought for a moment before nodding. ¡°Yes, as long as it¡¯s not too excessive.¡±

    Isabe said, ¡°I want to see your real face, Boss.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Su Chen was taken aback. He didn¡¯t expect Isabe to make such a request.

    Even so, he eventually agreed after a moment¡¯s thought.

    The ck fog that perpetually shrouded him disappeared, revealing Su Chen¡¯s elegant appearance.

    Isabe and the other bandits were all stunned when they saw Su Chen¡¯s true face.

    ¡°So that¡¯s what Boss¡¯s true appearance is. He¡¯s quite handsome,¡± Isabe muttered to herself, slightly dazed by the reveal.

    Su Chen gently coughed.

    Isabe immediately woke up from her reverie.

    Su Chen then said, ¡°Isabe, you have done very well this time. I remember that you once asked me to help you kill your younger sister, who usurped your position as heir of the family, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Isabe said with her head lowered. ¡°But my hatred for her has diminished greatly after such a long time.¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t do,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that you will have to exact your revenge whether you want to or not.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Isabe was stunned.

    ¡°Yes. Your next mission is to kill your younger sister and reim your rightful status,¡± Su Chen said.

    Isabe had always longed to return to her family as its heiress, but now, she didn¡¯t want it nearly as badly as before.

    She had never expected Su Chen to bring up the matter now of all times.

    ¡°But Boss, I am already the leader of the......¡±

    ¡°Can bandits not be nobles? Actually, I think they could be even more.¡±

    Even more?

    That statement sent Isabe for a loop. What was Su Chen trying to say?

    Su Chen continued, saying, ¡°Yes, even more. I have one more task for you in addition to reiming your rightful title. I believe that this sort of thing happens quite often in power struggles, right? Your situation is definitely not unique. As long as we look for them, there are too many people who have suffered from the same injustice.¡±

    ¡°So what?¡±

    ¡°Recruit them into the bandit group, and we will give them an opportunity to exact revenge themselves,¡± Su Chen replied sinisterly.

    Isabe felt her heart tremble.

    She could sense Su Chen¡¯s lofty ambitions through his words alone.

    Isabe gritted her teeth and replied, ¡°Boss, this world is under the control of the gods!¡±

    She was reminding Su Chen that, no matter how powerful a secr force became, they would never be able to withstand the will of the gods. Without the gods¡¯ permission, her boss¡¯s ambition was fated to wither away before ever blossoming.

    Su Chen calmly replied, ¡°Do you still not understand even after seeing what happened to the Sun Astrals? The gods are very busy right now...... They have no time to care for such unimportant matters. This is the perfect opportunity for us to expand our influence.¡±

    ¡°With just a group of bandits?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget that I¡¯m here too.¡±

    If they wanted to stir up a storm, they needed to be strong enough to do so first.

    The Gwent Family was one of the three most powerful noble families within the Thunderwood Region. That was as good a starting ce as any.

    The Red Kite Family was another powerful noble family, but of the Campbell Region. They could be controlled through Sicilia.

    These secr powers might be limited in scope by the gods¡¯ influence, but they were far easier to control for this precise reason. Now that the seeds of discord had been sown, it was time to carefully cultivate them so that they would grow and spread. Slowly but surely, they would expand to cover the entire territory.

    Before that happened, however, there was still a lot to do.

    Being rich resulted in depravity, while being poor created disorder.

    Stirring up chaos didn¡¯t just mean rocking the boat; it also required precise timing.

    A sudden cmity or shortage of resources was the perfect opportunity to strike.

    As such, they needed to prepare and set up these conditions.

    The gods had once protected this world, making cmities rare. Now, however, with their attention diverted, the inhabitants of this world would need to begin dealing with such disasters all on their own.

    On the other hand, a great cmity would also create many refugees. Aside from sowing even more seeds of chaos, they would be the future foundation for Su Chen¡¯s strength in Kun¡¯s territory, resulting in an even greater disturbance.

    Of course, there was no need for him to exin everything to Isabe.

    After giving Isabe her orders, Su Chen dismissed her. Then, he pricked his finger and squeezed out a few droplets of fresh blood that turned into clones before dispersing quickly in all directions.

    Their departure signalled the beginning of an intense, violent storm.

    After doing this, Su Chen began summoning his main body¡¯s will once again.

    This time, he was even more discreet than before, and only attempted to make a connection on the consciousness level.

    ¡°You¡¯ve done very well. You¡¯ve bought us another three years of time, but you¡¯ll need to start speeding up. The gods could discover your existence at any point in time,¡± the main body¡¯s will said.

    ¡°How do you know this?¡±

    ¡°Even though we created a fake Winter God¡¯s heart as a recement, the Winter God¡¯s divine power is still dwindling rapidly. The Moon Goddess Church didn¡¯t initially notice the difference, but by now, they are beginning to realize that the heart is just a replica,¡± the main body replied.

    ¡°And how do you know that?¡±

    ¡°We had a small skirmish with them...... at the site of thergest breach in the Barrier.¡±

    The Su Chen in Kun¡¯s territory was struck speechless.

    While this projection had been extremely active in Kun¡¯s territory, his main body hadn¡¯t been idle either.

    Even though all of his activities to slow down the Barrier¡¯s decline were being carried out in secret, the resulting effect was very real.

    When the gods realized that the Barrier¡¯s destruction had suddenly slowed down, they immediately began to investigate.

    Of course, they were not investigating any of the matters taking ce in Kun¡¯s territory ¡ª the possibility that Su Chen could possess such a transcendent projection technique hadn¡¯t even urred to them.

    Their investigation was strictly limited to the Primordial Continent. As a result, they quickly discovered that thergest breach, which they had attempted to conceal, had actually fallen under Su Chen¡¯s control.

    As such, both sides were at a tense standoff at this Barrier fracture site.

    Now that this fracture was no longer a secret, both Su Chen and the gods were keeping a close eye on the Barrier¡¯s deterioration.

    Thankfully, the projection¡¯s bloodline had fully awakened by now; otherwise, their contact would have definitely been noticed by the gods.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. If that¡¯s the case, then I won¡¯t be able to give you the World Tree¡¯s leaf,¡± Su Chen (Frost) said.

    ¡°That¡¯s alright. If you use it on the Barrier from within, its effect will be even greater.¡±

    ¡°But I can¡¯t even make contact with the Barrier of the Gods yet.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why I said that you need to use your time wisely and quickly get stronger.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already regained the power of a Yang Opening Realm cultivator. Soon, I¡¯ll reach the Light Shaking Realm.¡±

    Frost¡¯s) cultivation rate was already quite fast. His main issue was just that he didn¡¯t have enough time.

    No matter how quickly he cultivated, it would take a substantial amount of time for him to develop a solid foundation.

    ¡°I¡¯m not referring to that path.¡±

    Hm?

    Frost) squinted his eyes.

    He and Su Chen had originally been one, but the different environment meant that the projection and the main body now had slightly disconnected wills. As soon as the main Su Chen reminded him, however, he immediately understood.

    Yes, Su Chen was referring to a different direction of cultivation.

    ¡°Immortal energy!¡±

    In terms of the Origin Realm¡¯s normal cultivation system, Frost was about to reach the Light Shaking Realm.

    But in terms of the immortal cultivation system, Frost was still at the Qi Refining Stage. He hadn¡¯t even reached perfection in that stage yet, let alone Foundation Establishment.

    ¡°That won¡¯t be easy,¡± Frost said with a shake of his head.

    Even though Su Chen had given Frost the power of his bloodline, that bloodline only allowed him to quickly absorb energy from the Origin Realm¡¯s system, not immortal energy.

    Frost merely possessed a cultivation technique for immortal energy, and no way of directly inheriting it through Su Chen¡¯s bloodline.

    This was not because immortal energy was on a higher level, but rather because it was simply not something that could be contained within a mere bloodline. Gathering and cultivating immortal energy required slow and painstaking personal effort.

    Of course, this meant that Frost¡¯s path to bing an immortal would be extremely slow.

    It wasn¡¯t possible to reach a high level in a short period of time.

    Surprisingly, however, the main body said, ¡°You don¡¯t need to inherit it. Why not just consume more?¡±

    ¡°Consume?¡± Frost was taken aback.

    Naturally, Frost also knew that consuming divine power was the best way to nourish the immortal energy in his body.

    But there was arge problem in the form of just how much divine energy he could consume.

    Even though immortal energy and divine power were two sides of the same coin, attempting to use the pitiful amount of immortal energy that he currently possessed to consume divine power would basically be courting death.

    This was analogous to hunting Demonic Beasts. Even though a Demonic Beast¡¯s flesh was nourishing and delicious, it was entirely possible that the hunter would be the hunted if they weren¡¯t strong enough.

    This was why Frost had never even considered consuming divine power until now.

    However, he knew that the main body definitely had a reason for bringing it up.

    Indeed, the main body went on to say, ¡°Since the gods and I are now openly facing off against each other at the Barrier¡¯s breach, I don¡¯t think that it¡¯ll be a problem to asionally step in and create some opportunities. Just wait to reap the benefits.¡±

    Frost chuckled when he heard this.

    Suddenly, the issue had be quite trivial.

    He would just kill and devour to his heart¡¯s content.

    How wonderful!

 Book 7, 76: Express Delivery

    Back in the Origin Realm, at the Barrier¡¯srgest fracture.

    Su Chen stood inside it, gazing into the fracture¡¯s depths as he said, ¡°Bring them to me.¡±

    A group of Boundless Sect disciples flew forwards, each of them holding a person in their hands. Over these past few years, the gods had sent quite a few projections through the Barrier and gained more fanatical worshippers on the other side.

    These fanatics had obtained the blessings of various gods and gone on to carry out their bidding with no regard for the lives of their fellow men. In the end, however, they had all been found and captured by the Boundless Sect.

    The hundreds of fanatical worshippers, priests, bishops, and clergymen were forced into neat rows in front of Su Chen.

    Su Chen growled, ¡°Burn them!¡±

    Boom!

    These fanatical worshippers were simultaneously lit aze.

    These mes were consciousness mes. This way, instead of directly killing the target, they would instead constantly torment them, making them feel as if they were actually being burned alive without allowing them to actually die.

    The hundreds of worshippers howled and writhed in agony.

    These worshippers were in close proximity to the gods that they worshipped, and their bodies also contained the divine power bestowed by them. As such, the gods immediately learned of the pain they were suffering.

    An instantter, a sh of light appeared in front of the fissure.

    ¡°Su Chen, don¡¯t go too far!¡± a barbaric voice howled through the fissure.

    Su Chen had interacted with this primal voice many times already.

    He arched an eyebrow when he heard the barbaric voice. ¡°And what are you going to do to me if I do?¡±

    ¡°Die!¡±

    An explosion of sound burst forth like a thunderp. Suddenly, one of the worshippers who was being tortured broke free of his restraints, charged at Su Chen, and unleashed a punch.

    ¡°Will Descent? I¡¯m sorry, but that won¡¯t do you any good,¡± Su Chen said with a disdainful smirk.

    He didn¡¯t even need to defend himself. One of Su Chen¡¯s subordinates reached out and easily blocked the attacker¡¯s punch. It was Le Feng.

    Even though that strand of will was powerful, it was not the actual deity himself. Le Feng, on the other hand, cultivated immortal energy. The Mad God attacked repeatedly but soon realized that he waspletely incapable of doing anything to a mere disciple of the Boundless Sect.

    This made him very angry.

    ¡°You¡¯re pissing me off!¡± The strand of will suddenly began to surge and expand as it grew more powerful.

    The Mad God was infusing his will with more divine power,pletely ignoring whether or not this worshipper was able to receive it at this point.

    ¡°That¡¯s not what I want.¡± Su Chen, however, shook his head.

    He wasn¡¯t trying to draw out a Will Descent. No matter how powerful the Mad God¡¯s worshippers became, it wouldn¡¯t affect him.

    As such, he stretched out his finger and ced it on the controlled worshipper¡¯s body.

    Pu!

    A bloody hole immediately appeared on the worshipper¡¯s body.

    Even though it was just a physical hole, the strand of will seemed to leak out of the worshipper¡¯s body like a deting balloon before being immediately destroyed by Le Feng.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± the Mad God roared angrily.

    A powerful will reached out through the fissure, formed itself into an illusory hand, and then tried to swat Su Chen.

    Su Chen¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°That¡¯s more like it!¡±

    As the fracture had increased in size, so too had the gods¡¯ ability to pass through the barrier. At this point, they were capable of unleashing some limited physical attacks.

    Of course, this was not necessarily a wise move.

    These physical attacks were akin to hit someone through a door that slightly ajar. More often than not, trying to force a punch through would result in a vicious beating for the attacker, whereas the opponent would usually get off scot-free.

    To most people, this was an unwise decision.

    But to some, especially those who had lost all sense of rationality, the urge to get a single blow in and vent was irresistible even if it meant receiving a beating in return.

    This was obviously the case with the Mad God.

    His innate personality ensured that his behavior was brash and crude. As such, he rarely used his brain.

    This type of god could devastate the Origin Realm once the Barrier came down.

    But before then, he would basically be harmless.

    Divine power rolled through the fissure, but only a tenth as strong as it should have been.

    Even so, the Mad God had still chosen tounch this attack without hesitation.

    This was exactly what Su Chen had been waiting for.

    His eyes glowed, and he jabbed his finger out. ¡°Break!¡±

    This finger jab was the exact same one that he had used to destroy the Astrals. It was filled with a powerful, arcane energy. After quite a bit of practice and effort, he had finally reached the point of being able to use it at will.

    Su Chen had named it the God-Killing Jab.

    When the God-Killing Jab collided with the Mad God¡¯s palm, the giant hand trembled for a moment before it began to disintegrate into a powerful current of divine power.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± the Mad God roared in anger and pain.

    Su Chen reversed the flow of energy and sent it right back through the fracture.

    Boom!

    The divine power was captured by Su Chen¡¯s move and then forcibly redirected back at the Mad God.

    ¡°Courting death!¡± A cold, sinister voice suddenly spoke up, causing Su Chen¡¯s body to involuntarily tremble.

    An invisible attack suddenly shot forth from the darkness, directly towards Su Chen.

    An ambush from the darkness!

    Su Chen groaned as he was sent flying backwards, and his attack wavered ever so slightly. He ended uppletely missing the Mad God, and his attack instead went straight into Kun¡¯s territory, disappearing without a trace.

    At the same time, Su Chen hurriedly retreated.

    A powerful, sinister will enveloped him.

    ¡°Trying to run? I¡¯ll end you right here!¡±

    An extremely sinister energy shot out from the fissure. Even though the Barrier had greatly weakened the power of this energy, it still hit Su Chen like a truck as it attempted to infiltrate his body.

    The God of Six Desires!

    Boom!

    A majestic background unfolded behind Su Chen.

    The Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect!

    Next, Su Chen threw out a few objects. Some Titan-ss puppets appeared and blocked thebined attacks from the gods.

    These Titan-ss puppets, however, seemed mediocre inparison to the gods¡¯ attacks. Thankfully, Su Chen was only hoping to have them buy him time. As they took the hits for him, Su Chen leapt backwards.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Even the Titan-ss puppets shattered in the face of such powerful attacks. Some were even caught up in the strange flow of energy and carried away without a trace.

    But Su Chen was able to step out of the fissure and return to his own world.

    As soon as he stepped foot into the Origin Realm, the amount of divine power surrounding him greatly decreased, and the threat to him naturally diminished significantly.

    Su Chen let out a sigh of relief. ¡°I can¡¯t believe that there were two others hiding behind that guy, waiting to ambush me. They really were trying to kill me right then and there.¡±

    The Mad God was indeed infuriated, but for the God of Six Desires and the God of Assassination to be hiding in the shadows was indeed something unexpected.

    Even though the Barrier had greatly weakened the power of their attacks, they were still able to wound Su Chen.

    These injuries would probably take some time to fully heal from.

    The three gods chuckled to themselves, pleased at sessfullynding a hit on Su Chen. ¡°Even though we weren¡¯t able to kill you, this should put a stop to your frivolities for a little while.¡±

    The Assassination God coldly stated, ¡°The gap between our worlds saved you. We¡¯ll see if you survive the next time I attack.¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t say anything else. His expression sank slightly, as if he were a sore loser.

    He raised the de in his hand.

    Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

    Before the mental torture of the worshippers even ended, their heads hit the ground.

    After wiping them all out, Su Chen sourly said, ¡°We¡¯ll meet again.¡±

    Then, he turned around and left with the rest of the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples.

    On Heaven¡¯s Peace Peak.

    Frost quietly sat at the very top, cultivating diligently.

    Immortal energy suffused through his entire body, making him feel incrediblyfortable.

    After all, his vitality was being constantly improved, and it felt as if a new world were opening itself up to him.

    He had experienced this with his main body in the past, but to a lesser degree.

    Perhaps it was because his main body had somewhat forcefully switched to a system it wasn¡¯t necessarily built for halfway through its cultivation.

    This blood clone projection, however, was able to sense many subtleties about immortal cultivation that Su Chen hadn¡¯t properly appreciated before, and some of the holes in his knowledge were slowly but surely being filled in. There were certain aspects that Su Chen couldn¡¯t see from the top, but as Frost slowly but surely ascended the mountain, he was able to view things in a novel perspective.

    In some sense, he was making up for the gaps in the main body¡¯s knowledge, bolstering his foundation, and raising his understanding of how to take the next step in forming his golden pill.

    But because these missing theories and concepts were all rtively low-level, the gap in cultivation base would be extremely apparent once the deficiencies were all filled in.

    Unfortunately, Frost had to wait for his cultivation base to grow stronger before he could provide the main body with any more insight.

    While he was focused on cultivation, however, Frost suddenly felt a strange sensatione over him. When he looked up at the sky, his jaw dropped in amazement.

    Divine power!

    Ownerless divine power!

    And not only was it ownerless, but that clump of divine power was enveloped in immortal energy!

    Frost immediately knew that this was the nourishment that Su Chen had promised him.

    He chuckled, sat down cross-legged on the ground, and began to absorb all of the divine power in the air.

    Without an owner, this divine power would gradually dissipate over time.

    But with Frost¡¯s will guiding it into his body, it would begin to automatically condense within him.

    Frost began to refine the divine power and convert it into immortal energy.

    Divine power was the best nutrient for cultivating immortal energy. Frost was growing stronger day by day by basically just devouring divine power.

    Unfortunately, in Kun¡¯s territory, every bit of divine power had an owner. Consuming it would almost always attract the attention of the gods.

    Only by severing the connection between the divine power and its owner like Su Chen had done would Frost be able to safely process the divine power undetected.

    Basically, Su Chen had delivered a care package to Frost.

    Of course, he had sustained a few somewhat serious injuries in the process of doing so.

    But it was all worth it. Only if Frost developed rapidly would he be able to aplish something great in Kun¡¯s territory.

    Therge amount of divine power was quickly converted to immortal energy, and it caused Frost¡¯s strength to increase extremely rapidly.

    Soon, he reached the peak of the Qi Refining stage.

    He immediately jumped up and entered the Foundation Establishment stage.

    After all, he was Su Chen¡¯s blood clone seedling, and he possessed the main body¡¯s memories of reaching the Foundation Establishment stage. As such, with so much divine power avable to support his ascension, he easily broke through into the Foundation Establishment stage. The converted immortal energy circted throughout every part of Frost¡¯s body, reshaping him and bringing his state of existence higher and higher.

    Unfortunately, he was only able to establish a part of his foundation before all of the divine power was expended.

    Even so, Frost had been able toplete the most critical part of his cultivation.

    Now that he had reached Foundation Establishment and the Light Shaking Realm, his overall strength had advanced quite a bit. Even the strength of his Arcana Techniques had improved significantly.

    With more strength came the ability to do greater things.

    Finally, a few of the ns that Frost had always wanted to carry out could be started.

    At that exact moment, however, another object suddenly fell out of the sky.

    When Frost saw what that object was, he couldn¡¯t help but be slightly taken aback.

    It was that?

    Previous Chapter

 Book 7, 77: Fog Region

    What had just fallen from the sky andnded in front of Frost was a Titan-ss puppet.

    The group of Titan-ss puppets that Su Chen had unleashed to block the gods¡¯ blow was indeed meant to protect him, but it also served a dual purpose by allowing him to send one of them over to the other side.

    Titan-ss puppets were as strong as Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators, after all. Frost¡¯s job would be a lot easier with one of them by his side.

    ¡°Well done.¡±

    Frost hastily stowed the puppet away. With it on his side, his n could now be fully executed without anymore breaks.

    At Dusk Fog Mountain.

    This mountainous region was quite deste as it was eternally shrouded in fog.

    From time to time, certain strange creatures would emerge from the fog and attack whoever dared to intrude on their territory. This only served to further bolster its reputation as an off-limits area.

    Even so, every year, many warriors ventured in to plumb its depths because the legends said that this ce contained quite a few ancient Arcanist relics.

    The Arcanists had not been nearly as powerful on Kun¡¯s territory as they were on the Primordial Continent, but they still had their own history here.

    They had named their country the Dusk Country. Unfortunately, it had been quickly washed away by the sands of time. Their system of Arcana Techniques, however, had survived intact.

    Dusk Fog Mountain was where that Arcanist country had been established. It was very believable that the Arcanists would have left quite a few valuable treasures behind here. And every year, there would be a few lucky individuals who would find something of value and maintain the legend.

    The Red Cauldron Tavern was located at the base of Dusk Fog Mountain, just outside the reach of the fog.

    This tavern¡¯s owner was a Sandman. He had smartly opened up this tavern for the prospectors that would frequent this area, and he had set the prices quite high.

    Even so, this was the only tavern in the area, so those prospectors had no choice but to gather here. A number of them would try to dine and dash every year, but most of them were shaken down by the giant swordsman guarding the door.

    When Frost arrived, there were only a few people sitting within the tavern. The tavern¡¯s owner was standing behind the counter, idly washing some used des.

    That¡¯s right, he was washing des, not cups or bowls.

    The tavern was obviously of the unscrupulous kind.

    ¡°Rum costs thirty gold ingots and a te of beef is twenty. Don¡¯t ask why. That¡¯s just how much I¡¯m selling them for,¡± the tavern¡¯s owner said gruffly.

    This was twenty times more expensive than outside.

    ¡°I need a guide,¡± Frost said.

    ¡°A hundred gold ingots per day. However, they will not take you any deeper than ten kilometers inside the fog,¡± the tavern owner replied.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡±

    ¡°Hank, you¡¯re up!¡±

    Upon hearing the tavern owner¡¯s yell, a youth came rushing over.

    ¡°Sir, are you the one who needs a guide? I am willing to serve you,¡± he said to one of the men drinking at the table.

    ¡°Get the hell out of my way, you blind brat. The one that wants a guide is over there!¡± The drinker then impatiently shoved the youth in Frost¡¯s direction.

    Frost caught him. ¡°You can¡¯t see?¡±

    The youth¡¯s pupils were stark white.

    The youth smiled slightly. ¡°Sorry, sir! I didn¡¯t know that you were over here. Yes, I can¡¯t see, but that shouldn¡¯t be a problem, right? In any case, you don¡¯t need eyes when the fog is so thick that you can¡¯t see. I can bring you to wherever you want to go.¡±

    Frost gazed intently at his eyes. ¡°You weren¡¯t blind from birth. Someone dug your eyes out of their sockets. Who did it?¡±

    The youth¡¯s smile didn¡¯t falter as he replied, ¡°The Eye-Eating Snake. It¡¯s one of the creatures that live in the fog. It specifically only consumes eyes, but it doesn¡¯t kill anyone.¡±

    The tavern owner began to wipe down the table. ¡°He was able to make it back on his own even though his eyes were eaten. This kid has an innate sense of direction, and his personality is quite tough. If you want to help him out, then you should use him. He is very reliable.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that his sense of direction is good. Rather, his consciousness is extraordinarily powerful,¡± Frost replied.

    ¡°Hm?¡± All of the people in the tavern were stunned.

    ¡°A child innately talented in consciousness power is quite rare,¡± Frost said with a slight smile. Then, he added on, ¡°You¡¯re hired.¡±

    ¡°Wait just a moment. I want that kid,¡± suddenly demanded the drinker who had originally pushed the youth aside as he strode over.

    An affinity for consciousness power was a rare talent in Kun¡¯s territory. The drinker immediately realized that this youth was a treasure upon hearing Frost¡¯s exnation.

    He knew that such a rare kid would sell for quite a bit even if he was blind.

    Frost ignored him and said to the youth, ¡°If you don¡¯t need to prepare anything, then we can go now.¡±

    ¡°Wait just a moment. I¡¯ll be ready in a second!¡± the youth yelled before running towards the back of the tavern.

    ¡°Hey, I said that I want that kid!¡± The drinker angrily reached out to grab Hank.

    But before he could even touch Hank, Frost¡¯s fist mmed into his face, sending him flying.

    ¡°I¡¯ll kill you!¡± the brawny man roared as he leapt to his feet.

    Anyone who dared to try to loot Dusk Fog Mountain definitely had the skill and courage to back it up.

    This brawny man wasn¡¯t exactly weak, so he leapt at Frost as soon as he got back on his feet.

    But before he could even get close to Frost, a hand reached out, grabbed him by the neck, and hoisted him off his feet.

    This simple grab rendered himpletely incapable of exerting any more force.

    The brawny man kicked backwards with his foot, pulled out a whip, and then attacked whoever was holding him from behind.

    Instead of being released as he expected, however, he felt like he had just kicked a mountain. The powerful impact even broke a few bones in his foot.

    ¡°Ah, dammit! My foot!¡± the brawny man yelled.

    Unfortunately, whoever was holding him by the neck was still keeping him in the air, preventing him from even cradling his foot. All he could do was howl in pain.

    His tworades charged over, but before they could even attack, two loud bangs shook the room, and they were knocked out.

    The brawny man knew that he had run into a powerful individual and could only beg for mercy. ¡°Please forgive me. I know that I made a mistake.¡±

    Unfortunately, the person holding him from behind continued to ignore him. The brawny man couldn¡¯t even see who was hoisting him in the air, but he could tell from the tavern owner¡¯s fearful gaze that the person behind him was no ordinary individual.

    Soon, the blind youth reappeared with a bag on his back.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± he said.

    He and Frost left the tavern, heading straight for the foggy region.

    Only then did therge hand holding the brawny man let go. He was sent flying forward, as if he had been shot out of a cannon. By the time he mbered back to his feet, the person who had been holding him had disappeared.

    ¡°Dammit, who ambushed me like that? Hey, Jack, did you see anything?¡± the brawny man angrily asked the tavern owner.

    The tavern owner continued to calmly wipe down the table. ¡°I didn¡¯t see anything. If you want to live a good, healthy life, then what matters most is not strength but rather perception. I¡¯ll only tell you this once: don¡¯t provoke anyone you can¡¯t afford to provoke.¡±

    Once they stepped into the fog, it became impossible to even see their hands in front of them.

    Hank said, ¡°Dusk City is over there. If you can¡¯t see, then just follow me. But I can only take you to the city¡¯s outskirts, as the city¡¯s interior is too dangerous for me.¡±

    Dusk City was the city that had been left behind by the Arcanists, and it was also the ce that attracted the most prospectors.

    Since they didn¡¯t know what it had originally been called, they had just given it the same name as the Arcanists¡¯ kingdom.

    ¡°We¡¯re not going to Dusk City,¡± Frost replied.

    ¡°Oh? Then where are we going?¡±

    ¡°Cloudstone Cave.¡±

    ¡°That ce is extremely dangerous! The Cloudbeasts inhabit the surrounding region,¡± Hank replied straightforwardly.

    Cloudbeasts were a strange fog creature that had the ability toe and go without leaving a trace. In that sense, they were one of the most dangerous creatures one could encounter.

    ¡°Just take me there,¡± Frost said.

    ¡°Then you need to pay me more.¡±

    The youth felt a heavy weight hit his palm. Arge handful of gold ingots had been ced there.

    He hurriedly stowed them away. ¡°Alright, then. Follow me, but I can only take you close to it. You will have to walk the rest of the way yourself.¡±

    ¡°No problem. Just take the closest path.¡±

    ¡°There are creatures on the closest path.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go. If we encounter any danger, then run.¡±

    The two of them continued to advance forwards.

    As they walked, the youth warned, ¡°Be careful. There are many creatures here that might appear out of nowhere. You must be ready to fight at any point in time. I cannot fight, so all I can do is run.¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡±

    ¡°Careful. This is where the Coiling Snakes reside. They are not very terrifying, but they are annoying to deal with. But why can¡¯t I hear any snake hisses? It seems that they aren¡¯t around. Hey, you¡¯re pretty lucky.¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡±

    ¡°Ahead of us is a ferocious bear¡¯s territory. Can you handle it? If not, we can take an alternate path...... Wait a second, where¡¯s the bear? Why can¡¯t I hear it making any noise? Well, it might not be here right now.¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡±

    ¡°Ahead of us is where the Fogwolves gather. They are not strong on their own, but they move around inrge packs. As long as you kill a few of them, the rest will scatter in terror...... Hold on, why aren¡¯t they here either?¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡±

    ¡°Ahead of us is a Demonic Snake. It¡¯s pretty powerful, but I guess it¡¯s not here either.¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡±

    ¡°Ahead of us is the territory of an old turtle. It is the creature with the strongest defensive properties in this area. I mean, if it were still alive.¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡±

    ¡°Ahead of us is another creature, but it¡¯s not here right now.¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡±

    The two of them steadily advanced on the most direct path in this fashion.

    Shockingly enough, they didn¡¯t run into a single creature along this supposedly dangerous path, which meant that there were no battles.

    This greatly surprised Hank, who had nned on escaping at the first sign of danger.

    Had all of the creatures moved away or something?

    ¡°Ahead of us is Cloudstone Cave. The rest is up to you.¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡±

    Frost continued to reply nonchntly to everything he said.

    The youth turned around and left without another word.

    He took the same path back.

    ¡°Strange. Where did all those creatures go?¡± The youth was still suspicious, until his feet stumbled over something on the ground.

    He bent down to touch what was beneath him, only to feel a smooth, greasy hide of some kind. He immediately recognized what it was. ¡°The Demonic Snake?¡±

    It had died.

    Its corpse was still soft, which meant that it had died not long ago.

    Had it been killed by the person who he brought all the way over here?

    The youth immediately understood.

 Book 7, 78: Cloudstone Cave

    Within Cloudstone Cave.

    When Frost entered the cave, he discovered that the fog only grew thicker the further he went rather than thinning out.

    The sound of dripping water could be heard off in the distance, repeating in an eerie, rhythmic pattern.

    From time to time, a few Cloudbeasts would savagely rush towards Frost, attempting to attack him. However, they were all easily in by the Titan-ss puppet.

    With the protection of the Titan-ss puppet, Frost felt much morefortable as he confidently strode into the cave¡¯s depths.

    The further he went, the denser the fog became, and the more Cloudbeasts there were.

    These Cloudbeasts were actuallyposed entirely of fog, allowing them to withstand extremely powerful physical attacks. As such, the most effective attacks against them were Arcana Techniques.

    Even though the Titan-ss puppet wasn¡¯t very proficient in Arcana Techniques, it could still use Eighth-Ring Arcana Techniques, which was more than capable of handling these Cloudbeasts.

    The further in they went, the more powerful the Cloudbeasts became. Eventually, even the Titan-ss puppet was forced to slow down.

    Whoosh!

    A wall of mes rushed forth, causing the Cloudbeast in front of them to howl in pain and retreat.

    Frost frowned. This was the first time that the Titan-ss puppet had failed to kill a Cloudbeast in a single attack.

    ¡°Even though it¡¯s only using a Sixth-Ring Arcana Technique, we¡¯re only on the third level. This ce is quite hard to breach it seems,¡± Frost muttered to himself.

    The Cloudstone Cave descended quite deep below. Based on the information given to him by the Human Ancestor, there were a total of seven floors, and the resistance increased with each floor. Apparently, it was one of the most dangerous locations in all of Kun¡¯s territory. Even an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator would have a difficult time navigating through its treacherous corridors.

    ording to Frost¡¯s original n, this location was supposed to be one of thest ces that he would try to tackle.

    But the Titan-ss puppet that Su Chen had gifted him meant that his ns could be moved up ahead of schedule a little.

    With its support, Frost could theoretically sweep through the caves without much resistance and easily reach the third floor.

    Under normal circumstances, the Cloudbeasts shouldn¡¯t be any more powerful than a Demonic Lord.

    However, the Cloudbeasts on the sixth floor had already exceeded that limit and were close to being as strong as Demonic Kings. Clearly, something had changed.

    Frost knew that this was almost definitely because of the item that was stored on the seventh floor.

    ¡°What an extraordinary item. All of the Cloudbeasts in Cloudstone Cave have be much more powerful. It seems that there might even be some Demonic Emperor-level Cloudbeasts here,¡± Frost muttered to himself.

    Whoosh!

    A Cloudbeast shaped like a snake surged forwards, wrapping itself tightly around the Titan-ss puppet¡¯s body.

    These Cloudbeasts were now able to each assume a unique form and abilities, indicating that they had advanced beyond the Demonic Lord level. This giant snake, for example, had the ability to suffocate a target to death.

    Unfortunately, its constriction power paled inparison to the Titan-ss puppet¡¯s strong physique. The Titan-ss puppet easily ripped the snake to shreds. While these physically manifested Cloudbeasts were stronger, their tangibility also meant that the Titan-ss puppet¡¯s fists had a more solid target to strike.

    Another Cloudbeast, this one shaped like a giant turtle, charged forwards. It attempted to smash its hard shell into the Titan-ss puppet. Unfortunately, even a real Demonic King wouldn¡¯t dare to tackle a Titan-ss puppet like that. Its fate was decided the moment it tried to challenge the Titan-ss puppet in a head-on fight.

    Bang!

    The puppet¡¯s iron-like fist mercilessly mmed down onto the turtle shell. Yet another Cloudbeast had been killed.

    Boom!

    The Titan-ss puppet strode forwards, exuding an unstoppable aura that covered the entire tunnel.

    Even so, the Cloudbeasts showed no signs of retreating.

    ¡°They really have no fear of death. Is it because of that will fragment? Or is there some other reason?¡± Frost muttered to himself, ¡°I can¡¯t afford to waste any more time here. It¡¯s time to use that.¡±

    After he made the decision, the Titan-ss puppet suddenly pulled out an item from its body and threw it into the horde of Cloudbeasts.

    A powerful, violent explosion immediately reverberated through the cave.

    This was a special kind of explosive medicine that Su Chen had developed. After countless trials and tests designed to its effectiveness, it had been refined into a very powerful offensive tool. It was also one of the few items that Frost could create with his current skill level.

    As Frost threw outrge quantities of this explosive medicine, howls and shrieks of pain could be heard from the Cloudbeasts hiding in the fog ahead.

    ¡°Charge forwards and give them a little something to think about!¡± Frost loudlymanded.

    The Titan-ss puppet charged into the fray, its body glowing with power as a wave of energy surged forwards from its fists.

    ¡°Hiss!¡±

    In the blink of an eye, those strengthened Cloudbeasts werepletely wiped out.

    After repeating this sequence of actions a few times, arge wave of Cloudbeasts had been cleared out. Finally, they began to feel fear.

    Yes, these Cloudbeasts, who were now as powerful as Demonic Kings, had also gained a sliver of intelligence.

    And with intelligence came the fear of death.

    They hurriedly retreated, charging towards the entrance leading to the seventh floor.

    ¡°That¡¯s more like it,¡± Frost chuckled.

    He had only just spoken, however, when a blinding light filled his vision. By the time he regained his sight, Frost found that he was now standing amidst a vast starry sky.

    A giant individual stared down at him, his body glowing with a brilliant golden color. It was impossible for Frost to clearly make out the giant¡¯s face, but the aura that he exuded was boundless and majestic. Even a single nce at his body was enough to cause every nerve in Frost¡¯s body to tingle, and a strong desire to worship the giant surfaced in his heart.

    Even Frost couldn¡¯t help but be affected by this aura.

    ¡°Who dares intrude upon my territory! Kneel before me!¡± the deity shrouded in golden light thundered. The powerful pressure emanating from his body threatened to crush Frost into a pulp.

    At that precise moment, however, a figure appeared behind Frost.

    Su Chen.

    As the source of Frost¡¯s bloodline, Su Chen and Frost were truly one and the same, and they even coexisted to some degree. As such, whenever Frost was in danger, an image of Su Chen would automatically appear.

    The pressure bearing down on Frost diminished somewhat, allowing his mind to recover its rity.

    Frost chuckled coldly. ¡°You sneaky bastard. Are you really trying to imitate a real god?¡±

    ¡°How arrogant!¡± the golden light deity roared angrily. ¡°You dare to doubt my might?¡±

    ¡°Of course. Why wouldn¡¯t I?¡± Frost chuckled. ¡°I came here not to worship gods, but rather to deal with them.¡±

    As he spoke, he charged forwards, leaping into the seventh floor.

    There were no tunnels on the seventh floor. It was a vast, open underground space.

    Surprisingly, there were no Cloudbeasts in this space, and the only other thing in the room was an exceptionallyrge half-sheep, half-human figure in the very center.

    Behind this half-sheep half-human creature was a giant corpse.

    This corpse was nearly a thousand feet tall. Even though it was obvious that it had been dead for a long time, its body still glowed with a faint divine luster.

    This was actually the corpse of a god.

    Yes, this was precisely what was being kept on the seventh floor of Cloudstone Cave.

    A god¡¯s corpse!

    Countless gods had perished in the Twilight of the Gods.

    Some had died without leaving behind a corpse, but others had managed to leave behind an intact body.

    These divine corpses still contained quite a bit of power, and it was enough to transform and strengthen certain lifeforms that got too close to them. Those lifeforms would then be the corpse¡¯s guards after they were no longer affected by its divine aura.

    The half-sheep, half-human creature had grown powerful precisely by absorbing the divine power contained within the god¡¯s corpse. It was also the leader of all the Cloudbeasts within the cave.

    It had been the one that had constructed the earlier illusion, hoping to use it to scare Frost away.

    Frost had to admit that the creature¡¯s illusion was quite powerful and believable. The unrelenting pressure was very simr to the pressure that a true deity would exude.

    If it weren¡¯t for Su Chen¡¯s bloodline, then the creature may have actually seeded.

    ¡°Human...... you should not havee here,¡± the half-sheep, half-human creature intonated in a low voice.

    ¡°You can actually speak?¡± Frost was stunned by this development.

    Even though it was quite normal for Demonic Beasts to be able to talk, Frost was quite surprised by this creature¡¯s intelligence given the seeming brainlessness of the Cloudbeasts that he had faced earlier.

    Then, Frost began tough. ¡°Are you trying to scare me?¡±

    ¡°Leave now, and you might still have a chance at surviving!¡± the half-sheep, half-human creature roared.

    ¡°If you give me what is behind you, then I will leave immediately,¡± Frost said as he pointed behind the creature.

    ¡°You greedy thief! No one is allowed to covet my treasure. Die!¡± Upon hearing Frost¡¯s demand, the creature howled with anger before unleashing a wave of ck-green energy at Frost¡¯s direction.

    Naturally, Frost would not face this attack by himself. The Titan-ss puppet strode forwards, and a halo of light appeared around him. This signified the activation of an Arcana Technique formation, which enveloped Frost within it.

    ¡°Why? How can it possess so much power without being alive?¡± The half-sheep, half-human creature had never seen a puppet before and couldn¡¯t understand how such a creature could exist.

    Of course, the Titan-ss puppet offered no exnation as it instead unleashed a flurry of punches towards its opponent.

    It preferred to use its mighty physical attacks to overwhelm an opponent.

    Its terrifying destructive power collided with the wave of ck-green energy, causing thetter to contort strangely.

    That was the result of two different sources of powerful energy colliding, and the fluctuations felt powerful enough to destroy the entire cavern.

    Because of the corpse¡¯s divine power, this half-sheep, half-human creature had already be as strong as an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator. As such, the battle between it and the Titan-ss puppet was particrly fierce.

    Any attacks from Frost, who was a Foundation Establishment and Light Shaking Realm cultivator, would bepletely meaningless.

    But that didn¡¯t mean that there was absolutely nothing he could do.

    From behind the Titan-ss puppet, Frost quietly formed some hand seals.

    As expected......

    This cavern was filled with divine power.

    This divine power was slowly but surely flowing out from the corpse and into the air, and the increased ambient divine power further supplemented the creature¡¯s cultivation after it had achieved some semnce of deification.

    More importantly, however, that divine power could be absorbed and refined!

    Frost made no attempt to be courteous.

    Like a gluttonous child, he began to rapidly devour the divine power, converting it into immortal energy for his own use.

    The half-sheep, half-human creature¡¯s divine power was limited in strength as well. Due to that, Frost found it exceptionally easy to convert it into immortal energy.

    ¡°Let¡¯s keep on fighting for a little longer. I¡¯m not in a hurry,¡± Frost said with a faint smile.

    Even though Frost wasn¡¯t in a hurry, the half-sheep, half-human creature soon realized that something was wrong.

    Why was his power beginning to disappear?

    ¡°What have you done to me?¡± the creature cried out in anger.

    ¡°What I should have been doing anyways.¡±

    ¡°Bastard!¡± The half-sheep, half human creature unleashed an incredibly powerful attack, directly prating through the Titan-ss puppet¡¯s defensive barriers.

    Even so, all Frost did was raise a single finger. A faint white light dispersed from it before enveloping his entire body.

    The strength of a Foundation Establishment cultivator could notpare to the strength of an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator. Even so, Frost did not need to fear the creature¡¯s attacks as long as he was willing to expend arge enough quantity of immortal energy to nullify them.

    Given the amount of avable divine power in the air and the fact that the Titan-ss puppet was protecting Frost, it was extremely unlikely for the creature to burn through all of Frost¡¯s immortal energy reserves. The creature, on the other hand, had consumed almost all of its energy, and it soon found itself in dire straits.

    Previous Chapter

 Book 7, 79: Soul Fragmen

    The half-sheep, half-human creature let out a strange hiss.

    Rings of energy rippled forth from its body, but Frost remained unshaken.

    His reaction mystified the creature quite a bit. How was this seemingly weak and helpless brat able to withstand his powerful attacks?

    If this creature¡¯s divine power was quantified as ten thousand units, then Frost¡¯s immortal energy would be at a hundred units. Under normal circumstances, this vast disparity should have resulted in Frost¡¯s immediate ughter.

    However, since immortal energy was intrinsically of higher quality than divine power, Frost would not be defeated by the creature¡¯s divine power until he ran out of immortal energy.

    As the saying went, a steady stream of dripping water would eventually prate a stone. In the moment, however, those drops of water seemed to just be bouncing off of the rock.

    Thus, with the Titan-ss puppet blocking a majority of the momentum of the creature¡¯s attacks, it was impossible for the creature to overwhelm Frost¡¯s defenses. This meant that Frost was able to constantly absorb and convert the divine power rushing towards him into immortal energy, establishing a cycle of endless energy to power his defenses that the creature simply could not ovee.

    The creature, of course, did not understand all this. All it could tell was that Frost seemedpletely unaffected by its attacks. In fact, as they continued to fight, Frost seemed to grow stronger and stronger. This made the creature quite anxious.

    It howled, ¡°Do you really think that you can withstand the power of the gods? Kneel before me!¡±

    Following its roar, the powerful will from before surged forwards once again, filling the entire cave with golden light.

    Furthermore, a golden trident appeared in the creature¡¯s hand, which it pointed at Frost. Countless characters formed from golden light poured out of the tridents¡¯ prongs and then rushed in Frost¡¯s direction.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Frost was startled by the sudden appearance of a golden trident. ¡°It¡¯s a divine tool?¡±

    However, he was not afraid. At the same moment that the golden trident appeared, the Titan-ss puppet responded in kind.

    It reached behind its back and pulled out its own weapon.

    Its weapon was a in, unassuming de. However, when it shed with the trident, a powerful wave of energy exploded forth before rapidly dying out. The de seemed to be totally unaffected.

    ¡°Spatial weapon!?¡± the creature yelled in shock.

    Even though this weapon had no official name, it had been constructed out of rare spatial materials. One of its abilities had been demonstrated when it diverted the energy from the early collision into another realm, preventing the divine power from damaging the puppet or Frost.

    The creature had never expected to see such a powerful weapon wielded by a puppet.

    ¡°It seems like you¡¯ve forced my hand,¡± Frost said with a sigh.

    Because he only had one chance to send something to Frost, Su Chen had racked his brains for the best method to increase Frost¡¯s power by as much as possible. This sword, which had been constructed from Void Starmetal, was one of the tools that he had ultimately chosen to give to the puppet. This weapon had also served a dual purpose as it had allowed the Titan-ss puppet to bypass the Barrier without being noticed by the gods.

    Even though it was one of the most outstanding weapons in the Origin Realm, it still had not been named.

    But this nameless weapon had actually managed to block the divine trident¡¯s attack due to its powerful spatial attributes. The creature¡¯s stream of golden characters had been redirected into another direction, as if that attack had been all bark and no bite.

    ¡°Let some divine power through. I need to absorb more.¡± Frost, on the other hand, seemed slightly unhappy with the puppet¡¯s actions.

    He wanted to continue absorbing and converting the creature¡¯s divine power.

    The Titan-ss puppet uttered a metallic groan in response, and a portion of the divine power was allowed to float towards Frost.

    ¡°Bastard! Do you think that you¡¯ve already won?¡± The creature was infuriated by Frost¡¯s dismissive actions.

    They were treating his attacks as if they were nourishment.

    The golden image behind the creature seemed to solidify and grow more tangible as the pressure it exerted increased. Suddenly, the cave¡¯s walls were covered in faint purple characters that exuded a profound, mysterious aura.

    This sudden increase in pressure was so great that even Frost, with his Aspect of Su Chen, found it hard to withstand.

    For the first time since the battle started, shock appeared in his eyes. ¡°How can you use so much power if you¡¯ve only absorbed a portion of the god¡¯s divinity?¡±

    ¡°Are you afraid?¡± the creature chuckled darkly.

    ¡°Afraid? Not even close,¡± Frost shot back with a coldugh. Then, his eyebrow jumped as he said with realization, ¡°So that¡¯s what happened! I understand now. Not only did you absorb its divinity, but you also absorbed some of its will. Haha, so you are a god! That dead god imbued his will into a wretched creature like you, and then used you to absorb the divine power from its corpse so that he could be resurrected.¡±

    The creature was badly startled by Frost¡¯s words. ¡°No!¡±

    It was terrified, not because of Frost, but rather because it was afraid of the other gods finding out.

    ¡°Still trying to deny it?¡± A cold glint shed through Su Chen¡¯s eyes. ¡°I originally only nned on absorbing some divine power, but I never expected that I would encounter a god¡¯s consciousness here. This is a rare treasure indeed!¡±

    ¡°So if you know that I¡¯m a true god, then why aren¡¯t you kneeling!?¡± The creature knew that there was no longer any point in continuing to conceal the truth and unleashed its full power.

    The god¡¯s golden image behind the creature finally solidified. It was that of a tall, majestic, and brawny man. Its face was extremely simr to the half-sheep, half-human creature¡¯s face, which was standing before it.

    The purple characters on the wall began to glow even more vibrantly. Shockingly enough, the creature was using these characters to control Method Power.

    Would Frost and the Titan-ss puppet be able to withstand the might of a true god?

    The answer to that question was still up in the air.

    But as the creature¡¯s aura surged, Frost yelled, ¡°You might be able to do that...... but so can I!¡±

    As he cried out, the Aspect of Su Chen behind Frost suddenly opened his eyes.

    It had merely been an Aspect moments ago, but as soon as this Aspect opened its eyes, it was as if the real Su Chen had descended before them. Even more shockingly, another Aspect appeared behind the back of this Aspect of Su Chen.

    A picturesquendscape unfurled, through which giant beasts were roaming.

    Luo You, Windbite, Golden Bird, Cloudpeck, and the other three Deste Beasts were all present in this painting-likendscape.

    The Shining Dragon Aspect danced madly through the sky.

    But above the Shining Dragon was yet another Beast.

    This Beast was quite small, but it was the centerpiece of this primal, untamedndscape.

    It was a bat.

    The bat was perched on top of the Shining Dragon, staring coldly at its target.

    As the primalndscape unfolded, the bat opened its eyes.

    It was even able to speak. ¡°Are you going to use me this soon?¡±

    Even the half-sheep, half-human creature was stunned to see this bat.

    ¡°Bloodbat? You¡¯re still alive?¡±

    The Blood Ancestor¡¯s clone growled angrily when it saw the half-sheep, half-human creature. ¡°Uhtred, so it¡¯s you! How could I bear to die before burying you bastards beneath the ground?¡±

    Frost said, ¡°Blood Ancestor, please attack!¡±

    The Blood Ancestor swooped out of the paintedndscape and descended towards the creature.

    The creature roared in response and unleashed all of the Method Power at its disposal, but its attempts were futile. The Blood Ancestor seemed to exist in a different dimension and itpletely phased through the barrage of Method Power before mming into the creature¡¯s chest.

    Bang!

    The Blood Ancestor¡¯s clone shattered, covering the creature in blood from head to toe.

    This blood was incredibly corrosive, and even divine power could not stop it from eating away at the creature¡¯s flesh. As its body began to melt away, the creature howled and thrashed in agony.

    ¡°Don¡¯t corrode its consciousness. I want it for myself!¡±

    à²!

    Whoosh!

    A figure formed of fire-like substance was forcibly pulled out of the creature¡¯s body and ced in Frost¡¯s hand.

    As soon as he touched it, however, the ming figure darted into Frost¡¯s body.

    ¡°Trying to take over my body?¡± Frost harrumphed.

    The Aspect behind him had yet to disappear, and Su Chen¡¯s projection was also still present. Only the Bloodbat had disappeared. The projection of Su Chen shot the ming figure a fierce re, halting it in its tracks and causing it to writhe in pain.

    Actually, taking over another person¡¯s body was never easy. Even without Su Chen¡¯s protection protecting Frost, this soul fragment would have likely failed. However, merely stopping the soul fragment was not Su Chen¡¯s goal.

    The projection of Su Chen reached out from behind Frost, picked up the ming figure, and then tossed it into his mouth.

    After it did so, the previously ephemeral Aspect of Su Chen condensed and took on physical form.

    Back in the Origin Realm, Su Chen, who had been in the middle of a meeting with the Boundless Sect¡¯s higher ups, suddenly fell silent as his figure faded away. As he transformed, he seemed less and less human and more and more like a haze of light.

    This conversion process that was urring between the two realms had never happened before. Only Frost, who was born from Su Chen¡¯s bloodline, couldmunicate with Su Chen¡¯s main body this closely, and this transformation was only possible due to the soul fragment that he had just devoured.

    In that moment, the connection between their wills was strengthened even further, allowing Su Chen to break through the Barrier¡¯s restrictions and grant more of his own strength to Frost.

    The difference between a living bloodline source and a deceased one was too vast to be described. This was also why the Blood Ancestor¡¯s clone had been so powerful.

    But this strengthened connection was not the real benefit of obtaining this soul fragment.

    In the moment it was consumed, the soul fragment was divided between Su Chen and Frost.

    Su Chen said excitedly, ¡°I can sense that this fragment will be extremely helpful in my quest to find a higher cultivation realm. It might even help me break out of the rut that I¡¯ve been stuck in recently.¡±

    ¡°Help you find a higher cultivation realm?¡± Frost grew excited at this prospect as well.

    This was a big deal.

    The giant gap in strength between the humans and the gods was still a major issue.

    The immortal cultivation system was the only way that they would ever have a chance.

    However, the system was still in its infancy, and they had only developed three stages so far. Even though a Golden Pill cultivator was equivalent in strength to a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator, the system of immortal energy had not yet overtaken the limits of the current cultivation system.

    If Su Chen could break into a higher cultivation realm, then that would increase the human race¡¯s strength by a measurable amount. Thatbined with the pre-existing system would significantly bolster their confidence in the war against the gods.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then you should take the entire soul fragment,¡± Frost said.

    ¡°I wish that I could do so as well, but since I am absorbing it through the Aspect, I can only absorb fifty percent of it,¡± Su Chen said with amenting sigh.

    ¡°Let me help you!¡± Frost suddenly shoved his palm out forwards.

    The purple characters summoned by the creature were still floating around in the air.

    Method Power could only be obtained and mastered throughprehension, so Frost was not able to directly utilize it. However, he still understood its basic principles because of his rtionship to Su Chen.

    Thus, while Frost could not absorb the Method Power himself, he could still use it to increase the strength of the connection between his will and Su Chen¡¯s.

    At the same time, he loosened his consciousness, allowing Su Chen¡¯s main body to take in as much of the soul fragment as it could.

    Back in the Origin Realm, the Boundless Sect¡¯s officials watched on in shock as Su Chen¡¯s skin grew more and more transparent. A golden light began to emanate from within his body, and a faint purple trail of smoke seemed to curl around him.

    ¡°What...... What¡¯s going on?¡± Everyone present was stunned.

    A momentter, Su Chen¡¯s figure re-solidified as he let out a cackle of excitement. ¡°Hahahaha, I¡¯ve finally seeded!¡±

    Seeded in what?

    Boom!

    A powerful will surged forth, enveloping the pce and its immediate surroundings.

    Previous Chapter

 Book 7, 80: Lord of Storms

    Su Chen floated in the air, his expression calm and rxed. However, his will was rapidly spreading and expanding through the general region.

    His will seemed vast and boundless, and it spread like the ocean waves. Its imposing nature stirred up an instinctual reaction to bow and worship in everyone nearby.

    In the face of such an overwhelmingly powerful will, everyone immediately felt as if they couldn¡¯t even resist it.

    They hadn¡¯t even felt like this in front of a Deste Beast, but now, it was emanating from a human.

    How could everyone not be stunned by this scene?

    The onlookers below gazed up at Su Chen before they all fell to one knee, incapable of resisting the urge to worship any longer.

    ¡°Husband!¡± Gu Qingluo shouted as she gazed at Su Chen in shock.

    A momentter, the mighty will retracted back into Su Chen as it all disappeared. As the pressure on those nearby lifted, they let out a collective sigh of relief.

    Su Chen nced down at everyone below and said with a slight smile, ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to scare you all.¡±

    Zhu Xianyao flew over. ¡°Husband, something about you seems different.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°How astute of you. Yes, I have ascended.¡±

    A...... Ascended?

    Aren¡¯t you an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator? How could you ascend further?

    Soon, however, everyone understood.

    Gu Qingluo leapt into his arms. ¡°You¡¯ve broken past the Golden Pill realm?¡±

    Su Chen nodded faintly.

    He had indeed done so, pioneering a brand-new cultivation realm in the process.

    Even though he had relied on the soul fragment to aplish this, this result was also partially due to how stable his own foundation was.

    Su Chen had been constantly searching for a way to ascend beyond the Golden Pill stage and reach new heights in his immortal cultivation path.

    He had already mapped out a hypothetical route forward based off of his experiences with cultivating Origin Energy, but he had alwayscked the right conditions to properly ascend.

    And that soul fragment had fulfilled the final missing requirement.

    In that moment, Su Chen had used the soul fragment in an inconceivable way. Currently, it was floating in Su Chen¡¯s sea of knowledge, where it had been shaped into a golden idol.

    This golden idol was the physical manifestation of Su Chen¡¯s consciousness. After he absorbed the divine soul fragment, he had gained a measure of divinity.

    Just like how divine power could be converted into immortal energy, the soul fragment had, in some sense, been converted into Su Chen¡¯s new consciousness.

    Even though this idol was still in an infant stage, it already possessed an incredible amount of power.

    This was the main reason why his will had be so imposing. Even Li Wuyi, an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator, couldn¡¯t withstand the pressure of Su Chen¡¯s will. While he and the others were extremely loyal to Su Chen, they still had their own pride as emperors. As such, they would only bow to him when greeting him rather than kneeling. This time, however, they had broken that unspoken rule.

    Upon hearing that Su Chen had reached a new realm, Gu Qingluo curiously asked, ¡°What are you nning on calling this realm?¡±

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Su Chen replied, ¡°Since I birthed a new soul bybining my immortal energy with the divine soul fragment, I will call it the Nascent Soul realm.¡±

    ¡°Nascent Soul......¡± Gu Qingluo murmured, turning the name over a few times before finally nodding. ¡°That is a good name. Even if the soul is just an infant today, it will mature in the future. I can only imagine where Husband¡¯s future will conclude.¡±

    Su Chenughed. ¡°That¡¯s precisely right. But I expect that raising this Nascent Soul will be the main focus of this cultivation realm. Ascending higher will likely be even more difficult than before.¡±

    ¡°Husband, are you already thinking about the next cultivation realm?¡± Zhu Xianyao asked, slightly shocked.

    Su Chen replied with an air of vicissitude, ¡°The path of cultivation changes constantly, but some things always remain the same. All roads lead home, as they say.¡±

    Of course, he was implying that he was indeed already making ns for ascending into the next realm.

    He was in no hurry at this moment.

    But since he had truly broken through, then it was only natural that his strength would increase by another level yet again. The others really wanted to witness just how strong he had be.

    However, he had already been pretty much invincible on this side of the Origin Realm even before ascending. The only difference now was that he would now steamroll his opponents even harder. No one dared to ask Su Chen to show off his new power a little. After all, he was already the figurehead of the human race. How could they ask him to perform for them?

    Su Chen, meanwhile, muttered, ¡°I¡¯ve ascended...... Well, it just so happens that now is probably a good time for me to take care of some of the tasks that I¡¯ve been putting off. All of you, please wait here for me. I¡¯ll return in a moment after iming a head for myself.¡±

    After saying this, he instantly disappeared.

    Everyone was bemused by what he had said.

    Was there anyone that the current Su Chen couldn¡¯t kill even if he wanted to?

    Why had he waited all the way until now to make a move?

    At Gun Castle.

    Arge group of Ravager women were dancing and singing, performing in front of the throne. Danba sat on the throne, but he seemed to be deep in thought about something else entirely as he showed no reaction to the sensual show being put on before him.

    Gurr strode towards Danba, pushing his way through the women and knocking them to the ground. He then knelt in front of Danba. ¡°Mighty leader, I, Gurr, have returned.¡±

    Danba didn¡¯t even look at him. ¡°Speak.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve sessfully spread the rumor that Su Chen is nning on restoring the Gu n to their former glory. Unfortunately, it will take some time for this rumor to fully propagate and stir up waves amongst the Seven Kingdoms. Furthermore, the Boundless Sect has begun intensifying their hunt for worshippers, and they are even beginning to influence our territory.¡±

    When Gurr¡¯s report reached this point, he raised his head and said, ¡°Your Majesty, the humans are growing more and more arrogant with each passing day. They don¡¯t believe in the gods, and they refuse to let us believe in them as well. But if we don¡¯t worship the gods and receive power from them, then how will we fight back against the humans?¡±

    Danba was not surprised by his subordinate¡¯s questions. ¡°It¡¯s true that the humans are growing stronger. If they didn¡¯t act arrogantly, then they would be misusing their newfound power.¡±

    Gurr hesitantly said, ¡°But Your Majesty, I don¡¯t understand. Why......¡±

    ¡°You want to know why I cooperated with them if I knew that this day would eventuallye, right?¡±

    Gurr lowered his head. ¡°I don¡¯t dare doubt your actions.¡±

    Danba indifferently replied, ¡°You can doubt me if you want. How could an ant possibly understand how an eagle thinks?¡±

    Gurr¡¯s face turned red. ¡°But, Your Majesty...... the humans now pose a significant threat to us. I¡¯m afraid that spreading a few rumors won¡¯t resolve the issues we are facing.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. With the gods present, they can¡¯t kill us,¡± Danba replied dismissively.

    ¡°But the humans are saying that the gods will enve us when they return......¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Danba interrupted as he meaningfully gazed at Gurr with an intense look in his eyes.

    This was the first time that he had ever revealed such an expression of anger in front of Gurr, causing Gurr to tremble involuntarily.

    For just a moment, he saw a vicious streak sh through Danba¡¯s eyes.

    Danba, however, quickly retracted his gaze and calmly said, ¡°You fool...... even if it were true, is there a difference between being enved by the humans and being enved by the gods? But if we worship the gods, then we can at least obtain their protection. What can those humans possibly give us?¡±

    Gurr helplessly lowered his head. ¡°You¡¯re right, Your Majesty. But......¡±

    ¡°But what?¡±

    Gurr hesitated a moment, then steeled his resolve and forged onwards. ¡°We Ravagers value our freedom above all else, and we refuse to be made subordinate to anyone else. Your Majesty, I still prefer our ruler to be one of our kind. The gods are existences far above us, and all they care about is securing their faith. There is no real incentive for them to care about our affairs.¡±

    ¡°Is that so,¡± Danba sighed. ¡°That does make sense.¡±

    Gurr was delighted to hear this. ¡°Does that mean that you¡¯re willing to listen to my advice, Your Majesty?¡±

    Danba calmly replied, ¡°You make so much sense that I simply can¡¯t keep you around anymore.¡±

    What?

    Gurr was stunned by Danba¡¯s words.

    Then, an indescribable pressure burst forth from Danba. Gurr stared at him in shock, unable to believe what was taking ce before his very eyes.

    Danba¡¯s figure slowly expanded to fill his entire vision.

    ¡°Agh...... gh......¡± Gurr clutched at his chest as he fought to breathe.

    He wanted to say something, but he toppled to the ground before he could choke the words out.

    His eyes were still wide with disbelief.

    He never would have imagined that his own ruler would actually attack him......

    ¡°What a pity......¡± Danba nced coldly down at Gurr¡¯s corpse.

    His feelings were anything but sincere.

    Then, he dismissively waved his hand. ¡°Take him away.¡±

    But there was no response.

    Hm?

    Danba squinted his eyes ever so slightly.

    He spun around, scanning his surroundings.

    The dancing women had disappeared at some point, and his surroundings were now deathly still.

    Danba confidently called out, ¡°Your spatial istion techniques are quite impressive, Brother Su. Since you¡¯re here, why note out and say hello?¡±

    Su Chen seemingly stepped out of thin air.

    Pity briefly flickered through Su Chen¡¯s eyes as he nced at the corpse on the ground. ¡°He served as your trusted general for so many years. Killing him must have been a shame.¡±

    Danba calmly replied, ¡°Gurr ignored mymands and infiltrated human territory in an attempt to stir up chaos and incite war between our two races. He deserved nothing better.¡±

    ¡°He was probably just thinking of the Ravagers¡¯ best interests,¡± Su Chen said with a regretful sigh.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Danba seemed to be amused by Su Chen¡¯s words. ¡°His death should have smoothed our rtionship, but instead, you¡¯re feeling sympathetic for him?¡±

    Su Chen nodded. ¡°At least he was a Ravager, a native of the Origin Realm. As for you...... I don¡¯t even know what you are anymore.¡±

    Danba remained expressionless. ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°You know exactly what I¡¯m talking about, but I just don¡¯t know what you¡¯re after...... In fact, I don¡¯t even know who you are. Right now, what I want to know is, when did you be Danba?¡±

    Upon hearing this, Danba¡¯s expression darkened.

    He gazed at Su Chen for some time before suddenly bursting intoughter. ¡°So you eventually discovered the truth, did you? Well, that¡¯s not exactly surprising. My recent actions really have not been befitting of my status as the Ravagers¡¯ leader. But it sounds like you think my will descended some time ago to take over this shell. You¡¯re wrong!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re wrong!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re wrong!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re wrong!¡±

    As these words echoed throughout the pce, Danba¡¯s face contorted as he began to unleash a shockingly powerful aura.

    Danba¡¯s body began to grow in size as his aura surged. By now, the light radiating from his body was so intense that it was impossible to directly look at him anymore. The majesty of a god filled the sky.

    Danba¡¯s voice thundered, ¡°There was no takeover. From the very beginning, I have been Danba, and Danba has been me! I am the Lord of Storms, Akru¡¯Danba!¡±

    Su Chen let out a long sigh.

    So it was as he had suspected. Divine will had descended upon Danba when he was born, creating a Ravager genius.

    Compared to the Human Ancestor, however, this Lord of Storms seemed to be much more restricted in his actions. For instance, Danba had not fully awakened his memories as a god from the very beginning. He had just been a smart Ravager with no knowledge of how to inherit the immense power of the gods.

    This wasn¡¯t because the Lord of Storms wasn¡¯t powerful enough, but rather because the cracks in the Barrier had been too small back then. Furthermore, he did not have the help of the Human Ancestor.

    Even so, this Lord of Storms had managed to sessfully infiltrate the Origin Realm with a projection of his will.

    And because he was the projection of a god, he naturally did not care about the fate of the Ravagers.

    All he had ever considered was how the gods would fare.

    The only thing left that Su Chen didn¡¯t understand was......

    He asked, ¡°If you are the incarnation of the Lord of Storms, then why didn¡¯t you kill me before? Why would you get so close to me? And what have you been doing over these past few years?¡±

    ¡°Kill you?¡± The Lord of Storms chuckled disdainfully before saying, ¡°You overestimate your abilities, Su Chen. While I admit that you are quite capable, did you really think that you could prevent the gods from returning all on your own? No, your struggle is futile. My goal was never you from the very beginning!¡±

    ¡°Not me?¡± Su Chen was taken aback.

    Suddenly, he felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

    He cried out, ¡°So you¡¯re searching for him!¡±

 Book 7, 81: Speaking

    Only a god could grab the attention of another god!

    The Lord of Storms chuckled coldly when he heard Su Chen¡¯s words of shock. ¡°So you finally understand. That slippery bastard is a traitor, a spy! The gods sent me here to capture him red-handed!¡±

    Su Chen nodded in understanding. ¡°So you¡¯ve known about his existence for a long time now.¡±

    ¡°Of course! If it weren¡¯t for him, then we wouldn¡¯t have even been exiled in the first ce! We would never have been trapped on that tiny patch ofnd that¡¯s called Kun¡¯s territory. We would have destroyed that Barrier and returned in glory a long time ago! And due to his continuous efforts in scattering seeds throughout the Origin Realm, our return has been dyed time and time again! Everything is that bastard¡¯s fault!!!¡±

    Danba¡¯s expression contorted fiercely as he ranted about the Human Ancestor¡¯s supposed crimes.

    It was rare for a god to lose theirposure to such an extent. His hate for the Human Ancestor was patently obvious.

    ¡°I¡¯m relieved to hear you say that,¡± Su Chen said with a sigh.

    The fact that the other party detested the Human Ancestor to this extent meant that they hadn¡¯t discovered the Human Ancestor¡¯s whereabouts just yet. The Human Ancestor was quite talented to have pulled all this off under the gods¡¯ eyelids.

    ¡°Soon!¡± the Lord of Storms said sinisterly, ¡°I have seen how that slippery beggar sows his seeds, and I have grasped the rules and timing behind his appearances. With the God of Time¡¯s scepter in my hand, I¡¯ll definitely hunt that bastard down.¡±

    ¡°The God of Time? Scepter?¡± Su Chen was taken aback by what the Lord of Storms mentioned.

    ¡°Yes. Don¡¯t you have one yourself?¡± the Lord of Storms replied dryly.

    ¡°The Origin Bone Scepter?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯d be more urate to call it the Shining Dragon Scepter. The Shining Dragon was originally a mere pet of the God of Time, a lifeform that the God of Time created with a part of himself. A god was the one who brought it to life, and yet it still dared to rebel! Inconceivable!¡± the Lord of Storms roared furiously.

    Upon hearing this, Su Chen instantly understood.

    That God of Time had probably died long ago, but before his death, he had left behind a scepter even more impressive than the Origin Bone Scepter. And the gods had then used it to find the Human Ancestor. Of course, it was likely that they had to pay a deep price for this answer.

    After his thoughts reached this point, Su Chen nodded. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then I cannot allow you to persist.¡±

    ¡°Allow me?¡± The Lord of Storms chuckled coldly before dering, ¡°Even if I am just a clone, I am not that easy to kill.¡±

    As he spoke, he spread his arms, causing violent storms to spring to life around him.

    As the Lord of Storms, his control over wind was exceptional, and the storms that he could generate were extraordinarily powerful.

    ording to legend, the Lord of Storms resided in a storm that was capable of destroying entire realms.

    Even though this clone was nothing more than just that, a clone, the depth of its Method Power control made it equivalent in strength to any Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator.

    The Lord of Storms believed that even if he could not defeat Su Chen, he would at least be able to teach Su Chen a lesson. If the other party attempted to use spatial lockdown techniques to fight against him, then that would be the ideal opportunity for him to demonstrate his full might.

    The winds began to scream as a ferocious storm came into existence. At the same time, Su Chen leapt forwards, charging at the Lord of Storms.

    It seemed as if the violent winds could do nothing to impede Su Chen¡¯s advance.

    Su Chen confidently strode forwards. No matter how fiercely the storm raged, hisposure remained unruffled. And when he was within touching distance of the Lord of Storms, he gestured calmly with his hand.

    A thin line of blood began to bead up on Danba¡¯s forehead.

    ¡°This...... How is this possible?¡± the Lord of Storms muttered to himself in disbelief.

    How had Su Chen managed to kill him so easily?

    His mastery of wind Method Power was exceptionally high, and he even possessed some degree of divine power. How could such a calm, unassuming attack pierce his defenses?

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t even withstand a single blow,¡± Su Chen murmured to himself disappointedly.

    As he spoke, the Lord of Storms copsed into a pile of precisely diced flesh.

    A faint glow of divine light remained in the air, which was rapidly seized and absorbed by Su Chen. Then, he spun around and simply left.

    As he did so, the spatial prison surrounding the imperial pce was released.

    The Ravagers in the imperial pce were greeted by a grisly scene.

    They saw their general lying in a pool of his own blood and their emperor disintegrating into ashes.

    Wails of despair began to fill the pce.

    Within Cloudstone Cave.

    Frost let out a sigh of contentedness as his connection with Su Chen ended. He felt totally refreshed and revitalized.

    Even though Su Chen had benefited the most, the small portion of divine power that he had absorbed had still profited Frost quite a bit. His Foundation Establishment cultivation base, which had only just been formed, advanced once more.

    And since he was just a Golden Pill projection, there was no need for him to worry about developing an unstable foundation.

    After absorbing the half-human, half-sheep creature¡¯s divine power, it was now time to move onto the god¡¯s corpse.

    This corpse didn¡¯t have much divine power left in it, as most of it had already been absorbed by the half-human, half-sheep creature. Even so, the corpse was incredibly valuable in and of itself.

    It could also be used to refine powerful weapons.

    Frost evaluated the situation for a brief moment before ultimately deciding to refine the corpse into a powerful tool. After all, the amount of divine power left in the corpse would only strengthen him by a small amount. On the other hand, using it to strengthen the spatial de would truly push it into the realms of a divine tool.

    Even though the spatial de was already quite powerful, there were some restrictions to its usage. But after upgrading it with the god¡¯s corpse, those restrictions would be significantly looser.

    Frost unleashed a spurt of mes in the corpse¡¯s direction.

    Previously, Frost had been too weak to utilize Method Power even though he hadprehended some of it. But after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, his strength had surged quite significantly, and by utilizing immortal energy to direct the Method Power, he was now able to produce some fire Method Power mes.

    The mes enveloped the corpse, causing it to burn steadily.

    However, the mes were not consuming the corpse and turning it into ash. Instead, the corpse began to shrink and slowly start shining with a golden luster.

    Frost continued to infuse the corpse with his fire Method Power mes, until the corpse had shrunk to roughly the same size as him. By this point, the golden light had be quite radiant. The Titan-ss puppet beside him strode forwards and pierced its de into the corpse.

    The corpse had be extremely tough from this tempering process, and even the spatial de had a hard time prating through it. The Titan-ss puppet, however, refused to use spatial power, and it stubbornly cut into the corpse through pure brute force. As it exerted force through the de, the de slowly sank into the corpse,

    Strangely enough, as the de sank into the corpse, the corpse began to slowly disappear.

    The de in the Titan-ss puppet¡¯s hand seemed to stay motionless, but the corpse continued shrinking as the mes around it burned as fiercely as ever.

    Finally, the corpsepletely disappeared without a trace. The Titan-ss puppet¡¯s de hummed loudly.

    This humming sound seemed to contain traces of joy.

    ¡°Divine weapons have consciousnesses!¡± Frost muttered to himself.

    He attempted to pick up the weapon, but its surface immediately dimmed when he touched it.

    Frost knew that his strength was not high enough to wield the weapon yet. As such, the divine tool had to lower its power so that he could use it.

    However, using the weapon like this was a waste of its potential as a divine tool. As such, Frost quickly returned the weapon to the Titan-ss puppet. ¡°You should guard this tool for now. Someday, I will be able to unleash the de¡¯s full potential.¡±

    The puppet lowered its head respectfully. ¡°Master, you should get stronger quickly. Even though Number 1 can utilize the power of this sword for now, it will never grow in strength like this. Divine Tools will mature over time. That¡¯s how they be truly powerful!¡±

    This God-Sealing puppet had a certain degree of intelligence. It had just pretended to be a mere wooden puppet.

    This was the first time, however, that Frost had ever heard it talk.

    Frost gazed at the Titan-ss puppet in surprise. ¡°You can actually speak?¡±

    Su Chen was actually capable of bestowing the ability of speech upon these puppets, but he hadn¡¯t done so because he had a subconscious aversion against the idea of artificially intelligent puppets. After all, they had already gained a certain measure of intelligence. If they could speak, then they would be creatures and cease to be tools.

    It was smarter to not turn the puppets into living creatures if he could help it.

    Of course, some surprises were unavoidable.

    This particr puppet was no exception.

    Frost continued gazing at it in disbelief. ¡°When did you learn to speak?¡±

    The Titan-ss puppet pointed at the half-human, half-sheep creature¡¯s body. ¡°Just then.¡±

    Frost seemed slightly taken aback before he finally realized what had happened. ¡°The divine soul...... so when I split it with the main body, you got a piece as well.¡±

    The Titan-ss puppet smiled slightly.

    Frost was rendered speechless for some time.

    Then, he suddenly thought of something. ¡°You called yourself Number 1, right? But you aren¡¯t the first puppet that we obtained.¡±

    The first Titan-ss puppet that Su Chen owned hade from the Harpies. Actually, its strength was far weaker than the Titan-ss puppets that Su Chen had created through his God-Sealing Method Power.

    This was why Frost was immediately able to identify this discrepancy.

    Number 1 replied, ¡°I named myself not based on the order in which I appeared but rather on the order in which I spoke.¡±

    Interesting.

    Frost chuckled. ¡°Then why would you name yourself in such a fashion?¡±

    ¡°Because that way, I would be number one,¡± Number 1 replied brazenly.

    What a bold and confident answer.

    ¡°But isn¡¯t that a little unfair?¡± Frost asked with some curiosity.

    ¡°Who cares? The other ones can¡¯t speak anyways,¡± Number 1 replied dismissively.

    What a strong stance.

    In this day and age, whoever could speak had the right to make the rules and decide what was right and what was wrong.

    Number 1 clearly understood this principle, which was why it had unabashedly dered itself number one.

    Even though the other Titan-ss puppets also possessed a modicum of intelligence, it was rare to find one as shameless as Number 1.

    Perhaps the smarter they became, the more shameless they would be as well.

    Quite like the main body, Frost mused to himself.

    ¡°What should we do next, master?¡± Number 1 asked.

    ¡°What do you think?¡± Frost countered. This was his way of testing Number 1¡¯s critical thinking abilities.

    ¡°I would propose a three-pronged approach. First, we should continue to search for treasures and raise your strength. Second, we should continue stirring up chaos. Even though you have already issued suchmands to Isabe and the others, it is obviously not enough. I think that you will need to continueing up with even more disruptive ns. Third, that divine tool must grow, so we will need to find resources to meet its needs as quickly as possible.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not so easy to aplish all of these things at once,¡± Frost said calmly.

    ¡°There is a target that will simultaneously meet all three of these requirements,¡± Number 1 replied evenly.

    Previous Chapter

 Book 7, 82: Qiang Tribe

    Past Ancientlock was the Thousand Bones in.

    The Thousand Bones in, as its name implied, was a deste and barren wastnd. Bleached skeletons dotted thendscape as far as the eye could see.

    There were very few resources here, so thepetition for whatever resources there were was particrly fierce. Strange creatures constantly fought over meager amounts of food.

    And the rulers of this wastnd were the Barbarians.

    Various Barbarian tribes were scattered throughout the Thousand Bones in, forming awork that was both scattered and unified at the same time.

    Ancient Jiha was a leader of one of these Barbarian tribes.

    His Qiang Tribe had once unified the entire Thousand Bones in, but as time passed, his tribe had steadily weakened. Currently, they had been entirely forced out of the Twelve-Tribe Alliance and were just a mid-sized tribe.

    Today was the Qiang Tribe¡¯s Heaven-Celebrating Festival.

    The tribe¡¯s youths all charged out of the tribe¡¯s encampment, wielding bows and swords as they thundered across the ins on the backs of their beloved warbeasts.

    A few strange creatures had been driven out of their normal hiding ces and were currently being furiously pursued by countless Barbarian youths. At the same time, countless Qiang Tribe women were singing and dancing.

    The singing and dancing of the woman spurred on the young warriors, strengthening their desire to put on a good performance and show off as much of their skills as they could.

    This was the Qiang Tribe¡¯s tradition. Their celebration and courtship rituals all revolved around their love for life. The warriors who put on the best performances would naturally be the tribe¡¯s heroes.

    Today, however, something seemed a bit off.

    A Wastnd Rhinoceros charged through the wastnd madly.

    This rhinoceros was around ten feet tall, and its skin was thick and scaly, which allowed it to withstand powerful attacks. But its most terrifying aspect was the horn on its head, which could shoot out bolts of lightning. It was probably the strongest beast out of all the local indigenous species.

    The Barbarians chasing after it were the Qiang Tribe¡¯s most outstanding youths.

    Around twenty of them furiously pursued the rhinoceros on flying serpents. The youth at the very front was wearing a red hat and wielding a short spear. Arge hunting banner was strapped to his back.

    ¡°This one¡¯s mine!¡± the youth yelled.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know about that, Soar. We won¡¯t lose to you just yet,¡± another youth called out as he spurred his mount up to the side of Soar¡¯s mount.

    ¡°That¡¯s right! For the beautiful Elli!¡±

    ¡°For the Qiang Tribe!¡±

    ¡°For glory!¡±

    The youths began to howl frenziedly as they unleashed a barrage of attacks against the rhinoceros.

    Blood spurted out from the rhinoceros¡¯s body as it howled in pain.

    Perhaps it had instinctively recognized that letting the situation continue on in this fashion would only lead to its own demise, because the creature suddenly went berserk.

    It spun around and madly dashed at the Barbarian youths. The horn on its head began to glow brightly as crackles of lightning danced across its surface. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning shot forth, crashing into one of the Barbarian youths.

    This youth was sent flying from his mount. The other Barbarians, however, did not seem intimidated in the slightest. Instead, they began to howl with excitement.

    The true glory of the hunt could only be obtained through a bloody battle. If none of their own blood was spilt, then their victory would be cheapened.

    As such, every year¡¯s hunt targeted creatures that could fight back, and some of the youths would always be wounded or even killed in the process.

    Only real heroes could obtain true glory.

    The youth named Soar quickly closed in on the rhinoceros before jabbing out with his short spear as he flew past the rhinoceros.

    His powerful and precise attack left a deep gash in the rhinoceros¡¯s body. The rhinoceros howled and thrashed in pain as it sent out another bolt of lightning.

    Therge banner on the youth¡¯s back, however,pletely absorbed the lightning strike and easily dissipated its force. At the same time, however, Soar had already turned around and was standing in front of the rhinoceros, with his banner¡¯s tip pointed straight at the rhinoceros like ance.

    This banner was his real weapon, as well as the source of his pride.

    Just as he lined his banner up with the rhinoceros, however, the warbeast he was riding on suddenly copsed. Soar was abruptly thrown off of the beast¡¯s back and onto the ground.

    The rhinoceros charged over at this moment, lowering its horn to gore Soar.

    ¡°Soar!¡± all of the Barbarians cried out anxiously.

    While others could be sacrificed in the name of glory, Soar could not.

    Just as the rhinoceros was about to reach him, however, a hand suddenly appeared in front of Soar¡¯s face.

    It actually grabbed the charging rhinoceros by the horn.

    The rhinoceros felt as if it had suddenly mmed into an immovable mountain. Instead of charging through, its momentum was forcefully shifted up and over the hand.

    Just as it was about to crash into Soar, the hand casually flipped over.

    A shocking scene appeared.

    The rhinoceros was left frozen in midair.

    This brawny, powerful rhinoceros waspletely paralyzed by the hand holding it by the horn. In fact, the owner of the hand was even swinging it through the air like it was a sword.

    Its attack hadn¡¯t been dissipated ¡ª it had been forcefully stopped.

    This powerful braking force sent violent waves of recoil rippling through the rhinoceros¡¯s body.

    It hadn¡¯t died yet, but it was still being held in the air.

    At that moment, everyone realized that the owner of the hand was a youth who seemed to be a few years younger than them. Behind that youth stood a giant metal puppet.

    ¡°Who are you? Why are you trespassing on the Qiang Tribe¡¯s territory?¡± Soar yelled.

    ¡°That¡¯s not how you should address the person who just saved your life,¡± Frost replied calmly.

    Soar froze for a moment before his expression grew ugly. ¡°The Qiang Tribe refuses to be indebted to anyone!¡±

    As he spoke, he unsheathed his de and shed at his own neck.

    Frost was badly startled by Soar¡¯s suddenly suicide attempt. He hurriedly reached out and grabbed the hand wielding the de. From the power behind the strike, he could tell that Soar was really intending to cut his own neck.

    Damn!

    These Barbarians were truly barbaric. Their bloodthirst far exceeded their brain capacity, which was why they treated their own lives so casually.

    The lives of others didn¡¯t matter, but neither did their own.

    Frost shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s no need.¡±

    The others all charged over, pointing their weapons at Frost.

    Frost raised his hands. ¡°I surrender.¡±

    The rhinoceros was still in his hand. It could do nothing besides growl weakly, and its massive figure was extremely prominent among the vast wastnd.

    Back at the Qiang Tribe¡¯s encampment.

    Within the tribe leader¡¯s tent.

    Ancient Gong gazed at Frost with a bemused expression, ncing back and forth between him and the giant puppet behind him. Frost steadily gazed back at Ancient Gong.

    The tribe leader exuded the ssic raw and bloodthirsty aura that all Barbarians exuded. The youth named Soar was most likely his son, and Soar was actually sitting cross-legged behind him.

    To his left and right sat two people.

    One of them was a man who was bald and only had a single eye. His face was covered in scars. Obviously, he was one of the tribe¡¯s best warriors.

    The other was an old man, who held a bone relic in his hand. His face was covered in wrinkles, and he was most likely a high priest of some kind.

    The tribe leader, high priest, and strongest warrior were the three individuals in the tribe with the most influence.

    Frost was quite happy that he had gotten the chance to meet all of them at once.

    It was best to get straight to the point when dealing with the Barbarians, so Frost immediately said, ¡°I came here to look for you.¡±

    ¡°What does a noble like you want with us?¡± Ancestor Gong harrumphed disdainfully.

    The northern regions were a deste wastnd, while the southern regions were fertile. As such, the Barbarians viewed those from the south as nobles.

    It was only natural that the primal and bloodthirsty Barbarians would have no respect for those whom they considered nobles. Throughout history, the Barbarians had always been the aggressors.

    Even though their efforts typically ended in failure, it was only natural that they would develop a sense of superiority over those soft nobles. The so-called ¡°nobles,¡± on the other hand, rarely invaded the north because it just wasn¡¯t worth it. Of course, the Barbarians conveniently ignored that fact.

    ¡°I would like to offer you an opportunity for riches and honor,¡± Frost replied steadily.

    ¡°Riches and honor?¡± Ancient Gong was taken aback by Frost¡¯s proposal before he began to guffaw. ¡°He said that he¡¯s going to give me riches and honor?! Haha, riches and honor!¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t believe me, then I can give you death instead,¡± Frost said without a change in tone.

    ¡°What?¡± Ancient Gong was startled.

    The Titan-ss puppet behind Frost took a single step forward.

    With this step, the space within the tent suddenly seemed to freeze, and Ancient Gong found himself unable to move a single finger.

    His face drained of color as he roared, ¡°Men, to me!¡±

    Frost calmly shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s no use. This entire space has been locked down. Your voice will not reach those outside, and even if it does, they will not be able toe in.¡±

    ¡°Spatial imprisonment!?¡± Ancient Gong was stunned.

    No matter how cut off from society the Barbarians were, he was at least able to recognize basic spatial techniques.

    That was a power on the level of the gods!

    ¡°RAH!¡± The warrior with a single eye charged towards Frost as he punched out towards him.

    Frost shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s no use.¡±

    The warrior¡¯s fist passed through Frost¡¯s body without any resistance whatsoever. No matter how hard he swung his fists, he was unable to hit Frost. It was as if they were an ocean¡¯s width apart from each other.

    The Qiang Tribe¡¯s high priest tossed the bone relic in his hand into the air. Like the warrior¡¯s blows, however, the bone relic just spun aimlessly in the air, seemingly falling but refusing to ever touch the ground.

    If the bone relic could not touch the ground, then its effect would never activate.

    Soar hefted the short spear in his hand and rushed in front of Ancient Gong. ¡°Father, quickly leave!¡±

    Go? Go where?

    Didn¡¯t you hear him say that he had used spatial imprisonment?

    Ancient Gong pushed Soar aside and said, ¡°Your skill is truly impressive. What exactly do you want?¡±

    Even the Barbarians knew to be civil when facing an opponent who they could not possibly beat.

    Frost replied, ¡°Didn¡¯t I already tell you? I have an opportunity for you to get riches and honor. Do you want it or not?¡±

    ¡°What riches and honor?¡± Ancient Gong voice remained steady as he was untempted.

    ¡°What if I made you the ruler of the Barbarians?¡±

    What?

    Ancient Gong was stunned. Was this some kind of perverse joke?

    Ancient Gong harrumphed again. ¡°Even if you are exceptionally powerful, can you really handle the Twelve-Tribe Alliance by yourself?¡±

    If one wanted to be king, then they needed to defeat all of the other powerful foes in their way.

    The Qiang Tribe had been thoroughly suppressed by the Twelve-Tribe Alliance. What right did they even have to dream about ruling all the Barbarians?

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly why I specifically searched out your tribe. The Qiang Tribe has the potential to be the rulers of the Barbarians,¡± Frost replied.

    ¡°Potential?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I can help you beat the war drums once more...... the Blood Drum, to be precise.¡±

 Book 7, 83: Sacrifice

    Upon hearing the name ¡°Blood Drum,¡± Ancient Gong¡¯s eyes lit up. He immediately understood what Su Chen was saying.

    The Blood Drum was a treasure that had been used by the Qiang Tribe to maintain their dominance in the past. Apparently, this treasure was unbelievably powerful, and had been instrumental in their rise to power.

    It was also the reason for their downfall.

    None of them had expected the treasure to suddenly lose its effectiveness. The heaven-defying might of the Blood Drum had suddenly disappeared without a trace.

    And once the Blood Drum¡¯s effects had disappeared, the kingdom established by the Qiang Tribe eventually copsed.

    The Qiang Tribe both adored and despised the Blood Drum¡¯s existence. They worshipped its legendary strength, but could not deny that it was exceptionally in at the moment.

    Yes, the drum was still very much intact. However, its effectiveness had long since disappeared.

    Now, Frost was saying that he could help them sound the drum once more.

    The meaning behind his words was patently obvious.

    Ancient Gong said, ¡°What exactly are you saying?¡±

    ¡°I can repair the Blood Drum,¡± Frost immediately replied.

    All of the individuals within the tent grew extremely excited.

    Soar was the only one with a little fire still left in him. ¡°Why should we believe you?¡±

    ¡°Because your survival is in my hands.¡± Frost waved his hand, and the pressure surrounding them suddenly multiplied. Ancient Gong felt as if he was going to be crushed, and he was having an extremely hard time breathing.

    The high priest, however, asked sinisterly, ¡°How will you repair it?¡±

    ¡°A sacrifice,¡± Frost replied.

    The high priest shook his head. ¡°Our ancestors tried it a long time ago. It didn¡¯t work.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because your way of sacrificing was wrong. The Blood Drum was never damaged, but it became hungry. You just never fed it.¡±

    ¡°Hungry?¡± All of the Barbarians were stunned.

    The Blood Drum had not been built by the Qiang Tribe¡¯s members. Their ancestor had somehow inherited it at some point, which was why they had no idea that it could actually be hungry.

    But the reality was that the Blood Drum had lost its effectiveness because it was hungry.

    ¡°How can we feed it?¡± the high priest asked.

    ¡°It must be fed by a bloody battle. Only then will the Blood Drum be satisfied.¡±

    The Qiang Tribe¡¯s previous sacrifices had been of captives andmoners. The Blood Drum, however, despised that kind of sacrifice. Only the blood of elite warriors would quench its cravings. It would rather starve to death than indulge in such worthless blood.

    The Qiang Tribe had indeed been performing sacrifices, but they had been mostly useless.

    This was why the Blood Drum had eventually fallen asleep.

    However, Frost knew exactly what was going on with this drum.

    The Blood Drum was constructed from the eyelid of a god. Because the drum possessed divine power, it was able to unleash an incredible might. This was also why sacrifices were necessary.

    The Blood Drum could be satisfied by worshipping it as well.

    Of course, because Frost wanted to stir up chaos, he would not tell them the full truth. It was also true that this method would yield more instantaneous results.

    ¡°How many warriors are needed?¡± Ancient Gong asked.

    ¡°The more the better. The Blood Drum¡¯s power is rted to how full it is. Every time you use it, some of the Blood Drum¡¯s power will be expended. The best way to help it recover is to use it in battle,¡± Frost replied.

    The Qiang Tribe of old had relied on the Blood Drum to steamroll their way across Barbarian territory. As such, they had unintentionally met the Blood Drum¡¯s requirements. After unifying their territory, however, war became rare, and the Blood Drum slowly but surely began to row hungry. This was why the Qiang Tribe had only discovered the Blood Drum¡¯s ineffectiveness when it was toote.

    From that point onwards, they no longer brought the Blood Drum with them to battle, resulting in the Blood Drum being permanently stowed away.

    Until today.

    The eyes of the Qiang Tribe¡¯s members gleamed with excitement.

    Soar nced at his father, who appeared to be ted. ¡°We must sacrifice to the Blood Drum!¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Frost replied with a slight smile as he loosed the restrictions on the.

    Ancient Gong and the others nced at each other before all suddenly bowing to Frost. ¡°Many thanks, sir!¡±

    From that point onwards, Frost was designated by Ancient Gong as the chief high priest.

    This was the beginning of the long and bloody journey that the Qiang Tribe embarked on.

    On the seventh day that Frost became the chief high priest, the Qiang Tribe dered war on their neighbors, the Erh Tribe.

    The Qiang Tribe sessfully defeated the Erh Tribe, but the Blood Drum¡¯s hunger was not yet satisfied.

    It had gone hungry for far too long. One or two battles would not be enough to awaken it.

    As such the Qiang Tribe dered war three more times.

    The other Barbarian tribes were totally bbergasted. After all, attacking so many tribes in rapid session was bound to increase their casualties and enrage the other Barbarians.

    A response came very quickly.

    The repeated victories had obviously put the Qiang Tribe in high spirits. When they attacked the Thunder Tribe, however, they received quite a significant bacsh.

    At the Five Clouds Mountain.

    The Qiang Tribe and the Thunder Tribe were arrayed in formation against each other.

    As the war drums began to sound, the Qiang Tribe¡¯s soldiers rushed forwards like a violent river.

    The Thunder Tribe was clearly weaker, but their leader seemed to disy no sign of anxiety. Instead, he signalled for his men to give a signal.

    Following a few low, bellowing signals, another group of soldiers appeared off in the distance.

    Ancient Gong was stunned. ¡°The Cloud Tribe? Why are they here?¡±

    ¡°Do you even need to ask? They were waiting for us to make a move.¡±

    Even though the Qiang Tribe was more powerful than the Thunder Tribe and the Cloud Tribe, they didn¡¯t have the confidence to take both of them on at once.

    Ancient Gong gritted his teeth when he saw the Cloud Tribe¡¯s members charging in their direction. He was about to issue amand when Frost suddenly stopped him. ¡°Command the Qiang Tribe to attack the Thunder Tribe. Leave the Cloud Tribe to me.¡±

    ¡°Chief high priest?¡± Everyone was stunned.

    Frost strode calmly towards arge carriage not far away from where they were.

    A giant drum rested on top of that carriage. The drum¡¯s body was made out of Purpleheart Wood, and the surface of the drum was bloody red. The drum itself emanated an extremely oppressive aura.

    It was the Blood Drum.

    Frost walked over to the drum and picked up a mallet as he said, ¡°Continue to add more sacrifices. It¡¯s about time for the drum to wake up anyways. Awaken, o powerful, all-consuming will. Use the blood of our enemies to demonstrate your might.¡±

    As he spoke, he began to gently beat the drum.

    The drum didn¡¯t seem to respond, but Frost continued to seriously and rhythmically beat the drum.

    ¡°Father?¡± Soar nced at his father agitatedly when he saw this.

    Even though Frost had sworn that sacrifices would awaken the Blood Drum, Soar was still nervous, since the Blood Drum had not awakened before battle.

    And now, the Cloud Tribe was already on their way. If chief high priest Frost had miscalcted, then the Qiang Tribe would be pincered if they only focused on the Thunder Tribe.

    Then...... What should they do?

    Ancient Gong nced at Frost, then at the oing Cloud Tribe warriors before gritting his teeth and shouting, ¡°All warriors, continue to press the attack! Destroy the Thunder Tribe!¡±

    He had chosen to trust his chief high priest.

    The Qiang Tribe¡¯s warriors continued to ughter the Thunder Tribe¡¯s warriors, entrusting their back lines to Frost.

    Up on the carriage, Frost was still calmly beating the drum.

    The sounding from the drum was filled with an ancient, mysterious aura.

    The Cloud Tribe drew closer and closer.

    They swept towards Frost like a tidal wave, who stood alone and staunchly faced off against them.

    ¡°Attack!¡± The Cloud Tribe¡¯s warriors battlecries could be heard by now. One of the officers in the lead gave themand, and tens of thousands of arrows flew into the air, casting a dense shadow on the ground.

    Even when facing a storm of arrows, however, Frost remained calm.

    His gaze was unfocused as he began to chant.

    The mallet gently tapped against the surface of the drum, which rippled like a body of water. Suddenly, Frost lifted the mallet and struck the drum, hard.

    Boom!

    A thunderous explosion of sound rang through the air.

    The Blood Drum began to glow with a burst of red light, and the explosion of sound from the drum echoed through the mountain.

    The storm of arrows suddenly came to a halt, and they ttered onto the ground harmlessly.

    The drum exploded with sound once more. This time, the wave of sound rushed towards the Cloud Tribe¡¯s soldiers, enveloping them totally. The Cloud Tribe¡¯s soldiers immediately fell to the ground, clutching at their heads as they howled in pain. Blood began to spurt from every orifice of their bodies, pooling beneath them and forming a river of blood.

    The shrill sound of bone flutes began to float through the air. The Cloud Tribe¡¯s priests were obviously trying to repel the Blood Drum¡¯s powerful booms.

    Frost, however, struck the Blood Drum a third time. The priests¡¯ flutes shattered, and a cloud of blood appeared above them. Streaks of blood-red light descended from the cloud. Upon closer inspection, it became apparent that these streaks were the attacks of the malicious spirits inhabiting the cloud.

    These malicious spirits were created by the Blood Drum. The sheer volume of attacks they unleashed rapidly swallowed up the Cloud Tribe, leaving everyone who saw this scene dumbfounded.

    ¡°The Blood Drum! It¡¯s the Blood Drum!¡± the Cloud Tribe¡¯s leader howled in despair.

    ¡°The Blood Drum has awakened!¡± Ancient Gong cried out as well.

    Ancient Gong knew that his gamble had paid off as soon as the Blood Drum was activated.

    Cries of raucous joy and celebration could be heard as the Qiang Tribe¡¯s morale skyrocketed, and they charged at their opponents with renewed vigor.

    On that day, the Qiang Tribe won a tremendous victory over two tribes.

    Chief high priest Frost¡¯s extermination of the Cloud Tribe would go down in the annals of history.

    Previous Chapter

 Book 7, 84: Meeting of Gods

    The Qiang Tribe emerged victorious in this battle.

    Frost¡¯s exploit of wiping out the Cloud Tribe with three strikes of the Blood Drum spread far and wide throughout the Barbarian wastnd. The Qiang Tribe¡¯s weapon of war had returned.

    The Qiang Tribe won victory after victory.

    A fierce civil war spread throughout the region, engulfing the Barbarians.

    The Qiang Tribe had gathered a few tribes under their wing, and their strength was dramatically increasing with each new victory. At the same time, the otherrge tribes had gathered together in an alliance to deal with the Qiang Tribe, unwilling to relinquish their control.

    A massive conflict was brewing in the wastnds. This conflict, which ultimately ended in total victory for the Qiang Tribe, exploded at the Battle of Cloud-Piercing Mountain.

    The Battle of Cloud-Piercing Mountain was the decisive battle that solidified the Qiang Tribe¡¯s rise to the top. Not long afterwards, the Twelve-Tribe Alliance was dissolved, and each of the great tribes surrendered to the Qiang Tribe.

    After that, the Barbarians were once again unified under the rule of the Qiang Tribe.

    All of this took ce in less than one year.

    Because of the intense civil war, the Barbarian poption was at an all-time low. The faith that they could provide was limited as a result, a fact that did not go unnoticed by the gods.

    Unfortunately for them, there was nothing that they could do about it.

    The gods had very little actual control over the realm that their creations inhabited.

    This was partly due to the Eternal Treaty, as well as the fact that each descent to this realm cost divine power.

    Not only did the Eternal Treaty prevent the gods from fighting amongst each other, but it also limited their ability to influence the realm of themoners. The gods believed that their creations should be left to their own devices without too much interference from them. If they meddled too much, it would affect the development of religious societies, which might not necessarily be good for their religions. Furthermore, they were afraid that some god might induce their descendents to attack another god¡¯s descendents, indirectly disturbing the bnce of the Eternal Treaty.

    As such, the gods rarely interfered with mortal matters. Unless there were already signs that a deity was interfering, or unless their descendents were in danger of being exterminated, the gods rarely appeared in the mortal realm.

    Within the Temple of the Gods.

    This vast, majestic temple floated in the sky. Its intricate architecture gave off an ancient air, both profound and mysterious.

    Today, however, some parts of the temple appeared to be in a dpidated state.

    The Temple of the Gods contained hundreds of thrones, but most of them were empty now. Only twenty or so of them or so had an owner now.

    These gods, of course, were the ones who had managed to survive the Twilight of the Gods.

    Their statuses were determined by the amount of divine power that they had. The further towards the entrance they were, the weaker they were.

    One of the gods sitting in the middle of the hall was fitted from head to toe in golden armor. He gave off the image of a respected war veteran, and he spoke in a deep voice. ¡°I can sense that the Barrier of the Gods has been reinforced once more. It¡¯s the leaf of the World Tree this time.¡±

    His name was Be, and he was the guardian of the Temple of the Gods. As such, he was extremely sensitive to any changes that took ce in Kun¡¯s territory.

    The gods began to murmur amongst themselves when they heard Be¡¯s announcement.

    ¡°That is bad news. The Barrier¡¯s destruction has been dyed once again,¡± one of the gods said with a sigh.

    ¡°These petty struggles are nothing more than death throes. There is no need to worry. We have already seen tens of thousands of years pass. Can we not wait for three or four more?¡± To these ancient gods, time had little to no value. Three years passed for them in the blink of an eye. For this reason, the gods did not particrly care about the humans¡¯ dy of the Barrier¡¯s destruction.

    From their point of view, these humans were nothing more than annoying mosquitos buzzing around their heads.

    Of course, there were always a few gods who were able to clearly understand what was at stake.

    A disdainful voice harrumphed. ¡°A bunch of brainless idiots.¡±

    The one who had spoken this time was the Moon Goddess.

    She sat at the very back of the hall, representative of her status as a high-tier god. Only two other gods were qualified to sit next to her.

    One seemed to be nothing more than a faint, amorphous source of light. It was nigh impossible to discern the true shape of the light.

    The other had a humanoid figure with feathered wings sprouting from their back. This god¡¯s appearance was extremely attractive, but it was impossible to tell whether they were male or female from first nce.

    They were, respectively, the Lord of the Dreamrealm and the Mother Goddess.

    The other gods were not pleased with the Moon Goddess¡¯ scornfulment. ¡°Le, you should not disparage me, Longue the Barbarian God, like this ¡ª even if you are one of the three leaders.¡±

    The Moon Goddess shot him a disdainful nce. ¡°Even though we have known each other for tens of thousands of years, I still cannot get used to your idiocy. The reinforcement of the Barrier of the Gods is something that we must pay more attention to. This is not a mere coincidence, but is rather proof that someone is actively working behind the scenes to stir up trouble. I imagine that someone from the Origin Realm has already infiltrated this realm.¡±

    The gods leaned in closely when they heard this.

    One of them asked, ¡°Great Lord of the Dreamrealm, is this true?¡±

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm was the most well-informed god present. It was always a wise decision to consult him regarding any intelligence-rted questions.

    The formless light, however, sighed helplessly. ¡°The Dreamrealm has been destroyed, and no one is allowed to enter my realm anymore. My understanding of what is going on over there has be extremely limited. But based on my understanding of Su Chen, I believe that this possibility is extremely likely. Furthermore...... this was my inference as well.¡±

    ¡°But even gods cannot cross the Barrier......¡± Some of the gods were still skeptical of this theory.

    The Mother Goddess said, ¡°Just because we gods cannot pass through does not mean that the humans cannot as well. Our strength has won us the position that we currently hold, but that strength is also what keeps us from passing through to the other side. The Barrier¡¯s decay could conceivably make it easier for weaker and smaller creatures to sneak their way through. And if that bastard is meddling......¡±

    She fell silent, but all of the other gods knew who she was referring to.

    The Human Ancestor.

    Even now, this troublesome individual was still giving them a massive headache.

    ¡°While we¡¯re on the topic, what¡¯s going on your end, Danba?¡± the Moon Goddess asked.

    The Lord of Storms was seated not far from her location.

    ¡°My projection was easily killed by Su Chen, so I wasn¡¯t able to get much information from it. All I know is that Su Chen expended very little effort to kill it,¡± Akru¡¯Danba dully replied.

    ¡°Just tell me the important details,¡± the Moon Goddess said unhappily.

    ¡°We weren¡¯t able to find him. All the information that we received was already known. We will not be able to activate the Scepter of Time just based on that,¡± Akru¡¯Danba replied. ¡°That person is slippery and hides himself well. He never tells anyone what he¡¯s doing, and it is hard to catch wind of any more information than what we have already gathered.¡±

    Unlike the Origin Bone Scepter, the Scepter of Time¡¯s predictive abilities relied on faith to work properly.

    They simply had too little information about the Human Ancestor¡¯s movements, however, which made it impossible for them to precisely calcte his fate.

    This could only mean one thing: the humans knew exactly how the Scepter of Time worked, and they were taking measures to counteract its activation.

    The gods were not surprised by this development at all. They were quite used to failures like this.

    Eventually, the Moon Goddess spoke up once again. ¡°The other world has been extremely turbulent as ofte. The pestilence is spreading, and war is breaking out everywhere. I think that this chaos is due to those meddling humans. If the situation continues like this, the Barrier¡¯s destruction might be dyed even further. I think that we should send a god to the world below to handle this mess.¡±

    Upon hearing this, the gods broke out into frenzied discussion once again.

    One of them said, ¡°Great Moon Goddess, I respect your wisdom and decisiveness. But breaking the Treaty and sending a god to the world below will be extremely costly. Are you sure that this is worth it? Also, losing a god up here will interfere with our efforts to dismantle the Barrier as well. Don¡¯t forget that it is still challenging for us to wear it down. Losing a single god will reduce our efficiency by almost half. No matter how much the leaf of the World Tree dys us, it cannot be as damaging as sending a god away.¡±

    The Moon Goddess let out a deep sigh.

    The god who had spoken was correct.

    The sturdiness of the Barrier was virtually inconceivable.

    At the very beginning, the gods hadn¡¯t been able to do a single thing to it.

    As the Barrier had decayed over time, however, they had eventually learned how to elerate its destruction.

    Strictly speaking, the gods were not actively destroying the Barrier. They were only speeding up the natural process.

    Before the Barrier¡¯s decline reached that point, however, all they could do was sit around and wait. Over the course of the past millennia, they had tried countless possibilities to no avail.

    Under these circumstances, sending a god to the world below also seemed to be a seemingly foolish decision.

    The Moon Goddess was not foolish, but perhaps she might have been a little too hasty and heavy handed with how she wanted to deal with that mischievous monkey wreaking havoc in the world down below.

    She had the premonition that this monkey could potentially be very simr to Su Chen. Perhaps it also possessed that same power...... the power that terrified her in ways that words could not describe.

    This was part of the reason why she was so agitated, and why she was even willing to dy the Barrier¡¯s destruction; it was all to quell this fear of hers.

    However, she could not voice her fear.

    That would only stir up even more chaos among the gods.

    In the end, it was still the Lord of the Dreamrealm who spoke up. ¡°The first thing that we need to do is find this rat and confirm that it exists. Yormak, you will be responsible for sending a projection below to search for him.¡±

    Yormak was the God of Assassination who had tried to kill Su Chen once before in the past.

    The God of Perception had fallen a long time ago. The only remaining god whose domain was suited to search for a specific target was the God of Assassination.

    ¡°Three,¡± the Moon Goddess interjected.

    Yormake frowned. ¡°Three projections? Is that really necessary? That will burn through a lot of my divine power.¡±

    The Moon Goddess simply replied, ¡°One might not be his opponent.¡±

    Yormak was extremely miffed when he heard her reply.

    However, since the Moon Goddess¡¯s status was higher than his, he could only obediently ept her order.

    The Mother Goddess went on to say, ¡°Three is good. If we are able to defeat our opponent without losing a single one, then the situation below can hopefully be quickly resolved.¡±

    The God of Assassination huffed, ¡°Then not only will I suffer a loss of divine power, but I will also receive the bacsh of viting the Eternal Treaty.¡±

    ¡°We will repay you in kind,¡± the Lord of the Dreamrealm replied calmly.

    Of course, this ¡°we¡± was referring to all of the gods. Even though the three leaders were the strongest, such a price was not one that they could afford to pay on their own.

    A dayter.

    Frost stood before the Stargazing Altar.

    The Qiang Tribe¡¯s chief high priest¡¯s eyelid suddenly jumped. ¡°Three projections...... How extravagant.¡±

 Book 7, 85: Assassination Cavalry

    Tapia City, Assassination Church.

    Archbishop Atley knelt on the ground, deep in prayer. All around him, the chants of his fellow disciples could be heard.

    Suddenly, a streak of light descended from the sky as bright as the sun. Atley was stunned.

    ¡°Is our Lord descending?¡± he cried out.

    He had never seen the God of Assassination descend in all the years that he had been archbishop.

    The God of Assassination¡¯s projection was not particrly bright due to his preference of operating in the shadows. Instead, it began to take form in a rtively shadowy corner of the church, twisting into existence.

    ¡°Our Lord!¡± all of the disciples cried out simultaneously.

    The projection solidified, revealing a skinny, dark-skinned man.

    Atley crawled towards him deferentially. ¡°My Lord, I am your loyal servant Atley. Your wish is mymand!¡±

    The projection ignored him, instead turning its head to nce up at the sky.

    Atley didn¡¯t understand what was happening.

    Suddenly, two more streaks of light descended from the sky.

    More?

    Atley was badly startled.

    Two more projections took shape.

    Atley¡¯s surprise had turned into terror.

    The God of Assassination hadn¡¯t appeared in hundreds of years, and now all of a sudden three had appeared all at once! Something big was about to happen!

    The God of Assassination¡¯s projection spoke. ¡°Gather all of the church¡¯s cavalry and divide them into three groups. We will be takingmand of them.¡±

    Atley replied, his voice trembling, ¡°My great Lord, may I ask where you are going?¡±

    ¡°To execute justice and wipe out a parasite that should not have ever existed in this world. My disciples, the opportunity to give your lives to me hase.¡±

    That night, the Assassination Church¡¯s cavalry split into three groups and headed in different directions under the leading of the three projections.

    On Glorious Sect Mountain.

    This ce was once the Barbarians¡¯rgest gathering location. After an altar was established here, it became a ce where the Barbarians would offer sacrifices and pray to their gods for blessing.

    However, the Barbarians¡¯ guardian deities - Longue the Barbarian God and Barzalon the God of Rage - were both crude individuals, and they rarely responded to the Barbarians¡¯ please.

    During the previous battle, the Barbarian alliance had been shattered. Now, the Qiang Tribe had established their kingdom, and it had now be chief priest Frost¡¯s lone residence.

    Frost was currently standing before the altar, gazing up at the sky.

    Of course, he was not offering sacrifices. Even so, he could sense some kind of a connection going from the earth to the heavens, making it so that those in the heavens would more easily hear the cries of those on the earth.

    Most importantly, the divine characters inscribed on the altar were the exact same as the one that Su Chen had obtained from the Moon-Worshipping Sovereign.

    So he had already learned the methods used by the gods to construct altars.

    But because the Moon-Worshipping Sovereign had been on the other side of the Barrier, his altar was significantly moreplicated.

    ¡°If I destroy all of the altars in this world, the amount of faith being offered to the gods will probably be greatly affected, right?¡± Frost muttered to himself.

    ¡°Yes, but I would rmend against it,¡± a voice spoke near Frost¡¯s ear.

    An illusory figure began to surface from the altar.

    ¡°Human Ancestor?¡± Frost grew excited. ¡°You¡¯ve recovered?¡±

    ¡°Hard to say right now, but this matter is urgent. I had to rush over and let you know.¡± The Human Ancestor¡¯s voice was still a bit weak. Obviously, the grueling task of sending Su Chen across the border had forced him to pay quite a high price.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Yormak hase looking for you.¡±

    Frost was momentarily taken aback before he realized who Yormak was. ¡°The God of Assassination? Is it a projection or his real self?¡±

    ¡°Projection, but there are three of them. They¡¯ve split up to Abundance City, Copper Cauldron Castle, and this ce.¡±

    Abundance City was where Isabe resided. By this point, she had already taken over the Gwent family by force, and was being crowned the new Gwent family matriarch. Through her, Frost would be able to continue stirring up trouble and chaos.

    Copper Cauldron Castle, which was to the north, had experienced a recent outbreak of a gue of some kind. Naturally, this gue was a result of Frost¡¯s curse.

    Copper Cauldron Castle was an important strategic location that the humans relied on to keep out the Barbarians. If that line of defense were to fall, the Barbarians would be able to directly invade.

    And that was exactly what Frost was orchestrating.

    His n was to throw Kun¡¯s territory into chaos so that the gods would be weakened.

    Kun¡¯s territory limited capacity was just enough for the gods to survive on. If that amount of divine power were to decrease any further, the gods would find themselves in much more dire straits.

    That would be the best time for the Origin Realm to mount a counterattack.

    But before that could happen, Frost needed to work hard.

    The God of Assassination¡¯s perception seemed quite keen, as he had managed to pinpoint all three locations that Frost had anything to do with.

    Upon hearing the Human Ancestor¡¯s reminder, Frost nodded his head. ¡°Thank you for your reminder. I¡¯ve already made preparations for this.¡±

    The Human Ancestor asked, ¡°What are you going to do?¡±

    Frost smiled faintly. ¡°If he wants a fight, he¡¯ll get one!¡±

    The Human Ancestor was momentarily taken aback by this answer before he smiled happily. ¡°Your growth has exceeded my expectations. I wish you the best of luck.¡±

    As the Human Ancestor spoke, he began to disappear into thin air.

    Frost fell into a thoughtful silence.

    Even though the Human Ancestor had never explicitly said so, Frost had his suspicions.

    So the Human Ancestor was a god after all?

    He just didn¡¯t know which god the Human Ancestor was.

    But humans were created by gods. If he was the Human Ancestor, then how could he be a god? What was that all about?

    Frost mulled over the situation in deep thought.

    And as he thought, he was waiting.

    After some time, a group of people appeared off on the horizon.

    They were riding on the back of tall horses. Each wielded a long spear and was decked out in ck armor, giving them a stealthy, sinister appearance.

    ¡°The Assassination Cavalry,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself.

    They had indeed arrived.

    They had traveled all the way from Tapia City to here. The entire way, however, they suffered no misfortune, and were easily able to enter the heart of the newly-erected kingdom.

    This was without question due to the God of Assassination.

    Traveling stealthily and silently was his forte.

    The cavalry began to climb up the mountain without hesitation. Even though the terrain was quite steep, the warhorsespletely ignored the elevation gain and climbed steadily. This was yet another skill conferred upon them by the God of Assassination, which would allow them to walk as if they were flying.

    The soldiers rushed towards the peak of the mountain. Frost, however, paid no attention to them and continued gazing off at the distance.

    As the soldiers were advancing up the narrow path, a giant fist suddenly swung out from behind a nearby rock and mmed into one of the soldiers¡¯ midsection. That soldier was crushed upon impact. That was when the other soldiers realized that they had been attacked by a statue next to the trail.

    ¡°Not good! Beware of enemies!¡± the leader of the cavalry warned.

    In that moment, the statues lining the trail suddenly seemed toe alive and charged at the cavalry.

    These statues had been awakened by Frost using his God-Sealing Method Power. They had been crafted by the Barbarians, and while their appearance was quite crude, their power was undeniable.

    As Frost¡¯s power increased, his growth would elerate as well. Even though he was far from reaching his peak, he could already use a limited amount of Method Power.

    God-Sealing Method Power was a coreponent of the main body¡¯s strength. For that reason, it was impossible that Frost would give up on it.

    Of course, the puppets he could create were far weaker than Su Chen¡¯s. After all, he wascking both in Method Power and in ingredients.

    The statue puppets he had created were probably about as powerful as Light Shaking Realm cultivators.

    Even so, this was sufficient to make them a force to be reckoned with. Some of them had been used during the Qiang Tribe¡¯s battle for supremacy, which was why the Barbarians were even willing to gather materials and construct them in the first ce. These puppets became yet another weapon in the Qiang Tribe¡¯s arsenal. No one knew, however, that their loyalty was actually ultimately to Frost.

    Even the powerful Assassination Cavalry werepletely blindsided by the sudden ambush.

    Stone puppet after stone puppet leapt forth, swinging their giant fists through the air and shattering boulders left and right.

    The Assassination Cavalry began to glow with divine light. They were obviously being supported by the God of Assassination¡¯s divine techniques.

    Even so, the power of this divine technique was limited.

    The strain using such a technique ced on the cavalrymen was quite high. It consumed both their consciousness power, as well as the divine power they had been given.

    Actually, the gods hated bestowing divine power upon their followers. The only reason they did so was to attract new converts.

    In order to deal with Frost, the God of Assassination had generously bestowed more divine power and a divine technique to the cavalrymen, but even that amount was limited.

    Each cavalryman only had the support of five divine techniques.

    Shadowsteps, Level Terrain, Darkness Charge, Assassination de, and Frost Armor.

    Shadowstep was a unique kind of movement technique that allowed the Assassination Cavalry to travel while shrouded in darkness, effectively rendering them invisible. This was what had allowed the Assassination Cavalry to charge through Barbarian territory without interference.

    Darkness Charge was an assault skill. If they activated it at the same time as Shadowstep while on t ground, their damage output would greatly increase. Unfortunately, because they were on a mountain, Darkness Charge was basically useless.

    Frost Armor was a defensive technique.

    Assassination de was a divine technique that would strengthen their weapons. Because it was most useful in an assassination context, weapons to which it was applied would automatically gain the ability to ignore barriers and dealing heavy damage to the target. This was the most effective weapon the cavalrymen had against the statue puppets. The puppets were not nearly as agile as a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, but their thick skin and sturdinesspensated. Because of Assassination de, however, the cavalrymen were able to cut through the statues like they were made of tofu. Once the statues ran out of ¡°vitality¡±, they would crumble and disintegrate.

    Even so, Assassination de alone would not allow them to defeat the horde of statues so easily.

    Frost¡¯s puppets sprang at them from every which direction, forcing them into dire straits.

    At that precise moment, the space around Frost rippled slightly. A dagger appeared out of nowhere and silently stabbed down at Frost.

    Previous Chapter

 Book 7, 86: Swallow

    ng!

    With a clear, metallic ring, the God of Assassination¡¯s dagger was forcefully parried by Frost¡¯s sword.

    Frost had actually defended himself?

    A trace of surprise flickered through Yormak¡¯s eyes, but that didn¡¯t stop him from reversing his grip and swinging his dagger at Frost again from a different direction.

    As the God of Assassination, it was only natural that Yormak¡¯s attacks were extremely difficult to deal with. Even though this was just a projection, his attacks were quite powerful.

    Furthermore, the dagger that he was wielding was a projection of the Divine Tool, Abyss Dagger. If the dagger even grazed across its target¡¯s skin, death was inevitable.

    The dagger glowed with a ck aura of death as it pierced towards Frost. A divine technique had also been applied to the dagger, which sealed off all of the space behind and around Frost, preventing him from dodging.

    Just as the dagger was about to pierce Frost, however, a brilliant glow burst forth from his body. A towering image of Su Chen appeared behind him. As soon as the image appeared, it jabbed its finger in Yormak¡¯s direction.

    God-Killing Jab!

    A powerful explosion of energy burst forth from the finger. Even Yormak felt threatened by this attack.

    He let out a strange yelp as he leapt to the side, staring intently at the Aspect behind Frost. ¡°Su Chen!?¡±

    Frost tilted his head innocently. ¡°You recognize him?¡±

    ¡°Hiss!¡± Yormak spat out his tongue like a snake.

    Even though he was a god in name, he was a very instinctual being. As soon as Yormak saw Su Chen¡¯s Aspect appear behind Frost, he was able to get a good grasp on what had happened.

    ¡°Damn intruder!¡± Yormak cried out as he stabbed at Frost with the dagger once more.

    Boom, boom, boom, boom!

    Alternating streaks of mes and lightning crashed into Yormak.

    Yormak, however, did not attempt to dodge them at all. He casually swung his dagger through the air, easily dispelling the mes and lightning.

    He then swung the Abyss Dagger again, creating dark ripples in the sky. As the ripples spread through the air, the surrounding space began to constrict around them.

    This was one of the God of Assassination¡¯s unique spatial restriction techniques. Every time he attacked, the space around his opponent would slowly be more and more restricted regardless of whether he was able tond a blow or not. If the main body was the one attacking, then he could even cause the surrounding space itself to be a deadly weapon.

    Unfortunately, he was facing off against a projection of Su Chen, who was equally well-versed in spatial techniques.

    The spatial ripples quickly disappeared after reaching a certain distance from Frost, and they didn¡¯t affect his movements by much.

    Yormak was not too surprised by this.

    There was no distinction between the strength of Method Power. All that mattered was the depth of one¡¯sprehension.

    The gods had an innate advantage over the humans in that they were born with mastery over Method Power. It came as easily to them as breathing, but this also meant that it was nearly impossible for them to improve theirprehension. They could only increase their divine power and not their Method Power because Method Power was not something that could grow.

    As such, if amoner were to grasp Method Power as well, then that god would not be able to kill them using Method Power alone as long as theirprehension was roughly on the same level.

    In this world, strength truly trumped all.

    Circles of divine light appeared around Yormak as he applied additional divine techniques to himself.

    These divine techniques were strong enough to boost amoner¡¯s strength to the level of a highyer cultivator¡¯s. Unsurprisingly, Yormak¡¯s strength quickly surged as a result. He suddenly faded from view as he silently floated past Frost. The Abyss Dagger once again aimed straight at Frost¡¯s back.

    Even though they were engaged in an fully-fledged fight, every one of Yormak¡¯s attacks felt like an ambush. He was always appearing and attacking from totally unpredictable angles.

    Unexpectedly, however, Frost appeared to bepletely unperturbed by Yormak¡¯s tricky battle style. No matter how strange Yormak¡¯s attacks were, Frost was always able to easily deflect or negate his blows.

    The Seven Deste Bloodline Microcosm soon unfolded behind Su Chen, sweeping the battlefield into Frost¡¯s Aspect. Frost was the ruler of this world, and there was no way that Yormak would be able to deceive him here.

    Without an innate advantage in terms of Method Power, Yormak could rely on nothing other than brute strength.

    Divine power!

    He had no choice but to attack head-on.

    ¡°Puny insect, taste the wrath of the gods!¡± Yormak was beginning to grow irritated by his failure to hit Frost.

    As a god, taking this long to finish off a simplemoner was extremely humiliating.

    The Abyss Dagger began to radiate with dark light once more. As it pierced downwards, spatial techniques expanded along its edge until it covered the entire battleground.

    Yormak had finally given up on surprise attacks and was attacking from the front.

    ¡°That¡¯s more like it,¡± Frost said with a chuckle.

    It was much more fitting for a god to use their overwhelming might to steamroll an opponent instead of tricking an opponent with sophisticated techniques.

    This powerful wave of divine power swiftly enveloped Frost.

    At the same time that Yormak struck, however, Frost also made his move.

    His body began to glow with a faint white light. The divine power unleashed by Yormak shockingly seemed to be absorbed by this white light before it disappeared without a trace.

    ¡°That......¡± Suspicion shed across Yormak¡¯s eyes. For just a moment, he appeared to be confused. An instantter, however, all of his suspicion turned into fear, and Yormak pointed at Frost as he cried out in a frenzy, ¡°That power! You can actually use that power!? Die! You must die! YOU MUST DIE!!!¡±

    He began to howl furiously as he gathered all of the divine power in his body and unleashed it at Frost in one go.

    This ultimate attack mmed into Frost like a tidal wave, ripping open countless wounds on his body and sending blood flying everywhere.

    Even so, Frost grit his teeth and forced himself to continue absorbing as much of Yormak¡¯s divine power as he could.

    Yes, the reason why he wanted to fight Yormak in a frontal confrontation was because he wanted to see if he could use immortal energy to withstand divine power in battle.

    He already knew that immortal energy could consume divine power, but he had no idea whether or not that principle would hold up in the heat of battle. Furthermore, Frost knew that there was no way he could consume a whole god with his current capabilities. But what about a god¡¯s projection?

    When the Human Ancestor had informed him that Yormak¡¯s projection was pursuing him, Frost realized that the opportunity he had been waiting for had finally arrived.

    This was why he had chosen to stay. He needed to confirm whether it was possible for him to absorb a divine projection¡¯s divine energy even while locked in battle. This would be a pivotal moment that decided how Su Chen would fight against the gods in the future.

    And reality clearly demonstrated that it was possible!

    Even though it was extremely draining, Frost was sessfully absorbing Yormak¡¯s divine power.

    No matter how hard Yormak tried to dredge up the remaining divine power in his body, he was unable to topple Frost. The sea of divine power was gradually being absorbed by Frost. Of course, because they were battling, it was impossible for him to convert all of it into immortal energy. Most of the divine power simply dissipated into thin air. Even so, the fact that Frost had survived that attack demonstrated the validity of this approach. Using immortal energy as a defensive barrier had allowed him to withstand Yormak¡¯s attack.

    Frost was even able to smile coldly at Yormak afterwards, even as he was enveloped in a golden light.

    Yormak¡¯s shock only grew further when he saw this. ¡°That¡¯s taboo! sphemy! How dare you make contact with that forbidden energy!? I will kill you no matter what it costs!!!¡±

    As he roared, he lifted his hands up into the sky. Obviously, he was trying to establish a connection with his main body.

    Unfortunately for him, his efforts were doomed to fail.

    ¡°Did you really think that I would let you do that in the middle of our fight?¡± Frost gazed at him sympathetically.

    ¡°You bastard! And that traitor!!!¡± Yormak howled angrily.

    He didn¡¯t even need to ask to know who was responsible. It was definitely that traitor operating behind the scenes.

    Yormak red fiercely at Frost. ¡°You might be able to interfere with my connection to the main body, but can you handle this?¡±

    Yormak raised his dagger and shed at the sky, creating a spatial rift.

    Two figures charged out through the rift ¡ª Yormak¡¯s two other projections.

    While the Human Ancestor could help and interfere with the vertical connection to the main body, he could not interfere with the horizontal connections between each projection. Thus, Yormak had called for the only reinforcements that were avable. The skill that he had just used was a specialty of his known as the Unbroken Cycle. Each projection could travel to another projection regardless of the distance or location.

    Even though Frost¡¯s immortal energy was strong, Yormak was very experienced. He could tell that Frost could only handle one projection at most. With the other two projections, Frost¡¯s defeat was all but guaranteed.

    ¡°Die!¡±

    Three Abyss Daggers pierced towards Frost from three different directions.

    Frost, however,ughed at them as he said, ¡°I was expecting this as well.¡±

    Not far from where the four of them were fighting, a puppet that had been lying in wait to ambush the Assassination Cavalry suddenly rushed backwards to assist Frost.

    ¡°Out of my way!¡± One of Yormak¡¯s projections dismissively gestured in the puppet¡¯s general direction.

    But then, the puppet began to glow with an intense light.

    ¡°Legendary-tier?¡± Yormak stared at the puppet, surprised.

    As the God of Assassination, Yormak¡¯s specialtyy in concealment and sudden bursts of high-intensity attacks. He also possessed an innateprehension of shadow and spatial Method Power, but his detection abilities were only average. And since the puppet was also a nonliving object, his ability to detect its strength was even more limited.

    If this puppet had tried to conceal itself among an empty field, then Yormak would have easily discovered it. But because it was hidden amongst arge group of simr puppets, even Yormak hadn¡¯t noticed it.

    It wasn¡¯t until now that Yormak began to realize just how much of a problem this puppet posed.

    Even so, he still had not fully grasped just how much of a problem it was.

    Even though he knew that this puppet would be no ordinary opponent, Yormak¡¯s projection did not attempt to withdraw any of its divine power. In fact, he didn¡¯t even try to protect himself with a barrier.

    All he did was unleash a hammer of divine light in an attempt to force the puppet back.

    A momentter, however, he realized that he had made a mistake.

    A huge one at that.

    A long de suddenly appeared in the puppet¡¯s hand, thrumming with energy.

    The energy signature caused Yormak¡¯s heart to seize.

    Divine Tool!

    That puppet was actually holding a Divine Tool!

    What the hell!?

    The owner wielded no weapon, but his puppet wielded a Divine Tool!?

    How despicable! How shameless!

    Yormak cursed in rage.

    Unfortunately for him, he had no time to do anything else.

    The de directly shattered the space right above the projection¡¯s head.

    The projection wanted to run, but discovered to his shock that he had been frozen in ce.

    A spatial Divine Tool. A spatial Divine Tool!?

    The de sliced through the projection from head to toe.

    He had been cut in half!

 Book 7, 87: Free and Unfettered

    Boom!

    Following the death of Yormak¡¯s projection¡¯s death, golden rays of light shone out burst forth in all directions, filling the sky with what seemed like countless golden stars.

    Suddenly, a vortex formed around Frost¡¯s body that seemed to sucked all of that golden light into itself into Frost¡¯s body, causing the amount of immortal energy in his body to surge once more. That surge actually allowed him to withstand thebined attacks of the other two projections.

    The two projections had a seemed to panicked expression on their faces, but Frost merely chuckled. , ¡°Indeed, the divine power of a dead gods is much easier to absorb. I still prefer to absorb the divine power of living gods, though.¡±

    Frost was able to clearly sense the difference in the quality of the divine power that was provided by a dead god versus an a live one.

    The dead projection¡¯s divine power was much easier to absorb.

    And converting the opponent¡¯s divine power into immortal energy both weakened their the opponent¡¯s attacks and supplied him with strength. Frost recklessly continued to absorb theed divine power, and his cultivation rapidly advanced quickly going from Great Sess at the stage of Foundation Establishment Great Sess to Peak Foundation Establishment the stage of Consummation.

    Yormak could sense the atypical changes taking ce within Frost¡¯s body. The more he watched, the wider his His eyes went wide with shock.

    Suddenly, Frost¡¯s strength surged as he began to charge into the Golden Pill Realm.

    Because of his tie to Su Chen, Frost already had some experience with in breaking into the Golden Pill Realm. Even so, he was quite bold the audacity to try to and ascend while in the middle of a battle was quite something. Because Frost¡¯s ability to absorb the divine energy was limited, but yet he didn¡¯t want to let the rest of the all this divine power go to waste either. Thus, he had chosen to ascend at that exact moment. The first prerequisite to of ascendsion was to possess enough immortal energy, and Yormak¡¯s projections were became the best cultivation resources that he had ess to.

    Yormak was deeply humiliated by the fact that his opponent was using his projections m as nothing more than a cultivation resource source of energy for his ascension. ¡°How arrogant!¡±

    The Abyss Dagger, which had been glowing with a faint purplish-ck color before up until this point, suddenly began to radiate with a blinding, multicolored light.

    ¡°So you¡¯re Ffinally going to take taking me seriously?¡± Frost chuckled.

    As Frost he continued to focus on breaking into the Golden Pill Realm, his figure Frost began to merginge with the Su Chen Aspect of Su Chen that was behind his back. Suddenly, he roared with an unexpected ferocity. The Shining Dragon began to dance animatedly as the seven Deste Beasts joined in on the echoed his howling, all of them unleashing a primal aura. For just a moment, it felt seemed as if they had all been transported back to an ancient time, back to when the gods and the Origin Beasts were still desperately vying fighting for supremacycontrol.

    In this sh between gods and beasts, the first one to tap out was Yormak.

    This was not just because he was a projection, but also because the Origin Beasts were intrinsically equal to had never been weaker than the gods in the first ce.

    In terms of pure strength, even the gods could not contest defeat the Origin Beasts. But because the gods were born with aprehension of by relying on Method Power, they the gods were much more adaptable and could use a variety of techniques to deal with the Origin Beasts.

    The fact still remained that the gods, like Yormak, were far inferior to the Origin Beasts in terms of strength. And that wasn¡¯t even mentioning In a contest of pure strength, however, the gods were far inferior, not to mention the fact that Yormak was nothing more than a projection at the moment.

    Against When faced with thebined assault of eight Bbeasts simultaneously, the divine power that being gathered by Yormak¡¯s projections had gathered was forcibly dissipated.

    Frost charged forwards and nted a fist into another one of the projections¡¯ onto Yormak¡¯s midsection. ¡°For the Origin Realm!¡±

    ¡°ARGH!¡± Yormak cried out in pain.

    Frost¡¯s fist sent a torrent of immortal energy rushing into Yormak¡¯s body, prating him like a sharp knife. As soon as the immortal energy entered, it which began to rapidly wreak havoc in his body.

    No, a knife wouldn¡¯t have done been capable of doing so much damage. Only immortal energy could.

    Yormak¡¯s body began to glow with golden light once more. This time, however, the light was no longer pure; it seemed appeared to be have been tainted by a white light.

    When a god¡¯s power was contaminated no longer pure, their strength would also begin to decline significantly.

    Yormak felt a wave of fear wash rush over him ¡ª- the fear of being destroyed.

    He was not afraid of this projection dying. Instead, but he could sense that, if he were to allowed Frost¡¯s this strength to fully develop reach its peak, this person would be able to it was more than sufficient to pose a serious threat to his main body, and perhaps even to all of the gods.

    ¡°Be careful!¡± he howled as fiercely as he could, trying to inform the heavens of what had just taken ce.

    ¡°Your voice will not reach them,¡± Frost said replied coldly. Immortal energy continued to pour into Yormak¡¯s body.

    He had now confirmed by now that immortal energy could not only devour divine power, but it could also deal serious damage to the godsthem.

    Specifically, he had verified that Iimmortal energy could restricting the gods was confirmed by now.

    However, Yormak had probably seen this kind of energy before. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have called it a forbidden energy.

    This energy was also why Su Chen was confident had faith that they had the ability would be able to defeat the gods.

    Boom!

    Yormak¡¯s projection eventually gave out under the constant infusion of immortal energy. In the end, Frost¡¯s Iimmortal energy overloaded rampaged through his body, and blew eventually blowing it open from within, and supplying Frost with even more immortal energy.

    Now, that there was only one projection remaining. ed, Frost left the rest to Number One and refocused all of his attention onto properly ascending.

    The vast amount of converted divine power provided filled his body with a seemingly limitless endless amount of immortal energy. In the past, Su Chen had only been able to form forming a Golden Pill after using the had necessitated the use of Dream Demons of from the Dreamrealm as a resource. Now, however, there was no need for Frost to do that; he could directly form and refine the Golden PIll in his body with the avable immortal energy.

    Additionally, as As Su Chen¡¯s strength had increased, and as his insights into this new he had managed to develop this cultivation system deepened, he had developed into a much more well-defined path. By this point, there was no longer any need for Frost to rely on external help.

    Boom!

    Finally, a Golden Pill formed in Frost¡¯s body.

    The Golden Pill pulsated in Frost¡¯s body, filling it with immortal energy. A mysterious fog began to enshroud it.

    ¡°Very good!¡± Frost smiled slightly as he inspected the changes that had taken ce in his body. Suddenly, he reached out and grabbed Yormak¡¯s third projection.

    The Abyss Dagger shed backwards, but Frost reached out and stopped it in its tracks with a single hand.

    Then, he jabbed out with his finger once more.

    God-Killing Jab.

    Originally, only Ultimate Emperor Realm Su Chen could fully unleash its power, but now the Golden Pill Frost was able to unleash it with simr ease. The support of immortal energy allowed him to shatter the dagger with a single strike.

    Frost opened his mouth wide and absorbed all of the divine power that burst forth, causing Yormak to tremble in fear.

    Now that his cultivation base had ascended, his appetite had increased as well. Frost felt that he was more than capable of devouring yet another projection¡¯s divine power.

    This time, however, his method of consumption was also different.

    Instead of killing Yormak and then devouring him, or slowly siphoning away his divine power during the battle, Frost opened his mouth wide and swallowed Yormak¡¯s projection whole.

    Even though Yormak¡¯s projection would turn into nothing more than a mass of divine power upon entering Frost¡¯s body, the outward scene appeared quite cannibalistic and grisly.

    Even Number One revealed a somewhat disgusted expression.

    ¡°NOO-¡± Yormak howled before his voice was cut off.

    Frost could sense Yormak being ¡°digested¡± within his body, and he patted his stomach with satisfaction. Three Yormak projections was quite a satisfying meal.

    The Assassination Cavalry below, on the other hand, were terrified.

    Their god had actually been eaten!

    What kind of terrifying enemy were they up against?

    All of the Assassination Cavalry instantly panicked.

    Number One nced at the Assassination Cavalry and asked, ¡°What should we do about them?¡±

    Frost burped, then said, ¡°Kill them all...... What happened today cannot spread.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± Number One raised his de and began to lumber down the mountain.

    With Number One¡¯s support, the battle turned into a ughter.

    Soon, the ughter ended.

    The Assassination Cavalry had been wiped out, and the puppets returned to their original station. Silence fell across the Glorious Sect Mountain once more.

    Frost, however, knew that this quiet was only temporary. The gods would return soon.

    ¡°It¡¯s time to go,¡± Frost said.

    His whole reason for waiting here was to consume the projections and obtain more divine power.

    Now, he was leaving because he knew that he was still far from being able to face a god head-on.

    That night, Frost took Number One with him, along with the spoils he had imed as the chief high priest and left.

    The chief high priest¡¯s sudden disappearance even left Ancient Gong stunned.

    Thankfully, Frost left behind a letter saying that he was a wanderer at heart and had no interest in meddling with secr affairs. His helping the Qiang Tribe rise to the top was just an execution of the will of the heavens. Now that he had seeded in his mission, it was time for him to retreat. Hopefully, the Barbarians would continue the fight and im the humans as well, establishing an exceptionally powerful country.

    And with that, Frost left.

    Of course, ¡°wanderlust¡± and ¡°executing the will of the Heavens¡± was just a bunch of rubbish. The Barbarians, surprisingly, believed his words.

    At first, the Barbarians had been terrified of Frost¡¯s power and authority. Even Ancient Gong was exceptionally cautious of him, since he couldn¡¯t forget the feeling of beingpletely helpless in Frost¡¯s hand. In fact, he had even prepared a secret task force to keep an eye on this chief high priest of theirs in case he ever tried anything funny.

    Frost¡¯s departure, however, left a good impression on Ancient Gong.

    He felt that this chief high priest of theirs was a truly exceptional individual, and that it was a pity they hadn¡¯t managed to convince him to stay longer.

    Ancient Gong even invited a group of Barbarian schrs to study Frost¡¯s writings and record what he had done. Eventually, they published it under the title A Free and Unfettered Will, which served both as a biography as well as a testimony of his carefree demeanor andck of attachment to power.

    From Ancient Gong¡¯s viewpoint, this kind of a chief high priest was the best kind of chief high priest. His actions and thoughts were worth studying and emting.

    This book stirred up and influenced the Barbarian poption quite a bit. Those who had some cultivation talent dared not call themselves cultivators if they had not undertaken a journey of their own. Those in office would asionally resign from power to demonstrate theirck of attachment to power and authority.

    At first, this was merely the practice of the Barbarians, but after countless years, when Frost¡¯s true identity was revealed, these records of Frost¡¯s distinguished and mighty actions became virtually legendary, to the point that some even spread to the Origin Realm. Whenbined with the Boundless Sect¡¯s cultivation system and manner of behavior, the records eventually became sacred writings in the cultivation world.

    Of course, these things would not take ce for many years. At the moment, Ancient Gong hadn¡¯t even thought of distributing the book.

    After leaving the Barbarians, Frost began to return the way he hade.

    He needed to go find Isabe and stir up some more chaos.

    Unlike before, however, as his strength had increased, so had his extravagance and ability to influence the situation atrge.

    This time, he hade up with a new n.

 Book 7, 88: Shadowless Church

    Lionheart City was on the southern stretches of Adun Kingdom.

    This ce faced the Dream Forest, was encircled by the Amenita River, and had its back to Ram Mountain. As such, its scenery was incredibly beautiful and its port was extremely essible. The people here lived rtively carefree lives, making it one of the most desirable cities to live in.

    However, the gue changed all of that.

    All of the natural beauty had withered away, and the flourishing city was in dire straits.

    Afflicted individuals lined the streets and the waterways, and very little movement could be seen. Corpses were strewn everywhere, and fires seemed to be burning day and night.

    The curse was only taking human lives, but the fear had driven the city¡¯s inhabitants mad. Naturally, profiteering bandits had risen to the asion as well.

    Roughly ten percent of the people in the city had been killed by the curse, whereas about half had been killed by other humans.

    Their panic and terror had led to widespread death and ughter, which had only elerated the city¡¯s decline.

    As he walked along the city streets, gazing at the dpidated buildings and ruined cityscape, Frost¡¯s heart was as cold as ice, and his gaze was expressionless.

    He knew exactly what he was doing.

    He could not afford to be soft for the sake of the Origin Realm¡¯s countless lives. Otherwise, it was very possible that all of the Intelligent Races in the Origin Realm would be consumed.

    Even though this would make him a great sinner in this realm, he was willing to bear the burden.

    He would ept responsibility for his actions.

    This was the mindset that every leader needed to possess.

    On the other hand, killing people was not the goal, just the means. If it were possible to avoid killing, then that was for the best.

    ¡°Save...... save us......¡± a beggar whispered weakly as he reached his hands out to Frost.

    Frost turned to look at him.

    Unlike the other beggars he had passed, this beggar was wearing a tattered yet colorful embroidered robe. His slightly pudgy figure and his pale face indicated that this individual was at least a wealthy merchant if not a noble.

    The gue had taken everything he had.

    Frost walked over. ¡°What is your name?¡±

    ¡°Ba...... Banister...... Give me...... something to eat......¡± the beggar replied weakly.

    ¡°Tell me, Banister. Do you believe in gods?¡± Frost asked.

    ¡°I am one of the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s most fervent disciples.¡±

    ¡°Is he good to you?¡±

    ¡°Good?¡± Banister was confused by the question.

    Was the god he believed in good to him?

    What kind ofughable question was that?

    Banister didn¡¯t know how to respond.

    Frost said, ¡°When you are suffering, where is your god?¡±

    Upon hearing this, Banister trembled with agitation. ¡°I¡¯m just asking for food, not to be mocked by you!¡±

    Frost tossed him a piece of white bread.

    Banister grabbed the white bread and began to devour it.

    Frost calmly watched him eat. ¡°Answer me. Where is your god?¡±

    Banister froze.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, he shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I think...... we have been abandoned.¡±

    His words were filled with sorrow.

    The gods were lofty existences. Rarely would they care about the fates of their creation.

    Frost slowly stood up. ¡°But you will continue to believe in him, right? You will not give up on him so easily.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Banister gazed suspiciously at Frost.

    Then, he watched to his shock as circles of faint golden light began to emanate from Frost¡¯s body.

    This light spread through Frost¡¯s feet and enveloped Banister, who could feel the pestilence that had invaded his body begin to shrink back.

    Was he recovering?

    Banister inspected himself, ecstatic.

    The damage that had been done to him by the gue was disappearing, and his strength was returning to him.

    He lifted his head and gazed at Frost once more. Suddenly, Banister¡¯s mind cleared up as he hurriedly knelt. ¡°Oh great god, have you finally returned to rescue your pitiful servants?¡±

    Frost coldly said, ¡°I am not the Lord of the Dreamrealm.¡±

    What?

    Banister gazed at Frost in shock.

    Frost continued, ¡°The one I serve is the great Immortal Ancestor Shadowless Sky, the most radiant individual.¡±

    ¡°The Shadowless Sky God?¡± Banister asked with some hesitation.

    Banister couldn¡¯t ever recall having heard of this god.

    Frost had said Shadowless Sky, while Banister had said Shadowless Sky God.

    Frost was thinking of correcting him but ultimately gave up on that idea.

    These people had lived under the gods¡¯ control for a long time, and their worship of them was deeply ingrained into their being.

    Asking them to believe in a different god wouldn¡¯t be too difficult, but asking them to not believe in any god was impossible.

    Since that was the case, the Shadowless Sky God was not a bad alternative.

    Frost nodded worldlessly.

    Upon seeing Frost¡¯s admission, Banister felt incredibly enlightened.

    He gazed at Frost¡¯s saintly face, then gritted his teeth and bowed in worship, ¡°Banister is willing to serve the Shadowless Sky God and offer up my everything to him!¡±

    ¡°Since that¡¯s the case...... You shoulde with me.¡±

    Frost spun around and left. Banister hurriedly crawled to his feet and followed after Frost.

    ¡°That...... Sir......¡± Banister cautiously uttered.

    He didn¡¯t know what to call Frost.

    ¡°You can call me Elon.¡± It was a given that Frost had to go by a different name.

    ¡°Understood, Sir Elon. What I wanted to ask is why I have never heard of this god before? I am not trying to spheme. It¡¯s my fault for not being well-traveled......¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s alright. It¡¯s not your fault. Before this, my Lord never appeared.¡±

    ¡°Never appeared?¡±

    ¡°Yes. My Lord was never interested in earthly matters. He only appears when the world¡¯s destruction is impending and darkness threatens to envelop the entire world.¡±

    Hold on, wasn¡¯t there something slightly wrong with that statement?

    Were there really such few bleak periods of time throughout human history?

    Why did the Shadowless Sky God not appear then, but the gue did?

    Frost shot him a nce. ¡°Are you wondering? Perhaps even suspicious?¡±

    Banister felt his heart seize. ¡°I dare not to!¡±

    ¡°That does not surprise me. After all, what you can see is limited. You might think that this pestilence qualifies as dark days, but you don¡¯t understand that my Lord is concerned with something else entirely. You don¡¯t understand that this gue is just a small foretaste of the true cmity toe.¡±

    ¡°The true cmity?¡± Banister was stunned.

    ¡°Yes, a true cmity, one even greater than the Twilight of the Gods,¡± Frost replied seriously.

    A cmity even greater than the Twilight of the Gods?

    Banister waspletely stunned.

    So this was why the Shadowless Sky God had appeared.

    He was the final guardian of this world. Whenever a disaster of epic proportions was going to appear, he would save men and gain disciples for himself?

    Because of Frost¡¯s masterful deflection, Banister finally began to believe that the Shadowless Sky God was the true guardian of this world. And this Elon person was undoubtedly the Shadowless Sky God¡¯s messenger, and the Archbishop of the Shadowless Sky Church.

    Of course, because the church had been newly established, they were currently the only two members.

    Banister, however, didn¡¯t care.

    In some sense, this was a good thing. After all, he had seen the Shadowless Sky God¡¯s methods firsthand. If the Shadowless Sky God could clear the pestilence, then Lionheart City might gain arge number of believers in the near future. Perhaps he would be a bishop in the future as one of the church¡¯s first followers.

    Yes, this was the n that Banister had alreadye up with.

    He was a sessful businessman, after all, so he was opportunistic. Unfortunately, fate had other ns in store for him, and the pestilence hadpletely ruined him.

    But now that an opportunity to rise from the ashes had presented itself to him, he would naturally not let it pass by.

    Under Banister¡¯s guidance, Frost very quickly found a group of infected merchants.

    The reason why he hadn¡¯t started by saving people en masse was because he needed to acquire a group of loyal followers first. Those of lowly status were often short-sighted and dim-witted, but their faith was surprisingly strong. Nobles, on the other hand, were mostly worthless as well.

    Merchants, on the other hand, were the best ones to target.

    Merchants were easy to handle: they would follow whoever had the goods. Because of this, they would be easy to rope in. Theirwork of connections, broad experience, and quick thinking would all be useful.

    After Frost removed the gue from these merchants, many of them chose to convert to his religion instead. Suddenly, Frost found himself quite rich both in terms of resources and manpower.

    The next thing the Shadowless Sky Church needed to do was establish a base of operations and draw in believers.

    This, on the other hand, was a problem.

    Each god had their own territory. They were currently in the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s territory, and establishing another church here was akin to an open deration of war.

    Frost had no intention of doing so just yet.

    He viewed himself as a seed that had just been nted. He still needed time to be watered, sprout, and grow.

    And those merchants obviously did not want to fight with the Dreamrealm Church either.

    As such, after some discussion, they decided to leave and search for a different ce to establish their base of operations.

    The world was vast, and there would always be ces that had not yet been imed that they could im for themselves.

    The pestilence¡¯s reach was quite great. Only the Shadowless Sky Church could remove it, meaning that they did not have to worry about a shortage of prospective members.

    After determining where to establish their church, Frost led his men into the city.

    Frost was responsible for saving people, while his bishops and priests were responsible for teaching.

    These teachings had been created by them with much thought the night before.

    Not even having an established set of teachings should have been a red g in the first ce. However, the threat of death rendered all of those concerns of secondary importance.

    Since the Shadowless Sky Church could save people, they could be trusted.

    The merchants¡¯ logic was sometimes quite simple.

    The church¡¯s leader was responsible for saving people, the bishops for teaching, and the priests for handing out food. This was how the Shadowless Sky Church had organized itself. Everywhere they went, they would save people afflicted by the gue. Of course, some of these individuals would eventually be disciples of the church.

    Wherever Frost went, the disciples would follow, and their influence grew greater and greater.

    The end result was that faith was being taken from the gods and sick people were being healed. Creating a fake god was a much healthier alternative to ughtering people wantonly.

 Book 7, 89: Distinguishing Immortality and Divinity

    In the blink of an eye, a year had passed.

    During these past few years, the outside world had been incredibly busy. The kingdoms were still embroiled in warfare and the noble families were still fighting amongst each other, spilling a sea of blood.

    The Barbarians had also made their move.

    No one had expected the disorderly, savage Barbarians to have suddenly unified into a singlerge kingdom.

    These Barbarians were both vicious and unified, and they posed a significant threat to the humans. Some even proposed to put the internal conflicts on hold and deal with the outside invaders first. Unfortunately, those nobles¡¯ bloodthirst was insatiable, and they refused to back down.

    As for the gods, that was even less likely. The system of divine worship that had been so clear in the past suddenly seemed muddled and unclear.

    First, the Moon Goddess Church had forcibly annexed the Winter God Church. Even though they had seemingly done it for the proper reasons, it still incited quite a severe bacsh, causing many people to worry about the Moon Goddess Church¡¯s ambition.

    Next came the appearance of the Shadowless Sky Church, which also stunned quite a few people.

    What church were they supposed to be?

    Where had theye from?

    The Shadowless Sky God?

    They had never heard of him before!

    There were only supposed to be twenty-three gods still remaining. Where had this twenty-fourth suddenly appeared from?

    If you imed they were real, why had they never been heard of before?

    But if you imed they were fake, then what about the miracles their disciples were performing? It seemed that they were doing more than all of the other twenty-three godsbined.

    Purely in terms of outward activity, the Shadowless Sky God appeared to be the only true god, and the other gods were all fake.

    Naturally, the Shadowless Sky Church grew at an unprecedented rate.

    This growth was also closely rted to the way that the church had elected to expand. The Shadowless Sky Church would not actively proselytize, nor would they try and make any moves on another church¡¯s territory.

    But they needed manpower.

    They would often go to a city and perform healing miracles there, relying on this tactic to capture the interest of many potential disciples. Then, they would leave with those disciples. By the time the church in the area caught on, those disciples would be long gone. Because they didn¡¯t interfere in any way other than to heal the sick, their main constituents were the poor, sufferingmoners of low status. As such, their societal impact was not particrly significant either, and many churches were happy to see this take ce.

    Not long afterward, however, these churches discovered that a new gathering location had been built in the wilderness not far away from an already-established city.

    They were building their own city!

    Based on what the civilians were saying, the Shadowless Sky God possessed an extraordinary power that could not only dispel pestilence but also confer life to inanimate objects, construct buildings, and dispense food.

    The other churches were stunned. Themoners had always been the ones serving and sustaining the church, not the other way around. When had the status quo been flipped?

    To Frost, the church¡¯s mission was not important, and the beauty of the physical building was not important either. All that mattered was to garner faith. The more believers they had, the less faith would be supplied to the gods, and the weaker they would be.

    Stealing their faith was equivalent to stealing their strength.

    Was it really that surprising that Frost was willing to take care of the needs of themoners?

    Not only so, but he had done his best to limit the restrictions on the disciples¡¯ behaviors. For instance, he kept sermons short so that the disciples could more easily remember the important prayers; he kept the core ts simple - follow the Shadowless Sky God and you will be blessed, or else suffer a curse; and he increased the repetitious nature of many of their activities to try and strengthen the brainwashing effect.

    Frost himself did not need belief, as it had no value to him. However, in order to maintain a grip on the hearts of those believers, he needed to establish a system that promoted stronger faith. On the other hand, if immortal energy could devour divine power, could he try to absorb faith?

    Frost spent quite a bit of time pondering this question.

    Actually, Su Chen had considered this issue even when he was back in the Origin Realm, but until now his guesses had remained inconclusive. Frost, however, was one degree less removed from the gods, and because he was actively attempting to siphon faith away from the other gods, he gradually began to gain some understanding.

    Divine power and immortal energy were actually two distinct kinds of energy. One drew from the outside world, while the other drew from an individual themselves.

    And divine power¡¯s faith requirements were actually a reflection of a need for consciousness energy.

    Faith was a kind of consciousness energy. When disciples worshipped a certain target, their consciousness energy would be transmitted to that target. If the target then possessed enough power, such as an innateprehension of Method Power, they would be able to absorb that consciousness energy.

    And when enough faith was being supplied to any individual over a long period of time, the connection between the physical body and the consciousness would not only give the individual a powerful consciousness but would also begin to affect an individual¡¯s vitality.

    In other words, offering sacrifices of faith supplied the gods with both consciousness energy and vitality. This would meet the gods¡¯ needs and allow them to live forever. In other words, these creatures were perpetually offering up their lifeforce to sustain a god¡¯s existence.

    The gods relied on this method of scavenging to survive.

    Immortal energy, on the other hand, was generated from within an individual. That individual would possess a power that was not dependent on the environment.

    A philosophy that had once been quite prevalent in human society was the idea of the existence of two worlds: one outside of an individual, and one within. The path of cultivation primarily dealt with this inward world. However, such a philosophy was a little too abstract and simplistic, as it didn¡¯t ount for supplementing one¡¯s cultivation base with cultivation resources.

    Abstractions could never trump reality.

    As such, this philosophy gradually faded from the public eye. By this point, no one even knew who the original conceiver of the idea was.

    Su Chen¡¯s discovery of immortal energy, however, had confirmed the uracy of this perspective.

    Though he had recognized it as a possibility in the past, only now was he beginning to understand it in a fuller way.

    Because it came from within, immortal energy was extremelypatible with the human body. Even though it was not as majestic as divine power, it was far more refined. This was also why immortal energy could devour divine power.

    It wasn¡¯t because immortal energy was inherently of a higher tier, but because immortal energy developed a person¡¯s body, while divine power forced an individual to rely on external help. The rtionship between immortal energy and the human body was like that of childhood sweethearts, while divine power was like a bought maidservant. Though both were equal in terms of humanity, their statuses were far different. The maidservant getting pushed around was an inevitability.

    But just because the childhood sweetheart could push around the maidservant didn¡¯t mean that she could prevent her husband from being unfaithful. As such, it could sometimes seem as if there was no end to the number of maidservants that the childhood sweetheart needed to push away.

    Divine power might not be able to defeat immortal energy in an evenpetition, but its one saving grace was that it typically came in muchrger quantities.

    The childhood sweetheart needed to constantly eradicate these outside homewreckers in order to establish her superiority and drive them all away......

    This was the process by which immortal energy could grow.

    Upon realizing this, Frost suddenly discovered that it was not impossible for immortal energy and divine power to coexist.

    If after marrying the childhood sweetheart, the husband paid her most of his attention and only dabbled in affairs with other mistresses, it was possible that the childhood sweetheart would let things slide. After all, he was still treating her well, and if she tried to force him it was possible she would only drive him away even more.

    ording to this logic, it should be possible to absorb some divine power into his body without allowing the immortal energy to devour it.

    In addition to growing his church¡¯s membership and stealing away disciples from the other churches, Frost had spent some time studying this idea.

    By toying around with it during the past few years, Frost had actually managed to seed.

    By now, he was capable of sustaining both in his body for an extended period of time.

    Of course, the amount of divine power he could store in his body was extremely limited - virtually not worth mentioning. Normally, divine power vastly outnumbered immortal energy, but in Frost¡¯s body this power dynamic was reversed.

    The childhood sweetheart seemed to have a jealous streak after all.

    There was nothing Frost could do.

    Of course, he also knew that the beginning was the most difficult. By putting in work at the beginning, he wouldy a foundation that would allow him to advance in leaps and bounds in the future.

    The childhood sweetheart was too jealous at the moment, but once she got used to the existence of the other mistresses, perhaps she would warm slightly to the idea.

    Of course, even if he was able to aplish that, Frost¡¯s strength wouldn¡¯t change much.

    Divine power was still nothing more than nourishment for immortal energy. The seeming equilibrium between the two in Frost¡¯s body wouldn¡¯t bring his strength up; in fact, it was very possible that it would make him weaker.

    After all, Frost needed to keep a tight leash on the immortal energy in his body.

    On the other hand, doing so had an alternate use as well.

    This was to hide.

    The Shadowless Sky Church¡¯s influence was beginning to grow.

    Soon, the gods would turn their attention upon him once more as their supply of faith began to dry up.

    Even though Frost was doing his best to nab disciples equally from all the gods and decrease his footprint, he would eventually be found out.

    This time, Frost did not want to hide.

    If he did, the church he had poured so much energy into would be destroyed overnight. The disciples would return to their original belief systems, and the faith that had been siphoned away would return.

    Frost didn¡¯t want his efforts to go towards merely starving the gods of a single meal.

    As such, he needed to continue the fight.

    If he wanted to withstand the gods, he needed to convince them that this Shadowless Sky God was in fact one of them.

    Bang!

    A wave of golden light burst forth from Frost¡¯s body. Suddenly, he was covered from head to toe in brilliantly shining golden armor.

    Outwardly, it was true that Frost bore a faint resemnce to a god.

    Very quickly, however, this divine power was totally consumed.

    Thankfully, Frost could already ept faith and convert it into divine power. By this point, he had a steady enough supply that he could maintain the armor without it fading away.

    But that was all he could do. Besides that, he was totally powerless.

    ¡°Ai, this is all just posturing. But at least the Divine Power is real. As long as I don¡¯t have to fight, the gods won¡¯t be able to tell what is hiding under that golden armor,¡± Frost said with a slight smile.

    With the Eternal Treaty still in effect, the gods could not make moves against each other.

    As such, it was theoretically possible for him to conceal his true identity from the gods without being discovered. What could possibly be better?

    Suddenly, an idea shed through Frost¡¯s mind.

    He nced down at himself.

    In that moment, he understood.

    He understood how the Human Ancestor had managed to survive all these years, and how he had managed to trick all the other gods.

    Previous Chapter

 Book 7, 90: A New God

    Within the Temple of Gods.

    The gods rarely ever held meetings like this. After all, they were all quite busy. What was the point of summoning them all here just to hold a pointless discussion?

    Unfortunately, some meetings were simply impossible not to hold.

    The Moon Goddess was once again sitting at the front of the hall, and she began the discussion. ¡°Over the course of this past year, I have lost about five percent of my worshippers.¡±

    The Mother Goddess added, ¡°I as well.¡±

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm said, ¡°I lost ten percent.¡±

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm had it worse than the rest of them.

    This wasn¡¯t because Frost was purposefully targeting him for revenge, but rather because the Shadowless Sky Church originated in Lionheart City, which was part of his territory. Bannister and the other bishops had utilized their connections with the people they knew there to enhance their numbers. This was also why he had been the first god to discover this issue.

    After the three leaders spoke, the Barbarian God and the others also began to report how many worshippers they had lost in the past year.

    Each god had lost around the same amount of worshippers ¡ª around five percent.

    Their total losses, however, were roughly equivalent to the total number of worshippers of one of the three leaders.

    This was inconceivable.

    In Kun¡¯s territory, conversion was amon urrence. Sometimes, after a battle, an entire city could change their religious allegiance. The Twilight of the Gods was even rooted in thispetition over a limited supply of faith.

    After arge number of gods fell, the remaining gods had discovered that there was enough divine power to divide amongst themselves and at least ensure survival for them. This was also why they had eventually agreed to a treaty.

    Of course, this treaty only applied to the gods. Their creatures were still free to do as they pleased, so wars would still ur from time to time. But as long as the gods were not affected, they would not interfere.

    Under these circumstances, the loss of a few believers from time to time was quite normal, and it was normal for their numbers to fluctuate. Typically, they could be confident that what was lost would be regained with time. And since the Barrier was about topletely copse, none of the gods had any interest in overly worrying about their worshippers.

    The fact that each and every one of them had lost around five percent of their worshippers, however, made them feel like something was up. A loss of this scale over the course of a year was extremely abnormal.

    More importantly, none of them seemed to have experienced a significant increase

    In some sense, this meeting was unavoidable.

    ¡°Could it be that the world below is in chaos and that many people have died?¡±

    ¡°That is a possibility. The Barbarians appear to be invading human territory. Longue, keep a closer eye on your brood. Don¡¯t let them keep stirring up trouble in this crucial time.¡±

    ¡°Silence. They are spreading my faith, so how could I possibly tell them to stop? Also, the Eternal Treaty has no provisions for this situation.¡±

    ¡°The Barbarians¡¯ activity alone cannot exin this. Their invasion is not affecting my territory.¡±

    The gods continued to converse amongst themselves, and the temple was soon filled with moring voices.

    In the end, it was the Mother Goddess who silenced them all when she calmly asked, ¡°How long has it been since you allst looked at what was going on in the world below?¡±

    All of the gods simultaneously fell silent.

    Even though descending was not an easy task, it wasn¡¯t as if they had no other way of finding out what was going on in the world below.

    Each god had a corresponding statue, upon which they could imprint a seal and hear the prayers of their believers.

    In some sense, the gods were omniscient, because wherever their believers went, they could discover what was happening there.

    Unfortunately, the truth was often disappointing.

    The gods in fact did not choose to do so.

    Most of the time, they weren¡¯t even listening.

    Why not?

    Was that even a question that needed to be asked?

    What could their worshippers possibly be praying about?

    ¡°God, please save my child.¡±

    ¡°God, I have been treated unfairly. What should I do?¡±

    ¡°God, why would they treat me like this? Why would you punish me like this?¡±

    ¡°God, give me strength.¡±

    ¡°God, give me wealth.¡±

    ¡°God, I want......¡±

    ¡°I want......¡±

    ¡°I want......¡±

    Unceasing, and without end.

    Almost all of their worshippers¡¯ prayers were requests of this fashion.

    If you were a god, what would you do when faced with this veritable sea of requests?

    Would you grow impatient and think to yourself, Is this all they know how to do?

    Would you feel hatred? They¡¯re supposed to be supporting me, not the other way around.

    Would you feel disgusted? They¡¯re as annoying as a swarm of flies.

    Would you ignore them? I haven¡¯t paid them any attention for so long, but they still believe in me. If that¡¯s the case, then why should I ever listen to them?

    This was exactly how the gods saw their believers.

    After growing sick of the countless requests that their worshippers made of them, and after realizing that their worshippers would still believe in them even if they ignored their requests, the gods began to tune out their pleas.

    It was already considered caring for a god to listen to their believers¡¯ prayers every ten years and respond once every hundred.

    In any case, as long as nothing too pressing was taking ce, the gods would just ignore their worshippers.

    Unless their worshippers suddenly started disappearing, that is.

    Only then would the gods begin to panic and wonder when they hadst heard their worshippers¡¯ prayers.

    The Mother Goddess was specifically pointing this out.

    The gods all nced at each other before they realized that all of their worshippers seemed to be praying about amon subject.

    ¡°I will go and take a look.¡± In the end, it was the Moon Goddess who took the initiative to descend.

    The prayers of the Moon Goddess Church¡¯s followers were finally answered. The Archbishop was an old man who spoke with a slight lisp, and his manner of speaking was quite confusing.

    The Moon Goddess had no patience and immediately asked, ¡°What is happening down there?¡±

    Within the Moon Goddess Church.

    The archbishop was in the middle of praying when a voice suddenly resonated in his heart, shocking him so badly that he fell back onto his butt. Suddenly, he realized what had happened, and he kowtowed as he cried out, ¡°My Lord, you have finally heard my prayers!¡±

    ¡°Why have the number of my worshippers decreased?¡± the Moon Goddess said with little patience.

    The archbishop hurriedly replied, ¡°A new god has appeared and has gained many new converts. Did my Lord not know about this?¡±

    ¡°A new god?¡±

    All of the gods in the hall were stunned by this revtion.

    They had considered countless possibilities, but the only one that they hadn¡¯t ounted for was this one.

    How could a new god appear in Kun¡¯s territory? What was this all about?

    It wasn¡¯t until the archbishop exined the situation that the gods finally somewhat recovered from their shock.

    ¡°The Shadowless Sky God? Who is that? Does anyone know him?¡±

    ¡°No. Could he be one of the true ancient gods?¡±

    ¡°Impossible. Every god was present during the Twilight. How could a new one suddenly appear out of nowhere?¡±

    ¡°Then could he be a newborn one?¡±

    ¡°Given the current state of Kun¡¯s territory, I¡¯d say that that¡¯s basically impossible.¡±

    ¡°Has that damned bastard finally shown himself?¡±

    ¡°Is he trying to get himself killed?¡±

    ¡°Or maybe he is growing anxious because of the Barrier¡¯s imminent destruction.¡±

    ¡°Then he should take some lessons from that other spy who managed to sneak in and kill people instead of trying to entice our worshippers away.¡±

    ¡°Who knows. Maybe he has some trick up his sleeves.¡±

    The gods all began to discuss this amongst themselves animatedly. Interestingly enough, the focus of all their discussion was the Human Ancestor.

    No one even considered the possibility of Frost being involved.

    A mere pawn that had managed to sneak through from the Origin Realm would never be able to stir up such amotion.

    But of course, since the gods were getting involved now, it was only natural that they would investigate the situation further before making a decision.

    Near Wild Red Hills.

    This ce had once beenpletely deste, but after the establishment of the Shadowless Sky Church, traces of human activity could be seen all throughout the region.

    At the center of an enormous new city was an imposing new church.

    A giant Shadowless Sky God statue had been erected there to be worshipped by the church¡¯s followers. Standing at the very front was the church¡¯s archbishop, Frost.

    At that moment, golden light suddenly descended upon them, illuminating the entire church.

    Frost was momentarily taken aback before he realized what was happening and muttered to himself, ¡°They¡¯re here.¡±

    A powerful, majestic will surged forwards, filling the church¡¯s main hall. Even though there were countless disciples present, only Frost could hear a voice speaking to him. The other disciples remained in ce as if they were frozen.

    ¡°Whom do you serve?¡±

    Frost¡¯s eyebrow arched up. ¡°My Lord calls himself the Shadowless Sky God. As the God of Light, he is responsible for illuminating the darkness that has filled the human realm.¡±

    ¡°The God of Light fell during the Twilight of the Gods.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why my Lord has chosen to call himself the Shadowless Sky God,¡± Frost replied.

    The gods were stunned by Frost¡¯s words.

    Was this archbishop saying that the Shadowless Sky God was the sessor of the God of Light, who had fallen a long time ago?

    The gods had been born as a result of the will of the Heavens. It was not strange for one of them to die and then be reborn again. This had actually happened quite a few times during the Twilight of the Gods, but it was the first time any of them had seen this happen in thest ten thousand years.

    One of the gods then asked, ¡°Where does your Lord reside? Since he has been born, why has he note to meet us yet?¡±

    Frost lowered his head and demurely replied, ¡°May I ask which god I am speaking to?¡±

    ¡°You have the attention of the full pantheon of the gods.¡±

    Frost knelt and said, ¡°Elon of the Shadowless Church greets the gods.¡±

    ¡°Speak. Where is he?¡±

    Frost lifted his head as his body began to glow with holy light. ¡°My Lord resides within the Barrier!¡±

    ¡°The Barrier!¡± All of the gods were stunned by his words.

    ¡°Yes, the Barrier!¡± A fervent gaze appeared in Su Chen¡¯s eyes. ¡°My Lord was born in and resides in the Barrier. His birth is the Barrier¡¯s will!¡±

    The gods were all stunned when they heard this.

    Frost was basically saying that the Shadowless Sky God hadn¡¯t appeared not because he couldn¡¯t but rather because he had merged with the Barrier of the Gods.

    Was that even possible?

    It was, at least in theory.

    The gods were born from Method Power, which meant that any kind of Method Power could birth a god.

    The Barrier had existed for tens of thousands of years, so it also contained its own Method Power. And given how many gods had died during the Twilight of the Gods and left behind vengeful thoughts and strands of will, it was not inconceivable for a new god to appear.

    A new god that contained traces of the old gods.

    And this god would naturally be the most suited to bypass the restrictions of Kun¡¯s territory. The gods had theorized all this a long time ago, but theory was not always representative of reality.

    Of course, because this god was supposedly born in the Barrier, he was trapped, making it impossible for him to return to their side.

    And he was only appearing now because the Barrier itself was weakening. Theoretically, this would have increased his range of motion quite significantly.

    Even though it was nothing more than a lie, it was at least a very logical one.

    Unsurprisingly, this was a lie that the Human Ancestor had helped him construct. At the very least, the logic behind it would hold up even under intense scrutiny.

    Now, the question was how he could convince the other party to actually believe him.

 Book 7, 91: Negotiations

    At Redstone Basin.

    By this point, none of the Demonic Beasts would try to do anything to Su Chen.

    Without any guards present, Su Chen easily walked up and sent a droplet of blood essence into the pit.

    That single drop contained far more energy than what countless Demonic Beasts could provide.

    Very soon, a voice emerged from the depths. ¡°Why have you returned so soon? Has your n failed?¡±

    ¡°Quite the opposite. Up till now, everything has gone smoothly.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± A bat rose up from the depths. ¡°What did you say?¡±

    ¡°Exactly what you just heard. The n is unfolding quite smoothly.¡±

    ¡°What step are you currently at?¡±

    ¡°Destroying the Barrier.¡±

    Upon hearing this, the Blood Ancestor fell silent.

    After a long pause, the small bat pped its wings and said, ¡°This is the most crucial moment of the n. You cannot afford to be careless. The gods will not be easily deceived, and their divine power allows them to see through disguises. They will not be tricked so easily.¡±

    ¡°Actually, I think that the opposite is true. They are very easy to deceive,¡± Su Chen replied.

    ¡°Hm? Why is that?¡±

    ¡°Because theyck experience in being deceived.¡±

    Theycked experience in being deceived!

    This was part of why Su Chen dared to lie to them at all.

    Unlike pure strength, wisdom required both intelligence and experience to properly foster. The broader one¡¯s experience was, the more their wisdom would blossom and grow.

    The gods had quite a bit of experience in other subjects, but they had very little experience in lies and deceit.

    Because no one dared to do so.

    The gods were powerful.

    Too powerful!

    And this power meant that their pride ran bone-deep. This was why they said such things like, ¡°You dare to gaze directly at a god¡¯s glory,¡± ¡°You dare to call a god directly by their name,¡± and ¡°The mercy of a god is as deep as the sea, and their might is as terrifying as hell itself!¡±

    The timeless exaggeration of their might had elevated the statuses of the gods to extraordinary heights.

    This had been the norm for tens of thousands of years.

    Even though the gods had existed for a very long time, their experiences were one-dimensional.

    Hence, the power of trickery.

    Their prideful and arrogant demeanor was deeply ingrained into their psyche. As a result, the gods refused to believe that they could be deceived despite the fact that they knew that liars existed. It was true that their divine power allowed them to see through many such disguises. However, if the other party had divine power, even if just a little bit, then the gods would have to use their brains to see through the deceit.

    This was why the Blood Ancestor believed that the gods would not be easy to deceive, while Su Chen conversely believed that they would be.

    Upon hearing Su Chen¡¯s words, the Blood Ancestor fell silent again before asking, ¡°How much longer?¡±

    ¡°Very soon.¡±

    Within the Shadowless Sky Church.

    The gods¡¯ discussion was still ongoing.

    The voices of the gods echoed throughout the main hall like resonant bells, booming into Frost¡¯s ear.

    ¡°So Shadowless is actually hiding in the Barrier? In other words, he is in control of it?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Frost answered with a lowered head.

    ¡°Then can he open the Barrier?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    The gods instantly burst into a frenzied mor.

    If what Frost was saying was true, then wasn¡¯t that equivalent to consigning all of their work to oblivion? Why had they spent so much effort to wear down the Barrier? If they had just introduced themselves to Shadowless, then couldn¡¯t he have just opened the door for them?

    Of course, there was still time.

    The gods immediately demanded, ¡°Then have him open the Barrier!¡±

    The intensity of their words was difficult for Frost to bear, and he groaned in pain as blood spurted out from his body. And since he couldn¡¯t use immortal energy to heal his wounds, he could only forcefully endure the crushing pressure.

    Thankfully, the gods immediately realized what had happened and fell silent.

    A halo of golden light descended onto Frost¡¯s body, filling his body with a warm feeling.

    The Mother Goddess had intervened in a timely manner.

    Frost took a moment to catch his breath before saying, ¡°The Barrier is my Lord¡¯s body, and there is no door, so one cannot open it partially. Additionally, opening the Barrier is equivalent to destroying his body, and if the Barrier is shattered, then my Lord will die.¡±

    Upon hearing this, everyone felt their enthusiasm dim a little.

    So that¡¯s how it was. No wonder the Shadowless Sky God hadn¡¯t immediately opened the Barrier.

    If the Barrier shattered, then he would be finished.

    ¡°What a pity. Does that mean that he is fated to be our enemy and not our friend?¡± the Moon Goddess asked this in a tactful tone, but behind her cordial words was a venomous killing intent.

    No matter who it was, anyone that impeded the gods¡¯ return would be killed.

    Frost hurriedly said, ¡°My Lord would prefer to not be enemies, which is why he has been thinking of a way to circumvent this issue.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    ¡°My Lord needs a god¡¯s body. As long as he has a body, he will be able to extricate himself from the Barrier. And then, without my Lord supporting it, the Barrier will lose its backbone and will automatically copse.¡±

    ¡°It should be pretty easy to give him a body, no? There are tons of them left over from the Twilight of the Gods. Any one of them should do.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not enough,¡± Frost immediately said. He didn¡¯t refuse their offer outright, but he was nning on qualifying his statement more.

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    Frost forged on fearlessly as he sighed before exining, ¡°A god¡¯s corpse will not be enough to properly contain my Lord¡¯s power and might. Not even a thousand would be enough, which means that he needs an even more powerful body. After all, he is the Lord of the Barrier.¡±

    The Moon Goddess grew angry at Frost¡¯s words. ¡°Where does he want us to find such a body? There is no body that can meet these requirements.¡±

    ¡°Actually, there is!¡± Frost replied.

    All of the gods were momentarily taken aback.

    At that moment, however, the Lord of the Dreamrealm calmly sighed. ¡°He¡¯s talking about an Origin Beast.¡±

    An Origin Beast?

    The gods were stunned by this epiphany.

    Yes, an Origin Beast.

    This was perhaps the only creature whose physical body was even stronger than a god¡¯s.

    And this was true despite the fact that the Origin Beasts had lost the war against the gods.

    After all, even though the Origin Beasts lost, that didn¡¯t necessarily mean that they were weaker than the gods in every aspect. In terms of pure physical strength, no creature couldpare to the Origin Beasts.

    Humans could defeat and kill a tiger, for instance, but that didn¡¯t mean that a human¡¯s strength or vitality was greater than a tiger¡¯s. In fact, the opposite was true. If it weren¡¯t for the inherent adaptability and intelligence that humans possessed, a tiger would be able to easily finish off one or more humans by itself.

    The difference between the gods and the Origin Beasts was simr.

    The gods were actually weaker than the Origin Beasts when it came to vitality and strength. It wasn¡¯t their raw power but rather their innate control over Method Power and adaptability that had allowed them to triumph.

    These techniques of the gods were like the Origin Skills and weapons that humans used to hunt Deste Beasts.

    Frost¡¯s request surprised the gods.

    Did that mean that the Shadowless Sky God wanted to take over the corpse of an Origin Beast?

    In theory, it was possible.

    And living in the body of a dog would be better than living inside of a wall.

    ¡°Fine. If that¡¯s what he wants, then we will give it to him. But we need him to first open the Barrier before we can cross over and catch some of those slumbering creatures for him. He will be able to pick freely from a wide selection when the timees,¡± the Moon Goddess immediately said. Since they would only provide him with an Origin Beast corpse after the Barrier fell, it didn¡¯t really matter whether or not they kept their word. Naturally, the Moon Goddess was willing to make any kind of empty promise necessary to copse the Barrier quicker.

    Frost smiled slightly. ¡°That would be difficult to do. Once the Barrier is destroyed, my Lord will die. As such, he must immediately transfer himself to his new body the moment the Barrier disintegrates.¡±

    Longue the Barbarian God was beginning to grow impatient. ¡°We are on the other side of the Barrier. How can we find an Origin Beast for him here?¡±

    ¡°That is your problem to solve,¡± Frost calmly replied.

    ¡°How arrogant!¡± Longue was infuriated. This Barbarian God, as befitting of his name, sounded like he wanted to forcibly descend into the Shadowless Sky Church and teach Frost a lesson.

    Thankfully, the Lord of the Dreamrealm intervened. ¡°Don¡¯t be in such a hurry to act. If you kill him, then the Shadowless Sky God will end all negotiations with us.¡±

    ¡°What else is there to negotiate? We cannot meet his requests, but regardless, all we need to do is wait a few more years for the Barrier to be destroyed.¡±

    Frost calmly said, ¡°That is just because my Lord has never actively resisted. He needed all of you to first weaken the Barrier to the point where he can converse with you. But now that my Lord has spoken his piece, he can......¡±

    As Frost spoke, the entire space around the church suddenly seemed to freeze.

    Something miraculous was unfolding on a level invisible to the naked eye.

    asionally, golden streaks of light would sh through the air.

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm, the Mother Goddess, and the others all cried out in shock, ¡°The Barrier has been strengthened once more!¡±

    Yes ¡ª at that moment, they could sense that the Barrier was re-solidifying. A powerful wave of energy had epassed the Barrier and was preventing it from deteriorating any further. Additionally, it was exceptionally strong ¡ª so much so that parts of the Barrier that had been destroyed were beginning to recover.

    The other gods immediately started panicking.

    If this were to continue, then how would they escape?

    ¡°Let¡¯s talk things over peacefully!¡± the gods urgently cried out.

    Frost lowered his head and muttered a few sentences under his breath. The power disappeared, and the Barrier returned to its original state, as if nothing had happened in the first ce.

    The Moon Goddess was still in a state of disbelief. ¡°This...... is this real? This isn¡¯t an illusion technique, right?¡±

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm sighed. ¡°You should know that no illusion technique can trick me. For just a moment, I clearly sensed that a powerful will was affecting the entire Barrier and causing it to recover. And now, it has disappeared. That must have been the Shadowless Sky God. He does exist, and he is in fact in control of the Barrier.¡±

    Upon hearing this, everyone felt despair creep up their hearts.

    The Mother Goddess said, ¡°We can alwayse up with a different way to procure an Origin Beast.¡±

    Drawing over an Origin Beast before the Barrier was fully destroyed would not be an easy task.

    But as long as they were willing to pay a price, a way could always be found.

    All of the gods turned to face the Lord of the Dreamrealm.

    None of them understood the Origin Realm as deeply as he did, and he had the greatest influence over the Origin Realm through the Barrier. Furthermore, he was also the one with the most worshippers in the Origin Realm.

    Upon seeing everyone gaze at him expectantly, the Lord of the Dreamrealm thought for a moment before replying, ¡°I can have my disciples awaken an Origin Beast and lead it to the Barrier. Whether or not that will be enough, however, I don¡¯t know.¡±

    Frost replied, ¡°It will take some time for my Lord to enter his new body. The Origin Beast will likely die soon after it is awakened, so we must send it over to this side first. Only Kun¡¯s territory has enough Origin Energy to sustain the Origin Beast.¡±

    ¡°Then your Lord will have to allow passage,¡± Yormak said.

    Because of the divine power shrouding him, Yormak did not recognize Frost in the slightest.

    ¡°My Lord has already said that the Barrier has no door and that a passageway cannot be opened. Otherwise, he would have let you all through a long time ago,¡± Frost said.

    ¡°Then how can we get an Origin Beast through the Barrier if not even we can pass through?¡± the gods asked in a somewhat dissatisfied tone.

    Wasn¡¯t that exactly what they wanted to do themselves?

    If they could transport an Origin Beast through the Barrier, then why didn¡¯t they just send themselves through to the other side? Why would they even need to destroy the Barrier in the first ce if that were possible?

    ¡°There is one method that could work.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Spatial transmission.¡±

    Previous Chapter

 Book 7, 92: The Counterattack Begins

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 92: The Counterattack Begins</h4>

    After hearing Frost¡¯s proposed n, all of the gods burst intoughter.Yormak said, ¡°How naive. Did you really think that none of us would be proficient in spatial Method Power? If it were possible to tunnel through the Barrier with just spatial Method Power, then how could we still be trapped here?¡±The Barrier of the Gods was aplete separation of space. There was no way to transport items through the Barrier with special Method Power.The Lord of the Dreamrealm, however, felt his heart lurch as a thought urred to him. ¡°Can the Shadowless Sky Lord weaken the Barrier¡¯s spatial istion?¡±Frost slowly shook his head. ¡°He cannot do that. The spatial istion is an intrinsic property of the Barrier, one that was agreed upon by the gods when the Barrier was initially formed. Until it is destroyed, it will not go down.¡±Upon hearing this, everyone else sighed.Yes, this was a property that the gods had instituted themselves in the first ce.In the end, this was also what was keeping them trapped here.¡°If that¡¯s the case, then how can we transport an Origin Beast over to this side?¡± the Moon Goddess asked.She could tell that the Shadowless Sky God seemed to already have a n ready and that he was mostly probing their receptiveness toter negotiations. If that was the case, then the other party most likely already had a solution in mind.Indeed, Frost went on to say, ¡°Under normal circumstances, this would indeed be impossible. But there is one item that would make it possible.¡±¡°What is it?¡±¡°Sky City.¡±¡°Sky City?¡± The gods nced at each other quizzically and then at the Mother Goddess.What did the Harpies¡¯ Sky City have anything to do with spatial transportation?The Mother Goddess was just as bemused as the rest of them.The Lord of the Dreamrealm asked, ¡°How will you do this?¡±Frost confidently replied, ¡°By borrowing the Deep Sea Anchor¡¯s properties!¡±The Deep Sea Anchor was what the Intelligent Races had used to trick the Harpies, but its design was still very impressive in its own right. More importantly, the Deep Sea Anchor could be permanently linked to the Origin Energy Sea.This was why Sky City had been rendered immobile for so many years. It wasn¡¯t until they obtained two priceless treasures that they had been able to retract the Deep Sea Anchor.The stability of the Deep Sea Anchor could be seen purely from this example.The Mother Goddess seemed to suddenly realize something when she heard Frost¡¯s words. ¡°You want to extend the Deep Sea Anchor through the cracks in the Barrier and disrupt the spatial istion with that?¡±An intact Barrier would be impossible to prate even with the help of the Deep Sea Anchor.But right now, of course, it was covered in cracks.The small size of the cracks made the space around it quite unstable, which meant that the gods were still not able to pass through them yet.But by passing the Deep Sea Anchor through the Barrier¡¯s cracks, the surrounding space would stabilize into a secure spatial passageway.This passageway could not be used for transportation, but it would disrupt the Barrier¡¯s spatial istion properties.With a stable spatial passageway, a weak point in the Barrier would emerge. If the godsbined their efforts and the Barrier cooperated with them, then it would indeed be possible to transport an Origin Beast through the Barrier.¡°If this passageway can send an Origin Beast through to this side, then why can¡¯t we just use it to leave?¡± one of the gods asked.The gods desperately wanted to reach the Origin Realm. If they could send Origin Beasts through, then why couldn¡¯t they just transport themselves over the other way?Frost chuckled. ¡°My Lord has no objections to you all using this passageway to reach the outside world. However, he would like to kindly remind you all that there are still Origin Beasts alive and well in the outside world.¡±Upon hearing this, the gods fell silent.Yes, this was true. Even though they wanted to invade the Origin Realm, it wasn¡¯t as if its inhabitants were pushovers. There were still quite a few Origin Beasts and Deste Beasts lying in hibernation there.If it weren¡¯t for the support of their believers, then the gods would not have much of an advantage against the Origin Beasts, especially since they were currently in a weakened condition.If their invasion were to be noticed by an Origin Beast, then they would be in serious trouble. They would quickly find themselves surrounded and possibly eradicated.The Lord of the Dreamrealm said, ¡°Since the Barrier is going to be fully destroyed soon, there is no need to worry too much about the details or take unnecessary risks. The way I see it, we should follow the Shadowless Sky God¡¯s suggestion and draw an Origin Beast over. Once he regains his body and the Barrier fully self-destructs, we will be able to cross over and steamroll our way over the Origin Realm.¡±¡°But how will we guide the Deep Sea Anchor through the Barrier?¡±¡°That will depend on Kashmir,¡± the Lord of the Dreamrealm calmly said.The Mother Goddess harrumphed. ¡°Even though the Harpies have been defeated, many of them still remain loyal to me. They are awaiting my return and mymands. I can have them revolt at a moment¡¯s notice and take control of the core. Even though the humans are strong, as long as Su Chen is not present, my disciples will be able to carry out this mission.¡±Frost respectfully said, ¡°The loyal Harpies will definitely return to their Mother¡¯s embrace. The blessing of the gods is on their side.¡±¡°Then the matter has been decided,¡± the Moon Goddess said, ¡°Ten days from now, we will put our n into motion.¡±¡°You all seem to have forgotten about something,¡± the Lord of the Dreamrealm suddenly interjected.¡°What?¡± The gods seemed confused.The Lord of the Dreamrealm replied, ¡°There is still someone lurking in the shadows.¡±¡°That spy?¡± The gods suddenly remembered their ancient opponent, who had stirred up a countless amount of trouble for them during the past millennia.They had been searching for him for an extremely long amount of time. Eventually, they had also realized that it was possible that this traitor might be among their ranks.But because of the Eternal Treaty, the gods couldn¡¯t attack each other. As such, there was nothing that they could do other than guess haphazardly. Even now, they were incapable of discovering his true identity.The Lord of the Dreamrealm then said, ¡°If that traitor leaks our n to Su Chen, it will be doomed to fail. We must prevent that possibility at all costs.¡±¡°What can we possibly do about that?¡±¡°From this point on, the gods must stay together at all times. We cannot split up,¡± the Moon Goddess said.¡°What about the Barrier?¡±¡°If this n seeds, we won¡¯t even need to work on wearing down the Barrier any further. Ten days from now, it will be destroyed on its own.¡±¡°But that traitor can form an army of clones. Even if we manage to physically tie him down here, his clones will be able to spread the news easily.¡±¡°Then we should seal this spacepletely off, including any telepathic transmission of information. Then, there will be no need for us to worry about our ns being leaked.¡±¡°But we will lose our eyes and ears if that happens.¡±¡°It¡¯s just ten days. What could possibly happen in such a short timespan?¡±¡°Ten days will pass in the blink of an eye.¡±¡°I¡¯m worried that the world might be turned upside down by the time we open our eyes again.¡±¡°That is an inevitability. I just wonder what color the world will be when we reawaken.¡±¡°What else could it be? Obviously the color red, for blood.¡±¡°Multicolored blood would be the prettiest!¡± Amelie said with a puerile idiocy.The gods continued to discuss amongst themselves about how they would handle the spy.No one knew who exactly was the first to propose this total istion. The gods were obviously being quite decisive if they were willing to blind themselves like this.¡±Frost said, ¡°My Lord thanks the gods for their cooperation. Since the matter has been decided, we will gratefully wait for a report of your sess.¡±Back in Sky City.Eternal Night sat on a throne,pletely motionless as he mulled over something.A Harpy official knelt before him. ¡°Your Majesty, our preparations have beenpleted. All that remains is to capture those traitors......¡±¡°Traitors......¡± Eternal Night mulled over the word.There were still some Harpies who were loyal to the Mother Goddess and were unwilling to submit to the humans.Were they really traitors?In their hearts, they probably saw him as the traitor, didn¡¯t they?Eternal Night couldn¡¯t help but chuckle bitterly at the ironic situation.¡°Your Majesty?¡± the officials asked carefully.Eternal Night regained his focus and briskly said, ¡°Go and capture them.¡±¡°Understood!¡±On that day, a bloody ughter unfolded within Sky City.Countless Harpy nobles were dragged out of their homes and to the city walls. What awaited them there was a merciless interrogation and execution.By then, the gods had not even sealed themselves off for half a day yet. The timing was obviously extremely tight.Within the Boundless Pce.Su Chen stood on the Sky-Gazing pavilion, carefully considering something.Gu Qingluo walked over, lovingly leaned against him, and said, ¡°Everything is going ording to n. What are you thinking about?¡±Su Chen reached out and gently pulled his wife into his embrace. ¡°Nothing, really. I¡¯m just thinking about how we are about to challenge the gods. I can¡¯t help but feel excited about what¡¯s going to happen.¡±Gu Qingluo giggled. ¡°So you do have a nervous side after all.¡±Su Chen was left speechless.How could he not be excited?How could he not be anxious?After all, he was going to challenge the gods. Even the Origin Beasts had been unable to defeat them.But this was why he had to try!No matter what, he would not allow the human race to be enved by the gods!The human race had the right to decide their own fate!Even if fighting back led to certain doom and eternal suffering.When his thoughts reached this point, Su Chen¡¯s heart began to burn fiercely. All of his nervousness faded away as his heart was filled with valor.Gu Qingluo could sense the change that had taken ce in her husband.He had clearly made up his mind.Gu Qingluo gripped his hand even tighter.Countless people would undoubtedly die during this battle.Even Su Chen ran the risk of death. This was why she refused to let go of him.At the same time that a ughter was unfolding in Sky City and the tension in the Boundless Pce had reached an all-time high, changes began to take ce in the vast wilderness as well.Small blood-colored bats single-mindedly flew across the wilderness.Following the flight of the blood-colored bats, massive figures began to emerge from the surface of the ground, unleashing mighty howls as they did so.Countless hibernating Beasts emerged from the ground before lumbering towards the horizon.There was no fighting or ughtering here ¡ª only a relentless advance.Some of the gods¡¯ disciples in the Origin Realm began to fervently pray to their patrons, attempting to inform their gods of the strange situation unfolding before their very eyes.Unfortunately, their gods were no longer able to hear them.The Deep Sea Anchor pierced through the sea of Origin Energy and through the Barrier¡¯s cracks.A gigantic teleportation formation began to hum to life.The Deste Beasts and Origin Beasts surged forward.And so, the counterattack began.

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 Book 7, 93: Illegal Stowaways 1

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 93: Illegal Stowaways 1</h4>

    Off at the horizon.

    At thergest crack in the Barrier, where Su Chen and the gods had once faced off, argemotion was unfolding.

    Sky City was the first to arrive.

    Its giant figure slowly appeared off in the distance, floating in the direction of the Barrier like a looming stormcloud.

    Next, the Demon-Executing Cannon began to rise from the top of the Perpetual Daylight Pce.

    The cannon took aim at the crack, then fired at it.

    A terrifyingly powerful column of lightning shot forth, generating a brilliant explosion of light. It seemed as if they were nning on tearing down the Barrier by force.

    Of course, if a single cannon strike was enough to destroy it, then it wouldn¡¯t have been the Barrier of the Gods in the first ce.

    The Barrier possessed powerful regenerative properties. During the past few years, the gods had been wearing down at its regenerative rate, but all they had managed to do was slow it down.

    The Demon-Executing Cannon was temporarily widening the fissure, but it would notst forever, as the Barrier would slowly begin to regenerate.

    Thankfully, Su Chen didn¡¯t need it tost.

    Boom, boom, boom, boom!

    The God-Executing Cannon began to fire continuously, causing tremendous amounts of damage.

    Under normal circumstances, the cannon was not able to fire repeatedly at maximum power, but Su Chen had forced the Craftsmen to make appropriate changes to make it possible.

    Every time it fired, the cannon would deal a tremendous amount of damage to itself.

    After nearly a dozen explosions, the cannon itself cracked.

    The Origin Realm¡¯s most powerful cannon had been destroyed just like that.

    Even so, this was worth it.

    At the same instant that the cannon shattered, a giant rumbling began to sound out.

    An anchor exuding a profoundly ancient aura began to snake out of Sky City, heading straight for the Barrier. The long anchor nked repeatedly, seemingly unending in length.

    The anchor continued to extend into the fissure, passing through the Barrier and connecting the two worlds.

    The Barrier¡¯s fracture was filled with powerful spatial energy. Any lifeform would have an incredibly difficult time passing through.

    The Deep Sea Anchor, however, was an exception. It was designed to cross realms, after all.

    And the Deep Sea Anchor was also capable of stabilizing the surrounding space. As soon as the anchor passed through the fracture, the Barrier temporarily lost its regenerative properties.

    The fracture had been widened, and the pressure on the Barrier was also weaker.

    Boom!

    The anchor finallynded on the other side. As it collided with Kun¡¯s territory, it began to glow with a brilliant light.

    Near the Wild Red Hills.

    The Shadowless Sky Church¡¯s disciples were quite busy.

    They held candles in their left hand and Shadowless Spheres in their right hands, standing in well-defined positions. On the ground, they had drawn specific, color-coded patterns.

    The moment that the Deep Sea Anchor broke through the Barrier, all of the disciples began to sing. Their chants filled the open sky, and under the influence of divine power, began to influence the surrounding Method Power.

    Frost was dressed in the Church¡¯s robes, and he stood on the highest tform, gently muttering to himself. It looked as if he was praying, but he was actuallymunicating with the main body.

    On Sky City.

    Su Chen sat with his eyes closed, in deep thought.

    Suddenly, he lifted his head and said, ¡°The connection has been established. We can proceed to phase two.¡±

    The sonorous ring of a bell began to echo throughout the city.

    Sky City itself began to glow brilliantly.

    The two formations in the Origin Realm and in Kun¡¯s territory activated simultaneously,municating with one another. The Deep Sea Anchor, which was serving as the connector, began to rattle and shake.

    Immediately afterwards, a series of humanoid figurs shot towards the Barrier. Upon closer inspection, those figures were Su Chen¡¯s Titan-ss Puppets.

    At this point, however, Su Chen¡¯s Titan army numbered in the thousands.

    In order to construct this army, Su Chen had basically used up all of the rare metals he had on hand. Now, the n¡¯s sess hinged on them.

    Boom, boom, boom, boom!

    Puppet after puppet charged into the fissure.

    Because they possessed no vitality, they would be the least affected by the Barrier. Furthermore, because they had been constructed withrge quantities of Void Starmetal, they possessed power akin to spatial Method Power. This further enhanced their resistance to the spatial fluctuations present in the Barrier¡¯s fraction. Otherwise, Su Chen would not have been able to send Number One through the Barrier to Frost.

    Upon entering the Barrier, they lined themselves up against the Deep Sea Anchor from end to end.

    Then, all of the Titan-ss puppet simultaneously sprang into action. The glow of spatial Method Power appeared on their bodies. They became a pure ball of light centered around the Deep Sea Anchor, which quickly filled the entire fissure.

    ¡°The connecting bridge has beenpleted!¡± Lin Shaoxuan cried out in excitement.

    ¡°Prepare to enter!¡±

    ¡°Prepare to enter!¡±

    ¡°Prepare to enter!¡±

    Following these cries, human figures began to fly into the sky, heading for that ball of pure white light. They charged through the fissure, with the Gu n¡¯s Ancestor Gu Huiming leading the way. Behind him were Gu Changsheng, Gu Feihong, Gu Xinrong, and the other Gu n elders. Behind them were Li Wuyi, Feng Zhuying, Jiang Jusheng, and the other human emperors.

    The Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators, with the exclusion of Su Chen, were the first ones to charge into the fissure.

    After they entered the ball of pure white light, they directly flew towards the other side of the fissure. Surprisingly, the Barrier¡¯s violent spatial fluctuations did no damage to them.

    That was the use of the connecting bridge.

    By using the Deep Sea Anchor as a foundation and the Titan-ss puppets as the bridge¡¯s wooden ts, Su Chen had managed to construct a powerful bridge that could withstand the Barrier¡¯s might. Living creatures could now safely pass through to the other side.

    A momentter, the Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators passed through the other side of the fissure, appearing in the sky above Kun¡¯s territory.

    ¡°Is this Kun¡¯s territory?¡±

    ¡°It seems quite unimpressive to me. I can already sense the limitations that this patch ofnd possesses.¡±

    ¡°If even we can sense the limitations, those gods must be having quite a hard time.¡±

    ¡°No wonder they are so determined to cross over.¡±

    ¡°But they¡¯re mistaken if they think it¡¯ll be that easy!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go down below!¡±

    They wasted no time aftermenting on the general situation and began to descend.

    Gu Huiming and the others descended to the color-coded patterns below. The ones theynded on were the purple ones.

    Every time one of themnded, an inscription beneath them would begin to glow.

    By now, quite a few people were beginning to appear in the sky.

    Behind the Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators came the Demonic Emperors.

    Even though many of them had died during the battles in the wilderness, quite a few of them were still alive. And because periods of resurgence often came after death and destruction, new Demonic Emperors began to appear. In but ten or so years, another hundred Demonic Emperors had appeared. There were still far more of them than human Emperor Realm cultivators - a testament to their reproductive abilities.

    After the Demonic Emperors came the Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators and the Demonic Kings.

    The number of cultivators at the Thought Manifestation Realm were much, much greater.

    During the past few years, the Boundless Sect finally had its first ascension to the Thought MAnifestation Realm.

    And given the Boundless Sect¡¯s unique properties, these ascensions woulde in waves.

    As soon as one broke through, they would begin to appear by the hundreds.

    Previously, the human race held no more than two hundred Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators.

    In a few short years, that number had skyrocketed to around five thousand.

    Even the Demonic Beasts could notpare to that kind of increase.

    Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators rained down from the sky like dumplings.

    Their targets were the gold patterns. A simr phenomenon urred when theynded, as the corresponding patterns began to glow.

    The Shadowless Sky God¡¯s disciples, who were on the outermostyers, continued to pray in earnest. Their prayers were converted to Method Power, filling the air above the formation with divine power. Even if there were gods observing the current situation, they would think that this power came from the great Shadowless Sky God. Perhaps he was preparing to lure the Origin Beast towards the Barrier.

    It took some time for all the Demonic Kings and Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators to descend.

    Next were the Spirit Burning Realm cultivators and the Demonic Lords.

    Their numbers were even more terrifying.

    To date, the Boundless Sect possessed around thirty thousand Spirit Burning Realm cultivators. Because of the distribution of the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques, the human race¡¯s numbers had reached around a hundred thousand.

    That was a truly terrifying figure.

    Humans continued to pour into the other side via the bridge.

    No one dared to tarry for even a moment, because doing so would impede the advance of others behind them. Su Chen had decreed that no one was allowed to stop, even if they somehow died in the process. The people behind them were allowed to squeeze the person in front of them as much as they pleased. Anyone who did stop would be killed on the spot.

    Such a draconian rule led to an unstoppable charge.

    The connecting bridge became a march of death, forcing everyone along it to charge forwards without rest. The slower individuals would either enterter or they would be forcefully pushed along by the people behind them.

    In any case, no one dared to stop.

    Even so, it still took a long time for nearly a hundred thousand cultivators to cross the bridge.

    Humans poured through the sky like a swarm of insects, covering the entire territory.

    By the time all of themnded, nearly half a day had passed. A sizeable crowd had gathered on the ground, and the giant formation beneath their feet was beginning to appear more and moreplete.

    This formation wasposed of hundreds of Ultimate Emperor Realm-level existences, nearly ten thousand Thought Manifestation Realm, and hundreds of thousands of Spirit Burning Realm creatures. Never before had such strength been gathered in one ce before.

    Soon, all of the positions on the formation had been activated. The moment it fully formed, Frost nodded with conviction. ¡°It¡¯s done.¡±

    Boom!!!

    From the center of the formation, a giant column of light shot into the sky, rushing towards the fissure.

    In that moment, the fissure suddenly widened by hundreds of times.

    The Deep Sea Anchor was still present, as were the Titan-ss puppets. However, the bridge was no longer a bridge; instead, it had be the foundation for a new bridge.

    An evenrger spatial bridge had materialized atop that foundation.

    ¡°The Heavenly Bridge has beenpleted!¡± Lin Shaoxuan cried out once more.

    ¡°The Deste Beasts are entering!¡±

    ¡°ROAR!!!¡±

    Below Sky City, Deste Beast after Deste Beast began to howl as they charged towards the bridge.

    Previous Chapter

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 Book 7, 94: Illegal Stowaways 2

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 94: Illegal Stowaways 2</h4>

    This scene would forever go down in history.

    Each Deste Beast was as tall as a mountain, and they all emanated a terrifyingly powerful aura.

    Each one¡¯s awe-inspiring power was enough to cause any human to tremble with fear.

    And now, these Deste Beasts were descending from the sky in a seemingly unending stream.

    As the onlookers grew ustomed to the scene, however, their shock gradually began to fade. By this point, they really were just watching from afar. The impact of the Deste Beasts was much smaller that way.

    It was as if they were nothing more than tiny ants gazing at the gigantic world around them.

    Everything was so big, and at the same time, so far away.

    The Deste Beasts felt like they were out of reach, like the starry sky.

    Thankfully, the terrifying memories of past wars did not be reality.

    At least for now, the Beasts were their allies.

    These giant Beasts were not nearly as disciplined as the human armies.

    They were full of activity and liveliness. Even though they knew that they should be trying to stay as low-key as possible, they couldn¡¯t stop themselves. Their excitement only intensified after setting foot in Kun¡¯s territory.

    They could sense the dense Origin Energy surrounding them.

    More urately, they could sense that this world was very suited for them.

    In other words, they were no longer doomed to a slow death from starvation.

    ¡°ROARR!!!¡±

    Excited howls began to fill the sky, to an extent where even the prayers from the throngs of disciples could not mask them.

    Thankfully, the gods were totally sealed off. The sound was quite terrifying, however, to any who were still apprehensive about the Beasts.

    Even Su Chen could hear them from the other side of the Barrier. He nced at the Blood Ancestor, and with a somewhat ugly expression, said, ¡°I thought that you agreed that they would restrain their excitement a little bit.¡±

    A tiny Bloodbat perched on his shoulder sighed before responding, ¡°I tried, but in the end, they are Beasts, not humans. They have their own way of disying their own emotions. Just let it be. The sess of our operation doesn¡¯t really depend on how careful we are, but rather on how stupid the gods end up being.¡±

    ¡°Then tell them to get a move on. There are still many things that we need to do,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°Of course,¡± the Blood Ancestor replied.

    Then, he gently sighed.

    A small Bloodbat appeared above the foreheads of the Deste Beasts, trilling quietly.

    The warning from an Origin Beast was what finally caused them to quiet down.

    They lumbered over to the outskirts of the formation, and then channeled their power into the air.

    The bridge in the sky began to expand once more.

    This was precisely the methodology behind Su Chen and the others¡¯ infiltration n.

    First, they utilized the Harpies¡¯ Demon-Executing Cannon to widen the breach. Then, they used the Deep Sea Anchor to stabilize it. Next, the Titan-ss puppets formed the foundation of the first bridge. After them, the cultivators became the foundation for the second bridge, and so on and so forth.

    This was how they progressively increased the stability of the bridge so as to allow their most powerfulbatants to cross through the Barrier.

    Back on the side of Sky City,rge numbers of low-tier human cultivators and Harpy Arcana Masters maintained their end of the formation, while the side on Kun¡¯s territory was made up of high-tier cultivators and Deste Beasts. This was the setup that ultimately allowed the Origin Beasts to cross over as well.

    Once the bridge was upgraded to that level, even the gods would have been able to pass through the Barrier.

    In that sense, the Origin Realm¡¯s power was not any less than the gods¡¯ power. Even though their task had been ameliorated by the Barrier¡¯s decline and the Deep Sea Anchor¡¯s stabilizing properties, the fact that their strength had reached a sufficient level for them to aplish such a feat was still amazing.

    Unfortunately, this strength was distributed across many individuals, and was not concentrated into an elite group like the gods.

    But more importantly, the gods were currently in a weakened state.

    If the gods were able to sessfully cross through the Barrier and reach the Origin Realm with this bridge, then their dreams would havee true ¡ª in some sense, this was also the perfect opportunity for them.

    But Su Chen had ounted for all this in his ns.

    The most foundational part of this bridge was formed from nearly a thousand Titan-ss puppets, and they were programmed to immediately retreat as soon as any sign of divine power was detected.

    This would cause the bridge to copse, killing any god trying to sneak through to the other side.

    Of course, the cultivators within Kun¡¯s territory would be abandoned as a result.

    That was the worst possible oue.

    Thankfully, it had note to pass.

    The gods¡¯ hatred and apprehension for the spy amongst them had rendered thempletely motionless. Their only option to keep any plot hidden was to keep everything tightly suppressed under lock and key to prevent that spy from leaking any information. In that sense, the gods had no choice but to follow through.

    The bridge in the sky continued to glow brighter and brighter.

    Suddenly, a silver river stretched through the sky. Even the humans off in the distance could see the brilliant river ¡ª everyone could, apart from the gods.

    ¡°The Realm-Breaking Bridge isplete!¡± Lin Shaoxuan yelled.

    ng!!!

    The clear peals of a heavy bell rang through the sky. It traveled from one side of the Barrier to the other, so even those in Kun¡¯s territory could hear it.

    The bell tolls for death!

    ROARR!!!!

    With a heaven-shattering roar, the first Origin Beast appeared from a mountain range.

    An Origin Beast had not appeared in the flesh for a long, long time.

    The moment it emerged, everyone realized that its body was actually the entire mountain range.

    Off in the distance, the water in argeke began to condense, forming into arge Origin Beast made of water. Its pure elemental power was simply astounding.

    An entire forest quaked violently as the trees gathered into a giant figure made of wood. Its figure was so tall that it appeared to extend into the Heavens.

    All across the Origin Realm, mountains disappeared, forests shifted, rivers and streams were redirected, and deserts shrunk.

    p, p!

    Finally, colony after colony of small Bloodbats flew into the air like a swarm of locusts, gathering together until they finally merged with one another to form a gigantic Bloodbat.

    ¡°Well done, young man!¡± the Blood Ancestor said as he gazed sharply at the Realm-Breaking Bridge. A glimmer of hope appeared in his eyes.

    If the Origin Beasts crossed that bridge, then they would at least have a chance of surviving!

    The Blood Ancestor was the smallest of all the Origin Beasts. Actually, the second bridge was theoretically already wide enough for him to pass.

    His body¡¯s energy reserves, on the other hand, were so astoundingly great that only the Realm-Breaking Bridge could withstand it. As the leader of the Origin Beasts, he had chosen to wait patiently for the rest to cross first ¡ª quite befitting of his status.

    There weren¡¯t many Origin Beasts. Only around ten of them were still alive at this point.

    Their great strength, however, meant that it was still extremely difficult for them to pass through the Realm-Breaking Bridge.

    The Origin Beast that had hibernated as a mountain range was attempting to cross the bridge at that very moment.

    Its size was so great that its body spanned the entire bridge, but it still had not passed all the way through.

    Its head had poked its way into Kun¡¯s territory, but more than half of its body had been left dangling in the Origin Realm.

    The Blood Ancestor shook his head unhappily. ¡°This passageway is still too narrow.¡±

    Su Chen replied, ¡°It¡¯s still a bit too narrow, isn¡¯t it? I suppose that it¡¯s finally my turn to take center stage.¡±

    As he spoke, he flew into the air, arriving at the center of the giant formation built in Sky City.

    This formation was being supported by the energy from countless low-tier human cultivators and Harpy soldiers. The center of the formation, however, seemed to be purposefully empty, as if it were waiting for someone.

    As soon as Su Chen stepped into the center of the formation, it began to glow with an intense light.

    Su Chen reached out with his hands and balled them up into fists. Suddenly, the opening to the Realm-Breaking Bridge slowly but steadily began to expand.

    The fit had been extremely tight for the mountainous Origin Beast just moments ago. In one instant, the Origin Beast was howling with agitation and impatience; the next, it had slipped right on through to the other side.

    The Origin Beast was overjoyed by this development and continued to push itself through to the other side.

    A terrifyinglyrge creature descended from the sky in Kun¡¯s territory. The air pressure in the surrounding area increased significantly just from its massive presence.

    ¡°What a shocking amount of power!¡± the Blood Ancestor sighed in amazement as he nced at Su Chen.

    For him to be able to single-handedly expand the Realm-Breaking Bridge to such an extent was a testament to not only his strength, but also the rate at which it increased.

    Even if, at first, he had only managed to defeat a Deste Beast on his own by relying on luck and circumstance, the current Su Chen was more than strong enough to take on a Deste Beast by himself.

    In other words, he was not far from reaching the strength of a god.

    Perhaps one more step is all it will take, the Blood Ancestor thought to himself.

    Finally, the mountainous Origin Beast managed to fully squeeze its way through to the other side, where it let out an overjoyed howl.

    Next came the aqueous Origin Beast.

    Unlike the mountainous Origin Beast, which had to rely on brute strength to push itself through, the aqueous Origin Beast was much more adaptable. It turned itself into a river and steadily poured itself through the bridge. As long as the bridge could withstand its power, it was more than capable of passing through quite quickly.

    The tree Origin Beast seemed to rely on brute force, much like the mountainous Origin Beast.

    It was too tall and couldn¡¯t walk upright through the bridge. As such, it had no choice but to crawl.

    As it crawled across the bridge, it nced at Sovereign Kucha and chuckled meaningfully.

    Kucha shuddered, lowered his head, and wisely kept his mouth shut.

    In some sense, him eating the Tree Ancestor¡¯s enlightenment made him its disciple. However, Kucha clearly understood that bing the Tree Ancestor¡¯s disciple was not necessarily a good thing. After all, its being a nt lifeform allowed it to assimte all other lifeforms. A talented disciple was fated to be its nourishment in the end.

    Thankfully, the Tree Ancestor had simply chosen to cross the bridge instead of trying to eat him.

    After all, the other side was bound to have even better sources of nourishment.

    Origin Beast after Origin Beast lumbered across the bridge, burning incredible amounts of energy for every second it took for them to cross.

    After most of the Origin Beasts had crossed through, the Blood Ancestor embarked as well.

    His size was the smallest, allowing him to pass through it with rtive ease.

    Every step he took, however, caused the bridge to tremble violently, creak, and groan. It felt as if it was going to fall apart at any second.

    This was because the bridge was beginning to grow weaker, and also because the Blood Ancestor was incredibly powerful.

    Thankfully, the Blood Ancestor was very fast. As if he could sense the Realm-Breaking Bridge¡¯s imminent copse, the Blood Ancestor let out a roar before splitting apart into countless smaller clones, all of them surging towards the other side of the bridge.

    As the Bloodbats poured out of the other side like a crimson tide, the burden on the Realm-Breaking Bridge decreased, and Su Chen let out a sigh of relief.

    ¡°Sess!¡± Su Chen shouted exuberantly. ¡°All that remains is the final step. Reel in the anchor!¡±

    ¡°Reel in the anchor!¡±

    ¡°Reel in the anchor!¡±

    ¡°Reel in the anchor!¡±

    The order was ryed throughout Sky City.

    The Deep Sea Anchor began to nk once again.

    This nking sound, however, was not to retrieve the anchor but rather to pull it taught, increasing the tension in the anchor¡¯s chain to the greatest degree possible.

    As the anchor chain tightened, Sky City began to slowly rumble forwards, picking up steam as it flew towards the fissure at an increasing rate.

    ¡°Spatial rend!¡±

    ¡°Spatial rend!¡±

    ¡°Spatial rend!¡±

    Anothermand echoed through the air.

    Thismand, however, was not given to Sky City, but rather to the thousand Titan-ss puppets in the fissure.

    All of the Titan-ss puppet simultaneously struck out with their hands.

    Dimensional sh!

    A thousand Dimensional shes tore through the space in the Barrier, causing it to tremble violently.

    Then came another thousand.

    The fissure expanded ceaselessly.

    By this point, the bridge was less of a bridge and more of a door.

    A giant door towered in the sky, shining and glowing with a brilliant light. Because of the immense pressure that the Barrier exerted on this opening, the door would onlyst for a short period of time.

    ¡°Charge!!!¡±

    Boom!

    Sky City crashed violently into the Realm-Breaking Door.

    Its powerful momentum forcefully mmed through the door, forcing it open. As it pushed through the door, shing lights filled the sky, signalling the door¡¯s imminent copse.

    Then, the door imploded just before Sky City had fully passed through, cutting off a corner from its rear wall.

    Boom!

    Everything returned to its original peace and quiet.

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 Book 7, 95: Invade and Conquer

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 95: Invade and Conquer</h4>

    Once Sky City crossed through the Barrier, the infiltration n finally concluded.

    The process had caused a significant amount of permanent damage to the Barrier as well. As such, the amount of time left before its total copse was quite limited.

    It was as if they had just performed another round of failed surgery on a terminally-ill patient. All they had done was shorten its lifespan even further.

    Of course, by this point, none of this mattered.

    Everything woulde to an end long before the Barrier was fully destroyed.

    Now that Sky City had passed through, Su Chen flew to the top of the city and said, ¡°Since we¡¯re here, we might as well begin.¡±

    Wuu!!!

    This time, instead of a bell, a shrill cry echoed through the sky.

    Countless flying tools rose up from Sky City and into the sky.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s Boundless Pce, their floating boats, the human race¡¯s Meteor Formation, and the Harpies¡¯ flying carriages all took to the skies, flying off in various directions. Immediately afterwards, all of the cultivators at the Light Shaking Realm and above scattered toplete their assigned responsibilities.

    Every human, Beast, and Harpy had been given orders long ago. All of them knew exactly what they needed to do at this moment.

    They all headed toward the locations that had been assigned to them.

    ¡°You, go to Baruth.¡±

    ¡°You, go to Hackman.¡±

    ¡°You, go to Lionheart City.¡±

    ¡°You, go to the Flying Rock Mountain Range.¡±

    ¡°You, go to Border City.¡±

    ¡°You, go to Thousand Bone ins.¡±

    ¡°You, go to River-Parting Wilderness.¡±

    ¡°You, go to......¡±

    ¡°You, go to......¡±

    ¡°You, go to......¡±

    The soldiers immediately set out to carry out their orders.

    Themands of their superiors andmanders echoed in their minds.

    ¡°Remember these orders: all inhabitants of Kun¡¯s territory are to abandon their faith immediately. Destroy all churches, tear down all statues, forbid the worshipping of any god, and ban calling on the name of their gods. Anyone who dares to disobey must be killed!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like we¡¯re back in our own world again.¡±

    ¡°This world has no need for the gods. It does not need those parasites who can only grow stronger off of our faith and vitality. Yet they insist on maintaining their lofty position and suppressing us all.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t need a single one!¡±

    ¡°So let¡¯s go and wipe them all out!¡±

    The orders from the higher-ups had been thoroughly drilled into their hearts. There was no need to further repeat them or drive them home.

    With great fighting spirit and morale, the soldiers spread throughout the territory. Large groups of mid-to-low-tier cultivators imposed a draconian set of newws upon its inhabitants.

    The strength of each group of soldiers had been precisely calcted based on the location that they were assigned to, ensuring that they would be able to easily take control of the region without wasting a single bit of manpower.

    To take advantage of the gods¡¯ temporary isted state, they needed to quickly take control of the territory and thoroughly uproot the system of faith that the gods so desperately relied on.

    The invasion was now fully underway.

    The Shadowless Sky Church¡¯s believers werepletely indifferent to all this. They did not know where these people hade from, nor what their goal was.

    Even if they knew, they probably wouldn¡¯t have cared.

    Because one of the Shadowless Sky God¡¯s core ts was that change wasing and that only those who were pious and devout to the Shadowless Sky God would survive the oing turmoil.

    The disciples thus continued to pray diligently.

    In fact, this is what they were doing when the first soldiers arrived.

    In other words, by this point, they no longer had a choice.

    All they could do was ce their trust in their true leader, Frost.

    The disciples continued to chant and pray as loudly as they could.

    Frost gradually ascended to the sky along with their voices,ing to Su Chen¡¯s side.

    Su Chen nced at the seed that he had personally sown in Kun¡¯s territory. After so many years of maturation and growth, Frost had finally grown from a small sapling into a towering tree.

    ¡°It¡¯s still not enough yet,¡± Su Chen said.

    Only Frost understood this sentence, which seemingly came out of nowhere.

    He and Su Chen were of the same source, after all.

    Su Chen was saying that his achievements still hadn¡¯t fulfilled his potential yet.

    The peak that Su Chen was looking at was naturally the Nascent Soul realm.

    ¡°I¡¯m almost there,¡± Frost replied. ¡°I just need a catalyst to start the next breakthrough.¡±

    ¡°I am the catalyst.¡± Su Chen then reached out and ced his hand on Frost¡¯s forehead.

    A vast will spread throughout Frost¡¯s entire consciousness. All of the divine power stored in Frost¡¯s body was suddenly enveloped by immortal energy and then drawn out.

    This divine power, however, didn¡¯t disappear. Instead, it continued to float in the air, glowing with a pale, golden color.

    The disciples below were able to clearly sense the mighty power emanating from that sphere of golden light.

    They assumed that the Shadowless Sky God had shown himself, and they all kneeled and started calling out to him. The amount of divine power being supplied to the Shadowless Sky God had reached its peak.

    Su Chen quickly converted all of the divine power into immortal energy and then infused it back into Frost¡¯s body. At the same time, Su Chen supplied Frost with his own immortal energy, causing Frost¡¯s immortal energy to surge wildly. It shed against the golden light of divine power in his body, forming two massive waves that crashed into each other.

    Even the Blood Ancestor was amazed by the sight.

    ¡°What kind of power is that?¡±

    Su Chen didn¡¯t answer, but Frost¡¯s power continued to soar seemingly without limit.

    Finally, the gold and white beams of light dissipated. Even though Frost was just a single person, he now gave off a feeling of beingrger than life.

    The members of the Boundless Sect had only ever experienced this sensation once before.

    ¡°Nascent Soul.¡± Li Chongshan gazed at Frost with envy.

    So Su Chen¡¯s clone had reached the Nascent Soul realm as well now.

    Li Chongshan had been cultivating for a simr amount of time as Frost, but he had only just reached the Foundation Establishment stage. On the other hand, one of Su Chen¡¯s clones had already reached the Nascent Soul realm. Some amount of envy from him was unavoidable.

    Thankfully, he didn¡¯t need to feel envious for very long.

    A momentter, Su Chen and Frost nced at each other, and then simultaneously began walking towards each other.

    The two bodies suddenly merged into one.

    Su Chen had expended a great amount of energy to nurture Frost. Now, he was attempting to merge with him in the hopes thatbining two Nascent Souls would allow him to break into the next cultivation realm.

    An instantter, an incredibly majestic scene unfolded.

    The Shadowless Sky God appeared!

    Of course, Su Chen was not actually the Shadowless Sky God. However, the might and glory that he radiated while he floated in the sky made him shine as brightly as the sun.

    Even the Blood Ancestor was stunned by this scene.

    ¡°This is the path of the immortal? The body is a world of its own, capable of providing for all things? Developing the self? Humans...... How could they possess such incredibletent potential? How is this even possible?¡± The Blood Ancestor was at a loss for what to think.

    The newly emerged sun in the sky intensified in brightness until it suddenly began to constrict, forming a ball of light that was somewhat shaped like an egg.

    An egg brimming with life.

    Everyone wanted to see what woulde out of the egg.

    Unfortunately, nothing happened.

    The egg disappeared.

    The beginning had been so awe-inspiring, but the ending was quite anticlimactic.

    The giant egg simply disappeared, leaving behind a single Su Chen, who stood there alone.

    Frost had disappeared and melded back into the main body.

    Su Chen¡¯s expression, however, was sour.

    Li Chongshan, Gu Qingluo and the others all rushed forwards towards him.

    Zhu Xianyao asked with great interest, ¡°Did you sessfully ascend?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°No, I failed.¡±

    Everyone¡¯s hearts sank.

    ¡°But it wasn¡¯t a total failure. At the very least, I reached the peak Nascent Soul realm. I will probably need another catalyst, as well as a deeper understanding of the next realm, before I will be ready to ascend again,¡± Su Chen replied.

    Unfortunately, his n of merging two Nascent Souls together to break into a higher cultivation realm had failed.

    This was not because the amount of power resulting from thebination was not enough, but rather because Su Chen did not know what path to take.

    He had no choice but to carefully feel out the path forward for himself. In that sense, failure was inevitable.

    Thebination of two Nascent Souls had indeed brought him great power, but it had not resulted in a tangible breakthrough.

    A catalyst!

    Su Chen needed a catalyst!

    He could afford to be Frost¡¯s catalyst, because he had both power and understanding.

    But hecked a catalyst to reach the next cultivation realm.

    Hopefully, he would gain someprehension from the uing battle.

    ¡°This is already quite good,¡± Li Chongshan said in aforting manner.

    Regardless of what happened, Su Chen¡¯s strength had increased yet again. Now, no one knew exactly how strong he was anymore.

    Could he take on a Deste Beast by himself now? Li Chongshan wondered to himself.

    Unfortunately, since the Deste Beasts were their allies, this fight was doomed to never happen.

    It seemed that he could only test his strength against the gods.

    While the human and Harpy soldiers went off to carry out their missions, the Beasts remained stationary.

    They were not suited for missions that involved managing the popce. If Su Chen sent them to control a certain territory, they would definitely just ughter all of the people living there.

    As such, the Beasts were not responsible for conquering.

    They were responsible for fighting!

    Sky City continued to float peacefully in the sky. It was manned by some of the mid-to-low-tier cultivators, and a majority of them were at the Thought Manifestation realm and above.

    They, along with the Beasts, would be the most important cornerstone of the front lines against the gods.

    The gods¡¯ self-istion would onlyst for a limited amount of time. They would soon realize what had happened and rush over to attack.

    This ce would be their first line of defense.

    At the same time, a furious conquest of Kun¡¯s territory was unfolding.

    The Origin Realm invaders spread through the entire territory like an unstoppable tidal wave.

    They moved so quickly that fights sprung up all over the ce. Sometimes, they would even start killing without introducing themselves.

    In order to uproot this long established system of faith and destroy the gods¡¯ foundation as efficiently as possible, the invading forces chose to attack and destroy every single church, temple, and divine statue that they came across.

    With the Barrier¡¯s fissure as the epicenter, Kun¡¯s territory was rapidly engulfed in conflict.

    Scenes such as the one described below could be found unfolding all across the territory.

    A group of cultivators flew in a certain direction until they were above a certain city. They descended from the skies and immediately began to attack any religion symbols even as other troops flew overhead to continue the purge elsewhere.

    Millions of cultivators swept through each and every city without any mercy in the slightest.

    The gods¡¯ foundation began to shrivel at an impossibly fast rate.

    Long before the period of istion came to an end, the gods realized that something very wrong had happened.

    ¡°Hm? Why is my faith disappearing?¡±

    The Moon Goddess was the first to voice her suspicion.

    Previous Chapter

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 Book 7, 96: Converting

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 96: Converting</h4>

    Within Forge City.

    The city was located right next to a volcano. As such, temperatures inside the city were high year-round, which was why it eventually became known as Forge City.

    Today, however, a shocking scene was unfolding within the city.

    Snow began to fall from the sky as a chilling wind descended upon the city. Suddenly, the city¡¯s temperatures dropped significantly. The city¡¯s inhabitants were extremely caught off-guard by the sudden cold snap.

    But what was even harder to bear than the sudden chill was the appearance of many cultivators descending from the sky.

    ¡°One team to the east, two teams to the west. Destroy any churches that you run into. Purification Team, prepare to follow-up and sweep out any believers!¡± Ye Fenghan¡¯s voice echoed through the sky. The snowkes falling from the sky belonged to him.

    ¡°Damn, this guy is getting stronger by the day,¡± Chang He chattered.

    Ye Fenghan had mastered the Frost Aspect first and the Seven Deste Bloodline Microcosm after. Somehow, he had managed to merge the two Aspects into one, perhaps because of his innately chilly demeanor.

    The Seven Deste Bloodline Microcosm had turned into a frozen wastnd powerful enough to affect the entire city and turn a scorching hot day into the middle of winter.

    The two groups of soldiers quickly began to carry out their mission.

    Behind them came the weak but many Yang Opening Realm cultivators and below.

    These cultivators were not all from the Boundless Sect. Some of them were recruited volunteers from the Origin Realm. They had chosen to join in for the sake of saving the Origin Realm. They were the ones responsible for purifying believers and stopping any repair efforts.

    Su Chen didn¡¯t want to be the person responsible for ughtering every human on Kun¡¯s territory, so he could only utilize his disciples to convert other believers.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s higher-ups had argued about the specifics of execution quite a bit.

    Eventually, Su Chen quashed the debate by saying, ¡°We are humans. We should have some standards.¡±

    The Purification Team,posed of these lower-tier cultivators, followed behind the main front lines and took over administrative duties. Their training was impressive, their execution was swift, and their behavior waswful. They would gather together as a group, and then someone would be nominated to make a few derations. First, they would announce that the city had been conquered and that it was now under the control of the Boundless Sect. Then, they would announce that all believers needed to renounce their beliefs or face extermination.

    Renouncing one¡¯s beliefs was incredibly difficult, and relying on force to do so would inevitably result in a bacsh.

    On this matter, however, the Boundless Sect refused topromise or show mercy.

    Any person who dared to make an issue of this rule would be killed without hesitation.

    As such, this preliminary gathering was the most important thing to take ce immediately after the bloody ughter. They wanted to save as many lives as they could, but in a cruel twist of fate, they had no choice but to do so by unleashing a bloody ughter.

    Worst of all, it was still incredibly difficult to force themoners to abandon their faith even with such a disy of force.

    Because they believed that, even in death, their souls would ascend to the divinends.

    The gods had their own kingdom, after all.

    ¡°The gods do have their own kingdom, but unfortunately...... it hit capacity a long time ago,¡± Ye Fenghan remarked disdainfully.

    Even their kingdom had its boundaries.

    It was impossible for twenty-three kingdoms to simultaneously exist on a piece ofnd as small as Kun¡¯s territory. As such, the gods¡¯ divine kingdom was pitifully small and could only contain a measly tens of thousands of individuals. How could that possibly be enough to support their living needs?

    Countless worshippers had died from the beginning until now, but very few of them had managed to enter those divinends.

    Those whose souls dissipated would be gone forever. Even the gods wouldn¡¯t be able to bring them back.

    Unfortunately, no one believed in the truth. These believers all continued to steadfastly put their hope in glory after death.

    Theirck of fear about dying and their solid faith posed a big headache.

    ¡°This is not as easy as I thought it was going to be,¡± Chang He said as he gazed at the waves of dying believers, rubbing his forehead in frustration.

    Forge City was just the beginning. Getting stuck here so early on would bring trouble in the future.

    ¡°Not even one out of ten of them wants to renounce their faith. What should we do, sir?¡± some of the cultivators asked Ye Fenghan.

    Ye Fenghan¡¯s eyebrows were deeply furrowed in a thoughtful frown.

    What should they do?

    As long as these believers were still alive, they would continue praying and transmitting faith from the shadows. Killing them mercilessly, on the other hand, would be viting the principles they had established at the beginning.

    ¡°Destroying physical bodies is much harder than destroying faith,¡± Ye Fenghan muttered to himself.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have much time to waste here. We need toe up with some kind of a solution,¡± Wang Xinchao urged.

    Ye Fenghan, however, continued to hug his arms in deep thought.

    ¡°If you can¡¯te up with a solution, I have an idea. It might not be to your liking though,¡± Chang He suddenly said.

    Ye Fenghan nced at him coldly. ¡°I already told you, we will not kill them all.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not it. It¡¯s this.¡± Chang He pulled out an item and handed it to Ye Fenghan.

    The item was a small pink vial.

    Ye Fenghan was taken aback when he saw this. ¡°An aphrodisiac?¡±

    This aphrodisiac was the one Su Chen had developed while studying Origin Substances. Eventually, that resulted in his fling with Zhu Xianyao.

    Afterwards, Su Chen realized that it had very little practical value. However, its effects when used in the bedroom were still quite good. As such, Su Chen had kept the recipe around. Later, it had been leaked somehow, and it eventually became quite a popr pleasure-inducing drug.

    The aphrodisiacs avable for purchase on the markets were quite low-grade, however, and were only good for supplements. They would not cause a person to lose control of their lust.

    The one Chang He held in his hand, however, was the original version. That version was capable of creating quite a bit of chaos.

    Ye Fenghan didn¡¯t understand why Chang He had pulled out that kind of an item.

    ¡°What are you thinking?¡± he asked.

    Chang He sincerely replied, ¡°We cannot get them to change their beliefs, but we can get them to sin. If too much sin umtes, they will feel as if they have been abandoned by their deity. Most churches have a strict celibacy policy, with vitors beingbeled as heathens. Furthermore...... it will stir up quite a bit of chaos.¡±

    Ye Fenghan was stunned when he heard this.

    It had to be said, though, that Chang He¡¯s proposal was actually quite reasonable.

    They had gained quite a bit of practical experience in dealing with the underground worshippers in the Origin Realm, and had performed quite a few different experiments. One crucial factor driving faith was their reverence towards the deity. If a believer were to constantly vite their faith¡¯s rules, however, the resulting emotional damage would warp their logic and decrease their piety as a result.

    This could be aplished by enticing believers with money, authority, status, prestige, or sexuality.

    The cost of the former few was too high, but thetter was much simpler and easier to do.

    But this would also causesciviousness to take over the city.

    Heavens, Chang He, what are you thinking?

    Ye Fenghan gazed at him, stunned.

    Chang He replied straightforwardly, ¡°If you want to create enough of amotion, one vial is enough. Thankfully, the recipe is readily avable, and we have many alchemists ready to go to work onmand. Let them get to work.¡±

    Ye Fenghan said, ¡°We came here to take control of this world, not throw it into chaos and licentiousness.¡±

    Chang He replied, ¡°We came here to watch the fireworks.¡±

    Amazingly, Chang He had managed to convince Ye Fenghan.

    For once, Chang He was being serious, yet the method he had chosen was incredibly indecent.

    Ye Fenghan did have to admit, however, that it would be incredibly effective.

    As the wave of lust spread across the city, the faith being offered to the gods began to dry up.

    The believers lost themselves in their carnal pleasures as their betrayal of their gods ate away at them. The sudden crisis significantly shook their faith.

    Of course, a small proportion of those individuals managed to delude themselves into distancing themselves from their actions. This kind of self-deception allowed them to ignore theirck of self-control and actually resulted in their faith reaching a new level.

    The Boundless Sect was more than happy to execute these ¡°geniuses.¡±

    Even Ye Fenghan and Chang He couldn¡¯t have imagined that what they had done at Forge City would soon envelope the entire Kun¡¯s territory.

    There was nothing else that could be done. This system of faith had existed for far too long, meaning that many of them were willing to die for their beliefs.

    The Boundless Sect, who wasn¡¯t willing to ughter the inhabitants of Kun¡¯s territory, could only use this kind of method.

    A tsunami of lust swept across Kun¡¯s territory, stirring uprge-scale chaos.

    For this first step of the invasion, indecent scenes were unfolding all across the territory. As the believers¡¯ humiliation and shame increased, the societal systems and ethical obligations they relied on were shattered. They became creatures of passion, often unable to control themselves from copting in public. Even some of the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples, who were responsible for keeping a close eye on the situation, couldn¡¯t stop themselves from getting a taste of it themselves...... some side effects were unavoidable, after all.

    Chang He¡¯s reputation skyrocketed to the point that he became known as the Lust Ancestor. Later, a statue was erected in his likeness, to which themoners would worship for fertility.

    Yes, the best way to deal with the gods was not to get their disciples to renounce their faith, but rather to convert them.

    Inciting their disciples to indulge in the lusts of their flesh was not asting solution.

    It could be used to weaken the stalwart faith that the believers had in their gods, but not to facilitate the Boundless Sect¡¯s control over them.

    As such, the Boundless Sect utilized this tactic to begin converting these believers to worship other gods.

    These new gods did not actually exist. However, they nevertheless became idols of worship in the minds and hearts of the former believers.

    Of course, at a certain point bing an immortal would have certain requirements on supplication from the masses, but that was a matter for muchter.

    After destruction came rebuilding.

    For the path of the immortal to rise, the path of the gods needed to die.

    Now was the time for destruction.

    As the Boundless Sect¡¯s disciples were destroying this system of faith, the gods finally began their attacks on the fissure.

    Thunder and lightning descended from the sky, filling the surroundings with an aura of death and destruction.

    As lightning continued to sh, a door made out of fire and lightning began to appear.

    The door slowly opened, revealing a glowing golden temple behind it.

    The temple towered in the sky, seemingly appearing out of nowhere.

    The temple was so massive that it appeared to be the size of a small country itself. Naturally, an extremely powerful aura emanated from it.

    Inparison to this lofty kingdom, Sky City was like a small mosquito circling around an eagle.

    The Temple of the Gods!

 Book 7, 97: Battle With Gods 1

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 97: Battle With Gods 1</h4>

    The Temple of the Gods had finally appeared. With the door of the temple now open, the radiant glory of the gods was on full disy.

    In Su Chen¡¯s eyes, however, this was a poor show.

    Yes, poor.

    Given how powerful the gods were supposed to be, it would have been more fitting for each of them to possess a temple.

    The fact that they were all sharing one was a testament to how destitute they were.

    Being trapped in Kun¡¯s territory was likely quite suffocating for them.

    Su Chen¡¯s strategy waspletely correct. The gods were indeed the weakest in this location.

    As the temple opened, a brilliant golden light began to spill forth.

    A god dressed from head to toe in golden armor stepped forth.

    ¡°Bloodbat!¡±

    The god roared, his voice like the sound of many waters as he charged forwards, descending to the battlefield.

    ¡°Augusta. I didn¡¯t think that you were still alive,¡± the Blood Ancestor sighed.

    ¡°This is?¡± Su Chen asked.

    ¡°The God of War, Augusta. My former master,¡± the Blood Ancestor replied.

    Even the powerful leader of the Origin Beasts was no more than one of the gods¡¯ pets.

    ¡°What will you do now?¡± Su Chen asked.

    The Blood Ancestor chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m going to bleed him dry!¡±

    As he spoke, the Blood Ancestor morphed into a colony of bats and flew into the air. ¡°Come, Augusta. This has been a long timeing.¡±

    The God of War replied, ¡°Damned bat. I should have crushed you to death with my bare hands all those years ago!¡±

    As Augusta roared, the very air itself began to tremble.

    The God of War¡¯s might was affecting space itself. In that moment, it was as if the whole world was under his control.

    The Blood Ancestor, however, seemed totally nonchnt. ¡°Your strength has regressed quite a bit.¡±

    As he gently spoke, the colony of bats flew through the air. Miniature ck ripples began to fill the sky, wearing away at Augusta¡¯s power.

    If both of them had been at their peak, the Blood Ancestor could not have defeated the God of War. After all, the God of War was one of the strongest gods. Tens of thousands of years of decline, however, had drastically lowered the gods¡¯ strength. Their ability was now limited, and Augusta wasn¡¯t able to gain an advantage against the Blood Ancestor in the slightest.

    The ck ripples of energy pushed back against the divine power, forcing Augusta to retreat repeatedly and howl with rage.

    At that moment, another wave of divine power stealthily joined the fray as a figure appeared behind Su Chen.

    Yormak, the God of Assassination.

    Even though he was a god, Yormak¡¯s behaviorpletely belied his status. Instead, he chose to attack from the shadows.

    This time, he was attacking with his real body.

    Pu!

    The Abyss Dagger prated Su Chen¡¯s back.

    ¡°Hehehehe,¡± Yormak chuckled with delight.

    No one could withstand a blow from his Abyss Dagger and survive.

    Su Chen¡¯s body began to dissipate into a cloud of smoke.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Yormak was stunned.

    Targets killed by the Abyss Dagger would not die in this fashion.

    ¡°Whew! Thank goodness I was aware of your habits and prepared a clone.¡±

    Yormak hurriedly spun around and found Su Chen talking to him from not far away.

    Su Chen smiled faintly. ¡°I must admit that your assassination techniques are first-rate. Unfortunately, this ce is a battlefield......¡±

    Bang!

    A giant tree branch mmed viciously into Yormak¡¯s body. The Tree Ancestor had made his move.

    That branch was seemingly capable of extending an unlimited distance, pushing Yormak away as it extended its tendrils into Yormak¡¯s body, devouring his divine blood.

    Yormak howled in pain before suddenly dissipating and returning to the Temple of the Gods.

    He jabbed his finger out, causing countless ming Hos formed from divine power to rush forth.

    The Tree Ancestor roared as its branches also burst forth into the sky.

    In terms of brute strength, Yormak was far weaker than Augusta. His hos were incapable of stopping the Tree Ancestor from easily breaking through.

    But just as the Tree Ancestor¡¯s branches were about to collide with the Temple of the Gods, a streak of moonlight appeared.

    Shockingly, the branches began to turn into ash and withered away as soon as they came into contact with the soft moonlight.

    Immediately afterwards, an array of feathers appeared in the sky. Though these feathers appeared to be extremely soft, they were actually filled with immense power.

    Su Chen could clearly tell that these were the Divine Feathers he had found in the Mother Goddess Sect¡¯s temple in the past.

    The Harpies had treated these feathers like treasures.

    Now, however, these feathers were filling the sky.

    The Moon Goddess and the Mother Goddess had made their moves.

    Thankfully, there were other Origin Beasts present to help.

    The Mountain Origin Beast roared fiercely as it rose, while the Water Origin Beast turned itself into a massive cloud of fog and began to fly towards the sky.

    These ancient and powerful creatures were all strong enough to cause the earth to quake and the heavens to tremble.

    The amount of power they could collectively unleash was enough to kill every single living creature in the area.

    Of course, the humans and Harpies weren¡¯t dead.

    Because they were in Sky City.

    At this moment, Sky City was burning energy like there was no tomorrow. The barrier erected around it blocked wave after wave of attacks.

    It was almost as if Sky City was withstanding attacks from the entire human race. Even so, these were merely the fluctuations of energy resulting from their battle.

    ¡°We should probably retreat a little, Sect Master,¡± Li Wuyi said.

    Su Chen, however, continued to watch the battle unfold. ¡°We didn¡¯te all the way over here just to watch.¡±

    ¡°But we will not be able to participate in this battle,¡± Li Wuyi replied helplessly.

    A battle between characters as powerful as gods was too shockingly powerful. Each attack was powerful enough to shake the heavens. Even he, an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator, was filled with a sense of helpless dread.

    ¡°We will,¡± Su Chen calmly replied.

    The battle continued to unfold. As more and more gods entered the fray, the battlefield became a more and more terrifying ce.

    Even so, this was as intense as it would get.

    The reason for this was very simple: energy turbulence.

    Even the gods, who possessed divine power and an innateprehension of Method Power, had no choice but to use the energy around them. The gods were able to control far more power with much greater precision. In other words, they were capable of forcing the world to revolve around them.

    But with so many gods present in one ce, the limited amount of energy contained in their environment simply couldn¡¯t keep up.

    In actuality, when a god utilized as much Method Power as was avable to them in their surroundings, the support of additional gods would only be of limited benefit.

    This was not an issue with turbulent energy.

    Turbulent energy was the result of too many cultivators being present in one ce.

    The gods¡¯ issue was that they did not have enough energy at their disposal.

    Of course, the gods had a certain degree of strength that belonged solely to them. However, this alternative was much less effective and much weaker. Even though more energy would rush in to fill the void, the amount of energy being supplied could not sustain more than a few gods at a time. A small garden hose could not satisfy the demands of a massive pool.

    The Origin Beasts, on the other hand, appeared to be much better off. They relied not on Method Power but on their own physically powerful bodies.

    In this area of limited space, the gods were actually the ones at a disadvantage.

    Ack of faith was beginning to weaken them, and the environment was starving them. The gods found that their strength was being severely restricted. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that there were twenty-three of them and only eleven Origin Beasts, they would have been defeated a long time ago.

    Live by the numbers advantage, die by the numbers advantage.

    Once the Deste Beasts also joined the fray, the gods found that they had bitten off more than they could chew.

    There were far more Deste Beasts than Origin Beasts. Even though they were weaker, there were hundreds of them, and they were also not affected by energy avability restrictions. Origin Energy only affected their ability to survive, not their strength. The gods, on the other hand, were theplete opposite.

    The sky was filled with glowing divine power, but that alone was not enough to stop the Beasts¡¯ attacks. The horde of Beasts roared and howled viciously, unleashing all kinds of attacks at the Temple of the Gods and causing the golden divine power light to tremble violently.

    By now, these bursts of multicolored light were flying in all directions, forcing the divine light to retreat again and again.

    The surrounding space itself even began to rumble due to the violent collisions between Method Power and the Beasts¡¯ primal physical strength.

    The amount of damage being done by their constant shes wreaked havoc on the space itself, but with the Barrier¡¯s projection, it would never fully copse. As such, all that happened was that the natural energy in the environment began to drain away.

    That was when Su Chen understood that the gods were experiencing a shortage of faith not because their worshippers were inefficient but because of the realm itself. The gods¡¯ constant fighting amongst each other had caused irreparable damages. As such, the realm was full of holes even though it refused to copse altogether.

    The current battle was even further devastating the realm¡¯s sustainability.

    ¡°I should have just destroyed the realm itself instead of trying to disrupt their system of faith,¡± Frost muttered to himself.

    Of course, he was just saying this toin out loud.

    Battles between such strong characters rarely happened, and they didn¡¯t usuallyst long.

    The gods were not idiots. Upon realizing that they were actually at a disadvantage, they began to switch tactics.

    Boom, boom, boom, boom!

    Strange floatingnds began to appear in the sky.

    Each formed a perfectly self-sustaining microcosm. In the blink of an eye, the surrounding space had be extremely full.

    The divinends!

    The gods realized that they were losing, so they ended up summoning their ownnds.

    The divinends were the roots of the faith being supplied to them, but they could also be used in battle.

    Thebat power of the citizens of the divinends would be a big support to the gods¡¯ overallbat power.

    Because of space restrictions, however, the gods could not recklessly recruit disciples. This was why they did not easily summon thesends.

    But now that the situation had grown quite serious, there was no longer any time to still remain cautious.

    ¡°Kill them. Once we return to the Origin Realm, we will possess unlimited wealth!¡±

    ¡°Go, my loyal disciples. ughter my enemies for me.¡±

    ¡°The time to demonstrate your piety hase!¡±

    ¡°For the mighty gods!¡±

    ¡°Kill the foreign invaders!¡±

    Enraged roars filled the skies as the inhabitants of the divinends opened the gates to their kingdoms. Waves of soldiers of all kinds poured out, charging towards their opponents.

    ¡°Now is the time for us to make our move,¡± Su Chen calmly said.

    ¡°How are we to fight?¡± Iron Cliff asked.

    ¡°Apart from that one, take aim at any of the divinends...... We¡¯re going to smash our way through.¡±

    Previous Chapter

 Book 7, 98: Battle Against The Gods 2

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 98: Battle Against The Gods 2</h4>

    Even though Su Chen had said that they could aim at any random divine kingdom, the truth was that they still needed to be careful when selecting a potential target.

    The divine kingdoms of the more powerful gods did not make for good targets, as their strength and the strength of thends corrted quite well. As such, Sky City instead chose a rtively small target.

    The divine kingdoms of Amelie, the Goddess of Love.

    Amelie was a mid-tier goddess, but she put the title of ¡®mid-tier god¡¯ to shame. Herbat power was worse than even the low-tier gods.

    Even so, that did not prevent her from living afortable life. By relying on her innate charms, Amelie had be the mistress of all of the surviving gods. There were throngs of them willing to die for her, just for a chance to indulge in pleasure with her.

    Of course, she was still a god. Even if she was weaker than every other god, Amelie was still more than capable of destroying a sizable army all on her own.

    She was also participating in this battle and was currently locking horns with a Deste Beast.

    She was badly startled when she saw Sky City start rumbling towards her divine kingdom.

    ¡°Stop them! Don¡¯t let them in!¡± Amelie wasted no time in issuing a divinemand.

    Within the divine kingdom, Amelie¡¯s soldiers began to assemble into abat formation.

    Amelie preferred brawny men, which was why most of her soldiers were extremely muscr and tall. They all wore red capes and wielded short spears and shields in their hands, somewhat reminiscent of the ancient Spartans. Behind each of them, however, there was a floating circle of light, which indicated that they had died a long time ago. They were merely being kept around for the sake of defending the divine kingdom.

    These holy soldiers were incredibly strong even in death. With the support of divine power, even the weakest one of them was as powerful as a Light Shaking Realm cultivator. They were undoubtedly a strong group of soldiers.

    However, they had never quite seen anything like Sky City before, and they had no idea how to deal with it.

    More importantly, they had very little actualbat experience.

    Thousands of years of peace meant thatrge-scale conflicts amongst the inhabitants of Kun¡¯s territory were extremely rare. Typically, only small skirmishes would take ce ¡ª far from enough to produce an elite group of soldiers.

    All they possessed was faith.

    But if that faith was nullified, then their fate was sealed.

    The soldiers seemed intent on meeting brute force with brute force when they saw Sky City hurtling towards them.

    Even if they were undying holy soldiers, trying to use their physical bodies to withstand an entire city¡¯s momentum was idiotic at best.

    Boom!

    Sky City viciously mmed into Amelie¡¯s divine kingdom. The fearsome collision between these two terrifyinglyrgendmasses sent a shockwave of energy rippling out in all directions, as both sides rocked violently.

    The holy soldiers attempting to stop Sky City were crushed before they even had a chance to cry out in pain.

    Of course, as long as they were still present in the divine kingdom, they would be quickly resurrected.

    But no matter how quickly they resurrected, they couldn¡¯t possibly outpace the rate at which they were dying.

    More importantly, each resurrection cost faith to support. Soon enough, the divine kingdom would run out of faith, and resurrection would be impossible.

    Boom, boom, boom, boom!

    The Sun-Shattering Cannons fired mercilessly.

    Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

    Annihtion Bolts rained down from the sky.

    Swish, swish, swish, swish!

    The Brilliant Light Mirror shed repeatedly.

    The Sun-Shooting Pearls mounted atop the ny-nine rebuilt Arcana Towers glowed brightly as a torrent of Origin Skills surged forth from them as well.

    Origin Energy was inferior in quality to divine power, but there was far more of it in terms of quantity ¡ª just like the difference between divine power and immortal energy.

    And this world was still a world made of Origin Energy.

    This Origin Energy was converted into bolts of destructive lightning and swathes of raging fire, which all came together to paint a terrifying scene.

    The wind blew violently, mes leapt to life, thunder and lightning descended from the sky, and flood waters surged.

    Amelie¡¯s divine kingdom was the most beautiful out of all the divine kingdoms.

    There was a majestic, glorious temple erected on its surface. At the center of that temple was a lively, delicate sculpture. Flower gardens surrounded it, ented by rivers of flowing milk. Sweet fruit dotted thendscape as delicate, hand-knit strands of embroidered silk interweaved to form aesthetically pleasing patterns.

    Even so, all of this turned into ck ash as soon as Sky City crashed into it.

    The beautiful architecture that had been painstakingly designed and produced was instantly destroyed. What had been paradise on earth in the hearts of its inhabitants was now suffused in the red glow of hellfire.

    The holy soldiers roared as they charged forward once again.

    They were powerful, brave, fierce, and fearless.

    And then they died.

    Sky City, which had been reinforced and upgraded quite a few times, was now strong enough to withstand even the attacks of an Origin Beast.

    This essentially allowed them to do as they pleased within the divine kingdom.

    Destruction was inevitable.

    ¡°NO!¡± Amelie cried out in despair.

    If her divine kingdom was destroyed, then she would also fall.

    Gods were powerful, but their weaknesses were all too obvious.

    Their worshippers.

    Without any worshippers, they would notst, as they were simply too old.

    Amelie turned her attention away from the Deste Beast in front of her, shoving it aside as she desperately rushed towards her divine kingdom.

    ¡°We¡¯ve finally caught her attention.¡± Excitement flickered across Su Chen¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Adjust the cannons......¡± Lin Shaoxuan almostmanded.

    ¡°No. Continue to attack the divine kingdom. Doing so is the same as attacking Amelie directly,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°But Amelie ising.¡±

    ¡°I will handle her,¡± Su Chen calmly replied as he flew into the air.

    The others were stunned when they heard hismand.

    You will handle her?

    Even if Amelie was the weakest surviving god, she was still a deity!

    Even if Su Chen was now strong enough to take on a Deste Beast by himself, the gap between a Deste Beast and a god was still massive!

    Su Chen could tell what everyone was thinking and calmly said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. There¡¯s no reason to fear a god who is as weak as a Deste Beast.¡±

    As he spoke, he flew towards Amelie.

    ¡°How dare you besmirch the glory of the gods, you heathen!¡± Amelie roared madly.

    Her beautiful expression had be contorted with rage, and her entire body was filled with divine power.

    She shoved her hands in Su Chen¡¯s direction, sending a violent wave of divine mes rolling in his direction.

    These mes had been conjured with divine power, which meant that they consumed objects not only on the physical ne, but also on the consciousness ne.

    Su Chen, however, smiled faintly as the Seven Deste Bloodline Microcosm appeared behind his back in response. Like the divine kingdom, this microcosm seemed to be a world of its own.

    By now, however, his Aspect could no longer be urately called the Seven Deste Bloodline Microcosm. Because of the human race¡¯s alliance with the Beasts, it now included all of their power as well. Su Chen had shamelessly sought out a sample of blood from each of them. By now, he had collected and merged the blood from all of the surviving Origin Beasts and Deste Beasts into his Aspect. This Aspect had also been inscribed on the Boundless Sect¡¯s walls, bing one of their sect treasures.

    As for Su Chen himself, he refused to let even a single vial slip through his hands.

    Now, it would be more apt to term the Seven Deste Bloodline Aspect the Universe of Beasts.

    Of the many bloodlines incorporated into this aspect, however, the seven familiar Deste Beasts were still the most prominently featured.

    ROAR!

    Seven massive Deste Beasts stepped out from the Microcosm: Dragon Centipede, Windbite, Dream Beauty, Cloudpeck, Golden Bird, Luo You, and White Fang.

    These seven Deste Beasts seemed extremely lifelike, and they even possessed a fraction of the power of a real Deste Beast.

    The seven Deste Beasts tilted their heads back and simultaneously roared. Their collective aura was in no way weaker than Amelie¡¯s.

    Finally, the Shining Dragon appeared as well. Its giant body majestically emerged from the Aspect, as massive as a mountain range.

    The Shining Dragon danced over the Universe of Beasts. At the top of its head, a small Bloodbat perched there.

    This Bloodbat was extremely small and could not bring forth even a fraction of the Blood Ancestor¡¯s full power. But since the Blood Ancestor¡¯s main body was present nearby, it gained a certain amount of autonomy.

    The Bloodbat Aspect¡¯s eyes began to glow with light as the Shining Dragon howled and bounded forth, followed closely by the seven Deste Beasts. A horde of Beasts with indistinct forms were right behind them. Suddenly, the space surrounding Amelie and Su Chen was filled with a primal, unrestrained aura.

    ¡°How is this possible?¡± Amelie was dumbfounded when she saw this scene.

    How could he cause such a disturbance? Was this human capable of exploding forth with a sudden burst of power?

    Even the other gods watching from afar were badly startled by this sight.

    ¡°Careful, Amelie!¡± cried out the God of Six Desires, Amelie¡¯s first lover. He wanted to try to assist her, but the seven Deste Beasts surrounding him demanded his full attention. He could only watch on helplessly as Su Chen¡¯s horde of Beast Aspects leapt onto Amelie, trampling her underfoot.

    Amelie felt as if she was being stomped to death, filling her heart with grief and indignation.

    She was a goddess!

    Even though she was not as powerful as an Origin Beast, her vitality was still quite strong.

    She wouldn¡¯t die from this attack, but the humiliation that she felt made her wish that it had killed her instead.

    She had been struck by a human.

    By a bunch of Beasts that he had summoned.

    And worst of all, she couldn¡¯t even retaliate!

    How humiliating!

    ¡°AHH!!!!¡± Amelie howled. Her long, beautiful hair billowed wildly in all directions as streaks of lightning crackled across her body.

    ¡°Oh, are you finally taking our fight a little more seriously? That¡¯s more like it.¡± Su Chen arrogantly motioned with his hand. ¡°Come.¡±

    ¡°You dare attack a god? I will annihte you!¡± Amelie howled with renewed rage as a thick bolt of lightning descended upon him.

    This lightning had been molded into the shape of an incredibly sharp sword and was then thrown in Su Chen¡¯s direction with incredible force.

    Even Su Chen¡¯s expression became serious when he saw this attack. ¡°Oh, this is a powerful one.¡±

    Then, he responded with an attack himself.

    God-Executing Jab!

    A faint white energy surged forth to meet the de of lightning. The terrifyingly powerful and destructive sword seemed to melt away like snow in hot water as soon as it came into contact with the white energy.

    ¡°That¡¯s......!¡± Amelie gasped, her eyes wide.

    ¡°Forbidden power is what I think you call it,¡± Su Chen said with a faint smile.

    ¡°Forbidden!¡±

    ¡°Forbidden!¡±

    ¡°Forbidden!¡±

    Su Chen¡¯s words threw all the other gods into an uproar as well. All of them could sense the terrifying power that had just surged forth from Su Chen¡¯s finger.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right,¡± Su Chen said in a low voice. ¡°This forbidden power will be your demise. Go forth!¡±

    He struck out once more.

    Suddenly, each Beast within the horde began to glow with faint white light as well.

    Su Chen was suffusing his Aspect with immortal energy, causing them to qualitatively change.

    The coiled Shining Dragon spat out a streak of fire right after it was infused with immortal energy.

    Undying mes!

    The true fire of an Origin Beast had somehow been replicated by an Aspect.

    In that moment, it felt as if the Shining Dragon hade back to life once more.

    ¡°ROAR!¡± Countless Beast Aspects howled in response to the Shining Dragon¡¯s show of force.

    The horde of Beasts whirled around to trample over Amelie once more.

    Her divine kingdom was shaking violently, and her body was being ruthlessly torn apart.

    Amelie howled with despair, but there was nothing that she could do to stop what was happening to her.

    Soon after, Amelie fell.

    Previous Chapter

 Book 7, 99: Battle Against The Gods 3

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 99: Battle Against The Gods 3</h4>

    The instant Amelie fell, her divine kingdom trembled violently before copsing into a heap of rubble.

    Yes, Amelie had fallen before her divine kingdom was destroyed. In other words, Su Chen had killed her not by destroying her divine kingdom but rather by killing her through his own power, causing the divine kingdom to be destroyed as a result.

    Lin Shaoxuan and the others all felt extremely embarrassed.

    Wasn¡¯t he supposed to just keep Amelie at bay while they attacked her weak points?

    But now that the opponent had already fallen, what was the point in continuing to assault her weaknesses?

    ¡°It¡¯s alright, boss. He is Su Chen, after all,¡± Lin Shaoxuan¡¯s subordinates said in an attempt to console him.

    By this point, it was quitemon to hear this phrase about Su Chen.

    It was as if he had be a god himself.

    Of course, he wasn¡¯t actually one, but now, he had proved that he was capable of killing them.

    ¡°I was only able to finish her off so easily due to your efforts in weakening her,¡± Su Chen said, cating Lin Shaoxuan before making a gesture. A ball of glowing light appeared in his hand.

    Amelie had died in a rtively clean manner, and she didn¡¯t even leave behind a corpse. Nevertheless, the divine power that had been in her body was perfectly preserved.

    ¡°That¡¯s quite a valuable treasure,¡± everyone said, their eyes aglow with desire.

    Anything left behind by a god would be extremely valuable.

    ¡°Yes. If we distribute it properly, then we will be able to gain another wave of Golden Pill cultivators. After all, Cloud Leopard, Iron Cliff, and Xianyao are all nearly there. Oh, right ¡ª we should leave some for Ye Fenghan and Le Feng as well.¡± Su Chen then handed it to Gu Qingluo.

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to use it yourself?¡± Gu Qingluo was surprised by Su Chen¡¯s magnanimity.

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I am notcking in immortal energy right now. Instead, I need to focus on ascertaining the correct path forward. Ascending to a new realm requires more than just enough immortal energy. I need a new direction, new leads, and newprehensions.¡±

    After saying this, Su Chen let out a soft sigh. ¡°Also, Amelie was too weak. The amount of help that she can give me is limited.¡±

    Everyone was rendered speechless.

    Perhaps only someone like Su Chen was qualified to say that a deity was weak.

    Even though Su Chen had seemingly taken care of Amelie with rtive ease, she was at least as strong as a Deste Beast. In other words, she was capable of taking on an entire kingdom on her own.

    Thus, it could only be said that Su Chen¡¯s power had also reached the terrifying point where he could fight an entire kingdom on his own.

    Su Chen¡¯s gaze began to wander.

    This fight against Amelie had expended quite a bit of his immortal energy. In this environment, however, divine power was readily avable, which he could easily absorb and convert into immortal energy to replenish his reserves.

    Su Chen quickly found his next target.

    It was the Lord of Storms, Akru¡¯Danba, whose clone Su Chen had exterminated not long ago.

    Akru¡¯Danba was a low-tier god, but his situation was rtively unique.

    In the beginning, he had been a high-tier deity.

    When the gods had ruled over the Origin Realm, the Lord of Storms had been a well-known individual.

    Unfortunately, after the gods were sealed within Kun¡¯s territory, the conditions here had been too difficult for the Lord of Storms to smoothly adjust to.

    Within Kun¡¯s territory, which was isted within the Barrier of the Gods, the power of the Lord of Storms¡¯ winds weakened significantly. And as an elemental god, the number of his believers had been rtively low in the first ce. As such, he was also the first to experience this fall from grace. Quite a few other gods experienced simr downfalls, such as the God of Death, the God of Righteousness, the God of Light, the God of Time, and many more.

    Some had suffered an even more pitiful fate. The God of Death, for instance, had lost all contact with the River of Souls that the dead traveled to. He fell almost immediately after the Twilight of the Gods started, but he did manage to send a soul fragment through to the Origin Realm just before he died.

    Others were slightly better off. Longue, the Barbarian god, had also once been a high-tier god. Eventually, he fell to mid-tier, but he managed to stabilize there. As such, he still possessed a certain amount of status. However, his temperament remained the same as his high-tier days, and his brash behavior often earned him a scolding from the other gods.

    In any case, Akru¡¯Danba had been forsaken by the passage of time. His recent days had been quite difficult.

    Vestiges of his status as a high-tier god, however, were still present. Even though his divine power had decreased, he still hadplete mastery over his former techniques. As such, hisbat power wasparable to the best mid-tier gods.

    If Amelie fought against Akru¡¯Danba, she would have basically served as a punching bag for him.

    Su Chen choosing him as his next target was a bit arrogant, but it was also true that Amelie was too weak for him. Fighting her had barely benefitted him at all.

    He needed the stimtion of an even more powerful foe.

    Unexpectedly, before Sky City was even able to change directions towards their new target, the gods repositioned themselves first.

    ¡°Leave this ce! We cannot demonstrate our full strength here!¡± the Moon Goddess cried out.

    So they had finally realized that continuing to fight in this way would only result in their defeat?

    The spatial restrictions here made it impossible for the gods to unleash their full might. They needed more space and arger battlefield.

    In terms of pure strength, the Origin Beasts won out, but if the gods wanted to leave, there was nothing that the Origin Beasts could do to force them to stay.

    As soon as themand was given, the gods immediately began to retreat with their divine kingdoms in tow. The Temple of the Gods also began to fade away.

    Upon seeing this, Su Chen made no attempt to give chase. Instead, he muttered under his breath, as if talking to someone off into the distance. ¡°You¡¯re not nning on stopping them, are you?¡±

    After a moment, Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°Understood. That sounds good to me. We might as well take things slowly.¡±

    Then, he turned his gaze to the Guardian God, Erza.

    The rest of the gods had already fled, including his original target, Akru¡¯Danba. However, this Guardian God had been unfortunate enough to be left behind, as he was still entangled by the Nightmare Severance.

    The Nightmare Severance looked like a headless flying snake. Its body was always shrouded in a ck fog that possessed incredibly corrosive properties. This fog dissolved the snake¡¯s opponents and converted them into nutrients. The Nightmare Severance was one of the few Origin Beasts that didn¡¯t rely on raw strength to fight against its opponents. Instead, it would constantly extract their vitality. Even while it was hibernating, the territory around it had been known as one of the most dangerous forbidden areas. Any creature that identally stumbled into its area would soon find themselves drained dry of vitality and turned into nourishment for the Nightmare Severance. This was why it had survived all the way until now.

    The Guardian God that had been entangled by the Nightmare Severance had been affected by the corrosive power of its attacks, and grey streaks had appeared all over his body.

    The fog surrounding the Nightmare Severance, however, was also steadily decreasing in size. It seemed that corroding divine power was still quite challenging for it.

    ¡°Another low-tier god. He¡¯s not as strong as Akru¡¯Danba, but he¡¯s much more powerful than Amelie. Alright, it looks like you¡¯re it,¡± Su Chen muttered to himself before flying over. ¡°Leave this opponent to me.¡±

    The Nightmare Severance ignored him.

    It was an Origin Beast. How could it possibly pay attention to themands of a human?

    The Blood Ancestor, however, said, ¡°Leave it to him, Nightmare Severance. Let us see what a human can do.¡±

    The Nightmare Severance unwillingly retreated.

    Only then did Erza realize that all the other gods had long since retreated.

    ¡°So I have been abandoned?¡± Erza muttered, his voice filled with sorrow andmentation.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be surprised. This is just the most logical course of action. Now let me see just how powerful that divine power of yours is,¡± Su Chen said as he cracked his knuckles.

    ¡°Ridiculous!¡± Erza barked.

    Following this yell, a streak of divine light shot forth, piercing towards Su Chen.

    Before this streak of light could even reach Su Chen, however, it disappeared without a trace.

    ¡°Spatial Method Power?¡± Erza eximed in surprise. ¡°So you can also control Method Power.¡±

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s only so-so,¡± Su Chen replied humbly.

    Erza¡¯s expression, however, was solemn. ¡°Any individual who can control Method Power to such a degree can be temporarily conferred the status of a god if they create a church and absorb the faith of their worshippers. Do you not know this?¡±

    ¡°I do know,¡± Su Chen replied with a nod.

    Erza was correct. Given Su Chen¡¯s current understanding of Method Power, he could easily ascend to godhood if he absorbed enough divine power.

    But why would Su Chen do that?

    His intention had never been to be a god in the first ce.

    He wanted to wipe them all out.

    Su Chen smiled slightly. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that I don¡¯t want to be a god, but rather an immortal.¡±

    ¡°Immortal?¡± Erza was taken aback.

    ¡°Yes! An immortal, as you can see.¡± Immortal energy burst forth from Su Chen¡¯s body like a tidal wave, surging in all directions.

    ¡°Forbidden power!¡± Erza roared with bitter hatred, ¡°Will you insist on defying the natural order all the way until the end!?¡±

    Su Chen, on the other hand, seemed to grow even more steadfast after hearing Erza¡¯s reprobations. ¡°You are a god, who exists high in the heavens. You possess innate control of Method Power, and thereby control the entire world. You believe that you are the rightful owners of this realm. Meanwhile, immortal energyes from the internal world within a person, and it existspletely independently of the external world. This great path supposedly goes against the Heavens, which is why you have forbidden it. Because it is a power that defies the Heavens as you define them. In fact, it can even devour and consume your divine power...... Are you afraid of it?¡±

    ¡°Shut your sphemous mouth!¡± Erza roared. Divine light began to undte from his body in thick waves.

    Su Chen frowned. ¡°Shut my mouth? You and what army? Let¡¯s see if you can shut my mouth before I trample you underfoot!¡±

    The Universe of Beasts appeared once more. The Shining Dragon coiled high in the sky, exuding an extremely imposing aura.

    The Universe of Beasts that was now supported by immortal energy was powerful enough to cause the very earth itself to tremble. Even Erza, the Guardian God, felt an instinctual fear overtake him.

    By now, however, he knew that there was no room for fear.

    With his back against the wall, the Guardian God demonstrated his powerful will and the stolid resolution that a true god should possess.

    He let loose a long howl at the sky. ¡°My disciples! Burn, for the glory of the gods!!!¡±

    Following his cry, all of the warriors living in his divine kingdom howled out in response.

    The sound of unceasing prayer echoed throughout the sky.

    Following this wave of prayer, all of the holy soldiers crumbled to ashes as they disappeared.

    They were sacrificing themselves!

    The golden light on the Guardian God¡¯s body surged with unprecedented power. His body, which had previously been corroded by the Nightmare Severance, suddenly began to recover, and it even became stronger than before.

    ¡°Are you finally nning on getting serious?¡± the Blood Ancestor murmured.

    ¡°Do you really think that that brat can stop him?¡± the Tree Ancestor asked from beside him.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if he can or not,¡± the Blood Ancestor replied, ¡°All I know is that this human has long since shattered the ancient restrictions of the human race. Their future is bright, perhaps unlimitedly so.¡±

    The path of the immortal had already begun to spread through the human race.

    In theing days, more and more humans would reach the level that Su Chen had arrived at.

    In other words, more Su Chens would appear.

    The Tree Ancestor fell silent. ¡°I don¡¯t like that.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to like it. You can only get used to it. The changing world does care about whether or not you like its changes,¡± the Blood Ancestor calmly advised.

    Up in the sky, Su Chen¡¯s battle with Erza had officially begun.

    No matter what the process of this battle looked like, however, the oue had already been determined.

 Book 7, 100: Deification

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 100: Deification</h4>

    It was a battle without any suspense.

    As soon as Erza ignited his divine kingdom for one final burst of strength, his waltz towards destruction became inescapable.

    All he wanted now was a final disy of strength, one worthy of the glory that he felt he deserved. Even if he died, he wanted to drag Su Chen down with him.

    Erza¡¯s aura began to surge. Even the Blood Ancestor and the other Origin Beasts felt a headacheing on when they thought about how they would deal with them.

    At his final stand, Erza had recovered to his peak state.

    Su Chen¡¯s pupils constricted.

    A god at full-power was not to be underestimated. The difference between Erza¡¯s current state and his weakened state was impossible to overstate.

    At that moment, Erza¡¯s powerful divine will surged forwards. Even the Blood Ancestor couldn¡¯t stop himself from trembling, as if all of his past traumatizing memories hade flooding back.

    ¡°Yes. This is the true power that a god should possess,¡± the Blood Ancestor murmured to himself. ¡°The Barrier has weakened them far too much!¡±

    Then, he cried out, ¡°Be careful, Su Chen. A god at their peak strength is far more powerful than even us! And since he has immted his divine kingdom to make ast stand, he is not far from reaching that state!¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    Naturally, Su Chen could also sense the immense change that had taken ce within Erza. His strength was suffocatingly powerful.

    It felt as if he were fighting against the entire world, filling him with despair.

    In that moment, however, a strong sense of unwillingness welled up from deep within his heart.

    So what if the entire world is against me?

    I have my own path.

    My self will be my own world!

    Immortal energy surged forth from Su Chen¡¯s body, pouring out in an almost uncontroble manner.

    Compared to Erza¡¯s divine power, Su Chen¡¯s immortal energy was far less vast and imposing. However, it was fearless in its own way; no matter how hard the boundless divine power pushed against it and threatened to swallow it whole, the immortal energy continued to unceasingly protect Su Chen. He was like a stone, being tossed around by violent waves, but ultimately remaining undamaged.

    This was not an exchange of blows in the conventional sense. This was a contest between one¡¯s essence.

    The two seas of immortal energy and divine power battled it out, putting on a stunning show. Erza¡¯s divine power was like the old guard, while Su Chen¡¯s immortal energy was like the new contender ¡ª he might be weaker, but his youthful vigor and exuberance made up for that weakness.

    The new contender forcefully endured the old guard¡¯s onught, constantly flickering like a small me on the verge of being swallowed by the darkness. It appeared quite pitiful, as if the immortal energy enveloping Su Chen could be extinguished at any moment in time.

    But no matter how powerful the established energy appeared to be, the seed of rebellion always managed to survive, remaining steadfast until the end.

    As long as he could survive, he would emerge victorious.

    Su Chen fought as hard as he could just to withstand the opponent¡¯s attacks.

    He didn¡¯t need to actively strike back because the Guardian God was permanently burning his divine power. Even though he had gained a temporary advantage by doing so, it also ensured his doom.

    Furthermore, Su Chen wanted to use the immense pressure from his battle with Erza to search for a way to break through to the next realm.

    However, this immense pressure was also excruciatingly painful for Su Chen to bear.

    He didn¡¯t have any time to convert any of the divine power into immortal energy. Even attempting to do so while weathering a storm this intense wasughable.

    The only thing that Su Chen could do was endure for as long as he could and use the pressure to temper and refine himself. That was the key to surviving through this trial.

    By this point, Su Chen could no longer remember thest time he had been in such dire straits.

    After reaching the Thought Manifestation Realm, no opponent had ever managed to put up much of a fight against him. He had basically steamrolled his way through every enemy since then.

    On this day, however, this ancient, majestic power finally helped him remember what it felt like to have his life threatened.

    Yes, the threat!

    A truly dangerous threat. This was not a simple battle, but rather a struggle of life or death.

    The instant he gave up was the instant he would die. Even the Blood Ancestor wouldn¡¯t be able to save him if that happened.

    But that was just how it should be.

    Only by going through and oveing such struggles would he be able to find the path that he was searching for.

    Su Chen fought with all his might, but it seemed as if Erza¡¯s might was endless; an ocean¡¯s worth of divine power continued to pour down on him.

    Damn, how does he still have so much divine power left?

    Su Chen could sense his death quickly approaching if things did not change.

    But he could not afford to give up! Not now!

    He red at Erza as he desperately willed every ounce of immortal energy out of his body.

    Come forth! Su Chen roared in his heart.

    At that moment, every part of his body seemed to groan under the pressure, and a subtle cracking and popping sound could be clearly heard throughout the battlefield.

    It was as if something was breaking inside of Su Chen¡¯s body. Even though the physical sound itself was very quiet, this sound seemed to echo in their hearts.

    A formless wave of consciousness power swept over all the spectators, clear and gentle. A warm feeling surfaced in their hearts, arousing an incrediblyfortable sensation.

    Then, they turned to nce at the battlefield once more.

    It was as if time had suddenly frozen in ce. A quiet peace had enveloped their surroundings.

    Everything seemed to have slowed down to a halt.

    Then, the divine power suddenly exploded forth with a renewed surge of strength.

    This time, however, Su Chen remainedpletely motionless.

    White light zed from his body, preventing any divine power from touching him. Not only that, but petals began to descend from the sky around Su Chen, gently fluttering to the ground.

    The powerful waves of divine power were incapable of destroying even a single one of them.

    Then, the sky, which had once been dominated by the red glow of fire, suddenly returned to its former multicolored state.

    ¡°This is impossible!¡± Erza howled in disbelief.

    He could sense the power of his opponent increasing at a drastic rate.

    A strong sense of danger surfaced in his heart, an ineffable one that was hard to describe with words alone.

    It wasn¡¯t a fear of death. Erza was fated to die, anyways. Instead, it was fear towards his opponent¡¯s strength.

    His opponent had somehow made a breakthrough in this life threatening environment.

    And a breakthrough on that forbidden path to boot.

    This caused Erza to fall into despair.

    He knew that Su Chen was still weaker than him if he had his full strength. Su Chen had not yet reached a point where he could single-handedly dominate this world and suppress the gods.

    But he was slowly and surely encroaching on their power.

    And in their moment of weakness, he had managed to surpass quite a few of the weaker gods.

    ¡°NO!¡± Erza howled in despair.

    The gods believed that they would stand a chance to win as long as they infiltrated the Origin Realm.

    But now that a human had actually reached this point, the gods may have possibly lost their final opportunity.

    He wanted to tell the other gods that Su Chen¡¯s forbidden power had reached a terrifyingly powerful level.

    Unfortunately, he found that he could no longer send messages out.

    The formless fluctuations of Su Chen¡¯s powerful consciousness energy had telepathically isted him, preventing him frommunicating with the other gods as well as interfering with his thoughts.

    Wait a second. Powerful consciousness and formless restriction of thought......

    Erza suddenly realized something.

    He murmured, ¡°So it was you...... You kept yourself hidden quite well......¡±

    Then, he fell silent and toppled over.

    Ezra¡¯s divine kingdom had finally been fully consumed, he had run out of holy soldiers, and his divine power was running out as well. Without a core of divine power, the faith of his believers was no longer enough to sustain his life.

    He began to die.

    This being, who had existed for tens of thousands of years, finally returned to the dust that he hade from.

    Su Chen¡¯s mes surged forth, crawling all over Ezra¡¯s body.

    Erza, like Amelie, was burned down until the only thing that remained of him was a ball of divine power.

    The mes in the skies were still raging.

    Apparently, the battle had not yet ended.

    Su Chen stood in the midst of these mes, which danced around him like a troupe of circus performers as they flickered with unprecedented vigor. At this moment, it felt like Su Chen was the ruler of these mes.

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± Gu Qingluo and Zhu Xianyao both cried out for him, wanting to embrace him.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡± But the Blood Ancestor stopped them. ¡°He has reached a critical moment in his cultivation. Don¡¯t disturb his perception.¡±

    ¡°Perception? What is he perceiving?¡± Both of them were confused.

    In the world of cultivation, what usually mattered the most was one¡¯s ability to use energy. Very rarely would people focus on sensing energy.

    The Blood Ancestor calmly exined, ¡°He¡¯s perceiving himself and the world around him. That is something that can only be understood after one reaches a certain level.¡±

    Gu Qingluo and Zhu Xianyao were both very suspicious. ¡°How do you know this?¡±

    The Blood Ancestor shook his head. ¡°I actually don¡¯t, but...... I once met a person.¡±

    ¡°A person?¡± The two of them were taken aback for a moment before understanding dawned on them. ¡°Are you saying......¡±

    The Blood Ancestor gently nodded his head. ¡°The first human who ever walked this earth ¡ª the Human Ancestor.

    Even the Gu n¡¯s ancestor, Gu Huiming, grew agitated when he heard the Blood Ancestor say this. ¡°Are you telling me that we humans once were able to control immortal energy during the time when the Human Ancestor roamed the earth freely?¡±

    The Blood Ancestor nodded. ¡°Yes. The human race was once a powerful, vital race, albeit one created by ident ¡ª in fact, they were strong enough to overthrow the gods.¡±

    Upon hearing this, everyone present was stunned.

    What did that mean?

    Were the humans somehow different from the other Intelligent Races? Were they something more than a weak and small race? Weren¡¯t they merely fit to be the gods¡¯ worshippers and food for Origin Beasts?

    Since when had they been an identally created race that was powerful enough to overthrow even the gods?

    The Blood Ancestor was just about to respond, but then Su Chen made a move.

    He slowly lifted his head while, at the same time, the white mes around him began to withdraw and condense until they formed a staircase that seemed to ascend towards the heavens.

    Su Chen began to slowly walk up the staircase. With every step he took, the stairs behind him would solidify further.

    A boundless, majestic aura spilled forth.

    Su Chen took step after step until he finally arrived at the top and faced everyone.

    He smiled, giving off the feeling of a spring breeze, which roused all of their hearts.

    Gu Qingluo asked in a trembling voice, ¡°Husband, have you broken through?¡±

    Su Chen thought for a moment and then replied, ¡°No, I didn¡¯t break through. Rather, I smashed through.¡±

    Everyone was nonplussed by Su Chen¡¯s response.

    Su Chen continued, exining, ¡°The moment I was about to ascend, I could clearly sense the world around me, allowing me to understand what took ce a long time ago in the past. The Blood Ancestor is right; we humans were nevermon creatures. Because we were not only created by the gods, we also possessed immense strength, making us capable of defeating the creatures of other gods. We became weak because the gods discovered our existence and became afraid. They sealed us off so that we would remain small and weak......¡±

    As Su Chen spoke, a faint smile appeared on his face. ¡°But today, we have returned to our former glory. We will break through these restrictions and regain what has always rightfully belonged to us. Our position will be returned to us!¡±

    As he spoke, he raised his arms and faced the Origin Realm army once more. ¡°The final chains that the gods shackled us to have finally been shattered. The seal that has bound us for so long is no more! The human race will, on this day, rise to prominence. I have decided to name this realm, Deification!¡±

    ¡°Deification!¡±

    ¡°Deification!¡±

    ¡°Deification!¡±

    All of the humans began to chant the name of this realm together.

    Previous Chapter

 Book 7, 101: The Winter of the Gods

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 101: The Winter of the Gods</h4>

    The gods¡¯ defeat had sealed the fate of Kun¡¯s territory.

    This world, which was still isted within the Barrier, was forcefully remodeled. The system of faith was forcibly dismantled while the gods squirreled themselves away, attempting to survive on the little faith that their divine kingdoms still provided them with.

    At the same time, the human race of the Origin Realm embarked on a widespread crusade, wiping out any organizations of faith that they encountered.

    On Holy West Mountain.

    This mountain had once belonged to the Lord of Light.

    And after the Lord of Light had fallen, the Moon Goddess M had designated this location as one of her holynds for worshippers to congregate at.

    Countless geniuses had been produced at this location, and inheriting a church was always a blessing. The records and writings contained here would not at all be out of ce in arge library. The artistic statues, oil paintings, and other aspects of the fine arts produced here were also innumerable.

    Even so, all of this was useless in battle. The weakness and frailness of the worshippers here had been fully exposed.

    Just outside the window, sounds of battle could be heard, and thick plumes of smoke filled the sky.

    Jig the Fourteenth clung to the Moon Goddess Statue, gazing at the bloody ughter unfolding before his very eyes.

    ¡°Kill!¡±

    Following this cry, a streak of sword light arced across the sky. A young soldier mounted on horseback tumbled into the temple, his body rolling a few times before finally stopping in a copsed heap on the ground,pletely motionless.

    ¡°Mark,¡± Jig the Fourteenth softly called out to the soldier.

    That was his final remaining cavalryman. Each and every one of them had been blessed by the Mother Goddess herself with astounding innate talent and potential. These people were the ones destined to enter her divine kingdom.

    Now, however, they were dying in droves. There was no guidance or protection to be found anywhere.

    The sound of rough footsteps and nging metal drew closer and closer. Jig the Fourteenth knew that the enemies who had killed Mark were nearby.

    He didn¡¯t raise his head, however, and instead chose to continue stroking Mark¡¯s face gently as he reminisced, ¡°He came to this temple when he was seven years old. Even now, I still remember him as a studious, hardworking student of the sword. One time, he identally cut his opponent during a sparring session. He felt incredibly guilty and asked me whether or not the Goddess would still approve of someone like him, who had hurt one of hisrades. I told him that she would. As long as he was truly repentant for his mistakes and learned from them, the Goddess would forgive him and ept him all the same......¡±

    ¡°It seems that he was a good child,¡± Iron Cliff rumbled as blood dripped down from his iron-like fists. ¡°I have killed quite a few like him already. I wish that there was another way. After all, I did give them the opportunity to surrender their faith and survive. However, none of them chose to ept my offer.¡±

    Jig the Fourteenth grew angry at Iron Cliff¡¯s words. ¡°Even if we die, we will never abandon our faith. And what right do you have to force us to disavow our faith? Freedom of religion is a right that all residents of thisnd have.¡±

    ¡°Well said!¡± Iron Cliff began to p as he replied, ¡°Freedom of religion is indeed a good thing, but what about atheists? Are they still allowed to have free will?¡±

    Jig¡¯s mouth dropped open, and he was rendered speechless for some time.

    Iron Cliff continued, saying, ¡°If I remember correctly, atheism is a gross sin in your world, right? It is treated even more harshly than heresy. Is that also not a rule of yournd? You refuse to allow others to be atheists upon pain of death. Why wasn¡¯t freedom of religion brought up then? Where was your sense of morality and justice then?¡±

    Jig the Fourteenth couldn¡¯t stop himself from beginning to tremble.

    This was a dark truth that the churches could not conceal. Their treatment of unbelievers was extremely harsh, and it was the greatest darkness that they had desperately tried to conceal behind the purported light of worship.

    When they had been in power, no one had dared to point out the hypocrisy. Now, however, it had been dug up and fully exposed by Iron Cliff.

    Since the churches could ughter atheists as they pleased, then the immortals had the right to do whatever they wanted to the churches as well.

    This was very logical after all.

    Iron Cliff did not personallye up with this argument, but he had still managed to learn it nheless.

    Even then, so what if his viewpoint was unreasonable?

    In this world, reason was decided by the strong in the first ce.

    Ethical reasoning was typically superficial in nature. Regardless of whether or not this thin veneer was present, what needed to be done would be done.

    Iron Cliff apathetically waved his hand. ¡°Burn it.¡±

    Waves of mes sprang to life, enveloping the church in a zing inferno.

    As he gazed at the mes, Iron Cliff let out a small smile. ¡°Did you really think that the most dangerous location would be the safest? Fire away!¡±

    Hundreds of Titan-ss puppets descended from the sky before unleashing a torrent of energy at the ground beneath them.

    This wave of energy mmed into Holy West Mountain, but seemingly nothing happened. There was no energy shockwave from this massive collision, and not even a single stone was shattered.

    However, the space behind the mountain began to tremble, as if something was emerging from the fabric of space in that area.

    Finally, that area broke open due to thebined firepower of the Titan-ss puppets.

    Boom!

    A massive divine kingdom suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and the sounds of pious chanting could be hearding from its surface.

    Iron Cliff nced at it before being taken aback. ¡°Hm? This is not the Moon Goddess¡¯s kingdom. It¡¯s the God of Discipline¡¯s.¡±

    The God of Discipline, Cleo, was a prototypical low-tier god.

    Even though he was a low-tier god, Cleo¡¯sbat power was not bad. At the very least, he was much more powerful than Amelie, even though all of them were stronger than Amelie.

    When Iron Cliff discovered that the god hiding on Holy West Mountain was not the Moon Goddess but rather the God of Discipline, he rubbed his head in confusion for a few moments. Then, something seemed to click for him, and he cracked a wry smile. ¡°Who cares which one it is. Destroying one still means that we have one less to worry about.¡±

    Iron Cliff let out a long whistle. Behind him appeared a few Deste Beasts, who began to confidently stride towards the divine kingdom.

    ¡°How absurd. You want to fight me, a god, with just a few weak Beasts?¡± Cleo¡¯s disdainful voice thundered through the sky.

    If it was just a few Deste Beasts, then there was no need for him to feel fear. After all, he was alone and would not have to worry about drawing too much Method Power from the environment or affecting the surrounding Origin Energy too much.

    The current Cleo waspletely capable of demonstrating his full might.

    Boom, boom, boom, boom!

    Powerful fluctuations of divine power pulsated out from his kingdom in rampant waves.

    This time, Cleo had wisened up. He was attacking from within his own divine kingdom.

    Actually, this was the ideal way for a god to fight. When they relied on the protection of their kingdom, they would be free to attack as they pleased. Any individual who tried to force their way into this kingdom would experience an extremely powerful bacsh. Furthermore, divine soldiers could not die within the divine kingdom, and would quickly reform even if they were ¡°killed.¡± As such, making any significant headway was exceptionally difficult. And since Cleo was not holding back, hisbat power was much higher than in the previous battle.

    The previous battle had simplye too soon, and the gods had also been too arrogant. By the time they realized what was happening, it was already toote. This time, however, Cleo had made the appropriate preparations and was adopting an intelligentbat strategy. His divine kingdom would protect him while he attacked as he pleased. Perhaps even an Origin Beast would have a hard time taking him down.

    Obviously, however, Iron Cliff thought differently.

    When he saw that the God of Discipline was cowering within his divine kingdom and refusing toe out, he frowned before taunting, ¡°Do you really think that hiding within your shell will save you? Don¡¯t forget that we thought that we would be encircling the Moon Goddess and fighting her. Do you think that you can survive what we originally intended to use against her?¡±

    As he spoke, a swarm of bats appeared and flew towards the God of Discipline¡¯s des of divine light. The swarm of bats then opened their mouths wide and spat out des made of sound, forcibly scattering the God of Discipline¡¯s des of divine light.

    ¡°You old bat!¡± the God of Discipline roared angrily. His voice, however, also contained a trace of fear within it.

    The colony of bats gathered together before assuming the form of the Blood Ancestor. ¡°Don¡¯t be in such a rush. I¡¯m not the one who¡¯s responsible for dealing with you.¡±

    What? You aren¡¯t?

    The God of Discipline was taken aback and instinctively asked, ¡°Who is, then?¡±

    ¡°Me, of course.¡± Su Chen¡¯s voice floated through the sky.

    The God of Discipline turned to see Su Chen seemingly step out of thin air.

    Then, he took another step forward, entering the God of Discipline¡¯s divine kingdom.

    Countless elite divine warriors rushed towards Su Chen as soon as he set foot inside, immediately attacking him with all their strength. Theirbat power within the divine kingdom was considerably amplified. Some of the more powerful groups could even injure other gods.

    Even Su Chen did not dare to be too overconfident when faced with this attack.

    The Universe of Beasts appeared once more. Beasts surged forth as the Shining Dragon danced in the sky.

    This was one of Su Chen¡¯s most effective techniques againstrge groups of enemies. Everywhere around him, Beasts could be seen howling, leaping, and prancing.

    At this point, it wouldn¡¯t be unreasonable to give Su Chen a nickname like ¡®King of Beasts.¡¯

    Countless divine soldiers were almost immediately killed by the terrifying onught of Beasts.

    Worse still, the God of Discipline quickly discovered that these dead warriors could not be resurrected.

    There were certain conditions when it came to resurrection.

    In the first ce, these divine warriors were a form of consciousness entity. If they were killed, they would be reborn within the Hall of Martyrs.

    Now, however, they were not resurrecting there.

    The God of Discipline began to panic.

    Due to spatial restrictions, each divine kingdom could only hold a limited number of divine soldiers. While the three high-tier gods had millions of divine soldiers, low-tier gods like the God of Discipline only had around eighty thousand or so. They were primarily used as a shield due to their unkible nature. If his opponent was even the slightest bit stronger, however, that shield would give way and force Cleo to jump into the fray as well.

    Now, however, it was as if his shield did not exist in the first ce.

    The in spirits were noting back to life.

    The God of Discipline could sense that, while they were still present, their spirits had not returned to the Hall of Martyrs. As such, they were not able to resurrect.

    This was as if a pile of corpses were not degrading and returning to the soil after death.

    Suddenly, the God of Discipline found himself in a difficult predicament.

    He began to cry out in panic. ¡°How could this be? How is this possible? Return to me, my warriors!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to yell like that. Without my permission, not a single one of them will be able to revive,¡± Su Chen calmly said as he continued to stride forwards.

    ¡°No! This is impossible! This is my world!¡± The God of Discipline began to attack Su Chen with a desperate madness.

    Su Chen¡¯s body began glowing with white light, along him to easily withstand the God of Discipline¡¯s attacks as he continued to press forward. The Beasts surrounding him were still wreaking havoc, leaving a trail of corpses in his wake.

    None of the warriors who were killed by him coulde back to life.

    ¡°No! This world belongs to me! Listen to mymands and rise, my warriors!¡± the God of Discipline roared unwillingly.

    ¡°Your world?¡± Su Chen harrumphed disdainfully. ¡°That¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong. Right now...... This world is mine!¡±

    At that moment, the Universe of Beasts expanded to fill the entire divine kingdom.

 Book 7, 102: The Winter of the Gods 2

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 102: The Winter of the Gods 2</h4>

    The crystalline sound of Cleo¡¯s divine kingdom shattering spelled out his doom.

    By the time snow stopped falling from the sky, the sound of pious chanting could no longer be heard within the divine kingdom. The battle hade to a close.

    Su Chen stepped out of the destroyed microcosm, as if he had returned to his home realm.

    However, his expression was quite strange.

    It was as if he had encountered something unexpected in this fight.

    After some thought, he said, ¡°This matter has been concluded. Return to your former duties.¡±

    The group of soldiers all dispersed, leaving Iron Cliff alone by Su Chen¡¯s side.

    When everyone departed, Su Chen spoke. ¡°They¡¯re gone.¡±

    The Human Ancestor¡¯s figure slowly emerged from thin air.

    ¡°There¡¯s something that I don¡¯t understand,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°You want to ask why I didn¡¯t intervene during thatrge initial fight against the gods and keep them there, right?¡± the Human Ancestor asked with a smile.

    Su Chen nodded.

    The Human Ancestor sighed. ¡°I wanted to do that as well, but unfortunately, I could not. There is only one of me and twenty-two of them. I am not that powerful.¡±

    ¡°I still think that you could have done so if you had used your full strength. After all, controlling and bewitching other people is your specialty, is it not?¡± Su Chen said.

    The Human Ancestor chuckled dryly. ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking. Do you believe that I am the Lord of the Dreamrealm?¡±

    ¡°Am I wrong?¡± Su Chen sharply countered. ¡°If you aren¡¯t, then there are too many things that wouldn¡¯t make sense. For instance, why couldn¡¯t the Lord of the Dreamrealm see through my disguise as the Shadowless Sky God? Why does the Lord of the Dreamrealm know so much about what is taking ce in the Origin Realm, but not about what is happening in his home realm? And what about when I ughtered the Astrals? Perhaps that was a part of your master n as well, as you could then use that opportunity to issue me a warning. If you aren¡¯t the Lord of the Dreamrealm, then all I can say is that he is an idiot. I do believe that the gods can make mistakes, but I don¡¯t think that they are actually this stupid. Well? Are you still going to say that you are not him?¡±

    The Human Ancestor gently sighed. ¡°Some things are not as clear-cut as you think them to be. I truly was not able to intervene ¡ª it wasn¡¯t that I didn¡¯t want to.

    Su Chen was slightly taken aback by this response.

    Even now, the Human Ancestor was still refusing to admit to the truth?

    ¡°When the timees for you to know, you will know. As for right now, you should focus on taking care of your own business.¡± As the Human Ancestor said this, a red dot of light flew into Su Chen¡¯s body. ¡°This is where two other gods are hiding. They are thest two that I know about. Your infiltration of Kun¡¯s territory has already made them heavily suspect me, so many of the gods are refusing to reveal their whereabouts. I only know where these two are because I used special methods to pinpoint their location. Not long from now, they will attack me. You must handle things before then.¡±

    Su Chen then asked, ¡°So if I see them attack the Lord of the Dreamrealm, should I save him or not?¡±

    Unexpectedly, the Human Ancestor resolutely replied. ¡°Do not save him. Allow him to die!¡±

    Su Chen was taken aback by this answer.

    Was the Human Ancestor really not the Lord of the Dreamrealm?

    But if that was the case, then there were too many unresolved mysteries!

    ¡°You will understand one day,¡± the Human Ancestor said. ¡°This is not the most important matter at hand right now. The gods have alreadye up with a new n.¡±

    ¡°What n?¡±

    ¡°I cannot say.¡± The Human Ancestor shook his head.

    ¡°You cannot say? What does that even mean?¡±

    ¡°After the Twilight of the Gods, many of the gods died, but a few of them left unique Divine Tools behind. For instance, there is the Lord of Time¡¯s Scepter of Time, which allows one to predict the future. Of course, like your Origin Bone Scepter,rge sacrifices are necessary to activate it, and it cannot be used to make any predictions that concern individuals who are too powerful. Among these unique Divine Tools, there is one called the Soundless Sky. Its effect binds even gods to it, preventing them from viting any restrictive vows made using it.¡±

    Su Chen instantly understood.

    This Soundless Sky had undoubtedly been used on all the gods, including the Human Ancestor, preventing him from telling Su Chen what was happening even if he knew.

    The activation of the Soundless Sky must be extremely expensive. Only in sensitive circumstances that could determine the gods¡¯ fates would it be used. As such, this would prevent the Human Ancestor from leaking their ns even if he knew what was happening.

    Su Chen suddenly remembered that the Human Ancestor had indeed mentioned that there were some things that he could not speak about.

    Now, he finally understood why the Human Ancestor could not say anything.

    Actually, the Soundless Sky and the restrictive vows that the Human Ancestor had been bound by were what was preventing him from divulging any information.

    The only reason why he could say anything at all about the matter was because the gods had been severely weakened. Now, the Soundless Sky was being used to restrict twenty or so gods, which allowed the Human Ancestor to mention a few smaller details.

    ¡°Will the consequences of the n be disastrous?¡±

    ¡°I cannot say.¡±

    ¡°If the n seeds, will we fail?¡±

    ¡°I cannot say.¡±

    ¡°Are all the gods who are still alive participating?¡±

    ¡°I cannot say.

    ¡°Fine. It seems that the information is being guarded quite closely,¡± Su Chen replied helplessly.

    The long lifespans of the gods meant that they preferred not to think when they needed to resolve issues. However, that only meant that they werezy, not dumb. When a sizable threat emerged before them, they would not make a low-level mistake and leave a gaping hole for Su Chen to exploit.

    ¡°What should I do?¡± Su Chen asked after a moment¡¯s thought.

    ¡°Find them and kill them all as quickly as you can!¡± the Human Ancestor replied decisively.

    ¡°Understood,¡± Su Chen said with a nod. ¡°It¡¯s a shame that you only have two targets for me. The other gods will have hidden themselves well and will not be easy to find.¡±

    ¡°That is your problem.¡±

    After the Human Ancestor said this, he began to fade into the background.

    Su Chen remained silent as he watched the Human Ancestor disappear from view.

    Iron Cliff said, ¡°Master, what do you think the Human Ancestor is up to? Is he or is he not the Lord of the Dreamrealm?¡±

    Su Chen shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but even if he isn¡¯t, I believe that they must be very closely rted.¡±

    Iron Cliff shrugged. ¡°Then perhaps we should loosen our restrictions on the Lord of the Dreamrealm within the Origin Realm.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need,¡± Su Chen replied. ¡°Did you not hear what he said earlier? Even if we run into the Lord of the Dreamrealm here, we should kill him all the same.¡±

    ¡°This really is impossible to understand.¡± Iron Cliff still seemed suspicious.

    However, Su Chen was more focused on the secret n that the Human Ancestor had mentioned.

    What n was he talking about?

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t help but think of what had happened after he had killed Cleo.

    After killing Cleo, Su Chen had not obtained Cleo¡¯s essence of divine power.

    This had confused him greatly.

    These essence fragments would naturally emerge and condense after a god¡¯s death, and they contained a portion of the strength that the god had possessed in the past.

    But this power seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

    Was this rted to the n that the Human Ancestor had mentioned?

    But just what was that n?

    Su Chen couldn¡¯t figure it out.

    But since that was the case, then there was no point in continuing to think about it.

    Just as the Human Ancestor had said, killing the gods quickly was the best n of action at the moment.

    ¡°Then kill them we shall. After the Twilight of the Gods wille the Winter of the Gods! This winter will be a permanent one, and they will have no opportunity to ever recover.¡±

    Following this viciousmand, a broad search of the gods was carried out.

    Cultivators from the Origin Realm scattered across Kun¡¯s territory, scouring thend for any sign of the gods.

    Su Chen even constructed arge spatial detection apparatus himself. Any god who got too close to the apparatus would activate it.

    And this n actually seeded.

    With their exhaustive efforts, the Origin Realm army quickly found three more gods and killed them in rapid session.

    However, the gods were not idiots either. When they realized the situation that they were in, they began to keep an eye out for the apparatus as well. Naturally, it was far easier for the gods to discover the apparatus than it was the other way around, rendering it essentially useless. Su Chen, however, did not give up and followed it up by developing a vibration device to force the gods out of hiding.

    This allowed him to uproot a few more of them.

    But then, once again, the gods quickly adapted to this new tool and found a way to detect the vibration device¡¯s presence as well.

    This was like a game of cat-and-mouse, or an arms race of sorts. And throughout this game, ten or so gods had fallen. Naturally, the Origin Realm¡¯s soldiers had paid a price as well.

    None of the high-tier gods, however, made an appearance even once.

    But the current situation still gave Su Chen an uneasy feeling. None of the gods who had recently died left any concentrated divine power behind.

    Thankfully, the two globules that he had gathered from the initial battle allowed him to bring both Ye Fenghan and Le Feng into the Nascent Soul Realm.

    And Gu Qingluo and Zhu Xianyao had also formed their Golden Pill.

    By this point, there were quite a few power Origin Energy cultivators who also possessed some mastery of immortal energy. Many of them had reached the Foundation Establishment stage already.

    As a result, with every passing day, the human race¡¯s strength was steadily increasing.

    The gods were continually discovered and killed as their numbers continued to dwindle.

    Even so, Su Chen couldn¡¯t shake the sense of unease creeping over him.

    It was as if a monstrous storm was brewing on the horizon. Su Chen simply could not get used to his feelings of unease.

    Even so, he had no other choice but to continue hunting the gods down.

    In the blink of an eye, three years passed.

    Within the Myriad Star Field.

    This ce was a naturally formed forbiddennd in Kun¡¯s territory. Apparently, it had once belonged to the God of Death. Even now, the ce was still filled with an intense aura of death. This aura posed a substantial threat as it could corrode all living creatures.

    Even so, the Origin Realm¡¯s cultivators had searched through this ce no less than sixteen times. Their imcable stance could be seen in how determined they were to find the gods regardless of where they might be hiding.

    On this day, yet another group of Origin Realm cultivators arrived.

    This group, however, was no ordinary search party. Su Chen had personallye himself.

    He calmly strolled through the Myriad Star Field, followed by countless Boundless Sect disciples.

    As he gazed at the field¡¯s barrenndscape, Su Chen called out, ¡°Come on out, Yormak. Hiding here will no longer keep you safe.¡±

    There was no reply.

    Su Chen chuckled. ¡°You won¡¯t give up until the veryst nail is hammered into your coffin, huh?¡±

    He then raised his hand and shoved his palm out in front of him.

    The space in front of him suddenly tore apart as a dark shadow appeared. It was emanating an intense aura of death and surrounded by fragments of his divine kingdom.

    Even Su Chen was slightly taken aback by this horrid scene.

    Yormak¡¯s divine kingdom had been ripped to shreds?

    The worshippers that had once upied it were all lying on the ground in a pitiful condition, as if they had been afflicted by a gue.

    Even so, they were still alive and continuing to diligently pray, supplying Yormak with a stream of faith.

    ¡°You¡¯re finally here,¡± Yormak spoke in a low, gravelly voice.

    He appeared above his broken divine kingdom, revealing a rtivelymon face. His face was not majestic or mysterious like what a stereotypical god looked like.

    Even Su Chen couldn¡¯t help butment, ¡°Have you already fallen this far? It seems that your days were numbered even if I didn¡¯t show up.¡±

    Yormak chuckled darkly. ¡°You seem quite delighted by my plight. Yes, you may have won this time and found me. My only regret is that I will not be able to hold out until the end! However, that¡¯s alright. Even if I cannot be one of the gods who enjoys the fruits of his sess, I will still do my part.¡±

    Upon hearing this, the sense of uneasiness dwelling in Su Chen¡¯s heart suddenly surfaced and intensified even further. ¡°What are you saying, Yormak?¡±

    Yormak began tough wildly.

    Following thisugh, the remnants of his divine kingdom and all of his worshippers were suddenly set aze.

    At the same time, the familiar glow of divine power appeared once again.

    This was Yormak¡¯s final disy of strength!

    Even so, he was not using this strength to fight against Su Chen. Instead, the former divine kingdom and worshippers just burned fiercely as Yormak continued to howl with maniacalughter.

    This was Su Chen¡¯s first time witnessing a genuinely crazy god.

    Yormak¡¯s body slowly began to catch on fire as well, and the mes eventually spread to cover his entire body. The powerful energy released when Yormak¡¯s body was used as fuel began to surge wildly in all directions.

    This foreign Method Power was causing rm bells to ring off in Su Chen¡¯s mind.

    He finally realized what the gods¡¯ n was from the very beginning.

    ¡°Not good!¡± he cried out.

    Boom!

    Off in the horizon, a resounding, echoing explosion could be heard.

    This ancient sound was long and drawn out. It was heard both in Kun¡¯s territory as well as the Origin Realm. Every person and creature in these two realms heard the foreboding rumbling sound and could sense that something unprecedented had happened.

    The Barrier had copsed.

 Book 7, 103: Unified

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 103: Unified</h4>

    ¡°So that was your n all along, huh?¡± Su Chen muttered to himself as he gazed up at the sky.

    The world and the sky still seemed the samepared to moments ago.

    The copse of the Barrier had not resulted in any immediately obvious changes.

    But as the Barrier fully copsed, Su Chen could feel a certain sense of release take ce in his heart.

    The sensation that had disappeared was the rejection that he had felt from this world.

    And now, with the copse of the Barrier, that restriction had been lifted. Everything had changed.

    They had stepped out of their cramped room and into a broad, vast area. Their hearts were finally free and unfettered.

    ¡°They,¡± of course, referred to the gods and not Su Chen.

    Su Chen¡¯s pride-driven mistake was understandable. After all, the Barrier of the Gods had stood the test of time for so many years without being destroyed. As such, he had instinctively assumed that the Barrier¡¯s destruction could not be hastened by the gods.

    Now, however, it appeared that he had been wrong. The gods actually did have a way to destroy the Barrier; the only caveat was that they had to sacrifice their own lives to fuel their desire.

    During the Twilight of the Gods, the gods had discovered that they could elerate the destruction of the Barrier by linking their vitality to it just before their death. However, the effect that this had on the Barrier was rtively minimal, and they also each viewed their own lives as being incredibly precious. Thus, none of them had ever dared to do so.

    After the Origin Realm¡¯s invasion of Kun¡¯s territory, however, everything changed.

    In order to deal with these invaders, the gods had actually been forced to use self-destructive methods instead.

    The Barrier of the Gods was already very close to copse. With a couple simple prods, everything hade tumbling down.

    The Barrier¡¯s destruction caused the remaining gods to be ecstatic with joy.

    One powerful will after another soared into the sky.

    ¡°Finally, we are free!¡±

    ¡°From now on, no one will ever be able to restrict us again!¡±

    ¡°Su Chen, we will repay you with interest for everything you have done!¡±

    ¡°This world will belong to the gods!¡±

    Their exuberant voices filled the skies.

    Whoosh!

    The Bloodbat flying in the skynded on Su Chen¡¯s shoulder, bringing the voice of the Blood Ancestor with it. ¡°We let them get away, but unfortunately, we will not be able to apany you into battle anymore.¡±

    The Barrier had been destroyed, but the Origin Realm¡¯s invisible restrictions were still present.

    Additionally, Kun¡¯s territory was the Origin Beasts¡¯ original home. As long as they remained here, they would be able to continue surviving.

    In other words, the moment the Barrier copsed, it had been decided that the Origin Beasts would never return to the Origin Realm.

    Not unless they wanted to kill themselves, that is.

    This was undoubtedly bad news for Su Chen and the human race.

    Without the support of the Origin Beasts, the human race would be left alone in their war against the gods.

    The difficulty of such an undertaking was obviously excessive.

    Even so, Su Chen¡¯s voice didn¡¯t waver in the slightest. ¡°I understand. From this day onwards, Kun¡¯s territory will be the territory of the Beasts. The Boundless Sect will note here without a good reason. Additionally, the humans and the Beasts will live separately from each other.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± the Blood Ancestor replied happily, ¡°Even though we cannot pass through to the Origin Realm, I can still restrict the Demonic Beasts on that side and prevent them from attacking other humans. I can also try to have them assist you if you want.¡±

    ¡°That would be for the best.¡±

    Su Chen then began to write down every item of the agreement that he and the Blood Ancestor hade to.

    Dazzling letters filled the sky, eventually forming aplete agreement.

    The Bloodbat let out a roar as a drop of fresh bloodnded on the agreement. His body then turned to ash as it disappeared into the wind. Su Chen did the same, and the agreement let out a blinding light before gradually fading, disappearing into the ether.

    The agreement between the Beasts and the humans had been established.

    From that day onwards, Kun¡¯s territory would belong to the Beasts, allowing them and the humans to live in harmony. If there was any need for them to support each other, they would do so and exchange resources as necessary.

    After taking care of this matter, Su Chen stepped into the void. He reappeared within Sky City.

    At this moment, Sky City was filled with a furious flurry of action.

    Upon seeing Su Chen return, everyone walked towards him.

    ¡°The Barrier has copsed, and the gods have been freed. Their strength is almost certainly going to increase rapidly.¡±

    ¡°We must ughter them before they are able to fully recover.¡±

    ¡°Have we not been doing this from the very beginning?¡±

    ¡°Of course we have, but that just made us fall headfirst into their trap.¡±

    ¡°Who could have anticipated that the gods would have this kind of trick hidden up their sleeves?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s toote to say such things now. We need to focus on thinking of a way to kill them before they kill us ¡ª and quickly.¡±

    ¡°This is going to be too difficult. If they could utilize their worshippers as warriors even while the Barrier was in ce, then the entire Origin Realm will be set aze now that they have been freed.¡±

    ¡°A fire will only persist if there is no one there to extinguish it,¡± Su Chen calmly spoke.

    Everyone else fell silent.

    Su Chen continued, saying, ¡°The return of the gods is indeed very problematic. This problem, however, may not be as great as everyone believes it to be. In the past, the gods could openly absorb faith. They can still do so now. However, do you think that they have the confidence to do so?¡±

    Everyone was taken aback before they carefully considered Su Chen¡¯s words.

    It was true that, now that the gods had returned to the Origin Realm and the restrictions on them had been lifted, they were free to do as they pleased. Their faith reservoirs, so to speak, had been greatly erged.

    Even so, it would take them time to recover and aplish their goals.

    Li Wuyi hesitantly said, ¡°Sect Master, do you mean......¡±

    Su Chen then said, ¡°We should continue to do what we were doing in the past. All Intelligent Race individuals, including the Harpies, Ravagers, and Oceanids, are forbidden from worshipping any god. Even if the Origin Realm is broad and vast, and even if there is a vast pool of potential worshippers, the gods need the people to be willing to believe in them first. As long as we maintain a strict control over the races there and forbid worship, the gods will find that what they had thought to be a rich resource has actually dried up.¡±

    The most important reason why the gods desired to return to the Origin Realm was because it had a muchrger capacity for life, allowing them to harvest more faith.

    But if the Boundless Sect interfered and forbade anyone from worshipping them, then the gods¡¯ return would be renderedpletely pointless.

    Without a stream of faith and worshippers, the gods were nothing.

    As such, Su Chen¡¯s solution was to nip the issue in the bud and not give the gods any ground to grow stronger.

    Upon hearing this, Li Wuyi frowned. ¡°The Ravagers and Oceanids are not under our rule. It will be hard to impose such restrictions on them.¡±

    ¡°Then we will kill them,¡± Su Chen growled upromisingly.

    Jiang Jusheng felt his heart jolt violently. ¡°Does that include the Oceanids?¡±

    Su Chen fell silent for a moment before saying, ¡°It would be for the best if they are willing to cooperate. But if not...... then yes, that includes the Oceanids!¡±

    They had just fought side-by-side with the Oceanids not long ago, but Su Chen had no choice but to sever their rtions in pursuit of an even greater goal.

    This was reality.

    Su Chen could not allow his emotions to ruin the future of the entire human race.

    The Oceanids were no different from him.

    Hadn¡¯t they abandoned their human allies as soon as Eternal Night offered them arge enough bribe to stand down?

    All personal rtionships were moot in the face of the interests of one¡¯s kingdom.

    On that day, Su Chen personally went to pay the Oceanids a visit.

    Thankfully, he was able to convince them to agree to his proposal and gained their support in the war against the gods.

    Meanwhile, the brainless Ravagers unsurprisingly refused. Even though restricting themselves from worshipping the gods was a rtively small matter in and of itself, the implications were too great for them to ept. Doing so meant that humans would be allowed to travel unhindered through their territory, that they would have toply with any investigations, and that they would have to give the humans special positions that had official capacities.

    It would be no different than handing over part of their authority to another race.

    The Oceanids had agreed because they recognized the gravity of the situation, but the Ravagers did not.

    The Ravagers, whose brains were made of muscle, never used logic to evaluate issues. Even though they knew that the humans were right, that the return of the gods would result in their oppression, that the human race was extremely powerful, and that they would suffer thoroughly if they didn¡¯t listen...... they still refused to listen.

    There was nothing that Su Chen could possibly do to persuade such a group of barbaric, illogical individuals.

    Three days after returning to the human kingdoms, Su Chen dered war on the Ravagers.

    A war ensued following Su Chen¡¯s promation, one that engulfed the entire Origin Realm.

    Only after the war began did the Ravagers realize just what kind of enemy they were facing.

    Did they know that they couldn¡¯t defeat the humans?

    Perhaps, but they definitely did not know just howrge the gap between them had be.

    The current human race was more than capable of easily steamrolling through the Ravagers. The only reason why the Ravagers had survived up till now was just because the humans had been too busy with other things. But when a fight against the Ravagers became necessary, they bore witness to just how terrifying the human race had be.

    Within Flowing Gold Fort.

    Hundreds of thousands of Ravagers were arrayed in a battle formation, roaring and howling fiercely at the sky.

    On the other side of the battlefield, there were so many cultivators flying towards them that they nearly blotted out the sky.

    Yes, they were all flying.

    Instead of marching towards them in an orderly fashion on the ground, all of the cultivators were casually flying towards them through the air.

    The five hundred thousand strong Ravager army was facing off against an army of five hundred thousand flying cultivators.

    Onemon soldier versus one cultivator.

    Truth be told, Su Chen¡¯s method was quite simple and crude.

    Send out five hundred thousand cultivators and crush them with brute power.

    And this was just the human race¡¯s low-tier cultivators.

    By now, flight was no longer something that only a mid-tier cultivator could achieve. Rather, any Foundation Establishment cultivator was capable of doing so.

    As such, flight was no longer a privilege that only belonged to the small group of cultivators who had ascended to or beyond the Light Shaking Realm. Any cultivator could fly as long as they had reached the Foundation Establishment stage.

    Yes, Foundation Establishment.

    The immortal system had be the human race¡¯s new mainstream cultivation path. The old system of Origin Energy enhancement was only used for supplementary purposes now. It still existed, but it had been relegated to the side because of itsck of efficiency whenpared to the new immortal pathway.

    Terms like Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Pill, Nascent Soul, Deification, Aspects, and pills had all be part and parcel for human cultivators.

    Additionally, it was more effective to redirect an attack than to block it.

    Having people believe in something transcendent besides gods was not a bad idea either.

    For instance, immortals.

    It did not require faith to be an immortal, but in order to prevent the gods from receiving any faith, it made sense to make himself, Su Chen, into an object of worship. That way, the intelligent race¡¯s faith would not be used in a perverted way.

    The war against the gods raged on.

    Restricting faith, executing nonpliers, and creating new targets to worship were all tactics that Su Chen had created to deprive the gods of their much-needed nourishment. With this, the gods would not be able to easily reestablish themselves in the Origin Realm even if they did return.

    In essence, the entire Ravager race was fighting against five hundred thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators.

    In the past, the Ravagers wouldn¡¯t have even dreamed of facing off against such a powerful army in the past.

    Even if their ¡°God of War,¡± Averigus, were resurrected, and Su Chen betrayed the human race, they would not be able to make up for this gap.

    The Ravagers were utterly routed in every battle and confrontation between them and the human army.

    When the Ravagers were thoroughly crushed, the Oceanids were still attempting to negotiate for favorable conditions with Su Chen.

    But when they heard of how badly the Ravagers had been defeated, the Oceanids¡¯ leader immediately agreed to all the terms that Su Chen had put forward, bringing their agreement into effect.

    The human race¡¯s armies then swept across the Origin Realm like water rushing out of a breaking dam. As their influence spread, they were able to sessfully execute their will. This time, they were able to effectively suppress any religions worshipping the gods.

    Previous Chapter

 Book 7, 104: The Final Battle 1

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 11: Golden Pill</h4>

    After a big battle, the scouting expedition finally destroyed the Demonic King.

    Everyone was extremely excited. After all, a Deste King was bound to possess quite a few riches, and ording to the Boundless Sect¡¯s rules, any Beasts killed during the expedition would belong to the scouting expedition. All they needed to do was hand over the ownerless resources they had obtained.

    This was not a small haul. No wonder they were all so ecstatic.

    Only Chang He¡¯s expression was gloomy as he pleaded with Ye Fenghan, ¡°Brother, this time it really wasn¡¯t my fault. How about this? If I give up on my profits from this expedition......¡±

    Ye Fenghan replied coldly, ¡°I don¡¯t care about your profits. Don¡¯t want to dump my chamber pot? Easy - don¡¯t talk so much when you¡¯re around me.¡±

    ¡°Fine, fine, fine. I¡¯ll listen to you more in the future, okay?¡± Chang He was delighted.

    Ye Fenghan cupped his hand to his ear and made a shushing motion.

    Chang He understood and obediently moved off to the side.

    ¡°Captain, we¡¯ve found it. The Tricolored Lotus was just beneath its body,¡± one of the scouting party¡¯s members eximed with excitement as he held a red, white, and blue flower in the air.

    The Tricolored Lotus could be used to increase a person¡¯s sensitivity to Origin Energy and increase their control over it. It could also improve the might of sword Qi that was unleashed, making it one of the most needed resources for the Boundless Sect. They had always tried to source high quantities of it, but unfortunately their efforts were met with limited sess. Now that they had upied quite a bit of Beast territory, however, they were able to harvest to their heart¡¯s content.

    Ye Fenghan nced at the Tricolored Lotus and said with excitement, ¡°This is probably at least three thousand years old. That makes it worth three thousand contribution points.¡±

    Everyone was delighted when they heard this.

    This untamed wilderness really was a ce of many treasures - treasures as far as the eye could see!

    Ye Fenghan stowed the Tricolored Lotus away carefully.

    He was also given the small shoot that had been growing on top of that Demonic King¡¯s head.

    That shoot was known as the Jade Stem. It had been formed by that Demonic Beast from its own flesh and blood, and was used to bait its prey into its trap. The shoot itself was a valuable item that could greatly increase the power of one¡¯s consciousness as well, and was no less precious than the Tricolored Lotus.

    Since Ye Fenghan was the captain of the expedition, it was only natural that he was given the most valuableponent of the Beast as well.

    This shoot could be eaten, or it could be used to refine pills. Of course, thetter was much more effective than the former.

    But after a moment of thought, Ye Fenghan ended up deciding to use it immediately.

    His Dream Beauty Aspect was about to make a breakthrough. If he used this shoot, he would be able to immediately break through, sessfullypleting his second aspect.

    If that was the case, his chances of surviving in this primal wastnd would greatly increase.

    As soon as he thought of this, Ye Fenghan immediately made up his mind.

    He first found a quiet location, then ced the Jade Stem in his hand as he began to activate the Origin Energy in his body, sending it into the Jade Stem.

    The shoot began to slowly emit a white vapor.

    Ye Fenghan sniffed the vapor, but it didn¡¯t enter his nose. Instead, it circled around his body, then began to seep into his body through his eye.

    This was how the Jade Stem was supposed to be used. More specifically, it was a method that Su Chen had devised.

    Throughout his research, of which a majority was aimed at big goals such aspleting the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques, he had made quite a few improvements to minor items on the side. One of these was a more efficient way to use rare herbs.

    Boiling the Origin Energy and then assimting it through the eye was thirty percent more effective than directly ingesting the medicinal herb.

    As the medicinal power flowed into Ye Fenghan¡¯s body, he felt his sea of knowledge begin to expand. A faint tinkle of a woman¡¯sughter could be heard echoing through it.

    Ye Fenghan knew that this was an inevitable bacsh that would ur once his Dream Beauty Aspect reached a certain level. His heart remained calm and unperturbed as the woman¡¯sughter began to fade.

    Suddenly, Ye Fenghan felt a rumbling in his mind as countless illusory ck figures began to charge at him, howling fiercely.

    Ye Fenghan was badly startled. Sect Master hadn¡¯t said anything about any demons entering his body when reaching the stage of Great Sess. What was happening?

    He didn¡¯t believe that Su Chen would try to harm him, yet there was also no denying what was happening before his very eyes.

    Even so, he knew that he could rely on no one but himself to survive this ordeal. He carefully guarded his heart as he activated the power of his Aspect to its greatest extent, holding on for dear life.

    Thankfully, now that his Dream Beauty Aspect had reached the stage of Great Sess, his sea of knowledge had be much more responsive, and the waves surged to form giant walls blocking off his heart.

    However, those strange figures came thick and fast, charging with reckless abandon as they attempted to tear his sea of knowledge to shreds. Even with the aid of his Dream Beauty Aspect, Ye Fenghan found it hard to defend himself adequately.

    If those ck figures entered his body, it was very likely that he would lose himself.

    At that moment, he could sense that one of his other Aspects was beginning to awaken.

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Ye Fenghan decided to activate his Golden Bird Aspect as well.

    The Golden Bird Aspect belonged to Owl Country¡¯s Cheng n and specialized in fire. Apparently, the real Golden Bird was capable of igniting the Heavens, incinerating everything below into ash.

    Even though the humanized bloodline wasn¡¯t nearly as powerful, at full power it was more than capable of setting an area of ten thousand square feet aze. It was also the Aspect of the seven Deste Beast Aspects that had the greatest area-of-effect.

    Ye Fenghan had no choice. He could sense the sinister energy encroaching on his heart, leaving him no choice but to fight back with fire.

    An instantter, mes exploded from Ye Fenghan¡¯s body, burning those demons to a crisp as they roared and shrieked in pain.

    So these guys were in fact afraid of fire.

    That was no surprise given their sinister nature.

    Ye Fenghan gritted his teeth and began to burn fiercely. In the blink of an eye, the demons in his body were charred and turned to ash.

    At this point, his Dream Beauty Bloodline had already reached the stage of Great Sess, and no new demons were appearing. Once the sun appeared, the remaining demons were all exterminated. Finally, Ye Fenghan was safe.

    Even though this battle had taken ce inside of his body, he had actually been wounded quite significantly.

    Just as he was in consternation about what had just happened, he suddenly discovered that his consciousness power had gone up yet another level. At the same time, a golden pill formed out of consciousness power had coagted in his sea of knowledge.

    What was that?

    Ye Fenghan didn¡¯t know what it was, but he could sense that it was filled with a powerful energy.

    Perhaps he could draw it out?

    He reached out to touch the golden pill with his consciousness......

    BOOM!

    It exploded.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Ye Fenghan¡¯s subordinates all rushed over when they heard the explosion.

    Ye Fenghan stepped out of his tent, his face charred and smoke billowing everywhere.

    His expression was steely as he coughed, ¡°I¡¯m fine, I¡¯m fine. I was just doing some research...... which failed.¡±

    ¡°Hm? So you¡¯ve picked up Sect Master¡¯s habit of researching as well?¡± Chang He chuckled.

    Ye Fenghan shot him a re. Chang He immediately shut his mouth and stepped off to the side.

    He had no choice but to obey if he didn¡¯t want to be emptying chamber pots for a year.

    But when he heard Chang He mention the Sect Master, his heart jolted for a moment.

    He knew that perhaps only Su Chen would be able to exin what had just happened to him. He pulled out his transmission box and stepped off to the side, attempting tomunicate with Su Chen.

    Upon seeing this, Chang He muttered to himself, ¡°What¡¯s he being so secretive about.¡±

    Until Su Chen¡¯s figure appeared off in the distance.

    Su Chen came very quickly.

    Because he was riding the Void Seahorse.

    Everyone was amazed when they saw Su Chen appear, and they all knelt on the ground. ¡°Sect Master!¡±

    Su Chen nodded in their direction, then looked at Ye Fenghan. Suddenly, he grabbed Ye Fenghan¡¯s hand, and a violent st of consciousness power invaded his mind. Ye Fenghan made no attempt to defend himself and let Su Chen do as he pleased.

    After a brief moment, Su Chen nodded. ¡°This is indeed a little strange. Come with me.¡±

    He grabbed Ye Fenghan and dragged him off to the side.

    When Chang He saw this, he was bemused. ¡°What exactly is going on?¡±

    Everyone else shrugged, obviously just as confused.

    Not far from there, Su Chen and Ye Fenghan stood. Su Chen was obviously deep in thought, his expression solemn.

    Ye Fenghan said, ¡°Sect Master, what exactly happened to me? Just give it to me straight. I can take it no matter what happened.¡±

    After a moment¡¯s thought, Su Chen said, ¡°I don¡¯t actually know what exactly happened to you. It¡¯s possible that, when you used that pure Yang energy to dispel the demons, a byproduct was left behind. This interaction between Yin and Yang may have affected your body itself, forming a golden pill in the process.¡±

    ¡°Sect Master means that whatever those demons left behind when they died remained in my body, and even merged with my Origin Energy to form such a pill?¡±

    ¡°The truth might be even moreplicated than that. I need to search your memories thoroughly in order to determine what took ce. Rx your consciousness and use the Dream Beauty Aspect to guard it, but do not resist...... This will hurt quite a bit.¡± As Su Chen spoke, he tapped his finger onto Ye Fenghan¡¯s forehead.

    Very quickly, Ye Fenghan felt a torturous pain begin to spread all over his entire body.

    He gritted his teeth and forcefully endured. After an unknown period of time, Su Chen finally retracted his finger.

    He let out a long sigh. ¡°Finally, it¡¯s done.¡±

    This way, Su Chen saw everything that Ye Fenghan had experienced.

    He carefully parsed through Ye Fenghan¡¯s memories, perceiving the various changes that had taken ce in his body. A preliminary conclusion had already begun to take shape in his mind, but more uracy would take some time.

    When Su Chen nced back at Ye Fenghan, who was slumped on the ground, he said, ¡°Fenghan, I am willing to ept you as my disciple. What do you think?¡±

    Ye Fenghan was momentarily startled before he rejoiced. ¡°Disciple pays his respects to Master!¡±

    Su Chen smiled and nodded when he saw this.

    Actually, Su Chen had viewed Ye Fenghan as his disciple in all but name for a long time. Otherwise, he would not have passed on the Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect, nor given him any cultivation pointers.

    epting him as a disciple now was no more than a formality.

    Ye Fenghan kowtowed three times before Su Chen gestured for him to stop. ¡°Rise.¡±

    Ye Fenghan stood and respectfully came to Su Chen¡¯s side.

    Su Chen said, ¡°I have a pretty good idea about what happened, and there¡¯s no need for you to panic now. The way I see it, this matter is a blessing, not a curse. You should spend some time to ponder over it; if you run into any issues, just let me know.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Master!¡±

    Su Chen casually carved out a rift in space and pulled out a Titan-ss puppet, handing it to Ye Fenghan. ¡°Since I¡¯ve now epted you as my disciple, I must also observe etiquette by giving you a gift. Take this Titan-ss puppet and use it to keep yourself safe.¡±

    A Titan-ss puppet was as strong as an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator. Being given such a present startled Ye Fenghan quite badly. He had no idea about the wealth that Su Chen had recently umted, so he hurriedly protested, ¡°Master, you can¡¯t!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a big deal. Since I¡¯ve epted you as my disciple, I cannot put your life in danger so carelessly. That being said, this item is only meant to keep you safe. If you rely on it too extensively, you will not advance.¡±

    ¡°Your disciple understands!¡± Ye Fenghan replied loudly. ¡°I promise you that I will only use this treasure at a critical juncture.¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡± Su Chen stood calmly. ¡°Now that the matter¡¯s been settled, you may go. What has taken ce in your body can only be fully realized through battle. Let¡¯s see what surprises it will bring for you. If anything seems to be going wrong, let me know immediately.¡±

    As he spoke, he turned around and left.

    Ye Fenghan watched Su Chen depart respectfully, but he didn¡¯t notice that a shadow had fallen across Su Chen¡¯s face.

    ¡°Lord of the Dreamrealm, you just couldn¡¯t hold yourself back, huh?¡±

 Book 7, 105: The Final Battle 2

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 105: The Final Battle 2</h4>

    The seven gods towered in the sky with an imposing might.

    Opposite them stood an ocean of human cultivators.

    The aura emanating from the seven gods waspletely different now that they had returned to the Origin Realm.

    Even when they were faced with a seemingly endless sea of sword light, they seemed to be totally nonchnt.

    The Moon Goddess harrumphed. ¡°What¡¯s the use of having so many ants?¡±

    A warm, genial light spread out from her. Each strand of light was calm and gentle, but that gentleness belied a fatal killing intent.

    The sword light was actually finding it difficult to advance into the gentle moonlight.

    A powerful wave of light surged forth from the horizon. That was the environment¡¯s natural response to the powerful wave of energy. Yet again, Origin Energy and Method Power were both thrown into chaos.

    But by now, both the humans and the gods had already advanced far beyond this level and remained unaffected.

    Next, the Lord of the Dreamrealm opened his mouth, from which poured out countless Dream Demons.

    These Dream Demons were not actual creatures. Instead, they were pure consciousness lifeforms, and mainly subsisted off of devouring their opponent¡¯s consciousness power. They could also absorb other people¡¯s memories, wipe out their humanity, and mess with their logic.

    Unleashing so many all at once directly influenced the human army on the consciousness level.

    A few of the human cultivators were affected and suddenly began to attack their ownrades in their confusion. The human race¡¯s formation was immediately thrown into chaos.

    ¡°Immortal energy protects me. I will not move!¡± A voice spoke, echoing in everyone¡¯s ears.

    Immortal energy surged forth, causing all the apparitions to disappear. In fact, the power of the Boundless Sect¡¯s sword light seemed to intensify as they pushed back against the Moon Goddess¡¯s power.

    ¡°Forbidden power!¡± the gods all eximed at the same time.

    This power was called forbidden power because of how much of a threat it posed to the gods.

    With immortal energy protecting their bodies, the human soldiers were now able topletely ignore the effects of the Dream Demons. Their hearts regained their calmness once more, and their focus steadied.

    ¡°That forbidden power must be exterminated once and for all!¡± a voice loudly rumbled. It was the Fire Sword God who had spoken up.

    This god was wearing a set of ming red scaled armor, and each one of its scales seemed to glow with the intense power of fire. Shockingly, he had manifested an illusory image behind himself, and it was surprisingly simr to the Aspects that Su Chen had developed.

    The image behind the Fire Sword God was that of an upside-down tree. Its massive roots extended far into the sky while below it was a path lined with fire and swords.

    And on that pathy countless skeletons.

    As the fiery path extended into the battlefield, so too did the death and destruction caused by the fire and the swords.

    Even with the protection of Su Chen¡¯s immortal energy, the human soldiers who were affected by these mes and swords began to fall one by one.

    And for each one that died, another skeleton appeared along the path.

    ¡°Titans, attack!¡±

    Su Chen decisively unleashed his Titan-s puppets. Thousands of the puppets charged forth in formation, attempting to stifle the advancement of the path of ming swords.

    The path of ming swords consumed the vitality of any nearby living creatures, killing them. Even immortal energy could not reverse that effect. The Titan-ss puppets, on the other hand, were not alive and thus did not fear the ming swords.

    In addition to the Titan-ss puppets, there were also Demon Metal Colossi, which were shrouded in dark light. These were another type of powerful puppets that were equivalent to Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators that were also created by Su Chen. The Titan-ss puppets¡¯ main limitation was that they were expensive to construct, which meant that Su Chen had only been able to make a few thousand of them before running out of materials. Lowering their strength by a tier would greatly decrease the cost of construction, and this new generation of puppets were the Demon Metal Colossi, which had been produced by Su Chen at a furious pace.

    Once the Barrier fell, Su Chen knew that his puppet army would be one of the important cards he could y in the fight against the gods, which was why he had been producing them nonstop and using his God-Sealing Method Power on them as often as he could.

    These puppets were all made by Su Chen. Additionally, none of them feared death, and they could move as if they were one.

    In some sense, they were even more valiant than human soldiers.

    Countless puppets charged forth, forcefully halting the advance of the path of ming swords.

    The Mother Goddess blinked when she saw this.

    She did not personally attack. Instead, she spoke.

    ¡°My creatures, you are all my children. Will you really betray your Mother?¡±

    The Harpies were indeed the Mother Goddess¡¯s creation. The tens of thousands of years that they had spent worshipping her had left an indelible impression in their hearts.

    Such a deep-seated predilection towards worship was hard to ignore. Actually, most of the Harpies, even now, still secretly worshipped the Mother Goddess in their hearts.

    As soon as the Mother Goddess spoke these words, all of the Harpies felt their hearts jolt with emotion.

    Their Mother Goddess was personally calling for them to return.

    A few Harpies could not stop themselves from falling to their knees and start praying to their goddess.

    And a few other Harpies even began ring at the human soldiers with venomous expressions. The grudge that they bore for being defeated and subjugated was rearing its ugly head once more.

    This time, however, Eternal Night spoke back.

    ¡°Mother Goddess, we Harpies have never disputed the fact that you are our mother. However, we have grown up and now desire to have our own independence. Even so, we would prefer to not have to fight you. We are willing to ept whatever way you would deal with us, but I hope you can forgive your children, for we have also made up our mind to fight for our freedom.¡±

    As Eternal Night spoke, Sky City repositioned itself, turning to face the Barbarian God.

    Longue let out a maniacalugh. ¡°Come at me! Let¡¯s enjoy this bloody battle to our heart¡¯s content.¡±

    As he spoke, the giant battleaxe in his hand descended towards Sky City.

    The axe crashed into the barriers, sending a brilliant shower of sparks flying in all directions.

    There were ny-nine Arcana Towers and tens of thousands of Arcana Masters supporting the barrier, but it had copsed after taking just a single strike.

    This was the might of the gods!

    Sky City¡¯s barrier, which had managed to withstand hundreds of attacks from a Deste Beast, had shattered like a mirror from a single blow from a god.

    The Barbarian God¡¯s might was obvious.

    ¡°Hahahaha, how exhrating!¡±

    Longue had never developed the omniscient and sanctimonious demeanor that most gods disyed. Even though he was a god, his temperament was just as brash as the Ravagers¡¯. His battle axe descended again, this time shing against the Harpies¡¯ all-out counterattack. Sky City alone could not stop Longue, but it still had its Floating Points around to support it.

    As of now, the Harpies still had three Floating Points ¡ª the Origin Light Castle, the Origin Energy Demonic City, and the Chaos Tower. Su Chen also called out the Mother of All Bugs and his sovereign Void Seahorse pet. All of these came together to help Sky City withstand Longue¡¯s attack.

    Su Chen had also given the Harpies a secret technique to cultivate. He was so generous that Eternal Night felt slightly embarrassed that he had even uttered the word ¡°independence¡± during his speech against the Mother Goddess.

    Using independence against faith and immortal energy against divine power was the basis of Su Chen¡¯s n, as that was the only thing that he could do.

    This battle was essentially a battle of the old versus the new.

    Even though the old had experienced a long fall from grace, they were still very powerful in their own right. And even though the new was experiencing a meteoric rise to power, they still had not reached their peak, and the old still posed a significant danger to them.

    All they could do was rely on their hot-bloodedness to attack, defend against, and challenge those lofty existences who were out of reach. They would use countless lives to make up for the enormous gap in strength.

    A wave of darkness suddenly surged forth.

    The Night Goddess had made her move.

    This Night Goddess had once been a high-tier god, and like the others, she had experienced a drastic decline in status after being confined to Kun¡¯s territory.

    After returning, she was one of the first to recover her strength.

    At that moment, the boundless cover of darkness nketed whatever area she cast her gaze upon. Her attacks were hidden and formless, making them extremely hard to defend against.

    Anyone who was caught in her gaze would be shrouded in darkness and then turned into a shadow.

    This was the power of the Shadow Realm.

    Su Chen was very familiar with this kind of power. After all, it was actually the first kind of power that he had obtained.

    From her attacks, it could be seen that the Night Goddess had many ties to the Shadow Realm. When she had been trapped in Kun¡¯s territory, the Barrier of the Gods had isted them from all the other realms, which was why she had lost her connection to the Shadow Realm. But now, she had finally returned.

    As the wave of darkness swept across the battlefield, the people that the Night Goddess turned into shadows actually turned on their formerrades.

    This shadow conversion was a process that not even immortal energy could reverse.

    Once they were converted, their new form was permanent.

    The Night Goddess¡¯s attacks were not quick, but they were extremely sinister. Even Sky City¡¯s barriers could not stop her from affecting the army, so in terms of offensive power, she was probably the strongest of the seven gods.

    This was why Su Chen immediately went to fight her.

    His figure flickered as he reappeared in front of the Night Goddess. At the same time, tens of thousands of Beasts appeared behind him, forming the only source of white light amongst a sea of gold.

    Su Chen¡¯s Universe of Beasts immediately epassed the Night Goddess.

    The Night Goddess let out a fierce hiss as boundless darkness surged forth towards Su Chen.

    Su Chen responded with a wave of his own immortal energy.

    Immortal energy could not save those who had already been converted, but it could withstand this wave of darkness.

    Even as the Night Goddess¡¯s attack was stopped by Su Chen, Su Chen¡¯s attack had already arrived before her.

    A God-Executing Jab pierced forth as the Shining Dragon danced behind it, unleashing a wave of white me that drove the darkness back.

    ¡°Su Chen! I can¡¯t believe that you dared to choose me as your opponent. You really must be confused,¡± the Night Goddess giggled.

    Her hair began to undte in every direction as a new wave of darkness began to spread out, from which surfaced strange, shadowy creatures.

    Su Chen, however, chuckled coldly in response. ¡°I chose you because you¡¯ll be the easiest to kill.¡±

    Following these words, the Beasts behind him began to roar and howl.

    This terrifying cacophony of noise actually posed a physical threat. The darkness was once again forced back, this time by the wave of sound.

    The Night Goddess, however, was much more infuriated by what Su Chen had just said than by him blocking her attack.

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Her eyes began to cloud over with a pitch-ck inkiness.

    ¡°Let me rify: you may possess a strong offensive power, but your vitality is the weakest amongst the seven remaining gods. You are the ideal god for me to strike down first, just like how the first Deste Beast I killed by myself had the weakest vitality,¡± Su Chen calmly replied.

    Su Chen¡¯s logic was extremely direct. The ideal target for him had a powerful offense but a weak defense. Against him, they would always be the first to die.

    He had done this when he had targeted the Deste Beast, Hidden Cloud, and he was doing it again with the Night Goddess now.

    Everything had been carefully calcted down to the wire. No emotion had factored into his decision at all.

    To the Night Goddess, however, this was obviously not what she heard.

    To her, she had beenbeled as the weakest god by this evil bastard!

    The Night Goddess shrieked with unrestrained anger as a sea of darkness threatened to drown Su Chen.

    ¡°Acquiesce and be my most loyal servant. As a reward, I will torment you day and night for eternity!¡±

 Book 7, 106: The Final Battle 3

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 106: The Final Battle 3</h4>

    The Night Goddess¡¯s venomous words echoed through Su Chen¡¯s mind, each one carrying a strange, sinister power with them.

    This curse came from the goddess herself, and it was impossible to withstand or destroy.

    At least, nobody had done so until today.

    Because it proved ineffective against Su Chen.

    His immortal energy immediately dispelled the Night Goddess¡¯s curse and even sent it right back at her. Su Chen unleashed a wave of immortal energy that devoured the divine power, constantly converting it into immortal energy as it consumed the opponent¡¯s attack to sustain itself.

    The Night Goddess shrieked shrilly as darkness surged forth anew, assaulting Su Chen wave after wave.

    Following her cry, the Night Kingdom appeared behind her as well.

    Obviously, the Night Goddess had no delusions about withstanding Su Chen¡¯s immortal energy with just her own divine power.

    With a rumble, divine soldiers poured out of her kingdom, relying on their ability to regenerate to obstruct Su Chen¡¯s immortal energy.

    The Night Goddess, however, was obviously unaware of how the previous gods had died.

    By the time that she realized that her kingdom¡¯s soldiers were incapable of resurrecting, she had already lost one-third of her worshippers.

    This scared her quite badly.

    Since the human race had opposed the gods¡¯ system of faith with a unified front, the gods had acquired very few worshippers even though they had returned to the Origin Realm. Without Kun¡¯s territory¡¯s restriction, their strength had returned. However, they were still being sustained by their divine kingdoms. If their divine warriors werepletely wiped out, they too would fall.

    These divine kingdoms had originally been the gods¡¯ strongest shield and final weapon, but Su Chen¡¯s methods had turned them into a fatal w.

    Upon realizing this, the Night Goddess hurriedly ordered her troops to retreat.

    But how could Su Chen possibly give her a chance to cover up her weakness?

    The Universe of Beasts appeared once more, filling her entire divine kingdom and stopping it in its tracks.

    Countless Beasts surged forth into the divine kingdom, devouring the multitudes of soldiers who attempted to fight back.

    The Shining Dragon in the sky began to dance once again, as if a real Origin Beast had appeared in the sky. Waves of mes surged forth periodically.

    The Night Goddess was beginning to panic. Waves of darkness constantly rose forth to repel the Beasts and extract her own warriors.

    Both sides were now fighting with their full strength. This struggle was one of life and death, but the situation was obviously being controlled by the Night Goddess¡¯s enemy. He had firmly grasped her weakness and was smacking it over and over, causing the numbers of her divine warriors to dwindle and her strength to weaken.

    At that moment, Su Chen¡¯s eyes suddenly zed over, and he found himself no longer standing on the battlefield against the gods.

    Instead, before him appeared a familiar road ¡ª one in Northface City.

    Snowkes were falling from the sky. In the background, a few children wereughing and ying with each other by the side of the road. A carriage slowly rolled past.

    It was then that Su Chen clearly saw the driver of the carriage; it was Zhou Hong.

    Past the curtain, it was possible to see a youth sitting inside, calmly reading a book.

    That was...... himself?

    Was this the day that he had lost his sight?

    Su Chen turned around, wanting to find the old beggar, but he saw nothing. Instead, the carriage came to a stop before him.

    Then, Su Chen saw the person within the carriage step out and walk towards him as if to say something.

    He was talking to himself?

    Su Chen suddenly realized something and nced down at his feet.

    Then, he saw that he was the old beggar.

    ¡°The old beggar......¡± Su Chen muttered before eximing, ¡°So you were responsible. Break for me!¡±

    ¡°Break!¡±

    ¡°Break!¡±

    ¡°Break!¡±

    This word shattered the illusory realm.

    When he awoke, Su Chen discovered that he was still in the Night Goddess¡¯s divine kingdom. His brief moment of hesitation, however, had allowed the Night Goddess to retrieve quite a few of her divine warriors.

    He whirled around and found that the Lord of the Dreamrealm was staring directly at him.

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s gaze was cold, vicious, and seemed to be genuinely filled with hatred.

    Is it you or is it not!?

    Su Chen was bewildered by this conundrum.

    But he did know that the Lord of the Dreamrealm had finally joined the fray.

    And because of him, Su Chen had missed his greatest opportunity to wipe out the Night Goddess.

    ¡°Many thanks, Dream!¡± the Night Goddess sighed thankfully. In the blink of an eye, she had lost nearly half of her divine warriors, which would have caused her divine kingdom to copse. She nced at Dream with aplicated gaze before shielding her consciousness.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that the Lord of the Dreamrealm always seemed to make the right move at the right time, then the Night Goddess would have already used him of being the spy amongst them.

    But if he was in fact the spy, then that had been the most opportune moment to strike.

    However, he had faithfully remained on the side of the gods, fighting on their behalf.

    The gods could not possibly continue to suspect him.

    Even Su Chen was suspicious of whose side the Lord of the Dreamrealm was truly on.

    The Human Ancestor¡¯s words echoed in his mind once more.

    ¡°Kill him!¡±

    Was he really not the Human Ancestor?

    If the Lord of the Dreamrealm was the Human Ancestor, then attacking at this moment would cause the gods to immediately copse.

    But he did not, and he had even helped the Night Goddess escape from her perilous situation.

    This made Su Chen less confident in this assumption.

    Well, if the Lord of the Dreamrealm was the spy, then he would pick an opportune time to strike. Otherwise...... Su Chen would kill him off along the rest.

    After his thoughts reached this point, Su Chen remained silent.

    The Night Goddess had used the opportunity created by the Lord of the Dreamrealm to extricate her divine kingdom from Su Chen¡¯s Aspect.

    In a one-on-one battle against Su Chen, however, the Night Goddess discovered to her surprise that she held no confidence in winning.

    The Deification stage Su Chen was no weaker than a typical deity.

    Even more frightening, Su Chen also possessed a certain measure of divine power!

    He gazed at the Night Goddess before gently saying, ¡°Fine. I will give you a taste of real despair then!¡±

    Following these words, the Night Goddess discovered to her shock that the scenery within her divine kingdom had suddenly begun to transform against her will.

    The tall statues lining the roads, the trees within the flower gardens, and even the majestic temple seemed toe alive of their own will, morphing into strange creatures. They stood up as if they were alive and howled fiercely at the sky.

    ¡°What is happening?¡± the Night Goddess cried out in terror.

    Granting life to inanimate objects was a power that not even the gods possessed. Perhaps only the God of Life, who had fallen a long time ago, could have achieved something even remotely simr.

    This was the power of Su Chen¡¯s God-Sealing Method Power.

    The Method Power that Su Chen hadprehended included his God-Sealing Method Power. However, he had never used it in battle; instead, he had mainly used it to construct those puppet armies from before.

    The puppets that he had deployed against the ming Sword God was one such example.

    This was Su Chen¡¯s first time using it in battle, and he had chosen to do so in an incredibly ostentatious manner ¡ª directly affecting the Night Goddess¡¯s diving kingdom.

    The Night Goddess had only withdrawn her divine warriors and not her divine kingdom. After all, even an empty divine kingdom would still be capable of offering her some degree of protection. She never expected that Su Chen would still have a trick up his sleeve even against this move.

    This sight stunned both the Night Goddess and all the other gods.

    More and more inanimate objects came to life within her divine kingdom until they gathered into an army of creatures.

    Even more terrifying, these creatures were all constructed from the materials that originallyprised the divine kingdom, which meant that they naturally possessed an incredible amount of divine power. After being imbued with Su Chen¡¯s God-Sealing Method Power, their strength had only increased even further. The army of creatures charged forwards, each one unleashing their mighty anger.

    Darkness swept over them but could not destroy them. When their activity was paired with the Beasts from Su Chen¡¯s Aspect, the kind ofmotion being stirred up within the Night Goddess¡¯s divine kingdom was not something that she could ignore.

    This time, the Night Goddess was renderedpletely helpless. Her wave of darkness was being steadily chipped away at by thebined might of the God-Sealing creatures and the Beasts.

    And most terrifying of all was that her divine warriors were unable to hold the line and were forced out into the open once more.

    This time, the Night Goddess would not be able to keep them concealed.

    A furious wave of attacks descended upon the divine warriors, turning them into smoke.

    Without the support of the divine kingdom, they could not re-form even if Su Chen hadn¡¯t used the Universe of Beasts.

    ¡°NO!!!¡±

    The Night Goddess shrieked in despair.

    Darkness surged through the sky, blotting out the sun and casting a dark shadow across the ground.

    No matter how she tried to resist, however, she was unable to shift the winds of fate.

    Boom!

    The 1200th God-Executing Jab descended upon her forehead.

    A boundless wave of darkness spread forth from the point of impact before gradually dissipating into the air.

    The Night Goddess had fallen.

    Su Chen gently gestured, and a ball of divine power flew into his hands.

    ¡°That is quite a good treasure. Here, take it!¡± Su Chen then threw the ball into the air, which split into fourteen pieces that each flew towards Gu Qingluo, Zhu Xianyao, Ye Fenghan, Le Feng, Cloud Leopard, and a few others. Each piece varied in size, but it had all been carefully calcted to let the chosen cultivator start shining brilliantly.

    Su Chen had performed all the calctions in his head and given them each just enough to ascend.

    Fourteen columns of light split the sky as fourteen powerful wills surged forth.

    Gu Qingluo was the first toplete the ascension process, and she immediately rushed to Su Chen¡¯s side. ¡°Husband, I¡¯ve ascended!¡±

    She had originally been at the Golden Pill Realm. This ascension had brought her into the Nascent Soul Realm.

    Zhu Xianyao was the next to fly over, and she also excitedly said, ¡°Husband, I¡¯ve ascended as well.¡±

    ¡°Very good. You two can go and deal with the Mother Goddess. In the meantime, I¡¯ll take care of the Lord of the Dreamrealm,¡± Su Chen said as he flew in the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s direction.

    Sky City was fighting against the Barbarian God and the puppet army was dealing with the ming Sword God, which meant that the rest of the humans were responsible for handling the Lord of the Dreamrealm, the Moon Goddess, the Mother Goddess, and the Beast God. The pressure that they were currently under was still immense.

    But it was precisely this kind of situation that allowed them to fully demonstrate just how powerful the human race had be.

    Cultivator after cultivator flew into the sky like a swarm of bugs, buzzing around their targets and viciously stinging them when they could.

    Even though these four gods were incredibly powerful, they soon discovered that they were facing a fierce, unending deluge of attacks. And these attacks were all sharp and incisive; if they weren¡¯t careful, they could easily suffer from a multitude of cuts.

    A bitter battle unfolded. The human cultivators suffered massive casualties, but their sacrifices put the four gods on the back foot.

    The fall of the Night Goddess had obviously be a major turning point in this battle.

    Su Chen flew directly towards the Lord of the Dreamrealm. The Universe of Beasts appeared once more, this time enveloping the Lord of the Dreamrealm within it.

    ¡°Su Chen!¡± the Lord of the Dreamrealm growled fiercely, his voice booming through the air.

    ¡°Yes, I havee,¡± Su Chen replied.

    But then, he nced at the Lord of the Dreamrealm with aplicated expression. ¡°Since you are unwilling to revert to your original appearance, then I can only force you to do so myself.¡±

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm fell into a strange silence before suddenly asking, ¡°Did he ever tell you what to do if you saw me?¡±

    ¡°He told me to kill you,¡± Su Chen sinctly replied.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is.¡± The Lord of the Dreamrealm sighed before wrylymenting, ¡°Has he always hated his identity that much?¡±

    Su Chen easily inferred the hidden meaning within his words. ¡°So he is you and you are him, right?¡±

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm chuckled mysteriously when he heard Su Chen¡¯s question. ¡°Do you know what a dream is?¡±

    Su Chen was startled by this esoteric question.

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm answered his own question. ¡°A dreamer thinks in the morning and dreams at night. His thoughts are intangible and disordered, and they represent the duality of man!¡±

    ¡°The duality of man?¡± Su Chen was taken aback for a moment before he suddenly realized something. ¡°So he and you possess the same body but a different face? Then which one are you?¡±

    Suddenly, the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s expression contorted fiercely. ¡°The one who wants to take your life! Infinite Delusion!¡±

    An instantter, Su Chen felt his vision blur and go dark.

    Previous Chapter

 Book 7, 107: The Final Battle 4

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 107: The Final Battle 4</h4>

    The world before Su Chen¡¯s eyes slowly came back into view.

    Su Chen suddenly found that he was in a deserted, deste wastnd. The entire area was thoroughly permeated with an aura of death.

    A tall, majestic presence off in the distance, however, instantly attracted Su Chen¡¯s attention.

    ¡°Human Ancestor!¡± Su Chen quietly eximed.

    It was indeed the Human Ancestor.

    He sat there, smiling back at Su Chen.

    ¡°So it was you. You are the dream entity, so you must be Dream,¡± Su Chen gently said.

    The Human Ancestor, however, firmly shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s not what you think. Dream is Dream, and I am me. We are not the same, or at least, we weren¡¯t at the beginning.¡±

    ¡°At the beginning?¡± Su Chen was taken aback by thisst sentence.

    The Human Ancestor nodded. ¡°As you know, I am the Human Ancestor, which makes me the first human. Actually, my existence itself was forbidden from the very beginning.¡±

    Su Chen already had a rough understanding of what the Human Ancestor was referring to. ¡°The human race¡¯s potential is very great.¡±

    The Human Ancestor nodded. ¡°Great is an understatement. Humans are terrifying because they were jointly created by the Lord of Time, the Lord of Life, and the first Reaper. At that time, they were trying to uncover the secret to eternal life. Humans were one of the potential paths that they were exploring.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t they already have the system of faith?¡±

    The Human Ancestor shook his head. ¡°At that time, it was far from being enough. There are different levels of faith within the system. Also, the more powerful a worshipping creature is, the more powerful the faith that they offer, and the stronger its worshipped god will be.¡±

    This was the reason why the gods had created ever stronger creatures to worship them ¡ª to obtain even greater amounts of faith.

    The Intelligent Races were by andrge all created as a result of such endeavors.

    This was the natural oue after the gods realized that the smarter a race was, the higher their potential would be, and thus the amount of faith that they could offer was higher as well.

    As such, they continuouslybored to create stronger and stronger lifeforms. At some point, they began imbuing them with some of the unique characteristics that the gods possessed.

    It was under these circumstances that the human race had been created.

    From the very beginning, they possessed a simr appearance to the gods, and although theycked the awe-inspiring might of the gods, their boundless potential gave them the intrinsic ability to generate life on their own.

    But even the Lord of Time did not realize just how high the humans¡¯ potential actually went.

    As the humans continued to grow, they eventually developed the immortal energy system.

    To the gods, their innate ability to advance and improve on their own was eptable. After all, the stronger they were, the more faith they provided.

    But once the humans developed to a certain point, the gods realized that their immortal energy could convert and even devour divine power for nourishment.

    This caused them to panic.

    And when the humans developed immortal energy, their pride increased as well.

    They started ignoring the gods¡¯ wills and stopped worshipping them. After all, the path of cultivating immortal energy revolved around believing in one¡¯s own strength and might, which naturally shed with the gods¡¯ path of amassing worshippers.

    As such, the gap in strength between the gods and the humans steadily decreased, until eventually, the gods were so unnerved that they decided to destroy the human race.

    This war took ce in the ancient past.

    The human race, after acquiring immortal energy, gained the right to fight against the gods.

    Unfortunately, they still failed.

    Even though immortal energy was very powerful, it was still a brand new cultivation path. Against the formidable might of the old guard, their human races¡¯ forces were defeated before they even had a chance to truly be powerful.

    After defeating the humans, the gods did not wipe out the humans. Instead, they sealed their power and made it impossible for them to continue cultivating immortal energy. The human race was thus forced to go down the path of Origin Energy, which was much more difficult and challenging.

    However, there was a single individual who had managed to escape this fate.

    As the first human, the Human Ancestor was incredibly powerful. He was not a god, but his strength was quite simr to one.

    Even though the Human Ancestor had failed in his rebellion, he was not willing to ept the fate of a ve and instead continued searching for an opportunity to strike back against the gods.

    Additionally, the war between the humans and the gods had not exactly been a one-sided one.

    Some of the weaker gods had been defeated or even killed by the humans.

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm was one of them.

    At that time, the Lord of the Dreamrealm was far from his current status. He was just the Dream God, a typical low-tier god. The only thing he could do was use his dream realm to invade people¡¯s minds and extract some of their vitality and consciousness power to nourish himself.

    He had originally been a tree that eventually grew to be a god after living for a very long period of time. The fruit that sprouted from his branches eventually became the Dream Spirits.

    Back then, the Dream God had been much simpler. He simply constructed a few dream realms that he leisurely traveled and wandered around in.

    Until he met the Human Ancestor.

    In the ancient past.

    A few humans wearing rough beast hides and wielding stone axes hurriedly retreated. Even though their equipment was crude, their clothing was torn, and their demeanor was like that of a barbarian, a powerful aura emanated from each one of their bodies.

    They seemed to be scouring the mountainous wilds for a specific something.

    Then, one of them cried out, ¡°Found him! He¡¯s over there!¡±

    The Primordial Humans quickly rushed towards the person who had just yelled out.

    Not far away from him, there was a god lying on the ground, beneath whom a shallow pool of fresh golden blood had formed.

    The god was still breathing, but he clearly could not crawl to his feet.

    ¡°You wicked gods!¡± a Primordial Human howled with rage as he charged forwards, chopping down at the god with his axe.

    The god¡¯s body glowed with divine light in response, but ayer of white light suddenly covered the axe¡¯s surface, allowing it to cleave through the barrier. It smashed into the god¡¯s armor, leaving a deep gash in it as it bit down on the flesh underneath.

    ¡°AGH!¡± the god cried out in pain. ¡°No, I am a god! I cannot die here!¡±

    He began to howl in despair.

    The Primordial Humans, however, continued to mercilessly swing their axes down at him. They were going to crush him alive and vent their anger this way.

    ¡°Spare me, I beg you! I am the Dream God. I can bestow boundless power and endless blessings upon you!¡± the Dream God cried out instinctively.

    ¡°You can¡¯t give anything to us!¡± the Primordial Humans replied coolly.

    ¡°Dammit, you bastards! You humans are dead. Dead, I tell you!¡± the Dream God cursed angrily.

    ¡°Yes, we are dead,¡± the leading human replied. ¡°We have lost the war against you gods. But even if we lose, we will demonstrate our might and undying will to the very end. We will drag as many of you under as we can!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s pointless! You should just surrender instead so that a small remnant of you can still be preserved. I know that the gods do not want to kill all of you. They just want to seal your strength and stop you all from using that forbidden power anymore,¡± the Dream God pleaded. His expression had be pitiful once again.

    The human in the leadughed coldly in response. ¡°What¡¯s the point of living on one¡¯s knees like that? I would rather die!¡±

    ¡°But as long as you are still alive, won¡¯t you still have hope? If you die, then you won¡¯t have any hope at all.¡± The Dream God continued trying to bargain with them.

    The human in the lead was momentarily taken aback by the Dream God¡¯s words.

    But then, he shook his head. ¡°You cannot help me.¡±

    He continued attacking.

    ¡°No, no, I can! I can help you nt a seed! A seed!¡±

    ¡°What kind of seed?¡± This time, all of the Primordial Humans were taken aback by the Dream God¡¯s words. The human leader lifted his hand, and they all paused their attacks.

    The Dream God hurriedly said, ¡°A seed of hope. Don¡¯t you want to not be sealed? If you are willing to give up on this form, then I can help you all be reborn.¡±

    ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°Be one of my fruits, one of my Dream Spirits. Enter my body, the dream realm, and live there. That realm is only essible to me, and none of the other gods will be able to discover your presence there.¡±

    The Primordial Humansughed disdainfully. ¡°Nonsense. How is that possibly true?¡±

    The Dream God hurriedly assured, ¡°But it is true. As long as you are willing to enter my dream realm, you can stay there until you mature to a point where you can escape.¡±

    ¡°So your body will just be our new prison?¡± All of the Primordial Humans seemed to reject this idea.

    ¡°This is the best way for you to survive!¡± the Dream God implored sincerely. ¡°If you don¡¯t believe me, then you can even wipe away my memories of what just transpired. That way, I will not know that you are in my body, and I will not be able to harm you either.¡±

    But the humans didn¡¯t believe him.

    The human leader, however, began to show signs of hesitation.

    Because he realized that this was at least an opportunity for them.

    The human race had already been defeated. Death and very was the only fate that awaited them. But if they could preserve a single, tiny ray of hope for the human race, then any opportunity was worth taking.

    Even though the Dream God¡¯s words seemed ridiculous and inconceivable, it was also why his words were probably true. If the Dream God was lying, then he would have tried to sell a more believable and persuasive one.

    Only the truth would be devoid of mental calctions.

    Upon realizing this, the human in the lead decided to give this unlikely opportunity a try.

    Finally, they decided that the Human Ancestor would be the one to take this chance, while the others would search for other opportunities.

    Everything was done for their survival and to ensure that they would live on. They had no choice but to use every opportunity at their disposal.

    And that was how the Human Ancestor had given up his body, entered the Dream God¡¯s body, and sessfully became a small bud on the divine tree. The Dream God¡¯s memories of this incident were also wiped clean.

    Since he had lost these memories, the Dream God had no idea about the deal that he had made with the humans. He only knew that he was close to death.

    He quickly dragged his wounded body back to his own ce and began to recover.

    Not long after, the human rebellion was quelled, and the remaining humans were sealed, preventing them from ever using the forbidden energy again.

    But no one knew that there was actually still an unsealed human residing within the body of a god.

    Tens of thousands of years had passed like that.

    ¡°So you became the Lord of the Dreamrealm afterwards?¡± Su Chen asked. ¡°And that led up to today¡¯s events?¡±

    ¡°No, that was just the beginning,¡± the Human Ancestor said with a sigh. ¡°The real story is what happened next.¡±

    Previous Chapter

 Book 7, 108: The Final Battle 5

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 108: The Final Battle 5</h4>

    After the human race was sealed by the gods, they were relegated to the lowest-leveled lifeform. Like the other Intelligent Races, they could only eke out a miserable living for themselves.

    The gods continued to reign from up on high, enjoying the worship and adtion that their worshippers gave them.

    Meanwhile, the pitiful Dream God returned to his carefree existence. As he traveled between various dream realms, he continued to absorb consciousness power.

    He spent most of his time living in this leisurely manner until, one day, one of his fruits matured.

    Each fruit was a Dream Spirit, and each Dream Spirit was like his child. These Dream Spirits also acted like the Dream God¡¯s arms and legs. They could ry information from the outside world back to him and help him unleash divine power ¡ª an ability that was unique to him. Even so, their power was only so-so.

    Until one day, one particr Dream Spirit altered its temperament.

    Dream Spirits were calm and mischievous by nature. They were mischievous in the sense that they were always chattering to one another, saying all kinds of naive nothings to each other. On the other hand, they were calm because they basically did nothing else besides talk. Every day, they would fly around the divine tree that was the Dream God, with no motivation to leave and mature independently.

    One Dream Spirit, however, was different.

    It very rarely spoke. Instead, it preferred to be alone, which was why it eventually came to be known as Silence.

    Silence, unlike the other Dream Spirits, was not content with remaining where it was. From time to time, it would try to leave the tree and escape into the outside world.

    The Dream God was forced to constantly catch it, bring it back, and then lecture it on the dangers of the outside world.

    Silence, however, never seemed to listen.

    Most of the time, it only ever thought about running to the outside world, and it would even stir up trouble for the Dream God every so often.

    For instance, it once stole a thousand-year herb from a god; another time, it sent down rain to a few poor farmers, blessing their crops with rainfall.

    And every time, the Dream God had to drag Silence back and lecture it.

    Inevitably, Silence would ask, ¡°Father, why must I stay by your side all the time? Why can I not go outside and grow on my own?¡±

    ¡°Because that is a Dream Spirit¡¯s fate. I am your world,¡± the Dream God replied sternly.

    The Dream Spirits lived and died beside the tree. The tree was their entire world.

    Silence, however, was different.

    It obviously did not n on epting this fate.

    One evening, it ran away.

    It escaped,pletely severing itself from the Dream God¡¯s will.

    To the Dream God, losing a single Dream Spirit was not very worrying. Even though he was a bit saddened by Silence¡¯s departure, there was only so much that he could do for it.

    It wasn¡¯t until many yearster that a familiar will suddenly contacted him out of nowhere.

    It called him Father.

    ¡°Father, I am Silence.¡±

    ¡°Silence?¡± The Dream God wasn¡¯t even able to recognize the name at first.

    Too much time had passed, and he simply had too many children. It was understandable that his memory was limited.

    Eventually, however, he remembered.

    ¡°Silence, my child. So it¡¯s you. Are you still alive?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Father, I am still alive. My time away from you was not without its own difficulties, but I am lucky enough to have survived.¡±

    ¡°Where are you right now? How did you get into contact with me?¡±

    ¡°I am in a very, very faraway location, and I am contacting you through the Dreamrealm. After all, this is where our consciousness power is amplified many times over.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all well and good, but why can I not sense where you are?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m here to tell you, Father. I¡¯ve discovered a broad space within the Dreamrealm that has extremely high potential. Father, you are the Dream God, but you have not even begun to explore the Dream God¡¯s full authority yet.¡±

    ¡°Full authority? What are you talking about?¡± The Dream God was a bit mystified by Silence¡¯s words.

    ¡°Your full authority. The Method Power that you control and the influence that you can exert on this world...... That is your full authority!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand,¡± the Dream God replied in a confused tone. Even though he was a god, he had still been born from nature. The power that he possessed was entirely dependent on how aware he was of it.

    As such, the Dream God did not understand what Silence was talking about.

    ¡°That¡¯s alright. All you need to know is that I can make you much, much stronger,¡± Silence calmly said.

    ¡°Much stronger?¡± The Dream God¡¯s understanding of these two words, on the other hand, was much clearer. After all, the forceful power that the high-tier gods, such as the Lord of Time, could unleash had always made the Dream God incredibly jealous.

    And now, Silence was telling him that his longings could be reality.

    This made him iparably excited.

    ¡°What should I do?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Construct a Dreamrealm,¡± Silence straightforwardly replied.

    From that point onwards, the Dream God began to construct a dream kingdom with Silence¡¯s help.

    The former Dreamrealm was simr to a vast, untamed wilderness. Every creature¡¯s dreams would take root haphazardly, like a fern or a tree in an overgrown forest.

    And the Dream God was like a skilled hunter who was the only one who could navigate through this forest and bend it to his will.

    The former him, however, had never thought to alter it.

    But under Silence¡¯s direction, everything began to change.

    He had changed from a hunter to a farmer, and was steadily changing the forest¡¯s appearance.

    The Dreamrealm, which was constructed from the dreams of countless lifeforms, was slowly brought under the Dream God¡¯s control and shaped into what he desired. The former primal, untamed aura of thend faded away as it was reced with a much more domesticated atmosphere. Here, the Dream God was the sole sovereign, the ruler of every creature that inhabited it.

    By relying on his absolute status within the Dreamrealm, the Dream God relentlessly absorbed the consciousness power of his followers, drastically increasing his own power.

    The Dream Spirits were no longer idle chatterers either.

    They all had responsibilities now ¡ª to help the Dream God build the Dreamrealm. Each of them had be a construction worker, making their own contributions towards the Dreamrealm.

    Of course, at the very beginning, progress was slow. All the Dream God and Silence was able to construct was the beginnings of a small city, which was still surrounded by a vast wilderness.

    Even so, a dream world that mirrored the real world quickly began to take shape.

    At the same time, a few changes began to take ce in the outside realm as well.

    Signs of disturbances were resurfacing amongst the humans.

    No one knew when or how it had happened, but the humans had somehow managed to break through their seal.

    Some of them began cultivating immortal energy once more, stockpiling it for when they would fight against the gods again.

    The quashing of their second rebellion, however, was far more severe and oppressive than the first time around.

    This was because one of the immortal energy cultivators was unable to withstand the pressure a god was putting on him and identally unleashed his energy. The immortal energy, which the gods greatly feared, appeared once more, directly stoking the gods¡¯ panic. All of them personally intervened to wipe out the human race.

    In fact, their fear of immortal energy, and by proxy, humans, made them vow to wipe this race off of the face of the.

    Yes, they would kill them all.

    And they in fact seeded.

    Of course, they missed one crucial matter, which was how the humans had managed to break through the seal in the first ce, and how they had managed to gather.

    Only Silence knew the truth.

    Naturally, Silence was the human who had infiltrated the Dream God¡¯s body long ago.

    Once his old memories reawakened, he had spent almost all of its time thinking about how he could exact revenge on the gods. To this end, he had purposefully coerced the Dream God into constructing a Dreamrealm so that he could use it to get into contact with the human race and pass along a method to destroy the seal.

    Even so, the price that he had ultimately paid ¡ª the total annihtion of the human race ¡ª almost broke the Human Ancestor.

    He had fallen into despair when he realized that the gods were not nning on sparing a single human.

    On that day, he left the Dreamrealm and began to wander the real world under the guise of a Dream Spirit.

    He knew that this world would never be suited for humans to live in.

    At that time, all he had wanted to do was end it all.

    But by ending it all, he would also cut off the final lifeline of the human race. They would forevermore cease to exist, bringing all of their pain, suffering, and warfare to an end.

    Just when its despair reached a peak, he chanced upon a smallke.

    Beside theke, he saw a corpse.

    A human corpse.

    One that had died not long ago.

    Silence could even sense that the soul refused to dissipate so that it could speak to him and express its grievances.

    The aggrieved soul was someone who had been born with a defect that prevented him from ever being able to use immortal energy.

    As such, he could only lead the life of amoner.

    Of course, this came with its own benefits ¡ª it meant that he had been able to live for just a bit longer than the rest.

    He was one of thest humans to die.

    Even so, his heart was still filled with sorrow and unwillingness.

    He had wanted to die in battle like the other humans and not depart from this world in such a pitiful manner.

    His resentment was so deep that even Silence could sense it.

    That was when Silence realized that the battle was not over quite yet.

    Eventually, the aggrieved soul departed.

    The corpse, however, was still present.

    Silence stood over the corpse for a long time before finally deciding to step into it.

    That was how Silence gave up the body of a Dream Spirit and returned to the body of a human.

    Now, he was the only remaining human left alive.

    He was the Human Ancestor!

    Previous Chapter

 Book 7, 109: The Final Battle 6

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 109: The Final Battle 6</h4>

    The human race used to be called the Inferiors before eventually being rbeled as Traitors.

    The humans, on the other hand, had always referred to themselves as Immortals.

    This name was meant to evoke the notion of the human race¡¯s eternal efforts to defeat

    the gods and reach the peak. [1. The character for ¡°immortal¡± isposed of twoponents: the left representing ¡°human¡± and the right representing ¡°mountain¡±.]

    Today, however, every immortal except one had been killed.

    Silence was now thest immortal on earth.

    And the gods would not permit a single immortal to continue living.

    Silence clearly knew this, which was why he called himself a human instead.

    By removing the mountain, the immortal had be human.

    This was the origin of the human race.

    The immortal¡¯s fall from the peak.

    To restore the human race¡¯s poption, the Human Ancestor utilized the unique method of reproduction of the Dream Spirits with his crippled body, as well as the boundless natural resources avable to him in the environment, and produced a group of fellow humans. Soon, he had created twelve of them, allowing them to naturally begin the slow process of recovering their poption.

    Because the Human Ancestor was inherently unable to utilize immortal energy, the humans that he had created were different from the Immortals as they also could not utilize immortal energy.

    Thus, even if their presence was discovered by the gods, they probably wouldn¡¯t care.

    They would almost definitely think that they were a brand new race that waspletely distinct from the Immortals.

    After all, to them, what distinguished one creature from another was not their appearance but rather their substance.

    The Ravagers, Dark Astrals, and Elementals all had humanoid figures. After all, they were, by andrge, created in the image of their creators. After confirming that these humans were not the Immortals that they had vanquished, the gods allowed them to continue developing.

    Only the Human Ancestor knew that their core bloodline was still that of an immortal.

    A defective immortal, but an immortal nheless.

    Even though this defect made it virtually impossible for any of his descendants to cultivate immortal energy, the possibility was not zero.

    As long as there was even a one in a billion chance, the opportunity still existed.

    And as long as there was still an opportunity, there would always be hope.

    This was perhaps the Human Ancestor¡¯s greatest source of motivation.

    After the new human race was established, the Human Ancestor settled in and patiently bided his time. Of course, he knew that even if the human race reawakened their capacity to use immortal energy, their chances of defeating the gods were next to zero. After all, even the powerful Immortals had been defeated.

    This meant that the human race not only needed to reawaken their ability to cultivate immortal energy, but they also needed to grow stronger than their predecessors while the gods needed to be weaker.

    But how could he do that?

    The answer was to incite internal conflicts.

    The Human Ancestor soon set his mind to stir up trouble amongst the gods.

    Unfortunately, his efforts were futile.

    At that point in time, the gods were currently extremely content with their environment. Thend that they possessed was vast and filled with natural resources and there were only a few hundred gods to split them between. There was no need for them to fight against each other, so there was simply nothing that the Human Ancestor could do.

    Instead, the gods began to fight against the Origin Beasts once more.

    The Origin Beasts¡¯ conflict with the gods had existed for far longer than the gods¡¯ conflict with the Immortals. Origin Beasts were far more vicious than the Immortals and stronger as well. The destruction that they wreaked was much more severe as a result. Their rebellion against the gods had urred not just once but repeatedly.

    This time, however, something felt different.

    To their shock, the gods discovered that the Primordial Continent¡¯s energy levels were permanently falling.

    They finally realized that, in the process of fighting against the Origin Beasts, the Primordial Continent had shifted off of its original position at the center of the Origin Energy Sea and that it was actually floating away. Thisst battle had only elerated this process further, causing the Primordial Continent¡¯s Origin Energy density to thin quite significantly.

    Finally, the gods began to panic once more, and they made the unanimous decision to drag the Primordial Continent back to the center of the Origin Energy Sea.

    And they had also chosen to use Kun¡¯s territory as the boat to drag the Primordial Continent back with.

    That was the moment the Human Ancestor realized that his opportunity had arrived.

    On that day, he found an Origin Beast.

    The Blood Ancestor.

    Back then, the Blood Ancestor had been a simple-minded fellow,pletelycking in intelligence.

    It faithfully followed its instinct to devour the Servant Races.

    At the time, the Primordial Continent¡¯s society was divided into three levels: gods, Origin Beasts, and Servant Races.

    The Servant Races were the lowest in status of the three. They were forced to supply the gods with faith and were even used to feed the Origin Beasts sometimes. The gods didn¡¯t care about them at all, since the Origin Beasts did in fact need to eat. It was just that they sometimes had an annoying habit of biting the hand that fed them once they were satiated.

    Naturally, the Blood Ancestor instinctively tried to eat the Human Ancestor when he saw him.

    The Human Ancestor made no attempt to stop the Blood Ancestor from doing so.

    After all, his essence was a little bit special.

    He had initially been an Immortal who was capable of wielding powerful immortal energy. Then, he had abandoned his physical body to enter the Dream God¡¯s body and transformed into a Dream Spirit. This had given him some of the Dream Spirit¡¯s unique characteristics, allowing him to evolve and assume new forms.

    Now, he was giving up on his human body once again, and his Dream Spirit characteristics reactivated.

    His spirit burrowed into the Blood Ancestor, connecting himself to the Blood Ancestor¡¯s consciousness.

    The Blood Ancestor began to evolve.

    His intelligence rapidly climbed.

    With this newfound intelligence, his muddled mind finally gained a hint of rity.

    He came to understand what the Origin Beasts¡¯ fate was, as well as the dire circumstances that they were in.

    In the past, the Origin Beasts had moved purely based on instinct, but from that day onwards, they were able to move with intention.

    And even though the Human Ancestor had been swallowed by the Blood Ancestor, he was still alive.

    His consciousness still existed, and it began to condense within the Blood Ancestor¡¯s body.

    The seed of a Dream Spirit had been nted within the Blood Ancestor¡¯s body!

    Dream Spirits were consciousness entities at their core after all, and even the Blood Ancestor could not stop one from sprouting.

    The Human Ancestor resurrected for a second time, and this time, he had gained the Blood Ancestor¡¯s ability to generate countless clones.

    When the Dream Spirit finally matured, it took the form of a young child within the Blood Ancestor before separating itself from the Blood Ancestor and flying off as a little bat.

    All the Blood Ancestor knew was that he had lost control of one of his clones.

    This was not a big deal to him, and he actually didn¡¯t even notice that it had taken ce. At that time, all he could think of was revenge. The Human Ancestor had gifted him with intelligence and the outlines of a basic n.

    After resurrecting and regaining a physical form, the Human Ancestor once again descended into a human. He would never forget his original status or his mission to exterminate the gods.

    He began to stockpile arge number of clones, repeating the process with a number of other Origin Beasts.

    More and more Origin Beasts began to gain intelligence and memories, and an overarching n to fight back against the gods eventually emerged.

    Everything proceeded ording to the Human Ancestor¡¯s n.

    By now, the gods had finished their preparations to haul the Origin Realm back to the center of the Origin Energy Sea, and the transformative expedition was already underway. This expedition was so grand that it consumed all of the gods¡¯ attention and focus, leaving them with no spare time or mental resources to think about anything else. They dragged the world back as quickly as they could, hauling the continent back to the center of the Origin Energy Sea.

    That was when the Origin Beasts struck.

    They severed the connection between Kun¡¯s territory and the Origin Realm, causing the Origin Realm to stop in its tracks while Kun¡¯s territory began to float back on its own.

    The gods were badly stunned by this development and hurriedly attached themselves to the Origin Realm.

    Since the gods could push even the Origin Realm, it was only natural that they could also push Kun¡¯s territory. However, when they reattached themselves to the Origin Realm, the Origin Beasts immediately unleashed a furious barrage of attacks specifically targeting this connection.

    Now that they possessed intelligence, the Origin Beasts were smart enough to directly strike at the gods¡¯ weaknesses, forcing them onto the back foot. Even though the gods were very powerful, they werepletely suppressed by the Origin Beasts.

    The two parties fought for a long time, with neither side showing any signs of achieving victory.

    Even so, the gods were incredibly powerful. As children of the world itself, and as controllers of Method Power, they were able to slowly but surely close the gap between themselves and the Origin Realm.

    When they saw that the gods were inching ever closer, the Origin Beasts grew agitated as well.

    A few of the Origin Beasts that had awakened their intelligence chose to sacrifice themselves by mming their giant bodies into Kun¡¯s territory itself.

    They bravely leapt through the air, passed through the Origin Energy Sea that even the gods could not cross, and then mmed into Kun¡¯s territory, forcing it under the surface of the Origin Energy Sea.

    They were directly attacking Kun¡¯s territory!

    Kun¡¯s territory was what kept the gods safe from the Origin Energy Sea. It was their shield, but it was also their weakness.

    And the intelligent Origin Beasts were now attacking this weakness with all their might.

    Finally, under the constant onught of the Origin Beasts, Kun¡¯s territory began to sink.

    This time, even the gods couldn¡¯t keep it afloat.

    When they realized that destruction was imminent, the gods had no choice but to use their remaining strength to construct the Barrier of the Gods.

    The gods had gone out in a final ze of glory.

    They joined hands to erect a barrier that could protect themselves. At the same time, the Lord of Time, the Lord of Light, the Lord of the Sea, the Sun God, the Warrior God, the Spider God, and the Artisan God unleashed all of the energy within their bodies to firmly attach Kun¡¯s territory to the Origin Realm before they became fully submerged.

    At least seven powerful gods had died immediately.

    But their sacrifice gave the other gods a chance to return to Kun¡¯s territory.

    What no one realized was that, at that crucial moment, a small human had entered Kun¡¯s territory as well.

    The Human Ancestor.

    His hatred of the gods made it impossible for him to give up on crushing them. Even though they were fully cut off and isted, he refused to give them even a chance at survival.

    Only their permanent and evesting death would allow the human race to truly rise to prominence.

    The Human Ancestor began to wait once more.

    He continued to generate some more humans in this fashion, allowing them to provide faith to the gods. This time, however, he had a few new tricks up his sleeves.

    For instance, the new humans that he created offered up far less divine power than before.

    Due to Kun¡¯s territory¡¯s natural restrictions and the Human Ancestor¡¯s interference, the overall faith that the gods received decreased significantly. Even the divine power that offerings could provide was limited.

    And there were far too many gods within Kun¡¯s territory to share this meager amount of faith.

    At that point, the Human Ancestor knew that he no longer needed to interfere. The gods would inevitably begin to fight amongst themselves.

    Indeed, the dire straits that the gods suddenly found themselves in resulted in a significant amount of internecine discord. The suddenck of resources resulted in the gods turning on each other for survival, and the battles grewrger andrger until the entire Kun¡¯s territory was embroiled in the earth-shattering war known as the Twilight of the Gods.

    Meanwhile, the Human Ancestor sat and calmly watched the sun rise and fall, clouds roil, lightning sh, thunder roll, rain fall, and mes fill the sky. The fall of each god filled his heart with immense pleasure.

    Then, he saw a god falling from the sky like a burning phoenix, only tond near him.

    The god was not yet dead.

    When the god lifted up his head, the Human Ancestor realized that his face was very familiar.

    Previous Chapter

 Book 7, 110: The Final Battle 7

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 110: The Final Battle 7</h4>

    Naturally, the god who had fallen from the sky was the Dream God.

    He was unlucky enough to be the first seriously wounded god, and even unluckier that he had run into the Human Ancestor once more.

    Of course, he could not have possibly recognized the Human Ancestor, nor could he have realized that he was actually the child who had once escaped from him.

    But even if he had recognized the Human Ancestor, so what?

    He wanted to live.

    And if he wanted to live, then he needed vitality!

    His instinctual response upon seeing the Human Ancestor was to devour him.

    Even the Human Ancestor found the situation somewhatical.

    He was abandoning his physical body to be eaten by the Dream God once again.

    This time, however, the situation was going to be different.

    Last time, he had done so for the sake of survival and to preserve a lifeline for the Immortals.

    This time, he was going to take over!

    He had once been a Dream Spirit, so in terms of lifesource, the Human Ancestor was somewhatpatible with the Dream God.

    As such, after being devoured, the Human Ancestor¡¯s consciousness began to supnt that of the Dream God. As he did so, he was no longer a mere seed, but instead, he became a distinct consciousness hiding directly within the Dream God¡¯s consciousness.

    This period of hibernationsted for thousands of years, and he slowly but surely absorbed the Dream God¡¯s power, growing stronger every day.

    However, this also meant that the Human Ancestor could no longer travel to the outside world, even after fully maturing, and he could only interact with others in their dreams.

    To the Human Ancestor, however, this was actually ideal.

    Now that he could move through other people¡¯s dreams, the Human Ancestor was able to constantly stir up trouble by amplifying the gods¡¯ jealousy, hatred, anger, and frustration.

    The former Dream God had merely wandered through other people¡¯s dreamrealms and never tried to actively stir up trouble. The Human Ancestor¡¯s actions, however, increased the might of the Dream God by a significant amount. Suddenly, he became capable of subtly influencing the other gods¡¯ emotions, causing his status and influence to skyrocket. In fact, he even ascended an entire tier to be a mid-tier god.

    The gods who were under the Dream God¡¯s influence, however, were in a much precarious situation. As their environment worsened, conflicts began to ur more and more frequently. The battle between the gods soon reached a feverish pitch, eventually resulting in the Twilight of the Gods.

    This cataclysmic battle left no more than twenty or so gods alive at the end.

    In order to survive, the rest of the gods agreed to sign the Eternal Treaty.

    At that point, the Human Ancestor felt that he had seeded in his mission and that he could depart now.

    That was when he discovered that he could no longer depart.

    He had already be inseparable from the Dream God as he was the Dream God¡¯s hidden aspect, his other face. There was no way for the two of them to be separated now.

    And that was also when the Dream God realized that there was another presence within him.

    Of course, he had no idea what the Human Ancestor¡¯s origin was. He could only faintly sense that his own consciousness had be divided at some point without him realizing it.

    He immediately began trying to expel this foreign influence.

    The Human Ancestor was more than happy to cooperate, using this opportunity as an excuse to regain his former freedom.

    Both of them very quickly discovered, however, that their vitality was now linked. Expelling the Human Ancestor meant that both him and the Dream God would die.

    One wanted to drive the other out, and the other wanted to leave, but neither of them had any choice in the matter; they could only coexist in such a manner.

    That would have been fine as well.

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm, however, was very displeased with this oue.

    He was very much afraid that this secondary consciousness would weaken his power and siphon away his strength, causing him to lose the lofty status that he had only just earned. As for the consequences of removing this secondary consciousness, he was not too worried. As long as they weren¡¯t overly harsh for him specifically, he didn¡¯t care.

    And the Lord of the Dreamrealm did in fact eventually find a way to resolve this issue.

    Via the Barrier of the Gods.

    The Barrier of the Gods had been created by the gods and possessed a powerful, divine aura. At its most powerful andplete state, it waspletely imprable.

    However, it did not actually have a physical form; otherwise, it would have been possible to see the Barrier with one¡¯s naked eye. Instead, its power existed at the intersection between the realms of illusion and reality.

    Real objects could not pass through the Barrier of the Gods, including Origin Energy and divine power, but consciousness power could.

    Consciousness power, however, would still be worn down if it tried to cross through the Barrier, which meant that most consciousnesses would be destroyed before they could reach the other side.

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm decided to use this method to rid himself of the parasite that had attached itself to him.

    It was simple; he repeatedly extended his consciousness into the Barrier of the Gods.

    Every day, he would unleash his consciousness power at a particr spot on the Barrier, which caused that spot to start bing transparent.

    At the same time, the Human Ancestor had done all that he could do in Kun¡¯s Territory. So, since he had run out of targets, he ceased his activities.

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm thought that this meant that his method of repeatedly thrusting his consciousness into the Barrier had sessfully purged that rogue fragment from his mind.

    The Human Ancestor could not remain totally still, however. Every once in a while, there would be some small task to do, such as investigating a certain god, or sometimes he made a move just to shake off his boredom...... In any case, he was active from time to time, which was in turn sensed by the Lord of the Dreamrealm, who would restart this expelling process.

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm would try to purge his consciousness whenever he had any spare time. Butter on, the Lord of the Dreamrealm eventually concluded that this division was impossible to fully remove, and that it would even reappear on its own. As such, it would take a long, long time to properly exterminate this parasite.

    Yes, that was his conclusion.

    But whether or not the Human Ancestor yed along with the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s conclusions was entirely dependent on the Human Ancestor¡¯s mood. If he was in a good mood, then he would abide by those faux rules, but if he was in a bad mood, then he would act unpredictably. It was at those moments that the Lord of the Dreamrealm realized that these rules were not set in stone.

    Even so, the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s misunderstandings resulted in him continuously wearing away at the Barrier for a long period of time.

    Until one day, he suddenly discovered something.

    Hm?

    He had broken through?

    Yes, his consciousness energy had actually passed through the Barrier and reached the other side!

    Both the Lord of the Dreamrealm and the Human Ancestor were stunned by this development.

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s continual process of infusing consciousness energy at a single specific point in the Barrier had created a small consciousness tunnel that allowed one to pass through the bridge.

    Even though the bridge was incredibly small, it still made the Lord of the Dreamrealm extremely excited.

    Wasn¡¯t this the same as saying that, with enough time, he would be able topletely destroy the Barrier?

    He informed the other gods of his discovery, causing them to grow excited as well.

    It was this discovery that had led to the n to destroy the Barrier of the Gods in the first ce.

    The gods soon discovered that, apart from using consciousness power to wear the Barrier down over a prolonged period of time, there were other methods to wear away at it as well. They all began to try out all kinds of different tactics so as to wear down the Barrier more quickly.

    At the beginning, they did so in a chaotic and unorganized fashion. Each god tried out their own ideas, and some truly seeded, leaving behind marks on the Barrier.

    Eventually, they discovered that the best way to wear down the Barrier was to infuse divine power into it over a long period of time.

    Thus, they all joined forces and began to expand the breach that the Lord of the Dreamrealm had initially created.

    This made the Human Ancestor quite unhappy.

    However, now that the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s consciousness power had already bored a hole through the Barrier, the Human Ancestor could see through to the other side.

    He could see that, after being freed from the control of the gods and the Origin Beasts, the human race had started developing a cultivation system of their own. Even though they could not use immortal energy, they had not given up on their quest to understand the world, and their constant desire to grow stronger had not diminished in the slightest.

    This made the Human Ancestor incredibly excited.

    Now, however, a bunch of isted gods wanted to return and ruin the paradise that he had created. How could he possibly ept that?

    He resumed his activity.

    Since the Eternal Treaty was still in ce, he could not incite any internal conflicts amongst them.

    This left him with no choice but to pursue other options.

    As the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s parasite, he directly nted a n into the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s mind.

    A n to join thousands of dream realms together into one.

    This aggregate Dreamrealm would also be able to absorb the consciousness power from the humans on the other side. By using Dream Spirits as connective nodes, they would function as a gigantic consciousnesswork that connected Kun¡¯s Territory to the Origin Realm through both sides¡¯ residents¡¯ dreams. This would give the Lord of the Dreamrealm ess to a massive consciousness kingdom and help him in his quest to be a high-tier god.

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm was incredibly excited by the prospect of bing a high-tier god. He immediately set aside the project to bore through the Barrier of the Gods and instead focused on creating this aggregate Dreamrealm.

    And this was indeed something that only he could do.

    From that point on, this illusory kingdom came into being on the Primordial Continent. Humans were able tomunicate with people tens of thousands of kilometers away through their dreams, spreading knowledge and information without limit.

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm was in turn supplied with vast amounts of consciousness energy, causing his strength to surge rapidly. Soon after, he reached the level of a high-tier god, qualifying him for the title of ¡°Lord of the Dreamrealm.¡±

    If it hadn¡¯t been for the environment¡¯s unique restrictions, then he probably could have gone even higher!

    At the same time, the Human Ancestor was busy nning out his next steps.

    While the Lord of the Dreamrealm was constructing the aggregate Dreamrealm, the Human Ancestor¡¯s consciousness was also exploring this newly constructedwork, attempting to exert his own influence on it. Unfortunately, he could not do so with a pure consciousness body. In order to deal with the parasitetched onto him, the Lord of the Dreamrealm had ced tight restrictions on the usage of this Dreamrealm. He would immediately know if the Human Ancestor tried to use the Dreamrealm for any purpose.

    As such, the Human Ancestor had no choice but to remain low-key. He now needed a way to escape from the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s detection so that he could do whatever he needed to do without being discovered.

    After trying out a number of different possibilities, the Human Ancestor finally happened upon one.

    He had once been the Bloodbat¡¯s clone, which gave him the ability to generate clones of himself. However, that ability required a droplet of blood.

    At least a single droplet.

    So he patiently waited.

    Waited for an opportunity for a droplet of fresh blood to pass by.

    Eventually, this opportunity revealed itself.

    One day, a Dark Astral was scammed in the trade that took ce in the Dreamrealm. Because he was in the Dreamrealm, he could not attack his opponent. Thus, out of anger, the Dark Astral consumed all of his energy to convert part of his physical body into consciousness power.

    That ¡°part¡± of him was actually a drop of fresh blood.

    A precious droplet of blood!

    The Human Ancestor immediately took the droplet of blood for himself and formed a clone.

    Previous Chapter

 Book 7, 111: The Final Battle 8

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 111: The Final Battle 8</h4>

    Returning to a human form for the first time in centuries made the Human Ancestor incredibly excited.

    The amount of power contained within a single droplet of blood, however, was very limited, especially since it hade from amon Dark Astral. It soon dissipated.

    The Human Ancestor didn¡¯t have time to do anything before it disappeared on its own.

    Even so, the Human Ancestor had made quite a few important discoveries. He had realized that Dark Astrals were the race that was most suited to convert physical objects into their consciousness equivalents, and that they also possessed an innate affinity for consciousness energy. Their unique bodies and flowing hearts gave them an innate advantage in this respect.

    After confirming all this, the Human Ancestor decided that he needed to help the Dark Astrals convert themselves to a consciousness lifeform so that he could obtain as much fresh blood as quickly as possible.

    He immediately set out to search for a way to help the Dark Astrals cultivate while facilitating this consciousness conversion process.

    For a period of time, the Human Ancestor actually became the Dark Astrals¡¯ ancestor.

    And the first Dark Astral, Skystar, who offered him that initial droplet of blood, became the first Dark Astral cultivator.

    With the Human Ancestor¡¯s aid and Skystar¡¯s guidance, the Dark Astrals rapidly began to develop their consciousnesses while forsaking their physical bodies.

    Their physical bodies were originally quite weak and frail, but their consciousnesses were inordinately powerful, and their innate ability to convert physical objects into consciousness entities made them the perfect race to fulfill the Human Ancestor¡¯s needs. Those days were also the Dark Astrals¡¯ happiest days. By relying on the Human Ancestor¡¯s help, they were even able to establish their own kingdom.

    As the Dark Astrals continued to improve the conversion process, they inched ever closer to bing pure consciousness entities. The opportunities avable to the Human Ancestor also began to increase as a result.

    One day, he finally collected enough blood to try and descend once again.

    This time, he was able tost for three whole days.

    He was actually physically walking in the human realm.

    However, his experience was not all that pleasant.

    The humans¡¯ lives were simply too pitiful.

    Every human had to fight and struggle desperately to survive.

    And the Human Ancestor himself was actually the worst off.

    In order tost for a longer period of time, the Human Ancestor had chosen to descend as an old, weak man. Even though this body was incredibly weak, it took much less energy to sustain. As such, he should have theoretically been able tost for a longer time.

    However, the Human Ancestor soon discovered that his assumptions were wrong.

    Because his status amongst human society was the lowest.

    The only way he was even able to survive for three days was by begging.

    He had be a beggar!

    In actuality, most humans back then didn¡¯t live to see the age of thirty because of how horrendous their living conditions were. Society simply had no room for beggars.

    Technically, the Human Ancestor didn¡¯t even survive to the third day.

    He died on the second.

    His first descent had ended in a tragic death before he was even able to do anything of real significance.

    This was a great test for the Human Ancestor.

    It was terrible, yet it was also very real.

    This test, however, had at least demonstrated that the Human Ancestor¡¯s thought process was on the correct path. This method had sessfully deceived the Lord of the Dreamrealm.

    His second descentsted for even longer.

    Instead of maximizing his longevity, he instead assumed the form of a stronger human so that he wouldn¡¯t simply starve to death.

    Even so, he didn¡¯t know anyone and was basically cut off from society.

    He discovered that, apart from being a beggar, no other identity really suited him.

    From that day onwards, he wandered the human race¡¯s territory under the guise of a monk seeking enlightenment.

    Being a monk was not an easy matter either.

    Because the Human Ancestor himself did not really have a path of cultivation.

    The current human race was descended from the bloodline of a crippled Immortal, and none of them could actually cultivate immortal energy.

    The Human Ancestor didn¡¯t know how he could revive this cultivation process.

    At the beginning, all he could do was provide the human race with some minor help here and there.

    He could not tell the humans of their past. That would be too risky. If he uttered a sensitive name, then the Lord of the Dreamrealm could easily use the Dreamrealm to sift through his memories and might even discover his betrayal of the gods.

    As such, he could only quietly provide assistance to the humans from the shadows.

    At this time, the human race¡¯s control over Origin Energy was still quite preliminary. The Qi Drawing Realm was the peak that they could reach.

    But with the Human Ancestor¡¯s aid, their ceiling gradually expanded upwards. This development process was slow and arduous, but the Human Ancestor himself also began to mature with time.

    But even as the Human Ancestor continued to provide guidance to the humans, the Lord of the Dreamrealm seemed to gradually catch on to his actions.

    The human race, however, was far from where the Human Ancestor wanted them to be. This made him extremely anxious.

    One day, a high-status Dark Astral offered up quite a significant amount of fresh blood. This,bined with what the Human Ancestor had stockpiled was more than enough to grant him extraordinary power for this next descent.

    Even though this ¡°extraordinary power¡± would be considered weak now, for that time, it was quite impressive.

    At the same time, another coincidence took ce.

    When the Human Ancestor descended this time, a Demonic Beast, the Fire Ape, just so happened to be terrorizing a nearby vige. Just as the inhabitants of the vige were about to be ughtered, the Human Ancestor suddenly appeared and killed the ape.

    One of the vigers that had been chased had broken both his legs.

    For that time period, this was basically a death sentence.

    The Human Ancestor, moved bypassion and emotion for his descendents, did his best to attach the now-deceased Fire Ape¡¯s leg to him and took care of him for a few days.

    Three dayster, he departed.

    Even though he had physically left the vige, he continued to watch over the viger that he had saved through the small tunnel that the Lord of the Dreamrealm had bored through the Barrier.

    He had originally thought that this makeshift remedy would not be very effective, and that the viger would die soon after.

    However, contrary to all expectations, something shocking urred.

    The viger survived, and he even inherited some of the Fire Ape¡¯s unique characteristics. This fortunate turn also allowed him to spontaneously create the Origin Skill, me de, propelling him to the peak of human society.

    In fact, this human also discovered a new cultivation realm, sessfully zing the path to the Blood Boiling Realm.

    This was an extremely significant development to the Human Ancestor.

    It had shown him that the human race needed to take their own path. Simply relying on his guidance wouldn¡¯t be enough.

    Even though he was the Human Ancestor, he had long since ceased to be human.

    He no longer had a human body; in fact, the only human aspect about him was his consciousness. He could no longer cultivate, which meant that he had very little to offer to other humans in terms of practical guidance.

    In some sense, his guidance had even harmed the human race, limiting their development.

    The Human Ancestor thus decided to take a step back.

    From then on, every time he descended, he would choose a single target and give that target an opportunity.

    This opportunity would grant that target special abilities.

    The Human Ancestor had no idea what his actions would aplish. All he knew was that this was the extent of what he could do ¡ª sow a few promising seedlings. The rest would be all up to them.

    The human race needed to fight for and create their own future. All he could do was help them along the way.

    At the same time, the Human Ancestor also began to intentionally lead the Dark Astrals towards the process of consciousness conversion.

    The rise of the Arcana Kingdom gave the human race even more opportunities.

    Their innovation, perception, and ability to observe things on a microscopic scale filled the Human Ancestor with expectation. The only slightly regrettable thing about them was that they were not humans.

    But even if they weren¡¯t humans, they would still be very useful.

    He secretly inspired them to create the consciousness converter instrument, allowing them to obtain more power from the Astrals and also increase how often he could descend. At the same time, he influenced them to create the bloodline extraction instrument to help the human race grow stronger. The proud Arcanists had no idea that the inventions that they relied on so heavily were actuallyrgely inspired by the Human Ancestor.

    In this fashion, the Human Ancestor continued his ceaselessbor to benefit the human race. In the blink of an eye, tens of thousands of years had passed. The Arcanists, humans, and Astrals had all been indelibly affected by his actions.

    Over this period of time, the Human Ancestor had personally witnessed the human race grow stronger, turning from food to ves, from ves tondowners, and then finally iming their own territory and making a name for themselves.

    Many of the individuals responsible for the major advancements of the human race were people whom he had selected and gifted opportunities to. They becamemanders and generals of the human armies, aplishing astounding feats during their lifetimes. Of course, there were also some people who squandered the blessing that the Human Ancestor bestowed upon them. Li Daohong was one such example.

    The Human Ancestor saw all kinds of people rise and fall throughout this lengthy process, and he had long since grown numb to the personal affairs of a single human.

    He had long since epted that he could only sow seeds. What these seeds grew up to be, he had no say in.

    As such, he could only patiently wait.

    One time, he descended to Northface City.

    He heard a youth recounting the great achievements that the human race had aplished.

    With joy in his heart, the Human Ancestor bestowed his treasured Arcanist Eye to that youth.

    In his eyes, this was just another seed that he had sown.

    He didn¡¯t expect anything toe of it, and neither would he waste his time fantasizing about it.

    It wasn¡¯t until many yearster that he realized that the seedling he had nted was growing at an exceptionally quick rate......

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is...... It¡¯s no wonder the gods weren¡¯t able to find you even after all this time,¡± Su Chen said with a sigh.

    The Human Ancestor had actually ceased to physically exist a long time ago. He had always been hiding within the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s body, and the Lord of the Dreamrealm was also truly not a traitor to the gods. However, he had never realized that he had always been subtly influenced by the Human Ancestor. This was why the Lord of the Dreamrealm had made all those mistakes, passing along mistaken information to the gods.

    ¡°But he is definitely aware of my existence now. He let youe in here to talk to me so that he could discover my whereabouts. He knows that, as long as you are here, I will appear as well.¡± The Human Ancestor then paused and sighed before suddenly yelling out, ¡°Dream, you¡¯ve been listening this whole time, haven¡¯t you? Aren¡¯t you going to show yourself?¡±

    Following these words, the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s giant face appeared in the sky, radiating a boundless, majestic aura.

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm gazed at the Human Ancestor and calmly said, ¡°I never would have imagined that you were actually that Immortal from all those years ago. Perhaps this is fate. Fate has tied the two of us together like an intertwined strand of rope. I promised to give you a path to survival, but at the same time, I also allowed the human race¡¯s me of vengeance to burn on. Now that Su Chen has sessfully reopened the path of cultivating immortal energy, you have won.¡±

    ¡°You are correct. Now that we have reached this point, there is no longer any need for me to hide. Today¡¯s battle will be the final battle between the humans and the gods. No matter what happens here, I can die without regrets.

    ¡°Die without regrets?¡± Su Chen was stunned by the Human Ancestor¡¯sst words.

    The Human Ancestor slowly turned around. ¡°Yes, die without regrets. Whates next is my battle with Dream. Do not interfere, Su Chen. We have been bound together for tens of thousands of years, and our hatred for each other knows no bounds. Today, it will alle to an end. No matter who wins, this divine body will only contain one will from this day onwards.¡±

    Previous Chapter

 Book 7, 112: The End

    <h4>Book 7, Chapter 112: The End</h4>

    Within the Infinite Delusion, a massive battle unfolded.

    This battle was between the two sides of a single god. The Human Ancestor¡¯s strength would be greatly diminished if he tried to fight against the Dream God outside of their body, but he could bring his full strength to bear if it were inside.

    After all, here, he was Dream, and Dream was him.

    As they fought, they both noticed that the techniques they used against each other were very simr.

    Their fight stirred up quite a chaotic storm within the Dreamrealm, causing fierce waves and winds top against each other.

    Lightning, fire, ash, and rain filled the sky. It seemed apparent that the two were using their skills in rapid session.

    Countless heavenly soldiers and generals seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Not all of them were illusory; some of them were actual Dream Spirits. However, the Human Ancestor also possessed the same ability. Their armies shed against each other, like cells within the same body attacking each other.

    The Human Ancestor seemed unperturbed by the sight, but the Lord of the Dreamrealm felt his heart ache when he saw countless Dream Spirits fall, never to rise again. He was the first to put a stop to this suicidal process.

    ¡°Stop summoning them! This is only between me and you!¡± he roared desperately.

    The Human Ancestor, however, coldly ignored him.

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm could only control dreams and not the Human Ancestor. Since that was the case, there was nothing for him to feel sorrowful over.

    This was the difference between someone who held a vested interest in how much damage they sustained versus someone who did not.

    As the orchestrator of this coup, all the Human Ancestor needed to consider was the best way to take control, not how much of a price he would have to pay to achieve his goals. The Lord of the Dreamrealm, on the other hand, needed to defeat the Human Ancestor and do it efficiently too ¡ª otherwise, he would lose all of the treasures that he had stored up throughout the ages.

    The Human Ancestorpletely ignored the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s request to minimize their damage. He was intent on carrying out an internecine war.

    In fact, the Human Ancestor began carrying out his mutually destructive actions with renewed vigor.

    He summoned even more Dream Spirits, who transformed into heavenly soldiers and then rushed at the Lord of the Dreamrealm.

    ¡°Bastard! BASTARD!!!¡±

    Within the Infinite Delusion, the Lord of the Dreamrealm transformed into a creature with a massive maw. It then opened its gaping mouth wide and sucked all of the hostile Dream Spirits back into its body.

    As it did so, however, an invisible explosion of energy burst forth from within the giant mouth, sting the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s illusory mouth to smithereens.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± the Lord of the Dreamrealm cursed again, infuriated.

    His contorted and enraged expression came into full view as he reached up towards the sky, hurling bolt after bolt of lightning at the Human Ancestor.

    The Human Ancestor, however, remained perfectly calm.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to be so angry. You should know that I¡¯ve been studying you quite thoroughly over the past few centuries. The only reason why I never tried to take over your body was because I was afraid that they would discover me, but that doesn¡¯t necessarily mean that Ick that ability to do so.¡±

    As he spoke, ck streaks of fire began to surge into the sky above him, greeting the descending lightning.

    These fierce torrents of mes swallowed up the streaks of lightning before continuing to shoot towards the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s main body, wrapping themselves around him like fiery ropes.

    ¡°What is this? What is going on?¡± the Lord of the Dreamrealm roared in confusion. To his shock, he found that he could not determine where these ck mes had originated from.

    ¡°These are the feelings of hatred, grievance, and animosity that I gathered during my countless travels after I condensed them into physical form. Anyone who is struck by these Grudge Strands will immediately feel despair overwhelm their heart, quelling their desire to do battle,¡± the Human Ancestor emotionlessly replied.

    These Grudge Strands were able to weaken one¡¯s battle spirit. Under normal circumstances, their effects would be limited against a god, but within the Dreamrealm, consciousness power was everything. Weakening one¡¯s battle spirit would greatly impact their strength and more importantly, their consciousness power.

    After being bound by the Grudge Strands, the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s power steadily weakened.

    He began to howl madly. ¡°No, no! How could this be? This cannot be!¡±

    Boom!

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm reverted into a giant, towering tree.

    This was his original form. His roots were like consciousness tendrils, and they wriggled ceaselessly in the air, absorbing all of the nearby consciousness energy.

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm was unwilling to give up and was intent on fighting to the bitter end. His root system began to expand and grow outward as they quickly filled the entire realm.

    ¡°This is my world! No one is allowed to take it from me!¡± the Lord of the Dreamrealm thundered. The Grudge Strands clinging to his body suddenly shattered at that moment, causing the Human Ancestor to groan and stumble a few steps backwards.

    Even though there wasn¡¯t any outward sign of injury on the Human Ancestor, his aura visibly weakened for just a moment.

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm was right. This world did belong to him, and it was also located inside of his body. As the absolute ruler of this world, the amount of consciousness power that he controlled was far greater than what the Human Ancestor had ess to.

    When the Lord of the Dreamrealm burst forth with his full strength, his power was enough to make anyone fall into despair.

    Even so, at that moment, the Human Ancestor suddenly chuckled. ¡°Have you finally revealed your main body? This is exactly what I was waiting for.¡±

    The Lord of the Dreamrealm was stunned. ¡°Do you have some trick up your sleeves that I don¡¯t know about? Impossible.¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s not!¡± the Human Ancestor¡¯s might suddenly surged as a blinding white light filled the skies.

    ¡°Forbidden! Forbidden! How can you control that forbidden energy? This isn¡¯t possible!¡± the Lord of the Dreamrealm eximed in shock.

    Even without the Grudge Strands encircling him, despair began to surface in his heart.

    Even though the Human Ancestor had once been an immortal, he should have lost his ability to cultivate immortal energy a long time ago.

    How could he still summon and control immortal energy?

    ¡°I gave it to him,¡± Su Chen calmly interrupted.

    ¡°You gave it to him?¡± Dream was taken aback for a moment before he angrily roared, ¡°I thought that we agreed that you wouldn¡¯t interfere!¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t. He asked me for it before the battle even began so as to supplement his strength and to use it to deal with you...... This is called making preparations, not interfering,¡± Su Chen nonchntly replied.

    This was the truth.

    The Human Ancestor had asked Su Chen for a strand of immortal energy when he was still in Kun¡¯s territory.

    At that time, Su Chen hadn¡¯t known why he wanted it.

    But now he did.

    He wanted to use it as a seed!

    The Human Ancestor himself could no longer cultivate immortal energy, but immortal energy could devour divine energy and grow incessantly by doing so. Even though the Human Ancestor could not control the new immortal energy for his own use, that was alright. All he wanted was the ability to devour divine energy.

    When the Lord of the Dreamrealm revealed his true body, that was the moment where he was both the strongest and also the weakest.

    The Human Ancestor¡¯s immortal energy surged wildly through the Dreamrealm, devouring all of the divine power within it.

    Under normal circumstances, this process would take quite a while to ur.

    But they were fighting within the Dreamrealm. Here, everything was illusory and indeed even fantastical.

    A strand of real immortal energy possessed incredible power here. With the Human Ancestor¡¯s support, this strand began to expand and grow at an almost uncontroble rate.

    The dazzling, multicolored Infinite Delusion was suddenly filled with a blinding white light that seemed to swallow up everything that it shined upon.

    ¡°No, no, no!¡± the Lord of the Dreamrealm howled in despair, but no matter how hard the tree waved its branches, it could not stop the wave of immortal energy from advancing.

    Once the immortal energy reached the edges of the consciousness world, the Lord of the Dreamrealm¡¯s roars and howls were suddenly cut short.

    His Infinite Delusion had beenpletely filled with immortal energy. In other words, he had been defeated by the previously hidden side of himself andpletely destroyed.

    He was dead.

    The white light began to fade, but the Dreamrealm was no longer filled with dazzlingly iridescent colors. Instead, it was gray, dark, and deste.

    The Human Ancestor let out a weary sigh.

    ¡°It¡¯s over. It really is finally over.¡±

    ¡°Not quite yet. There are still five living gods out there,¡± Su Chen said.

    ¡°They don¡¯t matter anymore. Now that this battle has concluded, their fates are already sealed,¡± the Human Ancestor replied.

    ¡°You are correct.¡±

    Within the Origin Realm.

    A massive battle with the gods was still unfolding.

    The Mother Goddess, Moon Goddess, Barbarian God, ming Sword God, and Beast God were fighting desperately for their lives.

    Their long-awaited return to the Origin Realm had finally arrived.

    However, they had soon discovered to their dismay that the Origin Realm had changed significantly. The races that they had once exploited had now advanced to the point where they were able to put up a serious fight against them, the gods. The flying swords and relentless onught of immortal energy put an inordinate amount of pressure on them.

    The Immortals would return!

    That was the sole thought running through their heads.

    That forbidden power which they had feared for so many years had finally gained the advantage over them today.

    Even though theirbined divine might filled the sky, and even though they were living up to their statuses as gods, the endless swarms of ¡°Immortals¡± flying in their direction struck fear into their hearts.

    The armies summoned by the Human Ancestor in the Dreamrealm might have been fake, but each of these soldiers was a bona fide warrior.

    They walked on the clouds, wielded powerful weapons, unleashed immortal techniques, and spat out clouds.

    The gods unleashed every technique at their disposal, turning the entire universe into a stage for them to perform on. Even the light from the sun and the moon and the stars seemed to pale inparison to their might and glory.

    Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

    As wave after wave of blindingly bright white light washed over the gods, even the Moon Goddess¡¯s light seemed to dim in intensity.

    Suddenly, a fierce expression filled with killing intent appeared on her pale white face. ¡°Ignorant humans! You dare to try and stop the advance of the gods with your measly bodies? Taste the rage of the gods!¡±

    As she spoke, intense fluctuations rippled through the sky.

    It was as if a pot had suddenly boiled over. Violent waves of roiling energy surged forth, causing the surroundings to heat up.

    After all, moonlight was just reflected sunlight.

    Most of the time, the moonlight felt cool and cold.

    But when the Moon Goddess became angry, that moonlight would regain its former heat.

    It felt as if the sun had suddenly descended onto the earth, causing it to quake under the might of the Moon Goddess¡¯s fury. The heat was so intense that it felt as if the whole world was being baked alive.

    Everyone on the battlefield felt the heat wave ovee them at the same time. It did not seem to be an external phenomenon, but rather, an internal one. Every single cell of their body was on fire, making it incredibly difficult for them to think of a way to defend themselves.

    The white-hot light seemed to distort the spatial fabric of the battlefield, and even immortal energy seemed to be incapable of mollifying the high temperatures. The only thing that the cultivators could do was cling to their Heart Mirrors. However, they were still intensely ufortable.

    Soldier after soldier cried out tragically as they reached their limit. When the heat overwhelmed them, they started plummeting from the sky. Even Li Wuyi, Jiang Jusheng, and the others were incapable of driving this attack back despitebining forces.

    The true might of a god was indeed terrifying!

    At that moment, however, a figure shot into the sky before transforming into a majestic dragon that spat out a searing lick of mes at the Moon Goddess.

    It was the wielder of the Shining Dragon Bloodline, Gu Qingluo.

    Fight fire with fire!

    Gu Qingluo had concentrated all of her Origin Energy, immortal energy, willpower, and bloodline power into a single attack of true mes. Shockingly, as the mes soared through the sky, it sounded as if the air itself was groaning.

    Suddenly, a crack appeared in the sky.

    The heat on the battlefield also suddenly abated by several degrees.

    At that moment, everyone recognized the golden opportunity that had presented itself, and they began to furiously attack the Moon Goddess.

    Even if they were all burnt to death by the Moon Goddess, they would unleash all of their remaining power upon her before that happened!

    Every single one of the soldiers held the same mentality, and they all circted the energy in their bodies to their greatest extent.

    Boom!!!

    A wave of pure destruction surged forth from theirbined efforts, crashing into the five remaining gods with an unprecedented momentum. Even the divine barrier that they conjured to defend themselves was smashed to smithereens in a single blow.

    ¡°AH!¡± the Moon Goddess cried out in pain as the wave of immortal energy overwhelmed her defenses, disturbing her concentration and affecting her quite a bit. For just a brief moment, the intense heat radiating from her lessened significantly.

    The scorching inferno that had been burning them up had diminished!

    ¡°Charge!¡± The human soldiers began to rally when they realized that their attacks were able to push the gods¡¯ attack back.

    At that moment, a white light appeared before them.

    That white light wasing from the massive white plumage that was unfolding before their very eyes.

    They were arranged in intricate sheets that wereyered upon each other as they swayed gently in the sky.

    Divine Feathers!

    These feathers were divine treasures that the Harpies had hoarded, fought over, and madly sought after.

    More sheets of feathers continued to appear, effusing a warm white light that intoxicated the soldiers¡¯ hearts. Suddenly, all of them transformed into hundreds of thousands of light arrows, shooting towards the army of cultivators.

    Pu, pu, pu, pu!

    Fountains of blood sprayed out everywhere.

    Countless cultivators were struck by these feathers, causing them to fall from the sky.

    The Mother Goddess had reverted to her original form. Her true form also appeared to be that of a tree, but there was a giant bird¡¯s nest atop the tree. And in the middle of the nest, there was a white eagle.

    Most people would assume that the Mother Goddess was the eagle.

    What they didn¡¯t know, however, was that the tree, the nest, and the eagle altogether made up the Mother Goddess.

    The tree was the foundation, and it was responsible for absorbing divine power and supplying it to the rest of her body. The nest was for breeding and producing the Harpies, and the eagle took care ofbat. Its attacks were exceptionally vicious.

    The Mother Goddess had just used the eagle¡¯s wings to unleash an attack.

    Her divine feathers tore through everything in their path, immediately wiping out nearly ten thousand cultivators at once.

    This was the power of a high-tier god.

    The Mother Goddess and the Moon Goddess both possessed powerful unique techniques that could not be withstood through pure numbers.

    ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for this damned forbidden energy, then I would be able to kill all of you by myself!¡± the Mother Goddess roared in anger.

    Not only could immortal energy devour divine power, but it could also greatly weaken its influence. The storm of feather arrows was only able to kill around ten thousand cultivators. Although the remaining cultivators were badly startled by this sudden disy of force, the Mother Goddess¡¯ surprise and dismay over how little had died was even greater.

    After all, she had just expended a few hundred divine feathers. That was equivalent to using up

    a few hundred divine tools for a single strike. How could she not feel dismayed?

    The Mother Goddess¡¯s feathers were the source of her power. When she had all of her feathers at her disposal, she was at her strongest, and even the Lord of the Dreamrealm and the Moon Goddess would have to respect her strength. However, it was not easy to regrow these feathers, and she would always suffer extreme losses due to using them up during a bitter battle. Even if the gods won this battle, she would probably fall to a low-tier god in strength.

    But what did any of that matter?

    It would all be worth it as long as they could wipe out these detestable humans.

    She prepared to unleash another barrage of divine feathers. This time, she was going to go all-out and kill a hundred thousand of them in one go!

    At that moment, however, the Mother Goddess¡¯s instincts took over. They were screaming at her to immediately withdraw all of her feathers and use them to protect herself.

    But she was still toote.

    An incisive bolt of consciousness power pierced into her consciousness. This level of attack was not something that her divine feathers could withstand.

    ¡°AH!¡± the Mother Goddess shrieked in sudden realization. ¡°Dream, it was you!¡±

    ¡°Whew!¡± The Lord of the Dreamrealm let out a sigh as he calmly replied, ¡°Dream has died. I am the Human Ancestor, and my name is...... Silence!¡±

    As he spoke, he struck out once more at the Mother Goddess with all the might that his predecessor had once possessed.

    The Mother Goddess continued trying to defend herself, but it was already toote. After the Human Ancestor¡¯s surprise attack had struck true, she had bepletely vulnerable to the rest of his attacks. Worse still, Su Chen chose to fly over at the same time and join forces with the Human Ancestor to defeat the Mother Goddess.

    This alliance of an immortal and a godpletely suppressed the Mother Goddess.

    Even though the Moon Goddess and the Barbarian God wanted to intervene and save her, the Human Ancestor suddenly charged forwards and unleashed a relentless tidal wave of energy in their direction. He refused to let them pass without paying a significant price.

    The Mother Goddess was thus forced to withstand Su Chen¡¯s attacks on her own, and as such, she began to sumb to his overpowering might.

    She cried out as she consumed all of the warriors inhabiting her divine kingdom for a final burst of energy, but her efforts were in vain.

    Finally, once herst ounce of divine power was expended, the Mother Goddess fell.

    Her death put the other gods in an even worse position.

    Next, Su Chen and the Human Ancestor set their sights on the Moon Goddess.

    The Moon Goddess trembled with rage as she red at the Human Ancestor. ¡°Good, very good! We have been searching for the traitor in our midst for all these years. I never expected that it was actually you! You did very well to sessfully convince me to ce my trust in you. Our loss was inevitable.¡±

    As she spoke, she immted her divine kingdom, killing herself on the spot.

    With the Moon Goddess¡¯s suicide, the remaining three gods had lost any hope of attaining victory.

    The Barbarian God eventually fell in battle, leaving only the ming Sword God and the Beast God behind.

    The Beast God was the weakest, and he was also the one with the least courage. When he realized that there was no hope of winning, he despondently yelled out, ¡°I surrender, I surrender! Don¡¯t kill me! I can be one of your ves!¡±

    A god surrendering to humans?

    A once unimaginably powerful, untouchable, and universally feared god was actually bowing in surrender to the humans.

    Everyone was extremely happy to see him groveling regardless of what the eventual oue was.

    Even so, Su Chen had no intention of epting the Beast God¡¯s desperate plea.

    He shook his head. ¡°Sorry, but I refuse.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± the Beast God asked in confusion, ¡°I am a god. You will be very strong if you take me in as a ve.¡±

    Su Chen slowly shook his head. ¡°Do you really think that it makes a difference to me whether or not I have a ve like you?¡±

    The Beast God was taken aback by his reply.

    It was true. Su Chen was now the sovereign of this realm, and the ruler of the entire human race as well. To him, having a god as a ve was not an important matter in the slightest.

    ¡°But...... I am a god......¡± the Beast God murmured in disbelief.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter,¡± Su Chen said as he shook his head, ¡°More importantly, the human race does not need the gods.¡±

    ¡°Does not need the gods......¡± the Beast God muttered to himself as he began to tremble violently.

    Suddenly, he defiantly cried out, ¡°How could you not need us gods? You don¡¯t understand anything at all. Faith is not something that just the gods need from humans; humans need it as well! Gods need faith, and you humans need something to believe in! The rtionship is mutually beneficial!!!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not what I think,¡± Su Chen coolly replied.

    ¡°Then what about him? What is he?¡± the Beast God howled, pointing at the Lord of the Dreamrealm.

    Su Chen calmly replied, ¡°He is both human and god...... He was the person who sowed the first seeds of hope and the only god who has the right to remain alive. The gods did note from him, but they wille to an end through him.¡±

    Upon hearing this, the Beast God truly fell into despair.

    He angrily gazed at Su Chen and said, ¡°No, the gods will note to an end. If you want to destroy the gods, then you have to do it thoroughly. As long as one remains alive, the gods will note to an end. Through him, he will be their beginning. One day, we will usher in a new era ¡ª one that belongs to the gods, and one where immortal energy does not exist.¡±

    Su Chen coldly replied, ¡°No one can see that far into the future. All I know is that the new era will belong to the Immortals!¡±

    Following these words, the Beast God well and truly died.

    The battle with the gods had finallye to an end. The human race had won aplete victory.

    Cries of jubtion and triumph seemed to echo throughout the entire Primordial Continent.

    The Boundless Sect¡¯s might had seemingly reached the apex at this point.

    The human race would be the grand unifiers of this realm.

    Not long after the battle with the gods, Su Chen officially resigned from his position of Sect Master, allowing Ye Fenghan to take his ce.

    He had never been interested in leading a sect in the first ce. Instead, all of his focus and drive was directed towards finding even higher cultivation realms.

    Three hundred years after the battle with the gods, Su Chen discovered a realm above Deification, which allowed him to perceive the distinction between tangible and abstract phenomena. Through this, he reconciled the Origin Energy and the immortal energy systems into a single entity. This realm was henceforth known as the Hollowness realm.

    Eight hundred yearster, Su Chen reached an even higher level.

    When he did so that time, lightning descended from the heavens to execute him.

    Su Chen calmly withstood the trial. During this process, a portal to a foreign realm opened up, through which Su Chen strode through. He never returned.

    Otherster termed this realm as Tribtion-Crossing.

    This was where the seven cultivation realms came from: Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Pill, Nascent Soul, Deification, Hollowness, and Tribtion-Crossing.

    As for what was after Tribtion-Crossing, no one knew, since Su Chen had left their world.

    For three thousand years after Su Chen departed, the human race began to truly flourish. Every human could embark on the path of cultivation, and countless powerful sects rose and fell from prominence.

    By this point in time, no one cared about or believed in the gods.

    There was no need to restrict religion any longer as a result.

    Only a few people knew that there was still a lone living god in this world.

    On Heaven¡¯s Column Mountain.

    The Human Ancestor sat within a small, unassuming house that had been built on the peak.

    In front of him sat Li Chongshan.

    Ever since the Human Ancestor had emerged victorious in his struggle against Dream, he had chosen to seclude himself here. He knew that, even if he was the Human Ancestor, the human race did not need two leaders. More importantly, he now resided in the body of a god, and this world no longer needed any gods or him.

    As such, he had chosen to live out the rest of his days in quiet, observing the transformation of the world around him.

    He preferred this kind of slow life, anyways. After so many years of constant scheming, a simple life was the best reward.

    Today, the Human Ancestor was enjoying his calm and leisurely life as usual when he suddenly felt his heart palpitate seemingly for no reason.

    ¡°Strange.¡± The Human Ancestor rubbed his chest tenderly.

    This kind of sensation was extremely strange. It almost felt as if something had changed within him.

    A momentter, however, the Human Ancestor chuckled and shook his head.

    It was probably just his imagination.

    He took another sip of tea before he began to doze off.

    He only fell asleep for a single moment when his eyes suddenly opened wide and he bolted upright.

    He lowered his head and nced at his physical body as his features contorted savagely. ¡°So I¡¯m still alive......¡±

    He stepped out of the small room and gazed off into the distance. A boundless wave of consciousness power surged forth, enveloping the entire world.

    His heart trembled soon after. ¡°Hollowness, Tribtion-Crossing...... Has the human cultivation system already reached this point? I understand...... I understand...... So we failed after all. Thankfully, we have a backup n in ce.¡±

    He slowly returned to his room and sat down. With a faint gesture of his hand, a glowing object appeared. It was a staff.

    A staff glowing with the mysterious energy of time.

    The Scepter of Time.

    Two projections appeared on the Scepter of Time.

    These two projections were that of the Mother Goddess and the Moon Goddess. However, both were currently slumbering while enveloped within an egg-like shell.

    After ncing at the two goddesses, he stowed away the Scepter of Time.

    He somberly said, ¡°The gods will not die. I am the sinner responsible for the fall of the gods, but I will also be the god¡¯s sole hope of resurrection...... Just you wait, humans! Wait for our return!¡±

    After saying this, he rxed and fell asleep once more. The fierce expression disappeared from his face and was once again reced by the Human Ancestor¡¯s peaceful expression.

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